510 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1274 



study the fea3ibility of determinationa of longi- 

 tude by Tvireless at widely distributed stations, and 

 report on what seems to be the proper time and 

 method for such imdertakings. 



Committee on Solar Sadiation : C. G. Abbott was 

 asked to prepare a report on solar radiation. 



Committee on the Spectrolieliograph : The Mount 

 Wilson Solar Observatory was asked to prepare a 

 report on work with the spectroheliograph. 



Committee on Reform of the Calendar: E. T. 

 Crawford, chairman; W. W. Campbell, Harold 

 Jacoby. 



The question of delegates to the Paris meet- 

 ing was left to the executive committee with 

 X)ower. 



It was voted that the section offer to act in 

 astronomical matters as the agent of the Di- 

 vision of Physical Sciences of the National 

 Research Council. 



Various other items of oi^anization and sci- 

 entific interest were discussed by the section 

 at the morning and afternoon sessions, and in 

 the evening, without formal action. 



Joel Stebbins, 



Secretary 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



WAR RESEARCHES AT ST. ANDREWS 

 UNIVERSITY 



The University of St. Andrews, as reported 

 by the London Times, has an interesting 

 record of scientific service during the war, 

 notwithstanding the fact that nearly all the 

 men students and members of the staff of 

 military age joined the fighting forces. 



One of the early difficulties encoimtered by 

 the British Admiralty and War Office was the 

 provision of the scarce and costly kinds of sugar 

 used in bacteriological work, which before the 

 war had been prepared in Germany. The St. 

 Andrews Laboratory was able to provide sup- 

 plies for the British and Allied governments. 

 In some cases the raw material itself was not 

 to be had and new synthetic methods were 

 devised for its production. The laboratory 

 took part in preparing novocain and the corre- 

 sponding intermediates, new processes being 

 developed which have been adopted success- 

 fully on a manufacturing scale. Other syn- 

 thetic drugs were also produced. 



Professor Irvine, the director of the labora- 

 tories, acted as chemical adviser to the De- 

 partment of Propellant Supplies, and for two 

 years and a half was responsible for investi- 

 gations relating to the manufacture of the 

 materials needed for making cordite. During 

 the last eighteen months of the war the lab- 

 oratory carried on researches into chemical 

 shellfillings. 



The general work of the university was re- 

 stricted during the war. But, owing to the 

 large number of women students, the courses 

 qualifying for useful professions were kept up 

 with the help of senior officials, who under- 

 took additional duties, and of extra women 

 teachers. 



Without knowing what financial help will 

 be forthcoming from the government or the 

 Carnegie Trust, it is impossible to say any- 

 thing very definite on the developments which 

 will take place in the new conditions created 

 by the war. The endowments of St. Andrews 

 leave little margin for expansion. But in 

 general the policy of the university author- 

 ities is rather to increase the facilities for 

 higher study and research in existing depart- 

 ments than to dissipate energies over a wider 

 range of subjects. The training of graduates 

 in research methods has been a special feature 

 of the university for many years. It is hoped 

 to extend the research laboratories and to en- 

 able research graduates in chemistry to com- 

 bine with a training based on fundamental 

 scientific principles a better knowledge of the 

 necessities and methods of manufacture. A 

 start has indeed already been made in this 

 direction. 



The imiversity has felt justified in providing 

 a Ph.D. degree open to graduates of British, 

 colonial and foreign universities on terms 

 similar to those which govern graduation in 

 German universities. Students who wish to 

 enter the university at a later age than usual 

 are to be encouraged by the removal of the 

 bar which they have hitherto met with in the 

 preliminary examinations. In pure science 

 the way is opened to more intensive specializa- 

 tion in the study for honor degrees. Syste- 



