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Coal Mines Act, 1911), one in engineering, one in metallurgy, one for architects and builders, one for teachers (dealing with geology, physics, and chemistry), one on the electrification of collieries, and one on gas detection and analysis and by-product recovery. Further particulars can be obtained from the chief education official, County Hall, Cardiff.

THE number of foreign students in German universities, according to the Nieuwe Courant, was 1438 during the last winter semester, as against 4715 in the previous summer. The decline is primarily due to the removal of about 2600 students belonging to hostile countries. The students from Austria-Hungary numbered 547, as against 814 last summer; the corresponding decline was :-For Switzerland from 312 to 146; for Rumania 146 to 111; for Bulgaria 131 to 105; for Holland there was an increase from 37 to 44. During the war foreign students have shown a strong preference for Berlin; the chief decline in their numbers being at Königsberg, Göttingen, Marburg, Munich, Strassburg, Freiburg, and Heidelberg.

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SEVERAL gifts in aid of higher education announced in the issue of Science for April 23. Harvard University receives 20,000l. by the will of the late Mr. James J. Myers, of Cambridge, Mass., and further bequests amounting to 14,600l., to be devoted to cancer research at the Harvard Medical School, announced. By the will of Mrs. L. L. Ogden Whaling, of Cincinnati, Miami University receives 54,000l. The residue of the estate is to be divided between Miami University and the Cincinnati Museum Association, and it is said that each institution may receive 40,000l. The Addison Brown collection of plants offered to Amherst College by Mrs. Brown in memory of her husband has now come into possession of the college. Containing many thousands of specimens collected in the United States, Mexico, Porto Rico, the Hawaiian Islands, and elsewhere, it is the largest accession ever received by the department.

THE Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies has issued revised courses of reading and examinations in practical agriculture. Reading courses have for some years been established under the direction of the department for the purpose of enabling overseers on estates, and others engaged in agriculture, to acquire by reading knowledge they can apply in their everyday work. Examinations are held periodically at various centres in the West Indies for persons who have previous been registered as students in reading courses. Registration in reading courses entitles students to certain publications of the department which are recommended for reading. The certificates awarded by the department at the examinations are intended to be a guarantee of a sound general knowledge of the fundamental principles underlying the practice of agriculture, and also a practical knowledge of at least two crops and their products, such as sugar, cacao, cotton, limes, rice, coco-nuts, and bananas.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.
LONDON.

Royal Society, May 6.-Sir Alfred Kempe, vicepresident and treasurer, in the chair.-G. W. Walker: Some problems illustrating the forms of nebulæ. The paper is concerned with the form of the surfaces of equal density when a quantity of gaseous material at uniform temperature, and following Boyle's law as regards pressure and density, is at rest under its own gravitation. The differential equation for these surfaces is not linear. In the two-dimensional case Pockels obtained the solution in terms of two arbitrary

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functions of complex variables. In the paper the solution is put in a form which must give real positive density anywhere. Three cases only are considered which illustrate respectively aring nebula, a pear-shaped nebula, and a nebula with two equal nuclei. Some consequences of motion of the material are considered.Hon. R. J. Strutt: Observations on the resonance radiation of sodium vapour. (1) The centres emitting resonance radiation of sodium vapour excited by the D lines are not persistent enough to be carried along when the vapour is distilled away from the place of excitation. This result is extraordinary, because it contrasts absolutely with the behaviour of sodium vapour excited electrically. It also contrasts absolutely with the behaviour of mercury vapour, whether excited optically (2536 resonance radiation) or electrically. (2) The resonance radiation of sodium cannot be seen through even a very dilute layer of sodium vapour placed in front of it-a layer quite transparent to white light. This explains why the spot of superficial resonance produced on the wall of a glass bulb can only be seen from in front, when the light passes to the eye without traversing sodium vapour. From the back it cannot be seen, as Dunoyer has observed. (3) The resonance radiation of sodium vapour is changed in intensity when the vapour is placed in a magnetic field. If the exciting flame is weakly salted, the radiation diminishes with increasing strength. If the exciting flame is strongly salted, the radiation increases to a maximum and then diminishes again. (4) A change in intensity of resonance radiation can also be observed when the exciting flame is placed in the magnetic field. In this case a weak flame gives diminished radiation in the field, while a strong flame gives increased radiation in the field. (5) All the facts summarised under (3) and (4) can be explained qualitatively and quantitatively, so far as the available data will go, by taking into account the known Zeeman resolution of the D lines, and the observed width and structure of these lines as emitted by the flames used. The latter data were obtained by observation with a concave grating of high resolution.-Hertha Ayrton: Local differences of pressure near an obstacle in oscillating water. When the water is approaching the mean level there is a diminution of pressure, or partial vacuum, created in the lee of the obstacle. When the water is departing from the mean level the diminution of pressure continues high up on the lee side, but over the lower part there is a pressure in the opposite direction to that of the main stream. The jet in the first part of a swing is due to the local current created by the local difference of pressure; the vortex in the second part of the swing is due to the conjunction of the main stream with the opposing local current set up by the local pressure difference.

