August 27, 190X] 



NA TURE 



407 



a1=l 



is') 



But the expression for the absolute expansion term- 



' ^ 



is also a very simple one. 



To interpret equation (7) numerically— 

 1 he quantity c'p will be recognised as the atomic heat, 

 which is nearly the same constant for all ordinary gases, 

 and equal in c.g.s. energy units to — 



0-2375 xo'OOi293x {42 >. io°) = o-coi294 x 10" ergs per c.c. 



for dry air. 

 The actual change of temperature per atmosphere, ob- 

 served as the final result of the irreversible Joule and 

 Thomson expansion, was, for air, a lowering of about a 

 fifth of a degree, or more exactly o°-2o8 ; so that — 



e o-2o8 



n 10^ dynes per sq. cm.' 

 Hence, since ergs per c.c. are the same as dynes per sq. 

 cm., the value of what we have just reckoned as the di- 

 mensions of the whole terra c'pdlTl comes out right as a 

 pure number (being plainly a ratio of two energies when 

 !> is written tn/'n) ; and the correction factor for air 

 equals — 



I + o 'ooi 294 X o '208 = I '00027. 



At zero Centigrade the expansibility of air %vas mea- 

 sured by Regnault as 00036706. Wherefore the absolute 

 temperature corresponding to zero Centigrade is, in ac- 

 fordance with equation (7) — 



I '00027 _ 



O'oo367o6 



= 273-17. 



Electric.\l Theory of Matter. 



On the great modern region of physics centring round 

 an electrical theory of matter, Lord I-velvin's mind was 

 ^ somewhat conservative ; as perhaps it was in electricity 

 generally, whenever results could not be obtained by 

 straightforward dynamics or by energy calculations. In 

 other directions he only advanced under protest, as it were, 

 towards the goal at which others were enthusiastically 

 working. Nevertheless, we owe to him some pioneering 

 worlc even in this branch. 



Comparatively modern speculation and calculation on the 

 structure of an atom are contained in a remarkable paper 

 by Lord Kelvin, published in the Phil. Mag. for iqoi 

 under the curious title " /Epinus Atomised." It is repro- 

 duced in the volume of Baltimore lectures as Appendix E. 

 It was probably the first attempt to work out the statics of 

 an atom, according to a simple conception the major con- 

 sequences of which can be traced with comparative ease, 

 viz., that of a spherical portion of uniform positive elec- 

 tricity in which minute negative charges are sown like 

 specks : being attracted towards the centre of the sphere 

 according to the law of direct distance, and repelling each 

 other according to the inverse square law. 



Cosmic Calculations. 



Of the work of Lord Kelvin in elasticity, I shall here 

 say nothing beyond the remark that his kinetic view ot 

 elasticity often seems to me one of the most suggestive 

 and ultimately pregnant of all his theories. 



His papers on celestial dynamics are very remarkable 

 and lucid, though we may not feel that they represent the 

 last word on the question ; any more than the last word 

 has been said as to the age of the sun or of the earth. 

 The fact that after a lifetime of immersion in all the in- 

 tricacies of natural philosophy Lord Kelvin still postu- 

 lated an origin or beginning for the material universe — a 

 beginning when it was essentially different, not only locally 

 but universally, from its present condition — and that he 

 endeavoured to conceive what it might then have been lilce, 

 in those early times — is a notable circumstance and one of 

 general interest. To me there appears no reason for call- 

 ing those times " early " rather than " late " ; nor would 

 1 suppose a beginning or ending at all, either for space or 

 for what is in space, other than such beginnings or end- 

 ings as we might detect, or may hope to detect, some- 

 where, even now. 



NO. 2026, VOL. 78] 



UNIVERSITY .AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Prof. Wijlfing has been appointed to the chair of 

 mineralogy in the University of Heidelberg. We notice 

 also that the same university has just celebrated the fiftieth 

 anniversary of the doctorate ot Prof. Georg Quincke, 

 professor of physics in the University. 



The correspondence between the Colonial Secretary (Mr. 

 J. C. Smuts) and the council of the Transvaal University 

 College f-elating to the organisation of higher education 

 in the Transvaal has just been issued as a Blue-book 

 (T.G. — 24 — 1908). The question of a Transvaal university 

 is not considered yet to be ripe, the proposals at present 

 being for the establishment of a university college. If 

 the recommendations of the committee appointed by the 

 Colonial Secretary be carried out, the Transvaal University 

 College will be a federation, under one council, of three 

 institutes. The technical courses would be assigned to the 

 Johannesburg branch, the literary and science courses to 

 Pretoria, and the agricultural work would be centred at 

 Frankenwald. It has been decided to proceed at once to 

 carry out the scheme so far as it relates to the allocation 

 of the various departments of work and study to the 

 Pretoria and Johannesburg branches respectively. For the 

 Frankenwald branch it is hoped that 200,oooL will be avail- 

 able from the Beit bequest, but this part of the scheme 

 is deferred. Certain questions relating to the constitution 

 of the reorganised college are also held in abeyance. It 

 is obvious that the three branches will have but a slender 

 bond of union ; but after reading their report we are 

 inclined to accept the view of the committee, that the 

 difficulties in the way of finding any one place where the 

 branches can be developed side by side are insurmountable. 



The British Medical Journal for August 15 gives its 

 readers a lengthy report of the discussion by the British 

 Medical Association at Sheffield on the education of the 

 medical student. The speakers included Profs. Starling, 

 Armstrong, Sherrington, Sims Woodhead and Osier, Sir 

 Felix Semon, Dr. Dawson Turner, Dr. Buist, and Dr. 

 Russell Wells. The discussion formed part of the proceed- 

 ings of the Section of Physiology, but the list of speakers 

 guaranteed adequate handling of their theme in respect of 

 scientific as well as clinical aim. It appeared to be w-idely 

 held that (i) the period devoted to preliminary and inter- 

 mediate study should be curtailed ; (2) closer consideration 

 should be paid during the intermediate course to the prac- 

 tical needs of the future medical man — e.g. biological 

 studies should have a physiological rather than a morpho- 

 logical bias ; (3) more clinical study is required in the later 

 periods of the training, especially practice of diagnosis ; 

 (4) there should be fewer lectures and more demonstrations. 

 The leading article in the same number of the journal is 

 devoted to a consideration of this discussion jointly with 

 the new regulations for the medical curriculum recently 

 promulgated by the University of London. The journal 

 approves the decision of the L'niversity to extend the final 

 part of the curriculum to thirty-six months. We may 

 point out that we are still behind the foremost Continental 

 countries in our estimate of the time required to train a 

 qualified medical practitioner. 



A well printed and illustrated pamphlet has been issued 

 by the British Education Section of the Franco-British 

 Exhibition under the title "A Short History of National 

 Education in Great Britain and Ireland." In the article 

 which appeared in N.^ture for August 13 attention was 

 given to the manner in which the exhibition, both as a 

 whole and in detail, illustrates national progress, whether 

 such progress be viewed from the pedagogic or from the 

 administrative aspect. The booklet now before us deals 

 with the latter aspect, and its author — Mr. T. L._ Humber- 

 stone — gives a broad and clear outline of his subject. Too 

 little is said of private schools, but the history of public 

 provision for education during the last three centuries is 

 made clear. The awakening of England and Wales during 

 the last century to their responsibility for educating their 

 citizens is traced with judgment, and mention is made of 

 the latest development of this sense of responsibility shown 

 by the medical inspection of school children. The value 

 of this production is much in excess of its price — it is pub- 

 lished by Messrs. King at 3d. 



