June i i, 190S] 



NATURE 



141 



rarried out in the University. The research may be in any 

 branch of cliemistry. The dissertation, with the di'lails of 

 llie research, must be sent to the professor of chemistry 

 not later than the division of the Easter term, 1909. 



LiVERrooL. — At the graduation ceremony on July 1 1 (he 

 honorary degree of l.L.l). will be conferred upi>n Sir John 

 Brunncr, Principal Macalistcr, and Prof. X'inogradolT ; of 

 D.Sc. upon Mr. Kranois Darwin and Prof. J. L. Todd; and 

 of D.Eng. upon the Hon. C. A. Parsons. 



Man'chivStek. — On the occasion of the installation of 

 X'iscount Morley of Blackburn as Chancellor of the Uni- 

 versity, on July 9, the honorary degree of Litt.D. will be 

 conferred upon Mr. A. J. Evans, F.R.S., of D.Sc. upon 

 Prof. Baldwin -Spencer, F.R.S., and Prof. A. Gamgee, 

 I'.R.S., and of M..\. upon Mr. William Burton, for his 

 scientific investigations and art productions in pottery. 

 H.M. Treasury h.as allowed the grant of 12,000/. to remain 

 at that figure for adolhcr year instead of reducing it to 

 10,000/. ]t is hoped that the grant will be continued on 

 the higher basis, and possibly increased. 



Oxford. — Dr. B. P. Grenfcll has been appointed extra- 

 ordinary professor of papyrology. 



The Rolleston memorial prize for 190S has been awarded 

 to Mr. C. C. Dobell, Trinitv College, Cambridge ; Mr. 

 W. K. Spencer and Mr. C. H. G. Martin, B.A.," both of 

 Magdalen College, Oxford, were honourably mentioned by 

 the examiners. 



The Romanes lecture for 190S will be delivered by 

 Canon Scott Holland in the -Sheldonian Theatre on Satur- 

 day, June i.^, at 5 p.m. The subject of the lecture is 

 " Bishop Butler." 



The Robert Boyle lecture was delivered by Prof. Ruther- 

 ford on Friday, June 5, in Balliol College Hall, the subject 

 of the lecture being " The Transformation of Radio-active 

 Matter." 



K CONVER.SAZIONE will be held at the East London 

 College (I'niversity of London) on Wednesday next, 

 June 17. The college departments will be open from 

 S to g.30 p.m. 



A Sh.aw studentship for research, the gift of Mrs. 

 Bernard .Shaw, of the value of looL a vear for two years, 

 will bo awarded in July by open competition at the London 

 School of Economics and Political Science, Clare Market, 

 W.C. Particulars of the scholarship can be obtained from 

 the director of the school. 



The Bill " to make further provision with respect lo 

 the University of Durham " has now been printed. It 

 proposes to appoint a body styled the I'niversity of Durham 

 Commissioners. These Commissioners are to hold office 

 until the end of icjot), but their powers m.ay be continued 

 by the King in Council, but not beyond the end of 1911. 

 Their powers are to make statutes regulating the consti- 

 tution of the University .uid the powers and\luties of its 

 authorities and constituent bodies and the disposition of 

 its property in accordance WMth a scheme scheduled as an 

 appendix to the Bill. Provision is made for the atHliation 

 to the University in the faculty of science of the Sunder- 

 land Technical College, subject to its satisfying the con- 

 ditions specified by the Senate of the Universitv. The 

 Senate is to consist of thirty-seven persons, nanielv, the 

 Chancellor, six persons nominated by the Crown, the Dean 

 and Chapter of Durham, together with so many other 

 persons appointed by the council of the Durham colleges 

 as shall make six in all, six appointed by such professors, 

 tutors, and lecturers of the Durham division of the Uni- 

 versity as are not members of the Chapter, four appointed 

 by the College of Medicine, Newcastle, four by the council 

 of .Armstrong College, and four by the professors of .Arm- 

 strong College, and six appointed by Convocation, three 

 being past students of the Durham division and three past 

 students of the Newcastle division. Full powers are 

 assigned to the Senate over the propertv, conditions of 

 study, examinations, and degrees of the University. The 

 Newcastle division of the University is to consist of the 

 University College of Medicine and Armstrong College, 

 Newcastle, but no council is set up for this division. 