Geological Society, April 14.-Dr. A. Smith Woodward, president, in the chair.-S. H. Warren: Further observations upon the Late Glacial, or Ponder's End, stage of the Lea Valley. With notes on the Mollusca by A. S. Kennard and B. B. Woodward. The paper is supplementary to one previously published, and describes additional sections which increase the range of the deposits. They have now been traced for a distance of 6 miles along the valley and 2 miles across it. The section at Hedge Lane, Lower Edmonton, shows several thick, and for the most part undisturbed, Arctic plant-beds, which occur in a deep Driftfilled channel. The relative levels and stratigraphy point to the conclusion that the Hedge Lane deposits belong to a slightly earlier stage of the Low-Terrace River-drift than the deposits of Ponder's End. Broadly speaking, they undoubtedly belong to the same group. It is suggested that it would be a convenience if the

East Anglian word "platymore were adopted for the underlying eroded floor of country-rock beneath a later accumulation of drift. The importance of this "platymore" surface in the correlation of Drift deposits has been increasingly recognised during recent years. The view that the lower river-terraces are later than the higher river-terraces is supported. Further evidence is also brought forward in support of the view that the Arctic deposits form an integral part of the LowTerrace Drift. One section appears to suggest that the climate became nearly as temperate as that of the present day before the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros became extinct.

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April 28.-Dr. A. Smith Woodward, president, in the chair.---Prof. G. A. J. Cole: A posite gneiss near Barna in the County of Galway. The great mass of granite west of Galway town is seen on its northern margin to be intrusive in a metamorphosed series of Dalradian quartzites, limestones, and mica-schists, and has received a foliation which is parallel with the bedding of this series; this foliation is ascribed by the author to the partial absorption of sheets of the bedded series into its mass. Traces of similar intermingling occur in Townparks (Galway town) and west of Barna. At Furbogh Bridge, the granite contains pink crystals of orthoclase, at times 10 cm. long in the direction of the vertical axis, and these have become stranded, as it were, among the foliation-planes of dark green biotiteschist, into which they were carried by an intimate intermingling of the granite with the schist into which it flowed. Quartz and smaller felspar-crystals from the granite abound in the resulting composite gneiss, and the general effect is comparable with that of igneous intermixtures described from County Down and Skye. In the Galway instance, however, there is no sign of general fusion of the invaded rock, which retains its original foliation and controls the structure of the composite mass.-Prof. S. H. Reynolds: Further work on the igneous rocks associated with the Carboniferous Limestone of the Bristol district. The paper gives an account of the additional information, concerning the Carboniferous volcanic rocks of north Somerset, which has become available, largely through digging trial-holes, since the publication in the Q.J.G.S. for 1904 (vol. lx.) of a paper by Prof. Lloyd Morgan and the author on the subject. The rocks occur at five localities:-(1) Goblin Combe; (2) Uphill; (3) Limeridge Wood, Tickenham; (4) Spring Cove and Milton Hill, Weston-super-Mare; and (5) Woodspring or Middle Hope. At Goblin Combe, as the result of digging nearly forty trial-holes, it was ascertained that the igneous rocks form two discontinuous, somewhat crescentic masses, each consisting of olivine-basalt overlain by a considerable thickness of calcareous tuff. At Uphill, the evidence obtained was insufficient to determine whether the basalt is a sill or a lava-flow. At Limeridge Wood, Tickenham, where only débris of basalt had previously been recorded, the presence of an oval mass measuring about 60 by 25 yards was proved by digging trial-holes, and the fact that it is completely surrounded by limestone indicates its intrusive character. Several additional exposures are described on Milton Hill, where the lava forms a band about 150 ft. thick. The lava at Middle Hope or Woodspring is shown to form an irregular and discontinuous mass.

