Science Societies

SENIOR SCIENCE SOCIETY

This year has been an extremely successful one for the society—and this, in itself, has caused problems. At the beginning of the Autumn Term we found that at St. Peter's alone we had one hundred members out of a total Sixth Form of about one hundred and forty. The regular meeting place of the society at both schools had to be changed to accommodate the numbers attending the meetings—our Drama Centre proving an ideal place for holding Senior Science Society meetings.

For the first meeting of the Autumn Term, which was held at Queen Margaret's, we welcomed Dr. Bayley-Green, Ph.D., whose talk on "Rabies" proved very thought provoking. The film accompanying the talk showed the awesome results of rabies in such detail that it made rabies appear as serious a threat as it is.

Dr. Paterson from Leeds University showed how forensic science is involved in criminal and civil law. The questions after the talk centred on how to avoid giving a positive result with a breathalyser when under the influence. Also from Leeds University came Dr. Von Knorring, who spoke on "Gems and Precious Stones".

The next two speakers came from Bradford University. Dr. Stonehouse gave a talk entitled "Deep Sea Biology". Mr. Fozzard gave a talk on a current topic, namely "Nuclear Power". He presented the talk without bias and ended by leaving the members to decide the crucial question of whether it is advantageous or not.

The term ended with members of St. Peter's visiting Askham Bryan Agricultural College. The tour was a success despite it snowing!

After the Christmas break we resumed with talks from three members. Richard Collingwood-Gittins tried to teach the less mathematical the Special Theory of Relativity, John Lethem taught us Water Divining and Richard Craig took us briefly through the basis of Astronomy.

Intending that not all the talks should be highly scientific, our next talk proved rather historical. Red flu managed to cancel the meeting once, but with a little white magic the meeting was finally held. Mr. Peel gave a talk on "Witchcraft". Being a leading authority on the Lancashire witches, he concentrated on this topic.

The penultimate meeting was on "Photochemistry". Dr. Griffiths, of Leeds University, dealt with the subject thoroughly—even demonstrating several chemical reactions without the laboratory equipment necessary—one disadvantage of the Drama Centre.

A joint trip to Bass Charrington's brewery at Tadcaster proved an immensely popular end to the term's activities. I would like to thank Bass Charringtons for the refreshments we received!

The last meeting of the society for the year was kindly given by representatives of Savilles who demonstrated the latest in Hi-Fi.

My thanks to Mr. P. L. Harris for another excellent season of talks and trips; to the members of the committee of both schools and to Alex Tyson and Sarah Shaw for acting as Queen Margaret's secretaries. D. J.F.