NO. 2015. VOL. 7S] 



The twenty-eighth annual report of the council of the 

 Cily and (Guilds of London Institute, dealing with the 

 work of 1907, has now been published. The reports of 

 the dean of the Central Technical College, of the prin- 

 cipal of the Finsbury Technical College, of the South 

 London Technical .Art School, and of the department of 

 technology constitute itnportant appendices. The total in- 

 come of the institute for 1907 amounted to 46,036/., as 

 compared with 44,84.S/. in 1906. A table showing the 

 amount of the donations and subscriptions to the funds of 

 the institute since its foundation provides much interesting 

 information. In ..■(78 the total amount of such donations 

 and subscriptions was 12,102/., while in 1907 the amount 

 reached 22,343/., ^ S' •'•'Lf,,' "■' increase of more than 

 ro,ooo/. Since its foundation ti... institute has received 

 from this source the large sum of 778,365/., to which the 

 table shows there have been fifty-three contributors. The 

 largest total benefactions received in the period mentioned 

 are from the Goldsmiths' Company, 135,314/. ; the Fish- 

 mongers' Company, 112,270/. ; the Clothworkers' Com- 

 pany, 111,750/.; the Mercers' Company, 75,000/.; the 

 Drapers' Company, 51,500/. ; the Skinners' Company, 

 50,862/. Previous reports of the council have directed 

 attention to causes which impede progress in the technical 

 instruction of artisans, and in the report on the department 

 of technology this year the matter is referred to again. 

 The impediments which continue to exist are, first, the 

 ditliculty of finding competent teachers, and, secondly, the 

 unduly large proportion of artisan students who enter 

 technical classes without the preliminary knowledge neces- 

 sary to take full .advantage of the instruction they receive. 

 \^'e have referred on manv occasions in these columns to 

 the necessity for serious continuation-school work after the 

 elenientarv school has been left if voung artisans are to 

 derive full benefit from technical courses later in life. It 

 is quite clear that the gap betw^een the day school and the 

 technical institute must be bridged in some way if the 

 money expended on technical instruction is to produce its 

 best results. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society. March 26. — "Note on the Ascent of 



Meteorological Balloons and the Temperature of the Upper 

 .\ir." By A. Mallock, F.R.S. 



The recent investigation of the upper atmosphere by 

 means of india-rubber balloons has led to the discovery 

 that an almost constant temperature is reached when the 

 pressure has decreased to about 150 mm. The lowest 

 pressure reached in England is a little under 50 mm., and 

 the corresponding height about 20 kilontetres. 



The note examines from a theoretical point of view 

 what the behaviour of balloons such as are used in 

 meteorological work must be as regards the possible 

 heights to which they might ascend and the variations of 

 their velocity as they rise. The determining factors are: — 



(i) The relative density of the gas in the balloon and 

 of the outer air at the same pressure. 



(2) The ratio of the dead weight of the balloon and 

 fittings to the total liftiny force at ground-level. 



(3) The compression, bv the elasticity of the balloon, of 

 the gas it contains. 



It is shown that the velocity of the balloon at first 

 increases as the one-sixth power of the ratio of the density 

 of the air at the elevation attained to the density at 

 ground-level,' and that when the elastic compression is 

 small the upward velocity reaches its maximum not far 

 from the greatest elevation to which the balloon can 

 attain. 



The results of the equations are traced in Diagram I., 

 the values for the ratio of dead weight to lifting force and 

 the elastic compression being such as are likely to be met 

 with in practice. It is remarkable how rapidly the velocity 

 decreases as the minimum pressure is approached. 



To connect the pressure with the height at which it is 

 experienced, the temperature at every point of the ascent 



I The rea<;on being that the decrease in density rather more than com- 

 pensates for the etTect of the increased cioss-seclion. 