Royal Meteorological Society, April 21.- -Capt. H. G. Lyons, president, in the chair.-H. Helm Clayton : A study of the moving waves of weather in South America. It is the custom in most meteorological services for the forecaster to make a mental estimate of the changes to be anticipated during the succeeding twenty-four or forty-eight hours. In order to

improve on this method and to raise forecasting from an art to a science, the author believes it is essential to replace estimates by quantitative measurements of expected changes and to make quantitative forecasts. He gave an interesting example of such a method as applied to one of the Argentine weather maps. -E. H. Chapman : Correlation between changes in barometric height at stations in the British Isles. This was an attempt to discover the relationships existing between the changes in the barometric height at one place and another during the same and also different intervals of time. The conclusion arrived at is that the best information for foretelling barometric changes at any station is from a station south-west of it, the statistical measure of the accuracy with which such a change can be foretold being expressed in a correlation coefficient.

MANCHESTER.

Literary and Philosophical Society, April 13.—Mr. F. Nicholson, president, in the chair.-H. Day: Some points bearing on the relationship of the fishes and the amphibia. The author deals with three specimens of the so-called parasphenoid bone in Rhadinichthys monensis from the Manchester Museum collection. The three specimens together give an excellent idea of both dorsal and ventral surfaces of the bone, so that an accurate description can be given, thus providing material for a determination of the relations and homology of this bone in the Crossopterygian fishes and in the primitive Reptilia and Amphibia. It was shown that in all these groups the bone is really compound, consisting of parasphenoid and basisphenoid combined, and also that the bone is remarkably constant in its form and relations. The remarkable constancy in form was contrasted with the entirely different form of parasphenoid which prevails in fossil and living Dipnoi, and was brought forward as a strong argument in favour of a development of the Tetrapoda from a Crossopterygian Ganoid stock rather than from the Dipnoi. Further, it was pointed out that in all cases this bone takes part in the suspension of the upper jaw, a process of the metapterygoid region of the palato-quadrate uniting with the basipterygoid process of the basisphenoid region of this compound para-basi-sphenoid bone. This "pedicular connection thus constitutes a form of autostyly common to the Crossopterygii and the primitive Amphibia and Reptilia, but totally different from the autostyly found in Dipnoi, which latter type is never found in the Tetrapoda. Hence the common pedicular autostyly forms another argument in favour of a Crossopterygian derivation of the Tetrapoda as opposed to the Dipnoian derivation.

PARIS.

Academy of Sciences, May 3.-M. Ed. Perrier in the chair.-Gaston Darboux: The representation on a plane of the surface of the fourth order with double conic.G. Bigourdan: The comparison of the scintillation and the instrumental undulations of celestial images under various influences. Supplementing an earlier communication the effects of magnetic disturbances, aurora borealis, barometric depressions, neighbourhood of clouds, azimuth, and twilight are discussed, the observations of various observers on these points being quoted.-M. de Sparre: The trajectory of projectiles thrown from aeroplanes or balloons.-Pierre Delbet : A prothetic apparatus with co-ordinated movements for use after amputation of the thigh. The apparatus described facilitates walking and conceals the deformity.-J. Kampé de Fériet: A generalisation of the series of Lagrange and of Laplace.-Pierre Humbert : A figure of equilibrium of fluids in rotation.-E. Vaillant The laws of flow in drops through capillary

orifices.-Léon Bloch: Optical resonance in the magnetic field.-A. Leduc : The determination of the ratio y by means of the velocity of sound. A discussion of the values of the ratio of the two specific heats of gases and vapours obtained from experimental determinations of the velocity of sound. The author concludes that the values of y thus obtained are generally inexact.-N. Arabu: Studies on the tertiary formations of the basin of the Sea of Marmora.-Henry Hubert: The distribution of rain in western Africa.-Henri Coupin: The morphogenic action of increased salinity on the marine bacteria. Increasing the salt percentage in the culture media of marine bacilli increases the length of the organisms and in some instances transforms them into true Spirillæ.-Robert Sorel Wounds received in battle and the sun cure. A list of cases cured in the Alexandra Hospital at Monte-Carlo by sun treatment.-Maxime Ménard: The radioscopic localisation of foreign bodies by the method of Hirtz. CALCUTTA.

