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Nature,  l 

I,  •9'6J 


Sipteiiibcr  2 


Nature 


A     WEEKLY 


ILLUSTRATED    JOURNAL   OF   SCIENCE 


VOLUME    XCVII 

MARCH,    1916,    to    AUGUST,    1916. 


"  7l»  the  solid  ground 
Of  Nature  trusts  the  mind  which  builds  for  aye." — Wordsworth 


MACMILLAN     AND     CO.,     Limited 
NEW    YORK:     THE    MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


j'  Nature^ 

^^Septetn'-er  21,  igi6 


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Cotf.  2. 

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I,   1915J 


September  2 


INDEX. 


NAME     INDEX. 


Abbot  (C.  G.),  Arequipa  Pyrheliometry,  410;  Fowle,  and 
Aldrich,  Solar  Variability,  551  ;  and  L.  B.  Aldrich, 
The   Pyranometer,   456 

Abell  (W.   S.),  Work  of  the  Load  Line  Committee,    170 

Acland  (A.),   Education  at  Public  Schools,   265 

Adams  (Dr.  C.  C),  and  T.  L.  Hankinson,  The  Fauna  of 
Prairie   and   Forest   Regions   near    Charleston,    111.,    146 

Adams  (W.  S.),  Investigations  in  Stellar  Spectroscopy,  215; 
A  Quantitative  Method  of  Classifying  Stellar  Spectra, 
215;  A  Spectroscopic  Method  of  determining  Stellar 
Parallaxes,  215  ;  A  Spectroscopic  Method  of  determin- 
ing Stellar  Distances,  215;  Spectroscopic  Evidence  for 
the  Existence  of  Two  Classes  of  M  Type  Stars,  215  ; 
and  H.  Shapley,  The  Spectrum  of  5  Cephei,  215  ;  and 
Pease,  The  Spectrum  of  Nova  Geminorum,   No.   2,  311 

AinsCe  (M.  A.),  Lowest  Effective  Power  of  a  Telescope,  490 

Alexander  (Prof.  T.),  and  Prof.  A.  W.  Thomson,  Ele- 
mentary Applied  Mechanics,  Third  Edition,  278 

Algar  (J.),  Diketones  derived  from  Diacetoresorcmoldi- 
methylether,  335 

Allbutt  (Sir  Clifford),  Harvey  and  Aristotle,  217;  nominated 
President  of  the  British  Medical  Association,  19 16-17, 
226 

Allen  (Dr.  H.  S.),  Latent  Heats  of  Fusion  of  Metals  and 
the  Quantum-theory,  315;  Latent  Heat  of  Flision  of  a 
Metal,    and   the   Quantum-theory,    475 

Allen  (VV.   E.),  Bequests  by,  253 

Amar  (J.),  The  Dynamographic  Path,  515 

Ameghino  (C),   A  Femur  of  the   Extinct  Toxodon,    107 

Amundsen  (Capt.  R.),  Proposal  for  an  Expedition  to  the 
North    Pole,    106 

Andersen   (O.),   An   Adventurine   Feldspar,   408 

Andersson  (Dr.  J.  G.),  to  organise  a  Geological  Survey  for 
China,  366 

Andrade  (Lieut.  E.  N.  da  C),  Science,  Scholarships,  and 
the   State,    361 

Andr6  (G.),  Magnesium  in  Leaves  and  the  Function  of 
Assimilation,   195 

Andrewes  (Prof.  F.  W.),   Prof. 
Cerebro-Spinal  Fever,    14 

Andrews    (Dr.     C.     W.),     An 
Gigantic  Carinate  Bird,   315 

Andrews  (E.  C),  and  T.  W.  Vaughan,  Relations  of  Coral 
Reefs   to  Crust   Movements   in   the   Fiji    Islands,    -jSq 

Annandale  (Dr.  N.),  Sponges  Parasitic  on  Indian  Clionid 
Sponges,  529  ;  Zoological  Results  of  a  Tour  in  the  Far 
East,  416 

Anningson  (Dr.   B.)  [death],  448 

Anreo  (A.),  The  Peat  Bogs  and  Peat  Industry  of  Canada, 
505 

Anthony  (R.),   Brain  of  a  Foetus  of  a  Chimpanzee,   215 

Antoniadi  (M.),  The  Polar  Caps  of  Mars  and  Solar  Radia- 
tion, 471 

Arber  (E.  A.  N.),  Fossil  Floras  of  the  Coal  Measures  of 
South    Staffordshire,    314 

Archibald  (Prof.  R.  C.),'  Euclid's  Book  on  Divisions  of 
Figures,   etc.,  q8 

Arctowski  (H.),  Influence  of  the  Earth  on  Frequency  and 
Mtnn    Heliographic    Latitude    of    Sun-spots,    214;    In- 


Bullock,  and  Prof.  Hewlett, 
Incomplete     Sternum     of     a 


fluence  of  Veftus  on  the  Mean  Heliographic  Latitude 
of  the  Sun-spots,  514 

Armstrong  (Prof.  H.  E.),  Need  of  Association  and  Organisa- 
tion in  Manufacture  of  Dye-stuffs,  527  ;  Proposal  for  an 
Imperial  Society  of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Chemistry, 
267 

Armstrong-Jones  (Dr.  R.),  Neurology,  497  ;  Resignation  of 
the   Medical  Superintendency  of  Claybury  Asylum,   494 

Ashbv  (Prof.),   and  others,   Excavations  in  Malta,    1914,    14 

.'\shworth  (Dr.  J.   H.),  Hibernation  of  Flies,  247 

Ashworth  (Dr.  J.  R.).  An  Introductory  Course  of  Practical 
Magnetism   and    Electricity,   Third   Edition,    4 

Asquith  (Mr.),  on  Capt.   Scott  and  his  Companions,   225 

Atack  (F.  \V.),  The  Chemists'  Year-book,  1916,  2  vo'.s., 
320 

Atkinson  (Dr.  G.  F.),  The  F,  Generations,  and  Back-  and 
Inter-crosses  of  the  F,  Hybrids  between  CEnothera 
nutans  and  pycnocarpa,   492 

Atwood  (W.  W.),  and  K.  F.  Mather,  Geographic  History 
of  the  San  Juan  Mountains,  215 

Aught!e  (H.),    .Applied   Mechanics  :    First  Year,   278 

Ault  (J.  P.),  Deviation  of  the  Compass  in  the  Bering  Sea 
and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  229 

.Austin  (Prof.  F.  E.),  Examples  in  .Alternating  Currents, 
vol.  i..  Second  Edition ;  Examples  in  Magnetism, 
Second  Edition ;  How  to  make  Low-pressure  Trans- 
formers,  Second   Edition,    258 

.Avebury  (Lord),  Prehistoric  and  Ethnographical  Specimens 
presented   to   Museums,   486 

.\wati  (P.   R.),  Studies  in  Flies,  ii.,  313 


Babtie  (Surgeon-Genl.  W.),  appointed  to  assist  Sir  A. 
Keogh,   85 

Bach  (.A.),  A  New  Reaction  of  Urine,  05 

Backhouse  (T.   W.),  The  Magnitude  of  6  Eridani,  479 

Backlund  (Prof.  O.),  Comet  (Neujmin),   17 

Bacon  (Dr.  R.  F.),  The  Work  of  the  Mellon  Institute  in 
its  relations  to  the  Industries  and  to  the  Universities, 
/iqi 

Baekeland  (Dr.),  The  Chemical  Industries  of  the  United 
States,   232 

Bagg   (H.),    Behaviour   in    White    Mice,    286 

Bailev  (Capt.  F.  M.),  awarded  the  Patron's  Medal  of  the 
R.G.S.,  86 

Baillaud  (B.),  Difference  of  Longitude  between  the  Observa- 
tories of  Paris  and  Washington,  27,  369,  37-;  ;  and 
M.  Pourteau,  Calculation  of  Right  .Ascensions  and 
Declinations   of   Stars   of   the    Photographic   Catalogue, 

.  ^95 
Baird   and  Tatlock's  Duroglass,    iii 
Baker  (A.  C),  and  W.  F.  Turner,  The  Green  Apple  Aphis, 

530 
Baker  (G.  S.),  Skin  Fraction  Resistance  of  Ships,  170 
Baker    (Lady)    [obituaryl,    62 
Baldwin  (Prof.   Mark),  The  Romanes  Lecture,  24  :  Herbert 

So^ncer  Lecture  on  "The  Super-State  and  the  '  Eternal 

Values,'"    03;    Escape    from    the    Torpedoing    of    the 

Sussex,    105 


IV 


Index 


[Nature, 
September  21,  1916 


Balfour  (Prof.  Bayley),  and  W.  W.  Smith,  Becsia  cordata,  15 

Ball  (Sir  C),  [death],  86 

Ball  (J.  D.),  Magnetic  Properties  of  Steels,  etc.,  348 

Ball  (Lieut.  J.  J.)  [obituary],  448 

Balland  (M.),  An  unpublished  Letter  of  Parmentier,  335 

Ballhatchet  (A.  V.),  Electrical  Apparatus-making  .for 
Beginners,   240 

Balls  (W.  L.),  Analyses  of  Agricultural  Yield,  51 

Balsillie  (D.),  Science  and  the  State,  34 ;  The  Place  of 
Science  in  Education,  240 

Banerji  (S.  K.),  The  Expansion  of  a  Homogeneous  Func- 
tion in  Spherical  Harmonics,   123 

Barker  (Col.  A.   E.)  [obituary],   166 

Barker  (Prof.  P.  B.),  and  Prof.  H.  J.  Young,  A  Manual  of 
Soil  Physics,   119 

Barkla  (Prof.  C.  G.),  to  deliver  the  Bakerian  Lecture,  246 

Barnard  (Prof.  E.  E.),  Comet  19156  (Taylor),  67;  Dark 
Markings  in  the  Sky,   148 

Barnes  (Rev.  E.  W.),  elected  a  Member  of  the  Athenaeum 
Club,  41 

Barratt  (Dr.  T.),  Electrical  Capacity  of  Gold-leaf  Electro- 
scopes,  214 

Barret  (Lt.-Col.  J.  W.),  The  Reform  of  the  Man  of 
Science,  59 

Barrett  (C),  The  Spotted  Bower  Bird,  44 

Barry  (Sir  J.  Wolfe),  elected  an  Honorary  Member  of  the 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  62 

Barton  (Prof.   E.   H.),   Gravitation  and  Temperature,  461 

Barton  (Prof.  J.  R.),  bequest  to  Pennsylvania  University,  414 

Bartrurn  (C.  O.),  Birds'  Songs  and  the  Diatonic  Scale,  381 

Bassani  (Prof.   F.)  [obituary],  468 

Bate  (Miss  D.  M.  A.),  Vertebrate  Remains  from  the  Har 
Dalam  Cavern,  Malta,  274 

Bateman  (Dr.  H.),  Systems  of  Partial  Differential  Equa- 
tions,  etc.,   435 

Bates  and  Jackson,  The  Constants  of  the  Quartz-wedge 
Saccharimeter,  427 

Baudouin  (M.),  Early  Date  of  the  Jaw  found  at  La  Naulette, 

175 

Bauer  (Dr.  L.  A.),  Relation  between  Changes  in  Solar 
Activity  and  the  Earth's  Magnetic  Activity,  1902-14,  493 

Baugh  (D.),  Gift  to  Jefferson  Medical  College,  414 

Baxter  (Miss  E.),  and  Miss  L.  Rintoul,  Scottish  Ornith- 
ology in  19 15,  504 

Bayley  (N.  B.),  Bequest  to  the  Yale  University  School  of 
Medicine,  494 

Bayliss  (Prof.  W.  M.),  The  Mechanism  of  ChemiQal  Change 
in   Living   Organisms,    352 

Beardmore  (Sir  W.),  The  Place  of  Science  in  Modern  Metal- 
lurgical Industries,  312 

Beattie  (Prof.   J.   M.),   Post-Mortem  Methods,  80 

Beaussenat  (M.),  Wound  of  the  Heart  by  a  Shrapnel  Ball, 
195 

Beckwith  (Miss  C.  E.),  Bequest  to  the  Victoria  University, 
Manchester,  313 

Bedford  (Sir  C.  H.),  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Association 
of  British  Chemical   Manufacturers,  548 

Beebe  (C.  W.),  Animal  Life  in  the  Tropics,  552 

Beebe  (J.  A.),  Bequest  to  Harvard  University,  233 

Bell  (Sir  H.),  Commercial  Policy  of  the  Country  after  the 
War,  186 

Bell  (Dr.  W.  Blair),  The  Astley  Cooper  Prize  for  19 16, 
awarded  to,   ^.'74 

Belot  (E.),  Experimental  Volcanoes  and  the  Laws  of  Vol- 
canic Phenomena,  536 ;  The  Causes  of  Volcanoes.  235 

Benedicks  (C),  A  New  Thermo-electric  Method  for  the 
Study  of  the  Allotropy  of  Iron,  etc.,  51  ;  Determination 
of  Thermo-electric  Power  by  means  of  the  Differential 
Galvanometer,   436 

Benedict  (F.  G.),  and  H.  Murschhauser,  Energy  Trans- 
formations during  Horizontal  Walking.  430  ;  and  F.  B. 
Talbot.  The  Phy^ology  of  the  New-born  Infant,   128 

Bengtson  (N.  A.),  and  D.  Griffith,  The  Wheat  Industry  for 
use  in  Schools,  79 

B^rard  (L.).  and  A.  Lumi^re,  Retarded  Tetanus,  51 

Berberich  (Prof.  A.),  Comet  1915^  (Taylor),  46;  Comet 
1916  b  (Wolf).    1916ZK  (Planet),   289 

Berg  (W.  N.),  Relative  Nutritional  Value  of  Veal  and 
Beef,    128 

Bergoni^  (L),  Illusory  Protection  against  the  X-rays,  215; 
Powerful  Electro-vibrators  working  with  small  Current, 


436 ;     and    C.     E.     GulUaume,     Surgical     Instruments 
adapted  to  the  Field  of  the  Electro-Vibrator,  514 

Berkeley  (Earl  of).  Molecular  Attractions  in  Solutions,  301  ; 
and  E.  G.  J.  Hartley,  Determinations  of  Direct  Osmotic 
Pressures,   354 

Bernard  (Right  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.),  elected  President  of  the 
Royal   Irish  Academy,  85 

Berry  (E.  W.),   Upper  Cretaceous  Floras  of  the  World,  215 

Berry  (Prof.  R.  A.  J.),  and  Dr.  A.  W.  D.  Robertson,  Atlas 
of  Tracings  of  Crania  of  Australian  Aborigines,   167 

Bertrand  (Prof.  M.  E.),  Industrial  Education  in  France,  131 

Beyschlag  (Dr.  F.),  Prof.  J.  H.  L.  Vogt,  and  Dr.  P.  Krusch, 
The  Deposits  of  the  Useful  Minerals  and  Rocks:  their 
Origin,  Form,  and  Content,  Translated  by  S.  J. 
Truscott,   vol.    ii.,   457 

Bierry  (H.),  The  Detection  of  Tuberculous  Bacilli  in  Sputa, 
496 

Bigourdan  (G.),  Discovery  of  the  Nebula  of  Orion  by 
Peiresc,  175  ;  Monthly  distribution  of  Average  Cloudi- 
ness in  France,  235  ;  The  Immediate  Collaborators  of 
Peiresc,  315;  The  Propagation  of  Sound  to  a  great 
distance  in  the  Open  Air,  395,  436,  496 ;  The  Visibility 
of  Stars  in  Daylight,  328,  335  ;  The  Discovery  of  the 
Visibility  of  the  Stars  in  full  Daylight,  375 

Bingham  (H.),  The  People  of  Machu  Prichu,  450 

Blackmar  (Prof.  F.  W.),  and  Prof.  J.  L.  Gillin,  Outlines 
of  Sociology,  97 

Blaikie  (Dr.   W.    B.),   A  Universal  Sun-dial,   435 

Blake  (L.  I.)  [obituary],  265 

Blanchard  (R.),  A  Glacial  Island  at  Grenoble,  195 
I  Blondel  (A.),  High  Potential  Continuous  Current  for  Wire- 
less Telegraphy  and  Telephony,  155 ;  The  Limiting 
Perception  of  Light  Signals,  214;  and  J.  Rey,  Com- 
parison of  Short  Light  Signals  produced  by  a  Rotating 
Apparatus,   355 

Bloom  (J.  H.),  Warwickshire,  99 

Bolton  (H.),  Fossil  Insects  from  the  British  Coal  Measures, 

Bonacina    (L.     C.     W.),     Meteorological    Conditions    of    a 

Blizzard,  301  ;  Readjustment  of  Pressure  Differences,  275 
Bonney   (Prof.   T.    G.),    Geologists   and   Special   Constables, 

260  ;  Prof.  J.  W.  judd,  37 
Bonnier  (G.),  Address  on  Pasteur,   105 
Boole  (Mrs.  M.  E.)  [obituary],  284 
Booth    (Sir    A.    A.),    Sir   A.    Denny,    W.    S.    Abell,    and    J. 

Readhead  appointed  to  the  Committee  on  Shipping  and 

Shipbuilding  Industries,  170 
Boothroyd  (I.  W.),  The  Gun-firing  on  the  Western   Front, 

500 
Bordas    (F.),    Ozonised   Oxygen    in    the    treatment   of   War 

Wounds,  356 
Bordet  (Prof.   J.),  elected  a  Foreign   Member  of  the  Royal 

Society,    165 
Boring    (Dr.    E.    G.),   The    Return 

Division  of  Cutaneous  Nerves, 
Borissiak    (A.),    Indricotherium,    a 

Rhinoceros,    17'; 
Boss  (B.),   Systematic  Motion   among  Stars  of  the   Helium 

Type,  255 
Bostwick  (A.   E.),   Meteorological  Conditions  of  a  Blizzard, 

261 
Bottazzi    (Dr.    F.),    awarded   the   King's    Prize    for    Human 

Physiology  by  the  Accademia  dei  Lincei,   12 
Bouchet  (L.),   The   Electric   Expansion   of   Solid   Insulators, 

Bougault  (J.),  Phenyloxymaleic  Anhydride.  295 

Boulenger  (Dr.  G.  A.),  Catalogue  of  the  Fresh-water  Fishes 

of    Africa    in    the    British    Museum    (Natural    History), 

vol.  iv.,  218;  Lizards  allied  to  Lacerta  muralts,  194 
Bourguignon   (G.).    A   Method   of  determining   Chronaxy   in 

Man,  /•76  ;  Measurement  of  Resistances  by  Discharges 

of  Condensers,  3q<; 
Bourlon     (Capt.),     Edited     by     I'Abb^     Breuil,     Nouvelles 

d6couvertes  k  Laugerie  Basse,  250 
Bourne  (Sir  A.  G.),  elected  President  of  the  Indian  Science 

Congress,  42 
Bourne  (Prof.    G.   C),   New  Species  of  Edwardsia,   Quatr., 

from  New  Guinea.  195 
Bourquelot  (E.),  and  A.   Aubry,  The  Biochemical  Synthesis 

of  a  Galactoblose,  476 
Boutaric  (A.),  The  French  Optical  Industry,  522 


of    Sensation    after    the 

525 
New    Genus    of    Giant 


N  ature 
September  2 


1 
I,  i9'6J 


Index 


Bouyoucos  (G.  J.),  Effect  of  Temperature  on  Soils,  391 

Bower  (Prof.  F.  O.),  Leaf  Architecture,   155 

Boyd  (J.  S.   N.),   Bequests  to  Epsom  College  and  Charing 

Cross  Hospital  Medical  School,  94 
Boys  (Prof.  C.  V.),  The  Moving  Picture  and  its  Mechanism, 

297  ;  Theory  of  Calculation,  418 
Braae    (J.),     Comet     19156    (Taylor),    67;    Comet     19160 
(Neujmin),   130 ;  and  J.   Fischer-Petersen,  Ephemeris  of 
Comet  19160  (Neujmin),  130;  Comet  19160  (Neujmin), 
189  ;  and  J.  Fischer-Petersen,  Comet  1916  a  (Neujmin), 
189 
Bradford   (S.    C),    The   Liesegang   Phenomenon   and  •  Con- 
cretionary Structure  in  Rocks,  80 
Bradley  (Dr.   O.   C),  The  Structure  of  the  Fowl,  56 
Bragg   (Prof.    W.    H.),    May    Lecture   of    the    Institute    of 

Metals,  41 
Brain  (C.  K.),  The  Coccidae  of  South  Africa,  529 
Brayshaw  (S.  N.),  High  Temperatures  in  the  Laboratory,  90 
Brenchley  (Dr.  W.),  The  Weeds  on  Arable  Land  and  their 

Suppression,   387 
Brend  (Dr.  W.  A.),  An  Inquiry  into  the  Statistics  of  Deaths 
from   Violence   and    Unnatural    Causes   in    the    United 
Kingdom,  441 
Breslich    (E.    R.),    First-year    Mathematics    for    Secondary 

Schools,  Fourth  Edition,  439 
Breton  (A.   C),   Ethnographic  Work  in  Canada,  285 
Brewer  (G.),  Wilbur  Wright  Memorial  Lecture,  284 
Briner  (E.),    Mechanism  of  Reactions   in   aqua   regia,    115; 

The  Chemical  Origin  of  Solar  Radiation,  349 
Brislee    (Dr.    F.    J.),    Changes    in    Physical    Properties    of 

Aluminium,  314 
Broadwood  (Mrs.   B.),  Cutting  of  Granite,  in  Mysore,  489 
Broek   (A.   van   den),    Is   Proto-Oxygen   the   Principal  Con- 
stituent of  the  Atoms?,  479 
Broglie   (de),    Highly   Penetrating   Radiations,    214;   The   K 

Absorption  Band  of  the  Elements  for  the  X-rays,  496 
Brooks  (C.  E.  P.).  Rainfall  of  Nigeria  and  the  Gold  Coast, 

25 
Broom  (Lieut.  R.),  Structure  of  the  Skull  in  Chrysochloris, 

.315 

Brown  (Capt.   A.   R.)  [obituary],  548 

Brown  (G.  E.),  The  British  Journal  Photographic  Almanac, 
etc.,   1916,   Edited  by,  4 

Brown  (Dr.  H.  T.),  Fifty  Years'  Experience  of  the  Applica- 
tion of  Scientific   Method  to   Brewing   Practice,   390 

Brown  (R.),  appointed  a  Member  of  the  Agricultural  Con- 
sultative Committee,  425 

Brown  (R.  G.),  The  Taungbyon  Festival  in  Burma,  205 

Brown  (S.  G.),  A  Biography  of  Edison,  158 

Brown  (Prof.  W.),  Change  of  Length  in  Nickel  Wire,  175: 
Laminated  Magnets,  2q<; ;  Subsidence  of  Torsional 
Oscillations  of  Nickel  Wires,  74 ;  Subsidence  of  Tor- 
sional Oscillations  of  Nickel  and  Iron  Wires,   175 

Browne  (E.  T.),  Geographical  distribution  of  Siphonophores. 
234 

Bruce  (E.  L.),  Magnesian  Tourmaline  from  Renfrew, 
Ontario,    375 

Bruce  (H.  A.),  Sleep  and  Sleeplessness,  498 

Bruce  (Dr.  W.  S.),  A.  King,  and  D.  W.  Wilton,  Tempera- 
tures, Specific  Gravities,  and  Salinities  of  the  Weddell 
Sea,   etc.,   329 

Brunetti  (R.),  Results  obtained  on  the  Helium  Spectrum 
by  Lo  Surdo's  Method,  380 

Brunton  (Sir  Lauder),  Effect  of  a  Dav's  Rest  in  Seven,  204  : 
Productive  Work  and  Classical  Education,  461 

Bryan  (Prof.  G.  H.).  Elasticity  and  Entomology,  340 ; 
Payment  for   Scientific   Research,   401 

Bryan  (K.).  Ground  Water  for  Irrigation  in  the  Sacra- 
mento Valley,   Cal..    17 

Bryant  (C.   L.),   Instruction   in   Military  Science.    ii;4 

Bryce  (Viscount"),  Huxlev  Lecture  on  War  and  Progress, 
49 

Buchanan  (Miss  G.),  The  Blood  of  certain  Australian 
Animals,   407 

Buchanan  ^Sir  G.  C),  Rangoon  River  Training  Works,  108 

Bucklev  (}.  T),  Early  Ornamented  Leather  Work  in 
Ireland,    227 

Bundv  (E.   C).   Beouest  to  Columbia  University.   414 

Bunnett  (E.   J.),   Observations  of  the   Maple  -vohis,  450 

Bunvard  ^E.   A.),   Origin  of  the  Garden   Red  Currant.   274 

Burgess   (C.    K.),   and    P.    D.    Sale,    Qualities  of   Platinum 


Goods,     66;     and     H.     Scott,     The     Thermo-Electric 

Measurement  of  the  Critical  Points  of  Iron,  476 
Burnham  (R.  W.),  Mathematics  for  Machinists,  439 
Burns,    Meggers,    and    Merrill,    Wave-lengths   in    the    Iron 

Spectrum,  451 
Burr  (Capt.   M.),  Travels  in  the  Caucasus  and  the  Asiatic 

Territory  beyond,  407 
Burrard  (Sir  S.  G.),  The  Plains  of  Northern  India,  43  ;  The 

Plains  of  Northern  India  and  their  Relationship  to  the 

Himalaya  Mountains,  391 
Burrell  (B.  A.),  Tobacco  Ash  and  Potash,  348 
Burrill  (Dr.  T.   J.)  [obituary],   265 
Burt   (F.    P.),    and    E.    C.    Eggar,    The   relative   combining 

Volumes  of  Hydrogen   and  Oxygen,    50 
Burton  (Prof.   E.  F.),  The  Physical  Properties  of  Colloidal 

Solutions,   397 
Butterfield  (W.  J.  A.),  J.   S.   Haldane,  and  A.   P.  Trotter, 

Experiments  on  the  Pentane  and  Hefner  Lamps,  188 

Cadman   (Prof.   J.),   elected  President  of  the  Institution  of 

Petroleum  Technologists,  106 
Cain  (Dr.   J.    C),    appointed  Chief  Chemist  of  the   Dalton 

Works  of  British   Dyes,   Ltd.,   127 
Cain,  Schramm,  and  Cleaves,  Preparation  of  Pure  Iron  and 

Iron-carbon  Alloys,   189 
Caird  (Sir  J.)  [obituary],  62 

Cairnes  (D.   D.),   Upper  White  River  District,  Yukon,  410 
Caldwell   (O.    W.),   W.    L.    Eikenberry,    and  C.    J.    Pieper, 

A  Laboratory  Manual  for  Work  in  General  Science,  99 
Caiman  (Dr.  W.  T.),  Pycnogonida,  46 
Cameron   (Dr.   A.    E.),    Breeding  of   the   Mangold-fly,   489 ; 

Insect  Association  in  the  District  of  Holmes  Chapel,  254 
Campbell  (W.  W.),  and  J.  H.  Moore,  The  Observed  Rota- 
tions of  a  Planetary  Nebula,    215;   and  J.    H.    Moore, 

The  Rotation  of  Nebulae,  268 
Camus  (J.),   and   M.    Nepper,   The  Reaction   Times  of  the 

Candidates  for  Aviation,  496 
Cannon  (Miss  A.  J.),  A  New  Catalogue  of  Variable  Stars, 

494 
Cannon   (W.    B.),    Studies   of   the    Ductless    Glands   by   the 

Electrical   Method,    456 
Capen  (S.  P.),  Higher  Education  in  the  United  States,  454 
Cardot  (J.),  The  Bryological  Flora  of  Kerguelen,  356 
Carmichael  (Lord),  Chairman   of  the   Indian   Museum,    185 
Carpenter  (E.),  Ground  Water  in  South-eastern  Nevada,  17 
Carpenter  (Prof.   G.   H.),   Injurious   Insects,  etc.,   observed 

in   Ireland  in   1914  and   1915,   414;  The  Apterygota  of 

the  Seychelles,  27 
Carpenter    (Prof.     H.     C.     H.),    Annual    Meeting    of    the 

Institute  of  Metals,  131  ;  Hardness  and  Critical  Cooling 

Velocities   of  Steels,   452 
Carpenter    (Dr.    T.    M.),    A    Comparison    of    Methods    for 

determining  the  Respiratory  Exchange  of  Man,  430 
Carr  (C.  P.),  and  H.  S.  Rawdon,  Standard  Test  Specimens 

of  Zinc-bronze,  368 
Carr  (H.),  Cutaneous  Sensitivity,  525 
Carroll  (C.  J.),   Behaviour  of  the  Raven  when  attacked  by 

the   Peregrine,   426 
Carslaw  (Prof.    H.   S.),   A   Progressive  Income  Tax,  408 
Carter     (H.     J.),     Tenebrionidae     from     Barrington     Tops, 

N.S.W.,  556 
Carus-Wilson  (C),  The  Influence  of  Tides  on  Wells,    162  ; 

The  Utilisation  of  Waste  Heat  for  Agriculture,  442 
Cary  (Prof.   E.  R.),  Geodetic  Surveying,  539 
Caspari  (Dr.  W.  A.),  International  Latin,  81 
Castle  (W.  E.),  Size  Inheritance  in  Guinea-pig  Crosses,  255 
Cathcart    (W.    H.),    The    Value    of   Science   in    the    Smithy 

and  Forge,  379 
Catlin  (Dr.   C.  A.)  [obituary],   246 
Caton  (Sec. -Lieut.   F.   W.)  fobituarv],  467 
Caullery  (Prof.    M.),  The  Present  State  of  the  Problem  of 

Evolution,   549 
Cave  (Capt.  C.  J.   P.),  A  Sunset  Phenomenon  on  July  22, 

442,  520 ;  Ground  Rainbows,  57 
Chalkley    (A.    P.),    Diesel    Engines    for   Land    and    Marine 

Work,   Fourth  Edition,   158 
Chambrelent    (M.),    Still-births    and    Deaths    of    Infants    in 

France,    488 
Chapman  (Lieut.  C.  G.)  [obituary],  406 
Chapman    (Lieut.    F.    H.>,    Relation    between    Atmospheric 

Pressure  and  Rainfall,   374 


VI 


Index 


r  Nature, 

\_Septcmber  21,   19 16 


dhapman   (S.),  The   Kinetic  Theory  of  a  Composite   Mon- 

atomic  Gas,  455 
Chappell  (E.),   Five-Figure   Mathematical  Tables,    179 
Chappuis-Sarasin  (Dr.  P.)  [obituary  article],  38 
Charles  (Sir  H.),  appointed  Dean  of  the  London  School  of 

Tropical  Medicine,  226 
Charlier   (Prof.   C.    V.   L.),   The   Constitution  of   the   Milky 

Way,  369  ;  The  Construction  of  the  Galaxy,  356 ;  The 

Radiation  Laws  and  Stellar  Photometry,   148 
Charlton  (Capt.  J.  M.)  [obituary],  448 
Chauss^  (P.),  Persistence  of  Botal's  Cleft  in  some  Domestic 

Animals,   155 
Chauveau  (A.),  Study  of  Tuberculosis  in  Persons  employed 

in   Parisian  Wine-bars,  395 
Cheeseman  (T.  F.),  assisted  by  Dr.  W.  B.  Hemsley,  Illus- 
trations of  the  New  Zealand  Flora,  2  vols.,  i 
Cheetham   (J.    F.),    Bequest   to   the   Victoria   University   of 

Manchester,   213 
Ch^neveau  (C),  A  Direct  Reading  Density  Balance,  375 
Cheshire  (F.  J.),  "Optical  Glass"  and  Fluorite  :  an  Ethical 

Note,    181  ;    Optical    Glass :    an    Historical   Note,    100 ; 

The  Apochromatic  Systems  of  Carl  Zeiss,  345 
Chlwolson  (Prof.  O.    D.),  "Sur  les  poids  atomiques,"  88 
Chree   (Dr.    C),    Lord   Kelvin    and   Terrestrial    Magnetism, 

509 
Christophers  (Major  S.   R.),   Indian  Anophelini,  312 
Christj'  (M.),  A  Strange  Stone  Object  found  in  Essex,  65  ; 

Meteorological  Conditions  of  a  Blizzard,  341  ;   and  W. 

Marriott,   Audibility  of  Gun-firing,  374 
Church    (Sir    A.),    Botanical    Water-colour    Drawings    pre- 
sented to  Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  504 
Clark  (A.    H.),  A   Monograph  of  the  Existing  Crinoids,  46 
Clark  (J.    E.),   and   H.    B.   Adames,    Phenological    Observa- 
tions  for    1915,    374 
Clark  (W.   B.),  E.  W.   Berry,  and  J.  A.  Gardner,  The  Age 

of     the     Middle     Atlantic     Coast     Upper     Cretaceous 

Deposits,  215 
Clark  (W.  O.),  Ground  Water  Resources  of  the  Niles  Cone 

and  Adjacent  Areas,  Cal.,   17 
Clarke  (Dr.   E.),   Eyesight  and  the  War,  552 
Clarke  (Dr.   F.   W.),  The  Data  of  Geochemistry,  526  ;  The 

Inorganic  Constituents  of  Marine  Invertebrates,  493 
Clarke  (J.  J.),  Rhizopod  Protozoa.     The  Causes  of  Cancer 

and   other   Diseases,    being  part   iv.    of   "  Protozoa   and 

Disease,"   380 
Clarke  (S.),  Cutting  of  Granite  for  the  Aswan  Dam,  480 
Clausen    (R.    E.),    and    T.    H.    Goodspeed,    Hereditary    Re- 
action-system Relations,   255 
Clay  (H.),  Economics,  361 
Cleland  (Dr.   J.    B.),  A   Suggestion  with  regard  to  Genera 

Splitting,  240 
Clemence  (W.),  The  Filtration  of  Water,   188 
Clinton  (G.    P.),  The  Chlorosis  of  the  Tobacco  Plant,    129 
Clough  (Dr.  C.  T.)  [death],  548 
Clowes  (Prof.   F.),  Purification  of  Coal-gas,   250 
Clubb  (Dr.   J.  A.),   Educative  Value  in  Public  Museums  of 

Introductory  Cases  to  Animal  Groups,   472 
Cobbett     (Dr.),     reappointed     Lecturer     in     Pathology     at 

Cambridge  University,  334 
Coble    (A.    B.),    Point    Sets    and    Allied    Cremona    Groups 

(part  ii.),   255 
Coblentz  (W.  W.),  The  Constant  of  Complete  Radiation,  168 
Cockayne  (Dr.    E.    A.),    Gynandromorphism,   233 
Cohen    (Prof.    J.    B.),    Science    and    the    State,    5 :    H.    D. 

Dakin,     M.     Daufresne,     and    J.     Kenyon,     Antiseptic 

Action  of  Substances  of  the  Chloroamine  Group,  50 
Cole   (Prof.    G.    A.    J.),    Economic  Work   of   the   Geological 

Surveys,  280 
Cole    (S.    W^),    appointed    University    Lecturer    in    Medical 

Chemistrv  at  Cambridge,  72 
Collins    (J.    H.)    [obituary],    166 
Colwell   (H.    A.),   and    Dr.    S.    Russ,   Radium,    X-rays,    and 

the  Living  Cell,    137 
de   Coninck   (R.),   and   M.   Gerard,   The  Atomic  Weight  of 

Bismuth,  27 
Conklin    (E.     G.),    Effects    of    Centrifugal    Force    on    the 

Polarity  of  the  Eggs  of  Crepidula,  75 
Constantine  (J.),  and  others.  Gifts  for  a  Technical  College 

at  Middlesbrough,  373 
Cook  (O.   F.),  Agriculture  and  Native  Vegetation  in  Peru, 

368 ;  Staircase  Farms  of  the  Ancients,  469 


Cook  (W.   W.)  [obituary],   166 

Cooper   (W.    R.),    Properties  of  Selenium,   66 

Coriat  (Dr.   I.   H.),  The  Meaning  of  Dreams,  498 

Cornish  (J.    B.),   and  J.    A.    D.    Bridger,    Penzance  and  the 

Land's  End  District,  360 
Corthell  (E,  L.)  [obituary],  308 

Coster  (Miss  E.  A.),  The  Decorative  Value  of  Indian  Art,  524 
Cotte  (J.  and  C),   Examination  of  a  Prehistoric  Paste,  295 
Coulter  (Prof.  J.  M.),  Inheritance  through  Spores,  492 
Courtier  (J.),  Variations  of  the  Peripheral  Temperature  of 

the  Body,   195 
Cousins   (H.    H.),   The   Chemistry  of  the   Garden,   Revised 

Edition,  519 
Coustet  (E.),   An  Automatic  Public  Telephone  System,   87  ; 

Investigation  of  Dichroic  Fog,   15 
Coward  (Prof.  H.  S.),  and  Prof.  C.  B.  Davenport,  Heredity 

of  Bone-fragility  in  Man,  233 
Cox  (Harold),   Industrial  Development,    12 
Crabtree  (J.   H.),   British  Fungi  and  how  to  Identify  them, 

160 
Cradock-Watson  (H.),  Science  in  the  Sma'ler  Schools,   154 
Craib  (W.  G.),  and  M.   Gagnepain,   New  Species  of  Plants 

from  Siam,  209 
Craig  (E.   H.   Cunningham),  The  Kerogen-shales,  247 
Crandall  (W.  C),  to  give  a  Course  of  Lectures  on  "  Local 

Coastal    Physical    Geography"    at   the    Scripps    Institu- 
tion,   94 
Crawford   (Earl   of),    appointed   President   of   the    Board   of 

Agriculture  and  Fisheries,  406 
Crawford  (R.  T.),  and  D.  Alter,  Comet  1916  b  (Wolf),  410 
Crawley  (A.   E.),  Sociology  as  a  Science,  97  ;  The  Growth 

of  the  Mind,   238 
Crewe  (Lord),  appointed  President  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, 535  ;  Science  in  Education  and  Industry,  390 
Crommelin  (Dr.  A.  C.   D.),  Philip's  A  Plea  for  an  Orderly 

Almanac,  31 
Crompton  (Col.  R.  E.),  Engineering  and  Scientific  Research, 

208 
Crook  (C.  W.),  Science  Teaching  in  Schools,  213 
Crookes  (Lady)  [obituary],   241; 
Crosby   (Sir  T.    B.)   [obituary],    166 
Cross  (C.   F.),  Wood  Pulps  for  Paper-making,  35 
Cummings  (B.   F.),  Anoplura  and  Mallophaga,  51 
Cunningham   (E.),   Relativity  and  the   Electron  Theory,   30 
Cunningham  (Prof.  J.  C),  and  W.   H.  Lancelot,   Soils  and 

Plant  Life  as  related  to  .A^griculture,  55 
Curties  (C.    Lees)  [death],    iS"; :   [obituary],    226 
Curtis   (Prof.    J.    G.),    Harvey's  Views   on   the    Use   of   the 

Circulation  of  the   Blood,   217 

Dahlgren  (Dr.  E.  W.),  Retirement  of,  366 

Dahlgren  (Prof.  U.),  Production  of  Light  by  Animals, 
146,  450 

Dale  (Prof.  R.  B.),  Arithmetic  for  Carpenters  and 
Builders,   179 

Dalimier  and  L^vy-Franckel,  The  102  of  Danysz  in  the 
Treatment  of  Malignant  or  Grave  Syphilis,    135 

Daly  (Prof.  R.  A.),  Origin  of  the  Iron  Ores  of  Kiruna,  107  ; 
Problems  of  the  Pacific  Islands,  389 ;  The  Glacial- 
control  of  Coral  Reefs,  191 

Dancaster  (E.   A.),   Limes  and  Cements,   3 

Daniel  (Z.),  The  Orbit  of  VV  Orionis,  46 

Darwin  (Sir  G.  H.),  Scientific  Papers.  Vol  v.,  Supple- 
mentary Volume  containing  Biographical  Memoirs  by 
Sir  F.  Darwin  and  Prof.  E.  W^.  Brown.  Lectures  on 
Hill's  Lunar  Theory,  etc.,  Edited  by  F.  J-  M.  Stratton 
and  J.  Jackson.   338 

Datta  (R.  L.),  and  N.  R.  Chatterjee,  Action  of  .^qua  Regia, 
207 

Dauzire  (V.),  Formation  of  a  Cellular  Network  during 
Crystallisation,   214 

Davenport  (Dr.  C.  B.),  The  Feeblv  Inhibited.  Nomadism, 
or  the  Wandering  Impulse,  with  special  reference  to 
Heredity.  Inheritance  of  Temperament,  343  ;  The 
Form  of  Evolutionary  Theory,   etc.,    1:49 

Davev  (J.  E.),  elected  a  Fellow  of  King's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, 93 

Davidson  (Sir  J.  Mackenzie),  Electrical  Methods  in  Surgical 
Advance,   294 

Davie  (Dr.  R.  C),  The  Leaf  Trace  in  some  Pinnate 
Leaves,  95 


Nature, 
September  21, 


1916. 


3 


I 71  d ex 


Vll 


Davies    (G.    M.),    Rocks    and    Minerals    of    the    Croydon 

Regional  Survey  Area,  473 
Davies  (Rev.  J.   Llewelyn)  [obituary],  265 
Davis  (B.  M.),  Mutation  Phenomena  in  CEnothera,  291 
Davis  (C.    A.),   Fossil  Algae   of   Petroleum-yielding   Shales, 

215;   [obituary],   246 
Davis  (W.  M.),  Clift  Islands  in  the  Coral  Seas,  395  ;  Sink- 
ing  Islands  versus   a  Rising  Ocean  in   the  Coral-Reef 
Problem,    492  ;    and    others.    The    Exploration    of    the 
Pacific,  515 
Davison  (Dr.   C.),  A   First  Course  of  Geometry.   439  ;  The 
Ochil    Earthquakes,    1900-19 14,    17:; :   The    Propagation 
of  Sound  by  the  .Atmosphere,  402  ;  The  Sound  of  Big 
Guns,  471 
Dawkins  (Prof.  W.  Boyd),  The  Lake  Villagers  of  Glaston- 
bury, 473 
Dawson  (C.)  [obituary],  503 
Day    (B.    J.),     Manufacture,     Properties,    and    Testing    of 

Portland  Cement,  329 
Day   (T.    C),    Incorporation    of    Dolomite   in   an    Intrusive 

Basaltic  Sill  at  Gullane,  350 
Dedekind  (R.)  [obituary],    12  ;  [obituary  article],    103 
Demoussy   (E.),    Influence   of    Hydrogen    Peroxide    on    Ger- 
mination, 135 
Dempster  (.\.    J.),    The   Light   Excitation   by   Slow   Positive 

and  Neutral  Particles,  515 
Dendv  (Prof.   A.),   Gelatinous  Spicules  in  a  new   Genus  of 
Siliceous  Sponges,  253  ;  Sponges  from  the  Indian  Ocean, 
408 
Denning  (W.  F.),  A  June  Meteoric  Display,  388  ;  A  Large 
Daylight  Fireball  on  May  20,   288 ;   Bright  Display  of 
Aurora    Borealis    on    August    27,    551  ;    July    Meteors, 
August  Meteors,  490 ;  Pons-Winnecke's  Comet  and  the 
Meteoric  Shower  of  June  28,  451  ;  The  Lyrid  Meteors 
of  19 16,  229  ;  The  Remarkable  Meteors  of  February  9, 
1913.   i8i 
Dennv  (Sir  A.),  Subdivision  of  Merchant  Vessels,  170 
Desch  (Dr.  C.  H.).  The  Decay  of  Metals,  169 
Despott  (Dr.   G.),   Destruction  of  Birds  in  Malta,  309 
Devaux  (H.),   Rapid  Action  of  Saline  Solutions  on   Living 

Plants,  195 
Dewar  (D.),  A  Bird  Calendar  for  Northern  India,  239 
Dewey  (H.),  Origin  of  some  River-gorges  in  Cornwall  and 

Devon,  73 
Dibdin  (E.  R.),  Effpct  of  the  War  upon  Art  Museums,  472 
Di^nert   (F.),    and   L.    Gizolme,    Influence   of   the   Algae   on 
submerged  Sand  Filters  on   the   Purification  of  Water, 
514 
Dillcr  (J.  S.li  Lassen  Peak,  367 

Dines  (W.  H.),  Meteorological  Conditions  of  a  Blizzard,  280 
Dixon  (Prof.  H.  H.),  and  T.  G.  Mason^  The  Primary  Sugar 

of  Photosynthesis,  160 
Dixon  (Prof.  W.  E.),  A  Manual  of  Pharmacology,  Fourth 

Edition,   79 
Debbie  (Sir  J.),  Chemists  and  their  Training,  47 
Dobbs  (F.  W.),  and  H.  K.  Marsden,  Arithmetic,  part  i.,  439 
Dobrowolski  (A.   B.).  Les  cristaux  de  glace,  450 
Dodge  (Dr.    R.).   and   Prof.    F.    G.    Benedict,    Psychological 

Effects  of  Alcohol.  465 
Dominian  (L.),  The  Worlds  Coal  Resources,  66 
Don  (J.),  A  Peculiar  Thunderclap,  500 
Donaldson  (Sir  H.  F.)  [death],  307 ;  [obituary],  324 
Donaldson   (H.   H.),   The  relation  of  Myelin  to  the  loss  of 
Water   in   the   Mammalian   Nervous  System.   5i.«; :  The 
Rat  :  Reference  Tables  and  Data  for  the  Albino  Rat  and 
the  Norway  Rat,   120 
Doncaster    (Dr.),    Abraxas   grossulariata,    51  :    and    D.    W. 

Cutler,  Sex-limited  Colour-inheritance  in  Cats,  232 
Donnan  (Prof.   F.   G.).  Chemical  Organisation  in  Germany 
during  the  War,  82  ;  The  relation  of  the  Engineer  and 
the  Chemist,   495 ;  The   Rdle  of   Chemical   Science  in 
Civilisation,    370 
Douerlas  (Capt.  S.  R.),  The  R6le  of  the  Blood  Fluids  in  the 

Intraleucocytic  Digestion,  455 
Drake  (E.),  The  Univer^.Tl  Mind  and  the  Great  War.  400 
Duane  (Dr.  W.),  Some  Relations  between  Matter  and  Radia- 
tion, 493 
Du  Cros  (A.).   Gifts  to  the   London  (Royal  Free  Hospital) 

School  of  Medicine  for  Women,   17'; 
Duffield  (Prof.  W.  G.\  Apparatus  for  the  Determination  of 
Gravity  at  Sea,  73 


Duncan  (L.)  [obituary],  42 

Dunlop  (W.  R.),  Rearing  of  Sponges  in  the  Caicos  Islands, 

etc.,   171 
Dunstan   (Prof.   W.),   Work   of   the    Imperial   Institute  for 

India,  468 
Du  Pont  Family,  Gift  of,  to  the  Massachusetts  Institute  oJ 

Technology,   454 
Durham    (Earl   of).    Address    to    the    Institution    of    Naval 

Architects,  170 
Dussaud   (M.),   Separation   of   the  Luminous   and   Calorific 

Effects  of  a  Source  of  Light,  476 
Dutt    (C.     P.),     The     Internal     Structure    of    Pityostrobus 

(Pinites)  tnacrocephalus  from  the  Lower  Eocene,  355 


Eccles  (Dr.  W.),  appointed  to  the  Professorship  of  Electrical 

Engineering     and     Applied     Physics    at    the     Finsbury 

Technical  College,  454 
Edmonds  (H.  H.),  and  N.  N.  Lee,  Brook  and  River  Trout- 

ing,  378 
Edridge-Green    (Dr.),    Subjective    Phenomena   produced    by 

Gazing,  etc.,  525 
Edwards  (Prof.  C.  A.),  J.  N.  Greenwood,  and  H.  Kikkawa. 

Remarkable  Properties  of  a  Chromium  Steel,  452 
Ehrenfeld  (Prof.  F.),  Jointing  as  a  Fundamental  Factor  in 

the  Degradation  of  the  Lithosphere,  492 
Ehrenfest  (Prof.),  and  Prof.  J.  J.  van  Laar,  Osmotic  Pres- 
sure or  Osmotic  Suction?,  68 
Einarsson  (S.),  and  M.   Harwood,   Daniel's  Comet  (1909  e), 

■^69 
Elder  (T.  C),  Address  on  Competition  with  Germany,   105 
Ellis  (Dr.    D.),   Phycomycites  Frodinghamii,   Ellis,   355 
Ellis  (J.  H.),  Chemical  Activity  of  the  Ions  of  Hydrochloric 

Acid,  75 
Ellsworth  (C.   E.),   and  R.   W.   Davenport,   Surface  Water 

Supply  of  the  Yukon-Tanana  Region,  Alaska,  369 
Enock  (F.)  [obituary],  366 
Esclangon    (E.),    The    Sound    of    Gun-fire    and    Zones    ol 

Silence,  556 
Esson  (Prof.  W.)  [obituary  article],  547 
Etheridge  (R.),  Origin  of  the  Warrigal,  526 
Evans  (Sir  .\.),  The  Old  Roman  Route  from  Lombardy  to 

Belgrade,  206 
Evans  (A.  H.),  The  Birds  of  Britain  :  their  Distribution  and 

Habits,  540 
Evans  (E.  J.),  and  C.  Croxson,  The  Structure  of  the  Line 

of  Wave-Length  4686  A.U.,  56    . 
Evans  (Major  H.  M.),  The  Poison  Organ  of  the  Sting-ray, 

214 
Evans  (J.  H.  N.),  Aboriginal  Tribes  of  Upper  Perak,  266 
Evans    (Dr.    J.    W.),    A    New    Microscope    .Accessory,    174 ; 

International   Latin,    122  ;    Relations  between    Different 

Laws  of  Twinning  giving  the  same  Twin-crystal,  374 
Everdingen  (Dr.  E.  van),  The  Propagation  of  Sound  in  the 

Atmosphere,  402 
Everest  (Dr.  .\.  E.),  appointed  Head  of  the  Department  for 

Specialised    Study    and    Research    in    Coal-tar    Colour 

Chemistry  at  Huddersfield  Technical  College,  373 
Everest  (Miss  E.  G.),  Bequests  for  a  Home  of  Rest,  a  Bird 

Sanctuan,-,  and  a  College  in  India,  308 ;  [obituary],  308 
Evershed  (J.),  A  Large  Solar  Prominence,  507;  and  Dr.  T. 

Rovds,   On  Centre-limb  Shifts  of  Solar  Wave-Lengths. 

388 
Ewart  (A.  J.),  Function  of  Chlorophyll,  Carotin,  and  Xan- 

thophyll,  51 
Ewing^   (Sir   A.),   appointed    Principal   of   the   University  of 

Edinburgh,  265 
Ewing  (Dr.),  Broadening  the  Basis  of  Higher  Education  in 

India,  272 
Eyles  (F.),  Plants  collected  in  Southern  Rhodesia,  408 

H.  O.  F.,  A  Peculiar  Thunderclap,  520 

Falconer  (Dr.  J.   D.),  Temporan,-  .Assistant  District  Officer, 

Nigeria,  12 
Fallaize  (E.  N.),  The  Routledge  Expedition  to  Easter  Island, 

261 
Fantham  (Dr.),  and  Dr.  Porter,  Induced  Herpetomoniasis  in 

Birds,  18 
Fawcett  (Lt.-Col.   P.   H.\  awarded  the  Founder's  Medal  of 

the  R.G.S..  86 


Vlll 


Index 


[Nature, 
September  21,  19 16 


Penning  (R.  W.),  Composition  of  the  Exhaust  from  Liquid 
Fuel,  169 

Fergusson  (S.  P.),  High-level  Meteorological  Observations 
and  Forecasts  of  Temperature,  310 

Ferrand  (V.),  Sterilisation  of  Drinking  Water  by  Sodium 
Hypochlorite,  135 

Filipjev  (I.),  Free-living  Nematodes  of  the  Gulf  of  Sevas- 
topol, 525 

Findlav  (Prof.  A.),  Chemistry  in  the  Service  of  Man,  538 

Firth  (Sir  A.),  British  Trade  Policy,  127 

Firth  (C.  M.),  The  Archaeological  Survey  of  Nubia.  Report 
for  1909-10,  loi 

Fischer  (Prof.  F.)  [death],  503 

Fischer  (H.)  [obituary],  467 

Fischer-Petersen  (J.),  and  Mile.  J.  M.  Vinter-Hansen,  Comet 
1916  a  (Neujmin),  67 

Fisher  (Rt.  Hon.  A.),  The  National  Institute  of  Science  and 
Industry  in  Australia,  263 

Fisher  (A.),  Translated  by  W.  Bonynge,.  The  Mathematical 
Theory  of  Probabilities  and  its  application  to  Frequency 
Curves  and  Statistical  Methods.  Vol.  i..  Mathematical 
Probabilities  and  Homograde  Statistics,   179 

Fisk  (M.   A.),   Bequest  to  Princeton  University,   173 

Fleming  (A.  P.  M.),  Industrial  Research  in  the  United 
States,  270 ;  Scientific  Education  and  Industrial  Re- 
search, 92  ;  and  J.  G.  Pearce,  The  Principles  of 
Apprentice  Training,   440 

Fleming  (Prof.  J.  A.),  An  Elementary  Manual  of  Radio- 
telegraphy  and  Radiotelephony  for  Students  and 
Operators,  Third  Edition,  440 ;  Engineering  and  Scien- 
tific Research,  208 ;  The  True  Foundations  of  National 
Education,  435 

Fletcher  (G.),  Peat  as  a  Source  of  Power,  19 

Fleure  (H.  J.),  and  T.  C.  James,  Geographical  Distribution 
of  Anthropological  Types  in  Wales,  504 

Fleurent  (E.),  A  Method  of  Preserving  Bread,  515 

Flowers  (J.  B.),  A  New  Phonetic  Machine,  88 

Floy  (H.)  [obituary],  265 

Foote  (P.  D.).  Determination  of  the  Melting  Points  of 
Metals,  408 

Foote  (R.  B.),  Madras  Government  Museum.  The  Foote 
Collection  of  Indian  Prehistoric  and  Protohistoric 
Antiquities,  319 

Ford  (Prof.  W.  E.),  Third  Appendix  to  the  Sixth  Edition 
of  Dana's  System  of  Mineralogy,  55 

Forster  (Dr.  M.  O.),  appointed  to  the  Board  of  British 
Dyes,  Ltd.,   127 

Forte   (J.),    Bequest   to  Codrington   College,    Barbados,    291; 

Foster  (Dr.  M.),  and  Dr.  J.  F.  Gaskell,  Cerebro-spinal 
Fever,    419 

Foster  (R.  B.),  Hopwood's  Living  Pictures,  New  Edition, 
297 

Fouqu^  (H.),  The  Ferments  of  Pine-apple  Wine,  135 

Fowler  (Prof.  A.),  New  Lines  in  the  Spectrum  of  Silicon, 
109 

Fowler  (Dr.  W.  Warde),  Birds'  Songs  and  the  Diatonic 
Scale,  364 

Fox  (W.  L.),  Historical  Synopsis  of  the  Royal  Cornwall 
Polytechnic   Society,    506 

Fr^d^ricq  and  Pirenne  (Profs.),  Petition  for  the  Release  of, 
313 

Freshfield  (D.  W.),  Honorary  Degree  conferred  upon,  by 
Oxford  University,  393  ;  H.  Curdier,  and  Genl. 
Schokalski,  Elected  Honorary  Members  of  the  Italian 
Royal  Geographical  Society,   12 

Friend  (Dr.  T.  Newton).  A  Text-book  of  Inorganic  Chem- 
istry. Vol.  viii..  The  Halogens  and  their  Allies,  by 
Dr.  G.  Martin  and  E.  A.  Dancaster,  257 ;  The  Theory 
of  Valency,   Second  Edition.   218 

Fry  (W.  .!•)•   impact  in  Three  Dimensions,  414 

Fuller  (C),  South  African  Termites,  472 

H.  U.  G.,  The  Formation  of  Dust-ripples,  i;20 

Galaine  (C),  and  C.  Houlbert,  k  Sulohur  Dioxide  Diffuser, 

Q<  :  the  Removal  of  Flies  from  Houses,  515 
de  Galdeano  (Dr.  Z.  G.),  La  Ciencia,  La  Universidad,  y  La 

Academia,  347 
Gale  and  Whitney.  The  Pole  Effect  in  the  Calcium  Arc,  268 
Galitzine  (Prince  Boris),   elected  a  Foreign   Member  of  the 

Royal  Society,   i6c  :  Localisation  of  the  Epicentre  of  an 

Earthquake,    395  ;   [death],    385  ;    [obituary    article],    424 


Gall6  (P.  H.),  Fluctuations  in  the  Strength  of  the  Trade 
Winds  of  the  North  Atlantic,  526 ;  Steamer  Routes,  108 

Gallenkamp  and  Co.'s  Models,  etc.,  for  the  Teaching  of 
Military  Science,  87 

Gallieni  (Genl.  J.  S.)  [obituary],  346 

Gamble  (J.  S.),  Flora  of  the  Presidency  of  Madras,  part  i., 

31 
Gardiner  (J.  H.),  A  Tungsten  Target  for  X-ray  Tubes,  67 
Gardner  (Prof.   P.),  The  Teaching  of  Classics  and  Science, 

154 
Garner   (H.    M.),   Awarded  a   Smith's   Prize   at   Cambridge 

University,  72 
Garnett     (Dr.     W.),     Scientific     Education     and     Industrial 

Research,    91  ;    Technical    Instruction    after    the    War, 

453  ;  The  Sphere  of  the  Scientific  and  Technical  Press 

in    relation     to     Technical     Education     and     Industrial 

Research,  41 
Gates     (Dr.     R.     R.),     Heredity     and     Mutation     as     Cell 

Phenomena,   370  ;  The  Work  of  Thomas  Meehan,  370 
Gatto  (Dr.   A.   C),   "Flora  Melitensis  Nova,"  86 
Gaubert  (P.),  Growth  of  Crystals,   155 
Gautier  (A.),  The  Historical  Origin  of  the  Sugar-Cane  and 

Cane-Sugar,  436 
Gautier   (E.    F.),    Nouvelles   Stations  de   Gravures  rupestres 

Nord-Africaines,   251 
Gautier   (Prof.    R.),    Chronometrical   Work    of   the    Geneva 

Observatory,  506 
Gavelin     (Dr.     A.),     appointed     Director     of  'the     Swedish 

Geological  Survey,  345 
Gee  (Prof.  W.  W.   H.),   Bunsen  and  Luminous  Flames,  74 
Geikie  (Sir  A.),  Presentation  of  a  Bust  of,  61 
George  (Miss  F.  A.),  Economical  Dishes  for  War-time,  551 
Gibbons  (Lt.-Col.    A.    St.    Hill)  [obituary],   487 
Gibbs,  Smith,  and  Bengough,  and  E.  Cumberland,  Corrosion 

of  Condenser  Tubes,   131 
Gibson     (A.),     and     R.     C.     Treherne,     The     Cabbage-root 

Maggot,  489 
Gibson    (C.    S.),    appointed    Assistant    to    the    Professor    of 

Chemistry  at  Cambridge,   72 
Gi'fford  (E.  W.),  Californian  Shell-Mounds,  309 
Gilchrist  (Dr.   J.    D.   F.),   Larval  and  Post-larval   Stages  of 

]asus    lolandii,    74 ;     Protective    Resemblance    in    Post- 
larval  Stages  of  some  South  African  Fishes,  515 
Girardeau     and     Bethenod,     Regulation     of    the     Charging 

Circuit   in    Installations   of  Wireless  Telegraphy,   91; 
Giufifrida-Ruggeri     (V.),     The    Relation     of     the    Neolithic 

Egyptians  to  the  Ethiopians,-  366 
Gold   (Major   E.),    "Summer  Time"    and   Meteorology,    260 
Goldman    (E.    A.),    Botanical    Exploration    of    Lower    Cali- 
fornia,   267 
Gomme  (Sir  Laurence)  [obituary  article],    11 
Goodenough     (Prof.     G.     A.),     Properties     of     Steam     and 

Ammonia,   2 
Goodey    (Dr.    T.),    Cytology    of    Flagellates    and    Amoebae 

observed  from  Old  Stored  Soil,  174  ;  Protozoa  in  relation 

to  Soil  Bacteria,  4^1; 
Goodhart  (Sir  J.   F.)  [death],   284 
Goodrich  (E.  S.),  Classification  of  the  Reptilia,  254 
Goodsell  (Prof.  W.),  The  History  of  the  Family  as  a  Social 

and  Educational  Institution,   477 
Gordon  (T.    E.),  appointed  Professor  of  Surgery  in   Trinity 

College,   Dublin,  474 
Gorst  (Sir   T.)  [death],   127 
Goss  (Dr.  W.   F.   M.),   Smoke  as  a  Source  of  Atmospheric 

Pollution,   429 
Gosse  (Capt.   P.).  The  Mammals  of  Flanders,  227 
Goud    (F.),     A    New    Method    of    Employing    Formol    for 

Disinfection   at  the  Front,  gi^ 
Graham-Smith    (Dr.),    reappointed    Lecturer    in   Hygiene    at 

Cambridge  University,   334 
Graveley  (F.   H.),  The  Habits  of  Insects,   529 
Graves    (Dr.     A.     H.),     appointed    Associate     Professor    of 

Biology  at  the  Connecticut  College  for  Women,  394 
Gray   (Dr.    F.    W.),   Thermodynamic   Chemistry,    277 
Green    (Prof.    A.    G.),    appointed    Head    of    a    New    Sub- 
department  in   Coal-tar  Products   and   Dyestuffs  at  the 

Manchester  School  of  Technology,  -^85 
Green  (G.).  The  Main  Crests  of  Ship  Waves,   115 
Green  (G.  M.),  Linear  Dependence  of  Functions  of  Variables, 

Green  (Prof.  J.  A.),  The  History  of  the  Family,  477 


Nature, 
Se/tember  zi,  X916. 


Index 


IX 


Greenwood  (H.  W.),  The  Paragenesis  of  Marcasite, 
Wurtzite,  and  Calcite  at  Halkyn  Mountain,  351  ;  and 
C.  B.  Travis,  Boulders  of  Strontium  in  the  Keuper 
Marls  of  Bristol,  350 

Greenwood,  Jr.  (M.),  The  Application  of  Mathematics  to 
Epidemiology,  243 

Gregory  (H.  E.),  The  Andes  as  an  Uplifted  Plateau,  187 

Gregory  (Prof.  J.  W.),  Cyrenaica,  287 

Gregory  (Prof.  R.  A.),  Civil  Service  Estimates  for  Educa- 
tion and  Science,  and  Benefactions  to  Science  and 
Education  in  the  United  States,  263  ;  Discovery ;  or. 
The  Spirit  and  Service  of  Science,  438  ;  Introduction  of 
the  Metric  System,  44 

Grenfell  (Miss  A.),  Lord  Grenfell's  Collection  of  Scarabs,  14 

Gribaudi  (Prof.  F.),  The  Canal  between  Aries  and  Mar- 
seilles,  505 

Griffiths  (Dr.  A.),  and  others,  A  Correction  of  some  Work 
on   Diffusion,   39;; 

Griffiths  (Mrs.  C.  H.),  A  New  Method  of  Determining 
Ionic  Velocities,   174 

Griffiths    (J.)  [obituary],    266 

Grocco  (Prof.    P.)  [obituary],   42 

Grosselet  (Prof,  j.)  [obituary],  226 

Guglielmo  (G.),  The  Green  Ray,  228 

Guild  (J.),  Use  of  the  Auto-collimating  Telescope  in  the 
Measurement  of  Angles,  334 

Guillaume  (J.),  Observations  of  the  Sun  at  the  Observatory 
of  Lyons,   115,   155 

Giinther  (R.  T.),  The  Daubeny  Laboratory  Register, 
1904-1915,  421 

Gurney  (R.),  Fresh-water  Entomostraca  collected  in  Ceylon, 

195 
Gwyther  (R.  F.),  The  Specification  of  Stress,  part  iv.,  475 


Hadamard  (Prof.  J.),  Four  Lectures  on  Mathematics,  398 

Haddon  (Dr.  A.  C.),  Sir  Laurence  Gomme,    11 

Hadfield  (Sir  R.),  Discoveries  of  Industrial  Importance,  63  ; 

Essentials  in  a  Head  of  a  Manufacturing  Concern,  407  : 

Proposal    for    a     Central     Bureau    of     Information    of 

Materials  existing  within  the  British  Empire,  264 
Haig  (Sir  D.),  Work  of  Chemists  in  the  War,  284 
Hale  (Dr.    G.    E.),   awarded  the   Bruce   Gold   Medal   of  the 

Astronomical  Society  of  the  Pacific,    12  ;  and  F.   Eller- 

man.    Minute   Structure  of  the   Solar   Atmosphere,   71; ; 

Stereoscop'c    Spectroheliograms,    249 ;    and   others.    The 

National   Research   Council   of   the   United   States,    464 
Hall  (A.   D.),   .Agriculture  after  the  War,  459 
Hall  (Dr.  T.  S.)  [obituary],   13 
Hall-Hamilton    (G.),    Study    of    the    Planet    Mars    at    the 

Flagstaff  Observatory,  355 
Hamilton  (A.  A.),  Leaf-morphology  in  relation  to  Taxonomic 

Botany,  415 
Hamilton  (A.  G.),  Relations  of  Birds  and  Flowers  in  regard 

to  Pollination,  375 
Hamlyn-Harris    (Dr.    R.).    elected    President    of    the    Royal 

Society  of  Queensland,  246 
Hammond  (Cant.  P.)  [obituary],  284 
Hanbury  (C.)  [obituary],   226 
Handlev  (W.   S."),  awarded  the  Walker  Prize  of  the  Royal 

College  of  Surgeons,  161; 
Hardwick  (Prof.   F.  W.),   Historv  of  the  Safety-Lamp,  284 
Hardy   (Dr.   W.    B.).    elected   a   Member  of  the   Athenaeum 

Club,  127 ;  The  Guthrie  Lecture  of  the  Phvsical  Society, 

188 
Harker  (Dr.   J.   A.),   Attainment  of  High   Temperatures  in 

the  Laboratory.  42  :  Dr.  P.  Chappuis-Sarasin,  38  ;  High 

Temperatures  in  the  Laboratory,  80 
Harkms   r\V.    D.).    Elements    in    relation    to   the    Hydrogen- 
helium  Structure  of  the  Atoms.  2^1; 
Harkness    CC.    W.).    Bequests    to    Yale    University    and    the 

Harkness  Fund,  1I3 
Harmer  (Dr.  S.  F.).  Cetacea  stranded  on  the  British  Co.nsts 

during  iqi;.    146 
Harper  fLieut.   E.   H.>  [obituary],  467 
Harner  (J.   H.).  Harner's  Hvdraulic  Tables  for  the  F'ow  of 

Water   in   Circular   Pipes   und»r   Pressure,   etc..    460 
Haroer    (L.    F."),    Geolorfv    and    Mineral    Resources    of    the 

N.S.W.    Southern   Coalfield,   480 
Harris  (J.  A.).   De  Vries-an  Mutation  in  the  Garden   Bean. 

4>5  ;  Personal  Equation  and  Steadiness  of  Judgment,  75 


Harrison  (L.),  Structure  of  the  Mouth-parts  of  the  Body- 
louse,  51 

Hart  (W.  L.),  Differential  Equations  and  Implicit  Func- 
tions, 4SS 

Hartog  (Prof.  M.),  "  Optical  Glass "  and  Fluorite :  an 
Ethical  Note,   180 

Hartung  (E.  J.),  The  Theory  of  Solution,  315 

Harvie-Brown  (Dr.  J.  A.)  [obituary  article],  466 

Hase  (Dr.  A.),  The  Destruction  of  Lice,  312 

Hatschek  (E.),  The  Theory  of  Gels  as  Systems  of  Two 
Liquid  Phases,  314;  The  Viscosity  of  Colloidal  Solu- 
tions, 335 

Haviland  (Miss  M.),  Life-history  of  the  Lapland  Bunting,  14 

Hawksley  (Major  W.  L.)  [obituary],  185 

Hayata  (B.),  Icones  Plantarum  Formosanarum,  vol.  v.,  220 

Hayden  (Dr.  H.  H.),  Address  to  the  Mining  and  n«»olog!ca' 
Institute  of  India,  63  ;  Geology  of  Chitral,  Gilgit,  and 
the   Pamirs,   505 

Hayes  (Dr.  C.  W.)  [death],   12 

Hayes  (Genl.  E.),  Gift  to  Buffalo  University,  94 

Heath  (A.  E.),  Ground  Rainbows,  1; 

Heckel  (Prof.   E.)  [obituary],   43 

Hegner  (R.  W.),  and  C.  P.  Russell,  Differential  Mitoses  in 
the  Germ-cell  cycle  of  Dincules  Nigrior,  515 

Hemsley  (Dr.  W.  B.),  Flora  of  the  Seychelles  and  Aldabra, 

347 
Henderson  (J.   B.),  The  Cruise  of  the  Tomas  Barrera,  478 
Henderson   (R.),   Mortality  Laws  and  Statistics,    179 
Henry  (Prof.  A.),  Black  Poplars,   107 
Hepworth    (Capt.    C),    Meteorology    of    Davis    Strait    and 

Baffin  Bay,  414 
Herdman  (Lieut.  G.  A.)  [obituary],  486 

Herdman  (Prof.  W.  A.),  Exploration  in  South-West  Africa,  4 
d'Herelle  {¥.),  Study  of  Immunity,   195 
Herms    (Prof.    W.    B.),    and    S.    B.    Freeborn,    A    Malaria 

Mosquito  Survey,  467 
Heron-.\llen  (E.),  Purposeful  Behaviour  of  the  Foraminifera, 

291  ;  and  A.   Earland,   Foraminifera  from  the  Kerimba 

Archipelago,   90 
Herrick  (Prof.  C.  J.),  .'\n  Introduction  to  Xeurolog}',  497 
Herring-Browne  (Miss  C),  John  Bartram,  25 
Hess  (Prof.  H.  D.),  Graphics  and  Structural  Design,  Second 

Edition,  200 
Hesselberg  (Dr.   T.).    Director  of  ITnstitut   M^t^rologique 

de  Norv^ge,  Kristiania,  62 
Hewitt  (J.),    South   African   .Arachnida,   47-?  ;   The  Scorpion 

Fauna  of  South  Africa,  336 
Hewlett  (Prof.   R.  T.),  The   Declining  Birth-rate,   498 
Hickling  (Dr.   H.   G.  A.),  Variation  in  the  Colour  of  Coal 

Streaks,  95 
Hicks  (Prof.  W.    M.),   Structure  of  Spark   Spectra,   314 
Hickson    (Prof.    S.    J.),    Evolution    and    Symmetry    in    the 

Order   of   the   Sea-pens,    372  ;    to   deliver   the  Croonian 

Lecture,  265 
Higbee     (Prof.     F.     G.),     The     Essentials     of     Descriptive 

Geometry,    179 
Higham  (C.   F.).  A  Plea  for  Education,  374 
Highton     (H.     P.),     The     Rugby    Course     of     Elementary 

Chemistry,  218 
Hilderbrandsson   (Prof.),  Course  of  the  Meteorological  Ele- 
ments   over    the    part    of    the    Ocean    between    Iceland 

and  Norway,   228 
Hill  (A.  v.),  elected  a  Fellow  of  King's  College,  Cambridge, 

93 

Hill  (A.  W.),  to  deliver  Lectures  on  "Some  Vegetable 
Products  of  Economic   Importance,"   153 

Hill  fProf.  H.  W.).  The  New  Public  Health,  460 

Hill  (Prof.   L.),  Ventilation  and  Met.^bolism.  40 t 

Hills  (Col.  E.  H.).  The  Movements  of  the  Earth's  Pole,  530 

Hillyer  (V.   M.),  Child  Training,   238 

Hippisley  (Col.  R.  L.).  Linkages  illustrating  the  Cubic 
Transformation   of   Elliptic   Functions,   274 

Hirst  (S.),  Harvest  Bugs,  529 

Hjort  (Dr.  J.),  elected  a  Foreign  Member  of  the  Royal 
Society,    165 

Hoblev  (C.  W.),  Alleged  Desiccation  of  East  .Africa,   146 

Hoel  (A.),  Reindeer  in  Spitsbergen,    188 

Hoffmeister  (Dr.   C).   Observat-ons  of  Variable  Stars,  46 

Holdich  (Sir  T.  H.)  Geographical  Problems  in  Boundary 
Marking,  368 :  The  Peru-Bolivia  Boundar%'  Commis- 
sion,   15 


Index 


[Nature, 
September  21,  1916 


Holland  (Sir  T.  H.),  appointed  Chairman  of  a  Commission 
on  the  Economic  Resources,  etc.,  of  India,  86 

HoUande  (A.  C),  The  Anti-coagulating  Power  of  Acid 
Aniline  Dyes  towards  Albuminoid  Materials,  395 

Holmes  (Dr.  A.),  A  Series  of  Volcanic  Rocks  from  the 
Neighbourhood  of  the  Lucalla  River,  Angola,  375 ; 
Radio-active  Minerals  and  the  Measurement  of  Geo- 
logical Time,  45 

Holmes  (E.),  The  Nemesis  of  Docility,  299 

Hoist  (Dr.  N.  O.),  The  Ice  Age  in  England,  247 

Hooker  (Sir  Joseph),  Tablet  in  Westminster  Abbey,  58 

Hooper  (C.  H.),  The  Pollination  of  Orchards,   143 

Hooper  (Dr.  D.),  elected  President  of  the  British  Pharma- 
ceutical Conference,  144 ;  The  Drug  Resources  of  Ind  a 
and  the  Colonies,  488 

Hooton  (W.  M.),  Qualitative  and  Volumetric  Analysis,  218 

Hopkins  (Dr.  F.  G.),  Newer  Standpoints  in  the  Study  of 
Nutrition,   409 

Hornig  (Dr.   G.),  Observations  of  Variable  Stars,  46 

Horsbrugh  (Major  R.  R.)  [obituary],  448 

Horsley  (Sir  Victor)  [obituary  article],  447 

Hoshino  (Y.),  Inheritance  of  Flowering  Time  in  Peas  and 
Rice,   291 

Hough  (W.),   Man   and  Metals,  215 

Houghton  (C.  M.),  Esperanto,  16 

Houlbert  (C),  and  C.  Galaine,  Causes  of  Inclusion  of 
Foreign   Material  in   Oysters,  52 

Houston  (Dr.  A.  C),  to  deliver  the  Harben  Lectures,  406 

Houstoun  (Dr.  R.  A.),  A  Possible  Explanation  of  the 
Satellites  of  Spectral  Lines,  355  ;  A  Theory  of  Colour 
Vision,  274 ;  A  Treatise  on  Light,  199 

Howard,  and  Khan,  Gram  Crop  in  India,  147  ;  Indian  Oil 
Seeds,  427  ;  Dyer,  and  Knab,  The  Mosquitoes  of  North 
and  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies,  vol.  ii.,  227 

Howard  (Sir  S.)  [death],   144 

Howland  (R.  B.),  Effect  of  the  Removal  of  the  Pronephros 
of  the  Amphibian  Embryo,  255 

Howlett  (F.   M.),  Chemical  Reactions  of  Fruit-flies,   291 

Hubble  (E.  P.),  Changes  in  the  Form  of  the  Nebula  N.G.C. 
2261,  255 

Hubrecht  (J.  B..),  The  Solar  Rotation  in  June,   191 1,   184 

Hudson  (Dr.  O.  F.),  Resignation  of  Post  in  Birmingham 
University,  413  ;  Assistant  Investigator  to  the  Corrosion 
Committee,   Institute  of  Metals,  413 

Huels  (F.  W.),  The  Peat  Resources  of  Wisconsin,  269 

Hughes  (Mrs.   McKenny)  [obituary],  424 

Hughes  (Prof.   T.   McKenny),  The  Gravels  of  East  Anglia, 

431 
Hughes    (Rt.    Hon.    W.    M.),    Degree    conferred    upon,    by 

Birmingham   University,    295 
Hull  (Major  A.   J.),   Surgery  in  War,   537 
Huil   CG.    B.),   Mortality  of  the  Short-ta'iled   Petrel   in   New 

South  Wales,  326 
Hull  (W.),  and  M.   Rice,  The  High-frequency  Spectrum  of 

Tungsten,  395 
Humphrey  (E.),  and  E.  Hatschek.  The  Viscosity  of  Suspen- 
sions of  Rigid  Particles  at  Different  Rates  of  Shear,  394 
Hunsaker  (J.  C),  Dynamical  Stability  of  Aeroplanes,  395 
Hunt  (H.  A.),  Rainfall  Maps  of  Australia,  1915,  j.71  ;  Tem- 
perature Departures  in  Australia,    1915,  44;  The  Great 

Aurora^'of  June  17,   1915,  421 
Huntington  (E.),  Civilisation  and  Climate,  358 
Hurst  (G.   H.),  Colour.     Second  Edition,  21Q 
Hurst    CH.    E.),    The   Magnetic    Survey    of    Egypt    and    the 

Sudan,  229 
Hurter  (Dr.),  and  Mr.  DriflReld,  Movement  to  Commemorate 

the  Work  of.  426 
Hutchins  {Y).   E.).   Two  Belgian   .Arboretums,    T07 
Hutchinson    (R.     H.),    The    Pre-oviposition    Period    of    the 

House-fly,  529 
Hutchinson    (S.),    African    Species    of    the    Genus    Morinda 

(Rubiaceae),  187 
Hutton  (J.   A.),   Salmon  Fisheries  of  the  River  Wye,   286 ; 

Work  of  the  British  Cotton-growing  Association,    129 
Hurd  (A.),  The  German  Peril  after  the  War,  233 
Hyde    (F.    S.),    Solvents,    Oils,    Gums,    Waxes,    and    Allied 

Substances,   139 


Iddings  (Prof.    J.    P.),    The   Petrology   of   some    South    Sea 
Islands  and  its  Significance,  493 


Imms   (Dr.    A.    D.),    Shipley's   More   Minor   Horrors,   380; 

and   N.    C.  Chatterjee.    Tachardia   lacca,  90 
Innes  (R.   T.    A.),   A    New  Variable   Star  having  Nebulous 

Envelope,    189 ;   The   Development  of   the   Perturbative 

Function  in  the  Theory  of  Planetary  Motion,  335  ;  and 

Worssell,  Observations  of  Mercury,  229 


B.   D.  J.,  Hamilton  and  the  "Quantification  of  the  Predi- 
cate,"   lOI 
Jack  (Lt.-Col.    E.    M.),   awarded   the   Gill   Memorial   of  the 

R.G.S.,   86 
Jackson  (Sir  F.  J.),  Nests  of  the  African  Lung-fish,   167 
Jackson  (H.),   American  Moles,  367 
Jackson  (Prof.  H.),  elected  a  Representative  of  the  Faculty 

of  Science  on  the  Senate  of  London  University,  93 
Jackson    (Admiral    Sir    H.    B.),    elected  a    Member    of   the 

Athenaeum  Club,  127 
Jackson  (J.  W.),  Geographical  Distribution  of  the  Shell- 
purple  Industry,  26 ;  Shell-trumpets  and  their  Distribu- 
tion, 26 ;  Pearls  and  Pearl-shells,  Geographical  Dis- 
tribution of  the  Use  of,  235  ;  Shells  for  the  Purpose  of 
Currency,  The  Use  of,  235 
acobson    (C.    A.),    Need   of    a    Government    Institution    for 

Chemical   Research,    130 
adin   (F.),   and  A.   Astruc,   Manganese  in  some   Springs  of 

the  Pyrenees  Range,   115;  Manganese  in  Springs,  235 
anet  (Prof.  P.),  The  Work  of  the  late  Prof.  E.  Gerard,  386 
eans    (J.    H-)>    Instability    of    the    Pear-shaped    Figure    of 

Equilibrium,   154 
effers  and  Neubauer,  Comet  1915  e  (Taylor),  369 
effery  (2nd  Lieut.  G.  R.)  [obituary],  425 
effreys    (H.),    re-elected    to    a    Studentship    at    Cambridge 

University,   93 
effries  (Z.),   Grain   Size   Measurements  in  Metals,   314 
enks  (A.    E.),   Pigmentation  in   the   Human   Skin,   215 
ex-Bl^ke  (Dr.  A.  J.),  Tuberculosis  :  A  General  Account  of 
the  Disease  :  its  Forms,  Treatment,  and  Prevention,  180 
inarajadasa  (C),  Theosophy  and  Modern  Thought,   140 
ohnson  (Prof.   D.  W.),   Use  of  the  Term  "  Peneplain,"' 480 
ohnson    (T.    B.),    Polypeptidehydantoins,   7.? 
ohnsson   (B.),  and  others.    Expedition  to   Spitsbergen,   449 
ohnston    (Sir    H.    H.),    Anthropology    and    Fauna    of    the 
Chad  Basin,  9;  The  Fresh-water  Fishes  of  Africa,  218 
ohnston    (J.),    H.     E.     Merwin,     and    E.    D.    Williamson, 

Calcium  Carbonate,   526 
oly  (Prof.   J.),  The  Genesis  of  Pleochroic  Haloes,  455 
onas  (Sir  J.),  Gift  to  Sheffield  University,  253 
ones  (Prof.    H.   C.)  [deathi,  246 ;  [obituary  article],  283 
ones  (J.   C),  Earthquake  in  Pleasant  Valley,  Nevada,    107 
ones   (W.    N.),    and   Dr.   M.    C.    Rayner,    Breeding  experi- 
ments with  Bryonia  dioica,  291 
ones  (Dr.  W.  R.),  The  Alteration  of  Tourmaline,  174 
ordan  (F.  C),  rr  Aquilae,  507 

orge  (Prof.    R.),   La   Guerre  et  la  Pens^e  M^dicale,   2qq 
oshi    (R.    M.),   awarded   the   Gladstone   Memorial   Prize   of 

the  London   School  of  Economics,   495 
udd  (Prof.  J.  W.)  [obituary  article],  37 
ulliard  (Mrs.  H.  C).  Bequest  to  the  American  Museum  of 
Natural  Historv,  4:^4 
Jungfleisch  (Prof.    E.)  [obituary  article],   244 

Katamura,   Pleurotus  japonicus.   504 

Kayser  (E.),  The  Ferments  of  Rum,  23; 

Keeble  fProf.   F.),  The  Pollination  of  Fruit-trees,    142 

Keith  (Prof.   A.I,  The  late  M.   Joseph  D^chelette,   441 

Kellog-g  (Prof.  V.  L.),  and  G.  F.  Ferris,  The  Anoplura  and 
Mallophaga  of  North  American  Mammals,  313 

Keltie  (Dr.  J.  Scott),  The  Progress  of  Geography,  495;  ; 
assisted  by  Dr.  M.  Epstein,  The  Statesman's  Year- 
book.    1916,    47q 

Kelvin  (Lady)  [obituary],  85 ;  Bequest  to  Glasgow  Uni- 
versity,   213 

Kemp  (S.),  The  Decapod  Crustacea  of  the  Chilka  Lake,  528 

Kennedy  CH.),  The  Large  Ions  and  Condensation  Nuclei 
from  Flames,    411; 

Kennelly  (Dr.  A.  E.)  Co-ordination  of  the  Work  of 
American  Laboratories  of  Applied  Sciencp.   145 

Keogh  (Sir  A.),  Care  and  Treatment  of  the  Wounded.  264 ; 
Work  of  the  Imperial  College  of  Science  and  Tech- 
nology, 265 


Nature.  1 

September  21,  I9i6j 


Index 


XI 


JCerr  (Dr.  J.),  Newsholme 's  School  Hygiene,  New  Edition, 
420 

Kerr  (W.),  Whirling  Speeds  of  Loaded  Shafts,  66 

Kettle  (Dr.    E.    H.),   The  Pathology  of  Tumours,   460 

Kewley  (J.),  Effect  of  Tidal  Water  in  an  Estuary  on  the 
Level  of  Subterranean  Water,   141 

Keyes  (F.  G.),  and  W.  J.  Winninghoff,  Change  of  the 
lonisation  of  Salts  in  Alcoholic  Solvents,  456 

Kidd  (F.),  awarded  the  Allen  Scholarship  at  Cambridge 
University,    93  * 

Kidder  (A.  V.),  Archaeological  Explorations  at  Pecos,  New 
Mexico,  215 

Kidner  (H.),   Babylon's  Sacred  Way,  340 

Kidston  (Dr.  R.),  Fossil  Plants  from  the  Scottish  Coal 
Measures,  -435  ;  and  Prof.  W.  H.  Lang,  Old  Red  Sand- 
stone Fossil  Plants  from  Rhynie  Chert  Bed,  Aberdeen- 
shire,  435 

Kikuchi  (Baron),  Plea  for  the  Adoption  of  Roman  Letters 
in   Japan,    308 

Kilian  (Prof.  W.),  Organisation  of  Scientific  Research  in 
France,  41 

King  (Dr.  A.  S.),  Banded  Spectra  from  the  Electric  Furnace, 

507 
King  (J.   F.),  Tests  on  Large  Tank  Bulkheads,   170 
King  (Dr.  W.  F.)  [death],    185  ;  [obituary],  205 
Kingzett  (C.    T.),    Proposal    for    an    Enlarged    Institute    of 

Chemistry,   268 
KirchhofI  (C.  W.   H.)  [obituary],  524 
Kirk  (Prof.  H.  B.),  .'\  New  Genus,  Ascidioclava,  19 
Kitchener  (Lord)  [obituary],    307 
Kleiner   (L    S.).   and   S.    J.    Meltzer,    Influence   of   Morphin 

upon  the  Elimination  of  Intravenously  Injected  Dextrose 

in    Dogs,    515 
Klotz  (Dr.    O.),    Honorary   Degree   conferred   upon,   by   the 

University  of  Pittsburgh,  kt,^ 
Knight  (Dr.   W.   A.)  [obituary],  42 
Knocke  (Dr.  W.)  Chilian  Meteorology,   530 
Knott    (Dr.    C.    G.),    Ground    Rainbows,    34 ;    Napier    Ter- 
centenary Memorial  Volume,  458 
Knox  (Mrs.   S.   H.),  gift  to  Buffalo  University,  94 
de  Kock  (G.  van  de  Wall),  The  Sarcosporidia,  407 
Kojima    (Dr.    M.),    Effects    of    Thyroid    Feeding    upon    the 

Pancreas,    435 
Konkoly    (N.    v.).    Spectroscopic    Observations    of    Comets 

1913  /  (Delavan)   and    igid  h   (Klatinsky),   89 
Kiilpe  (Prof.   O.)  [obituary],   62 
Kunz  (Dr.  G.  F.),  The  Magic  of  Jewels  and  Charms,   157 


J.  L.,  Gravitation  and  Temperature,  321,  421 

Labb^  (L.),  [obituary],  166 

Lacaita  (C.  C),  Plants  Collected  in  Sikkim,  135 

Lallemand  (C),  A  Project  for  the  Modification  of  the  Legal 

Time,  183,  195  ;  Daylight  Saving  in  France,  209 
Lamb  (Prof.  H.),  Hydrodynamics,  Fourth  Edition,  318 
Lamborn  (Dr.  W.  .A.),  Habits  of  Glossina  morsitans,  90 
Lampland  (C.  O.),  Comet  1915  a  (Mellish),  17 
Lamson   (P.    D.),    Increase   in   the   Number  of  Erythrocytes 

per  Unit  Volume  of  Blood,  51-; 
Lanchester  (F.  W.),  Aircraft  in  Warfare,  403 
Lane-Claypon  (Miss),  appointed  Chief  Administrative  Officer 

of   the    Department   of    Household    and    Social   Science, 

King's  College  for  Women,  434 
Lankester  (Sir  E.    Ray),   The  Illness  of  Prof.   Metchnikoff. 

12;    The    Health'  of     Prof.     Metchnikoff,     165;     Elias 

Metchnikoff,  443 
Larmor  (Sir  J.).,   Negative  Liquid  Pressure  at  High  Tem- 
peratures, 361 
Larsen  (E.  S.),  and  R.  C.   Wells,  Some  Minerals  from  the 

Fluorite-barite  Vein  near  Wagon  Wheel  Gap,  Colorado, 

T  ^'5 

Latter  (O.  H.),  Discouragement  of  Science  Teaching  in 
Preparatory  Schools,   i';4 

Lauder  (Dr.  A.),  elected  Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Edin- 
burgh Section  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  513 

Laurent  lO.),  Metallic  Suture  in  Complicated  Fractures,  116 

Laurie  (Dr.  A.  P.),  The  Universities,  the  Technical  Col- 
leges, and  the  Army,  441 

Laveran  fDr.  C.  L.  A.),  elected  a  Foreign  Member  of  the 
Royal  Society,   165 

Lawrence  (Ladv)  [obituarv],  86 


Lawrence  (S.  A.J,  and  R.  T.  Littlejohn,  Nesting  Habits  of 

the  Australian  Mistletoe-bird,  44 
Lawson     (I'rof.     A.     A.),     The     Prothallus    of     Tmesipteris 

tannensis,  415 
Leaf  (Dr.  W.),  Greek  Commerce,  43  ;  Homer  and  History, 

118 
Leathern    (J.    G.),    Periodic    Conformal    Curve-factors    and 

Corner-factors,  27 
Leavitt  (E.  D.),  [obituary],  204 

Leavitt  (Miss),  Variable  Stars  near  the  South  Pole,  471 
Lecene  (P.),  and  A.  Frouin,  Latent  Microbism  in  Cicatrised 

Shot  Wounds,  275 
Le   Chatelier    (Prof.    H.),    Science   and    Economic    Develop- 
ment,  295 ;  The   Devitrification   of  Glass,   355  ;   and   F. 

Bogitch,  Estimation  of  Carbon  by  the  Eggertz  Method, 

275,  295 
Lecomte    (Prof.     H.),    elected    a    Foreign    Member    of    the 

Linnean  Society,  246 
Lee  (Dr.   Alice),   awarded  the   Special   Prize  Fellowship  of 

the   Federation  of   University  Women,  385 
Lees  (Prof.   C.    H.),   Laws  of   Skin    Friction   of  a   Fluid   in 

Stream  Line,  etc.,  170 
Lehmann  (Dr.  A.),  Om  Borns  Idealer,  313 
Lemetayer  (P.),  [obituary],  448 
Lcmoine    (G.),   The   Catalysis   of   Hydrogen    Peroxide,    2 14, 

254,  275,  295 
Lemoult  (Prof.   P.),  [obituary],  285 
Leon  (Dr.  J.  T.),  [obituary],   166 
Lepetit  (R.),  and  C.  C.  Satta,  Yellow  Substance  from  Bark 

of  Pinus  pinaster,  287 
Le  Roy  (G.  A.),  Detection  of  Free  Chlorine  in  Town  Water 

Supplies,  75 
Lesn6  (E.),  and  M.  Phocas,  Presence  of  Living  and  Virulent 

Micro-organisms    in    Projectiles    enclosed    in    Cicatrised 

Tissues,   556 
Le   Souef   (Dr.    A.    S.),  Colour  Variations  of  Opossums  of 

the  genus  Trichosurus,  326 
Levinstein  (Ivan),  [obituarj],  89 
Lewer  (Lieut.  R.   R.),  [obituary],  488 
Lewin  (Lieut.  K.  R.),  [obituary],   106 
Lewis  (Dr.  S.  J.),  Ultra-violet  Absorption  Spectra  of  Blood 

Sera,  154 
Lewis    (Prof.    W.    C.    McC),    Neglect    of    the    Science    of 

Chemistry,    145 
Liapounoff  (Prof.  A.),  Equilibrium  of  Rotating  Liquids.  328 
Liapounoff    (M.),    elected    a    Correspondant    of    the    Paris 

Academy,  95 
Lignier  (Prof.   O.),  [death],   105  ;  [obituary  article],   143 
Lingen   (J.    S.   v.   d.).    Radiations  emitted   by   Degenerating 

Tissues ;    lonisation  produced   by    Degenerating   Nerve- 
muscle  Preparations,  376 
Lister  (Lord),  Medallion  in  Westminster  Abbey,  58 
Lister  (Miss  G.),  The  Life-history  of  Mycetozoa,  395 
Littlejohn  (C),  Habits  and  Hunting  of  the  Sea-otter.  387 
Littlejohn  (J.),  Application  of  Operators  to  the  Solution  of 

the  Algebraic  Equation,  435 
Liveing  (Prof.  G.  D.),  and  Sir  J.  Dewar,  Collected  Papers 

on  Spectroscooy,  lyy 
Livingstone  (R.  W.),  The  Scientific  Success  of  Germany.  154 
Lloyd  (D.  J.).   Relation  of  Excised  Muscle  to  .Acids,   Salts, 

and  Bases,  131; 
Lloyd  (Major  R.  E.),  and  Dr.  N.  .Annandale.   CampanuUna 

ceylonensis ,   187 
Lockyer  (Sir  NormanV  elected  a  Foreign  Honorary  Member 

of  the  .American  .Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  486 
Lodge     (Sir    Oliver),     False    Economy    in     Education    and 

Scientific  Training  and  Investigation,  24 
Loeb    (J.),    The   Sex    of    Parthenogenetic    Frogs.    455 ;    and 

H.  Wasteneys,  Experimental  Biology,  322 
Loeb  (L.  B.),  Mobilities  of  Ions.  506.  "ii^ 
Loghem  (Prof.   J.  J.   van),   appointed  Professor  of  Tropical 

Hygiene  at  .Amsterdam  Universitv,  404 
Lohman  (C),  The  Purity  of  Sodium  Chloride,  ^o^ 
Long  (Rt.  Hon.  W.),  Grant  for  Carrying  Out  Recommenda- 
tions of  the  Roval  Commission  on  Venereal  Diseases, 

Longman   (H.    A.),    The   supposed   Queensland   Artiodactyle 

Fossils,  416 
Loria  (Prof.  G.),  Guida  alio  Studio  della  Storia  delle  Mate- 

matiche,  240 ;  Piracy  of  Mathematical  Discoveries.  287 : 

Properties  of  certain  Cun'es,  287 


xu 


Index 


r  Nature, 

\_September  21,  1916 


Low  (Dr.   Bruce),   Epidemiology  of  Typhus  Fever,   14 
Lowe  (E.  E.),  An  Infant  Welfare  Exhibition,   15;  Supply  of 

Rectangular  Glass  Exhibition  Jars,  472 
Lowell  (Dr.  P.),  A  Transneptunian  Planet,  17 
Lowie  (Dr.  R.  H.),  An  Ethnological  Expedition,  425 
Lowry  (Prof.  T.  M.),  Historical  Introduction  to  Chemistry, 

29 
Lugeon  (M.),  The  Rose  Coloration  of  Certain  Rocks,   135 
Lumi^re  (A.),  Action  of  Hypochlorites  on  Pus,  95 
Lundmark  (K.),  Definitive  Orbit  of  Comet  1802,  109 
Lunge    (Prof.    G.),    Coal-tar   and   Ammonia,    Fifth    Edition, 

3  parts,  517 
Luplau-Janssen    (C),    The   Translational    Motion   of   Binary 

Stars,  131 
Lupton  (S.),  The  Method  of  Curves,  32 
Lyburn    (E.    St.    J.),    Economic    Geology    and    an    Imperial 

Bureau  of  Scientific  Intelligence,  380 
Lyons  (Major  H.  G.),  "Summer-time  "  and  Meteorology,  260 
Lyttelton  (Dr.),  Approaching  Retirement  of,  194 


D.  M.,  The  Neglect  of  Science,  381 

Macalister  (Prof.  A.),  Notes  on  the  Fenland,  431 

Macdonald  (Prof.   H.   M.),  Transmission  of  Electric  Waves 

around  the  Earth's  Surface,  314 
Macfie   (Dr.    J.    W.   Scott),    Protozoa   from   Accra,    18;    Ste- 

gomyia  fasciata,  90 
MacGregor    (Sir    W.),    Some    Native    Potentates    and    Col- 
leagues, 407 

Mach  (Prof.   E.),  [obituary],  43 

Mackay  (.'\.   H.).  World-time,  381 

Macloan  (Prof.  M.),  and  D.  J.  Mackellar,  Heating  of  Field 
Coils  of  Dynamo-electric  Machinery,  435 

MacLeod  (Prof.  J.),  Quantitative  Variation  in  Diagnostic 
Characters  of  Species  of  the  genus  Mnium,  335 

MacMahon  (Major  P.  A.).  The  Partition  of  Numbers,  253 

Magnus  (Sir  P.),  The  Value  of  Science.  127 ;  and  Mr. 
Asquith,  Proposal  for  Appointment  of  a  Royal  Com- 
mission on  the  Organisation  of  Education,  233 

Maiden  (J.  H.),  Brachychiton  pofiulneo-acerif alius ,  415  ;  Euca' 
lyptus  calophvUa  x  E.  ficifolia,  415 

Malcolm  (W.),  The  Oil  and  Gas  Fields  of  Ontario  and 
Quebec,    410 

Mallinckrodt  (E.),  Gift  to  Washington  University  Medical 
School,  414 

Malloch  (J.  R.),  Chironomidae  and  other  Diptera  from 
Illinois.  530 

Manfield  (W.  H.),  The  Kimmeridge  Oil-shales,  202 

Mann  (L.  M.),  Archaic  Sculpturings,  99 

Maquenne  (L.),  Reducing  Substances  in  Commercial  Sugars, 
51 

Marage  (M.),  Classification  of  Deaf  Soldiers,  316;  Deaf- 
mutism  resulting  from  Wounds  received  in  Battle,  235 

Marchant  (J.),  Alfred  Russel  Wallace  :  Letters  and  Re- 
miniscences, 2  vols.,  3-^7 

Marshall  (Prof.  C.  R.),  Pharmacological  Action  of  Nitric 
Esters,  415 

Marshall  (Sir  T-)-  Importance  of  the  Deccan  as  a  Field  for 
Archajological  Inquiry,  63 

Marshall  (Dr.  J.  N.),  and  J.  Ritchie,  Excavations  at  the 
Fort  and  Cave  at  Dunagoil,  167 

Martin  (E.  A.),  Ginkgo  biloba  and  its  Ancestors,  473 

Martin  (Dr.  G.>.  Modern  Chemistry  and  its  Wonders, 
2157;  and  E.  A.  Dancaster.  The  Halogens  and 
their  Allies  (vol.  viii.  of  A  Text-book  of  Inorganic 
Chemistry,  edited  by  Dr.  J.  Newton  Friend).  2t;7;  and 
Major  J.  L.  Foucar.  Sulphuric  Acid  and  Sulphur  Pro- 
ducts, 118;  S.  Smith,  and  F.  Milsom,  Th«  Salt  and 
Alkali  Industry  (Manuals  of  Chemical  Technology, 
vol.  vi),  359 

Martin  (M.  J.),  Wireless  Transmission  of  Photographs,  258 

Martin  (Sir  R.  B.),  fobituarvl,  '^40 

Martin  (Dr.  W.),  The  Educational  Importance  of  the 
Cinema.  349 

Martinelli  (Dr.  G.),  Earthquakes  in  Italy  in  iqio,   147 

Mason  (W.),  Soeed  Efifect  and  Recovery  in  Slow-speed 
Alternating  Stress  Tests,  50 

Mason  (Cant.  W.   T.).  Tobituaryl.  424 

Maspero  (Sir  G.)  [death],  t^i^ :  [obituary  article],  405 

Massol  and  Faucon.  The  Absorotion  of  Ultra-viol'»t  Radia- 
tions by  the  Bromo-derivatives  of  Methane,  406 


Masson    (Prof.    Orme),    The    Commonwealth    Institute    of 

Science  and  Industry,  126 
Mast  (S.  O.),  The  Word  "Tropism,"  290;  and  F.  M.  Root, 

Amoeba  Feeding  on  Infusoria,  215 
Matchett  (Mrs.  W.  F.),  bequest  to  Harvard  University,  233 

Mather  (Sir  W.),  Application  of  the  Scientific  Resources  of 

the  Country,  44 
Matthewson  (C.   H.),  A  Metallographic  Description  of  some 
Ancient  Peruvian  Bronzes  from  Machu  Picchu,  388 

Maurer  (J.),  An  Atmospheric  Effect  of  Solar  Kathode  Rays, 
89 

Maynard  (G.  P.),  Trypanosomes  of  Sleeping  Sickness,  266 

McAdie  (Prof.  A.),  A  Standard  Scale  of  Seismic  Intensity, 
267 ;  The  Term  "  Aerography,"  267 

McClellan  (Rev.  J.   B.),  [death],   185 

McClelland  (Prof.  J.  A.),  and  P.  J.  Nolan,  Nature  of  Ions 
produced  by  Bubbling  Air  through  Mercury,  74 ;  and 
others.  Production  and  Detection  of  Ions  in  the  Atmo- 
sphere,   328 

McClure  (Rev.   Canon  E.),  Spiritualism,  300 

McCollum  and  Logan,  Earth  Resistance  and  its  Relation 
to    Electrolysis,    etc.,    303 

McFarland  (J.   H.),   My  Growing  Garden,  250 

Mcintosh  (Prof.  W.  C),  A  Monograph  of  the  British 
Marine  Annelids,  vol.  iii.,  part  i.,  text;  vol.  iii.,  part  ii., 
plates,   397 

McLaren   (Prof.  S.    B.)  [obituary  article],   547 

McPherson  (Prof.  W.),  and  Prof.  W.  E.  Henderson, 
Laboratory  Manual  arranged  to  accompany  "  A  Course 
in    General    Chemistry."    218 

Mees  (Dr.  C.  E.  K.),  The  Organisation  of  Industrial 
Scientific   Research,   411,   431 

Meinertzhagen  (Major  R.),  The  Sitatungas  of  the  Sesse 
Islands,    195 

Meinzer  (O.  E.),  and  R.  F.  Hare,  Geology  and  Water 
Resources  of  Tularosa  Basin,  New  Mexico,   17 

Meldrum  (R.),  Melting  and  Solidifying  Points  of  Benzene, 
368 

Mellanbv  (Dr.  E.),  awarded  the  Raymond  Horton-Smith 
Prize,  24 

Mellor  (E.  T.),  Conglomerates  of  the  Witwatersrand.  25  ; 
The  Upper  Witwatersrand  System,  489 

Mellor  (Dr.  J.  W.).  and  others.  Studies  on  Flint  and 
Quartz,  248 

Mercer  (Prof.  S.  A.  B.),  Lt.-Commander  H.  H.  Gorringe's 
Egyptian   Antiquities,   285 

Merrill  (J.  H.),  and  A.  L.  Ford,  Two  Nematode  Worms 
Parasitic  on  Insects,  46c) 

Merryweather  (J.   C),   A   Plague  of  Caterpillars,  321 

Merton  (T.  R.),  and  J.  W.  Nicholson,  Phenomena  relating 
to  the  Spectra  of  Hydrogen  and  Helium,  4,<;5 

Metalnikov  (S.   I.),  The  Reflex  as  a  Creative  Act,   326 

Metchnikoff  (Prof.  E.>.  awarded  the  Albert  Medal  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  .^rts,  386;  Illness  of,  12;  The  Health 
of,    165  :  [death].   424 :   Sir  E.    Ray  Lankester,   443 

Meyer  (M.   F.),   Colour-blindness,  A  Rare  Case  of.   146 

Mevrick,    New   Zealand   Tineina,    iq 

Michelson  (T.),  Terms  of  Relationship  and  Social  Organisa- 
tion,   3q6 

Middlekaiiff  and  Skogland,  Photometry  of  Gas-filled  Tung- 
sten Lamps.  267 

Middleton  (T.  H.),  Recent  Development  of  German  .Agri- 
culture, 508 

Migeod  (F.  W.),  Discovery  of  a  Palaeolithic  Flint  Imple- 
ment in  North  .Ashanti,   247 

Mill  (Dr.   H.  R.).  The  Rainfall  for  March.   127 

Millf^r  (Prof.  D.  0.  72-Element  Harmonic  Synthesizer,  150; 
The  Science  of  Musical  Sounds,  t;io 

Milligan   (H.   N.),    Feeding  Habits  of   Echinus  miliaris.    128 

MilHkan  (R.  A.).  Quantum  Relations  in  Photo-electric 
Phenomena,   75 

Milliken  (J.  T.),  gift  to  Washington  University  Medical 
School,  414 

Miln^r  (H.  B.V  and  G.  M.  Part,  Methods  in  Practical 
Petrology,   761 

Mittag-LefHe'r  (Prof.  M.  G.),  efift  for  the  Foundation  of 
an  International  Institute  for  Pure  Mathematics.  8;.  384 

Mivoshi  (M.).  The   Taoanese  Cherries,   504 

Moberg  (Prof.  J.   C.)  [death],  85 

Mohn  (Prof.).  Meteorological  Observations  of  the  Nor- 
wegian   .Antarctic    Expedition,    13  ;    The    Meteorological 


Nature,  ^ 

Septctnber  21,  1016. 


Index 


Xlll 


Observations   of    R.    Amundsen's  Antarctic    Expedition, 

1911-12,   387 
Moir    (J.    Reid),    and   Prof.    A.    Keith,    Neolithic   and    later 

Human  Bones,  etc.,  in  the  Ipswich  District,  449 
Moles    (E.),    Absolute    Density    of    Gaseous    Hydrobromic 

Acid,  254 ;  The  Density  of  Hydrogen  Bromide,  496 
Moncreiff  (M.),  Our  Cottage  and  a  Motor,  140 
Montagu   of   Beaulieu    (Lord),    Germany's   Super-Zeppelins, 

Moore    (C.    B.),    Aboriginal    Sites    in    the  Tennessee    River 

Valley,   488 
Moore   (H.    L.),   The  Foundations  of  Plane  Anahsis  Situs, 

395 

Moorhead  (Dr.  T.  G.),  appointed  Professor  of  the  Practice 
of  Medicine  in  the  School  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons   in   Ireland,   474 

de  Morgan  (.A.),  A  Budget  of  Paradoxes,  Second  Edition, 
edited  by  Prof.  D.  E.  Smith,  2  vols.,  77 

Morgan  (Prof.  G.  T.),  appointed  Successor  to  Prof.  Meldola 
at  the  Finsbury  Technical  College  15-?  :  some  Chemical 
Aspects  of  the  Peat  Problem,  iq  ;  Utilisation  of  Nitre 
Cake,   275 

Morgan  (H.)  [obituars],   145 

Morgan  (Prof.  T.  H.),  A.  H.  Sturtevant,  H.  J.  Muller, 
and  C.  B.  Bridges,  The  Mechanism  of  Mendelian 
Heredity,   117 

Morison  (Capt.),  Dose  of  Alum  Necessary  for  the  Purifica- 
tion of  Water  by  Precipitation,  488 

Morley  (F.),  An  Extension  of  Feuerbach's  Theorem,  215 

Morrell  (Dr.   R.   S.),  The  Oxidation  of  Dni'ing-oils,  269 

Morrison  (W.),  gift  to  Leeds  University  for  the  School  of 
Russian   Studies,   451 

Morse   (Prof.    H.   N.).    awarded   the   Avogadro    Medal,    144 

Mott  (E>r.  F.  W.).  The  Effects  of  High  Explosives  upon  the 
Central  Nervous  System,   112 

Mottram  (Dr.  J.  C).  Experimental  Determination  of  the 
Factors  which  cause  Patterns  to  appear  Conspicuous  in 
Nature,   274 

Moulden  (J.  C),  awarded  the  P.  Le  Neve  Foster  Prize  and 
Medal  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts,  41  ;  Zinc,  its 
Production  and  Industrial  Applications.  328 

Moulton  (J.  C),  Expeditions  to  Mount  Kinabalu,  British 
North   Borneo,    187 

Muir  (Sir  T.),  Pfaffians  connected  with  the  Difference- 
product,  335 ;  So-called  Vahlen  Relations  between  the 
Minors  of  a  Matrix,  335 

Muir  CT.   S.\   East  Lothian^   140 

Mullens  (Major  W.  H.),  and  H.  Kirke  Swann,  A  Biblio- 
graphy of  British  Ornithology,  part  i.,  440 

Murray  (Miss  M.),  Royal  Marriages  and  Matrilineal 
Descent,    146 


Xansen  (Dr.  F.),  Spitsbergen  Waters,  523 

Nasmyth  (J.),  and  J.  Carpenter,  The  Moon  :  Considered  as 

a  Planet,  a  World,  and  a  Satellite.  Cheap  Edition,  200 
Navarro    (L.    F.),     A     Basalt    Outcrop    in    the    Sierra    de 

Guadarrama,  27 
Neatp  (Commander  C.  B.)  [obituarv],  345 
Nelson  (Dr.  J.)  [obituary],  42 

Nelson  (Dr.  J.  A.),  The'  Embryology  of  the  Honey-bee,  97 
Neveu-Lemaire,  Debeyre,  and  Rouvifere.  A  Prolonged  Form 

of  Cerebro-spinal  Meningitis  and  Cerebral  Trepanning, 

356 
Newall,  Baxandall.   and  Butler,   Origin  of  Group  G  of  the 

Solar  Spectrum,  428 
Newbery  (Dr.   E.").  The  Theorv  of  Over-voltage,  475 
Newnham    (E.    V.).    The    Persistence    of    Wet    and    Dry 

Weather,  234 
Newsholme  (Dr.  A),  Report  to  the  Local  Government  Board 

for   1914-15,    14 
Newsholme  (G.  T.  W.)  [obituary],  42 

Newton  (E.),  elected  a  Member  of  the  Athenaeum  Club,  41 
Newton    (R.     B.>,     Fossiliferous    Limestones    from    Mount 

Carstensz,  469 
Nicholas  (R.   E.),  A  Prehistoric  Industrv  in  Tabular  Flint. 

468 
Nicholls   fH.    E.).    .\    Pioneer   Bucket   Dredge   in   Northern 

Nigeria,    26 
Nichols    (E.    H.).     Atmospheric     Electrical     Variations    at 

Sunrise  and  Sunset,  115 


Nichols  (E.   L.),   Phosphorescence  of   Uranyl  Salts,  456 
Nichols  (J.  T.),  and  R.  C.   Murphy,  The  Sharks  of  Long 

Island,  469 
Nicholson   (Prof.),    The   Spectrum   of   Coronium,    328;  and 

T.    R.   Merton,   Distribution  of   Intensity  in   Broadened 

Spectrum  Lines,  73 
Xicolle    (C),   and    L.    Blaizot,    Preparation    of    an    Experi- 
I  mental  Antiexanthematic  Serum,  176 

I  Nikitine  (Dr.  P.  V.)  [death],  265 
Nolan    (J.    J.),    Mobility    of    Ions    produced    by    Spraying 

Distilled  Water,   74 
Xoyes  (A.),  University  Education  in  the  United  States,  354 
Nunn  (Prof.  T.  P.),  Sense  Data  and  the  Physical  Object,  155 
Nuttall    (Prof.    G.    H.   F.),    and    C.    Warburton,    Ticks,    A 

Monograph  of  the  Ixodoidea,  part  iii.,  420 ;  and  L.  E. 

Robinson,  Bibliography  of  the  Ixodoidea,  part  ii.,  420 


Obata  (J.),  The  Silver  Voltameter,  427 

Observer,  Zeppelin  Notes,  201 

Oddone  (Prof.  E.),  The  Avezzano  Earthquake,  Jan.  13, 
1915,   187 

Oka  (Dr.  A.),  Indian  Tunicata,  528 

Okamura  (S.),  The  Mosses  of  Japan,  206 

Oldham  (R.  D.),  The  Support  of  the  Himalaya,  48 

Oliver  (I>r.  G.),  Studies  in  Blood-pressure,  Edited  by  Dr. 
W.  D.  Halliburton,  Third  Edition,  519 

Oliver  (Sir  T.),  Occupations,  377 

Olivier  (C.  P.),  Work  of  the  American  Meteor  Society  in 
1914  and   1915,   515 

Omori  (Prof.  F.),  Volcanic  and  Seismic  Phenomena  in 
Japan,  308 

Onnes  (Prof.  H.  Kamerlingh),  elected  a  Foreign  Member 
of  the  Royal  Society,  165 ;  and  Pupils,  Behaviour  of 
Oxygen,  Nitrogen,  Neon,  and  Helium  at  Low  Tem- 
peratures,  450 

Oppenheim  (Prof,  von  S.),  The  Plane  of  the  Solar  Motion, 
109 

Orton  (Dr.),  Localisation  of  Races  of  Herrings,  206 

Osbom  (Prof.  H.  F.),  Pleistocene  Formations  of  Europe, 
-Asia,  and  Northern  Africa,   87 

Ostenfeld  (Dr.  C.  H.),  The  Vegetation  of  Western  Aus- 
tralia, 129 

Osterhout  (Prof.  W.  J.  V.),  Nature  of  Mechanical  Stimu- 
lation,  255  ;  The  Dynamics  of  Antagonism,  492 

Outes  (Dr.  F.  F.),  Weapons  of  former  Patagonians,  347 

Owen  (D.),  Laws  of  Variation  of  Resistance  with  Voltage 
at  a  Rectifying  Contact,  214 

Owen  (J.  H.),  Breeding  Habits  of  the  Sparrow-hawk,  387 ; 
Nesting  Habits  of  the  Sparrow-hawk,  426 


Paget  (G.  W.),  and  R.  E.  Savage,  Growth-rings  on 
Herring  Scales,    154 

Pagnini  (P.),  Infinity,  207 

Palisa  (Dr.),  Comet   1916  6  (Wolf),   1916  ZK  (Planet),  289 

Palmer  (A.   H.),   Earthquakes  in  California,  367 

Parker  (Prof.  G.  H.),  Nervous  Transmission  in  Sea- 
anemones,  515;  Responses  of  the  Tentacles  of  Sea- 
anemones,  515;  The  Effectors  of  Sea-anemones,  515; 
Types  of  Neuromuscular  Mechanism  in  Sea-anemones, 
494 ;  and  E.  G.  Titus,  The  Neuromuscular  Structure  of 
Sea-anemones,   456 

Parson  (.A.  L.),  A  Magneton  Theory  of  the  Structure  of  the 
Atom,   288 

Pastore  (F.),  Basalts  in  Patagonia,  87 

Paterson  (C.  C).  appointed  Director  of  Laboratories  of  the 
Osram-Robertson  Lamp  Works,  Ltd.,  204 

Patten  (Prof.  C.  J.).  The  Blade-eared  Wheatear  :  A  New 
Bird  for  the  Irish  List.  321 

Patten  (Dr.  W.).  Co-operation  as  a  Factor  in  Evolution,  494 

Patterson.  The  Work  of  Registering  Balloons,  370 

Pavlov  fProf.  I.  P.")  [obituary  article],  q  ;  Contradiction  of 
Announcement  of  Death  of,   185 

Peach  (A.  M.^.  Pre-gladal  Platform  and  Raised  Beaches 
of  Prince  Charles  Foreland,  350 

Peake  (H.\  Ethnology  of  the  Destroyers  of  Hissarlik  II., 
504 ;  Origin  of  the  Dolmen,  525 

Pearl  (Dr.  R.).  Effect  of  Parent  Alcoholism,  etc..  upon  the 
Progeny  in  the  Domestic  Fowl,  515 ;  Modes  of  Re- 
search  in    Genetics,    399 :    F.    M.    Surface,    and   M.    R- 


XIV 


Index 


[Nature, 
September  21,  1916 


Curtis,   Diseases   of   Poultry,   339 ;   and   M.    R.  Curtis, 
Studies    on    the    Physiology    of    Reproduction    in    the 
Domestic  Fowl,  370 
Pearson    (Prof.     H.     H.    W.),    Exploration    in    South-west 
Africa,     4 ;     Morphology     of     the     Female     Flower    of 
Gnetum,  516 
Pearson   (Prof.    Karl),    Corrigenda   for   "Tables   for   Statis- 
ticians and  Biometricians,"  130 ;  Skew  Variation,  50 
Pearson  (R.  S.),  The  Economic  Uses  of  Rosha  Grass,  550 
Peczaiski  (T.),   Effect  of  Temperature  on  the  Structure  of 
Paraffin,  315;  Law  of  Integral  Radiation  and  the  Yield 
of  Light  of  Metals  at  High  Temperatures,  51 
Peddle  (J.  Taylor),  On  the  Relation  of  Imports  to  Exports, 

Second  Edition,  279 
Pellew  (Miss  C),  and  Miss  F.  M.  Durham,  Crosses  between 

Primula  verticillata  and  P.  ftoribunda,   291 
Pennell  (Commander  H.  L.  L.)  [obituary],  325 
Perez  (Dr.  G.  V.),  The  Canary  Island  Palm,  387 
P6ringuey    (Dr.    L.),    "  Boskop "    Remains,    326 ;    Unusual 

Swarms  of  Moths  in  South  Africa,  326 
Perrier  (Prof.    E.),  elected  a   Foreign   Member  of  the   Lin- 

nean  Society,  246 
Perrine  (C.   D.),  An  apparent  Dependence  of  the  Apex  and 
Velocity    of     Solar     Motion,    515 ;     Asymmetry   in    the 
Proper  Motions  and  Radial  Velocities  of  Stars  of  Class 
B ;     Some     Relations     between     the     Proper     Motions, 
Radial  Velocities,  etc.,  of  Stars  of  Classes  B  and  A,  396 
Perry  (VV.  J.),  Geographical  Distribution  of  Terraced  Culti- 
vation and  Irrigation,  26 
Perrycoste  (F.  H.),  Latin  as  an  International  Language,  16 
Peters  (Dr.  C.  H.  F.),  and  E.  B.  Knobel,  Ptolemy's  Cata- 
logue of  Stars,  282 
Petrie    (Prof.    Flinders),    Early    Forms    of    the    Cross    from 

Egyptian  Tombs,   549 
Petrie  (Dr.  J.  M.),  Poisonous  Plants  in  the  N.O.  Solanaceae, 

part  ii.,  415 
Pettersson    (Prof.    O.),    An    Apparatus    for    Saving    Life    at 

Sea,    409 
Philip  (A.),  A  Plea  for  an  Orderly  Almanac,  31 
Phillips   (Capt.    C.    E.    S.),    Experiments    with   Mercury   Jet 

Interruptors,  394 
Phillips  (R.  A.),  Pisidium  New  to  Ireland,  505 
Pickering    (Prof.     E.    C),    A    Possible    New    Comet,    289 ; 
Avoiding     Zeppelins,     221  ;     Determination     of     Stellar 
Magnitudes    by    Photography,    494 ;    Variable    Stars    of 
Short  Period,  207 
Pickering  (S.),  The  Gun-firing  on  the  Western  Front,  i;oo 
Pickering  (Prof.  W.    H.),  The  West  Indian  Firefly,   180 
Pictet    (A.),    The    Struggle    for    Existence,     407 ;    and    P. 
Stehelin,  Formation  of  Pyridine  Bases  by  Condensation, 

356 
Piper  (C.  W.),  The  Gun-firing  on  the  Western  Front,  462 
Pirotta  (R.),   Persistency  of  Style  in  Oranges  and  Lemons. 

287 
Pisani  (F.),  The  Estimation  of  Fluorine,  315 
Pitt  (Miss  F.),  Habits  of  the  Yellow-necked  Mouse,    128 
Pitt  (St.   George  L.   F.),   The   Purpose  of   Education,   New- 
Edition,   321 
Planck   (Prof.   Max),    on    Relationship   with    Citizens   of   an 
Enemy  State,   186,  308  ;  Eight  Lectures  on  Theoretical 
Physics  delivered  at  Columbia  LTniversitv  in  1909,  trans- 
lated by  Prof.  A.  P.  Wills,   197 
Plaskett  (H.   H.),  A  Variation  in  the  Solar  Rotation,   249  ; 

Differential   Measurement,    41; i 
Platania   (Prof.    G.),    Prof.   G.    Poute,    and   Prof.    A.    Ricc6, 

Eruptions  of  Stromboli,  327 
Playfair  (G.  I.),  Oocvstis  and  Eremosphaera.  411; 
Plimmer  (Prof.   H.   G.),  The  gfenus  Toxoplasma,  94 
Plummer    (Prof.     H.     C),     Distribution    of    the     Poles    of 
Planetary  Orbits,   1:51  ;  Prof.  Joly's  Method  of  Avoiding 
Collision  at  Sea,   73 
Pocock    (R.    I.),    The    External    Characters    of    the    Mon- 
gooses, 214 
Pone  (Prof.  W.  J.).  The  Shortage  of  Dye-stuffs,   163 
Pors'ld  (P.),   Nature-reserves  for  Plants  in  Western   Green- 
land. 87 
Porter  (M.  B.),  A  Theorem  of  Lucas,  2i;<;.  456 
Portham    (R.    S.).    The    Ljungstrom    Steam    Turbine    and 

Marine  Propulsion.  310 
Posternak    (S.),    The    Isomers    T,.,   and    T,.,    of    StearoHc 
Acid,  395 


Powe  (W.  F.),  Discovery  of  a  Molar  Tooth  of  a  Mammoth 

at  Kent's  Cavern,  246 
Power  (Sir  W.   H.)  [death],  467  ;  [obituary],  486 
Poynting  (Lieut.  A.)  [obituary],  487 
Prade   (G.),    Armament   of    Aeroplanes,    165 ;    The    Newest 

Aeroplanes,   145 ;  Zeppelins,   105 
Prashad  (Baini),  The  Halteres  in  Mosquitoes,  313 
Pratt  (Dr.   E.  E.),   Dr.  T.   H.   Norton,   Dr.  T.   M.   Bogert, 

The  Dye-stuff  Situation  in  the  United  States,   163 
Pratt  (W.  E.),  Persistence  of  the  Philippine  Coal-beds,  367  ; 

Petroleum  and  Residual  Bitumens  in  Leyte,  367 
Prideaux    (E.    B.    R.),    Neutralised    Mixtures    of    Acids    as 

Hydrion  Regulators,  314 
Priest  _(W.    B.),   A  Scheme  for  the   Promotion   of   Scientific 

Research,  348 
Prior   (Dr.    G.   T.),   The   Classification   of   Meteorites,   375 ; 

The   Meteorites   of   Khairpur   and   Soko-Banja,   375  ;   A 

Mysterious  Meteorite,   241 
Proudman    (J.),    Motion    of    Solids    in    a    Liquid    possessing 

Vorticity,    154 
Punnett  (Prof.   R.   C),   Mimicry  in  Butterflies,   237 
Purkiss  (J.  W.),  Visual  Efficiency  in  the  Use  of  the  Micro- 
scope, etc.,  334 
Putnam  (Prof.  J.  J.),  Human  Motives,  498 


Quayle  (E.  T.),  Direction  of  Movement  of  Cirrus  Clouds,  107 
y  Quevedo  (L.  T.),  Calculating  Machines,   108 


Rainbow,  Arachnida,  etc.,  of  the  Sydney  Botanic  Gardens,. 

287 
Rainy  (Dr.   H.),   and   Miss   C.   M.   Hawick,   Estimation   of 

Sugars  in  the  Blood,  254 
Raman    (C.    V.),    On   the   "  Wolf-note "   of   the   Violin   and 

'Cello,   362 
Ramanujan  (S.),  Highly  Composite  Numbers,  24 
Ramsay    (Sir    W.)    [death],    447 ;    The     Funeral    of,    466 ; 

[obituary   articles].    Prof.    F.    Soddy,   482  ;    Prof.   A.    M. 

Worthington,  484 
Ramsey    (A.    R.    J.),    and    H.    C.    Weston,    A    Manual -on 

Explosives,   279 
Ranke  (Prof.  J.)  [death],  467:  [obituary],  487 
Rasmussen  (K.),  A  New  Expedition  to  Northern  Greenland,. 

64 

Rawdon  (H.  S.),  Microstructural  Changes  accompanymg. 
Annealing  of  Cast  Bronze,  189 

Ray  (Dr.  P.  C),  Chemical  Researches  in  Bengal,  88 

Rayleigh  (Lord),  Classical  Education,  285  ;  Lamb's  Hydro- 
dynamics, 318:  Legendre's  Function  P„(6),  253;  Sir  E. 
Schafer,  Dr.  Bridges,  Rt.  Hon.  Huth  Jackson,  Lord 
Montagu  of  Beaulieu,  Dr.  Macan,  H.  G.  Wells,  Sir 
H.  H.  Johnston,  and  Sir  Ray  Lankester,  The  Neglect 
of  Science,  2^0 

RavTiond  (V.),  and  J.  Parisot,  Etiology,  etc.,  of  Trench 
Feet,   254 

Rpdmayne  (Sir  R.),  Mineral  Resources  of  the  United  King- 
dom,  128 

Reed  (Dr.  F.  R.  C),  Carboniferous  Fossils  from  Siam,  274  r 
Ordovician  and  Silurian  Fossils  from  the  Northern 
Shan  States  of  Burma,   247 

Reed  (W.  G.),  and  C.  L.  Feldkamp,  Bibliography  of  Frost 
in  the  United  States,  6f, 

Reeves  (E.  A.),  Night  Marching  by  Stars,  347 

Regan  (C.  Tate),  Distribution  of  the  Clupeoid  Fishes  of  the 
genus  Sardina,  234  ;  Larval  and  Post-larval  Fishes,  247 

Reid  (C),  and  J.  Groves,  Preliminary  Report  on  the  Purbeck 
Characeas,  04 :  New  Types  of  Fossil  Characeae  from  the 
Purbeck  Beds,  33!; 

Renouf  (L.  P.  W.),  Bute  Museum  and  Laboratory,   13 

Reutter  (L.),  .Analysis  of  a  Roman  Pomade,  i.i;s  ;  Analysis 
of  Two  Resinous  Masses.  2^:4:  Lacustral  Ambers,   135 

Reynolds  (J.   H.),   Part-time  Education  for  Boys  and  Girls, 

"S 
Rhodes  (R.  R.).  bequest  to  Western  Reserve  University,  173 
Ricc6  (Prof.   A.),   Epicentres  of  the  Greater  Italian   Earth- 
quakes.  206 
Rich  (G.  J.V  Tonal  Volume.  167 
Richards  (W.   A.).   Forging  of  Iron   and  Steel.  30 
Richardson  (E.  W.),  A  Veteran  Naturalist :  being  the  Life 
and  Work  of  W.  B.  Tegetmeier.  309 


yature. 
September  2 


1 
I,   1916J 


Index 


XV 


Richardson  (L.  F.),  "  Ido,"  16 ;  Magnetic  Disturbances 
recorded  at  Eskdalemuir  Observatory,  289 

Richet  (Pgjf.  C),  awarded  the  French  State  Prize  for 
Poetry,  513 ;  Conditions  which  Influence  the  Average 
Monthly  Deviation  of  the  Birth-rate,  555  ;  Illusory  Pro- 
tection against  the  X-rays,  215;  Time-minimum  in  the 
Psycho-physiological  Reaction  to  Visual  and  Aural 
Stimulations,  496 ;  The  Monthly  Variation  of  Natalitv, 
536 

Richter  (V.  von),  Organic  Chemistry,  vol.  i..  Chemistry  of 
the  Aliphatic  Series,  translated  by  Dr.  P.  E.  Spiel- 
man  n,  54 

Ridley  (H.  N.),   Botany  of  Gunong  Tahan,   209 

Ries  (Prof.  H.),  and  T.  L.  Watson,  Engineering  Geology, 
Second  Edition,  239 

Riggs  (Prof.  N.  C.),  Hancock's  .Applied  Mechanics  for 
Engineers,  New  Edition,  3 

Righi  (A.),  Influence  of  the  Magnetic  Field  on  the  Charge 
of  a  Conductor  in  Rarefied  .Air,  254 

Ritchie  (Dr.  J.),  .\  Brackish-water  Hydroid,  469;  and  F., 
Isle  of  Wight  Disease  in  Bees,  160,  161  ;  AnnuleWa 
gemmata,  529 

Rivals  (Prof.  P.),  Organisation  of  Higher  Technical  In- 
struction  in   French   Universities,   273 

Rivers  (Dr.  W.  H.  R.),  Irrigation  and  the  Cultivation  of 
Taro,  514 

Roberts  (Sir  J.),  gift  to  Leeds  University,  373 

Roberts  (Rev.  N.),  The  Bagananoa  or  Ma-laboch,  366 

Roberts  (N.  E.),  bequest  to  Liverpool  University,  373 

Robertson  (G.  S.),  Phosphates  in  Basic  Slags  and  Mineral 
Phosphates,  248 

Robertson  (J.  M.),  The  Germans  :  (i)  The  Teutonic  Gospel 
of  Race ;  (2)  The  Old  Germany  and  the  New,  379 

Robertson  (Leslie  S.)  [death],  307  ;  [obituary  article],  324 

Robson  (W.   A.),  .Aircraft  in  War  and  Peace,  403 

Roebuck  (D.),   Limax  tenellus.  286 

Rogers  (Dr.  A.  W.),  Geology  of  the  Copper  Deposits  of 
Namaqualand,    367 

Rolt-Wheeler  (F.),  Thomas  Alva  Edison,    158 

Rosa  and  McCollum,  Electrolysis  and  its  Mitigation,  303 

Rose  (J.  N.^,  Recent  Explorations  in  the  Cactus  Deserts  of 
South  .America,  75 

Rose  (Sir  T.  K.).  The  Wear  of  Coins,  248 

Rosenhain  (Dr.  W.),  High  Temperatures  in  the  Laboratory, 
90 

Rosenstlehl  (A.)  [obituary],   128 

Ross  (Dr.  F.   E.),  transferred  to  Washington,   17 

Ross  (Dr.).  Latitude  Observations  by  Photography,  311 

Ross  (Lt.-Col.  Sir  R.),  An  Application  of  the  Theory  of 
Probabilities  to  the  Study  of  a  priori  Pathometry,  244 

Rowley  (F.  R.),  Use  of  Arsenious  Jellv  as  a  Preservative, 
472 

Ruedemann  (R.).  Presence  of  a  Median  Eye  in  Trilobites,  255 

Russ  (Dr.  S.),  The  Simpson  Light,   19 

Russell  (Lieut.  .A.),  A  New  Occurrence  of  Gold  from  Corn- 
wall,  375 

Russell  (Dr.  E.  J.),  .A  Student's  Book  on  Soils  and  Manures, 
>5  :  Manuring  for  Higher  Crop  Production,  300 ;  The 
Soil  and  the  Plant,  Nature's  Cycle  and  Man's  Control. 
331  ;  and  .A.  .Applevard,  Loss  of  Nitrate  by  Washing 
out  from  Arable  Soil,  228 

Russell  (H.  N.),  The  Albedo  of  the  Planets  and  their  Satel- 
lites, 75 

Russell  (R.  v.),  assisted  by  Rai  Bahadur  Hira  Lai,  The 
Tribes  and  Castes  of  the  Central  Provinces  of  India, 
4  vols.,  363 

Russell  (S.  B.),  The  Effect  of  High  Resistance  in  Common 
Nerve  Paths,  346 

Rutherford  (Dr.  A.),  and  E.  Jarvis,  A  New  Scale-insect 
affecting  Sugar-cane  in  New  Guinea,  556 

Rutley  (F.),  Elements  of  Mineralogy,  Nineteenth  Edition, 
revised  by  H.  H.  Read,  259 


-A.  C.  S.,  The  Lower  Greensand  Flora,  261 

Saccardo  (Prof.  Pier'  .Andrea),  elected  a  Foreign  Member  of 
the  Linnean  Society,  246 

Sadler  (Dr.  M.  E.),  address  on  the  Position  of  Leeds  Uni- 
versity. 413 

St.  John  (C.  E.),  Rowland's  Preliminary  Table  of  Solar 
Spectrum  Wave-lengths,  255 


Saleeby    (Dr.    C.    W).,    Armoured    Men,    549;    Preventive 

Eugenics,    161 
Sage  (Mrs.  R.),  gift  to  Knox  College,  Galesburg,  454 
Salisbury  (F.  S.),  Rambles  in  the  Vaudese  Alps,  201 
Salway  (Dr.  A.  H.),  The  Oxidation  of  Drying-oils,  269 
Sang  (E.),  A  New  Table  of  Seven-place  Logarithms,  499 
Sano  (F.),  Convolutional  Pattern  of  the  Brains  of  Identical 

Twins,  94 
Sarasin  (E.),  and  T.  Tommasina,  Study  of  the  Volta  Effect 

by  Induced  Radioactivity,  51 
Sat6  (S.),  Daily  Variation  of  Underground  Temperature,  139 
Sa.xton  (W.  T.),  Ecological  Notes  on  the  District  of  Manubie, 

Transkei,  375 
Sayles  (R.   W.),   Banded  Glacial  Slates  of  Permo-Carboni- 

ferous  Age,  215 
Scatchard  (G.),  and  Prof.  M.  T.  Bogert,  A  New  and  vei^ 
Sensitive  Indicator  for  Acidimetrj-  and  Alkalimetry,  etc, 
493 
Schafer  (Sir  E.),  Science  and  Classics  in  Modern  Education, 
251;    Science    versus    Classics,     120;    The    Endocrine 
Organs,  338 
Schidlof  (A.),  and  A.  Targonski,  The  Brownian  Movement 

of  Particles  of  Oil,  etc.,  315 
Schjerning  (Dr.  H.),  Proteid  Substances  of  Barley,  290 
Schlesinger  (Prof.  F.),  The  System  of  X  Tauri,  169 ;  Varia- 
tion of  Latitude,  369 
Schlich  (Sir  W.),  Importance  of  Afforestation,  462 
Schmidt  (Dr.  J.),  .Aroma  of  Hops,  290 ;  Lupulin  in  Plants 
raised   by    Crossing,    290 ;    Marking    Experiments    with 
Turtles  in  the  Danish  West  Indies,  549  ;  The  Natural 
History  of  the  Eel,  327 
Schonland   (S.),    A    Petiole   and    Portion   of   the  Lamina   of 

Cotyledon  orbiculata,  336 
Schorr  (Prof.),  Comet  19156  (Taylor),  67 
Schribaux  (E.),  Production  of  Improved  Seeds  of  the  Sugar- 
beet,  6 
Schuster  (Prof.  A.),  appointed  Halley  Lecturer,  313  ;  Deter- 
mination of  Gravity  at  Sea,  455 
Schwalbe  (Prof.  G.)  [obituary],  487 
Schwarzschild  (Prof.   K.)  [obituary],  266 
Schweiz  (Dr.),  Distribution  of  the  Tsetse  Flies,  90 
Scott  (Dr.  A.),  National  .Aspects  of  Chemistry,   171 
Scott  (Capt.)   and  his   Companions,    Unveiling  a   Memorial 

in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  to,  225 
Scott  (Dr.  D.  H.),  elected  a  Foreign  Member  of  the  Royal 

Swedish   Academy   of   Sciences,   85 
Scott  (Dr.  H.  H.),  Vomiting  Sickness  of  Jamaica,  286 
Scott  (J.  R.),  Danish  Labour  on  British  Farms,  170 
Scott  (Robertson),  Education  and  Progress  in  Japan,  308 
Scott  (Dr.  R.   H.)  [death],  344 ;  [obituary  article],  365 
Scott-MoncriefT  (Sir  Colin   C.)  [obituary],    144 
Scrivener  Q.  B.),  Tungsten  in  the  Federated  Malay  States, 

348 
Scull  (E.  and  W.),  bequest  to  Haverford  College,  194 
Seal  (Dr.  B.),  The  Positive  Sciences  of  the  .Ancient  Hindus, 

177 
Selbie  (2nd  Lieut.  C.  M.)  [obituary],  487 
Seligman     (Dr.     R.),     and     P.     Williams,     Annealing    of 
Aluminium,     315;     The     Behaviour     of     Aluminium, 
310 
Selous   (E.),    Ornithological   Observations    in    Iceland,    106 ; 

Protection  of  Birds  in  Iceland,  227 
Senn  (C.   H.),   Leaf  Vegetables  and  How  to  Cook  Them, 

387 
Seton-Watson  (Dr.   R.  W.).  gift  to  the  School  of  Slavonic 

Studies  at  King's  College,   London.  454 
Seward  (Prof.  A.  C),  A  Cretaceous  Flora,  198 
Shackleton  (Sir  E.),  .Arrangements  for  the  Relief  of  Expedi- 
tion of,  225,  241,  24s,  301,  449,  467,  548 
Shackleton   (W.),   Numerals  designed  by  Col.   A.   Strange, 

169 
Shafer  (G.  D.),  How  "  Contact  Poisons  "  Kill  Insects,  529 
Shand  (Prof.  S.  J.),  The  Pseudo-tachylyte  of  Parijo,  174 
Shapley  (H.),   .A  Short-period  Cepheid  with  Variable  Spec- 
trum, 215  ;  Discovery  of  Eight  Variable  Stellar  Spectra, 
21:5 :  Variable  Stellar  Spectra,  428 
Sharp  (M.  S.).   The  National   Position   with  regard  to  the 

Supoly  of  D>'es,  ';4 
Sharp.  Report  on  Indian  Education.  1014-15,  535 
Shame  (Sir  .A.).   .A    Tourney   in  the   Belgian  Congo  and  in 
German   East  Africa,    110 


XVI 


Index 


[Nature, 
September  21,  19 16 


Shaw  (Sir  Napier),  Prince  Boris  Galatzine,  424 ;  Itlusiohs 
of  the  Upper  Air,  191,  210;  Meteorology  of  the  Globe 
in  191 1,  94;  Science  and  the  State,  220;  Dr.  R.  H. 
Scott,  F.R.S.,  365  ;  The  Summer-time  Bill  and  Meteoro- 
logical Observations,   264 

Shaw  (Dr.  P.  E.),  Gravitation  and  Temperature,  400 ;  and 
C.   Hayes,   A   Sensitive  Magnetometer,   475 

Sheppard  (T.),  Portraits  of  Wm.  Smith,  462  ;  Yorkshire's 
Contribution  to  Science,  279 

Sherriffs  (Prof.  R.),  Beliefs  concerning  Animals  in  the 
Mythology  of  South   India,   525 

Shipley  (Dr.  A.  E.),  More  Minor  Horrors,  380 

Shuttleworth  (Dr.  G.  E.),  and  Dr.  W.  A.  Potts,  Mentally 
Deficient  Children,  Fourth  Edition,  499 

Sidgwick  (Mrs.  H.),  A  Contribution  to  the  Study  of  the 
Psychology  of  Mrs.   Piper's  Trance  Phenomena,    138 

Sidis  (Dr.  B.),  The  Foundations  of  Normal  and  Abnormal 
Psychology,  238 

Siegbahn  (M.),  A  New  Group  of  Lines  in  High-frequency 
Spectra,  315 

Simmons  (2nd  Lieut.  E.  W.)  [obituary],  524 

Simon  (Prof.  W.)  [obituary],   503 

Simpson  (Sir  A.  R.)  [obituary],  144 

Singh  (Sirdar  Daljit),  The  Sikhs,  488 

Skerrett  (R.  G.),  Fricke's  Apparatus  for  Locating  Vessels  at 
Sea  during  Fogs,  45 

Skinner  (S.),  Flow  of  Heat  in  Conducting  Sheets,  135 ; 
Negative  Liquid  Pressure  at  High  Temperatures,  402 

Slipher  (E.  C),  Comet  1915  a  (Mellish),  17 

Sloane  (T.  G.),  Carabidae  from  the  Upper  Williams  River, 
N.S.W.,  556 

Smale  (Morton  A.)  [death],  488 

Smart  (W.  M.),  awarded  a  Rayleigh  Prize  at  Cambridge 
University,  72 

Smeeth  (Dr.  W.  F.),  Geological  History  of  Mysore,  505 ; 
Kaldurga  Conglomerates,  367 

Smellie  (W.  R.),  Apractoleidus  teretipes,  175 

Smith  (Prof.  A.),  A  Laboratory  Outline  of  Elementary 
Chemistry,  2,i;7  ;  A  Text-book  of  Elementary  Chemistry, 
257  ;  The  Training  of  Chemists,  334 

Smith  (E.   A.)  [obituary],   448 

Smith  (Dr.   E.   F.),  The  Parasitic  Nature  of  Cancer,  469 

Smith  (F.  E.),  Manufacture  and  Testing  of  Prismatic  Com- 
passes, 368 

Smith  (Sir  G.  A.),  elected  a  Member  of  the  Athenaeum  Club, 
127 

Smith  (Prof.  G.  Elliot),  Arrival  of  Homo  sapiens  in  Europe, 
514;  Cerebral  Cortex,  Origin  of  the,  235;  Neolithic 
Phase  of  Culture,  Commencement  of  the,  235 ;  The 
Archaeological  Survey  of  Nubia,  loi  ;  The  Piltdown 
Skull,  26 

Smith  (G.  O.),  The  Public  Interest  in  Mineral  Resources,  428 

Smith  (Geoffrey  Watkins)  [obituary  article],   502 

Smith  (H.  G.),  The  Lurgecombe  Mill  Lamprophyre  and  its 
Inclusions,  274 

Smith  (Dr.  J.  H.),  Bleach-out  Process  of  Colour  Photo- 
graphy, 74 

Smith  (Prof.  J.  R.),  Commerce  and  Industry,  539 

Smith  (Prof.  R.   H.)  [obituary],   12 

Smith  (Capt.  R.  J.)  [obituary],  265 

Smith  (Dr.  S.  W.  J.),  Explanation  of  the  Migration  of  the 
Ions,  174  ;  Method  of  Exhibiting  the  Velocity  of  Iodine 
Ions  in  Solution,    174 

Smith  (T.),  Lenses  for  Light  Distribution,  315;  Glass  for 
Cemented  Objectives,  315;  The  Correction  of  Chromatic 
Aberrations,  334 

Smith  (W.  D.),  Geologic  Reconnaissance  of  Mountain  Pro- 
vince, Luzon,  367 

Smithells  (Prof.  A.),  appointed  for  Scientific  Service  on  the 
Staff  of  General  Headquarters  (Home  Forces),  406 

Snyder  (T.  E.),  The  Termites  of  the  United  States,  312 

Soddy  (Prof.  F.).  Chemistry  and  National  Prosperity,  iii; 
Science  as  "  Cinderella."  47";  ;  Sir  William  Ramsay,  482 

Sol^  (J.  Comas),  Proper  Motion  of  the  Orion  Nebula,  169  ; 
The  Great  Nebula  in  Orion  (1976  N.G.C.),   135 

Sollas  (I.  J.  B.),  and  Prof.  W.  J.  Sollas,  The  Structure  of 
the  Dicynodont  Skull,  50 

Sollas  (Prof.  W.  J.),  Skull  of  Ichthyosaurus,   134 

Sonaglia  (C),  Lo  Surdo's  Laws,  389 

Sooysmith  (C.)  Tobituaryl,  345 

Southgate  (F.)  [obituary],  64 


Southwell  (T.),  Indian  Cestoda,  187  ;  Report  of  the  Fishery 
Department  of  Bengal,  Bihar,  and  Orissa,  65 

de  Sparre  (M.),  Influence  of  Atmospheric  Conditions  on 
Trajectories  of  Long-range  Projectiles,   175 

Speerschneider  (Commander),  State  of  the  Ice  in  the  Arctic 
Seas  for   19 15,   248 

Spencer  (L.  J.),  A  Butterfly  Twin  of  Gypsum,  174 

Spiller  (G.),  A  Generation  of  Religious  Progress,  339 

Spinden  (H.  J.),  New  Data  on  the  Archaeology  of  Venezuela, 
456 

Stanford's  War  Maps,   107 

Stanley  (W.)  [death],  308 

Stapf  (Dr.   O.),   Distribution  of  the  Box-tree,  74 

Steavenson  (W.  H.),  Lowest  Effective  Power  of  a  Tele- 
scope, 490 

Stebbing  (E.  P.),  Infestation  of  Bamboos  in  Tidal  Waters,  25 

Stebbing  (Rev.  T.  R.  R.),  elected  President  of  the  South- 
eastern Union  of  Scientific  Societies,  246 

Stebbins  (Prof.  J.),  Photo-electric  Photometry,  207; 
Selenium  Photometry,  349 

Steichen  (Rev.  Dr.  A.),  The  Intermittent  Spring  at  Rajapur, 
310 

Stein  (Sir  .'Vurel),   Explorations  in  Central  Asia,  284 

Stephens  (G.  A.),  Is  Soap  Necessary  for  Shaving?,   141 

Stephens  (Prof.  J.  S.),  Theory  of  Measurements,  418 

Stephenson   (Col.   J.),   Oriental   Earthworms,   528 

Stephenson  (L.  W.),  J.  O.  Veatch,  and  R.  B.  Dole,  Under- 
ground Waters  of  the  Coastal  Plain  of  Georgia,  452 

Stetson  (H.  T.),  The  Thermopile  in  Photographic  Photo- 
metry, 528 

Stevenson  (Prof.  J.  J.),  Coal  Formation,  493 

Stiles  (Dr.  C.  W.),  International  Commission  on  Zoological 
Nomenclature,   479 

Stiles  (P.  G.),  Nutritional  Physiology,   140 

Stockard  (Prof.  C),  and  Prof.  G.  Papinicolaou,  Hereditary 
Transmission  of  Degeneracy,   etc.,  65,  205 

Stonham  (Lt.-Col.),  Collection  of  British  Birds  presented  to 
King's  School,   Canterbury,    105 

Stopes  (Dr.  Marie  C),  Catalogue  of  the  Mesozoic  Plants 
in  the  British  Museum  (Natural  History).  The  Cre- 
taceous Flora,  part  ii.,  198;  New  Bennettitean  Cones 
from  the  British  Cretaceous,  455  ;  The  Lower  Green- 
sand  Flora,  261 

Stormer  (Prof.  C),  Altitude  of  the  Aurora  Borealis 
observed  from  Bossekop,  115;  Altitudes  of  Auroras,  5  ; 
Integration  of  a  System  of  Differential  Equations,  335 

Stracke  (G.),  Opposition  of  (4)  Vesta,  88 

Strahan  (Dr.  A.),  The  Search  for  New  Coal-fields  in 
England,  292  ;  The  Thicknesses  of  Strata  in  the 
Counties  of  England  and  Wales,  228 

Streatfeild  (Mrs.),  gift  for  the  Promotion  of  Research,  495 

Stromgren  (Prof.  E.),  Comet  1916  a  (Neujmin),  148;  Comet 
1916  a  (Neujmin),  46 

Strutt  (Hon.  R.  J.),  An  Active  Modification  of  Nitrogen,  273 

Stuart-Menteath  (P.  W.),  Latin  as  the  Language  of  Science, 
16 :  The  Geological  Structure  of  the  Pyrenees,  168 

Sunderland  (Dr.  S.),  Old  London's  Spas,  Baths,  and  Wells, 

S3 
Supino   (G.),    Land  and   Marine   Diesel    Engines,   translated 

by  Eng.-Comm.  A.  G.  Bremner  and  J.  Richardson,  158 
Suscinskij    (P.    P.),    Russian   Sources  of  Tungsten   and   Tin 

Ores,  226 
Sutton  (Dr.  J.  R.),  South  African  Coast  Temperatures,  25 
Sutton  (M.),  Radio-activity  and  Plant  Growth,  411 
Svoboda  (H.),  Comet  1916  a  (Neujmin),  348 
Swalbe  (Prof.   G.)  [obituary],  487 
Sweet  (Dr.  J.  E.)  [death].  308 

Swinton  (A.  A.  C),  Prof.  Silvanus  P.  Thompson,  F.R.S.,  343 
Swithinbank  (H.).  and  G.  E.  Bullen,  British  Sea  Fish,  260 
Swynnerton  (C.   F.   M.),   Captive  Birds  and  their  Choice  of 

Insect  Food,  347 


H.  S.  T.,  Silvanus  P.  Thompson  as  a  Painter,  442 

Taber  (S.),  Growth  of  Crystals  under  External  Pressure,  470 

Taggart  (W.   Scott),  Textile  Mechanics,   278 

Tagliaffero  (N.),  468 

Tanner  (V.),   Continental  Ice  in  Finnish  and  Scandinavian 

Lapland,  347 
Taylor  (G.),  The  Agricultural  Possibilities  of  Australia,  505 
Taylor   (G.    I.),    appointed   Temporary    Major   as    Professor 


September  2 


Nature,  1 

r,  1916J 


Index 


XVI 1 


of  Meteorolog>',  85  ;  Motion  of  Solids  and  Fluids  when 

the  Flow  is  not  Irrotational,  355 
Taylor  (Dr.  Griffith),  With  Scott :  The  Silver  Lining,  280 
Tello   (Dr.    J.    C),    G.    K.    Noble,    and    Dr.    L.    S.    Moss, 

Expedition  to  South  America,  425 
Terada,  Yokota,  and  Otuki,   Distribution  of  Cyclonic  Pre- 
cipitation in  Japan,  550 
Terazawa  (K.),  Periodic  Disturbance  of  Level,  314 
Th^el  (Prof.  H.),  Retirement  of,  366 
Thiele   (H.),    The    Motion   of   the   Nuclei   of   Comet    1915  e 

(Taylor),   388 
Thoday  (D.),   Optical  Properties  of  Chlorophyll,  95 
Thomas  (Dr.),  Geology  of  the  Country  around  Milford,  470 
Thompson     (C.     J.),     The     Wellcome     Historical    Medical 

Museum,  266 
Thompson  (F.  C),  Annealing  of  Metals,  314;  Composition 

of  Alloys,  288  ;  Properties  of  Solid  Solutions  of  Metals, 

etc.,  314 
Thompson  (J.  M.),  Platyzoma  microj>hyllum,  95 
Thompson  (Prof.  S.  P.)  [death],  325  ;  [obituary  article],  343  ; 

Proposed  Memorial  to,  448 
Thompson  (Prof.  W.  H.),  The  Food  Value  of  Great  Britain's 

Food    Supply,    231  ;    and    the    Writer    of    the    Article, 

National  Food  Supply   and  Nutritional   Value,   261 
Thomson  (G.   P.),  awarded  a  Smith's  Prize  at  Cambridge 

University',  72 
Thomson  (Prof.  J    A.),  Science  for  Life,  438 
Thomson   (Sir   St.    Clair),    to   speak   on   "Shakespeare   and 

Medicine,"  105 
Thomson  (Dr.  T.)  [obituary],  63 
Thornton   (J.   S.),   A  Forgotten   Chapter  in  the  History  of 

Education,  354 
Thornton  (W.  M.),  Ignition  of  Gases  by  Impulsive  Electrical 

Discharge,  50 
Thorpe  (Sir  Edward),  The  Worth  of  Chemistry,  538 ;  Coal- 
tar  and  Ammonia,  517 
Ticehurst  (Dr.   C.   B.),   Renewal  of  Plumage  by  Moulting, 

14 

Tichomirov  (Prof.   V.   A.)  [death],  42 

Tillyard  (R.  J.),  Australian  Neuroptera,  375;  and  B. 
Dunstan,  Mesozoic  and  Tertiary  Insects  collected  in 
Queensland,  489 

Tinker  (F.),  Osmotic  Pressure  or  Osmotic  Suction — 
Which?,    122 

Tobev  (Dr.   E.   N.),  Life  and  Work  of,  384 

Tolman  (R.  C),  and  T.  D.  Stewart,  Electromotive  Force 
produced  by  Acceleration  of  Metals,  215 

Topi  (Dr.  M.),  Tobacco  Decoctions  and  the  Destruction 
of  Insect   Pests,    228 

Torii  (R.),  The  Prehistoric  Population  of  Southern  Man- 
churia, 426 

Tout  (Prof.  T.  F.),  elected  a  Member  of  the  .Athenaeum 
Club,  41 

Tower  (D.   G.),   Biology  of  Apanteles  militaris,   313 

Tregarthen  (J.  C),  The  Life-story  of  an  Otter.  New 
Edition,  360 

Trillat  (A.),  A  Roman  Calorimetric  Method  for  Characteris- 
ing Soft  Waters,   155 

Trimen   (R.)   [death],    467 ;   [obituary   article],    485 

Trotter  (A.   P.),  Numerals  for  Scales  and  Punches,    121 

Trotter  (W.),  Instincts  of  the  Herd  in  Peace  and  War,   150 

Trouard-Riolle  (Mile.),  Cross  between  a  Wild  Crucifer, 
etc.,  with  a  Tuberised  Root,  175 

Troup  (R.   S.),   Pinus  longifolia,   469 

Turnbull  (C),  The  Utilisation  of  Waste  Heat  for  Agricul- 
ture, 422,  520 

Turner  (Miss  E.  L.),  Breeding  Habits  of  the  Sheldrake, 
267 ;  Habits  of  the  Waterhen,  Coot,  Redshank,  Ringed 
Plover,  and  Lapwing,   106 ;  Some  Rarer  British  Birds, 

349 

Turner  (Prof.  H.  H.),  A  Voyage  in  Space  :  a  Course  of 
Six  Lectures,  "Adapted  to  a  Juvenile  Auditory,"  de- 
livered at  the  Royal  Institution  at  Christmas,  1913, 
139 ;  Discontinuities  in  Meteorological  Phenomena,  234 

Turner  (T.),  appointed  to  the  Board  of  British  Dyes,  Ltd., 
127 

Tweedy   (J.)  [obituary],   204 

Twort  (Dr.),   Infantile  Diarrhoea,    14 

Tyler  (Capt.  W.  F.),  A  Daylight  Meteor,  17;  The  Large 
Meteorite  of  February  13,   1915.  38S 

Tyrrell   (C.   W.).    Petrography  of  the  Trachytic  and  Allied 


Rocks   of   the   Carboniferous   Age   in    the   Clyde   Lava 
Plateaux,   415 
Tyrrell  (G.  W.),  The  Picrite-teschenite  Sill  of  Lugar,  195 

Upton  (G.   B.),   The  Structure  and   Properties  of  the  more 

common  Materials  of  Construction,  518 
Uraguchi    (Y.),    Handy   Logarithmic   Tables,    179 


Valentine  (Lt.  R.  L.)  [obituary],  265 

Vallery  (L.),  Stability  of  Hypochlorites  in  very  Dilute 
Solutions,  75 

Vallot  (J.),  The  Law  which  connects  the  Calorific  Absorp- 
tion of  a  Cell,   175 

Vanni  (Prof.  G.),  Progress  and  Present  Position  of  Wire- 
less Telegraphy  and  Telephony,  389 

Vaughan  (T.  W.),  Association  of  Platforms  and  Reefs  in 
the  Virgin  and  Leeward  Islands,  389 ;  Ecology  of  the 
Floridian   and   Bahaman   Shoal-water  Corals,  75 

Verneau  (R.),  The  Hindenburg  and  other  Fetishes,  227 

Viljev  (A.),  The  Trajectory  of  a  Falling  Body,  527 

Vincent  (V.),  Circulation  of  Manganese  in  Natural  Waters, 
27 

Voss  (W.),  Occultation  of  Mars,  October  2,  1915,  148 


Waggaman  (W.  H.),  The  Production  of  Sulphuric  Acid  and 

a  Proposed  New  Method  of  Manufacture,  60 
Wagner    (P.    A.),   The    "  National    Game "   of   Africa,    336 ; 

The    Geology    and    Mineral    Industry    of    South-West 

Africa,  329 
Wailes   (G.    H.),    Rhizopoda,    part   iii.    (The   British    Fresh- 
water   Rhizopoda   and    Heliozoa,   J.    Cash    and   G.    H. 

Wailes,    vol.    iii.),    178 
Wakefield  (Miss  E.  M.),  New  Exotic  Fungi,  347 
Walcott  (Dr.  C.  D.),  Cambrian  Trilobites,  75  ;  Smithsonian 

Physical  Tables,    141 
Walker  (Dr.  G.  T.),  Probable  .Amount  of  Monsoon  Rainfall 

in   19 1 6,  490 
Walker  (Dr.  G.  W.),  to  deliver  the  Halley  Lecture,  253 
Walker  (Prof.   T.   L.),   Spencerite,   a  New  Zinc  Phosphate 

from  British  Columbia,  375 
Wallace  (Dr.   A.   R.),   Medallion  in  Westminster  Abbey,   58 
Wallace  (Dr.   W.),  and  others,   Fishery   Investigations,  342 
Wallis  (B.  C),  Maps  of  Density  of  Population,   108 
Walmsley   (Dr.    R.    M.),    Manufacture   and   Application    of 

Optical  Glass,  263 
Ward  (F.    K.),    awarded  the  Cuthbert   Peek  .Award  of  the 

R.G.S.,   86 
Waring  (G.  A.),  Springs  of  California,   17 
Washburn  (Prof.  E.  W.),  An  Introduction  to  the  Principles 

of  Physical  Chemistrj',  277 
Wassermann    (Prof.    A.    von),    appointed    Director    of    the 

Institute  for   Experimental  Therapy  and  of  the  Georg 

Speyerhaus,  Frankfurt,  226 
Waterhouse  (L.   L.),  The  North  Heemskirk  Tinfield,  470 
Waterman   (Prof.   T.),   Evolution  of  the  Human  Chin,   286 
Watkins-Pitchford    (Dr.),    Drs.    A.    J.    Orenstein    and    W. 

Steuart,  Pulmonary  Tuberculosis  among  Native  Miners 

of  South  Africa,  309 
Watson   (Sir  C),    Origin  of   English   Measures   of   Length, 

16,  69  ;  [obituary  article],  84 
Watson  (H.),  The  Carnivorous  Slugs  of  South  Africa,  47a 
Watson   (Second   Lieut.    H.)  [obituary],    548 
Watson  (J.  B.),  Experiments  on  the  Conditioned  Reflex,  167 
Watson  (Dr.   M.),  Rural  Sanitation  in  the  Tropics,   141 
Watson  (W.).  What  Science  says  to  Truth,  344 
Watt  (R.  A.  W.),  Atmospheric  Electricity,  161 
Watts  (Sir  P.).   Load  Lines  of  Merchant  Ships,    170 
Waxweiler  (E.)  [obituary],  385 
Webb  (E.  J.),  and  the  Reviewer,  "Ptolemy's  Catalogue  of 

Stars,"  341 
Weber  (S.),   Measurement  of  the  Vapour  Pressure  of   Ice,. 

i88 
Webster  (D.  L.),  Emission  Quanta  of  Characteristic  X-rays, 

75 
Weinberg  (Prof.   M.),  to  Lecture  on   Gas  Gangrene  before 

the  Royal  Society  of  Medicine,  41 
Weiss   (Prof.    F.    E.),    Nature   of   so-called   "  Graft-hybrids," 

23s 


XVlll 


Index 


[Nature, 
September  21,  1916 


Wells  (H.    G.),   What  is  Coming?     A   Forecast  of  Things 

after  the  War,  478 
Wells  (R.   C),   Fractional  Precipitation  of  some  Ore-form- 
ing Compounds,  229 
Wereide  (Dr.  T.),  Statistical  Theory  of  Energy  and  Maher, 

197 
West   (G.    D.),    A    Method   of   Measuring   the   Pressure   of 

Light,  394 
Wetherill  (H.  B.),  The  World  and  its  Discovery,  4  parts,  520 
Wharton-Hood  (Dr.  P.)  [obituary],  204 
Wheldon  and  Co.'s  Botany  Catalogue,  67 
Wheler  (A.   S.),   Antimony   Production   in   Hunan   Province, 

26 
Whipple  (R.  S.),  High  Temperatures  in  the  Laboratory,  90  ; 

Instruments  for  the   Measurement  of  Solar  Radiation, 

169 
Whitaker   (W.),   An    Outlier   of   Blackheath  Pebble-beds  at 

Tandridge  Hill,  473 
Whitbeck   (Prof.    R.    H.),    Geography   of   the   Fox    Valley, 

Wisconsin,   408 
White    (A.),    Revision    of    the    Stratiomyidae    of    Australia 

(Diptera),  375 
White  (F.   P.),  elected  to  an  Isaac  Newton  Studentship  at 

Cambridge  University,   93  ;   The   Period  of  a  Spherical 

Resonator  with  a  Circular  Aperture,  455 
White  (Dr.  J.  W.)  [obituary],  266;  bequest  to  Pennsylvania 

University,    414 
White  (Sir  W.),  Memorial  to,  466 

Whiting  (J.  D.),  Plague  of  Locusts  near  Jerusalem,  313 
Whitlock  (Lt.-Col.),   awarded  the  Murchison  Award  of  the 

R.G.S.,  86 
Whitmell  (C.  T.),  Ground  Rainbows,  34 ;  Relative  Lumino- 
sities of  Sun  and  Stars,  528 
Whittaker  (Prof.  E.  T.),  and  Prof.  G.  N.  Watson,  A  Course 

of  Modern  Analysis.     Second  Edition,   298  ;  Theory  of 

Continued  Fractions,  415 
Whittaker  (T.),  The  Theory  of  Abstract  Ethics,  32 
Wichmann   (R.),   Antiquity  of  Man  in   South  America,   310 
Wijsman   (Dr.    H.   P.)  [death],    144 ;  [obituary],   226 
Wild  (F.),  awarded  the  Back  Award  of  the  R.G.S.,  86 
Wilkinson   (A.    E.),   The  Apple,   277 

Willett  (H.  W.   M.),  The  Daylight  Saving  Scheme,  221 
Williams  (M.  Y.),  Arisaig-Antigonish  District,  Nova  Scotia, 

410 
Willis  (Dr.   J.   C),  The  Dispersal  of  Organisms,  274  ;  The 

Geographical    Distribution   of  Species,   355 
Willows    (Dr.    R.    S.),    and    H.    T.    George,    Absorption    of 

Gases  by  Quartz  Bulbs,    135 
Wilson   (C.    T.    R.),   Sign   and   Magnitude   of   Electric    Dis- 
charges in  Lightning  Flashes,  455 
Wilson   (Prof.    E.),   and   Prof.   J.   W.    Nicholson,   Magnetic 

Shielding  of  Large  Spaces,  etc.,  355 
Wilson   (E.    B.),    Distr'bution  of  the  Chondriosomes  to  the 


Spermatozoa  in  Scorpions,  456 ;  Theory  of  an  Aeroplane 

encountering    Gusts,    396 ;    and    C.    L.    E.    Moore,    A 

General  Theory  of  Surfaces,  395 
Wilson  (President),  Science  and  Industry,   165 
Winge  (Dr.   O.),   Pollination  and  Fertilisation  Processes  in 
H.    Lupulus    and    H.    japonicus,    290;    and   J.    P.    H. 

Jensen,  Quantitative  Determination  of  Resins  in  Hops, 

290 
Winton  (Dr.  A.  L.),  Dr.  J.  Moeller,  and  Dr.  K.  B.  Winton, 

The  Microscopy  of  Vegetable  Foods.     Second  Edition, 

500 
Wissler  (C),  Exhibit  of  Moccasins  in  the  American  Museum, 

524 ;    Genetic   Relations  of  certain   Forms   in   American 

Aboriginal    Art,    255 ;    and    H.    Spinden,    The    Pawnee 

Human  Sacrifice,  86 
Witherby  (H.   F.),   British  Swallows  in  South  Africa,    187 ; 

Moulting    and    Sequences    of    Plumage    in    the    British 

Passeres,  267 
Wolf  (Prof.  M.),  A  Cluster  of  Nebulae  in  Cetus,  148  ;  Comet 

1916  b  (Wolf),    1916ZK  (Planet),   289 
Wolff  (J.),  A  Substance  coagulating  Inulin,   175 
Wolseley   (Viscountess),   Women   and   the   Land,    320 
Wood  (H.  O.),  The  Eruption  of  Mauno  Loa  in  May,  550 
Wood  (Prof.  R.  W.),  Monochromatic  Photography  of  Jupiter 

and     Saturn,     75 ;      Monochromatic      Photographs     of 

Planets,  471 
Wood  (S.  T.),  Rambles  of  a  Canadian  Naturalist,  360 
Woodlock  (Rev.  J.   M.),  A  New  Variety  of  Abraxas  gross- 

ulariata,  291 
Woodward    (Dr.     A.     Smith).     A    Mammalian     Mandibular 

Ramus,    315;    Use    of    Fossil    Remains   of   the    Higher 

Vertebrates  in  Stratigraphical  Geology,  92 
Woolnough   (F.),   The   Future  of   Provincial   Museums,   472 
Worthington  (Prof.  A.   M.),  Sir  William  Ramsay,  484 
Wright  (Sir  Almroth),  Treatment  of  Septic  Wounds,  468 
Wright  (F.   E.),  A   Device  fpr  Solving  Equations,    15 

Yoschida   (S.),   Milk   in   Crops  of   Brooding   Pigeons,    206; 

Nature  of  Horny  Masses  on  Legs  of  Horses,  206 
Young  (R.  K.),  and  W.  E.   Harper,  Motion  of  the  Sidereal 

Universe,   208 
Young  (Prof.   S.),  Boiling-points  and  Critical  Temperatures 

of   Homologous  Compounds,    175 

Zach  (M.),   Formulae  for  the  Strength  of  Flat  Rectangular 

Plates,  348 
Zambonini  (F.),    Relations  which  exist  between  the  Angles 

of  Mixed  Crystals  and  those  of  their  Components,  335 
Zappa  (Dr.    G.),    Determination   of  Latitude,    109 
Zeeman    (Prof.    P.),    A    Possible    Deflection    of    Light   by    a 

Moving  Medium,  67;   On  Fizeau's  Experiment,   540 
Zenghelis  (M.),  The  Synthesis  of  Ammonia,  375 


Nature,  1 

Sef'temter  21,  1916J 


Index 


XIX 


TITLE     INDEX. 


Aberdeen  Water  Supply  Scheme,  388 

Abraxas  grossulariata.   Dr.   Doncaster,   51 ;  A  New  Variety 

of,  Rev.  J.   M.  Woodlock,  291 
Absorption   of  Gases  by  Quartz  Bulbs,   Dr.   R.   S.   Willows 

and  H.  T.  George,  135 
Acarina,  The,  N.  Banks,  525 
Accademia  dei   Lincei   of   Rome,    King's   Prize   for   Human 

Physiology  awarded  to  Prof.  F.   Bottazzi,   12 
.Acceleration   of   Metals,   The  Electromotive   Force  produced 

by  the,  R.  C.  Tolman  and  T.  D.  Stewart,  215 
.Acid  Aniline   Dyes,   The  .Anti-coagulating   Power  of,  A.   C. 

Hollande,  395 
.Acids    as    Hydrion    Regulators,    Use    of    Partly    Neutralised 

Mixtures  of,  E.  B.  R.  Prideaux,  314;  Salts,  and  Bases, 

The  Relation  of  Excised  Muscle  to,  D.  J.   Lloj-d,   135 
Addington-Wickham   Bourne,   Flowing  of  the,  325 
Adventurine  Feldspar,  An,  O.  Andersen,  408 
Advisory   Council    for   Scientific    Research,    Ferrous   Section 

of  the  Metallurgical  Committee,   .Address  to,  by  Sir  R. 

Hadfield,  264 
.^nothera,  Mutation  Phenomena  in,  B.   M.  Davis,  291 
Aenothera  nutans  and  pycnocarpa.  The  Fj  Generations,  and 

Back-    and    Inter-crosses    of    the    Fj    Hybrids    between, 

Dr.  G.  F.  Atkinson,  492 
.Aerodynamics,   Experiments  in,   501  ;   Wind  Tunnel  Experi- 
ments in,  501 
Aerography,  The  Term.   Prof.   .A.   Mc.Adie,  267 
.Aeronautics,    .Advisory  Committee  for,    Report  of  the,   503  ; 

and    the   War.    403  ;    Military,    Centralisation    of,    14-; : 

The  Proposed  Board  of,  164 ;  The  Scientific  Side  of,  283 
.Aeroplane  encountering  Gusts,  Theory  of  an,  E.  B.  Wilson, 

396 
.Aeroplanes,     Armament    of,     G.     Prade,     165 ;     Dynamical 

Stability   of,    J.    C.    Hunsaker,    395 ;    The    Newest,    G. 

Prade,  145 
.Afforestation    in    Scotland,    38; :    National,    462  ;    State,    Sir 

J.  S.  Maxwell,  381  ;  The  Importance  of.  Sir  W.  Schlich, 

462 
.Africa,    South.    The    Scorpion   Fauna    of,    J.    Hewitt,    336 ; 

South-west,    The    Geology    and    Mineral    Industry'    of, 

P.  .A.   Wagner.  329;  The  "National  Game"  of.   P.  A. 

Wasrner.  336  ;  West.  Edible  and  Oil-producing  Nuts  and 

Seeds,   Report  on,  325 
.Agricultural   Consultative   Committee,    R.   Brown   appointed 

a  Member  of  the,  425 ;  Policy,  An,  459 ;  Yield,  Analyses 

of,  W.  L.  Balls.  .:;i  ' 
Agriculture  after  the  War,  A.  D.  Hall,  4';q  ;  German,  The 

Recent  Development  of,  T.  H.  Middleton,   508 
Aircraft    Factory    Inquiry,    The    Royal.    509 :    in    War    and 

Peace,  W.   .A.    Robson,   403  ;   in   Warfare,   F.    W.   Lan- 

chester,  403 
Air  Navies  of  the  Future.  309  ;  Upper,  Illusions  of  the.  Sir 

N.   Shaw.    191  ;  Upper,  Investigation.  370 
Albatrosses  of  Laysan  Island,  Plume  Raid  on  the,  205 
Albedo  of  the  Planets  and  their  Satellites.  H.  N.  Russell.  7<; 
Alcohol.   Psvchological  Effects  of.   Dr.   R.   Dodge  and  Prof. 

F.   G.   Benedict.   46:; 
Alcoholism.  Parental,   The   Effect  of,  upon  the  Progeny  in 

the  Domestic  Fowl,   R.   Pearl,   fn; 
Algae,    The    Fossil,    of    Petroleum-yielding    Shales,    C.    .A. 

Davis,  215 
Algebraic  Eouation,  .Application  of  Operators  to  the  Solution 

of  the,  J.  Littlejohn,  435 
Alloys.   Composition  of,    F.    C.   Thompson.   288:   Pure   Iron 

and  Iron-carbon,  Cain,   Schramm,  and  Cleaves,    189 
Almanac.  .A  Plea  for  an  Orderly,  A.   Philip,  31 
Alternating    Currents.    Examples    in.    Prof.    F.    E.    .Austin, 

vol.   i.,  Second  Edition,  258 
Aluminium,    Behaviour    of,    Seligman    and    Williams,    310; 

Changes  in  Phvsical  Properties  of.  Dr.  F.  J.  Brislee,  314 


Amateur    Photographer    and    Photographic    News,    Empire 

Number,  88 
Ambers,  Lacustral,  L.  Reutter,  135 
America,  Sulphuric  Acid  in,  60 
j  American    Academy    of    Arts    and    Sciences,     Sir    Norman 
Lockyer  elected   a    Foreign    Honorary    Member   of   the, 
486 ;  Aboriginal  Art,  Genetic  Relations  of  certain  Forms 
in,   C.  Wissler,  255  :  Colleges,  Grants  to,  49 ;   Colleges 
and     Universities,     Grants    to,    by    the    U.S.     General 
Education    Board   for    1914-15,    454;    Gardening   Book, 
I  An,    259 ;    Indian,    Museum    of    the,    New    York,    495 ; 

j  Laboratories   of  Applied    Science,    Co-ordination    of   the 

Work   of.    Dr.    A.    E.    Kennelly,    145 ;    Meteor    Society, 
■  Work  of  the,  C.  P.  Olivier,  515;  Museum  of  Natural 

History,    Bequest    to,    by    Mrs.    H.    C.    Julliard,    454 ; 
j  Philosophical    Society,    Annual    Meeting    of    the,    491  ; 

j  Steam  Tables,  New,  2 

i  Ammonia,  The  Synthesis  of,  M.  Zenghelis,  375 
j  Amoeba  Feeding  on  Infusoria,  S.  O.  Mast  and  F.  M.  Root. 
215 
.Amphibian  Embrjo,    Effect  of   Removal   of  the  Pronephros 
of  the,  R.  B.  Howland,  255 
,  .Amsterdam   University',    Prof.   J.   J.   van   Loghem  appointed 

Professor  of  Tropical  Hygiene  in,  494 
!  .Amundsen's    .Antarctic  Expedition,    1911-12,    Meteorological 
Observations  of,  387 
-Analysis,  Modern,  298 ;  Qualitative  and  Volumetric,  W.  M. 

Hooton,  218 
.Analytical  Aids  for  Factory  Chemists,   130 
.  -Andes,  The,  as  an  Uplifted  Plateau.   H.   E.  Gregory,   187 
i  Animal  Life  in  the  Tropics,  C.  W.  Beebe,  552 
;  -Animals,    Beliefs    concerning,    in    the    Mvthology    of    South 
India,  Prof.   R.  Sherriffs,  525 
Annelids,  British  Marine,  .A  Monograph  of  the.  Prof.  W.  C. 
Mcintosh,    vol.    iii.,    part    i.,    text :    vol.   iii.,    part    ii., 
plates,  307 
i  Annulella  gemmata.  Dr.  J.  Ritchie.  529 

!  .Anodes,  "Duriron,"  a  Substitute  for  Magnetite  Anodes,   130 

.Anoplura  and  Mallophaga.  Report  on  a  Collection  of,  B.  F. 

C^immings,  >i  ;  North  American  Mammals,  Prof.  V.  L. 

Kellogg  and  G.  F.  Ferris,  313  . 

Antagonism,  The  Dynamics  of.  Prof.  W.  J.   V.  Osterhout, 

492 
-Antarctic  Hydroera^hy,   329 ;   Physi(^raphy.   280 
-Anthropology   and   Fauna   of  the   Chad   Basin,    Sir    H.    H. 

Johnston,  9 
Antiexanthematic   Serum,    Preparation   of  an   Experimental, 

C.  Nirolle  and  L.   Blaizot,    176 
-Antimony  Production  in  Hunan  Province,  A.  S.  Wheler,  26 
.Antis^pt've  .Action  of  Substances  of  the  Chloroamine  Group. 
I.    B.    Cohen.    H.    D.    Dakin,    M.    Daufresne.    and    J. 
Kenyon,   50 
Ai>anteles  militaj^is.  Biology  of.  D.  G.  Tower.  313 
Aphis,  The  Green  .Apple,  .A.  C.  Baker  and  W.  F.  Turner,  530 
.Apple.    The,    a    Practical    Treatise   dealing    with    the    latest 
Modern    Practices  of  -Apple  Culture,    .A.  E.   Wilkinson, 
277 :  Growing  for  Profit.  2-7 
Apprentice  Training.  The  Principles  of.   -A.  P.   M.   Flem-n? 

and  J.  G.  Pearce,  440 
Abractoleidus  Teretipes.  W.  R.  Smellie.   17:; 
Aqua  regia.  Action  of.  R.  L.   Datta  and  N.  R.  Chatterjee, 

207 
«r  Aquilae,  The  Spectroscopic  Binary,  F.  C.  Jordan,  507 
.Arachnida,  South  .African,  J.  Hewitt.  473 
.Archseo'ogical   Explorations  at   Pecos,    New  Mexico.   .A.    V. 
Kidder,    215;    Survey   of  Nubia,    The.    Prof.    G.    Elliot 
Smith,  loi 
.Archaic  Sculpturings,  L.   M.  Mann,  99 
.Arctic  Oceanography,  523 
.Arequipa  Pyrheliometry,  C.  G.  Abbot.  410 


XX 


Index 


[Nature, 
Stpleiitber  21,   1916 


Argentine  Republic,  Natural  History  of  the,  347 
Arisaig-Antigonish  District,   Nova  Scotia,   M.   Y.   Williams, 

410 
Arithmetic,  part  i.,  F.  W.  Dobbs  and  H.  K.  Marsden,  439; 

for  Carpenters  and  Builders,  Prof.  R.  B.  Dale,  179 
Armoured  Men,  Dr.  Saleeby,  549 

Arsenious  Jelly  as  a  Preservative,  F.  R.   Rowley,  472 
Arts,   Royal  Society  of,  The  Albert  Medal  of  the,  awarded 

to  Prof.  E.  Metchnikoff,  386 
Ascidioclava,  Prof.  H.  B.  Kirk,   19 
Asia,  Central,  Explorations  in.  Sir  Aurel  Stein,  284 
Association   of  Teachers   in   Technical  Institutions,   Confer- 
ence of  the,  334 


ASTRONOMICAL     NOTES. 

Comets  : 
A  New  Comet,  Prof.  O.  Backlund,  17;  Comet  1915  a 
(Mellish),  C.  O.  Larppland ;  E.  C.  Slipher,  17;  Comet 
1916  a  (Neujmin),  Prof.  E.  Stromgren,  46;  Comet 
19156  (Taylor),  Prof.  A.  Berberich,  46;  Comet  1916  a 
(Neujmin),  J.  Fischer-Petersen  and  Mile.  J.  M.  Vinter- 
Hansen,  67;  Comet  1915  c  (Taylor),  J.  Braae ;  Prof. 
Schorr;  Prof.  E.  E.  Barnard,  67;  Spectroscopic 
Observations  of  Comets  1913/  (Delavan)  and  1914  b 
(Zlatinsky),  N.  v.  Konkoly,  89 ;  Definitive  Orbit  of 
Comet  1802,  K.  Lundmark,  109;  Comet  19160 
(Neujmin),  J.  Braae;  J.  Fischer-Petersen,  130;  Comet 
1916  a  (Neujmin),  Prof.  E.  Stromgren,  148;  Comet 
1916a  (Neujmin),  169;  Comet  1916a  (Neujmin),  J. 
Braae;  J.  Braae  and  J.  Fischer-Petersen,  189;  Comet 
or  Nebulous  Minor  Planet?,  268;  Comet  1916  b  (Wolf), 
1916ZK  (Planet),  288;  A  Possible  New  Comet,  Prof. 
Pickering,  289;  Comet  1916  b  (Wolf),  328;  Comet 
iQi6a  (Neujmin),  H.  Svoboda,  348;  Comet  19156 
(Taylor),  Jeffers  and  Neubauer,  369  ;  Return  of  Daniel's 
Comet  (1909  e),  S.  Einarsson  and  M.  Harwood,  369 ; 
The  Motion  of  the  Nuclei  of  Comet  19156  (Taylor), 
H.  Thiele,  388;  Comet  1916  b  (Wolf),  R.  T.  Crawford 
and  D.  Alter,  410 ;  Pons-Winnecke's  Comet  and  the 
Meteoric  Shower  of  June  28,  W.  F.  Denning,  451 

Eclipses  : 
The  Total   Solar   Eclipse   of   February   3,    1916,   311;    A 
Partial  Eclipse  of  the  Moon,  410 

Instruments  : 

Instruments  for  the  Measurement  of  Solar  Radiation, 
R.  S.  Whipple,  169  ;  The  Great  Meridian  Circle  of  the 
Paris  Observatory,  249  ;  Lowest  Effective  Power  of  a 
Telescope,  W.  H.  Steavenson ;  M.  A.  Ainslie,  490 ; 
The  Thermopile  in  Photographic  Photometry,  H.  T. 
Stetson,   528 

Meteors : 

A  Daylight  Meteor,  Capt.  W.  F.  Tyler,  17 ;  The  Lyrid 
Meteors  of  19 16,  W.  F.  Denning,  229  ;  Large  Daylight 
Fireball,  May  20,  W.  F.  Denning,  288 ;  The  Shower 
of  Perseid  Meteors,  348 ;  A  June  Meteoric  Display, 
W.  F.  Denning,  388  ;  A  Bright  Meteor,  410,  428 ;  The 
Extraordinary  Meteoric  Shower  of  June  28,  428  •  Julv 
Meteors,  W.  F.  Denning,  490 ;  The  August  Meteors, 
W.    F.    Denning,  490 

Observatories  •: 

U.S.  Naval  Observatory,  1915,  Report  of,  17 ;  Smith- 
sonian Astrophysical  Observatory,  Annual  Report,  1915, 
131  ;  Mount  Wilson  Solar  Observatory,  Annual  Report, 
19 15,  189 ;  Annual  Report  of  the  Paris  Observatory, 
249  ;  Report  of  the  Solar  Physics  Observatory,  528 

Planets  : 
A  Transneptunian  Planet,  Dr.  Lowell,  17 ;  Opposition  of 
the  Minor  Planet  (4)  Vesta,  G.  Stracke,  88;  The 
Planet  Venus,  109 ;  Occultation  of  Mars,  October  2, 
1915,  W.  Voss,  148 ;  Mercury,  189 ;  Uranus,  220 ; 
Mercury,  Innes  and  Worssell,  229  ;  Venus,  289  ;  Mono- 
chromatic Photographs  of  Planets,  Prof.  R.  W.  Wood, 
471  ;  The  Polar  Caps  of  Mars  and  Solar  Radiation, 
M.  Antoniadi,  471  ;  Distribution  of  the  Poles  of 
Planetary  Orbits,   Prof.   H.   C.   Plummer,   551 

Stars  : 

The  Orbit  of  VV  Orionis,  Z.  Daniel,  46 ;  Observations 
of  Variable  Stars,  Dr.  C.  Hoffmeister :  Dr.  G.  Hornig, 
46 ;    Variable    Stars    in    the    Vicinit}'    of    R      Corona 


Australis,  67 ;  The  Translational  Motion  of  Binary 
Stars,  C.  Luplau-Janssen,  131  ;  The  Radiation  Laws 
and  Stellar  Photometry,  Dr.  C.  V.  L.  Charlier,  148; 
A  Cluster  of  Nebulae  in  Cetus,  Prof.  M.  Wolf,  148; 
Proper  Motion  of  the  Orion  Nebula,  J.  Comas  Soli, 
169;  The  System  of  X  Tauri,  Prof.  F.  Schlesinger,  169; 
T  Tauri,  189  ;  A  New  Variable  Star  having  Nebulous 
Envelope,  R.  T.  A.  Innes,  189  ;  Variable  Stars  of  Short 
Period,  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering,  207  ;  The  Motion  of  the 
Sidereal  Universe,  R.  K.  Young  and  W.  E.  Harper, 
208 ;  The  Wave-lengths  of  the  Chief  Nebular  Lines, 
208;  The  Rotation  of  Nebulae,  W.  W.  Campbell  and 
J.  H.  Moore,  268 ;  The  Spectrum  of  Nova  Geminorum, 
No.  2,  Adams  and  Pease,  311;  The  Visibility  of  Stars 
in  Daylight,  G.  Bigourdan,  328 ;  The  Constitution  of 
the  Milky  Way,  Prof.  C.  V.  Charlier,  369;  The 
Visibility  of  Stars  in  Daylight,  388 ;  Variable  Stellar 
Spectra,  H.  Shapley,  428 ;  Variable  Stars  near  the 
South  Pole,  Miss  Leavitt,  471  ;  The  Spectroscopic 
Binary  <r  Aquilae,  F.  C.  Jordan,  507 ;  Relative  Lumi- 
nosities of  Sun  and  Stars,  C.  T.  Whitmell,  528 

Sun  : 
The  Solar  Activity,  46;  The  Plane  of  the  Solar  Motion, 
Prof,  von  S.  Oppenheim,  109;  Solar  Variation,  131; 
Solar  Radiation,  R.  S.  Whipple,  169  ;  A  Variation  in 
the  Solar  Rotation,  H.  H.  Plaskett,  249 ;  A  Large 
Group  of  Sun-Spots,  311;  The  Solar  Activity,  328, 
348 ;  The  Chemical  Origin  of  Solar  Radiation,  Dr. 
Briner,  349 ;  On  Centre-Limb  Shifts  of  Solar  Wave- 
lengths, J.  Evershed  and  Dr.  T.  Royds,  388 ;  Origin 
of  Group  G  of  the  Solar  Spectrum,  Newall,  Baxandall, 
and  Butler,  428 ;  The  Polar  Caps  of  Mars  and  Solar 
Radiation,  M.  Antoniadi,  471  ;  A  Sun-spot  in  High 
Latitude,  490 ;  A  Large  Solar  Prominence,  J.  Evershed, 
507 ;  Relative  Luminosities  of  Sun  and  Stars,  C.  T. 
Whitmell,  528 ;  Solar  Variability,  Abbot,  Fowle,  and 
Aldrich,  551 

Miscellaneous  : 
A  Possible  Deflection  of  Light  by  a  Moving  Medium, 
Prof.  P.  Zeeman,  67  ;  An  Atmospheric  Effect  of  Solar 
Kathode  Rays,  J.  Maurer,  89 ;  New  Lines  in  the 
Spectrum  of  Silicon,  Prof.  A.  Fowler,  109 ;  A  New 
Method  for  the  Determination  of  Latitude,  Dr.  G. 
Zappa,  109 ;  Photo-Electric  Photometry,  Prof.  J. 
Stebbins,  207 ;  Stereoscopic  Spectroheliograms,  Prof. 
Hale,  249  ;  The  Pole  Effect  in  the  Calcium  Arc,  Gale 
and  Whitney,  268 ;  Latitude  Observations  by  Photo- 
graphy, Dr.  Ross,  311;  The  New  Draper  Catalogue, 
328 ;  The  Spectrum  of  Coronium,  Prof.  Nicholson,  328 ; 
Selenium  Photometry,  Prof.  J.  Stebbins,  349  ;  Variation 
of  Latitude,  Prof.  F.  Schlesinger,  369 ;  Difference  of 
Longitude  between  Paris  and  Washington,  B.  Baillaud, 
369,  '^75  ;  The  Large  Meteorite  of  February  13,  1915, 
W.  F.  Tyler,  388 ;  Arequipa  Pyrheliometry,  C.  G. 
Abbot,  410 ;  Differential  Measurement,  H.  H.  Plaskett, 
451  ;  Wave-lengths  in  the  Iron  Spectra,  Burns,  Meggers, 
and  Merrill,  451  ;  Banded  Spectra  from  the  Electric 
Furnace,  Dr.  A.  S.  King,  507;  Bright  Display  of 
Aurora  Borealis  on  August  27,  W.  F.  Denning,  551 

Astronomy  for  Juvenile  Readers,  139  ;  Practical,  Conference 
of  the  Society  for,  425 

Asymmetry  in  the  Proper  Motions  and  Radial  Velocities  of 
Stars  of  Class  B,  C.  D.   Perrine,  396 

Athenaeum  Club,  Rev.  E.  W.  Barnes,  E.  Newton,  and 
Prof.  T.  F.  Tout  elected  Members.  41  ;  W.  B.  Hardy, 
Admiral  Sir  H.  B.  Jackson,  and  Sir  G.  A.  Smith 
elected  Members,  127 

AthencEutn  Subject-index,   16,  66 

Atmospheric  Conditions,  Influence  of,  on  the  Trajectories 
of  Long-range  Projectiles,  M.  de  Sparre,  175  ;  Electrical 
Variations,  E.  H.  Nichols,  115;  Electricity.  R.  A.  W. 
Watt,  161  ;  Pressure  and  Rainfall,  The  Relation  be- 
tween, Lieut.  F.  H.  Chapman.  374 

Atom,  Magneton  Theory  of  the  Structure  of  the,  A.  L. 
Parson,  288 

Atomic  Weights,  Numerical  Values  of  the.  Prof.  O.  D. 
Chwolson,  88 

Auditory  Vesicle  of  the  Embryo  Toad,  Removal  and  Trans- 
plantation of  the,  D.  Filatoff,  351 

Aurora    Borealis,     Altitude    of,    C.     Stormer,     115;    Bright 


Sature 
September  2 


1 
I,  1916J 


Index 


XXI 


Display  of,  August  27,  W.  F.  Denning,  551  ;  The  Great, 
of  June  17,  1915,  H.  A.  Hunt,  421 

Aurorae,  Altitudes  ot,   Prof.  C.  Stormer,  5 

Australia,  Agricultural  Possibilities  of,  G.  Taylor,  505 ; 
National  Institute  of  Science  and  Institute  in,  Rt.  Hon. 
A.  Fisher,  263  ;  Rainfall  Maps  of,  1915,  H.  A.  Hunt, 
471  ;  Revision  of  the  Stratiomyidse  of,  A.  White,  375 

Australian  Aborigines,  Tracings  of  Crania  of.  Prof.  R.  A.  J. 
Berry  and  Dr.  A.  W.  D.  Robertson,  167 ;  Animals, 
Blood  of  certain,  G.  Buchanan,  407 ;  Mistletoe-bird, 
Nesting  Habits  of  the,  S.  A.  Lawrence  and  R.  T. 
Littlejohn,  44;  Neuroptera,  R.  J.  Tillyard,  375 

Autocollimating  Telescope,  The  Use  of  the,  in  the  Measure- 
ment of  Angles,  J.  Guild,  334 

Automobile  Tyre  Fabric  Testing,  288 

Avezzano  Earthquake,  The,  January  13,  1915,  Prof.  E. 
Oddone,    187 

Avogadro  Medal,  The,  awarded  to  Prof.  H.  N.  Morse,  144 


Babylon's  Sacred  Way,   H.   Kidner,  340 

Bagananoa,  The,  or  Ma-laboch,  Rev.  N.  Roberts,  366 

Bakerian   Lecture,   The,    to   be   Delivered   by    Prof.    C.    G. 

Barkla,  246 
Baldwin,   Prof.  J.   Mark,   Safety  of,   105 
Balkans,  Linking  up  the,  with  the  West,  Sir  A.  Evans,  206 
Balloons,  Registering,  Records  of,  Patterson,  370 
Bamboos,  Infestation  of,  E.  P.  Stebbing,  25 
Banded  Glacial  Slates  of  Permo-Carboniferous  Age,  R.  W. 

Sayles,  215 
Barium    Carbonate    in    Vulcanised-rubber    Articles,    Deter- 
mination of,  249 
Barley,  Proteid  Substances  of.  Dr.  H.  Schjerning,  290 
Bartram,   John,   the   American    Botanist,    Miss  C.    Heming- 

Browne,  25 
Basalt    Outcrop,   The    Discovery    of    a,    in    the    Sierra    de 

Guadarrama,  F.  Navarro,  27 
Bees,    isle    of    Wight    Disease    in.     Dr.    J.    Ritchie,     160; 

F.,   161  ;  The  Recent  Mortality  among,  7 
Beesia  cordata.  Prof.  Bayley  Balfour  and  W.  W.  Smith,  15 
Beit  Fellowships  for  Scientific  Research,   Elections  to,  434 
Belgian  Government  Arboretums,  D.  E.  Hutchins,  107 
Bengal,    Bihar,    and    Orissa,    Fishery    Department    of,    T. 

Southwell,  65 
Bennettitean  Cones,  New,  from  the  British  Cretaceous,  Dr. 

Marie  C.   Stopes,  455 
Benzene,  Melting  and  Solidifying  Points  of,  R.  Meldrunl,  368 
Benzoate  of  Soda,  Warning  against  the  Use  of,  503 
Berlin  Zoological  Gardens,  Food  of  Animals  in  the,  345 
Binary  Stars,  Translational  Motion  of,  C.   Luplau-Janssen, 

Bingley  Training  College,  a  Vacation  Course  for  Teachers, 

73' 

Binks  Vaporiser  and  Carburettor,  The,  427 

Biology.  Experimental,  322 

Bird  Calendar  for  Northern  India,   D.   Dewar,   239 

Birds,  Captive,  and  their  Choice  of  Insect-food,  C.  F.  M. 
Swynnerton,  347 ;  of  Britain,  The,  their  Distribution 
and  Habits,  A.  H.  Evans,  540 ;  Royal  Society  for  the 
Protection  of,  Annual  Meeting,  41  ;  Some  Rarer  British, 
Miss  E.  L.  Turner,  349  ;  Songs  and  the  Diatonic  Scale, 
Dr.  W.  Warde  Fowler,  364:  C.  O.  Bartrum,  381 

Birmingham  University.  Appeal  for  Funds  for  the  Founda- 
tion of  a  Chair  of  Russian,  153  ;  and  the  War,  24 ;  The 
Teaching  of  Russian,  24 ;  New  Members  of  the  Council, 
24 ;     Degree    conferred    upon    the    Rt.     Hon.    W.    M. 
/  Hughes,  295  :  Huxley  Lecture,  Lord  Bryce,  49  ;  Award 

(/  of  Degrees  ;  Resignation  of  Dr.  O.  F.  Hudson,  413 

/  Birthday,  King's,  Honours,  307 

Birth-rate,  Conditions  which  Influence  the  .Average  Monthly 
Deviation  of  the,  C.  Richet,  555  ;  The  Declining,  Prof. 
R.  T.   Hewlett,  498 ;  its  Causes  and  Effects,  498 

Bismuth,  .Atomic  Weight  of,  CE.  de  Coninck  and  M.  Gerard, 

«     27 
!     Blackheath  Pebble-beds  at  Tandridge  Hill,  An   Outlier  of, 
!         ^  W.  Whitaker,  473 

Blizzard.  A  Severe,  in  the  British  Isles,  129 ;  Meteorological 
Conditions  of  a,  A.  E.  Bostwick,  261  :  W.  H.  Dines. 
280 ;  L.  C.  W.  Bonacina,  301  ;  M.  Christy,  341  ;  Blood 
Fluids,  The  Rdle  of  the,  in  the  Intraleucocytic  Diges- 
tion. Capt.   S.   R.   Douglas,  455;  -pressure.   Studies  in. 


Physiological,  and  Clinical,  Dr.  G.  Oliver,  Third 
Edition,  tdited  by  Dr.  W.  D.  Halliburton,  519 

Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries,  Fishery  Investigations, 
series  ii..  Sea  Fisheries,  vol.  ii.,  Nos.  1-5;  vol.  iii., 
Nos.  1-2,  342;  Education,  The  Marquess  of  Crewe 
appointed  President  of  the,  535  ;  Trade,  Committees  on 
Petrol,  Textile  Industries,  and  Electrical  Trades,   185 

Body-louse,  Structure  of  the  Mouth-parts  in  the,  L. 
Harrison,  51 

Bone-fragility  in  Man,  Heredity  of,  Profs.  H.  S.  Coward 
and  C.  B.  Davenport,  233 

Borneo,  British  North,  Expeditions  to  Mount  Kinabalu, 
J.  C.  Moulton,  187 

"  Boskop  "  Remains  in  the  Transvaal,  Dr.  L.  P^ringuey,  326 

Botal's  Cleft  in  some  Domestic  Animals,  Persistence  of, 
P.  Chauss6,   155 

Boundary  Marking,  Geographical  Problems  in.  Sir  T.  H. 
Holdich,  368 

Brachychiton  populneo'acerif alius,  J.   H.  Maiden,  415 

Brains  of  Identical  Twins,  Convolutional  Pattern  of  the, 
F.  Sano,  94 

Brazilian  Geographical  Congress,  The  Fifth,  486 

Bread,  Method  of  Preserving,  E.  Fleurent,  515 

Brewing  Industry,  Science  and  the,  390  ;  Practice,  The 
Application  of  Scientific  Methods  to.  Dr.  H.  T.  Brown, 
390 

Bridge,   Railway,  A  New  Large,  368 

British  .Association  :  and  Problems  of  National  and  Imperial 
Importance,  13 ;  Provisional  Programme  of  the,  285 ; 
The  Newcastle  Meeting  of  the,  481,  541 

British  :  Birds,  Lt.-Col.  C.  Stonham's,  presented  to  King's 
School,  Canterbury,  105  ;  Chemical  Industries,  The 
Organisation  of,  423  ;  Cotton-growing  .Association,  Work 
of  the,  J.  A.  Hutton,  129;  Dyes,  Ltd.,  Dr.  M.  O. 
Forster  and  J.  Turner  appointed  to  Seats  on  the  Board 
of ;  Dr.  J.  C.  Cain  appointed  Chief  Chemist  of  the 
Works  at  Dalton,  127;  Fresh-water  Rhizopods,  178; 
Geological  Societies,  349 ;  Industries  after  the  War, 
Committees  on,  106 ;  Journal  Photographic  Almanac, 
1916,  Edited  by  G.  E.  Brown,  4 ;  Laboratory  Glass- 
ware, III  ;  Medical  Association,  Postponement  of  the 
Annual  Meeting  at  Cambridge  ;  .Annual  Representative 
and  General  Meeting  to  be  held  in  London ;  Sir  T. 
Clifford  Allbutt  recommended  as  President,  226 ; 
Meteorological  and  Magnetic  Year-book,  1913,  part  iv., 
section  ii..  289;  Palaeozoic  Plants,  part  i./  Dr.  R. 
Kidston,  435 ;  Passeres,  Moulting  and  Sequences  of 
Plumage  in  the,  H.  F.  Witherby,  267 ;  Pharmaceutical 
Conference,  Dr.  D.  Hooper  elected  President  of  the, 
144 ;  Prisoners  of  War,  Educational  Books  for,  334,  304 : 
Science  Guild,  Arrangements  for  the  Annual  Meeting  of 
the,  226.  263  :  Resolutions  of  the  Medical  Committee  of 
the,  406 :  A  Memorandum  on  a  National  Statutory 
Board  of  Science  and  Industry.  463  :  Swallows  in 
South  .Africa,  H.  F.  Witherby,  187  ;  Trade.  Policy,  Sir 
.A.    Firth,    127 

Broadened  Spectrum  Lines,  Distribution  of  Intensity  in. 
Prof.  J.  W.  Nicholson  and  T.  R.  Merton.  73 

Bronze,  Cast,  Microstructural  Changes  accompanying  the 
Annealing  of,  H.  S.  Rawdon,  189 

Brooding  Pigeons,  "Milk"  in  Crops  of.  S.  Yoschida.  206 

Brownian  Movement  of  Particles  of  Oil,  etc.,  .A.  Schidlof 
and  A.  Targonski,  315 

Bruce  Gold  Medal  of  the  Astronomical  Society  of  the 
Pacific  awarded  to  Dr.  G.  E.  Hale,  12 

Bryonia  dioica.  Breeding  Experiments  with,  W.  N.  Jones 
and  Dr.  M.  C.  Rayner,  291 

Buffalo  University.  Gifts  to,  by  Mrs.  S.  H.  Knox,  General 
E.   Hayes,  and  others.  94 

Bulkheads,  Tests  on  Large.  J.  F.   King,   170 

Bunsen  and  Luminous  Flames,  Prof.  W.  W.  H.  Gee,  74 

Bute  Museum  and  Laboratory.  L.  P.  W.  Renouf,  13 

Buxus  sempervirens.   Distribution  of.   Dr.   O.   Stapf,  74 


Cabbage-root  Maggot,  The,  A.  Gibson  and  R.  C.  Treherne, 

489 
Cactus  Deserts  of  South  America,   Recent  Explorations  in 

the,  J.  N.  Rose,  75 
Calcium  Carbonate,  J.  Johnston.  H.  E.  Merwin,  and  E.  D. 

Williamson.   1^26 


XXII 


Index 


r  Nature, 

\jScpteniber  21,  jpi 


Calculating  Machines,  L.  T.  y  Quevedo,  108 

Calculation,  Theory  of,  Prof.  C.  V.  Boys,  418 

California,  Earthquakes  in,  A.  H.  Palmer,  367;  University, 
Grants  for  New  Buildings,  153  ;  Medical  School,  Plan 
for  Development  of,  24 ;  Springs  of,  G.  A.  Waring,  17  ; 
Californian  Shell-mounds,  Composition  and  Age  of, 
E.  W.  Gifford,  309 

Calorific  Absorption  of  a  Cell,  J.  Vallot,   175 

Cambrian  Trilobites,  C.   D.  Walcott,  75 

Cambridge  University,  The  Raymond  Horton-Smith  Prize 
awarded  to  Dr.  E.  Mellanby,  24;  S.  Ramanujan's 
Mathematical  Work,  24 ;  Subject  for  the  Sedgwick  Prize 
Essay  for  1919,  24;  Combined  Examination;  S.  W. 
Cole  appointed  University  Lecturer  in  Medical  Chem- 
istry ;  C.  S.  Gibson  appointed  Assistant  to  the  Professor 
of  Chemistry;  Smith's  Prizes  awarded  to  H.  M.  Garner 
and  G.  P.  Thomson ;  A  Rayleigh  Prize  awarded  to 
W.  M.  Smart ;  The  Lecturer  in  Animal  Embryology  not 
appointed,  72  :  A.  V.  Hill  and  J.  E.  Davey  elected 
Fellows  of  King's  College,  93  ;  F.  P.  White  elected  an 
Isaac  Newton  Student,  93  ;  H.  Jeffreys  re-elected  to  a 
Studentship,  93  ;  F.  Kidd  awarded  the  Allen  Scholar- 
ship, 93;  Grants  from  the  Gordon  Wigan  Fund,  114; 
An  Exhibition  at  Emmanuel  College,  252;  Degrees  for 
Original  Research,  333  ;  Dr.  Cobbett  re-appointed  Lec- 
turer in  Pathology,  334 ;  Dr.  Graham-Smith  re- 
appointed Lecturer  in  Hygiene,  334 

Campanulina  ceylonensis,  Major  R.  E.  Lloyd  and  Dr.  N. 
Annandale,    187 

Canada  :  Meteorological  Service  of.  Monthly  Record  of 
Observations,  470;  Mineral  Production  of,  552;  Mines 
Branch  of  the  Department  of  Mines,  Summary  Report 
for  1914,  228;  Petroleum  and  Natural  Gas  Resources 
of,  206 ;  Royal  Astronomical  Society  of.  New  Honorary 
Fellows  of  the,    523 

Canadian  Economic  Geology,  410;  Ethnographic  Work, 
A.  C.  Breton,  285 ;  Naturalist,  Rambles  of  a,  S.  T. 
Wood,  360 :  Reflector,  The  Great,  323  ;  Universities, 
Resolution  at  the  Conference  of,  on  Graduate  Facilities 
of  the  Universities  of  Great  Britain,  495  ;  Next  Con- 
ference of,  495 

Canal  between  Aries  and  Marseilles,  The  New,  Prof.  P. 
Gribaudi,   505 

Canary  Island  Palm,  The,  Dr.  G.  V.  Perez,  387 

Cancer,  The  Parasitic  Nature  of.  Dr.  E.  F.  Smith,  460 

Carabidae'from  the  Upper  Williams  River,  N.S.W.,  T.  G. 
Sloane,   556 

Carbon,  Estimation  of.  by  the  Efl^ertz  Method,  H.  Le 
Chatelier  and  F.  Bogitch,  275,  295 ;  in  Steel,  Deter- 
mination  of,   249 

Carnegie  Foundations,  Reports  of,  48 ;  United  Kingdom 
Trust,  Second  Annual  Report,  24 

Catalysis  of  Hydrogen  Peroxide,  G.  Lemoine,  214 

Caterpillars,  A  Plague  of,  J.  C.  Merryweather,  321 

Cats,  Sex-limited  Colour  Inheritance  in.  Dr.  L.  Doncaster 
and  D.  W.  Cutler,  232 

Caucasus  and  the  .'\siatic  Territory  Beyond,  Travels  in  the, 
Capt.  M.  Burr,  407 

Caviare  from  the  Roes  of  Salmon  and  Shad,  44 

Cellular  Network,  Formation  of  a,  during  Crystallisation, 
V.   Dauzfere,  214 

Cement,  Air  Analyser  for  determining  the  Fineness  of,   150 

Cements  and  Clays,   i<;o 

Centrifugal  Force,  Effects  of,  on  the  Polarity  of  the  Eggs 
of  Creoidula,  E.  G.  Conklin,  71; 

8  Cephei,  Spectrum  of,  W.  S.  Adams  and  H.  Shapley,  215 

Cepheid,  A  Short-period,  with  Variable  Spectrum,  H. 
Shapley,   215 

Cereals,  Whole,  Importance  of  Utilising,  406 

Cerebral  Cortex.   Origin  of  the.   Prof.   G.  Elliot  Smith,  235 

Cerebro-spinal  Fever,  1Q15,  Report  on.  Profs.  Andrewes, 
Bullock,  and  Hewlett,  14 ;  Drs.  M.  Foster  and  J.  F. 
Gaskell,  410  :  Meningitis  and  Cerebral  Trepanning,  A 
Prolonged  Form  of,  Neveu-Lemaire,  Debeyre,  and 
Rouvi^re.    350 

Cetarea  Stranded  on  the  British  Coasts  during  1915,  Dr. 
S.   F.   Harmer,    146 

Chad  Basin,  Anthropology  and  Fauna  of  the.  Sir  H.  H. 
Johnston,  q 

Charing  Cross  Hospital  Medical  School,  Bequest  to,  by 
J.   S.    N.   Boyd,   94 


Chemical  :  and  Allied  Trades,  Proposed  Association  of,  264  ; 
Change  in  Living  Organisms,  The  Mechanism  of.  Prof. 
W.  M.  Bayliss,  352  ;  Industry,  Position  and  Prospects 
of,  317;  Industry,  The  Society  of.  Annual  General  Meet- 
ing of,  453  ;  Society  of,  Dr.  A.  Lauder  elected  Honorary 
Secretary  of  the  Edinburgh  and  East  of  Scotland  Section 
of  the,  513 ;  The  Future  of,  232  ;  Industries,  British, 
The  Organisation  of,  423  ;  Laboratories,  The  New,  at 
University  College,  London,  148 ;  Manufacturers, 
British,  Association  of.  Sir  C.  H.  Bedford  appointed 
Secretary  of  the,  548 ;  Organisation  in  Germany  during 
the  War,  Prof.  F.  G.  Donnan,  82  ;  Research,  Need  of 
a  Government  Institution  for,  C.  A.  Jacobson,  130 ; 
Researches  in  Bengal,  Dr.  P.  C.  RSy,  88 ;  Science 
and  Civilisation,  Prof.  F.  G.  Donnan,  370;  Society, 
Annual  General  Meeting  of,  128;  Meeting  to  be  held  to 
consider  the  Removal  of  Names  of  Alien  Enemies,  144, 
308 ;  Question  of  the  Removal  of  Names  of  Alier* 
Enemies,  246 ;  Removal  of  the  Names  of  Alien 
Enemies,  366  ;  Portraits  of  Past-presidents  of  the,  205 

Chemist  and  Engineer,  Relation  of  the.  Prof.  F.  G. 
Donnan,  495 

Chemistry  and  National  Prosperity,  Prof.  F.  Soddy,  iii  ; 
Elementary,  A  Laboratory  Outline  of.  Prof.  A.  Smith, 
257 ;  A  Text-book  of.  Prof.  A.  Smith,  257  ;  for  Students 
and  General  Readers,  257 ;  Historical  Introduction  to. 
Prof.  T.  M.  Lowry,  29  ;  History  of,  29  ;  Inorganic,  A 
Text-book  of.  Edited  by  Dr.  J.  Newton  Friend,  vol.  viii., 
The  Halogens  and  their  Allies,  Dr.  G.  Martin  and 
E.  A.  Dancaster,  257 ;  in  the  Service  of  Man,  Prof. 
A.  Findlay,  538  ;  Institute  of.  New  Officers  and  Council, 
41  ;  Modern,  and  its  W^onders,  Dr.  G.  Martin,  257 ; 
National  Aspects  of.  Dr.  A.  Scott,  171  ;  Physical,  An 
Introduction  to  the  Principles  of,  from  the  standpoint 
of  Modern  ■  Atomistics  and  Thermodynamics,  Prof. 
E.  W.  Washburn,  277 ;  Science  of.  Neglect  of  the. 
Prof.  W.  C.  McC.  Lewis,  145 ;  The  Worth  of.  Sir 
E.  Thorpe,  538;  Theoretical  and  Practical,  218 

Chemists  :  and  the  War,  Sir  D.  Haig,  284  ;  and  their  Train- 
ing, Sir  J.  Dobbie,  47 ;  Industrial,  Scholarships  for 
Women  as,  394 ;  The  Training  of.  Prof.  A.   Smith,  .334 

Chemists'  Year-book,  1916,  The,  Edited  by  F.  W.  Atack, 
2  vols.,  320 

Children,  An  Appeal  for  the  Education  of  the,  173 

Child  Training,   V.    M.    Hillyer,  238 

Chilian  Meteorology,  530 

Chilka  Lake,  The  Decapod  Crustacea  of  the,  S.  Kemp,  528 

Chimpanzee,  Brain  of  a  Foetus  of  a,  R.  Anthony,  215 

Chin,  Human,  Evolution  of  the.  Prof.  T.  Waterman,  286 

China,  A  Geological  Survey  for.  Dr.  J.  G.  Andersson  to 
Organise,  366 

Chippewa,  The,  and  Possession  of  Land,  205 

Chironomidse  and  other  Diptera  from  Illinois,  J.  R. 
Malloch,  530 

Chitral,  Gilgit.  and  the  Pamirs,  Geology  of,  Dr.  H.  H. 
Hayden,  505 

Chlorine,  Free,  in  Town  Water  Supplies,  G.  A.  Le  Roy,  75 

Chlorophyll,  Carotin,  and  Xanthophyll,  The  Function  of, 
A.  J.  Ewart,  fji  ;  Optical  Properties  of,  D.  Thoday,  95 

Chondriosomes,  Distribution  of  the,  to  the  Spermatozoa  in 
Scorpions,   E.   B.  Wilson,  456 

Chromatic  Aberrations,  The  Correction  of,  T.  Smith,  334 

Chronaxy  in  Man,  A  Method  of  Determining,  G.  Bour- 
guignon,  476 

Chrvsochloris,   Structure  of  the  Skull  in,  Lieut.   R.   Broom, 

'315 

Cinema,  The  Educational  Importance  of  the,  Dr.  W. 
Martin,  349 

Cirrus  Clouds,  Direction  of,  E.  T.  Quayle,  107 

City  and  Guilds  of  London  Institute,  Programme  of  the 
Department  of  Techn^lotfv  of  the,  495  ;  Report  of 
the  Council  for  19 15,  454 

Civil  Engineers,  Institution  of.  Awards  of  the,  185 

Civilisation  and  Climate,  E.  Huntington,  358 

Civil  Service  Estimates  for  Education  and  Science,  Prof. 
R.  A.  Gregory,  263  ;  Estimates  for  Science  and  Educa- 
tion, 132 ;  Examinations,  Need  of  Alteration  in  the, 
Sir  Ray  Lankester,  231 

Classical  Education,  Lord  Rayleigh  on,  28/; 

Classics:  and  Science,  Teaching  of.  Prof.  P.  Gardner,  154;: 
Science  versus,  Sir  E.  A.  Schafer,  120 


Nature,  1 

September  21,  1916 


Index 


XXlll 


Claybury  Asylum,  Dr.  R.  Armstrong-Jones  resigns  the 
Medical  Superintendency  of,  494 

Clift   Islands  in  the  Coral  Seas,   W.   M.   Davis,  395 

Cloudiness  in  France,  Distribution  of  Average,  G. 
Bigourdan,  235 

Clupeoid  Fishes  of  the  Genus  Sardina,  Distribution  of  the, 
C.  Tate  Regan,  234 

Coal-fields  in  England,  The  Search  for  New,  Dr.  A. 
Strahan,  292 

Coal  :  Formation,  Prof.  J.  J.  Stevenson,  493  ;  -gas,  Purifica- 
tion of,  Prof.  F.  Clowes,  250 ;  -mining,  The  Teaching: 
of,  in  Part-time  Schools,  474 ;  Resources  of  the  World, 
L.  Dominian,  66 ;  -tar  and  Ammonia,  Prof.  G.  Lunge, 
Fifth  Edition,  3  parts,  517;  Sir  E.  Thorpe,  517; 
Streaks,  Variation  in  the  Colour  of.  Dr.  H.  G.  A. 
Hicklin,  95  ;  The  Wastage  of,  203 

Codrington  College,  Barbados,  Bequest  to,  by  J.  Forte,  295 

Coins,  Wear  of.  Sir  T.  K.  Rose,  248 

Colloidal  Solutions,  The  Physical  Properties  of,  Prof.  E.  F. 
Burton,  397  ;  The  Viscosity  of,   E.   Hatschek,  335 

Colorado  College,  Bequest  to,  by  Mrs.  H.  C.  JuUiard,  454 

Colour:  G.  H.  Hurst,  Second  Edition,  219;  -blindness,  A 
Rare  Case  of,  M.  F.  Meyer,  146  ;  Photography,  Bleach- 
out  Process  of,  Dr.  J.  H.  Smith,  74;  Vision,  A  Theory 
of,   Dr.   R.  A.  Houstoun,   274 

Columbia  University,   Bequest  to,  by  E.   C.   Bundy^  414 

Comet  :  A  Possible  New,  Prof.  Pickering,  289 ;  A  New, 
Prof.  O.  Backlund,  17 ;  1802,  Definitive  Orbit  of, 
K.  Lundmark,  109;  1916  a  (Neujmin),  H.  Svoboda, 
348 ;  1916  h  (Wolf),  328 ;  1916  h  (Wolf),  1916  ZK 
"(Planet),   288;  or  Nebulous  Minor  Planet?,   268 

Commerce  and  Industry,  Prof.  J.  R.  Smith,  539 

Commercial  and  Industrial  Policy  to  be  adopted  after  the 
War,  Appointment  of  a  Committee  to  consider  the,  425 ; 
Policy  of  the  Country  after  the  War,  Sir  H.  Bell,   186 

Commonwealth  Institute  of  Science  and  Industry,  38  ;  Prof. 
Orme  Masson,   126 

Compass,  Deviation  of  the,  in  the  Bering  Sea  and  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  J.  P.  .Ault,  229 

Compasses,  Prismatic,  Manufacture  and  Testing  of,  F.  E. 
Smith,    368 

Condenser  Tubes,  Corrosion  of,  Gibbs,  Smith,  and  Ben- 
gough  ;  E.  Cumberland,   131 

Conjoint  Board  of  Scientific  Societies,   A   Proposed,    104 

Contact  Poisons  Kill  Insects,  How,  G.   D.  Shafer.  529 

Cooper,  Astley,  Prize,  The,  awarded  to  Dr.  W.  Blair  Bell, 

474 

Co-operation  as  a  Factor  in  Evolution.   Dr.  W.  Patten,  494 

Cope  Memorial  Volume  of  the  Liverpool  Geological 
Society,  The,  351 

Coral  Reefs  :  Problems  of,  389 ;  Relations  of,  to  Crust 
Movements  in  the  Fiji  Islands,  E.  C.  Andrews  and 
T.  W.  Vaughan,  389 ;  The  Glacial-control  Theorv  of, 
Prof.    R.    A.    Daly,    iqi 

Cornell  University,  Loss  by  Fire  of  its  Chemical  Labora- 
tories, 49,  94 

Coronium,  The  Spectrum  of.  Prof.   Nicholson,  328 


CORRESPONDENCE. 

.\tmospheric   Electricity,    R.   A.   W.   Watt,    161 

Aurora,  The  Great,  of  June  17,  1915,  H.  A.  Hunt,  421 

Auroras,  Altitudes  of.   Prof.   C.   Stormer,   5 

Birds'  Songs  and  the  Diatonic  Scale,   C.   O.    Bartrum,  381 

Blizzard,   Meteorological  Conditions  of  a,   A.    E.   Bostwick, 

261  ;  W.    H.    Dines,   280 ;   L.   C.   W.   Bonacina,   301  ;   M. 

Christy,  341 
Caterpillars,  A  Plague  of,  J.  C.   Merryweather,  321 
Curves,  The  Method  of,  S.  Lupton,  32 
Daylight  Saving  Scheme,   The,    H.   W.   M.  Willett,   221 
D^chelette,  The  late  M.  Joseph,  Prof.   A.  Keith,  441 
Elasticity  and  Entomology,   Prof.   G.   H.    Bryan,  340 
fl  Eridani,  The  Magnitude  of,  T.  W.  Backhouse,  479 
Eugenics,  Preventive,  Dr.  C.  W.  Saleeby,  161 
Exploration   in   South-West   .Africa,   Prof.   W.    A.    Herdman 

and  Prof.   H.   H.  W.   Pearson,  4 
Fizeau's  Experiment,  On,  Prof.  P.  Zeeman,  541 
Genera  Splitting,   S.  Suggestion  with  regard  to.   Dr.   J.    B. 

Cleland,   240 


Geological  Surveys,  Economic  Work  of  the,  Prof.  G.  A.  J, 

Cole,  280 
Geologists  and  Special  Constables,  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney,  260 
Geology,   Economic,   and  an   Imperial   Bureau  of  Scientific 

Intelligence,  E.  St.  J.  Lyburn,  380 
Gravitation  and  Temperature,  J.   L.,  321,   421  ;   Dr.    P.    E. 

Shaw,  400 ;  Prof.  E.  St.  Barton,  461 
Gun-firing  on  the  Western  Front,  The,  C.  W.   Piper,  462  ; 

S.  Pickering ;  I.  W.   Boothroyd,  500 
Hamilton     and     the     "Quantification     of     the     Predicate," 

B.  D.  J.,  joi 

Heat,     Waste,     The     Utilisation    of,     for    Agriculture,     C. 

Turnbull,  422  ;  C.  Carus  Wilson,  442  ;  C.  TurnbuU,  520 
Homogeneous  Function,  The  Expansion  of  a,  in  Spherical 

Harmonics,  S.  K.  Banerji,   123 
Isle  of  "Wight  Disease  in  Bees,  Dr.  J.  Ritchie,  160;  F.,  161 
Kidner  (H.),  Babylon's  Sacred  W'ay,  340 
Latin.    International,    Dr.   W.    A.   Caspari,   81  ;   Dr.   J.   W. 

Evans,  122 
Liesegang  Phenomenon,  The,   and  Concretionary  Structure 

in  Rocks,  S.  C.  Bradford,  80 
Liquid   Pressure,    Negative,   at   High   Temperatures,    Sir   J. 

Larmor,  361 
Lower     Greensand     Flora,     The,     Dr.     Marie     C.     Stopes ; 

A.  C.  S.,  261 
Meteorite,  .A   Mysterious,   Dr.   G.  T.   Prior,  241 
Meteors,    The    Remarkable,    of    February   9,    1913,    W.    F. 

Denning,    181 
Molecular  Attractions  in  Solutions,  Earl  of  Berkeley,  301 
National  Food  Supply  and  Nutritional  Value,  Prof.  W.  H. 

Thompson  ;  The  Writer  of  the  .Article,  261 
Negative  Liquid  Pressure  at  High  Temperatures,  S.  Skinner, 

402 
Numerals  for  Scales  and   Punches,   A.   P.   Trotter,   121 
Optical   Glass:    an    Historical   Note,    F.    J.    Cheshire,    100; 

and   Fluorite :    an    Ethical   Note,    Prof.    M.    Hartog,    180 ; 

F.  J.  Cheshire,   181 
Osmotic  Pressure  or  Osmotic  Suction — which?,   F.  Tinker, 

122 
Photosynthesis,  The  Primary  Sugar  of,  Prof.  H.   H.   Dixon 

and  T.  G.  Mason,  160 
Productive    Work    and    Classical    Education,     Sir    Lauder 

Brunton,    461 
Proto-Oxygen,  Is,  the  Principal  Constituent  of  the  Atoms?, 

A.   van  den   Broek,  479 
"Ptolemy's  Catalogue  of  Stars,"  E.  J.  Webb;  the  Reviewer, 

341 
Rainbows.  Ground,  A.   E.  Heath,   c  :  C.  T.  WTiitmell ;  Dr. 

C.  G.  Knott,  34  :  Capt.  C.  J.  P.  Cave,  57 

Science  :  and  the  State.  Prof.  J.   B.  Cohen,  5  :  D.  Balsillie, 

34 ;  Sir  Napier  Shaw,   220 ;   in  Education,  The  Place  of, 

D     Balsillie,    240 ;    Scholarships,    and    the    State,    Lieut. 

E.  N.  da  C.  .Andrade.  361  ;  The  Neglect  of.   D.  M.,  381  ; 

versus  Classics,   Sir   E.   A.   Schafer,    120 
Scientific   Research,   Payment  for.   Prof.    G.    H.    Br}-an,  401 
Smith,  Wm.,  Portraits  of,  T.  Sheppard,  462 
Smithsonian   Physical  Tables,    Dr.   C.    D.  Walcott,    141 
Soap  necessary  for  Shaving?,  Is,  G.  .A.  Stephens,   141 
"  Summer  Time "  and  Meteorology,  Major  E.   Gold  ;  Major 

H.  G.  Lyons,  260 
Sunset  Phenomenon,  A,  on  Julv  22.  Capt.  C.  J.   P.   Cave, 

442.  520 
Thompson,  Silvanus  P.,  as  a  Painter,  H.  S.  T..  442 
Thunderclap.  .A  Peculiar,  J.   Don,    i^oo ;  H.  O.   F.,  520 
Tidal   Water,    Effect    of.    in    an    Estuary   on    the    Level    of 

Subterranean  Water,  J.  Kewley,   141 
Tides.  The  Influence  of,  on  Wells,  C.  Carus  Wilson,   162 
Universities,   The,   the  Technical   Colleges,    and   the  -Army, 

Dr.   -A.   P.   Laurie,  441 
Wave-Length    4686    .A.U.,    The   Structure    of    the    Line    of, 

E.  J.   Evans  and  C.  Croxson,   i;6 
West  Indian  Firefly,  The.   Prof.  W.   H.   Pickering,   180 
Wheatear.  The  Black-eared,  a  New  Bird  for  the  Irish  List. 

Prof.  C.   T.   Patten,  321 
"Wolf-note."    On    the,    of    the    Violin    and    'Cello.    C.    V. 

Raman,  362 
World-Time.  A.   H.   Mackay,  381 
Zeppelin  Notes.  Observer,  201 
Zepoelins.   Avoiding.   Prof.   E.   C.   Pickering,   221 
Zoological     Nomenclature,     International    Commission     on. 

Dr.   C.  W.   Stiles,  479 


XXIV 


Index 


[Nature, 
September  21,  1916 


Corrosion    of   Condenser   Tubes,    Gibbs,    Smith,    and    Ben- 

gough ;   E.   Cumberland,  131 
Cottage,  Our,  and  a  Motor,  M.  Moncreiff,  140 
Cotyledon  orbiculata,  A  Petiole  and  Portion  of  the  Lamina 

of,  S.  Schonland,  336 
Coventry    Public    Libraries,     Help    to    Manufacturers    and 

Business  Men  by,   414 
Crinoids,    Existing,    A    Monograph    of    the,    A.    H.    Clark, 

vol.  i.,  The  Comatulids,  part  i.,  46 
Cristaux,  Les,  de  Glace,  A.  B.  Dobrowolski,  450 
Cromer  Prize,  The,  555 
Croonian    Lecture,   The,    to    be    delivered    by    Prof.    S.    J. 

Hickson,   265 
Crop   Production,   The   Elementary   Principles   of,    55 
Cross  :   between  a  Wild  Crucifer  and  a  Cultivated  Crucifer 

with    a    Tuberised    Root,    Mile.    Trouard-Riolle,     175 ; 

Early   Forms  of  the,    from   Egyptian   Tombs,    Prof.    F. 

Petrie,  549 
Croydon  :    Natural    History    Society,    Transactions    of    the, 

1915,   473  ;    Survey   Area,    Rocks   and   Minerals   of   the, 

G.   M.    Davies,   473 
Cruise  of  the  Totnas  Barrera,  The,  J.  B.  Henderson,  478 
Crystals,    Growth    of,    P.    Gaubert,    155  ;    The    Growth    of, 

under  External  Pressure,  S.  Taber,  470 ;  Mixed,  Angles 

of,   and  of  their  Components,   F.   Zambonini,   335 
Currant,  Garden  Red,  Origin  of  the,  E.  A.  Bunyard,  274 
Curve-factors  and  Corner-factors,  Periodic  Conformal,  J.  G. 

Leathern,  27 
Curves  :  A  Method  of,  S.  Lupton,  32  ;  Properties  of  Certain, 

Prof.  G.  Loria,  287 
Cutaneous  Sensitivity.   H.  Carr,   525 
Cyrenaica,  Prof.  J.  W.   Gregory,  287 


Daily   Weather  Report  of  the  Meteorological  Office,  287 

Dams,   Completion  of  Three  Masonry,   43 

Dana's  System  of  Mineralogy,  Third  Appendix  to  the  Sixth 

Edition  of.   Prof.  W.   E.   Ford,  55 
Daniel's  Comet  (19096),   Return  of,   S.    Einarsson   and   M. 

Harwood,  369 
Danish  Labour  on  British  Farms,  J.   R.   Scott,    170 
Dark  Markings  in  the  Sky,  Prof.  E.  E.  Barnard,  148 
Darwin,     Scientific     Papers     by,     vol.     v..     Supplementary 

Volume     containing     Biographical     Memoirs     by     Sir 

Francis  Darwin  and  Prof.   E.  W.   Brown,   Lectures  on 

Hill's  Lunar  Theory,  etc.,  Edited  by  F.  J.  M.  Stratton 

and  J.  Jackson,  338 
Darwin's,  Sir  George,   Lectures,  338 
Daubeny     Laboratory     Register,     1904-1915,     The,     R.     T. 

Giinther,  421 
Daylight :    and   Darkness,    222  ;   Saving,    126 ;   Saving   Bill, 

France  and  the,  308 ;  The  French  Senate  and  the,  283  ; 

in  France,   M.   Ch.  Lallemand  on,  209  ;  in  Paris,    165  ; 

Scheme,  The,   183;  H.  W.  M.  Willett,  221 
Deaf  :   -Mutism  resulting  from  Wounds  received  in   Battle, 

M.     Marage,     235 ;     Soldiers,     Classification     of,     M. 

Marage,   316 


DEATHS. 

Anningson  (Dr.   B.),   ^48 

Baker  (Lady),   62 

Ball  (Sir  C),  86 

Ball  (Lieut.   J.   J.),   448 

Barker  (Col.  A.   E.),   166 

Bassani  (Prof.   F.),  468 

Blake  (L.  L),  265 

Boole  (Mrs.  M.  E.),  284 

Brodie  (Prof.  T.  Gregor).  524 

Brown  (Capt.  A.  R.),  548 

Burrill  (Dr.   T.   J.),  265 

Caird    (Sir   J.),    62 

Catlin   (Dr.   C.   A.),   246 

Caton   (Second-Lieut.    F.   W.),   467 

Chapman  (Lieut.  C.   G.),  406 

Chappuis-Sarasin  (Dr.   P.),   38 

Charlton  (Capt.   J.   M.),  448 

Clough  (Dr.  C.  T.),   548 

Collins  (J.   H.),    166 

Cook  (W.  W.),   166 


Corthell  (E.  L.),  308 

Crookes  (Lady),  245 

Crosby  (Sir  T.  B.),   166 

Cur  ties  (C.   Lees),   185,  226 

Davies  (Rev.  J.  Llewelyn),  265 

Davis  (Dr.   C.  A.),  246 

Dawson  (C),   503 

Dedekind  (R.),   12,    103 

Donaldson  (Sir  H.   F.),  307,  324 

Duncan   (L.),   42 

Enock  (F.),  366 

Esson  (Prof.  W.),  547 

Fischer  (Prof.   F.),  503 

Fischer  (H.),   467 

Floy  (H.),   26s 

Galitzine  (Prince  B.),  385,  424 

Gallieni  (Genl.  J.  S.),  346 

Gibbons  (Lt.-Col.   A.   St.    Hill),   487 

Gomme  (Sir  Laurence),    11 
I  Goodhart   (Sir   J.    F.),    284 

Gorst  (Sir  John),    127 

Gosselet  (Prof.  J.),  226 
I  Griffiths    (J.),    266 

Grocco  (Prof.    P.),  42 

Hall  (Dr.  T.  S.),  13 

Hammond  (Capt.   P.),   284 

Hanbury   (C),   226 

Harper  (Lieut.    E.    H.),   467 

Harvie-Brown  (Dr.  J.  A.),  466 

Hawkslev  (Major  W.  L.),  185 

Hayes  (Dr.  C.  W.),   12 

Heckel   (Prof.    E.),    43 

Herdman  (Lieut.    G.   A.),  486 

Horsbrugh  (Major   R.   R.),   448 

Horsley  (Sir  Victor),   447 

Howard  (Sir  S.),    144 

Hughes   (Mrs.    McKenny),    424 

Jefferv  (Sec. -Lieut.    G.    R.),   425 

Jones  (Prof.   H.   C),  246,  283 

Judd  (Prof.  J.  W.),  37 

Jungfleisch   (Prof.    E.),   244 

Kelvin  (Lady),  85 

King  (Dr.  W.  F.),   185,  205 

Kirchhoff  (C.   W.    H.),   524^ 

Kitchener   (Lord),   307 

Knight   (Dr.   W    A.),   42 

Kiilpe  (Prof.   O.),  62 

Labbe  (L.).    166 

Lawrence  (Ladj^),  86 

Leavitt  (E.  D.),  204 

Lemetayer  (P.),   448 

Lemoult  (Prof.   P.),   285 

Leon  (Dr.  J.  T.),   166 

Levinstein  (L),  89 

Lewer  (Lieut.  R.   R.),  488 

Lewin  (Lieut.  K.  R.),   106 

Lignier  (Prof.   O.),   105,    143 

Mach  (Prof.   E.),  43 

Martin  (Sir  R.   B.),  549 

Mason  (Capt.  W.  J.),  424 

Maspero  (Sir  G.),  381;,  405 

McClellan    (Rev.    J.    B.),    185 

McLaren  (Lieut.   S.   B.),  547 

MetchnikofT  (Prof.   E.),  424,   443 

Moberg  (Prof.   J.  C),  85 

Morgan   (H.),    145 

Neate   (Commander  C.    B.),   345 

Nelson   (Dr.    J.),    42 

Newsholme  (G.  T.  W.),  42 

Nikitine  (Dr.   P.   V.),  265 

Pavlov  (Prof.   L  P.),  q  :  Contradiction,   185 

Pennell  (Commander  H.   L.   L.),  325,  343 

Power  (Sir  W.    H.),  467,   486 

Poynting  (Lieut.  A.),  487 

Ra'msav  (Sir  W.),  447,  466,  482,  484 

Ranke'(Pj-of.  J.),  467,  487 

Robertson  (L.  S.),  307,  324 

Rosenstiehl   (A.),    128 

Schwalbe  (Prof.   G.),  487 

Schwarzschild  (Prof.  K.),  266 

Scott  (Dr.   R.   H.),  344,  365 


Nature, 
September  21,  1916 


Index 


XAV 


Scott-Moncrieff  (Sir  C.  C),   144 
Selbie  (Sec-Lieut.   C.   M.),  487 
Simmons  (Sec. -Lieut.   E.   W.),   524 
Simon  (Prof.  W.),  503 
Simpson  (Sir  A.   R.),    144 
Smale  (M.  A.),  488 
Smith  (E.  A.),  448 
Smith  (Capt.  G.  W.),  502 
Smith  (Prof.  R.  H.),   12 
Smith  (Capt.    R.   J.),   265 
Sooysmith  (C),  345 
Southgate  (F.),  64 
Stanley  (W.),  308 
Sweet  (Dr.  J.   E.),  308 
Tagliaferro  (N.),  468 
Thompson  (Prof.  S.  P.),  325 
Thomson  (Dr.   T.),   63 
Tichomirov  (Prof.   V.   A.),  42 
Trimen  (R.),  467,  485 
Tweedy  (J.),   204 
Valentine  (Lieut.    R.   L.),   265 
Watson  (Col.   Sir  C),  84 
Watson  (Sec-Lieut.   H.),  548 
Waxweiler  (E.),   385 
Wharton-Hood  (Dr.   P.),   204 
White  (Dr.   J.  W.),  266 
Wijsman  (Dr.   H.  P.),   144,  226 

Deaths  from  Violence  and  Unnatural  Causes  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  An  Inquiry  into  the  Statistics  of,  Dr.  W.  A. 
Brend,  441 

De  Bilt  Declination,  Horizontal  Force,  and  Vertical  Force 
Curves,  The,  87 

Deccan,  Archaeological  Investigations  in  the,  Sir  J.  Marshall, 

63 

D^chelette,  The  late  M.  Joseph,  Prof.  A.  Keith,  441 

Decimal  .Association,  Report  of,  for  1915,  186 

Density  :  Balance,  A  Direct  Reading,  C.  Ch^neveau,  375 ; 
Density  and  Volumetric  Tables,  Standard,  527 ;  of 
Population,   Method  of  Showing.   B.  C.  Wallis,   108 

De  Vriesian  Mutation  in  the  Garden  Bean,  J.  A.  Harris,  455 

Dichroic  Fog.  E.  Coustet,  15 

Dicynodont  Skull,  Structure  of  the,  L  J.  B.  SoUas  and  Prof. 
W.  J.  Solias,  50 

Diesel  Engines  :  for  Land  and  Marine  Work,  A.  P.  Chalk- 
l|y.  Fourth  Edition,  158 ;  for  Marine  Purposes,  The 
Design  of,  158 ;  Land  and  Marine,  G.  Supino.  Trans- 
lated by  Eng.  Comm.  A.  G.  Bremner  and  J.  Richardson, 

DiSferential  Equations  :  and  Implicit  Functions  in  Infinitely 
Many  Variables,  W.  L.  Hart,  455 :  Partial,  and  the 
Transformation  of  Spherical  Harmonics,  Dr.  H.  Bate- 
man,  435  ;  Measurement,  H.  H.  Plaskett,  451 

Diffusion,  A  Correction  of  some  Work  on.  Dr.  A.  Griffiths 
and  others,  395 

Diketones  derived  from  Diacetoresorcinoldimethylether,  J. 
Algar,  335 

uxneutes  nigrior.  Differential  Mitoses  in  the  Germ-ceil 
Cycle  of,  R.  W.  Hegner  and  C.  P.  Russell,  515 

Diphtheria,  Transmission  of,  by  Cats,  246 

Discovery ;  or,  the  Spirit  and  Service  of  Science,  Prof. 
R.  A.  Gregory,  438 

Distribution  of  Plants,  Floras  and  Geographical,  209 

Docility  and  other  Diseases,  299 

Dolmen,   Origin  of  the,   H.   Peake,   525 

Dolomite,  Incorporation  of,  in  an  Intrusive  Basaltic  Sill  at 
GuUane,  T.  C.   Day.  350 

Draper  Catalogue,  The  New,  328 

Dreams,  The  Meaning  of.  Dr.  I.  H.  Coriat.  498 

Drug  Resources  of  India  and  the  Colonies.  Dr.  D.  Hooper, 
488 

Drying-oils.  The  Oxidation  of.  Dr.  R.  S.  Morrell ;  Dr.  A.  H. 
Sa'.way,  269 

Dry-powder  Fire  Extinguishers,  Report  on,  284 

Dublin,  Trinity  College,  T.  E.  Gordon  appointed  Professor 
of  Surgery  in,  474 

Ductless  Glands,  Studies  of,  by  the  Electrical  Method, 
W.  B.  Cannon,  456 

Duparc  (L.).  and  A.  Grosset.  Peridotite  with  Rhombic 
Pyroxene  the  Source  of  Platinum,  526 


Duro  Glass,  iii 

Dussaud's  "Cold  Light,"  105 

Dust-ripples,  The  Formation  of,  H.  U.  G.,  520   ' 

Dye    Industry,    The    National    Importance   of    the,    M.    S. 

Sharp,  34 
Dyestuff  Situation  in  the   United   States,   The,   Dr.   E.    E. 

Pratt,  Dr.  T.  H.  Norton,  Dr.  T.  M.  Bogert,  163 
Dyestuflfs  :  Association  and  Organisation  in  the  Manufacture 

of.  Prof.  H.  E.  Armstrong,  527 ;  The  Shortage  of.  Prof. 

W.  J.  Pope,   163 
Dynamographic  Path,  The,  J.  Amar,  515 


Earthquake:  at  Ancona,  etc.,  in  Italy,  548;  in  Nevada, 
J.   C.  Jones,   107 

Earthquakes  in  Italy  in  1910,  Dr.  G.  Martinelli,   147 

Earth  Resistance  and  its  Relation  to  Electrolysis,  McCoUum 
and  Logan,  303 

Earth's  Pole,  The  Movement  of  the.  Col.  E.  H.  Hills,  530 

Earthworms,  Oriental,  Col.  J.  Stephenson,  528 

East  :  Africa,  Alleged  Desiccation  of,  C.  W.  Hobley,  146 ; 
Anglia,  The  Gravels  of,  431 

Echinus  miliaris.  Feeding  Habits  of,  H.  N.  Milligan,  129 

Ecological  Notes  on  the  District  of  Manubie,  Transkei, 
W.  T.  Saxton,  375 

Economic :  Biology,  Journal  of.  Change  of  Name  to  the 
Journal  of  Zoological  Research,  16 ;  Resources  of  the 
German  Colonies,  44 

Economical  Dishes  for  War-time,  Miss  F.  A.   George,  551 

Economics,  H.  Clay,  361 

Edinburgh  :  Geological  Society,  Transactions  of  the,  vol.  x., 
part  iii.,  350;  Royal  Society  of.  Election  of  Honorary 
Fellows  of  the ;  Presentation  of  Prizes  of  the,  386 ;  New 
Fellows  of  the,  62  ;  University,  Sir  J.  A.  Ewing  ap- 
pointed Principal  of,  265 ;  Offer  to,  for  the  Medical 
Education    of  Women,    513 

Edison  :  A  Biography  of,  S.  G.  Brown,  158 ;  Thomas  Alva, 
F.  Rolt-Wheeler,   158 

Education  :  H.  G.  Wells,  230 ;  after  the  War,  C.  W.  Crook, 
213 ;  A  Forgotten  Chapter  in  the  History  of,  J.  S. 
Thornton,  354 ;  and  Industry,  Science  in,  390 ;  in 
France,  Prof.  M.  E.  Bertrand,  131  ;  and  Instruction  of 
Children  and  Young  Persons  after  the  War,  Aj^int- 
ment  of  a  Departmental  Committee  on,  153 ;  and 
Scientific  Training  and  Investigation,  False  Economy 
in.  Sir  O.  Lodge,  24;  Board  of.  Report  of  the,  1914-15, 
474 ;  The  Presidency  of  the,  501  ;  Demand  for  the 
Appointment  of  a  Royal  Commission  on,  272  :  National, 
C.  F.  Higham,  374 ;  National,  The  True  Foundations 
of.  Prof.  J.  A.  Fleming,  4.1^  :  Public,  233  ;  The  Future 
of,  417 ;  Services  and  Military  Service,  A  Board  of 
Education  Circular  and,  394 ;  The  Future  of.  Research 
in  Industry*  and,  3:^7:  the  Organisation  of.  Question  of" 
Appointment  of  a  Royal  Commission  on.  Sir  P.  Magnus 
and  Mr.  Asquith,  233  ;  The  Purpose  of,  St.  George  L. 
Fox  Pitt,  New  Edition,  321  ;  University,  in  the  United 
States,  Germany,  and  the  United  Kingdom,  A.  Noyes, 

Educational  Reform,  Conference  on,   114 

Edwardsia,  Quatr.,  from  New  Guinea,  Prof.  G.  C.  Bourne, 
19? 

Eel.  The  Natural  History  of  the.  Dr.  J.  Schmidt,  327 

Egypt  and  the  Sudan,  The  Magnetic  Survey  of,  H.  E. 
Hurst,  229 

Egyptian  :  Antiquities,  Lt.-Commander  H.  H.  Gorringe's, 
Prof.  S.  A.  B.  Mercer,  285;  Ivory  Comb,  An,  Prof. 
C.  G.  Seligman,  285 

Egyptians,  The  Neolithic,  Relation  of,  to  the  Ethiopians, 
V.   Giuffrida-Ruggeri,  366 

Elasticity  and  Entomolog>',  Prof.  G.  H.  Bryan,  340 

Electric  :  Discharges  in  Lightning  Flashes.  Determinations 
of  the  Sign  and  Magnitude  of,  C.  T.  R.  Wilson.  45*;: 
Expansion  of  Solid  Insulators.  L.  Bouchet,  cc6 :  Waves, 
Transmission  of,  around  the  Earth's  Surface,  Prof. 
H.  M.  Macdonald.  314:  Wiring  of  Buildings.  New 
Edition  of  Rules  for  the,  109 

Electrical  :  Apparatus-making  for  Beginners,  A.  V.  Ball- 
hatchet,  240 ;  Engineering  Manuals.  258 :  Methods  in 
Surgical  Advance.  Sir  J.   Mackenzie  Davidson,  294 

Electrolysis  and  its  Mitigation,  Rosa  and  McCollum,  303 


XXVI 


Index 


L-iv, 


Nature, 
•pteinler  21,  1916 


Electro-vibrators,  Powerful,  working  with  Small  Current, 
J.  Bergoni^,  436 

Elephas  antiquus.  Bones  of,  on  Exhibition  in  the  British 
Museum  (Natural  History),  12 

Elliptic  Functions,  Linkages  illustrating  the  Cubic  Trans- 
formation of.  Col.  R.  L.  Hippisley,  274 

Embryology  of  the  Worker  Bee,   Early,  97 

Emission  Quanta  of  Characteristic  X-rays,  D.  L.  Webster,  75 

Employers'  Parliamentary  Association,  A  Resolution  of  the, 
on  Research  Work,  246 

Endocrine  Organs,  The,  Sir  E.  A.  Schafer,  338 

Energy  :  and  Matter,  Statistical  Theory  of.  Dr.  T.  Wereide, 
197  ;  Transformations  during  Horizontal  Walking,  F.  G. 
Benedict  and  H.  Murschhauser,  430 

Engineering  :  Education  and  Research  in  Relation  to  the  1 
Organisation  of  British  Engineering  Industry, 
J.  C.  M.  G.,  520  ;  Standing  Committee  on,  Appointed 
by  the  Advisory  Council,  345  ;  and  Scientific  Research, 
Col.  R.  E.  Crompton,  208  ;  Prof.  J.  A.  Fleming,  208  ; 
Geology,  Prof.  H.  Ries  and  T.  L.  Watson,  Second 
Edition,  239 

English  :  and  of  Science,  The  Study  of.  Dr.  Macan,  230 ; 
Ceramic  Society,  Transactions  of  the,  45  ;  Measures  of 
Length,  Sir  C.  Watson,   16 

Entomology  :  Economic,  Recent,  529  ;  Recent,  312 

Entomostrata,  Fresh-water,  Collected  in  Cevlon,  R.  Gurney, 

Epicentre  of  an  Earthquake,  Localisation  of  the,  B.  Galitzine, 

395 
Epidemiology,     The    Application    of     Mathematics    to,     M. 

Greenwood,  Jr.,  243 
Epsom  College,  Bequest  to,  by  J.  S.   N.   Boyd,  94 
Eridani,  0,  The  Magnitude  of,  T.  W.  Backhouse,  479 
Erythrocytes,    Processes   by   which   the   Number   of,    is   In- 
creased, P.  D.  Lamson,  515 
Eskimo  of  Coronation  Gulf,  The,  286 
Esperanto,  C.  M.  Houghton,  16 
Ethics,  Abstract,  The  Theory  of.  T.  Whittaker,  32 
Ethnography  of  Central  India,  The,  363 
Ethnological  Expedition,  An,  by  Dr.  R.  H.  Lowie,  425 
Eton,  Headmastership  of,  194 

Eucalyptus  calophylla   x    E.  ficifolia,  J.  H.  Maiden,  415 
Euclid's  Book  on  Divisions  of  Figures,  etc.,  by  Prof.  R.  C. 

Archibald,  98 
Eugenics  :    Education    Society,    Annual   General   Meeting   of 

the,  385  ;  Preventive,  123  ;  Dr.  C.  W.  Saleeby,  161 
Evolution  :    and   Symmetry   in    the    Order  of   the   Sea-pens, 

Prof.  S.  J.  Hickson,  372  ;  Present  State  of  the  Problem 

of.   Prof.   M.  Caullery,   C49 
Evolutionary  Theory,  The  Form  "of.   Dr.   C.   B.   Davenport, 

.S49 
Excavations  at  Dunagoil,  Bute,  Dr.  J.  N.  Marshall  and  J. 

Ritchie,   167 
Exhaust    from    Liquid-fuel    Engines,    Composition    of    the, 

R.  W.   Penning,   169 
Exhibition   Jars   for    Museums,    Rectangular   Glass,    E.    E. 

Lowe,  472 
Experimental  ;   and  Research  Station,   First  Annual   Report 

(1915)  of  the,  224 ;  Spectroscopy,  377 
Exploration   in   South-West  Africa,   Prof.   W.   A.    Herdman 

and  Prof.  H.  H.  W.  Pearson,  a 
Explosives  :  207  ;  A  Manual  on,  A.  R.  J.  Ramsey  and  H.  C. 

Weston.  270  :   High,  and  the  Central  Nervous  System, 

Dr.  F.  W.  Mott,  112 
Eyesight  and  the  War,   Dr.   E.   Clarke,   552 


Family,  The  History  of  the  :  Prof.  J.  A.  Green,  477  ;  as  a 
Social  and  Educational  Institution,   Prof.   W.   Goodsell, 

477 

Farms,   Staircase,  of  the  Ancients,   O.   F.  Cook,  469 

Fauna  of  Prairie  and  Forest  Regions  near  Charleston,  III., 
Dr.   C.   C.  Adams  and  T.  L.  Hankinson,   146 

Federation  of  University  Women,  Offer  of  a  Prize  Fellow- 
ship by  the,  134 

Feebly  Inhibited,  The,  Nomadism  or  the  Wandering  Im- 
pulse, with  special  reference  to  Hereditv.  Inheri- 
tance of  Temperament,  Dr.  C.   B.   Davenport,   343 

Fenland,  Notes  on  the,  with  a  description  of  the  Shippea 
Man,  by  Prof.   A.   Macalister,  431 


Feuerbach's  Theorem,  An  Extension  of,  F.  Morley,  215 

Finsbury  Technical  College,  Prof.  G.  T.  Morgan  appointed 
to  the  Chair  of  Chemistry,  153  ;  Dr.  VV.  Eccles  ap- 
pointed Professor  of  Electrical  Engineering  and  .Applied 
Physics  at,  454 

Fireball,  A  Large  Daylight,  W.  F.  Denning,  288 

Fish,  British  Sea,  II.  Swithinbank  and  G.  E.  BuUen,  260 

Fishes,  Larval  and  Post-larval,  C.  Tate  Regan,  247 

Fizeau's   Experiment,    On,    Prof.    P.    Zeeman,   540 

Flagellates  and  Amcebze  from  Old  Stored  Soil,  Cytology 
of.   Dr.  T.  Goodey,    174 

Flat  Rectangular  Plates,  Formulae  for  the  Strength  of, 
Zach,  348 

Flies:  Hibernation  of.  Dr.  J.  H.  Ashworth,  247;  Studies  in, 
II.,  P.  R.  Awati,  313;  The  Removal  of,  from  Houses, 
C.  Galaine  and  C.  Houlbert,  515 

Flint  and  Quartz,  Studies  on.  Dr.  J.  W.  Mellor  and 
others,  248 

Flora  :  A  Cretaceous,  Prof.  A.  C.  Seward,  198  ;  Melitensis 
Nova,  Dr.  A.  C.  Gatto,  86 

Floras  and  Geographical   Distribution  of  Plants,  209 

Floridian  and  Bahaman  Shoal-water  Corals,  Ecology  of 
the,  T.  W.  Vaughan,  75 

Flow  of  Heat  in  Conducting  Sheets,  S.  Skinner,   135 

Fluorine,  The  Estimation  of,  F.   Pisani,   315 

Food  Value  of  Great  Britain's  Food  Supply,  The,  Prof. 
W.  H.  Thompson,  231 

Foraminifera  from  the  Kerimba  Archipelago,  E.  Heron- 
Allen  and  A.  Earland,  90 ;  Purposeful  Behaviour  of, 
E.   Heron-Allen,   291 

Forecast  by  Mr.  Wells,  478 

Foreign  War-planes,   182 

Formol  for  Disinfection  at  the  Front,  A  New  Method  of 
Employing,   F.   Goud,  95 

Formosanarum,   Icones  Plantarum,  B.   Hayata,  vol.  v.,   220 

Forthcoming  Books  of  Science,  45,  88,  109,  130,  147,  207, 
249,  427,   451,  506,   528,   551, 

Fossil  :  Characeas  from  the  Purbeck  Beds,  C.  Reid  and 
J.  Groves,  335  ;  Floras  of  the  Coal  Measures  of  South 
Staffordshire,  E.  A.  N.  Arber,  314;  Insects  from  the 
British  Coal  Measures,  H.  Bolton,  154;  Plants,  Qld 
Red  Sandstone,  from  Rhynie  Chert  Bed,  Aberdeen- 
shire, Dr.  R.  Kidston  and  Prof.  W.  H.  Lang,  435 ; 
Remains,  Use  of,  of  the  Higher  Vertebrates  in  Strati- 
graphical  Geology,  Dr.  A.  Smith  Woodward,  92  ; 
Vertebrates,    Methods  of   Mounting,    386 

Fossiliferous  Limestones  from  Mount  Carstensz,  R.  B. 
Newton,  469 

Fossils,  Ordovician  and  Silurian,  from  the  Northern  Shan 
States,   Dr.  F.  R.   Cowper  Reed,  247 

Foster,  P.  le  Neve,  Prize  and  Medal  awarded  to  J.  C. 
Moulden,  41 

Fowl  :  Domestic,  The  Physiology  of  Reproduction  in  the. 
Dr.  R.  Pearl  and  M.  R.  Curtis,  370 ;  The  Structure  of 
the,  Dr.  O.  C.  Bradley,  56 

Fox  Valley,  Wisconsin,  Geography  of  the.  Prof.  R.  H. 
Whitbeck,  408 

Fractions,  Continued,  The  Theory  of.  Prof.  E.  T.  Whit- 
taker, 415 

France  :  Education  and  Industry  in.  Prof.  M.  E.  Bertrand, 
131  ;  Still-births  and  Deaths  of  Infants  in,  M.  Cham- 
brelent,  488 ;  Technical  Instruction  in  the  Universities 
of.   Prof.   P.   Rivals,   273 

French  :  .Academv  of  Agriculture,  Annual  Meeting,  104 ; 
Professors.   Visit  of,  to  Great  Britain,  291^ 

Fresh-water  Fishes  of  .Africa  :  Catalogue  of  the,  in  the 
British  Museum  (Natural  History^,  vol.  iv..  Dr.  G.  A. 
Boulenger,  218;  The,  Sir  H.  H.  Johnston,  218 

Fricke's  Apparatus  for  locating  Vessels  at  Sea  during  Fogs, 
R.  G.  Skerrett,  45 

Frost :  Damage  by.  Methods  of  Prevention  of.  168 ;  in 
relation  to  Agriculture,  A  Bibliography  of,  W.  G. 
Reed  and  C.   L.   Feldkamp,  65 

Fruit-flies.   Chemical  Reactions  of,   F.  M.    Howlett,   291 

Fruits  for  Health,   Strength,   and  Longevity.   4oq 

Functions  of  Several  Variables,  Linear  Dependence  of, 
G.  M.  Green,  251; 

Fungi  :  British,  and  how  to  Identifv  them.  J.  H.  Crabtree, 
160 ;  New  Exotic.  Miss  E.  M.  Wakefield.  347 

Fusion  of  a  Metal,  The  Latent  Heat  of,  and  the  Quantum- 
theory,  Dr.  H.  S.  Allen,  475 


September 


Nature,  "] 

21,   iqi6j 


Index 


XXVll 


Galactobiose,  The  Biochemical  Synthesis  of  a,  E.  Bour- 
quelot  and  A.  Aubry,  476 

Galaxy,  The  Construction  of  the,  C.  V.  L.  Charlier,  350 

Gallenkamp  and  Co.  's  Models,  etc.,  for  the  Teaching  of 
Military  Science,  87 

Garden:  My  Growing,  J.  H.  McFarland,  259;  The  Chem- 
istry of  the,   H.   H.   Cousins,   Revised  Edition,   519 

Gas  Gangrene,  Prof.  M.  Weinberg,  41 

Gaseous  Hydrobromic  Acid,  Absolute  Density  of,  E.  Moles, 

254 
Geikie,   Sir  A.,  Bust  of,   in  the  Museum  of  Practical   Geo- 
logy, 61 
Gelatinous  Spicules  in  a  New  Genus  of  Siliceous  Sponges, 

Prof.  A.  Dendy,  253 
Gels,  The  Theory   of,   as   Systems  of  Two   Liquid   Phases, 

E.    Hatschek,   314 
Gems  and  Superstition,    157 
Genera  Splitting,   A  Suggestion   with  regard  to.   Dr.  J.    B- 

Cleland,  240 
Genetic  Studies  from  America,  370 
Genetics  :    Recent  Work  on,   232  ;   Research   in.   Modes  of. 

Dr.   R.   Pearl,  399 
Geneva   Observatory,    Report  of  the   Chronometrical  Work 

at  the.   Prof.  R.   Gautier,   506 
Geochemistry,  The  Data  of,  F.  W.   Clarke,  526 
Geodetic  Surveying,    Prof.   E.    R.    Cary,   539 
Geographical   Review,   The,   66 
Geography:   Economic,  539;  The  Progress  of.   Dr.  J.  Scott 

Keltie,   495 
Geologic    Reconnaissance    of    Mountain    Province,    Luzon, 

W.  D.  Smith,  367 
Geological  :   Society  of  London,   New  Officers  and  Council, 

42  ;  Societies,  British,  349  ;  Surveys,  Economic  Work  of 

the,  Prof.  G.  A.  J.  Cole,  280 
Geologists  and  Special  Constables,  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney,  260 
Geology  :  Economic,  83  ;  Economic,  and  an  Imperial  Bureau 

of    Scientific    Intelligence,    E.    St.    J.    Lyburn,    380 ;    of 

South-west  Africa.    329 
Geometry,     A    First    Course    of.     Dr.     C.     Davison,    439 ; 

Descriptive,    The    Essentials   of.    Prof.    F.    G.    Higbee, 

Georgia,    Underground    Waters    of    the    Coastal    Plain    of, 

L.  W.  Stephenson,  J.  O.  Veatch,  and  R.  B.  Dole,  452 
Gerard,  Prof.  E..  Work  of.  Prof.  P.  Janet,  3S6 
German  :   .Agriculture.  The  Recent   Development  of,   T.   H. 

Middleton,   508 ;   Metallurgy  and  British  Methods,  224 ; 

Peril   after  the  War,  The,    A.    Hurd.  233  ;   Universities 

and    Technical    Schools,     Students    in    attendance    at, 

40 
Germans,  The,   (i)  The  Teutonic  Gospel  of  Race  ;  (2)  The 

Old  Germany  and  the  New,  J.   M.  Robertson,  379 
Germany  :   and  Racial  Characters,  370  ;  Life  and  Scientific 

Activity  in,  325  ;  Chemical  Organisation  in,  during  the 

War,  Prof.  F.  G.  Donnan,  82  ;  Competition  with.  T.  C. 

Elder,    105 ;   Reasons   for   Scientific   Success   of,    R.   W. 

Livingstone,    154  ;  The  Attitude  of,  toward*;  Education, 

Germany's    Metal  Ring,    and   the    Resources   of    India,    Dr. 

H.  H.  Hayden,  63 
Ginkgo  biloha  and  its  .Ancestors,   E.  A.  Martin,  473 
Glacial  :   Island  at  Grenoble,  R.  Blanchard,  195  ;  Theory  of 

Coral  Reefs,  The,   191 
Gladstone     Memorial     Prize     at     the     London     School     of 

Economics    and     Political    Science    awarded    to    Ram- 

chandra  Mahadev  Joshi,  495 
Glasgow  :     Geological     Society     of.     Transactions    of     the, 

vol.    XV..    part    iii.,    350;    University,    Bequest    to,    by 

Lady    Kelvin,     213;     Conferment     of     Degrees,     372; 

Papers  from  the  Geological  Department,  505 
Glass:   for  Cemented   Objectives,  T.    Smith,  315:  The   De- 
vitrification    of,    H.    Le     Chatelier,    35.<; ;    Volumetric 

Apparatus,     The     Testing     of,     471  ;     Ware,      British 

Laboratory,   i i i 
Glastonbury,    'The     Lake     Villagers     of.     Prof.    W.     Boyd 

Dawkins,  473 
Glossina   morsitans.    Habits  of.    Dr.   W.    A.    Lamborn,    Qo 
Gnetum,  Morphology  of  the  Female  Flower  of,   H.   H.   W. 

Pearson,  516 
"lold  :    from    Cornwall,    A    New    Occurrence    of,    Lieut.    A. 

Russell.  37:; :  -leaf  Electroscopes.  Electrical  Capacity  of. 

Dr.  T.  Barratt.  214 


"Graft  Hybrids,"  Nature  of  So-called,  Prof.   F.   E.  Weiss, 

335 
Gram   Crop  in   India,   Mr.   and   Mrs.   Howard,   and  A.    R. 

Khan,   147 
Granite  Cutting  in  :   Egypt,   S.   Clarke,   489 ;  Mysore,   Mrs. 

B.  Broadwood,  489 
Graphics  and  Structural  Design,  Prof.  H.  D.  Hess,  Second 

Edition,  200 
Gravels  of  East  Anglia,  The,   Prof.   T.  McKenny  Hughes, 

431 
Gravitation  and  Temperature  :   J.   L.,   321,  421  ;   Dr.    P.   E. 

Shaw,  400;  Prof.   E.   H.   Barton,  461 
Gravity   at   Sea,    Determination   of  :    Prof.   W.    G.    Dulfield, 

73  ;  Prof.  A.  Schuster,  455 
Gravures   rupestres   Nord-Africaines,   Nouvelles  Stations  de, 

E.  F.  Gautier,  251 
Great  Britain,  Mineral  Resources  of,  vol.  v.,  327 
Greek  Commerce,  History  of,  Dr.  W.  Leaf,  43 
Greenland  :    Northern,    K.    Rasmussen's   proposed   new    Ex- 
pedition to,  64 ;  Western,  Nature-reserves  for  Plants  in, 

P.  Porsild,  87 
Green    Ray   Observations,    G.    Guglielmo.   228 
Gregorian     Calendar,     The,     substituted     for     the     Julian 

Calendar  by  Bulgaria,    106 
Guerre,  La,  et  la  Pensee  M^dicale,   Prof.  R.  Jorge,  299 
Guinea-pig :    Crosses,    Size    Inheritance  in,    W.    E.    Castle, 

Guinea-pigs,  Alcoholised,  Hereditary  Transmission  of  De- 
generacy, etc.,  in.  Profs.  C.  Stockard  and  G.  Papini- 
colaou,  65,  205 

Gum  Arabic,  Chemistry  of,  249 

Gunfire,  The  Sound  of,  and  Zones  of  Silence,  Er  Esclangon, 

556  .  . 

Gun-firing  :  Audibility  of,  M.  Christy  and  W.  Marriott,  374 : 

Inaudibility  of,  385  ;  on  the  Western  Front,  The,  C.  W. 

Piper,   462;   S.   Pickering;   I.   W.    Boothroyd,   500 
Gunong  Tahan,  The  Flora  of,  H.  N.  Ridley,  209 
Guthrie  Lecture  of  the  Phvsica!  Society,  Dr.  W.  B.  Hardv,. 

188 
Gynandromorphism,  Dr.  E.  A.  Cockayne,  233 
Gypsum,  A  Butterfly  Twin  of,   L.  J.   Spencer,    174 


Halley     Lecture,     1917,     Prof.     A.     Schuster    appointed    to 
deliver  the,  313 
I  Haloes,  Pleochroic,  Genesis  of.  Prof.  J.  Joly,  455 

Hamilton     and     the     "  Quantification     of     the     Predicate," 
I  B.   D.  J.,   loi 

Hancock's   Applied   Mechanics   for   Engineers,    Revised  and 

Re-written  by  Prof.  N.  C.   Riggs,  3 
Harmonic  Synthesizer,  32-Element^  Prof.   D.  C.  Miller,  150 
;  Harper's    Hydraulic    Tables    for    the    Flow    of    Water    in 
Circular  Pipes  under  Pressure,  etc.,  J.  H.  Harper,  460 
Harvard    University,    Bequests   to,    from   J.    A.    Beebe    and 
Mrs.   W.   F.  Matchett,  233 
I  Harvest-bugs,  S.  Hirst,  529 
I  Harvey  and  Aristotle,  Sir  Clifford  Allbutt,  217 

Harvey's  Views  on  the  Use  of  the  Circulation  of  the  Blood, 
I  Prof.  J.  G.  Curtis,  217 

Haverford  College,   Bequest  to,  by  E.   and  W.  Scull,    194 
Health :    Experiment    and    Research    Laboratories    at    Uni- 
versity Schools  of  Medicine  in  the  United  States,  474  ; 
The  New  Public,   Prof.   H.  W.   Hill,  460 
Heart.  Wound  of  the,  by  a  Shrapnel  Ball,   M.   Beaussenat, 

19s 
Heat.  The  Utilisation  of  Waste,  for  Agriculture.  C.  Turn- 
bull,  422.  520 :  C.  Carus-Wilson,  442 
Heating  of  Field  Coils  of  Dynamo-electric  Machinen.-,  Prof. 

M.  Maclean  and  D.  J.   Mackellar,  43-; 
Helium    Spectrum,    Results    on,    by    Lo    Surdo's    Method, 

R.    Brunetti,   380 
Herd.  Instincts  of  the.  in  Peace  and  War.  W.  Trotter,  158 
Heredity:    and   Chromosomes.    117;   and   Mutation   as  Cell 

Phenomena,  Dr.   R.   R.  Gates,  370 
Herpetomoninsis.     Induced,    in     Birds,     Drs.    Fantham    and 

Porter,    18 
Herrings,  Localisation  of.  Dr.  Orton.  206 
Herring-scales,    Growth-rings  on,  G.   W.   Paget  and   R.    E. 

Savage,    154 
High  Temperatures  in  the  Laboratory'.   .Attainment  of.   Dr. 


XXVlll 


Index 


•   \s. 


Natutt, 
•pteinber  21,    1916 


J.  A.  Marker,  42,  89;  R.  S.  Whipple,  Dr.  W.  Rosen- 
hain,  S.  N.  Brayshaw,  90 

Himalaya,  The  Support  of  the,  R.  D.  Oldham,  48 

Hindenburg,  Wooden  Figure  of,  and  Decorated  Fetishes 
in   Africa,    R.    Verneau,    227 

Hindu  :  Science,  Ancient,  177 ;  University  of  Benares, 
Speeches  at  the  Laying  of  the  Foundation-stone,  73 

Hissarlik  H.,  Ethnology  of  the  People  who  destroyed, 
H.   Peake,  504 

H.  Lupulus  and  H.  japonicus,  Pollination  and  Fertilisation 
Processes  in.    Dr.    O.   Winge,   290 

Homer  and  History,  Dr.  W.  Leaf,  118 

Homogeneous  Function  in  Spherical  Harmonics,  The 
Expansion  of  a,  S.  K.  Banerji,  123 

Homologous  Compounds,  Boiling-points  and  Critical  Tem- 
peratures of.   Prof.   S.  Young,   175 

Homo  sapiens  in  Europe,  The  Arrival  of.  Prof.  G.  Elliot 
Smith,   514 

Honey-bee,  The  Embryology  of  the.  Dr.  J.  A.  Nelson,  97 

Hongkong  University,  Calendar  of,  273 

Hooker,  Sir  Joseph,  Memorial  Tablet  to,  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  58 

Hops:  Aroma  of,  Dr.  J.  Schmidt,  290;  Researches  on,  290; 
Resins  in,  O.  Winge  and  J.  P.  H.  Jensen,  290 

Hopwood's  Living  Pictures,  R.  B.  Foster,  New  Edition,  297 

Horses,  Horny  Masses  on  the  Legs  of,  S.  Yoschida,  206 

Horticulture,   Scientific,  422 

House-fly,  The  Pre-oviposition  Period  of  the,  R.  H. 
Hutchinson,  529 

Huddersfield  Technical  College  :  Dr.  A.  E.  Everest  ap- 
pointed Head  of  Department  for  Specialised  Study  and 
Research  in  Coal-tar  Colour  Chemistry,  373 ;  Gift  to 
the  new  Chemistry  Department  by  British   Dyes,   Ltd., 

454 
Humanity,  The  Moulding  of,  358 
Hurter   and    Driffield,    A    Movement    to    Commemorate    the 

Work  of,  426 
Hydrodynamics,   Fourth   Edition,   Prof.   H.   Lamb,   318 
Hydrogen  :    and   Oxygen,    Relative  Combining  Volumes  of, 

F.  P.  Burt  and  E.  C.  Edgar,  50  ;  Bromide,  The  Density 

of,    E.    Moles,    496 ;    Helium    Structure    of    the  Atoms, 

Elements    in    relation    to    the,    W.    D.    Harkins,    255 ; 

Peroxide,    Catalysis    of,    G.    Lemoine,    254,    275,    295 ; 

Influence  of,  on   Germination,  E.   Demoussy,   135 
Hydrography,  Antarctic,  329 

Hydroid,   A  Brackish-water,   Dr.  J.   Ritchie,  469 
Hydrology  at  the  Arctic  Circle,  369 
Hypochlorites  :    Action    of,    on    Pus,    A.    Lumi^re,    95 ;    The 

Stability  of,   L.   Vallery,   75 


Ice :  Age  in  England,  The,  Dr.  N.  O.  Hoist,  247 ;  Con- 
tinental, in  Finnish  and  Scandinavian  Lapland,  V. 
Tanner,  347 ;  in  the  Arctic  Seas,  1915,  State  of.  Com- 
mander Speerschneider,   248 

Iceland :  and  Norway,  Meteorological  Elements  over  the 
Ocean  between,  Prof.  Hilderbrandsson,  228 ;  Protection 
of  Birds  in,   E.   Selous,  227 

Ichthyosaurus,  Skull  of.  Prof.  W.  J.   Sollas,    134 

Ido,    L.    F.    Richardson,    16 

Ignition  of  Gases  by  Impulsive  Electrical  Discharge,  W.  M. 
Thornton,  50 

Illuminating  Engineering  Society,  Researches  in  connection 
with  the,  246 

Illusions  of  the  Upper  Air,  Sir  N.  Shaw,   191 

Immunity,  Study  of,  F.  d'Herelle,  195 

Impact  in  Three  Dimensions,  W.  J.  Fry,  414 

Imperial :  College  of  Science  and  Technology,  The, 
A.  Acland,  265 ;  Institute,  The,  184 ;  Change  of  Con- 
trol of  the,  246 ;  Constitution  of  the  Executive  Council 
of  Management  of  the,  346 ;  Work  of  the,  for  India, 
Prof.  W.  Dunstan,  468  ;  Society  of  Scientific  and  Indus- 
trial Chemistry,  Proposal  for  the  formation  of  an, 
Prof.    H.   E.   Armstrong,   267 

Imports  to  Exports,  On  the  Relation  of,  J.  Taylor  Peddie, 
Second    Edition,    279 

Income-tax,  A  Progressive,  Prof.  H.  S.  Carslaw,  408 

Increase  of  Prices,  Appointment  of  a  Committee  on,  345 

India:  Agricultural  Statistics  for,  1913-14,  vol.  5.,  327; 
Economic  Resources  and  Industrial  Possibilities  of,  A 
Commission    on    the,    86;    Higher    Education    in,    Dr. 


Ewing,  272  ;  Northern,  The  Plains  of,  and  their  Rela- 
tionship to  the  Himalaya  Mountains,  Sir  S.  Burrard, 
391  ;  Probable  Monsoon  Rainfall  in,  in  1916,  Dr.  G.  T. 
Walker,  490;  Survey  in,  Records  of  the,  1913-14,  248; 
Survey  of.  Report  of  the,  1914-15,  450  ;  The  Tribes  and 
Castes  of  the  Central  Provinces  of,  R.  V.  Russell, 
assisted  by  Rai  Bahadur  Hira  Lai,  4  vols.,  363 

Indian  Anophelini,  Major  S.  R.  Christophers,  312;  Art, 
The  Decorative  Value  of.  Miss  E.  A.  Coster,  524  ;  Bird 
Calendar,  An,  239  ;  Board  of  Scientific  Advice,  Report 
of  the,  1914-15,  442  ;  Cestoda,  Work  on,  T.  Southwell, 
187;  Education,  Report  on,  1914-15,  Sharp,  535;  Lac 
Insect,  Dr.  A.  D.  Imms  and  N.  C.  Chatterjee,  90 ; 
Museum,  Officers  for  1916-17,  185;  Museum  Publica- 
tions, Recent,  528  ;  Oil  Seeds,  Howard  and  Khan,  427 ; 
Science  Congress,  The,  42,  190;  Tunicata,  Dr.  A.  Oka, 
.528 

Indicator,  A  New  and  Very  Sensitive,  for  Acidimetry  and 
Alkalimetry,  etc.,  G.  Scatchard  and  Prof.  M.  T. 
Bogert,  493 

Indricotherium,  A  New  Genus  of  Giant  Rhinoceros,  A. 
Borissiak,    175 

Industrial  :  Discoveries  and  Germany,  Sir  R.  Hadfield,  63  ; 
Diseases,  Special,  Memorandum  on,  189  ;  Fatigue  and 
its  Causes,  162  ;  Fatigue,  Sir  Lauder  Brunton,  204 ; 
Scientific  Research,  The  Organisation  of.  Dr.  C.  E.  K. 
Mees,  411,  431 

Industry:  Education  and,  Science  in,  390;  Leaders  of, 
Essentials  in,  Sir  R.  Hadfield,  407 ;  Research  in,  and 
the  Future  of  Education,  357 

Infant  Welfare  Exhibition  at  Leicester,  E.   E.  Lowe,   15 

Infinity,    P.    Pagnini,   207 

Inheritance  :  in  Roving  and  in  Romantic  Types,  343  ;  of 
Flowering  Time  in  Peas  and  Rice,  Y.  Hoshino,  291  ; 
through  Spores,   Prof.   J.    M.    Coulter,   492 

Injurious  Insects,  etc.,  Observed  in  Ireland  in  1914-1915, 
Prof.    G.    H.    Carpenter,    414 

Insect  Association  of  a  Local  Environmental  Complex, 
Dr.  A.   E.  Cameron,  254 

Insects  :  in  Africa  and  the  East,  90 ;  The  Habits  of,  F.  H. 
Graveley,  529 

Institute  of  Chemistry  :  Forthcoming  Examinations  of  the, 
513  ;  Proposal  for  the  Establishment  of  a  New,  C.  T. 
kingzett,  268 

Instrumental  Harmonic  .Synthesis,    150 

Integral  Radiation,  The  Law  of,  and  the  Yield  of  Light  of 
Metals  at  High  Temperatures,  T.   Peczalski,  51 

Integration  of  a  System  of  Differential  Equations,  C. 
Stormer,  335 

Internal  Secretions,  338 

International  Institute  for  Pure  Mathematics,  Gift  for  an, 
by  Prof.   M.   G.    Mittag-Leffler,  8^ 

Inulin,  A  Substance  Coagulating,  J.   Wolff,   175 

Invar  and  Related  Nickel   Steels,  328 

Ionic  Velocities,  A  New  Method  of  Determining,  Mrs.  C.  H. 
Griffiths,   174 

lonisation  :  of  Salts  in  Alcoholic  Solvents,  Change  of  the, 
F.  G.  Keyes  and  W.  J.  Winninghoff,  456 ;  produced  by 
Degenerating  Nerve-muscle  Preparations,  J.  S.  v.  d. 
Lingen,  376 

Ions  :  in  the  Atmosphere,  Prof.  McClelland  and  others.  328 ; 
Iodine,  in  Solution,  Velocity  of,  Dr.  S.  W.  J.  Smith, 
T74 ;  Migration  of  the.  Dr.  S.  W.  J.  Smith,  174 : 
Mobility  of  the,  produced  by  Spraying  Distilled  Water, 
J.  J.  Nolan,  74;  of  Hydrochloric  .Acid,  Chemical 
Activity  of  the,  J.  H.  Bilis,  75  :  produced  by  Bubbling 
\h  through  Mercurv,  Nature  of  the,  J.  A.  McClelland 
and  P.  J.  Nolan,  74 ;  The  Large,  and  Condensation 
Nuclei  from  Flames,  H.  Kennedy,  415  ;  The  Mobilities 
of.  L.  B.  Loeb.  i;o5,  515 

Ireland,  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  in.  Dr.  T.  G.  Moor- 
head  appointed  Professor  of  the  Practice  of  Medicine 
at  the.  474 

Irish  Technical  Schools  and  Classes,  Programme  for,  535 

Iron  and  Steel  :  Forging  of,  W.  A.  Richards,  30 :  Institute, 
Autumn  Meeting  of  the,  548 ;  Proposed  Bye-law  on 
Members  of  Enemy  Countries,  t66  :  The  Handworking 
of.  30 ;  Ores  of  Kiruna,  Origin  of  the,  Prof.  R.  A. 
Daly,   107 

Irradiation  :  its  Physiology,  Pathology,  and  Therapeutics, 
137 


Nature.  "] 

I,  I9«6J 


September  2 


Index 


XXIX 


Irrigation,    Artificial,     in    the    Western    States    of    North 

America,   17 
Isle  of  Wight  Disease  in  Bees,  Dr.  J.  Ritchie,  160  ;  F.,  161 
Isomers  T,.,  and  T,.,  of  Stearolic  Acid,  S.  Posternak,  395 
Italy,   Earthquakes  in,  in   1910,   Dr.  G.   Martinelli,    147 
Italian  :    Earthquakes,    Epicentres  of.    Prof.  A.    Ricc6,   206 ; 

Royal  Geographical  Society,    New   Honorary   Members, 

12  ;    Society   for   the   Advancement   of   Science,    Eighth 

Meeting  of  the,  42 


Japan  :   Cyclonic  Precipitation   in.    Distribution   of,   Terada, 

Yokota,  and  Otuki,  550 ;  Mosses  of,  S.  Okamura,  206 
Japanese  :    Cherries,    M.    Miyoshi,    504 ;    Ocean    Wave,    A 

Large,    K.    Sano   and  K.   Hasegama,    108 ;   Supplement 

of  the  Times,  308 
Jaius    lalandii.    Larval    and    Post-Larval    Stages    of.     Dr. 

J.  D.  F.  Gilchrist,  74 
Jefferson  Medical  College,  Gift  to,  by  D.  Baugh,  414 
Jewels  and  Charms,  The  Magic  of,  Dr.  G.  F.  Kunz,  157 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  Bequest  to,  by  Miss  J.  Gillender, 

^13 
Jointing  as  a  Fundamental  Factor  in  the  Degradation  of  the 

Lithosphere,  Prof.  F.  Ehrenfeld,  492 
Joly's,    Prof.,    Method  of   Avoiding  Collision   at   Sea,   Prof. 

H.  C.   Plummer,  73 
Jungle  Life,   New  Aspects  in  the  Study  of,   552 
Jupiter  and  Saturn,  Monochromatic  Photography  of,  R.  W. 

Hood,   75 


K  Absorption   Band  of  the   Elements  for  the  X-rays,   The, 

de  Broglie,  496 
Kaldurga  Conglomerates,  Dr.  Smeeth,  367 
Kelvin,  Lord,  and  Terrestrial  Magnetism,  Dr.  C.  Chree,  509 
Kent's  Cavern,  Discovery  of  a  Molar  Tooth  of  a  Mammoth 

at,  W.  F.   Powe,  246 
Kerogen-shales,  The,  E.  H.  Cunningham  Craig,  247 
Kerguelen  :    German   Names  replaced   by   French  ones,    15  ; 

The  Bryological  Flora  of,  J.  Cardot,  -jso 
Kew  :  Bulletin,  Annual  Volume  of  the,  426 :  Royal  Botanic 

Gardens,  Presentation  of  Sir  A.  Church's  Collection  of 

Botanical  Water-colour  Drawings,   504 
Kimmeridge  Oil-shales,  The,   202 
Kingr's  College,  London,  School  of  Slavonic  Studies,  Books 

for,  414 
Kivu  Country,  A  New  Volcano  in  the,  Sir  A.  Sharpe,  no 
Knox  College,  Galesburg,  Gift  to,  by  Mrs.  R.  Sage,  454 


Laboratory  Manual  :  A,  for  Work  in  General  Science, 
O.  W.  Caldwell,  W.  L.  Eikenberry,  and  C.  J.  Pieper, 
99 ;  Arranged  to  Accompany  "  A  Course  in  General 
Chemistry,"  Profs.  W.  McPherson  and  W.  E.  Hen- 
derson, 218 

"  La  Ciencia,  La  Universidad,  y  La  Academia,"  Dr.  Z.  G. 
de  Galdeano,  347 

Lake  Baikal,  Proposal  to  Establish  a  Biological  Station  on, 

449 
Lamb's  Hydrodynamics,  Lord  Rayleigh,  318 
La  Naulettte,  Early  Date  of  the  Jaw  found  at,  M.  Baudouin, 

175 
Lapland  Bunting,  Life-history  of  the.  Miss  M.  Haviland,  14 
Lassen  Peak,  J.  S.   Diller,  367 
Latin  :    as   an    International    Language,    F.    H.    Perrycoste, 

P.  W.   Stuart-Menteath,    16;   International,   Dr.  W.  A. 

Caspari,  8i  ;  Dr.  J.  W.  Evans,  122 
Latitude,  Determination  of,  A  New  Method  for  the.  Dr.  G. 

Zappa,    109 ;    Observations  by   Photography,    Dr.    Ross, 

311  ;  Variation  of.  Prof.  F.  Schlesinger,  369 
Laugerie  Basse,  Nouvelles  d^couvertes  k,  Capt.  Bourlon,  250 
Leaf  :  -Architecture,   Prof.   F.   O.   Bower,   155  ;  -Morphology 

in  Relation  to  Taxonomic  Botany,  A.  A.  Hamilton,  415 
Leather    Work,     Early    Ornamented,     in     Ireland,     J.     J. 

Buckley,  227 
Leeds  University  :  Address  by  Dr.  M.  E.  Sadler,  413  ;  Gift 

bv    Sir    J.    Roberts,    373  ;    New    Course    of    Study    in 

Scientific  and  Technical  Subjects ;  Gift  by  W.  Morrison  | 

to  the  School  of  Russian  Studies,  453  1 

Legendre's  Function  P„(ff),  Lord  Rayleigh,  253  I 


Length,   English   Measures   of,   The  Origin  of.   Sir  C.    M. 

Watson,  69 

Lenses  for  Light  Distribution,  T.  Smith,  315 

Level,   Periodic  Disturbance  of,   K.   Terazawa,  314 

Lice  Infesting  Troops,   Dr.   A.   Hase,  312 

Liesegang  Phenomenon,  The,  and  Concretionary  Structure 
in  Rocks,  S    C.  Bradford,  80 

Life-Saving  Apparatus,  A  New,  Prof.   O.   Pettersson,  409 

Light :  A  Possible  Deflection  of,  by  a  Moving  Medium, 
Prof.  P.  Zeeman,  67 ;  A  Treatise  on.  Dr.  R.  A. 
Houstoun,  199 ;  Excitation  by  Slow  Positive  and 
Neutral  Particles,  A.  J.  Dempster,  515;  Production  of, 
by  Animals,  Prof.  U.  Dahlgren,  146,  450;  Signals, 
Short,  Produced  by  a  Rotating  Apparatus,  A.  Blondel  and 
J.  Rey,  355  ;  The  Limiting  Perception  of,  A.  Blondel, 
214;  The  Pressure  of.  Measuring,  G.   D.  West,  394 

Lighting  Glassware,   Standardising,    147 

Limax  tenellus,  D.   Roebuck,  286 

Limes  and  Cements  :  their  Nature,  Manufacture,  and  Use, 
E.  A.  Dancaster,  3 

Linnean  Society  :  Election  of  Officers  of  the,  284 ;  Profs. 
H.  Lecomte,  E.  Perrier,  and  Pier'  Andrea  Sarcardo 
elected  Foreign  Members  of  the,  246 

Liquid  Pressure,  Negative,  at  High  Temperatures,  Sir  J. 
Larmor,   361 

Lister,  Lord,  Memorial  Tablet  to,  in  W'estminster  Abbey,  58 

Liverpool :  Geological  Society,  Proceedings  of  the,  vol.  xii., 
part  ii.,  350;  The  Cope  Memorial  Volume,  351;  Uni- 
versitj'.  Bequests  to,  by  N.  E.  Roberts,  373 

Lizards  allied  to  Lacerta  muralis,  G.  A.  Boulenger,  194 

Ljungstrom  Steam  Turbine,  The.  R.  S.  Portham,  310 

Load  :  Line  Committee,  Work  of  the,  W.  S.  Abell,  170 ; 
Lines  of  Merchant  Ships,  Sir  P.  Watts,  170 

Local  Government  Board,  Report  of  the  Medical  OfBcer  for 
1914-15,    14 

Locusts  near  Jerusalem,  Plague  of,  J.  D.  Whiting,  313 

Logarithmic  Tables,   Handy,  Y.    Uraguchi,    179 

Logarithms,  A  New  Table  of  Seven-Place,  of  all  Numbers 
from  20,000  to  200,000,   E.    Sang,  499 

London  :  Count>-  Council,  Annual  Report  of  the  Public  Health 
Committee,  167 :  Court  of  Common  Council,  on 
Coinage  and  W'eights  and  Measures,  and  a  Common 
Commercial  Language,  449 ;  Hydrology,  53 ;  Mathe- 
matical Society,  Proceedings  of  the.  Second  Series, 
vol.  xiv.,  398;  (Royal  Free  Hospital)  School  of  Medi- 
cine for  Women,  Gift  to,  from  A.  Du  Cros,  173 ; 
University,  Conferment  of  Degrees,  295,  -iri  :  Gifts  to 
King's  College :  the  University ;  Conferment  of  Doc- 
torates in  Science,  454 ;  Prof.  H.  Jackson,  Successor 
to  Prof.  Crossley  on  the  Senate,  93  :  Report  of  the 
Military  Education  Committee,  qi  :  Provost's  Report 
on  the  Session  1915-16,  434;  King's  College  for 
Women,  Miss  Lane-Claypon  appointed  Chief  .Admini- 
strative Officer  of  the  Department  of  Household  and 
Social  Science,  434 ;  Public  Lectures  at  University 
College,  213  ;  Report  of  the  Vice-Chancellor  for  19 15-16, 
252 

Longevity  of  Men  of  Science,  344 

Longitude  :  between  Paris  and  Washington,  Difference  of, 
B.  Baillaud,  369,  375  ;  Determination  of  the  Difference 
of,   B.   Baillaud,   27 

Lo  Surdo's  Laws,  C.   Sonaglia,  389 

Lothian,   East,  T.   S.   Muir,    140 

Louvain  University  Library,  Steps  to  Restore  the.  414 

Lower :  California,  A  Botanical  Exploration  of.  E.  A. 
Goldman,  267 ;  Greensand  Flora,  The,  Dr.  Marie  C. 
Stopes  ;  A.C.S..  261 

Low-pressure  Transformers,  How  to  Make,  Prof.  F.  E. 
Austin,  Second  Edition.   2^8 

Lucas,  A  Theorem  of.  M.  B.  Porter,  255,  456 

Luminous  and  Calorific  Effects  of  a  Source  of  Light,  M. 
Dussaud.  476 

Lupulin  in  Plants  raised  by  Crossing,  Dr.  J.  Schmidt, 
290 

Lurgecombe  Mill  Lamprophyre,  The,  and  its  Inclusions, 
H.  G.  Smith,  274 

Lyrid  Meteors  of  1916,  The,  W.  F.  Denning,  229 

Machu  Picchu,   Inhabitants  of,  H..  Bingham,  450 
Madagascar    et    IMpendances,    Annuaire   G^n^ral    de.    1916, 
327 


XXX 


Index 


Lv 


Naturt, 

eptember  21,  1916 


Madras  :  Flora  of  the  Presidency  of,  J.  S.  Gamble,  part  i., 
31  ;  Government  Museum.  The  Foote  Collection  of 
Indian  Prehistoric  and  Protohistoric  Antiquities,  Notes 
on  their  Ages  and  Distribution,  R.  B.  Foote,  319; 
Museum  Catalogue  of  Prehistoric  Antiquities,  43 

Magnesium  :  in  Leaves  and  the  Function  of  Assimilation, 
G.  Andr6,  195 ;  Tourmaline  from  Renfrew,  Ontario, 
E.  L.  Bruce,  375 

Magnetic  :  Field,  Interference  of  the,  on  the  Charge  of  a 
Conductor  in  Rarefied  Air,  A.  Righi,  254 ;  Properties 
of  Steels  and  other  Materials,  J.  D.  Ball,  348;  Shield- 
ing of  Large  Spaces  and  its  Experimental  Measure- 
ment, The,  Prof.  E.  Wilson  and  Prof.  J.  W.  Nicholson, 
355  ;  Testing  of  Materials,  248 

Magnetism  :  and  Electricity,  Practical,  An  Introductory 
Course  of,  Dr.  J.  R.  Ashworth,  Third  Edition,  4 ; 
Examples  in,   Prof.   F.   E.   Austin,   Second  Edition,  258 

Magnetometer,  A  Sensitive,  Dr.  P.  E.  Shaw  and  C.  Hayes, 

475 

Magnets,   Laminated,    Prof.   W.    Brown,   295 

Malaria  :  and  Sanitation,  141  ;  Mosquito  Survey,  A,  Prof. 
W.  B.  Herms  and  S.  B.  Freeborn,  467 

Malta,  Excavations  at.  Prof.  Ashby,  T.  Zammit,  and  G. 
Despott,   14 

Mammalian  Mandibular  Ramus,  A,  Dr.  A.  Smith  Wood- 
ward, 315 

Mammals  of  Flanders,  Capt.  P.  Gosse,  227 

Man  :  and  Metals,  W.  Hough,  215  ;  as  a  Machine,  430 

Manchester  Municipal  School  of  Technology  :  Prospectus  of 
University  Courses  in  the,  495 ;  Summer  Evening 
Classes  of,  253  ;  Establishment  of  a  New  Sub-Depart- 
ment in  Coal-tar  Products  and  Dyestuffs,  385  ;  Univer- 
sity, Bequest  to,  by  Miss  C.  E.  Beckwith,  313 ; 
Bequest  to,  by  J.  F.  Cheetham,  213;  Work  of,  in 
Connection  with  the  War,  434 

Manganese  :  in  Natural  Waters,  Circulation  of,  V.  Vincent, 
27 ;  in  Springs,  F.  Jadin  and  A.  Astruc,  23c  ;  of  the 
Pyrenees  Range,   F.   Jadin  and  A.   Astruc,    115 

Mangold-fly,  Breeding  of  the,  Dr.  A.   E.   Cameron,  489 

Manuring  for  Higher  Crop  Production,  Dr.  E.  J.  Russell, 
300 

Maple  Aphis,   Observations  on  the,   E.  J.   Bunnett,  450 

Marcasite,  Wurtzite,  and  Calcite,  The  Paragenesis  of,  at 
Halkyn  Mountain,   H.   W.   Greenwood,   351 

Marine  :  Biological  Association,  Annual  Meeting  of  the, 
166 ;  Invertebrates,  The  Inorganic  Constituents  of, 
Dr.   F.  W.  Clarke,  493 

Market-Garden   Research   Station,   A,   224 

Mars:  Occultation  of,  October  2,  1915,  W.  Voss,  148; 
Study  of  the  Planet,  G.  Hall-Hamilton,  355 ;  The 
Polar  Caps  of.  and  Solar  Radiation,  M.  Antoniadi,  471 

Massachusetts :  Agricultural  College,  Grant  for  New 
Buildings,  157  :  Institute  of  Technology,  Gifts  to,  by 
the  Du  Pont  Family  and  others,  454 

Matematiche,  Storia  delle,  Guida  alio  Studio  della.  Prof. 
G.   Loria,   240 

Materials  of  Construction,  The  Structure  and  Properties 
of  the  more  Common,  G.  B.  Upton,  518 

Mathematical :  Papers  and  Addresses,  398 ;  Tables,  Five- 
Figure,    Compiled   by    E.    Chappell,    179 ;    Text-books, 

179.  439 
Mathematics :    First- Year,    for    Secondary    Schools,    E.    R. 

