July 29. 1909] 



NA TURF. 



M7 



The waste acid has still to be dealt with. It was dis- 

 covered that the addition of a small percentage of water 

 to this acid, after the nitroglycerine has been separated 

 from it in the nitrator-separator, entirely prevents the 

 further formation and separation of the small traces of 

 the nitroglycerine, which the after-separating bottles were 

 required to deal with. 



The advantages of the Wallham Abbey plant and system 

 of manufacture over others are briefly as follows : — 



(i) Increased Safety. — By the abolition of all cocks 

 through which nitroglycerine had to pass, the risks 

 attendant on their use have disappeared. By the presence 

 of cooling coils in the one and only vessel in which nitro- 

 glycerine and acids are in contact, any undue rise in 

 temperature, always a possibility in the circumstances, can 

 be at once checked. It was not usual to have cooling 

 coils in the separator and after-separating bottles. 



(2) Reduction in Total Elevation for, and Area of a 

 Factory. — The abolition of the separator, and the running 

 off of the nitroglycerine from the top of nitrator, effect 

 a very material saving in the height required. 



The after-separating house being no longer necessary, 

 or the separator house when one existed as distinct from 

 the nitrating house, the number of buildings, and there- 

 fore the ground area, is substantially reduced. 



(j) Reduced Cost of Production. — This results from the 

 fact that the capital outlay for a factory is much less, that 

 fewer men are required for a given output, that there is 

 less plant and fewer buildings to maintain, and that the 

 plant itself suffers slower deterioration. Finally, the yield 

 of nitroglycerine is increased by at least 5 parts for every 

 100 parts of glycerine nitrated. 



The substitution recently of Nordhausen for ordinary 

 sulphuric acid has further improved the yield of nitro- 

 glycerine, and whereas a few years ago a yield of 210 

 parts of nitroglycerine for every too parts of glycerine 

 nitrated was considered excellent, the average yield at 

 Waltham Abbey is now 230 per cent., a very high figure 

 in view of the fact that the theoretical yield is 246-74 per 

 cent. The use of Nordhausen sulphuric acid also permits 

 of a considerable reduction in the proportion of nitrating 

 acid to glycerine, so that a larger output is obtainable 

 for any given sized plant. 



{To he continued.) 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Harv.\rd University has recognised the growing import- 

 ance of public health and preventive medicine by establish- 

 ing in its medical school a department exclusively devoted 

 to those subjects. It has appointed Dr. Milton J. Rosenau 

 to the professorship of hygiene and preventive medicine, 

 with the headship of the new department. Dr. Rosenau 

 has lately been professor of bacteriology at the Washington 

 Post-graduate Medical School. 



The council of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy 

 is prepared to offer five scholarships for the current year 

 (provided suitable candidates present themselves) of the 

 value of 50/. each, to assist graduates in mining or 

 metallurgy to take a practical course in mines or works 

 at home or abroad. The scholarships will be awarded to 

 graduates of the Royal School of Mines and other recog- 

 nised British mining colleges or schools. Further in- 

 formation may be obtained from the secretary of the 

 institution, Salisbury House, E.C. 



The following doctorates have been conferred by the 

 University of London upon internal and external students 

 for the theses mentioned and other papers : — Miss .Annie 

 Abram, " The Effects produced by Economic Changes upon 

 Social Life in England in the Fifteenth Century " : Mr. 

 P. Hartley, " On the Nature of the Fat contained in the 

 Liver, Kidney, and Heart " ; Mr. E. T. Mellor, " The 

 Geology of the Neighbourhood of Middelburg, &c."; Mr. 

 J. Stephenson, " Studies on the .\quatir Oligochxta of the 

 Puniab"; Mr. W. Makowcr, "On the .Active Denosit of 

 Radium "; and Mr. H. Stansfield, "The Echelon Spectro- 

 scope, its Secondary -Action, and the Structure of the 

 Green Mercury Line." 