Asiatic Society of Bengal, April 7.-P. Brown: A preliminary note on the prehistoric cave paintings at Raigarh. These were originally discovered on the rock-surface of a shallow cave in the State of Raigarh, Central Provinces, by Mr. C. W. Anderson, of the B.N. Railway, in 1910. This note is the result of a visit to the caves in March, 1915, by the author and Mr. C. W. Anderson. Certain geological evidences were obtained on the occasion, such as agate implements, etc., which have been submitted to the Geological Survey for investigation. The cave containing the paintings is apparently only the ruin of a much larger excavation. At some remote age the entire front must have fallen in, thus hermetically sealing up the cave and preserving the drawings. At a much more recent date the débris which had thus closed up the opening broke away and slipped another stage down the cliff, exposing the remains of the paintings to view. The paintings are mainly hunting scenes, and in some instances bear a remarkable resemblance to the cave paintings at Cojul in Spain, which are said to be 50,000 years old. In the technique there is also a striking similarity to some of the "cross lined " pottery of prehistoric Egypt. The paintings are evidently of very great antiquity, probably older by thousands of years than any other paintings yet discovered in India.-J. Evershed: Sun-spots and prominences.-W. Burns and S. H. Prayag: Grafting the mango-inflorescence. Starting from the observation that the inflorescence of Mangifera indica, L., often becomes partly or wholly vegetative, a phenomenon already studied by Burkill and Bose, the authors give an account of experiments on the artificial production of mixed inflorescences by grafting an inflorescence either on a vegetative branch or on another inflorescence, the grafted inflorescence either dying after the ripening of the fruit which it bears or sometimes persisting and producing vegetative axillary branches.—M. O. Parthasarathy Iyengar: Observations on the defoliation of some Madras trees. author takes as his starting point the observation that, in Madras, trees do not remain in a leafless condition during the period of drought, but produce fresh leaves during the latter period, and he concludes that, in the case of Madras trees, the leaf-fall is not due to the failure of water-supply, but possibly due to the necessity of a replacement of the old by fresh, physiologically more efficient leaves, the greater efficiency of the latter being due to their cuticle being less permeable to water, to their stomatal mechanism being more perfect, to their being less charged with excretionary matter and less clogged by dust, and to greater vitality. The fall of the older leaves may also be caused by successful competition of the grow

The

ing young leaves for supply of materials. The author also directs attention to the fact that prolonged wet weather may cause trees to shed their leaves. He deals in greater detail with a group of trees-called by him the Odina group-which remain in a leafless condition for a considerable length of time, and which flower while in the leafless condition. Defoliation due to salt-laden sea-breezes is referred to, and a number of special cases are considered in greater detail.-P. F. Fyson: Note on the flora of the South Indian Highlands. The region considered comprises those parts of the Nilgiri and Palney Hills which rise above the 6500-ft. level. Forty-five per cent. of the 430 indigenous phanerogamic species are endemic in South India and Ceylon, 17 per cent. are shared with the Khasia Hills, 12 per cent. occur also in the temperate Himalayas, and 9 per cent. are Chinese and Japanese.-W. F. Smeeth: The geological history of southern India. A general account of the geology of Mysore.-H. C. Das-Gupta: Palæontological notes from Hazara. In this paper the author has described a few fossils obtained from the Triassic, Jurassic, Gieumal, and Tertiary beds of Hazara, and these fossils include one new species of Corbula (C. middlemissii), and another new species of Nautilus (N. hazaraenois).-H. V. Nanjundayya: Some aspects of ethnographic work.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

The Earth: its Life and Death. By Prof. A. Berget. Translated by E. W. Barlow. Pp. xi+371. (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons.) 7s. 6d. net.

