Maintenance Grant Research Articles

The sputtering of platinum in hydrogen and deuterium

The rates of sputtering in hydrogen and deuterium have been compared using ions drawn from a low voltage arc accelerated through a known potential. The rates are equal within a few per cent.One of us (K.I.R.) is indebted to the Industrial Research Council of Eire for a maintenance grant.

The theory of ionisation measurements in gases at high pressures

The columnar theory developed by Jaffé to account for the recombination of ions in alpha particle tracks is extended to beta rays by taking account of the clusters of secondary ionisation. Reasonable agreement is obtained with experiment. Recombination in proton tracks produced in hydrogen by neutrons is shown to be in agreement with the columnar theory, but in the case of nitrogen nuclear tracks in nitrogen the recombination is only a hundredth of that predicted by the theory. An explanation of this effect is advanced, and it is suggested that recombination is likely to be abnormally small for all heavy nuclei of velocities not exceeding 5 × 108 cm. per sec.An experimental determination of the coefficient of recombination of ions in nitrogen and hydrogen at pressures of 20, 40 and 90 atmospheres is reported.My thanks are due to Dr Chadwick for interest in this work, and to Dr Gray and Dr Tarrant for advice on the experimental technique of high pressure ionisation measurements. I am indebted also to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research for a maintenance grant.

The Geological Structure of the Central Mendips

I. I ntroduction . The area here termed the Central Mendips comprises that part of the Mendip Hills which lies between Cheddar and Shepton Mallet. This paper deals only with the Palæozoic rocks, which occupy the greater part of the area, and appear in inliers among the Mesozoic rocks on the south. The eastern, western, and northern boundaries of the area are artificial, the lines cutting across the geological structures. I wish to express my indebtedness to Dr. Stanley Smith for his unfailing help in the field and laboratory and in the compilation of this paper; to Prof. S. H. Reynolds and Dr. T. F. Sibly for much advice and helpful criticism; to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research for a maintenance grant; to the Colston Research Society for defraying certain expenses; and, finally, to all others who have in any way helped me. The area was first surveyed by Sir Henry T. De la Beche, over eighty years ago, and his results were embodied in the 1-inch Geological Survey Map, Sheet XIX, O.S. (1845), as also in the Survey Memoir of 1846 [3]. His account of the structure and stratigraphy is remarkably accurate, and forms the basis of all subsequent work. Except for the publication of William Sanders's geological map in 1862, which was the first large-scale map of the area, no works of importance appeared for more than twenty years after De la Beche's Memoir, until Bristow & Woodward [2] wrote an article dealing with prospects of coal south

University and Educational Intelligence

LONDON.—The Education Committee of the London County Council has approved a grant of 26,140l. per annum to the University for the three years 1917–20. This is an increase of 1460l. over the grant for 1916–17. Increased grants are given to the Evening School of History at University College, 140l.; to Italian, 600l.; to Slavonic languages, 500l.; and to phonetics at University College, 220l. It is proposed to establish a professorshio in Italian, and the Senate is asked to prepare a scheme for the teaching of this language. A chair in Russian is also to be established, and the work will be concentrated at Kings College. The other grants remain unaltered as to amount or purpose, in eluding the block grant of 10,000l. in accordance with the Technical Education Board scheme. Importance is attached by the Senate to the development of phonetics, and it is pointed out that a large phonetic laboratory was fitted out on a lavish scale a few years ago in connection with the Colonial Institute at Hamburg. The higher sub-committee states that, having regard to the increasing importance of a knowledge of modern European languages to those engaged in commerce, and also to the large number of languages spoken in the British Empire, it appears that the provision for the teaching of phonetics in England cannot be regarded as adequate. An increased grant of 220l. for the teaching of phonetics is accordingly sanctioned. The maintenance grant of 300l. per annum is to be continued to Bedford College for the next three years.