Junior Science Society

The third meeting of the year consisted of two lectures by members of the Society. A. N. P. Butland spoke on "Automatic Transmission", which, he said, provided (a) separate rotation of the engine and the back wheels, (b) a system of gears, and (c) automatic control. He explained the action of the fluid flywheel and epicyclic gear units and described the way in which automatic gear change is brought about. H. V. Sykes lectured on "The Development and Tuning of Engines", in which it was shown how advances in design have led to increased performance, and how the private owner could modify his own machine to this end.

At the final meeting of the term it was a great pleasure to welcome back Mr. Ping and to hear his lecture on "Mushrooms and Toadstools". These, he said, belonged to the cryptogams or plants with hidden methods of reproduction, as opposed to phanerogams, those with open methods of reproduction. He described the life history of a typical mushroom and showed many lantern slides to demonstrate the wide variety of mushrooms present in Britain. Not least, he gave us hints on the selection and cooking of mushrooms and toadstools.

We extend our thanks to all those friends of the School and visitors who have so kindly contributed to our meetings this term, and look forward to an even more successful Easter Term.

D.N.L.B.

THE JUNIOR SCIENCE SOCIETY

Four meetings were held this term, all in the Lecture Theatre. At the first meeting Mr. Robinson gave a talk on "Science and Religion". This had been requested by members of the Society and, despite its serious nature, the talk and discussion afterwards were very successful. For the last twenty minutes Mr. Robinson was joined by the School Chaplain and Mr. Waine, who acted as a brains trust and allowed themselves to be bombarded with questions connected, however vaguely, with religion. "Flight and Aviation" was the title of the talk given by Crowe at the second meeting of the term. His enthusiasm for his subject and dry humour made it a very entertaining lecture. A film on transonic flight was shown after his talk and he finished by demonstrating the equipment of a jet pilot. In this he was ably assisted by "P/0 Prune", alias M. W. Territt.

The third meeting took the form of a scientific Twenty Questions Mr. Craine was question-master, the panel consisted of Mr. Crews Layfield, Crossley and Crowe. The objects ranged from atom bombs t the School "stodge". Much laughter was produced when Mr. Cre 24