The Principles of Fruit-Growing. By L. H. Bailey. Twentieth edition. Pp. xiv +432. (New York: The Macmillan Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 7s. 6d. net.

Fly-Fishing: Some New Arts and Mysteries. By J. C. Mottram. Pp. xii+272. (London: The Field and Queen (Horace Cox), Ltd.) 5s. net.

Improved Four-Figure Logarithm Table. By G. C. McLaren. Pp. 27. (Cambridge: At the University Press.) IS. 6d. net.

The Golden Bough. By Sir. J. G. Frazer. Third edition. Vol. xii. Bibliography and General Index. Pp. vii+ 536. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.)

20s. net.

The Complete Science of Fly Fishing and Spinning. By F. G. Shaw. Pp. xiii+432. (London: The Author, Neville Court, Abbey Road, N.W.) 218.

Tropical Diseases Research Fund. Report of the Advisory Committee for the Year 1914. Pp. iv + 248. (London: H.M.S.O.; Wyman and Sons, Ltd.)_2s. 3d. New Zealand. Department of Mines. N.Z. Geological Survey. Palæontological Bulletin, No. Revision of the Tertiary Mollusca of New Zealand. By H. Suter. Part i. Pp. v+64 + plates. (Wellington, N.Z. J. Mackay.)

2.

Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania for the Year 1914. Pp. 112. (Hobart : Royal Society.)

Land and Freshwater Mollusca of India. Supplementary to Messrs. Theobald and Hanley's Conchologia Indica. By Lieut.-Col. H. A. Godwin-Austen.

Vol. ii. Plates cxxxiii-clviii. Vol. ii. Part xii. December. Pp. 311-442. (London: Taylor and Francis.) 255.

Practical Physical Chemistry. By J. B. Firth. Pp. xii +178. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd.) 2s. 6d. Index to Periodicals. Compiled by various authorities and arranged by A. C. Piper. Vol. i. April-September, 1914. Pp. xxxii+ 192. (London: Stanley Paul and Co.) 21s. net.

Bacon's Conteur Atlas. Lancashire and Yorkshire

edition. Pp. 41. South Wales edition. Pp. 41. North England edition. Pp. 41. (London : G. W. Bacon and Co., Ltd.) Each 6d. net. Infant Mortality. By Dr. H. T. Ashby. 229. (Cambridge: At the University Press.)

net.

Pp. x+ 10s. 6d. A First Geography of the British Isles. By W. M. Carey. Pp. vi+ 169. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 1s. 6d.

Haeckel's Frauds and Forgeries. By Prof. J. Assmuth and E. R. Hull. Pp. 104. (London: B. Herder.) 6d. net.

Combinatory Analysis, by Major P. A. MacMahon. Vol. i. Pp. xix+ 300. (Cambridge: At the University Press.) 15s. net.

The Medical Annual, 1915. Pp. cxx+830. (Bristol: J. Wright and Sons, Ltd.; London: Simpkin and Co., Ltd.)

IOS. net.

DIARY OF SOCIETIES.

THURSDAY, MAY 13.

ROYAL SOCIETY, at 4.-Election of Fellows. At 4.30.-The Development of the Thymus, Epithelial Bodies and Thyroid in the Vulpine Phalanger (Trichosurus vulpecula): Elizabeth A. Fraser and Prof. J. P. Hill.-Some Observations on the Development of the Thymus, Epithelial Bodies and Thyroid in Phascolarctos, Phascolomys and Perameles: Elizabeth A. Fraser.-Measurement of the Specific Heat of Steam at Atmospheric Pressure and 104'5 C., with a Preface by Prof. H. L. Callendar.-Thermal Properties of Carbonic Acid at Low Temperatures. II.: C. F. Jenkin and D. R. Pye.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, at 3.-The Movements and Activities of Plants: Prof. V. H. Blackman.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS, at 4.30.-Indian Trade and the War: Sir C. H. Armstrong.