BresHch,   Fourth   Edition,  439 ;  for  Machinists,   R.   W. 

Burnham,  439  ;  Four  Lectures  on.  Prof.  J.  Hadamard, 

398 ;   Preparation  of  Teachers  of,  49 ;  The  Application 

of,  to  Epidemiology,  M.  Greenwood,  Jr.,  243 
Matter   and    Radiation,    Some   Relations   between,    Dr.   W. 

Duane,   493 
Mauno  Loa,  Eruption  of,  in  May,  H.  O.  Wood,  550 
Mauritius,    Magnetical,    Meteorological,    and    Seismological 

Observations  at,  108 
Measurements,  Theory  of.  Prof.   J.  S.   Stephens,  418 
Mechanical :    Engineers,    Institution    of.    Annual   Report   of 

the,  69  ;  Stimulation,   Nature  of,  W.   J.   V.   Osterhout, 

Mechanics :   Applied,   278 ;   Anplied.    Elementary,   Profs.   T. 

Alexander   and   A.    W.    Thomson,    Third   Edition.   278; 

First    Year,     H.     Aughtie,     278;     Textile,     W.     Scott 

Taggart,  278 
Medium,  The,  under  the  Microscope,   138 
Medlow   Dam,  The,    130 


Meehan,  Thomas,  The  Neglected  Work  of,  Dr.  R.  R. 
Gates,  370 

Melbourne,  The  Water  Supply  of,  351 

Mellish  Comet  1915  a,  C   O.   Lampland ;  E.  C.   Slipher,   17 

Mellon  Institute,  The  Work  of  the,  in  its  Relations  to  the 
Industries  and  to  the  Universities,  Dr.  R.  F.  Bacon, 
491 

Memorials  of  Men  of  Science  in  Westminster  Abbey,  58 

Mendelian  Heredity,  The  Mechanism  of.  Prof.  T.  H. 
Morgan,  A.  H.  Sturtevant,  H.  J.  MuUer,  and  C.  B. 
Bridges,    117 

Mendelism,  Studies  in,  291 

Mentally  Deficient  Children  :  their  Treatment  and  Training, 
Drs.  G.  E.  Shuttleworth  and  W.  A.  fotts.  Fourth 
Edition,   499 

Mercury  :  Jet  Interrupters,  Capt.  C.  E.  S.  Phillips,  394 ; 
Observations  of,  Innes  and  Worssell,  229 ;  The  Planet, 
189 

Mesozoic  Plants  in  the  British  Museum  (Natural  History), 
Catalogue  of  the.  The  Cetaceous  Flora,  part  ii..  Dr. 
Marie  C.  Stopes,  198 

Messier   loi,    Internal   Motion  in,  A.   van   Maanen,   515 

Metallic  Suture  in  Complicated  Fractures,  O.  Laurent,   ii6 

Metallographic  Methods  in  America,  388 

Metallurgical  Industries,  Modern,  The  Place  of  Science  in. 
Sir  W.   Beardmore,  312 

Metallurgy  :  German,  and  British  Methods,  224 ;  Standing 
Committee  on.  First  Meeting  of  the,  245 

Metals:  Annealing  of.  F.  C.  Thompson,  314;  Dr.  R. 
Seligman  and  P.  Williams,  315  ;  Decay  of.  Dr.  C.  H. 
Desch,  169 ;  Grain  Size  Measurements  in,  Z.  Jeffries, 
314;  Institute  of,  Annual  Meeting  of.  Prof.  H.  C.  H. 
Carpenter,  131;  The  Journal  of  the,  vol.  xiv.,  119; 
The  May  Lecture  of  the,  41  ;  Latent  Heats  of  Fusion 
of,  and  the  Quantum-theory,  Dr.  H.  S.  Allen,  311;  ; 
Melting  Points  of.  Determination  of  the,  P.  D.  Foote, 
408 ;  Properties  of  Solid  Solutions  of,  and  of  Inter- 
metalHc  Compounds,  F.  C.  Thompson,  314;  Specula- 
tive Transactions  in,  41 

Meteor,  A  Daylight,  Capt.  W.  F.  Tyler,  17  ;  K  Bright,  410 ; 
A  Large,   428 

Meteoric  :  Display,  A  Tune,  W.  F.  Denning,  388 ;  Shower 
of  June  28,  The  Extraordinary,  428 

Meteorite  :  A  Mvsterious,  Dr.  G.  T.  Prior,  241  ;  of  February 
13.    1915.  The  Large,  W.   F.  Tyler,  388 

Meteorites  :  of  Khairpur  and  Soko-Banja,  The,  Dr.  G.  T. 
Prior,  371; ;  The  Classification  of.  Dr.  G.  T.  Prior,  375 

Meteorological  :  and  Magnetic  Autographs,  280 ;  Observa- 
tions, Prof.  Mohn,  13 ;  High-level,  and  Forecasts  of 
Temperature,  S.  P.  Fergusson,  310;  Phenomena,  Dis- 
continuities in.  Prof.  H.  H.  Turner,  234 

Meteorology:  of  the  Globe  in  1911,  Sir  N.  Shaw,  94:  Pro- 
fessor of,  Major  G.  I.  Taylor  appointed.  81; ;  Chilian, 
530 ;  of  Davis  Strait  and  BaflRn  Bay,  Capt.  C.  Hep- 
worth,  414 

Meteors  :  July  and  August,  W.  F.  Denning.  400 ;  of  Feb- 
ruarv  9.  1913.  The  Remarkable,  W.  F.  Denning,  181 

Metric  System  :  The,  in  America,  506 ;  The  Introduction  of 
the.   Prof.   R.   A.   Gregorv.  44 

Mice,  White,  Behaviour  in,  H.  Bagg,  286 

Microbism,  Latent,  in  Cicatrised  Shot  Wounds,  P.  Lecftne 
and  A.  Frouin,  275 

Micro-organisms,  Living  and  Virulent,  in  Projectiles  en- 
closed in  Cicatrised  Tissues,  E.  Lesn^  and  M.   Phocas, 

Microscope  :  i^ccessorv.  A  New,  Dr.  J.  W.  Evans,  174  ;  and 

other    Optical    Instruments.    Visual    Efficiency    in    the 

Use  of  the,  J.  W.  Purkiss,  334 

Middle  Atlantic  Coast   Upper  Cretaceous   Deposits.   Age   of 

the,  W.  B.  Clark.  E.  W.  Berry,  and  T-  A.  Gardner,  215 

M'ddle«;br«-vugh,  Gifts  for  a  Technical  College  at.  -^73 

Milford,  Geology  of  the  Country  around.  Dr.  Thomas,  470 

Military  Science,  Instruction  in,  in  Schools.  C.   L.   Bryant, 

IS* 
Milk.    National   Clean,    Society,   Two   Publications   of   the, 

440 
Milkv  Way,  The  Constitution  of  the.  Prof.  C.  V.  Charher, 

369 
Mimicry  in  Butterflies,   Prof.   R.   C.   Punnett,  237 
Mimics  Ready-made,  237 
Mind,  The  Growth  of  the.  A.  E.  Crawley,  238 


Nature, 
September  21, 


JieJ 


Index 


XXXI 


Mineral  :  Production  of  Canada,  5^2  ;  Resources,  National 
Interest  in,  428  ;  of  Great  Britain,  Special  Reports  on 
the,  vol.  i.,  Tungsten  and  Manganese  Ores;  ii.,  Barytes 
and  Witherite  ;  iii..  Gypsum  and  Anhydrite;  Celestine 
and  Strontianite,  83  ;  Special  Reports  on  the,  New 
Edition  of  vol.  i.  of  the,  506 ;  of  the  United  Kingdom, 
Sir  R.  Redmayne  128 ;  The  Public  Interest  in,  G.  O. 
Smith,  428 
Mineralogy,    Elements  of,   F.   Rutley.      Revised  by   H.    H. 

Read.     Nineteenth  Edition,  259 
Minerals  :   and  Rocks  :    Useful,  The  Deposits  of  the,  their 
Origin,    Form,    and  Content,    F.    Beyschlag,   J.    H.    L. 
Vogt,    and   P.    Krusch,   457 ;      from   the    Fluorite-barite 
Vein  near  Wagon  Wheel  Gap,  Colorado,  E.  S.  Larsen 
and  R.  C.  Wells,  515 
Mining  :  and  Metallurgy,  The,  Institution  of,  and  the  War, 
86;   Engineers,   Institution  of,   Annual   General  Meeting 
of  the,  548 ;  Scholarships,  Two,  at  the  Royal  School  of 
Mines    and    Armstrong    College,    555 :    Standing    Com- 
mittee on,  appointed  by  the  Advisory  Council,  346 
Minor  Horrors,  More,  Dr.  A.  E.  Shipley ;  Dr.  A.  D.  Imms, 

380 
Mittag-LefBer  Institute,  The,  384 
Mnium,   Certain    Diagnostic  Characters  of  Ten   Species  of 

the  Genus,  Prof.  J.   MacLeod,  335 
Moccasins,    Exhibition    of,    in    the    .American    Museum,    C. 

Wissler,  524 
Modern  Analysis,  A  Course  of.  Profs.  E.  T.  Whittaker  and 

G.   N.  Watson,   Second  Edition,   298 
Molecular  Attractions  in  Solutions,  Earl  of  Berkeley,  301 
Moles,  American,  Review  of  the,  H.  Jackson,  367 
Molybdenite  in  the  British  Empire,  347 
Mon-atomic  Gas,   The   Kinetic   Theory  of  a  Composite,    S. 

Chapman,  455 
Monazite,  The  Supply  of,  448 
Mongooses,  The  External  Characters  of  the,  R.   I.  Pocock, 

214 
Monte   Hermoso.   The  Coast-section  of,   R.  Wichmann,  310 
Moon  :  A  Partial  Eclipse  of  the,  410 ;  The,  Considered  as  a 
Planet,   a  World,   and  a  Satellite,   J.   Nasmyth  and  J. 
Carpenter,  Cheap  Edition,  200 
Morinda,  African  Species  of,  S.   Hutchinson,   187 
Morphin,    Influence    of,    upon    the    Elimination    of    Injected 

Dextrose,  I.  S.  Kleiner  and  S.  J.  Meltzer,  515 
Mortality  :  Laws  and  Statistics,  R.  Henderson,   179  ;  Tables 

and    Preventive   Medicine,   383 

Mosouitoes  :    Halteres    in.    Microscopical    Structure    of   the, 

Baini  Prashad,  313;  of  North  and  Central  America  and 

the  West  Indies,  Howard,  Dyar,  and  Knab.  vol.  ii.,  227 

Moths,     Unusual    Swarms    of,    in    South    Africa,    Dr.     L. 

P^ringuey,   326 
Motion  of  Solids  :  and  Fluids  when  the  Flow  is  not  Irrota- 
tional,    G.     I.    Taylor,    35:; ;    in    a    Liquid    Possessing 
Vorticity,  J.    Proudman.    154 
Motives,   Human.    Prof.   J.   J.    Putnam,   498 
Mou^e,  Yellow-necked,  Habits  of  the.  Miss  F.  Pitt.  128 
Movin.rt    Picture,    The,    and    its    Mechanism,    Prof.    C.    V. 

Boys,  297 
M  Tyoe  Stars,  Two  Classes  of,  W.   S.  .Adams,  215 
Munitions.   Ministry  of.    Salaries  of   Officials   of   Inventions 

Branch  of,   144 
Museums  :  Art,  Effect  of  the  War  upon,  E.  R.  Dibdin.  472  : 
Association,   Annual  Meeting  of  the,  ^85  ;  The  Ipswich 
Conference  of  the.  472  ;   Provincial,  The  Future  of,   F. 
Woolnough,    472  :    Publ'c.   The   Educative   Value   in,   of 
Introductory  Cases  to  .Animal  Groups,  Dr.  J.  A.  Clubb, 
472  :  The  Closing  of,  86 
Musicnl  Sounds.  The  Science  of.  Prof.   D.  C.   Miller,  519 
Mycptozoa.   The  Life-historv  of.    Miss  G.   Lister,   30^ 
Myelin.  Relation  of,  to  the  Loss  of  Water  -n  the  Mammalian 

Nervous  System,   H.  H.    Donaldson,  515; 
Mysore  :    .Annual  Report  of   the   Department   of   Mines   and 
Geology  of,  367 ;  Mines  in.  Report  of  the  Chief  Inspector 
of,    1014,    470:    Outline   of   the    Geological    Historv   of. 
Dr.  W.  F.   Smeeth.  505 


Namaqualand,    Geology    of    the    Copper    Deposits    of.    Dr. 

-A.   W.   Rogers,   367 
Napier:   and  his  Logarithms.   jt;8:   Tercentpnar\-   Memorial 

Volume.  Edited  by  Dr.  C.  G.  Knott,  458 


Naples  and  Messina  Zoological  StaXions,  The  Reale 
Accademia  dei  Lincei  and  the,  204 

Natal  Museum,  Annals  of  the,  vol.  iii.,  part  ii.,  472 
Natality,  The  Monthly  Variation  of,  C.   Richet,  536 

National :  Aspects  of  Chemistry,  Dr.  A.  Scott,  171  ;  Awak- 
ening, 437  ;   Food  Supply  and  Nutritional  Value,  23 1  ; 
Prof.  W.  H.  Thompson  ;  The  Writer  of  the  Article,  261  ; ' 
Physical  Laboratory,  The  Work  of  the,   1915-16,  507  ; 
Union  of  Teachers,  Conference  of  the,  213 

Native  Potentates  and  Colleagues,  Some,  Sir  W.  MacGregor, 
407     • 

Natural    History,    Open-air,    360 ;    Sciences,    The,    as    an 
Integral  Part  of  the  Educational  Course  in.  all  the  Great 
Schools,  Sir  E.  Schafer  and  Dr.  Bridges,  230 
Nature,  Temporary  Reduction  of  Size  of,  85 

Nature's  Cycle  and  Man's  Control,  Dr.  E.  J.  Russell,  331 

Naval  Architects,  Institution  of.  Spring  Meeting  of,   170 

Nebula  N.G.C.  2261,  Changes  in  the  Form  of  the,  E.  P. 
Hubble,  255 

Nebulce  :  in  Cetus,  A  Cluster  of.  Prof.  M.  Wolf,  148 ;  Rota- 
tion of,  W.  W.  Campbell  and  J.  H.  Moore,  268 

Negative  Liquid  Pressure  at  High  Temperatures,  S.  Skinner, 
402 

Neglect  of  Science,  on  the.  Lord  Rayleigh,  230 

Nematodes,  Free-living,  of  the  Gulf  of  Sevastopol,  I. 
Filipjev,  525 

Nemesis  of  Docilitj",  The,  E.  Holmes,  299 

Neolithic  :  and  Later  Human  Bones,  etc.,  in  the  Ipswich 
District,  J.  Reid  Moir  and  Prof.  A.  Keith,  440  ;  Phase 
of  Culture,  Commencement  of  the,  Prof.  G.  Elliot 
Smith,  235 

Nerve  Paths,  Common,  The  Effect  of  High  Resistance  in, 
S.  B.  Russell,  346 

Neujmin  Comet  1916  a:  Prof.  E.  Stromgren,  46,  148,  169: 
J.  Fischer-Petersen  and  Mile.  J.  M.  Vinter-Hansen,  67  ; 
J.   Braae ;  J.   Fischer-Petersen,   130,   189;  J.   Braae,   189 

Neurology  :  Dr.  R.  Armstrong-Jones,  497 ;  .An  Introduction 
to.   Prof.  C.  J.   Herrick,  497 

Neuromuscular  Mechanism  in  Sea-Anemones,  Tjrpes  of. 
Prof.  G.  H.  Parker,  494 

New-born  Infant,  The  Physiology  of  the,  F.  G.  Benedict  and 
F.  B.  Talbot,  128 

Newsholme's  School  Hygiene.  New  Edition,  Re-written  by 
Dr.  J.  Kerr,  420 

New  :  South  Wales,  Geological  and  Mineral  Resources  of, 
L.  F.  Harper,  489  ;  York  State  Commission  on  Ventila- 
tion, Work  of  the,  in  1915,  491  ;  Zealapd  Daylight 
Saving  Bill,  Rejection  of  the,  486 :  Flora,  Illustrations 
of  the.  Edited  by  T.  F.  Cheeseman,  Assisted  by  Dr. 
W.  B.  Hemsley,  2  vols.,  i  ;  Institute,  vol.  xlvii.  of  the 
Transactions  and  Proceedings,  19  ;  Tineina,  Revision  of, 
Meyrick,   19 

Nice  .Automatic  Public  Telephone  System,  The,  E.  Coustet, 

87 

Nickel  :  and  Iron  Wires,  Subsidence  of  Torsional  Oscilla- 
tions of,  Prof.  W.  Brown,  175 ;  Wire,  Change  of 
Length  in.   Prof.   W.    Brown,    175 

Nigeria  :  and  the  Gold  Coast,  Rainfall  of,  C.  E.  P.  Brooks, 
2<? ;    Northern,    -A    Pioneer    Bucket    Dredge    in,    H.    E.    • 
Nicholls,  26 ;  The  Useful  Plants  of,  part  iii.,  87 

Night  Marching  by  Stars,  E.  A.  Reeves,  347 

Niles  Cone  and  .Adjacent  Areas,  California,  Ground  Water 
Resources  of  the,  W.  O.  Clark,  17 

Nimrod  and  Dougherty  Islands,  287 

Nitrate,  Loss  by  Washing  Out  from  Arable  Soil,  Dr.  E.  J. 
Russell  and  A.  Appleyard,  228 

Nitrates  by  Fixation  from  .Atmospheric  Nitrogen,  409 

Nitre-Cake,  Use  of.  during  the  War,  227 ;  Utilisation  of. 
Prof.   G.  T.   Morgan,  275 

Nitric  Esters,  The  Pharmacological  .Action  of.  Prof.  C.  R. 
Marshall,  415 

Nitrogen,  An  Active  Modification  of,  Hon.  R.  J.  Strutt,  273 

Nobel  Prizes.   Postponement  of  the  Distribution  of  the,  448 

North :  American  Datum,  Geographical  Positions  on  the, 
228;  -Eastern  Railway.  Electrification  of  the.  310; 
Heemskirk  Tinfield.  Tasmania,  The,  L.  L.  Waterhouse, 
470 ;  of  Scotland  College  of  Agriculture,  Calendar  of 
the,  513  :  Pole,  Capt.  R.  Amundsen's  Proposed  Expedi- 
tion to  the,   106 

Norway,  Geological  Research  in,  34 ;^ 

Norwegian  Meteorological  Institute.  Publications  of  lJ%«.  427 


XXXll 


Index 


[Nature, 
September  21,  iqi6 


Nova   Geminorum    No.    2,    The   Spectrum    of,    Adams   and 

Pease,  311 
Nubia,  The  Archaeological  Survey  of,   Report  for   1909-10, 

C.  M.   Firth,   loi 
Numbers,  The  Partition  of.  Major  P.  A.  MacMahon,  253 
Numerals:    Col.    A.    Strange 's,    W.    Shackleton,    169;    for 

Scales  and  Punches,  A.  P.  Trotter,  121 
Nutrition,   Study  of,   Newer  Standpoints  in  the,   Dr.   F.   G. 

Hopkins,    409 
Nutritional  Physiology,  Prof.  P.   G.  Stiles,  Second  Edition, 

140 


Occupation  and   Health,   377 

Occupations,  Sir  T.  Oliver,  377 

Oceanographical    and    Meteorological    Observations    in    the 

Indian   Ocean,   New  Edition  of,    147 
Oceanography,  Arctic,  523 

Ochil  Earthquakes  of   1900-1914,    Dr.   C.    Davison,    175 
Ohio  State   University,    Establishment   and  Maintenance  of 

Research  Professorships,  73 
Oil :  and  Gas  Fields  of  Ontario  and  Quebec,  W.  Malcolm, 

410 ;   and   Resin  in   Varnishes,    Determination   of,    249  ; 

-shales,   The   Kimmeridge,   202 
Old  London's  Spas,   Baths,  and  Wells,  Dr.   S.   Sunderland, 

53 
Om  Borns  Idealer,   Dr.   A.   Lehmann,  313 
Oocystis  and  Eremosphaera,   G.   I.   Playfair,  415 
Opossums  of  the  Genus  Trichosurus,  Colour  Variations  of. 

Dr.  A.  S.  Le  Souef,  326 
Optical    Glass:    an   Historical    Note,    F.    J.    Cheshire,    100; 
and  Fluorite  :  an  Ethical  Note,   Prof.   M.   Hartog,   180  ; 
F.   J.   Cheshire,    181  ;  Manufacture  and  Application   of, 
Dr.    R.    M.    Walmsley,  263 ;    Industry   in    France,   The, 
A.    Boutaric,    520 ;    Society   of   America,    Formation    of 
the,  486 
Optics,  A  New  Text-book  of,    199  ;  Applied,  An  Association 
for    the    Advancement    of,     formed    in    America,     63  ; 
Technical,     Plea    for     Establishment    of     an     Imperial 
School  of,  308 
Oranges  and  Lemons,   Persistency  of  Style  in,   R.   Pirotta, 

287 
Oraons  of  Chota  Nagpur,  Unrest  among  the,  186 
Orchards,  Pollination  of,  C.  H.  Hooper,   143 
Ore  :    Deposits,  457 ;  -forming  Compounds,   Fractional  Pre- 
cipitation of  some,   R.   C.   Wells,   229 
Organic  Chemistry,    54 

Organisms,   Dispersal  of,   Dr.  J.   C.   Willis,  274 
Orion  Nebula  :   Proper  Motion  of  the,  J.  Comas  Sol^,   169  ; 
Discovery     by     Peiresc     of    the,     G.     Bigourdan,     175 ; 
(1976  N.G.C.),  The  Great  Nebula  in,  J.  C.   Sol^,    135 
VV  Orionis,  The  Orbit  of,  Z.   Daniel,  46 
Ornithological   Observations   in    Iceland,    E.    Selous,    106 
Ornithology,    A    Bibliography    of    British,     Major    W.     H. 

Mullens  and  H.   Kirke  Swann,  part  i.,  440 
Osmotic:    Pressure   or   Osmotic   Suction?,    Prof,    van    Laar 
and    Prof.    Ehrenfest,    68 ;    F.    Tinker,    122  ;   Pressures, 
Direct,  Determinations  of.  Earl  of  Berkeley  and  E.  G.  J. 
Hartley,  354 
Otter,    The    Life    Story    of    an,    J.    C.    Tregarthen,    New 

Edition,  360 
Over  :   -fishing  of  the  North  Sea,  The,  342  ;  -voltage.  The 

Theory  of,  Dr.  E.  Newbery,  475 
Oxford  University :  Annual  Report  of  the  Museum,  373 ; 
Conference  on  New  Ideals  in  Education,  373  ;  Vaca- 
tion Course  of  the  School  of  Geography,  373  ;  Degree 
conferred  on  D.  W.  Freshfield,  393  ;  Halley  Lecture 
for  19 16,  253  ;  New  Statute  re  the  Honour  School  of 
Chemistry,  21^3 ;  Herbert  Spencer  Lecture,  Prof.  J. 
Mark  Baldwin,  93;;  Prof.  Mark  Baldwin's  Romanes 
Lecture,  24 ;  School  of  Forestrv,  24  :  New  Proposals  for 
Candidates  for  Honours  in  Chemistry,  24,  ^9  ;  School 
of  Geography,  A  Summer  Course  at  the.  115;  The 
Readership  in  Geography,  73  ;  Visit  of  French  Pro- 
fessors, 313  ;  Prof.  A.  Schuster  appointed  Halley  Lec- 
turer, 313  ;  Postponement  of  Election  of  a  Reader  in 
Geograohy,  313 
Oxyeen,    Nitrogen,    Neon,    and    Helium,    Behaviour   of,    at 

Low   Temperatures,    Prof.    Onnes   and  pupils,   450 
Oysters,    Causes    of    Inclusion    of    Foreign    Material    in,    C. 
Houlbert  and   C.    Galaine,    52 


Pacific  :  Exploration  of  the,  W.  M.  Davis  and  others,  515  ; 

Islands,  Problems  of  the.   Prof.  R.  A.  Daly,  389 
Palaeolithic    Implement    found   in    North    Ashanti,    F.    W. 

Migeod,  247 
Palaiontographical  Society,  Annual  Meeting  and  Officers  of, 

145 
Paper-making,  Wood  Pulps  for,  C.  .F.  Cross,  35 
Paradoxes,    A    Budget  of,   A.   de   Morgan,    Second    Edition, 

Edited  by  Prof.  D.  E.  Smith,  2  vols.,  77 
Paraffin,   Temperature  and  the  Structure  of,  T.   Pecialski, 

315 
Paris  :  Academy  Prize  Awards,  64  ;  Observatory,  The  Great 

Meridian  Circle  of  the,  249 
Parmentier,   An    Unpublished  Letter  of,  M.    Balland,   335 
Parthenogenetic  Frogs,  The  Sex  of,  J.   Loeb,  455 
Part-time  Education  for  Boys  and  Girls,  J.  H.  Reynolds,  115 
Paste,   A  Prehistoric,  J.   and  C.   Cotte,   295 
Pasteur  :  Address  on,  G.  Bonnier,  105  ;  The  Glory  of,  Award 

of  Prize  to  Prof.  C.  Richet  for  Poem  on,  513 
Patagonia,  Basalts  in,  F.  Pastore,  87 

Patagonians,  Weapons  of  Former,   Dr.   F.   F.   Outes,  347 
Patent  Office  Library,  The,    105 
Pathometry,    a    priori,    An    Application    of    the    Theory    of 

Probabilities    to    the    Study    of,    Lt.-Col.    Sir    R.    Ross, 

244 
Patterns  to   appear   Conspicuous   in   Nature,    Factors   which 

cause.  Dr.  J.  C.  Mottram,  274 
Pawnee    Human    Sacrifice    to    the    Morning  Star,    The,    C. 

Wissler  and  H.    Spinden,   86 
Peach  Blossoms,  Damage  to,  by  Larvae,  A.  Mignone,  207 
Pearls    and    Pearl-shells,    Geographical    Distribution   of    the 

Use  of,  J.  W.  Jackson,  235 
Pear-shaped  Figure  of  Equilibrium,  Instability  of  the,  J.  H. 

Jeans,    154 
Peat  :    as   a   Source  of  Power,    G.    Fletcher,    19 ;   Bogs   and 

Peat  Industry  of  Canada,  The,   A.   Anrep,  505  ;   Indus- 
tries of  Wisconsin,  The,    F.   W.   Huels,   269  ;   Problem, 

Some  Chemical  Aspects  of  the.  Prof.  G.  T.  Morgan,  19  ; 

The  Utilisation  of,  19 
Peiresc,    Some  Works  of,    G.    Bigourdan,    195 ;   The   Imme- 
diate Collaborators  of,   G.    Bigourdan,   315 
"Peneplain,"  The  Term,  Prof.  D.  W.  Johnson,  489 
Pennsylvania  University,   Bequests  to,  by  Dr.  J.  W.   White 

and  Prof.  J.   R.  Barton,  414 
Pent-ine  and  Hefner  Lamps,  Experiments  on  the,  W.  J.  A. 

Butterfield,   J.   S.    Haldane,   and   A.   P.    Trotter,    188 
Penzance    and   the    Land's    End    District,    Edited   by    J.    B. 

Cornish  and  J.  A.  D.  Bridger,  360 
Peridotite  with  Rhombic  Pyroxene,  the  Source  of  Platinum, 

L.   Duparc  and  A.  Grosset,   526 
Perseid   Meteors,   The   Shower  of,  348 
Personal    Equation    and     Steadiness    of    Judgment,    J.     A. 

Harris,  75 
Peru,   Agriculture   and   Native  Vegetation   in,   O.    F.    Cook, 

368 
Peru-Bolivia  Boundary  Commission,   Sir  T.   Holdich,    15 
Peruvian    Bronzes    from    Machu    Picchu,    A    Metallographic 

Description  of  some  Ancient,   C.   H.   Matthewson,  388 
Petrel,  Short-tailed,  Cause  of  Death,  in  New  South  Wales, 

G.   B.   Hull,   326 
Petrography  of   Trachytic   and   Allied    Rocks    in    the    Clyde 

Lava  Plateaux,    C.   W.   Tyrrell,   4i.i; 
Petroleum  :  and  Residual  Bitumens  in  Leyte,  W.  E.  Pratt, 

367 ;    Technologists,    Institution    of.    New    Officers    and 

Council  of  the,    106 
Petrology  :   Practical,  Methods  in,  H.  B.  Milner  and  G.  M. 

Part,    361  ;    The,   of   some    South    Sea    Islands    and    its 

Significance,  Prof.  J.  P.  Iddings,  403 
Pfaffians    connected    with    the    Difference-product,     Sir    T. 

Muir,  335 
PharmacQlogy^   A   Manual  of.    Prof.   W.    E.    Dixon,    Fourth 

Edition,    70 
Phenological  Observations  for  1915,  J.  E.  Clark  and  H.  B. 

Adames,  374 
Phenyloxvmaleic  Anhydride,  J.  Bougault,  205 
Philadelphia,    Zoological  Society  of.   Annual   Report  of  the, 

326 
Philipoine  Coal-beds,   Persistence  of  the,  W.   E;   Pratt,  367 
Philip's   A    Plea   for    an    Orderly    Almanac,    Dr.    A.   C.    D. 

Crommelin,    31 
Phonetic  Machine,  A  New,  J.  B.   Flowers,  88 


Nature,  "i 

Stpttntbtr  21,  1916J 


Index 


XXXlll 


Phosphates  in  Basic  Slags  and  Mineral  Phosphates,  G.  S. 

Robertson,  248 
Photo  :  -electric  Phenomena,  Quantum  Relations  in,  R.  A. 

Millikan,   75 ;     Photometry,     Prof.     J.    Stebbins,     207 ; 

synthesis,   The  Primary  Sugar  of.   Prof.  H.   H.   Dixon 

and  T.  G.  Mason,  160 
Phycomycites  Frodinghamii,  Ellis,  The,   Dr.   D.   Ellis,  355 
Physical  Society,   Proceedings  of  the,   August,   550 
Physiological  Abstracts,  449 
Physiology  in  the   Workshop,    162 
Physique,  Journal  de,   288 

Picrite-teschenite  Sill  of  Lugar,  The,   G.   W.  Tyrrell,   195 
Pigmentation  in  the  Human  Skin,  A.  E.  Jenks,  215 
Piltdown  :     Fossil    Remains,    309 ;    Skull,    The,     Prof.     G. 

Elliot  Smith,   26 
Pine-apple  Wine,  Ferments  of,  H.  Fouqu^,   135 
Pinnate  Leaves,  Leaf  Trace  in  some.  Dr.  R.  C.  Davie,  95 
Pinus :  longifolia,    R.    S.    Troup,    469 ;   pinaster.    Extraction 

of   a    Yellow   Substance   from,    R.    Lepetit    and   C.    C. 

Satta,  287 
Piper's   Trance   Phenomena,    Psychology   of   Mrs.,    A   Con- 
tribution to  the  Study  of  the,   Mrs.   H.   Sidgwick,   138 
Piracy  of  Mathematical   Discoveries,   Prof.  G.   Loria,  287 
Pisidium,   Fossil,   New  to  Ireland,   R.  A.   Phillips,  505 
Pityostrobus     (Pinites)     macrocephalus     from     the     Lower 

Eocene,  Internal  Structure  of,  C.   P.   Dutt,  355 
Plaice-marking   Experiments,   English,  450 
Plains  of   Northern   India,   The,   and   their   Relationship  to 

the  Himalaya  Mountains,  Sir  S.   Burrard,  391 
Plane  Analysis  Situs,   The   Foundations   of,   R.    L.    Moore, 

395 
Planetary :     Motion,    The     Perturbative     Function    in     the 

Theory  of,   R.   T.  A.    Innes,   335 ;   Orbits,   Distribution 

of  the  Poles  of.  Prof.  H.  C.  Plummer,  551 
Planets,     Monochromatic    Photographs    of,     Prof.     R.     W. 

Wood,  471 
Plant  Growth,   Radio-activity  and,   M.   Sutton,   411 
Plants,  New  Species  of,  from  India,  China,  and  Africa,  206 
Platforms  and   Reefs  in   the  Virgin   and   Leeward   Islands, 

T.  W.  Vaughan,  389 
Platinum   Goods,    Qualities  of,   G.   K.    Burgess  and   P.    D. 

Sale,   66 
Platyzoma    microphyllum,    .Anatomy   and    Affinity   of,   J.    M. 

Thompson,  95 
Pleistocene    Formations    of    Europe,    Asia,    and    Northern 

Africa,  Prof.  H.   F.   Osborn,  87 
Pleurotus  japonicus,   Katamura,   504 

Plumage,  Renewal  of,  by  Moulting,  Dr.  C.  B.  Ticehurst,  14 
Point    Sets    and    Allied    Cremona    Groups,    A.     B.     Coble 

(part  ii.),  255 
Poisonous  Plants  in  the  N.O.  Solanaceae,  Dr.  J.  M.  Petrie, 
„      415 

Pole  Effect  in  the  Calcium  Arc,  The,  Gale  and  Whitney,  268 
Poliomyelitis,  Acute,  in  New  York  and  Aberdeen,  524 
Pollination  :  of  Fruit  Trees,  The,    142  ;   Relations  of  Birds 

and  Flowers  in  regard  to,  A.  G.  Hamilton,  375 
Polvoeotide-hydantoins,   T.    B.   Johnson,   75 
Pons-Winnecke's  Comet  and  the  Meteoric  Shower  of  June 

28,  W.  F.   Denning,  451 
Poplars,  The  Black,  Prof.  A.  Henry,  107 
Porcelain,  The  Manufacture  of,   124 

Portland :    Cement,    Manufacture,    Properties,    and   Testing 
of,  B.  J.  Day,  329;  Cements,  High-pressure  Steam  Test 
of,    150 
Positive  Sciences  of  the  Ancient  Hindus,  The,  Dr.   B.  Seal, 
_      177 
Post :  -graduate  Scholarships  and  Fellowships,  68  ;  -mortem 

Methods,  Prof.  J.  M.  Beattie,  80 
Potash,  Production  of,  in  the  United  States,  16 
Poultry,   Diseases  of,   R.    Pearl,   F.  M.   Surface,  and  M.   R. 

Curtis,   339 
Prehistoric  :  and  Ethnographical  Specimens,  Lord  .Avebury's 
presented  to  Museums,   486 ;  Art,   250 ;  Industry,   A,   in 
Tabular  Flint,  R.  E.  Nicholas,  468 
Prehistory  in   India,   319 
Pressure  Differences,  Readjustment  of,  L.  C.  W.  Bonacina, 

Preventive  :  Eugenics,  123  ;  Medicine,  Mortality  Tables  and, 
_  .  383 

Prxmula    verticillata    and    P.    Hortbunda.    Crosses    between. 
Misses  C.   Pellew  and  F.   M.  Durham,  apt 


Princeton  University,  Bequest  to,  by  M.  A.  Fisk,  173 
Probabilities,  The   Mathematical  Theory  of,  and  its  Appli- 
cation   to    Frequency    Curves    and    Statistical   Methods, 

A.   Fisher,  Translated  by  W.   Bonynge,  vol.  i..  Mathe- 
matical Probabilities  and   Homograde  Statistics,    179 
Productive :    Research   in    the    United    States,     150 ;    Work 

and  Classical  Education,   Sir  Lauder   Brunton,   461 
Proper  Motions,  Radial  Velocities,  and  Magnitudes  of  Stari 

of  Classes  B  and  A,  C.   D.  Perrine,  396 
Proto-oxygen  the  Principal  Constituent  of  the  Atoms?,   Is, 

A.  van  den  Broek,  479 
Protopterus  ethiopicus.  Nests  of.  Sir  F.  J.  Jackson,   167 
Protozoa  :   and  Disease,   Some  Recent  Studies  on,    18  ;  from 

Accra,    Dr.   J.   W.    S.    Macfie,    18 ;   in   relation   to   Soil 

Bacteria,  Dr.  T.  Goodey,  455 
Pseudo-tachylyte  of  Parijs,  The,  Prof.  S.  J.  Shand,   174 
Psychology  :    Normal   and  Abnormal,   The   Foundations  of. 

Dr.  B.  Sidis,  238;  498 
Psycho-physiological  Reaction,  The  Time  Minimum  in  the, 

to  Visual  and  Aural  Stimulations,  C.   Richet,  496 
Ptolemy's  Catalogue  of  Stars,  A  Revision  of  the  .Almagest, 

Dr.    C.    H.  F.    Peters   and   E.    B.   Knobel,   282 ;    E.   J. 

Webb;  The  Reviewer,  341 
Public  School :    Reform,  306 ;   Science  Masters,  Association 

of.  Next  General  Meeting  of  the,  434 
Purbeck  Characeae,  C.   Reid  and  J.  Groves,  94 
Pycnogonida,  Dr.  W.  T.  Caiman,  46 
Pyranometer,  The,   C.   G.  Abbot  and  L.  B.  Aldrich,  456 
Pyrenees,     Geological    Structure    of     the,     P.    W^     Stuart- 

Menteath,  168 
Pyridine    Bases,    The    Formation    of,    by    Condensation    of 

Ketones  and  Amides,  A.  Pictet  and  P.  Stehelin,  350 

Queensland :  .Artiodactyle  Fossils,  The  Supposed,  H.  A. 
Longman,  416;  Mesozoic  and  Tertiarv-  Insects  found  in, 
R.  J.  Tillyard  and  B.  Dunstan,  489  ;  Royal  Society  of. 
Dr.  R.  Hamlyn-Harris  elected  President  of  the,  246 

Radiation  :   Complete,  Constant  of,  W.  W.   Coblentz,   168 ; 
Laws  and  Stellar  Photometry,  Dr.  C.  V.   L.  Charlier, 
148 
Radiations  :    Emitted  by   Degenerating  Tissues,  J.   S.   v.   d. 
Lingen,  376;  Highly  Penetrating,  of  Tungsten,  etc.,  de 
Broglie,  214 
Radio :    -active    Minerals    and    Measurement    of    Geological 
Time,  Dr.  A.  Holmes,  45  ;  -activity  and  Plant  Growth, 
M.  Sutton,  411 
j  Radiotelegraphy     and     Radiotelephony     for     Students     and 
I  Operators,    An    Elementary    Manual    of.    Prof.    J.    A. 

'  Fleming,  Third  Edition,  440 

Radium,  X-rays,  and  the  Living  Cell,    H.   .\.   Colwell  and 

Dr.  S.   Russ,   137 
Rainbows,  Ground,  A.  E.  Heath,  <; ;  C.  T.  Whitmell ;  Dr. 

C.  G.   Knott,  34  :  Capt.  C.  J.   P.  Cave,  57 
Rainfall :  for  February,  The,   129 ;  for  March,   Dr.   H.   R. 

Mill,    127 
Rajapur,  The  Intermittent  Spring  at,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Steichen, 

310 
Ramsay,  The  Funeral  of  Sir  William,  466 
Rand  Earth-tremors,  The,  106 
Rangoon  River  Training  Works,  The,  Sir  G.  C.  Buchanan, 

108 
Rat,  The,   Reference  Tables  and   Data  for  the  .Albino  Rat 
and  the  Norway  Rat,  Compiled  and  Edited  by  H.   H. 
Donaldson,   119 
Raven,  Behaviour  of  the,  when  Attacked  bv  the  Peregrine, 

C.  J.  Carroll,  426 
Ray  Society  Annual  General  Meeting,  127 
Reaction  :    -System    Relations,    Hereditary,    R.    E.    Clausen 
and  T.    H.   Goodspeed,   255  ;  Times,  The,  of  the  Can- 
didates for  Aviation.  J.  Camus  and  M.  Nepper,  496 
Readers'  Guide  to  Periodical  Literature,  Supplement  to  the, 

229 
Reading  University  College  Revie-dj,  The,  555 
Reaper,  Horse,  A  Home-made,  in  Russia,  550 
Reflex,    The :    as   a   Creative   Act,    S.    I.    Metalnikov,   326 ; 

The  Conditioned.   J.    B.   Watson,   167 
Reform  of  the  Man  of  Science,  The,  Lt.-Col.  J.  W.  Barret» 


XXXIV 


Index 


r  •         Nature, 
\,Stptfiuber  21, 


1916 


Relationship,     Terms     of,     and     Social     Organisation,     T. 

Michelson,   396 
Relativity  :    and    Electrons,   30 ;   and   the   Electron   Theory, 

E.  Cunningham,  30 
Religious  Progress,  A  Generation  of.   Edited  by  G.  Spiller, 

339 

Reptilia,  Classification  of  the,  E.  S.  Goodrich,  254 
Research  :  Application  of,  Value  of  the,  to  the  Purposes  of 
the    War,     25  ;    Council    of    the    United    States,    The 
Nat'onal,  464  ;  Gift  by  Mrs.  Streatfeild  for  the  Promo- 
tion of,  495  ;  in  Industry  and  the  Future  of  Education, 

357- 
Resin  in  Driers,  Detection  of,  249 
Resinous  Masses,  Two,  Analysis  of,   L.   Reutter,  254 
Resistance  with  Voltage  at  a  Rectifying  Contact,  Laws  of 

Variation  of,   D.  Owen,  214 
Resistances,  The  Measurement  of,  G.   Bourguignon,  395 
Respiratory  Exchange  of  Man,   A  Comparison  of  Methods 

for  Determining  the,   Dr.   T.   M.  Carpenter,  430 
Return   Currents   and   Electrolytic  Corrosion,   303 


REVIEWS     AND     OUR     BOOKSHELF. 

Agriculture  : 

Barker  (Prof.  P.   B.),  and  Prof.  H.  J.  Young,  A  Manual 

of  Soil  Physics,   119 
Bengtson  (N.  A.),   and  D.   Griffith,  The  Wheat   Industry 

for  use  in  Schools,  79 
Cousins  (H.   H.),  The  Chemistry  of  the  Garden,  Revised 

Edition,  519 
Cunningham   (Prof.    J.    C),    and   W.    H.    Lancelot,    Soils 

and  Plant  Life  as  related  to  Agriculture,  55 
Hall  (A.  D.),  Agriculture  after  the  War,  450 
Russell    (Dr.    E.    J.),    A    Student's    Book   on    Soils    and 

Manures,    55 ;   Manuring  for   Higher  Crop   Production, 

300 
Wolseley  (Viscountess),  Women  and  the  Land,  320 

Anthropology  and  Archaeology : 

Firth    (C.    M.),    The    Archaeological    Survey    of    Nubia, 

Report  for   1909-10,    loi 
Foote  (R.   B.),   Madras  Government  Museum,  The  Foote 

Collection     of     Indian     Prehistoric     and     ProtohistorIc 

Antiquities,   319 
Johnston    (Sir    H.    H.),    Anthropology   and   Fauna   of   the 

Chad    Basin    (Documents    Scientifiques    de    la    Mission 

Tilho  (1906-09),  Tome  troisi^me),  9 
Leaf   (Dr.   W.),    Homer  and   History,    118 
Macalister  (Prof.  A.),   Notes  on  the  Fenland,  431 
Mann   (L.   M.),   Archaic  Sculpturings,  99 
Russell  (R.  v.),  assisted  by  Rai  Bahadur  Hira  Lai,  The 

Tribes  and  Castes  of  the  Central   Provinces   of   India, 

A.    vols.,    363 

Smith  (Prof.  G.  Elliot),  The  Archaeological  Survey  of 
Nutia,    loi 

Biology : 

Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries,  Fishery  Investiga- 
tions, series  ii..  Sea  Fisheries,  vol.  ii.,  Nos.  1-5; 
vol  iii.,  Nos.    1-2,  342 

Boulenger  (Dr.  G.  A.),  Catalogue  of  the  Fresh-water 
Fishes  of  Africa  in  the  British  Museum  (Natural 
History),  vol.  iv.,  218 

Bradley  (Dr.   O.  C),  The  Structure  of  the  Fowl,  56 

Caiman  (Dr.  W.  T.),  British  Antarctic  {Terra  Nova) 
Expedition.  1910,  Natural  History  Report,  Zoology, 
vol.   iii.,   No.    I,   Pycnogonida,  46 

Cheeseman  (T.  F.),  assisted  by  Dr.  W.  B.  Hemsley,  Illus- 
trations of  the  New  Zealand  Flora,   2  vols.,    i 

Clark  (A.  H.),  A  Monograph  of  the  Existing  Crinoids, 
vol.  i.,  The  Comatulids,  part  i.,  46 

Crabtree  (J.  H.),  British  Fungi  and  how  to  Identify 
them,   160 

Dewar  (D.).  A  Bird  Calendar  for  Northern   India,  239 

Donaldson  (H.  H.),  The  Rat  :  Reference  Tables  and  Data 
for  the  Albino  Rat,   and  the  Norway  Rat,   120 

Evans  (A.  H.),  The  Birds  of  Britain  :  their  Distribution 
and   Habits,   540 


Gamble    (J.    S.),    Flora    of    the    Presidency    of    Madras, 

part  i.,  31 
Hayata    (B.),     Icones    Plantarum    Formosanarum,    etc., 

vol.   v.,   220 
Heron-Allen  (E.),  and  A.  Earland,  Foraminifera  from  the 

Kerimba  Archipelago,  90 
Imms  (Dr.  A.   D.),  Shipley's  More  Minor  Horrors,  380 
Johnston  (Sir  H.  H.),  The  Fresh-water  Fishes  of  Africa, 

ai8 
McFarland   (J.    H.),   My   Growing  Garden,   259 
Mcintosh   (Prof.    W.    C),    A   Monograph   of   the   British 

Marine    Annelids,    vol.    iii.,    part    i..    Text;    vol.    iii., 

part  ii..   Plates,   397 
Morgan  (Prof.   T.   H.),  A.   H.   Sturtevant,   H.   J.   MuUer, 

and  C.  B.  Bridges,  117 
Myjlens  (Major  W.   H.),  and  H.  Kirke  Swann,  A  Biblio- 
graphy of  British  Ornithology,  part  i.,  440 
Nelson  (Dr.  J.  A.),  The  Embryology  of  the  Honey-Bee,  97  . 
Nuttall   (Prof.    G.    H.    F.),    and   L.    E.    Robinson,    Biblio- 
graphy of  the  Ixodoidea,  part  ii.,  420 
Nuttall   (Prof.   G.    H.   F.),   and  C.  Warburton,   Ticks  :   A 

Monograph  of  the  Ixodoidea,  part  iii.,  420 
Pearl  (Dr.  R.),  Modes  of  Research  in  Genetics,  399 
Pearl  (Dr.  R.),  F.  M.  Surface,  and  M.  R.  Curtis,  Diseases 

of  Poultry,  339 
Punnett  (Prof.   R.  C),   Mimicry  in  Butterflies,   237 
Seward    (Prof.    A.    C),    Stopes's    The    Cretaceous    Flora, 

part  ii.,   198 
Shipley  (Dr.  A.   E.),  More  Minor  Horrors,  380 
Stopes  (Dr.  Marie  C.).  Catalogue  of  the  Mesozoic  Plants 

in     the      British      Museum     (Natural      History),      The 

Cretaceous  Flora,  part  ii.,    198 
Swithinbank  (H.),  and  G.  E.  Bullen,  British  Sea  Fish,  260 
Tregarthen   (J.    C),   The   Life   Story   of   an    Otter,    New 

E(Jition,   360 
Wailes     (G.     H.),     British     Freshwater     Rhizopoda     and 

Heliozoa,   vol.   iii.,   Rhizopoda,   part  iii.,    178 
Wilkinson  (A.    E.),   The  Apple,   277 
Wood  (S.  T.),   Rambles  of  a  Canadian  Naturalist,  360 

Chemistry : 

Atack  (F.   W.),  The  Chemists'  Year-book,   1916,  2  vols., 

320 
British   Journal   Photographic  Almanac,    19 16,    Edited   by 

G.   E.   Brown,  4 
Caldwell  (O.  W.),  W.   L.    Eikenberry,   and  C.   J.   Pieper, 

A  Laboratory  Manual  for  Work  in  General  Science,  99 
Findlay  (Prof.  A.),  Chemistry  in  the  Service  of  Man,  538 
Friend    (Dr.     J.     Newton),     A    Text-book    of     Inorganic 

Chemistry,    vol.    viii.,    257;    The    Theory    of    Valency, 

Second   Edition,   218 
Highton    (H.     P.),    The    Rugby    Course    of    Elementary 

Chemistry,   218 
Hooton  (W.  M.),  Qualitative  and  Volumetric  Analysis,  218 
Huels  (F.  W.),  The  Peat  Resources  of  Wisconsin,  269 
Hurst  (G.   H.),  Colour,  Second  Edition,  219 
Hyde   (F.   S.),  Solvents,    Oils,   Gums,   Waxes,    and  Allied 

Substances,    139 
Lowry  (Prof.  T.   M.),  Chemistry,   Historical  Introduction 

to,  29 
Lunge  (Prof.  G.),  Coal-Tar  and  Ammonia,  Fifth  Edition, 

3  parts,   517 
Martin    (Dr.    G.),    Modern    Chemistry    and    its    Wonders, 

257 ;    and    E.    A.    Dancaster,    The    Halogens    and    their 

Allies,    257 ;    and   Major  J.    L.    Foucar,    Sulphuric   Acid 

and  Sulphur  Products,   118;  S.   Smith,  and  F.   Milsom, 

The  Salt  and  Alkali   Industry,  359 
McPherson    (Prof.    W.),    and    Prof.    W.    E.     Henderson, 

Laboratory  Manual  arranged  to  accompany  "  A  Course 

in   General  Chemistry,"   218 
Richter  (V.  von).  Organic  Chem'stry,  vol.  i.,  Chemistry  of 

the   Aliphatic    Series,    Translated    and   Revised   by    Dr. 

P.   E.   Spielmann,  54 
Smith    (Prof.    A.),    A    Laboratory   Outline  of   Elementary 

Chemistry,  257  ;  A  Text-book  of  Elementary  Chemistry, 

257 
Thompson    (Prof.    W.    H.),    The    Food    Value    of    Great 

Britain's  Food  Supply,  231 
Thorpe  (Sir  E.),  Coal-Tar  and  Ammonia,  517;  The  Worth 

of  Chemistry,  538 


NatHt  e, 
September  21,  1916, 


Index 


XXXV 


I 


VVaggaman  (W.  H.),  The  Production  of  Sulphuric  Acid 
and  a  Proposed  New  Method  of  Manufacture,  60 

Washburn  (Prof.  E.  W.),  An  Introduction  to  the  Prin- 
ciples of  Physical  Chemistry  from  the  Standpoint  of 
Modern  Atomistics  and  Thermodynamics,  277 

Xngineering: 

Bryan   (K.),    Ground   Water  for    Irrigation   in    the  Sacra- 
mento Valley,  California,   17 
Carpenter  (E.),  Ground  Water  in  South-Eastern  Nevada, 

Chalkley   (A.    P.),    Diesel   Engines   for   Land   and   Marine 

Work,   Fourth  Edition,   158 
Clark    (W.    O.),    Ground    Water    Resources    of    the    Niles 

Cone  and  Adjacent  Area,   California,    17 
Harper  (J.   H.),   Harper's  Hydraulic  Tables  for  the  Flow 

of  Water  in  Circular  Pipes,  etc.,  460 
Hess    (Prof.    H.    D.),    Graphics    and    Structural    Design, 

Second  Edition,  200 
Meinzer   (O.    E.),   and   R.    F.    Hare,    Geology   and  Water 

Resources  of  Tularosa   Basin,   New   Mexico,    17 
Riggs    (Prof.    N.    C),    Hancock's   Applied    Mechanics    for 

Engineers,  New  Edition,  3 
Supino  (G.),  Translated  by  Eng.   Comm.   S..   G.    Bremner 

and  J.    Richardson,   Land  and  Marine   Diesel   Engines, 

158 
Upton  (G.   B.),  The  Structure  and  Properties  of  the  more 

Common  Materials  of  Construction,  518 
Waring  (G.  A.),  Springs  of  Californa.  17 

Oeography  and  Travel : 

Bloom  (J.  H.),  Warwickshire,  99 

Cornish  (J.   B.),  and  J.  .A.   D.   Bridger,  Pe:!'r.nce  and  the 

Land's  End  District,  360 
Henderson  (J.  B.),  The  Cruise  of  the  Tomas  Farrera,  478 
Muir  (T.  S.),  East  Lothian,  140 
^     Salisbury  (F.  S.),  Rambles  in  the  Vaudese  Alps,  201 
^K  Smith  (Prof.  J.   R.),   Commerce  and   Industry,    C39 
^^b  Stanford's  War  Maps,  Nos.  16  and  17,  107 
^■Taylor  (Dr.  Griffith),  with  Scott  :  The  Silver  L  ning,  280 
B^Wetherill  (H.  B.),  The  World  and  its  Discovery,  4  parts, 
^^         1520 

Geology  and  Mineralogy : 

Beyschlag   (Dr.    F.),    Prof.    J.    H.    L.    Vogt,    and    Dr.    P. 

Krusch,    The    Deposits    of    the    Useful    Minerals    and 

Rocks,  Translated  by  S.  J.  Truscott,  vol.  ii.,  457 
Daly  (Prof.  R.  A.),  Glacial-Control  Theory  of  Coral  Reefs, 

The,  191 
Ford  (Prof.  W.  E.),  Third  Appendix  to  the  Sixth  Edition 

of  Dana's  System  of  Mineralogy,   55 
Hughes  (Prof.  T.  McKenny),  The  Gravels  of  East  Anglia, 

43»  . 
Memoirs  of  the  Geological  Survey,  Special  Reports  on  the 

Mineral  Resources  of  Great  Britain,  vols,  i.,  ii.,  iii.,83 
Milner   (H.    B.),   and   G.    M.    Part,    Methods   in   Practical 

Petrology,    361 
Ries  (Prof.    H.),    and   Prof.    T.    L.    Watson,    Engineering 

Geology,    Second   Edition,   239 
Rutley  (F.),   Elements  of  Mineralogy,   Revised  by  H.   H. 

Read,  Nineteenth  Edition,  259 
Stephenson    (L.    W.),    J.    O     Veatch,    and    R.    B.    Dole. 

Underground  Waters  of  the  Coastal  Plain  of  Georgia, 

Wagner  (P.  A.),  The  Geology  and  Mineral  Industry  of 
South-west  Africa,  329 

Mathematical  and  Physical  Science  : 

Alexander  (Prof.  T.),  and  Prof.  A.  W.  Thomson,  Ele- 
mentary  .Applied   Mechanics,   Third   Edition,    278 

.Archibald  (Prof.  R.  C),  Euclid's  Book  on  Divisions  of 
Figures,   etc.,   98 

Ashworth  (Dr.  J.  R.),  An  Introductory  Course  of  Prac- 
tical   Magnetism    and    Electricity,    Third    Edition,    4 

Aughtie  (H-V   .Applied  Mechanics  :   First  Year,   278 

-Austin  fProf.  F.  E.).  Examples  in  Alternating  Currents, 
vol.  i.,  Second  Edition:  Examples  in  Magnetism, 
Second  Edition ;  How  to  Make  Low-pressure  Trans- 
formers,  Second  Edition,   258 

Bovs  (Prof.  C.  v.),  Stephens's  Theory  of  Measurements, 
418 


Breslich   (E.    R.),    First-year   Mathematics   for  Secondary 

Schools,   Fourth    Edition,   439 
British    Meteorological   and   Magnetic   Year    Book,    1913, 

part  iv.,  section  2,  289 
Burnham  (R.   W.),   Mathematics  for  Machinists,   439 
Burton     (Prof.     E.     F.),     The     Physical     Properties     of 

Colloidal   Solutions,    397 
Chappell   (E.),   Five-Figure   Mathematical  Tables,    179 
Cunningham  (E.),  Relativity  and  the  Electron  Theory,  30 
Dale    (Prof.     R.     B.),    Arithmetic    for    Carpenters    and 

Builders,    179 
Davison  (Dr.   C.),   A  First  Course  of  Geometry,   439 
Dobbs  (F.  W.),  and  H.  K.  Marsden,  Arithmetic,  part  i., 

439 

Fisher  (A.),  Translated  by  W.  Bonynge,  The  Mathe- 
matical Theory  of  Probabilities  and  its  Application  to 
Frequency  Curves  and  Statistical  Methods,  vol.  i.. 
Mathematical  Probabilities  and  Homograde  Statistics, 
179 

Fleming  (Prof.  J.  A.),  An  Elementary  Manual  of  Radio- 
telegraphy   and   Radiotelephony,   Third   Edition,   440 

Goodenough  (Prof.  G.  A.),  Properties  of  Steam  and 
Ammonia,    2 

Hadamard  (Prof.  J.),  Four  Lectures  on  Mathematics,  398 

Henderson  (R.),    Mortality   Laws   and  Statistics,    179 

Higbee  (Prof.  F.  G.),  The  Essentials  of  Descriptive 
Geometry,    179 

Houstoun  (Dr.   R.   A.),  A  Treatise  on  Light,    199 

Hubrecht  (J.  B.),  The  Solar  Rotation  in  June,  191 1 
(Annals  of  the  Solar  Physics  Observatory,  Cambridge, 
vol.    iii.,   part  i.),    184 

KnQtt  (Dr.  C.  G.),  Napier  Tercentenary  Memorial 
Volume,    458 

Lamb  (Prof.   H.),   Hydrodynamics,  Fourth  Edition,  318 

Liveing  (Prof.  G.  D.),  and  Sir  J.  Dewar,  Collected  Papers 
on   Spectroscopy,    377 

London  Mathematical  Society,  Proceedings  of  the.  Second 
Series,  vol.   xiv.,  398 

Loria  (Prof.  G.),  Guida  alio  Studio  della  Storia  delle 
Matematiche,    240 

Martin   (M.   J.),   Wireless   Transmission   of   Photographs, 

Miller  (Prof.  D.  C),  The  Science  of  Musical  Sounds,  519 
de  Morgan  (A.),  A  Budget  of  Paradoxes,  Second  Edition, 

Edited  by  Prof.    D.   E.   Smith,   2   vols.,   77 
Nasmyth  (].),  and  J.   Carpenter,   The  Moon  :   Considered 

as  a  Planet,  a  World,   and  a  Satellite,  Cheap  Edition. 

200  ' 

Peters    (Dr.    C.    H.    P.),    and    E.    B.    Knobel,    Ptolemy's 

Catalogue  of   Stars,    A  Revision   of   the   Almagest,    282 
Planck    (Prof.    Max),    Translated    by    Prof.    A.    P.    Wills, 

Eight    Lectures    on    Theoretical    Physics    delivered    at 

Columbia  University  in   1909,    197 
Rayleigh    (Lord),    Lamb's    Hydrodynamics,    318 
Sang  (E.),  A  New  Table  of  Seven-Place  Logarithms  of  all 

Numbers  from  20,000  to  200,000,   jan 
Stephens  (Prof.  J.  S.),  Theorv  of  Measurements,  418 
Taggart  (W.   Scott).  Textile  "Mechanics,    278 
Turner  (Prof.   H.   H.),  A  Voyage  in  Space,    139 
Uraguchi   (Y.),    Handv  Logarithmic  Tables.    179 
Wereide    (Dr.     T.),    Statistical    Theoni-    of    Energy    and 

Matter,    107 
Whittaker    (Prof.    E.    T.).    and    Prof.    G.    N.    Watson,    A 

Course  of  Modern   .Analysis,    Second   Edition.   298 

Medical  Sciences : 

Allbutt  (Sir  Clifford),   Harvey  and   Aristotle,   217 
.Armstrong-Jones   (Dr.    R.),    Neurology,   497 
Beattie   (Prof.    J.    M.),    Post-Mortem   Methods.    80 
Birth-rate,  The  Declining  :  its  Causes  and  Effects,  498 
Brend    (Dr.    W.    .A.),    An    Inquiry    into    the    Statistics    of 

Deaths    from    Violence    and    Unnatural    Causes    in    the 

United    Kingdoti,    441 
Clarke   (J.    J.),    Rhizopod   Protozoa,   -;8o 
Colwell  (H.  A.),  and  Dr.  S.   Russ,  Radium,  X-rays,  and 

the  Living  Cell.   137 
Curtis  (Prof.   J.   G.).   Harvey's  Views  on   the  Use  of  the 

Circulation   of  the   Blood,   217 
Dixon     (Prof.     W.     E.).     A     Marual    of     Pharmacology, 

Fourth  Edition,  79 


XXXVl 


Index 


[Natun, 
Stptember  at,  1916 


Dodge  (Dr.  R.),  and  Prof.  F.  G.  Benedict,  Psychological 

Effects  of  Alcohol,  465 
Foster  (Dr.   M.),   and  Dr.   J.   F.   Gaskell,   Cerebro-spinal 

Fever,  419 
Herrick  (Prof.  C.  J.),  An  Introduction  to  Neurology,  497 
Hill  (Prof.  H.  W.),  The  New  Public  Health,  460 
Hull  (Major  A.  J.),  Surgery  in  War,  537 
Jex-Blake  (Dr.   A.   J.),  Tuberculosis,    180 
Jorge  (Prof.  R.),  La  Guerre  et  la  Pens^e  M^dicale,  299 
Kerr     (Dr.     J.),     Newsholme 's     School     Hygiene,     New 

Edition,   420 
Kettle  (Dr.  E.  H.),  The  Pathology  of  Tumours,  460 
Oliver    (Dr.     G.),    Edited    by    Dr     W.     D.    Halliburton, 

Studies  in   Blood  Pressure,   Physiological  and  Clinical, 

Third   Edition,    519 
Oliver  (Sir  T.),  Occupations,  377 
Schafer  (Sir  E.  A.),  The  Endocrine  Organs,  338 
Shuttleworth     (Dr.     G.     E.),     and     Dr.     W.     A.     Potts, 

Mentally     Deficient     Children  :     their     Treatment     and 

Training,   Fourth  Edition,  499 
Stiles    (Prof.     P.     G.),     Nutritional    Physiology,    Second 

Edition,    140 
Sunderland    (Dr.    S.),    Old    London's    Spas,    Baths,    and 

Wells,   S3 
Watson  (Dr.  M.),  Rural  Sanitation  in  the  Tropics,  141 

Metallurgy : 

Cathcart  (W.   H.),  The  Value  of  Science  in  the  Smithy 

and   Forge,   379 
Institute  of  Metals,   Journal  of  the,   vol.   xiv.,    119 
Richards  (W.    A.),   Forging  of   Iron   and  Steel,   30 

Miscellaneous : 

Boys     (Prof.     C.    V.),     The     Moving     Picture     and     its 

Mechanism,  297 
Brown  (S.  G.),  A  Biography  of  Edison,   158 
Cary  (Prof.   E.   R.),   Geodetic  Surveying,  539 
Clay  (H.),   Economics,  361 
Crommelin    (Dr.    A.    C.    D.),    Philip's    A    Plea    for    an 

Orderly   Almanac,    31 
Darwin   (Sir   G.    H.),   Scientific   Papers,   vol.    v..   Supple- 
mentary  Volume   containing   Biographical    Memoirs   by 

Sir  F.   Darwin   and  Prof.   E.  W.   Brown,   Lectures  on 

Hill's  Lunar  Theory,  etc.,  Edited  by  F.  J.  M.  Stratton 

and  J.   Jackson,   338 
Davenport  (Dr.  C.  B.),  The  Feebly  Inhibited,  Nomadism, 

or   the  Wandering    Impulse   with   Special   Reference   to 

Heredity,    Inheritance  of  Temperament,   343 
Edmonds   (H.    H.),    and   N.    N.    Lee,    Brook   and   River 

Trouting,   378 
Ellsworth  (C.  E.),  and  R.  W.  Davenport,  Surface  Water 

Supply  of  the  Yukon-Tanana  Region,  Alaska,  369 
Fleming  (A.  P.  M.),  and  J.  G.  Pearce,  The  Principles  of 

Apprentice  Training,   440 
Foster  (R.  B.),  Hopwood's  Living  Pictures,  New  Edition, 

297 
Gregory   (Prof.    R.    A.),    Discovery ;   or.   The   Spirit   and 

Service  of  Science,   438 
Giinther    (R.    T.),    The    Daubeny    Laboratory    Register, 

1904-1915,   421 
Huntington   (E.),   Civilisation  and  Climate,   358 
Tinarajadasa  (C),   Theosophy  and  Modern  Thought,    140 
Keltie   (Dr.    J.    Scott),    assisted  by   Dr.    M.    Epstein,   The 

Statesman's  Year-Book,    1916,   479 
Kunz  (Dr.  G.  F.),  The  Magic  of  Jewels  and  Charms,  157 
Lanchester  (F.   W.),  Aircraft  in  Warfare,  403 
Marchant     (J.),     Alfred     Russel    Wallace :     Letters     and 

Reminiscences,   2   vols.,   3'^7 
MoncriefF  (M.),   Our  Cottage  and  a  Motor,    140 
Nansen  (Dr.   F.),  Spitzbergen  Waters,  523 
Peddle    (J.     Taylor).     On    the    Relation    of    Imports    to 

Exports,   Second   Edition,   279 
Philip  (A.),  A  Plea  for  an  Orderly  Almanac,  31 
Pitt  (St.  George  L.   P.),  The  Purpose  of  Education,  New 

Edition,  321 
Richardson    (E.    W.),    A    Veteran    Naturalist :    being   the 

Life  and  Work  of  W.   B.   Tegetmeier,   399 
Robson  (W.  A.).  Aircraft  in  War  and  Peace,  403 
Rolt-Wheeler  (F.),   Thomas   Alva   Edison,    158 
Seal    (Dr.     B.),    The    Positive    Sciences    of    the    Ancient 
Hindus,   177 


Sheppard  (T.),   Yorkshire's  Contribution  to  Science,   279 
Spiller  (G.),  A  Generation  of  Religious  Progress,  339 
Stratton  (F.  J.  M.),  and  J.  Jackson,  Scientific  Papers  by 

Sir  G.  H.  Darwin,  vol.  v.,  338 
Thomson  (Prof.  J.   A.),  Science  for  Life,  438 
Wells  (H.  G.),  What  is  Coming?     A  Forecast  of  Things 

after  the  War,  478 
Winton    (Dr.    A.    L.),    Dr.    J.    Moeller,    and    Dr.    K.    B. 

Winton,   The   Microscopy   of   Vegetable  Foods,   Second 

Edition,    500 
Year-Book    of    the    Scientific    and    Learned    Societies    of 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  The,  80 

Philosophy  and  Psychology : 

Blackmar  (Prof.  F.  W.),  and  Prof.  J.  L.  Gillin,  Outlines 

of  Sociology,   97 
Bruce  (H.  A.),  Sleep  and  Sleeplessness,  498 
Coriat  (Dr.    I.   H.),  The  Meaning  of   Dreams,   498 
Crawley  (A.   E.),   Outlines  of  Sociology,  by  Prof.   F.   W. 

Blackmar  and  Prof.  J.  L.  Gillin,  97  ;  The  Growth  of  the 

Mind,  238 
Drake  (E.),  The  Universal  Mind  and  the  Great  War,  400 
Goodsell   (Prof.    W.),    The    History   of   the    Family   as   a 

Social  and  Educational  Institution,  477 
Green  (Prof.  J.  A.),  The  History  of  the  Family,  477 
Hillyer  (V.  M.),  Child  Training,  238 
Holmes  (E.),  The  Nemesis  of  Docility,  299 
McClure  (Rev.   Canon   E.),   Spiritualism,   300 
Putnam   (Prof.    J.    J.),    Human    Motives,   498 
Robertson  (J.   M.),  The  Germans,  379 
Sid^wick  (Mrs.   H.),   A  Contribution  to  the  Study  of  the 

Psychology  of  Mrs.   Piper's  Trance   Phenomena,    138 
Sidis     (Dr.     B.),     The     Foundations     of     Normal     and 

Abnormal  Psychology,  238 
Trotter  (W.),   Instincts  of  the  Herd  in   Peace  and  War, 

159 
Whittaker  (T.),  The  Theory  of  Abstract  Ethics,  32 

Technology : 

Ballhatchet    (A.     V.),     Electrical    Apparatus-making    for 

Beginners,    240 
Dancaster  (E.   A.),   Limes  and  Cements,   3 
Ramsey   (A.   R.   J.),   and   H.   C.   Weston,   A   Manual   on 

Explosives,   279 

Rhizopoda  and  Heliozoa,  The  British,   J.  Cash  and  G.    H. 

Wailes.     Vol.   iii.,  Rhizopoda,  part  iii.,   G.   H.  Wailes, 

178 
Rhizopod    Protozoa.       The    Causes    of    Cancer    and    other 

Diseases,    being   part    iv.    of    "Protozoa    and    Disease," 

J.   J.   Clarke,   380 
Rhodesia,  Southern,  Plants  of,  F.   Eyles,  408 
Richards,  Ellen,  Research  Prize,  467 
Richter's  von.  Organic  Chemistry.     Vol.  i..  Chemistry  of  the 

Aliphatic  Series,  Translated  and  Revised  by  Dr.   P.   E. 

Spielmann,  54 
River-Gorges    in    Cornwall    and    Devon,    Origin    of    Some, 

H.  Dewey,  73 
Road  Board,  Sixth  Annual  Report  of  the,  550 
Rockefeller  Foundation,  The,   194 
Roman  :     Calorimetric     Method     for     Characterising     Soft 

Waters,    A.    Trillat,    155 ;    Pomade,    Analysis    of   a,    L. 

Reutter,   155 
Rosft  Coloration  of  Certain  Rocks,  M.  Lugeon,   135 
Rosha  Grass,  Economic  Uses  of,  R.  S.  Pearson,  550 
Rotating  Liquids,  Equilibrium  of,  Prof.  A.   Liapounoff,  32? 
Rotations    of   a    Planetary    Nebula,    W.    W.    Campbell    anc 

J.  H.  Moore,  215 
Routledge  Expedition  to  Easter  Island,  The,  E.  N.  Fallaize 

261  j 

Rowland's    Preliminary    Table    of    Solar    Spectrum    Wave] 

lengths,  C.  E.  St.  John,  255 
Royal  :    Aircraft    Factory    Inquiry,    The,    509 ;    College    c 

Surgeons  of   England.      The   Jacksonian    and  Trienniz 

Prizes,    213;    Cornwall    Polytechnic    Society,    HistoricJ 

Synopsis  of  the,  506 :  Flying  Corps,  Appointment  of 
•    Committee    on    the    Administration    of    the.    226 :    Get 

graphical  Society,  Awards  of  the,  86  ;  Institution,  Lei 

tures    and     Discourses     at    the,     T27 ;    Marriages    ar 

Matrilineal  Descent,  Miss  M.  Murray,  146 ;  Observator 

Greenwich.      Report    of    the    Astronomer    Royal,    31; 


Nature 
September  2 


"1 

I,   1916J 


Index 


XXXVll 


Photographic  Society,  Exhibition  of  the,  524 ;  Society, 
Election  of  Five  Foreign  Members  of  the,  165  ;  Selegted' 
Candidates  for  Election,  12 ;  Swedish  Academy  of 
Sciences,  Dr.  D.  H.  Scott  elected  a  Foreign  Member  of 
the,  85 

Rugby  Course  of  Elementary  Chemistry,  The,  H.  P. 
Highton,   218 

Rum,  The  Ferments  of,  E.  Kayser,  235 

Russia,  Scientific  Development  in,  382 

Russian  :    Agriculture,    Artificial    Fertilisers   in,   550 ;   Arctic 

^  Expeditions,  Two,  Rewards  for  Information  Concerning, 

503  ;    Empire,    The    Natural    Resources   of    the,    Native 

Sources  of  Tungsten   and  Tin   Ores,   P.    P.     Suscinskij, 

W^m         226;  Zoological  Review,  The,  351 

^^■tccharimeter,   the  Quartz-wedge,   Constants  of  the.    Bates 
WK^     and  Jackson,  427 

Sacramento  \  alley,  California,  Ground  Water  for  Irrigation 
in  the,  K.  Bryan,   17 

Safety-Lamp,  The  History  of  the.  Prof.  F.  W.  Hardwick, 
284 

St.  Vincent,  Agricultural  Department,  Annual  Report  of,  15 

Saline  Solutions,  Rapid  Action  of,  on  Living  Plants,  H. 
Devaux,   195 

Salmon  Fisheries  of  the  River  Wye,  J.  A.  Hutton,  286 

Salt  and  Alkali,  359 

Sang's    Seven-Place    Logarithms,    499 

Sanitation,  Rural,  in  the  Tropics,  Dr.  M.  Watson,  141 

San  Juan  Mountains,  Geographic  History  of  the,  W.  W'. 
Atwood  and  K.   F.   Mather,  215 

Sarcosporidia,  The,  G.  van  de  Wall  de  Kock,  .407 

Satellites  of  Spectral  Lines,  A  Possible  Explanation  of  the, 
Dr.  R.  A.  Houstoun,  355 

Scale-insect,  A  New,  affecting  Sugar-cane  in  New  Guinea, 
Dr.  A.  Rutherford  and  E.  Jarvis,  556 

Scarabs,  Lord  Grenfell's  Collection  of,   14 

Scholarships  and  their  Relation  to  Higher  Education,  544 

Science:  Abstracts,  1915,  Index  Numbers,  15;  and  Classics 
in  Modern  Education,  Sir  E.  Schafer,  251  ;  and  Com- 
merce, Rt.  Hon.  Huth  Jackson,  230 ;  and  Econom'c 
Development,  Prof.  H.  Le  Chatelier,  295';  and  Educa- 
tion, Civil  Service  Estimates  for,  132  ;  and  Government, 
304 ;  and  Industry,  A  National  Statutory  Board  of,  463  ; 
Commonwealth  Institute  of.  Prof.  Orme  Masson,  38, 
126;  Co-ordination  of,  in  America,  513;  President 
Wilson,  165;  and  Literary  Studies,  234;  and  Modern 
Languages,  Appointment  of  Committees  on,  547 ;  and 
the  Brewing  Industry,  390 ;  and  the  State,  D.  Balsillie, 
14;  Sir  N.  Shaw,  220;  Prof.  J.  B.  Cohen,  5;  as  "Cin- 
derella," Prof.  F.  Soddy,  475 ;  Committee  on  the 
Neglect  of.  Meeting  Convened  by  the,  194 ;  lor  Life, 
Prof.  J.  A.  Thomson,  438  ;  in  Education  and  Industry, 
390 ;  and  the  Civil  Services,  •  230 ;  The  Place  of,  D. 
Balsillie,  240 ;  in  National  Education,  305 ;  in  the 
Examinations  of  the  Higher  Branches  of  the  Civl 
Service,  Sir  H.  H.  Johnston,  231  ;  in  the  Smaller 
Schools,  Position  of,  H.  Cradock-Watson,  154 ;  Men 
of,  and  Payment  for  Expert  Knowledge,  345  ;  Neglect 
of,  in  Government  Circles,  Lord  Montagu  of  Beaulieu, 
230 ;  Report  of  the  Conference  on  the,  285  ;  D.  M.,  381  ; 
The  Place  of,  in  Education,  40 ;  Scholarships,  and  the 
State,  Lieut.  E.  N.  da  C.  Andrade,  361  ;  Teaching  in 
Preparatory  Schools,  Discouragement  of,  O.  H.  Latter, 
154;  Teaching  in  Public  Schools,  434;  The  Place  of,  in 
Modern  Metallurgical  Industries,  312  ;  The  Subordina- 
tion of,  13  :  The  Value  of.  Sir  P.  Magnus,  127  ;  in  the 
Smithy  and  Forge,  W.  H.  Cathcart,  379 ;  versus 
Classics,  Sir  E.  A.  Schafer,  120 ;  What,  says  to  Truth, 
W.  Watson,  344 

Scientific:    and    Industrial    Research,    iii;    and    Technical 
Press,    The   Sphere   of   the.    Dr.    W.    Garnett,    41,    qi  ; 
A.   P.   M.   Fleming,   92  ;    Development  in   Russia,   382  ; 
Education  and  Industrial  Research,  91  ;  Experts,  Ques-  j 
tion  of  Payment  of,  307  ;  Research,   A  Scheme  for  the  i 
Promotion  of,  W.  B.  Priest,  348 ;  in  France,  Organisa-  j 
tion  of.   Proposals  for,   Prof.   W.    Kilian,   41  ;  Payment  j 
for.  Prof.  G.  H.  Bryan,  401  ;  Resources  of  the  Country  1 
and  the  War,  The,  Sir  W.  Mather,  44 ;  Societies,  Board  j 
of.  Establishment  of  a,  503  I 

Scott:  Capt.,   and  his  Companions,   Unveiling  a  Memorial 


in    St.    Paul's    Cathedral    to,    225;    With,    The    Silver 

Lining,  Dr.  Griffith  Taylor,  280 
Scottish    Ornithology    in    19 15,    Misses    E.    Baxter    and    L. 

Rintoul,   504 
Screv/  Gauges,   Production  and  Testing  of,    130 
Scripps  Institution,  La  JoHa,  a  Summer  -Assembly  in  Science 

at,  94 
Sea  :  -Anemones,  Nervous  Transmission  in,  G.   H.  Parker, 

515  ;  Responses  of  the  Tentacles  of,  G.  H.  Parker,  515  ; 

The    Neuromuscular   Structure  of,    G.    H.    Parker   and 

E.  G.  Titus,  456;  The  Effectors  of,  G.  H.  Parker,  515; 

Otter,  Habits  and  Hunting  of  the,  C.   Littlejohn,  387; 

-Serpent,   A   Supposed,    in   Lilla   Vartan,   468 ;   -Sp.ders 

and  Feather-Stars,  46 
Secondary   Schools  Association,   Annual   Meeting  and  Con- 
ference of  the,  394 
Seismic  Intensity,  A  Standard  Scale  of.  Prof.  A.  McAdie,  267 
Selenium  :    Photometry,    Prof.   J.    Stebbins,   349 ;   Properties 

of.  W.  R.  Cooper,  66 
Sensation,     Return    of,    after    the    Division    of    Cutaneous 

Nerves,  Dr.  E.  G.  Boring,  525 
Sense  Data  and  the  Physical  Object,  Prof.  T.  Percy  Nunn, 

15s 
Seychelles :    and   Aldabra,    The    Flora   of  the.    Dr.    W.    B. 
Hemsley,  347  ;  The  Apterygota  of  the,  G.  H.  Carpenter, 
27 
Shackleton   Antarctic   Expedition,  The,    103,    127,   225,   241, 

245,  301,  325,  345,  366,  385,  425,  449,  467,  503,  548 
'Shafts,  Loaded,  Whirling  Speeds  of,  W.  Kerr,  66 
"  Shakespeare :    and    Medicine,"    Sir   St.    Clair  Thomson   to 

Lecture  on,  105  ;  Tercenteary,  The,  203 
Sharks   of   Long    Island,    The,    J.    T.    Nichols   and    R.    C. 

Murphy,  468 
Sheffield  :    University,   A  Lectureship   in   Russian   to  be   In- 
stituted,  94 ;    Bequests   by   W.    E.    Allen,    253 :   Gift  by 
Sir    J.    Jonas,    253;    Edgar    .Allen    Scholarships,    513; 
Institution  of  a  Diploma  in  Glass  Technology,  393 
Sheldrake,  Breeding  Habits  of  the.  Miss  E.  L.  Turner,  267 
Shell  :   -purple    Industry,    Geographical   Distribution   of  the, 
J.   W.   Jackson,    26 ;   Trumpets  and  their   Distribution, 
J.   W.   Jackson,  26 
Shells  for  the   Purposes  of   Currency,   The   Use   of,    J.   W. 

Jackson,    235 
Ship  Waves,  Main  Crests  of,  G.  Green,    115 
Siam :    Carboniferous   Fossils   from,    F.    R.    C.    Reed,    27J  : 
Flora   of,    New  Species   of   the,    W.    G.    Craib  and    M. 
Gagnepain,   209 
Sidenal   Universe,   The   Moton  of  the,    R.    K.   Young  and 

W.  E.  Hi^rper  Truman,  208 
Sikhs,  The,   Sirdar  Daljit  Singh,  488 
Sikkim,  Plants  collected  in.  C.  C.  Lacaita,   135 
Simatco  Apparatus,   The,   for  the   Determination  of  Trans- 
formation or  Critical  Points  in  Iron,  etc.,  389 
"  Simpson  Light,"  The,   Dr.  S.   Russ,   19 
Sinking    Islands   versus   a    Rising    Ocean    in   the   Coral-reef 

Problem,  Prof.   VJ.   M.    Davis,   4Q2 
Siphonophores,    The    Geographical    Distribution    of,    E.    T. 

Browne,  234 
Sitatungas  of  the  Sesse  Islands,   Major  R.   Meinertzhagen. 

Skew  Variation,  Prof.  K.   Pearson,  50 

Skin   Friction  of  a   Fluid  in   Stream   Line,   Laws  of,    Prof. 

C.  H.   Lees,   170 ;   Friction   Resistance  of  Ships,   G.    S. 

Baker,  170 
Sleep  and  Sleeplessness,  H.  A.   Bruce,  498 
Sleeping  Sickness,  Trypanosomes  of,  G.  P.  Maynard,  266 
Slugs,  Carnivorous,  H.  Watson,  472 
Smith,  Wm.,  Portraits  of,  T.  Sheppard,  462 
Smithsonian  :  Astrophysical  Observatory.  Annual  Report  for 

1915.    131;    Institution.   Report  of  the,    204;   Report  of 

the  Secretary  of  the.  for  the  Year  ending  June  30,  1915, 

229;  Physical  Tables,  Dr.  C.  D.  Walcott,  141 
Smoke :    Nuisance    in   the  United    States,    The.    420 ;    as   a 

Source  of  Atmospheric  Pollution,  Dr.  W.   F.  M.  Go^- 

429 
Soap  Necessary  for  Shaving?,  Is,   G.  A.  Stephens,   141 
Soci^t^    Helvitique    des    Sciences    naturelles,     Forthcoming 

Meeting  of  the,  308 
Sociology  :   as  a  Science,   A.   E.   Crawley,   07 :   Outlines  of. 

Prof.   F.  W.   Blackmar  and  Prof.  J.  L.   Gillin,  97 
Sodium  :  Chtoride,  Purity  of,  G.  Lohman,  505  ;  Salts,  The 


XXXVlll 


Index 


September  21,  1916 


Use  of,  in  the  Purification  of  Clays  and  in  tlio  Casting 
Process,  150 
Soil :  Physics,  A  Manual  of,  Prof.  P.  B.  Barker  and  Prof. 
H.  J.  Young,  119;  The,  and  the  Plant,  Dr.  E.  J. 
Russell,  331 
Soils  :  and  Manures,  A  Student's  Book  on.  Dr.  E.  J. 
Russell,  55  ;  and  Plant  Life  as  related  to  Agriculture, 
Prof.  J.  C.  Cunningham  and  W.  H.  Lancelot,  55 ; 
Effect  of  Temperature  on,  G.  J.  Bouyoucos,  291 
Solar  :  Activity,  Relation  between  Changes  in,  and  the 
Earth's  Magnetic  Activity,  1902-14,  Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer, 
493  ;  46,  328,  348  ;  Atmosphere,  The  Minute  Structure 
of  the,  G.  E.  Hale  and  F.  Ellerman,  75  ;  Eclipse,  The 
Total,  of  February  3,  1916,  311;  Kathode  Rays,  An 
Atmospheric  Effect  of,  J.  Maurer,  89;  Motion  and 
Proper  Motion,  C.  D.  Perrine,  515;  Motion,  The  Plane 
of  the,  Prof,  von  S.  Oppenheim,  109 ;  Physics  Ob- 
servatory, Cambridge,  Annals  of  the,  vol.  iii.,  part  i., 
The  Solar  Rotation  in  June,  1911,  J.  B.  Hubrecht,  184; 
Report  of  the,  528;  Prominence,  A  Large,  J.  Evershed, 
507 ;  Radiation,  Instruments  for  the  Measurement  of, 
R.  S.  Whipple,  169 ;  The  Chemical  Origin  of,  Dr. 
Briner,  349 ;  Rotation,  A  Variation  in  the,  H.  H. 
Plaskett,  249 ;  Spectrum,  Origin  of  Group  G  of  the» 
Newall,  Baxandall,  and  Butler,  428  ;  Variability,  Abbot, 
Fowle,  and  Aldrich,  551  ;  Variation,  131  ;  Wave-lengths, 
On  Centre-limb  Shifts  of,  J.  Evershed  and  Dr.  T. 
Royds,  388 
Solution,  The  Theory  of,  E.  J.  Hartung,  315 
Solvents,  Oils,  Gums,  Waxes,  and  Allied  Substances,  F.  S. 

Hyde,  139 
Solving  Equations,   F.  E.  Wright,   15 

Sound:  .Analysis,  519;  of  Big  Guns,  Dr.  C.  Davison,  471; 
The  Propagation  of,  to  a  great  Distance  in  the  Open 
Air,  G.  Bigourdan,  395,  436,  496  ;  Dr.  C.  Davison,  402  ; 
Dr.  E.  van  Everdingen,  402 
South  Africa  :  Recent  Zoological  Research  in,  472  ;  The 
CoccidcB  of,  C.  K.  Brain,  529 ;  African  Association, 
Presidents  of  Fourteenth  Annual  Session,  246 ;  Coast 
Temperatures,  Dr.  J.  R.  Sutton,  25 ;  Fishes,  Pro- 
tective Resemblance  in  Post-larval  Stages  of  some, 
J.  D.  F.  Gilchrist,  51s;  University  Legislation,  480; 
American  Expedition,  A,  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Tello,  G.  K. 
Noble,  and  Dr.  L.  S.  Moss,  425  ;  -eastern  Nevada, 
Ground  Water  in,  E.  Carpenter,  17  ;  Union  of  Scientific 
Societies,  Annual  Congress  of  the,  246,  349 ;  Rev. 
T.  R.  R.  Stebbing  elected  President  of  the,  246 
Southern  :   Georgia  and  its  Hydrography,  ^^2  ;   Manchuria, 

The  Prehistoric  Population  of,   R.  Torii,  426 
Spark  Spectra,   Structure  of.    Prof.   W.   M.   Hicks,   314 
Sparrow-hawk:   Breeding  Habits  of  the,  J.  H.  Owen,  387; 

Nesting  Habits  of  the,  J.  H.  Owen,  426 
Species,   Geographical   Distribution  of.    Dr.   Willis,   355; 
Spectra  :    Banded,    from   the    Electric    Furnace,    Dr.    A.    S. 
King,  507  ;  High-frequency,  a  New  Group  of  Lines  in, 
M.  Siegbahn,  31c:  in  Electric  Fields,  389;  of  Hydrogen 
and  Helium,  Phenomena  relating  to  the,  T.  R.   Merton 
and  J.  W.  Nicholson,  455 
Spectroheliograms,    Stereoscopic,    Prof.    Hale,    249 
Spectroscopic  Observations  of  Comets   1913  /  (Delavan)  and 

1914  b  (Zlatinsky),  N.  v.  Konkoly,  8q 
Spectroscopy,  Collected  Papers  on,  Prof.  G.  D.  Liveing  and 

Sir  J.    Dewar,   377 
Spectrum  of  Silicon,  New  Lines  in  the,  Prof.  A.  Fowler,  109 
Spencerite,  A  New  Zinc  Phosphate  from  British  Columbia, 

Prof.  T.  L.  Walker,  375 
Spherical   Resonator  with  a  Circular  Aperture,  The  Period 

of  a,  F.  P.  White,  45<; 
Spiritualism,  Rev.  Canon  E.  McClure,  300 
Spitsbergen  :   Expedition  to,  449  \  Pre-Glacial  Platform   and 
Raised    Beaches  of,    A.    M.    Peach,    350 ;    Reindeer    in, 
A.    Hoel,    187 ;  Waters,   Dr.   F.   Nansen.   523 
Sponges  :    from    the    Indian    Ocean,    Prof.    A.    Dendy,    408 ; 
Parasitic   on    Indian    Clionid    Sponges,   Dr.    Annandale, 
529  ;  The  Cultivation  of,  W.  R.  Dunlop,   171 
Spotted  :  Bower  Bird,  C.   Barrett,  44 ;  Fever,  419 
St.   Andrews  University,   Conferment  of  Honorary   Degrees, 

414 
Stanford's  War-maps,    107 

Star,  A  New  Variable,  having  Nebulous  Envelope,  R.  T.  A. 
Innes,   189 


Stars  :  in  DayUght,  The  Visibility  of,  G.  Bigourdan,  328, 
335,  375,  388  ;  of  the  Helium  Type,  Systematic  Motion 
among,  B.  Boss,  255  ;  of  the  Photographic  Catalogue, 
Calculation    of    Kignt   Ascensions   and   Declinations   ot, 

B.  Baillaud  and  ivL  Pourteau,  195 ;  Variable,  in  th( 
Vicinity  of  R  Coronae  Australis,  67;  of  Short  Period, 
Prof.  E.  C.   Pickering,  207 

Statesman's  Year-book,  the,  1916,  Edited  by  Dr.  J.  Scoti 
Keltic,'  assisted  by  Dr.  M.   Epstein,  479 

Statisticians  and  Biometricians,  Tables  for.  Corrigenda  for. 
Prof.   K.   Pearson,    130 

Steam  and  Ammonia,  Properties  of.  Prof.  G.  A.  Good- 
enough,   2 

Steamer  Routes  to  the  Dutch  East  Indies,  P.  H.  Gall^,  108 

Steel,  Chromium,  Remarkable  Properties  of  a.  Prof.  C.  A. 
Edwards,  J.  N.  Greenwood,  and  H.  Kikkawa,  452 

Steels,  Hardness  and  Critical  Cooling  Velocities  of.  Prof. 
H.  C.  H.  Carpenter,  452 

Stefansson  Expedition,  News  of  the,  548 

Stegomyia  fasciata.  Bionomics  of.   Dr.  J.  W.  S.  Macfie,  90 

Stellar:  Distances,  Determining,  W.  S.  Adams,  215;  Mag- 
nitudes by  Photography,  Determination  of.  Prof.  E.  C. 
Pickering,  494 ;  Parallaxes,  A  Spectroscopic  Method  of 
Determining,  W.  S.  Adams,  21.:;  ;  Spectra,  Classifying, 
W.  S.  Adams,  215;  Spectra,  Variable,  Discovery  of 
Eight,  H.  Shapley,  255,  428;  Investigations  in,  W.  S. 
Adams,   215 

Sterilisation  of  Drinking-water  by  Sodium  Hypochlorite, 
V.  perrand,    135 

Sternum,  An  Incomplete,  of  a  Gigantic  Carinate  Bird,   Dr. 

C.  W.  Andrews,  315 

Sting-ray,  The  Poison  Organ  of  the.  Major  H.  M.  Evans, 
214 

Stone  Object,  A  Strange,  found  in  Essex,  M.  Christy,  65 

Strata  in  the  Counties  of  England  and  Wales,  Thicknesses 
of.   Dr.   Strahan,   228 

Stress :  Tests,  Alternating,  Speed  Effect  and  Recovery  in 
Slow-speed  Alternating,  W.  Mason,  50 ;  Specification  of, 
part  iv.,  R.  F.  Gwyther,  47^ 

StromboH,  Eruptions  of.  Profs.  G.  Platonia,  G.  Poute, 
F.   A.   Perret,   and   Prof.   A.   Ricc6,   327 

Strontium,  Boulders  of,  in  the  Keuper  Marls  of  Bristol, 
H.  W.   Greenwood  and  C.   B.  Travis,  350 

Struggle  for  Existence,  The,  A.  Pictet,  407 

Subdivision  of  Merchant  Vessels,   Sir  A.   Denny,   170 

Subjective  Phenomena  produced  by  Gazing  at  a  Rotating 
Cylinder  of  Paper,   Dr.  Edridge-Green,  525 

Submerged  Wire  Drags,  The  Use  of,  87 

Sugar  :  Beet,  The  Application  of  Scientific  Methods  to  the 
Improvement  of  the,  E.  Schribaux,  6  ;  -cane  and  Cane- 
sugar,  The   Historical  Origin  of  the,  A.   Gautier,  436 

Sugars  :  Commercial,  Reducing  Substances  in,  L. 
Maquenne,  51  ;  in  the  Blood,  Estimation  of.  Dr.  H. 
Rainy  and  Miss  C.   M.    Hawick,   254 

Sulphur  :  and  Sulphur  Compounds,  The  Technology  of,  iiS  ; 
Dioxide  Diffuser,  A,  C.  Galaine  and  C.  Houlbert,  95 

Sulphuric  Acid  :  and  Sulphur  Products,  Dr.  G.  Martin  and 
Major  J.  L.  Foucar,  118;  The  Production  of,  and  a 
Proposed  New  Method  of  Manufacture,  W.  H.  Wagga- 
man,  60 

Summer  :  Time  Act,  The,  in  Operation,  -ij:  :  End  of  Opera- 
tion of  the,  1523  ;  Meteorotogical  Observations  and  the, 
406 ;  Time  and  Meteorology,  Major  E.  Gold ;  Major 
H.  G.  Lyons,  260 ;  Bill,  The,  250,  264  ;  and  Meteoro- 
logical Observations,  Sir  N.  Shaw,  264 

Sun  :  and  Stars,  Relative  Luminosities  of,  C.  T.  Whitmell, 
528;  Observations  of  the,  J.  Guillaume,  115;  Observa- 
tions of  the,  made  at  the  Lyons  Observatory.  J. 
Guillaume,  155  ;  -dial,  A  Universal,  Dr.  W.  B.  Blaikie, 
J.315  ;  -spot.  A,  in  High  Latitude,  490 ;  -spots,  A  Large 
Group  of,  311  ;  Influence  of  the  Earth,  and,  H. 
Arctowski,   214 

Sun's  Rotation,  The,    184 

Sunset  :   Phenomenon  on  July  22,  A,   Capt.  C.  J.  P.   Cave, 

442,     ^20 

Surface  Water  Supply  of  the  Yukon-Tanana  Region,  Alaska. 

C.   E.  DUsworth  and  R.  W.   Davenport,  360 
Surfaces,  A  General  Theory  of,  E.  B.  Wilson  and  C.  L.  E. 

Moore,   395 
Surgery  in  War,  Major  A.  J.  Hull,   K37 
Surgical  :  Advance,  Electrical  Methods  in.  Sir  J.  Mackenzie 


September  ai,  191 6  J 


Index 


XXXIX 


Davidson,  294 ;  Book,  A,  from  the  Front,  537 ;  Instru- 
ments adapted  to  the  Field  of  the  Electro-vibrator,  J. 
Bergoni^  and  C.  E.  Guillaume,  514 

Swedish  Geological  Survey,  Dr.  A.  Gavelin  appointed 
Director   of   the,    345 

Svdney  :  Botanic  Gardens  and  Government  Domains,  Report 
of  the,  287 ;  Arachnida,  etc.,  of  the,  Rainbow,  287 ; 
Centenary  Celebrations  of  the,  503  ;  Zoological  Gardens, 

309 
Syphilis,  The  102  of  Danysz  m  the  Treatment  of  Malignant 
or  Grave,  Dalimier  and  L^vy-Franckel,   135 

Taro.  Irrigation  and  the  Cultivation  of.  Dr.  W.  H.  R. 
Rivers,   514 

Taungbyon  Festival  in  Burma,  The,  R.  G.  Brown,  205 

\  Tauri,  The  System  of.  Prof.  F.  Schlesinger,   169 

Taylor  Comet  1915^,  Prof.  A.  Berberich,  46;  J.  Braae,  67: 
Prof.  Schorr,  67 ;  Prof.  E.  E.  Barnard,  67 ;  Jeffers  and 
Neubauer,  369 ;  The  Motion  of  the  Nuclei  of,  H.  Thiele, 
388 

Technical  :  Education  and  Industry,  453  ;  Instruction  after 
the  War,  Dr.  W.  Garnett,  453 ;  Schools,  etc.,  in 
England  and  Wales,  Regulations  for,  555 

Tegetmeier,  W.   B.,  399 

Telescope,  Lowest  Effective  Power  of  a,  M.  A.  Ainslie ; 
W.   H.   Steavenson,  490 

Temperature  :  Departures  in  Australia,  1915,  H.  A.  Hunt, 
44 ;  of  the  Body,  Peripheral,  \'ariations  of  the,  J. 
Courtier,  195 ;  Rainfall,  and  Bright  Sunshine  in  the 
United  Kingdom,  January  2  to  April  i,  168 ;  Scales, 
Chart  of.  526 ;  Underground,  Daily  Variation  of,  S. 
Sat6,  129 

Tenebrionidae  from  Barrington  Tops,  N.S.W.,  H.  J.  Carter, 

Tennessee  River  Vallev,  Exploration  of  Aboriginal  Sites  in 
the,  C.   B.   Moore,'  488 

Terraced  Cultivation  and  Irrigation,  Geographical  Distribu- 
tion of,  W.  J.  Perry,  26 

Termites,  South  African,  C.  Fuller,  472 

Terrestrial  Magnetism  :  Department  of,  of  the  Carnegie  In- 
stitution of  Washington,  Report  of,  108 ;  Lord  Kelvin 
and,   Dr.  C.   Chree,   509  _ 

Tetanus,  Retarded.  L.  B^rard  and  A.  Lumifere,  51 

Theoretical  Physics,  Eight  Lectures  on,  delivered  at 
Columbia  University'  in  1909,  Dr.  Max  Planck,  trans- 
lated by  Prof.  A.  P.'  Wells,  197 

Theosophy  and  Modern  Thought,  C.  Jinarajadasa,   140 

Thermodynamic :  Chemistry,  Dr.  F.  W.  Gray,  277 ;  and 
Kinetic  Theories,   197 

Thermo-electric  :  Measurement  of  the  Critical  Points  of  Iron, 
The.  G.  K.  Burgess  and  H.  Scott,  476 ;  Method.  A  New, 
for  the  Study  of  the  Allotropy  of  Iron,  etc.,  C.  Bene- 
dicks, 51  ;  Power,  Determination  of,  by  Means  of  the 
DifTerpntial  Galvanometer,  C.   Benedicks,  436 

Thermopile,  The,  in  Photographic  Photometrv-,  The,  H.  T. 
Stetson,    528 

Thinning  Substances  in  Oil  Varnishes,   .^27 

Thompson,  Silvanus  P.,  as  a  Painter,  H.  S.  T.,  442 

Thunderclap:  A  Peculiar,  J.  Don,  500;  H.   O.  F.,   :;2o 

Thyroid  Feeding,  Effects  of,  upon  the  Pancreas,  Dr.  M. 
Kojima.  435 

Ticks  :^  A  Monograph  on.  420:  k  Monograph  of  the  Ixo- 
doidea,  part  iii..  The  genus  Haemaphysalis,  Prof. 
G.  H.  F.  Nuttall  and  C.  Warburton  :  Bibliographv  of 
the  Ixcdoidea,  part  ii.,  by  Prof.  G.  H.  F.  Nuttall  and 
L.  E.  Robinson,  420 

Tidal  Water,  Effect  of.  in  an  Estuary  on  the  Level  of 
Subterranean  Water,  J.   Kewley,    141 

Tides.  The  Influence  of,  on  Wells,' C.  Carus-Wilson.   162 

Time:   East  European,   in   Greece.   42?:   Legal,   in   France. 

Change  of,   325  ;  Legal,   Modification  of  the,   C.   Lalle- 

mand,    183,   195 ;  Standard,  Legal,  in   Holland,  Change 

of,  204 

uesipteris    tannensis.    The    Prothallus    of,     Prof.    A.    A. 

Lawson,  415 
■bacco  :  Ash  and  Potash,  B.  A.  Burrell,  348 ;  Plant.  The 
Chlorosis  of  the.    G.    P.    Clinton,    129 ;   Decoctions   and 
Insect  Pests.  Dr.  M.  Topi,  228 

Tonal  Volume.  G.  J.  Rich.  167 

Torsional  Oscillations  of  Nickel  Wires,  Subsidence  of.  Prof. 
W.  Brown.  74 


Tourmaline,  The  Alteration  of.  Dr.  W.  R.  Jones,   174 
Toxodon,  A  Femur  of  the,  C.  .Ameghino,   107 
Toxoplasma,  the  genus.  Prof.   H.  G.  Plimmer,  94 
Trade   Winds   of   the    North    Atlantic,    Fluctuations    in    the 

Strength  of  the,  P.   H.  Gall^,  526 
Trajectory  of  a  Falling  Body,  A.  Viljev,  527 
Transneptunian  Planet,  A,  Dr.  P.  Lowell,   17 
Trench  Feet,  Etiology,  etc.,  of,  V.  Raymond  and  J.  Paricot, 

.  ^54 

Trilobites,  Presence  of  a  Median  Eye  in,  R.  Ruedemann,  255 

Tropfcal  Diseases,  384 

Tropisms,  S.   O.   Mast,  290 

Trouting,  Brook  and  River,  H.  H.  Edmonds  and  N.  X. 
Lee,  378 

Tsetse  Flies,  Distribution  of.  Dr.  Schweiz,  90 

T  Tauri.  The  Irregular  Variable  Star,   189 

Tuberculosis :  Dr.  A.  J.  Jex-Blake,  180 ;  Experiments  on 
the  Control  of,  345  ;  in  Persons  employed  in  Parisian 
Wine-bars,  Study  of,  A.  Chauveau,  395 :  Pulmonary, 
among  Native  .Miners  in  South  Africa,  Drs.  Watkins- 
Pitchford,  A.  J.  Orenstein,  and  W.  Steuart,  309 

Tuberculous  Bacilli  in  Sputa,  The  Detection  of,  H.  Bierr 
496 

Tularosa  Basin,  New  Mexico,  Geology-  and  Water  Resources 
of,  O.  E.   Meinzer  and  R.   F.   Hare,   17 

Tumours,  The  Pathology  of.  Dr.   E.  H.  Kettle,  460 

Tungsten  :  Incandescent  Lamps,  Photometry  of  Gas-filled. 
Middlekauff  and  Skogland,  267  ;  in  the  Federated  Malav 
States,  J.  B.  Scrivener,  348 ;  Target  for  X-ray  Tubes', 
A,  67 :  The  High-frequency  Spectrum  of,  W.  Hull  and 
M.  Rice,  395 

Turtles,  Marking  Experiments  with,  in  the  Danish  West 
Indies,  Dr.  J.  Schmidt,  549 

Twinning,  DilTerent  Laws  of.  Relations  between,  giving  the 
same  Twin-crystal,  Dr.  J.  W.  Evans,  374 

I  Ultra-violet :   Absorption  Spectra  of  Blood   Sera,    Dr.  S.   J. 
I  Lewis,    154 ;    Radiations,    The    .Absorption    of,    by    the 

I  Bromo-derivatives  of  Methane,  Massol  and  Faucon^  496 ; 

!  Rays,  Therapeutic  .Action  of,  19 

United  States  :  and  adjoining  Seas,  Magnetic  Survey  of  th 
207;  Benefactions  to  Science  and  Education  in  the. 
Prof.  R.  A.  Gregory,  263  ;  Bill  for  the  Establishment 
of  Engineering  Experiment  Stations  in  the  State  Col- 
leges of  the,  425  ;  Chemical  Industries  of  the.  Present 
and  Future  Condition  of  the.  Dr.  Baekeland,  232 ; 
Commissioner  of  Education,  Report  for  1915.  vol.  i., 
454 ;  General  Education  Board  of  the.  Grants  of  the, 
304 ;  Higher  Education  in  the.  S.  P.  Capen,  454 :  Indus- 
trial Research  in  the,  .A.  P.  M.  Fleming.  270 :  National 
Defence  and  Development  in  the,  268 ;  Naval  Observa- 
tory, 1915,  17:  Productive  Research  in  the,  ii;o;  Re- 
search Funds  in  the.  313:  The  National  Research 
Council  of  the,  464 ;  The  Smoke  Nuisance  in  the,  429  ; 
The  Termites  of  the.  T.  E.  Snyder.  312 

Universal  Mind.  TTie,  and  the  Great  War,  E.  Drake,  400 

Universities,  The,  The  Technical  Colleges,  and  the  Arn 
Dr.  A.   P.   Laurie.  441 

University  College,  London  :  Annual  Report  of,  173 ; 
Faculty  of  Engineering,  513 ;  Inspection  of  New 
Chemical  Laboratories  of,  134 ;  The  New  Chemical 
Laboratories  at,   148 

University  :  Education  and  Research.  Higher,  Ninth  Report 
of  Executive  Committee  of  the  Fund  for,  273  ;  Women, 
Federation  of.  Prize  Fellowship  awarded  to  Dr.  Alice 
Lee,  385 

Upper:  .Air,  Illusions  of  the.  Sir  N.  Shaw,  210;  Cretaceous 
Floras  of  the  World.  E.  W.  Berry.  215;  Perak,  The 
Aboriginal  Tribes  of,  J.  H.  N.  Evans,  266;  White 
River  District.  Yukon,  D.  D.  Cairnes,  410 ;  Witwaters- 
rand  System,  The,   E.  T.  Mellor,  489 

Uranus,  229 

Uranyl  Salts,  The  Phosphorescertce  of,  E.  L.  Nichols,  456 

Urine,  A  New  Reaction  of,  A.  Bach,  95 

Vahlen   Relations.  The  so-called,  between   the   Minors  of  a 

Matri.x.  Sir  T.  Muir,  335 
Valency,    The  Theory   of.    Dr.    J.    Newton    Friend,    Second 

Edition.  218 
Van't  Hoff  Research  Fund.  .Award  of  Grants  from,   145 
Vapour  Pressure  of  Ice  at  Low  Temperatures,  S.  Weber,  188 


xl 


Index 


[Nature, 
Septet! I  her  21,  191 


Variable  Stars  :  A  New  Catalogue  of,  Miss  A.  J.  Cannon, 
494;  near  the  South  Pole,  Miss  Leavitt,  471  ;  Observa- 
tions of,  Dr.  C.  Hoffmeister ;  Dr.  G.  Hornig,  46 

Vaudese  Alps,  Rambles  in  the,  F.  S.  Salisbury,  201 

Veal  and  Beef,  Relative  Nutritional  Value  of,  W.  N.  Berg, 
128 

Vegetable  :  Foods,  The  Microscopy  of,  Drs.  A.  L.  Winton, 
J.  Moeller,  and  K.  B.  Winton,  Second  Edition,  500 ; 
Products  of  Economic  Importance,  Lectures  on,  bv 
A.  W.  Hill,   153 

V'egetables,  Leaf,  and  How  to  Cook  Them,  C.  H.  Senn,  387 

Venereal  Diseases  :  Grant  to  Carry  Out  Recommendations 
of  the  Commission  on,  165 ;  Royal  Commission  on. 
Final  Report,   123 

Venezuela,  Archaeology  of,  New  Data  on  the,  H.  J.  Spinden, 
4.';6 

Ventilation  and  Metabolism,   Prof.  L.   Hill,  491 

Venus  :  The  Influence  of,  on  the  Mean  Heliographic  Lati- 
tude of  the  Sunspots,  H.  Arctowski,  514;  The  Planet, 
109,  289 

Vertebrate  Remains  from  the  Star  Dalam  Cavern,  Malta, 
Miss  D.  M.  A.  Bate,  274 

Vesta,   Minor  Planet  (4),  Opposition  of  the,  G.  Stracke,  88 

Veteran  Naturalist,  A,  being'  the  Life  and  Work  of  W.  B. 
Tegetmeier,  by  E.  W.   Richardson,  399 

Virgin  Islands,  Agricultural  Department  of  the,  Report  of 
the,  287 

Viscosity  of  Suspensions  of  Rigid  Particles  at  different  rates 
of  Shear,  E.   Humphrey  and  E.   Hatschek,  394 

Volcanic  Rocks  from  the  Neighbourhood  of  the  Lu^alla 
River,  Angola,  A.  Holmes,  375 

Volcano,  A  New,  in  the  Kivu  Country,  Sir  A.  Sharpe,   110 

Volcanoes  :  Experimental,  and  the  Laws  of  Volcanic  Pheno- 
mena, E.  Belot,  536 ;  The  Causes  of,  E.   Belot,  235  '^. 

Volta  Effect,  Study  of  the,  by  Induced  Radio-activity^ 
E.   Sarasin  and  T.  Tommasina,   51 

Voltameter.  The  Silver,  J.  Obata,  427 

Vomiting  Sickness  of  Jamaica,   Dr.    H.   H.   Scott,   286 

Voyage  in  Space,  A,   Prof.  H.  H.  Turner,    139 


Wales  :  Anthropological  Types  in,  Geographical  Distribu- 
tion of,  H.  J.  Fleure  and  T.  C.  James,  504;  Univer- 
sity Education  in,   Royal  Commission  on,   173 

Walker  Prize,  The,  awarded  to  W.  S.  Handley,  165 

Wallace  :  Alfred  Russel,  Letters  and  Reminiscences,  J. 
Marchant,  2  vols.,  337;  Memorial  Tablet  to,  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  58 

War  :  Effect  of  the,  upon  Art  Museums,  E.  R.  Dibdin,  472  ; 
-Planes,  Foreign,  182  ;  Wounds,  Ozonised  Oxygen  in  the 
Treatment  of,  F.   Bordas,  350 

Warrigal,  Origin  of  the,   R.  Etheridge,  526 

Warwickshire,  J.  H.  Bloom,  99 

Washington  University  Medical  School,  Gifts  to,  by  E. 
Mallinckrodt  and   T.   T.   Milliken,   414 

Water  :  Filtration  of,  W.  Clemence,  188  :  -power  in  South- 
central  Alaska,  470 ;  Purification  of  Water  by  Precipita- 
tion, Alum  for  the,  Capt.  Morison,  488 ;  Influence  of 
the  Algae  on  Submerged  Sand  Filters  on  the,  F.  Di^nert 
and  L.  Gizolme,  i;i4;  Supply  of  Melbourne,  The,  351 

Waterhen,  Coot,  Redshank,  Ringed  Plover,  and  Lapwing, 
Habits  of  the.  Miss  E.  L.  Turner,  106 

Wave-length  4686  A.U.,  The  Structure  of  the  Line  of, 
E.  J.  Evans  and  C.  Croxson,  ,t;7  ;  -lengths  in  the  Iron 
Spectrum,  Burns,  Meggers,  and  Merrill,  451  ;  of  the 
Chief  Nebular  Lines,  The,  208 

Weather  for  the  Past  Winter  Season,  The,  65 ;  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  Summary  of  the,  346 ;  The,  of  the 
Present  Summer,  426 ;  Wet  and  Dry,  The  Persistence 
of,  E.  V.  Newnham,  234 

Weddell    Sea,    etc..    Temperatures,    Specific    Gravities,    and 


Salinities  of  the.  Dr.  W.  S.  Bruce,  A.  King,  and  D.  W. 

Wilton,  329 
Weeds    on    Arable    Land    and    their    Suppression,    Dr.    W. 

Brenchley,  387 
Wellcome  Historical  Medical  Museum,  The,  C.  J.  Thompson, 

266 
Welsh  :    Universities    and    Colleges,    and    National    Medical 

School   for  Wales,    Repbrts   of  Advisory  Committee   on 

Grants  to,  233  ;   University  Colleges,  A  Royal  Commis-. 

sion  on,   153 
Western  :    Australia,    Vegetation   of.    Dr.    C.    H.    Ostenfeld, 

129  ;  Reserve  University,  Bequest  to,  by  R.  R.  Rhodes, 

173 

West  Indian  Firefly,  The,  Prof.  W.  H.  Pickering,   180 

What  is  Coming?  A  Forecast  of  Things  after  the  War, 
H.  G.  Wells,  478 

Wheatear,  Black-eared,  The,  a  New  Bird  for  the  Irish  List, 
Prof.  C.  J.  Patten,  321 

Wheat  Indu!»try,  The,  for  use  in  Schools,  N.  A.  Bengtson 
and  D.  Griffith,  79 

Wheldon  and  Co.  's  Catalogue  of  Cryptogamic  Botany,  67 

White,  Sir  William,  Memorial  to,  466 

Wireless  :  Station  at  Dickson  Island  to  be  Maintained,  425  ; 
Telegraphy,  Regulation  of  the  Charging  Circuit  in 
Installations  of,  Girardeau  and  Bethenod,  95 ;  and 
TelepTiony,  The  Progress  and  Present  Position  of.  Prof. 
G.  Vanni,  389 ;  Use  of  High  Potential  Continuous 
Current  for,  A.  Blondel,  155  ;  Transmission  of  Photo- 
graphs, M.  J.   Martin,  258 

Witwatersrand,  Conglomerates  of  the,  E.  T.  Mellor,  25 

Woburn  Experimental  Fruit  Farm,  Fifteenth  Report,  422 

Wolf:  Comet  1916  6,  R.  T.  Crawford  and  D.  Alter,  410; 
-note  of  the  Violin  and  'Cello,  On  the,  C.  V.  Raman, 
362 

Women  and  the  Land,  Viscountess  Wolseley,  320 

Wood  Pulps  for  Paper-making,  C.  F.  Cross,  35 

Worcester  Porcelain  for  Chemical  Use,  527 

World  :  The,  and  its  Discovery,  H.  B.  Wetherill,  4  parts, 
520;  -time,  A.  H.  Mackay,  381 

Worms,  Nematode,  Parasitic  on  Insects,  J.  H.  Merrill  and 
A.  L.  Ford,  469 

Wounded.  Care  of  the.  Sir  A.  Keogh,  264 

Wounds,  Seotic,  The  Treatment  of,  468 

Wright,  Wilbur,  Memorial  Lecture  to  be  delivered  by  G. 
Brewer,  284 

X-ravs,  Illusory  Protection  against,  J.  Bergoni^  ;  C.  Ricliet, 
215 

Yale   University:    Bequest    to,    by    C.    W.    Harkness,    313; 

School  of  Medicine,  Bequest  by  N.   B.   Bayley,  494 
Year-book  of  the  Scientific  and  Learned  Societies  of  Great 

Britain  and  Ireland,  The,  80 
Yorkshire  Trout  Flies,  378 
Yorkshire's  Contribution  to  Science,  T.  Sheppard,  279 

Zeiss,  Carl,  Apochromatic  Systems  of,  F.  J.  Cheshire,  345 

Zeppelin  Notes,  Observer,  201 

Zeppelins:    Avoiding,   Prof.    E.   C.    Pickering,   221  ;_  Recent, 

G.  Prade,   105  ;  Super-,  Lord  Montagu  of  Beaulieu,  548 
Zinc  :    its    Production    and    Industrial    Applications,  ,J.    C. 

Moulden,    328 ;    -bronze.    Standard    Test    Specimens    of, 

C.  P.  Carr  and  H.  S.  Rawdon,  368 
Zoological:  Research  in  South  Africa,  Recent.  472;  Results 

of  a  Tour   in   the   Far   East.    Dr.    N.    Annandale,  416; 

Nomenclature,  International  Commission  on,  Dr.  C.  W. 

Stiles,   479  ;   Society  of  London,   Annual  Report  of  the, 

227  ;  Report  of  the,   =149  ;  Society  of  New  York,  Report 

of   the    Director   of   the   Aquarium   of   the,    386 ;    Society 

of  Scotland,  Annual  Report  of  the,  386 


PRINTED   .'N   GREAT   BRITAIN    BY   R.    CLAY   ANP   SONS,    LTD.,    BRUNSWICK   STREET,    STAMFORD   STREET,    S.E.,    AND    liUNGAY,    SUFFOLK. 


A    WEEKLY    ILLUSTRATED    JOURNAL    OF    SCIENCE. 

"  To   the  solid  ground 
Of  Nature  trusts  the  ntind  which  builds  for  aye." — Wordsworth. 


Edited 
W.  B. 
Smith. 

34  + 
John 


(THURSDAY,    MARCIT  2,    1916. 
THE  NEW  ZEALAND  FLORA, 
ustrations  of  the  New  Zealand  Flora. 
by  T.    F.   Cheeseman,   assisted  by  Dr. 
Hemsley.       Plates   drawn    by   ^liss   M. 
\'o\.   i.,   pp.  8+ 121   plates.      Vol.   ii.,  pp 
plates     122-250.       (Wellington,     N.Z.  : 
Mackay,  Government  Printer,  1914.) 

PERHAPS  no  country  of  equal  extent  possesses 
a    vegetation   more    interesting-    than    does 
New  Zealand,  the  1600  indig-enous  vascular  plants 
of  which  include  some  three-fourths  that  are  en- 
demic.    Few  floras  have  received  more  attention 
from  a  long  succession  of  distinguished  workers. 
The  history  of  botanical  discovery  in  the  Dominion 
from  the  time  of  Captain  Cook's  first  visit  (1769- 
70)  to  the  middle  of  last  century  is  fascinatingly 
told  in  Hooker's  introductory  essay  to  the  second 
portion  of  his  "  Botany  of  the  Antarctic  Voyages 
of  the  Erebus  and  Terror,"  retold  and  continued 
with  more  detail  half  a  century  later  in  Cheese- 
man's    "Manual    of    the    New    Zealand    Flora." 
Space  forbids  the  recapitulation  here  of  this  in- 
ictive  story;  it  is,  however,  worth  while  recall- 
>!<  the  chief  attempts  that   have   been   made  to 
publish  the  results  achieved.      The  first  of  these 
-     an     "  Essai     d'une     flore     de     la     Noiivelle 
;ande,"  by  A.   Richard,  issued  in  1833  as  part 
of  the  account  of  Dumont  d'Urville's  voyagfe  in 
the  Astrolabe.     This  was  followed  by  Allan  Cun- 
ningham's less  satisfactory  "  Florte  Novae  Zelan- 
diae  Praecursor,"  issued  in  instalments  about  1839, 
and  by  the  fine  "Choix  de  Plantes  de  la  Nouvelle- 
ande,"   published  by   Raoul    in     1846.       Next 
ie   the    "  Flora    Novae-Zelandiae "    of    Hooker, 
ch  forms  part  ii.  of  the  results  of  the  voyages 
Ross    (1839-43),    issued    under   Admiralty   au- 
rity  during  1852-55. 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


A  decade  later  (1864-67)  Hooker  published  at 
the  request  and  under  the  authority  of  the  New 
Zealand  Gover/iment  his  "  Handbook  of  the  New 
Zealand  Flora,"  a  work  which  for  thirty  years 
remained  the  standard  authority  on  the  subject 
and  stimulated  the  activities  and  the  critical 
acumen  of  a  g^eneration  of  collectors  and  students. 
One  of  the  most  active  and  accomplished  of  these, 
the  late  Mr.  T.  Kirk,  devoted  much  time  to  the 
accumulation  of  material  for  a  new  flora  incorpor- 
ating- descriptions  of  the  many  novelties  dis- 
covered and  characterised  since  Hooker's  "Hand- 
book "  was  issued.  The  services  of  a  competent 
local  botanist  being-  now  available.  Kirk  was  asked 
by  the  New  Zealand  Government  in  1894  to  write 
a  "Students'  Flora  of  New  Zealand."  Three 
years  later,  when  less  than  half  his  task  had  been 
overtaken,  Kirk  died.  The  portion  of  this  work 
actually  completed  was  officially  printed,  and  its 
quality  was  such  as  to  increase  the  reg-ret  caused 
by  the  author's  death  and  to  streng^en  the 
Government  resolution  to  provide  the  new  flora  so 
urgently  required. 

The  preparation  of  the  much-desired  work  was 
entrusted  to  Mr.  T.  F.  Cheeseman,  curator  of  the 
Auckland  Museum.  His  "Manual,"  eagerly 
looked  for,  when  published  at  Welling-ton  in  1906, 
received  a  warm  welcome  from  all  who  were  in- 
terested in  the  vegetation  of  the  Dominion.  Except 
perhaps  in  England,  it  was  already  generally  ap- 
preciated that  botanists  are  indebted  to  New  Zea- 
land for  some  of  the  most  weighty  additions  to 
natural  knowledge  in  the  ecological  field.  The 
appearance  of  Cheeseman 's  "Manual"  taught 
systematists  that  the  Dominion  had  besides  at 
least  one  taxonomic  writer  in  whom  are  happily 
blended  those  powers  of  observation,  that  balanced 
judgment,  and  that  capacity  for  taking  pains  so 
essential  in  floristic  study. 

When  Cheeseman  was  commissioned  to  prepare 

B 


NATURE 


[March  2,  1916 


his  "  Manual  "  the  official  scheme  included  the  pro- 
vision of  a  volume  of  plates  to  illustrate  some 
portion  of  the  species  described.  Two  sugg^estions 
occurred  to  those  who  had  urged  the  undertaking. 
One  was  to  reproduce  on  a  reduced  scale  the  un- 
published engravings  prepared  to  accompany  the 
descriptions  by  Solander  of  plants  collected  during 
Captain  Cook's  first  visit  to  New  Zealand;  the 
other  was  to  employ  afresh  the  beautiful  illustra- 
tions which  accompany  Hooker's  "Flora  Novae- 
Zelandiae."  Both  suggestions  possess  the  merit 
attaching  to  pious  inspirations,  though  in  reality 
both  owed  their  origin  to  the  hope  they  held  out 
of  enabling  the  Dominion  Government  to  solve  a 
serious  practical  difficulty.  This  difficulty  is  due 
to  the  circumstance  that  as  yet  there  is  not  in 
New  Zealand  a  demand  for  work  of  the  kind  suffi- 
cient to  induce  resident  artists  to  devote  them- 
selves to  the  very  special  occupation  of  preparing 
and  reproducing  figures  of  botanical  subjects. 
Fortunately,  we  think,  the  demand  for  the 
"  Flora  "  itself  was  so  urgent  that  it  was  decided 
to  leave  the  question  of  illustrations  in  abeyance 
until  the  text  should  be  completed.  That  question, 
however,  was  in  the  interval  carefully  considered 
in  all  its  bearings.  For  reasons  which  seem  un- 
answerable, both  suggestions  were  set  aside.  It 
was  resolved  that  the  "  Illustrations "  should  be 
new  ones,  educational  in  character,  expressly 
drawn  for  the  work,  and  so  designed  and  executed 
as  to  be  of  use  in  the  study  and  identification  of 
the  plants  portrayed.  The  practical  difficulty  was 
frankly  recognised,  and  was  overcome  by  the 
employment  of  an  artist,  a  lithographer,  and  a 
printer  in  England,  while  arrangements  were 
made  for  the  supervision  of  their  work,  at  every 
stage,  by  an  English  botanist. 

The  two  handsome  volumes  of  "  Illustrations  of 
the  New  Zealand  Flora  "  now  before  us  show  how 
satisfactory  these  arrangements  have  been ;  the 
artist,  whose  name  appears  on  the  title-page,  the 
lithographer,  Mr.  J.  N.  Fitch,  and  the  printers, 
Messrs.  West,  Newman,  deserve  equal  commenda- 
tion for  the  excellence  of  their  work.  In  his 
choice  of  a  supervising  colleague,  whose  name 
also  appears  on  the  title-page,  the  author  of  the 
text  has  been  especially  fortunate;  Mr.  Hemsley 
has  fulfilled  his  part  with  remarkable  judgment, 
and,  as  the  author  explains,  has  often  been  able 
to  make  comparisons  of  the  material  actually 
figured  so  as  to  confirm  its  identity  with  the  type 
of  the  species  concerned.  The  subjects  of  the  250 
plates  have  been  so  selected  by  Mr.  Cheeseman 
that  they  illustrate  satisfactorily  the  main  features 
of  the  New  Zealand  flora.  No  really  important 
genus  or  group  of  plants  is  left  unrepresented,  nor 
is  any  latitude  or  altitude  of  the  Dominion  inade- 
NO.    2418,   VOL.   97] 


quately  dealt  with.  The  descriptive  matter  which 
accompanies  each  plate  is  clear  and  concise,  singu- 
larly free  from  technical  terms,  and  replete  with 
information  of  lx>tanical,  economic,  and  historical 
interest.  The  work  is  worthy  of  the  reputation 
of  all  those  concerned  in  its  production,  and  while 
it  affords  proof,  were  this  needed,  that  New  Zea- 
land can  command  competent  botanical  assistance, 
it  also  shows  that  the  Dominion  enjoys  an  en- 
lightened administration  which  is  fully  aware  of 
this  fact. 

NEW  AMERICAN  STEAM   TABLES. 
Properties    of    Steam    and   Ammonia.      By   Prof. 
G.  A.  Goodenough.     Pp.  vii+  108.     (New  York  : 
J.    Wiley   and   Sons,    Inc. ;  London :    Chapman 
and  Hall,  Ltd.,    1915.)     Price  55.   6d.   net. 

THESE  tables  are  a  great  improvement  on 
previous  American  work  in  the  matter  of 
thermodynamic  method  and  consistency,  but  the 
expressions  employed  for  calculating  the  tables 
are  too  complicated  to  be  of  practical  use  for 
other  purposes,  though  comparing  favourably  with 
many  empirical  formulae.  The  author  assumes  a 
characteristic  equation  of  the  type, 

V-b  =  RT/p  -  (i  +  sapy^)m/T^, 
and  deduces  consistent  expressions  for  the  total 
heat  and  the  entropy,  according  to  Callendar's 
method,  by  the  aid  of  a  formula  for  the  specific 
heat  at  zero  pressure.  He  objects  to  Callendar's 
equation  on  the  ground  that  it  makes  the  iso- 
thermals  straight  lines  on  the  pv,p  diagram, 
which  is  well  known  to  ]yc  a  good  approximation 
at  moderate  pressures  over  the  experimental  range 
from  0°  to  200°  C,  but  begins  to  fail  at  higher 
pressures.  Linde  introduced  the  factor  (i  +ap)  in 
the  last  term  to  give  the  desired  curvature  to  the 
isothermals  at  high  pressures.  His  equation  has 
been  widely  adopted  in  America,  but  is  most  un- 
satisfactory, because  it  would  make  steam  become 
a  "pluperfect"  gas  (pv  increasing  with  p  at  con- 
stant t)  at  a  temperature  of  400°  C,  a  few  degrees 
above  the  critical  point,  which  is  impossible.  The 
form  assumed  by  Prof.  Goodenough  escapes  this 
objection,  and  gives  "reasonably  good  agree- 
ment "  with  throttling  experiments,  but  appears 
to  lead  to  excessive  curvature  of  the  isothermals 
at  low  pressures,  where  they  should  be  very  nearly 
straight,  and  also  gives  deficient  curvature  at  high 
pressures  near  the  critical  point,  besides  making 
no  allowance  for  the  well-known  fact  that  the 
curvature  must  change  sign  at  a  temperature  not 
far  above  the  critical. 

There  are  many  ways  in  which  Callendar's 
equation  may  be  modified  to  meet  these  conditions 
and    give    good    agreement  with    the    saturation 


March  2,  1916] 


NATURE 


pressures  up  to  the  critical  point.  But  since  there 
are  no  experimental  data  'for  the  volume,  or  the 

■tal  heat,  or  the  specific  heat,  or  the  cooling-- 
.-ifect,  at  pressures  above  8  or  10  atmospheres, 
it  is  impossible  to  decide  between  different  equa- 
tions satisfactorily  at  high  pressures  without 
further  experimental  work.  It  is  comparatively 
easy  to  calculate  values  on  suitable  mathematical 
assumptions  with  a  fair  degree  of  probability,  but 
it  may  reasonably  be  questioned  whether  it  is 
worth  while  to  risk  spoiling  the  approximation  for 
ordinary  purposes  for  the  sake  of  a  doubtful  ad- 
vantage beyond  the  experimental  range. 

The  expression  employed  for  the  variation  of 
the  specific  heat  with  temperature  gives  a  mini- 
mum in  the  neighboui  hood  of  140°  C,  and  the 
values  are  nearly  constant  from  80°  to  200°  C. 
The  value  at  100°  C.  and  atmospheric  pressure  is 
nearly  the  same  as  that  recently  found  by  Brink- 
worth  {Phil.  Trans,  y  1915)-  The  variation  with 
pressure  agrees  closely  with  that  given  by  Callen- 
dar  over  the  experimental  range.  The  agreement 
is  exact  at  70  lb.  and  300°  F.,  and  also  at  200  lb. 
and  500°  F.  The  increase  of  Sq  at  low  tempera- 
tures cannot  be  verified  experimentally,  and  is 
theoretically  improbable.  The  gradual  increase 
above  200°  C.  is  not  improbable  in  order  of  mag- 
nitude, but  the  experimental  evidence  is  so  con- 
flicting, and  the  importance  of  the  variation  so 
small  for  steam  engine  work,  that  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  it  is  worth  while  to  attempt 
to  take  account  of  it.  These  minor  variations, 
besides  being  somewhat  uncertain,  render  all  the 
expressions  so  complicated  as  to  be  of  little  use 
for  practical  calculations  without  reference  to 
tables.  The  adiabatic  equation,  in  place  of  being 
the  same  as  that  of  a  perfect  gas,  becomes  quite 
unmanageable,  and  there  is  no  simple  relation 
between  the  volume  and  the  total  heat. 

The  properties  of  saturated  steam  are  deduced 
from  an  empirical  formula  for  the  saturation 
pressure  of  the  general  type, 

log/>  =  A  +  B/T  +  C  log  T+DT-rET-'-f-FT3  +  GT<, 
\vhich  represents  very  closely  the  observations  on 
which  it  is  founded.  Clapeyron's  equation  is  em- 
ployed for  deducing  the  latent  heat  and  the  heat 
of  the  liquid,  which  serve  as  a  rough  verification 
of  the  method.  The  general  arrangement  of  the 
tables  follows  familiar  lines,  but  it  is  to  be  re- 
gretted that  they  are  restricted  to  British  thermal 
units  on  the  Fahrenheit  scale,  according  to  the 
common  practice  among  American  engineers,  and 
that  no  values  are  tabulated  on  the  Centigrade 
scale  or  expressed  in  metric  units.  The  only 
diagram  given  is  that  of  Mollier,  with  total  heat 
and  entropy  as  co-ordinates,  which  is  useful  for 
NO.    2418,   VOL.    97] 


adiabatic  expansion,  but  has  the  disadvantage  of 
not  showing  the  volume  and  of  having  a  variable 
scale  of  pressure. 

The  properties  of  ammonia  are  developed  and 
tabulated  in  a  similar  manner  to  those  of  steam, 
but  with  less  elaboration,  owing  to  the  scanty 
experimental  data.  The  results  are  noteworthy 
as  the  first  serious  attempt  at  consistent  repre- 
sentatian  in  the  case  of  this  vapour.  The  whole 
work  is  admirably  lucid,  and  should  do  much  to 
advance  thermodynamic  method  in  the  construc- 
tion  of  tables 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Limes  and  Cements :  Their  Nature,  Manufacture, 
and  Use.  An  Elementary  Treatise.  By  E.  A. 
Dancaster.  Pp.  xii  +  212.  (London:  Crosby 
Lockwood  and  Son,  1916.)  Price  55.  net. 
This  is  especially  suited  for  students  who  require 
an  elementary  text-book  on  the  subject,  contain- 
ing, as  the  author  justly  observes  in  his  preface, 
very  little  that  will  have  to  be  unlearned  at  a  later 
period.  It  is  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  have 
some  value  for  many  who  are  not  beginners,  for 
though  the  matter  is  necessarily  compressed  in 
view  of  the  limited  space,  the  ample  bibliography 
of  modern  publications  dealing  wholly  or  partly 
with  the  materials  under  consideration  will  enable 
fuller  details  to  be  found  by  such  as  may  need 
them. 

The  work  is  admittedly  based  on  Burnell's 
"Limes,  Cements,  Mortars,  etc.,"  but  the  altera- 
tions and  additions  involved  in  bringing  that 
treatise  up  to  date  render  the  present  volume 
practically  a  new  production.  All  the  important 
varieties  of  lime,  artificial  and  natural  cement, 
mortar,  concrete,  etc.,  are  noticed,  however 
briefly,  including  the  mode  of  preparation  or 
occurrence,  and  the  approved  manner  of  using. 

A  chapter  on  the  chemical  analysis  of  limes  and 
cements  gives  brief  directions  for  the  determina- 
tion of  the  principal  constituents,  and  another 
chapter  furnishes  descriptions  of  the  physical  and 
mechanical  tests  applied  to  some  of  the  substances 
in  question,  but  chiefly  to   Portland  cement. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  misprints,  though  not 
entirely  absent,  are  commendably  rare.  Illus- 
trations are  not  very  numerous,  but  will  probably 
be  found  sufficient  except  for  special  details.  The 
style  of  the  descriptions  is  clear  throughout  the 
book.  J.  A.  A. 

Hancock's  Applied  Mechanics  for  Engineers.    Re- 
vised and  rewritten  by  Prof.  X.  C.  Riggs.     Pp. 
xiii  +  441.      (New   York:    The   Macmillan   Co.; 
London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1915.)    Price 
los.  6d.  net. 
The  first  edition  of  this  book  appeared  in   1909, 
and  was  reviewed  in  Nature  for  September  16  of 
that   year.       Considerable    alterations    have    been 
made     in     the     present     edition,    and     graphical 
methods  have  been  used  more  freely.     About  two 
hundred   new   problems   have   been   added   to  the 


NATURE 


[March  2,  1916 


previous  large  number.  Statics  occupy  the  first 
eight  chapters,  then  follow  three  chapters  on 
motion,  two  chapters  on  work  and  friction,  a 
chapter  on  the  dynamics  of  rigid  bodies,  and 
another  on  impacts. 

The  book  differs  somewhat  from  most  of  the 
text-books  on  applied  mechanics  for  engineers 
produced  in  this  country ;  had  it  been  published  in 
Great  Britain  it  would  probably  have  been  called 
"Applied  Mathematics  for  Engineers."  The 
treatment  of  the  principles  of  mechanics  is  excep- 
tionally good,  and  we  can  confidently  commend 
the  book  to  any  engineering  student  who  wishes 
to  understand  more  thoroughly  many  matters 
which  receive  but  little  attention  in  most  of  our 
own  text-books.  With  the  omission  of  some  of 
the  more  mathematical  sections,  which  could  be 
read  profitably  by  engineering  students  later  in 
their  course,  the  book  would  prove  very  useful  to 
students  who  desire  to  attain  the  standard  of  the 
intermediate  examinations  of  the  universities. 
There  is  a  capital  section  on  moments  and  pro- 
ducts of  inertia,  containing  matter  for  which  the 
engineering  student  has  generally  to  search  in 
books  containing  little  else  of  interest  to  him ;  the 
practical  examples  given  in  this  section  are  good. 

The  British  Journal  Photographic  Almanac  and 
Photographer's  Daily  Companion,  1916.  Edited 
by  G.  E.  Brown.  55th  issue.  (London  :  H. 
Greenwood  and  Co.,  Ltd.)  Price  is.  net. 
All  those  who  are  practically  interested  In  photo- 
graphy look  forward  to  the  appearance  of  the 
"B.  J.  Almanac,"  and  in  spite  of  the  stress  of 
circumstances  they  will  not  be  disappointed. 
Although  there  are  fewer  new  things  to  chronicle 
for  last  year,  the  general  features  of  the  volume 
are  much  as  usual.  The  editor's  special  contri- 
bution is  a  long  article  on  printing  processes. 
These  "  practical  notes  "  will  be  much  appreciated. 
The  "  Epitome  of  Progress  "  section  preserves  its 
usual  character,  but  the  section  usually  devoted 
to  a  review  of  the  novelties  introduced  by  the  trade 
during  the  past  year  is  replaced  by  a  survey  of 
the  resources  of  Great  Britain  and  certain  well- 
known  firms  of  Entente  nationality  in  the  produc- 
tion of  the  requisites  for  photography.  This 
shows  that  in  several  important  respects  we  are 
rendering  ourselves  independent  of  German 
supplies. 

An  Introductory  Course  of  Practical  Magnetism 
and  Electricity.  By  Dr.  J.  R.  Ashworth.  Third 
Edition.  Pp.  xvii  +  96.  (London  :  Whittaker 
and  Co.,  191 5.)  Price  2s.  net. 
The  laboratory  course  described  in  this  book  is 
divided  into  thirty  sections,  and  can  be  worked 
through  in  the  course  of  a  winter  session.  The 
present  edition  of  the  book  is  substantially  the 
same  as  the  previous  issues,  though  some  addi- 
tions have  been  made.  Sections  have  been  intro- 
duced on  the  measurement  of  the  internal  resis- 
tance of  a  cell  and  the  effect  of  joining  cells  in 
series  and  in  parallel,  and  upon  the  use  of  the 
Wheatstone  bridge  for  the  comparison  of 
resistances. 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  fur 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  a)iy  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Exploration    in    South-West    Africa. 

Prof.  H.  H.  VV.  Pearson,  of  Cape  Town,  has  just 
conducted  an  exjiloring  expedition  through  part  of  the 
recently  conquered  "South-West."  The  expedition, 
which  is  expected  to  yield  important  economic  as  well 
as  scientific  results,  started  with  the  express  approval 
of  General  Botha,  and,  like  Prof.  Pearson's  previous 
journeys  through  the  less  explored  parts  of  South 
Africa,  was  promoted  by  the  Percy-Sladen  Memorial 
Trust.  I  have  just  received  the  following  letter,  and 
I  am  sure  many  readers  of  Nature  will  be  glad  to 
learn  from  it  that  Prof.  Pearson  has  returned  safely 
from  his  interesting  and  successful  trek. 

W.  A.  Herdman. 

University  of  Liverpool,   February   18. 

Cape  Town, 

'January  28,   1916. 
Dear  Prof.   Herdman, 

Just  a  line  to  tell  you  that  the  journey  is  accom- 
plished with  results  which  I  hope  will  prove  to  be  quite 
successful.  I  learned  just  what  I  wanted  to  learn  and 
a  good  deal  more  besides.  The  route  was  a  particu- 
larly interesting  one ;  it  showed  me  more  of  the  transi- 
tion zone  between  the  littoral  desert  and  the  plateau 
than  I  had  expected,  and  it  gave  me  a  good  insight 
into  the  relations  between  the  Damaraland  and  Nama- 
qualand  floras.  It  has  connected  up  the  results  of 
my  previous  journeys,  and  I  can  now  tackle  my 
general  summary  much  more  satisfactorily  than  I 
could  have  done  before. 

The  journey  itself  was  in  some  respects  the  most 
difficult  I  have  ever  done.  Along  the  edge  of  the 
desert  the  road  disappeared  entirely,  and  we  got 
entangled  in  the  ravines  of  a  peculiarly  awkward 
range  of  mountains.  On  December  31  we  spent  five 
hours  in  advancing  considerably  less  than  a  mile. 
Both  the  wagons  broke  down,  one  of  them  twice 
within  half  an  hour  and  in  a  vital  part.  But  for  the 
extraordinary  skill  of  the  two  Hottentot  drivers  we 
should  never  have  got  them  both  through.  Darkness 
found  us  in  a  dangerous  river-bed,  in  which,  in 
defiance  of  all  the  laws  of  good  trekking,  we  had 
to  spend  the  night — and  a  sleepless  one  so  far  as  I 
was  concerned.  However,  the  new  year  was  kinder, 
and  although  we  broke  down  again  in  later  stages 
of  the  journey,  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  taking  ever>'- 
thing  safelv  into  Windhook  except  two  of  my  thirty 
donkevs.  One  of  these  died  on  the  road ;  the  other  I 
left  in  a  weak  condition  with  one  of  our  military 
outposts,  and  it  eventually  recovered.  Our  troubles 
were  due  primarily  to  a  bad  mistake  in  the  German 
maps,  and  to  the  fact  that  for  120  miles  the  country 
was  absolutely  without  inhabitants,  white  or 
black.  .   .  . 

I  passed  through  the  semi-independent  territory  of 
the  Bastard  Hottentots.  No  German  dare  venture 
into  it,  but  when  these  people  found  I  was  English 
thev  could  not  do  enough  for  me.  The  chief  sent  his 
son  with  me  for  thirty  miles  to  make  sure  that  I 
regained  the  trunk  ro'ad  lost  through  the  mistake 
mentioned  above.  They  and  all  the  natives  through- 
out the  countrv  are  profoundly  thankful  that  the 
German  regime'  is  over— and  they  have  good  reason 
to  be  H.  H.  W.  Pearson. 


March  2,  1916I 


NATURE 


Science  and  the  State. 

In  reference  to  the  nxent  memorandum  signed  bv 
thirty-six  eminent  pien  of  science  on  the  neglect  of 
science  in  our  national  organisation,  it  maj-  be  of 
some  interest  to  your  readers  to  be  reminded  of  the 
paragraph  on  a  similar  topic  written  by  Thomson  in 
his  '"History  of  Chemistry,"  which  api^eared  in  1831, 
or  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago  : — 

"What  Minister  in  Great  Britain  ever  attempted  to 
cherish  the  sciences,  or  to  reward  those  who  cultivate 
them  with  success?  If  we  except  Mr.  Montague,  who 
procured  the  place  of  master  of  the  Mint  for  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  I  know  of  no  one.  While  in  even-  other 
nation  in  Europe  science  is  directlv  promoted,  and 
considerable  sums  are  appropriated  for  its  cultivation 
and  for  the  support  of  a  certain  number  of  individuals 
who  have  shown  themselves  capable  of  extending  its 
boundaries,  not  a  single  farthing  has  been  devoted  to 
any  such  purpose  in  Great  Britain.  Science  has  been 
left  entirely  to  itself;  and  whatever  has  been  done 
by  way  of  promoting  it  has  been  performed  bv  the 
unaided    exertions    of  private    individuals." 

The  above  statement  is  not  literally  true  of  the  pre- 
sent day;  but  the  same  spirit  of  indifference  still  exists. 

J.    B.    COHEX. 

The   Universitv,    Leeds. 


ally  in  Terrestrial  Magnetism  and  Atmospheric  Elec- 
tricity, where  a  series  of  reports  are  in  the  press. 
Kristiania,    February    15.  Carl  Stor.mer. 


Ground    Rainbows. 

My  observations  of  ground  rainbows  are  here  de- 
scribed in  the  hope  of  learning  whether  the  pheno- 
menon is  well  known.  I  can  find  no  reference  to  it, 
and   no   information  as  to  how   the  gossamer,    which 


3>l«lCTt«»t 

•>s(m 


Altitudes   of   Aurorae. 

Tn  Nature  of  August  ;,  1913  (vol.  xci.,  p.  584),  a 
Tt  account  was  given  of  my  auroral  expedition  of 
i  V     I  think,  therefore,  that  the  accompanying  pre- 


^3C0Km. 


200 


'  i^^^K  j'^^  of  aurjra  borealis  seen  from  Bossekop  during  the  spring  of  1913.  Each  calculated  altitude  is 
markf  d  by  a  dot  and  the  several  hundred  simultaneous  photographs  of  aurora  from  the  stations— Bossekop 
and  btore  Korsnes— <mutual  distance  27^  kilometres)  gave  about  250c  determinations  of  height,  which  are  seen 

liminar)-  result  of  the  determination  of  altitude  (Fig.  i) 
will  interest  your  readers.  More  details  will  soon  be 
published  in  the  Comptes  rendus  of  the  Paris  Academv 
ot  Sciences,  in  the  Astrophysical  Journal,  and  especi'- 
XO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


causes  the  rainbow,  and  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  spider- 
web,  comes  to  be  spread  over  so  large  an  area. 

The  ground  rainbow  observed  occurred  about    ii.o 
a.m.    on    October    14,    1915.     A  cricket   field  of  about 

two  acres  was  covered  with 
a  thick  la\er  of  gossamer 
which  the  early  morning 
mist  had  loaded  with  mil- 
lions of  glittering  beads  of 
water.  As  one  walked  over 
the  ground  a  rainbow  of 
about  the  brilliancy  of  a 
good  secondan,'  bow  moved 
over  the  grass — stretching 
from  one's  feet  in  the 
direction  away  from  the 
sun  in  a  sweeping  curve 
with  two  arms.  .  The  ex- 
planation is  obvious  on  the 
ordinary  theory  of  primary 
rainbows. 

Those  rays  will  enter  the 
eye  which  fall  on  the  drops 
in  the  direction  of  the  thick 
circle,  A  R,  R,  B  S  A 

(Fig.  i).  But  the  raindrops 
were  all  on  the  ground, 
and  so  what  the  eye  saw 
was  the  underneath  part, 
A  S  B,  of  the  rainbow 
circle — that  is,  the  rays 
which  lie  on  the  under  sur- 
face of  the  cone,  E  .v  y 
(Fig.  2).  The  rainbow  is 
therefore  the  trace  of  the 
cone,  E.xy,  on  the  ground 
plane.  It  follows  at  once 
that  the  form  of  this  trace 
will  depend  on  the  angle 
of  elevation  of  the  sun ; 
when  the  sun  is  in 
the  zenith  the  curve  is  a 
circle,  when  the  angle  of  elevation  is  between  90°  and 
42°  it  is  an  ellipse,  when  42°  a  parabola,  and  when 
below  42°  a  hyperbola.  Some  of  mv  pupils  measured 
the  elevation,    by    finding  the    height    and    length    of 


NATURE 


[March  2,  19 16 


shadow  of  an  observer,  and  found  it  to  be  23°.  They 
also  pegged  out  the  curve  and  proved  it  a  hyperbola, 
and  showed  that  half  the  angle  of  the  cone  was  ap- 
proximately 42°.  The  gossamer  was  spread  quite 
evenly  over  the  field,  and  at  the  brightest  part  of  the 
morning — which  was  still  and  cloudless — a  slight 
secondary  bow  could  be  distinguished. 

Mr.  N.  T.  Porter  has  sent  me  some  photographs  of 
gossamer  taken  on  the  lawn  of  Downing  College, 
Cambridge,  one  morning  some  weeks  before ;  when 
a  similar  ground  rainbow  was  seen.  He  adds  that 
he  has  noticed  the  gossamer  fall  in  thick  clouds  on 
several  occasions  when  out  shooting  in  the  early  morn- 
ing. A.  E.   Heath. 

Physical  Laboratory,  Bedales  School,  Petersfield. 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  SCIENTIFIC 
METHODS  TO  THE  IMPROVEMENT 
OF    THE    SUGAR    BEET. 

AN  important  memoir  on  the  production  of 
improved  seeds  of  the  sugar  beet  is  pub- 
lished by  M.  E.  Schribaux  in  the  Bulletin  de  la 
Societe  d' Encouragement.^  The  memoir  gives 
one  of  the  best  accounts  that  has  vet  appeared 
of  the  methods  of  selection  which  have  proved 
so  successful  in  improving  the  quality  of  the 
sugar  beet  during  the  past  fifty  years.  It  is  to 
these  improvements  that  the  remarkable  growth 
of  the  beet  sugar  industry  is  largely  due.  They 
provide  an  admirable  illustration  of  what  can  be 
effected  by  applying  rigorous  scientific  methods 
to  agricultural  practice  and  industry  on  the  large 
scale,  and  demonstrate  scientific  control  pushed 
to  a  limit  which  only  a  few  years  back  would 
have  been  regarded  as  impracticable  or  even 
impossible.  This  can  be  best  appreciated  when 
it  is  stated  that  in  selecting  the  best  beet  roots 
to  be  used  as  seed-producers,  every  single  root 
which  appears  suitable  on  morphological  or 
other  grounds  is  subjected  to  chemical  analysis. 
Often  more  than  3000  roots  are  analysed  each 
day ;  for  this  purpose  a  staff  of  three  men, 
assisted  by  ten  women  or  children,  is  necessary, 
and  the  price  of  each  analysis  works  out  at  about 
four  centimes. 

The  accompanying  diagram  (Fig.  i)  shows  at 
a  glance  the  improvement  that  has  been  effected 
in  the  quality  of  the  beet  since  it  was  first  grown 
as  a  raw  material  of  the  sugar  industry.  During 
the  interval  from  1838  to  1870  seed  growers  con- 
fined their  attention  almost  entirely  to  physical 
characteristics,  such  as  form  ;  these  efTorts  were 
not  without  success,  and  led  to  the  adoption  of 
the  type  which,  after  its  selection  by  Rabethge 
and  Giesecke,  became  known  as  the  Klein  Wanz- 
lehen,  from  the  district  in  Saxony  in  which  it 
was  grown.  During  this  period,  too,  it  was 
noticed  that  the  largest  roots  are  always  the  poor- 
est, and  a  medium-sized  root  only  was  therefore 
aimed  at.  From  1838  to  1870,  the  increase  in  the 
percentage  of  sugar  was  but  small,  namely,  from 
8'8  to  lo'i  per  cent. 

The  second  period  of  selection  opened  with  the 
discovery  by  Louis  de  Vilmorin  of  the  fact  that, 

'  "Ta  TTodurt'on  des  graines  de  betterave  in'^usirieHes  assur^e  par 
I'aericulture  franca'se."  Hy  E.  Schribaux.  (/>«//.  Soc.  d'Encoujagemeni. 
vol.  cxxiv.,  No.  4,  pp.  178-251) 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


although  the  saccharine  quality  of  the  beet  is  a 
hereditary  character,  in  order  to  maintain  the 
improvement  of  the  stock  it  is  necessary  to  repeat 
the  selection  of  the  seed-bearing  plants  {porte- 
graines)  at  frequent  intervals.  He  created  the 
celebrated  race  Vilmorin  amelioree  associated 
with  his  name,  by  adopting  a  strictly  scientific 
control  in  place  of  the  empirical  one  which  had 
previously  determined  selection.  To  ascertain  the 
richness  in  sugar  of  the  mother  plants  Vilmorin 
at  first  floated  the  roots  in  baths  of  salt  or  sugar 
solutions  of  known  specific  gravity.  This  method 
was  soon  replaced  by  a  process  of  ascertaining 
the  density  of  the  juice  expressed  from  small 
sectors  of  the  roots,  and  this,  in  turn,  gave  way 
to  the  polarimetric  process  which  is  now  uni- 
versally in  use.  The  methods  introduced  by  Vil- 
morin were  adopted  with  great  success  between 


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1858     1848     1858     1868     1878     1888     1898     1908  1912 


h-. 


PHYSICAL     IPHYSICAL,  CHEMICAL 


AND        ^  AND 

I    CHEMICAL     I  PHYSIOLOGICAL  SELECTION 
I    SELECTIOH    I 


Fig.  I.— Variation  of  richntss  in  sugar  oHndustrial  sugar  beets. 

1870  and  1890,  especially  in  Germany;  during 
this  period  of  twenty  years  the  sugar  content 
was  raised  from   lo'i  to  13*7  per  cent. 

Up  to  this  date,  however,  attention  was  given 
only  to  direct  heredity,  selection  being  confined 
to  the  mother  roots.  The  next  great  step  in  the 
improvement  of  the  beet  was  introduced  by 
taking  into  account  the  ancestral  heredity  of  the 
seed-bearers,  pedigree  or  genealogical  selection 
l:>eing  adopted.  This  method  was  defined  by 
Vilmorin  as  follows  :  "  It  consists  in  valuing  the 
different  reproducing  plants  separately  and  in- 
dividually, keeping  the  seeds  produced  by  each 
apart,  and  determining  by  direct  experiment  the 
faculty  of  transmission  which  each  plant  enjoys." 
From  1898  to  1912,  by  this  individual  method  of 
selection,   aided  and  controlled  by  chemical  ana- 


March  2,  19 16] 


NATURE 


lysis,  the  sugar  content  has  been  increased  from 
an  average  of  15' 2  to  one  of  i8'5  per  cent. 
Individual  roots  have  contained  from  26  to  27 
per  cent,  of  sugar,  and  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  the  improvement  of  the  beet  is  far 
from  having  reached   its  limit. 

It  is  impossible  here  to  do  more  than  glance 
at  the  latest  methods  of  working  adopted  by  the 
seed-selecter.  Each  single  root  grown  has  its 
sugar  content  determined  by  a  process  which 
leaves  it  practically  uninjured  and  suitable  for 
planting  after  its  character  has  been  ascertained. 
The  small  sample  of  pulp  is  taken  for  analysis 
by  means  of  a  small  rasp-drill  which  pierces  the 
root  about  2  cm.  below  the  base  of  the  neck  at 
an  angle  of  about  45°.  Experience  has  shown 
that  although  the  sugar  content  is  very  different 
in  different  zones,  the  particular  section  taken  in 
this  way  corresponds  with  the  average  over  the 
whole  root.  4"o65  grams  of  the  pulp  so  obtained 
(one-quarter  the  "  normal  "  weight)  are  transferred 
to  a  50  c.c.  measuring  flask,  and  water,  con- 
taining basic  lead  acetate,  added,  so  as  to  make 
the  volume  about  40-45  c.c.  After  adjusting  ex- 
acdy  to  50  c.c.  and  filtering,  the  solution  is  exam- 
ined in  a  400  mm.  continuous-flow  saccharimeter 
tube.  In  this  way  the  percentage  of  sugar  in  the 
root  is  read  off  directly  on  the  instrument. 

As  a  result  of  the  analysis  the  roots  are  divided 
after  lifting  into  three  classes:  "mothers," 
"grandmothers,"  and  "elites."  Thus,  in  the 
case  of  the  191 5  crop,  mothers  and  grandmothers 
would  be  used  to  furnish  commercial  seed,  the 
"mothers"  in  1916,  the  "grandmothers"  in 
1918.  The  "elites"  would,  in  1916,  give  seed 
which,  in  1917,  would  yield  the  supply  of  roots 
to  be  again  subjected  to  selection. 

From  time  to  time  the  selecter  comes  across 
roots  the  characteristics  of  which  stand  out  as 
abnormally  desirable.  Such  plants  are  subjected 
to  careful  genealogical  selection  in  order  to 
ascertain  whether  their  descendants  show  these 
qualities  on  even  a  greater  scale.  If  so,  these 
roots  are  made  "heads  of  families"  and  are  the 
starting-points  of  new  and  improved  races.  Pro- 
gress in  the  future  largely  depends  on  discover- 
ing remarkable  "heads  of  families."  For  such 
a  result  it  is  necessary,  not  merely  for  the  operator 
to  be  skilled  in  selection,  but  he  must  work  on 
enormous  numbers  of  roots — several  hundreds  of 
thousands  each  year. 

A  field  of  future  work,  which  as  yet  has 
scarcely  been  touched,  lies  in  an  attempt  to  avoid 
the  injurious  effect  of  cross-fertilisation,  which 
tends  to  retrogression  of  the  race.  Another  rich 
opportunity  for  work  is  to  be  found  in  the  adapta- 
tion of  beet  seed  to  local  soils  and  climatic  con- 
ditions. For  this  purpose  it  would  be  necessary 
to  carry  out  the  experiments  with  the  seed  plant's 
m  the  localities  where  the  main  croos  are  subse- 
quently raised  for  the  sugar  manufacturer. 

One  of  the  most  promising  directions  for  future 
work  in  improving  the  sugar  beet  is  to  be  found 
in  the  asexual  method  of  propagation  suggested 
by  Nowoczek   and   adopted   with   success   by   M.   \ 
NO.    2418,    VOL.    9;] 


Gorain  at  Offenkerke  and  M.  Helot  at  Noyelles- 
sur-Escaut.  In  this  system  multiplication  is 
effected  by  grafts  and  buds  in  the  individuals 
used  to  give  the  seed  of  the  first  generation  of 
"heads  of  families"  and  "elites."  Full  details 
are  given  in  M.  Schribaux's  paper  of  this  system, 
which  has  the  great  advantage  of  rapidly  in- 
creasing the  number  of  the  specially  desirable 
individuals  to  be  subjected  to  further  selection. 

Many  other  problems  face  the  seed-selecter  in 
France  which  are  dealt  with  in  considerable 
detail,  more  particularly  that  of  the  improvement 
of  the  germinative  power  of  the  seed  and  the  best 
means  of  rapidly  producing  in  France  at  the 
present  time  the  necessary  supply  of  high-grade 
seeds,  which  in  the  past  were  largely  imported 
from  abroad.  W.  A.   D. 


lUE  RECENT  MORTALITY  AMOXG  BEES. 

HOME  industries  and  home  sources  of  food 
supply  are  to  the  fore  under  the  present 
conditions  of  war.  Wastage  of  native  food 
sources  seems  to  arise  from  two  main  factors, 
namely,  ignorance  and  carelessness.  The  serious 
loss  of  home-produced  honey  owing  to  bee  dis- 
eases, more  especially  "  Isle  of  Wight "  disease 
and  foul  brood,  is  largely  to  be  ascribed  to  the 
two  human  failings  just  mentioned. 

^^'hen  epidemics  of  known  origin  occur  in  man 
or  vertebrates,  such  as  cattle,  there  are  well-known 
rules  the  prompt  application  of  which  stops  the 
outbreak.  Two  prominent  preventive  measures 
are  destruction  of  the  source  of  the  infection  and 
segregation  of  the  infected  individuals  and  of  con- 
tacts with  them.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  had  such 
measures  been  rigorously  enforced  when  "  Isle  of 
Wight  "  bee  disease  was  first  observed  in  England 
about  1904,  the  great  mortality  recenth'  occurring 
among  bees  at  Peterborough,  as  well  as  in  other 
parts  of  Great  Britain,  would  not  have  arisen. 

While  several  diseases  are  prevalent  among 
bees  at  the  present  time,  the  so-called  "  Isle  of 
Wight "  disease  is  responsible  for  much  of  the 
damage.  The  disease  is  parasitic  in  character,  and 
a  minute,  one-celled  animal  organism,  Nosema 
apis,  has  been  shown  to  be  the  causal  agent.  The 
life-history  of  the  parasite  and  the  mode  of  infec- 
tion were  elucidated  by  Drs.  Fantham  and  Porter 
in  191 1,  and  they  have  also  engaged  in  researches 
on  the  prevention  and  cure  of  the  malady. 

The  life  cycle  of  Nosema  apis  may  be  com- 
menced conveniently  with  the  resistant,  infective 
spore  form  of  the  parasite.  When  some  of  the 
contents  of  the  food  canal,  or  the  excrement  of  a 
bee  suffering  from  the  more  chronic  form  of  the 
disease,  is  examined  microscopically,  small,  rice- 
grain-like,  shining  bodies  are  seen,  mingled  with 
pollen  grains  in  various  stages  of  digestion.  These 
small  bodies  are  the  spores,  which  are  about  one- 
thousandth  the  size  of  an  actual  rice  grain.  They 
have  a  tough,  resistant  coat,  and.  when  set  free 
from  the  body  of  the  bee,  can  live  for  a  long  time. 
If  they  are  carried  by  the  wind  into  water  at  which 
bees  drink,  or  if  they  contaminate  honey  eaten  by 


8 


NATURE 


[March  2,  1916 


bees,  the  spores  pass  into  the  dig-estive  stomach 
of  the  bee  before  underg-oing  any  further  change. 
Under  the  influence  of  the  digestive  fluids  of  the 
host,  the  spore  coat  or  sporocyst  softens,  and  from 
a  pore  in  it  a  thin,  anchoring  thread  or  polar  fila- 
ment is  shot  out,  which  attaches  the  spore  tem- 
porarily to  the  wall  of  the  bee's  gut.  Once  an- 
chored, a  minute  amoeboid  germ  or  amoebula — 
also  termed  a  planont,  because  of  its  power  of 
wandering — emerges  from  the  spore.  It  creeps 
about  over  the  surface  of  the  epithelial  lining,  and 
finally  penetrates  in  or  between  cells.  There  it 
becomes  rounded,  loses  its  power  of  movement, 
and  grows  passively  for  a  time  at  the  expense  of 
the  protoplasm  of  its  host.  Next,  it  commences 
to  multiply,  and  is  termed  a  meront.  The  nucleus. 
di\ides  into  two,  and  protoplasm  collects  around 
each  part.  The  resulting  daughter  forms  separate 
usually  as  soon  as  they  are  produced,  and  each 
repeats  the  division,  a  cluster  of  potential  spores, 
known  as  sporoblasts,  being  thus  formed.  Mul- 
tiple fission  may  also  occur.  Each  sporoblast  soon 
secretes  a  sporocyst  and  becomes  a  single  spore. 
Duringf  the  time  that  the  sporocyst  is  hardening 
and  becoming  opaque,  five  nuclei  are  produced 
within.  Two  of  the  nuclei  contiol  the  formation 
of  the  coat,  one  regulates  the  action  of  the  polar 
filament,  and  the  other  two  are  the  nuclei  of  the 
amoebula.  These  nuclei  are  not  easily  seen  all  at 
one  time,  for  when  their  function  is  fulfilled,  all 
except  the  two  nuclei  of  the  amcebula  disappear. 

The  most  destructive  period  of  the  life-history 
of  Nosema  apis  is  the  meront  stag^e.  By  the 
formation  of  the  meront  colonies,  the  dig-estive 
cells  of  the  bee  are  rendered  useless  and  the 
digestive  fluids  are  not  properlv  secreted.  The 
cells  normally  are  cast  off  and  then  burst  in  order 
to  liberate  the  digestive  fluid.  But  when  they  are 
diseased,  food,  such  as  pollen,  merely  serves  as 
an  irritant,  and  the  infected  bee  succumbs  the 
more  easily. 

Infection  of  bees  takes  place  by  the  ingestion 
of  spores.  When  a  bee  is  parasitised,  its  abdomen 
is  often  somewhat  distended  and  the  slightest 
touch  is  sufficient  to  produce  discharge  of  bowel 
contents.  The  result  is  that  honey,  comb,  and 
other  bees  are  spattered  with  excrement  that  may 
contain  the  spores  of  Nosema  apis.  Cleansing 
operations  are  immediately  commenced  by  other 
bees,  which  by  their  very  cleanliness  may  con- 
tract the  disease  that  results  in  their  death.  The 
queen,  too,  may  be  infected  by  her  attendants, 
while  the  larvae  that  are  fed  on  infected  food  may 
die  from  the  effects  of  the  parasite.  Sometimes 
the  larvae  may  give  rise  to  a  race  of  young  bees, 
perhaps  already  infected,  but  usually  with  im- 
paired vitality,  and  thus  less  capable  of  resisting 
infection  by  way  of  their  food  or  drink.  Water  at 
which  bees  drink  also  can  be  infected  with  spores. 

Other  bees  may  acquire  a  tolerance  for  the  para- 
site and  be  relatively  unharmed  thereby.  Such 
infected  bees  act  as  parasite  carriers,  and  void 
Nosema  spores  constantly  in  their  faeces.  Show- 
ing no  external  symptoms,  they  may  remain  unde- 
tected in  a  hive  for  some  time  and  ultimately  cause 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


jll^reat  destruction  among  their  fellows.  Infected 
drones  also  serve  to  spread  the  disease  by  their 
roving  habits,  several  hives  in  succession  being 
\'isitecl  and  polluted  by  them. 

Humble  bees,  wasps,  ants,  and  wax-moths  that 
invade  hives  can  also  act  as  disseminators  of 
spores.  Human  agency  is  a  further  aid.  The 
sending  away  of  unhealthy  stocks,  union  of  weak 
ones,  and  the  use  of  old  comb,  foundation  and 
equipment  from  "  dead  "  hives  have  all  contributed 
to  the  spread  of  disease. 

Preventive  measures  should  be  vigorously 
adopted.  All  hives  from  which  the  bees  have  died 
out  should  be  closed  immediately  to  prevent  rob- 
bing and  thereby  the  further  dissemination  of 
disease  by  the  robbers.  As  soon  as  possible  all 
dead  bees,  quilts,  frames,  comb,  and  foundation 
in  the  hives  should  be  burned.  If  the  honey  pre- 
sent is  extracted  from  the  comb  it  should  be  used 
for  cooking  purposes  only,  and  not  be  re-fed  to 
bees.  Similarly,  if  the  comb  is  melted  for  beeswax 
the  latter  should  be  used  for  domestic  purposes 
only,  and  not  for  making  foundation.  The  in- 
terior and  exterior  of  the  hive  should  be  scorched 
or  charred  over  with  a  painter's  lamp  in  order 
to  destroy  the  spores  of  Nosema  apis.  The  soil 
around  and  under  the  hives  should  also  be  purified 
by  fire.  This  is  easily  done  by  sprinkling  petrol  or 
paraffin  on  the  soil  and  setting  light  to  it.  The 
ground  should  be  well  limed.  Care  should  be 
taken  to  exclude  wasps  from  hives.  These  pests 
were  very  troublesome  in  the  summer  of  191 5,  and 
many  weakened  colonies,  some  being  convales- 
cent, were  robbed  out  and  succumbed  in  the  battle 
with  wasps. 

Finally,  with  regard  to  curative  measures,  it  is 
known  that  there  are  certain  drugs  that  will  cure 
the  bees,  but  their  application  is  inadvisable,  since 
they  may  poison  the  honey.  Other  drugs  that  are 
not  injurious  are  known.  These  are  very  effective 
if  rightly  applied,  and  if  the  beekeepers  will  only 
help  by  strict  attention  to  the  hygienic  and  sani- 
tary methods  necessary  for  the  prevention  of  the 
disease.  Without  a  due  regard  to  such  elemen- 
tary and  essential,  but  often  neglected,  sanitary 
procedures,  treatment  is  useless.  A  further  point 
is  that,  as  with  human  disease,  there  is  a  point 
when  the  malady  is  too  far  developed  to  be  capable 
of  cure.  The  disease  needs  to  be  treated  in  its  very 
early  stage,  when  often  in  the  owner's  opinion  the 
colony  is  healthy.  Microscopic  examination  is 
necessary  to  detect  the  parasite,  and  such  exam- 
ination should  be  obtained.  Treatment  based  on 
observations  of  external  symptoms  only  is  not 
satisfactory,  as  the  range  of  expression  on  the 
part  of  the  bee  is  very  limited,  and  is  apt  to  be 
misleading  so  far  as  differentiation  of  disease  is 
concerned.  However,  prevention  is  better  than 
cure,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  if  concerted 
action  were  taken  for  the  quick  destruction  by  fire 
of  all  infected  materials  the  losses  among-  bees 
would  be  enormously  reduced,  to  the  great  advan- 
tag-e  both  of  the  beekeeper,  of  the  general  public, 
and  of  the  hospitals  where  honey  is  much  appre- 
ciated and  used.  F. 


]\Iarch  2,   19 16] 


NATURE 


AXTHROPOLOGY    AND    FAUX A     OF    THE 
CHAD    BASINA 

''I^HE  volume  before  us,  which  is  pubUshed  by 
i-  the  Ministry  of  the  Colonies  at  Paris,  repre- 
sents— we  assume — the  outcome  of  the  scientific 
researches  in  the  very  heart  of  Africa — the  basin 
of  Lake  Chad — made  by  the  exploring  expedi- 
tions of  the  late  (?)  Commandant  Tilho,  who  be- 
tween 1906  and  1909  did  so  much  to  place  cor- 
rectly on  the  map  of  Africa  this  variable  reservoir 
of  the  waters  streaming  northwards  from  the 
Congo  watershed  (it  would  seem  as  though  this 
gallant  and  indefatigable  explorer  had  recently- 
died,  from  the  rather  obscure  wording  of  the  pre- 
face). 

Lake  Chad  was  first  definitely  discovered  by 
the  British  expedition  under  Oudney,  Denham, 
and  Clapperton,  which  crossed  the  Sahara  from 
Tripoli  in  1822-23.  Its  existence  had  been 
rumoured  in  the  heart  of  Africa  from  Roman  times 
onwards.  The  twentieth-century  investigations 
of  British  and  French  explorers,  combined  with 
some  previous  work  done  by  Germans,  indicate 
Lake  Chad  and  some  of  the  brackish  lakes  and 
lakelets  to  the  south-east  as  the  last  remains  of 
a  vast  sheet  of  shallow  water  anciently  connected 
with  the  inner  basin  of  the  Niger.  Farther  back 
still  in  earth  history,  in  Cretaceous  and  prob- 
ably Eocene  times,  this  huge  lake  must  have 
stretched  from  the  limits  of  Senegambia  to  the 
Nile  and  Congo  watersheds,  and  have  communi- 
cated probably  with  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the 
north  of  the  Senegal  River.  Even  at  the  present 
day  there  is  an  intermittent  water  connection 
between  the  Chad  system  and  the  Upper  Benue, 
and  there  may  well  have  been  a  similar  connec- 
tion in  earlier  times  with  the  south-western  basin 
of  the  Nile.  The  altitudes  that  separate  the 
Congo  basin  from  the  Chad  and  the  Benue  basins 
are  not  considerable,  though  more  marked  in 
height  than  the  line  of  water-parting  at  its  lowest 
between  the  Nile  system  and  that  eastern  back- 
'Water  of  Lake  Chad  known  as  the  Bahr-al-Ghazal 
(this  confusing  name,  which  is  also  applied  to 
the  huge  south-western  area  of  the  Nile  basin, 
simply  means  "  River  of  Antelopes  ").  The  way  in 
which  these  great  river  and  lake  systems  of 
Central  Africa  either  communicate  with  one  an- 
other, or  very  nearly  communicate,  reminds  one 
of  the  water  connection  between  the  systems  of 
the  Orinoco  and  the  Amazon  in  analogous  Equa- 
!  torial  South  America. 

I       The  fish  fauna  collected  by  Commandant  Tilho 

I  and  his  companions  comes  as  an  additional  proof 

j  to  the  luminous  theories  of  Dr.  G.  A.  Boulenger, 

1  of   the    British    Museum,   who,    by    means    of   his 

I  studies  of  the  fresh-water  fish  of  tropical  Africa, 

has  shown  us  that  at  one  period  there  must  have 

been   water  communication   between   the   systems 

of  the  Senegal,  Upper  Niger,  Benue,  Lake  Chad, 

and  even  the  south-western  affluents  of  the  Nile. 

The  fish   fauna  of  the   Congo  basin   is   far  more 

.3*'  Rcpabliqne  Fran<;a'ie.  Ministere  des  Colonies.  Documents  Scien- 
^J'Tues  de  U  Mission  Tilho  (1906-09)."  Tome  troisicrae.  Pp.  vii+^84. 
<Paris:  E.  I^rose.  i<;i<.) 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    971 


specialised,  and  though  the  two  systems  of  drain- 
i  age  at   one   time   must   have  been  less   separated 
than    they    are    now   and    have    approached    one 
'  another    so    near   that   aerial    methods    of    trans- 
porting fish  over  from  one  to  the  other  must  have 
been    possible,    there    remains  nevertheless  a    far 
!  closer  connection  between  the  basins  of  the  Nile, 
!  Lake  Chad,  and  the  Niger  than  there  is  between 
j  all  these  and  the  Congo  and  Congolese  lakes. 

The    volume    contains  chapters   on    the   anthro- 
I  pology  of  the   islands  and   eastern  coastlands  of 
!  Lake   Chad   and   the  western    Bahr-al-Ghazal ;  on 
the  reptiles  and  the  batrachians ;  on  the  fish,  the 
gastropods,     and     the    bivalves     or    fresh-water 
oysters ;  on  the  diptera ;  and  lastly  on  the  botany 
of   the    region.       The  anthropological    notes  deal 
chiefly   with   the  Buduma   and    Kuri  of   the   Chad 
I  archipelago,   and   secondarily  with  the  Kanem-bu 
and  Manga wa,  the  Teda  or  Tubu,  and  the  Ulad- 
sliman  Arabs.     These  last,  also  known  as  Wasili, 
Washila,   etc.,    seem    to    have    migrated   to   this 
,  region  from  the  south  of  Tripoli  some  500  or  600 
i  years  ago.     The  Buduma  are  an  exceedingly  in- 
:  teresting  people  of  puzzling  characteristics,   their 
'  language  (not   illustrated  in   the  w-ork   under   re- 
view) suggesting  affinities  with  the  Nilotic  group 
i  far  to  the  east.     Their  physique  seems  to  indicate 
that  they  are  the  result  of  crossing  between  Nile 
!  negroes    and     the     Ful     who    invaded    this  Chad 
region  several  centuries  ago.      The  physiognomy 
of  the  Mangawa,  on  the  other  hand,   recalls  the 
Bantu    type   of   the    northern    Congo  and    south- 
east  Niger  basins.      The   Tubu  or   Teda  are  an- 
other ethnological  puzzle.     They    speak  a   negro 
type    of    language   of    no    discoverable    affinities 
I  (virtually  identical  with  the  language  of  Bornu), 
i  but    in  their  physical    appearance    they   resemble 
;  very  strongly  the  hybrids  between  Nilotic  Negro 
i  and  Gala  of  Equatorial   East  Africa. 
!      Much   information    is    given   in    regard    to    the 
j  tsetse-  and  gad-flies  of  the  Chad  region. 
I  H.  H.  Johnston. 

PROF.  IVAN  PETROVITCH  PAVLOV. 

IN  the  death  of  Ivan  Petrovitch  Pavlov,  which 
was  announced  in  the  Times  of  February'  12, 
a  physiologist  has  passed  away  who  made  the 
world  of  medical  science  his  debtor  for  all  time. 
Pavlov,  the  son  of  a  secular  clergyman,  was  born 
in  1849,  and  thus  at  his  dea.th  had  not  reached  the 
allotted  span  of  human  life.  When  he  last 
mingled  with  his  confreres  at  the  International 
Congress  of  Physiology  in  Groningen — little  more 
than  two  years  ago — he  appeared  to  be  in  the 
full  vigour  of  life,  and  no  one  would  have  sup- 
posed that  the  summons  to  his  long  home  would 
so  soon  be  issued. 

Pavlov  is  chiefly  known  to  the  present  genera- 
tion of  physiologists  by  his  work  on  the  digestive 
glands ;  but  this  only  represents  th<^  middle  period, 
though  perhaps  the  chief  period,  of  his  activities. 
His  earliest  published  work  (1877)  was  on  the 
"Accommodation  Mechanism  of  Blood  Vessels." 
This  was  carried  out  in  the  laboratorv  of  Ustimo- 


lO 


NATURE 


[March  2,  1916 


vitsch,  in  Petrograd,  and  in  it  he  showed  that  a 
reflex  constriction  of  the  blood  vessels  of  the  ear 
of  the  rabbit  occurs  on  opening-  the  abdominal 
cavity.  This  was  extended  in  1879  to  reflex 
eff'ects  on  blood  pressure  due  to  variations  in  the 
distension  of  the  stomach  before  and  after  section 
of  the  vagus  nerve.  His  work,  in  fact,  at  this 
time  and  for  more  than  fifteen  years  later  was  all 
concerned  with  .innervation  mechanisms. 

In  1878  he  studied  the  nervous  mechanism  of 
pancreatic  secretion.  This,  though  vitiated  by 
overlooking  certain  factors  which  have  since  come 
to  light,  largely  through  the  investigations  of  his 
own  pupils,  was  of  a  most  painstaking  character 
and  appeared  to  bring  the  secretory  mechanism 
of  the  gland  into  line  with  that  of  other  similar 
organs.  As  an  outcome  of  it,  he  introduced  an 
important  improvement  in  the  making  of  pan- 
creatic fistulae  for  the  study  of  the  outflow  of  the 
juice,  the  principle  of  which  he  extended  (1883) 
to  the  collection  of  urine  from  the  urinary  bladder. 

Up  to  this  time  Pavlov  remained  in  Petrograd, 
but  in  1884  he  went  to  Breslau,  and  there  under 
Heidenhain  carried  out  work- — also  in  the  domain 
of  the  nervous  system — namely,  an  investigation 
into  the  neuro-muscular  mechanism  of  the  open- 
ing and  closure  of  the  valves  of  the  mussel.  In 
1886  he  went  to  Leipzig  to  study  under  Ludwig, 
and  from  there  published  an  article  on  the  nervous 
control  of  the  left  ventricle  of  the  heart. 

This  was  followed  in  1887  by  an  elaborate  piece 
of  work  from  Botkin's  laboratory,  Petrograd, 
which  showed  great  thoroughness  and  insight, 
namely,  on  the  centrifugal  nerves  of  the  heart. 
His  conclusions  were  that  there  are  four  classes  of 
such  nerves — inhibiting  of  frequency,  inhibiting 
of  force,  augmenting  of  frequency,  and  augment- 
ing of  force  of  the  heart's  contractions.  This 
work  may  be  said  to  mark  the  close  of  the  first 
period  of  his  activities.  The  succeeding  fourteen 
years  were  devoted  to  his  main  life-work — a  study 
of  the  activities  of  the  digestive  glands.  In  1888 
a  further  contribution  to  the  secretion  and  inner- 
vation of  the  pancreas  appeared,  followed  in  1889 
and  1890  by  articles,  in  conjunction  with  Madame 
Schumova-Simonovskaja,  on  the  innervation  of 
the  glands  of  the  stomach.  These  indubitably 
established  the  fact  that  the  secretion  of  gastric 
juice  is  directly  controlled  by  the  vagus  nerve. 
The  difficulties  met  and  surmounted  in  this 
investigation  can  only  be  adequately  gauged  when 
it  is  remembered  that  six  years  earlier,  Heidenhain 
had  written  in  Hermann's  great  text-book  of 
physiology  as  follows: — "The  results  of  the 
numerous  observations  quoted  proclaim,  without 
doubt,  that  the  extrinsic  nerves  of  the  stomach 
possess  no  demonstrable  influence,  of  a  direct 
kind,  on  its  secretion"  (Hermann,  "Handbuch," 
Ed.  v.,  I,  S.  121,  1883).  Numerous  colleagues 
and  pupils  from  this  time  began  to  associate 
themselves  with  Pavlov,  amongst  them  being 
M.  Nencki,  an  able  biological  chemist.  To  this 
co-operation  is  to  be  attributed  work  on  the 
ammonia  content  of  the  portal  and  other  veins  in 
its  relation  to  the  formation  of  urea  by  the  liver. 

NO.    2418,   VOL.   97] 


Pavlov's  technical  skill  was  here  shown  in  the 
success  with  which  he  performed  the  diflicult 
operation  of  establishing  the  communication 
between  the  portal  vein  and  the  inferior  vena 
cava,  known  as  Eck's  fistula. 

About  this  time  an  occurrence  took  place  which 
greatly  influenced  the  master's  later  career.  In 
1885,  a  short  time  after  Pasteur  had  discovered 
his  method  of  treating  hydrophobia,  an  officer  of 
the  regiment  of  the  Guards  lost  his  life  through 
the  bite  of  a  rabid  dog.  Prince  Alexander  Petro- 
vitch,  of  Oldenburg,  who  commanded  the  corps 
of  the  Guards  at  that  time,  was  so  affected  by 
the  sad  event  that  he  established  at  his  own 
expense  a  laboratory  for  the  treatment  of  the 
disease  in  the  infirmary  of  the  regiment.  The 
work  of  this  laboratory  grew ;  investigations  were 
undertaken,  as  well  as  treatment  applied,  and  in 
18.88  the  Prince  obtained  permission  from  the 
Emperor  to  found  an  institution  for  the  experi- 
mental study  of  medicine.  A  site  was  chosen  in 
the  outskirts  of  Petrograd  in  a  beautiful  park 
adjoining  the  Neva,  and  in  April,  1891,  the 
Imperial  Institute  of  Experimental  Medicine  was 
opened  by  order  of  the  Czar,  with  Prince 
Alexander  of  Oldenburg  as  curator.  Regular  work 
began  in  the  following  October.  The  institute 
comprised  numerous  buildings  and  laboratories^ 
and  embraced  six  sections,  namely,  physiology, 
pathological  anatomy,  biological  chemistry,  bac- 
teriology, epizootology,  and  syphilidology.  Pavlov 
was  chosen  to  be  chief  of  the  section  of  physio- 
logy,  and  Nencki  that  of  biological  chemistry. 

Here  under  ideal  conditions,  with  numerous 
colleagues  and  a  large  staff  of  assistants,  Pavlov 
continued,  his  investigations  for  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  The  earlier  work  of  the  institute  was 
published  in  Russian  and  French  in  the  Archives 
des  Science  Biologique  de  St.  Petershourg,  and 
a  summary  of  it  was  given  in  1897  by  Pavlov  in 
a  series  of  lectures  to  Russian  medical  men,  which 
was  published  in  Russian.  A  German  translation- 
appeared  in  1898,  followed  by  French  and  English 
translations  in  the  next  few  years.  It  was  mainly 
through  these  that  European  and  other  physio- 
logists outside  Russia,  came  fully  to  recognise  the 
j  importance  of  the  work  carried  on  in  Petrograd. 
j  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  all  were  profoundly 
I  impressed.  Pavlov  had  for  the  first  time  devised 
methods  of  obtaining  all  the  impnartant  digestive 
secretions,  in  pure  condition,  in  exactly  measur- 
able quantities,  and  from  animals  in  perfect 
health. 

In  his  studies  on  the  secretion  of  gastric  juice 
Pavlov  became  impressed  with  the  importance  of 
the  psychic  stimulus,  produced  by  the  taste,, 
sight,  and  smell  of  food.  This  was  further  showR 
in  the  secretion  of  saliva,  where  not  only  the 
flow,  but  the  com|X)sition  of  the  saliva  was  in- 
fluenced in  this  way.  Thus  dry  food  caused  a 
copious  flow  of  thin,  watery  saliva ;  moist  food  a 
scanty  flow  of  viscid  saliva.  The  former  was-  ! 
needed  for  the  chewing  of  food,  the  latter  only  to-  i 
facilitate  swallowing.  In  these  results  he  recog- 
nised  the   great   effect   of  external,    possibly   un- 


March  2,  1916] 


NATURE 


II 


perceived,  influences  on  all  the  functions  of  the 
body.  These  influences  were  exercised  not  alone 
through  visual,  but  also  through  auditory  and 
olfactory  channels,  likewise  through  cutaneous 
sensory  nerves.  Nor  was  it  actually  necessary 
that  the  food  should  be  presented  to  produce  the 
psychic  effects.  A  musical  note  or  a  bright  colour, 
or  a  pronounced  odour,  or  a  skin  stimulus,  if  asso- 
ciated with  the  presentation  of  food,  would  after 
a  short  time  become  eft'ective  alone.  Nothing 
could  be  more  impressive  than  to  see,  as  the  writer 
has  witnessed,  a  flow  of  saliva  start  on  the  sound 
of  a  musical  note,  except  it  be  the  failure  to  do  so 
on  sounding  a  note  not  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
tone  different  from  the  effective  one. 

To  these  phenomena  Pavlov  gave  the  name  of 
"conditioned  reflexes,"  and  the  greater  part  of 
his  activity  from  1901  onwards  consisted  in 
making  use  of  them  for  the  objective  study  of  the 
psychical  faculties  in  higher  animals.  He  claimed 
that  he  was  thereby  restoring  to  physiology  what 
properly  belonged  to  it,  and  what  had  been 
divorced  from  it  under  the  name  of  psychology 
or  psycho-physics.  On  one  point  he  was  very  em- 
phatic, namely,  that  it  is  only  by  an  active  inter- 
change of  opinion  between  the  physiologist  (using 
the  term  in  its  widest  sense)  and  the  physician 
that  the  common  goal  of  medical  science  and  medi- 
cal art  can  best  be  reached.  In  his  own  work  he 
lived  up  to  this  maxim. 

Pavlov's  fame  now  drew  recognition  from  many 
quarters  and  from  various  learned  societies  all  over 
the  world.  To  mention  a  few  of  these  :  in  1904 
he  was  awarded  the  Nobel  prize,  in  1907  he  was 
elected  a  foreign  member  of  the  Royal  Society, 
and  the  same  year  he  was  elected  an  ordinary 
member  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Science, 
Petrograd.  In  191 2  he  was  awarded  the 
honorary  degree  of  D.Sc.  by  Cambridge 
University,  Cambridge  being  the  only  one  of 
the  older  universities  of  Great  Britain  upon 
the  rolls  of  which  Pavlov's  name  appears.  It  is 
true  a  grace  was  passed  by  the  Senate  of  Dublin 
University  to  confer  upyon  him  the  honorary  degree 
of  D.Sc,  but  illness  at  the  time  prevented  him 
from  attending  to  have  it  conferred.  In  191 3  he 
was  promoted  to  be  director  of  the  Imperial  Insti- 
tute of  Experimental  Medicine.  The  last  honour 
bestowed  upon  him  in  this  country  was  by  the 
Royal  Society  in  191 5  in  the  form  of  the  Copley 
Medal  for  his  investigations  in  biological  science. 

Pavlov  had  a  charming  personality,  and  was 
never  happier  than  in  the  company  of  his 
colleagues  and  pupils.  He  was  impatient  of  any- 
thing he  conceived  not  to  be  strictly  scientific.  In 
his  later  years  he  travelled  a  good  deal,  and  was 
present  at  several  of  the  international  congresses 
of  physiology.  He  visited  this  country  twice,  in 
1906,  when  he  delivered  the  Huxley  lecture  at 
Charing  Cross  Hospital,  his  subject  being  "The 
Scientific  Investigation  of  the  Psychical  Faculties 
or  Processes  in  Higher  Animals,"  and  in  1912, 
when  he  came  as  a  delegate  to  the  celebration  of 
the  2^oth  anniversarv  of  the  founding  of  theRoval 
Society.  '  W.   H.  tI 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


SIR    LAURENCE    GOMME. 

BY  the  death  of  Sir  Laurence  Gomme  on  Febru- 
ary 23,  at  sixty-two  years  of  age,  London 
has  lost  a  most  devoted  son  who  loved  her  with  an 
affection  that  was  not  merely  filial,  but  was  based 
ufKDn  an  exhaustive  knowledge  of  her  history  and 
a  profound  faith  in  her  destiny;  more  than  that, 
he  spent  all  his  life  in  her  service.  In  early  life 
Sir  Laurence  Gomme  entered  first  the  service  of 
the  Fulham  District  Board  of  Works,  and  then 
that  of  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works ;  when 
the  London  County  Council  was  established  he 
joined  the  Comptroller's  Department,  then  he  was 
made  head  of  the  Statistical  Department,  and  in 
1900  was  appointed  Clerk  to  the  Council,  which 
high  office  he  held  until  last  March.  He  always 
worked  very  hard,  often  up  to  the  very  limit  of 
his  powers,  and  about  two  years  ago  he  had  a 
serious  breakdown  in  health,  from  which  he  never 
fully  recovered.  Only  those  conversant  with  the 
scope  of  the  London  County  Council  can  have  any 
idea  of  what  London  owes  to  him.  His  annual 
"Statistical  Abstract"  of  the  L.C.C.  has  served 
as  a  model  for  other  municipal  bodies.  His  first 
book,  "Index  of  Municipal  Offices,"  was  pub- 
lished in  1879;  it  was  followed  by  several  others, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned,  "The  London 
County  Council"  (1888),  "Lectures  on  the  Prin- 
ciples of  Local  Government"  (1898),  "London 
Statutes"  (1907),  "The  Governance  of  London" 
(1907),  "London,  1 837-1 897  "  (1898),  "The  Mak- 
ing of  London"  {1912),  "London"  (1914). 

Ethnology  and  folklore  have  lost  a  keen  student 
in  Sir  Laurence  Gomme,  who  did  more  than  any- 
one else  to  found  and  direct  the  early  career  of  the 
Folklore  Society,  of  which  he  was  first  secretary 
and  later  president.  He  was  president-elect  of 
Section  H  (Anthropology)  of  the  meeting  of  the 
British  Association  for  the  current  year.  The  fol- 
lowing list  of  books  will  give  some  idea  of  his 
activities  in  the  direction  of  folklore :  "  Primi- 
tive Folkmoots"  (1880),  "Folklore  Relics 
of  Early  Village  Life"  (1883),  "The  Village 
Community"  (1890),  "Ethnology  in  Folklore" 
(1892),  "Folklore  as  an  Historical  Science" 
(1904).  In  addition  to  a  remarkable  output  of 
books,  he  published  numerous  papers  on  folklore 
and  allied  subjects,  all  of  which  are  marked  bv 
that  breadth  of  view  and  sujj-p^estiveness  which 
was  so  characteristic  of  him.  He  always  recog- 
nised the  great  importance  of  method  in  ethnolo- 
gical research,  and  he  did  his  best  to  raise  folk- 
lore to  a  scientific  status. 

Those  who  knew  Sir  Laurence  well  have  lost 
an  inspiring  and  real  friend,  a  genial  personality, 
and  a  comrade  of  wide  interests  and  full  of  sym- 
pathy for  various  cognate  branches  of  study.  He 
was  constantly  helping  others  alike  in  science  and 
in  the  ever\'day  walks  of  life. 

Sir  Laurence  married  in  1875  Alice  Bertha 
Merck,  author  of  "The  Traditional  Games  of 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  "  (1894-98),  who 
ably  assisted  her  husband  in  numerous  ways,  and 
has  been  a  constant  stimulus  to  him  in  his  work. 

A.  C.  Haddox. 


li 


MATURE 


[March  2,  1916 


NOTES. 
T^iE  following  fifteen  candidates  have  been  selected 
by  the  council  of  the  Royal  Society  to  be  recom- 
mended for  election  into  the  society  : — Prof.  E.  H. 
Barton,  Mr.  W.  R.  Bousfield,  Mr.  S.  G.  Brown,  Prof. 
E.  G.  Coker,  Prof.  G.  G.  Henderson,  Mr.  J.  E.  Little- 
wood,  Prof.  A.  McKenzie,  Prof.  J.  A.  MacWilliam, 
Mr.  J.  H.  Maiden,  Prof.  H.  H.  W.  Pearson,  Prof. 
J.  A.  Pollock,  Sir  L.  Rogers,  Dr.  C.  Shearer,  Ptx)f, 
D'Arcy  W.  Thompson,  Mr.  H.  Woods. 

Sir  Ray  Lankester  writes  : — "  The  serious  illness  of 
Prof.  Metchnikoff,  of  the  Institut  Pasteur,  has  been 
briefly  noticed  by  some  of  the  daily  papers.  Your 
readers  include  many  friends  and  admirers  of  my 
friend,  who  will  be  glad  to  have  accurate  information 
on  the  subject.  It  commenced  some  time  before 
Christmas  with  distressing  symptoms,  which  were 
described  as  *  une  crise  du  cceur.'  In  order  to  avoid 
the  daily  journey  from  Sevres,  where  he  usually  re- 
sides, and  the  climbing  of  the  stairs  leading  to  his 
laboratory,  Prof.  Metchnikoff,  accompanied  by 
Madame  Metchnikoff,  took  up  his  residence 
in  rooms  in  the  Institut  Pasteur  which  were 
placed  at  his  disposal,  and  so  he  was  able  to 
continue  his  work  with  the  least  possible  fatigue. 
But  trouble  in  the  lungs  now  appeared,  and  developed 
into  an  attack  of  pleurisy  and  pneumonia,  which  neces- 
sitated his  removal  to  the  hospital  of  the  Institut. 
There  he  has  been  for  some  weeks  in  a  very  serious 
condition.  To-day,  however  (February  26),  I  hear 
from  Madame  Metchnikoff  that  there  is  better  news. 
For  the  third  time  the  pleural  cavity  has  been  tapped 
and  a  litre  of  liquid  removed,  which  has  given  great 
relief.  His  medical  attendants  believe  that  the  pleurisy 
will  now  soon  disappear.  The  pulmonary  congestion 
has  already  disappeared.  I  will  let  you  know  when 
I  hear  again  from   Paris." 

Mr.  Douglas  W.  Freshfield,  president  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  M.  Henri  Curdier,  the 
French  Orientalist,  and  General  Schokalski,  the  Rus- 
sian oceanographer,  have  been  elected  honorary  mem- 
bers of  the  Italian  Royal  Geographical  Society. 

We  learn  from  Science  that  the  Bruce  gold  medal 
of  the  Astronomical  Society  of  the  Pacific  has  been 
awarded  to  Dr.  G.  E.  Hale,  director  of  the  Mount 
Wilson  Solar  Observatory. 

The  King's  prize  of  400Z.  for  human  physiology 
has  been  awarded  by  the  Accademia  dei  Lincei  of 
Rome  to  Dr.  Filippo  Bottazzi,  who  holds  the  chair  of 
physiology  in  the  University  of  Naples. 

Dr.  C.  W.  Hayes,  who  was  chief  geologist  to  the 
U.S.  Geological  Survey  from  1902  to  igii,  has  died  at 
Washington  in  his .  fifty-seventh  year.  He  was  geo- 
logist to  the  Nicaraguan  Canal  Commission  in  1898-9, 
and  had  written  largely  on  theoretical  and  economic 
geology. 

Dr.  J.  D.  Falconer,  lecturer  in  geography  in  Glas- 
gow University  and  Swiney  lecturer  in  geology  at  the 
British  Museum,  has  been  selected  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  for  the  Colonies  for  the  post  of  temporary  assist- 
ant district  officer  in  the  northern  provinces  of  Nigeria. 
NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


Dr.  Falconer  has  been  granted  leave  of  absence  from 
the  University  from  the  end  of  the  present  term. 

Mr.  Harold  Cox  will  give  an  address  on  "  Indus- 
trial Development,"  before  the  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers  on  March  7.  In  inviting  Mr.  Cox  to 
address  the  institution  on  this  subject,  the  council 
has  considered  that  the  present  time  calls  for  some 
earnest  attention  on  the  part  of  engineers  to  the 
economic  issues  which,  after  the  war,  must  influence 
profoundly  the  future  of  engineering,  as  well  as  the 
industrial  and  commercial  enterprises  which  are  vital 
to  its  progress  both  in  this  country  and  abroad. 

Some  of  the  bones  of  the  gigantic  fossil  elephant 
(Elephas  antiquus)  obtained  last  summer  from  Chat- 
ham have  just  been  placed  on  exhibition  in  the  Geo- 
logical Department  of  the  British  Museum  (Natural 
History).  With  the  humerus  and  scapula  have  been 
arranged  the  corresponding  bones  of  the  mammoth 
from  Ilford  to  show  the  comparatively  small  size  of 
the  latter.  The  massive  fore  foot  of  the  Chatham 
specimen  is  especially  impressive.  The  relative  small- 
ness  of  the  molar  teeth  is  also  noteworthy. 

The  death  is  announced,  at  Streatham,  on 
February  18,  of  Prof.  R.  H.  Smith.  Accounts  of  his 
career  appear  in  Engineering  and  the  Engineer  for 
February  25.  He  was  born  in  1852  in  Edinburgh, 
where  he  completed  his  scientific  training  at  the  Uni- 
versity. His  practical  training  was  obtained  during 
an  apprenticeship  with  Messrs.  Tennant  and  Co.,  of 
Leith ;  he  had  further  experience  in  the  Whitworth 
works,  and  in  the  drawing  office  of  Messrs.  W^ohlers, 
Berlin.  He  was  appointed  professor  of  civil  and 
mechanical  engineering  at  the  Imperial  University, 
Tokio,  and  afterwards  held  the  professorship  in  civily 
mechanical,  and  electrical  engineering  at  the  Masor> 
College,  Birmingham.  Prof.  Smith  contributed  many 
articles  on  engineering  subjects  to  the  technical  Press, 
and  was  the  author  of  numerous  books  on  commercial 
economy  in  steam,  heat,  and  power  plants,  electric 
traction,  etc. 

We  regret  to  announce  the  death  of  Richard  Dede- 
kind,  which  occurred  on  February  11,  at  Brunswick, 
his  birthplace  (1831)  and  residence  for  the  greater  part 
of  his  life.  Dedekind  is  best  known  by  his  two  arith- 
metical tracts,  "Was  sind  u.  was  soUen  die  Zahlen?  " 
and  "  Ueber  Stetigkeit  u.  irrationale  Zahlen,"  and  by 
his  supplements  to  successive  editions  of  Dirichlet's 
"  Zahlentheorie."  In  the  latter  he  developed  the 
theory  of  ideal  primes,  invented  by  Kummer^  so  as  to 
make  it  applicable  to  any  fifeld  of  algebraic  numbers 
whatever.  In  his  two  tracts  he  applies  the  notion  of 
a  cut  (Schnitt)  so  as  to  give  an  exact  definition  of  an 
irrational  number,  and  a  precise  explanation  of  the 
continuity  of  the  ordered  set  of  real  arithmetical 
quantities.  Each  of  these  achievements  is  enough  to 
place  him  in  the  first  rank  of  pure  mathematicians  for 
all  time.  Not  a  voluminous  writer,  his  briefest  note 
invariably  bears  the  stamp  of  his  profound  and  original 
genius ;  and,  like  Dirichlet  and  Hermite,  with  whom 
he  may  be  aptly  compared,  he  wrote  with  a  com- 
bination of  clearness  and  elegance  difficult  to  equal, 
and  impossible  to  surpass. 


March  2,  19 16] 


NATURE 


13 


We  regret  to  learn,  from  an  obituary  notice  in  the 
Victorian  Naturalist  for  January,  of  the  death  of  Dr. 
T.  S.  Hall,  for  more  than  twenty  years  lecturer  in 
biologv  in  the  University  of  Melbourne,  and  before 
that  director  of  the  School  of  Mines  at  Castlemaine. 
Dr.  Hall's  original  investigations  dealt  chiefly  with 
the  palaeontological  aspect  of  his  subject,  and  he  was 
recognised  as  a  leading  authority  on  the  graptolites  of 
Victoria.  In  1901  the  Geological  Society  of  London 
awarded  him  the  balance  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
Murchison  fund  in  recognition  of  his  researches.  He 
took  a  ver>'  active  part  in  the  organisation  of  scien- 
tific work  in  Australia,  and  had  been  president  both 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  Victoria,  and  of  the  Field 
Naturalists'  Club;  he  also  did  a  great  deal  of  useful 
work  in  connection  with  the  Australasian  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  He  became  person- 
ally known  to  many  British  men  of  science  on  the 
occasion  of  the  recent  visit  of  the  British  Association 
to  Australia,  when  he  not  only  acted  as  local  secre- 
tar}'  of  the  Zoological  Secticwi  in  Melbourne,  but  ren- 
dered valuable  services  in  other  directions  also.  Dr. 
Hall's  charming  personality,  his  sound  common  sense, 
and  his  extraordinarily  keen  sense  of  humour  endeared 
him  to  a  large  circle  of  friends,  by  whom  his  loss  will 
be  very  deeply  felt.  He  was  fifty-eight  years  of  age 
at  the  time  of  his  death. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Buteshire  Natural  History 
Society,  held  on  Februarj-  8,  in  the  society's  library  at 
the  -  Bute  Museum  and  Laboratory-,  the  curator,  Mr. 
L.  P.  W.  Renouf,  explained  at  some  length  the  aims 
and  objects  of  the  laboratory  and  museum  under  its 
new  regime.  Briefly,  these  are  to  get  together  a  com- 
plete collection  of  the  fauna  and  flora  of  Bute  and  its 
more  or  less  immediate  waters,  to  supplement  the 
actual  collection  with  a  card  index  of  occurrences  over 
an  extended  period  so  as  to  have  a  complete  local 
history-  of  the  species,  and  to  provide  accommodation 
for  anyone  desirous  of  working  at  any  of  the  problems 
of  natural  histor}-.  Emphasis  was  laid  on  the  excep- 
tional advantages  offered  by  Bute  for  such  an  under- 
taking, its  size,  position,  and  industries  combining  to 
make  it  an  ideal  site  for  the  work.  The  laboratory 
offers  all  the  necessary  facilities  for  research  work, 
and  possesses  equipment  for  the  carrying  on  of  both 
marine  and  fresh-water  investigations,  and  the  museum 
already  contains  the  nucleus  of  a  ver\'  fine  collection. 
Intending  workers  should  apply  to  Mr.  Renouf,  who 
will  be  glad  to  supply  any  particulars. 

The  subordination  of  science  forms  the  subject  of 
the  leading  article  in  Engineering  for  February  25. 
Our  national  neglect  of  science  has  long  been  manifest, 
but  there  are  also  some  reasons  for  believing  that  the 
fault  lies  in  part  with  the  scientific  man  himself. 
British  scientific  men,  including  engineers,  have 
formed  a  habit  of  rendering  the  nation  gratuitous  ser- 
vices of  the  greatest  intrinsic  value.  There  have  been 
many  instances  of  this  since  the  commencement  of  the 
war,  and,  unfortunately,  the  general  attitude  towards 
such  services  is  to  value  them  at  cost  price  It  is 
probable  that  the  public  would  take  a  much  higher 
view  of  the  worth  of  these  services  had  the  scientific 
experts  concerned,  like  the  lawjers,  politicians,  and 
NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


certain  trade-unionists,  made  demand  for  adequate  re- 
muneration. There  is  no  doubt  also  that  our  unfor- 
tunate educational  tradition  has  much  to  do  with  the 
public  attitude  towards  the  scientific  and  engineering 
expert.  There  is  not  a  little  reason  for  believing  that 
the  country  would  derive  great  benefit  from  an  Act 
making  it  illegal  for  any  schoolboy  under  sixteen  years 
of  age  to  devote  more  than  one  hour  a  week  to  Latin 
and  another  hour  to  Greek.  Our  public  schools  in 
the  past  have  failed,  to  provide  a  general  education, 
but  have  been  devoted  largely  to  the  attempt  to  con- 
vert most  of  the  pupils  into  classical  specialists. 

Prof.  Mohn  has  published,  through  the  Fridtjof 
Nansen  Fund,  a  discussion  of  the  meteorological 
observations  made  by  the  Norwegian  Antarctic  Ex- 
pedition of  1911-12,  under  Capt.  Roald  Amundsen. 
The  memoir  is  a  pamphlet  of  seventy-eight  pages,  and 
is  written  in  English.  The  observations  at  Fram- 
heim,  the  base  of  the  edge  of  the  Barrier  near  King 
Edward  Land,  are  discussed  in  detail,  and  a  full 
account  is  given  of  the  less  complete  observations 
made  on  the  sledge  journey  to  the  south  pole  and 
back,  including  a  discussion  of  the  heights  deduced 
from  the  aneroid  and  boiling  |X)int  observations. 
Great  prominence  is  given  to  wind,  and  the  relation 
of  the  Antarctic  winds  to  other  conditions  is  worked 
out  in  a  remarkable  series  of  wind  roses.  The  climate 
of  Framheim  is  dealt  with  by  calculating  normals 
based  on  the  five-years'  observations  available  at 
McMurdo  Sound,  taking  account  of  the  relation  be- 
tween Amundsen's  figures  and  the  synchronous  ob- 
servations of  the  Scott  Expedition.  Prof.  Mohn 
states  that  the  climate  of  Framheim,  which  was  the 
southernmost  meteorological  station  in  the  world, 
may  be  characterised  as  having  rather  low  atmo- 
spheric pressure,  and  very  low  temperature,  both 
lower  than  at  McMurdo  Sound  (maximum  observed, 

—  o-2°  C.  minimum,   —59°  C),  the  yearly  mean  being 

—  24°  C,  as  compared  with  —17-4°  C.  for  the  same 
latitude  in  the  northern  hemisphere.  The  vapour  ten- 
sion was  small,  and  the  relative  humidity  and  cloudi- 
ness were  moderate;  no  rain  was  observed,  and  snow 
fell  one  day  out  of  five.  The  prevailing  wind  direc- 
tion was  easterly,  and  the  force  moderate,  averaging 
20  metres  per  second,  being  much  less  than  at 
McMurdo  Sound,  and  gales  were  very  infrequent. 

At  the  Manchester  meeting  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion last  year  it  was  strongly  represented  that  the 
association,  with  its  great  breadth  of  interest,  might 
afford  an  effective  mechanism  for  the  investigation 
of  many  of  the  problems  of  national  and  Imi>erial 
importance  which  will  arise  after  the  close  of  the  war, 
and  already  call,  or  will  call  later,  for  scientific  inves- 
tigation and  advice.  Before  the  meeting  the  Section 
of  Economics  had  made  investigation  into  the  ques- 
tions of  outlets  for  labour  after  the  war,  of  the  effect 
of  the  war -on  credit,  currency,  and  finance,  and  of 
industrial  harmony.  The  Engineering  Section  set  on 
foot  at  the  Manchester  meeting  an  inquiry  into 
problems  affecting  the  national  welfare;  and  at  the 
same  time,  at  the  instance  of  the  Chemical  Section, 
a  research  committee  was  appointed  to  inquire  into 
the  question  of  economy  in  fuel  and  allied  problems. 
The  wider  suggestion,   as  affecting  the  work  of   the 


H 


NATURE 


[March  2,  1916 


sections  generally,  has  been  taken  up  since  the  meeting 
by  the  council,  which  appointed  a  committee  to  deal 
with  the  matter,  and,  on  its  recommendation,  called 
upon  the  organising  committees  of  the  sections  to 
submit  questions,  in  their  various  departments  of 
science,  which  might  profitably  be  investigated.  We 
are  informed  that  a  number  of  important  subjects  for 
investigation  have  already  been  suggested,  and  no 
doubt  some  of  these  will  find  a  place  in  the  programme 
of  the  next  annual  meeting,  but  others  are  being  dealt 
with  in  the  meantime.  There  is  good  reason  to  hope 
that  this  extension  of  the  work  of  the  association  will 
have  valuable  and  far-reaching  results. 

In  Ancient  Egypt,  part  i.  for  1916,  Miss  Alice 
Grenfell  publishes  a  catalogue  of  the  fine  collection  of 
scarabs  formed  by  Field-Marshal  Lord  Grenfell  while 
commanding  in  Egypt.  These  are  illustrated  by  a 
long  series  of  photographs  and  drawings.  It  is  sug- 
gested that  the  sj'^mbols  of  the  double  and  single  spiral 
signify  "life,"  and  that  the  fish,  which  originally 
symbolised  Isis  and  fertility,  was  utilised  by  early 
Christian  converts  who  had  no  objection  to  use  pagan 
symbols.  Prof.  Flinders  Petrie  adds  a  note  fixing  the 
date  of  these  scarabs.  The  collection,  as  a  whole,  is 
of  the  highest  value  to  students  of  Egyptian  religion. 

In  the  January  issue  of  Man,  Prof.  Ashby  and  his 
colleagues,  MM.  Themistocles  Zammit  and  Giuseppe 
Despott,  describe  the  excavations  maae  in  Malta 
during  19 14.  The  megalithic  building,  on  a  site  known 
as  Id-debdieba,  "the  place  of  the  Echo,"  has  been 
fully  examined.  The  object  of  this  remarkable  struc- 
ture is  still  uncertain.  Among  the  more  remarkable 
objects  unearthed  in  the  course  of  the  excavations  are 
six  pillars  of  limestone  or  sandstone,  cylindrical  in 
shape,  but  some  tapering  at  one  end,  of  the  type 
usual  in  Maltese  megalithic  ruins.  Flint  implements 
were  rare,  but  potsherds  were  abundant,  mostly  from 
vessels  of  Neolithic  times,  that  is  to  say,  contemporary 
with  the  original  building,  and  fragments  of  dark  red 
bricks  with  a  very  rough  texture,  some  of  which  were 
evidently  parts  of  floors  or  walls  of  ovens. 

The  supplement  to  the  forty-fourth  annual  report 
of  the  Local  Cirovernment  Board,  containing  the  report 
of  the  Medica'  Officer  (Dr.  Newsholme)  for  19 14-15, 
has  just  been  issued.  Dr.  Newsholme  surveys  the 
measures  taken  on  account  of  the  war  for  co-operation 
between  the  civil  and  military  sanitary  services,  and 
reviews  the  incidence  of  infectious  diseases  in  England 
and  Wales  and  the  development  of  tuberculosis  work 
over  the  country.  Dr.  Bruce  Low  furnishes  a  report 
on  the  epidemiology  of  typhus  fever  in  recent  years, 
which  deals  mainly  with  the  distribution  of  this  disease 
in  the  various  countries  of  the  globe.  Dr.  Twort 
makes  a  preliminary  report  on  the  bacteriology  of 
infantile  diarrhoea.  Various  micro-organisms  were 
isolated  by  means  of  a  special  medium  and  examined, 
but  so  far  no  evidence  has  been  obtained  of  the 
existence  of  any  specific  bacterium  for  this  disease. 
Owing  to  war  conditions,  the  report  is  much  shorter 
than  usual. 

The   report    just    issued   by   the    Medical    Research 
Committee,  under  the  National  Health  Insurance  Act, 
NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


on  "  Cerebro-Spinal  Fever  during  the  Epidemic  of 
i9i5»"  brings  together,  in  a  clear  and  concise  form, 
a  great  mass  of  very  careful  and  well-planned  bac- 
teriological work,  done  by  many  observers.  The 
authors  of  the  report  are  Prof.  F.  W.  Andrewes,  Prof. 
Bullock,  and  Prof.  Hewlett;  one  could  scarcely  find 
three  names  of  higher  authority.  The  work  done  is, 
of  course,  scarcely  intelligible  to  those  who  are  not 
bacteriologists ;  but  the  chief  conclusions  are  important 
to  all.  That  the  "meningococcus"  is  indeed  the 
specific  germ  of  the  disease,  remains  the  sure  founda- 
tion of  the  work.  It  is  a  true  species,  "as  species 
go  amongst  bacteria."  There  are  subspecies  of  it; 
but  these  ought  none  the  less  to  be  called  meningo- 
coccus, not  para-  or  pseudo-meningococcus.  From 
this  "  specificity "  of  meningococcus,  it  follows  that 
bacteriological  examination  is  the  necessary  method 
for  a  positive  diagnosis  of  the  case.  The  whole  sub- 
ject of  the  detection  and  treatment  of  "carriers"  is 
very  carefully  considered.  It  appears  that  even  the 
most  vigorous  and  varied  treatments  of  the  back  of 
the  throats  of  carriers  may  fail  to  rid  them  of  the 
germs;  the  report  is  more  hopeful  of  good  results 
from  "an  open-air  life  and  the  provision  of  as  much 
fresh  air  as  possible."  For  the  treatment  of  the 
declared  disease,  the  specific  antitoxin  did  not,  in  the 
adverse  conditions  of  last  winter,  fulfil  men's  expecta- 
tions :  it  did  not  achieve  so  much  as  it  achieved  in  the 
Belfast  epidemic  of  1907,  and  in  some  American 
epidemics.  It  remains  the  only  "rational"  treatment; 
but  we  cannot  put  it  anywhere  near  diphtheria  anti- 
toxin in  the  records  of  the  art  of  healing.  That  is 
the  fault  of  the  disease,  not  of  the  bacteriologists. 

Miss  Maud  Haviland,  in  British  Birds  for 
February,  makes  some  welcome  additions  to  our 
records  of  the  life-history  of  the  Lapland  bunting. 
Her  notes  are  based  on  observations  during  her  stay 
on  the  Yenisei.  Though  she  obtained  some  beautiful 
photographs  of  the  nest  and  of  nestlings,  she  failed 
to  obtain  pictures  of  the  adults,  which  refused  even 
to  approach  the  nest  while  the  tent  containing  the 
camera  was  in  the  neighbourhood.  She  succeeded, 
however,  in  obtaining  some  valuable  notes  on  the 
habits  of  the  adults,  and  the  feeding  of  the  young,  as 
well  as  on  the  migratory  habits  of  this  species.  The 
many  peculiarities  of  this  bunting  are  skilfully  brought 
out  by  contrasting  it  with  the  snow  bunting  and  other 
species  haunting  the  same  area. 

Ornithologists,  for  some  inscrutable  reason,  have 
paid  but  little  attention  hitherto  to  the  many  problems 
presented  by  the  study  of  the  renewal  of  plumage  by 
moulting.  Yet  this  is  a  theme  of  far  wider  importance 
than  is  commonly  supposed.  Recently,  however,  our 
knowledge  of  this  subject  has  been  materially  in- 
creased by  several  important  papers,  and  not  the  least 
of  these  is  that  which  appears  in  the  Scottish  Natural- 
ist for  February  by  Dr.  C.  B.  Ticehurst.  His  sum- 
mary of  his  work,  however,  is  very  inadequate,  and 
it  is  at  times  difficult  to  be  sure  of  the  precise  value 
he  attaches  to  his  observations,  which  are  further 
marred  by  the  inexcusable  use  of  the  term,  "tertials," 
though  he  is  not  the  only  offender  in  this  matter. 


March  2,  1916] 


NATURE 


15 


Those  who  are  inclined  to  doubt  whether  museums 
play  any  useful  part  in  war-time  should  read  the 
account  of  what  is  being  done  in  the  Leicester 
Museum,  by  means  of  an  Infant  Welfare  Exhibition, 
to  combat  the  appalling  mortality  among  infants. 
This  account  appears  in  the  Museums  Journal  for 
February,  and  has  been  written  by  Mr.  E.  E.  Lowe, 
the  curator,  who  is  responsible  for  the  scheme  and 
its  execution.  This  mortality,  which  is  largely  pre- 
ventable, is  brought  out  with  startling  vividness  by 
means  of  a  series  of  wooden  columns,  that  for  in- 
fants up  to  twelve  months  old  standing  no  fewer 
than  II  ft.  high,  while  that  for  the  death-rate  between 
the  ages  from  five  to  twenty  is  but  2^  of  an  inch 
high.  The  food  values  of  human,  cow's,  and  con- 
densed milk,  the  injurious  effects  of  "dummies,"  of 
"push-carts,"  and  of  certain  kinds  of  clothing,  are 
brought  out  by  means  of  specimens,  models,  or  dia- 
grams. Models  also  are  used  to  demonstrate  the 
dangers  of  contamination  by  flies.  The  keenest  in- 
terest has  been  displayed  in  this  exhibition  since  its 
installation,  especially  by  the  poorer  classes,  for  whom 
it  was  more  especially  intended.  Hence  it  is  devoutly 
to  be  hoped  that  this  and  similar  museums  will  not  be 
closed  by  the  local  authorities  from  mistaken  notions 
of  economy  in  war-time. 

A  NEW  genus  of  Ranunculaceae,  Beesia,  named  in 
honour  of  the  f.rm  of  Bees,  Ltd. — to  whose  enterprise 
so  much  botanical  exploration  in  China,  Burma,  and 
the  Himalayas  has  been  accomplished — has  been  de- 
scribed by  Prof.  Bayley  Balfour  and  Mr.  W.  W.  Smith 
in  Notes  from  the  Royal  Botanic  Garden,  Edinburgh, 
vol.  ix.,  No.  xli.  The  new  plant,  Beesia  cordata, 
which  is  figured,  is  allied  to  the  Japanese  genus 
Glaucidium,  and  to  the  Japanese  and  American 
Hydrastis.  It  was  collected  by  Mr.  F.  Kingdon  Ward 
in  northern  Burma,  at  9000  ft.  altitude,  in  the  deep 
shade  of  the  rain  forest. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Agricultural  Department, 
St.  Vincent,  shows  that  a  good  deal  of  useful  work 
has  been  done  in  the  past  year  in  connection  with 
■efforts  to  raise  new  strains  of  cotton,  particularly  with 
reference  to  disease  resistance.  The  progress  of  the 
cotton  industry  is  well  shown  in  the  tables  covering 
the  period  of  the  last  ten  years.  The  area  planted  in 
1905-6  was  790  acres,  and  in  1914-15  4226  acres, 
though  in  1911-12  it  rose  to  more  than  5000  acres.  The 
weight  of  lint  in  1905-6  was  137,460  lb.,  and  in  1910-11 
reached  as  high  a  figure  as  561,526  lb.,  the  average 
yield  of  lint  per  acre  for  the  ten  years  being  128  lb. 

We  notice  in   La   Geographie   for  November,   1915, 
that  the  hydrographic  department  of  the  French  Ad- 
miralty have  replaced  the  German  names  in  Kerguelen 
by  names  of  French  origin.     It  must  be  very  galling  to 
the   French   to  see  an  abundance  of  German   names 
scattered    over    the    chart    of    their    Antarctic    island, 
especially  as  German  explorers  were  never  sparing  in 
their  naming  or  very  mindful  of  previous  names.     At 
the    same    time,    however,    the   practice    of    changing  ' 
established  names  is  a  dangerous  one  if  carried  far,   " 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped,  in  the  interests  of  geographical  , 
accuracy,    this    principle    will    not    be    applied    indis-  [ 
NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


criminately,  for  confusion  would  certainly  be  the 
result.  The  new  names  for  Kerguelen  appear  in  the 
Avis  aux  Navigateurs  of  May  29,  1915. 

An  article  on  the  Peru-Bolivia  boundary  commission, 
by  Sir  Thomas  Holdich,  in  the  Geographical  Journal 
for  February  (vol.  xlvii..  No.  2)  is  another  reminder, 
were  any  required,  of  the  losses  that  geographical 
science  has  sustained  by  the  war.  In  January,  191 1, 
the  services  of  four  British  officers  were  lent  to  the 
Government  of  Peru  to  determine  the  boundary  with 
Bolivia.  Two  of  them,  Capt.  H.  S.  Toppin,  Northum- 
berland Fusiliers,  and  Lieut.  C.  G.  Moores,  R.E., 
have  already  lost  their  lives  in  action.  Capt.  Toppin 
was  to  have  written  the  report  for  the  Peruvian 
Government.  When  that  became  impossible  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  was  asked  to  undertake  the  work, 
and  it  was  placed  by  the  society  in  the  hands  of  Sir 
Thomas  Holdich.  Moreover,  in  certain  circumstances 
in  the  dispute  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  was 
made  arbitrator  by  the  Peruvian  Government.  In  the 
same  number  of  the  Geographical  Journal  is  a  paper 
by  the  late  Capt.  Toppin  on  the  diplomatic  history  of 
the  Peru-Bolivia  boundary. 

Mr.  F.  E.  Wright,  writing  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Washington  Academy  of  Sciences,  vi.,  i,  describes  a 
device  for  solving  equations  of  the  form  a  =  }}c,  where 
a,  b,  c  are  functions  for  which  suitable  scales  of 
representation  have  been  plotted.  The  method  is  ap- 
parently based  on  the  geometrical  construction  for  the 
product  of  two  quantities  by  treating  the  latter  as  the 
fourth  term  of  a  proportion  having  unity  as  the  first. 
It  is,  however,  not  easy  to  follow  from  the  description, 
but  it  may  be  useful  to  overcome  the  difficulties  in 
cases  where  some  process  of  the  kind  has  to  be 
frequently  used. 

f 

DiCHROic  fog  is  one  of  the  troubles  of  the  amateur 
photographer  when  plates  are  developed  under  difficult 
conditions  as  to  temperature  or  otherwise.  An  inves- 
tigation of  its  causes,  prevention,  and  cure  is  given 
by  M.  Ernest  Coustet  in  the  Revue  generale  des 
Sciences  (xxvi.,  21).  Of  the  causes,  the  most  impor- 
tant is  the  presence  of  traces  of  the  fixing  salt  in  the 
developer  or  of  the  developer  in  the  fixing  salt.  The 
latter  appears  to  be  the  most  important,  and  thorough 
washing  before  fixing  the  best  preventive.  A  high 
temperature  and  a  weak  fixing  bath  are  favourable 
to  fogging.  Of  remedies  the  author  recommends 
neutral  (never  acid)  permanganate  followed  by 
bisulphite  of  soda. 

The  issue  of  the  index  numbers  of  the  two  sections 
of  Science  Abstracts  completes  the  volumes  for  the 
year  19 15.  The  physics  volume  has  770  pages  and 
the  electrical  engineering  volume  622,  while  the  num- 
ber of  abstracts  are  1789  and  1152  respectively.  The 
volumes  are  therefore  quite  equal  in  size  to  those 
issued  before  the  war,  though  there  seems  to  be  a 
small  decrease  in  the  number  of  articles  abstracted, 
partly  no  doubt  due  to  the  reduction  in  the  amount 
of  scientific  work  being  published.  The  name  indexes 
include  names  of  authors  and  those  mentioned  in 
abstracts,  and  cover  twenty-nine  and  fifteen  pages  re- 


i6 


NATURE 


[March  2,  19 16 


spectively.  The  subject  indexes  extend  to  fifty-two  and 
thirty  pages  respectively,  and  the  method  of  arrange- 
ment adopted  in  past  years  is  continued.  The  facility 
with  which  a  piece  of  research  can  be  looked  up  in 
"  Science  Abstracts "  makes  it  invaluable  to  those 
engaged  in  scientific  work  in  either  physics  or  elec- 
trical  engineering. 

The  Journal  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts  for 
December  31  contains  an  interesting  article  by  Sir 
Charles  Watson  on  the  origin  of  English  measures 
of  length.  The  author  is  of  opinion  that  the  measures 
of  length  used  by  the  different  nations  of  the  world 
are  for  the  most  part  derived  from  a  common  origin. 
He  regards  the  longer  measures  of  distance  as  having 
been  first  used  by  a  people  who  possessed  a  high  degree 
of  astronomical  knowledge,  who  were  acquainted  with 
the  form  of  the  earth  and  were  able  to  carry  out 
accurate  geodetic  measurements.  He  explains  the 
means  by  which  the  ancients  determined  the  unit  for 
terrestrial  measurements  of  distance,  now  known  as 
a  geographical  mile,  and  he  then  proceeds  to  con- 
sider how  the  subdivisions  of  the  geographical  mile 
were  assimilated  with  the  cubit.  Two  new  cubits 
appear  to  have  been  invented  for  this  purpose ;  one 
of  these  was. equivalent  to  18225  English  inches,  and 
the  other,  afterwards  known  as  the  Babylonian  royal 
cubit,  was  equal  to  2025  inches.  Sir  Charles  points  out 
that  the  English  sea  mile  is  exactly  the  same  as  the 
geographical  mile  of  the  Babylonian  system;  that  its 
tenth  part,  the  cable  length,  is  identical  with  the 
stadium ;  and  that  generally  the  English  measures 
of  length  are  no  haphazard  modern  invention,  but 
have  come  down  to  us  from  prehistoric  times. 

A  SHORT  article  on  the  production  of  potash  in  the 
United  States  appears  in  the  Chemical  Trade  Journal 
of  February  12.  In  1915  steps  were  taken  to  produce 
potash  salts  on  a  commercial  scale  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  plant  of  the  Universal  Products  Cor- 
poration began  to  operate  in  October  last  at  Marys- 
vale,  Utah,  producing  both  potassium  sulphate  and 
alumina,  in  high-grade  form.  The  rated  capacity  of 
the  works  is  from  25  to  30  tons  of  95  per  cent,  potass- 
ium sulphate  per  day.  The  present  plant  handles 
about  150  tons  of  alunite  dail}',  and  plans  are  being 
made  to  double  its  capacity.  At  Searles  Lake,  Cali- 
fornia, the  .American  Trona  Corporation  proceeded 
with  the  construction  of  its  works  to  treat  the  potass- 
ium-bearing brine  of  that  desert  basin  by  the  Grim- 
wood,  process.  At  Trona  (Searles  Lake)  only  mixed 
salts  are  produced  from  the  first  part  of  the  process, 
and  these  are  refined  at  the  port  of  San  Pedro,  Cali- 
fornia. The  initial  plants  are  expected  to  produce 
100  tons  of  potash  and  30  tons  of  borax  daily.  The 
alunite  deposits  of  the  Florence  Mining  and  Milling 
Company  at  Marysvale,  Utah,  is  to  be  exploited  by  a 
newly-formed  corporation,  the  Utah  Potash  Syndicate. 
Some  plants  were  erected  elsewhere  to  utilise  the 
potash  of  the  felspars,  but  did  not  get  into  operation 
on  a  commercial  scale, 

"The  Athenaeum  Subject  Index"  to  the  periodical 
literature  on  the  economic,  political,  and  military  his- 
tory of  the  war  is  a  classified  list  of  the  titles  of  articles 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


that  have  appeared  during  1915.  About  150  periodicals 
are  cited,  including  twenty  published  in  the  United 
States  and  ten  published  in  France.  There  is  an 
alphabetical  list  of  authors'  names.  The  titles  of  the 
articles  are  classified  under  more  than  250  headings, 
arranged  in  alphabetical  order.  The  primary  classi- 
fication is  in  great  measure  topographical,  being  based 
upon  the  names  of  countries,  and  such  headings  as 
"  Eastern  Question  "  and  "  European  War."  These  main 
sections  are,  however,  subdivided  into  subsections,  such 
as  "Army,"  "Colonies,"  "Commerce,"  "Economic 
Condition."  "  Finance,"  and  "  Intellectual  Life."  In 
addition  to  the  topographical  headings,  there  are  many 
others,  such  as  "Aliens,"  ".'\rchitecture,"  "Civilisa- 
tion," "  Compulsory  Service,"  "  Eugenics,"  "  Food 
Supply,"  "Liquor  Problem,"  "National  Character- 
istics," and  "Social  Psychology."  In  drawing  up  such 
a  list  it  is  obviously  very  difficult  to  decide  what  are 
the  subjects  of  greatest  interest  to  those  who  will  con- 
sult the  index.  Compensation  for  any  defects  in  the 
arrangement  will  be  found  in  the  large  number  of 
cross-references,  which  make  it  possible  without  much 
difficulty  to  trace  the  various  entries  relating  to  any 
subject  that  may  not  have  been  confined  to  one 
section. 

The  letter  of  Sir  Lauder  Brunton  which  we  pub- 
lished in  our  issue  of  February  10  (vol.  xcvi.,  p.  649), 
advocating  the  introduction  of  Latin  as  an  inter- 
national language,  has  inspired  several  communications 
on  the  subject  for  which  we  are  unable  to  find  space. 
Mr.  L.  F.  Richardson,  of  Eskdalemuir  Observatory, 
directs  attention  to  the  simplicity  of  "  Ido,"  which  has 
been  suggested  as  an  international  language,  and 
points  out  that  the  language  can  be  read  by  anyone. 
Mr.  F.  H.  Perrycoste,  Polperro,  Cornwall,  emphasises 
the  saving  of  time  which  would  result  from  the  adop- 
tion of  Sir  Lauder  Brunton 's  suggestion,  and  urges 
that  most  people  would  really  be  better  off  with  a 
good  equipment  of  Latin  thaii  they  now  are  "  with  a 
more  or  less  efficient  or  inefficient  equipment  of 
French  and  German  and  a  practically  useless  semi- 
equipment  of  Latin  acquired  at  enormous  expense  of 
school  time."  Mr.  P.  W.  Stuart-Menteath,  writing 
from  Ciboure,  Basses  Pyrenees,  maintains  that  "The 
revival  of  Latin  as  the  unique  language  of  science 
can  alone  secure  the  co-operation  of  the  humanist, 
the  intellectual  independence  of  the  Latin  nations^ 
and  the  essential  unity  of  both  their  science  and  their 
religion."  Mr.  C.  M.  Houghton  urges  the  advantages 
of  Esperanto,  the  inventor  of  which  was  an  adherent 
to  the  Latin  project  for  many  years  before  he  con- 
structed his  artificial  language  for  international  use. 
He  adds  that  Mr.  W.  J.  Clark's  "  International 
Language"  (Dent,  is.  net)  "contains  a  resumd  of  the 
history  of  the  problem  and  its  solution  from  1653  up 
to  1910,  together  with  a  large  amount  of  other  valu- 
able information." 

In  future  the  journal  hitherto  known  as  the  Journal 
of  Economic  Biology  will  bear  the  name  of  the  Journal 
of  Zoological  Research,  the  subject-matter  of  which 
will  be  confined  to  original  zoological  research — 
systematic  and  anatomical.  The  style  and  price  of  the 
periodical  will  remain  unaltered. 


March  2,  19 16] 


NATURE 


n 


21  56-9       ...       II-9 
1915. — We  have  received 


OUR   ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

A  New  Comet. — The  Astronomer  Royal  informs  us 

,it  he  has  received  the  following  telegram  from 
Prof.  O.  Baeklund,  director  of  the  Pulkova  Observa- 
tory : — "  New  comet  Neujmin..  i  lomag.,  February  24, 
9h.'i7m.  Simeis  M.T.,  R.A.  8h.  58m.  40s..  declination 
16°  24'  N.  Motion  slow.  Probably  south."  A  further 
observation  telephoned  to  us  as  we  go  to  press  is  as 
follows  :— R.A.  8h.  sSm.  29SS.,  declination  -f  14°  42' 
--^'.  February  27.  iih.  33-6m.,  G.M.T. 

Comet  1915a  (Mellish). — Additional  measures  of  the 
condensations  in  the  tail  of  this  comet  are  given  in 
Lowell  Obser\'atory  Bulletin,  No.  70.  Photographs 
taken  with  the  40-in.  reflector  have  been  measured  by 
Mr.  C.  O.  Lampland.  Mr.  E.  C.  Slipher  made  visual 
^■crometric  measures  with  the  24-in.  refractor. 

The  following  positions  of  the  comet  are  extracted 
trom  an  ephemeris  given  in  Circular  501  of  the  Astro- 
tiomischen   Nachrichten  : — 

i2h.  G.yLT. 

R.A  Dec.  Mag. 

h.     m.    s. 

March    2      ...       3  37  24       ...       +20  56-6       ...       11-7 
6      ...  40  12 

10      ...  43     9 

U.S.  Naval  Observ.\tory 
a  copy  of  the  report  of  the  superintendent  of  this 
extremely  active  institution.  The  Gaithersburg  Sta- 
tion of  the  International  Latitude  Service  has  been 
discontinued.  Dr.  F.  E.  Ross  has  been  transferred 
to  Washington,  together  with  the  photographic  zenith 
tube  for  continuous  determination  of  the  variation  of 
latitude. 

A  Daylight  Meteor. — An  extremely  interesting 
account  of  a  great  meteor  seen  over  the  Chusan 
Archipelago  during  the  forenoon  of  February  13, 
1915,  has  been  given  by  Capt.  W.  F.  Tyler,  R.N.R., 
in  a  paper  communicated  to  the  North  China  Branch 
of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society  (Journal,  vol.  xlvi.). 
Capt  Tyler's  attention  was  directed  to  the  matter  by 
the  report  of  the  light-keeper  at  Steep  Island  that 
a  man-of-war  had  fired  an  aerial  torpedo  which  nearly 
hit  the  tower.  The  combined  observations  from  a 
number  of  adjacent  islands  and  from  Shanghai  seem 
to  be  best  fitted  by  assuming  the  meteor  followed  a 
strongly  curved  path,  at  first  travelling  a  little  east  of 
north,  and  finally  moving  towards  the  south-east.  The 
meteor  was  seen  to  fall  into  the  sea  near  Video  Island, 
and  a  violent  explosion  was  heard  over  a  ver\'  wide 
area.  It  is  notable  that  exceptional  meteoric  displays 
have  been  recorded  about  this  date  in  previous  years. 

.\  Transxeptu.nian  Planet. — The  first  number  of 
ne  first  volume  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Lowell  Ob- 
servatory deals  with  this  alluring  subject.  Although 
the  cometary  evidence  which  has  been  held  to  indicate 
the  existence  of  an  additional  member  of  the  solar 
system  may  be  open  to  other  interpretation,  yet  it 
may  be  confidently  predicted  that  extended  knowledge 
of  the  motions  of  the  known  outer  planets  will  ulti- 
mately settle  the  matter  if,  that  is,  the  hypothetical 
body,  or  bodies,  exist.  It  is  interesting  to  compare 
the  material  Dr.  Lowell  finds  available  with  that  which 
led  to  the  capture  of  Neptune.  In  the  first  place,  the 
latter  has  not  yet  been  known  long  enough  to  enable 
its  theory  to  be  developed  with  the  accuracy  required 
as  a  basis  of  a  search  for  a  source  of  perturbation, 
hence  instead  of  the  planet  next  in  the  series,  recourse 
must  be  made  to  the  antepenultimate  Uranus.  Then, 
secondly,  the  residuals  given  by  Gaillot's  theory  of 
Uranus  do  not  exceed  45"  at  any  point  of  its  path 
(1709-1910),  whilst  in  1845  Uranus  showed  an  unex- 
plained discrepancy  amounting  to  133'.  A  comparison 
of  the  present  residuals,  small  though   they  be,   with 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


the  probable  errors  of  observations,  shows  that  they 
are  too  large  to  be  due  to  the  latter.  By  a  lengthy 
process  of  trial  by  error  Dr.  Lowell  shows  .that  the 
hypothesis  of  a  single  outside  perturbing  body  can 
reduce  the  residuals  71  per  cent.,  or,  including  error* 
of  observation,  by  90  to  100  per  cent.  Two  solutions 
are  found  to  be  equally  indicated,  one  with  the  un- 
known situated  (July  o,  1914)  in  heliocentric  longitude 
840°,  for  the  other  in  2628°.  The  distances,  masses, 
and  eccentricities  are  closely  alike,  being  about  forty- 
four  times  the  earth's  distance  from  the  sun,  1/50,000 
of  the  sun's  mass,  and  an  eccentricity  about  0-2,  indi- 
cating a  visibility  of  12-13  magnitude,  and  a  disc 
slreater  than   i"  in  diameter. 


ARTIFKLAL     IRRIGATION    IN     THE  ' 
WESTERN  STATES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA."^ 

THE  hydro  logical  department  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey  finds  nowhere,  perhaps,  so 
important  and  fruitful  a  field  of  operations  as  in  the 
great  tract  of  countr}"  which  lies  west  of  the  looth 
meridian  of  west  longitude.  The  difficulties  attending 
the  agricultural  development  of  regions  in  which  the 
rainfall  is  so  scanty  as  to  be  almost  negligible  are 
sufficiently  obvious,  but  the  lack  of  adequate  supplies 
of  water  is  no  less  felt  for  mining  and  industrial  pur- 
poses, to  say  nothing  of  ordinary  domestic  require- 
ments. Hence  arises  the  necessity  for  a  close  and 
searching  investigation  into  all  such  sources  as  are 
actuallv  available,  and  the  conservation  of  supplies 
from  streams  and  wells,  so  that  they  may  be  utilised 
to  the  best  advantage,  with  the  reduction  of  waste 
and  loss  to  a  minimum. 

Such  are  the  conditions  prevailing  on  the  south- 
eastern portion  of  the  State  of  Nevada.  Large  areas 
of  fertile  soil  lie  idle  for  want  of  moisture  to  make 
them  productive,  and  very  little  vegetation  survives, 
unaided,  the  long  periods  of  drought.  The  average 
annual  precipitation  of  rain  at  seven  gauging  stations 
in  different  localities  ranges  from  342  to  11-99  in. 
When  a  rainfall  does  occur,  it  often  takes  the  form  of 
a  cloudburst,  in  which  a  large  quantity  of  water  falls 
on  a  small  area  in  a  very  short  space  of  time.  Much 
consequently  is  lost.  The  majority  of  the  upland 
streams,  moreover,  disappear  in  the  alluvial  slopes  at 
the  foot  of  the  mountains,  and  only  flood  w^aters  from 
heavy  rains  reach  the  central  valleys. .  Wells  and 
springs,  therefore,  constitute  some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant sources  of  supply,  and  they  are  found  to  give  the 
best  vield  in  the  unconsolidated  sedimentary  deposits 
which  partly  fill  the  structural  basins  of  the  district. 
The  lower  indurated  strata,,  forming  what  is  called 
the  "bed-rock,"  are  much  less  productive.  These 
lower  formations  are  usually  hard,  compact,  and  im- 
pervious laj'ers,  representative  of  various  systems, 
mostly  sedimentary,  but  with  some  igneous  intrusions. 
Thev  serve  the  useful  purpose  of  confining  the  water 
which  enters  the  "valley-fill,"  and  of  preventing  its 
downward  escape. 

Tularosa  Basin,  in  New  Mexico,  with  an  area  of 
6000  square  mites,  is  another  arid  region  with  similar 
climatic  conditions.  The  sky  is  generallv  clear,  the 
atmosphere  dr\',  and  the  average  rainfall  in  the  lower 

"Ground  Water  in  South-Fistern  Nevada."  By  Everttt  Carpenter 
(Water  Supply  Papr  -)6?.)    Pp.  86,  wiih  diaeratns  and  ^  nlates. 

"Geology  and  Water  Rr>ource>!  of  Tularosa  Basin,  New  Merico."  By 
O.  E.  Meinz»r  and  R.  F.  Hare  (Water  Supply  Paper  343.)  Pp.  316,  with 
diai^rams  and  19  plates. 

"  Spring";  of  California."  By  Gerald  A.  Waring  (Water  Supply  Paper 
338.)     Pp.  410,  with  diaeratns  and  73  plates. 

"  Ground  Water  for  Irrigation  in  the  Sacramento  Valley.  California." 
By  Kirk  Bryan  (Water  Supply  Paper  375  A.)  Pp.  49,  with  diagrams  and 
2  plates. 

'■'Ground  Water  Res.->urces  of  the  Viles  Cone  and  Adjacent  Areas,. 
California."  By  W  Q.  Clark  (Water  Supply  Paper  345  H.)  Pp.  43,  with 
diaerams  and  q  plates 

(Issued  by  United  States  Geological  Survey,  Washington,  1Q15.) 


i8 


NATURE 


[March  2,  1916 


parts  is  only  about  lo  in.  per  annum.  The  valley 
possesses  considerable  mineral  wealth,  including  gold, 
copper,  lead,  iron,  turquoise,  coal,  and  gypsum.  The 
metalliferous  deposits,  especially  gold,  have  been  ex- 
tensively worked.  But,  from  an  agricultural  point  of 
view,  the  district  has  been  practically  neglected.  Vast 
tracts  of  arable  land,  capable  of  producing  valuable 
crops,  lie  uncultivated  for  lack  of  treatment.  In  any 
system  of  development,  artificial  irrigation  would,  of 
course,  be  a  necessity,  but  there  are  abundant  stores 
of  underground  water  available  for  exploitation  and 
use.  As  in  south-eastern  Nevada,  these  supplies  are 
more  prolific  in  the  "valley-fill"  than  in  the  "bed- 
rock." The  most  important  sources  are  the  sand  and 
gravel  deposits,  which  lie  in  irregular  lenticular  masses 
at  different  depths  in  different  localities.  The  Creta- 
ceous rocks,  however,  underlying  the  eastern  portion 
of  the  basin,  yield  a  sufficient  supply  for  domestic 
and  cattle-raising  purposes. 

Further  to  the  west  lies  the  great  State  of  Cali- 
fornia, second  only  to  Texas  in  point  of  size,  and 
characterised  by  a  remarkable  physiographical  diver- 
sity. Thus  it  encloses  both  the  highest  and  the  lowest 
levels  in  the  Union,  viz.,  14,501  ft.  above  the  sea 
(Mount  Whitney),  and  276  ft.  below  the  same  datum 
(Death  Valley).  There  are  equally  diverse  hydro- 
graphic  features.  In  the  southern  deserts  is  to  be  found 
the  extreme  of  aridity  :  a  rainfall  which  averages  less 
than  3  in.  per  annum,  and,  in  some  years,  is  merely 
a  trace ;  whereas,  in  the  north-west,  there  is  very 
heavy  precipitation,  amounting  to  an  annual  average 
of  close  on  100  in.  at  certain  stations.  Mr^  Waring's 
paper  contains  a  very  full  account  of  the  natural 
springs  scattered  throughout  the  State,  with  an  in- 
teresting study  of  their  occurrence  and  yield.  The  hot 
springs  are  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  class,  and 
these  include  all  springs  having  a  temperature  higher 
than  about  90°  F.  Other  groups  of  springs  include 
carbonated  springs,  sulphur  springs,  saline  springs, 
magnesic  springs,  and  iron  springs,  each  class  named 
after  the  constituent  which  marks  the  flavour  and  char- 
acter of  the  water.  One  curious  spring  is  the  so- 
called  "  poison  spring  "  on  the  western  border  of  Death 
Valley,  which  is  an  arm  of  the  Colorado  Desert.  It 
yields  a  salty  water,  impregnated  probably  with 
sulphates,  producing  a  strong  feeling  of  nausea  in 
anyone  imbibine  it.  Other  popularly  described 
"  poison  "  springs  are  believed  to  contain  arsenic,  but 
of  this  there  is  some  doubt,  as  arsenic  is  a  rare  con- 
stituent of  water  and  seldom  present  in  measurable 
amount. 

The  most  prominent  topographical  feature  of  Cali- 
fornia is  the  Great  Central  Valley,  16,000  square  miles 
in  area,  flanked  on  each  side  by  mountain  ranges 
running  parallel  with  the  coast.  One  portion  of  this 
is  the  Sacramento  Vallev,  a  broad  and  fertile,  plain 
lying  between  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  the  Coast  Range. 
It  Is  a  district  unmistakably  adapted  to  agricultural 
pursuits,  possessing  climatic  conditions  of  the  most 
favourable  kind.  The  winters  are  moderate,  and  the 
rainfall,  which  averages  from  20  to  25  In.  annually.  Is 
concentrated.  In  a  large  measure,  within  the  five 
months  of  their  duration.  The  orchard  Industry  has 
acquired  special  prominence.  All  deciduous  fruits  bear 
heavy  crops,  being  rarely  damaged  by  frost,  while  the 
more  delicate  varieties,  such  as  apricots,  almonds, 
olives,  etc.,  flourish  In  suitable  localities.  Under 
normal  conditions  it  Is  quite  unnecessarv  to  resort  to 
artificial  Irrleratlon,  but,  as  a  means  to  the  more  ex- 
tended and  Intensive  cultivation  of  ground  crops  and 
the  Inclusion  under  operation  of  certain  lands  at  pre- 
sent only  available  for  grazing,  the  study  of  water 
storage  and  distribution  Is  recelvintr  attention.  The 
ground  water  Is  princlpallv  contained  In  the  upper- 
most alluvial  deposits,  and  the  valley  is  remarkable 
NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


for  the  large  area  in  which  the  water-level  stands  near 
the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  alluvium  is  of  two 
periods  :  an  older  deposition  dating  from  the  Pliocene 
epoch  and  cxjntinuing  into  the  Pleistocene,  and  a  later 
deposit  of  more  recent  formation.  This  latter  is  the 
most  productive  water-bearing  stratum,  and  consists 
largely  of  sands  and  gravels  in  an  uncemented  con- 
dition. The  total  quantity  of  ground  water  in  the 
valley  is  undoubtedly  very  considerable,  and  the  appli- 
cation of  irrigation  from  this  source  presents  great 
possibilities  of  development. 

Adjacent  to  the  Sacramento  Valley,  on  the  eastern 
side  of  San  Francisco  Bay,  is  situated  a  somewhat 
notable  cone  of  alluvial  deposit,  built  up  by  a  neigh- 
bouring creek,  and  called,  from  its  proximity  to  a 
town  of  the  name,  Niles  Cone.  The  cone  proper  is 
11,800  acres  in  extent,  but  a  marsh  tract  adds  9000 
acres  to  the  area  forming  the  ground-water  dTstrict 
covered  by  Mr.  Clark's  report.  The  creek  from  which 
the  cone  derives  its  origin  Is  Alameda  Creek,  at  the 
outlet  of  the  Santa  Clara  Valley.  This  receives  the 
drainage  of  640  square  miles  of  mountains  and  in- 
terior valleys.  The  alluvial  deposits  have  been  brought 
down  by  streams  during  periods  of  irregular  flow. 
The  upper  layers  belong  to  the  Pleistocene  and  Recent 
series  of  the  Quaternary  system ;  the  lower  strata  form 
part  of  the  Orinda  formation  In  the  Pliocene  series. 
Below  these  fresh-water  deposits  lie  shale  and  sand- 
stone of  the  Cretaceous,  and,  possibly,  of  the  Jurassic 
periods.  The  development  of  artificial  Irrigation  is 
proceeding  rapidly,  and  numerous  wells  have  been 
sunk  during  the  past  few  years,  but  the  limit  of  yield 
from  the  ground  water  has  almost  been  attained,  and 
any  further  supplies  will  have  to  be  obtained  by  con- 
serving the  large  quantities  of  flood  water  which  have 
hitherto  been  allowed  to  run  to  waste.  B.  C. 


SOME  RECENT  STUDIES  ON  PROTOZOA 
AND  DISEASE. 

T^R.  J.  W.  SCOTT  MACFIE  describes  in  Annals 
■•-^  of  Tropical  Medicine  and  Parasitology  (vol.  ix., 
No.  4)  a  number  of  interesting  protozoa  from  Accra, 
West  Africa.  He  records  the  occurrence  of  a  piro- 
plasm — Nuttallia  decumani,  n.  sp. — in  the  blood  of 
brown  rats,  and  gives  an  account  of  a  case  of  amcebic 
dysentery  in  a  monkey  (Cercopithecus),  in  which 
numerous  Entamoeba  were  present,  together  with  a 
vast  number  of  minute  splrochastes.  He  designates 
as  a  new  variety  (var.  equinum)  a  strain  o7  Try- 
panosoma congoiense,  chiefly  on  the  ground  that  in 
many  of  the  trypanosomes  the  trophonucleus  lies  near 
the  anterior  end.  The  clinical  aspect  of  the  disease 
produced  by  this  trypanosome  in  the  original  host — a 
mare — was  also  peculiar  in  that  there  appeared  on 
the  skin  of  the  body  raised  disc-like  patches  or 
plaques,  which,  however,  disappeared  after  about 
three  days.  Dr.  Macfie  also  records  observations  on 
two  mules  suffering  from  a  form  of  trypanosomiasis 
clinically  resembling  acute  dourine,  and  states  that  in 
these  cases  infection  by  coitus — the  usual  method  of 
transmission  of  this  disease — may  be  excluded  with 
certainty. 

An  account  of  researches  by  Drs  Fantham  and 
Porter  on  induced  herpetomoniasis  in  birds  appears  in 
the  same  number  of  the  Annals.  Water-scorpions  and 
gnats,  in  the  intestine  of  which  the  flagellate  parasite 
Herpetomonas  was  present,  were  fed  to  birds — 
canaries,  sparrows,  and  martins.  A  fatal  Infection  of 
the  birds  ensued,  and  herpetomonads,  flagellate  and  non- 
flagellate,  were  found  in  the  internal  organs  (liver, 
spleen,  bone-marrow,  etc.).  The  disease  ran  either  an 
acute  or  a  chronic  course.  In  acute  cases  the  flagel- 
late form  of  the  parasite  was  more  common  in  the 
birds    at    death,    while    In    chronic    cases    the    non- 


March  2,  1916I 


NATURE 


19 


flagellate  forms— often  Leishmania-like — were  more 
numerous.  The  authors  recall  the  fact  that  a  flagel- 
late stage  of  Leishmania  donovani — the  causal 
organism  of  kala  azar  in  man — has  recently  been 
found  by  Dr.  Wenyon  in  a  dog  subinoculated  with  a 
strain  derived  from  a  human  case,  and  that  flagellate 
stages  of  L.  tropica — the  organism  of  oriental  sore — 
have  been  found  in  man.  In  view  of  the  similarity 
of  the  morphological  cycles  of  Leishmania  and  Herpe- 
tomonas,  the  authors  suggest  that  the  species  of 
Leishmania  are  probably  insect  herpetomonads  intro- 
duced long  ago  into  man,  and  usually  perpetuating 
the  non-flagellate  and  relatively  non-resistant  forms, 
though  capable  of  assuming  the  flagellate  forrn. 

THE  NEW  ZEALAND    INSTITUTE. 

'X'HE  forty-seventh  volume  of  the  Transactions  and 
^  Proceedings  of  the  New  Zealand  Institute  con- 
stitutes a  record  of  much  valuable  and  painstaking 
research,  dealing  chiefly  with  the  fauna  and  flora  of 
the  Dominion.  It  is  gratifying  to  find  that  the  war 
has  interfered  so  little  with  the  activities  of  New- 
Zealand  naturalists,  and  that  so  many  ardent  workers 
are  now  engaged  in  adding  to  our  already  very  exten- 
sive knowledge  of  this  important  region.  Most  of  the 
papers  in  this  volume  are  of  a  systematic  character, 
and  probably  work  of  this  kind  is  the  most  important 
that  can  be  undertaken  at  the  present  time  in  New 
Zealand.  Such  papers,  however,  na^rally  appeal  to 
a  very  limited  number  of  readers,  especially  when  they 
are  written  in  the  ultra-technical  language  which  so 
many  systematists  seem  to  prefer.  This  appears  very 
markedly  in  Mr.  Meyrick's  revision  of  New  Zealand 
Tineina,  in  which  the  diagnosis  of  the  very  first  genus 
contains  the  following  cryptic  sentence — if  sentence 
it  can  be  called: — "  Hindwings  under  i,  termen 
abruptly  emarginate  beneath  acutely  produced  apex ; 
3  and  4  rather  approximated,  5  nearly  parallel,  6  and 
-  rather  approximated  towards  base." 

We  cannot  help  thinking  that,  apart  altogether 
from  the  question  of  style,  a  somewhat  more  generous 
expenditure  of  type  would  be  appreciated  by  those  who 
might  like  to  take  up  the  study  of  this  group  of 
Lepidoptera  in  New  Zealand,  and  are  not  already 
experts  in  the  subject.  Mr.  Meyrick  is  of  opinion  that 
there  still  remain  a  large  number  of  additional  species 
of  Tineina  to  be  discovered  in  New  Zealand,  and  it 
seems  a  pity,  therefore,  that  the  generic  and  family 
characters  given  only  hold  good  for  the  New  Zealand 
species,  for  apparently  they  may  be  upset  at  any  time 
by  further  discoveries,  and  may  prove  quite  inadequate 
for  the  determination  of  new  forms. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  discoveries  recorded  in 
the  volume  is  that  of  a  new  genus  of  gymnoblastic 
hydroids,  .Ascidioclava,  found  living  as  a  parasite  in 
the  peripharvngeal  groove  of  an  Ascidian,  and  de- 
scribed by  Prof.  H.  B.  Kirk. 
We  are  glad  to  see  that  local  botanists  are  paying 
rtention  to  the  life-history  of  the  Lycopodiaceae,  which 
:orm  such  an  important  element  in  the  New  Zealand 
flora.  Mr.  J.  E.  Holloway  contributes  a  note  on  the 
protocorm  of  Lycopoditim  laterale.  and  Miss  K.  V. 
Edgerley  describes  the  prothallia  of  three  species.  Prof. 
Charles  Chilton  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the 
recently  established  Mountain  Biological  Station  be- 
longing to  the  Canterbun,-  College,  the  existence  of 
which  may  be  expected  to  do  much  to  promote  bio- 
logical research. 

It  is  impossible  in  a   short  notice  to  do.  justice  to 

-uch  a  mass  of  valuable  material  as  this  volume  con- 

uns.     We  can    only  express   our   satisfaction   at   the 

reat    activity    displayed,    and    congratulate    all    con- 

-rned  on  the  results  of  their  labours.  A.  D. 


NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


THERAPEUTIC    ACTION    OF    ULTRA- 
VIOLET   RAYS. 

ATTENTION  has  recently  been  directed  again  to  the 
-^*-  therapeutic  action  of  ultra-violet  rays  by  the  pub- 
lication of  a  paper  in  the  Lancet  of  January  S,  in  which 
a  source  of  light  invented  by  Mr.  Simpson  was  referred 
to.  There  is  nothing  novel,  of  course,  in  the  fact  that 
certain  forms  of  disease  may  be  cured  by  exposure  to 
light  of  wave-length  ranging  from  300  ixfi  to  90  fifi, 
but  the  discovery  of  a  new  ultra-violet  lamp  raises 
many  questions  of  wide  interest.  Dr.  Sidney  Russ  has 
now  shown,  however,  that  an  arc  simply  produced 
between  two  tungsten  rods  exactly  simulates  the  so- 
called  ■•  Simpson  Hght,"  and  it  is  evident  that  the 
powerful  source  of  ultra-violet  rays  thus  obtained  will 
prove  of  service  in  the  treatment  of  all  those  super- 
ficial lesions  which  Finsen  and  others  have  proved  ta 
be  favourably  affected  by  this  type  of  radiation.  Dr. 
Russ  has  further  pointed  out  that  even  one-tenth  of  a 
millimetre  of  human  skin  readily  absorbs  a  large  part 
of  the  ultra-violet  rays  from  this  arc,  and  that  less 
than  one  per  cent,  passes  to  a  depth  of  one  millimetre. 
When  its  spectrum  is  compared  with  that  of  the 
mercury  arc,  the  carbon  arc,  or  one  between  copper 
and  silver,  it  is  seen  to  consist  of  numerous  lines 
grading  off  towards  the  shortest  wave-length,  and 
affording  an  exceptionally  rich  source  of  ultra-violet 
light  over  the  region,  which  is  of  great  therapeutic  use. 
In  medical  work,  however,  the  cleanliness  and  con- 
venience of  the  method  by  which  any  particular  radia- 
tion can  be  produced  are  naturally  of  great  importance^ 
and  in  this  respect  it  is  evident  that  the  electric  dis- 
charge between  a  broken  column  of  mercury  enclosed 
in  an  exhausted  quartz  tube  has  much  to  recommend 
it.  On  the  other  hand,  the  new  tungsten  arc  lamp 
made  by  Messrs.  Edison  and  Swan  (see  Nature  of 
December  23,  1915,  p.  467),  enclosed  in  a  silica  bulb 
instead  of  in  glass,  would  no  doubt  be  an  ideal  means 
of  producing  ultra-violet  light,  and  one  which  could 
be  readily  adapted  for  medical  as  well  as  other  pur- 
poses. 

Dr.  Russ  has  contributed  a  short  illustrated  article 
to  the  British  Medical  Journal  for  January  22, 
in  which  some  interesting  points  are  considered  respect- 
ing the  seventeen  octaves  of  radiations  which  are  now- 
available  :  from  visible  Hght  to  the  gamma  rays  of 
radium.  He  deals  very  clearly  with  the  X-ray  spec- 
trum, the  dangers  of  prolonged  or  frequent  exposure 
to  that  radiation,  ultra-violet  light,  and  some  of  the 
chief  physical  facts  with  which  medical  students  should 
become  acquainted. 


T' 


THE    UTILISATION    OF    PEAT.^ 

Peat  as  a  Source  of  Power. 

HE  problem  of  the  utilisation  of  peat  for  industrial 
purposes  is  one  of  perpetually  recurring  interest, 
and  scientific  men  in  many  countries  have  turned  their 
attention  to  search  out  a  solution.  This  is  not  sur- 
prising in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  amount  of  com- 
bustible matter  in  the  world's  peat  deposits  exceeds 
that  of  all  the  known  coal-fields.  For  Ireland  the 
question  is  one  of  vital  interest.  Her  coal  deposits 
are  small  and  relatively  unimportant,  while  nearly 
one-seventh  of  the  area  of  the  country-,  i.e.  more  than 
two  and  three-quarter  million  acres.  Is  covered  with 
peat,  much  of  which  is  of  excellent  quality.  This 
represents  a  vast  amount  of  potential  energy  awaiting 
only  a  practical  means  of  utilising  it. 

1  Abridged  from  articles  entitled  "Peat  as  a  Source  of  Power,"  by  Mr. 
George  Fletch-r,  and  "  Some  Chemical  .A-pccts  of  the  Peat  Problem,"  by 
Prof.  G.  T.  Morgan,  F.R.S.,  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  and  Technical  Instruction  for  Ireland  (vol.  xvi.,  No.  i). 


20 


NATURE 


[March  2,  1916 


The  defects  of  peat  as  a  fuel  are  (i)  that  it  contains 
and  retains  a  large  amount  of  water;  {2)  it  has,  com- 
pared with  other  fuels,  a  low  calorific  value;  and  (3) 
it  is  extremely  bulky,  involving  a  high  cost  of  car- 
riage. Thus  it  is  that  most  of  the  schemes  for  peat 
utilisation  have  been  concerned  with  artificially  drying 
and  compressing  the  material.  This  can  be  done 
readily  enough,  but  the  energy  consumed  In  the 
operation,  and  the  low  calorific  value  of  peat, 
render  the  commercial  success  of  any  such  scheme 
extremely  problematical.  Other  schemes  have  sought 
to  combine  the  preparation  of  a  fuel  from  peat  with  the 
extraction  of  by-products.  When  one  recalls  the  fact 
that  the  by-products  of  the  manufacture  of  coal  gas, 
once  regarded  as  useless,  have  come  to  rival  the  gas 
itself  in  value,  this  aspect  of  the  f>eat  problem  appears 
full  of  possibilities ;  further  reference  will  be  made  to 
*his. 


interest  to  refer  to  two  instances  where  peat  has  been 
used  in  plant  designed  to  recover  the  by-products. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  power  plant  of  the  Societa 
per  L'Utilisazzione  du  Combustibili  Italiani,  at  Oren- 
tano  in  Italy.  This  plant,  erected  by  the  Power 
Gas  Corporation,  Ltd.,  Stockton-on-Tees,  is  situ- 
ated on  the  edge  of  a  bog  a  few  miles 
distant  from  Orentano.  The  area  of  the  bog 
is  about  1482  acres,  of  which  the  company  operatmg 
the  recovery  power  plant  owns  about  500  acres'.  This  por- 
tion  of  the  bog  has  an  average  depth  of  about  5  ft. 
of  good  peat  fuel.  The  bog  has  to  be  drained  by 
pumping.  The  peat,  excavated  by  manual  labour,  is 
fed  into  Dolberg  peat  machines,  and  these  are  provided 
with  belt  conveyers  to  transport  the  peat  to  the  mace- 
rators.  Part  of  it  is  air-dried,  and  part  mechanically 
treated  and  artificially  dried.  The  peat  delivered  to  the 
producers  with  an  average  moisture  content  of  33^  per 


Fig.  I. — Producer  gas  plant,  utilising  peat,  at  Messrs.  Hamilton  Robb's  factory  at  ^Porladown. 


A  new  vista  of  potentialities  for  peat  has  opened  up 
in  recent  years.  Just  as  the  nineteenth  century  will 
always  be  associated  with  the  development  of  the 
steam  engine,  culminating  in  the  steam  turbine,  so 
will  the  twentieth  century  be  able  to  claim  the  triumph 
of  the  internal-combustion  engine.  The  success  of  the 
gas  engine  has  led  to  investigations  which  resulted  in 
the  many  forms  of  producer  gas  plant,  and  there  are 
now  many  thousands  of  installations  of  this  method 
of  producing  power  for  mechanical  purposes. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  and  encouraging  fact  that  an 
installation  at  Portadown  for  utilising  peat  in  gas- 
producer  plant  has  been  found  to  be  entirely  satis- 
factory, and  to  effect  a  considerable  saving  over 
anthracite.  This  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  the  by- 
products are  not  at  present  utilised.  But  these  by- 
products are  of  considerable  value,   and  it  will  be  of 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


cent.,  has  an  average  nitrogen  content  of  1-04  per  cent. 
The  nitrogen  is  recovered  as  ammonium  sulphate,  and 
the  gas  is  used  to  drive  two  gas  engines  of  350  metric 
horse-power  each,  which  drive  alternate-current  gene- 
rators— there  being  a  transmission  line  to  Pontedera, 
ten  miles  distant. 

The  second  installation  referred  to  is  the  ammonia 
recovery  power  plant  of  the  German  Mond  Gas  Com- 
pany, situated  on  the  Schweger  Moor,  about  twenty- 
five  miles  from  the  city  of  Osnabriick.  It  is  con- 
structed according  to  the  system  of  Frank  and  Caro, 
and  was  designed  to  utilise  peat  containing  upwards  of 
60  per  cent,  moisture — an  important  point  as  lengthen- 
ing the  season  during  which  peat  manufacturing 
operations  could  be  carried  on.  The  gas  plant  is 
capable  of  gasifying  and  recovering  the  by-products 
from    210   tons   per  day   of  twenty- four  hours  of  air- 


March  2,  19 16] 


NATURE 


2\ 


dried  peat.  The  total  power  capacity  is  -more  than 
3000  h.p.,  and  the  gas  engines  are  coupled  to  alter- 
nators running  in  parallel.  The  current,  transmitted 
at  a  tension  of  30,000  volts,  is  distributed  over  an  area 
of  about  twenty-five  miles'  radius. 

If  more  rapid  progress  has  not  been  made  in  solving 
the  problem  in  the  United  Kingdom,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  in  the  manufacturing  parts  of  England 
coal  is  comparatively  cheap,  and  owing  to  its  greater 
heating  power  is  more  suitable  for  producer  gas  than 
is  peat.  In  many  parts  of  Ireland,  however,  coal  is 
ver\'  dear,  but  (and  to  some  extent  because  of  this 
fact)  in  these  districts  we  have  not  at  present  in  exist- 
ence industries  demanding  power.  The  possibility  of 
securing  cheap  power  would  be  a  stimulus  to  industrial 
development. 

Happil}-,  a  noteworthy  step  has  been  taken  in  the 
wav  of  solving  the  problem  by  the  action  of  Messrs. 


The  gas,  before  passing  to  the  engine,  must  be 
purified,  but  the  substances  removed  are  valuable, 
although  the  by-products  of  a  small  plant  would  not 

:  justify  treatment.  There  is  nitrogen,  which  can  be 
recovered  as  ammonium  sulphate,  and  also  peat  ash 
and  peat  tar,  containing  valuable  constituents.  It  is 
not  unreasonable  to  assume  that  with  an  extension 
of  this  method  of  utilising  peat,  it  would  be  possible 

'  to  deal  in  a  profitable  maimer  with  the  by-products 
which  would  thus  be  produced  in  a  sufficient  quantit\' 
to  allow  of  their  being  dealt  with  in  chem- 
ical works.  We  should  in  this  way  not  only 
establish  an  additional  industn,',  but  this  method  of 
obtaining  power  from  peat  would  be  rendered  still 
more  profitable. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  conditions  at  Portadown 
are  favourable,  in  view  of  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
peat  bog  to  the  weaving  factory,  and  it  is  undoubtedly 


£■?;;*  «i*TirA^^. 


^  'G.  2- — The  first  producer  plant  in  the  world  making  regularly  producer  gas  and  ammooium  iUJphate  frooi  wet  peat,  coniaioing  up  1075  per  cent,  of  water. 

Hamilton  Robb,  of  Portadown.  This  firm  have  in 
Portadown  a  weaving  industry,  and  a  little  more  than 
four  years  ago  decided  to  try  the  experiment  of  estab- 
lishing a  (peat)  producer  gas  plant.  They  accordingly 
installed  a  suction  gas  plant  constructed  by  Messrs. 
Crossley  Brothers,  Ltd..  of  Manchester,  of  a  capacity 
of  400  brake-horse-power.  The  fuel  used  is  peat,  and 
this  is  cut  from  a  bog  some  miles  distant  and  dried  in 
the  open  air  by  the  usual  method  of  stacking.  The 
plant  supplies  gas  to  two  engines,  each  of  120  b.h.p., 
and  one  of  150  b.h.p.  There  are  two  producers,  each 
having  a  capacity  of  200  b.h.p.  By  means  of  the  con- 
veyer the  peat  blocks  are  elevated  and  carried  to  the 
feed  hoppers  on  the  top  of  the  producers,  from  which 
they  pass  into  the  generators,  where  gasification  takes 
place.  It  is  stated  that  under  working  conditions,  with 
peat  at  55.  a  ton,  power  can  be  obtained  at  the  rate 
of  one-sixteenth  of  a  penny  per  horse-power  hour. 
XO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


a  ver\-  great  advantage  to  be  able  to  avail  of  water 
carriage  from  the  bog  to  the  factory.  There  are, 
nevertheless,  without  doubt,  many  other  places  in  Ire- 
land where  corresponding  advantages  could  be  found. 
But  even  in  their  absence  it  seems  certain  that 
peat  could  be  profitably  utilised  on  the  lines  indicated, 
with  one  modification,  though  that  is  an  important 
one.  Where  a  sufficient  demand  for  power  exists,  it 
appears  certain  that  instead  of  carrying  the  bulky 
p)eat  either  by  road  or  by  water,  it  would  be  advisable 
to  instal  producer  plant  on  the  bog  itself  and  to  con- 
vert the  mechanical  power  into  electricity-,  and  transmit 
the  energx-  at  high  pressure  to  the  point  where  it  is 
required.  The  eflSciency  of  such  conversion  and  trans- 
mission is  now  ven,-  high,  and  the  financial  results  of 
such  a  mode  of  transmission  can  be  ascertained  with 
a  considerable  degree  of  accuracv  in  anv  case  where 
the  conditions  can  be  stated. 


22 


NATURE 


[March  2,  1916 


Chemical   Aspects  of   the    Peat    Problem. 

Extensive  deposits  of  peat  exist  in  Great  Britain, 
France,  Russia,  Italy,  Scandinavia,  Germany,  and 
Austria.  One-seventh  of  the  total  area  of  Ireland  is' 
covered  by  peat,  and  enormous  tracts  of  this  deposit 
are  found  in  Canada. 

Only  two  years  before  the  outbreak  of  war  a  prac- 
tical solution  of  the  peat  problem  was  claimed  for 
Germany  by  Dr.  Carl  Duisberg,  of  Elberfeld,  who  at 
the  Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry  held  in  1912  at 
New  York,  stated  his  case  in  the  following  words  : — 

"  The  latest  and  most  rational  method  of  utilising 
the  peat  or  turf  beds  which  are  so  plentiful  in  Germany 
and  many  other  countries  is  practised  in  Schweger 
Moor  near  Osnabriick,  according  to  a  process  dis- 
covered by  Frank  and  Caro.  There  peat  gas  is  pro- 
duced and  utilised,  and  ammonia  obtained  as  a  by- 
product, the  required  power  being  generated  in  a 
3000-h.p.  central  electric  power  station.  The  moor- 
land, after  removal  of  the  peat,  is  rendered  serviceable 
for  agricultural  purposes." 

The  foregoing  development  appears  to  be  a  practical 
realisation  of  the  view  held  by  man^'  workers  on  peat 
in  this  country,  that  the  most  economical  use  to  make 
of  this  combustible  is  to  convert  it  into  gaseous  fuel 
in  suitable  gas  producers. 

When  peat  is  gasified  the  products  are  combustible 
gas,  ammonia,  ash,  tar,  and  an  aqueous  distillate  con- 
taining certain  technically  important  organic  com- 
pounds. The  combustible  gas,  which  is  generally  free 
from  sulphur,  consists  of  carbon  monoxide  -and 
hydrogen  mixed  with  the  non-combustible  gases, 
nitrogen  and  carbon  dioxide. 

At  present  the  only  plant  of  this  description  in 
Ireland  is  the  gas-producer  furnishing  the  gaseous  fuel 
for  the  gas  engines  of  the  factory  of  Messrs.  H"amilton 
Robb,  Ltd.,  of  Portadown,  and  although,  on  account 
of  the  comparatively  small  capacity  of  the  plant,  no 
attempt  is  made  to  recover  and  utilise  any  by-products, 
yet,  nevertheless,  this  installation  has  proved  to  be  a 
financial  success.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  a 
scientifically  controlled  plant,  large  enough  to  render 
practicable  the  recovery  of  ammonia  and  other  by- 
products, the  economy  effected  would  be  considerably 
greater. 

By-Products  from  the   Peat-Gas  Producer. 

Ammonia. — Peat  may  contain  from  05  to  25  per  cent, 
of  nitrogen,  and  by  passing  steam  over  peat  heated  to 
350-550°  almost  the  whole  of  the  nitrogen  is  obtained 
as  ammonia.  This  improvement  has  been  embodied  in 
the  modern  types  of  Mond  plant,  so  that  now  it  is 
possible  to  recover  the  greater  part  of  the  nitrogen  of 
peat  in  the  form  of  the  valuable  fertiliser,  ammonium 
sulphate.  The  importance  of  increasing  the  output  of 
ammonium  sulphate  from  peat  lies  in  the  circumstance 
that  this  salt  can  displace  sodium  nitrate  as  a  nitro- 
genous manure,  thus  rendering  the  nitrate  available 
for  the  manufacture  of  explosives  and  other  chemical 
products. 

The  Power-Gas  Corporation,  Limited,  of  Stockton- 
on-Tees,  who  in  IQ05  first  turned  their  attention  to 
this  method  of  utilising  peat,  have  obtained  the  follow- 
ing extremely  favourable  results  : — 

German  Italian         Engl'sh 

Fuel  used  peat  peat  peat 

per  cent.  per  cent.       per  cent. 

Moisture  content  of  fuel 40  to  60  15  57"5 

Nitrogen  content  of  fuel          ...          I'D  i  "58  2"3 

Quantity  of  gas  produced  per      cubic  ft.  cubic  ft.  cubic  ft. 

ton  of  theoretically  dry  peat.       85,000  60.000  90,000 

B.T.U.  Fi.T.U.  H.T.U. 

per  c.f.  p«rc.f.  per  c.f. 

Heat  value  of  gas  produced  ...          150  Ib6  134 

Sulphate  of  ammonia  produced 

per  ton  of  theoretic.-illy  dry 

peat       70  ib.  1151b  2151b. 


The  Simon-Carves  Bye-product  Coke-Oven  Construc- 
tion and  Working  Company,  Limited,  have  made 
large-scale  experiments  on  the  gasification  of  peat  in 
Moore  gas-producers.  Peat,  containing  63  per  cent,  of 
moisture  and  with  a  nitrogen  content  of  2235  per 
cent.,  yielded  per  ton  94,850  cubic  ft.  of  gas  (ico 
B.T.U.  per  cubic  ft.)  and  ibS  lb.  of  arnmonium  sul- 
phate. 

Peat  Ash. — Peat  differs  from  wood  in  yielding  on 
combustion  a  comparatively  large  proportion  of  mineral 
ash  (5  to  15  per  cent.).  The  ash  of  peat  contains  the 
oxides  of  aluminium,  iron,  and  calcium  existing  to  a 
considerable  extent  in  the  form  of  carbonate,  sulphate, 
silicate,  and  phosphate,  a  very  appreciable  amount  of 
alkalis,  with  a  preponderance  of  potash.  By  using 
the  peat  ash  as  a  dressing  for  the  recovered  land  the 
potash  locked  up  in  peat  would  be  rendered  available 
for  agriculture  at  a  time  when  the-  shortage  of  this 
alkali  is  felt  ver}'  acutely. 

Peat-producer  Tar. — The  incomplete  combustion  of 
peat  in  the  producer  leads  to  the  formation  of  a  certain 
proportion  of  tar  which  is  collected  in  the  hydraulic 
scrubbers  of  the  plant. 

The  amount  of  tar  produced  yearly  in  the  Portadown 
plant  is  about  one  hundred  tons.  Samples  of  this 
waste  product  were  examined  in  the  chemical  labora- 
tories of  the  Royal  College  of  Science  for  Ireland, 
when  substances  of  industrial  importance  were  isolated. 
A  greatly  increased  output  of  the  peat  tar  is,  how- 
ever, the  first  essential  step  towards  commercial  suc- 
cess in  this  direction.  Ten  installations  comparable 
in  size  with  that  of  Messrs.  Hamilton  Robb,  Ltd., 
would  yield  approximately  an  annual  output  of  1000 
tons  of  peat-producer  tar,  a  quantitj'  which  would 
furnish  a  practical  basis  for  the  industrial  exploitation 
of  the  derivatives  of  this  tar. 

Distillation  of  the  moist  crude  producer  tar  effected 
a  separation  of  certain  volatile  oils  from  a  non-volatile 
bituminous  material  (crude  pitch)  amounting  to  about 
17  per  cent,  of  the  total  tar.  By  heating  the  crude 
pitch  to  122°  C.  and  pouring  off  the  liquid  portion, 
about  6  per  cent,  of  a  refined  soft  pitch  could  be  separ- 
ated from  a  solid  friable  carbonaceous  residue. 

This  pitch,  either  alone  or  mixed  with  the  carbon- 
aceous matter,  could  be  used  as  asphalt,  as  a  caulking 
material,  or  as  an  insulator  in  electrical  work.  The 
carbonaceous  matter  could  be  utilised  separately  as  a 
self-briquetting  combustible  of  hig-h  calorific  value. 

The  moist  peat-producer  tar  yielded  on  distillation 
50  per  cent,  of  volatile  oils ;  the  latter  by  further  treat- 
ment were  separated  into  neutral  oils,  waxes,  and 
acidic  oils. 

Acidic  Oils. — Fractional  distillation  of  the  acidic  oils 
showed  that  these  substances  consisted  principally  of 
complex  phenolic  compounds.     Attention  was  specially 
i  directed  to  these  substances  as  they  seemed  likely  to 
'-  afford    material    for   the    manufacture    of    useful    dis- 
I  infectants    comparable   in   efficacy  w-ith   lysol,   creolin, 
I  cyllin,  and  other  coal-tar  disinfectants. 
I       The  well-known  Rideal-Walker  test  for  disinfectants 
and  the    modified    procedure    devised    by    Martin    and 
Chick  afford  methods  for  controlling  quantitatively  the 
separation  of  the  germicidally  active  acidic  oils  from 
peat  tar,  and  for  ascertaining  the  bactericidal  value  of 
these  acidic  oils.     Phenol   and  the   cresols  are  segre- 
gated in  the  fraction  boiling  below  200°  C,  which  is 
about   seven   times   as   toxic   as  phenol   itself   towards 
Bacillus  typhosus.     The  fraction  of  acidicpeat  oil  boil- 
ing at  200-250°  is  seventeen  times  as  active  as  phenol 
(carbolic  acid)  on  the  same  pathogenic  organism. 

The  most  intense  germicidal  activity  is  possessed  by 

the  fraction  of  acidic  peat  oil  boiling  at  253-360°,  for 

this  product  has  a  phenol  (carbolic  acid)  coefficient  of  31. 

These  results  show  that  by  distillation  and  simple 


NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


March  2,  19 16] 


NATURE 


23 


chemical  treatment  of  the  oils  obtainable  from  peat- 
producer  tar  one  can,  under  appropriate  bacteriological 
control,  isolate  oils  of  intense  bactericidal  activity  suit- 
able for  the  manufacture  of  antiseptics,  disinfectants, 
and  germicides.  When  it  is  remembered  that  phenol 
(carbolic  acid),  the  standard  disinfectant  of  this  type, 
is  greatly  required  in  the  manufacture  of  explosives 
(Ivddite),  drugs  (salicylic  acid,  aspirin,  etc.),  as  well 
as  for  many  other  synthetic  products,  it  will  be  readily 
realised  that  these  peat  disinfectants  would  be  wel- 
comed as  efficacious  substitutes  for  carbolic  acid,  if 
-thev  were  forthcoming  in  sufficient  amount,  especially 
at  the  present  time,  when  antiseptics  are  so  urgently 
needed. 

The  neutral  oils  left  after  extracting  the  germicidal 
acidic  oils  with  alkali  could  be  used  as  lubricants,  as 


pyridine  bases  are  pungent  liquids  useful  both  as  sol- 
vents and  as  disinfectants.  The  recovery  of  these 
compounds  could  be  rendered  practicable  by  suitably 
modifying  the  peat-producer  plant. 

Summary. 

1.  The  industrialisation  of  p>eat  could  be  most 
efficiently  brought  about  by  gasifying  it  in  gas  pro- 
ducers, as  this  procedure  would  render  feasible  the 
recovery  of  several  valuable  by-products. 

2.  The  combined  nitrogen  of  the  peat  can  be 
economically  recovered  in  the  form  of  ammonium 
sulphate.  This  valuable  fertiliser,  together  with  the 
peat  ash  containing  potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  could 
be  restored  to  the  land  from  which  the  peat  has  been 
taken. 


The  Power  Gas  Corporaiion,  Ltd.,  Stockton-on-Tces. 

Fig.  3. — Mond  pea:  power  gas  plant,  with  ammonia  recovery,  designed  to  gasify  about    loo   tons  peat  per  day.     In   opteralion   at   a   Central    Electric 

Station,  Pontedera,  Italy. 


liquid  fuel,  for  example,  in  Diesel  engines,  and  when 
mixed  with  the  pitch  from  peat  tar  would  furnish  a 
refined  tar. 

The  higher  fractions  of  the  neutral  oils  boiling  above 
250°  C.  deposit  on  cooling  considerable  quantities  of 
almost  colourless  wax,  which  would  serve  as  a  pro- 
mising starting  point  for  the  manufacture  of  candles. 

The  aqueous  distillate  from  the  producer  contains, 
in  addition  to  ammonia,  certain  organic  substances 
soluble  in  water,  among  which  have  been  recognised 
methyl  alcohol,  acetone,  acetic  acid  and  its  immediate 
homologues,  and  pyridine  bases.  Methyl  alcohol  is  an 
important  solvent  and  the  starting  point  for  formalde- 
hyde. Acetic  acid  and  its  homologues  are  required  for 
the  manufacture  of  acetone  and  other  ketones.  Acetone 
is  an  important  solvent  used  in  considerable  quantities 
the   manufacture   of    the   explosive,    cordite.     The 

XO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


3.  Peat  tar,  another  by-product,  can  be  fractionated 
into  the  following  useful  materials  : — Refined  pitch 
and  tar,  candle  wax,  lubricating  and  burning  oils,  and 
very  powerful  disinfectants,  greatly  exceeding  carbolic 
acid  in  germicidal  strength. 

4.  The  aqueous  distillate  from  the  producer  contains 
methyl  alcohol,  acetone,  pyridine  bases,  and  crude 
acetic  acid,  all  of  which  are  capable  of  recovery-  and 
utilisation. 

The  economical  utilisation  of  peat  in  the  generation 
of  gaseous  fuel,  even  without  recovery  of  by-products, 
is  to-day  an  accomplished  fact.  It  can  scarcely  be 
doubted  that,  with  efficient  chemical  control,  a  larger 
plant  of  sufficient  capacity  to  deal  rationally  with  the 
ammonia,  tar,  and  other  products  of  the  destruc- 
tive distillation  of  peat  would  lead  to  still  greater 
economies. 


24 


NATURE 


[March  2,   1915 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Birmingham. — At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Court 
of  Governors,  held  on  February  24,  the  Vice-Chancellor 
referred  to  the  services  rendered  by  the  University  to 
the  country  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  Not  only 
was  the  staff  able  to  rendi^r  valuable  help  in  under- 
taking scientific  work  and  serving  on  public  bodies, 
but  in  addition  something  like  500  present  and  past 
students  had  joined  the  Services,  and  of  these  nearly 
10  per  cent,  had  already  lost  their  lives. 

The  principal.  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  referring  to  the 
unwisdom  of  false  economy  in  education  and  scientific 
training  and  investigation,  said  : — "  It  has  certainly 
been  one  of  our  dangers  that  the  country  as  a  whole 
has  not  been  wide  awake  in  this  direction,  and  has 
been  contented  with  a  singular  kind  of  ignorance  on  the 
part  of  otherwise  educated  people — even  of  people  in 
high  position.  The  services  which  the  universities  of 
the  country  have  been  able  to  render  during  the  war 
have  been  already  very  marked,  and  might  have  been 
i^reater  had  they  had  facilities  from  the  first.  It  seems 
unlikely  that  the  country  will  allow  these  institutions 
to  drop  back  into  a  position  continuously  handicapped 
bv  inadequate  resources.  They  are  not  only  educational ; 
thev  are  repositories  of  learning  and  of  a  special 
kind  of  ability  not  elsewhere  cultivated.  Knowledge 
is  not  a  thing  to  be  merely  passed  on  to  a  coming 
generation,  it  is  a  thing  to  be  utilised  and  increased 
and  applied  by  every  generation  ;  and  if  the  occupants 
of  university  posts — especially  the  younger  members — 
are  prevented  from  doing  their  duty  and  realising  their 
privilej2:e  in  this  respect,  the  country  cannot  keep  its 
place  in  the  van  of  civilisation." 

In  view  of  the  increased  intercourse  between  this 
country  and  Russia  which  may  be  anticipated  after 
the  war,  it  is  hoped  that  the  teaching  of  Russian  may 
be  undertaken  by  the  University,  but  shortage  of  funds 
will  not  allow  this  step  at  present. 

The  treasurer  reported  that  the  income  was  reduced 
bv  9200Z.  owing  to  the  war,  and  of  this  amount 
7700Z.  was  due  to  loss  of  fees. 

The  following  were  elected  members  of  the  coun- 
cil : — The  Bishop  of  Birmingham,  Mr.  Richard  Threl- 
fall.  Miss  S.  M.  Fry,  and  Dr.  F.  D.  Chattaway. 

Cambridge. — ^The  Raymond  Horton-Smith  prize  has 
been  awarded  to  Dr.  E.  Mellanby  for  a  thesis  entitled 
"An  Experimental  Investigation  into  the  Cause  and 
Treatment  of  Diarrhoea  and  Vomiting  in  Children." 

The  Degree  Committee  of  the  Special  Board  for 
Mathematics  is  of  opinion  that  the  work  submitted 
bv  Mr.  S.  Ramanujan,  of  Trinity  College,  entitled 
"Highly  Composite  Numbers,"  together  with  six  other 
papers,  is  of  merit  as  a  record  of  original  research; 
this  gentleman  was  sent  to  the  University  by  the 
Indian  Government  on  account  of  his  remarkable 
mathematical  powers. 

The  Vice-Chancellor  has  given  notice  that  the  sub- 
ject for  the  Sedgwick  prize  essay  for  the  year  19 iq  is 
"The  Lower  Palaeozoic  Rocks  of  Some  British  Dis- 
trict." 

OxFOKD. — The  subject  of  Prof.  Mark  Baldwin's 
Romanes  lecture  is  "The  Super-State  and  the  '  Eternal 
Values. ' "  The  lecture  will  be  delivered  in  the  Univer- 
sity  Museum   on   Wednesday,    March    15,   at  2.30. 

Like  other  departments  of  the  Universitv,  the  school 
of  forestrv  has  been  seriously  affected  by  the  war. 
Eight  students,  however,  have  received  the  diploma  in 
the  course  of  1915,  and  the  professor  has  conducted 
visits  to  the  Forest  of  Dean,  the  Tintern  Crown 
Forests,  and  other  areas,  in  addition  to  the  usual 
excursions  for  instruction  to  Barley  Wood.  Planting^ 
and  thinning  has  continued  in  the  experimental  plots, 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


and  Mr.  W.  E.  Hiley  has  continued  his  research  on 
fungal  diseases  of  trees.  The  publication  of  his  work 
on  the  diseases  of  the  larch  may  suffer  some  delay 
from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Hiley  has  accepted  a  commis- 
sion as  scientific  worker  at  Woolwich  Arsenal. 

It  has  often  been  thought  by  many  of  those  who  are 
interested  in  the  progress  of  science  at  Oxford  that 
the  examinations  for  honours  in  natural  science 
were  framed  too  much  on  the  model  of  those  belong- 
ing to  the  older  academic  subjects.  A  statute  which 
will  come  before  Congregation  on  March  7  marks  a 
new  departure  in  this  respect,  so  far  as  concerns  the 
honour  school  of  chemistry.  The  object  of  the  statute 
is  to  ensure  that  every  candidate  for  honours  in  chem- 
istry shall  not  only  be  examined  in  paper  and  prac- 
tical work  as  at  present,  but  must  also  produce  records 
of  experimental  investigations  carried  out  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Waynflete  or  Lee's  professor,  or  of 
other  approved  persons.  This  provision  is  in  accord- 
ance with  a  memorandum  lately  drawn  up  by  the 
Board  of  Natural  Science,  in  which  it  Is  pointed  out 
that  some  practical  acquaintance  with  the  methods 
of  research  is  an  essential  part  of  the  training  of  every 
chemist.  The  statute  is  regarded  by  many  as  a  long 
step  in  the  right  direction,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
no  obstacles  will  be  thrown  in  the  way  of  its  passing. 


A  FLAX  for  the  development  of  the  University  of 
California  Medical  School  has  been  adopted  by  the 
regents  of  the  University  of  California.  We  learn 
from  the  issue  of  Science  for  February  4  that  the 
University  of  Californ?a  has  now  increased  to  a  total 
of  32,400/.  per  annum  its  expenditure  on  medical  in- 
struction, over  and  above  the  hospital  receipts,  and 
within  the  next  few  months  it  will  complete  the  erec- 
tion, at  a  cost  of  123,000/.,  of  a  new  216-bed  teaching 
hospital.  The  regents  have  now  outlined  as  the 
immediate  future  needs  of  the  medical  school  a  new- 
laboratory  building  for  anatomy  and  pathology,  to 
cost  30,000/.  ;  an  "out-patient"  building  in  conjunction 
with  the  new  teaching  hospital,  to  cost  20,000/. ;  and 
a  nurses'  home  for  100  nurses,  to  cost  20,000/. 

The  second  annual  report,  for  the  year  ending 
December  31,  19 15,  of  the  executive  committee  to  the 
trustees  of  the  Carnegie  United  Kingdom  Trust  has 
now  been  circulated.  The  trust  deed  expressly  pro- 
hibits "any  part  of  the  trust  funds  from  being  used 
in  any  way  which  could  lend  countenance  to  war  br 
to  warlike'  preparations."  This  fact  prevents  the 
trustees,  in  their  corporate  capacity,  taking  any  part 
in  the  activities  in  which  the  country  is  chietiy  in- 
volved at  present.  Prior  to  the  date  of  the  last  annual 
report  a  total  sum  of  550,000/.  had  been  e.xpended  or 
promised  for  the  provision  of  church  organs;  when 
to  this  sum  is  added  the  grant  promises  made  during 
the  year,  a  total  sum  of  about  600,000/.  will  have  been 
expended  in  this  way  and  about  3800  organs  will  have 
been  procured.  No  further  applications  for  organs  are 
to  be  entertained.  The  executive  committee  has 
decided  that  the  library  movement  which  is  being  car- 
ried out  can  best  be  dealt  with  under  the  heads  :  rural 
library  grants,  grants  for  special  libraries  of  a  national 
character,  loan  charge  grants  to  public  libraries,  and 
grants  for  public  library  buildings.  In  the  case  of 
rural  libraries,  a  number  of  experimental  schemes 
have  been  set  on  foot  of  which  particulars  are  given 
in  the  report.  During  the  year  the  committee  has 
assisted  in  the  establishment  of  a  central  lending 
librarv  for  students,  has  rendered  assistance  to 
the  agricultural  library  attached  to  the  Rothamsted 
Experimental  Station,  and  has  promised  assistance 
towards  the  more  commodious  housing  of  the  British 
Librarv  of   Political   Science  attached  to   the   London 


March  2,   191 61 


NATURE 


^D 


iiool    of    Economics.     Among    miscellaneous   grants 

juade  during   the  year  may   be  mentioned   a   sum   of 

1500/.   to  the  United  Irish  Women,  and  4000^.  to  the 

Women's    Industrial    Council      towards    the    cost    of 

iiilding  a  nursery  training  school;  and  to  provide  an 

larium  for  the  gardens  of  the  Zoological  Society  of 

itiand  10,000/.  is  to  be  given. 

