October 29, 190S] 



jVA TURE 



68. s 



"11 "Algal Flagellates," by Dr. F. E. Frilsch, commenced 

 It University College on October 26. Admission to these 

 kctures is free to the public. 



0.\FORD. — Prof. C. V. Jenkin, professor of engineering 

 in the University, delivered his inaugural address on 

 October 16. No teaching, he said, is sufficient to fit a 

 man for an engineer's various duties. The scientific 

 theory of engineering can be taught, but the no less neces- 

 sary experience must be gained outside the university. 

 Prof. Jenkin described thr- teaching of engineering, showing 

 that while the subjects are familiar, the engineering 

 method of teaching differs somewhat from the traditional 

 method. He advocated the use of examples chosen from 

 apparatus which the student can handle rather than from 

 the imaginary astronomical bodies often used to illustrate 

 dynamical principles. In the O.xford laboratory the art of 

 measurement will be t:iuijht. It will not be a model shop, 

 but a shop may be used in conjunction with the laboratory 

 for repairing and adjusting apparatus. It is also intended 

 to have surveying classes during the vacation. Prof. Jenkin 

 also explained the details of the scheme which has been 

 prepared for carrying out engineering teaching in Oxford. 

 It is intended that engineering students shall take the 

 science preliminary examination and then proceed to a 

 final honour school in engineering. The necessity for 

 having a final honour school for the student to work for 

 was urged, and there is every reason to believe that the 

 scheme now being prepared will be received favourably, and 

 thus open academic honours to engineers. 



The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, F.R.S., M.P., has been 

 nominated by the Vice-Chancellor to deliver the Romanes 

 lecture next vear. 



Dr. A. J. Evans, F.R.S., will resign the keepership of 

 the Ashmolean Museuin at the end of this year. 



We have received from P'of. W. S. Franklin, of 

 Lehigh University, a copy of the address he delivered at 

 the annual meeting of the New York State Science 

 Teachers' Association last year on the study of science 

 by young people. In it he stigmatises as one of the 

 greatest evils of present-day teaching of science the large 

 proportion of time devoted to problems more or less com- 

 pletely detached from actual physical experience. He 

 believes that the only quantitative physical laboratory work 

 which should be done in a secondary school should relate 

 to things of which the boy has knowledge in his everyday 

 life outside the laboratory, and should be of practical value 

 in that life. Thus, e.g., he would let a boy determine the 

 speed of a runner by observing the time he takes to cover 

 a measured distance, or the power he develops by the time 

 he takes to climb a measured flight of stairs. He would 

 set him to determine the discharge of water along a canal 

 by timing a float from one station to another, and 

 encourage him to measure the rainfall, record temperature, 

 wind and cloud, and get together a great variety of 

 similar data of practical everyday value. 



The Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions 

 has forwarded to the Board of Education a memorandum 

 directing attention to the conditions under which Whit- 

 worth scholarships and exhibitions are awarded. The 

 council of the association has, after extensive inquiries, 

 been led to the conclusion that the competitions at present 

 are not in full accord with modern requirements of 

 engineering study and training, and it has, in consequence, 

 drawn up proposals for the modification of the methods 

 of award. The objects of the proposals are to prevent 

 cram and to provide systematic training, to give prefer- 

 ence to engineering subjects, to encourage regular work- 

 shop practice in engineering over a period of thirtv-six 

 months, and to ensure greater prominence for studv and 

 practice in electrical engineering. Among other changes 

 suggested are the introduction of a qualifving test, the 

 holding of a special freehand drawing examination, the 

 division of subjects into two groups and a new scale of 

 marks, and the deletion of building construction and draw- 

 ing and naval architecture from the list of subjects candi- 

 dates may offer, as not strictly belonging to mechanical 

 engineering. The annual general meeting of the associa- 

 tion will be held at the St. Bride's Institute, Bride Lane, 

 Fleet Street, E.C., on Saturday, November 7, commencing 

 at 3 p.m. 