IRON AND STEEL. INSTITUTE, at 10.30.-A Selection of: Diffusion of Carbon in Iron: F. W. Adams.-Supplementary Notes on the Forms in which Sulphides may exist in Steel Ingots. II.: Prof. J. O. Arnold and G. R. Bolsover. Researches on Iron, Silicon and Carbon Alloys: G. Charpy and A. Cornu-Corrosion of Iron in Aqueous Solutions of Inorganic Salts: Dr. J. A. Newton Friend and P. C. Barnet.-(1) Relative Corrodibilities of Gray Cast Iron and Steel; (2) Note on the Removal of Rust by means of Chemical Reagents: Dr. J. A. Newton Friend and C. W. Marshall.-Co nmunication on the Heating of an Open-hearth Furnace by means of Tar: Dr. A. Greiner.-Sound Steel Ingots and Rails: Sir R. A. Hadfield and Dr. G. K. Burgess.-The Nature of the Ag Transformation in Iron: K. Honda. - Brinell Hardness and Tenacity Factors of a series of Heat-treated Special Steels; Dr. A. McWilliam and E. J. Barnes.-Thermo-electric Properties of Special Steels: A. M Portevin and E. L. Dupuy.-Stress-strain Loops for Steel in the Cyclic State: Dr. J. H. Smith and G. A. Wedgwood.-Detection of Burning in Steel, and Iron, Carbon, and Phosphorus: Dr. J. E. Stead.

FRIDAY, MAY 14.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, at 9.-The Archives of Westminster Abbey: Rev. E. H. Pearce.

IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE, at 10.30.-A Selection of Papers mentioned above.

ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, at 5.-Measures of Double Stars: E. Doolittle.-The Mechanics of Spiral Nebula: S. Brodetsky. -Note on Schjellerup's Discussion of the Occultations in the Amalgest: J. K. Fotheringham. -The Irregular Movement of the Earth's Axis of Rotation: Contribution towards the Analysis of its Causes: Sir J. Larmor and Col. Hills. -Note on the Solution of Hill's Equation: Sir J. Larmor.A Method of Solving Spherical Triangles, etc., by the Use of a Simple Table of Squares: H. H. Turner.-The Short Period Variable RR Lyræ: C. Martin and H. C. Plummer.-Preliminary Discussion of Three Year's Observations with the Cookson Floating Zenith Telescope: H. S. Jones. -The Greenwich R-D System: W. G. Thackeray.-Probable Papers: A Determination of the Systematic Motions of the Stars from their Radial Velocities: A. S. Eddington and W. E. Hartley.-The Serious Effect of Suspension on the Kate of a Watch: J. J. Shaw.-Dates of Maximum of S Herculis: T. E. R. Phillips.

INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.-The Distribution of
Heat in the Cylinder of a Gas-engine: Prof. A. H. Gibson and W. J.
Walker.

MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY, at 8.-A Dibranchiate Cephalopod (Plesioteuthis)
from the Lithographic Stone of Bavaria: G. C. Crick.-Description of a
New Species of Zingis from British South West Africa: J. R. le B.
Tomlin.-Diagnosis of a New Species of Dyakia: G. K. Gude.
PHYSICAL SOCIETY, at 8.-Precision Resistance Measurements with Simple
Apparatus: E. H. Rayner. -Some Novel Laboratory Experiments: F. W.
Jordan. -Electrically Maintained Vibrations: S. Butterworth.

SATURDAY, MAY 15.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, at 3.-Advances in the Study of Radio-active Bodies: Prof. F. Soddy.

MONDAY, MAY 17.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, at 3-Anniversary Meeting.
VICTORIA INSTITUTE, at 4.30.-Weights and Measures of the Hebrews:
Prof. R. S. Kennedy.

ARISTOTELIAN SOCIETY, at 8.-Synthesis and Complexity (Bergson): Miss
K. Costelloe (Mrs. Stephen).

ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS, at 8.-Foodstuffs: Dr. D. Sommerville.

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ROYAL SOCIETY, at 4.30.-Probable Papers: The Corpuscular Radiations Liberated in Vapours by Homogeneous X-Radiation: H. Moore.-The Absorption in Lead of y Rays Emitted by Radium B and Radium C = H. Richardson. - The Application of Interference Methods to the Study of the Origin of Certain Spectrum Lines: T. R. Merton.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, at 3.-The Movements and Activities of Plants: Prof. H. Blackman.

