AveustT 23, 1918] 
AFTER due consideration of a number of 
proposals for the alteration of the British sys- 
tem of weights and measures, such as the 
compulsory adoption of the metrie system and 
the decimalization of the existing weights and 
measures, the British trade committee has 
decided against any compulsory changes at 
the present juncture, but recommends a con- 
tinuation of the efforts toward simplification 
in the teaching of weights and measures and 
the use of decimal subdivision of basic 
weights, such as the cental of 100 pounds in- 
stead of the hundredweight (112 pounds) and 
the short ton of 2,000 pounds. The committee 
recognizes the value of the proposal for the 
decimalization of the sovereign, which would 
be divided into 1,000 mils, the mil being worth 
4 per cent. less than the farthing. It believes, 
however, that considering “the magnitude of 
the disturbance which the alteration in the 
value of the penny would cause in the lives of 
the great body of wage earners, retail shop- 
keepers and their customers . . . the introduc- 
tion of such a change would be inexpedient 
at a time when the social, industrial and finan- 
cial organization of the country will be faced 
with numerous and exceptional difficulties.” 
THE second reading of the British Coinage 
(Decimal System) Bill was moved by Lord 
Southwark in the House of Lords on June 4. 
Lord Leverhulme opposed the motion, though 
he was not against the principle of decimal 
coinage. He objected to making the sovereign 
the unit and dividing it into one thousand 
parts, and he thought that a British decimal 
system of coinage should be based upon the 
halfpenny. After discussion, the debate was 
adjourned on the understanding that the gov- 
ernment will institute an inquiry into the 
whole question of decimal coinage, including 
the proposals contained in Lord Southwark’s 
bill. 
Tue Bureau of Mines announces the per- 
fection of a type of electric melting furnace 
that may be revolutionary in the making of 
brass. Patents on this furnace, known as the 
rocking electric furnace, have been taken out 
by the bureau and have been assigned to Sec- 
retary Lane as trustee. Free licenses to ope- 
SCIENCE 
191 
rate these furnaces under the patents, it is 
understood, can be obtained by making appli- 
cation through Van. H. Manning, director of 
the Bureau of Mines. The new furnace, which 
it is claimed will reduce the important losses 
in brass melting, is the result of five years’ 
experimentation by H. W. Gillett, chemist of 
the Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the 
laboratory of Cornell University, the Ameri- 
can Institute of Metals, and a number of 
manufacturers of brass. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
NEWS 
By the will of the late Lord Rhondda the 
governing body of Gonville and Caius College, 
Cambridge, will receive out of the residue of 
his estate the sum of £20,000, to be applied at 
its discretion for the benefit of the college, 
but preferably in the establishment and main- 
tenance of six to ten scholarships tenable at 
the college for mathematics, natural science, 
or moral science (including economics), pref- 
erence being given, ceteris paribus, in the 
awarding of such scholarships to residents or 
sons of residents in Wales or Monmouthshire. 
A. H. Benton, assistant professor of farm 
management, at the University of Minnesota, 
has accepted a position as professor and chief 
of the division of farm management and rural 
economics at the Manitoba Agricultural Col- 
lege. 
A. B. Cosiz, associate professor of mathe- 
matics in Johns Hopkins University, has ac- 
cepted a professorship of mathematics in the 
University of Illinois to begin work in Sep- 
tember. 
Dr. Aven Nexson has been appointed presi- 
dent of the University of Wyoming. 
DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 
' PSEUDO-PSYCHOLOGY 
To tHe Epitor or Science: Through no 
fault of their own, not a few instructors of ele- 
mentary psychology to my knowledge spend 
many an arduous hour trying to indicate to 
undiscriminating minds both what psychology 
