September 26, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



299 



subsequent detonation of the shell. Also, the 

 Navy gas mask adopted was of a form such 

 as would make the gun's crew load and handle 

 the guns with the least possible interference, 

 and so this form was considerably different 

 from that adopted by the Armies of the world. 



The Navy trusts that the post-war needs 

 will find the chemists and officers of the serv- 

 ice much closer together than they were in 

 the pre-war days, and believes that such a con- 

 dition will take place because we have had the 

 pleasure of meeting so many of your organiza- 

 tion and know better to whom to apply to 

 obtain the necessary cooperation and advice. 



Bureau op Ordnance, 

 Navt Department 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE WELSH UNIVERSITY AND THE WELSH 

 NATIONAL MEDICAL SCHOOL 



In regard to the plans for the Welsh Na- 

 tional Medical School we learn from The 

 British Medical Journal that the university 

 deprecates the proposal of the Royal Com- 

 mission to make the medical school a separate 

 constituent college of the university, thus 

 severing the connection which has hitherto ex- 

 isted between Cardiff College and the school. 

 It is considered that anything which will tend 

 still further to separate .the medical studentts 

 from the general body of students, or to dis- 

 courage intercourse between the professors in 

 the medical and other faculties, is undesirable 

 from the educational point of view, and it is 

 stated that both the bodies concerned — the 

 university college and the hospital — are op- 

 posed to the change. At the same time the 

 universitty is fully alive to the importance of 

 organizing the medical school as an institution 

 of national and not merely of local concern. 

 It is believed that both these objects can be 

 attained ithrough the revised scheme in which 

 ultimate control is reserved to the university. 

 It is proposed that the college council shall be 

 the chief governing body of the school of med- 

 icine, but that it shall delegate to the board 

 of medicine wide administrative and execu- 

 tive functions and powers. Specific proposals 

 have now been put forward with regard to the 



remuneration of professors; it is poinjted out 

 that the fall in the value of money and the 

 increased scale of salaries now being adopted 

 in England make it clear that unless the 

 University of Wales is to be in a position of 

 permanent inferiority to the modem English 

 universities it will be necessary to fix a scale 

 substantially higher than the minimum fig- 

 ures proposed by the Royal Commission. It is 

 suggested that the figures should be — for pro- 

 fessorial chairs £800 to £1,000, for independ- 

 ent lectureships £500, for lectureships £400, 

 and for assistant lectureships £250. Certain 

 special proposals are made with regard to 

 chairs and lectureships in the faculty of medi- 

 cine. The adoption of the " unit " system is 

 advocated. The medical unit would consist of 

 two full-time teachers, a professor with a sal- 

 ary of £1,500, an assistant professor with £250, 

 and part-time lectures on toxicology and fo- 

 rensic medicine, and on dermatology, £100 

 each. The surgical unit, it is suggested, 

 should have three full-time teachers, a pro- 

 fessor with la salary of £1,500, two assistant 

 professors (one for practical surgery) £1,000; 

 part-time lecturers on orthopedics, genito- 

 urinary surgery, ophthalmology, and diseases 

 of the ear, nose and throat, each to receive 

 £100. The unit of gynecology and obstetrics 

 would have one full-itime professor (£1,500) 

 and one full-time assistant professor (£500). 

 There would be also an electrical department 

 with a medical superintendent (£500), and 

 clinics for psychiatry and neurology, pedia- 

 trics, dermatology, and dentistry, which it is 

 estimated will together cost £5,000 a year. 

 The salaries of the professors and assistant 

 professors have been fixed on the assumption 

 that having regard to their professorial duties 

 the incumbents would be very largely re- 

 stricted in private praatise. 



CONFERENCE ON THE ORGANIZATION OF 

 RESEARCH IN ENGLAND 



Part of the scheme devised by the Depart- 

 ment of Scientific and Industrial Research 

 for the administration of the funds placed at 

 its disposal by Parliament was the formation 

 of associations among groups of manufac- 