NO. 2074, VOL. Si] 



,\t a recent meeting of the council of the University of 

 Bristol Dr. Lloyd Morgan tendered his resignation of the 

 office of Vice-Chancellor, and in accepting the same the 

 council placed upon record its sense of the distinguished 

 services rendered by him to the cause of university educa- 

 tion during the twentv-two vears of his tenure of office 

 as principal of University College, Bristol, and its hearty 

 acknowledgment of the 'unsparing manner in which he 

 has devoted his time and influence to the promotion of 

 the scheme for the foundation of the University of Bristol, 

 now brought to a successful issue. Sir Isambard Owen, 

 principal of .Armstrong College, Newcastle-on-Tyne, has 

 been elected Vice-Chancellor of the University, and Prof. 

 J. Michell Clarke Pro-\'ice-Chancellor. 



M.\NY evidences of the numerous activities of the Associa- 

 tion of Teachers in Technical Institutions are to be found 

 in the July issue of the association's journal, which is 

 published by the St. Bride's Press, Ltd. Addresses and 

 papers read 'at the annual conference, of which an account 

 appeared in N.^ture of June 10, are printed in the 

 periodical, and, in addition, there are several contributions 

 by members of the association on various branches of 

 technological chemistry. Prof. A. F. Holleman, of the 

 University of .Amsterdam, writes on substitution in the 

 benzene-nucleus, Mr. Frank E. Weston discusses thermic 

 reactions, and Mr. E. B. Naylor describes a course of 

 instruction in chemistry designed to meet the needs of a 

 mining centre. Full particulars are given also respecting 

 the administrative work both of the parent association and 

 its branches. 



Messrs. Corn'ish Brothers, Ltd., of Birmingham, have 

 published in pamphlet form the address delivered last 

 January by Sir Alexander B. W. Kennedy, F.R.S., in his 

 capacity of warden of the Guild of Undergraduates, to 

 the students of the University of Birmingham. The 

 address is entitled "The Complete Student," and contains 

 much wi.sc and kindly advice to young men entering upon 

 life. Earlv in the address Sir Alexander says :— " I am 

 sure that 'the exclusive use of our mental apparatus for 

 technical or professional or business matters, or equally 

 for artistic or scientific matters, renders the large part of 

 that apparatus which is adapted for far wider uses useless 

 and inert. The owner of only half a mind— especially if it 

 be only the money-making half— is a very poor person. 

 Moreover, even the one used half tends to become smaller 

 and less elastic as its owner grows older. As regards his 

 friends, such a one grows every year duller and more 

 stupid ; as regards his profession, he becomes less and less 

 able to appreciate its continually changing aspects ; as 

 regards himself, he has as deliberately thrown away half 

 of"the pleasure of existence as if he had chosen to shut 

 himself up all his days in a tube railway, beautifully 

 illuminated by arc lam'ps, but absolutely cut off from the 

 light of the sun." 



The London County Council Education Committee has 

 had under consideration lately the question of the attend- 

 ance of pupils residing outside the metropolitan area at 

 secondary schools within the administrative county of 

 London.' The inquiry has led to some interesting com- 

 parisons as to the r'atio existing between the gross cost 

 per pupil of the education provided in London secondary 

 schools and the amount of fees paid by the pupils. Taking 

 the case of the seventeen secondary schools provided and 

 managed by the committee, the gross estimated cost of 

 education per pupil, apart from . capital charges, vanes 

 from 12/. I4i. in the case of the D.alston County Secondary 

 School for Girls to 2yl. is. in the case of the Holloway 

 County Secondary School for Boys. The Board of Educa- 

 tion g'rant of 4I. 105. is uniform throughout these schools, 

 so that the net cost of education per pupil varies from 

 81. 4s. to 22L IIS. The fees charged to fee-paying pupils 

 vary from t\l. 10s. to 12I. a year per pupil. In the great 

 majority of the schools the fee charged is only about one- 

 half that of the net cost, and nearer one-third that of 

 the gross cost. In other words, London parents who send 

 their children to these county secondary schools are called 

 upon to pay onlv about one-third of what that education 

 costs. It would be a wise policy for the Education Com- 

 mittee to take steps to bring this fact home to the parents, 

 for at present evidences are not wanting that the facilities 