How  unwise  it  would  be  if  the  present  demand  for 
national   retrenchment   led   to   any   reduction   of  State 
aid  to  our  modern  universities  can  be  gathered  from  an 
inspiring  article  by  a  special  correspondent  in  the  issue 
of  the  Times  for   February  9.     The  impressive  array 
of  facts  as  to  the  value  of  the  application  of  research 
U)   the   purposes  of   the   war  which  the  article  provides 
shows  that  those  nations  will   take  the  first  rank  in 
peace  and  war  alike  which  utilise  most  completely  the 
resources  which  science  has  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
mankind.     The  article  deals  more  especially  with  the 
four   universities  of   the   North   of   England,    and    we 
select    the    following    instances     from     the    numerous 
"xamples  cited  : — Distillations  from  coal  tar,  testing  of 
•  1  and  explosives,  calibrating  of  aeroplane  recording 
truments,    and    the  production    of     pharmaceutical 
drugs  are  included  among  the  special  war  enterprises  of 
.Manchester    University.         Liverpool    University    has 
given  expert  advice  in  the  manufacture  of  explosives, 
and   has   undertaken  the   analysis   of  explosives   in    a 
district   extending    from    Ruabon    to    Fleetwood.     The 
;  equipment  and  personnel  of  the  tinctorial  chemistr\^  and 
(  dyeing  department   of   Leeds    University   were  put   at 
I   the  disposal  of  the  Government  in   19 14,  and  the  de- 
i  partment  has  done  valuable  research  work  in  relation 
I   to  dye-stuffs  and  raw  materials  not  hitherto  made  in 
I    England.     Another   department   of   this    University   is 
I   conducting   the  recovery   of  toluene  from  coal   gas   in 
I    Lincolnshire  and  Yorkshire,  and  is  inspecting  the  pro- 
i  duction  of  high  explosives  in  Yorkshire.     The  chemists 
of  the  University  have  furnished  a  large  supply  of  the 
anzesthetic    novocaine,    which    we    formerly    imported 
from   Germany,   and  have  prepared   about  a  hundred 
antiseptic    compounds    for  the    military    hospitals.     In 
regard  to   the    University    of    Sheffield,    valuable    and 
confidential  w'ork  has  been   done  there  in   relation   to 
the  science  of  steel,  and  the  Scientific  Advisory  Com- 
mittee of  the  University  has  given  local  manufacturers 
expert    guidance    in    their    efforts    to    replace    exports 
from  Germany.     Thus,   advice  has  been  given  on  the 
processes  of  hardening  steel,  on  materials  for  polishing 
razors,   on  the  contact  process  of  procuring  sulphuric 
acid,   and   so  forth.     Steps    have   been    taken    also    to 
encourage    the    revival  of    the    old    glass    industry    of 
South  Yorkshire. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Mathematical  Society,  February  10.— Sir  Joseph 
Larmor,  president,  in  the  chair. — J.  H.  Grace  :  (i) 
Theorems  on  straight  lines  intersecting  at  right  angles, 
(ii)  The  classification  of  rational  approximations. — 
Mrs.  G.  C.  Young  :  Infinite  derivates. — E.  H.  Neville  : 
The  bilinear  curvature  and  other  functions  of  in- 
dependent directions  on  a  surface. — Dr.  S.  Brodetsky  : 
The  attraction  of  equiangular  spirals. — J.  Proudman  : 
Additions  and  corrections  to  a  former  paper,  "  Limit- 
ing forms  of  long-period  tides." — R.  E.  Powers  :  Cer- 
tain composite  Mersenne's  numbers.— Prof.  H.  F. 
Baker  :  Note  on  a  formula  connected  with  the  theory 
of  spherical  harmonics. — Dr.  T.  J.  PA.  Bromwich  : 
Note  on  Dr.  Baker's  formula. — J.  Hammoad  :  Notes  on 
the  arithmetic  of  prime  numbers. 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


Royal  Meteorological  Society,  February  it. — Major 
H.  G.  Lyons,  president,  in  the  chair. — C.  E.  P. 
Brooks  :  The  rainfall  of  Nigeria  and  the  Gold  Coast. 
The  paper  dealt  with  the  rainfall  on  the  Guinea  Coast 
and  its  hinterland  for  the  ten  years  1904-13.  The 
driest  month  is  January,  with  scarcely  any  rain,  the 
wettest  is  June,  and  the  monthly  maps  show  how  the 
rainy  belt  travels  inland  as  the  wet  season  comes  on. 
In  .August  it  reaches  its  northernmost  position,  and 
the  coast  is  drier  during  that  month  than  in  July  and 
September.  The  coast  is  very  rainy,  the  annual  fall 
averaging  160  in.,  and  reaching  200  in.  in  wet  years 
at  some  stations  in  the  Niger  delta.  The  interior 
merges  into  the  desert,  with  a  rainfall  of  less  than 
10  in.  annually.  The  variation  of  the  rainfall  from 
year  to  year  is  governed  by  the  development  and  move- 
ments of  the  equatorial  belt  of  low  pressure  and  the 
subtropical  "  highs,"  while  it  is  the  alternation  of  dry 
and  wet  seasons  which  governs  the  temperature  and 
humidity,  rather  than  the  position  of  the  sun,  and  the 
dominant  factor  in  Nigerian  climatology  is  not  tem- 
perature, but  rain. — Dr.  J.  R.  Sutton  :  South  African 
coast  temperatures.  This  paper  dealt  with  the  normal 
monthlv  mean  temperatures  at  selected  stations  on  the 
coast  of  South  Africa,  a  few  miles  inland,  and  on  the 
tableland,  and  the  author  endeavoured  to  connect  the 
retarding  of  the  maximum  and  minimum  temperatures 
at  certain  stations  with  the  moderating  effect  of  the 
temperature  of  the  sea  and  of  the  direction  and  force 
of  the  wind. 

Linnean  Society,  February  17. — Prof.  E.  B.  Poulton, 
president,  in  the  chair. — Miss  C.  Herring-Browne  :  John 
Bartram,  the  pioneer  American  botanist.  Bartram 
was  born  on  March  23,  1699,  near  Darby,  in  County 
Delaware,  Pennsylvania.  In  173 1  his  friend,  James 
Logan,  procured  a  copy  of  Parkinson's  "Theatrum" 
from  England  as  a  present  for  Bartram,  and  this 
decided  him  to  make  excursions  after  plants  into 
Maryland  and  Delaware.  To  receive  and  grow  his 
discoveries  he  began  before  the  end  of  the  year  to 
lay  out  the  garden,  the  charm  of  which  was  felt  by 
Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Franklin.  Many  of  the 
American  trees  were  first  sent  to  Europe  by  Bartram, 
amongst  them  being  the  Taxodiiim  distichutn,  still 
extant  at  Mill  Hill,  in  Collinson's  old  garden.  An 
even  finer  specimen,  which  died  a  few  years  ago,  was 
150  ft.  high,  and  27  ft.  in  girth;  the  trunk  still  stands 
in  the  Bartram  Garden  Park,  Philadelphia.  Bartram 
died  on  September  22,  1777.  His  life  was  shortened 
by  the  apprehension  that  his  cherished  garden  might 
be  laid  waste  by  British  troops,  but  his  fears  were  not 
realised.  This  garden  is  now  the  property  of  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  and  is  supported  as  a  public  park. — 
E.  P.  Stebbing  :  The  infestation  of  bamboos  in  tidal 
waters  bv  Balanus  amphitrite  and  Teredo  navalis  in 
Tenasserim.  The  rapid  destruction  of  bamboo  piles 
is  a  serious  loss,  and  investigation  shows  that  up  to 
now  no  species  of  bamboo  is  immune;  research  is  to 
be  continued. 

Institution  of  Mining  and  Metallurgy,  Februarv  24. — ■ 
Sir  T.  K.  Rose,  president,  in  the  chair. — E.  T. 
Mellor  :  The  conglomerates  of  the  Witwatersrand.  Of 
the  various  theories  which  have  been  from  time  to 
time  advanced  to  account  for  the  association  of  the 
gold  with  the  conglomerates  of  the  Rand,  two  now 
hold  the  field  :  the  infiltration  theorv  and  the  theon,' 
which  regards  the  conglomerates  as  placer  deposits 
modified  by  subsequent  recrystallisation  of  many  of 
the  constituents.  In  view  of  recent  extensive  develop- 
ments in  prospecting  by  boreholes  and  mining,  and 
the  evidence  accumulated  as  the  result  of  a  survev 
of    the    Witwatersrand    system    during    the    past    five 


25 


NATURE 


[March  2,  1916 


years,  the  author  submits  certain  geological  aspects  of 
the  question  which  he  thinks  may  assist  in  lorming 
a  conclusion  as  to  the  precise  nature  of  the  con- 
glomerates and  the  origin  of  the  gold  associated  with 
them.  After  reviewing  the  position  in  the  light  of 
these  recent  investigations,  which  have,  he  claims, 
seriously  disturbed  the  even  balance  of  previously 
adduced  evidence  favouring  opposing  theories,  the 
author  considers  that  the  evidence  in  favour  of  re- 
garding the  conglomerates  as  "'fossil  placers"  is 
convincing  and  is  increasing  continually  with  the 
extension  of  opportunities  for  collecting  information. 
The  importance  of  establishing  such  a  theory  as  fact 
can  scarcely  be  over-estimated  from  its  bearing  upon 
the  future  of  the  Rand  goldfiields,  which  have  now  for 
some  years  had  a  yearly  output  to  the  value  of  approxi- 
mately 40,000,000/.  sterling. — H.  E.  Nicholls  :  A 
pioneer  bucket  dredge  in  northern  Nigeria.  The 
chief  interest  in  this  account  of  the  installation  of  the 
first  bucket  dredge  in  northern  Nigeria  relates  to  the 
fact  that  the  dredge  in  question  was,  to  the  author's 
knowledge,  the  first  to  be  operated  by  internal-com- 
bustion engines  of  the  semi-Diesel  type.  The  choice 
of  this  type  of  motor  was  enforced  by  the  local  absence 
of  firewood  and  the  then  existing  prohibitive  cost  of 
coal,  which  seemed  to  render  the  use  of  steam  power 
quite  out  of  the  question.  The  paper  gives  a  full 
description  of  the  dredge  and  its  engine,  and  there  are 
also  details  of  the  costs  of  operating  and  other  par- 
ticulars which  should  be  useful  to  engineers  con- 
fronted with  similar  problems. — A.  S.  Wheler  :  Anti- 
mony production  in  Hunan  Province,  South  China. 
In  view  of  the  importance  of  this  metal  at  the  present 
juncture,  and  the  fact  that  China  is  the  world's  largest 
producer — Hunan  being,  moreover,  the  chief  source 
of  the  Chinese  supply,  this  paper  makes  a  timely 
appearance.  It  would  seem  that,  as  in  most  Chinese 
mining,  the  processes  adopted  are  of  a  crude  and  some- 
times even  primitive  nature,  but  despite  this  the  pro- 
duction is  of  great  economic  value,  and  of  the  output 
it  is  computed  that  at  least  90  per  cent,  (about  25,000 
tons  in  the  year  19 14)    is  exported  to  other  countries. 

Man'chester. 
Literary. and  Philosophical  Society,  Februarv  8. — Prof. 
S.  J.  Hickson,  president,  in  the  chair. — ProL  G.  Elliot 
Smith  :  New  phases  of  the  controversies  concerning 
the  Piltdown  skull.  Prof.  Elliot  Smith  considered 
the  different  views  that  had  been  recently  expressed ; 
(i)  that  the  canine  belonged  to  the  upjier  and  not  the 
lower  jaw;  (2)  that  the  mandible  was  not  human, 
but  that  of  a  hitherto  unknown  species  of  chimpanzee, 
which  by  some  unexplained  means  made  its  way  into 
England  in  the  Pleistocene  period ;  (3)  that  the  features 
differentiating  this  mandible  from  that  of  modern  man 
had  been  unduly  exaggerated ;  (4)  that  the  canine  tooth 
could  not  have  belonged  to  the  same  individual  as  the 
skull  and  the  jaw  because  it  differed  from  them  in  age, 
according  to  one  authority  being  definitely  older,  and 
to  another  distinctly  younger,  than  the  other  frag- 
ments. These  widely  divergent  views  tend  to 
neutralise  one  another.  In  considering  the  possibility 
that  inore  than  one  hitherto  unknown  ape-like  man 
or  man-like  ape  expired  In  Britain  side  by  side  in  the 
Pleistocene  period,  and  left  complementary'  parts,  the 
one  of  the  other,  the  element  of  improbability  is  so 
enormous  as  not  to  be  set  aside  except  for  the  most 
definite  and  positive  anatomical  reasons.  The  evidence 
submitted  in  support  of  each  item  of  the  arguments 
for  the  diss'ociation  of  the  fragments  was  examined, 
and  it  was  maintained  that  none  of  it  was  sufficiently 
strong  to  bear  the  enormous  weight  of  improbability 
which  these  hypotheses  imposed  upon  it.  The  author 
directed  special  attention  to  the  implied  Inference  that 

NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


the  cranium  itself  was  not  sufficiently  simian  to  be 
associated  with  the  jaw ;  and  emphasised  the  fact  that 
the  skull  itself  revealed  certain  features  of  a  more 
primitive  nature  than  any  other  known  representative 
of  the  human  family. — W.  J.  Perry  :  The  geographical 
distribution  of  terraced  cultivation  and  irrigation. 
Attention  was  directed  to  the  stupendous  efforts  made 
by  various  populations  in  the  past,  whereby  whole 
mountain-sides  were  laboriously  built  up  into  series 
of  great  steps,  which  in  many  cases  were  watered  by 
gigantic  irrigation  works,  so  that  Jthousands  of  acres 
of  what  otherwise  would  have  been  sterile  land  wei'e 
made  to  produce  crops  and  maintain  large  popula- 
tions. Such  methods  were  (and  in  some  instances 
still  are)  used  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  Spain, 
Italy,  Switzerland,  and  South  Germany,  many  of  the 
Mediterranean  islands,  Phoenicia,  Mauretania,  Canary 
Islands  and  Nigeria,  Darfur,  East  Africa,  British 
Central  Africa,  Rhodesia,  Madagascar,  Southern  and 
Central  Arabia,  India,  Ceylon,  Burma,  Assam, 
Western  China,  Sumatra,  Nias,  Java,  Madura,  Bali, 
Lombok,  Sumbaw'a,  Luzon,  Formosa  and  Japan,  New 
Guinea,  Melanesia,  Pelew  and  Caroline  Islands,  Mar- 
quesas Islands,  Hawaii,  Lesser  Paumotus,  Easter 
Island,  Peru,  Mexico,  Honduras,  New  Mexico, 
Western  Texas,  Arizona,  East  California,  and  Haiti. 
These  methods,  applied  in  the  same  way  in  this  pecu- 
liar geographical  distribution,  and  irrespective  of 
whether  such  highly  laborious  measures  were  necessary 
or  not,  afford  the  most  positive  tokens  of  the  migration 
of  primitive  culture  along  the  same  routes  and  prob- 
ably at  the  same  time  as  the  stone-using,  miqe-work- 
ing  peoples  first  intruded  into  the  same  localised  spots 
on  the  surface  of  the  globe. — J.  W.  Jackson  :  The  geo- 
graphical distribution  of  the  shell-purple  industry.  One 
of  the  most  curious  uses  of  shellfish  is  that  of  their 
employment  for  the  production  of  a  purple  dye,  known 
to  the  ancients  as  "Tyrian  purple."  The  invention  of 
this  dye  has  usually  been  accredited  to  the  Phoenicians, 
but  Bosanquet  has  recently  shown  that  it  was  known 
to  the  Minoans  of  Crete  in  1600  b.c.  The  Phoenicians, 
however,  appear  to  have  been  instrumental  in  spread- 
ing the  knowledge  of  the  art  far  and  wide ;  the  search 
for  purple-shells  was  probably  one  of  the  motives 
which  led  these  people  to  explore  areas  further  afield 
than  their  own  immediate  surroundings.  Throughout 
the  Mediterranean,  stations  for  the  manufacture  of 
purple  were  established  by  these  ancient  mariners, 
and  evidence  is  also  available  of  the  early  practice  of 
the  art  on  the  coast  of  N.W.  Africa  and  in  the  British 
Isles  (Cornwall  and  west  of  Ireland).  Eastward  of 
the  Mediterranean  the  knowledge  of  the  art  seems  to 
have  spread  through  the  Malay  region,  China,  and 
Japan,  as  far  as  Mexico  and  Central  America.  In  the 
latter  region  it  was  gertainly  practised  in  pre-Columbian 
times,  and  still  survives  among  the  Indians. — J.  W. 
Jaclison  :  Shell-trumpets  and  their  distribution  in  the 
Old  and  New  World.  The  employment  of  shells  as 
horns  and  trumpets  is  of  very  ancient  origin.  The 
sites  of  the  past  and  present  uses  of  these  trumpets 
form  a  continuous  chain  from  the  Mediterranean  re- 
gion, through  India  and  the  Pacific  Islands  to  the 
American  continent.  As  in  the  case  of  shell-purple, 
Crete  figures  very  prominently  in  the  early  use  of  the 
conch-shell  trumpet,  it  having  been  associated  with 
Minoan  religious  worship.  From  Crete  the  cult 
spread,  doubtless  through  Phoenician  influence,  to 
numerous  places  in  the  Mediterranean,  to  India,  Tibet, 
China,  and  Japan,  through  Indonesia  and  the  Pacific 
Islands,  to  the  central  parts  of  America.  In  the 
Mediterranean,  Triton  trumpets  have  been  found  in 
Ligurian  caves,  said  to  be  of  Neolithic  age.  ,  In  India 
the  chank-trumpet  is  used  in  connection  with  Hindu 
temple  worship  and  special  sanctity  is  associated  with 


March  2,  19 16] 


NATURE 


27 


he  chank  itself.  The  shell-trumpet  enters  into  cere- 
nonies  in  Malabar,  Siam,  etc. ;  and  signal-horn  shells 
ire  used  in  Japan.  In  certain  of  the  Pacific  Isles  their 
ises  are  many.  In  the  Ne\y  World  the  shell-trumpet 
was  known  in  pre-Columbian  times,  and  entered  into 
Jie  religious  ceremonial  of  the  Aztecs.  Ancient 
Mexican  manuscripts  provide  evidence  of  its  use  in 
;emple  worship  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  in  India. 
Fhe  shell-trumpet  was  also  employed  by  the  Incas 
and  other  ancient  peoples,  and  survives  to-day  in 
several  places. 

Dublin. 
Royal  Irish  Academy,  February  14.— Rev.  J.  P. 
Mahaffy,  president,  in  the  chair. — J.  G.  Leathern: 
Periodic  conformal  curve-factors  and  corner-factors. 
rhe  paper  deals  with  the  repeated  conformal  repre- 
sentation of  the  doubly  connected  region  which  is 
twunded  internally  by  a  closed  curve  or  polygon  and 
is  externally  unbounded,  upon  successive  semi-infinite 
strips  of  a  half-plane.  Smooth  curves  are  dealt  with 
by  means  of  periodic  conformal  curve-factors ;  and  the 
properties  of  such  curve-factors  and  some  comprehen- 
sive formulae  for  them  are  discussed.  Periodic  comer- 
factors  are  defined,  and  it  is  shown  how  they  give 
^the  required  transformation  in  the  case  in  which  the 
(internal  boundary  is  polygonal.  The  periodic  curve- 
Ifactor  is  exhibited  as  the  limit  of  a  product  of  periodic 
icorner- factors,  and  special  types  are  deduced.  The 
results  are  interpretable  in  terms  of  two-dimensional 
fields  of  liquid  or  electric  flow,  or  electric  induction. 
: Fields  with  logarithmic  singularities  (sources,  vortices, 
electrodes,  etc.)  are  then  discussed,  and  it  is  shown 
how,  by  a  double  transformation,  such  fields  can  be 
specified  for  any  region  the  conformal  representation 
of  which  has  been  formulated.  Thus  the  field  due  to 
a  line-charge  in  presence  of  a  charged  conductor 
in  the_  form  of  an  elliptic  cylinder  or  a  polygonal 
prism  is  readily  determined,  and  the  method  is  equally 
applicable  to  many  other  problems  of  similar  type. — 
G.  H.  Carpenter  :  The  Apter}gota  of  the  Seychelles. 
The  collection  described  was  made  by  mernbers  of 
the  Percy  Sladen  Trust  Expedition,  and  comprises 
thirteen  species  of  Thysanura  and  eighteen  of  Collem- 
bola.  As  only  three  Apterygota  were  hitherto  re- 
corded from  the  Seychelles,  most  of  the  species  now- 
enumerated  are  regarded  as  new,  and  three  remark- 
able Machilids  are  referred  to  a  new  genus.  Struc- 
tural details  of  the  jaws  of  Isolepisma,  Lepidospwra, 
Lepidocampa,  Heteromuricus,  and  Cremastocephalus 
are  given,  together  with  an  account  of  the  genital 
appendages  in  Lepidospora  and  Lepidocampa.  The 
presence  of  the  latter  genus  in  the  Seychelles  is  of 
considerable  geographical  interest;  together  with 
some  of  the  Collembolan  genera  it  indicates  Malayan 
and  Indian  aflfinities  for  the  fauna  of  the  granitic 
islands  of  the  Seychelles  proper,  while  the  species 
from  the  coral  islands  of  the  Farquhar  and  Aldabra 
groups  have  on  the  whole  Malagasv  and  African 
relationships. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  Februarv  14.— M.  Camille  Jor- 
dan in  the  chair. — G.  Bigourdan  :  A  work  of  F.  Viet6, 
supposed  to  be  lost,  "I'Harmonicon  cceleste."— B. 
Baillaud :  Remarks  concerning  the  determination  of 
the  difference  of  longitude  between  the  Observatories 
of  Paris  and  Washington.  An  account  of  the  work 
of  the  French-American  Committee  commencing 
October,  1913,  in  which  wireless  signals  between 
Arlmgton  and  the  Eiffel  Tower  were  utilised.  The 
final  result  adopted  is  5h.  17m.  36-67S.— Henry  Le 
Chatelier  :  The  law  of  solubility.  A  replv  to  M.  Col- 
son. — T.  H.  Gronwall  :  Deformation  in'  conformable 
representation.— CEchsner  de  Coninck  and  M.  Gerard  : 
The  atomic  weight  of  bismuth.     Bv  the  reduction  of 


bismuth  chloride  in  hydrogen  the  value  20850  was 
obtained  for  the  atomic  weight  of  bismuth. — L, 
Fernandez  Navarro  :  The  discovery  of  a  basalt  outcrop 
in  the  Sierra  de  Guadarrama  (Spain).  This  is  the 
only  known  volcanic  outcrop  in  the  centre  of  the 
massif, — M.  Deprat  :  The  stratigraphic  series  in  North 
Tonkin. — Ph.  Ulangeaud  :  The  volcanic  Pliocene  of 
the  Saut  de  la  Pucelle  (Puy-de-D6me). — V.  Vincent : 
The  circulation  of  manganese  in  natural  waters. 
Manganese  is  probably  present  in  natural  waters  as 
the  bicarbonate.  The  oxides  of  manganese,  in  pre- 
sence of  carbon  dioxide,  do  not  dissolve  to  the  same 
extent  as  the  carbonate. — G.  Bourguignon  :  The  stimu- 
lation of  ner\'es  by  discharges  from  condensers. — E. 
Coiardeau  and  J.  Richard  :  A  stereoscopic  arrangement 
for  the  examination  of  radiographic  proofs,  either  with 
normal  or  pseudoscopic  relief. — Ch.  J.  Gravier  :  The 
madrepores  collected  by  S.A.S.  the  Prince  of  Monaco 
in  the  great  depths  of  the  North  Atlantic. — A. 
Vayssiere  :  A  Notochiton  and  some  Gasteropods  from 
the  second  exf>edition  of  Dr.  Charcot. — J.  Bounhiol 
and  L.  Pron  :  A  case  of  complete  hermaphroditism  in 
Chrysophrys  aurata. 


BOOKS    RECEIVED. 

The  Mathematical  Theory  of  Probabilities  and  its 
Application  to  Frequency  Curves  and  Statistical 
Methods.  By  A.  Fisher.  Translated  and  edited  with 
the  assistance  of  W.  Bonynge.  Vol  i..  Mathematical 
Probabilities  and  Homograde  Statistics.  Pp.  xx  +  171. 
(New  York :  The  Macmillan  Company ;  London : 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     8s.  6d.  net. 

Macmillan 's  Greographical  Exercise  Books.  iv., 
The  Americas.  With  Questions  by  B.  C.  Wallis. 
Pp.   48.     (London  :    Macmillan   and  Co.,    Ltd.)     6d. 

Thomas  Alva  Edison.  By  F.  Rolt-Wheeler.  Pp. 
ix  +  2oi.  (New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company; 
London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     2s.  net. 

Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries.  Fishery  Inves- 
tigations. Series  ii..  Sea  Fisheries.  Vol.  iii..  No.  2. 
Report  on  Sexual  Differentiation  in  the  Biology  and 
Distribution  of  Plaice  in  the  North  Sea.  Bv  A.  E. 
Hefford.  Pp.  73.  (London:  H.M.S.O.;  Wyman  and 
Sons,  Ltd.)    4s. 

National  Health  Insurance.  Medical  Research 
Committee.  Report  of  the  Special  Advisory  Com- 
mittee upon  Bacteriological  Studies  of  Cerebro-spinal 
Fever  during  the  Epidemic  of  1915.  Pp.  64.  (Lon- 
don :   H.M.S.O. ;  Wyman  and  Sons,  Ltd.)     6d. 

Napier  Tercentenary  Memorial  Volume.  Edited  by 
Dr.  C.  G.  Knott.  Pp.  xi  +  441.  (London  :  Published 
for  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  by  Longmans  and 
Co.)     2 IS.   net. 

Wireless  Transmission  of  Photogrraphs.  By  M.  J^ 
Martin.  Pp.  xi+117.  (London  :  Wireless  Press,  Ltd.) 
2S.  6d.  net. 

Harvev's  Views  on  the  Use  of  the  Circulation  of  the 
Blood.  By  Prof,  J.  G.  Curtis.  Pp.  xi+194.  (New 
York  :  Columbia  University  Press ;  London  :  Oxford 
University  Press.)     6s.  6d.   net. 

The  Athenaeum  Subject  Index  to  Periodicals,  1915. 
Science  and  Technology,  with  Special  Reference  to 
the  War  in  its  Technological  Aspects.  Pp.  79.  (Lon- 
don :  Athenaeum  Office.)     2s.  6d.  net. 

Woburn  Experimental  Fruit  Farm.  Fifteenth  Re- 
port of  the  Woburn  Experimental  Fruit  Farm.  Pp.  83. 
(London  :   Amalgamated  Press,  Ltd.)     2s.  :\d. 

British  Fungi  and  How  to  Identifv  Them.  Bv 
J.  H.  Crabtree.  Pp.  62.  (London  :  C.  H.  Kelly.) 
IS.  net. 

Instincts  of  the  Herd  in  Peace  and  War.  Bv  W^. 
Trotter.  Pp.  213.  (London:  T.  Fisher  Unwin,  Ltd.) 
3s.  6d.   net. 


NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


28 


NATURE 


[March  2,  191 6 


Examples  in  Magnetism  for  Students  of  Physics 
and  Engineering.  By  Prof.  F.  E.  Austin.  Second 
edition.  Pp.  90.  (Hanover,  N.H.  :  Prof.  F.  E.  Aus- 
tin; London  :  E.  and  F.  N.  Spon,  Ltd.)  i  dollar 
10  cents. 

A  New  Table  of  Seven-Place  Logarithms  of  all 
Numbers  from  20  000  to  200  000.  By  E.  Sang.  Pp. 
xviii  +  36s.     (London  :   C.  and  E    Layton.)     21s,  net. 

Department  of  Commerce.  U.S.  Coast  and  Geo- 
detic Survey.  Geodesy.  Application  of  the  Theory 
of  Least  Squares  to  the  Adjustment  of  Triangulation. 
By  O.  S.  Adams.  Pp.  220.  (Washington  :  Govern- 
ment Printing  Office.] 

State  of  Connecticut.  Public  Document  No.  24. 
Thirty-eighth  Annual  Report  of  the  Connecticut  Agri- 
cultural Experiment  Station,  1914.  Pp.  xiv  +  448. 
(Hartford,  Conn.) 

The  Endocrine  Organs  :  an  Introduction  to  the 
Study  of  Internal  Secretion.  By  Sir  E.  A.  Schafer. 
(London  :    Longmans  and  Co.)     los.  6d.   net. 

Scientific  Papers.  By  Sir  G.  H.  Darwin.  Vol.  v.. 
Supplementary  Volume  containing  Biographical 
Memoirs.  By  Sir  Francis  Darwin  and  Prof.  E.  W. 
Brown.  Lectures  on  Hill's  Lunar  Theory,  etc. 
Edited  by  F.  J.  M.  Stratton  and  J.  Jackson.  Fp. 
lv  +  8i.  (Cambridge:  At  the  University  Press.)  65. 
net. 

Elements  of  Mineralogy.  By  F.  Rutley.  Revised 
by  H.  H.  Read.  Nineteenth  edition.  Pp.  xxii  +  3g4. 
(London  :  T.  Murby  and  Co.)     35.  6d.  net. 

The  Tribes  and  Castes  of  the  Central  Provinces  of 
India.  By  C.  V.  Russell,  assisted  by  Rai  Bahadur 
Hira  Lai.  Four  vols.  Vol.  i.,  pp.  xxv  +  426.  Vol.  ii., 
pp.  xi  +  540.  Vol.  iii.,  pp.  xi  +  589.  Vol.  iv.,  pp. 
xi  +  608.  (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)  42s. 
net. 

The  Homeland  Handbooks.  Penzance  and  the 
Land's  End  District.  Edited  by  J.  B.  Cornish  and 
J.  A.  D.  Bridger.  Pp.  123.  (London  :  Homeland 
Association,   Ltd.)     6d.   net. 

Manuals  of  Chemical  Technology,  vi..  The  Salt 
and  Alkali  Industry,  including  Potassium  Salts  and 
the  Stassfurt  Industry.  By  Dr.  G.  Martin,  S.  Smith, 
and  F.  Milsom.  Pp.  viii  +  ioo.  (London:  Crosby 
Lockwood  and  Son.)     7s.  6d.  net. 


DIARY    OF    SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  March  2. 

RovAL  Society,  at  4.30. — The  Antiseptic  Action  of  Substances  of  xh'. 
Chloramine  Group:  J.  R.  Cohen.  H.  D.  Dakin.  M.  Uaufresne  and 
J.  Kenvon.— The  Structure  of  the  Dicynodont  Skull:  I.  J.  B  Sollas  and 
Prof.  W.  I.  Solla-.— Analyses  of  Agricultural  Yield.  Fart  III.  The 
Influence  of  Natural  Environmental  Factors  upon  the  yield  of  Egyptian 
Cotton:  W.  L.  Balls.— The  Function  of  Chlorophyll,  Carotin  and 
XanthopSyll  :  A.  J.  Ewart. 

RovAi  Institution,  at  3. — Recent  Excavations  in  Me&opotomia — The 
Northern  Capitals,  Nineveh  and  Asshur:  Prof  L.  W.  King. 

Child  Study  Society,  at  6. — The  Danish  Child  at  School:  A.  E.Hayes. 

LiNNEAN  SOCIETY,  at  5.  —  Exhibit  of  Giardia  (Lainhlia)  ititestinalis  from 
casts  of  Diairhoea  in  Soldiers,  the  Inleciions  being  coniracted  in  Flan- 
ders: Dr  Annie  Porter. —Larval  and  Post-Larval  Stages  of  Jasiis 
lalandii :  Dr.  J.  D.  F.  Gilchrist.— The  August  Heleoplaiikton  of  some 
North  Worcester-hire  Pools:  B.  Millard  Griffiths. — The  Distribution  of 
the  Hox-tree,  Buxus  sempervirens  :  Dr.  Otto  Stapf. 

FRIDA  Y,  March  3. 

Royal  Institution,  at  5.30.— Corona  and  other  Forms  of  Electric  Dis- 
charge :  Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson. 

Geologists'  Association,  at  7.30.— The  Oil-fields  of  Trinidad  :  V.  C. 
Tiling. 

MOIVDA  Y,  March  6. 

RoYAi.  Geographical  Society,  at  8.30.— Some  little-known  Polynesian 
Settlements  near  the  Solomon  Islands  :  Charles  M.  Wo.idJord. 

Aristotelian  Society,  at  8. — Sense-Data  and  the  Ph>sical  Object: 
Prof.  T.  Percy  Nunn. 

Society  op  Chemical  Industry,  at  8. 

SociETVOF  Enginbf.rs,  at  5.30. — Sewage  and  iiE  Precipitation  :  R.  Brown. 

TUESnAV,  March  7. 
RovAL  Institution,    at    3.  — Th*r  Plant   and   the   Soil-r— Man's    Control: 

Dr.  E.  I.  Russell. 
Zoological    Society,   at    5.30. — Kinematographs    of    African    Animals  : 
H.  K.  Eustace. 


Institution-  of  Civil  Enginebks,  at  5.30. — Induitrial  Development :; 
Harold  Cbx.  .... 

RoNiGKN  iioc\JS.T\, ,  al  ■&.ii.-rA<ijoumed  Difcuasiau:  The  Injurioasi 
Effects  produced  by  X-rays. — 'Ihe  Use  of  Inverse  Current:  A.  C.  Gun- 
stone. 

iVEDNESDAY.  March  8. 

Geological  Society,  at  5.39.  —  P'ossil  Insects  from  the  British  Coal 
Measures :  H.  holton. 

Royal  Society  of  Arts,  at  4.30.— Optical  Appliances  in  Warfare  ;  C. 
K.  Darling. 

THURSDAY,  March  9. 

Royal.  Society,  at  4*30. — Probable  Papers :  The  Distribution  of  Intensity 
in  Broadened  Spectrum  Lines:  Prof.  J.  W.  Nicholson  and  T.  R.  Mertoa. 
— Prof.  Joly's  Meibod  of  avoiding  Collision  at  Sea:  Prof.'  H.'  C' 
Plummer.  •     .      , ,     ' 

Royal  Institution,  at  3.— Recent  Ex,cavations  in  Mesopotamia— The 
Southern  Capital,  Babylon  :  Prof.  L.  W.  King. 

Lnstitution  flF  Electrical  Engineers,  , at  8.— Continuous-current  Rail- 
way Motors  :  E.  V.  Pannell. 

Optical  Society,  at  8.— A  Simple  Focometer  for  the  Determination  of 
Short  Focal  Lengths  both  Negative  and  Positive :  'X'.  F.  Connolly.— The 
Manufacture  and  Testing  of  Prisniaiic  and  other  Compas.ses :  F.  E." 
Smith. 

FRIDAY,  March  10. 

Royal  Institution,  at  5.30.— Illusions  of  the  Upper  Air  :  Sir  Napier 
Snaw. 

Royal  Astronomical  Society,  at  5. 

SATURDAY,  March  ii. 

KoVAL  Institution,  at  3. — Radiations  from  Atoms  and  Electrons:  Sir 
J.  J .  Thumfion. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The  New  Zealand  Flora i; 

New  American  Steam  Tables Z: 

Our  Bookshelf > 

Letters  to  the  Editor  :  — 

Exploration   in    South- West   Africa.— Prof.    W.   A. 

Heidman,  F.K.S.;  Piof.  H.  H.  W.  Pearson      .  4. 

Science  and  the  State.— Prof.  J.  B.  Cohen,  F.R.S.  5; 
Altitudes  of  Aurora;.     {H^M  Diagram.) — Prof.   Carl 

Stdrmer 5. 

Ground  Rainbows.     {Wil/i  Dmgram.)— A..  K.  Heath  5. 
The  Application  of  Scientific  Methods  to  the  Im- 
provement of  the  Sugar   Beet.      ( J-VtlA  Diagram. ) 

By  W.  A.  D. .        .....  6- 

The  Recent  Mortality  Among  Bees.     By  F 7 

Anthropology  and  Fauna  of   the  Chad  Basin.     By 

Sir  a.  H.  Johnston,  G.C.M.G.,  K.C.B 9 

Prof.  Ivan  Petrovitch  Pavlov.     By  W.  H.  T 9 

Sir  Laurence  Gomme.    By  Dr.  A.  C.  Haddon,  F.R.S.  11; 

Notes i^ 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

A  New  Comet '7 

Comet  1915a  (Mellish)        . ^T' 

U.S.  Naval  Observatory,  1915 ^T. 

A  Daylight  Meteor         17 

A  Transneptunian  Planet I7 

Artificial  Irrigation  in  the  Western  States  of  North 

America.     By  B.  C '7 

Some  Recent  Studies  on  Protozoa  and  Disease  .    .  iS. 

The  New  Zealand  Institute.     By  A.  D 19 

Therapeutic  Action  of  Ultra-Violet  Rays    .    .        .    -  19 
The  Utilisation  of  Peat,    (/i/nslra/ed.)  By  G.  FletchtT 

and  Prof.  G.  T.  Morgan,  F.R.S 19 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 24 

Societies  and  Academies ^5 

Books  Received ^7 

Diary  of  Socioiies 281 


ST. 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices: 
MACMILLAN   &   CO.,   Ltd., 
MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  th*^ 
Publishers 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address:  Phusis,   London. 
Telephone   Number  :  Gerrarp  8830. 


NO.    2418,    VOL.    97] 


NA  TURE 


29 


THURSDAY,   MARCH   9,    1916. 

HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 
Historical  Introduction  to   Chemistry.      By  Prof. 
T.  M.   Lowry.     Pp.  xv  +  581.     (London:  Mac- 
millan  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1915.)    Price  85.  6d.  net. 

THE  history  of  a  physical  science  like  chem- 
istry differs  fundamentally  from  general 
history  inasmuch  as  in  the  former,  speaking 
broadly,  men  create  the  epochs,  whereas  in  the 
latter  epochs  make  the  men.  When  we  take  a 
retrospective  view  of  the  progress  of  chemistry 
we  see  that  its  development  is,  in  the  main,  irre- 
gular and  spasmodic.  Although  there  are  no 
periods  of  actual  retrogression,  except  possibly 
the  one  that  followed  the  burning  of  the  Alexan- 
drine libraries,  there  are  periods  of  comparative 
stagnation  interrupted  by  sudden  breaks,  so  to 
say,  in  the  curv'e  of  its  continuity.  These  breaks 
mark  epochs  of  new  departure,  arising  from  dis- 
coveries, frequently  wholly  unexpected  and  often 
revolutionary  in  character,  and  nearly  always  due 
to  individuals  working  independently  of  their 
fellows,  and  not  consciously  influenced  by  any 
Zeitgeist. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  political,  economic,  or 
sociological  historj',  we  are  usually  able  to  trace  a 
general  movement  in  communities,  or  of  powerful 
groups  of  societ\',  or  'of  definite  interests,  and  the 
more  or  less  gradual  and  progressive  working  of  a 
popular  sentiment  which  is  ultimately  given  prac- 
tical effect  to  by  the  leader  or  statesman  of  suffi- 
cient perspicacity  to  read  aright  the  signs  of  the 
times. 

Hence,  on  account  of  this  essential  difference, 
the  history  of  chemistry  is  necessarily  to  a  large 
extent  the  history  of  its  leading  men — that  is,  of 
the  pioneers  whose  work  constitutes  those  new 
departures  which  make  up  the  successive  epochs 
in  its  progrecs. 

This  difference  between  the  leaders  in  science 
and  in  politics,  it  may  be  noted  in  passing,  is  not 
sufficiently  recognised  by  the  community.  The 
successful  political  leader  in  these  democratic  days 
in  reality  seldom  leads  :  he  follows,  and  is  directed 
by  the  popular  will ;  and  his  success  as  a  practi- 
cal politician  depends  upon  his  astuteness  in  divin- 
ing the  psychological  moment  in  which  to  give 
effect  to  that  will.  The  leaders  in  science — the 
Boyles,  Newtons,  Davys,  Faradays,  Daltons — are 
in  no  wise  controlled  or  influenced  by  any  analo- 
gous movement  on  the  part  of  a  community-.  They 
pursue  their  investigations  and  make  their  dis- 
coveries independently  of  any  prescribed  demand. 
^1  this  sense  they  are  real  leaders,  and  by  their 
NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


own  independent  action  impose  such  natural  laws 
as  they  may  be  able  to  promulgate. 

It  is,  of  course,  possible  to  teach  the  historical 
development  of  chemistry  impersonally,  and  doubt- 
less this  is  the  more  rational  method.  But  it  offers 
far  more  difficulties  than  the  other,  and  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  ordinary  student  is  probably 
less  instructive,  as  it  is  certainly  far  less  interest- 
ing. In  the  book  before  us  something  in  the 
nature  of  a  compromise  has  been  attempted  be- 
tween the  impersonal  and  the  purely  biographical 
methods,  but,  as  frequently  happens  in  com- 
promises, the  result  is  not  wholly  successful.  The 
author  states  that  he  has  made  no  attempt  to  write 
a  formal  history  of  chemistry  either  of  its 
various  periods,  or  of  the  biographical  stories  of 
its  pioneers.  His  method  is  to  take  certain  sub- 
stances, or  groups  of  substances,  such  as  the 
Acids;  Chalk,  Lime,  and  the  Alkalis;  Muriatic 
Acid  and  Chlorine;  Inflammable  Gases,  etc.,  dis- 
tributed over  about  a  dozen  chapters,  and  in  the 
remaining  eight  chapters  of  the  twenty  chapters 
constituting  the  book  to  deal  with  certain  theo- 
retical conceptions  of  the  science,  e.g.  the  Atomic 
and  Molecular  Theories;  Molecular  Architecture; 
Classification ;  Balanced  Actions,  etc.  As  regards 
the  first  section  it  is  not  obvious  why  the  parti- 
cular selection  or  its  particular  sequence  was 
adopted.  It  may  be  that  the  merit  of  any  parti- 
cular selection  is  largely  a  matter  of  opinion;  or 
possibly  the  author  may  think  that  selection  is  the 
best  which  in  his  judgment  enables  him  to  group 
the  largest  number  of  historical  facts  in  some- 
thing approaching  to  chronological  order. 

Each  chapter  is  split  up  into  sections,  desig- 
nated as  A,  B,  C,  D,  etc.,  with  corresponding 
sub-headings,  and  it  concludes  with  a  summary 
and  supplement.  The  object  of  the  supplement, 
apparently,  is  to  deal  with  statements  that  had 
been  omitted  from  the  main  body  of  the  chapter, 
or  which  for  some  reason  or  other  could  not  be 
conveniently  treated  in  their  proper  place.  In 
many  cases  the  supplements  consist  almost  wholly 
of  elementary  chemical  equations  in  explanation 
of  chemical  changes  referred  to  in  the  text.  As 
these  are  expressed  by  up-to-date  conventions  it 
may  have  occurred  to  the  author  that  their  very 
modernity  would  be  as  incongruous  as  the  absurd 
anachronisms  which  he  rightly  condemns,  such 
as  the  substitution  of  the  bunsen  burner  for  the 
big  spirit  lamp  in  illustrations  of  Dumas 's  appara- 
tus for  determining  the  gravimetric  composition  of 
water;  or  in  the  picture  of  Lavoisier's  red-hot 
gun-barrel,  in  which  rubber  corks  take  the  place 
of  clay-joints. 

But   whatever   may   be   the   reasons   which    in- 

C 


so 


NATURE 


[March  9,   1916 


duced  the  author  to  adopt  his  particular  treat- 
ment, the  effect  is  to  give  his  work  a  somewhat 
disjointed  structure.  The  treatment  is  slight  and 
"sketchy,"  and  at  times  inadequate.  It  is  irra- 
tional, for  example,  to  dismiss  the  work  of  twenty 
centuries  in  about  as  many  lines,  but  this  is  prac- 
tically all  the  space  that  is  given  to  ancient  and 
alchemistic  chemistry.  To  say  that  the  study  of 
chemistry  begins  with  the  work  of  Boyle  is  on  a 
par  with  Wurtz's  famous  statement  that  it  owes 
its  origin  to  Lavoisier,  and  is  equally  untrue. 

Dr.  Lowry's  book,  in  spite  of  occasional  slip- 
shod writing,  is  interesting  reading,  and  the  stu- 
dent, if  already  furnished  with  a  little  chemical 
knowledge,  will  pick  up  much  information  con- 
cerning certain  broad  features  in  the  development 
of  the  science  since  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  illustrations  of  classical  apparatus 
are  a  valuable  feature,  although  we  are  unable  to 
see  the  relevancy  of  the  pictures  of  crystallised 
minerals  and  salts  taken  from  the  national  collec- 
tions in  the  British  Museum.  They  are  like  the 
tropes  and  metaphors  which  King  James  depre- 
cated in  the  sermon — "brilliant  wild  flowers  in  the 
field  of  corn,  very  pretty,  but  of  no  particular 
advantage  to  the  corn." 


RELATIVITY  AND  ELECTRONS. 
Relativity      and      the      Electron      Theory.        By 
E.     Cunningham.        Pp.     vii+96.        (London: 
Longmans,    Green    and  Co.,    1915.)     Price   45. 
net. 

THE  principle  of  relativity  has  gradually 
acquired  a  fundamental  position  in 
theoretical  physics,  and  the  appearance  of  an 
introductory  monograph  on  the  subject  will  be 
welcomed  by  all  who  wish  to  have  a  knowledge 
of  its  essentials.  The  present  work,  as  stated 
in  the  preface,  is  written  with  the  purpose  of 
setting  out  as  clearly  as  possible  the  relation  of 
the  principle  to  the  generally  accepted  electron 
theory.  Only  quite  elementary  mathematical 
analysis  is  employed  throughout  the  book;  those 
who  wish  to  penetrate  more  deeply  in  the  subject 
being  referred  to  the  author's  larger  work  on 
"The  Principle  of  Relativity." 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  book  the  principle  of 
relativity  is  presented  from  Minkowski's  point  of 
view.  The  four-dimensional  form  of  relativity  is 
of  very  great  importance,  partly  on  account  of 
its  elegance  and  simplicity,  but  also  because  of 
its  suggestiveness  in  the  present  transition 
stage  of  dynamics.  Unfortunately,  only  a  short 
outline  of  the  four-dimensional  vector  analysis  of 
Minkowski  and  his  disciples  is  given.  On  p.  72 
NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


examples  of  4-vectors  are  given  in  a  form  which  is 
open  to  criticism.  The  point-instant  (x,  y,  a,  t)  is 
called  a  4-vector.  It  would  be  more  satisfactory 
to  denote  the  4-vector  by  (x,  y,  z,  ict),  since  ict 
and  not  t  is  actually  the  fourth  component  of  the 
vector  in  question.  A  similar  remark  applies  to 
K  (ux,  Uy,  Ug,  i)  (on  the  same  page),  which  should 
be  written  k  (m^,  i*y,  «2,  ic),  in  which  form  it  would 
be  consistent  with  the  equation  at  the  foot  of 
P'  75.  viz.  : 

(Sx,  S^,  S^,  S„)  =  p(U.,  U,„  U„  u)jc. 

The  quantity  denoted  by  "k"  is,  in  consequence 
of  a  printer's  omission,  imperfectly  defined.  The 
author  introduces  four-dimensional  vectors  in  the 
"  New  Mechanics  "  in  an  excellent  way  by  show- 
ing how  they  serve  to  unify  the  two  aspects  of 
"force"  as  the  "time  rate  of  change  of 
momentum  "  (Galileo)  and  "  space  rate  of  change 
of  energy "  (Huygens).  One  of  the  charac- 
teristic features  of  Minkowski's  presentation  of 
the  principle  of  relativity  is  its  capacity  for  unify- 
ing or  reconciling  different  and,  in  some  case&, 
apparently  contradictory  aspects  of  phenomena. 

In  the  final  chapter  the  author  outlines  the 
way  in  which  the  "objections  of  those  who 
demand  a  real  aether  to  carry  real  effects  "  can 
be  met. 

The  work  is  one  of  considerable  merit,  and 
provides  a  really  good  and  sound  introduction  to 
the  subject  with  which  it  deals.  W.  W. 


THE   HANDWORKING    OF   IRON   AND 
STEEL. 

Forging  of  Iron  and  Steel.  By  W.  A.  Richards. 
Pp.  viii  +  219.  (London:  Constable  and  Co., 
Ltd.,  191 5O     Price  65.  6d.  net. 

THE  title  of  the  above  work  is  somewhat  mis- 
leading, in  that  its  scope  is  much  narrower 
than  is  suggested  by  the  title.  Apart  from  a  short 
chapter  at  the  end  on  steam  and  power  hammers, 
it  deals  only  with  hand-forging  in  its  various 
aspects.  The  book,  which  is  stated  to  ]ye  intended 
both  for  the  "high-school  boy"  and  the  "veteran 
smith" — it  is  written  by  an  American — opens 
with  a  chapter  on  the  historic  use  of  iron  and 
steel  from  early  periods.  It  then  deals  in  brief 
review  with  the  smelting  of  iron  ores  and  the 
production  of  cast  irons,  wrought  irons,  and 
steels,  the  author  stating  that  it  is  unnecessary 
to  go  deeply  into  the  subject  of  metallurgy  or  to 
introduce  metallurgical  theory.  We  are  told  (on 
page  20)  that  the  air  pressure  in  the  blast  furnace 
is  from  15  to  25  lb.  per  square  inch.  No  doubt 
in     the     hard-driven     American     furnaces,    where 


March  9,  19 16] 


NATURE 


31 


everything-  is  sacrificed  to  output,  the  blast 
pressures  are  higher  than  in  this  country,  where 
they  seldom  exceed  from  8  to  9  lb.  per  square 
inch,  but  the  above  figures  are  certainly  higher 
than  the  highest  we  had  associated  with  American 
practice.  They  throw  light,  however,  on  the  per- 
formance of  an  American  blast  furnace  erected  in 
-Middlesbrough  some  years  ago  which  was  worked 
by  American  engineers,  and  which  blew  so  much 
iron  ore  out  of  the  top  of  the  furnace  that  it  was 
put,  and  has  remained,  on  the  low  pressures  that 
are  found  to  be  suitable  in  English  practice. 

A  few  pages  later  we  are  informed  that  the 
temperature  of  the  cementation  furnace  in  the  pro- 
duction of  blister  steel — a  process  in  which  the 
iron  is  never  melted — is  about  3000°  F.  This 
corresponds  to  1650°  C,  which  is  nearly  150°  C. 
above  the  melting  point  of  iron.  The  author 
makes  several  unsuccessful  attempts  to  spell  the 
name  "Siemens,"  the  inventor  of  the  open-hearth 
furnace.  Sometimes  he  calls  him  Sieman;  at 
others  Siemans.  On  the  whole,  it  is  as  well  that 
he  does  not  introduce  metallurgical  theor}'. 

Chapters  on  equipment  and  fuel  are  followed 
by  four  others  dealing  with  the  various  operations 
involved  in  hand  forging.  These  are  succeeded 
by  two  on  welding  and  one  on  brazing.  The  re- 
mainder of  the  book  is  given  up  to  the  manufac- 
ture and  treatment  of  the  various  kinds  of  tool 
steels,  together  with  short  chapters  on  art  iron- 
work and  calculations.  At  the  end  of  each 
chapter  are  appended  questions  for  review,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  fair  specimen  : — "  What 
is  carbon  steel?  What  is  air-hardening  steel? 
What  is  high-speed  steel?  Tell  how  each  differs. 
Tell  how  to  harden  and  temper  tools  made  from 
high-speed  steel.  Describe  the  working  of  high- 
speed steel  in  the  forge  fire.  Describe  the  anneal- 
ing of  high-speed  steel.  Describe  the  grinding  of 
high-speed  steel."  The  chapter  containing  the 
information  from  which  the  foregoing  questions 
are  to  be  answered  is  less  than  four  pages  in 
'  ngth. 

The  author  states  that  the  methods  described  in 
his  book  have  been  "thoroughly  tried  out  during 
ten  years  of  experience  in  teaching  and  super- 
vising manual  training."  His  book  therefore 
should  contain  much  that  is  of  value  to  those  who 
are  interested  in  such  methods.  We  think,  how- 
ever— largely  no  doubt  owing  to  the  way  in  which 
it  has  been  written — that  it  will  appeal  more  to 
American  than  English  readers,  and  chiefly 
because  elementan.-  education  in  this  country,  in 
spite  of  its  shortcomings,  is  better  than  in 
'America. 

H.  C.  H.  C. 
XO.    2419.    VOL.    9-1 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

A  Plea  for  an  Orderly  Almatiac.  By  A.  Philip. 
Pp.  62.  (Brechin :  Advertiser  Office,  D.  H. 
Edwards,    191 5)     Price   15.   net. 

The  author  indicates  some  minor  changes  that 
might  be  carried  out  without  altering  the  existing 
calendar.  He  points  out  the  inconveniences  that 
arise  from  the  present  plan  of  arranging  fixtures 
for  (say)  the  "third  Wednesday  of  the  month." 
Such  fixtures  do  not  come  in  a  regular  order; 
the  second  Tuesday  may  either  precede  or  follow 
the  second  Wednesday.  This  system  offers  little 
facility  for  adjusting  dates  so  as  to  fit  each  other 
with  a  minimum  of  clashing. 

The  remedy  proposed  is  to  take  the  "trimestre," 
or  three-monthly  period,  as  our  unit  instead  of 
the  month.  Each  trimestre  must  contain  twelve 
complete  weeks  from  Sunday  to  Saturday,  with 
odd  days  at  the  beginning,  end,  or  both.  If 
fixtures  are  arranged  for  definite  days  of  these 
twelve  weeks,  their  relative  order  is  invariable, 
and  the  list  can  be  prepared,  once  for  all,  so  as 
to  secure  the  maximum  convenience.  It  is  sug- 
gested that  the  trimestres  should  be  :  (i)  March, 
April,  May  (92  days) ;  (ii)  June,  July,  August  (92 
days) ;  (iii)  September,  October,  November  (91 
days) ;  (iv)  December,  January,  Februar}'  (90  or 
91  days).  These  practically  coincide  with  the  four 
seasons,  and  the  placing  of  the  leap  day  at  the 
end  reduces  its  inconvenience  to  a  minimum.  In 
fact,  the  device  of  counting  from  March  i  is  not 
new  to  astronomers,  some  tables  having  been 
drawn  up  on  these  lines. 

The  author  points  out  a  decided  convenience 
that  would  result  from  beginning  our  national 
financial  year  on  March  i,  instead  of  April  i. 
It  would  avoid  the  anomaly  that  the  financial  year 
may  contain  two,  one,  or  no  Easters.  The  effect 
of  these  variations  on  the  national  income  is  quite 
appreciable,  and  has  been  pointed  out  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  He  gives  some  suggestions 
for  adapting  wages,  weekly  insurance  payments, 
and  old  age  pensions  to  his  scheme,  and  appends 
tables  showing  the  incidence  of  his  twelve-week 
periods  up  to  the  end  of  191 9. 

A.  C.  D.  Crommelin". 

Flora  of  the  Presidency  of  Madras.  By  J.  S. 
Gatnhle.  Part  i.  Ranunculaceae  to  Aqiit- 
foliaceae.  Pp.  200.  (London  :  West,  Newman 
and  Co.  and  Adlard  and  Son,  191 5.)  Price  Ss. 
net. 

I\  the  review  of  Prof.  Fy son's  "Flora  of  the 
Nilgiri  and  Pulney  Hill-tops"  in  Nature  for 
February  3,  an  account  is  given  of  the  general 
scheme  for  local  Indian  floras.  The  "  Flora  of  the 
Presidency  of  Madras "  has  now  to  be  added  to 
their  number,  the  first  part  having  been  published 
at  the  end  of  January. 

The  "  Flora "  is  being  prepared  by  Mr.  J.  S. 
Gamble,  late  of  the  Indian  Forest  Department,  well 
known  for  his  book  on  Indian  timbers,  and  is  a 
model  of  what  such  a  local  flora  should  be.     This 


32 


NATURE 


[March  9,   1916 


first  part  consists  of  200  pages,  comprising  the 
families  Ranunculaceae  to  Aquifoliaceae,  but,  un- 
fortunately, we  have  to  wait  for  the  concluding 
part  of  the  work  for  the  appearance  of  the  intro- 
duction and  key  to  the  families.  Without  these 
the  "  Flora  "  loses  some  of  its  value  and  much  of 
its  interest,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  publica- 
tion of  the  succeeding  parts  will  take  place  as 
rapidly  as  may  be  possible. 

The  plan  followed  in  the  "  Flora "  is  that 
adopted  by  Prain  in  his  "Bengal  Plants,"  and  is  a 
plan  admirably  suited  for  a  local  flora  where  the 
easy  identification  of  the  plant  is  the  object  in 
view.  Descriptions  of  species  are  therefore 
omitted,  and  the  whole  flora  is  in  the  form  of  key. 
A  description  of  the  natural  family  is  succeeded 
by  a  key  to  its  genera.  Each  genus  is  concisely 
described,  and  a  key  to  its  species  follows,  and 
then  under  each  species  there  is  no  further  descrip- 
tive matter,  but  only  geographical  and  economic 
information  and  vernacular  names.  In  those 
genera  represented  by  only  a  single  species,  a 
short  description  is  given.  The  keys  are  well 
drawn  up,  and  a  good  test  of  their  efficacy  is  to 
be  seen  in  the  genus  Impatiens  with  its  seventy 
species,  which  are  all  clearly  diff"erentiated.  It 
should  be  mentioned  that  Mr.  Gamble  was  assisted 
by  Mr.  S.  T.  Dunn  in  the  preparation  of  about 
the  first  132  pages  of  this  part. 

The  Theory  of  Abstract  Ethics.  By  T.  Whittaker. 
Pp.  viii  +  126.  (Cambridge:  At  the  University 
Press,   191 6.)     Price  45.   6d.  neti' 

This  book  is  the  result  of  stimulus  applied,  as 
the  author  informs  us,  by  Prof.  Juvalta's  "Old 
and  New  Problem  of  Morality."  Though 
awakened  from  dogmatic  slumber  by  Renouvier, 
Mr.  Whittaker  had  continued,  in  accordance  with 
English  tradition,  to  try  to  derive  the  ethical  law 
of  justice  from  "ends"  or  "goods."  But  the  a 
priori  cannot  be  avoided ;  and  if  a  metaphysical 
doctrine  emerges  that  is  more  in  harmony  with  the 
moral  aspirations  of  mankind,  we  must  not  refuse 
to  consider  it  out  of  a  forced  austerity. 

The  fundamentals  of  every  moral  system  are 
liberty  and  justice;  and  abstract  ethics,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  art  of  life  in  general,  is  a 
kind  of  impersonal  science  of  the  conditions  under 
which  all  the  types  are  bound  to  live  in  common. 
In  the  present  state  of  affairs,  however,  the 
author  naturally  expatiates  into  concrete  ethics 
and  politics,  giving  a  useful  summary  of  Kant's 
view.  The  moral  law  recognised  within  states 
should  be  extended  to  their  mutual  relations,  with 
the  aim  of  eternal  peace,  which  will  be  possible 
when  we  have  progressed  to  a  permanently 
superior  political  society.  But  he  did  not  postu- 
late a  world-state  so  much  as  a  family  of  states 
each  respecting  each  other's  individuality.  Fin- 
ally, on  the  last  page,  the  author  permits  himself 
a  legitimate  speculation,  perhaps  too  friendly,  in 
the  direction  of  reincarnation,  which  is  certainly 
one  feasible  way  of  resolving  many  moral  prob- 
lems. 

NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hohl  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  hi^  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Naturk.  No  notice  is 
taketi  of  anonymous  communications.] 

The    Method    of    Curves. 

The  expression  of  the  results  of  observations  and 
experiments  by  curves  became  common  during  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  One  of  the  first 
instances  was  given  by  Perkins  {Phil.  Trans.,  1826)  in 
a  paper  on  the  compressibility  of  water. 

Six  years  later  Sir  John  Herschel  (Trans.  Ast.  Soc, 
v.,  i)  gave  an  account  of  the  method  of  graphical 
construction  on  squared  paper  as  applicable  to  astro- 
nomical computations  and  physico-mathematical  in- 
quiries. 

"The  dates  in  years  and  decimals  are  measured  as 
abscissae,  and  the  angles  in  degrees  and  decimals  as 
ordinates.  The  next  step  is  to  draw  by  the  mere  judg- 
ment of  the  eye,  and  with  a  free  but  careful  hand,  not 
through  but  among  the  points,  a  curve  presenting  as 
few  and  slight  departures  from  them  as  possible,  con- 
sistently with  the  character  of  large  and  graceful 
sinuosity,  which  must  be  maintained  at  all  hazards. 

■'But  since  an  equal  trustworthiness  can  probably  not 
be  placed  on  all  the  observations,  we  must  take  care 
to  distinguish  those  points  which  correspond  to  ob- 
servations entitled  to  the  greatest  confidence,  such  as 
those  which  appear  to  have  been  made  under  pecu- 
liarly favourable  circumstances,  or  which  rest  upon 
the  average  of  a  very  great  number  of  individual 
measurements.  These  should  be  marked  on  the  chart 
in  some  special  manner  not  liable  to  be  mistaken,  and 
when  we  draw  the  curve  we  must  take  care  to  make 
it  pass  either  through  or  very  near  all  those  points 
which  are  thus  distinguished ;  or  at  least  to  deviate 
from  them  with  much  more  reluctance  than  from 
such  as  have  no  claim  to  our  peculiar  attention. 

"  By  substituting  the  curve  for  the  points  we  have 
made  a  nearer  approach  to  nature,  and  in  a  great 
measure  eliminated  errors  of  observation." 

A  few  years  later  Regnault  (Mem.  Acad.  Sci.,  1847, 
xxi.,  p.  316)  reduced  the  method  to  a  fine  art.  To  re- 
present the  expansion  of  mercury  he  used  four  copper 
sheets,  80  cm.  square,  each  divided  into  10,000  squares. 
Within  these  squares  values  were  marked  by  a  special 
dividing  engine,  one  bevelled  edge  of  the  heavy  base  of 
which  was  graduated  into  8  mm.  divisions  and  tenths. 
A  carriage  running  on  a  half-millimetre  screw,  the 
large  head  of  which  was  divided  into  50,  so  that 
001  mm.  could  be  accurately  measured,  carried  the 
burin.  Experimental  values  were  marked  by  the  inter- 
sections of  lines  drawn  by  the  burin.  A  free  curve 
was  drawn  by  Regnault,  which  was  completed  and 
engraved  by  an  artist.  Even  with  these  precautions 
a  constant  error  was  detected  in  the  last  plate. 

The  introduction  of  the  copper  plate  and  dividing 
engine  seems  to  conduce  to  the  accuracy  and  perman- 
ence of  the  record. 

The  method  has  been  rendered  more  easy  of  appli- 
cation and  possibly  more  accurate  by  the  introduction 
of  mechanically  ruled  paper,  a  good  sample  of  which 
of  French  manufacture  consists  of  sheets  a  metre 
square,  ruled  into  millimetre  squares,  each  edge  of 
which  is  divided  into  02  mm.  by  dots.  Free  hand- 
curves  have  also  been  more  or  less  replaced  by 
mechanically  cut  curves  and  flexible  laths. 

Notwithstanding-  the  very  general  use  of  the  method 
and  many  theoretical  accounts  of  it  (Whewell,  "  Nov. 
Org.  Ren.,"  1858,  p.  204;  Stanley  Jevons,  "Principles 


March  9,  19 16] 


NATURE 


33 


of  Science,"  1877,  p.  492),  culminating  in  the  admir-  : 
able  reports  of  Prof.  Hele-Shaw  (B.A.,  188-92)  "On  ' 
Graphic  Methods  in  Mechanical  Science,"  there  still  , 
seem  to  be  many  doubtful  points  in  the  theory  and  i 
practice  of  the  process ;  much  valuable  information 
has  never  been  published,  and  is  confined  to  individual  , 
workers,  while  the  few  attempts  which  have  been  1 
made  to  estimate  the  accuracy  attainable  have  given 
widely  different  results. 

The  following  questions  seem  to  present  themselves  j 
mong  others  lor  consideration. 

What  is  the  best  material  for  a  diagram  sheet? 

Mechanically  ruled  paper  is  by  far  the  most  gener- 
iilly  used,  but  it  is  not  ver\-  permanent  and  is  apt  to  be 
injured    by    the    points     of     measuring     instruments.   . 
Possibly  the  best  material  would  be  ordinary,  white, 
or  blue  glass,   which  alters  very  little  with  time,  has 

low  coefficient  of  linear  expansion,  <ooc)o  009,  and 
~   not  easily  scratched.     The  requisite  lines  could  be  ; 
marked  by  a  diamond,  carborundum  wheel,  or  sf>ecial 
ink;  or  the  whole  plate  might  be  varnished,  the  lines 
then  drawn  on  the  varnish  and  etched  in. 

Does  the  colour  of  the  sheet  or  ink  make  any 
difference  in  the  accuracy  or  ease  of  the  work? 

Babbage  found  that  black  on  green  conduces  to  ease 
and  accuracy  in  the  use  of  tables.  Chocolate  on  white 
IS  said  to  be  more  legible  than  black  on  white. 

Is  it  more  advantageous  to  work  with  lines  as  fine 
as  consistent  with  visibility,  or  always  to  the  same 
edge  of  thicker  and  more  visible  lines? 

Is  there  a  limit  of  size,  say,  about  a  square  metre, 
beyond  which  increase  in  size  does  not  conduce  to 
accuracy  ? 

What  is  the  best  method  of  measuring  lengths  on 
diagrams?  What  is  the  effect  of  time  and  damp  on 
paper  sheets  and  of  change  of  temperature  on  metallic 
ones? 

A  difference  of  10°  C.  in  the  temperature  of  the 
room  would  alter  the  length  of  a  copper  sheet  by 
000017,  but  this  is  corrected  by  using  the  sheet  as 
the  measuring    instrument. 

What  is  the  best  form  of  lath?  Wood,  steel,  oc 
steel  backed  by  lead?  How  should  the  lath  be  he'd 
or  pinned? 

In  what  cases  are  other  forms  of  ruling,  such  as 
semi-logarithmic,  logarithmic,  triangular,  or  circular, 
advantageous  ? 

By  general  consent  the  curve  selected  should  show 
as  few  changes  of  curvature  as  possible  consistently 
■with  passing  through  or  near  the  great  majority  of 
the  experimental  points  and  lying  fairly  among  them. 
Suppose  one  or  more  points  lie  at  a  considerable  dis- 
tance from  the  cur\'e — is  this  due  to  experimental 
error  and  to  be  therefore  neglected? — to  a  rapid  but 
continuous  change  in  the  condition  of  the  substance 
under  examination,  to  be  represented  by  a  change  of 
curvature,  or  to  a  change  in  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
stance to  be  represented  by  a  break  and  a  new  curN'e? 

The  answer  to  these  questions  depends  upon  the 
estimate  which  the  experimenter  forms  of  the  "  error  " 
of  his  exoeriments.  One  may  consider  his  error  as 
large,  and  prefer  a  simple  curve  which  does  not  repre- 
sent his  results  very  exactly ;  another  may  deem  his 
error  less,  and  prefer  a  more  complicated  curve  pass- 
msr  more  nearlv  among  the  experimental  points ;  a 
third  may  consider  that  his  error  is  very  small,  and 
that  his  results  are  best  expressed  bv  tw'o  or  more 
simple  curves,  and  hence  assume  a  very  fundamental 
change  in  the  nature  of  the  substance. 

In  ver\'  accurate  work,  then,  the  exoerlmenter  is 
more  or  less  oblieed  to  estimate  or  determine  the 
error  of  his  observations,  and  much  has  been  written 
on  methods  for  the  purpose.  Most  experimenters 
seem   not   to   repeat   their   exoeriments    several   times 


under  as  nearly  as  possible  the  same  conditions,  with- 
out which  no  determination  of  the  error  is  possible, 
but  trust  to  subsequent  correction  by  the  curve.  The 
"probable  error"  is  generally  the  most  convenient; 
it  may  be  obtained  from  a  considerable  number  (n) 
of  observations  upon  a  single  quantity  by  finding  the 
residuals  (■y),  that  is,  the  excess  or  defect  of  each 
observation  from  the  arithmetical  mean,  adding  the 
squares  of  the  residuals  together,  dividing  the  sum 
of  the  squares  by  n  (n—  i),  and  multiplying  the  square 
root  by  067449,  o*"  ^-c  =  0-67449 v^^x;*/n(«— i). 

The  estimates  of  the  accuracy  attainable  are,  as 
might  be  exf>ected,  very  various.  It  is  stated  (J.S.C.I., 
xxii.,  1227)  that  a  density  determination,  such  as  that 
of  dilute  nitric  acid,  can  be  carried  to  i  part  in  75,000, 
and  this  claim  is  moderate. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  curious  to  find  (Clarke's 
Tables,  298)  that  the  results  for  the  density  of  chloro- 
form found  by  a  great  recent  experimenter  at  two 
different  temperatures  each  differ  by  about  i  part  in 
2500. 

It  is  perhaps  not  so  generally  recognised  that  the 
graphical  method  itself  introduces  a  fresh  series  of 
errors  which  may  be  quite  comparable  in  magnitude 
with,  or  even  greater  than,  those  incidental  to  careful 
t.-.\periments. 

Every  graphical  reduction  comprises  five  operations, 
each  liable  to  error — measurement  of  the  abscissae, 
measurement  of  the  ordinates,  drawing  the  curve, 
measurement  of  the  abscissa,  and  of  the  ordinate  of 
the  new  value  required.  Hele-Shaw  remarks  that 
the  results  given  by  the  use  of  graphical  methods 
cannot  be  regarded  as  very  accurate,  and  quotes  Ponce- 
let  and  Culmann  :— "The  constructing  engineer  will 
give  preference  to  geometrical  solutions  whenever  an 
accuracy  of  results  up  to  three  decimals  (one- 
thousandth),  which  can  be  perfectly  well  obtained,  is 
sufficient."  By  mechanical  engineers  about  1/2000 
seems  to  be  considered  the  limit  of  accuracy.  To 
take  the  simple  case  of  ordinary  rectangular  co-ordin- 
ates, the  draftsman  depends  upon  the  accuracy  of  the 
machine  ruling.  Suppose  an  ordinate  is  i'  out  of  the 
perpendicular,  the  measured  abscissa  is  too  long  or 
too  short  by  1/3400  of  the  length  of  the  ordinate. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  to  make  a  valid  estimate 
of  the  error  introduced  by  a  graphical  reduction,  de- 
pending as  it  does  upon  individual  eyesight  and  hands. 
Good  eyes  can  distinguish  a  tenth  of  a  millimetre 
between  two  points,  but  age,  accompanied  as  it  too 
often  is  by  astigmatism,  may  much  impair  this  esti- 
mate. 

Stanley  Jevons  attempted  to  find  the  value  of  a-  by 
the  careful  use  of  compasses ;  he  did  not  come  nearer 
than  1/540.  -He  does  not  mention  which  of  the 
numerous  approximate  constructions  he  used. 

To  obtain  the  probable  error  of  the  exf>eriments  and 
reduction,  the  square  root  of  the  sum  of  the  squares 
of  the  separate  sets  of  residuals  must  be  taken. 

The  adequate  estimation  of  the  errors,  both  of  the 
results  and  the  reduction,  becomes  of  still  greater 
importance  when  it  is  attempted  to  establish  breaks 
in  the  curve  and  discontinuity  in  the  results  by  ob- 
taining differential  coefficients  from  the  equation  to 
the  curve,  by  plotting  differences,  or  by  mechanical 
means  (Proc.  R.S.E.,  May,  1904).  It  must  also  be 
remembered  that  each  of  these  processes  introduces 
ri  new  series  of  errors  of  its  own,  and  mav  apparently 
increase  the  original  errors,  which  are  more  or  less 
removed  by  the  first  curve. 

Each  experimental  result  is  represented  by  a  point, 
and  however  much  the  scale  of  the  diagram  is  en- 
Inreed  these  points  remain  points,  and  mav  give  a 
false  appearance  of  accuracy.  In  very  accurate  work 
would    it    not   be    \vx>rth    while   to    extend    Herschel's 


34 


NATURL 


[March  9,  19 16 


suggestion  and  determine  the  probable  error  of  each 
experimental  result?  Each  result  could  then  be  ex- 
pressed by  a  circle  the  radius  of  which  is  equal  to 
half  the  probable  error,  and  which  would  increase  with 
ithe  size  of  the  diagram.  If  another  experiment  be 
made  under  similar  conditions  it  is  about  an  equal 
chance  that  it  falls  within  or  without  the  circle,  which 
therefore  affords  a  measure  of  the  precision  of  the 
observations.  Since  there  is  little  evidence  against 
any  curve  which  cuts  the  circle,  the  variations  in  size 
might  profoundly  modify  the  opinion  of  the  drafts- 
man as  to  the  direction  of  his  curve. 

Sydney   Lupton. 


Ground    Rainbows. 

I  HAVE  seen  with  pleasure  Mr.  Heath's  clear  and 
instructive  letter  and  diagrams  on  this  subject  in 
N.-VTURE  of  March  2.  Some  fourteen  years  ago  I  cal- 
culated the  altitudes  of  the  sun  required  to  produce 
the  elliptic  and  other  arcs,  and  obtained  results  in 
agreement  with  Mr.  Heath's,  except  that  I  took  41° 
instead  of  42°  for  the  semi-angle  of  the  cone. 

For  Petersfield,  at  11  a.m.  on  October  14,  1915, 
the  sun's  altitude,  23°,  appears  to  be  somewhat  under- 
estimated, and  I  make  it  just  above  30°,  but  this,  of 
course,  leaves  the  bow  still  hyperbolic. 

I  was  led  to  consideration  of  the  curves  for  the 
ground  rainbow  when  seeking  for  a  reason  why  the 
sky  rainbow  is  seen  always  circular,  though,  when  the 
sun  is  not  on  the  horizon,  the  bow  might  perhaps 
have  been  expected  to  appear  elliptical,  the  circle  being 
projected  into  an  ellipse  on  a  plane  perpendicular  to 
a  sight-line,  assumed  horizontal. 

I  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  there  being  no  definite 
plane  of  reference  in  the  sky,  and  the  rays  being 
parallel,  there  is,  as  it  were,  no  element  of  definite 
distance  involved,  so  that  the  sky  bow  always  appears 
circular.  But  for  the  ground  bow  we  have  a  definite 
horizontal  plane  of  reference,  so  that  this  bow  becomes 
a  conic  section,  varying  with  the  sun's  altitude. 

I  had  some  interesting  correspondence  at  the  time 
with  the  late  Sir  G.  G.  Stokes,  and  I  may  perhaps 
quote  from  one  of  his  letters,  dated  August  22,  1902, 
only  six  months  before  his  death.  Replying  to  my 
question  as  to  whether  a  dew  bow  is  seen  as  a  circle 
or  an  ellipse,  he  wrote  : — 

"  It  is  a  question  of  the  combination  of  sensation 
and  expectation.  In  a  dew  bow  we  are  impressed  with 
the  idea  that  the  luminosity  we  see  is  spread  over  a 
horizontal  plane ;  and  we  tacitly  ask  ourselves  the 
question  :  What  must  be  the  actual  form  of  the  locus 
of  the  drops  on  the  grass  in  order  that  the  luminosity 
mav  appear  as  it  does?  The  answer,  of  course,  is,  an 
ellipse,  or  it  might  be  an  hyperbola.  If  the  question 
be  :  As  what  do  we  see  the  bow?  the  answer  depends 
on  a  combination  of  sensation  with  interpretation  of 
sensation.  If  we  merely  saw  the  luminosity,  and 
knew  absolutely  nothing  about  its  history,  we  should 
never  think  of  anything  but  circularity  about  it." 

I  have  often  looked  for  a  ground  bow,  but  have 
never  been  fortunate  enough  to  see  one. 

Observing  a  fine  lunar  rainbow  on  January  21,  I 
found  the  light  to  be  polarised  in  planes  passing 
through  the  point  looked  at  and  the  radius  at  the 
point,  just  as  is  the  case  with  the  solar  rainbow.  I 
hope  that  Mr.  Heath  will  test  the  next,  eround  bow 
with  a  NIcol  prism.  C.  T.  Whitmeu.. 

Invermay,  Hyde  Park,  Leeds,  March  3. 


In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Roval  Society  of  Edin- 
burgh, vol.  vli.  (1869-70)  Clerk  Maxwell  has  a  short 
note  on  a  bow  .seen  on  the  surface  of  ice.  This  was 
observed  on  January  26,  1870,  on  the  frozen  surface  of 

NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


the  ditch  which  surrounds  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge. Maxwell  remarks,  "  How  a  drop  of  water  can 
lie  upon  ice  without  wetting  it  and  losing  its  shape 
altogether  1  cannot  profess  to  explain."  in  1898,  in 
vol.  xxii.  of  the  same  Proceedings  (1898)  there  is  a 
note  on  dew  bows  by  Dr.  R.  A.  Lundie  and  myself. 
These  were  produced  at  night  on  the  ground,  the 
source  of  light  being  the  gas  lamp  or  electric  light 
of  the  street.  .\  short  account  will  be  found  in  N.\ture 
of  Januarv   \2,   1899  (vol.  lix.,  p.  263). 

C.  G.  Knott. 
Royal  Socieiy,   Edinburgli,  March  4. 

Science  and  the  State. 

Referring  to  Prof.  Cohen's  letter  in  Nature  of 
March  2,  it  may  not  be  untimely  to  cite  another  para- 
graph written  in  1831  re  neglect  of  science  in  this 
country.  Sir  David  Brewster,  in  his  "Life  of  New- 
ton," published  In  that  year,  says  : — 

"  But  what  avails  the  enthusiasm  and  efforts  of 
individual  minds  in  the  Intellectual  rivalry  of  nations? 
When  the  proud  science  of  England  pines  In  obscurity, 
blighted  by  the  absence  of  the  royal  favour,  and  of  the 
nation's  sympathy — when  its  chivalry  fall  unwept  and 
unhonoured — how  can  it  sustain  the  conflict  against 
the  honoured  and  marshalled  genius  of  foreign  lands?" 

The  position  to-day  is  fortunately  not  quite  so  bad 
as  here  indicated  by  Brewster,  but  is  it  not  still  the 
case  that,  in  the  words  of  Sir  Archibald  Gclkie,  science 
rests  under  an  incubus  of  apathy  and  indifference? 
Expansion  of  science  and  national  evolution  are  two 
matters  that  In  the  opinion  of  the  writer  are  intimately 
bound  up  one  with  the  other.  Neglect  of  the  former 
really  means  inhibition  of  political  progress. 

David   Balsillie. 

Greyfrlars  Garden,  St.  Andrews,  March  4. 

THE  NATIONAL  IMPORTANCE   OF   THE 
DYE  INDUSTRY. 

AT  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Bradford  Dyers'" 
Association  held  on  February  28  the  chair- 
man of  the  directors,  Mr.  Milton  S.  Sharp,  made 
a  highly  interesting-  statement  on  the  national 
position  with  regard  to  the  supply  of  dyes.  He 
described  with  great  force  and  clearness  the  close 
connection  between  the  manufacture  of  dyes  and 
high  explosives,  and  pointed  out  how  Germany 
by  reason  of  her  huge,  highly  organised,  and  ably 
administered  colour  works,  producing  all  the  raw 
materials  for  the  making  of  high  explosives,  was 
able  immediately  to  divert  much  of  their  plant 
to  war  purposes.  He  paid  a  high  tribute  to  Lord 
Moulton  and  the  High  Explosives  Department  for 
their  services,  the  value  of  which,  he  said,  the 
country  will  probably  never  know-,  in  improvising 
the  manufacture  of  high  explosives.  He  urged  that 
whatever  it  involves,  we  must  establish  the  aniline 
dye  industry  in  this  country,  so  that  in  case  of 
war  we  may  have  the  ability  to  produce  quickly 
any  amount  of  high  explosives  the  Army  or  Navy 
may  need.  The  extensions  of  plant  that  have  been 
made  for  the  temporary  purpose  of  manufacturing- 
high  explosives  will,  he  says,  make  a  long  and 
essential  step  towards  the  colour  industry,  and  to 
break  them  up  after  the  war  would  be  little  short 
of  criminal  folly.  Mr.  Sharp  quoted  some  effective 
examples  of  German  activity  in  relation  to  the 
chemical   service  of  the  war.      He  alluded  to  one 


March  9,  19 16] 


NATURE 


35 


colour  works  with  14,000  men,  and  another  with 
9000,  now  engaged  wholly  in  the  manufacture  ot 
high  explosives ;  to  the  fact  that  75  per  cent,  of  the 
German  collieries  have  coke  ovens  installed ;  to 
the  synthetic  production  of  200,000  tons  per 
annum  of  ammonia,  and  the  conversion  of  am- 
monia into  nitric  acid. 

Great  praise  was  given  by  Mr.  Sharp  to  the 
efforts  of  the  older  dye-makers  in  this  country  and 
to  the  new  British  Dyes  (Limited)  for  their  efforts 
to  augment  the  supply  of  dyes,  and  of  the  Swiss 
makers  he  said  that  he  dare  not  contemplate  what 
our  position  would  have  been  during  the  last 
eightten  months  without  their  aid.  Alluding  to  the 
desirabifity  of  greater  sympathy  and  closer  co- 
operation between  dye-users  and  dye-makers,  he 
quoted  the  example  of  a  firm  with  which  the  Brad- 
ford Dyers'  Association  had  been  in  close  asso- 
ciation, and  with  which  shortly  before  the  war 
they  had  placed  a  contract  for  1000  tons  of  a 
colour  previously  obtained  from  the  only  maker 
in  Germany. 

The  general  and  fiscal  policy  urged  by  the  direc- 
tors of  the  Bradford  Dyers  is  the  appropriation 
by  Government  for  a  term  of  years  of  a  grant-in- 
aid  of  500,000/.,  to  be  administered  by  a  commis- 
sion charged  with  the  duty  of  securing-  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  industry  in  this  country  by  grants 
on  production  and  for  enterprise  and  initiative. 
Such  a  commission,  they  think,  with  enterprising, 
energetic,  and  fearless  leadership,  would  secure 
the  establishment  of  the  industry  in  this  country, 
not  only  on  less  debatable  lines,  but  alsp  much 
more  quickly  than  by  import  duties.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  import  duties,  however,  it  is  thought 
essential  to  have  most  stringent  provisions  to  pre- 
vent dumping.  Whether  import  duties  are  im- 
posed or  not,  the  directors  feel  that  special  and 
extraordinary  aid  is  needed,  and  they  believe  that 
such  a  commission  would  make  the  removal  of 
dependence  on  Germany  more  certain  than  could 
possibly  be  hoped  for  by  leaving  British  colour- 
makers  to  their  own  unaided  and  unco-ordinated 
efforts. 

Mr.  Sharp's  speech  is  a  weighty  utterance, 
remarkable  for  the  clear  perception  of  the  grave 
national  and  scientific  implications  of  the  dye 
question ;  and  such  pronouncements  from  our  lead- 
ing industrialists  cannot  be  over-valued  for  their 
influence  in  giving  to  the  public  a  just  perspective. 


WOOD  PULPS  FOR  PAPER-MAKIXG. 

TN  the  revision  of  values,  moral  and  material, 
^  which  is  imposed  upon  us  under  the  present 
awakening  to  a  new  order  of  realities,  it  is  recog- 
nised that  we  have  to  create  in  and  for  the  empire 
a  definitive  industrial  science,  and  a  co-ordinated 
scientific  industr}-.  To  contribute  to  this  effec- 
tually, science  has  to  concentrate  the  trained  mind 
upon  manufactures,  so  as  to  grapple  with  its 
I  problems  by  scientific  method,  which  is  quantita- 
tive qua  matter  and  energy,  and  comprehensive 
qua  the  moral  and  political  factors  of  production. 
Manufacturers  and  business  men  have  the  more 


diflficult  task  of  undertaking  a  whole-hearted  study 
of  science  so  as  at  least  to  arrive  at  a  clear  grasp 
of  what  this  comprehensive  term  connotes  in  the 
creative  influences  of  the  old  order,  and  the 
potential  directing  genius  of  the  new.  Both  parties 
to  the  new  order  would  be  thus  reciprocally 
enlightened  as  a  necessary  preparation  for  earnest 
co-operation. 

In  either  direction  of  inquiry  it  is  necessary  to 
set  out  from  clear  perspectives  of  related  values, 
and  it  is  self-evident  that  those  of  the  natural  order 
claim  first  attention.  Thus,  in  the  organic  world, 
cellulose,  starch,  and  sugar  represent  primary 
values  of  preponderating  importance.  The  in- 
dustries based  upon  cellulose,  starch,  and  sugar  : 
their  production  by  agriculture,  their  transforma- 
tion by  mechanical  and  chemical  means  into  the 
derived  forms  in  which  they  are  actually  used, 
together  with  the  countless  dependent  industries 
of  w'hich  these  derivatives  are  in  turn  but  the  raw 
materials,  constitute  an  industrial  aggregate  which 
represents,  say,  one-half  of  the  productive  energy 
of  the  community.  An  unprejudiced  view  of  the 
wider  relations  of  these  industries  would  also  re- 
cognise that  Great  Britain  has  well  maintained  a 
premier  position  in  their  more  important  sections, 
as  'well  as  in  their  later  and  more  definitely 
scientific  developments. 

This  result  is  due  to  ordinary  scientific,  tech- 
nical, and  business  enterprise,  and  the  activity  of 
individual  pioneers,  not  to  any  conscious  or  co- 
ordinated movement  towards  preposed  objectives. 
More  particularly  is  this  true  of  the  cellulose  indus- 
tries, which  comprise  colossal  textile  manu- 
factures :  paper-making,  and  such  special  manu- 
factures as  nitrocellulose  and  high  explosives, 
celluloid,  and  artificial  silk ;  the  latter,  which  is 
the  youngest — in  fact  a  twentieth-century  pro- 
duct— rapidly  growing  from  an  article  de  luxe  to 
the  position  of  a  staple  textile. 

There  is  one  feature  of  these  industries  which 
marks  them  for  special  consideration  in  relation 
to  the  new  order  to  which  the  civilised  world  is 
shaping  or  being  shaped ;  that  is,  their  almost 
complete  dependence  upon  exotic  raw  materials. 
In  the  new^  order  of  co-ordinated  industrial 
objectives  how  are  we  to  deal  with  the  present 
condition  of  dependence  for  essential  raw 
materials? 

This  is  much  too  vast  a  question  to  be  dis- 
cussed within  the  necessar}'  limits  of  the  present 
article.  We  must  be  satisfied  to  treat  a  single 
typical  case  :  and  w-e  select  the  paper-making  in- 
dustry. The  modern  expansion  of  this  industrv 
in  Great  Britain  has  been  conditioned  by  the 
discovery  of  new  forms  of  raw  material,  chiefly  of 
esparto  grass  (1861),  and  the  wood  pulps  (1880). 

The  importation  of  esparto  in  the  period  1861- 
1883  steadily  increased  to  200,000  tons,  at  which 
figure  it  remains  constant,  with  a  variation  of 
5000  tons.  The  wood  pulps,  on  the  other  hand, 
show  a  uniform  progressive  increase,  and  in  1917 
the  figures  reached  : — 

Tons 

"  Chemicar'  pulps,  i.e.,  wood  celluloses    400,000 

"  Meclianicar' pulps,  7>.,  ground  wood     280,000 


NATURE 


[March  9,  19 16 


The  technical  and  commercial  points  repre- 
sented in  these  figures  are  as  follows  :^ — -(i)  the 
enormously  increased  production  of  paper  has 
been  mainly  conditioned  by  the  utilisation  of  wood 
pulps;  (2)  esparto  rapidly  displaced  rags  in  the 
production  of  printing  and  writing  papers :  it 
established  new  qualities  in  papers  of  this  class, 
producing  very  fine  printing  surface  with  "bulk." 
(3)  The  wood  pulps  (celluloses)  were  adopted  not 
only  on  their  quality  or  merits,  as  celluloses,  but 
being  obtained  from  a  massive  material,  they 
were  produced  in  a  state  of  exceptional  cleanli- 
ness, and  by  economical  processes. 

Moreover,  the  paper-maker  found  himself  pro- 
vided with  a  half-stuff,  clean,  cheap,  and  in  pre- 
sumably unlimited  quantities.  It  will  be  appre- 
ciated that  a  "  half-stuff "  is  half-manufactured 
stuff,  and  its  introduction  displaces  the  chemical 
pulping  of  actual  raw  material.  Hence,  a  pro- 
gressive and  two-fold  dependence  of  our  paper 
mills  upon  exotic  supplies.  This  point  is  very 
clearly  emphasised  by  the  statistics  of  the  census 
of  production. 

In  the  censal  year  (1907)  the  gross  output  of 
our  paper-mills  was   in  value    13,621,000/. 

In  that  year  we  imported  : — 

Tons  £ 

Wood  pulps  :  chemical  and 

mechanical  ...         ...         672,500      ...      3,312,347 

Esparto         202,253      ...  738,834 

This  represented  about  80  per  cent,  of  the  total 
of  raw  materials  consumed.  We  imported  of 
fully  manufactured  products,  i.e.,  papers  and 
boards,  to  the  value  of  5,362,000^,  so  that  our 
home  production  was  70  per  cent,  of  our  con- 
sumption. 

The  rate  of  increase  of  our  importation  of  raw 
materials  will  be  seen  by  comparison  with  the 
subjoined  figures  for  191 2. 

£ 

Esparto       ...  743,354 

W     d      1   /chemical  3,200,000 

P    "(mechanical      ...         ...       1,220,000 

Linen  and  cotton  rags         ...         ...  312,351 

Miscellaneous  ...         ...         ...  318,700 


Total 


5,794,405 


The  wood  pulps  thus  representing  70-80  per 
cent,  of  the  raw  material  for  this  important  in- 
dustry, the  question  arises.  Can  we  advantageously 
produce  this  quantity  within  the  empire?  That  we 
have  a  sufficiency  of  forest  area  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  In  his  estimates  of  the  forest  areas  of  the 
world,  Schlich  assigns  to  Canada  800  millions  of 
acres,  whereas  Germany,  which  may  be  regarded 
as  self-contained  in  regard  to  wood-pulp  produc- 
tion, has  a  forest  area  of  only  35,000,000  acres. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  state  the  average  re- 
quired to  supply  pulp  for  producing  300  tons  per 
week  of  newspaper.  This  is  generally  estimated 
at  2500  acres  per  annum;  a  forest  area  of  100,000 
acres  would  therefore  mean  a  forty  years'  supply, 
and  as  fortv  years  is  the  period  for  the  spruce  to 
reproduce  itself  fully  in  well-matured  timber,  it  is 
clear  that  a  mill  of  such  dimensions  in  the  centre 
of  this  area  is  a  "self-contained  prop)osition." 

NO.    2419,   VOL.    97] 


It  is  evident  that  Canada  under  a  system  of 
organised  forestry  is  capable  of  meeting  our  full 
requirements.  In  further  evidence  of  her  pro- 
ductive capabilities  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  she  is 
already  responsible  for  about  one-stxth  of  the 
world's  production,  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
following  figures  for  1907-1908  : — 

Annual  Production    of    Wood   Pulp   for    Various- 
Countries,     calculated    on     the     Air     Dry     Basis 
(1907- 1 908). 


Mechanical  pulp 

Chemical  pulp 

Total  annual 

Country 

Air  dry  ions 

Air  d  y  tons 

pr  .iiuction 

Germany 

315,000      .. 

320,000      .. 

635,000 

Norway 

421,000      .. 

270,000      .. 

691,000 

Sweden 

78,000      .. 

5 1 0,000     . . 

588,000 

Finland 

69,000      .. 

52,000      .. 

1  2  1 ,000 

America 

868.000      .. 

988,000       . 

.       1,856,000- 

Canada 

565,000      .. 

172,000      .. 

737,000 

2,316,000  2,312,000     ...     4,628,00a 

Under  present  conditions  (1914)  there  is  little  exportation   of  Canadian 
pull)  to  Kurope,  and  ihi>  small  proportion  is  iiie^hatiical  pulp. 

As  to  our  own  islands,  the  question  of  afforesta- 
tion was  investigated  by  a  Commission,  which 
published  its  report  in  1909.  The  Commission 
concluded  that  the  available  area  was  9,000,000 
acres,  which  would  absorb  for  development  an 
annual  sum  of  2,ooo,oooL  ;  in  forty  years  the' 
self-supporting  stage  is  reached.  After  eighty 
years  the  revenue  was  estimated  to  reach 
17,500,000^,  representing  3!  per  cent,  on  the  net 
cost,  calculated  at  compound  interest  (3  per  cent.). 

The  question  of  esparto,  if  raised  from  this 
political  point  of  view,  is  either  that  of  finding 
substitutes  of  indigenous  origin,  i.e.,  within  the 
empire,  or  of  cultural  experiments  towards  its 
establishment  in  selected  areas  afTording  similar 
conditions  as  obtain  in  the  Mediterranean  littoral. 

On  the  former  problem,  attention  should  be 
directed  to  the  work  of  the  Imperial  Institute,  and 
the  record  of  its  many  investigations  of  potential 
supplies  of  paper-making  material.  In  the 
Journal  of  the  Institute  there  are  many  of  these 
reports  on  fibrous  materials;  from  India,  South 
and  East  Africa,  the  Sudan,  British  West  Indies, 
British  Guiana,  and  the  Malay  States.  If  an 
"  Imperial  opportunity  "  is  judged  to  have  pre- 
sented itself  in  the  matter  of  a  supply  of  these 
raw  materials  within  the  Empire,  advantage  may 
well  be  taken  of  the  excellent  work  of  the  Institute. 

It  is  characteristic  of  our  political  "method" 
to  leave  everything  industrial,  technical,  and 
scientific  to  individual  enterprise,  whether  of 
persons  or  corporations ;  and  in  this  region  of 
fibrous  raw  materials,  whether  for  paper  or  tex- 
tiles, we  have  come  through  under  the  old  order 
with  some  success,  and  not  a  few  conspicuous 
successes.  In  this  region,  moreover,  we  owe 
nothing  of  moment  to  "German  method,"  and  we 
are  not  under  any  moral  pressure  to  advertise  it 
by  reiterated  comparisons.  But  we  are  conscious 
of  a  new  order  under  which  we  have  to  co-ordinate 
our  industries.  In  the  small  section  under  con- 
sideration much  work  has  been  done  by  individuals 
and  corporations — prophetic  individuals  and  some 
profit-earning    corporations — much    material    has 


March  9,  1916] 


NATURE 


Z7 


tccumulated,  and  it  is  open  to  a  political  pioneer, 
not  necessarily  a  lawyer,  to  take  in  hand  a  matter 
which  affects  immediately  an  imjxirtant  section  of 
our  industrial  community — labour  and  capital. 

Should  a  definite  organisation  result  it  would 
probably  be  extended  to  embrace  the  whole  range 
of  vegetable  textile  materials  which  we  estimate 
to  affect  directly  the  interests  of  one-third  of  the 
working-  community.  C.  F.  Cross. 


PROF.  ].  W.  JUDD,  C.B.,  F.R.S. 

MANY  will  regret  to  hear  of  the  death  of 
Prof.  John  Wesley  Judd  on  March  3  at 
his  home  in  Kew,  after  some  months  of  illness. 
He  was  born  at  Portsmouth  on  February  18,  1840, 
but  in  his  eighth  year  went  to  London  with  his 
father.  There  he  attended  a  school  in  Camber- 
well,  and  at  an  early  age  showed  a  love  for 
astronomy  and  geology.  When  grown  up  he 
accepted  a  mastership  in  a  school  at  Horncastle, 
Lincolnshire,  where  his  spare  time  was  devoted 
to  chemistry  and  geology'.  In  1863  he  became  a 
student  at  the  Royal  School  of  Mines,  after  which 
he  took  the  post  of  analytical  chemist  in  some 
important  iron  and  steel  works  in  Sheffield.  There 
began,  in  1864,  his  friendship  with  H.  C.  Sorby, 
who  imparted  to  him  his  newly-devised  methods 
of  petrological  study,  but  his  work  in  that  city 
was  brought  to  an  end  by  a  railway  accident, 
which  for  a  long  time  compelled  him  to  abstain 
from  continuous  labour,  so  he  resumed  his  geo- 
logical studies  in  Lincolnshire. 

In  1867  Judd  joined  the  Geological  Survey,  and 
for  the  next  four  years  was  engaged  in  mapping 
Rutlandshire,  with  parts  of  the  adjoining  counties. 
But  in  1 87 1  a  desire  for  greater  freedom  led  him 
to  accept  an  offer  of  temporary  employment  in 
the  Education  Department,  and  during  this  time 
began  his  studies  of  the  W^ealden  deposits.  When 
this  work  had  come  to  an  end,  he  devoted  himself 
to  investigating  the  Triassic  and  Jurassic  deposits 
in  Scotland  and  of  the  igneous  rocks  so  grandly  dis- 
played in  its  western  islands.  This  was  a  difficult 
task,  owing  to  the  want  of  good  maps  and  to 
travel  in  that  part  of  Scotland  being  less  easy  than 
at  the  present  time.  The  result  was  a  group  of 
important  papers,  the  first  of  which  appeared  in 

^873- 

These  attracted  much  attention  and  led  to 
friendships  with  Charles  Lyell,  Poulett  Scrope,  and 
Charles  Darwin,  the  second  of  whom  commis- 
sioned him  to  carry  on  an  investigation  of  the 
volcanic  districts  of  Europe,  which  he  had  been 
obliged  to  abandon.  In  April,  1874,  Judd  visited 
the  Lipari  Islands,  going  on  to  Vesuvius, 
the  Phlegraean  fields,  and  the  adjacent  volcanic 
district.  He  also  studied  the  Ponza  Islands,  on 
which  Scrope  had  published  an  important  paper 
in  1827,  with  the  great  crater  lakes  of  Central 
Italy,  the  Euganean  Hills,  and  the  volcanic  dis- 
tricts of  Hungary.  After  his  return  to  England 
he  was  appointed,  in  1876,  professor  at  the  Royal 
School  of  Mines  in  succession  to  Sir  Andrew 
Ramsay.     He  at  once  began  to  organise  the  teach- 

NO.    2419,   VOL.   97] 


ing,  but  there  was  not  room  at  Jermyn  Street  to 
do  this  effectively,  so  his  department  was  soon 
transferred  to  South  Kensington,  and  ultimately 
lodged  in  galleries  which  had  been  constructed  for 
the  1862  Exhibition.  There  he  established  a  com- 
plete system  of  instruction,  which  was  then 
unequalled  and  has  never  been  surpassed  in  this 
country,  and,  in  addition  to  this,  his  lucidity, 
patience,  and  kindness  as  a  teiacher  secured  him 
a  full  and  attentive  classroom.  In  1896  he  became 
Dean  of  the  Royal  College  of  Science,  and  in  1905 
retired  under  the  rule  of  age.  It  is  painful  to 
add  that,  after  accomplishing  so  great  a  work, 
the  officials  of  the  Government  awarded  him  a 
lower  pension  than  he  had  expected,  on  a  pretext 
which,  if  in  accordance  with  the  letter  of  a  law, 
was  certainly  inequitable. 

Judd   was   elected   a  fellow   of    the    Geological 

Society  in  1865,  was  secretary  from  1878  to  1886, 

and  president  from  the  latter  year  until  1888.      In 

1891  he  received  the  WoHaston  medal.      He  was 

elected  F.R.S.   in   1877,  and  twice  served  on  the 

council.     In  1885  he  was  president  of  Section  C, 

when   the    British   Association   met   at   Aberdeen, 

and   subsequently   received  the   degree   of   LL.D. 

from  that  university.      In   1895  he  was  created  a 

C.B. ,  and  in  1913  was  made  an  emeritus  professor 

of  the  Royal  College  of  Science.     He  married  in 

!   1878  Jeannie  Frances  Jeyes,  niece  of  a  well-known 

I  Northamptonshire  geologist,  who  with  a  son  and 

j  a  daughter  survive  him. 

I  A  list  of  Judd's  geological  papers  up  to  1905 
I  (after  which  they  become  rather  infrequent)  is 
added  to  a  biography  in  the  Geological  Magazine 
for  1905.  The  majority  fall  into  groups,  deter- 
mined by  his  successive  fields  of  work,  almost  all 
appearing  in  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Geo- 
logical Society  or  the  Geological  Magazine.  The 
first  group  contains  papers  on  the  Neocomian,  the 
most  noteworthy  clearing  away  many  difficulties 
from  the  Speeton  Clay,  and  showing  its  relation 
to  the  Neocomian  beds  of  the  Lincolnshire  wolds 
and  of  North  Central  Europe.  Another  and  most 
important  group  of  papers  deals  with  the  Italian 
islands,  mentioned  above,  the  crater  lakes  of 
Central  Italy,  and  Lake  Balaton,  with  the  old 
volcano  of  Schemnitz  in  Hungary,  after  which  the 
older  volcanic  districts,  especially  those  connected 
with  the  Alpine  system,  are  discussed.  A  third 
not  less  important  group  refers  to  Scotland,  in 
which  he  investigated  sundry  igneous  rocks  on 
the  mainland  and  those  of  Tertiary  age  in  Skye 
and  other  islands  of  the  western  coast.  These 
papers  put  an  end  to  many  misunderstandings  and 
added  much  to  our  knowledge,  although  his  view 
that  the  gabbro  is  later  than  the  granite  has  not 
been  accepted  by  the  Survey.  That  also,  ex- 
pressed in  two  papers,  on  the  relation  of  thefluvio- 
marine  beds  of  Headon  Hill  and  Colwell  Bay  in 
the  Isle  of  Wight  has  not  found  favour,  but  the 
two  on  deep  borings  in  the  London  district  added 
much  to  our  knowledge  of  the  underground  geo- 
logy of  south-eastern  England. 

For  minor  papers  we  must  refer  to  the  above- 
named  list,  but  must  not  forget  his  presidential 


38 


NATURE 


[March  9,  1916 


address;  the  one  on  past  and  present  relations 
between  geology  and  mineralogy,  the  other  on 
those  between  mineralogy  and  palaeontology, 
where  he  attributed  life  to  crystals,  or  his  study 
of  the  borings  in  the  Nile  Delta,  his  petrological 
investigations  of  the  rocks  ejected  from  Krakatoa 
in  1883,  and  his  studies  of  the  materials  from  the 
Funafuti  borings,  all  published  by  the  Royal 
Society.  The  last  involved  much  organisation,  of 
which  he  took  the  lion's  share.  The  Survey 
memoir  on  the  geology  of  Rutland  (1875)  was 
written  by  him,  and  a  small  but  excellent  book 
on  volcanoes  in  1878.  He  twice  revised  and  added 
much  to  Lyell's  "Students'  Elements  of  Geology  " 
{1896  and  191 1),  and  contributed  the  "Coming  of 
Evolution  "  to  a  Cambridge  series.  In  this  small 
volume  he  tells  the  story,  brightened  by  his  re- 
miniscences of  the  chief  actors,  in  a  most  attractive 
way.  He  was  a  man  whose  like  will  not  readily 
be  found.  T.  G.  Boxnev. 


DR.    PIERRE   CHAPPUIS-SARASIN. 

PHYSICAL  science  has  suffered  a  severe  loss 
in  the  death  of  Dr.  Pierre  Chappuis-Sarasin, 
formerly  of  the  Bureau  International  des  Poids  et 
Mesures  at  Sevres,  who  passed  away  at  Basle  on 
February  15, 

Dr.  Chappuis  was  born  in  Switzerland  in  1856, 
and  his  early  youth  was  spent  in  his  native 
country.  In  1881  he  joined  the  staff  of  the  Bureau 
International,  then  under  the  directorship  of  Dr. 
O.  J.  Broch.  One  of  the  most  important  early 
tasks  of  the  newly-founded  International  Com- 
mittee of  Weights  and  Measures  was  to  place 
upon  a  proper  basis  the  whole  system  of  the 
measurement  of  temperature,  to  define  with  pre- 
cision the  temperature-scale  to  which  all  measure- 
ments relating  to  length  and  mass  were  to  be 
referred,  and  to  set  up  the  necessary  ultimate 
standards.  The  classic  work  of  Regnault  and  of 
Rowland  had  shown  that  practical  realisation  of 
temperatures  by  the  gas-thermometer  depended 
on  the  working  limits  of  pressure  adopted  and 
the  choice  of  the  gas  selected  as  thermometric 
substance.  It  was  to  the  solution  of  the  problem 
of  a  satisfactory  ultimate  thermometric  standard 
that  Dr.  Chappuis  at  once  devoted  himself,  and 
his  brilliant  investigations  carried  on  at  the  Bureau 
over  a  perioB  of  more  than  twenty-two  years  have 
won  him  a  place  in  the  very  front  rank  of  physi- 
cists concerned  with  the  science  of  exact  measure- 
ment. His  classic  memoir  on  the  gas-thermo- 
meter published  in  vol.  vi.  of  the  "Travaux  et 
Memoires"  describes  his  researches  on  the  coeflfi- 
cient  of  expansion  of  different  gases  suitable  for 
thermometric  substances,  and  led  to  the  adoption 
by  the  International  Committee  in  1884  of  the 
fundamental   hydrogen  scale  of  temperature. 

Among  other  investigations  may  be  mentioned 
his  determination  of  the  volume  of  the  kilogram 
of  water,  employing  the  optical  methods  of  Benoit 
and  Michelson,  and  measurements  to  very  high 
precision  of  the  expansion  of  mercury  and  of 
water. 

Family  claims  and  the  call  of  his  native  moun- 

NO.    2419,   VOL.    97] 


tains  l6d  Chappuis  to  resign  his  connection  with 
the  Bureau  and  return  to  Switzerland  in  1903, 
adopting  the  additional  name  of  Sarasin,  to  which 
well-known  family  his  wife  belonged.  He  built 
himself  a  tine  private  laboratory  at  his  house  at 
Basle,  where  until  quite  lately  he  continued  his 
researches.  His  last  considerable  piece  of  work, 
hitherto  unpublished,  was  a  redetermination  of 
the  sulphur  boiling  point.  In  these  experiments 
the  quartz  reservoir  of  the  gas-thermometer  was 
directly  immersed  in  sulphur  vapour. 

M.  Chappuis  was  of  a  retiring  disposition,  dis- 
liking self-advertisement,  and  rarely  appeared  on 
scientific  platforms.  He  visited  the  British  Asso- 
ciation at  the  Dover  meeting.  It  is  impossible 
for  one  who  knew  him  well  to  conclude  this 
memoir  without  a  tribute  to  his  genial  disposition, 
his  indomitable  energy  and  high  personal  charac- 
ter. All  who  knew  him  in  his  hospitable  home  at 
Sevres  or  Basle  will  feel  they  have  lost  a  true 
friend.  J.  A.   Harker. 

A    COMMONWEALTH   INSTITUTE    OF 
SCIENCE   AND    INDUSTRY. 

WE  have  just  received  a  copy  of  the  report 
of  a  committee  appjointed  in  pursuance  of 
a  motion  passed  at  a  conference  convened  by  the 
Prime  Minister  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Australia 
that  "An  Advisory  Committee  be  constituted  to 
formulate  proposals  to  the  Government  to  estab- 
lish a  Commonwealth  Bureau  of  Science  and 
Industry."  The  members  of  the  committee  were: 
Representatives  of  universities  :- — Sydney — Sir 
T.  Anderson  Stuart;  Melbourne — Prof.  Orme 
Masson ;  Queensland — Prof.  A.  J.  Gibson ;  Ade- 
laide— Sir  Douglas  Mawson.  Interstate  Com- 
missioners : — Mr.  A.  B.  Piddington,  the  Hon. 
G.  "Swinburne.  The  Associated  Chambers  of 
Commerce  of  Australia  :■ — Mr.  W.  T;  Appleton. 
The  Associated  Chambers  of  Manufactures  of 
Australia  : — Mr.  W.  W.  Forwood,  Messrs.  G.  D. 
Delprat,  W.  P.  Wilkinson  (Commonwealth  ana- 
lyst), W.  S.  Robinson,  J.  M.  Higgins,  W.  Rus- 
sell Grimwade,  E.  W.  Knox.  Ex-officio  Mem- 
bers : — Prime  Minister  of  the  Commonwealth ; 
the  Hon.  F.  Hagelthorn,  Minister  of  Agriculture, 
Victoria;  the  Hon.  W.  Lennon,  Minister  of  Agri- 
culture, Queensland;  the  Hon.  C.  Goode,  Minis- 
ter  of   Agriculture,    South    Australia. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  committee  includes 
representatives  of  commerce  and  manufacture  as 
well  as  of  science  and  departments  of  State.  Wc 
understand  that  the  committee's  report,  which  is 
subjoined,  has  the  approval  of  the  Federal 
Government,  and  that  it  is  probable  a  Bill  will 
be  laid  before  the  Federal  Parliament  to  give 
efifect  to  the  recommendations  after  the  Prime 
Minister's  return  from  his  present  visit  to  Eng- 
land. The  proposals  of  the  committee  are  on 
lines  somewhat  similar  to  those  of  the  British 
Government's  scheme  for  the  organisation  and 
development  of  scientific  and  industrial  research. 
Primary  as  well  as  secondary  industries  are  in- 
cluded, and  particular  notice  may  be  directed  to 
the   recommendations   as   to  the  governing   body 


March  9,  19 16] 


NATURE 


39 


of  the  .proposed  institute,  by  which,  as  consis- 
tently advocated  in  our  columns,  the  balance  of 
power  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  men  of  science. 
We  are  fortunate  in  being  able  to  publish  this 
valuable  report. 

I. — Introduction. 

The  committee  appointed  in  pursuance  of  the  motion 
set  out  above  met  in  the  Cabinet  Room,  Common- 
wealth Offices,  on  January  6,  7,  8,  12,  and  13,  igi6. 

The  committee,  in  formulating  the  following 
scheme,  has  been  greatly  impressed  with  the  mag- 
nitude and  the  possibilities  of  the  proposals  made  by 
the  Prime  Minister,  and  is  strongly  of  opinion  that 
the  time  has  arrived  for  initiating  the  extensive 
!  scheme  of  scientific  research  work  in  connection  with 
industr}'  which  he  has  outlined. 

The  committee  is  convinced  that  the  results  of 
properly  conducted  investigations  into  many  of  the 
subjects  referred  to  in  his  address  will  amply  repay 
considerable  expenditure  and  fully  justify  a  bold  and 
comprehensive  policy  being  adopted.  Not  only  will 
the  results  be  a  greatly  increased  productivity  and  out- 
put in  many  directions — in  both  primary  and  secondar}' 
industries — but  the  stimulus  generally  given  to  scien- 
tific research  in  relation  to  our  industries  will  exert  a 
powerful  influence  on  our  educational  institutions 
and  bring  them  and  the  industrial  community  to  realise 
the  commercial  value  of  science  more  fully  than 
hitherto.  In  fact,  the  initiation  of  the  scheme  will,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  committee,  go  far  to  inaugurate  a 
new  era  in  the  economic  and  industrial  life  of  the 
Commonwealth. 

The  proposals  which  follow  will  provide  for  the 
formation  of  a  Commonwealth  Institute  of  Science  and 
Industry  under  the  control  of  directors  of  the  highest 
business  and  scientific  attainment,  acting  with  the 
advice  and  co-operation  of  a  council  representing 
science  and  the  primarj-  and  secondarj'  industries  of 
Australia. 

1 1 . — Recommendations. 

(i)  There  should  be  established  under  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment a  Commonwealth  Institute  of  Science  and  In- 
dustr}-. 

(2)  The  functions  of  the  institute  should  be  : — 

(i)  To  consider  and  initiate  scientific  researches  in 
connection  with,  or  for,  the  promotion  of  primary 
or  secondary  industries  in  the  Commonwealth. 

(ii)  The  collection  of  industrial  scientific  information 
and  the  formation  of  a  bureau  for  its  dissemination 
amongst  those  engaged  in  industry. 

(iii)  The   establishment   of   national   laboratories. 

(iv)  The  general  control  and  administration  of  such 
laboratories  when  established. 

(v)  To  promote  the  immediate  utilisation  of  exist- 
ing institutions,  whether  Federal  or  State,  for  the  pur- 
poses of  industrial  scientific  research. 

(vi)  To  make  recommendations  from  time  to  time 
for  the  establishment  or  development  of  special  insti- 
tutions or  departments  of  existing  institutions  for  the 
scientific  study  of  problems  affecting  particular  indus- 
tries and  trades. 

(vii)  The  establishment  and  award  of  industrial  re- 
search studentships  and  fellowships,  to  include  either 
travelling  fellowships  or  fellowships  attached  to  par- 
ticular   institutions. 

(viii)  To  direct  attention  to  any  new  industries  which 
might  be  profitably  established  in  the  Commonwealth. 

(ix)  To  keep  in  close  touch  with,  and  seek  the  aid  of, 
all  Commonwealth  and  State  Government  Depart- 
ments, learned  and  professional  societies,  and  private 
enterprises  concerned  with,  or  interested  in,  saentific 
industrial  research. 

(x)  The  coordination  and  direction  of  scientific  in- 

NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


vestigation  and  of  research  and  experimental  work 
j  with  a  view  to  the  prevention  of  undesirable  over- 
i  lapping  of  effort. 

I  (xi)  To  advise  the  several  authorities  as  to  the  steps 
j  which  should  be  taken  for  increasing  the  supply  of 
I  workers  competent  to  undertake  scientific  research. 
j  (xii)  To  recommend  grants  by  the  Commonwealth 
j  Government  in  aid  of  pure  scientific  research  in  exist- 
•  ing  institutions. 

j  (xiii)  To  seek  from  time  to  time  the  co-operation  of 
I  the  educational  authorities  and  scientific  societies  in 
:  the  States  with  a  view  of  advancing  the  teaching  of 
I  science  in  schools,  technical  colleges,  and  universities, 
I  where  its  teaching  is  determined  upon  by  those  authori- 
I  ties. 

I  (xiv)  To  report  annually  and  from  time  to  time  to 
1  Parliament. 

(3)  The  committee  gave  careful  attention  to  the 
relation  between  the  proposed  institute  and  the  exist- 
ing   Commonwealth    Laboratory.     It    was   recognised 

\  that  the  daily  routine  of  Customs,  naval  and  military 
;  Stores,   and   other  departments  requires   the   perform- 
ance of  a  great  deal  of  important  scientific  work,  par- 
ticularly chemical  analysis  of  material,  and  that  the 
laboratories  in  which  such  routine   scientific  work  is 
I  carried    out    must    necessarily   remain    under    depart- 
:  mental  control,  though  they  might  with  advantage  be 
co-ordinated  and  their  equipment  increased.     On  the 
;  other    hand,    as   the   work  of   the   proposed    institute 
1  develops   there   will   be   an   increased   scope    for   work 
;  in    national    laboratories    devoted    to    special    brancties 
I  of  research  and  experimental  inv-estigation  which  aie 
j  not    otherwise    provided    for.     Such    laboratories    and 
!  their    scientific    staffs    should,     in     the     committee's 
I  opinion,  be  kept  distinct  and  placed  under  the  control 

of  the  institute. 
I       In    the    future    it   will    be   necessarj'    to    undertake 
I  experimental  work  in  connection  with  the  growth  of 
I  our  naval  and  military  defence,  the  testing  of  materials 
with  regard  to  the  physical  reasons  underlying  dete- 
I  rioration  and  change  of  structure  due  to  mechanical 
and   heat    treatment,    and   as   to    failure    in    operation 
under  varying  conditions,   the  testing  and  tn^ing  out 
of    processes    in    connection    with    the    metallurgical 
industry  and  biological  and  geological  problems. 
[       The  highly  specialised  intricate  work  of  standardis- 
ing electrical    instruments    and   other  scientific    appa- 
ratus for  use  as  substandards  by  different  Government 
departments  and  other  institutions  in  which  research 
work    may  be    carried    on    would    also    naturally    fall 
I  within  the  functions  of  the  institute. 
:       A  convincing  reason  for  drawing  a  line  of  distinction 
I  between  laboratories  primarily  for  scientific  research  and 
j  laboratories  primarily  for  the  necessary  routine  work 
of  departmental  testing  is  that  any  attempt  to  combine 
the    two  would    lead    to    confusion    and    hamper    and 
weaken  both  branches  of  activity,  and  would  tend  to 
drown   the  research  work  for  which  the  institute  is 
being  created. 

It  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  that  the  qualifica- 
tions of  a  staff  for  "  researching  "  are  different  in  char- 
acter  from   those   of   a    staff   which   is    to   carrj'   out 
scientific  routine  testing. 
The  committee  therefore  recommends  that  : — 

(a)  The  control  of  the  present  Commonwealth  labora- 
tories be  not  disturbed,  but  that  they  be  co-ordinated, 
their  staff  increased,  and  their  equipment  improved. 

(b)  Any  new  national  laboratories  which  may  be 
created  for  special  purposes  of  research  and  experi- 
mental inquiry,  including  a  physical  laboratorv  for 
testing  and  standardising  purposes,  should  be  controlled 
by  the  institute. 

(4)  With  rep-ard  to  the  constitution  of  the  institute  the 
committee  passed  the  following  resolutions : — 


40 


NATURE 


[March  9,  1916 


(i)  "That  an  Advisory  Council  consisting  of  nine 
members  representing  science  and  the  principal 
primary  and  secondary  industries  be  appointed  who 
shall  advise  and  co-operate  with  the  directors  in  fram- 
ing the  policy  and  in  the  administration  of  the  insti- 
tute." 

(ii)  "That  the  members  be  appointed  by  the  Gover- 
nor-General in  Council." 

(iii)  "That  for  the  purposes  of  controlling  and  ad- 
ministering the  institute  and  of  collecting  information 
and  determining  on  the  researches  to  be  undertaken 
and  directing  their  elucidation,  three  highly  qualified 
salaried  directors,  of  whom  one  should  be  chairman 
of  the  directors,  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Governor- 
GeneraL  in  Council.  The  directors  shall  seek  the  ad- 
vice and  co-operation  of  the  Council  and  shall  be 
ex-officio  members  thereof." 

(iv)  "That  of  the  three  directors  one  should  be  an 
expert  business  and  financial  man  with  ability  in 
organisation ;  the  other  two  should  be  chosen  mainly 
on  account  of  scientific  attainments  and  wide  experi- 
ence." 

(v)  "  The  tenure  of  the  directors  shall  be  fixed  by  the 
Act," 

(vi)  "That  the  scientific  staff  should  be  appointed  by 
the  Governor-General  in  Council  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  directors." 

(5)  The  committee  further  resolved  as  follows  : — 
(i)  "That  all  discoveries,  inventions,  improvements, 

processes,  and  machines  made  by  workers  directly  em- 
ployed by  the  institute  should  be  vested  in  trustees 
appointed  by  it  as  its  sole  property,  and  should  be 
made  available,  under  proper  conditions  and  on  pay- 
ment of  gratuities  or  otherwise,  for  public  advantage." 

(ii)  "That  the  council  of  the  Institute  should  be 
empowered  to  recommend  to  the  Government  the  pay- 
ment of  bonuses  to  successful  discoverers  or  inventors 
working  under  the  auspices  of  the  institute." 

(ill)  "That  the  Institute  should  be  empowered  to 
charge  fees  for  special  Investigations  subject  to  regula- 
tions approved  by  the  Governor-General  in  Council." 

(6)  Though  these  matters  are  not  directly  connected 
with  the  proposed  institute  the  committee  passed  two 
further  resolutions  : — 

(I)  "  That  steps  should  be  taken  with  a  view  to 
coordinating  the  work  of  our  technical  colleges  and 
trade  schools  throughout  Australia,  so  that  a  supply 
of  scientifically  taught  craftsmen  will  be  available  to 
support  the  expansion  of  industry  that  it  is  hoped 
will  result  from  the  operations  of  the  Institute  of  Science 
and  Industry." 

(II)  "  That  with  a  view  to  promoting  our  export 
trade  In  Australian  products  it  Is  desirable  that  serious 
attention  be  given  to  the  study  of  modern  languages, 
Including  Oriental  languages,  for  commercial  pur- 
poses." 

Immediate  Arrangements. 

(7)  The  committee  realises  that  the  establishment 
of  the  institute  will  necessarily  involve  some  delay,  but 
being  impressed  with  the  urgent  need  for  work  of  the 
character  proposed  the  committee  resolved  as  fol- 
lows : — 

(I)  "That  until  the  institute  is  established  an  Advi- 
sory Council  be  appointed  by  the  Governor-General  in 
Council  particularly  to  carry  out  the  objects  expressed 
in  resolutions  2  (I)  and  (Ii),  viz.  :  *  To  consider  and 
initiate  scientific  researches  in  connection  with,  or 
for,  the  promotion  of  primary  or  secondary  industries 
in  the  Commonwealth,'  and  (II)  'The  collection  of 
Industrial  scientific  information  and  the  formation  of 
a  bureau  for  its  dissemination  amongst  those  engaged 
In  industry.' " 

(Ii)  "That  the  Federal  and  State  Munitions  Com- 
mittees, heads  of  the  Commonwealth  and  State  scien-  | 

NO.    2419,   VOL.    97] 


tific  departments,  and  bodies  representative  of 
Commonwealth  manufacture,  commerce,  agriculture, 
mining,  and  engineering,  the  universities  and  technical 
colleges,  and  private  enterprises,  be  invited  to  suggest 
branches  of  industrial  scientific  research  in  which  in- 
vestigation would  be  of  immediate  practical  use  to 
producers  and  manufacturers." 

(iii)  "That  the  Advisory  Council  be  appointed  forth- 
with, and  that  when  appointed  It  immediately  take 
steps  to  initiate  research  work  into  the  most  pressing 
matters  needing  investigation  and  seek  the  co-opera- 
tion of  existing  institutions  and  utilise  the  resources 
of  staff  and  equipment  at  our  disposal  at  the  present 
time." 

(iv)  "The  committee  suggests  for  the  consideration 
of  the  Advisory  Council  that  the  following  problems, 
among  others,  are  pressing  : — The  sheep  fly  pest ;  im- 
proved methods  of  extracting  zinc  from  Australian 
ores,  including  the  commercial  manufacture  of  electro- 
lytic zinc ;  the  utilisation  of  brown  coal  with  recovery 
of  by-products ;  the  introduction  of  a  mechanical  cotton 
picker ;  the  eradication  of  the  prickly  pear ;  the  produc- 
tion of  aluminium  and  ferro  alloys ;  the  recovery  of 
potash,  manufacture  of  alkali,  and  condensation  of 
sulphurous  acid  gas  at  present  being  wasted ;  the  cul- 
tivation of  useful  indigenous  grasses  and  salt-bushes ; 
the  manufacture  of  fine  chemicals,  drugs,  and  explo- 
sives. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  predict,  in  matters  of 
research,  what  the  outcome  of  investigations  may  be. 
And  the  committee  realises  that  not  all  the  above 
subjects  can  be  examined  to  the  point  of  final  results 
during  the  interval  before  the  institute  gets  to  work. 
The  committee,  however,  suggests  that  in  many,  If  not 
all,  of  the  above  matters  most  valuable  work  could 
be  done  In  collecting  data,  and,  in  effect,  making  a 
preliminary  census  both  as  to  present  discoveries,  and 
the  staff  and  apparatus  available  in  Australia.  Such 
work  Is  an  indispensable  first  step  in  all  research. 

In  addition  to  this,  there  Is  ample  scope  for  prac- 
tical work  during  the  interval  in  vigorously  prosecut- 
ing the  dissemination  of  known  information  as  to 
processes,  etc.,  amongst  our  producers  and  manufac- 
turers. 

(v)  "That  funds  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Advisory  Council  for  the  above  purposes." 

(8)  The  committee  desires  to  thank  the  Prime  Minis- 
ter for  having  placed  at  Its  disposal  the  services  of 
Mr.  Gerald  Lightfoot,  barrlster-at-law,  whose  work 
as  secretary  has  been  greatly  valued  by  the  committee. 
(Signed)  Orme  Masson  (chairman),  A.  B. 
PIddington,  G.  D.  Delprat,  W.  Russell  Grimwade, 
J.  M.  Higglns,  Wm.  S.  Robinson,  George  Swin- 
burne, Alex.  J.  Gibson,  Douglas  Mawson,  W.  W. 
Forwood. 

(Signed)     Gerald  Lightfoot,  secretary  to  committee. 

NOTES. 

We  are  glad  that  the  Times  has  published  In  Its 
Educational  Supplement  for  March  7  a  selection  of 
letters  upon  the  place  of  science  In  education  received 
since  the  publication  of  the  recent  memorial  on  the 
neglect  of  science,  to  which  we  have  referred  on  more 
than  one  occasion.  The  memorial  was  drawn  up  by 
a  small  committee  of  public-school  science  masters, 
and  the  thIrty-sIx  distinguished  men  of  science  who 
signed  it  subscribed  to  the  views  expressed  In  it  with- 
out themselves  being  actively  concerned  with  the  con- 
struction of  the  document.  If  they  and  the  professors 
at  the  Imperial  College  who  supported  them  In  a  later 
short  memorial  to  Lord  Crewe,   the  chairman  of  the 


March  9,  1916] 


NATURE 


41 


governors  of  the  college,  had  met  and  discussed  in 
detail  the  subject  of  science  in  national  affairs,  we 
might  have  had  a  manifesto  which  would  have  out- 
lined a  national  programme  on,  a  scientific  basis,  in- 
stead of  a  memorandum  on  the  defects  of  the  public- 
school  curricula  and  Civil  Service  examinations  as 
regards  the  study  of  science,  and  their  consequences 
in  public  administration  and  legislation.  There  is 
not  much  new  to  be  said  upon  these  subjects,  and  the 
scientific  aspects  have  been  surveyed  in  our  own 
columns  from  every  point  of  view.  In  a  leading  article 
the  Times  Educational  Supplement  acknowledges  that 
men  of  science  will  have  little  difficulty  in  establishing 
the  following  contentions  : — (i)  That  much  of  our  pre- 
sent teaching  is  antiquated,  and,  in  method,  unscien- 
tific; (2)  that  natural  science,  if  taught  at  all,  has  too 
small  a  place  in  the  average  curriculum ;  and  (3)  that 
our  social  organisation  makes  it  far  easier  for  literary 
than  for  scientific  ability  to  find  its  level.  These  un- 
doubted defects  might  well  be  placed  before  a  com- 
mittee, independent  of  any  Government  department, 
appointed  to  inquire  into  the  entire  question  of  the 
organisation  of  our  educational  system,  as  suggested  by 
Sir  Philip  Magnus.  The  subject  should  be  included  in 
the  national  programme- which,  we  learn  from  a  letter  by 
Sir  William  Mather  and  Sir  Norman  Lx)ckyer,  is  being 
deliberated  by  the  British  Science  Guild.  Any  sugges- 
tions for  such  a  programme  should  be  sent  to  the 
honorary  secretaries  of  the  Guild,  199  Piccadilly,  W. 

Further  regulations  under  the  Defence  of  the  Realm 
Act,  issued  on  March  i,  contain  provisions  prohibiting 
speculative  transactions  in  the  various  metals  required 
in  the  production  of  war  material.  The  new  regula- 
tion provides  that  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  person 
on  his  own  behalf,  or  on  behalf  of  any  other  person, 
to  sell  or  buy  iron  (including  pig-iron),  steel  of  all 
kinds,  copper,  zinc,  brass,  lead,  antimony,  nickel, 
tungsten,  molybdenum,  ferro  alloys,  or  any  other  metal 
which  may  be  specified  as  being  a  metal  required  for 
the  production  of  any  war  material.  Rather  curiously, 
tin,  which  is  an  important  constituent  of  many  naval 
alloys^  including  Admiralt)'  gun-metal  and  Admiralty 
brass,  and  the  price  of  which  is  very  liable  to  sudden 
and  large  fluctuations  owing  to  speculation,  is  absent 
from  this  list.  On  the  face  of  it  this  metal  should 
certainly  have  been  included.  The  effect  of  these  regu- 
lations on  the  operations  of  the  metal  exchanges  of 
London,  Birmingham,  and  Glasgow  was  at  once 
evident.  All  business  in  regard  to  the  above  metals 
and  alloys  was  suspended.  A  sobering  influence  on 
market  prices  should  certainly  result.  A  deputation 
from  the  London  Metal  Exchange  was  to  discuss  the 
situation  with  the  Minister  of  Munitions  on  March  3. 

Prof.  W.   Kiu.\n,  of  Grenoble,  has  contributed  tc 

the  Revue  Scientifique  (vol.  liv.,  pp.  33-40)  a  long  anu 

interesting  article  on   proposals   for  the  organisation 

I  of  scientific   research   in  France   after   the   war.     He 

i  pomts  out  how  pre-eminent  Germany  has  become  in 

!  the  provision   of   bibliographies,    synoptical   treatises, 

I  other  works  of  reference,  more  or  less  international 

;  journals,  and  materials  of  every  kind  for  laboratory 

'  work  and  the  lecture-room.     Writing  as  a  geologist, 

is  able  to  enumerate  many  important  illustrations 

NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


with  which  the  efforts  of  French  scientific  men  and 
publishers  compare  .  very  unfavourably.  While  ad- 
mitting that  the  progress  of  science  must  never  be 
hampered  by  international  boundaries,  he  urges  the 
importance  of  some  organisation  for  raising  the  pres- 
tige of  French  science  in  the  early  future.  He  pro- 
poses that  an  association  be  formed,  for  the  better 
co-ordination  of  work  in  providing  bibliographies  and 
reference  books ;  that  more  posts  be  endowed  for  pure 
scientific  research ;  and  that  more  effort  be  made  to 
secure  for  French  scientific  men  a  fair  proportion  of 
the  appointments  abroad,  which  are  usually  filled  by 
graduates  from  the  great  European  universities. 

The  sixth  annual  May  lecture  of  the  Institute  of 
Metals  will  be  given  on  Thursday,  May  4,  by  Prof. 
W.  H.  Bragg,  on  "X-Rays  and  Crj'stal  Strqcture, 
with  Special  Reference  to  Certain  Metals." 

The  twenty-fifth  annual  meeting  of  the  Royal  Society 
for  the  Protection  of  Birds  will  be  held  at  the  Middle- 
sex Guildhall,  Westminster,  S.W.,  on  Thursday,  March 
16.  Mr.  Montagu  Sharpe,  chairman  of  the  council, 
will  take  the  chair  at  3  p.m. 

We  learn  from  the  British  Medical  Journal  that  Prof. 
M.  Weinberg,  of  the  Pasteur  Institute,  Paris,  will 
deliver  a  lecture  on  bacteriological  and  experimental 
researches  on  gas  gangrene  before  the  Royal  Society 
of  Medicine  (i  Wimpole  Street,  London,  W.),  to- 
morrow (Friday),  at  5  p.m. 

The  prize  of  10/.  and  a  silver  medal,  offered  under 
the  Peter  Le  Neve  Foster  Trust  by  the  Royal  Society 
of  Arts,  for  an  essay  on  "Zinc:  its  Production  and 
Industrial  Applications,"  has  been  awarded  to  Mr. 
J.  C.  Moulden,  of  Seaton  Carew,  co.  Durham. 
Honourable  mention  has  also  been  awarded  to  Mr. 
E.  A.  Smith,  deputy  assay  master  of  the  Sheffield 
Assay  Office,  for  his  essay. 

The  Rev.  E.  W.  Barnes,  F.R.S.,  Master  of  the 
Temple;  Mr.  E.  Newton,  president  of  the  Royal  Insti- 
tute of  British  Architects;  and  Prof.  T.  F.  Tout, 
professor  of  medieval  and  ecclesiastical  history  in  the 
Victoria  University  of  Manchester,  have  been  elected 
members  of  the  Athenaeum  Club,  under  the  rule  which 
empowers  the  annual  election  of  a  certain  number  of 
persons  *'  of  distinguished  eminence  in  science,  litera- 
ture, the  arts,  or  for    public  services." 

There  will  be  a  discussion  on  "The  Sphere  of  the 
Scientific  and  Technical  Press  in  Relation  to  Technical 
Education  and  Industrial  Research"  at  the  next  meet- 
ing of  the  Circle  of  Scientific,  Technical,  and  Trade 
Journalists,  on  Tuesday,  March  14,  in  the  hall  of  the 
Institute  of  Journalists  (Tudor  Street,  Blackfriars, 
London,  E.C.).  The  chairman  of  the  circle,  Mr.  L. 
jaster,  will  preside,  and  the  discussion  will  be  opened 
by  Dr.  William  Garnett,  late  educational  adviser  to 
the  London  County  Council. 

The  following  new  officers  and  members  of  council 
were  elected  at  the  annual  general  meeting  of  the 
Institute  of  Chemistry  on  March  i  : — Vice-Presidents  : 
Dr.  A.  Harden  and  Prof.  Herbert  Jackson.  Members 
of  Council:  Mr.  R.  Bodmer,  Mr.  H.  C.  H.  Candv, 
Prof.  G.  G.   Henderson,  Mr.   P.  H.  Kirkaldv,  Dr.  A 


42 


NATURE 


[March  9,  19 16 


Lauder,  Mr.  Bedford  McNeill,  Prof.  G.  T.  Morgan, 
Mr.  D.  Northall-Lnurie,  Mr.  G.  Stubbs,  and  Mr.  T. 
Tickle. 

The  Faraday  Society  will  hold  an  informal  discus- 
sion on  "  Methods  and  Appliances  for  the  Attainment 
of  High  Temperatures  in  the  Laboratory,"  on  Wed- 
nesday, March  15,  at  8  p.m.,  at  the  Institution  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  Victoria  Embankment,  London, 
W.C.  Dr.  J.  A.  Marker,  of  the  National  Physical 
Laboratory,  will  open  the  discussion,  over  which  Sir 
Robert  Hadfield,  the  president  of  the  society,  will  pre- 
side. Workers  interested  in  the  subject,  and  particu- 
larly those  prepared  to  speak  on  the  results  of  their 
personal  experiences,  are  invited  to  be  present  and 
take  part  in  the  discussion.  Further  particulars  may 
be  obtained  from  Mr.  F.  S.  Spiers,  secretary  of  the 
society,  82  Victoria  Street,  London,  S.W. 

The  following  officers  and  council  of  the  Geological 
Society  of  London  have  been  elected  for  the  ensuing 
year : — President,  Dr.  A.  Marker ;  Vice-Presidents, 
Sir  T.  M.  Molland,  Mr.  E.  T.  Newton,  the  Rev.  M.  M. 
Winwood,  and  Dr.  A.  Smith  Woodward ;  Secretaries, 
Mr.  M.  M.  Thomas  and  Dr.  H.  Lapworth ;  Foreign 
Secretary,  Sir  Archibald  Geikie ;  Treasurer,  Mr.  Bed- 
ford McNeill.  In  addition  to  these  officers  the  members 
of  the  new  council  are  : — Mr.  M.  Bury,  Prof.  J.  Cad- 
man,  Prof.  C.  G.  Cullis,  Mr.  R.  M.  Deeley,  Prof. 
W.  G.  Fearnsides,  Dr.  W.  Gibson,  Dr.  F.  L.  Kitchin, 
Dr.  J.  E.  Marr,  Mr.  R.  D.  Oldham,  Mr.  R.  M.  Ras- 
tall,  Prof.  T.  F.  Sibly,  Prof.  W.  J.  Sollas,  Dr.  J.  J.  M. 
Teall,  and  Mr.  W.  Whitaker. 

The  third  Indian  Science  Congress  met  at  Lucknow 
on  January  13-15.  The  growing  interest  in  scientific 
inquiry  observable  in  India  is  evidenced  by  the  rapidly 
increasing  popularity  of  this  body.  In  spite  of  the 
war,  about  seventy  papers  were  read  at  the  congress 
and  more  than  300  visitors  attended  the  meetings.  The 
list  of  papers  discloses  a  surprisingly  large  volume  of 
scientific  work  in  India,  and  there  is  every  reason  to 
look  for  a  successful  and  useful  future  of  the  congress. 
The  presidential  address  was  delivered  by  Sir  S.  G. 
Burrard,  F.R.S.,  who  took  as  his  subject  "The  Plains 
of  Northern  India,  and  their  Relationship  to  the  Hima- 
laya Mountains."  Sir  A.  G.  Bourne,  F.R.S.,  has  been 
elected  president  for  1916-17,  and  the  next  meeting 
will  probably  be  held  at  Bangalore. 

We  have  received  a  provisional  programme  of  the 
eighth  meeting  of  the  Italian  Society  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  arranged  to  be  held  at  the  Royal 
University  of  Rome  on  March  1-4.  The  session  was 
originally  intended  to  be  held  at  Bari,  but  as  this  city 
is  too  near  the  theatre  of  war  it  was  resolved  to 
meet  at  Rome  instead.  The  president  was  Prof.  Camillo 
Golgi,  the  vice-presidents  being  Prof.  Guido  Castel- 
nuovo  and  Prof.  Vittorio  Rossi,  and  the  secretary 
Prof.  Vincenzo  Reina.  The  inaugural  address, 
delivered  by  Prof.  G.  Cuboni,  dealt  with  the 
problems  of  agriculture  at  the  present  time.  General 
discourses  were  given  by  Prof.  R.  Nasini  on  Italian 
chemistry;  by  Prof.  G.  Valenti  on  hydraulic  problems 
and  water  legislation ;  by  M.  Pantaleoni  on  economic 
lessons  of  the  war;  by  G.  Luigi  on  eugenics  and  the 

NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


decay  of  nations ;  and  by  P.  Fedele  on  imperialism  in 
German  history.  Sectional  papers  were  given  by 
G.  Levi  on  inorganic  chemical  industry;  by  E. 
Molinari  on  the  industry  of  some  important -organic 
compounds;  by  F.  Garelli  on  the  industry  of  fats;  by 
E.  Miolati  on  electrochemical  industry;  by  M.  Ascoli 
on  electrotechnics ;  by  E.  Bianchi  on  the  state  of  the 
Italian  industry  of  geodetic-astronomical  instruments ; 
by  P.  Gamba  on  the  exploration  of  the  upper  atmo- 
sphere. In  the  medical-hygienic  section  C.  Moreschi 
dealt  with  the  prophylactic  use  of  antityphoid  and 
anticholera  injections ;  V.  Pensuti  with  vaccino-therapy 
of  typhoid ;  and  A.  Perroncito  and  G.  Grixoni  with 
hygienic  problems  of  modern  war.  A  list  of  philo- 
sophical and  geographical  papers  is  also  given  in  the 
programme  issued. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Prof.  Vladimir  A.  Ticho- 
mirov,  professor  of  pharmacy  and  materia  medica  at 
Moscow  University  and  Russian  Councillor  of  State. 

The  death  has  occurred  at  Sheffield,  in  his  sixtT^- 
fourth  year,  of  Mr.  G.  T.  W.  Newsholme,  who  was  the 
first  provincial  pharmacist  to  occupy  the  position  of 
president  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society.  Mr.  News- 
holme  became  vice-president  of  the  society  in  1897, 
and  in  1900  was  elected  president,  holding  the  ofiice 
for  three  years.  Me  was  a  governor  of  Sheffield  Uni- 
versity. 

The  death  is  announced,  in  his  fifty-eighth  year,  of 
Dr.  J.  Nelson,  a  native  of  Copenhagen,  and  a  graduate 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  who  had  occupied  the 
chair  of  biology  at  Rutgers  College,  New  Jersey,  since 
1888.  He  had  also  held  various  scientific  appointments 
under  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  including  membership 
of  a  tuberculosis  commission  and  the  post  of  inves- 
tigator of  oyster  culture. 

Mr.  L.  Duncan,  formerly  associate  professor  of  ap- 
plied electricity  at  Johns  Hopkins  University,  and  head 
of  the  department  of  electrical  engineering  at  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  has  died  at  the 
age  of  fifty-three.  He  was  twice  president  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  had 
written  on  electric  traction  for  the  "  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica."  He  served  as  consulting  engineer  during 
the  electrification  of  the  transit  systems  of  New  York. 

The  death  is  announced,  in  his  eighty-first  year,  oj 
Dr.  W.  A.  Knight,  emeritus  professor  of  moral  philo- 
sophy in  the  University  of  St.  Andrews.  Prof.  Knight 
was  the  author  of  many  literary  works,  including 
"  Studies  in  Philosophy  and  Literature "  (1879), 
"  Essays  in  Philosophy,  Old  and  New "  (1890),  and 
"Varia,  being  Studies  on  Problems  of  Philosophy  and 
Ethics  "  (1901),  but  he  will  be  remembered  chiefly  as 
the  devoted  editor  and  interpreter  of  the  poet  Words- 
worth and  the  Wordsworth  family. 

The  death  has  occurred  in  his  sixtieth  year  of  Prof. 
Pietro  Grocco,  director  of  clinical  medicine  in  the  R. 
Istituto  di  Studi  Superiori  of  Florence.  After  studying 
in  Paris  and  Vienna  he  was,  we  learn  from  the  Lancet, 
appointed  to  a  chair  of  practice  of  medicine  at  Perugia, 
which  he  occupied  for  three  years,  when  he  was 
elected  to  a  post  on  the  same  subject  at  Pisa,  whence 


March  9,   19 16] 


NATURE 


43 


in  1892  he  was  transferred  to  Florence.  The  Floren- 
tine school  enjoyed  his  special  care  and  generosity, 
founding  as  he  did,  mainly  from  his  own  resources,  the 
Istituto  Antirabico  on  the  lines  of  Pasteur,  and  making 
the  thermal  waters  of  the  neighbouring  Montecatini 
a  balneary  centre  in  practical  connection  with  his 
courses  on  the  vast  group  of  rheumatoid  maladies. 
In  1905  he  was  made  a  senator  of  the  kingdom,  in 
accordance  with  Italy's  custom  to  promote  men  of 
scientific  distinction  to  the  Upper  Chamber,  and  here 
again  his  advice  on  intervention  was  of  public  benefit 
in  more  than  one  hygienic  departure. 

The  death  is  announced,  at  seventy-two  \'ears  of 
age,  of  Prof.  E.  Heckel,  professor  of  botany  in  the 
University  of  Marseilles.  We  learn  from  the  Chemist 
and  Druggist  that  after  the  war  of  1870  he  became 
head  pharmacist  at  Montpellier  and  assistant-professor 
at  the  local  School  of  Pharmacy.  Five  years  later  he 
accepted  the  post  of  professor  of  natural  history-  at 
the  Nancy  School  of  Pharmacy,  but  his  stay  there  was 
short.  After  a  few  months  at  the  Grenoble  Faculty  of 
Sciences,  Heckel  obtained  two  professorial  chairs  at 
Marseilles,  teaching  botany  at  the  Faculty  of  Sciences 
and  materia  medica  at  the  School  of  Medicine.  To 
these  double  duties  he  added  those  of  director  of  the 
Botanic  Garden  of  Marseilles.  In  1880  his  contribu- 
tions to  science  were  recognised  by  his  election  to  the 
corresponding  membership  of  the  Paris  Academy  of 
Medicine,  and  later  by  a  similar  election  at  the 
Academy  of  Sciences.  It  was  in  1892  that  he  founded 
the  Colonial  Institute,  where  he  placed  his  collections. 
He  specialised  in  the  study  of  such  tropical  plants  as 
were  likely  to  be  of  value  for  alimentary  purposes  or 
local  industr}',  and  his  name  is  associated  with  the 
introduction  of  several  of  them  into  France. 

The  Times  of  March  2  reports  the  death  of  Ernst 
Mach,  once  professor  of  physics  in  the  Uni\-ersity  of 
Prague,  but  for  the  greater  part  of  his  academic  life 
professor  of  the  history  and  theory  of  inductive  science 
at  Vienna.  The  news  will  cause  widespread  regret, 
for,  though  Mach  was  not  a  great  investigator  or  con- 
structive thinker  either  in  positive  science  or  in  philo- 
sophy, he  did  admirable  secondary  work  for  both  by 
his  illuminating  interpretations  of  the  history  of 
physics.  His  psychological  investigations,  best  repre- 
sented by  his  book  on  "The  Analysis  of  Sensations," 
had  technical  merits  which  earned  high  praise  from 
so  competent  a  judge  as  William  James.  They  are 
interesting  chiefly,  however,  as  "studies"  in  the  radi- 
cal empiricism  that  found  its  most  characteristic  ex- 
pression in  his  epistemological  essays — particularly  in 
his  "Science  of  Mechanics."  The  essential  positions 
of  this  famous  work  were  (as  Mach  pointed  out 
pathetically)  published  so  long  ago  as  1868,  that  is,  six 
years  before  Klrchhoff  astonished  the  scientific  world 
by  the  announcement  of  similar  but  less  thoroughgoing 
views.  The  book  Itself  appeared  In  1883.  It  has  un- 
doubtedly had  great  influence  not  only  upon  current 
I  views  as  to  the  real  nature  of  science,  but  also  upon 
j  the  actual  development  of  mathematical  physics  from 
I  Hertz  down  to  the  relativists  of  the  present  day.  In 
j  a  farewell  communication  which  the  unhappy  state  of 
Europe  makes  the  more  dignified  and  touching.  Prof. 
Mach  "  sends  greetings  to  all  who  knew  him  and  asks 


for  serene  remembrance."  Men  of  good  will  in  all 
countries  will  respond  to  the  wish,  for  no  chauvinistic 
bias  distorted  Mach's  vision  of  the  progress  of  the 
human  spirit,  and  none  has  shown  more  clearly  than 
he  that  in  the  disinterested  pursuit  of  knowledge  men 
of  all  times  and  tongues  are  members  one  of  another. 

The  recent  completion,  almost  simultaneously,  of 
three  masonry  dams  for  the  main  imjxiundlng  reser- 
voirs of  important  water  supply  systems  In  this  countr\ 
is  an  event  somewhat  unique  in  Its  way.  None  of  the 
three  structures — the  Angram,  the  Derwent,  and  the 
Alwen  Dams — is  perhaps  of  such  magnitude  as  the 
Kensio")  Dam  in  the  United  States,  to  which  reference 
was  made  in  our  Issue  of  January  27  (p.  602),  but  they 
are  all  noteworthy  examples  of  this  department  of 
waterworks  engineering.  The  Angram  Dam,  in  York- 
shire, holds  up  1250  million  gallons  of  water  derived 
from  the  river  Nidd  and  the  Stone  Beck,  for  the  supply 
of  the  town  of  Bradford.  The  capacity  of  the  reservoir 
formed  by  the  Derwent  Dam  is  2000  million  gallons ; 
it  forms  the  second  instalment  of  a  great  scheme 
destined  to  serve  the  Derwent  Valley,  Including  the 
towns  of  Leicester,  Derby,  Sheffield,  and  Nottingham, 
and  the  counties  of  Derby  and  Nottingham.  There 
are  to  be  five  dams  in  all  in  this  undertaking,  and  the 
first,  the  Howden  Dam,  of  about  equivalent  storage 
capacity  with  the  Derwent  Dam,  was  completed  some 
few  years  back.  The  third  dam  of  the  three  forming 
the  subject  of  our  note,  the  Alwen  Dam  for  the  Birken- 
head Corporation  Water  Supply,  holds  up  3000  million 
gallons  from  the  river  Alwen.  The  reservoir  capacity 
is  thus  much  greater  than  that  of  either  of  the  other 
two  dams,  but  the  structure  itself  Is  smaller,  both  as 
regards  length  and  height.  The  crest  is  only  458  ft. 
long,  and  the  height  from  the  river  bed  90  ft.,  whereas 
the  crest  of  the  Derwent  Dam  is  mo  ft.  in  length  and 
114  ft.  in  height,  and  the  crest  of  the  Angram  Dam 
1200  ft.  long,  and  its  height  130  ft. 

The  Madras  Museum  has  done  good  service  to  the 
study  of  Indian  antiquities  by  publishing  a  new  edition 
of  the  catalogue  of  prehistoric  antiquities  col- 
lected by  the  late  Mr.  R.  B.  Foote,  which  forms  the 
most  valuable  portion  of  the  museum  collections.  To 
this  has  been  added  a  catalogue  of  the  prehistoric 
antiquities,  collected  by  Mr.  A.  Rea,  of  the  great 
burial  grounds  of  Adichanallur  and  Perumbair.  These 
collections  contain  a  large  number  of  specimens  of 
objects  In  metal  and  pottery,  which  are  of  the  highest 
value  for  the  study  of  the  early  histor\'  of  the  Dravidian 
races. 

In  his  presidential  address  to  the  Hellenic  Society, 

published  in  part  ii.  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society 

in   1915,   Dr.  W.  Leaf  discussed  the  history  of  Greek 

commerce,  a  subject  dealt  with  in  his  important  work 

on    Homer    and    history,    recently    reviewed    in    these 

columns.      He   made    the   interesting   suggestion    that 

the   society  should   undertake   an   edition   of  at   least 

the  three  books  of  "Strabo's  Geography"  describing 

Asia  Minor.     This  should  be  on  the  lines  of  Sir  James 

Frazer's  edition  of  "  Pausanias,"  dealing  in   the   first 

!  Instance  with  topography,  and  summarising  the  stores 

j  of  epigraphic  and  numismatological  information,  with 

I  an   account  of  the   many  characteristic  religions  and 

!  myths  of  that  region.     Sir  William  Ramsav  and  Mr. 


44 


NATURE 


[March  9,  1916 


Hogarth  have  promised  to  assist  in  the  proposed  edition 
of  Strabo,  and  it  may  be  hoped  that  after  the  close 
of  the  war  the  Hellenic  Society  will  be  in  a  iX)sition 
to  undertake  this  important  work,  which  will  be  of 
the  highest  value  to  historians  and  geographers. 

A  VERY  acceptable  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
nesting  habits  of  the  Australian  mistletoe-bird 
{Dicaetim  himndinaceum),  by  Messrs.  S.  A.  Lawrence 
and  R.  T.  Littlejohn,  appears  in  the  Emu  for  January, 
rhe  authors  were  so  fortunate  as  to  be  able  to  study 
the  final  stages  of  the  building  of  the  nest,  and  later 
to  obtain  photographs,  both  of  the  parents  and  nest- 
lings. The  former  displayed  extraordinary  confidence, 
allowing  the  nestlings  to  be  removed  from  the  nest 
and  feeding  them  on  the  hand  of  one  of  the  photo- 
graphers. The  tameness  of  these  birds  enabled  the 
authors  to  watch  closely  the  peculiar  method  employed 
by  them  in  extracting  the  seeds  of  Loranthus  berries, 
which  constituted  a  large  portion  of  the  food  of  the 
young,  insects  completing  the  dietary.  The  same 
number  also  contains  some  valuable  notes  by  Mr. 
Charles  Barrett  on  the  spotted  bower  bird,  with  a 
photograph  of  its  remarkable  bower,  or  playing 
ground.  This  most  interesting  bird  is  unfortunately 
incurring  the  resentment  of  the  fruit-growers  on 
account  of  the  damage  it  is  said  to  inflict  on  the 
orchards,  a.  charge,  however,  which  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  established. 

In  the  January  number  of  that  admirable  journal, 
California  Fish  and  Game,  it  is  announced  that  an 
attempt  is  to  be  made  to  interest  the  fish-dealers  of 
San  Francisco  in  a  project  for  the  production  of 
caviare  from  the  roes  of  salmon  and  shad.  M.  CotofT, 
a  Russian  expert,  is  the  moving  spirit  in  this  project, 
which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  meet  with  success,  since 
about  half  a  million  pounds  of  salmon  roe  from  the 
canning  stations  in  San  Francisco  are  thrown  away 
annually.  It  is  claimed  that  caviare  thus  made  will 
exceed  in  quality  the  imported  caviare  made  from  the 
sturgeon.  The  same  number  contains  a  lucid  account 
of  experiments  which  have  been  made  recently  to  test 
the  effect  of  strychnine  sulphate  on  the  California 
Valley  quail.  Barley  soaked  in  this  poison  is  now 
used  to  eradicate  the  ground  squirrels,  and  hence  it 
was  feared  the  quail  might  be  involved  in  their  de- 
struction. Experiments  have  shown,  however,  that 
the  squirrels  are  very  susceptible  to  strychnine,  while 
the  quail,  under  natural  conditions,  may  consume  rela- 
tively large  amounts  of  this  poison  without  hurt. 
This  conclusion  has  been  arrived  at  in  consequence 
of  a  series  of  experiments  on  a  number  of  captive 
quail.  In  one  case  280  grains  of  barley  containing 
no  fewer  than  40  milligrams  of  strychnine  were  in- 
gested, and  yet  without  any  toxic  symptoms,  while,  in 
a  squirrel,  19  grains  of  barley  containing  as  little  as 
27  milligrams  of  poison  sufficed  to  p,roduce  convulsions 
and  death  within  ten  minutes.  The  grain  in  this  case 
was  not  swallowed,  but  merely  taken  into  the  buccal 
pouches,  where  the  poison  was  absorbed  through  the 
mucous  membrane  of  the  pouch.  The  maximum  dose 
of  poison  taken  by  a  squirrel  was  57  milligrams  taken 
up  with  40  grains  of  barley,  death  taking  place  within 
an  hour. 

NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


Symons's  Meteorological  Magazine  for  February  in- 
augurates the  commencement  of  the  second  half- 
century  of  its  issue.  A  tentative  summary  of  the  rain- 
fall over  the  British  Isles  for  January  shows  that  the 
general  rainfall  for  England  and  Wales  was  89  per 
cent,  of  the  average,  that  for  Scotland  was  147  per 
cent.,  for  Ireland  86  i>er  cent.,  and  for  the  British  Isles 
as  a  whole  109  per  cent.  An  article  on  "The  Mildness 
of  January,  1916,  in  London,"  presumably  from  the 
observations  at  Camden  Square,  shows  the  month 
to  have  been  unique  for  its  temperatures  com- 
pared with  the  observations  from  1858  to  the  present 
time.  The  mean  temperature  for  the  month  was  45-7°, 
which  is  72°  above  the  average,  and  exceeds  by  18° 
the  next  highest  value,  43-9°,  which  occurred  in  1884, 
A  discussion  by  Mr.  H.  A.  Hunt,  Commonwealth 
Meteorologist,  on  the  "Temperature  Departures  in 
Australia,  1915,"  exhibits  the  remarkably  warm  winter 
and  greater  part  of  the  year  1915,  the  excess  of  tem- 
perature in  June  and  July  being  more  than  5°  over 
Central  Australia.  The  article  is  illustrated  by  a 
series  of  temperature  charts  embracing  the  whole  of 
Australia. 

The  series  of  articles  on  the  "  Economic  Resources 
of  the  German  Colonies  "  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Impe- 
rial Institute  is  concluded  in  the  current  number 
(vol.  xiii..  No.  4)  with  an  article  on  Germany's  recent 
possessions  in  the  Pacific.  The  large  amount  of  zinc 
required  for  war  purposes  and  the  resulting  increased 
demand  lend  special  interest  to  an  article  on  the 
sources  of  the  metal  within  the  British  Empire. 
By  far  the  most  important  zinc  deposits  in  the  Empire 
are  those  of  the  Broken  Hill  Mines,  New  South 
Wales,  the  output  of  which  alone  is  sufficient  to  supply 
the  entire  demands  of  the  United  Kingdom.  The 
Broken  Hill  ore  before  the  war  went  mainly  to  Ger- 
many for  smelting,  but  the  Australian  Government 
has  adopted  measures  which  will  prevent  this  in  the 
future.  The  issue  also  contains  useful  reports  based 
on  the  work  done  at  the  Imperial  Institute  on  Indian 
opium,  tobacco  from  Cyprus,  copra  from  Queensland, 
cocoa  from  Nigeria,  piassava  from  British  West  Africa, 
and  asbestos  from  South  Africa. 

The  January  number  of  the  Journal  of  the  British 
Science  Guild  contains  a^  number  of  articles  dealing 
with  organisation  and  education  and  with  the  applica- 
tion of  science  to  warfare.  A  letter  written  by  the 
president.  Sir  William  Mather,  to  the  Prime  Minister 
in  July  last,  dealing  with  the  application  of  the  scien- 
tific resources  of  the  countr}-  to  the  prosecution  of  the 
war,  is  printed  in  full.  Of  particular  Interest  to 
opticians  and  glass  manufacturers  are  the  specifica- 
tions of  three  types  of  microscopes  and  a  list  of  educa- 
tional institutions  which  have  undertaken  to  use  only 
British-made  chemical  glass  apparatus  during  the  war 
and  for  a  period  of  three  years  after.  Dr.  H.  S. 
Willson  contributes  an  article  on  organisation  and 
education.  The  part  played  by  science  in  war  is  dealt 
with  by  "Anagapa."  Prof.  R.  A.  Gregory  contributes 
a  timely  article  on  the  introduction  of  the  metric 
system.  Experience  of  the  past  eighteen  years  has 
shown  that  permissive  legislation  is  not  of  much  prac- 
tical effect.  The  Weights  and  Measures  Act  of  1897 
rendered  it  lawful  to   use  the  metric   svstem   in  this 


March  9,  19 16] 


NATURE 


45 


country  for  the  general  purposes  of  trade,  but  little 
advantage  has  been  taken  of  it,  either  in  internal  or 
external  trade.  The  system  must  be  made  compufsor}- 
before  the  trading  community  as  a  whole  will  take 
advantage  of  it.  Several  recent  instances  show  that 
the  metric  system  can  be  introduced  without  the  diffi- 
culties which  some  people  suppose  would  come  with  it. 

An  article  by  Mr.  R.  G.  Skerrett  in  the  ScienHfic 
American  for  February  12  describes  Frickc's  apparatus 
for  locating  vessels  at  sea  during  fogs.  It  depends 
on  the  difference  in  the  time  required  for  a  wireless 
signal  and  for  a  sound  signal  sent  out  from  the  same 
point  at  the  same  instant  to  reach  some  distant  point. 
This  difference  is  proportional  to  the  distance  apart  of 
the  sending  and  receiving  points.  The  receiving  appa- 
ratus consists  of  a  wireless  receiver  and  sixteen  tele- 
phones arranged  at  equal  angular  intervals  round  the 
ship,  and  so  protected  that  each  will  respond  only  to 
sounds  coming  in  approximately  its  direction  towards 
the  ship.  The  arrival  of  the  wireless  signal  starts 
sixteen  bands  travelling  outwards  from  a  common 
centre  towards  the  sixteen  corresponding  telephones. 
The  arrival  of  the  sound  signal  at  the  telephone 
directed  towards  the  quarter  from  which  the  sound 
originates  actuates  a  marking  point  carried  by  the 
corresponding  band,  and  a  mark  is  made  on  the  under 
side  of  a  piece  of  translucent  paper  placed  over  the 
bands  and  ruled  with  concentric  circles  representing 
the  number  of  miles  of  the  source  from  the  vessel. 
The  marking  points  are  brought  back  to  the  zero  circle 
after  each  observation,  and  a  series  of  observations 
gives  the  direction,  distance,  and  course  of  the  source 
from  the  ship. 

In  the  last  number  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Geo- 
logists' Association  (December,  1915)  Dr.  A.  Holmes 
gives  a  useful  summary  account  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  study  of  radio-active  minerals  can  be  applied 
to  the  measurement  of  geological  time.  The  science 
of  radio-activity  has  already  destroyed  the  argument 
by  which  Lord  Kelvin  deduced  a  relatively  short  age 
for  the  earth  from  its  apparent  rate  of  cooling.  But 
the  saine  science  also  furnishes  data  for  a  direct  esti- 
mate of  the  age  of  a  rock  which  contains  radio-active 
minerals.  There  is  doubtless  a  considerable  margin 
of  error,  but  the  best  results  arc  consistent,  and  seem 
to  be  reasonable.  Prof.  Strutt's  method  was  based 
upon  the  accumulation  of  helium  from  the  gradual 
break-up  of  uranium  and  thorium.  Dr.  Holmes  takes 
instead  the  ratio  of  the  final  product,  lead,  to 
uranium,  and  his  results  are  in  general  higher  than 
Strutt's,  probably  owing  to  the  loss  of  helium  by 
leakage.  Various  Carboniferous  and  Devonian  intru- 
sions are  estimated  to  have  an  age  of  the  order  of 
300  to  400  millions  of  years,  and  for  granitic  intru- 
sions of  the  Middle  pre-Cambrian  is  deduced  an  age 
of  the  order  of  loco  to  1200  millions  of  years.  Such 
figures  will  be  comforting  to  geologists  who  dislike 
hurrying  unduly  the  operations  of  nature. 

In  the  current  number  of  the  Transactions  of  the 
English  Ceramic  Society  there  are  several  important 
papers,  notably  one  by  M.  Bigot  on  the  distribution 
of  heat  in  pottery  ovens,  and  one  on  pottery  pyrometr\- 
by  Mr.  R.  W.  Paul.  There  is  a  memorial  lecture  on 
the  famous  ceramic  artist,  M.  Solon,  by  Mr.  Hobson, 

Nrn       OATCi      ■\rr\-T       r\>-r~\ 


of  the  British  Museum,  and  a  number  of  papers  of  purely 
technical  interest  by  Messrs.  Audley,  Dressier,  Guy,  Hill, 
Mellor,  Singleton,  and  Wilson.  The  English  Society 
is  doing  good  work  in  getting  the  empirical  expjerience 
of  the  potters  into,  a  systematic  form,  so  that  the 
underlying  principles  may  finalU-  be  made  clear;  and 
it  is  gradually  winning  for  itself  general  recognition 
among  the  manufacturers  who  pay  for  the  work  of 
abstracting  the  home  and  foreign  pottery,  clay,  and 
glass  journals.  These  abstracts  are  an  important 
feature  of  the  journal. 

The  following  forthcoming  books  of  science  are 
announced,  in  addition  to  those  referred  to  in  recent 
issues  of  Nature.  By  George  Allen  and  Unwin,  Ltd. 
— Elements  of  Folk  Psychology  :  Outlines  of  a  Psycho- 
logical History  of  the  Development  of  Mankind,  W. 
Wundt,  translated  by  E.  L.  Schaub ;  Anthropo- 
morphism and  Science :  A  Study  of  the  Development 
of  Ejective  Cognition  in  the  Individual  and  the  Race, 
O.  A.  Wheeler.  By  D.  Appleton  and  Co.— The  Book 
of  Forestry,  F.  F.  Moon ;  The  Care  and  Culture  of 
House  Plants,  H.  Findlay;  The  Fundamentals  of  Plant 
Breeding,  J.  M.  Coulter;  Sanitation  in  Panama,  W.  C. 
Gorgas;  Irrigation  Management,  F.  H.  Xowell ;  Irri- 
gation in  the  United  States,  R.  P.  Teele;  The  Theon,' 
of  Steam  Traction  Engineering,  S.  R.  Eighinger  and 
M.  S.  Hutton ;  Minerals  and  Rocks,  W.  S.  Bayley. 
By  .4.  and  C.  Black,  Ltd. — A  Manual  of  Mendelism, 
Prof.  J.  Wilson;  First  Principles  of  Evolution,  Dr.  S. 
Herbert,  new  edition,  illustrated;  A  Manual  of  Medicai 
Jurisprudence,  Toxicology,  and  Public  Health,  Dr. 
W.  G.  A.  Robertson,  new  edition,  illustrated;  Diseases 
of  Children,  Dr.  A.  D.  Fordyce,  illustrated.  By  the  Cam- 
bridge University  Press. — A  Factorial  Theor}-  of  Evolu- 
tion, Prof.  W.  L.  Tower ;  Chemical  Signs  of  Life,  S. 
Tashiro  (University,"  of  Chicago  Science  Series.) 
By  Cassell  and  Co.,  Ltd. — ^Alfred  Russel  Wallace: 
Letters  and  Reminiscences,  J.  Marchant.  By  /.  and 
A.  Churchill. — Handbook  of  Colloid  Chemistry  :  the 
Recognition  of  Colloids,  Theorj-  of  Colloids,  and  their 
General  Physico-Chemical  Properties,  Dr.  W.  Ost- 
wald,  translated  by  Prof.  M.  H.  Fischer.  By  John 
Murray. — Agriculture  after  the  War,  A.  D.  Hall.  By  the 
University  of  London  Press. — The  New  Regional  Geo- 
graphies, L.  Brooks,  vol.  i.,  The  Americas,  vol.  ii., 
Asia  and  Australia,  vol.  iii.,  Europe  and  Africa;  An 
Economic  Geography  of  the  British  Empire,  C.  B. 
Thurston.  By  Witherby  atid  Co.,  under  the  title,  "A 
Veteran  Naturalist,"  a  life  of  the  late  Mr.  W.  B. 
Tegetmeier,  by  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  E.  W.  Richardson. 

With  reference  to  the  note  in  N.-vture  of  March  2- 
(p.  16),  Mr.  Perrycoste  writes  to  say  that  he  pointed 
out  not  only  the  advantages  consequent  on  the  sug- 
gested use  of  Latin,  but  the  counterbalancing  risks  and 
the  necessity  of  discarding  Latin  "  prose-composition," 
as  well  as  Latin  verse. 

In  the  article  on  "  The  Utilisation  of  Peat  "  in  Nature 
of  March  2,  it  should  have  been  stated  that  the  blocks 
of  Figs.  I  and  2  were  lent  to  us  by  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  and  Technical  Instruction  for  Ireland, 
which,  as  stated  on  p.  19,  publishes  the  pamphlet  from 
which  the  article  was  abridged.  Fig.  3  was  from  a 
block  lent  by  the  Power  Gas  Corporation,  Ltd.,  Stock- 
ton-on-Tees. 


45 


NATURE 


[March  9,  1916 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

The  Solar  Activity. — Sun-spot  activity  has  been 
especially  noteworthy  during  the  past  few  days,  a 
feature  being  the  great  extent  and  disturbed  character 
of  several  of  the  groups. 

Comet  1916a  (Neujmin). — The  discovery  of  the  first 
comet  of  the  year  by  M.  G.  Neujmin,  of  the  Simeis 
Observatory,  Crimea,  on  February  24  was  announced 
last  week.  According  to  a  telegram  received  last 
Friday  from  Prof.  E.  Stromgren,  the  comet  was  ob- 
served by  Prof.  Biesbroeck  (Ycrkes)  on  February  29,  at 
i4h.  4i-3m.  G.M.T. ;  its  position  was  R.A.  8h.  58m. 
46-58.,  declination  +13°  35'  14".  The  comet  is  thus  a 
little  south  of  k  Cancri. 

Comet  19156  (T.-wlor). — On  February  4,  1891,  Dr. 
Spitaler,  searching  for  Winnecke's  comet,  observed  a 
cometic  object  that  afterwards  could  not  be  refound. 
On  the  basis  of  the  orbit  calculated  by  M.  J.  Braae 
and  Mile.  J.  Vinter  Hansen,  Prof.  A.  Berberich  finds 
(Astronomische  Nachrichteti,  No.  4827)  that  this  soli- 
tary observation  possibly  refers  to  comet  Taylor. 
Assuming  changes  of  +65°  and  —6-3°  in  longitudes  of 
node  and  of  perihelion  respectively,  and  calculating 
the  comet's  place  for  M=5i°,  gives  about  the  position 
of  the  object  seen  by  Dr.  Spitaler.  Decided  alterations 
in  the  position  of  the  nodes  due  to  perturbations  by 
Jupiter  were  possible  in  1901,  and  again  in  1912-13. 
If  perihelion  occurred  in  18910,  then  the  interval, 
25-1  years  =  4X6-27,  would  be  equivalent  to  four  revolu- 
tion's. Dr.  Spitaler  recorded  that  at  about  g^h.  he  saw 
the  object  "between  the  faint  stars  lying  together  in 
the  same  parallel  20s.  preceding  the  star  DM +  26°, 
1714,"  i.e.  R.A.  7h.  58m.  43s.,  declination  26°  15'. 
This  position  was  in  fairly  close  agreement  with  that 
calculated  for  Winnecke's  comet  according  to  the  orbit 
of  von  Haerdtl. 

The  Orbit  of  VV  Orioms.^A  paper  by  Mr. 
Zaccheus  Daniel  (Publications,  Allegheny  Observa- 
tory, vol.  iii.,  No.  21)  deals  with  this  eclipsing  variable 
and  spectroscopic  binary.  Chief  interest  centres  in  the 
fact  that  situated  within  1°  of  8  Ononis  it  is  now 
found  to  present  the  same  spectral  peculiarity,  the 
calcium  K  line  not  sharing  the  oscillations  shown  by 
the  lines  of  other  elements.  Its  spectrum  is  of  the 
B2  type,  and  the  lines  are  generally  diffuse.  The 
period,  1-4854  da3-s,  agrees  with  that  previously  found 
by  Hartmann  from  photometric  observations,  but  this 
rapid  oscillation  is  superposed  on  a  slower,  having  a 
period  of  120  days.  The  velocities  given  by  the 
K  line  are  not  quite  constant,  hence  possibly  the 
calcium  atmosphere  belongs  to  the  system,  and  has 
an  orbital  movement  in  the  same  direction  as  the 
brighter  component.  The  mean  value  from  the  K 
line  is  +16-7  km. /sec,  agreeing  with  the  mean  for 
8  Ononis  (+17-2)  and  e  Ononis  (+15-6),  and  with  the 
value  of  the  sun's  motion  away  from  that  part  of 
space.  Thus  the  calcium  vapour  is  stationary,  but  as 
the  early  type  stars  themselves  have  very  small  veloci- 
ties, the  pres.ent  evidence  does  not  settle  whether  the 
calcium  belongs  to  the  stars  or  not. 

Observations  of  Variable  Stars. — Dr.  C.  Hoff- 
meister  {Astronomische  Nachrichten,  No.  4827) 
has  recently  published  a  considerable  collection 
of  observations  of  many  Algol  and  short-period  vari- 
ables, and  also  of  a  numter  of  suspected  variables. 
Among  the  latter  is  t]  Ursae  Majoris,  for  which  the 
present  observations  indicate  a  range  of  0-3  magnitude. 
Dr.  G.  Hornig  (Astronomische  Nachrichten,  No.  4828) 
gives  dates  of  maxima  and  minima  of  (j)  Persei  1 
observed  during  November,  1914-April,  1915.  The 
period  of  the  latter  star  is  found  to  be  i8-t  days,  very 
nearly  one-seventh  that  found  by  Lau.     Maxima  date 

NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


_  from  November  28,  1914,  and  thus  the  next  would  be 
due  March  12.  The  variation  is  of  the  Cepheid  type 
(M-7n=:7-5  days).  Observations  of  7  Arietis,  15  Tri- 
anguli,  and  31  Orionis  show  them  to  be  irregularly 
variable  in  periods  of  about  70,  200,  and  356  days 
respectively. 


SEA-SPIDERS  AND  FEATHER-STARS.^ 
F^R.  CALMAN  reports  on  the  Pycnogons  or  sea- 
^-^  spiders  collected  by  the  British  Antarctic  Expedi- 
tion of  1910.  The  collection  far  exceeds  that  of  any 
Antarctic  expedition  yet  reported  on,  comprising  no 
fewer  than  forty-four  species,  eleven  of  which  arc  new. 
There  seems  no  doubt  that  Antarctic  seas  are  far  richer 
in  these  quaint,  slow-living  creatures  than  any  other 
area  of  the  oceans.  While  most  of  the  species  were 
obtained  in  very  small  numbers,  this  was  not  always 
the  case,  for  we  read  that  two  hundred  specimens  of 
Nymphon  australe  were  obtained  at  a  single  station, 
and  presumably  at  a  single  haul. 

The  author  discusses  the  meaning  of  the  ten-legged 
species  which  occur,  the  great  majority  being  eight- 
legged,  and  defends,  against  Prof.  Bouvier,  the  view, 
which  he  shares  with  Prof.  Carpenter,  that  the  deca- 
podous  Pycnogons  represent  a  recent  specialisation, 
not  a  primitive  survival.  An  interesting  parallel  is 
found  in  Pliotrema,  a  Pristiophorid  shark,  described 
by  Mr.  C.  Tate  Regan,  which  has  six  gill-arches  in- 
stead of  the  usual  five,  but  is  evidently  a  very  highly 
specialised  form,  derivable  from  some  ancestor  like 
Pristiophorus,  with  the  normal  number  of  arches. 

Attention  has  been  directed  to  the  great  range  of 
variability  in  sea-spiders,  but  Dr.  Caiman  does  not 
think  that  it  is  greater  than,  for  instance,  in  many 
groups  of  Crustaceans.  And  as  to  the  theory  of 
Doderlein,  that  lack  of  the  power  of  wandering  is  a 
factor  which  favours  the  development  of  local  races, 
varieties,  and  species  in  any  group  of  animals,  the 
author  finds  no  corroboration  in  the  case  of  Pycnogons, 
which  are  extremely  slow-going  creatures.  Although 
some  species  can  swim  in  the  adult  state,  their  efforts 
seem  to  be  awkward  and  ineffective,  and  none  of  the 
larvae  are  better  adapted  for  locomotion.  The  memoir 
is  marked  by  Dr.  Caiman's  well-known  carefulness  of 
workmanship,  and  the  illustrations  drawn  by  Miss 
Gertrude  M.  Woodward  are  remarkably  fine. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Clark  is  to  be  congratulated  on  the 
appearance  of  the  first  part  of  the  monograph  on 
present-day  Crinoids,  to  which  he  has  largely  devoted 
his  energies  during  the  last  ten  years.  The  study  of 
these  singularly  beautiful  animals  has  been  heretofore 
dominated  by  the  palasontological  approach,  and  not 
unnaturally,  since  the  fossil  record  is  extraordinarily 
complete,  and  not  very  many  recent  forms  have  been, 
known  or  have  been  available  for  investigation. 
This,  as  the  author  says,  has  led  to  "  the  recent 
Crinoids  being  considered  as  the  impov-erished 
and  decadent  remnants  of  a  once  numerous  and 
powerful  class,  the  last  forlorn  and  pitiful  expo-- 
nents  of  a  dwindlinsr  phylogenetic  strain.  During  the 
1906  cruise  of  the  Albatross  I  handled  tens  of  thousands 
of  specimens ;  several  times  I  saw  the  forward  deck 
of  the  steamer  literally  buried  under  several  tons  of 
individuals  belonging  to  a  species  exceeding  any  fossil 
form  in  size ;  everywhere  we  went  we  found  Crinoids ;. 
we  dredged  them  at  all  depths." 

1  "  British  Museum  (Nnural   H-storv).     Britisli  Antarctic  (/"^-rrrt  .A 
F.xpedition,    iqio       *^'atural    Historv    Rep-irt.      Zoolog-,   vol.   iii..   N'. 
Pycno'onida."     Bv   Dr.    W     T     f"alin«n.      Pn.    1-74+22   figs.      (London  : 
Briti'ih  Museum  (Natu'al  H''sfory\  tqi'.)     P'ce  5^. 

Smit*":onian  Institution.  U  S  National  M'-sei'm,  Bulletin  82.  "A  Mono- 
praph  of  the  Existing  Crino'Hs."  By  A.  H.  C'ark  Vol.  i.  The  ComatiiJirf.';. 
Parti.  Pp.  1-406+ 17  plates+513  figs.  (Wa^hlngto^  :  Government  Printing' 
Office,  1915.) 


J 


March  9,  19 16] 


NATURE 


47 


.  So  Mr.  Clark  ceased  to  regard  the  group  as  decadent 
or  degenerate,  and  became  convinced  that  recent 
Crinoids  play  as  important  a  role  in  the  econom\-  of 
the  sea-floor' as  do  the  other  Echinoderms.  He  has 
written  his  monograph,  therefore,  under  the  influence 
of  a  studv  of  recent  forms  rather  than  of  extinct  forms. 
-  The  present .  instalment  contains  a  general  introduc- 
■  .,  a  history  of  investigation,  a  most  elaborate 
-sar}-,  and  a  general  account  of  Crinoid  structure 
waich  Is  strongest  as  regards  skeletal  parts,  dealing 
rather  sketchily  with  the  "innards"  and  the  develop- 
•"•  pt.  We  regret  to  see  that  the  learned  author  de- 
!<  the  extraordinary-  view  that  Echinoderms  are 
...liiated  to  Crustaceans  and  to  barnacles  in  particular. 
To  support  this  by  "  the  ven,'  close  correspondence  be- 
tween the  development  of  the  larvae  of  the  Echinoderms 
and  that  of  the  larvae  of  certain  tv^pes  of  Crustaceans," 
or  by  the  correspondence  between  the  crustacean  eye 
and  the  asteroid  eye,  or  by  comparing  the  genital  plates 
of  a  sea-urchin  to  the  protopodites  of  the  walking  legs 
of  a  crayfish,  or  indeed  by  any  of  the  arguments  used, 
seems  to  us  an  extraordinary  perversion  of  morpho- 
logical judgment.  Attention  should  be  directed  to  the 
numerous  graphic  figures  drawn  by  Miss  Violet 
Dandridge  for  the  text. 


CHEMISTS    AND    THEIR    TRAINING. 

SPEAKING   at   the    thirty-eighth    annual    general 
meeting  of  the  Institute  of  Chemistr}',  held  on 
I  March    i,    Sir   James   Dobbie,   the  president,  referred 
j  briefly  to  the   work  of   the  institute  during  the  war 
mi    the    importance   of    the  services    of    professional 
nists  to  the  nation,  particularly  in  the  production 
-lunitions  and  other  material  of  war.     His  address 
[  is  here  summarised. 

j      Both  in  the  interests  of  the  profession  and  of  the 
i  industries  of  the  countrv',  the  institute  has  encouraged 
j  by  everv'  means  possible  the  production  of  laboratory 
I  requirements    of    all    kinds    hitherto    obtained    almost 
"rely  from  Germany  and  Austria.     In  co-operation 
'.  the  Society  of  Public  Analysts,  steps  have  been 
p.  to  ensure  supplies  of  satisfactory  chemical  re- 
us,   and    a    number   of    British  firms  have  under- 
c.,^.,n  their  manufacture  according  to  standards  pre- 
!  scribed  by  a  joint  committee  of  the  two  societies. 
j      The  work  of  the  Glass  Research  Committee  of  the 
!  institute  has  been  remarkablv  successful.     At  the  end 

of  six  months'  work  formulas  were  produced  for 
tically  all  the  various  kinds  of  glass  required  in 
nical  operations,  in  addition  to  glasses  for  miners' 
[  lamps,  pharmaceutical  ampoules,  and  X-ray  tubes. 
I  .\  number  of  manufacturers  who  have  taken  up  these 
I  industries  are  now  able  to  supply  immediate  require- 
J  ments,  and  there  is  good  reason  to  expect  that  within 
I  a  short  while  they  will  have  -  completely  mastered  the 

technique  involved  in  the  production  of  such  articles. 

The  credit  for  this  achievement  is  due  to  Prof.  Herbert 

Jackson,  of  Kiner's  College,  London,  assisted  by  Mr. 
\  T.  R.  Merton.  The  work  of  the  committee  has  received 
!  the  recognition  of  the  Advisorv-  Council  on  Scientific 
\  and  Industrial  Research,  from  whom  grants  have  been 
'  received  for  the  furtherance  of  investigations  with  a 
;  view  to  the  determination  of  formulas  for  other  glasses 
1  required  for  scientific  purposes,  including  certain  forms 
j  of  optical   glass. 

i      As  to  the  necessity  for  taking  adequate  measures  for 
1  equipping  ourselves  for  the  economical  struggle  which 

must  ensue  when  peace  is  restored,  the  discussions 
i  which  have  taken  place  on  the  subject  have  revealed 
:  a  wide  divergence  of  views,  both  as  to  the  cause  of  the 
j  unsatisfactory  position  in    which   we   found  ourselves 

and  the  steps  required  to  remedy  it.     In  chemical  in- 

I  NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


dustries,  however,  it  is  generally  agreed  that  the  rela- 
tions between  chemical  science  and  chemical  manufac- 
tures should  be  more  intimate  in  the  future  than  they 
have  been  in  the  past.  That  condition  can  be  fulfilled 
only  if  the  countr}-  possesses  an  ample  supply  of  highly 
trained  chemists.  Dr.  Beilby  has  expressed  the  belief 
that  the  remarkable  development  of  chemical  industry 
in  Germany  resulted  much  more  from  the  large  com- 
mand of  chemists  and  engineers  of  sound  professional 
training  than  from  the  possession  of  an  even  larger 
supply  of  research  chemists  of  mediocre  ability.  That 
opinion  should  not,  how^ever,  be  taken  as  giving  the 
impression  that  the  value  of  research  is  to  be  under- 
rated. So  far  as  the  suppljr  of  chemists  of  sound 
professional  training  is  concerned,  we  can  face  the 
future  with  some  confidence,  particularly  as  the  facili- 
ties for  training  chemists  have  been  remarkably  in- 
creased. It  has  to  be  admitted,  however,  that  the 
great  public  schools  are,  for  the  most  part,  unsvTn- 
pathetic  towards  the  study  of  science,  and,  even  when 
thev  are  excellently  equipped  for  the  purpose,  the 
results  are  meagre  and  unsatisfactory. 

As  to  the  older  universities,  it  must  be  allowed  that 
Cambridge  has  lately  achieved  an  extraordinary 
measure  of  success  in  adapting  its  teaching  to  the 
needs  of  modern  times,  while  the  fact  that  Oxford  is 
rousing  herself  to  meet  her  responsibilities  is  shown 
bv  the  terms  of  a  memorandum  issued  by  the  Natural 
Sciences  Board  in  support  of  a  reform  in  the  regula- 
tions for  the  honours  degree  in  chemistry,  whereby 
research  will  become  a  compulsory  part  of  the  curri- 
culum. What  must  be  advocated  is  a  system  of 
general  education  on  broad  lines  throughout,  including 
both  classics  and  science,  up  to  the  proper  age  for 
specialisation.  Should  the  expectation  of  the  country 
in  this  matter  not  be  realised,  the  inevitable  result  will 
be  that  schools  established  on  more  modern  lines  will 
gradually  replace  the  old  public  schools  as  the  training 
ground  of  the  leaders  of  the  nation. 

The  council  of  the  institute  is  about  to  give  further 
consideration  to  the  problem  of  promoting  a  more 
complete  organisation  of  professional  chemistrv*  in  the 
interests  of  the  industries  of  the  countn,'.  Chemistrv' 
is  a  comparatively  young  profession,  which  is  gradu- 
allv  establishing  itself  in  the  knowledge  and  the  good 
opinion  of  the  community.  It  will  be  successful  in 
this  in  proportion  as  it  attracts  men  of  strong  char- 
acter and  individuality,  efficient  and  capable  of  holding 
their  own  as  professional  men.  As  it  gains  in  strength 
its  services  will  become  more  widely  recognised  and 
will  meet  with  the  same  appreciation  as  thai  accorded 
to  the  older  learned  professions.  The  fact  that  the 
title  chemist  has  long  been  identified  in  this  countrv-. 
alone  of  all  European  countries,  with  the  craft  of 
pharmacy  is  responsible  for  much  of  the  confusion 
existing  in  the  ptiiblic  mind,  but  the  public  is  learning 
at  present  so  much  about  the  work  of  the  chemist  that 
we  need  not  despair  of  seeing  the  day  when  it  will  be 
common  knowledge  that  while  in  law  all  pharmacists 
are  chemists,  all  chemists  are  not  pharmacists. 


We  extract  from  the  report  of  the  council  a  state- 
ment as  to  the  work  on  glass  research  to  which  Sir 
James  Dobbie  referred  in  his  address. 

The  Advisory  Council   on   Scientific  and   Industrial 
Research   has  allotted   the  institute  a   grant  of  400/. 
for  one  year's  research   work  on  laboratory  glass  of 
:  various  kinds,   and  a  grant  of  500Z.    for  research  on 
I  optical  glass,  covering  a  period  up  to  March  31,  1016. 
j  The  grants  are  made  on  certain  conditions,  providing 
j  for  the  use  of  the  results  bv  British  firms  on  terms  to 
be  arransred  b^^tween  the  Advisorv-  Council,  the  Glass 
!  Research   Committee,    and    the    manufacturers    con- 
cerned.    The  Glass  Research  Committee  has  latelv  for- 


48 


NATURE 


[March  9,  191(3 


A 


warded  to  the  Advisory  Council  reports  on  formulas 
for  : — Blue  enamel  for  sealing  metallic  wire  into  glass ; 
lead  glass  suitable  for  electric  light  bulbs;  lead  glass 
similar  to  above,  but  avoiding  potassium  carbonate; 
opal  glass  designed  to  join  perfectly  with  glass  made 
to  the  committee's  formulas  Nos.  i  and  lo;  high-tem- 
perature thermometer  glass  ;  a  leadless  opal  glass  which 
unites  with  No.  19  and  can  be  worked  with  it  as  an 
enamel  backing  for  thermometers,  etc. ;  thermometer 
glass  for  ordinary  temperatures. 

The  fact  that  these  formulas  are  available  has  been 
reported  to  British  glass-makers,  from  whom  a  large 
number  of  applications  have  been  received  and  are 
now  under  the  consideration  of  the  authorities. 

With  regard  to  research  on  optical  glass,  the  Advi- 
sory Council  has  asked  that  the  Glass  Research  Com- 
mittee shall  keep  in  touch  with  the  National  Physical 
Laboratory,  to  which  a  grant  has  also  been  allotted. 
The  primary  object  of  the  work  of  the  laboratory  will 
be  "  the  study  of  the  process  and  condition  of  melting 
and  producing  glass  of  good  optical  quality  with  special 
reference  to  refractories  and  electric  furnace  methods, 
with  a  view  to  putting  the  whole  process  of  manu- 
facture on  a  practical  scientific  basis." 

The  line  of  investigation  undertaken  by  the  Glass 
Research  Committee  of  the  institute  is  "  the  study  of 
certain  specific  optical  e^lasses  urgently  required  for 
industrial  purposes,  with  a  view  to  their  early  pro- 
duction by  manufacturers.  " 

REPORTS    OF    CARNEGIE   FOUNDATIONS. 

COPY  of  the  year-book  for  1915  of  the  Carnegie 
Institution  of  Washington  has  reached  us.  As 
usual,  the  bulky  volume,  which  this  year  runs  to 
429  pages,  contains  not  only  detailed  particulars  of  the 
large  amount  of  scientific  research  carried  out  under 
the  auspices  of  the  institution,  but  full  information  of 
the  income  and  expenditure  of  the  corporation,  f  he 
total  financial  receipts  for  the  year  1915  amounted  to 
243,000^.,  bringing  up  the  grand  total  received  since 
the  inauguration  of  the  institution  in  1902  to  2,331,300!. 
The  expenditure  during  1915  may  be  summarised  as 
follows  : — Investments  in  bonds,  41,240/.  ;  large  pro- 
jects, 154,100/.;  minor  and  special  projects,  research 
associates  and  assistants,  21,914/.  ;  publications,  9340/. ; 
and  administration,  9645/.  The  following  list  shows 
the  departments  of  investigation  to  which  the  larger 
grants  were  made  and  the  amounts  allotted  during 
the  year  :— 

Department   of   Botanical   Research         ...  8,123 

Department  of  Economics  and  Sociology  600 

Department  of  Experimental  Evolution  ...  9,7^4 

Geophysical  Laboratory        I7»833 

Department  of  Historical   Research        ...  6,280 

Department  of  Marine  Biology     3-830 

Department  of  Meridian  Astronomy        ...  5-276 

Nutrition    Laboratory            9»oi3 

Division   of  Publications      2,000 

Solar  Observatory       44,026 

Department  of  Terrestrial   Magnetism    ...  28,262 

Department   of   Embryology           6,436 

Total      ;^i4i,463 

A  table  showing  the  p^rowth  and  extent  of  the  insti- 
tution's publications  shows  that,  since  1902,  two 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  volumes,  embracing  a  total 
of  more  than  79,000  pages  of  printed  matter,  have  been 
issued. 

The  executive  committee  of  the  Carnegrie  Trust  for 
the  Universities  of  Scotland  has  submitted  to  the 
trustees  its  report  on  the  administration  of  the  trust 
for  the  year  1014-15. 

NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


Under  the  third  quinquennial  scheme  of  distribution, 
which  came  into  operation  on  October  i,  1913,  a  sum 
of  203,250/.,  or  40,650/.  per  annum,  was  allocated 
among  the  Scottish  universities  and  colleges.  Of  this 
sum  21,250/.  was  applicable  towards  providing  books, 
etc.,  for  libraries;  100,750/.  towards  the  cost  of  new 
buildings  and  of  permanent  equipment;  while  21,250/. 
was  assigned  towards  endowments  for  lectureships 
and  other  general  purposes. 

The  operations  of  the  trust  under  the  research 
scheme  were  atlected  considerably  by  the  \*ar,  though 
the  expenditure  for  the  year  under  the  scheme  reached 
6957/.  During  the  year  six  fellows  and  nine  scholars 
were  engaged  on  military  duty,  and  in  these  cases  the 
fellowship  or  scholarship  has  been  kept  open  in  case 
the  recipient  should  be  able  subsequently  to  resume 
research  work.  Notwithstanding  adverse  conditions, 
the  experts  have  been  able  to  report  favourably  upon 
the  work  accomplished  during  the  year. 

For  the  academic  year  1915-16,  seventeen  fellow- 
ships and  thirty-three  scholarships  were  awarded,  and 
fifty-three  grants  Nvere  made.  Four  of  these  fellow- 
ships and  nine  of  the  scholarships  were  awarded  to 
graduates  who  are  at  present  engaged  on  military  duty, 
and  they,  too,  are  being  held  over  in  the  hope  that 
the  holders  may  be  able  to  take  up  their  research  work 
again  at  a  later  date. 

In  the  laboratory  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians 
the  effect  of  the  war  has  also  been  felt,  and  the 
ordinary  activities  have  to  a  large  extent  given  place 
to  special  work  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
time. 

During  1914-15  the  expenditure  of  the  trust  on 
assistance  in  payment  of  class  fees  has  been  further 
diminished  by  the  war,  which  has  depleted  the  Scottish 
universities  of  so  many  of  their  students.  As  com- 
pared with  a  sum  of  41,789/.,  which  was  paid  on 
behalf  of  3901  individual  beneficiaries  for  1913-14,  the 
expenditure  for  the  year  under  review  was  33,847/. 
on  behalf  of  3246  individual  students.  During  the 
year  a  sum  of  704/.  was  voluntarily  refunded  by  or  on 
behalf  of  eighteen  beneficiaries  for  whom  class  fees 
had  been  paid  by  the  trust.  This  is  the  largest  sum 
vet  received  in  this  way  in  any  one  year. 

The  report  is  provided  with 'four  appendices  dealing 
respectively  with  :  the  grants  to  universities  and  col- 
leges, the  post-graduate  study  and  research  work  done 
by  the  fellows  and  scholar.Sj  the  amount  of  the  assist- 
ance rendered  to  students,  and  an  abstract  of  the 
financial  account  for  the  year.  The  list  of  publica- 
tions by  fellows,  scholars,  and  grantees  received  by 
the  committee  during  the  year  runs  to  about  six  pages, 
and  an  examination  of  it  shows  that  very  many 
branches  of  science  have  derived  benefit  from  the 
trust,  which  is  being  admirably  administered. 


THE    SUPPORT    OF     THE    HIMALAYA. 

THE  major  prominences  of  the  earth's  surface  are 
in  some  way  compensated  by  a  defect  of  density 
underlying  them,  with  the  result  that  they  do  not  exert 
the  attractive  force,  either  in  a  vertical  or  in  a  horizontal 
direction,  which  should  result  from  their  mass.  A 
study  of  the  distribution  of  this  compensation  shows 
that  there  is  a  general  balance  between  it  and  the 
topographv,  such  that  the  weip^ht  of  any  vertical 
column  through  the  crust  of  the  earth  is,  on  thf 
average,  constant,  whatever  may  be  the  elevation  o\ 
the  surface.  To  this  condition  the  term  isostasy  has 
been  applied,  which  does  not  merelv  denote  a  static 
condition,  but  implies  a  power  of  adjustment  of  the 
compensation  to  the  variation  in  load  produced  by 
surface-denudation    and   transport. 

1  Ah- tract  o'  a  lectu-e  d-lKce'l  b''o-e  the  Geological  Sock ty  of  Lor.dor 
on  February  2  by  Mr.  R.  D.  01dh.-im,  F.R.S. 


March  9,  19 16] 


NATURE 


49 


j  The  explanations  that  have  been  proposed  of  the 
jxistence  of  compensation  fall  into  two  classes.  One 
supposes  the  relief  of  the  surface  to  be  due  to  an 
ilteration  in  the  volume  of  the  underlying  rock,  and 
nay  be  regarded  as  hypotheses  of  tumefaction.  They 
nvolve  no  addition  ot  matter  to  the  crust  under  a 
nountain-range,  and  do  not  provide,  either  for  any 
departure  from  a  balance  between  topography  and 
:ompensation,  or  for  a  restoration  of  the  balance  when 
disturbed  by  denudation.  The  other  group  of  hypo- 
;heses  attributes  the  origin  of  the  range  to  a  com- 
oression  of  the  crust,  the  injection  of  molten  matter, 
yc  the  "undertow"  of  the  lower  part  of  the  crust. 
To  provide  for  compensation  any  hypothesis  of  this 
;lass  will  require  a  downward  protuberance  of  the 
aether  surface  of  the  crust,  causing  a  displacement  of 
denser  by  lighter  material,  as  also  an  effect  of  buoyancy 
owing  to  this  difference  of  density :  this  group  of 
lypotheses,  therefore,  may  be  regarded  as  one  of 
isupport  by  flotation.  They  involve  a  migration  of 
natter  from  outside  to  beneath  the  range,  they  allow 
bf  a  considerable  local  departure  from  exact  balance 
een  load  and  support  (or  topography  and  com- 
aion),  so  long  as  the  defect  in  one  tract  is 
jaianced  by  an  excess  in  an  adjoining  one,  and  they 
provide  for  an  adjustment  of  any  disturbance  of  this 
balance. 

The  geodetic  observations  in  the  Himala\-as  show 
chat  there  is  a  defect  of  compensation  in  the  outer 
hills,  which  increases  in  amount  until  at  about  50  miles 
jfrom  the  edge  of  the  hills  it  reaches  an  equivalent  to 
tan  overload  of  about  2000  ft.  of  rock.  In  the  interior 
jof  the  Himalayas  the  only  observation  yet  published 
shows  that  at  about  140  miles  from  the  edge  of  the 
hills  this  overload  has  disappeared,  and  compensation 
is  in  excess.  The  variation  in  the  balance  between 
topography  and  compensation  points  to  one  of  the 
'second  group  of  hypotheses,  to  a  support  of  the  range 
by  flotation,  and  to  the  conclusion  thai:  the  growth 
jof  the  support  has  been  more  rapid  than  that  of  the 
Irange.  The  primary  problem  then  becomes,  not  as 
,to  how  the  Himalayas  are,  supported  at  their  actual 
height,  but  why  they  are  not  even  loftier  :  in  other 
words,  the  problem  is  carried  one  stage  farther  back, 
from  the  origin  of  the  range  to  the  origin  of  its 
i'root." 

'  This  result  of  the  examination  of  the  geodetic  data 
i  simplifies  the  explanation  of  some  difficult  geo- 
logical questions.  It  affords  an  easy  explanation 
of  the  indications  which  are  found  in  the  interior  of 
the  Himalayas,  and  of  other  similar  ranges,  of  simple 
vertical  uplift  without  disturbance,  and  also  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  contorted  and  faulted  strata,  the 
disturbance  of  which  must  have  taken  place  under  the 
pressure  of  some  thousands  of  feet  of  rock,  have  been 
brought  up  to  a  level  where  they  are  exposed  to  denu- 
dation and  their  structure  revealed ;  but  it  brings  us 
very  little  nearer  to  an  explanation  of  the  ultimate 
origin  of  the  range.  It  is  a  distinct  step  forward  in 
illustration  of  the  mechanism  of  the  production  of 
mountain-ranges  of  the  type  of  the  Himalayas  and  the 
Alps,  but  we  are  as  far  as  ever  from  an  understanding 
of  the  power  by  which  this  mechanism  is  driven. 


UNIVERSITY    AND    EDUCATIONAL 
j  INTELLIGENCE. 

j  Birmingham.— The  Huxley  Lecture  is  to  be  delivered 
;on  Friday,  March  10,  by  the  Right  Hon.  the- Viscount 
'  Bryce,  who  has  chosen  as  his  subject,  "War  and  Pro- 
gress :  an  Inquiry  from  Historv  of  how  far  War  and 
;  Peace  have  respectivelv  contributed  to  the  Progress  of 
j  Mankind." 

NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


O.xFORD. — On  March  7  the  statute  providing  for  the 
introduction  of  research  in  the  honour  school  of  chem- 
istry was  promulgated  in  Congregation.  The  adoption 
of  the  statute,  which  had  received  the  support  of  every 
teacher  of  chemistr>'  in  the  University,  was  warmly 
advocated  by  the  Rev.  G.  B.  Cronshaw,  fellow  of 
Queen's  College,  who  spoke  especially  of  the  educa- 
tional aspect  of  the  proposed  change,  and  by  the  Wayn- 
flete  professor  of  chemistr}'  (Prof.  Perkin),  who  urged 
that  Oxford  should  lead  the  way  in  a  matter  of  press- 
ing national  concern.  Similar  changes  were  fore- 
shadowed in  the  physiology  and  other  natural  science 
examinations.  The  preamble  of  the  statute  was  ap- 
proved without  a  division. 

Cornell  University  has  recently  suffered  the  loss 
of  its  valuable  chemical  laboratories,  housed  in  Morse 
Hall,  which  has  been  destroyed  by  fire.  The  damage, 
estimated  at  60,000/.,  is  partly  covered  by  insurance. 
Fortunately  the  students  were  able  to  remove  about 
5000  books  from  the  libran,'  on  the  ground  floor; 
platinum  w'orth  400/.  and  radium  worth  200Z.  were 
also  saved. 

We  learn  from  the  issue  of  Science  for  February  18 
that  the  U.S.  General  Education  Board  has  announced 
the  following  grants  to  American  colleges  : — Mary- 
ville  College,  Maryville,  Tennessee,  15,000/.  toward 
an  endowment  fund  of  60,000?. ;  Western  College  for 
Women,  Oxford,  2o,oooZ.,  toward  an  endowment  fund 
of  100,000/. ;  Milwaukee-Downer  College  for  Women, 
Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  20,000/.,  toward  an  endowment 
fund  of  100,000/,  Including  the  foregoing,  the  General 
Education  Board  has  since  its  organisation  thirteen 
years  ago  appropriated  to  colleges  2,464,492/.  toward 
a  total  sum  of  11,475,105/.  to  be  raised.  Our  contem- 
porary also  states  that  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
Carnegie  Institute,  Pittsburgh,  announces  the  gift  of 
50,000/.  from  the  Carnegie  Corporation  of  New  York, 
the  money  to  be  used  for  the  purchase  of  ground  north 
of  the  present  campus. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  Paris  in  April,  1914,  the 
International  Commission  on  Mathematical  Teaching 
decided  to  undertake  an  inquiry'  regarding  the  pre- 
paration, both  academic  and  practical,  of  teachers  of 
mathematics  in  various  countries.  The  continuation 
of  this  inquiry  has  naturally  been  checked  by  the 
present  war;  at  the  same  time,  it  is  hoped  that  the 
various  national  sub-commissions  will  continue  their 
work  at  least  so  far  as  the  preliminaries  are  concerned. 
For  this  purpose  a  series  of  questions  in  English, 
French,  Italian,  and  German  has  been  drawn  up  under 
the  editorship  of  M.  H.  Fehr,  from  whom  it  may  be 
obtained  (address  no  Route  de  Florissant,  Geneva). 
The  replies  were  to  be  sent  to  Prof.  Gino  Loria,  41 
Piazza  Manin,  Genoa.  Most  of  the  questions  are 
evidently  suggested  by  conditions  differing  widely  from 
those  which  prevail  in  Great  Britain. 

The  issue  of  Science  for  February-  18  gives  the 
following  particulars  as  to  numbers  of  students  in 
attendance  at  German  universities  and  technical  schools 
from  a  report  by  the  Berlin  correspondent  of  the 
Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association  :— During 
the  semester  preceding  the  opening  of  the  war  79,077 
students  (of  whom  4500  were  women  and  about  9000 
foreigners)  attended  the  fifty-two  universities  and  other 
higher  institutions  of  the  German  Empire.  Of  this 
number  60,943  (4,117  women,  4,100  foreigners)  were 
enrolled  in  the  twent}--one  universities;  12,232  (82 
women,  2500  foreigners)  were  enrolled  in  the  eleven 
technical  schools.  The  siS  schools  of  commerce  (Ber- 
lin, Cologne,  Frankfort,  Leipzig,  Mannheim,  and 
Munich)  had  2625  students,  and  the  four  veterinary 
colleges  (Berlin,  Dresden,  Hanover,  and  Munich)  had 


;o 


NATURE 


[March  9,  19 16 


1404  students.  The  three  agricultural  colleges  had 
938  students.  Three  schools  of  mining  had  668 
students,  and  267  students  were  registered  in  the  four 
schools  of  forestry.  During  the  first  semester  follow- 
ing the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  total  number  of 
matriculants  fell  to  64,700  in  forty-seven  of  these  insti- 
tutions. The  four  schools  of  forestry  were  closed,  and 
the  veterinary  school  in  Munich  became  a  part  of  the 
University.  During  the  winter  of  1914-15  about  50,000 
of  these  students  were  in  the  field  or  available  for 
service;  that  is,  7575  per  cent,  of  the  66,000  German 
male  students  registered  at  the  beginning  of  the  war. 
Of  the  66,000  German  male  students  who  were  regis- 
tered at  the  end  of  the  summer  of  1915,  only  12,000 
are  still  in  attendance  at  the  schools,  so  that  about 
54,000,  or  8i-8i  per  cent.,  of  German  higher  students 
are  now  enrolled  in  the  army.  Of  the  13,785  univer- 
sity students  registered  during-  the  summer  semester 
of  1870,  only  4400  (32  per  cent.)  were  at  the  front,  and 
3200  of  this  number  fell  in  the  field. 

SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Royal  Society,  February  24.— Sir  J.  J.  Thomson, 
president,  in  the  chair.— Prof.  Karl  Pearson  :  Mathe- 
matical contributions  to  the  theory  of  evolution. 
XIX. — Second  supplement  to  a  memoir  on  skew  varia- 
tion. This  memoir  adds  certain  additional  types  of 
frequency  curves  to  those  published  by  the  author  in 
memoirs  in  the  Phil.  Trans,  of  1895  ^"d  1901.  It 
sums,  up  by  aid  of  a  diagram  the  old  results  and  the 
present  additions.  It  further  illustrates  by  an  impor- 
tant general  case  that  frequency  curves  are  distributed 
over  a  wide  area  of  the  y8,,  y8.,  plane,  where  /3,,  p. 
are  fundamental  statistical  constants,  and  that  only 
evil  can  arise  from  inflating  the  Gaussian  point  (i8i  =  o, 
^82  =  3)  to  cover  the  whole  of  this  area.  The  entire 
subject  is,  In  the  author's  opinion,  of  much  import- 
-ance,  as  significant  differences  are  in  many  branches 
of  science  determined  by  the  so-called  "  probable 
■error"  of  the  measured  quantities,  whether  they  be 
means,  standard  deviations,  or  correlations.  But  such 
"probable  errors"  have  little,  if  any,  meaning,  if  it 
can  be  shown  that  the  sample  value  is  not  even  the 
most  probable  value  of  the  statistical  constant  In  the 
sampled  population,  and  that  the  samples  are  not  dis- 
tributed in  a  form  in  the  least  approaching  the  Gauss- 
ian distribution  about  the  mean  value  of  samples. 
In  every  case  it  is  needful  to  determine  the  actual 
frequency  distribution,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  in 
samples  such  as  are  in  common  use  in  psychology, 
astronomy,  or  physics — what  the  statistician  terms 
small  samples — it  is  easy  to  demonstrate  that  the  dis- 
tribution Is  very  far  from  the  Gaussian  type,  but  may 
be  markedly  skew  to  such  an  extent  that  the  ordinary 
"probable  error"  Is  meaningless. — F.  P.  Burt  and 
E.  C.  Edgar  :  The  relative  combining  volumes  of 
hydrogen  and  oxj'gen.  The  gases  were  measured  suc- 
cessively In  a  constant-pressure  pipette  at  0°  C.  and 
760  mm.  pressure.  (I)  In  the  first  series  hydrogen  and 
oxygen  were  prepared  by  electrolysis  of  barium 
hydroxide  solution.  The  hydrojjen  was  purified  by 
passag-e  over  charcoal  cooled  In  liquid  air ;  the  oxygen 
by  liquefaction  and  fractionation.  Mean  value  for 
ratio  of  combining'  volumes  from  twelve  experiments 
was  2-00294.  The  figure  200288  Is  adopted  as  final 
value  for  ratio  of  combining  volumes  at  0°  C.  and 
760  mm.  pressure.  This  differs  from  the  value  of 
Scott  (200285)  bv  onlv  3  parts  in  200,000.  The  result- 
ing atomic  weight  for  hydrogen  (0  =  16)  computed  from 
Morley's  value  for  the  densitv  ratio  (008987^/ 1-42000) 
is  1-00772,  very  nearly  the  arithmetic  mean  of  Morley's 
and  Noges's  values  (1-00762  and  100787). — W.  Mason  : 

NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


Speed  effect  and  recovery  in  slow-speed  alternating 
stress  tests.  Repeated  cycles  of  equal  direct  and 
reverse  torque  have  been  applied  to  mild  steel  speci- 
mens of  tubular  form,  and  systematic  measurements 
made  of  the  range  of  the  corresponding  torsional 
strains.  The  author  attempts  to  account  for  variatlDUs 
of  strain  on  the  hypothesis  of  alternate  production  and 
hardening  of  •'mobile  material"  in  the  steel. — W.  M. 
Thornton  :  The  Ignition  of  gases  by  impulsive  electrical 
discharge.  The  Ignition  of  gases  by  impulsive  dis- 
charge  is  considered  first  as  a  function  of  sparking 
distance.  It  is  shown  that  tjie  shorter  the  distance 
the  greater  the  spark,  so  that  the  volumes  of  the  leasl 
igniting-  sparks  are,  in  a  typical  case,  the  same  foi 
all  spark  lengths.  Ignition  may  occur  with  intense 
momentary  brush  discharge,  generally  with  the  trw 
disruptive  spark.  The  products  of  combustion  ar€ 
found  to  be  ionised  and  to  carry  a  positive  charge. 
The  gases  examined  were  mixtures  in  air  of  hydrogen, 
methane,  propane,  and  pentane;  of  ethylene  and  acetyl- 
ene ;  carbon  monoxide  and  cyanogen ;  coal  gas  and  2 
mixture  of  equal  volumes  of  hydrogen  and  methane, 
Hydrogen,  propane,  pentane,  and  carbon  monoxide 
rise  gradually  in  difficulty  as  the  percentage  of  oxygen 
is  reduced ;  methane  is  Ignited  bv  the  same  sparli 
whatever  the  percentage  of  gas  may  be ;  acetylene  anc 
cyanogen  have  the  stepped  atomic  type  of  ignition ; 
ethylene  Is  more  inflammable  in  rich  mixture, 
Hydrogen  and  methane  In  equal  volumes  are  ignitec 
as  methane  in  type,  hydrogen  in  magnitude. 

March  2. — Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  president,  in  the  chair, 
—J.  B.  Cohen,  H.  D.  Dakin,  M.  Daufresne,  and  J, 
Kenyon  :  The  antiseptic  action  of  substances  of  th< 
chloroamine  group.  The  probability  that  the  forma- 
tion from  proteins  of  substances  containing  haloger 
was  an  Intermediate  agent  In  the  germicidal  action  0I 
hj'pochlorltes  made  It  desirable  to  investigate  system- 
atically a  number  of  substances  containing  the  (NCI 
group.  Among  the  substances  investigated,  the  mosi 
promising  were  the  group  of  sulphochloroamides  firsi 
prepared  by  Chattaway.  The  following  are  the  mair 
results  of  this  Investigation  : — (i)  almost  all  the  sub- 
stances examined  containing  the  (NCI)  group  posscsse,c 
very  strong  germicidal  action.  (2)  The  presence  In  the 
molecule  of  more  than  one  (NCI)  group  does  no1 
confer  any  marked  increase  in  germicidal  power.  (3 
The  germicidal  action  of  many  of  these  chloroamim 
compounds  Is  molecule  for  molecule  greater  than  thai 
of  sodium  hypochlorite.  (4)  Substitution  in  the  nucleu! 
of  aromatic  chloroamines  by  CI,  Br,  I,  Ch^,  C0H5,  01 
NO,  groups  does  not  lead  to  any  very  great  Increag( 
in  germicidal  activity.  More  commonly  there  is  £ 
moderate  diminution.  (5)  The  chloroamine  derivative! 
of  naphthalene  and  other  dicycllc  compounds  of  sulpho- 
chloroamlde  type  closelv  resemble  simpler  aromatic 
chloroamines  in  germicidal  action.  (6)  The  few  bromo- 
amines  examined  show  a  slightly  lower  germicida 
action  than  the  corresponding  chloroamines,  bui 
sodium  sulphobromoamides  are  much  more  active  thar 
sodium  hvpobromite.  (7)  Derivatives  of  proteins  pre- 
pared bv  the  action  of  sodium  hypochlorite  and  contain- 
ing (NCI)  gfroups  are  strongly  germicidal.  Blooc 
serum  inhibits  their  germicidal  action  to  much  the 
same  extent  as  it  does  with  sodium  hypochlorite  01 
the  aromatic  chloroamines.  Among  the  above  pro- 
ducts /)-toluene  sodium  sulphochloroamlde  was  selectee 
as  being  on  the  whole  most  suitable  for  practical  use 
It  is  easily  and  cheaply  made ;  it  is  relatively  non- 
irritating  to  wounds ;  it  is  non-toxic  and  very  solubk 
in  water,  and  may  be  kept  unchanged,  both  in  th< 
solid  state  and  in  solution  for  a  long  period. — I.  J.  B 
Sollas  and  Prof.  W.  T-  Sollas  :  The  structure  of  th< 
Dicvnodont  skull.  This  is  an  account  of  a  skull  o 
Oudenodon    studied   in    serial    transverse   sections.     1' 


March  9^  19 16] 


NATURE 


51 


I  supplements   and  confirms  the   author's   previous   de- 
\  scription  of  the  skull   of   a   Dicynodon    {Phil   Tratis., 
B.,  vol.  cciv.,   1913). — W.  L.   Balls:  Analyses  of  agri- 
cultural  yield.        Part    iii. — The    influence    of    natural 
environmental    factors    upon    the    yield    of    Egyptian 
cotton.     A  discussion  is  given  of  all  existing'  data  for 
the  behaviour  of  the  Egyptian  cotton  crop  under  the 
.  conditions   of    field    cultivation    during    five    years    as 
analysed  by  the  author's  method  of  plant-development 
:  curves.     The  term  pre -determination   is  given   to  the 
fact  that  a  fluctuation  may  be  due  to  causes  acting  at 
some  date  long  prior  to  its  visible  appearance.     Thus 
•'  daily    fluctuations    in    rate    of   flowering    are    due    to 
environmental  conditions  existing  a  month  beforehand. 
Many  other  reactions  of  crop  to  environment  are  in- 
,  explicable  unless  allowance  is  made  for  pre-determina- 
tion.     It  is  shown  that  there  is  no  factor  of  "  season  " 
as  such.     The  action  of  such  factors  as  weather  and 
i  climate,  soil-water  and  soil-fertility,  are  differentiated 
and   traced   in   the  various   curves.     The  predominant 
!  influence  of  an  autumnal  rise  of  water-table  in  deter- 
]  mining  yield  of  crop  is  indicated,  and  the  sensitivity 
of   the   plant   to   root-asphyxiation    is    shown.     A   dis- 
;  cussion  of  the  function  of  the  root-system,  and  of  the 
i  importance  of  the  factors  operating  through  it,  is  made 
i  possible   by    the    nature  of    the   data.     The    factor    of 
;  varietal  constitution   is  shown  to  be  of  relatively  in- 
;  significant    importance,    as    compared    with    environ- 
■  mental   factors,    in  determining  vield  of   crop.        The 
:  results  of  these  three  analyses  show  that  vield  of  crop 
:  can  be  studied  physiologicallv  as  vield  of  an  average 
i  plant  by  statistical  records  of  development,  and  these 
can  be  satisfactorily  interpreted  in  terms  of  the  limit- 
1  ing   factors   of  environment,    reacting   upon   inherited 
1  genetic  properties  of  plant,   provided  that  the  pheno- 
I  menon    of  predetermination    is   taken    into   account. — 
A.  J.  Ewart  :  The  function  of  chlorophyll,  carotin,  and 
xanthophyll.     In    the    assimilation    of    carbon    dioxide 
chlorophyll   acts   as    a    light  energising   enzyme.        It 
takes  direct  part  in  the  cycle  of  chemical  changes  which 
j  have    xanthophyll    as    an    intermediate    product,    and 
glucose,  levulose,    formaldehyde,    and  oxygen    as   end 
i  products.     Most  of  the  sugar  is   formed  directly  and 
not  through   the  medium   of   formaldehyde.     A   large 
part  of  the  energy  represented  by  this  sugar  is  absorbed 
during  the  reconstruction  of  the  chlorophyll  molecule. 
Apart  from   its  protective   function,    carotin   seems  to 
be  especially  important  as  providing,  during  its  photo- 
oxidation,  the  massive  hydrocarbon  combination  in  the 
phytyl  radicle  of  chlorophyll,  the  addition  of  which  is 
necessary  to  convert  the  dicarboxylic  glaucophyllin  into 
.  the  tricarboxylic  chlorophyll.     Carotin  and  xanthophyll 
!  are  mutually  transformable  by  the  aid  of  metallic  oxy- 
•  dases  and  reductases  respectively.     Oxidation  in  dark- 
I  ness  is  not  necessarily  the  same  as  that  taking  place  in 
light.     An  emulsion  of  carotin  in  light  in  the  presence 
of  copper  sulphate  and  salt  develops  reducing  sugar 
and    formaldehyde,     whereas    in    darkness,    although 
slowly  oxidised,  no  sugar  or  formaldehyde  is  produced. 
The  oxidation  of  chlorophyll,  carotin,  and  xanthophyll 
;  is  more  rapid  at  high  temperatures  than  at  low  ones. 
I      Zoological     Society,     February     22.— Dr.     A.     Smith 
Woodward,      vice-president,      in     the     chair. — B.     F. 
'  Cnmmings  :    Report  on    a   collection    of  Anoplura   and 
Mallophaga    obtained    from    animals    in  the    society's 
:  gardens.     The    author    dealt    with    the    structure    and 
dev^elopment  of  the  various  species,  and  gave  descrip- 
I  tions  of  three  new  forms.— Dr.  P.  Chalmers  Mitcliell  : 
t  Further     observations     on     the     intestinal     tract     of 
mammals. 

Cambridge. 
Philosophical    Society,    February    21.— Prof.    Newall, 
president,  in  the  chair. — Dr.   Do'ncaster :   Some  gynan- 
dromorphic    specimens    of   Abraxas   grossttJariata.     In 
NO.    2419,    VOL.    97] 


1915  two  specimens  of  A.  grossulariata  were  bred 
which  showed  a  mixture  of  male  and  female  charr 
acters.  Both  were  from  matings  of  grossulariata 
female  by  lacticolor  male.  The  specimen  which  was 
predominantly  male  was  lacticolor,  although  only 
grossulariata  males  are  expected  from  this  mating, 
and  the  predominantly  female  specimen  was  grossu- 
lariata, where  lacticolor  females  are  expected.  Reason 
was  given  for  supposing  that  previously  reported  ex- 
ceptions to  sex-limited  transmission  may  have  been  to 
some  extent  gynandromorphic. — L.  Harrison  :  A  pre- 
liminary account  of  the  structure  of  the  mouth-parts 
in  the  body-louse.  The  stomatodaeum  of  Pediculus 
comprises  a  buccal  cavity,  pumping-pharynx,  pharynx, 
and  oesophagus.  Upon  the  floor  of  the  buccal  cavity 
opens  a  long  diverticulum,  containing  two  piercing 
stylets  and  a  chitinous  salivary  duct.  A  hitherto  un- 
described  structure,  the  buccal  tube,  formed  of  two 
apposable  half-tubes  rising  from  the  floor  of  the  buccal 
cavity  at  its  junction  with  the  pumping-pharynx,  car- 
ries blood  to  the  latter.  It  is  suggested  that  this  buccal 
tube  and  the  whole  of  the  piercing  apparatus  are 
derived  by  modification  of  the  Mallophagan  hypo- 
pharynx,  and  that  the  Anoplura  have  no  close  affinity 
with  the  Rhynchota. — E.  H.  Neville  :  The  field  and  the 
cordon  of  a  plane  set  of  points. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  February  21. — MM.  Ed.  Perrier 
and  d'Ansonval  in  the  chair. — L.  Maquenne :  The  pre- 
sence of  reducing  substances  in  commercial  sugars 
other  than  invert-sugar.  It  is  shown  that  known 
quantities  of  invert-sugar  added  to  pure  cane-sugar 
can  be  accurately  determined  by  the  methods  described 
by  the  author  in  previous  communications,  working 
either  at  65°  C.  or  100°  C.  On  the  other  hand,  com- 
mercial sugars,  both  crude  and  refined,  show  appre- 
ciable differences  in  the  invert-sugar  obtained  irom 
analysis  at  these  two  temperatures,  and  this  is  held 
to  be  due  to  the  presence  of  other  reducing  substances. 
— Pierre  Duhem  :  The  electrodynamics  of  dielectric 
media. — A.  Khintchine  :  An  extension  of  Den  joy's  in- 
tegral.— Ed.  Sarasin  and  Th.  Tommasina  :  Study  of  the 
Volta  effect  by  induced  radio-activity  :  proof  of  two 
new  facts.  It  is  established  that,  either  in  the  case 
of  electrodes  separated  by  air  containing  emanations 
and  the  radiations  of  induced  radio-activity,  or  in 
that  where  the  electrodes  (of  different  metals)  are  in 
direct  contact,  but  in  contact  also  with  induced  radio- 
activities and  always  under  the  influence  of  an  electro- 
static charge,  there  is  a  production  of  current.  The 
radio-active  medium  in  these  experiments  behaves 
sunilarly  to  the  electrol)rte  of  a  battery. — ^Thadee 
Peczalski :  The  law  of  integral  radiation  and  the  yield 
of  light  of  metals  at  high  temperatures.  The  law  of 
integral  radiation  of  tantalum  is  found  by  experiment 
to  be  E='t1^"-.  Graphite  sensibly  follows  Stefan's 
law ;  and  its  emissive  power  corresponds  to  that  of 
a  black  body. — C.  Benedicks  :  A  new  thermo-electric 
method  for  the  study  of  the  allotropy  of  iron  and 
other  metals.  The  wire  under  examination  is  moved 
at  a  constant  velocity  (i-6  mm.  per  second)  through  a 
small  electric  furnace  maintained  at  a  constant  known 
temperature,  and  measurements  made  of  the  electro- 
motive forces  developed.  Iron  shows  clearly  the  point 
A,,  but  no  discontinuity  was  found  for  the  point  A.. — 
Leon  Berard  and  Auguste  Lumiere  :  Retarded  tetanus. 
Commenting  on  a  recent  note  on  this  subject  by  M.  P. 
Bazy,  the  authors  have  noticed  cases  of  tetanus  de- 
veloping 84,  90,  and  102  days  after  the  wound.  It  is 
recommended  that  a  fresh  dose  of  antitetanus  serum 
should  be  administered  every  time  a  surgical  operation 
is  made,  as  such  an  operation  may  provoke  the  libera- 
tion of  septic  products  latent  in  the  suspected  wounds. 


52 


NATURE 


[March  9,  1916 


— C.  Houlbert  and  C.  Galaine  :  The  causes  of  inclusion 
of  foreign  material  (chatnbrage)  in  oysters.  This 
phenomenon  is  caused  by  a  deficiency  of  organic  nutri- 
ment, and  means  are  suggested  for  dealing  with  oyster- 
beds  to  prevent  its  occurrence. 


BOOKS    RECEIVED. 

The  Carnegie  United  Kingdom  Trust.  Second 
Annual  Report.  Pp.  73.  (Edinburgh  :  T.  and  A. 
Constable.) 

Year  Book  of  the  Royal  Society,  19 16.  Pp.  238. 
(London  :  Harrison  and  Sons.)     55. 

Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington.  Year  Book, 
No.  14,  1915.  Pp.  xii4-429.  (Washington  :  Carnegie 
Institution.) 

Psychological  Effects  of  Alcohol.  By  R.  Dodge  and 
F.  G.  Benedict.  Pp.  281.  (Washington :  Carnegie 
Institution.) 

Ptolemy's  Catalogue  of  Stars:  A  Revision  of  the 
Almagest.  By  Dr.  C.  H.  F.  Peters  and  E.  B.  Knobel. 
Pp.  iii-f-207.     (Washington:   Carnegie  Institution.) 

Rural  Arithmetic.  By  A.  G.  Ruston.  Pp.  xi  +  431. 
(London  :  University  Tutorial  Press,  Ltd.)     35.  6d. 

The  Year-Book  of  the  Scientific  and  Learned  Socie- 
ties of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  1915.  Pp.  vi  +  351. 
(London  :  C.  Grififin  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     75.  6d.  net. 

A  Text  Book  of  Geology.  Part  i.  Physical  Geo- 
logy. By  Prof.  L.  V.  Pirsson.  Pp.  vii  +  444.  (New 
York  :  J.  Wiley  and  Sons,  Inc. ;  London  :  Chapman 
and  Hall,   Ltd.)     lo^.  net. 

Analytic  Geometry.  By  Dr.  H.  B.  Phillips.  Pp. 
vii+197.  (New  York:  J.  Wiley  and  Sons,  Inc.;  Lon- 
don :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.)     6s.  6d.  net. 

Mathematical  Monographs.  No.  16.  Diophantine 
Analysis.  Bv  R.  D.  Carmichael.  Pp.  vi+ii8.  (New 
York  :  J.  Wiley  and  Sons,  Inc. ;  London  :  Chapman 
and  Hall,  Ltd.)     5s.  6d.  net. 


DIARY    OF    SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAV    March  9. 

Royal  Society,  at  4.30. — The  Distribution  of  Intensity  in  Broadened 
Sp-rtrum  Li'  es  Prof.  F.  W.  Nichol-on  anH  T.  R.  M.  rton.— Prof.  Joly's 
MeihoH  of  avoiding  Collision  at  "^ea  Pr.f.  H.  C.  Plummer.— Apparatus 
for  the  Dcierniination  of  Gravity  at  St-a  :  Prof  W.  G    Ouffi-Id. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3.— Recent  Excavations  in  Mesopotamia — The 
Southern  Capital.  Bahylon  :  Pr..f  L.  W.  Ki"g. 

Institution  OF  Electrical  Engineers,  at  8. — Continuous-current  Rail- 
way Motors  :  E.  V.  Pai.n-ll. 

Optical  Society,  at  8.  -A  "Simple  FocoTieter  for  the  Determination  of 
Short  (i"ocaI  Lengths  both  Negative  and  Positive:  l'.  F.  Connolly.— The 
Manufacture  and  Te-ting  of  Prismatic  and  other  Compasses  :  F.  E. 
Smith. 

Mathematical  Society,  at  5.30. — Some  Applications  of  General 
Theorems  of  Tombinatory  Analysis  :  Major  P.  A.  Macmahon. — Mr. 
Grace's  Theorem  on  Six  I  ines  with  a  Common  Transversal  :  Prof  H.  F. 
Baker. — T^e  Integrals  of  a  certain  RiC' ati  Equation  connect  d  with 
Halpheri>  Transfoimati  m  :  H.  E.  J.  C  irzon. — A  Certain  Plam^  Sextic  : 
Miss  Hilda  P.  Hudson. — The  Construction  of  Co-apola'  Triads  on  a 
Cubic  i  u  ve  :  Dr.  W.  P.  Milne.  —  The  Dynamical  Equations  of  the 
Tides :  J.  Bondman. 

FRIDAY,  March  10. 

Royal  Institution,  at  5.30. — Illusions  of  the  Upper  Air:  Sir  Napier 
Shaw. 

Royal  Astronomical  Society,  at  5. — General  Soluti'-n  of  Hill's  Equa- 
tion :  E.  Lindsay  In-e.  —  Distribution  of  Star  ClustTS  :  O.  R.  VValkey. — 
Mean  Areas  and  H>-liographic  Latitudes  of  Sun-spots  in  1914  :  Rojal 
Ob-:ervatory,  Green  >ich.  — Remarks  on  the  Formation  of  Sun-spots :  K. 
Henr  .t^au. — Calculation  of  longitude  from  Moon  and  Moon-culminating 
Stars:  F.  J.  Broadbent.— Observations  of  Jupiter:  F.  Sarge  t. — 
Statisiics  ot  Minor  Planet*  H.  C.  Plimimer. —  Faint  Stars  with  large 
Proper  .viot  ons  (ninth  note)  F.  1.  Pocock. — Longitudes  of  Jupiter's 
Satellites:  W  de  Suter.—ProMi/f  Pafie's:  The  Nature  of  the  Coroiiiuni 
At  m  :  J.  W.  Nicholson. —The  Eclipsing  Hilary  T  T  Aurigae  :  C.  Martin 
and  H.  C.  Plummer.— Note  on  Bright  Meteors:  H.  C.  Plumm«r. — 
B-xenlell's  Observations  of  Variable  Stars,  T.  Herculis :  H  H.  Turner 
and  M.  A.  Blagg. 

Physical  Society,  at  5.— Experiments  Illustrating  the  Flow  of  Heat  in 
Conducting  Sheets  :  S.  Ski  ner.  —The  Absorpii  .n  of  Gas  by  a  Quartz 
Vacuum  Tube :  Dr.  R.  S.  Willows  and  H.  T.  George. 

SATURDAY,  March    ii. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3.  — Radi.itions  from  Atoms  and  Electrons:  Sir 
J.  J.  Thomson. 


NO.    2419,   VOL.    97] 


TUESnAY,  March  14. 
Royal  Institution,  at  3.  -^  Sea  Power  as  a  Factor  in  the  Evolution  of 
Modern  Races :  Prof.  A.  Keith. 

IVEDNESDAY.  March  13. 
Royal  Meteorological  Society,   at   7.30. — Th«    Meteorology  of  the 

Globe  in  1911  :  Sir  Napier  .Sh.-iw. 
RovAL  Soi  iKTV  of  Arts  at  4.30.— Forestry  and  the  War  :  E.  P.  Stebbing. 
Faraday  Society,  at  8. — Discussion  on   Methods  and  Appliances  for  thr 

Attainment  of  High  Temperatur.  s  in  the  Laboratory.  Opener  :  Dr  J.  A. 

Harker. 
RoYAi    MiCRO.scopiCAL    SOCIETY,  at  8. — Original   Factors   in    Evolution; 

Pi  of.   J.    Arthur   Thomson. — The   Supposed   Exhibition   of  Purpose   and 

Intelligence  by  the  Foraminifera  :  Sir  E.  Ray  Lankester. 
Entomological  Society,  at  8. 

/•fiUXsPAV,   March  i6.. 
RovAL   Institution,   at  3. — Organic   Products  used  as  Propulsive    and 

Explosive  Agents  :  P  of.  H.  E    Armstrong. 
Institution  of   Electrical  Engineers,  at  8.— The  Po  sibilities  in  the 

Design  ot  Continuous-current  Traction  Motors:  N.  W.  Storer. — The  Use 

of  Direct  Current  for  Terminal  and  Trunk   Line  Electrification  :  N.  W. 

Storer. 
LiNNEAN  Society,  at  5.— Resemblance  between  African  Butte' flies  of  the 

genus  Charaxes;  a  New  Form  of   vlimicry:  Prof.  E.  B.  P  .ulton. — Notes 

on  Plants  c  lle^  ted   in   Sikkim,  including   the    Kal  mpong  district  :  C.  C. 

Lacaita. — Exhibition  of  Species  of  Kibes  and   iheir  Garden    Derivation: 

E.  B'>nyard. — Early  Botanical  Exploration  of  North  .America :  B.  Daydon 

Jackson. 
Child  Study  Society,  at  6.— The  Unconscious  Mental  Life  of  the  Child  : 

Die.  E.  Jones. 

FRIDAY,   March  17. 
Royal  Institution,  at  5.30.  -The  Search  for  New  Coal  Fields  in  England: 

Dr.  A.  Strahan. 
Institution  of  Mechanical  Enginfers,  at  6. — The  Composition  of  the 

Exhaust  from  Liquid-fuel  Engines  :  R.  W.  Fenning. 
SATURDAY,  March  18. 
Royal  Institution,   at   3.  — Radiation   from   Atoms  and   Electrons  :   Sir 

J.  J.  Thomson. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


History  of  Chemistry 

Relativity  and  Electrons.     By  W.  W 

The  Handworking  of  Iron  and  Steel.    By  H.  C.  H.  C. 

Our  Book!>helf  

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

The  Method  of '"urves.— Sydney  Lupton 

Ground  Ranbows.— C.  T.    Whitmell;    Dr.   C.  G. 
Knott  .        .  

Science  and  the  State.— David  Balsillie 

The  National  Importance  of  the  Dye  Industry  .  .  . 
Wo  'd  Pulp*  for  Paper  Making.  By'C.  F.  Cross  .  . 
Prof.    J.    W.   Judd,    C.B.,    F.R.S.     By   Prof.    T.   G. 

Bonney,  F.R  S 

Dr.  Pierre  Chappuis-Sarasin.     By  Dr.  J.  A.  Harker, 

F.R.S.  

A  Commonwealth  Institute  of  Science  and  Industry 

Notes 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

The  Solar  Activity  .        

Comet  1916a  (Neiijmin) 

Comet  1915^  (Taylor)  

The  Orbit  of  VV  ( >rionis 

Obst-rvalions  of  Variable  Stars  ....     • 

Sea-Spidcrs  atid  Feaihcr-Stars 

Chemists  and  their  Tiaining 

Reports  of  Carnegie  Foundations  

The  Support  of  ihc  Himalaya.     By  R.  D.  Oldham, 

F.R.S 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 

Societies  and  Academies 

Books  '<eceived  

Diary  of  Societies 


29 
30 


32 

34 
34 
34 
35 

37 


40 


46 
46 
46 
46 
46 

47 
48 

48 
49 
50 

52 
52 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices: 

MACMILLAN   &  CO.,   Ltd., 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


Advertisevunts  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  tht 
Publishers 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor, 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,  London. 
'  Telephone  Number  :  Ohrrarp  8830. 


NA  TURE 


53 


THURSDAY,    MARCH    i6,    1916. 


LONDOX  HYDROLOGY. 
Old  London's  Spas,   Baths,  and    Wells.     By  Dr. 
S.   Sunderland.     Pp.  xii+169.     (London:  John 
Bale,  Sons,  and  Danielsson,  Ltd.,  1915)    Price 
75.  6d.  net. 

A  LARGE  number  of  springs  in  London  have 
been  closed  (in  recent  years)  in  order  to  pro- 
:ect  the  public  from  the  risks  of  water-borne 
■naladies.  Some,  like  the  famous  Broad  Street 
Pump,  at  the  time  of  the  cholera  epidemic  in  1854, 
lave  been  proved  to  be  the  active  distributors  of 
iisease.  But  it  may  be  questioned  whether  in  the 
vholesale  closings  of  the  London  wells  the  innocent 
lave  not  suffered  with  the  guilty.  It  is  sometimes 
orgotten  that  the  change  in  water-supply  gener- 
lUy  signifies  the  substitution  of  mixed  waters  for 
jhe  water  of  a  single  source.  It  is  at  least  open 
jo  question  whether,  from  the  f)oint  of  view  of 
lealth,  fresh  drinking  water  from  a  single  source 
s  not  to  be  preferred  to  mixed  waters  of  what- 
:ver  purity. 

In  this  attractive  book  Dr.  Sunderland  states 
hat  in  1866  people  in  the  City  of  London  had 
iiccess  to  thirty-five  public  pumps,  all  now  closed. 
Slany  other  districts  of  the  great  London  basin, 
juch  as  Clerkenwell,  were  rich  in  springs.  All 
hese  particular  sources  have  been  abolished  with 
jlrastic  thoroughness  in  order  to  avoid  the  danger 
j>f  possible  contamination.  In  return,  under  a 
r Water  Board,"  London  enjoys  the  blessing  so 
:iptly  described  by  an  astonished  visitor  from  a 
waterless  country  in  the  East  as  a  "  spring  in 
jverj'  house."  But  now  the  Londoner  drinks 
I: ot  water,  but  waters. 

1  The  present  volume  originated  in  the  author's 
{•residential  address  before  the  section  of  the 
jvoyal  Society  of  Medicine  which  is  concerned 
jvith  the  medical  aspects  of  waters  and  climates. 
t  gives  the  best  account  yet  published  of  the 
prings  of  old  London,  especially  of  those — sur- 
jrisingly  numerous — which  have  been  at  various 
limes  medically  employed.  No  fewer  than  thirty 
iiedicinal  springs  "of  slight  importance"  in  and 
|ear  London  are  described,  all  of  which  were 
.oubtless  esteemed  for  curative  properties  by  the 
eople  in  their  localities,  whether  for  drinking  or 
athing.  The.  chalybeate  springs  form  everywhere 
le  largest  class  of  mineralised  waters,  and  many 
jf  this  kind  in  London  were  applied  locally  for 
astringent      properties,     like      the      "Eve 


leir 


|V'aters"  of  Highgate  and  of  the  St.  Anne's  Well 
1  Hyde  Park.     This  popular  recourse  and  attach- 
XO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


ment  to  waters  for  common  ailments  belongs, 
as  we  know,  to  all  times  and  to  all  places, 
but  in  London  it  has  been  in  our  own 
day  finally  extinguished  by  the  zeal  of  the 
sanitarian. 

A  wider  importance  attached  to  the  old  London 
spas — medicinal  springs  which  from  merit  or 
accident  acquired  a  considerable  reputation  in  the 
town,  and  became  in  consequence,  in  varying 
degrees,  fashionable  health  and  pleasure  resorts. 
The  author  traces  the  history  and  character  of 
these  spas,  some  of  which  were  "  spurious "  and 
others  "genuine"  and  medically  valuable.  He 
gives  particulars  of  twenty  situated  north  of  the 
Thames,  and  eight  of  these  were  within  a  mile  of 
King's  Cross.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  one 
of  these,  the  Islington  Spa,  was  under  Royal 
favour  much  frequented,  as  many  as  sixteen 
hundred  persons  drinking  the  water  in  one  morn- 
ing. Another  notable  northern  spa  was  that  of 
Hampstead.  It  took  origin  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  was  a  true  health  resort — offering  a 
tonic  water  in  a  tonic  air.  Perhaps  the  chief 
among  the  spas  of  London,  possessed  of  real 
medical  value,  Hampstead  fell  a  victim  to  the 
great  malady  of  health  resorts — the  unbridled 
appetite  for  pleasure.  "  It  is  reasonable  to 
believe,"  says  Dr.  Sunderland,  speaking  of  another 
London  resort,  "that  the  beneficial  effect  of  the 
tonic  water  was  counterbalanced  by  the  feastings, 
just  as  in  the  present  day  some  of  the  good  effects 
of  the  British  and  foreign  spas  frequented  by  the 
richer  classes  are  annulled  by  the  high  living  at 
the  magnificent  hotels  where  some  of  the  visitors 
stay." 

South  of  the  Thames  there  were  thirteen  spas, 
including  Richmond,  Epsom,  and  Shooter's  Hill, 
which  were  really  country  health  resorts.  We 
are  told  that  Streatham  is  the  "only  one  of  the  old 
London  spas  where  the  waters  can  be  drunk  at 
the  present  day  with  beneficial  effect."  This  mild 
medicinal  water  was  formerly  much  frequented 
and  esteemed  by  competent  authority. 

It  is  appropriate  that  this  forgotten  chapter  in 
British  hydrology  should  be  recalled  now.  The 
brief  but  golden  age  of  the  London  spas  ceased 
with  the  rise  of  others  further  from  the  capital. 
Leamington,  Cheltenham,  Bath,  Tunbridge  Wells 
came  into  favour,  and  some  of  these  in  their  turn 
have  paled  before  the  glories  of  more  remote 
attractions.  It  is  the  old  ston,-  of  the  lure  of  the 
unknown,  of  the  "distant  and  the  far."  But  con- 
ditions now  are  different.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  an  exact  knowledge  of  the  actions  and  uses 
of  waters  has  only  been  made  available  in  the 
present  generation.     Thanks  to  an  accurate  study 

D 


54 


NATURE 


[March  i6,  191 6 


of  hydrologfical  medicine,  these  natural  remedial 
agents  can  now  be  prescribed  with  authority 
and  precision,  and  presently  it  will  be  as  foolish 
to  go  to  the  wrong  spa  as  to  choose  an  in- 
appropriate drug  or  an  improper  operation 
in  surgery. 

For  the  necessary  growth  of  this  knowledge 
research  and  instruction  must  go  hand  in  hand. 
At  the  present  time,  as  Dr.  Sunderland  points  out, 
the  value  of  waters  and  baths  scientifically  applied 
is  being  abundantly  proved  in  the  case  of  sick 
and  wounded  soldiers.  The  results  obtained  at 
the  British  spas  show  how  great  and  unexpected 
are  the  resources  of  our  own  country  in  this 
respect. 

That  which  is  wanting  in  British  hydrology  is 
system — both  in  scientific  teaching  and  in  co- 
ordinating the  unrivalled  assets  belonging  to  the 
health  resorts  of  the  Empire.  It  remains  for 
London  to  meet  this  need  by  providing  the  means 
of  special  instruction  and  research.  Here  as  else- 
where in  medicine  the  tradition  and  empiricism  of 
the  past  must  in  due  course  give  place  to  ordered 
knowledge  and  instructed  art. 

Dr.  Sunderland's  book  is  profusely  illustrated 
and  withal  entertaining,  and  may  be  recommended 
to  all  who  are  interested  in  the  social  as  well  as 
the  medical  history  of  London. 

ORGANIC  CHEMISTRY. 
Organic  Chemistry,  or  Chemistry  of  the  Carbon- 
Compounds.  By  Victor  von  Richter.  Volume  i. 
Chemistry  of  the  Aliphatic  Series.  Newly 
translated  and  revised  from  the  German  edition 
by  Dr.  P.  E.  Spielmann.  Pp.  xvi  +  yig. 
(London:  Kegan  Paul  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  191 5.) 
Price  215.   net. 

NO  more  striking  illustration  of  the  develop- 
ment of  organic  chemistry  could  be  found 
than  that  presented  by  the  growth  of  this  popular 
German  treatise.  Appearing  about  1880,  as  com- 
panion volume  to  a  modest  octavo  text-book  on 
inorganic  chemistry,  it  rapidly  acquired  popu- 
larity and  passed  through  numerous  editions.  As 
the  contents  swelled  with  each  succeeding  edition, 
it  became  necessary  first  to  divide  the  book  into 
two  parts  and  finally  to  modify  the  format.  Like 
many  German  scientific  books  it  soon  found  an 
American  translator  and  publisher,  and  has 
reached  its  third  American  edition.  The  present 
volume,  it  should  be  noted,  is  the  first  English 
edition,  a  term  which  we  presume  refers  to  the 
nationality  of  the  publisher  rather  than  to  the 
greater  purity  of  the  vernacular  of  the  last  trans- 
lator. Be  that  as  it  may,  Richter's  organic 
NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


chemistry  has  passed  out  of  the  region  of  text- 
books. 

The  theoretical  part  is  condensed  into  a  com- 
paratively few  pages  at  the  beginning  of  the 
volume,  and  is  of  so  sketchy  and  superficial  a 
character  as  to  possess  little  value  for  the  student. 
Yet  the  subject,  especially  on  the  physical  side  in 
connection  with  structural  problems,  is  one  of 
growing  interest  and  importance.  This  is  a  car- 
dinal defect.  On  the  other  hand,  the  book  is  so 
crowded  with  facts  as  to  form  a  kind  of  abridged 
"Beilstein."  It  is  divided  into  chapters  contain- 
ing the  names  of  a  large  number  of  related  com- 
pounds, an  outline  of  the  mode  of  their  prepara- 
tion, and  an  account  of  their  more  important 
physical  and  chemical  properties.  Occasionally 
there  is  a  proper  name  attached  to  a  compound 
or  process,  and  sometimes  a  reference.  It  is 
rarely  that  one  finds  an  English  name,  or,  indeed, 
that  of  any  other  nationality  than  German.  There 
is  no  reference  to  the  modern  method  for  pre- 
paring silicon  alkyl  compounds  or  to  its  author; 
no  reference  to  the  discoverer  of  oxalyl  chloride, 
ketene,  and  the  numerous  azoimides,  or  to  the 
mechanism  of  the  formation  of  formic  acid  from 
glycerol  and  oxalic  acid,  though  the  process  is 
given,  or  to  the  abnormal  addition  of  bromine 
to  maleic  acid,  which  is  wrongly  described. 

English  names,  it  appears  from  the  preface,  are 
purposely  omitted  for  the  remarkable  reason  thai 
"references  to  German  literature  have  been 
retained  with  the  object  of  preserving  to  the 
student  the  advantages  of  the  origin  of  the  book; 
the  English  references  will  be  otherwise  readilj 
obtainable  by  him."  If  the  references  are  not 
given,  nor  even  the  names  of  authors  of  these 
fundamental  discoveries,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how 
they  will  be  "readily  obtainable."  No  doubt  there 
are  advantages  in  having  the  origin  of  the  book 
steadily  thrust  upon  one  as  a  stimulus  to  the 
British  chemist ;  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  there 
may  be  forthcoming  a  text-book — a  real  students' 
text-book — of  organic  chemistry  which  shall  give 
him  a  clear,  critical,  and  suggestive  review  ol 
the  big  problems  of  organic  chemistry  with  whicf 
the  names  of  many  distinguished  English  chemist; 
are  linked.  That  the  English  organic  chemis 
has  pursued  the  exp>erimental  part  of  the  subjec 
with  the  object  of  elucidating  theoretical  rathe 
than  practical  problems  is  readily  explained  b; 
the  fact  that  his  activities  on  the  industrial  sid' 
have  been  necessarily  restricted,  and  he  has  ha< 
little  incentive  up  to  the  present  to  busy  himsel 
with  the  discovery  of  new  classes  of  comirerciall ' 
useful  products. 

J.  B.  C. 


March  i6,   19 i6] 


NATURE 


55 


THE    ELEMENTARY    PRINCIPLES    OF 
CROP    PRODUCTION. 
\i,  A  Student's  Book  on  Soils  and  Manures.     By 
Dr.  E.  J.  Russell.     Pp.  ix  -f  206.     (Cambridge  : 
At  the  University  Press,    1915.)     Price  ^s.  6d. 
net. 
{2)  Soils  and  Plant  Life  as  Related  to  Agriculture. 
By  Prof.  J.  C.  Cunningham  and  W.  H.  Lance- 
lot.   Pp.  XX +  348.     (New  York:  The  Macmillan 
Co.;  London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.,   1915.) 
Price  55.  net. 
(i)    T  N  the  past  the  "  Farm  Institute  "  has  been 
X      very     inadequately     represented     in     our 
system  of  agricultural  education,  but  of  late  much 
has  been  done  to  remedy  this  defect,  and,  but  for 
the  outbreak  of  war,   more  would  by  now  have 
been   accomplished.      This   type   of   institution   is 
designed    to    serve    primarily   the    needs  of    the 
<:ountry  youth  whose  general  education  is  inade- 
quate for  the  more  advanced  courses  of  the  uni- 
versities and  agricultural  colleges.     The  common 
type  of  "  farm  institute  "  student  will  thus  be  the 
iyouth  whose  previous  education  has  been  restricted 
to  the  curriculum  of  the  rural  elementary  school 
with,  in    most    cases,   an    intervening    period    of 
practical  work  on  the  farm. 

It  is  for  such  students  that  the  series  of  text- 
books, of  which  Dr.  Russell's  volume  is  the  latest 
issue,  is  primarily  intended,  and  by  the  standard  of 
their  capabilities  it  must  be  judged.  It  is  not  clear 
just  in  what  way  Dr.  Russell  intends  his  book  to  be 
used.  In  scope  and  general  mode  of  presentation 
it  may  well  serve  as  a  pattern  for  the  teacher, 
but  in  the  hands  of  the  average  "  farm  institute  " 
student  we  fear  that,  without  considerable  assist- 
ance from  the  teacher,  much  of  it  will  be  rather 
difficult  reading.  The  fault  lies  probably  not  so 
Tiuch  with  Dr.  Russell,  who  has  sacrificed  nothing 
in  clearness  and  attractiveness  of  presentation, 
^s  with  the  limitations  of  space  imposed  upon  him, 
which  have  necessitated  a  measure  of  condensa- 
:ion  which  is  undesirable  in  all  elementary  text- 
books, and  in  none  more  so  than  in  those  provided 
for  the  agricultural  student. 

I  For  its  refreshingly  unorthodox  and  suggestive 
treatment  of  a  well-worn  subject,  the  book  is 
iighly  to  be  commended.  An  excellent  feature  is 
;he  freedom  with  which  the  results  of  experiments 
piade  in  this  country  have  been  drawn  upon  for 
[he  purposes  of  exposition.  The  Rothamsted  ex- 
JJeriments  naturally  have  been  chiefly  drawn  upon, 
')ut  the  useful  work  done  elsewhere  is  more 
idequately  represented  than  in  any  other  text- 
>ook.  The  book  is  printed  in  attractive  type,  is 
reely  illustrated  with  photographs  and  diagrams, 
NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


and,  apart  from  one  or  two  obvious  slips,  leaves 
nothing  to  be  desired  in  precision. 

(2)  In  so  far  as  they  cover  the  same  ground, 
the  treatment  of  the  subject  by  Messrs.  Cunning- 
ham and  Lancelot  differs  widely  from  that  of  Dr. 
Russell.  In  their  "first  study  in  agriculture  for 
rural,  grade,  and  high  schools,  based  upon  sound 
educational  principles,"  they  adopt  throughout  the 
didactic  method  which  postulates  at  each  stage 
the  approach  to  knowledge  through  individual 
exjierimental  inquiry.  The  student  is  led  by  easy 
and  connected  stages  through  the  study  of  the 
origin,  nature,  and  functions  of  the  soil,  to  the 
study  of  the  outstanding  phenomena  of  plant  life, 
and  the  application  of  the  knowledge  thus  gained 
to  the  practical  problems  of  crop  production. 

The  numerous  exercises  in  the  first  half  of  the 
book  are  well  designed  and  practical  in  their 
bearing,  and  are  described  with  a  care  which  must 
ensure  success  in  the  hands  of  the  most  inexpert 
student.  It  is  left  to  the  student  to  draw  his  own 
conclusions,  although  by  leading  questions  his 
attention  is  directed  to  the  essential  information 
which  it  is  desired  that  he  shall  acquire. 

The  method  of  treatment  is  quite  conventional, 
but  is  so  well  and  carefully  worked  out  that  the 
intelligent  student  cannot  fail  to  acquire  a  very 
useful  knowledge  of  the  subject.  A  word  of 
commendation  must  be  given  to  the  photographic 
illustrations,  which  are  numerous  and  uniformly 
good. 

The  work  is  intended  for  the  American  student, 
and  the  exercises  and  illustrations  are  largely 
such  as  appeal  most  directly  to  him,  but  students 
and  teachers  in  this  country  will  find  much  that 
is  useful  and  sug'gestive  in  it. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Third  Appendix  to   the  Sixth   Edition   of  Dana's 
System  of  Mineralogy.     By  Prof.  \V.  E.  Ford. 
Completing   the  work  to   1915.      Pp.    xiii  +  87. 
(New  York  :  J.  Wiley  and  Sons,  Inc.  ;  London  : 
Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.,   1915.)     Price  65.  6d. 
net. 
The   study   of   mineralogy   has    received    a     new 
stimulus  in  recent  years  from  discoveries  in  radio- 
activity and  in  the  use  of  X-rays  for  the  explora- 
tion of  crystal-structure.     Just  •  as  the  determina- 
i   tion  of  optical  principles  from  large  and  specially 
i   selected  specimens  laid  the  foundations  of  micro- 
j  scopic  petrography,  so  these  later  physical  experi- 
I   ments   are   bound    to   provide    new    methods    of 
j   mineral  analysis.     A\'hile  enlarging  in  the  widest 
I  sense     the    bounds    of    human    knowledge,     they 
i  will    reveal    the    alliances    and    differences    among 
minerals  that  bring  a  philosophic  touch   into  the 
i  dry  matter  of  classification.     The  third  appendix 
i  to  Dana's  "System  of  Mineralogy,"  drawn  up  by 


56 


NATURE 


[March  i6,   191 6 


Prof.  Ford,  shows  the  fresh  material  available  for 
research,  and  the  progress  that  has  been  made 
through  new  observations  on  established  species 
in  the  last  six  years.  A  special  list  is  given  of 
literature   on  X-rays   and   crystal   structure. 

Numerous  studies  on  the  thermal  behaviour  of 
quartz  and  on  its  relations  to  cristobalite  and  tri- 
dymite  come  within  the  period  covered  by  this 
appendix,  and  the  attention  of  geologists  may  well 
be  directed  to  the  references  given  on  p.  66.  t- 
cross-reference  to  these  would  have  been  useful 
under  the  heads  of  the  other  forms  of  crystalline 
silica.  Among  the  new  species  we  may  note  bar- 
bierite,  which  indicates  that  a  monoclinic  struc- 
ture may  be  formed  under  certain  conditions  by 
the  well  known  felspathic  molecule,  NaAlSisOg. 
Bazzite,  a  blue  scandium  silicate  from  Baveno, 
and  sevei'al  vanadium  minerals  seem  attractive 
novelties.  Sefstromite,  among  the  latter,  passes 
away  as  a  mixture.  Metallic  tantalum,  first  de- 
scribed in  1909,  forms  an  important  record,  and 
specimens  have  already  found  their  way  from  the 
Urals  into  most  collections.  It  is  late  to  quarrel 
with  the  makers  of  new  names,  but  didymolite, 
with  no  didymium,  platynolite,  suggesting  plati- 
num when  pronounced,  and  Prof.  Ford's  own 
pyroxmangite  for  "manganopyroxene,"  strike  us 
as  unfortunate.  The  author  of  this  appendix,  how- 
ever,  will   at  once  be  gratefullv  absolved. 

G.  A.  J.  C. 

r/je  structure  of  the  Fowl.  By  Dr.  O.  C.  Brad- 
ley. Pp.  xi+153.  (London:  A.  and  C.  Black, 
Ltd.,  1915.)  Price  35.  6d.  net. 
The  author  of  this  little  volume  has  successfully 
accomplished  a  somewhat  difficult  task  in  his 
effort  to  produce  a  concise  and  not  too  elaborate 
account  of  the  structure  of  the  fowl.  The  first 
chapter  deals  with  the  zoological  position  of  birds, 
and  includes  a  very  interesting  account  of  the 
probable  ancestry  of  the  domestic  fowl.  This  is 
followed  by  chapters  on  the  skeleton  and  muscular 
system,  both  of  which  are  of  necessity  dealt  with 
in  a  very  elementary  fashion.  More  detail  is 
entered  into  when  the  author  deals  in  successive 
chapters  with  the  digestive  system,  the  respira- 
tory organs,  the  urinary  organs,  the  reproductive 
organs,  and  the  circulatory  system.  The  descrip- 
tions of  the  macroscopic  characters  of  these  appa- 
ratuses are  so  clear  and  lucid  that  they  can  be 
well  and  easily  followed  by  readers  who  have 
received  little  or  no  previous  anatomical  training, 
while  the  microscopic  structure  is  dealt  with  in 
such  a  masterly  way  as  to  render  the  book  of  the 
greatest  assistance  to  the  student  6f  comparative 
histology  and  pathology.  The  illustrations  in  these 
sections  are  excellent,  and  have  very  considerably 
simplified  the  author's  task.  The  nervous  system, 
the  eye  and  its  appendages,  and  the  ear  are  briefly 
considered,  and  a  chapter  is  also  devoted  to  the 
skin   and    its   appendages. 

Probably  the  best  chapter  is  that  on  the  de- 
velopment of  the  chick,  which  is  dealt  with  in 
rather  more  detail,  the  various  stages  being  well 
illustrated. 

^^'hile  this  little  book  would  appear  to  contain 
X"0      9/1  9n      VOT       n7l 


little  or  nothing  that  is  new,  it  is  the  only  wor 
with  which  we  are  acquainted  that  contains  sue 
an  excellent  general  description  of  the  structure  c 
the  fowl.  The  illustrations  must  be  regarded  as 
special  feature.  There  are  seventy-three  of  thenr 
and  many  are  full-page  plates. 

There  is  a  very  complete  index.       G.   H.  W. 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  fc 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neithe 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  wit 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  fc 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  i 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.^ 

The  Structure  of  the  Line  of  Wave-Length  4686  A.li 

Previous  experiments  by  one  of  us  (Nature,  vo 
xcii.,  p.  5;  Phil.  Mag.,  vol.  xxix.,  pp.  284-297,  191: 
have  shown  that  the  4686  line  could  be  obtained  b 
passing  a  condenser  discharge  through  pure  heliun 
and  it  was  concluded  that  the  results  supported 
theory  put  forward  by  Dr.  Bohr  {Phil  Mag.,  vol.  xxvi 
p.  I,  1913).  This  theory,  which  was  deduced  by  apph 
ing  the  quantum  hypothesis  to  Sir  Ernest  Ruthei 
ford's  atom-model,  ascribed  the  line  to  helium.  O 
the  other  hand,  Rydberg,  assuming  the  Pickerin 
lines  to  constitute  the  sharp  series  of  hydrogen  fror 
analogy  with  the  spectra  of  the  alkali  metals,  obtaine 
by  calculation  the  value  4687-88  for  the  wave-lengt 
of  the  first  line  of  the  principal  series  of  hydrogen. 

The  present  experiments  on  the  structure  of  th 
line  were  commenced  with  the  purpose  of  testing  sti 
further  its  chemical  origin,  and  of  obtaining  result 
which  would  throw  further  light  on  the  mechanisr 
of  emission  of  spectrum  lines.  The  importance  c 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  structure  of  hydrogen  an 
helium  lines  from  the  latter  point  of  view  has  ahead 
been  shown  by  Bohr  {Phil.  Mag.,  vol.  xxix.,  p.  33; 
1915).  It  is  well  known  that  the  hydrogen  lines  c 
the  Balmer  series  are  not  single  lines,  but  clos 
doublets,  and  it  is  therefore  to  be  expected  from  bot 
Rydberg's  and  Bohr's  theories,  that  the  4686  lin 
should  also  have  a  complex  structure.  According  t 
Rydberg's  theory,  the  line  should  be  a  doublet  havin 
the  same  frequency  difference  as  the  members  of  th 
Balmer  series.  The  recent  measurements  of  Buisson  an 
Fabry  gave  0132  A.U.  as  the  separation  of  the  tw 
components  of  Ha,  and  it  follows  by  calculation  thi 
the  two  components  of  the  4686  line  should  b 
separated  by  00674  A.U.  From  Bohr's  theory,  th 
details  of  the  structure  of  the  line  could  not  be  antic 
pated,  but  from  the  supposed  analogy  between  th 
mechanism  of  emission  of  the  4686  line  and  the  lint 
of  the  Balmer  series,  it  was  hoped  that  a  knowledg 
of  the  structure  of  the  line  would  serve  as  a  guic 
in  testing  different  hypotheses  for  explaining  tf 
doubling  of  the  hydrogen  lines. 

The  origin  of  the  "'4686"  line  has  recently  bee 
studied  by  Merton  (Nature,  vol.  xcv.,  p.  64;  Pro 
Roy.  Soc,  vol.  xci.,  p.  382,  1915),  who  used  a  methc 
based  on  Lord  Rajieigh's  theory  of  the  width  ' 
speitrum  lines.  He  concluded  that  either  the  bread;! 
of  the  line  is  controlled  by  circumstances  at  presei 
unknown,  or  that  the  line  originates  from  systems 
sub-atomic  mass.  Later  experiments  by  the  san 
author  (Proc.  Roy.  Soc,  vol.  xci.,  p.  421,  191, 
February,  igi6)  show  that  the  widths  of  some  spf, 
trum  lines  are  not  wholly  due  to  the  motion  of  t| 
molecules.  _  ' 

In  our  first  set  of  experiments  the  line  was  excit' 
by  passing  a   condenser  discharge   through   a  helii ' 


March  i6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


57 


itube  with  an  adjustable  spark  gap  in  series  with  it. 
iXhe  structure  of  the  line  was  studied  by  means  of 
an  echelon  spectroscope,  consisting  of  thirtv-three  glass 
plates,  each  plate  being  948  mm.  thick.  The  resolv- 
mg  power  of  the  instrument  at  4686  was  441,421,  and 
the  distance  between  successive  orders  of  the  line  was 
0350  A.U.  The  line  when  excited  by  a  condenser 
discharge  was  found  to  be  very  broad  and  diffuse,  and 
two  successive  orders  were  only  just  separated  on  the 
best  photographs.  In  some  experiments  the  spectrum 
tube  was  immersed  in  liquid  air,  but  no  measurable 
improvement  in  the  sharpness  of  the  line  was  obtained. 
This  result  may  also  be  expected  on  Bohr's  theory, 
as  the  atom  is  charged  when  emitting  the  lines.  It 
;was  therefore  decided  to  excite  the  line  by  means  of 
ja  direct  current,  keeping  the  drop  of  potential  be- 
tween the  anode  and  kathode  as  low  as  possible.  The 
direct-current  machine,  which  was  connected  through 
a  liquid  resistance  to  the  electrodes,  could  give  a 
voltage  of  2000  and  an  output  of  one  kilowatt.  As 
ifairly  large  currents  were  passed  through  the  gas  the 
cylindrical  spectrum  tube  was  made  large,  and  was 
also  provided  with  two  heavy  aluminium  electrodes, 
|one  of  which  was  concave  and  the  other  a  hollow 
tylinder.  The  tube  was  used  in  the  end-on  position. 
j  It  was  found  that  when  the  cylindrical  electrode 
{was  made  the  kathode  the  light  was  almost  com- 
pletely confined  to  the  space  inside  the  cylinder,  and 
that  it  was  very  intense.  Experiments  were  usually 
Londucted  at  a  pressure  of  i  mm.,  and  the  voltage 
between  the  anode  and  kathode  varied  in  different 
experiments  between  280  and  400.  Under  these  con- 
ditions, although  the  ordinary  helium  lines  were 
strong,  the  4686  line  was  comparatively  faint,  and 
pxposures  of  about  two  hours  were  necessary  for 
pbtaining  a  satisfactory  photograph, 
i  The  line  was  found  to  be  surprisingly  sharp;  in 
fact,  it  was  comparable  in  sharpness  with  the  lines 
of  the  ordinary  helium  spectrum,  and  much  sharper 
ihan  the  H/3  line  of  hydrogen,  which  was  photo- 
graphed at  the  same  time'.  In  addition,  all  the  photo- 
Uraphs  showed  that  the  line  was  a  close  doublet,  the 
Tomponents  having  almost  equal  intensity.  The  best 
photographs  were  measured  up,  and  the  distance 
^part  of  the  two  components  was  found  to  be 
V094  ^•^-  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  separa- 
tion to  be  expected  on  Rydberg's  theory  is  0-067  A.U. 

The  structure  of  the  hne  is  shown  in  the  acconi- 
banying  photograph,  which  is  explained  by  the  dia- 
gram. The  dotted  lines  represent  the  different  orders 
pf  the  4713  helium  line  and  its  faint  component,  and 
the  full  lines  the  4686  line.  The  doublet  is  repre-' 
f^ented  by  an,,  and  a}  is  a  higher  order  of  a. 


I 


merfeld  {Ray.  Akad.  d.  Wiss.,  Munich,  1916)  on  the 
structure  of  spectrum  lines,  which  was  based  on  a 
remarkable  generalisation  of  Bohr's  theon.-.  In  this 
paper  he  quotes  certain  unpublished  results  of  Paschen 
on  the  structure  of  several  lines  of  the  series 


1  ! 

1 1*.  .t 

(| 

1 
• 
1 

1 

jj 

1 

a 

a 

a. 

■    These  experiments  were  still  in  progress  when  there 
ippearcd  a  very  interesting  theoretical  paper  by  Som- 
XO.    24.20,    VOL.    97] 


'{<*'"#} 


the  first  member  of  which  is  the  4686  line,   and  also 
of  several  lines  of  the  series 


-■k''A:if 


-^.,1 

(?// 


which  includes  the  Pickering  lines,  and  also  another 
series  of  lines  near  the  hydrogen  lines,  one  member 
of  which,  at  6560-4,  was  first  observed  by  one  of  us 
in  a  helium  tube. 

In  complete  agreement  with  Sommerfeld's  theory 
Paschen  found  that  the  4686  line  consisted  of  three 
components,  each  of  which  was  accompanied  by 
fainter  satellites,  and  the  two  stronger  components 
were  separated  by  a  distance  one-fourth  of  that  be- 
tween the  outer  components.  The  values  of  the 
separations  in  Angstrom  units  as  obtained  by  Paschen 
are  not  given  in  Sommerfeld's  paper,  but  it  is  stated 
that  the  ratios  of  the  separations  of  the  components  of 
the  4686  line  to  the  separations  of  the  components 
of  Ha  agree  with  the  values  predicted  by  the  theon.'. 
Our  result  for  the  distance  between  the  components 
of  the  doublet  also  agrees  approximatelv  with  the 
value  predicted  by  Sommerfeld  for  the  separation  of 
the  two  strongest  components.  Since  the  appear- 
ance of  the  paper  we  have  re-examined  all  our 
photographs  to  see  if  they  show  the  presence  of  a 
third  faint  component  which  we  had  missed.  On  our 
best  photograph  we  found  near  one  of  the  higher 
orders  of  the  doublet,  but  not  completely  separated 
from  it,  a  faint  line.  If  this  line  is  a  lower  order  of 
the  third  component  its  separation  measured  from  the 
doublet  is  about  0-40  A.U.,  and  it  is  situated  on  the 
higher  wave-length  side,  as  is  to  be  exf>ected  according 
to  Sommerfeld's  theory-. 

E.    J.    Evans. 
C.     Croxson. 

Manchester  University,  March  4. 


Ground  Rainbows. 

Mr.  a.  E.  He.ath  asks  (Nature,  March  2.  p.  5) 
how  gossamer  which  *'  seems  to  be  a  kind  of 
spider  web,  comes  to  be  spread  over  so  large  an 
area."  Mr.  Heath  need  have  gone  no  further 
than  Selborne  to  find  the  correct  explanation,  given 
by  Gilbert  White  140  years  ago  : — "  Nobody  in  these 
days  doubts  that  they  (the  cobweb-like  appearances) 
are  the  real  production  of  small  spiders- which  swarm 
in  the  fields  in  fine  weather  in  autumn,  and  have  a 
power  of  shooting  out  webs  from  their  tails  so  as  to 
render  themselves  buoyant."  Possibly  the  first  part 
of  the  sentence  was  not  true  when  Gilbert  White  wrote 
it,  seeing  that  it  is  not  always  the  case  to-dav.  The  thick 
clouds  of  gossamer  noticed  by  Mr.  N.  T.  Porter  when 
out  shooting  in  the  early  morning  were  noticed  also 
by  Gilbert  White  in  September,  1741,  when  "intent  on 
field  diversions  I  rose  before  daybreak."  If  a  more 
recent  account  of  gossamer  is  preferred  it  mav  be 
found  in  Fabre's  "Life  of  a  Spider." 

Charles  J.   P.   Cave. 

Meteorological  Office.  South  Farnborough. 
March  7. 


58 


NATURE 


[March  i6,  191b 


MEMORIALS    OF    MEN    OF    SCIENCE    IN 
.  WESTMINSTER     ABBEY. 

IN  November  last  memorial  tablets  to  Sir  Joseph 
Hooker,  Lord  Lister,  and  Dr.   Alfred  Russel 
Wallace  were  unveiled  in  the  north  aisle  of  West- 


P/to/o] 


Fig.  I. — Sir  Joseph  Hcoker  tablet  in  Westminster  Abbey. 


reproduced.  The  limited  size  of  the  tablets  has 
prevented  the  employment  of  inscriptions  other 
than  those  upon  the  accompanying  illustrations. 

The  memorials  were  unveiled  without  any  public 
ceremony,  but  at  the  afternoon  service  of  the 
same  day  the  Dean  of  Westminster  referred  to 
them.  He  said  that  Hooker,  Lister, 
and  W'allace  would  always  rank 
among"  the  most  eminent  men  of 
science  of  the  nineteenth  century ; 
and  they  were  all  men  of  a  singu- 
larly modest  character,  who  worked 
without  regard  to  recognition. 

It  may  be  of  interest  here  to 
mention  some  other  memorials  of 
men  of  science  in  Westminster 
Abbey.  Sir  John  Herschel  and 
Charles  Darwin  lie  side  by  side  in 
the  nave  (north  aisle),  where  alsc 
rest  the  remains  of  John  Hunter, 
John  Woodward,  and  Sir  Charles 
Lyell,  of  whom  there  is  a  bust. 
Near  Darwin's  memorial  three  othei 
scientific  workers  are  commemor- 
ated, J.  P.  Joule  by  a  tablet,  J.  C. 
Adams  by  a  medallion,  and  Sii 
George  Stokes  by  a  portrait-head. 
The  grave  of  Newton  is  before  the 
choir  screen,  one  of  the  most  con- 
spicuous spots  in  the  Abbey,  and 
near  it  Lord  Kelvin  was  buried. 
Close  by  is  a  memorial  window 
erected  to  Kelvin.  The  great  statue 
of  James  Watt  is  in  the  Chapel 
[D.  Hv/c,-.       of  St.    Paul;    and  in   St.    Andrew's 


Photo\ 


Fig.  2. — Lord  Lister  and  Dr.  A.  R.  Wallace  medalliorki in  Westminster  Aibey. 


minster  Abbey.  By  the  courtesy  of  the  Right  Rev. 
the  Dean  of  Westminster,  Dr.  H.  E.  Ryle,  photo- 
graphs of  these  memorials  have  been  taken  by 
the  Dean's  verger,  Mr.   D.  Weller,  and  are  here 

NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


Chapel  are  memorials  of  Sir  Humphry  Da\>, 
Thomas  Young,  and  Sir  James  Simpson.  The 
body  of  William  Spottiswoode  lies  under  the  floor 
of  the  south  transept  of  the  Abbey. 


March  i6,   191 6] 


NATURE 


59 


THE    REFORM    OF    THE 
OF    SCIEXCE. 


MAX 


i^OME  correspondence  has  recently  appeared  in 
-^  the  Morning  Post  under  the  title  that  stands 
t  the  head  of  this  article.  Lt.-Col.  J.  W.  Barret, 
if  the  Australian  Army,  a  Melbourne  doctor,  well 
mown  for  his  active  participation  in  the  educa- 
ional  world  there,  writing-  respectfully  of  British 
nen  of  science,  laments  their  exclusiveness.  They 
re,  he  implies,  too  much  dominated  by  the  idea  of 
tudentship ;  they  regard  the  sphere  of  science  too 
iiuch  as  that  of  the  laboratory  and  the  academy ; 
hey  do  not  acknowledg^e  brotherhood  with  men 
1  the  greater  world,  who,  in  the  spirit  of  enter- 
irise  and  with  the  kind  of  method  that  prevail  in 
oHventional  science,  are  solving  great  problems 
f  industry,  commerce,  and  national  development, 
vnother  writer  goes  further,  and  would  hail  as  a 
rother  in  science  the  man  who  elucidates  the 
uthorship  of  Shakespeare's  plays  or  the  tech- 
lique  of  an  old  master. 

;  It  is  not  proposed  here  to  enter  upon  a  discus- 
'on  of  the  legitimate  use  of  the  term  science.  We 
jiay  be  all  for  brotherhood,  but  the  circumstances 
(  life  compel  us  largely  to  separate  into  groups 
j)r  purposes  of  action,  and  there  can  be  no  real 
'jmplaint  if  the  word  science  is  used  in  a  re- 
Iricted  sense  for  what  is  perhaps  better  called 
atural  science.  This  should  not  prevent  men  of 
pience  from  recognising  their  kinship  with  all 
ithful  workers  for  the  elucidation  of  truth,  in 
jhatever  sphere  of  action. 

'  Let  us  avoid  a  controversy  about  mere  words. 
i.-Col.  Barret's  complaint  is  a  more  substantial 
ne — not  one  of  terminol(^f\'.  It  is  essentially 
lis,  that  when  operations  relating  to  the  forces 
j  nature  transcend  a  certain  scale  they  are  no 
Inger  recognised  as  science,  and  that  men  of 
jience  in  the  limited  sense  thus  lose  a  ereat  com- 
jnionship  and  an  invaluable  link  with  the  greater 
prld.  He  gives  as  an  illustration  the  work  of  a 
ijilroad  president  whose  operations  "involve  the 
jicing  of  towns  and  even  cities  in  new  positions, 
tje  reorganisation  of  the  agricultural  education  of 
<|itricts,  the  estimation  of  future  markets,  and 
fper  complicated  actions  involving  scientific  ima- 
ffiation  of  the  first  order." 

'It  is  probable  that  most  men  of  science  would 

V  admit  that  some  solid  advantages  would 

lined   by   having   in   their  camp   these   great 

ors,  with  all  their  intellectual  energy,  their 

prise,  and  their  influence,  and  perhaps  many 

^puld  admit  their  claim  to   inclusion.      There  is 

Ldoubtedly  a  tendency  for  an  increased  scale  of 

cjerations   to  remove   a^  man   from    the    scientific 

ss  if  he  was  once  in  it,  or  to  prevent  his  acces- 

n  if  he  did   not  originally   enter  through   the 

M-ial   portal.      The  case   may   be   well   illustrated 

fj>m    engineering.      A    scientifically    trained    en- 

g,ieer  who  betakes  himself  to  great  problems  of 

•-irineering,  constructing  some  almost  impossible 

ly  or  irrigating  a  whole  parched  province  of 

■    seems  to  be   moving   away   from   science. 

\  engineer    who  has  acquired  such  powers  with- 

oj^  having  received  the  hall-mark  of  formal  scien- 

i     NO.    2A20.   vni     (TtI 


tific  training,   will   find   it  hard   to  get   his   place 
acknowledged  in  the  ranks  of  science. 

We  may  ask,  What  is  really  at  the  bottom  of  this? 
Is  it  merely  narrow-mindedness,  or  is  there  some- 
thing more  excusable?  It  is  pleasant  to  think  that 
there  may  be.  Scientific  men  in  their  most  august 
society  are  banded  together  "  for  the  improvement 
of  natural  knowledge."  They  are  by  implication  a 
body  of  students  working  in  the  temple  of  Nature 
for  truth's  sake  alone,  heedless  of  the  world  and 
its  rewards.  What  they  garner  is  their  gift  to 
the  world  :  they  fill  another  page  in  the  Revelation 
that  brings  men  nearer  to  the  angels.  Let  a  man 
wander  into  the  world  with  his  science  as  wares 
to  sell  for  money  profit,  and  he  has  passed  from 
the  true  brotherhood.  Surely  this  idea,  perhaps 
here  rather  fancifully  stated,  is  at  the  bottom  of 
much  of  our  exclusiveness.  It  is  certainly  ex- 
pressed very  often  in  the  privacy  of  small  delibera- 
tive councils  and  in  personal  intercourse,  and  it  Is  • 
strongly,  though  silently,  operative  in  the  outer 
world. 

If  this  were  the  chief  reason  for  the  detachment 
of  men  of  science  we  should  have  to  ask  whether 
it  be  really  good  and  sufficient.  That  it  has  ele- 
ments of  good  in  it,  no  one  would  deny.  There 
should  be  much  strength  in  the  union  of  disin- 
terested people,  and  the  flame  of  disinterested — 
that  is,  unworldly — study  is  the  most  sacred  light 
of  knowledge.  But  there  is  this  great  fact  of 
history  and  actuality  against  an  austere  brother- 
hood :  natural  science  has  had  its  roots  in  the  prac- 
tical avocations  of  mankind,  and  from  them  it  has 
received  its  chief  stimulus.  The  application  of 
science  to  the  practical  arts  has  not  more  benefited 
them  than  it  has  benefited  science.  In  this  place 
it  Is  unnecessary  to  illustrate  or  amplify  the  argu- 
ment. It  is  therefore  not  only  not  unbecoming,  but 
It  Is  vitally  necessary  that  the  improvement  of 
natural  knowledge  should  t^  bound  up  with  solv- 
ing the  problems  of  the  busy  world,  and  the  man 
of  science  who  looks  with  any  kind  of  disdain  on 
those  who  are  engaged  in  solving  these  problems, 
be  they  labelled  brewer,  baker^  or  candle-stick 
maker,  and  be  they  incidentally  making  fortunes, 
is  despising  his  best  friends  and  declaring  himself 
a  pedant. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  this  disdain  does  linger.  It 
Is  the  Inevitable  product  of  the  seminary ;  it  is  the 
fatuitv  of  the  cloister,  arising,  no  doubt,  from 
the  theological  beginnings  of  our  educational 
system— this  notion  of  keeping  science  unsp>otted 
from  the  world.  It  has  much  to  answer  for.  The 
neglect  of  applied  science— what  Is  It  not  meaning 
now  in  the  fortunes  of  our  nation  !  It  Is  comfort- 
able for  us  to  blame  anyone  but  ourselves.  Have 
we  not  loner  proclaimed  the  vital  importance  of 
science  for  the  ser\-Ice  of  Industry  and  the  State? 
Industry  and  the  State  are  doubtless  much  to 
blame,  but  surely  no  fair-minded  person  would 
say  that  the  scientific  world  is  exempt.  Rather  let 
us  acknowledge  that  Lt.-Col.  Barret  is  in  essence 
right ;  the  scientific  world  has  been  too  exclusive ; 
It  has  not  bound  itself  as  much  as  It  might  have 
I  done  to  great  workers  In  the  world,  whose  tasks, 
'  if  not  the  same,   are  much  akin  to  those  of  the 


6o 


NATURE 


[March  i6,   1916 


laboratory,  men  whose  sympathies,  already  scien- 
tific, would  be  streng-thened  by  association  and 
make  broad  channels  for  the  flow  of  science  into 
practice. 

Scientific  men,  we  must  admit,  have  often  no 
conception  of  the  real  environment  and  problems 
of  the  industrialist ;  of  the  accumulated  store  of 
empirical  knowledg-e  from  which  he  must  select 
what  is  needed ;  of  the  skill  and  design  with  which 
he  must  apply  it  under  the  limitations  imposed  by 
men,  material,  and  markets.  They  too  often 
underrate  the  extent  and  importance  of  what  may 
be  called  technolog-ical  science  and  the  new  hori- 
zons that  it  opens.  The  technologist  is  often 
ignorantly  set  in  the  outer  courts  of  learning  ;  he  is 
not  quite  of  the  elect,  and  antipathies  arise.  How 
much  have  we  not  sacrificed  of  the  acceptance  and 
efficacy  of  science  in  industry  by  offering-  young- 
men  trained  in  pure  science  and  knowing-  nothing 
of  manufacture,  to  employers  trained  in  manufac- 
ture and  knowing-  nothing-  of  science,  relying 
wholly  on  the  manufacturer  for  a  most  difficult 
and    precarious    adjustment  ? 

The  manag-ement  of  our  applied  science  has 
become  one  of  the  great  problems  of  the  day,  and 
it  brings  with  it  great  difficulties.  Spurious  tech- 
nology is  a  hateful  make-believe  that  has  already 
wrought  much  mischief;  a  man,  however  scien- 
tific, \yholly  on  the  make — to  use  a  concise  vulgar 
term  for  a  vulgar  condition — is  an  unedifying 
spectacle.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  because  a 
man  is  preoccupied  with  industrial  problems  he 
shall  lose  his  scientific  virtue  or  that  his  achieve- 
ments, however  remunerative,  should  rank  on  a 
lower  plane.  It  is  not  so  difficult  to  distinguish 
the  genuine  from  the  base  among  scientific 
workers  wherever  they  may  be  engaged. 

We  must  strengthen  the  bonds  between  science 
and  industry  by  something  more  than  an  appeal  to 
the  pocket.  A  real  s)«ipathy  and  interest  must  be 
created  on  both  sides ;  we  must  open  our  arms  ! 
wider.  Even  if  we  find  difficulty  in  discovering,  in 
this  country,  the  type  of  railway  president  de- 
scribed by  Lt.-Col.  Barret,  there  are  yet  many 
men  in  our  world  of  industry  and  in  the  service 
of  the  State  who,  without  any  list  of  scientific 
memoirs  to  their  name,  have  yet  been  potent  in 
the  service  of  science,  and  would  be  more  potent 
still  if  they  were  brought  more  into  companion- 
ship with  the  scientific  world.  The  Royal  Society 
has  the  power  of  admitting  to  its  ranks  at  the  rate 
of  one  each  year  "persons,  who  in  their  opinion 
have  either  rendered  conspicuous  service  to  the 
cause  of  science  or  are  such  that  their  election 
would  be  of  signal  benefit  to  the  Society."  Here 
at  least  is  a  limited  opportunity  of  doing  some- 
thing towards  introducing  into  the  circle  of  science 
the  sort  of  men  whose  influence  might  help 
towards  bringing  about  the  reform  to  which  we 
are  bidden  by  a  candid  friend.  In  any  of  the  new 
associations  that  are  contemplated  for  giving 
science  its  right  place  in  our  national  life  we  shall 
surely  df)  well  to  cast  our  net  widely  and  to  extend 
our  outlook  beyond  the  conventional  circumference 
of  what  have  usually  been  deemed  scientific 
circles. 

NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


SULPHURIC  ACID  IN  AMERICAA 
FN   what  is  known  as  a   "professional  papei 
J-      Mr.  W.  H.  Waggaman,  of  the  U.S.  Depa 
ment  of  Agriculture,  has  recently  given  an  accov 
of  the  modes  of  manufacture   of   sulphuric  ac: 
both  by  the  "  chamber  "  and  the  "  contact  "  pi 
cess,   with   special   reference  to  its  production 
the    United   States  for  the  manufacture  of  fer 
liser    materials.       As    the    paper    contains    sor 
features  of  interest  with  respect  to  American  pn 
tice,  a  short  account  of  its  contents  may  not 
out  of  place  at  the  present  juncture. 

The  production   of   sulphuric    acid    of    vario 
strengths  in  the  United  States,  according  to  t 
latest  (1913)  figures  available  is  stated  to  be 
follows  : — 


Grades 

50°  Baume 
60°  Baume 

Quantity 

tons 

...    1,643.318    .. 

...        509,929    .. 

Value 

dollars 
•       9,212,917    . 
.       3,202,528    . 

Price  p 

ton 
dollar 

..     5.6i 

..     6.28 

66"  Baume      ... 
Other  grades  ... 

...       797,104    .. 
...          63,158    .. 

.       9,282,422    . 
986,659    . 

.   11.65 
..  15.62 

Total  and  Average...  3,013,509  ...  22,684,526  ...     7.53 
Totalreducedto5o"B.  3,538,980*...   22,366,482  ...     6.32 

*  Exclusive  of  22,947  short  tons  of  fuming  acid,  not  convertible,  vali 
at  318.044  dollars. 

On  comparing  these  figures  with  those  for  tl 
two  preceding  years  it  appears  that  there  has  be( 
a  considerable  increase  in  production  of  each  gra< 
with  the  exception  of  those  classed  under  "oth( 
grades,"  the  decrease  in  which  is  probably  a 
counted  for  by  the  item  "fuming  acid,"  whic 
appears  for  the  first  time  in  the  statistics.  Pn 
sumably,  therefore,  the  manufacture  of  this  fori 
of  oil  of  vitriol  has  only  been  introduced  in! 
America  within  the  last  three,  or  four  years, 
account  is  taken  of  the  fuming  acid  it  is  obvioi 
that  the  production  of  sulphuric  acid  has  ver 
largely  increased  in  the  United  States  withi 
recent  years.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  th 
disturbance  in  Continental  production  in  consi 
quence  of  the  war,  -with  its  effect  on  the  expo 
trade  of  Germany  and  Austria  in  dyes,  drugs,  ar, 
fine  chemicals,  as  well  as  on  a  variety  of  oth<j 
finished  products  in  which  sulphuric  acid  plays  j 
part,  direct  or  indirect,  has  given  a  still  great! 
impetus  to  American  manufacture,  and  hi 
tended  to  consolidate  certain  industries  and 
initiate  others  in  the  States,  to  the  eventual  loj 
of  the  belligerent  nations.  German  manufacture' 
are  now  beginning  to  realise  that  the  suprema_ 
they  have  hitherto  enjoyed  in  certain  branches  j 
chemical  industry  is  threatened,  and  nowhere  nic^ 
seriously  than  in  America. 

American  chemists  have  not  talked  to  anythi  ■ 
like  the  same  extent  as  we  have  done  abc^ 
"capturing  German  trade."  Nevertheless,  5 
recent  discussions  in  the  American  Section  of  t? 
Society  of  Chemical  Industry  unmistakably  in'- 
cate,  aided  by  their  elastic  fiscal  policy,  they  hsi? 
quietly  and  deliberately  set  themselves  to  do 
And,  curiously  enough,  the  "hyphenated"  Amtr 

1  "  The  Production  of  Sulphuric  Acid  and  a  Proposed  New  Metho'' 
Manufacture."  By  W.  H.  Waggaman.  U.S.  Department  of  Agriculi-- 
Bulletin  No.  2S3.     (Washington,  1915-) 


March  i6,   191 6] 


NATURE 


61 


can  has  not  been  the  slowest  to  move.      It  may 
be  that  our  people  are  too  busy  makings  the  things 
required    for    munitions    to    be    able    to   give    the 
matter  adequate  attention,  but  we  could  wish  to 
see  the  same   signs  of  intelligent  and  organised 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  general  body  of  chemical 
manufacturers    in    this    country    as    we    are    now 
witnessing  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.    There 
can   be   no   doubt  whatever   that  with   the   fierce 
industrial   struggle   that  will  certainly   follow   the 
cessation  of  hostilities,  a  very  serious  time,  fraught 
with  the  greatest  jjeril,  is  in  store  for  us,  and  in 
particular    for    our    chemical     industries.        With 
powerful  rivals  on  either  side  of  us,   nothing  but 
the  application  of  the  same  means,   the  same  en- 
lightened skill  and  intelligence  that  in  the  past  have 
brought  pre-eminence  to  Germany,   and   are  now 
rapidly  bringing  it  to  America,  can  possibly  save 
i  these  industries  from  ultimate  extinction. 
I      It  is  not  our  purpose  to  follow  Mr.  Waggaman 
'  in  his  account  of  the  methods  of  manufacture  of 
I  sulphuric  acid  except  in  so  far  as  they  throw  light 
Ion     their     comparative     advantages     in     special 
I  circumstances,  or  deal  with  questions  peculiar  to 
:  America.      As    regards   the   contact   process,    his 
remarks  as  to  its  excellences  and   its  commercial 
limitations  are  judicious  and  to  the  point.      It  is 
admittedly     a     process     which     demands     skilled 
land   intelligent    supervision,    and    in    which    there 
lis  no   room   for  the   rule  of   thumb   type   of   pro- 
cedure   which    characterises    much    of    the    fore- 
jman  management  in  this  country.     Doubtless  the 
last  word  has  not  yet  been  said  on  "catalysers  " 
land   "poisons,"    and   there    is   still   room   for   the 
ingenuity  of  chemical  engineers   in  the  improve- 
jment  of  plant.     But,  as  matters  stand  at  present, 
jfor  certain  grades  of  oil  of  vitriol,  and  especially 
for  those  used  generally   in   the   manufacture   of 
fertilisers — one  of  the  most  important  of  the  out- 
lets   of    production — chamber    acid    will    probably 
hold  its  own  for  many  years  to  come,  especially 
in  view  of  the  important  improvements  and  simpli- 
fications in  plant  and  procedure  which  have  been 
^introduced  within  recent  years. 

Of  the  various  methods  which  have  been  pro- 
posed from  time  to  time  for  accelerating  the 
chamber  reactions,  those  which  seem  to  have  found 
imost  favour  in  the  States  are  Pratt's,  Meyer's, 
iand  Falding's. 

I  In  Pratt's  process  (U.S.  patents  Nos.  546,  596, 
i'^52,  687),  which  appears  to  be  much  used  in  the 
southern  States,  the  gases  are  drawn  through  the 
first  chamber  by  a  fan,  then  through  a  tower 
packed  with  quartz,  down  which  flows  dilute  sul- 
phuric acid,  when  they  are  again  introduced,  by 
the  same  fan,  into  the  first  chamber.  In  a  number 
[of  plants  in  which  this  circulatory  system  is  em- 
ployed less  than  nine  cubic  feet  of  chamber  space 
iare  required  per  pound  of  sulphur  burned  in 
jtwenty-four  hours. 

I  In  Meyer's  arrangement,  of  which  three  instal- 
jlations  are  in  use  in  the  States,  "  tangential " 
chambers,  designed  so  as  simultaneously  to  mix 
^and  cool  the  reacting  gases,  are  employed.  These 
jchambers  are  cylindrical  in  form  ;  round  the  first  I 
Fun  lead  pipes  conveying  cold  water.  The  gases  ' 
I  NO.    2420,   VOL.    97"! 


are  admitted  at  a  tangent  near  the  upper  part  of 
the  chamber  walls,  and  are  discharged  from  out- 
lets in  the  centre  of  the  base,  thereby  acquiring 
a  spiral  motion  which  tends  to  mix  them  thor- 
oughly. 

