?6o 



NA TURE 



[September i6, 1909 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



A NUMBER of resolutions concerned with education were 

 adopted last week at the Trade Union Congress held at 

 Ipswich. Some called for the State maintenance of school 

 children, for scientific physical education, and the develop- 

 ment of the medical department of the Board of Education. 

 Others demanded that secondary and technical education 

 be an integral part of every child's education, and be 

 secured by such a reform and extension of the scholarship 

 system as would place a maintenance scholarship within 

 the reach of every child, and thus make it possible for all 

 children to be full-time day pupils up to the age of sixteen ; 

 and that the best intellectual and technical training be 

 provided for the teachers of the children, that each educa- 

 tional district be required to train the number of pupil 

 teachers demanded by local needs and to establish training 

 colleges, preferably in connection with universities or 

 university colleges. The interest in education thus mani- 

 fested by the leaders of our working men may be regarded 

 as a gratifying sign of the times. All who desire the 

 welfare of the nation would welcome any real improvement 

 in our system of educating suitably the men upon whom 

 the success of our industries largely depends ; but many 

 competent persons will doubt the wisdom of the great 

 extension of our scholarship system demanded by the Trade 

 Union Congress. In any system of awarding scholarships 

 every care must be taken to ensure that each scholarship 

 holder has shown by his previous record that he is mentally 

 aualified to benefit by the secondary and technical educa- 

 tion which the scholarship makes possible, and will com- 

 plete the course at the school. It is important to educate 

 every person to the full extent of his capabilities, but it 

 is folly to imagine that every boy or girl who is made 

 to attend a technical school must of necessity be able to 

 benefit from such attendance. 



The technical colleges throughout the country are now 

 issuing their programmes of work for the coming session. 

 We have received the educational announcements of the 

 Northampton Polytechnic Institute, Clerkenwell, the 

 syllabus of classes at the Sir John Cass Technical Insti- 

 tute, Aldgate, London, and the prospectus of the East 

 Ham Technical College evening classes. The educational 

 aim of the Northampton Institute is to provide classes in 

 technological and trade subjects, attention being first paid 

 to the immediate requirements of Clerkenwell, the district 

 of London in which the institute stands. The day courses 

 are for students willing to give the whole of their time 

 for one, two, or more years to a systematic training in 

 technology. Day courses are provided in mechanical 

 engineering, electrical engineering, watch-making, and 

 horojogical engineering. In horology, a very large amount 

 of time is given to workshop practice. There are also 

 day^ courses in technical optics, electrochemistry, and other 

 subjects. Evening classes are held in a very great variety 

 of subjects. At the Aldgate institution graded courses of 

 study extending over several years are provided in the 

 various departments, and also special lectures, with 

 accompanying laboratory practice, are given to meet the 

 needs of persons holding responsible positions in the manu- 

 facturing establishments in the neighbourhood who desire 

 to keep in touch with modern developments in applied 

 science. Among the announcements of such special work 

 may be mentioned the course on liquid, gaseous, and solid 

 fuel arranged for the benefit of workers in chemical and 

 engineering establishments and others concerned with the 

 use of fuel as a motive power ; that on the fermentation 

 industries, with particular attention to microbiology : and 

 that concerned with metallurgical problems. The evening 

 classes at East Ham are under the general supervision of 

 a responsible principal, and it is consequently possible for 

 a student to obtain advice in the direction of securing a 

 properly coordinated course of study continuing from year 

 to year. The numerous classes are adapted particularly 

 to meet the requirements of j'oimg men .and wom'"-n 

 engaged in the manual and other industrial trades of the 

 locality. 



NO. 2081, VOL. 81] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, Septemb-r 6. — M. Buuchard in the 

 chair. — The theoretical tides of the geoid, on the hypo- 

 thesis of an absolute rigidity of the earth : Ch. Lallemand. 

 Defining the geoid as the surface of mean level confining 

 a volume equal to that of the globe, the mean tides at 

 the equator are worked out for both the solar and lunar 

 waves. — The Brownian movement and molecular constants : 

 Jean Perrin and M. Dabrovwski, Experiments have been 

 made on two emulsions of different substances containing 

 minute particles in suspension. The results are applied to 

 determine the constant N of Avogadro in Einstein's 

 formula, and also in a formula based on the distribution 

 of the particles under the action of gravity. The former 

 leads to a value of 70x10", and the latter to 70-5x10^''. 

 The close accord of these results is a striking confirmation 

 of the kinetic theory on which the formula are based. 

 The most probable value of the charge of the electron e 

 from these values is 4.1x10-'°. — Calorimetric and cryo- 

 scopic constants of mercuric bromide : M. Guinchant. 

 The measured latent heat of fusion gives a cryoscopic con- 

 stant according to van 't Hoff's formula of 403 ; actual 

 crNoscopic determinations in various solvents furnished a 

 constant of 283 to 407, the average value being 340. — The 

 life of fungi in fatty media : A. Roussy. For various 

 moulds it was found that fatty substances were capable of 

 replacing carbohydrates in culture media. The concentra- 

 tions of fat most favourable for growth of the moulds were 

 determined. — Some wild yams of Madagascar ; Her;ri 

 Jumelle and H. Perrier de la Bathie. — The experimental 

 transmi?fion of exanthematic typhus by the bodv louse : 

 Charles Nicolle, C. Comte, and E. Conseil. — The geo- 

 logical strudure of the peninsula of Cape Bon, Tunis : 

 A. Allemand-Martin. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Principles of Igneous Petrology. By J. S. F. . . . 331 



A Popular Mammal Book. By R. L 312 



Applied Mechanics. By T. H. B 332 



A Belgian Botanist 333 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Symington and Rankin: "An Atlas of Skiagrams, 

 illustrating the Development of the Teeth, with 



Explanatory Text " 334 



Frey : " Mineralogie und Geologie fiir schweizerische 



Mittelschulen."— G. A. J. C 334 



Shelley: " Gilbert White and Selborne " 334 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The .Summer Season of 1909. (Willi Diagram. ) — 



Alex. B. MacDowall ■ • ■ 335 



A New Mineral from a Gnld-washing Locality in the 



Ural Mountains. — P. Walther 335 



The Benham Top.— Charles E. Benham 335 



The Approaching Opposition of Mars. (Iliiis/ra/t-d.) 



By William E. Rolston 336 



Polar Expeditions and Observations . 338 



Chemistry in the Service of the State. By C. S. . . 340 



The British Association at Winnipeg 341 



Section G. — Engineering, — Opening Address by Sir 

 W. H. White, K.C.B., Sc.D., LL.D.. F.R.S., 



President of the Section 342 



Notes. (IllKslratid.) 351 



Our Astrononaical Column : — 



Bailey's Comet Re-discovered 355 



Observations of Mars 355 



A Large Group of Sun-spots 35^ 



The Transvaal Observatory 35^ 



Artificial Imitation of Lunar Landscape 35^ 



Temperature and Pressure Conditions in the .Solar 



Atmosphere 35^ 



Parallax of the Double Star 2 2398 35^ 



Our Food from the Waters. By Prof. W. A. 



Herdman, F.R.S 356 



University and Educational Intelligence 360 



Societies and Academies 360 