NO. 2035, VOL. 78] 



The Physikalische Zeitschrift for October 15 contains a 

 list of the lectures in mathematics, physics, and chemistry 

 which are to be delivered during the coming winter session 

 at the various universities and technical high schools of 

 (ierinany and .'Vustria. .^t the University of Berlin each 

 of the above subjects is divided into ten or a dozen parts, 

 and each part is placed under the charge of a separate 

 professor or lecturer, who gives four or five lectures per 

 week. Physics, for example, is divided into (a) experi- 

 mental physics : (1) mechanics, sound, and heat ; (2) mag- 

 netism and electricity ; (.b) theoretical physics : (3) intro- 

 duction ; (4) heat ; (5) magnetism and electricity ; (&)■ 

 advanced portions ; (7) vector analysis applied to physics ; 

 (S) potential theory ; (c) (9) geophysics ; (10) climatology. 

 Under such a system it is possible for each lecturer to 

 present his subject to his students in a much more com- 

 plete and up-to-date manner than is possible in, let us 

 say, the University of London, the professors of physics of 

 which lecture probably twice as often per week and cover 

 the whole subject in their lectures. Who in these circum- 

 stances can blame the post-graduate student who elects to 

 go to Germany to complete his knowledge of his subject? 

 and who can refrain from asking, when will the universi- 

 ties of this country be in a position to attract post-graduate 

 students fro:n Germany in return? 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



P.\RIS. 



Academy of Sciences, October 19. — M. Bouch.ird in ihe 

 chair. — Precipitated silica : Henry Le Chatelier. The 

 existence of hydrated forms of silica appears to be gener- 

 ally admitted, but this view does not appear to have any 

 experimental basis. Various experiments with gelatinous 

 silica are described, all tending to prove that silica exists 

 always in the anhydrous state. The passage through 

 filters is not due to the solubility of anhydrous silica or 

 the presence of a soluble hydrate, but is due to its- 

 extremely line state of division. In confirmation of this, it 

 was found that silica jelly could be used for polishing, 

 metal sections. — The influence of the heating of urine on 

 urinary toxicity : Ch. Bouchard, M. Balthazard, and 

 Jean Camus. .\fter heating urine to temperatures of 

 57° C. or above, the toxic power is diminished by one- 

 third, as measured by experiments on rabbits. The freez- 

 ing point of the urine is not affected by this heating. — 

 The action of Saturn's ring : P. Stroobant. — The spec- 

 trum of Morehouse's comet, igoSi: : .\ de 1.1 Baume 

 Pluvinel and F. Baldet. -A comparison of the spectra 

 of the Daniel and Morehouse comets. The latter gives- 

 no trace of a continuous spectrum ; the photograph 

 shows seven monochromatic images of the comet, the 

 wave-lengths of which are given. — Some proper- 

 ties of curved surfaces : .-\. Demoulin. — Directed waves in 

 wireless telegr.iphy : .\. Blondel. Referring to recent 

 papers on this subject by .MM. Tosi and Bellini, and by 

 M. Turpain. tlie author points out that he dealt with this- 

 subject in a similar manner in 1903. — The electrolytic soda 

 industry : .Andre Brochet. .A theoretical discussion of the 

 electrolytic cell through which the electrolyte is flowing in- 

 a stream with a velocity equal to or greater than the 

 velocity of the OH ions- — .4 new method of attacking 

 iron alloys, and. in particular, the ferrosilicons : Paul' 

 Nicolardot. Chloride of sulphur is the reagent suggested 

 for the solution of ferrosilicons or ferrotitaniums. Details 

 are given of the method proposed, which is specially 

 arranged to avoid loss of silicon. — The phenyl transposi- 

 tion. The migration of the naphthyl group in the iodo- 

 hydrins of the naphthalene series : MM. Tiffeneau and' 

 Daudel. The migration of groups caused by the addition 

 of hypoiodous acid and subsequent removal of hydriodic 

 acid has been found to occur in the naphthalene series in- 

 a manner quite analogous to that previously described for 

 the benzene series. ' Descriptions are given of the prepara- 

 tion and properties of a-allylnaphthalene, its isomer, pro- 

 pen ylnaphthalene, a-naphthyl-a-propanal, melhvl-a-naph- 

 thylacetic acid, a-pscudoallylnaphthalenc, a-vinylnaphthal- 

 ene, and a-naphthylethanal. — .A modification of the pre- 

 paration of mrthylamine by means of bromacetamide : 

 Maurice FranQois. It has been found advantageous to 

 modif}- the original Hoffman method in several details. 