In  the  Falding  system  the  chambers  are  ap- 
proximately one  and  a  half  times  higher  than  their 
horizontal  dimensions.  The  gases  after  passing 
through  the  Glover  tower  are  introduced  into  the 
chamber  near  the  top,  where,  being  hot,  partly 
from  the  fact  that  they  have  only  recently  issued 
from  the  burners,  and  partly  because  their  tem- 
perature has  been  raised  by  the  reactions  between 
certain  of  their  constituents,  they  collect  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  chamber  and  form  an  active 
layer,  which  gradually  cools  and  settles  down  to 
the  bottom  of  the  chamber,  where  the  spent  gases 
are  drawn  off.  It  is  claimed  that  this  system 
requires  much  less  chamber  space  in  which  to 
complete  the  reactions  than  the  ordinar}-  type. 
Each  Falding  chamber  is  a  unit  in  itself,  and  is 
connected  directly  w-ith  the  Glover  tower,  instead 
of  in  series  as  in  ordinary  chamber  systems. 
Whatever  doubts  may  exist  as  to  the  proper  ex- 
planation of  the  mechanism  of  the  process,  it 
seems  to  be  commercially  successful,  to  judge 
from  the  number  of  plants  in  which  it  is  in  opera- 
tion. 

The  new  modification  of  the  chamber  process 
to  which  Mr.  Waggaman  refers  consists  of  a 
method  of  more  quickly  effecting  an  admixture  of 
the  reacting  gases  by  causing  them  to  traverse  a 
spiral  tube  of  lead,  kept  at  a  determinate 
temperature.  The  arrangement  has  only 
been  tried  on  a  laboratory  scale,  but  from  the 
published  results  it  promises  well.  Whether  it 
will  diminish  the  chamber  space  to  the  extent  of 
o'i39  cubic  foot  for  everj-  pound  of  sulphur 
burned  in  twenty-four  hours,  as  is  claimed,  seems 
too  good  to  be  true.  Comparative  experiments 
using  glass  and  lead  spirals  app>eared  to  indicate 
that  the  metal  exerted  a  specific  (catalytic)  action. 
The  construction  of  a  sulphuric  acid  plant  along 
the  lines  indicated  by  the  author,  if  successful  in 
working,  would  certainly  greatly  diminish  the 
amount  of  ground  space  needed,  and  would  pre- 
sumably decrease  the  Initial  cost  of  construction. 
The  practical  man  is  apt  to  deride  laboratory  ex- 
periments, forgetting  that  all  factory  experience 
has  its  beginning  in  small  scale  trials.  Perhaps 
he  may  think  it  significant  that  "  if  patent  is 
allowed,  it  will  be  donated  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States." 


^OTES. 
Early  in  1914  a  committee  representative  of  British 
geologists  and  friends  of  Sir  .\rchibald  Geikie  was 
formed  with  the  object  of  presenting  to  the  Museum 
of  Practical  Geology  a  suitable  memorial  of  his  long 
association  with  that  institution  as  director-general  of 
the  Geological  Survey  and  Museum,  and  as  a  record 
of  their  appreciation  of  his  brilliant  labours  in  the 
cause  of  geology.  It  was  decided  that  the  memorial 
should  take  the  form  of  a  marble  bust.  On  Tuesday, 
March  14,  a  number  of  Sir  Archibald  Geikie 's  friends 


62 


NATURE 


[March  i6,  1916 


assembled  in  the  museum  to  witness  the  presentation. 
Dr.  A.  Strahan,  director  of  the  Geological  Survey  and 
Museum,  briefly  recapitulated  the  history  of  the  move- 
ment. The  Rifjht  Hon.  Sir  William  Mather,  who  was 
to  have  unveiled  the  bust,  was  unfortunately  prevented 
from  attending  by  a  chill,  but  his  place  was  kindly  taken, 
at  the  last  moment,  by  Sir  William  Garforth,  who  had 
played  a  very  active  part  on  the  committee.  After  un- 
veil! nij  the  bust.  Sir  William  referred  in  cordial  terms 
to  Sir  Archibald's  contributions  to  science  and  litera- 
ture, and  then,  on  behalf  of  the  subscribers,  presented 
the  bust  to  the  museum.  The  Right  Hon.  J.  Herbert 
Lewis  accepted  the  gift  on  behalf  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation ;  he  remarked  that  it  was  a  source  of  gratifica- 
tion to  the  Board  that  the  artist  commissioned  to 
execute  the  bust  happened  to  be  another  of  its  distin- 
guished servants,  Prof.  E.  Lanteri,  who  had  done  so 
much  to  uphold  the  standards  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Art.  The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Rayleigh  then,  on  behalf 
of  the  subscribers,  presented  to  Sir  A.  Geikie  a  marble 
replica  of  the  bust.  In  warmly  acknowledging  his 
appreciation  of  the  gift,  Sir  Archibald  spoke  of  the 
powerful  effect  the  Museum  of  Practical  Geology  had 
had  upon  him  in  his  early  student  days,  and  of  the 
great  educational  value  of  its  collections.  The  bust  is 
a  remarkabl)'^  good  likeness  and  a  beautiful  example 
of  Lanteri 's  work.  Among  those  present  at  the  cere- 
mony were  Sir  T.  Lauder  Brunton,  Sir  Lazarus 
Fletcher,  Sir  Thomas  H.  Holland,  Sir  F.  G.  Kenyon, 
the  Right  Hon.  Lord  Lyell,  Major  F.  G.  Ogilvie,  Prof. 
W.  W.  Watts,  Dr.  A.  Smith  Woodward,  and  Messrs. 
Bedford  McNeill  and  C.  McDermid,  representing  the 
Institution  of  Mining  and  Metallurgy. 

Members  of  the  British  Association  who  attended 
the  Dundee  meeting  in  19 12  will  remember  the  striking 
announcement  made  on  the  first  night,  that  Sir  James 
Caird  (then  Dr.  Caird),  one  of  the  leading  business 
men  of  the  city,  had  given  the  sum  of  io,oooZ.  towards 
the  funds  of  the  association.  We  regret  now  to 
announce  that  this  eminent  citizen  of  Dundee,  and 
great  public  benefactor,  died  on  March  9,  at  seventy- 
nine  5-ears  of  age.  During  his  lifetime  his  donations 
for  public  purposes  amounted  to  a  quarter  of  a  million 
pounds,  among  them  being,  in  addition  to  the  gift 
to  the  British  Association,  5000^.  to  the  Rojal  Society, 
24,oooZ.  for  Shackleton's  Antarctic  Expedition,  loooZ. 
to  the  Zoological  Society  of  London,  and  gifts  of 
valuable  collections  to  the  Dundee  Museum.  In  1903 
the  University  of  St.  Andrews,  "in  consideration  of 
his  great  and  practical  interest  in  the  philanthropic 
and  educational  work  of  the  city,"  conferred  on  him 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  he  received  the 
distinction  of  a  baronetcy  in  1913. 

The  death  of  Lady  Baker,  widow  of  Sir  Samuel 
Baker,  closes  one  of  the  most  romantic  careers  in  the 
history  of  the  Upper  Nile  and  Uganda.  She  was 
Hungarian  by  birth,  being  a  daughter  of  Finian  von 
Sass.  She  nursed  Samuel  Baker  through  a  serious 
illness,  and  her  devotion  then  led  to  a  marriage  of 
exceptional  harmony  and  usefulness.  It  was  doubt- 
less largely  owing  to  her  influence  that  Baker  de- 
veloped from  a  sportsman  into  a  geographer  and  ulti- 
mately into  a  statesman.  He  went  to  the  Upper  Nile 
NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


to  shoot  big  game ;  he  gradually  devoted  more  and 
more  of  his  attention  to  geographical  exploration,  and 
finally,  as  he  and  his  wife  realised  the  deplorable  con- 
dition of  the  natives,  Baker  entered  on  the  crusade 
for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  which  led  to 
the  Egyptian  conquest  of  the  Sudan  and  the  African 
work  of  Gordon.  In  the  widening  of  Baker's  sym- 
pathies and  his  adoption  of  a  philanthropic,  political 
mission,  he  was  obviously  inspired  by  his  wife.  She 
accompanied  him  on  his  expedition  in  1860-62  into 
Abyssinia,  and  on  the  important  expedition  of  1862-65 
which  discovered  the  Albert  Nyanza,  and  she  returned 
with  him  to  the  Upper  Nile  in  1870,  and  on  the  expedi- 
tion which  established  Egyptian  supremacy  there,  and 
began  the  long  campaign  against  the  Sudan  slave 
trade,  which  was  pursued  with  varying  fortune  until 
the  collapse  of  Mahdism  and  the  Anglo-British  re- 
conquest.  Lady  Baker  proved  throughout  of  heroic 
courage,  gifted  with  remarkable  insight  into  the  native 
mind,  and  exceptionally  fertile  in  resource.  On  more 
than  one  occasion  her  quick  realisation  of  danger  and 
prompt  action  saved  the  expedition  from  disaster.  In 
1874  Sir  Samuel  Baker  purchased  an  estate  near  New. 
ton  Abbot,  South  Devon,  where  he  died  in  1893,  and 
where  Lady  Baker  lived  until  her  death  on  Saturday 
last,   March   11. 

Sir  John  Wolfe  Barry  has  been  elected  an  honorary 
member  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers. 

Dr.  Th.  Hesselberg  informs  us  that  since  the  be- 
ginning of  this  year  he  has  taken  up  his  functions  as 
director  of  I'lnstitut  meteorologique  de  Norvege,  Kris- 
tiania. 

The  Institute  of  Industry,  Ltd.,  has  arranged  a  con- 
ference of  representative  trade  interests  to  be  held  at 
the  Savoy  Hotel  on  Thursday,  March  30,  to  discuss 
"The  Creation  of  a  National  Organisation  adequately 
representing  British   Industrial   Interests." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh, 
held  on  March  6,  the  following  candidates  were 
elected  Fellows  of  the  Society  :—Df.  R.  J.  T.  Bell, 
Dr.  F.  E.  Bradley,  Mr.  H.  Briggs,  Mr.  C.  T.  Clough, 
Dr.  E>  J.  Crombie,  Mr.  E.  H.  Cunningham  Craig, 
Dr.  A.  W.  Gibb,  the  Hon.  Lord  Guthrie,  Prof.  P.  T. 
Herring,  Sir  Duncan  A.  Johnston,  Mr.  H.  Levy, 
Dr.  J.  E.  Mackenzie,  Dr.  W.  F.  P.  M'Lintock,  Prof. 
R.  Muir,  Dr.  J.  Ritchie,  Mr.  D.  Ronald,  the  Hon. 
Lord  E.  T.  Salvesen,  Mr.  D.  R.  Steuart,  Mr.  J. 
Martin  White. 

Many  in  England  will  receive  with  great  regret  the 
news  which  has  reached  us  that  Prof.  Oswald  Kiilpe 
died  in  Munich  on  December  30,  1915,  at  the  age  of 
fifty-three.  He  was  well  known  to  students  in  this 
country  for  his  original  work  in  psychology  and 
philosophy.  He  was  associated  with  Prof.  Wundt  in 
the  foundation  of  the  experimental  laboratories  at 
Wurzburg,  Bonn,  and  Munich.  One  of  his  recent 
works,  "Die  Philosophic  der  Gegenwart,"  has  been 
translated  into  English  and  published  under  the  title, 
"Present  Philosophy  in  Germany."  He  visited  this 
country  in  Maj',  1914,  on  the  invitation  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  London,  and  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on 
aesthetics  at  Bedford  College. 


March  i6,  1916] 


NATURE 


63 


The  retirement  of  Dr.  Theodore  Thomson,  C.M.G., 
from  the  post  of  assistant  medical  officer  of  the  Local 
Government  Board  about  three  years  ago,  and  his 
recent  death  at  the  age  of  fifty-nine,  deprived  that 
Board  of  an  extremely  able  public  servant.  Prior  to 
his  appointment  as  a  medical  inspector  of  the  Board, 
Dr.  Thomson  had  held  the  post  in  succession  of  medi- 
cal officer  of  health  of  Sheffield  and  Aberdeen,  and  in 
these  positions  had  shown  the  high  qualit}-  of  work 
which  characterised  his  later  work  in  a  Government 
Department.  His  name  will  always  be  associated  with 
important  reports  on  two  of  the  largest  epidemics  of 
enteric  fever,  due  to  water-borne  infection,  which  have 
occurred  in  this  country,  at  Maidstone  and  Worthing 
respectively.  These  reports  are  a  model  of  precise 
statements  of  results,  as  well  as  of  methods  of  inves- 
tigation. In  the  important  international  work  of  the 
Local  Government  Board,  Dr.  Thomson  for  many 
years  took  a  chief  part,  and  he  was  the  British  dele- 
gate in  1903  to  the  International  Sanitary  Conference 
of  Paris,  and  signed  the  International  Sanitarj-  Con- 
vention as  the  Plenipotentiar\-  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment. For  this  work  and  his  special  mission  of  in- 
quir\-  into  the  sanitary  defence  of  the  Persian  Gulf  he 
was  nominated  a  C.M.G.  in  1905. 

In  a  lecture  recently  delivered  before  the  Hyderabad 
(Deccan)  Archaeological  Society,  Sir  John  Marshall, 
Director-General  of  Archaeologj-  in  India,  directed 
attention  to  the  importance  of  the  Deccan  as  a  field  for 
inquiry.  The  points  on  which  investigations  in  this 
region  may  be  expected  to  throw  light  are  :  the  date 
of  the  interments  usually  supposed  to  be  prehistoric, 
but  probably  of  a  later  age ;  whether  the  copper  culture 
of  northern  India  extended  south  of  the  Vindhyan 
range,  and  whence  the  use  of  iron  was  introduced. 
Recently  a  rock  inscription  of  Asoka  has  been  dis- 
covered at  Maski,  unique  inasmuch  as  it  refers  to  the 
Emperor  under  his  own  name,  these  edicts  of  Asoka 
being  the  earliest  records  we  possess  in  India,  except 
one  bearing  an  Aramaic  inscription  recently  found  at 
Taxila.  He  went  on  to  refer  to  the  number  of  cave 
temples  and  monasteries,  the  paintings  in  the  Ajanta 
and  Ellora  caves,  and  the  splendid  series  of  Saracenic 
buildings  scattered  over  the  region.  The  new  society 
has  a  great  work  before  it,  and  under  the  skilful 
supervision  of  Sir  John  Marshall  important  results 
bearing  on  the  ethnography  and  history  of  southern 
India  may  be  confidently  expected. 

In  an  article  in  the  Daily  Telegraph  of  February'  29 
Sir  Robert  Hadfield  points  out  that  most  of  the  dis- 
coveries which  have  proved  of  industrial  importance 
have  not  emanated  from  Grermany.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  the  countrj-  in  which  the  discovery 
is  made  does  not  of  necessity  reap  the  benefit  which 
accrues  from  its  commercial  exploitation.  When,  as 
in  Sir  Robert  Hadfield's  own  case,  the  discoverer  can 
foresee  the  industrial  possibilities,  and  is  able  to  put 
his  ideas  into  practice,  success  is  bound  to  follow.  He 
quotes  Mr.  C.  R.  Darling  as  lowing  that  none  of  the 
prominent  advances  in  connection  with  pyrometry  have 
originated  in  Germany;  but  here  again  the  important 
industry  which  has  arisen  in  this  countrj-  in  the  manu- 
facture of  pyrometers  is  due  to  the  skilled  scientific 
NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


men  who  have  seen  how  to  apply  new  principles  to 
the  production  of  useful  instruments.  All  the  evidence 
shows  that  our  future  commercial  success  depends 
upon  a  closer  alliance  between  science  and  industn'. 
No  scheme  to  achieve  this  end  can  be  complete  which 
does  not  foster  the  prosecution  of  laboratory-  research, 
and  thus  provide  the  seeds  from  which  industries  grow. 
Encouragement  and  financial  aid  should  be  given  to  all 
who  devote  themselves  to  research  ;  and  to  this  end  funds 
should  be  forthcoming,  either  from  private  sources  or 
the  Government,  or  from  both.  In  this  way  the 
laboratory  can  be  connected  with  the  workshop,  to 
the  great  advantage  of  both. 

The  Pioneer  Mail  of  February  5  contains  an  inter- 
esting account  of  the  presidential  address  delivered 
by  Dr.  H.  H.  Hayden  to  the  Mining  and  Geological 
Institute  of  India,  which  dealt  particularly  with 
problems  raised  by  the  \i-ar.  As  director  of  the 
Geological  Sur\-ey  of  India,  Dr.  Hayden  spoke  with 
the  authority-  of  an  exf>ert,  and  his  description  of 
the  German  metal  ring  and  its  vast  ramifications  was 
peculiarly  instructive.  He  explained  that  for  years 
past  Germany  had  been  gradually  acquiring  control, 
not  only  of  metals,  but  also  of  the  raw  materials  for 
their  production.  Her  activities  embraced  Europe, 
America,  Australia,  and  India.  In  Australia,  for  ex- 
ample, the  Zinc  Corporation  had  contracted  to  sell  to 
her  all  their  concentrates  until  the  year  1919;  Germany 
took  the  entire  wolfram  output  of  Burma,  and  the 
monazite  sands  of  Travancore  were  being  worked  bv 
German  firms,  the  production  of  thorium  nitrate  being 
so  regulated  that  the  gas-mantle  industry  was  com- 
pletely controlled.  Dr.  Hayden  then  turned  to  India's 
opportunities  of  developing  her  own  resources.  The 
wolfram  output  of  Burma  is  being  expanded ;  the 
tungsten  industry  has  been  taken  out  of  German 
hands,  and  a  new  British  industry-  has  been  estab- 
lished. Dr.  Hayden  suggests  that  it  would  pay  to 
make  ferro-tungsten  on  the  spot  if  the  electrical  method 
could  be  economically  introduced  into  Tavoz.  Dr. 
Fermor  has  shown  that  the  manufacture  of  ferro- 
manganese  may  be  regarded  as  a  sound  commercial 
proposition.  If,  then,  India  can  arrange  for  the  par- 
tiall}-  finished  product  to  be  exported  instead  of  the 
ores,  the  tungsten  and  manganese  industries  should 
be  assured  of  that  permanence  which  is  so  desirable. 
Dr.  Hayden  also  touched  on  the  question  of  the 
manufacture  of  coal-tar  dyes  and  the  glass  industry, 
especially  in  the  matter  of  the  supply  of  glass  bangles, 
which  latter  he  regards  very  hopefully. 

We  are  pleased  to  note  from  an  inaugural  address 
published  in  our  American  contemporar}-.  Science, 
that  there  has  been  formed  recently  in  the  city  of 
Rochester,  N.Y.,  an  "Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Applied  Optics."  The  event  is  one  which 
marks  the  growing  estimation  by  scientific  men,  and 
we  hope  also  by  the  community  at  large,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic  of  the  importance  of  the  subjeri 
of  applied  optics.  During  the  past  few  months  we 
have  several  times  directed  attention  in  these  columns 
to  the  governmental,  scientific,  and  popular  neglect' 
of  this  very  important  subject,  and  to  some  of  the 
consequences    of   its    neglect    ia  our   own    country    in 


64 


NATURE 


[March  i6,  1916 


connection  with  the  war.  It  has  been  shown  how  we, 
the  successors  of  Newton,  Young,  Herschel,  and  other 
leaders  in  the  early  development  of  the  science  of 
optics  and  its  applications,  have  allowed  our  German 
rivals  to  occupy  the  ground  during  the  last  twenty 
or  thirty  years.  Not  that  we  have  been  idle  during 
that  time,  but  that  our  efforts  have  not  been  com- 
mensurate with  the  ever-growing  importance  of  the 
subject.  For  instance,  we  have  anticipated  our  American 
cousins  in  this  very  matter,  for  we  have  had  since 
1902  a  scientific  society,  "The  Optical  Society,"  the 
work  of  which  completely  covers  the  ground  planned 
out  for  the  new  association  in  America.  Its  new 
president,  Mr.  W.  J.  Cheshire,  a  well-known  worker 
in  optics,  has  just  succeeded  the  retiring  president, 
Dr.  W.  Ettles,  a  well-known  ophthalmologist,  and ' 
its  list  of  past  presidents  includes  the  familiar  names 
of  Dr.  Silvanus  P.  Thompson  and  Dr.  R.  T.  Glaze- 
brook.  What  is  wanted  here  is  a  keener  appreciation 
by  the  scientific  and  general  public  of  the  importance 
of  the  work  to  be  done.  We  venture  to  hope  that 
the  action  of  our  American  colleagues  will  stimulate 
interest  here,  and  we  wish  the  new  association  a  suc- 
cessful career,  especially  as  from  the  inaugural  address 
in  our  contemporary  we  find  that  its  founders  are 
fully  alive  to  the  far-reaching  ramifications  of  applied 
optics. 

With  the  death  in  France  of  Mr.  Frank  Southgate 
a  unique  personality  in  the  world  of  bird-men  has 
passed  away.  As  a  landscape  painter  of  the  coast 
of  Norfolk  and  the  broads  (the  delicate  atmospheric 
effects  of  which  he  could  catch  in  a  magic  way),  he 
is  of  course  most  widely  known.  Here  we  are  only 
concerned  with  his  life  studies  of  birds,  although  his 
ability  to  paint  the  scenes  in  which  these  birds  live 
adds  greatly  to  the  beauty  of  his  pictures.  A  sports- 
man and  a  naturalist,  no  one  knew  better  than  he 
did  the  appearance,  the  movements,  and  the  attitudes 
of  those  marsh-,  shore-,  and  sea-birds  which  he  de- 
lighted to  study.  But  no  one  else  has  ever  been 
able  to  reproduce  them  In  pictures  so  successfully. 
Perfectly  able,  as  he  was,  to  draw  and  paint  a  de- 
tailed portrait  of  a  bird,  he  aimed  rather  at  showing^ 
us  exactly  what  the  birds  looked  like  at  a.  little  dis- 
tance in  their  natural  haunts.  Who  among  those 
who  are  familiar  with  the  east-country  books  which 
he  illustrated  has  not  delighted  In  "The  Fringe  of 
the  Shore,"  the  "Stricken  Mallard,"  and  "A  Corner 
in  Broadland,"  for  instance,  to  be  found  In  "Notes 
of  an  East-coast  Naturalist."  But  it  was  perhaps  in 
depicting-  birds  in  flight  that  his  gift  of  painting  live 
birds  was  most  remarkable.  "  Smack  putting  up 
Common  and  Velvet  Scoters,"  in  the  last-named  book, 
is  a  good  instance  of  his  powers.  No  subject  of  this 
kind  was  too  darmg  for  him  to  attempt,  or  too  diffi- 
cult to  surmount.  But  we  think  that  when  he 
painted  the  heron  dropping  down  to  alight  "In  the 
old  fen"  ("Wild  Life  in  East  Anglla  "),  he  probably 
reached  the  climax  in  this  kind  of  Illustration.  As 
we  look  at  the  picture  once  more  we  marvel  again 
at  any  artist  daring  to  make  the  attempt — and  at  his 
success. 

NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


The  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences  awards  each  year 
a  certain  number  of  prizes  to  authors  of  important 
contributions  to  science.  At  the  recent  annual  meeting 
of  the  academy,  the  president,  M.  Gaston  Darboux, 
gave  an  account  of  the  careers  of  men,  for  the  most 
part  young,  to  whom  these  prizes  had  been  awarded, 
but  who  have  fallen  in  the  service  of  their  country. 
M.  Marty  (Francoeur  prize),  killed  September  lo,  1914, 
at  the  battle  of  the  Meuse,  was  distinguished  by  his 
contributions  to  mathematics.  M,  R.  Marcelin  (Hughes 
prize),  killed  near  Verdun,  in  September,  1914.  His 
work  on  kinetic  physical  chemistry  was  remarkable, 
both  in  theoretical  treatment  and  on  the  experimental 
side.  M.  Marcel  Moulin  (Gaston  Plants  prize),  killed 
at  the  battle  of  the  Marne,  September  6,  19 14,  founded 
the  Institute  of  Chronometry  at  Besan^on.  M. 
VIguier  (Cahours  prize),  killed  at  Beaus^jour,  March 
5,  1915,  made  his  mark  in  the  field  of  organic  chem- 
istry. M.  Albert  de  Romeu  (Delesse  prize),  killed 
January  12,  1915,  at  Bucy-le-Long,  near  the  Aisne, 
was  the  author  of  noteworthy  petrographic  work.  M. 
Rene  Tronquoy  (Joseph  Labbe  prize),  wounded  and 
missing,  February  20,  1915,  was  proposed  for  the 
Cross  of  the  Legion  d'honneur,  and  was  well  known 
for  his  mineraloglcal  work.  M.  Blondel  (Saintour 
prize),  wounded  and  missing,  September  8,  19 14,  at 
Fere-Champenolse,  was  distinguished  for  his  work  on 
the  theory  of  tides.  M.  Georges  Lery  (Gustave  Roux 
prize),  killed  at  the  battle  of  the  Marne,  September  10, 
1914,  was  a  geometer  of  great  promise.  Lieut. -Col. 
Arnaud  (Henri  Becquerel  prize),  aged  sixty  years, 
died  of  Illness  contracted  on  active  service.  M.  Jean 
Merlin  (Becquerel  prize),  on  the  staff  of  Lyons  Ob- 
servatory, killed  at  Arrozel,  August  29,  1914.  He  was 
known  by  his  researches  dealing  with  the  theory  of 
numbers.  M.  Rabloulle  (Becquerel  prize),  on  the  staff 
j  of  the  Algiers  Observatory,  killed  in  the  battle  of  the 
I  Aisne,  September  21,  19 14.  M.  Jean  Chatlnay  (Fanny 
Emden  prize),  killed  at  Vermelles,  October  15,  1914. 
Commandant  Henri  Batailler  (Wilde  prize),  killed 
June  9,  19 15,  well  known  for  his  researches  In  ballis- 
tics. 

It  Is  announced  In  the  Morning  Post  that  Mr.  Knud 
Rasmussen,  the  Danish  Arctic  explorer,  is  planning  a 
new  expedition  to  northern  Greenland.  Mr.  Ras- 
mussen's  previous  work  In  Greenland  is  well  known. 
In  1902  he  took  part  in  the  Danish  Llterarj'  Expedi- 
tion with  Mylius  Ericksen,  and  in  1908-9  he  explored 
from  Cape  York  to  EUesmere  Land.  His  work  has 
been  mainly  ethnographical,  a  task  for  which  Mr. 
Rasmussen  is  well  suited,  as  he  spent  all  his  boyhood 
In  Greenland,  and  speaks  the  Eskimo  tongue  with 
fluency.  In  his  "  People  of  the  Polar  North  "  he  made 
an  exhaustive  study  of  the  polar  Eskimo  from  Cape 
York  to  Cape  Alexander,  and  probably  In  this  new 
expedition  he  means  to  continue  his  ethnographical 
studies.  It  is  proposed  that  the  expedition  should 
start  this  spring  to  explore  the  unknown  region  be- 
tween Peary  Land  and  Greenland,  or,  if  ice  prevents 
this,  the  expedition  will  first  work  around  Melville 
Bav.  In  1892  Peary,  reaching  the  east  coast  across 
the  inland  ice  of  Greenland,  discovered  Independence 


March  i6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


65 


Strait,  as  he  thought,  cutting  off  the  northern  part 
from  the  rest  of  Greenland.  That  northern  part,  pre- 
viously, in  1882,  visited  by  Lockwood,  of  Greely's 
expedition,  was  termed  Peary  Land,  but  the  late 
Mylius  Ericksen,  on  that  expedition  when  he  lost  his 
life,  discovered  that  the  Independence  Strait  of  Peary 
is  really  a  bay,  and  that  Pean,"  Land  is  joined  to 
■Greenland.  The  exploration  of  that  region  in  relation 
to  former  migration  of  Eskimo  to  the  east  of  Green- 
land promises  important  results. 

A  SUMMARY  of  the  weather  for  the  winter  season  is 
issued  by  the  Meteorological  Office  with  its  Weekly 
Weather  Report,  based  on  the  results  for  the  thirteen 
weeks  from  November  28,  1915,  to  February  26,  1916. 
The  winter  was  wet  in  all  parts  of  the  United  King- 
dom, the  greatest  excess  of  rain  occurring  in  the  south- 
east of  England,  where  the  fall  was  187  per  cent,  of 
the  average.  In  the  east  of  England  the  rainfall  was 
169  per  cent,  of  the  average,  and  in  the  Channel  Isles 
it  was  160  per  cent.  The  smallest  difference  from  the 
normal  was  118  per  cent,  of  the  average  in  the  west 
of  Scotland,  and  119  per  cent,  in  the  south  of  Ireland. 
The  rainfall  for  the  winter  was  greater  in  the  north 
and  east  of  Scotland  than  in  the  winter  of  1914-15, 
elsewhere  the  rains  were  less,  and  in  the  south-east  of 
England  the  rainfall  was  4-32  in.  less.  The  frequency 
of  rain  was  everywhere  greater  than  the  average,  the 
greatest  excess  in  the  number  of  rain-days  being 
18  in  the  south  of  Ireland  and  16  in  the 
south-east  and  south-west  of  England.  Tempera- 
ture for  the  period  was  in  excess  of  the  average  over 
the  entire  kingdom,  the  greatest  excess  occurring  in 
the  east  and  south-east  of  England  and  in  the  midland 
counties,  the  difference  from  the  mean  ranging  from 
3°  to  4°  F.  in  these  districts.  The  duration  of  bright 
sunshine  was  nowhere  very  different  from  the  normal, 
districts  with  an  excess  and  defect  being  about  equally 
balanced. 

In  the  March  number  of  Man  Mr.  Miller  Christy 
describes  a  strange  stone  object  found  in  an  interment 
of  the  Bronze  age  in  the  parish  of  Newport,  Essex. 
It  is  fashioned  from  a  block  of  rather  coarse,  reddish 
sandstone,  erratic  boulders  of  which  abound  in  the 
neighbourhood.  It  is  roughly  cylindrical  in  shape, 
with  flat  ends,  but  it  was  not  intended  to 
be  stood  on  end.  The  most  remarkable  feature 
is  that  its  sides  are  traversed  longitudinally 
by  five  shallow,  narrow,  round-bottomed,  equi- 
distant grooves,  which  divide  in  transverse  section 
into  five  approximately  equal  rounded  lobes.  At  pre- 
sent the  object  of  this  curious  specimen  is  a  puzzle. 
it  was  not  a  pounder  or  muller.  One  authority  sug- 
gests that  it  was  the  head  of  a  club  lashed  to  a 
handle;  another,  that  it  was  used  as  a  roller  for 
y braying"  flax.  Mr.  Reginald  Smith  was  struck  by 
its  resemblance  to  an  Eg}^ptian  pillar,  derived  from  the 
bud  of  the  lotus.  If  it  is  really  a  product  of  the 
Bronze  age,  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  its  transfer 
from  Egypt  to  Essex.  The  specimen  is  now  in  the 
museum  at  Saffron  Walden,  and  it  may  be  hoped  that 
Mr.  Christy's  article  will  lead  to  a  further  examination 
of  this  remarkable  specimen,  which  may  disclose  the 
object  for  which  it  was  carved. 
NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


From  the  report  of  Mr.  T.  Southwell  in  the  Journal 
of  Agriculture  of  Bihar  and  Orissa  for  1915,  which  has' 
just  reached  us,  it  is  plain  that  the  newly-formed 
Fishery  Department  of  Bengal,  Bihar,  and  Orissa  has 
a  strenuous  future  before  it,  if  a  reign  of  plenty  is  to 
replace  the  present  shortage  of  fish.  This  state  of 
affairs  is  due  to  the  lack  of  intelligent  control,  and  is 
all  the  more  serious  since  rice  and  fish  are  the  prin- 
cipal food-stuffs  of  the  population  of  these  areas.  But 
the  Government  is  taking  up  the  task  of  reformation 
with  its  hands  tied,  for  the  fishery  rights  belong  to 
zamindars,  who  take  no  interest  in  the  matter,  but 
lease  their  fisheries  for  a  nominal  sum,  the  lessee  re- 
leases at  a  large  profit,  and  this  process  goes  on 
through  yet  further  stages,  .\part  from  this,  in  the 
Bengal  area  immense  numbers  of  eggs  and  young  fish 
are  washed  by  the  floods  into  the  paddy-fields  and 
destroyed,  while  a  further  extensive  mortality  is  caused 
by  the  ascent  of  brackish  water.  But  Mr.  Southwell  seems 
to  hold  out  little  hope  of  material  improvement  until 
the  staff  of  the  newly-established  Board  is  increased. 
At  present  there  are  but  three  officers  to  control  an 
area  "one  and  a  half  times  larger  than  that  of  the 
whole  of  the  British  Isles." 

The  hereditary  transmission  of  degeneracy  and  de- 
formities by  the  descendants  of  alcoholised  guinea-pigs 
has  formed  the  subject  of  a  long  series  of  experiments 
by  Profs.  C.  Stockard  and  G.  Papinicolaou.  They 
contribute  a  ver\-  welcome  analysis  of  their  results 
so  far  obtained  to  the  American  Naturalist  for  Febru- 
ary. Their  experiments  show  that  alcoholic  fumes, 
drawn  directly  into  the  lungs  and  absorbed  by  the 
blood,  are  infinitely  more  harmful  to  the  offspring  than 
is  alcohol  taken  into  the  system  in  the  form  of  drink. 
•Alcoholic  fumes  made  the  animals  drowsy,  or  quarrel- 
some, according  to  their  individual  temperament,  but 
they  produced  no  other  evil  effects  during  the  lifetime 
of  the  animal,  nor  could  any  injury  to  the  tissues  be 
traced  after  death.  This  is  notoriously  ^otherwise 
where  men  who  have  been  "hard  drinkers"  are  con- 
cerned. Guinea-pigs  kept  in  an  almost  continuous 
state  of  intoxication  during  the  reproductive  period  in- 
variably produce  defective  offspring,  of  which  very  few- 
arrive  at  maturity.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  alcohol 
is  withheld  from  them,  the  offspring  of  such  defectives 
are  still  more  defective.  All  are  weak  and  neurotic, 
some  are  grossly  deformed,  many  are  anophthalmic 
monsters.  Physical  wrecks  of  this  sort  continued  to 
appear  for  three  generations,  when  sterility  seems  to 
have  extinguished  further  examples.  Attempts  to 
administer  alcohol  in  the  form  of  drink,  by  means  of 
a  tube,  or  mixed  with  the  food,  had  to  be  abandoned 
owing  to  digestive  and  other  troubles  which  vitiated 
the  experiments.  But  before  the  authors  can  claim  to 
have  demonstrated  the  destructive  effects  of  alcohol 
fumes  on  the  germ-plasm,  experiments  with  non- 
alcoholic fumes  must  be  tried. 

A  SELECTED  bibliography  of  frost  in  the  United 
States,  especially  in  relation  to  agriculture,  has  been 
published  as  a  pamphlet  by  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture.  It  originally  appeared  in  the 
pages  of  the  Monthly  Weather  Review  (vol.  xliii., 
pp.  512-517).     The  authors,  Messrs.  W.  G.   Reed  and 


66 


NATURE 


[March  i6,   191 6 


C.  L.  Feldkainp,  have  selected  their  entries  from  all 
the  material  on  frost  and  frost  prevention  under 
American  conditions  that  have  come  to  their  attention, 
but  disclaim  any  exhaustiveness  for  their  list.  A 
brief  indication  of  the  scope  follows  each  entry.  The 
arrang^ement  is  chronological  and  there  is  an  index 
arranged  according  to  States.  The  paper  should  prove 
useful  to  agriculturists. 

The  Geographical  Review  is  the  new  title  under 
which  the  Bulletin  of  the  American  Geographical 
Society  appears  this  year.  An  introductory  note  out- 
lines the  scheme  of  the  remodelled  publication.  It  is 
hoped  to  broaden  the  range  of  the  articles  and  to  give 
the  notes  and  reviews  a  more  critical  and  scholarly 
qualit)-.  A  special  feature  is  to  be  made  of  the  biblio- 
graphical section,  which,  in  addition  to  the  record  of 
books  and  maps,  will  contain  an  analysis  of  all  the 
principal  geographical  publications  and  those  bearing 
on  geography.  The  classification  adopted  is  a  regional 
one,  and  is  illustrated  in  a  sketch  map  in  the  January 
issue.  If  the  high  standard  aimed  at  is  maintained 
the  Geographical  Review  should  rank  among  the  most 
useful  geographical  publications  and  be  of  great  assist- 
ance in  the  study  of  the  subject.  The  January  num- 
ber (vol.  i.,  No.  i),  in  addition  to  several  shorter 
articles,  notes,  and  bibliography,  contains  a  lengthy 
paper  by  Mr.  C.  A.  Cotton  on  fault  coasts,  with 
special  reference  to  New  Zealand. 

An  investigation  of  the  world's  coal  resources  was 
undertaken  by  the  twelfth  International  Geological 
Congress,  held  in  Canada  in  the  summer  of  1912,  with 
the  view  of  estimating  the  tonnage  available  in  known 
fields.  In  October  last  the  American  Geographical 
Society  published  in  its  Bulletin  (vol.  xlvii.,  No.  10) 
a  summary  of  the  results,  which  have  been  embodied 
in  eoftcnso  in  a  monograph  of  three  volumes  published 
by  Morang  and  Co.,  Toronto,  1913.  The  author  of 
this  summary,  Mr.  Leon  Dominian,  finds  that  on 
the  basis  of  the  present  annual  consumption  of  1300 
million  tons,  the  world's  coal  supply  is  provided  for 
centuries. 

Bulletin  254  of  the  Scientific  Papers  of  the  Bureau 
of  Standards  (Washington  :  Government  Printing 
Office,  1915)  contains  a  stud}'  of  the  qualities  of 
platinum  goods,  by  Messrs.  George  K.  Burgess  and 
P.  D.  Sale.  The  object  of  the  investigations  was  in 
the  first  place  to  devise  a  simple  thermoelectric  test 
of  the  puritv  of  platinum,  for  which  purpose  the  tem- 
perature-coefficient of  resistance  and  the  thermoelectric 
force  were  found  useful ;  in  the  second  place,  to  inves- 
tigate the  loss  of  weight  due  to  disintegration  when 
platinum  vessels  containing  various  proportions  of 
other  metallic  constituents  are  heated. 

In  a  series  of  articles  in  the  February  numbers  of 
the  Electrician,  Mr.  W.  R.  Cooper  has  given  an 
account  of  the  properties  of  selenium  which  will  prove 
of  great  value  to  all  those  who  have  in  view  the  tech- 
nical applications  of  the  sensitiveness  to  light  which 
the  material  exhibits.  Up  to  the  appearance  of  these 
articles   it   has   been    necessary   to    collect   information 

NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


on  the  subject  from  the  pages  of  scientific  journals 
published  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  Mr.  Cooper's 
articles  now  provide  the  information  in  a  convenient 
and  readable  form.  After  an  account  of  the  various 
forms  of  selenium  and  the  modes  of  preparation,  their 
sensitiveness  to  light  in  general  aryd  to  variations  of 
the  wave-length  of  the  light  are  discussed.  Although 
a  satisfactory  general  theory  has  not  yet  been  evolved 
from  the  experimental  facts  now  available,  there  is 
sufficient  information  about  the  behaviour  of  the  mate- 
rial to  make  it  likely  that  its  properties  will  before 
long  find  for  it  some  more  extensive  application  than 
at  present,  when  it  is  mainly  restricted  to  the  auto- 
matic lighting  of  isolated  buoys  at  sea. 

We  congratulate  the  Athenaeum  on  the  promptitude 
with  which  it  has  been  able  to  publish  its  subject-index 
to  the  Periodical,  Scientific,  and  Technological  Litera- 
ture for  1915.  The  publication  of  this  list  within  six 
weeks  of  the  close  of  the  year  indexed  is  a  remarkable 
feat.  The  list  is  by  no  means  intended  to  be  a  com- 
plete index  to  all  branches  of  scientific  literature,  but 
has  special  reference  to  the  war  in  its  technological 
aspects.  Indeed,  a  complete  list  of  the  scientific  papers 
published  throughout  the  world  in  1915  would  probably 
contain  40,000  names  of  authors,  whereas  in  the 
Athenaeum  list  we  have  rather  fewer  than  2000  names 
quoted.  The  subject-index  is  arranged  alphabetically. 
The  following  examples  of  the  headings  for  some  of 
the  longer  sections  will  give  an  idea  of  the  character 
of  the  subjects  selected  for  indexing  :—"  Aeronautics," 
"Agriculture,"  "Artillery,"  "Automobiles,"  "Birds," 
"Coal,"  "  Electric  Apparatus,"  "Explosives,"  "Fores- 
try," "Gas  and  Oil  Engines,"  "Geology,"  "Mines," 
"Railways,"  "Roads,"  "Submarines,"  "Telegraphs," 
"Telephones,"  "Warships,"  and  "X-Rays."  The 
articles  indexed  are  taken  from  215  periodicals,  which 
are  mainly  British,  although  thirty  American  and 
seven  French  periodicals  are  included,  as  well  as  about 
ten  other  foreign  journals. 

Engineering  for  March  10  contains  the  last  of  a 
series  of  articles  on  the  w'hirling  speeds  of  loaded 
shafts ;  these  articles  describe  an  investigation  which 
has  been  made  at  the  Royal  Technical  College,  Glas- 
gow, by  Mr.  W.  Kerr.  Tests  on  a  250-kw.  turbine, 
and  on  a  3-h.p.  de  Laval  turbine,  showed  some  dis- 
agreement with  the  usual  theory,  and  led  the  author 
to  investigate  the  matter  mathematically.  It  appears 
that  there  is  both  experimental  and  theoretical  evidence 
of  the  existence  of  a  critical  speed  for  loaded  horizontal 
shafts  which  is  considerably  below  that  given  by  the 
usual  theory.  This  new  critical  sf>eed  is  due  in  the 
first  instance  to  the  direct  effect  of  gravity,  which  has 
been  hitherto  neglected  in  the  theory-.  The  lower 
critical  speed  seems  to  be  less  important  than  the 
higher,  when  it  is  merely  a  question  of  running  through 
in  the  process  of  speeding  up.  Also,  it  is  of  little  im- 
portance if  the  loads  on  the  shaft  are  ven,-  light.  In 
those  cases  in  which  it  is  shown  clearly,  it  is  probably 
due  to  inaccurate  balancing.  In  general,  there  will  be 
an  undesirable  instability  at  all  speeds  between  the  two 
critical  values,  and  it  would  be  best  to  keep  the  normal 
running  speed  outside  this  range. 


March  i6,   191 6] 


NATURE 


67 


Messrs.  John  Wheldon  and  Co.,  38  Great  Queen 
:>:reet,  Kingsway,  W.C.,  have  just  issued  a  catalogue 
of  important  books  and  papers  on  cryptogamic  botany 
they  are  oflfering  for  sale.  The  works  are  arranged 
conveniently  under  three  main  divisions — economic, 
geographical,  and  general — each  of  which  is  subdivided 
to  facilitate  search  for  works  on  any  particular  sub- 
jects embraced  by  the  catalogue. 

OVR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Comet  1916a  (Neljmin). — Copenhagen  Postcards 
Nos.  13  and  14  give  orbits  and  ephemerides  for  this 
comet  calculated  by  M.  J.  Fischer-Petersen  and  Mile. 
J.  M.  Vinter-Hansen.  The  earlier  orbit  is  based  on 
observations  made  at  Yerkes  (Februan,-  29),  Green- 
wich (March  i),  and  at  Bamberg  on  March  3.  The 
second,  given  below,  depends  on  the  Yerkes  and  Bam- 
berg positions,  and  observations  made  at  Bergedorf 
on  .March  5  : — 

Perihelion  Passage  (T),    1916,   March.  9-417   G.M.T. 
a>  =191'     9'  87"! 
^1=325°  24'  io"li9i6-o 

z  =  16"    r  48"; 

log  g  =01 9036 

R.A.  Dec.  R.A.  Dec. 

n.   m.   s.        „         ,  h.    m.    s.        . 

-March  15  9  5  414-5  58-2  March  21  9  10  56  +  3  in 
17         7  17     5     i"2  23         12  57     2  i8-i 

19        92454  25         15     6     I  267 

The  orbit  is  apparently  periodic  in  short  period. 
The   comet  is    fainter    than    ii-o   mag. 

Co.met  19156  (T.WLOR).— A  new  orbit  and  ephemeris 
for  this  comet  has  been  calculated  by  M.  J.  Braae 
from  observations  made  at  Rome,  December  5,  1915, 
at  Arcetri  and  Copenhagen,  Januar^•  11,  1916,  and  at 
Bamberg  and  Copenhagen  on  February-  20.  The  new 
orbit  only  differs  slightlv  from  the  earlier  elliptical 
orbit  (Nature,  January  20)  : — 

Perihelion  Passage  {T)^i^i6,  January  30-9122  G.M.T. 

Epoch  1916  Jan.  05  G.M.T.  Equinox  1916-0 

-^lo    =355°  17'  34'6"  (0  =354'  47'  54-9" 

M     =557";i9i  a  =113   53    57-6 

Log  0=0536002  /•  =   x5   31    510 

U    =232595  days  (^  =  33     7    33-9 
(6-37  years). 

.  The  comet  is  very  weak,  having  been  about  12  mag. 
on  February  20. 

From  Bergedorf,  Prof.  Schorr  has  reported  (Circular 
'Y'  503,  Astronomische  Nachrichten)  that  the  nucleus 
of  this  comet  has  divided  into  two  portions.  The 
nuclei  were  of  unequal  brightness,  about  magnitudes 
II  and  13.  Their  positions  were :— Distance,  14"; 
position  angle,  169°  and  ij"  and  25°,  on  Februarv  19 
and  29  respectively.  On  the  latter  date  the  following 
nucleus  was  the  weaker. 

According  to  a  note  in  the  current  number  of  the 
Observatory,  Prof.  E.  E.  Barnard  observed  the  double 
nucleus  on  Februar}'  9,  the  separation  being  10'. 

Variable  Stars  in  the  Vicinity  of  R  Coron^e 
AusTRALis.— This  region  is  under  careful  scrutiny,  not 
only  at  Hehvan,  but  also  at  the  Union  Observatory, 
Johannesburg.  In  Circular  No.  31  both  R  Coron'se 
and  the  nebula  are  stated  to  be  variable  over  a  wide 
l^nge.  The  observations  of  these  objects  are  to  be 
discussed  later.  Thirtv-three  new  variable  stars  have 
been  detected  in  the  region. 

A  Possible    Deflection    of    Light    by    a    Moving 
AlEDiLM.— Prof.      P.      Zeeman      has     published      {K. 
NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


Akademie  van  Wetenschapen,  vol.  xviii.,  pp.  71 1-5/* 
an  investigation  of  the  propagation  of  light-waves 
along  a  velocity  gradient  in  a  moving  medium  speci- 
ally in  relation  to  solar  phenomena.  From  a  con- 
sideration of  the  Lorentz. dispersion  term  in  the  Fres- 
nel  coefficient,  it  is  demonstrated  that  the  simultaneous 
existence  of  velocity  gradients  and  anomalous  dis- 
persion in  gases  that  are  extremely  rare  {e.g.  the 
absorbing  vapours  giving  rise  to  the  finest  lines  in 
the  solar  spectrum),  and  without  density  gradients, 
may  give  rise  to  a  deflection  of  light. 


.1    TLNGSTEN   TARGET  FOR    X-RAY 
TUBES. ^ 

GREAT  advances  have  recently  been  made  in  the 
production  of  X-rays,  chiefly  by  the  employment 
of  very  heav\-  currents.  The  expKJSures  necessary  for 
producing  radiographs  of  the  thorax  have  been  reduced 
from  minutes  to   fractions  of  a   second. 

To  make  this  possible,  much  attention  has  been 
devoted  to  the  target  or  anti-kathode,  which  is  the 
critical  part  of  the  tube,  for  here  it  is  that  the  focus 
of  the  kathode  stream  strikes,  and  the  energy  of  the 
bombarding  electrons  is  transformed  into  X-radiation. 
The  early  English  tubes  were  furnished  with  sub- 
stantial targets  of  platinum,  but  in  the  later  foreign 
tubes  with  which  the  market  was  flooded  the  platinum 
was  often  reduced  to  a  sheet  of  very  thin  foil  laid 
upon  a  plate  of  nickel.  For  weak  currents,  and  with 
an  imperfectly  focused  kathode  stream,  this  plan 
answered  moderately  well,  but  if  heavy  currents  were 
used  the  heat  generated  at  the  focus  was  often  so 
great  that  the  platinum  skin  alloyed  with  the  nickel 

backing,  when 
fusion  and  de- 
struction of  the 
whole  apparatus 
followed  immedi- 
ately. 

This  is  well 
illustrated  by  the 
accompan  ying 
photograph 
of  such  a  fused 
target  which  ap- 
peared some  time 
ago  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Rontgen 
Society. 

Recently  atten- 
tion has  been 
directed  to  the 
exceptional  pro- 
perties of  pure  metallic  tungsten,  now  pro- 
duced in  quantity  for  the  manufacture  of  metal 
filament  lamps,  and  its  suitability  for  the  purpose  was 
at  once  recognised,  the  metal  having  a  fusing  f>oint  of 
about  3000°  C,  as  against  1750°  C.  for  platinum. 
Tungsten  is  also  very  tough,  and  does  not  readilv 
disintegrate  by  the  kathodic  discharge  (kathode  sput- 
tering) ;  its  atomic  weight,  180,  is  not  much  below 
that  of  platinum. 

The  British  Thomson-Houston  Company,  Ltd.,  has 
introduced  a  sf>ecial  target  of  this  metal  that  is  being 
largely  used  by  manufacturers  of  X-ray  tubes.  The 
tungsten  is  in  the  form  of  a  thick  button  brazed  into 
a  solid  block  of  copper,  in  some  cases  weighing  as 
much  as  half  a  pound ;  this  forms  a  lasting  and 
efficient   target,    even    when   heav\'   currents   are   used 

1  "  Quantitative  Meaiurements  of  the  Conversion  of  Kathode  Rays  into 
Rdntgen  Rays  by  Anti-kathodes  of  different  Metals."  By  J.  H.  Gardiner. 
Journal  of  the  Rdotgea  Society,  No.  24,  vol.  vi. 


Platinised  nickel  target  damagtdby  the  kathode 
focus. 


68 


NATURE 


[March  i6,   1916 


for  considerable  periods  of  time,  as  is  often  necessary 
when  using  X-rays  for  therapeutic  purposes. 

The  adaptation  of  tungsten  for  this  purpose  is  an 
example  of  the  great  value  that  lies  hidden  in  the 
rare  and  little-known  elements,  and  doubtless  other 
instances  of  a  similar  nature  will  develop  as  the  metals 
become  available.  ' 


OSMOTIC    PRESSURE     OR     OSMOTIC 
SUCTION? 

IT  has  often  been  assumed  that  van't  Hoff's  dis- 
covery, that  the  simple  gas-law,  PV  =  RT,  may 
be  applied  to  the  osmotic  pressures  of  dilute  solutions, 
justifies  the  view  that  osmotic  pressure  is  caused  by 
the  bombardment  of  a  semi-permeable  membrane  by 
the  molecules  of  the  solute,  just  as  gas-pressure  is 
caused  by  the  bombardment  of  the  containing  vessel 
by  rapidly  moving  gas-molecules.  A  recent  exposition 
of  this  view  by  Prof.  Ehrenfest,  in  the  Proceedings  of 
the  Amsterdam  Academy  (vol.  xvii.,  pp.  1241-1245), 
has  elicited  a  reply  from  Prof.  J.  J.  van  Laar  {ibid., 
vol.  xviii.,  pp.  184-190),  which  will  be  read  with 
very  great  interest  by  all  those  who  have  seen  in  the 
mechanism  of  osmosis  an  even  more  difficult  problem 
than  that  of  expressing  the  magnitude  of  the  osmotic 
pressure  by  means  of  a  mathematical  formula.  Prof, 
van  Laar's  reply  is  of  exceptional  value  in  that  it 
demonstrates  the  inadequacy  of  the  gas-analogy  from 
the  thermodynamic  point  of  view,  and  so  challenges 
the  simple  kinetic  theory  of  osmosis  on  what  has 
generally  been  supposed  to  be  its  strongest  ground. 

The  osmotic  pressure  may  be  expressed,  according 
to  Van  Laar,  by  the  equation, 

P  =  RT/T»,{-log(i-x)  +  ax'}, 

where  x  is  the  molecular  concentration  of  the  dissolved 
substance,  and  a  is  an  "  influencing  "  coefficient,  which 
expresses  the  consequences  of  the  interaction  of  the 
molecules  of  the  solvent  with  those  of  the  dissolved 
substance.  The  logarithmic  term  is  an  essential 
feature  of  the  thermodynamic  equation,  and  it  is  urged 
that  all  kinetic  theories  which  lead  to  expressions  with- 
out a  logarithmic  member  must  be  rejected. 

The  thermodynamic  equation,  it  is  true,  leads  to  an 
expression  for  dilute  solutions  which  is  identical  with 
that  of  van't  Hoff.  But  in  practice  it  is  found  that 
in  more  concentrated  solutions  deviations  appear  which 
are  much  smaller  than  those  for  non-ideal  gases.  We 
may  therefore  surmise  that  the  so-called  osmotic  pres- 
sure has  an  entirely  different  ground  from  that  sug- 
gested by  van't  Hotf's  application  of  the  gas-equation, 
and  that  there  is  here  no  close  relation  but  merely  an 
analogy. 

If  the  osmotic  pressure  were  actually  caused  by  the 
pressure  of  the  dissolved  substance,  as  Ehrenfest,  re- 
viving the  old  theory,  suggests,  the  pressure  of  the 
sugar  molecules  against  the  semi-permeable  membrane 
would,  in  van  Laar's  opinion,  cause  the  reverse  effect 
to  that  which  is  actually  observed.  No  water  would 
pass  from  the  pure  solvent  through  the  membrane 
into  the  solution,  giving  rise  to  a  hydrostatic  pressure 
in  the  osmometer;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  inward 
flow  of  water  would  be  checked,  since  the  pressure  in 
the  solution  would  from  the  outset  be  greater  than  in 
pure  water.  In  reality,  osmotic  pressure  is  caused  by 
the  water  which  penetrates  through  the  semi-permeable 
membrane,  giving  rise  to  a  hydrostatic  pressure  which 
prevents  the  further  intrusion  of  the  water.  This  ex- 
cess of  pressure  is  the  so-called  "osmotic  pressure"  of 
the  solution. 

Generally  speaking,  every  theory  which  seeks  to 
interpret  osmotic  pressure  kinetically  must  be  based 
on  the  diffusion  of  the  water  molecules  on   the  two 

NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


sides  of  the  membrane.  If  this  is  done,  the  logarithmic 
member  arises  of  its  own  accord,  and  finds  a  place  in 
the  equation,  whether  there  is  interaction  between  sol- 
vent or  solute  or  not,  i.e.  the  a-term  appears  quite 
independently  of  the  logarithmic  term.  In  van  Laar's 
opinion,  the  kinetic  interpretation  of  osmotic  pressure, 
which  is  always  reappearing  again  in  new  forms,  is 
moving,  and  has  moved,  in  a  wrong  direction,  and 
should  again  be  founded  on  the  simple  diffusion 
phenomenon.  T.  M.  L. 


POST-GRADUATE   SCHOLARSHIPS   AND 
FELLOWSHIPS. 

'X'HE  new  list  of  scholarships  and  fellowships  offered 
*■  by  the  Leeds  University  has  just  been  issued.  It 
includes  some  twelve  entrance  scholarships  in  arts, 
science,  medicine,  and  technology,  awarded  on  the 
results  of  the  matriculation  examination  of  the  Joint 
Matriculation  Board,  in  addition  to  a  certain  number 
(not  specified)  given  by  the  local  education  authority. 
There  are  also  twelve  Clothworkers'  free  studentships 
in  the  textile  department,  and  a  "  William  Cooke " 
scholarship  in  mining,  determined  by  special  examina- 
tion or  selection.  In  addition  to  the  above  are  a  num- 
ber of  senior  scholarships,  awarded  to  students  of 
special  merit  in  the  University,  by  the  University,  the 
Leeds  City  Council,  and  by  various  donors  who  have 
wished  to  perf>etuate  with  their  names  their  interest 
in  the  University.  Such  are  the  Leighton  exhibitions 
established  by  the  trustees  of  Mrs.  Isabel  Leighton,  of 
Leeds,  the  Salt  scholarship  given  by  .Sir  Titus  Salt, 
the  John  Rutson  scholarship,  and  the  Gilchrist  student- 
ship in  modern  languages.  The  list  of  post-graduate 
scholarships  and  fellowships  is  a  very  meagre  one. 
There  is  one  1851  exhibition  scholarship  of  150/. 
tenable  for  two  years,  and  a  number  of  1851  exhibition 
industrial  bursaries  of  looZ.,  both  awarded  by  the 
185 1  Exhibition  Commissioners,  the  first  in  science 
and  the  second  in  some  branch  of  technology.  There 
is,  further,  a  research  scholarship  in  colour  chemistry 
founded  by  the  Clothworkers,  and  a  scholarship  in  gas 
engineering  endowed  by  Sir  Corbet  Woodall.  There 
are  also  two  scholarships  in  the  faculty  of  medicine. 
A  limited  number  of  research  fellowships  are  also 
awarded  by  the  University  to  distinguished  gradual*  - 
there  is  one  in  connection  with  the  fuel  departni< 
in  gas  research  founded  by  the  Institute  of  G  :- 
Engineers,  and  one  in  colour  and  textile  chemistn.-. 

It  is  generally  recognised  by  university  teachers  thar 
the  year  or  years  immediately  following  graduation 
are  in  a  sense  the  critical  years  of  a  student's  career. 
In  science  more  especially  he  has  laid  up  a  fund  of 
knowledge  which  he  is  about  to  turn  to  practical 
account.  He  has  collected  a  store  of  potential  energy ; 
he  has  played  the  rdle  of  an  "accumulator"  during  his 
university  course,  and  his  energy  is  now  to  be  turned  to 
usefuLwork.  In  the  northern  universities  at  least  the 
graduate  has  to  earn  his  living,  and  whilst  he  is  on 
the  look-out  for  congenial,  as  well  as  remunerative, 
occupation  he  may  often  have  to  wait  for  many 
months.  It  is  at  this  critical  time  that  a  post-graduate 
scholarship,  sufficient  for  the  student  to  keep  himself 
and  release  his  parents  from  the  burden  of  further 
maintenance,  is  invaluable.  It  is  invaluable  not 
merelv  because  it  gives  him  time  to  look  round  and 
relieves  him  from  the  necessity  of  accepting  the  first 
vacancy  that  offers;  but  because  he  is  learning  in  that 
excellent  school  of  research  how  to  use  his  knowledge 
and  more  especially  how  to  depend  upon  himself. 

In  the  "Scheme  for  the  Organisation  and  Develop- 
ment of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  "  issued  by 
the  Board  of  Education  we  have  the  promise  of  a  large 
extension   of  post-graduate   research  studentships  and 


March  i6,  1916] 


NATURE 


09 


lellowships.  Although  there  may  be  cause  for  criti- 
cism of  the  method  of  administration  of  the  fund 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  committee  of  the  Privy 
Council,  there  is  no  doubt  that,  if  wisely  administered, 
it  will  have  very  far-reaching  results,  not  only  in 
developing  our  scientific  industries,  but  in  stimulating 
research  in  our  universities  and  levelling  up  the 
standard  of  scientific  attainment  among  the  whole 
bodv  of  our  science  students. 


IXSriTUTIOX  OF  MECHANICAL 
EXGIXEERS. 

THE  annual  report  of  the  council  of  the  Institution 
of  Mechanical  Engineers  for  the  year  1915  shows 

hat  the  fund  raised  in  conjunction  with  other  institutions 
lO  establish  a  memorial  to  the  late  Sir  \V.  H.  White, 
K.C.B.,  amounted  to  more  than  3000/.  After  provid- 
ing for  a  medallion  portrait,  to  be  placed  in  the  Insti- 
tution of  Civil  Engineers,  and  a  donation  to  the  West- 
minster Hospital,  the  bulk  of  the  fund,  together  with 

uiy    further    contributions,    is   being    devoted    to    the 

?tablishment  of  a  research  scholarship  in  naval  archi- 
tecture, to  be  administered  by  the  Institution  of  Naval 
Architects.  The  report  also  states  that  the  Thomas 
Hawksley  medal  for  1916  has  been  awarded  to  Prof. 
H.  L.  Callendar,  for  his  paper  "  On  the  Steady  Flow 
of  Steam  through  a  Nozzle  or  Throttle,"  and  pre- 
miums of  5/.  each  have  been  awarded  to  Prof,  A.  H. 
Gibson  and  Mr.  W.  J.  Walker,  for  their  paper  on 
The  Distribution  of  Heat  in  the  Cylinder  of  a  Gas 
Engine."  A  grant  of  15Z.  has  been  made  from  the 
Bryan  Donkin  Fund,  for  original  research  in  mechan- 
ical engineering,  to  Mr.  A.  H.  Barker,  in  aid  of  his 
research  at  University  College,  London,  "  to  investigate 
a  new  method  of  determining  the  radiant  temperature 
and  air  temperature  in  a  room."  The  balance  of  the 
third  triennial  award  has  been  devoted  to  aiding  the 
steam-nozzles  and  hardness  tests  researches  of  the 
institution. 

The  report  contains  particulars  of  the  work 
done  during  the  year  by  the  various  research 
•  ommittees      of      the     institution.       The      work      of 

iie  Alloys  Research  Committee,  on  the  alloys  of 
aluminium  with  zinc  and  copper,  has  been  continued 
at  the  National  Physical  Laboratory.  The  importance 
of  light  alloys  in  connection  with  aeronautics  has 
led  to  a  Government  grant  for  the  erection  and  work- 
ing of  an  experimental  rolling-mill  capable  of  dealing 
with  ingots  and  billets.  Further  progress  has  been 
made  with  other  branches  of  the  work,  including  the 
-:udy  of  the  constitution  of  the  alloys  and  the  "dis- 

iitegration "  research.  The  series  of  researches  re- 
lating to  the  double  carbides  of  iron,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Profs.  J.  O.  Arnold  and  A.  A.  Read,  has  been 
completed.  The  results  of  the  studies  on  the  carbides 
of  cobalt  and  of  molybdenum  have  been  embodied  in 
papers  on  "The  Chemical  and  Mechanical  Relations 
of  Iron,  Cobalt,  and  Carbon"  and  "The  Chemical 
and  Mechanical  Relations  of  Iron,  Molybdenum,  and 
Carbon,"  both  printed  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  In- 
stitution. A  report  was  also  submitted  by  Sir  Robert 
Hadfield  describing  the  effects  of  molybdenum  upon 
iron,  up  to  18  per  cent,  of  Mo.  The  Steam-Nozzles 
Research  Committee  has  held  three  meetings  and  is 
engaged  on  the  design  of  apparatus  for  conducting 
experiments  relating  to  the  action  of  steam  passing 
through  nozzles  and  steam-turbines.  The  British 
Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Company 
has  offered  to  lend  two  large  condensers  to  the  com- 
mittee, and  substantial  progress  has  been  made  with 
the  design  of  nozzle-testing  apparatus.  The  Hardness 
Tests  Research  Committee  has  been  considering  the 


NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


design  of  a  machine  to  determine  rate  of  wear  as  a 
measure  of  hardness.  An  existing  machine  at  the 
National  Physical  Laboratory  was  adapted  as  a  pre- 
liminary procedure,  but  the  results  obtained  from  this 
machine  and  modifications  thereof  have  not  yet  been 
satisfactory.  The  work  of  the  Refrigeration  Research 
Committee  has  been  suspended.  Prof.  C.  Frewen 
Jenkin,  the  reporter,  being  on  active  service. 

Interesting  particulars  ot  the  war  work  undertaken  by 
members  of  the  institution  are  contained  in  the  report. 
The  engineer  unit  of  the  Royal  Naval  Division,  which 
was  principally  recruited  from  the  members  of  the  In- 
stitutions of  the  Civil,  the  Mechanical,  and  the  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  was  on  active  service  in  Gallipoli. 
In  the  early  stages  of  the  war,  a  list  w^as  compiled 
of  the  engineering  and  other  qualifications  of  mem- 
bers desiring  to  obtain  commissions  in  the  Army,  and 
copies  were  forwarded  to  quarters  where  they  were 
likely  to  be  of  use.  The  names  of  selected  members 
have  been  put  forward  as  candidates  for  commissions 
in  the  12th  King's  Own  (Yorkshire  Light  Infantry), 
Pioneer  Companies,  the  Mechanical  Transport  branch 
of  the  Army  Service  Corps,  and  other  engineerings 
branches  of  the  Army.  Particulars  of  the  engineer- 
ing training  and  other  qualifications  of  ,159  members 
who  expressed  a  desire  to  undertake  engineering  work 
in  connection  with  the  war  have  been  forwarded  to 
the  Ministry  of  Munitions  and  other  Government 
departments  from  time  to  time  throughout  the  year. 
In  response  to  an  application  from  the  Ministry  of 
Munitions  for  the  nomination  of  engineers  for  em- 
ployment in  connection  with  contracts  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  munitions,  the  council  appointed  a  small  com- 
mittee to  select  possible  candidates.  The  qualifica- 
tions of  sixty-seven  members  and  others  were  con- 
sidered, and  the  names  of  twenty-seven  were  sub- 
mitted to  the  Ministry.  In  August  last  a  list  of , 
543  members  on  active  service  in  the  Army  was  com- 
piled for  transmission  to  the  War  Office.  During  the 
year  661  members  had  been  on  active  service.  Several 
designs  for  a  mechanical  bomb-thrower  have  been 
received  from  members  and  submitted  to  the  War 
Office.  Designs  have  also  been  submitted  of  appa- 
ratus for  destroying  barbed-wire  entanglements,  for 
clearing  mines  from  the  products  of  the  explosion  of 
the  mine,  and  for  non-slip  chains  for  rubber  tyres 
of  motor-wagons.  At  the  request  of  the  Director  of 
Fortifications  and  Worlcs,  a  list  was  compiled  of  the 
names  of  mechanical  engineers  with  whom  the  War 
Office  might  communicate  in  connection  with 
problems  arising  out.  of  the  war. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  ENGLISH  MEASURES  OF 
LENGTH.^ 

A  LTHOUGH  there  is  considerable  variety  in  the 
-^*-  measures  of  length  used  bv  the  different  nations 
of  the  world,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  are, 
for  the  most  part,  derived  from  a  common  origin, 
and  that  their  ancestors,  if  the  expression  may  be 
used,  existed  in  times  so  remote  that  the  date  of  their 
invention  has  been  completely  lost. 

For  the  sake  of  clearness,  it  is  convenient  to  divide 
the  measures  of  length  into  four  categories  which  are, 
to  a  certain  extent,  independent  of  one  another,  and 
may  be  defined  as  follows  : — 

(i)  The  shorter  measures  of  length,  used  for  build- 
ing and  manufacturfng  purposes,  of  which  the  more 
imoortant  in  ancient  times  were  the  cubit,  the  palm, 
and  the  digit,  or  finger  breadth,  and  the  English 
representatives  are  the  yard,   the  foot,   and  the  inch. 

1  Abridged  from  a  paper  in  the  Tournal  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts,, 
December  31,  1915,  by  Sir  Charles  M.  Watson.  K.C.M.G.,  C.B. 


70 


NATURE 


[March  i6,  1916 


(2)  The  shorter  measures  of  distance,  such  as  the  foot, 
the  yard,  and  the  pace.  (3)  The  longer  measures  of 
distance,  including-  the  stadium,  the  mile,  the  para- 
sang,  the  schoenos,  the  league,  the  hour's  march, 
and  the  day's  march.  (4)  .Measures  of  length  used  in 
connection  with  the  calculation  of  land  areas,  of  which 
the  English  representatives  are  the  perch,  the  chain, 
and  the  furlong. 

As  regards  the  first  of  these  classes  of  measures,  it 
is  generally  accepted  that  they  were,  from  the  earliest 
times,  based  on  the  proportions  of  the  human  body,  so 
that  every  man  had  his  own  scale  to  which  he  could 
work. 

The  palm  is  the  width  across  the  open  hand  at  the 
base  of  the  fingers ;  the  cubit  is  the  length  of  the  arm 
from  the  elbow  to  the  end  of  the  middle  finger;  and 
the  fathom  the  length  of  the  outstretched  arms. 
There  is  no  fixed  relationship  between  these  units. 

There  is  no  record  as  to  when  an  attempt  was  first 
made  to  combine  the  measures  in  a  standard  scale, 
but  it  was  probably  at  an  early  period,  as  it  must 
have  been  found  inconvenient  for  workers  on  the 
same  building,  for  example,  to  use  different  lengths 
of  palms  and  cubits,  and,  when  a  standard  was  fixed, 
it  may  have  been  some  such  scale  as  the  following  : — 

I  digit  =  07375  EngUsh  inch 
4  digits  =  I  palm  =   2-95  „        inches 

6  palms  =  I  cubit  =  1770  „  „ 

The  cubit  of  this  scale  may  be  called  the  "  cubit  of 
a  man,"  to  distinguish  it  from  other  cubits,  which 
will  be  described  hereafter. 

There  is  nothing  to  show  when  the  foot  was  added 
to  the  units  of  the  mechanic's  scale,  but  when  this  was 
done  it  was  assumed  to  be  equal  to  four  palms,  or 
two-thirds  of  a  cubit. 

The  third  class  of  measures  of  length  is  the  most 
'important,  and  the  history  of  these  is  of  particular 
interest,  as  they  appear  to  have  started  in  a  state  of 
perfection,  and  to  have  been  first  used  by  a  people 
who  possessed  a  high  degree  of  astronomical  and 
mathematical  knowledge,  who  were  acquainted  with 
the  form  of  the  earth,  and  were  able  to  carry  out 
geodetical  measurements.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  they  are  based  on  the  angular  division  of  the 
circle,  and  on  the  application  of  this  division  to 
terrestrial  measurements. 

The  unit  of  angular  measurement  is  the  angle  of 
an  equilateral  triangle,  and  this  angle  was  divided 
by  the  ancient  geometricians,  for  purposes  of  cal- 
culation, into  60°,  the  best  number  possible,  as 
60  =  3x4x5.  Following  the  same  principle,  each 
degree  was  divided  into  60  minutes,  and  each  minute 
into  60  seconds.  As  the  circle  contains  six  times  the 
angle  of  an  equilateral  triangle  the  circle  was  divided 
into  360°.  Thjs  division  of  the  circle,  although  so 
ancient  that  its  origin  is  unknown,  has  never  been 
improved  upon,  and  is  still  in  use  by  all  nations. 
An  attempt  on  the  part  of  certain  French  mathe- 
maticians to  substitute  a  division  of  the  circle  into 
400°,  on  account  of  the  supposed  advantages  of  the 
decimal  system,  has  proved  a  failure. 
■  The  manner  in  which  the  division  of  the  circle  into 
360°  was  used  by  the  ancients  to  determine  the  unit  for 
terrestrial  measures  of  distance  was  as  follows.  If  a 
circle  be  described  cutting  the  equator  of  the  earth  at 
right  angles,  and  passing  through  the  north  and  south 
]X)les.  its  circumference  in  angular  measurement  is 
equal  to  :^6o°  x  60' =  2 1.600',  and  the  length  of  i  minute, 
measured  on  the  surface  of  the  globe,  was  taken  as 
the  unit,  which  is  called  a  geographical  mile  at  the 
present  time.  If  the  earth  was  a  perfect  sphere,  every 
geojrraphical  mile  would  be  of  the  same  length,  but, 
as  the  polar  diameter  is  less  than  the  equatorial 
diameter  in  the  proportion  of  7900  to  7926,  the  length 

NO.    2420,   VOL.    97] 


of  the  geographical  mile,  measured  on  the  meridian, 
is  not  the  same  in  all  latitudes,  but  increases  in  length 
from  6046  English  feet  at  the  equator  to  6108  English 
feet  at  the  poles.  Whether  the  ancient  astronomers 
were  acquainted  with  this  irregularity  in  the  figure 
of  the  earth  it  is  not  possible  to  say,  "but  it  is  certain 
that  the  value  at  which  they  fixed  it  must  have  been 
close  to  the  actual  mean  value  as  determined  by 
modern  astronomers,  which  may  be  taken  as  about 
6075  English  feet.  The  Greek  stadion  (the  same  as 
the  Roman  stadium),  which  was  one-tenth  of  the 
geographical  mile,  was  600  Greek  feet  In  length,  and 
the  Greek  foot  was  about  I2'i5  of  our  present  English 
inches. 

The  next  step  taken  appears  to  have  been  with  the 
view  of  assimilating  the  subdivisions  of  the  geo- 
graphical mile  with  the  cubit,  and  it  was  not  easy 
to  do  this,  as  the  cubit  of  a  man  has  no  necessary 
connection  with  a  geographical  mile.  The  diflficulty 
appears  to  have  been  solved  by  the  invention  of  two 
new  cubits,  of  which  the  smaller  was  very  nearly 
equal  to  the  cubit  of  a  man,  and  was  contained  4000 
times  in  the  geographical  mile.  This,  for  the  sake 
of  distinction,  may  be  called  the  geographical  cubit. 
The  second  cubit,  afterwards  known  as  the  Babylonian 
Royal  cubit,  was  longer,  and  was  contained  3600  times 
in  the  geographical  mile.  According  to  Herodotus, 
this  second  cubit  was  three  digits  longer  than  the 
other  cubit.  On  these  two  cubits  there  appear  to  have 
been  based  two  different  divisions  of  the  geographical 
mile,  one  in  accordance  with  a  decimal,  and  the  other 
with  a  sexagesimal  system  of  calculation,  but  there 
is,  so  far  as  I  know,  no  ancient  record  of  these  scales, 
and  the  following  attempt  to  compose  them  is  founded 
on  Inferences,  drawn  from  the  Babylonian,  Greek,  and 
Roman  measures,  all  of  which,  there  can  be  little 
doubt,  came  from  the  same  origin. 

The  first  based  on  the  geographical  cubit,  which 
was  rather  longer  than  the  average  cubit  of  a  man, 
Is  as  follows  :— 

I  digit  =  0729  English  inch 

25  digits  =  I  geographical  cubit  =18-225  „  inches 
100      „         =  I  fathom  =  6075        ,,       feet 

100  fathoms  =  I  stadion  =  607*5       „  ,, 

10  stadia     =  i  geographical  mile  =    6075        ,,  „ 

The  second,  or  sexagesimal  scale,  based  on  the 
Babylonian  Royal  cubit,  appears  to  have  been  as 
follows  : — - 

I  digit  =     o  723  English  inch 

28  digits    =  I  Royal  cubit  =   20*25  >>        inches 

60  cubits   =  I  plethron  =ior25  „        feet 

60  plethra=  I  geographical  mile  =     6075  ,,         ,, 

The  ancient  Egyptian  measures  of  length,  although 
evidently  derived  from  the  same  origin  as  the  Baby- 
lonian, differ  from  these  In  some  respects.  The  most 
important  smaller  unit  was  a  cubit  usually  known  as 
the  Egyptian  Royal  cubit,  which  was  divided  into 
seven  palms,  each  palm  of  four  digits.  The  approxi- 
mate length  of  the  Egyptian  Royal  cubit  Is  well 
known,  as  a  number  of  cubit  scales  have  been  found 
which  give  a  mean  length  of  20-65  English  inches,  and 
an  examination  of  the  monuments  of  Egvpt  shows 
that  this  cubit  was  used  for  building  purposes  from 
ancient  times. 

It  Is  matter  of  controversy  from  whence  the  Greeks 
derived  their  measures  of  length,  whether  from  Egypt 
or  Babylonia ;  but  the  latter  appears  more  probable, 
as  their  principal  measure  of  distance,  the  stadion, 
was  equal  to  one-tenth  of  a  geoq-raphical  mile  of  6075 
English  feet,  and  this  was  divided  Into  6  plethra,  each 
of  100  Greek  feet.  The  Greek  scale  appears  to  have 
been  as  follows  : — 


March  i6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


71 


I  Greek  foot 
1 5  Greek  ft.  =  i  cubit 


=    I2*i  5  English  inches 
=    18225        „         „ 
feet 


=    0729 

English  inch 

=    0972 

"           " 

=     2916 

„        inch< 

=   1 1  •664 

11            it 

=  17496 

yj                »> 

=     4-86 

feet 

=  6075 

n               )» 

=  4860 

»               J' 

10       „       1,  =1  reed  =    10125 

10  reeds         =  i  plethron  =101  25  „        „ 

6plethra     =istadion  =60750         „        „ 

10  stadia       =1  geographical  mile  =  607  5  „        „ 

There  was  another  foot  used  in  Greece,  of  which 
Petrie  gives  a  number  of  Instances,  derived  from  old 
buildings,  varying  from  11-4^  to  11-74,  ^vith  a  mean 
value  of  1 160  English  inches.  This  would  appear  to 
be  a  foot  of  16  digits,  used  for  building  and  manufac- 
tures, but  not  connected  with  measures  of  distance. 

The  Roman  system  of  measures  was  based  on  the 

Greek,  but  while  adopting  the  stadion — called  by  them 

stadium — as  the  fundamental  measure  of  distance,  they 

used  the  shorter  Greek  foot,  and  introduced  another 

measure,  the  double  pace.     They  also  made  the  land 

mile  to  consist  of  8  instead  of  10  stadia,  while  retaining- 

the   geographical    mile   of    10    stadia    for   use   at   sea. 

As  they  had  an  affection  for  a  duodecimal  svstem  of 

calculation,  they  also  divided  the  foot  into  12  inches, 

in  addition   to  the  old   division   into    16  digits.     The 

Roman  scale,  which  showed  considerable  ingenuity  in 

assimilating  a  number  of  different  measures  which  had 

no  real  relationship  to  one  another,  appears  to  have 

been  as  follows  : — 

I  digit 

I  inch 

4  digits  or 

3  inches  =  i  palm 

4  palms     =  I  foot 
6     ,.  =1  cubit 

5  feet         =  I  pace 
125  paces      =1  stadion 

8  stadia     =  i  land  mile 
10       ..  =  I  geographical,  or 

sea  mile  =  6075  ?•  »> 

^The  above  remarks  deal  with  the  measures  of 
distance  used  by  the  principal  nations  of  antiquity  up 
to  and  including  the  geographical  mile,  upon  which 
they  seem  to  have  been  based,  but  in  addition  to  these 
there  are  certain  longer  measures  of  distance  which 
must  be  referred  to,  such  as  the  parasang,  the 
schoenos.  and  the  league.  The  fundamental  idea  of 
these  measures  was  that  they  represented  the  distance 
which  could  be  marched  in  a  given  time,  such  as  one 
hour,  and  as  the  rate  of  marching  naturally  varied 
with  the  nature  of  the  country-,  it  was  not  easy  to  have 
a  fixed  length,  and  when  there  was  made  a  theoretical 
unit  it  did  not  always  agree  with  the  actual  distance. 

An  important  application  of  measures  of  distance 
from  the  earliest  times  was  for  the  calculation  of  areas 
of  land,  but  there  is  considerable  doubt  as  to  what 
was  the  original  unit,  and  whether  this  was  a  square, 
or  in  the  form  of  a  rectangle  one  stadium  in  length 
and  one-tenth  of  a  stadium  in  width.  In  the  latter 
case  there  would  have  been  ten  measures  in  a  square 
stadium,  and  1000  measures  in  a  square  geographical 
mile,  and  such  a  measure  would  seem  quite  in  accord 
with  the  ancient  system  of  measures  of  distance.  Its 
area  would  have  been  40  x  400  geographical  cubits 
(36x360  Babylonian  Royal  cubits).  There  is  a  very 
widely  distributed  type  of  land  measures  based  on  a 
rectangle  of  this  form,  of  which  the  English  acre  is 
an  mstance.  as  it  measures  44  x  440  English  cubits. 
^The  Egy-ptian  unit  of  land  area  appears  to  have 
been  the  "set,"  which  was  a  square  having  a  side  of 
^  Eg\'ptian  Roval  cubits.  A  cubit  of  land  was  the 
I 'Too  part  of  this,  and  was  the  area  of  a  rectangle 
100  cubits. 

In  the  Greek  sA-stem  the  unit  of  area  was  the  square 
ot  a  plethron  or  100  Greek  feet,  of  which  there  were 
36  in  a  square  stadion  and  3600  in  a  square  geo- 
:   aphical  mile. 


The  Roman  unit  of  land  area,  called  the  "  jugerum," 
was  a  rectangle,  120  x  240  Roman  feet,  which  was 
subdivided  duodecimally,  the  uncia  of  land  being-  the 
twelfth  part  of  a  jugerum,  or  the  area  of  a  rectangle 
measuring  10  x  240  Roman  feet. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  descriptions  that  from 
the  earliest  times  the  shorter  measures  of  lengtlj  were 
based  on  the  proportions  of  the  human  body,  and  the 
longer  on  the  geographical  mile,  and  that  at  some 
remote  period  an  attempt  was  made  to  combine  them 
into  a  continuous  scale,  from  the  digit  to  the  geo- 
graphical mile. 

The  modern  measures  of  the  civilised  world  are,  with 
few  exceptions,  based  on  the  ancient  units,  of  which 
they  may  be  regarded  as  the  direct  descendants.  Of 
these  exceptions  the  most  important  are  the  measures 
of  the  metric  system,  which  were  designed  with  the 
object  of  breaking  away  from  the  records  of  the  past 
by  the  adoption  of  a  new  geographical  mile,  equal  to 
54/100  of  the  true  geographical  mile. 

The  English  measures  of  length  are  a  good  example 
of  the  modern  representatives  of  the  old  units,  and 
are  worthy  of  study  from  this  point  of  view.  How  the 
measures  originally  came  to  England  it  is  not  easy  to 
say,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  thev  were  in  use 
before  the  Roman  invasion,  having  possibly  been  intro- 
duced by  Phoenician  traders,  and  were  afterwards 
modified  by  the  Romans,  the  Saxons,  the  Scandi- 
navians, and  the  Normans,  each  of  whom  had 
measures,  based  on  the  old  units,  but  altered  in  course 
of  time.  It  was  not  until  the  thirteenth  century  that 
thev  were  moulded  by  law  into  one  uniform  svstem. 

The  English  scale,  as  authorised  bv  statute,  mav 
be  summarised  as  follows  : — 

I  inch 
12    inches    =1  foot 

3  feet  =  I  yard 

5i  yards      =  i  rod,  pole,  or  perch 

4  perches  =  i  chain 
10    chains     =1  furlong 

8    furlongs  =  i  English  statute  mile 

Of  these  units  the  inch  is  derived  from  the  Roman 
s\stem,  being  one-twelfth  of  the  foot,  but  the  foot, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  equal  approximatelv  to  the 
Greek  foot,  while  the  yard,  which  is  simph'  a  double 
cubit,  comes  from  the  Babylonian  system,  being- 
approximately  a  double  geographical  cubit.  The  perch 
is  the  English  representative  of  the  Babylonian  gar. 
and  the  furlong  occupies  a  similar  place  to  the  stadium, 
while  the  mile  is  composed  of  eight  stadia,  apparently 
in  imitation  of  the  division  of  the  Roman  mile.  For 
use  at  sea,  however,  the .  geographical  mile,  divided 
into  ten  stadia,  or,  as  we  call  them,  cable  lengths, 
has  been  retained,  as  no  other  mile  can  be  used  for 
purposes  of  navigation. 

In  order  fully  to  understand  the  connection  between 
the  English  measures  and  the  ancient  measures  of 
length,  it  is  necessary  to  write  the  scale  in  a  somewhat 
different  manner,  and  to  introduce  some  other  units 
which  are  no  longer  used.  The  revised  scale  is  as 
follows  : — 

I  barleycorn 
3  barleycorns  =  I  inch 


3  inches 

=  r  palm 

A.  palms 

=  I  foot 

6      ., 

=  I  cubit 

12 

=  I  double  cubit  or  yard 

1 1  cubits 

=  I  perch 

405      ,. 

=  I  cable's  length 

4  perches 

=  I  acre's  breadth  or  chain 

10  chains 

=  I  acre's  length  or  furlong 

8  furlongs 

=  I  English  mile 

10  cables 

=  1  geographical,  or  sea  mile 

NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


72 


NATURE 


[March  i6,   191 6 


The  English  inch  is  equal  in  length  to  3  barley- 
corns set  end  to  end.  The  barleycorn,  as  a  measure, 
is  forgotten,  but  on  a  shoemaker's  tape  the  sizes  of 
3x)ots  and  shoes  increase  by  a  barleycorn,  or  5  inch, 
for  every  size.  For  example  :  size  No.  8  of  a  man's 
boot  measures  11  inches;  size  No.  9,  11^  inches;  size 
No.  10,  \\\  inches,  and  so  on.  One  would  have 
thought  that  the  sizes  would  increase  by  one  quarter 
•of  an  inch  at  a  time,  but  the  barleycorn  has  held  its 
place  to  the  present  day. 

ITie  palm,  which  was  originally  composed  of  4 
-digits  or  finger  breadths,  and,  since  the  time  of  the 
Romans,  ,of  3  inches  or  thumb  breadths,  is  no  longer 
used  in  England,  and  its  place  has  to  a  certain  extent 
been  taken  by  a  measure  called  the  hand,  composed 
-of  4  inches  and  employed  in  measuring  the  height  of 
horses. 

Prior  to  the  thirteenth  century,  the  length  of  the 
foot  in  England  was  uncertain ;  but,  b}-  the  ordinance 
known  as  the  Statute  for  Measuring  Land,  enacted  in 
the  reign  of  King  Henry  III.,  the  relations  of  the  inch, 
the  foot,  and  the  cubit  to  one  another  were  definitely 
fixed,  and  have  never  since  been  altered.  The  cubit 
-of  this  statute  is  the  double  cubit,  afterwards  called 
the  j'ard.  A  translation  of  the  Latin  words  of  the 
statute,  describing  the  different  measures,  is  as 
follows  : — 

"  It  is  ordained  that  3  grains  of  barlev,  drv  and 
round,  make  an  inch;  12  inches  make  a  foot;  3  feet 
make  a  cubit ;  5^  cubits  make  a  perch ;  40  perches  in 
length  and  4  perches  in  breadth  make  an  acre. 

"And  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  iron  cubit  of 
our  Lord  the  King  contains  3  feet  and  no  more;  and 
the  foot  must  contain  12  inches,  measured  by  the 
correct  measure  of  this  kind  of  cubit ;  that  is  to  say, 
one  thirty-sixth  part  of  the  said  cubit  makes  one  inch, 
neither  more  nor  less.  And  5^  cubits,  or  16^  feet, 
make  one'  perch,  in  accordance  with  the  above- 
described  iron  cubit  of  our  Lord  the  King." 

It  is  interesting  that,  in  this  statute,  the  double 
cubit,  thus  accurately  described,  should  have  been 
called  the  cubit  of  the  King,  just  as  the  longer  cubits 
of  Babylon  and  of  Egypt  were  called  Roval  cubits  to 
distinguish  them  from  the  shorter  cubits  of  those 
countries.  In  the  Latin  original  of  the  ordinance  the 
word  used  is  "ulna,"  the  usual  word  for  cubit.  The 
word  "yard,"  to  signify  the  English  double  cubit, 
occurs  for  the  first  time  in  the  laws  of  England  in 
a  statute  of  1483,  which  is  written  in  French. 

The  two  measures,  the  acre's  breadth,  afterwards 
called  the  chain,  and  the  acre's  length  or  furlong, 
have  also  been  used  from  a  very  early  period.  The 
former  is  equal  to  44  single  cubits,  22  yards,  or  66 
English  feet,  while  the  latter  is  exactly  ten  times  this, 
440  cubits,  220  yards,  or  660  feet.  The  furlong  is  the 
modern  representative  in  our  system  of  the  ancient 
stadium,  which  had  a  length  of  600  Greek  feet,  or 
607*5  English  feet,  but  the  reason  for  its  being  longer 
than  the  stadium  has,  so  far  as  I  know,  not  been 
satisfactorily  explained.  But  the  change  mav  have 
been  due  to  the  fact  that  other  measures  of  distance 
were  in  use  in  England,  prior  to  the  present  statute 
mile,  which  varied  in  different  parts  of  the  countrv, 
and  the  mean  of  these  was  approximately  equal  to  the 
Gallic  league  of  12  stadia  or  7,290  English  feet.  One- 
eleventh  of  thi'^.  663  English  feet,  is  approximately 
equal  to  the  English  furlong,  and  eight  of  these 
measures,  following"  the  Roman  system,  were  com- 
bined t:>  form  the  English  statute  mile. 

But  whether  this  is  the  origin  or  not,  there  appears 
little  doubt  that  the  mile,  f'-rlone.  and  chain,  or 
acre's  breadth,  were  in  use  in  England  in  Anglo-Saxon 
times,  as  there  is  a  law  of  King  Athelstane,  who 
reigned  a.d.  925-940,  in  which  it  is  enacted  : — 

NO.    2420,    VOL.    97] 


"Thus  far  shall  be  the  King's  grith  from  his  burgh 
gate  where  he  is  dwelling,  on  its  four  sides ;  that  is 
three  miles,  and  three  furlongs,  and  three  acres' 
breadths,  and  nine  feet,  and  nine  palms,  and  nine 
barleycorns." 

The  length  of  the  measure  called  the  King's  grith, 
or  King's  peace,  was  the  distance  from  his  house 
within  which  peace  was  to  be  maintained,  and  it  is 
evident  that  in  this  law  an  attempt  was  made  to 
express  the  distance  in  terms  of  ordinary  measures. 

The  terms  acre's  length  and  rood  are  no  longer 
used,  and  this  measure  is  now  known  as  the  furlong, 
while  the  acre's  breadth  has  been  called  the  chain 
since  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when 
it  was  divided  into  100  links  instead  of  66  feet.  The 
chain,  which  was  the  invention  of  Prof.  Gunter,  has 
proved  very  convenient  for  the  measurement  of  land 
acres,  and  is  now  always  used. 

Since  the  introduction  of  the  chain,  the  perch  or  rod 
has  been  less  employed  in  connection  with  land 
measures,  but  is  still  used  by  builders  for  the  measure- 
ment of  brickwork.  The  common  English  stock  brick 
is  half  a  cubit  in  length,  one-quarter  oi  a  cubit  in 
width,  and  one-sixth  of  a  cubit  in  thickness,  or  rather 
less  than  these  dimensions,  to  allow  for  the  thickness 
of  the  mortar  joints,  while  a  rod  of  brickwork,  which 
one  rod  or  22  bricks  in  length,  one  rod  or  66  bricks  in 
height,  and  three  bricks  in  thickness.  The  perch  or 
rod  of  brickwork  contains  4356  bricks. 

The  English  sea  mile  is  exactly  the  same  as  the 
geographical  mile  of  the  Babylonian  sjstem,  and  its 
tenth  part,  the  cable  length,  is  identical  with  the 
stadium.  In  these  measures  there  has  been  no  change, 
and  the  only  difference  is  that  the  cable  length  is  405 
English  cubits,  whereas  the  stadium  was  400  original 
cubits. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Cambridge. — The  next  combined  examination  for 
entrance  scholarships  and  exhibitions,  at  Pembroke, 
Gonville  and  Caius,  Jesus,  Christ's,  St.  John's,  and 
Emmanuel  Colleges,  will  be  held  on  Tuesday,  Decem- 
ber 5,  and  following  days.  Mathematics  and  natural 
sciences  will  be  subjects  of  examination  at  all  the 
above-mentioned  colleges.  Most  of  the  colleges  allow 
candidates  who  intend  to  study  mechanical  science  to 
compete  for  scholarships  and  exhibitions  by  taking  the 
papers  set  in  mathematics  and  natural  sciences.  A 
candidate  for  a  scholarship  or  exhibition  must  not  be 
more  than  nineteen  years  of  age  on  October  i,  19 16. 
Forms  of  application  for  admission  to  the  exainina- 
tion  at  the  respective  colleges  may  be  obtained  from 
the  masters  of  the  several  colleges. 

Mr.  S.  W.  Cole,  of  Trinity  College,  has  been  ap- 
pointed University  lecturer  in  medical  chemistry,  and 
Mr.  C.  S.  Gibson,  of  Sidney  Sussex  College,  has  been 
appointed  assistant  to  the  professor  of  chemistry ;  both 
appointments  are  for  five  years. 

The  Smith's  prizes  are  awarded  to  H.  M.  Garner, 
St.  John's  College,  for  two  papers  on  orbital  oscilla- 
tions about  the  equilateral  triangular  configuration  in 
the  problem  of  three  bodies,  and  to  G.  P.  Thomson, 
Corpus  Christi  College,  for  four  papers  on  aeroplane 
problems.  A  Rayleigh  prize  is  awarded  to  W.  M. 
Smart,  Trinity  College,  for  an  essay  on  the  libration 
of  the  Trojan  planets. 

The  General  Board  of  Studies  does  not  propose  to 
appoint  a  lecturer  in  animal  embryology  to  succeed  the 
late  Dr.  R.  Assheton,  and  advises  that  the  balance  of 
the  benefaction  to  the  lectureship  should  be  used  for 
the  completion  and  publication  of  the  embryologirnl 
work  upon  which  Dr.   .\ssheton  was  engaged. 


March  i6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


11 


Oxford.— The  Committee  for  Geography  will 
shortly  proceed  to  the  appointment  of  a  reader  in  geo- 
graphv  at  a  stipend  of  300/.  a  year.  The  reader  will 
also  hold  the  post  of  director  of  the  School  of  Geo- 
graphy at  an  additional  stipend  of  200/.  a  year.  The 
appointment  is  for  five  years  from  October,  1916,  and 
the  holder  of  the  post  will  be  re-eligible.  Candidates 
are  requested  to  send  in  their  applications,  with  such 
evidence  of  their  qualifications  as  they  may  desire  to 
submit,  to  the  assistant  registrar,  University  Regis- 
tf\-,  O.xford,  so  as  to  reach  him  not  later  than  Wednes- 
day, May  31.  Six  copies  of  the  application,  and  of 
testimonials,  should  be  sent,  and  at  least  one  copy  of 
any  published  work  to  which  it  is  desired  to  direct 
the  attention  of  the  Board  of  Electors. 


The  Board  of  trustees  of  the  Ohio  State  University 
has  ratified  the  proposal  made  by  President  W.  O. 
Thompson  for  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
research  professorships.  According  to  Science  the  plan 
provides  that  men  of  recognised  ability  may  be  relieved 
from  teaching  to  devote  their  entire  time  to  scientific 
research. 

The  Education  Department  of  the  County  Council 
of  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire  has  arranged  to  hold 
a  vacation  course  for  teachers  at  Bingley  Training 
College  from  August  2-16  next.  The  aim  of  the 
course  is  to  stimulate  teachers  and  to  give  them  oppor- 
tunities of  studying  new  methods  of  teaching  various 
subjects.  The  foIlowing^  courses  will  be  included 
among  those  offered  :  a  course  on  education,  by  Prof. 
John  Adams;  the  teaching  of  handwork,  by  Miss 
Suddards ;  animal  life,  by  Prof.  W.  Garstang ;  and 
plant  life,  by  Dr.  O.  V.  Darbishire.  The  syllabus, 
containing  time-tables  and  full  particulars,  will  be 
issued  shortly,  and  can  be  obtained  upon  application 
to  the  Education  Department  (Secondary  Branch), 
County  Hall,  Wakefield. 

As  has  already  been  reported  in  these  columns,  the 
foundation-stone  of  the  new  Hindu  University  at 
Benares  was  laid  by  Lord  Hardinge,  Viceroy  and 
Governor-General  of  India,  on  February  4.  The  issue 
of  the  Pioneer  Mail  for  February  12  contains  a  full 
account  of  the  function.  In  his  address  to  the  Vice- 
roy, the  Maharaja  of  Durbhanga  said  the  contributions 
of  the  people  of  India  to  the  University  funds  now 
amount  to  close  upon  one  crore  of  rupees  (666,700!.), 
including  the  capitalised  value  of  the  annual  grants, 
sanctioned  by  ruling-  princes,  to  which  the  Govern- 
ment has  added  an  annual  grant  of  a  lakh  of  rupees 
(6667?.)  The  site  selected  for  the  University  covers 
more  than  1200  acres.  Twenty-four  donors  gave  a 
lakh  of  rupees  each.  Lord  Hardinge,  in  his  speech, 
pointed  out  that  it  is  the  declared  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  India  to  do  all  within  its  power  and  within 
its  means  to  multiply  the  number  of  unversities 
throughout  India,  realising  that  the  greatest  boon 
Government  can  give  to  India  is  the  diffusion  of 
higher  education  through  the  creation  of  new  universi- 
ties. •'  Many,  many  more  are  needed,"  he  continued, 
"but  the  new  universities  to  be  established  at  Dacca, 
Benares,  and  Bankipore,  soon  to  be  followed,  I  hope, 
by  universities  in  Burma  and  the  Central  Provinces, 
may  be  regarded  as  steps  taken  in  the  right  direction." 
The  University  is  to  be  a  teaching  and  residential,  as 
contrasted  with  an  affiliating  and  examining  univer- 
sity. It  was  announced  at  the  meeting  that  the  Maha- 
raja of  Jodhpur  had  endowed  a  chair  of  technology-  to 
which  Lord  Hardinge's  name  is  to  b.e  attached.  In 
addition  to  a  lump  sum  grant,  the  Maharaja  has  pro- 
mised an  annual  grant  of  24,000  rupees  (1334/.)  for 
tnis  purpose. 

NO.   2/120.   vni     n*?! 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Royal  Society,  March  9.— Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair.— Prof.  J.  W.  Mchol«on  and  1.  R. 
Merton  :  The  distribution  of  intensity  in  broadened  sp* 
trum  lines.  (i)  Using  a  neutral-tinted  wedge  ti> 
actual  distribution  of  intensity  in  broadened  spectrum 
lines  can  be  accurately  measured.  (2)  With  this 
arrangement  quantitative  measurements  of  the 
hydrogen  line  Ho  have  been  made,  and  quantitative 
observations  of  other  lines  of  hydrogen,  helium,  and 
lithium.  (3)  The  intensity-distribution  of  lines, 
broadened  by  condensed  discharges  and  at  high  pres- 
sures, does  not  follow  the  well-known  probability  law 
known  to  obtain  under  certain  specified  conditions. 
(4)  The  broadening  of  Ho  is  symmetrical.  (5)  The 
most  general  characteristic  of  all  the  cur\es  obtained 
is  that  their  curvature  is  away  from  the  axis  per- 
pendicular to  the  wave-length  scale.  (6)  The  existence 
of  more  than  one  component  accords  with  the  view 
that  electrical  resolution  of  lines  is  the  origin  of  their 
broadening.  (7)  On  the  supposition  of  several  com- 
ponents symmetrically  distributed  about  the  centre,  the 
only  general  law  consistent  with  the  distribution  of 
curvature  is  that  of  a  sum  of  linear  exponential  terms, 
one  for  each  component.  (8)  It  is  shown  that  in  these 
circumstances  discontinuities  in  the  slope  of  the  curves 
must  occur.  Those  found  in  the  cur\e  for  Ho  are  in 
quantitative  accordance  with  those  expected  from  avail- 
able data  with  respect  to  electrical  resolution.  (9) 
Quantitative  observations  of  H^S,  H7,  and  the  diffuse 
series  of  helium  and  lithium  confirm  the  view  that 
electrical  resolution  is  the  principal  cause  of  the  pheno- 
mena.  Prof.  H.  C.  Plummer  :  Prof.  Joly's  method  of 

avoiding  collision  at  sea.  This  brief  note  adds  nothing 
to  the  general  principle  on  which  Prof.  Joly's  method 
is  founded,  but  aims  at  greater  simplicit)-,  both  in  idea 
and  practical  detail,  by  introducing  the  relative  speed 
of  the  two  ships.  The  speed  and  course  of  an  approach- 
ing ship  being  communicated  by  wireless,  the  relative 
speed  is  easily  obtained  without  calculation  by  a  com- 
bination of  scales,  which  is,  in  fact,  identical  with 
Prof.  Joly's  collision  predictor.  The  one  ship 
may  then  be  considered  stationary,  and  the  locus  of 
the'  approaching  ship  at  successive  signals  becomes 
a  series  of  concentric  circles.  In  the  case  of  impending 
collision  the  rate  of  approach  is  a  maximum  along  a 
radius  and  equal  to  the  relative  speed.  Two  methods 
are  suggested  for  comparing  the  indications  of  the 
signals  as  received  with  this  critical  speed,  one  involv- 
ing the  use  of  two  direct-reading  scales,  the  other  an 
equivalent  arithmetical  operation  of  the  simplest  kind. 
. Prof.  W'.  G.  DuflBeld  :  Apparatus  for  the  determina- 
tion of  gravity  at  sea.  The  development  of  the  form 
of  apparatus  as  finally  adopted  is  described.  It  depend^ 
upon  balancing  a  column  of  mercun,'  against  the  pres- 
sure of  a  constant  volume  of  air  contained  in  a  bulb. 
The  whole  apparatus  is  maintained  at  as  constant  a 
temperature  as  possible.  The  height  of  the  column 
I  varies  inversely  as  the  value  of  gravity.  The  apparatus 
j  was  tested  on  a  voyage  to  Australia  and  modified  in 
i  Adelaide  in  accordance  with  experience  gained.  It 
was  further  tested  during  part  of  a  return  voyage 
under  ver\'  unfavourable  conditions;  nevertheless,  th 
results  indicate  the  suitability  of  this  type  of  instrumer 
for  future  observations  of  gravity  at  sea. 

j  Geological  Society,  February  2;^. — Dr.  Alfred  Marker. 
1  president,  in  the  chair. — H.  Dewey  :  The  origin  of 
I  some  river-gorges  in  Cornwall  and  Devon.  In  North 
1  Cornwall,  near  Tintagel,  there  is  an  area  of  peculiar 
'  topography  characterised  by  the  presence  of  an  upland 
i  plain  or  plateau.  This  plateau  is  dissected  by  deep 
i  gorges,   with  their  walls  scarred  by  potholes  through 


74 


NATURE 


[March  i6,  191 6 


Avhich  the  rivers  flow  in  a  series  of  waterfalls,  cascades, 
and  rapids.  This  plateau  is  terminated  inland  by  de- 
graded cliffs  rising  abruptly  from  400  ft  above  sea- 
level,  while  the  plain  slopes  gently  to  the  recent  sea- 
cliffs,  mostly  more  than  300  ft.  high.  The  plateau  has 
been  cut  across  rocks  of  different  degrees  of  hardness, 
and  is  overlain  by  deposits  of  detritus  and  peat.  Wher- 
ever the  plain  occurs,  the  scenery  is  featureless,  and 
the  land  boggy  and  waterlogged.  The  widespread 
occurrence  of  this  plain  over  Cornwall  and  Devon  at 
a  uniform  height  suggests  that  in  its  final  stages  it 
was  a  plain  of  marine  erosion.  There  are  in  Cornwall 
and  Devon  two  characteristic  types  of  scenerj-,  to  which 
in  great  part  these  counties  owe  their  charm.  Wide 
featureless  plains  covered  with  heath  and  marshland 
and  dominated  by  tors  and  crags,  on  which  the 
•drainage  is  sluggish  and  vague,  alternate  with  deeply- 
incised  rocky  ravines  where  rivers  flow  as  rapids  and 
cascades.  These  two  types  mark  successive  periods  of 
•erosion.  Post-Pliocene  uplift  gave  such  increased 
cutting-power  to  the  rivers  that  thej^  quickly  incised 
chasms  in  their  former  valleys,  employing  while  so 
doing  the  activity  of  waterfalls  and  rapids. 

Linnean  Society,  March  2. — Prof.  E.  B.  Poulton, 
president,  in  the  chair.— Dr.  J.  D.  F.  Gilchrist  :  Larval 
and  post-larval  stages  of  Jasus  lalandii  (Milne- 
Edwards).  Dr.  Gilchrist  recalls  his  description,  in 
Journ.  Linn.  Soc,  October,  19 13,  of  the  newh-hatched 
larva,  to  which  he  applied  the  term  naupliosoma.  He 
now  recognises  that  this  name  was  rather  inappro- 
priate, since  it  tends  to  obscure  the  reasonable  pre- 
sumption that  the  naiiplitis  stage  has  "  been  passed 
long  before  in  the  development  of  the  embryo."  By 
a  record  of  the  distribution,  he  makes  it  fairly  certain 
that  the  further  stages  of  development  with  which 
lie  deals  realh^  belong  to  Jasus  lalandii.  It  should, 
however,  be  mentioned  that,  whatever  the  predomin- 
ance of  this  particular  crawfish  at  the  Cape,  the  Atlan- 
tic is  in  some  parts  well  provided  with  various  mem- 
Ijers  of  the  families  Scyllaridae  and  Palinuridae. — B.  M. 
Griffiths  :  The  August  Heleoplankton  of  some  North 
Worcestershire  pools. — Dr.  O.  Stapf  :  The  distribution 
of  the  box-tree,  Buxus  senipervirens,  Linn.  The 
author  adopted  Dr.  Christ's  views  as  to  the  character 
of  the  box  as  a  relict  of  the  Tertiary  flora  of  southern 
Europe,  and  the  discontinuous  distribution  as  brought 
about  b}^  disintegration  of  an  old  continuous  and 
much  larger  area.  But  he  could  not  share  his  view 
that  the  isolated  stations  in  western  France  are  gener- 
allv  due  to  old  plantations  around  castles  and  monas- 
teries. He  considered  them  like  the  English  stations 
as  relict  stations. 

Mathematical  Society,  March  9. — Sir  Joseph  Larmor, 
president,  in  the  chair.^ — Major  P.  A.  MacMahon  :  Some 
applications  of  general  theorems  of  combinatory 
analvsis. — Prof.  H.  F.  Baker  :  Mr.  Grace's  theorem  on 
six  lines  with  a  common  transversal. — H.  E.  J.  Curzon  : 
The  integrals  of  a  certain  Riccati  equation  connected 
with  Halphen's  transformation. — Miss  Hilda  P. 
Hudson  :  A  certain  plane  sextic. — Dr.  W.  P.  Milne  : 
The  construction  of  coapolar  triads  on  a  cubic  curve. 
— J.  Proudman  :  The  dynamical  equations  of  the  tides. 

Manchester. 
Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  February  22. — Prof. 
G.  Elliot  Smith,  vice-president,  in  the  chair. — Prof. 
W.  W.  Haldane  Gee  :  Bunsen  and  luminous  flames. 
.\  small  obstacle  placed  at  the  centre  of  a  coal-gas 
flame  (issuing  from  a  small  circular  nozzle)  at  a 
critical  distance  above  the  aperture,  gives  rise  to  a 
musical  note  of  high  frequency.  If  tw-o  such  flames 
are  made  to  impinge,  roaring  or  musical  flames  result. 
Burners  of  the  Bray  and  M^ker  type  possess  special 
properties.     One  experiment  of  great  interest  enabled 

NO.    2420,    VOL.    97I 


the  eddy  currents  produced  by  a  flame  from  a  triple 
nozzle  to  be  studied.  When  the  flame  is  adjusted — 
so  as  to  be  central  within  a  wide  glass  tube — carbon- 
aceous particles  are  precipitated  from  the  flame,  and 
these  are  whirled  in  an  infinite  variety  of  curves  round 
the  flame  mantle.  The  effect  is  more  marked  when 
benzine  is  introduced  into  the  coal-gas. — -Dr.  J,  H. 
Smith  :  A  resume  of  work  on  the  bleach-out  process 
of  colour  photography.  Grothus,  in  1819,  seems  to 
have  been  the  first  to  attempt  to  formulate  the  nature 
of  the  action  of  lights  of  different  colour  upon  bodies, 
and  showed  that  coloured  bodies  faded  most  rapidly  in 
the  "  opposed  "  (complementary)  coloured  light  to  their 
own.  Liesegang,  in  1889,  first  proposed  to  utilise  this 
principle  in  the  case  of  the  bleaching-out  of  aniline 
dyes  in  their  complementary  coloured  lights  for  the 
production  of  coloured  prints  upon  paper  from  trans- 
parent coloured  pictures.  Vallot,  in  1895,  Neuhaus 
and  Worel,  in  1902,  and  later  Szczepanik  and  the 
author  worked  practically  upon  this  process,  over- 
coming some  of  its  difficulties,  and  obtaining  certain 
results  of  a  somewhat  crude  nature.  In  1907  the 
author  brought  the  first  bleach.-put  paper  upon  the 
market;  and  in  191 1  he  was  successful  in  bringing 
out  a  new  paper  ("  Utocolor "),  b}'  means  of  which 
good  prints  from  autochrome  plates  could  be  obtained. 
The  more  recent  work  of  Limmer,  Gebhart,  and  Just 
was  review-ed. 

Dublin. 
Royal  Dublin  Society,  February  22. — Prof.  Sydney 
Young  in  the  chair. — Prof.  Wm.  Brown  :  The  subsh- 
dence  of  torsional  oscillations  of  nickel  wires  when 
subjected  to  the  influence  of  transverse  magnetic  fields 
up  to  200  c.g.s.  units.  A  direct  transverse  magnetic 
field  of  200  c.g.s.  units  has  no  effect  on  the  damping 
of  torsional  oscillations  of  a  nickel  wire  whether  the 
wire  be  hard  or  soft,  but  an  alternating  transverse 
magnetic  field  of  the  same  strength  increases  the 
damping  by  almost  10  per  cent,  in  a  soft  wire  and  by 
about  4  per  cent,  in  a  hard  w'ire.  For  a  transverse 
alternating  magnetic  field  of  65  units,  it  was  found 
that  when  the  frequency  of  the  field  was  increased 
eight  times  the  damping  was  decreased,  that  is,  the 
amplitude  of  the  seventieth  vibration  was  increased 
about  45  per  cent. 

Royal  Irish  Academy,  February  28. — Rev.  J.  P. 
Mahaffy,  president,  in  the  chair.— J.  J.  Nolan  ;  The 
mobility  of  the  ions  produced  by  spraying  distilled 
water.  When  distilled  water  is  passed  through  a 
sprayer  the  larger  drops  have  a  positive  charge  of 
uniform  surface  density,  as  shown  in  a  previous  paper. 
The  present  paper  deals  with  the  mobility  of  the  ions 
carried  away  in  the  air  from  the  sprayer.  Twelve 
groups  of  ions  have  been  found,  each  group  possess- 
ing a  distinct  mobilit}-  which  changes  little  with  time. 
The  mobilities  are  000038,  oooio,  0-0043,  0013,  0046, 
012,  024,  053,  i-i,  156,  327,  and  65  cm.  per  second 
in  a  field  of  i  volt  per  cm.  Ions  of  both  signs  occur 
in  all  the  groups  with  the  exception  of  the  group  of 
mobility  65,  w-hich  has  only  been  found  with  negative 
charges.  The  negative  charge  carried  by  the  ions 
exceeds  the  positive,  the  excess  being  greater  in  the 
case  of  the  more  mobile  ions. — J.  A.  McClelland 
and  P.  J.  Nolan  :  The  nature  of  the  ions 
produced  by  bubbling  air  through  mercury. 
The  mobility  of  the  ions  carried  away  in 
air  which  has  bubbled  through  mercury  has  been 
measured.  The  mobility  decreases  rapidly  with  time, 
and  in  this  respect  differs  from  the  results  obtained 
in  the  above  paper  on  the  spraying  of  water.  When 
sufficient  time,  has  elapsed  constant  mobilities  are 
reached,  and  groups  of  ions  have  been  found  corre- 
sponding to  the  first  five  groups  in  the  above  paper. 
When   measured  earlier  greater  mobilities  are  found, 


March  i6,   19 i6] 


NATURE 


/o 


but  the  ratios  of  the  mobilities  are  practically  the 
same  as  when  the  stable  state  has  been  reached. 
When  the  air  is  dried  higher  values  are  again  found, 
and  in  this  case  also  the  ratios  of  the  mobilities  have 
the  same  values. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,   February  2'i>. — M.  Camille  Jor- 
dan in  the  chair. — The  President  announced  the  death 
of  Richard  Dedekind,  and  gave  a  short  account  of  his 
contributions    to    mathematics. — Paul    Appell :    Certain 
polygons    the    summits    of    which    describe    algebraic 
cunes,     and    of     which    the    sides    envelop    algebraic 
cur\'es. — C.    Guichard  :    Plane   networks    which,    in   an 
infinitv  of  ways,  may  be  considered  as  the  orthogonal 
I  projection   of    the  lines    of    curvature   of   a    surface.- — 
i  MM.  Tarazona  and  Marti  :    Observation  of  the  eclipse 
of  the   sun  of    February   3,    19 16,    made   at   Valencia 
(Spain).     Only  the  first  contact  could  be  observed. — E. 
\  Goursat  :  The  class  of  certain  differential  expressions. 
'  — T.    H.    Gronwall  :    Deformation   in   conformal   repre- 
!  sentation  under  restrictive  conditions. — B.  Jekhowsky  : 
The  Bessel  functions  of  several  variables  expressed  by 
I  Bessel  functions  of  one  variable. — Gaston  Julia  :   The 
'  reduction  of  positive  quadratic  forms. — P.  Alexandroff  : 
The     power     of     measurable     ensembles     B. — Lucien 
I  Vallery  :   The  stability  of  hypochlorites   in   very  dilute 
i  solutions.     Consequences  from  the  point    of    view    of 
i  their  use  for   the   sterilisation   of  water   (javelisation). 
j  A  study  of  solutions  of  hypochlorite  containing  from 
j  one  to  five  parts  per  million  of  active  chlorine.     The 
:  velocity  of  decomposition  is  affected  by  the  medium  in 
!  two  ways,   one  purely   catalytic,    the   other  chemical, 
!  depending  upon  the  presence  of  substances  capable  of 
j  reacting  with  the  molecule  of  the  hypochlorite  or  with 
I  its  decomposition  products.— G.   A.    Le  Roy  :   The  de- 
I  tection   of   free   chlorine    in    town    water    supplies.     A 
I  disagreeable     taste     becomes     perceptible     when     the 
amount    of    active     chlorine    reaches     0-05    part     per 
I  million,    and    chemical    control    for    solutions    of    such 
;  dilution  presents  difliculties.     It  is  suggested,  that  the 
I  active  chlorine  be  concentrated  by  partial  freezing  of 
the    water.     Starting    with    10    litres    of    water,    and 
freezing  q-8  litres,   the  remaining  liquid  readily  gives 
j  the    iodide    of    starch    reaction ;    00005   milligram   of 
'  active  chlorine  per  litre  can  be  detected. — Louis  Gentil  : 
!  The  structure  of  the  Middle  Atlas  (Central  Morocco). — 
;  N.  Arabn  :   Studies  on  the  Tertiary  formations  of  the 
!  basin  of  the  Sea  of  Marmpra. — M!  Deprat  :  The  exist- 
I  ence  of  a  fold  of  Palaeozoic  age  between  Yunnan  and 
Tonkin. 

Washington,  D.C. 
!      National   Academy    of    Sciences,    (Proceedings,    No.    2, 
;  vol.  ii.). — J.  A.   Harris  :  Personal  equation  and  steadi- 
[  ness  of  judgment  in  the  estimation  of  the  number  of 
i  objects  in   moderately  large  samples.     While  there  is 
i  no  certain  differentiation  among  the  experimenters  in 
^  personal  equation,  they  differ  distinctly   in   steadiness 
;  °^.  judgment.     The   latter   is   conspicuous    in   contrast 
j  with  the  former  in  that  it  is  unmistakably  influenced 
i  by  previous  experience. — T.    B.  Johnson  :    Polvpeptide- 
I  hydantoins.     The  formulas  for  a  large  number  of  poly- 
j  peptide-hydantoins    are    set    up.     Some   of    these    sub- 
I  stances  have  already  been  synthesised  and  methods  for 
synthesising  others  are  being  developed.— J.   X.   Rose  : 
Recent  explorations    in    the    cactus    deserts    of    South 
America.     Large  collections  of  cacti  in  South  America 
have  been  made,  including  manv  species  which  have 
never  before  been  collected,  and  some  which,   though 
collected,  have  been  poorlv  described  or  wronglv  classi- 
fied.—H.   N.    Russell  :   The  albedo  of  the  planets  and 
their  satellites.     A  table  is  given  of  the  values  finally 
derived    for   the    albedo    of    the    various    planets    and 
satellites.     The  values  are  in  agreement  with  the  cur- 
rent  views    of    the    constitution    of    the    bodies.     The 

NO.    2420,    VOL.    Q7I 


j  value  for  the  earth  is  intermediate  between   those  of 
!  cloudy  and  cloudless  plants. — R.  A.  Millikan  :  Quantum 
■   relations  in  photo-electric  phenomena.     So  far  as  e.x- 
!  periment  has  thus  far  gone  Einstein's  equation  seems 
I  to  be  an  exact  statement  of  the  energies  of  emission 
j  of  corpuscles  under  the  influence  of  light  waves.    Thus 
the  correctness  of  the  quantum  theory  and  the  reality 
'  of    Planck's    h    are    corroborated. — J.    H.    Ellis :    The 
'  chemical  activity  of  the  ions  of  hydrochloric  acid  deter- 
mined by  electromotive  force  measurements.     In  this 
I   paper    are  presented    accurate    measurements    of    the 
I  electromotive  force     at  18,  25,  and  }^~^°  of  voltaic  cells 
I  of    the    type    H„    HCl,    Hg,CL-rHg,    with    the  acid- 
concentration    varying    from    003-4-5    normal.      From 
!   the  data  are  calculated  the  energy  ettects  attending  the 
reaction    which    takes   place    in    such   cells    and    those 
attending  the  transfer  of  hydrochloric  acid  in  aqueous 
solution    from    one    concentration    to    another.     From 
these  results  are  then  calculated  the  chemical  activities 
(or  effective   concentrations)  of   the   ions   of   the   acid. 
These  activities  are  shown  to  decrease  with  increasing 
concentration    much    more    rapidly    than    do    the    ion- 
concentrations     derived     in   -rthe     usual     way      from 
i   the     electrical     conductance    ratio. — E.     G.     Conklin  : 
Effects      of      centrifugal      force      on      the      polarity 
of     the     eggs     of     Crepidula.       It     is     difficult,     but 
not    absolutely    impossible,    to    change     the    polarity 
of   eggs    and    cleavage    cells,    and    the    persistence   of 
|X)larity   and  the   restoration   of    dislocated    parts     to 
'   normal   condition   is   connected  with   a   somewhat   re- 
sistent    framework   of    protoplasmic     strands. — D.     L. 
Webster  :  The  emission  quanta  of  characteristic  X-rays. 
!  To  excite  any  characteristic  radiation  it  is  necessary  to 
\  use  a  potential  above  a  critical  value.     The  lines  all 
!   increase  in  the  same  ratio  for  any  given  increase  of 
potential.     There   is  reason   to  believe  that   the   char- 
\   acteristic    rays   are   always   a    result    of    excitation    of 
i   higher-frequency     oscillators. — T.    W.   Vaughan  :     The 
i  results  of  investigations  of  the  ecology  of  the  Floridian 
and    Bahaman    shoal-water    corals.        The    ability    of 
i   corals      to      remove      sediment       from       their      sur- 
i   faces,     their     mechanism     for    catching     food,     their 
carnivorous      nature,     their     relation     to     light     and 
temperature,    and   so  on,  have    been    studied. — C.    D. 
Walcott  :  Cambrian  trilobites.    Data  have  been  assem- 
'  bled  to  aid  in  clearing  up  some  of   the  problems  of 
'   formations  of   the    Appalachian    region    by    a    careful 
j  comparison  of  portions  of  their  contained  faunas  with 
''   those  of  other  localities. — G.  E.  Hale  and  F.  Ellerman  : 
The   minute   structure  of  the   solar   atmosphere.     The 
minute    structure   of    the    quiescent    solar    atmosphere 
resembles    that    of    the    photosphere.        The    results 
apparently  support  the  hypothesis  that  the  solar  atmo- 
sphere consists  of  parallel  columns  of  ascending  and 
expanding  gases,  but  such  questions  as  the  dimensions 
of    the   columns    and    the    direction    of    motion    and 
velocitv    are    reserved     for     subsequent     discussion. — 
— R.  W.  Wood  :  Monochromatic  photography  of  Jupiter 
and    Saturn.        The    variation    of    the    appearance    of 
Saturn  and  Jupiter  when  photographed  with  light  of 
different  wave-lengths  suggests  a  mist  or  dust  in  the 
planet's  atmosphere  which  scatters  the  shorter  wave- 
lengths. 


BOOKS    RECEIVED. 

Elements  of  Highway  Engineering.  By  Prof.  .A.  H. 
Blanchard.  Pp.  xii  +  5i4.  (Xew  York:  J.  Wiley  and 
Sons.,  Inc.;  London:  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.) 
125.  6d.  net. 

Aircraft  in  War  and  Peace.  By  W.  A.  Robson. 
Pp.  xi  +  176.  (London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.) 
25.  6J.  net. 

Individuality  in  Organisms.     By  C.   M.  Child.     Pp. 


76 


NATURE 


[March  i6,  1916 


X4-2I3.  (Chicago:  University  of  Chicago  Press; 
Cambridge  :  University  Press.)     5*-.  net. 

Notes  on  the  Fenland.  By  Prof.  T.  McKenny 
Hughes,  with  a  description  of  the  Shippea  Man.  By 
Prof.  A.  Macalister.  Pp.  35.  (Cambridge  :  At  the  Uni- 
versity Press.)     6d.   net. 

The  Gravels  of  East  Anglia.  By.  Prof.  T.  McKenny 
Hughes.  Pp.  58.  (Cambridge  :  At  the  University 
Press.)     15.  net. 

Theosophy  and  Modern  Thought.  By  C.  Jinaraja- 
dasa.  Pp.  171.  Adyar,  Madras :  Theosophical  Pub- 
lishing House.)     2s. 

Department  of  Mines  and  Geology,  Mysore  State. 
Records,  vol.  xiv.,  1915.  Part  i,  Annual  Report  for  the 
Year  1914.  Pp.  59.  (Bangalore  :  Government  Press.) 
I    rupee. 

Records  of  the  Surx'ey  of  India.  Vol.  vi.  Comple- 
tion of  the  Link  connecting  the  Triangulations  of  India 
and  Russia,  1913.  Prepared  under  the  direction  of 
Col.  Sir  S.  G.  Burrard.  Pp.  115.  (Dehra  Dun: 
Trigonometrical  Survey.)     6s. 

Nutritional  Physiology.  By  P.  G.  Stiles.  Second 
edition.  Pp.  288.'  (Phi'l^elphia  and  London  :  W.  B. 
Saunders  Co.)     6s.  net. 

An  Introduction  to  Neurology.  By  Prof.  C.  J. 
Herrick.  Pp.  355.  (Philadelphia  and  London  :  W.  B. 
Saunders  Co.)     7s.  6d.  net. 

E.\amples  in  Alternating-Currents  for  Students  and 
Engineers.  By  Prof.  F.  E.  Austin.  Vol.  i.  Second 
edition.  Pp.  223.  (Hanover,  N.H.  :  F.  E.  Austin.) 
2.40  dollars. 

Surgery  in  War.  By  Major  A.  J.  Hull.  Pp.  xv  + 
390.     (London  :  J.  and  A.  Churchill.)     105.  6d.  net. 

The  British  Freshwater  Rhizopoda  and  Heliozoa. 
By  J.  Cash  and  G.  H.  Wailes.  Vol.  iii.,  Rhizopoda. 
Part  iii.  By  G.  H.  Wailes.  Pp.  xxiv  + 1 56  +  plates 
xxxiii-lvii.  (London:  Ray  Society;  Dulau  and  Co., 
Ltd.)     \2S.  6d.   net. 

The  Principles  of  Plant-Teratology.  By  W.  C. 
Worsdell.  Vol.  i.,  pp.  xxiv  +  269 +  xxv  plates.  (Lon- 
don :  Raj-  Society;  Dulau  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     25s.  net. 

The  Physical  Properties  of  Colloidal  Solutions.  By 
Prof.  E.  F.  Burton.  Pp.  vii  +  200.  (London  :  Long- 
mans and  Co.)     65.  net. 

Hydraulic  Flow  Reviewed.  By  A.  A.  Barnes.  Pp. 
xi+158.  (London  :  E.  and  F.  N.  Spon,  Ltd.)  125.  6rf. 
net. 


DIARY   OF   SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  March  i6. 

Royal  Society,  at  4.30. —Preliminary  Report  on  the  Purbeck  Characeae  : 
C.  Reid  and  J.  Groves.— Notes  on  the  Genus  Toxoplasma,  with  a  Descrip- 
tion of  Three  New  Species  :  prof.  H.  G.  Plimmer. — The  Convolutional 
Pattern  of  the  Brains  of  Identical  Twins  :  a  Study  on  Hereditary  Resem- 
blance in  the  Furrows  of  the  Cerebral  Hemispheres  :  F.  Sano. 

RcvAL  Institution,  at  3. — Organic  Products  used  as  Propulsive  and 
Explosive  Agents     Prof.  H.  E.  Armstrong. 

Institution  of  Elfxtrical  Engineers,  at  8. — The  Possibilities  in  the 
Design  of  Continuous-current  Traction  Motors  :  N.  W.  Storer.— The  Use 
of  Direct  Current  (or  Terminal  and  Trunk  Line  Electrification:  N.  W. 
Storer. 

I.INNEAN  Society,  at  5. — Resemblance  between  African  Butterflies  of  the 
Genus  Charaxes :  a  New  Form  of  Mimicry  :  Prof.  E.  P.  Poulton. — Notes 
on  Plants  roUccted  in  Sikkim,  including  the  Kalimpong  District :  C.  C. 
Lacaita. — ExhiSition  of  Species  of  Ribes  and  their  Garden  Derivation: 
E.  BanyarJ. — Early  Botanical  Exploration  of  North  America  :  B.  Daydon 
Jackson. 

Child  Study  Society,  at  6. — The  Unconscious  Mental  Life  of  the  Child  : 
Dr.  E.  Jones. 

FRIDAY,  March  17. 

Royal  Institution,  at  5.30. — The  Search  for  New  Coal  Fields  in  England  : 
Dr.  A.  Strahan. 

Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  at  6. — The  Composition  of  the 
Exhaust  from  Liquid-fuel  Engines  :  R.  W.  Fenning. 

SATURDAY,  March  18. 
Royal   Institution,   at   3. — Radiation   from  Atoms  and   Electrons:   Sir 
J.  J.  Thomson. 

MONDAY,  March  20. 
Royal  Geocraphical  Society,  at  8.30. — The  Military  Geography  of  the 

Troad  :  Dr.  W.  Leaf. 
Aristotelian  Society,  at  8. — Symposium  "Recognition  and  Memory": 
Miss  Beatrice  Edgell,  F.  E.   Bartlett,  Dr.  G.  E.  Moore,  and  Dr.  H.  W. 
Carrr 


Victoria  Institute,  at  4.30.— Inscriptions  and  Drawings  from  Roman 
Catacombs  :  Rev.  H.  E.  Fox. 

TUESDAY,  March  21. 

RovAL  Institution,  at  3.— Sea  Power  as  a  Factor  in  the  Evolution  of 
Modern  Races :  Prof.  A.  Keith. 

Zoological  Society,  at  5.30.— Results  of  Mendelian  Cross  in  Fowls:. 
J.  T.  Cunningham. — Structure  of  the  Alisphenoid  Canal  in  some  Civet* 
and  Hyaenas  :  K.  I.  Pocock. — Observations  on  the  Cytology  of  Flagellates 
and  Amoebx  obtained  (rom  Old  Stored  Soil:  Dr.  T.  Goodey.— Notes  on 
the  .Sitatunga  or  Mar.-h-Antclope  of  the  .Se^se  Islands :  Major  k. 
Meincrtzhagen. 

Ili.u.mi.nating  Engineering  Society,  at  5.— Discussion  :  Some  Aspects 
of  the  Design  and  Use  of  Glassware  in  Relation  to  Natural  and  Artificial 
Illumination.  .      • 

Institution  ok  Civil.  Enginf.ers,  at  5.30. — The  Rangoon  River- 
Training  Works  :  Sir  G.  C.  Buchanan,  CLE. 

Institution  of  Petroleum  Technologists,  at  8. — Valedictory  Address 
by  the  President,  Sir  Bovenon  Redwood.— The  Natural  Gas  Industry,, 
its  Progress  and  Importance:  Dr.  J.  A.  Leo  Henderson. 

Mineralogicai.  Societv,  at  5.30. — An  Improvement  in  the  Methods  of 
Dcteruii  iiig  the  Relractive  Indices  oj  Minerals  under  the  Microscope: 
Dr.  J.  W.  Evans. — A  Butterfly-twin  of  G>psum  :  L.  J.  Spencer. 

Royal  Statistical  Society,  at  5.15. — War  Finance:  Sir  George  Paish. 

IVEDNESDAY,  March  22. 
Geological  Society,  at  5.30. 

THURSDAY,  March  23. 
Royal   Institution,  at   3.— Organic   Products  used  as    Propulsive  and 
Explosive  Agents :  Prof.  H.  E.  Armstrong. 

FRIDAY,  March  24. 
Royal   Institution,   at  5.30. — The   Mechani^m  of  Chemical  Change  ii> 
Living  Organisms  :  Prof  W.  M.  Bayliss. 

SATURDAY,  March  25. 
Royal   Institution,  at  3. — Radiations  from  Atoms  and   Electrons:   .Sir 
J.J.  Thomson. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

London  Hydrology 53 

Organic  Chemistry.     ByJ.  B.  C 54. 

The  Elementary  Principles  of  Crop  Production  .    .  55 

Our  Bookshelf 55 

Letters  to  the  Editof:— 

The  Structure  of  the  Line  of  Wave-Length  4686  A.  U. 

(/////j-/;-rt/^a'.)— E.  J.  Evans  ;  C.  Croxson    ....  56 

Ground  Rainbows. — Capt,  Charles  J.  P.  Cave  ...  57 
Memorials    of    Men    of    Science    in    Westminster 

Abbey.     {INitstrated. ) 5& 

The  Reform  of  the  Man  of  Science 59 

Sulphuiic  Acid  in  America 60 

Notes 61 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Comet  1916a  (Neujmin) 67 

Comet  1915^  (Taylor)  . 67 

Variable  Stars  in  the  Vicinity  of  R  Corons  Australis  67 

A  Possible  Deflection  of  Light  by  a  Moving  Medium  67 

A  Tungsten  Target  for  X-Ray  Tubes,     {lllusirated.)  67 

Osmotic  Pressure  or  Osmotic  Suction  ?    By  T.  M.  L.  68 

Post-Graduate  Scholarships  and  Fellowships  ...  69 

Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers 69 

The  Origin  of  English    Measures   of  Length.      By 

Sir  Charles  M.  Watson,  K.C.M.G.,  C.B 69 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 72 

Societies  and  Academies 73 

Books  Received 75  ^ 

Diary  of  Societies 7^  ] 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices  : 

MACMILLAX   &  CO.,   Ltd., 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters   to   be  addressed  to   the j 
Publishers. 

Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Pnusis,  London. 
Telephone   Number :  Gerrard  8830. 


NO.    2420,    VOL.    97J 


NA  rURE 


77 


THURSDAY,  MARCH  22,,   1916. 


THE  BUDGET  OF  PARADOXES. 

A  Budget  of  Paradoxes.  By  A.  de  Morgan. 
Second  edition,  edited  by  D.  E.  Smith.  Two 
.olumes.  Vol.  i. ,  pp.  viii  +  402;  vol.  ii.,  pp. 
vSj.  (Chicago  and  London  :  The  Open  Court 
i'ublishing  Co.,  1915-)    Price  305.  net. 

THIS  is  not  the  first  time  the  Open  Court  Co. 
'    has    deserved    grateful    thanks    for    under- 
taking a  reprint  of  a   rare  work,   although  they 
will  probably  make  no  profit  out  of  it.    The  editor, 
well  known  as  a  writer  on  the  history  and  teach- 
ing of   mathematics,    has   laid   down   for   himself 
an  excellent   plan^    namely,   to  preserve   the   text 
intact,  except  where  mistakes  could  be  corrected 
[    with  certainty ;  to  indicate  clearly  the  authorship 
\   of  every  addition  or  alteration ;  to  add  catchlines 
!   to  break  up  the  text ;  and  to  give  notes  for  the 
}   information,   not  only  of   mathematicians,    but  of 
[  those  who  treasure  the   "  Budget  "   as   a  literary 
I  work  of  art,  and  who,  even  when  well-read,  may  be 
I  puzzled  by  the  numerous  quotations  and  allusions 
in  which   De   Morgan   delights.      To  produce   an 
annotated  edition  of  this  kind  is  a  very  difficult 
task ;    it   would    require    another    De    Morgan    to 
perform  it  to  perfection,  and  we  thank  Prof.  Smith 
for  what  he  has  done,  without  dwelling  ungraci- 
ously upon  what  he  has  omitted,  or  blundered  in 
"-ving  to  do. 

First  of  all  we  may  say  that  the  biographical 
notes    are    abundant    (too    much    so,    st>me  may 
think) ;    so    far    as    they    refer    to     mathematical 
writers,  they  are  generally  appropriate,  and  so  far 
as  we  have  tested,   are  accurate.      To  end  up  a 
ten-line  note  on   Rowan   Hamilton  with  the   sen- 
tence  "  He  also  wrote  on   dynamics  "    irresistibly 
reminds  us  of  that  other  casual  after-thought  "  and 
the  stars   also "   in   Gen.    i.    16.      Here,   as   else- 
where, the  editor's  humour  is  of  the  unconscious 
ind;  and  one  instance  is  so  funny  that  we  really 
nnot  pass  it  over.     The  Religious  Tract  Society 
oee  i.  194)  censored  a  perfectly  harmless  passage 
in  one  of  Hannah  More's  tales  which  they  were 
j  reprinting.     On  this  De  Morgan  :    "  O  fie  !   Miss 
I  Hannah  More  !  and  you  a  single  lady  too,  and  a 
contemporary   of  the   virtuous   Bowdler  !  "      Edi- 
torial comment :     a     note     on     Henrietta    Maria 
Bowdler,    and    not    a    word    about    the    immortal 
Thomas!     Again,  by  confusing  "Tom"  Sheridan 
with  the  elder  Thomas   S.,   the  editor  has  found 
one  of  the  most  wonderful  mare's-nests  on  record 

In  giving  translations  of  quotations,  etc.,  in  the 
xt  Prof.  Smith  is  sometimes  painfully  inaccur- 
'e,^  and  in  other  cases  he  is  unsympathetic.  As 
n  instance  of  what  we  mean,  take  i.  40,  where 
e  read  :  "  the  answer  is — 

"  Rumpat  et  serpens  iter  institutum 
— a  line  of  Horace  [Carm.  iii.  27],  which  the 
demons  interpret  as  a  direction  to  come  athwart 
the  proceedings  of  the  Institute  by  a  sly  trick." 
If  we  are  to  have  a  translation  here,  the  best 
NO.    2421,  VOL.   97] 


would  be  a  mock-translation,  such  as  "And  let 
the  Old  Serpent  interrupt  the  proceedings  of  the 
Institute,"  like  De  Morgan's  "change  dice  into 
coin "  for  mutat  qtiadrata  rotiindis,  where  the 
editor  gives  no  reference  to  the  original  context 
(possibly  to  spare  the  feelings  of  a  certain  class 
of  millionaires).  To  return  to  the  present  case, 
the  editor's  rendering  is  "Let  the  serpent  also 
break  from  its  appointed  path,"  which  is  incor- 
rect, and  neither  suits  the  original  context  nor 
the  one  to  which  De  Morgan  applies  it.  (And  we 
might  have  had,  instead  of  this  blunder,  a  brief 
note  on  the  Institiit  national.) 

The  list  printed  below  1  contains  corrections  of 
errors  we  have  found,  which  are  serious  enough 
to  be  actually  misleading;  perhaps  the  Open  Court 
Co.  might  be  willing  to  have  them  tested,  and 
then  pasted  as  corrigenda  in  some  at  least  of  the 
copies  of  this  edition. 

Prof.  Smith  has  adopted  a  system  of  what  he 
calls  "slightly  modernised  spelling."  If,  in  his 
notes,  he  likes  to  print  "  equaled  "  (why  not 
"equald,"  like  "herald"  and  "ribald,"  while  we 
are  about  it?)  he  has  a  perfect  right  to  do  so;  but 
we  respectfully  protest  against  his  taking  this 
liberty  with  the  text.  And  is  dilletante  a  mis- 
print, or  an  example  of  modernised  spelling? 

To  us,  the  one  great  failing  of  Prof.  Smith,  as  an 
editor,  is  that  he  has  treated  the  "  Budget  "  (natur- 
ally enough,  from  his  point  of  view)  too  much 
as  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  mathematics,  or 
rather  of  pseudo-mathematics.  Really,  it  is  a 
study  of  a  class  of  cranks  (who  are  always  with 
us),  and,  as  such,  it  is  a  section  of  the  great 
Book  of  Human  Folly  and  Self-Conceit.  Inci- 
dentally, of  course,  it  gives  a  portrait  of  the 
author,  who  was  a  very  remarkable  man.  No 
mean  mathematician,  he  was  an  excellent  teacher 
of  his  subject  (we  ourselves  knew  one  of  his 
pupils);  he  was  an  expert  in  formal  logic;  an 
antiquarian  and  humorist  like  \\"alter  Scott,  a 
scholar  and  a  wit  like  Sydney  Smith.  (His  digres- 
sion, ii.  22,  suggested  by  the  paradox  of  the 
moon's  rotation,  is  so  like  an  essay  by  Sydney 
Smith  that  if  candidates  in  an  examination  on 
English  literature,  were  given  a  selected  passage 
from  it,  and  asked  to  name  its  author,  the  intelli- 
gent ones  would  be  very  likely  to  ascribe  it  to 
S.  S.,  that:imperishable  ornament  of  the  English 
Church).  Handicapped  by  that  wretched  name 
Augustus,  he  made  it  one  of  the  few  exceptions 
to  a  general   rule^-      Like    Augustus   among  the 

1  In  i.  4  Kleckerrnanno  should  be  Keckermanno  ;  C/.  means  Claro,  and 
shouldhave  been  translated  (the  reference  appears  to  be  to  Bartholomew  K.)  : 
next  p.,  veritate  should  be  veritaii;  gitamvis  eo  nomine  non  multuat 
gratiae  iniverit  means  "although  he<K.)  has  not  found  much  favour  on 
ihat  score";  i.  7  "  unproyoked  "  /.  "unproved";  (i  )  13  /.  "  \fercfiant 
Taylors'";  73  (end)  /.  "the  Moors  that  we  see  (amon?  ourselves)"';  104 
/.  prave  (i\\f  passage  is  from  Phaedrus)  ;  127  "work"  /.  "word";  175, 
"Tom  Sheridan  "  means  the  only  '^on  of  the  playwright  (R.  B.  S.).  and  there 
are  no  chronological  difficulties  about  the  story,  whether  it  be  true  or  not  ; 
194  the  reference  is  to  Thomas  Bowdler  and  his  famous  edition  of  Shakespeare  ; 
204  1  he  book  referred  to  is  the  "  Trigonometry  and  Double  Algebra";  241 
Fevilo  m'ans  Oliver  Byrne  {p.  L  329)  ;  299  SIow  =  Slough,  and  printing  "  Hr. 
Heirschel  at  Slow  "  would  have  made  things  clearer;  302  for  "  qnib  " 
/.  "squib."  In  ii.  2.  /.  "I  had  no  need  for  that  h^-pothesis  " — t"  render 
aval's  by  "have"  misrepresents  Laplace;  4  (end)  "  sorest "  is  probaWy  a. 
misprint  for  "  worst  ";  15  (top)  for  "At  least  " /.  "  At  last  "  ;  31  'L'  should 
be  'L(with  '  foTth''  spr'ri/us  as^er);  the  new  editor  has  spoiled  the  joke, 
such  as  it  is;  Tt.PaJisees,  I.  Penu'es;  136  f«.)  "condemned "  shrnid  be 
'■thought  negligible";  166  a  crtt  <&t'>»jV=  "  fancied  himself  obliged."  and 
gratuitetnent^  '  fj3itxi\loti%\y'  ';  225  (end)  the  second  "  goals "  should  t-e 
'•  gaols  "  :  and  "  sums  '  (just  above   should  be  "  sum." 


7« 


NATURE 


[March  23,  1916 


Roman  Emperors,  he  was  distinguished  by  his 
all-round  ability  and  common-sense ;  a  lover  of 
peace,  he  conquered  whenever  he  fought,  and  was 
clement  to  the  vanquished.  In  his  quotations  and 
references  he  is  not  always  exact,  but  he  is  emin- 
ently trustworthy.  If  he  cites  a  tag  from  Horace 
(often,  undoubtedly,  from  memory)  it  generally 
agrees  with  some  respectable  text ;  if  he  says 
that  such-and-such  a  book  was  published  at  such- 
and-such  a  place  at  such-and-such  a  date,  his 
information  is  pretty  sure  to  be  substantially  accu- 
rate {e.g.,  take  the  case,  i.  66),  because  he  knew 
the  trouble  caused  by  "  slipslop  "  references. 

His  weakest  point  was  a  passion  for  acrostics, 
anagrams,  et  hoc  genus  onine ;  he  simply  cannot 
resist  the  chance  of  airing  it,  as  when  he  says 
about  the  theory  of  gravitation  that  for  Newton  it 
was  not  new,  but  he  ivent  on.  One  of  the  many 
puzzles  of  the  "  Budget  "  appears  on  the  title-page 
in  the  form  : — < 

"UT  AGENDO  SURGAMUS,  ARGUENDO  GUSTAMUS." 
PTOCHODOKIARCHUS  ANAGRAMMATISTES. 

His  own  explanation  of  the  motto  is  on  i.  138-9. 
One  of  his  friends  seems  to  have  shared  his  ana- 
grammania ;  but  for  this,  and  his  reference  to 
him  as  a  "powerful  mathematician,"  we  should 
have  had  little  hesitation  in  ascribing  this  ana- 
gram to  De  Morgan  himself.  Even  yet  we  have 
some  inclination  that  way,  because  "powerful  "  is 
ambiguous,  even  when  applied  to  a  mathemati- 
cian ;  and  De  Morgan  was  no  weakling,  either  in 
the  physical  or  in  the  metaphysical  sense.  Pto- 
chodokiarchus  looks  like  a  misprint  (or  slip  of  the 
pen)  for  Ptochodochiarchus ,  because  there  is  a 
rare  Greek  word,  nTw\o8oxf'iov,  which  appears  to 
mean  some  sort  of  charitable  institution.  Thus 
the  term  might  be  applied  to  the  master  of  a  work- 
house, or  the  Governor  of  Chelsea  Hospital ;  but 
neither  of  these  officials  is  likely  to  be  a  "power- 
ful mathematician  "  in  the  ordinary  sense. 

Here  the  demon  of  anagram  (  =  the  man  of  A. 
De  Morgan)  suggests  to  us  that  Augustus  De 
Morgan  =  August  Sugar-demon;  but  this  is  mere 
child's  play  with  sugar-plums,  and  we  prefer  A 
snug  modest  augur,  one  that  (to  revive  an  old 
pun)  is  never  a  bore. 

It  is  a  disgrace  for  any  mathematician  not  to 
know  of  the  existence,  and  general  object,  of  the 
"  Budget,"  and  in  writing  this  review  we  have  acted 
on  that  assumption  throughout.  But  to  a  reader 
in  sympathy  with  the  author,  this  book  ought  to  be 
what  Burton's  "Anatomy"  was  to  Samuel  John- 
son :  the  one  work  that  would  make  him  get  out  of 
bed  before  he  intended.  To  take  only  a  few 
examples  :  we  have  references  to  aviation  (ii.  9  : 
here  Prof.  Smith  has  a  touching,  appropriate,  and 
illuminating  comment,  "The  notes  on  this  page 
were  written  on  the  day  of  the  funeral  of  Wilbur 
Wright,  June  i,  1912,  the  man  who  realised  all 
of  these  prophecies,  and  then  died  a  victim  of 
municipal  crime— of  tyohoid  fever  ") ;  to  wood- 
pulp  paper;  to  plans  for  a  universal  language 
(i.  116);  to  the  Improbability  of  Christians  sinking 
their  differences  (ii.  23),  which  suggests  to  De 
Morgan  "  the  floor  of  the  bottomless  pit " ;  to  the 
NO.    2421,   VOL.   q7] 


science  (as  we  may  fairly  call  it  now)  of  meteoro- 
log"y ;  to  the  duties  of  an  editor  (of  a  journal  or  a. 
book,  as  the  case  may  be). 

A  friend  of  ours  has  expressed  the  opinion  that 
no  account  of  De  Morgan  is  complete  without 
some  reference  to  his  controversies  with  Sir 
William  Hamilton  (of  Edinburgh).  This  is  not  the 
occasion  for  attempting  to  give  a  complete  ac- 
count of  De  Morgan ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  in  this 
matter  he  generously  buried  the  hatchet,  and  that 
when  he  twits  his  opponent  with  discovering  two 
things  which  are  identical,  yet  one  is  greater  than 
the  other,  he  refers  to  the  famous  theory  of  the 
quantification  of  the  predicate. 

There  are  one  or  two  cases  where  the  editor 
has  given  us  no  information,  although  a  comment 
would  have  been  valuable  and  easily  supplied. 
One  of  the  features  of  this  edition  is  that  it  gives- 
us  two  portraits  of  De  Morgan  (both,  apparently, 
reproduced  from  photographs).  We  are  not  told 
what  the  originals  were,  or  the  age  of  the  sitter 
on  each  occasion.  In  the  preface  to  the  former 
edition  Mrs.  De  Morgan  refers  to  omissions  made 
by  herself  from  the  text  as  it  appeared  in  the 
Athenaeum.  Among  these  is  a  "rather  large" 
one  on  a  quarrel  about  the  telescope  at  Campden 
Hill,  and  Mrs.  De  Morgan  looks  forward  to  its 
insertion  in  a  future  edition.  We  have  not  been 
able  to  find  it  in  this  one;  indeed,  there  is  no 
evidence  that  Prof.  Smith  has  consulted  the 
Athenaeum   at   all. 

One  other  case  will  appveal  to  all  who,  like  us, 
regard  University  College,  London,  as  their  real 
alma  mater.  De  Morgan  says,  "  Some  of  the 
pupils  of  University  College,  in  which  all  sub- 
divisions of  religion  are  (1866;  were,  1867)  on  a 
level,"  The  reader  might  infer  that  the  original 
charter  of  U.C.  had  either  been  altered  or  in- 
fringed. This  is  not  so;  the  fact  is  that  an 
eminent  Unitarian  candidate  for  a  chair  was 
rejected,  and  De  Morgan  chose  to  think  (rightly 
or  wrongly)  that  this  was  due  to  religious  preju- 
dice, though,  of  course,  no  such  reason  was  ever 
admitted  by  the  electors. 

We  conclude  with  a  quotation  from  the  "  Budget  '*" 
which,  at  any  rate,  is  opportune,  and  we  fear 
has  by  no  means  lost  its  point  (i.  289). 

"So  far  as  Mr.    Goulburn  was  concerned,  the- 
above  was  poetic  justice.      He  was  the  minister 
who,  in  old  time,  told  a  deputation  of  the  Astro- 
nomical Society  that  the  Government  did  not  care  j 
twopence    for    all    the    science    in    the    country."" 
Later  on,  De  Morgan  says  (1866,  or  so),   "  Mat-  , 
ters    are    much    changed  " ;      thanks      in     great  j 
measure,  we  may  add,  to  that  German  and  Eng-  j 
lish   patriot,   the   Prince   Consort.      But   are  they  j 
now  (1916)?  and  if  so,   how?     We  have  seen  it' 
stated  in  print,  and  not  contradicted,  that  one  of ; 
our   Government's    experiments    in    economy   has{ 
been  to  shut  up  the  library  of  the  Patent  Office — l 
the  one  first-class  scientific  library  in  London  to' 
which  everyone  has   access,   though   it  is  hidden! 
in    a   corner,    and   few     there    be    that     find    it.  i 
"  Patriots "   are   for  tabooing   every  book   in  thej 
German  tongue,  though  if  we  could  get  all  theiri 
latest  books  and  papers  on  chemistry,  and  a  first- 


March  it,,  191 6] 


NATURE 


79 


rate  chemist  to  study  them,  we  might  spoil  the 
Egyptians  indeed.  England's  contempt  for 
science,  against  which  all  who  know  have  been 
protesting  for  a  generation,  will,  if  not  amended, 
bring  her  down  in  sorrow  to  the  ground,  whatever 
the  issue  of  the  present  war,  which  will  be  fol- 
lowed by  one  of  much  greater  intensity,  for  which 
the  weapons  will  be  forged,  not  by  hands,  or 
machines,  but  by  brains.  G.  B.  M. 

PHARMACOLOGY. 
A    Manual   of  Pharmacology.     By   Prof.    W.    E. 
Dixon.      Fourth  edition.       Completely  revised. 
Pp.  xii  +  467.   (London:  Edward  Arnold,  1915.) 
Price  155.  net. 

PROF  DIXON'S  well-known  and  popular 
manual  needs  no  recommendation  at  this 
stage  of  its  career.  It  shows  on  every  page  the 
methods  of  an  experienced  and  enthusiastic 
teacher  and  skilled  demonstrator,  and  it  has 
played  no  small  part  in  the  change,  which  is  trans- 
forming the  teaching  of  pharmacology  in  this 
country,  from  a  rather  profitless  recital  of  materia 
medica,  doses,  preparations,  and  conventionally 
defined  actions,  into  the  reasoned  presentation  of 
a  progressive,  experimental  science.  The  new 
edition  retains  the  good  qualities  of  its  prede- 
cessors, and  gains  by  additions  to  the  admirable 
series  of  charts  and  mechanical  records  which 
illustrate  the  argument. 

It  must  be  confessed,   however,   that  in   some 
•directions    the    new    edition    scarcely    seems    to 
justify  its  prefatory  claim  to  have  been  so  largely 
rewritten     "that    it     almost    constitutes     a    new 
volume."     The  last  sentence  of  the  preface,   in- 
deed,   suggests  that   Prof.    Dixon's   intended   re- 
vision may  have  suffered  some  forced  interruption 
— as    well    might    happen    at    a    time    when    all 
I    scientific    enterprise  is    liable    to   curtailment    by 
j   more  urgent  national  duties.     The  introduction  of 
I  certain  new  sections  has  not  improved  the  scheme 
•of  classification — always  a  difficulty  to  the  writer 
'    a  pharmacological    text-book.     For   example, 
I  short  section  on  "Drugs  increasing  the  excre- 
tion of  uric  acid,"  now  finds  itself  stranded,  as  it 
I  were  by  accident,  in  the  midst  of  a  chapter  deal- 
I  ing    with    action    on    nerve-endings.        This    and 
similar    anomalies    convey    the    suggestion    of    a 
I  somewhat  hurried  shuffling  of  the  sections. 

But  the  arrangement  of  the  material  is  a  minor 
matter,     and    we    attach     more     importance,     as 
I  evidence    that    the    writer's    intentions    have    not 
j  been  fully  carried  out,  to  the  apparent  absence  of 
j_any  addition  to,  or  revision  of,  the  sections  deal- 
ing with  some  of  the  remedial  agents,   in  regard 
'  which  knowledge  has  most  conspicuously  ad- 
_anced  since  the  previous  edition  was  published. 
The  use  of  salvarsan,   for  example,   had   scarcely 
passed   beyond   the   experimental  stage   in   1912 ; 
and  the  statement  that  "  arsenobenzol  is  certainly 
not  free  from  danger,  and  a  considerable  number 
of  deaths  have  followed  its  injection,"  was  then  a 
justifiable  caution.     But  this  same  statement  does 
not  adequately    summarise   the   experience   avail- 
able m   1915.     The  discovery  of  the  significance 
NO     2421,   VOL.    97] 


of  emetine,  in  the  treatment  of  amoebic  dysentery 
by  ipecacuanha,  was  probably  too  late  for  in- 
clusion in  the  1912  issue;  but  it  might  reason- 
ably be  expected,  under  normal  conditions,  that 
an  extensively  rewritten  edition,  appearing  in 
191 5,  would  make  some  reference  to  this  very 
important  advance.  Yet  the  statement  of  the 
third  edition,  that  ipecacuanha  "has  also  a  great 
reputation  in  the  treatment  of  tropical  dysentery, 
but  its  mode  of  action  is  unknown,"  appears  in 
the  fourth  edition,  without  modification  or  addi- 
tion ;  and  we  scarcely  suppose  that  the  author  in- 
tended to  leave  it  so. 

In  the  section  on  serum  therapy,  again,  we 
had  expected  to  find  some  reference  to  antimen- 
ingococcus  serum,  and  to  the  immune  serum 
against  the  dysentery  bacilli.  Both  can  now  show 
practical  results  second  only  to  those  of  the  anti- 
toxic sera,  and,  if  want  of  space  were  the  trouble, 
we  would  willingly  have  forgone  in  their  favour 
the  section  on  the  doubtful  antistreptococcic 
serum,  or  even  what  seems  to  us  a  not  very 
illuminating  attempt  to  explain  antitoxin-forma- 
tion by  an  analogy  drawn  from  ferment  action. 

We  take  comfort  from  the  conviction  that  a  fifth 
edition  will  soon  be  on  the  way,  and  we  may  be 
allowed  to  hope  that  a  calmer  state  of  the  general 
atmosphere  will  give  the  author  unhampered 
opportunity  for  dealing  with  those  sections  of  his 
volume,  which  he  has  apparently  been  obliged  to 
pass  over  in  the  edition  under  review.  Mean- 
while we  wish  the  text-book  a  continuance  of  its 
well-deserved  popularity,  with  student  and  teacher 
alike. 

OUR    BOOKSHELF. 
The    Wheat   Industry   for    Use   in   Schools.       By 

N.    A.    Bengtson   and    D.    Griffith.      Pp.    xiin- 

341.        (New     York:      The     Macmillan     Co.; 

London:     Macmillan    and     Co.,     Ltd.,     1915) 

Price  3s.  net. 
This  book  is  the  first  of  a  new  series  called  the 
Industrial  Series,  which  is  designed  to  make  use 
of  industrial  studies  in  education.  The  justifica- 
tion urged  for  such  a  course  is  that  these  subjects 
afford  useful  information,  come  into  line  with 
vocational  training,  and  stimulate  interest  and 
clear  thinking. 

Beginning  with  an  account  of  the  wheat  plant 
and  the  types  in  common  cultivation,  the  authors 
pass  on  to  the  methods  by  which  man  has  suc- 
ceeded in  growing  wheat  in  enormous  areas  all 
over  the  globe.  Old  and  new  ways  are  both 
described,  and  the  development  from  the  early 
primitive  forms  to  the  present  elaborate  machinery 
is  carefully  traced  out.  After  harvesting  and 
threshing  come  transportation  and  storage,  and 
the  reader  is  taken  behind  the  scenes  and  shown 
the  workings  both  of  small  and  large  elevators  in 
their  various  ramifications ;  as,  for  example,  how 
country  roads,  wheat  crops,  and  farm  and  elevator 
storage  are  all  intimately  linked  with  business 
operations  and  social  questions  generally.  Next 
comes  an  interesting  chapter  on  the  factors  in 
wheat  production  and  the  interaction  of  climate. 


8b 


f^^ATURE 


[March  23,  1916 


soil,  insect  and  fungoid  pests,  the  size  of  farms, 
and  the  use  of  machinery,  etc. 

The  last  section  of  the  book  deals  with  the 
different  wheat-producingf  countries.  Australia 
is  described  first,  then  the  Argentine,  and  next 
the  United  States,  which  has  a  larger  wheat  pro- 
duction than  any  other  country  in  the  world ;  then 
follows  an  account  of  Canada,  finally  of  the  Euro- 
pean and  Asiatic  wheat-producing  countries. 

The  illustrations  are  well  chosen  and  add  con- 
siderably to  the  value  of  the  book.  Altogether 
it  makes  a  very  interesting  volume,  which  we  put 
down  with  the  feeling  that  the  authors  have  done 
their  work  well  and  produced  something  that  will 
be  of  much  value  to  teachers.  E.  J.  R. 

Post-Mortem  Methods.  By  Prof.  J.  Martin 
Beattie.  Pp.  viii  +  231.  (Cambridge:  At  the 
University  Press,  1915.)  Price  105.  6d.  net. 
It  is  now  generally  recognised  that  the  diagnosis 
and  scientific  treatment  of  disease  must  be  based 
on  a  sound  knowledge  of  the  abnormal  conditions 
present  in  the  various  organs  and  tissues  in  cases 
of  disease. 

Such  knowledge  can  only  be  obtained  in  the 
post-mortem  room,  and  it  is  very  important  that 
the  examinations  should  be  conducted  system- 
atically and  by  some  routine  method  of  procedure. 
The  object  of  the  author  of  this  book  has  been  to 
set  out  a  definite  method  of  procedure,  and  such 
modifications  of  this  procedure  which  may  be 
demanded  by  special  circumstances.  We  think 
that  Prof.  Beattie  has  successfully  accomplished 
these  aims ;  the  book  is  thoroughly  practical  with- 
out being  too  full  of  detail,  and  the  scheme  of 
examination  suggested  is  a  sound  one.  A  chap- 
ter is  included  on  post-mortem  examination  for 
medico-legal  purposes,  and  another  on  the  exam- 
inations required  in  the  various  diseases ;  in  this 
reference  is  made  to  the  principal  tropical  maladies. 
Finally,  in  an  appendix  a  summary  is  given  of  the 
methods  employed  for  the  preparation  of  museum 
specimens,  the  preparation  of  tissues  and  sections 
for  microscopical  examination,  and  of  bacteriologi- 
cal culture  media  and  stains.  The  book  is  illus- 
trated with  eight  half-tone  plates  and  some  figures 
in  the  text.  R.  T.  H. 

The    Y ear-Book    of    the    Scientific    and    Learned 
Societies   of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.      Com- 
piled    from     official     sources.       Pp.     viii  +  351. 
(London:   Charles  Griffin  and  Co.,  Ltd.,   1915.) 
Price  ys.   6d.   net. 
This  thirty-second  issue  of  a  very  useful  annual 
work    of    reference    will    be   welcomed    by    many 
workers  in  science.      We  notice  the  inclusion  of 
several   new  societies,   and   these  additions   serve 
to    increase    the   value    of    the    year-book.      The 
particulars    given    about    the    British    Association 
run  to  some  eighteen  pages,  but  they  refer  to  the 
Australian   meeting  of  August,   1914,   no   account 
of    the    proceedings    of   the    Manchester    meeting 
Ikst   September  being   included,    though   the   par- 
ticulars  have  long   been   available.     The   volume 
deserves   a  place   among   the   reference   books   in 
every   scierttlfic  library. 

NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

The   Liesegang   Phenomenon   and   Concretionary 
Structure   in   Rocks. 

The  curious  formations  illustrated  were  produced 
during  some  experiments  made  to  support  a  sugges- 
tion that  the  Liesegang  phenomenon  might  be  attri- 
buted to  adsorption  {Science  Progress,  x.,  369,  19 16). 
The  tubes  contained  15  c.c.  of  i  per  cent,  agar  gel,  in 
which  small  quantities  of  either  liver  of  sulphur  or 
manganese  sulphate  had  been  dissolved,  and  were 
treated  with  10  c.c.  of  a  standard  solution  of  the  other 
reagent.  Particularly  in  the  case  of  the  gels  contain- 
ing the  polysulphides,  the  resulting  stratification 
differed  from  that  hitherto  observed,  in  that  many  of 
the  zones  were  separated  into  a  number  of  concre- 
tions, which  in  some  instances  were  joined  by  rods  to 
those  of  the  succeeding  zone.     The  concretions  were 


Fig.  I. 


Fig. 


all  sharply  defined;  the  indistinctness  of  Fig.  2  is  due 
to  their  being  imbedded  in  the  gel.  The  peculiar 
structure  may  be  due  to  the  presence  in  the  gel  of 
small  nuclei  in  the  shape,  of  deposited  sulphur, 
or  possibly  to  the  composite  character  of  one 
of  the  solutes.  The  separate  spheroids,  once  started, 
would  gro^v  by  adsorption  in  the  same  way  as  the 
solid  strata.  To  determine  the  exact  conditions  of 
their  formation  requires  further  investigation,  but  it 
should  be  possible  to  repeat  the  experiment  with  the 
carbonates  of  calcium  and  magnesium. 

The  structures  appear  closely  to  resemble  the  con- 
cretionary limestones  described  bv  Sedgwick  (Trans. 
Geol.  Soc.  (2),  iii.,  18.^5),  Garwood  {Geol.  Mag., 
(3),  viii.,  1891),  Abbott  (Q.  J.  Geol.  Soc,  lix.,  190.1), 
and  others.  Indeed,  certain  specimens,  which  Mr. 
Abbott  kindly  showed  me,  appeared  identical  in  detail 
with  the  formation  of  Fig.  3.  To  one  who  is  not  a 
geologist  it  is  difficult,  at  first  sight,  to  refuse  the 
conclusion  that  similar  causes  have  been  at  work  in 
each  case.  Silicic  acid  gels  are  known  to  occur  in 
nature.  A  gel  may  contain  as  little  as  i  per  cent,  of 
silica.  Should  solutions  of  calcium  and  magnesium 
salts  come  into  contact  with  a  dilute  silicic  acid  gej, 
containinc:  alkali  carbonates,  under  the  proper  condi- 


March  23,  19 16] 


NATURE 


81 


tions,  it  seems  probable  that  sqch  calcareous  forma- 
tions, beneath  a  stratified  layer,  would  result.  The 
solutes  in  the  gel  and  in  the  water  might,  of  course, 
be  interchanged.  Since  the  limestone  would  be  denser 
than  the  gel,  the  proportion  of  silica  contained  in  the 
formations  would  be  reduced  to  a  ver}-  small  figure. 
The  unaffected  gel  would  shrink  by  loss  of  water- with 
time,  and  might  eventually  be  washed  away  by  the 
action  of  water  containing  alkali  carbonates  in  which 
hydrated  amorphous  silica  is  readily  soluble. 

The  zonal  structure  of  some  of  the  concretions  them- 
selves might  be  ascribed  to  the  effect  of  different  rates 
of  adsorption  of  the  mixed  solutes  in  the  gel.  In  the 
layer  immediately  surrounding  the  growing  concretion 
one  of  the  solutes  would  be  exhausted  first,  allowing 
the  deposition  of  pure  carbonate.  By  the  time  the 
second  solute  had  been  completely  extracted  from  the 
envelope,  the  precipitation  of  the  first  might  have 
recommenced,  and  so  on.  The  effect  of  the  adsorp- 
tion on  the  concentrations  of  the  solutes  would  be  felt 
at  some  distance  from  the  adsorbing  centres ;  so  that 
different  spheroids  might  be  formed  in  regions  of 
different  concentration.  Moreover,  the  concentrations 
of  the  solutes  would  gradually  decrease  as  precipita- 
tion proceeded.  This  would  account  for  the  varying 
composition  of  the  concretions.  None  of  the  argu- 
ments quoted  by  Prof.  Garwood  {\oc.  cit.)  against  the 
stalactitic  theory  of  the  origin  of  these  formations 
apf)ears  to  be  incompatible  with  an  adsorption  hypo- 
thesis. S.   C.    BUADFORD. 

The  Science  Museum,    South  Kensington, 
London,  S.W.,  March  9. 

International  Latin. 

•  The  small  band  of  scientific  men  who  have  long 
been  convinced  that  in  Latin  we  have  at  hand  the 
best  possible  universal  language  for  scientific  purposes 
will  be  gratified  to  note  the  matter  has  recently  come 
to  the  tore  in  your  columns,  though  the  regrettable 
cause  be  the  death  of  an  eminent  man.  The  urgent 
need  of  an  international  medium  of  scientific  com- 
munication has  by  now  become  sufficiently  obvious, 
and  has  led,  not  only  to  the  advocacy  of  Esperanto,  but 
to  the  manufacture,  mainlv  in  Germany  and  by  typic- 
ally German  methods,  of  yet  another  "  language," 
understood  to  be  specially  aimed  at  scientific  require- 
ments. 

It  seems  desirable  to  point  out  some  of  the  advan- 
tages of  Latin  as  a  latter-day  antidote  to  the  curse 
of  the  Tower  of  Babel.  These  may  briefly  be  classi- 
fied into  the  facts  :  (i)  that  Latin. is  to  a  large  extent 
"on  the  spot";  (2)  that  it  lends  itself  quite  as  well 
to  the  purpose  in  question  as  any  living  tongue ;  and 
(3)  that  it  is  a  language,  a  vehicle  of  thought  and 
style  and  expression,  as  distinct  from  a  shorthand 
written  in  longhand  characters. 

(i)  Do  not  let  us  be  influenced  by  the  notion  that 
Latin  is  a  stone-dead  language.  Written  and  spoken 
it  survives  to  this  day  in  the  Roman  Catholic  world. 
Pharmacy  has  never  given  up  the  use  of  it.  Within 
living  memory  the  debates  of  the  Hungarian  Diet 
were  held  in  Latin,  and  in  many  Continental  universi- 
ties dissertations,  scientific  and  other,  were  couched 
in  Latin,  the  use  of  which  remains  optional  even  at 
the  present  time.  The  flame  has  indeed  died  down, 
but  there  are  smouldering  embers  waiting  for  the 
whiff  that  will  kindle  it  anew. 

The  vitality  of  Latin  stands  on  a  far  surer  founda- 
tion, however,  than  one  or  two  picturesque  survivals. 
Is  not  a  greater  or  less  knowledge  of  Latin  the  hall- 
mark of  every  man  having  some  claim  to  education, 
whatever  his  nationality?  Our  traditional  school 
system  of  teaching  Latin  would  no  doubt  have  to  be 
modified  if  readiness  in  the  use  of  Latin  as  a  medium 
NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


of  communication  were  .the  object  aimed  at  (which  at 
present  it  is  not) ;  but  even  as  things  are,  1  venture 
to  think  that  most  of  us  would  find  the  refurbishing 
and  readjusting  of  whatever  Latin  we  learnt  at  school 
not  nearly  so  difficult  as  might  at  first  blush  be  sup- 
posed. Knowledge  acquired  in  early  youth  is  a  re- 
markably tenacious  thing.  Furthermore,  it  is  impos- 
sible for  an  educated  man  ever  to  shake  off  a  certain 
familiarity  with  Latin,  owing  to  the  persistence  of 
Latin  words  and  phrases,  and  of  words  derived  from 
Latin,  in  everyday  language. 

(2)  The  priricipal  requisite  of  a  language  for  scien- 
'  tific  purposes  is  that  it  should  be  capable  of  rendering 

a  wide  range  of  concepts  both  clearly  and  concisely. 
!  All  those  modern  languages  which  have  been  brought 
into  the  service  of  science  perform  the  task  of  accurate 
I  presentation  on  the  w-hole  adequately.     One  reason  for 
I  this — possibly  the  chief  reason — is  that  scientific  litera- 
!  ture  is  thickly  larded  with  words  and  phrases  of  common 
I  international  acceptation,  and  these,  we  may  note,  are 
mainly  of  Latin  or  Greek  origin.     They  will  fall  into 
their  places  with  the  utmost  sweetness  when  Latin  is 
revived.     As   for   conciseness,    English,   with  the  sim- 
plicity   of    its    inflexions   and    constructions,    perhaps 
bears  the  palm,  but,  it  may  be  feared,  rather  at  the 
expense  of  clearness.     The  very  terseness  of  English 
often    seriously    hampers    the   writer   or    speaker    who 
would  avoid  ambiguity.     Hence  the  somewhat  richer 
grammar   of  Latin   is   not   really   in   the   nature   of  a 
defect,  and  in  an}'  case  Latin  composition  makes  con- 
siderably  less    demand   on    the    grammatical    memory 
than  German  or  Russian. 

Is  Latin  sufficiently  adaptable  to  modern  scientific 
needs?  Surely,  yes.  Repeatedly  Latin  has  risen  ad- 
mirably to  the  occasion  when  applied  to  a  precise  and 
highly  technical  subject;  one  need  only  think  of  Jus- 
tinian's "Code"  and  Newton's  "Principia."  A  great 
number  of  new  terminological  vocables  would,  of 
course,  have  to  be  added  to  the  limited  Latin  of 
classical  times,  but  to  assign  the  proper  form,  in- 
flexions, and  connotation  to  these  words  would  be  an 
easy  task  for  an  international  committee,  and  would 
incidentally  have  a  most  beneficial  effect  in  the  direc- 
tion of  clearing  scientific  parlance  generally.  Chem- 
istr}',  it  may  be  mentioned,  possesses  a  ready-made 
Latin  terminology,  handed  on  through  the  centuries 
by  the  pharmacists. 

(3)  The  question  must  be  faced  whether  we  want 
an  international  language,  like  Latin,  or  an  inter- 
national Pidgin,  like  Volapuk,  Esperanto,  Ido,  etc. 
I  plead  confidently  for  the  former.  A  true  language 
cannot  be  made  to  order;  it  must  be  evolved.  The 
various  w^ll-meant  attempts  at  artificial  "  languages," 
each  fully  conscious  of  its  predecessors'  infirmities,  can 
only  be  regarded  as  a  succession  of  experiments — 
tending  to  what?  We  may  expect  further  attempts  as 
time  goes  on,  attempts  yet  more  poverty-stricken,  yet 
more  remote  from  the  least  approach  to  amenity,  and 
yet  more  incapable  of  expressing  anything  but  bald 
facts.  The  logical  outcome  of  the  series  would  doubt- 
less be  something  not  essentially  different  from  the 
system  of  algebraical  signs,  chemical  formulae,  and 
arithmetical  figures,  which  we  already  have. 
Language,  on  the  other  hand,  enables  us  not  only  to 
state  facts,  but  to  modulate  the  statements  of  facts, 
to  exchange  views,  to  express  personality,  and  so  on. 
Language,  moreover,  has  in  itself  the  power  of  stimu- 
lating understanding  and  imagination,  much  as  the 
savour  of  food  stimulates  its  digestion.  Science  cannot' 
dispense  with  notation,  but  no  more  can  it  dispense 
with  language.  And  if  anyone  doubts  that  Latin  is 
equal  to  any  modern  tongue  in  these  ampler  character- 
istics of  language,  let  him  but  read  his  classics. 

The  scientific  world,  then,  may  do  well  to  consider 
seriouslv  the  revival   of   Latin     as    an    international 


82 


NATURE 


[March  23,   1916 


medium,  and  to  do  so  before  it  is  hustled  into  the 
acceptance  of  some  factitious  brew  of  sounds  and 
letters.  The  universal  language,  in  fine,  need  not  be 
laboriously  sought  for.  It  has  been  with  us  all  the 
time,  like  a  neglected  tool  that  we  have  only  to  clean 
of  its  rust  and  sharpen.     Let  us  no  longer  neglect  it. 

W.  A.  Caspari. 


CHEMICAL  ORGANISATION  IN  GERMANY 
DURING    THE    WAR. 

VERY  soon  after  the  outbreak  of  war  steps 
were  taken  in  Germany  to  org-anise,  control, 
and  develop  the  supply  and  manufacture  of  the 
materials  necessary  for  chemical  industry,  especi- 
ally that  part  of  it  most  closely  connected  with 
the  manufacture  of  munitions  of  war. 

The  first  interesting  sign  of  this  internal  activity 
was  the  fusion,  on  August  8,  1914,  of  the  two 
great  industrial  associations,  the  Zentralverband 
deutscher  Industriellen  and  the  Bund  der  Indus- 
triellen,  under  the  title  Kriegsauschuss  der 
deutschen  Industrie  (War  Committee  of  German 
Industry). 

The  next  step  was  the  formation  of  a  large 
number  of  organisations  and  Zentralstellen,  the 
function  of  which  was  the  collection,  control,  and 
regulated  distribution  of  the  whole  existing  stock 
of  war  materials  and  crude  products  necessary  for 
industry,  especially  in  its  relation  to  war.  Thus 
were  formed  the  Kiiegsmetall  Aktiengesellschaft 
and  the  Kriegschemikalien  Aktiengesellschaft. 
Before  the  end  of  1914  no  fewer  than  twenty-eight 
such  Zentralstellen  had  been  formed,  each  dealing 
with  a  different  kind  of  material  or  product.  One 
has  also  been  formed  in  Brussels  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  stock  of,  and  collectingf,  the  available 
material  found  in  Belgium.  It  is  interesting  to 
n^te  that  the  German  technical  journals  state  quite 
openly  that  the  Belgian  stocks  improved  in  many 
respects  the  condition  of  German  industry,  which 
had  been  somewhat  shaken  at  the  outset. 

But  in  spite  of  this  centralisation  of  control  and 
supply,  it  appears  that  a  good  many  difficulties 
have  had  to  be  surmounted.  Although  large 
stocks  of  Chilian  nitrate  had  been  collected  before 
the  war,  the  question  of  the  supply  of  nitric  acid 
was  seen  to  be  of  vital  importance.  It  appears 
that  the  Ostwald  catalytic  oxidation  process  (im- 
proved by  Haber),  which  had  been  carried  on 
before  the  war  by  the  Badische  Anilin-  und  Soda- 
fabrik  at  Ludwigshafen  (and  also  by  another  com- 
pany at  Vilvorde  in  Belgium),  probably  on  a 
comparatively  small  scale,  has  been  very  largely 
extended.  The  commercial  possibility  of  this 
depends,  of  course,  on  the  fact  that  the  Badische 
company  had  already  developed  on  an  enormous 
scale  the  synthetic  production  of  ammonia  initiated 
by  the  researches  of  Haber  and  Le  Rossignol. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  too,  that  the  manu- 
facture of  nitric  acid  from  the  air  had  been  already 
developed  in  Austria  by  Pauling.  Possibly  this  or 
similar  processes  (e.g.,  Schonherr-Hessberger) 
have  been  extended  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  A  significant  fact  is  that  the  Griesheim- 
Elektron  Company,  which  had  started  some 
NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


years  ago  the  manufacture  of  nitrogen  peroxide 
in  Switzerland,  greatly  extended  these  works 
after  the  outbreak  of  war,  and  sent  the  product  in 
liquid  form  to  Germany.  Nitrogen  peroxide  is  the 
"  raw  material  "  for  the  manufacture  of  synthetic 
nitric  acid.  It  also  makes  quite  good  "poison 
gas."  It  appears  that  the  nitrogen  peroxide  was 
allowed  to  pass  through  easily,  as,  no  doubt,  a 
harmless  substance  like  that  was  not  of  any 
importance. 

In  order  to  make  matters  quite  sure,  the  German 
authorities  forbade  the  use  of  nitrates  in  agri- 
culture. E.  Haselhoff  published  an  extensive 
paper  giving  the  relative  values  as  manure  of  a 
large  number  of  substitutes  for  nitrate.  Ammon- 
ium sulphate  was  recommended  as  of  equal  value, 
especially  if  put  relatively  deep  into  the  soil,  and 
preferably  during  autumn  rather  than  spring.  The 
value  of  urea  and  guanidine  and  their  compounds- 
was  also  considered,  and  close  attention  was  given 
to  calcium  cyanamide,  which  is  produced  in  large 
quantities  in  Germany.  As  regards  phosphates, 
which  are  so  important  for  manure,  attention  was. 
directed  to  the  deposits  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Li^ge  and  Mons,  and  to  the  phosphorites  of  the 
Rhine  and  Lahn  districts;  also  to  Thomas  phos- 
phate slag. 

In  connection  with  the  use  of  calcium  cyan- 
amide,  the  Prussian  Department  of  State  for  Agri- 
culture issued,  at  the  beginning  of  1915,  a  circular 
asking  for  rapid  solutions  of  the  following^  prob- 
lems, namely  :  (i)  Determination  of  the  value  of 
calcium  cyanamide  as  manure,  at  the  different 
seasons,  for  different  soils,  and  for  different  crops. 
(2)  Improvements  in  its  Streufdhigheit  (capability 
of  being  strewn  or  spread). 

For  the  first,  three  prizes  of  150?.,  looZ.,  and  50L 
were  offered.  For  the  second  problem  a  prize  of 
500Z.  was  offered  for  the  devising  of  a  new  pro- 
cess, and  another  prize  of  500/.  if  the  process  be 
adopted. 

The  Germans  appear  to  have  been  obliged  tO' 
take  great  precautions  to  avoid  a  shortage  of 
sulphuric  acid.  In  time  of  peace  Germany  obtains 
about  80  per  cent,  of  her  supply  from  outside, 
mainly  from  Belgium,  where  it  is  obtained  as  a 
by-product  in  the  roasting  of  sulphide  ores  (zinc, 
lead,  iron).  But  this  source  must  have  been  prac- 
tically stopped,  in  spite  of  the  occupation  of  Bel- 
gium, since  the  ores  treated  in  Belgium  come 
mainly  from  Spain,  North  Africa,  America,  and 
Australia.  The  employment  of  sulphur  can 
scarcely  be  feasible,  unless  Germany  has  suc- 
ceeded since  the  outbreak  of  war  in  obtaining* 
sufficient  supplies  from  Italy  and  America. 
Swedish  ores  can,  however,  be  handled,  especially 
by  means  of  mechanical  roasters.  There  are  alscr 
the  Norwegian,  Hungarian,  and  Styrian  ores  to 
be  reckoned  with.  There  are,  however,  many 
evidences  that  the  employment  of  sulphuric  acid 
has  been  put  under  the  strictest  control  and  super- 
vision. 

The  question  of  substitutes  for  wheat  and  rye 
in  the  manufacture  of  bread  has  been  very  widely 
discussed.     Amongst  the  substitutes  or  additions. 


March  23,  1916] 


NATURE 


83 


suggested  may  be  mentioned  barley,  potatoes, 
blood,  sugar,  etc.  Many  prominent  specialists 
{e.g..,  Zuntz,  Robert,  Thiele,  Neumann,  Stokola) 
have  written  articles  discussing  the  relative  nutri- 
tive powers  of  various  types  of  "composite  "  bread. 
Besides  the  new  factories  for  synthetic  ammonia 
and  nitric  acid,  there  is  evidence  that  factories 
have  been  installed  for  the  manufacture  of  alu- 
minium hydroxide  and  aluminium,  but  no  details 
have  been  published ;  though  it  is  claimed  that 
new  methods  of  working  have  surmounted  the 
•difficulty  caused  by  the  want  of  French  bauxite. 

In  spite  of  Germany's  enormous  production  of 
zinc,  the  refining  of  the  crude  metal  had  not  been 
practised  to  any  considerable  extent  before  the 
war.  It  is  stated  that  this  is  now  an  established 
industry  in  Germany. 

Suggestions  have  been  made  to  avoid  the  use 
of  sulphuric  acid  in  the  manufacture  of  hydro- 
chloric acid  by  producing  the  latter  directly  by 
the  direct  combination  of  electrolytic  hydrogen 
and  chlorine.  In  order  to  save  sulphuric  acid 
C.  Bruder  has  proposed  to  extract  copper  from 
poor  ores  by  the  use  of  alkaline  solutions. 

Acetic  acid  is  a  very  important  substance,  as 
it  is,  for  example,  the  source  of  acetic  anhydride, 
THonochloroacetic  acid,  and  acetone,  which  are  in- 
•dispensable  for  the  manufacture  of  drugs,  dyes, 
and  explosives. 

As  the  American  supply  of  grey  acetate  is  now 
iailing,  suggestions  have  been  made  to  prepare 
acetic  acid  from  acetaldehyde  obtained  from 
acetylene.  There  appears  to  be  no  shortage  of 
carbide,  which  is  still  coming  freely  from  Norway 
and  Switzerland. 

Fatty  oils  and  fats  are  indispensable,  and 
■Germany  is  bound  to  obtain  a  large  amount 
irom  abroad.  The  Germans  have  expressed 
their  satisfaction  that  the  fatty  oils  solidi- 
fied by  the  Xormann  process  have  been  allowed 
to  pass  freely  in,  and  have  commented  on  the 
"  fairness  "  of  England  in  this  respect.  Stupidity 
would  be,  perhaps,  a  better  word.  A  large 
amount  appears  to  enter  through  neutral  countries. 
Thus,  according  to  statistics  of  Norwegian  trade, 
published  by  the  Chemiker  Zeitung  of  August  4, 
1915,  the  export  of  fatty  oils  from  Norw^ay  in  1913 
was  348  tons,  whereas  in  1914  it  had  risen  to 
2009  tons.  The  shortage  of  fats  and  oils  is 
obvious,  however,  from  papers  such  as  that  pub- 
lished by  Bechhold,  where  it  is  suggested  that  all 
the  fats  which  disappear  down  the  kitchen  sinks 
of  Germany  should  be  recovered,  the  quantity 
being  calculated  to  be  about  one  and  a  half  million 
pounds  per  diem  in  Germany  alone. 

As  regards  the  production  of  hydrogen  gas,  no 
doubt  for  war  purposes,  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  a  single  firm,  Karl  Francke,  in  Bremen,  has 
erected  eight  new  factories  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  each  of  which  has  a  daily  output  of 
60,000  cubic  metres  (more  than  two  million  cubic 
feet). 

During    the    naphtha    shortage,   caused  by  the 
Russian     occupation     of    Galicia,     alcohol     came 
somewhat  mto  use  as  a  liquid  fuel. 
XO.    2421,   VOL.   gyl 


In  connection  with  the  use  of  chlorine  as  a 
poison  gas,  it  is  interesting  to  observe  the  regular 
appearance  in  the  Chemiker  Zeitung,  from  May 
29,  1915,  onwards,  of  an  advertisement  asking  for 
the  delivery  of  250,000  kilos  of  liquid  chlorine. 
Also  in  different  issues  of  the  same  journal,  during 
the  month  of  July,  191 5,  there  are  advertisements 
asking  for  the  rapid  delivery  of  complete  plants 
for  chlorine  liquefaction.  Interesting  also  in  this 
connection  are  requests  for  delivery  of  large  quan- 
tities of  bromides,  dated  December  9,  1914,  and 
March  10,  1915.  There  are  also  requests  for 
liquid  sulphur  dioxide  (January  30,  1915)  and 
liquid  hydrogen  chloride  (April  14,   191 5). 

The  Chemiker  Zeitung  (vol.  ii. ,  p.  738,  1915) 
contains  a  reference  to  an  article  by  Prof.  Leo 
Vignon,  of  Lyons,  comparing  the  proportional 
numbers  of  chemists  in  Switzerland,  Germany, 
France,  and  England  in  comparison  with  their 
respective  populations.  The  relative  numbers 
given  are :  Switzerland,  300 ;  Germany,  250 ; 
France,  7;  England,  6.  No  doubt  the  low 
"chemical  density"  in  France  and  England  is  a 
source  of  undeniable  satisfaction  to  the  readers  of 
the  Chemiker  Zeitung.  The  figures  are  certainly 
astonishing,  and  we  would  commend  them  to  the 
attentive  consideration  of  British  chemical  manu- 
facturers. A  perusal  of  the  German  journals 
dealing  with  the  industrial  aspects  of  chemistry 
gives  the  impression  that  there  is  a  pretty  severe 
censorship  as  regards  publication,  for  little  can 
be  gathered  concerning  the  most  vital  points. 

In  conclusion  I  desire  to  express  my  best  thanks 
to  Dr.  F.  Schwers,  of  the  University  of  Li^ge, 
who  has  rendered  me  valuable  aid  in  the  collec- 
tion of  such  information  as  it  has  been  possible 
to  obtain.  F.  G.  Donnan. 


ECONOMIC  GEO  LOG  Y.  1 
T^HE  exploitation  of  the  mineral  resources  of  this 
-»•  country,  previous  to  the  war,  was,  apart 
from  the  ordinary  fluctuations  due  to  variations  in 
supply  and  demand,  governed  almost  entirely  by 
the  cost  of  production  as  compared  with  that  of 
importation.  Materials  required  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  many  articles,  in  some  cases  even  muni- 
tions of  war,  were  bought  in  the  cheapest  market, 
with  the  result  that  certain  minerals  ceased  to  be 
worked,  not  because  the  supply  was  exhausted, 
but  because  they  could  not  be  produced  at  a  profit ; 
whilst  others  which  had  recently  acquired  an  eco- 
nomic importance  were  not  even  diligently 
searched  for. 

With  the  outbreak  of  war  the  inconvenience  of 
this  policy  became  painfully  manifest,  and  it  is 
not  surprising  to  learn,  from  the  Director's  preface 
to  the  first  of  these  "special  reports,"  that  numer- 
ous inquiries  were  made  at  the  Geological  Survey 
Office  as  to  the  occurrence  in  Britain  of  various 
materials  for  the  supply  of  which  dependence  had 

1  Memoirs  of  the  Geological  Survey.  Special  Reports  on  th«  Mineral 
Resources  of  Great  Britain.  Vol.  i.,  Tunesten  and  Manganese  Ores. 
Pp.  iv-f  50.  Price  ix.  Vol.  ii.,  Barytes  and  Witherite.  Pp.  iv+93.  Price 
ts.  dd.  Vol.  iii.,  Gyptsomand  Anhydrite  :  Celestine  and  Stronlianite.  Pp. 
iv+57.     Price  w.    (London  :  H.M.S.O.;  E.  Stanford,  Ltd. 


84 


NATURE 


[March  23,  1916 


been  placed  on  imports.  To  meet,  the  situation  it 
was,  therefore,  determined  to  issue,  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  a  series  of  memoirs  on  special  subjects, 
l^or  this  purpose  the  Geological  Survey  was  well 
equipped.  In  the  course  of  their  normal  work, 
that  of  surveying  the  country  first  on  the 
one-inch  and  then  on  the  six-inch  scale,  they  had 
acquired  and  recorded  in  the  maps  and  memoirs 
relating  to  special  districts  a  large  amount  of 
information  as  to  the  mineral  resources  of  the 
country.  But  this  information,  except  in  the 
case  of  a  few  substances,  such  as  oil-shales 
and  china-clays,  was  not  readily  available  to 
those  interested  in  particular  minerals.  The  pre- 
paration of  these  memoirs,  therefore,  consisted  in 
collecting  the  information  which  is  scattered 
through  the  various  local  publications  extending 
over  a  period  of  sixty  or  seventy  years,  and  in 
supplementing  this,  so  far  as  time  would  permit, 
by  special  investigations  in  districts  where  the 
minerals  in  question  occur. 

Three  memoirs  have  now  been  published.  The 
first  deals  with  ores  of  tungsten  and  manganese, 
the  second  with  barytes  and  witherite,  and  the 
third  with  gypsum  and  anhydrite,  celestine  and 
strontianite.  The  same  general  plan  is  followed 
in.  each  case.  The  introductory  chapters  deal 
briefly  with  the  composition,  properties,  and  uses 
of  the  substance,  with  the  rise  and  progress  of  the 
industry  in  this  country,  and  wath  statistics  of 
production.  Then  follows  the  most  valuable  part 
from  the  practical  point  of  view,  namely,  that 
which  deals  with  the  mines  or  quarries  from  which 
the  minerals  are  or  have  been  produced,  and  also 
with  occurrences  which  have  not  yet  been  com- 
mercially exploited.  Take  as  an  illustration  of 
the  method  of  treatment  the  case  of  tungsten.  Its 
principal  ore,  wolfram,  usually  occurs  in  associa- 
tion with  cassiterite,  from  which  it  is  not  easily 
separated.  Previous  to  the  discovery,  in  compara- 
tively recent  times,  of  the  use  of  the  metal  in  the 
manufacture  of  high-speed  steel  and  filaments  for 
electric  lamps,  wolfram  was  regarded  as  a  nuis- 
ance by  tin-miners.  It  was  thrown  away  on  the 
dumps,  and  caused  the  abandonment  of  several 
Cornish  mines,  some  of  which  have  been  reopened 
in  recent  years  in  consequence  of  improved 
methods  of  dressing  the  mixed  ore  and  of  the 
value  of  what  was  formerly  a  w^aste  product. 

In  the  special  part  of  this  memoir  the  mines, 
whether  abandoned  or  working,  in  which  ores  of 
tungsten  occur  are  individually  described.  In  the 
case  of  each  mine  the  locality  is  indicated,  not 
only  by  name,  but  also  by  reference  to  the  one- 
inch  and  six-inch  maps  and  to  latitude  and  longi- 
tude. When  the  name  only  of  an  old  mine  is 
given  it  is  often  extremely  difficult  to  fix  its 
precise  locality,  but  by  this  method  all  difficulty  is 
removed.  In  the  case  of  abandoned  mines  the 
old  records  have  been  examined,  and  all  available 
information  is  given  as  to  the  course  of  the  lodes, 
their  content  in  wolfram  and  other  minerals,  and 
their  relation  to  the  surrounding  rocks.  In  the 
case  of  mines  now  being  worked  the  information 
on  these  points  has  been  brought  up  to  date,  and 
is,  of  course,  much  more  complete.  The  position 
NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


of  each  mine  in  relation  to  roads  and  railways  is 
given,  and,  when  information  is  available,  its  con- 
dition as  regards  water.  From  the  above  state- 
ment it  will  be  seen  that  the  requirements  of  the 
practical  man  have  been  supplied  so  far  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  three  memoirs  already  published  have  been 
produced  by  the  existing  staff  of  the  Geological 
Survey,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  several  of 
its  members  are  serving  with  the  Army  in  various 
capacities.  In  view  of  the  urgency  and  import- 
ance of  this  kind  of  work,  some  of  which  has 
direct  reference  to  the  war,  we  venture  to  ask 
whether  it  would  not  be  advisable  to  increase  the 
output  by  utilising  the  services  of  unofficial  geolo- 
gists ? 

We  congratulate  the  Director  and  his  staff 
on  the  excellence  of  these  memoirs,  and  on  the 
rapidity  with  which  they  have  been  brought  out; 
and  we  hope  that  it  will  not  be  long  before  they 
are  followed  by  others  of  a  similar  character. 

COLONEL    SIR    CHARLES    ]VATSON, 
C.B.,  K.C.M.G.,  R.E. 

^1  fE  regret  to  record  the  death  of  Colonel  Sir 
*  *       Charles  Watson,  in  London  on  March  15, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-one. 

Sir  Charles  Watson  was  the  son  of  William 
Watson,  a  well-known  civil  engineer  of  Dublin, 
and  he  distinguished  himself  in  mathematics  and 
modern  languages  at  Trinity  College.  In  1863. 
he  entered  the  Royal  Military  Academy,  Wool- 
wich, at  the  head  of  the  list,  and  two  years  later 
was  commissioned  in  the  Royal  Engineers. 
Interested  in  the  scientific  side  of  his  profession, 
Watson  took  up  submarine  mining,  which  was 
then  a  new  branch  of  military  engineering,  and 
was  posted  to  the  first  submarine  mining  company 
in  1871.  About  this  time,  also,  he  interested 
himself  in  ballooning,  though  not  until  later  was 
this  branch  of  military  science  actively  developed. 

While  at  Chatham  he  came  under  the  notice  of 
General  Gordon,  who  invited  him  and  Lieut. 
Chippendale,  R.E.,  to  accompany  him  to  the 
Sudan.  They  travelled  with  General  Gordon  to 
Khartoum  and  thence  up  the  Nile  to  Gondokoro. 
Watson  carried  out  such  a  survey  of  the  White 
Nile  and  the  Bahr  el  Tebel  as  was  possible  from 
the  steamer,  and  his  work  was  a  great  advance 
on  the  earlier  maps  of  the  river.  From  1874  up 
to  igoo  his  work  was  the  basis  of  all  maps  of 
this  part  of  the  Nile's  course,  and  when  the 
opportunity  arose  for  a  new  survey  of  the  Bahr 
el  Tebel,  Watson's  observations,  made  tw-enty- 
seven  years  before,  were  of  great  value  in  deter- 
mining the  permanence  of  the  river  channel  and 
the  alterations  which  had  taken  place  in  its 
branches.  He  also  made  careful  meteorological 
observations  in  the  marsh  region,  and  measured 
a  discharge  of  the  Sobat  River  at  its  junction 
with  the  White  Nile.  Invalided  to  England  in. 
1875  he  was  again  in  Egypt  in  1882,  but  both 
then,  and  again  later  when  in  the  Egyptian  Army, 
military  duties  prevented  him  from  devoting  much 
of  his  time  to  scientific  work. 


March  23,  1916]] 


NATURE 


8^ 


AftOT  his  retirement  from  the.  Army,  in  1902, 
he  org-anised  the  British  Section  of  the  St.  Louis 
International  Exhibition  in  1904.  His  interest  in 
Eg^vpt  and  the  Sudan  never  waned,  and  in  1912 
the  latter  was  the  subject  of  an  address  which  he 
^ave  as  president  of  the  Geog-raphy  Section  of 
he  British  Association.  His  interest  in  the  East, 
and  in  the  scientific  study  of  it,  led  to  his  accept- 
ing the  presidency  of  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Fund  in  succession  to  his  friend  and  brother^ 
officer,  Sir  Charles  Wilson,  and  in  this  position 
he  not  only  supported  the  prosecution  of  scientific 
archaeology,  but  also  advanced  our  knowledge  of 
the  topography  of  southern  Palestine. 

Interested  in  metrology,  he  championed,  in  a 
work  on  the  subject,  the  cause  of  British  weights 
nd  measures  as  preferable  to  those  of  the  metric 
-vstem.  His  inquiries  into  the  various  standards 
of  length  led  him  into  an  interesting  bye-path  of 
history,  and  it  was  only  last  week  that  we  pub- 
lished a  paper  by  him  wherein  he  showed  the 
close  connection  of  our  present  standards  of 
length  and  area  with  the  old  Egyptian  and  Baby- 
lonian measures. 


NOTES. 


On  account  of  the  restrictions  imposed  by  the 
Government  on  the  importation  of  wood-pulp  and 
other  materials  used  in  paper  manufacture,  the  supply 
of  paper  has  been  compulsorily  reduced.  In  common 
with  other  periodicals,  we  are,  therefore,  under  the 
necessitj'  of  reducing  the  size  of  Nature  ;  and  we  ask 
the  indulgence  of  our  readers  for  the  cultailments 
which  must  be  made  while  the  limitations  of  paper- 
supply  exist.  It  is  particularly  desirable  that  all  con- 
tributors should  confine  themselves  to  essentials,  points 
of  prime  importance,  in  order  that  our  record  of  scien- 
tific work  and  events  may  still  be  as  extensive  as  pos- 
sible, though  it  must  necessarily  be  less  detailed.'  We 
trust  that  the  present  conditions  are  only  temporar}', 
and  need  scarcely  say  that  immediately  the  normal 
supply  of  paper  is  available  we  shall  revert  to  the  usual 
number  of  columns. 

The  London  Gazette  of  March  13  notifies  the  ap- 
pointment of  2nd  Lieut.  G.  I.  Taylor,  R.F.C.,  to  the 
temporary-  rank  of  Major  in  the  Royal  Flying  Corps, 
while  performing  the  duties  of  professor  of  meteoro- 
logy-. Major  Taylor  is  a  fellow  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  to  whom  the  Adams  prize  was  recently 
awarded.  He  is  the  author  of  the  valuable  report  on 
meteorology  in  the  voyage  of  the  Scotia,  undertaken 
for  the  Board  of  Trade.  Up  to  the  outbreak  of  war 
he  held  the  Schuster  readership  of  the  Meteorological 
Office  at  the  University-  of  Cambridge.  His  pre- 
decessor in  that  appointment  was  Mr.  E.  Gold,  now 
Commandant  of  the  Meteorological  Section,  R.E.,  who 
was  mentioned  in  Lord  French's  despatches,  and  has 
been  nominated  for  the  D.S.O.  The  professorship  of 
meteorology  to  which  Major  Tavlor  is  appointed  is  a 
new  establishment,  for  which  the'  Meteorological  Office 
IS  responsible,  for  instruction  and  special  researches 
in  the  structure  of  the  atmosphere  in  the  interest  of 
the  Royal  Flying  Corps. 

We  regret  to  see  the  announcement  of  the  death,  on 
March  16,  of  Lady  Kelvin  :  she  survived  bv  nine  vears 
her  husband,  who  died  on  December  17,  '1907.  Ladv 
Kelvm  (nee  Frances  Anna  Blandy)  was  a  daughter  of 
the  late  Charles  R.  Blandy,  one  'of  the  principal  resi- 
NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


dents  of  Madeira^  Lord  Kelvin,  then  Sir  William 
ITiomson,  first  met  her  during  one  of  the  submarine 
cable-laying  expeditions^  in  June,  1873.  The 
acquaintance  then  made  ripened  into  more  than 
friendship,  and  a  year  later  Sir  William  sailed  to 
Madeira  in  his  yacht,  the  Lalla  Rookh,  to  claim  Miss 
Blandy  as  his  wife.  They  were  married  on  June  24, 
1874,  and  sailed  back  in  the  yacht.  Early  in  August 
Ladv  Thomson  was  welcomed  into  the  circle  of  family 
relations  and  university  colleagues  at  Glasgow,  and 
directed  his  household  with  dignitj'-  and  grace.  She 
became  the  inseparable  companion  of  his  after  life,  and 
accompanied  him  not  only  in  his  many  summer  voyages 
on  his  yacht,  and  on  two  trips  to  the  United  States, 
and  on  visits  to  foreign  academies,  but  became  a  fami- 
liar figure  at  British  Association  meetings  and  other 
scientific  gatherings.  Soon  after  their  marriage  Sir 
W'illiam  and  Lady  Thomson  busied  themselves  over 
the  building  of  his  country  house,  "  Netherhall,"  near 
Largs,  in  Ayrshire,  the  scene  in  after  years  of  many 
family  reunions  and  of  extended  hospitalities.  It  was 
to  this  house  that  Lord  Kelvin  withdrew  when  he 
retired  in  1899  from  his  professorship  at  Glasgow ;  it 
was  there  that  he  died,  and  there  also  Lady  Kelvin 
has  died.  Lady  Kelvin  from  about  twenty  years  ago 
had  suffered  from  rheumatic  troubles,  and  was  accus- 
tomed to  pay  an  annual  visit  to  Aix-les-Bains  for  a 
course  of  treatment.  It  was  during  her  return  from 
that  resort  in  September,  1907,  that  she  was  struck 
down  by  a  severe  paralysis,  from  which  she  had  not 
recovered  when  Lord  Kelvin  died,  and  which  left  her 
infirm  for  the  rest  of  her  life,  which  she  spent  between 
the  home  at  Netherhall  and  the  residence  in  Eaton 
Place,  Belgravia,  which  Lord  Kelvin  had  taken  after 
his  elevation  to  the  peerage  in  1892.  Lady  Kelvin  was 
fond  of  society,  and  played  the  part  of  hostess  with 
stately  dignity.  She  was  president  of  the  West  of 
Scotland  Women's  Unionist  Association,  but  other- 
wise took  no  considerable  part  in  politics.  The  assidu- 
«ius  care  and  thought  with  which  she  devoted  herself  to 
Lord  Kelvin  during  his  declining  vears  are  known  to 
all. 

Dr.  D.  H.  Scott,  F.R.S.,  has  been  elected  a  foreign 
member  of  the  Royal  Swedish  Academy  of  Sciences,  in 
succession  to  the  late  Count  Solms-Laubach. 

The  anniverary  meeting  of  the  Chemical  Society  will 
be  held  on  Thursday,  March  30^  when  Dr.  Alexander 
Scott  will  deliver  his  presidential  address,  entitled 
"Our  Seventj"-fifth  Anniversars"." 

The  Right  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.  Bernard,  Archbishop  of 
Dublin,  has  been  elected  president  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy  in  succession  to  Prof.  J.  P.  Mahaffy,  Provost 
of  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 

The  Morning  Post  of  March  20  announces  that 
Thursday  last,  being  the  seventieth  birthday  of  the 
distinguished  Swedish  mathematician.  Prof.  M.  G. 
Mittag-Leffler,  he  and  his  wife  bequeathed  their  entire 
fortune  to  the  foundation  of  a  new  International  Insti- 
tute for  pure  mathematics. 

The  Secretary  of  the  War  Office  announces  that 
Surgeon-General  W.  Babtie,  V.C.,  has  been  appointed 
to  assist  Surgeon-General  Sir  A.  Keogh,  Director- 
General  Army  Medical  Services,  especially  in  the  work 
of  supervision  of  invaliding  and  all  questions  con- 
nected with  the  physical  fitness  of  the  troops  at  home. 

We  learn  from  the  American  Journal  of  Science  that 
Prof.  J.  C.  Moberg,  of  the  Universitj'  of  Lund, 
Sweden,  the  distinguished  palaeontologist  and  strati- 
grapher,  died  on  December  30,  rgis,  at  the  age  of 
sisU'-one  years.  His  scientific  work  related  in  the 
main  to  the  older  Palaeozoic  formations  of  Sweden. 


86 


NATURE 


[March  23,  1916 


Sir  Thomas  H.  Holland,  F.R.S.,  professor  of 
geology  and  mineralogy  in  the  University  of  Man- 
chester, has  been  appointed  chairman  of  a  Commission ' 
which  the  Government  is  forming  to  survey  the 
economic  resources  and  industrial  possibilities  of  India, 
with  the  view  of  promoting  business  enterprise  under 
the  changed  conditions  that  will  follow  the  restoration 
of  peace. 

The  death  of  Sir  Charles  Ball,  Bart.,  at  sixty-five 
years  of  age,  occurred  on  March  17  in  Dublin.  Sir 
Charles  Ball  was  honorary  surgeon  to  the  King  in 
Ireland,  and  regius  professor  of  surgery  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Dublin,  and  the  author  of  various  works 
on  surgery.  The  late  Sir  Robert  Ball  and  Dr.  Valen- 
tine Ball,  director  of  the  Dublin  Science  and  Art 
Museum,  were  his  elder  brothers. 

Miss  Gladys  Pott,  who  recently  visited  France 
with  a  party  of  working  women,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and  the  Board  of  Trade, 
will  give  an  account  of  her  experiences  at  a  meeting, 
organised  by  the  committee  of  the  Women's  Patriotic 
Bureau,  415  Oxford  Street,  to  be  held  at  the  Kensing- 
ton Town  Hall  on  Friday,  March  31.  H.R.H.  Prin- 
cess Christian  of  Schleswig-Holstein  has  consented  to 
be  present ;  and  the  chair  will  be  taken  by  the  Lady 
Wantage.  In  view  of  the  importance  at  the  present 
time  of  training  women  in  this  country  in  farm  work, 
and  of  interesting  scientific  agriculturists  In  the 
matter,  it  is  hoped  that  the  meeting  will  be  largely 
attended  by  people  disposed  to  assist  the  scheme. 

The  twenty-fifth  annual  report  of  the  council  of  the 
Institution  of  Mining  and  Metallurgy,  presented  at 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  institution,  held  to-day, 
shows  that  in  March,  19 15,  more  than  300  members 
of  the  institution  were  serving  with  H.M.  Forces. 
Since  then  the  number  has  been  more  than  doubled, 
and  it  now  represents  above  25  per  cent,  of  the  total 
membership.  The  membership  of  the  Institution  on 
December  31  last  was  2441,  as  compared  with  2492 
at  the  end  of  1914.  During  1915  thirty  members  of 
the  Institution  lost  their  lives  in  the  war.  Sir  Richard 
A.  S.  Redmayne  has  been  elected  president,  in  suc- 
cession to  Sir  Thomas  K.  Rose. 

Elizabeth  Lady  Lawrence,  whose  death  on  March 
18  we  record  with  regret,  only  survived  her  husband, 
the  late  Sir  J.  J.  Trevor  Lawrence,  by  a  little  more 
than  two  years.  She  shared  her  husband's  love  of 
plants  and  beautiful  flowers ;  and  at  their  country 
seat  at  Burford,  Dorking,  was  to  be  seen  one  of  the 
finest  private  collections  of  conspicuous  sorts,  as  well 
as  many  of  the  most  interesting  genera  and  species 
of  both  hemispheres.  Lady  Lawrence  continued  the 
long  and  honoured  association  of  Sir  Trevor  Lawrence 
with  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  and  recently 
took  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  the  fund  organised 
by  the  society  for  the  relief  of  ruined  Belgian  hor- 
ticulturists. She  was  also  keenly  interested  in  astro- 
nomy, and  had  a  wide  circle  of  scientific  friends,  all 
of  whom  will  long  mourn  her  death. 

With  the  approval  of  the  King,  Royal  medals  of 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society  have  been  awarded  as 
follows  : — ^The  Founder's  Medal  to  Lieutenant-Colonel 
P.  H.  Fawcett,  for  his  explorations  and  surveys  on 
the  upper  waters  of  the  Amazon ;  and  the  Patron's 
Medal  to  Capt.  F.  M.  Bailey,  Indian  Army,  for  his 
exploration  of  the  Tsangpo-Dihang  river  in  the  hitherto 
almost  unexplored  country  where  It  breaks  through 
the  Himalayas.  Other  awards  adjudged  by  the  coun- 
cil of  the  society  are  : — Murchlson  award  to  Lieut. - 
Colonel  Whitlock,  R.E.,  for  his.  work  In  connection 
with  the  delimitation  of  the  Yola-Chad  boundary  In 
1903-5,  and  the  Yola  Cross  river  boundary  in  1907-9 ; 

NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


the  Back  award  to  Mr.  Frank  Wild,  second  In  com- 
mand of  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton's  transcontinental  Ant- 
arctic Expedition,  for  his  distinguished  and  long-con- 
tinued services  in  the  exploration  of  Australia ;  the 
Cuthbert  Peek  award  to  Mr.  F.  KIngdon  Ward  for  his 
several  enterprising  journeys  in  the  frontier  regions 
between  China  and  Burma,  and  to  assist  him  in  the 
further  exploration. of  those  regions;  the  Gill  Memo- 
rial to  Lieut. -Colonel  E.  M.  Jack,  R.E.,  for  his  dis- 
tinguished service  in  the  delimitation  and  demarcation 
of  the  Uganda-Congo  boundary. 

The  American  Museum  Journal  for  January,  which 
has  just  reached  us,  contains  a  very  interesting  article 
by  Messrs.  Clark  Wissler  and  Herbert  Spinden,  on 
the  Pawnee  human  sacrifice  to  the  morning  star. 
According  to  the  authors,  the  "  historic  home  of  the 
Pawnee  was  Nebraska."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
Pawnee  belonged  to  the  very  considerable  Shoshone- 
Pawnee  family,  whose  range  was  much  wider.  But, 
be  this  as  It  may,  the  authors  have  brought  together 
some  extremely  useful  facts  in  regard  to  the  occasional 
sacrifice  by  these  people  of  a  young  girl,  always  a 
prisoner  of  war.  This  was  a  religious  observance,  and 
the  captive  was  treated  as  a  goddess,  till  the  day  of 
the  sacrifice.  The  custom  seems  to  have  come  from 
Mexico,  where  prisoners  of  war  were  similarly  treated, 
but  in  this  case  the  victims  were  males.  The  authors 
give  a  very  complete  account  of  what  is  known  of 
these  ceremonies,  and  to  this  they  add  a  number  of 
most  excellent  illustrations. 

The  Museums  Journal  for  March  very  properly  re- 
prints the  recent  discussion  in  the  House  of  Lords  on 
the  closing  of  museums,  thereby  affording  those  who 
are  concerned  with  the  conduct  of  such  Institutions  a 
convenient  source  of  reference  to  this  epoch-marking 
event.  For  we  have  in  this  the  measure  of  the  value 
our  rulers  set  upon  the  scientific  work  of  the  country. 
We  talk  much  of  the  education  of  the  "masses,"  but 
It  is  now  abundantly  evident  that  the  "educated" 
have  still  much  to  learn.  Many  of  the  speakers 
during  that  debate  seemed  to  be  under  the  impression 
that  the  mental  equipment  attained  at  Eton  suffices 
to  meet  all  the  demands  of  later  life.  Though  some 
of  the  speakers  were  actually  trustees  of  the  British 
Museum,  yet  they  displayed  neither  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  the  work  of  that  institution,  nor  of  museums 
In  general. 

The  flora  of  the  Maltese  Islands  was  first  studied  in 
1827-31  by  Prof.  Stefano  Tesaga,  and  in  his  "Florae 
Melitensis  Thesaurus  "  he  enumerated  635  species  of 
Phanerogams,  489  of  which  were  natives  of  the  Islands. 
Then  followed  Delicata's  "Flora  Melitensis,"  with  an 
enumeration  of  726  species  of  flowering  plants,  and 
this  formed  the  most  complete  account  of  the  Maltese 
flora  up  to  the  present  time.  It  Is  true  that  further 
additions  to  the  flora  have  been  made  from  time  to 
time  since  then,  noticeably  by  Dr.  A.  C.  Gatto,  Mr. 
J.  F.  Duthie,  E.  Armltag'e,  and  Col.  M.  J.  Godfrey. 
Finally,  Dr.  Sommier.  the  well-known  Florentine 
botanist,  explored  the  flora  in  1906  and  1907,  and  at 
that  time  arranged  with  Dr.  A.  C.  Gatto  to  write  a 
new  flora  of  Malta,  which  was  published  in  Italian 
at  Florence  at  the  close  of  last  year,  under  the  title  of 
"  Flora  Melitensis  Nova."  We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  G. 
Gambin,  of  Malta,  for  bringing  this  work  to  our 
notice,  and  also  for  an  interesting  review  by  Dr.  J. 
Borg  which  appeared  recently  in  the  Daily  Malta 
Chronicle.  The  new  flora  consists  of  500  pages,  and 
Includes  916  species  of  Phanerogams  and  vascular 
Cryptogams,  78  Mosses,  18  Hepatics,  183  Lichens, 
296  Algae,  and  499  Fungi.  The  flora  on  the  whole  is 
closely  related  to  the  Sicilian,  though  many  plants  are 
also  found  In  North  Africa.  There  are  also  a  few 
interesting  endemic  species. 


March  23,  19 16] 


NATURE 


«7 


The  third  part  of  "The  Useful  Plants  of  Nigeria," 
forming  Additional  Series  No.  ix.  of  the  Kew  Bulletin, 
has  just  been  published.  This  part,  consisting'  of 
pp.  343-536,  includes  the  families  Rubiaceae  to  Labiatae 
inclusive,  and  deals  in  detail  with  the  plants  of 
economic  value  contained  in  those  families.  The  pub- 
lication is  a  valuable  companion  volume  to  the  "Flora 
of  Tropical  Africa,"  also  emanating  from  Kew,  and 
stands  to  the  flora  in  a  similar  position  as  does  Sir 
George  Watt's  classic  ''Dictionary  of  the  Economic 
Products  of  India  "  to  the  "  Flora  of  British  India." 
Now  that  the  "Flora  of  Tropical  Africa"  is  nearing 
completion,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  publication  of 
the  final  part  of  this  useful  complementary  volume 
dealing  with  the  economic  plants  will  not  be  long 
delayed.  One  of  the  most  valuable  features  in  "The 
Useful  Plants  of  Nigeria "  is  the  list  of  references 
cited  at  the  end  of  each  species,  which  appears 
to  be  well-nigh  exhaustive  in  every  case.  The  present 
part  contains  accounts  of  various  rubber-yielding 
plants,  tobacco,  coffee,  teak,  Achras  Sapota — the  source 
of  chicle  gum — etc.  With  regard  to  this  latter  pro- 
duct, as,  indeed,  is  the  case  with  many  other  plants 
of  economic  importance,  botanists  are  not  yet  certain 
as  to  the  exact  species  or  variety  of  tree  which  yields 
the  commercial  article.  This  publication  is  not  onlv 
of  value  for  our  West  African  colonies,  but  is  of  great 
use  at  home  as  a  source  of  information  about  the 
economic  possibilities  of  tropical  Africa. 

P.  PoRSiLD  describes  in  Meddelelser  om  Gronland, 
vol.  li.,  p.  253,  the  measures  that  have  been  taken  to 
establish  nature-reserves  for  plants  in  western  Green- 
land, and  he  quotes  a  notice-board  written  in  the 
Eskimo  language,  which  is  in  itself  good  evidence 
of  the  spread  of  civilising  influences. 

In  Physis  (the  journal  of  the  Sociedad  Argentina  de 
Ciencias  Naturales)  for  November  lo,  19 15,  F.  Pastore 
describes  some  of  the  basalts  that  cover  an  enormous 
area  in  the  plateau-land  of  Patagonia.  At  the  base 
of  the  flows,  which  appear  to  have  possessed  great 
fluidity-,  tube-like  vesicles  have  sometimes  arisen, 
parallel  to  one  another  and  several  centimetres  in 
length.  This  is  clearly  the  same  structure  as  that 
which  gave  rise  to  the  "  pipe-amygdaloids "  of  the 
British  Isles  In  the  same  number,  in  reference  to 
a  notice  that  appeared  in  Nature  of  April  22,  19 15, 
It  IS  pointed  out  that  R.  S.  Lull  decided  against  the 
proboscidean  nature  of  Pyrotherium  before 'fullv  con- 
s^denng  the  characters  of  a  skull  described  bv  Loomis. 
\^.  Ameghino  afterwards  urged  the  importance  of  the 
o-anial  features,  and  Physis  hopes  that  Prof.  W.  B. 
^cott  will  now  state  his  opinion  of  them. 

Prof.  H.  F.  Osborn  has  contributed  to  a  new  part 
of  the  Annals  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences 
•^01.  xxvi.,  pp.  215-315)  an  exhaustive  review  of  the 
neistocene  formations  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  northern 
Atnca.  with  full  references  to  the  recent  literature  of 
tne  subject.  It  is  written  in  the  same  stvle  as  his 
well-known  volume  on  "The  Age  of  Mammals,"  and 
may  be  regarded  as  a  revision  and  extension  of  the 
Kleistocene  chapter  of  that  work,  with  the  addition 
ot  new  discoveries.  A  glance  at  this  review  make.<5  it 
possible  to  realise  how  difficult  is  the  interpretation 
01  tne  local  superficial  deposits  on  which  alone  our 
^rfJ^  ?f  .°^  ^^^  ^^*"*  P«"°<i  of  geological  time  is 
.n  fu  n,  *^  ^^'■'^«ly  surprising  that  geologists'  views 
Jr^i  ^^l^istocene  glaciation  of  the  northern  hemi- 
sphere are  very  varied. 

^J^  ^^^  °J  submerged  wire  drags  towed  bv  two 
l;d?r.Ki  ^  ',  °''^-  ^'?tance  from  one  another  has  con- 
sSile  chLt'^  I-  '"  l"^^^^f  "&  the  accuracv  of  large- 
^caie  chart..     Experience  has  shown,  again"  and  again, 

NO.    2421,    VOL, 


97] 


that  even  in  the  most  carefully  sounded  seas  dangerous 
rocks  may  be  missed  and  only  found  by  a  ship  strik- 
ing. The  work  is,  of  course,  neither  necessary  nor 
applicable  in  deep  waters,  but  from  1906  onward  a 
large  amount  of  submarine  survey  has  been  accom- 
plished by  wire  drags  on  the  coast  of  New  England. 
The  value  of  the  method  and  the  cost  entailed  are 
discussed  in  a  paper  published  by  the  U.S.  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey  (Special  Publication  No.  29).  Several 
diagrams  show  the  apparatus  and  methods,  but  these 
were  described  in  detail  in  an  earlier  publication 
(No.  21).  In  order  to  ensure  that  the  bottom  wire 
is  at  the  right  depth  to  catch  all  obstructions,  it  is 
not  allowed  to  swing  free  in  a  single  sweep  from 
one  vessel  to  the  other,  but  is  suspended  from  a  line 
of  buoys.  And,  furthermore,  to  obviate  the  necessity 
of  the  buoys  being  ver\-  close  to  one  another,  and  yet 
to  prevent  the  line  sagging,  cedar  floats  are  attached 
to  the  line  between  the  buoys.  These  serve  to  balance 
the  weight  of  the  line.  The  nature  of  the  method 
only  admits  of  its  being  used  where  the  general  con- 
tours of  the  sea  bottom  have  already  been  determined 
by  sounding.  It  appears  that  on  the  coast  of  New 
England  the  wire  drag  has  disclosed  many  unsus- 
pected rocks  and  reefs. 

We  have  received  from  the  director  of  the  Royal 
Meteorological  Institute  of  the  Netherlands  a  set  of 
copies  of  the  De  Bilt  declination,  horizontal  force,  and 
vertical  force  curves  on  the  principal  days  of  magnetic 
disturbance  of  the  year  1913.  The  preparation  and 
circulation  of  such  curves  is  an  international  scheme, 
De  Bilt  serving  as  headquarters  for  the  selection  of 
the  days.  On  the  whole,  19 13  was  a  very  quiet  year 
magnetically,  and  none  of  the  selected  disturbances 
were  very  large.  They  include,  however,  several  in- 
teresting movements,  amongst  others  three  "sudden 
commencements."  The  curves  are  clearly  shown  on 
good  paper,  and  full  details  are  given  of  scale  values 
and  base-line  values. 

Messrs.  A.  Gallenkamp  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  announce 
the  issue  of  a  set  of  models  and  other  apparatus 
designed  with  the  view  of  facilitating  the  teaching  of 
military  science.  Four  of  these,  bearing  on  field  tele- 
phones, are  now  ready,  and  should  prove  of  service 
to  teachers  in  the  various  schools  and  colleges  in  which 
military  instruction  is  in  progress.  The  items  consist 
of  a  diagram-model  of  the  D  Mark  III.  telephone, 
arranged  so  as  to  show  the  working  and  adjustment 
of  the  buzzer,  models  of  the  receiver  and  transmitter, 
both  of  which  may  be  dissected,  and  a  board  showing 
the  correct  method  of  repairing  a  broken  line  in  the 
field.  The  tracing  of  circuits  and  the  arrangement 
of  windings  is  made  easy  bv  the  use  of  coloured  cords, 
and  an  examination  of  the  models  should  enable  a 
beginner  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  working  of  the 
various  parts.  Models  of  this  kind  should  be  found 
specially  useful  at  military  training  centres,  as  a  tele- 
phonist who  understands'  his  instrument  is  far  more 
trustworthy  than  one  whose  work  is  merely  automatic. 
Full  descriptions  of  the  models  are  contained  in  the 
circular  issued  by  the  firm. 

La  Nature  for  Februar\-  26  contains  an  illustrated 
description  of  the  Nice  automatic  public  telephone 
system,  which  has  been  in  operation  since  October, 
1913,  and  has  now  3000  subscribers.  The  subscriber 
wanted  is  called  up  by  the  sender  of  the  message 
without  the  intervention  of  anv  person  at  a  central 
office.  This  is  done  by  means  o'f  a  small  circular  disc 
with  numbered  holes  round  its  circumference  attached 
to  the  front  of  the  ordinary  telephone  box.  The 
sender  w;ho  wishes  to  ring  up,' say.  No.  2547,  on  taking 
down  his  receiver  is  automatically  connected  to  a 
selector  at  the  central  office.     On  inserting  his  finger 


88 


NATURE 


[March  23,  19 16 


in  the  hole  numbered  2  of  his  disc,  and  rotating  it  to  the 
stop  at  zero,  two  short  currents  are  sent  out,  which 
move  the  arm  of  the  selector  to  the  second  group  of  a 
thousand  subscribers.  A  repetition  of  the  rotation 
with  the  finger  in  the  hole  5  moves  the  arm  of  a 
second  selector  on  to  the  fifth  hundred,  and  so  on 
until  the  actual  subscriber  wanted  is  reached.  When 
the  receiver  is  hung  up  the  sender's  connection  with 
the  selectors  is  broken.  The  arrangements  of  the  cir- 
cuits of  the  selectors  are  shown  by  figures,  and  the 
author,  M.  E.  Goustet,  considers  an  automatic  system 
of  this  kind  the  only  solution  of  the  present  difficulty 
of  apportioning  the  blame  for  delays  between  the  sub- 
scriber and  the  personelle  of  the  exchange. 

In  the  Scientific  American  of  February  12  there  is 
an  account  of  an  invention  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Flowers  of  a 
new  phonetic  machine.  The  complete  apparatus  is 
still  at  an  experimental  stage,  but  much  has  been 
accomplished.  Mr.  Flowers  has  investigated  the 
physical  nature  of  whispered  sounds  lasting 
for  short  periods,  say,  the  i/5oth  of  a  second;  and 
as  a  recorder  he  makes  use  of  Einthoven's  string 
galvanometer,  acted  on  by  an  acoustical  transmitter. 
The  oscillations  of  the  galvanometer  were  all  photo- 
graphically recorded  on  a  revolving  drum,  and  it  is  found 
that  there  is  a  definite  form  for  each  whispered  sound. 
Thus  there  is'al ways  the  same  picture,  say,  for  the  sound 
B,  and  the  number  of  times  this  picture  is  repeated  in, 
say,  I /50th  of  a  sec. — /regwency— determines  pitch,  while 
amplitude  of  the  components  of  the  picture  determines 
intensity.  Thousands  of  experiments  have  been  made, 
and  thus  Mr.  Flowers  has  constructed  a  new  phonetic 
alphabet,  each  letter  of  which  has  always  the  same 
form  or  curve.  The  next  step  was  the  invention  of 
another  instrument  which  would  record  the  speech 
patterns,  not  as  sounds,  but  as  variations  in  intensity. 
This  is  accomplished  with  the  aid  of  sensitive  elec- 
trical resonators,  varying  in  pitch ;  these  act  on  a 
beam  of  light  which  vibrates  on  a  selenium  cell,  and 
the  sound  patterns  are  reproduced  by  varying  resist- 
ances acting  on  an  electrically-driven  pencil  and  drum. 
Sf>eech  sounds  ma}'  also  be  directly  recorded  in  this 
way,  without  the  use  of  the  string  galvanometer.  It 
is  this  part  of  the  apparatus  that  appears  to  be  incom- 
plete, but  it  is  said  that  the  record  so  obtained  "is 
fully  as  easy  to  decipher  as  that  of  a  siphon  recorder 
used  in  cable  telegraphy." 

Prof.  O.  D.  Chwolson,  in  a  paper,  "  Sur  les  poids 
atomiques,"  in  the  Bulletin  de  V Acadimie  Itnpdriale 
des  Sciences  (Petrograd),  discusses  the  numerical 
values  of  the  atomic  weights  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  part  played  by  the  number  4,  that  of  the  helium 
atom,  which  radio-active  change  has  shown  to  be 
an  integral  part  of  the  atoms  of  the  radio-active 
elements.  He  shows  that  the  number  of  elements 
approaching  the  value  /^n  is  one  and  a  half  times 
greater  than  those  approaching  the  value  4n  +  2,  where 
n  is  an  integer,  and  that  whereas  the  first  class  tend 
to  approach  the  whole  number,  the  second  class  tend 
to  avoid  it.  Considering  the  departure  of  the  atomic 
weights  from  whole  numbers  of  the  form  ^n  he  dis- 
covers a  preference  for  the  values  comprised  within 
o  and  ±05,  and  between  ±1  and  +1-5,  which  may  be 
attributable  to  the  presence  of  arl  atom  of  hydrogen. 

In  connection  with  the  University  of  Calcutta,  "  ex- 
tension lectures "  are  being  delivered,  and  that  on 
January  10,  by  Dr.  P.  C.  Ray,  the  dean  of  the  faculty 
of  science  of  the  University,  is  before  us.  The  lecture 
consists  of  a  brief  r^sumi  of  original  chemical  re- 
searches carried  out  in  Bengal  in  the  last  twenty 
j'ears,  and  as  an  appendix  a  list  of  126  papers  contri- 
buted   to    various    societies,     such     as     the     Chemical 

NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


Society,  Journal  of  the  American  Chemical  Society, 
and,  others,  is  given.  Some  of  these  papers  are  of 
very  considerable  value  and  interest,  and  indicate  en-. 
1  thusiastic  work  on  the  part  of  this  newly  created^ 
\  school,  which  is  mainly  due  to  the  example  and  work 
j  of  Prof.  Ray  himself.  Prof.  Ray's  first  published  work 
was  the  "  History  of  Hindu  Chemistry,"  written  about 
thirteen  years  ago,  in  which  he  showed  there  was  con-, 
siderable  scientific  spirit  and  also  more  or  less  empirical, 
work  amongst  the  ancient  Hindus,  as  indicated  in> 
their  religious  writings,  "Tantras,"  etc.,  written  in 
ancient  Sanskrit.  It  is,  of  course,  only  a  man  like 
Prof.  Ray,  well  acquainted  with  Sanskrit  and  with  ai 
thorough  knowledge  of  modern  chemistry,  who  could/ 
have  written  such  a  work.  In  this  book  Prof.  Ray 
deplored  the  decline  of  scientific  spirit  in  India,  and 
"  lamented  that  the  spirit  of  inquiry  had  died  out 
amongst  a  nation  naturally  prone  to  speculation  and 
metaphysical  studies."  He  now  writes: — "Little  did 
I  dream  that  in  the  course  of  a  decade  or  so  I  should 
have  to  revise  the  estimate  I  then  formed  of  the 
capacities  of  my  own  countrymen  and  chronicle  that  a 
bright  chapter  is  about  to  dawn  in  our  life-history." 
It  certainly  appears  from  the  present  activity  of 
original  chemical  research  in  Bengal  that  a  new  spirit 
is  abroad,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  will  quickly 
spread  over  the  remainder  of  India,  and  that  the  same 
spirit  of  research  will  embrace  all  the  other  sciences. 

The  Amateur  Photographer  and  Photographic  News 
have  just  issued  their  seventh  annual  "  Empire  Num- 
ber," an  enlarged  number  that  appeals  espetially  to 
the  Colonies  and  Overseas  Dominions  and  those  in  this 
country  who  seek  a  more  intimate  relationship  with 
them.  It  is  well  illustrated,  and  includes  contribu- 
tions, both  pictorial  and  literary,  from  Africa,  Aus- 
tralia, India,  and  other  parts  of  the  British  Empire. 

A  NEW  and  revised  edition  of  Yarrell,  Newton,  and 
Saunders's  "  Historj'  of  British  Birds,"  edited  by 
W.  Eagle  Clarke,  is  in  course  of  preparation  for  pub- 
lication by  Messrs.  Gurney  and  Jackson.  The  late 
Mr.  Howard  Saunders  placed  all  his  collected  notes 
for  a  new  edition  of  the  work  at  Mr.  Eagle  Clarke's 
disposal.  A  feature  of  the  new  edition  will  be  a 
coloured  plate  of  each  species,  the  work  of  Miss  L. 
Medland. 

The  following  volumes  are  in  preparation  for 
Messrs.  Longmans  and  Co. 's  "Text-books  of  Physical 
Chemistry" — Electro-Chemistry,  partii..  Dr.   E.   B.   R. 

j  Prideaux ;      Practical     Spectrographic     Analysis,     Dr. 

I  J.  H.  Pollok;  Crystallography,  T.  V.  Barker.  For 
appearance  in  ihe  same  firm's  "Monographs  on  In- 
organic and  Physical  Chemistry"  the  following  are  in 
preparation  : — Electrolytic  Dissociation  Theory,  Dr. 
J.  C.  Philip;  The  Physical  Chemistry  of  Flames, 
J.  E.  Coates ;  Clays,  Dr.  J.  W.  Mellor ;  Catalysis  of 
Gas  Reactions,  D.  L.  Chapman ;  The  Electro- 
Chemistry  of  Non-Aqueous  Solutions,  J.  W.  McBain  ; 
Catalysis  in  Liquid  Systems,  Dr.  G.  Senter;  The 
Rare  Earth  Metals,  Dr.  J.  F.  Spencer;  Hydrates  in 
Solution,  Prof.  E.  A.  Washburn;  Adsorption,  V. 
Lefebure  and  A.  M.  Williams. 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Opposition  of  the  Minor  Planet  (4)  Vesta. — G. 
Stracke  has  calculated  an  ephemeris  for  this  planetoid 
for  the  period  including  the  coming  opposition  on  April 
15  (Circular  No.  502,  Astronomische  Nachrichten). 
Vesta  is  the  only  one  of  the  very  numerous  swarm  ^ 
of  lesser  planets  that  at  times  becomes  visible  to  the 
unaided  eye,  and  although  this  opposition  is  not  the 
most  favourable  possible,  yet  it  occurs  towards  peri- 


March  2^,  19 16] 


NATURE 


89 


helion,  and  the  apparent  stellar  magnitude  will  be  6-2. 
It  will  be  upwards  of  four  years  before  a  better  con- 
ditioned opposition  takes  place.  The  accompanying 
chart  shows  its  apparent  path.  After  about  March  26  its 
magnitude  does  not  appreciably  alter  during  the  period 
shown  on  the  chart.  The  positions  of  the  four  stars 
nearest  to  the  path  are  corrected  for  precession.     The 

PATH  OF  THE  Minor  Planet  Vesta. 


positions  and  mag-nitudes  of  the  stars  shown  are 
otherwise  taken  from  the  catalogue  of  naked-eye  stars 
prepared  by  Mr.  T.  W.  Backhouse.  Attention  is 
especially  directed  to  the  very  close  appulse  of  the 
planet  and  the  star  Flamsteed  78,  approximately 
during  the  early  morning  of  April  22. 

Spectroscopic  Observations  of  Comets  1913/ 
(Delavan)  and  1914b  (Zlatinsky). — N.  v.  Konkoly 
has  published  results  of  visual  spectroscopic  observa- 
tions of  these  comets  made  during  1914  {Astro- 
nomische  Nachriditen,  No.  4833).  The  spectra  of  b<bth 
were  particularly  bright,  and  presented  a  striking 
similarity.  The  sodium  D  line  w^as  seen  in  the  spectrum 
of  Delavan 's  comet.  The  mean  of  a  large  number  of 
settings  on  the  "bright  vellow  oearl,"  as  it  appeared 
on  September  30,  gave' A 589-6*.  Five  hydrocarbon 
bands  were  measured  in  both,  the  wave-lengths  for 
Delavan 's  comet  on  October  17  being  55954,  543-50, 
516-63,  48838,  and  47238.  In  Zlatinsky's  comet  the 
band  at  A  516  was  the  brightest,  the  relative  intensi- 
ties, from  the  red,  being  05,  02,  10,  04,  and  03. 

An  Atmospheric  Effect  of  Solar  Kathode  Rays. 
—Reference  was  made  in  this  column  on  October  28 
to  M.  J.  Maurer-s  observation  of  a  new  atmospheric 
optical  effect  synchronising  with  rapidly  increasing 
solar  activity.  M.  J.  Maurer  made  a  more  extensive 
contribution  to  the  Meteorologische  Zeitschrift  on  the 
same  subject,  and  attention  is  now  directed  to  an 
tnghsh  translation  of  this  appearing  in  the  U.S. 
Monthly  Weather  Review  (vol.  xUii.,  No   11) 


T 


MR.   WAX  LEVIXSTEIX 


HE  death,  in  his  seventy-first  year,  of  Mr.  Ivan 
Levmstein,  which  occurred  on  March  15,  at  his 
residence  at  Hale,  near  Manchester,  removes  a  con- 
spicuous figure  from  the  world  of  industrial  chemistry. 
He  went  to  Manchester  about  the  vear  1864  from 
tterlin  where  he  had  studied  chemistn-  at  the  Tech- 
nical High  School,  and  established  himself  in  business 
in  Ulackley  in  the  heart  of  the  dyeing  industry  of 
south-east  Lancashire,  as  a  manufacturer  of  aniline 
ayes  being  himself  not  only  his  own  actual  producer, 
but  his  own  salesman  also.  He  quicklv  laid  the  foun- 
nations  of  a  flourishing  business,  and' soon  began  to 
NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


identify  himself  conspicuously  with  the  industry  and 
commerce  of  the  city,  associating  himself  also  with 
the  active  direction  of  other  chemical  enterprises  like 
those  of  the  Ammonia  Soda  Company  of  Plumbley, 
and  Murgatroyd's  Salt  Company,  of  Middlewich.  He 
was  the  active  promoter  of  the  fine  chemical  exhibit 
which  attracted  so  much  attention  at  the  Manchester 
Jubilee  Exhibition  of  1887.  He  W'as  also  the  founder 
and  for  some  time  the  editor  of  the  Chemical 
Review,  one  of  the  first  technical  journals  established 
in  this  country.  He  was  twice  president  of  the  Society 
of  Chemical  Industry,  and  vice-president  of  the  Society 
of  Dyers  and  Colourists  and  of  the  Manchester  Chem- 
ical Club.  He  was  for  many  years  a  director  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  a  past-president,  and  he 
was  closely  identified,  for  more  than  thirty  years,  with 
the  development  of  the  Manchester  School  of  Tech- 
nology-, which  owed  much  to  his  keen  intelligence  and 
sound  knowledge  of  technical  matters.  The  Man- 
chester University,  of  the  Court  of  which  he  was  a 
member,  aw-arded  him  the  degree  of  M.Sc.  in  recog- 
nition of  his  man\'  services  to  technical  science.  His 
name  will  always  be  remembered  for  his  stout  advo- 
cacy for  the  reform  of  the  Patent  Laws,  which  gave 
so  unfair  an  advantage  to  the  foreigner,  and  he  under- 
took at  great  personal  risk  many  successful  actions 
against  certain  of  the  great  German  chemical  firms  in 
order  to  compel  them  to  grant  licences  to  manufac- 
turers to  work  their  patents  in  this  countrj-.  As  he 
once  said,  "they  had  patented  the  whole  field  of 
organic  chemistry  by  their  astute  method  of  drafting 
their  patents."  His  unwearied  agitation  resulted  in 
the  Act  of  1907,  of  which  he  may  tioily  be  said,  after 
efforts  which  had  extended  over  twenty  vears,  to  be 
the  real  author. 

METHODS  AND  APPLIANCES  FOR  THE 
ATTAINMENT  OF  HIGH  TEMPERA- 
TURES IN  THE  LABORATORY. 

"IITHAT  was  described  as  an  informal  discussion  on 
*  *  the  above  subject  was  opened  by  Dr.  J.  A. 
Harker,  F.R.S.,  on  March  15  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Faraday  Societ)-.  The  meeting,  which  was  presided 
over  by  Sir  Robert  Hadfield,  F.R.S.,  attracted  con- 
siderable interest,  and  many  well-known  experimenters 
in  high-temperature  work  gave  their  experiences  in 
the  course  of  the  discussion. 

Dr.  Harker,  in  the  first  place,  described  a  recent 
type  of  carbon  tube  furnace  at  present  in  use  at  the 
National  Physical  Laboratory  for  standardising  optical 
pyrometers.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the  high- 
resistance,  thin-walled  carbon  tubes  employed  are  now- 
made  in  this  country.  For  many  purposes  graphite 
can  be  substituted  for  carbon.  This  material  has  the 
advantage  of  being  easy  to  tool,  but  in  order  to  in- 
crease its  resistance,  a  spiral  or  zigzag  groove  has 
to  be  cut  along  the  tubes,  and  the  simple  device  of 
wrapping  filter  paper  round  the  tubes  prevents — when 
nothing  but  ash  remains  of  the  paper — the  heat-insu- 
lating material  from  falling  through  the  grooves.  For 
this  insulating  material  Dr.  Harker  recommends  that 
highly  flocculent  soot  known  as  paint-maker's  lamp- 
black. Finally,  the  furnace  must  be  completelv  closed 
in  by  a  framework  of  wire-netting  coated  with'  cement 
to  form  a  kind  of  solid  ferro-concrete  block.  This  is 
necessary  on  account  of  the  carbon  monoxide  that  is 
produced,  as  well  as  for  thermal  reasons.  Copper 
bands  wrapped  round  the  ends  of  the  tubes  as  terminals 
practically  complete  the  furnace,  but  water-cooling  is 
necessar}^  to  prevent  undue  heating  at  the  contacts  to 
keep  down  the  voltage;  indeed,  attention  to  the  ter- 
minal contacts  is  a  necessarv  condition  of  smooth 
running,  and  inattention  to  this  is  a  frequent  sourrp 


90 


NATURE 


[March  23,  19 16 


of  avoidable  trouble  in  electric  furnace  work.  The 
furnace  shown  in  operation  at  the  meeting  consumed 
100  amperes  at  lo  volts  when  running  at  2000°  C. 
This  temperature  was  attainable  in  two  or  three 
minutes.  A  home-made  transformer  with  about  100 
primary  turns  wound  in  two  halves  and  three  separate 
secondary  coils  that  can  be  connected  in  series  or 
parallel  enables  the  furnace  to  be  run  off  almost  any 
ordinary  lighting  circuit. 

Mr.  R.  S.  Whipple,  among  other  speakers,  testified 
to  the  value  and  convenience  of  this  simple  form  of 
carbon  tube  furnace.  It  was  stated  that  Northrup  in 
America  was  using  a  similar  furnace  on  a  larger  scale 
for  gear  hardening  in  a  motor-car  factory.  A  thermo- 
<x)uple  is  attached  to  each  piece  of  gear  and  the  tem- 
perature is  run  up  until  the  hump  on  the  curve  shows 
the  recalescent  point  to  have  passed.  The  gear  is 
then  removed  and  quenched.  One  of  the  furnaces 
exhibited  by  Dr.  Harker  was  made  for  a  steel  foundry 
at  Sheffield  for  standardising  optical  pyrometers,  of 
which  a  very  large  number  were  stated  to  be  in  use. 

The  discussion  emphasised  the  fact  that  the  great 
desideratum  at  the  present  moment  for  many  require- 
ments, both  in  the  laboratory  •  and  the  works,  is  a 
furnace  that  will  have  all  the  advantages  of  the  carbon 
tube  furnace,  but  which  will  not  evolve  carbon  com- 
pounds. Dr.  Rosenhain  had  used  a  vacuum  furnace 
wound  with  tungsten  wire  for  melting  pure  iron 
(meking  point  1525  +  5°  C),  but  the  tungsten  became 
brittle  after  heating,  and  was  soon  useless.  A  resist- 
ance furnace  using  granular  tungsten  working  in 
liydrogen  or  nitrogen  was  suggested  as  one  substitute, 
and  another  was  a  carbon  tube  furnace  with  an  inner 
tube  and  an  indifferent  gas  between  the  two.  It 
appears,  however,  that  zirconia  tubes  are  being  experi- 
mented with,  and  a  successful  outcome  of  this  work 
IS  hopefully  anticipated.  Zirconia  is  one  of  the  best 
refractories  known,  and  if  it  can  be  obtained  pure  in 
granular  form  almost  any  temperature  will  be  possible 
with  surface  combustion.  Dr.  Rosenhain  made  the 
useful  suggestion  to  coat  carbon  electrodes  or  tubes — 
even  in  ordinary  commercial  electric  furnaces — with 
metallic  copper,  iron,  or  aluminium  by  means  of  the 
Schoop  spray  process,  as  a  means  of  ensuring  good 
electrical  contacts. 

For  temperatures  up  to  1000  or  1200°  C,  tube  or 
muflfle  furnaces  heated  with  nickel-chromium  wire 
were  recommended  by  several  speakers,  some  of  whom 
"have  abandoned  gas-heating  altogether  for  tempera- 
tures below  1000°.  On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the 
modern  gas  burners,  of  which  several  types  were 
described,  appear  to  give  excellent  results  at  high 
temperatures.  Air  under  high  pressure  is  essential, 
and  so  It  appears  is. violent  mixing  of  the  air  and  gas 
— the  cause  of  the  great  noise  made  by  these  furnaces. 
Mr.  S.  N.  Brayshaw  described  the  ingenious  burner 
which  bears  his  name,  which  Is  displacing  the  oxy- 
Tnydrogen  flame,  too  local  in  Its  heating,  for  melting 
platinum.  For  many  experimental  metallurgical  pur- 
poses the  Richmond  gas  furnace  was  recommended. 

INSECTS  IN  AFRICA  AND  THE  EAST. 
N  accurate  description  of  the  Indian  lac  insect 
{Tachardia  lacea),  founded  on  new  observations 
of  its  life-history  and  habits,  has  long  been  wanted  by 
students  of  economic  entomology.  They  now  find  this 
provided  in  the  recently  issued  Indian  Forest  Memoir 
(Zoology,  vol.  ill.,  part  1)  by  Dr.  A.  D.  Imms  and 
Mr.  N.  C.  Chatterjee.  The  various  stages  are  illus- 
trated by  beautifully  executed  coloured  figures,  and 
there  are  enumerations  of  the  insect's  food-plants  and 
analyses  of  its  important  secretion.  A  remarkable 
feature  Is  the  dimorphism  shown  in  the  male,  which 
may  be  either  winged  or  wingless — the  latter  condition 

NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


A' 


very  rare  among  Coccidae.  The  Tachardia  is  attacked 
by  an  alarming  array  of  enemies,  of  which  the  cater- 
pillar of  a  noctuid  moth,  Eublemma  amabilis,  is  the 
most  formidable.  It  is  aided  in  its  destructive  efforts 
by  several  other  caterpillars  of  Lepidoptera,  a  large 
number  of  beetles  and  their  larvae,  and  a  host  of 
hymenopterous  parasites. 

To  the  December  part  (3)  of  the  Bulletin  of  Entomo- 
logical Research  (vol.  vi.)  Dr.  J.  W.  Scott  Macfie 
contributes  observations  on  the  bionomics  of  Stego- 
myia  fasciata,  the  mosquito  that  is  well  known  as  the 
alternate  host  with  man  of  the  yellow  fever  parasite. 
The  female  insect  pairs  soon  after  emergence,  and 
then  must  have  a  meal  of  blood  before  laying  her  eggs. 
Fertile  eggs  may  continue  to  be  laid  for  thirty-seven 
days  without  necessity  for  a  second  pairing.  The 
prevalent  belief  that  this  mosquito  sucks  blood  by 
night  only  is  not  confirmed,  "but  sometimes  she  re- 
fuses an  offer  to  feed  in  daylight  in  favour  of  the  next 
opportunity  to  feed  in  the  dark."  The  m.ale's  taste 
is  gentler,   as  his  staple  food  is  honey. 

The  same  part  of  the  Bulletin  contains  also  notes,  by. 
Dr.  W.  A.  Lamborn,  on  the  habits  of  Glossina  morsi- 
tans — the  tsetse-fly  that  carries  sleeping-sickness 
trypanosomes  in  Nyasaland.  The  insects  are 
by  no  means  confined  to  the  mapped  "  fly- 
belts."  The  preponderance  In  number  of  males 
among  flies  captured  on  the  wing,  which  con- 
trasts with  the  close  equality  of  the  sexes  as  bred 
from  puparia,  is  explained  by  the  author  as  due  to  the 
male's  habit  of  pairing  as  the  result  of  violent  capture 
rather  than  of  courtship;  hence  the  females  shun  the 
society  of  the  opposite  sex.  The  slimy  secretion  of  the 
Glossina  larva  is  believed  by  Dr.  Lamborn  to  afford 
some  protection  against  the  attacks  of  certain  ants. 
Puparia  are  rarely  found  parasitised  by  larvae  of 
MutlUa  and  other  Hymenoptera,  and  the  adult  tsetses 
are  sometimes  caught  and  devoured  by  dragonflies. 
Dr.  Lamborn  described  how  a  dragonfly,  Orthetruvi 
chrysostigtna,  hovered  around  his  party  of  six  "boys," 
swooping  down  and  picking  off  a  tsetse  from  the  back 
of  one  who  stooped  to  drink  at  a  pool.  ^  Many  speci- 
mens of  the  Orthetrum  were  captured  In  the  act  of 
devouring  tsetses,  which  appear  to  be  equally  accept- 
able, whether  fasting  or'  filled  with  freshly-ingested 
blood,  and  this  species  of  dragonfly  is  evidently  very 
expert  in  catching  Glossina.  Another  kind  of  dragon- 
fly (Crocothemis  erythraea),  on  the  other  hand,  handled 
a  tsetse  so  clumsily  as  to  convince  Dr.  Lamborn  that 
it  is  a  novice  with  this  special  type  of  prey.  A 
description  with  figures  of  several  species  of  chalcids 
which  Dr.  Lamborn  has  reared  from  the  Glossina 
puparia  Is  given  by  Mr.  J.  Waterston  (t.c.  part  4). 

An  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  the  distribution  of 
tsetses  Is  contained  in  Dr.  Schwelz's  paper  In  the  third 
part  of  the  bulletin ;  he  has  traced  G.  morsiians  In  the 
Katanga  district  of  the  Belgian  Congo  far  to  the  west 
of  the  great  river.  Dr.  Schwetz  writes  also  on 
the  range  and  habits  of  G.  brevipalpis — a  fly  often 
overlooked  as  It  flies  before  sunrise  and  after  sunset. 

G.  H.  C. 


INTERESTING  FORAMINIFERA. 

IN  a  fine  memoir  ^  on  Foraminlfera  from  the 
Kerimba  Archipelago,  Portuguese  East  Africa, 
Messrs.  Edward  Heron-Allen  and  Arthur  Earland  deal 
with  no  fewer  than  470  species  and  varieties,  of  \yhlch 
thirty-two  are  new  to  science.  There  is  a  striking 
resemblance  between  the  general  fades  of  the  gather- 
ings at  Kerimba  and  that  of  the  late  Mr.  F  VV. 
Millett's  collection  from  the  Malay  Archipelago.     The 

1  Trans.  Zoological  Society  of  London  xx  (1914),  pp.  s^.-^-po,  3  pis.  ;  and 
/Sid.,  XX.  (iQii),  pp.  543-794,  »4  pls.,  3  H^  ^"  "''•f"  ^^°^-  Zoological 
Society  of  London,  1915,  pp.  295-8. 


March  23,  1916J 


NATURE 


;ading  zoological  feature  is  perhaps  the  great  abund- 
nce  of  Miliolidae,  of  which  122  species  are  reported, 
eventy-seven  in  the  single  genus  Miliolina. 

The  authors  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  discover 
jme  very  interesting  new  types.  Thus  there  is  Iridia 
,ith  a  diaphanous  chitinous  envelope  covered  over 
,'ith  very  fine  particles  of  mud  and  sand.  It  seems 
3  be  an  Astrorhizid,  is  usually  attached  to  sand- 
rains  or  shell-fragments,  and  may  attain  to  the 
igantic  size  of  8  mm.  in  diameter.  Strange,  prob- 
bly  abnormal,  forms  occur  with  a  clear  area  pn  each 
ide  of  the  shell,  perhaps  indicative  of  liberation  from 
etween  two  large  sand-grains.  Similar,  possibly 
lentical,  forms  have  been  described  by  Rhumbler 
rom  a  depth  of  400  metres  in  the  Antarctic,  and 
amed  Vanhoeffenella  gaussii,  the  "  windows "  being 
nterpreted  as  adaptations  to  the  ver}-  scantv  rays  of 
ight.  But  this  would  not  apply  to  the  fierce  glare  of 
he  Kerimba  shore.  Another  remarkable  new  type  is 
s'ouria,  with  several  species,  some  of  which  show 
ery  effective  treatment  of  the  material  selected  for 
hell-making.  Thus  in  Noiiria  harrisii  the  test  is 
intirelv  composed  of  sponge  spicules  arranged  in  a 
ingle  layer  with  their  axes  more  or  less  parallel  to 
he  long  axis  of  the  test,  but  so  as  to  form  a  perfectly 
apered  neck  and  a  regular  fringe  projecting  around 
he  mouth.  There  are  sometimes  spicules  projecting 
iborally,  which  may  serve  to  keep  the  animal  erect  in 
he  surface  layer  of  mud. 

Experts  will  be  interested  in  what  the  authors  have 
o  say  in  regard  to  D'Orbigny's  Pavonina  flahelli- 
ormis  and  his  Rotalia  dubia  (seen  again  after  ninety 
■ears!),  in  their  revision  of  the  lituiform  species  of 
Peneroplis,  and  in  their  very  successful  study  of  the 
louble  shells  of  Discorbina  (apparently  due  to  a  kind 
)f  budding),  and  of  the  development  of  the  peculiar 
lual  nature  of  the  terminal  balloon-chamber  which 
Sarland  noticed  some  years  ago  in  Cymbalopora  bul- 
oides.  D'Orbigny.  But  we  shall  rather  refer  to  the 
emarkable  discovery  of  specimens  of  Cymbalopora 
abellaeformis,  occupying  little  pits  in  mollusc  shells. 
Each  Foraminifer  seems  to  be  able  to  enlarge  its  crypt 
IS  its  test  grows ;  nay,  more,  to  excavate  tunnels  in 
:he  mollusc  shell.  These  tunnels  radiate  round  the 
:rypt  and  may  attain  to  a  length  many  times  its 
iiameter.  They  are  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
aseudopodia.  It  is  interesting  that  the  living  matter 
which  habitually  secretes  carbonate  of  lime  should 
also  dissolve  it,  and  the  possibility  is  suggested  that 
the  solution  may  be  helped  by  carbon  dioxide  given  off 
(at  night?)  by  the  symbiotic  Algae  which  are  usually 
associated  with  this  Foraminifer.  The  authors  are  to 
be  congratulated  on  the  jjse  they  have  made  of  their 
fine  material,  in  connection  with  which  the  skill  and 
energy  of  Dr.  J.  J.  Simpson,  who  made  the  collection, 
should  be  remembered. 


SCIENTIFIC  EDUCATION  AND 
IND  U STRIA  L  RES  EAR  CH. 

CEVERAL  professional  bodies  have  devoted  atten- 
tion lately  to  education  and  science  in  relation 
to  industrial  development;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  they  all  appreciate  the  need  for  action  in 
order  to  prepare  for  the  strain  of  competition  which 
may  be  expected  to  follow  the  cessation  of  hostilities. 
On  Tuesday,  March  14,  the  subject  was  discussed  at 
Hie  Institute  of  Journalists  by  the  Circle  of  Scientific, 
lechnical,  and  Trade  Journalists,  under  the  title, 
"The  Sphere  of  the  Scientific  and  Technical  Press  in 
Relation  to  Technical  Education  and  Research,"  Mr. 
L.  Gaster,  chairman  of  the  circle,  presiding.  The 
discussion  was  opened  bv  Dr.  W.  Garnett,  late  educa- 
\f^"  4  adviser  to  the  London  County  Council,  and  bv 
Mr.  A.  P.  M.  Fleming,  who  has  recently  made  a  tour 
NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


of  inspection  of  research  laboratories  in  the  United 
States.  Dr.  Garnett's  main  suggestions  are  as  fol- 
lows : — 

(i)  Education  in  elementai-y  and  secondary  schools- 
must  be  more  directly  associated  with  things  so  as  to- 
develop  self-reliance  and  resourcefulness,  not  to  teach 
trades. 

(2)  A  considerable  proportion  of  teachers  should 
devote  a  third  year  of  training  largely  to  practical 
work  under  txjnditions  enabling  them  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  practice  of  some  trades. 

(3)  A  general  knowledge  of  the  phenomena  of  nature 
and  of  prpcesses  applied  in  industr}-  must  be  more 
widely  diffused  by  means  of  popular  lectures  and  other- 
wise. 

(4)  More  completely  organised  courses  of  instruc- 
tion, without  breach  of  continuity,  must  be  provided 
for  industrial  workers  of  all  classes,  including  the 
leaders  of  industrj-,  together  with  the  necessary 
scholarships,  fellowships,  or  bursaries  to  enable  the 
best  students  to  carry  on  post-graduate  research. 

(5)  Existing  institutions  must  be  improved  and  some 
new  institutions  must  be  provided,  especially  in  the 
chemical  trades,  to  enable  scientific  discoveries  to  be 
devek)ped  sufficiently  to  demonstrate  the  conditions 
under  which  thev  can  be  made  commercially  success- 
ful. 

(6)  Some  alterations  must  be  made  in  the  patent 
law  to  enable  the  profits  arising  from  investigations 
conducted  wholly  or  partly  at  the  public  expense  to 
be  fairly  divided  between  the  State,  the  scientific 
worker,  and  the  manufacturer. 

(7)  Trades  should  be  organised  for  the  purpose  of 
superintending  the  research  work  in  which  they  are 
interested,  for  the  collection  and  dissemination  of  in- 
formation and  the  distribution  of  work  among  firms 
in  the  manner  in  which  it  can  be  most  effectively  and 
economically  carried  out  in  the  interest  of  the  industry 
as  a  whole. 

(8)  The  trade  associations  should  be  in  close  touch 
with  the  Advisory  Council  for  Research,  and  the 
council  should,  where  necessary,  recommend  the  award 
of  Parliamentary  grants  in  aid  of  industrial  research 
carried  out  under  the  direction  of  the  associations 
and  make  provision  for  such  work  in  cases  in  whicii 
trade  associations  are  not  available,  but  the  Advisors' 
Council  should  utilise  to  the  utmost  the  services  of 
societies.  f 

(9)  As  an  alternative  the  Advisory  Council  for  Re- 
search should  appoint  technical  committees  representa- 
tive of  trades,  or  groups  of  trades,  to  assist  it  in  the 
organisation  of  industrial  research. 

(10)  The  National  Physical  Laboratory  should  be  the 
central  institution  for  all  physical  measurements  and 
standardisation,  but  for  chemical  processes  a  separate 
institution  for  a  trade  or  group  of  trades  will  fre- 
quently be  required  for  the  work  intermediate  between 
the  discovery  of  a  new  product  or  reaction  in  the 
research  laboratory  and  the  adaptation  of  the  process 
to  commercial  manufacture. 

(11)  Some  method  of  financing  new  processes  which 
have  been  approved  by  a  competent  authority.  ( ther 
than  the  ordinary  method  of  floating  a  companv,  is 
desirable,  and  this  may  be  provided  by  some  form 
of  industrial  bank. 

It  will  be  noticed  that,  among  other  points.  Dr. 
Garnett  pleads  not  only  for  increased  specialised 
courses  of  training  in  science  and  technology,  but  also 
for  a  knowledge  of  natural  facts  and  phenomena  as 
part  of  the  education  of  all.  When  this  has  been 
secured,  it  may  be  hoped  that  "members  of  Parliament 
will  cease  to  wonder  whether  we  shall  ever  know  whv 
the  moon  appears  to  change  her  shape,  and  we  shaif 
not  be  told  that  lard  has  only  just  been  discovered  as 
a  source  of  glycerine,    that  mineral  oil   from   Galicia 


92 


NATURE 


[March  23,  1916 


is  equally  useful  for  this  purpose,  that  wool  will  t;ike 
the  place  of  cotton  in  the  manufacture  of  nitrocellulose 
for  propellants,  or  that  a  cargo  of  phosphate  has  ueen 
seized  lest  it  should  be  used  by  the  enemy  for  the 
manufacture  of  phosgene  gas." 

Dr.  Garnett  suggested  that,  perhaps,  in  course  of 
time,  the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  concerned 
with  the  development  of  scientific  and  industrial  re- 
search may,  as  in  other  cases,  be  replaced  by  a  new 
Ministry ;  and  that  a  National  Chemical  Laboratory 
might  be  established  corresponding  to  the  National 
Physical  Laboratory,  though  the  diversity  of  chemical 
trades  and  interests  Suggests  that  several  co-ordinated 
laboratories  would  be  required. 

Mr.  Fleming's  account  of  the  enormous  amount  of 
industrial  research  being  carried  on  in  the  United 
States  by  individual  firms,  and  the  increased  provision 
being  made  for  research  in  universities  and  technical 
institutions,  shows  that  America  is  fully  alive  to  the 
commercial  advantages  of  such  work.  He  stated  that 
in  the  United  States  at  the  present  time  there  are 
upwards  of  fifty  corporations  having  research  labora- 
tories, costing  annually  from  2o,oooi.  to  ioo,oooZ. 
each  for  maintenance ;  and  he  added  : — "  Some  of  the 
most  striking  features  of  the  research  work  in  America 
are  the  lavish  manner  in  which  the  laboratories  have 
been  planned  and  which  in  many  cases  enable  large- 
scale  manufacturing  operations  to  be  carried  out  in 
order  to  determine  the  best  possible  methods  of  manu- 
facturing any  commodity  developed  or  discovered  in 
the  laboratory;  the  appreciation  of  men  of  higher 
scientific  training  by  industry,  resulting  in  increasing 
numbers  of  students  proceeding  to  their  doctor's  degree 
before  leaving  the  university ;  the  increasing  attention 
given  in  the  research  laboratories  to  pure  science  in- 
vestigations, this  being,  in  my  opinion,  the  most  im- 
portant phase  of  industrial  research ;  the  absorption  of 
men  who  have  proven  their  capacity  for  industrial 
research  in  such  places  as  the  Mellon  Institute,  the 
Bureau  of  Standards,  etc.,  by  the  various  industries 
in  which  they  have  taken  scientific  interest." 

While  much  work  of  prime  importance  has  been 
done  by  individual  investigators  in  this  country,  there 
is  a  general  lack  of  appreciation  by  manufacturers  of 
the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  application  of 
science  to  industry,  and  a  tendency  to  avoid  the  em- 
ployment of  scientifically  trained  men.  Steps  have 
been  taken  by  the  Royal  Society  to  organise  scientific 
workers,  and  the  Chemical  Society  has  formed  com- 
mittees representing  all  branches  of  chemical  science. 
Similar  organisations  of  technical  experts  have  been 
brought  together  by  engineering  societies.  What 
seems  to  be  particularly  needed .  is  a  combination  of 
the  forces  of  education,  science,  manufacture,  and 
commerce,  instead  of  bodies  in  which  these  interests 
are  separately  represented.  The  only  body  in  which 
this  combination  exists  is  the  British  Science  Guild, 
which  was  founded  in  1905,  with  the  express  object 
of  bringing  home  to  all  classes  "  the  necessity  of  apply- 
ing scientific  treatment  to  affairs  of  all  kinds."  The 
present  European  crisis  affords  an  opportunity  of 
unique  importance  for  the  guild  to  impress  upon  all 
who  are  engaged  in  the  executive  functions  of  Govern- 
ment, and  especially  upon  those  who  are  engaged  in 
the  sphere  of  industry  and  commerce,  the  paramount 
claims  of  science  in  its  most  advanced  aspects  of  train- 
ing and  research. 

The  events  of  the  present  war  have  shown  with 
striking  clearness,  not  only  the  advantage  which 
systematic  education  in  science  and  thorough  organisa- 
tion of  scientific  research  in  its  various  applications 
have  given,  whether  from  a  chemical  or  engineering 
point  of  view,  to  the  chief  of  the  Central  Powers  with 

NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


which  the  Allies  are  engaged,  but  they  have  shown 
with  no  less  emphasis  the  extent  to  which  in  the 
region  of  scientific  industry  Germany  has  grown  to 
be  the  most  formidable  rival  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

This  result  is  not  due  to  any  merely  adventitious  cir- 
cumstances, but  is  the  direct  fruit  of  the  sedulous  cul- 
tivation of  science  and  of  scientific  research  during  the 
last  sixty  years,  especially  in  the  highest  educational 
institutions  of  Germany ;  and  it  is  the  result  also  of  the 
frank  and  liberal  recognition  by  the  great  departments 
of  the  State  and  by  the  leaders  of  industry  and  com- 
merce of  its  vital  importance  to  the  economic  progress 
and  well-being  of  the  nation. 

The  recent  important  memorial,  signed  by  men  of 
high  scientific  and  technical  eminence  engaged  in  the 
various  departments  of  pure  and  applied  science, 
directed  the  attention  of  the  public  to  the  grave  char- 
acter of  the  problems  involved.  It  is  novy  necfessarv 
to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  influential  technical  associa- 
tions concerned  with  the  development  and  advance- 
ment of  the  great  scientific  industries,  of  the  chambers 
of  commerce  in  the  chief  industrial  and  commercial 
centres,  and  of  bodies  representative  of  the  workers 
engaged  in  the  service  of  the  more  important  indus- 
tries. It  is  necessary  also  to  engage  the  influence  and 
support  of  bodies  charged  with  the  development  of 
agriculture,  in  respect  not  only  of  improved  scientific- 
means  and  methods  of  cultivation,  but  also  of  the 
introduction  into  agriculture  of  other  products  of  high 
value,  with  a  view  to  render  the  nation  less  dependent 
upon  foreign  sources  for  its  food  supplies. 

It  is  of  prime  importance  that  consideration  should 
be  given  to  the  conditions  upon  which  the  personnel 
of  the  public  service  is  recruited,  particularly  in  respect  of 
the  choice  of  the  higher  officials.  We  may  thus  ensure 
a  much  closer  sympathy  with,  and  a  keener  apprecia- 
tion of,  the  value  of  science  and  of  its  close  relation  to 
national  progress,  with  the  consequent  careful  and 
generous  consideration  of  the  curricula  of  the  schools, 
so  as  to  include  a  fuller  measure  of  observation  and 
experiment,  and  provide  the  means  whereby  the.  gifted 
of  all  classes  can  avail  themselves  of  the  highest  facili- 
ties for  education. 

With  the  object  of  giving  effect  to  these  purposes 
and  aims  the  British  Science  Guild  is  preparing  a 
statement  which  will  be  submitted  to  leading  repre- 
sentatives of  many  national  interests,  and  the  whole 
subject  will  afterwards  be  brought  before  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  nation.  The  technical  Press  could  per- 
form a  useful  service  by  directing  attention  to  the 
opportunity  which  the  guild  affords  of  uniting  industry; 
with  education  and  science  for  their  common  good. 


USE  OF  FOSSIL  REMAINS  OF  THE 
HIGHER  VERTEBRATES  IN  STRATI- 
GRAPHICAL  GEOLOGY.^ 

T^HE  study  of  fossil  fishes,  referred  to  in  the  presi- 
■■■  dential  address  to  the  society  in  1915,  raised  the 
question  as  to  whether  animals  of  apparently  the  same 
family,  genus,  or  species  might  not  originate  more 
than  once  from  separate  series  of  ancestors.  The 
higher  vertebrates,  which  inhabited  the  land,  may 
most  profitably  be  examined  to  throw  light  on  the 
subject ;  for  the  land  has  always  been  subdivided  into 
well-defined  areas,  isolated  by  seas,  mountains,  and 
deserts,  so  that  animals  in  these  several  areas  must 
often  have  developed  independently  for  long  periods. 
Students  of  shells  are  unanimous  In  recognising  what 
they  term  homoeomorphy,  and  trace  immature,  mature, 
and  senile  stages  in  the  course  of  every  race  that  can 
be  followed  through  successive  geological  formations, 

1  Abstract   from   the   presidential    address    delivered   to   the   Geological 
Society  of  London  on  February  i8,  by  Dr.  A.  Smith  Woodward,  F.R.S. 


March  23,  19 16] 


MATURE 


93 


Vertebrate  skeletons,  which  have  much  more  numerous 
md  tangible  characters,  and  approach  senilit}'  in  more 
,'aried  ways,  should  attord  a  clearer  view  of  general 
)rinciples. 

Even  among  vertebrates  the  evidence  that  most  con- 
;erns  the  geologist  is  not  always  easily  interpreted, 
^or  instance,  the  Sparassodonta  and  horned  tortoises 
)f  the  Argentine  Tertiary  are  so  closely  similar  to  the 
existing  Thylacines  and  the  fossil  Miolania  of  Aus- 
ralia,  that  they  are  still  sometimes  quoted  as  proving 
he  former  existence  of  an  Antarctic  continent  uniting 
lie  South  American  and  Australian  regions.  On  the 
)ther  hand,  they  may  be  merely  survivors  of  cosmo- 
Kjlitan  races  at  the  two  extremes  of  their  former 
ange,  with  certain  inevitable  (but  not  altogether 
limilar)  marks  of  senility.  In  making  comparisons, 
ndeed,  it  is  no  longer  enough  to  distinguish  the  funda- 
nental  and  merely  adaptive  characters  of  animals ; 
t  is  also  essential  to  note  separately  those  characters 
vhich  depend  on  the  early,  mature,  or  senile  position 
)f  the  particular  animals  in  the  evolving  series  to 
vhich  they  belong. 

Hitherto  there  seems  to  be  only  one  case  in  which 
we  have  enough  materials  for  forming  a  judgment  as 
0  whether  a  fundamental  advance  may  occur  more 
han  once.  Mammal-like  reptiles  are  abundant  in  the 
Permian  of  North  America  and  in  the  Permian  and 
Frias  of  South  Africa  and  other  parts  of  the  Old 
iVorld.  Recent  studies  have  shown  that  all  specialisa- 
:ions  in  the  North  American  forms  are  in  the  direction 
if  higher  reptiles,  while  all  those  in  the  South  African 
forms  are  in  the  direction  of  mammals.  Hence, 
although  there  is  evidence  of  two  possible  sources 
3f  mammals,  only  one  appears  to  have  produced 
iiem. 

Among  advances  of  lower  degree,  the  origin  of  the 
Tionkeys  or  lower  Anthropoidea  may  be  considered, 
[t  is  agreed  that  they  arose  from  the  Lemuroidea 
R'hich  were  almost  universally  distributed  over  the 
?reat  continents  at  the  beginning  of  the  Tertiary  era. 
They  seem  to  have  evolved  separately  in  America  and 
in  the  Old  World,  but  the  two  series  are  very  sharply 
distinguished,  although  they  form  one  zoological  "  sub- 
)rder."  When  isolated  on  the  island  of  Madagascar,  some 
3f  these  same  animals  acquired  a  few  peculiarities  of  the 
American,  others  of  the  Old  World  Anthropoidea,  but 
never  really  advanced  beyond  the  Lemuroid  stage, 
merely  becoming  senile  just  before  their  extinction. 
Hence,  the  Lemuroidea  evolved  in  three  different  ways, 
and  the  resulting  groups  are  very^  easily  distinguished. 

The  study  of  the  Tertiary  Ungulata  is  especially 
important,  because  most  of  the  groups  arose  either  in 
North  .America  or  in  the  Old  World,  which  were 
united  and  separated  several  times.  It  seems  clear 
that,  although  each  group  probably  originated  but  once 
in  one  particular  area,  its  members  soon  diverged  into 
several  independently  evolving  series,  each  imbued 
with  some  definite  impulse  or  momentum  towards 
siJecialisation  in  the  same  way  in  the  course  of  geo- 
logical time,  only  at  different  rates.  There  were  thus, 
for  example,  several  distinct  lines  of  horses  and  rhino- 
ceroses, but  all  from  the  same  source. 

It  is  now  well  known  that  the  characteristic  South 
American  Tertiary  Ungulates  arose  in  an  isolated 
area,  and  many  of  their  specialisations  are  curiously 
similar  to  some  of  those  observed  among  European 
Eocene  and  Oligocene  Ungulata  which  soon  proved 
abortivp  or  "  inadaptive."  Thev  are,  however,  bv  no 
means  identical. 

While  so  many  changes  have  occurred  during  the 
evolution  of  the  vertebrates,  the  persistence  of  char- 
acters and  the  strength  of  heredity-  in  numerous  cases 
are  still  as  perplexiner  as  they  were  when  Huxley 
first  directed  special  attention  to  "persistent  types." 
NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Ca-MBridge.— Mr.  A.  V.  Hill,  Humphrey  Owen  Jones 
lecturer  in  physical  chemistr}-,  and  Mr.  J.  E.  Davey 
have  been  elected  fellows  of  King's  College. 

Mr.  F.  P.  White,  St.  John's,  has  been  elected  to  an 
Isaac  Newton  studentship  for  three  years,  and  Mr.  H. 
Jeffreys,  St.  John's,  has^ been,  re-elected  to  a  student- 
ship for  an  additional  year.  The  Allen  scholarship  for 
research  in  scientific  subjects  has  been  awarded  to  Mr. 
Franklin  Kidd,  St.  John's. 

LoNDO.N.— Prof.  H.  Jackson,  of  King's  College,  suc- 
ceeds Prof.  A.  W.  Crossley  as  one  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  faculty  of  science  on  the  Senate. 

The  report  of  the  Militarj-  Education  Committee  for 
1915  has  been  presented  to  the  Senate.  It  states  that 
the  number  of  members  of  the  Universit},-  of  London 
O.T.C.  during  the  training  year  ended  September  30 
was  2209,  of  whom  1068  proceeded  to  commissions 
during  that  year.  Up  to  the  end  of  1915,  2228  cadets 
or  ex-cadets  of  the  contingent  had  been  granted  com- 
missions. Of  these  eighty-six  had  fallen  in  the  war, 
and  the  honours  and  distinctions  gained  were  one 
V.C.,  twenty-five  military  crosses,  sixty-three  men- 
tions in  despatches  (four  mentioned  twice),  and  one 
Medaille  Militaire.  In  addition,  273  commissions  had 
been  granted  to  graduates  and  students  (other  than 
cadets  or  ex-cadets),  and  these  officers  had  gained 
four  military  crosses  and  ten  mentions  in  despatches. 
Since  the  outbreak  of  war,  eight  monthly  courses  had 
been  held  in  the  officers'  school  of  instruction  in 
connection  with  the  contingent,  and  more  than  90G 
officers  had  passed  through  the  school.  Lists  of 
officers  who  have  fallen  in  the  war  and  have  gained 
distinctions  are  printed  as  appendices  to  the  report. 

Oxford. — The  Herbert  Spencer  lecture  was  delivered 
on  March  15  by  Prof.  J.  Mark  Baldwin.  Taking  for 
his  subject  "  The  Super-State  and  the  *  Eternal 
Values,'"  Prof.  Baldwin  spoke  of  the  distinction,  on 
one  hand,  between  instrumental  and  eternal  or  abso- 
lute values,  and,  on  the  other,  between  individual  and 
super-individual  values.  Pointing  out  that  these  dis- 
tinctions are  not  peculiarly  German,  he  went  on  to 
show  that  with  the  advent  of  the  present  war  it  became 
evident  that  in  the  German  conception  the  State  is 
not  a  vehicle  of  simply  individual  or  instrumental 
value.  It  is,  according  to  the  Grermans,  the  expres- 
sion of  the  full  national  will ;  it  is  value  per  se,  sum- 
marising in  itself  the  two  super-individual  values.  The 
monarch  symbolises  this ;  no  concession  to  the  popular 
will  is  possible  under  such  a  conception,  but  the 
populace  may  be  the  recipient  of  free  gifts  from  the 
State.  Natural  selection,  or  the  survival  of  the  fittest, 
is  recognised,  as,  for  example,  in  the  victory  of  Turks 
over  Arabs  in  the  thirteenth  century,  or  of  Rome  over 
Greece.  Germany  recognises  two  kinds  of  fitness — 
military  efficiency  and  organisation.  The  spiritual  and 
ethical  weapon  is  wielded  by  the  State  alone.  Militar\- 
necessity  knows  no  moral  law ;  "  might  is  right,"  i.e. 
super-individual  might  makes  individual  right.  The 
obser\'ance  of  treaties  is  subordinate  to  the  needs  of 
the  State;  to  be  qnce  a  German  is  to  be  always  of 
super-individual  value  ;  "  Deutschland  iiber  Alles."  So 
much  for  the  German  ideal.  The  opposed  point  of 
view  makes  itself  felt  in  various  domains,  as  in  that 
of  naturalisation,  where  the  experience  of  the  ^..'-r 
has  proved  that  documentary  evidence  is  useless;  in 
that  of  arbitration;  and  in  that  of  cultural  -.dations 
between  peoples.  In  fine,  Germany  says  that  the 
nation  is  instrumental  to  the  State ;  the  democratic 
belligerents  opposed  to  Germany  hold  that  the  State 


94 


NATURE 


[March  23,  1916 


has  an  instrumental  value  only,  and  that  it  is  instru- 
mental to  the  nation. 

Sheffield. — The  council  of  the  University  has 
decided  to  institute  a  lectureship  in  Russian.  It  is 
understood  that  in  view  of  the  urgency  of  a  knowledge 
•of  Russian  in  the  trade  of  Sheffield,  the  necessary 
funds  have  been  secured  locally,  and  that  an  appoint- 
ment to  the  lectureship  will  shortly  be  announced. 

Among  the  bequests  of  Mr.  J.  S.  N.  Boyd,  who  died 
on  February  i,  leaving  estate  of  the  value  of  ^2,646^., 
are  2,iooZ.  to  Epsom  College,  for  one  foundation 
scholar,  and  the  ultimate  residue  of  the  estate,  after 
the  death  of  his  mother  and  sister,  to  the  University 
of  London  for  a  professorship  of  pathology  in  the 
Medical  School  of  Charing  Cross  Hospital. 

In  the  fire  which,  as  stated  last  week  (p.  49),  de- 
stroyed the  chemical  laboratories  of  Cornell  University, 
several  members  of  the  staff  appear  to  have  lost  very 
valuable  records  and  data,  the  work  of  3'ears.  We 
learn  from  Science  that  many  notes  of  experiments 
and  researches,  manuscripts,  and  treasured  records 
have  been  lost.  In  a  business  house  such  records 
would  be  placed  in  a  fire-proof  safe  every  day  when 
not  required,  but  the  use  of  safes  in  laboratories  is 
very  rare.  Perhaps  the  lire  at  Cornell  University  will 
lead  to  the  introduction  of  fire-proof  rooms  or  safes 
in  all  laboratories  where  records  of  original  work  are 
kept,  in  order  to  avoid  the  destruction  of  scientific 
material  upon  which  no  monetary  value  can  be  placed 
because  it  is  unique. 

It  is  announced  in  the  issue  of  Science  for  March  3 
that  the  University  of  Buffalo  has  received  actual  and 
provisional  endowment  for  the  new  department  of  arts 
and  sciences  amounting  to  150,000/. ;  20,oooL  of  this 
sum  to  be  given  outright  by  Mrs.  Seymour  H.  Knox, 
Avho,  with  her  children,  proposes  to  increase  this 
•eventually  to  a  total  of  ioo,oooZ.  ;  50,000^  is  given  by 
General  E.  Hayes,  for  the  first  building  upon  the 
University  site,  provided  2oo,oooi.  be  raised  for  like 
purposes  before  June,  19 19.  From  the  same  source 
we  learn  that  President  Goodnow,  at  the  commence- 
ment exercises  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  on 
February  22,  announced  that  the  Consolidated  Gas 
Company  of  New  York,  the  American  Gas  Company 
of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Consolidated  Gas  Company 
of  Baltimore,  had  interested  themselves  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  laboratory  at  the  University  for  research 
work  as  to  the  possibilities  of  coal-tar  products.  The 
purpose  is  to  develop  the  aniline  dye  industry  and  other 
important  branches  in  the  coal-tar  field. 

The  experiment  of  holding  a  "  Summer  Assembly  in 
Science  "  at  the  Scripps  Institution  for  Biological  Re- 
search at  La  Jolla,  on  the  sea  coast  near  San  Diego, 
will  be  tried  by  the  University  of  California  next 
summer  for  the  first  time.  The  purpose  is  to  dis- 
seminate ^among  teachers  and  others  interested  in 
modern  science  the  discoveries  and  new  points  of  view 
which  are  resulting  from  the  investigations  of  the 
research  department  of  the  University.  There  will  be 
lectures,  conferences,  and  demonstrations  every  after- 
noon of  the  six  weeks  by  members  of  the  scientific 
staff  of  the  institution,  and  Tuesday  and  Thursday 
mornings  will  be  devoted  to  lectures,  laboratory, 
museum,  and  field  work  for  small  groups  of  students 
■on  the  characteristic  animal  and  plant  life  of  the  ocean 
waters  along  the  shore  of  southern  California.  A 
-course  on  "  Local  Coastal  Physical  Geography " 
will  be  conducted  by  Mr.  W.  C.  Crandall, 
who  as  master  of  '  the  Alexander  Agassis,  the 
institution's  sea-going  scientific  collecting  vessel, 
has  wide  familiarity  with  the  CaliTornia  coast.     Half 

NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


a  mile  of  ocean  frontage,  with  cliffs,  sand  beachfc!^, 
and  tide  pools  inhabited  by  a  wide  variety  of  sea-life, 
is  the  ideal  locality  which  the  Scripps  Institution  for 
Biological  Research  occupies.  Any  persons  interested 
in  science  who  wish  to  attend  the  assembly  at  the 
Scripps  Institution  from  June  25  to  August  5  next 
are  requested  to  write  as  soon  as  possible  to  Prof. 
William  E.  Ritter,  scientific  director  of  the  institu- 
tion, at  La  Jolla,  so  that  proper  provision  may  be 
made. 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 

London. 
Royai  Society,  March  16. — Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — C.  Reid  and  J.  Oroves  :  Prelimuiary 
report  on  the  Purbeck  Characeae.  The  investigations, 
in  aid  of  which  a  Government  grant  was  made,  relate 
to  the  remains  of  Characeae  found  in  the  cherts  and 
limestones  of  the  Middle  Purbeck  beds  of  Dorset.  A 
large  amount  of  new  material  has  been  collected,  and 
by  treating  the  limestones  to  a  long-continued  drip  of 
slightly  acidulated  water  it  has  been  possible  to  obtain 
specimens  throwing  much  additional  light  on  the 
structure  of  these  plants.  The  principal  results  ob- 
tained up  to  the  present  are  : — (i)  The  discrimination 
of  a  new  genus,  Clavator,  characterised  by  (a)  the 
production  of  remarkable  thickened  club-like  nodes ; 
{b)  the  presence  of  a  utricle  enclosiig  the  oogonium ; 
(c)  the  production  of  numerous  rosette-like  groups  of 
clavate  processes  on  the  stem  and  branchlets.  (2)  The 
discovery  of  a  number  of  different  types  of  fruit  and 
vegetative  parts  show-ing  that  the  Chara-flora  of  the 
period  was  rich  and  varied.  The  remains  found  be- 
long to  both  divisions  of  the  family  Chareae  and 
Nitelleae.— Prof.  H.  G.  Plimmer  :  Notes  on  the  genus 
Toxoplasma,  with  a  description  .of  three  new  species. 
Organisms  bearing  the  above  name  have  been  found 
in  the  rabbit,  gondi,  dog,  mole,  and  pigeon  during 
the  seven  years  that  have  elapsed  since  their  discovery 
by  Splendore  in  Brazil.  Their  systematic  position  is 
uncertain,  but  they  are  widely  distributed  geographic- 
ally and  as  regards  hosts.  They  are  found  as  para- 
sites in  the  mononuclear  leucocytes,  in  which  they 
occur  in  large  numbers.  Those  described  in  the  paper 
were  found  in  a  Fossa  from  Madagascar,  in  a  fruit 
pigeon  from  the  Aru  Islands,  and  in  a  Say's  snake 
from  Mexico,  this  latter  being  the  first  found  in  a 
reptile.  The  results  of  the  study  of  these  parasites  in 
the  above-named  animals  point  rather  to  their  rela- 
tionship with  the  Haemogregarines  than  with  th- 
Leishmania  or  the  Yeasts,  as  has  been  suggested. ^ — F. 
Sano.  The  convolutional  pattern  of  the  brains  of  iden- 
tical twins,  a  study  on  hereditary  resemblance  in  the 
furrows  of  the  cerebral  hemispheres.  This  monograpli 
is  a  contribution  to  the  study  of  the  comparativt 
morphology  of  relative  brains  inaugurated  by  Spitzka. 
Karplus,  and  Schuster.  Its  interest  lies  in  the  fact 
that  it  describes  the  brains  of  identical  twins.  It  also 
includes  a  study  of  nerve  plexuses  and  other  morpho 
logical  points  of  interest,  thus  serving  as  a  morpho^ 
logical  contribution  to  the  observations  of  the  late  Sir 
Francis  Galton  on  the  history  of  twins. 

Royal  Meteorological  Society,  March  15. — Major  H.  G. 
Lyons,  president,  in  the  chair. — Sir  Napier  Shaw  :  The 
meteorology  of  the  globe  in  191 1.  The  j-ear  191 1  i^ 
still  remembered  for  its  fine,  warm  summer.  As  the 
sequel  of  a  long  series  of  discussions  at  meetings  of 
the  International  Meteorological  Committee  and  its 
commissions,  the  International  Solar  Commission,  the- 
International  Commission  for  Maritime  Meteorology 
and  Storm  Warnings,  the  International  Commission 
for   Reseau    Mondial,    as    well    as    the   Solar    Physics 


March  23,  19 16] 


NATURE 


95 


Committee  of  the  Board  of  Education,  which,  through 
ie  Solar  Physics  Observatory  at  South  Kensington, 
.vas  concerned  with  the  relation  of  solar  and  terrestrial 
)henomena,  especially  rainfall,  the  committee  of  the 
Vieteorological  Office  authorised  the  preparation  of  an 
mnual  statement  of  the  meteorology  of  the  globe  begin- 
ling  with  191 1.  The  volume  for  that  year  is  now 
learly  ready  for  issue.  It  gives  particulars  of  pres- 
sure, temperature,  and  rainfall  for  available  stations 
n  all  parts  of  the  globe  at  the  rate  of  two  stations 
or  each  io°  square  of  latitude  and  longitude.  It  also 
pves  the  differences  from  the  normal  in  those  cases  in 
vhich  normals  existed  or  could  be  compiled.  The 
ralues  are  given  in  absolute  units  for  pressure  and 
emperature.  Positive  and  negative  signs  are  therefore 
)niy  used  to  indicate  differences  from  normal,  except 
n  two  cases  of  negative  sign  in  the  column  for  height 
vhich  indicate  that  the  stations  are  below  sea-level. 
V  brief  discussion  of  the  meteorology  of  the  year  is 
wsed  upon  the  differences  from  normal. 

Manchester. 

Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  March  7. — Prof. 
5.  J.  Hickson,  president,  in  the  chair. — D.  Thoday  : 
Optical  properties  of  chlorophyll.  The  author  referred 
o  the  importance  of  chlorophyll,  which  enables  green 
)lant5  to  utilise  radiant  energy  from  the  sun  in  the 
fvnthesis  of  organic  food  substances  from  the  carbon 
iioside  of  the  atmosphere.  On  this  process  the  whole 
>rganic  world,  with  few  exceptions,  directly  or  in- 
iirectly  depends.  A  few  classes  of  bacteria,  e.g.  the 
ron  and  the  sulphur  bacteria,  are  independent  of 
)rganic  substances,  making  use  of  carbon  dioxide  in 
hemosynihesis  by  means  of  chemical  energy,  liberated 
n  the  oxidation  of  ferrous  carbonate  and  sulphuretted 
lydrogen  respectively.  In  the  green  plant  the  direct 
itilisation  of  sunlight  in  photosynthesis  depends  on 
rhlorophyll,  and  this  fact  makes  the  optical  properties 
)f  chlorophyll  of  especial  interest.  Mr.  Thoday  demon- 
strated the  red  fluorescence  of  a  chlorophyll  solution, 
emarking  that  the  sensitising  action  of  this  and  other 
luorescent  pigments  on  photographic  plates,  and  their 
oxicity  to  protozoa  in  extremely  dilute  solution  only 
n  the  light,  suggest  that  such  pigments  when  exposed 

0  light  are  especially  active  chemically. — Dr.  H.  G.  A. 
Sickling  :  Variation  in  the  colour  of  coal  streaks.  The 
xilour  of  coals  varies  in  proportion  to  the  different 
imounts  of  carbon  in  the  coals.     The  author  exhibited 

1  number  of  samples  of  the  fluorescent  solutions  obtained 
3y  washing  finely-ground  coal-powder  with  benzene. 
He  pointed  out  that  the  constituent  of  the  coal  dis- 
solved bv  the  benzene  appears  to  be  more  especially 
rharacteristic  of  the  bituminous  or  humic  types  of 
^oal,  little  or  no  colour  being  obtained  w^hen  the 
-annel  coals  or  anthracites  are  similarly  treated. 

Edinburgh. 

Royal  Society,  Februar%-  7.— Dr.  J.  Home,  president, 
"  *he  chair.— J.  M.  Thompson;  The  anatomv  and 
ithnity  of  Platyzoma  microphyllum.  The  paper  dealt 
^•ith  the  anatomy  of  a  single  specimen  of  the  plant. 
Ihere  were  simply-pinnate  unbranched  leaves  spring- 
ng  from  the  upper  surface  of  the  condensed  and  hori- 
zontal rhizome,  and  small  filiform  leaves  devoid  of 
3innae  inserted  on  the  sides  and  lower  surface  of  the 
-hizome.  Between  these  two  leaf  tvpes  transitions 
^vere  found.  The  heterophvlv  is  considered  a  conse- 
quence of  the  adoption  of  'the  rhizomatous  habit.  A 
lichotomised  pinnate  leaf  was  described.  The  stele 
ftas  of  a  unique  t>-pe,  and  the  sporangia,  of  which 
tnere  were  two  types,  large  and  small,  were  charac- 
terised bv  irregularities  in  form  and  variabilits^  in  posi- 
tion of  the  annulus.  The  systematic  position  of  the 
XO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


I  Platyzoma  cannot  yet  be  determined,  and  until  fuller 
information  regarding  the  nature  of  the  spores  is 
obtained  it  is  proposed  to  leave  Platyzoma  in  the 
Gleicheniaceae. — Dr.  R.  C.  Davie  :  The  leaf  trace  in. 
some  pinnate  leaves.  This  was  a  continuation  of  the 
former  paper  on  the  pinna  trace  in  the  ferns.  Species 
of  Polypodium  from  the  forests  and  of>en  sea  coast 
in  Brazil  showed  no  variation  in  the  method  of  giving, 
off  of  the  leaf  trace,  but  modified  the  abaxial  side  of 
the  leaf  trace,  increasing  the  number  of  strands  where 
the  leaves  were  long  and  heavily  pinnate,  decreasing^ 
them  in  short  leaves.  In  species  of  Aspidium,  Dr\o- 
pteris,  Polystichum,  and  other  genera  collected  in 
Brazil  it  was  found  that  the  abaxial  strands  of  the  leaf 
trace  were  used  directly  in  the  supply  of  the  pinna? 
where  these  were  large.  With  few  exceptions  the  type 
of  pinna  trace  is  constant  throughout  a  genus.  The 
abaxial  side  of  the  leaf  trace  is  dependent  on  local  and 
individual  peculiarities.  Comparisons  were  made  with 
the  leaf  trace  of  Cycads  and  of  Monocotyledons  and 
Dicotyledons. 