INSTITUTION of Mining and MetalluRGY, at 8.

AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY, at 8.30.-Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture-The
Rigid Dynamics of Circling Flight: Prof. G. H. Bryan.
FRIDAY, MAY 21.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, at 9.-Beauty, Design, and Purpose in Foraminifera :
E. Heron-Allen.

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IN

THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1915.

SCIENCE AND THE STATE.

N the Chemical News of April 30 there is a very moderate article emphasising what has been frequently preached in vain the necessity of a close connection between the public Services and men of science. It is argued that the present is a special opportunity of again advocating the necessity of intimate co-ordination of effort; the societies have ever been willing to render gratuitous service; the Royal Society, for example, has for long put at the disposal of the Government the knowledge and advice of experts in all branches of science. The writer of the article, however, directs attention to the comparative scarcity of young men trained in research, and points out that it is by no means easy for a young graduate to obtain employment otherwise than by teaching. To rectify this state of affairs, he suggests the foundation of research institutes, where such young men could find employment (remunerative, it is to be presumed). These institutes should, it is remarked, be directed by men of eminence in their own branches, free from the irksome duty of teaching. The writer of the article further points out that while the average quality of German research is not high, still its quantity is great; and that British inventiveness is relatively higher. It is questionable whether his statement holds that the result of the German methods of scientific education has been the production of men of resource, men who are able to act promptly and on their own initiative in emergency; this power he believes that we British lack in the present crisis. I do not agree; it is not that power in which we are deficient, but the faculty of organisation, where each man is willing to do only the share which is allotted to him. That is the essential characteristic of the German; he lacks originality, but is content to form a cog in a system of wheels directed from above. Nor are the brains of this human machine original; they have learned how to appropriate and render commercial the ideas of inventors, chiefly those of the non-Germanic nations.

The deputations to Mr. Runciman and Mr. Pease of members of the Royal and the Chemical Societies, and of the Societies of Chemical Industry and Analysts, reported on in NATURE of May 13 (p. 295), urged the appointment of a Standing Committee, serving the purpose of an intelligence department, and also helping the large and growing chemical industries of the country

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in the same way that the Commercial Intelligence Department serves merchants and traders. was pointed out that the expansion of the chemical industries of the country requires co-operation between science and manufacturers, and that an increase in the number of research workers is desirable. The speakers also insisted on the need of a more intelligent appreciation of the significance of original scientific work by the Government. To these remarks Mr. Runciman and Mr. Pease made sympathetic replies.

On the evening of the same day on which the report appeared in NATURE, Mr. Pease announced in the House the intention of the Government to create an Advisory Council on Industrial Research -a committee of experts who would be able to consult with other expert committees working in different directions, and associated with leaders of industry. "He was now considering names."

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Now, we do not doubt the good will of the members of the Cabinet, but we distrust their judgment in this matter. The handling of the dye scheme was, to say the least of it, very unfortunate. There are two German works, one the Mersey works, a branch of the "Badische," and one at Ellesmere Port, a branch of the German works at Höchst, which might have been associated forcibly with this combine with advantage to the country; moreover, the total lack of chemical talent on the directorate does not argue for its success, as the public has testified by failing to subscribe the issue. The two "eminent chemists" who advised the Government on the dye scheme doubtless do not thank the member of the Cabinet for their unsought publicity. These and other similar instances lead us to mistrust the judgment of Mr. Pease and his colleagues on questions involving science.

There is certainly room for a chemical council, and I had already prepared a draft scheme about two months ago, which has been submitted to, and has had the general approval of, several of our leading industrial chemists. Perhaps it might help were an outline of the scheme to be given here. It is headed "A Draft Scheme of a Chemical Council of State." The clauses are as follow :

1. The dependence of the welfare of a country on its chemists is obvious. Chemistry lies at the basis of practically all manufactures. Continental nations and the United States have long acknowledged this.

2. Great Britain is behind no nation in the eminence of its chemists. But inducements are lacking to persuade young men to accept minor

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