Paris. 
Academy   of   Sciences,    March  b.— M.  Camille  Jordan 
in  the  chair. — Pierre  Duhem  :   The  electrodynamics  of 
conducting  media. — M.  Liapounoff  was  elected  a  corre- 
spondant  for  the  section  of  geometry-  in  the  place  of 
the  late  Paul  Gordan. — Ernest  Lebon  :  A  new  table  of 
divisors  of  numbers. — Charles  Rabut  :  New  inverse  in- 
variants.— MM.    Girardeau  and  Bethenod  :    The   regula- 
tion of  the  charging  circuit  in  installations  of  wireless 
telegraphy,  using  continuous  high-tension  current  with 
rotating  contact-breaker.     Commenting  on  two  recent 
notes  of  M.  Bouthillon,  it  is  pointed  out  that  the  pro- 
posed regulation   is   not  new.        References   made   to 
publications    on    this    subject,    dating    from    19 10.: — ^A. 
Bach  :  A  new  reaction  of  urine.     Nitrates  are  reduced 
in    animal    tissues    by    the  joint  action  of  a   ferment 
and  a  co-ferment,  neither  of  which  separately  possesses 
a  reducing  action.     Both  are  present  in  fresh  milk, 
and  it  is  now  shown  that  normal  urine  contains  appre- 
ciable quantities  of  the  co-ferment. — Jules  Welsch  :  The 
geological  constitution  of  the  Poitou  marshes. — Stanis- 
las Mennier  :  Obser\ations  on  the  absence  of  the  pelagic 
facies   in   the   sedimentary   series. — F.    Garrigon  ;    The 
age  and  mode  of  formation  of  water  at  the  surface  of 
the  earth. — Fernand  Gond  :  A  new  method  of  employ- 
ing formol  for  disinfection  at  the  front.     Use  is  made 
of  the  vapours  given  off  when  formol  (40  per  cent,  solu- 
tion) is  poured  into  a  saturated  solution  of  potassium 
permanganate.        Direct   experiment   has   proved  that 
sterilisation  of  clothes  by  this  method  is  more  rapid 
than  when  day  heat  is  used.     Details  of  the  process 
are  given. — C.    Galaine   and   C.    Honlbert :    A   sulphur 
dioxide  diffuser  for  disinfection  and  rat  killing  in  the 
trenches,  in  hulls  of  ships,  and  in  houses.     The  appa- 
ratus proposed  consists  of  a  vessel  of  liquid  sulphur 
dioxide,  a  heating  coil  and  a  fan.     The  apparatus  is 
claimed    to    be     compact,     easily     manipulated,     and 
efficient  in   action. — Auguste  Lomiere  :    The  action   of 
the  hypochlorites  on  pus.     It  has  been  shown  by  M. 
Delbet  that  when  pus  is  added  to  double  its  volume 
i  of  Dakin's  solution  (o-6  per  cent,  sodium  hypochlorite)- 
j  sterilisation   is   not   usually  effected,   and,  indeed,    for 
i  some   organisms,    increased   vitality   results.      Experi- 
;   ments    with    pus  containing   various    micro-organisms 
1   (tetanus,  streptococcus,  staphylococcus,  etc.)  show  that 
I   when  a  quantity  of  sodium  hypochlorite  is  added  to 
!  pus    insufficient    for    sterilisation,    the    organisms   are 
I  rendered  less  virulent  and  their  toxins  are  destroyed 
j  by  oxidation.     This  destruction  of  toxins  regenerates 
j  the  culture  medium  (pus),  hence  the  increased  growth 
j   in   M.   Delbet's   experiments.     But  the  destruction   of 
j  the  toxins  in  vivo  is  favourable  to  the  body  resistance 
since  it  permits  the  inter\'ention  of  the  phagocytes. 


96 


NATURE 


[March  23,  1916 


BOOKS    RECEIVED. 

The  Structure  and  Properties  of  the  More  Common 
Materials  of  Construction.  By  G.  B.  Upton.  Pp. 
v  +  327.  (New  York:  J.  Wiley  and  Sons,  Inc.;  Lon- 
don :   Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.)     io5.  6d.   net. 

A  Text-Book  of  Practical  Physics.  By  Dr.  H.  S. 
Allen  and  H.  Moore.  Pp.  xv  +  622.  (London:  Mac- 
millan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     8,s.  6d.  net. 

Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers.  Wiring  Rules. 
Seventh  edition.  Pp.  54.  (London  :  E.  and  F.  N.  Spon, 
Ltd.)     6d. 

Catalogue  of  the  Fresh-Water  Fishes  of  Africa  in 
the  British  Museum  (Natural  History).  By  G.  A. 
Boulenger.  Vol.  iv.  Pp.  xxvii  +  392.  (London  : 
British  Museum  (Natural  History) ;  Longmans  and 
Co.)    30s. 

Electrical  Apparatus  Making  for  Beginners.  By 
A.  V.  Ballhatchet.  Pp.  164.  (London  :  P.  Marshall 
and  Co.)     2s.  net. 

The  Meaning  of  Dreams.  By  Dr.  I.  H.  Coriat. 
Pp.    xiv+194.     (London:   W.    Heinemann.)     5s.   net. 

Sleep  and  Sleeplessness.  By  H.  A.  Bruce.  Pp. 
ix  +  219.     (London  :   W.   Heinemann.)     55.  net. 

Human  Motives.  By  Prof.  J.  J.  Putnam.  Pp. 
xvii+179.     (London:   W.   Heinemann.)     55.  net. 

Warwickshire.  By  J.  H.  Bloom.  Pp.  xi+144. 
(Cambridge  :  At  the  University  Press.)     is.  6d.  net. 

A  Handbook  of  Colloid-Chemistrv.  By  Dr.  W. 
Ostwald.  Translated  by  Prof.  M.  'H.  Fischer.  Pp. 
xii  +  278.  (London  :  J.  and  A.  Churchill.)  12s.  6d. 
net. 

A  System  of  Physical  Chemistry.  By  Prof.  W.  C. 
McC.  Lewis.  Vol.  i.,  pp.  xiv  +  523.  Vol.  ii.,  pp.  vii  + 
552.     (London  :   Longmans  and  Co.)     9s.   net  each. 

A  History  of  British  Mammals.  .  By  G.  E.  H. 
Barrett-Hamilton  and  M.  A.  C.  Hinton.  Pp.  xviii. 
(London  :  Gumey  and  Jackson.)     25.  6d.  net. 

Canada.  Department  of  Mines.  Mines  Branch. 
Petroleum  and  Natural  Gas  Resources  of  Canada. 
Vol.  II.,  Description  of  Occurrences.  Part  I.,  Eastern 
Canada.  Part  II.,  Western  Canada.  By  F.  G.  Clapp 
and  others.  Vol.  vIII  +  404.  (Ottawa  :  Government 
Printing  Bureau.) 

Mathematical  Notes,  published  by  the  Edinburgh 
Mathematical  Society.  Edited  by  Dr.  P.  Pinkerton. 
Nos.  14,  15,  16.     (Edinburgh  :  Mathematical  Society.) 

Ministry  of  Finance,  Egypt.  Survey  Department. 
The  Magnetic  Survey  of  Egypt  and  the  Sudan.  By 
H.  E.  Hurst.  Pp.  53.  (Cairo :  Government  Press.) 
P.T.ro. 

The  National  Physical  Laboratory.  Notes  on  Screw- 
Gauges.  Enlarged  issue,  February  i.  Pp.  29. 
(Teddington  :  W.  F.  Parrott.)     is.  6d. 

DIARY   OF   SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  March  23. 
Royal  Society,  at  4.30.— The  Main  Crests  of  Ship  Waves,  and   Waves 

in  Deep  Water  due  to  the  Motion  of  Submerged  Bodies :  G.  Green. — 

Investigation  of  Atmospheric  Electrical  Variations  at  Sunrise  and  Sunset  : 

E.  H.  Nichols. 
Royal   Institution,  at   3. — Organic  Products  used  as    Propulsive  and 

Explosive  Agents  :  Prof.  H.  E.  Armstrong. 
Institution   of  Mixing  and   Mktau.urgy,  at  5.30. — Annual   General 

Meeting. — Presidential  Address  :  Sir  Richard  A.  S.  Redmayne. 

FRIDAY,  March  24. 
Royal   Institution,   at  5.30,— The   Mechanism  of  Chemical  Change  in 

Living  Organisms  :  Prof  W.  M.  Bayliss. 
Physical  Society,  at  5. — A  New  Method  of  Determining  Ionic  Velocities  : 
Mrs.  Griffiths. — (i)  An  Explanation  of  the  Migration  of  Ions  ;  (2)  A  Method 
of  Exhibiting  the 'Velocities  of  Iodine  Ions  in' Solution :  Dr.  S.  W.  J. 
:  Smith.  ■  . 

SATURDAY,  March  25. 
Royal   Institution,  at  3. — Radiatio-s  from  Atoms  and  Electrons  :  Sir 
.   J.  J.  T'homson. 

Essex  Field  Club  (at  the  Essex  Museun),  Stratford),  at  3.-7Annual 
Meetine. — Prehistory  in  Essex,  as  Recorded  in  the  Journals  of  the  Essex 
Field  Club  :  S.  Hazzledine  Warren. 

NO.    2421,    VOL.    97] 


MONDAY,  March  27. 
RovAL  Society  OF  Arts,  at  4.30 —Surveying:  Past  and  Present:  E.  A. 

Reeves. 

TUESDAY,  March  28. 
Royal  Institution,  at  3.— Modern  Horticulture— Plants  and  the  Seasons 

(Seasonal  Rhythm):  Prof  F.  Keeble. 
Royal  Society  of  Arts,   at  4.30.— Next  Steps  in  Empire  Partnershii;  : 

P.  Hurd. 
Royal  Anthropological  Institute  (with  the  Prehistoric  Society  of  E:. 

Anglia),  at  2-4. ^-Grime's  Graves  and  AlKed  Cultures  :  Dr.  A.  K.  Peake. 

The  Pleistocene  Succession  in  England  :  A.  S.  Kennard.     At  5-7. — Hand 

Grips  :  Miss  N.  Layard. — Irish  MS.   and  other  Evidence  of  the  Use  of 

Stone  Weapons,  including   Smooth  Stone  Celts  within  Historic  Times  : 

Rev.  F.  W.  Hayes. 

WEDNESDAY,  March  29. 
Royal  Society  of  Arts,  at  4.30. — Pan-German  Aspirations  in  the  Ne.ir 

East  :  Dr.  R.  W.  Seton-Watson. 
Institute  of  Metals,  at  4. — Presidential  Address.     At  8. — ^Third  Rep-.rt 

to  the  Corrosion  Committee:  W.  E.  Gibbs,  R.  H.  Smith,  and  Dr.  G.  1'. 

Bengough. — The    Electrolytic    Method    of     Preventing    Corrosion:     1 

Cumberland. — Note  on  some  Tin-Aluminium-Copper  Alloys:  Prof  A.  A. 

Head  and  R.  H.  Greaves.- — Notes  on  the  Analysis  of  Aluminium  and  i' 

Alloys  :  W.  H.  Withey. — The  Annealing  of  Nickel  Silver  :  V.  C.  Thorap^i 

— Electric    Furnaces  as   applied   to   Non-ferrous   Metallurgy:    Prof. 

Siansfield. — Transformations  in  Alloys  of  Gold  and  Copper  :  Dr.   N.   - 

Kurnakow,  S.  Zemczuzny  and  M.  Zasedatelev. 

THURSDAY,  March  30. 
Royal  Society,  at  4.30. 
Child  Study  Society,  at  6. — The  Child  Delinquent  :  C.  M.  Chapman. 

FRIDAY,  March  31.  - 

Royal  Institution,  at  5-30. — The  Spectra  of  Hydrogen  and   HeliumJ 

Prof.  A.  Fowler.  I 

S^ATURDAY,  April  i.  -| 

RovAL   Institution,   at  3. — Radiations  from  Atoms  and  Electrons  :  Sil 

J.  J.  Thomson.  \ 

CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The  Budget  of  Paradoxes.     By  G.  B.  M 77 

Pharmacology 79 

Our  Bookshelf 79 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

The  Liesegang  Phenomenon  and  Concretionary  Struc-  • 

tiire  in  Rocks.     {Illustrated.)  —  ^.  C.  Bradford  .    .  80 

International  Latin. — Dr.  W.  A.   Caspari Si 

Chemical  Organisation  in  Germany  During  the  War. 

By  Prof.  F.  G.  Donnan,  F.R.S 82 

Economic  Geology        83, 

Colonel  Sir  Charles  Watson,  C.B.,  K.C.M.G.,  R.E.  84 

Notes   .  85 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Opposition  of  the    Minor   Planet    (4)    Vesta.      {IVii/i 

Diagram.) '88 

Spectroscopic  Observations  of  Comets  1913/ (Dela van) 

and   I9I4<!'  (Zlatinsky) 89 

An  Atmospheric  Effect  of  Solar  Kathode  Rays  ...  89 

Mr.  Ivan  Levinstein 89 

Methods  and  Appliances  for  the  Attainment  of  High 

Temperatures  in  the  Laboratory 89 

Insects  in  Africa  and  the  East.     By  G.  H,  C.    ...  90 

Interesting  Foraminifera 90 

Scientific  Education  and  Industrial  Research   ...  91 
Use  of  Fossil  Remains  of  the  Higher   Vertebrates 
in    Stratigraphical    Geology.       By    Dr.     A.    Smith 

Woodward,  F.R.S 92 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 93 

Societies  and  Academies 94 , 

Books  Received 96 1 

Diary  of  Societies 96 


SI, 


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NA TURE 


97 


THURSDAY,   MARCH   30,    1916. 


EARLY  EMBRYOLOGY  OF  THE 
WORKER  BEE. 

Che  Embryology  of  the  Honey-Bee.  By  Dr.  J.  A. 
Xelson.  Pp.  282.  (Princeton :  University 
Press;  London  :  Oxford  University  Press,  1915.) 
Price  8s.  6d.  net. 

rHE  author  of  this  book  describes  himself 
as  Expert  in  Bee  Culture  Investig^ation, 
Bureau  of  Entomolog'y,  U.S.  Department  of  Agri- 
:ulture.  From  such  an  expert  one  would  naturally 
expect  a  book  full  of  interesting-  particulars  about 
Jie  modifications  of  development  in  the  bee  in- 
duced by  the  social  habits  of  this  insect  and  its 
Tiethod  of  feeding  its  young.  The  reader  who 
entertains  any  such  expectation  will  be  severely 
disappointed ;  the  book  deals  only  with  the  early 
development  of  the  egg  of  the  worker  bee,  and 
carries  the  life-history  only  to  the  stage  when  the 
bee  escapes  from  the  egg-shell  and  begins  its  life 
as  a  grub  inside  a  cell  of  the  honeycomb. 

The  book,  therefore,  is  almost  without  signifi- 
cance for  the  bee-culturist,  but  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  student  of  comparative  embryology  it 
is  a  production  of  very  great  interest,  and  is  to  be 
warmly  commended.  It  comprises  a  most  pains- 
taking and  detailed  study  of  the  processes  of  seg- 
mentation and  "  formation  of  the  layers "  in  the 
bee's  egg,  followed  by  a  full  and  satisfactory^ 
description  of  the  development  of  the  ner\ous 
system,  of  the  respiratory  system,  muscles,  heart, 
genital  organs,  etc.  It  might,  indeed,  be  regarded 
as  a  first-class  elementary  text-book  on  insect 
embryology  were  it  not  for  the  obvious  fact  that 
the  bee  is  not  a  very  good  choice  as  a  type  of 
insect  development.  But  the  comparative  embry- 
ologist  must  often  choose  the  types  which  he  can 
^et,  not  those  which  he  would  prefer,  and  as  the 
first  pre-requisite  of  sound  embryology  is  to  obtain 
abundant  material  comprising  stages  separated  by 
very  short  intervals,  it  must  be  admitted  the  bee 
offers  a  better  opportunity  of  accomplishing  this 
end  than  many  more  primitive  insects.  The  seg-- 
mentation  of  the  mesoderm  is,  however,  much  less 
marked  in  the  bee-embryo  than  in  the  lower  types, 
amd  no  vestiges  of  abdominal  appendages  appear 
in  the  course  of  the  development. 

On  practically  every  point  the  author  confirms 
the  conclusions  arrived  at  bv  Hirschler  in  his  studv 
of  the  development  of  the  beetle  Donacia,  which 
IS  by  far  the  most  thorough  and  satisfactory  inves- 
tigation of  the  development  of  anv  insect  which 
had  appeared   up  to  the  date  of  its   publication 

1909)-  All  our  ideas  on  the  earlv  stages  of  insect 
;development  had  been  thrown  into  confusion  by 
Heymons.  This  author  asserted  that  in  the  higher 
I'.nsect  the  endoderm,  which  in  the  lower  types 
l^orms  the  epithelium  of  the  mid-gut,   had  totallv 

disappeared,  and  that  in  these  higher  tvpes  this 
!?pithehum  was  formed  from  two  bands  of  cells  of 
pctodermic  origin  attached  to  the  inner  ends  of  the 
jitomodaeum  and  proctodaeum  respectivelv.  These 
NO.    2422,    VOL.    97] 


conclusions  of  Heymons  were  frequently  used  to 
discredit  the  doctrine  of  the  fundamental  import- 
ance of  the  distinction  between  the  germ-layers, 
a  doctrine  which  all  recent  and  careful  research 
has  tended  to  re-establish  and  extend.  Hirschler 
showed  that  Heymons  had  confounded  an  earlier 
pair  of  invaginations  of  the  outer  cells  into  the 
yolk,  which  can  be  compared  to  the  process  of 
gastrulation  in  less  yolky  eggs,  with  a  later  and 
totally  distinct  pair  of  similar  invaginations  which 
give  rise  to  the  stomodaeum  and  proctodaeum.  The 
reader  will  find  that  Hirschler's  statement  receives 
valuable  and  convincing  confirmation  in  the  volume 
before  us. 

The  book  is  well  illustrated,  most  of  the  figures 
being  interspersed  with  the  text  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  portions  to  which  they  refer,  whilst  some  plates 
giving  excellent  representations  of  the  whole  egg 
in  various  stages  of  development  are  collected  at 
the  end.  The  book  will  prove  to  be  an  indispens- 
able adjunct  to  every  zoological  library. 

E.  W.  M. 


SOCIOLOGY   AS    A    SCIENCE. 

Outlines  of  Sociology.  By  Prof.  F.  W.  Blackmar 
and  Prof.  J.  L.  Gillin.'  Pp.  viii  +  586.  (New 
Vork  :  The  Macmillan  Co.  ;  London  :  Macmillan 
and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1915.)     Price  85.  6d.  net. 

1HE  ancient  academic  problem  of  "free  will" 
is  always  with  us ;  the  study  of  it  is  never 
barren,  for  its  meaning  changes  with  the  develop- 
ment of  society  and  of  social  intelligence.  As 
compared  with  the  state  of  the  problem  in  the 
time  of  Hume,  for  example,  the  present-day  aspect 
of  it  is  decidedly  more  clear  and  scientific.  It 
mav  be  put  in  Cooley's  words:  "no  man  really 
acts  independently  of  the  influences  of  his 
fellow  men."  "Everywhere,"  iso  Profs.  Black- 
mar  and  Gillin  put  it,  "there  is  a  social 
life,  setting  limitations  and  predominatingly 
influencing  individual  action.  In  govern- 
ment, in  religion,  in  industry,  in  educa- 
tion, in  family  association — in  everything  that 
builds  up  modern  life,  men  are  co-oj>erating. 
They  work  together,  combine  and  organise  for 
specific  purposes,  so  that  no  man  lives  to  himself." 
Sociology  has  often  been  derided  as  a  pseudo- 
science  ;  but  in  its  early  stages  every  science  has 
received  the  same  contumelious  treatment. 
Chemistry  was  once  alchemy ;  astronomy  was  once 
astrolc^y.  But  British,  American,  French,  and 
German  thought  has  sealed  the  success,  or  at 
least  the  usefulness,-  of  the  youngest  of  the 
sciences,  which,  after  all,  is  one  of  the  oldest ; 
Plato's  "  Republic  "  is  a  sociological  investigation. 
And,  a  priori,  if  there  is  order  in  the  process  of 
society-building;  if  "through  it  all  runs  a  constant 
purpose,  a  social  trend ;  if  there  are  laws  con- 
trolling the  movement  of  human  society ;  forces 
in  continual  action  impelling  it  forward  in  well- 
defined  lines  " — then  there  is  clearly  a  mass  of 
facts  capable  of  classification,  social  phenomena 
more  or  less  frequently  recurring,  and  movements 

F 


.9^ 


NATURE 


[March  30,  1916 


more  or  less  regular,  which  admit  of  scientific 
study  and  analysis.  As  for  the  relation  of  socio- 
logy to  other  social  sciences,  "while  economics, 
political  science,  or  ethics  may  deal  with  specific 
laws  relating  to  parts  of  society,  sociology  deals 
with  the  general  laws  which  apply  to  the  whole 
structure  " ;  "  it  occupies  much  the  same  position 
with  reference  to  the  social  sciences  that  biology 
holds  to  the  natural  sciences  dealing  with  organic 
phenomena." 

Sociology  is  essentially  a  co-operative  study ; 
no  great  individual  genius  can  epitomise  it  and 
stamp  it  with  his  own  theory.  What  the  "  social 
mind  "  is  to  society,  sociology,  in  a  sense,  is  to 
the  social  sciences ;  and,  as  Ellwood  says,  "  the 
term  social  mind  is  a  convenient  term  to  express 
the  unity  of  our  mental  life."  One  danger  that 
may  threaten  sociological  science  is  the  possi- 
bility of  becoming  academic.  Few  studies  have 
more  inducements  for  the  armchair  philosopher. 
The  cure  for  this  tendency  is  in  the  highest 
ideal  of  sociology,  viz.,  creative  work  in  the 
amelioration  of  social  pathology.  The  only 
sphere  for  the  realisation  of  this  ideal  is  field- 
work,  the  study  of  living  conditions.  To  this 
all  antiquarianism  and  historical  investigation 
must  be  subordinated.  For  instance,  an  investi- 
gation into  the  causes  of  poverty  in  a  particular 
country,  carried  out  personally,  would  be  a  valu- 
able factor  for  progress.  It  is  just  in  this  kind 
of  creative  work  that  the  State  can  make  use  of 
the  science,  as  it  is  beginning  to  do,  while  the 
science  should  place  itself  at  the  service  of  the 
State.  This  is  true  of  every  science.  But  the 
duty  of  the  State  is  no  less  plain  :  it  must  en- 
courage, organise,  and  subsidise  all  the  sciences, 
without  the  cumbrous  pomp  and  delays  of  Royal 
Commissions,   but  on  simple  business  lines. 

The  war  has  begun  to  drive  home  this  ele- 
mentary truth.  At  the  stage  of  civilisation  now 
attained,  it  is  preposterous  that  the  State  should 
not  realise  its  function  and  duty— that  is,  to 
secure  the  increasing  well-being  of  the  society  and 
the  individuals  over  whom  it  presides.  To  effect 
this  result  is  impossible  on  merely  political  and 
legal  bases ;  science  is  the  only  sane  foundation 
of  national  prosperity  and  progress,  and  therefore 
the  main  concern  of  the  State  should  be  with 
science.  And  sociology  is  a  sort  of  middle-man 
between  the  sciences  and  their  utilisation  by  the 
State.  There  is  probably  not  a  single  depart- 
ment, either  of  the  social  or  individual  life  (the 
political  counts  merely  as  a  phase  of  the  social, 
artificially  maintained  in  relation  to  the  State) 
which  is  not  more  or  less  haphazard  in  its  theory 
and  practice.  We  do  not  want  to  substitute  for 
painful  experience  and  rule-of-thumb  any  theoreti- 
cal fads,  but  we  may  certainly  claim,  in  a  scientific 
age,  th.Tt  the  best  results  of  applied  science  should 
form  the  material  for  State-development  of  the 
national  possibilities.  Otherwise  we  are  left  with 
the  barbarous  creed  of  laissez-faire,  of  which 
"  muddle  through  "  is  the  proper  and  most  apt 
translation. 

Everything   of  the   best    in   recent   sociological 

NO.    2422,   VOL.   Q7l 


interpretation  seems  to  be  included  in  this  text-- 
book  of  Profs.  Blackmar  and  Gillin ;  it  is  quite 
the  most  impartial,  reasoned,  and  sound  of 
rdsumds  of  the  subject,  most  of  which,  by  the 
way,  together  with  original  theory,  has  recently 
emanated  from  America. 

To  illustrate  the  needs  of  a  relation  between, 
sociology  and  the  State,  the  authors'  remarks  on 
"  social  surveys  "  are  in  point.  They  mention  the 
great  work  of  Mr.  Charles  Booth,  "  who  devoted 
his  fortune  and  a  great  part  of  his  later  life  to  a 
study  of  social  conditions  in  London,"  also  Mr. 
Rowntree's  study  of  York,  Miss  Jane  Addams's 
"Hull  House  Maps  and  Papers,"  and  others. 
"  A  number  of  places  have  introduced  this  method 
of  social  stocktaking."  But  "as  practised  at  the 
present  time  by  the  professional,  social,  and  edu- 
cational surveyor,  it  is  liable  to  be  brought  into 
disrepute."  "There  is  great  need  of  a  standard-j 
isation  of  methods  and  a  perfecting  of  technique. 
In  other  words,  there  is  needed  for  this,  as  foi^l 
every  other  sociological  survey  and  any  practice 
application  of  science  to  national  purposes, 
central  organisation.  Such  can  only  be  supplieC 
by  the  State,  but  there  is  always  the  danger  of 
that  corruptio  optimi,  red  tape,  of  which,  how- 
ever,  the  best  cure  is  scientific  training. 

A.    E.    Crawley. 


EUCLID'S  BOOK  ON  DIVISIONS  OF 
FIGURES. 

Euclid's  Book  on  Divisions  of  Figures,  with  a 
Restoration  based  on  Woepcke's  Text  and  on 
the  "  Practica  Geometriae"  of  Leonardo  Pisano. 
By  Prof.  R.  C.  Archibald.  Pp.  viii-88. 
(Cambridge  :  At  the  University  Press,  191 5. 
Price  6s.  net. 

ATYPICAL  problem  of  the   Divisions   is   "to 
cut    off    a    certain    fraction     from     a     given 
triangle   by    a    line    drawn    from    a    given    point 
within  the  triangle."      Of   the   thirty-six   proposi- 
tions of  the  book,  six  are  auxiliary,  two  deal  with 
areas  the  boundaries  of  which  are  partly  or  wholly 
circular;  the  rest  are  concerned  with  the  division 
of    triangles     and     quadrilaterals.       For    several 
reasons  the  treatise  is  very  interesting ;  it  is  appar- 
ently complete,   the    Arabic    text  ^    translated  b> 
Woepcke   {Journ.    As.,    1851)   seems  to  represent 
Euclid's  text,  and  although  the   same  cannot  be 
said   about   the   proofs   supplied   by   Leonardo  ol 
Pisa  (Fibonacci),  they  retain  a  great  deal  of  th( 
old  Greek    style.     The    peculiar   fact  that    show; 
how,   even   early   in   the  thirteenth   century,   geo 
metry,  as  understood  by  the  ancient  Greeks,  hac 
become  infected  by  arithmetic,   is  that  Leonard' 
constantly  gives  numerical  illustrations,  and  evei| 
refers  (p.  41,  note)  to  segments  defining  a  givei! 
ratio  as  "numbers,"  which  we  may  be  sure  Euclii|^ 
would  not  do  in  this  context.     Since  the  editor'ff 
translation  of  Leonardo  is  not  absolutely  literal 
we  must  not  lay  stress  on  the  passage  (p.  61) :-' 
"Apply  a  rectangle  equal  to  the  rectangle  zb.h 

1  This  contains  the  enunciations  only.  ■- 


March  30,   19 16] 


NATURE 


^9 


to  the  line  hi,  but  exceeding^  by  a  square ;  that  is, 
to  hi  apply  a  line  such  that  when  multiplied  by 
itself  and  by  hi  the  sum  will  be  equal  to  the  pro- 
duct of  zh  and  61,"  the  explanatory  clause  being" 
possibly  Dr.  Archibald's;  but  however  that  may 
be,  this  sentence  is  a  good  illustration  of  the 
contrast  between  Greek  methods  and  others. 

The  editor's  work  seems  to  be  very  well  done. 
There  is  a  historical  introduction  (pp.  1-28) ;  the 
restoration  of  the  treatise  (pp.  30-77),  which  gives 
a  translation  of  Woepcke's  version  of  the  Arabic, 
and  a  close  paraphrase  of  Leonardo's  proofs  when 
they  exist,  with  supplementary  matter  by  the 
editor  indicated  by  brackets  or  different  type ;  and 
a  bibliography  (1539-igii)  which  gives  references 
to  works  on  "division"  problems  covering  a  very 
wide  range— some,  for  instance,  leading"  to 
transcendental  equations. 

If  the  Cambridge  Press  would  issue  this  work, 
to  teachers  at  any  rate,  in  a  paper  wrapper  at 
half-a-crown,  it  might  have  a  larger  circulation. 
The  book  deserves  to  be  well  known  on  account 
of  its  ingenuity  and  the  light  which  its  history 
throws  on  the  different  phases  of  geometrical 
theorv.  G.  B.  M. 


OVR    BOOKSHELF. 

A  Laboratory  Manual  for  Work  in  General 
Science.  By  O.  W.  Caldwell,  W.  L.  Eiken- 
berry  and  C.  J.  Pieper.  Pp.  xi  +  134.  (Lon- 
don: Ginn  and  Co.,  1915.)  Price  25.  6d. 
This  little  manual,  emanating  from  the  School  of 
Education  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  gives 
outlines  of  experiments  and  demonstrations  for 
use  "in  the  first  year  of  the  high  school."  The 
experiments  adopted  are  stated  to  be  the  "result 
of  the  co-of>erative  work  of  several  high  school 
teachers  through  a  period  of  years."  Their  pur- 
pose is  "to  direct  the  pupils  into  the  habit  of 
finding  out  about  many  kinds  of  comm.on  prob- 
lems in  science."  Useful  as  some  of  the  experi- 
ments are  to  create  a  healthy  interest  in  every- 
day phenomena,  the  cours'e  described  covers  so 
many  different  fields  and  the  experiments  follow 
each  other  with  so  little  regard  to  sequence,  that 
the  net  result  would  probably  be  to  impart  very 
unreal  and  superficial  knowledge.  In  successive 
experiments  we  have  such  abrupt  transitions  as 
the  following  :  No.  23.  Does  a  liquid  fill  all  the 
space  which  it  appears  to  fill?  No.  24.  What  are 
the  parts  of  a  flame?  And,  again.  No.  43.  How 
do  bacteria  act  on  milk,  and  how  may  milk  be 
preserved?  No.  44.  What  changes  in  volume 
take  place  when  water  freezes?  No.  49.  Does 
water  evaporate  in  a  plant?  No.  50.  How  does 
•a  siphon  work? 

I  Exercises  such  as  No.  61.  What  is  the  relation 
! between  water  supply  and  disease?  No.  6ia. 
I  What  is  the  significance  of  the  local  death-rate 
I  from  typhoid?  No.  62.  How  is  sewage  disposed 
!of  tn  your  community?  are  examples  of  later 
jproblems.  These  are  followed  by  exercises  dealing 
.with  the  use  of  pulleys  and  machines,  experiments 
NO.    2422,    VOL.    97] 


on  the  soil,  the  growth  of  plants,  the  nature  of 
foods,  and  so  on.  Finally  we  have  a  statistical 
study  of  the  question,  "Are  variations  in  parents 
transmitted   to  offspring?  " 

In  the  reviewer's  opinion,  far  too  much  is 
attempted  in  the  course  laid  down  for  it  to  be  of 
much  real  educative  value.  W.  A.   D. 

Archaic  Sculpturings :  Notes  on  Art,  Philosophy, 

and  Religion  in  Britain,   2000  B.C.    to  900  A.D. 

By  L.  M.  Mann.    Pp.  52.    (London  :  W.  Hodge 

and  Co.,  1915.)  Price  2s.  6d.  net. 
The  object  of  this  pamphlet,  reprinted  from  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Dumfries  and  Galloway 
Natural  History  and  Antiquarian  Society,  is  to 
examine  three  groups  of  sculptures  in  that  dis- 
trict :  Pagan,  consisting  of  cup  and  ring  mark- 
ings of  the  Neolithic  and  Bronze  Ages,  and  dia- 
grams on  slate  of  the  Middle  Bronze  Age;  transi- 
tional designs,  mostly  of  the  Iron  Age;  and  the 
earliest  Christian  monuments.  The  scheme  is 
wide,  probably  too  wide  for  treatment  within  the 
limits  of  a  single  paper.  The  most  interesting^ 
part  of  it  is  the  investigation  of  cup  and  ring 
markings.  The  current  theories  of  their  origin 
and  purport  being  far  from  satisfactory,  Mr.  Mann 
tells  us  that  some  years  ago  he  began  to  recognise 
that  these  figures,  when  plotted  on  paper,  were 
found  to  be  "arranged  in  a  most  precise,  mathe- 
matical, and  geometrical  manner."  He  recog- 
nises two  main  systems  of  lines  fitting-  into  the 
salient  parts  of  the  sculpturing.  "One  system 
narrowly  misses  coinciding  with  the  other.  One  is 
related  apparently  to  the  actual  pole,  and  the 
other  to  the  pole  star  of  that  period."  He  be- 
lieves that  many  of  them  "  embody  primitive  astro- 
nomical motives  mixed  up  with  ideas  of  worship 
of  a  Supreme  Central  Force  which  were  wide- 
spread over  most  parts  of  Europe  during  the  first, 
probably  the  second,  if  not  also  the  third  millen- 
nium before  Christ." 

The  scheme  is  worked  out  with  considerable  in- 
genuity. But  the  student  will  probably  demand 
further  evidence,  beyond  the  carvings  themselves, 
to  show  that  these  beliefs  were  current  among  the 
sculptors,  some  precise  dating  of  the  ornamenta- 
tion, and  a  more  extended  survey  of  similar  mark- 
ings bevond  the  area  treated  in  this  paper.  The 
theory  is,  at  any  rate,  interesting,  and  those  who 
are  in  a  p>osition  to  examine  these  stones  might 
bear  it  in  mind. 

Warwickshire.  By  J.  Harvey  Bloom.  Pp.  xi-f 
144.  (Cambridge :  At  the  L^niversity  Press, 
1916.)  Price  15.  6d.  net... 
This  little  volume  exhibits  all  the  excellences  we 
have  learnt  to  associate  with  the  Cambridge 
county  geographies.  Visitors  to  Warwickshire 
will  find  here  a  concise  and  well-illustrated  account 
of  the  relief,  geology,  natural  history,  climate, 
and  industries  of  the  county,  in  addition  to  other 
interesting  particulars  about  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  parts  of  England.  The  coloured  oro- 
graphical  and  geological  maps  add  greatly  to  the 
value  of  the  guide. 


103 


NATURE 


[March  30,  19 16 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Optical  Glass ;  an  Historical  Note. 

The  subject  of  optical  glass  is,  at  the  present  time, 
one  of  such  paramount  importance  that  no  apology 
is  needed  for  introducing  it  to  the  attention  of  your 
readers.  As  is  well  known,  the  Rev.  Vernon  Harcourt 
and  Sir  George  Gabriel  Stokes,  in  the  earlier  half  of 
last  centur}',  laboured  together  for  more  than  twenty- 
five  years  with  the  object  of  adding  to  our  stock,  new 
varieties  of  optical  glass,  but  without  success.  Their 
labours,  however,  were  afterwards  continued  by  Prof. 
Abbe  and  Dr.  Schott,  of  Jena,  who,  in  the  course  of 
some  five  years,  were  completely  successful.  As  the 
result  of  a  critical  examination  of  the  work  of  the 
English  workers.  Dr.  Czapski — then  the  head  of  the 
firm  of  Carl  Zeiss,  of  Jena — came  to  the  conclusion 
that  Harcourt  and  Stokes  had  failed  simply  because 
they  had  not  at  their  disposal  the  services  of  a  sym- 
pathetic and  competent  glass-maker. 

I  have  quite  recently,  by  the  courtesy  of  a  friend, 
enjoyed  the  privilege  of  reading  a  number  of  letters,  I 
believe  as  yet  unpublished,  written  by  Prof.  Abbe, 
during  the  period  of  his  work  on  optical  glass,  to  a 
well-known  English  microscopist,  now  dead.  One  of 
these  letters,  dated  October  9,  1881,  is  very  interesting 
because  it  sets  out  very  clearly  the  high-water  mark  in 
optical  construction  attained  by  optical  glasses  com- 
mercially obtainable  before  the  Jena  glasses  were  pro- 
duced. The  relevant  part  of  this  letter  reads  as  fol- 
lows : — 

"The  Crown  and  Flint  which  is  applied  now  by 
Zeiss — -for  objectives,  prisms,  etc.- — is  within  the  limits 
of  1-5017  and  1-8017  refractive  index  for  the  D-line. 
The  dispersion  of  the  former  is  0-00798,  and  of  the 
latter  0-03287,  measured  for  the  interval  between  lines 
C  and  F.  The  density  of  the  said  Crown  is  approxi- 
mately 2-40,  and  of  the  said  heavy  flint  5-1.  The 
Crown  above  is  not  the  ordinary  Crown,  which  yields 
«D=  I"5i5  —  i"520  and  ?Zk-;?c  =  0-00850  -  0-00900  ;  it 
is  a  special  glass  of  Fell  (of  Paris).  The  Flint  named 
above — also  from  Fell — is  not  perfectly  white,  but  the 
colour  (yellowish)  is  not  very  perceptible  in  smaller 
pieces  (lenses  or  prisms).  It  may  be  usefully  applied 
for  many  purposes,  though  it  leaves  a  rather  great  resi- 
dual of  secondary  chromatism. 

"Fell  has  made  still  more  refractive  Flint,  approach- 
ing 1-9  in  index.  But  this  is  strongly  coloured  and  not 
fit  for  use  in  my  opinion.  The  common  Flint,  which  is 
applied  for  telescope-objectives,  has  N,,  between  r6o 
and  i"63,  and  Np- No  between  00165  and  o-oi8o.  The 
strongest  Flint,  wkich  is  made  by  Chance  Brothers,  of 
Birmingham  (i.e.  'double-extra-dense'  Flint),  has 
Nd=  171  -  172  and  Np— Nc  between  o"o239  and  0*0241. 

"  All  taken  together,  w^e  have  eighteen  difi"erent  kinds 
of  Crown  and  Flint  in  constant  use  at  Dr.  Zeiss 's 
workshop." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  at  the  time  referred  to 
in  the  above  letter  Zeiss  was  entirely  dependent  upon 
Chance  Brothers,  of  Birmingham,  and  Fell,  of  Paris, 
for  his  supplies  of  optical  glass. 

The  research  work  commenced  by  Abbe  and  Schott 
in  1881  on  a  laboratory  scale  was  so  far  successful 
that  Prof.  Abbe,  writing  in  a  second  letter  on 
February   21,    1883,    says  : — 

"  Regarding  the  glass  experiments,  of  which  I  have 


told  you  a  year  ago,  1  may  say,  that  they  have  had  a. 
very  satisfactory  progress,  as  well  in  regard  to  the 
purely  scientific  aims,  for  which  the  research  had 
been  undertaken,  as  in  regard  to  the  practical  results 
which  are  obtained.  We  are  now  satisfied  that  the 
utilisation  of  these  results  for  the  fabrication  of  optical 
glass  will  be  the  basis  of  a  good  progress  of  practical 
optics  in  several  respects.  The  question  is  now  only 
how  to  introduce  the  results  oi  the  experimental  re- 
search into  the  fabrication ;  for  all  that  can  be  done 
in  the  laboratory  is  settled  now,  or  nearly  settled. 
For  that  other  aim  I  have  had  already,  during  several 
months,  long  and  troublesome  negotiations  in  order 
to  obtain  for  my  fellow-labourtr  that  assistance  which 
could  enable  him  to  undertake  the  practical  applica- 
tion of  the  long  research.  Even  now,  however,  it  is 
not  yet  settled  that  this  will  be  possible — at  least  in 
the  manner  as  it  has  been  planned  until  now,  and 
within  a  moderate  time.  But  at  all  events,  the  quick 
utilisation  of  the  research  in  favour  of  microscopic 
optics  will  not  be  questionable;  we  have  obtained 
already,  or  will  obtain  within  the  next  time,  by  mere 
laboratory  operations,  sufficient  quantities  of  the  new- 
glasses,  which  are  of  interest  for  the  microscope,  for 
enabling  Zeiss  to  begin  with  the  practical  applica- 
tion in  this  year  (which  notice,  however,  I  request  you 
to  consider  as  a  private  one  at  present,  because  it 
would  not  be  agreeable,  to  have  this  matter  spoken 
of  long  before  it  is  a  matter  of  fact)." 

This  letter  is  very  interesting,  because  it  shows 
that  at  the  time  in  question,  so  far  as  the  compara- 
tively small  quantities  of  special  glasses  required  for 
the  production  of  microscope  objectives  was  con- 
cerned, the  laboratory  output  was  sufficient  to  enab'h 
the  work  to  be  done.  This  fact  at  once  points  to  th( 
possibility  of  meeting  the  demand  at  the  present  tim; 
for  very  special  glasses  required  in  small  quantities 
only,  as,  for  example,  the  production  of  microscop;- 
objectives  by  laboratory  rather  than  by  factory 
methods. 

The  production  of  glass  on 
was  commenced  at  Jena  in  i8{ 
a  successful  conclusion  in  188 
logue  of  the  Jena  glasses  was  issued. 

The  third  letter  written  by  Prof.  Abbe  is  dated 
March  4,  1886,  and  wafe  accompanied  by  one  of  the 
first — if  not  the  first — homogeneous  immersion  apo- 
chromatic  microscope  objectives  made.  The  letter 
reads  as  follows  : — 

"This    is    a  homog.    immersion    of    1-40    apert.    and 
30   mm.    focal-length,  constructed   by   means    of   new 
kinds  of  optical   glass   which   have  been   produced  on 
the  base    of  a   systematical    research    into    the   optical 
qualities  of  the  various  elements  admitting  of  vitrifica- 
tion.    This  research  has  been  conducted  through  about 
three  years  in   the  way  of  laboratory  work,   chemical 
and   optical,    by   myself   and  a    fellow-labourer   of   ti 
chemical  and  technical  line  (Dr.  Schott)  with  the  cor 
tinuous  assistance  of  two   younger  scholars,   chemis^ 
and  phj^sicists ;  and  has  afterwards — nearlv  two  yeai 
ago — induced  the   foundation — at  Jena — of  a  technics 
establishment  for  the  regular  fabrication  of  all  kindsl 
of  optical  glass  for  general  use.     This  glass-manufac-J 
tory   (which  has   been    set   up   in   1884   by    Dr.    Schott.J 
Messrs.   Zeiss,  and  myself,  with  the  aid  of  a  subsidjj 
of  the  Prussian  Government)  has  taken  up,  and  conT 
tinued,  the  former  experiments  on  the  scale  of  fabricaf 
tory  work,  in  order  to  make  the  results  available  foif 
the  various  branches  of  practical  optics.     This  is  goinji 
on  still — some  tasks  being  settled  (the  production  of  thi;^ 
silicious  glasses,  which  is  in  a  regular  fabrication  sinoi 
last  summertime),   other  tasks  being  brought  near  tj 
the  aim.     In  the  meanwhile,  I  have  gone  to  work  wit'j 
theoretical  research  and  computation;  in  order  to  fin 
the    proper    formulas    for    the    utilisation   of  the  ne\ 


manufacturing  scale 
and  was  brought  to 
when  the  first  cata- 


March  30,  19 16] 


NATURE 


lOI 


kinds  of  glass  in  the  construction  of  telescope  objectives 
and  microscope  objectives. 

■■  Regarding  the  latter  aim,  a  series  of  objectives 
adjusted  for  the  short  continental  tube  is  nearly 
finished ;  another  series  for  your  English  microscopes 
— which  requires  different  formulas — has  been  begun; 

and  you  and  Mr. have  at  hand  the  first  specimens 

of  that  series. 

"The  optical  features  of  the  new  constructions,  which 
are  represented  by  this  i/8th  of  1-4  ap.,  may  be  de- 
-"-  !  in  that  way;  the  various  corrections  are  of  a 
r  order  than  could  be  obtained  formerly  (or,  more 
-wL^Liy  spoken,  the  residuals  of  the  various  corrections. 
I.e.  the  defects  of  collection  of  the  rays,  are  of  a  higher 
order  according  to  mathematical  terminology,  (i)  With 
the  old  kinds  of  crown  and  fiint  glass  two  different 
colours  only  could  be  collected  to  one  focus,  a  secondary- 
spectre  remaining  uncorrected.  With  the  new  glass 
those  different  colours  unite  at  one  point,  a 
tertiar;-  deviation  being  left  only.  (2)  Formerly 
the  spherical  correction  was  confined  to  the  rays  of 
one  colour;  this  correction  being  made  for  the  middle 
part  of  the  spectrum,  the  systems  remained  under- 
corrected,  spherically,  for  the  red  rays,  and  over- 
corrected  for  the  blue  rays.  Now  the  correction  ol 
sph.  aberr.  is  obtained  for  two  different  rays  of  the 
spectrum  at  the  same  tim.e,  and  the  objective  shows  the 
same  degree  of  chromatical  correction  for  the  central 
as  for  the  marginal  part  of  the  aperture.  (Of  course, 
this  higher  degree  of  correction  is  not  given  by  the 
glass  from  itself — it  requires  a  ver\^  careful  utilisation 
of  the  optical  properties  of  the  various  kinds  of  glass 
at  disposal,  in  order  to  fulfil  all  those  conditions,  and 
this  was  not  even  possible  except  by  means  of  a  greater 
cornplication  of  the  constructions ;  I  was  obliged  to 
introduce  five  separate  lenses  (for  the  aperture  1-4) 
instead  of  the  four  applied  hitherto). 

"  The  objective  at  hand  is  constructed  on  the  single- 
front-type.  It  contains  ten  single  lenses  in  five  separate 
parts.  Two  only  of  these  ten  lenses  contain  silicious 
acid ;  the  glasses  of  the  other  eight  are  phosphates  ana 
borates — the  Crown  and  Flint  glass  which  has  been 
used  by  the  opticians  hitherto,  does  not  contain,  as 
essential  constituents,  more  than  six  chemical  elements, 
O,  Si,  K,  Na,  Ca,  Pb;  the  lenses  of  the  i/8th  contain, 
as  essential  components  of  the  glass,  not  less  than 
fourteen  elements." 

"  I  did  not  introduce  a  greater  aperture  than  1-40  in 
order  to  preserve  a  convenient  working  distance — 
which,  in  fact,  is  =025  mm.  =  1/100  in.  The  two 
oculars  sent  with  the  objective  are  constructed  with 
the  aim  to  compensate  certain  aberrations  outside  the 
axis,  which  cannot  be  got  rid  of  in  the  objectives  (of 
wide  aperture).  The  whole  series  of  objectives,  high 
and  low  powers,  shall  be  so  arranged,  that  this  com- 
pensation is  always  obtained  bv  the  same  series  of 
oculars." 

This  last  letter,  I  think,  will  be  acepted  as  setting  out 
mter  alia,  in  a  remarkably  lucid  wav  the  optical  advan- 
tages obtained  by  the  introduction  and  employment  of 
the  Jena  glass  in  optical  constructions. 

F.    J.    CHESmRE. 

Hamilton  and  the  "Quantification  of  the  Predicate." 

vrl^^^'f  ^'w^T.^°r  ^^^''^^  -3.  P-  78,  in  a  review  of  De 
>lorgan  s  Budget  of  Paradoxes,"  re-issued  by  the 
^fw-n?"''^  Publishing  Co.,  there  is  an  allusion  to 
tifi.o^^  ^^"^  Hamilton's  "famous  theorv  of  the  quan- 
tification of  the  predicate."  ^ 

nen£L*^f°7  ^^^  ^^^^  ^*  °"t  ^^  George  Bentham,  a 
HnSTf  T  ^^'"i^y  Bentham,  in  1827,  "in  his  "  Out- 
Iftur^fc  p  ■^''''-  ^^J^ew«d  by  Hamilton  in  the  Edin- 
\^utgh  Review  in  1833,  and  again  raised  bv  Mr.  War- 


NO.    2422,    VOL.    97] 


low  in  the  Athenaeum  at  the  end  of  1850,  as  may  be 
read  in  the  Contemporary  Review,  May,  1873,  pp. 
82 1-24. 

Although  Bentham  never  pushed  his  theory,  it  is 
clear  that  it  came  into  Hamilton's  mind  from 
Bentham 's  book,  and,  as  so  often  happens,  the  actual 
originator  has  been  overlooked.  B.  D.  J. 


THE  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF 
NUBIAA 

I  N  the  accounts  of  the  preceding  reports  which 
•'-  have  been  published  in  Nature  attention  has 
been  directed  to  the  exceptional  thoroughness  of 
the  work,  both  of  excavation  and  surveying,  and 
the  completeness  of  the  presentment  of  the  new 
information  brought  to  light  in  this  important 
archaeological  survey,  which  has  been  carried  out 
by  the  Egyptian  Survey  Department. 

In  the  present  report  Mr.  Firth  has  fully  main- 
tained the  high  standard  of  excellence;  and  the 
complete  and  lucid  statement  of  the  facts,  the 
liberal  supply  of  text-figures,  and  especially  the 
admirable  collotypes,  enable  the  reader  almost  to 
see  and  fully  to  understand  the  whole  of  the  work, 
without  the  discomfort  of  living  in  a  Nubian 
camp. 

It  is  a  matter  for  congratulation  that  this  impor- 
tant and  difficult  investigation  was  carried  out 
with  such  insight  and  thoroughness,  for  the  flood- 
ing of  the  country  makes  it  impossible  ever  to 
survey  Lower  Nubia  again  for  archaeological  in- 
formation. Without  the  knowledge  so  acquired 
the  door  would  have  been  shut  for  ever  upon  a 
proper  understanding  of  the  early  history  of  the 
Sudan,  which  is  now  being  revealed  by  Prof. 
Reisner's  excavations  in  the  Kerma  basin.  More- 
over, many  of  the  difficulties  in  interpreting  the 
story  of  Egypt  would  have  been  quite  insurmount- 
able without  this  information  to  make  clear  what 
was  happening  south  of  the  First  Cataract. 

Most  of  the  volume  is  devoted  to  the  primary 
object  of  such  a  report,  viz.,  the  detailed  and  im- 
partial statement  of  all  the  facts  brought  to  light. 
It  includes  a  brief  account  of  the  town  site  of 
Pselchis,  and  a  full  account  of  the  mode  of  con- 
struction and  contents  of  every  grave. 

The  special  importance  of  this  report,  however, 
depends  upon  the  fact  that  it  deals  so  largely 
with  the  remains  of  the  distinctively  Nubian  cul- 
ture, of  which,  from  the  circumstances  of  the 
case,  it  must  represent  for  all  time  the  chief  source 
of  information.  In  the  introductory  twenty-four 
pages  Mr.  Firth  gives  a  well-balanced  and  illu- 
minating survey  of  the  early  movements  of  people 
in  the  Nile  valley,  in  which  he  clearly  defines  the 
position  and  the  distinctive  cultural  relations  of 
the  Middle  Nubian  people  (the  "  C-group  "),  The 
only  criticism  that  I  have  to  make  of  his  account 
of  this  interesting  people  is  the  wholly  unwarrant- 
able suggestion  of  "the  possibility  that  the  C- 
group  represents  an  immigration  from  the  south- 
west of  a  mixed  Negro  and   Libyan  stock  from 

^  "The  Archseological  Survey  of  Nnbia."  Report  for  1909-10.  By  CM. 
Firth.     (Cairo:  Goremment  Press,  1913.)     Price  L.E.  2. 


102 


NATURE 


[March  30,  1916 


Darfur    (or    Kordofan)   at   the   close   of   the   Old 
King"dom  "  (p.  20). 

There   is   no   reason   whatsoever    for    labelling 


Predynastic  Egyptians  formed  one  of  these  groups 
and  the  Middle  Nubians  another ;  but  there  was  a 
buffer-population,  the  "  B-group  "  of  the  archaeolo- 


FiG.  I.  —  Pottery  deposit  near  Canteen  or  Customs  House,  Romano-Nubian  period,      h  rom  ''  The  Archaeological  Survey  oi  Nuljia.  " 


these  people  "Libyan."    In  prehistoric  times  there 
were  groups  of  kindred   peoples   scattered   along 


Fig.  2.  —  Later  C-group  period.  Large  jar  of  blacl;  polished  ware 
with  incited  acid  coloured  patterns  in  imiiation  ot  basket-work. 
Cemetery  loi,  grave  38  Scale  i  :  6.  brom  "  J  he  Archaeo- 
logical Survey  of  iSubia." 

the  Nile  valley  like  beads  upon  a  string,   which 
reached  from  the  Mediterranean  to  Abyssinia.  The 


gists,    between   them    to    hinder    free    admixture 
either  of  blood  or  culture,   but  which  itself  was 
affected    most    intimately — in    other    words,   wasj 
virtually  enslaved — by  the  more  powerful  Egyptian! 
people.      The    Egyptians    themselves    were    sub-! 
jected  to  the  stimulating  influence  of  contact  wit? 
more    virile    races    in    the    north,    and   advancecj 
rapidly  along  the  paths  of  material  progress.    Th«j 
Middle   Nubians   were   affected   by   the   retarding; 
influence   of    Negro   admixture,    and    incidentally 
retained   for   many  centuries   and   with   relativel 
slight  changes  the  arts  and  crafts  which  original) 
were  the  common  heritage  of  both  Egyptians  an' 
Nubians. 

The  archaeological  evidence  relating  to  this  ir 
structive  history  has  been  set  forth  in  a  most  luci 
way  by  Mr.  Firth. 

The  excellence  of  the  way  in  which  the  Surve 
Department  has  carried  out  this  work  of  archae< 
logical  research  and  of  the  publication  of  i 
results  makes  one  wish  that  the  newly-establishc 
British  Protectorate  of  Egypt  may  use  the  kno\ 
ledge  to  put  in  order  its  Antiquities  Departmen 
which  is  not  only  intimately  related  in  a  variety 
ways  to  the  proper  financial  administration  of  tl' 
country,  but  also  has  responsibilities  for  the  prop' 
care  of  monuments  by  which  posterity  will  judi- 
of  the  success  or  otherwise  of  British  rule  » 
Egypt.  G.  Elliot  Smith. 


-March  30,  19 16] 


NATURE 


103 


THE   SHACKLETON  ANTARCTIC 
EXPEDITION. 

THE  news  that  arrived  at  the  end  of  last  week 
from  the  Shackleton  Antarctic  Expedition 
Avas  of  an  unexpected  nature.  The  Aurora,  dur- 
ing" a  severe  gale,  broke  loose  from  her  mooring^s 
€arly  in  May,  191 5,  and  drifted  in  the  pack  ice, 
suffering  severe  damag^e,  until  March  14,  1916, 
-when  she  g'Ot  free  in  64°  30'  S.  161°  E.,  and  is 
riow  on  her  way  to  Xew  Zealand.  When  the 
Aurora  broke  adrift,  a  number  of  officers  and  men 
were  ashore,  including-  Captain  Macintosh,  and 
were  unable  to  rejoin  the  ship.  The  wireless  tele- 
grams received  seem  to  indicate  that  ten  men 
are  thus  left  stranded  at  the  Ross  Sea  base  near 
Cape  Evans.  They  were  probably  engag^ed  in 
■depot-lay ingf  over  the  barrier  in  preparation  for 
the  arrival  of  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  and  his  party 
in  their  trans-continental  march. 

News  received  during-  the  winter  from  South 
'Georgia  had  already  warned  us  that  Sir  Ernest 
Shackleton  had  been  unlucky  in  meeting  with 
an  unfavourable  season,  and  the  weather  in 
Australia  suggests  that  the  exceptionally  severe 
conditions  extend  to  the  area  of  Antarctica  south 
■of  Australasia.  The  ice  in  the  Weddell  Sea  is 
known  to  be  exceptionall}-  variable  in  extent ;  and 
success  in  the  exploration  of  that  region  will  prob- 
ably always  be  largely  determined  by  the  good  or 
ill  fortune  of  the  explorers  in  regard  to  the  ice  con- 
ditions. An  expedition  which  found  the  Weddell 
Sea  as  Weddell  found  it  could  do  more  in  one 
season  than  in  ten  years  under  average  conditions. 

The  continued  absence  of  news  from  the  Endur- 
ance— the  ship  which  took  the  trans-continental 
party  to  the  Weddell  Sea — is  disappointing,  as  it 
is  thus  still  doubtful  whether  Sir  Ernest  Shackle- 
ton has  begun  his  daring  trans- Antarctic  sledge 
journey,  and  whether  a  favourable  base  was  estab- 
lished on  the  shore  of  the  Weddell  Sea.  But  the 
Endurance  may  well  have  delayed  her  voyage  back 
as  late  as  possible  on  the  chance  of  Shackleton 's 
return  to  the  western  base,  and  to  allow  the  \\'ed- 
dell  Sea  parties  to  have- a  full  season's  work.  No 
anxiety  regarding  the  Endurance  need  be  felt  for 
another  fortnight,  and  news  of  her  safe  arrival 
at  the  Falkland  Islands  may  be  received  any  day. 

The  news  from  the  Ross  Sea  demands  more  im- 
mediate preparation;  for  though  the  latest  dis- 
patch from  the  Aurora  shows  that  she  is  sea- 
worthy, she  is  admittedly  so  badly  strained  that 
it  is  possible  that  she  may  be  too  injured  to  be 
trusted  with  the  relief  of  the  party  left  at  Mac- 
murdo  Sound.  The  explorers  left  there  should  be 
quite  safe.  They  have  two  huts,  both  of  which 
appear  to  be  sound.  Half  the  heating  arrange- 
rnents  of  the  Discovery  hut  were  left  behind  in 
New  Zealand,  and  it  was  not  lined  with  the  insu- 
lating material  taken  out  to  render  it  heat-proof. 
But  either  hut  would  furnish  safe  shelter,  and  the 
stores  left  at  this  base  must  be  ample  for  the  men 
left  ashore,  and  for  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  and  his 
partv.  Moreover,  plenty*  of  penguins  and  seals 
^an  be  found.  It  is,  however,  clear  that  unless  the 
Aurora  can  be  repaired  In  Australasia,  another 
NO.    2422,   VOL.    97] 


ship  must  be  sent  out ;  for  a  relief  expedition  must 
go  to  the  Ross  Sea  next  season. 

The  absence  of  news  from  the  Endurance  is 
embarrassing,  as  it  may  be  that  another  or  even 
two  other  relief  expeditions  may  be  required.  If 
the  Endurance  does  not  return  within  a  fortnight, 
arrangements  will  have  to  be  made  for  the  dis- 
patch of  a  relief  ship  to  the  Weddell  Sea.  Prob- 
ably one  of  the  South  Georgia  whalers  might  be 
sent  on  this  mission;  but  as  the  South  Atlantic 
is  so  much  nearer  than  the  Ross  Sea  there  would 
be  ample  time  to  send  out  a  suitable  ship  from 
this  countrj'.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that  if 
Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  started  on  his  daring 
journey  and  has  not  reached  either  Macmurdo 
So;und  or  returned  to  his  Weddell  Sea  base,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  search  for  him ;  for  he  may 
have  reached  some  place  on  the  coast,  where 
he  could  live  through  the  winter  on  seal  and 
penguin.  No  final  decision  can  be  made  until  time 
has  been  allowed  for  the  return  of  the  Endurance . 
but  a  full  scheme  of  operations  should  be  readv 
for  definite  action  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the 
Aurora  and  the  last  day  upon  which  we  mav 
reasonably  expect  this  season  the  return  of  the 
Endurance. 

RICHARD  DEDEKIND. 
'X*HE  death  of  Dedekind  deserves  more  than  a 
■•-  passing  notice  because  he  belonged  to 
that  small  class  of  profound  and  original  mathe- 
maticians typified  by  such  men  as  Hermite, 
Kronecker,  and  H.  J.  S.  Smith.  In  at  least  four 
great  branches  of  pure  mathematics  he  made 
contributions  of  the  highest  importance,  and,  as 
a  tribute  to  his  memory,  a  brief  account  of  tl.em 
will  be  given  here. 

It  is  now  becoming  a  matter  of  common  know- 
j  ledge  that  the  very  foundations  of  all  mathe- 
!  matics  have  been  reconstructed  in  such  a  way  as 
I  to  make  the  science  like  symbolical  logic,  and, 
in  theory,  independent  of  all  intuition  whatever. 
The  beginning  of  this  revolution  was  the  acquire- 
ment of  a  precise  conception  of  irrational 
numbers,  and  of  the  nature  of  the  arithmetical 
continuum.  Dedekind  shares  with  Heine, 
Kronecker,  and  Cantor  the  glory  of  making  this 
theor}-  complete.  His  own  exposition  is  contained 
in  the  two  tracts,  "Was  sind  u.  was  sollen  die 
Zahlen?"  and  "  Ueber 'Stetigkeit  u.  irrationale 
Zalilen,"  and  in  some  ways  is  the  simplest  and 
most  philosophical  of  all  that  have  been  devised. 
It  may  be  remarked  also  that  he  did  this  novel 
work  without  inventing  more  than  one  new 
symbol.  He  also  shares  with  Cantor  the  credit 
of  pointing  out  that,  if  we  are  to  assume  that 
the  uniform  motion  of  a  point  along  a  segment 
AB  is  an  exact  image  of  a  real  numerical  variable 
increasing  from  a  to  b,  we  must  introduce  an 
axiom  of  some  sort.  This  axiom,  known  as  the 
Cantor-Dedekind  axiom,  may  be  put  into  various 
equivalent  forms ;  one  of  them  is  that  any  definite 
segment  of  a  straight  line  must  be  terminated  by 
two  definite  points. 


104 


NATURE 


[March  30,  19 16 


Another  great  modern  theory  is  that  of  elliptic 
modular  functions,  with  its  development,  that  of 
automorphic  functions.  In  a  letter  to  Borchardt 
("Crelle,"  vol.  Ixxxiii.  (1877))  Uedekind  pointed 
out  the  importance  of  the  function  he  calls  the 
Valenz ;  essentially  this  is  no  other  than  the  modu- 
lar function  ;(w),  which  enjoys  the  property  that 
j(a))  =  j((oi)  if,  and  only  if,  a)i  =  (ow +  )8)/(-)'a) +  5) 
where  a,  j8,  y,  5  are  real  integers  such  that 
ad  -  fiy—i.  This  introduction  of  /  as  funda- 
mental, instead  of  Hermite's  (f>,  ^  functions,  marks 
an  epoch  in  the  theory;  it  should  be  noted,  how- 
ever, that  H.  J.  S.  Smith  had  practically  reached 
similar  results  as  early  as  1865  (see  his  report  on 
the  Theory  of  Numbers,  Arts.    125  ff.). 

We  now  pass  on  to  Dedekind's  work  in  the 
theory  of  numbers.  Gauss  extended  the  theory 
so  as  to  include  complex  integers  m  +  ni,  and 
proved  that  all  the  usual  rules,  especially  that  of 
the  unique  resolution  of  an  integer  into  prime 
factors,  still  remained  valid.  Kummer  investi- 
gated algebraic  integers  derived  from  the  period- 
equations  of  cyclotomy,  and  was  confronted  by 
the  vexatious  fact  that  the  theorem  about  prime 
factors  broke  down;  thus  we  might  have  a^  =  yd 
with  a,  fi,  y,  5  all  integral,  each  irresolvable  in 
the  field  considered  (and  in  that  sense  prime),  yet 
y  essentially  differing  from  a,  j3  by  having  a 
different  norm.  By  the  invention  of  ideal  primes, 
Kummer  overcame  the  diflSculty,  so  far  as  these 
cyclotomic  integers  were  concerned.  His  dis- 
coveries naturally  suggested  a  definition  of  an 
algebraic  integer  in  general,  and  the  problem  of 
defining  its  prime  factors.  Dedekind  first  gave 
a  complete  solution  in  supplement  xi.  of  the  third 
edition  (1879)  of  Dirichlet's  "  Zahlentheorie  "  ;  this 
is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  finest  mathematical  works 
that  have  ever  been  written,  and  although  in  the 
fourth  edition  (1894)  the  method  is  simplified, 
the  original  exposition  should  always  be  read,  and 
in  some  ways  is  unsurpassed,  not  to  say  unsur- 
passable. Briefly,  the  author  establishes  the 
notions  of  corpus  (or  field),  ideals  and  their  bases, 
discriminants,  including  that  of  the  field  con- 
sidered ;  he  proves  the  general  laws  of  divisibility 
for  every  field,  and  in  particular  shows  how  to  fac- 
torise  the  real  integral  prime  factors  of  the  dis- 
criminant of  the  corpus — one  of  the  main  difficul- 
ties of  the  theory.  Besides  this,  he  discusses 
systems  of  units,  the  copiposition  and  equivalence 
of  ideals,  their  connection  with  the  theory  of 
forms,  and  the  problem  of  finding  the  number  of 
non-equivalent  classes  for  a  given  field.  All 
these  results  are  of  the  highest  generality  and 
importance ;  and  every  arithmetician,  who  wishes 
to  advance  the  theory,  must  be  familiar  with 
them. 

In  conjunction  with  H.  Weber,  Dedekind  pub- 
lished in  "Crelle,"  vol.  xcii.  (1882),  a  long  and  im- 
portant memoir  on  algebraic  functions  of  one 
variable.  The  main  feature  is  the  discussion  of 
"algebraic  divisors,"  which  play  much  the  same 
part  here  as  ideals  do  in  an  arithmetical  field. 
They  allow  us  to  gain  a  precise  conception  of  a 
"place"   on  a    Riemann    surface,    and   lead   in   a 


remarkably  simple  way  to  proofs  of  the  invariance 
of  the  deficiency  (genre,  Geschlecht)  of  the  sur- 
face, the  Reimann-Roch  theorem,  and  so  on. 
Consideration  of  expansions  in  a  variable  t  is 
reduced  to  a  minimum,  though  (as  pointed  out 
by  Weierstrass)  it  cannot  be  avoided  altogether. 
The  methods  of  this  memoir  have  been  developed 
by  Hensel  and  Landsberg  in  their  treatise  on 
algebraic  functions ;  it  seems  to  us  that  they  form 
a  happy  mean  between  merely  heuristic  methods 
and  the  very  dry  presentation  of  the  Weierstrass- 
ian  school. 

Another  subject  on  which  Dedekind  wrote  some 
valuable  notes  is  the  theory  of  groups ;  however, 
this  is  not  the  place  to  give  a  list  of  his  writings. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  will  be  published  in  a 
collected  form,  as  some  of  them  are  not  easily 
accessible;  they  are  not  voluminous,  and,  so  far 
as  our  experience  goes,  they  are  remarkably  accu- 
rate, so  there  is  no  reason  for  delay.     G.  B.  M. 

4 

NOTES. 

A  coNFEKENtE  convened  by  the  president  and  council 
of  the  I'J.oyal  Society  was  held  at  Burlington  House 
on  Wednesday.  March  22,  to  consider  the  desirability 
of  establishing  a  Conjoint  Board  of  Scientific  Societies 
for  the  purpose  of  organising  scientific  elfort  in  this 
country.  Delegates  from  the  following  societies 
attended  to  center  with  the  president  and  council  of 
the  Royal  Society  : — Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh; 
Royal  Society  of  Arts,  Royal  Anthropological  Institute, 
Royal  Astronomical  Society,  Royal  College  of  Phy- 
sicians, Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society,  Royal  Institution,  Institution  ot 
Civil  Engineers,  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
Institution  of  Mechanical  Eng:ineers,  Institution  of 
Mining  Engineers,  Institution  of  Naval  Architects, 
Institute  of  Chemistry,  Society  of  Chemical  Industry, 
British  Association,  Chemical  Society,  Geological 
Society,  Linnean  Society,  London  Mathematical 
Society,  Physical  Society,  Physiological  Society, 
Zoological  Society.  The  following  resolution  was, 
passed  unanimousl)",  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  draft  a  scheme  for  giving  effect  to  the  resolution 
and  to  report  thereon  to  a  future  meeting,  viz.  : — 
"This  meeting  considers  that  it  is  desirable  to  estab- 
lish a  Conjoint  Board  of  Scientific  Societies  for  the 
purpose  of  (i)  promoting  the  co-operation  of  those 
interested  in  pure  or  applied  science ;  (2)  supplying  <a 
means  by  which  the  scientific  opinion  of  the  country 
may,  on  matters  relating  to  science,  industry,  and 
education,  find  effective  expression;  (3)  taking  sucb 
action  as  may  be  necessary  to  promote  the  applicatioii 
of  science  to  our  industries  and  to  the  service  of  the 
nation ;  (4)  discussing  scientific  questions  in  whicfc 
international  co-operation  seems  advisable." — We  aR 
glad  that  the  Royal  Society  has  taken  this  st^ 
towards  the  organisation  of  scientific  activities  for  tfy 
promotion  of  national  welfare.  .  The  necessity  for  th< 
unity  of  effort,  contemplated  in  the  principles  embodiA 
in  the  foregoing  resolution  led  to  the  establishment  0 
the  British  Science  Guild  in  1905 ;  and  Sir  Ron? 
Ross,  in  the  Times  of  March  29,  expresses  the  opini< 
that  the  business  affairs  of  science  would  be  hetti 
entrusted  to  such  a  separate  body  as  the  guild  thJ 
to  a  board  of  scientific  societies,  the  members  of  whic 
are  chiefly  interested  in  the  publication  and  discussiol 
of  scientific  papers. 

On  February  23  the  French  Academy  of  Agricultt 
held   its   annual   meeting.     There   is   always    a   touc] 


March  30,   19 16] 


NATURE 


105 


of  style  and  of  charm  in  French  men  of  science,  and 
the  meeting  was  made  into  a  little  festival.  A  bust 
of  Pasteur  was  installed  in  the  place  of  honour,  a 
prize  was  decreed  to  M.  Schloesing,  that  veteran  of 
the  Academie  des  Sciences,  who  is  now  in  his  ninety- 
second  year,  and  a  most  admirable  address  was  given 
by  M.  Gaston  Bonnier.  It  is  true  that  English  men 
of  science,  likewise,  are  well  able'  to  instal  busts, 
decree  prizes,  and  give  addresses.  But  France  does 
it  better,  for  she  is  not  afraid,  as  we  are,  of  magni- 
loquent oratory.  And  M.  Bonnier  not  only  gave  his 
audience  an  address,  but  also  read  them  a  poem,  "A 
la  gloire  de  Pasteur  " — a  poem  which  won  the  Grand 
Prix  of  the  Academie  Frangaise  last  year,  the  work 
of  M.  Charles  Richet,  professor  of  medicine  in  Paris, 
a  man  honoured  by  all  physiologists  in  France,  and  o\'er 
here.  This  noble  poem  is  published,  with  M.  Bon- 
nier's  address,  in  the  Revue  Scientifique,  March  ii-iS. 
The  reference  to  Lister  is  delightful  : — 

Honneur  a  toi,  Lister,  qui.  .seul  dans  cette  foule, 
T'opposant  au.x  cJameurs  des  savants  et  des  sots, 
Pendant  qu'un  vain  torrent  de  critiques  s'edule, 
En  admirant  I'a-teur,  sus  dompter  nos  fleau.v. 

But  the  whole  poem  deserves  study.  Truly,  a  pleasant 
little  festival  of  gratitude,  goodwill,  and  reverence ; 
and  while  these  quiet  men  of  science  were  celebrating 
in  Paris  the  glory  of  Pasteur,  the  batteries  of  Verdun 
were  thundering  out  the  everlasting  glory  of  France. 

The  Times  and  other  London  daily  papers  recently 
made  reference  to  Dussaud's  invention  of  the  so-called 
"cold  light"  which,  it  was  suggested,  was  being  used 
for  the  searchlights  mounted  on  Zeppelins.  So  far  as 
we  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  the  device  rests  on  the 
plan  of  overrunning  a  metallic  filament  lamp  at  any- 
thing from  50  to  150  per  cent,  higher  voltage  than  the 
normal.  The  candle-power  of  a  filament  lamp  pro- 
gresses approximately  as  the  3-6th  power  of  the  voltage, 
and  the  efficiency  of  an  overrun  lamp  is  high.  The 
safety  of  the  filament  is  secured  by  applying  the  cur- 
rent only  momentarily,  and  the  flicker  of  the  light  is 
avoided  by  employing  a  nest  of  lamps,  which  are 
lighted  in  succession  by  the  use  of  a  motor-driven 
rotary  switch  provided  with  the  appropriate  number  of 
contacts.  The  British  patent  specification  speaks  of 
"  low-voltage  lamps "  (less  than  25  volts),  which  re- 
striction may  be  conditioned  by  the  length  of  time  re- 
quired to  raise  the  filament  to  incandescence.  The  device 
has  been  applied  to  kinematograph  lanterns,  the  in- 
terval between  the  excitation  of  two  successive  lamps 
being  arranged  to  correspond  with  the  interval  between 
successive  pictures. 

A\  article  on  recent  Zeppelins  appears  in  the  Times 
of  March  25,  under  the  name  of  Mr.  George  Prade. 
It  appears  to  be  the  most  trustworthy  statement  yet 
available,  and  is  based  on  an  examination  of  the 
remains  of  LZ.  77,  brought  down  by  French  artillery 
near  R^vigny.  Super-Zeppelins  are  dismissed  as  pro- 
ducts of  the  imagination,  and  the  latest  Zeppelin 
proves  to  be  a  very  natural  outcome  of  the  results  of 
prior  experience.  LZ.  77  appears  to  have  weighed 
32  to  33  tons,  and  to  have  carried  li  tons  of  bombs.  Its 
defensive  armament  consisted  of  six  machine-guns, 
used  in  pairs  on  the  top  and  two  cars,  and  nothing  in 
the  nature  of  cannon  was  found  on  the  airship.  From 
the  dimensions,  length  52:;ft.  and  diameter  :;::  ft.,  it 
appears  unlikely  that  the'  highest  speed  attainable  with 
the  engines  developing  the  full  000  to  1000  h.p.  would 
exceed  65  m.p.h.,  a  speed  much  below  tha't  of  recent 
aeroplanes.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  pointed 
tail  now  adopted  is  intended  to  reduce  resistance,  and 
the  form  is  more  probablv  due  to  considerations  relat- 
ing to  manoeuvring  and  control.     The  height  of  the 


NO.    2422,    VOL.    97] 


airship  at  the  beginning  of  its  flight  is  said  to  be 
6000  tt. ;  the  burning  of  fuel  on  the  outward  journey, 
together  with  the  discharge  of  bombs,  would  give 
10,000  ft.,  the  last  2000  of  which  would  occur  at  a 
great  rate.  Germany  is  estimated  to  have  about 
forty  Zeppelins  at  the  present  time,  and  to  be  produc- 
ing new  ones  at  a  rate  of  perhaps  thirty-five  per  year. 
Most  of  the  existing  airships  are  used  for  patrolling 
and  scouting  over  the  North  Sea,  this  being  their 
legitimate  ofifensive  function. 

.\  MEETING  was  recently  held  in  Manchester,  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Lord  Mayor,  of  engineers  and 
others  called  together  by  the  Council  for  the  Organisa- 
tion of  British  Engineering  Industry,  to  hear  an  ad- 
dress by  Mr.  T.  C, Elder,  of  the  British  Electrical  and 
Allied  Manufacturers'  Association.  It  was  pointed  out 
that  whilst  we  are  now  engaged  in  a  deadly  militan.' 
struggle  with  Germany,  we  are  also  engaged  in  a 
scarcely  less  vital  economic  strife  which  is  going  on 
now,  and  will  increase  in  intensity  after  the  struggle  of 
arms  has  ceased.  The  measures  of  defence  mainly 
suggested  were  chiefly  of  a  fiscal  and  preventive  char- 
acter such  as  one  speaker  suggested,  namely,  that  of 
putting  '"a  ring  fence  round  Germany."  So  long, 
however,  as  our  manufacturers  choose  to  look  for  a 
remedy  in  purely  fiscal  changes,  so  long  will  they  fail 
of  any  effective  defence  against  German  productive 
enterprise,  for  it  is  clear  to  any  impartial  inquirer  that 
her  industrial  position  is  due  to  her  lavish  educa- 
tional provision  for  all  grades  of  education  and  to  the 
encouragement  given  to  pure  and  applied  science  more 
than  to  any  other  cause.  Many  important  "key"  in- 
dustries are  in  her  hands  because  of  the  perfection  to 
which  the  products  required  have  been  brought. 
Amongst  these,  dye  products  stand  pre-eminent  with  an 
annual  importation  of  nearly  two  millions,  of  which 
1,800,000/.  come  from  Germany,  vitally  affecting  an 
industry,  that  of  textiles,  valued  at  200,000,000/.,  and 
employing  about  one  and  a  half  million  people.  The  plain 
truth  of  the  matter  is,  as  a  writer  dealing  with  the 
histon,-  of  "British  Dyes,  Ltd.,"  recently  stated,  "that 
the  Germans  held  the  coal-tar  colour  industr\^  in  their 
hands  because  they  deserved  it,"  and  until  we  take  like 
far-seeing  educational  measures,  our  triumph  in  this 
rivalry  will  not  be  gained. 

We  regret  to  learn  of  the  death  of  Prof.  O.  Lignier, 
professor  of  botany  in  the  University  of  Caen,  and  of 
distinguished  eminence  by  his  work  in  palaxibotany. 

The  family  of  Lieut.-Col.  C.  Stonham,  whose  death 
was  announced  in  N.ature  of  February  24,  has  pre- 
sented his  collection  of  British  birds  to  his  old  school, 
the  King's  School,  Canterbury-. 

L\  the  course  of  a  review  in  last  week's  N.\ture, 
"G.  B.  M."  referred  to  a  report  that  the  librar}'  of 
the  Patent  Office  had  been  closed  as  a  war  economv. 
We  are  glad  to  be  assured  that  this  is  not  the  case; 
and  in  the  interests  of  those  who  find  the  librarv  of 
value  we  hasten  to  announce  that  it  will  remain  open 
as  usual.  -, 

The  Lancet  announces  that  the  annual  oration  of 
the  Medical  Society  of  London  is  to  be  given  this  vear 
by  Sir  St.  Clair  Thomson,  who  has  selected  for'  his 
subject  "Shakespeare  and  Medicine."  The  date  has 
been  fixed  for  Monday.  May  i,  so  as  to  bring  the 
oration  into  line  with  the  official  Shakespearean  cele- 
brations. 

We  are  ver>-  glad  to  be  able  to  record  that  Prcrf. 
Mark  Baldwin,  who  was  reported  to  have  been  lost 
by  the  torpedoing  of  the  cross-Channel  steamer 
Sussex  on  Friday  last,  is  safe  at  Wimereux,  with  Mrs. 


io6 


NATURE 


[March  30,  19 16 


Baldwin.  Their  daughter  has,  however,  been  seri- 
ously injured,  and  is  in  hospital.  Prof.  Baldwin  was 
on  his  way  to  Paris,  after  delivering  the  Herbert 
Spencer  lecture  at  Oxford,  summarised  in  last  week's 
Nature  (p.  93). 

The  Times  correspondent  in  the  Balkan  Peninsula 
reports  that  the  substitution  of  Jhe  Gregorian  Calendar 
for  the  Julian  or  Eastern  has  been  voted  by  the  Bul- 
garian Chamber.  He  adds: — "The  adoption  of  this 
change,  which  has  been  long  delayed  on  account  of  the 
opposition  of  the  Russian  Heirarchy,  is  naturally  a 
demonstration  against  Russia,  and  will  be  generally 
attributed  to  a  desire  to  widen  the  chasm  separating 
the  two  States." 

At  the  third  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Insti- 
tution of  Petroleum  Technologists,  held  on  March  22, 
Sir  Boverton  Redwood,  Bart.,  retired  from  the  presi- 
dency in  conformity  with  the  by-laws  (after  two  years' 
tenure  of  that  office),  and  was  succeeded  by  Prof.  J. 
Cadman.  The  vice-presidents  and  council  for  the 
ensuing  year  are: — Vice-Presidents:  The  Rt.  Hon. 
Lord  Cowdray  of  Midhurst,  Sir  Thomas  H.  Holland, 
and  Sir  Boverton  Redwood,  Bart.  Council :  A.  C. 
Adams,  H.  Allen,  Sir  Robert  Balfour,  Bart.,  Capt. 
R.  W.  Barnett,  H.  Barringer,  Dr.  G.  T.  Beilby,  E.  R. 
Blundstone,  A.  Campbell,  J.  T.  Car^^ill,  Major  A. 
Cooper-Key,  E.  H.  Cunningham  Craig,  A.  W.  East- 
lake,  C.  Greenway,  T.  C.  Palmer,  Dr.  F.  Mollwo 
Perkin.  and  R.  Redwood. 

The  Christiania  correspondent  of  the  Morning  Post 
reports  that  Capt.  Roald  Amundsen,  who  traversed 
the  north-west  passage  in  the  Gjoa  and  led  the  Nor- 
wegian Expedition  to  the  South  Pole,  has  resumed  his 
preparations  for  an  expedition  to  the  North  Pole,  which 
were  suspended  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  A  short 
time  before  that  event  the  Storthing  voted  i2,oooZ.  as  a 
subscription  towards  the  expenses  of  the  enterprise, 
but  having  regard  to  the  war,  Capt.  Amundsen  did  not 
accept  the  money.  He  thinks,  however,  that  the  time 
has  now  come  to  make  arrangements  to  start  next 
summer.  He  proposes  to  leave  Point  Barrow,  North 
Alaska,  and  to  drive  with  the  ice  over  the  polar  basin. 

More  detailed  accounts  of  the  report  of  the  South 
African  Government  Committee  on  the  Rand  earth- 
tremors  have  now  reached  this  country.  The  shocks 
are  described  as  consisting  practically  of  a  single  sharp 
vibration,  the  sensation  being  similar  to  that  produced 
by  the  fall  of  a  heavy  body  on  the  ground.  On  the 
surface,  the  shocks  were  sometimes  strong  enough  to 
open  cracks  in  house  walls.  Underground,  the  eliects 
were  occasionally  disastrous,  causing  loss  of  life  and 
damage  to  the  mines.  Yet  the  distance  to  which  the 
shocks  were  felt  was  small,  only  rarely  amounting  to 
as  much  as  seven  miles.  >This  implies  a  slight  depth 
of  origin,  and  the  conclusion  at  which  the  committee 
arrives  scarcely  admits  of  doubt  that  the  shocks  are 
due  to  mining  operations  and  not  to  natural  causes. 
The  committee  considers  that  the  pillars  left  have  not 
been  strong  enough  to  support  the  roof,  and  that  their 
sudden  crushing  gives  rise  to  the  shocks.  Some  of  the 
slighter  tremors  are  attributed  also  to  the  fracture  and 
settling  of  the  overlying  strata. 

The  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  has  decided 
to  appoint  committees  to  consider  the  position  of 
certain  important  British  industries  after  the  war, 
especially  in  relation  to  international  competition,  and 
to  report  what  measures,  if  any,  are  necessary  or 
desirable  in  order  to  safeguard  that  position.  The 
'^ollowing  committees  have  accordingly  been  consti- 
tuted : — For    the    iron,    steel,    and   engineering    indus- 

NO.    2422,    VOL.    97] 


tries  :  Sir  Clarendon  Hyde  (chairman),  Mr.  A.  Balfour, 
I  Sir  Hugh  Bell,  Bart.,  Mr.  A.  J.  Hobson,  Sir  Halle- 
I  well  Rogers,  and  Mr.  D.   Vickers.     For  the  shipping 

and  shipbuilding  industries  :~Sir  A.  A.  Booth,  Bart. 
I  (chairman).  Prof.  W.,  S.  Abell,  Sir  Archibald  Denny, 
I  Bart.,  Sir  Edward  Hain,  Capt.  H.  B.  Hooper,  Mr.  J. 
I  Readhead,    Mr.  .O.    Sanderson.     All    communications 

relating  to  the  above  committees  should  be  addressed 

to  Mr.  Percy  Ashley,  the  Board  of  Trade,  S.W.  The 
I  constitution  of  a  committee  for  the  textile  industries 

will  be  announced  shortly. 

We  record  with  much  regret  that  2nd  Lieut. 
Kenneth  R.  Lewin,  protozoologist  to  the  Rotham- 
sted  Experimental  Station,  was  killed  in  France 
on  March  9.  Mr.  Lewin  took  the  Natural 
Science  Tripos  at  Cambridge,  and,  influenced 
by  Prof.  Sedgwick,  chose  protozoology  as  the 
special  subject  of  his  life-work.  After  his  course 
at  Cambridge,  he  spent  some  months  at  Munich  under 
Prof.  Hertwig,  and  at  the  Naples  Biological  Station. 
On  his  return  he  became  assistant  to  Prof.  Nuttall, 
and  then  in  iqi3  he  was  appointed  protozoologist  to 
the  Rothamsted  Experimental  Station,  where  his  work 
speedily  justified  the  promise  of  his  college  days. 
His  investigations  were  made  in  conjunction  with 
C.  H.  Martin,  who  also  lost  his  life  in  Flanders  last 
May,  and  the  combination  proved  most  happv.  The 
problem  presented  to  Lewin  at  Rothamsted  was  to  find 
out  first  of  all  whether  there  was  a  trophic  protozoan 
fauna  in  the  soil,  and,  secondly,  what  was  its  mode  of 
life.  He  began  with  Martin's  film  method,  the  details 
of  which  he  improved,  and  later  introduced  a  bubbling 
method,  both  of  which  he  used  with  considerable  suc- 
cess on  certain  types  of  soil.  The  results  are  given 
in  two  papers  published  jointly  with  Martin,  one  in 
the  Phil.  Trans,  for  19 14,  the  other  in  the  Journal  of 
Agricultural  Science.  This  last  paper  was  finished 
just  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  So  soon  as  it  was 
done,  Lewin  returned  to  Cambridge  and  joined  the 
O.T.  Corps,  afterwards  obtaining  a  commission  in 
the  6th  D.C.L-L  .  An  able  zoologist  with  abundant 
vigour  of  thought  and  freshness  of  outlook,  and  at 
the  same  time  much  kindliness  and  sympathy  towards 
all  with  whom  he  had  to  deaj,  it  is  deplorable  that  the 
distinguished  s'cientific  career  which  was  before  Lewin 
has  been  abruptly  ended  by  his  death. 

Mr.  Selous,  in  the  Zoologist  for  February,  con- 
tinues his  diary  of  ornithological  observations  made 
in  Iceland  during  June  and  July,  1912.  He  has  much 
that  is  worth  recording  to  tell  of  the  curious  courtship 
displays  of  the  red-necked  phalarope,  and  incidentally 
of  the  habits  of  many  other  birds  frequenting  the  same 
haunts.  One  is  compelled,  however,  to  hunt  labori- 
ously for  these  good  things  amid  a  mass  of  quite 
unnecessary  detail.  We  further  venture  to  think  that 
Mr.  Selous  would  have  seen  much  more  of  the  court- 
ship displays  of  the  birds  he  was  more  especially 
interested  in  if  he  had  commenced  his  observations  at 
daybreak,  for  it  is  at  this  time  and  onwards  for  the 
next  hour  or  so  that  their  greatest  intensity  is 
developed. 

A  VIVID  insight  into  the  habits  of  the  waterhen, 
coot,  redshank,  ringed  plover,  and  lapwing,  especially 
during  the  reproductive  period,  is  given  by  Miss  E.  L. 
Turner  in  British  Birds  for  March.  In  a  series  of 
impressionist  pictures,  delightfully  flippant,  and  illus- 
trated with  admirable  photographs,  Miss  Turner  de- 
scribes the  courtship  displays  of  these  birds  and  their 
desperate  jealousies  in  regard  to  their^territorial  rights 
during  the  breeding  season.  The  scene  of  her  studies 
was    the    Mere    in    Holy    Island,    and    here,    between 


I 


March  30,  19 16] 


NATURE 


107 


March  and  June,  she  achieved  some  really  useful  work. 
The  unneighbourly  character  of  the  waterhen  has 
long  been  recognised,  but  few,  probably,  realise  the 
pugnacity  it  displays  when  fighting  for  territory  or 
ft-hen  driving  off  trespassers  when  that  estate  has 
Ijeen  won.  The  true  character  and  the  importance  of 
:his  aggressiveness  has  only  recently  been  realised, 
[laving  been  first  clearly  demonstrated  in  the  case  of 
Lhe  British  warblers  by  Mr.  H.  Eliot  Howard.  Until 
then  the  battles  between  males  had  always  been  re- 
^[^arded  as  contests  between  rival  males  for  the  pos- 
session of  females.  Miss  Turner's  observations  in 
:his  article  entirely  bear  out  the  newer  interpretation. 

In  the  forest  of  Soigne,  at  the  gates  of  Brussels, 
Belgium  possesses  two  Government  arboretums, 
arranged  on  the  group  system,  planted  with  exotic 
:rees  under  forest  conditions.  These  were  founded 
ibout  twenty-five  years  ago,  and,  conditions  being 
/er\-  similar  to  those  which  obtain  in  England,  they 
ifford  useful  object-lessons,  possibly  very  little  known, 
ivhich  should  be  studied  by  British  foresters.  For- 
:unately,  these  arboretums  were  visited  by  Mr.  D.  E. 
Hutchins,  formerly  principal  forest  officer  in  British 
East  Africa,  in  the  summer  of  1913,  and  his  account 
s  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Scottish 
\rboricultural  Society,  vol.  xxx.,  pt.  i,  of  January, 
[916.  Among  trees  which  will  not  grow  in  Belgium 
nay  be  mentioned  Sequoia  se'mpervirens  and  many 
[apanese  trees  which  require  a  heavy  rainfall,  Douglas 
ir  is  the  fastest-growing  conifer  in  both  arboretums, 
ind  among  the  oaks  Ouercus  rubra  has  given  the  best 
esults.  Details  of  the  growth  of  the  various  trees, 
vvith  girth  measurements  and  age,  are  given  in  all 
:ases. 

Prof.  A.  Henry  contributes  an  illustrated  article 
m  the  black  poplars  to  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Scottish  Arboricultural  Society,  vol.  xxx.,  January, 
[916.  He  deals  especially  with  the  wild  European  and 
-ast  North  American  species  and  their  various  forms 
and  hybrids.  The  American  species  Populus  deltoidea 
sears  cilia  on  the  margins  of  the  leaves,  and  glands 
)n  the  base  of  the  leaf  in  front,  and  the  flowers  have 
fo-60  stamens  and  3-4  stigmas.  In  the  European 
>oplar  P.  nigra  the  leaf  characters  of  the  American 
slants  are  absent,  and  the  stamens  are  only  12-25  3"*^ 
itigmas  2.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  European 
species,  though  well  known  to  the  pre-Linnaean  British 
sotanists,  was  named  by  Michaux  from  introduced 
species  growing  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  and  in 
Sew  York  City.  The  Lxsmbardy  poplar  is  only  a 
;port  from  this  species,  and  originated  probably  as 
i  single  tree  between  1700  and  1720  in  Lombardy, 
ind  practically  all  the  examples  are  males.  The  only 
cnown  female  Lombardy  is  at  Kew,  and  its  history  is 
inknown.  The  numerous  hybrid  poplars  are  described 
n  detail,  and  their  value  as  timber  trees  is  discussed. 
>ome  vigorous  hvbrids— e..^.,  P.  generosa— have  been 
Jroduced  by  Prof.  Henry.  I 

Mr.  Carlos  Ameghino  has  contributed  to  Physis 
^01.  u.,  No.  9,  pp.  36-^)  a  useful  French  abstract  of  ' 
lis  important  memoir  on  a  femur  of  the  extinct  ungu- 
ate  loxodon,  which  seems  to  have  been  penetrated 
luring  life  by  an  implement  of  quartzite,  and  suggests 
ne  great  antiquity  of  man  in  the  Argentine  region  of 
>outh  America.  The  Toxodon  is  considered  to  be  of  a 
.mall  species^  older  than  the  Pampean  formation,  per- 
aps  even  Pliocene,  and  the  bone  was  found  in  a 
leposit  at  Miramar,  which  mav  well  be  of  this  age. 
ine  quartzite  implement  is  actually  embedded  in  th« 
rreat  trochanter  of  the  femur,  where  the  growth  of 
>one  has  partly  enveloped  it. 

-NO.    2422,    VOL.    97] 


'  Prof,  R.  A.  Daly,  of  Harvard,  has  stated  his  views 
as  to  the  "Origin  of  the  iron  ores  of  Kiruna"  in  a 
memoir  issued  by  the  Nordiska  Bokhandel  of  Stock- 
holm as  part  of  the  Vetenskapliga  och  praktiska 
tindersokningar  i  Lappland  (1915).  The  visit  of 
many  members  of  the  International  Geological  Con- 
gress of  1910  to  the  magnetite  mountain  of  Kiiruna- 
vaara,  under  the  guidemce  of  Herr  Lundbohm,  aroused 
wide  interest  in  the  theoretical  questions  connected 
with  the  massive  band  of  ore.  Prof.  Daly  expresses 
himself  with  caution,  but  he  regards  the  por- 
phyritic  igneous  rocks  as  originally  intrusive  in  the 
form  of  a  laccolite,  the  uptilting  of  their  sheets  being 
due  to  later  earth-movement.  The  magnetite  became 
separated,  probably  by  gravitation,  from  the  igneous 
magma,  and  even  the  small  and  often  angular  blocks 
of  magnetite  in  the  quartz-porphyry  are  held  bv  the 
author  to  be  local  segregations,  akin  to  the  main  ore 
body,  and  not  inclusions. 

On  October  3,  1915,  a  great  earthquake  was  re- 
corded shortly  after  7  a.m.  at  Eskdalemuir  and  other 
observatories  in  this  country.  The  epicentre  was  esti- 
mated to  lie  in  one  of  the  western  United  States. 
It  now  appears  that  this  earthquake  must  have  been 
one  which  occurred  in  Pleasant  Valley,  Nevada,  at 
10.54  P-r"-  (Pacific  standard  time)  on  October  2,  and 
is  described  by  Mr.  J.  Claude  Jones  in  the  Bulletin  of 
the  Seismolopcal  Society  of  America  (vol.  v.,  1915, 
pp.  190-205).  If  it  had  occurred  in  a  populous  dis- 
trict, the  earthquake  would  have  ranked  as  one  of 
the  destructive  earthquakes  of  the  world.  It  disturbed 
an  area  800  miles  long,  from  north  to  south,  and 
650  miles  in  width,  an  area  which  does  not  differ 
much  in  extent  from  that  affected  by  the  Californian 
earthquake  of  1906.  Pleasant  Vallev  runs  in  a 
southerly  direction  from  about  40  miles  south  of 
Winnemucca.  On  the  east  side,  it  is  bounded  by  the 
southern  half  of  the  Sonoma  Range,  along  the 'base 
of  which,  for  a  distance  of  22  miles,  Mr.  Jones  traced 
a  fresh  fault-scarp,  nearly  vertical,  and  varying  in 
height  from  5  to  15  ft.  The  movement  along  this 
fault,  which  caused  the  earthquake,  was  the  latest 
of  a  series  responsible  for  the  elevation  of  this  part 
of  the  Sonoma  Range. 

Messrs,  Edward  St.\nford,  Ltd.,  have  just  added 
two  new  maps  (Nos.  16  and  17)  to  their  series  of  war 
maps.  No.  17  is  a  map  of  the  British  front  in  France 
and  Flanders,  and  is  on  a  scale  of  half  an  inch  to 
a  mile;  it  extends  from  Boesinghe  bevond  Ypres  on 
the  north  to  Bray-sur-Somme  on  the' south,  and  is 
coloured  on  the  layer  system,  contours  being  shown 
at  125  and  250  ft.  It  thus  contains  the  whole  of  the 
70  miles  line  of  front  now  held  by  us.  The  other  map 
(No.  t6),  also  coloured  on  the  laver  svstem,  embraces 
the  whole  of  the  troubled  districts '  in  the  Balkan 
Peninsula,  including  the  mouths  of  the  Danube  and 
Constantinople,  Salonica,  Belgrade,  and  Seraievo 
The  scale  is  18  English  miles  to  i  in. 

The  relation  between  cirrus  directions  as  observed 
in  Melbourne  and  the  approach  of  various  storm 
systems  affecting  Victoria  is  the  subject  of  Bulletin 
No.  10  of  the  Commonwealth  Bureau  of  Meteorology. 
Mr.  E.  T.  Quayle  records  the  direction  of  movement 
of  cirrus  clouds  in  advance  of  the  various  tvpes  of 
cyclonic  depressions  which  affect  Victoria  and  finds 
close  correlations  between  these  and  the  'distance  of 
the  trough  of  the  depression.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  the 
commonest  type  of  depression  in  Victoria,  the  so-called 
.■\ntarctic  depression,  observations  indicate  that  cirrus 
movements  to  the  south  of  west  are  associated  with 
a  trough  more  than  700  miles  away,  and  north  of  west 


io8 


NATURE 


[March  30^  1916 


with  a  trough  fewer  than  700  miles  away.  Further, 
the  author  contends  that  his  results  are  of  value  in  fore- 
casting rain.  Taking  the  normal  cirrus  direction  as 
west,  a  departure  of  8°  to  the  north  was  associated 
with  general  rains,  4°  to  the  south  with  partial  rains, 
and  12°  to  the  south  with  a  failure  in  rain.  Mr. 
Quayle  contends  his  results  show  that  cirrus  move- 
ments can  be  used  as  guides  in  forecasting-  the  weather, 
and  gives  some  general  rules  in  application  to  the 
weather  of  Melbourne. 

The  usual  method  of  cartographical  representation 
of  density  of  population  based  on  the  consideration  of 
each  census  district  as  a  whole  has  many  drawbacks. 
Not  only  does  it  entail  frequent  sudden  breaks  in  con- 
tinuity when  a  district  with  a  high  degree  of  density 
adjoins  one  with  a  low,  but  it  has  the  fatal  objection 
of  being  founded  on  purely  arbitrary  political  divisions. 
A  new  and  far  more  scientific  method  has  been  worked 
out  by  Mr.  B.  C.  Wallis,  and  described,  with  specimen 
maps  of  Hungary,  in  the  Geographical  Journal  for 
March,  19 16  (vol.  xlvii.,  No.  3).  Mr.  Wallis  has  taken 
the  average  density  for  each  commune,  the  smallest 
area  for  which  there  are  returns,  and,  using  these  figures 
as  "  spot  heights,"  applied  the  principles  of  contour 
lines.  The  result  is  a  justification  of  the  method.  In 
like  manner,  Mr.  Wallis  has  applied  this  method  to 
illustrate  the  distribution  of  nationalities  in  Hungary, 
and  has  produced  an  instructive  map,  wjiich  is  of  far 
greater  usefulness  than  the  old-fashioned  and  rather 
meaningless  chart  in  which  the  percentage  of  each 
nationality  is  given  in  figures  of  different  colours  in 
each  commune.  The  paper  goes  on  to  deal  with  some 
of  the  results  of  the  distribution  which  the  map  illus- 
trates. 

Calculating  machines  form  the  principal  subject  of 
a  paper  by  M.  Leonardo  Torres  y  Quevedo  in  the 
Revue  ginirale  des  Sciences  (xxvi.,  21),  under  the 
title,  "  Essais  sur  I'Automatique."  It  deals  with  the 
construction  and  principle  of  devices,  mainly  electrical, 
for  performing  arithmetical  and  other  operations  with- 
out human  intervention.  A  possible  cause  of  error, 
namely,  the  production  of  electric  sparks,  is  considered, 
and  a  method  of  obviating  this  risk  is  suggested. 

Results  of  magnetical,  meteorological,  and  seismo- 
logical  observations  for  the  month  of  August,  1915, 
and  the  annual  report  for  19 14,  of  the  Royal  Alfred 
Observatory,  Mauritius,  show  that  an  exceedingly 
valuable  series  of  results  is  being  secured  under  the 
directorship  of  Mr.  A.  Walter.  A  table  is  given  of 
the  means  and  extremes  of  the  principal  meteoro- 
logical elements  for  the  year  compared  with  previous 
results  from  about  1875.  Other  tables  give  the 
monthly  departures  from  average  of  the  various 
meteorological  elements,  also  the'  mean  hourly  velocity 
of  the  wind  for  the  eight  five-year  periods  from  1876 
to  1914,  and  other  information  of  a  meteorological, 
magnetical,  and  seismological  character.  During  the 
visit  of  the  German  cruiser  Emden  to  the  station  at 
Cocos  Island  the  meteorological  instruments  were 
destroyed.  Much  valuable  information  is  secured  by 
the  observaton,-  staff  from  the  logs  of  ships  traversing 
the  Indian  Ocean,  and  by  this  means  details  are 
obtained  relative  to  the  formation  and  movement  of 
cyclones  over  the  Indian  Ocean. 

On  July  15,  1896,  the  Pacific  coast  of  Japan  was 
attacked  by  a  tremendous  ocean  wave,  the  sea  off  the 
coast  of  Miyato  rising  and  falling  alternately.  The 
second  crest  reached  the  maximum  height,  and  the 
oscillation  then  decaved  rapidly.  The  hypothesis  that 
this  disturbance  was  due  to  a  sudden  depression  of  the 
sea-bottom  over  a  limited  area  forms  the  subject  of  a 

NO.   2422,  VOL.  971 


I  hydrodynamical  investigation  of  the  wave  motion 
[  theoretically  produced  by  such  a  disturbing  cause. 
This  theory,  which  assumes  the  sea-bottom  to  be  of 
uniform  depth  and  the  depression  to  be  circular, 
appears  to  give  results  according  with  those  of  ob- 
servation to  a  reasonable  degree  of  closeness.  The 
times  from  the  beginning  of  the  earthquake  to  the  first 
wave,  the  interval  between  the  first  and  second,  and 
the  fact  that  the  second  is  the  highest,  are  results  in 
which  theoretical  calculations  accord  fairly  well  with 
results  of  observation.  The  paper,  which  is  by  Keiz6 
Sano  and  Kea  Hasegama,  is  published  in  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Tokyo  Mathematico-Physical  Society, 
viii.,  7. 

In  pamphlet  No.  20  of  Mededeelingen  en  Ver- 
handeiingen  of  the  Koninklyk  Nederlandsch  Meteoro- 
logisch  Instituut  (Utrecht,  1915,  pp.  24),  P.  H.  Gall6 
discusses  steamer  routes  from  Durban  and  Cape  Agul- 
has  to  various  parts  of  the  Dutch  East  Indies.  This 
subject  has  recently  attracted  a  certain  amount  of 
attention  on  account  of  the  increase  of  shipping  be- 
tween these  points,  and  since  the  paper  was  written 
Dutch  East  Indian  passenger  liners  have  started  going 
round  by  the  Cape  instead  of  through  the  Suez  Canal. 
The  factors  affecting  a  choice  of  routes  are  : — (i)  The 
equatorial  counter-current  and  other  easterly  currents 
near  the  equator;  (2)  the  south  equatorial  current  and 
the  easterly  drift  south  of  lat.  35°  S. ;  (3)  the  West 
Australian  current;  (4)  the  N.E.  and  S.W.  monsoons; 
(5)  the  S.E.  trade  winds;  (6)  easterly  winds  south  of 
lat.  30°  S. ;  and  (7)  westerly  winds  S.  of  lat.  35°  S. 
Various  charts  indicate  a  region  round  the  Cocos 
Islands,  between  lat.  10°  and  20°  S.  and  between 
long.  90°  and  105°  E.  as  being  more  or  less  free  from 
cyclones,  but  according  to  the  author  the  existence  of 
this  region  is  doubtful,  and  requires  further  investiga- 
tion.    The  publication  is  chiefly  of  nautical  interest. 

The  annual  report  of  the  director  of  the  Department 
of  Terrestrial  Magnetism  of  the  Carnegie  Institution 
of  Washington   for    19 15   shows  the  large  amount  of 
work  which  has  been  done  by  the  department  both  on 
land  and  at  sea.     We  have  referred  as  occasion  has 
offered   to   the   magnetic   survey   work   at   sea   carried 
out  on  board  the  Carnegie,   which   last  year  devotf 
herself  to  the  Pacific.     The  present  report  announct 
that    the    following    land    surveys    -have    been    con^ 
pleted  : — Through  Central  Brazif  from  Rio  de  Janeir 
to   Para;   interior  of   southern   China   and   Mongolia 
general    magnetic    survey    of    Australia;    Australasia 
and    West    Pacific    Islands;    the   Belgian    Congo    an 
Angola  and  the  south-west  coast  of  Africa.     At  Wash 
ington    itself    the    new    buildings    have    been    brough 
into  use,  and  a  considerable  amount  of  reconstruction 
and    improvement    of    instruments    has    been    accom 
plished,    especially    in    relation    to    measurements    o 
atmospheric   electricity.     Abstracts   of   thirteen    paper 
which    have   been  published    by    the    staff   during   th 
year   are   appended   to   the    report,    which    contains^  ■ 
record  of  work  for  the  good  of  the  world_  on  whici 
the  Carnegie  Institution  may  justly  pride  itself. 

A  PAPER  on  the  Rangoon  River  Training  Works,  b 
Sir  George  Cunningham  Buchanan,  read  before  th 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  on  March  21,  contain 
some  interesting  details  of  an  engineering  undei 
taking  of  considerable  importance.  The  Port^  f- 
Rangoon,  to-day  the  third  port  of  the  Indian  Empire 
is  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river  of  the  san- 
name,  which  constitutes  one  of  the  deltaic  mouths  < 
the  Irrawaddv,  at  a  distance  of  about  28  miles  frO!' 
the  sea.  At  this  point,  which  also  marks  its  junctic! 
with  two  other  effluents,  the  stream  assumes^  a  veii 
sinuous  course,  and,  swinging  round  a  bend  in  froi 


March  30,   19 16" 


NATURE 


109 


of  the  town,  has  for  a  long  time  past  produced  very 
marked  erosion  of  the  right,  or  concave,  bank,  with 
corresponding  accretion  on  the  other.  It  was  realised 
that  unless  this  action  could  be  checked  the  channel 
would  ultimately  be  deflected  away  from  the  town 
and  the  existence  of  the  port  jeopardised.  The  reme- 
dial work  consisted  of  a  training  wall,  13,000  ft.  long, 
constructed  of  stone  rubble  laid  on  a  brushwood 
mattress  foundation,  with  a  reinforced  concrete  super- 
structure finishing  at  high-water  level  of  neap  tides. 
The  work  was  begun  in  19 10  and  completed  in  the 
spring  of  19 14,  at  a  total  cost  of  921,783/.  The  stone 
— a  porphyritic  diorite — was  mainly  obtained  from 
quarries  specially  opened  out  on  an  uninhabited  island, 
some  135  miles  distant  from  Rangoon,  situated  in  the 
open  sea  off  the  Tenasserim  coast.  The  total  quantity 
of  stone  used  amounted  to  nearly  28  million  cubic 
feet.  The  mattresses  for  the  foundation  absorbed  52 
million  bundles  of  brushwood  from  local  jungles. 

The  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers  has  issued 
a  new  edition  of  its  rules  tor  the  electric  wiring  of 
buildings.  They  differ  chiefly  in  points  of  detail  from 
the  code  issued  in  191 1.  One  of  the  modifications 
relates  to  the  arrangement  of  switches  and  fuses  on 
installations  connected  to  three-wire  networks  with 
earthed  neutrals,  to  ensure  that  the  connection  to  the 
neutral  main  shall  not  be  interrupted  before  those  to 
the  outer  conductors.  Another  calls  for  double-pole 
switches  on  all  electric  heaters  rated  above  i  kw. 
The  rules  are  now  adopted  by  fifty  insurance  com- 
panies. 

Messrs.  W.  Heffer  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  Cambridge, 
announce  for  earlv  publication  "Methods  in  Practical 
Petrology,"  by  H.  B.  Milner  and  G.  M.  Part.  The 
work  is  intended  for  petrological  students  and  others 
who  wish  to  make  their  own  rock  slices',  and  will 
contain  chapters  on  the  preparation  of  rock  slices, 
examination  of  rock  slices,  microchemical  methods 
(staining),  and  mounting  of  sands  and  crushed  rock 
material,  with  an  appendix  on  the  preparation  of 
stains. 

.\  new  monthly  periodical  entitled  Physiological 
Abstracts  is  about  to  be  issued  bv  Messrs.  H.  K.  Lewis 
and  Co.,  Ltd.,  under  the  editorship  of  Prof.  W.  D. 
Halliburton.  We  understand  that  the  term  "physio- 
logical "  is  used  in  a  wide  sense,  and  that  the  journal 
will  contain  important  papers  in  allied  sciences  which 
have  physiological  bearings ;  thus,  abstracts  will  be 
given  of  papers  in  comparative  physiology  and  bio- 
chemistry, as  well  as  in  physiology  proper.  It  is  not 
proposed  to  print  original  communications  unless  there 
be  special  reasons  for  so  doing. 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

The  Pl.anet  Venus. — The  nearest  approach  to  the 
Pleiades  will  occur  about  6  p.m.  on  Tuesday,  April  4. 
Venus  will  then  appear  approximatelv  2\9  distant 
from  Alcyone,  the  brightest  star  of  the  cluster. 

New  Lines  in  the  Spectrum  of  Silicon. — Prof.  A. 
Fowler,  in  a  paper  communicated  to  the  Roval  Astro- 
nomical Society  (Monthly  Notices,  Ixxvi.,  pp.  196-7), 
gives  the  following  lines  in  the  spark  spectrum  of 
silicon,  most  of  them  observed  and  identified  for  the 
first  time.  AX 57402  (int.  =  10),  4829-4  (4),  4820-1  (3). 
4813-7  (2),  350O-5,  and  3487-1.  All  have  been  found 
to  show  the  laboratory  behaviour  characteristic  of 
Lockyer's  Group  IV.  lines  (i.e.  brought  out  bv  the 
stron-'.'st  condensed  discharges),  and  the  four  less  re- 
frangible also  appear  in  the"  Harvard  reduction  of  the 
spectrum  of  /?  Crucis  (Bi.  Cru.),  which  also  shows  the 
NO.    2422,    VOL.    97] 


I  previously    known    lines    of    Group    IV.,    AA  4089    and 
;  4"6-5. 

<  Definitive  Orbit  of  Co.met  1802. — First  observed 
'  by  Pons  on  August  26,  1802,  this  comet  was  observed 
I  140  times  during  a  period  of  forty-one  days,  describ- 
!  ing  heliocentrically  an  arc  of  46°.  On  the  basis  of  the 
!  orbit  calculated  by  Olbers  from  his  own  observations 
I  K.  Lundmark  has  derived  the  following  elements  by 
I  the  method  of  Schonfeld  : — T  =  1802-69;  epoch,  1900; 
I  a>  =  2i°  51-7' ;  (3  =310°  54-6' ;  1  =  56°  59-9' ;  log  q,  0-0391. 
I  Perturbations  have  not  been  calculated,  as  the  comet 
!  was  observed  for  so  short  a  period,  and,  moreover, 
I  a  graphical  examination  showed  that  the  comet  in  its 
!  path  through  the  solar  system  had  nowhere 
;  approached  the  major  planets.  Identity  with  comet 
I  1909  I.  would  give  a  period  of  106-734  years,  and  the 
next  earlier  apparition  would  be  1695,  ^^^  ^^e  orbit 
of  the  comet  of  that  year  is  not  known  with  the 
requisite  accuracy  to  establish  identity. 

A  New  Method  for  the  Determination  of  Lati- 
j  TUDE. — ^The  solution  of  the  outstanding  problems  con- 
I   nected  with    the    variation    of    latitude    is    now    being 
j   sought  in  variety  of  methods  as  contrasted  with  the 
i  uniformity    of    the    international    latitude    service.     In 
I   this  connection  attention  is  merited  by  a  method  pro- 
i  posed    and    successfully    employed   by    Dr.    G.    Zappa 
(Atti  R.  Accademia  dei  Lincei,  vol.   iii.,  p.  69,    1916). 
The    new    method    is    a    modification    of    Struve's,    in 
which   high   altitude  stars  are  observed   in   the  prime 
vertical,    and    the   essential    improvement    consists    in 
the  employment  of  pairs  of  stars,  one  E.  the  other  W., 
chosen  so  that  the  observation  of  both  can  be  made 
in  a  short   interval  of  time.     It   is   claimed  to  afford 
results  comparable  with  those  given  by  the  Horrebow- 
Taloott  method,  and  may  thus  possibly  serve  to  clear 
up  the  mystery  of  th^  Kimura  term.     The  mean  error 
of  a  latitude  deduced  from  nine  pairs  of  stars  (Boss, 
P.G.C.)  is   ±0-10",  whilst  the  latitude  of  the  Observa- 
tory of  Capodimonte  has  been  determined  with  a  mean 
error  of    ±0-35",  but  the  relevant  number  of  observa- 
tions is  not  stated.     The  "  Carpe  "  premium  has  been 
awarded  to  Dr.   Zappa  for  his  memoir. 

The  Plane  of  the  Solar  Motion. — ^.\  further  paper 
by  Prof,  von  S.  Oppenheim  on  the  subject  of  stellar 
inotions  appears  in  Astronomische  Nachrichten. 
No.  4830,  and  nominally  concerns  the  plane  of  the 
solar  motion.  Shortly  after  Kobold's  well-known 
memoir  on  this  subject  was  published,  Harzer  showed 
that  the  method  reduced  to  the  solution  of  a  cubic 
equation  giving  the  axes  of  what  Prof.  Oppenheim 
now  terms  the  "  momenten-ellipsoid."  -Although  the 
Bessel-Kobold  method  gave  a  good  value  for  the  right 
ascension  it  failed  to  determine  the  declination  of  the 
apex,  and  no  further  attention  appears  to  have  been 
given  to  the  Harzer  ellipsoid.  Prof.  Oppenheim  has 
now  found  the  possible  significance  of  the  remaining 
axes  by  an  application  to  the  case  of  the  geocentric 
motions  of  the  minor  planets.  In  a  recent  paper  (see 
Nature,  October  21,  p.  209)  he  employed  the  Bessel- 
Kobold  method  to  investigate  the  plane  of  the  solar 
motion,  and  incidentally  found  that  the  Charlier  sec- 
tors were  divided  into  two  groups,  about  half  giving 
the  normal  value  for  the  ^,  whilst  for  the  others  the 
value  was  found  to  be  360°- $7.  as  though  direct  and 
retrograde  stellar  motions  had  been  discriminated. 
The  two  groups  have  now  been  treated  separately, 
and  it  is  stated  that  the  momenten-ellipsoids  are 
enantiomorphous.  One  axis  of  each  is,  of  course, 
directed  towards  the  solar  apex ;  by  analogy  with  the 
minor  planets  it  appears  that  the  second  axis  points 
to  the  pole  of  the  plane  of  the  solar  motion,  whilst 
the  third  is  directed  to  the  ideal  centre  of  the  stellar 
orbital  movements. 


I  lO 


NATURh 


A  NEW  VOLCANO  /.V  TH/i  Kll^U 
COUNIRY. 

A    JOURNEY   in  the   eastern   part   of   the  Belgian 
•^*-     Congo  and  in  German  East  Africa  is  described 

in    the   Geographical  Journal   for   January   (vol.   xlvii.. 


Photo\ 


VI  he  Hon.  M.  ir.  Elphinstone. 
Fig.  I.  — North-west  cor.ier  of  lake,  almost  boiling.     From  the  Ceogtaphkal  Journa^. 


No.  i)  by  Sir  Alfred  Sharpe,  who  was  accompanied 
by  the  Hon.  Mountstuart  Elphlnstone.  The  journey, 
which  was  made  in  1912-13,  included  a  visit  to  the 
little-known  regions  west  of 
Lake  Kivu,  around  the  Lu- 
kulu  river,  but  the  travellers' 
most  remarkable  experience 
was  the  sight  of  a  volcanic 
action  in  the  region  north  of 
Lake  Kivu.  From  the 
southern  end  of  the  lake  a 
dull-red  glare  in  the  night 
sky  became  stronger  as  they 
went  north,  and  there  were 
dense  black  clouds  by  day  in 
the  same  direction.  From 
Bobandana,  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  lake,  a 
splendid  view  was  obtained 
of  the  erupting  volcano  seven 
miles    away. 

The  floor  of  the  rift  valley 
north  of  Lake  Kivu  is  crossed 
by  the  volcanic  belt  of  the 
Mufumbiro  Mountains,  con- 
taining many  cones  of  all 
sizes.  At  the  time  of  Sir  Alfred 
Sharpe's  visit  two  of  these 
were  active :  Nyamlagira, 
which  was  throwing  out 
vast  volumes  of  black  cloud, 
with  occasional  showers  of 
mud,  and  the  newly-opened 
one,  christened  Katarusi  by 
the  Belgian  officials,  which 
was  in  more  active  eruption. 

In  eleven  days  Katarusi  had  built  a  cone  600  ft.  in 
height  with  a  crater  of  600  yards  in  diameter,  arising 
from    an    ancient    field    of    lava,    no    doubt    derived 


[March  30,  19 16 

from     Nyamlagira,     and     long     covered    with     open 
savanna. 

Sir  Alfred  Sharpe  describes  a  broad,  swift  river  of 
lava  flowing  into  the  Kabino  inlet  of  Lake  Kivu,  three 
miles  from  the  volcano.  The  water  in  that  part  of  the 
lako  was  hentod  to  boiling  point.  The  prevailing 
wind,  from  the  east,  was 
carrying  clouds  of  steam, 
smoke,  and  ashes  to  the 
west.  A  large  bay  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  Kabino 
inlet  was  filled  with  lava, 
md  the  natives  were  fleeing 
Mom  the  country  after  the 
destruction  of  their  villages 
and  crops.  At  least  one 
canoe  load  of  natives,  over- 
i  ome  by  steam  and  black 
I  loads,  was  carried  into 
boiling  water  and  sank. 
Thousands  of  dead  .fish 
were  floating  in  the 
northern  end  of  Lake  Kivu. 
Twelves  miles  from  the 
olcano  the  water  was 
oo  hot  to  bathe  in. 
Later  on  the  travellers 
])assed  over  some  of  the 
country  devastated  by  the 
volcano.  For  miles  the 
land  was  black,  with 
no  green  leaf  or  blade  to 
be  seen,  and  many  dead 
birds  and  small  mammals 
were  found,  evidently  killed 
by  the  showers  of  volcanic  material.  Hundreds  of 
natives  were  killed.  The  eruption  was  audible  at  Beni, 
140  miles  away  to  the  north,  and  at  Bukoba,   on  the 


NO.    2422,    VOL. 


Photo} 


-Lava  fill 


Victoria  Nyanza,  190  miles  east,  while  ashes  fell 
heavily  for  two  days  at  Walikali,  in  the  Congo  forest^ 
100  miles  to  the  west 


March  30,   19 16] 


NATURE 


]  II 


BRITISH  LABORATORY  GLASS-WARE. 

AT  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  manufacture  of 
glass  for  chemical  and  physical  purposes  was 
practically  a  monopoly  of  "  the  Central  Powers,"  and, 
since  most  British  apparatus  dealers  replenish  their 
stocks  in  the  summer,  the  supply  available  in  August, 
19 14,  was  very  limited.  Realising  the  gravity  of  the 
situation,  the  British  Science  Guild  and  the  Associa- 
tion of  Public  School  Science  Masters  approached  the 
leading  educational  authorities  asking  them  to  under- 
take to  buy  only  glass  of  British  manufacture  during 
the  war  and  for  three  years  after  it  ended ;  the  re- 
sponse was  very  satisfactory,  and  more  than  75  per 
cent,  of  the  schools  represented  on  the  Headmasters' 
Conference  gave  the  required  promise. 

While  this  action  was  being  taken  the  majority  of 
the  firms  of  apparatus  dealers  formed  "The  British 
Laboratory  Ware  Association,"  which  enlarged  some 
of  the  existing  glass  houses,  and  has  placed  some  very 
satisfactory  material  on  the  market-.  Messrs.  Baird 
and  Tatlock  decided,  however,  to  open  new  glass 
houses  of  their  own  at  Walthamstow,  instead  of  join- 
ing the  association ;  these  houses  are  now  in  full  work- 
ing order,  and  the  firm  has  just  issued  a  catalogue. 
The  glass  is  of  two  qualities  :  (i)  a  hard,  boro-silicate 
glass  of  practically  the  same  composition  as  Jena, 
from  which  they  manufacture  flasks,  beakers,  etc.  ; 
and  (2)  a  soda  glass,  which  is  principally  used  for 
drawing  tubing.  We  have  used  apparatus  made  from 
each  material,  and  find  it  thoroughly  satisfactory  in 
every  respect;  their  "  Duroglass "  beakers  and  flasks 
stand  sudden  .changes  of  temperature  fully  as  well  as 
did  those  made  abroad,  whilst  their  shape  compares 
very  favourably  with  the  early  attempts  of  the  British 
glass-blowers ;  their  soda  glass  tubing  is  easy  to  work, 
as  it  shows  no  sign  of  devitrifying  in  the  flame,  a 
property  which  will  be  much  appreciated  bv  those,  who 
experimented  with  British  glass  tubing  fifteen  months 
ago. 

Unfortunately  the  prices  charged  bv  both  the  British 
Laboratory  Ware  Association  and  Messrs.  Baird  and 
Tatlock  are  considerably  higher  than  those  charged 
for  Bohemian  glass  before  the  war;  and  if  the  trade 
is  to  rernain  in  this  countr}-  it  will  be  necessarv  for  a 
substantial  reduction  to  be  made  when  conditions  are 
once  more  normal.  Without  entering  upon  the  poli- 
tical aspect  of  the  case,  we  sincerely  trust  some  means 
will  be  devised  for  preventing  our 'works  and  labora- 
tories again  becoming  dependent  upon  foreign  sup- 
plies. 


SCIENTIFIC     AND     INDUSTRIAL 
RESEARCH. 
Work  of  the  Advisory  Council. 
J  N    order   that    the   Advisory   Council   may   be    in   a 
position  to  do  justice  to  the  branches  of  industry 
concerned  in  proposed  researches  of  great  importance 
which  have  been  submitted  to  the  council  by  institu- 
tions and  individuals,  it  has  decided  to  appoint  stand- 
ing   committees    of   experts.      Strong    committees    in 
mining  and  metallurgv  have  already  been  constituted, 
consisting  both  of  scientific  men  and  of  leaders  of  the 
industries    concerned.      The    Mining    Committee    will 
have    two    sections,     dealing    respectivelv     with     the 
mining  of  non-metals  and  the  mining  of  Vetals.     Sir 

"i  parforth,  the  well-known  coalowner,  has 
accepted  the  chairmanship  of  the  commiftee  and  of  the 
non-metals  section ;  and  Mr.  Edgar  Tavlor,  of  the 
"f"^  .  ,?r  ^^ylo*"  and  Sons,  owners  and  managers 
ot  metalliferous  mines  in  vario  is  parts  of  the  world, 
S^  ^%^vF^^t  *^^  chairmanship  of  the  metals  sec- 
^^r  ^  Metallurg>^  Committee  will  also  have  two 
sections,  dealing  in   this  case  with   ferrous  and  non- 


ferrous  metals  respectively.  Sir  Gerald  Muntz,  Bart., 
of  Muntz  Metal  Co.,  Ltd.,  Birmingham,  has  accepted 
the  chairmanship  of  the  committee  and  of  the  non- 
ferrous  section ;  and  Sir  Robert  Hadfield,  of 
Hadfield's,  Ltd.,  Sheflield,  has  accepted  the  chair- 
manship of  the  ferrous  section.  The  Advisory  Council 
hopes  at  an  early  date  to  constitute  a  similar  com- 
mittee for  engineering. 

Up  to  the  present  the  council  has  been  engaged  in 
work  which  is  mainly  initiatory  and  preparatory  in 
character.  For  example,  in  order  that  investigations 
already  in  progress  should  so  far  as  possible  be  carried 
on  in  spite  of  the  war,  scientific  and  professional  socie- 
ties were  invited  to  submit  applications  for  aid  to 
continue  researches  for  which  the  necessary  staff  and 
equipment  were  obtainable.  Grants  have  already  been 
made,  or  will  shortly  be  made,  to  the  Institution  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  (hardness  tests  and  the  pro- 
perties and  composition  of  alloys),  to  the  Institution 
of  Electrical  Engineers  (heating  of  buried  cables  and 
the  properties  of  insulating  oils),  to  the  Institute  of 
Chemistry  (laboratory  glass  and  optical  glass),  to  the 
Institution  of  Mining  and  Metallurgy  (methods  of  ex- 
tracting tin  and  tungsten),  to  the  Institute  of  Metals 
(corrosion  of  non-ferrous  metals),  to  the  Institution 
of  Gas  Engineers  (refractory  materials),  to  the  Man- 
chester Association  of  Engineers  (tool  steel  experi- 
ments), and  to  the  National  Physical  Labcratorv 
(optical  glass).  Other  proposals  of  the  same  type  are 
still  under  consideration.  Timely  and  valuable  results 
have  been  quite  recently  obtained  from  the  researches 
carried  out  by  Prof.  Herbert  Jackson  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Institute  of  Chemistry  and  from  the 
researches  carried  out  at  the  National  Physical  Labora- 
tory by  Dr.  Rosenhain.  The  Advisory  Council  has 
also  recommended  a  grant  in  aid  of  an  imp>ortant  new 
research  into  the  manufacture  of  hard  porcelain, 
especially  for  domestic  purposes.  This  has  been  under- 
taken by  the  governing  body  of  the  Stoke-on-Trent 
Central  School  of  Science  and  Technology,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  Staffordshire  Potteries  Manufacturers' 
Association,  with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  the 
manufacture  of  hard  porcelain  in  this  countrv". 

Particulars  have  been  obtained  of  the  research  work 
not  only  of  the  scientific  and  professional  societies,  but 
also  of  the  universities  and  higher  technical  schools, 
with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  a  register  of 
research.  The  possibility  of  proceeding  to  collect  in 
the  near  future  information  under  seal  of  confidence 
as^  to  the  research  work  of  particular  firms  is  also 
being  considered. 

The  training  of  an  adequate  supplv  of  research 
workers  will  be  an  important  branch  of  the  Advisory 
Council's  work,  and  the  steps  to  be  taken  for  that 
purpose  will  require  much  careful  thought.  It  is 
impossible  to  announce  definitive  plans  during  the 
war,  but  the  Advisory  Council  is  so  much  alive  to 
the  urgency  of  the  matter  that  it  has  thoug^ht  it 
necessary  to  take  immediate  interim  action,  and  has, 
therefore,  made  recommendations  which,  if  adopted, 
will,  it  is  bplieved.  secure  th^t  all  that  is  practicable 
in  existing  circumstances  shall  be  done. 


NO.    2422,    VOL.    97J 


CHEMISTRY  AND   NATIONAL 
I  PROSPERITY.^ 

j    'yHE  remark  of  a   French  savant  that   this  was   a 
I  country  where  the  apothecaries   call   themselves 

,  chemists,    might,   as   one  of   the   consequences   of   the 
war,  become  less  pointed  than  formerly.     But  it  would 
I  be  an  even  greater  consequence  if  in  future  ours  ceased 
I  to  be  a  country  where  money  was  synonymous  with 

I        1    ^hs.ra-t   of   an    nHdr^^s  to    th«^  Aberdeen    Chamber  of  Commerce    o 
'     Ftbniary  8,  by  Prof.  F.  Soddy,  F.R.S. 


I  12 


NATURE 


[March  30,  1916 


wealth.  As  regards  the  real  wealth  of  the  world,  its 
matter  and  its  energy,  as  man  had  found  it  so,  largely, 
had  he  left  it,  until  the  beginning  of  last  century. 
Eternally  moralising  and  philosophising  about  himself, 
he  left  little  behind  him  but  a  vast  legacy  of  morbid 
introspection  for  the  "education"  ot  his  children. 
Ignorant  of  the  simplest  principles  which  control  abso- 
lutely his  life  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  he  strove 
to  entail  upon  his  successors  in  perpetuity  the  conclu- 
sions of  his  preposterous  self-examinations.  The  time 
had  come  when,  as  the  result  of  a  disastrous  war, 
this  entail  had  been  broken.  Henceforth  it  would  be 
known  that  science  had  in  its  control  the  major  physical 
factors  of  human  existence.  Already  the  attempt  had 
been  made  to  foist  upon  science  the  responsibility  of 
the  war.  But  science  was  neither  the  destroyer  nor 
rhe  upbuilder ;  it  was  the  docile  slave  of  its  human 
masters.  The  use  made  of  it  depended  upon  whether 
they  were  awake  to  their  position  with  regard  to  the 
external  realities  of  nature,  or  whether  they  were  still 
.trying  to  compromise  with  the  old  mixed  mythologies. 
After  the  war,  whatever  its  outcome,  science  and  its 
application  could  retrieve  every  disaster,  and  make 
good  even  the  present  seemingly  irreparable  destruc- 
tion. 

A  change  had  come  over  the  relations  of  man  to 
matter  and  energy.  No  longer  between  these  two,  as 
-between  a  steam-hammer  and  an  anvil,  he  now  had 
.a  hand  on  the  valve.  And  if  they  examined  the  hand 
they  would  find  that  it  was  the  hand  of  the  chemist. 

Just  as  the  control  of  money  was  put  into  the  hands 
of  a  properly  authenticated  banker,  let  them  see  to  the 
hand  in   the   control  of  their   wealth.     Let   it   not   be 
the  hand  of  the  lawyer-politician,  or  of  a  hypnotised 
•  dreamer  "born  in  the  menagerie,"  as  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells 
had  expressed  it,  whose  intellectual  faculties  were  in 
.thrall  to  the  past,   nor  even  of  the  medical  inan,  as, 
now   too  long,    the   exclusive  public   representative  of 
science.     Let  it  be  in  the  hands  of  honest  and  well- 
trained    chemists    and    similar    representatives    of    the 
<t)ther  physical   sciences,  and  they  would  be  surprised 
what  unimagined  wealth  was  rolling  by  unheeded,  as 
^Niagara  used  to  do,  but  rarely  as  picturesquely  and 
;  inoffensively.     Let    them  not    be    frightened    by   those 
who  would  have  them  believe  that  science — the  know- 
ledge and  control  of  the  world  outside  and  independent 
■  of    themselves — was    a    monstrous   materialism.     Such 
people  merely  disclosed  their  ignorance  of  science,  and 
all  that  it  meant  for  humanity. 

A  chemist  if  he  were  genuine  was  rarely  worldly- 
wise.  To  him  secrecy  and  individualism  were  the  anti-  . 
.thesis  of  the  spirit  of  science.  He  might  be  able  to 
put  on  half  a  sheet  of  notepaper  that  which  would 
keep  a  whole  class  in  the  communitj''  in  prosperity 
for  a  generation.  But  he  would  be  lucky  if  until  the 
end  he  kept  out  of  the  poor-house,  and  still  more  lucky 
if  in  his  old  age  he  could  still  call  any  of  his  dis- 
coveries his  own.  But  the  real  discovering  type  of 
chemist  was  a  very  rare  bird,  and  it  was  scarcely  neces- 
sary to  say  he  was  not  the  type  specially  catered  for 
by  university  curricula.  From  a  business  point  of 
view  he  was  a  thoroughly  bad  investment.  He  paid 
no  more  fees  than  his  numerous  fellows,  his  training 
was  preposterously  expensive,  if  he  was  to  know  his 
subject  and  not  know  about  it,  and,  worst  of  all,  when 
he  was  hatched,  no  one  could  be  sure  whether  he  was 
a  svi^an  or  a  goose.  Obviously  with  universities, 
financially  managed  by  business  men,  the  good  staple 
lines  of  chemical  students  are  far  more  attractive. 
They  can  be  turned  out  in  large  numbers  relatively 
cheaply,  their  fees  aggregate  to  a  considerable  sum 
and  bear  an  appreciable  proportion  to  the  cost  of  their 
'education,  and  their  numbers  speak  for  themselves. 

But  a  chemist,  gauging  the  relative  chemical  value 

NO.    2422,    VOL.    97] 


to  the  nation  of  all  this  teaching,  would  rate  it  in  the 
inverse  ratio  to  that  in  which  it  would  be  regarded  if 
numbers  or  revenue  accruing  to  the  university  were 
the  criterion.  You  need  the  small  army  of  profession- 
ally trained  students  to  keep  the  existing  machine 
gomg.  But  a  machine  that  just  keeps  its  own  cum- 
brous self  going  has  no  right  to  the  title  of  a  prime- 
mover.  As  much  and  more  do  you  need  the  pioneers, 
those  who  are  to  stand  erect  for  the  first  time  and 
know  their  way,  where  all  before  have  been  befogged, 
in  whose  solitary  footsteps  the  army  can  follow.  A 
university  that  does  not  give  of  the  best  it  can  afford 
for  these  is  oblivious  to  the  more  difficult  and  more 
repaying  side  of  its  dual  function. 


HIGH  EXPLOSIVES  AND  THE  CENTRAL 
NERVOUS  SYSTEM. 

IV/r  AJOR  F.  VV.  MOTT,  who  recently  delivered  the 
^^^  Lettsomian  Lectures  ^  to  the  Medical  Society  of 
London  upon  "The  Effects  of  High  Explosives  on  the 
Central  Nervous  System,"  pointed  out  that  a  new 
epoch  in  the  medical  history  of  war  had  arisen  in 
consequence  of  trench  warfare  and  the  employment  of 
projectiles  containing  large  quantities  of  high  explo- 
sives. In  particular,  he  discussed  the  causation  of 
death  without  visible  injury,  resulting  from  the  detona- 
tion of  large  quantities  of  high  explosives,  e.g.  tri- 
nitrotoluene contained  in  shells,  as  well  as  other  pro- 
jectiles, and  mines.  The  central  nervous  system  con- 
tained in  the  closed  cranio-spinal  cavity  is  suspended 
in  a  water-jacket  of  cerebro-spinal  fluid,  which,  under- 
ordinary  conditions  of  shock,  effectually  protects  the 
delicate  nervous  structures  from  commotion  ;  and  the 
large  quantity  of  this  fluid  at  the  base  of  the  skull 
serves  particularly  as  a  water-cushion  protecting  the 
vital  centres  of  the  medulla  oblongata  from  the  effects 
of  concussion. 

Major  Mott  discussed  the  possibility  of  the  aerial 
force  generated  by  detonation  of  50-200  lb.  of  trinitro- 
toluene being  so  great  as  to  be  transmitted  through 
the  fluid  to  these  vital  centres,  and  cause  death  by 
instant  arrest  of  the  cardiac  and  respiratory  centres. 
Considerable  attention  was  given  to  the  observations 
of  a  French  civil  engineer,  M.  Arnoux,  who  found 
that  the  effects  of  the  explosion  of  a  large  shell  upon 
an  aneroid  barometer  were  such  that  decompression 
experiments  to  produce  similar  effects  on  the  barometer 
indicated  that  a  pressure  of  10,000  kilos  per  square 
metre  must  have  been  generated  by  the  explosion. 
M.  Arnoux  inferred  from  this  that  the  bursting  of  a 
large  shell  might  cause  such  an  intense  atmospheric 
decompression  as  to  liberate  enough  bubbles  of  air  and 
CO2  in  the  blood  to  prove  fatal  by  the  blocking  of 
multiple  small  vessels  (embolism).  In  support  of  this 
hypothesis,  it  was  pointed  out  that  multiple  embolism 
is  the  cause  of  Caisson  disease.  Lord  Sydenham  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  to  Major  Mott  that  the  explosive 
force  might  cause  death  by  the  sudden  pressure  on 
the  thorax  and  abdomen,  arresting  the  action  of  the 
heart  and  lungs. 

The  possibility  was  also  discussed  of  the  production 
of  noxious  gases,  e.g.  CO,  which  would  deoxygenate 
the  blood  by  combining  with  the  haemoglobin,  and 
thus  cause  the  sudden  death  of  groups  of  men  who 
have  been  found  in  trenches  and  closed  spaces  without 
visible  signs  of  injury  and  in  the  last  attitude  of  life. 
In  explanation  thereof,  he  suggested  that  the  muscles 
of  fatigued  men  suddenly  poisoned  by  inhalation  of 
carbon  monoxide  in  large  quantities  might  pass  rapidly 

1  The  Lett<;omian  Lectures  on  "The  Effects  of  High  Explosives  upon 
the  Central  Nervous  System,"  delivered  before  the  Medical  Society  of 
London  by  Dr.  Fred  W.  Mott,  F.R.S.,  Major,  R.A.M.C.  (T.),  4th  London 
General  Hospital.     Lancet,  February  12,  26,  March  11,  1916. 


March  30,  19 16] 


NATURE 


113 


into  rigor  mortis.  In  support  of  this  hypothesis  it 
may  be  mentioned  that  Major  Mott  received  through 
Lord  Sydenham  information  from  the  secretary  ot  the 
War  'Irench  Committee  to  the  effect  that  imperfect 
detonation  of  50-100  lb.  of  trinitrotoluene  would  pro- 
duce sufhcient  carbon  monoxide  to  cause  poisoning. 

In  support  of  the  opinion  that  carbon  monoxide 
poisoning  may  account  lor  some  of  the  symptoms  and 
the  fatal  termination  of  cases  of  "shell  snock  with 
burial,"  and  without  visible  external  energy.  Major 
Mott  showed  photographs  and  photomicrographs  of  the 
brains  of  cases  of  carbon  monoxide  poisoning,  and 
demonstrated  the  fact  that  the  punctate  multiple 
haemorrhages  found  throughout  the  white  matter  of 
the  brain  corresponded  with  the  appearances  presented 
by  the  brain  of  a  soldier  who  had  been  buried  by  the 
explosion  of  a  shell.  How  long  he  had  been  buried 
was  not  known,  as  he  was  brought  in  comatose  to  the 
field  ambulance  station  and  remained  so  until  death 
forty-eight  hours  later.  Throughout  this  brain, 
especially  in  the  white  matter  (as  the  photographs  and 
photomicrographs  demonstrated),  there  were  multiple 
punctate  haemorrhages.  There  was  no  visible  external 
injury  to  account  for  this  condition  of  the  brain,  but, 
of  course,  it  might  have  been  the  result  of  concussion 
by  a  sandbag ;  the  lecturer  adduced  reasons  against 
this  assumption,  and  said  the  question  whether  carbon 
monoxide  poisoning  was  a  factor  in  the  production 
of  severe  symptoms  and  fatal  termination  in  "  shell 
shock  "  could  only  be  settled  by  examination  of  the 
blood  of  these  cases.  The  lecturer  thought  that  this 
would  be  worth  doing,  for  he  had  seen  numerous  in- 
stances of  shell  shock  with  burial  showing  no  visible 
injury,  in  which  there  was  a  complete  loss  of  recollec- 
tion and  recognition,  and  from  which  the  patients  only 
slowly  recovered.  He  narrated  similar  cases  of  pro- 
found loss  of  memory  occurring  as  a  result  of  carbon 
monoxide  poisoning  previous  to  the  war. 

Interesting  photomicrographs  of  the  spinal  cord  ol 
a  man  who  lived  forty-eight  hours  after  shell  shock 
with  burial  were  shown.  The  man  retained  conscious- 
ness to  the  end,  but  was  paralysed  in  all  four  ex- 
tremities ;  the  intercostal  muscles  were  also  paralysed. 
The  man  w^as  evacuated  five  minutes  after  the  shell 
burst ;  therefore  there  was  no  time  for  him  to  be 
poisoned  by  carbon  monoxide.  Examination  of  the 
spinal  column  showed  no  visible  sign  of  injury,  but 
there  were  most  extraordinary  changes  in  the  fourth 
and  fifth  segments  of  the  spinal  cord^ — notably 
haemorrhage  in  the  grey  matter,  sieve-like  vacuolation 
of  the  fibres  of  the  posterior  column,  and  of  one 
antero-lateral  column;  another  striking  feature  was 
enormous  swelling  of  many  of  the  axis  cylinders.  The 
phrenic  nucleus  which  innervates  the  diaphragm  w^as 
destroyed  with  the  exception  of  some  of  the  cells  in 
the  third  segment ;  these  exhibited  chromatolvsis  indi- 
cative of  exhaustion.  Sudden  death  would  have  been 
the  result  if  the  lesion  had  been  half  an  inch  higher, 
as  the  whole  "nucleus  diaphragmaticus "  would  have 
been  destroyed  by  the  spinal  concussion,  and  respiration 
would  have  instantly  ceased.  How  the  spinal 
concussion  was  effected  could  not  be  ascer- 
tained; It  was  most  probablv  due  to  a  sandbag 
hurled  from  the  parapet,  for  this  man  was  partially 
buried.  Still,  it  is  dlflficult  even  then  to  account  for 
the  limitation  of  the  lesion  to  an  Inch  of  the  spinal 
cord  except  by  transmission  of  the  force  to  the  cerebro- 
"^mnal  fluid  In  which  the  spinal  cord  Is  suspended.  The 
(hanges  in  the  spinal  cord  were  exactlv  similar  to 
those  described  bv  Col.  Gordon  Holmes  '^  as  a  result  of 
concussion  of  the  spinal  cord  caused  by  bullet  wounds  of 

lJ-o^^?Kf  "J"^"*;'^",^  ^^'="'''="'^"  P^«'"3  f^''  Goulstonian  Lectures  delivered 
Holme.  /j!^v-1VS°'I^''=  of  Physicians  of  I^ndon  by  Lt.-Col.  Gordon 
Holmes.     Brtt.MtdJtuf^aJ,    November  27,  December  4  and  15,  1915. 

NO.    2422,    VOL.    97I 


the  spinal  column  without  penetration  of  the  enclosing 
membranes. 

Regarding  the  sieve-like  vacuolation  of  the  myelin 
fibres,  and  the  enormously  swollen  axis  cylinders,  un- 
like that  produced  by  ordinary  fracture  dislocation,  it 
is  of  interest  to  note  the  opinion  of  Prof.  Leonard 
Hill,  who,  in  a  letter  to  the  lecturer,  suggested  that 
the  shock  may  have  been  so  great  as  to  kill  the  axo- 
plasm,  for  "  a  water  pressure  of  between  300  and  400 
atmospheres  kills  all  protoplasm  (excepting  deep-sea 
fishes).  Water  enters  into  the  muscle  and  swells  it 
and  turns  it  opaque.  There  are  curious  fractures  pro- 
duced in  the  muscle  fibre.  The  myelin  of  nerve  fibres 
is  broken  up  by  the  water  entering  Into  these.  la 
the  case  of  a  high-velocity  bullet  striking  the  spine,, 
it  seems  possible  that  the  cerebro-spinal  fluid  beneath 
the  struck  part  ma}'  be  instantly  compressed  and  act 
as  a  solid  body  transrnittlng  the  blow  to  the. cord. 
There  cannot  be  time  for  the  fluid  to  be  displaced. 
There  is,  anyway,  a  water-pressure  limit  beyond  which 
protoplasmic  activity  is  destroyed,  and  I  imagine 
bullets  must  produce  this  pressure,  but  I  very  much 
doubt  whether  air  waves  produced  by  shell  bursts  can 
re.ach  to  such  pressures  as  300-400.  atmospheres." 

It  is  quite  possible,  therefore,  that  a  sandbag  hurled 
against  the  neck  could  cause  spinal  concussion  similar 
to  that  of  a  bullet  wound,  but  without  producing, 
visible  injury. 

Major  Mott  then  directed  attention  to  the  fact  that 
while  a  large  number  of  these  patients  were  of  a 
neurotic  or  of  a  neuropathic  disposition,  vet  the 
strongest  nervous  system  would  eventually  break  down 
under  the  stress  of  continuous  exposure  to  shell  fire 
and  trench  warfare. 

The  varying  groups  of  signs  and  symptoms  Indica- 
tive of  loss  of  function  or  disorder  of  functions  of  the 
central  nervous  system  arising  from  exposure  to  forces 
generated  by  the  detonation  of  high  explosives  are 
classed  under  the  term  "  shell  shock."  In  a  larger 
number  of  cases,  although  exhibiting  no  visible  injury, 
shell  shock  is  accompanied  by  "burial."  The  signs 
and  symptoms,  with  the  exception  of  the  profound 
effects  on  consciousness  and  memory,  accord  in  the 
main  with  those  of  the  two  common  types  of  func- 
tional  neurosis — neurasthenia  and   hysteria. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  compensation  or  pension 
the  War  Office  authorities  ven,'  properly  regard  "  shell 
shock  "  as  a  definite  injury,  although  there  mav  be  no 
visible  sign  of  it.     This  fact  Is  of  considerable  Import- 
ance,  for,  as  in  the  case  of  pension  or  comf>ensation 
for    traumatic    neurasthenia     under    the     Emploj-ers' 
Liability  Act,  the  notion  of  never  recovering  may  be- 
come a  ^xed  idea.     The  detection  of  conscious  fraud  is 
not  easy   in   many   cases  of  "  shell   shock "   in   which 
recovery  might  reasonably  have  been  expected,   for  It 
Is  difficult  in  many  cases  to  differentiate  malingering 
from  a  functional  neurosis  due  to  a  fixed  Idea.     The 
first   point   is  to  be   sure  of  your  diagnosis   that   the 
disease   is   altogether    functional,    and   being    satisfiec^ 
thereof  to  avoid  all  forms  of  suggestion  of  the  possi- 
bility of  non-recovery.     A  very  great  difficultv  in   the 
complete  investigation  of  these  cases  arises  from  the 
fact  that  few  or  no  notes,  as  a  general  rule,   accom- 
pany the  patient;  one  has  therefore  to  relv  upon  the 
statements  made  by  the  patient  himself,  or  perchance 
by  a  comrade,  if  he  has  no  recollection  of  the  events 
that  happened.     Most  of  the  cases  of  "shell   shock." 
however,  are  able  to  give  satlsfactorv  information  of 
the  events  that  preceded  the  shock ;  thev  even  tell  you 
thev  can  call  to  mind  the  sound  of  the  shell  coming 
and  see  It  In  the  mind's  eye  before  it  exoloded ;  then 
there  is  a  blank  in  the  memory  of  variable  duration. 
In   some  of  the  more  severe   cases,   especlallv   where 
there  has  been  burial  or  physical  concussion  bv  a  stone 


114 


NATURE 


[March  30,  1916 


or  a  sandbag,  or  by  falling  heavily  on  the  ground  after 
being  blown  up  in  the  air,  there  is  a  more  or  less 
complete  retrograde  amnesia  of  variable  length  of  time. 
In  a  case  of  simple  "shell  shock"  it  is  impossible  to 
say  whether  the  patient  was  unconscious  during-  the 
whole  period  of  time  of  which  he  has  lost  all  recollec- 
tion of  the  events  that  happened,  or  whether  during 
the  whole  or  a  part  of  the  time  he  was  conscious,  but 
owing  to  the  '*  commotio  cerebri  "  the  chain  of  per- 
ceptual experiences  was  not  fixed. 

In  the  majority  of  cases  "shell  shock"  affects  only 
the  higher  cortical  centres ;  in  severe  cases  the  vital 
centres,  as  in  apoplexy,  alone  continue  to  function,  and 
the  patient  is  in  a  dazed  condition,  and  he  may  auto- 
matically perform  complex  sensori-motor  purposive 
actions  of  which  he  has  no  recollection*  whatever. 
Several  cases  of  this  kind  have  come  under  notice, 
•one  of  the  most  trustworthy  being  a  history  obtained 
from  an  officer.  His  company  had  dug  themselves  in 
in  a  wood;  he  went  out  into  the  road  to  see  if  a  convoy 
was  coming,  when  a  large  shell  burst  near  him.  It 
was  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  quite  dark; 
about  4.30  a.m.  it  was  quite  light,  and  he  found  him- 
self being  helped  off  a  horse  by  two  women  who  came 
out  of  a  farm-house.  He  had  no  recollection  of  any- 
thing that  happened  between  the  bursting  of  the  shell 
and  this  incident. 

The  frequency  with  which  these  cases  of  shell  shock 
suffer  from  terrifying  dreams  at  night  and  in  the  half- 
waking  state  points  to  the  conclusion  that  a  psychic 
trauma  is  exercising  a  powerful  influence  on  the  mind 
"by  the  thoughts  reverting  to  the  terrifying  experiences 
they  have  gone  through,  and  their  continuous  influence 
on  the  subconscious  mind  may  account  partially  for  the 
terrified  or  vacant  look  of  depression  on  the  face,  the 
cold  blue  hands,  feeble  pulse  and  respiration,  sweats 
and  tremors,  some  or  all  of  which  signs  of  fear  the 
severer  cases  manifest.  As  these  dreams  cease  to  dis- 
turb sleep,  so  these  manifestations  of  fear  tend  to  pass 
•off  and  give  place  to  the  sweet  unconscious  quiet  of 
the  mind.  Occasionally  during  the  waking  state  con- 
templation of  the  horrors  seen  provokes  hallucinations 
■or  illusions  which  may  lead  to  motor  delirium  or  in- 
•sane  conduct.  A  number  of  striking  illustrative  cases 
were  given. 

Speech  defects  are  a  common  symptom  of  "shell 
shock."  Of  these  mutism  is  the  most  common  ;  it  may 
l>e  associated  with  deafness.  Unable  to  laugh  or 
cough  sonorously,  to  whistle,  or  to  whisper,  indeed, 
to  produce  any  audible  sound,  mutes  are  able  never- 
theless to  express  their  silent  thoughts  by  writing.  The 
cause  of  the  muteness  is  due  to  loss  of  power  of  phona- 
tion.  Major  Mott  discussed  this  subiect  very  fullv  in  a 
paper  read  before  the  Society  of  English  Singers.^ 
Besides  mutism  and  aphonia,  stuttering  and  stammer- 
ing are  not  uncommon  conditions.  There  is  no  differ- 
•ence  between  the  mutism  and  aphonia  met  with  in 
"shell  shock"  and  that  of  hysteria;  the  manner  in 
which  it  disappears  is  similar;  even  a  trivial  circum- 
stance, in  which  attention  is  taken  off  its  guard  and 
the  mute  is  surprised  by  an  emotional  shock,  may 
cause  the  patient  suddenly  to  speak. 

A  very  interesting  case  was  narrated  of  a  grena- 
dier who.  when  admitted,  was  blind,  deaf,  and  mute ; 
he  was,  however,  extremely  sensitive  to  skin  impres- 
sions ;  indeed,  it  seemed  as  if  the  mind  focused  atten- 
tion on  the  perceptual  avenue  which  had  not  been 
functionally  dissociated  bv  the  shock.  His  sight  was 
restored  to  him  quite  suddenly,  and  he  was  then  able 
to  communicate  his  silent  thoughts  by  writing.  His 
power  of  recocrnition  was  good,  but  his  recollection 
was  a  blank  for  the  whole  period  of  time  he  had  been 

3  "  The  Psvc^ic  Mechanism  of  the  Voice  in  Relation  to  the  Emotions." 
Brit.  Med  Journal,  December  15,  iqh;. 

NO.    2422,    VOL.    97] 


in  France,  and  he  could  give  no  information  regard- 
ing the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  condition  he 
was  in.  A  few  days  later  he  became  very  emotional, 
and  suddenly  recovered  his  hearing  and  speech. 

Although  mutes  are  unable  to  speak  voluntarily,  yet 
under  the  influence  of  terrifying  dreams  they  often 
call  out  in  their  sleep.  One  man  had  been  shouting 
in  his  sleep  and  was  told  this  the  next  morning  by  a 
comrade;  he  was  so  surprised  that  he  said,  "1  don't 
believe  it." 

Various  functional  paralyses  are  common,  and  an 
injury  often  determines  the  seat  of  the  paralysis  by 
suggestion ;  thus  a  man  may  be  blown  up  and  bruised 
on  his  hip  or  shoulder,  and  a  fixed  iaea  is  engendered 
that  the  limb  is  paralysed.  Functional  paralysis  of 
the  lower  extremities  in  consequence  of  injury  of  the 
back  is  a  common  condition ;  likewise  various  dis- 
orders of  gait  and  station,  tremors,  coarse  and  fine, 
tics,  and  choreiform  movements  are  other  manifesta- 
tions of  motor  functional  disorders.  Hypcraesthesia,  or 
increased  sensibility  of  the  skin  to  stimuli,  and. 
anaesthesia  are  of  frequent  occurrence.  One  of  the 
commonest  and  most  troublesome  symptoms  is  hyper- 
acusis,  or  sensitiveness  to  noises ;  and  when  the; 
Zeppelin  raid  occurred  many  serious  relapses  took! 
place.  It  would  take  too  long  to  detail  the  manifold 
symptoms  that  may  arise  in  consequence  of  these  func- 
tional neuroses. 

Major  Mott  does  not  employ  hypnosis  or  psycho-' 
analysis ;  he  considers  these  modes  of  treatment  un- 
necessary, as  he  has  cured  numbers  of  cases  by  making 
a  careful  examination  of  the  patient,  and  then  assur- 
ing the  paralysed,  the  tremulous,  the  mutes,  and  others- 
that  there  is  no  organic  disease,  and  that  they  will 
certainly  recover.  An  atmosphere  of  cure  is  neces- 
sary ;  therefore  when  a  patient  with  functional  paralysis 
comes  with  crutches  or  sticks,  the  first  thing  he  does 
is  to  order  them  to  be  taken  away,  for  they  are  not 
required.  Many  men  who  had  been  paralysed  wrecks 
and  months  have  thus  been  cured  in  a  few  hours  or  a 
few  days.  Massage  and  electricity,  and  all  other  treat- 
ment which  suggests  a  disease,  he  deprecates.  H< 
stronglv  advocates  diversion  of  the  mind  from  the 
recollection  of  the  late  terrifying  experiences  by  music, 
games,  and  amusements  of  all  kinds,  and  he  appealed 
to  the  charitable  public  to  provide  such  for  the  new 
Maudslev  Hospital  of  the  London  County  Council* 
Denmark  Hill,  which  has  been  recently  taken  over  by 
the  War  Office  for  the  treatment  of  200  of  such  cases 
as  those  to  which  he  referred. 


UNIVERSITY    AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Cambridge. — The  Special  Board  for  Biology  anC 
Geology  have  made  the  following  grants  from  th< 
Gordon  Wigan  Fund  : — 30Z.  to  the  Department  ol 
Geology  towards  meeting  the  deficit  in  the  workinj 
of  the  department ;  40^.  to  the  Department  of  Botany 
for  assistance  to  the  curator  of  the  herbarium  in  his 
work  on  the  British  flora ;  ^ol.  to  Prof.  Punnett,  in 
order  that  the  Botanic  Garden  Syndicate  may  cort- 
tinue  to  offer  special  facilities  for  plant-breeding  experi- 
ments ;  5Z.  to  the  curator  in  entomology  for  the  rare 
and  development  of  the  collections  of  insects;  15/.  to 
Prof.  Gardner  for  the  provision  of  special  lectures  in 
parasitology  in  connection  with  the  diagnosis  of 
disease. 


The  council  of  the  Teachers'  Guild  has  arranged 
for  a  conference  on  educational  reform,  to  be  held  oil 
Saturday,  April  8.  Specialists  in  various  grades  of 
education — university,       technical,       secondary,       and 


]\1arch  30,  19 1 6] 


NATURE 


ii5 


primary — have  been  invited,  and  also  well-known 
leaders  in  industry  and  commerce.  The  chair  will  be 
taken  by  Sir  Henr>'  Miers,  and  the  draft  prepared  to 
be  submitted  to  the  conference  for  approval  suggests 
the  following  subjects  to  be  dealt  with  by  committees 
of  experts  : — (a)  Reforms  in  administration,  including 
co-ordination  of  various  grades  of  education;  (&)  the 
relation  of  technical  colleges,  university  courses,  and 
research  scholarships  to  manufactures ;  (c)  training  of 
women  for  professional,  technical,  and  commercial 
occupations,  and  for  domestic  life ;  (d)  improvements 
in  the  curricula  of  schools  and  in  instructional  mate- 
rials and  methods,  so  as  to  make  them  more  purpose- 
ful and  adaptable  to  after  life ;  (e)  extension  of  educa- 
tional facilities  to  all  juveniles  after  fourteen ;  (/) 
training  and  status  of  teachers,  and  research  in  educa- 
tion ;  (^)  medical  service  and  physical  education ;  (/i) 
character  training  and  training  for  leisure ;  (i)  reform 
of  examinations,  also  of  methods  of  selecting  candi- 
dates for  public  appointments,  and  for  promotion 
within  educational  institutions. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  for  the  usual  short 
summer  course  at  the  Oxford  School  of  Geography  for 
teachers  and  others  interested  in  geography ;  but  the 
meeting  will  not  take  place  this  year  unless  a  pre- 
scribed minimum  number  of  applications  is  received 
by  the  middle  of  April.  If  this  number  is  reached  an 
introductory  lecture  will  be  given  on  the  afternoon  of 
August  3.  There  will  be  two  lectures  and  at  least 
one  period  of  practical  work  or  an  excursion  each 
day.  There  will  be  short  courses  on  selected  topics 
of  physical,  historical,  and  political  geographv  (especi- 
ally geographical  problems  affecting  the  war  and  the 
British  Empire),  on  transport  and  trade  routes,  on  the 
teaching  of  geography,  and  on  the  Oxford  district. 
The  fee  will  be  3?.  for  the  whole  course ;  a  number  of 
students  will  be  accepted  for  lectures  only  at  a  fee  of 
2/.  for  the  course,  or  of  2s.  for  single  lectures.  Fur- 
ther particulars  will  be  issued  as  early  as  possible  in 
May.  Names  cannot  be  sent  in  too  soon,  addressed 
to  the  \'acation  Course  Secretarv,  School  of  Geo- 
graphy, 40  Broad  Street,  Oxford,  to  whom,  also,  all 
requests  for  further  information  should  be  sent. 

The  paper  on  -'Part-time  Education  for  Boys  and 
Girls,"  which  Mr.  J.  H.  Reynolds  read  at  the  Confer- 
ence of  Educational  Associations  last  January,  has 
been  circulated  in  pamphlet  form.  The  paper  is  rich 
HI  impressive  facts,  which  demand  the  earnest  con- 
sideration of  British  statesmen.  Mr.  Revnol.ls  points 
out  there  are  71,000  half-time  children,  chiefly  in  the 
textile  districts  of  the  north,  to-day.  There  are  some 
193,000  children  who  have  entirelv  left  school  on  reach- 
ing the  age  of  thirteen.  The  number  of  voung  people 
in  England  and  Wales  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 
and  seventeen  was,  according  to  the  last  census, 
^,030,195,  to  which  must  be  added  nearlv  200,000  who 
had  left  school  and  entered  into  emplovment  at 
thirteen,  giving  a  total  of  at  least  2^  millions.  About 
430.000  of  these  were  receiving  some  sort  of  education, 
leaving  a  net  total  of  upwards  of  i,8oo,coo  voung 
people  who  had  ceased  to  continue  their  education  at 
day  or  evening  schools.  There  are  in  England  and 
Wales  236,000  children  below  fourteen  working  half- 
time  or  full-time,  and  200,000  more  working  for  wages 
While  attending  school  for  full-time.  As  Mr.  Revnolds 
urges,  there  is  an  imperative  necessitv  for  a  compul- 
j.or>'  system  of  continued  education  "for  all  children 
leaving  the  elementarv  school  at  fourteen,  who  enter 
into  employment,  and  it  might  extend  from  six  to 
eight  hours  per  week  throughout  the  greater  part  of 
tne  year,  meaning  annuallv  some  270  hours  of  sys- 
tematic instruction  extending  over  at  least  three  vears. 
NO.    2422,    VOL.    97] 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Royal  Society,  March  23. — Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — G.  Green  ;  The  main  crests  of  ship 
waves,  and  on  waves  in  deep  water  due  to  the  motion 
of   submerged   bodies.     The   fundamental   problem   of 
ship  waves  is  to  determine  the  wave  disturbance  pro- 
duced by  an  arbitrary  pressure  system  advancing  over 
the  free  surface.     The  present  paf>er  gives  a  general 
method  of  obtaining  the  solution  of  the  moving  pres- 
sure problem  in  the  form  of  an  integral,  and  proceeds 
to   the  evaluation  of  the  integral   in   some  particular 
cases  of  ship  waves. — E.  H.  Nichols  :  Investigation  of 
atmospheric  electrical  variations  at  sunrise  and  sunset. 
Observations  were  made  for  a  period  of  fifteen  minutes: 
before    and    fifteen    minutes    after    both    sunrise    and 
I  sunset,  using  the  Wilson  compensating  gold-leaf  elec- 
.  troscope  for  conductivity  and  earth-air  current,  and  two 
I  Ebert    electrometers    for    measuring    the    positive    and 
negative  electric  charges.     The  results  show  a  decided 
I  uniform  decrease  in  the  value  of  electrical  quantities 
I  throughout  the  sunset  period,  but  the  solar  effect  at 
!  sunrise  is  not  at  all  pronounced.     The  potential  curves 
I  for  Kew  Observatory  were  analysed  for  the  years  19 12 
I  and    1914    for    the    30-minute    period    at    sunrise    and 
I  sunset,  and  monthly  means  obtained  for  5-minute  in- 
I  tervals,    these    being    corrected    for  diurnal    variation. 
I  There  is  a  general  increase  in   the  potential  at  both 
j  sunrise  and  sunset,  being  more  noticeable  in  the  winter 
months,  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  sudden  change. 

■  It  is  possible  that  the  electrical  variations  observed  mav 
j  be  of  assistance  in  elucidating  the  problems  of  wireless 

■  transmission. 

•  P.ARIS. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  March  13.— M.  Camille  Jordan 
:  in  the  chair. — H.  Douville  :  A  family  of  Ammonites.. 
!  the  Desmoceratideae  :  an  attempt  at  a  rational  classi- 
I  fication.  The  value  and  subordination  of  characters. — 
!  M.  de  la  Vallee-Poussin  was  elected  a  correspondant 
j  for  the  section  of  geometry  in  the  place  of  Felix  Klein. 
I  — J.  Guillanme  :  Observations  of  the  sun  made  at  the 
Observatory  of  Lyons  during  the  third  quarter  of 
1915.  Observations  were  possible  on  eighty-five  days, 
of  which  fifty-one  were  consecutive,  from  July  24  to^ 
September  12. — Arnaud  Denjoy  :  Differentiation  and  its- 
inverse. — Grace  Chisholm  Young  :  Derived  numbers  of 
a  function.^Maurice  Le  Pen  and  Jean  Villey  :  The 
measurement  of  the  power  of  motors. — C.  Dauzere  r 
The  crystallisation  of  phenyl  ether. — E.  Briner  :  The 
mechanism  of  reactions  in  aqua  regia.  A  studv  of 
the  reaction  HNO,  +  3HCl  =  NOCl  +  CU  +  2H,0,  w'hich- 
is  shown  to  be  reversible.  The  svstem  was  proved  to> 
be  monovariant,  three  phases  and  two  independent 
components. — Carl  Stormer  :  The  altitude  of  the  aurora 
borealis  observed  from  Bossekop  (Norway)  during 
the  spring  of  the  year  1913.  A  large  number  of 
simultaneous  photographs  of  the  aurora  were  taken 
from  the  extremities  of  a  base  line  275  kilometres 
long,  leading  to  2500  determinations  of  the  heights 
The  results  are  given,  both  in  graphical  and  tabular 
form.  The  heights  vary  from  86  to  180  kilometres, 
with  a  maximum  frequency  at  105  to  106  kilometres. 
— Ph.  Flajolet  :  Perturbations  of  the  magnetic  declina- 
tion at  L\ons  (Saint  Genis  Laval)  during  the  third 
quarter  of  19 15. — F.  Jadin  and  A.  Astrnc  :  The  man- 
ganese in  some  springs  of  the  Pyrenees  range.  There 
is  a  certain  relation  between  the  amounts  of  man- 
ganese and  total  mineral  matter  in  a  water.  Ferru- 
ginous waters  usually  contain  a  high  proportion  of 
manganese.  It  was  noted  that  although  sodium 
sulphide  waters  contain  extremely  minute  proportions 
of  manganese,  yet  the  algae  growing  round  these 
springs   contain   this  element   in    relatively   high   pro- 


ii6 


NATURE 


[March  30,  19 16 


portions.— H.  Bouygues  :  The  tissues  at  the  summit  of 
the  Phanerogam  stem.-^Lucien  Daniel  :  The  specific 
variations  in  the  chemistry  and  structure  provol^ed  by 
grafting  the  tomato  and  tlie  cabbage. ^ — O.  Laurent  : 
The  metalHc  suture  in  complicated  fractures  of  the 
femur  and  humerus.  Of  the  various  methods  used, 
wiring  with  one  or  two  thick  silver  wires  has  proved 
the  most  satisfactory,  details  being  given  of  the  appli- 
cation of  this  treatment  to  several  cases  of  fracture.— 
Jules  Amar :  Apparatus  for  prothesis  of  the  upper 
limbs.  Detailed  description  of  two  forms  of  mechan- 
ical arms.^ — R.  Ledoux-Lebard  and  A.  Dauvillier  : 
Theoretical  and  experimental  researches  on  the  bases 
of  the  quantitave  determination  of  the  X-rays  in  radio- 
therapy. 

BOOKS    RECEIVED. 

Rambles  in  the  Vaudese  Alps.  By  F.  S.  Salisbury. 
Pp..  x+ 154.  (London  :  J.  M.  Dent  and  Sons,  Ltd.) 
2A-.  6d.  net. 

Department  of  the  Interior.  Weather  Bureau. 
Annual  Report  of  the  Weather  Bureau  for  the  Year 
1913.  Part  iii.  Pp.  331.  (Manila  :  Bureau  of  Print- 
ing.) 

With  Scott  :  the  Silver  Lining.  By  Dr.  G.  Taylor. 
Pp.  xvi  +  464.  (London  :  Smith,  Elder  and  Co.)  i8s. 
net. 

Mathematical  Papers  for  Admission  to  the  Royal 
Military  x\cademy  and  the  Royal  Military  College  for 
the  Years  1906-15.  (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co., 
Ltd.)     65. 

Macmillan 's  Geographical  Exercise  Books.  Key  to 
IL,  Europe,  with  questions  by  B.  C.  Wallis.  Pp.  48. 
(London  :   Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     2s.  6d.  net. 

Factories  and  Great  Industries.  By  F.  A.  Farrar. 
Pp.  90.  (Cambridge  :  At  the  University  Press.) 
15.   6d. 

Trade  and  Commerce.  Bv  A.  J.  Dicks.  Pp.  94. 
(Cambridge  :  At  the  University  Press.)     js.  6d. 

Ships,  Shipping,  and  Fishing.  .  By  G.  F.  Bosworth. 
Pp.  86.  (Cambridge  :  At  the  University  Press.) 
IS.  6d. 

Icones  Plantarum  Formosanarum.  By  B.  Hayata. 
Vol.  v.  Pp.  vi  +  358  +  xvii  plates.  (Taihoku  :  Govern- 
ment of  Formosa.) 

Colour  :  a  Handbook  of  the  Theory  of  Colour.  By 
G.  H.  Hurst.  Second  edition,  revised  by  H.  B. 
Stocks.  Pp.  vii+i6o.  (London:  Scott,  Greenwood 
and  Son.)     75.   6d.   net. 

Stanford's  War  Maps,  Nos.  16  and  17.  (London  : 
E.  Startford,  Ltd.)     55.  and  3s. 


DIARY   OF   SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  MyvRCH  30. 

Royal  SociETV,  5^4.30. — Skull  of  Ichthvosauras,  Studied  in  Serial  Sections  : 
Prof.  W.  J.  Solias. — The  Relation  of  Excised  Mu^-cle  to  Acids,  Salts  and 
Bases  :  Dorothy  J.  T.lovd.— The  Endemic  Flora  of  Ceylon,  with  Reference 
to  Geographical  Distribution  and  Evolution  in  General.  A  Correction  : 
J.-  C.  Willi*,. 

Child  Study  Society,  at  6.— The  Child  Delinquent  :  C.  M.  Chapman. 

FRIDAY,  March  31. 
Royal  Institution,  at  5.30. — The  Spectra  of  Hydrogen  and   Helium: 
Prof.  A.  Fowler. 

SATURDAY,  April  i. 

RovAL  Institution,  at  3. — Radiations  from  Atoms  and  Electrons:  Sir 
J.  J.  Thomson. 

MONDAY,  April  3. 

Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  at  8. 

Royal  Geocraphical  Society  at  8.30. — A  Year's  Travel  in  New  Cale- 
donia ;  C.  H.  Compton. 

Royal  Society  OF  Arts,  at  4.30. — Surveying:  Past  and  Present:  E.  A. 
Reeves. 

Society  of  Engineers,  at  5.30. — Modern  Coal  and  Coke  Handling 
Machinery,  as  used  in  the  Manufacture  of  Gas  :  J.  E.  Lister. 

Victoria  Institute,  at  4.30. — The  Influence  of  German    Philosophy  in 
bringing  about  the  Great  War:  Prof  D.  S.  Margoliouth. 
TUESDAY,  Apkil  4. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3. — Modern  Horticulture — Growing  Time  and  Seed 
Time  (rntern.-il  Rhythm):  Prof  F.  Keeble. 


Zoological  Society,  at  5.30.— Living  Csecilians  from  South  America: 
Prof  J.  P.  Hill.— (i)  Specimens  of  the  Perciform  Fish,  Tilapia  nilotha, 
with  Increased  Number  of  Anal  Spines;  (2)  The  Li/ards  allied  to  Lacerta 
muralis :  G  A.  Boulenger. — Some  Fresh-water  Entoinostraca  from 
Ceylon  :  R.  Gumey. — Notes  on  the  Sitatunga  or  Marsh-Antelope  of  the 
Sesse  Islands:  Major  R.  Meinertzhagen. 

Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  at  5.30. — The  Rangoon  River- 
Training  Works:  Sir  G.  C.  Buchanan.  —  1  he  Present  Conditions  of 
Arterial  Drainage  in  some  English  Rivers  :  R.  F.  Grantham. 

RoNTGEN  society,  at  8.15.— .'V  chronograph  Constructed  to  Work  with  the 
Electro-cope :  P.  J.  Neate. —  The  Enclosed  Tungsten  Arc  as  a  Source  of 
Ultra  Violet  Light  :  IJ.  H.  Morphy  and  S.  R.  Mullard.  — Experiments 
with  aCoolidge  Tube  :  E.  Schall.— A  New  Modification  of  the  lonisation 
Method  of  Measuring  X-Rays  :  H.  E.  Donnithoriie. 

WEDNESDAY,  April  5. 
Geological  Society,  at  5.30. 
Entomologial  Society,  at  8. 
Royal  Society  of  Arts,   at  4.30.— Painting  by  Dipping,  Spraying,  and 

other  Mechanical  Means :  A.  S.  Jennings. 
Society   of   Public  .Analysts,   at   8.— The  A'kalimelric   Estimation  of 

Certain  Bivalent  Metals  in  the  Form  of  Tertiary  Phosphates  :  Dr.  W  .  K. 

Schoeller   and   A.    R.   Powell.— Note   on  a   Specimen  of  Russian  Oak  : 

P.  A.  Ellis  Richards.— The  Estimation  of  Potassium  in  Presence  of  Other 

Substances :  A.  H.  Bennett. 

THURSDAY,  April  6. 
Royal  Society,  at  4.30. 
Royal  Society  of  Arts,  .it  4.30.— The  Work  of  the  Imperial  Institute  for 

India :  Prof.  W.  R.  Dunstan. 
I.iNNEAN  Society,   at  5.— On  Five  New  Species  of  Edwardsia,  Quatr.  : 

Prof.  G.  C.  Bourne.— A  New  Species  of  Enteropneusta  from  the  Abrolhos 

Islands :  Prof.   W.    L   Dakin.— The   Southern   Elements  of   the   British 

Flora :  Dr.  O.  Stapf. 
Faraday  Society,  at  8.— The  Making  of  a  Big  Gun :  Dr.  W.  Rosenhain. 

FRIDAY,   April  7. 
Geologists'  Association,  at  7.30.— Notes  on  the  Coral lian  of  the  Oxford 
District:  M.  Odiing.— The  Glacial  Geology  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Basin  : 
J.  B.  Tyrrell. 

SA  TURD  A  Y,  April  8. 
RcYAL   Institution,  at  3.— Radiations  from  Atoms  and  Electrons  :  Sir 
J.  J.  Tnomson. 

CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Early  Embryology  of  the  Worker  Bee.    By  E.  W.  M.  97 

Sociology  as  a  Science.     By  A.  E.  Crawley  .        .    •  97 

Euclid's  Book  on  Divisions  of  Figures.    15y  G.  B,  M.  98 

Our  Bookshelf 99 

Letters  to  the  Editor:  — 

Optical  Glass:  an  H  .storical  Note.  — F.  J.  Cheshire  100 
llainilton  and  the  "  Quantification  of  the  Piedicale." 

—  B.  D.  J loi 

The  Archaeological  Survey  of  Nubia.     {lUuslraicd.) 

By  Prof.  G.  Elliot  Smith,  F.R.S.  .        .  loi 

The  Shackleton  Antarctic  Expedition loj 

Richard  Dedekind.     By  G.  B.  M 103 

Notes 104 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

The  Planet  Venus '09 

New  Lines  in  the  Speclruni  of  Silicon '09 

Definitive  Orbit  of  Comet  1802       io9 

A  New  Method  for  the  Determination  of  Latitude  .    .  109 

The  Plane  of  the  Solar  Motion 'O^ 

A   Ntw   Volcano  in  the  Kivu  Country.     {Illustrated.)  HO, 

British  Laboratory  Glass-ware    ...  H': 

Scientific  and  Industrial    Reseaich.— Work  of  the 

Advisory  Council      .  m 

Chemistry  and    National    Prosperity.     By  Prof.   F. 

Soddy,  F.R.S m 

High  Explosives  and  the  Central  Nervous  System. 

By  Dr.  F.  W.  Mott,  K.R.S.  112 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence    .....  114 

Societies  and  Academies   .    .  i'5 

Books  Received ^'^ 

Diary  of  Societies        "" 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices: 

MACMILLAN   &  CO.,   Ltd., 

SI.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to   be  addressed  to   the- 
Publishers. 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,  London. 
Telephone  Number :  Gerhard  S830. 


NO.    2422,    VOL.    97] 


NA  TURE 


117 


THURSDAY,   APRIL  6,    1916. 


HEREDITY    AND    CHROMOSOMES. 

Tiie  Mechanism  of  Mendelian  Heredity.     By  Prof. 
T.  H.  Morg-an,  A.  H.  Sturtevant,  H.  J.  Muller, 
and  C.   B.   Bridges.     Pp.   xiii  +  262.     (London: 
Constable  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1915.)    Price  125.  net. 
'"PHIS    latest    book    of    Prof.    Morgan    and    his 
^       collaborators  should  be   sure  of  a  welcome 
from  a  wide  circle  of  readers.     In  his  preface  Prof. 
Morgan  deplores  a  tendency  to  regard  heredity  as 
a  subject  for  specialists  only,  and  states  expressly 
that  the  present  volume  has  been  written  for  the 
biologist  at  large  as  well  as  for  those  who  are 
more  actively  engaged  in  these  studies.     He  has 
produced  a  book  which  should  present  no  difficul- 
ties to  anyone  with  the  elements  of  a  biological 
training,    while    at    the    same    time    it    sets    forth 
clearly  and  within  reasonable  compass  the  latest 
deductions  and  speculations  of  genetic  research. 

Prof.  Morgan's  book  is  avowedly  an  argument 
in  favour  of  what  is  known  as  the  chromosome 
theory  of  heredity.  He  points  out  that  the  mech- 
anism revealed  in  the  process  of  the  maturation 
of  the  germ  cells  is  also  a  mechanism  which 
fulfils  the  requirements  of  the  mode  of  distribu- 
tion of  Mendelian  factors.  A  further  argument 
is  provided  by  the  fact  that  in  certain  insects  two 
kinds  of  sperms,  differing  in  the  number  of  the 
chromosomes  which  they  contain,  are  associated 
respectively  with  the  formation  of  a  male  and  a 
female  individual,  and  this  argument  was  greatly 
strengthened  when  the  discovery  of  the  heredity 
of  sex-linked  characters  provided  independent  evi- 
dence that  the  difference  of  sex  could  be  expressed 
in  terms  of  Mendelian  factors. 

-As  the  result  of  a  remarkable  series  of  experi- 
ments with  the  pomace  fly  (Drosophila  ampelo- 
phila)  Morgan  and  his  collaborators  are  able  to 
add  a  striking  piece  of  evidence  in  favour  of  the 
chromosome  theory.  In  the  course  of  these  ex- 
periments more  than  one  hundred  characters  of 
various  kinds  were  shown  to  exhibit  Mendelian 
inheritance,  but  the  chief  point  of  interest  lies  in 
the  fact  that  they  fall  into  four  groups.  The 
members  of  any  given  group  exhibit  linked  in- 
heritance with  regard  to  one  another,  but  are 
transmitted  quite  independently  of  the  members  of 
the  other  three  groups.  The  importance  of  this 
point  becomes  evident  when  it  is  stated  that  the 
number  of  chromosomes  in  the  pomace  fly  is  four. 
If  the  chromosome  theory  is  true  and  if  the  num- 
ber of  chromosomes  is  less  than  the  number  of 
factors  exhibiting  Mendelian  heredity,  it  is  clear 
that  the  factors  must  exist  in  groups  correspond- 
ing to  the  number  of  the  chromosomes.  The  large 
number  of  workable  factors  in  Drosophila,  coupled 
with  the  small  number  of  chromosomes,  has 
rendered  possible  an  exhaustive  test  of  this  point 
such  as  is  at  present  out  of  the  question  for  any 
other  species  of  animal  or  plant.  The  result 
clearly  bears  out  the  chromosome  theory,  and  it 
.IS  further  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  the  mem- 
bers of  only  one  of  the  four  groups  cf  characters 
NO.    2423,   VOL.    97] 


show  sex-linked  inheritance,  these  being  presum- 
ably those  borne  by  the  chromosome  that  also 
bears  the  sex-determinant. 

There  is,  however,  a  complication  which  Prof. 
Morgan  deals  with  in  a  most  ingenious  manner. 
When  a  cross  is  made  between  an  individual  con- 
taining two  factors,  A  and  B,  lying  in  the  same 
chromosome  pair  and  another  individual  whose 
corresponding  chromosomes  contain  the  allelo- 
morphs a  and  b,  then  in  all  subsequent  genera- 
tions proceeding  from  the  AB  x  ab  the  two  factors 
A  and  B  should  always  hang  together;  in  other 
words,  there  should  be  complete  linkage  between 
them.  This,  however,  is  not  so,  but  in  Fg  there 
appear  a  small  proportion  of  individuals  which 
may  be  represented  as  Ab,  together  with  a  corre- 
sponding proportion  of  the  form  aB ;  that  is  to 
say,  the  linkage  is  generally  incomplete.  To  get 
over  this  difficulty  Prof.  Morgan  suggests  an 
explanation  based  on  the  observations  of  Jannsens 
that  at  certain  stages  of  meiosis  the  homologous 
chromosomes  belonging  to  a  given  pair  twist 
round  one  another,  and  supposes  that  in  a  certain 
proportion  of  cases  the  chromosomes  break  on 
separation,  so  that  both  members  of  the  resulting 
pair  contain  a  portion  of  each  of  the  two  original 
chromosomes.  This  conception  of  "crossing- 
over,"  which  is  clearly  explained  and  illustrated, 
involves  the  supposition  that  every  factor  has  a 
definite  locus  in  the  chromosome  in  which  it 
occurs,  and  Morgan  claims  that  if  the  values  of 
the  crossing-over  for  A  and  B  and  also  for  B  and 
C  have  been  experimentally  determined  it  is 
possible  to  predict  the  value  of  the  crossing-over 
for  A  and  C.  Indeed,  he  has  been  able  to  con- 
struct a  map  of  the  four  chromosomes  of  Droso- 
phila showing  the  positions  thus  deduced  of  many 
of  the  factors. 

The  development  of  the  chromosome  theory  in 
its  present  form  is  clearly  incompatible  with  the 
presence  and  absence  theory  of  factors  as  usually 
accepted ;  for  unless  each  member  of  a  pair  of 
homologous  chromosomes  contains  the  same 
number  of  corresponding  factors  arranged  in  the 
same  sequence  the  "  crossing-over "  could  not 
occur  in  an  orderly  manner.  Morgan  points  out 
that  several  cases  now  known  are  open  to  the 
simple  interpretation  that  three  factors  are  in- 
volved, any  two  of  which  are  allelomorphic  to  one 
another.  In  Drosophila,  for  example,  red  and 
eosin  eye  form  a  simple  pair,  as  also  do  eosin 
and  white.  Nevertheless,  red  and  white  also  give 
a  simple  Mendelian  result,  no  eosins  making  their 
appearance  in  Fo.  These  systems  of  multiple 
allelomorphs,  which  are  not  necessarily  confined 
to  three  members,  open  up  problems  of  great 
interest,  to  which  the  reader  will  find  a  chapter 
of  the  book  devoted. 

Though  Prof.  Morgan  has  succeeded  in  stating 
a  strong  case  for  the  chromosome  theory,  there 
are  nevertheless  some  gaps  in  the  argument.  AVe 
do  not.  for  instance,  know  at  present  whether 
Drosophila  shows  the  peculiar  twisting  of  the 
homologous  chromosomes  round  one  another,  such 
as  was  described  by  Jannsens  in  Batracoseps. 
The  existence  of  such  twisting  is,  of  course,  essen- 


ii8 


NATURE 


[April  6,  19 16 


tial  to  the  "  crossing--over "  explanation  of  the 
linkage  of  characters  in  heredity,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  cytologist  will  be  able  to  decide 
the  point  one  way  or  the  other.  Another  pheno- 
menon which  requires  clearing  up  is  the  absence 
of  any  "crossing-over  "  in  the  male  for  any  char- 
acter whatever,  though  the  number  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  chromosomes  in  the  two  sexes  are  aj>- 
parently  identical.  It  is,  of  course,  not  impossible 
that  what  now  appears  to  be  a  weak  f>oint  might 
turn  out  to  be  a  strong  one  if  the  cytologist  could 
show  that  the  behaviour  of  the  chromosomes 
during  the  maturation  divisions  differed  in  the 
two  sexes. 

There  are  other  objections  to  the  chromosome 
theory  which  would  require  too  much  space  to 
set  out  in  detail,  but  whether  the  theory  advocated 
by  Prof.  Morgan  prove  to  be  well  founded  or  not, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  has  given  us  a  most 
interesting  and  stimulating  book.  Not  only  does 
it  give  a  clear  and  well-illustrated  account  of  one 
of  the  most  important  groups  of  facts  relating  to 
heredity  yet  elucidated  by  the  experimental 
method,  but  at  the  same  time  it  offers  the  most 
successful  attempt  so  far  made  to  relate  these 
facts  to  our  knowledge  of  cellular  anatomy. 
Together  with  the  author  we  hope  sincerely  that  it 
may  be  widely  read  outside  the  circle  of  professed 
students  of  heredity,  and  especially  that  it  may 
be  digested  by  those  whose  particular  province  is 
the  minute  structure  of  the  cell. 


THE   TECHNOLOGY   OF   SULPHUR   AND 
SULPHUR   COMPOUNDS. 

Manuals  of  Chemical  Technology.  V.  Sulphuric 
Acid  and  Sulphur  Products.  By  Dr.  G.  Martin 
and  Major  J.  L.  Foucar.  Pp.  viii  +  77.  (Lon- 
don :  Crosby  Lockwood  and  Son,  1916.)  Price 
75.  6d.  net. 

A  MELANCHOLY  circumstance  attaches  to 
this  book,  which  to  a  large  extent  disarms 
criticism.  Before  the  section  on  sulphuric  acid,  for 
which  Major  Foucar,  a  former  assistant  manager 
of  the  Beckton  Gas  Works,  was  responsible,  was 
ready  for  the  press,  war  broke  out,  and  Major 
Foucar  was  killed  when  leading  his  men  into 
action.  It  devolved,  therefore,  on  Dr.  Geoffrey 
Martin,  the  editor  of  the  series,  to  put  together  the 
material  which  had  been  collected,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  extend  the  scope  of  the  volume. 

The  result  is  a  book  of  some  seventy  pages — a 
space  wholly  inadequate  to  deal  properly  with  the 
important  subject  with  which  it  professes  to  deal. 
It  is  divided  into  four  chapters,  treating,  respec- 
tively, of  the  sulphur  industry,  sulphuric  acid,  the 
manufacture  of  sulphur  dioxide,  and  of  certain 
"other  sulphur  compounds,  viz.,  carbon  disulphide, 
sodium  thiosulphate,  and  hyposulphite  and  sul- 
phuretted hydrogen.  The  total  amount  of  space 
given  to  these  subjects  is  about  sixty-five  pages, 
the  rest  of  the  book,  exclusive  of  the  short  preface 
and  indexes,  being  made  up  of  tables  of  weights 
and  measures  and  comparisons  of  thermometer 
and  hvdrometer  scales  of  the  conventional  type. 

NO.    2423,   VOL.   97] 


Each  chapter  consists  of  short,  disconnected  notes 
on  features  of  interest  rather  than  of  systematic 
accounts  of  the  several  industries.  It  is  not  very 
obvious  what  class  of  readers  it  is  intended  to 
serve.  The  student  may  gain  from  it  a  superficial 
knowledge  of  the  technology  of  sulphur  and  of 
such  of  its  compounds  as  are  mentioned,  but  the 
actual  manufacturer  will  find  its  information  far 
too  slight  and  "  scrappy  "  to  be  of  practical  service. 
The  language  of  the  preface  would  seem  to  imply 
that  the  person  aimed  at  is  that  ubiquitous  indi- 
vidual known  as  the  general  reader.  But  if  this 
is  so  we  fear  that  person  will  gain  a  somewhat 
confused  idea  of  its  purport,  for,  small  as  is  the 
amount  of  information  conveyed,  a  glance  through 
the  pages  of  the  book  shows  that  it  obviously  pre- 
supposes some  previous  knowledge  of  the  subject. 

The  account  of  the  sulphur  industry,  constitut- 
ing chapter  i.,  will  serve  to  illustfate  what  we 
mean.  The  whole  chapter  occupies  five  pages,  of 
which  half  is  given  to  a  meagre  description  of  the 
sources  and  mode  of  extraction  of  natural  sulphur ; 
about  a  page  is  given  to  a  still  more  meagre 
account  of  the  Chance-CIaus  method  of  sulphur 
recovery,  the  so-called  thiogen  process  of  treat- 
ing smelter-smoke,  and  the  Burkheiser  and  Feld 
methods  of  obtaining  sulphur  from  sulphuretted 
hydrogen  in  coal-gas  purification,  whilst  the  re- 
mainder is  concerned  with  the  properties  and  uses 
of  sulphur.  The  reference  to  the  Sicilian  industry^' 
and  the  allusion  to  the  "calcarone  "  method  convey 
no  meaning  to  the  uninitiated  or  any  information 
to  those  who  are  initiated.  The  account  of  the 
Gill  kiln  and  of  the  method  of  its  working  is  so 
slight  as  to  be  practically  valueless.  The  Frasch 
process  of  winning  Louisiana  sulphur  is  one  of 
the  most  striking  achievements  of  modern  tech- 
nology. It  constitutes  indeed  one  of  the  romances 
of  applied  science.  Although  Dr.  Martin's  method 
of  treatment  seems  to  disallow  anything  in  the 
nature  of  descriptive  writing,  we  think  it  would 
have  added  greatly  to  the  interest  and  value  of  his 
book  if  he  had  given  a  fuller  account  of  it.  It  is 
still  not  so  generally  known  in  this  country  as  it 
ought  to  be,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that,  as  he  truly 
states,  it  dominates  the  world's  sulphur  market. 

Our  general  impression  of  this  book  is  one  of 
disappointment  as  a  wholly  inadequate  treatment 
of  a  vastly  Important  subject. 

HOMER  AND  HISTORY. 

Homer  and  History.  By  Dr.  Walter  Leaf,  Pp. 
xA-I  +  375.  (London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd., 
1915.)    Price  125.  net. 

THE  researches  of  Dr.  Leaf  have  opened  a 
new  phase  in  the  discussion  of  the  Homeric 
problem.  His  first  task  is  to  discard  the  inter- 
pretations which  have  hitherto  held  the  field. ; 
Until  the  publication  of  Wolf's  "Prolegomena" 
the  unity  of  the  Epic  was,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
accepted.  We  were  then  invited  to  believe  that 
the  Iliad  at  least  was  a  collection  of  lays  welded; 
into  a  single  whole  by  some  skilful  editor.  With 
the    study    of   comparative    philology     came    the 


April  6,   191 6] 


NATURE 


119 


theory  that  the  gods  of  Homer  were  manifesta- 
tions of  nature  powers  adapted  to  the  local  geo- 
graphy  and  the  traditional  history.  This  was 
followed  in  more  recent  times  by  the  suggestion 
that  the  Iliad  represents  a  reflex  of  combats 
fought,  not  in  the  Troad,  but  of  tribal  battles  in 
Asia  Minor  between  Euboean-Boeotian  colonists 
and  Locrians  or  South  Thessalians,  or  between 
Locrians  and  Bceotians  on  the  Greek  mainland. 

Such  speculations  Dr.    Leaf  has  little  difficulty 

confuting.  He  has  now  carried  out  an  exhaus- 
tive sur\-ey  of  the  text  mainly  on  the  basis  of  geo- 
graphy, and  from  this  inquiry  startling  results 
emerge.  In  his  last  book  on  the  subject  he  con- 
fined himself  mainly  to  the  Trojan  side  of  the 
■question.  He  proved  that  the  Catalogue  of  the 
Trojan  forces  was  a  historical  document  of  the 
highest  value.  Following  Thucydides  in  his  preg- 
nant remark  that  wars  in  ancient  as  well  as  in 
modern  times  were  based  on  trade  rivalry,  he 
made  it  at  least  highly  probable  that  the  war  of 
Troy  represented  an  attempt  by  the  Achaean 
<jreeks  to  gain  possession  of  a  great  commercial 
entrepot  controlling  the  trade  routes  to  the  Black 
Sea  and  the  hinterland  of  Asia  Minor.  The  war 
Avas  therefore  a  historical  event,  fought,  not  by 
faded  survivals  of  nature  deities,  but  by  living 
soldiers  and  their  generals. 

The  second  important  document  in  the  Iliad  is 
the  Catalogue  of  the  Greek  ships,  which  is  now 
found  to  stand  in  a  very  different  position  from 
that  of  Troy.  It  is  full  of  discrepancies,  such,  for 
instance,  as  the  fact  that  the  Bceotians  who  figure 
largely  in  it  were  still  in  Thessaly  in  the  time  of 
the  Great  War.  Besides  this,  the  unsuitability  of 
Aulis  as  a  rendezvous  for  a  fleet  acting  against 
Troy,  and  the  impossibility  of  reconciling  the 
domains  of  the  Achaean  princes  with  geographical 
facts,  are  now  clearly  demonstrated.  The  docu- 
ment, in  short,  was  an  attempt  by  a  later  hand  to 
make  its  contents  correspond  with  an  altered 
>ndition  of  Greece. 

This  fruitful  survey  of  Homeric  geography  and 
Greek  tradition  makes  it  possible  to  link  the  world 
of  Homer  with  Gnossos  and  Mycenae  as  they  have 
been  revealed  to  us  by  the  excavations  of  Sir  A. 
Evans  and  Schliemann,  and  the  review  of  the 
l?istorical  and  geographical  situation  which  forms 
the  introduction  to  this  fascinating  work  is 
perhaps  its  most  interesting  feature. 

We  have  no  space  to  deal  with  the  new  light 

hich  Dr.  Leaf  has  thrown  on  the  problem  of  the 
Odyssey.  He  shows  clearly  that  while  the 
eastern  .-Egean  was  familiar  to  the  Achaeans,  the 
west  was  a  land  of  mysterv,  the  home  of  a  series 
of  folk-tales,  and  he  follows  Dr.  Dorpfield  in  his 
'  markable  demonstration  that  the  modern  Thiaki 
-  not  the  Ithaca  of  Odysseus,  whose  home  was 
Leucas. 

^^'e  have  said  enough  to  show  the  importance 
<>f  Dr.  Leaf's  work.  The  book  is  a  course  of 
lectures  intended  to  be  delivered  at  the  North- 
western L'niversity,  Evanston,  Illinois,  a  project 
which  fell  through  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 
They  are  now  published  by  the  courtesy  of  the 
XO.    2423;    VOL.    9;] 


Xorman  Wait  Harris  Lecture  Committee.  To 
use  Dr.  Leaf's  words:  "It  may  at  least  ser\e 
as  a  protest,  faint  and  feeble  enough,  against  the 
extinction  of  intellectual  interest  in  the  flood  of 
barbarous  materialism  which  has  been  let  loose 
upon  Europe."  It  is  much  more  than  this,  a 
statement  of  the  problem  defined  with  logical  pre- 
cision and  grace  of  style,  which  commend  it  not 
only  to  the  trained  scholar,  but  to  all  who  are 
interested  in  one  of  the  most  vital  questions  of 
literature. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

A  Manual  of  Soil  Physics.  By  Prof.  P.  B.  Barker 
and  Prof.  H.  J.  Young.  Pp.  vi  +  ioi.  (Lon- 
don: Ginn  and  Co.,  1915.)  Price  35. 
Profs.  Barker  and  Young  have  done  well  to 
collect  the  laboratory  exercises  which  for  the  past 
ten  years  have  been  in  use  in  the  College  of  Agri- 
culture of  the  University  of  Nebraska.  In  this 
region,  where  soil  physics  is  so  important,  one 
may  feel  reasonably  certain  that  survival  for  ten 
years  is  a  sound  test  of  value,  and  therefore 
teachers  who  are  trying  to  introduce  the  subject 
into  their  courses  will  welcome  the  book. 

All  agricultural  courses  are  modified  by  their 
surroundings.  Nebraska  is  fortunate  in  possess- 
ing considerable  areas  of  loess  soil  well  provided 
with  all  the  elements  of  fertility,  biit  apt  to  suffer 
from  drought  at  critical  times.  There  is,  however, 
sufficient  rainfall  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  plant 
if  it  is  properly  husbanded,  and  this  is  done  by 
maintaining  a  fine  layer  of  earth  on  the  surface 
of  the  soil  to  act  as  a  non-conductor  and  protect 
the  bulk  of  the  soil  from  the  sun's  rays.  The 
study  of  the  water  relationships  of  soil  forms  a 
great  part  of  soil  physics,  and  in  one  form  or 
another  comes  into  a  large  proportion  of  the 
exercises  here. 

The  authors  have  modestly  had  the  book 
turned  out  in  the  form  of  a  biflex  binder  note- 
book, so  that  loose  pages  can  be  taken  out.  This 
makes  it  difficult  to  handle,  and  it  deserves  some- 
thing better.  We  hope  that  in  later  editions  it 
will  appear  in  proper  book  form  so  that  it  can 
be  kept  for  permanent  use.  E.  J.  R. 

The  Journal  of  the  Institute  of  Metals.  Vol.  xiv. 
Edited  by  G.  S.  Scott.  Pp.  ix  +  289.  (London  : 
Institute  of  Metals,  1915.)  Price  215.  net. 
This  volume  contains  the  papers  which  were  read 
at  the  autumn  meeting  of  the  Institute  of  Metals 
in  191 5,  an  account  of  which  has  already  ap- 
peared in  the  columns  of  Natlre,  together  with 
the  discussion  and  written  communications.  So 
far  as  these  papers  are  concerned,  the  chief  place 
in  technical  importance  must  certainly  be  given  to 
that  by  Mr.  Parker  on  specifications  for  alloys 
for  high-speed  superheated  steam  turbine  blad- 
ing, which  drew  an  important  contribution  from 
the  president,  Sir  Henry  Oram,  the  engineer-in- 
chief  of  the  Navy.  One  of  the  special  merits  of 
this  paper  is  that  it  makes  a  point  of  stating  what 
are  the  chief  requirements  in  modern  specifications 


I20 


NATURE 


[April  6,  191 6 


of  such  alloys,  and  thus  gives  scientific  workers 
definite  problems  of  first-rate  technical  import- 
ance to  work  out.  Prof.  Edwards's  paper  on 
metallic  crystal  twinning  by  direct  mechanical 
strain  is  illustrated  by  some  very  fine  photomicro- 
graphs, which  will  repay  detailed  study,  and  prove 
that,  in  the  case  of  tin,  at  any  rate,  twins  are 
formed  by  mechanical  strain. 

The  outstanding  feature  of  the  volume,  how- 
ever, is  the  text  of  the  May  lecture  delivered 
before  the  Institute  by  Sir  Joseph  Thomson  on  the 
conduction  of  electricity  through  metals,  in  which 
he  enunciated  a  new  theory  and  directed  attention 
to  the  remarkable  results  on  super-conductivity 
obtained  by  Kamerlingh  Onnes,  of  which  there 
is  no  sign  at  the  temperature  of  liquid  hydrogen, 
but  which  are  fully  displayed  at  that  of  liquid 
helium.  H.  C.  H.  C. 

Memoirs  of  Die  IVistar  Institute  of  Anatomy  and 
Biology,   No.   6.       The  Rat :  Reference   Tables 
and  Data  for  the  Albino  Rat  (Mus  norvegicus 
albinus)  and  the  Norway  Rat  (Mus  norvegicus). 
Compiled  and  edited  by  H.  H.  Donaldson.    Pp. 
v  +  278.    (Philadelphia:  Wistar  Institute,  1915.) 
Price  3.00  dollars. 
The  white  rat,  like  the  frc^,  is  one  of  that  select 
little  group  known  as   laboratory   animals.      For 
the  study  of  problems  connected  with  mammalian 
physiology   it  offers  conveniences  which   in   most 
cases  place  it  beyond  competition.     After  a  brief 
introduction  on  the  classification  and  early  records 
of  the  common  rats,  the  greater  part  of  the  book 
is  devoted  to  the  white   rat,   by  which  is  under- 
stood the  albino  variety  of  the  Norway  rat  {Mus 
norvegicus). 

Following  some  short  chapters  on  the  biology, 
anatomy,  and  physiology  of  this  animal,  the  bulk 
of  the  work  is  taken  up  by  statistical  tables  deal- 
ing with  the  growth  of  the  body  and  of  its  various 
organs  in  relation  to  it  and  to  one  another,  a 
subject  in  which  the  author  has  conducted  research 
for  some  years  past.  The  general  results  of  the 
growth  records  are  also  illustrated  by  a  series  of 
graphs  by  means  of  which  the  reader  can  at  once 
obtain  the  general  drift  of  the  figures.  A  few 
pages  are  devoted  to  the  wild  Norway  rat,  for 
which  far  fewer  data  have  been  collected  than  for 
its  pink-eyed  relative,  and  the  work  concludes  w-ith 
a  bibliography  of  more  than  fifty  oages.  A  most 
useful  feature  of  the  book  is  the  list  of  references 
arranged  under  headings  at  the  end  of  each  chap- 
ter. By  means  of  these  and  of  the  bibliography 
at  the  end  the  student  can  at  once  ascertain  what 
has  been  written  on,  for  example,  the  anatomy  of 
the  urogenital  system  or  the  physiology  of  respira- 
tion in  the  white  rat.  Indeed,  we  think  that  this 
part  of  the  work  would  bear  some  amplification. 
Under  "Reproduction,"  for  instance,  no  mention 
is  made  of  Marshall's  "Physiology  of  Reproduc- 
tion," in  which  work  occur  other  references  not 
given  here.  Some  omissions  there  are  doubtless 
bound  to  be,  but  in  this  guide  to  the  white  rat 
the  author  has  produced  a  valuable  work  of  refer- 
ence which  should  find  a  place  in  every  physiologi- 
cal laboratory. 

NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Science  versus  Classics. 

In  "Musings  without  Method" — which  might  with 
equal  alliteration  be  termed  "Ravings  without 
Reason  "—the  editor  of  Blackwood  gives  in  the  March 
number  his  views  on  the  claim  of  science  to  occupy  a 
more  prominent  position  in  general  education  than 
has  hitherto  been  allotted  to  her.  He  calls  this 
claim  "a  ferocious  attack  on  the  humanities,"  an 
evidence  of  ""  unbalanced  minds "  devoid  of  "  the 
sense  of  humour  and  proportion."  He  gratuitously 
assumes  that  men  of  science  desire  "  to  kill 
all  other  learning  than  their  own,"  and  asserts 
that  for  all  men  there  is  a  need  of  verbal  expres- 
sion "which  is  most  easily  satisfied  by  the  study 
of  Greek  and  Latin."  He  endeavours  to  pour  scorn 
on  the  usefulness  of  scientific  knowledge  by  the  story 
— probably  apocryphal— of  a  "  commercial  house  in  the 
East"  which  sent  to  Cambridge  for  a  chemist,  and 
when  a  chemist  was  forwarded  to  them,  promptly 
returned  him  on  the  ground  that  although  there  was 
nothing  wrong  with  him  as  a  chemist,  he  had  no 
knowl^ge  of  the  world !  One  wonders  what  has  be- 
come of  "Maga's  "  "sense  of  humour"?  Clearly  the 
"commercial  house  in  the  East"  did  not  want  a 
chemist !  Had  they  asked  for  what  they  really  wanted  - 
they  would  have  been  sent  a  classical  don ;  who  doubt- 
less would  have  proved  more  than  a  match  for  the 
heathen  Chinee,  which  was  probably  the  problem  to 
be  tackled ! 

It  is  essentially  the  cause  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
which  our  knight  of  the  pen  comes  forward  to  cham- 
pion— at  least,  it  is  what  he  conceives  to  be  the  cause 
of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  But  why  should  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  furnish  an  exception?  They  might,  it 
is  true,  from  their  more  ancient  standing,  claim  to 
give  a  lead  to  the  others,  but  it  should  surely  be  the 
aim  of  all  the  universities  to  provide  the  best  system 
of  education  which  the  needs  of  the  country  require. 

The  question  is  :  What  is  the  best  system  ?  We 
others  believe  that  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  introductioa 
of  the  study  of  natural  science  into  the  upbringing 
of  everyone,  whatever  his  ultimate  aim  in  life  = 
may  be.  The  prime  object  of  education  is,  or 
should  be,  the  attainment  of  a  knowledge  of  ourselves 
and  our  surroundings  :  this  knowledge  can  only  be 
obtained  through  the  study  of  natural  science.  That 
other  branches  of  learning — mathematics,  philosophy, 
history,  language,  and  literature — may  help,  is  not 
contested,  but  the  basis  of  education  in  an  age  in 
which  all  our  prosperity,  present  and  prospective, 
depends  upon  proficiency  in  science  must  be  scientific. 
If  he  who  runs  cannot  read  as  much  as  this,  he  is 
either  purblind  or  hopelessly  slow  of  understanding ! 

We  need  not  go  outside  the  pages  of  "  Maga  "  to 
prove  the  inadequacy  of  the  classics.     Of  what  is  this 
Cabinet  composed  which  the  editor  has  denounced  in 
unmeasured  terms  from  month  to  month  as  patterns  of  : 
imbecility,    hesitation,    and   vacillation,    unable   to   see  , 
beyond  the  ends  of  their  noses,  incompetent  to  manage 
any  department  of  State?     Are  not  the  ranks  of  the 
"gallant    twenty-two"    (now     twenty-three)     recruited  ' 
almost  exclusively  from  the  institutions  on  the  system  i 
of  education  of  which  "Maga  "  sets  so  high  a  value?  j 
Is    not     the     Prime     Minister,     against     whom     par- 
ticularly the  editorial   fulminations   of   "  Maga "   have 
so  often  been  directed,  himself  a  notable  example  of 


April  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


121 


classical  attainments?  Far  be  it  from  scientific  men 
to  belittle  these  or  any  other  accomplishments — philo- 
sophical, literary-,  or  artistic.  Our  contention  is  that 
— along  with  the  more  advanced  study  of  the  natural 
sciences — these  other  branches  of  learning"  should  be 
treated  as  subjects  of  special  education  :  that  they 
ought  not  to  dominate  the  general  education  of  the 
country.  So  far  from  having  any  wish  to  kill  all 
other  learning,  we  desire  to  promote  all  learning,  but 
that  desire  does  not  prevent  us  from  thinking-  that 
training  in  science  will  have  to  take  the  place  in 
schools  which  is  now  occupied  by  Greek  and  Latin. 

I  am  aware  that  our  opfKjnents  ma}'  retort  we  have 
no  right  to  assume  that  persons  who  have  had  train- 
ing in  science  as  an  integral  part  of  their  education 
are  more  competent  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  nation 
or  to  carry  on  business  or  industrial  operations  than 
those  who  do  not  possess  this  advantage.  We  possess, 
however,  an  example  of  the  influence  of  scientific  train- 
ing on  efficiency  in  one  of  the  largest  of  our  public 
departments— the  Nav\-.  This  is  admitted,  even,  I 
believe,  by  "  Maga,"  to  be  the  best  organised  of  those 
departments ;  it  is  certainly  the  one  in  which  the  public 
places  the  most  confidence.  But  the  men  upon  whom 
this  efficiency  de- 
pends are  distin- 
guished from  those 
of  all  other  public 
Services  in  the  fact 
that  their  educa- 
tion is,  from  the 
beginning,  purely 
scientific.  They 
have    had    no    op- 

portunitv  for  the  acquisition  of  that  know- 
ledge of'  the  classics  which  "  Maga  "  appears 
to  consider  necessary  for  the  making  of  men  ; 
yet  even  the  boys  of  the  Navy  have  again  and 
again  demonstrated  by  their  actions  that  the 
scientific  training  which  they  have  received 
has  not  prevented  them  from  showing  of 
what  stuff  they  are  made. 

Nor  has  "Maga"  the  right  to  assume  that  it  is 
only  the  classical  members  of  our  ancient  universities 
who  have  conve  forward  so  splendidly  in  this  crisis 
of  our  national  life.  For,  side  by  side  with  those  of 
their  classical  fellows,  "  stand  imperishable  upon  the 
roll  of  honour "  the  names  of  hundreds  of  science 
students  who  have — whether  "  from  their  despised 
studies "  or  not  I  cannot  say — also  "  learned  and 
taught  the  habit  of  command,"  and  many  of  whom 
have,  alas !  also  made  the  supreme  sacrifice.  But  to 
anyone  with  a  "  sense  of  proportion,"  it  must  be 
obvious  that  this  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  ques- 
tion at  issue.  For  in  showing  their  readiness  to  give 
their  lives  for  their  country  the  members  of  the  univer- 
sities are  doing  no  more  than  is  being  done  by  millions 
of  their  fellow-subjects  at  home  and  abroad. 

E.    k.    SCHAFER. 


of  the  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers  relate  to 
numerals  punched  on  metal. 

There  are  four  classes  of  numeral  characters  :  (i) 
For  writing,  including  ordinan,'  script,  formal  writing, 
inscriptions  moulded  in  metal  or  cut  in  stone;  (2)  for 
typography ;  (3)  for  scales ;  and  (4)  for  punches.  Script 
demands  legibility  first,  but  gives  considerable  scope 
for  caligraphy.  In  formal  writing  these  requirements 
are  reversed,  and  for  inscriptions  they  carry  equal 
weight.  Typography  makes  certain  intricate  and 
subtle  exactions  for  the  purpose  of  producing  balance 
and  apparent  uniformity  of  the  characters.  Such  re- 
finements do  not  seem  to  be  required  in  the  case  of 
scales  and  punches.  Scales  often  have  to  be  read  in 
a  bad  light,  and,  as  I  have  said  in  my  paper,  elegance 
of  shape  is  not  to  be  disregarded  altogether,  but  wher- 
ever necessarj-  it  must  be  sacrificed  to  legibility  and 
to  special  restrictions  in  uniformity  of  size  and  thick- 
ness of  line. 

Punches  for  stamping  numerals  on  metal  make  two 
additional  demands  on  the  designer.  The  first  is  that 
a  character  when  inverted  shall  not  be  mistaken  for 
another;  the  second  is  that  if  the  impression  is  imper- 
fect it  shall  do  its  best  to  be  legible.     The  first  case 


small      serif,      and      there 


consists  essentially  of 
the  relation  of  the  6  to 
the  9,  and  it  is  so  diffi- 
cult to  make  a  differ- 
ence,  that  other 
numerals  must  lend 
their  help.  The  i  there- 
fore should  have  a 
should     be      a      marked 


Numerals  for  Scales  and  Punches. 

Seeixg  that  excellently  designed  numerals  are 
common  on  the  scales  of  instruments,  and  bad 
styles  are  rare,  I  have  been  surprised  at  the  interest 
which  has  been  taken  by  engineers  and  others  in 
the  proposed  numerals  which  were  illustrated  in 
Nature  of  Februan.'  24.  I  have  adopted  some  of  the 
suggestions  which  I  have  received  in  the  revised  set 
here  illustrated.  My  intention  eight  years  ago  was 
to  produce  designs  suitable  for  the  sca'les  of  measur- 
ing instruments  and  for  the  dials  of  engine  counters 
and  electric  supply  meters,  where  the  numerals  appear 
through  holes.  Most  of  the  suggestions  which  I 
have  received  since  my  paper  appeared  in  the  Journal 
NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


difference  between  the  upper  and  the  lower  part  of  the 
8.  I  propose  to  retain  my  original  6,  and  I  offer  a  9 
with  a  tail  curling  up  a  little  to  the  left,  but  not 
enough  to  cause  confusion  with  8  or  o.  In  these 
numerals  the  thickness  of  the  lir\e  is  75  per  cent,  of  the 
height. 

The  2  in  the  present  set  is  a  compromise  between 
the  swan-breasted  one  of  the  first  set,  and  the  acute 
angled  type.  I  have  tried  to  improve  the  3  by  adding 
one  unit  to  the  length  of  the  top  bar,  but  this  has  the 
drawback  that  if  the  lower  6/ioths  is  lost  there  may 
be  a  confusion  with  7.  The  tail  of  the  3  is  turned  up 
higher  than  that  of  the  5  or  9.  The  4,  6,  7,  and  o 
remain  as  before.  For  the  sake  of  appearance  the 
down  stroke  of  the  5  slopes  i  in  10,  instead  of  i  in  20. 
Good  impressions  of  the  upper  4/ioths  of  these 
numerals  should  be  legible.  If  the  lower  halves  only 
appear,  the  difference  between  3  and  5  is  but  slight, 
and  there  is  no  difference  between  the  lower  half  of 
the  6  and  of  the  8.  But  if  the  lower  6/ioths  are 
visible,  I  think  that  each  numeral  is  legible.  If 
4/7ths  of  the  breadth  are  lost  on  either  side  the 
remaining  3/7ths  are  legible. 

I  have  shown  these  numerals  to  a  friend,  who  said, 
"They  are  quite  clear  but  quite  beastly,"  and  he 
pointed  out  that  the  limitations  do  not  altogether  pre- 
clude beauty  of  form.  He  directed  my  attention  to 
certain  good  models,  and  I  have  based  on  these  a 
2,  3,  /;,  and  8.  The  8  has  the  advantage  that  the 
lower  half  differs  from  that  of  6. 

I  shall  be  glad  to  receive  any  further  suggestions. 


122 


NATURE 


[April  6,   191 6 


1  have  a  iew  copies  of  my  paper,  and  will  send  one 
to  anybody  who  has  not  access  to  the  Journal  of  the   I 
Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  who  is  specially   \ 
interested  in  the  subject.  A.  P.  Trotter.       i 

Athenaeum  Club,  Pall  Mall,  London. 

international  Latin. 

I  HAVE  always  shared  the  ret^ret  of  your  correspond- 
ents that  Latin  has  now  ceased  to  be  employed  as  the  j 
international  language  of  science,  although  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years  after  it  had  ceased  to  be  a 
vernacular  it  had,  among  men  of  education, 
maintained  its  position  as  a  living  language,  adapt- 
ing itself  to  the  varying  needs  of  die  times.  1  have 
devoted  some  attention  to  the  development  during  the 
Middle  Ages  and  succeeding  centuries  of  the  branches 
of  science  in  which  I  am  more  especially  interested, 
and  have  been  struck  by  the  clear,  fluent  Latin  in 
which  the  majority  of  the  scientific  treatises  were 
written.  That  of  Agricola,  Encelius  (Entzelt),  Gesner, 
Camden,  and  Caesalpinus  in  the  sixteenth  century; 
Francisco  Imperato  and  Aldrovandi  in  the  seventeenth ; 
and  Isaac  Lawson,  Cramer,  and  Linnaeus  in  the 
eighteenth,  and  most  of  their  fellow- workers  is,  as 
a  rule,  as  easy  to  follow  as  French,  in  spite  of  the 
handicap  of  the  want  of  articles,  the  most  serious 
defect  of  Latin. 

It  was  the  Latinists  themselves  who  were  priniarily 
responsible  for  the  modern  disuse  of  the  language. 
They  insisted  that  the  diction  of  Cicero,  rather  than 
that  of  Pliny,  should  be  followed,  and  as  they  spoke 
with  authority,  there  was  no  one  hardy  enough  to 
contradict  them,  so  that  the  unfortunate  man  of 
science  had  to  face  a  hail  of  ridicule  if  he  failed  to 
reproduce  the  mannerisms  which  were  held  up  for  his 
imitation,  while  if  he  succeeded  his  pages  were  almost 
unreadable  for  most  of  those  who  would  have  been 
interested  in  their  contents. 

If  Latin  were  ever  again  to  come  Into  use  for 
scientific  purposes,  it  would  only  be  by  assimilating 
its  style  and  idioms  to  those  of  its  daughter  languages 
at  the  present  time,  by  accommodating  itself  to  the 
changes  of  meaning  which  have  overtaken  so  many  of 
its  words,  and  by  borrowing  freely  from  their  vocabu- 
lary, especially  in  the  case  of  terms  which  are  prac- 
tically international.  At  the  same  time  the  inflexions 
and  syntax  of  classical  Latin  would  be  generally,  but 
not  slavishly,  followed. 

I  am  afraid,  however,  that  it  is  too  late  to  undo 
the  work  of  those  who  have  slain  the  object  of  their 
affections  by  strenuous  efforts  to  renew  the  golden 
age  of  its  early  youth  when  by  far  the  more  impor- 
tant portion  of  its  long  career  of  usefulness  still  lay 
before  it;  and  now  that  it  is,  as  it  would  seem, 
really  dead,  had  we  not  better  regretfully  but  reso- 
lutelv  bury  it  out  of  sight  and  turn  our  thoughts  to 
the  flexible  idiom  handed  down  to  us  by  our  fore- 
fathers, which  is  already  understood  throughout  the 
whole  civilised  world?  John  W.  Evans. 

Imperial  College  of  Science  and  Technology, 
South  Kensington,  March  28. 


Osmotic  Pressure  or  Osmotic  Suction— Which? 

The  interesting  controversy  between  Profs,  van 
Laar  and  Ehrenfest,  referred  to  in  Nature  of 
March  16,  again  raises  the  question  of  the  cause  for 
the  approximate  equality  between  osmotic  pressure 
and  gas  pressure.  In  this  connection  the  following 
simple  proof,  based  on  the  kinetic  theory,  of  van't 
Hofl''s  well-known   relationship,  may  be  of  interest. 

The  tendency  of  a  liquid  to  diffuse  is  measured  by 
its  diffusion  pressure,  which  may  be  defined  as 
the  bombardment  pressure  exerted  by  the  liquid 
molecules     on     either     side     of     a     plane     of     unit 

NO.    2423,   VOL.    97] 


area  placed  anywhere  within  the  liquid.  If  we  regard 
a  perfect  liquid  as  formed  by  the  compression  of  a 
perfect  gas  until  the  molecules  almost  touch  one 
another,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  diffusion  pressure  In 
proportional  to  the  number  of  molecules  in  unit 
volume,  or  the  absolute  concentration,  and  also  to  the 
absolute  temperature.  The  diffusion  pressure  for 
ordinary  liquids  has  a  very  large  value.  For  instance, 
if  water  were  a  perfect  liquid,  its  diffusion  pressure 
would  be  about  1200  atmospheres. 

Since  the  absolute  concentration  of  a  solvent  is- 
reduced  by  the  introduction  of  a  solute,  it  is  evident 
that  diffusion  pressure  Is  reduced  in  the  same  way ; 
so  that  the  diffusion  pressure  of  the  solvent  in  a 
solution  is  always  less  than  that  in  the  pure  solvent 
itself.  Hence  solvent  travels  across  a  membrane  from 
the  pure  solvent  side  to  the  solution  side,  unless  a 
hydrostatic  pressure  equal  to  the  difference  between 
the  two  diffusion  pressures  is  placed  on  the  solution. 
The  osmotic  pressure,  which  is  defined  as  the  afore- 
said hydrostatic  pressure,  is  therefore  proportional  to 
the  difference  between  the  absolute  concentrations  of 
the  solvent  on  the  two  sides  of  the  membrane. 
Further,  it  is  also  approximately  proportional  to  the 
concentration  of  the  solute  because  the  latter  is  itself 
approximately  equal  to  the  difference  in  solvent  con- 
centration on  the  two  sides,  since  the  process  of  solu- 
tion consists  essentially  in  the  spatial  replacement  of 
part  of  the  solvent  molecules  by  a  more  or  less  equal 
number  of  solute  molecules. 

Next  as  regards  the  gas  relationship.  Consider  the 
case  of  a  pure  solvent  separated  from  its  solution  by 
means  of  a  semipermeable  membrane  (diagram  I.). 
Remove  from  the  solution  side  all  the  solvent  mole- 
cules ;  and  also  an  equal  number  from  the  pure  solvent 
side.  The  sys- 
tem then  as- 
sumes the  ap- 
pearance 
shown  in  dia- 
gram II.  Now 
this  process 
merely  reduces 
the  absolute 
c  o  ncentratlons 
and  diffusion 
pressures  o  n 
the  two  sides 
of  the  mem- 
brane to  an 
equal  extent ; 
but  leaves  un- 
altered  the 
differences.  The 
residue  of  sol- 
vent molecules  [0j  will  diffuse  across  the  membrane 
just  as  before ;  whilst  the  solute  molecules  will  bom- 
bard the  membrane.  Moreover,  the  pressure  of  the 
solvent  residue  on  the  one  side  will  be  equal  to  the 
pressure  of  the  solute  on  the  other ;  and  both  will  be 
equal  to  the  corresponding  gas  pressure,  since  the 
molecules  are  at  distances  from  one  another  com- 
parable to  gas  distances.  Hence  to  prevent  the  residue 
of  solvent  from  flowing  across  the  membrane,  a  hydro- 
static pressure  equal  to  the  gas  pressure  will  have  to 
be  applied.  The  usual  way  of  doing  this  is  to  make 
the  solution  Into  a  kind  of  piston. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  solute  bombards  the  mem- 
brane with  a  pressure  equal  to  the  corresponding  gas 
pressure,  whether  a  hydrostatic  pressure  is  placed  on 
the  solution  or  not.  The  solvent  itself  can  exert  no 
pressure  on  the  membrane,  since  It  is  supposed  to  be 
able  to  travel  across  the  membrane  just  as  if  the 
latter  were  non-existent. 


0 

sol 

vent. 

X 

solute 

0 

0    0 

0 

0 

0     0 

X 

0 

0    0 

0 

0 

X    0 

0 

0 

0    0 

0 

0 

0     X 

0 

0 

0    0 

0 

X 

0  0 

0 

Pure  solvent 

Di 

AGRAM 

I. 

Solution 

0 


© 


0 


0  X 

DiAcKAM    II. 


April  6,   191 6] 


NATURE 


12 


The  phenomenon  of  osmotic  flow  is  therefore  due 
to  the  residue  or  excess  of  solvent  molecules  on  the 
pure  solvent  side;  the  solute  molecules  play  an  in- 
direct part  only.  But  the  solute  molecules  do  cause  a 
strain  to  be  placed  on  the  membrJine,  which  tends  to 
rupture  the  latter. 

The  fundamental  difference  betw^een  osmotic  pheno- 
mena in  the  gaseous  and  solution  states  is  that 
whereas  the  active  molecules  (see  diagram  II.)  have  a 
vacuum  for  a  medium  in  the  gaseous  case,  they  have 
a  liquid  solvent  for  a  medium  in  the  solution  case. 
The  other  differences  between  compressed  gases  and 
concentrated  solutions  nearly  all  proceed  from  this 
fundamental  one.  Frank  Tinker. 

University  of  Birmingham,   March  21. 


The  Expansion  of  a  Homogeneous  Function  in  Spherical 
Harmonics. 

In  a  recent  paper,  entitled  "Notes  on  Spherical 
Harmonics "  (Proceedings  of  the  Edinburgh  Mathe- 
matical Society,  vol.  xxxii.,  19 14),  Dr.  John  Dougall 
wrongly  claims  as  new  the  expansion  which  he  has 
given  there  for  a  homogeneous  function  of  the  co- 
ordinates of  a  point  on  a  sphere.  This  expansion 
was  first  given  in  ipoo  by  Dr.  G.  Prasad,  in  the 
Messenger  of  Mathematics,  vol.  xxx.,  p.  13,  and 
again,  by  a  different  method,  in  1912  in  the  Mathe- 
matische  Annalen,  vol.  Ixxii.,  p.  436.  The  method  of 
Dr.  Prasad  in  the  second  paper  is  the  same  as  that 
of  Dr.   Dougall.  S.  K.   Banerji. 

Calcutta  Mathematical  Society, 

University  College  of  Science,  Calcutta,  March  8. 


PREVENTIVE    EUGENICSA 

T  ORD  SYDENHAM  and  his  colleagues  de- 
-■— <  ser\-e  the  thanks  of  the  nation  for  their 
prompt  and  faithful  discharge  of  the  difficult  task 
allotted  to  them,  in  November,  1913,  of  inquir- 
ing into  the  prevalence  of  venereal  diseases  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  their  effects  upon  the  health 
of  the  community,  and  the  means  by  which  those 
effects  can  be  alleviated  or  prevented.  No  one 
can  read  the  commissioners'  report  without  an 
increased  conviction  of  the  seriousness  of  the 
evil  that  is  dealt  with,  of  its  grave  and  far- 
reaching  effects  (even  on  the  biological  plane 
alone)  upon  the  individual  and  the  race.  In  care- 
ful terms  and  with  scientific  precision  the  com- 
missioners give  the  evidence  for  the  statement 
'^hat  the  effects  of  the  diseases  in  question  "can- 
not be  too  seriously  regarded,"  for  "they  result 
in  a  heavy  loss,  not  only  of  actual,  but  of  poten- 
tial population,  of  productive  power  and  of 
expenditure  actually  entailed."  The  misery 
account  cannot  be  estimated. 

Except  in  the  case  of  the  Navy  and  Army, 
there  are  at  present  no  means  of  arriving  at  an 
accurate  estimate  of  the  prevalence  of  venereal 
■diseases  in  Britain,  and  many  deaths  due  to  them 
appear  to  escape  official  recognition.  Sir  Wil- 
liam Osier  considers  that,  "of  the  killing  diseases, 
syphilis  comes  third  or  fourth,"  and  the  com- 
missioners, while  rightly  cautious,  conclude  that 
the  number  of  persons   who   have   been   infected 

^  Royal  Commission  on  Venereal  Diseases.     P'inal  Report  of  theCommis- 

;^^oners.     Presented   to  both    Houses  of  Parliament  by  Command   of  His 

lajesty.    Pp.  19,.  (London  :  Wyman  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  1916.)    Price  is.iid. 


with  this  disease,  acquired  or  congenital,  cannot 
fall  below  lo  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population 
in  the  large  cities,  and  that  the  percentage  affected 
with  gonorrhoea  must  be  much  larger.  As  re- 
gards geographical  distribution,  syphilis  is  shown 
to  be  essentially  a  town  disease.  As  regards 
the  social  distribution  of  venereal  diseases  as  a 
whole,  there  is  high  incidence  (in  descending 
order)  among  unskilled  labourers,  in  those  inter- 
mediate between  them  and  skilled  labourers,  and 
in  the  upper  and  middle  classes.  There  is  rela- 
tively low  incidence  among  (in  descending  order) 
textile  workers,  miners,  and  agricultural  labourers. 
It  is  regrettable  that  the  statistics,  both  of  total 
prevalence  and  of  distribution,  remain  somewhat 
uncertain.  It  is  also  to  be  regretted  that  the  com- 
missioners have  allowed  themselves  to  speak 
repeatedly  of  "hereditary  syphilis  "^ — a  quite  in- 
accurate phrase. 

One  of  the  most  tragic  aspects  of  this  wide- 
spread human  scourge  is  the  suffering  inflicted 
on  the  innocent.  Children  infected  before  birth 
may  l>e  blinded  or  deafened,  or  terribly  diseased 
in  skin  and  bone,  in  body  and  mind.  More  than 
half  of  all  cases  of  blindness  among  children  are 
the  result  of  venereal  diseases  in  their  parents. 
Of  registered  still-births,  probably  at  least  half 
are  due  to  syphilis,  and  it  is  estimated  that  from 
30  to  50  per  cent,  of  sterility  among  women  is 
due  to  gonorrhoea.  The  "  suffering  incalculable  " 
that  may  be  inflicted  on  an  innocent  mother,  taken 
along  with  wrong  done  to  the  offspring  and  other 
possible  consequences,  have  led  the  commissioners 
to  the  recommendation  that  the  presence  of  com- 
municable venereal  disease  should  be  regarded  as 
a  disqualification  for  marriage  and  as  a  ground 
for  a  declaration  of  nullity — without,  of  course, 
affecting  the  legitimacy  of  the  children.  Those 
who  still  think  that  nothing  should  be  done  to 
make  the  cure  of  the  diseases  easier,  because  this 
lessens  the  punishment  of  the  guilty  and  makes 
indulgence  safer,  should  consider  carefully  the 
section  of  the  report  which  deals  with  the  con- 
sequences to  mothers  and  children.  We  confess 
that  it  overwhelms  us  in  its  awfulness.  There  is 
also  to  be  borne  in  mind  the  terribleness  of  the 
nemesis  involved  in  the  occurrence  in  the  offender 
himself  of  general  paralysis  or  locomotor  ataxy, 
it  may  be  ten  or  fifteen  years  after  the  infection. 
An  even  wider  consideration,  especially  in  these 
days  of  wastage,  is  the  "  enormous  "  economic  loss 
traceable  to  reduced  working  capacity,  and  the 
heavy  public  cost  of  maintaining  the  various  kinds 
of  patients.  The  commissioners  are  convinced 
that  the  cost  of  curative  and  preventive  measures 
would  soon  be  counterbalanced  by  what  would  be 
saved. 

We  are  not  here  concerned  with  the  medical 
measures  by  which,  according  to  the  commis- 
sioners, the  diseases  can  be  controlled  and  reduced 
within  narrow  limits,  but  w-e  wish  to  direct  atten- 
tion to  two  accessory  points : — (i)  There  is  a 
wholesome  eugenic  breeze  in  the  suggestion  that 
a  warning  given  by  a  physician  in  regard  to  the 
undesirability  of  a  marriage  shall  be  regarded  as 


NO.    2423,   VOL.    97] 


124 


NATURE 


[April  6,  191 6 


a  privileged  communication.  We  do  not  sympa- 
thise with  those  who  regard  it  as  an  infringement 
of  liberty  to  require,  as  a  matter  of  course,  a 
medical  certificate  on  both  sides  before  marriage, 
for  this  is  surely  a  social  as  well  as  a  personal 
matter,  and  we  have  a  well-grounded  confidence 
in  the  general  wisdom  of  the  medical  profession — 
a  wisdom  which  would  be  more  generously  dis- 
played if  it  w^ere  more  frankly  and  courteously 
appealed  to.  (2)  The  commissioners  are  strongly 
convinced  that  it  is  time  to  let  in  more  daylight. 
Medical  students  should  have  more  adequate  in- 
struction in  regard  to  these  scourges  of  the  race ; 
the  public  should  be  authoritatively  informed 
(e.^.,  by  literature  which  has  received  the 
imprimatur  of  the  National  Council  for  Com- 
bating Venereal  Diseases)  as  to  the  biological  gist 
of  the  matter  (of  which  most  know  nothing),  and 
as  to  parasitological  commonplaces,  e.g.  regarding 
exchange  of  pipes  or  tooth-brushes ;  students  in 
training  colleges  should  l^e  carefully  prepared  so 
that  they  may  be  able  to  guide  and  advise  senior 
pupils ;  the  practice,  followed  by  some  head- 
teachers,  of  warning  and  encouraging  pupils 
before  they  leave  school  should  be  general ;  in- 
struction should  also  be  given  in  evening  continua- 
tion schools  (we  doubt  the  wisdom  of  including 
factories  and  workshops) ;  use  should  be  made  of 
those  voluntary  associations  that  show  a  suffi- 
ciently high  standard  of  efficiency  and  tact ;  and, 
last  but  not  least,  "the  guidance  of  medical 
practitioners   should   be  secured." 

All  this  is,  in  its  general  trend  at  least,  wise 
counsel,  which  should  be  made  the  basis  of  earnest 
experiment  towards  lessening  one  of  the  disgraces 
of  our  civilisation.  We  would  add,  however,  a 
plea  that  the  instruction,  for  lack  of  which  many 
perish  miserably,  should  not  be  restricted  to  the 
pathological  and  prudential  aspects,  but  should 
be  broadened  out  into  positive  eugenic  education, 
with  a  frank  recognition,  for  instance,  that  whole- 
some, full-blooded,  high-minded  love,  in  spite  of 
the  awfulness  of  its  corruptio  optimi  pessima,  is 
the  finest  thing  in  human  life. 

In  connection  with  this  terrible  subject  there 
is  a  brilliant  record  of  scientific  achievement. 
Thus  we  may  ren. ember  Neisser's  discovery  of 
the  micro-organism  (Gonococcus)  that  causes 
gonorrhoea ;  the  pioneer  experiments  of  Metchni- 
koff  and  Roux ;  Schaudinn's  discovery  of  the 
micro-organism  {Spirochaeta  pallida)  that  causes 
syphilis;  Xoguchi's  observation  of  the  occurrence 
of  the  spirochaete  in  the  brains  of  persons  dying 
of  general  paralysis  and  locomotor  ataxy ; 
Wassermann's  suggestion  of  a  valuable  diag- 
nostic bio-chemical  test;  Ehrlich's  working  out 
of  the  salvarsan  cure,  for  which  there  are  now 
various  substitutes  available.  Such  records  make 
us  proud  of  mankind,  but  the  reason  for  it  all 
fills  us  with  shame.  The  commissioners  are  wise 
enough  to  discern  that  men  become  victims  of 
vicious  circles.  Overcrowded  and  insanitary 
dwellings  indirectly  contribute  to  the  spread  of 
the  diseases  in  question;  occupational  depression 
leads  to  alcoholism,   and  the   "communication  of 

NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


disease  is  frequently  due  to  indulgence  in  intoxi- 
cants "  ;  and  so  the  dismal  circles  run. 

Biologically  regarded,  the  measures  proposed 
by  the  commissioners  must  be  approved  of  with- 
out hesitation.  Two  invisible  parasites  cause 
widespread  human  misery ;  science  has  mastered 
these  parasites ;  and,  if  men  will,  the  misery  may 
in  greater  part,  or  altogether,  cease.  But  to 
consider  man  from  the  biological  point  of  view 
alone  is  a  fallacious  and,  indeed,  impossible  ab- 
straction. For  he  is  a  rational,  social  person,, 
a  member  of  a  realm  of  ends  as  well  as  of  the 
class  of  mammals.  Thus  the  question  arises — 
and  who  is  wise  enough  to  answer  it? — whether 
our  scientific  saving  of  the  sinner  from  the  punish- 
ment of  his  sins — always  a  dangerous  thing  ta 
do— will  be  justified  in  the  long  run  by  a  finer 
race.  In  actual  fact,  however,  there  is"  no  alter- 
native, for  social  instinct,  with  the  obsolescence 
of  patriarchal  ways  of  looking  at  things,  is  now 
strong  enough  to  secure  that  women  and  children 
be  shielded,  so  far  as  available  science  makes  it 
possible,  from  the  effects  of  masculine  selfishness. 

The  terms  of  the  commissioners'  reference 
precluded  consideration  of  the  moral  aspects  of 
the  questions  with  which  they  had  to  deal,  but 
there  is  no  dubiety  as  to  the  firm  ethical  under- 
tone of  the  report.  "We  are  deeply  sensible  of 
the  need  and  importance  of  the  appeals  to  con- 
science and  honour  which  are  made  by  the  re-" 
ligious  bodies  and  by  associations  formed  for  this 
purpose.  We  believe  that  these  appeals  will 
gain  force  if  the  terrible  effects  of  venereal 
disease  upon  innocent  children  and  other  persons 
who  have  no  vicious  tendencies  are  more  fully 
realised." 

We  have  exceeded  the  space  editorially  allotted 
to  us,  but  we  plead  that  this  is  one  of  the  most 
important  bio-sociological  documents  of  recent 
years,  and  we  wish  to  quote  its  well-considered 
final   appeal  : — 

The  diminution  of  the  best  manhood  of  the  nation, 
due  to  the  losses  of  the  war,  must  tell  heavily  upon 
the  birth-rate — already  declining — and  upon  the 
numbers  of  efficient  workers.  The  reasons  for  com- 
bating, by  every  possible  means,  diseases  which  in 
normal  times  operate  with  disastrous  effects  alike 
upon  the  birth-rate  and  upon  working  efficiency  are, 
therefore,  far  more  urgent  than  ever  before.  Now 
and  in  years  to  come  the  question  of  public  health 
must  be  a  matter  of  paramount  national  importance, 
and  no  short-sighted  parsimony  should  be  permitted 
to  stand  in  the  way  of  all  means  that  science  can 
suggest  and  organisation  can  supply  for  guarding  the 
present  and  future  generations  upon  which  the  restora- 
tion of  national  prosperity  must  depend. 


THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  PORCELAIN: 

IN   early  days  almost  nothing    was    accurately 
known     of     the     manufacture    of    porcelain.    , 
Euroj>ean  potters  had  never  made  ware  with  such 
admirable  qualities  as  that  which  was  brought  by    . 
the    traders   from   China,    and    their    attempts    to  ; 
imitate  Chinese  porcelain  were  not  very  success-  ■ 
ful.     The  first  synthetical  experiments  were  based  • 
on  the   hypothesis  that   Chinese   p>orcelain   was   a 


April  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


125 


levitrified  glass,  or  a  glass  opacified  by  the  addi- 
ion  of  clay ;  afterwards  Bottger,  a  pupil  of 
vValther  von  Tschirnhaus,  who  had  had  a  great 
leal  of  experience  in  the  manufacture  of  crucibles 
or  his  alchemical  work,  made  a  vitreous  body 
vhich  had  some  of  the  qualities  of  porcelain,  but 
m  objectionable  colour.  The  ware  was  very  vitreous 
ind  no  glaze  was  used ;  Bottger  seems  to  have 
ried  to  get  the  bright  glossy  surface  by  polishing 
he  body.  Bottger  then  found  a  deposit  of  white  clay 
it  Aue,  near  Schneeburg,  and,  by  using  that  in 
jlace  of  the  crucible  clay,  he  was  able  to  produce 
air  imitations  of  the  body  of  Chinese  porcelain, 
'md  a  works  was  started  near  Meissen  in  which 
ixtreme  precautions  were  taken  to  preserve  the 
ecret.  This  porcelain  was  the  type  now  known 
|:s  hard  or  felspathic  porcelain.  A  generalised  hard 
'x)rcelain  body  has  the  composition  :— 


Ml 


Clay 

Felspar 

Ouartz 


50 

25 


e  discovery  of  china  clay  at  St.  Yrieix,  in 
nee,  enabled  the  French  potters  to  take  up  the 
nanufacture  of  this  same  type  of  porcelain,  but 
in  Fr'ance  a  totally  different  type  of  porcelain  was 
in  use.  It  was  called  soft  porcelain.  The  composi- 
•ion  of  soft  porcelain  can  be  generalised  into  the 
jecipe : — 

Calcareous  clay      '     •■•         ^o 

Glassy  frit         ...  ...  ...  ...  30 

Quartz 40 

Soft  porcelain  lent  itself  peculiarly  well  to  the 
production  of  beautiful   pottery,   but  the  cost  of 
I  nanufacture  was  too  great  to  enable  it  to  com- 
pete siiccessfully   with   the  bone  china   and   hard 
lorcelain;  as  a  result,  the  soft  porcelain  industry 
|S  virtually  dead.      Artificial   teeth,   however,    are 
nade  from  a  variety  of  soft  porcelain. 
^  Cookworthy,  of  Plymouth,  discovered  that  the 
;:ornish  stone   and  china  clay  of  Cornwall  could 
)e  employed  for  making  a   porcelain   bodv,    an--' 
jvorks  were   started   at   Plymouth.      The   English 
jiard  porcelain,  while  preserving  a  special  charac- 
""  of  its  own,  belonged  to  the  same  general  type 
■le  German  and  Chinese.     The  manufacture  of 
nis  hard  porcelain  in   England  does  not  appear 
;0  have  been  very  successful,  and  was  soon  aban- 
iloned.     A   third   type   of   porcelain   developed   in 
f^ngland,   the    English   porcelain,    or   bone   china. 
I  he    body    of    this    can    be    generalised    in    the 
ecipe  : — 

Bone  ash  ...  -o 

Clay   ::    :::    ;:;    ^° 

Cornish  stone 2" 

'  ^  e  have  considered  only  the  bodv  of  the  vari- 

porcelains.      The  composition   and  character 

■t   the  various   glazes    are   of   equal    importance. 

shortly,    hard    porcelain,    which    matures    at    the 

laze    temperature— which    is  verv    high— has     a 

A  \A  ""^  ^^^  "^^^^r^  of  felspar;  soft  porcelain 
ad  a  lead  glaze  which  matured  at  a  comparatively 
3w    temperature. 

TThe  manufacture  of  potterv  is  very  largelv  de- 
pendent upon  a  multitude  of  conditions,  each  one 
I  NO.    2423,   VOL.    97] 


of  which  might  appear  to  be  of  little  intrinsic 
importance.  Successful  potting  involves  close 
attention  to  detail,  and  this  probably  more  than 
in  any  other  industry. 

There  is  a  marked  difference  in  the  behaviour 
of  these  three  types  of  ware  in  the  firing.  In  all 
types  of  pottery  there  is  a  range  of  temperature 
or  margin  of  safety  outside  which  the  fireman 
must  not  go.  If  the  temperature  be  above  these 
limits  the  ware  is  liable  to  be  spoiled ;  and  if 
below,  the  ware  is  insufficiently  fired.  With  hard 
porcelain  there  is  a  particularly  wide  margin  of 
safety ;  with  soft  porcelain  the  margin  of  safety 
is  so  narrow  and  the  resulting  losses  so  great  that 
the  manufacture  had  to  be  abandoned  as  com- 
mercially impracticable.  With  English  bone 
china,  too,  there  is  a  comparatively  narrow 
margin  of  safety,  which  is  necessarily  attended 
by  proportionate  difldculties. 

Hard  porcelain,  unlike  soft  porcelain  and  bone 
china,  is  first  baked  at  a  comparatively  low  tem- 
perature, and  the  glaze  and  body  are  subse- 
quently fired  together  at  the  higher  temperature. 
The  preliminary  baking  is  not  a  critical  opera- 
tion, and  it  can  virtually  be  done  by  the  waste 
heat  of  ovens  firing  at  the  higher  temperature. 
\\'ith  soft  porcelain  and  bone  china  two  critical 
firings  are  needed;  with  hard  porcelain  there  is 
one.  The  first  or  biscuit  fire  with  soft  porcelain 
and  bone  china  is  much  the  hottjer;  the  second 
or  glost  fire  is  not  so  hot. 

Hard  or  felspathic  porcelain  and  bone  china 
virtually  command  the  world's  porcelain  market. 
Both  forms  are  porcelain,  and  both  are  collo- 
quially called  china,  although  the  latter  term  is 
more  commonly  applied  to  the  English  porcelain 
as  distinct  from  the  Continental.  It  appears  that 
in  quality — presumably  aesthetic — British  porce- 
lain reigns  supreme;  but  in  certain  special  lines — 
chemical,  electrical,  and  possibly  hotel  ware 
— the  Continental  porcelain  has  important 
advantages  which  render  it  advisable  to  start 
seriously  making  it  in  England.  Just  as 
the  manufacture  of  the  British  type  of  por- 
celain has  not  been  particularlv  successful 
outside  this  country,  so  the  manufacture  of  Con- 
tinental porcelain  has  not  been  successful  here. 
The  two  types  have  developed  on  different  lines, 
and  certain  radical  differences  obtain,  so  that 
certain  conditions  necessary  for  success  in  the 
one  lead  to  failure  in  the  other.  The  cessation  of 
German  supplies  of  chemical  ware  has  led  manu- 
facturers to  make  fairly  good  imitations  of  hard 
porcelain  by  modifying  parian,  insulator,  and 
mortar  bodies,  but  these  temporary  imitations  are 
not  so  satisfactory  as  the  true  hard  porcelain. 
The  problem  must  be  solved  bv  our  taking  up  the 
manufacture  of  true  hard  porcelain,  and  "not  frit- 
tering away  valuable  time  on  imitations  which 
past  experience  has  proved  to  be  less  suitable  for 
the  work.  The  manufacture  should  offer  no  in- 
superable difficulties  to  our  men  once  their  skill  is 
deflected  and  adapted  to  suit  the  special  conditions 
required  for  the  new  type  of  ware.  The  subject 
wants  tackling  boldly  and  confidentlv  on  a  large 
scale  with   British  raw  materials.      If  much  raw 


120 


NATURE 


[April  6,   1916 


material  has  to  be  purchased  abroad  the  cost  of 
production    will    rise    accordingly. 

This  seems  a  very  good  opportunity  for  State 
assistance,  since  at  present  it  is  to  the  interest  cA 
no  individual  manufacturer  to  assist  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  new  type  of  ware.  It  is  there- 
fore pleasing-  to  learn  that  the  Committee  of  the 
Privy  Council  for  Scientific  and  Industrial  Re- 
search has  made  a  substantial  grant  towards  the 
capital  outlay  for  an  experimental  factory  where 
the  conditions  necessary  for  the  successful  manu- 
facture of  hard  porcelain  can  be  studied  on  a  large 
enough  scale  to  reproduce  manufacturing  condi- 
tions. Once  the  necessary  conditions  have  been 
established,  the  manufacture  of  hard  porcelain 
will  probably  interest  a  great  many  potters,  and 
this  idea  has  probably  led  the  Pottery  Manufac- 
turers' Association  to  bear  a  proportionate  part 
of  the  estimated  cost  of  maintenance.  Instead  of 
working  slavishly  on  Continental  lines  it  will 
probably  be  far  more  rational  to  introduce  as  few 
radical  changes  as  possible,  so  that  the  suoreme 
skill  and  traditional  experience  of  our  craftsmen 
may  be  utilised  to  its  maximum.  In  this  way  it 
is  quite  likely  that  a  new  kind  of  hard  porcelain 
will  be  evolved,  which  will  unite  the  good  quali- 
ties of  the  Continental  with  those  of  the  British 
porcelain.  B.    M. 

J.  W.  M. 


THE    COMMONWEALTH   INSTITUTE    OF 
SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY. 

THE  scheme  for  the  establishment  of  a  Com- 
monwealth Institute  of  Science  and  Indus- 
try, of  which  we  gave  an  account  in  our  issue  of 
March  9,  is  described  by  Prof.  Orme  Masson  in  an 
interesting  article  in  the  Melbourne  Argus  of 
January  22.  Prof.  Masson  points  out  that,  just 
as  Lord  Roberts  pleaded  in  vain  the  military 
necessities  of  the  nation,  so  the  warnings  of  men 
like  Sir  Henry  Roscoe,  Sir  William  Ramsay,  and 
Sir  Norman  Lockyer,  as  to  the  consequences  of 
the  neglect  of  science,  were  disregarded  before 
the  war.  After  the  scheme  for  the  development  of 
scientific  and  industrial  research,  under  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Privy  Council,  had  been  put  forward 
about  a  year  ago,  Mr.  Hughes,  the  Prime  Minister 
of  Australia,  determined  to  do  as  much — and  more 
— for  the  Commonwealth,  with  the  view  of  making 
the  country  independent  of  German  trade  and 
manufacture  when  the  war  is  over.  Following 
the  example  of  the  British  Science  Guild  ten  years 
ago,  he  appointed  a  committee  representing  State 
•scientific  departments,  universities,  and  indus- 
trial interests  to  prepare  a  scheme ;  and  w- ithin  a 
ffew  days  the  committee  had  produced  the  draft 
;already  published  in  our  columns. 

The  proposed  Institute  is  to  be  governed  by 
three  directors,  one  of  whom  will  be  selected  for 
proved  ability  in  business,  finance,  and  organisa- 
tion ;  while  the  two  others  will  be  scientific  men 
of  similar  high  standing  and  reputation.  This 
combination,  devoted  wholly  to  the  work,  should 
he  able  efficiently  to  conduct   affairs   and   opera- 

NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


tions  having  for  their  object  the  union  of  science 
with  industry.  The  directors  are  to  be  assisted 
by  an  advisory  council  composed  of  nine  repre- 
sentatives of  primary  and  secondary  industries 
and  of  science ;  and  these  representatives  are  to 
seek  information,  advice,  and  assistance  from 
specialists   throughout   Australia. 

The  first  function  of  the  Institute  will  be  to 
ascertain  what  industrial  problems  are  most  press- 
ing and  most  likely  to  yield  to  scientific  experi- 
mental-investigation;  to  seek  out  the  most  com- 
petent men  to  whom  each  such  research  may  be 
entrusted ;  and  to  arrange  for  their  having  all 
necessary  appliances  and  assistance.  The  Insti- 
tute is  also  to  build  up  a  bureau  of  industrial 
scientific  information,  which  shall  be  at  the  service 
of  all  concerned  in  the  industries  and  manufac- 
tures of  the  Commonwealth.  Its  third  main  func- 
tion will  be  to  erect,  staff,  and  control  special 
research  laboratories,  the  first  of  which  will  prob- 
ably be  a  physical  laboratory  somew^hat  on  the 
lines  of  our  National  Physical  Laboratory. 

The  scheme  cannot  be  brought  into  operation 
until  it  receives  the  sanction  of  the  Commonwealth 
Parliament,  after  the  return  of  Mr.  Hughes  from 
his  visit  to  England.  In  the  meantime,  the 
Federal  Government  has  appointed  a  temporary 
advisory  council  and  provided  the  money  neces- 
sary to  enable  it  to  make  a  beginning  with  the 
organisation  of  industrial  scientific  research  and 
the  collection  and  dissemination  of  scientific  in- 
formation bearing  on  Australian  industries.  Ac- 
cording to  Press  reports,  Mr.  Hughes  said,  before 
leaving  Australia,  that  the  Government  is  pre- 
pared to  spend  up  to  500,000!.  upon  the  establish- 
ment of  the  scheme ;  and  if  the  matter  is  taken  up 
in  this  large-minded  spirit  the  Commonwealth  will 
have  made  the  best  possible  provision  for  the  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  struggle  which  must  comCi 
after  the  declaration  of  peace.  j 


NOTES. 

Promoters  of  the  proposal  to  put  the  hands  < 
timepieces  forward  by  an  hour  during  certain  montl 
of  the  year  are  now  advocating  the  adoption  of  th 
principle  of  ''Daylight  Saving"  by  deception  on  tli 
grounds  of  national  economy  in  fuel  and  light.  Tl. 
scheme  has  been  before  the  public  for  many  year- 
and  has  been  rejected  by  Parliament  on  more  tha; 
one  occasion.  It  has  not  received  the  approval  of 
single  scientific  society  of  any  importance,  and  onl 
one  or  two  scientific  men  have  given  it  any  suppon 
Yet  Lord  Salvesen  made  the  astounding  assertion 
in  the  Times  of  March  31,  that  the  Daylight  Savini 
Bill  '"is  supported  by  substantially  the  whole  intelll 
gent  opinion  of  the  country."  He  evidently  believg 
that  "  intelligent  opinion  "  upon  time-standards  is 
to  be  found  in  the  views  of  experts,  but  in  the  res 
lutions  of  town  councils,  district  councils,  chamber 
of  commerce,  and  like  bodies,  who  want  to  preteo' 
that  during  a  prescribed  period  every  year  the  hour  c 
seven  o'clock  is  really  eight,  and  so  for  other  hours 
It  is  usually  understood  that  people  cannot  be  mad 
sober  by  Act  of  Parliament,  yet  it  is  seriously  sug 
gested  that  they  should  be  made  to  rise  earlier  by 
legalised  plan  of  national  deception.  We  have  cof 
demned  this  ridiculous  measure  whenever  it  has  bee 


April  6,  19 16] 


NATURE 


127 


brought  forward,  and  dealt  with  it  in  detail  in  an 
article  in  Nature  of  May  ii,  191 1  (vol.  Ixxxvi.,  p.  349). 
A  correspondent  suggests  that  we  should  reprint  this 
article,  but  we  doubt  whether  the  corporations  who 
want  Parliament  to  do  for  them  what  they  could  do 
for  themselves  by  changing  their  habits  would  be 
convinced  by  any  appeal  to  authoritative  opinion. 
They  might  not  be  in  favour  of  altering  temperature 
standards  during  certain  months  of  the  year,  so  that 
in  the  summer  80°  shall  be  called  70°  by  Act  of  Par- 
liament, in  order  to  pretend  that  the  weather  is  not 
really  so  hot  as  the  thermometer  indicates,  yet  the 
principle  which  they  adopt  so  cheerfully  is  precisely 
the  same.  If  they  understood  the  meaning  of  time- 
standards  so  well  as  they  know  those  of  length, 
weight,  and  temperature,  the  "'Daylight  Saving" 
scheme  would  long  since  have  passed  into  the  limbo  of 
forgotten  things. 

The  enterprise  of  the  Times  in  the  issuing  of  an 
■"  Imperial  and  Foreign  Trade  Supplement,"  to  be  con- 
tinued monthly,  is  both  commendable  and  timely.  The 
purpose  is  to  bring  enlightenment  to  the  British  pro- 
ducer and  merchant,  and  to  induce  them  to  support 
measures  sound  in  policy  and  method  with  a  view  to 
enable  them  to  compete  on  advantageous  terms,  both 
at  home  and  abroad,  with  their  foreign  rivals,  especi- 
ally those  of  Germany.  A  frank,_  well-informed,  and 
unprejudiced  discussion  of  the  intricate  problems  in- 
Aolved,  having  always  the  welfare  of  the  home  con- 
sumer in  mind,  can  result  in  nothing  but  good.  An 
instructive  article  is  contributed  by  Sir  Philip  Magnus 
on  the  value  of  science  in  its  application  to  commerce 
and  industry,  in  which  the  economic  success  of  Grer- 
nany  and  the  results  of  her  peaceful,  penetrating 
efforts  throughout  several  decades  are  ascribed  to  the 
effective  school  training,  which  has  not  only  enabled 
the  citizens  to  develop  in  their  own  country  new  and 
profitable  industrial  undertakings,  but  also  to  estab- 
lish themselves  in  a  dominating  commercial  position 
in  other,  countries.  Drastic  changes  are  urged  in 
respect  of  the  organisation  of  our  education,  not 
necessarily  on  German  lines,  throughout  all  its  grades, 
but  especially  in  the  training  given  in  our  universities 
and  technological  schools,  which  is  compared  very 
unfavourably  with  that  available  in  similar  German 
institutions,  and  with  the  number  of  students  engaged 
therein  in  op>erations  involving  specialised  scientific 
research.  There  is  also  an  important  article  by  Sir 
Algernon  Firth  on  British  trade  policy,  in  which  refer- 
ence is  made  to  the  recent  great  commercial  confer- 
ence held  in  the  Guildhall,  and  to  the  approval  given 
to  the  demand  that  the  Empire  should  produce  within 
its  own  borders  all  that  it  requires  from  its  own  soil 
and  factories,  and  that  the  Government  should  be 
urged  to  provide  larger  funds  for  the  promotion  of 
scientific  research  and  training.  Only  the  barest  allu- 
sion is  made,  however,  to  this  necessity'  in  communica- 
tions received  from  numerous  correspondents  through- 
out the  countrv-,  the  chief  stress  being  laid  upon  fiscal 
restrictions. 

There  is  still  no  news  of  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton's 
ship  Endurance,  but  that  need  not  increase  the 
anxiety  as  to  her  safetv,  as,  owing  to  the  unfavourable 
ice  season,  her  return  may  be  delayed  until  the  middle 
of  April.  The  Aurora  was  towed  into  Port  Chalmers, 
M  5^^'^"^'  ^"  Monday,  April  3.  It  appears  that  on 
May  6,  1915,  a  violent  gale  tore  the  vessel  from  her 
moorings,  and  that  she  was  then  carried  with  the 
'^^°  the  north.  The  rudder  was  crushed  on  Julv  21, 
and  the  vessel  was  not  able  to  emerge  from  the  ice 
until  March  i  4last  last,  when  it  was  in  a  badlv 
clamaged  condition.  Whether  the  Aurora  will  be  fit  to 
return  to  the  Ross  Sea  in  the  next  Antarctic  summer 


NO.    2423,   VOL.    97] 


appears  doubtful.  The  fact  that  she  had  to  be  towed 
during  the  last  part  of  her  voyage  to  New  Zealand  was 
due  to  the  loss  of  her  rudder,  though  a  jur}-  rudder  was 
rigged  up.  The  cautious  remarks  attributed  bv  the 
cable  to  .\Ir.  Stenhouse,  the  chief  officer  of  the  Aurora, 

I  suggest,  however,  doubt  as  to  whether,  in  his  opinion, 
the  Aurora  will  be  available.  He  is  reported  to  have 
expressed  the  hope  that  the  staff  of  the  Aurora  will 
return  as  a  relief  party,  but  he  says  nothing  as  to  the 

I  return  of  the  ship  herself.  We  must  hope,  however, 
by  next  week  to  have  news  of  the  Endurance,  and  of 
the  seaworthiness  of  the  Aurora. 

Dr.  M.  O.   Forster,  F.R.S.,  the  chairman  of  the 

Technical  Committee  of  British  Dyes,  Ltd.,  and  Mr. 

J.    Tu'^her,    the    manager    of    the    works,    have    been 

,  offered,  and  have  accepted,  seats  on  the  board  of  the 

I  company,  and  Dr.  J.  C.  Cain  has  been  appointed  chief 

chemist  of  the  new  works  at  present  under  construc- 

{  tion  at  Dalton,  Huddersfield. 

,       We  regret  to  announce  the  death,  on  April  4,  in  his 
eighty-first    year,    of    Sir    John    Gorst.    F.R.S.,    vice- 
president  of  the  Committee  of  Council  on  Education 
!   from    1895    to    1902,    and    the    first    president    of    the 
I  Educational  Science  Section  of  the  British  Association. 

I       Mr.   W.   B.   Hardy,   Sec.R.S.,  Admiral   Sir   H.    B. 

I  Jackson,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.,  and  Sir  G.  A.  Smith,  Prin- 

:  cipal  and  Vice-Chancellor  of  Aberdeen  University,  have 

1  been  elected  members  of  the  Athenaeum   Club  under 

the   rule   which   empowers    the   annual    election    of    a 

certain  number  of  persons  "  of  distinguished  eminence 

in  science,  literature,  the  arts,  or  for  public  services." 

The  day  lectures  at  the  Royal  Institution  after 
Easter  include  : — Prof.  C.  S.  Sherrington,  Harvev  and 
Pavloff ;  Dr.  T.  M.  Lowrv",  optical  research  and  chem- 
ical progress;  Sir  Ray  Lankester,  flints  and  flint  im- 
plements ;  Prof.  W.  H.  Bragg,  X-rays  and  crystals  (the 
Tyndall  lectures);  Prof.  H.  S.  Foxwell.  the  finance 
of  the  great  war;  Sir  James  G.  Frazer,  folk-lore  in 
the  Old  Testament.  The  Friday  evening  discourses  in- 
clude : — Sir  J.  M.  Davidson,'  electrical  methods  in 
surgical  advance;  Colonel  E.  H.  Hills,  the  move- 
ments of  the  earth's  pole;  Prof.  C.  G.  Barkla,  X-rays; 
Mr.   E.   Clarke,  eyesight  and  the   war. 

Dr.  H.  R.  Mill  reports  in  the  Times  of  April  3 
that  while  the  average  rainfall  for  March  at  Camden 
Square  for  fifty  years  is  175  in.,  this  vear  the  total 
rainfall,  including  melted  snow,  up  to'  a  few  hours 
before  the  end  of  the  month,  was  467  in.  The  record 
of  rainfall  at  Greenwich  Observatorv  for  the  past  100 
years  includes  only  one  instance  of  a  4-in.  fall  in 
March,  405  in.  having  been  measured  in  185 1.  A 
search  through  the  numerous  rainfall  records  kept  in 
and  near  London  back  to  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century  has  failed  to  show  anv  March  with 
as  much  as  4  in.  of  rain. 

The  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Ray  Societ>-  was 
held  on  March  23,  Prof.  W.  C.  xMcIntosh,  president, 
in  the  chair.  The  report  of  the  council  showed  a  con- 
siderable loss  of  membership  owing  to  the  war,  and 
stated  that  two  volumes  for  1915,  the  '"Principles  of 
Plant-Teratolog>-,"  vol.  i.,  by  Mr.  W.  C.  Worsdell, 
and  the  '"British  Fresh-water  Rhizopoda  and  Helio- 
zoa,"  vol.  iii.,  by  Mr.  G.  H.  Wailes,  had  been  issued 
to  the  members,  and  also  the  "  British  Marine  Anne- 
lids," vol.  in.,  part  2,  by  the  president,  being  one  of 
the  issues  for  the  present  vear,  for  which  the  second 
and  concluding  volume  of  "Plant-Teratology"  is  also 
in  preparation.  A  work  on  the  "Trematode  Parasites 
of  British  Marine  Fishes,"  by  Dr.  William  Nicoll,  and 
one   on    the   "British   Diatomaceae,"   by    Mr.    George 


128 


NATURE 


[April  6,  191 6 


West,  had  been  accepted  for  publication.  Prof. 
Mcintosh  was  re-elected  president,  Dr.  F.  DuCane 
Godman  treasurer,  and  Mr.  John  Hopkinson  secre- 
tary. 

The  anjiual  general  meeting  of  the  Chemical  Society 
was  held  at  Burlington  House  on  March  30,  Dr. 
Alexander  Scott,  president,  in  the  chair.  A  discussion 
took  place  with  regard  to  the  removal  from  the  list 
of  those  honorary  and  foreign  members  who  are  alien 
enemies,  and  it  was  decided  to  refer  the  matter  to  the 
council  for  further  consideration.  It  was  with  great 
pleasure  the  president  announced  that  the  following 
donations  had  been  made  to  the  research  fund  : — 
(a)  loooi.  from  Dr.  G.  B.  Longstaff,  whose  father,  by 
his  gift  of  a  similar  amount,  was  largely  Instrvrfhental 
in  founding  the  research  fund  forty  years  ago ;  (b) 
loooZ.  from  Mrs.  and  Miss  Miiller,  in  commemoration 
of  the  late  Dr.  Hugo  Miiller's  long  connection  with 
the  society ;  (c)  500/.  from  Dr.  Alexander  Scott,  to 
mark  his  appreciation  of  the  valuable  work  done  by 
the  research  fund,  and  in  commemoration  of  the 
seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the  society.  Prof.  G.  G. 
Henderson  and  Prof.  A.  Lapworth  were  elected  new 
vice-presidents,  and  Mr.  A.  Chaston  Chapman,  Mr. 
C.  A.  Hill,  Dr.  R.  H.  Pickard,  and  Dr.  F.  L.  Pyman 
were  elected  as  new  ordinary  members  of  council. 
The  delivery  of  the  president's  address,  entitled  "  Our 
Seventy-fifth  Anniversary,"  was  postponed  until  to-day, 
April  6,  at  8  p.m. 

Sir  Richard  Redmayne,  in  his  presidential  address 
delivered  recently  before  the  institution  of  Mining 
and  Metallury,  took  as  his  main  theme  a  consideration 
of  the  mineral  resources  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Coal, 
as  the  most  important  mineral  asset,  came  in  for  the 
principal  treatment,  which  consisted  in  a  survey  of 
possible  extensions  of  coal-fields  and  the  prevention  of 
waste  in  the  acquisition  and  utilisation  of  coal.  Iron 
ore  and  limestone  were  next  reviewed,  and,  finally,  the 
resources  of  non-ferrous  metals,  with  the  last  of  which 
the  institution  is  by  its  constitution  principally  con- 
cerned. This  gave  the  president  the  opportunity  of 
explaining  to  members  in  some  detail  the  scheme  of 
research  which  is  about  to  be  undertaken  by  the 
institution  in  co-operation  with  the  Royal  Cornwall 
Polytechnic  Society,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  financial 
grant  from  the  Advisory  Council  to  the  Committee  of 
Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  of  the  Privy  Council. 
The  research  will  deal  with  the  economic  extraction  of 
tin  and  tungsten  from  Cornish  ores,  and  its  objects 
are  : — (a)  To  review  the  evidence  upon  which  estimates 
of  the  total  contents  and  recovery  of  tin  and  tungsten 
are  based ;  {h)  to  co-ordinate  and  complete  the  re- 
searches already  begun,  and  if  necessary  to  institute 
other  researches  on  new  lines ;  and  (c)  to  suggest  new 
or  improved  methods  of  treatment  indicated  by  the 
results  of  the  researches.  It  is  remarkable  that  in 
spite  of  the  antiquity  of  this  industry  the  precise  per- 
centage of  recovery  now  being  obtained  of  cassiterite 
from  the  tinstone  is  not  known,  though  there  is  a 
consensus  of  opinion  that  it  certainly  does  not  exceed 
75  per  cent. 

The  name  of  Auguste  Rosenstiehl,  whose  death  is 
announced,  is  indissolubly  linked  to  that  period  of 
chemistry  which  inaugurated  the  great  colour  in- 
dustry. Born  at  Strasburg  in  1839,  he  completed 
his  studies  in  the  university  of  his  native  town,  where 
he  remained  as  lecture  assistant  from  1857  to  1865. 
Having  chosen  the  study  of  tinctorial  chemistry  as  a 
career,  he  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  chemistry 
at  the  technical  school  at  Mulhouse,  of  which  he  was 
afterwards  director.  Subsequently  he  acted  as  colour 
chemist  to  a  firm  of  dyers.  In  1877  he  accepted  a 
post  in   the   celebrated   colour   works   of   Poirrler   and 

NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


Dalsace,  of  Saint  Denis,  with  which  the  names  of 
Lauth,  Gerard,  Roussin,  Bardy,  and  many  other  dis- 
tinguished chemists  are  connected.  It  is  to  Rosenstiehl 
that  the  elucidation  of  the  formation  of  fuchsine,  dis- 
covered by  Verguin,  is  due.  He  also  studied  the 
chemistry  of  alizarine  and  the  other  colouring  prin- 
ciples associated  with  the  madder  root,  among  the 
derivatives  of  which  nitroalizarin  soon  received  prac- 
tical application  in  the  dyeing  industry.  In  collabora- 
tion with  Noelting,  director  of  the  School  of  Chemistry 
of  Mulhouse,  Rosenstiehl  prepared  Saint  Denis  red, 
an  azo-colour  which  led  the  way  to  the  manufacture  of 
numerous  derivatives  of  the  same  group.  The  chemistry 
of  dyestuffs  and  dyeing  were  not  the  only  subjects- 
which  absorbed  Rosenstiehl's  attention,  for  he  was 
also  interested  in  the  study  of  physics  and  the 
physiology  of  colour.  Later,  Rosenstiehl  was  appointed 
to  the  chair  of  colour  chemistry  at  the  Conservatoire 
des  Arts  et  Metiers.  His  views  on  osmosis,  which 
he  attributed  to  osmotic  pressure,  were  confirmed 
some  years  later  by  Van't  Hoff,  who  pointed  out  the 
analogy  with  gas  pressure.  Among  the  honours 
conferred  upon  him,  the  Academy  of  Sciences  awarded 
him  a  few  years  ago  the  Jecker  prize  for  his  services 
to  colour  chemistry. 

The  prevalent  belief  that  immature  veal  is  far  less 
nutritious  food  than  beef  is  examined  by  W.  N.  Berg 
in  a  recent  paper  in  the  Washington  Journal  of  Agri- 
cultural Research  (vol.  v.,  No.  15).  He  finds  that  no 
chemical  difference  of  physiological  importance  can 
be  detected  between  the  two  kinds  of  meat,  nor  does 
artificial  digestion  work  more  rapidly  on  beef  than  on 
veal,  while  kittens  in  the  diet  of  which  immature  veal 
was  the  only  source  of  nitrogen  grew  normally  into 
healthy  cats,  the  offspring  of  which,  in  their  turn, 
throve  also  on  the  same  food. 

In  a  recent  issue  (February  3,  p.  630)  we  alluded  to 
the  important  part  played  by  the  Benedict  calorimeter 
in  the  investigation  of  metabolism.  A  striking  illus- 
tration of  this  is  afforded  in  a  recent  publication  by 
Prof.  Benedict  ("  The  Physiology  of  the  New-born 
Infant,"  by  F.  G.  Benedict  and  F.  B.  Talbot;  Carnegie 
Institution  of  Washington,  No.  233,  1915).  Normal 
infants  only  have  been  studied  so  far  as  a  preliminary 
to  a  more  extended  pathological  investigation ;  the 
Boston  Lying-in  Hospital  provided  the  material  (100 
babies),  and  a  constant  routine  was  adhered  to  in  all 
cases.  The  data  obtained  show  that  on  the  first  day 
of  life  there  are  important  disturbances  of  the  regula- 
tion of  temperature  which  result  either  in  a  decreased 
metabolism,  or,  when  the  infant  makes  efforts  to  com- 
pensate for  the  loss  of  heat,  there  is  increase  in  the 
metabolism.  After  the  second  day  there  is  a  fair 
uniformity  in  the  heat  production  per  square  metre 
of  body  surface,  and  a  remarkable  uniformity  per 
square  metre  of  body  surface  per  unit  of  length.  This 
constancy  is  such  as  to  permit  the  establishment  of 
a  factor  which  indicates  that  when  the  square  metre 
as  computed  from  the  body  weight  is  divided  by  the 
length,  the  metabolism  per  unit  is  1265  calories.  The 
practical  outcome  of  this  is  the  following  : — From  a 
study  of  the  effect  of  temperature  changes  on  the 
basal  metabolism  and  the  amount  of  available  breast 
secretion  in  the  first  week  of  life,  it  is  possible  to 
indicate  what  procedure  should  be  adopted  for  the 
conservation  of  energy  and  supplemental  feeding. 

In  the  March  number  of  the  Zoologist  Miss  Frances 
Pitt  discusses  the  habits  of  the  yellow-necked  mouse, 
both  in  a  wild  state  and  in  captivity.  One  of  its 
most  striking  characteristics  seems  to  be  its  pug- 
nacity. As  she  remarks,  we  have  yet  much  to  learn 
in  regard  to  the  range  of  this  handsome  mouse  in 
England,  but  it  occurs  so  far  north  as  Northumber- 


April  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


129 


land,  and  is  met  with  also  in  the  Midlands.  Miss 
Pitt  seems  to  be  under  the  impression  that  it  is  found 
only  in  the  south  and  west  of  England. 

In  an  account  of  his  observations  on  the  feeding 
habits  of  the  purple-tipped  sea-urchin  {Echinus  inili- 
aris),  which  he  contributes  to  the  Zoologist  for  March, 
Mr.  H.  N.  Milligan  adds  a  number  of  new  tacts 
which  are  well  worth  recording.  The  diet  of  these 
animals  ranges  from  bits  of  chalk  to  living  fish  and 
moUusca ;  nothing  seems  to  come  amiss  to  them. 
The  cast  shells  of  Crustacea  are  eaten  with  the  same 
avidity  as  the  dead  animal.  When  legs  of  Crustacea 
are  placed  near  them  they  are  partly  eaten,  and  the 
remaining  portions  are  carried  up  by  the  tube  feet 
and  placed  upon  the  back,  to  serve  apparently  as  a 
disguise.  How  they  discover  and  locate  the  position  of 
edible  morsels  is  yet  unknown,  but  Mr.  Milligan,  by 
means  of  an  ingenious  experiment,  has  shown  that 
;  they  soon  detect  the  introduction  of  food  into  the  tank 
I  in  which  they  are  confined,  and,  furthermore,  make 
I  strenuous  efforts  to  seize  it  when  it  is  placed  out  of 
reach. 

I     A   REPORT   on    the   chlorosis  of    the    tobacco    plant, 

I  generally   known    as    "calico,"    is    published    by    Mr. 

I  G.  P.  Ciinton  in  the  Connecticut  Experimental  Station 

j  Report  for  1914.     "Calico"  is  an  infectious  and,  to  a 

I  certain    extent,    a    contagious    disease    which    can    be 

communicated  by  mere  contact  of  calicoed  plants  or 

i  their  juice    with    healthy    plants.      Infected   plants   in 

I  the   seed-bed   are    probably    primarily    responsible    for 

:  most  of  the  calico  in  the  fields.    The  disease  is  remark- 

lable  in  appearing  to  be  due,  not  to  bacterial  or  fungoid 

I  agencies,  but  to  an  enzymic  "virus."     The  virus  can 

ibe   filtered    through    a    Berkefeld    filter,    and    can    be 

j  extracted  from  calicoed  leaves   by  antiseptic  solvents 

;  such    as    ether,    chloroform,    and    alcohol,    and    the 

infected    juice    has    its    activity    preserved    by    adding 

toluene.      A   number    of   precautionary    measures    are 

given  for  dealing  with  the  disease  and  a  useful  biblio- 

jgraphy  of  the  subject. 

Among  the  foreign  guests  of  the  British  Association 
jin  Australia  in  19 14  was  Dr.  C.  H.  Ostenfeld,  of 
ICopenhagen,  who  has  now  published  his  observ^ations 
on  the  vegetation  of  Western  Australia  {Geograp.sk 
Tidskrift.  xxiii.,  1915,  pp.  35-46  and  132-48).  He 
divides  Western  Australia  into  three  climatic  regions, 
ieach  with  a  characteristic  vegetation,  tropical,  central 
and  north-west  and  south-west.  The  last  region  has 
jthe  greatest  rainfall,  and  is  most  important.  It  falls 
into  three  belts,  depending  on  rainfall,  which  are 
named  respectively  the  cattle,  wheat,  and  timber  belts, 
|but  since  one  or  other  species  of  eucalyptus  char- 
jacterises  each,  belt  of  increasing  rainfall  from  the 
interior  to  the  sea.  Dr.  Ostenfeld  proposes  another  and 
jitricter  classification  into  five  belts.  The  Wandoo  belt 
j;£.  redunca),  with  450  to  700  mm.  annual  rainfall ; 
me  Jarrah  belt  {E.  marginata),  700-1000  mm. ;  the 
Tuart  belt  (E.  gomphocephala),  about  900  mm.  ;  the 
[Karri  belt  {E.  diver sicolor),  1000-1200  mm.  ;  and  the 
j  oast  scrub,  with  Agonis  flexuosa  and  Acacia,  on  the 
|;ea  cliffs.  The  Jarrah  belt  is  the  most  important,  not 
merely  on  account  of  its  timber,  but  also  for  its  cattle- 
,armmg  and  fruit-growing.  The  paper  is  well  illus- 
I  rated. 

In  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts  for 
anuary  28,  a  review  of  the  work  of  the  British 
.otton-growmg  Association  since  its  formation  in 
902  is  given  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Hutton,  chairman  of  the 
ouncil  of  the  association.  To  the  activities  of  the 
issociation  the  successful  cultivation  of  cotton  in 
nany  parts  of  the  Empire  is  due,  and  in  particular 
Jganda,  Egypt,  and  the  West  Indies  mav  be  cited, 
n  Uganda  the  first  export  of  cotton  took  place  in 
NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


1904,   when  54  bales  were  shipped,   and  in    19 14  the 
shipment   had   risen   to  40,000   bales.     The   transport 
facilities  afforded  by  the  Uganda  Railway  have  made 
possible  this  successful  cultivation,  and  in  Nyasaland 
the   extension    of    the    Shire    railway    to    Chindio,    an 
enterprise  largely  helped  by  the  association,    will  no 
doubt  bring  beneficial  results  to  the  cotton  industry  in 
the   Protectorate.     The   association    has   made   experi- 
ments in    British  colonies,   both   suitable   and   unsuit- 
I  able,  and  has  many  failures  to  record,  particularly  in 
I  West  .Africa,  where  either  conditions  of  climate  were 
j  unsuitable  or  other  crops  were  preferred  by  the  native 
I  growers.     In  many  colonies  the  association  has  been 
(  instrumental   in   hastening   the   formation  of   agricul- 
tural departments,  with  which  it  is  now  working  in 
close     harmony.     Owing     to     the     existence     of     the 
efficient    Imperial    Department   of   Agriculture   in    the 
I  West  Indies,  the  Cotton-growing  Association  has  been 
\  able   to  render   very   great   help   to   the   West    Indian 
islands,    and   the   cotton    from    that   region    is    highly 
appreciated  by  the  spinners  in  Liverpool. 

A  BLizz.\RD  of  unusual  severity'  swept  over  the  British 
Isles  on  March  27  and  28,  causing  a  large  amount  of 
damage,  both  on  land  and  sea,  with  some  loss  of  life. 
In  London  the  weather  changes  indicated  the  passage 
of  a  double-centred  disturbance,  or  a  parent  storm  and 
its  subsidiary.  The  first  disturbance  reached  its  maxi- 
mum force  late  on  Monday  evening,  March  27,  when 
the  barometer  in  London  fell  below  29  in.  The  gale 
was  from  the  south-west  and  was  accompanied  by 
heavy  rain  and  snow.  The  wind  had  abated  on  Tues- 
da)'  morning,  but  the  barometer  remained  low.  In  the 
afternoon  the  mercury  rose  briskly  and  the  wind 
shifted  to  the  northward,  blowing  a  severe  gale  in  the 
early  evening  of  March  28,  with  heav\%  driving  snow. 
On  the  morning  of  March  29  the  barometer  had  risen 
an  inch  in  the  twenty-four  hours.  The  velocity  of  the 
wind  is  given  as  70  to  80  miles  an  hour  in  parts  of 
England,  and  in  London  early  on  the  evening  of 
March  28  the  rate  was  about  60  miles  an  hour. 

Symons's  Meteorological  Magazine  for  March  gives 
a  rainfall  table  for  February,  19 16,  which  shows  that 
the  month  was  wet  over  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
British  Isles,  Aberdeen  being  the  only  station  among 
those  chosen  for  the  tentative  results  with  a  deficiencv 
of  rain.  The  total  rainfall  during  the  month  is  sai^ 
to  have  been  most  excessive  in  the  south-east  of 
England  generally,  the  fall  being  more  than  double 
the  average  to  the  south  of  a  line  drawn  from  Hull 
to  Cardiff.  The  greatest  excess  of  rain  at  the  given 
stations  occurred  in  Derbyshire,  the  measurement  at 
Mickleover  being  289  per  cent,  of  the  average.  At 
Bury  St.  Edmunds  the  fall  was  273  per  cent.,  at 
Launceston  271  per  cent.,  and  at  Tenterden  258  per 
cent,  of  the  average.  The  London  rainfall  at 
Camden  Square  was  208  per  cent,  of  the  average. 
Generally  over  England  and  Wales  the  fall  was  193 
per  cent,  of  the  average,  in  Scotland  150  per  cent., 
in  Ireland  160  per  cent.,  and  for  the  British  Isles  as 
a  whole  170  per  cent.  The  duration  of  rainfall  in 
London  was  909  hours,  which  is  51-9  hours  above 
the  average  of  the  previous  thirty-five  years,  and  the 
greatest  duration  in  February  since  '  records  com- 
menced in  188 1.  \  map  is  given  showing  the  Thames 
Valley  rainfall,  and  from  this  it  is  seen  how  excessive 
the  rains  were.  In  Hampshire  there  is  a  considerable 
area  with  more  than  6  in.,  and  a  large  portion  of 
the  map  shows  the  rainfall  to  have  exceeded  5  in. 

P.ART  5  of  vol.  iv.  of  the  Science  Reports  of  the 
University  of  Sendai,  Japan,  contains  a  paper  on  the 
daily  variation  of  underground  temperature  bv  Mr. 
S.  Sat6,  which  shows  the  un  trustworthiness  of 
placing   the   recording   thermometer   in   an   iron   pipe 


I30 


NATURE 


[April  6,   1916 


Mr.  Sato  used  both  mercury  and  platinum  resistance 
thermometers  in  his  pipes,  and  compared  their  records 
with  those  of  similar  thermometers  placed  directly  in 
the  ground  at  the  same  heights.  He  finds  that  the 
records  of  the  thermometers  in  the  pipes  differ  both 
in  amplitude  and  in  phase  from  those  of  the  thermo- 
meters in  the  ground,  and  that  the  difference  is  due 
to  the  heat  conductivity  of  the  material  of  the  pipe 
and  to  the  convection  currents  in  the  air  in  the  pipe. 
It  persists  when  a  poor  heat  conductor  is  substituted 
for  iron  and  when  the  depth  of  the  pipe  is  increased. 
As  a  result,  almost  all  the  values  of  the  thermometric 
conductivity  of  soils  deduced  from  observations  of 
temperatures  in  pipes  are  too  high. 

Since  the  outbrealv  of  the  war  it  has  been  impossible 
to  obtain  the  magnetite  anodes  which  have  played  so 
important  a  part  in  electro-chemical  industry,  as  all 
these  were  made  in  Germany.  A  note  is  contained 
in  the  Chemical  Trade  Journal  of  March  4  on  the 
introduction  of  a  substitute  for  these  in  the  form  of 
"duriron"  anodes,  made  of  an  iron  silicon  alloy. 
Whilst  this  material  is  not  entirely  unacted  on  when 
used  as  an  anode  in  copper  sulphate  solution,  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  times  its  weight  of  copper  can  be 
deposited  before  it  is  entirely  corroded  away.  Duriron 
anodes  have  a  higher  mechanical  strength  than  mag- 
netite, but  require  about  13  per  cent,  more  electrical 
energy  to  deposit  the  same  quantity  of  copper.  The 
extra  power  goes  into  heat,  and  special  precautions 
have  to  be  taken  to  avoid  too  high  a  rise  in  tempera- 
ture. 

A  BOLD  article  by  Mr.  C.  A.  Jacobson  on  the  need 
for  a  large  Government  institution  for  chemical  re- 
search, which  appeared  in  the  Journal  of  Industrial 
and  Engineering  Chemistry,  is  reprinted  in  the 
Chemical  News  (vol.  xliii,  p.  loi).  The  scheme  out- 
lined involves  the  creation  of  an  institute  of  chemical 
research  on  a  colossal  scale,  consisting  of  fifty  major 
departments  and  pne  hundred  minor  departments,  com- 
prising about  fifty  buildings,  a  staff  of  1350  trained 
workers,  and  an  expenditure  of  more  than  a  million 
pounds  sterling  per  annum.  A  few  years  back  such  an 
idea  would  have  sounded  utterly  Utopian  and  impos- 
sible, but,  in  face  of  a  war  expenditure  In  this  country 
alone  every  day  of  five  times  the  amount  called  for 
each  year  b}'  such  a  scheme,  the  outlay  seems  small 
If  thereby  supremacy  w^ere  ensured  "in  a  branch  of 
science  which  Is  not  only  vital  to  constructive  agencies, 
but  even  more  so  to  destructive  ones.  The  present 
European  war  teaches  us  that  men  and  military  train- 
ing are  of  far  less  importance  to  success  than  a  high 
development  of  the  science  of  chemistry." 

A  RECENT  issue  of  The  Engineer  (March  24)  con- 
tains an  account  of  the  Medlow  Dam,  situated  In  a 
sandstone  gorge  on  Adams  Creek  in  the  Blue  Moun- 
tains of  New  South  Wales.  The  dam  is  remarkable 
for  Its  slender  profile,  having  a  base  width  of  only 
896  ft.,  tapering  to  35  feet  at  a  height  of  29  ft.,  from 
which  level  the  thickness  remains  unaltered  to  the 
coping  at  a  height  of  65  ft.  The  wall  is  of  plain 
concrete,  without  reinforcement.  Our  contemporary 
compares  It  with  the  old  Bear  Valley  Dam  In  Cali- 
fornia, which,  with  practically  the  same  height,  had 
a  base  width  of  20  ft.,  and  was  generally  much  more 
substantial  in  design.  The  Medlow  Dam  is  built  to 
a  curve  of  60  ft.  radius,  and  cost  2762Z.  The  catch- 
ment area  is  1150  acres,  with  an  average  rainfall  of 
39  In.  The  dam  holds  up  a  lake  having  a  surface 
of  12  acres  and  containing  67  million  gallons  of  water. 
By  means  of  an  Inclined  and  adjustable  off-let  pipe 
the  water  Is  drawn  off  from  the  clearest  stratum  at  the 
top. 

The  National  Physical  Laboratorj'  has  issued  some 
notes  on  the  production  and  testing  of  screw  gauges, 

NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


written  by  members  of  the  staff  of  the  laborator) 
and  based  on  their  experience.  The  Whitwortl 
thread  has  seven  elements,  error  on  any  one  of  whic 
may  be  sufficient  to  cause  a  gauge  to  reject  wor! 
which  ought  to  pass,  or  vice  versd.  These  element 
I  are  :  Full  diameter,  core  diameter,  effective  diametei 
,  pitch,  angle,  form  at  crest,  form  at  root.  Of  these 
the  most  important,  and  the  most  difficult  to  con 
trol,  are  the  pitch  and  effective  diameter.  The  labor.? 
tory  is  issuing  specially  selected  needles  for  use  wit! 
the  micrometer  in  testing  the  effective  diameters  0 
screws  of  12,  14,  24,  and  36  threads  per  inch.  Th 
methods  of  using  these,  together  with  special  arrange 
ments  for  holding  the  micrometer  in  the  lathe,  ar 
described  In  the  pamphlet.  Triangular  needles  ar 
used  for  testing  the  core  diameter.  There  is  als 
described  an  Ingenious  and  cheap  apparatus  for  testln; 
the  angle  of  the  thread ;  this  apparatus  can  be  pvi 
together  very  easily  In  any  workshop.  The  best  wa 
of  obtaining  correct  pitches  Is  to  cut  a  screw  in  th 
lathe,  using  that  part  of  the  leading  screw  which  I 
to  be  used  In  cutting  the  gauges,  and  to  have  it 
pitch  measured  from  thread  to  thread  at  the  labors 
tory.  The  pamphlet  contains  a  great  deal  of  usefu 
information,  and  should  be  read  by  everyone  Inter 
ested  in   accurate   screw   cutting. 

Prof.  Karl  Pearson,  Galton  Laboratory,  Univer 
sity  College,  London,  W.C.,  informs  us  that  he  ha 
lately  completed  the  corrigenda  for  his  "Tables  fo 
Statisticians  and  Biometriclans,"  published  by  th 
Cambridge  University  Press,  and  that  the  list  is  no\ 
bound  with  all  exemplars  of  the  tables.  He  wishe 
it  to  be  known  that  previous  purchasers  of  the  worl 
can  obtain  a  copy  of  the  corrigenda  by  sending  : 
request  for  the  same  w  ith  a  stamped  envelope  to  Mr 
C.  F.  Clay,  Cambridge  Press  Warhouse,  Fetter  Lane 
or  to  the  secretary,  Galton  Laboratory,  Universit; 
College,   London,  W^.C. 

The  following  additional  volumes  have  beei 
arranged  for,  for  inclusion  in  the  "  Fauna  of  Britlsl 
India  "  series  (Taylor  and  Francis)  : — Lycaenidae  an( 
Hesperiidae,  H.  H.  Druce;  the  Curculionidae 
G.  A.  K.  Marshall ;  the  Longicorn  Beetles,  C.  J 
Gahan ;  the  Ixodidae  and  Argasidae,  C.  Warburton 
Leeches,  W.  A.  Harding;  the  Brachyurous  Crustacea 
Lieut.-Col.  A.  Alcock;  the  Apterygota,  Termitidae 
and  Embiidae,  A.  D.  Imms;  the  Diptera  Brachycera 
E.  Brunetti ;  the  Rntelidae,  G.  J.  Arrow;  and  th( 
Operculata,  by  G.   K.   Gude. 

Mr.  Francis  Edwards,  83  High  Street,  Marylebone 
London,  W.,  has  issued  a  catalogue  of  Oriental  book; 
he  is  offering  for  sale.  The  works  deal  with  the  follow 
Ing  among  other  countries  of  the  Far. East: — China 
Japan,   India,  Burma,  Tibet,  and  Persia. 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Comet  1916a  (Xeujmin). — Copenhagen  Postcan 
No.  12  glves^^an  elliptic  orbit  for  this  comet,  calcu 
lated  by  M.  J.  Braae,  from  observations  covering  nine 
days  :— 

Epoch,   1916,  January  0-5,  G.M.T.     Mo  348°  50'  21 
a>    =193=16'    2-o"]  (p      =36°  44'  33-2' 

Q,  =327    20     4-0   -1916-0         fx      =57 1  "493 
/   =   II      5  34-3  J  Log  0  =  0528664 

Period,  2267-74  days  (6-21  years). 

Perihelion  passage,  1916,  March  10805  G.M.T. 

The  ephemeris  calculated  by  Messrs.  J.  Braae  am 
J.  FIscher-Petersen  from  these  elements  is  given  ir 
the  following  summary  : — 

From  April  6,    Greenivich  midnight. 

R.A.,    gh.    36m.    7s.,    add    for   April   8,    -|-3m.    31s 


April  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


131 


he   successive  intervals  of  two  days   the   second 
nces  are:    +7,  4,  7,  4,  6,  and  3  seconds, 
i '.  clination,     —3     12-3,    add    for    April    8,     —411'. 
:       ssive    second    differences:     +1-2',    12',    1-4',    1-3', 
and   1-5'. 

comet    will    pass    near    the    'bright"    nebula, 

(i.e.     2974,     on     April    7,     and    N.G.C.     3115     on 

■i    20.      At   the    Hill    Observatory   on   April   3    the 

was      seen      near     the      calculated      position. 

the   lo-in.   refractor,   it  showed  a  faint,  diffuse, 

.what   oval,    coma,    with   a    condensation   north — 

..r.ding. 

"M>L.\R  Variation. — The  annual  report  of  the  Smith- 

inian   Astrophysical    Observatory    for   the   year    1915 

Dntains    some    interesting    statements   regarding    the 

iriation      of      solar      radiation.     The     Smithsonian 

leasures  of  the  solar  constant  have  brought  to  light 

long-period   variation   synchronising    with    sun-spot 

•     "tv,  and  also  rapid  irregular   fluctuations.      Both 

of  variability  are  correlated  with  a  variation  of 

ontrast  between  the  centre  and  limb  of  the  sun's 

but  in  opposite  directions.     In  the  first'  type  of 

.....tion    high    solar    constant    values    and    increased 

imtrast  are   associated  with   increased   spot    activity; 

'    the  second  case  the  higher   solar  constant   values 

5sociated  with  diminished  contrast.     Correspond- 

.    two   distinct    causes    are    suggested  :    the  long- 

|:riod  variation  may  result  from  changes  oT  the  sun's 

jfective    temperature,    whilst    changes    in    the    trans- 

xrency  of  the  outer  solar  envelopes  may  account  for 

le  rapid  fluctuations. 

The  Translational  Motion  of  Binary  Stars. — M. 

.  Luplau-Janssen  has  investigated  the  distribution  of 

rojier-motion  vectors,  freed  from  the  effect  of  the 

movement,  of  a  number   of  double   stars,   with 

ference  to  their  orbital  planes  {Astronomische  Nach- 

^hten.  No.  4828).     After  rejecting  five  pairs  of  small 

'  lation    (i<3o°),    data    for    twenty-nine    well-estab- 

i  orbits  remain.     The  proper  motions  were  taken 

Boss,  and  reduced  uniformly  to  their  equivalents 

distance  of  i  parsec.     At  this  distance  the  adopted 

motion  is  represented  by  an  angular  displacement 

:  i"  per  year.     The  resultant  proper  motions  and 

'de-lines  lie  in  a  common  plane.     It  is  found  that 

icluded  angle  shows  no  tendency  to  take  a  value 

90°,  as  it  would  if  the  proper  motion  showed 

general  parallelism  to  the  normals  to  the  orbits. 

er,  on  resolving  the  proper  motions  along  rect- 

iar  axes,  one  coincident  with  the  line  of  nodes, 

-ums  of  the  components  are  found  to  be  equal; 

there   is    no   tendency    apparent    for    the    proper 

ns  to  be  parallel  to  the  plane  of  the  orbits.     A 

e  distribution  is  indicated. 

•    investigation  depends  on   the   assumption   that 

eal  parallaxes  are  on  the  average  equal  to  twice 

ypothetical    minima ;    measured    parallaxes    have 

■en  used.     M.  Luplau-Janssen  is  convinced  of  the 

mtial  accuracy  of  the  fundamental  assumption  by 

esult   obtained  in   a   determination    of   the   solar 

n  from  the  proper  motions  of  180  double  stars  by 

nethod  of  Bravais.     The  deduced  solar  velocity  is 

1  as  171  km. /sec.     This  value  is  in  good  accord 

that  generally  acceoted,  and  also  with  the  value 

km. /sec.)    obtained    by    Weersma   by   the    same 

'1  but  from  quite  different  data. 


LATION  AND  INDUSTRY  IN  FRANCE. 

extremely  interesting  account  of  the  rise  and 
growth  of  industrial  education  in  France  appears 
y  Revue  Generate  des  Sciences.  March  !■{,  contri- 
'  by  Prof.  M.  E.  Bertrand,  of  the  Ecole  d'Arts-et- 

rs    d 'Angers.      Whilst    full    of    confidence    in    a 

NO.    2423,    VOL.    97I 


military  triumph,  he  is  deeply  concerned  with  the 
position  of  French  industry-,  especially  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  adequate  scientific  and  technical  training 
of  all  who  are  engaged  in  it,  whether  apprentices  and 
workmen  or  foremen  and  directors,  and  urges  that  it 
is  the  imperative  duty  of  the  nation  to  ensure  also  a 
victory  in  the  economic  sphere.  Much  space  is  given 
to  the  measures  taken  from  the  earliest  times  for  the 
satisfactory  training  of  those  engaged  in  industr}-,  and 
the  rise  and  progress  of  the  craft  guilds  down  to  their 
decay  on  the  birth  of  the  factory  system  is  interestingly 
portrayed.  The  advent  of  the  Third  Republic  resulted 
in  active  measures  for  the  establishment  and  support 
of  different  types  of  schools  designed  to  secure  the 
effective  training  of  those  destined  for  industry  and 
commerce,  and  many  excellent  mono-technic  schools 
were  established,  the  fine  work  of  which  made  a 
magnificent  display  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  of 
1900.  Yet  with  all  the  variety  of  effort  made  for  the 
due  training  of  French  youth,  it  would  appear  that 
out  of  600,000  young  people  employed  in  industry  and 
commerce  from  thirteen  to  eighteen  years  of  age,  onlv 
30,000  frequent  technical  schools ;  whilst  65,000  beyond 
that  age  give  a  more  or  less  assiduous  attendance  at 
evening  adult  courses,  as  compared  with  500,000  under 
the  same  conditions  in  Germany ;  and  where  France 
spends  seven  million  francs  on  this  form  of  technical 
education,  Germany  spends  thirty  millions  from  Im- 
perial sources  alone.  The  grave  moral  danger  attend- 
ing this  neglect  of  training  is  emphasised  by  the  fact 
that  there  are  1,600,000  unemployed  young  people  in 
France  wandering  about  the  public  places  exposed  to 
serious  temptations.  Even  though  Germany  is  en- 
gaged in  a  devastating  w^ar,  she  is  still  thinking  of 
the  future,  and  is  even  now  taking  energetic  measures 
to  conserve  her  industries  so  as  to  secure  and  advance 
her  economic  interests  on  its  conclusion.  The  article 
calls  upon  France  to  be  up  and  doing,  since  delay  is 
dangerous,  and  the  economic  industrial  position  of  the 
natidn  is  put  in  grave  peril.  A  hig^hly  appreciative 
account  is  given  of  the  educational  provision  made 
throughout  Germany  for  the  due  training  of  all  ranks 
ensragetl  in  productive  industry,  and  much  emphasis 
is  laid  upon  the  great  value  of  the  continuation  schools, 
"'hich  ensure  compulsorily  the  attendance,  within  the 
usual  hours  of  employment,  until  eighteen  vears  of 
age  of  all  those  who  have  left  the  day  schools.  The 
article  contains  much  of  the  highest  interest  to  Eng- 
lish readers  in  the  present  crisis,  since  the  conditions 
and  the  aims  to  be  accomplished  are  much  the  same 
in  the  two  allied  nations. 


THE  CORROSION  OF  CONDENSER  TUBES. 
'y  HE  annual  meeting  of  the  Institute  of  Metals  was 
-»•  held  on  March  29,  when  the  society  took  leave 
of  its  retiring  president.  Sir  Henry  Oram,  and  listened 
to  the  address  of  his  successor.  Dr.  G.  T.  Beilby. 
The  latter  reviewed  briefly  the  unsatisfactory  position 
of  certain  non-ferrous  metal  industries  in  this  country, 
and  then  indulged  in  some  interesting  speculations  as 
to  the  possibility  of  preparing  lighter  alloys,  especially 
for  aircraft,  than  have  hitherto  been  produced.  This 
address  has  not  as  yet  been  printed.  When  it  has 
been  published  it  will  be  found  to  repav  very  careful 
stud}'. 

The  Advisory  Council  to  the  Committee  of  the  Privy 
Council  for  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  has 
made  a  substantial  grant  to  the  institute  for  the  pur- 
pose of  aiding  its  Corrosion  Committee  in  their  inves- 
tigation of  the  corrosion  of  condenser  tubes.  The 
publication  of  the  third  report  to  this  committee  by 
three  investigators,    Messrs.    Gibbs,   Smith,   and  Ben- 


132 


NATURE 


[April  6,  191 6 


gough,  was  therefore  very  timely,  and  the  discussion 
of  this  paper  occupied  the  greater  part  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  meeting.  It  was  followed  by  a  paper  by 
Mr.  Elliott  Cumberland,  who  gave  a  demonstration 
of  his  method  of  minimising  the  corrosion  of  condenser 
tubes,  which  created  considerable  interest. 

The  ground  covered  in  the  report  to  the  Corrosion 
Committee  is  very  extensive,  and  it  is  only  possible 
within  the  limits  of  this  article  to  give  a  brief  sum- 
mary of  its  most  salient  features.  Five  alloys  have 
been  subjected  to  corrosion  tests  under  a  great  variety 
of  conditions.  Of  these  one  was  ordinary  condenser 
tube  metal  (70 :  30  brass),  another  was  Admiralty 
brass,  containing  i  per  cent,  of  tin,  and  another  a 
special  lead  brass  (2  per  cent,  of  lead).  The  fourth 
was  a  bronze,  containing  35  per  cent,  of  tin  and  a 
trace  of  phosphorus,  and  the  fifth  a  copper-aluminium 
alloy  containing  8  per  cent,  of  aluminium.  These 
have  been  tested  in  (a)  stagnant  sea-water  over  the 
temperature  range  i5°-6o°  C.  ;  (b)  in  diluted  sea- 
water  of  various  degrees  of  dilution  and  with  both 
gentle  and  violent  aeration.  The  influence  of  their 
surface  condition  has  been  carefully  examined,  the 
effect  of  air  bubbles  adhering  to  the  metal,  and  that 
of  the  E.M.F.  due  to  unequal  temperature  distribution. 
Two  main  types  of  corrosion  have  to  be  considered  : — 
(a)  Complete,  in  which  all  the  constituents  of  the 
alloy  dissolve  simultaneously  at  approximately  the 
same  rate  and  uniformly  over  its  surface ;  (b)  selective, 
In  which  one  constituent  dissolves  preferentially.  In 
brass  alloys  it  is  usually  zinc,  and  the  process  is  called 
dezincification.  This  type  of  corrosion,  however,  niay 
conveniently  be  subdivided  into  ''general,"  which 
occurs  over  the  whole  surface  uniformly,  and  ''local- 
ised," which  occurs  in  spots.  Selective  localised  corro- 
sion is  the  type  which  is  responsible  for  the  chief 
failures  in  practice,  giving  rise  as  it  does  to  "pitting," 
which  is  the  most  frequent  cause  of  failure. 

The  authors  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is 
the  formation  of  oxy-salts  and  their  adherence  to  the 
surface  of  the  alloy  which  is  the  prime  cause  of  pitting, 
and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  bronze  came  worst 
out  of  the  majority  of  the  tests,  when  the  results  were 
•expressed  in  the  form  of  loss  of  weight  per  unit  of 
area,  they  have  concluded  that  it  would  be  the  most 
likely  to  give  the  best  results  in  practice,  because  its 
•corrosion  is  of  the  "  complete "  type,  and  no  oxy-salt 
is  formed  until  a  temperature  of  60°  C.  is  exceeded. 
T^o  one  alloy  was  found  to  be  satisfactory  under  all 
•conditions,  but  much  the  most  resistant  alloy  under 
the  majority  of  conditions  was  that  composed  of  copper 
and  aluminium. 

The  authors'  recommendations  as  to  the  minimising 
of  corrosion  in  condenser  tubes  are  : — (i)  The  tem- 
perature of  the  water  should  be  kept  as  low  as  pos- 
sible; (2)  its  flow  should  be  made  smooth,  foaming 
and  churning  being  avoided ;  (3)  oxy-salts  should  be 
removed  as  soon  as  possible  after  formation. 

H.  C.  H.  Carpenter. 


CIVIL  SERVICE  ESTIMATES  FOR  SCIENi  ^ 
AND  EDUCATION. 

THE  Estimates  for  Civil  Services  for  the  year  end- 
ing March  31,  1917,  are  being  issued  as  Parlia- 
mentary Papers.  Under  Class  IV.  are  included  the 
estimates  of  expenditure  on  Education,  Science,  and 
Art ;  and  we  record  below  the  main  points  of  these 
estimates,  with  details  of  those  relating  to  scientific 
investigation   and  higher  education. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  grant  in  aid  of  scientific 
and  industrial  research  has  been  increased  from 
25,000/.  to  4o,oooL 

NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


United   Kingdom  and   England. 

BOARD   OF   EDUCATION. 

1916-17 

203,667 

222,578 


Administration  

Inspection    and   examination 

Public  elementary  schools 
etc.     ...         ...         ...         ■•• 

Training  of   teachers 

Secondary  schools  and  pupil 
teachers  and  bursars,  etc. 

Technical    schools,    etc. 

Scholarships,         exhibitions, 
and  other   allowances   to 
students,    prizes,   etc. 

University  institutions  in 
respect  of  technological 
work... 

Assistance  in  choice  of  em- 
ployment 

Imperial  College  of  Science 
and   Technology 

Chelsea   Physic  Garden 

Royal    College  of  Art 

Victoria  and  Albert  Museum 

Science    Museum 

Geological  Museum  ... 

Geological  Survey  of  Great 
Britain 

Bethnal  Green  Museum     ... 


[2,640,528 
408,282 

919,800 
576,000 


19,110 


60,600 

4,000 

30,000 
150 

8,494 
63.375 
13.943 

3,212 

14,718 
2.735 


1915-16 
209,551 

252, 45« 

12,696,815 
577,000 

863,050 
638,000 


30,160 

59,000 

4.500 

30,000 

150 

10,300 

7o,4.=;9 
18,892 

3.805 

16,820 
5'433 


Deduct — 
-Appropriations  in  aid 

3.860 

5.015 

Net  total     ... 

■■£ 

15. 

186,732 

;^i5,48i,378 

BRITISH 

British    Museum^    ... 
Natural  History  Museum 

MUSEUM. 

93.263 
43.631 

110,102 
51-943 

Gross  total  ... 
Deduct— 
-Appropriations   in   aid 

136,894 
8,295 

162,045 
13,400 

Net  total     ... 

£ 

128,599 

;^i48,645 

SCIENTIFIC  INVESTIGATION,   ETC. 

Royal  Society  : 

(i)  (a)  Scientific  investiga- 
tions undertaken  with 
the  sanction  of  a  com- 
mittee appointed  for  the 
purpose  (4,oooi.),  and 
(&)  scientific  publications 
(i,oooZ.) 

(ii)  Magnetic  Observatory 
at  Eskdalemuir  ... 

(iii)  National  Physical 
Laboratory 

(iv)  Aeronautical  Section  of 
of  the  National  Physical 
Laboratory  


5,000 


1,000 


7,000 


10,400 


5,000 
1,000 
7,000 

9.425 


Total  for  Royal  Society        ;^23,4oo 


;^22,425 


Meteorological  Office 
Royal  Geographical  Society^ 
Royal  Academy  of  Music  ... 
Roj'al  College  of  Music  ... 
Marine  Biological  Associa- 
tion of  the  United  Kingdom 

1  The  British  Museum  (Bloomsbury)  (except  the  Reading  Room,  etc.)^^ 
part  of  the  Natural  History  Museum,  South  Kensington,  are  closed  during 
the  war. 

2  A  condition  of  the  Grant  is  that  the  Society  exhibits  to  the  public,  free 
of  charge,  its  collection  of  maps. 


500 


22,500 

1,250 

500 

500 

500 


April  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


J  33 


ioyal  Society  of  Edinburgh 
Scottish    Meteorological    So- 
ciety   

ioyal  Irish  Academy 
xoval      Irish     Academy     of 
'usic 

x\  Zoological  Society  of 

land 

al  Hibernian  Academy... 

iriiish  School  at  Athens  ... 

British  School  at  Rome     ... 

il  Scottish  Geographical 

ciety  

onal  Library  of  Wales 
special  Building  Grant 


Uational  Museum  of  Wales.. 
Special  Building  Grant  . 


lolar  Physics  Observatory  ... 
British   Academy 
•Jchool  of  Oriental  Studies  ... 
Sorth  Sea  Fisheries  investi- 
gation ...         

mperial  Transantarctic  Ex- 
pedition, 1914-15  ... 
Edinburgh   Observatory- 
Scientific  and  Industrial  Re- 
I      search : 
'^Tfants  to  be  distributed  to 
nstitutipns     or     persons 
in  the  United  Kingdom 
by  a  Committee  of  the 
Priv\-  Council,  with  the 
assistance    of    an    Advi- 
sory    Council,     to     pro- 
mote the  development  of 
■scientific  research,  espe- 
cially  in    its   application 
to    trade    and    industry, 
and    administrative    ex- 
penditure  in   connection 
therewith  


Total 


916-17 

600 

19 I 5- 16 

600 

100 
1,600 

100 
1,600 

300 

300 

500 
300 
500 
500 

500 
300 
500 
500 

3,200 

3.200 
5.000 

3.200 

8,200 

2,500 
14,800 

2,500 
14,800 

17.300 

17.300 

3,000 

3.000 
1,250 

1,671 


40,000 


3,000 
400 

1,500 
1,250 

5,000 
1.657 


25,000 


£\2\,erj\  ;^ii5.582 


UNIVERSITIES    .AND    COLLEGES. 

Universities  and  Colleges,   Great  Britain. 


i.Jniversity  of   London 

i'ictoria  University  of  Man- 
chester          

Jniversit>'    of    Birmingham 

Jniversity  of  Wales 

iJniversity  of  Liverpool 

:.eeds   Universitv 

iheffield  University 

?ristol  Universitv' 

Durham  University 

jcottish    universities,    grant 

j  in  aid  under  section  25  of 

the       Universities      (Scot- 

•  d).  Act,    1889,^  ;^42,000 

Additional   grant   in   aid 

;^42,000 


8,000 

2,000 
2,000 
4,000 
2,000 
2,000 
2,000 
2,000 
2,000 


8,000 

2,000 
2,000 
4,000 
2,000 
2,000 
2,000 
2,000 

2,OCO 


84,000 


84,000 


I  In  addition  to  an  annual  sum  of  ;^3o,ooo  payable  to  these  Universities 
jom  the  Local  Taxation  (Scotland)  Account  under  section  2  (i)  of  the 
-ducation  and  Local  Taxation  Account  (Scotland)  Act,  .892. 


NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


Grants  in  aid  of  certain 
colleges  in  Great  Britain 
giving  education  of  a 
university  standard  in  arts 
and  sciences  

University  colleges  of  North 
Wales,  South  Wales  and 
Monmouth  shire,  and 
Aberystwyth  (;^4,ooo  to 
each)  

Additional  grant  in  aid  of 
the  expenses  of  the  Uni- 
versity- of  Wales  and  of 
the  University  colleges  of 
North  Wales,  South 
Wales  and  Monmouth-  . 
shire,  and  Aberyswjrth 
(2,5ooi.,  5,125?.,  7,750?., 
and  5,125/.  respectively)  ... 


1016-17 


150,000 


12,000 


1913-16 


150,000 


12,000 


20,500 


15,000 


Total    for   universities 

and  colleges        ...      ;/J'292,5oo 


;^287,ooo 


Intermediate  Education,   Wales. 
Examination  and  inspection  1,200  1,200 

Schools  27,500  28,oco 


Total  (Wales). 
Grand   total    . 


;^28,700  ;£"29,200 


^732 1,200  ;/r3 16,200 


Administration 
Inspection 

Elementary  schools 

Continuation      classes      and 

secondary  schools  ... 
Royal      Scottish       Museum, 

Edinburgh 

Training  of  Teachers 
Examination  of  accounts   ... 


Scotland. 

PUBLIC   EDUCATION. 

28,969 


43.123 
2,073,489 

241,000 

10,610 

145,986 

1.565 


28,935 

44.290 

2,081,435 

247,500 
12,832 

i93.38<» 
1,524 


Total 


;^2,544,742       ^^2 ,609 ,905 


Ireland. 

PUBLIC    EDUCATION 

Administration 

Inspection 

Training  colleges 

Model  schools 

National    Schools 

Manual  and  practical  instruc- 
tion     

Teachers'  residences 

Superannuation,  etc.,  of 
teachers  (grants  in  aid)  ... 


30,004 

48.901 

64,866 

3.861 

29,526 
49.932 
65,12a 

3.861 

J. 587,250 

1,582,000- 

12,238 
6,800 

12,580. 
6,800- 

59.484 


56,800- 


Gross  total 
Deduct — 
.appropriations   in   aid 

Net  total 


...  ^1.813.404 


;£r  1, 806,619. 

700- 


;^x,8i2,704       £71,805,9x9. 


INTERMEDIATE  EDUCATION. 

Towards  salaries  of  teachers, 
including  cost  of  adminis- 
tration ...         ...         ...  40,000 

Endowed  Schools  Commis- 
sioners ...         ...         ...  905 


40,ooc^ 
C3o«> 


134 


NATURE 


[x\pRiL  6,   19 1 6 


1916-17 
SCIENCE    AND    ART. 

Institutions    of    science    and 

art     

Schools   of   science  and   art, 

etc. 

Geological  Survey 

Examinations   in   courses   of 

instruction     conducted     in 

technical  schools 


49.224 

99.350 
1.749 


750 


1915-16 


50,136 

94.950 
2,171 


850 


Gross  total      

£ 

151.073 

;^i48,io7 

Deduct— 

Appropriations   in    aid 

1,620 

1,820 

Net  total          

£ 

149.453 

;^I46,287 

UNIVERSITIES    AND 

COLLEGES, 

• 

Grants — 

Queen's   University    of    Bel- 

fast     

18,000 

18,000 

University  College,  Dublin... 

32,000 

32 ,000 

University  College,  Cork  ... 

20,000 

20,000 

University   Colletje,    Gahvav 

12,000 

12,000 

Grants — 

National    University    of  Ire- 

land  and    University    Col- 

lege,   Dublin          

30,000 

40,000 

Additional  grant  to   Univer- 

sity  College,    Gahvav 

2,000 

2,000 

Total 


;£5"lI4,000  ;^I24,000 


Summary, 
education,  science, 
United  Kingdom  and 

Board  of  Education 15, 

British    Museum       

National   Galler}' 

National  Portrait  Gallery  ... 

Wallace  Collection    ... 

London    Museum      

Scientific   investigation,    etc. 

Universities  and  colleges, 
Great  Britain,  and  inter- 
mediate education,    Wales 

Universities, 
ijrants 


etc.,      special 


and  art. 

England. 

186,732 

128,599 

1 1 ,489 

3.485 

4.591 

2.570 

121,671 


321,200 


Scotland. 


Public    education 
National    galleries 


Ireland 

Public    education 

Intermediate  education  (Ire- 
land)   

Endowed  Schools  Commis- 
sioners 

National    Gallery 

Science  .ind  art 

Universities  and  colleges 


.544.742 
4.522 

,812,704 
40,000 


15,481,378 

148,645 

15.670 

4.993 
7,962 

5.465 
115.582 


316,200 
145,000 

2,609,905 
4,878 

1,805,919 
40,000 


Q05 

1.845 

149.453 

2 
146 

900 
165 
287 

114,000 

124 

000 

Total 


...^20,448,508     ;^2o,974,949 


UNIVERSITY    AND    EDUCATIONAL 

INTELLIGENCE. 

A  PRIZE  fellowship  of  about   looZ.   is  offered  by  the 

Federation    of    University    Women    for    research    of 

direct  national  value  In  the  present  crisis.     Candidates 

must  have  published  original  work.     .Applications  will 

NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


be  received  during  the  present  month.  Full  particu- 
lars will  be  furnished,  on  request,  by  the  honorary' 
secretary  of  the  federation,  28  College  Court,  Ham- 
mersmith. 

The  President  of  the  Board  of  Education  will 
address  a  meeting  to  be  held  at  Caxton  Hall,  \\'est- 
minster,  at  6.30  on  Friday,  April  14,  on  the  future 
development  of  education  in  relation  to  science  and 
commerce.  Applications  for  tickets  should  be  ad- 
dressed to  the  secretary,  Teachers'  Registration 
Council,   47   Bedford  Square,  W.C. 

At  the  invitation  of  the  Hon.  Rupert  Guinness 
there  was  an  inspection  of  the  new  chemical  labora- 
tories of  University  College,  London,  on  Friday  i  - 
The  building  is  complete  except  in  a  few  minor  Jt-:  - 
but  much  remains  to  be  done  before  it  can  b( 
used  for  llie  purposes  for  which  it  has  been  desi^ 
To  fit  up  the  ""  William  Ramsay  Librarj',"  provid' 
electric  current  throughout  the  building,  and  equi| 
the  important  department  of  physical  chemistry,  the 
sum  of  i4,oooL  is  needed  at  once;  and  a  further 
amount  of  at  least  6oooi.  will  be  required  for  the  de- 
velopment of  research  work,  making  20,oooZ.  in  all. 
Of  this  amount.  Sir  Ralph  C.  Foster,  Bart.,  the 
generous  benefactor  who  had  previously  given  34,500?. 
towards  the  cost  of  the  laboratories,  has  alleady 
contributed  5000Z.,  and  Dr.  R.  Messel  has  given  500!. 
for  the  installation  and  equipment  of  the  joint  work- 
shop for  the  departments  of  chemistry  and  physics. 
The  provision  of  such  a  workshop  as  common  ground 
for  two  branches  of  science,  each  of  which  formerly 
kept  within  its  own  compartment,  is  a  sign  of  the 
times.  Many  of  the  most  important  advances  made 
in  chemical  science  of  late  years  belong  to  physical 
chemistry^  and  the  future  rests  largely  with  workers -in 
this  joint  domain.  When  the  laboratories  at  Univer- 
sity College  are  properly  equipped,  the  best  possible 
provision  will  have  been  made  for  satisfactory  instruc- 
tion in  all  branches  of  chemistr}'.  There  will  be  a 
technical  laboratory  in  which  chemical  processes  can 
be  tested  on  a  large  scale,  with  a  view  to  their  utilisa- 
tion for  manufacturing  purposes,  and  several  separate 
rooms  are  provided  for  general  chemical  research.  The 
sum  required  to  equip  all  the  new  laboratories  as  they 
ought  to  be  equipped  is  small  in  comparison  with  the 
national  gain  which  it  will  ensure.  We  trust  that  a 
few  generous  benefactors  will  see  that  it  is  speedily 
forthcoming.  Donations  should  be  sent  to  the  Hon. 
Rupert  Guinness,  treasurer  of  the  equipment  and 
endowment  fund.   University  College,  W.C. 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Royal  Society,  March  30.^ — Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  presi- 
dent,   in    the    chair.— Prof.    W.    J.    Sollas  :    Skull    of 
Ichthyosaurus,  studied  in  serial  sections.    The  anatomy 
of  the  palate,  including  the  form  and  disposition  of  the 
vomer,  is  described ;  there  is  no  transverse  bone.     The 
parietal  is  split  into  two  wings,  an  inner,  which  con- 
tributes   to    the    roof    of    the    cranial    cavity,    and   an 
outer,    which    unites    \yith    the    post-frontal    and    pre- 
frontal to  form  a  part  of  the  orbital  arch.     This  feature 
and  the  separate  opisthotic  recall  the  Chelonia.     The 
columella    cranii    is    an    important    bone    which    rises 
from  the  surface  of  the  pterygoid  to  meet  the  descend- 
ing limb  of  the  parietal.     A  rather  large  pre-ariiculai 
or  goniale   is   present   in   the   lower  jaw.       The  hyo- 
branchial  apparatus  proves  more  complicated  than  had 
'  been  supposed,  and  is  more  akin  to  the  Amphibia  than 
,  the   Reptiles.     The  relations  of  the  bones  in   general 
!  are  also  more  complicated.     The  prevalent  squamous 


April  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


^35 


;  <-s  are  remarkable  for  their  excessive  overlap,  an 

live   character   met    with    also     in     the    Cetacea. 

vosaurus,  though  a  true  reptile,  possesses  many 

icters  in   common   with   the   stegocephalous  Am- 

i,  so  that  a  close  comparison  of  the  roof  of  the 

and  the  palate  may  be  made  with  Loxomma, 

v%  ell  described  by  Dr.  Watson.     But  it  shares  these 

;  ^.racters   with   the  Cotylosaurian   reptiles^  also,    and 

this  group  it  is  probably  descended.     The  nature 

•:•  material  which  enters  into  the  composition  of 

Ichthyosaur  bones,  when  these  are  of  a  black  or 

brown  colour,  has  been  investigated,  and  is  found 

.nsist   largely    of   coal.     This    had   already    been 

d  in  the  case  of  Coccosteus.     As  the  bones  of  the 

Lozoic    Coccosteus    have    become    converted    into 

.e  "  coal  of  the  same  nature  as  that  furnished  by 

ozoic  plants,  so  the  bones  of  the  Mesozoic  Ichthyo- 

as  have  been  converted  into  "brown"  coal  of  the 

nature  as  that  furnished  by  Mesozoic  plants. — 

rhy  J.   Lloyd  :  The  relation  of  excised  muscle  to 

-.    salts,   and    bases,     (i)   Acids    and   alkalis   both 

swelling    in    excised    muscle.     The    degree    of 

ing  is  not  directly  proportional  to  the  concentra- 

of  acid  on  alkali   in  the   surrounding   fluid,   but 

maximum  at  0C05  normal  for  hydrochloric  acid 

for    caustic    soda.       Alkalis   first  coagulate  and 

re-dissolve     the    muscle     substance.        (2)    The 

•Uorides  of  the  alkali  and  alkaline  earth  metals   all 

[Itimately    coagulate    the    protoplasm   of    an    excised 

luscle    in    isotonic    solutions.     The    bivalent    kations 

how  this  effect  much  more  rapidly  than   the  mono- 

alent.  (3)  The  iso-electric  point  for  muscle  is  between 

\  =5  and  Pa  =7.    ,(4)  It  is  suggested  that  the  swell- 

ig  and  shrinking  of  muscles,  both  in  the  body  and 

ut,   is  an   osmotic   phenomenon,    and   that   the   state 

f  aggregation  of  the  colloids  of  the  muscle  substance 

;  the  chief  determining  factor  which  fixes  the  degree 

f    swelling.     Lillie's    demonstration    that    acids    and 

Ikalis   raise   the   osmotic   pressure    of   gelatin,    while 

jne  neutral  salts  lower  it,  is  in  harmony  with  this  view. 

15)  The  osmotic  phenomena  of   muscle  can   be   fullv 

xplained  without  assuming  the  presence  of  a  semi- 

lermeable  membrane  round  the  rnuscle  fibres. — J.   C. 

iVillis  ;   The  endemic  iiora   of  Ceylon,   with  reference 

5  geographical  distribution  and  evolution  in  general. 

I  Physical  Society,  March   10.— Prof.  C.  Vernon  Boys, 

\  resident,  in  the  chair. — S.  Skinner  :  Experiments  illus- 

rating  the  flow  of  heat  in   conducting   sheets.     If  a 

•heet  of  tinned  iron  be  heated  locally  by  means  of  a 

Ijunsen   burner  or  blowpipe   the   tin'  is   melted    for  a 

jertain  distance  from  the  heated  region.     On  allowing 

ihe  sheet  to  cool  the  resolidified  tin  is  separated  from 

jhe  unmelted  tin  by  a  very  sharp  line  of  demarcation. 

I  his  line  gives  the  equi-temperature  curve  correspond- 

jOg  to  the  melting  point  of  tin.     By  pushing  the  heat- 

hg  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  a  series  of  such  equi- 

lemperature  curves  can  be  obtained  for  a  sheet  of  anv 

i  articular  shape  heated  at  any  given  point.     The  case's 

^'^■wn  illustrated  the  fiow  of  heat  into  a  rectangular 

from  a  heated  tongue ;  into  a  circular  disc  from 

ated   tongue;   round   the   corner   of  an    L-shaped 

and  into  the  vanes  of  an  air-cooled  cylinder.    The 

Its  were  shown  to  be  closely  analogous  to  the  flow 

lectricity    in     similarlv     shaped     conductors.— Dr. 

>.  WUI0W8  and  H.  T.'  George  :  The  absorption  of 

.ases  by  quartz  bulbs.     The  experiments  are   a  con- 

inuation  of  those  of  Willows  (P/nJ.  Mag.,  April,  1901) 

nd  HiU  (Phys.  Soc,  December,  1912)  on  the  absorp- 

lon  of  gas  which  is  brought  about  bv  electrical  dis- 

harges.       A  new  quartz  bulb    does    not    absorb    air, 

'Ut  if  It  be   fed   with   repeated   doses  of  hydrogen— 

vhich   are  absorbed   when    an   electrodeless   discharge 

"^  ^u^T^ — ^*  ^^^"  becomes  verv  active.     If  discharges 

n  hydrogen  are  alternated  with  those  in  air  the  bulb 

NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


j  can  be  made  to  absorb  large  quantities  of  either  gas, 
j  and  the  activity  with  each  gradually  increases.  The 
j  authors  reject  the  theory  of  surface  absorption  and, 
I  in  their  own  experiments  at  least,  also  Swinton's 
j  theory  that  the  gas  is  shot  into  the  walls  and  held 

there.     It    is    supposed    that    chemical    actions    occur 

with  air,  and  oxidation  products  are  formed;  these  are 

reduced  by  hydrogen. 

Linnean   Society,    March    16.— Prof.    E.    B.    Poulton, 

president,  in  the  chair. — C.  C.  Lacaita  :  Plants  col- 
!  lected  in  Sikkim,  including  the  Kalimpong  district, 
j  April  8  to  May  9,  1913.  The  author  gave  an  account 
J  of  his  circular  journey  from  Darjiling  to  his  starting 

point,  part  of  it  with  the  party  of  H.E.  the  Governor 
.  of  Bengal.  The  monotony  of  the  forest  region  was 
i  mentioned,  and  the  manellous  abundance  of  the 
I  Aroids. 

j  P.\RIS. 

-  Academy  of  Sciences,  March  20. — M.  Paul  Appell  in 
•  the  chair. — Pierre  Duhem  :  The  hypothesis  of  Faraday 
I  and  Mossotti,  and  on  certain  conditions  verified  at  the 
1  contact  of  two  dielectrics. — J.  Comas  Sola  :  Some 
I  remarks  on  the  great  nebula  in  Orion  (1976  N.G.C.). 
i  The  results  of  stereoscopic  observations  and  photo- 
graphic comparisons  are  given,  from  which  it  would 
appear  that  there  is  a  proper  movement  of  the  more 
brilliant  parts  of  the  nebula  of  the  order  of  0025"  per 
annum.  Internal  transversal  movements  of  the  fila- 
ments of  the  above  nebula  and  also  of  the  nebula 
H.V.  30,  1977  N.G.C.  were  also  detected  with  cer- 
tainty.— T.  H.  Gronwall  :  A  functional  equation  in  the 
j  kinetic  theory  of  gases. — M.  Riqaier  :  Partial  systems 
of  the  first  order  to  which  the  Jacobi  method  of  inte- 
gration applies,  and  the  analytical  prolongation  of 
their  integrals. — L.  Rentier  :  Lacustral  ambers.  An 
account  of  analyses  of  five  pieces  of  amber  of  well- 
authenticated  origin,  three  from  the  Baltic,  two  from 
Italy.  Clear  differences  could  be  detected  between 
the  German  and  Italian  ambers. — X.  Arabu  :  The 
existence  of  the  Hipparion  fauna  in  the  Sarmatian  of 
the  basin  of  the  Sea  of  Marmora  and  its  consequences 
for  the  classification  of  the  Neogene  in  soutli-ea stern 
Europe. — Maurice  Lngeon  :  The  rose  coloration  of  cer- 
tain rocks  of  the  massif  of  the  Aiguilles  Rouges.  The 
coloration  is  shown  to  be  due  to  iron  and  its  peculiari- 
ties are  described.  A  theory  of  the  cause  of  its  origin 
is  proposed. — Ph.  Glangeand  :  The  Pavin  crater  lake 
and  the  volcano  of  Montchalm,  Puy-de-D6me. — Mile. 
Yvonne  Dehorne  :  A  milleporoid  Stromatopore  of  the 
Portlandian.— Henri  Fouque  :  The  ferments  of  pine- 
apple wine.  Of  four  yeasts  isolated,  two  were  certainly 
Saccharomyces,  and  two  were  doubtful  yeasts  between 
Mycoderma  and  Torula. — E.  Demonssy  :  The  influence 
of  hydrogen  peroxide  on  germination.  Old  seeds, 
which  may  have  preserved  their  germinating  power, 
may  fail  to  germinate  under  conditions  favourable  to 
the  growth  of  young  seeds  if  these  conditions 
are  more  favourable  to  the  development  of 
parasitic  micro-organisms  requiring  oxygen  for 
their  growth.  In  the  presence  of  dilute  solu- 
tions of  hydrogen  peroxide  a  considerable  propor- 
tion of  such  seeds  will  germinate.  A  result  of  prac- 
tical importance  follows  from  this,  that  tests  of  ger- 
minating power  carried  out  under  laboratory  condi- 
tions may  lead  to  seeds  being  regarded  as  bad,  whilst 
the  same  seed,  grown  in  the  soil,  may  prove  to  be  of 
average  qualit\-.  This  conclusion  is  confirmed  by 
results  obtained  in  practice  with  seeds  of  beetroot. — ^V. 
Ferrand  :  A  modification  of  the  method  for  the  sterilisa- 
tion of  drinking  water  by  sodium  hypochlorite. 
Hydrogen  peroxide  is  proposed  for  the  removal  of  the 
excess  of  hypochlorite  instead  of  the  commonly  used 
sodium  thiosulphate.  There  is  a  saving  of  time  in  the 
sterilisation. — MM.    Dalimier    and    Levv-Franckel  :    The 


136 


NATURE 


[April  6,  19 16 


102  of  Danysz  in  the  treatment  of  malignant  or  grave 
syphilis.  Cases  which  followed  the  ordinary  course 
are  not  dealt  with  in  the  present  paper,  which  is  con- 
cerned with  twenty-two  cases  of  abnormal,  or  par- 
ticularly severe  syphilis.  The  results  are  strongly  in 
favour  of  the  treatment. — E.  Bataillon  :  New  experi- 
ments on  the  fecondation  membrane  in  the  eggs  of 
Amphibia. 

BOOKS    RECEIVED. 

Our  Cottage  and  a  Motor.  By  W.  Moncreiff.  Pp. 
163.  (London  :  G.  Allen  and  Unwin,  Ltd.)  3s.  6d. 
net. 

Meteorites  :  their  Structure,  Composition,  and 
Terrestrial  Relations.  By  Dr.  O.  C.  Farrington.  Pp. 
x  +  233.     (Chicago:    The  author).     2   dollars. 

Rambles  of  a  Canadian  Naturalist.  By  S.  T.  Wood. 
Pp.  vii  +  247.  (London  :  J.  M.  .Dent  and  Sons,  Ltd.) 
.6s.  net. 

The  Germans.  By  Rt.  Hon.  J.  M.  Robertson.  Pp. 
•viii  +  291.  (London  :  Williams  and  Norgate.)  75.  6d. 
net. 

Women  and  the  Land.  By  Viscountess  Wolseley. 
Pp.  xi  +  230.     (London  :  Chatto  and  Windus.)     5s.  net. 

Report  for  1915  on  the  Lancashire  Sea-Fisheries 
Laboratory  at  the  University  of  Liverpool  and  the 
Sea-Fish  Hatchery  at  Piel.  Edited  by  Prof.  W.  A. 
Herdman.  No.  xxiv.  Pp. .  62.  (Liverpool  :  C.  Tin- 
ling  and  Co.) 

Cambridge  Tracts  in  Mathematics  and  Mathe- 
inatical  Physics.  No.  2  :  The  Integration  of  Func- 
tions of  a  Single  Variable.  By  G.  H.  Hardy.  Second 
•edition.  Pp.  viii  +  67.  (Cambridge:  At  the  Univer- 
sity Press.)    35.  net. 

Hydrodynamics.  By  Prof.  H.  Lamb.  Fourth 
•edition.  Pp.  xvi  +  708.  (Cambridge:  At  the  Univer- 
sity  Press.)     24s.    net. 

Catalogue  of  the  Ungulate  Mammals  in  the  British 
Museum  (Natural  History).  Vol.  v.  By  R.  Lydekker. 
Pp.  xlv  +  207.  (London  :  Longmans  and  Co.,  and 
•others.)     75.  6d. 

British  Museum  (Natural  History).  Report  on 
•Cetacea  stranded  on  the  British  Coasts  during  1915. 
By   Dr.    Harmer.     Pp.    12.     (London.)     is.    6d. 

The  Involuntary  Nervous  System.  By  Dr.  W.  H. 
■Gaskell.  Pp.  ix+178.  (London  :  Longmans  and  Co.) 
•6s.  net. 

The  Deposits  of  the  Useful  Minerals  and  Rocks  : 
their  Origin,  Form,  and  Content.  By  Profs.  F. 
Beyschlag,  J.  H.  L.  Vogt,  and  P.  Krusch.  Translated 
"by  S.  J.  Truscott.  Vol.  ii.  Pp.  xxi  + 5 15-1262. 
•{London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     20s.  net. 


DIARY   OF   SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  Afril  6. 
HoYAL  Society,  at  4.30.— The  Instability  of  tl:e  Pear-shaped  Figure  of 
Equilibrium  of  a  Rotating  Mass  of  Liquid  :  J.  H.  Jeans.— A  Hypothesis 
of  Molecular  Configuration  in  Three  Dimensions  of  Space :  Sir  William 
Ramsay.— The  Motion  of  Solids  in  a  Liquid  Possessing  Vorticity : 
J-  Proudman. — The  Occurrence  of  Gelatinons  Spicules  and  their  Mode 
of  Origin  in  a  New  Genus  of  Siliceous  Sponges  :  Prof.  A.  Dendy.-- 
The  Ultra-Violet  Absorption  Spectra  of  Blood  Sera  :  Dr.  S.  J.  Lewis. 

LiNNEAN  Society,  at  5.— On  Five  New  Species  of  Edwardsia,  Quatr.  : 
Prof.  G.  C.  Bourne. — A  New  Species  of  Enteropneusta  from  the  Abrolhos 
Islands  :  Prof.  W..  T.  Dakin.— The  Southern  Elements  of  the  British 
Flora :  Dr.  O.  Stapf. 

Faraday  Sooety,  at  8.— The  Making  of  a  Big  Gun  :  Dr.  W.  Rosenhain. 

FKTDAV,   Aprii,  7. 
Geologists'  Association,  at  7.30.— Notes  on  the  Corallian  of  the  Oxford 
District:  M.  Odling.— The  Glacial  Geology  of  the  Hud-on  Bay  Basin  : 
.    J.  B.  Tj-rrell. 

SATURDAY,  April  8. 
Royal   Institution,  at  3.— Radiations  from  Atoms  and  Electrons  :  Sir 
J.  J.  Thomson. 

MONO  A  V,  April  10. 
Royal  Society  of  Arts,  at  4.30.— Surveying :  Past  and  Present :  E.  A. 

Reeves. 
■Aristotelian   Society,   at  8. — Parmenides,   Zeno,   and  Socrates  :    Profi 
•     a:  E.  Taylor. 


TUESDAY,  April  ii. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3.— Modern  Horticulture— Old  and  New  Methods 
of  Forcing  (The  Breaking  of  Rhythm) :  Prof.  F.  Keeble. 

Royal  Society  ok  Arts,  at  4.30. — The  Forest  Resources  of  Newfound- 
land :  Sir  Daniel  Morris.  >b 

IVEDNESDAY,  April  12. 

Institution  of  Naval  Architkcts,  at  11  a.nri. — PreRident's  Address 

The  Work  of  the  Load  Line  Committee  :  Sir  Philip  Watts. — Some  Ques- 
tions in  Connection  with  the  Work  of  the  Load  Line  Committee  :  W.  S. 
Abell.  At  3. —  1  he  Laws  of  Skin  Friction  of  a  Fluid  in  Stream  Line  and 
in  Turbulent  Motion  along  a  Solid  of  Great  Length  :  Dr.  C.  H.  Lees.— 
Skin  Friction  Resistance  of  Ships  and  our  Useful  Knowledge  of  the 
Subject  :  G.  S.  Baker. — Experiments  to  Determine  the  Resistance  of 
Bilge-keels  to  Rolling  :  Prof.  T.  B.  Abell. — An  Experimental  Tank  Repro- 
ducing Wave  Motion  :  Col.  G.  Russo.  At  7.30. — A  Brief  Summary  of  the 
Present  Position  of  the  Marine  DieselEngine  and  its  Possibiliti-rs :  Eng.- 
Lieut.  W.  P.  Sillince. — The  Co-ordination  of  Propeller  Results:  J.  D. 
Young. — Note  on  Maximum  Propulsive  Efficiency  of  Screw  Propellers: 
T.  C.  Tobin. 

THURSDAY,  April  13. 

Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers,  at  8. — Discussion:  The 
Present  Position  of  Electricity  Supply  in  the  United  Kingdom ;  and  the 
Steps  to  be  taken  to  Improve  and  Strengthen  it. 

Child  Study  Society,  at  6. — Experin.ents  on  Hand-writing  in  Schcjols ; 
Dr.  C.  \V.  Kimmin<,  Mrs.  Grainger,  and  Miss  Golds.  At  7.30. — Annual 
Meeting. 

Institution  OF  Naval  Architects,  at  11  a.m. — Subdivision  of  Merchant 
Vessels  :  Reports  of  the  Bulkhead  Committee,  1912-1915  :  Sir  Archibald 
Denny. — Strength  of  Watertight  Bulkheads  :  J.  F.  King. — Some  Effects  of 
the  Bulkhead  Committee's  Reports  in  Practice  :  A.  T.  Wall.  At  3.— Notes 
from  a  Collision  Case  :  J.  Reid. — Shipyard  Cranes  of  the  Rotterdam 
Dockyard  Company :  M.  G.  de  Gelder. 

FRIDAY,  April  14. 

Royal  Institution,  at  5.30. — The  Genesis  and  Absorption  of  X-Rays  :  Sir 
J.  J.  Thomson. 

Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  at  6. — Theory  and  Practice  in 
the  Filtration  of  Water :  W.  Clemence. 

Royal  Astronomical  Society,  at  5. 

SATURDAY,  April  15. 

RovAL  Institution,  at  3. — kadiations  from  Atoms  and  Electrons  :  Sir 
J.  J.  Thomson. 

Optical  Society,  at  8. — Practical  Workshop  and  Laboratory  Measure- 
ments :  S.  D.  Chalmers. — Some  Further  Notes  on  Focometry  :  T.  F. 
Connolly. 

CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Heredity  and  Chromosomes •  u? 

The   Technology   of   Sulphur   and    Sulphur   Com- 
pounds   118 

Homer  and  History 118 

Our  Bookshelf 119 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

Science  versus  Classics.— Sir  E.  A.  Schafer,  F.R.S.  120 
Numerals  for   Scales   and    Punches.     {.Illustrated.) — 

A.  P.  Trotter  .           121 

International  Latin. —  Dr.  John  W.  Evans 122 

Osmotic  Pressure  or  Osmotic  Suction — Which  ?— ( With 

Diagrams.) — Frank  Tinker I22 

The    Expansion    of    a    Homogeneous    Function    in 

Spherical  Harmonics. — S.  K,  Banerji 123 

Preventive  Eugenics 123 

The  Manufacture  of  Porcelain.    ByB.  M.  ;  J.  W.  M.  124 
The  Commonwealth  Institute  of  Science  and   In- 
dustry      126 

Notes 126 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Comet  1916a  (Neujmin) 130 

Solar  Variation- 131 

The  Translational  Motion  of  Binary  Stars 131 

Education  and  Industry  in  France 131 

The    Corrosion    of    Condenser    Tubes.      By    Prof. 

H.  C.  H.  Carpenter 13X 

Civil  Service  Estimates  for  Science  and  Education  132 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 134 

Societies  and  Academies I34 

Books  Received             136 

Diary  of  Societies        136 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 

MACMILLAN   &  CO.,   Ltd., 

SI.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  the 
Publishers. 

Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,  London. 
Telephone  Number :  Gerrard  8830. 


NA  TV  RE 


m 


THURSDAY,    APRIL    13,    1916. 


IRRADIATION :  ITS  PHYSIOLOGY,  PATHO- 
LOGY, AND  THERAPEUTICS. 

Radium,  X-Rays,  and  the  Living  Cell.  W'hh 
Physical  Introduction.  By  H.  A.  Cohvell  and 
Dr.  S.  Russ.  Pp.  x  +  324.  (London:  G.  Bell 
and  Sons,   Ltd.,   1915.)     Price  125.  6d.  net. 

THE  authors'  object  is  "to  describe  some  of 
the    main    experimental    facts    which    have 
been  established  as  to  the  effects  of  the   X-rays 
and  the  rays  from  radium  upon  living-  cells."    The 
first  part  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  physics,  and 
contains  a  trustworthy  account  of  the  properties 
of  the  X-rays,  primary  and  secondary,  and  of  the 
radio-active    substances,    with    the    characters    of 
the  various   forms   of   radiation   and   the   changes 
brought  about  by  their  action.     The  measurement 
;of  ionisation  is  described,  the  distinction  between 
["hard"  and  "soft  "  rays — recognised  clinically  by 
I  all    radiologists — is    explained    on    physical    lines, 
jand  the  methods   of  measuring  doses   of   X-rays 
I  are      discussed.        The      empirical      method      of 
jSabouraud  of  judging  the  dose  by  the  change  of 
icolour  of  a  pastille  is   still   in  vogue,    and   those 
iwho   use   the  method   are   aware   that   they   must 
jkeep  all  the  conditions  constant  (state  of  vacuum 
jof   the   tube,   length    of   the    parallel    spark    gap, 
reading  of  the  milliamperemetre,  etc.) ;  the  authors 
lare  wise,   however,    to  point   out   anew   that   the 
l^ame  change  of  colour,  if  produced  by  soft  rays 
In  one  case  and  by  hard  rays  in  another,  may  give 
"ise  to  results  widely  different  in  the  two  cases. 

In  describing  the  characters  of  radium  emana- 
i.ion,  the  use  of  the  "  Emanatoria  "  is  discussed, 
rhese   institutions  are   founded   on   the  fact   that 
adium  emanation,  when  breathed  mixed  with  air, 
ijradually    makes    its    way    into    the    circulation 
>y  solution  and  diffusion,   and   so  reaches  all  the 
lissues  of  the  body.     The  air  of  the  Emanatorium 
breathed  for  two  or  three  hours  at  a  time,  and 
s  found  that  a  state  of  equilibrium  is  reached 
^   half  an   hour,    while   nearly  all   the   emanation 
;>o  per  cent.)  has  disappeared   from   the   system 
ne  hour  after  removal  into  fresh  air.     The  emana- 
on,  while  circulating  in  the  body,  is  continually 
)rming  the  active  deposit,  which  is  not  lost  by 
•ay  of  the  lungs  as  is  the  case  with  the  emana- 
on.     These  Emanatoria  have  been   extolled  for 
•le  "scientific  "  treatment  of  g-out,  on  the  principle 
apable    of    laboratory    demonstration)    that    the 
soluble  monosodium  urate  can  be  broken  up  by 
dium  D  into  several   simpler  bodies,   which   are 
ninated  as  carbon  dioxide  and  ammonia.     The 
hors  point  out,  however,  that  the  concentration 
the   emanation    in   the   blood    in    patients    sub- 
ted   to   Emanatorium   treatment   never   reaches 
pre  than  one  ten-millionth  of  that  used  in  the 
J^pratory  experiments;     hence   it   seems   unlikely 
<at    any     appreciable    decomposition     of    mono- 
9dium  urate  can  take  place  in  the  blood, 
^'lobulin  solutions  are  used   in   experiments  to 
>w  that  o  radiation  may  produce  results  differing- 
NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


in  degree  and  in  kind  from  those  due  to  ^  and  7 
rays. 

The  effects  of  the  irradiation  of  bacteria  is  dis- 
cussed with  the  aid  of  conclusive  experiments, 
and  it  is  shown  that  a  bactericidal  result  can  be 
attained,  though  the  dose  required  is  a  very  strong 
one  from  a  clinical  point  of  view.  In  local  condi- 
tions a  solution  of  radium  emanation  might  be 
useful,  but  the  choice  of  a  solvent  is  important, 
and  most  of  the  fluids  having  high  coefficients 
of  absorption  cannot  be  used  for  injection  into 
the  body.  Liquid  paraffin  is  the  most  suitable 
solvent;  its  coefficient  of  absorption  is  high,  and 
its  viscosity  keeps  it  at  the  site  of  injection. 

The  changes  produced  in  the  skin  by  irradia- 
tion are  only  too  well  known  to  those  who  were 
pioneers  in  the  chnical  use  of  the  X-rays.  The 
histological  changes  are  described  in  detail,  and 
illustrated  by  photomicrographs.  These  changes 
are  both  atrophic  and  hypertrophic,  and  the  latter 
tend  to  culminate  in  cancer. 

The  blood  changes  are  of  great  interest,  and 
in  certain  blood  diseases  a  very  favourable  result 
is  produced  by  irradiation.  This  is  notably  true 
of  leukaemia,  a  disease  in  which  the  white  cells 
are  enormously  increased  in  number,  while  many 
of  them  are  abnormal  in  type.  The  red  cells  are 
decreased  in  number.  The  result  of  X-ray  treat- 
ment is  to  restore  the  blood  more  and  more  nearly 
to  a  normal  state,  both  qualitatively  and  quantita- 
riv  ely 

Of  sp>ecial  interest  to  the  medical  profession, 
and  also  to  the  public,  is  the  discussion  of  the 
effect  of  irradiation  of  cancerous  cells.  This  sub- 
ject receives  full  attention,  an  account  of  the 
results  on  experimental  cancers  {e.g.  in  mice) 
being  followed  by  a  description  of  those  on  spon- 
taneous cancers  in  man  and  in  the  lower  animals. 
It  is  found  that  young,  actively-dividing  cancer 
cells  are  most  susceptible  to  irradiation,  and  that 
in  some  of  these  cases  (especially  in  the  grafted 
cancers  of  mice),  while  a  large  tumour  may  dis- 
appear rapidly,  its  destruction  may  cause  the 
death  of  the  animal  by  the  toxins  evolved  during 
the  disintegration  of  the  mass. 

Another  aspect  of  the  cancer  question  is  the 
converse  one,  of  the  way  cancerous  change  may  be 
produced  in  healthy  tissues  by  repeated  small 
doses  of  soft  X-rays.  This  topic  has  been  touched 
upon  already  in  the  case  of  the  hands  of  radio- 
logists. 

The  question  of  idiosyncrasy  is  a  difficult  one, 
and  radiologists  of  repute  differ,  even  now,  as  to 
whether  cases  of  real  hypersensitiveness  to  X-rays 
exist.  Every  careful  radiologist  of  experience 
will,  we  believe,  agree  with  the  authors  that  the 
same  dose  does  not  produce  exactly  the  same 
effect  in  different  persons,  or  even  in  the  same 
person  at  different  times.  Another  point  is  made 
by  the  authors  when  they  show  that  a  large  dose 
acting  for  a  short  time  is  not  equivalent  to  a 
small  dose  acting  for  a  long  time. 

The  book  closes  with  a  short  but  lucid  chapter 
on  the  selective  and  differential  action  of  the  rays. 
In  the  case  of  the  protozoa,   it  is   shown  that  a 

H 


i3« 


NATURE 


[April  13,  19 16 


wide  variation  exists  in  their  response  to  the  same 
exposure.  An  absence  ot  chlorophyll  makes  for 
increased  sensitiveness,  and  the  multi-nucleated 
forms  suffer  more  than  the  mono-nucleated,  and 
the  large  forms  more  than  the  small.  In  the 
testicle  the  rays  show  an  essentially  selective 
action,  the  seminiferous  epithelium  being-  destroyed 
by  a  dose  to  which  the  cells  of  Sertoli  are  in- 
different. Certain  tissues  are  highly  sensitive  to 
the  X-rays^ — ^notably  lymphoid  tissue,  cartilage, 
and  the  endothelium  of  blood-vessels.  Within 
limits  it  is  true  to  say  that  very  rapidly  growing 
cells  are  most  affected  by  irradiation.  But  it  is 
important  to  note  that  different  rays  give  rise 
to  different  efTects  upon  one  and  the  same  kind  of 
cell,  and  "a  careful  distinction  should  be  made 
between  the  differential  action  which  different 
rays  have  upon  the  same  variety  of  cell,  and  the 
selective  action  which  the  same  kind  of  radiation 
has  upon  the  many  different  varieties  of  cells." 
The  X-ray  spectrum  covers  a  range  of  many 
octaves  of  wave-length. 

If  we  consider  a  single  cell,  we  find  it  exhibits 
a  widely  varying  degree  of^  reaction  (to  irradia- 
tion) according  to' the  particular  phase  of  its  life 
cycle  in  which  it  happens  to  be  at  the  time.  Thus 
certain  ova  are  nearly  eight  times  as  vulnerable 
to  j8-rays  when  they  are  in  an  active  state  of 
division  as  when  they  are  in  a  resting  stage.  This 
fact  indicates  one  of  the  difficulties  of  quantita- 
tive investigations  upon  living  tissues.  The 
chemical  composition  of  a  cell  may  determine  the 
degree  of  change  brought  about  by  irradiation. 
In  sections  of  malignant  growths  cut  for  the 
microscope  before  and  after  irradiation,  the  stain- 
ing reactions  point  to  marked  changes  in  chemical 
composition,  and  these  go  hand  in  hand  with  the 
morphological  changes. 

The  authors  have  given  us  a  book  which  cannot 
fail  to  appeal  to  the  clinical  radiologist  and  to 
the  laboratory  worker.  Each  chapter  has  received 
careful  study  in  the  writing,  and  provides  food 
for  thought  and  suggests  scope  for  further  in- 
vestigation on  the  part  of  the  reader.  The  book 
is  well  printed  in  clear  type  on  good  paper,  and 
contains  many  excellent  illustrations.  There  is 
an  index  of  authors,  as  well  as  a  full  general 
index. 


THE  MEDIUM  UNDER  THE  MICROSCOPE. 

A  Contribution  to  the  Study  of  the  Psychology  of 
Mrs.  Piper's  Trance  Phenomena.  By  Mrs. 
Henry  Sidgwick.  Proceedings  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research.  Part  Ixxi.,  vol.  xxviii, 
December,  191 5.  Pp.  xix  +  657.  (Glasgow  : 
R.  Maclehose  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1915.)  Price  125. 
net. 

^liriLLIAM  JAMES  once  referred  to  Henry 
*  ^  Sidgwick  as  "  the  most  txasperatingly 
critical  mind  in  England,"  and  the  whimsical  com- 
pliment was  well  deserved.  After  the  death  of  the 
famous  professor  of  moral  philosophy,  the  mantle 
of  the  arch-critic  fell  naturally  on  the  shoulders  of 
one   of   Sidgwick's   most   able   pupils,    Mr.    A.    J. 

NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


Balfour,  whose  "  Defence  of  Philosophic  Doubt "" 
was  as  destructive  as  we  hope  our  Navy  will  be 
under  his  First  Lordship ;  but  now  that  he  has 
reached  a  more  constructive  period,  as  evidenced 
by  his  recent  "Theism  and  Humanism,"  the  pal- 
lium passes  to  his  sister,  the  professor's  widow, 
and  late  principal  of  Newnham  College.  Anyone 
who  is  not  willing  to  believe  unquestioningly  what 
has  successfully  passed  the  ordeal  of  her  scrutiny 
must  be  constitutionally  unable  to  believe  any- 
thing. If  she  were  censor  the  newspapers  would 
have  to  cease  publication,  for  she  would  never 
believe  any  but  official  reports,  and  probably  not 
them. 

In  this  bulky  volume  Mrs.  Sidgwick  discusses 
the  phenomena  of  the  famous  Boston  medium  who 
has  been  for  twenty-five  years  almost  continuously 
under  the  supervision  of  various  eminent  scientific 
men,  including  Prof.  James — ^who  was  an  M.D,  as 
well  as  the  apostle  of  Pragmatism— and  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge.  This  lady  began  to  experience  sleep-like 
trances  in  1884,  but  they  were  only  sleep-like  so 
far  as  concerned  Mrs.  Piper's  normal  conscious- 
ness, for  her  tongue  talked — or,  later,  her  hand 
wrote— in  a  very  wideawake  fashion.  What  was 
there,  in  place  of  Mrs.  Piper's  normal  conscious- 
ness, which  certainly  was  not  there,  furnishes  the 
theme  of  Mrs.  Sidgwick 's  discourse.  First,  osten- 
sibly, came  a  Dr.  Phinuit,  a  "  spirit  "  who  said  he 
had  been  a  doctor  in  Metz.  Investigation  failed 
to  trace  his  earthly  career,  and  his  knowledge  of 
French  was  scanty — seemed,  in  fact,  about  like 
Mrs.  Piper's.  But  the  queer  thing  was  that  this 
dubious  entity  could  usually  tell  sitters  quite  a  lot 
about  their  deceased  relatives,  and  he  professed  to 
get  the  information  from  the  relatives  themselves, 
who  were  with  him  in  the  spiritual  realms.  This 
kind  of  thing  happened  freely,  even  when  the  in- 
vestigators introduced  sitters  from  a  distance — 
people  entirely  unknown  to  Mrs.  Piper- — anony- 
mously or  pseudonymously.  Then  another  spirit 
turned  up — George  Pelham,  a  lawyer  formerly 
known  to  the  Society's  chief  investigator,  Dr. 
Richard  Hodgson — who  gave  any  amount  of 
identification  evidence  about  himself,  recognising 
his  friends  and  greeting  them  by  name  in  aston- 
ishingly correct  fashion.  Later  there  appeared 
various  characters  in  early  history.  Lastly 
came  Hodgson,  who  had  died  in  1905 ;  but  his 
evidence  is  not  very  weighty,  because  he  was 
known  to  Mrs.  Piper,  and  consequently  we  must 
assume  that  any  given  would-be  identification-fact 
may  also  have  been  known  to  her. 

Now  what  about  all  these  "controls  "  and  "com- 
municators"? W^hat  are  they,  anyhow?  Spirits, 
as  they  allege,  or  dream-personalities,  fragments 
of  Mrs.  Piper's  subliminal  or  hypnotic  conscious- 
ness? Mrs.  Sidgwick  thinks  the  latter;  and  most 
people  will  agree  with  her  rather  than  weigh  all 
her  arguments,  which  are  lengthy  and  compli- 
cated, though  the  historical  part  of  the  book  is 
easy  and  interesting.  She  admits,  however,  thati 
Mrs.  Piper's  trance  utterances  contain  a  great 
deal  of  matter  which  Mrs.  Piper  has  not  learnt 
through  the  known   sensory  channels.      This  dis- 


April  13,  191 6] 


NATURE 


139 


poses  of  the  fraud-theory.  Some  of  this  matter 
may  be  due  to  thought-transference  ("telepathy") 
from  hving-  people ;  but  in  some  cases  it  seems 
almost  necessary  to  admit  telepathy  from  the  so- 
called  dead.  Particularly  is  this  the  case  in  regard 
to  George  Pelharn,  whose  evidence  is  given  in  an 
earlier  volume  of  "Proceedings" — No.    13. 

All  investigators  admit  that  the  evidence  in  that 

volume  is  impressive,  and  that  the  Piper  case  as  a 

whole  is  remarkable.     It  is  still  more  remarkable, 

perhaps,  to  find  so  cautious  a  mind  as  Mrs.  Sidg- 

'  wick's  accepting  communication  from  the  dead  as 

■.  a  reasonable  hypothesis,  even    though    she    does 

dignify    it    with    the    sounding    title    of    telepathy 

through  a  personation  or  subliminal  fraction.    Cer- 

'  tainly  the  evidence  does  seem  beginning  to  appear 

i  conclusive   or   almost   so.       It   can   no   longer   be 

j  ^'vanquished  with  a  grin."    Perhaps  in  due  time  it 

may   become    so    strong    that    man's    survival    of 

death  will   be  a  scientific  as  well  as  a  religious 

:  belief.      Meanwhile,    such  volumes  as  that  under 

;  notice  are  very  welcome  as  showing  a  "via  media 

i  between    extremes    of    credulity    and    incredulity, 

Avhich  are  equally  unscientific  and  regrettable. 

J.  A.   H. 


ANALYTICAL  AIDS  FOR  FACTORY 

CHEMISTS. 

\Solvents,    Oils,    Gums,    Waxes,    and   Allied   Suh- 

1     stances.     By  F.  S.   Hyde.     Pp.  vi  +  176.     (Lon- 

'lon  :    Constable   and   Co.,    Ltd.,    1915.)      Price 

S5.  6d.  net. 

j  A  T   the    moment    the   factory    chemist   is    very 

i  •^*-     much    before    the    public.      The    university- 

jtrained    man    complains    of    the    ver>'    inadequate 

reward  which  he  can  obtain  for  his  labours.     The 

juanufacturer  is   reported  to  be   dissatisfied  with 

i:he    chemist    fresh    from    the    university,   and  all 

parties  criticise  the  present  methods  of  training. 

t  might  be  at  least  expected  that  the  technical 

chemist  should  know  cherhistry,  meaning  thereby 

I  full  knowledge  of  the  properties,   preparation, 

md   manipulation   of   the   commoner    substances, 

»oth  inorganic  and  organic ;  that  he  should  under- 

tand  the  spirit  of  research  and  how  to  set  about 

problem ;   that  he   should  be   versed   in  getting 

p  the  literature.     The  fact  is,  such  chemists  are 

are;  a  real  knowledge  of  chemistry,  particularly 

rganic   chemistry,    is   largely   neglected.       As    a 

onsequence   special   text-books   are   provided   for 

^e  use  of  factory  chemists,  such  as  the  one  before 

It  contains  in  the  minimum  number  of  words 

hort  statement  as  to  the  properties  of  a  variety 

organic  substances,  and  will  serve  as  a  useful 

jijunct   to   the    memory    of   the    properly    trained 

Ian.     In  the  hands  of  others  it  is  more  likely  to 

-^lead,    since    as    a    result    of    the    condensation 

essary,   the   information   is   often   scrappy   and 

lequal,  and  the  true  spirit  of  organic  chemistry 

missing. 

For  example,  the  statement  that  dextrose  is  less 
yeet  than  cane  sugar,  though  true,   in  no  way 
nveys   the    proper    idea    to    anvone    imperfectly 
quainted  with  the  great  difference  between  the  | 
NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


two  sugars  in  appearance  and  in  crystalline  char- 
acter. Glucosides  are  defined  as  substances 
which  "  on  fermentation  "  or  by  hydrolysis  yield 
glucose.  Ethyl  alcohol  is  dismissed  in  nine  lines  ! 
Ten  pages  suffice  for  the  alkaloids  and  bitter  prin- 
ciples. 

As  a  whole,  the  book  is  well  done ;  it  is  full 
of  information,  accurate  and  up-to-date,  particu- 
larly as  regards  the  sections  devoted  to  oils,  fats, 
and  waxes,  which  occupy  more  than  half  the  con- 
tents. This  branch  of  chemical  analysis  involves 
the  use  of  a  number  of  special  methods^  largely 
empirical  in  character,  and  usually  labelled  with 
the  names  of  their  proposers,  with  which  the 
would-be  expert  must  be  acquainted.  For  this 
purpose  he  will  find  Mr.  Hyde's  book  most 
helpful. 

It  will  be  much  more  to  the  advantage  of  the 
individual  worker  as  well  as  of  the  works  labora- 
tory, however,  if  information  be  sought  from  the 
larger  manuals  of  chemistry  and  the  critical  faculty 
in  analysis  is  cultivated,  instead  of  striving  more 
or  less  mechanically  to  carry  out  operations  as 
quickly  as  possible,  by  following  explicit  instruc- 
tions without  any  real  understanding  of  the  chem- 
istry of  the  reactions  concerned. 

ASTRONOMY  FOR  JUVENILE  READERS. 

A  Voyage  in  Space:  A  Course  of  Six  Lectures 
''Adapted  to  a  Juvenile  Auditory"  delivered  at 
the  Royal  Institution  at  Christmas,  1913.  By 
Prof.  H.  H.  Turner.  Pp.  xvi  +  304.  (London: 
S.P.C.K.,  1915.)    Price  65.  net. 

THE  voyage  in  space  which  forms  the  subject 
of  this  book  is  not  a  romantic  flight  of  the 
imagination,  such  as  might  have  been  written  by 
Jules  \'erne,  but  an  account  of  a  journey  by  tele- 
scope. In  other  words,  it  is  an  elementary  book 
on  astronomy,  and  is  founded  on  a  course  of 
lectures  to  young  people  at  the  Royal  Institution. 
Following  the  example  of  Faraday  on  a  similar 
occasion,  the  author  has  retained  the  language  of 
the  lecture  room,  and  has  thus  been  able  to  pre- 
serve the  freshness  of  the  original  presentation. 
The  reader  is  necessarily  deprived  of  witnessing 
the  actual  experiments,  and  of  seeing  many  of  the 
pictures  exhibited  by  the  lantern,  but  the  descrip- 
tions are  so  vivid  and  the  illustrations  so  numer- 
ous that  he  will  readily  imagine  himself  to  be  a 
member  of  the  audience. 

The  difficulty  of  leaving  the  earth  in  the  flesh 
provides  the  occasion  in  the  first  lecture  for  an 
account  of  gravity  in  its  historical,  experimental, 
and  astronomical  aspects.  Then,  in  the  second 
lecture,  the  immense  distances  which  have  to  be 
traversed  before  reaching  the  heavenly  bodies  are 
dealt  with,  and  an  interesting  talk  is  devoted  to 
our  own  atmosphere,  which  must  necessarily  be 
passed  through  during  the  first  part  of  the  voyage. 
Telescopes,  as  the  only  means  of  travelling  to 
distant  spheres,  are  the  subject  of  the  third  lec- 
ture, and  subsequent  lectures  deal  respectively 
with  visits  to  the  moon  and  planets,  to  the  sun, 
and  to  the  stars. 


140 


NATURE 


[April  J3,  1916 


Although  an  astonishingly  wide  range  of  sub- 
jects is  covered  by  the  lectures,  the  book  is  not 
to  be  regarded  as  a  comprehensive  introduction 
to  astronomy.  Thus,  explanations  of  everyday 
phenomena,  such  as  the  phases  of  the  moon,  the 
apparent  annual  motion  of  the  stars,  or  the  appear- 
ance of  Venus  as  a  morning  or  evening  star,  do 
not  come  within  its  scope.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  author  has  not  hesitated  to  introduce  such 
matters  as  the  principles  of  spectrum  analysis,  the 
sun-spot  swarm  hypothesis,  the  selenium  photo- 
meter, the  systematic  motions  of  the  stars,  and 
the  spectroheliograph.  But  whatever  the  subject 
in  hand,  he  is  generally  successful  in  making  it 
interesting  and  easy  of  comprehension  as  regards 
general  principles.  The  treatment  is  at  times 
unconventional,  but  never  dull  or  obscure,  and  the 
interest  throughout  is  maintained  by  an  abund- 
ance of  appropriate  stories  and  quaint  allusions. 
The  illustrations,  of  which  there  are  more  than 
130,  are  well  chosen,  and  include  many  which 
have  not  previously  been  seen  in  text-books,  some 
of  them  being  of  marked  originality.  We  cor- 
dially recommend  the  book  as  being  likely  to  give 
an  intelligent  interest  in  the  fascinating  investi- 
gations of  modern  astronomy. 


OVR    BOOKSHELF. 
East  Lothian.      By   T.    S.    Muir.      Pp.    viii  +  117. 

(Cambridge:    At  the   University     Press,    1915.) 

Price  15.  6d.  net. 
East  Lothian  includes  representatives  of  the  chief 
geographical  types  found  in  the  Scottish  lowlands. 
It  has  a  varied  coast,  rich  plains  and  high  moor- 
land, and  its  especial  geographical  feature  is  its 
series  of  Aolcanic  necks,  including  Berwick  Law. 
The  county  has  played  an  important  part  in  Scot- 
tish history,  for  in  it  were  fought  the  battles  of  Dun- 
bar and  Preston  Pans,  and  it  was  the  birthplace  of 
such  representative  Scots  as  John  Knox,  Baird  of 
Corunna,  and  Moffat.  Its  coal  mines  are  of  his- 
toric interest  as  the  oldest  on  record,  and  their 
mediaeval  labour  conditions  lasted  till  little  more 
than  a  century  ago,  when  the  miners  were  still 
serfs  who  were  restricted  to  their  native  places 
and  w^hose  children  had  to  follow  the  occupation 
of  their  parent.  The  county  is  mainly  famous  for 
its  agriculture,  and  owing  to  the  exceptional 
quality  of  its  soils  and  the  scientific  skill  of  its 
farmers,  its  crops  are  perhaps  unsurpassed  in 
value.  Mr.  Muir  tells  us  (p.  58)  that  4/.  to  5Z.  per 
acre  is  a  common  rent,  and  that  the  county, 
though  small,  contains  no  fewer  than  seventeen 
farms  with  an  annual  rent  of  more  than  lOOoL 

This  volume  of  the  Cambridge  County  Primers 
is  fortunate  in  its  author;  for  Mr.  T.  S.  Muir,  who 
is  geographical  master  at  the  Edinburgh  High 
School,  knows  the  county  well,  and  describes  it  in 
accordance  with  modern  geographical  ideas.  The 
work  includes  summaries  of  the  geology  and 
natural  history  of  the  county,  but  they  are  treated 
from  their  geographical  aspects.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  sections  is  on  the  place  names,  which 
are  illustrated  by  a  map  showing  the  distribution 
NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


of  those  of  Gaelic,  Pictish,  and  Teutonic  orig-in. 
The  work  is  well  illustrated  by  photographs  and 
physical  and  geological  maps.  J.  W.  G. 

Theosophy  and  Modern  Thought.  By  C.  Jinara- 
jadasa.  Pp.  171.  (Adyar,  Madras:  Theo- 
sophical  Publishing  House,  1915.)  Price  2s. 
There  are  here  four  lectures — on  theosophy  and 
the  problem  of  heredity ;  history  in  the  light  of 
reincarnation ;  the  basis  of  art  expression ;  and 
the  search  for  reality.  Dealing  with  heredity,  the 
author  shows  that  he  has  been  greatly  influenced 
by  Prof.  Bateson's  Australian  address.  "The 
growth  from  protoplasm  to  man,  and  from  the 
savage  to  the  genius,  is  by  a  process  of  losing 
inhibiting  factors ;  and  by  loss  of  factors  faculties 
are  released."  The  release  of  the  possibilities  ot 
life  and  growth  is  guided  by  intelligences,  the 
Deva  Builders,  who  bring  about  the  evolution  of 
the  form  side  of  things  by  producing  changes 
from  the  life  side  in  each  group-soul. 

The  second  lecture  illustrates  eloquently  the 
idea  that  as  nations  pass  away  they  reincarnate 
in  other  parts  of  the  earth— the  Phoenicians  in 
the  Germans,  for  instance,  and  those  who  said 
"Carthago  est  delenda "  in  those  who  say 
"Prussia  must  go."  The  third  lecture  is  largely 
concerned  with  the  doctrine  of  archetypes,  which 
are  striving  to  express  themselves  in  organic 
evolution.  Every  beautiful  organism  is  a  window 
through  which  man  may  get  a  glimpse  of  an 
archetype,  "  a  masterpiece  of  the  artist  of  artists, 
the  Demiourgos  of  our  world."  In  the  fourth 
lecture  Mr.  Jinarajadasa  speaks  of  the  many 
pathways  to  reality  and  the  spirit  which  must 
possess  those  who  would  be  pilgrims.  i 

Nutritional   Physiology.      By    P.    G.    Stiles.      Pp.  ! 
288.     (Philadelphia      and      London  :      W.      B.  i 
Saunders  Company,    191 5.)     Price  65.   net. 
This  is  the  second  edition  of  Prof.  Stiles 's  useful  ' 
manual,   the  first  of  which  appeared   about  three 
years  ago.      Although  its  chief  object   (alimenta- 
tion,   digestion,    metabolism)   is  expressed    in   the 
title,     other    related     portions     of     physiological 
science,     such    as    the    circulation,    the    ductless 
glands,    and   even   the    nervous    system    are   con- 
sidered briefly.     The  main  subject  is  treated  from 
the  point  of  view  of  energetics,  and  we  can  trace 
throughout     the     influence     exercised     by     Prof. 
Graham   Lusk,   to  whom   the  book   is   dedicated. 
Lusk    is    one    of     the    leading     lights    across    the 
Atlantic,  who  have  successfully  striven  to  render 
the    subject    of    metabolism    scientifically    correct 
by  such  a  method  of  treatment.  W.  D.  H. 

Our  Cottage  and  a  Motor.  By  Margaret  Mon- 
creiff.  Pp.  163.  (London  :  George  Allen  and 
Unwin,  Ltd.,  1916.)  Price  35.  6d.  net. 
This  chatty  description  of  a  holiday  spent  in  £ 
Sussex  cottage,  when  the  days  were  often  spent 
motoring  among  the  lovely  lanes,  makes  verj 
pleasant  reading.  We  hope  the  spelling  Sii 
Charles  Ley  all,  on  pp.  127  and  128,  for  the  narw 
of  the  distinguished  geologist  will  be  changed  if' 
any  future  edition  of  the  book. 


April  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


141 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taketi  of  anonymous  communications.^ 

Smithsonian  Physical  Tables. 

The    Smithsonian    Institution    has  just    published  a 
new  edition  of  the  Smithsonian  Physical  Tables,  cor- 
rected  and    slightly    modified    from  the  sixth    revised 
edition.     Requests    have    come    from    certain    educa- 
tional institutions  for  separate  copies  of  certain  indi- 
vidual  tables  for  the  use  of  students  in  laboratories. 
If    there   is    likely   to   be   a    considerable  demand   for 
I  such  separates,  the  institution  will  have  them  printed 
'  on   stiff  paf)er   and   distributed  at  cost   to   those    who 
i  desire    them.     With    the    view    of    ascertaining    the 
I  probable  demand  for  separate  tables,   it^is  requested 
i  that  readers  of  Nature  inform   the  Institution   which 
tables   they  would   desire   in    separate   form,    and   the 
;  number  of  copies  of  each  they  would  probably  require. 
All  tables  for  which  the  probable  demand  of  this  kind 
ches  100  copies  will  be  reprinted  separately. 
The    tables    may    be    consulted    in    nearly    all    the 
larger  libraries. 

C.    D.    Walcott, 

Secretary. 
Smithsonian   Institution, 

Washington,    U.S..\.,    March   23. 

Effect  of  Tidal  Water  in  an  Estuary  on  the  Level  of 
Subterranean  Water. 

A.N    artesian    well    was    bored     at     Portishead     last 

'  I  August  lined  with  8  in.  and  10  in.  casing,  the  annular 

I  space  between   the  casings  being  filled  with  cement, 

;so    that    the    possible    ingress    of    surface    waters    is 

i  avoided. 

1  The  well  has  been  in  constant  use  since  that  date,  the 
water-level  standing  in  the  summer  about  10  ft.  below 
Ithe  surface  of  the  ground,  which  is  only  a  foot  or 
I  two  above  high- water  mark.  A  few  days  ago  pump- 
ing from  the  well  was  temporarily  discontinued.  It 
was  noticed  that  the  level  fluctuated  with  the  state 
jof  the  tide.  When  the  tide  was  out  the  level  of  the 
water  was  about  4  ft.  below  the  surface;  as  the  tide 
came  in  the  level  of  the  water  gradually  rose,  until 
at  high  tide  the  well  was  overflowing. 

This  behaviour  has  continued  regularly,  the  rise  and 
fall  of  level  closely  corresponding  with  the  rise  and 
fall  of  the  tide. 

This  affords  an  excellent  example  of  the  weight  of 
:he  incoming  tide  water  in  the  Severn  estuary,  sub- 
jecting the  underlying  strata  to  pressure  and  squeez- 
ng  the  water  out  as  if  out  of  a  sponge.  The  water 
s  drawn  from  strata  underlying  more  than  100  ft.  of 
clayey  marl.  '  Jas.  Kewley. 

Cambrian  Lodge,  Portishead,  March  30. 


Is  Soap  Necessary  for  Shaving? 

At  the  present  time  when  economy  is  the  watch- 
vord,  it  may  be  not  altogether  a  waste  of  time  to  ask 
whether  soap  is  necessary  for  shaving? 
The  old  Romans  and  Greeks,  as  evidenced  by  the 
;tues,  were  evidently  gentlemen  addicted  to  shaving, 
t,  save  for  a  small  soap  factory  discovered  at  Pom- 
'i,  the  means  of  producing  soap  in  those  days 
ust  have  been  verv  limited. 

The  only  conclusion  that  one  can  arrive  at  is  that 
'  y  must  have  shaved  without  soap,  a  practice  that 
to  the  present  day  indulged  in  Idv  our  Oriental 
lies,  the  Japanese,  as  well  as  by  their  neighbours,  the 
nnese. 

j  NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


Before  deciding  definitely  to  discard  such  a  familiar 
adjunct  of  the  toilet,  it  might  be  of  interest  to  inquire 
why  we  have  been  in  the  habit  of  using  soap  for 
shaving. 

The  answers  to  the  question  received  from  scientific 
and  unscientific  persons  are  very  interesting,  culminat- 
ing in  the  fascinating  one  of  a  barber  who  thought 
that  the  soap  propped  up  the  hairs  and  kept  them  in 
an  upright  position. 

Lathering  has  the  effect,  when  properly  done,  of 
reducing  the  bulk  of  the  soap,  and  increasing  the 
number  of  bubbles  whereby  water  is  kept  in  close 
apposition  to  the  skin  by  the  surface  tension. 

This  is  a  roundabout  way  of  using  water  as  a 
lubricant  for  the  efficient  and  easy  passage  of  the  razor 
across  the  skin,  but  once  the  lubricating  qualities  of 
water  are  recognised  as  of  value  in  such  circumstances 
it  is  but  a  short  step  to  applying  the  water  direct  and 
shaving  while  the  skin  is  well  soused. 

This  is  the  method  for  long  in  use  by  the  Orientals, 
and  is  one  that  can  be  thoroughh'  recommended  for 
trial  in  this  country. 

Apart  from  its  economy,  the  skin  is  not  so  liable  t& 
irritation,  the  edge  of  the  razor  is  not  so  easily  dulled, 
whilst  the  whole  operation  is  completed  in  half  the 
time.  G.  Arbour  Stephens. 

March    25. 


MALARIA  AND   SANITATION.^ 

'  I  "HE  title  of  this  work  is  somewhat  inappro- 
-*-  priate  as  the  book  deals  scarcely  at  all  with 
many  aspects  of  rural  sanitation,  but  is  devoted 
in  the  main  to  what  undoubtedly  is  a  very  impor- 
tant problem,  viz.,  malaria  prophylaxis.  It  is 
also  not  quite  evident  for  what  class  of  reader 
the  book  is  intended.  The  book  has  none  of  the 
characters  of  a  text-book  or  treatise  on  sanitation, 
but  gives  the  impression  of  being  written  rather 
for  the  intelligent  layman — we  have,  e.g.,  two 
and  a  half  pages  of  extract  from  Lafcadio  Hearn's 
works — were  it  not  that  here  and  there  discussions 
on  technical  points  are  recorded  at  some  length, 
e.g.,  the  identity  of  certain  species  of  .\nophelines. 
What  the  book  really  consists  of  for  the  most  part 
is  a  diary  of  various  sanitary  tours  made  bv  the 
author.  The  outstanding  feature  of  the  book  is 
the  author's  enthusiasm  for  his  subject,  and  the 
best  portions,,  for  they  are  the  fullest,  are  those 
devoted  to  the  sanitary  problems  that  arose  at 
every  step  in  the  making  of  the  Panama  Canal 
and  the  descriptions  as  to  how  these  difficulties 
were  overcome.  Out  of  eighteen  chapters,  nine, 
and  out  of  fifty-six  illustrations,  thirty-six,  are 
devoted  to  the  Canal. 

To  malaria  in  India,  on  the  contrary,  the  author 
gives  the  inadequate  amount  of  only  a  dozen 
pages,  and  these  concern  the  importance  of  species 
in  determining  the  prevalence  of  malaria,  a  fact 
fully  recognised  in  India  sixteen  years  ago, 
which  the  author  confirms  from  his  own  experi- 
ence in  the  Malay  States.  The  author's  work  in 
reducing  malaria  in  Klang  and  Port  Swettenham 
is  well  known,  t>ut  we  do  not  get  a  clear  idea  from 
this  book  as  to  how  it  w'as  done.  We  know  these 
places  were  drained,  but  we  should  have  liked 
sketch-maps     of     breeding-places     showing     the 

1  "  Rural  Sanitation  in  the  Tropics."    By  Dr.  M.  Watson.     Pp.  xvi+32o 
vLondon  :  John  Murray,  1915.)    Price  11s.  net. 


Hi 


NATURE 


[April  13,  -1916 


species  of  mosquito  concerned,  the  result  of  the 
draining-  on  the  breeding-places,  and  generally  a 
fuller  account,  but  perhaps  these  will  be  found  in 
another  work  to  which  the  author  refers,  and  here 
only  the  broad  outline  was  intended. 

The  author  in  writing-  is  inclined  to  use  rather 
vague  expressions,  such  as  "  a  long  series  of  blood 
examinations  "  (the  number  is  not  given),  "  proved 
up  to  the  hilt "  (sometimes  a  very  dangerous  ex- 
pression, as  one  could  easily  show),  "quinine  in 
every  shape  and  form  "  (dose  not  stated),  "  a  high 
percentage  "  of  the  labourers  harbours  malaria 
parasites  (figure  not  g-iven),  and  his  use  of  figures 
is  not  entirely  satisfactory,  e.g.,  in  the  Panama 
chapters  he  quotes  figures  to  show  that  there  were 
eighty-three  cases  of  haemoglobinuric  fever  among 
•Barbados    natives,    while    there     was     only     one 


author  is  the  "  flights  of  mosquitoes  *'  noted  in  the 
Canal  zone. 

These  began  about  6  p.m.  and  ceased  before 
9  p.m.  "  Hundreds  of  Anopheles  could  be  seen 
passing  by,"  and  the  flights  attracted  insecti- 
vorous birds  to  activity.  The  range  of  flight  was 
about  6000  feet,  originating-  in  a  marsh  and  ter- 
minating in  an  inhabited  area,  the  object  of  the 
flight  being  apparently  blood. 

A  most  important  fact  that  the  author  draws 
especial  attention  to  is  that  in  certain  estates  in 
British  Guiana  malaria  has  disappeared.  Agricul- 
ture has  in  some  way,  for  all  practical  purposes, 
abolished  it.  Anopheles  do  not  breed  in  the  water 
in  land  which  is  cultivated  in  British  Guiana,  but 
Culex  do  so  in  abundance.  Now  a  knowledge  of 
what  exactly  is  implied  in  the  term  "  agriculture  "" 


II 


Land  raised  by  "  hydraulic  filling"  on  the  east  bank  of  the  French  canal  at  Gatun.     The  remains  of  the  swamp  trecb  are  still  to  be  seen. 

From  "  Rural  Sanitation  in  the  Tropics." 


among  natives  of  Costa  Rica ;  but  as  no  data  are 
supplie?l  as  to  the  relative  number  of  these  two 
classes  of  labourers,  one  can  draw  no  valid  con- 
clusion. On  pag-e  249  the  admission  rate  in  1906 
for  malaria  among  a  labour  force  of  26,705  was 
821  ;  in  191 3  the  rate  for  a  force  of  56,654  was 
76.  Now  in  order  that  these  figures  should  be 
comparable  it  should  have  been  shown  that  the 
percentage  composition  of  the  force  as  regards 
races  was  the  same  in  1913  as  it  was  in  1906,  but 
this  is  not  done.  One  has  little  doubt  that  there 
has  been  this  fall,  but  the  figures  per  se  do  not 
completely  prove  it ;  if,  for  instance,  the  white 
population  had  been  partly  replaced  by  the  rela- 
tively immune  negro  In  the  interv^al,  this  would 
vitiate  the  figures. 

A  very  interesting  phenomenon  recorded  by  the 

NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


here  is  of  the  first  importance.  We  should| 
imagine  no  more  valuable  data  could  be  givCBi 
than  would  be  in  an  account  of  the  difference 
between  a  malarial  area  and  a  non-malarial  area 
in  British  Guiana.  This  book  should  be  read  by 
all  officials  who  obstruct,  or  turn  a  deaf  ear  to, 
the  claims  of  sanitation,  though  there  are  other 
necessities  of  life,  as  the  author  points  out  in 
his  epilogue.  J.   ^^^   W.   S. 


THE  POLLINATION    OF    FRUIT    TREES. 
INVESTIGATIONS  carried  out  in  this  country., 
J-     in  America,  and  elsewhere  have  demonstrated 
the  fact  that  many  of  our  cultivated  varieties  of 
apple,    pear,    plum,    &c.,    are    self-sterile.     They' 
have   shown,    moreover,    that    whereas    a    variety 


f 


April  13,   19 16] 


NATURE 


143 


may  be  sterile  when  pollinated  with  its  own 
pollen,  it  yields  an  abundant  crop  if  pollinated 
with  the  pollen  of  certain  other  varieties.  Hence 
it  is  of  considerable  economic  importance  to  dis- 
cover which  varieties  serve  best  for  mutual  cross- 
pollination. 

Mr.  Cecil  H.  Hooper  has  been  engaged  in  the 
study  of  this  subject  for  some  years,  and  he  pub- 
lished a  short  time  ago  a  summary  of  the  results 
of  observations  made  by  others  and  himself  on  the 
pollination  of  apples,  pears,  plums,  and  cherries. 

The  list  of  self-sterile  apples  is  surprisingly 
large.  It  includes  Lane's  Prince  Albert,  Bis- 
marck, Annie  Elizabeth,  Warner's  King,  Glad- 
stone, Lady  Sudeley,  James  Grieve,  and  Cox's 
Orange  Pippin  (rarely  self -fertile). 

It   is   to   be   observed,    however,    that,    as   indi- 
cated in  the  case  of  Cox's  Orange   Pippin,   self- 
sterility   is    by    no    rtieans    absolute    in    all    these 
varieties.     This,    although    of    no    particular    im- 
portance practically — for  a  poor  setter  no  less  than 
a  completely    self-sterile    variety    requires    to    be 
planted  with  a  variety  the  pollen  of  which  causes 
it  to   set  fruit  freely — is   nevertheless    significant 
from  a  scientific  point  of  view.      It  means  prob- 
!  ably    that    some    link    in    the    chain    of    chemical 
I  changes  pre-requisite  for  the  germination  of  the 
I  pollen  tube  on  the  stigma  and  its  growth  in  the 
j  style  is  missing,   rather  than  an  inability  of  the 
sexual   nuclei    to   unite  with   one  another.     Thus 
1  it  is  known  that  the  absence  of  a  particular  kind 
I  of  sugar  on  the  stigmatic  surface  may  suffice  for 
the   suppression   of   the   germination   of   a  pollen 
j  tube.      Hence    it     is    most     desirable     that     this 
problem    of    sterility    of    fruit    trees    should    be 
studied  more  minutely  than  has  been  the  case  up 
to  the  present.     The  pioneer  field  work  has  been 
■done   fairly   thoroughly ;     it   is   now   time   for   the 
physiological   botanist   to    intervene.      He,    unfor- 
I  tunately,  is  so  sequestered  in  his  laboratory  that 
he    rarely    discovers    even    the    existence    of    the 
'  "Stimulating   problems   which    modern   horticulture 
tiers  for  elucidation. 
The     establishment     of     horticultural     research 
rations    at    Merton,    Wisby,    and    Long    Ashton 
i^ives  ground,  however,  for  the  hope  that  this  atti- 
tude of  aloofness  is  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  indeed 
lit  is  these  stations  that  are  contributing  most  to 
jour  knowledge  of  the  phenomena  of  self-sterility  of 
fruit  trees. 
That  the  reproductive  organs  of  fruit  trees,  like 
ijthose  of  many  other  cultivated  plants,  are  subject 
'to  grave  disturbances  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
not  a  few  apples  are  very  shy  of  pollen  bearing. 
Among  varieties    which    exhibit    this    habit,    Mr. 
Hooper  mentions  Newtown  Wonder,  King  of  the 
Pippins,    Irish    Peach,    Baumann's    Red    Winter 
Reinette,  Cox's  Pomona  and  Broad-eyed  Pippin. 

Pears  are  apt  even  more  than  apples  to  be 
>elf-sterile,  and  such  varieties  as  William's  Bon 
iChretien,  Pitmaston  Duchess,  Doyenn^  du 
jComice,  and  others  require  to  be  planted  in  pro- 
pinquity  with   good    "pollenisers."       Progressive 

^  "Notes  on  the  Pollination  of  Orchards."  By  Cecil  H.  Hooper.  The 
Fruit,  Fl<nverau(i  Vegetable  Trades'  Journal,  September,  191 5. 

NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


fruit-growers  are,  of  course,  well  aware  of  the 
stubborn  fact  of  partial  or  complete  self-sterility, 
and  see  to  it  that  their  orchards  contain  varieties 
which  supplement  each  other's  pollen  require- 
ments ;  but  it  is  to  be  feared  that  many  small 
growers  are  not  so  alive  to  these  facts  as  they 
should  be.  However,  so  long  as  many  of  the 
small  orchards  of  this  country  are  so  ill-cultivated 
as  they  are  at  present,  self-sterility  of  varieties 
is  of  no  great  moment  to  the  trees  or  owners, 
for 'the  crops  would  inevitably  be  poor,  in  spite 
of  the  introduction  of  good  pollenisers. 

Of  the  insects  visiting  fruit  trees  and  pre- 
sumably engaged  in  transferring  pollen  to  the 
stigmas  of  the  flowers,  Mr.  Hooper  gives  an  in- 
teresting list.  In  the  case  of  apples  observed 
during  1912  and  1913,  the  record  was : — Hive 
bees,  72 ;  bumble  bees,  26 ;  other  wild  bees,  2 ; 
other  insects,  20.  The  insect  visitors  to  the 
cherry  were  in  somewhat  similar  proportions,  but 
in  the  case  of  the  plum  the  visits  of  bumble 
bees  were  to  those  of  hive  bees  as  41  is  to  29. 
How  far  the  reduction  in  numbers  of  hive  bees 
due  to  recent  epidemics  is  likely  to  have  an  effect 
on  the  yield  of  apples  is  an  open  question. 

Frederick  Keeble. 


PROF.  OCT  A  VE  LIGNIER. 

PALEOBOTANY  recently  suffered  a  serious 
loss  in  the  death  of  Graf  zu  Solms-Laubach 
and  Prof.  Zeiller.  Another  gap  has  been  made  in 
the  ranks  of  the  small  body  of  botanists  whose 
work  is  mainly  concerned  with  extinct  plants  by 
the  death,  on  March  19,  of  Prof.  Octave  Lignier, 
who  occupied  the  chair  of  botany  at  Caen  since 
its  foundation  in  1889.  Prof.  Lignier  w^as  born 
on  February  25,  1855,  ^^  Pougy  (Aube, 
Champagne).  His  earlier  botanical  studies 
were  chiefly  concerned  with  investigations  under- 
taken to  test  the  value  of  anatomical  char- 
acters as  a  guide  to  the  affinities  of  the  Caly- 
canthaceae  and  other  Dicotyledons.  These  re- 
searches led  him  to  adopt  certain  views  with 
regard  to  the  important  part  played  by  the  foliar 
vascular  system  (the  "  meriphyte ")  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  conducting  system  of  the  stem.  For 
his  original  ideas  on  this  subject  Lignier  did  not 
always  receive  his  full  share  of  credit.  He  also 
wrote  on  the  anatomy  and  floral  morphology  of 
many  other  recent  genera;  but  it  is  for  his 
numerous  additions  to  our  knowledge  of  Mesozoic 
and  Palaeozoic  plants  that  he  is  best  known. ^  One 
of  his  most  impKJrtant  contributions  is  the  mas- 
terly account  of  Bennettites  Morierei,  a  Cycadean 
"flower,"  probably  from  the  Gault. 

Among  other  important  contributions  by 
Lignier  reference  may  be  made  to  his  detailed 
description  of  several  sf)ecies  of  Jurassic  and 
Cretaceous  Coniferous  and  Cycadean  stems  and 
some  Upper  Cretaceous  Angiospermous  wood 
referred  to  the  Hamamelidaceae ;  his  ingenious 
suggestions  with   regard   to   the   relationships   of 

1  For  a  list  of  Lignier'*  papers,  see  "Titres  et  Travaux  scienttfiques  de 
M.  Octave  Lignier."     Laval,  1914. 


144 


NATURE 


[April  13,  19^6 


the  Equisetales  and  Sphenophyllales ;  papers  on 
Jurassic  floras  of  France ;  and  especially  his  recent 
work,  in  part  in  collaboration  with  M.  Tison,  on 
the  flowers  of  the  Gnetales  and  the  systematic 
position  of  the  group.  Lig-nier's  activities  ranged 
over  a  wide  field ;  he  was  a  botanist  of  marked 
originality,  a  generous  friend,  and  a  man  imbued 
with  the  true  scientific  spirit.  It  was  through  his 
persistence  that  a  botanical  laboratory  was  built 
at  Caen,  and  under  his  able  direction  the  Uni- 
versity became  an  important  centre  of  botanical 
research.  A.  C.  S. 


NOTES. 

At  the  ordinary  scientific  meeting  of  the  Chemical 
Society,  held  at  Burlington  House  on  Thursday,  April 
6,  Dr.  Alexander  Scott,  president,  announced  that  the 
council  had  decided  that  an  extraordinary  general 
meeting  of  the  society  should  be  summoned  for 
Thursday,  May  ii,  to  consider  the  question  of  the 
removal  of  the  names  of  the  nine  alien  enemies  from 
the  list  of  honorary  and  foreign  members  of  the 
society. 

Replying  to  a  question  relating  to  the  inventions 
branch  of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  Dr.  Addison 
said,  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  April  lo  : — The 
Director-General  of  Munitions  Design  is  General  Du 
Cane.  His  salary  is  2000Z.  per  annum.  The  Super- 
intendent of  Research  is  Colonel  R.  A.  Craig.  His 
salary  is  850Z.  per  annum.  The  present  salaries  of 
his  staff  range  from  750?.  per  annum  to  240J.  per 
annum.  It  is  not  desirable  to  give  their  names.  In 
addition  to  the  staff  of  the  Superintendent  of  Research, 
a  number  of  most  eminent  chemists  and  other  men 
of  science  in  the  country  have  for  many  months  given 
their  services  to  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  without 
payment,  and  have  rendered  invaluable  assistance  to 
the  country. 

Sir  Colin  Campbell  Scott-Moncrieff,  whose  death 
occurred  on  April  6,  in  his  eightieth  year,  was  a  man  • 
of  distinguished  parts,  who  achieved  reputation  in 
three  several  directions,  as  a  soldier,  as  an  engineer, 
and  as  an  administrator.  Born  in  1836,  his  military 
career  commenced  at  the  age  of  twenty,  when  he 
entered  the  Bengal  Engineers  as  a  second  lieutenant. 
He  was  engaged  in  the  suppression  of  the  Indian 
Mutiny,  for  which  he  received  the  medal.  In  1883 
he  retired  with  "the  rank  of  Colonel.  From  that  date 
he  devoted  himself  to  the  inauguration  and  execution 
of  engineering  projects  of  a  utilitarian  character,  con- 
nected in  the  first  instance  with  the  agricultural  de- 
velopment of  -the  North-West  Provinces,  by  artificial 
irrigation.  He  also  held  office  as  chief  engineer  for 
Burma.  In  1883  his  services  were  transferred  to 
Egypt,  where  he  acted  as  Under-Secretary  of  State 
Public  Works  at  Cairo.  There,  where  perhaps  his 
best  and  most  notable  work  was  performed,  his  efforts 
were  concentrated  upon  the  more  effective  regulation 
of  -the  existing  water  supply  for  purposes  of  irriga- 
tion, and  during  his  tenure  of  office  he  carried  out 
the  restoration  of  the  Great  Nile  Barrage — a  difficult 
and  tedious  operation,  which  extended  over  a  period 
of  six  years.  A  comprehensive  review  of  his  labours 
and  of  the  difficulties  which  he  encountered  and  over- 
came is  to  be  found  in  a  paper  entitled  "  Irrigation 
in  Egypt,"  which  was  published  in  the  Professional 
Papers  of  the  Corps  of  Royal  Engineers  in  1893.  This 
paper  is  the  substance  of  three  lectures  delivered  by 
Col.  Scott-Moncrieff  before  the  Royal  Engineers'  Insti- 
tute, and  it  contains  much  interesting  information  on 

NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


the  Nile  and  its  treatment,  particularly  as  regards 
the  restoration  and  adaptation  of  the  barrage,  which 
was  effected  in  circumstances  of  great  discouragement 
and  no  little  opposition.  In  1892  he  left  Egypt  for 
home,  and  for  the  next  decade  he  was  in  office  as 
Under-Secretary  for  Scotland.  Then,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  century,  he  returned  to  India  to  take  up  duty 
as  president  of  the  Indian- Irrigation  Commission,  for 
which  service  he  was  rewarded,  in  1903,  with  the 
K. C.S.I.  He  had  previously,  in  1887,  been  made 
K.C.M.G. 

We  regret  to  record  the  death  01  Sir  Alexander  R. 
Simpson,  emeritus  professor  of  midwifery  in  the  Uni- 
versity ot  liuinDurgh.  Aithougn  above  eighty  years 
of  age,  he  was  active  both  in  mind  and  body,  and  it 
was  on  his  way  home  from  a  meeting  through  the 
darkened  streets  that  he  was  knocked  down  by  a 
motor-car  and  received  injuries  troni  which  he  died 
shordy  afterwards — on  the  night  of  Thursday,  April  6. 
Born  at  13acngate,  West  Lothian,  in  1S35,  '^^^  receiv- 
ing his  early  educa"tion  at  the  local  academy,  Simpson 
went  to  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  and  began  the 
study  ot  medicine  in  the  apprenticeship  days.  He  was 
apprenticed  to  John  Goodsir,  the  anatomist,  and 
amongst  his  other  teachers  was  Syme.  After  his 
graduation  ne  studied  abroad  ac  Montpelier  and  Ber- 
lin, acquiring,  in  addition  to  a  widened  knowledge  ot 
his  protession,  that  tacility  in  speaking  French  and 
German  which  made  him  such  an  admirable  and 
acceptable  representative  of  his  University  at  many 
foreign  congresses.  On  his  return  he  for  some  years 
assisted  his  uncle.  Sir  J.  Y.  Simpson,  then  at  the 
zenith  of  his  fame,  and  after  an  interval  of  five  years 
spent  in  practice  in  Glasgow,  succeeded  him  in  the 
chair  of  midwifery  and  the  diseases  of  women  and 
children  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  This  chaif 
he  held  for  thirty-five  years,  1870-1905.  In  1906  he 
received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  Simpson  had  a 
wide  knowledge  alike  of  the  history,  theory,  and  prac- 
tice of  his  profession.  He  practically  grew  up  with 
the  modern  science  of  gynaecology,  and  he  was  always 
awake  to  every  new  development  of  it,  and  familiar 
with  everything  of  importance  written  upon  it  in  all 
languages.  His  contributions  to  the  literature  of  his 
department  were  numerous  and  valuable  :  many  of 
them  are  collected  in  his  ^'  Contributions  to  Obstetrics 
and  Gynecology."  Sir  Alex.  Simpson  took  a  wide 
and  responsible  view  of  his  professorial  functions,  and 
interested  himself  in  all  that  concerned  the  welfare  of 
his  students  and  the  University.  Lady  Simpson  pre- 
deceased him  several  years  ago,  and  he  is  survived  by 
four  sons  and  a  daughter. 

The  death  is  announced,  at  sixty-five  years  of  age, 
of  Sir  Stafford  Howard,  K.C.B.,  formerly  Commis- 
sioner of  Woods  and  Forests,  a  post  to  which  he  was 
appointed  in  1893,  and  retained  until  1912.  He  was 
also  an  active  member  of  the  Afforestation  Committee. 

The  Nieuwe  Courant  announces  the  death  at  the 
age  of  fifty-four,  of  Dr.  H.  P.  Wijsman,  formerly 
professor  of  pharmacy  in  the  University  of  Leyden, 
and  since  1908  extraordinary  professor  of  the  chemistry 
of  foods  and  drugs  at  Utrecht.  He  was  also  secretar}' 
of  the  Colonial  Institute  of  Amsterdam. 

Science  announces  that  the  Avogadro  medal  has 
been  awarded  to  Prof.  H.  N.  Morse,  of  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  for  the  most  important  contribu- 
tion to  molecular  physics  made  since  the  meeting  held 
in  Turin  in  1911,  to  celebrate  the  centennial  of  the  '■ 
announcement  of  the  hypothesis  of  Avogadro. 

Dr.     David     Hooper,     formerly     curator     of    the  : 
Economic  and  Art  Sections  of  the  Indian  Museum  at 
Calcutta,    has    been    elected   president   of    the    British  i 


April  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


H5 


Pharmaceutical  Conference  for  the  remainder  of  the 
I      current  session,  in  succession  to  Major  Peck,  who  has 

I  been   compelled  to   resign   in   consequence   of   the   in- 
creasing pressure  of  his  military  duties. 

A  SERIES  of  popular  lectures  on  "  Our  Tropical 
Industries,"  describing  the  production  of  rubber,  tea, 
coffee,  cocoa,  sugar,  etc.,  in  the  tropical  colonies,  and 
illustrated  by  the  collections  of  the  Imp>erial  Institute, 
to  be  delivered  by  Miss  Edith  A.  Browne,  on  Wednes- 
days in  April,  May  and  June,  at  the  Imperial  Insti- 
tute, at  three  o'clock,  commenced  yesterday,  April  12. 
'  Admission  to  the  series  of  lectures  will  be  free  by 
li     ticket,  for  which   application    should  be   made   to  the 

II  director    of    the    Imperial    Institute,    South    Kensing- 
ton. 

i        The   sixty-ninth   annual   meeting   of   the   Palaeonto- 
1     graphical  Society  was  held  on  March  31,   Dr.    Henr\' 
Woodward,    president,    in    the    chair.     The    council's 
report   referred   to    the   temporary    diminution    of   the 
annual    volume    of    monographs    in    existing    circum- 
stances, but  noted  that  palaeontological  work  was  still 
I    being  actively  carried  on,  and  would  shortly  be  offered 
I    to  the  society  to  the  normal  extent.     Dr.  Henry  Wood- 
ward was  re-elected  president;   Dr.   G.   J.   Hinde  was 
elected  a  new  vice-president ;  Mr.  R.  S.  Herries  was  re- 
I    elected  treasurer;   Dr.   A.    Smith   Woodward   was   re- 
j    elected  secretary ;' and  Miss   Man,-   S.    Johnston,    Mr. 
■    H.  L.  Hawkins,  and  Mr.  G.  W.  Young  were  elected 
members  of  council. 

We  regret  to  record  the  death  of  Mr.  Henry  Mor- 
gan, on  April  3.  A  brief  account  of  his  career  appears 
in  Engineering  for  April  7.  Mr.  Morgan  was  born 
in  1834,  and  was  trained  in  Sheemess  Dockyard. 
After  occupying  responsible  posts  in  the  Royal  Dock- 
yards, he  proceeded  to  the  Admiralty  in  1869,  under 
Sir  (then  Mr.)  Edward  J.  Reed.  Mr.  Morgan  also 
i  served  as  chief  constructor  under  Sir  Nathaniel 
\  Barnaby  and  Sir  William  White.  He  retired  in  1889, 
after  twentv-iive  years'  active  service  in  the  design  of 
warships.  He  devoted  much  of  his  ability  to  the  Insti- 
tution of  Naval  Architects,  and  was  a  member  of 
council  from  1871. 

Discussing  the  question  of  centralisation  in  military 
aeronautics,  Engineering  for  April  7  considers  that  the 
true  function  of  a  central  board  would  seem  to  be  the 
collection  and  collation  of  facts,  their  transmission  to 
those  interested,  and  the  preparation  of  general  speci- 
fications, which,  so  far  as  practicable,  should  specify 
ends,  rather  than  means.  Any  attempt  to  centralise 
design  and  experiment,  and  to  discourage  independent 
work,  will  necessarily  imply  restrictions  on  the  initia- 
tion of  many  able  men.  A  central  board,  operating 
with  salaried  officials,  may,  no  doubt,  conduct  routine 
researches  accurately  and  ably;  but,  in  the  opinion  of 
our  contemporary,  a  central  organisation  must  not  "be 
looked  to  for  important  new  departures  in  either  science 
or  industry'. 

According  to  the  Nieuwe  Courant,  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Sciences  of  Amsterdam  has  awarded  the 
f(^owing  grants  from  the  Van't  Hoff  Research  Fund  : 
640  francs  to  Prof.  F.  Ephraim,  of  Berne,  for  the 
continuation  of  his  studies  on  the  nature  of  subsidiary- 
valencies;  600  guilders  (£50)  to  Dr.  P.  E.  Verkade', 
ofDelft,  for  the  purchase  of  apparatus  for  the  deter- 
mination of  heats  of  combustion;  100  guilders  to  Dr. 
D.  H.  Wester,  of  The  Hague,  for  a  chemical  exami- 
nation of  certain  species  of  Loranthus ;  200  guilders 
toDr.  C.  H.  Sluiter,  of  Vught,  for  the  purchase  of 
Beilstein's  handbook  and  of  materials  for  an  investi- 
gation of  formaldoxime ;  400  marks  to  Prof.  E. 
Janecke,   of   Hannover,   for   the    continuation   of   his 


NO.    2424,   VOL.    97] 


work    on    melting   and   transition  points   under   high 
pressures. 

In  the  Times  of  April  4  Prof.  W.  C.  McC.  Lewis 
points  out  that  the  neglect  of  the  science  of  chemistry 
in  this  country  is  due,  not  only  to  the  public  ignorance 
of  the  close  connection  existing  between  industry  and 
the  most  abstruse  forms  of  chemical  research,  but  also 
to  the  miserably  inadequate  salaries  paid  to  chemical 
assistants  in  university  laboratories.  In  illustration 
of  the  former,  he  cites,  amongst  other  cases,  the  work 
of  the  Corrosion  Committee  of  the  Institute  of  Metals, 
at  Liverpool  University,  and  the  new  process  recently 
adopted  by  the  War  Office  for  the  production  of  phenol. 
In  mitigation  of  the  latter,  a  plea  is  put  forward  for 
the  establishment  of  a  chemistry  committee  of  the 
advisory  committee  on  university,-  grants,  with  an 
endowment  of  30,000?.  a  year.  Compared  with  the 
scheme  proposed  by  Mr.  C.  A.  Jacobson  for  the 
United  States,  and  noticed  in  last  week's  Nature 
(p.  130),  for  the  creation  of  a  chemical  research  insti- 
tute at  a  cost  of  one  million  pounds  annually,  this  is 
modesty  indeed. 

The  article  on  Zeppelins  by  M.  Georges  Prade,  in 
the  Times  of  March  25,  has  been  followed  by  another 
on  "The  Newest  Aeroplanes,'  Dy  the  same  author,  in 
the  issue  of  April  7.  There  being  no  outstanding 
aeroplane  in  the  sense  that  the  Zeppelin  is  an  out- 
standing airship,  the  treatment  is  totally  different,  and 
becomes  a  general  review  of  the  functions  and  general 
characteristics  of  aeroplanes.  It  is  said  that  the  idea 
of  building  one  aeroplane  which  shall  combine  in 
itself  all  the  good  qualities  has  proved  to  be  Utopian, 
and  attention  is  now  directed  to  four  types  : — (i)  Scout- 
ing aeroplanes ;  (2)  artillery  observation  aeroplanes ; 
(3)  bomb-droppers;  and  (4)  battle  planes.  Discussing 
the  question  of  size,  Mr.  Prade  says  that  "  an  aero- 
plane is  too  small  when  it  does  not  even  permit  a 
machine-gun  to  be  carried ;  an  aeroplane  becomes  too 
large  when  its  increase  in  power  and  surface  is  not 
accompanied  by  a  proportionate  increase  in  weight-lift 
capacit}\"  This  statement  does  not  carry  very  far, 
and  limits  aeroplanes  to  quite  moderate  sizes.  Amongst 
the  classes  mentioned  above,  it  appears  that  the  lightest 
is  that  of  battle  planes,  and  the  largest  the  bomb- 
dropper,  the  former  having  a  total  weight  of  less 
than  a  ton,  and  the  latter  an  unsf>ecified  but  not  large 
weight  if  the  horse-power  of  200  may  be  taken  as  a 
criterion. 

In  the  last  issue  of  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin 
Institute  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly  suggests  a  scheme  for 
the  co-ordination  of  the  work  of  American  labora- 
tories of  applied  science.  There  are  now  a  consider- 
able number  of  these  laboratories,  but  in  some  cases 
the  results  of  investigations  are  not  published,  and  in 
others  they  are  not  sufficiently  widely  known.  More- 
over there  is  overlapping.  "Each  laboraton,-,  as  a 
rule,  works  for  and  in  itself,  as  though  it  were  the 
only  one  in  the  country.  It  is  almost  self-evident  that 
the  collective  output  would  be  improved,  and  the  cause 
of  engineering  advanced,  if  these  various  laboratories 
could  be  co-ordinated,  without  imposing  on  them 
either  hindering  restrictions  or  burdensome  expense." 
Dr.  Kennelly  therefore  suggests  that  the  Franklin 
Institute  should  take  the  initiative,  in  :  (i)  Giving 
publication,  so  far  as  it  can,  to  the  results  reached  in 
these  laboratories.  (2)  Suggesting  subjects  for  re- 
search to  such  laboratories  as  seem  best  suited  for 
them.  (3)  Inviting  subjects  from  the  industries  and 
!  grants  for  the  expenses  of  research.  (4)  Encouraging 
>  mutual  understanding  between  the  laboratories.  TTiis 
'  matter  also  deserves  consideration  in  the  British  Isles. 
]  Attempts  are  being  made  to  promote  unity  of  effort 


146 


NATURE 


[April  13,  19 16 


on  the  part  of  the  chief  scientific  and  technical 
societies,  and  the  time  seems  ripe  for  a  similar 
movement  towards  co-operation  between  the  research 
staffs  of  the  chief  colleges  and  technical  institutions. 

Miss  Margaret  Murray  contributes  a  very  interest- 
ing paper  to  vol,  xlv.  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Anthropological  Institute,  under  the  title  of  "  Royal 
Marriages  and  Matrilineal  Descent."  She  begins  by 
quoting  the  well-known  case  of  matrilineal  descent  in 
the  kingdom  of  Travancore,  and  then  proceeds  to 
show  that  the  same  law  prevailed  under  the  Old  and 
New  Egyptian  kingdoms,  in  the  Ptolemaic  period, 
and  among  the  Hebrews  in  the  time  of  David  and 
of  Solomon,  the  latter  being  reported  by  tradition  to 
have  gained  possession  of  the  kingdom  of  Sheba  by 
marrying  its  Queen.  She  reaches  more  unfamiliar 
ground  when  she  seeks  to  apply  the  same  principle 
to  the  succession  of  the  Roman  Emperors.  Not  that 
indications  of  the  same  rule  are  wanting.  Thus  it 
is  significant  that  Julius  Caesar,  free  to  adopt  whom 
he  pleased,  should  have  followed  the  same  law  of 
matrilineal  descent  by  adopting  Augustus,  while  some- 
thing of  the  same  kind  may  be  gathered  from  the 
marriages  of  Octavia  and  Julia.  So  Caligula,  son  of 
Agripplna,  succeeds  Tiberius,  who  naturally  wished 
his  own  son  to  succeed  him,  and  there  Is  some  reason 
to  believe  that  the  circumstances  surrounding  the 
death  of  Messalina  are  only  explicable  by  the  custom 
of  female  inheritance  and  succession  by  right  of  mar- 
riage with  the  heiress.  All  this  Is  very  cleverly  worked 
out,  but  the  facts  are  not  quite  conclusive,  and  a 
further  examination  of  the  royal  genealogies,  so  far 
as  they  can  now  be  recovered,  is  needed  before  the 
theory  can  be  fully  established. 

The  Psychological  Bulletin  (vol.  xIII.,  No.  2)  re- 
ports the  papers  given  at  the  meeting  of  the  American 
Psychological  Association.  The  range  of  subjects 
treated  is  very  wide,  and  the  detailed  Investigations 
are  of  considerable  interest.  M.  F.  Meyer  describes  a 
rare  case  of  colour-blindness.  It  Is  customary  to 
recognise  two  groups  of  two  antagonistic  colours  each, 
red-green  and  blue-j'ellow,  and  writers  on  the  subject 
give  details  of  the  corresp>ondlng  forms  of  colour-blind- 
ness, in  addition  to  total  colour-blindness.  The  author 
of  the  article  before  us  describes  a  case  of  a  somewhat 
unique  kind,  the  subject  regarding  blue  and  green  as 
one  colour,  and  red  and  yellow  as  another.  For  him 
the  division  point  in  the  spectrum  occurs  in  the 
yellowish-green  region  :  on  one  side  everything  is  one 
colour,  which  he  calls  indiscriminately  either  green  or 
blue ;  on  the  other  side  everything  Is  another  colour, 
which  he  calls  indifferently  red  or  yellow.  He  has  no 
need  for  the  four  names.  The  author  suggests  that  at 
a  time  when  only  two  chromas  existed,  Nature  vacil- 
lated between  one  type  of  animals  having  the  dividing 
point  in  the  spectrum  In  the  (normally)  bluish-green 
region,  and  a  second  type  having  the  dividing  point 
in  the  yellowish-green  region ;  ordinarily  the  former 
type  has  prevailed,  but  there  is  still  a  trace  of  the 
latter. 

We  have  just  received  the  report  on  Cetacea 
stranded  on  the  British  coasts  during  1915.  This  is 
the  third  of  its  kind  issued  by  the  trustees  of  the 
British  Museum,  and  prepared  by  Dr.  S.  F.  Harmer, 
F.R.S.,  the  keeper  of  the  Zoological  Department. 
Each  of  these  reports  not  only  adds  to  the  value  of  its 
predecessor,  but  also  emphasises  the  importance  of 
this  attempt  to  determine  the  precise  character  of  the 
Cetacean  fauna  of  our  seas,  and  its  seasonal  migra- 
tions. Already  it  is  clear  that  species  hitherto  supposed 
to  be  but  rare  and  accidental   visitors  may  prove  to 

NO.    2424,   VOL.    97] 


be,  at  any  rate,  annual  visitors  to  our  shores.  This 
seems  to  be  true,  for  example,  of  Cuvier's  whale 
{Ziphius  cavirostris),  which,  as  Dr.  Harmer  has 
demonstrated,  may  easily  be  confused  with  the  bottle- 
nosed  whale  (Hyperoodon),  at  any  rate  in  the  case  of 
Immature  specimens.  One  of  the  two  specimens  re- 
cently acquired  by  the  museum  was  at  any  rate  thus 
mistaken.  From  the  evidence  in  this  report  it  would 
seem  that  Mesoplodon  is  represented  in  our  seas  by  two, 
and  perhaps  three,  species.  Thus  from  a  faunistic,  as 
well  as  from  an  economic,  point  of  view  It  Is  plain 
that  the  task  which  Dr.  Harmer  has  set  himself  is 
one  of  extreme  importance. 

The  Journal  of  the  East  Africa  and  Uganda  Natural 
History  Society  (vol.  v..  No.  9)  contains  a  paper  by 
Mr.  C.  VV.  Hoblev  on  the  alleged  desiccation  of  East 
Africa,  which  will  be  read  with  Interest  by  anthropo- 
logists, as  well  as  by  those  for  whom  It  is  more 
especially  written.  The  author  remarks  that  between 
KIsmayu  and  Port  Durnford  there  are  said  to  be  sixty 
miles  of  coast  full  of  ruins,  and,  again,  north  of  Port 
Durnford,  there  are  innumerable  ruins  of  stone  build- 
ings. No  record  remains  of  the  builders,  but  they 
are  commonly  supposed  to  have  been  early  Persian 
settlers.  But  the  settlements  seem  to  have  been 
formed  since  the  establishment  of  the  Mahommedan 
religion,  for  there  are  numerous  remains  of  well- 
built  stone  mosques,  and  myriads  of  stone  graves  of 
the  Moslem  type.  The  author  is  inclined  to  believe 
that  they  may  date  back  to  as  far  as  Himyarltic 
times.  In  the  Somali  hinterland,  in  Juba-land,  there 
are  large  numbers  of  artificial  mounds,  many  as  much 
as  30  ft.  high,  which  are  believed  to  be  the  funeral 
mounds  of  an  extinct  race.  At  the  earliest  opportunity 
these  mounds  should  be  explored. 

The  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute  for  February 
contains  a  useful  survey  of  what  is  known  In  regard 
to  the  production  of  light  by  animals.  This  survey, 
which  began  with  the  January  issue,  and  is  not  yet 
completed,  is  devoted  to  the  coelenterates.  Herein 
the  phosphorescent  discharge  takes  the  form  of 
granules  mixed  with  mucin  secreted  by  special  cells 
of  the  epithelium.  The  discharged  matter — luciferlne 
— becomes  luminous  on  coming  into  contact  with  the 
free  oxygen  contained  In  the  sea-water.  The  author, 
Prof.  U.  Dahlgren,  of  Princeton  University,  cites  a 
number  of  experiments  made  to  determine  the  nature 
of  the  stimuli  which  produce  luminescence,  and  these 
all  show  that  light  production  is  at  its  best  at  the 
optimum  temperature  at  which  the  animals  usually 
live.  The  eggs  of  ctenophores  have  often  been  said 
to  emit  light,  but  the  author  is  unable  to  confirm  this 
statement.  The  early  segmentation  stages,  however, 
develop  luminosity,  and  this  increases  in  Intensity 
from  the  gastrula  stage  onwards.  Among  the  echino- 
derma,  which,  with  the  MoUusca,  are  reviewed  in  the 
March  issue,  luminescence  has  been  demonstrated  only 
in  the  "brittle-stars,"  or  Ophiurids.  It  is  exceedingly 
rare  among  the  Mollusca.  The  author  discusses  at^ 
some  length  the  well-known  case  of  the  pelagic  Phyl-j 
llrrhoe,  and  the  remarkable  instance  of  Pholas  dac- 
tylus,  which,  though  always  buried,  yet  has  large 
areas  of  the  body  provided  with  luminous  glands. 
The  light  from  these  shines  brightly  when  the  animal 
Is  removed  from  its  shell,  but  during  life  is  mani- 
fested only  by  means  of  a  mucous  slime,  discharged 
from  the  exhalant  siphon,  which  alone  is  exposed  to 
the  outer  world.  k 

An  extensive  ecological  study  of  the  fauna  of  prairie 
and    forest    regions    near    Charleston,     Illinois,    has 


April  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


147 


lately  been  published  (Bull.  111.  State  Lab.  Nat.  Hist., 
vol.  xi.,  2,  3),  Dr.  C.  C.  Adams  describing  the  in- 
vertebrates and  Mr.  T.  L.  Hankinson  the  vertebrates. 
The  regions  dealt  with  seem  to  represent  a  remnant 
of  the  wild  country  of  the  State,  now  as  a  whole 
highly  cultivated,  and  altered  by  human  agency.  The 
animals  are  divided  into  prairie  and  woodland 
dwellers,  each  with  several  groups  of  "associations," 
and  the  extensive  series  of  photographs  enables  the 
reader  to  realise  the  nature  of  the  localities  described. 
Doubtless  the  invertebrates  listed  represent  only  a 
fraction  of  the  fauna  of  the  districts,  but  the  authors 
may  be  congratulated  on  having  collected  so  large  an 
array  of  facts  while  wild  areas  are  still  at  their  dis- 
posal for  study. 

The    gram    crop    in    India    {Cicer    arietintim)    has 

occupied  the  attention  of  Mr.   and  Mrs.   Howard  and 

Mr.   A.    R.    Khan   at   Pusa,   and   their   results,   which 

i  are  of  considerable  scientific  and  economic  value,  are 

I  published  in  Memoirs  of  the  Department  of  Agricul- 

!  ture  in   India,   vol.    vii.,   No.   6,   for   December,    1915. 

I  Gram  is  an  important  cold  season  food-grain  in  India, 

'  and  some  18,000,000  acres  are  devoted  to  its  cultiva- 

i  tion   every   year.     The    best   returns   are   obtained   on 

'  light,    high-lying,    well-drained    land,    and    in    a    wet 

I  season   or  on  heavy  land  the  yield  is  very  consider- 

1  ably  lessened.     Another  important  factor  is  the  time 

of    sowing.       Figures    are    given    showing    the    root 

I  formatiort  in  relation  to  soil   moisture,   and  the   seed 

I  yield  is  found  to  be  directly  correlated  with  the  root 

.system,  for  when  this  is  stunted,  owing  to  too  moist 

!  conditions,  no  seed  is  produced.     Twenty-five  types  of 

I  gram  have  been  bred  at  Pusa,  and  a  careful  classifica- 

:  tion  of  them  is  given  in  the  paper.     It  is  found  that 

jdifferent    types    are    suitable    for    different    localities. 

iThe    power    to    set    seed,    habit    of    growth,    time    of 

iflowering,  are  all  important  features.     The  best  type 

is  a  white   gram,    which    in    addition    to    this    colour 

jquality  has  given   a  yield  of  more   than   20   maunds 

per  acre. 


In  no  part  of  the  world,  not  even  in  Japan,  are 
the  observations  of  earthquakes  published  on  so  lavish 
la  scale  as  in  Italy.  As  an  instance  of  this,  we  have 
lately  received"  the  notices  of  earthquakes  observed  in 
:hat  country  during  the  year  19 10.  They  form  a 
■'olume  of  more  than  six  hundred  pages,  which  is 
ssued  as  a  supplement  to  the  Bollettino  for  1913  of 
he  Italian  Seismological  Society.  In  it.  Dr.  G.  Mar- 
inelli  has  collected  the  recorded  observations  of  all 
local  earthquakes,  as  well  as  those  of  external  earth- 
juakes  which  are  registered  instrumentally  in  Italy. 
Jseful  additions  to  the  catalogue  are  lists  of  thirty-two 
talian  observatories  with  the  constants  of  the  different 
nstruments  which  they  contain,  and  of  the  epicentral 
egions  of  the  stronger  earthquakes.  If  we  might 
>ffer  two  suggestions,  it  seems  to  us  that  the  separa- 
ion  of  the  two  classes  of  local  and  external  earth- 
[uakes,  and  brief  discussions  of  the  materials  col- 
ected  for  the  more  important  local  earthquakes,  with 
naps,  would  add  very  greatlv  to  the  value  of  the 
Catalogue. 

At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Illuminating  Engineer- 
iig  Society  the  desirability  of  standardising  the 
haterials  used  in  lighting  glassware,  and  the  sizes  of 
himneys,  globes,  reflectors,  etc.,  was  discussed, 
l-etters  from  manufacturers  were  read  pointing  out 
'lat  the  multiplicity  of  shapes  and  sizes  of  glass  was 

und  to  be  a  great  drawback.  \  special  problem 
■  the  production  of  "heat-resisting"  glassware  for 
lobes  used  with  high-pressure  gas  lamps,  and  other 
igh-temperature  illuminants.  Other  speakers  re- 
NO.    2424,   VOL.   97] 


marked  on  the  variations  in  quality  met  with  in  opal 
glass  as  regards  absorption,  uniformity  of  diffusion, 
and  colour.  Two  special  varieties  ot  glass  which 
particularly  require  standardisation  are  those  used 
respectively  for  producing  "artificial  daylight"  from 
various  illuminants,  and  tor  neutral  absorbing  screens 
in  photometry.  Neutral-tinted  glasses  of  guaranteed 
absorption  cannot  readily  be  obtained  in  this  country, 
although  they  play  an  important  part  in  many  photo- 
metric and  optical  instruments.  Several  members  of 
the  Glass  Research  Committee  of  the  Institute  of 
Chemistry  were  present,  and  gave  some  particulars  of 
the  work  of  the  Committee  on  laboratory  and 
chemical  glasses.  In  the  course  of  the  discussion  it 
was  suggested  that  the  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society  should  appoint  a  Committee  on  Lighting 
Glassware. 

The  Netherlands  Meteorological  Institute  has  re- 
cently published  the  fourth  and  last  part  of  the  new 
edition  of  the  oceanographical  and  meteorological  ob- 
servations in  the  Indian  Ocean ;  the  part  comprises 
the  months  of  March,  April,  and  May  from  the 
observations  for  the  years  1856-1912.  Many  of  the 
observations  are  obtained  from  our  English  Meteoro- 
logical Office  and  from  other  European  weather 
offices.  The  results  are  published  in  a  tabular  form, 
in  very  great  detail,  and  are  grouped  together  in  order  of 
10°  ocean  squares,  and  are  subdivided  into  single- 
degree  squares.  Results  are  given  for  ocean  currents, 
winds,  barometer,  air  and  sea  temperatures,  cloud, 
mist,  rain,  and  hail.  Charts  are  published  in  a  separ- 
ate volume,  giving  in  a  graphical  form  the  general 
circulation  of  winds  and  currents,  and  the  isobars,  and 
isotherms,  of  air  and  sea,  together  with  the  general 
trade  routes.  The  number  of  observations  available 
for  each  element  is  given,  so  that  the  value  of  the 
results  can  be  estimated,  and  for  several  of  the 
elements  more  than  a  million  observations  have  been 
used  for  the  year.  This  work  of  the  Dutch  Meteoro- 
logical Institute  formed  the  subject  for  discussion  on 
Monday,  March  13,  at  the  Meteorological  Office,  at 
South  Kensington,  the  discussion  being  opened  by 
Admiral  Farquhar. 

"The  Spread  of  Tuberculosis,"  by  Dr.  L.  Cobbett, 
is  in  the  press  for  publication  in  the  "Cambridge 
Public  Health"  series  {Cambridge  University  Press). 
The  following  works  are  in  preparation  for  inclusion 
in  the  same  series  : — "Ticks  as  Carriers  of  Disease," 
Prof.  G.  H.  F.  Nuttall ;  "  Serum  Diagnoses,"  Dr.  C. 
Browning;  "The  Purification  of  Water  in  Sedimenta- 
tion, Filtration,  and  Precipitation,"  Dr.  A.  C. 
Houston;  "The  Purification  of  Water  by  Ozone  and 
Chlorine ;  and  Domestic  Filters,"  Prof.  G.  Sims 
Woodhead ;  "  The  Principles  and  Practice  of  the 
Dilution  Method  of  Sewage  Disposal,"  Dr.  W.  E. 
Adeney;  "Disinfection,"  Dr.  C.  W.  Ponder; 
"  Housing  in  Relation  to  Public  Health,"  Dr.  C.  J. 
Coleman;  "School  Hygiene,"  Dr.  E.  T-  Roberts; 
"Soils,  Subsoils,  and  Climate  in  Relation  to  Health," 
G.  Walker;  "Meat  Inspection,"  Dr.  W.  J.  Howarth 
and  T.  D.  Young;  "Vital  Statistics,"  R.  Dudfield 
and  G.  U.  Yule;  and  "Foods,  Sound  and  Unsound," 
Dr.  H.  C.  Haslam.  For  the  "Cambridge  Farm  Insti- 
tute "  series  the  following  are  in  preparation  : — "  Plant 
Life  in  Farm  and  Garden,"  Prof.  R.  H.  Biffen ; 
"The  Feeding  of-  Farm  Animals,"  Prof.  T.  B. 
Wood,  and  "Common  Fungus  and  Insect  Foes," 
F.  R.  Petherbridge,  and  for  the  series  of  "  Cambridge 
Agricultural  Monographs  "  : — "  Poisonous  Plants," 
H.  C.  Long:  "The  Strength  of  Wheat  Flour."  Prof. 
T.  B.  Wood;  "The  Constitution  of  the  Soil,"  Dr. 
E.  J.  Russell;  and  "Disease  Resistance,"  Prof.  R.  H. 
Biffen. 


148 


NATURE 


[April  13,  19 16 


OVR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Comet  1916a  (Neujmin). — Prof.  E.  Stromgren,  in  a 
post-card  dated  April  i,  from  the  Copenhagen  Ob- 
servatory, gives  the  following  observation  of  Neujmin's 
comet  at  Bamberg  on  March  23  : — loh.  7m,  15s.  M.T. 
Bamberg; a  app.  =  9h.  15m.  7- 15s.  ;8  app.  =  +2°  i8'  31-9*. 
The  corrections  to  the  positions  given  in  M.  J. 
Fischer-Petersen's  ephemeris  are,  for  March  23  :+7s., 
+  i-o'. — Copenhagen  Post-card  No.  16  gives  the  follow- 
ing <X)ntinuation  of  the  ephemeris  : — 

i2h.  G.M.T. 


R.  A. 

1916 

h 

m.  s. 

"Dec- 

April  20 

10 

2  41' 

-  7  34-0 

22 

6  47 

8  6-5 

24 

10  56 

8  38-0 

26 

15  9 

9  8-6 

28   .. 

19  25 

9  38-3 

30 

23  44 

10  71 

May  2 

28  5    .. 

10  351 

4 

32  28 

II   2-2 

6 

36  53 

II  28-6 

8   .. 

41  20 

"  54-3 

10 

10 

45  50 

-12  19-3 

OccuLTATiON  OF  Mars,  OCTOBER  2,  1915. — Observa- 
tions were  made  by  W.  Voss  at  Altona  {Astronomische 
Nachrichten,  No.  4831).  Although  the  altitude  was 
low  (17°)  and  the  air  unsteady,  all  four  contacts  were 
recorded.  The  successive  phases  anticipated  the  cal- 
culated times  by  loo,  138,  27- 1,  and  31 -8  seconds 
respectively.  Corrections  to  the  ephemeris  of  the 
moon  have  been  calculated  from  the  observations  of 
second  and  third  contacts.  Taking  into  account  the 
effect  of  the  phase  of  the  planet  on  the  emersion,  it 
api>ears  that  the  moon  is  10"  further  on  its  path,  and 
in  the  direction  at  right  angles  3"  to  the  north  of  the 
position  given  by  the  Nautical  Almanac. 

The  Radiation  Laws  and  Stellar  Photometry. — 
In  Meddelande  No.  67,  Lund's  Observatory,  Dr.  C.  V.  L. 
Charlier  continues  a  statistical  investigation  of  the 
consequences  of  various  laws  of  radiation  in  regard 
to  stellar  light  emission.  Although  Planck's  law  does 
not,  yet  both  Stephan's  and  Wien's  radiation  laws  indi- 
cate the  existence  of  an  inversion-temperature  (visual 
>i8,ooo°),  at  which  for  a  given  wave-length  the  radia- 
tion is  a  maximum  recalling  the  results  obtained  by 
Kovesligethy.  This  important  inference  applied  to 
the  phenomena  of  new  stars  is  considered  to  remove 
the  objection  to  collision  hypotheses,  justifying  the 
ingenious  suggestion  that  the  observed  rapid  diminu- 
tion in  brightness  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  inversion- 
temperature  has  been  passed.  The  investigation  has 
a  direct  bearing  on  the  question  of  colour-indices.  A 
rigorous  interpretation  of  the  usual  determinations 
is  shown  to  require  the  numerical  evaluation  of  several 
instrumental  factors,  which  determine  the  difference 
between   the  measured  and  the  actual  energy. 

Dark  Markings  in  the  Sky. — Some  striking  photo- 
graphs possibly  showing  dark  objects  are  reproduced 
in  a  paper  by  Prof.  E.  E.  Barnard  in  the  January 
number  of  the  Astrophysical  Journal  (in  modified 
covers).  A  dark  marking  in  Cepheus  (18600,  R.A. 
2oh.  48-om.  +  59°  6')  would  almost  pass  for  a  negative 
of  the  gaseous  nebula  N.G.C.  6995.  Prof.  Barnard 
advances  the  interesting  suggestion  that  these  dark 
bodies  are  rendered  apparent  by  a  faint  general 
luminescence  of  the  background.  This  bears  a  sort 
of  reciprocal  relation  to  Prof.  H.  H.  Turner's  sug- 
gested widespread  absorbing  areas,  yet  it  is  not  impos- 
sible that  both  refer  to  coincident  areas  in  space. 

A  Cluster  of  Nebula  in  Cetus. — ^To  the  north  of 
the  95  mag.  star,  B.D.,  2°  128',  Prof.  M.  Wolf  has 
found  a  rich  cluster  of  small  nebulous  objects.     In  a 

NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


region  30'  diameter  around  R.A.  =oh.  49-orn.,  8=— 20' 
(1855),  no  fewer  than  fifty  nuclei  were  discerned  with 
the  16  in.  The  nebulae  are  nearly  as  abundant  but 
much  smaller  than  in  the  nebulous  areas  in  Coma 
Berenices  and  Virgo,  and  all  are  to  be  regarded  as 
either  the  remnants  of,  or  the  brightest  parts  of,  very 
faint  spiral  nebulae.  Replicas  on  the  tiniest  scale  of 
the  Andromedae  nebulae  are  very  numerous.  The 
cluster  is  not  strongly  condensed,  but  it  is  rather  the 
arrangement  in  winding  lines  that  attracts  attention 
{Astronomische  Nachrichten,  No.  4833). 


THE  NEW  CHEMICAL  LABORATORIES  AT 
UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE,  LONDON. 

THE  provision  of  properly  equipped  chemical  labora- 
tories with  ample  facilities,  not  only  for  teach- 
ing, but  also  research,  is  a  matter  of  the  utmost 
national  importance.  Fortunately,  University  College, 
London,  has  been  engaged  for  the  last  five  years  in 
the  endeavour  to  obtain  a  chemical  laboratory  worthy 
of  its  famous  tradition,  associated  with  the  names  of 
Graham,  Williamson,  and  Ramsay,  and  equal  to  the 
strenuous  demands  of  the  present  day  and  the  years 
of  keen  scientific  and  industrial  rivalry  which  await 
all  civilised  nations  after  the  war. 

As  a  result  of  strenuous  effort  and  the  generosity  of 
many  private  benefactors  and  public  bodies,  a  fine 
new^  building  has  been  erected.  The  main  facade 
has  a  frontage  of  more  than  a  hundred  yards,  whilst 
the  building  itself  occupies  an  area  of  about  18,000 
square  feet.  The  basement,  which  is,  in  reality,  only 
a  half-basement,  and  is  amply  illuminated  owing  to  the 
use  of  prismatic  glass  in  the  windows  and  of  white 
tiles  and  white  glazed  bricks  on  the  walls,  is  devoted 
mainly  to  physical  chemistry,  electrochemistry,  and 
technical  chemistry,  for  all  of  which  spacious  labora- 
tories are  provided.  A  novel  feature  here  is  the  pro- 
vision of  a  very  large  room,  about  50  ft.  square,  for 
the  carrying  out  of  chemical  operations  on  an  engineer- 
ing scale  (Fig.  i).  This  room  will  be  provided  wuth 
gas,  water,  steam,  compressed  air,  electrical  power,  and 
special  ventilation.  The  ceiling  is  very  high,  and 
strong  steel  girders  run  across  from  wall  to  wall  at 
approximately  half  the  height  from  floor  to  ceiling. 
These  enable  scaffolding  to  be  rapidly  erected,  heavy 
machiner)'  and  apparatus  to  be  moved  about,  tanks 
to  be  hoisted  into  position,  etc.  As  everj^  practical 
man  knows,  "technical"  chemistry  (a  term  very  much 
misunderstood  in  this  country)  is  simply,  when  effec- 
tive, a  combination  of  good  chemistry,  good  engineer- 
ing, and  good  business.  The  ample  provision  made  at 
University  College  for  adequate  engineering  tests  of 
chemical  processes  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era 
in  the  development  of  university  chemical  laboratories. 
It  is  significant  that  this  provision  was  designed  and 
planned  several  years  before  the  outbreak  of  the  pre- 
sent war,  and  owes  its  inception  to  the  insight  and 
prescience  of  Sir  William  Ramsay.  In  September, 
19 15,  the  laboratory  of  technical  chemistry  was  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  and  has 
been  in  constant  use  since  then  for  the  working  out 
of  the  chemical  engineering  details  of  a  new  process, 
under  the  supervision  of  Prof.  B.  D.  Steele,  of  the 
University, of  Queensland.  As  a  result  of  this  work  a 
large  new  factory  is  in  process  of  erection  by  the 
Government. 

The  basement  also  contains  a  large,  well-equipped 
workshop  (the  equipment  of  which  was  made  possible 
by  the  generosity  of  Dr.  R.  Messel,  F.R.S.),  and 
special  rooms  for  storage  batteries,  electrical 
machinery,  the  liquefaction  of  gases,  and  spectroscopic 
and  calorimetric  work.  In  the  rooms  devoted  to 
physical  chemistry  ample  accomrnodation   is  provided 


April. -13;  1916] 


NATURE 


149 


for  carn-ing'  out  every  class  of  electrochemical  work. 
Indeed,  a  marked  characteristic  of  the  building  is  the 
ample  and  adequate  provision  of  space  for  physical 
chemistry  and  electrochemistry-. 

The  ground  floor  contains  the  large  chemical  lec- 
ture theatre  (with  seating  accommodation  for  240 
persons),  the  physical  chemistr}'  lecture  theatre  (100 
persons),  the  librar}-,  and  the  analytical  and  inorganic 
laboratories.  There  is  also  a  room  for  metallurgical 
work,  and  a  store-room. 

The  first  floor  is  -devoted  entirely  to  organic  chem- 
istry, and  contains  a  spacious  main  laboratory,  organic 
chemistry  lecture  theatre  (100  persons),  organic  chem- 
ical store,  combustion-  and  furnace-rooms,  etc.  On 
this  floor  is  also  a  room  for  sf>ectroscopic  work. 

The  second  floor  contains  the  "  first  year "  labora- 
tor\-  (with  accommodation  for  100  students),  the  depart- 
ment of  pathological  chemistry,  and  numerous  research 


and  electrochemistry.  There  is  also  a  great  want  of 
many  pieces  of  apparatus  required  for  advanced  study 
and  research  in  inorganic  and  organic  chemistry.  A 
sum  of  about  20,000/.  is  urgently  required  in  order  to 
complete  this  internal  equipment,  without  which  the 
laboratory  will  be  unable  to  fulfil  its  great  purpose  of 
training  the  research  chemists  of  which  we  stand  at 
present  so  badly  in  need.  The  country  cannot  afford 
to  lose  a  moment.  In  the  immediate  future  thousands 
of  chemists  will  be  required  trained  in  the  methods  of 
research.  Every  well-equipf>ed  chemical  laboratory  is 
therefore  an  asset  of  the  highest  national  importance. 
Not  only  power  and  wealth,  and  national  well-being, 
are  dependent  thereon,  but  our  ver\-  existence  as  an 
independent  and  civilised  community.  For  if  the 
events  of  the  last  two  years  have  shown  that  war  is 
dependent  on  chemical  science,  it  is  still  more  true 
that  without  it  there  can  be  no  prosperity  and  security 


Fig.  I. — Laboratory   ol    j.  cLiimcai   v>i; 

urns.  Next  to  the  provision  made  for  instruction 
jin  engineering  and  physical  chemistr}-,  perhaps  the 
:nost  marked  feature  of  the  building  is  the  accom- 
dation  provided  for  research  work.  There  are  no 
■ver  than  twenty-seven  rooms  devoted  exclusively  to 
post-graduate  and  research  work,  providing  ample 
iccommodation  for  at  least  sixt\^  research  workers, 
jrhese  rooms  are  suitably  distributed  throughout  the 
|)uilding.  In  this  respect  it  will  compare  favourably 
kith  the  largest  and  most  famous  laboratories  of  the 
pontinent.  One  may,  perhaps,  go  so  far  as  to  state 
hat  when  the  internal' equipment  is  complete  the  labora- 
pry  will  surpass  any  chemical  laboratory  to  be  found 
jn  Germany.  ," 

^  Unfortunately,   the  outbreak  of  war  occurred  at  a 

lime   when    the    internal    equipment    was    incomplete. 

present  the  laboratory  is  entirely  devoid  of  electrical 

ichiner\',  storage  batteries,  electrical   power  wiring 

nd  switchboards,  and  almost,  if  not  entirelv,  wanting 

1  instruments  and  apparatus   for  physical'  chemistry 

NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


luisiry,   V.  iii\cr>ay  College,  London. 

in  time  of  peace.  The  thorough  equipment  of  our 
chemical  laboratories  is  therefore  not  only  the  best 
possible  investment  of  national  funds,  but  an  indis- 
pensable condition  of  national  security. 

We  notice  with  verj-  great  pleasure  that  Sir  Ralph 
Foster,  Bart,,  has  promised  5000Z.  on  condition  that 
the  remaining  15,000/.  is  obtained  \^-ithin  a  reasonable 
period  of  time.  Sir  Ralph  Foster  had  already  sub- 
scribed more  than  34,000/.  to  the  building  fund,  so  that 
not  only  University  College,  but  chemical  science  in 
general  owe  him  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude.  Sir  WilHam 
Ramsay  has  generously  promised  500/.  for  the  pur- 
chase of  books  and  journals  for  the  library  of  the  new 
chemical  laboratories.  It  is  intended  to  call  the  library 
the  ■■  Sir  William  Ramsay  Library-,"  in  commemoration 
of  the  great  work  he  has  done  for  chemical  science. 
But  in  order  to  make  the  library  worthy  of  its  name 
another  500/.  will  be  required  for  the  purchase  of 
books  and  journals,  and  about  500/.  for  libran,' 
fittings. 


ISO 


NATURE 


[April  13,  1916 


INSTRUMENTAL  HARMONIC  SYNTHESIS. 

'T*HE  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute  for  January 
•■■  contains  a  detailed  description  by  Prof.  Dayton  C. 
Miller  of  a  "32-element  harmonic  synthesizer"  (would 
not  synthetiser  be  more  euphonious?),  which  appears 
to  be  admirably  designed  for  many  purposes.  The 
main  intention  is  to  test  the  accuracy  of  any  given 
harmonic  analysis  by  recombining  the  harmonic 
terms  and  comparing  the  curve  so  obtained  by  syn- 
thesis with  the  original  form  analysed. 

The  principles  of  construction  of  the  instrument  are 
the  same  as  those  exemplified  in  Kelvin's  tide  pre- 
dicter,  but  the  investigations  iq  photogfaphic  records 
of  sounds  for  which  the  instrument  was  devised  led  to 
important  differences  in  detail.  For  example,  instead 
of  a  metallic  ribbon  threading  the  pulleys  connected 
with  the  elements,  a  flexible  chain  of  the  chronometer 
fusee  type  is  used.  One  end  of  this  chain  is  attached 
to  the  pen-carriage  above  the  drawing  board  on  which 
the  record  is  produced ;  the  other  end  supports  a 
weight,  and  the  chain  is  clamped  at  a  convenient 
intermediate  point  to  a  bar  which  passes  under  the 
chain  as  it  crosses  and  recrosses  from  pulley  to  pulley. 
If  the  clamp  is  set  at  the  far  end'  of  this  rod,  all  the 
32  elements  influence  the  motion  of  the  recording  pen. 
If,  hov.'ever,  the  higher  elements  are  not  to  be  used,  the 


Fig.  I. — Pioof  of  the  analysis  of  a  curve  by  synthssis. 

clamp  is  shifted  nearer  to  the  drawing-board,  and  the 
pen  is  not  influenced  by^  the  movements  of  these  higher 
elements.  The  elements  are  arranged  upon  a  table 
with  their  shafts  vertical,  and  are  geared  together  in 
such  a  way  that  when  a  handle  is  turned  the  rates 
of  rotation  of  the  successive  elements  are  as  the 
numbers  i,  2,  3,  4,  etc.,  up  to  32. 

The  satisfactory  action  of  the  instrument  is  well 
shown  in  a  figure  in  which  the  synthetic  reproduction 
of  the  analysis  of  the  curve  of  an  organ-pipe  note  is 
superposed  upon  an  enlarged  photograph  of  the  original 
(Fig.  i).  There  is  perfect  coincidence.  Another  figure 
illustrates  the  sound  wave  from  a  clarinet  and  gives 
the  harmonic  components  to  the  29th  term.  Particu- 
larly interesting  also  are  the  representative  curves  built 
up  of  15  or  30  terms  of  certain  well-known  Fourier 
series,  which  when  summed  to  infinity  give  har- 
monic forms  composed  of  straight  lines.  Beautiful 
examples  are  also  given  of  beats  obtained  by  the  com- 
bination of  two  harmonic  forms  the  frequencies  of 
which  are  in  the  ratio  of  10  :  29,  15  :  29,  and  29  :  30.  It 
should  be  mentioned  that  the  instrument  was  origin- 
ally designed  to  be  used  in  connection  with  Henrici's 
analyser,  which  requires  that  all  curves  for  analysis 
be  drawn  with  a  wave-length  of  400  millimetres. 

NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


CEMENTS  AND  CLAYS. 

'"PHE  Bureau  of  Standards  (U.S.  Department  of 
^  Commerce)  issues  from  time  to  time  Technologic 
Papers  bearing  on  various  subjects  of  practical  im- 
portance. Several  of  these  papers  dealing  with 
cements  and  related  subjects  are  before  us. 

No.  47  of  the  recent  pamphlets  deals  with  "The 
High-Pressure  Steam  Test  of  Portland  Cements,"  and 
it  is  inferred  from  the  results  of  the  official  investiga- 
tion that  the  value  of  this  rapid  test  varies  greatly 
with  the  conditions  (especially  when  abnormal)  under 
which  the  material  is  to  be  employed.  No.  48  describes 
a  new  "Air  Analyser  for  Determining  the  Fineness 
of  Cement."  The  chief  distinguishing  feature  of  this 
new  elutriator  is  the  principle  of  blowing  an  un- 
retarded  stream  of  air  down  into  the  cement  from 
above,  the  sample  being  completely  and  continuously 
exposed  in  a  conical  bulb  to  the  action  of  the  air. 
It  has  been  found  to  be  well  adapted  for  separations 
of  various  hard-grained  materials,  and  might  prove 
useful  in  other  directions. 

No.  51  refers  to  "The  Use  of  Sodium  Salts  In  the 
Purification  of  Clays  and  in  the  Casting  Process."  It 
is  of  special  interest  to  those  who  are  engaged  in  the 
ceramic  industries,  and  in  the  working  of  clav  de- 
posits, but,  being  largely  concerned  with  phenomena 
depending  on  viscosity,  it  may  appeal  to  a  wiier 
circle.  From  results  of  experiments  it  is  inferred  that 
the  German  electrical  osmosis  process  plays  no  im- 
portant part  in  the  actual  purification  of  clavs,  bat 
facilitates  the  deposition  of  the  suspended  particles  on 
the  electrode.  The  essential  feature  of  the  osmosis 
process  appears  to  be  the  preliminary  sedimentation  pro- 
cess, in  which  a  small  proportion  of  caustic  soda  or 
other  electrolyte  is  added  to  the  clay  mixed  with  water, 
and  after  well  stirring,  the  coarser  material  is  removed 
by  means  of  screens  and  settling.  During  the  inves- 
tigation a  new  efflux  viscosimeter  of  simple  construc- 
tion was  devised,  consisting  of  a  brass  tube  with 
appropriate  fittings.  This  inexpensive  instrument  is 
stated  to  be  sufficiently  accurate  for  purposes  of  com- 
parison, the  kinetic  and  temperature  corrections 
applied  in  precise  measurements  not  being  necessary 
for  technical  work.  Possibly  the  instrument  (or  some 
modification  of  it)  might  find  useful  application  m 
connection  with  other  technical  processes  where  vis- 
cosity is  an  important  factor.  J.  A.  A. 

PRODUCTIVE  RESEARCH  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES?- 

THAT  the  scientific  method,  which  furnishes  the 
instruments  and  the  criteria  for  effective  investi- 
gation, is  now  gaining  esteem  with  unreflective  as 
well  as  with  reflective  .  minds  is  in  evidence  in 
nearly  every  field  of  current  activity.  In  the  report 
for  the  year  1914  attention  was  directed  to  the  rise  of 
other  research  establishments  and  to  the  relations  of 
reciprocity  the  institution  should  sustain  to  them. 
Several  of  these  have  effected  organisation  during  the 
past  year,  and  more  such  are  in  process  of  develop- 
ment. 

Simultaneously  with  the  rise  of  other  research 
organisations,  the  scientific  method  is  rapidly  gaining 
control  in  the  direction  of  commercial  and  industrial 
enterprises.  Indeed,  the  phrases  "  scientific  manage- 
ment," "  industrial  efficiency,"  and  the  like,  are  now 
so  much  over-applied  and  so  often  misapplied  as  to 
render  them  offensive  to  judicially  conservative  mindsj 
for  herein  likewise,  as  in  most  other  contemporar 
affairs,   there  is  a  popular  tendency  to  anticipate  tr 

1  Abridged  from  the  Report  of  the   I'resident  of  the  Carnegie  Institutio 
of  Washington  contained  in  Year  Book  No.  14,  1915. 


April  13,   19 16] 


NATURE 


^5i 


marvellous,  and  hence  to  obscure  the  realities  of  the 
torward  movement  now  going  on.  Thus  one  might 
infer  from  current  literature  that  the  doctrine  of 
Ltticicncy  is  altogether  new  and  that  it  has  sprung 
Middenlv  from  a  few  Americans  and  from  the  general 

[ft  of  the  German  army.     It  is  unnecessary  to  explain 

It  this  doctrine  is  not  new,  that  it  has  undergone  a 
1  .ag  course  of  development,  and  that  it  did  not 
originate  as  commonly  supposed.  What  is  new  about 
i;   is  a  growing  collective  consciousness  of  its  validity 

d  a  rapidly  increasing  apprehension  of  the  advan- 
iges  it  may  bring  in  many,  if  not  most,  fields  of 
endeavour.  But  appreciation  of  this  doctrine  is  neither 
more  nor  less  than  a  recognition  of  the  scientific 
method  the  beginning  of  which  dates  far  back,  prior 
to  the  period  of  unwritten  history  of  primitive  man. 

A  far-reaching  effect  of  the  determinate  introduc- 
tion of  the  principles  of  science  in  commercial  and 
industrial  aftairs  is  seen  in  the  resulting  diffusion  of 
sound  learning  among  the  masses  of  men.  Increase 
in  efficiency  in  such  affairs  requires,  in  general,  appli- 
cation of  a  wide  range  of  demonstrable  principles,  all 
of  which  must  stand  the  tests  of  economic  practic- 
ability. The  so-called  labouring  man,  therefore,  as 
well  as  the  manager,  must  become  familiar  with  a 
correspondingly  wide  range  of  facts,  methods,  and 
appliances  affording  typical  illustrations  of  those  prin- 
ciples. Thus  many  manufacturing  plants  are  now- 
great  laboratories  supplying  instruction  to  operatives, 
although  nominally  conducted  with  quite  other  objects 
in  view;  while  some  individual  machines,  like  the 
internal-combustion  engine,  embody  in  their  construc- 
tion and  operation  striking  and  easily  acquired  lessons 

certain  fundamentals  of  physical  science. 

But  what  is  more  important  in  this  connection  is 
tne  general  recognition  of  research  as  an  essential 
preliminary  to  progress.  Accordingly,  numerous 
national  organisations  are  now  forming  research  com- 
mittees for  the  investigation  of  problems  common  to 
their  several  interests,  while  not  a  few  individual 
establishments  are  conducting  special  research  labora- 
tories the  contributions  of  which  to  knowledge  must 
be  justly  measured  by  a  much  higher  standard  than 
that  of  commercial  profit  alone.  In  this  process  of 
evolution  the  conventional  divisions  of  pure  and  applied 
science  are  coming  into  closer  contact  and  the  invidious 
distinctions  between  them,  often  set  up  disadvan- 
tageously  to  both,  seem  to  be  slowly  disappearing. 
_  Fundamentally  related  to  the  application  of  the  scien- 
tific method  in  increasing  measure  in  nearly  all  fields 
of  inquiry  is  the  question  of  the  costs  involved,  although 
it. has  been  little  considered  and  is  often  contemptu- 
ously disregarded  both  by  enthusiastic  investigators 
and  by  optimistic  financiers.  It  is,  in  fact,  in  its 
entirety,  often  a  question  of  great  complexity,  involv- 
ing as  a  rule  many  difficulties  with  "personal  equa- 
tions," and  all  the  entanglements  due  to  the  uncer- 
tainties which  successful  research  seeks  to  remove.  A 
statement  of  certain  of  its  more  obvious  aspects  may 
help  to  remove  common  misapprehension.  Briefly, 
these  aspects  may  be  stated  as   follows  :— 

(i)  Sound  research,  like  any  trustworthv  work,  is 
expensive  in  proportion  to  its 'comprehensiveness  and 
thorotighness. 

(2)  The  number  of  projects  worthy  of  investigation 
IS  now  far  greater  than  can  be  adequately  financed,  and 
hence  advantageously  pursued,  either  by  any  single 
f 2«"cy  or  by  all  such  combined ;  and  the  prevalent 
lack  of  financial  support  for  this  kind  of  work  appears 
destined  to  continue  indefinitely,  certainly  so  long  as 
there  is  no  general  recognition  of  existing  conditions 
°'"  °*  practicable  ways  of  improving  them. 

(3)  Each  research  organisation  must  therefore  choose 
lor  Itself  at  any  epoch  the  field,  or  the  fields,  it  will 
cultivate,  and  must  restrict  itself  to  them.     No  such 

NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


privately  endowed  organisation  may  seek  to  delegate 
its  duties  to  others,  to  play  the  rdle.  of  paternalism,  to 
undertake  the  functions  of  a  scientific  clearing-house^ 
to  secure  monopolistic  privileges,  or  to  engage  in  pro- 
pagandism,  without  danger  of  defeating  its  primary 
purposes. 

Ihat  large  sums  are  now  spent  annually  by  Govern- 
ments, by  municipalities,  and  by  industrial  organisations 
in  defraying  the  costs  of  investigations,  sums  vastly 
greater  in  the  aggregate  than  the  combined  incomes 
of  all  existing  endowed  research  organisations,  is  a 
fact  which  needs  to  be  visualised  as  a  preliminary  to 
an  understanding  of  the  relatively  narrow  limitations 
of  the  resources  and  capacities  of  the  institution. 

Thus,  to  illustrate,  in  the  conduct  of  work  which 
may  be  fittingly  called  research,  the  United  States 
Government  spends  annually  not  less  than  twenty 
times  the  income  of  the  institution.  It  matters  not 
that  this  work  is  often  designated  by  the  ambiguous, 
word  "practical,"  or  by  the  misleading  phrase _  "ap- 
plied science."  In  so  far  as  it  deals  with  facts  and 
principles,  and  substitutes  knowledge  for  ignorance,  it 
is  worthy  of  prompt  recognition  and  unstinted  support. 

If,  for  example,  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  can  succeed  in  supplanting  "lunar 
methods "  in  husbandry  by  methods  founded  on 
physical  fact  and  verifiable  induction,  it  will  be  entitled 
to  conspicuous  distinction  in  the  annals  of  American 
science.  But  while  antithetical  words  and  phrases 
continue  to  befog  contemporary  thought  it  may  be 
easily  ascertained,  and  should  be  better  known,  that 
the  United  States  Government,  through  its  numerous 
departments  and  bureaus,  is  now  carrying  on,  and  has 
in  recent  decades  accomplished,  a  large  amount  of 
high-class  research,  the  annual  costs  of  which  quite 
overshadow  the  income  from  any  existing  research 
endowment.  It  may  be  as  easily  ascertained,  and 
should  be  as  well  known,  that  no  such  endowment  can 
be  reasonably  expected  to  supplant  governmental  func- 
tions or  to  supplement  governmental  resources.  The 
legislator  who  sees  no  reason  why  the  institution  may 
not  undertake  electrification  of  postal  routes,  the  pub- 
licist who  entertains  fears  lest  a  few  endowed  organisa- 
tions should  secure  a  monopoly  of  research,  and  the 
educator  who 'imagines  the  income  of  the  institution 
sufficient  to  meet  academic  needs  and  emergencies,  are 
all  alike  deceived  by  fallacies  which  become  manifest 
as  soon  as  one  is  asked  to  assume  responsibility  for 
their  consequences. 

In  connection  with  these  matters  of  public  concern, 
it  is  fitting  to  remark  that  while  the  world  at  large  has 
entertained  all  manner  of  fictitious  expectations  from 
the  institution,  its  actual  development  has  proceeded 
in  conformity  with  the  limitations  of  its  income  and 
the  conditions  of  its  environment.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
it  is  now  essential  to  curtail  research  in  order  to  live 
within  income,  since  the  purchasing  capacity  of  mone- 
tary standards,  which  has  fallen  by  more  than  30  per 
cent,  during  the  last  two  decades,  appears  to  be  still 
diminishing. 

Characteristics  of  the  Carnegie  Institution. 

It  appears  advantageous  now,  in  the  interests  of  all 
concerned,  after  a  decade  of  patient  observation  of 
actual  developments  and  of  considerate  attention  to  an 
unsurpassed  wealth  of  private  and  public  opinion,  to 
state  briefly  the  ideas  and  the  ideals  which  have 
animated  the  present  administration  and  seem  fitted 
to  endure  in  the  conduct  of  any  similar  organise 
tion. 

The  institution  is  an  establishment  for  fhe  conduct 
and  for  the  promotion  of  original  research,  the  results 
of  which  are  given  freely  to  the  world. 

It  is  important  in  this  connection  to  offer  an  answer 
to  the  underlying  question  perennially  put  directly,  and 


152 


NATURE 


[April  13,  1916 


indirectly,  to  the  institution,  namely,  "What  is  re- 
search?" The  answer  to  this  question  is  contained  in 
the  answer  to  the  larger  question,  "  What  is  science?  "  ; 
for  the  methods  of  research  are  the  methods  of  science. 
The  meaning  of  this  much  used  and  much  misused 
term  is  now  well  defined.  It  was  established  during 
the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  although  in 
common  parlance  it  may  still  mean  anything  from 
"  skill  in  boxing  "  to  the  prediction  of  solar  and  lunar 
eclipses. 

In  a  summary  way  science  presents  itself  under 
three  distinct  stages,  to  wit :— (i)  The  elementary  stage 
of  observation  and  experiment,  or  the  fact-gattiering 
stage;  (2)  the  secondary  stage  of  comparison,  measure- 
ment, and  calculation,  or  the  statistical  stage;  (3)  the 
stage  of  correlation  under  theory  with  capacity  for 
prediction.  But  within  the  limits  of  these  distinct 
stages  there  is  endless  diversity  of  detail,  and  hence 
the  widest  latitude  for  amateurism,  dilettantism,  and 
even  pseudo-science.  Thus  it  happens  not  infrequently 
that  inquiry  is  made  whether  the  institution  undertakes 
any  other  than  '"scientific  investigations,"  whether  its 
work  is  limited  to  science,  or  whether  it  seeks  to  enter  the 
domains  of  philosophy,  metaphysics,  etc.  Concerning 
these  matters,  the  attitude  of  the  institution  is  at  once 
liberal  and  critical,  liberal  in  recognising  all  branches 
of  demonstrable  knowledge,  and  critical  in  respect  to 
all  unverified  and  unverifiable  representations.  No 
attempt  has  been  made  to  limit  recognition  to  the 
domain  of  mathematico-physical  science  or  to  the  quite 
unhappily  designated  domain  of  "'natural  science." 

It  would  be  rash  to  assert  that  the  methods  and 
the  inductions  of  science,  which  have  cost  more  than 
twenty  centuries  of  laborious  effort  in  their  evolution, 
are  not  still  susceptible  of  many  or  even  endless  im- 
provements. But  these  methods  are  now  so  well 
defined  and  so  well  known  by  all  acquainted  with  the 
history  of  human  progress  that  it  is  no  longer  essential 
to  use  the  adjective  "  scientific  "  in  qualification  of  the 
words  investigation  and  research.  One  may  safely 
assume,  for  administrative  purposes  at  any  rate,  that 
investigations  which  purport  to  be  unscientific  or  super- 
scientific  do  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  a  research 
organisation.  And  in  conformity  with  this  view  the 
term  science  may  be  no  longer  limited  advantageously 
to  designation  of  the  mathematico-physical  sciences 
(including  the  biological  and  the  so-called  natural 
sciences),  which  for  certain  obvious  reasons  have  thus 
far  helped  most  to  fix  its  meaning. 

But  while  the  term  science  should  be  interpreted 
in  the  most  comprehensive  and  liberal  manner,  experi- 
ence teaches  that  its  criteria  should  be  strictly  ob- 
served and  impartially  applied.  Liberality  of  inclu- 
sion and  consideration  may  not  be  construed  as  imply- 
ing leniency  of  judgment  in  matters  scientific.  Science 
furnishes  no  royal  road  to  learning.  It  will  under- 
take to  blaze  trails,  to  set  up  constructions  conformable 
to  the  laws  of  the  universe,  and  to  test  ideas,  hypo- 
theses, and  theories ;  but  it  is  unable  to  work  in 
regions  from  which  its  methods  and  criteria  are 
excluded. 

The  most  striking  characteristic  of  the  institution 
is  found  in  its  departments  of  research.  These  are 
absorbing  the  bulk  of  the  institution's  income.  They 
are  devoted  to  fields  of  inquiry  in  which  continuity 
of  effort  over  long  periods  of  time  is  a  prime  requisite. 
Their  problems,  like  many  of  the  phenomena  under 
investigation,  are  of  a  secular  nature  and  their  pro- 
gress mav  not  be  measured  adequately  in  terms  of  an 
interval  shorter  than  a  decade.  They  are  centres  of 
activity  which,  if  properly  sustained,  should  continue 
to  contribute  additions  to  knowledge  the  fuller  fruition 
of  which  can  be  appreciated  only  by  our  successors. 

The  questions  most  frequently  raised  with  respect  to 
these   departments  are: — (i)    "What   practical   results 

NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


are  expected  from  them?"  (2)  "Assuming  them 
attainable,  will  the  expected  results  justify  the  costs 
entailed?";  (3)  "When  will  the  work  of  any  depart- 
ment be  completed?" 

(i)  An  essential  preliminary  in  answering  the  first 
question  is  removal  of  the  obscurity  which  commonly 
attaches  to  the  word  "practical."  Those  who  use 
this  word  freely  are  rarely  competent  judges  of  re- 
search or  of  the  accessions  to  learning  secured  thereby. 
What  is  practical  to  them  is  usually  confined  within 
the  limits  of  personal  experience  instead  of  being 
permitted  to  fall  within  the  far  wider  limits  of  the 
exp>erience  of  our  race.  He  who  would  venture  an 
off-hand  opinion  concerning  the  practical,  or  directly 
realisable  utilitarian,  value  of  any  proposed  investiga- 
tion must  needs  be  uncommonly  wise  or  possess  a 
temerity  not  derived  from  an  acquaintance  with  the 
history  of  science.  This  history  demonstrates  in  the 
clearest  nianner  that  every  established  fact,  every 
newly-discovered  principle,  and  every  generalisation 
from  fact  and  principle  are  sooner  or  later  turned  to 
advantageous  account.  Moreover,  this  induction  from 
history  is  now  so  well  established  that  a  research 
organisation  as  such  should  never  concern  itself  seri- 
ously with  the  question  whether  a  proposed  investiga- 
tion will  turn  out  to  be  of  immediate  utility.  The 
question  it  should  ask  is:  "Whether  it  is  now  prac- 
ticable to  undertake  the  proposed  work  and  do  it 
thoroughly  well?"  If  this  is  decided  in  the  affirma- 
tive, the  organisation  may  proceed  with  equanimity, 
confident  of  the  final,  even  if  doubtful  of  the  contem- 
porary,  verdict. 

On  the  other  hand,  while  holding  to  the  views  just 
indicated,  it  is  not  necessary  to  ignore  equally  impor- 
tant items  of  mundane  wisdom.  It  needs  to  be  kept 
in  mind  that  not  all  worthy  subjects  of  research  are 
at  any  epoch  co-ordinately  practicable  of  pursuit.  In 
fact,  there  may  be  enterprises  quite  unready  for  in- 
vestigation by  a  given  organisation  at  a  given  time, 
and  other  enterprises  which  under  existing  conditions 
would  result  only  in  a  waste  of  energy  and  resources. 

(2)  In  answer  to  the  second  question  it  may  be 
said  that  while  there  is  inherently  an  element  of  un- 
certainty in  respect  to  the  comparability  of  returns 
with  outlay  in  the  conduct  of  research,  this  uncertainty 
is  in  general  much  less  than  in  most  unexplored  fields 
for  investment  of  effort  and  capital.  Systematic 
research  is  quite  certain  to  secure  some  advances; 
even  negative  results  are  often  of  great  value;  and 
the  elimination  of  error  is  almost  as  important  as  the 
discovery  of  truth.  Here,  again,  appreciation  of  the 
time  element  is  essential.  A  just  verdict  cannot  be 
rendered  by  our  contemporaries ;  it  must  be  left  to 
posterity.  Progress  is  not  so  much  for  the  individual  as 
for  the  race.  It  should  be  observed,  also,  that  the  costs 
of  progress  attributable  to  deliberate  investigation 
have  been,  and  are  still,  vanishingly  small  in  com- 
parison wiih  the  costs  of  the  less  contemplative  forms 
of  human  endeavour.  But  who  shall  say  that  the 
permanent  returns  from  these  two  contrasted  realms  of 
social  effort  are  not  more  nearly  inversely  than  directly 
proportional  to  the  respective  outlays  ? 

The  appalling  events  now  absorbing  the  world's 
attention  are  painfully  instructive  in  seeming  to  prove 
that  in  some  of  his  efforts  to  understand  the  cosmos 
wherein  he  appears  to  play  a  unique  rdle  man  has  met 
with  little  or  no  success  during  the  past  twenty 
centuries;  on  the  other  hand,  during  the  same  interval, 
his  efforts  along  scientific  lines  to  interpret  that  cosmos 
have  been  rewarded  by  extraordinary  advances,  the 
aggregate  of  which  constitutes  the  bulk  of  the  learn- 
ing we  may  pass  on  unreservedly  to  our 
successors.  The  superiority  of  the  learning  «• 
to-day  over  that  of  the  first  centuries  of  our 
era  is   indicated,    for   example,    in    the   difference   be- 


April  13,  1916} 


NATURE 


153 


tween   the  navigation  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  by 
:!id   of   knowledge   and    appliances    available    to    them 
1    modern    navigation   by   aid  of  the    compass,    cbe 
Ktant,  and  the  nautical  almanac. 
3)  When  the  institution  was  organised  there  was  a 
It'ly  spread  opinion  that  much  of  its   work  would 
prove  to  be  transitorj',  requiring  here  and  there  tem- 
porary   Subsidies    to    complete     mvestigations     already 
started  and  to  publish  conclusions  already  formulated. 
'  It  was  also  commonly  held  that  the  institution  could 
-Ti  t  as  a  sort  of  promoter,   starting  by  aid  of  initial 
nts  many   worthy  undertakings  and  leaving  them 
subsequent   support    to    the    grantees    themselves 
10  the  establishments  with  which  the  grantees  were 
nnected. 

Closely  related  to  these  opinions  was  another  to  the 
effect  that  a  large  amount  of  valuable  work  could  be 
i  accomplished     under     academic     guidance    by     needy 
I  students    who    might    thus   earn   from    the   institution 
j  small  stipends  while  doing  the  drudgery  and  acquiring 
I  the    inspiration    of    research.        But    these     plausible 
theories,   praiseworthy  enough   in  the  abstract,    failed 
'  to  meet  the  requirements  of  conditions  as  they  actually 
I  developed.     It  soon  appeared  that  the  completed  inves- 
\  tigations,  or  those  nearly  ready  for  publication,  were 
'^  ""^  numerous.     It  was  found  that  stimulating  promis- 
-,   enterprises   in   other  establishments   by  means   of 
...iiial  grants  called,  in  general,  for  sustaining  subsi- 
[  dies ;  and  that  in  some  instances  such  subsidies  from 
j  the  institution    had    the    sinister    effect    of    decreasing 
1  independent   support    for   research.       And   as    for   the 
I  students   from   whom    so   much   for   so   little   was  ex- 
pected, it  turned  out  that  they  were  preoccupied  as  a 
rule  with  the  elementary  notion  that  research  means 
that  modicum  of  investigation  which   leads  to  higher 
academic  degrees. 

Thus  the  institution  was  compelled  to  recognise,  in 
the  face  of  much  popular  protest,  what  is  clearly 
j  evident  on  reflection,  both  from  a  priori  argument  and 
I  from  common  experience,  namely,  that  productive  re- 
;  search,  like  any  other  constructive  work,  requires 
j  arduous,  persistent,  and,  above  all,  sustained  effort 
I  under  the  direction  of  disciplined  experts.  Corusca- 
Itions  in  science  occur  frequently  enough,  but  unfor- 
tunately most  of  them,  as  even,-  investigator  knows, 
are  igues  fatui.  It  is  more  rational,  therefore,  in  the 
(interests  of  progress  to  provide  for  continuity  in  re- 
I  search  than  to  give  special  attention  to  the  excessively 
!  rare  events  of  sudden  discoveries  and  inventions  which 
[prove  to  be  of  permanent  value.  These  advances  per 
■  saltum  will  take  care  of  themselves;  but  the  surer 
and  more  rapJJ  process  of  general  advance,  and  the 
:one  on  which  attention  should  be  concentrated,  in 
I  order  to  build  for  the  future  as  well  as  for  the  present, 
lis  the  process  of  summation  of  increments  of  know- 
pledge,  each  relatively  infinitesimal  in  comparison  with 
the  possible  aggregate. 

i  Science  is  unable  to  assign  an  epoch  for  the  begin- 
ining  of  research  and  may  not  venture  to  predict  an 
end  thereof;  it  may  assert  confidentlv  onlv  that  its 
methods,  which  have  proved  effective  and  trustworthy 
■m  the  past,  will  prove  still  more  effective  and  trust- 
worthy in  time  to  come. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
Birmingham.— The  project  of  establishing  a  chair  of 
Russian  language  in  the  Universitv  is  now  on  the  wav 
to  realisation.  The  Birmingham' Chamber  of  Com'- 
merce  has  issued  an  appeal  to  its. members  for  con- 
tributions to  a  fund  for  the  endowment  of  such  a 
Aair,  and  of  the  sum  of  i2,oooL,  which  is  aimed  at, 
NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


more  than  half  has  already  been  promised.  It  is 
significant  that  the  list  of  donations  includes  hand- 
some contributions  from  Wolseley  Motors  and  Electric 
Ordnance  Accessories  Company  and  the  Birmingham 
Small  Arms  Company,  together  with  Lloyd's  Bank  and 
the  London,  City  and  Midland  Bank.  The  realisation 
by  such  firms  of  the  help  which  the  University  can  give 
to  the  fostering  of  commercial  relations  with  Russia 
augurs  well  for  the  early  success  of  the  scheme. 

The  Times  reports  that  the  Government  has  set  up 
a  Royal  Commission  to  inquire  into  the  co-ordination 
of  the  work  of  the  three  Welsh  University  Colleges 
and  the  University  of  Wales. 

The  Teachers'  Registration  Council  announces  that 
the  meeting  which  was  to  have  been  held  in  the  Cax- 
ton  Hall  to-morrow,  April  14,  is  unavoidably  post- 
poned, as  Mr.  Arthur  Henderson,  President  of  the 
Board  of  Education,  now  finds  that  it  will  be  impos- 
sible for  him  to  speak  on  that  day.  It  is  expected 
that  the  meeting  will  be  held  soon  after  the  Easter 
vacation.  The  exact  date  wall  be  announced  in  due 
course. 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the  City  and  Guilds  of 
London  Institute  has  appointed  Prof.  G.  T.  Morgan, 
F.R.S.,  of  the  Royal  College  of  Science,  Dublin,  to 
the  chair  of  chemistry  at  the  Institute's  Technical 
College,  Finsbur}-,  rendered  vacant  by  the  death  of 
Prof.  Meldola.  Prof.  Morgan  was  a  former  student 
at  the  college  under  Prof.  Meldola,  and  later  for  some 
years  chemist  in  the  works  of  Messrs.  Read,  Holliday 
and  Sons.  He  is  a  recognised  authority  on  synthetic 
chemistry  and  dye-stuffs,  on  which  subjects  he  has 
published  many  original  papers.  He  will  take  up  his 
duties  at  the  college  after  Easter. 

It  is  announced  in  the  London  University  Gazette 
that  a  course  of  five  lectures  and  demonstrations  on 
'"Some  Vegetable  Products  of  Economic  Importance" 
will  be  given  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Hill,  at  the  Royal  Botanic 
Gardens,  Kew,  at  11  a.m.  on  Saturdays,  beginning  on 
May  6.  The  lectures  will  deal  with  some  of  the  better- 
known  economic  plants  and  their  products,  such  as 
tea,  cinchona,  cacao,  rubber-yielding  plants,  oil-yielding 
plants,  etc.  The  lectures,  which  will  be  illustrated  by 
means  of  specimens  from  the  living  collections  at  Kew 
and  also  by  examples  of  the  products  referred  to  from 
the  museums,  will  be  addressed  to  advanced  students 
of  the  University  and  to  others  interested  in  the  sub- 
jects dealt  with.     Admission  is  free,  without  ticket. 

The  360,000/.  of  "  University  Building  Bonds  "  voted 
by  the  people  of  California  for  additional  building 
work  at  the  University  of  California  have,  we  learn 
from  Science,  been  allocated  by  the  regents  of  the 
University  as  follows  : — ^Benjamin  Ide  Wheeler  Hall, 
a  class-room  building  with  a  capacity  of  3500  students, 
its  exterior  to  be  of  white  granite,  140,000/. ;  comple- 
tion of  the  University  library,  of  which  the  present 
portion  was  built  at  a  cost  of  168,000/.,  105,000/.; 
second  unit  of  the  group  of  agricultural  buildings, 
70,000/. ;  first  unit  of  a  group  of  permanent  buildings 
for  chemistry,  32,000/. ;  new  unit  for  the  heating  and 
power  plant,  14,000/. ;  furnishings  and  equipment  for 
the  four  structures  first  mentioned,  26,800/.  Our  con- 
temporary also  states  that  the  Committee  on  Agricul- 
ture of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  has  obtained  the 
full  grant  of  76,400/.  asked  for  new  buildings  this  year 
by   the   Massachusetts  Agricultural   College. 

The  President  of  "the  Board  of  Education  has  ap- 
pointed a  Departmental  Committee  to  consider  what 
steps  should  be  taken  to  make  provision  for  the  educa- 
tion and  instruction  of  children  and  young  persons 
after  the  war,   regard  being  had  particularly   to  'the 


154 


NATURE 


[April  13,   1916 


interest  of  those  : — (i)  Who  have  been  abnormally  em- 
ployed during  the  war ;  (ii)  who  cannot  immediately 
find  advantageous  employment ;  (iii)  who  require 
special  training  for  employment.  The  committee  con- 
sists of: — Mr.  Herbert  Lewis,  M.P.,  Parliamentary 
Secretary,  Board  of  Education  (chairman) ;  Mr.  W.  A. 
Appleton,  secretary,  General  Federation  of  Trade 
Unions;  Mr.  R.  A.  Bray,  L.C.C.,  chairman,  London 
Juvenile  Advisory  Committee ;  Mr.  F.  W.  Goldstone, 
M.P.  ;  Mr.  Spurley  Hey,  director  of  education,  Man- 
chester;  Alderman  Hinchcliffe,  chairman.  West  Riding 
■County  Council;  Miss  C.  Martineau,  member,  Birm- 
ingham City  Council ;  Lady  Edmund  Talbot ;  Mr. 
H.  M.  Thompson,  vice-chairman,  Cardiff  Education 
•Committee ;  Mr.  Christopher  H,  Turnor,  member, 
Lincolnshire  (Lindsey)  County  Council ;  together  with 
the  following  representatives  of  the  Government  De- 
partments concerned  : — Mr.  C.  E.  B.  Russell,  of  the 
Home  Office;  Mr.  J.  S.  Nicholson,  of  the  Board  of 
Trade ;  Mr.  A.  B.  Bruce,  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture ; 
Mr.  E.  K.  Chambers,  C.B.  ;  and  Mr.  F.  Pullinger, 
■C.B.,  of  the  Board  of  Education.  Mr.  J.  Owen,  H.M. 
Inspector,  will  act  as  secretary  to  the  committee,  and 
all  communications  should  be  addressed  to  him  at  the 
Board  of  Education,  Whitehall,   London,   S.W. 

The  question  of  the  part  science  should  take  in  the 
■education  provided  in  our  schools  and  colleges  is 
further  discussed  in  the  correspondence  columns  ot 
the  Times  Educational  Supplement  of  April  4.  Mr. 
•C.  L.  Bryant,  of  Harrow,  describes  how  the  organisa- 
tion of  the  Association  of  Public  Schools  Science 
Masters  has  been  employed  to  introduce  in  many  of 
the  public  schools  instruction  in  science  of  a  utilitarian 
kind  along  the  lines  suggested  by  the  Director  of 
Military  Training,  not  only  to  those  boys  who  would 
he  learning  science  if  times  were  normal,  but  also  to 
all  boys  who  are  within  measurable  distance  of  leav- 
ing to  join  the  Army.  Prof.  Percy  Gardner  comments 
■on  the  recent  memorandum  on  the  neglect  of  science. 
His  position  is  clear  from  the  following  paragraph 
from  his  letter  : — "  I  am  no  hard-and-fast  defender  of 
the  classics.  I  should  allow  that  in  the  teaching  of 
the  sciences  which  deal  with  nature  as  well  as  in  the 
teaching  of  those  which  deal  with  man,  and  with 
language  and  history,  we  need  more  scientific  method, 
more  system,  more  modernity.  And  the  natural  and 
Tiuman  sciences  may  well  claim  in  the  future  some  of 
the  time  now  given  to  the  classics.  Some  knowledge 
of  the  scheme  of  the  physical  universe  has  become  a 
part  of  all  complete  education.  But  premature  special- 
ism in  natural  science  is  not  a  desirable  thing ;  and 
that  would  be  the  inevitable  result  of  such  impatient 
legislation  as  the  memorial  demands."  Mr.  R.  W. 
Livingstone  attributes  the  scientific  success  of  Ger- 
many to  the  admirable  provision  for  the  teaching  of 
applied  science  in  her  Technische  Hochschulen,  to'the 
fact  that  many  more  people  receive  a  universitv  educa- 
tion in  Germany  than  is  the  case  with  us,  and  that 
in  Germany  research  work  is  an  essential  part  of  a 
university  education  for  the  best  students.  Mr.  H. 
Cradock-Watson,  writing  of  the  position  of  science  in 
the  smaller  schools,  maintains  that  science  has  its 
proper  place  in  their  time-tables  already,  and  that 
when  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  worlds  are 
ready  to  e.mploy  and  pay  adequately  the  university 
science  graduate,  when  the  scientific  expert  can  com- 
mand the  remuneration  and  the  openings  that  he  can 
— or  could — in  modern  Germany,  then  the  teaching  of 
science  will  come  into  its  own.  Mr.  O.  H.  Latter 
directs  attention  to  the  discontinuance  of  a  science 
paper  in  the  common  entrance  examination  for  public 
schools,  and  the  consequent  discouragement  of  science 
teaching  in   preparatory  schools. 

NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Royal  Society,  April  6. — Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  president, 
in  the  chair. — J.  H.  Jeans  :  The  instability  of  the  pear- 
shaped  figure  of  equilibrium  of  a  rotating  mass  of 
liquid.  The  form  of  the  pear-shaped  figure  of  equili- 
brium was  calculated  so  far  as  the  second  order  of 
small  quantities  by  Sir  G.  Darwin,  who  believed  he 
had  shown  it  to  be  stable.  In  a  recently  published 
paper  (Phil.  Trans.,  A,  215,  p.  27)  it  was  shown  that 
■the  stability  could  only  be  finally  decided  upon  after 
the  figure  had.  been  calculated  to  terms  of  the  third 
order.  In  the  present  paper  these  third-order  terms 
are  evaluated,  and  the  pear-shaped  figure  is  definitely 
shown  to  be  unstable. ^ — Sir  William  Ramsay  :  A  hypo- 
thesis of  molecular  configuration  in  three  dimensions 
of  space. — J.  Proudman  :  The  motion  of  solids  in  a 
liquid  possessing  vorticity.  This  paper  contains  inves- 
tigations on  the  motion  of  a  homogeneous  frictionless 
liquid  by  the  methods  ot~  theoretical  hydrodynamics. 
The  principal  subjects  considered  are  two-dimensional 
motion  with  uniform  vorticity  and  three-dimensional 
motion  with  varying  vorticity,  the  positions  of  the 
solids  being  specified  by  generalised  co-ordinates.  The 
general  work  consists  in  reducing  solutions  to  those  of 
f>Jeumann's  potential  problems. — Dr.  S.  J.  Lewis  :  The 
ultra-violet  absorption  spectra  of  blood  sera.  The 
work  described  in  this  preliminary  paper  has  for  its 
object  the  investigation  of  the  absorption  spectra  of 
blood  sera  in  the  ultra-violet  region  of  the  spectrum. 
Modern  spectrophotometers  are  used  to  determine  the 
absorption  values  on  passing  ultra-violet  light  through 
a  prescribed  layer  or  solution  of  serum.  With  these 
values  as  ordinates  and  wave-lengths  as  abscissae  an 
absorption  curve  is  drawn.  With  normal  serum  the 
general  characters  of  the  curve  are  constant,  and  there 
is  very  little  variation  in  detail.  W'ith  certain  patho- 
logical sera  the  curves  show  much  greater  modifica- 
tions, and  some  of  these  are  well  defined  and  appear 
to  be  peculiar  to  given  diseases.  It  is  found  that  the 
major  part  of  the  absorption  is  due  to  the  proteins.— 
G.  W.  Paget  and  R.  E.  Savage  :  The  growth-rings  on 
herring  scales.  This  communication  brings  forward 
morphological  evidence  as  to  the  structure  and  signifi- 
cance of  the  so-called  "growth-rings"  on  herring 
scales.  At  present  the  interpretation  of  'these  rings 
as  rings  of  growth  depends,  in  the  main,  upon  statis- 
tical data.  Morphological  evidence  of  a  differential 
growth-rate  of  the  scale  as  a  whole  is  altogether  lack- 
ing. The  present  observations  place  upon  a  sure 
foundation  the  view  that  the  transparent  rings  do 
indeed,  mark  a  recurring  period  of  minimum  growth. 

Geological  Society,  March  8. — Dr.  Alfred  Harker, 
president,  in  the  chair. — H.  Bolton  :  Fossil  insects  from 
the  British  Coal  Measures.  The  author  describes  six 
insect-wings  found  in  the  Coal  Measures  of  North- 
umberland, Lancashire,  and  South  Whales.  Three  of 
these  have  been  previously  named,  but  not  described 
in  detail ;  the  remaining  three  are  new  to  science. 
Aedoeophasma  anglica,  Scudder,  has  been  examined' 
in  detail,  and  is  now  regarded  as  a  primitive  type  of 
the  Proto-Orthoptera,  in  contradistinction  to  Scudder's 
view  that  it  is  a  Protophasmid,  and  to  that  of  Hand- 
lirsch,  who  had  removed  it  to  a  group  of  unplaced 
Palaeodictyoptera.  Palaeodictyopteron  higginsi  is 
shown  to  be  related  to  the  Dictyoneuridae.  A  new 
genus  and  species  is  created  for  a  finely-preserved 
wing,  intermediate  in  character  between  the  Dictyo- 
neura  and  Lithomantis.  Among  the  varied  fauna 
obtained  from  ironstone  nodules  in  the  Middle  Coal 
Measures  at  Sparth  Bottoms,  Rochdale  (Lancashire), 
is  a  basal  fragment  of  a  wing  recognised  as  a  new 
species  of  Spilaptera,   and  this  is   now  described.     An 


Aprjl  15,  1916] 


NATURE 


155 


unusual  type  of  wing  from  the  Northumberland  Coal- 
field   is    very    suggestive   of    the    Protodonata,  and   is 
described    as    a    representative   of    a    new    genus    and 
I  species. 

Aristotelian  Society,  March  8. — Dr.   H.  Wildon  Carr, 
'  president,  in  the  chair. — T.    Percy  Nunn  :   Sense  data 
and  the  physical  object.     A  criticism  of  the  view  that 
physical   objects   are   revealed  in   perception   as  exist- 
ences of   which   we   have   immediate   knowledge   that 
they  are  the  "sources  "  of  our  sense  data.     The  author 
contended    that    the    "source"    is     not     in     truth    an 
"existence"  beyond. the  sense  data,  but  includes  the 
whole  collection  of  such  sense  data  as  can  be  directly 
;  apprehended  bv  perceiving  subjects  under  different  con- 
ditions.    Nothing  is  gained  in  simplicity  and  natural- 
ness  by   invoking   admittedly   hypothetical    "  sources " 
in  order  to  say  about  them  something  formally  iden- 
tical with  what  must  in  any  case  be  said  about  indubit- 
able sense  data.     For  instance,  the  assumption   of  a 
"source"   in  order  to  explain  why  we  attribute  real 
shape  to  an  object  creates  more  embarrassment  than 
I  it  removes,   for,   while  it  miay  account  for  the  sense 
:  data    which    resembled    the    "  source "    in    shape,    it 
•affords  no  help  in  accounting  for  those  that  do  not. 
iThe   contention    that   sense   data    carry-    with    them    a 
'-  rence  to  a  "  source,"  or  always  indicate  a  reality 
>nd    themselves,    breaks    down    when    the    attempt 
nade  to  deal  with  the  problem  of  hallucination  and 
r.     The  physical  theory  of  matter  does  not  necessi- 
L  tic  the  assumption   of  a   "source";    for    the    mole- 
[cules    (and    atoms)   of    matter    are    simply    the    molar 
j  bodies  of  everyday  experience  conceptually  reduced  in 
I  size.     Whatever  belongs  to  the  latter  may  belong  to  the 
former  also. 

Edinburgh. 
Royal  Society,  March  6. — Dr.  J.  Home,  president, 
in  the  chair.- — Prof.  F.  O.  Bower  :  Leaf  architecture 
as  illuminated  by  a  study  of  the  Pteridophyta.  A 
knowledge  of  leaf  architecture  may  be  gained  (i)  by 
a  comparative  study  of  adult  leaves  in  a  large  number 
of  different  types;  (2)  by  a  study  of  the  juvenile  leaves 
and  of  their  development  towards  the  adult  form ;  (3) 
by  a  further  comparison  with  the  fossil  record.  The 
jfirst  of  these  avenues  has  had  priority,  especially  in 
relation  to  the  higher  flowering  plants,  leading  unfor- 
tunately to  an  interpretation  of  the  lower  in  terms 
of  the  higher.  A  careful  study  of  the  juvenile  leaves 
of  the  Pteridophyta  show  that  all  the  varied  forms 
of  leaf  can  be  explained  as  a  modification  through 
growth  of  an  original  simple  dichotomy.  The  dicho- 
tomy in  juvenile  leaves  may  be  equal  or  unequal. 
In  the  latter  case  the  system  is  commonly  developed 
sympodially,  and  all  gradations  may  be  observed. 
This  is  well  illustrated  in  Pteridium  and  Osmunda. 
The  order  of  ontogenetic  development  is  normally 
from  equal  dichotomy  to  sympodial  dichotomy,  and 
when  the  development  of  the  leaf  is  strong  there  may 
bs  transition  to  monopodial  branching.  In  higher 
v'ascular  plants,  after  the  arrest  of  apical  growth,  the 
most  prominent  factor  is  intercalary  growth.  This  is 
effective  in  producing  the  petiole.  A  numBer  of  com- 
3arisons  were  instituted  which  indicated,  as  a  general 
Statement  for  vascular  plants,  that  their  leaf  archi- 
recture  is  throughout  referable  to  modifications  of  a 
branch  system  originating  phvleticallv  in  a  simple 
t-af   subject   to   dichotomy. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  March  27.— M.  Ed.  Perrier  in 
[jhe  chair. — The  president  announced  the  death  of  Leon 
Labb^,  free  member  of  the  academy,  at  the  age  of 
Mghty-four,  and  gave  an  account  of  his  work  in 
;urgery.— A.  Blondel  :  Remarks  on  the  use  of  high 
NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


potential  continuous  current  for  wireless  telegraphy 
and  telephony.  With  reference  to  a  recent  communi- 
cation to  the  academy  on  this  subject  by  MM.  Girardeau 
and  B^thenod,  it  is  pointed  out  that  the  energy  losses 
are  greater  than  those  calculated  from  the  equations 
employed  by  Fracque.  There  are  also  practical  diffi- 
culiies  connected  with  the  use  of  high-tension  con- 
tinuous current,  not  present  to  the  same  extent  when 
alternating  current  is  used. — Lester  R.  Ford  :  The 
approximation  of  irrational  complex  quantities. — A. 
BunI  :  Geometrical  applications  of  Abel's  theorem  and 
Stokes's  formula. — G.  H.  Hardy  :  The  summation  of 
Dirichlet's  series. — J.  Guillaume  :  Observations  of  the 
sun  made  at  the  Lyons  Observatory  during  the  fourth 
quarter  of  19 15.  Observations  were  made  on  sixty 
days,  the  results  being  given  in  three  tables  showing 
the  number  of  spots,  their  distribution  in  latitude,  and 
the  distribution  of  the  faculae  in  latitude. — Louis  Roy  : 
The  electrodynamics  of  absorbent  media. — L.  Reutter  : 
The  analysis  of  a  Roman  pomade.  This  pomade  was 
found  in  a  Roman  amphora  excavated  near  Lugano, 
and  was  found  to  consist  of  a  mixture  of  beeswax  and 
other  fats,  added  to  styrax  and  turpentine  macerated 
in  wine,  with  some  henna. — Paul  Gaubert  :  The  growth 
of  crystals.  Remarks  on  a  recent  communication  of 
C.  Dauzere.  The  crystallisation  of  thymol  under  the 
microscope  is  periodic. — M.  Deprat  :  Cycles  of  erosion 
and  recent  epeirogenic  movements  in  south-western 
China. — Adrien  Guebhard  :  The  extension  north  of  the 
department  of  Var  of  the  tectonic  formula  of  the 
neighbourhood  of  Castellane  (Basses-Alpes),  and  the 
generalisation  of  its  principle. — A.  Brives  :  The  rela- 
tions of  the  Trias  and  metalliferous  deposits  in 
Algeria. — P.  Chausse  :  Researches  on  the  persistence 
of  Botal's  cleft  in  some  domestic  animals.  This  mal- 
formation was  found  in  30  per  cent,  of  the  three 
months  old  calves  examined,  and  was  also  common 
in  grown  cattle  and  in  pigs.  It  was  exceptional  in 
the  horse  and  dog. — A.  Lecaillon  :  The  existence  of 
two  annual  generations  in  Galeruca  luteola,  and  on 
the  manner  in  which  they  succeed  each  other. — A. 
Magnan  :  Vaccination  against  parat3phoid  fevers  A 
and  B. — A.  Trillat  :  A  calorimetric  method  utilised  by 
the  Romans  for  characterising  soft  waters.  The  Romans 
attached  considerable  importance  to  the  quality  of 
their  drinking  water,  and  appear  to  have  chosen  the 
softest  water  when  more  than  one  supply  was  avail- 
able. From  a  remark  by  Hippocrates  it  seems  that 
the  bleaching  of  small  quantities  of  red  wine  by  the 
water  was  the  test  employed.  It  is  shown  that  a 
series  of  nine  waters  is  arranged  in  the  same  order 
of  hardness  by  testing  with  wine  or  by  the  ordinary 
alkali-metric  method. 


BOOKS    RECEl  VED. 

The  Moon,  considered  as  a  ^Planet,  a  World,  and 
a  Satellite.  By  J.  Nasmyth  and  J.  Carpenter.  Cheap 
edition.  Pp.  xix  +  315.  (London  :  J.  Murray.)  25.  6d. 
net. 

Guida  .Alio  Studio  della  Storia  delle  Matematiche. 
By  Prof.  G.  Loria.  Pp.  xvi  +  228.  (Milano  :  U. 
Hoepli.)     3  lire. 

A  Treatise  on  Electricity.  By  F.  B.  Pidduck.'  Pp. 
xiv  +  646.  (Cambridge:  At  the  University  Press.) 
14s.    net. 

The  Fauna  of  British  India,  including  Ceylon  and 
Burma.  Rhynchota.  Vol.  vi.,  Homoptera  :  Appen- 
dix. By  W.  L.  Distant.  Pp.  viii  +  248.  (London  : 
Taylor  and  Francis.)     10s. 

The  Flowering  Plants  of  Africa.  By  Fr.  Thonner. 
Pp.  xvi  +  647.  (London:  Dulau  and  Co.,  Ltd.)  15s. 
net. 

Natural  History  of  Hawaii.     Bv  Prof.  W.  .A.  Brvan. 


156 


NATURE 


[April  13,  1916 


PP'    59^'        (Honolulu  :    The    Hawaiian    Gazette   Co., 
Ltd.) 

Memoirs  of  the  Geological  Survey.  England  and 
Wales.  On  the  Thicknesses  of  Strata  in  the  Counties 
of  England  and  Wales,  exclusive  of  Rocks  older  than 
the  Permian.  By  Dr.  Strahan,  and  others.  Pp.  vi  + 
172.  The  Geology  of  the  South  Wales  Coalfield.  Part 
xii.,  The  Country  around  Milford,  being  an  account 
of  the  regFon  comprised  in  Sheet  227  of  the  Map. 
By  T.  C.  Cantrill,  and  others.  Pp.  vii+185.  (Lon- 
don: H.M.S.O. ;  E.  Stanford,  Ltd.)  4s.  6d.  and 
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The  Sex  Complex.  By  Dr.  W.  Blair  Bell.  Pp. 
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12s.  6d.  net. 

Physiological  Chemistry.  By  Prof.  A.  P.  Mathews. 
Pp.  vi+1040.  (London:  Bailliere,  Tindall  and  Cox.) 
215.  net. 

Brook  and  River  Trouting.  By  H.  H.  Edmonds  and 
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I05.  6d.  net. 

On  the  Relation  of  Imports  to  Exports.  By  J. 
Taylor  Peddie.  Second  edition.  Pp.  xxiv+148.  (Lon- 
don :   Longmans  and  Co.)     55.  net. 

Occupations  :  from  the  Social,  Hygienic,  and  Medi- 
cal points  of  View.  By  Sir  T.  Oliver.  Pp.  x+iio. 
(Cambridge  :  At  the  University  Press.)     6s.  net. 

The  Dynamical  Theory  of  Gases.  By  J.  H.  Jeans. 
Second  edition.  Pp.  vi  +  436.  (Cambridge:  At  the 
University  Press.)     16s.   net. 

Records  of  the  Survey  of  India.  Vol.  vii.  Annual 
Reports  of  Parties  and  Offices,  1913-14,  from  ist 
October,  1913,  to  30th  September,  1914.  Prepared 
under  the  direction  of  Sir  S.  G.  Burrard.  Pp.  ii  + 
180+ II  maps.  (Calcutta:  Superintendent  Govern- 
ment Printing,   India.)     4  rupees,  or  6s. 

Union  of  South  Africa.  Mines  Department.  Geo- 
logical Survey  Memoir  No.  7  :  The  Geology  and 
Mineral  Industry  of  South-west  Africa.  Bv  P.  A. 
Wagner.  Pp.  234+ plates  xli.  (Pretoria  :  Government 
Printing  and  Stationery  Office.)     75.   6d. 

Forty-fifth  Annual  Report  of  the  Deputy  Master  and 
Comptroller  of  the  Mint,  1914.  Pp.  191.  (London  : 
H.M.S.O.  ;  Wyman  and  Sons,   Ltd.)     35.  6d. 

An  Introductory  Course  of  Continuous  Current 
Engineering.  By  Dr.  A.  Hay.  Second  edition.  Pp. 
xii +  360.  (London  :  Constable  and  Co.,  Ltd.)  6s.  6d. 
net. 

Wisconsin  Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey. 
Bulletins  Nos.  xxviii.-xxxii.  Soil  Series,  Nos.  2-6; 
Bulletins  Nos.  xxxvii  +  xl.  Soil  Series,  Nos.  7-10; 
Bulletins  Nos.  xxxv  and  xliv.  Economic  Series, 
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28  to  32  and  37  to  40  inclusive.  Soil  Series,  2  to  6  and 
7  to  10  inclusive.  (Madison,  Wis.  :  Published  bv  the 
State.) 

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Co..  Ltd.)     3s.  6d.  net. 

Medical  and  VeterinarA^  Entomology.  Bv  Prof. 
W.  B.  Herms.  Pp.  xii4-393.  (London:  Macmillan 
and  Co.,  Ltd.)     lys.  net. 


DIARY   OF   SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  \VRU.  13. 

Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers,  at  %.— Discussion :  The 
Present  Position  of  F.lertricity  Supply  in  the  United  Kingdom ;  and  the 
Steps  to  be  taken  to  Improve  and  -Strengthen  it. 

Child  Study  Society,  at  6.— Experin.ents  on  Hand-writing  in  Schools  : 
Dr.  C.  W.  Kimmine,  Mrs.  Grainger,  and  Miss  Golds.  At  7.30. — Annual 
Meeting. 

Institution  OF  Naval  Architects,  at  ti  a.m.— .Subdivision  of  Me-chant 
Vessels  :  Reports  of  the  Bulkhead  Commit'ee,  1912-1915  :  Sir  Arrhibald 
Denny. — Strength  of  Watertight  Bulkheads  :  J.  F.  King. — Some  Effects  of 
the  Bulkhead  Committee's  Reports  in  Practice  :  A.  T.  Wall.  At  3. — Notes 
from  a  Collision  Case  :  J.  Reid. — Shipyard  Cranes  of  the  Rotterdam 
Dockyard  Company  :  M.  G.  f'e  Gelder. 


Royal  Geocraphical  Society,  at  5. —Night  Marching  by  Stars:  E.  A 
Reeves. 

Optical  Society,  at  8. — Practical  Workshop  and  Laboratory  Measure- 
ments: S.  D.  Chalmers. -'Some  Further  Notes  on  Focometry  :  T.  V. 
Connolly. 

FRIDAY,  April  14. 

Royal  Institution,  at  5.30. — The  Genesis  and  Absorption  of  X-Rays:  Sir 
J.  J.  Thomson. 

Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  at  6. — Theory  and  Practice  iq 
the  Filtration  of  Water :  W.  Clemence. 

Royal  Astronomical  Society,  at  5.— Obser\'ations  of  the  Double  Star 
Krueger  60  :  E.  E.  Barnard. — The  Kinetic  Energy  of  a  Star  Cluster : 
A.  S.  Eddington. — Catalogue  of  Radiant  Points  of  Shooting  Stars, 
1898-1915  :  A.  King. 

PinslCAL  Society,  at  5. — The  Variation  of  Resistance  with  Voltage  at  a 
Rectifying  Contact  of  Two  Solid  Conductor*,  with  Applications  to  the 
Electric  Wave  Detector  :  D.  Owen. — The  Electrical  Capacity  of  a  Gold 
Leaf  Electroscope  :  Dr.  T.  Barratt. 

SATURDAY,  April  15. 
RovAL   Institution,   at  3. — Radiations  from  Atoms  and  Electrons:   Pi 
J.  J.  Thomson. 

MONDA  Y,  .\PRIL  17. 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  at  S.so.^The  Development  of  Rhodesia 
from  a  Geographical  Standpoint :  H.  Wilson  Fox. 

TUESDAY,  April  i8. 
Royal  Statistical  Socif.ty,  at  5.15. 
Zoological  Society,  at  5.30. — The  External  Characters  of  the  Mongoo^' 

(Mungotidae) :    R.     I.    Pocock. — The    Poison-Organ    of   the    Sting-Ray 

(.Trygon  pastinaca)  :     Major  H.  Muir  Evans. 
Institution  of  Civil  Enginep;rs,  at  5.30.— Annual  General  Meeting. 

WEDNESDAY,  April  19. 

Royal  Microscopical  Society,  at  8. — Early  Stages  in  the  Evolution 
of  Life  :  Prof.  Benjamin  Moore. — Studies  in  Marine  Biology  :  F.  Martin 
Duncan. — Some  Suggestions  regarding  Visual  Efficiency  in  the  L'fe  of  the 
Microscope  and  other  Optical  Instruments:  J.  W.  Purkiss. 

RoVAL  Mfteorologk.\l  Society,  at  7.30 The  Persistence  of  Wet  and 

Dry  Weather:  E.  V.  Newnham.  — Discontinuities  in  Meteorological 
Phenomena.     Second  Note.     Prof.  H.  H.  Turner. 

CONTENTS.                      PAGE 
Irradiation :  Its  Physiology,  Pathology,  and  Thera- 
peutics               137 

The  Medium  Under  the  Microscope.     By  J.  A.  H.  138 

Analytical  Aids  for  Factory  Chemists 139 

Astronomy  for  Juvenile  Readers 139 

Our  Bookshelf i40 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

Smithsonian  Physical  Tables.— Dr.  C.  D.  Walcott  .  141 
Effect  of  Tidal  Water  in  an  Estuary  oa  the  Level  of 

Subterranean  Water. — Jas.  Kewley  141 

Is     Soap     Necessary     for     Shaving? — G.     Arbour 

Stephens 141 

Malaria  and  Sanitation   {^Illustrated.)   ByJ.  W.  W.  S.  141 
The  Pollination  of  Fruit  Trees.     By  Prof.  Frederick 

Keeble,  F.R.S 142 

Prof.  Octave  Lignier.     By  A.  C.  S 143 

Notes 144 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Comet  1916a  (Neujmin) 148 

Occultation  of  Mars,  October  2,  191 5 148 

The  Radiation  Laws  and  Stellar  Photometry    ....  148 

Dark  Markings  in  the  Sky 148 

A  Cluster  of  Nebulae  in  Cetus 148 

The  New  Chemical  Laboratories  at  University  Col- 
lege, London.     {Illustrated.') 148 

Instrumental  Harmonic  Synthesis.    {Illustrated.)  .    .  15° 

Cements  and  Clays.     ByJ.  A.  A.    . 15° 

Productive  Research  in  the  United   States  ....  150 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence i53 

Societies  and  Academies i54 

Books  Received         IS5 

Diary  of  Societies ij 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 

MACMILLAN   &  CO.,   Ltd., 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  the 
Publishers. 


Editorial  Communications  to  th^  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,  London. 
Telephone  Number :  Gebrard  8830. 


NO.    2424,    VOL.    97] 


NA  TURE 


157 


THURSDAY,    APRIL   20,    1916. 


GEMS  AND  SUPERSTITION. 
The  Magic  of  Jewels  and  Charms.     By  Dr.  G.  F. 
Kunz.      Pp.   XV +  422.      (Philadelphia  and  Lon- 
don: J.   B.   Lippincott    Co.,    1915.)     Price  215. 
net. 

DR.  KUNZ,  who  is  well  known  as  a  mineralo- 
gist of  repute  and   as  one  of  the  leading 
authorities    of    the    day    on    precious  stones  and 
jewelry,  has  evidently  spared  no  time  and  trouble 
to  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  many  strange 
fancies    and    superstitions    that    have    at    various 
times  and  in  various  countries  been  attached  to 
gems  and  other  treasured  objects.     As  the  result 
of  his  industry  he  had  compiled  a  large  mass  of 
notes,  out  of  which  he  gave  us  barely  two  years 
ago  a  book  entitled  "  The  Curious  Lore  of  Precious 
Stones,"  and  now,  since  his  stock  of  material  was 
iby  no  means  exhausted  by  the  publication  of  that 
iwork,  he  sets  before  us  a  companion  volume,  or, 
las  he  terms  it  in  his  preface,  the  twin  sister,  the 
bcope  of  which   is   much   more   diffuse ;    precious 
■atones   enter    again,    especially    as    regards    their 
i:urative  and  talismanic  uses,  but  besides  them  we 
jind  also  substances  which  do  not  ordinarily  figure 
in  jewelry,   such  as   meteorites,    fossils,    bezoars, 
ind  animal  concretions.      Founded  as  it  is  upon 
iiotes,   and  copiously   sprinkled   with   lengthy   ex- 
jracts  from  the  original  literature,  the  book  pro- 
,eeds   with   something   of  the   jerky   gait   of   the 
Irrasshopper,  and  we  find  nothing  in  the  way  of  a 
jreneral   discussion   or   the   development   of   some 
pmprehensive  theory.      Nevertheless,   the  author 
as  done  good  service  by  providing  a  good  and 
jonvenient  resume  of  the  subject,  and  not  the  least 
'aluable  and  interesting  paragraphs  are  those  in 
ihich  he  gives  the  results  of  his  own  observa- 
jons. 
In  the  first  chapter,  on  magic  stones  and  electric 
ems,   the   author   touches    upon    some     curious 
:ones.    He  considers  that  galactite,  which  accord- 
ig  to  Pliny  came  from  the  Nile  and  had  the  colour 
id  odour  of  milk,  was  not,  strictly  speaking,  a 
!  one  at  all,   but  nitrate  of  lime.      Rain-makers, 
ho  professed  to  produce  rain  by  their  magic  art, 
tm  to  have  made  use  of  any  unusual  stone  that 
iippened  to  come  to  hand,   and,   although  rock- 
•^ystal  has  been  so  employed,  transparent  stones 
•e  by  no  means  the  rule.      In  medieval  times 
ntless  attempts  were  made  by  the  alchemists  to 
over  the   so-called  philosopher's   stone,   which 
aid  transmute  base  metal   into  gold,   and  the 
tnorant  people  of  those  days  were  often  success- 
jlly  imposed  upon.    A  description  is  given  of  the 
pst   striking   examples   of   the    supposed   trans- 
btation  that  have  come  down   to  us,  viz.,   the 
Ilge  medallion,  bearing  in  relief  the  heads  of  the 
Inperor  Leopold  and  his  ancestors  of  the  house  of 
jipsburg,  which  was  treated  by  Seller  in   1677, 
d  the  exceedinglv  rare  medal  struck  in  1647  by 
JTimand   of  the    Emperor   Ferdinand    III.    from 
•M  supposed  to  have  been  produced  in  his  pres- 
e  by  Hofmann;   in  neither  case,   of  course,   is 
i      NO.    2425,   VOL.    97] 


the  metal  pure  gold,  but  it  remains  a  mystery  what 
was  the  actual  process,  the  historical  interest  of 
the  objects  precluding  a  chemical  examination. 
The  remarkable  electric  properties  of  tourmaline, 
in  which  respect  it  transcends  other  minerals,  first 
attracted  notice  as  early  as  171 7,  and  were  defi- 
nitely established  by  1756.  Dr.  Kunz  describes  in 
appreciative  terms  the  beautiful  examples  of  this 
mineral  that  have  come  from  Brazil  and  California, 
and  bases  upon  them  somewhat  extravagant  sym- 
bolism ;  thus  as  regards  the  "  peace  stones  " — the 
well-known  tourmaline  crystals,  red  and  green  at 
opposite  ends  with  a  colourless  band  in  the  middle 
—he  writes  :  "  We  can  see  symbolised  in  them  the 
great  and  consoling  fact  that,  however  marked 
may  be  the  differences  between  any  two  peoples, 
they  need  not  be  cause  for  enmity,  but  may  instead 
become  true  and  enduring  sources  of  peace  and 
bonds  of  union."  The  electric  properties  of  amber 
were,  of  course,  a  much  earlier  discover}-,  dating 
back  to  600  B.C.  That  the  wearing  of  a  necklace  of 
this  substance  kept  off  attacks  of  erysipelas  in  a 
person  subject  to  them  was  maintained  by  the  late 
Rev.  C.  W.  King,  the  well-known  writer  on  pre- 
cious stones ;  the  author  quotes  his  actual  words  : 
"  Its  efficacy  in  defence  of  the  throat  against  chills 
is  evidently  due  to  its  extreme  warmth  when  in 
contact  with  the  skin  and  the  circle  of  electricity 
so  maintained." 

In  the  chapter  on  meteorites  the  author  draws 
for  his  description  of  the  earlier  falls  largely  upon 
Chladni,  who  was  the  first  writer  to  make  a  sys- 
tematic study  of  the  numerous  traditions  of  such 
phenomena,  and  to  suggest  a  doubt  in  the  minds 
of  the  scientific  world  whether  they  should  be  dis- 
missed as  idle  fables.  The  more  famous  of  the 
historical  stones  include  the  Phrygian  stone,  which 
was  conveyed  to  Rome  in  204  B.C.,  the  Diana  of 
the  Ephesians  "which  fell  from  Jupiter,"  the 
Kaaba  stone  at  Mecca,  and  the  stone  which  fell 
at  Ensisheim  in  Alsace  on  November  16,  1492. 
We  note  that  Dr.  Kunz  speaks  of  the  collection 
of  meteorites  at  \lenna  as  the  finest  in  the  world, 
which  is  possibly  true,  but  we  may  remark  that  the 
one  in  the  Natural  History  Museum,  London,  is 
practically  equal  to  it,  and  contains  the  large  Cran- 
bourne  stone,  weighing  about  3^  tons.  Descrip- 
tions and  illustrations  are  given  of  the  three  enor- 
mous masses  discovered  by  Admiral,  then  Lieut., 
Peary  in  1894  near  Melville  Bay,  W>st  Greenland, 
and  a  few  years  subsequently  removed  by  him  to 
the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History, 
New  York,  weighing  resjx;ctively  36^^  tons,  3  tons, 
and  1 100  lb.;  they  have  been  named  the  Ahni- 
ghito,  the  Woman,  and  the  Dog. 

It  may  strike  many  readers  as  strange  to  read 
that  even  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  powdered  hard  stones  were  still  in  use  for 
medicinal  purposes ;  thus  in  a  druggist's  price-list 
dated  1757  a  pound  of  emerald  is  quoted  at  eight 
groschen  {5Z.),  of  sapphire  at  double,  and  of  ruby 
at  treble  that  amount.  The  author  gives  lengthy 
details  of  the  supposed  virtues  of  the  various  gem- 
stones,  the  species  being  arranged  in  alphabetical 
order,   and   devotes   a  couple  of  chapters   to   the 

I 


i5« 


NATURE 


[April  20,  191 6 


curative  properties  of  fabulous  stones,  and  of  the 
mysterious  bezoars,  which  were  thoug'ht  to  have 
originated  in  the  eyes  of  deer,  in  the  liver  of 
various  animals,  or  in  similar  strange  ways.  The 
use  of  precious  stones  in  religious  ceremony  goes 
back  to  a  very  early  date,  and  still  prevails.  The 
instance  of  the  High  Priest's  breastplate  of  the 
ancient  Jews  is  well  known,  and  identification  of 
the  stones  composing  it  has  given  rise  to  much 
interesting  discussion.  A  long  chapter  is  devoted 
to  the  description  of  amulets  in  ancient  and  modern 
times,  and  in  the  concluding  chapter '  Dr.  Kunz 
has  collected  many  strange  stories  about  precious 
stones.  As  an  unusually  brilliant  imaginative 
effort  we  may  select  the  old  Burmese  legend  of 
the  origin  of  the  famous  ruby  mines :  "  In  the 
first  century  of  our  era  three  eggs  were  laid  by 
a  female  naga,  or  serpent;  out  of  the  first  was 
born  Pynsacoti,a  king  of  Pagan;  out  of  the  third 
came  an  Emperor  of  China ;  and  out  of  the  third 
were  emitted  the  rubies  of  the  Ruby  Mines." 

The     book     is     superbly     illustrated    and    well 
printed,  and  contains  an  adequate  index. 


A   BIOGRAPHY   OF  EDISON. 
Thomas     Alva    Edison.      By     F.     Rolt-Wheeler. 

Pp.    ix  +  2oi.        (New    York:    The    Macmillan 

Co.;  London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.,   1916.) 

Price  2S.  net. 
TN  this  hfe  of  Thomas  Alva  Edison,  the  author 
^  has  given  a  very  interesting  description  of 
the  childhood,  youth,  and  manhood  of  America's 
• — one  might  almost  say,  the  world's — greatest 
living  inventor.  We  learn  that,  as  a  boy,  Edison 
proved  unsatisfactory  under  school  routine,  but 
was  a  great  success  under  his  mother's  private 
tuition.  He  incessantly  asked  questions  on  and 
about  everything,  and  insisted  on  an  answer  or 
wanted  to  know  the  reason  "why."  He  also 
showed,  from  the  earliest  records,  that  he  was  a 
keen  thinker,  worker,  and  planner  on  all  work 
which  interested  him,  but  under  "  routine "  of 
any  kind  he  was  a  complete  failure. 

The  account  of  Edison  as  a  newspaper  boy  on 
the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad,  and  his  original 
methods  of  disposing  of  his  papers,  as  well  as 
the  description  given  of  his  services  as  a  tele- 
graph operator,  illustrate  the  extraordinary  in- 
genuity of  the  youth.  He  seems  to  have  an 
uncanny  foresight  or  "guessing  power,"  as  he 
calls  it.  He  is  no  mathematician,  and  declared 
"he  could  guess  a  good  deal  closer  than  they 
could  figure."  In  later  years,  as  he  developed 
his  inventions  one  by  one,  he  collected  a  number 
of  valuable  and  enthusiastic  assistants.  He 
inherited  from  his  father  an  exceptional  power 
of  gaining  the  confidence  of  people  in  his  work 
and  their  financial  support. 

Edison's  first  important  invention  was  the  vote- 
recorder,  which  he  placed  before  Congress  men, 
who  examined  and  acknowledged  that  it  was  a 
great  success,  but  thought  it  was  not  required. 
This  was  a  severe  shock  to  the  inventor,  who 
at  the  time  was  hard  up  for  money  and  hoped  to 
MO      OAOC     \Tnr      nil 


make  something  out  of  it.  But  it  taught  hiir 
lesson ;  "  for  there  and  then  he  made  up  his  mi 
never  to  waste  time  in  inventing  things  whi 
were  not  wanted."  Later  he  became  mana^ 
of  the  Law  Gold  Recording  Company,  and 
vented  many  improvements  on  their  instrumen 
At  this  time  he  married,  but  he  denies  the  stc 
that  "he  forgot  his  wife  an  hour  after  his  w( 
ding."  He  later  became  connected  with  t 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  which  ga 
him  every  help  in  completing  his  inventioi 
Among  these  are  the  duplex  and  quadruplex  te 
graphy,  also  the  telephone  carbon  transmits 
and  numerous  other  inventions  well  known  to  z 
On  one  occasion  Edison  was  asked,  "What 
a  genius?  "  and  his  answer  is  well  worth  repe; 
ing.  "A  genius  is  about  2  per  cent,  inspirati 
and  98  per  cent,  perspiration."  His  part  in  t 
construction  of  the  carbon  filament  lamp  (whi 
was  not  entirely  his  work,  for  the  late  I 
Joseph  Swan  had  much  to  do  with  it)  is  w 
known,  as  also  in  the  production  of  the  phor 
graph,  which  may  be  considered  the  most  wond( 
ful  of  all  his  inventions,  and  will  always  be  as* 
ciated  with  his  name.  Of  his  recent  inventior 
the  storage  battery  is  of  enormous  importan( 
especially  to  England  at  the  present  time, 
is  impossible  to  give  more  than  a  rough  impn 
sion  of  his  wonderful  energy  and  enthusiasm  a 
his  determination  to  master  all  problen 
America  and  the  world  are  richer  and  wiser  1 
his  genius ;  and  though  he  is  now  sixty-sev 
years  of  age,  we  hope  that  he  will  not  only  rea( 
but  also  pass,  in  activity,  the  great  ages  of 
father  and  grandfather.  S.   G.   Bro\v> 


THE   DESIGN   OF   DIESEL   ENGINES  F 
MARINE  PURPOSES. 

\i)  Land  and  Marine  Diesel  Engines.  By 
Supino.  Translated  by  Eng.  Lieut. -Comn 
der  A.  G.  Bremner  and  J.  Richardson.  Pp.  x 
309.  (London:  C.  Grifiin  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  19 
Price  125.  6d.  net. 

{2)  Diesel  Engines  for  Land  and  Marine   W 
By  A.  P.  Chalkley.    Fourth  edition,  revised 
enlarged.     Pp.  xvii  +  368.     (London:  Const.fe 
and  Co.,    Ltd.,    1915.)      Price  85.   6d.   net.  j 

JUDGED  from  the  titles  given  above,  it  mUt 
be  supposed  that  these  two  recently  ]> 
lished  treatises  on  the  Diesel  engine  covered  le 
same  ground,  but  a  careful  perusal  will  show  at 
the  ideas  of  the  authors  are  by  no  means  ident,il» 
and  as  a  result  it  may  be  predicted  that  althcl''' 
both  volumes  will  appeal  to  all  engineers  i" 
others  who  have  to  do  with  internal  combu.'po 
motors  and  motive  power  for  the  propulsio  01 
ships,  the  first  of  the  above  two  books  is  one  a^ 
will  find  its  way  into  the  reference  departmei  o' 
every  drawing  office  where  Diesel  engines  o'' 
marine  purposes  are  being  designed,  whilst  h^ 
second  book,  by  means  of  its  description  ol  he 
gradual  development  of  the  Diesel  engine  fror  Jie 
early  experimental  engines  of  Dr.  Rudolph  Ejse 
down  to  the  modern  practice  of  to-day,  will  a  ca' 


April  20,  1916] 


NATURE 


^59 


more  to  the  student  of  heat  engines  and  the  pro- 
spective user  of  this  particular  type  of  prime 
mover. 

(i)  The  keynote  to  the  first  volume  is  undoubt- 
edly the  explanation  of  the  actual  designing  of  the 
marine  Diesel  engine  and  its  component  parts,  and 
it  seems  quite  wonderful  that  modern  practice  has 
so  rapidly  become  to  a  large  extent  standardised. 
The  translation  from  the  original  has  evidently 
been  undertaken  by  engineers  skilled  in  the  prac- 
tice of  their  profession  and  in  sympathy  with  the 
subject-matter  of  the  text.  The  original  treatise 
is  the  work  of  an  Italian  specialist  in  the  de- 
\elopment  of  the  Diesel  motor,  Giorgio  Supino, 
whose  early  decease  is  a  real  loss  to  Italian  en- 
gineering. Naturally  the  reader  will  ask  what 
las  this  eminent  foreign  author  to  say  about 
iBritish-made  Diesel  engines  and  British  manufac- 
liurers;  at  the  end  of  part  i.,  page  ^^2,  is  a  table 
■jiving  a  list  of  ships  and  the  types  of  engine 
Adopted,  viz.,  high  speed,  low  speed,  4  cycle,  and 
{:  cycle,  and  it  is  noticeable  that  one  only  out  of 
|;ome  twenty  names  is  that  of  a  British  firm. 

This  surely  is  a  matter  which  vitally  concerns  a 
Inanufacturing  country   such  as  ours.      Recollec- 
tions of  the  early  years  of  the  petrol  motor  and 
inotor-car   industry    and    a    comparison   with    the 
tate   of   our   present    manufactures    makes     one 
levoutly  hope  that  histor}-  will  repeat  itself  and 
hat  full  advantage  will  be  taken  of  the  experience 
nd  experimental  labours  of  our  Continental  com- 
etitors,  so  that  the  supoly  for  our  colonies  may 
,ome  from   this  countr^^      No  discussion  on   the 
lerits  of  Diesel  engines  can  be  entered  upon  with- 
,ut  reference  to  that  class  known  as  semi-Diesel, 
jhich  latter  are  perhaps  better  termed   hot-bulb 
Kgines.     It  is  good  to  think  that  our  output  of 
jiese  is  more  satisfactory,  but  the  magnitude  of 
»e  units  employed  of  this  class  is  small  compared 
ith  that  of  engines  of  the   Diesel  type.      It   is 
so  good  to  remember  that  the  engine  called  semi- 
iesel  is  in  reality  the  direct  outcome  of  the  work 
an  English  engineer,  Mr.  Stuart  Akroyd,  whose 
•me    is    associated    with    the    firm    of    Messrs. 
ornsby  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  in  the  production  of  the 
.ornsby- Akroyd  engine,    and   it   would   therefore 
jem  a  better  name  for  this  type  of  engine  that 
'  should    be   termed    "engines    working    on    the 

'vd  cycle,"  rather  than  "semi-Diesel." 
A   brief   review   of   the   first   book    shows    that 
rt  i.  deals  with  a  general  survey  of  the  types  of 
engines  in  general  use,   with  a  discussion  on 
iiciencies.     Chapter  vi.  gives  methods  of  calcu-  | 
Ijmg  cylinder  dimensions;   this  is  succeeded   by  | 
papters  dealing  with  the  designs  of  various  parts,  I 
sj:h  as  bed-plates,  crank  cases,  engine  framing, 
'^  nk-shafts,  pistons,  cylinder  heads,  valves,  fuel 
tion     and   regulation,    etc.,    all    verv    clearly 
t  rated    by     excellent    drawings     and     plates. 
>1thods  of  reversing  marine  engines  give  up-to- 
e  practice,  and  it  is  startling  to  realise  that  the 
ole   cycle   of    reversing   can    be    performed    in 
f^r^"f"?f'     "^  ^"''^^  chapter  deals  with  trials  and 
y^s  of  Diesel  engines.     It  would  be  a  help  if  a 
ulated  form   of   "report  on  a  trial"   were  in- 
NO.    2425,   VOL.    97] 


eluded,  as  standardisation  is  very  desirable  in  any 
form  of  comparative  tests.  From  this  short  review 
it  would  appear  that  the  subject-matter  is  really 
the  complete  design  of  Diesel  engines  for  marine 
purposes,  and  as  such  it  is  a  meritorious  addition 
to  engineering  literature. 

(2)  The  second  volume  is  a  greatly  enlarged  and 
much  rewritten  edition  of  a  work  which  first 
appeared  in  the  spring  of  1912,  almost  contem- 
poraneous with  the  last  public  appearance  of  Dr. 
Diesel  in  London.  The  defects  of  the  first  edition 
(which  bore  traces  of  hurried  preparation)  have 
disappeared,  and  we  now  have  a  copiously  illus- 
trated and  enthusiastic  survey  of  the  progress  of 
the  Diesel  engine,  with  many  examples  of  modern 
types  for  land  and  marine  installations,  and  an 
optimistic  claim  for  its  future  development  as  the 
prime  mover  for  mechanical  transport.  In  this 
volume  are  upwards  of  forty-five  folded  plates, 
which  give  the  main  dimensions  and  cross-sec- 
tions of  the  chief  types  of  engines  constructed.  It 
is  satisfactory  to  note  that  British  types  figure 
more  prominently  in  this  book.  One  of  these, 
viz.,  the  Tanner-Diesel,  is  shown  on  page  264. 
The  writer  remembers  the  early  struggles  of  Mr. 
Tanner  to  get  his  designs  taken  up,  and  is  glad 
to  pen  this  tribute  to  his  faith  and  earnest- 
ness in  carrying  through  his  designs  to  a 
successful  issue  in  the  face  of  great  difficulties. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  the  progress  made  in  the 
last  four  years  has  been  mainly  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  two-stroke  cycle  type,  and  the  increase 
of  h.p.  developed  per  unit  employed.  A  perusal 
of  the  table  on  page  317  shows  that  the  maximum 
diameter  of  cylinder  is  now  30  inches,  and  that 
the  maximum  h.p.  per  cylinder  is  650  for  a  2-cycle 
engine,  but  the  average  h.p.  per  cylinder  is  only 
230  for  this  class,  and  for  the  4-cycle  slow-speed 
type  the  average  is  only  125  h.p.'  per  cylinder,  a 
figure  which  represents  the  performance  of  the 
Selandia,  the  boat  Londoners  had  a  chance  to 
inspect  whilst  she  was  lying  in  the  Thames  in 
191 2.  The  figures  given  justify  the  claim  of  the 
author  of  this  book  that  the  2-stroke  cycle  is  that 
of  the  future.  To  the  student  and  others  who 
desire  to  understand  this  engine  and  its  working 
this  volume  will  be  of  great  service. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  refer  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Diesel  engine  and  its  use  to  extend 
submarine  warfare,  but  the  present  is  not  oppor- 
tune for  any  remarks  on  this  point.         A.  J.  M. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Instincts  of  the  Herd  in  Peace  and  War.  By  W. 
Trotter.  Pp.  213.  (London:  T.  Fisher  Unwin, 
Ltd.,  1916.)     Price  35.  6d.  net. 

An  interesting  and  useful  sociological  survey. 
The  author  contends  that  the  subject  can  really 
become  a  science,  practically  useful  by  conferring 
foresight.  It  is  not  necessarily  only  a  mass  of 
dreary  and  indefinite  generalities,  but  may  become 
a  guide  to  the  actual  affairs  of  life,  giving  an 
understanding  of  the  human  mind  which  may  en- 


i6o 


NATURE 


[April  20,  19 16 


able  us  to  foretell  some  of  the  course  of  human 
behaviour.  The  war  brings  the  chance  of  testing- 
the  truth  of  this  suggestion.  It  is  becoming, 
obviously,  more  and  more  a  war  of  moral  forces ; 
and  an  understanding  of  the  nature  and  sources 
of  national  moral  must  be  as  important  a  source 
of  strength  as  the  knowledge  of  the  military 
engineer. 

The  author  proceeds  to  discuss  the  various 
forms  of  gregariousness,  and  finds  the  British  form 
typified  by  the  bee,  the  German  form  by  the  wolf. 
The  difference  is  so  great  that  the  war  is  not  so 
much  a  war  between  nations  as  a  war  between 
different  species.  Nature  is  making  one  of  her 
great  experiments;  is  setting  herself  to  try  out 
the  strength  of  the  socialised  and  the  aggressive 
types.  To  the  socialised  peoples  she  has  entrusted 
the  task  of  proving  that  her  old  faith  in  cruelty 
and  blood  is  at  last  an  anachronism.  To  try 
them,  she  has  given  substance  to  the  creation  of 
a  nightmare,  and  they  must  destroy  this  werewolf 
or  die.  And  a  calm  consideration  of  the  German 
and  the  British  mind  leaves  us  in  no  doubt  where 
the  strength  lies.  In  Britain  there  has  been  no 
Hymn  of  Hate,  no  "God  punish  Germany!  ",  no 
gospel  of  bluster  and  frightfulness.  These  are 
symptoms  of  lupine  rage.  But  Britain,  fighting 
for  existence  and  for  honour,  has  quieter  and 
deeper  vision ;  and  she  will  not  sheathe  the  sword 
until  her  task  is  done,  and  a  peaceful  Europe 
once  more  possible,  freed  from  the  terror  of  im- 
minent wanton  attack  by  an  aggressive  Power. 

British  Fungi  and  How  to  Identify  Them.  By 
J.  H.  Crabtree.  Pp.  62.  (London:  C.  H. 
Kelly,   n.d.)      Price    i5.   net. 

Our  native  fungi  afford  beautiful  objects  for  the 
photographer,  and  have  been  well  illustrated  in 
the  many  popular  and  scientific  works  v/hich  deal 
with  them.  In  the  little  book  before  us  Mr.  Crab- 
tree  illustrates  some  forty  different  species  of  well- 
known  fungi  by  means  of  very  good  photographs, 
and  each  photograph  is  accompanied  by  a  page 
of  useful  descriptive  text.  By  the  aid  of  both  text 
and  illustration  a  particular  fungus  should  be  able 
to  be  identified  without  much  difficulty.  In  the 
case  of  the  somewhat  small  differences  between 
certain  edible  and  poisonous  fungi  the  ordinary 
photographic  reproduction  is  not  sufficiently  clear 
to  show  the  distinguishing  features,  and  a  few 
good  colour  prints  would  have  been  of  value. 

In  a  short  introduction  of  four  pages  the  author 
gives  a  concise  account  of  the  larger  fungi  in 
general — with  which  only  this  little  book  is  con- 
cerned— details  as  to  the  spore-arrangement,  etc., 
and  a  simple  classification.  It  is  unfortunate 
that  Mr.  Crabtree's  frontispiece,  "An  unnamed 
fungoid  growth  found  upon  a  tree,"  is  not  a 
fungus  at  all,  but  is  what  is  known  as  a  "wood 
flower."  This  hollow  woody  grow-th  has  been 
gradually  formed  about  the  suctorial  portion  of 
some  parasitic  plant,  probably  a  Loranthus,  which 
has  become  detached  and  has  left  a  large  tulip- 
shaped  woody  scar  resembling  a  fungus  on  the 
branch  of  its  host  plant. 

NO.    2425,    VOL.    97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  fut 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neilhei 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  viiih 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  fot 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  ii 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

The  Primary  Sugar  of  Photosynthesis. 

MiCROCHEMiCAL  tests  OH  the  assimilating  cells  ol 
several  plants  indicate  a  considerable  concentralior 
of  hexoses  in  the  chloroplasts,  or  in  the  protoplasm 
immediately  surrounding  them.  Other  lines  of  ex- 
periment suggest  that  while  sucrose  is  concentrated  in 
the  large  vacuoles,  invertase  is  held  apart  from  it  in 
the  protoplasm. 

These  facts  force  upon  one  the  possibility  that  tht 
pioneer  analytical  work  of  Brown  and  Morris  estab- 
lished and  extended  by  Parkin  and  by  Davis  and  his 
collaborators,  does  not  after  all  necessitate  the  con- 
clusion that  the  formation  of  sucrose  is  a  preliminar) 
step  to  the  production  of  hexoses  in  the  leaf. 

It  seems  more  probable  that  the  hexoses  are  formed 
from  formaldehyde  in  the  chloroplast,  and,  when  their 
concentration  reaches  a  certain  limit,  condensation 
into  sucrose  due  to  invertase,  or  some  saccharogenic 
enzyme,  takes  place.  The  sucrose  thus  formed  is 
passed  into,  and  stored  in  the  vacuole.  As  the  volume 
of  the  protoplasm  available  for  the  hexoses  is  small 
compared  to  the  space  allotted  to  the  sucrose,  the  in- 
crease of  the  total  percentage  of  hexoses  will  be  small 
when  the  leaf  is  exposed  to  light,  while  that  of  tht 
sucrose  will  be  large.  Consequently  the  rise  of  sucrose 
on  illumination  shown  in  analyses  of  leaves  is  not  a 
cogent  argument  for  regarding  it  as  the  primary 
sugar. 

The  recognition  of  the  localisation  of  various  sub 
stances  in  the  cell  also  supplies  an  explanation  as  tc 
how  the  sucrose-hexose  ratio  of  the  cell  is  maintainec 
in    presence    of    invertase.     The    absence    of    invertasr 
from,  and  the  storage  of  sucrose  in  the  vacuole  m 
be  compared  to  the  conditions  obtaining  in   the  ro 
of  the  sugar  beet.     Only  there,  of  course,  the  sour 
of    sucrose    is    secondary    hexoses.     In    photosynthe- 
the  condensation  of  the  sugars  is  probably  determin' 
by  the  fact  that  for  the  same  rise  of  osmotic  pressi: 
in   the  vacuole   twice   the   amount  of  the   disacchari 
may  be  stored.     When  the  limiting  pressure  is  reach 
in  this  way  the  condensation  of  hexoses  to  starch  m 
give  extended  elasticity  to  the  economy  of  the  cell. 

Henry    H.    Dixox. 
Thomas  G.  Masox. 

School  of  Botany,  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
Aoril  10. 


isle  of  Wight  Disease  in  Bees. 

Drastic  recommendations  regarding  the  disinfecti< 
or  destruction  of  combs,  hives,  and  appliances  whi' 
have  come  in  contact  with  bees  infected  by  Isle 
Wight  disease  have  been  made  by  the  Board  of  Agi 
culture,  and  were  repeated  in  an  article  in  Nature 
March  2  (p.  7).  The  recommendations  are  found 
upon  the  idea  of  the  infectiousness  of  the  disease,  ai 
are  intimately  connected  with  the  recognition  of  t 
protozoon  Nosema  apis  as  the  cause  of  the  diseas 
and  with  the  knowledge  of  the  ease  by  which  tl 
parasite  can  be  disseminated  by  infected  bees,  t 
account  of  the  practical  importance  of  the  subject, 
would  direct  attention  to  the  results  of  experimer 
bearing  upon  these  points,  carried  out  by  Mr. 
Anderson  and  Dr.  J.  Rennie,  of  the  North  of  Scotia i 
College  of  Agriculture  and  University  of  Aberdf 
respectively,   and   communicated   at   a   recent  meeti 


April  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


101 


ef  the  Royal  Physical  Society.  As  an  account  of  the 
observations  and  experiments,  which  were  numerous 
and  detailed,  will  appear  in  the  next  part  of  the  Proc. 
Roy.  Physical  Soc,  an  indication  of  their  bearing  is 
all  that  is  necessary  for  the  present. 

(i)  As  regards  Nosema  apis,  the  authors  have  been 
"unable  to  recognise  any  causal  relation  between  the 
presence  of  this  parasite  and  the  disease."  Health}- 
stocks  with  no  signs  of  disease  have  been  found  to  be 
heavily  infected  by  the  protozoon,  and  that  over 
prolonged  periods.  Numerous  stocks  have  exhibited 
unmistakable  symptoms  of  Isle  of  Wight  disease,  and 
yet  no  trace  of  Nosema  has  been  found  in  them.  This 
was  markedly  the  case  in  the  Deeside  outbreak. 
Lastly,  deliberate  infection  of  a  stock  with  Nosema 
did  not  produce  the  recognised  symptoms  of  the 
disease.  "  Nosema  may  be  a  contributing  weakening 
iactor,  favouring  in  certain  cases  the  development  of 
|;his  disease,  but  we  have  not  found  that  it  is-  an 
j?ssential  factor." 

'  (2)  As  regards  the  infectiousness  of  Isle  of  Wight 
disease  :  If  it  be  allowed  that  Nosema,  with  its  readily 
ransported  spores,  is  not  the  prime  cause  of  the 
disease,  the  supporting  evidence  of  infectivity  is 
veakened,  and  the  direct  evidences  must  be  examined 
jnore  critically.  The  authors  have  watched  in  detail 
ihe  natural  course  of  Isle  of  Wight  disease  in  three 
independent  localities,  and  have  followed  the  history  of 
intainted  swarms  placed  in  contaminated  hives  and 
led  on  contaminated  honey.  They  have  found 
10  indubitable  evidence  of  the  infectiousness  of 
he  disease,  although  the  indications  seem  to  be  that 
;  is  "probably  infectious";  but  in  any  case  they  are 
Issured  that  it  is  "  not  necessarilj'  conveyed  by  mere 
jontact  with  contaminated  hives  or  combs,  or  by  feed- 
iig  upon  contaminated  stores." 

j  It  is  a  point  of  some  interest  and  importance  that, 
n  account  of  the  unsatisfactory  nature  of  experiments 
n  a  small  scale  in  artificial  conditions,  the  above 
i'sults  are  based  on  observations  and  experiments 
~n  hive  bees  living  in  natural  conditions. 

James  Ritchie, 
(Hon.  Secretar)-,  Royal  Physical  Societv'). 
Edinburgh. 


Regardi.ng  Dr.  J.  Ritchie's  communication,  it  would 

I  em  well   to   await   the   published   paper   of    Messrs. 

jaderson  and  Rennie  before  making  detailed  remarks. 

ISO,  as  Dr.   Ritchie  is  not  the  direct  author  of  the 

jiper,   it    is   inadvisable    to    bring    in    a    third    party. 

•^•ever,  it  is  most  surprising,  to  say  the  least,   to 

1   that  "  Isle  of  Wight  "  bee  disease  is   not   con- 

.-red  to  be  infectious.     How,  then,  has  the  disease 

iread  all  over  Great  Britain  and  most  of  Ireland 
ring  the  last  ten  years  ?  The  statement  of  the  non- 
fectivity  of  the  disease  is  emphatically  inaccurate. 
'.  Ritchie  writes  of  the  "unmistakable  symptoms" 
j  the  disease.  But,  what  are  the  characteristic 
^TJptoms?  The  investigators  working  under  the 
liard  of  Agriculture,  in  their  reports  of  1912  and  1913, 
pwed  conclusively  that  there  were  no  well-marked 
aferential  symptoms  of  "  Isle  of  Wight "  bee  disease. 
J's  J^as  also  pointed  out  in  my  article  in  N.ature, 
ad  the  reason  for  this  is  obvious',  namelv,  the  limited 
Ijige  of  expression  of  the  bee,  as  was  also  mentioned 
'^■"y  article.  Of  the  workers  contributing  to  the  reports 
Pthe  Board  of  Agriculture,  two  were  bacteriologists, 
tlo  were  protozoologists,  and  one  was  an  expert  bee- 
Iqiper.  Many  field  experiments  as  to  the  pathogenicity- 
oUNoscnja  apis  were  conducted,  and  the  investigators 
Jjre  unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  "  Isle  of  Wi^ht " 
t)l  disease  is  microsporidiosis.  Apparently  Dr.  Ritchie 
?P  J^*^^s.  Anderson  and  Rennie  have  quite  over- 
med  the  importance  of  parasite  carriers,  a  subject 
NO.    2425,    VOL.    97] 


which  was  carefully  pointed  out  in  my  article  and  in 
the  Journal  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  Supplements 
Nos.  8  and  10.  Healthy  carriers  of  most  parasitic 
diseases  are  known. 

As  to  "drastic  recommendations,"  the  simple 
elements  of  sanitation  only  were  suggested,  about 
which  there  can  be  no  dispute.  The  destruction  of 
hives  was  not  suggested  in  my  article.  Regarding 
the  experiments  of  Mr.  J.  Anderson  and  Dr.  J.  Rennie, 
there  is  no  statement  in  the  above  letter  as  to  what 
stages  of  Nosetna  apis  were  used  by  them. 

These  remarks  must  suffice  for  the  present.  My 
article  was  written  after  ten  years'  personal  investiga- 
tion of  "Isle  of  Wight"  bee  disease,  in  nearly  every 
part  of  Great  Britain.  Judging  from  Dr.  Ritchie's 
letter,  the  paper  of  Messrs.  Anderson  and  Rennie 
appears  to  contain  little  but  negation.  F. 


Preventive  Eugenics. 

The  writer  of  the  valuable  article  in  N.xture  of 
April  6,  on  the  report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on 
Venereal  Diseases,  has  given  it  the  title  of  "'  Preven- 
tive Eugenics,"  a  term  for  which  I  am  responsible, 
defining  it  as  "  the  protection  of  parenthood  from  the 
racial  poisons,"  by  which  latter  I  mean  all  such 
agents  as,  injuring  the  individual,  injure  also  the  next 
generation   through  him,   or  her,   as  parent. 

Syphilis  is,  of  course,  an  example  of  a  racial  poison, 
and  your  writer's  protest  against  the  term  "hereditary 
S3^philis  "  is  most  welcome  to  one  who  has  made  such 
protests  for  many  years.  As  Dr.  J.  W.  Ballantyne 
has  said,  the  term  is  "an  insult  to  heredity."  It 
indicates  the  persistent  medical  and  popular  blindness 
to  the  ante-natal  stage  of  human  life.  All  syphilis  is 
acquired  syphilis,  an  infection  of  which  the  date  may 
be  ante-natal,  when  we  inexcusably  call  it  "  here- 
ditary," or  post-natal,  when  we  call  it  acquired,  the 
fact  being  too  obvious  for  even  the  "idols  of  the 
forum "  to  obscure.  The  Commissioners  should  have 
condemned  the  false  term,  and  used  "  ante-natal 
syphilis  "  instead. 

The  point  is  not  only  academic.  Eugenists  who 
have  had  no  medical,  much  less  obstetrical,  experience, 
unaware  of  the  fallacy  involved,  have  assumed  much 
infant  mortality  to  be  due  to  bad  heredity,  and  thus 
to  be  an  instance  of  natural  selection,  when,  in  fact, 
ante-natally  acquired  infection  of  syphilis  was  respon- 
sible. This  grave  error  is  involved  in  the  biometrical 
publications  on  infant  mortality  throughout,  and  has 
long  discouraged  the  efforts  now  being  made,  at  last, 
to  save  the  infants  who  are  our  national  future. 

C.  W.  Saleeby. 

Royal  Institution,  W..  April  8. 


Atmospheric  Electricity. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  if  any  reader  of 
Nature  has  made  observations  similar  to  those  made 
here  on  the  afternoon  of  April  14. 

A  large   thundercloud   was   just  passing  off  in   the 
east   without   having   produced   any   obvious   thunder- 
j  storm  phenomena.     The  sky  overhead  was  occupied  bv 
\  cirrus,   while  a  second  thundercloud   was   coming  up 
I  in  the  west.     It  was  found  that  sparks,  one  of  them 
j  certainly  reaching  2  or  3  mm.  length,  could  be  drawn 
j  from   the  metal  of  a   Besson  comb  nephoscope,   sup- 
!  ported  on  a  wooden  stand,  with  the  comb  at  a  height 
of  3 J  metres  above  an  asphalt  roof  (itself   12  metres 
above    ground),    on    which    obser\'er    and    nephoscope 
stood.     The   leaden   roof  of  a   w-ooden   cistern   casing 
yielded   similar   results,   but    the   most   surprising   ob- 
servation   was    that    a    Campbell-Stokes    sunshine    re- 
I  corder,    bolted    and    cemented    to    a    concrete    parapet 
I  extending  about  a  metre  above  the  asphalt,  also  gave 


l62 


NATURE 


[April  20,  1916 


quite  appreciable  sparks  during  the  period  of  activity. 
The  charges  took  fifteen  or  twenty  seconds  to  build 
up  after  discharge,  and  the  experiment  was  repeated 
very  frequently. 

The  second  thundercloud  produced  two  peals  of 
thunder  and  a  slight  shower,  soon  after  which  the 
abnormal  electrical  conditions  ceased  to  manifest  them- 
selves, about  three-quarters  of  an  hour  after  they  were 
first  noticed.  R.  A.  Watson  Watt. 

Meteorological  Office,  South'  Farnborough, 
Hants,  April  15. 


The  Influence  of  Tides  on  Wells. 

Referring  to  Mr.  J  as.  Kewley's  letter  in  Nature 
of  April  13,  it  is  not  unusual  for  the  water  in  wells  to 
rise  and  fall  with  the  tides  when  such  wells  are  near 
the  sea.  But  is  it  necessary  to  assume  that  the 
phenomenon  is  due  to  the  weight  of  the  incoming  tide 
compressing  the  underlying  strata,  as  suggested  by 
Mr.  Kewley?  Surely  it  may  be  sufficiently  explained 
on  the  assumption  that  as  the  rising  tide  is  a  rising 
head  of  water  it,  without  necessarily  compressing  the 
rocks  beneath,  tends  to  compress  the  air  and  replace 
the  less  dense  fresh  water  included  in  the  interstices 
and  fissures,  thus  affecting  the  water-level  of  any 
contiguous  well.  In  this  connection  may  I  direct 
attention  to  a  letter  of  niine  on  "Tidal  Action  of  the 
Earth's  Crust,"  published  in  the  English  Mechanic, 
June   II,    1909?  Cecil  Carus-WilsOn. 


PHYSIOLOGY  IN   THE   WORKSHOP. 

IN  the  never-ending-  struggle  between  capital 
and  labour,  or  rather  between  employers  and 
workmen,  the  points  of  dispute  have  been  largely 
concerned  with  the  hours  of  labour  and  wages, 
the  employers  trying  to  obtain  as  long  hours  for 
as  low  wages  as  possible,  while  labour  has  struck 
for  a  shortening  of  hours  with  increased  wages. 
Labour  is  thus  regarded  as  a  commodity,  to  be 
bought  as  cheaply  and  sold  as  dearly  as  possible. 
In  most  of  these  disputes  it  would  seem  that 
both  sides  have  lost  sight  of  the  fundamental 
conditions  of  their  own  prosperity.  It  is,  after  all, 
of  little  account  to  the  employer  that  he  should 
be  able  to  buy  cheaply  so  many  hours  of  other 
men's  lives.  The  only  factor  which  really  con- 
cerns him  is  that  he  should  be  able  to  produce 
as  large  a  quantity  of  his  goods  as  possible  at  as 
small  a  price  as  possible,  reckoning  both  rent  of 
capital  and  cost  of  labour.  An  implicit  assump- 
tion seems  always  to  be  made  that  the  more 
hours  of  a  man's  life  the  employer  can  buy  for  a 
certain  sum,  the  cheaper  will  be  his  cost  of  pro- 
duction. But  labour  also  is  concerned  in  the  cost 
of  output.  It  is  a  truism  that  when  business  is 
slack,  i.e.  when  the  profits  are  small,  strikes  are 
few  and  far  between,  the  workers  recognising  that 
it  would  be  better  in  many  cases  to  close  down 
works  than  to  give  them  increased  wages.  Both 
employers  and  workmen  are  therefore  concerned 
that  the  industry  in  which  they  are  engaged 
should  be  as  prosperous  as  possible,  i.e.  that  pro- 
duction should  be  as  cheap  and  rapid  as  possible. 
To  this  end  both  parties  should  co-operate.  The 
only  divergence  of  view  which  is  reasonable 
should  occur  later  when  the  question  arises  of 
the  division  of  the  profits,  i.e.   as  to  how  much 


should  be  assigned  to  labour  and  how  much  fo 
management  and  rent  of  capital." 

Both  sides  are  therefore  interested  in  th 
efficiency  of  labour  and  its  use  to  the  best  possibl 
advantage — the  employer  in  order  that  he  ma 
obtain  as  great  a  production  at  as  small  a  pric 
as  possible ;  the  workman  that  he  may  be  abl 
to  earn  enough  to  keep  himself  in  comfort,  whil 
allowing  some  time  in  the  day  or  week  for  recrez 
tion  and  the  enjoyment  of  life. 

It  is  remarkable  how  little  attention  has  bee 
paid  in  this  country  to  the  problem  of  how  t 
use  labour  to  the  best  possible  advantage.  Th 
appearance  of  a  Memorandum  on  "  Industrie 
Fatigue  and  its  Causes"  (Cd.  8213,  Wyman  an 
Sons,  Ltd.,  price  i^d.),  which  has  been  draw 
up  and  issued  by  the  Health  of  Munition  Worker 
Committee,  is  therefore  of  extreme  importance  i 
the  present  time,  since  its  object  is  to  point  ol 
the  only  method  by  which  increased  efficiency  c 
production  can  be  attained. 

In  this  pamphlet  it  is  shown  that  the  problei 
of    scientific    industrial    management    is    fundi 
mentally    a    problem    in    industrial    fatigue.      Fc 
the  continued  efficiency  of  an  animal  or  man,  re« 
must  alternate  with  work,  and  the  periods  of  res 
and  work  must  vary   with  the  type  of  work  ir 
volved.     This  elementary  principle  is  acted  upo 
generally    in    our    management    of    horses.      Th 
report   is   a  plea   for   its   application   also   to  th 
case  of  man.     We  cannot  get  the  utmost  possib! 
work  out  of  man' or  horse  unless  this  principle 
taken  into  account.     We  have  thus  to  determir 
in  the  case  of  man  w^hat  are  the  maximal  efficienc 
rhythms  for  various  types  of  work  and  worker 
For    work    in    which    severe    muscular    efTort 
required  it  seems  probable  that  the  maximal  c 
put  over   a   day's  work  and   the  best  conditii 
for  the  workers'  comfort  and  maintained  hea 
will  be  secured  by  giving  short  spells  of  strenu* 
activity  broken  by  longer  spells  of  rest,  the  rt 
tive    amount    of    time    devoted    to    resting   be' 
greater   than   in   employments   in   which   nerve 
activity  is  more  prominent  or  more  complicate' 

The  truth  of  this  statement  is  well  illustrai 
by    an    anecdote    recorded    in    the    Memorandi 
before  us.     Two  officers  at  the  front  competed 
making   equal   lengths   of   a   certain   trench  e£ 
with   an  equal   squad  of  men.     One  allowed 
men  to  work  as  they  pleased  but  as  hard  as  p' 
sible.     Ihe  other  divided  his  men  into  three  s 
to  work  in  rotation,  each  set  digging  their  hard 
for  five  minutes  only,    and   then   resting  for 
until  their  turn  came  to  dig  again.      The  lat 
team  won  easily.     Another  instance  is  that  o 
munitions    factory,    where    men    engaged    in    ,; 
severe  work  of  moulding  were   required  to  ti 
fifteen  minutes  in  every  hour  of  work.     The  m 
objected  to  this  long  spell  of  rest  in  each  h  ' 
because    the    work    was    piecework,    so   that 
manager  had  to  make  the  hourly  rest  compuls 
and  appoint  a  foreman  to  see  that  the  regulal" 
was  complied  with.     As  a  result  of  this  the  out"' 
per  hour  was  found  to  be  actually  increased. 

It  is  evident  that  the  optimum  working  rhym 
for  each  kind  of  work  can  only  be  determined^^ 


April  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


163 


observation  and  experiment,  and  it  is  pointed  out 
that  since  the  true  sign  of  fatig-ue  is  diminished 
capacity,  the  measurement  of  output  gives  the 
most  direct  test  of  fatigue,  and  thereby  also  serves 
as  a  criterion  of  success  in  devising  conditions  of 
work  which  shall  avoid  fatigue. 

No  works  manager  should  consider  that  the 
conditions  of  work  are  satisfactory  in  his  factory 
or  department  simply  because  these  conditions 
have  been  observed  for  many  years.  Progress 
can  only  be  attained  by  the  constant  maintaining 
of  an  experimental  attitude  of  mind  and  the  actual 
institution  of  experiments  in  the  conditions  of 
work  themselves.  Such  measurements  of  output 
I  should  be  recorded  for  groups  of  workers  as  well 
as  for  the  individual  worker.  Information  on 
individual  output  is  often  valuable.  It  may  reveal 
ithe  adoption  by  certain  individuals  of  particular 
I  habits  of  manipulation  which  tend  to  avoid  fatigue, 
I  and  may  then  be  taught  to  the  other  workers. 
Moreover,  these  tests  of  individual  capacity  give 
lan  opportunity  of  rearrangement  of  workers  and 
itheir  assignment  to  jobs  for  which  they  are  par- 
Iticularly  fitted.  It  is  mentioned  that  astonishing 
iresults,  bringing  advantage  both  to  employers  and 
!emplo\ed,  have  been  gained  in  other  countries  by 
ithe  careful  selection  of  individuals  for  particular 
itasks,  based  not  upon  the  impressions  of  fore- 
men, but  upon  the  results  of  experiment. 

We  gather  from  the  report  as  a  whole  that  in 
nearly  all  cases  the  hours  of  labour  have  been  too 
long.  This  is  especially  marked  in  the  stress 
[brought  about  by  the  present  war.  This  undue 
lengthening  of  hours  causes  not  an  increase,  but 
a  diminution  of  output,  and  gives  rise  to  staleness 
and  a  state  of  lethargy  and  indifference  often 
Accompanied  by  a  craving,  for  change  and  excite- 
Inent,  for  which  in  some  cases  alleviation  may  be 
jiought  in  the  undue  use  of  alcohol. 

The  Committee  points  out  the  necessity  for  a 

:o-operation  of  the  workers  with  the  management 

n  experiments   to   determine   the   optimum    rela- 

ions  of  spells  or  shifts  of  work  to  rest  intervals 

ind  to  holidays.     They  remark  that  it  is  not  sur- 

)rising  that  a  tradition  of  slowed  labour  has  arisen 

mong  workers  as  a  kind  of  physiological   self- 

•rotection   against   the   excessive   hours   of  work 

/hich  have  been  imposed  upon  them — hours  which 

re    in    excess    of    those    suitable     for    maximal 

fficiency.     This  tradition  of  slacking  will  make 

real  difficulty  in  the  endeavour  to  improve  the 

'orkers'  conditions  while  maintaining  or  increas- 

ig  output.     Thus  it  is  mentioned  that  in  one  fac- 

pry,  a  shop  staffed  entirely  by  new  hands  after 

ix  months  produced  13,000  articles  per  week  as 

gainst  the  5,000  for  which  the  sheds  were  de- 

gned.     This  output  was  not  approached  by  the 

der  hands  in  the  other  shops.     Apparently  it  is 

3t  easy  to  change  a  customary  rhythm  of  work 

hich  has  been  imposed  automatically  as  a  method 

unconscious  self-preservation. 

In  view  of  the  necessity  for  periods  of  rest,  it  is 

>t   surprising   to   find   that   the   Committee   un- 

servedly  condemn  the  practice  of  working  with- 

'it  a  Sunday  rest,  or,  at  any  rate,  one  day's  rest 

:  the  seven.     They  quote  one  foreman  to  the  effect 

NO.    2425,   VOL.    97] 


that  Sunday  work  gave  "six  days'  output  for 
seven  days'  work  on  eight  days'  pay."  Here 
again  the  Sunday  was  a  period  of  slacking,  neces- 
sary for  the  continued  work  of  the  men,  but  a 
pure  waste  of  time  so  far  as  the  management  was 
concerned. 

It  is  impossible  in  this  notice  to  give  an  ade- 
quate account  of  the  sound  reasoning  contained 
in  this  Memorandum.  We  may  only  hope  that  it 
will  be  read  and  digested  by  employers  and  labour 
leaders  alike.  Only  by  their  co-operation  along 
scientific  lines  can  we  expect  to  hold  our  own 
and  rebuild  our  financial  position  in  the  acute 
commercial  and  industrial  struggle  that  will  follow 
this  great  wa".  E.  H.  S. 

THE  SHORTAGE  OF  DYESTUFFS.^ 

THE  Society  of  Chemical  Industry  has  recently 
issued  a  reprint  of  five  papers  read  before 
its  New  York  Section  on  the  manner  in  which 
the  United  States  is  dealing  with  the  shortage 
of  dyestuffs.  These  papers  are  of  particular 
interest  in  view  of  the  general  similarity  pre- 
sented by  the  industrial  problem  in  Great  Britain 
and  in  the  States.  In  both  countries  the  legal 
profession  "governs,"  in  both  the  scientific 
"expert"  finds  an  easy  prey  in  a  wealthy  but 
uninformed  investing  public,  and  in  both  indus- 
trial development  is  heavily  taxed  by  parasitic 
professions  which  add  nothing  to  the  national 
store  of  wealth,  knowledge,  and  productiveness. 
Under  these  conditions  the  United  States,  like 
Great  Britain,  has  become  largely  dependent 
upon  Germany  for  her  supplies  of  fine  chemicals, 
and  the  reprint  under  consideration  indicates 
that  much  the  same  remedies  for  this  pathological 
condition  are  suggested  in  both  countries.  Dr. 
E.  E.  Pratt  tells  again  the  well-known  tale  of 
the  sale  of  European  aniline  under  cost  price  in 
America  for  the  purpose  of  killing  the  Benzol 
Products  Company,  and  several  writers  refer  to 
the  possible  danger  of  "  dumping "  after  the  war 
and  to  the  necessity  of  legislative  prevention  of 
this  operation.  Dr.  T.  H.  Norton,  whilst  indi- 
cating the  determination  of  American  industrials 
to  build  up  a  native  manufacture  of  coal-tar  pro- 
ducts without  prolonged  discussion  of  tariff 
issues,  is  p>erhaps  weak  in  suggesting  that  useful 
assistance  may  be  obtained  from  the  Swiss  firms ; 
America  is  surely  possessed  of  so  much  natural 
talent  and  self-reliance  as  will  suffice  for  the 
establishment  of  a  national  industry  without  foreign 
help.  Dr.  Norton,  however,  makes  one  sugges- 
tion which  seems  novel,  and  which  we  should 
do  well  to  act  upon,  not  so  much  in  the  interests 
of  the  colour  manufacturer  as  in  those  of  the 
dyer  and  consumer;  he  proposes  that  the  degree 
of  purity  and  the  methods  of  use  of  dyestuffs 
should  be  standardised  by  a  central  bureau.  Such 
a  control  upon  the  purity  of  colours,  and  also 
upon  modes  of  application  to  the  various  fibres 
and  fabrics,  would  tend  towards  economy,  would 
assist     in     diminishing     the     unnecessarily  large 

1  Tbe  DyestuflF  Situation  in  the  United  States.     Journal  of  the  Society  of 
Chemical  Industry,  December  15,  1915  (No.  23,  vol.  xxxir.). 


164 


NATURE 


[April  20,  19 16 


numbers  of  dyestuffs  used,  and  would  hamper  the 
operations  of  vendors  of  proprietary,  and  often 
comparatively  valueless,  colour  mixtures  now 
offered  to  the  dyer. 

Curiously  enough,  two  important  topics  seem 
almost  to  have  escaped  discussion  in  the  present 
reprint;  very  little  is  said  as  to  how  the  new 
American  industry  is  to  advance,  and  as  to  the 
way  in  which  a  supply  of  technically-trained 
chemists  is  to  be  obtained.  Perhaps  it  is  pre- 
mature to  expect  any  comprehensive  scheme 
which  leads  into  the  unknown  future  of  chemical 
technical  development  at  a  time  when  the 
American  textile  industry  is  so  grievously 
smitten  by  the  sudden  stoppage  of  dyestuff  im- 
ports; it  is,  however,  to  be  noted  that  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  coal-tar  industry  must,  to  be  suc- 
cessful, carry  with  it  the  development  of  many 
congruent  manufactures  relating  to  medicine, 
photography,  and  other  arts  and  sciences  depen- 
dent upon  organic  chemistry.  The  other  point, 
as  to  the  provision  of  technically-trained  organic 
chemists,  was  merely  mentioned  by  Dr.  T.  M. 
Bogert,  and  with  the  statement  that  assistance  is 
required  in  the  shape  of  grants  to  universities  and 
colleges. 

This  latter  is  a  question  which  has  been  fre- 
quently considered  and  discussed  with  us.  British 
Governments  and  municipalities  have  expended 
vast  sums  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the  technical 
industries ;  whether  the  expenditure  has  been 
justified  by  the  results  is  extremely  doubtful. 
When  any  body  of  teachers,  keenly  interested 
and  highly  competent  in  its  work,  feels  its  activi- 
ties cramped  by  lack  of  funds,  and  formulates  a 
practical  scheme  for  useful  development,  it  has 
perforce  to  pass  the  scheme  on  to  some  higher 
authority  less  acquainted  with  the  subject  at  issue 
but  nearer  the  source  of  means.  This  latter  body 
hands  the  matter  with  appropriate  explanations 
to  still  higher,  and  ever  less  learned,  authorities 
until  the  real,  but  sublimely  ignorant,  fountain 
head  is  reached  and  authorises  the  expenditure 
of  money  under  conditions  which  do  not  neces- 
sarily make  for  efficiency.  The  required  grant  is 
obtained,  not  by  the  convincing  force  of '  argu- 
ment, but  by  the  melting  power  of  cajolery. 
Manufacturers  who  require  technical  assistance, 
and  the  colleges  and  universities  which  are  pre- 
pared to  train  the  men,  must  surely  learn  to  rely 
upon  their  own  efforts  rather  than  upon  possible 
money  grants  extracted  from  non-academic 
governing  bodies.  Money  is  undoubtedly  re- 
quired to  assist  our  educational  Institutions  to 
turn  out  large  numbers  of  men  capable  of  useful 
work  in  the  development  of  our  technical  indus- 
tries, but  it  Is  questionable  whether  the  present 
recognised  methods  for  obtaining  and  using  the 
money  are  efficient. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  recalled  that  Dr. 
W.  H.  Perkin,  the  professor  of  chemistry  In  the 
University  of  Oxford,  insisted  In  his  presidential 
address  to  the  Chemical  Society  last  year  upon 
the  necessity  for  the  presentation  of  a  thesis  on 
original  research  by  candidates  for  an  Honours 
degree  In  science  in  our  universities.  It  may 
NO.    2425,   VOL.   97] 


I  safely  be  asserted  that  the  translation  into  prac 
tice  of  this  view  would  do  more  for  the  develop 

I  ment  of  the  chemical  industries  in  Great  Britair 
than  all  the  deputations  which  have  been  sent  tt 
Cabinet  Ministers  and  all  the  discussions  whicl 
have  taken  place  on  possible  methods  of  stimu 
lating  chemical  technology. 

W.  J.  Pope. 


THE  PROPOSED  BOARD  OF 
AERONAUTICS. 
A  ERONAUTICS  has,  somewhat  suddenly,  be- 
-^*-  come  a  subject  for  public  debate,  and  a 
serious  request  has  been  put  forward  for  an  Ah 
Ministry  to  control  the  whole  of  the  aeronautica 
supplies  and  hand  over  the  products  to  the  Arm) 
and  Navy.  It  Is  perhaps  a  little  unfortunate  thai 
the  Zeppelin  raids  occupy  so  much  of  the  discus- 
sion, for  the  military  value  of  aeronautics  in  the 
present  war  Is  least  evident  in  the  case  of  the 
raids. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  position,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  realise  that  the  resources  of  aeronautical 
Industry  are  not  so  great  that  all  possible  supplies 
can  be  obtained  fully  and  quickly.  Germany  con- 
centrated    on     rigid     airships     and     obtained     a 
supremacy  in  airships,  whilst  the  Allies,  and  par- 
ticularly Britain,  placed  their  confidence  In  aero- 
planes   and    gained    a    supremacy    there,    which, 
although  not  so  absolute  as  that  of  Germany  in 
airships,    is   of   far  greater   military   importance. 
Aeronautics  Is  still  very  young,  and  Is  growing 
rapidly ;    anyone  who,  three  years  ago,  had  pre- 
dicted the  flight  of  many  hundreds  of  aeroplanes 
for  several  hours  of  each  day  of  the  year  would 
have  been  looked   upon  by  the  general  observe ! 
as  a  dreamer.     Is  It  surprising,  therefore,  that  no;; 
a  single  belligerent  foresaw  what  has  happened 
Without  endorsing   the  claims  that  the  Air  Se 
vice  will  ultimately   be  more  important  than  th 
Navy  or  Army,  It  does  appear  that  the  develoj 
ment  of  aeronautics  has  already  reached  a  stage  ' 
which  an  Air  Board  must  be  contemplated. 

Up  to  the  present  time  the  Navy  and  Army  ha\ 
had  independent  Air  Departments,  both  of  vvhk 
have  made  use  of  private  enterprise  for  the  suppl 
of  aeroplanes.  Experimental  work  on  a  larg 
scale  has  been  carried  out,  and  detailed  design 
of  machines  proposed  for  manufacture  In  quantit 
have  been  produced  by  the  Royal  Aircraft  Fac 
tory.  The  reproduction  of  machines  to  thes 
designs  has  been  largely  the  work  of  private  con 
structors,  v  ho  have  also  m.ade  machines  to  thei 
own  design,  approved  forms  of  which  have  bee 
accepted  into  the"  Services.  Both  Air  Depar 
ment  J  have  had  the  assistance  of  the  Advisor 
Committee  for  Aeronautics,  a  scientific  body  cor 
trolling  the  aeronautical  research  at  the  Natlom 
Physical  Laboratory.  A  report  on  the  work  c 
this  Committee  was  published  annually  until  th- 
outbreak  of  war.  The  organisation  outline 
above  came  Into  existence  in  1909,  and  prepare 
the  way  for  the  extremely  rapid  growth  Cf 
aviation  in  the  last  two  or  three  years.  j 

Recently  a  new  Committee  was  formed  under  tl! 


April  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


165 


chairmanship  of  Lord  Derby,  the  Committee  being 
made  up  of  members  of  the  two  Air  Departments, 
the  chairman,  and  Lord  Montagu  of  Beaulieu.  The 
Committee  had  no  executive  control  in  the  sense 
desired  by  the  two  non-Service  members,  both  of 
whom  decided  to  resign  their  p)ositions.  As  Lord 
Montagu  indicated  a  lack  of  co-operation  between 
the  members  of  the  two  Air  Departments,  the 
resignations  produced  a  general  feeling  of  depres- 
sion, and  to  those  most  keenly  interested  in  the 
■uture  of  aeronautics  it  has  been  a  relief  to  find 
:he  work  of  some  of  the  senior  members  of  the 
Services  recognised  by  promotion.  Whatever  may 
oe  said  as  to  the  existing  conditions,  it  seems 
::ertain  that  the  extraordinary  progress  of  aero- 
lautics  during  the  war  would  in  itself  have  been 
sufficient  to  raise  the  question  of  an  Air  Board ; 
jerhaps  the  formation  of  such  a  Board  would 
jacilitate  reorganisation.  The  Government  being 
he  only  body  able  to  deal  with  the  problem  with 
•ufficient  knowledge  as  to  facts,  the  Prime 
ivlinister's  forthcoming  statement  will  be  awaited 
vith  considerable  interest. 


NOTES. 

The  Royal  Society  has  elected  the  following  as 
preign  members : — Prince  Boris  Galitzin,  of  Petro- 
|rad,  head  of  the  Meteorological  Service  in  Russia ; 
>r.  C.  L.  A.  Laveran,  of  Paris,  discoverer  (1880)  of 
le  parasite  [Laverania  malariae)  the  cause  of  mala- 
al  fever;  Dr.  Johan  Hjort,  director  of  Norwegian 
isheries;  Prof.  Jules  Bordet,  of  the  University  of 
Brussels,  eminent  in  bacteriology;  and  Prof.  H. 
amerlingh  Onnes,  of  the  University  of  Leyden,  the 
istinguished  physicist  who  was  responsible  finally  for 
le  liquefaction  of  helium. 

Sir  Ray  Lankester  informs  us  that  Prof.  Metch- 
koflF,  of  the  Institut  Pasteur,  is  recovering  from  his 
rious  and  prolonged  attack  of  pulmonary  inflamma- 
Dn.  He  is  not  yet  able  to  go  into  his  laboratory',  but 
able  to  occupy  himself  with  some  speculative  in- 
liries.  He  would  be  glad  to  know  of  any  well- 
corded  instances  tending  to  show  whether  the 
>inion  that  men  of  genius  are  not  usually  the  eldest 
>m  in  a  family  is  well  founded  or  not. 

The  recommendations  of  the  Royal  Commission  on 
"rnereal  Diseases  were  dealt  with  in  an  article  in 
'RE  for  April  6,  and  the  opinion  w-as  expressed 
the  measures  proposed  by  the  Commissioners 
ust  be  approved  of  without  hesitation.  It  is  satis- 
ctory  to  be  able  to  report  that  on  April  14  Mr.  Long, 
esident  of  the  Local  Government  Board,  received 
; deputation  from  the  National  Council  for  Combating 
,?nereal  Diseases,  which  presented  a  petition  urging 
je  importance  of  gfiving  effect  to  the  recommendations 
q^the  Royal  Commission.  In  his  reply  to  the  depu- 
tion,  which  was  introduced  by  Lord  Svdenham, 
jr.  Long  said  he  had  communicated  with  the 
jeasury,  and  it  is  prepared  to  provide  the  necessary 
flant  to  carry  out  the  recommendations  of  the  Com- 
ijssion^  with  regard  to  the  provision  of  facilities  for 
oignosis  and  treatment.  These  grants  will  cover 
/  per  cent,  of  the  cost  incurred  by  local  authorities. 
i  is  not  proposed  to  create  special  hospitals  for  treat- 
t^nt  of  venereal  diseases,  since  it  is  thought  that 
tatment  will  be  carried  out  more  efficientlv  at  exist- 
» i  general  hospitals. 

\  THIRD  article  on   aircraft  by   M.    Georges  Prade 
aaears  in  the  Times  of  April  14,  and  deals  with  the 
NO.    2425,    VOL.    97] 


"Armament  of  Aeroplanes."  It  is  becoming  more  and 
more  evident  as  the  war  proceeds  that  the  most  desirable 
form  of  fighting  aeroplane  is  a  compromise  between 
the  conflicting  ideal  forms  for  high  speed  and  con- 
venient gun  position.  It  appears  that  the  practicable 
weapons  are  the  rifle,  machine-gun,  and  pom-pom,  and 
of  these  the  machine-gun  is  most  frequently  used. 
The  position  chosen  for  fighting  depends  on  the  field 
of  fire  of  the  machine-gun,  which  may  be  fixed  relative 
to  the  aeroplane,  as  in  the  Fokker,  or  variable,  as 
in  most  aeroplanes.  The  machine-gun  is  commonly 
mounted  so  as  to  fire  over  the  tail,  or  through  a  traj>- 
door  in  the  flooring,  and  it  is  said  that  the  shot  which 
killed  Pegoud  was  fired  through  a  trap-<ioor.  Usually 
the  German  aeroplanes  do  not  fire  through  the  pro- 
f>eller,  and,  when  attacking,  endeavour  to  overtake 
and  pass  under  the  hostile  aeroplane  in  order  to  get 
into  a  suitable  firing  position,  but  the  flight  manoeuvres 
during  a  fight  var>-  considerably  from  period  to  period. 
The  Germans  have  succeeded  in  using  a  full  belt  of 
250  cartridges  in  their  machine-gun,  but  the  Lewis  gun 
used  by  British  flyers  is  said  to  be  the  best  for  aero- 
plane attack  and  defence.  The  pom-poms,  firing  a 
small  shell  an  inch  or  more  in  diameter,  are  not  yet 
extensively  used,  as  they  call  for  a  larger  and  more 
specially  constructed  aeroplane  than  that  suitable  for  a 
machine-gun. 

The  issue  of  the  Scientific  American  for  March  4 
is  an  '"industrial  number,"  dealing  largely  with  the 
need  for  the  United  States  to  be  prepared  for  the 
industrial  and  economic  problems  which  will  arise 
with  the  declaration  of  peace.  The  editor  of  our  con- 
temporary is  able  to  publish  a  letter  upon  this  subject 
received  by  him  from  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  Dr.  Woodrow  Wilson,  writing  from  the 
White  House,  Washington,  on  February  11,  says: 
■'  It  will  be  a  signal  service  to  our  country  to  arouse 
it  to  a  knowledge  of  the  great  possibilities  that  are 
op>en  to  it  in  the  mai-kets  of  the  world.  The  door  of 
opportunity  swings  wide  before  us.  Through  it  we 
may,  if  we  will,  enter  into  rich  fields  of  endeavour 
and  success.  In  order  to  do  this  we  must  show  an 
effectiveness  in  industrial  practice  which  measures  up 
to  cur  best  standards.  We  must  avail  ourselves  of 
all  that  science  can  tell  us  in  aid  of  industry,  and  must 
use  all  that  education  can  contribute  to  train  the 
artisan  in  the  principles  and  practice  of  his  work. 
Our  industries  must  be  self-reliant  and  courageous 
because  based  upon  certain  knowledge  of  their  task 
and  because  supported  by  the  efforts  of  citizens  in  the 
mills.  If  scientific  research  and  the  educated  worker 
go  hand  in  hand  with  broad  vision  in  finance  and  with 
that  keen  self-criticism  which  is  the  manufacturer's 
first  dut\'  to  himself,  the  fields  will  be  few  indeed  in 
which  American  commerce  may  not  hold,  if  it  chooses, 
a  primary  place." 

An  Exchange  Telegraph  Company  message  from 
Paris,  dated  .April  18,  states  that  the  Chamber  has 
voted  unanimously  in  favour  of  the  proposal  to  effect 
daylight  saving  by  altering  the  time  by  an  hour, 
the  object  being  to  economise  fuel  and  lighting. 

The  council  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  has 
awarded  the  Walker  prize  of  icol.  to  Mr.  W.  S.  Hand- 
ley,  of  the  Middlesex  Hospital  Cancer  Research 
Laboratory,  for  his  work  in  advancing  the  knowledge 
of  the  pathologA'  and  treatment  of  cancer. 

The  applications  received  for  admission  to  Miss 
E.  A.  Browne's  lecture  on  "  Our  Tropical  Industries," 
at  the  Imperial  Institute,  on  Wednesdays,  have  been 
so  numerous  that  no  further  tickets  for  Wednesdays 
can  be  issued.  It  has,  however,  been  decided  to 
repeat  the  lectures  on  Thursdays  in  April,  May,  and 


i66 


NATURE 


[April  20,  19 16 


June,  at  3  o'clock,  commencing  on  April  27,  and 
tickets  for  Thursdays  may  now  be  obtained  at  the 
Imperial  Institute. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Marine  Biological  Asso- 
ciation of  the  United  Kingdom  was  held  in  the  rooms 
of  the  Royal  Society  on  April.  12.  Sir  E.  Ray  Lan- 
kester  was  re-elected  president,  and  Dr.  A.  E.  Shipley 
chairman  of  council.  The  report  of  the  council  showed 
that  a  considerable  amount  of  valuable  research  work 
was  still  in  progress  at  the  Plymouth  Laboratory,  not- 
withstanding the  loss  of  staff  and  difficulties  in  collect- 
ing caused  by  the  war.  Experiments  on  the  growth 
of  scales  of  fishes  under  difterent  temperature  condi- 
tions are  being  carried  on,  and  the  regular  study  of 
the  nannoplankton  is  continued.  The  laboratory  con- 
tinues to  be  used  by  a  number  of  voluntary  workers 
in  addition  to  the  members  of  the  staff. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Iron  and  Steel 
Institute,  to  be  held  on  May  4  and  5,  the  following 
bye-law  will  be  formally  moved  and  voted  upon  :■ — 
"  In  the  event  of  a  state  of  war  existing  between  the 
United  Kingdom  and  any  other  country,  or  State, 
all  members,  honorary  members,  and  honorary  vice- 
presidents  who  shall  be  subjects  of  such  enemy 
country,  or  State,  shall  forthwith  cease  to  be  mem- 
bers, honorary  members,  or  honorary  vice-presidents 
of  the  Institute,  but  they  shall  be  eligible  for  re- 
election after  the  war  in  the  usual  manner."  The 
acting  president,  Mr.  Arthur  Cooper,  will  induct  into 
the  chair  the  president-elect,  Sir  William  Beardmore, 
Bart.,  and  the  Bessemer  gold  medal  for  19 16  will  be 
presented   to   Mr.    F.   W.    Harbord. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Mr.  W.  W.  Cook,  a 
biologist  attached  to  the  United  States  Department 
of  Agriculture,  and  one  of  the  leading  American 
authorities  on  bird  migration  and  distribution.  In 
his  collection  of  information  on  this  subject  he  had 
especially  utilised  reports  sent  to  him  by  lighthouse- 
keepers. 

We  regret  to  announce  the  death  of  Colonel  A.  E. 
Barker,  professor  of  surgery  at  University  College, 
London,  and  one  of  the  most  active  and  successful  ol 
British  surgeons.  He  was  in  his  sixty-sixth  year, 
and  died  from  inflammation  of  the  lungs  contracted 
while  on  active  service  abroad  on  April  8.  Born  and 
trained  in  Dublin,  he  was  appointed  assistant-surgeon 
to  University  College,  London,  in  1885,  and  became 
professor  of  surgery  eight  years  later.  In  more  recent 
years  he  applied  himself  with  great  success  to  improve 
the  methods  of  obtaining  anaesthesia  by  spinal  injec- 
tions, and  did  much  to  secure  a  safe  means  of  adminis- 
tration. He  improved  the  technique  employed  by  sur- 
geons in  many  operations,  particularly  in  those  in- 
volving operations  on  the  abdomen  and  on  joints.  He 
was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  Eng- 
land, and  took  an  active  share  in  the  work  of  his 
adopted  college  and  hospital. 

The  British  Medical  Journal  gives  particulars  of  the 
career  of  Sir  Thomas  B.  Crosby,  the  first  doctor  of 
medicine  to  become  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  who  died 
at  the  age  of  eighty-six,  on  April  7.  Sir  Thomas 
studied  at  St.  Thomas's  Hospital,  where  he  filled  the 
appointments  of  house-surgeon  and  deinonstrator  of 
anatomy.  He  became  F.R.C.S.  Eng.  in  i860,  and  two 
years  later  M.D.  St.  Andrews.  He  was  elected  Lord 
Mayor  in  191 1,  being  then  in  his  eighty-second  year, 
and  it  was  noted  that  he  was  not  only  the  first  doctor 
of  medicine  but  the  oldest  citizen  to  receive  that  office. 
He  attended,  as  Lord  Mayor,  at  the  funeral  of  Lord 
Lister  on  February  16,  1912,  at  Westminster  Abbey, 
following  the  pall-bearers  in  company  with  the  Lord 

NO.    2425,   VOL.    97] 


Provost  of  Edinburgh.  He  was  at  one  time  president 
of  the  Hunterian  Society,  before  which  he  delivered, 
in  1871,  the  annual  oration  on  "Modern  Medicine"; 
he  was  also  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  University 
of  London.  He  received  several  foreign  Orders,  in- 
eluding  that  of  the  Legion  of  Honour  of  France,  oi 
the  Crown  of  Russia,  St.  Olaf  of  Norway,  Danebrog 
of  Denmark,  and  the  Rising  Sun  of  Japan. 

By  the  death  of  M.  Leon  Labbe,  full  of  honours  and 
of  years,  France  has  lost  one  more  of  the  Old  Guard, 
the  physicians  and  surgeons  who  were  already  in 
practice  when  Pasteur  and  Lister  were  young.  It  is 
just  forty  years  since  Labb^'s  "wonderful  case,"  in 
1876,  of  the  successful  removal  of  a  fork  from  the 
stomach  of  a  young  man  who  had  been  playing  tricks 
with  that  implement.  The  case  got  into  the  papers; 
Mr.  Andrew  Lang,  in  a  delightful  article  in  the  Daily 
News,  quoted  Horace,  ""  Naturam  expellas  furca,"  and 
observed  that  the  surgeon,  being  unable  to  expel  the 
fork  by  nature,  had  to  call  in  the  aid  of  its  brother,  the 
knife.  But  the  point  of  the  case  is  that  it  advanced 
the  surgery  of  the  stomach,  especially  the  relief  oi 
patients  with  obstruction  of  the  oesophagus  by  the 
introduction  of  food  straight  into  the  stomach  through 
a  narrow  tube.  For  half  a  century  Labbe  practised 
and  taught  surgery  in  Paris,  and  his  renown  was  great 
and  well  deserved.  It  was  he,  also,  who  in  1914  helped 
to  bring  about  the  law  by  which  the  protective  treat- 
ment against  typhoid  fever  is  compulsory  in  the  French 
Army.  At  the  tirne  of  his  death  he  was  working  hard 
in  Paris  for  the  French  Army  Medical  Service.  Tht 
honours  of  his  profession  came  to  him  :  he  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Soci6t6  deChirurgie  in  1882;  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Acad^mie  de  M^decine,  and  Com- 
mander of  the  Legion  of  Honour.  He  was  a  great 
French  gentleman,  handsome  in  face  and  in  sou),  and 
it  seems  a  pity  that  he  did  not  live  to  see  France  set 
free,  and  the  dragon  under  her  feet. 

We  record  with  regret  the  death,  at  Southsea,  or 
March   30,    of    Dr.    J.    T.    Leon,    from   cerebro-spina 
meningitis,   contracted  from   a  military  patient  undei 
his  care.     From  an  obituary  notice  in  the  Lancet  \v< 
learn    that    Dr.    Leon,    who    was   fifty   years    of   age 
started  his  scientific  career  with  the  intention  of  bein^, 
a  chemist,  and  after  leaving  Clifton  went  to  Germany, 
Later  he  entered  at  Unversity  College,  London,  wher<' 
he  was  Tufnell  scholar  in  1885.     Two  years  afterwar*^' 
he  graduated  as   B.Sc.  Lond.,    and  in    1890  was   ■>■■ 
pointed  assistant  lecturer  on  physics  and  demonstrat 
of  chemistry  in  St.   Mary's  Hospital  Medical  Schd 
After  holding  those  appointments  for  three  years,  h  ^ 
commenced  his  medical  studies  at  St.  Mary's,  wherj 
he  had  a  successful  career,  graduating  as  M.B.  Lon<^' 
in    1896,    and    D.P.H.  Camb.    in    the   following   ye;: 
After  qualifying  he  was  appointed  on  plague  duty 
India,  where  he  did  useful  work  in  collaboration  wi: 
Prof.    Haffkine.        He   served   throughout   the   Sou' 
African  War,  and  upon  his  return  settled  in  practi 
at  Southsea.     On  the  outbreak  of  the  present  war  1 
was  mobilised  as  captain  in  the  Royal  Army  Medic 
Corps    (T.),    and    was    appointed     sanitary     speciaii 
officer   for   Portsmouth.     His   duties   involved   the  ul 
spection   of   the    sanitation    of    the   various    camps  ij 
Hampshire,  and  the  carrying  out  of  the  bacteriologidij 
work   in   connection   with   the  various   epidemics  thlj 
arose.     He    worked    assiduously    at    these    posts,   anj 
there  is  no  doubt  that  his  death  was  due  to  his  unspaj 
ing  devotion  to  duty. 

The    announcement    of    the   death    of    Mr.    J. 
Collins,  F.G.S.,  on  April  12,  at  the  age  of  seventy-fil 
will  be  received  with   deep   and   sincere   regret  byj 
wide  circle  of  friends,  including  nearly  every  perr 
in   Cornwall,   where  he  was  such  a   well-known  ati 


April  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


167 


picturesque  tigure.  He  was  a  -  past  president  and 
honorary  member  of  many  learned  and  scientific 
societies,  including  the  Institution  of  Mining  and 
Metallurgy,  of  which  he  was  also  one  of  the  founders ; 
the  Royal  Geological  Society  of  Cornwall ;  the  Royal 
Cornwall  Polytechnic  Society;  and  the  Royal  Corn- 
wall Institution.  He  was  also  an  honorar}-  member 
of  the  Imperial  Mineralogical  Society  of  Petrograd. 
For  his  scientific  work  he  received  the  Hen- 
wood  medal  from  the  Roxal  Institution  of  Cornwall 
in  1893,  and  the  Bolitho  medal  from  the  Royal  Geo- 
logical Society-  in  Cornwall  in  1898.  He  was  the 
author  of  many  very  valuable  works,  all  of  which  are 
regarded  as  classics  on  his  special  subject,  including 
"  Observations  on  the  West  of  England  Mining  Re- 
gions," "The  Hensbarrow  Granite  District,"  "Hand- 
book of  the  Mineralogy  of  Cornwall  and  Devon," 
"Cornish  Tin  Stones  and  Tin  Capels,"  "Origin  and 
Development  of  Ore  Deposits  of  the  West  of  Eng- 
land," translation  of  M.  Leon  Moissenet's  "  Rich 
Parts  of  the  Lodes  of  Cornwall,"  text-books  on 
mineralogy  for  elementary  and  advanced  students,  and 
many  others.  He  was  chief  chemist  and  metallurgist 
to  the  Rio  Tinto  Copper  Mining  Company  for  a 
period  of  more  than  twelve  years,  and  latterly  was 
chairman  and  managing  director  of  the  Wheal  Kitt}' 
and  Penhalls  United  Limited  Tin  Mines  of  Cornwall, 
and  a  director  of  the  East  Pool  and  Agar  Mines,  Ltd. 
For  nearly  half  a  century  Mr.  Collins  devoted  himself 
to  a  close  study  of  the  geology,  mineralogy,  chemistry, 
and  metallurgy  of  the  mines  and  mineral  deposits  of 
Cornwall ;  and  it  may  be  truly  said  that  his  knowledge 
of  this  special  subject  was  unique.  His  death  has  left 
a  gap  in  Cornwall  which  cannot  easily  be  filled. 

Some  years  ago  Prof.   Richard  A.  J.   Berry,  of  the 
University  of  Melbourne,   rendered  anthropologists   a 
great  service  by  publishing  exact  tracings  of  all  the 
Tasmanian  skulls  he  could  find  in  Australian  collec- 
tions.    In  conjunction  with  Dr.  A.  W.  D.  Robertson 
he  has  now  issued  (Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society 
of   Victora,    vol.    vi.,    1914)    an    atlas    of  tracings   of 
ninety  crania  of  Australian  aborigines.     Each  tracing 
is  reproduced  in  natural  size,  three  views  being  given 
of  each   skull.     In    a   brief   preface   to  this   atlas   of 
;  cranial   tracings,    we   learn   that    the  Commonwealth 
I  Government  is   awakening  to   the   scientific  value   of 
I  the  skeletal  remains  of  its  native  races,  and  is  to  take 
steps  to  prevent  the  exportation  of  osteological  material 
Ifrom  .Australia. 

The   Journal    of    the     Buteshire     Natural     History 

Society,  vol.  viii.  (1914-15)  is  largely  devoted  to  local 

j antiquities.     Dr.  J.   N.   Marshall  and  Mr.   J.   Ritchie 

jdescribe  excavations  at  the  fort  and  cave  at  Dunagoil, 

jthe  peninsula  at  the   southern   end   of   the   island  of 

Bute.    The   cave,    which    was    hollowed    out    by    sea 

action,  was  obviously,  like  the*fort,  occupied  in  ancient 

pmes.     The  mammalian   bones   found   included  those 

of  the  wild  cat  (Felis  sylvesiris),   the  fox,   wild  boar, 

fed  and   roe   deer,    the   short-horned    Celtic   ox,    and 

turbary   sheep,   the   two   last   having   been   apparently 

pomesticated.     The  animal  remains  as  a  whole  would 

3e  sufficient   to  indicate   that   the   cave-men   belonged 

o  a  period  not  earlier  than  that  of  the  predominantlv 

■ound-headed    Neolithic    people.     The    absence    of    re'- 

nams    of    the    horse    suggests    that    this    animal,    so 

:ommon    in    Romano-British   deposits,     had     not    yet 

eached  Bute,  if  indeed  it  had  been  introduced  to  Sc'ot- 

w  ^}  ^^^  ^'"^^  ^^'^^"  ^^^  Dunagoil  cave  was  in- 
labited.  The  most  interesting  remains  of  human 
^ccupatlon  are  bone  and  horn  implements,  stone 
pounders,  and  the  spinning- whorl,  while  a  piece  of 
Iheet  bronze  proves  that  after  the  disappearance  of 
pe  earlier  tenants  the  cave  was  occupied  in  the  Bronze 
NO.    2425,   VOL.    97] 


age.  The  report,  which  is  well  illustrated  with  plates 
of  the  discoveries,  is  a  good  example  of  the  excellent 
work  which  can  be  done  by  a  local  society,  the  mem- 
bership of  which  includes  competent  archaeologists. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Public  Health  Committee 
of  the  London  County  Council  for  19 14  has  just  been 
issued.  It  contains  the  reports  of  the  county  medical 
officer  (Dr.  Hamer)  and  school  medical  officer,  and 
details  of  public  health  administration,  main  drainage, 
and  housing  of  the  working  classes.  The  report  is 
illustrated  with  a  number  of  diagrams  of  statistical 
data.  One  of  these  shows  the  seasonal  prevalence  of 
body-vermin  (bugs,  fleas,  and  lice),  and  it  is 
of  interest  that  the  seasonal  prevalence  of 
scarlet  fever  coincides  with  that  of  fleas.  Whether 
tliis  is  merely  a  coincidence  or  no,  further  study  alone 
can  elucidate.  The  death-rate  is  slightly  above  that 
for  iiji.v  and  scarlet  fever,  diphtheria,  typhoid  fever, 
and  er^jinelas  all  show  some  increase  of  prevalence 
compared  with  preceding  years.  The  marriage-rate 
attained  the  comparatively  high  level  of  19-2,  but  the 
birth-rate  again  showed  a  diminution. 

In  the  Psychological  Review  (vol.  xxiii..  No.  2)  Mr. 
J.  B.  Watson  describes  a  means  whereby  a  wide  range 
of  experiments  can  tie  performed  on  the  conditioned 
reflex.  The  author  >:laims  that  the  method  can  be 
immediately  applied  to  the  study  of  many  sensory 
problems,  such  as  sensitivity  to  temperature  and  con- 
tact, fineness  of  localisation,  differential  sensitivity-  to 
pitch,  etc.,  in  animals,  whether  wild  or  domesticated, 
of  any  size,  and  in  man  also,  and  that  the  record  is 
made  in  complete  and  permanent  form  by  the  animal 
itself.  Students  ol  onimals,  whether  from  the  physio- 
logical or  the  psychological  point  of  view,  will  find 
the  article  both  interesting,  and  suggestive. 

The  growing  interest  in  pioblems  of  psychology, 
and  in  particular  in  the  experimental  treatment  of  such 
problems,  is  plainly  indicated  by  the  appearance  of 
the  first  number  of  the  Journal  of  Experityiental 
Psychology,  published  under  /..••  auspices  of  the 
Psychological  Review  Company.  An  interesting 
article,  entitled  "A  Preliminary  Studv  of  Tonal 
Volume,"  will  appeal  to  both  physicists  and  physio- 
logists. There  has  been  much  divergence  of  opinion 
as  to  whether  extensity  is  really  an  attribute  of  tonal 
sensations  or  merely  a  question  of  association,  low 
tones  being  associated  to  large  instruments  and  to 
gross  movements  of  the  throat.  As  a  result  of  a 
careful  investigation  G.  J.  Rich  comes  to  the  con- 
clusion that  if  we  accept  independent  variability  as  the 
criterion  of  an  attribute,  there  is  evidence  for  the 
differentiation  of  pitch  and  tonal  extensity,  judgments 
of  tonal  volume  being  made  with  as  great  consistency 
as  is  usual   for  attributive  judgments. 

Sir  F.  J.  Jackson  describes,  in  the  Journal  of  the 
East  Africa  and  Uganda  Natural  Histor>'  Society 
(vol  v..  No.  9),  two  nests  of  the  African  lung-fish 
(Protopterus  ethiopicus).  They  were  situated  in  a 
patch  of  coarse  grass,  were  circular  in  shape,  with  a 
diameter  of  two  and  a  half  to  three  feet,  and  about 
eighteen  inches  in  depth.  But  the  most  remarkable 
feature  of  these  nests  lay  in  the  outer  ring  of  mud, 
which  was  raised  about  an  inch  above  the  water-level 
and  about  five  inches  width.  It  had  the  appearance 
of  being  the  work  of  a  man  rather  than  of  a  fish. 
The  mud  did  not  seem  to  have  been  pushed  up  from 
below,  but  rather  to  have  been  deposited  from  above, 
and  then  smoothed  down,  the  surface  being  smooth 
and  shiny.  He  suggests  that  this  mud  was  brought 
to  the  surface  in  the  mouths  of  the  builders,  and  then 
beaten  down  by  means  of  the  flattened,  slimy,  eel- 
like  tails. 


i68 


NATURE 


[April  20,  19 16 


Much  attention  has  been  paid  in  America  to  preven- 
tion of  damage  by  frost  to  fruit  and  vegetable  crops. 
The  methods  are  based  either  on  the  prevention  of  low 
temperatures,  or  the  protection  of  frosted  plants  from 
too  rapid  warming.  The  Geographical  Review  for 
February,  1916  (vol.  i.,  No.  2),  contains  an  illustrated 
article  on  the  subject.  Low  temperatures  are  pre- 
vented by  small  fires,  oil-pots  (Fig.  i),  steam  pipes,  or 
even  by  hot  water  in  irrigation  ditches.  Apparently  no 
method  to  utilise  electrical  energy  has  yet  been  devised. 
To  reduce  loss  of  heat  by  radiation,  artificial  clouds 
are  caused  by  fires  of  wet  straw,  but  lath  screens 
are  most  effective,  though  too  expensive  as  a  rule. 
Mixing  the  air  by  some  mechanical  means  to  prevent 
ground  frost  on  clear,  calm  nights  would  be  useful, 
but  no  practicable  method  has  been  discovered.  Rapid 
warming  or  "defrosting"  is  prevented  by  the  same 
means  used  to  check  radiation,  and  also  by  spraying 
the  plants  with  water  at  about  32°  F.  just  before  sun- 
rise. This  coats  the  plant  with  ice,  which  must  be 
melted  before  warming  can  begin.  As  a  result,  warm- 
ing is  said  to  be  gradual.  All  these,  and  other 
methods,   are,    of    course,    intimately   associated    with 


Photo. 


Fig.  I.— Oil  pots  in  operation  in  an  orchard  at  Grand  Junction,  Colorado.     The  oil  pots  hold  seven 
gallons  each  and  burn  crude  oil  in  amounts  depending  on  the  heat  required. 


accurate  weather  forecasts,  since  the  preventive 
measures  are  too  elaborate  and  expensive  to  be 
employed  unless   required. 

A  SUMMARY  of  temperature,  rainfall,  and  duration  of 
bright  sunshine  in  the  United  Kingdom  for  the  first 
quarter  of  the  current  year,  comprised  in  the  thirteen 
weeks  from  January  2  to  April  i,  19 16,  has  been  issued 
by  the  Meteorological  Office  The  mean  temperature 
for  the  period  was  in  excess  of  the  average  in  all  dis- 
tricts, except  the  south  of  Ireland,  where  it  was  normal ; 
the  greatest  excess  was  i-6°  in  the  east  of  England. 
The  absolute  maximum  temperature  ranged  from  53° 
in  the  north  of  Scotland  to  65°  in  the  east  of  Scotland, 
and  the  thermometer  failed  to  touch  60°  in  several  dis- 
tricts, including  the  south-east  and  south-west  of  Eng- 
land. Rainfall  was  in  excess  of  the  average  in  all 
districts  over  Great  Britain,  except  the  west  of  Scot- 
land, and  there  was  a  deficiency  of  rain  in  Ireland. 
The  greatest  excess  was  177  per  cent,  of  the  average 
in  the  east  of  England,  while  in  the  south-east  of 
England  the  fall  was  161  per  cent,  of  the  average,  and 
160  in  the  Midland  counties.  In  the  east  of  Scotland 
the  rainfall  was  141  per  cent,  of  the  average,  while  in 

NO.    2425,    VOL.    97] 


the  west  of  Scotland- the  fall  was  only  88  per  cent. 
In  the  north  and  south  of  Ireland  the  fall  was  respec- 
tively 93  and  92  per  cent,  of  the  average.  The  rain- 
days  were  everywhere  in  excess  of  the  normal,  the 
number  in  the  period  ranging  from  72  in  the  south  of 
Ireland  and  71  in  the  north  of  Scotland  to  56  in  the 
north-east  of  Eng'and  and  in  the  Midland  counties. 
The  duration  of  bright  sunshine  was  generally  de- 
ficient. The  exceptional  warmth  of  January  and  the 
heavy  rains  of  February  and  March  would  consider- 
ably influence  the  quarter's  results. 

Mr.  p.  W.  Stuart-Menteath  has  forwarded  to  us 
a  group  of  pamphlets  on  the  results  of  his  long- 
continued  investigations  into  the  geological  structure 
of  the  Pyrenees.  They  have  appeared  in  the  Biarritz- 
A-isociation,  and  are  entitled  "  Sur  les  Gisements 
Metallifferes  des  Pyr^n^s  Occidentales,"  because  the 
interpretation  of  that  structure  greatly  depends  on  the 
geological  age  of  certain  metalliferous  (chiefly  iron) 
deposits,  in  regard  to  which  he  differs  widely  from 
some  members  of  the  French  Geological  Survey.  The 
question  is  too  long  and  intricate  to  be  dealt  with  in 
a  short  note,  so  that  it  must  suffice 
to  say  that  the  map  in  one  of  the 
pamphlets,  which  represents  his  own 
views  and  recalls  certain  parts  of  the 
Alps,  has  a  very  reasonable  aspect, 
and  that  he  is  opposed  to  a  school  of 
geologists  in  France  who  make 
greater  demands  on  flat-folding  and 
overthrusting  than  some  who  have 
studied  that  chain  are  willing  to  ad- 
mit. His  criticisms  chiefly  relate  to 
the  Survey  map  of  the  Mauleon 
Pyrenees,  which  is  contradictory  to 
his  own  observations ;  and  these,  as 
experience  has  taught  him,  are  likely 
to  be  ignored,  and  if  possible  sup- 
pressed. He  taxes  its  authors  with 
misplacing  sedimentary  and  intru- 
sive rocks,  confusing  Cretaceous  and 
Upper  Palaeozoic  deposits,  trans- 
forming typical  Cenomanian  and 
Trias  into  Silurian  and  Carbon- 
iferous, and  transferring  great  slices 
of  sedimentary  strata  from  the 
southern  to  the  northern  side 
of  the  chain.  If  the  charges 
which  he  brings  against  MM. 
Bertrand,  Termier,  and  Carez  be  accepted,  we 
must  suppose  that  French  geology  is  suffering 
from  the  incubus  of  official  infallibility  not  less 
seriously  than  did  British  geology  some  five-and-thirty 
years  ago. 

Although  in  the  last  seven  years  there  have  bee«fc< 
more  than  a  dozen  determinations  of  the  constant* 
of  complete  radiation,  the  results  obtained  hai 
differed  so  widely  that  it  has  not  been  possible  to* 
fix  on  a  definite  value.  Some  of  the  differences  may 
be  accounted  for  by  the  radiators  or  the  absorbing: 
surfaces  of  the  measuring  instruments  not  being  pew 
fectly  black,  or  by  the  neglect  of  the  absorption  of  the 
radiation  by  the  water  vapour  present  in  the  air.  Or 
it  may  be  due  to  the  form  of  measuring  instrument 
adopted,  and  in  this  connection  it  is  worth  noting 
that  when  the  radiation  has  been  measured  by 
thermometric  method,  the  result  has  in  general  been 
high,  while  the  pyrheliometer  has  given  mean  results 
in  fair  accord  with  each  other.  In  Scientific  Paper 
No.  262  of  the  Bureau  of  Standards  of  Washington 
Mr.  W.  W.  Coblentz  reviews  the  work  which  i 
been  done  by  his  predecessors  and  recently  by  himsen 


J^.  E.  Dean. 


April  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


169 


on  the  subject  and  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
most  probable  value  of  the  constant  is  575x10-'^ 
watt,  cm.-^  degree-*. 

The  (ximposition  of  the  exhaust  from  liquid-fuel 
engines  has  been  studied  by  Mr.  R.  W.  Penning,  who 
presented  a  paper  on  the  subject  to  the  Institution  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  on  March  17.  Various  fuels 
were  employed,  the  considj^rations  affecting  their 
choice  being  volatility,  purity,  and  general  suitability 
for  use  as  motor  spirit;  hexane  and  benzene  were 
taken  as  standard,  high-grade  petrol  and  benzol  as 
commercial  fuels.  Mixtures  with  air  were  exploded 
in  a  small  glass  vessel,  and  a  complete  chemical 
analysis  was  made  of  the  products.  Exhaust  samples 
were  also  taken  from  an  engine  fitted  with  Dr.  Wat- 
son's apparatus  for  measuring  air  and  fuel,  and  these 
samples  were  analysed.  In  each  case  a  set  of  curves 
was  plotted,  taking  as  abscissae  ratios  of  the  fuel  to 
air  by  weight,  and  as  ordinates  percentages 
of  each  of  the  products  of  combustion  in 
turn.  Such  a  set  of  curves  is  termed  an 
exhaust-gas  chart.  The  author  concludes  that  with 
volatile  fuels  there  is  little  difference  in  the  composi- 
tion of  the  products  of  combustion  from  air-fuel  mix- 
tures in  a  small  explosion  vessel  or  in  an  engine 
cylinder  in  spite  of  the  conditions  being  so  dissimilar. 
I  Another  conclusion  is  that  a  very  small  quantity,  if 
;  any,  of  unsaturated  or  saturated  hydrocarbons  is  pre- 
1  sent  in  engine-exhaust  gases ;  this  statement  is,  of 
'  course,  based  upon  the  results  obtained  in  gas  analysis 
by  the  method  adopted  and  described. 

Ak  important  paper  by  Dr.  C.  H.  Desch,  on  "The 
I  Decay  of  Metals,"  is  included  in  a  recent  issue  of  the 
I  Transactions  of  the  Institution  of  Engineers  and  Ship- 
I  builders  in   Scotland   (vol.    lix.,    part  5).     Three   chief 
'types  of  decay  are  considered.     The  first  is  that  due 
I  to  allotropic  change,  of  which  the  "tm  pest,"  studied 
I  by    Prof.    Cohen,    of    Utrecht,    is    the    most    notable 
example;   similar  disintegration  may,   however,   occur 
in  certain    light   aluminium    alloys,    which   are    liable 
to  fall   to  powder  as  a  result   of  internal   molecular 
change,  though  fortunately  this  does  not  occur  with 
any  of  the   alloys   in    common   use.       Disintegration 
jmay  also  occur  as  a  result  of  internal  strain   set  up 
by  hard  working.     Thus   drawn   rods  are   in   a   state 
k)f  severe   tension   in    the  outer   layers,    and   in    com- 
pression   in    the    inner    layers,    whilst    in    rolled    or 
[hammered  rod  this  distribution  of  stresses  is  reversed. 
The  fracture  of  the  strained  metal  may  be  accelerated 
py  corroding  agents,  which  in  some  cases  cause  it  to 
"'-ack  with  almost   explosive  violence,   as   when   very 
:  d-drawn  rods  of  brass  or  bronze  are  touched  with 
^  solution   of   a    mercury    salt    or    of    ferric    chloride, 
finally,  metals  may  decay  as  a  result  of  actual  corro- 
sion, as  in  the  "  graphitisation "  of  iron  pipes,   from 
vhich  all  the  f errite  is  removed,  leaving  a  soft  residue  of 
:ementite,  phosphide,  and  graphite.  All  these  different 
ypes    of    decay    are    illustrated    by    photographs,    the 
l-xcellence  of  which  has  become  almost  a  commonplace 
ture  in  the  work  of  the  author. 

,  Mr.     Wm.     Shackleton,     assistant     inspector     of 

.|cientific  supplies  at  the  India  Store  dep6t,  writes  to 

.irect  attention  to  the  numerals  designed  by  his  pre- 

essor,    Col.     A.     Strange,     F.R.S.,     in    the    early 

venties.     These  are  still  used  on  surveying  instru- 

■  iients  of  to-day.     Mr.  A.  P.  Trotter  is  a  nephew  of 

'fol.   Strange.     He  illustrated  these  numerals  in  the 

irnal  of  the  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers  for 

'^r^^/T    I,    gave    details    of    their    dimensions,    and 

a  them   as  a  basis  for  his   attempt  to  design   an 

nroved  set  (see  Nature,   Februarv  24,  p.   714,  and 

nl  6,  p.   121).  -      ^'  ^     '  '*' 


NO.    2425,    VOL.    97] 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Comet  1916a  (Neujmin). — The  following  elliptic 
orbit  has  been  derived  by  collaborators  in  the  Berkeley 
Astronomical  Department  (Lick  Observatory  Bulletin, 
No.  280V  from  observations  on  February  29  (Yerkes), 
March  8  (Bamberg),  and  March  7  (Lick)  : — 

T  =  March  ir2i95  G.M.T.      P  =  5'i86  years.     /x  =  684"i4" 
<o=\gf   44-1'.  ^  =  0-55465. 

^=327°  388'.        (whence  </)  =  33- 41'  1 1 -8". 
/==    10°  296'.  log  a  =  047658). 

The  resulting  ephemeris  diverges  in  R.A.  from  that 
calculated  at  Copenhagen ;  thus  interpolation  for  April 
20  gives  o  loh.  3m.  58s.,  and  6  —  7°  38-0';  the  Copen- 
hagen position  being  o  loh.  2m.  41s.,  and  6  —  7°  34-0'. 

The  comet  was  observed  at  the  Hill  Observatory, 
Sidmouth,  on  April  8.  It  was  then  very  diffuse  and 
faint,  in  approx.  position  at  gh.  27- im.  G.M.T., 
o=9h.  39111.  51S.,  8=— 3°  549',  very  nearly  midway  in 
Right  Ascension  between  the  positions  given  by  the 
two  ephemerides. 

Solar  Radiation. — Mr.  R.  S.  Whipple's  paper  on 
instruments  for  the  measurement  of  solar  raciation, 
read  before  the  Optical  Society  of  London  on  March 
II,  contains  an  account  of  all  the  most  important 
forms  of  instrument,  from  the  Campbell  sunshine 
recorder  and  the  black  bulb  in  vacuo,  to  the  register- 
ing standard  water  flow  pyrheliometer  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution.  Of  these  instruments  the  Camp- 
bell sunshine  recorder  still  holds  its  own  as  one  of 
the  most  accurate  means  of  measuring  the  duration 
of  sunshine,  while  the  black  bulb  in  vacuo,  the  read- 
ings of  which  have  been  recorded  so  many  million 
times  by  patient  observers,  is  now  thoroughly  dis- 
credited. At  the^  International  Meteorological  Con- 
gress in  1905  the  Angstrom  pyrheliometer  was  adopted 
as  the  standard  instrument  for  the  measurement  of 
the  intensity  of  solar  radiation.  In  this  instrument 
one  of  two  similar  metal  strips  is  heated  by  the 
radiation  to  be  measured,  the  other  by  an  electric 
current  seat  through  it.  Equality  of  heating  is 
secured  by  two  thermo-junctions  behind  the  strips,  the 
necessary  heating  current  is  read,  and  the  rate  of  supplv 
of  energy  calculated.  According  to  the  most  trustworthy 
measurements  made  under  conditions  more  favourable 
to  accurate  observation  than  oiir  climate  permits,  the 
earth  receives  from  the  sun,  on  the  average,  0032 
calories  per  square  centimetre  per  second. 

Proper  Motion  of  the  Orion  Nebula. — M.  J. 
Comas  Sol^  has  obtained  direct  evidence  that  the 
annual  proper  motion  of  the  great  nebula  is  about 
0025"  by  stereoscopic  comparison  of  photographs. 
The  near  by  small  nebula,  A.G.C.  1977,  shows  equal 
motion,  but  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  it  is  con- 
sidered to  be  in  orbital  relation  with  the  first. 

The  System  of  A  Tauri. — Prof.  F.  Schlesinger  has 
found  that  A  Tauri  most  probably  involves  three  main 
bodies,  only  one  being  bright  enough  to  yield  a 
spectrum  (Publications,  Allegheny  Observatory,  iii., 
20).  Partial  eclipses  at  intervals  of  four  days  result 
from  the  revolution  of  a  less  massive  satellite,  whence 
also  arises  the  chief  oscillation  of  the  spectrum  lines, 
but  a  second  more  remote  and  smaller  body  betrays  its 
existence  and  period  of  346  days  in  a  superposed 
secondary  oscillation  revealed  by  the  residuals.  The 
respective  masses  are  largely  conjectural ;  on  certain 
assumptions  they  would  be  25,  10,  and  04  solar,  and 
the  distances  from  the  centroid  of  the  first  two  3-2,  8-0, 
and  500  millions  of  kilometres.  The  great  range  of 
velocity  (56- 18  km.)  found  by  Prof.  Schlesinger,  asso- 


170 


NATURE 


[April  20,  19 16 


ciated  as  it  is  with  a  spectrum  of  early,  though  some- 
what peculiar,  type,  has  an  important  significance  in 
relation  to  some  of  the  suggested  explanations  of  the 
tardy  motions  of  isolated  helium  stars. 

THE  INSTITUTION   OF  NAVAL 
ARCHITECTS,    - 

nr*HE  spring  meetings  of  the  Institution  of  Naval 
•*•  Architects  were  held  on  April  12  and  13,  at  the 
Royal  Society  of  Arts.  The  Marquis  of  Bristol's  term 
of  office  as  president  has  now  expired,  and  he  has  been 
succeeded  by  the  Earl  of  Durham.  The  institution 
scholarship  has  been  awarded  to  Mr.  T.  S.  D.  Collins ; 
a  donation  of  looi.  has  been  made  to  the  scholarship 
fund  by  the  Earl  of  Durham;  the  annual  gold  medal 
has  been  awarded  to  Mr.  A.  W.  Johns,  and  the  pre- 
mium to  Mr.  J.  L.  Kent,  for  papers  read  before  the 
institution.  The  following  members  of  the  institution 
have  been  appointed  to  the  Board  of  Trade  Committee 
to  consider  the  position  of  shipping  and  shipbuilding 
industries  after  the  war  : — Sir  A.  A.  Booth  (chairman). 
Sir  Archibald  Denny,  Mr.  W.  S.  Abeli,  and  Mr.  James 
Readhead.  A  presentation  was  made  to  the  retiring 
president. 

In  the  course  of  the  Earl  of  Durham's  address,  he 
said  that  one  paramount  duty  was  before  the  whole 
nation— to  prosecute  the  war  until  a  satisfactory  end 
was  reached.  Our  naval  architects  had  no  better  pride 
than  to  turn  out  everything  destined  for  the  Navy  of 
the  best  possible  quality.  When  the  end  of  the  war 
came  he  felt  sure  that  the  institution  would  be  able  to 
claim  having  done  its  share  in  the  work. 

Sir  Philip  Watts  read  a  paper  on  the  load  lines  of 
merchant  ships,  and  the  work  of  the  Load  Line  Com- 
mittee (1915).  This  paper  consists  largely  of  a  his- 
torical summary,  starting  with  the  earliest  recorded 
regulation,  which  appeared  in  Lloyd's  Register  book  in 
1774.  The  remainder  of  the  paper  gives  the  gist  of  the 
report  of  the  Load  Line  Committee,  presented  in  a 
form  convenient  for  the  purposes  of  the  institution. 
Mr.  W.  S.  Abell  followed  with  a  paper  on  some  ques- 
tions in  connection  with  the  work  of  the  Load  Line 
Committee.  The  question  principally  discussed  is  the 
formulation  of  a  suitable  standard  of  structural 
strength  which  might  be  adopted  internationally  for 
the  necessary  tests  which  it  is  desirable  to  lay  down 
in  order  that  the  freeboard  assigned  shall  not  be  so 
small  as  to  bring  undue  strains  upon  the  structure  of  a 
vessel.  The  rules  of  the  registration  societies  have 
been  developed  from  experience,  and  should  form  the 
basis  of  any  analysis  having  for  its  object  a  general 
average  of  experience  with  ship  structures  at  sea.  The 
method  adopted  was  to  analyse  the  rules  of  the  prin- 
cipal societies  in  terms  of  \jy,  and  the  principal 
dimensions  of  the  vessel  with  the  view  of  obtaining  a 
standard  of  longitudinal  strength  which  would  express 
rationally  the  minimum  requirements  found  necessary 
from  successful  sea  experience.  In  this  way  formulae 
were  found  for  the  standard  of  longitudinal  strength, 
the  thickness  of  side  plating,  frame  spacing,  and  the 
strength  of  hold  frames.  This  paper  is  a  valuable 
summary  of  some  interesting  work  on  the  strength  of 
ship  structures. 

Dr.  C.  H.  Lees  read  a  paper  on  the  laws  of  skin 
friction  of  a  fluid  in  stream  line  and  in  turbulent 
motion  along  a  solid  of  great  length.  In  this  paper 
Dr.  Lees  shows  how  to  reduce  the  problem  of  a  very 
long  body  of  rectangular  or  elliptic  section  towed  along 
a  wide  tube  filled  with  liquid,  to  the  simpler  problem 
of  a  long  circular  cylinder  towed  along  the  same  wide 
tube,  so  long  as  the  liquid  moving  past  the  body  is  in 
stream-line  motion.  Comparison  of  results  calculated 
for  the  equivalent  cylinder  and  Froude's  boards  shows 

NO.    2425,    VOL.    97] 


very  fair  agreement  for  the  last  34  ft.  of  the  boards. 
The  agreement  is  sufficiently  close  to  show  that  there 
is  in  all  probability  an  intimate  connection  between  the 
frictional  resistance  of  the  after  portion  of  a  long 
towed  body  and  that  of  water  flowing  through  a  pipe. 
It  seems  desirable  that  experiments  should  be  made 
with  the  view  of  determining  to  what  extent  the  pro- 
positions with  regard  to  bodies  of  equivalent  resistance 
in  stream-line  motion  may  be  carried  over  to  eddying 
motion,  and,  if  it  should  prove  they  cannot  be,  to 
determine  the  corresponding  propositions  for  eddying 
motion. 

Mr.  G.  S.  Baker  contributed  a  paper  on  the  skin 
friction  resistance  of  ships,  and  our  useful  knowledge 
of  the  subject.  The  data  for  the  friction  of  rough 
surfaces  have  been  increased  very  considerably  in  the 
last  few  years.  Most  of  the  data  are  derived  from 
model  experiments,  but  in  some  cases  authentic  data 
for  ships  are  available.  One  model  of  fine  form,  16  ft. 
in  length,  tested  in  the  National  Tank,  showed  that 
plate  edges  increased  the  frictional  resistance  37  per 
cent.  The  plates  on  the  model  represented  4-ft. 
strakes  of  |-in.  plating  on  a  400-ft.  ship.  A  plate, 
20  ft.  by  2  ft.,  tested  in  the  Washington  tank  after 
immersion  in  Chesapeake  Bay  for  two  months  (Julv 
and  August,  19 14)  showed  an  increase  in  resistance 
over  that  of  a  smooth  surface  of  about  50  per  cent. 
The  fouling  and  resistance  went  on  increasing  up  to 
the  month  of  December,  when  the  resistance  stood  at 
about  220  per  cent,  increase  over  that  for  a  smooth 
surface,  and  remained  at  that  figure  for  some  months. 
This  suggests  that  a  good  time  for  cleaning  and 
painting  the  bottoms  of  coasting  ships,  working  at 
about  this  latitude,  is  October  and  November,  as 
there  Is  little  growth  in  cold  water  for  the  next 
few  months.  Presumably  there  would  be  a 
period  about.  May  and  June  when  the  temperature 
had  reached  a  point  favourable  for  growth,  when  a 
new"  coat  of  paint  would  prevent  the  adhesion  of 
growth  to  the  surface. 

In  a  paper  on  the  subdivision  of  merchant  vessels 
and  the  Reports  of  the  Bulkhead  Committer,  1912-15, 
Sir  Archibald  Denny  suggests  that,  after  the  war  is 
over,  an  interesting  paper  might  be  written  dealing 
with  the  mass  of  information  which  will  no  doubt  be 
available  as  to  the  behaviour  of  vessels  damaged 
either  sufficiently  or  Insufficiently  to  sink  them.  It 
is  interesting  to  know  that  many  vessels  have  survived 
torpedo  and  mine  attack,  even  when  the  damage  was 
of  a  very  extensive  character.  Thus  the  Nigretia 
struck  a  mine  abaft  the  fore  peak,  and  had  a  hole 
40  ft.  by  16  ft.  blown  In  her,  but  she  was  saved  by 
No.  2  bulkhead.  The  Germans  also  have  not  always 
realised  the  difficulty  of  sinking  an  oil-carrier,  esped-, 
ally  If  she  Is  running  light — vide  the  Artemis.  The] 
tests  made  by  the  Bulkhead  Committee  on  large  tank 
bulkheads  are  described  in  a  paper  bv  Mr.  J.  Foster 
King.  Drawings  showing  the  deflection  records  and 
photographs  of  the  bulkheads  are  Included.  In  all, 
fourteen  papers  were  read  and  discussed. 


DANISH  LABOUR  ON  BRITISH  FARMS. 

THE  Board  of  Agriculture  proposes  to  relieve  the 
present  shortage  of  labour  on  the  farm  by  arrang- 
ing for  the  introduction  of  agricultural  workers  from 
Denmark.  In  this  connection  attention  may  be 
directed  to  an  exceptionally  interesting  article  by  Mr. 
J.  Robertson  Scott  in  the  January  number  of  the  ! 
Quarterly   Review. 

The  wonderful  development  of  rural  life  in  Denmark 
is  largely  due  to  the  absence  of  coal  and  Iron.  Having 
practically    no    manufacturing    industries,    the    Danes  ; 


April  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


171 


have  put  their  best  brains  and  energies  into  the  cause  | 
of  agriculture,  with  the  result  that  their  system  of  j 
rural  economics  is  a  model  to  the  world.  The  high  | 
standard  of  agricultural  education  is  chiefly  responsible  ; 
for  this  success;  it  is  significant  that  20,000  Danish  | 
farmers  possess  covered  manure  sheds,  while  90,000  I 
have  water-tight  liquid  manure  tanks.  But  in  com-  ' 
paring  this  state  of  affairs  with  conditions  on  our  : 
farms  at  home,  it  must  always  be  remembered  that  \ 
our  system  of  land  tenure  does  not  favour  similar  | 
development  here.  It  is  not  only  ignorance  that  still  j 
causes  so  much  of  the  fertilising  value  of  farmyard 
manure  to  be  lost  by  careless  storage.  The  Danish  [ 
farmer,  owning  his  holding,  is  able  to  borrow  from  | 
his  credit  society  the  capital  necessary  for  these  im-  1 
provements;  the  English  tenant  farmer  is  not  in  the  | 
same  position.  Many  landlords  cannot  provide  these  j 
aids  to  successful  farming,  even  if  they  realise  that  it 
is  to  their  ultimate  advantage  to  do  so.  | 

It  is,  hoviever,  to  the  rural  high  school  that  we  must  ■* 
look  as  the  real  source  of  Denmark's  present  agricul-    j 
tural  prosperity.     It  may  surprise  many  to  learn  that 
no  merely  utilitarian  outlook  dominates  these  schools. 
1  On  the  contrary,  they  endeavour  to  show  the  power 
of  history,  poetry,  and  science,  and  of  a  higher  level 
of  life  and  thought  to  glorify  ordinary  workaday  exist- 
I  ence.     How  -will  a  man  trained  in  an  atmosphere  of 
i  this  kind  fill  the  place  of  a  typical  agricultural  labourer 
1  on.  our  farms?     If  Danish  workers  are  introduced  in 
I  any  numbers  into  English  rural  life  the  results  cannot 
fail  to  be  of  great  interest. 


THE    CULTIVATION    OF    SPONGES. 

AN   industry  which  promises  a  return   of  3000  per 
cent,    per   annum    on    a    very    moderate    capital 
j  expenditure   is  an   attractive  proposition.     In   the  last 
I  issue  of  the   West  Indian  Bulletin  Mr.  W.  R.  Dunlop 
I  describes  the  successful  rearing  of  sponges  from  cut- 
I  tings  in  the  Caicos   Islands,    near  Jamaica,    and  also 
the   results    of   some   earlier    experiments    in    Florida. 
The  sponges  occurring  naturally  in  West  Indian  waters 
;  have  little  commercial  value,  so  that  the  material  for 
planting  must  be  imported.     Although  sponges  are  to 
a   remarkable    extent    creatures    of    environment,    and 
tend  when  transplanted  to  approach  the  native  types 
in  quality,  there  is  evidence  that  this  may  not  occur 
in  selected   localities   in    the   Lesser  Antilles.     As   the 
cuttings  will  only  grow  when  attached  to  an  anchor- 
age,   it   is    necessary    to    provide    them    with    suitable 
means  of  support  when  planting  out.     Cement   discs 
are  used  in  Florida,  to  w-hich  the  sponges  are  held  by 
metal    clips,    but    it    has    been    found    in    the    Caicos 
Islands  that  slabs  of  coral  are  quite  as  efTective  as  the 
discs  and  naturallv  much  cheaper.     On  soft  or  sandy 
bottoms  a  spindle  is  set  in  the  disc  to  hold  the  cutting, 
otherwise  the   sinkmg  of  the   disc   tends  to  bury  the 
sponge  and  kill  it. 

The  crop  is  ripe  for  harvesting  in  from  one  to  four 
years,  according  to  the  variety  grown.  To  plant,  har- 
vest, and  market  one  acre  of  sheep 's-wool  sponges  costs 
about  4I.  This  is  a  large  and  valuable  variety,  taking 
four  years  to  mature,  and  yielding  116Z.  per  acre  in  the 
\'ew  York  market.  Assuming  that  one  acre  is  planted 
ch  year,  then,  after  four  years,  an  annual  expendi- 
.^ure  of  4?.  will  yield  an  annual  profit  of  112Z.,  if  four 
acres  only  are  under  cultivation.  No  charge  for 
management  is  included  in  this  estimate.  The  growers 
m  the  Caicos  find  that  the  small  reef  sponges,  in  spite 
of  their  lower  market  value,  give  an  even  better 
';  return  on  capital  than  the  wool  sponges,  because  they 
mature  in  twelve  or  fourteen  months.  It  will  be  sur- 
prising if  this  industry,  apparently  so  profitable,"  needs 
^uch  ofTicial  encouragement. 

NO.    2423,    VOL.    97] 


NATIONAL   ASPECTS    OF    CHEMISTRY.^ 

EXACTLY  seventy-five  years  ago  from  March  30, 
1916,  the  Chemical  Society  met  for  the  first  time 
at  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts  alter  a  preliminary  meet- 
ing on  February  23,  1841,  at  which  it  was  decided 
"that  it  is  expedient  that  a  Chemical  Society  be 
formed."  Though  the  society  has  continued  to  hold 
its  anniversarj-  meetings  on  or  about  March  30,  ever 
since  then,  under  various  conditions,  no  meeting  ex- 
cept that  in  1915  has  ever  been  held  in  circumstances 
at  all  approachmg  those  now  prevailing  throughout 
the  entire  globe.  The  Crimean  and  Boer  Wars  did 
not  awaken  in  the  nation  any  appreciation  of  the 
increasingly  important  rdle  played  by  chemical  science 
in  warfare.  On  th^  other  hand,  the  enormous  possi- 
bilities for  the  destruction  of  human  life  afforded  by 
the  application  of  scientific  methods  to  warfare  had 
inclined  people  to  the  belief  that  such  a  war  as  the 
present,  with  its  ruthless  disregard  of  life,  could  never 
occur.  Short  of  demonstration,  chemists  would  never 
have  believed  that  their  science  could  have  been  pros- 
tituted as  it  has  been  by  the  enemy. 

Many  thoughts  arise  in  our  minds  on  such  an  occa- 
sion as  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  our  society, 
leading  us  to  reflect  on  the  state  of  chemical  science 
before  1841,  on  the  aims  and  purposes  for  which  it 
was  deemed  expedient  to  form  such  a  society,  and  to. 
examine  the  measure  of  success  that  has  been  achieved 
by  the  society  in  fulfilling  the  objects  as  laid  down 
in  the  charter. 

Reference  was  made  to  various  letters  received  from 
the  founders  of  the  society,  and  to  one  in  particular 
from  Henr>'  Fox  Talbot,  the  well-known  pioneer  in 
photography,  expressing  the  view  that  the  science  of 
chemistry  alone  was  not  sufficient  to  engage  the  atten- 
tion of  a  society,  and  suggesting  that  electricity  should 
be  added.  How  erroneous  was  this  view  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  within  a  month  or  so  of  its  formation  the 
Pharmaceutical  Society  was  founded,  and  of  later 
years,  amongst  other  societies  which  have  sprung 
from  the  parent  society,  may  be  mentioned  the  Society 
of  Public  Analysts,  the  Institute  of  Chemistry,  and 
the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  each  of  which  has 
its  important  functions  to  perform. 

Looking  back  to  the  time  of  the  "  father  of  chem- 
istry and  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Cork,"  who  in  his 
introduction  to  the  "Sceptical  Chymist  "  stated  '"that 
of  late  chymistry  begins,  as  indeed  it  deserves,  to  be 
cultivated  by  learned  men,  who  before  despised  it;  and 
to  be  pretended  to  by  many,  who  never  cultivated  it, 
that  they  may  not  be  thought  to  be  ignorant  of  it," 
one  may  indeed  wonder,  on  perusing  our  Parliament- 
ary and  legal  reports,  how  our  legislators  should  be 
classed  in  accordance  w'ith  this  statement,  and  to  doubt 
whether  the  attitude  of  so-called  learned  men  towards 
chemistry  had  done  more  than  "begin"  to  change 
during  the  last  two  centuries.  The  beginnings  of  this 
change  and  the  initiation  of  the  experimental  method 
into  true  science  by  Robert  Boyle  and  his  contem- 
poraries followed  closely  upon  the  Civil  War.  For  a 
hundred  years  or  so  onwards  from  the  time  of  Boyle, 
the  gradual  substitution  of  careful  experimental  work 
in  place  of  speculation  on  the  reasons  for  chemical  and 
physical  changes  added  greatly  to  our  know  ledge.  The 
rise  and  development  of  the  phlogistic  theor\'  and  its 
[  final  overthrow  by  Lavoisier  illustrate  this  phase  in 
'  the  growth  of  our  science.  The  vast  strides  made  in 
the  progress  of  chemistry  date  back  to  the  time  when 
'  the  use  of  the  chemical  balance  was  insisted  on  by 
I  Black  :  by  its  use  chemistrv  became  an  exact  science. 
I  Black's  modesty  and  his  devotion  to  scientific  inves- 

I  1  Abstract  of  t''e~  Pre>;idential  .-Vddres*,  entitled  "  Our  iNeventy-fifth- 
I  Anniversarv,"  delivered  before  the  Chemical  Society  on  April  6,  by  Dr. 
I    Alexander  Scott,  F.R.S. 


172 


NATURE 


[April  20,  19 16 


ligation  for  its  own  sake  often  led  to  his  claim  to  be 
considered  as  the  founder  of  modern  chemistry  being 
overlooked. 

The  importance  of  chemistry  to  national  existence 
was  recognised  in  France  as  early  as  1815,  as  is 
witnessed  by  the  origin  of  the  "  Le  Blanc  Soda"  pro- 
cess and  the  beet  sugar  industry  in  France.  In  our 
own  country  the  electrolytic  work  ot  Davy  and  the 
discovery  01  benzene  and  of  liquid  chlorine  by  Fara- 
day have  formed  the  starting  points  of  many  of  the 
manufactures  of  munitions  and  v^^^eapons  of  war  now- 
being  employed,  though  more  especially  by  the  enemy. 

Just  as  the  Royal  Society  grew  out  of  soci^aes  01  a 
more  informal  nature,  so  the  Chemical  Society  had  as 
forerunners  the  Tepidarian  Society,  the  Animal  Chem- 
ical Society,  and  also  a  Chemical  Society  or  Club  to 
establish  which  an  attempt  was  made  in  1806. 

From  the  very  foundation  of  the  society  stress  has 
been  laid  time  and  again,  and  by  president  after  presi- 
dent, that  it  is  upon  the  amount  of  research  work 
carried  out  by  its  tellows  that  the  reputation  and  true 
value  of  the  society  must  depend.  At  the  first  anni- 
versary meeting  the  council  reported  tha^t  it  was  "  fully 
sensible  that  the  utility  of  the  society  and  its  reputation 
in  the  scientific  world  will  mainly  depend  on  its  pub- 
lications." A  curve  was  thrown  on  the  screen  show- 
ing the  steady  increase  year  by  year  in  the  number  of 
original  communications  contributed  to  the  Trans- 
actions, commencing  at  42  (occupying  254  pp.)  in  1841 
and  1842,  and  reaching  272  (occupying  2909  pp.)  in 
1914.  in  1905  the  first  volume  of  the  annual  reports 
on  the  progress  of  chemistry,  initiated  by  Sir  William 
Tilden,   was  published. 

The  president  then  dealt  briefly  with  the  progress 
made  year  by  year  by  the  society,  referring  more  par- 
ticularly to  the  jubilee  of  the  society  in  1891,  and  to 
the  jubilee  (in  1906)  of  the  discovery  of  mauve.  In 
1876  a  proposal  to  establish  a  research  fund  was  re- 
vived, when  Dr.  G.  D.  Longstaff  promised  to  give  a 
sum  of  loooL  if  an  equal  amount  were  subscribed  by 
chemists.  With  a  like  sum  from  the  Goldsmiths'  Com- 
pan}',  together  with  donations  from  the  Merchant 
Taylors'  Company,  the  Mercers'  Company,  and  the 
Clothworkers'  Company,  the  research  fund  was  placed 
on  a  sure  foundation. 

Reference  was  made  to  the  importance  of  stimulat- 
ing and  encouraging  research  if  we,  as  a  nation,  are 
to  hold  our  own  in  commerce  and  manufacture.  That 
it  is  the  duty  of  everyone  to  do  his  utmost  to  wrest 
from  nature  her  secrets  is  tacitly  agreed  to  by  all,  but. 
unfortunately,  there  the  matter  rests.  The  apathy  of 
the  public  to  the  vital  importance  of  research  is  due 
in  great  measure  to  the  fact  that  the  so-called  well- 
educated  classes  have  no  conception  of  what  research 
means.  The  classical  scholar  pure  and  simple  adds 
but  little  to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge.  He 
examines  the  knowledge  accumulated  in  past  ages, 
extracts  what  is  buried  there,  much  as  a  ploughman 
on  the  battlefield  of  Waterloo  looks  for  a  bullet  fired 
a  hundred  years  ago.  He  wonders  by  whom  the 
bullet  was  fired,  whom  it  hit,  and  other  such  matters, 
which,  however  interesting  they  may  be,  are  of  little 
use  to  anyone.  The  classic  may  retort  by  demanding 
of  what  use  are  many  of  our  chemical  researches? 
Let  us  look,  therefore,  at  what  research  has  done. 

Research  may  be  divided  into  two  categories  :  (i) 
the  mere  addition  of  fresh  knowledge  to  that  already 
recorded  :  of  fresh  mastery  over  the  powers  of  nature 
and  of  new  ways  of  utilising  energy ;  and  (2)  the 
definite  quest  for  the  solution  of  a  particular  problem, 
it  may  be  the  manufacture  of  something  occurring  in 
nature  or  of  something  which  shall  have  definite  pro- 
perties. The  experiments  of  Cavendish  on  the  com- 
position of  the  atmosphere  when  he  converted  nitrogen 
and  oxvgen  into  nitric  acid  are  typical  of  the  first 
NO.    2425,    VOL.    97] 


class  of  research.  From  this  discovery  an  industry  of 
vast  importance  to  the  world,  the  utilisation  of  atmo- 
spheric nitrogen,  has  sprung  up  in  Norway,  America, 
and  Switzerland.  Moissan's  researches  into  the  re- 
actions at  temperatures  producible  by  means  of  the 
electric  arc  led  to  the  production  of  many  new 
compounds,  including  calcium  carbide.  These  two 
industries  have  been  established  as  the  result  of  experi- 
ments made  solely  to  increase  our  knowledge.  Who 
could  have  foreseen  what  the  discovery  by  Faraday  of 
benzene  in  oil-gas  would  lead  to  at  no  distant  date? 

As  examples  of  the  second  type  of  research  mav  be 
mentioned  the  researches  which  led  to  the  synthesis 
on  a  manufacturing  scale  of  alizarin  and  of  indigo,  and 
to  those  which  led  Ehrlich  to  the  discovery  of  sal- 
varsan. 

Broadly,  there  are  two  types  of  chemists  who  en- 
large our  knowledge  :  the  one  who  feels  that  he  can 
best  fulfil  his  life's  purpose  by  devoting  himself  to  the 
discovery  of  new  laws  and  new  substances  for  the 
simple  purpose  of  increasing  the  store  of  general  know- 
ledge so  that  those  who  follow  after  may  reap  the 
benefit  of  his  labours.  For  such  a  man  the  reward 
is  too  often  only  the  joy  of  having  succeeded  in  his 
aim,  well  knowing  that  the  money  prizes  attached 
to  the  application  of  his  discoveries  to  industry  will  not 
be  his.  The  other  type  is  the  man  of  practical  bent 
who  is  always  striving  to  apply  the  knowledge  of  the 
laws  of  nature  and  of  the  properties  of  substances. to 
the  solution  of  definite  problems  which  confront  the 
chemical  manufacturer,  the  engineer,  and  others.  Both 
types  of  men  must  be  trained  in  the  most  thorough 
manner  possible  in  the  universities,  and  be  taught 
how  to  tackle  both  theoretical  and  practical  problems 
in  a  scientific  manner. 

The  manufacturer  is  prone  to  expect  his  research 
chemist  to  indicate  almost  Immediately  the  value  of  his 
presence  in  the  works  by  a  visible  increase  being 
shown  in  the  profits.  It  is  by  no  means  a  rare  thing 
for  a  chemist  employed  at  a  miserable  salary  to  be 
consulted  in  the  same  way  as  a  specialist  who  is  called 
in  to  see  the  patient  on  his  death-bed.  Had  the  aid 
of  the  chemist  been  sought  earlier  he,  like  the 
specialist,  might  have  been  successful  in  achieving  the 
desired  object.  If  the  chemical  manufacturers  are  not 
only  to  hold  their  own,  but  are  to  save  themselves 
from  extinction,  there  is  only  one  remedy  :  they  must 
seek  the  services  of  the  man  with  a  broad  and  sound 
foundation  of  the  facts  and  theories  of  the  day, 
and  with  a  thorough  training  in  the  methods  of  ad- 
vancing knowledge.  Merely  to  maintain  the  dead- 
level  of  a  fair  measure  of  success  is  an  existence  which 
can  only  satisfy  a  decadent  race,  and  this  war  has 
shown  the  British  race  to  be  as  full  of  energy,  bravery, 
and  chivalry  as  of  old. 

The  nation  is  now  learning  day  by  day  what  neglect 
of  science  has  meant  to  it,  and  our  legislators  are 
having  the  importance  of  science  forced  upon  them. 
Perhaps  no  branch  of  scientific  knowledge  has  been 
more  appreciated  for  the  time  being  than  chemistry, 
though  it  has  required  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons 
of  T.N.T.,  lyddite,  and  dynamite  to  shade  the  founc^, 
tions  of  their  ignorance. 


Ji 


The  newspapers  and  scientific  journals  have  Ia_ 
bare  the  defects  of  our  education,  more  especially  with 
reference  to  our  scientific  education.  It  is  obvious 
that  if  the  manufacturer  is  to  employ  propjerly  trained 
chemists,  he  must  be  provided  with  an  adequate 
supply  not  only  of  men  trained  in  what  are  knowr 
phenomena,  who  may  be  mere  walking  encyclopaedia- 
but  of  men  who  are  trained  to  attack  problems. 

There  are,  however,  many  points  which  our  news- 
paper correspondents  overlook  when  casting  blame  c 
the  various  educational  authorities  for  their  short 
comings.     Much   difficulty   was   experienced   by   head 


April  20,  1916] 


NATURE 


A73 


masters  in  obtaining  men  who  could  ttach  and  keep 
order  in  a  class.  Often  the  man  who  taught  science 
in  school  did  so  as  junior  mathematical  master  be- 
cause his  other  teaching  duties  were  lighter  than  those 
of  his  colleagues;  but  his  knowledge  of  the  subject 
might  be  but  little  deeper  than  that  of  the  scholars  he 
was  instructing. 

Where  schools  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  secure 
properly  trained  science  masters,  the  masters  have 
usually  to  prove  their  value  to  the  school,  not  by 
soundj  all-round  teaching,  but  by  devoting  much  time 
to  coaching-up  the  brilliant  boys  to  win  scholarships. 
Owing  to  the  absurd  nature  of  many  of  the  questions 
set  at  the  open  scholarship  examinations,  candidates 
are  forced  to  read  and  "  get-up "  quite  specialised 
branches  of  work  of  far  too  advanced  a  nature,  instead 
of  devoting  themselves  to  acquiring  a  sound  know- 
ledge of  the  principles  and  experimental  data  and  their 
relations  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  science. 
Again,  the  successful  scholar,  say,  in  chemistry,  is 
usually  too  proud  of  his  position  to  go  to  a  course  of 
lectures  on  general  chemistry  by  the  professor,  but 
prefers  to  attend  special  courses  on  advanced  subjects, 
and  thus  become  a  specialist  long  before  he  should, 
suitable,  perhaps,  to  hold  a  fellowship  of  his  college, 
but  almost  as  unfitted  as  his  fellow-classic  for  active 
and  useful  life  in  an  industrial  centre  and  for  facing 
j  industrial  problems. 

I      The  brilliant  youth  who  goes   to   Oxford  or  Cam- 

I  bridge,  and  whose  ambition  it  is  to  lead  the  life  of  a 

i  student,    is    taught    to    regard    the    fellowship    of    his 

1  college   as   the  greatest   prize   at   which   he   can   aim. 

I  Although  the   college   authorities   may   state   that   the 

j  chances  of  gaining  a  fellowship  are  open  equally  to 

a  science  and  to  a  classical  student,  this  is  not  the  case, 

for  the  simple  reason  that  the  electors  to  fellowships 

I  are,  in  almost  all  colleges,  mainly  classical  men,  who, 

;  however  fair-minded  they  may  be,  are  unable  to  esti- 

I  mate  the  value  of  that  which  they  do  not  understand. 

.'\gain,    in    some    cases,    all    the    fellowships    which    a 

college  may  devote  to  natural  science  are  given  to  one 

branch. 

What  are  the  prospects  of  a  brilliant  schoolboy  who 
takes  up  chemistry  as  his  subject,  and,  after  gaining 
a  scholarship,  obtains  the  highest  possible  places  in 
the  honours  examination  ?  If  he  be  elected  to  a  fellow- 
ship and  decide  to  remain  and  take  his  part  in  the 
college  life,  his  income  as  a  fellow  can  only  be  re- 
garded as  a  mere  pittance  if  he  is  devoting  himself  to 
jreal  research  work.  He  may  do  fairly  well  at  the 
Bar  now  that  scientific  opinion  is  more  frequently 
j  sought  in  patent  cases  than  it  was;  but  no  prize  equal 
to  the  bishopric  offered  to  members  of  the  clerical 
profession  can  be  his.  There  is  no  chance  for  him 
to  hold  any  high  Government  office,  for  all  the  Civil 
Service  examinations,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  are 
heavily  weighted  in  favour  of  the  classical  and  mathe- 
matical candidate.  Everything  of  a  nature  to  test  a 
iman's  ability  to  tackle  an  unknown  problem,  however 
simple  its  nature,  is  carefully  excluded  by  cautiously 
worded  syllabuses  which  detail  the  range  of  the  facts 
and  the  nature  of  the  tests  which  may  be  applied. 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

We  learn  from  the  issue  of  Science  for  March  17 
:hat  in  the  will  of  the  late  Mr.  R.  R.  Rhodes,  of  Cleve- 
and.  Western  Reserve  University,  through  its  medical 
school  and  afifiliated  institutions,  is  a  beneficiary  to 
:he  amount  of  about  ioo,oooZ. ;  and  that  the  will  of 
Marie  Antoinette  Fisk,  of  Pasadena,  Cal.,  gives 
10,000/.   to  Princeton   University. 

NO.    2425,    VOL.    97] 


Mr.  Arthur  Du  Cros,  M.P.  for  Hastings,  has 
generously  promised  a  gift  of  7000Z.  to  the  Extension 
Fund  of  the  London  (Royal  Free  Hospital)  School  of 
Medicine  for  Women,  thus  completing  the  30,000/. 
for  which  appeal  was  made.  The  appeal  was  first 
put  forward  in  December,  1914,  so  that  the  sum  has 
been  subscribed  in  sixteen  months.  There  have  been 
more  than  twelve  hundred  subscribers,  which  is  satis- 
factory as  showing  wide  sympathy  with  the  work  of 
medical  women.  Next  to  Mr.  Du  Cros's  generous 
gift,  the  largest  subscription  is  3000/.  from  Mrs.  Gar- 
rett Anderson.  The  extension  of  the  school  is  ap- 
proaching completion,  and  will  be  opened  in  October 
next.  It  is  indispensable  to  the  increasing  demands 
made  upon  the  accommodation  of  the  school,  as 
another  large  entry  of  students  is  e.xpected  next 
session. 

The  annual  report  on  the  work  of  University  Col- 
lege, London,  which  has  now  been  published,  deals 
with  the  period  February,  1915-February,  19 16,  and 
includes  financial  statements,  for  the  session  1914-15. 
The  total  number  of  studencs  who  registered  during 
the  session  1914-15  was  1416,  being  a  decrease  of  790 
compared  with  the  preceding  session.  During  the 
session  335  men  students  withdrew  to  join  H.M. 
Forces,  and  forty-three  other  students  to  undertake 
some  other  recognised  form  of  national  service  con- 
nected with  the  war.  The  total  fees  available  for 
1914-15  amounted  to  18,936/.,  a  decrease  of  9775/.  on 
the  prevous  session.  There  has  been  a  further  de- 
crease, both  in  the  number  of  students  and  in  fees 
received  for  the  current  session.  The  financial  result 
in  the  course  of  two  sessions  is  that  the  fee  revenue 
has  declined  by  some  24,000/.  The  position  has  been 
relieved  by  Treasury  grants  of  10,500/.  for  the  sessions 
1914-15  and,  1915-16,  and  economies  to  the  extent  of 
about  9000/.  will  reduce  the  probable  deficit  at  the 
end  of  the  current  session  to  3500/.  A  very  gratify- 
ing number  of  war  honours  obtained  by  members  of 
the  college  are  chronicled  in  the  report.  There  are 
now  sixty  members  of  the  academic  and  administrative 
staffs  absent  on  war  service. 

The  appointment  of  a  Royal  Commission  on  Uni- 
versity Education  in  Wales  is  announced.  The  terms 
of  reference  of  the  Commission  are  as  follows  : — To 
inquire  into  the  organisation  and  work  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Wales  and  its  three  constituent  colleges,  and 
into  the  relations  of  the  University  to  those  colleges 
and  to  other  institutions  in  Wales  providing  education 
of  a  post-secondary  nature,  and  to  consider  in  what 
respects  the  present  organisation  of  university  educa- 
tion in  Wales  can  be  improved  and  what  changes,  if 
any,  are  desirable  in  the  constitution,  functions,  and 
powers  of  the  L'niversity  and  its  three  colleges.  The 
following  are  the  names  of  the  persons  appointed  to 
serve  on  the  Commission  : — Lord  Haldane  (chairman) ; 
Prof.  W.  H.  Bragg,  Quain  professor  of  physics.  Uni- 
versity of  London;  the  Hon.  W.  N.  Bruce,  a  principal 
assistant-secretary  under  the  Board  of  Education ;  Sir 
Owen  M.  Edwards,  chief  inspector,  Welsh  Depart- 
ment, Board  of  Education ;  Dr.  W.  H.  Hadow,  prin- 
cipal of  -Armstrong  College,  Newcastle ;  Mr.  A.  D. 
Hall,  a  Commissioner  under  the  Development  Act; 
Sir  Henry  Jones,  professor  of  moral  philosophy,  L'ni- 
versity  of  Glasgow;  Sir  William  Osier,  Bart.,  regius 
professor  of  medicine,  L-niversitv  of  Oxford;  Miss 
Emilv  Penrose,  principal  of  Somerville  College,  Ox- 
ford. The  secretarv  to  th^  Commission  is  Mr.  A.  H. 
Kidd,  of  the  Board  of  Education,  to  whom  all  com- 
munications should  be  addressed. 

The  earnest  aooeal  on  behalf  of  the  children  which 
appeared  in  the  Times  of  .April  17  over  the  signatures 
of    some    of    the   most    distinguished    women    of    the 


*74 


NATURE 


[x\PRIL    20,    19 1 6 


country  demands  the  serious  attention  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  warm  support  of  every  true  friend  of  the 
nation.  In  the  stress  of  war  it  would  seem  that  every 
reactionary  influence  finds  its  opportunity,  with  the 
result  that  the  strenuous  ameliorative  efforts  of  past 
generations  are  to  be  brought  to  naught,  and  the  fight  on 
behalf  of  children  must  be  re-fought  once  more.  It  is, 
however,  satisfactory  to  find  that  some  education 
authorities  take  a  firm  stand  against  the  insistent  de- 
mands of  certain  agricultural  and  industrial  interests 
that  children  shall  be  released  from  school  at  an  untimely 
age  to  labour  in  the  fields  and  factories,  and  it  is  all- 
important  that  enlightened  public  opinion  should  sup- 
port their  action.  Yet  it  is  greatly  to  be  deplored, 
having  regard  to  the  actual  conditions  of  working- 
class  life  in  industrial  centres,  that  certain  education 
authorities  should,  for  reasons  of  so-called  economy, 
seek  to  close  the  schools  to  children  under  five  and 
to  call  upon  the  Government  to  raise  the  compulsory 
school  ag-e  to  six  in  order  that  children  below  that 
age  shall  likewise  be  excluded,  with  the  result  that 
the  school  life  would  be  limited  in  certain  areas  to 
five  years  instead  of  nine.  But  perhaps  the  most  un- 
wort'hv  demand  is  that  of  the  managers  of  textile 
works  in  Lancashire,  that  the  children  in  textile  areas 
shall  be  compelled,  during-  the  war,  to  enter  the  fac- 
tories. As  the  signatories  well  indicate,  we  owe  it 
in  reverence  for  the  dead  that  we  refuse  no  sacrifice 
In  order  to  raise  up  a  virile  generation  to  justify  their 
noble  devotion. 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 

London. 
Mineralogical  Society,  March  21. — W.  Barlow,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — Dr.  J.  W.  Evans  :  A  new  micro- 
scope accessory  for  use  in  the  determination  of  the 
refractive  indices  of  minerals.  The  accessory — a 
diaphragm  with  narrow  slit  adjustable  in  width — when 
placed  in  the  primary  focus  of  the  objective  or  any 
point  conjugate  wdth  it,  serves  several  useful  purposes. 
If  placed  parallel  to  the  boundary  between  the  two 
substances  the  refractive  indices  of  which  are  to  be 
compared  by  the  Becke  method,  it  gives  better  results 
than  an  iris  diaphragm.  In  the  case  of  doubly- 
refractive  sections  or  grains  in  which  an  axis  of 
•optical  symmetry  lies  at  right  angles  to  the  microscope 
axis,  the  slit  is  placed  parallel  to  the  former  axis,  so 
that  the  paths  of  all  the  rays  of  light  traversing  it  lie 
in  a  plane  of  optical  symmetry  and  one  direction  of 
vibration  is  always  parallel  to  the  axis  of  optical 
symmetry,  and  a  nicol  is  inserted  so  that  the  direc- 
tion of  vibration  of  the  rays  traversing  it  is  parallel 
to  the  same  axis ;  then  the  refractive  indices  of  light 
vibrating  parallel  to  that  axis  of  optical  symmetry  may 
be  investigated  by  the  usual  methods  without  the  con- 
fusion caused  by  the  bifocal  images  described  by  Sorby. 
— L.  J.  Spencer  :  A  butterfly  twin  of  gypsum.  In  a 
well-developed  twin-crystal,  6  in.  across,  from  Gir- 
genti,  Sicily,  in  which  the  twin-plane  is  d(ioi),  the 
two  individuals  are  situated  on  the  same  side  of  the 
twin-plane  instead  of  on  opposite  sides  as  in  the 
usual  tvpe. — Dr.  W.  R.  Jones :  The  alteration  of 
tourmaline.  In  a  moist,  tropical  climate  minerals 
which  are  ordinarily  regarded  as  stable  break  down 
to  an  extraordinary  degree.  At  Gunong  Bakau, 
Federated  Malay  States,  tourmaline  is  found  more  or 
less  completely  altered  to  a  mica  (probably  phlogopite) 
and  limonite,  the  degree  of  alteration  decreasing  with 
increasing  depth  from  the  surface,  suggesting  that  the 
change  was  caused  by  the  percolation  of  water  from 
above.  The  freshness  of  tourmaline  grains  in  sands 
is  very  probab'y  due  to  the  removal  of  the  altered 
products  by  chemical  and  mechanical  means. 

NO.    2425,    VOL.    97] 


Zoological  Society,  March  21. — Dr.  S.  F.  Harmer, 
vice-president,  in  the  chair. — Dr.  T.  Goodey  :  Observa- 
tions on  the  cytology  of  Flagellates  and  Amoebae  ob- 
tained from  old  stored  soil.  This  paper  deals  with 
the  cytology  and  nuclear  changes  during  division  of 
three  species  of  Flagellates  and  two  species  of  Amoebae 
obtained  from  soil  stored  in  bottles  at  the  Rothamsted 
Laboratory  for  practically  fifty  years.  One  of  the 
Flagellates  and  the  two  Amoebae  are  new  to  science. 

Geological  Society,  March  22.^ — Dr.  A.  Harker,  presi- 
dent,  in  the  chair. — Prof.  S.  J.  Shand  :  The  pseudo- 
tachylyte  of  Parijs  (Orange  Free  State)  and  its  relation 
to  "  trap-shotten  gneiss  "  and  "  flinty  crush-rock."  The 
rocks  described  as  "  pseudo-tachylyte  "  occur  in  irregu- 
lar veins  in  the  granite-gnei-ss  of  Parijs  (O.F.S.).  The 
author  first  regarded  them  as  igneous  intrusions ;  he 
now  compares  and  contrasts  these  rocks  with  the  "trap- 
shotten  gneiss "  of  India  and  with  "  flinty  crush- 
rocks "  from  Scotland,  Argentina,  and  Namaqualand. 
The  veins  are  irregular  in  form,  dip,  and  strike;  they 
freely  branch  and  anastomose,  and  not  uncommonly 
terminate  blindly.  The  material  consists  of  a  dense 
black  base,  holding  fragments  of  granite ;  these  are 
sometimes  so  numerous  that  the  base  is  reduced  to 
the  rdle  of  a  mere  cement  between  the  rounded 
boulders.  Microscopically,  the  rocks  fall  into  three 
types,  one  of  which  is  opaque  and  almost  without 
individualised  grains  or  crystals,  while  the  others 
represent  different  stages  of  crystallisation  of  the  first 
type.  The  production  of  the  veins  involved  a  tem- 
perature sufficient  to  melt  the  felspar  of  the  granite, 
and  there  has  been  recrystallisation  of  felspar  in  the 
form  of  spherulites  and  microlites,  and  also  of  prisms 
of  hornblende.  In  this  evidence  of  high  temperature, 
and  in  the  absence  of  shearing  phenomena  in  the 
granite,  the  pseudo-tachylyte  of  Parijs  differs  from  all' 
known  crush-rocks  and  has  affinities  with  pitchstones 
and  tachylytes.  Among  the  crush-rocks  of  Scotland, 
the  author  recognises  a  passage  from  the  mylonitic 
type  to  a  type  in  which  fusion  has  been  realised ;  the 
latter  material  is  similar  to  the  first  of  the  Parijs  types. 
A  chemical  analysis  of  the  pseudo-tachylyte  shows  that 
the  composition  is  that  of  a  granodiorite,  and  is  such 
as  might  correspond  to  an  average  of  the  variable 
dark  gneiss  in  which  the  veins  occur.  It  is  suggested 
that  a  "  melt "  of  granite,  produced  by  mechanically- 
developed  heat  arising  from  the  sudden  rupture  of 
the  granite,  would  differ  from  a  normal  magma  of 
granitic  composition,  and  it  is  thought  that  the  veins 
represent  the  solid  equivalents  of  such  a  melt. 

Physical  Society,  March  24. — Mr.  F.  E.  Smith,  vice- 
president,  in  the  chair. — Mrs.  C.  H.  GriflBths  :  A  new 
method  of  determining  ionic  velocities.  In  the  experi- 
ments described  the  kathode,  which  consists  of  a  hori- 
zontal copper  disc  perforated  with  two  holes,  is 
mounted  in  a  cylindrical  glass  tube  open  at  the  lower 
end.  The  whole  is  suspended  from  the  beam  of  a 
balance,  and  is  immersed  in  a  vessel  of  copper 
sulphate.  The  anode  is  a  copper  spiral  fixed  in  the 
electrolyte  some  '  distance  below  the  mouth  of  the 
kathode  vessel.  From  the  rate  of  change  of  weight 
of  the  suspended  system  during  the  passage  of  a 
current  the  ionic  velocities  can  be  determined. — Dr. 
S.  W.  J.  Smith  :  Note  on  an  explanation  of  the  migra- 
tion of  the  ions.  The  object  of  this  note  is  to  show  i 
how  a  familiar  diagram,  appearing  in  many  text-  l 
books,  can  be  improved  in  a  wav  which  makes  it  easier  I 
to  appreciate  what  happens  at  the  electrodes  in  the  | 
simpler  examples  of  Hittorf's  method  of  determining 
the  migration  constant.  An  attempt  is  made  to  give 
precision'  to  an  idea  which  is  sometimes  vaguely  ex- 
pressed and  frequently  ignored.-^Dr.  S.  W.  J.  Smith  : 
A  method  of  exhibiting  the  velocitv  of  iodine  ions  in 
solution.     Dilute    solutions    of    potassium    iodide    and 


April  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


175 


{X)tassiuni  chloride  of  equimolecular  concentration 
have  almost  the  same  electric  conductivity.  They  are, 
therefore,    of   interest    in    connection    with    the    direct 

,  measurement  of  ionic  velocities.  The  paper  describes 
a  simple  method  of  observing  their  common  boundary. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  add  a  little  mercuric  chloride 
to  the  potassium  chloride  solution.  An  extremely  thin 
layer  of  mercuric  iodide  then  forms  where  the  t\vo 
solutions  meet.     The  method  is  particularlv  convenient 

;  for  lecture  purposes,  and  an  approximate  value  of  the 
ionic  velocity  can  be  obtained  in  a  few  minutes.  The 
paper  gives  examples  of  the  use  of  the  method.  The 
current  is  first  passed  in  the  direction  which  causes 
the  iodine  ions  to  travel  towards  the  chloride.  The 
chlorine  liberated  at  the  anode  in  this  case  supplies  a 
means  of  re-determining  the  velocity  of  the  ions  when, 
the  current  being  reversed,  thev  move  in  the  opposite 
direction. 

Edinburgh. 
I     Royal  Society,   March  20.— Dr.   J.    Home,   president, 
m  the  chair.— Dr.  C.  Davison  :  The  Ochil  earthquakes 
of  the  years    1900-19 14.     The  district  chiefly   affected 
lies   on    the    south    of    the   Ochil    Hills,    and    includes 
jDunblane,    Bridge    of    Allan,    Menstrie,    Alva,    Tilli- 
icoultry,    and    neighbouring    places.     The    earthquakes 
began    m    1900,    but    did    not    become    frequent    until 
1905,  when  ten  shocks  were  felt.     There  were  nineteen 
|;n  1906,  thirteen  in   1907,  seventeen  in   1908,  eighteen 
m  1909,  nineteen  in   1910,  eight  in   191 1,  seventy-four 
tin    1912,    two   in    1913,    and   one   in    1914.     The   total 
number  in  the  fifteen  years  was  186.  The  three  earth- 
quakes of  September  21,   1905,  October  20,    1908,  and 
jVIay   3,    1912,    were    of    unusual    strength,    and    were 
ielt   over   areas   of   nearly   a    thousand   square    miles, 
jrhe   last   of   the    three   was    so   strong    that    a    slight 
Increase  of  intensity  would  have  resulted  in  damage 
jO  property.     The  earthquakes  seem  to  have  been  due 
10  small  movements  along  the  great  fault  whicfi  skirts 
ine   southern    slope    of    the    Ochil    Hills.     There    was 
jvidence   that   the   origins   passed   westwards   as   time 
kogressed.     There  were  indications  both  of  an  annual 
md  of  a  semi-annual  periodicitv.— Dr.   C.    G     Knott  • 
Mathematical    note    on    the    fall    of  "  small    particles 
hrough  liquid  columns.— W.  R.  Smellie  :  Apractoleidus 
erettpes.        This    Plesiaur    was    collected     from     the 
Jxford  Clay  by   H.    N.    Leeds,    and  acquired  for  the 
luntenan    Museum    by    Prof.    J.    W.    Gregory.     The 
lajor  portion   of  the   skeleton    is   present,    the   bones 
eing  m  excellent  preservation.     In  some  respects  the 
nimal    is    intermediate   between    Cryptodeidus    axon- 
^nsts  and  Tncleidtis  Seeleyi;  but  in  others  it  shows 
I  higher  degree  of  organisation   than  either  of  these 
pecies      For  example,  in  the  fore  oaddle,  the  humerus 
esembles  that  of  Cryptodeidus,   except  in  the  facets 
n  the  distal  end ;  but  it  articulates  with  four  elements 
s  in   iricleidus.     In  this  wav  it  combines  the  advan- 
iges  of  both,  and  gives  a  broader  and  more  efficient 
addle.         Ihe    shoulder    girdle    is    typically    efasmo- 
surian,   and  the  clavicles  are  reduced  to  thin,   func- 
onless   plates,    lying   wholly   on    the  visceral    surface 
;  the  scapulae.     Both  pectoral  and  pelvic  girdles  show 
,ie  animal   to  have  been  of  great  breadth.     A   high 
l-gree   of  ossification    is    a    riotable    characteristic    of 
lie  skeleton. 

Dublin. 
Royal  Dublin  Society.  March  28.-Prof.   Hugh  Ryan 

r«;nn  f '""'••Tr^.'''^^-  ^^'-  ^'"^"-  The  subsidence  of 
mZ\  oscillations  of  nickel  and  iron  wires  when 
mjected  to  the  influence  of  transverse  magnetic  fields 
to  »oo  c  g.s.  units.  Experiments  on  the  subsidence 
torsional  oscillations  of  nickel  and  iron  wires  in 
ansverse  mnernet.c  fields,  both  direct  and  alternating 

Jn^  fu'''''"'T -""^  ^  ""'^^  ^hows  that  the  damp: 
•g  of  the  oscillations  is  increased  as  compared  with 

NO.    2425,    VOL.    97] 


the  oscillations  with  no  field  round  the  wire.  When 
the  frequency  of  the  alternating  transverse  magnetic 
field  is  increased  eight  times,  the  damping  of  the 
torsional  oscillations  is  decreased  in  nickel  and  in- 
creased in  iron  wire. — Prof.  VV.  Brown  :  The  change 
of  length  in  nickel  wire  due  to  transverse  magnetic 
fields,  direct  and  alternating.  The  maximum  expan- 
sion of  nickel  wire,  due  to  transverse  magnetic  fields, 
both  direct  and  alternating,  takes  place  in  a  field  of 
about  fifty  units,  the  longitudinal  load  on  the  wire 
being  2  x  10*  grammes  per  sq.  cm.  For  higher  fields 
the  expansion  diminishes  gradually,  and  for  a  trans- 
verse field  of  about  1000  units  there  appears  to  be 
neither  expansion  nor  contraction. — Prof.  Sydney 
Young  :  The  boiling-points  and  critical  temperatures 
of  homologous  compounds.  The  formulae  of  Walker, 
Boggio-Lera,  Ramage,  Ferguson,  and  Young  are 
compared,  and  it  is  shown  that  the  author's  formula 
gives  the  best  agreement  between  the  calculated  and 
observed  boiling-points  of  the  normal  paraffins,  data 
for  which,  including  some  recently  determined  in 
America,  are  available  from  CH^  to  C,,H„.  The 
American  chemists  have  also  determined  the  critical 
temperatures  of  normal  and  i.Jo-butane,  and  the  rules 
regarding  the  deviations  from  Guldberg's  law, 
Te/Ti  =  constant,  brought  forward  by  the  author  in  1908 
("  Stoicheiometry,"  p.  183),  are  found  to  hold  good. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  April  3.— M.  Camille  Jordan  in 
the  chair. — G.  Bigourdan  :  The  discovery  of  the  nebula 
of  Orion  by  Peiresc.     This  discovery  w-as  for  a  long 
time    attributed    to    Huyghens    (1659),     and    later     to 
Cysatus  (16 19).     Proof  is  now  given  of  the  observa- 
tion of  this  nebula  by  Peiresc  (1610). — Pierre  Duhem  : 
The   conditions   which   determine  electrical   movement 
in  a  system  of  several  dielectrics. — M.  de  Sparre  :  The 
influence  of  atmospheric  conditions  on  the  trajectories 
of  long-range  projectiles.  For  the  406  cm.  German  gun, 
with  a  maximum  range  of  40  kilometres,  it  is  calcu- 
lated that  an  increase  of  temperature  of  13°  C.  or  a  fall  in 
the  atmospheric  pressure  of  10  mm.  causes  an  increase 
of  range  of  1792  metres. — Gaston  Julia  :  The  reduction 
of     positive     quaternary     quadratic     forms. —  Henn,k 
Arctowski :  The  variations  of  mean  heliographic  latitude 
of  the  sun-spots. — J.  Vallot  :  The  law  which  connects 
the   calorific   absorption   of  a   cell   with   the  refractive 
indices  of  the  material  of  the  cell   and  of  the  liquid 
which  it  contains.     The  method  described  in  an  earlier 
paper  for  determining  the  corrections  due  to  the  walls 
of  the  cell  is  applicable  to  most  colourless  liquids,  but 
fails  for  highly  viscous  or  coloured  liquids.     A  method 
is  outlined  for  dealing  with  these  exceptional  cases. — 
E.  Leger  :  The  isomeric  acetyl  derivatives  of  nataloin 
and  homonataloin. — J.   ChiflBot  :  The  sexual  variations 
of     the     inflorescences     and     flowers     in     cultivated 
Codiaeum. — Mile.  Trouard-Riolle  :  Cross  between  a  wild 
crucifer  and  a  cultivated  crucifer  with  a  tuberised  root. 
The  plants  used  in   the  experiments  were   Raphanus 
Raphanistrum    and    cultivated    varieties    of    Raphanus 
sativus.     The  tuber  formation  on  the  wild  plant  was 
readily  produced  by  crossing.     The  wild  type  tends  to 
become  preponderant  in  the  descendants  of  the  hvbrid 
plants. — Jules   Wolfl  :    A   substance   coagulating  i'nulin 
and  accompanying  it  in  plant  tissues.     This  ferment 
was    isolated    from    chicon,-    roots    and    from    dahlia 
tubers,  and  named  inulo-coagulase. — Emile  Belot  :  The 
possible  origin  of  terrestrial  magnetism. — Ph.  Flajolet  : 
Perturbations    of   the   magnetic   declination    at    Lyons 
(Saint-Genis-Laval)  during  the  fourth  quarter  of  1915. 
— Marcel  Bandouin  :  The  early  date  of  the  jaw  found 
at  La  Naulette.     From  a  studv  of  the  two"  premolars 
the  conclusion  is  drawn  that  Homo  Natileitensis  dates 
probably  from   the  Pliocene  epoch. — A.   Borissiak  :    In- 
dricotherium,  a  new  genus  of  giant  rhinoceros.     The 


176 


NATURE 


[April  20,  1916 


largest  representatives  of  this  genus  are  of  greater 
dimensions  than  the  Mammoth. — E.  Bataillon  :  Fecun- 
dation membrane  and  polyspermia  in  the  Batrachians. 
— Charles  NicoUe  and  Ludovic  Blaizot  :  The  prepara- 
tion of  an  experimental  antiexanthematic  serum  and 
its  first  applications  to  the  treatrnent  of  typhus  in 
man.  It  has  been  found  that  emulsions  of  the  spleen 
or  suprarenal  capsules  of  the  guinea-pig  can  be  safely 
inoculated  into  horses,  and  repeated  inoculations  are 
possible.  In  this  way  the  horse  and  ass  have  been 
rendered  immune  to  typhus,  and  a  serum  has  been 
prepared  applicable  to  the  treatment  of  the  disease  in 
man.     Nineteen  cases  in  men  were  treated  and  cured. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Department  of  Marine  and  Fisheries.  Meteorologi- 
cal Service  of  Canada.  M.S.  51  :  Upper  Air  Investi- 
gation in  Canada.  Part  i.,  Observations  by  Register- 
ing Balloons.  Pp.  127.  (Ottawa  :  Government  Print- 
ing Bureau.) 

Department  of  the  Interior,  Canada.  Publications 
of  the  Dominion  Observatory,  Ottawa.  Vol.  iii., 
No.  2:  Seismological  Tables.  By  Dr.  O.  Klotz. 
(Ottawa  :  Government  Printing  Bureau.) 

Exposition  Internationale  de  Lyon,  1914.  La  Science 
k  I'Exposition.  By  Prof.  J.  Mascart.  Pp.  81.  (Lyon  : 
P.  Legendre  et  Cie.) 

University  of  California.  Publications  in  American 
Archaeology  and  Ethnology.  Vol.  ii..  No.  6.  Pp. 
297-398 :  The  Delineation  of  the  Day-Signs  in  the 
Aztec  Manuscripts.  By  T.  T.  Waterman.  (Berkeley, 
Cal.  :    University  of  California   Press.) 

Journal  of  the  College  of  Science,  Imperial  Uni- 
versity of  Tokyo.  Vol.  xxxv..  Art.  7  :  Revision  of 
the  Japanese  Termites.  By  S.  Hozawa.  Pp.  161  + 
plates  iv.  Vol.  xxxvi.,  Art.  7  :  Contributiones  novae 
ad  Floram  Bryophyton  Japonicam.  By  S.  Okamura. 
Pp.  51  + tabula  xxiv.  Vol.  xxxvii.,  Art.  2  :  Recherches 
sur  les  Spectres  d'Absorption  des  ammine-complexes 
m6talliques.  I.  By  Y.  Shibata.  Pp.  28.  (Tokyo  : 
The  University.) 

Lezioni  di  Cosmografia  :  con  20  incisioni  nel  testo 
e  due  tavoli.  By  Prof.  G.  Boccardi.  Pp.  ix  +  233. 
(Milano  :   U.   Hoepli.)     Lire  3. 

Gnomica  :  L'Orologia  Solare  a  tempo  vero  nella  sua 
moderna  applicazione  con  33  incisioni.  By  G.  B. 
Barzizza.  Pp.  viii+199.  (Milano:  U.  Hoepli.)  Lire 
2,50. 

Manuring  for  Higher  Crop  Production.  By  Dr. 
E.  J.  Russell.  Pp.  69.  (Cambridge  :  At  the  Univer- 
sity Press.)     3s.  net. 

The  New  Public  Health.  By  Prof.  H.  W.  Hill. 
Pp.  x  +  206.  (London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.) 
55.  6d.  net. 

Cerebro-spinal  Fever.  By  Dr.  M.  Foster  and  Dr. 
J.  F.  Gaskell.  Pp.  x  +  222.  (Cambridge:  At  the  Uni- 
versity Press.)     I2S.   6d.   net. 

Memoirs  of  the  Geological  Survey.  Special  Re- 
ports on  the  Mineral  Resources  of  Great  Britain.  Vol. 
iv.  :  Fluorspar.  Bv  R.  G.  Carruthers,  and  others. 
Pp.  iv  +  38.  (London:  H.M.S.O. ;  E.  Stanford, 
Ltd.)     gd. 

Quarantining  Germany.  By  P.  J.  Ford.  Pp.  16. 
(Glasgow:  J.   Maclehose  and  Sons.)     id. 

University  of  California.  Publications  in  Ameri- 
can Archaeology  and  Ethnology.  Vol.  ii..  No.  7. 
Pp.  399-472.  The  Mutsun  Dialect  of  Costanoan 
based  on  the  Vocabulary  of  de  la  Cuesta.'  By  J.  A. 
Mason.  (Berkeley,  Cal.  :  University  of  California 
Press.) 

Institut  de  Pal^ontolo£«ie  Humaine.  Peintures  et 
Gravures  Murales  des  Cavernes  Pal^oHthiques  :  La 
Pileta  a  Benaojan  (Malaga)  (Espagne).     By  I'Abb^  H. 

NO.    2425,    VOL.    97] 


Breuil,     Dr.     H.     Obermaier,    and     Col.    Willoughby 
Verner.    Pp.  65  + plates  i-xxii.    (Monaco:  A.  Chene.) 

A  Manual  on  Explosives.  By  A.  R.  J.  Ramsey  and 
H.  C.  Weston.  Pp.  xi+ii6.  (London:  G.  Routledge 
and  Sons,  Ltd.)     is.  net. 

The  Sense  of  Community.  Bv  Sir  F.  Younghus- 
band.  Pp.  25.  (London  :  Williams  and  Norgate.) 
IS.  net. 

A  Veteran  Naturalist :  being  the  Life  and  Work  of 
W.  B.  Tegetmeier.  By  E.  W.  Richardson.  Pp. 
xxiv +  232.     (London  :  Witherby  and  Co.)     los.  net. 

The  South  African  Institute'  for  Medical  Research. 
No.  6  :  The  Trypanosomes  of  Sleeping  Sickness.  By 
G.  D.  Maynard.  Pp.  39  +  xxvi  charts.  (Johanne^- 
burg  :  W.   E.   Hortqn  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     5s. 

Elementary  Strength  of  Materials.  By  E.  S.  An- 
drews.  Pp.  viii  +  216.  (London:  Chapman  and  Hall, 
Ltd.)     4s.  6d.  net. 

Spiritualism  :  a  Historical  and  Critical  Sketch.     1 
the  Rev.  Canon  E.  McClure.     Pp.  viii  +  56.     (London^ 
S.P.C.K.)     6d.   net. 


DIARY   OF   SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  April  27. 
RoTAi,  Society  of  Arts,   at  4.30.— Scientific   Agriculture  in   India:    J. 
MacKenna. 

FRIDAY,  April  28. 
Geological  Physics  Society,   at  5. — Presidential  Address :    Growths  in 
Silica  Gel :  Prof.  Benjamin  Moore. 


CONTENTS.  PAGH 

Gems  and  Superstition 157 

A  Biography  of  Edison.     By  S.  G.  Brown,  F.R.S.  158 
The  Design  of  Diesel  Engines  for  Marine  Purposes. 

Hy  A.  J.  M 158 

Our  Bookshelf 159 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

The  Primary  Sugar  of  Photosynthesis.— Prof.  Henry 

H.  Dixon,  F.R.S.;  Thomas  G.  Mason    ...  160 
Isle  of  Wight  Disease  in  Bees.— Dr.  James  Ritchie ; 

F.     .    ." ....  160 

Preventive  Eugenics. — Dr.  C.  W.  Saleeby            .  161 

Atmospheric  Electricily.— R.  A.  Watson  Watt      .  l6l 
'I  he    Influence   of  Tides  on    Wells.— Cecil    Carus- 

Wilson                                                               ....  162 

Physiology  in  the  Woikshop.     By  E.  H.  S 162 

The  Shortage  cf  Dyestuffs.     By  Prof.  W.  J.  Pope, 

F.R.S.                163 

The  Proposed  Board  of  Aeronautics 164 

Notes.     [Illustrated.)  .            165 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Comet  1916^  (Neujmin) • 169 

Solar  Radiation                               '^9 

Proper  Motion  of  the  Orion  Nebula 169 

The  System  of  \  Tauri 169 

The  Institution  of  Naval  Architects 17° 

Danish  Labour  on  British  Farms 17° 

The  Cultivation  of  Sponges I7' 

National  Aspects  of  Chemistry.     By  Dr.  Alexander 

Scott,  F.R.S 171 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence i73 

Societies  and  Academies '74 

Books  R-reived              '70 

Diary  of  Socie'ies            '7o 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 
MACMILLAN   &  CO.,   Ltd., 
MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


ST. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to   be  addressed  to  tht 
Publishers. 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,  London. 
Telephone   Number :  Gerrard  8830. 


NA  TURE 


177 


THURSDAY,   APRIL   27,    1916. 


ANCIENT  HINDU  SCIENCE. 
The  Positive  Sciences  of  the  Ancient  Hindus.    By 
Dr.   B,   Seal.     Pp.  viii  -i-  295.     (London  :   Long- 
mans, Green  and  Co.,  1915.J    Price  125.  6d.  net. 
A     CHARACTERISTIC  feature  of  the  preseat- 
^     day  literary  activity  of  the  philosophically 
ninded  men  of  science  in  India  is  seen  in  the  com- 
nentaries  they  are  publishing  from  time  to  time 
n  their  ancient  systems    of    scientific    doctrine, 
artly,  no  doubt,  with  the  object  of  enlightening 
iVestern  nations  concerning  the  existence  in  these 
vstems  of  certain   root-ideas    which    are    usually 
eld  by  us  to  be  the  product  of  Western  thought 
lone.     The  more  our  knowledge  grows  the  more 
isrtainly  will  it  be  seen  that  many  of  these  funda- 
lental  concepts   are   common   to   all   systems   of 
hilosophy,  and  that,  in  the  absence  of  an  accurate 
iironology,    it    becomes    increasingly    difficult    to 
itermine  where  or  with  whom  their  germs  ori- 
jnated.     It  is  possible,  of  course,  that  some  of 
t.ese  fundamental  ideas  were  independently  con- 
iuved,  but  it  is  equally  probable  that  they  may 
live  had  a  common  origin  or  have  been  radiated 
<Dm  a  common  source.      In  such  case  there   is 
iound   for   the    supposition    that    this    common 
^urce  was  India.     But  in  reality  it  is  impossible 
t  say  with  any  approach  to  accuracy  how  Eastern 
"ft.owledge  travelled  in  the  far-off  times  to  which 
V-  are  referring.    We  can  only  surmise  that  these 
?^C!ent  philosophies  found  their  way  along  trade 
'  s  through  Persia,  Mesopotamia,  Syria,  to  the 
ks  and  Egyptians,  and  thence  along  the  Medi- 
liranean  littoral  into  Spain  and  western  Europe. 
|In  the  book  before  us  Dr.    Brajendranath  Seal 
li.kes  no  exaggerated  claim  to  the  antiquity  of  the 
b(iy  of  knowledge  with  which  he  deals.     Indeed, 
hj  says  in  the  present  state  of  Indian  chronology 
»t(is  impossible  to   assign   dates   to  the   original 
soirees  from  which  his  materials  have  been  drawn. 
"^  ctically,  he  .thinks  it  may  be  assigned  to  the 
nnium  500  B.C.  to  500  a. d.,  which  is  compara- 
V  late  in  the  history  of  human  thought.    With 
'Ct  to  the  West  all  he  definitely  asserts  is  that 
Hindus  had,  if  not  a  prior  claim,  at  least  an 
pendent  share  with  the  Greeks  in  the  work  of 
tructing  scientific  concepts  and  methods  in  the 
>tigation  of  physical  phenomena.    Indeed,  it  is 
>able  that  they  were  earlier  than  the  Greeks  in 
mulating   a   body   of  knowledge    capable    of 
;::  applied  to  industrial  technique.    It  is  at  least 
ain  that  Hindu  scientific  ideas  deeply  influenced 
ourse  of  natural  philosophy  in  Asia — in  China 
Japan  towards  the  east  and  in  the  Saracen 
ire   in   the   west. 

he  book  under  review  consists  of  a  series  of 
ographs  on  the  positive  sciences  of  the  ancient 
Jus.  Some  portion  of  it  has  alreadv  appeared 
'r.  P.  C.  Ray's  "Hindu  Chemistry,"  viz.,  the 
iters  dealing  with  the  mechanical,  physical, 
chemical  theories  of  the  ancient  Hindus  and 
their  scientific  methods.  The  author  regards 
)Ook  as  preliminary  to  a  more  comprehensive 
I    NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


work  on  comparative  philosophy,  since  philosophy 
in  its  rise  and  development  is  necessarily  governed 
by  the  body  of  positive  knowledge  preceding  or 
accompanying  it.  Hindu  philosophy,  he  considers, 
on  its  empirical  side  was  dominated  by  concepts 
derived  from  physiolc^y  and  philology,  whereas 
Greek  philosophy  was  dominated  by  geometrical 
concepts  and  methods.  The  ultimate  object  of 
his  labours,  apparently,  is  to  attempt  a  compara- 
tive estimate  of  Greek  and  Hindu  science,  with,  it 
is  hoped,  a  measure  of  success  and  some  approach 
to  finality. 

Dr.  Ray's  work  on  "Hindu  Chemistry"  has 
already  been  the  subject  of  notice  in  these  columns. 
On  the  present  occasion,  therefore,  we  purpose 
to  restrict  ourselves  to  an  examination  of  the  chap- 
ters dealing  with  Hindu  ideas  on  kinetics  and 
acoustics;  on  plants  and  plant-life;  on  the  classi- 
fication of  animals;  and  on  Hindu  physiology  and 
biology. 

To  begin  with,  a  Western  student  of  the  book 
meets  with   an  initial  difficulty    in    the    different 
systems  of  transliteration  adopted  by  the  two  con- 
tributors.    It  is  to  be  hoped,  in  the  interests  of 
uniformity,  that  if  Western  literature  continues  to 
be   augmented   by    Eastern   contributions   of   this 
character  some  understanding  on  this  matter  may 
be  arrived  at.     It  is  difficult  enough  as  it  is  for 
the  Western  mind  to  assimilate  Eastern  thought, 
or  to  appreciate  its  subtle  nuances,   without  the 
difficulty  being  unreasonably  increased  by  a  matter 
which  is  surely  capable  of  satisfactory  settlement 
by  philologists.     A  more  serious  difficulty  consists 
in  the  employment  by   the  author  of  terms  like 
"isomeric,"  "polymeric,"  etc.,  which  are  essentially 
modern,   and   used   by  us   in   a  perfectly  definite 
sense  to  express  modern  ideas,  but  which  in  the 
book  are  adopted  to  connote  conditions  which  are 
I  only  very  remotely  analogous.    Dr.  Brajendranath 
i  Seal  is  well  aware  of  what  he  admits  is  a  question- 
!  able  freedom.     It  would  be  difficult  in  all  cases  to 
;  suggest  an  alternative,   but  it  must  be  admitted 
;  that  the  loose  use  of  well-defined  modern  terms  to 
i  express  vague  or  only  very  distantly  related  ideas 
i  does  not  conduce  to  accurate  thinking. 
I       The  chapter  on   mechanics  deals   with   ancient 
j  Hindu  ideas  of  the  analysis  of  motion ;  of  motion 
!  considered  in  relation  to  its  causes ;  of  motion  not 
i  due  to  material  contact  of  which  the  mechanical 
I  causes  are  unknown,  and  which  are  to  be  ascribed 
1  to  the  universal  final  cause  (Adrista),  e.g.,  the  first 
I  motion  of  primordial   atoms,   the   upward   motion 
I  of  gaseous  particles,  the  movement  of  iron  towards 
j  the  magnet,  capillary  motion  as  of  liquid  particles 
I  from  the  root  to  the  stem  of  a  plant,  etc.    The  idea 
]  attached    to    the    hypothesis    of    Adrista   (which 
j  simply  means  "  unseen  ")  seems  to  have  been  modi- 
I  fied   in  the  course  of  time.      Originally  it  would 
j  appear  to  have  been  used   as  an  expression   for 
j  agnosticism,      no     transcendental      interpretation 
!  being  attached  to  it.     The  chapter  next  treats  of 
force ;    the    causes    of    pressure,   and  of  impact ; 
j  gravity ;     curvilinear,     vibratory,     and     rotatory 
j  motion  ;  fluidity  and  the  motion  of  fluids  ;  measure- 
j  ment  of  motion ;  units  of  time  and  space ;  relative 
i  and  serial  motion.     The  author  shows  no  inclina- 


178 


NATURE 


[April  27,  19 16 


tion  to  see  anticipations  which  are  not  strictly 
legitimate.  He  points  out  that  the  Vais'esilca 
theory  of  motion  made  only  a  distant  approach  to 
Newton's  first  law  of  motion,,  and  that  whilst  a 
good  foundation  was  laid  for  the  explanation  of 
the  accelerated  motion  of  falling  bodies,  Galileo's 
discovery  was  not  anticipated.  But  there  would 
seem  reason  to  believe  that  Vachaspati  laid  the 
foundations  of  solid  geometry  eight  centuries 
before  Descartes,  and  that  Bhaskara  (1150  a.d.), 
in  computing  planetary  motion,  appears  to  have 
used  the  differential  calculus. 

Ancient  ideas  on  acoustics  have  a  remarkable 
similarity  to  modern  theories.  It  was  recognised 
that  the  air  was  the  physical  basis  of  audible 
sound,  and  that  its  propagation  was  to  be  con- 
ceived on  the  analogy  of  waves  in  water.  Various 
views,  however,  seem  to  have  been  held  concern- 
ing the  precise  nature  of  the  air-waves,  as  to  the 
character  of  the  vibratory  movement,  and  how  the 
molecules  of  a  vibrating  bell  communicate  their 
motion  to  the  contiguous  air-molecules.  Echo  was 
supposed  to  be  a  reflection  of  sound  as  an  image 
in  a  mirror  is  a  reflection  of  light.  Attempts  were 
made  to  explain  pitch,  intensity,  and  timbre  by 
differences  in  the  characteristics  of  the  air-waves. 
The  nature  of  musical  sounds  and  intervals  was 
the  subject  of  acute  speculation.  Medieval  com- 
pilations explain  musical  tones  and  their  relations 
with  reference  to  melody,  as  harmony  was  alto- 
gether unknown. 

The  wonderful  plant-life  of  India  naturally 
stimulated  attempts  at  classification,  and  a  short 
account  of  the  various  systems  attributed  to 
Charaka,  Prssastapada,  Amara,  and  others  is  in- 
cluded in  chapter  iv.  A  section  is  devoted  to 
elementary  ideas  of  plant  physiology,  character- 
istics of  plant-life,  sexuality,  and  consciousness.  It 
is  a  curious  and  suggestive  chapter,  not  without 
interest  to  the  modern  plant-physiologist. 

Not  less  interesting  are  the  early  Hindu  at- 
tempts at  the  classification  of  animals  based  upon 
mode  of  origin — whether  placental,  oviparous, 
from  moisture  and  heat,  or  from  vegetable  organ- 
isms. Snakes  naturally  received  much  attention, 
and  elaborate  accounts  are  given  of  the  action  of 
the  poison  of  the  several  venomous  families.  This 
is  one  of  the  longest  chapters  in  the  book,  and 
the  accounts  of  the  various  systems  are  given  in 
considerable  detail. 

Space  precludes  any  attempt  to  give  any  de- 
scription of  ancient  Hindu  ideas  concerning  physi- 
ology and  biology.  Naturally,  the  phenomena  of 
metabolism,  of  the  circulatory  system,  and  of  tlie 
vascular  and  nervous  system ;  of  the  seat  of  con- 
sciousness ;  of  foetal  development ;  sex ;  heredity, 
received  attention,  and  were  the  subject  of  specu- 
lation, often  based  upon  acute  and  accurate 
observation,  always  interesting,  and  frequently 
highly  suggestive.  But  enough  has  been  stated  to 
show  that  Dr.  Brajendranath  Seal  has  given  us  a 
most  valuable  contribution  to  the  history  of 
science  by  means  of  a  work  which  must  have 
involved  a  vast  amount  of  study  and  research  into 
a  literature  which  is  oractically  inaccessible  to 
European  students  of  physical  science. 


BRITISH  FRESH-WATER  RHIZOPODS. 

The  British  Fresh-water  Rhizopoda  and  Heliozoc 
By  j.  Cash  and  G.  H.  Wailes.  Vol.  ii 
Rhizopoda.  Part  iii.  By  G.  H.  Wailes.  Pj 
xxiv  +  156  +  plates  xxxiii  +  lvii.  (London:  Ra 
Society,   1915.)     Price   I2:.'.   6d.  net. 

TO  say  that  the  volume  before  us  equals, 
it  does  not  surpass,  its  predecessors,  n( 
only  in  scientific  value  but  in  general  constru( 
tion,  is  to  award  it  the  highest  praise.  With  th 
completion  of  their  task  by  the  publication  of  th 
concluding  volume  it  will  not  be  too  much  t 
state  that  what  Leidy  has  done  for  the  fresl 
water  Rhizopoda  of  North  America  the  authoi 
of  this  work  will  have  done  for  the  group  i 
Great  Britain.  Since  the  publication  of  th 
second  volume  (in  1908)  the  senior  author,  Jamf 
Cash,  has  died,  and  a  sympathetic  biograph 
forms  a  fitting  introduction  to  this  volume  froi 
the  hand  of  Mr.  John  Hopkinson,  who,  as  is  we 
known,  rendered  him  material  assistance  in  th 
preparation  of  vol.  ii.,  and  to  whom  the  preser 
instalment  is  indebted  for  a  series  of  synonymic 
which  may  well  serve  as  a  pattern  for  all  systen 
atists,  and  may  be  said  to  constitute  a  practic 
ally   complete   bibliography    of   the    subject. 

The  volume  furnishes  a  very  extended  additio 
to   our   knowledge   of    the   distribution   of    thes 
organisms  in  the  British  Isles,  esp>ecially  by  th 
incorporation     of    the     splendid     results    of    th 
labours  of  Mr.    G.    H.    Wailes   (which   were  en 
bodied  in  his  monograph  of  the  group  publishe 
in  the  reports  of  the  Clare   Island   Survey),  whi 
now  joins  Mr.   Hopkinson  as  one  of  the  author 
of  this  book.     By  the  addition  to  the  British 
of  Paulinella  and  Clypeolina,  and  the  represei 
tion    of    Gromia    by    Allogromia    and    Rhync 
gromia,    the     number   of    fresh-water   Rhizopi 
recorded  as  British  is  raised  from  forty-seven 
fifty.      The   confused  species   Euglypha  alveol 
is  divided  into  E.  acanthophora  and  E.   tuber 
lata,  a  simplification  which  will  be  welcomed 
students  of  the  group,    supported   as   it   is  b\ 
remarkable   synonymy  comprising   no  fewer  tl 
157    well-considered    references. 

The  authors  direct  attention  to  the  special; 
method  of  collecting  reserve  scales  by  E.  crista 
and  the  contrivance  by  which  the  ap>ex  of  the  trt 
is  closed  in  E.  tnucronata.     The  new  classificat  1 
of  the  Gromiinai  will  appeal  as  much  to  studc 
of  the  marine  as  of  the  fresh-water  Rhizopc 
In  this  section  the  preoccupied  name  Pamphajs 
is  replaced  by   Lecythium,    as  the  outcome  o^a 
laborious  study  of  the  existing  synonymies.      ^ 
do  not  agree  with  Rhumbler  (who  is  followed? 
the   authors)   that   Dujardin   failed   to   notice  '^ 
anastomosing  reticulations  of  the  pseudopodia" 
Gromia    oviformis;    his  four  papers  publisheciD 
1835   (Ann.    Sci.    Nat.,    1835,   "  Infusoires,"   i^?) 
make  the  contrary  view  clear,  but  for  taxonornal 
purposes    Rhumbler 's    sub-family,    Allogromia  jS 
undoubtedly    useful.      An    interesting   accoun'''' 
given    of   the    reproductive    processes    of    M' ''" 
gromia  socialis,  as  also  of  the  indifferently  ma'"' 
or  fresh-water  genera,   Lieberkuehnia  and  R-'' 


April  27,  19 16] 


NATURE 


179 


:hogromia.  The  late  J.  D.  Siddall  was  of  the 
Dpinion  that  his  remarkable  genus,  Shepheardella, 
shared  this  iridifiference  to  habitat,  but  did  not 
publish  his  conclusions  on  the  matter. 

The  twenty-five  plates  in  colour  and  monotone 
are  worthy  of  the  best  traditions  of  the  Ray 
Society.  Vol.  iv.,  which  will  complete  this 
admirable  work,  will  consist  of  two  parts :  the 
first  an  addendum  to  vols.  i.  and  ii.,  comprising 
species  recorded  as  new  to  Britain  since  their 
publication ;  the  second,  dealing  with  the  Heli- 
ozoa,  will  be  the  work  of  Messrs.  Hopkinson  and 
Wailes.  E.   H.-A. 

MA  THEM  A  TICAL   TEXT-BOOKS. 

1)  The  Essentials  of  Descriptive  Geometry.     By 

Prof.  F.  G.  Higbee.    Pp.  vi  +  204.    (New  York: 

J.   Wiley   and   Sons,    Inc.  ;    London  :    Chapman 

and  Hall,  Ltd.,    1915.)     Price  75.  9J.   net. 

I  2)  Five-Figure  Mathematical  Tables.      Compiled 

I    by    E.    Chappell.       Pp.    xvi  +  320.        (London : 

!    W.  and  R.   Chambers,   Ltd.,   1915.)     Price  55. 

net. 
13)  Mortality  Laws  and  Statistics.      By  R.    Hen-  j 
i   derson.      Pp.   v+iii.      (New  York:   J.   Wiley  I 
1   and  Sons,   Inc.  ;  London  :   Chapman  and  Hall, 
j   Ltd.,  1915.)     55.  6d.  net. 

1^.)  Arithmetic  for  Carpenters  and  Builders.      By 

j  Prof.  R.   B.  Dale.     Pp.  ix  +  231.     (New  York: 

]  J.   Wiley   and   Sons,    Inc. ;    London  :    Chapman 

•j  and  Hall,  Ltd.,  1915.)    Price  55.  6d.  net. 

;)  Handy  Logarithmic  Tables.     By  Y.  Uraguchi. 

'  Pp.  7.    (Tokyo:  Y,  Uraguchi,  1915.)    Price  3d. 

"T*HE  author  assumes    on    the    part    of    the 

-^      reader     no    previous    knowledge    of    de- 

jriptive  geometry,    and   only   quite  a   superficial 

quaintance  with  ordinary  plane  geometry.     The 

jurse  follows  mainly  the  customary  lines,  includ- 

i°f  points,    lines,    angles,    planes,    surfaces,    and 
^del-making.     There  are  three  reasons  why  its 
neral  character   should   commend   itself   to  the 
♦  dinar}-     student.        First,    the     diagrams      are 
lerous,  clear,   and  unusually  large ;   secondly, 
style  of   exposition   is   admirably   lucid ;    and 
lly,  each  chapter  closes  with  a  set  of  simple 
cises ;  it  would  be  a  distinct  improvement  if 
ers  were  added,  where  possible. 
- )  This    book    of    five-figure     tables     includes 
rithms  of  number  and  their  reciprocals,  anti- 
irithms    (called    illogs),    logarithms    of    loga- 
ns  (called   lologs),   anti-"  logarithms   of  loga- 
Tis "  (called  illologs),  the  trigonometric  func- 
s  and  their  logarithms,  and  a  table  of  various 
-tants.    To  lessen,  in  using  the  lolog  tables,  the 
nee  of  error  which  would   occur  from  failure 
lotice  whether  the  logarithms  are  positive  or 
itive,   numbers  less  than  unity  are  shown  in 
and  those  greater  than  unity  in  black.     This 
wise  precaution.      The  book  is  well  printed 
arranged  in  a  convenient  fashion. 
'  The  author  sets  out  in  scientific  form  the 
Its   of   investigations     into    the    duration     of 
-an  life  and  the  mathematical  theory  required 
'n^-    The  book  is  a  treatise  for  actuaries  or  for 
"i3|iematicians  interested  in  the  theory  of  proba- 
!  NO.    2426,   VOL.    97] 


bility.  The  author  has  excluded  the  combination 
of  life  corftingencies  with  the  theory  of  compound 
interest,  annuities,  etc.,  and  has  confined  himself 
strictly  to  life  contingencies. 

After  opening  with  an  historical  account  of  the 
way  in  which  mortality  tables  came  to  be  com- 
piled and  improved,  he  proceeds  to  discuss  the 
construction  and  graduation  of  tables  now  in  use, 
and  gives  various  modern  tables  in  an  appendix. 

(4)  This  small  text-book  is  admirably  suited  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  practical  workman.  It  deals 
with  the  elements  of  arithmetic,  but  includes  also 
a  great  deal  of  general  and  technical  information, 
such  as  the  use  of  tools,  cost  of  material,  economy 
of  arrangement,  and  simple  designs.  The  student 
who  reads  and  works  thoroughly  through  its  pages 
will  acquire  a  considerable  store  of  valuable  in- 
formation :  a  worthy  addition  to  an  excellent 
series. 

(5)  These  four-figure  tables  are  printed  on  a 
thickish  sheet  of  paper,  7  in.  high,  31  in.  long, 
folded  into  seven  parts,  and  contain  proportional 
parts,  logarithms  of  number  and  their  reciprocals, 
and  anti-logarithms.  W^e  doubt  whether  they 
possess   any  advantage   over  the  ordinary   forms 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 
The  Mathematical  Theory  of  Probabilities  and  its 
Application  to   Frequency    Curves   and  Statis- 
tical Methods.     By  A.   Fisher.     Translated  by    * 
W.  Bonynge.     Volume  i.     Mathematical  Prob- 
abilities and  Homograde  Statistics.      Pp.   xx  + 
171.     (New  York  :   The  Macmillan   Co. ;   Lon- 
don:    Macmillan  and  Co.,   Ltd.,    1915.)     Price 
85.  6d.  net. 
It  is  remarkable  that,  in  spite  of  the  number  of 
older   works   in    English   on  the  theory   of  prob- 
abilities and  the  great  attention  that  has  recently 
been   devoted    to   statistical   method,    no   modern 
work  on  the  subject  in  our  own  language  existed. 
Mr.  Fisher's  work  will  do  much  to  fill  this  gap. 
After  an  introduction  on  the  general  principles 
and  the  philosophical  aspect  of  the  subject,  and 
a  somewhat  slight  historical  sketch,  he  develops 
the    fundamental    theorems    of    probabilities,    the 
laws   of   mathematical   expectation,    probability  a 
posteriori  and  Bayes's  theorem,  the  law  of  large 
numbers,    and    the    theory    of   dispersion.       This 
theory  is  then   applied   to  games  of  chance   and 
to    statistical    problems.       A    second    volume    is 
promised  on  the  theory  of  frequency  curves. 

The  treatment  is  very  lucid — the  chapter  on 
^ayes's  theorem  may  be  selected  as  a  marked 
example — and  the  work  will  be  of  considerable 
service  to  the  statistical  student.  It  is  to  be 
regretted,  however,  that  the  author  has  not  taken 
up  some  of  the  more  difficult  problems  of  statis- 
tical work  and  has  stopped  short  at  the  elemen- 
tary comparison  of  the  actual  dispersion  of  a  series 
with  the  combinatorial  dispersion. 

There  is  no  index,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  the 
promised  second  volume  will  supply  one.  In  a 
future  edition  the  spelling  of  proper  names  should 
receive  attention. 


i8o 


NATURE 


[April  27,  1916 


Tuberculosis :  A  General  Account  of  the  Disease; 

Its  Forms,  Treatment,  and  Prevention.     By  Dr. 

A.     J.    Jex-Blake.       Pp.    viii  +  231.       (London: 

G.  Bell  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  191 5.)  Price  2S.  6d.  net. 
An  excellent  account  of  the  subject  of  tuberculosis 
is  g"iven  in  this  book,  free  from  technicalities,  so 
that  it  should  be  easily  intellig-ible  to  those  who 
possess  no  special  education  in  medical  or 
scientific  matters. 

The  opening-  chapter  deals  briefly  with  the  his- 
torical side  of  the  subject,  and  then  the  tubercle 
bacillus  is  discussed.  The  different  types  of  the 
bacillus  are  described — their  occurrence  and  re- 
lationship to  the  disease  in  man — and  a  summary 
is  given  of  the  vexed  question  of  the  infection  of 
man  from  bovine  sources,  in  which  both  sides 
of  the  controversy  are  placed  before  the  reader. 

Predisposition  and  immunity,  the  paths  of  in- 
fection, and  the  statistics  of  tuberculosis  are  next 
dealt  with,  after  which  a  general  account  is  given 
of  the  -disease  as  it  attacks  various  parts  of  the 
body. 

The  subjects  of-  prog^nosis  and  general  treat- 
ment are  discussed,  and  the  book  ends  with  de- 
scriptions of  tuberculin  and  sanatorium  treatment 
and  suggestions  for  the  prevention  of  the  disease. 
The  author  throughout  avoids  extremes,  and  when 
there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  both  aspects  of 
the  question  are  stated.  The  book  contains  a 
large  amount  of  upy-to-date  information,  and  is  a 
0  very  useful  summary;  it  should  appeal  to  a  wide 
public.  R.   T.   H. 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

The  West  Indian  Firefly. 

The  writer  is  not  in  any  sense  an  entomologist, 
but  for  this  very  reason  his  notes  regarding  this  insect 
may  have  a  certain  interest  as  being  from  a  different 
point  of  view  from  that  usually  taken.  The  beetle  is 
much  brighter  than  those  with  which  we  are  familiar 
in  the  States  and  in  England,  and  is  always  a  source 
of  interest  to  travellers.  They  first  appear  in  Jamaica 
about  the  middle  of  February,  and  by  the  middle  of 
June  are  found  in  great  numbers,  so  that  the  fields 
as  seen  from  a  slight  elevation  sometimes  appear 
strewn  with  wandering  stars,  much  brighter  than 
those  in  the  heavens  above.  They  are  particularly 
numerous  on  damp  or  foggy  evenings  when  there  is 
no  moon.  Their  light  is  constantly  fluctuating,  and 
the  fluctuations  occur  more  or  less  in  unison  over  a 
considerable  area,  which  makes  their  appearance  much 
more  striking.  An  individual  light  is  readily  seen  at 
a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  They  have  power- 
ful jaws,  but  nevertheless  fall  a  ready  prey  to  spiders, 
who  consume  them  in  large  numbers. 

The  insect  varies  somewhat  in  size,  but  on  the 
average  measures  30  mm.  (one  and  a  fifth  inches)  in 
length,  by  9  mm.  in  breadth,  and  is  of  a  dark  brown 
colour.  Its  system  of  lights  is  peculiar,  and  quite  un- 
like the  northern  species.  It  carries  a  green  light  on 
either  shoulder,  and  a  much  brighter  orange  light 
beneath  the  abdomen.  This  latter,  however,  is  never 
shown  except  in  flight,  and  at  the  very  moment  of  leav- 
NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


ing  the  ground.  One  often  sees' them  flying  along  th( 
side  of  a  house,  illuminating  the  eaves  or  clap-board 
ing  with  this  bright  orange  light,  much  as  a  mar 
might  do  it  with  a  dark  lantern,  evidently  looking 
for  food. 

When  attacked  by  a  spider  their  light  glows  in- 
tensely and  continuously  under  the  intluence  of  tht 
poison.  If  crushed,  the  light  continues  to  glow  lon^ 
after  the  creature  is  dead,  but  it  can  be  shut  off  ai 
will.  If  held  in  the  hand  while  the  light  is  turnec 
on,  the  insect  gives  out  a  perceptible  warmth,  and 
on  enclosing  one  in  a  wine-glass  with  a  thermometei 
bulb,  the  mercury  was  found  to  rise  1°  F.  the  first 
minute.  It  rose  another  degree  the  second  minute, 
and  o-6°  in  three  minutes  more.  After  this  it  slowlj 
fell,  although  the  light  was  still  shining.  Later,  after 
the  light  had  been  extinguished,  the  thermometei 
returned  to  its  original  temperature,  usually  between 
70°  and  75°.  Some  fireflies  are  much  more  vigorous 
than  others.  With  a  weakly  one  the  thermometer  maj 
not  rise  even  as  much  as  1°  in  all.  Two  seem  to  be 
no  more  efficient  in  this  respect  than  one. 

The     writer     would     like     to     have     kept     one    a 
prisoner  for  twenty-four  hours,   weighing  it  at  interl 
vals,   its  loss  of  weight  indicating  the  amount  of  it.'j 
normal  food  consumption.     Since  its  bulk,  however,  i; 
but   07   of    a    cubic   centimetre,    its    weight    is   abr 
07  of  a  gram,  and  its  food  consumption  would  be 
small  that  it  would  require  a  delicate  chemical  balan 
to  determine  it  with  any  accuracy.     Such  an  instr 
ment  is  not  available  here,  so  this  investigation  mi. 
be  left  to  someone  else.     Presumably,  however,  it  e; 
about  as  much  as  other  beetles  of  the  same  size. 

On  account  of  its  only  showing  its  brightest  lig 
when  in  flight,  its  candle-power  is  rather  difficult 
determine.  This  was  accomplished  indirectly,  ho- 
ever.  A  great  number  of  them  fly  along  a  neighboi; 
ing  road,  and  their  position  can  be  determined  '' 
their  illumination  of  the  enclosing  stone  walls.  Th( 
brightness  was  found  to  equal  that  of  the  St 
Canopus,  which  was  just  over  the  road,  and  at  rath' 
a  low  altitude.  Its  brightness  was  at  that  time  equ 
to  a  Orionis,  the  altitude  of  which  was  40°.  It  w 
a  very  clear  evening,  as  is  generally  the  case  here,  ' 
that  we  may  take  the  brightness  of  the  latter  as 
10  magnitude.  The  distance  of  the  road  was  175  f'l 
or  53  metres.  A  zero  magnitude  star  is  equal  to  01; 
candle-power  at  526  metres.  If  of  zero  magnitu<j 
the  light  of  the  fireflv  would  therefore  have  been  ju 
001  of  a  candle-power.  Being  of  first  magnitude,  i, 
light  was  0004  c.p.  This  result  is  probably  corrfj 
within  half  a  magnitude,  or  50  per  cent.,  and  coj 
sidering  the  apparent  brilliancy  of  the  insect  is  smalli 
than  one  would  have  expected.  The  writer  is  r; 
aware  of  any  previous  measures  of  this  ounntity.    j 

William  H.  Pickeringj 

Harvard    Astronomical    Station,    Mandeville, 
Jamaica,  B.W.I. ,  March  22. 


"Optical  Glass"  and  Fluorite:  An  Ethical  Note. 

Mr.  F.  J.  Cheshire's  letter  in  Nature  of  March  i' 
recalls  the  most  excepti6nal  character  of  the  publi'- 
tion  by  Prof.  Abbe  and  the  firm  of  Zeiss  of  that  c-    | 
covery  of  apochromatism  for  which  all  must  still  p    | 
grateful.     For   the   details    I    refer  to   the  Journal' 
the  Royal  Microscopical  Society,  ser.  2,  vols,  vi.,  v. 
1886-7.     An   article   in   vol.    vi.,    p.    3i5f,    "The  N'' 
Objectives,"  is  evidently  based  on  the  letter  of  "'• 
Abbe  of  March  4  (cited  by  Mr.  Cheshire),  for  it  c- 
j  tains    precisely    the    same   window-dressing   stateiii^ 
i  that  optical  glasses  hitherto  in  use  only  contain  , 
!  chemical  elements,    while  the   new  objective  contf. 
.  not  fewer  than  fourteen.     This  article  throughout  j^' 
[  veys  the  impression  that  it  has  been  alone  the  util'' 


April  27,  19 16] 


NATURE 


181 


tion  of  new  kinds  of  glass  that  has  enabled  Abbe  to 
work  out  the  conditions  of  practical  apochromatism. 

In   the   same   volume,   p.     848f,     Zeiss's    catalogue, 
'  Neue  Mikroskop-Objective  und  Okularen  aus  Specal- 
Glazer  des  Glastenchnischen   Laboratoriums "   (Schott 
jnd  Gen.),    is   reproduced   "nearly   in  extenso."     The 
same  suggestion  that  only  the  new  glasses  are  relied  on 
is  present  throughout.     Thus:  "The  objectives,  how- 
ever,  like  all  productions   of   our   firm,   stand   on   an 
absolutely  free  basis.     The  glass  employed  is,  by  our 
own    instrumentality,    accessible    to    anyone,    and    no 
optician    is   in    the   least   degree  prevented   from    pro- 
ducing the  same  objectives  as  good  and  as  cheap  as 
he  can."       This   is   followed  by    extracts    from    the 
hlet   by   Abbe    and     Schott    describing   the   new 
s,    with   their   optical   and  other  properties   and 
inces.    The  abstractor  seems  by  this  time  to  have  some 
suspicions  as  to  whether  scientific  candour  is  not  here 
empered  with  commercial  reticence,  for  he  goes  on  : — 
"  Suggestions  are  made  as  to  the  glass  best  suited 
or  various  purposes,  and  on  commencing  the  perusal 
!>f  these  passages  we  had  the  idea  that  we  were  com- 
ng  to  a   description   of   the  glass   used   for  the  new 
'  bjectives.       The  following  ingeniously  worded  para- 
raph,  however,  closes  the  subject. 
!  "  In  the   case   of   microscopic   objectives   which   re- 
luire  for   the  attainment   of   the   highest   capacity  of 
erformance  not  only  agreement  in  the  course  of  the 
;ispersion  of   the  crown  and  the   flint,   but   also   the 
|jrrection  of  the  spherical  aberration  and  its  chromatic 
jifference,  it  must  be  left  to  the  skill  of  the  practical 
'Dtician  to  choose  the  most  suitable  means  from  the 
,)ove  series.     The  new  objectives  of  Zeiss  show  what 
:in  be  attained  by  their  practical  use." 
j  We  now  pass  to  vol.  vii.,  containing  (p.  2of)  a  paper 
ad  before  the  Royal  Microscopical  Society  on  Octo- 
Ir  13,  1886,  entitled  "On  Improvements  in  the  Micro- 
lope  with  the  Aid  of  Ne-ju  Kinds  of  Optical  Glass." 
j3  contents  fully  justify  the  title;  throughout  the  same 
ggestion  is  made  that  the  glasses  are  alone  respon- 
)le  for  enabling  the  optician  to  attain  the  improve- 
:-nts  connoted  by  the  term  apochromatism. 

must  state  that  the  italics  in  the  cited  passages 
;il  mine.) 
Three   comments    will   close    this     somewhat    long 
Iter:— 

Prof.  Abbe,  of  Jena,  was  the  brother-in-law  of 
Zeiss,  the  "practical  optician"  of  Jena. 
It  was  soon  discovered  that  one  lens  of  fluorite 
jorspar),  the  native  fluoride  of  calcium,  was  an 
nal  component  of  the  apochromatic  objective,  as 
as  certain  of  the  new  glasses. 
Before  the  new  lenses  were  placed  on  the  market 
ouse  of  Zeiss  had,  as  they  believed,  secured  the 
supply  of  colourless,  flawless  fluorite,  suitable 
rjtical  purposes,  which,  like  so  many  minerals,  is 
cted  to  few  localities.  Marcus  H.artog. 

rk,   April   6. 


OF.  Hartog,  in  his  "  comments  "  Nos.  2  and  3, 
:s  an  old  charge  which  was  made  by  Mr.  Lewis 
-:ht  in  the  English  Mechanic  (1892),  pp.  220-221. 
Lewis  Wright,  in  speaking  of  the  use  of  fluorspar 
e   production    of    apochromatic    objectives,    there 

!  hough  some  of  them  have  managed  to  secure  a 
supply,  others  are  painfuUv  aware  that  before 
se  of  fluorite  was  allowed  to  become  public  all 
:nowTi  available  material  had  been  secured  bv  the 
of  Zeiss  at  Jena ;  and  the  difficultv  of  getting 
lal  experienced  by  some  of  our  best' makers  is  a 
oable  obstacle  to  optical  improvements  and  tends 
;ihcially  keep  up  the  prices." 

.  .,, '?  .*^^5?^  ^'^s  replied  to  and  repudiated  by  Dr. 

v^jski,  in  a  letter  whirh  appeared  in  the  same 
NO.    ^Aoft     •\rnT      r^Tl 


volume  of  the  English  Mechanic,  p.  287.  Dr.  Czapski 
in  this  letter  states : — 

"As  regards  fluorspar,  Mr.  Lewis  Wright  is  labour- 
ing under  a  great  delusion  in  assuming  that  before 
the  use  of  fluorite  was  allowed  to  becojne  public,  all 
the  known  available  material  had  been  secured  by  the 
firm  of  Zeiss  at  Jena.  The  contrary  may  be  said  with 
more  truth.  The  firm  of  Zeiss  possessed  but  a  very 
scanty  supply  at  a  time  when,  even  previous  to  Mr. 
Koristka's  groundless  attacks  in  the  Journal  de  Micro- 
graphie,  the  fact  that  fluorspar  was  being  used  in  the 
apochromatic  lenses  had  been  published  three  times  in 
consequence  of  information  supplied  by  the  firm  of 
Zeiss. 

"  The  latter  were  completely  prepared  to  produce 
their  future  apochromatic  lenses  without  having  re- 
course to  fluorspar,  which  by  no  means  constitutes  the 
condition  sine  qua  non  for  the  production  of  apo- 
chromatic objectives,  excepting,  of  course,  in  the  case 
of  such  opticians  who  can  only  produce  them  by 
slavishly  copying  existing  systems.  As,  however,  the 
firm  became  eventually  possessed  of  a  considerable 
quantity  of  clear  material,  the  employment  of  fluorite 
in  their  apochromatic  lenses  was  continued." 

The  letters  referred  to  above  are  reproduced  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Royal  Microscopical  Society  for  1892, 
pp.  552-555,  from  which  the  above  quotations  are  taken. 

I  may  be  allowed  to  add  that  if  Prof.  Abbe  and  the 
firm  of  Carl  Zeiss  had  wished  to  play  the  "dog-in-the- 
manger,"  they  could  easily  have  done  so  by  taking 
out  a  patent  for  the  application  of  the  principle  of 
apochromatic  construction  to  microscope  objectives. 
Prof.  Abbe's  "ethics,"  however,  would  not  permit  of 
this  being  done.  He,  I  believe,  held  that  since  micro- 
scope objectives  were  practically  entirely  used  for  the 
purposes  of  scientific  research,  the  taking  out  of  a 
patent  for  them  would  have  acted  prejudicially  to  the 
best  interests  of  science  in  general. 

F.  J.  Cheshire. 


The  Remarkable  Meteors  of  February  9,  1913. 

The  large  meteors  which  passed  over  Northern 
America  on  February  9,  1913,  presented  some  unique 
features.  The  length  of  their  observed  flight  was 
about  2600  miles,  and  they  must  have  been  moving  in 
paths  concentric,  or  nearly  concentric,  with  the  earth's 
surface,  so  that  they  temporarily  formed  new  terres- 
trial satellites.  Their  height  was  about  42  miles,  and 
in  the  Journal  of  the  R.A.S.  of  Canada  there  are 
70  pages  occupied  with  the  observations  and  deduc- 
tions made  from  them  by  Prof.   C.  A.  Chant. 

The  meteors  were  last  seen  from  the  Bermuda 
Islands,  according  to  the  descriptions  in  the  journal 
named  (May-June,   1913). 

I  have  since  made  efforts  to  obtain  further  observa- 
tions from  seafaring  men  through  the  medium  of  the 
Nautical  Magazine,  and  have  succeeded  in  procuring 
data  which  prove  that  the  meteors  were  obser\'ed 
during  a  course  of  5500  miles  from  about  lat.  51°  N., 
long.   107°  W.,  to  lat.  5i°  S.,  long.  32^°  W. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Waddell,  first  mate  of  the  s.s.  Newlands, 
writes  me  that  at  12.13  P-™-,  February  9,  1913,  he 
saw  a  brilliant  stream  of  meteors  passing  from  the 
N.W.  to  the  S.E.  during  a  period  of  six  minutes. 
The  ship  was  in  lat.  3°  20'  S.  and  long.  32°  30'  W.  at 
the  time.  He  says  the  meteors  disappeared  in  the 
region  of  Argo  to  the  south,  and  I  have  assumed  thev 
were  over  about  lat.  5^°  S.  and  long.  32^°  W.  when 
he  lost  sight  of  them. 

Such  an  extended  trajectory  is  without  parallel  in 
this  branch  of  astronomy.  Further  reports  from 
navigators  in  the  South  Atlantic  Ocean  might  show 
that  the  observed  flight  was  even  erreater  than  5500 
miles.  \v.  F.  Denning. 

44  Egerton  Road,  Bristol. 


l82 


NATURE 


[April  27,  19 16 


FOREIGN   WAR-PLANES. 


AN  article  with  the  above  title  appears  in  La 
■^~^  Nature  of  March  4,  and  is  particularly 
interesting-  at  the  present  time  when  British 
aeronautics  is  attracting  so  much  attention.  The 
article  appears  to  have  been  written  in  fear  of 
the  Censor,  and  parts  of  it  correspond  more 
nearly  with  the  end  of  last  summer  than  the  early 
part  of  the  present  year.  The  author  refers  to 
the   belief,    prevalent   in   France   some   little   time 


Fig.  I. — The  Morane  Saulir.er. 

ago,  that  British  aviation  was  well  ahead  of  their 
own,  a  belief  widely  held  until,  during  the  course 
of  a  single  day,  French  aviators  and  gunners 
brought  down  seven  battle-planes  and  a  Zeppelin. 

Putting  aside  political  manoeuvres  as  of  no 
importance,  the  author  attempts  to  state  the 
problems  of  aviation  as  they  affect  the  engineer 
and  constructor.  Quite  early  in  the  course  of 
his  statement  he  concludes  that  the  difficulties  of 
flight  would  disappear,  in  peace-time,  with  the 
coming  of  a  trustworthy  light  engine, 
but  that  for  war  purposes  the  problem 
is  not  so  simple.  A  good  war-plane 
must  be  strong  and  trustworthy ;  the 
observer  must  have  a  good  field  of 
view,  particularly  downwards,  to  assist 
reconnaissance  and  to  make  possible 
photography  and  bombing.  In  order 
to  fight  an  enemy  under  favourable  con- 
ditions, the  zone  of  fire  of  the  machine- 
gun  must  be  as  great  as  possible,  and 
this  implies  a  special  shape  of  body. 
Finally,  a  convenient  place  must  be 
found  for  bombs,  and  taken  tog^ether 
the  requirements  are  not  easily  satisfied. 

As  to  speed,  authorities  differ,  and 
there  is  again  necessity  for  compromise, 
in  this  case  between  speed  and  weight-carrying. 
In  France  aeroplanes  have  mixed  duties,  whilst 
in  England  types  differ  more,  are  faster  on  the 
average  than  the  French,  but  carry  fewer  bombs. 
The  superiority  of  the  Germans  on  speed  is  more 
apparent  than  real,  their  most  recent  and  speedy 
aeroplane,  the  Fokker,  being  merely  a  copy  of 
the  Morane  Sauliner.  .The  similarity  can  be  seen 
by  a  comparison  of  the  two  accompanying  figures. 

NO.    2426,   VOL.    97] 


The  similarity  is  said  to  be  complete  almost 
in  detail,  and  immediately  after  the  Morane  had 
been  fitted  with  a  safety  device  for  firing  through 
the  propeller,   the  Fokker  followed  suit. 

German  aeroplanes  are  built  in  three  distinct 
classes.  To  the  first  belong  the  scouts,  mostly 
Albatross  biplanes,  which  have  largely  supplanted 
the  Taubes;  fitted  with  Mercedes  motors  of  100 
to  150  horse-power,  these  aeroplanes  fly  at  from 
70  to  90  miles  per  hour. 

The  second  group  of  aeroplanes,  fighters,  are 
designed  for  attack  and  defence  in 
the  air.  A  new  biplane  (probably  that 
known  to  British  soldiers  as  "  Fritz " 
or  "  Billy-two-bodies  ")  with  two  bodies 
and  central  car  for  the  machine-gun 
belongs  to  this  group.  Its  two  engines 
each  develop  250  horse-power.  The 
Fokker,  capable  of  60  to  100  miles  per 
hour,  is  also  one  of  the  fighter-type 
aeroplanes. 

The  third  group  of  German  aero- 
planes is  intended  for  reconnaissance. 
The  machines  all  carry  wirelessi 
apparatus,  and  act  as  spotters  foii 
artillery.  ' 

Following   a  very   brief   and   unsati 
factory    survey    of    British,    Americai 
Italian     aeroplanes   '  is     a     discussion     0 

aviation  \yit! 
latter  as  ai 
instance  of  an  art  based  on  scientific  know 
ledge,  whilst  it  is  said  that  until  an  aero 
plane  has  been  made  and  tested  it  is  no 
possible  to  form  any  trustworthy  estimate  of  ii 
speed,  stability,  or  sensitiveness  to  controls.  Th 
defect  is  more  important,  as  aviation  has  not  an 
traditions ;     its     development    has    been     left    t 


and 

French     aviation.        Contrasting 

gunnery,     the     author    cites     the 


Fig.  2. — The  German  Fokker. 

private  enterprise,  and  up  to  the  present  withol 
any  indication  of  the  end  to  be  attained.  T 
result  has  been  to  stimulate  competition  betwc 
constructors  without  collaboration.  If  su 
a  picture  of  the  position  of  French  aerr 
nautics  is  even  approximately  true,  it  is .  di:;- 
cult  to  believe  that  Britain  has  yet  lost  ^ 
superiority  in  the  domain  of  design  and  cc; 
struction.  , 


April  27,  19 16] 


NATURE 


183 


THE    DAYLIGHT    SAVING    SCHEME. 

CONSIDERATION  is  again  being  given  to  the 
principle  of  ensuring  the  utilisation  of  a 
larger  number  of  hours  of  daylight  in  the  summer 
months  by  putting  forward  the  hands  of  time- 
pieces by  one  hour  during  a  period  made  com- 
pulsory by  legislation.  It  was  announced  a  few 
days  ago  that,  by  order  of  the  Federal  Council 
in  Germany,  all  clocks  there  will  be  put  forward 
an  hour  at  11  p.m.  on  April  30,  and  put  back 
an  hour  at  i  a.m.  on  October  i.  The  French 
Chamber  of  Deputies  has  voted  unanimously  for  a 
similar  proposal,  and  a  committee  of  the  Senate 
has  been  appointed  to  consider  it.  Also,  the  Home 
Secretary  stated  in  the  House  of  Commons  on 
April  17  that  the  question  of  taking  the  same 
step  here  is  receiving  the  attention  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 

It  is  possible  that  the  committee  of  the  French 
Senate  will  report  against  the  adoption  of  the 
proposed  alteration  of  standard  time ;  and  sub- 
stantial reasons  for  doing  so  can  be  found  in  a 
critical  survey  of  the  whole  subject  presented  to 
the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences,  on  April  10,  by 
M.  Ch.  Lallemand.  The  supposed  advantages 
of  the  daylight  saving  scheme  are  examined  and 
criticised,  and  the  conclusion  reached  is  strongly 
adverse  to  the  proposed  change.  It  is  shown  that 
many  of  the  advantages  claimed  are  illusory.  In 
j  France  more  than  four-fifths  of  the  population 
I  in  the  open  country  and  smaller  towns  regulate 
j  their  habits  by  the  sun  rather  than  by  the  clock; 
:  foundries  and  factories  running  continuously  over 
the  twenty-four  hours  would  be  unaffected.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  advantages  of  such  a  scheme 
|have  already  been  realised  in  a  simpler  manner 
I'H  French  schools,  colleges,  and  barracks,  where 
t  has  been  customary  for  a  long  time  to  rise 
^ne  hour  earlier  in  the  summer. 

We  have  dealt  with  the  daylight  saving  prin- 

|-iple    on    many  occasions    and    have    stated    the 

undamental     objections     to     it.        The     scheme 

!>riginated  with  the  late  Mr.  W.  Willett ;  and  his 

nersistent  advocacy  of  it  led  to  the  introduction 

a  Daylight  Saving  Bill  in  the  House  of  Com- 

ns  in  1908.     The  Bill  passed  its  second  reading 

I    was    reported    on     favourably   by    a    Select 

mmittee,  but  it  failed  to  reach  the  final  stages 

the  House.     It  was  re-introduced  in  the  follow- 

.    year,   when    a    Select    Committee    reported 

ainst  it,  and  again  it  failed  to  pass.      In   191 1 

J   scheme  was   once   more   brought   before    the 

(ouse   under    the    title   of    the   Summer   Season 

Tie  Bill,  only  to  be  dropped  at  the  end  of  the 

sion.       This    Bill    provided    that    "Greenwich 

in  time,  as  used  for  the  purposes  of  astronomy 

1  navigation,  shall  not  be  affected  "  ;  but  other- 

-e  the  legal  times  of  the   United   Kingdom  of 

at  Britain  and   Ireland  were  to  be  advanced 

one  hour  on  the  third  Sunday  in  April  in  each 

tr  and  put  back  by  the  same   amount  on  the 

'd  Sunday  in  September.      Every  spring  since 

n  the  advocates  of  this  legislative  measure  have 

ewed  their  activities  in  the  Press;    and    this 

j       NO.    2426,   VOL.    97] 


year  the  circumstances  of  the  war  have  given  them 
an  exceptional  opportunity  of  stating  their  argu- 
ment that  great  saving  in  fuel  used  for  lighting 
would  be  effected  by  making  the  daylight  saving 
scheme  compulsory'. 

We  do  not  propose  to  attempt  again  to  explain 
why  the  scheme  is  fundamentally  unsound 
and  scientifically  undesirable,  but  it  may 
be  worth  while  to  state  categorically  some 
of  the  main  objections  to  it.  These  are  as 
follows  : 

(i)  A  very  large  part  of  the  population  of  our 
islands  already  makes  full  use  of  the  daylight 
available  in  the  different  seasons,  by  adapting 
their  hours  of  work  to  the  hours  of  daylight. 
This  is  the  case  in  all  agricultural  districts,  and 
also  in  the  building,  engineering,  and  other  trades 
which  cannot  be  carried  on  easily  in  artificial 
light.  The  proposed  Act  of  Parliament  would  thus 
not  effect  any  daylight  saving  in  these  occupa- 
tions ;  and  wherever  artificial  illumination  is  easy 
and  convenient,  working  hours  will  always  tend 
to  be  independent  of  the  position  of  the  sun. 

{2)  Practically  all  the  civilised  nations  of  the 
world  use  a  system  of  time-reckoning  based  upon 
the  Greenwich  meridian,  their  times  being  so 
many  hours  or  half-hours  behind  or  in  advance 
of  Greenwich  time.  If  a  periodical  change  of 
the  time-standards  in  various  months  by  different 
countries  became  the  fashion,  chaos  would  take 
the  place  of  the  present  orderly  system.  There 
would  be  a  kind  of  game  of  general  post  at  certain 
periods  of  the  year,  each  nation  taking  the  time 
of  its  next  eastern  neighbour.  Our  prime  meri- 
dian, accepted  by  nations  as  regulating  the  time 
of  the  world,  would  be  discarded  by  us  for  five 
months  in  ever)'  year,  in  total  disregard  of  exist- 
ing well-considered  and  well-established  inter- 
national relations. 

{3)  The  scheme  would  be  applied  to  the  whole 
of  Great  •  Britain,  though  north  of  Edinburgh 
there  is  little  real  darkness  for  a  couple  of  months 
in  the  summer.  All  places  north  of  Edinburgh 
have  twilight  all  night  from  the  end  of  April  to 
the  end  of  July,  and  there  would  be  no  advantage 
whatever  in  calling  nine  o'clock  ten  during  those 
months.  When  the  effect  of  latitude  upon  the 
length  of  day  is  considered,  little  support  can  be 
found  for  including  Scotland  in  the  scheme.  On 
account  of  difference  of  latitude,  Scotland  has 
already  a  natural  extension  of  the  daylight  hours 
in  the  summer  months  without  any  need  for 
legislation. 

(4)  The  duration  of  daylight  in  the  third  week 
of  April  is  quite  different  from  that  of  the  third 
week  in  September.  The  corresponding  parts  of 
the  year  as  regards  length  of  day  are  the  third 
week  of  April  and  the  third  week  of  August,  or 
the  third  week  of  March  and  the  third  week  of 
September. 

(5)  As  Greenwich  mean  time  would  continue 
to  be  used  for  times  of  sunrise,  sunset,  moonrise, 
lunar  changes,  tides,  and  other  nhenomena  of 
astronomy  and  navigation  recorded  in  calendars 
and  tables,  the  difference  between  this  and  clock- 


i84 


NATURE 


[April  27,  19 16 


time  would  often  lead  to  great  confusion.  Boat- 
trains  would  run  according  to  the  mid-Pluropean 
time,  but  the  tides  would  be  stated  in  Greenwich 
mean  time.  In  most  seaport  towns  a  time-signal 
is  used  for  the  convenience  of-  vessels  in  port, 
and  is  also  valuable  to  the  public.  Would  the 
signal  always  be  given  according  to  Greenwich 
mean  time,  or  would  it  mark  the  changed  hour 
during  certain  months  of  the  year?  It  would 
often  be  difficult  for  local  bodies  to  decide  whether 
the  interests  of  navigators  or  those  of  the  public 
ought  to  determine  the  hour  at  which  the  time- 
signal  should  be  given.  Lighting-up  times 
would  be  in  like  confusion,  for  they  are  deter- 
mined by  the  times  of  sunset,  which  belong 
to  astronomy,  whereas  the  times  in  use 
would  be  those  of  tRe  Greenwich  or  mid-Euro- 
pean meridians  according  to  the  period  of  the 
year. 

(6)  Artisans  who  have  to  be  in  workshops  at 
6  a.m.  would  begin  work  at  what  is  really  5  a.m., 
and  therefore  most  of  them  would  have  to  rise 
at  about  4  a.m.  This  means  that  they  would 
have  to  get  up  in  the  dark  more  than  twice  as 
often  under  the  daylight  saving  scheme  as  they 
do  now.  The  difference  would  be  particularly 
noticed  in  the  last  month  of  the  period.  The 
six  o'clock  artisans  would  have  to  suffer 
the  discomforts  of  additional  darkness  in  the 
early  morning  in  order  that  people  who  are  asleep 
when  they  have  done  a  quarter  of  a  day's  work 
may  have  additional  daylight  at  the  other  end 
of  the  day. 

(7)  For  several  weeks  of  the  period  over  which 
the  proposed  advance  of  time  would  be  effective 
additional  fuel  would  be  consumed  for  heating 
in  the  early  morning,  and  this  amount,  as  well 
as  the  additional  lighting  required  by  many 
thousands  of  artisans  getting  up  in  the  dark,  is 
overlooked  when  the  saving  of  artificial  illumina- 
tion at  night  is  put  forward  as  a  plea  for  the 
adoption  of  the  scheme.  The  heat  meridian  is 
about  two  hours  after  the  light  meridian ;  and 
possibly  it  has  determined  the  customary  time- 
table here,  as  it  does  the  social  arrangements  of 
other  countries  of  Europe,  as  w^ell  as  in  the 
Tropics. 

(8)  Though  hundreds  of  corporations  and  coun- 
cils have  expressed  their  desire  to  have  the  154 
additional  hours  of  daylight  per  annum  promised 
by  the  scheme,  not  a  single  scientific  society  or 
other  body  with  expert  knowledge  has  supported 
it.  The  public  may  demand  whatever  legislation 
it  pleases,  without  regard  for  the  consequences ; 
but,  in  the  words  of  the  Select  Committee  which 
reported  upon  the  Daylight  Saving  Bill  of  1909, 
"  having  regard  to  the  great  diversity  of  opinion 
upon  the  proposals  of  the  Bill  and  to  the  grave 
doubts  which  have  been  expressed  as  to  whether 
the  objects  of  the  measure  can  be  attained  by 
legislation  without  giving  rise,  in  cases  involving 
important  interests,  to  serious  inconvenience,"  it 
will  be  a  pity  if  the  circumstances  of  the  war 
should  lead  Parliament  to  adopt  a  measure 
which  has  been  twice  rejected  already  after  full 
discussion. 

NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


THE  IMPERIAL  INSTITUTE. 
''T'HE  Imperial  Institute  (Management)  Bill. 
-*■  which  received  the  Royal  Assent  on  April  18, 
provides  for  the  transfer  of  the  property  and 
management  of  the  Imperial  Institute  from  the 
Board  of  Trade  (in  which  these  were  vested 
by  the  Act  of  1902)  to  the  Colonial  Office.  Mr. 
Bonar  Law,  in  a  speech  on  the  second  reading  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  explained  that  in  view 
of  the  commercial  reorganisation  which  would 
take  place  after  the  war  the  Government  desired 
that  the  valuable  work  of  the  institute  should  be 
supported  by  a  larger  and  more  representative 
governing  body,  on  which  each  of  the  Dominions, 
India,  and  the  Crown  Colonies  would  be  repre- 
sented, as  well  as  the  Colonial  Office,  the  Board 
of  Trade,  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  and  the 
India  Office,  whilst  representatives  of  the  com- 
merce and  industry  of  the  United  Kingdom  would 
also  be  nominated  on  the  executive  council,  which 
will  consist  of  twenty-five  members.  Among  the 
speakers  at  this  stage,  and  afterwards  in  Com- 
mittee, were  Sir  J.  D.  Rees,  Sir  John  Jardine, 
and  Colonel  Yate,  all  of  whom  proposed  increased 
representation  of  India,  and  Sir  Philip  Magnus, 
who  asked  for  the  appointment  of  representative 
both  of  the  Imperial  College  of  Science  an' 
Technology  and  of  the   University  of  London. 

It  was  announced  that  the  member  selected  b\ 
the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  for  Scientific 
and  Industrial  Research  would  be  nominated  "b 
the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies,  and  tha 
of  the  other  nominees  of  the  Secretary  of  Stat' 
one  would  be  an  Indian  member  in  addition  t 
Lord  Islington,  the  Under-Secretary  of  State  fo 
India,  which  would  give  India  five  member- 
in  all. 

The  second  reading  of  the  Bill  In  the  Housi 
of  Lords  was  moved  by  Lord  Islington,  who  full} 
explained  the  intentions  of  the  Bill  and  spok^ 
in  high  terms^of  the  value  of  the  work  of  tht 
institute  to  the  commerce  of  the  Empire.  Viscoun; 
Milner  supported  the  Bill,  and  expressed  the  hopt 
that  in  future  the  Institute  would  be  better  sup 
ported  with  funds  to  aid  the  extension  of  it' 
important  work,  a  view  which  was  also  expresses 
by  Viscount  Peel  and  Lord  Sudeley.  In  Com 
mittee  Lord  Sudeley  moved  an  amendment  to  makt 
Ministers  of  the  Dominions,  Governors  of  Crowi, 
Colonies  and  Protectorates,  and  members  of  th< 
Viceroy's  Council  In  India  when  at  home  on 
leave,  ex-officio  members  of  the  executive  council  I 
This  was  not  accepted  by  the  Government,  who 
however,  agreed  to  Invite  the  persons  sp>eclfied  t(i 
attend  the  meetings  of  the  executive  council. 

THE  SUN'S  ROTATION.^ 

AN  interesting  contribution  to  the  investlgatio 
of  the  sun's  rotation  by  the  spectroscopi 
method  has  been  made  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Hubrecb 
In  an  extended  discussion  of  a  series  of  plate 
taken    by   him    with    the    McClean    equipment  a' 

1  Annals  of  the  Solar  Physics  Ohservatory,  Cambridge.  Vol.  iii.,  P«rt 
The  Solar  Rotation  in  fune,  igii.  from  Spectrographic  Observations  mac i 
with  the  Mcriean  Solar  In-^truments.  By  f.  B.  Hubrecht.  Pp.77-  ^^  i 
bridge  :  At  the  University  Press,  191 5.)    Prica  gs.  net. 


April  27,   19 16] 


NATURE 


8^ 


Cambridge  in  June,  191 1.  The  photographs  in 
question  are  unique,  inasmuch  as  in  place  of  the 
usual  comparisons  at  opposite  points  of  the  limb, 
they  compare  the  spectra  at  points  90°  apart,  at 
intervals  of  15°  completely  round  the  sun.  By 
this  arrangement  the  velocities  in  the  two  hemi- 
spheres may  be  separately  derived,  and  Mr. 
Hubrecht  concludes  that  at  the  period  of  these 
observations  the  velocities  were  greatest  in  the 
northern  hemisphere.  Thirty  lines,  belonging  to 
seven  elements,  and  including  four  enhanced  lines, 
were  measured,  and  no  departure  from  average 
results  was  found  for  any  of  them.  There  was, 
however,  a  distinct  diminution  of  the  indicated 
velocity  with  increase  of  wave-length,  for  which 
no  definite  explanation  can  yet  be  given.  In  rela- 
tion to  heliographic  latitude,  the  results  are 
remarkable  as  showing  uniform  angular  velocity 
from  15°  N.  to  15°  S.,  and,  following  the  usual 
decline  to  higher  latitudes,  a  slight  increase  be- 
tween latitudes  60°  and  75°.  The  deduced  angular 
velocities  as  a  whole  are  also  considerably  smaller 
than  those  derived  at  Mt.  Wilson,  and  the  equa- 
torial velocity  is  assigned  the  correspondingly 
low  value  of  i'85  km.  per  second. 

■      These   departures  from   the  average  results  of 

I  other  observers  were  constant  throughout  the 
period  of  observation,  and  there  is  evidence  that 
they  were  not  due  to  local  disturbances ;  Mr. 
Hubrecht   appears   to   regard    them    as    possibly 

:  associated  with  temp>orary  conditions  in  the  sun, 
and  believes  that  his  results  are  consistent  with 
Emden's  theory. 

A     somewhat     remarkable     feature      of      Mr. 
Hubrecht's  memoir  is  its  appearance  as  vol.   iii. , 

I  part  i.,  of  the  Annals  of  the  Solar  Physics  Ob- 
servatory, Cambridge,  since  it  refers  to  data 
obtained  before  the  transfer  of  the  Solar  Physics 
Observaton.-  from  South  Kensington,  and  dis- 
cussed after  the  author  had  left  Cambridge. 
jVols.  i.  and  ii.  of  these  Annals  have  not  yet  been 
'issued,  and  we  have  been  unable  to  ascertain 
Iwhat  their  contents  will  be. 


NOTES. 

j  We  learn  with  much  satisfaction  that  the  announce- 
inent  of  the  death  of  Prof.  I.  P.  Pavlov  is  incorrect; 
|ind  we  may  hope,  therefore,  that  the  record  of  his 
jvork  given  in  Nature  of  March  2  will  be  extended 
till  further  in  the  coming  years.  Prof.  B.  Menschut- 
jun,  of  the  Polytechnic  Institute,  Petrograd,  writing  on 
jiarch  20,  informs  us  that  Prof.  Pavlov  is  alive  and 
j/ell,  and  that  the  Prof.  Pavlov  who  died  in  February 
|/as  Eugeni  Vasilievitch  Pavlov,  a  celebrated  surgeon. 
jTie  name  of  Pavlov  is  common  in  Russia,  there 
!eing  no  fewer  than  five  professors  of  that  name  in 

etrograd.    so    that    the    mistake    in    the    Times    of 

ebruar}-  12  is  quite  comprehensible. 

The  death  is  announced,  at  Ottawa,  of  Dr.  W.  F. 
ling,  chief  astronomer.  Department  of  the  Interior, 
ianada,  and  director  of  the  Dominion  Astronomical 

bservatory-;     also     of    the     Rev.    J.    B.    McClellan, 

rnerly  principal  of  the  Roval  Agricultural  College, 

'encester. 

The  bronze  tablet  placed  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  to 
memor}^    of   Captain    Scott    and    his    companions 

NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


I  will  be  unveiled  by   the  Prime    Minister  on   Friday, 
I  May  5. 

I  A  conference  on  engineering  and  scientific  research 
;  will  be  held  at  Caxton  Hall,  Westminster,  on  Monday 
j  next.  May  i,  at  5  p.m.  The  conference  will  be  opened 
by  Prof.' J.  A.  Fleming,  and  a  number  of  leading 
j  representatives  of  engineering  science  are  expected  to 
!  take  part  in  the  discussion. 

His  Excellency  Lord  C.-vrmich-^el  has  accepted  the 
■  chairmanship  of  the  trustees  of  the  Indian  Museum 
'■•  for  the  jear  1916-17.  The  Hon.  Justice  Sir  Asutosh 
I  Mookerjee  has  been  elected  vice-chairman',  and  the 
,  Hon.   Raja  Rishe  Case  Law  honorary  treasurer. 

The  council  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers 
has  made  the  following  awards  for  papers  read  and 
discussed  during  the  session  1915-16  : — K  Telford  gold 
medal  to  Sir  John  Benton  (Eastbourne);  a  Watt  gold 
medal  to  Sir  George  Buchanan  (Rangoon);  a  George 
Stephenson  gold  medal  to  Mr.  F.  W.  Carter  (Rugby); 
and  Telford  premiums  to  Mr.  C.  Carkeet  James 
(London),  Mr.  D.  E.  Llovd-Davies  (Cape  Town),  and 
Mr.  W.  T.  Lucy  (Oxford). 

We  learn  with  regret  that  Mr.  C.  Lees  Curties, 
late  partner  in  the  well-known  firm  of  Charles  Baker» 
High  Holbom,  London,  W.C.,  scientific  instrument 
manufacturer  and  agent,  died  on  April  24,  at  fift)'- 
five  years  of  age.  We  are  informed  that  the  business 
will  be  carried  on  as  usual,  under  the  same  title,  by 
the  remaining  partners — Mr.  T.  Hale  Curties  and  Mr. 
C.  Lees  Curties,  jun. 

The  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  has  appointed 
a  Committee  to  control  the  supply  and  distribution  of 
petrol,  and  to  consider  what  measures  are  necessary 
in  the  national  interest  (i)  to  ensure  that  adequate 
supplies  of  petrol  shall  be  available  for  the  purposes 
of  the  war  and  for  other  essential  needs ;  (2)  with  the 
above  object  to  regulate  the  use  of  petrol  for  other 
purposes  in  the  United  Kingdom  during  the  period 
of  the  war;  and,  subject  to  the  direction  of  the  Board 
of  Trade,  to  give  executive  effect  to  the  measures 
decided  on.  The  Committee  consists  of  Mr.  O.  Bur>' 
(chairman),  Mr.  A.  E.  Bowen,  Sir  John  P.  Hewett, 
and  Mr.  P.  G.  L.  Webb.  Mr.  H.  W.  Cole,  of  the 
Board  of  Trade,  will  act  as  secretary  to  the  Com- 
mittee. 

The  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  has  appointed 
two  further  Committees  to  consider  the  position  of  cer- 
tain branches  of  British  trade  after  the  war,  with 
special  reference  to  international  competition,  and  to 
report  what  steps,  if  any,  are  necessar}-  or  desirable  in 
order  to  safeguard  that  position.  These  Committees 
are  : — For  the  Textile  Industries  : — Mr.  Henry  Birch- 
enough  (chairman),  Sir  F.  Forbes  Adam,  Mr.  J. 
Beattie,  Mr.  T.  Craig  Brown,  Mr.  E.  B.  Fielder, 
Mr.  J.  W.  Hill,  Mr.  A.  Illingworth,  Mr.  J.  H.  Kaye, 
Mr.  E.  H.  Langdon,  Mr.  J.  W.  McConnel,  Mr.  H. 
Norman  Rae,  Sir  Frederick  Smith,  Bart.,  Mr.  T.  C. 
Taylor,  Right  Hon.  Robert  Thompson,  Mr.  F. 
Warner.  Mr.  T.  M.  Ainscough  will  act  as  secretary 
to  the  Committee,  and  all  communications  relating  to 
it  should  be  addressed  to  him  at  6  Whitehall  Gardens, 
S.W.  For  the  Electrical  Trades  :— Hon.  Sir  Charles 
A.  Parsons  (chairman),  Mr.  J.  Annan  Bryce,  Mr. 
T.  O.  Callender,  Mr.  J.  Devonshire,  Mr.  B.  M.  Drake, 
Sir  John  Snell.  All  communications  should  be  ad- 
dressed to  the  secretary,  Electrical  Trades  Committee, 
at  7  Whitehall  Gardens,   S.W. 

The  tragic  death  of  Major  W.  L.  Hawksley, 
R.A.M.C.,  whilst  on  active  service  in  France,  removes 
from  the  service  of  the  Liverpool  Corporation  a  bril- 


i«86 


NATURE 


[April  27,  19 16 


Hiant  assistant  medical  officer.  Dr.  Hawksley  had 
-always  been  associated  with  Liverpool,  and  was  a 
graduate  of  the  University  of  the  city.  His  first  asso- 
<;iation  with  the  corporation  was  as  a  resident  medical 
officer  at  the  Fazakerley  Hospital.  Afterwards  he  held 
the  post  of  assistant  school  medical  officer,  and  ulti- 
mately was  appointed  an  assistant  medical  officer  of 
health  to  deal  with  problems  relating  to  tuberculosis. 
Following  the  passing  of  the  National  Insurance  Act. 
Dr.  Hawksley  naturally  attained  the  additional  posi- 
tion of  acting  chief  tuberculosis  officer,  a  post  for 
which  his  previous  experience  gave  him  exceptional 
qualification.  The  harmonious  relationship  which  now 
exists  between  the  Insurance  Committee  and  the  cor- 
poration serves  as  a  lasting  monument  to  his  unfailing 
tact  and  administrative  ability,  for  upon  his  shoulders 
fell  much  of  the  original  work  of  organising  the  Liver- 
pool tuberculosis  scheme.  Of  his  services  to  his 
country  since  war  was  declared  little  is  known  to  those 
at  home,  but,  if  his  military  duties  were  performed 
with  the  enthusiasm,  tact,  and  efficiency  which  char- 
acterised his  work  as  a  civil  servant,  the  loss  to  the 
Army  is  as  deplorable  as  to  the  city  of  Liverpool.  His 
interests  were  many-sided,  for,  besides  the  numerous 
committees  of  charitable  organisations  on  which  he 
served,  the  Atmospheric  Pollution  Committee  has 
reason  to  feel  the  loss  of  an  enthusiastic  worker.  All 
who  knew  Dr.  Hawksley  will  deeply  sympathise  with 
his  widow  and  two  children  in  their  bereavement. 

The  Daily  Chronicle  for  April  24  gives  the  sub- 
stance of  an  interesting  letter  sent  to  Prof.  Lorentz,  of 
Haarlem,  by  Dr.  Max  Planck,  professor  of  mathe- 
matical physics  in  the  University  of  Berlin,  and  per- 
manent secretary  of  the  Royal  Prussian  Academy  of 
Sciences.  In  this  letter  Prof.  Planck  recalls  the  letter 
addressed  to  the  civilised  world  in  August,  1914,  by 
ninety-three  German''  scholars  and  artists,  in  which 
they  defended  the  conduct  of  their  own  Govern- 
ment, and  denounced  in  extravagant  language  the 
action  of  the  Allies.  Prof.  Planck  himself  was  one 
of  the  signatories.  He  now  admits  that  the  form  in 
which  this  letter  was  written  led  to  regrettable  mis- 
understandings of  the  real  sentiments  of  the  signa- 
tories. In  his  opinion,  and  it  is  an  opinion  shared,  he 
says,  by  his  colleagues  Harnack,  Nernst,  Waldeyer, 
and  Wilamowitz-Mollendorff,  that  letter  of  appeal  was 
written  and  signed  in  the  patriotic  exuberance  of  the 
first  weeks  of  the  war.  It  must  not  be  taken  for 
granted,  says  Prof.  Planck,  that  at  the  present  time 
anything  like  a  scientific  judgment  can  be  formed  with 
regard  to  the  great  questions  of  the  historical  present. 
"  But  what  I  wish  to  impress  on  you,"  he  writes  to 
Dr.  Lorentz,  "  is  that  notwithstanding  the  awful 
events  around  us  I  have  come  to  the  firm  conviction 
that  there  are  moral  and  intellectual  regions  which  lie 
beyond  this  war  of  nations,  and  that  honourable  co- 
operation, the  cultivation  of  international  values,  and 
personal  respect  for  the  citizens  of  an  enemy  State 
are  perfectly  compatible  with  glowing  love  and  intense 
work  for  one's  own  country." 

According  to  the  Times  of  April  20,  the  Behar  and 
Orissa  Government  has  issued  an  account  of  recent 
unrest  among  the  Oraons  of  Chota  Nagpur,  which  is 
of  considerable  interest  to  anthropologists.  The  un- 
rest would  seem  to  have  been  brought  about  by  a 
number  of  causes,  among  them  a  desire  to  raise  the 
tribe  to  the  higher  social  level  of  Hindu  and  Christian 
converts,  the  general  unrest  caused  by  the  war,  and 
the  withdrawal  of  German  missionaries.  The  chief 
cause,  however,  would  appear  to  be  an  effort  made 
by  the  Oraons  about  August,  1Q15,  to  expel  from  their 
country  the  evil  spirits  which  they  held  responsible  for 
the   bad    crops    and    the   high    prices.     To   effect    this 

NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


object  secret  meetings  were  held  at  night  by  the 
younger  men,  at  which  powerful  mantras,  or  spells, 
were  recited.  Into  some  of  these,  it  is  not  unimpor- 
tant to  note,  the  name  of  the  German  Emperor  was 
introduced.  Acts  of  violence  followed,  and  extra  police 
were  drafted  into  the  district.  But,  adds  the  report, 
the  process  of  pacification  is  slow,  as  the  expulsion  of 
evil  spirits  from  one  village  leads  to  the  alleged  trans- 
fer to  another.  As  might  have  been  expected,  the 
movement  was  followed  by  "witch-hunting,"  in  which 
the  general  populace  took  part,  as  well  as  the  sokas, 
or  "  witch-hunters."  Several  murders  have  taken 
place.  The  whole  account  is  an  interesting  com- 
mentary  on  primitive  psychology,  with  the  workings 
of  which  readers  of  Sir  James  Frazer's  discussions  of 
the  purification  ceremony  of  "devil-driving,"  the  trans- 
ference of  evils,  and  the  medicine-man  will  be  familiar. 
It  may  also  serve  as  a  further  reminder,  should  one 
be  needed,  of. the  importance  to  officials  of  an  under- 
standing of  the  springs  of  action  in  a  lower  race. 

In  the  recently  issued  annual  report  of  the  Decimal 
Association  for  1915,  it  is  stated  that  the  past  year 
has  shown  a  distinct  advance  in  public  opinion  in 
favour  of  the  compulsory  introduction  of  the  metric 
system  of  weights  and  measures.  It  is  pointed  out 
that  our  manufacturers  are  severely  handicapf>ed  as 
regards  trade  with  foreign  countries  by  the  retention 
of  our  present  weights  and  measures.  As  the  metric 
system  is  in  use  in  the  majority  of  foreign  markets 
the  British  manufacturer  who  wishes  to  introduce  his 
goods  into  those  markets  is  at  present  obliged  to  main- 
tain two  systems  of  weights  and  measures,  both  in  his 
works  and  in  his  office.  On  the  other  hand,  his  com- 
petitor on  the  Continent  employs  only  one  system 
throughout,  and  that  system  is  understood  both  by  the 
middleman  and  the  customer.  One  of  the  results  of  the 
war  has  been  to  familiarise  the  nation  with  the  metric 
system  to  a  remarkable  extent.  The  presence  of  our 
soldiers  on  the  Continent  and  of  Belgian  and  French 
refugees  in  our  midst  has  been  an  important  factor  in 
bringing  this  about.  The  nation  has  already  had  to 
experience  so  many  drastic  innovations  that  a  reform 
of  our  weights  and  measures  would  not  now  meet 
with  that  blind  opposition  from  the  general  trading 
community  which  up  to  the  present  has  been  appre- 
hended by  the  authorities.  The  inconvenience  experi- 
enced by  the  public  owing  to  the  exclusion  of  German 
and  Austrian  wares,  especially  certain  classes  of  goods 
which  have  become  almost  necessaries,  must  have 
caused  the  nation  to  realise  that  improvement  in  our 
business  methods  is  urgently  required.  The  Associa- 
tion hopes  that  the  Government  will  take  advantage  of 
the  favourable  opportunity  which  war  conditions  have 
created  for  introducing  legislation  to  bring  our  weights 
and  measures  into  conformity  with  those  which  have 
been  proved  by  our  competitors  to  be  the  most  suitable 
for  stimulating  external  trade. 

The  address  of  Sir  Hugh  Bell  to  the  members  of 
the  Political  Economy  Club  on  March  i,  published  in 
the  Economic  Journal  for  April,  is  a  valuable  con- 
tribution,  especially  as  coming  from  a  great  iron- 
master in  close  competition  with  a  great  German 
industry,  to  the  current  controversy  as  to  the  com-j 
mercial  policy  of  this  country  after  the  war  in  relation 
to  the  Central  Powers.  Sir  Hugh  Bell  makes  it  clear 
that  the  industrial  advance  of  Germany  since  1870 
has  been  the  fruit  mainly  of  "the  German  system  of 
education,"  which  "put  into  the  hands  of  the  German i 
manufacturer  the  means  of  conducting  his  operations 
in  a  thoroughly  scientific  way."  "Very  carefully 
trained  chemists  were  turned  out  of  the  technical 
schools  by  hundreds,"  and  the  manufacturers  "had 
the  good  sense  to  make  use  of  the  materials  thus  pro- 


April  27,  19 16] 


NATURE 


187 


vided."  "The  field  of  inquiry  was  quite  new,  and 
-offered  boundless  opportunities  of  research,"  and  it 
was  vigorously  exploited,  with  the  result  which  the 
war  has  made  only  too  plainly  evident.  Alluding  to 
the  manufacture  of  dyes,  regret  is  expressed  thgl  a 
great  new  branch  of  industry  has  passed  from  British 
control,  but  in  this  matter  blame  is  laid  upon  the 
Government,  both  central  and  local,  in  the  enactment 
of  unwise  restrictions,  the  effect  of  which,  as,  for 
example,  in  the  instance  of  alcohol,  has  resulted  in  the 
serious  hampering  of  industrial  development.  The  great 
industrial  prosperity  of  the  country  has  also  produced 
an  attitude  of  indifterence  to  scientific  discovery  in  this 
and  other  countries,  which,  in  the  case  of  the  latter, 
has  silently  but  none  the  less  surely  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  great  industrial  enterprises.  "There  has  never 
been,"  says  Sir  Hugh  Bell,  "during  the  last  fifty  years 
a  time  of  any  duration  when  it  would  have  been  pos- 
sible to  get  10,000  capable  workmen  to  take  up  new- 
work.  There  have  been  plenty  of  unemployed,  but 
they  were  persons  who,  under  the  conditions  existing, 
were  unemployable."  There  could  scarcely  be  a  more 
eloquent  testimony  to  the  need,  or  a  more  adequate 
spur,  for  a  better  organised  scheme  of  education  by 
means  of  which  we  could  create  a  great  reservoir  of 
rightly  educated  men.  We  need  the  vision  without 
which  a  nation  must  perish. 

The   Cuzco   valley   in    southern    Peru    has    become 

I  known  for  its  vertebrate  remains  embedded  in  com- 

1  paratively   recent    gravels   (see    Nature,    vol.    Ixxxix., 

'  p.  584,   and  vol.    xci.,   p.   615).     The  Yale  expedition 

!  was  mainly  concerned  with  the  antiquity  of  man,  but 

I  Mr.    H.    E.    Gregory   was  enabled   to  extend   his   re- 

I  searches  to  the  geology  of  the  valley  and  its  relation 

i  to  the   Andean    chain.     In    the   American   Journal   of 

I  Science,    vol.    xli.    (1916),    p.    19,    he    presents    a    new 

1  conception   of   the   Andes    as    an    uplifted   plateau    of 

I  continental     and     marine     sediments     penetrated     by 

\  igneous  intrusions,  the  surface  of  erosion  having  little 

}  regard  to  geological  structure.     The  deep  dissection  of 

this   late    Mesozoic    surface    has    cut    "a    number    of 

canyons  rivalling  the  Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colorado 

I  in    depth    and    ruggedness."       The    Urubamba    has 

trenched  the  plateau  to  a  depth  of  more  than  5000  ft. 

jThe  Cuzco  valley  is  an  incident  of  the  plateau,  where 

jfaulting  has  helped  to   produce  a   depression,    in  the 

|upper  part  of  which  a  lake  was  at  one  time  formed  by 

iownwarp. 

In  the  interior  of  Borneo  much  exploration 
(■emains  to  be  done.  Mr.  J.  C.  Moulton,  Curator  of 
|he  Sarawak  Museum,  has  put  together  an  account 
)f  the  various  expeditions  to  Mount  Kinabalu, 
British  North  Borneo,  from  185 1  to  his  own  expedi- 
ion  in  1913  {Sarawak  Museum  Journal,  vol.  ii., 
)t.  ii.,  September,  1915).  The  article  is  accom- 
•anied  by  a  map  showing  the  best  routes  to  the 
nountain.  and  contains  a  good  deal  of  new  informa- 
jion,  much  of  it  collected  from  native  sources.  The 
ame  number  of  the  Journal  contains  a  number  of 
laluable  articles  on  the  natural  history,  botany,  and 
Dology  of  Borneo. 

Further  evidence  that  some  at  least  of  our  British 
allows    {Hirundo    rustica)    winter    normally    in    the 
treme  south-east  of  Africa  has  come  to  light  by  the 
;overy,    near   Grahamstown,    on    February   6,    1916, 
a  bird  which  was  ringed  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Sherwood 
Lytham,    Lancashire,  on   July   3,    1915.     This,   re- 
arks  Mr.  H.  F.  Witherby,  in  British  Birds  for  April, 
the  third   swallow   which   has   been    reported   from 
)uth  Africa    similarly  marked  for  identification.    The 
St   was    ringed   as    an    adult    at    Rosehill,    Cheadle, 
affordshire,  on  May  6,   191 1,  and  was  caught  on  a 
rm    near    Utrecht,   Natal,    on    December  27,    1912. 

NO.    2426,   VOL.    97] 


The  second  was  ringed  as  a  nestling  at  Skelmorlie, 
Ayrshire,  on  July  27,  1912,  and  was  caught  at  Riet 
Valley,   Orange  Free  State,  on  March  16,   19 13. 

Some  useful  work  on  Indian  Cestoda,  by  Mr.  T. 
Southwell,  appears  in  the  Records  of  the  Indian 
Museum,  vol.  vii.,  part  i,  igi6.  The  author  describes 
a  number  of  species  found  in  Indian  fishes,  birds,  and 
mammals.  He  confines  his  remarks  to  the  anatomical 
characters  of  adults.  The  larval  stages,  indeed,  of 
many  of  the  species  herein  surveyed  are  unknown. 
More  particulars  in  regard  to  the  hosts  of  these  para- 
sites would  be  acceptable.  Where  information  on  this 
head  is  lacking  it  would  be  of  distinct  advantage  to  say 
so.  The  same  issue  contains  a  paper  by  Major  R.  E. 
Lloyd  and  Dr.  N.  Annandale  on  the  brackish- water 
hydrozoon,  Campanulina  ceylonensis.  The  authors 
have  been  enabled  to  work  out  the  complete  life- 
history  of  this  interesting  species,  and  thereby  they 
have  discovered  that  the  form  described  by  Browne 
under  the  name  Irene  palkensis  is  really  but  a  senile 
stage  of  ceylonensis. 

Kevv  Bulletin,  No.  i  for  19 16,  contains  a  useful 
paper  on  the  African  species  of  the  genus  Morinda 
(Rubiaceae)  by  Mr.  S.  Hutchinson.  Four  species  are 
now  recognised,  a  new  one,  M.  confusa,  being  de- 
scribed in  the  paper.  Owing  to  the  excellent  material 
sent  home  by  Mr.  Lane-Poole,  Conservator  of  Forests, 
Sierra  Leone,  the  country  inhabited  by  three  of  the 
species,  it  has  been  possible  to  draw  up  careful 
diagnoses.  The  fourth  species,  M.  lucida,  Benth.,  is 
not  known  further  north  than  the  Gold  Coast.  The 
Sierra  Leone  species  are  found  in  the  rain  forests  of 
the  colony.  The  species  are  used  medicinally  for 
various  purposes,  but  especially  for  fever,  M.  geminata 
having  a'  reputation  as  being  efficacious  in  cases  of 
yellow  fever.  The  distinctive  characters  of  the  four 
species  are  well  shown  in  a  series  of  text  figures. 

An  important  memoir  on  the  Avezzano  earthquake 
of  Januar>'  13,  1915,  has  been  communicated  by  Prof. 
E.  Oddone  to  the  Italian  Seismological  Society  {Bol- 
lettino,  vol.  xix.,  1915,  pp.  71-215).  On  the  small- 
scale  map  which  illustrates  the  paper,  the  isoseismal 
lines  of  the  epicentral  area  are  shown,  the  intensity 
being  determined  by  reference  to  the  Cancani  duo- 
decimal scale.  In  this  district  there  are  two  chief 
areas  of  destruction.  The  northern  area,  in  which 
the  intensity  of  the  shock  reached  the  degree  12,  lies 
in  the  basin  formerly  occupied  by  the  lake  of  Fucino, 
and  extends 'from  the  neighbourhood  of  Avezzano  to 
that  of  Lecce.  The  southern  area,  in  which  the  in- 
tensity was  usually  10,  but  in  places  11,  lies  along  the 
Val  Liri.  Prof.  Oddone  attributes  the  remarkable 
variations  of  intensity  in  the  epicentral  district  mainly 
to  orographic  and  geological  conditions,  and  not  to 
the  existence  of  separate  centres  of  disturbance.  The 
directions  of  the  movement  diverge  from  an  epicentral 
area  a  few  kilometres  in  length  and  elongated  from 
north-west  to  south-east,  the  centre  of  the  area  being 
in  41°  58'  N.  latitude,  13°  36'  E.  longitude,  or  about 
16  km.  to  the  south-east  of  Avezzano.  The  ground 
in  this  district  is  broken  up  by  numerous  fissures,  the 
most  remarkable  of  which  is  a  perimetral  crack,  fol- 
lowing approximately  the  course  of  the  isoseismal  12. 
The  crack,  which  has  been  traced  almost  uninter- 
ruptedly for  70  km.,  is  usually  from  30  to  100  cm.  in 
width,  the  ground  within  it  (that  is,  towards  the 
Fucino)  being  depressed  relatively  by  30  to  90  cm. 
The  duration  of  the  earthquake,  scarcely  exceeding 
five  seconds,  was  one  of  the  shortest  of  known  destruc- 
tive earthquakes.  Prof.  Oddone  estimates  the  depth 
of  the  focus  at  approximately  10  km. 

The  existence  of  reindeer  in  Spitsbergen  has  never 
been  satisfactorily  explained,  and  is  a  vexed  problem 


i88 


NATURE 


[April  27,   1916 


in  geographical  distribution.  M.  Adolf  Hoel  has  a 
paper  on  the  subject  in  La  Geographic  for  De- 
cember, 19 15  (vol.  XXX.,  p.  6).  His  contention  that  the 
Spitsbergen  reindeer  have  come  from  Novaya  Zemlya 
via  Franz  Josef  Land  is  supported  by  a  single  piece 
of  evidence,  but  a  very  strong  one.-  In  1912  an  old 
male  reindeer  was  shot  in  Spitsbergen  that  had 
attached  to  one  of  its  horns  by  a  piece  of  cord  the 
foot  of  an  ivory  gull.  It  also  had  incisions  on  its 
ears.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  markings 
on  the  horn  and  ears  were  the  work  of  Samoyedes 
on  Novaya  Zemlya,  who  are  accustomed  to  distin- 
guish certain  members  of  their  herds  in  this  way. 
Other  reindeer  with  marked  ears  are  said,  but  on 
less  secure  evidence,  to  have  been  shot  in  Spits- 
bergen. In  any  case,  this  particular  deer  was  not 
brought  from  Novaya  Zemlya  by  man.  From  Novaya 
Zemlya  to  Franz  Josef  Land  is  about  240  miles,  from 
Franz  Josef  Land  to  King  Carl  Land  about  210,  and 
to  Edge  Island,  Spitsbergen,  another  55  miles. 
Winter  ice  would  certainly  permit  such  a  journey, 
but  the  difficulty  is  to  believe  that  a  reindeer  could 
travel  240  miles  without  food.  However,  M.  Hoel's 
explanation  seems  the  only  possible  one.  A  passage 
direct  from  Lapland  to  Spitsbergen  would  be  im- 
possible, if  only  because  there  is  never  continuous  ice. 

Part  2  of  vol.  xxviii.  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Physical  Society  of  London  contains  thirty  pages, 
twenty  of  which  are  devoted  to  the  Guthrie  Lecture 
delivered  at  the  end  of  January  by  Dr.  W.  B.  Hardy, 
secretary  of  the  Royal  Society.  He  chose  for  his 
subject  some  of  the  physical  problems  raised  by  the 
study  of  living  matter.  He  showed,  for  example, 
how  the  growth  of  the  severed  end  of  a  nerve  towards 
its  corresponding  end  is  determined  by  small  differ- 
ences of  concentration  of  some  substance  diffusing  out 
from  the  severed  ends.  The  phenomena  of  growth 
depend  on  the  presence  of  minute  quantities  of  sub- 
stances known  as  vitamines,  often  found  exclusively 
in  the  rinds  or  skins  of  grains  and  fruits,  and  Dr. 
Hardy  drew  a  parallel  between  their  action  in  deter- 
mining growth  and  the  effect  of  throwing  a  few 
crystals  into  a  supersaturated  solution.  The  remainder 
of  the  part  is  devoted  to  a  short  paper  by  Prof.  Lees 
on  a  generalised  bridge  for  the  comparison  of  the  self 
and  mutual  inductances  of  two  coils,  and  another  by 
Dr.  Sand  on  a  cadmium  arc  lamp  similar  in  principle 
to  the  mercury  arc  lamp. 

In  191 1  a  paper  was  read  before  the  International 
Photometric  Commission  by  W.  J.  A.  Butterfield, 
J.  S.  Haldane,  and  A.  P.  Trotter,  describing  some 
careful  experiments  on  the  Pentane  and  Hefner 
standard  lamps.  By  enclosing  these  lamps  in  a  special 
chamber  the  effect  on  the  light  of  carbon  dioxide, 
aqueous  vapour,  and  barometric  pressure  could  be 
conveniently  studied;  with  the  great  advantage  that 
variations  far  greater  than  those  met  with  in  practice 
could  be  produced,  and  the  resultant  changes  in 
candle-f>ower  studied  on  a  large  scale.  In  the  case  of 
the  Pentane  lamp  the  results  obtained  were  in  close 
agreement  with  those  previously  reported  by  C.  C. 
Paterson  at  the  National  Physical  Laboratory.  But 
the  correction  for  the  effect  of  carbon  dioxide  and 
change  in  barometric  pressure  on  the  Hefner  lamp 
were  found  to  be  respectively  three  times  and  four 
times  that  previously  assumed  by  Liebenthal.  This 
question  has  since  been  studied  by  Dr.  Ott.  of  Zurich. 
With  the  view  of  securing  exceptional  variations  in 
barometric  pressure  experiments  were  first  made  at 
various  stations  in  high  altitudes,  but  eventually  the 
method  of  employing  a  compression  chamber  was 
adopted.  A  change  of  barometric  pressure  from  816 
to  717  mm.,  which  is  the  most  important  range  from 

NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


a  practical  viewpoint,  produced  a  variation  in  the 
candlepower  of  the  Hefner  lamp  of  only  I'l  per  cent. 
This  is  in  close  agreement  with  Liebenthal 's  formula. 
But  from  717  mm.  to  6i4"5  mm.  the  variation  in 
candle-power  was  found  to  be  much  greater,  and  the 
average  effect  for  the  entire  range  of  816-614*5  mm. 
approximated  very  closely  to  the  figure  given  by 
Butterfield,  Haldane,  and  Trotter.  As  regards  the 
effect  of  carbon  dioxide  Dr.  Ott  agrees  with  these 
observers  in  finding  the  factor  given  in  Liebenthal 's 
formula  too  small,  but  this  arises  from  the  fact  that 
the  presence  of  much  carbon  dioxide  is  in  practice 
usually  due  to  the  vitiation  of  the  air  of  the  photo 
meter  room.  TTie  light  is  thus  affected  by  deficiency 
of  oxygen  as  well  as  the  carbon  dioxide.  Well-ven- 
tilated and  sufficiently  large  rooms  are  therefore 
essential  for  standard  work. 

The  accurate  measurement  of  the  vapour  pressure 
of  ice  at  low  temperatures  is  a  problem  of  consider- 
able difficulty,  not  only  on  account  of  the  smallness 
of  the  values  involved,  but  also  because  of  the  adsorp- 
tion on  glass  surfaces  and  of  the  thermal  molecular 
pressure.  These  difficulties  appear  to  have  been 
overcome  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner  by  S.  Weber 
{Kgl.  Danske  Videnskabernes  Selskabs  Forhandlinger,  \ 
No.  6,  1915,  Copenhagen).  The  pressure,  down  to 
205°  absolute,  was  measured  by  means  of  the  loss  of 
heat  from  a  hot  Wollaston  wire,  and  below  this 
temperature  by  Knudsen's  absolute  manometer.  It 
was  also  checked  more  roughly  by  means  of  a  mer- 
curial manometer  with  optical  contacts,  reading  to 
3/x.  The  residual  pressure  in  the  apparatus  at 
143-163°  abs.  was  0053-0070  dyne  per  square  centi- 
metre for  ice  from  conductivity  water,  and  about  half 
this  for  ice  prepared  inside  the  apparatus  from  pure 
hydrogen  and  oxygen.  After  correcting  for  this 
residuum,  which  Is  unaccounted  for,  an  extremely 
good  agreement  with  Nernst's  empirical  formula  was 
obtained,  down  to  175°  abs.  The  same  number  of 
the  above  Journal  contains  the  fifth  of  a  series  of 
papers  by  C.  Christiansen  on  the  frictlonal  electricity 
generated  by  drops  of  a  liquid  falling  on  a  platinum 
plate.  The  effect  Is  much  greater  for  solutions  of 
non-electrolytes  (mercuric  cyanide,  triammlnocobalti- 
nitrite)  than  for  those  of  electrolytes  (mercuric 
chloride,  hexamminocobaltlchloride). 

In    a  paper  entitled   "Theory   and   Practice   in  the 
Filtration  of  Water,"  read  to  the  Institution  of  Mech- 
anical    Engineers    on    April     14,    Mr.    W.    Clemence 
attempts  to  prove  that  the  multiple  filtration  process 
invented  by  MM.   Puech  and  Chabal  is  economically  | 
and  hygienically   the   most   efficient   process  of  water  1 
purification.    The  process  consists  of  passing  the  water ; 
through  a  series  of  filters  filled  with  material  ranging 
from  coarse  gravel  in  the  first  to  fine  sand  in  the  last,  '< 
the  greater  part  of  the  suspended  matter  in  the  water 
being   retained   by   the   earlier   elements,    so   that  no 
film  forms  on  the  surface  of  the  final  sand  filter,  the: 
work  of  purification  being  effected  by  nitrifying  organ- 
isms in  the  body  of  the  sand,  thus  differing  from  other; 
processes,  which  depend  largely  on  the  straining  effect 
of  a  surface  film  formed  by  natural  or  artificial  means. 
While  making  the  best  case  he  can  for  the  multiple 
process — and  on  the  whole  a  good  case — the  author 
scarcely  does  justice  either  to  mechanical  or  ordinary 
slow  sand  filtration.     Most  water  experts  now  agree 
that   these    latter   processes    cannot   be    taken    as   the 
"only  line  of  defence"   against   water-borne  disease.     > 
but  with  an  initially  "safe"  water  the  improvement 
in   appearance  and  the   removal  of  oxidlsable  matter 
effected    particularly    bv    mechanical    filters    are   ofter 
most  marked.     On'  the'  other  hand,  it  is  claimed  thai 
the  multiple  process  is  capable  of  rendering  safe  ar 


April  27,  19 16] 


NATURE 


189 


unsafe  water,  although  no  conclusive  evidence  in  the 
way  of  figures  is  brought  forward  to  prove  it.  Indeed, 
throughout  the  paper,  which  gives  in  considerable 
detail  the  results  of  tests  made  on  multiple  filtration 
plants  in  different  parts  of  the  \\x5rld,  there  is  no  men- 
tion of  any  tests  being  made  for  B.  coli. 

The  Health  of  Munition  Workers'  Committee  has 
issued  a   memorandum   on  special    industrial   diseases 
in  which  it  is  stated  that  the  work  of  certain  industrial 
processes   entails   risk   of   serious,   and  possibly   fatal, 
illness    from    exposure    to    lead,    ethane  tetrachloride, 
nitrous  fumes,  and  certain  explosives,   whilst  contact 
with  trinitrotoluol,  tetr\i,  mercury  fulminate,  and  cer- 
tain   lubricating    and    cooling    liquids    used    in  metal 
turning    may    produce   dermatitis.     The    provision    of 
facilities  for  the  prompt  treatment  of  all  cases  of  sick- 
ness and  injury  is  recommended.     Operatives  engaged 
in  manufacturing  or  handling  trinitrotoluol  have  been 
found  affected  with  unusual  drowsiness,  frontal  head- 
ache,  eczema,    and   loss   of   appetite.     The   symptoms 
I    are  generally  slight  at  first,  and  disappear  when  ex- 
i    posurc  ceases,  but  in  exceptional  cases  sudden  collapse 
i    may  occur   after  a   few   hours'   work  on   a   hot   day. 
I    The  symptoms  are  intensified  by  continued  exposure, 
i    and  in  a  few  cases  profound  jaundice  and  even  death 
i    have  resulted.    T.N.T.  may  be  absorbed  by  the  lungs, 
!    skin,    or    digestive  tract,    in    the   form   of    vaf)Our   or 
!    dust,  and  certain  preventive  measures  are  specified. 

Bllletin   No.   266  of  the   Scientific   Papers  of  the 
,    Bureau    of    Standards,    by    Messrs.    Cain,    Schramm, 
j    and  Cleaves,  deals  with  the  preparation  of  pure  iron 
and  iron-carbon    alloys.        The   authors   have   worked 
1    out  methods  of  producing  laboratory  samples  of  iron- 
j    carbon  alloys  of  a  ver)'  high  degree  of  purity ;  sources 
of  contamination  of  melts  and  means  of  eliminating 
1    them  are  described ;  a  method  of  preparing  magnesia 
of  a  satisfactor)'  degree  of  purity  for  making  crucibles 
to  be  used  in  work  of  this  kind  has  been  developed; 
1   and  a  procedure  for  making  small  ingots,  which  are 
sound  and   free   from   blowholes,    without   the  use  of 
deoxidisers,   has  been   worked  out.     A  series  of  iron- 
carbon   alloys   containing  9996   per   cent,    of  the  two 
,  elements   has  been  prepared   to   serve  as   a   basis   for 
'  the    redetermination    of    the    iron-carbon    equilibrium 
diagram. 

In  Bulletin  No.  60  of  the  Technological  Papers  of 
j  the  U.S.  Bureau  of  Standards,  H.  S.  Rawdon 
j  describes    the   microstructural    changes    accompanying 

the  anneahng  of  cast  bronze  (Cu88,  Snio,  Zn2).     The 

alloy  is  first  brought  into  physico-chemical  equilibrium. 

The  dendritic  structure  persists  until  heated  for  ap- 
I  proximately  two  hours  at  800°  C.  The  absorption  of 
j  the  eutectoid  depends  much  on  how  the  sample  cooled 
I  on  freezing.  No  evidence  was  found  suggesting  a 
\  change  of  crystal  size  of  cast  samples  which  had  not 

been  distorted  in  any  way.  Recr>stallisation,  includ- 
Iing  twinning,  was  found  onlv  to  follow  distortion  or 
jits  equivalent.  Metal  cooled  suddenly  from  the  molten 
I  state  behaves  similarly  because  of  the  high  internal 
[stresses  resulting. 

Messrs.  Cassell  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  have  ready  for 
.^-abhcation  "  Alfred  Russel  Wallace :  Letters  and 
Reminiscences,"  by  J.  Marchant.  The  volume  will 
:»ntam  a  number  of  hitherto  unpublished  letters, 
-emmiscences  from  various  friends,  and  a  sketch  (from 
i«  son  and  daughter)  of  Dr.  Wallace's  home  life. 
ine  evolution  of  the  idea  of  natural  selection  is  traced 
|P  to  the  time  when  the  papers  on  the  subject  bv 
'an^-m    and    Wallace     were     communicated     to    the 

nnean    Society-,    and    Dr.    Wallace's   other   scientific 

ork  is  dealt  with  in  the  volume. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 
The  Planet  Mercury, — This  planet  will  be  at 
greatest  E.  elongation  on  May  12,  21°  36'  E.  from  the 
sun.  It  will  continue  above  the  horizon  about  two 
hours  after  sunset.  Maximum  conspicuousness  occurs 
several  days  before  the  elongation. 

Comet  1916a  (Xeujmin). — Observations,  including  an 
arc  of  thirt}-seven  days  (February'  27-April  4),  have 
been  employed  by  M.  J.  Braae  in  calculating  a  new 
orbit  for  this  comet.  The  second  and  third  places  are 
based  on  observations  made  at  Bamberg  (JNIarch  23) 
and  Xeu  Babelsberg.  The  modifications  of  the  earlier 
orbit  are  all  in  the  direction  of  the  Berkeley  orbit 
noted  last  week,  consequently  the  differences  between 
the  respective  ephemerides  have  been  considerably  re- 
duced. According  to  Copenhagen  Postcard  No.  17  the 
new  orbit  is  : — 

T=i9i6  March  11-2350  G.M.T.     P  =  3oo8-8  days  (550  y. 
/x  =  645i63" 

Epoch  1916  Jan.  o"s  G.M.T.  Equinox  1916 "o 

Mo=347°  19'  24'5''  »=I93°   43'  I77" 

<i>  =  34'  43'    47"  ft  =327^  30'  59"6|^ 

Log  a=     0-493559  /  =    10°  39'  530" 

Ephemeris  (Messrs.  J.  Braae  and  J.  Fischer-Peter- 
sen),  Greenwich  midnight : — 


April  28 

30 
May     2 

4 
6 


h.     m.     s. 
10   20  36 

24  59 

29  24 

33  51 
38  21 


9  41-9 
10  107 

10  387 
"     5-9 

11  32-3 


Log  A   April  26,  9-7979,  May  4,  98386 

Observations  made  at  the  Hill  Observatory,  Sid- 
mouth,  on  April  20  and  22,  were  represented  by  this 
ephemeris  within  the  limits  of  accuracy  attainable  in 
the  measures.  On  April  22,  the  sky  being  especially 
clear,  the  comet  still  showed  a  considerable  diffused 
coma  and  a  feeble  condensation  was  glimpsed. 

The  Irregular  Varl\ble  Star,  T  Tauri. — The 
annual  report  of  the  director  of  the  Mount  Wilson 
Solar  Observatory  for  19 15  bears  more  resemblance 
to  a  review  of  the  world's  work  in  astronomical  physics 
than  the  report  of  a  single  institution.  The  summary 
contains  seventy-eight  important  items.  No.  61  states 
that  the  irregular  variable  star,  T.  Tauri,  is  sur- 
rounded by  an  extensive  atmosphere  4"  in  diameter, 
which  shows  the  bright  lines  characteristic  of  Wolf- 
Rayet  stars.  The  spectrum  of  the  star  proper  is  about 
F5.  The  magnitude  of  this  remarkable  object  ranges 
between  10-3  and  13-2.  Notwithstanding  the  impres- 
sive output  of  work  it  appears  there  is  room  for  regret 
— the  60-in.  reflector  remains  the  only  instrument  for 
work  on  stars  and  nebulae,  but  it  is  offset  by  a  cres- 
cendo of  hope — the  lo-in.  portrait  lens  telescope  is 
nearly  ready,  and  the  loo-in.  reflector  is  expected  to 
;  be  in  working  order  by  the  end  of  1916. 

A  New  Variable  Star  Having  Nebulous  Envelope. 

— ^An  addition  to  this  at  present  very  limited  group 
I  of  extremely  interesting  objects  is  announced  by  Mr. 
I  R.  T.  A.  Innes  in  Circular  No.  33  of  the  Union  Observa- 
,  ton.-.     The  star  is  —37°  8450  in  the  Southern  Crown, 

and  normally  its  magnitude  is  87,  but  on  two  occasions 

■  last  year,   October  29  and  November  24,  it  was  con- 

■  siderably  fainter  (12-4  and  11-5  resf>ectively).  The 
nebulous  envelop>e  was  also  found  to  vary.  The  6-88 
magnitude  star,  —37°  8449,  possesses  a  similar  append- 
age, and  is  so  near  to  the  above  as  to  touch,  thus 

,  affording    an    excellent    basis    for    comparison.     It    is 
j  tantalising    to    think    that    these    stars    actually    come 
above  our  horizon. 


NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


I  go 


NATURE 


[April  27,  19 16 


THE  INDIAN  SCIENCE  CONGRESS. 

'X'HE  proposal  to  assemble  an  Indian  Science  Con- 
^  gress  was  first  put  forward  in  1913,  and  was 
due  to  the  initiative  of  Prof.  MacMahon  and  of  Dr. 
Simonsen.  The  support  of  the  Asiatic-  Society  of  Ben- 
gal gave  to  the  new  scheme  a  prestige  which  has 
helped  it  materially.  The  first  congress  was  held  at 
Calcutta  in  1914,  the  second  at  Madras  in  1915,  and 
the  third  has  recently  been  held  at  Lucknow.  The 
future  development  of  these  congresses  will  be  watched 
with  interest  by  all  who  are  engaged  in  scientific 
work. 

India  is  struggling  to  devise  an  educational  system 
that  will  satisfy  her  peculiar  and  complicated  require- 
ments ;  in  her  endeavours  she  has  been  the  recipient  of 
much  criticism  and  advice;  other  countries  have  been 
held  up  to  her  as  models,  and  she  has  been 
urged  to  adopt,  for  her  numerous  races  and  her  tropical 
climate,  methods  that  have  been  found  suitable  to 
homogeneous  northern  peoples. 

Amid  the  clamour  of  politicians  quarrelling  over 
questions  of  primary  education,  the  Government  of 
India  has  had  to  consider  the  teaching  of  science  at 
colleges  and  universities,  and  the  prosecution  of  re- 
search in  its  scientific  departments.  In  the  last  twenty 
years  many  well-qualified  professors  of  science  (physics, 
chemistry,  zoology,  medicine,  mathematics)  have  been 
appointed,  the  Science  Institute  at  Bangalore  has  been 
founded  by  the  late  Mr.  J.  N.  Tata,  the  Research  In- 
stitutes at  Dehra  Dun  and  Pusa  have  been  erected  and 
officered.  In  1902,  in  order  to  prevent  the  duplication 
and  overlapping  of  work,  and  in  order  to  promote 
co-operation  and  touch.  Lord  Curzon  created  the  Board 
of  Scientific  Advice,  upon  which  each  scientific  depart- 
ment of  State  is  represented. 

The  expansion  of  scientific  teaching  and  work  in 
India  has  created  new  wants,  and  the  absence  of 
scientific  societies  and  of  scientific  libraries  has  now 
begun  to  be  felt.  Although  the  Board  of  Scientific 
Advice  may  prevent  the  Forest  Department  in  its 
researches  from  overlapping  the  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment, it  does  not  bring  the  scientific  departments  into 
touch  with  the  universities  and  colleges,  and  it  does 
not  bring  together  individuals  who  are  working  at 
the  same  branch  of  science. 

If  the  Government  of  India  had  made  no  efforts  to 
push  on  the  teaching  of  science,  it  would  have  been 
blamed  for  supineness;  now,  however,  that  it  is  show- 
ing enterprise  and  determination,  it  is  criticised  for 
giving  scientific  education  without  providing  a  career 
or  a  livelihood  for  the  youth  whom  it  educates.  It  is 
pointed  out  that  the  educated  youth  of  India  is  crowd- 
ing into  the  legal  profession,  because  it  is  the  only 
learned  profession  that  holds  out  a  prospect  of  money- 
making.  This  statement  is,  however,  no  longer  quite 
correct,  as  the  medical  profession  is  beginning  to  offer 
great  chances  to  young  men  of  ability.  In  every 
civilised  country  the  public  are  willing  to  pay  large 
fees  to  men  who  can  save  them  from  illness  or  can 
protect  them  in  the  law  courts;  and  this  fact  will 
always  render  the  legal  and  medical  professions  popu- 
lar and  lucrative. 

The  word  "research"  is  now  in  common  use,  but 
what  is  meant  by  "research"?  Some  authorities, 
influenced  by  the  commercial  success  of  foreign  medi- 
cines and  of  synthetic  indigo,  urge  that  research 
must  be  utilitarian ;  others  are  contending  that  science 
must  be  pursued  for  love  of  science  only.  Enough 
has  been  said  to  show  the  difficulties  of  the  situation 
in  India.  In  such  a  situation  an  annual  congress  of 
all  interested  in  science  cannot  fail  to  be  advantageous. 
Twenty  years  ago   such   a  congress  would  not  have 

NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


been  possible ;  twenty  years  hence  it  will  have  created 
for  itself  a  powerful  position. 

In  India  workers  in  science  are  scattered 
to  an  extent  which  residents  in  England  can 
scarcely  realise.  It  is  desirable  that  they  should 
become  personally  acquainted.  Without  libraries 
and  without  intercourse  individuals  cannot  keep 
abreast  of  the  tiines.  A  congress  meeting 
affords  an  opportunity  for  workers  from  every  part  of 
India  to  meet  together  and  to  discuss  their  difficulties, 
and  is  of  particular  value  to  the  younger  workers,  in 
that  they  are  able  to  present  their  results  to  audiences 
capable  of  offering  sound  criticism.  Trained  students 
from  the  Indian  colleges  are  able  at  a  congress  to 
obtain  information  concerning  chances  of  employ, 
ment. 

The  recent  congress  at  Lucknow  was  well  attended 
by  both  Europeans  and  Indians,  and  the  discussions 
showed  great  and  general  interest.  Colonel  Selby,  the 
principal  of  the  Medical  College,  had  kindly  placed 
some  of  his  buildings  at  the  disposal  of  the  congress, 
which  was  opened  on  January  13  by  Sir  James  Meston, 
the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  United  Provinces.  Sir 
Sidney  Burrard  was  the  president,  and  in  his  address 
he  discussed  the  origin  of  the  mountain  ranges  of 
India.  The  congress  then  separated,  and  meetings  of 
its  several  sections  were  held— Agriculture,  Zoology, 
Chemistry,  Botany,  Physics  and  Mathematics,  Geology 
and  Ethnology.  It  would  serve  no  useful  purpose  to 
give  complete  lists  of  the  papers  read  in  the  various 
sections.  A  report  of  the  meeting,  with  abstracts  of 
the  papers  read,  has  been  published  in  the  Journal  of 
the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal  for  February,   igi6. 

From  the  papers  presented  to  the  Chemistry  Sec- 
tion, it  is  clear  that  both  among  the  European  and 
Indian  members  of  the  teaching  staffs  at  the  variou'S 
colleges  and  institutions,  a  keen  desire  to  carry  out 
chemical  investigations  exists,  a  desire  which  is  shared 
also  by  the  senior  students  of  some  of  the  colleges. 
Among  the  centres  where  such  activity  is  pronounced 
are  Calcutta,  Madras,  Dacca,  and  Bangalore.  The 
growth  of  this  desire  to  participate  in  chemical  re- 
search has  been  most  marked  during  the  past  few 
years,  and  the  activity  at  present  is  such  that  materials 
for  papers  and  discussion  at  subsequent  meetings  of 
the  congress  are  assured. 

In  the  Physics  Section  the  attendance  was  large. 
Papers  were  read  on  atmospheric  electricity ;  radio- 
activity of  rocks ;  electrical  discharge  in  gases ;  the 
oscillations  of  a  violin  string,  and  the  history  of  mathe- 
matics, showing  that  the  range  of  work  was  wide. 
The  papers  were  of  a  high  standard,  and  indicated 
that  research  in  the  physical  sciences  is  healthy  in 
India.  Of  the  researches  described  in  the  papers  read, 
four  were  made  in  Government  scientific  departments 
and  eleven  in  university  colleges.  The  meetings  acted  ; 
as  a  stimulus  to  those  taking  part  in  them. 

Lucknow  being  a  large  city,  the  committee  of  the  j 
congress    arranged    for    three    lectures    to    which   the 
public  were  admitted.     The  first  was  by  Dr.  Hankin. 
on  the  evolution  of  flying  animals ;  the  second  by  Dr.   , 
Bose,  on  invisible  light ;  and  the  third  by  Prof.  Neogi,  : 
on  the  manufacture  of  iron  in  ancient  India. 

With  a  record  of  three  successful  meetings,  it  seems 
clear  that  the  Science  Congress  has  established  itself 
as  a  valuable  aid  to  scientific  progress  in  India.  In 
the  future  it  is  perhaps  possible  that  it  may  develop 
on  broader  lines  and  eventually  grow  into  an  Indian 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  with 
greater  scope  for  promoting  scientific  inquiry  and  co- 
operation. All  who  have  been  engaged  in  scientific 
work  in  India  will  realise  the  great  benefits  which  ' 
might  be  conferred  by  such  an  association. 


April  2^,  19 16] 


NATURE 


191 


IHE  GLACIAL  THEORY  OF  CORAL  REEFS. ^ 

SLESS'S  demonstration  that  many  of  the  relative 
changes  of  land  and  sea  may  be  due  to  variations 
in  the  height  of  the  sea,  while  the  land  re- 
mained stationary,  and  his  suggestion  that 
Darwin's  theory  of  coral  reefs  was  as  con- 
sistent with  a  rise  of  the  sea  surface  as  with  a 
subsidence  of  the  sea  floor,  were  followed  by  various 
attempts  thus  to  explain  the  phenomena  of  coral 
islands.  This  explanation  has  now  received  its 
strongest  support  in  a  valuable  memoir  by  Prof.  R.  A. 
Dalv,  who  brings  to  the  problem  his  usual  thorough- 
ness and  ingenuity.  His  interest  in  the  question  was 
roused  by  the  coral  reefs  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
which  are  so  small  that  they  are  clearly  young,  and 
were  probably  all  formed  after  the  disappearance  of  the 
glaciers  that  once  existed  around  the  summit  of  Mauna 
Kea. 

After  some  years  of  careful  study.  Prof.  Daly  con- 
cludes that  the  coral  reefs  of  the  world  consist  of  a 
thin  veneer  of  coral  limestone  resting  on  a  great  sub- 
marine bank;  and  he  holds  that  the  fundamental 
problem  is  the  origin  of  these  banks,  and  the  recent 
establishment  of  the  coral  reefs  upon  them.  His  theory 
is  that  coral  growth  was  checked  or  stopped  by  the 
chilling  of  the  tropical  seas  during  Glacial  times ;  that 
as  the  temperature  rose  the  coral  polyps  started  active 
growth,  while  the  sea  surface  was  being  gradually  raised 
by  the  melting  of  the  polar  ice-sheets.  Prof.  Daly 
assumes  that  the  ice-sheets  of  Europe,  America,  and 
the  Antarctic  all  reached  their  maxima  at  the  same 
time ;  and  he  calculates  that  the  retention  of  this  water 
on  land  would  lower  sea-level  by  from  27  to  33  fathoms, 
while  the  movement  of  sea  water  into  the  polar 
regions  by  the  lateral  attraction  of  the  ice  caps 
lowered  the  tropical  seas  another  five  fathorns. 
When  the  sea  was  thus  lowered  wave  action 
planed  down  the  great  tropical  banks  and  shelves 
which  now  support  the  coral  reefs.  One  of  the 
longest  sections  of  the  memoir  discusses  the  depths 
of  coral  lagoons,  and  claims  (p.  104)  that  "neither 
maximum  nor  general  depths  in  atoll  and  barrier-reef 
lagoons  of  larger  size  should  so  nearly  agree  if  subsi- 
dence has  been  the  essential  control  in  forming  coral 
reefs." 

The  evenness  of  the  lagoon  floors  may  be  due  to  the 
distribution  of  sediment  by  wave  action ;  for  the 
evidence  collected  by  many  authorities,  such  as  Nansen 
and  Stanley  Gardiner,  has  shown  that  the  influence 
of  waves  extends  far  deeper  than  the  limit  formerly 
accepted.  The  fact  that  no  such  great  thickness  of 
coral  limestone  as  is  assumed  by  Darwin's  theory  has 
ever  been  conclusively  established  cannot  be  lightly 
-et  aside;  and  Prof.  Daly  makes  the  novel  suggestion 
hat  the  formation  of  coral  reefs  may  have  been 
stopped  by  excessive  heat  as  well  as  by  cold.  He 
remarks  that  when  Grinnell  Land  had  a  January  tem- 
perature 50°  warmer  than  it  has  now,  the  growth  of 
corals  in  the  tropics  was  probably  inhibited  owing  to 
ihe  lowering  of  their  vitality  by  excessive  heat. 

Prof.  Daly  has,  therefore,  adopted  the  bank  theory 

of  coral  reefs,  which,  as  he  remarks,  was  advocated 

by  Tyerman  and  Bennett  in   1832,  and  in  later  times 

by     Wharton      and      Agassiz.       The     part     of     Sir 

John    Murray's    theory    which    explained    the    depth 

of    lagoons     by     solution     is     summarily     dismissed. 

That     Prof.      Daly's     explanation      is     correct     for 

1  some     coral     islands     may    be     at     once     admitted. 

Thus    the    evidence    from    the   Maldives    and    Lacca- 

1  dives,    which    Prof.    Daly    clearly    states,    long    ago 

Med  supporters  of  the  Darwinian  theory  to  regard  those 

;^efs  as  a  coral  crust  upon  a  submerged  ridge  parallel 

•  "The  r,lackl-rontrr.l  Theorv  of  Coral  Re^fs."     By  R.  A.  Daly.     Proc. 
\mer.  Acad    Ar's  S-i  ,  Vol.  li    Vo.  4,  lO":.  pp.  157-251. 


to  the  Western  Ghats.  Sir  William  Wharton  origin- 
ally proposed  that  one  of  these  islands  should  be 
selected  for  the  boring  test,  but  he  withdrew  this 
recommendation  when  it  was  pointed  out  to  him  at 
the  British  Association  Committee  on  the  subject  that 
these  islands  would  not  be  regarded  as  a  satisfactory 
test;  so  he  withdrew  his  proposal,  and  at  the  next 
meeting  recommended  Funafuti,  which  was  afterwards 
selected  for  the  famous  boring.  Its  evidence,  however, 
Prof.  Daly  rejects  on  the  ground  that  the  bore  passed 
into  coral'talus,  and  that  "the  actual  site  of  the  borings 
was  unwisely  chosen "  (p.  247) ;  but  taking  all  the 
circumstances  into  account,  the  site  on  Funafuti  was 
probably  the  best  available. 

Glaciation  has  been  summoned  to  relieve  geologists 
from  many  difficulties,  and  in  spite  of  the  ingenuity  of 
Prof.  Daly's  arguments,  the  Darwinian  theory-  may 
still  survive  this  appeal  to  Glacial  influences.  The 
fundamental  assumption  that  all  the  Glacial  ice-sheets 
reached  their  greatest  size  simultaneously  seems 
opposed  to  the  current  trend  of  opinion.  The  Glacial 
period  was  obviously  one  of  widespread  earth  move- 
ment; the  subsidence  of  Scandinavia,  the  British  Isles, 
and  northern  America  during  their  glaciation  would 
have  tended  to  lower  the  sea-level;  but  these  move- 
ments and  the  amount  of  water  used  in  the  formation 
of  land  ice  might  easily  have  been  masked  by  uplifts 
under  the  tropical  oceans. 

One  objection  to  the  view  that  the  coral  reefs  have 
grown  upward  to  keep  pace  with  a  rise  of  sea-level 
has  generally  been  regarded  as  fatal ;  for  any  such 
movements  should  have  aff^ected  the  whole  of  the 
tropical  seas  and  should  have  been  uniform  throughout 
them.  But  vast  lengths  of  coast  show  no  sign  of  any 
such  ris^'  of  sea-level.  In  the  coral  seas  themselves 
some  districts  have  raised  reefs,  while  elsewhere  the 
coasts  present  the  features  characteristic  of  subsidence. 
This  fact  was  shown  by  Darwin,  and  has  been  con- 
firmed by  the  detailed  work  of  Alexander  .Agassiz. 
The  grouping  of  coral  reefs  according  to  size  and  form 
is  also  evidence  that  the  coral  seas  have  been  affected 
by  differential  movements  of  the  sea  floor.  Dana 
showed  that  the  coral  islands  are  so  grouped  as  to 
indicate  rapid  subsidence  along  certain  lines,  while 
adjacent  areas  remained  stationary.  Such  facts  of  dis- 
tribution apf>ear  irreconcilable  with  the  Glacial  control 
theory.  J.  W.  G. 


ILLUSIONS  OF  THE    UPPER    AIR.i^ 

A. Review  of  Progress  in  Meteorological  Theory 
IN  England  since  1866. 

The  Study   of   Cyclones   and  Anticyclones. 

IN  1866,  a  year  after  Admiral  FitzRoy's  death,  the 
Royal  Society  undertook,  by  means  of  the  new 
Meteorological  Office,  to  establish  seven  other  observa- 
tories in  various  parts  of  the  country,  equipped  just 
like  the  Kew  Observatory  at  Richmond,  and  to  use 
the  automatic  records  in  explanation  of  the  weather  as 
set  out  in  the  daily  maps.  The  explanation  of  the 
winds  and  the  interest  of  the  sailor  were  the  justifica- 
tion of  the  public  expenditure. 

Meteorologists  knew  about  cyclones  from  Piddington 
in  1848  and  about  anticyclones  from  Galton  in  1863 ; 
from  that  time  onwards  until  the  end  of  the  century 
the  study  of  cyclones  and  anticyclones  was  the 
dominant  idea  of  dynamical  meteorology. 

It  was  mainly  conducted  by  observations  at  the 
earth's  surface;  and  necessarily  so.  In  1852  Welsh, 
the  superintendent  of  Kew  Observatory,  had  made 
four  sets  of  excellent  observations  of  the  upper  air  in 

1  From  adisrourse  delivered  at  the  Royal  Institution  on  Friday,  March  lo, 
by  Sir  Napier  Shaw,  F.R.S. 


NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


192 


NATURE 


[April  27,  19 16 


balloons,  and  Glaisher  had  followed  them  up  by  a 
large  number  of  ascents  for  the  British  Association, 
which  reached  their  climax  in  the  famous  ascent  with 
Coxwell  in  1862.  They  added  a  good  deal  to  our 
knowledge  but  very  little  to  our  ideas.  They  told  us 
that  the  atmosphere  showed  continual  decrease  of 
temperature  with  height,  and  that  surprised  nobody; 
it  was  a  natural  incident  in  the  gradual  transition 
from  the  temperature  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  to 
the  absolute  zero  of  space.  "The  nicely  calculated 
less  or  more  "  was  not  of  vital  importance.  Cyclones 
and  anticyclones  obviously  belonged  to  the  upper  air, 
the  regions  where  clouds  are  formed  and  dissipated, 
where  rain  and  snow  and  hail  are  produced,  but  bal- 
loon ascents  told  us  little  about  them  beyond  confirm- 
ing the  surmise  that  there  are  great  ascending  currents 
associated  with  certain  forms  of  cloud. 

The  only  real  information  to  be  got  about  the  atmo- 
sphere in  upper  regions  was  that  contained  in  observa- 
tions of  pressure  at  the  surface,  which  is  the  cumula- 
tive result  of  the  whole  thickness  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  the  amount  of  rain,  hail,  or  snow  which  falls 
from  above.  There  were  also  observations  of  the 
forms  of  cloud  and  their  motion,  and,  if  we  please,  of 
their  position.  The  rest  is  necessarily  speculation,  so 
that  out  of  these  observations  meteorologists  were 
obliged  to  imagine  for  themselves  what  cyclones  and 
anticyclones  are,  how  far  up  they  extend,  how  they 
are  produced  and  maintained,  what  kind  of  air  they 
are  made  of,  and  so  on. 

Observations  of  the  Upper  Air. 

Speculation  can  do  a  great  deal  with  the  atmosphere. 
It  goes  beyond  the  reach  of  our  balloons,  and  tells  us 
of  the  substitution  of  hydrogen  and  the  rarer  gases  for 
oxygen  and  nitrogen  in  the  region  of  the  meteor  and 
the  solar  electron.  But  from  the  year  1896  onwards 
there  has  been  a  systematic  collection  of  facts  about 
the  upper  air  by  using  kites  to  carry  instruments  up 
to  heights  of  3  kilometres,  or  occasionally  more; 
ballons-sondes  which  carry  instruments  up  to  heights 
of  35  kilometres  (20  miles  or  more) ;  and  pilot  balloons 
which  give  the  direction  and  velocity  of  the  wind  at 
various  levels  up  to  10  kilometres,  sometimes  more. 

Comparison  of  Fact  with  Speculation. 

This  investigation  has  given  us  a  wealth  of  informa- 
tion about  the  upper  air.  The  principal  result  is  the 
division  of  the  atmosphere  into  two  layers  :  a  lower 
layer  about  10  kilometres  thick,  the  troposphere,  the 
region  of  convection ;  and  an  upper  layer,  the  strato- 
sphere, in  which  there  is  no  convection.  We  can  use 
the  information  to  test  some  of  the  generally  accepted 
ideas  about  cyclones  and  anticyclones  bv  comparing 
the  results  of  speculation  with  the  new  facts.  Many 
of  the  pictures  which  we  imagined  now  appear  to 
have  been  illusions.  Those  of  us,  for  example,  who 
thought  that  because  the  air  was  warmed  from  the 
bottom,  the  upper  part  would  be  free  from  sudden 
changes  of  temperature  such  as  we  get  at  the  surface 
were  rapidly  and  rudely  disappointed.  Simplicity  is 
not  apparently  the  characteristic  of  the  upper  air. 

The  Convection  Theory  of  Cyclones  and  Anticyclones. 

Before  giving  you  other  examples,  let  me  quote  the 
description  by  which  Galton  introduced  the  name 
"anticyclone,"  because  the  mental  picture  of  the 
structure  of  cyclones  and  anticyclones  which  has 
guided  the  thoughts  of  the  majority  of  meteorologists 
has  been  formed  by  the  gradual  elaboration  of  the 
ideas  contained  in  that  description  : — 

"  Most  meteorologists  are  agreed  that  a  circum- 
scribed area  of  barometric  depression  is  usually  a  locus 
of  light  ascending  currents,   and  therefore  of  an   in- 

NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


draught  of  surface  winds  which  create  a  retrograde 
whirl  (in  our  hemisphere)." 

"Conversely,  we  ought  to  admit  that  a  similar 
area  of  barometric  elevation  is  usually  a  locus  of  dense 
descending  currents,  and  therefore  of  a  dispersion  of 
a  cold,  dry  atmosphere,  plunging  from  the  higher 
regions  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth,  which,  flowing 
away  radially  on  all  sides,  becomes  at  length  imbued 
with  a  lateral  motion  due  to  the  above-mentioned  cause, 
though  acting  in  a  different  manner  and  in  opposite 
directions"    (Proc.    Roy.     Soc,    vol.    xii.,     1862-1863, 

P-  385)- 

Out  of  that  there  gradually  grew  the  conception, 
on  the  one  hand,  of  the  central  area  of  a  cyclone  on 
the  map  as  a  centre  of  centripetal  motion,  a  focus 
of  attraction  for  the  surrounding  air,  and  of  the 
general  area  of  the  cyclone  as  a  region  of  ascending 
warm  air  producing  rain  or  snow ;  round  the  central 
region  the  air  moves  inward  with  a  counter-clockwise 
motion  in  spiral  curves.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
conception  of  the  central  area  of  an  anticyclone  is  of 
a  centre  of  centrifugal  motion,  a  region  of  repulsion ; 
the  general  area  of  an  anticyclone  is  a  region  of 
descending  cold  air  moving  with  a  clockwise  motion 
spirally  outwards.  The  fundamental  dynamical  idea 
is  that  of  air  driven  like  gas  along  a  pipe  from 
high  pressure  to  low  pressure,  retarded  by  the  friction 
of  the  surface,  and  diverted  from  its  direct  object  by 
the  rotation  of  the  earth. 

For  future  reference,  let  us  separate  the  three 
elements  of  this  picture  and  keep  them  distinct.  First, 
the  circulation,  counter-clockwise  in  a  cyclone,  clock- 
wise in  an  anticyclone.  Second,  the  convergence 
across  the  circulation  from  high  to  low.  Third,  the 
convection,  or  vertical  motion,  which  apf>ears  as 
ascending  air  in  the  cyclone  and  descending  air  In 
the  anticyclone. 

According  to  the  conception  which  developed  on  the 
lines  of  Galton 's  description,  and  found  ready  accept- 
ance, the  circulation  is  Incidental  to  the  convergence ; 
the  convergence  Is  universal,  the  convection  general. 

It  is  another  example  of  the  facilis  descensus  Averni. 
The  very  simple  piecing  together  of  the  three  parts 
makes  it  almost  obvious  that  the  third  element,  the 
convection,  is  the  effective  cause  of  the  whole 
dynamical  process ;  it  Is  natural  to  regard  convection 
as  the  ascent  of  warm  air  in  a  relatively  cold  environ- 
ment, causing  low  pressure  on  account  of  the  rela- 
tively high  temperature  of  the  ascending  air;  and 
high  pressure  as  the  natural  corollary  of  cold  descend- 
ing air.  The  convergence,  or  motion  across  the 
isobars,  is  the  primary  result  of  the  distribution  of 
pressure,  and  the  circulation  is  merely  the  deviation 
from  the  straight  path  caused  by  the  rotation  of  the 
earth.  The  theory  is  quite  simple  and  quite  self-con- 
tained, and  it  has  this  great  advantage  :  that  the  cause 
which  it  assigns  for  the  cyclone,  namely,  the  convec- 
tion of  warmed  air,  has  always  been  regarded  as  the 
cause  of  winds ;  it  has  been  accepted  as  explaining 
land-  and  sea-breezes,  the  trade  winds  and  the  mon- 
soons ;  and  If  it  is  also  accepted  as  explaining  the 
cyclone  and  anticyclone,  which  are  the  modern 
meteorological  names  for  the  diverse  winds  of  the 
temperate  latitudes,  we  can  see  in  the  Idea  a  beautiful 
unity  in  meteorological  theory.  The  origin  of  all 
the  winds  is  thereby  assigned  directly  to  what  we 
know  must  be  their  ultimate  cause,  namely,  the 
warming  of  the  lowest  layers  of  the  air  by  the 
warmed  surface  of  sea  or  land.  If  we  doubt  its 
efficiency  in  one  case,  there  seems  no  good  reason  for 
holding  to  it  In  the  others. 

It  seems  a  pity  that  an  illusion  which  apparently 
does  such  good  service  should  be  shattered ;  but  it 
cannot  face  the  facts  of  the  upper  air. 

You  will  notice  that  the  whole  matter  depends  upon 


April  27,  19 16] 


NATURE 


^93 


the  idea  of  the  low  pressure  in  the  warm  ascending 
air  of  the  cyclone  as  the  driving  force,  whatever  be 
the  area  covered  by  the  circulation.  The  obser\'ations 
of  the  upf)er  air  have  made  us  familiar  with  certain 
facts  about  the  height  of  the  atmosphere  that  make 
such  an  idea  too  improbable.  The  convective  atmo- 
sphere is  only  about  lo  kilometres  thick.  The  region 
in  which  conv^^ction  can  operate  is  therefore  a  thin 
skin  represented  by  a  centimetre  in  the  case  of  a  map 
on  the  millionth  scale,  on  which  looo  miles  is  about 
6  ft.  in  length.  A  cyclone  is  often  regarded  as  a 
towering  structure  which  may  produce  curious  effects 
by  tilting  its  axis,  but  that  is  clearly  illusory ;  the  idea 
that  descending  air  over  northern  France  is  operating 
■  conjunction  with  rising  air  over  Iceland  to  produce 
flow  of  air  along  the  line  joining  them  is  an  un- 
productive way  of  representing  the  facts. 

The  idea  of  the  ordinary-  cyclones  and  anticyclones 
in  our  latitudes  as  foci  of  centripetal  and  centrifugal 
motion  is  an  illusion.  In  all  ordinary  cases  of  cyclone 
the  oonv^ergence  of  the  paths  of  air  towards  the 
centre  is  itself  an  illusion,  because  the  motion  of  the 
cyclone  makes  it  miss  its  apparent  aim,  and  we 
get  in  actual  fact  paradoxical  cases  of  air  which, 
always  seeking  a  place  of  lower  pressure,  yet  makes 
its  way  to  a  place  of  higher  pressure,  because  the 
pressure  has  been  raised  over  its  path ;  and  though 
it  always  seeks  the  centre,  in  reality  it  goes  further 
away  from  it.  If  it  wanted  to  reach  it,  it  was  a 
mistake  to  aim  at  it;  if  it  wanted  to  get  near,  it 
should  have  aimed  to  get  away.  There  certainly  is 
convergence  and  convection,  but  it  is  local  and  not 
general  over  the  cyclone.  The  idea  which  is  conveyed 
by  convergence  in  spiral  paths  to  the  centre  of  a 
moving  cyclone  is  an  illusion.  It  did  not  even  require 
observation  of  the  upper  air  to  tell  us  that.- 

Take  the  time  required  for  the  operating  forces 
to  produce  any  such  wind  velocities  as  we  find  in 
actual  experience.  In  one  hour  an  ordinary  pressure- 
difference  would  produce  a  velocity  of  looo  metres  per 
second  if  it  were  free  to  act.  The  time  required  to 
generate  a  velocity  of,  say,  lo  metres  per  second  is 
infinitesimal  compared  with  the  time  during  which 
we  see  the  forces  in  operation ;  these  last  for  hours, 
or  even  days,  while  a  minute  would  suffice  for  the 
production  of  all  the  velocities  exhibited;  the  motion 
of  the  air  which  we  register  on  anemometers  is  not 
accelerating  motion  but  uniform  motion,  except  for 
the  effect  of  turbulence  and  local  conv^ection ;  so  we 
must  picture  to  ourselves  the  air  of  cyclones  as  being 
under  the  operation  of  balanced  forces,  not  unbalanced 
forces.  I  wish  to  suggest  that  the  idea  of  air  being 
I  accelerated  by  the  forces  we  see  on  the  map  is  another 
illusion  so  far  as  the  upper  air  is  concerned. 

The  ostensible  reason  for  supposing  that  the  dis- 
tribution of  pressure  created  by  convection  is  pushing 
air  from  high  to  low  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  charted 
winds  show  the  air  at  the  surface  crossing  the  isobars 
from  high  to  low;  the  observations  with  kites  and 
pilot  balloons  suggest  that  the  effect  is  peculiar  to  the 
surface.  If  the  driving  force  from  high  to  low  were 
the  operative  force  which  produces  the  wind  of  a 
cyclonic  depression,  we  should  expect  to  find  its  opera- 
tion more  strongly  marked  as  we  get  higher  up, 
because  the  friction  of  the  surface  would  not  interfere 
with  it;  but  the  fact  is  quite  otherwise.  The  move- 
ment across  isobars  becomes  less  and  less  marked  as 
we -ascend.  It  is  much  less  at  Pendennis  Castle  than 
It  is  at  Falmouth  Observatorv.  a  mile  awav.  We 
cannot  be  sure  that  it  exists  at  all  at  1500  ft.,  because 
we  cannot  draw  the  isobars  at  that  level  with  the 
necessar}'  accuracy ;  the  consensus  of  our  observations 
goes  to  show  that  there  is  no  real   evidence  of  con- 

-    f?^,  "  Life-histor>'   of  Surface   Air-ruirents."      Ry   W.    X.   Shaw  and 
^.  K.  l.empfert.     M.O  publication  No.  174. 

NO.    2426,    VOL.    97j 


vergence  at  that  level.  There  the  centrifugal  force  of 
the  air  travelling  over  the  moving  earth,  combined 
with  the  centrifugal  force  due  to  the  curvature  of  the 
air's  path,  is  sufficient  to  balance  the  force  due  to 
pressure,  and  there  is  no  component  of  motion  towards 
the  centre.3 

What  happens  nearer  the  surface  is  that  the  friction 
of  the  surface  converts  part  of  the  energy  of  the 
motion  of  the  wind  into  eddy  motion  and  the  air  does 
not  move  fast  enough  on  the  right  path  to  keep  up 
the  balance.  Consequently,  it  drifts  inwards  as  a 
pendulum  does  when  its  motion  is  retarded,  but  the 
lower  air  cannot  hold  back  the  air  far  above  it;  the 
effect  of  viscosity  in  that  direction  was  shown  by 
Helmholtz  to  be  negligible.  The  effect  of  the  eddy 
motion  is  very  limited  in  height. 

Observations  in  the  Upper  Air  in  Relation  to  the 
Convection  Theory. 

But  the  greatest  blow  to  the  illusion  that  I  have 
portrayed  comes  directly  from  the  observations  of  the 
upper  air;  the  convection  theory-  requires  that  the  air 
of  the  cyclone  should  be  warmer  than  that  of  the 
anticyclone,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  new  observa- 
tions show  that  the  opposite  is  the  case. 

In  a  paper  published  by  the  Royal  Society,  Mr. 
W.  H.  Dines  *  gave  the  mean  values  of  the  observa- 
tions of  temperature  in  the  upper  air  of  this  countr\- 
arranged  according  to  the  pressure  at  the  ground. 
From  his  results  the  following  table  has  been  com- 
piled : — 

Table  of  Averaf^e  Values  of  the  Pressure,  Tempera- 
ture, and  Density  of  Air  vi  High  and  Low  Pressure. 

High  pressure  Low  pressure 

Height  . ■ s  , ' . 

Pressure     Temp.     Densitv      Densitv     Temp.    Pressure 

1 000- ft.  k.  mb.  A  g/m^  g  m^  A  mb. 

32809  10  273  226  421  382  225  247 

29-528  9  317  233  474  444  226  288 

26247  8  366  240  531  514  227  335 

22-966  7  422  247  595  583  232  388 

19-685  6  483  254  662  652  240  449 

16-406  5  552  261  736  724  248  516 

13124  4  628  267  818  807  255  591 

9843  3  713  272  911  893  263  675 

6-562  2  807  277  1 01 2  992  269  767 

3-281  I  913  279  1 137  HOC  275  870 

o  o  103 1  282  1270  1226  279  984 

The  figures  show  that  a  pressure-difference  of 
26mb.  exists  at  the  level  of  lo  kilometres  where  con- 
vection has  ceased  to  exist.  The  difference  is  accen- 
tuated to  the  extent  of  2imb.  as  the  surface  is  reached 
by  the  existence  of  the  high  pressure  transmitted  from 
above,  in  spite  of  the  relative  coldness  of  the  air  at 
the  lower  pressure.  The  diagram  included  in  Mr. 
Dines 's  paper  showed  that  there  is  a  remarkable 
change  at  the  top  of  the  troposphere.  Above  the  level 
for  which  values  are  given  in  the  table,  the  high 
is  colder  than  the  low,  reversing  the  state  of  things  in 
the  troposphere. 

We  cannot  resist  the  conclusion  that  the  pressure- 
differences  of  cyclone  and  anticyclone  are  not  local 
surface  effects  at  all*  we  must  seek  their  origin  in 
the  upper  air  where  there  is  no  convection.  They  are 
little  affected  by  the  lower  stratum  of  9  kilometres, 
which,  roughly,  marks  the  range  of  the  effect  of 
heating  at  the  surface. 

The  idea  of  warm  air  in  the  lower  layers  causing 
the  low  pressures  which  are  recorded  on  our  baro- 
meters is  therefore  an  illusion. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  observations  of  the 

5  See  the  four  reports  on  wind  structure  to  the  Advisory  Co-nmittee  for 
Aeronautics  by  W.  X  Shaw  and  J.  S.  Dines,  also  "  Barometric  Gradiert 
and  Wind  Force,"  by  Ernest  Gold.     M.O.  Publication,  Xo".  190. 

*  See  M.O.  Publication  No.  210b.     Gcophy-sical  Memoirs  No.  2. 


194 


NATURE 


[April  27,  19 16 


upper  air  have  proved  that  all  the  vital  parts  of  the 
facile  description  which  was  the  accepted  theory  of 
cyclones  and  anticyclones  are  quite  illusory.  What  it 
took  for  guidance  in  fornung  a  picture  of  the  struc- 
ture was  the  accidental  character  of  motion  near  the 
ground.  We  now  feel  that  the  motion  of  air  in  the 
lowest  kilometre  had  better  be  disregarded,  or,  better 
still,  be  handed  over  to  students  of  turbulent  motion, 
while  we  as  meteorologists  consider  the  normal  state 
of  the  atmosphere  as  motion  under  balanced  forces. 
Instead  of  a  natural  flow  from  high  pressure  to  low 
pressure,  we  have  a  natural  flow  without  any  change 
of  pressure ;  the  motion  of  a  heavenly  body  round  its 
sun  is  taken  as  the  type  for  the  air  instead  of  the 
motion  of  a  falling  stone. 

While  we  are  considering  illusions,  let  me  add 
another  example  depending  upon  what  was  at  one 
time,  and  possibly  is  still,  a  commonplace  of  physical 
teaching  in  regard  to  the  relation  of  barometric 
changes  to  weather. 

It  is  this  :  moist  air  is  lighter,  bulk  for  bulk,  than 
dry  air,  and  consequently  pressure  is  low  where  the 
air  is  moist.  That  is  why  a  low  barometer  is  indica- 
tive of  rain ;  the  moist  air  causes  the  low  pressure. 
This  is  not  true  to  fact.  Mr.  Dines  has  recently 
examined  the  correlation  between  the  humidity  of  the 
troposphere  and  the  pressure  at  the  surface.  The  co- 
efficient is  quite  insignificant ;  there  is  no  relation 
between  moist  air  and  low  pressure  on  the  miap. 

(To   he  continued.) 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

It  is  announced  in  the  issue  of  Science  for  March 
31  that  the  wills  of  the  late  Edith  and  Walter  Scull, 
niece  and  nephew  of  Mr.  David  Scull,  for  many  years 
a  manager  of  Haverford  College,  give  2o,oooZ.  to  the 
college. 

A  MEETING  convened  by  the  Committee  on  the 
Neglect  of  Science  will  be  held  on  Wednesday,  May 
3,  at  3  p.m.,  in  the  rooms  of  the  Linnean  Society, 
Burlington  House.  Lord  Rayleigh,  O.M.,  will  take 
the  chair.  A  series  of  resolutions  will  be  submitted 
to  the  meeting.  Among  those  who  have  written  in 
support  of  the  objects  of  the  meeting  (many  of  whom 
will  speak)  are  : — The  Duke  of  Bedford,  Lord  Mon- 
tagu of  BeauHeu,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  the  Right 
Hon.  Arthur  Acland,  Mr.  Stanley  Leathes  (Civil  Ser- 
vice Commissioner),  the  master  of  University  College, 
Oxford,  the  rector  of  Exeter  College,  the  master  of 
Christ's,  the  headmaster  of  Westminster,  the  dean  of 
Christ  Church,  Sir  Harry  Johnston,  Sir  Edward 
Schafer,  Sir  William  Crookes,  Sir  William  Osier,  Sir 
Ronald  Ross,  Sir  Rav  Lankester,  Sir  William  Tilden, 
Sir  Hugh  Bell,  Sir  Robert  Hadfield,  Dr.  Martin 
Forster,  the  headmaster  of  Sherborne,  Mr.  H.  G. 
Wells,  Sir  Owen  Seaman,  and  the  Poet  Laureate,  as 
well  as  many  other  leaders  in  science,  education,  and 
industry.  Those  desiring  invitations  to  the  meeting 
should  apply  to  the  Committee  on  Neglect  of  Science, 
28  Victoria  ^Street,  S.W. 

We  learn  from  the  issue  of  Science  for  March  24 
Ihat  Mr.  J.  D.  Rockefeller,  junior,  has  been  re-elected 
president,  and  Mr.  ].  G.  Greene  secretary,  of  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation.  The  capital  fund  of  the 
Foundation  on  January  i,  1915,  was  20,009, 600L 
Grants  amounting  to  2jo,oocZ.  not  hitherto  announced 
have  recently  been  made  bv  the  Foundation.  To  the 
Rockefeller  Institute  for  Medical  Research  200,000?. 
is  g^iven  for  additional  endowment  needed  in  connection 
with  the  Department  of  Animal  Pathology ;  and  «mong 
other     grants,    the     China     Medical     Board     receives 

NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


25,oooi.  for  the  promotion  of  medical  teaching  in 
China.  From  the  same  source  interesting  particulars 
are  forthcoming  of  the  work  of  the  General  Education 
Board  founded  by  Mr.  J.  D.  Rocketeller  to  promote 
education  within  the  United  States.  Since  its  inau- 
guration and  up  to  June  30  last  the  Board  had  made 
grants  amountmg  to  3,372,400/.  The  value  of  the 
Board's  resources  is  6,791,800/.,  and  the  gross  income 
for  1915  was  446,000/.  approximately.  Among  the 
grants  made  up  to  the  date  mentioned,  we  notice  : 
for  the  endowment  of  universities  and  colleges, 
2,334,500/. ;  for  the  current  expenses  of  colleges  and 
schools,  31,200/.  ;  for  salaries  of  professors  of  second, 
ary  education,  55,100/.  ;  and  for  farmers'  co-operative 
demonstration  work,   157,200/. 

The  approaching  retirement  of  Dr.  Lyttelton,  the 
headmaster  of  Eton,  has  led  to  the  suggestion  that  the 
governors  of  the  college  should  appomt  as  his  suc- 
cessor a  representative  of  modern  scientific  learning 
instead  of  a  classical  divine.  The  usual  objections 
have  been  raised  to  such  a  course,  and  the  usual  un- 
enlightened opinions  have  been  expressed  as  to  the 
association  of  scientific  education  with  German  bar- 
barity. It  would  be  just  as  illogical  to  suggest  that 
the  war  and  its  instruments  of  destruction  were  due 
to  Christian  doctrine  as  it  is  to  assert  that  science 
is  responsible  for  them.  Science  is  concerned  with 
the  discovery  of  new  phenomena,  new  forces,  new 
relationships ;  and  men  may  use  them  for  good  or  ill — 
to  ease  pain  and  suffering,  or  to  maim  and  destroy. 
It  produces  chloroform  as  well  as  chlorine,  and  enables 
a  wireless  call  to  be  sent  from  a  sinking  ship  as  well 
as  makes  the  explosive  for  the  torpedo  or  mine  which 
destroyed  her.  The  popular  conception  of  a  man  of 
science  as  a  being  without  human  compassion  may 
do  for  the  stage  or  a  penny  novelette,  but  it  ought  not 
to  be  too  much  to  expect  people  who  write  to  the 
leading  newspapers  to  know  better.  We  are  glad  to 
see,  therefore,  that  the  Daily  Mail,  in  a  leading  article 
on  April  22,  gives  strong  support  to  the  claims  of 
science  in  public-school  education.  It  points  out  that 
"clever  talking  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  almost  or 
quite  as  important  as  sound  and  vigorous  action. 
Precisely  the  same  defect  appeared  in  the  later  Roman 
Empire  when  its  education  degenerated  into  a  mere 
study  of  rhetoric  and  declamation."  Whatever  defects 
we  possess  as  a  nation — and  they  have  been  unmerci- 
fully exposed  in  the  present  war — are  due,  not  to 
science,  but  to  its  neglect.  It  is  satisfactory  to  know 
that  this  is  at  last  being  realised  by  the  public ;  and  we 
hope  it  may  be  taken  for  a  sign  that,  whether  through 
a  new  tvpe  of  headmasters  or  otherwise,  the  education 
of  our  future  politicians,  administrators,  and  manu- 
facturers shall  include  general  scientific  knowledge  and 
scientific  method  as  essential   constituents. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Zoological  Society,  April  4. — Dr.  A.  Smith  Woodward, 
vice-president,  in  the  chair. — G.  A.  Boulenger :  The 
lizards  allied  to  Lacerta  muralis,  with  an  account  of 
Lacerta  agilis  and  L.  Parva.  This  paper  is  the  third 
and  last  instalment  of  a  revision  of  the  wall-lizards, 
of  which  the  first  two  parts  were  published  in  the 
Transactions  in  1905  and  1913.  The  author  has  en- 
deavoured to  depart  from  the  empirical  method  usually 
followed  in  the  arrangement  of  species,  by  tracing 
back  the  various  forms  of  this  difficult  group  to  a 
hypothetical  ancestor  of  which  Lacerta  agilis  appears, 
to  be  the  nearest  living  representative.  The  characters 
of  lepidosis  and  coloration  on  which  his  views  _  are 
based  are  discussed,  and  detailed  descriptions  are  given 
of  L.    agilis   and  its  ally,    L.    parva,   the  latter  being 


April  27,  19 16] 


NATURE 


195 


regarded  as  the  connecting-link  between  the  first  and 
fourth  of  the  six  sections  into  which  it  is  proposed  to 
divide  the  genus  Lacerta.— R.  Gurney  :  Fresh-water 
Entomostraca  collected  by  Mr.  G.  W.  Smith  in  Oylon 
in  1907.  The  collection  contained  examples  of  thirty- 
five  species,  and  one  species  of  Copepoda  and  two  of 
Ostracoda  were  described  as  new,  one  of  the  latter 
belonging  to  the  typically  African  genus  Oncocypris. — 
Major  k.  Meinertzhagen  :  The  Sitatungas  (Limno- 
tragus)  of  the  Sesse  Islands.  The  author  found  that 
the  Bugalla  Island  antelopes  of  this  genus  seem  to  be 
of  the  same  race  as  the  mainland  form,  Lininotragus 
spekei,  but  that  the  Nkose  Island  form,  which  he 
proposed  as  a  new  subspecies,  differed  in  the  short- 
ness of  its  hoofs  and  other  characters. 

Geological  Society,  April  5.— Dr.  A.  Marker,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — G.  W.  Tyrrell  :  The  picrite-teschenite 
:I  of  Lugar  (Ayrshire)  and  its  differentiation.  This 
11  is  e.xposed  in  the  gorges  of  the  Bellow  and  Glen- 
mir  Waters,  just  above  the  confluence  of  these 
reams  to  form  the  Lugar  Water.  It  has  a  thick- 
ness estimated  at  140  ft.,  and  is  intrusive  into  sand- 
stones of  the  Millstone  Grit.  The  contacts  consist  of 
contorted  basaltic  rock  passing  into  teschenite.  The 
upper  teschenite  becomes  richer  in  analcite  downwards, 
and  ends  abruptly  at  a  sharp  junction  with  fine-grained 
theralite.  The  lower  teschenite  becomes  richer  in 
olivine  upwards,  but  passes  rapidly  into  hornblende- 
peridotite.  The  central  unit  of  the  sill  is  a  graded 
mass  beginning  with  theralite  at  the  top  and  passing 
gradually  into  picrite,  and  finally  peridotite,  bv  gradual 
enrichment  in  olivine  and  elimination  of  felspar, 
nepheline,  and  analcite.  The  average  rock  of  the 
sill  is  much  more  basic  than  the  rock  now  forming 
the  contacts.  Hence  the  main  differentiation  cannot 
have  occurred  in  situ.  The  theory  is  advanced  that 
the  differentiation  units  were  produced  by  the  process 
of  liquation,  but  that  their  arrangement  within  the 
sill  took  place  under  the  influence  of  gravity.  The 
sill  is  compared  with  other  teschenite-picrite  sills  in 
Scotland,  those  of  Ardrossan,  Saltcoats,  Blackburn, 
Barnton,  and  Inchcolm. 

Linnean  Society,  April  6.— Prof.  E.  B.  Poulton,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — Prof.  G.  C.  Bourne  :  A  description 
five  new  species  of  Edwardsia,  Quatr.,  from  New 
'uinea,  with  an  account  of  the  order  of  succession  of 
!<■  micromesenteries  and  tentacles  in  the  Edwardsidae. 
Prof.  W.  J.  Dakin  :  A  new  species  of  Enteropneusta, 
irom  the  Abrolhos   Islands. 


Academy  of  Sciences,  April  10.— M.  Camille  Jordan  in 
c    chair.— G.    Bigourdan  :    Some    works    of    Peiresc. 
'  irticulars  of  some  obser\'ations  recorded  in  a  manu- 
lipt  dated  November,  1610,  to  June,  1612,  including 
ork  on  the  satellites  of  Jupiter,  the  moon  and  planets, 
nd  the  nebula  of  Orion. — B.   Bailland  and   M.    Pour- 
j  *«•"  :  The  calculation  of  right  ascensions  and  declina- 
tions of  stars   of   the  photographic   catalogue.       The 
■ethod   worked    out    is    illustrated     bv     a     numerical 
sample  for  one  star.— Ch.   Lallemand':   A  project  for 
j  the  modification  of  the  legal  time.      An  adverse  criticism 
i  of  the  daylight  saving  scheme  proposed  in  France  (see 
•   183).— Pierre  Duhem  :  The  general  problem  of  elec- 
odynamics    for   a    svstem   of    immovable    conducting 
'JOdies  — C.    Guichard  :    Plane   networks   which   are   at 
once  the  orthogonal  projection  af  a  netw^ork  O  and  the 
orthogonal  projection  of  a  network  G.— M.  Cerf  :  The 
r^"^^""^**'^"  °^  partial  differential  equations.— Paul 
uanbert :  A  crystalline  modification  of  sulphur  show^ing 
spheruhtes   arranged   helicoidallv.— G.    Lecointre  :    The 
geology  of  Djebel  Ouitita  and  'the  neighbourhood  of 
tJar  bel  Hamri,  western  Morocco.— Raoul  Blanchard  : 


NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


The  existence  of  a  glacial  island  at  Grenoble.  At  the 
junction  of  the  solt  rocks  of  Gr^sivaudan  and  the 
hard  rocks  of  Chartreuse  and  Vercors  such  a  glacial 
formation  might  be  expected,  and  one  has  been  iden- 
tified by  the  author  near  Grenoble. — Henri  Devaox  : 
The  rapid  action  of  saline  solutions  on  living  plants; 
the  reversible  displacement  of  a  part  of  the  basic  sub- 
stances contained  in  the  plant.  A  living  plant, 
Elodea,  was  washed  with  distilled  water  and  no  cal- 
cium could  be  detected  in  the  washings.  The  plant 
was  then  treated  with  a  solution  of  sodiurr>  or  potassium 
chloride  (i  in  1000).  Calcium  was  proved  in  the 
liquid,  which  must  have  been  extracted  from  the  plant 
cells.  This  decalcifying  action  is  accompanied  by 
fixation  by  the  plant  of  a  portion  of  the  alkaline  metal. 
— G.  Andre  :  The  relations  which  exist  between  the 
presence  of  magnesium  in  leaves  and  the  function  of 
assimilation.  It  is  known  that  crude  chlorophyll  ex- 
tracted from  leaves  by  alcohol,  or  light  petroleum, 
always  contains  magnesium,  the  latter  being  left  as 
phosphate  on  ignition.  It  has  also  been  shown  that 
magnesium  is  the  only  fixed  element  forming  part  of 
the  chlorophyll  molecule.  Experiments  were  carried 
out  on  the  leaves  of  horse  chestnut,  lilac,  and  Spanish 
chestnut,  at  different  stages  of  growth  (April  to  July), 
determinations  of  the  phosphorus  and  magnesium  both 
in  the  extracted  and  residual  portions  of  the  leaves 
being  made. — Jules  Courtier  :  Variations  of  the  peri- 
pheral temperature  of  the  body  during  suggestions 
of  heat  and  cold.  Under  suggestion  of  cold  there  was 
an  average  increase  in  the  peripheral  temperature 
of  028° ;  under  suggestion  of  heat,  an  average  fall 
of  02°.  These  variations  were  in  the  opposite  sense 
to  those  expected  from  the  normal  behaviour  of  the 
body  under  the  action  of  heat  and  cold.  The  vaso- 
motor reflexes  do  not  appear  to  be  affected  by  sug- 
gestion.— J.  Havet  :  Relations  between  neurology-  and 
vascular  apparatus  in  the  Invertebrates. — F. 
d'HereUe :  Contribution  to  the  study  of  immunity. 
In  the  case  of  Bacillus  typhi  muriutn  attempts  to 
prepare  an  immunising  serum  have  failed.  It  is  now 
shown  that  the  antiseptics  used  to  kill  the  organisms 
in  the  preparation  of  the  serum  w'ere  too  strong, 
not  only  killing  the  bacillus  but  profoundly  modify- 
ing the  toxins.  It  has  been  found  that  various 
volatile  essences  (mustard,  cinnamon,  thyme)  can  kill 
the  bacillus  without  affecting  the  toxin,  and  a  vac- 
cine has  been  prepared  on  these  lines  capable  of 
partially  immunising  mice  against  the  infection. — 
Maurice  Beaussenat  :  W^ound  of  the  heart  by  a  shrap- 
nel ball.  Cardiotomy  and  extraction  of  the  projectile 
from  the  right  ventricle.     Cure. 


BOOKS    RECEIVED. 

Agricultural  Research  Institute,  Pusa.  Bulletin 
No.  56.  Green-Manuring  in  India.  By  A.  C.  Dobbs. 
Pp-  55-  (Calcutta  :  Superintendent  Government  Print- 
ing, India.) 

Report  of  the  Agricultural  Research  Institute  and 
College,  Pusa  (including  the  Report  of  the  Imperial 
Cotton  Specialist),  1914-15.  Pp.  iv+119.  (Calcutta: 
Superintendent  Government  Printing,   India.) 

Papers  and  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Tas- 
mania for  the  Year  1915.  Pp.  128  + plates  x. 
(Hobart  :  Royal  Society  of  Tasmania.)     6s. 

Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Scientific  Advice  for 
India,  for  the  Year  1914-15.  Pp.  191.  (Calcutta : 
Superintendent  Government  Printing,  India.)     15.  6d. 

Report  on  the  Calcareous  Sponges  collected  by  Mr. 
James  Hornell  at  Okhamandal  in  Kattiawar  in  1905-6 
(with  two  plafes).  By  Prof.  A.  Dendy.  (London  : 
W^illiams  and  Norgate.) 


196 


NATURE 


[April  27,  1916 


U.S.   Geological   Sur- 

the     United     States. 

,    Nos.   3-13.     Part  ii., 

Government     Printing 


Report  on  the  Non-Calcareous  Sponges  collected  by 
Mr.  James  Hornell  at  Okhamandal  in  Kattiawar  in 
1905-6  (with  four  plates).  By  Prof.  A.  Dendy.  (Lon- 
don :  Williams  and  Norgate.)     45.  net. 

Mysore  Government  Meteorological  Department. 
Report  on  Rainfall  Registration  in  Mysore  for  1914. 
By.  N.  Venkatesa  Iyengar.  Pp.  xvii  + 49  + plates  iii. 
(Bangalore  :  The  Government  Press.) 

The  Principles  of  Plant  Culture.  By  the  late  E.  S. 
Goff.  Revised  by  J.  G.  Moore  and  L.  R.  Jones. 
Eighth  edition.  Pp.  xxiii  +  295.  (New  York:  The 
Macmillan  Company;  London:  Macmillan  and  Co., 
Ltd.)     5s.   6d.   net.' 

Department  of  the   Interior, 
vey.       Mineral     Resources     of 
Calendar  Year,    1914.     Part   i., 
Nos.      8-30.       (Washington  : 
Office.) 

Smithsonian  Miscellaneous  Collections.  Vol.  Ixv., 
Nos.  II,  12,  13.  (Washington  :  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion.) 

Department  of  Commerce.  Technologic  Papers  of 
the  Bureau  of  Standards.  Nos.  59,  62,  63,  68. 
Scientific  Papers  of  the  Bureau  of  Standards.  Nos.  260, 
261,  264,  265.  (Wasliington  :  Government  Printing 
Office.) 

Department  of  the  Interior.  U.S.  Geological  Sur- 
vey. 27  Bulletins.  Water  Supply  Papers.  13  Papers. 
(Washington  :    Government   Printing   Office.) 

Field  and  Laboratorv  Studies  of  Soils.  By  Prof. 
A.  G.  McCall.  Pp.  viii  +  77.  (New  York:  J.  Wiley 
and  Sons,  Inc.  ;  London  :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.) 
25.  dd.   net. 

Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion for  the  Year  ending  June  30.  Pp.  iii +110. 
(Washington  :   Government  Printing  Office.) 

Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  the 
Year  ended  June  30,  1914.  Vol.  i.  Pp.  xxxviii  +  8io. 
Vol.  ii.  Pp.  XXV +  565.  (Washington:  Government 
Printing  Office.) 

Smithsonian  Institution.  Bureau  of  American 
Ethnology.  Bulletin  57.  An  Introduction  to  the 
Study  of  the  Maya  Hieroglyphs.  By  S.  G.  Morley. 
Pp.  xvi  +  284.  (Washington:  Government  Printing 
Office.) 

Smithsonian  Institution.  U.S.  National  Museum. 
Bulletin  92.  BibHoj?raphic  Index  of  American  Ordo- 
vician  and  Silurian  Fossils.  By  R.  S.  Bassler.  Vol.  i. 
Pp.  viii  +  718.  Vol.  ii.  Pp.  iv 4- 719-152 1.  (Washing- 
ton :  Government  Printing  Office.) 

Leland  Stanford  Junior  University  Publications. 
University  Series.  The  Pronoun  of  Address  in  Eng- 
lish Literature  of  the  Thirteenth  Century.  By  A.  G. 
Kennedy.  Pp.  91.  The  Anoplura  and  Mallophaga  of 
North  American  Mammals.  By  Prof.  V.  L.  Kellogg 
and  G.  F.  Ferris.  Pp.  744-plates  viii.  (California: 
Stanford  University.) 


DIARY   OF    SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  April  27. 

Royal  Society  of  Arts,  at  4.30. — Scientific  Agriculture  in  India:  J. 
MacKenna. 

Mathematical  Society,  at  5-30. — The  Green's  Function  for  the 
Equation  v«2+>t2«=o  (II):  H.  S.  Carslaw. — On  the  Uniformity  of 
Gaseou"!  Density,  according  to  the  Kinetic  Theory  :  S.  Chapman. — The 
Nodal  Points  of  a  Plane  Sextic  :  J.  Hodpkinson. — Some  Problems  of 
Comhinatory  Analysis  :  P.  A.  Macmahnn  — On  the  Deduction  of  Criteria 
for  the  Convereence  of  Fouri-r's  Series  from  Fejer's  Theorem  concerning 
their  Summability  :  S.  Pollard. — On  the  Derivates  of  a  Function: 
Mrs.  G.  C.  Young. — Note  on  Functions  of  Upp^r  and  Lower  Type  : 
W.  H   Young. 

FRIDAY,  April  28. 

Geological  Physics  Society,  at  5. — Presidential  Address:  Growths  in 
Silica  Gel  :  Prof.  Beniamin  Moore 

MONDAY,  May  i. 
Aristotelian   Society,   at  8. — The   Limitation  of  Pure  Reason  :    Prof. 
G.  Dawes  Hicks. 


Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  at  8. 

Medical  Society,  at  8  30.— Shakespeare  and  Medicine:  Sir  St.  Clair 
Thomson. 

TUESDAY,  May  2. 
RovAL  Institution,  at  3.— Indian  and  Persian  Painting:  L.  Binyon. 

WEDNESDAY,  May  3. 

Society  of  Public  .Analysts,  at  8. — Salvarsan  rnd  Neo-Salvarsan, 
Excretion  and  Secretion  of:  W.  H.  Willcox  and  J.  Webster. — Micro- 
scopical Methods  :  H.  G.  Greenish. 

Ento.mologial  Society,  at  8. 

THURSDAY,  May  4. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3.— Flints  and  Flint  Implements:  Sir  Ray 
Lankester. 

Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  at  10.30. — Presidential  Address.  Papers: 
Notes  on  the  Theory  of  the  Corrosion  of  Steel  :  I,.  Aitchison. — Notes  on 
the  Relations  between  the  Cutting  Efficiencies  of  Tool  Steels  and  their 
Brinell  or  Sclero>cope  Hardnesses  :  Prof  J.  O.  Arnold. — A  New  Thermo- 
Electric  Method  of  Studying  All'  tropic  Changes  in  Iron  or  other  Me'als : 
Dr.  C.  Benedicks. — Initial  Temperature  and  Critical  Cooling  Velocities  of 
a  Chromium  Steel :  Dr.  C.  A.  Edwards.— The  Influence  of  Carton  and 
Manganese  upon  the  Corrosion  of  Iron  and  Steel :  Sir  Robert  Hadfield 
and  Dr.  J.  N.  Friend. — Early  Experiments  on  the  Kecalescence  of  Iron 
and  Steel :  A.  Mallock. — A  Few  Experiments  on  the  Hardness  Testing  of 
Mild  Steel  :  W.  N.  Thomas. — Surface  Tension  Effects  in  the  Inter- 
crystalline  Cement  in  Metals  and  the  Elastic  Limit  :  V.  C.  Thompson. 

Linnean  Society,  at  5. — The  Origin  of  the  Garden  Red  Currant :  E.  A. 
Bunyard. — The  Dispersal  of  Organisms,  as  Llustra'ed  by  the  Floras  of 
Ceylon  and  New  Zealand  :  Dr.  J.  C.  Willis. — A  Study  of  the  Rectal 
Breathing  Apparatus  in  the  Larvae  of  the  Anisopterid  Dragonflies  :  R.  J. 
Tillyard. — Description  of  a  New  Species  of  Idotea  (Isopoda)  from  the 
Sea  of  Marmora :  W.  E.  Collinge. 

FRIDAY,  May  5. 
RcYAL  Institution,  at  5.30. — Electrical   Methods  in   Surgical  Advance: 

Sir  J.  Mackenzie  David.son. 
Iron  and  Steel  Lv,stitu  1  e,  at  10. — (See  above.) 
Geologists'  Associ.\tion,  at  7.30. — Field  Notes  on  the  Faunal  Succession 

in     the     Lower     Carboniferous     Rocks     of    Westmorland     and    North 

Lancashire :  Prof  E.  J.  Garwood. 

SATURDAY,  May  6. 
Royal   Institution,  at  3. — X-Rays  and  Crystals:  Prof  W.  H.  Bragg. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


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NO.    2426,    VOL.    97] 


NA  TURE 


197 


THURSDAY',    MAY    4,    191 6. 


THERMODYNAMIC  AND  KINETIC 
THEORIES. 

(ij  Statistical  Theory  of  Energy  and  Matter.  By 
Dr.  T.  W'ereide.  Pp.  xvi  +  170.  (Kristiania  : 
Gyldendalske  Boghandel  Nordisk  Forlag^,  1915.) 
No  price. 

{2)  Eight  Lectures  on  Theoretical  Physics  de- 
livered at  Columbia  University  in  1909.  By  Dr. 
Max  Planck;  translated  by  Prof.  A.  P.  Wills. 
Pp.  xii-i30.  (New  York:  Columbia  University 
Press,    191 5.)     Price   i   dollar. 

1^'  the  development  of  modern  theoretical 
physics  two  lines  of  inquiry  have  played  an 
important  part.  One  has  been  the  attempt  to 
deduce  reversible  physical  phenomena  from  the 
inequalities  of  irreversible  thermodynamics ;  the 
other  the  endeavour  to  reconcile  irreversible 
phenomena  with  the  equations  of  reversible 
dynamics.  Between  the  two  we  have  arrived  at 
a  more  or  less  satisfactory'  representation  of  many 
phenomena  of  an  essentially  statical  character. 
Progress  has,  however,  been  somewhat  retarded 
since  the  death  of  Boltzmann,  nor  can  we  forget 
Lord  Kelvin's  healthy  criticisms  and  the  steady- 
ing influence  in  times  gone  by  of  representatives 
of  the  old  rigorous  school  of  Cambridge  philo- 
sophy, such  as  Watson  and  Burbury. 

(i)  Dr.    Thornstein    Wereide's    introduction    to 
the  statistical  theory  of  energy  and  matter  is  cal- 
culated   to    revive    interest    in    these    oft-debated 
problems.     The  author  will  scarcely  be  surprised 
I  at  our  statement  that  the  book  does  not  appear  to 
I  throw  light  on  any  new  facts  or  contain  any  ori- 
ginal work  of  a  fundamental  character,   but  the 
method  of  treatment  and  of  exposition  is  novel  in 
many  respects,  and  the  account  of  Soret's  pheno- 
mena describes  experimental  researches  the  results 
of  which  appear  to  be  inconsistent  with  precon- 
eived  hypotheses. 

The  book  is  divided  into  two  sections.  The 
first  is  occupied  exclusively  with  the  deduction 
of  the  fundamental  formulae  of  statistical  mech- 
anics, and  occupies  practically  the  first  sixty-four 
pages,  since  "Maxwell's  distribution  of  veloci- 
ties," though  placed  at  the  beginning  of  section 
ii.,  really  belongs  to  the  first  section.  The  second 
section  describes  the  applications  of  the  theory 
to  various  physical  phenomena,  including  specific 
heat,  equilibrium,  phenomena  associated  with 
change  of  state,  diffusion,  the  phase  rule,  magnet- 
5m,  radiation,  and  finally  the  quantum  hypothesis 
>f  Planck. 

A  study  of  the  first  section  might  with  advan- 
age  be  supplemented  by  reading  some  of  the 
)Ider  classical  treatises  and  papers  on  the  kinetic 
heor>',  in  which  the  application  of  Lagrange's 
md  Hamilton's  equations  of  motion  is  developed 
n  greater  detail.  For  example,  the  proof  of 
i-agrange's^  equations  is  unsatisfactory,  and  the 
uscussion  in  §  9  cannot  be  regarded  as  consti- 
,uting  a  rigorous  t>roof  of  the  stated  property 
|nat  the  density  of  probabilitv  of  a  system  in 
NO.    2427,   VOL.    97] 


statistical  equilibrium  is  a  function  of  the  energy 
alone.  To  understand  this  property  thoroughly 
it  is  necessary  to  read  the  older  proofs  based  on 
the  formulation  of  the  Jacobian  determinant  of 
the  co-ordinates  and  momenta  of  the   system. 

Irreversibility  is  postulated  in  the  following 
argument : — 

"Let  us  suppose  that  the  system  at  a  given 
moment  passes  through  a  number  of  elements,  W, 
that  are  not  all  possible.  It  is  then  very  improb- 
able that  the  system  will  cease  frequenting  the 
elements  hitherto  frequented,  and  never  visit  them 
any  more.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  very  probable 
that  the  system,  as  time  passes,  will  take  up  more 
and  more  elements  into  its  circuit  provided  that 
an  entrance  into  these  elements  is  possible." 

This  assumed,  the  author  deduces  that — 

"A  system  that  is  left  to  itself  will  change  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  density  of  probability 
for  a  given  state  will  either  remain  constant  or 
decrease.  The  density  of  probability  can  never 
increase." 

And  he  goes  on  further  to  restate  the  hypo- 
thesis  as   follows : — 

"  A  system  that  is  left  to  itself  will  move  in  such 
a  manner  that  the  number  of  configurations  either 
is  constant  or  it  increases.  The  number  of  con- 
figurations can  never  decrease." 

Unfortunately  this  assumption  is  the  exact 
opposite  of  the  second  law  of  thermodynamics, 
which  states  that  in  an  isolated  system  the  num- 
ber of  configurations  which  it  is  possible  for  a 
system  to  assume  is  always  decreasing.  In  this 
case  the  decrease  takes  place  by  the  gradual 
wiping  out,  one  by  one,  of  the  possible  configura- 
tions for  which  the  sum  of  the  p)otential  and 
kinetic  energies  of  visible  motions  is  a  maximum. 

The  quantum  hypothesis  is,  of  course,  an  inno- 
vation since  the  days  of  the  classical  treatises  on 
the  kinetic  theory.  What  the  author  of  this 
book  says  in  commenting  on  this  theory  is 
sensible  enough,  namely,  that  by  means  of  this 
hypothesis  Planck  has  explained  phenomena  that 
others  have  failed  to  explain,  and  it  cannot,  there- 
fore, be  rejected  merely  because  it  fails  to  account 
for  everything. 

Dr.  Wereide  thinks  that  the  best  way  of  throw- 
ing light  on  this  question  is  by  a  renewed  study 
of  the  trustworthiness  or  otherwise  of  statistical 
methods. 

Now  it  so  happens  that  the  writer  of  this  review, 
before  abandoning  gases  in  favour  of  aeroplanes, 
endeavoured  to  direct  attention  to  a  method  of 
investigation  in  statistical  mechanics  under  the 
title  of  "Energy  Accelerations."  The  essential 
feature  of  this  method  was  to  study  the  second 
differential  coefficients  with  respect  to  the  time 
of  the  squares  and  products  of  the  velocities  of  a 
statistical  dynamical  system,  these  determining 
accelerations  of  energy  which  would  not  be  altered 
in  sign  bv  reversing  the  motions,  just  as  the 
second  differential  coefficients  of  the  co-ordinates 
determine  the  accelerations  of  the  masses.  Un- 
fortunately  this    suggestion    does    not    appear   to 


198 


NATURE 


[May  4,  1916 


have  been  taken  up.  Yet  it  does  lead  to  conclu- 
sions which  impose  serious  limitations  on  the  con- 
ditions under  which  statistical  energy  equilibrium 
is  possible.  It  shows  that  a  given  distribution  of 
density  of  the  co-ordinates  of  a  system  in  statis- 
tical equilibrium  can  only  possess  a  definite 
amount  of  kinetic  energy;  that  such  a  state  of 
equilibrium  may  be  stable  or  unstable;  that  cer- 
tain distributions  are  incompatible  with  statistical 
energy  equilibrium  because  they  would  give  a 
negative  value  for  the  squares  of  the  velocity 
compounds,  and  in  particular  that  statistical 
energy  equilibrium,  such  as  occurs  in  the  mole- 
cules of  a  gas,  is  impossible  in  a  system  of  bodies 
attracting  each  other  according  to  the  Newtonian 
law  of  gravitation.  It  is  quite  likely  that  such  an 
investigation  if  continued  would  lead  to  the  deduc- 
tion of  a  system  the  energy  of  which  might  have 
one  or  more  of  a  series  of  discrete  values,  and 
might  not  be  capable  of  continuous  variation,  or 
again  of  a  system  possessing  a  large  number  of 
discontinuities  in  the  amount  of  energy  which  it 
could  contain.  It  is  scarcely  probable  that  the 
amounts  of  energy  would  be  proportional  to  the 
numbers  i,  2,  3,  .  .  .,  but  we  imagine  Planck's 
assumption  is  partly  justified  on  the  grounds  of  its 
simplicity. 

Where,  as  in  this  case,  a  method  of  investiga- 
tion does  necessarily  lead  to  definite  conclusions 
it   is  important  that  these  conclusions  should  be 
worked  out,  as  they  must  have  a  disturbing  effect 
on  preconceived  theories. 

(2)  In  1909  Prof.  Max  Planck  was  invited  to 
give  a  course  of  eight  lectures  at  the  Columbia 
College,  New  York,  on  the  present  system  of 
theoretical  physics.  Under  the  terms  of  the  Ernest 
Kempton  Adams  bequest  to  Columbia  University 
an  English  translation  of  these  lectures  has  now 
been  published,  drawn  up  by  Prof.  A.  P.  Wills. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  date  of  these  lectures  is 
anterior  to  Planck's  enunciation  of  his  quantum 
hypothesis,  which  thus  forms  no  part  of  their 
contents. 

It  is  no  easy  task  to  give  a  simple  and  compre- 
hensive account  of  such  a  vast  subject  in  eight 
lectures,  but  Prof.  Planck's  exposition  is  remark- 
able for  its  conciseness,  lucidity,  and  comprehen- 
siveness. As  a  general  survey  of  the  subject  the 
ground  covered  is  best  indicated  by  the  titles  of 
the  lectures,  namely,  "Reversibility  and  Irreversi- 
bility," "Thermodynamic  States  of  Equilibrium," 
"The  Atomic  Theory  of  Matter."  "Equation  of 
State  for  a  Monatomic  Gas,"  "Heat  Radiation, 
Electrodynamic  Theory,"  "  Heat  Radiation, 
Statistical  Theory,"  "General  Dynamics,  Prin- 
ciple of  Least  Action,"  and  "Principle  of  Rela- 
tivity." We  may  take  the  last  lecture  as  a  good 
example  of  the  general  character  of  the  book. 

Starting  with  the  ordinary  notions  regarding 
relative  motion  of  Galileo  and  Newton,  the  author 
first  refers  to  Hertz's  theory,  and  then  follows  a 
description  of  the  difficulties  Introduced  by 
Fizeau's  and  Michelson  and  Morley's  experiments, 
both  of  which  lead  to  the  belief  that  the  relative 
velocity  of  light  Is  independent  of  the  relative 
velocity  of  the  ether.  The  author  then  shows  how 
NO.    2427,   VOL.   97] 


these  difficulties  can  be  reconciled  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  new  system  of  space  and  time  co-ordin- 
ates for  moving  bodies  which  will  bring  the  pheno- 
mena attributed  to  the  ether  into  accordance  with 
the  conventional  dynamics  of  material  bodies. 

The  book  is  one  which  might  with  advantage  be 
placed  In  the  hands  of  a  candidate  for  Honours 
in  physics  in  one  of  our  universities.  To  read  it 
cannot  fail  to  be  of  assistance  to  a  student  who 
has  to  cover  a  large  amount  of  work  In  a  limited 
time.  G.    H.    B. 

A  CRETACEOUS  FLORA. 
Catalogue  of  the  Mesozoic  Plants  in  the  British 
Museum  (Natural  History).  The  Cretaceous 
Flora.  Part  ii..  Lower  Greensand  (Aptian) 
Plants  of  Britain.  By  Dr.  Marie  C.  Stopes. 
Pp.  xxxvi  +  360  +  xxxii  plates.  (London: 
British  Museum  (Natural  History) ;  Longmans, 
Green  and  Co.,   and  others,    1915.)     Price  21s. 

THE  Cretaceous  Flora,  part  ii.,   is  devoted  to 
the     Lower    Greensand     (Aptian)     flora    of 
Britain.      Several    species    have    previously    been 
recorded,  but  hitherto  no  general  account  of  the 
flora  as  a  whole  has  been  written.     The  most  im- 
portant part  of  the  book  Is  that  which  deals  with 
new     species     of    Gymnosperms.       Twenty-seven 
Conifers  are  described,  for  the  most  part  repre- 
sented by  cones  or  petrified  wood,  nine  Cycado- 
phyta,    five   Anglosperms,    and   two   Ferns.      The 
Introduction    includes    some    Interesting   observa-j 
tions  on  climate,   a  summary  of  previous  work, 
and    remarks   on   the   geological   position   of   thei 
plant-bearing   beds.      The   descriptions   are   care-j 
fully   compiled,    and   the   work   of   other   authors; 
receives  frank  criticism.      A  helpful  summary  is, 
given  of  current  views  on  the  diagnostic  value  of 
different  anatomical  features  in  the  Identlficatlor 
of  Coniferous  wood.     The  wisdom  of  employing 
the  generic  name  Podocarpoxylon  for  specimen' 
which  cannot  as  a  rule  be  assigned  with  certaint^ 
to   the    Podocarplneae    Is    questionable ;    but    Di 
Stopes  has,  on  the  whole,  adopted  a  judicial  atti- 
tude   with    regard    to    the    taxonomic    value    O! 
anatomical  characters. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  types  is  that  fa 
which  the  new  generic  name  Colymbetes  Is  prfll 
posed ;  the  type-specimen  consists  of  a  piece  0 
well-preserved  wood  enclosing  a  large  pith  sur 
rounded  by  a  broad  perlmedullary  zone ;  next  t 
this  Is  a  ring  of  bundles  of  vertical  trachelds,  sue 
ceeded  by  .  a  series  of  concentric  cylinders  c 
secondary  wood,  composed  alternately  of  vertic;; 
and  horizontal  elements.  It  Is  believed  that  th 
alternate  cylinders  are  the  products  of  a  slngli 
cambium,  which,  "for  some  reason  unknowi; 
turned   at   right-angles   periodically." 

Some  new  facts  are  given  with  regard  to  Bei 
nettites  Gibsonianus  and  other  Cycadean  plant  i 
and  a  few  new  types  are  described.  It  is  suj, 
gested  that  the  formation  of  more  than  or 
cylinder  of  secondary  wood  may  be  accepted  as , 
distinguishing  feature  of  certain  Cycadean  stenj 
referred  to  Cycadeoldea,  the  wood  of  Bennettit' 
'  being  the  product  of  a  single  cambium.     The  co 


May  4,  1916] 


NATURE 


199 


elusion  that  Buckland's  stems  from  Portland,  on 
which  the  genus  Cycadeoidea  was  founded,  bore 
no  lateral  fertile  shoots  like  those  characteristic 
of  Bennettites,  as  defined  by  Dr.  Stopes,  is  not  in 
accordance  with  a  statement  made  by  Buckland 
in  a  memoir  which  appears  to  have  been  over- 
looked. In  1912  Dr.  Stop>es  published  an  account 
of  some  Angiospermous  stems  from  British  Aptian 
strata,  and  in  the  present  volume  some  additional 
types  are  described.  Impressions  which  are  almost 
certainly  those  of  Dicotyledonous  leaves  have  been 
recorded  from  rocks  slightly  older  than  the 
Lower  Greensand,  but  the  specimens  described  by 
Dr.  Stopes  are  the  oldest  known  examples  of 
petrified  Angiospermous  wood.  The  anatomical 
characters  are  carefully  analysed  and  no  pains 
have  been  spared  to  compare  the  fossils  with 
recent  forms.  As  the  author  points  out,  the 
Angiosp>ermous  wood  so  far  discovered  exhibits 
no  features  which  can  be  regarded  as  primitive, 
and  it  is  clear  that  the  evolution  of  the  present 
dominant  class  had  already  reached  an  advanced 
stage. 

Dr.  Marie  Stopes  has  successfully  accomplished 
a  laborious  and  difficult  piece  of  work  :  the  well- 
illustrated  volume  is  a  contribution  of  permanent 
value  to  British  Palaeobotany. 

A.  C.  Seward. 


A  NEW  TEXT-BOOK  OF  OPTICS. 
A   Treatise  on  Light.      By  Dr.   R.   A.    Houstoun. 
Pp.  xi  +  478.     (London:  Longmans,  Green  and 
Co.,  1915.)     Price  js.  6d.  net. 

13  ECENT  years  have  witnessed  the  production 

-'•^     of  several  good   treatises  on  optics   in   the 

English    language,    chief    amongst    them    being 

Preston's  "Theory  of  Light,"  Schuster's  "Theorv 

of   Optics,"    R.    B.    Wood's    "Physical    Optics," 

Edser's  "Light  for  Students,"  and  J.  P.  Southall's 

"Principles  and  Methods  of  Geometrical  Optics," 

to  say  nothing  of  more   special   works,    such   as 

jTrotter's      "Illumination."        But      Dr.      R.      A. 

jHoustoun's  "Treatise  on  Light,"  now  before  us, 

joccupies  a  place  of  its  own.      It  will  be  welcomed 

jas  a  manual  for  classes  of  a  more  advanced  char- 

lacter  than  those  in  which  optics  is  taken  merely 

jas  a  part  of  a  general  physics  course.     The  study 

of  optics  for  its  own  sake,  so  neglected  in  most 

jf  the  universities,  would  assuredly  receive  better 

.jattention  if  optics  were  handled  in   the  spirit  of 

:his  book,  and  with  as  full  an  insight  into  recent 

ievelopments  and    investigations.     It   is,    indeed, 

ilive  with  modern  information  and  research ;  and, 

numerous  passages  reveal,  it  is  written  by  one 

whom  optical  laboratory  Work  is  familiar,  and 

ho  directs  it  to  bring  out  useful  and  important 

e  suits. 

The  book  is  divided  into  four  parts  : — (i)  geo- 
etrical  optics;   (ii)  physical  optics;   (iii)  spectro- 
metry and  photometry ;  and  (iv)  the  mathematical 
meory  of  light.     Incidentally,  the  topic  of  physio- 
Sfical    optics    is    interpolated    in    part    iii.     The 
ction  on  geometrical  optics  presents  an  advance 
many  features  over  the  exposition  of  that  sub- 
NO.    2427,   VOL.    97] 


ject  in  most  text-books,  its  treatment  of  thick 
lenses,  of  lens  combinations,  and  of  aberrations 
being,  on  the  whole,  extremely  satisfactory.  In 
few  points  only  does  the  author  give  the  reviewer 
occasion  to  grumble.  One  of  these  is  his  awk- 
ward convention  as  to  the  signs  plus  and  minus, 
which  do  not  here  signify  measurement  to  the 
right  and  left,  respectively,  from  any  fixed  zero 
or  origin.  Another  is  the  inconvenient  practice 
of  treating  all  rays  as  travelling  from  the  right  to 
the  left,  instead  of  the  more  usual  left  to  right. 
Nowhere  does  the  author  give  the  definition  of 
the  metric  unit  of  power  of  lenses,  the  dioptrie, 
though  it  was  adopted  internationally  in  1875. 
The  only  mention  of  it — and  he  spells  it  diopter — 
is  in  the  brief  passage  on  defects  of  vision.  He 
builds  up  the  theory  of  thick  lenses  quite  logically 
from  Helmholtz's  tangent  law.  His  brief  direc- 
tions as  to  the  measurement  of  focal  lengths  on 
pp.  75  and  76  are  very  good.  Most  unfortu- 
nately, he  uses  the  Greek  letter  \  on  p.  300,  not 
to  denote  wave-length,  but  to  signify  a  coefficient 
of  absorption ;  and,  in  defiance  of  modern  practice, 
he  employs  the  symbol  v,  not  to  denote  the  anti- 
dispersion  coefficient,  but  to  signify  its  reciprocal. 
On  p.  65  all  that  the  author  has  to  say  on  the 
residual  chromatic  aberration  known  as  "  second- 
ary spectrum  "  is  that  "  it  can  be  diminished  con- 
siderably by  using-  some  of  the  new  glasses  made 
in  Jena.  They  appear,  however,  to  offer  difficul- 
ties in  manufacture  and- to  be  not  very  durable." 
This  is  scarcely  fair  to  the  achievements  of  Abbe 
and  Schott;  for,  though  their  phosphate  crown 
glasses  have  not  proved  permanent,  their  success 
in  producing  pairs  of  crowns  and  flints  that  will 
eliminate  secondary  dispersion,  and  in  introducing 
the  really  valuable  novelty  of  baryta  crowns, 
should  be  frankly  acknowledged.  The  advantage 
of  using  for  a  lens  a  glass  with  a  higher  index 
of  refraction,  as  stated  on  p.  59,  diminishes  the 
spherical  aberration  considerably ;  and  the  baryta 
crowns  give  precisely  this  advantage  over  the 
other  kinds,  while  requiring  relatively  less  com- 
pensation by  means  of  correcting  lenses  of  flint. 
The  author's  remarks  on  the  resolving  powers  of 
microscopes,  telescof>es,  spectroscopes,  and 
diffraction  gratings  are  distinctly  good.  It  is  a 
curious  point  that  the  ordinary  method  of  describ- 
ing the  working  aperture  of  a  lens,  so  familiar 
to  photographers,  as  a  fraction  of  the  focal  length, 
j  is  only  mentioned  in  this  work  in  connection  with 
I  the  Fery  spectrograph  and  the  Rowland  grating. 
I  Another  curiosity  in  arrangement  is  the  inclusion 
I  of  the  subject  of  persistence  of  vision  in  the  sec- 
tion headed  "Optical  Lantern." 

Amongst    the    outstanding    excellences    of    the 
!  work  we  may  praise  the  chapters  that  deal  with 
\  interferometers  and  spectrographs.  The  two  chap- 
I  ters  on  spectroscopy — the  earlier  and  later  spectro- 
scopic   work    being    separated — are    very    good. 
The  author  seems  to  labour  under  the  erroneous 
impression,  however,  that  Newton  used  only  a  cir- 
cular aperture  and  not  a  slit.     There  is  a  cryptic 
sentence  on  p.  238,  that  the  dispersion,  as  speci- 
I  fied  by  dd/d\,  "is  easily  found  experimentally  to 


200 


NATURE 


[May  4,  1916 


be  a  minimum  at  minimum  deviation,  for  if  we  turn 
through  minimum  deviation  the  spectrum  is 
shortest  there."  But  on  the  ordinary  definition 
of  the  dispersion  this  is  far  from  true.  Perhaps 
the  author's  definition  of  dispersion  is  to  be  pre- 
ferred. The  author  alleges,  on  p.  252,  that  it 
is  difficult  to  show  in  the  laboratory  the  reversal 
of  the  sodium  lines.  If  he  will  adopt  the  follow- 
ing plan  he  will,  on  the  contrary,  find  it  very 
easy,  even  as  a  lecture  demonstration.  Use  a 
hand-feed  arc  lamp.  Let  the  lower  carbon  be 
hollowed  out  so  as  to  form  a  sort  of  small 
crucible;  but  let  a  slight  V-notch  be  dut  in  its 
rim  on  the  side  towards  the  projecting  lens- 
system  of  the  lantern.  Let  the  upper  carbon  be 
thin  and  pointed  and  set  to  strike  the  arc  by  con- 
tact with  the  rim  on  the  opposite  side.  Put  a 
pellet  of  sodium  in  the  "crucible,"  and  then  move 
the  top  carbon  down  and  up  several  times  so  as 
to  strike  the  arc  repeatedly.  A  continuous 
spectrum  is  evoked,  accompanied  usually  by 
bright  lines,  including  the  D-line;  but  the  D-line 
at  once  changes  to  a  black  line,  since  the  light 
has  to  pass  through  the  mass  of  sodium  vapour 
which  IS  slowly  pouring  over  the  V-notch. 

In  the  chapter  on  the  later  spectroscopy  Row- 
land's photographic  charts,  Balmer's  series,  the 
work  of  Kayser  and  Runge,  and  that  of  Stark, 
Zeeman,  and  Michelson,  are  admirably  described 
and  summarised.  The  chapter  on  infra-red  and 
X-rays  is  also  admirable,  but  the  early  work  of 
Crookes,  which  led  up  to  the  radiometer,  is  ig- 
nored. Chapter  xx.,  on  lamps  and  illumination,  is 
less  satisfying.  Surely  the  estimate  of  200,000 
candles  per  square  inch  for  the  intrinsic  brilliancy 
of  the  crater  of  an  arc  lamp  is  too  high. 

The  fourth  part,  the  mathematical  theory  of 
light,  is  a  very  able  and  very  welcome  feature  of 
the  work,  though  it  is  not  all  easy  reading.  It 
deals  with  the  propagation  of  single  pulses  and 
groups  of  waves ;  the  modern  notion  of  the  true 
function  of  prisms,  not  as  sorters-out  of  hypo- 
thetically  pre-existing  trains  of  periodic  waves, 
but  as  the  manufacturers  of  these  trains  out  of 
miscellaneous  and  utterly  irregular  impulses ;  the 
electromagnetic  theory  of  light;  the  experiments 
of  Hertz ;  the  problems  of  reflexion  and  refraction ; 
the  theory  of  dispersion ;  the  theory  of  radiation ; 
and  the  pressure  of  light.  A  pregnant  chapter 
on  the  relative  motion  of  matter  and  ether,  in 
which  the  celebrated  paradoxical  experiment  of 
Michelson  and  Morley  forms  the  pivot  of  the  argu- 
ment, brings  the  book  to  the  close  with  the  remark 
that  the  Michelson-Morley  experiment  is  a  some- 
what narrow  basis  on  which  to  rear  such  a  struc- 
ture as  the  "relativity"  doctrine  of  Einstein.  It 
is  indeed. 

To  many  of  the  chapters  Dr.  Houstoun  has 
appended  series  of  questions  and  problems. 
These  are  excellent,  being  real  problems  of  optics, 
and  not,  as  in  the  majority  of  college  text-books, 
mere  mathematical  puzzles.  There  is  a  reality 
and  freshness  about  them  that  is  wholly  com- 
mendable. 

The  tables  included  at  the  end  of  the  book  are 
all    too   short.     But    they    are    satisfactory    com- 

_    -  _  _       _  ^T 


pared  with  the  index.  One  looks  in  vain  for  manj 
things.  The  index  contains  no  reference  to  aper- 
ture. Angstrom's  unit,  crossed  prisms,  diffuse 
reflexion,  index  of  refraction,  luminosity,  lumines- 
cence,  persistence  of  vision,  power  of  a  lens,  re- 
fraction, or  selective  radiation;  and  the  inquirei 
who  wants  to  know  the  significance  of  jx  or  of  /xji 
will  vainly  hunt  for  the  footnote  on  p.  243  01 
that  on  p.  298,  where  these  mysteries  are  revealed, 
In  an  important  text-book  such  as  this  an  indes 
ought  not  to  be  left  to  a  compiler  who  does  nol 
grasp  what  are  the  good  things  that  must  not  b( 
left  uriindexed.  One  misses  even  any  reference 
to  some  of  the  best  and  most  instructive  thing* 
in  the  lx>ok,  the  original  researches  of  the  authoi 
himself,  which  are  to  be  found  on  pp.  299,  324 
and  350.  The  publishers  ought  at  once  to  scraf 
the  index  without  waiting  for  the  second  edition 
which  is  certain  to  be  called  for  at  no  distani 
time.  S.  P.  T. 


OVR    BOOKSHELF. 

The   Moon:     Considered   as   a  Planet,   a    World, 
and  a  Satellite.     By  J.    Nasmyth   and  J.    Car- 
penter.   Cheap  edition.    Pp.  xix+315.    (London: 
J.  Murray,  1916.)     Price  2s.  6d.  net. 
It  is  a  pleasure  to  direct  attention  to  the  issue,  al 
an     extraordinarily     low     price,     of    a    complete 
edition  of  Nasmyth  and  Carpenter's  classical  wxjrl- 
on  lunar  physiography.     Accustomed  as  we  are  o 
late  years  to  cheap  editions,  this  reprint  appearij 
to    us  to   present   really    exceptional   value.     Th»i 
work  first  appeared  forty-two  years  ago,  and  w. 
reviewed  in  Nature  of  March  12,  1874.     That  t; 
appreciative    tenor    of    that    review   was.   entire 
deserved  is  sufficiently  evidenced  by  the  fact  th: 
four  editions  have  been  issued.     Nevertheless,  > 
may  not  be  out  of  place  to  quote  a  fairly  recen 
French  endorsement : — 

**Au  point  de  vue  pittoresque,  aucune  repr 
sentation  precedente  ne  pouvait  donner  une  me 
leure  id6e  de  ce  que  Ton  voit  au  telescope  que  1* 
reliefs  de  Nasmyth.  Les  photographies  actuelli 
sont  plus  exactes,  mars  elles  sont  loin  d'atteindi 
le  charme  des  planches  de  cet  ouvrage  qu'on  i 
se  lasse  point  d'examiner." 

It  so  happens  that  the  review  copy  of  the  fir 
edition  has  somewhat  often  been  in  the  hands  ' 
the  present  writer,  and  as  the  illustrations  a 
such  an  important  feature,  it  is  satisfactory  to  ' 
able  to  state  that  the  reproductions  in  this  late 
edition  compare  favourably  with  the  original: 
The  text,  written  when  distinction  of  literary  st} 
could  be  found  even  in  books  of  science,  can  st, 
be  read  with  profit  and  with  pleasure. 

H.  E.  G. 

Graphics  and  Structural  Design.     By  Prof.  H.  -. 

Hess.     Second  Edition.      Pp.   viii  +  435.     (N< 

York :     J.    Wiley    and     Sons,    Inc.  ;     Londoi 

Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.,  1915.)     Price  12s.  t 

net. 

The  first  edition  of  this  book  appeared  in  ig'^ 

The  author  was  formerly  designer  and  compu" 

for  the  Pencoyd   Iron  Works  and   the  AmeriC 


May  4,  191 6] 


NATURE 


201 


Bridge  Company,  and  is  now  a  professor  in  Sibley 
College,  Cornell  University,  His  experience, 
therefore,  leads  us  to  expect  that  his  volume  will 
contain  much  matter  of  service  to  structural 
draughtsmen,  and  that  the  treatment  will  be  suit- 
able for  students.  The  early  demand  for  a 
second  edition  is  evidence  that  the  author  has 
been  successful  in  his  treatment,  and  this  is  con- 
firmed by  inspection  of  the  text.  The  book  does  not 
pretend  to  deal  with  the  mechanics  of  materials 
— the  student  is  referred  to  other  books  for  this 
— and  the  reader  who  has  studied  materials  will 
find  his  knowledge  drawn  upon  throughout  the 
book  in  application  to  a  large  number  of  struc- 
tures. Sufficient  is  given  at  ev6ry  step  to  enable 
the  student  to  understand  which  particular  theory 
is  being  applied.  There  are  practical  examples, 
fully  worked  out,  of  every  class  of  structure  dis- 
cussed, and  the  formulae  used  in  practice  are 
explained  clearly.  A  large  number  of  exercises 
to  be  worked  by  students  is  included. 

Although  the  methods  of  design  are  American, 
the  British  student  and  designer  of  structures  will 
profit  considerably  by  going  through  this  volume. 
We  have  read  chapters  xvii.  and  xviii.  with  par- 
ticular interest ;  these  deal  respectively  with 
retaining  walls  and  with  bins  for  holding  grain 
and  coal ;  the  latter  chapter  is  exceptionally  com- 
plete, and,  as  is  usual  throughout  the  book,  con- 
tains typical  examples  worked  out. 

Rambles  in  the  Vaudese  Alps.  By  F.  S.  Salis- 
;     bury.     Pp.  X+154.     (London:  J.  M.  Dent  and 

Sons,    Ltd.,    1916.)      Price   2S.    6d.   net. 

Mr.  Salisbury's  book  gives  a  pleasant  account 

of  a  summer  holiday  in  1908,   spent  at  Gryon  in 

anambitious  excursions  among  the  limestone  Alps 

Df  the  western  Oberland.     The  fine  views  of  such 

Tiountains     as    the    Diablerets    and     the     Grand 

jMuveran,   in   the   immediate   neighbourhood,    and 

i:he  magnificent  gable-end  of  the  Dent  du  Midi  on 

ihe  other  side  of  the  Rhone,   as  they  rise  above 

(•lopes   of    green    pasture     and    dark  pine-wood, 

jHake  this  an  unusually    attractive   district. 

I  The  author  writes,  not  for  geologists  or  botan- 

|5ts,   but    for    lovers   of    mountain     scenery    and 

jiountain  flowers.     As,  however,  he  did  not  reach 

'ryon  until  the  beginning  of  August,  he  was  too 

ite   for   the  blossoms   which,    some    five    or    six 

•eeks  earlier,  make  the  meadows,  from  three  to 

[Ve  thousand    feet  above    sea-level,    a  carpet    of 

jiany  colours.     These,  in  that  month,  have  given 

ace  to  less  graceful  kinds,    such  as  the  yellow 

|id  purple  gentian,  the  white  hellebore  {Veratrum 

niim),   and    the    monkshood.      But    his    visits  to 

summits   and    passes,    some    three    thousand 

above  the  level  of  Gryon,  were  rewarded  by 

1   lovers   of  the    mountain    air  as    the   Dryas 

,-'petala  and  the  alpine  aster,  the  little  blue  gen- 

I'-ns,  and  even  the  edelweiss.     Some  photographs 

"  the  flowers,  by  Mr.  Somerville  Hastings,   add 

the  interest  ot  the  book,   and  it  is  one  which 

tourist   who  loves    to  linger    rather    than    to 

"v,   and    desires    to    learn    a   little    about  the 

Hnt  world  of  the   Alps,   will   find  a  useful   and 

ajractive  companion. 

NO.    2427,   VOL.    97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Zeppelin  Notes. 

As  one  who  happened  to  be  in  a  region  which  came 
in  for  attention  from  Zeppelin  bombs,  I  have  jotted 
down  some  of  the  points  of  more  immediate  interest 
which  stand  out  from  an  experience  in  which  every- 
thing was  rather  blurred  : — 

The  bombs  could  be  heard  approaching  as  they 
rushed  through  the  air.  The  whistling  noise — a  little 
like  the  tearing  of  calico  or  the  noise  made  by  a 
gigantic  rocket — became  a  crescendo  shriek  of  terrific 
intensity  just  before  the  bomb  struck  the  ground  and 
the  explosion  occurred.  In  the  present  instance  I 
estimated  the  height  of  the  Zeppelin  as  about  4000  ft., 
and,  neglecting  air  resistance,  this  would  give  the 
bombs  a  final  velocity  of  about  500  ft.  per  second. 
The  actual  speed  was  probably  less  than  this,  and  is 
considerably  less  than  the  velocity  of  sound  (iioo  ft. 
per  sec),  which  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  bombs 
can  be  heard  before  their  arrival. 

Standing  as  I  was  at  about  200  yards  from  where 
one  of  the  bombs  fell,  the  noise  of  the  actual  explosion 
did  not  appear  to  be  very  loud.  The  reason  is  prob- 
ably to  be  sought  in  the  almost  complete  numbing  of 
one's  senses.  All  one  could  do  was  to  stand  stock- 
still  and  wait  for  the  next  bomb.  The  feeling  was 
much  the  same  as  if  one  had  been  given  a  hard  blow 
between  the  eyes  with  a  bolster  or  some  relatively  soft 
object.  I  heard  a  piece  of  bomb  "zip"  past  me,  and 
afterwards  found  it  embedded  in  a  balk  of  timber 
about  two  yards  from  where  I  was  standing.  A  huge 
cloud  of  black  smoke  arose  into  the  air,  reminding 
one  of  the  photographs  of  Jack  Johnson  shells  burst- 
ing. 

The  results  of  an  explosive  bomb  show  curious  freak- 
ishness,  especially  in  enclosed  spaces.  Evidently 
"  pockets "  of  high  pressure  result  in  various  direc- 
tions, and  the  destruction  is  confined  to  the  direction 
of  these  pockets.  Considerable  damage  may  be  caused 
apparently  by  the  air  rushing  in  to  restore  the  pressure 
after  a  high-pressure  wave  has  passed  forward.  For 
example,  one  bomb  fell  near  a  small  outhouse.  The 
doors  were  blown  bodily  inwards — mostly  owing  to 
the  hinges  and  frames  breaking  loose — vet  the  sur- 
rounding wall  of  the  house  was  "started"  outwards. 
One  pane  of  glass  in  a  window-frame  disappeared, 
while  an  adjacent  pane  similarly  situated  was  un- 
damaged. The  lid  of  a  kettle  was  deftly  blown  off  by 
the  air  wave  going  down  the  spout,  the  kettle  being 
undamaged. 

The  bombs  fell  in  soft  marshy  ground,  and  the 
effects  of  the  explosion  were  very  local.  Apart  from 
flying  missiles,  the  danger  zone  did  not  appear  to 
exceed  25  yards  or  so.  Windows,  about  15  vards 
away,  on  the  side  of  an  outhouse  remote  from  the 
explosion  were  quite  intact. 

Pieces  of  one  of  the  explosive  bombs  perforated 
some  steel  plates  standing  vertically  about  10  yards 
away.  The  edges  of  the  holes  were  rounded,  and 
showed  undoubted  signs  of  fusion,  due  no  doubt  to  the 
speed  of  the  shearing.  In  one  instance  a  piece  of  the 
phosphor-bronze  casing  of  the  bomb  penetrated  a  steel 
plate  more  than  i  in.  thick. 

The  holes  caused  in  the  soft  clayey  ground  by  the 
explosive  bombs  were  approximately  conical,  some 
10  ft.  across,  and  about  4  ft.  deep. 

The  incendiar}-  bombs  could  be  heard  coming  with 


202 


NATURE 


[May  4,  1916 


a  whizzing  noise,  rather  like  the  explosive  bombs. 
They  blazed  furiously,  and  lit  up  the  whole  neighbour- 
hood. We  had,  however,  no  great  difficulty  in  extin- 
guishing one  with  a  hand  fire-extinguisher.  They 
contain,  I  imagine,  tar,  petrol,  and  much  besides. 

The  rapid  succession  of  the  bombs  and  the  spacing 
apart  of  the  holes  showed  that  the  Zeppelin  was 
travelling  at  high  speed  at  the  time,  due  no  doubt  to 
the  activity  of  the  anti-aircraft  guns.  She  could  not 
have  hoped  to  hit  any  specific  object,  and,  indeed, 
ludicrously  failed  to  hit  anything  but  clay. 

The  control  of  the  airship  was  considerable.  She 
was  very  nimble  in  endeavouring  to  evade  the  search- 
lights, which,  however,  had  no  difficulty  whatever 
in  keeping  her  in  the  beam. 

Observer. 


THE  KIMMERIDGE  OIL-SHALES. 
"T^HE  rapid  extension  of  the  use  of  oil  fuel  in  the 
J-  Navy,  coupled  with  the  desirability,  for  ob- 
vious reasons,  of  securing  adequate  supplies  from 
home  sources,  has  led  to  renewed  attention  being 
given  to  the  large  and  easily  accessible  deposits  of 
oil-bearing  shales  which  have  long  been  known  to 
occur  in  the  vicinity  of  Kimmeridge,  in  Dorset- 
shire, and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
question  of  their  immediate  utilisation  has  already 
been  urgently  pressed  upon  the  notice  of  the 
Admiralty. 

Assuming  that  oil  of  a  satisfactory  character 
can  be  obtained  from  these  shales,  there  are 
several  considerations  which  would  seem  to  point 
to  Kimmeridge  itself,  or  some  place  in  its  near 
vicinity,  as  a  suitable  spot  at  which  to  establish 
workings,  not  the  least  important  of  which  is  its 
proximity  to  Portland,  one  of  our  leading  naval 
stations.  Kimmeridge  is  close  to  the  coast,  and 
although  somewhat  exposed  to  gales  from  the 
south-west,  might  be  made  sufficiently  secure  as 
a  harbour  to  enable  shipments  of  the  shale  to  be 
made  to  Castletown,  or  other  convenient  locality, 
if  it  were  found  impracticable  to  distil  the  shale 
near  the  place  where  it  is  raised.  And  in  any 
case,  should  difficulties  be  found  in  making  the 
Kimmeridge  haven  sufficiently  safe  for  vessels  to 
lie  at  anchor  or  alongside  the  jetty  that  would 
have  to  be  constructed,  Portland  Harbour  of 
Refuge  is  only  a  few  miles  distant,  and  can 
be  entered  at  any  time  of  tide,  and  in  any  weather. 

Many  attempts  have  1>een  made  to  work  the 
Kimmeridge  shales  for  oil,  but  hitherto  without 
much  success,  owing  largely  to  the  character  of 
the  product  and  the  difficulty  of  rectifying  it  into 
a  marketable  product  as  naphtha  and  illuminating 
oil.  But  the  nature  of  oil  fuel  is  wholly  dis- 
similar from  that  of  ordinary  burning  oil,  and  its 
chemical  and  physical  characters  are  quite 
different.  Nor  is  the  same  standard  of  quality 
as  regards  colour,  freedom  from  sulphur,  etc., 
needed  in  a  fuel  oil  as  in  an  oil  intended  for 
illuminating  purposes.  Hence  it  is  possible  that 
there  may  be  an  outlet  for  the  Kimmeridge  oil 
that  has  hitherto  been  denied  it. 

The  Kimmeridge  shales  have  long  received  the 
attention  of  geologists,  and  their  extent  and  dis- 
tribution have  been  carefully  traced.  The  outcrop 
along  the  Dorsetshire  coast  begins  a  mile  or  two 

NO.    2427,    VOL.   97] 


to  the  west  of  St.  Alban's  Head,  and,  as  see 
from  the  sea,  forms  a  very  striking  natural  featui 
as  Kimmeridge  is  approached.  The  deposil 
extend  to  very  considerable  distances,  and  are  c 
unknown  depth.  To  the  west  they  are  found  z 
Portland,  which^  indeed,  is  known  to  rest  upo 
them,  and  they  were  formerly  worked  for  fuel  i 
the  island.  They  come  out  here  and  there  aloa 
the  West  Bay,  or  in  its  vicinity,  as  far  as  Abbotj 
bury.  They  have  been  known  in  times  past  t 
ignite  spontaneously,  probably  owing  to  the  hea 
developed  by  the  rapid  oxidation  of  marcasite 
or  some  other  form  of  iron  pyrites.  They  exten 
to  the  north  of  Dorsetshire,  and  have  been  trace 
by  borings  and  by  outcrops  in  a  north-easterl 
direction  to  Norfolk,  and  through  Lincolnshir 
to   the    Humber. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Kimmeridge  the  shal 
was  long  used  as  fuel,  and  is  still  so  used  to  ; 
limited  extent  in  the  country  cottages.  In  the  six 
teenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  it  was  worke( 
for  alum  as  at  Whitby,  and  by  the  same  methods 
the  large  quantity  of  pyrites  it  contains  affording 
the  sulphuric  acid,  whilst  other  portions  servec 
as  fuel  for  evaporation,  etc. 

The  shale  seems  to  have  been  first  worked  foi 
oil  about  1848,  when  small  shipments  were  sent 
to  Weymouth,  where  the  retorting  was  done — a 
fact  which  was  held,  although  unsuccessfully,  tc 
invalidate  Young's  patent  for  the  manufacture,  of 
paraflfin  oil  by  destructive  distillation  at  a  low 
temperature.  At  the  famous  trial  Vice-Chan- 
cellor  Stuart  ruled  that  "the  manufacture  of 
offensively-smelling  and  unmarketable  oils  from 
Kimmeridge  shales  could  not  be  held  to  be  an 
anticipation  of  Young's  patent."  It  is,  however, 
interesting  to  note  that  Weymouth  was  the  first' 
place  in  the  United  Kingdom  at  which  the  di 
filiation  of  shale  for  the  production  of  hydr^ 
carbon  oils  was  attempted  on  a  manufacturin 
scale. 

In  addition  to  oils  of  various  grades  the  shah 
yield  notable  quantities  of  ammonia  on  distill; 
tion,  a  fact  which  has  an  important  bearing  upo 
their  commercial  value. 

In  a  highly  interesting  and  suggestive  pape 
recently  read  to  the  Institution  of  Petroleur 
Technologists,  Mr.  W.  Hardy  Manfield  has  give 
a  very  full  account  of  the  Kimmeridge  oil-shale.^ 
their  distribution  and  geological  features,  and  c 
the  various  attempts  which  have  been  made  t, 
turn  them  to  account.  The  communication  als 
gives  a  description  of  the  method?  of  winning 
oil-shale,  of  distilling  it,  and  of  treating  the  pn; 
ducts,  based  upon  practical  experience.  Tl: 
paper  is  particularly  valuable  on  account  of  tfj 
author's  local  knowledge  of  the  Kimmeridg, 
deposits. 

The  great  objection  to  the  use  of  Kimmerid^; 
oil  is  due  to  the  large  quantity  of  sulphur  it  co:i 
tains,  which  it  has  hitherto  been  practically  ifi 
possible  to  remove  to  a  suflficient  extent  to  mal, 
the  oil  marketable.  All  attempts  at  purificatif. 
by  the  methods  of  treatment  ordinarily  usedi 
mainly  acid  and  alkali — are  of  little  value.     T 


May  4,  1916] 


NATURE 


203 


fact  is  nothing  is  really  known  concerning  the 
nature  of  the  combination  in  which  the  sulphur  is 
present.  It  is  evidently  very  firmly  held,  for  the 
compound  or  compounds  will  stand  the  most 
drastic  treatment  without  being  broken  down. 
There  is  here  a  fine  field  of  investigation  for  any 
chemist  who  will  grapple  with  the  problem.  What 
seems  to  be  wanted  in  the  first  place  is  that  these 
sulphur  compounds  should  be  satisfactorily 
isolated,  and  their  properties  studied.  When  we 
know  more  about  them  it  may  be  possible  to  learn 
how  to  deal  with  them.  W^e  would  invite  atten- 
tion to  what  is  really  a  yery  promising  subject  for 
inquiry.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  would 
yield  to  systematic  attack  by  modern  experimental 
methods  familiar  to  organic  chemists,  and  there 
are  the  possibilities  of  great  material  benefits  to 
him  who  will  satisfactorily  solve  the  problem. 

THE    WASTAGE    OF   COAL. 

THE  Committee  for  the  Investigation  of  At- 
mospheric Pollution  has  just  issued  its  first 
report,  from  which  it  is  evident  that  it  has  carried 
out  its  self-appointed  task  in  a  thoroughly  scien- 
tific and  (if  the  terms  are  not  incompatible)  busi- 
ness-like manner.  Nineteen  towns  have  under- 
taken a  periodical  analysis  of  the  impurities 
■carried  down  by  rain  falling  on  different  stations, 
and  also  of  the  constituents  of  the  dust  deposited 
on  a  specially  designed  dust  gauge  of  standard 
•dimensions.  These  results  have  been  tabulated 
in  metric  tons  per  sq.  kilo,  per  month  under 
the  headings  of  insoluble  matter  (including  tar, 
non-tarry  carbonaceous  matter,  ash),  soluble 
matter  (including  volatile,  combustible,  and  non- 
volatile solids),  and  sulphuric  acid  (as  sulphate), 
chlorine  (as  chloride),    and   ammonia. 

The  summary  at  the  end  of  the  report  gives  a 
comparative  survey  of  the  data  from  the  different 
localities.  These  data  naturally  vary  with  the 
1  nature  of  the  environment,  whether  industrial, 
residential,  or  rural.  With  the  exception  of  some 
rather  interesting  and  curious  local  variations,  the 
i^eneral  results  are  such  as  might  be  anticipated. 
jln  industrial  centres,  such  as  Oldham,  Bolton, 
land  the  Ancoats  district  of  Manchester,   the  im- 

1  •    •  • 

purities  reach  a  maximum,  and  yield  25  tons  or 

jnore  of  total  solids  per  month,  and  proportionate 

liuantities  of   sulphuric   acid   (3-5   tons),   chlorine 

l°*9~i*5    tons),     and    ammonia     (o- 15-0-25    ton), 

vhilst  Malvern,  situated  in  an  agricultural  area, 

jhows  a  minimum  record  of  less  than  5  tons  of 

jotal  solids  per  month,  the  monthly  mean  being 

•13,  with  0-50,   o;24,  and  0-02  ton  of  sulphate, 

Ihlcrine,  and  ammonia  respectively. 

This  large  amount  and  wide  distribution  of  at- 

lospheric   pollution   from   burning   coal   (for  the 

npurities   are   practically   all  derived   from   coal) 

lises  two  issues  :   the  one  a  question  of  injury 

animal  and  plant  life,   the  other  one  of  eco- 

■my. 

Leaving  on  one  side  the  health  question,  and 
mfining  our  attention  to  the  economic  problem, 
hich  is  a  pressing  one  in  these  days,  we  look 
';  our  coal  supply,  not  onlv  for  fuel,  but  for  the 
I       NO.    2427,   VOL.    07! 


raw  material  for  explosives,  dyes,  synthetic 
drugs,  terrocyanides,  ammonium  salts,  and,  to 
some  extent,  sulphuric  acid,  in  every  one  of  which 
there  is  a  more  or  less  serious  shortage.  Yet  of 
the  two  hundred  million  tons  of  coal  consumed 
annually,  less  than  forty  million  tons  are  burnt 
economically,  that  is  to  say,  gasified  in  gas 
retorts  and  by-product  coke  ovens,  whilst  the 
remainder,  or  80  per  cent.,  is  used,  not  only  as 
raw  fuel  in  which  all  the  valuable  by-products  are 
lost,  but  through  incomplete,  and  therefore  waste- 
ful, combustion  contaminate  the  atmosphere  and 
the  soil  over  an  area  which  may  be  reckoned  in 
hundreds  of  square  miles. 

Is  theie  no  way  of  compassing  this  absurdly 
wasteful  system  of  utilising  coal?  Prof.  H.  E. 
Armstrong,  in  a  recent  address  to  the  Society  of 
Chemical  Industry,  suggested  that  the  society 
should  advocate  an  enactment  forbidding  the  use 
of  raw  coal  for  domestic  purposes.  We  are  con- 
fident that  such  an  enactment,  even  if  it  were 
made  more  comprehensive  in  its  scope,  would 
instantly  solve  the  problem  of  the  by-product 
wastage,  and  simultaneously  clear  the  atmosphere 
of  smoke  without  injury  or  discomfort  to  home 
or  commercial  life. 

Faced  as  we  are  with  the  shortage  of  by-pro- 
ducts as  well  as  with  the  immediate  and  pressing 
necessity  of  restricting  expenditure,  the  subject 
of  fuel  economy  is  one  which,  along  with  the 
wastage  on  drink,  demands  more  than  any  other 
form  of  economy,  on  account  of  the  prodigious 
sums  involved,  an  instant  and  drastic  change  in 
our  traditional  method  of  laissez  faire. 

In  the  circumstances  it  is  somewhat  unfortun- 
ate that  the  Local  Government  Board,  which  in- 
stituted an  inquiry  into  smoke  abatement  in  the 
spring  of  1914,  should  have  suspended  its  sittings 
just  at  a  time  when  the  result  of  its  deliberations 
might  have  borne  some  fruit;  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  a  similar  committee  having  wider 
powers  may  shortly  be  appointed  to  deal  with,  in 
addition  to  smoke  abatement,  the  larger  question 
of  the  wastage  of  coal.  J.  B.  C. 

NOTES. 

The  tercentenary  of  Shakespeare's  death  is  being 
commemorated  this  week,  and  tributes  to  his  genius 
are  being  paid  in  many  other  parts  of  the  civilised 
world.  The  event  may  not  be  regarded  as  of  particu- 
lar scientific  significance,  yet  to  let  it  pass  unnoticed 
in  these  columns  would  be  to  show  a  want  of  pride 
for  the  memory  of  the  greatest  master  of  our  literature. 
In  the  Elizabethan  age,  the  cockatrice,  the  mermaid, 
the  phoenix,  the  unicorn,  and  like  legendary  creatures 
.vere  realities  to  the  general  public,  and  as  such  were 
referred  to  in  the  works  of  the  great  dramatist  and 
other  contemporary  writers.  We  have,  for  example, 
in  "The  Winter's  Tale,"  the  line,  "Make  me  not 
sighted  like  the  basilisk,"  and  in  "The  Tempest," 
"Now  I  will  believe  that  there  are  unicorns."  Not 
only  was  more  or  less  credulity  given  to  the  existence 
of  these  and  other  fabulous  creatures,  but  a  web  of 
mystic  lore  encircled  the  most  common  and  best 
known  of  beasts,  birds,  and  fishes.  But  though 
Shakespeare  gave  credence  to  many  of  the  legends  he 
quoted,  especially  in  regard  to  the  animals  and  plants 
of  distant  lands,  he  had  a  greater  knowledge  of  natural 


204 


NATURE 


[May  4,  191 6 


history  than  many  of  his  contemporaries.  An  article 
in  the  Times  of  May  2  shows  that  he  was  familiar 
with  the  characteristics  and  habits  of  many  birds,  and 
the  accuracy  of  his  references  to  them  would  do  credit 
to  a  modern  field  naturalist.  The  greatness  of  Shake- 
speare, however,  lies  not  so  much  in  the  fact  that  he 
reflected  in  his  works  the  best  knowledge  of  his  time, 
which  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  most  writers  to-day, 
but  that  he  enriched  and  defined  with  thought  what 
most  people  feel,  and  perceived  in  Nature  resemblances 
and  meanings  which  are  hidden  to  the  ordinary  mind. 
In  these  respects,  poetry  is  independent  of  knowledge, 
which  does  not,  how-ever,  destroy  the  magic  and  the 
mystery  upon  which  the  imaginative  mind  can  play,  but 
transfers  them  to  higher  planes.  For  Shakespeare's 
knowledge  and  his  power  to  set  in  vibration  every 
chord  of  the  human  spirit,  we  join  this  week  in 
reverent  admiration  with  lovers  of  good  literature 
throughout  the  Empire. 

The  special  correspondent  of  the  Times  at  Amster- 
dam reports  that  the  change  of  the  legal  time-standard 
in  conformity  with  the  daylight  saving  scheme  came 
into  force  in  Holland  on  May  i  without  any  appre- 
ciable disturbance  of  the  daily  life  of  the  community. 
All  clocks  w'ere  put  forward  one  hour  at  midnight  on 
Sunday;  therefore,  instead  of  i  o'clock,  2  o'clock  was 
struck  one  hour  after  midnight.  This  "  summer 
time"  will  be  used  until  October  i.  It  is  stated  that 
there  has  been  little  opposition  to  the  change  except 
among  Frisian  farmers  and  dairymen,  who,  for  prac- 
tical reasons  connected  with  haymaking  and  milking, 
desire  exemption  from  observance  of  the  new  time. 
The  Times  correspondent  adds  that  calendars  giving 
the  times  of  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun  neces- 
sarily require  readjustment  to  the  altered  time.  He 
does  not  indicate,  however,  how  this  change  is  to  be 
effected ;  that  is  to  say,  whether  the  calendars  are  to 
show. astronomical  occurrences,  such  as  times  of  sun- 
rise, sunset,  moonrise,  tides,  and  so  on,  according  to 
one  time-standard  in  summer  and  another  in  winter. 
In  legalising  the  daylight  saving  system,  Holland  has 
followed.  Germany  and  Austria,  which  introduced  it 
by  administrative  decree  on  May  i.  A  Bill  with  the 
same  object  has  been  passed  by  the  French  Chamber 
of  Deputies  with  the  support  of  the  Government,  and 
is  now  before  the  Senate ;  and  Sir  Henry  Norman  has 
handed  in  the  following  notice  of  motion  at  the  House 
of  Commons: — "That,  in  view  especially  of  the 
economy  in  fuel  and  its  transport  that  would  be- 
effected  by  shortening  the  hours  of  artificial  lighting, 
this  House  would  welcome  a  measure  for  the  advance- 
ment of  clock  time  by  one  hour  during  the  summer 
months  of  this  year." 

A  LETTER  of  Sir  Lauder  Brunton  to  the  Lancet  of 
April  3,  1915,  anticipates  to  some  extent  the  recom- 
mendations contained  in  the  memorandum  on  "  Indus- 
trial Fatigue  and  its  Causes,"  issued  by  the  Health  of 
Munition  Workers'  Committee,  and  described  in  our 
issue  of  April  20  last  (p.  162).  Sir  Lauder  Brunton 
refers  to  an  experiment  made  many  years  ago  by  the 
late  Mr.  Lindsay  Russell,  Surveyor-General  of 
Canada,  and  Prof.  Pearce  when  surveying  the 
boundary-line  between  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
From  the  force  of  circumstances  it  was  sometimes 
necessary  to  work  the  men  for  seven  days  a  week,  and 
several  weeks  at  a  time.  On  other  occasions,  when 
there  was  no  necessity  for  such  extreme  exertion,  the 
men  were  only  worked  six  days  a  week,  and  allowed 
to  rest  completely  on  the  seventh  day.  It  was  possible 
to  calculate  exactly  the  amount  of  every  man's  daily 
work  in  foot-pounds.  On  reckoning  it  up  it  was 
found  that  the  number  of  foot-pounds  done  by  the 
men  working  six  days  a  week  was  almost  the  same 

NO.    2427,   VOL.    97] 


as  when  they  worked  seven  days  a  week.  Sir  Lauder 
Brunton  expresses  the  opinion  that  in  all  probability 
if  munition  workers  work  at  their  full  capacity  for  six 
days  it  will  be  better  both  for  them  and  the  work 
they  turn  out  that  they  should  rest  on  the  seventh. 

We  are  glad  to  note  that  the  Reale  Accademia 
dei  Lincei  of  Rome  is  taking  up  the  question  of  the 
maintenance  of  the  zoological  stations  at  Naples  and 
Messina,  and  that  the  Italian  Government  is  being 
asked  to  provide  the  means  for  continuing  the  work 
of  these  institutions. 

At  the  ordinary  scientific  meeting  of  the  Chemical 
Society,  to  be  held  at  Burlington  House  on  Thursday, 
May  18,  at  8  p.m.,  thp  last  of  the  three  lectures 
arranged  for  this  session  will  be  delivered  by  Prof.  F. 
Gowland  Hopkins,  F.R.S.,  who  has  chosen  as  his  sub- 
ject, "  Newer  Standpoints  in  the  Chemical  Study  of 
Nutrition." 

Mr.  Clifford  C.  Paterson,  a  principal  assistant 
in  the  physics  department  of  the  National  Physical 
Laboratorj',  is  to  join  the  Osram-Robertson  Lamp 
Works,  Ltd.,  as  director  of  laboratories  for  research 
and  technical  manufacturing  purposes.  The  arrange- 
ment will  commence  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war  or 
before  that  date  if  possible. 

A  SHORT  account  of  the  career  of  the  late  Mr.  Eras- 
mus Darwin  Leavitt,  who  died  on  March  11,  appears 
in  Engineering  for  April  28.  Mr.  Leavitt  was  a 
well-known  American  engineer,  and  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  who  developed  the  use  of  high  steam  pres- 
sures in  stationary  engines  in  the  United  States.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  and  was  elected  president  in 
1883. 

The  death  of  Mr.  John  Tweedy  is  announced  in 
Engineering  for  April  28.  As  vice-chairman  of  Messrs. 
Swan  and  Hunter,  the  well-known  Tyne  shipbuilders, 
he  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  design  of  high-speed 
merchant  craft.  One  of  the  notable  services  which  he 
rendered  w^as  connected  with  the  balancing  of  the 
engines,  and  his  name  will  be  remembered  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Yarro\v-Schlick-Tweed\-  system  of 
balancing.  He  was  elected  president  of  the  North-East 
Coast  Institution  of  Engineers  and  Shipbuilders  in  j 
igo2,  and  for  some  time  served  on  Lloyd's  technical 
committee.  I 

The  report  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1915,  of 
the  secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  contains 
some  interesting  facts  as  to  the  amount  of  money  tht 
institution  has  at  its  disposal  for  the  assistance  ot 
scientific  research  and  exploration  and  for  general 
administration.  Its  total  permanent  fund  amounts  to 
205,920!.  The  income  of  the  institution  during  the 
year  dealt  with  was  22,408?.  With  the  balance  of 
6112Z.  on  July  I,  1914,  the  total  resources  for  the  year 
amounted  to  28,520/.  The  disbursements  for  the  year 
amounted  to  2o,o86I.  The  institution  was  charged 
by  Congress  also  with  the  disbursement  of  grants 
for  scientific  work  amounting  to  121,200!. 

The  late  Dr.  P.  Wharton-Hood,  who  died  at  the 
advanced  age  of  eighty-two,  on  April  27,  rendered  an 
important  service  to  surgery  early  in  his  career.  His 
father,  Dr.  Peter  Hood,  a  well-known  physician  in 
London,  had  attended  Mr.  Hutton,  the  famous  "bone- 
setter,"  through  a  long  and  severe  illness.  In  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  father's  services,  Mr.  Hutton  imparted 
to  the  son  all  that  pertained  to  the  practice  of  "bone- 
setting,"  and  what  was  found  to  be  good  in  that  prac- 
tice was  given  by  the  son  to  the  medical  profession  ir 
a  series  of  articles  contributed  to  the  Lancet  in  187 1. 
The  late  Dr.  Wharton-Hood  and  his  father,  Dr.  Petei' 
Hood,   were  pioneers  in  the  introduction  of  massag<' 


May  4,  1916] 


NATURE 


205 


as  a  legitimate  and  effective  means  of  treating  sprains 
and  other  injuries.  The  son's  best-known  work  is 
"The  Treatment  of  Injuries  by  Friction  and  Move- 
ment," which  was  published  in   1902. 

In  a  circular  issued  to  the  fellows  of  the  Chemical 
Society,  the  treasurer  states  that  the  council  has 
decided  to  publish  portraits  of  the  three  past  presi- 
dents. Sir  Henry  Roscoe,  Dr.  Hugo  MuUer,  and  Prof. 
Raphael  Meldola,  who  have  died  during  the  past  year. 
The  portraits  will  be  suitable  for  framing  or  for  bind- 
ing with  the  Journal,  and  will  be  sold  at  a  cost  not 
exceeding  \s.  6d.  each  to  those  fellows  who  apply  to 
the  assistant  secretary  before  August  i,  1916.  If 
there  is  expressed  a  sufficiently  general  wish  to  possess 
portraits  of  other  past  presidents,  arrangements  will 
be  made  to  carry  this  into  effect.  A  complete  list  of 
the  thirty-four  past  presidents  of  the  society  is  given, 
and  fellows  are  requested,  when  sending  in  their 
applications,  to  denote  on  the  form  provided  which 
portraits  they  desire  to  possess. 

AsTRO.NO.\nc.\L  science  has  lost  an  energetic  worker 
by  the  death  of  Dr.  W.  F.  King,  C.M.G.,  the  chief 
astronomer  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior  of 
Canada,  who  had  done  so  much  to  systematise  and 
extend  the  work  of  the  Dominion  Observatory-  at 
Ottawa.  Born  in  England,  in  1854,  he  early  went  to 
Canada,  and  was  educated  at  Toronto  University, 
passing  out  as  one  of  the  most  brilliant  of  its  alumni. 
His  active  scientific  career  began  with  the  work  of 
the  International  Boundary  Commission,  and  from 
his  last  issued  report  we  find  that  he  was  still  actively 
engaged  upon  geodetic  problems.  These  included  the 
determination  of  the  boundary  line  through  Passama- 
quoddy  Bay,  the  re-survey  of  the  49th  parallel  and 
that  of  the  141st  meridian.  In  a  new  country-  such 
delimitations  are  pressing  and  important,  and  Dr. 
King  worked  on  them  with  vigour  and  success.  To 
him  also  fell  the  duty  of  organising  the  Ottawa  Ob- 
servatory and  the  settlement  of  its  programme  of 
work.  His  official  position  required  him  to  encourage 
and  support  many  new  scientific  schemes  and  insti- 
tutions that  mark  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Do- 
minion. In  no  department  is  Dr.  King's  work  better 
seen  and  acknowledged  than  in  that  of  spectroscopy, 
as  carried  out  in  the  Dominion  Observatory.  The 
observations  are  of  the  highest  character  and  interest, 
and  in  the  large  outcome  he  took  an  active  part.  The 
bold  scheme  of  supplementing  the  optical  equipment 
bf  the  observatory  by  the  addition  of  a  6o-in. 
I'efiector  was  his  conception,  and  the  progress  made 
n  its  construction  is  due  not  a  little  to  his  energy  and 
mthusiasm.  The  excellent  seismographic  work,  em- 
bracing a  wide  network  of  stations,  though  under  the 
mmediate  superintendence  of  Dr.  Klotz,  is  another 
'vidence  of  his  administrative  ability,  and  the  mag- 
letic  survey  carried  out  with  vigour  over  a  large  area 
iimilarly  displays  the  extent  of  his  resources  and  the 

jiower  of  his  organisation. 

1 

i  An  interesting  experiment  in  the  practical  applica- 
tion of  anthropology  is  to  be  made  shortly  in  the 
iJnited  States.  One  of  the  great  difficulties  of  the 
administration  has  been  the  question  of  the  alienation 
if  land  of  Indian  holders.  These  lands  are  frequently 
f  value  on  account  of  their  timber,  and  their  purchase 
jy  ^)eculators  at  absurdly  inadequate  prices,  and  the 
pnsequent  impoverishment  of  the  Indians,  have  been 
I  scandal,  to  which  Dr.  W.  K.  Moorehead  in  parti- 
ular  has  directed  attention  on  more  than  one  occa- 
j'.on.  ^  In  Minnesota  power  to  sell  their  land  is  vested 
inly  in  owners  of  mixed  Chippewa  descent ;  the  land 

f:  the  pure-blooded  Chippewa  is  inalienable.     Specu- 
tors  have,  however,  been  successful  in  getting  hold 
it,  and  the  Government  has  had  to  intervene.     As 


I  a  result,  to  prove  title  it  has  been  necessary  to  show 
the  mixed  descent  of  the  vendor.  This  is  a  matter  of 
some  difficulty,  and  a  prominent  anthropologist  has 
been  invited  to  visit  the  Chippewa  with  the  view  of 
deciding  the  question  of  mixed  descent  in  the  cases  in 
dispute.  The  lawyers  of  both  sides  have  agreed  to 
abide  by  his  verdict.  This  solution  will  recall  certain 
recent  proceedings  in  our  own  courts,  but  it  is  to  be 
hoped  may  lead  to  a  more  decisive  result. 

A  VALUABLE  article  in  the  current  Journal  of  the 
j  Royal  Anthropological  Institute  (vol.  slv.)  is  that  by 
!  Mr.  R.  Grant  Brown  ^  on  the  Taungbyon  festival  in 
Burma,  illustrating  the  animistic  basis  of  the  Bud- 
dhism of  the  province.  It  represents  the  cult  of  Two 
Brothers,  who  are  said  to  have  been  Mohammedan 
martyrs.  The  chief  part  of  the  rite  is  the  ceremonial 
cutting  down  of  two  teinbin,  or  coffeewort,  trees 
'  (Nauclea  cordifolia)  by  officiants  representing  the  Two 
Brothers.  These  trees  are,  except  in  connection  with 
their  cult,  not  otherwise  regarded  as  sacred.  The 
custom  raises  some  interesting  questions  the  origin 
and  meaning  of  which  continue  to  be  obscure.  Do 
the  trees,  as  Sir  James  Frazer  would  say,  represent 
the  Spirit  of  Vegetation,  slain  at  the  ceremony,  and 
at  a  later  time  reborn  in  the  fields?  Or,  as  Mr. 
Brown  seems  to  prefer,  did  one  of  these  trees,  accord- 
ing to  Prof.  Ridgeway's  speculations,  once  grow  on 
the  grave  of  the  martyrs,  and  thus  came  to  be  held 
sacred,  and  its  branches  were  distributed  to  the  people 
because  they  were  supposed  to  be  impregnated  with 
the  spirits  of  these  holy  men?  Mr.  Brown  justly 
remarks  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  assume  a  single 
origin  for  any  custom,  and  a  custom  may  be  con- 
tinued for  reasons  altogether  different  from  those 
which  originated  it.  It  seems  to  be  possible  that  the 
Two  Brothers  were  deified  on  account  of  the  strong 
feeling  of  local  patriotism  because  they  opposed  the 
tyrannical  native  dynasty.  In  any  case,  it  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  these  Mohammedan  brothers  were 
deified  among  a  strictly  Buddhist  population. 

A  LARGE  portion  of  the  American  Naturalist  for 
March  is  accorded  to  Profs.  Stockard  and  Papani- 
colaou, to  enable  them  to  complete  their  analysis  of 
the  hereditarj-  transmission  of  degeneracy  and  de- 
formities by  the  descendants  of  alcoholised  guinea- 
pigs,  already  alluded  to  in  these  columns.  The 
authors  find  that  the  offspring  of  alcoholised  females 
have  a  higher  viability  than  in  the  case  of  alcoholised 
males,  from  which  th^y  conclude  that  the  male  germ 
cell  is  more  affected  by  alcohol  than  the  ovum.  The 
male  offspring  of  alcoholised  females  are  inferior  to 
their  female  offspring.  The  female  offspring  of 
alcoholised  males  show  a  higher  mortalit)'  and  more 
deformity  than  the  male  offspring,  from  which  they 
conclude  that  the  female-producing  sperms  are  more 
modified  by  treatment  than  male-producing  sperms. 

The  spring  number  of  Bird  Notes  and  News,  the 
organ  of  the  Royal  Society  for  the  Protection  of 
Birds,  reports  that  a  fresh  raid  by  plume-hunters  has 
been  made  on  the  albatrosses  of  Laysan  Island,  one  of 
the  largest  of  the  U.S.A.  bird  reserves.  The  breast 
feathers  only  seem  to  have  been  taken,  and  to  obtain 
these  between  150,000  and  200,000  birds  were  slain, 
their  bodies  being  found  lying  in  heaps  all  over  the 
island.  The  majority-  of  the  victims  were  furnished 
by  the  white-  and  the  black-footed  albatross,  and  after 
these  the  greatest  sufferers  were  frigate  birds  and  the 
blue-faced  booby.  This  iniquitous  traffic  In  plumes 
could  now  be  effectually  killed  if  the  import  _  of 
plumage  into  this  country  were  prohibited.  Having 
regard  to  the  restriction  in  imports  now  in  force,  this 
item  might  well  be  added  to  the  list.  The  ghastly 
toll  of  bird-life  demanded  bv  the  milliners  has  long 


NO.    2427,    VOL.    97] 


2o6 


NATURE 


[May  4,  1916 


been  a  standing  disgrace  to  civilised  communities. 
At  the  present  juncture  the  Government  might  well 
prohibit  entirely  the  importation  of  all  plumage — 
ostrich  feathers  and  eiderdown  only  excepted — as  a 
useless  and  undesirable  import,  and  a  wholly  inde- 
fensible form  of  extravagance. 

In  a  recent  number  of  the  Journal  of  the  College 
of  Agriculture,  Tohoku  Imperial  University,  Japan, 
Mr.  Schtn  Yoschida  gives  an  account  of  a  series  of 
interesting  researches.  He  has  investigated  the 
manner  in  which  "milk"  is  formed  in  the  crops  of 
brooding  pigeons.  The  so-called  "milk"  is  not  pro- 
duced in  glands,  but  by  a  proliferation  and  fatty  de- 
generation of  the  epithelial  cells  lining  the  crop.  The 
growth  and  shedding  of  the  epithelial  cells  occur  only 
during  the  brooding  season,  and  affect  both  male  and 
female  birds.  Mr.  Yoschida  has  also  made  further 
inquiries  into  the  nature  of  the  horny  masses  (cal- 
losities and  ergots)  found  on  the  legs  of  horses.  He 
maintains  that  an  examination  of  their  microscopical 
structure  supports  the  contention  that  these  horny 
masses  represent  the  hoofs  of  two  of  the  missing  or 
vestigial  digits  of  the  horse.  He  infers  "that  the 
callosity  is  the  nail  of  the  second  toe,  and  the  ergot 
(the  horny  spur  hid  by  the  hair  of  the  fetlock),  of  the 
fourth  toe." 

The  first  part  of  the  ninth  volume  of  the  Journal 
of  the  Marine  Biological  Association  contains  an 
account  of  some  biometric  investigations  carried  out 
in  connection  with  the  question  of  the  localisation  of 
the  different  races  of  herrings  inhabiting  North 
European  seas.  The  first  investigation  of  this  kind 
was  made  by  Matthews,  for  the  Scottish  Fishery 
Board,  about  the  end  of  last  century,  and  somewhat 
later  Heincke  made  a  similar  study  of  herrings  ob- 
tained mainly  from  the  Baltic.  Criticism  of  Heincke's 
work  showed  defects  of  treatment,  and  his  conclu- 
sions, as  well  as  those  of  Matthews,  were  seen  to  be 
of  little  value  since  they  were  deduced  from  insuffi- 
ciently large  samples.  As  the  question  of  the  distri- 
bution of  local  races  of  herrings  has  considerable 
importance  in  fishery  regulation,  the  Board  of  Agri- 
culture and  Fisheries  organised,  in  19 13,  a  compre- 
hensive scheme  of  investigation  applying  to  all  parts 
of  the  British  seas,  and  a  number  of  fisheries  labora- 
tories arranged  to  take  part  in  the  work.  One  result 
of  the  war  has  been,  of  course,  the  suspension  of  most 
of  this  investigation,  but  fortunately  all  the  organisa- 
tion had  been  completed  prior  to  August,  19 14,  and 
some  progress  was  made  during  1915.  Dr. 
Orton,  in  the  paper  now  noticed,  gives  an  account  of 
the  practical  methods  employed  at  Plymouth  by  him- 
self and  his  colleagues.  Some  eighteen  variable  char- 
acters were  measured  in  each  of  well  above  1000 
herrings.  As  there  is  no  immediate  likelihood  of  a 
general  discussion  and  analysis  of  all  the  results 
obtained  by  the  Board,  the  details  of  this  investigation 
of  the  Channel  herrings  are  now  tabulated  and  pub- 
lished. 

In  Kew  Bulletin,  No.  2,  1916,  several  new  species 
of  plants  are  described  from  India,  China,  and  Africa. 
Among  the  African  species  is  Gardenia  fragrantissima, 
Hutchinson,  of  which  an  illustration  is  given ;  Utri- 
cularia  papiUosa,  Stapf,  from  Nigeria ;  and  an  interest- 
ing Asclepiad,  Caralluma  carnosa,  N.  E.  Brown,  from 
the  Transvaal,  which  is  illustrated  by  a  plate  from 
a  photograph  taken  in  the  garden  of  the  Botanical 
Laboratory,  Pretoria,  by  Mr.  Pole  Evans,  the  dis- 
coverer of  the  species.  Two  interesting  and  little- 
known  South  African  Euphorbias  are  also  illustrated 
by  a  plate  in  this  number,  E.  puhiglans,  a  native  of 
Port  Elizabeth,  and  E.  enopla,  with  fierce  spines  which 

NO.    2427,   VOL.    97] 


are  modified  peduncles,  from  the  Witte  Poort  Moun- 
tains and  the  Karoo. 

\  SUMPTUOUSLY  illustrated  paper  by  Mr.  S.  Oka- 
mura  on  the  mosses  of  Japan  has  recently  been  issued 
as  article  7  of  vol.  xxxvi.  of  the  Journal  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Science,  Tokyo.  These  contributions  include 
citations  of  new  localities  and  descriptions  of  new 
species  from  the  island  of  Sachalin  and  from  the 
Corean  peninsula.  Among  the  new  species  may  be 
mentioned  a  minute  and  interesting  Archidium,  A. 
japonicum,  with  a  stem  2-5  mm.  high,  from  the  Prov. 
Musashi,  Hondo.  Schistostega  osmundacea,  the 
luminous  moss,  is  now  recorded  from  several  locali- 
ties in  Japan  for  the  first  time,  having  previously  only 
been  known  in  Europe  and  North  America.  A  new 
aquatic  moss,  Bryhnia  Nakanoi,  is  also  described  and 
figured. 

OnE'  of  the  railway  problems  of  the  near  future 
must  be  the  linking  of  the  Balkan  lands  to  western 
Europe  by  a  route  independent  of  the  Central  Powers. 
To  find  an  alternative  to  the  railway  route  vid  Vienna 
and  Budapest  to  Constantinople  will  strengthen  the 
relations  of  Italy  and  France  with  the  Balkan  people 
at  the  expense  of  Austria  and  Germany.  In  a  paper 
on  the  Adriatic  Slavs  {Geographical  Journal,  xlvii., 
April,  1916),  Sir  Arthur  Evans  advocates  the  reopen- 
ing of  the  old  Roman  route  by  the  Save  valley  from 
Lombardy  to  Belgrade.  A  few  miles  between  exist- 
ing railways  would  make  the  line  complete  from  west 
to  east,  and,  subject  to  the  formation  of  a  South 
Slavonic  State  in  the  Illyrian  region,  would  constitute 
a  route  to  Belgrade  more  direct  from  France  and  Eng- 
land than  that  vid  Vienna.  By  Milan,  Padova,  Grad- 
isca,  and  Laibach,  it  would  be  possible  to  reach  Bel- 
grade from  London  in  thirty-nine  hours,  compared 
with  44^,  the  time  taken  by  the  Orient  express  before 
the  war.  The  saving  in  time  would  be  proportionately 
much  greater  from  many  parts  of  France.  In  con- 
nection with  this  article  attention  may  be  directed  to 
another,  in  the  same  number  of  the  Geographical 
Journal,  by  Mr.  H.  C.  Woods,  on  communications  in 
the  Balkans,  which  is  illustrated  with  maps. 

Prof.  A.  Ricc6  has  contributed  to  the  Italian 
Seismological  Society  an  interesting  paper  on  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  epicentres  of  the  greater  Italian  earth- 
quakes (Bollettino,  vol.  xix.,  1915,  pp.  35-47).  He 
shows  that  these  epicentres  are  arranged  chiefly  about 
the  crest  of  the  Apennines  and  its  continuations.  The 
distance  between  successive  epicentres  varies  from  25 
to  no  km.,  the  average  distance  being  50  km.  The 
area  of  total  or  partial  ruin  is  usually  bounded  by 
a  curve,  which  is  elongated  in  the  direction  of  the 
mountain-chain,  and  the  longer  axis  of  this  curve 
varies  in  length  from  30  to  300  km.,  the  average 
length  being  more  than  120  km.  Thus  the  greater 
part  of  the  Apennine  axis  is  marked  out  by  the  ruins 
caused  by  earthquakes.  Prof.  Ricc6  notices  that  the 
same  centre  is  often  revisited  by  great  earthquakes; 
for  example,  eight  earthquakes  have  originated  in 
the  Norcia  centre  from  1328  to  i860,  and  ten  in  the 
Cassino  centre  from  1004  to  189 1. 

The  Canadian  Department  of  Mines  has  issued  a 
very  full  description  of  the  Canadian  oil-fields  under 
the  title  of  "  Petroleum  and  Natural  Gas  Resources  of 
Canada,"  in  two  bulky  volumes.  The  first  volume 
deals  with  the  occurrence  and  distribution  of  oil-fields 
in  various  parts  of  the  world,  with  the  chemical  and 
physical  properties  of  petroleum  and  natural  gas,  and 
the  methods  employed  in  drilling  wells,  in  pumping, 
storing,  and  transporting  oil  and  gas,  and  with  the 
utilisation  and  conservation  of  these  substances;  the 
second  volume  contains  a  detailed  description  of  the 
various  Canadian  oil-fields.     The  work  is  one  of  the 


May  4,  1916] 


NATURE 


207 


greatest  value  to  all  interested  in  any  aspect  of  this 
very  important  industry.  In  this  connection  attention 
may  be  directed  to  the  very  full  account  of  the  natural 
gas  industry  to  be  found  in  a  paper  by  Dr.  J.  A.  L. 
Henderson,  read  on  March  21  before  the  Institution  of 
Petroleum  Technologists. 

In  the  Rassegna  Nazionale,  xxxviii.,  (2),  i,  a  fort- 
nightly review  dealing  mainly  with  politics  and 
literature,  science  is  represented  by  a  popular  article 
on  "Infinity"  by  Pietro  Pagnini,  in  which  the  pecu- 
liarities of  infinite  space,  time,  and  number  are  dis- 
cussed. 

About  the  first  fortnight  of  March,  1915,  the  peach 
blossoms  in  the  gardens  at  Rome  were  damaged  by 
the  larvae  of  a  micro-moth  identified  as  Recurvaria 
nanella.  An  account  of  the  biology  of  this  insect  is 
given  by  Armando  Mignone  in  the  Atti  dei  Lincei. 
XXV.,  (i),  3,  5.  It  belongs  to  the  family  Gelechiidae, 
and  the  description  of  the  European  form  appears  to 
be  identical  with  Scott  and  Paine 's  observations  in 
the  United  States.  The  imago  spends  most  of  the 
day  resting  with  wings  closed  on  the  peach  and  cer- 
tain other  fruit  trees.  The  larvae,  which  are  hatched 
in  the  autumn,  are  leaf-miners,  making  long  tunnels 
in  the  leaves.  In  the  winter  they  come  out  and 
hibernate  in  places  where  they  are  almost  invisible, 
investing  themselves  with  a  silk  covering,  and  the  fol- 
lowing spring  they  emerge  and  attack  the  young  buds. 

SPECiiiL  Publication  No.  33  of  the  Department  of 
Commerce  of  the  United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic 
Survey  deals  with  the  results  up  to  the  present  time 
of  the  magnetic  survey  of  the  country  and  of  the 
adjoining  seas.  These  results  are  given  in  the  form 
of  tables,  and  are  embodied  in  a  chart  to  a  scale  of 
about  no  miles  to  the  inch.  The  isogonic  lities,  or 
lines  of  equal  deviation  of  the  compass  from  true 
north,  are  drawn  for  each  degree  of  deviation  from 
24°  east  in  the  north-western  States  to  24°  west  in 
the  north-eastern  States.  The  date  for  which  they 
hold  is  January  i,  1915.  In  the  north-western  States 
the  isogonic  lines  run  nearly  east  and  west,  in  the 
central  States  nearly  north  and  south,  and  in  the 
eastern  States  north-west  to  south-east.  In  the  west 
afid  south  they  are  fairly  regular  in  shape,  but  in  the 
east  and  in  the  regions  south  of  the  great  lakes  they 
are  much  folded.  Along  a  line  from  Florida  to  a 
point  100  miles  west  of  Lake  Superior  there  is  no 
secular  change  in  the  deviation  of  the  compass;  at 
points  east  of  this  the  north  end  of  the  compass  needle 
is  moving  to  the  west  at  a  rate  which  exceeds  six 
minutes  of  arc  per  annum  in  the  north-eastern  States, 
and  at  points  west  of  the  line  the  north  end  is  moving 
to  the  east  at  a  rate  which  is  nearly  four  minutes 
per  annum  in  the  south-western  States. 

The  Royal  Engineers'  Journal  for  April  contains  an 
article  on  explosives  compiled  from  one  which  ap- 
peared originally  in  the  Revue  Militaire  Suisse.  All 
the  more  generally  used  explosives  are  described,  with 
some  account  of  their  manufacture.  No  mention  is 
made,  however,  of  modern  methods  of  making  nitro- 
cellulose ;  only  the  old  pot  method  is  described.  Simi- 
larly, recent  improvements  in  the  manufacture  of 
nitroglycerine  are  not  referred  to.  Reference  is  made 
to  the  interesting  explosive  residue  left  when  a 
rhodium-zinc  alloy  is  dissolved  in  hydrochloric  acid, 
this  residue  exploding  when  heated  to  400°  C.  in  a 
vacuum.  In  conclusion,  it  is  pointed  out  that^  it  is 
by  no  means  possible  to  state  definitely  which  is  the 
best  of  the  "high  explosives";  probably  the  most 
powerful  one  in  use  is  tetranitroaniline.  It  would^  be 
extremely  difficult  to  produce  a  substance  having 
greater  explosive  force  than  those  already  discovered 

NO.    2427,   VOL.    97] 


and  in  use  at  the  present  day.  Whether  any  advan- 
tage would  be  gained  by  the  discovery  of  explosives 
which  are  more  powerful  than  those  already  in  use 
is  another  matter.  With  "high  explosives,"  once  it 
is  possible  to  plant  them  on  the  exact  spot  at  which  it 
is  desired  to  effect  destruction,  such  destruction  can 
be  effected  with  as  great  completeness  by  the  employ- 
ment of  one  of  the  present-day  "high  explosives"  as 
with  any  new  one  which  may  be  discovered.  On 
the  other  hand,  any  increase  in  the  "safety"  proper- 
ties of  "high  explosives,"  and  improvements  in  other 
directions  tending  towards  facilitating  their  trans- 
port, would  be  a  gain  from  a  military  point  of  view. 

R.   L.   Datta  and  N.   R.   Chatterjee   have  recently 

described  (Journal  of  the  American  Chemical  Society, 

37,  No.  3)  the  action  of  aqua  regia  on  acetone,  ether, 

methyl,    ethyl,    and  allyl    alcohols,    and    formic    and 

acetic  acids,  with  the  production  of  chloropicrin.     The 

1  yield  of  the  latter  substance  is  almost  quantitative  in 

i   the  case  of  acetone  and  allyl  alcohol  when  the  reaction 

j  mixture  is  warmed.     It  is  stated  that  the   following 

[    method  of  preparing  chloropicrin  is  far  preferable  to 

I   Hofmann's    method    in    which    bleaching    pow-der    is 

allowed  to  act  on  picric  acid.     To  a  mixture  of  two 

parts  of  nitric  acid   with   three  parts   of  hydrochloric 

acid,  a  quantity  of  acetone  equal  to  one-tenth  part  of 

the  acid  mixture  used  is  gradually  added,  the  reaction 

mixture  being  warmed  slightly.     After  heating  on   a 

water-bath    to    complete    the    reaction,    the  liquid   is 

steam-distilled,    the   compound   separated,   dried   over 

calcium  chloride,  and  finally  redistilled  at  a  slightly 

reduced  pressure. 

Messrs.  George  Ah.en  and  Unwin,  Ltd.,  are  pub- 
lishing at  an  early  date,  for  the  Polish  Information 
Committee,  pamphlets  entitled  "The  Landmarks  of 
Polish  History,"  "The  Polish  Question  as  an  Inter- 
national Problem,"  "An  Outline  of  the  History  of 
Polish  Literature^"  "  National  Music  of  Poland,"  and 
"Poland  as  an  Independent  Economic  Unit."  Fur- 
ther pamphlets,  entitled  "A  Sketch  of  Polish  Art," 
"The  Population  of  the  Polish  Commonwealth," 
"  Poland  as  a  Geographical  Individualit\-,"  and  "  In- 
tellectual Poland,"  are  in  active  preparation. 

OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Variable  Stars  of  Short  Period. — Prof.  E.  C. 
Pickering  directs  attention  to  some  similarities  and 
peculiarities  in  the  formulae  representing  the 
light  variations  of  the  typical  short-period  variable 
stars  (Circular  190,  Harvard  College  Observatory),  not 
only  affording  criteria  for  purposes  of  classification, 
but  also  indicating  structural  features.  It  is  found 
that  fi  Lyrae  should  be  regarded  as  intermediate  be- 
tween the  Algol  eclipse  variables  and  the  S  Cephei 
stars — exactly  the  order,  it  may  be  added,  demanded 
by  Sir  Norman  Lockyer's  meteoritic  hypothesis. 

Photo-electric  Photometry. — Prof.  J.  Stebbins 
gives  some  details  r^arding  the  employment  in  stellar 
photometry  of  a  specially  sensitive  rubidium  cell  (Lick 
Observatory  Bulletin,  No.  277).  This  particular  cell 
is  an  outcome  of  some  two  years  of  conjoint  research 
with  Prof.  J.  Kunz.  The  observational  work  was 
carried  out  at  Mount  Hamilton,  June  21-July  30  last 
year,  and  several  sets  of  measures  are  included  for 
nearly  every  day  during  the  interval  embracing  three 
cycles  of  the  star's  period.  Important  real  irregulari- 
ties are  revealed,  but  the  mean  light  curve  has  never- 
theless been  determined.  The  two  maxima  are  found 
to  be  practically  equal.  A  marked  asymmetry  of  the 
light  curve  on  each  side  primary  minimum  (the  de- 
crease of  light  being  more  rapid  than  the  increase)  is  ex- 
plained by  an  assumed  non-uniform  surface  intensity 


208 


NATURE 


[May  4,  19 1 6 


of  the  apparent  discs  of  the  component  stars.  In 
addition  to  this  important  work,  some  measures  of 
the  light  of  the  spectroscopic  binaries,  and  thus  "sus- 
pect "  eclipse  variable  stars  6*  Aquilae  and  o-  Scorpii 
are  given.  In  spite  of  the  very  short  period  of  the 
latter  star,  02468  day  according  to  Father  M.  Selga, 
the  evidence  points  to  a  slight  variation. 

The  Motion  of  the  Sidereal  Universe. — The  view 
that  the  galactic  system  is  but  a  model  of  many  has 
been  supported  by  additional  evidence  since  the 
"white"  nebulae  were  identified  with  remote  galaxies. 
Such  evidence  is  found  in  the  very  high  line-of-sight 
motions,  and  the  dark-line  spectra  of  the  spiral  nebulae, 
the  probable  finite  dimensions,  spiral  structure,  and 
integrated  spectrum  of  the  Milky  Way  itself.  Quite 
lately  this  idea  has  inspired  some  researches  neces- 
sarily of  a  tentative  character.  Messrs.  R.  K.  Young  and 
W.  E.  Harper  have,  in  fact,  made  a  determination 
from  the  data  at  present  available  concerning  the 
radial  velocities  of  some  sixteen  nebulae,  of 
the  direction  and  magnitude  of  the  trans- 
lational  motion  of  the  solar  subuniverse  (Journal 
of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society  of  Canada,  No.  3). 
The  deduced  velocity  is  598  km. /sec.  (a^xp.e.)  towards 
R.A.  2oh.  24m.,  and  declination  —12°.  Very  nearly 
the  same  results  have  been  obtained  independently. 
According  to  the  Observatory  (March)  Mr.  Truman 
finds  that  our  nebula  is  moving  towards  R.A.  2oh., 
declination  —20°,  with  a  speed  of  670  kilometres  per 
second. 

The  Wave-lengths  of  the  Chief  Nebular  Lines. — 
An  extensive  series  of  measures  of  the  two  chief 
nebular  lines  has  been  made  at  the  Lick  Observatory 
(Bulletin  279).  Nineteen  spiectrograms  of  the  three 
nebulae,  N.G.C.  6572,  7027,  and  Orion,  were  measured 
by  each  of  three  observers,  the  resulting  wave- 
lengths being  5006847  and  4958902  LA.  The  method 
of  reduction  is  not  fully  described,  but  the  use  of  a 
reduction  curve  connecting  micrometer  measures  and 
wave-lengths  showed  that  Runge  and  Paschen's  wave- 
length 5015-73  A.  for  this  helium  line  is  0-12  A.  too 
small.  Corrections  for  radial  velocity  were  calculated 
from  the  displacements  of  Hp.  Combined  with 
Keeler's,  Hartmann's,  and  Wright's  (recalculated) 
the  rounded,  weighted  means  are  : — 

5007-02  495909  A.   (Rowland). 

5006-84  4958-91  LA. 

ENGINEERING  AND  SCIENTIFIC 
RESEARCH. 
T  N  a  paper  before  the  Society  of  Engineers  on  May  i 
■*■  Prof.  J.  A.  Fleming  emphasised  the  necessity  of 
bringing  scientific  discovery  and  research  to  bear  upon 
our  national  industries.  It  is  estimated,  he  said,  that 
not  less  than  i, 000,000, oooZ.  is  invested  in  material 
and  plant  used  in  the  mechanical  and  electrical  en- 
gineering industries  in  this  country. 

Progress  is  hampered  by  want  of  co-ordination  be- 
tween the  various  learned  and  technical  societies  and 
by  the  conservative  element  in  our  universities  and 
public  schools.  We  have  to  consider  (i)  improvements 
in  training  men  who  will  become  engineers ;  (2)  the 
best  means  by  which  science  can  be  brought  to  bear 
on  engineering  problems ;  and  (3)  scientific  methods 
in  relation  to  the  business  side  of  engineering. 

In  our  present  educational  system.  Prof.  Fleming 
added,  too  much  attention  is  devoted  to  the  cultivation 
of  memory  and  words,  and  too  little  study  is  devoted 
to  the  facts  of  nature  and  the  power  to  draw  correct 
inferences  from  observation.  One  barrier  in  the  way 
of  industrial  progress  has  been  the  imperfect  scientific 
training  of  foremen,  managers,   and  young  heads  of 

NO.    2427,   VOL.   97] 


departments  in  engineering  works.  A  much-needed 
educational  reform  is  the  compulsory  attendance  of 
lads  after  leaving  the  elementary  school  at  a  technical 
continuation  school.  Certificates  issued  by  such  schools 
should  have  an  important  determining  influence  on 
a  boy's  future,  and  should  be  valued  accordingly. 

Students  at  technical  colleges  should  avoid  undue 
specialisation  and  should  be  encouraged  to  acquire  a 
broad  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  chemistry, 
mechanics,  physics,  mathematics,  and  metallurgy. 

Research  work  may  be  divided  into  three  depart- 
ments : — (i)  Those  which  aim  at  determining  physical 
constants;  (2)  those  providing  new  methods  of  exam- 
ination and  tests  of  material  and  structures;  and  (3) 
those  leading  to  the  discovery  of  some  new  process, 
material,  or  machine.  In  the  first  two  departments 
there  is  great  scope  for  further  work.  As  instances  of 
recent  valuable  work  of  this  character,  Prof.  Fleming 
mentioned  metallography,  the  development  of  high- 
temperature  thermometry,  and  the  recent  application 
by  Prof.  E.  G.  Coker  of  polarised  light  in  studying 
the  stresses  in  celluloid  models  of  beams,  struts, 
riveted  plates,  etc. 

A  good  instance  of  the  third  branch  of  research  work 
was  the  simultaneous  discovery  in  France  and  the 
United  States  of  the  electrical  treatment  of  fused 
cryolite  to  produce  aluminium  in  bulk.  This  third 
section  of  research  work  calls  for  special  gifts,  and 
it  is  important  to  study  the  conditions  which  give  rise 
to  this  originative  power.  While  natural  ability  plays 
a  great  part,  effort  should  be  made  to  utilise  the  power 
of  inspiration  possessed  by  some  great  investigators 
like  Lord  Kelvin  and  Clerk  Maxwell.  The  existing 
centres  of  research,  such  as  the  Cavendish  Laboratory 
at  Cambridge,  the  Royal  Institution,  and  the  National 
Physical  Laboratory,  should  be  more  fully  supported. 
An  important  step  has  been  the  establishment  of  the 
Advisory  Council  on  the  Development  of  Scientific  and 
Industrial  Research,  and  it  is  satisfactory  to  find  that 
its  aid  is  being  given  largely  through  the  intermedia- 
tion of  established  professional  and  technical  institu- 
tions and  societies.  In  dealing  with  new  problems  it 
is  highly  desirable  to  utilise,  so  far  as  possible,  exist- 
ing channels  of  information  and  inquiry. 

Abroad  much  technical  research  work  is  carried  out 
on  behalf  of  private  associations  of  manufacturers  in 
particular  industries,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  British 
firms  will  develop  this  co-operative  method  of  stimu- 
lating and  utilising  research.  The  same  applies  to 
the  collection  and  dissemination  of  information  of 
industrial  value,  and  to  the  general  scientific  organisa- 
tion of  the  business  side  of  engineering.  The  sub- 
sidisation of  private  or  national  research  work  by 
Government  funds  is  but  a  small  part  of  the  whole 
problem. 

In  the  ensuing  discussion  Col.  R.  E.  Crompton  con- 
tended that  the  British  mind  possesses  the  originative 
powers  in  a  high  degree.  He  recalled  that  much  of  the 
pioneering  work  in  electrical  matters  w-as  done  in  this 
country,  and  the  later  advance  in  Germany  was  due 
to  better  organisation,  more  general  appreciation  of 
the  benefits  of  applied  science,  and  the  support  of  the 
industrial  banks.  Scientific  and  technical  education 
on  a  far  greater  scale  is  needed.  Other  speakers 
agreed  in  advocating  more  systematic  education  in 
scientific  matters,  and  fuller  co-operation  between  the 
manufacturers  and  those  engaged  in  scientific  work, 
and  a  number  of  instances  of  valuable  research  work, 
initiated  since  the  outbreak  of  war,  were  mentioned. 

The  view  was  expressed  that  the  co-operation  of 
scientific  and  technical  societies  and  journals  should 
be  more  fully  utilised  with  a  view  of  bringing  the 
benefits  of  scientific  method  and  research  to  the  notice 
of  manufacturers  in  this  countrv. 


May  4,  191 6] 


NATURE 


209 


A/.  CH.  LALLEMAND  OX  DAYLIGHT 
SAVING  IN  FRANCE. 
IV/T  CH.  LALLEMAND,  who  was  appointed  Com- 
^^^'  missaire  du  Gouvernement  to  inquire  into  the 
effect  of  a  modification  of  time  reckoning,  when  the 
question  was  raised  in  an  acute  form  nine  years  ago, 
gave  to  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences  on  April  lo  a 
reasoned  statement  of  the  whole  problem.  The  ques- 
tion he  raises  is  :  Would,  even  in  the  exceptional  cir- 
cumstances of  the  time  in  which  we  live,  the  advan- 
tages of  this  change  be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  counter- 
balance the  profound  disturbance  which  could  not  fail 
to  be  introduced  into  the  economic  life  of  the  people? 
The  conclusion  at  which  he  arrives  is  that  the  reform 
in  question  offers  illusory-  or  insignificant  advantages 
in  return  for  certain  and  definite  inconveniences. 

This  decision  is  the  result  of  a  careful  examination 
of  the  changes  that  have  been  made  in  the  methods 
of  time  reckoning  in  the  past,  and  a  review  of  the 
exact  conditions  that  obta'in  in  the  present.  In  his 
historical  survey  he  demonstrates  the  jealousy  with 
which  the  French  adhered  to  the  observance  of  the 
Paris  meridian  as  the  origin  of  time,  and  the  dislike 
exhibited  to  any  proposal  that  interfered  with  the 
mode  of  reckoning.  In  1816,  when  the  change  was 
made  from  apparent  to  mean  time,  so  keen  was  the 
antipathy  displayed  by  the  populace  that  an  outbreak 
was  feared,  and  yet  in  that  case  the  maximum  altera- 
tion was  at  most  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  But  he  is 
more  concerned  to  show  that  the  position  of  the  sun 
in  the  sky  affords  the  proper  determination  of  time, 
and  that  an  arbitrary  displacement  of  noon,  combined 
with  differences  of  longitude,  operates  very  unequally 
in  districts  east  and  west  of  Paris.  If  legal  autnorit>- 
sanctioned  the  further  displacement  of  an  hour,  as 
proposed,  though  Nice,  for  example,  would  not  be 
injured,  Brest  time  would,  in  extreme  conditions,  be  as 
much  as  i^  hours  away  from  true  time,  an  amount 
that  M.  Lallemand  insists  is  intolerable. 

The  last  change  introduced  into  French  time  com- 
putations was  the  adoption  of  the  Greenwich  meridian 
as  a  common  origin  for  time  reckoning,  and  some 
irritation  is  naturally  felt  that  after  this  concession 
was  made,  the  English  should  propose  to  abandon 
their  system  of  time  reckoning  for  at  least  half  a  year 
in  order  to  adopt  what  is  practically  German  time. 
Such  instabilitj'  of  practice  is  inconvenient,  but  a 
more  direct  source  of  trouble  would  arise  from  dis- 
turbing the  published  ephemerides  which  give  pheno- 
mena expressed  in  Greenwich  time.  This  duality  of 
timekeeping  during  six  months  of  the  year  would  be, 
in  the  case  of  tides  especially,  a  source  of  great  annoy- 
ance and  perpetual  confusion. 

M.  Lallemand  devotes  a  section  to  the  consideration 
of  the  advantages  claimed  by  the  advocates  for  the 
reform.  He  examines  the  methods  of  street  illumina- 
tion, and  claims  that  the  people  living  in  the  country 
districts,  some  four-fifths  of  the  whole,  would  receive 
a  quite  insignificant  benefit.  In  many  manufactories 
as  at  present  conducted,  work  goes  on  night  and  day, 
and.  no  economy  could  be  effected  in  this  direction. 
In  Paris  the  illumination  is  reduced  to  a  minimum  on 
account  of  the  Zeppelin  visits.  The  custom  adopted 
in  colleges  and  schools  would  likewise  prevent  these 
establishments  profiting  by  the  proposal.  Cafes, 
restaurants,  theatres,  concert-rooms,  might  now  close 
an  hour  sooner,  if  economy  were  so  ardently  desired, 
and  the  desired  result  could  be  as  easily  secured  by  a 
simple  order  of  police  as  by  a  gmeral  interference 
with  timekeeping.  In  any  case,  it  is  questionable 
whether  those  interested  in  the  management  of  such 
places  of  amusement  would  not  apply  for  an  extension 
of  time  and  re-establish  the  status  quo  ante. 

Hygiene  is  as   little   likely   to   benefit   as   economy. 

NO.    2427,   VOL.    97] 


It  is  an  illusion  to  suppose  that  an  arbitrary  alteration 
of  the  hands  of  the  clock  dial  will  promote  early  rising, 
or  retiring,  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  surrendered 
themselves  to  other  habits;  it  would  be  as  reasonable 
to  attempt  to  fight  alcoholism  by  diminishing  the  legal 
capacity  of  the  litre,  in  the  hope  of  reducing  in  the 
same  proportion  the  quantity  of  liquid  absorbed.  It 
is  not  true  to  suppose  that  the  nominal  hour  and  the 
true  hour  have  no  influence  in  practice,  or  that  the 
habits  of  the  people  are  decided  solely  by  clocks,  and 
have  no  relation  to  the  sun.  The  change  in  the  break- 
fast hour  in  Paris  refutes  such  a  notion. 

To  prove  that  the  abrupt  advance  of  time  in  the 
spring,  and  its  equally  sudden  restoration  in  autumn, 
would  be  accepted  by  the  public  with  indifference,  it  is 
usual  to  point  to  the  ease  with  which  travellers  accom- 
modate themselves  to  the  change  in  time  when  pass- 
ing the  boundary  of  a  longitude  zone.  The  com- 
parison is  not  convincing.  In  the  particular  case  cited 
the  error  of  legal  noon  changes  its  sign  but  keeps 
nearly  the  same  absolute  value,  which  is  the  only  thing 
that  matters. 


FLORAS  AND  GEOGRAPHICAL 
DISTRIBUTION  OF  PLANTS. 
/^UR  knowledge  of  the  flora  of  Siam,  and  especially 
^^  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Chiengmai,  has  grown 
rapidly  during  the  last  few  years  owing  to  the  extensive 
collections  made  by  Dr.  Kerr,  and  more  recently  to  the 
activity  of  the  forest  officers.  In  the  Kew  Bulletin, 
1911,  an  important  paper  entitled  "Contribution  to  the 
Flora  of  Siam  "  was  published,  the  introductory  matter 
being  supplied  by  Dr.  Kerr  and  the  determinations  and 
descriptions  by  Mr.  VV.  G.  Craib.  Since  then  seven 
papers  dealing  with  additional  new  species,  described 
by  Mr.  Craib,  have  been  published  in  tiie  Kew  Bulletin 
from  time  to  time.  In  the  last  number  of  this  journal 
for  1915  (No.  10),  the  eighth  "  additamentum,"  con- 
taining descriptions  of  twenty-seven  new  species,  has 
appeared,  belonging  to  various  natural  orders.  For 
most  of  these  Mr.  Craib  is  responsible,  but  for  three 
new  Ampelideae  and  a  Dalbergia  he  is  associated  with 
M.  Gagnepain. 

The   flora   of  the  high   mountains  of   Malaya  is   of 
particular  interest  in  connection  with  the  geographical 
distribution  of  plants,  since  here  are  to  be  found  the 
meeting  ground  of  Australian  and  Himalayan  plants. 
Mr.    H.    N.   Ridley   in    1912    made   an  expedition    to 
Gunong   Tahan   in   northern    Pahang,    the   results   of 
which  have  just  been  published  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Federated  Malay  States  Museums  (vol.  vi.,  part  iii.), 
and  his  account,  taken  in  conjunction  with  what  we 
know  of  the  flora  of  Mt.  Ophir  and  Kedah  Peak,  makes 
possible  a  general  survey  of  the  relations  of  the  high 
mountain  flora  of  the  Straits  Settlements  with  the  flora 
of  Kinabalu,  in  Borneo,  and  Australia,  on  one  hand, 
and  with  that  of  the  northern  regions  on  the  other.    The 
Himalayan  element  found  in  the  Tel6m  Valley,  Perak, 
seems  to  be  remarkably  absent  from  Tahan,  but  in  the 
xerophytic   regions  of  the  sea   coasts  and  the  higher 
mountains  Australian  plants  are  found.     On  Kinabalu, 
however,   the  .Australian  element  is  more  pronounced 
than   on  Tahan,  and  in   New   Guinea  it  appears  yet 
larger.     It  would  seem  that  at  one  period  an  extensive 
xerophytic  area  stretched  from  the  .Australian   region 
bearing    its    characteristic    flora,    but    that    owing    to 
climatic  changes  it  was  swamped  by  a  typical  Malay 
rain-forest  flora,  and  only  now  persists  on  sandy  sea- 
shores and  dry  mountain  tops.     Five  Kinabalu  plants 
found  on   Gunong  Tahan  are  not  known   from  else- 
where in  the  Malay  Peninsula,   and  since  they  have 
neither  drupaceous  nor  wind-bome  seeds  a  former  land 
connection  with  Kinabalu  is  assumed. 


2IO 


NATURE 


[May  4,  191 6 


ILLUSIONS  OF  THE    UPPER   AIR.^ 

A  Review  of  Progress  in  Meteorological  Theory 
IN  England  since  1866.  • 
Structure  of  the  Atmosphere  according  to  the 
Observations  of  the  Upper  Air. 

BUT  if  the  ideas  which  were  common  in  meteoro- 
logical practice  fifty  years  ago  are  now  to  be  re- 
garded as  illusory,  let  us  consider  what  we  have  in 
their  place.  We  go  back  to  the  three  elements  :  the  cir- 
culation, the  convergence,  and  1;he  convection.  As  to 
the  circulation,  we  now  think  of  it  as  it  is  exhibited 
in  the  upper  air,  and  instead  of  regarding  it  as  an 
incidental  disturbance  of  the  motion  from  high  to 
low,  we  regard  it  as  the  foundation  of  atmospheric 
structure ;  as  the  motion  of  air  which  is  persistent 
because  the  pressure-gradient  is  balanced  by  the  centri- 
fugal action  of  the  earth's  rotation,  which  we  may 
call  the  geostrophic  compyonent,  and  of  the  curvature 
of  ffie  path  over  the  earth's  surface,  which  we  call 
the  cyclostrophic  component.  If  the  balance  between 
velocity  and  pressure  is  not  perfect,  the  difference  from 
perfection  can  oe  only  infinitesimal,  because  in  the 
free  atmosphere  the  air  must  always  begin  to  adjust 
itself  to  the  strophic  balance  from  the  moment  that 
any  infinitesimal  change  becomes  operative,  and  the 
power  of  adjustment  arising  from  the  extreme  mobility 
of  the  air  prevents  any  finite  perturbation  being  set 
up,  except  temporarily  in  those  regions  where  violent 
convection  is  operative.  It  is  only  through  the  mobile 
air  that  perturbation  can  be  transmitted.  We  no 
longer  picture  to  ourselves  the  air  as  being  somehow 
held  firm  without  moving  until  a  pressure  distribution 
is  set  up  and  then  let  go;  the  first  symptom  of 
pressure-difference  will  be  the  occasion  of  motion, 
the  distribution  and  velocity  grow  together;  they 
adjust  themselves  automatically.  The  whole  history 
of  the  general  motion  of  the  atmosphere  is  the  story 
of  the  constant  pursuit  of  the  strophic  balance,  the 
adjustment  of  velocity  to  pressure,  constantly  disturbed 
by  infinitesimal  changes. 

Near  the  surface  things  are  much  more  complicated, 
because  there  is  turbulence  due  to  the  interference  of 
the  surface  and  the  obstacle  which  it  offers  to  the 
steady  progress  of  air.  The  air  loses  some  of  its 
motion,  and  is  exposed  to  the  pressure  without  the 
velocity  that  is  required  to  balance  it.  It  must,  there- 
fere,  fall  away  towards  the  low  pressure,  taking  out 
of  the  pressure  the  energy  necessary  to  provide  for 
the  loss  by  friction.  Thus  the  convergence  which  we 
have  to  account  for  is  only  that  shown  near  the  surface 
within  half  a  kilometre.  We  need  not  trouble  our- 
selves about  a  supposed  convergence  and  convection 
over  the  whole  area  in  the  upper  air.  The  second 
element  of  our  specification  disappears.  After  years 
of  contemplation  of  the  motion  of  the  air  from  high 
to  low  as  produced  in  a  quiescent  atmosphere  by  the 
operation  of  pressure-difference  and  kept  within 
bounds  by  friction,  we  now  regard  the  motion  from 
high  to  low  as  actually  caused  by  the  friction  which 
retards  the  velocity  required  to  maintain  the  strophic 
balance.  To  base  the  theory  of  motion  of  the  upper 
air  upon  the  idea  of  a  given  distribution  of  pressure 
setting  a  quiescent  atmosphere  in  motion  is  as  great 
an  error  as  to  begin  the  lunar  theory  by  supposing  the 
moon  to  start  from  rest  under  the  force  of  the  earth's 
attraction,  and  only  to  find  out  after  it  had  started 
that  the  earth  was  moving. 

As  to  convection,  there  is  certainly  convection 
wherever  there  is  instability  or  the  juxtaposition  of 
air  of  different  densities.  It  takes  a  great  variety  of 
forms ;  it  is  very  common  in  cyclones,  but  it  is  not  a 
necessary  attribute  of  them.  Possibly  it  is  set  up  there 
more  easily  because  the  air  travels  so  much  faster  in 

1  From  a  discourse  delivered  at  the  Royal  Institution  on  Friday,  March  lO, 
by  Sir  Napier  Shaw,  F.R.S.     Continued  from  p.  194. 

NO.    2427,   VOL.    97] 


cyclonic  areas  than  it  does  in  anticyclones,  and  adjoin- 
ing localities  are  fed  from  different  sources  of  supply. 
Apart  from  a  certain  interference  due  to  change  of 
latitude,  the  convection  is  probably  the  one  disturbing 
cause  of  the  strophic  balance  of  velocity  and  pressure. 
So  we  regard  the  troposphere  as  a  layer  of  about  9 
kilometres  thick,  always  striving  to  arrange  its  motion 
according  to  the  pressure,  and  perpetually  baffled  in  its 
endeavours  by  the  ubiquity  of  convection.  But  since 
all  the  changes  proceed  by  infinitesimal  steps,  there 
is  never  a  time  when  we  can  identify  a  state  of  finite 
divergence  from  the  balance  between  velocity  and 
pressure.  From  this  point  of  view  the  centre  of  a 
cyclonic  or  anticyclonic  system  has  no  special 
dynamical  importance.  It  becomes  a  notable  feature 
on  the  map  when  for  any  reason  the  cyclostrophic 
component  is  the  chief  element  in  balancing  the  pres- 
sure. That  is  seldom  the  case  in  our  maps,  which 
more  often  consist  of  isobars  of  complicated  shapes. 

The  Dominance  of  the  Stratosphere. 

Further  than  this,  Mr.  Dines  has  thrown  a  new 
light  upon  the  origin  of  differences  of  pressure  at 
the  surface  by  obtaining  the  correlatiort  coefficient 
between  corresponding  deviaticns  of  pressure  from 
the  normal  at  the  level  of  9  kilometres  and  at  the 
ground,  and  has  obtained  results  "ranging  from  o'67 
for  the  last  available  set  of  a  hundred  soundings  on 
the  Continent  to  088  for  soundings  in  England 
grouped  for  the  winter  season."  Moreover,  the  standard 
deviations  are  of  the  same  order  of  magnitude  at 
both  levels — that  is  to  say,  both  levels  are  subject  to 
similar  changes.  At  the  same  time,  the  correlation 
coefficient  between  the  pressure  at  the  surface  and 
the  mean  temperature  of  the  9-kilometre  column  is 
small ;  in  other  words,  the  temperature  of  the  lower 
strata  of  the  atmosphere  has,  on  the  whole,  little 
to  do  with  the  general  distribution  of  surface-pressure 
in  this  country.     Its  effects  are  local. 

We  must  therefore  regard  the  general  flow  of  air, 
except  in  so  far  as  it  is  disturbed  by  convection,  as 
governed  not  by  what  happens  at  the  surface,  but  by 
what  is  imposed  upon  it  from  the  stratosphere  above. 
It  is  from  there  that  the  general  control  of  the  dis- 
tribution of  our  pressure  comes.  It  is  only  modified 
by  what  happens  below.  The  upper  air,  the  strato- 
sphere, is  the  operator,  and  the  lower  air  the  subject 
operated  on.  After  fifty  years  of  strenuous  endeavour 
to  regard  the  surface  as  the  operator  and  the  upper 
air  as  the  subject,  the  exchange  of  rdle  is  very  dis- 
turbing, but  it  has  its  compensations.  There  are 
many  things  which  can  easily  be  explained  by  opera- 
tion from  above,  but  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
by  operation  from  below.  Let  us  indulge  in  some 
speculations  which  follow  from  supposing  that  the 
stratosphere  operates  upon  the  troposphere.  It  makes 
the  troposphere  as  tuneful  as  an  organ  under  the 
alternating  rarefaction  and  compression  caused  by  the 
changes  in  the  stratosphere.  Every  cloud  is  the  subject 
of  its  action.  One  can  imagine  them  being  developed, 
showing  first  the  region  of  greatest  humidity,  like 
the  development  of  a  photographic  plate,  which  further 
develops  into  loss  of  stability,  and  so  into  cumulus- 
cloud  and  a  shower.  And  let  us  not  forget  that 
each  several  cloud  means  the  disturbance  of  the 
normal  circulation  ;  the  condensation  will  alter  locally 
the  horizontal  distribution  of  temperature,  and  there- 
fore that  of  pressure  and  wind.  On  the  table  are  two 
autochrome  photographs  of  the  western  sky  at 
Ditcham  Park,  with  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  interval, 
on  a  September  evening  in  191 1,  with  gradually  red- 
dening clouds  that  gradually  vanished  as  they  ap- 
proached from  the  west.  Nothing  could  be  more 
attractive  than  to  speculate  upon  such  changes  in 
relation  to  the  changes  of  pressure  in  the  strato- 
sphere 


May  4,  19 16] 


NATURE 


21 1 


The  Rigime  of  the  Stratosphere. 
But  our  new  point  of  view  only  shows  our  problem 
removed  one  step  further;  we  have  now  to  begin 
again  and  imagine  for  ourselves  what  is  the  rigime 
of  pressure  and  winds  in  the  stratosphere  until  the 
enterprise  of  meteorologists  completes  our  knowledge 
of  what  it  actually  is.  The  problem  is,  at  any  rate, 
much  simplified,  because  convection  is  avoided ;  we 
deal  with  an  atmosphere  which,  being  nearly  iso- 
thermal, is  inherently  stable ;  density  goes  directly 
with  pressure,  layer  lies  on  layer  like  a  light  liquid  on 
a  heavy  one ;  temperatures  are  uniform,  or  very  nearly 
so,  in  the  vertical  direction,  and  therefore  isotherms 
are  also  isobars,  and  winds  are  proportional  every- 
where to  pressure-differences — that  is,  to  temperature- 
differences.  Outside  the  equatorial  region  the  rotation 
of  the  earth  secures  that  air  always  moves  along  the 
lines  of  pressure,  keeping  high  pressure  or  low  tem- 
perature on  the  right.  So  the  general  idea  is  simple, 
but  whether  the  streams  of  air  are  long,  straight 
currents  or  centrical  whirls  we  do  not  yet  know. 

Numerical   Calculations. 

Speculations  of  a  qualitative  character  are  apt  to 
lead  the  speculator  into  serious  error;  the  real  test 
of  any  physical  theory  is  its  quantitative  application. 

It  will  be  of  great  advantage  to  the  further  develop- 
ment of  our  ideas  if  we  can  trust  implicitly  to  the 
hypothesis  of  pressure  balanced  by  motion  (let  us 
call  it  the  principle  of  strophic  balance)  as  the  founda- 
tion of  the  structure  of  the  atmosphere,  and  that 
hypothesis  will  be  confirmed  in  the  orthodox  scientific 
manner  if  the  quantitative  conclusions  to  be  drawn 
from  it  are  verified  by  observation.  I  propose  to 
ask  your  attention  to  some  applications  of  that  hypo- 
thesis which  can  be  tested  numerically. 

From  this  point  of  view  the  theory  of  strophic 
balance  has  the  great  advantage  of  giving  a  definite 
relation  between  wind  velocity,  pressure,  and  tem- 
perature, and  therefore  brings  the  relations  between 
all  these  quantities  within  the  region  of  arithmetical 
computation. 

Let  us  consider  some  of  these  relations.  We 
require  a  number  of  symbols  for  the  meteorological 
quantities  : — 

/>  represents  the  atmospheric  pressure 
6  „  „  „  temperature 

p  „  „  „  density 

/  „  „   horizontal  distance 

h  „  „   vertical  height 

„    horizontal  pressure  gradient 

„  „         temperature  gradient 

„   velocity  of  the  wind 
R=/>l(p6)  „  „   constant  of  the  gas  equation. 

Certain  geodesic  quantities  also  come  in,  viz.  : — 

E,  the  radius  of  the  earth. 

g,  the  acceleration  of  gravity. 

r,  the  angular  radius  of  a  small  circle  on  the  earth's 
surface  which  indicates  the  path  of  air  in  a  cyclone. 

A,  the  latitude  of  the  plaqe  of  observation. 

<u,   the  angular  velocity  of  the  earth's  rotation. 

We  require  also  some  convention  as  to  the  positive 
and  negative  of  v. 

V  positive  represents  the  winds  when  the  pressure^ 
difference  Ap  represents  higher  pressure  on  the  right 
of  the  path. 

The  fundamental  relation  between  the  velocity  of 
the  wind  at  any  level  and  the  pressure-gradient  there 
is  : — 


(=1)  •■ 

(40 .. 


^  =  -jf  =  2a)Vp  sm  X  ±  — p  cot  r 
NO.    2427,    VOL.    97] 


(F) 


The  two  terms  which  make  up  the  right-hand  side 
of  this  equation  are  of  different  importance  in  different 
places  and  circumstances ;  for  example,  if  the  air  is 
moving  in  a  great  circle;  r  is  90°  and  cot  r  is  zero; 
the  first  term  alone  remains.  On  the  other  hand,  at 
the  equator  the  latitude  A=o,  sin  A  is  zero,  and  the 
second  term  alone  remains.  Away  from  the  equatorial 
region  the  second  term  is  relatively  unimportant 
unless  the  velocity  v  is  great.  In  temperate  and 
polar  latitudes  the  path  of  the  air  differs  little  from  a 
great  circle  except  in  rare  cases  near  the  centre  of 
deep  depressions ;  consequently  the  first  term  may  be 
regarded  as  the  dominant  term  in  these  regions. 

We  call  the  wind  computed  according  to  the  first 
term  the  geostrophic  wind,  and  regard  it  as  generally 
representing  the  actual  wind  of  temperate  and  f)olar 
regions. 

We  call  the  wind  computed  according  to  the  second 
term  the  cyclostrophic  wind,  and  regard  it  as  repre- 
senting the  actual  wind  (in  so  far  as  there  is  any 
regular  or  persistent  wind  at  all)  in  the  equatorial 
regions.  It  represents  the  wind  of  tropical  hurricanes, 
and  winds  of  the  same  character  may  also  occur 
locally  in  temperate  regions  as  tornados  and  other 
revolving  storms. 

Thus  we  have  the  following  auxiliary  equations  : — 


Horizontal  gradient  of  pres-") 

sure J 

Horizontal  gradient   of  tem-\ 

perature  .  .  .  .J 
Winds  of  temperate  and  polar"! 

regions — geostrophic  winds/ 
Winds  of  equatorial  regions — ) 

cyclostrophic  winds    .         .J 

The  measurement  of  pressure-}  ^=  -^p 


dl 

d6 
^=dl 
s  =20)t'p  sin  X 


s  =p     cot  r 
E 


Lrfyi 


(I) 

(2) 
(3) 


gaseous  laws   (assumed)    j,     n  /,  ,  ^ 

dry  air).         .        .         .|/=Rp^ (4) 


_i^d6     ^E 
ddh     cot  r 


The 
for 

From  these  by  simple  manipulation  I  have  deduced 
the  following  : — 

For  change  of  pressure  gra-)  ds  _       Iq     s\ 
dient  with  height         .         •Sdh~^^\6~p) 

For  change  of  wind  velocity"!    . 
with  height —  J-  ~  = 

geostrophic  winds  .         .J  '*'* 

cyclostrophic  winds.         X  — 
y  d/t 

Deductions  from  the  Theory  of  Equivalence  of 
Pressure-distribution  and    Wind. 
These  equations  serve  to  explain  the  following  facts 
established  by  observation  *  : — 

I.  Light  winds  in  the  central  region  of  an  anti- 
cyclone. 

It  follows  from  the  fundamental  equation  F  when 
the  negative  sign  is  taken,  as  it  must  be  for  an  anti- 
cyclone, that  the  values  of  v  will  be  given  by  the  roots 
of  a  quadratic  equation,  which  will  be  impossible  if 

V  is    greater    than       "^^'^    .     This,    for  a   circle   of 

70  iniles'  diameter,   only  allows   a  velocity   of  about 
4  metres  per  second. 

This    is    confirmed    in    practice,    and    furnishes    a 

*  The  folIo«ang  references  may  be  given  for  the  statements  enumerated 
here  :— (i)  Barometric  Gradient  and  Wind  Force.  Report  by  Ernest  Gold. 
M.O.  Publication  No.  190.  (2)  Shaw.  Journal  of  the  Scottish  Met.  Soc., 
vol.  xvi.,  p.  167,  19x3.  (3)  Shaw,  Q.J.  Roy.  Met.  Soc.,  vol.  xl.,  p.  m, 
1914.  (4)  The  Free  Atmosphere  of  the  British  Isles.  Report  by  W.  H 
Dines,  F.R.S.  M.O.  Publication,  No.  202.  C.  J.  P.  Cave,  The  Structure 
of  the  Atmosphere  in  Clear  Weather.  (Cambridge  University  Press.) 
E.  Gold,  The  International^  Kite  and  Balloon  Ascents.  Geophysical 
Memoirs,  No.  5.  M.O.  Publication  210^.  The  computations  of  equations 
B  and  C  are  not  yet  published  ;  the  direction  of  the  wind  is  regarded  as 
not  being  subject  to  change  with  height.  (5)  Shaw,  Principia  .Atmospherica. 
Proc.  R.S.E.,  vol.  xxxiv.,  p.  77,  1914. 


212 


NATURE 


[May  4,  1916 


crucial  test  of  the  two  theories.  If  an  anticyclone  is 
a  place  where  air  descends  and  flows  outward,  its 
velocity  should  diminish  as  the  air  spreads  outwards; 
but  the  reverse  is  the  case  with  an  antrcyclone. 

2.  The  small  influence  of  the  troposphere,  and  there- 
fore the  dominance  of  the  stratosphere,  in  the  dis- 
iribution  of  surface  pressure. 

This  follows  directly  when  numerical  values  are 
inserted  in  equation  A.  The  right-hand  side  of  the 
equation  consists  of  two  terms  which  are  of  opposite 
sign  and,  numerically,  approximately  equal  in  the 
middle  regions  of  the  troposphere.  Their  combined 
effect  for  the  whole  range  is  therefore  relatively  small, 
and  the  change  of  pressure  produced  in  the  tropo- 
sphere is  unimportant.  The  distribution  of  the  strato- 
sphere is  dominant   throughout   the   troposphere. 

3.  The  apparently  capricious  variations  of  wind  and 
temperature  -with  height  disclosed  in  pilot-bailoon 
ascents  and  by  ballons-sondes. 

The  results  of  the  observations  of  ballons-sondes 
show  local  variations  of  temperature  and  those  of  the 
observations  of  pilot  balloons  show  similar  variations 
of  the  direction  and  velocity  of  wind.  These  varia- 
tions can  be  connected  numerically  by  Equation  A  in 


RELATION    or  WIND  ELEMENT?    TO  HEIGHT. 


VELOCITY 
10  to 


DIRECTION 


T 

; 

JCT.1 

> 

/ 

< 

^A. 

^ 

> ' 

\, 

^ 

res  • 

.ULV, 

> 

\ 

<r' 

??^ 

?.    ^ 

V 

s. 

) 

{ 

/ 

\ 

} 

/ 

■ 

i( 

( 

/ 

\ 

\ 

^ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

son 


Fig.  I. — Diagrams  showing  the  falling  off  of  wind  velocity  in  the 
stratosphere  (about  ii  kilometres).  The  scale  on  the  left  gives  the 
heights  in  kilometres,  those  at  head  and  foot  the  velocity  tn  metres 
per  second,  and  the  direction  in  degrees  from  north  respectively. 

combination  with  Equation  i.  A  number  of  examples 
are  given  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Royal  Meteoro- 
logical Society.  To  quote  one,  the  rapid  transition 
from  a  southerly  wind  at  iioo  metres  through  a  calm 
to  a  northerly  wind  at  1500  metres  on  October  16, 
19 13,  was  shown  to  indicate  a  temperature  gradient  of 
7°  per  hundred  kilometres  towards  the  east,  a  condition 
that  was  in  satisfactory  accord  with  the  meteorological 
circumstances  of  the  time. 

The  same  combination  of  equations  enables  us  to 
specify  the  conditions  under  which  "  Egnell's  law," 
that  wind  velocity  at  different  heights  is  inversely 
proportional  to  the  density  at  those  heights,  may  be 
expected  to  be  verified  and  the  conditions  prescribed 
are  essentially  reasonable. 

4.  The  rapid  falling  off  of  wind  in  the  stratosphere 
noted  in  observations  with  pilot  balloons. 

This  is  illustrated  by  Fig.  i,  a  diagram  compiled 
from  the  figures  of  high  soundings  reproduced  in 
Captain  Cave's  "Structure  of  the  Atmosphere  in  Clear 
Weather."  The  result  follows  directly  from  the  ap- 
plication of  Equation  B  to  the  special  conditions  of 
the  stratosphere.  The  computation.s  for  the  four 
occasions  in  which  there  was  a  wind  of  considerable 

NO.    2427,    VOL.    97J 


magnitude  at  the  base  of  the  stratosphere  give  the 
following  results  : — 


Date 

1908 


October 
July  31 
July  29 
July  28 
July  27 


Rate  of  change 

of  velocity  in 

the  stratosphere 

m/s  per 
kilometre 

-  7 
~  5 

—  II 

-13 


HorizontAl  temperature  gradient 


Computed. 

Degrees 

per  100 

kilometres 

2-1 

1-5 
3-3 
40 


Observed. 

Drgrces 

per  100 

kilometre'! 


3-3 


25 


The  calculation  has  been  arranged  to  give  the  com- 
puted   horizontal    temperature-gradient,    because    the 


Fig.  2. — Glass  model  showing  the  disiribution  of  temperature  in  the 
atmo.sphere  on  July  27,  1908.  Isotherms  are  drawn  for  every 
5°  A.,  and  the  thickness  of  each  line  represents  half  a  degree 
except  in  the  ca.<ie  of  the  isotherm  of  273°,  which  is  covered  by 
a  band  5°  in  width.  The  height  of  the  model  represents  24 
kilometres.  The  tilting  upward  of  the  isothermal  lines  shows  the 
commencement  of  the  stratosphere  at  about  11  kilometres. 

values  of  that  quantity  can  be  taken  directly  from  the 
models  of  temperature  distribution  constructed  in  the 
Meteorological  Office  for  July  27  and  29,  Figs.  2  and  3. 
The  order  of  magnitude  which  is  indicated  is  quite 
reasonable,  and  for  the  one  occasion  on  which  the  two 
can  be  compared  the  agreement  turns  out  to  be  exact. 
That  may  be  fortuitous ;  but  we  may  take  advantage 


Fig.  3.^Model  showing  the  distribution  of  temperature  in  the 
atmosphere  on  July  29,  1916.  In  each  case  the  model  stands  on 
a  map  of  the  British  Isles  upon  which  the  isobars  are  shown.* 
In  the  interval  of  two  days  a  layer  of  cold  air  spread  it.self 
along  the  base  of  the  stratosphere  from  the  east,  and  raised  the 
surface  pressure  by  about  10  ml. 

of  the  circumstance  to  use  the  combination  of  the  figures 
for  the  wind  In  the  stratosphere  and  the  horizontal 
temperature  gradient  at  13  kilometres  to  compute 
the  latitude  of  the  place  of  observation  with  an 
accuracy  that  may  lead  us  to  reconsider  the  common 
remark  that  meteorology  is  not  an  exact  science. 

The    same    equation    applied    to    the    troposphere, 
assuming  normal  values  for  temperature,   gives  cor- 


May  4,  191 6] 


NATURE 


213 


rectly  the  rate  of  change  of  velocity  with  height,  as 
shown  in  the  corresponding  diagram. 

5.  The  permanence  of  vortical  motion  about  a 
vertical  axis  in  the  atmosphere,  which  is  indicated  by 
the  long  travel  of  cyclonic  depressions. 

From  Equation  C  applied  to  the  stratosphere  it 
follows  that  a  circulation  in  the  base  of  the  strato- 
sphere with  a  given  horizontal  temperature  gradient, 
such  as  is  found  there,  will  have  only  a  limited 
extension  upwards.  With  a  wind  velocity  of 
20  metres  per  second  and  a  horizontal  temperature 
gradient  of  5°  per  hundred  kilometres,  the  extension 
will  be  14  kilometres  upwards;  so  that  the  vortex 
will  be  covered  by  a  cap  in  which  the  velocity 
gradually  falls  off  to  zero  within  a  very  limited  height. 

For  the  extension  downward  the  calculation  is  more 
complicated,  but  the  computed  change  of  velocity  is 
very  small,  so  that  the  vortex  must  be  regarded  as 
reaching  the  ground ;  and  it  would  appear  that  a 
vortex  extending  throughout  the  troposphere  ter- 
minating with  a  cap  in  the  stratosphere  is  a  possible 
reality. 

Thus  the  hypothesis  of  an  atmosphere  in  which  the 
wind  velocity  is  everywhere  adjusted  to  balance  the 
pressure  distribution  enables  us  to  explain  many  of 
the  ascertained  facts  that  have  been  disclosed  by  the 
investigation  of  the  upper  air,  and  strongly  supports 
the  idea  that  the  pressure  distribution  at  the  surface 
is  controlled  by  the  stratosphere  and  only  modified 
locally  by  convection. 

Against  the  control  of  the  distribution  of  pressure 
by  the  upper  atmosphere  may  be  urged  the  formation 
of  anticyclones  over  the  relatively  cold  areas  of  sea 
and  land,  especially  the  winter-anticyclones  of  the 
great  continents  of  the  northern  hemisphere.  For  the 
local  effect  of  surface-cold  we  have  to  bring  into 
account  the  effect  of  eddy  motion,  some  examples  of 
which  are  given  in  the  "Meteorological  RepKjrt  of  the 
Voyage  of  the  Scotia  in  1912  "  by  G.  I.  Taylor,  pub- 
lished by  the  Board  of  Trade  in  1913. 

If  a{X)logy  be  needed  for  dealing  with  fundamental 
hypotheses  like  these  at  a  time  when  the  attention  of 
the  nation  is  more  especially  directed  to  forecasting 
and  other  practical  problems  of  the  upper  air,  it  is  to 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  it  is  of  the  highest  import- 
ance that  meteorologists  who  have  to  advise  the  men 
of  action  upon  practical  questions  should  approach  the 
consideration  of  those  questions  without  the  bias 
which  necessarily  attaches  to  an  erroneous  funda- 
mental principle  of  long  standing.  The  number  of 
meteorologists  who  are  so  engaged  is  at  present  small 
— too  small  for  the  various  duties  that  belong  to  the 
establishment  of  a  proper  understanding  with  regard 
to  the  study  of  weather.  But  it  is  increasing,  and 
it  must  be  increased  in  various  ways  if  those  who 
entrust  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  the  free  atmosphere 
are  to  enjoy  all  the  advantages  to  which  their  experi- 
ence entitles  them. 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Glasgow. — The  late  Lady  Kelvin  of  Largs,  widow 
of  Lord  Kelvin,  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Glas- 
gow, and  for  more  than  fifty  years  professor  of  natural 
philosophy,  has  bequeathed  to  the  University  a  legacy 
of  5000Z.,  free  of  duty,  to  be  applied  by  the  Senate 
for  promoting  research  and  teaching  of  .  physical 
science  in  connection  with  the  natural  philosophy 
chair.  One  of  the  last  public  acts  of  the  late  Chan- 
cellor was  to  preside  at  the  opening,  in  1907,  by  their 
present  Majesties  (then  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales), 
of  the  magnificent  Institute  of  Natural  Philosophy,  in. 
which  the  work  of  the  department  is  now  conducted 

NO.    2427,    VOL.    97] 


under  his  successor.  Prof.  A.  Gray,  F.R.S.  A  great 
variety  of  valuable  researches  have  been  carried  out  in  the 
department  since  its  opening.  In  recent  months  "  war 
work  "  of  a  highly  important  character  has  occupied 
the  professor  and  his  staff.  The  Kelvin  Foundation 
will  handsomely  supplement  the  existing  endowments, 
provided  by  the  Carnegie  trustees  and  others,  for 
instruction  and  investigation.  A  scheme  for  the 
application  of  the  bequest  is  under  the  consideration 
of  the  Senate.  Lady  Kelvin  has  also  bequeathed  to 
the  University  all  the  decorations  and  medals  con- 
ferred on  the  late  Lord  Kelvin.  These  will  be  dis- 
played, with  similar  personal  memorials  of  Glasgow 
professors  and  alumni,  in  the  Hunterian  Museum. 
A  collection  of  historic  apparatus,  used  by  Lord  Kelvin 
in  his  researches,  is  exhibited  in  the  Natural  Philo- 
sophy Institute, 

London. — Among  the  public  lectures  to  be  given 
at  University  College  during  the  term  just  begun  the 
foltowing  are  of  particular  scientific  interest  : — "The 
School  of  Chemistry,  at  University  College  :  Turner, 
Graham,  Williamson,  Ramsay,"  Prof.  J.  Norman 
Collie  (Tuesday,  May  9,  at  5  p.m.);  "The  Manufac- 
ture of  Nitrates  from  Air  by  Electric  Power,"  E. 
Kilbum  Scott  (Monday,  May  15,  at  5.30  p.m.);  "The 
Role  of  Chemical  Science  in  Civilisation,"  Prof.  F.  G. 
Donnan  (Tuesday,  May  16,  at  5  p.m.).  All  these 
lectures  are  open  to  the  public  without  fee.  Admission 
to  the  lectures  by  Prof.  Collie  and  Prof.  Donnan  will 
be  bv  ticket  only.  Applications  for  tickets,  which 
should  state  the  name  and  address  of  each  person  for 
whom  a  ticket  is  required,  should  be  sent  to  the  secre- 
tary. University  College,  Gower  Street,  W.C.  A 
stamped  addressed  envelope  should  be  enclosed  with 
each  application. 

A  special  course  on  spectroscopy  will  be  given  at 
University  College  by  Dr.  S.  Judd  Lewis.  The  course 
will  have  reference  to  the  requirements  of  chemical 
investigation  and  of  industrial  processes.  It  will 
occupy  twelve  half-days,  and  will  begin  on  Friday, 
May  5,  at  3  p.m. 

THERightHon.  J.  F.  Cheetham.  of  Eastwood,  Staly- 
bridge,  Cheshire,  who  died  on  Februar\'  25,  leaving 
estate  of  the  value  of  554,276/.,  bequeathed  loooZ.  to 
the  Victoria  University  of  ^ianchester,  and  the  wood- 
land adjoining  Eastwood  to  his  executors  to  be  devoted 
and  set  apart  as  a  sanctuary  or  reserve  for  the  fauna 
and  flora  of  the  district. 

The  subject  for  the  Jacksonian  prize  of  the  Royal 
College  of  Surgeons  of  England  for  the  present  year 
is  "  Methods  and  Results  of  Transplantation  of  Bone 
in  the  Repair  of  Defects  caused  by  Injury  or  Disease," 
and  that  for  1917  is  "The  Causation,  Diagnosis,  and 
Treatment  of  Traumatic  Aneurysm,  including  Arterio- 
venous Aneurysm."  The  dissertation  for  the  1916 
prize  must  reach  the  college  by  Saturday,  December 
30  next.  The  triennial  prize,  consisting  of  the  John 
Hunter  medal  in  gold,  or  of  the  medal  in  bronze,  with 
an  honorarium  of  50Z.,  will  be  awarded  in  1918,  and 
the  subject  for  it  will  be  "The  Development  of  the 
Hip-Joint  and  the  Knee-joint  of  Man." 

The  conference  of  the  National  Union  of  Teachers 
was  held  this  year  at  Buxton.  The  president,  Mr. 
C.  W.  Crook,  delivered  his  address  on  April  26. 
Speaking  of  education  after  the  war,  he  maintained 
that  in  the  curriculum  of  elementary  schools  there 
will  undoubtedly  be  an  increase  in  the  amount  of  time 
devoted  to  the  elements  of  science.  Woodwork  and 
its  concomitant  subjects  have  done  much,  he  said,  to 
relieve  our  elementary  schools  from  the  danger  of 
becoming  too  theoretical  and  literary,  but  these  them- 
selves are  not  sufficient  to  meet  the  call  for  more  scien- 


214 


NATURE 


[May  4,  191 6 


tific  teaching.  Personally,  Mr.  Crook  thinks,  there 
should  be  a  practical  room  in  every  school,  and  that 
the  elements  of  the  physical  sciences  should  be  learnt 
from  experiments  performed  by  the  children  them- 
selves. VVe  must,  however,  he  continued,  take  care 
that  practical  science  does  not  become  too  dominant 
in  our  primary  schools.  What  is  needed  is  the  scien- 
tific spirit,  which  should,  and  must,  direct  the  teaching 
of  all  subjects,  not  omitting  the  essentials  of  formal 
English,  so  that  our  children  may  proceed  to  sound 
judgments  by  accurate  reasoning  upon  clearly  viewed 
facts.  The  difficulty  will  be  to  determine  exactly 
which  sciences  shall  be  attempted.  Much  of  the  so- 
called  nature-study  now  attempted  gets  no  further 
scientifically  than  the  stage  of  classification,  and  is 
rather  destructive  of  nature  than  instructive  in  scien- 
tific principles.  To  secure  this  extension  or  addition 
of  scientific  teaching  the  requisite  time  can  be  found 
in  two  ways  :  first,  by  the  scrapping  of  some  of  the 
subjects  or  parts  of  the  subjects  now  taught,  and 
secondly,  by  the  extension  of  the  school  age  to  fifteen. 
On  the  former  of  these  two,  it  must  be  obvious  to 
all  that  it  is  now  more  than  ever  necessary  that  our 
antiquated  system  of  weights  and  measures  should 
go,  and  that  some  simplification  of  our  spelling  and 
handwriting  should,  at  least,  be  considered.  The 
number  of  rules  still  taught  in  arithmetic  could  easily 
and  with  advantage  be  curtailed,  and  long  and  useless 
mechanical  problems  should  be  omitted. 

SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Physical  Society,  March  24. — Prof.  C.  Vernon  Boys, 
president,  in  the  chair. — D.  Owen  :  The  laws  of  varia- 
tion of  resistance  with  voltage  at  a  rectifying  contact 
of  two  solid  conductors,  with  application  to  the  electric 
wave  detector.  The  paper  contains  an  account  of  an 
investigation  the  primary  object  of  which  was  to 
determine  the  nature  of  the  physical  actions  occurring 
at  a  rectifying  contact.  Resistance  characteristics  are 
given  for  various  contacts,  some  including  a  mineral, 
some  in  which  both  elements  are  metals.  It  is  shown 
that  a  specific  characteristic  may  be  drawn  for  any 
given  pair  of  materials.  The  experimental  results  are 
in  accordance  with  the  view  that  the  actions  are 
thermo-electric,  the  main  determining  factors  being 
the  thermo-electric  power  and  the  temperature- 
coefficient  of  electric  resistance.  Based  on  the  law  of 
constancy  of  the  voltage-coefficient,  calculations  are 
given  showing  the  best  value  of  the  resistance  of  the 
telephone  in  a  wireless  receiving  circuit  in  which  the 
contact  detector  is  employed.  The  influence  of  a 
polarising  voltage  is  also  traced.  The  use  of  the  com- 
bination of  rectifier  with  a  direct-current  galvanometer 
as  indicator  of  the  balance  point  in  an  alternating- 
current  bridge  is  examined,  and  it  is  shown  that  the 
minimum  detectable  alternating  voltage  cannot  be  re- 
duced much  below  a  millivolt.— Dr.  T.  Barratt  :  The 
electrical  capacity  of  gold-leaf  electroscopes.  A  gold- 
leaf  electroscope  is  frequently  used  to  compare  exceed- 
ingly small  ionisation  currents.  For  this  purpose  it  is 
much  more  sensitive  than  a  quadrant  electrometer. 
If  the  capacity  of  the  electroscope  is  known,  then  the 
absolute  value  in  amperes  of  the  ionisation  current  can 
be  deduced.  A  method  is  described  for  measuring  the 
capacity  of  a  gold-leaf  electroscope,  the  method  depend- 
ing on  sharing  the  charge  of  a  parallel  plate  air  con- 
denser of  measurable  capacity  as  many  times  as  neces- 
sary, and  deducing  the  capacity  of  the  electroscope  from 
the  observed  drop  of  potential.  The  method  gives 
consistent  results  when  the  experimental  conditions  are 
widely  varied.  The  amount  of  deflection  of  the  leaf 
appears  to  have  little  influence  on  the  result. 

NO.    2427,    VOL.    97] 


Zoological  Society,  April  18. — Dr.  S.  F.  Harmer,  vice- 
president,  in  the  chair.— Major  H,  M.  Evans :  The 
poison  organ  of  the  sting-ray  {Trygon  pastinaca).  It 
has  been  observed  for  centuries  that  the  wounds  pro- 
duced by  the  serrated  spine  growing  from  the  base 
of  the  whip-like  tail  of  the  sting-ray  produced  very 
severe  injuries  and  pain  and  inflammation,  which 
could  not  be  accounted  for  by  the  laceration  of  the 
wounds  alone.  Dr.  Antonio  Porta  in  1905  described 
a  gland  in  the  groove  lying  medially  to  the  rows  of 
teeth  on  either  side,  which  he  stated  is  similar  to  the 
gland  found  in  Scorpaena.  Major  Evans's  researches 
do  not  confirm  Porta's  description  In  all  particulars. 
The  examination  of  a  series  of  sections  shows  a  gland 
of  a  different  type  from  that,  found  in  the  weevers, 
Scorpaena,  etc.  The  points  emphasised  are  : — (I)  The 
origin  of  the  gland  from  a  special  epithelial  structure 
at  the  base  of  the  spine ;  (li)  the  arrangement  of  folli- 
cles discharging  their  secretion  by  ducts  or  canals, 
communicating  with  the  exterior  by  means  of  nipples 
or  filaments;  (iil)  the  arrangement  of  these  nipples  at 
the  base  of  the  teeth ;  (Iv)  the  presence  of  muscular 
fibres  surrounding  the  main  canals,  which  are  instru- 
mental In  discharging  the  venom. — R.  I.  Pocock  :  The 
external  characters  of  the  mongooses  (Mungotldae). 
The  paper  dealt  principally  with  the  ears,  feet,  and 
anal  sac.  Reasons  were  given  for  restoring  the 
generic  names  Arlela  for  Crossarchus  fasciatus  and 
Atllax  for  Mungos  paludinosus.  It  was  also  shown 
that  the  mongooses  differ  from  other  VIverrldae  in  the 
structure  of  the  ears,  and  that  the  type  of  ear  in 
Suricata  Is  different  from  that  of  all  other  genera  of 
the  family. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  April  17. — M.  Camille  Jordan  In 
the  chair. — The  president  announced  the  death  of  M. 
Jules  Gosselet,  non-resident  member,  and  M.  A. 
Lacroix  gave  an  account  of  his  life  work. — G. 
Lemoine :  The  catalysis  of  hydrogen  peroxide  In  a 
heterogeneous  medium.  First  part :  general  considera- 
tions, experiments  with  mercury.  The  catalysis  of 
hydrogen  peroxide  is  a  surface  phenomenon,  since  it 
process  with  rapidity  in  contact  with  a  layer  of  silver 
only  00002  mm.  thick.  A  repetition  of  Bredig's  ex- 
periments with  strong  solutions  of  the  peroxide  showed 
that  a  red  oxide  of  mercury  is  temporarily  formed. 
Yellow  mercuric  oxide  and  hydrogen  peroxide  react 
with  violence,  giving  mercury  and  water  with  an 
Intermediate  production  of  the  suboxide  of  mercury. — 
A.  Blondel  :  The  llrruting  perception  of  light  signals 
produced  by  rotating  beams  of  small  divergence,  and 
an  apparatus  for  the  comparison  of  the  brilliancy  of 
light  of  short  duration  giving  the  same  quantity  of 
light  In  different  times. — M.  Yersin  was  elected  a 
correspondant  for  the  section  of  medicine  and  surgery 
in  succession  to  the  late  Ernst  von  Leydn. — H. 
Arctowski :  The  Influence  of  the  earth  on  the  frequency 
and  the  mean  heliographic  latitude  of  sun-spots. 
References  are  given  to  earlier  work  on  this  subject, 
and  the  problem  reconsidered  on  the  basis  of  the  data 
of  A.  Wolfer  for  the  years  1852  to  1913,  and  of  the 
Greenwich  observations.  The  diagram  from  the  aver- 
ages Illustrates  the  annual  variation  of  the  mean  lati- 
tude of  the  spots,  and  shows  that  the  amnlltude 
of  this  variation  amounts  to  at  least  4°. — M.  _de 
Broglie  :  The  highly  penetrating  radiations  belonging 
to  the  K  series  of  tungsten  and  the  spectra  of  the 
X-rays  of  the  heavv  metals.  The  tuni?sten  anti- 
kathode  spectrum  of  tungsten  In  the  Coolldge  tube, 
j  using  a  rotating  crystal  of  sodium  chloride,  contains 
!  a  eroup  with  wave-lengths  2.032-10-'  cm.  and 
I  1.76810-'  cm.  These  radiations  are  the  most  pene- 
j  trating  yet  discovered  as  emitted  by  X-ray  bulbs.— -V. 
Dauzire':  The  formation  of  a  cellular  network  during 


May  4,  1916] 


NATURE 


2i5 


crystallisation.  A  cellular  network  is  formed  by  fused 
sodium  nitrate,  showing  close  analogy  with  the  similar 
network  described  by  Cartaud  as  present  in  certain 
rapidly  solidified  metals. — E.  Fleary :  The  ancient 
glaciations  of  the  Serra  da  Estrella  (Portugal). — C. 
Sauvageau  :  The  gametophytes  in  L.  flexicaulis  and 
L.  saccharina. — R.  Anthony  :  A  brain  of  a  foetus  of  a 
chimpanzee.  A  detailed  description  and  comparison 
with  the  adult  brain  and  with  the  brain  of  a  human 
foetus  of  seven  to  eight  months. — E.  Bataillon  :  The 
rdle  of  sodium  and  potassium  salts  in  polyspermia  in 
Batrachians. — Em.  Bourquelot  and  A.  Anbry  :  The  bio- 
chemical synthesis  of  a  galactoside  of  saligenin, 
/3-salicylgalactoside. — J.  Bergonie  :  Illusory  protection 
against  the  X-rays  in  doctors  already  affected. 
Physical  or  indirect  anaphylaxy.  A  medical  man  who, 
as  a  consequence  of  grave  radiodermatitis,  had  given 
up  all  X-ray  work,  was  recently  under  the  necessity  of 
again  working  with  X-rays.  His  skin  proved  to  be 
abnormally  sensitive,  a  dose  i/i6ooth  of  that  required 
to  give  a  reaction  with  a  normal  skin  sufficing  to  pro- 
duce grave  symptoms.  The  nature  of  these  absolutely 
excluded  the  possibility  of  suggestion,  and  the  case 
might  be  described  as  one  of  physical  anaphylaxy. — 
C.  Richet :  Remarks  on  the  preceding  communication. 
It  is  pointed  out  that  although  the  anaphylaxy  in  this 
case  is  the  consequence  of  a  physical  action,  the  cause 
is  really  chemical,  since  the  X-rays  have  determined 
an  alteration  in  the  tissues,  which  is  translated  by  a 
chemical  modification  of  these  tissues  or  their  secre- 
tions. 

W.\SHINGTON,  D.C. 
National  Academy  ol  Sciences  (Proceedings  No.  3, 
vol.  ii.,  March  1916). — S.  Paige  :  The  mechanics  of 
intrusion  of  the  Black  Hills  (S.D.)  pre-Cambrian 
granite. — C.  A.  Davis :  The  fossil  Algae  of  the 
petroleum-yielding  shales  of  the  Green  River  forma- 
tion of  Colorado  and  Utah.  Scientific,  as  well  as 
economic,  interest  has  been  aroused  in  these  shales 
because  they  have  recently  been  discovered  to  yield 
petroleum  when  subjected  to  destructive  distillation  in 
closed  retorts.  The  author  finds  that  these  shales 
may  be  examined  microscopically  by  the  methods  of 
sectioning  already  in  use  for  peats  and  coals. — A.  V. 
Kidder :  Archaeological  explorations  at  Pecos,  New 
Mexico.  The  most  important  results  are  stratograph- 
ical,  various  styles  of  pottery  being  found  in  super- 
position.— \\.  Hougfai  :  Man  and  metals.  An  account 
is  given  of  the  author's  study  of  the  uses  of  fire  by 
man  in  so  far  as  the  development  of  metallurgy  is 
concerned. — W.  W.  Campbell  and  J.  H.  Moore  :  The 
observed  rotations  of  a  planetary  nebula.  The  nebula 
No.  7009  of  Dreyer's  New  General  Catalogue  is  rotat- 
ing about  an  axis  through  the  central  nucleus 
nearly  at  right  angles  to  the  plane  passing 
through  the  observer  and  the  major  axis  of 
the  image.  The  mass  of  the  nebula  is  ap- 
parently several  times  larger  than  that  of  the  sun. 
It  is  suggested  that  the  ring  nebulaa  are  not  true 
rings,  but  ellipsoidal  shells. — H.  Shapley  :  A  short- 
period  Cepheid  with  variable  spectrum.  The  star  RR 
Lyrae  is  a  periodic  variable  in  at  least  three  ways  : 
first,  in  the  light  of  intensity;  secondly,  in  the  radial 
velocity ;  and  thirdly,  in  the  spectrum  which  changes 
from  F  to  A.  A  similar  spectral  change  is  found 
in  RS  Bootis.— W.  S.  Adams  and  H.  Shapley  :  The 
spectrum  of  8  Cephei.  At  maximum  the  high-tem- 
perature lines  are  very  strong,  and  the  low-temperature 
lines  very  weak,  while  at  minimum  the  reverse  is  the 
case.  This  indicates  that  at  maximum  the  tem- 
perature of  the  gases  constituting  the  star's  absorbing 
envelope  is  higher  than  at  minimum. — W.  S.  Adams  : 
Investigations  in  stellar  sf>ectroscopy.  I. — A  quanti- 
tative method  of  classifying  stellar  spectra.      Method 

NO.    2427,    VOL.    97] 


replaces  to  a  considerable  extent  direct  estimations 
ot  spectral  type  by  numerical  estimates  of  relative 
line-intensity,  which  may  be  made  with  much  higher 
accuracy. — W.  S.  Adami :  II. — A  spectroscopic  method 
of  determining  stellar  parallaxes.  III. — Application 
of  a  spectroscopic  method  of  determining  stellar  dis- 
tances to  stars  of  measured  parallax.  The  method  of 
computing  absolute  magnitudes  and  parallaxes  from 
the  variation  of  the  intensities  of  lines  in  the  stellar 
spectrum  is  capable  of  yielding  results  of  a  very  con- 
siderable degree  of  accuracy. — W.  S.  Adams :  IV. — 
Spectroscopic  evidence  for  the  existence  of  two  classes 
of  M  type  stars.  Two  groups  of  M  stars  are  indi- 
cated clearly  by  examination  of  the  intensities  of  the 
hydrogen  lines. — A.  E.  Jenks  :  The  failure  and  revival 
of  the  process  of  pigmentation  in  the  human  skin. 
It  is  found  that,  on  the  one  hand,  there  is  an  exten- 
sion of  the  albinistic  areas,  and  on  the  other  a  revival 
of  the  process  of  pigment  metabolism  within  an  at- 
one-time  albinistic  area. — R.  \V.  Sayles :  Banded 
glacial  slates  of  Permo-Carboniferous  age,  showing 
possible  seasonal  variations  in  deposition.  A 
study  of  the  slate  and  tillite  formations  of  Squantum 
(near  Boston)  affords  evidence  of  seasonal  changes  in 
the  locality,  indicating  that  it  was  in  a  temf>erate 
zone  during  Permian  times  as  now. — F.  Morley  :  An 
extension  of  Feuerbach's  theorem.  All  circular  line- 
cubics  on  the  joins  of  four  orthocentric  points  touch 
the  Feuerbach  circle. — L.  P.  Eisenhart  :  Deformations 
of  transformations  of  Ribaucour. — W.  W.  Atwood  and 
K.  F.  Mather :  Geographic  history  of  the  San  Juan 
Mountains  since  the  close  of  the  Mesozoic  era.  The 
study  of  the  geography  of  this  region  is  closely  related 
to  the  geologic  studies  of  the  range,  but  may  lead  also 
to  a  study  of  anthropogeography. — W.  B.  Clark,  E.  VV. 
Berry,  and  J.  A.  Gardner :  The  age  of  the  Middle 
•■Vtlantic  coast  Upper  Cretaceous  deposits.  The  several 
Upper  Cretaceous  formations  of  the  Middle  Atlantic 
coast  represent  all  the  major  divisions  of  the 
European  series. — rEdward  W.  Berry  :  Upper  Creta- 
ceous floras  of  the  world.  The  stratigraphic  position 
of  the  more  important  of  the  Upper  Cretaceous  fk)ras 
is  indicated  by  a  diagram. — S.  O.  Mast  and  F.  M. 
Root  :  Observations  on  Amoeba  feeding  on  Infusoria, 
and  their  bearing  on  the  surface  tension  theon,-.  Sur- 
face tension  is  probably  only  a  small  factor  in  the 
process  of  feeding  in  Amoeba. — R.  C.  Tolman  andT.  D. 
Stewart :  The  electromotive  force  produced  by  the 
acceleration  of  metals.  Successful  attempts  have 
been  made  to  change  the  relative  position  of  positive 
and  negative  electricity  in  a  piece  of  metal  by  sub- 
jecting it  to  a  large  retardation. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Department  of  Commerce.  Geodesy.  Serial  No.  7  : 
Latitude  Obser\ations  with  Photographic  Zenith  Tube 
at  Gaithersburg,  M.D.  By  Dr.  F.  E.  Ross.  Special 
Publication,  No.  27.  Pp.  127  and  plates  A  to  Q. 
Serial  No.  14  :  Triangulation  in  West  Virginia,  Ohio, 
Kentucky,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Missouri.  By  A.  L. 
Baldwin.  Special  Publication,  No.  30.  Pp.  67. 
Serial  No.  15  :  Triangulation  along  the  Columbia 
River  and  the  Coasts  of  Oregon  and  Northern  Cali- 
fornia. By  C.  A.  Mourhess.  Special  Publication, 
No.  31.  Pp.  149.  (\Vashington  :  Government  Print- 
ing Office.) 

The  Nemesis  of  Docility  :  a  Study  of  German  Char- 
acter. By  E.  Holmes.  Pp.  vii4-264.  (London: 
Constable  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     45.  6d.  net. 

The  Marketing  of  Farm  Products.  Bv  Prof. 
L.  D.  H.  Weld.  Pp.  xiv  +  483.  (New  York:  The 
Macmillan  Company;  London:  Macmillan  and  Co.. 
Ltd.)    65.  6d.  net. 


210 


NATURE 


[May  4,  191 6 


The  Standard  Cyclopedia  of  Horticulture.  By  L.  H. 
Bailey.  Vol.  iii.  Pp.  v+ 1201  to  1760.  Vol.  iv. 
Pp.  V+1761  to  2421.  (New  York:  The  Macmillan 
Company;  London:  Macmillan  and  Co'.,  Ltd.)  Each 
25s.  net. 

Wye  Salmon  :  Results  of  Scale-Reading,  1908-1915. 
By  J.  A.  Hutton.  Pp.  24.  (Manchester  :  Sherratt 
and   Hughes.) 

British  Museum  (Natural  History).  British  Ant- 
arctic {Terra  Nova)  Expedition,  1910.  Natural  His- 
tory Report.  Zoology.  Vol.  i.,  No.  4:  Larval  and 
Post-Larval  Fishes.  By  C.  Tate  Regan.  Pp.  125-155. 
Zoology.  Vol.  ii.  No.  6 :  Myzostomida.  By  Dr. 
C.  L.  Boulenger.  Pp.  135-140+ 1  plate.  (London: 
British  Museum  (Natural  History) ;  Longmans  and 
Co.)     9s.  and   is.   respectively. 

A  Class-Book  of  Chemistry.  By  G.  C.  Donington. 
Part  iv.  Metals.  Pp.  vii  + 40 1-534.  (London  : 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     25. 

■  Diseases  of  Poultry  :  their  Etiology,  Diagnosis, 
Treatment,  and  Prevention.  By  R.  Pearl,  F.  M.  Sur- 
face, and  M.  R.  Curtis.  Pp.  xi  +  342.  (London  : 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     8s.  6d.  net. 

Publications  of  the  U.S.  Naval  Observatory.  Second 
series.  Vol.  ix.  (in  four  parts,  with  appendix). 
Part  ii.  Pp.  iii  +  B.  vli  +  B.  759.  (Washington: 
Government  Printing  Office.) 

Memoirs  of  the  Indian  Meteorological  Department. 
Vol.  xxl.,  part  xiii.  :  On  the  Calcutta  Standard  Baro- 
meter. By  E.  P.  Harrison.  (Calcutta  :  Government 
Printing.)' 

The  Pathology  of  Tumours.  By  Dr.  E.  H.  Kettle. 
Pp.  viii  +  224.  (London:  H.  K.  Lewis  and  Co.,  Ltd.) 
JOS.   6d.   net. 

Madras  Government  Museum.  The  Foote  Collec- 
tion of  Indian  Prehistoric  and  Protohlstoric  Antiqui- 
ties :  Notes  on  their  Ages  and  Distribution.  By  R.  B. 
Foote.  Pp.  XV 4- 246  + plates  64.  (Madras:  Superin- 
tendent Government  Press.)     14s.  8d. 

DIARY   OF    SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  May  4. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3.— Flints  and  Flint  Implements:  Sir  Ray 
Lankester. 

Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  at  10.30. — Presidential  Address.  Papers  : 
Notes  on  the  Theory  of  the  Corrosion  of  Steel  :  L.  Aitchison. — Notes  on 
the  Relations  between  the  Cutting  Efficiencies  of  Tool  Steels  and  their 
Brinell  or  Scleroscope  Hardnesses  :  Prof.  J.  O.  Arnold.— A  New  Thermo- 
Electric  Method  of  Studying  Allotropic  Changes  in  Iron  or  other  Me'als  : 
Dr.  C.  Benedicks.— Initial  Temperature  and  Critical  Cooling  Velocities  of 
a  Chromium  Steel :  Dr.  C.  A.  Edwards.— The  Influence  of  CarHon  and 
Manganese  upon  the  Corrosion  of  Iron  and  Steel :  Sir  Robert  Hadfield 

.  and  Dr.'  J.  N.  Friend. — Early  Experiments  on  the  Recalescence  of  Iron 
and  Steel :  A.  Mallock. — A  Few  Experiments  on  the  Hardness  Testing  of 
Mild  Steel  :  W.  N.  Thomas.— Surface  Tension  Effects  in  the  Iiiter- 
_  crystalline  Cement  in  Metals  and  the  Elastic  Limit  :  F.  C.  Thompson. 

LiNNEAN  Society,  at  5.— The  Origin  of  the  Garden  Red  Currant :  E.  A. 
Bunyard. — The  IJispersal  of  Organisms,  as  Illustrated  by  the  Floras  of 
Ceylon  and  New  Zealand:  Dr.  J.  C.  Willis.— A  Study  of  the  Rectal 
Breathing  Apparatus  in  the  Larvae  of  the  Anisopterid  Dragonflies  :  R.  J. 
Tillyard. — Description  of  a  New  Species  of  Idotea  (Isopoda)  from  the 
Sea  of  Marmora  :  W.  E.  Collinge. 

Institute  of  Metals,  at  8.30.— Sixth  May  Lecture  :  X-Rays  and  Crystal 
Structure,  with  Special  Referfence  to  Certain  Metals  :  Prof.  W.  H.  Bragg. 

FRTDAV,  May  5. 
RcYAL  Institution,  at  5.30.— Electrical   Methods  in  Surgical  Advance: 
,  Sir  J.  Mackenzie  David-son. 

Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  at  10.— ^See  above.) 

Geologists'  Association,  at  7. 30. — Field  Notes  on  the  Faunal  Succession 
in  the  Lower  Carboniferous  Rocks  of  Westmorland  and  North 
Lancashire :  Prof.  E.  J.  Garwood. 

SATURDAY,  U\\  6. 
Royal  Institution,  at  3. — X-Rays  and  Crystals  :  Prof.  W.  H.  Bragg. 

MONO  A  Y,  May  8. 

Royal  Geographical  Society,  at  8.30. — Travels  in  Ecuador  :  Jordan  H. 
Stabler. 

Royal  Society  of  Arts,  at  4.30. — Vibrations,  Waves,  and  Resonance: 
Dr.  J.  Erskine-Murray. 

TUESDAY,  May  9. 

RovAL  Institution,  at  3. — Chinese  Painting  :  L.  Binyon. 

Zoological  Socif.ty,  at  5.30. — A  Small  Collection  of  Vertebrate  Remains 
from  the  Har  Dalam  Cavern,  Malta,  with  Note  on  a  New  Species  of  the 
Genus  Cygnus  :  Miss  Dorothea  M.  A.  Bate. — An  Experimental  Deter- 
mination of  the  Factors  which  cause  Patterns  to  appear  Conspicuous  in 
Nature  :  Dr.  J.  C.  Mottram. 


Ili.u.minatino  Engineering  Society,  at  5. — Annual  Meeting,  followed 
by  a  Discussion  on  a  Report  to  be  prcNented  by  the  Research  Committee. 

Faraday  Society,  at  8. — An  Analysis  of  the  Theory  of  Gels  as  Systems  of 
Two  Liquid  Phases  :  E.  Hatschck. — (i)  The  Properties  of  Solid  Solutions 
of  Metals  and  of  Intermetallic  Compounds  ;  (2)  The  Annealing  of  -Metals  : 
F.  C.  'I  hompson. — The  Changes  in  the  Physical  Properties  of  Aluminium 
with  Mechanical  Work.  H.  Specific  Heats  of  Hard  and  .Soft  .\luminium  : 
F.  J.  Brislee.— A  Note  on  the  Annealing  of  Aluminium  :  R.  Seligmanand 
P.  Williams.— Grain  Size  Measurements  and  Importance  of  such  Informa- 
tion :  Z.  Jeffries.— A  Contribution  to  the  Theory  of  Solution :  E.  J. 
Hartung. 

WEDNESDAY,  May  10. 

Geological  Society,  at  5.30. — Carboniferous  Fossils  from  Siam  :  Dr.  F.  R. 
Cowper  Reed. — The  Lurgecombe  Mill  Lamprophyre  and  its  Intrusions: 
H.  G.  Smith. 

Optical  .Society,  at  8. — Apparatus  used  for  the  Teaching  of  Optics  at  the 
Cavendish  Laboratory,  Cambridge  :  Dr.  G.  F.  C.  Searle. 

THURSDAY,  May  ii. 

Royal  Society,  at  4.30. — Probable  Papers  :  Seventh  Memoir  on  the  Parti- 
tion of  Number?:.  A  Detailed  Study  of  the  Enumeration  of  the  Partitions 
of  Multipartite  Numbers  :  Major  P.  A.  MacMahon. —  The  Occur  ence  of 
Gelatinous  .Spicules  and  their  Mode  of  Origin  in  a  New  Genus  of  Siliceous 
Sponges  :  Prof.  A.  Dendy. — The  Classification  of  the  Reptilia  :  E.  S. 
Goodrich. — The  Experimental  Production  of  Congenital  Goitre:  Dr. 
R.  McCarrison. 

Royal  I.vstitution,  at  3.  —  Flint  and  Flint  Implements :  Sir  Ray 
Lankester. 

Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers,  at  8. — Annual  General  Meeting. 

Institution  of  Mining  and  Meiallurgv,  at  c,.-i,o.— Discussion :  Ihe 
Influence  of  the  War  on  the  Mining  and  Metallurgical  Industries. 

FRIDAY,  May  12. 
Royal  Astronomical  Society,  at  5. 
Physical  Society,  at  5. — The  Latent  Heats  of  Fusion  of  Metals  and  the 

(Quantum  Theory  :  Dr.    H.  S.  Allen.— (1)  Lenses  for  Light  Distribution  ; 

(2)  The  Choice  of  Glass  for  Cemented  Objectives  :  T.  Smith. 
Malacological  Society,  at  7. — Descriptions  of  New  Mollusca  :   G.    B. 

Sowerby.— Solanderas  a  Conchologist :  T.  Iredale  — Misna  i.ed  Tasmanian 

Chitons :  T.  Iredale  and  W.  L.  May. 

SATURDAY,  May  13. 
RovAL  Institution,  at  3. — X-Rays  and  Crystals  :  Prof  W.  H.  Bragg. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Thermodynamic  and  Kinetic  Theories.  By  G.  H.  B.  197 

A  Cretaceous  Flora.  By  Prof.  A.  C.  Seward,  F.R.S.  198 

A  New  Text  book  of  Optics.     By  S.  P.  T 199 

Our  Bookshelf 200 

Letter  to  the  Editor: — 

Zeppelin  Notes.— Observer 201 

The  Kimmcridge  Oil-shales 202 

The  Wastage  of  Coal.     By  J.  B.  C 203 

Notes 203 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Variable  Stars  of  Short  Period 207 

Photo-electric  Photometry 207 

The  Motion  of  the  Sidereal  Universe 208 

The  Wave-lengths  of  the  Chief  Nebular  Lines  .    .    .  208 

Engineering  and  Scientific  Research 208 

M.  Ch.  Lallemand  on  Daylight  Saving  in  France  209 

Floras  and  Geographical  Distribution   of  Plants  209 
Illusions  of  the  Upper  Air.  —  A  Review  of  Progress 
in   MeteorologicaJ  Theory  in  England  since  1866. 

{/Hiistrated.)     By  Sir  Napier  Shaw,  F.R.S 210 

University  and   Educational  Intelligence 213 

Societies  and  Academies 214 

Books  K^ceived 215 

Diary  of  Societies 216 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices: 

MACMILLAN   &   CO.,    Ltd., 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


idvertisenienti  and  business  letters  to  he  addressed  to  the 
Publishers. 


Editorial  Communications  io  the  Editor, 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,   London. 
Telephone  Number :  Gerrard  8830. 


NO.    2427,    VOL.    97] 


NA  TURE 


217 


THURSDAY,    MAY    11,    1916. 


HARVEY   AND    ARISTOTLE. 

Harvey's  Views  on  the  Use  of  the  Circulation  cf  | 
the  Blood.  By  Prof.  J.  G.  Curtis.  Pp.  xi+  i 
194.  (New  York:  Columbia  University  Press;  I 
London :  Oxford  University  Press,  1915-)  : 
Price  65.  6d.  net. 

UNPRETENDING  as  it  is,   this  is  an  admir-  ; 
able  little  book.     It  is  concise  but  fuU  of  | 
matter,    is     scholarly     and     accurate,    and,    for  i 
those   who   concern   themselves  with  the   history 
of  ideas,  very  interesting.      It  is  a  curious  thing  i 
that  of  the  scores  of  orators  on  Harvey  none  has  '. 
given    any    considerable    place    to    a    closer    dis-  ! 
cussion   of  the    relations  of  Harvey   to   Aristotle  i 
and  to  Galen.      Some  of  us  have  touched  upon  I 
the  attitude  of  Harvey  towards  the  overbearing  j 
tradition  of  these  two  great  ancients,  and  of  the  | 
degree,  or  terms,  in  which  he  doggedly  asserted 
his  independence  of  it,   or  in  which  he  admitted 
their    doctrines   or    approved    their    speculations ; 
but  no  one  seems  to  have  completed  the  task  of 
setting  forth   exactly   how   far  the   ideas,    let  us 
say,  especially  of  Aristotle  and  of  Harvey,  coin- 
cided or  diverged.     This   Prof.    Curtis  has  done, 
and  done  finally.     Unhappily,  upon  the  apprecia- 
tion of  the  reviewer  there  lies  a  shadow  :  this  able 
and  interesting  scholar  died,  in  September  1913, 
before    the    publication    of    his    work.     At    the 
author's  request,  this  volume  has  been  edited  by 
his     colleague,      Frederic      Lee,      of     Columbia 
University. 

Prof.  Curtis  considers  first  the  attitude  of 
Harvey  towards  the  question  of  the  uses  of  the 
alleged  circulation  of  the  blood.  Why,  said  not 
only  his  opponents  but  also  the  master  himself, 
why,  if  the  blood  is  but  a  nutrient  fluid,  need  it 
be  scampering  in  every  second  of  time  all  round 
the  mammalian  frame  !  Here  Harvey  was  him- 
self a  little  puzzled ;  about  the  respiratory  func- 
tions and  the  nature  of  combustion  he  was,  if  I 
may  venture  to  say  so,  somewhat  less  far-seeing 
than  had  been  some  of  his  remote  forerunners,  or 
even  Columbus.  Unfortunately,  he  abhorred 
chemists,  seeing,  no  doubt,  very  unfavourable 
examples  of  the  craft.  With  the  supposed  cooling 
effect  of  the  pulmonary  ventilation  Harv-ey  re- 
mained fairly  content.  The  redness  of  the 
arterial  blood  he  attributed  to  a  filtering  effect 
of  the  lungs. 

Another  principal  chapter  of  Prof.  Curtis's  his- 
tory is,  of  course,  concerned  with  the  well-known 
Aristotelian  primacy  of  the  heart.  This  hegemony 
Harvey  ardently  contested ;  only  to  put  in  its 
place  the  primacy  of  the  blood.  Aristotle's  cardiac 
primacy  connoted  far  more  than  Harvey  dealt 
with,  but,  narrowly  speaking,  when  Harvey 
makes  the  blood  the  seat  of  the  Innate  Heat — not 
to  mention  the  soul — and  speaks  of  innate  heat  as 
an  entity',  and,  furthermore,  as  an  uncaused 
entity,  it  is  not  apparent  that  Harvey's  view  was 
more   far-seeing   than  Aristotle's.      Whether   the 

NO.    2428,   VOL.   97*] 


heart  heats  the  blood,  or  the  blood  possesses  heat 
as  an  innate  quality,  scarcely  seems  to  us,  nowa- 
days, to  demand  much  discussion.  Were  Prof. 
Curtis  still  with  us  one  might  have  asked  of  him 
if  the  truth  were  not  that  ^e  ascendant  genius  of 
both  these  great  men  was  not  as  philosophers, 
but  as  observers.  Imagination  was  not  the 
strength  of  either  of  them.  Like  Aristotle, 
Harvey,  in  speculative  genius,  was  surpassed  by 
many  of  his  predecessors  and  contemporaries. 
The  great  Ionian  thinkers  were  full  of  wonder, 
as  well  they  might  be,  whence  and  how  came 
motion.  But  this  problem  did  not  trouble 
Harvey  overmuch;  as  an  observer  he  recognised 
the  activity  of  the  circulation,  as  he  saw  it,  from 
the  punctum.  saliens  to  the  human  heart;  and 
when  the  problem  of  its  origin  became  pressing 
he  was  fain  to  follow  Aristotle,  and  to  find  it 
akin  to  the  quintessence — the  motive  principle 
of  the  stars.  The  circulation  of  the  blood  was 
one  of  the  subordinate  tides  of  the  circulation 
of  the  heavens.  As  regards  the  heart  itself 
Harvey  was  no  mystic;  the  blood  was  the  poten- 
tial, the  heart  he  reduced  almost  to  a  muscular 
pump.  But  he  had  no  lively  idea  of  the  circu- 
lation as  a  hydrostatic  and  hydraulic  mechanism, 
and,  perhaps,  before  Torricelli  and  Hales,  could 
not  have  had. 

One  may,  with  all  respect,  hesitate  to  be  sure 
that  Prof.  Curtis  was  familiar  with  the  pre- 
Aristotelian  thinkers,  and  the  commentaries  upon 
them  of  Diels,  Wellmann,  Gomperz,  and  others. 
ZeUer,  indeed,  he  does  mention  in  one  place.  It 
is  not  altogether  reassuring  to  be  referred  once  or 
twice  to  Cicero  as  a  source  of  our  knowledge  of 
their  conceptions.  From  Harvey  to  Aristotle  we 
are  carried  back  on  sound  learning,  but  there,  as 
at  a  sort  of  butt  end,  we  stop.  The  author  may 
have  decided,  of  course,  that  these  were  to  be  the 
limits  of  his  volume,  and  properly  kept  to  them. 
But  the  history  of  the  circulation  cannot  be  dealt 
with  historically  without  a  wider  survey  of  the 
doctrine,  and  beyond  the  doctrines  the  ideas,  of 
the  pneuma,  and  of  what  I  have  called  elsewhere 
the  pathetic  quest  after  oxygen,  than  he  had 
allowed  himself  to  undertake.  That  elusive  stuff 
"between  air  and  fire,"  so  keenly  apprehended  by 
the  lonians  and  repeated  by  Galen,  is  scarcely 
congenial  to  Harvey,  or,  indeed,  to  .Aristotle. 
Har\'ey  declared  that  the  "  innate  heat  "  was  not 
akin  to  fire,  which  he  said  was  a  sterilising  agent ; 
he  was  probably  unaware  of  the  profound  and 
ancient  distinction  between  fire  in  its  capacity  as 
an  artificer  and  as  a  destroyer. 

It  is  tantalising,  under  the  restriction  of 
present  limits,  to  bring  the  review  of  this  remark- 
able book  to  an  end  with  so  inadequate  a  discussion 
of  the  principles  discussed  in  it,  and  with  no  note 
of  the  many  particulars  on  which  one  would  gladly 
have  tarried.  The  notes  of  reference  to  quotations 
are  constant  and  accurate ;  would  they  had  been, 
or  most  of  them,  footnotes.  Incessantly  to  be 
turning  to  and  fro  between  the  text  and  an  ap- 
pendix is  a  nuisance. 

Clifford  Allbutt. 
M 


2l8 


NATURE 


[May  II,  1916 


THE  FRESH-WATER  FISHES  OF  AFRICA. 
Catalogue  of  the  Fresh-water  Fishes  .of  Africa  in 

the  British  Museum  {Natural  History).    Vol.  iv. 

By    Dr.     G.     A.    Boulenger.     Pp.    xxvii  +  392. 

(London :    British    Museum    (Natural   History), 

and  Longmans,   Green  and  Co.,   1916.)     Price 

30s. 

THE  British  Museum  has  recently  published 
the  fourth  volume  of  Mr.  G.  A.  Boulenger's 
"Catalogue  of  the  Fresh-water  Fishes  of  Africa." 
Thus  is  brought  to  a  conclusion — at  any  rate,  for 
some  years  to  come — a  work  of  very  great  value. 
Mr.  Boulenger's  research  in*^o  the  ichthyology  of 
the  African  rivers  and  lakes  has  gone  far  beyond 
a  mere  catalogue  of  species.  It  began  to  attract 
attention  nearly  twelve  years  ago  by  the  light  that 
it  threw  on  the  past  geological  history  of  Africa, 
the  former  superficies  of  this  continent  at  different 
times  in  regard  to  rising  and  falling  levels  of  land, 
the  connections  of  the  continent  with  outlying 
islands,  the  desiccation  or  the  flooding  of  great 
areas  of  land  in  the  interior,  the  increase  or  the 
restriction  of  river  basins  and  of  lake  limits. 
Briefly  summarised,  it  went  to  show  that  the  Nile 
system  in  past  times  has  been  in  direct  communi- 
cation with  the  now  isolated  Lake  Rudolf,  and 
has  come  very  near  to  the  Chad  Basin,  which 
again  has  communicated  intermittently  with  the 
Niger,  while  the  Niger  or  its  upper  portion  may 
at  one  time  have  had  an  outlet  into  the  Atlantic 
in  common  with  the  Senegal,  and  have  been 
separable  by  only  a  few  miles  of  land  from  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Gambia,  the  Volta,  and  of 
all  those  streams  that  flow  from  north  to  south 
through  the  forests  of  Guinea  and  the  Gold  Coast 
into  the  great  African  Bight.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  showed  a  comparative  poverty  and  isolation  in 
fish  fauna  of  the  Zambezi  Basin  and  South 
Africa ;  and  it  illustrated,  above  all,  the  specialised 
character  and  wealth  in  fish-fauna  of  the  Congo 
Basin.  This  region  (with  which  Tanganyika  was 
not  always  connected)  must  have  approached  very 
closely  to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Gaboon  and 
Cameroons  rivers  to  account  for  the  near  relation- 
ship between  their  fish-fauna  and  that  of  the  Congo 
Basin. 

So  far  back  as  1870,  Dr.  Giinther,  of  the 
British  Museum,  could  only  catalogue  about  255 
species  of  African  fresh-water  fish.  Mr.  Bou- 
lenger  raised  this  number  in  1906  to  974;  but  he 
is  enabled  in  the  volume  now  under  review  to  put 
the  total  of  species  at  1425. 

In  this  amazingly  complete  survey  of  African 
fishes  he  has  been  helped  by  many  enthusiastic 
collectors  and  students,  and  directly  or  indirectly 
by  the  Belgian,  French,  and  Luxembourg  Govern- 
ments, as  well  as  by  those  of  Egypt  and  the  Union 
of  South  Africa.  Volume  iv.  of  this  magistral 
work  deals  with  the  fresh-water  Gobies,  the  Ana- 
bantids  or  "climbing  perch,"  the  Mugilids  or 
Mullets,  the  Blennies,  the  Mastacembelids  (anguine 
in  form,  and  so  often  taken  by  negroes  to  be 
water  snakes  because  many  of  them  are  hand- 
somely marked  with  viperine  patterns),  and  the 
Tetrodonts.  In  addition,  there  is  matter  supple- 
NO.    2428,   VOL.    97] 


mentary  to  the  other  volumes,  which  gives  us 
further  information  in  regard  to  the  presence  of 
"  saw  fish "  sharks  (Pristis)  in  the  rivers  of 
Portuguese  Guinea ;  additional  knowledge  of 
the  Polypterids  of  Portuguese  Guinea  and 
Liberia,  and  of  that  very  interesting  aberrant 
type,  the  Calamichthys  of  Calabar;  of  the  Mor- 
myrids  of  the  Juba  River  (Somaliland)  and  of 
Portuguese  Guinea,  Northern  Zambezia,  the 
Upper  Wele,  Lake  Bangweulu,  and  the  Lower 
Niger;  of  the  fresh-water  herrings  of  Angola, 
the  Characinids  of  western  Congoland  and  Portu-  . 
guese  Guinea,  Cyprinids  from  all  parts  of  Africa, 
including  the  far  south,  and  Silurids  of  an  equally 
wide  scope-  (It  is  interesting  to  note,  by  the 
way,  that  there  is  a  species  of  fish — Salarias,  a 
Blenny — shared  between  Madagascar  and 
Reunion  Island.) 

A  tribute  is  justly  paid  by  Mr.  Boulenger  to 
the  magnificent  collecting  work  accomplished  by 
the  late  Dr.  W.  J.  Ansorge,  who,  after  exploring 
Uganda  and  other  parts  of  Africa  in  the  medical 
service  of  the  British  Government,  devoted  him- 
self, on  his  retirement,  to  a  systematic  examina- 
tion of  the  fish  (and  other)  fauna  of  Portuguese 
West  Africa,  especially  Angola  and  the  little- 
known  Portuguese  Guinea.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
men  like  these,  who  have  died  in  the  prosecution 
of  really  noteworthy  scientific  research,  might  be 
commemorated  by  tablets  let  into  the  walls  of  the 
British  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

H.  H.  Johnston. 

THEORETICAL     AND     PRACTICAL 
CHEMISTRY. 
(i)  The  Theory  of   Valency.     By  Dr.  J.   Newton 
Friend.     Second  edition.     Pp.  xiv+192.     (Lon- 
don: Longmans,  Green  and  Co.,   1915.)     Price 
55.  net. 

(2)  Qualitative  and  Volumetric  Analysis.  By 
W.  M.  Hooton.  Pp.  86.  (London :  Edward 
Arnold,  1915.)    Price  35.  net. 

(3)  Laboratory    Manual    arranged    to    accompany 
"A   Course  in  General  Chemistry."     By  Profs. 
W.  McPherson  and  W.  E.  Henderson.    Pp.  v+    . 
141.       (Boston    and    London :    Ginn    and    Co.,  i 
1915.)     Price  35.  " 

(4)  The  Rugby  Course  of  Elementary  Chemistry. 
By  H.  P.  Highton.  Pp.  79.  (London  :  Edward 
Arnold,  191 5.)    Price  25.  6d. 

(i)  T^HE  perusal  of  a  treatise  on  valency 
-»•  leaves  an  impression  of  incompleteness 
and  uncertainty,  of  a  mass  of  theories  no  single 
one  of  which  can  claim  to  correlate  and  interpret 
more  than  a  portion  of  the  relevant  facts.  This 
aspect  of  the  matter,  to  which  reference  was  made 
in  the  review  of  the  first  edition  of  Dr.  Friend's 
excellent  volume  (Nature,  1909,  Ixxx.,  p.  395), 
has  been  accentuated  by  recent  work  on  radio- 
activity, and  the  modified  views  with  regard  to 
chemical  combination  and  valency  to  which  this 
work  has  led.  The  author,  although  fully  aware 
of  the  extent  to  which  earlier  conceptions  are 
undergoing  change,  points  out  that  nothing  like 
finality  has  been  reached.     He  therefore  does  not 


May  II,  1916] 


NATURE 


219 


attempt  in  the  present  volume  any  full  discussion 
of  the  latest  views,  and  merely  indicates  the  main 
lines  alongf  which  progress  is  being-  made.  This  is 
a  wise  decision. 

The  chapter  on  "Exceptions  to  the  Periodic 
Law  "  has  been  enlarged  by  a  brief  consideration 
of  the  valency  of  the  metals  of  the  rare  earths, 
and  their  position  in  the  periodic  table,  as  well  as 
by  a  short  discussion  of  the  radio-elements  and  the 
existence  of  isotopes.  The  exposition  of  Werner's 
theory  given  in  the  first  edition  has  been  ampli- 
fied by  an  account  of  Ephraim's  work,  the  results 
of  which  have  shown  that  on  the  whole  the 
strength  of  the  auxiliary  valencies  falls  as  the 
atomic  volume  of  the  metal  concerned  increases. 
In  this  connection  reference  is  made  to  Werner's 
recent  conclusion  that  there  is  no  essential  differ- 
ence between  principal  and  auxiliary  valencies. 

Some  theories  of  valency,  such  as  those  of 
Werner,  and  of  Barlow  and  Pope,  postulate  the 
existence  of  certain  forces,  and  on  this  basis 
attempt  to  formulate  the  constitution  of  the  mole- 
cule. Others,  more  definitely  physical  in  char- 
acter, deal  with  the  origin  of  the  forces  postu- 
lated by  the  chemist,  and  are  therefore  affected 
by  any  alteration  in  the  views  held  as  to  the  struc- 
ture of  the  atom.  These  considerations  have  led 
the  author  to  devote  a  few  additional  pages  to 
the  electronic  theor}^  of  valency,  as  this  has  de- 
veloped in  the  light  of  modern  work  by  Ruther- 
ford, Bohr,  van  den  Broek,  Moseley,  Falk,  and 
Thomson.  It  will  be  interesting  to  see  how  far 
the  conclusions  based  on  this  work,  as,  for  ex- 
ample, the  assigning  of  a  valency  of  two  to  hydro- 
gen and  the  consequent  doubling  of  the  valency 
numbers  of  all  other  elements,  will  command 
general  acceptance. 

(2)  The  compilation  of  tests  and  the  tabulation 
of  methods  for  qualitative  inorganic  analysis 
which  mainly  constitute  the  first  part  of  this 
•volume  are  sound  enough,  but  except  for  slight 
differences  in  the  arrangement  of  the  matter  and 
in  the  general  get-up,  the  thing  has  been  done 
scores  of  times  already.  True,  the  reactions  of 
some  of  the  less  common  metals  and  acids  are 
also  described,  but  this  scarcely  constitutes  such 
a  claim  to  originality  as  would  justify  publication. 

The  second  part  contains  quite  a  useful  selec- 
tion of  exercises  in  volumetric  analysis,  and  the 
explanations  and  directions  given  are  on  the  whole 
satisfactory.  The  relation,  however,  between  the 
general  definition  of  a  ngrmal  solution  and  its 
interpretation  in  the  case  of  oxidisers  might  be 
put  more  clearly.  Further,  in  connection  with  the 
use  of  potassium  dichromate,  the  student  might 
legitimately  be  puzzled  by  the  statement  on  p.  74 
that  "a  standard  solution  is  made  by  dissolving  a 
known  weight  of  pure  dry  KoCr^Oy  in  distilled 
water,  and  its  exact  strength  can  be  determined 
by  titrating  it  against  a  known  weight  of  pure 
iron  in  the  ferrous  state."  The  author  himself,  on 
the  following  page,  points  out  that  the  strength 
of  a  solution  of  potassium  dichromate,  prepared 
by  dissolving  a  known  weight  of  the  pure  dry 
salt  and  then  making  up  to  one  litre,  is  known 
exactly. 

NO.    2428,    VOL.    97] 


(3)  The  authors  of  this  first  year  college  labora- 
tory manual,  almost  conscious  that  some  apology 
is  required  for  an  addition  to  the  large  number 
of  such  books  already  on  the  market,  state  in  the 
preface  that  the  volume  lays  no  claim  to  origin- 
ality, either  in  method  or  in  content.  All  that 
has  been  done  is  to  select  the  exercises  which  the 
beginner  should  undertake.  It  is  really  time  to 
protest  against  this  unlimited  production  of  ele- 
mentary laboratory  guides,  and  to  point  out  again 
the  absurdity  of  the  implied  claim  that  slight  dif- 
ferences in  the  character  of  the  experiments 
proposed  and  in  the  order  of  their  arrangement 
are  of  such  paramount  importance.  Why  not 
leave  something  to  the  judgment  and  initiative  of 
the  teacher? 

The  arrangement  of  the  experiments  suggested 
by  the  authors  invites  criticism.  For  example, 
the  most  elementary  examination  of  the  character- 
istics of  acids,  bases,  and  salts  is  preceded  by  a 
chapter  in  which  work  is  proposed  on  fractional 
distillation,  protective  colloids,  and  the  colour  of 
ions  and  molecules.  Again,  the  student's  atten- 
tion is  not  specifically  directed  to  the  production 
and  properties  of  carbon  dioxide  until  more  than 
half  the  course  has  been  covered. 

Even  the  hints  given  in  the  appendix  for  the 
benefit  of  the  instructor  are  not  entirely  satisfac- 
tory. The  direction  to  prepare  dilute  sulphuric 
acid  by  diluting-  the  concentrated  acid  in  the  ratio 
I  :  4  is  a  case  in  point :  a  30  per  cent,  solution  of 
this  acid  should  not  be  erhployed  as  a  dilute 
reagent. 

Altogether,  it  may  be  said  that  in  a  badly-man- 
aged or  poorly  staffed  laboratory  the  volume  under 
review  might  be  useful  as  a  guide,  but  that  for 
the  student  in  an  institution  where  competent 
teaching  is  available  the  best  hint  is  that  given  on 
p.  75 — "report  to  the  instructor  for  quiz  on  the 
methods." 

{4)  The  views  expressed  above  as  to  the  scant 
justification  for  adding  to  the  number  of  intro- 
ductory laboratory  manuals  are  in  some  measure 
applicable  to  this  case  also.  If  the  "  Rugby  " 
variety  of  elementary  chemistry  course  is  to  be 
put  before  us,  why  not  many  others  as  well,  which 
may  have  quite  as  good  a  claim  to  publicity?  At 
the  same' time  it  may  be  admitted  that  this  volume, 
which  is  Intended  to  cover  a  period  of  two  school 
years,  contains  evidences  of  originality  in  the  way 
of  suggestive  experiments  and  in  the  devising  of 
simple  apparatus  for  carrying  them  out.  The 
course  on  which  the  book  is  based  is  clearly  char- 
acterised by  thought  and  initiative  on  the  part  of 
the  author  and  his  associates.  J.  C.  P. 

OUR    BOOKSHELF. 
Colour:    a  Handbook   of   the    Theory  of   Colour. 

By    G.    H.    Hurst-       Second    edition    revised. 

pp.  vii+i6o.     (London:   Scott,  Greenwood  and 

Son,    1916.)     Price  7s.   6d.  net. 
Those    who    are    interested    in    colour    effects, 
esp>ecially,  perhaps,  dyers,  calico-printers,  decora- 
tors,   students,    and,    to  a   lesser   degree,    artists, 
will    find    much  useful   information    in    this    very 


2  20 


NATURE 


[May  II,  19 16 


moderate-sized  volume.  The  author  deals  with 
the  production  and  cause  of  colour,  phenomena 
of  colour,  the  eye,  effects  of  contrast,'  and  colour 
measurement.  He  quotes  largely  from  the 
standard  works  of  Chevreul,  Rood,  and,  to  a 
smalkr  extent,  from  others.  Many  useful  tables 
are  given  with  regard  to  the  effects  of  juxtaposed 
colours  on  each  other,  the  illumination  of  coloured 
objects  by  coloured  lights,  and  concerning  the 
colour  and  luminosity  of  the  solar  spectrum.  The 
absorption  spectra  of  about  forty  of  the  com- 
monest pigments,  dyes,  and  coloured  glasses  are 
shown  as  curves.  There  are  eleven  full-sized 
coloured  plates  which  illustrate  in  a  striking 
manner  the  effects  of  colour  combinations  and 
similar  matters,  though  when  the  student  of 
colour  sees  the  fourteen  absorption  spectra  that 
are  represented  in  full  colour  he  will  wish  that  it 
were  possible  to  get  such  clean-cut  absorptions 
as  the  diagrams  exhibit. 

Although  this  is  a  revised  edition,  there  is  still 
room  for  revision.  For  example,  the  reader 
would  imagine  from  the  statement  at  p.  79  that 
Thomas  Young  followed  Brewster  and  Maxwell 
and  criticised  their  theories.  If  the  starch 
granules  in  a  Lumiere  colour  plate  were  of  the 
size  that  they  are  stated  to  be,  the  grain  would 
be  far  too  fine  to  be  visible  by  any  microscopical 
methods ;  and  in  this  process  one  does  not  obtain 
a  negative,  and  then  from  this  prepare  a  positive 
which  is  "viewed  in  conjunction  with  a  similar 
screen."  In  three-colour  printing  the  negatives 
are  not  taken  through  "red,  blue,  and  yellow 
screens  respectively." 

Icones  Plantarum  Formosanarum  nee  non  et  Con- 
tributiones  ad  Floram  Formosanam.  By 
Bunzo  Hayata.  Vol.  v.,  pp.  vi  +  358  +  xvii 
plates.     (Taihoku :     Government    of    Formosa, 

1915-) 
This  fifth  volume  of  the  Icones  of  the  Plants  of 
Formosa  is  devoted  especially  to  new  material 
collected  in  Formosa  since  1912.  It  is  a  worthy 
successor  to  the  previous  handsome  volumes,  and 
contains  studies  on  385  species  and  eight  varieties 
of  flowering  plants  and  ferns.  The  studies  are 
illustrated  by  seventeen  quarto  plates  and  numer- 
ous text  figures.  Two  hundred  and  three  of  the 
sp>ecies  are  new  to  science,  and  twenty-three 
genera  hitherto  unrecorded  for  the  island  are 
added  to  the  flora.  At  present  the  flora  is  known 
to  comprise  160  families  with  914  genera  and 
3325  species.  One  particularly  interesting  dis- 
covery is  that  of  a  new  species  of  the  ancient  fern 
Archangiopteris,  the  genus  first  found  by  Henry 
in  Yunnan  in  1899.  The  addition  of  the  families 
Burmanniaceae  and  Xyrideae  to  the  flora  of 
Formosa  is  also  noteworthy.  A  large  number  of 
ferns  are  dealt  with  in  this  volume,  the  majority 
belonging  to  the  Polypodiaceae ;  one  plant  called 
Polypodiutn  urceolare  may  not  belong  to  this 
genus,  as  it  is  considered  by  some  pteridologists 
to  be  a  subgenus  of  Davallia.  A  long  discussion 
of  the  points  at  issue  is  given  in  the  text. 

The  volume  is  very  well  printed  and  the  illus- 
trations are  remarkably  clear  and  good. 
NO.    2428,   VOL.   97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Science  and  the  State. 

In  view  of  the  efforts  that  are  now  being  made  in 
many  quarters  to  bring  about  better  relations  between 
science  and  the  State,  it  is  interesting  to  recall  Sir 
David  Brewster's  dedication  of  his  "  Memoirs  of  Sir 
Isaac  Newton."  It  is  addressed  to  the  Prince  Con- 
sort, and  dated  from  St.  Andrews  sixty-one  years  ago, 
and  yet  it  is  sufficiently  suggestive  of  the  circum- 
stances of  the  present  day  to  be  reproduced  in  full. 

To 
His  Royal  Highness 
Prince  Albert,  K.G., 
Chancellor  of  the"  University  of  Cambridge. 
Sir, — In  dedicating  this  Work  to  your  Royal  High- 
ness, I  seek  for  it  the  protection  of  a  name  indissolubly 
associated  with  the  Sciences  and  the  Arts.  An  account 
of  the  Life,  Writings,  and  Discoveries  of  Sir  Isaac 
Newton  might  have  been  appropriately  inscribed  to 
the  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  the 
birth-place  of  Newton's  genius,  and  the  scene  of  his 
intellectual  achievements ;  but  that  illustrious  name  is 
more  honourably  placed  beside  that  of  a  Prince  who 
has  given  such  an  impulse  to  the  Arts  and  Sciences 
of  England,  and  whose  views,  were  they  seconded  by 
Statesmen  willing  to  extend  Education  and  advance 
Science,  would  raise  our  country  to  a  higher  rank 
than  it  now  holds,  among  the  nations  of  Europe,  in 
the  Arts  of  Peace  and  of  War.  It  is  from  the  trenches 
of  Science  alone  that  war  can  be  successfully  waged; 
and  it  is  in  its  patronage  and  liberal  endowment  that 
nations  will  find  their  best  and  cheapest  defence. 

That  your  Royal  Highness  may  be  enabled  to  realise 
those  noble  and  patriotic  views  respecting  the  national 
i  encouragement  of  Science,  and  the  consolidation  of  our 
Scientific  Institutions,  which  you  have  so  much  at 
heart,  and  that  you  may  long  live  to  enjoy  the  reputa-- 
tion  which  you  have  so  justly  earned,  is  the  ardent 
wish  of 

Sir, 
Your  Royal  Highness's 

Humble  and  obedient  Servant, 

David  Brewster. 
St.   Leonard's  College, 

St.  Andrews,  May  12,  1855. 
The  relation  of  science  to  the  State  is  referred  to 
on  various  occasions  in  the  memoirs ;  and  the  financial 
worry,  to  which  the  unfortunate  illness  of  the  great 
philosopher  in  1692  is  attributed,  is  held  up  as  a  black 
example  of  national  neglect.  The  project  which 
Brewster  favoured  was  State  support  for  men  of 
science  on  the  lines  of  the  French  Academy,  and  to 
the  lack  of  such  support  Brewster  attributed  the 
neglect  of  the  Newtonian  philosophy  in  England,  while 
it  was  being  successfully  developed  in  France  by 
Laplace,  d'Alembert,  Clairaut,  and  others. 

A  perusal  of  the  memoirs  at  the  present  time  carries 
other    lessons.     The    fierce    controversies    among    the 
contemporary  men  of  science  about  priority  and  pla- 
giarism, which  led  Newton,  time  after  time,  to  abjure 
the  society  of  philosophers,  and  the  factious  criticism 
:  which  they  emplo}-ed,  make  it  clear  that,  unless  they 
;  have  changed  in  character,  the  fullest  recognition  of 
!  men   of  science  by  the  State  will  not  be  exactly  the 
'■  beginning  of  the  millennium ;  and  they  change  their 


May  ii>  1916] 


NATURE 


321 


character  very  slowly.  Brewster  himself  uses  language 
about  Thomas  Young  and  the  undulatory  theory  which 
recalls  the  fact  that  though  a  statesman  had  a  great 
share  in  it,  it  was  not  the  State  that  drummed  the 
greatest  philosopher  since  Newton  out  of  the  ranks  of 
science.  Something  more  of  regard  for  the  genus 
humanum,  the  statesman's  care,  and  a  little  less 
attention  to  the  ingenio  superavit,  the  examiner's  busi- 
ness, seem  necessary  to  give  science  its  true  position. 

Lest  I  should  be  thought  merely  to  be  indulging  in 
the  prevalent  habit  of  "grousing,"  let  me  briefly  ex- 
plain. The  exponents  of  science  in  this  country  have 
allowed  the  issues  of  the  inevitable  conflict  of  studies 
in  science  to  be  dictated  everywhere  from  the  exam- 
ination point  of  view.  That  calamity — for  it  is  nothing 
short  of  it — is  more  largely  responsible  for  the  apathy 
of  the  State  towards  science  than  is  generally  acknow- 
ledged. 

So  far  has  our  control  by  examination  extended  that 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  for  the  general,  our 
education  has  become  the  art  of  passing  examinations 
without  having  to  think,  and  the  educational  pro- 
fession is,  in  practice,  the  only  human  occupation  for 
which  a  general  education  is  not  required. 

The  difficulty  is  a  real  one,  but  it  must  be  faced; 
we  must  find  something  better  to  offer,  as  our  idea 
of  education  inspired  by  the  study  of  nature,  than 
30  per  cent,  of  what  is  set  out  in  the  examination 
papers  put  before  an  individual  student  in  one  or  other 
of  the  alternative  courses  controlled  by  men  of  science. 
Specialists  are,  of  course,  the  corps  d'ilite  of  the 
army  of  science,  but  they  ought  to  be  persuaded  not 
to  use  the  nursery  as  their  battleground.  That  is  our 
business,  and  we  can  do  it  if  we  will. 

Napier  Shaw. 

The  Daylight  Saving  Scheme. 

I  SHALL  be  glad  if  you  will  allow  me  to  deal  with 
the  objections  raised  to  the  daylight  saving  scheme  in 
NATUREof  April  27.  I  have  had  to  content  myself  with 
identifying  these  by  the  numbers  of  your  paragraphs. 

(i)  Though  people  engaged  in  the  trades  you  men- 
tion may  not  receive  the  same  benefits  from  the 
operation  of  a  Daylight  Saving  Act  as  in  the  case  of 
the  rest  of  the  population,  those  at  least  who  are 
interested  in  gardening  and  in  any  form  of  athletics 
would  benefit  from  an  extra  hour  of  daylight  at  the 
end  of  their  day,  and  all  would  effect  a  saving  in 
artificial  light.  I  have  also  dealt  with  this  question 
in  my  reply  to  your  objection  (6).  From  the  fact  that 
these  trades  regulate  their  times  more  by  the  sun 
than  by  the  clock,  it  must  at  least  be  granted  that 
they  would  take  no  harm  from  the  Act. 

(2)  If,  as  seems  probable,  the  daylight  saving  prin- 
cipk  is  universally  adopted  in  Europe,  there  is  no 
reason  why  there  should  be  any  more  chaos  than  at 
present.  It  was  not  proposed  to  interfere  with  Green- 
wich mean  time,  and  that  would"  remain  as  the 
universal  standard  just  as  it  is  to-day.  Such  difficul- 
ties as  would  arise  in  this  respect  are  only  of  such 
a  nature  as  could  be  got  over. 

(3)  Those  places  which  get  twilight  all  night  would 
not  suffer  by  an  alteration  of  the  clock,  even  though 
they  might  not  reap  any  special  benefit.  A  large 
majority  of  the  population  of  Great  Britain  lives  in 
the  southern  half  of  the  kingdom. 

(4)  The  reason  that  the  proposed  date  of  altering 
clock  time  back  to  Greenwich  mean  time  was  fixed  for 
the  third  week  in  September  jk&s  that  at  the  end  of  j 
the  vear  the  atmosphere  in  the  early  morning  is 
usually  warmer  than  that  which  we  experience  in 
March  and  the  beginning  of  April,  frosts  being  prac-  I 
ticallv  unknown  in  September.  , 

(5)' I  sincerelv  hope  that  the  intelligence  and  resource  i 
of  the  gentlemen  responsible  for  these  matters  are  not   I 
NO.    2428,    VOL.    97] 


of  such  a  low  order  as  to  be  unable  to  deal  with  such 
questions  as  may  arise. 

(6)  I  think  that  your  approximate  calculation  of  the 
additional  darkness  which  the  early-morning  workers 
would  experience  has  failed  to  take  into  account  the 
fact  that  it  is  light  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour 
before  sunrise.  Very  few  of  those  starting  work  at 
6  a.m.  would  require  to  use  artificial  light  to  rise  by. 
Certainly  in  September  there  would  be  some  addi- 
tional use  of  light  in  the  morning. 

(7)  Granting  that  there  would  be  some  additional 
use  of  fuel  in  the  morning,  you  fail  to  notice  that  there 
would  be  a  corresponding  saving  in  the  evening. 

(8)  Nobody  appreciates  the  value  of  the  scientific 
method  more  than  I  do.  Might  1  suggest  that  the 
daylight  saving  scheme  is  less  a  question  of  absolute 
science  than  of  social  and  political  science?  Your 
principal  argument  is  that  it  is  the  scientific  men  who 
should  decide  as  to  whether  or  not  the  provisions  of 
the  measure  should  be  adopted,  and  that  they  as  a 
body  have  not  expressed  their  support.  The  real 
reason  of  this  is  that  it  is  not  a  question  that  interests 
them  as  a  whole  in  their  scientific  capacities.  All. 
scientific  men  are  interested  in  time  measurement,  but 
they  are  principally  interested  in  the  actual  lengths  of 
the  units  of  time,  viz.,  of  minutes  and  hours.  Those 
who  have  special  interest  in  the  relation  of  clock  time 
to  solar  time  are  practically  confined  to  the  astro- 
nomers, meteorologists,  and  navigators.  Of  the  five 
astronomers  who  have  taken  up  the  subject,  three 
were  in  favour  of  the  Bill.  They  were  the  late  Sir 
Robert  Ball,  Prof.  Rambaut,  and  Prof.  Turner.  On 
the  other  hand.  Sir  William  Christie  and  the  late  Sir 
David  Gill  opposed  the  Bill.  To  anyone  who  care- 
fully reads  the  evidence  given  by  these  latter  gentle- 
men before  the  Parliamentary  Committee  of  1908,  it 
is  quite  clear  that  their  opposition  was  based,  not  on 
scientific  grounds,  but  merely  on  grounds  of  social 
expediency,  and  their  replies  to  the  questions  of  the 
Committee  are  largely  filled  with  discussions  of  the 
habits  of  shopkeepers,  clerks,  factor}-  hands,  etc., 
on  which  subjects  scientific  eminence  is  scarcely  neces- 
sar)'  in  order  to  make  one  expert.  As  a  matter  of 
fact.  Sir  William  Christie,  in  replying  to  the  ques- 
tion, "  The  idea  of  the  Bill  is  not  altogether  so  un- 
reasonable as  it  might  on  the  face  of  it  appear?" 
replied,  "  No,  my  view  is  rather  that  it  does  not  obtain 
the  greatest  convenience.  That  is  really  my  argument 
here,"  etc 

I  should  scarcely  imagine  that  the  rejection  of  a 
private  Bill  by  Parliament  would  be  accepted  by  men 
of  science  as  a  final  test  of  the  social  value  of  the 
measure;  however,  this  is  what  you  suggest  to  them. 
In  your  section  No.  7  you  make  a  suggestion  as  to 
the  reason  of  our  customary  time-table.  I  think  really 
that  our  time-table  has  developed  to  suit  the  winter 
light  conditions,  as  such  a  one  is  the  only  single 
unaltered  time-table  which  is  reasonably  workable 
throughout  the  year.  H.  W.  M.  Willett. 

Sloane  Square,  London,  S.W.,  May  2. 

[We  deal  elsewhere  in  this  issue  with  the  main 
points  of  Mr.   Willett 's  letter. — Editor.] 

Avoiding  Zeppelins. 

A  little  knowledge  of  spherical  perspective  would 
materially  reduce  the  loss  of  life  due  to  Zeppelins. 
There  is  no  danger  from  a  bomb  dropped  by  one  of 
these  vessels  unless  the  latter  is  approaching  the 
zenith,  and  will  reach  there  in  a  few  seconds.  If 
the  Zeppelin  appears  inclined — that  is,  unless  one  end 
appears  exactly  over  the  other — there  is  no  danger. 
This  is  easily  seen  at  a  glance,  but  a  plumb-line  formed 
by  a  stone  attached  to  a  string  will  show  this  with 
certainty.     The  Zeppelin  will  always  pass  on  the  side 


222 


NATURE 


[May  II,  1916 


towards  which  the  upper  end  points.  If,  however,  it 
is  vertical,  and  near  the  zenith,  there  is  great  danger. 
If  its  altitude  is,  for  example,  a  mile,  a  bomb  dropped 
would  occupy  18  seconds  in  falling,  if  there  were  no 
air.  Owing  to  the  resistance  of  the  latter,  this  time 
is  greatly  increased.  It  is  only  necessary  to  run  at 
right  angles  to  the  apparent  direction  of  the  Zeppelin 
to  be  safe,  even  if  one  does  not  start  until  the  bomb 
is  dropped.  This  rule  may  be  tested  by  standing 
under  a  telephone  wire,  which  may  be  regarded  as 
representing  the  path  of  the  Zeppelin.  A  plumb-line 
will  cover  the  wire  only  if  the  observer  is.  exactly 
under  the  wire.  No  allowance  is  here  made  for  the 
wind,  which  always  carries  the  Zeppelin  to 
leeward.  It  may  be  better,  therefore,  to 
stand  so  that  the  Zeppelin  is  partially  covered 
by  the  edge  of  a  house,  a  flagpole,  or  other 
vertical  line.  There  is  no  danger  unless  the  Zeppelin 
appears  to  ascend  the  line,  remaining  partially  covered 
as  it  approaches  the  zenith.  The  same  principles 
apply  to  aeroplanes.  At  sea,  the  vessel  should  take 
a  course  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  from  which 
"the  Zeppelin  comes.  Of  course,  these  methods  are 
useless  if  the  Zeppelin  cannot  be  seen  owing  to  clouds 
or  darkness,  unless  it  is  picked  up  by  a  searchlight. 

E.  C.  Pickering. 
April  10. 


DAYLIGHT  AND  DARKNESS. 

THE  House  of  Commons  adopted  on  Monday 
a  resolution  moved  by  Sir  Henry  Norman  : 
"That,  in  view  especially  of  the  economy  in  fuel 
and  its  transport  that  would  be  effected  by 
shortening  the  hours  of  artificial  lighting,  this 
House  would  welcome  a  measure  for  the  advance- 
ment of  clock  time  by  one  hour  during  the 
summer  months  of  this  year."  The  daylight 
saving  scheme  put  forward  by  the  late  Mr.  W. 
Willett  in  1907  has,  therefore,  now  been  approved 
by  Parliament,  and  it  is  proposed  to  effect  the 
change  of  time  during  the  night  of  Saturday- 
Sunday,  May  20-21.  The  normal  Greenwich  time 
is  to  be  restored  during  the  night  of  Saturday- 
Sunday,  September  30-October  i.  In  supporting 
the  motion  on  behalf  of  the  Government,  the  Home 
Secretary,  Mr.  Herbert  Samuel,  said  it  was 
thought  that  the  change  could  be  effected  without 
legislation  by  Order  in  Council,  "  since  this  is  only 
a  war  measure  adopted  for  war  purposes."  On 
account,  however,  of  the  existence  of  an  Act 
which  defines  "hour  "  in  any  statute  as  Greenwich 
mean  time  in  Great  Britain,  and  Dublin  mean 
time  in  Ireland,  and  also  because,  in  conformity 
with  this  Act,  there  are  fixed  the  hours  in  factories 
and  workshops  in  which  women  and  children  are 
employed,  while  a  number  of  other  establishments, 
including  licensed  houses,  are  compelled  by  law  to 
keep  certain  times,  the  law  must  be  altered  in 
order  that  the  new  time  should  have  legal  validity. 
A  Bill  is,  therefore,  necessary,  and  it  was  intro- 
duced in  the  House  of  Commons  on  Tuesday. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  the  measure  will  pass, 
and  that  from  May  21  to  October  i  the  legal  time 
will  be  that  of  Mid-Europe  instead  of  Greenwich 
mean  time. 

The  time  of  sunrise  in  London  on  Sunday,  May 
21,   is  given  in  the  calendars  as  4.2,  but  by  the 
clocks  it  will  be  5.2  ;  and  similarly,  though  the  sun 
NO.    2428,   VOL.    97] 


will  set  at  7.50,  we  shall  call  the  hour  8.50.  The 
actual  time  of  morning  high-water  at  London 
Bridge  will  be  4.12,  but  the  clocks  on  shore  will 
indicate  5.12;  and  there  will  be  a  like  difference 
between  tidal  times  and  public  times  all  around 
the  coast.  It  will  be  no  longer  possible  to  speak 
of,  say,  a  two  o'clock  tide  to  a  navigator  at  a 
port,  for  this  must  mean  Greenwich  time  to  him, 
as  tidal  tables  have  to  remain  unaltered,  whereas 
his  two  o'clock  will  be  the  landsman's  three 
o'clock.  For  a  large  part  of  the  population  there 
will  be  two  legal  times  from  May  2 1  to  October  i , 
and  we  shall  be  surprised  if  this  confusion  does 
not  lead  to   serious  mistakes   and   accidents. 

All  orders  referring  to  lighting-up  times, 
closing  of  parks  and  other  places  at  dusk,  bur- 
glary as  distinct  from  larceny,  and  like  matters 
determined  by  solar  time,  will  need  adjustment; 
in  fact,  Parliament  has  now  to  define  legal  time 
afresh.  Lighting-up  times  will,  we  suppose, 
continue  to  be  based  upon  Greenwich  times,  with 
the  necessary  differences  for  latitude  and  longi- 
tude, for  they  obviously  cannot  be  determined  by 
the  meridian  of  Mid-Europe.  On  May  21,  for 
example,  the  lighting-up  time  in  London  is  8.50, 
and  at  Liverpool  9. 11,  but  in  all  cases  an  hour  will 
have  to  be  added  to  give  the  clock  times  of  light- 
ing-up. Here,  again,  the  double  standard  of  time- 
reckoning — one  in  calendars  and  tables,  and 
another  in  daily  use — will  be  most  confusing. 

The  claims  as  to  the  great  saving  of  expendi- 
ture on  fuel  for  illumination  to  be  effected  by  the 
daylight  saving  measure  are,  we  believe,  largely 
over-stated.  For  two  months  from  the  end  of 
this  month  there  will  be  no  need  for  artificial 
lighting  until  9  p.m.  or  later  in  any  part  of  the 
British  Isles ;  and  in  such  places  as  Newcastle  and 
Glasgow  the  lighting-up  times  will  be  nearer 
10  p.m.  than  9  p.m.  during  most  of  this  period. 
Men  of  science,  like  other  citizens,  recognise  the 
cheapness  of  using  daylight;  what  they  object  to 
is  the  alteration  of  clocks,  instead  of  alteration  of 
habits,  to  induce  reasonable  use  of  daylight  hours. 
Whatever  time  is  indicated  by  the  clocks,  most 
people  will  not  retire  until  an  hour  or  two  after 
the  sun  has  gone  and  they  have  used  artificial 
illumination  for  indoor  rest  or  recreation.  Though 
the  clocks  will  indicate  10.30  when  daylight 
occupations  must  end  during  June  and  July,  we 
doubt  greatly  whether  there  will  be  much  reduc- 
tion of  the  habitual  interval  between  the  close  of 
the  outdoor  life  and  the  time  of  retiring. 

The  daylight  saving  principle  is,  in  fact,  un- 
necessary for  at  least  half  the  period  during  which 
it  is  to  be  in  force;  and  over  a  large  part  of  the 
British  Isles  the  hours  of  actual  darkness  are 
then  so  few  that  the  amount  of  artificial  illumina- 
tion used  cannot  be  greatly  reduced  by  advancing 
clocks  by  one  hour.  Mr.  Willett  arrived  at  the 
154  additional  hours  of  daylight  which  his  scheme 
was  to  give  the  country  by  reckoning  an  extra  hour 
for  each  of  the  154  days  from  April  15  to 
September  15,  and  our  legislators,  journalists, 
'  and  commercial  men  base  their  conclusions  as  to 
j  the  saving  of  fuel  and  light  upon  this  estimate, 
which   they   apply   to  the   whole   country.     If  we 


May  II,  1916] 


NATURE 


223 


omit  from  the  estimate  June  and  July,  when  the 
amount  of  artificial  illumination  required  is  very 
small,  and  there  is  no  real  night,  the  154  hours 
are  reduced  to  93 ;  and  for  one-third  of  this 
number  of  days  artisans  who  commence  work  at 
6  a.m.  will  be  given  nearly  an  hour's  additional 
darkness.  During  the  cold  and  dark  morning 
hours  of  September  we  shall  expect  definite  com- 
plaints from  early  workers  as  to  the  disadvantages 
of  the  scheme  to  them.  If  their  times  are  changed 
to  7  a.m.  instead  of  6  a.m.,  they  will  have  to  leave 
an  hour  later,  and  the  whole  purpose  of  the 
measure  will  be  defeated. 

In  a  letter  to  Sir  Henry  Norman,  stating  that 
the  Government  intended  to  give  facilities  for  the 
discussion  of  his  motion  on  daylight  saving,  Mr. 
Herbert  Samuel,  the  Home  Secretary,  said  :  "  In 
the  House  of  Commons  all  interests  are  repre- 
sented, and  the  Government  would  desire  to 
ascertain  its  opinion  on  this  question."  We  sub- 
mit that  the  House  of  Commons  is  not  essen- 
tially more  competent  to  discuss  the  question 
than  it  is  that  of  the  eccentricity  of  the  earth's 
orbit  or  of  the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic  by  which 
differences  in  the  lengths  of  days  are  caused.  In 
the  debate  in  the  House  on  Monday,  few  points  of 
scientific  significance  were  mentioned,  and  the 
matter  was  considered  almost  entirely  from  the 
point  of  view  of  public  convenience  and  the  mar- 
vellous economy — the  amount  of  which  varied  with 
a  member's  eloquence  and  calculations — to  be 
effected.  It  is  urged  that  the  views  of  men 
of  science  on  social  legislation  have  no  greater 
authority  than  those  of  the  general  public; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  we  may  be  permitted 
to  reply  that  members  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, chambers  of  commerce,  county  and  borough 
councils,  and  like  corporations  do  not  under- 
stand the  scientific  aspects  of  their  social 
measure,  and  that  they,  as  well  as  enthu- 
siastic writers  in  the  daily  Press,  are  attracted 
by  a  specious  plan  without  regard  for  its  natural 
significance.  By  scientific  aspects  we  do  not 
mean  the  interests  of  men  of  science,  but  the 
natural  conditions  of  daylight  and  darkness  in 
different  latitudes  and  longitudes  of  these  islands, 
and  the  consequences  of  a  double  time-standard. 
There  can  be  no  true  discussion  of  the  daylight 
saving  scheme  unless  this  side  of  the  subject  is 
presented  as  well  as  the  social  and  economic 
arguments;  and  in  Monday's  debate  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  it  was  left  out  of  account  almost 
entirely. 

The  fact  that  Germany  has  introduced  the  day- 
light saving  scheme,  and  has  naturally  been  fol- 
lowed by  Austria  and  Holland,  is  not  a  reason 
why  we  should  adopt  it,  but  the  reverse.  It  is 
now  announced  that  in  Denmark,  Sweden,  and 
Norway  the  same  plan  is  to  become  effective  on 
May  15  and  to  extend  to  September  30,  though 
what  advantages  the  lands  of  the  midnight  sun  can 
derive  from  a  daylight  saving  scheme  in  summer 
months  are  difficult  to  discover.  Germany  pro- 
bably decreed  the  change  of  time  because  we 
refused  to  do  so,  and  for  us  to  imitate  her 
NO.    2428,   VOL.    97] 


now  is  not  complimentary  to  our  national  in- 
telligence. The  case  is  different  with  France, 
on  account  of  our  close  relations  with  that 
country  and  because  the  French  time-standard 
is  that  of  the  Greenwich  meridian;  but  the  com- 
mittee of  the  French  Senate  appointed  to  examine 
the  proposal  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  has  not 
yet  reported  in  favour  of  it,  and  the  paper  by  M. 
Lallemand  of  which  a  summary  was  given  in 
last  week's  Nature  adduces  cogent  reasons 
against  it.  As  the  adoption  of  Greenwich  time 
by  our  Ally  was  a  manifestation  of  the  entente 
cordiale,  it  seems  undesirable  now  to  abandon  this 
common  standard  and  use  German  time  unless 
France  wishes  to  make  the  change  with  us. 

Most  of  the  foregoing  points,  with  others,  were 
mentioned  in  an  article  in  Nature  of  April  27  re- 
ferred to  by  Mr.  H.  W.  M.  Willett  in  a  letter 
which  appears  in  our  correspondence  columns  this 
week.  The  intention  of  the  article  was  to  state 
precisely  some  of  the  chief  objections  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  daylight  saving  by  seasonal  changes  of  the 
national  time-standard.  Scientific  men  think 
that  this  standard,  like  others,  should  be  in- 
variable ;  advocates  of  the  daylight  saving  scheme 
wish  the  standard  to  oscillate  and  to  believe  that 
II  a.m.  is  noon  for  five  months  of  the  year. 
Agricultural,  engineering,  and-  building  trades 
adapt  their  hours  to  the  sun,  and  workers  on 
tidal  waters  with  the  tides ;  but  as  the  tendency 
of  city  life  is  towards  lateness  of  rising  and  re- 
tiring, and  as  habits  are  difficult  to  alter,  they 
are  to  be  counteracted  by  putting  forward  the 
hands  of  timepieces  by  one  hour  during  the 
summer  months. 

Whether  the  change  may  be  justified  on  the 
grounds  of  social  expediency  is  not  a  matter  upon 
which  men  of  science  can  express  an  authoritative 
opinion ;  but  the  natural  objections  and  difficulties 
remain  unaltered  whatever  legislative  action  is 
taken.  To  the  fact  that  for  a  large  part  of  the 
population  of  our  islands  the  daylight  saving 
principle  is  unnecessary,  Mr.  Willett 's  reply  that 
they  would  not  suffer  is  scarcely  sufficient  justifi- 
cation for  the  change.  He  offers  no  solution  of 
the  difficulties  as  regards  the  differences  of  times 
I  in  calendars  and  tide-tables  in  comparison  with 
the  altered  civil  times,  though  in  a  maritime 
nation  such  as  ours  this  is  a  most  important  point. 
As  to  artisans  who  have  to  be  in  the  works  at 
6  a.m.,  and  therefore  to  rise  about  5  a.m.,  Mr. 
Willett  will  find  that  when  longitude  is  con- 
sidered, as  well  as  the  period  of  dawn,  many 
thousands  of  workers  will,  throughout  September, 
on  account  of  having  to  rise  at  what  is  4  a.m. 
Greenwich  time,  have  to  rise  in  the  dark  instead  of 
in  daylight  as  hitherto.  If  fuel  and  light  saved  in 
the  evening  are  used  in  the  morning,  it  is  difficult 
to  see  how  substantial  economy  can  be  gained 
in  these  cases. 

A  scientific  journal  is  not  concerned  with  the 
expediency  of  a  measure,  and  the  facts  of  Nature 
are,  of  course,  not  affected  by  social  legislation. 
Whether  men  of  science  support  or  oppose  the 
daylight   saving   scheme   may  be   of   little  conse- 


224 


NATURE 


[May  II,  1916 


quence;  but  they  are,  at  any  rate,  best  able  to 
understand  its  meaning,  and  to  distinguish  be- 
tween promise  and  performance.  It  remains  for 
the  general  public  to  arrive  at  the  same  state  of 
knowledge  by  experience. 

GERMAN   METALLURGY    AND    BRITISH 
METHODS. 

MUCH  attention  has  been  devoted  in  the  Press 
recently  to  the  strong  position  of  the 
German  metallurgical  industries,  both  before  the 
war,  and  now  after  a  year  and  three- 
quarters  of  stress.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  apart  from  this  metallurgical 
industrial  foundation,  the  war  would  have 
ended  in  three  months.  The  growth  of 
modern  German  metallurgy  is  due  largely  to  two 
causes,  and  these  are  closely  connected  in  origin 
and  result.  They  are  trade  combinations,  such 
as  are  represented  by  the  "  Stahlwerksverband," 
and  scientific  management  and  control.  As  we 
have  said,  these  are  closely  associated,  for  apart 
from  large  undertakings,  with  regular  output, 
there  can  be  no  large  laboratories,  with  highly 
trained  and  reasonably  remunerated  scientific 
staffs.  On  the  other  hand,  apart  from  scientific 
direction  the  success  of  large  combinations,  such 
as  Krupp's,  would  be  impossible.  The  tendency 
of  the  w^ar  appears  to  have  been  in  the  direction 
of  unifying  and  standardising  many  of  our  metal- 
lurgical industries,  and  this  tendency  is  likely  to 
continue  when  peace  is  proclaimed. 

At  present,  owing  to  the  war,  there  is  a  con- 
siderable demand  for  metallurgists  in  this 
country,  and  more  particularly  for  such  as  have 
had  a  few  years'  works  experience  in  addition  to 
college  training.  Hitherto,  the  supply  of  such 
men  has  roughly  met  the  demand,  but  the  number 
trained  has  been  wholly  inadequate  to  the^  real 
needs  of  the  country.  The  crux  of  the  question  is 
the  want  of  recognition  on  the  part  of  manufac- 
turers of  the  value  of  scientific  knowledge  in  their 
businesses.  Three  results  may  be  expected  from 
the  work  of  a  properly  trained  metallurgist, 
namely,  greater  uniformity,  economy,  and  origin- 
ality. But  the  system  adopted  in  many  British 
establishments,  and  particularly  in  those  of 
moderate  size,  will  never  yield  satisfactory  results. 
A  young  man  straight  from  college  is  appointed 
at  a  salary  of  perhaps  120Z.  per  annum,  placed  in 
a  small,  ill-ventilated  room,  supplied  with  the 
minimum  of  apparatus,  and  kept  on  routine 
analyses.  No  prospect  is  held  out  to  him  of 
regular  advancement,  or  of  profit  sharing.  He 
sees  office  boys,  who  have  had  nothing  spent  on 
their  education,  promoted  to  be  secretaries  and 
general  managers,  because  they  come  into  per- 
sonal contact  with  the  directors ;  while  he  remains 
unseen  and  unknown  to  the  powers  that  be. 

Some  public-school  boys  and  university  trained 
men  are,  from  weakness  of  character,  unfit  for 
positions  of  responsibility.  But  the  great  majority 
of  them  are  of  a  different  type,  and  form  the  very 
best  of  our  young  manhood,  as  we  see  in  other 
directions  alike  in  peace  and  war.  The  position 
NO.    2428,   VOL.   97] 


of  the  scientifically  trained  man  in  our  metal 
works  is  very  unsatisfactory.  He  has  no  trade 
union  to  protect  his  interests,  and  no  professional 
body  which  is  strong  enough  to  fix  a  reasonable 
scale  of  remuneration.  If  our  metallurgical  in- 
dustries are  to  be  carried  on  successfully  after 
the  war  many  more  properly  trained  metallur- 
gists will  be  required.  Capable  men  will  only  be 
attracted  if  suitable  inducements  are  offered ; 
otherwise  they  will  naturally  drift  into  other  em- 
ployments. In  the  midland  counties,  for  example, 
the  bright  son  of  a  local  resident  can  be  trained, 
at  the  expense  of  the  State,  to  become  an  elemen- 
tary schoolmaster ;  he  will  work  twenty-five  hours 
per  week,  and  receive  a  pension.  Or  he  may 
decide  to  study  metallurgy,  in  which  case  he  must 
spend  at  least  300L  on  fees  and  maintenance,  and 
devote  three  years  to  study.  He  will  then  get  no 
higher  stipend  than  the  schoolmaster,  no  pension, 
and  be  expected  to  work  about  fifty  hours  weekly. 
.  In  Germany  the  value  of  scientific  training  has 
been  long  recognised.  If  we  are  to  retain  our 
position  after  the  war  it  will  be  by  development 
of  industrial  undertakings  which  are  conducted 
on  a  large  and  comprehensive  scale.  Such  em- 
ployers alone  can,  as  a  general  rule,  utilise  the 
best  scientific  training,  or  adequately  remunerate 
and  recognise  their  properly  trained  assistants. 
A  man  who  has  been  trained  on  broad  scientific 
lines  is  not  merely  capable  of  conducting,  or 
superintending,  accurate  analyses.  If  he  is 
treated  as  a  confidential  adviser,  like  a  doctor  or 
a  lawyer,  his  abilities  will  have  free  scope.  It  is 
oy  such  men  that  we  can  hope  rightly  to  direct 
the  large  metallurgical  operations  which  will  be 
more  than  ever  necessary  in  this  country  after  the 
war.  T.  T. 

A  MARKET-GARDEN  RESEARCH  STATION.^ 

FEW  people  other  than  those  connected  with  the 
trade  know  of  the  extent  and  importance  of 
the  market-growing  Industry  in  this  country.  The 
general  public  is  so  accustomed  to  imposing- 
statistics  of  imported  fruit  and  vegetables  that  it 
is  apt  to  ignore  the  not  unsatisfactory  fact  that 
a  large  proportion  of  the  market  produce  con- 
sumed in  this  country  is  home-grown.  Still  less 
does  the  public  realise  the  extent  of  the  capital 
and  the  skill  and  enterprise  of  the  growers  en- 
gaged in  this  industry.  Although  it  may  be 
regarded  as  lying  beyond  the  scope  of  this  severely 
practical  first  report  of  the  work  of  the  research 
station  recently  established  by  the  growers  in  the 
Lea  valley,  we  could  wish,  nevertheless,  that  the 
director  had  prefaced  his  account  of  the  year's 
work  by  a  short  statement  of  the  "statistics  of 
production  "  in  the  market-growing  industry.  For 
we  believe  that  such  a  statement  would  evoke 
widespread  interest  among  the  intelligent  public. 

Those  who  know  of  the  origin  and  purpose  of 
this  new  research  station  believe  that  It  is  destined 
to  do  a  great  work,  and  are  anxious  that  its  activi- 
ties may  not  be  curtailed  by  reason  of  insufficient 

1  First  Annual  Report  (1915)  of  the  Experimental  and  Research  Station. 
(Nursery  and  Market  Garden  Industries'  Development  Society,  Ltd.). 


May  11,^1916] 


NATURM^ 


22:5 


funds.  The  more  widely  its  aims  are  known  the 
greater  the  chances  of  thi?  station  receiving  the 
support  which  it  deserves.  For  deserve  it,  it 
does.  When  hard-headed,  hard-working,  practical 
men  band  themselves  together  and  put  their  ener- 
gies and  money  into  the  establishment  of  a  re- 
search station,  and  particularly  when  these  men 
are  Englishmen,  they  deserve  no  less  support  than 
is  given  to  a  polar  expedition  or  a  football  cup- 
final.  Fortunately,  this  enterprise,  due  in  the  first 
place  to  the  initiative  of  the  Lea  Valley  and  Dis- 
trict Nurserymen's  and  Growers'  Association,  and 
also,  as  we  believe,  to  the  persuasive  enthusiasm 
of  Dr.  Russell,  of  Rothamsted,  has  received  a 
generous  measure  of  support  from  the  Board  of 
Agriculture,  from  the  Hertfordshire  and  the  Essex 
County  Councils,  and  from  the  Duke  of  Bedford. 
With  the  funds  thus  obtained  laboratories  and 
experimental  glasshouses  have  been  built  at  an 
outlay  of  3278Z.,  of  which  sum  all  but  650Z.  has 
been  paid. 

A  brief  account  of  the  preliminary  researches 
carried  out  during  191 5  will  serve  to  indicate 
what  a  number  of  problems  of  practical  import- 
ance emerge  so  soon  as  the  searchlight  of  investi- 
gation is  turned  on  an  industry.  As  a  preliminary 
to  the  investigation  of  yields  of  tomatoes,  the  soil 
of  the  five  houses  built  for  the  cultivation  of  this 
crop  was  standardised.  The  soil  in  each  house 
received  the  same  amounts  of  lime,  straw-manure, 
and  bone-meal,  and  also  similar  treatment  with 
respect  to  mulching,  top-dressing,  watering,  etc. 
Fifteen  varieties  of  tomato  were  grown  in  each 
of  the  five  houses.  Yet  in  spite  of  the  similarity 
of  soil  conditions  and  of  plants,  the  yields  from 
the  houses  varied  very  considerably.  House  No.  2 
stood  highest  with  3  tons  19  cwt.  of  fruit,  and 
house  No.  5  lowest  with  3  tons  6  cwt.  ;  in  each 
case  from  918  plants.  Is  this  difference,  which 
amounts  to  about  16  jjer  cent.,  to  be  accounted 
for  on  the  basis  of  expjerimental  error,  or  is  it  to 
be  attributed  to  some  varying  factor,  such  as  the 
seed?  In  other  words,  would  the  isolation  of 
pure  lines  of  tomatoes  help  to  bring  the  lower 
nearer  to  the  higher  yield?  We  have  no  doubt 
but  that  it  would ;  but  evidently  the  last  word 
must  lie  with  experiment. 

Tests  with  humogen  carried  out  with  tomatoes 
and  cucumbers  offer  no  ground  for  the  hope  that 
this  material  is  destined  to  replace  manure  or 
reduce  cost  of  production.  As  with  the  experi- 
ments at  Wisley  and  elsewhere,  so  here ;  the  addi- 
tion of  humogen  led  to  little  or  no  increase  in  the 
crop,  and  the  present  writer  is  steadUy  inclining 
to  the  opinion  that  the  remarkable  results  ob- 
tained at  Kew  were  due  to  the  accidental  admix- 
ture of  some  fertiliser — presumably  a  phosphate — 
with  the  humogen  which  produced  those  results. 

Very  interesting  are  the  results  recorded  in  the 
report  of  observations  on  the  yield  of  cucumbers 
from  the  slightly  warmer  and  slightly  cooler  halves 
of  four  houses.  In  each  case  the  part  of  the  house 
nearer  the  boiler,  and  hence  appreciably  warmer, 
gave  a  lower  yield.  Anyone  who  has  experienced 
the  tropical  warmth  of  a  cucumber  house  must 
have  felt  that  it  was  too  much  of  a  good  thing.    It 

NO.    2428,   VOL.   97] 


looks  as  though  the  plants  feel  this  too,  aod  that 
a  little  rest  from  intensive  speeding  up  of  produc- 
tion is  no  less  benefk:ial  to  them  than  to  other 
living  things.  The  director,  Mr.  A.  B.  Lister,  is 
to  be  congratulated  on  the  excellent  start  that  he. 
has  made.  He  has  a  fine  opportunity,  and  we  feel 
sure  that  he  will  use  it  to  the  best  advantage  of 
the  society  which  has  had  the  enterprise  and  faith 
to  harness  science  to  the  market  cart.  They  will 
remember,  however,  that  she  is  slow-moving,  not; 
showy,  expensive  to  keep,  and,  above  all,  needs 
to  be  given  her  head.  F.  K. 


NOTES. 

It  is  announced  that  the  Government  has  decided 
to  send  an  expedition  to  the  Antarctic  to  relieve  Sir 
Ernest  Shackleton.  The  failure  of  the  Endurance  to 
put  in  an  appearance  gives  cause  for  considerable 
anxiety ;  and  while  it  is  not  impossible  that  she  may 
still  return  unaided,  no  time  can  be  wasted  in  organis- 
ing relief.  The  arrangements  for  the  expedition  are 
to  be  put  in  the  care  of  a  small  committee  of  polar 
experts,  which  is  now  being  formed.  Among  those 
who  will  probably  be  asked  to  give  their  advice  are 
Dr.  W.  S.  Bruce,  who  is  almost  the  only  explorer  in 
this  country  who  knows  the  Weddell  Sea,  and  Sir 
Douglas  Mawson.  Capt.  J.  K.  Davis,  who  was 
recently  in  London  on  a  short  visit,  has  already  been 
consulted.  The  choice  of  a  ship  will  be  difficult,  as 
there  are  very  tew  vessels  in  existence  which  are  suit- 
able for  navigation  in  the  Weddell  Sea.  In  all  prob- 
ability the  Aurora,  despite  the  damage  she  has  sus- 
tained, can  be  refitted  and  sent  to  the  Ross  Sea  to  fetch 
Capt.  Macintosh  and  his  comrades,  who  were  left 
ashore  in  Erebus  Gulf.  Mr.  Stenhouse,  who  brought 
the  Aurora  to  New  Zealand,  is  now  on  his  way  to 
this  countr3,\ 

A  BRONZE  memorial  tablet  to  the  memory  of  Capt. 
Scott  and  his  companions,  who  perished  on  their 
return  journey  from  the  South  Pole,,  has  been  placed 
in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  The  memorial  takes  the 
form  of  a  medallion  portrait  of  Capt.  Scott  and  a 
relief  panel  of  the  polar  party  on  the  march.  It  is 
surmounted  by  three  allegorical  figures — Discipline, 
Glory,  and  Courage.  The  tablet  is  the  work  of  Mr. 
S.  N.  Babb,  and  is  part  of  the  national  memorial 
scheme  to  the  lost  explorers,  for  which  funds  were 
collected  when  the  news  of  the  disaster  became  known. 
The  inscription  reads  : — "  In  memorv  of  Captain 
Robert  Falcon  Scott,  C.V.O.,  R.N.,'  Dr.  Edward 
Adrian  Wilson,  Captain  Lawrence  Edward  Grace 
Gates,  Lieut.  Henry-  Robertson  Bowers,  and  Petty 
Officer  Edgar  Evans,  who  died  on  their  return  journey 
from  the  South  Pole  in  February  and  March,  1912. 
Inflexible  of  purpose — steadfast  in  courage — resolute 
in  endurance  in  the  face  of  unparalleled  misfortune — 
their  bodies  are  lost  in  the  Antarctic  Ice — but  the 
memorv  of  their  deeds  is  an  everlasting  monument." 
Mr.  Asquith,  in  unveiling  the  memorial  last  Friday, 
said  that  whatever  softening  influences  may  have  been 
at  work  during  our  long  years  of  peace,  there  were 
never  wanting  men  of  our  race  to  maintain  our  best 
traditions  of  courage  and  endurance.  The  heroism  of 
the  lonely  end  of  Scott  and  his  companions  might,  in 
these  crowded  days  of  great  opportunity,  be  equalled, 
':  but  could  not  be  surpassed.  These  were  men  who, 
i  before  the  great  ordeal  which,  on  a  world-wide  stage, 
i  is  now  testing  our  national  manhood,  showed  in  the 
dim  polar  twilight,  without  witnesses,  and,  for  all  they 
!  knew,  with  no  record  which  would  ever  reach  their 
j  countrymen,  the  supreme  quality  of  self-forgetful. 
■  courage  and  endurance. 


226 


NATURE 


[May  II,  1916 


The  Nieuwe  Courant  learns  from  Frankfort  that 
Prof.  August  von  Wassermann,  at  present  head  of  the 
Royal  Institute  for  Infectious  Diseases  at  Berlin,  will 
be  appointed  director  of  the  Institute  for  Exf>erimental 
Therapy  and  of  the  Georg  Speyerhaus  at  Frankfort, 
in  succession  to  the  late  Prof.   Paul  Ehrlich. 

Sir  R.  Havelock  Charles,  Serjeant-Surgeon  to  the 
King,  and  President  of  the  Medical  Board  of  the  India 
Office  and  of  the  Society  of  Tropical  Medicine  and 
Hygiene,  has,  at  the  request  of  the  Secretary  of  State 
for  India,  accepted  an  invitation  to  become  dean  of 
the  London  School  of  Tropical  Medicine  in  succession 
to  the  late  Sir  Francis  Lovell. 

Announcement  was  made  in  the  House  of  Commons 
on  May  8  that  the  following  had  been  appointed  a 
Committee  to  inquire  into  the  administration  of  the 
Royal  Flying  Corps  : — Mr.  Justice  Bailhache  (chair- 
man), Mr.  J.  G.  Butcher,  M.P.,  Mr.  E.  Shortt,  M.P., 
Mr.  J.  H.  Balfour  Browne,  K.C.,  the'  Hon.  Sir  C. 
Parsons,  K.C.B.,  and  Mr.  Charles  Bright.  A  mili- 
tary officer  of  high  rank  is  to  be  invited  to  join  the 
Committee. 

On  account  of  the  war,  the  council  of  the  British 
Medical  Association  has  decided  to  postpone  as  regards 
1916  the  holding  of  an  annual  meeting  at  Cambridge. 
In  the  present  circumstances  the  council  has  arranged 
that  the  annual  representative  meeting  and  statutory 
general  meeting  shall  be  held  at  the  Connaught 
Rooms,  London,  on  Friday,  July  28.  In  the  annual 
report,  to  be  presented  at  that  meeting,  the  council 
recommends  that  Sir  T.  Clifford  Allbutt  be  elected 
president  of  the  association  for  19 16-17. 

Under  the  auspices  of  a  commission  appointed  by 
the  Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Petrograd,  a 
series  of  monographs  is  being  published  dealing  with 
the  natural  resources  of  the  Russian  Empire.  No.  5 
of  the  series  (Petrograd,  19 16)  treats  of  the  native 
sources  of  tungsten  and  tin  ores.  The  author,  P.  P. 
Suscinskij,  says  that  hitherto  neither  the  mining  nor 
the  smelting  of  these  ores  has  been  organised  on  a 
regular  basis  in  Russia,  but  that  quite  recently,  in 
response  to  the  requirements  of  Russian  industry  and 
of  the  Imperial  Defence  Committee,  an  electro- 
metallurgical  company  has  been  formed  in  Petrograd 
for  the  preparation  of  special  kinds  of  steel  for  the 
Admiralty.  The  article  concludes  with  an  illustrated 
account  of  Russian  tungsten  and  tin  mines. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  British  Science  Guild 
will  be  held  at  the  Royal  Society  of  Medicine,  i  Wim- 
pole  Street,  London,  W.,  on  Wednesday,  May  17,  at 
4.0  p.m.  The  chair  will  be  taken  by  the  president,  the 
Right  Hon.  Sir  William  Mather,  P.C,  and  an  address 
will  be  given  by  the  Right  Hon.  Andrew  Fisher, 
P.C,  High  Commissioner  for  the  Commonwealth  of 
Australia,  on  "The  Establishment  of  a  National  Insti- 
tute of  Science  and  Industry  in  Australia."  Other 
speakers  will  be  Sir  Alfred  Keogh,  K.C.B.,  Dr.  R. 
Mullineux  Walmsley,  Sir  John  S.  Young,  and  Prof. 
J.  Perry,  F.R.S.  On  account  of  the  public  attention 
recently  given  to  the  relation  of  science  to  national 
affairs,  the  meeting  this  year  will  be  of  ■exceptional 
interest.  Tickets  of  admission  may  be  obtained  from 
the  secretary,  British  Science  Guild,  199  Piccadilly, 
London,  W. 

Mr.  Cornelius  Hanbury,  who  died  on  April  11,  in 
his  eighty-ninth  year,  was  the  chairman  of  the  board 
of  directors  of  the  well-known  firm  of  Allen  and  Han- 
burys,  Ltd.  Although  Mr.  Hanbury  had  trained  and 
qualified  for  the  medical  profession  he  entered  the 
business  very  early  in  his  career,   and  eventually  be- 

NO.    2428,    VOL.    97] 


canie  the  sole  proprietor.  Under  his  able  guidance 
rapid  development  took  place,  laboratories  and  other 
premises  bemg  established  at  Bethnal  Green,  and, 
after  the  conversion  of  the  business  into  a  company, 
at  Ware  also.  He  was  cousin  of  the  late  Daniel 
Hanbury,  whose  work  in  connection  with  the  natural 
history  of  drugs  is  recognised  as  classical,  and  also 
of  the  late  Sir  Thomas  Hanbury,  whose  magnificent 
gardens  at  La  Mortola,  near  Mentone,  were  the  ad- 
miration of  every  scientific  botanist.  Mr.  Hanbury 
served  for  some  years  on  the  council  of  the  Pharma- 
ceutical Society  of  Great  Britain,  acting  as  treasurer 
from  1876  to  1878. 

Prof.  H.  P.  Wijsman,  whose  death  at  Utrecht  on 
March  19  is  announced,  was  the  son  of  an  Amsterdam 
pharmacist,  and  studied  at  the  Amsterdam  University 
under  Profs,  van't  Hoif,  de  Vries,  and  Oudemans, 
taking  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science  In  1889.  Very 
shortly  after  graduating  he  was  appointed  chemist  to 
a  yeast  and  spirit  factory  at  Delft,  but  soon  resigned 
this  position  to  become  professor  of  toxicology  at 
Leyden  University.  To  great  versatility  Prof.  Wijs- 
man added,  In  an  unusual  degree,  the  desire  and 
ability  to  organise.  He  was  Instrumental  in  founding 
a  pharmaceutical  laboratory  in  Leyden,  and  In  estab- 
lishing an  analytical  bureau  and  an  Imperial  control 
station  for  milk,  butter,  and  cheese.  On  his  return 
from  the  Dutch  East  Indies,  he  took  an  active  interest 
In  the  development  of  the  celebrated  Colonial  Museum 
of  Haarlem  and  Its  transference  to  the  more  central 
position  of  Amsterdam.  He  represented  the  Dutch 
Government  at  numerous  scientific  congresses,  and 
attracted  considerable  attention  at  the  recent  Inter- 
national Pharmaceutical  Congress  at  The  Hague  by 
a  lecture  on  the  cultivation  of  Important  plants  In 
Java,  which  was  Illustrated  by  a  series  of  klnemato- 
graph  films.  Prof.  Wljsman's  ability  and  geniality 
gained  him  many  friends,  and  his  loss  will  be  felt 
by  his  British  as  well  as  by  his  Dutch  colleagues. 

The  death  of  Mr.  C.  Lees  Curties,  which  occurred 
on  April  24,  will  be  greatly  lamented  by  a  large  circle 
of  scientific  men,  many  of  whom  will  feel  that  they 
have  lost  a  personal  friend,  as  well  as  a  notable  figure 
In  the  optical  world.  He  and  his  father  before  him 
had  built  up  a  unique  business,  and  244  High  Holborn 
was  regarded  by  many  as  a  rendezvous  where  one  was 
sure  to  meet  some  kindred  spirit  and  to  hear  the  latest 
scientific  news.  Mr.  C.  L.  Curties  greatly  extended 
the  business  by  the  establishment  of  a  factory  where 
microscope  stands  are  made,  and  of  an  optical  depart- 
ment for  the  construction  of  object  glasses.  He  had 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  microscope  (of  which  he 
was  a  most  expert  manipulator),  as  well  as  a  wide  and 
varied  acquaintance  with  all  sorts  of  scientific  instru- 
ments, owing  to  the  great  number  that  was  constantly 
passing  through  his  hands.  He  was  always  ready  to 
place  his  expert  knowledge  at  the  disposal  of  anyone 
who  asked  his  a,dvice.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
his  death  was  hastened  by  the  heavy  strain  due  to 
extra  work  on  account  of  the  war,  and  to  his  per- 
sistent refusal  to  give  himself  a  much-needed  holiday. 

We  have  just  learned  with  regret  that  Prof.  Jules 
Gosselet  died  at  Lille  on  March  20,  as  the  result  of  a 
chill  contracted  while  arranging  his  geological  collec- 
tion In  the  University  after  recent  disturbance  by  the 
bombardment  of  the  city.  Prof.  Gosselet  was  born  at 
Cambrai  (Nord)  on  April  19,  1832,  and  began  his 
well-known  geological  researches  in  the  Franco-Bel- 
gian coalfield  and  surrounding  regions  In  1852.  From 
1865  until  1902  he  was  professor  of  geology  and 
mineralogy  in  the  University  of  Lille,  and  numbered 
among    his   pupils    many    distinguished    French    geo- 


May  II,  19 1 6] 


NATURE 


227 


legists,  including  his  successor.  Prof.  Charles  Barrois. 
From  1876  onwards  he  co-operated  with  the  Geological 
Survey  of  France,  and  in  1888  published  his  classic 
memoir  on  the  geology  of  the  Ardennes.  His  work 
on  the  Devonian  and  Carboniferous  rocks  especially 
was  not  only  of  fundamental  scientific  value,  but  also 
touched  many  problems  of  economic  geology  which 
were  of  immediate  importance  to  the  community  in 
which  he  lived.  He  was  an  inspiring  teacher  and 
an  ideal  leader  of  field  excursions,  and  retained  his 
active  enthusiasm  until  the  end.  On  his  retirement  in 
1902  his  friends  and  admirers  established  a  Gosselet 
prize  for  geology,  and  placed  a  bust  in  the  museum 
he  founded  at  Lille,  and  the  account  of  the  proceedings 
in  the  Annales  de  la  Societe  Gdologique  du  Nord  (vol. 
xxxi.)  is  accompanied  by  an  excellent  portrait  of  the 
professor.  He  was  a  foreign  member  of  the  Geo- 
logical Society  of  London,  and  was  awarded  its 
Murchison  medal  in   1882. 

The  memorandum  advocating  the  substitution  of 
nitre-cake  for  sulphuric  acid  in  the  manufacture  of 
sulphate  of  ammonia,  recently  issued  by  the  Ministry 
of  Munitions,  having  been  severely  criticised,  the  pro- 
posal has  been  examined  by  the  Sulphate  of  Ammonia 
Association.  The  latter  body  recommends  makers  of 
sulphate  of  ammonia  to  use  nitre-cake  as  a  temporary 
expedient  for  the  duration  of  the  war,  subject  to  the 
following  considerations  : — (i)  That  no  attempt  be 
made  to  produce  a  salt  containing  less  than  24  per 
cent,  of  ammonia  unless  special  forward  contracts  can 
be  made  with  manure  mixers  for  lower  qualities ;  (2) 
that  the  nitre-cake  used  should  not  contain  more  than 
0-05  per  cent,  of  nitric  acid ;  (3)  that  the  quantity  of 
nitre-cake  should  not  exceed  10  per  cent,  by  weight  of 
the  acid  used,  except  in  special  circumstances.  If  a 
larger  quantity  than  10  per  cent,  of  nitre-cake  is 
employed  difficulties  arise  from  two  causes :  first, 
from  precipitation  of  sodium  sulphate,  resulting  in  the 
production  of  an  irregular  quality  of  salt ;  secondly, 
from  irregular  working  of  the  bath  owing  to  the  im- 
possibility of  control  without  frequent  titration. 

Some  French  anthropologists  have  taken  the  trouble 
to  examine  on  scientific  principles  the  character  of  the 
remarkable  wooden  Hindenburg  figure  which  the 
enthusiastic  German  loyalists  have  been  invited  to 
decorate  with  nails  of  gold  and  other  metals.  In 
L'Anthropologie  (vol.  xxvii.,  Nos.  1-2,  for  January- 
April)  M.  R.  Yerneau  compares  them  with  a  collec- 
tion of  remarkable  fetishes  decorated  in  the  same  way 
by  the  negroes  of  equatorial  Africa  and  the  adjoining 
regions,  of  which  he  gives  a  number  of  excellent  illus- 
trations, both  animal  and  human.  He  expresses  the 
pious  assurance  that  the  German  devices  will  be  as  use- 
less as  the  savage  fetishes  from  Loando,  and  that  it 
is  not  by  the  use  of  such  methods  current  in  the  lower 
culture  that  the  ultimate  triumph  of  civilisation  can 
be  prevented. 

In  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries 
of  Ireland  for  December,  19 15,  Mr.  J.  J.  Buckley  con- 
tributes an  interesting  article  on  some  early  orna- 
mented leather  work.  Ireland  possesses  many  speci- 
mens of  this  class  of  work,  such  as  the  satchel  which 
holds  the  famous  MS.,  the  Book  of  Armagh,  in  the 
library  of  Trinity  College;  that  associated  with  the 
shrine  called  the  Breac  Moed6ig  in  the  National 
Museum ;  and  a  binding  of  the  Life  of  St.  Columba  in 
the  Franciscan  Library,  Dublin.  Other  satchels  of  the 
same  type  are  preserved  at  Stonyhurst  College  and  at 
Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford.'  There  is  good  evi- 
dence that  the  Irish  in  very  ancient  times  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  use  of  oak  bark  for  tanning^  leather, 
but  whether  this  process  was  used  in  the  manufacture 
of  the  material   of  these  satchels  is   uncertain.      The 

NO.    2428,    VOL.    97] 


date  of  these  specimens  still  remains  a  matter  of  specu- 
lation. That  of  the  Book  of  Armagh  was  obvi- 
ously not  made  to  protect  the  MS.,  and  the  same 
appears  to  be  the  case  with  the  specimen  in  the 
National  Museum.  But  that  at  Corpus  Christi  College 
seems  to  have  been  made  for  the  book  which  it  covers. 
The  satchel  at  Stonyhurst  has  been  attributed  to  the 
seventh  century,  but  Count  Plunkett  places  it  as  late 
as  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth.  In  any  case, 
the  style  of  ornamentation  is  early,  and  it  may  be 
hoped  that  as  we  now  possess  in  this  paper  excellent 
photographs,  a  further  study  will  decide  the  date  of  a 
class  of  work  which  is  of  interest  for  the  study  of 
Irish  art. 

In  Nature  of  December  30,  1915  (vol.  xcvi.,  p.  487), 
appreciative  reference  was  made  to  part  ii.  of  the 
third  volume  of  the  monograph  by  Howard,  Dyar, 
and  Knab  on  the  mosquitoes  of  North  and  (^entral 
America  and  the  West  Indies.  It  was  remarked  in 
the  note  that  vol.  ii.,  containing  the  illustrative  plates, 
"  has  presumably  not  yet  been  published,  as  we  are 
unable  to  trace  its  receipt."  Dr.  L.  O.  Howard 
writes  to  remind  us  that  vol.  ii.  was  issued  at  the 
same  time  as  vol.  i.  (1912),  and  this  fact  is  mentioned 
in  a  long  review  published  in  Nature  of  June  26, 
1913  (vol.  xci.,  p.  420). 

In  the  Zoologist  for  April  Capt.  Philip  Gosse  con- 
tributes a  brief  but  very  welcome  account  of  the 
mammals  which  he  obtained  in  Flanders  during  such 
leisure  moments  as  his  duties  with  a  field  ambulance 
allowed  him.  The  list  is  not  a  long  one,  but  it  con- 
tains some  interesting  items,  among  which  figure 
some  noteworthy  colour  variations  of  the  water  shrew 
(Neomys  foidens).  The  black  rat  he  found  to  be 
pretty  common  in  the  farm  buildings,  where  it  was 
living  in  company  with  the  brown  rat,  a  somewhat 
unusual  occurrence.  In  the  trenches,  however,  it  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  met  with,  but  the  brown  rat 
swarms  there. 

Ornithologists  owe  much  to  Mr,  Edmund  Selous 
for  the  strenuous  efforts  he  has  made  to  secure  pro- 
tection, during  the  breeding  season,  for  birds  breed- 
ing in  Iceland,  the  eggs  of  which  are  coveted  by 
the  egg-collector.  In  some  cases  he  has  only  been 
able  to  achieve  this  end  by  fully  compensating  the 
local  collectors  for  the  loss  of  revenue  they  sustained 
by  leaving  the  sitting  birds  unmolested.  These  efforts 
he  describes  incidentally  in  the  Zoologist  for  April,  in 
the  course  of  his  account  of  his  ornithological  ob- 
servations made  in  Iceland  during  1912.  His  efforts 
to  keep  a  continuous  watch  on  a  pair  of  nesting 
eagles  were  frustrated  by  the  intolerable  attacks  of 
swarms  of  mosquitoes,  which  here  gathered  in  clouds 
so  dense  as  to  obscure  the  sun. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Zoological  Society  of  Lon- 
don never  fails  to  furnish  items  of  interest.  Having 
regard  to  the  anxious  times  through  which  we  are 
passing,  the  report  for  1915,  just  issued,  assumes 
an  enhanced  importance,  since  it  affords  us  an  index 
both  of  our  financial  stability  and  our  capacity  for 
study  and  recreation.  Though  partly  by  deaths  and 
partly  by  resignations  the  number  of  fellows  of  the 
society  has  been  reduced  by  nearly  a  hundred,  the 
number  of  visitors  has  been  well  sustained,  so  that 
the  society,  at  the  end  of  the  financial  year,  finds 
itself  in  possession  of  ample  funds.  The  cost  of  pro- 
visions has  increased  materially,  and  the  council  has 
therefore  considered  it  prudent  to  decrease  the  stock 
by  disposing  of  some  animals  that  could  easily  be 
replaced.  Apart  from  the  cost,  there  has  been  no 
difficulty  in  obtaining  the  necessary  supplies  of  food 
for    all    the    animals    in   the  Gardens,   and   although 


228 


NATURE 


[May  II,.  1916. 


special  endeavours  have  been  made  to  replace  expen- 
sive articles  of  diet  by  less  costly  substitutes,  the. 
normal  food  has  been  at  once  supplied  in  those  cases 
where  the  health  of  the  animals  appeared  to  suffer. 

Experiments  on  the  action  of  tobacco  decoctions  in 
destroying  certain  insect  pests  of  the  vine  are  described 
by  Dr.  Mario  Topi  in  the  Aiii  dei  Lincei,  xxv.,  (i),  5. 
Two  varieties  of  grape  vine  were  selected,  and  it  was 
found  that  with  two  applications  of  the  decoction  the 
larvae  of  Eudemis  were  about  half  as  numerous  on 
the  treated  plants  as  on  the  others,  and  those  of 
Conchylis  were  slightly  lower  too.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  number  of  damaged  branches  was  also  reduced 
by  about  50  per  cent,  by  the  treatment. 

The  heavy  loss  of  nitrate  by  washing  out  from 
arable  soil  during  the  wet  winter  of  19 15-16  is  very 
clearly  shown  by  Dr.  E.  J.  Russell  and  Mr.  A.  Apple- 
yard  in  the  current  number  of  the  journal  of  the 
Board  of  Agriculture.  The  most  striking  case  is  that 
of  the  Broadbalk  dunged  plots  at  Rothamsted,  one  of 
which  was  fallowed  and  the  other  cropped.  During 
the  summer  the  fallow  plot  accumulated  nitrate  until, 
by  the  middle  of  September,  the  top  18  in.  of  soil 
contained  170  lb.  of  nitric  nitrogen  per  acre,  equiva- 
lent to  nearly  10  cwt.  of  nitrate  of  soda.  The  losses 
then  began,  and  were  so  heavy  in  November  and 
December  that  by  February  the  magnificent  stock  of 
nitrate  had  been  reduced  to  50  lb.  of  nitrogen.  This 
loss  is  equivalent  to  7  cwt.  of  nitrate  of  soda,  no 
small  item  at  present  prices.  The  Broadbalk  fallow 
plot  is  no  doubt  an  extreme  case,  but  the  cropped  plot 
also  suffered  considerable  loss.  If  never  accumulated 
nitrate  like  the  fallow  plot,  the  maximum  being  90  lb. 
of  nitrogen  per  acre;  half  of  this  was  lost  during 
the  winter,  or  as  much  nitrogen  as  is  contained  in 
24  bushels  of  wheat  and  the  corresponding  amount  of 
straw.  The  losses  are  naturally  greatest  on  these 
heavily  manured  soils,  but  the  fields  which  were  not 
unusually  well  done  lost  about  30  lb.  of  nitrogen  per 
acre.  Some  of  the  loss  on  the  fallow  plot  could  have 
been  prevented  by  sowing  mustard  or  other  quick- 
growing  crop  in  September.  This  could  have  been 
fed  off  or  ploughed  in,  thus  holding  the  nitrogen  in 
less  soluble  form  until  the  spring.  The  obvious  lesson 
is  that  land  which  has  been  got  into  good  condition  in 
autumn  should  at  once  be  sown  with  either  the  crop 
it  is  intended  to  carry  or  a  catch  crop. 

The  Summary  Report  of  the  Mines  Branch  of  the 
Department  of  Mines  for  1914  has  just  been  issued 
by  the  Canadian  Government.  This  gives  a  brief 
rdsumd  of  the  work  done  by  this  branch  during  the 
year  in  question,  together  with  a  preliminary  report 
on  the  mineral  production  of  the  Dominion.  It  ap- 
pears that  there  is  a  falling  off  in  the  output  of  nearly 
all  mineral  products  and  metals,  the  only  exceptions 
of  any  importance  being  in  the  two  items  of  pyrites 
and  natural  gas ;  in  the  former  the  increase  amounts 
to  42  per  cent.,  in  the  latter  to  only  3  per  cent.  The 
total  value  of  the  mineral  production  is  given  as 
128,475,499  dollars,  as  against  145,634,812  dollars  in 
19 13.  The  decrease  is  stated  to  be  due  to  conditions 
arising  from  the  war,  owing  to  which  many  mines 
have  either  closed  down  or  decreased  their  activities. 
It  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  the  diminution  is  due  to 
any  other  than  temporary  causes. 

The  Geological  Survey  of  Great  Britain  has  issued 
a  memoir  (price  45.  6d.)  on  "The  Thicknesses  of 
Strata  in  the  Counties  of  England  and  Wales,  exclu- 
sive of  Rocks  Older  than  the  Permian."  The  direc- 
tor.   Dr.    Strahan,    has   taken    a   large   share   in    the 

.  NO.    2428,   VOL.    97] 


preparation  of  this  useful  work  of  reference,  .which- 
will  aid  teachers  in  drawing  up  correct  geological, 
sections,  and  will  serve  as  a  permanent  guide  to  those, 
who  seek  for  water  or  for  coal.  Sketch-maps  are 
given  of  each  county,  showing  the  sites  where  sub- 
terranean information  has, been  obtained,  and  in  some 
cases  contour-lines  are  drawn  to  mark  the  depths 
below  sea-level  at  which  certain  important  horizons 
may  be  struck.  The  base  of  the  Permian  (or  top  of 
the  Coal  Measures)  is  thus  included  in  the  features 
shown  in  Nottinghamshire.  The  lowering  of  the 
denuded  chalk  surface  below  sea-level  and  the  infilling 
of  its  hollows  by  Glacial  deposits  are  well  seen  in  the 
map  of  Norfolk,  where  the  Saham  Toney  boring 
passed  through  248  ft.  of  Glacial  drift,  the  base  of 
which  lies  more  than  100  ft.  below  the  sea.  Under 
the  head  of  Kent,  we  note  that  the  Dover  boring  has 
penetrated  1152  ft.  of  Coal  Measures.  The  depths  at 
which  coal-bearing  strata  have  been  reached  in  other 
counties,  such  as  Cheshire  and  Leicestershire,  will  be 
looked  on  with  interest  by  economists. 

The  United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey 
has  issued  a  tabulated  list  of  the  geographical  posi- 
tions on  the  North  American  Datum,  with  descrip- 
tions and  elevations  of  all  triangulation  stations  on 
the  coast  and  geodetic  survey  in  Alabama,  on  the 
Gulf  Coast  in  Mississippi,  and  on  the  eastern  oblique 
arc  in  Louisiana  (Special  Publication,  No.  24).  The 
field  work  of  the  triangulation  included  in  this  pub- 
lication was  done  between  the  years  1846  and  191 1, 
and  many  of  the  original  stations  could  not  be 
recovered,  but  where  possible  stations  were  re- 
marked. The  results  of  the  entire  eastern  oblique 
arc  triangulation  appeared  in  a  previous  publication 
in  190 1  (Special  Publication,  No.  7).  That  publica- 
tion, however,  dealt  primarily  with  the  purely 
scientific  problem  of  the  determination  of  the  figure 
of  the  earth,  and  only  the  positions  of  those  points 
included  in  the  main  scheme  of  triangulation  were 
published. 

Prof.  Hilderbrandsson  {Kungl.  Svenska  Veten- 
skapsakademines  Handlingar,  Band  51,  No.  8)  gives 
some  further  results  of  his  researches.  He  states  that 
in  winter  the  course  of  the  meteorological  elements 
over  the  part  of  the  ocean  lying  between  Iceland  and 
Norway  agrees  with  that  which  occurs  over  the  north 
of  Europe,  but  is  in  opposition  to  the  course  of  the 
same  elements  over  the  subtropical  region,  the  Azores 
to  the  Mediterranean.  The  same  opposition  between 
north  and  south  is  said  to  occur  in  North  America, 
but  inversely  to  the  relation  in  Europe,  so  that  if  the 
v.'inter  is  cold  in  the  north  of  Europe,  it  is  cold  in 
Mexico  and  the  United  States,  but  mild  in  the  south 
of  Europe  and  in  the  north  of  North  America.  Vari- 
ous other  relationships  are  given,  and  are  supported  by 
tables  and  charts.  If  the  correlation  coefficients  were 
worked  out  they  would  not  be  very  high,  but  Prof. 
Hilderbrandsson  states  that  the  relations  are  disturbed 
by  external  causes  of  a  superior  order,  such  as  the 
varying  heat  of  the  sun. 

Some  observations  on  the  green  ray  sometimes  ob- 
served at  sunrise  and  sunset  are  described  by  G. 
Guglielmo  in  the  Atti  dei  Lincei,  xxv.,  (i),  5.  The 
author  discusses  the  various  theories  that  have  been 
advanced  to  account  for  the  fact  that  the  duration  of 
the  phenomenon  may  exceed  the  limit  attributable  to 
dispersion.  He  finds,  moreover,  that  the  ray  is  some- 
times more  bluish  and  sometimes  less  so.  Among  the 
various  causes  which  may  modify  the  effect  or  its 
duration  are  mentioned  atmospheric  absorption  of  the 
violet  and  indigo  rays,  waves  in  the  atmosphere,  and 
abnormal  variations    of   density    in    the    lower   strata. 


May  II,  1-9163 


NATURE 


229 


Of  course,  if  the  sun  sets  behind  a  sloping-  hillside,  the 
duration  may  be  considerably  altered  by  this  cause. 

The  March  number  of  Terrestrial  Magnetism  and 
Atmospheric  Electricity  contains  a  table  by  Mr.  J.  P. 
Ault  of  the  values  of  the  deviation  of  the 
compass  from  true  north  in  the  Bering  Sea  and 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  determined  by  the  magnetic  survey 
ship  Carnegie  during  her  voyage  from  Alaska  to  New- 
Zealand  in  the  latter  half  of  1915.  Throughout  the 
whole  of  her  course,  which  from  the  western  side  of 
the  Bering  Sea  was  almost  directly  south,  the  com- 
pass pointed  to  the  east  of  true  north  by  amounts  vary- 
ing from  half  a  degree  in  latitude  45°  N.  to  16°  or 
17°  at  Alaska  and  New  Zealand.  The  British  Admiralty 
charts  give  the  compass  deviation  too  high  by  amounts 
which,  in  the  Bering  Sea,  exceed  a  degree,  and  in 
latitudes  37°,  21°,  14°,  12°,  0°  N.,  15°  and  45°  S.  are 
nearly  a  degree. 

Bulletin  609  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey 
deals  with  the  fractional  precipitation  of  some  ore- 
forming  compounds  at  temperatures  only  slightly  re- 
moved from  atmospheric,  and  in  all  cases  below 
100°  C,  by  Mr.  R.  C.  Wells.  The  experiments  have 
been  made  with  the  object  of  elucidating  the  chem- 
istry of  ore  deposition,  and  they  have  shown  the  order 
of  solubility  of  the  compounds  of  each  of  the  classes 
investigated — sulphides,  hydroxides,  carbonates,  and 
silicates.  On  the  whole,  the  most  interesting,  and 
probably  the  most  complicated,  series  is  that  of  the 
sulphides.  Soluble  sulphides  may  act,  and  do  act, 
not  only  as  precipitating,  but  also  as  reducing  agents. 
It  appears  from  the  results  given  that  the  concen- 
tration of  the  sulphide  ion  is  so  greatly  affected  by 
change  of  acidity  that  the  latter  is  the  principal  factor 
determining  the  precipitation  of  sulphides.  A  mixture 
of  two  metallic  salts  yields,  by  fractional  precipitation, 
an  initial  precipitate,  containing  the  sulphides  of  both 
metals,  but,  as  a  rule,  if  the  mixture  is  heated  or  is 
permitted  to  stand,  one  sulphide  largely  or  wholly 
dissolves.  The  order  of  precipitation,  beginning  with 
the  metal  that  separates  first,  is  palladium,  mercury, 
silver,  copper,  bismuth,  cadmium,  antimony,  lead, 
zinc,  nickel,  cobalt,  ferrous  iron,  arsenic,  thallium, 
and  manganese.  Attempts  to  form  chalcopyrite  by 
fractional  precipitation  of  ferrous  and  cupric  sulphate 
were  unsuccessful. 

Paper  No.  33  of  the  Survey  Department  of 
Egypt,  entitled  "The  Magnetic  Survey  of  Egypt  and 
the  Sudan,"  by  Mr.  H.  E.  Hurst,  embodies  the  results 
of  field  observations  made  by  the  author  and  Mr.  C.  B. 
Middleton  between  October,  1908,  and  January,  1914. 
Use  is  also  made  of  observations  taken  between  1893 
and  1901  by  Captain  (now  Major)  H.  G.  Lyons, 
F.R.S.,  and  of  the  results  obtained  in  the  Red  Sea 
between  1895  and  1898  by  Lieut.  Rossler,  of  the  Aus- 
trian surveying  ship  Pola.  The  publication  includes 
charts  of  magnetic  declination,  inclination,  and  hori- 
zontal force  respectively.  The  epoch  to  which  the 
observations  are  reduced  is  January  i,  1910.  Helwan, 
where  magnetographs  were  installed  in  1907,  served 
as  base  station.  The  area  dealt  with  extends  from 
Damietta,  31°  25'  N.,  to  Wadelai,  2°  42'  N.  lat. ;  but 
it  is  comparatively  narrow,  especially  in  the  extreme 
south.  A  remarkable  feature  is  the  closeness  with 
which  the  lines  of  equal  dip — from  42°  N.  to  16°  S. — 
conform  to  parallels  of  latitude.  The  magnetic  equator 
crosses  the  Nile  at  about  11°  N.  lat.  The  lines  of 
equal  declination  have  mostly  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  their  length  the  same  general  direction  as  the 
Nile.  The  lines  of  equal  horizontal  force,  from  0*295 
to  0-350  C.G.S.,  seem  to  cross  the  Red  Sea  nearly 
orthogonally.  The  local  disturbances  encountered 
were  extremely  small,   especially  in  comparison  with 

NO.    2428,   VOL.    97]' 


those  described  by  Prof.  J.  C.   Beattie  in  his  "Mag- 
netic Survey  of  South  Africa." 

A  COPY  of  the  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1915, 
has  been  received.  The  report  reviews  the  affairs  of 
the  institution,  and  summarises  the  activities  of  its 
several  branches.  Among  the  explorations  and  re- 
searches inaugurated  in  furtherance  of  one  of  the 
fundamental  objects  of  the  institution,  which  is  the 
"increase  of  knowledge,"  we  notice  the  clearing  of  fog 
by  electrical  precipitation.  The  fact  was  long  ago 
established  that  all  dust  and  fog  particles  in  the  open 
atmosphere  are  electrified  and  subject  to  dispersion 
or  precipitation,  but  how  to  clear  fog  from  a  street, 
along  a  railway,  or  from  the  neighbourhood  of  a  ship 
at  sea,  and  to  do  it  in  a  manner  commercially  feasible, 
has  been  a  matter  of  study  for  many  years.  The  ques- 
tion recently  aroused  fresh  attention  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  San  Francisco,  through  researches  planned  by 
the  University  of  California  in  co-operation  with  the 
United  States  Lighthouse  Service,  and  it  was  decided 
by  the  Smithsonian  Institution  to  make  a  grant  to 
further  this  investigation,  which  is  under  the  general 
direction  of  Dr.  F.  G.  Cottrell.  The  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers  has  also  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  co-operate  in  this  work.  The  essential 
element  to  success  in  scattering  fog  seems  to  be  some 
form  of  electrical  apparatus  of  very  high  direct  voltage, 
with  facilities  for  its  control  and  ready  application. 

The  H.  VV.  Wilson  Company,  White  Plains,  New 
York,  has  published  a  supplement  to  the  "  Readers' 
Guide  to  Periodical  Literature,"  which  forms  an  index 
to  general  periodicals  not  included  in  the  guide.  The 
periodicals  indexed  in  the  supplement  include  Nature, 
the  Hihbert  Journal,  the  Philosophical  Review,  and 
others  published  in  this  country. 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Uranus. — This  planet  is  now  an  early  morning 
object  in  the  constellation  of  Caprioomus.  When  its 
position  is  known  it  is  easily  visible  with  quite  small 
apertures;  thus  on  .\pril  29  it  was  seen  with  a  hand 
telescope  of  ig  in.  opening,  at  G.M.T.  3h.  34m.  The 
dawn  had  then,  of  course,  overpowered  all  stars  in 
the  region.  On  May  12  the  position  of  Uranus  will 
be  R.A.  2ih.  i3-2m.,  declination  —16°  476',  diameter 
3-8''. 

Mercury. — On  September  21  of  last  year  Mercurj' 
passed  within  i'  of  Spica,  and  a  long  series  of  posi- 
tional measures  was  secured  at  the  Union 
Observatory,  Johannesburg  (Circular  No.  30). 
The  observations  made  by  Messrs.  Innes  and 
Worssell  with  a  9-in.  refractor  possess  excep- 
tional interest,  as  both  observers  agree  regard- 
ing the  visibility  of  a  small  N.  polar  cap  and  an 
indistinct  band  south  of  it.  This  appears  on  the 
reproductions  as  a  narrow  dusky  zone  in  about  latitude 
45°.  .\s  an  index  to  the  conditions  under  which  the 
observations  were  made,  it  may  be  stated  that  the 
conjunction  occurred  six  days  prior  to  elongation,  the 
diameter  of  the  slightly  gibbous  disc  being  6-2*.  The 
data  indicate  that  the  approximate  G.M.T.  of  con- 
junction was  2h.  57m.  42s.,  when  the  zenith  distance 
of  Spica  would  be  51°  4'  at  the  Union  Observatory. 
The  truncated  cusp  recorded  by  other  observers  may 
perhaps  find  an  explanation  in  this  Johannesburg 
observation. 

The  Lyrid  Meteors  of  19 16. — Mr.  W.  F.  Denning, 
writing  from  44  Egerton  Road,  Bristol,  says : — 
Cloudy  weather  seriously  interfered  with  the  observa- 


230 


NATURE 


[May  II,  1916 


tions.  On  April  20  Mrs.  Wilson,  at  Totteridge,  re- 
corded several  meteors  between  9.3b  and  10.45, 
when  it  became  overcast.  A  bright  meteor  was  seen 
at  9.46  p.m.,  with  radiant  at  202°  + 8°.  Two  bright 
Lyrids  were  seen  at  Bristol  at  a  later  hour.  On  April 
21  Miss  Cook,  at  Stowmarket,  saw  about  twelve 
meteors,  including  eight  Lyrids,  between  9.39  and 
11.49  P-i^'  On  April  23,  25,  26,  29,  and  30  Mrs.  Wil- 
son obtained  further  observations,  and  meteors  were 
also  seen  at  Bristol  on  the  same  nights,  but  they 
were  very  scarce,  notwithstanding  the  splendid  skies 
presented  on  several  of  the  dates  mentioned. 

The  most  important  observation  was  that  of  a 
bright  but  very  late  Lyrid  on  April  26,  at  9.49,  by  Mrs. 
Wilson  and  by  the  writer  at  Bristol.  The  two  ob- 
servations proved  that  the  centre  of  the  shower  was 
at  278° +  35°  on  that  night,  and  that  the  radiant  is 
really  a  moving  one,  the  position  being  at  271° +  33° 
on  April  20. 

Below  are  the  observed  paths  of  a  few  brilliant 
meteors,  duplicate  observations  of  which  would  be 
very  valuable. 

Date  Mag.              From                    To                Observer 

h.    m.  00.. 

April  20         9  46  I  234   +  lof  243   + 10  Mrs.  Wilson 

III  1  256^     36  226       35  W.  F.  D. 

II     6  I  276I     I4i  276^     13  W.  F.  D. 

21       II  22  I  215       25  205       20  Miss  Cook 

II  49  4x  $  202       25  190       18  Miss  Cook 

25  10     I  I  240^     29  237 J     20  Mrs.  Wilson 

10  53         ?        323       52 .     341       38     Mrs.  Wilson 

26  9  49    I    211   51   184   46  W.  F.  D. 

29  9  32    $        235    4i  244    2j  Mrs.  Wilson 

11  17    I    187  -  6   184  -13  Mrs.  Wilson 

30  II  17    I    278^  20   276   18  W.  F.  D. 


SCIENCE  IN  EDUCATION  AND   THE 
CIVIL   SERVICES. 

'T^HE  meeting  convened  by  the  committee  formed 
-^  in  connection  with  the  memorandum  on  the 
"  Neglect  of  Science,"  published  in  February  last, 
held  on  May  4  at  Burlington  House,  was  remarkable 
for  its  enthusiasm,  its  size,  its  unanimity,  and  its 
representative  character.  Leading  and  lesser  lights 
belonging  to  science,  literature,  art,  and  commerce 
came  from  all  parts  to  affirm  their  faith  that  our 
educational  system  needed  rectification  in  the  interest 
of  physical  science,  in  order  to  minimise  the  frequency 
of  the  occurrence  of  national  "  regrettable  incidents." 
The  lecture  theatre  of  the  Linnean  Society  was  densely 
packed,  and  for  three  hours  the  audience  listened  with 
close  attention  to  the  convincing  periods  of  the  twenty- 
five  speakers  supporting  the  resolutions  submitted. 

Lord  Rayleigh,  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, presided,  and  in  his  opening  remarks  he  referred 
to  the  deplorable  ignorance  of  science  shown  by  all 
classes  of  society.  In  indicating  the  remedy.  Lord 
Rayleigh  emphatically  denied  that  men  of  science  had 
ajiy  desire  to  abolish  or  to  cripple  the  study  of  litera- 
ture— a  point  that  was  endorsed  by  many  later 
speakers.  The  modern  curriculum  was  already  con- 
gested, and  place^must  be  made  by  limiting-  the  study 
of  ancient  languages.  "There  is  a  certain  type  of 
mind  for  which  classical  education  is  best,  but  for  the 
majority  of  schoolboys  I  think  it  is  nothing  less  than 
an  absurdity  to  talk '  about  impressing  them  with  the 
language  and  literature  of  the  ancients.  Such  a  result 
is  not  achieved  with  the  average  boy.  I  was  myself 
an  average  boy.  A  great  friend  and  brother-in-law 
of  mine,  Henry  Sidgwick,  used  to  say  that  the  greatest 
impediment  to  a  literary  education  was  classics." 
In  proposing  the  first  resolution,  "That  the  natural 
NO.    2428,    VOL.    97] 


sciences  should  be  made  an  integral  part  of  the  educa- 
tional course  in  all  the  great  schools  of  the  country, 
and  should  form  part  of  the  entrance  examination  at 
all  the  universities,"  Sir  E.  Schafer  replied  effectively 
to  the  contention  that  men  of  science  need  a  classical 
education  in  order  that  they  may  be  able  to  express 
themselves  clearly,  and  the  unprejudiced  eye-witness 
of  the  meeting  could  not  have  failed  to  remark  that 
devotion  to  science  was  in  no  way  incompatible  with 
the  power  of  clear  expression  and  a  sense  of  literary 
perception.  Dr.  Bridges,  the  Poet  Laureate,  seconded 
the  resolution  in  a  forcible  speech,  in  which  he  advo- 
cated a  drastic  reform  of  our  educational  system.  A 
knowledge  of  the  world  we  live  in,  and  of  our  own 
bodies,  is  a  vital  necessity  to  all  classes.  The  question 
of  remunerating  the  teachers  adequately  was  also  of 
urgent   importance. 

The  Rt.  Hon.  Huth  Jackson,  director  of  the  Bank 
of  England,  deeply  regretted  his  ignorance  of  science, 
the  knowledge  of  which  would  have  prevented  him 
from  supporting  commercial  ventures  which  in  them- 
selves were  unsound,  and  in  other  cases  would  have 
made  him  abandon  the  banker's  typical  attitude  of 
refusing  to  listen  to  any  new  idea.  Lord  Montagu  of 
Beaulieu  dealt  principally  with  the  neglect  of  science 
in  Government  circles.  Six  years  ago  he  had  warned 
the  Government  that  it  should  take  in  hand  the  manu- 
facture of  acetone,  which  is  indispensable  for  the  pro- 
duction of  propellant  powder.  The  advice  was  un- 
heeded, and  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  this  country 
possessed  but  a  single  toy  plant  in  the  Forest  of  Dean. 
He  had  also  pointed  out  the  importance  of  low-tem- 
perature distillation  of  coal,  from  which  benzol,  toluol, 
and  other  by-products  are  obtained,  including  T.N.T., 
essential  for  our  Army;  but  nothing  was  done.  In 
the  year  before  the  war  we  spent  500,000^  with  great 
reluctance  on  aviation  experiments ;  Germany  spent 
seven  millions,  "Where  America  has  more  than  250 
people  at  work  in  a  certain  research  department,  in 
this  country  we  have  only  four  or  five.  The  attitude 
of  the  nation  towards  science  is  not  one  of  dislike, 
but  of  contemptuous  neglect.  There  is  an  infinite 
field  for  the  use  of  science  in  the  Government  of  the 
country.  In  India  there  is  no  scientific  adviser  to  the 
Government.  The  country  is  pre-eminent  to-day  in 
pure  science,  but  not  in  applied  science,  or  as  regards 
general  scientific  education  all  over  the  country." 

Dr.  Macan,  master  of  University  College,  Oxford, 
said  that  by  making  the  study  of  English  and  of 
science  two  of  the  corner-stones  of  our  educational 
edifice,  we  should  be  working  in  the  truest  spirit  of 
Hellenism.  The  genuine  study  of  antiquity  would 
not  suffer  by  limiting  the  amount  taught  in  our 
schools,  and  the  idea  that  the  curtailment  of  such 
instruction  would  demoralise  our  youth  was  a  delu- 
sion ;  for  ethical  and  physical  training  are  the  chief 
factors  in  the  formation  of  character.  The  science 
students  at  Oxford  had  sacrificed  themselves  in  the 
war  no  less  than  their  literary  comrades.  Mr.  H.  G. 
Wells  urged  the  importance  of  distinguishing  between 
the  kind  of  teaching  required  for  the  training  of 
science  specialists  and  that  which  should  be  part  of 
the  education  of  all.  The  latter  kind  would  Involve 
a  much  smaller  expenditure  upon  apparatus  than  the 
former,  and  would  not  demand  more  than  10-15  hours 
per  week.  "We  want  the  elementary  Greek  which  is 
done  in  schools,  and  which  does  not  go  on  to  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  Greek,  to  be  cut  out.  We 
want  to  stop  Latin  verse-making  for  most  pupils ;  and 
we  do  not  believe  in  the  premature  teaching  of  history 
to  a  child  whose  political  sense  is  entirely  undeveloped. 
We  do  not  propose  to  make  the  philosopher  supreme 
in  this  country  at  present,  but  we  do  want  to  bring 
our  statesmen  into  a  relationship  of  co-operation  with 


May  II,  1916] 


NATURE 


231 


the  mass  of  scientific  and  practical  knowledge  which 
has  accumulated  in  the  course  of  civilisation."  Our 
lawyers  and  politicians  had  failed  lamentably  from 
want  of  scientific  and  practical  knowledge,  but  they 
could  not  be  exterminated;  they  must  be  "practical- 
ised,"  brought  to  see  the  virtue  and  necessity  of 
natural  knowledge,  and  to  know  how  to  apply  it. 

The  second  resolution  affirmed  the  necessity  of 
assigning  capital  importance  to  science  in  the  exam- 
inations of  tne  higher  branches  of  the  Civil  Service, 
and  of  making  it  an  obligatory  subject  for  entrance 
to  Sandhurst.  The  proposer,  Sir  Harry  Johnston, 
subjected  the  present  regulations  to  a  scathing  criti- 
cism, and  emphasised  the  unpractical  nature  of  the 
examination  questions,  which  were  not  framed  with 
the  object  of  testing  the  knowledge  and  ability  of 
candidates  in  matters  which  they  would  need  in  their 
careers.  Introducing  the  third  resolution.  Sir  Ray 
Lankester  declared  that  for  seventy  years  the  cry  of 
the  reformer  had  been  heard,  but  with  no  practical 
result.  The  governing  classes  and  the  Press  were 
united  in  supporting  the  existing  conditions,  and  the 
only  practicable  proposal  for  immediate  action  was  to 
alter  the  basis  of  Civil  Service  examinations.  The 
great  schools  could  not  move  because  they  were 
dominated  by  the  universities,  and  the  latter  were 
shackled  by  the  Civil  Service  regulations ;  apply  the 
pruning-knife  to  the  last-named,  and  the  body  educa- 
tional would  immediately  acquire  the  power  of  re- 
generation. 

Other  notable  speakers  were  Lord  Portsmouth, 
Profs.  Thomson,  Poulton,  and  Dr.  Parnell,  of  Oxford, 
Dr.  Shipley,  of  Cambridge,  the  headmaster  of  Sher- 
borne School,  Colonel  Crompton,  Sir  Hugh  Bell,  and 
Mr.  A.  Dyke-.^cland.  The  fourth  resolution,  authoris- 
ing the  committee  to  bring  the  proposals  to  the  notice 
of  the  Government,  was,  like  the  others,  passed  unani- 
mously ;  and  the  uppermost  thought  in  our  minds  as 
we  left  this  memorable  gathering  w'as  the  hope  that 
"the  eyes  of  men  might  be  opened  that  they  may 
see  light." 


NATIONAL   FOOD   SUPPLY   AND 
NUTRITIONAL      VALUEA 

THE  statistics  of  our  national  food  supply,  in  so 
far  as  they  have  been  available,  have  hitherto 
comprised  no  more  than  bald  statements  as  to  the 
amount  available  of  this  or  that  marketable  food- 
stuff. We  have  been  told  how  much  meat,  home- 
killed  or  imported,  has  been  upon  the  market,  how- 
much  wheat,  potatoes,  etc.,  but  no  one  has  as  yet 
taken  the  trouble  to  determine  the  actual  nutritional 
value  of  the  food  supply  we  have  to  rely  upon.  With- 
out such  knowledge  it  is  impossible  properly  to 
appraise  the  national  position,  or  detennine  whether 
we  have  a  safe  margin  upon  which  to  draw  when 
retrenchment  is  called  for.  The  truth,  as  Prof.  W.  H. 
Thompson  points  out  in  the  very  timely  study  before 
us,  is  that  we  are  in  such  matters  a  happy-go-lucky 
people,  and  leave  the  nation's  affairs  too  implicitly  in 
the  hands  of  our  legislators  and  administrators  with- 
out insisting  that  business  or  scientific  knowledge  shall 
be  sufficiently  taken  into  account.  So  far  as  it  is 
possible  to  do  so  Prof.  Thompson  has  now  given  us 
the  information  required,  and  the  preparation  of  his 
paper  must  have  cost  him  much  labour.  He  tells  us 
how  much  protein,  how  much  fat  and  carbohydrate, 
and  how  many  calories  of  food  energy  are  available 
for  the  nutrition   of  Great   Britain   as  a   whole.     His 

1  "The  Food  Value  of  Great  P.ritain;s  Food  Supply."  By  Prof.  W.  TT. 
Thompson.  Reprinted  from  the  Economic  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Dublin 
.'^o'iety,  Dublin.  (Dublin  :  Royal  Dublin  Society  ;  London  :  '".VilHams  and 
Xorgate.)     Price  2j. 


NO.    2428,   VOL.    97] 


survey  of  the  subject  has  been  made  independently, 
without  reference  to  previous  investigations. 

Anyone  endeavouring  to  collect  data  which  will  re- 
present the  position  with  accuracy  meets  with  difficul- 
ties. Chief  among  these  is  that  arising  from  the  fact 
that  in  the  food  estimates  for  Great  Britain  no  figures 
are  given  for  agricultural  produce  fed  to  live  stock, 
or  consumed  by  the  population  of  the  farms.  Prof. 
Thompson,  in  making  a  correction  for  this  deficiency 
in  the  statistics,  assumes  that  the  agricultural  popu- 
lation is  at  least  as  well  supplied  with  the  produce 
of  the  farms  as  is  the  general  population.  We  doubt 
whether  he  is  altogether  right  in  this  assumption,  be- 
lieving that  the  agricultural  labourer  gets  on  the  whole 
less  than  his  share  of  the  foodstuffs  he  is  instru- 
mental in  producing.  Other  difficulties  have  to  be 
overcome  in  the  endeavour  to  arrive  at  a  final  esti- 
mate, and  we  cannot  at  present  expect  complete  accu- 
racy. In  the  study  under  review  it  is  clear  that  every 
effort  has  been  made  to  obtain  the  best  possible  in- 
formation. 

Of  the  total  protein  supply  of  the  nation,  33- 7 5  per 
cent,  is  furnished  by  grain  foods,  of  which  74  per  cent, 
is  imjxtrted,  10-56  per  cent.  by  vegetables, 
31-62  per  cent,  by  flesh  meat,  of  which  more 
than  half  is  imported,  1506  per  cent.  by- 
dairy  products,  and  about  2-5  per  cent,  by  eggs. 
The  author  points  out  that  much  more  might  be  made 
of  eggs  as  a  source  of  protein  supply,  by  increasing 
the  home  produce.  Of  the  carbohydrate  supply,  54-26 
per  cent,  is  drawn  from  cereal  food,  24-5  per  cent, 
from  sugar,  14-55  I^''  cent,  from  vegetables,  the  only 
other  source  of  any  consequence  being  dairy  products  (ex- 
cluding butter),  which  add  332  per  cent.  Of  the  fat 
available,  47-04  per  cent,  is  derived  from  meat,  30-18 
per  cent,  from  dairy  products,  13-25  per  cent,  from 
lard  and  margarine,  and  5-14  per  cent,  from  cereal 
foods,  the  remaining  sources  being  relatively  un- 
important. 

Prof.  Thompson's  calculations  lead  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  taking  the  nation  as  a  whole  only  10  per 
cent,  of  the  total  food  energy  is  supplied  in  the  form 
of  protein,  or,  as  the  author  puts  it,  "  one-tenth  of 
the  driving  power  of  the  human  engine  is  derived 
from  protein  material."  No  less  than  59  per  cent, 
of  the  energy  is  supplied  as  carbohydrate;  fats  yield 
30  per  cent. 

It  is  customary  w-hen  calculating  the  food  available 
for  individuals  from  statistics  referring  to  the  whole 
community  to  reduce  the  population  to  "  man  "  value. 
This  is  done  by  reducing  the  figures  for  women,  and 
those  for  children  of  different  ages,  by  means  of 
certain  factors  based  upon  the  supposed  relative  nutri- 
tional demands.  The  figures  representing  the  total 
food  values  available  are  then  divided  by  the  "  re- 
duced" population,  and  the  result  gives  the  amounts 
available  "per  man."  So  calculated,  the  quantity 
available  for  the  daily  ration  of  a  man  works  out  at 
101-7  grs.  protein,  587-12  grs.  carbohydrate,  and 
136-5  grs.  fat;  corresponding  ta  4129  calories  in 
energy  value.  Knowing  what  is  actually  available,  we 
are  now  in  a  position  to  decide  how  far  we  can  safely 
economise  in  our  consumption,  and  having  clear  in- 
formation as  to  the  relation  betw-een  imports  and 
home-grown  foodstuffs,  we  can  measure  what  would 
be  the  effect  of  any  serious  interference  with  the 
former. 

The  above  figures,  based  as  they  are  upon  statistics 
from  ports  and  markets,  may  prove,  however,  a  little 
puzzling  to  those  accustomed  to  study  the  actual 
dietaries  of  English  families.  The  value  for  protein 
seems  low,  and  that  for  the  total  energy  seems  high. 
The  figure,  101-7  grs.  protein,  represents  a  gross 
value  for  foods  delivered  at  the  ports  or  sold  off  the 


232 


NATURE 


[May  II,  19L6. 


farms,  and  must  be  reduced  to  something  like  97  grs. 
for  the  ration  "as  purchased."  This,  however,  is 
about  the  amount  consumed  by  the  more  poorly  fed 
among  the  population — by  the  agricultural  labourer, 
lor  instance.  One  would  have  expected  the  average 
for  the  whole  country  to  be  appreciably  higher.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  value  4129  calories  (3875  "as 
purchased ")  seems  high  for  the  energy  ration,  and 
the  proportion  it  bears  to  the  figure  for  protein  is 
exceptionally  high.  We  cannot  but  think  that  Prof. 
Thompson  has  tailed  to  make  sufficient  allowance  for 
the  starch,  and  especially  for  the  fat,  which,  while 
appearing  in  the  market  returns,  is  diverted  to  indus- 
trial uses  and  never  reaches  the  mouth  of  the  con- 
sumer. If  the  figure  for  protein  accurately  represents 
the  available  supply  and  measures  our  consumption 
before  the  war  it  would  seem  that  there  is  not  much 
room  for  economy  in  the  amount  eaten. 

Prof.  Thompson,  in  considering  the  possibilities  of 
economy,  emphasises,  however,  a  point  upon  which 
most  writers  have  insisted  :  "  The  British  nation  as  a 
whole  relies  too  much  on  flesh  meat  for  the  protein 
element  of  its  food.  This  is  the  most  costly  of  all  the 
common  articles  of  diet  to  produce."  He  has  himself 
shown,  "  from  calculations  based  on  average  results, 
that  an  acre  of  land,  if  used  for  grazing  sheep  or 
cattle,  produces  per  annum  not  more  than  260  oz.  of 
protein,  and  290  kilolitre  calories  of  energy.  Whereas, 
if  used  for  tillage,  the  same  area  of  land  produces  in 
wheat  19  times  as  much  protein,  and  15  times  as  much 
food  energy ;  in  beans  20  times  as  much  protein,  and 
9  times  as  much  food  energy ;  in  peas  10  times  as 
much  protein,  and  4  times  as  much  food  energy;  in 
potatoes  17  times  as  much  protein,  and  30  times  as 
much  food  energy." 

"  Economy  practised  in  the  direction  indicated  would 
entail  no  loss  of  efficiency,  and  would  work  out  to  the 
economic  advantage  of  the  country  as  a  whole.  It 
would  also  have  another  indirect  result.  The  food  of 
Great  Britain  is  brought  from  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
the  charges  for  transit  adding  considerably  to  its  cost. 
A  man  of  twelve  stone  weight  requires,  as  already 
stated,  nine  times  his  own  weight  of  food  every  year, 
or  three-quarters  of  his  own  weight  every  month. 
This  entails  in  freight  charges  an  outlay  which  adds 
considerably  to  the  food  item  in  a  working-class 
budget.  Every  additional  ton  weight  of  home-pro- 
duced food  should  reduce  this  sum,  if  freight  charges 
be  justly  apportioned." 

THE  FUTURE  QF  CHEMICAL  INDUSTRY. 

AT  a  recent  meeting  of  the  New  York  Section  of 
the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  Dr.  Baeke- 
land  was  awarded  the  Perkin  medal  for  his  discoveries 
in  technical  chemistry.  Dr.  Baekeland,  in  acknow- 
ledging the  honour,  gave  an  interesting  account  of  the 
introduction  of  the  well-known- Velox  paper  into  photo- 
graphy, and  the  successive  steps  in  the  production  of 
bakelite — an  artificial  resin  of  great  hardness  and 
durability,  which  has  found  a  variety  of  important 
applications. 

The  portion  of  the  address  which  should  command 
most  attention  at  the  present  time  is  not  so  much  the 
account  of  the  inventive  skill,  tenacity  of  purposej  and 
never-failing  resourcefulness,  associated  with  a  highly- 
trained  scientific  mind,  which  have  brought  Dr. 
Baekeland's  investigations  to  a  successful  issue,  for 
these  are  qualities  which  have  been  shared  by  most  of 
the  great  inventors ;  but  his  views  on  the  present  and 
future  condition  of  the  chemical  industries  of  the 
United  States.  For  these  conditions  are  not  unlike 
our  own,  and  we  may  well  learn  a  lesson  from  one 
who  by   education    and   experience    in   the    laboratory 

NO.    2428,    VOL.    97] 


and  in  the  works  is  so  wpll  equipped  to  speak  with 

authority. 

Dr.  Baekeland  points  out  that  the  country  has 
enough  capable  chemists,  but  that  there  are  conditions 
under  which  the  best  chemists  cannot  succeed,  for 
success  depends  just  as  much  on  the  kind  of  men 
who  are  at  the  business  end  of  the  new  chemical 
enterprises.  "  It  will  certainly  do  no  harm,"  he  says, 
"  to  many  of  our  new  chemical  enterprises  if  among 
their  directors  they  have  at  least  some  chemists  as 
well  as  purely  business  men  or  bankers  and  lawyers." 
"Why  should  a  chemist,"  he  asks,  "if  he  is  intelligent 
enough  to  master  the  most  intricate  problems  of 
chemistry,  not  be  able  also  to  learn  how  to  exercise 
enough  common  sense  and  good  judgment  to  help  to 
discuss  and  devise  successful  business  policies?"  He 
points  out  that  all  the  largest  chemical  enterprises  of 
the  world  have  always  had  prominent  chemists  among 
their  directors,  and  the  policy  of  these  enterprises  has 
not  been  left  entirely  in  the  nands  of  a  set  of  purely 
business  men  who  remained  wilfully  ignorant  of  the 
essential  technical  parts  upon  which  their  enterprise 
was  based.  He  refers  also  to  the  industrial  part  played 
by  the  German  banks,  who,  with  a  staff  of  scientific 
advisers,  have  mastered  the  art  of  nursing  new 
chemical  industries. 

A  successful  industry,  he  says,  must  be  built  upon 
sound  scientific  knowledge,  which  consists  in  the  put- 
ting into  practice  principles  of  efficiency  and  introduc- 
ing knowledge  where  ignorance  formerly  existed,  with 
its  usual  accompaniments  of  w-aste  and  slovenliness. 
It  does  not  mean  merely  dividends  for  its  stockholders 
or  wages  for  its  workmen.  Dr.  Baekeland  looks  with 
considerable  apprehension  on  the  future  of  some  of 
the  ventures  which  are  being  started  now  by  men  who 
are  merely  trying  to  make  money  quickly,  who  look 
upon  their  chemists  merely  as  temporary*  tools,  and 
see  in  their  enterprise  only  a  pretext  for  realising  their 
greedy  ambitions. 

Finally,  Dr.  Baekeland  touches  upon  the  educa- 
tional question.  He  exonerates  the  chemist  for  the 
part  that  chemistry  has  been  forced  to  play  in  the 
war  by  showing  how  war  is  ages  older  than  science 
and  has  been  born  of  greed,  iniquity,  and  lust  for 
power.  It  is  the  main  inheritance  of  the  aims  and 
thoughts  of  the  past,  rendered  respectable  by  a  rather 
large  share  of  our  so-called  classical  literature,  to- 
gether with  our  awe  for  tradition,  which  keeps  us  in 
the  cold,  relentless  grip  of  the  wrong  ethics  of  bygone 
ages.  J.  B.  C. 

RECENT  WORK  ON  GENETICS. 

T\R.  L.  DONCASTER'S  work  on  sex-limited  colour- 
-L^  inheritance  in  cats  is  well  known  to  students  of 
heredity,  the  typical  " tortoiseshell"  coat  being  almost 
always  characteristic  of  a  female.  An  account  of  the 
microscopic  structure  of  a  testis  from  a  tortoiseshell 
male  which  after  repeated  matings  failed  to  beget 
kittens  is  given  by  Dr.  Doncaster  and  Mr.  D,.  W. 
Cutler  in  the  December  number  of  the  Journal  of 
Genetics  (vol.  v..  No.  2).  The  tubules  were  absolutely 
devoid  of  spermatocytes  and  spermatozoa,  while  the 
interstitial  tissue  which  is  supposed  to  be  concerned 
with  the  secretion  of  the  sexual  hormones  was  excep- 
tionally well  developed.  The  belief  that  the  rare  tor- 
toiseshell tom-cat  is  normally  sterile  is  thus  confirmed, 
though  the  records  of  breeders  show  that  a  fertile 
male  of  this  colour  has  been  known.  The  conclusion 
drawn,  therefore,  is  the  possibility  that  "  the  abnormal 
transmission  of  a  sex-limited  colour-factor  to  a  male 
may  sometimes  cause  the  animal  to  be  sterile,  and  in 
other  cases  not  have  this  effect." 

This  number  of  the  journal  contains  also  an  impor- 


May  II,  1916] 


NATURE 


■66 


tant  paper  by  Dr.  E.  A.  Cockayne  on  "Gynandro- 
morphism."  Insects  with  the  secondary  sexual  char- 
acters of  both  male  and  female  variously  combined  in 
a  single  individual  are  favourite  curiosities  among 
collectors.  Dr.  Cockayne  is  able  to  describe  the  in- 
ternal reproductive  organs  and  the  genital  armature 
in  several  specimens  of  these  abnormalities.  He  divides 
such  insects  into  three  groups : — (i)  Genetic  her- 
maphrodites, with  both  ovaries  and  testes  and  the 
genital  armature  of  both  sexes  represented — these  are 
often  laterally  divided  into  a  male  and  a  female  half, 
though  the  symmetry  is  rarely  exact;  (2)  primary 
somatic  hermaphrodites,  which  have  either  ovaries  or 
testes,  but  both  male  and  female  structures  in  the 
armature;  and  (3)  secondary  somatic  hermaphrodites, 
unisexual  as  regards  .the  whole  reproductive  apparatus, 
but  with  secondary  characters  of  both  sexes  in  the 
wings,  feelers,  or  elsewhere.  The  great  majority  of 
the  observed  cases  fall  into  the  second  of  these  divi- 
sions. Dr.  Cockayne  accepts  the  view  that  sex  is  a 
Mendelian  unit  character,  and  suggests  that  in  the 
"halved"  gynandromorphs  there  must  be  an  irregular 
division  of  the  sex-determining  chromatin  in  the  first 
cleavage  of  the  zygote-nucleus,  while  in  the  other  types 
there  may  be  "  a  failure  in  the  normal  process  of  fusion 
of  the  sex-chromosomes  of  the  spermatozoon  and 
ovum"  or  "a  difference  in  the  potency  of  the  factors 
for  sex  occurring  in  the  two  parents." 

The  heredity  of  bone-fragility  in  man  is  discussed  by 
Profs.  H.  S.  Coward  and  C.  B.  Davenport  in  Bulletin  14 
of  the  New  York  Eugenics  Record  Office.  From  a 
number  of  family  histories  it  appears  that  this  condi- 
tion (osteopsathyrosis)  behaves  as  a  Mendelian 
dominant  often  correlated  with  a  blue  colour  in  the 
sclerotic  coat  of  the  eye,  but  not  complicated  by  special 
association  with  either  sex-factor.  A  man  and  woman, 
both  free  from  the  condition,  need  not  fear,  therefore, 
that  it  can  be  transmitted  through  them  to  offspring, 
even  though  they  may  have  brothers  or  sisters  affected. 

G.  H.  C. 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELUGENCE. 

It  is  announced  in  the  issue  of  Science  for  April  7 
that  Harvard  University  has  received  a  bequest  of 
io,3ooZ.  from  the  estate  of  Mr.  J.  A.  Beebe,  and  one 
of  10,000/.  from  the  estate  of  Mrs.  W.  F.  Matchett; 
the  income  of  both  is  to  be  used  for  general  purposes. 

In  the  House  of  Commons  on  May  9,  Sir  Philip 
Magnus  asked  the  Prime  Minister  whether,  having 
regard  to  the  general  demand  that  had  been  expressed 
for  an  exhaustive  inquir}-  into  our  present  educational 
system,  particularly  with  regard  to  the  claims  of 
science  to  occupy  a  more  important  place  in  the 
curriculum  of  our  schools,  he  could  make  any  state- 
ment as  to  the  proposal  for  the  appointment  of  a  Royal 
Commission  to  consider  and  to  report  uf>on  the  question 
of  the  organisation  of  education  in  this  country.  In 
reply,  Mr.  Asquith  said  : — "When  the  Government  are 
in  possession  of  the  results  of  the  various  inquiries 
they  have  set  on  foot  it  will  be  possible  to  decide 
whether  any  useful  purpose  would  be  served  by  setting 
up  a  Rojal  Commission." 

The  growing  unrest  in  the  minds  of  thoughtful 
persons  on  the  subject  of  public  education  finds  ex- 
pression in  a  leading  article  of  the  current  issue  of  the 
Times  Educational  Supplement,  which,  during  the  last 
twelve  months,  has  consistently  pleaded  for  a,  more 
liberal  conception  of  the  aims  of  education  in  the 
elementarj'  school  and  of  the  necessary  extension  of 
the  compulsor\-  period  of  school  attendance  until  the 
age  of  fifteen,  so  as  to  make  effective  for  all  children 

NO.    2428,    VOL.    97] 


the  elements  at  least  of  a  secondary'  education  from 
the  age  of  eleven.  .As  in  many  other  matters  of  high 
importance,  the  events  of  the  war  have  brought  into 
clear  vision  many  national  shortcomings,  not  the  least 
of  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  domam  of  education,, 
alike  in  respect  of  means  and  method,  subjects  of 
instruction,  the  length  of  the  school  life,  and  the  care 
of  the  adolescent.  It  is  clear  that  the  nation  cannot 
hope  to  maintain  and  advance  its  position  as  a  civilised 
Power  of  the  first  rank  unless  the  mental  and  moral 
training  of  its  future  citizens  receives  the  devoted  atten- 
tion of  the  best  minds  of  the  nation,  whose  advice  and 
guidance  shall  be  accepted  independent  of  any  merely 
pecuniary  considerations.  The  issue  is  vital  to-  the 
national  well-being.  Bodies  like  the  Royal  Society, 
the  British  Science  Guild,  the  Teachers'  Guild  of  Great 
Britain,  various  education  authorities,  and  teachers' 
associations  are  all  moving  for  an  inquiry  at  the 
hands  of  men  of  high  responsibilit}',  eminent  in  the 
world  of  science  and  industrj-,  and  of  men  known  for 
their  devotion  to  the  educational  well-being  of  the 
nation.  No  mere  departmental  committee,  however 
reinforced,  will  meet  the  grave  responsibilities  of  the 
problems  involved.  Even  in  the  stress  of  an  un- 
paralleled war — indeed,  because  of  it — it  is  essential 
that  immediate  steps  be  taken  to  review  our  whole 
system  of  education  and  to  find  a  remedy  for  the 
crying  evils  that  beset  it. 

In  an  article  in  the  current  Fortnightly  Review,  by 
Mr.  .Archibald  Hurd,  we  are  invited  to  consider  "The 
German  Peril  after  the  War,"  and  its  bearing  upon  the 
economic  well-being  of  the  British  Empire.  Much  in 
the  way  of  abuse  is  poured  out  upon  the  entire  Ger- 
man nation,  who  are  characterised  as  the  "best- 
educated  and  most  unmoral  people  of  Europe,  whose 
guile,  lack  of  principle,  and  innate  baseness  we  have 
only  been  in  a  position  to  comprehend  since  this  war 
opened."  When  the  war  is  over  and  victory  has  been- 
achieved,  "  Germany  with  its  vast  population  of  from 
60,000,000  to  70,000,000  will  remain  .  .  .  with  its  vast 
resources  organised,  prepared  to  reassert  its  position 
in  the  world."  We  shall  then  embark  upon  an 
economic  struggle  scarcely  less  deadly  in  its  effects 
than  the  war  in  which  we  are  now  engaged.  It  is 
admitted  that  German  education — skill  in  applying 
the  fruits  of  scientific  discovery — energy,  enterprise, 
and  power  of  organisation  have  brought  her  into 
strenuous  rivalry  with  Great  Britain,  but  it  has  been 
accompanied  apparently  with  a  Machiavellian  in- 
genuity of  means  and  purpose  unrivalled  in  the  world's 
history.  "  Germany  has  had  a  monopoly  in  explo- 
sives, chemical  dyes  .  .  .  and  many  other  essentials 
of  modern  industry,  including  laboraton,'  and  optical 
glass."  "Our  sick  could  not  be  tended  because  she 
controlled  essential  chemicals,"  and  "  in  a  hundred  and 
one  trades  Germany  has  had  complete  control."  The 
trend  of  the  article  favours  fiscal  measures  as  the 
most  effective  palliative,  yet  at  the  same  time  the 
nation  is  urged  to  reform  its  system  of  education  and 
to  co-ordinate  science  and  industry.  The  author,  how- 
ever, fails  to  realise  the  true  source  of  Germany's 
great  economic  position,  namely,  her  educational 
efficiency. 

A  White  Paper  issued  on  April  25  contains  reports 
of  the  Advisory  Committee  on  grants  to  Welsh  univer- 
sities and  colleges,  and  of  the  Departmental  Com- 
mittee on  the  National  Medical  School  for  Wales, 
which  were  both  made  in  19 14,  and  Treasury  minutes 
thereon,  one  of  which  is  dated  -April  iS  last.  This 
minute  points  out  that  a  Royal  Commission  has  now- 
been  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  organisation  and 
work  of  the  University  of  Wales  and  Welsh  colleges, 
and  goes  on  to  say  that  the  Treasury  is  prepared  to. 
concur  in  the  recommendations  of  the  Advisory  Coan-. 


234 


NATURE 


[May  II,  1916 


mittee  on  condition  that  the  new  grants  will  be 
applied,  pending  the  reconstitution  of  the  University, 
to  meet  existing  liabilities  and  not  for  new  develop- 
ments. The  allocation  of  the  existing  annual  grants 
of  31,000/.,  as  well  as  of  the  new  grants,  will  be 
liable  to  reconsideration  after  the  reorganisation  of 
the  University.  The  Treasury  has  decided  to  include 
in  the  1916-17  Estimates  an  additional  sum  of  5500Z. 
for  the  first  year  of  the  new  grants,  provided  the  local 
authorities  continue  their  contribution  of  2000Z.  to  the 
University  College  at  Cardiff.  The  raising  of  a 
further  sum  of  3500Z.  out  of  rates,  in  accordance  with 
the  recommendation  of  the  Advisory  Committee,  is 
waived  until  after  the  war.  The  Treasury  will,  how- 
ever, feel  bound  to  attach  such  a  condition  after  the 
war.  If  that  condition  is  complied  with  in  future 
years,  it  will  be  prepared  in  addition  to  pay  500Z.  for 
each  further  500L  raised  by  local  authorities  over  and 
above  5500Z.  until  the  total  additional  grant  from  the 
Exchequer  to  the  University  and  the  colleges  reaches 
the  figure  of  ii,oooZ.  per  annum.  The  minute  also 
states  that  the  Treasury  will  be  prepared  in  due  course 
to  give  effect  to  the  recommendation  of  the  Depart- 
mental Committee  that  half  the  additional  annual  cost 
of  maintaining  the  National  Medical  School  at  Cardiff, 
up  to  a  maximum  grant  of  e^oool.  a  year,  should  be 
paid  by  the  Exchequer,  on  the  conditions  set  out  in 
the  reports  of  the  Departmental  Committee. 

The  plea  for  increased  attention  to  science  put 
forward  in  the  memorandum,  signed  by  thirty-six  men 
of  science,  issued  last  February,  referred  particularly 
to  the  position  of  scientific  subjects  in  the  public 
schools  and  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  to  the 
marks  obtainable,  in  comparison  with  classics,  in  the 
examinations  for  the  highest  posts  of  the  public  ser- 
vice. It  appears  to  have  been  the  deliberate  purpose 
of  the  promoters  of  the  memorandum  to  limit  con- 
sideration to  these  points,  which  they  believe  to  be  of 
fundamental  importance.  In  any  case,  a  reform  of 
the  present  attitude  towards  science  shown  by  adminis- 
trative officials  and  legislators  might  be  started  by 
making  scientific  subjects  of  capital  importance  in  the 
examinations  for  appointments  in  Class  I.  of  the  Civil 
Services ;  and  it  is  possible  that  there  is  practical 
wisdom  in  limiting  attention  to  these  aspects  instead 
of  surveying  the  whole  field  of  education.  As  the 
object  of  the  memorandum  was  to  assert  the  claims 
of  science  to  fuller  recognition  in  the  school  and  the 
State,  it  was  not  necessary  to  acknowledge  the  com- 
plementary part  played  by  literary  studies  in  a  com- 
plete education ;  yet  it  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say  that 
none  of  the  men  of  science  who  signed  the  memorial 
was  unmindful  of  it.  A  letter  which  appeared  in  the 
Times  of  May  4,  signed  by  several  leading  repre- 
sentatives of  science,  as  well  as  of  the  humanities, 
suggests  that  the  value  of  literary  studies  is  being 
overlooked,  while  the  claims  of  science  are  being 
urged.  Science  is  tacitly  classified  as  technical  know- 
ledge and  necessary  for  national  prosperity,  but  it  is 
held  that  in  the  education  "which  will  develop  human 
faculty  and  the  power  of  thinking  clearly  to  the 
highest  possible  degree  .  .  .  the  study  of  Greece  and 
Rome  must  always  have  a  large  part."  In  other 
words,  "early  specialisation  is  injurious"  if  it  means 
elementary  science  teaching,  but  not  when,  as  at  pre- 
sent, it  signifies  classical  languages  and  literature. 
We  do  not  believe  for  a  moment  that  the  best  interests 
of  classical  and  literary  studies  would  suffer  if  science 
were  given  the  place  In  the  curriculum  now  occupied 
by  Greek  and  Latin;  for  few  pupils  ever  reach  the 
stage  of  intelligent  appreciation  of  works  in  these 
languages,  and  for  the  majority  of  them  good  trans- 
lations in  English  would  serve  as  useful  a  purpose  as 
vague  interpretations  of  classical  texts. 

NO.    2428,    VOL.    97] 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 
London. 

Challenger  Society,  April  12. — Dr.  G.  H.  Fowler  in 
the  chair. — E.  T.  Browne  :  The  geographical  distribu- 
tion of  Siphonophores.  Nearly  all  the  species  are 
tropical,  and  only  one  {Diphyes  arctica)  has  perma- 
nently established  itself  in  cold  water.  Of  ninety 
species  recognised,  seventy  are  common  to  the  Atlantic 
and  Indo-Pacific,  and  most  of  the  remainder  have 
been  found  in  the  Atlantic  only. — C.  Tate  Regan : 
The  distribution  of  the  clupeoid  fishes  of  the  genus 
Sardina.  The  species  inhabit  the  zones  between  the 
mean  annual  surface  isotherms  of  12°  C.  and  20°  C. 
rhey  are  S.  pilchardus,  of  Europe,  S.  neopilchardus , 
of  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  and  S.  sagax,  of 
South  Africa,  Japan,  California,  'and  Chile. 

Royal  Meteorological  Society,  April  19. — Major  H.  G. 
Lyons,  president,  in  the  chair. — E.  V.  Newnham  :  The 
persistence  of  wet  and  dry  weather.  The  rainfall 
records  of  Greenwich,  Kew,  Aberdeen,  and  Valencia 
have  been  examined  in  order  to  find  out  how  often 
rain  falls  on  the  day  following  successive  runs  of 
one,  two,  three,  etc.,  wet  or  fine  days.  The  common 
notion  seems  to  be  that  after  a  long  run  of  wet  days 
the  chance  of  a  fine  day  becomes  greater,  but  statistics 
do  not  support  this  conclusion.  Generally  speaking, 
the  expectation  of  rain  on  any  day  has  been  found  to 
increase  rapidly  as  the  number  of  previous  successive 
wet  days  increases,  and  to  diminish  with  the  number 
of  successive  fine  days  in  the  past.  After  very  long 
spells  of  either  kind  the  expectation  of  further  rain 
reaches  a  practically  steady  value.  The  same  conclu- 
sion holds  for  the  expectation  of  rain  in  a  given  hour 
after  different  runs  of  wet  and  dry  hours.  In  illus- 
tration, some  of  the  results  may  be  quoted.  At 
Valencia,  after  seven  days  of  drought,  rain  falls  on  the 
eighth  day  twenty-four  times  out  of  one  hundred,  but 
after  seven  rainy  days  eighty-six  times.  For  Kew  the 
corresponding  increase  is  rather  less,  namely,  from 
twenty-seven  to  seventy-three. — Prof.  H.  H.  Turner : 
Discontinuities  in  meteorological  phenomena.  In  a 
former  paper  certain  critical  dates,  about  six  years 
apart  (and  formed  according  to  a  specified  law,  appar- 
ently related  to  the  movements  of  the  earth's  axis), 
were  specified  for  200  years  back  ;  and  It  was  shown  that 
a  number  of  meteorological  data  changed  abruptly  in 
character  at  these  dates.  In  simple  cases  the  inter- 
mediate chapters  are  alternately  hot  and  cold,  or  wet 
and  dry,  though  other  changes  are  more  complex.  In 
the  present  paper  various  new  data  are  submitted  to 
the  same  test  and  give  confirmatory  results.  The 
most  noteworthy  case  Is  that  of  the  mean  tempera- 
tures at  Paris,  which  confirm  the  dates  for  the  past 
century.  The  changes  at  the  critical  dates  are  shown 
to  be  abrupt;  the  alternation  Is  consistent  for  seven- 
teen chapters  out  of  eighteen ;  and  it  is  shown  to  vary 
In  amount  according  to  a  law  which  suggests  the 
regular  action  of  two  disturbing  causes,  one  of  which 
has  already  been  shown  to  play  an  important  part 
in  these  phenomena,  and  has  a  period  of  about  forty 
years ;  the  other,  of  about  fifty  years,  appearing  clearly 
In  Mr.  Douglass's  measures  of  Calif ornian  tree-rings. 

Mathematical  Society,  April  27. — Sir  J.  Larmor,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — Major  MacMahon  :  Some  problems 
of  combinatory  analysis.— Dr.  S.  Chapman  :  The 
uniformity  of  gaseous  density,  according  to  the  kinetic 
theory. — G.  N.  Watson  :  Bessel  functions  and  Kapteyn 
series.— T.  C.  Lewis :  Four  Tucker  circles. — Prof. 
H.  S.  Carslaw  :  The  Green's  function  for  the  equation 
^''u  +  K^t/=o  (II.). — J.  Hodgkinson  :  The  nodal  points 
of  a  plane  sextic. — S.  Pollard  :  The  deduction  of  criteria 
for  the  convergence  of  Fourier's  series  from  Fejer's 
theorem  concerning  their  summability. — Prof.  W.   H. 


May  II,  1916] 


NATURE 


235_ 


Young  :  Note  on  functions  of  upper  and  lower  type. — 
Mrs.  G.  C.  Young  :  The  derivates  of  a  function. 

Manchester. 

Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  March  21. — Prof. 
S.  J.  Hickson,  president,  in  the  chair. — Prof.  F.  E. 
Weiss  :  Recent  views  concerning  the  nature  of  so-called 
"graft  hybrids."  The  author  gave  an  account  of  the 
recent  researches  made  on  graft  hybrids,  describing, 
among  others,  the  curious  form  of  Cytisus  Adami, 
obtained  early  last  century  by  grafting  the  purple 
Cytisus  on  the  yellow  Laburnum,  and  the  more 
recent  productions  resulting  from  grafting  shoots  of 
the  tomato  upon  young  plants  of  the  nightshade.  In 
this,  as  in  the  purple  Laburnum,  reversions  to  both 
parental  forms  are  common.  Other  cases  of  so-called 
hybrids  are  known  between  the  hawthorn  and  medlar, 
the  quince  and  pear,  and  the  almond  and  peach.  A 
summary  was  given  of  the  various  views  put  forward 
to  account  for  the  production  of  these  curious  inter- 
mediate forms,  and  the  relationship  of  the  graft 
hybrids  to  ordinary  seed  hybrids  was  discussed. 

April  4. — Prof.  S.  J.  Hickson,  president,  in  the 
chair. — Prof.  G.  Elliot  Smith  :  The  origin  of  the  cere- 
bral cortex.  The  cerebral  cortex  was  called  into  exist- 
ence during  the  process  of  evolution  of  the  verte- 
brates, and,  though  difficult  to  detect  in  certain  fishes, 
is  to  be  regarded  as  a  distinctive  and  inherent  feature 
of  vertebrate  structure.  The  microscopic  formatio 
pallialis  of  the  Cyclostomes  represents  the  undiffer- 
entiated rudiment  of  the  whole  of  the  pallium  (hippo- 
campal  formation,  piriform  area,  and  neopallium  of 
the  highest  vertebrates),  and  not  merely  the  hippo- 
campus. The  cerebellum  grew  up  around  the  central 
terminations  of  the  nerves  which  bring  into  the 
nervous  system  special  information  concerning  the 
animal's  position  in  space;  and  its  cortical  mechanism 
developed  in  response  to  the  need  for  bringing  this 
information  under  the  control  of  other  influences,  such 
as  the  nerves  of  vision,  touch,  the  muscular  sense, 
etc.,  before  it  is  transmitted  to  the  muscles  of  the 
body  as  a  whole.  The  cerebral  cortex  grew  up  in  a 
similar  way  around  the  central  terminations  of  the 
olfactory  nerve. — Prof.  G.  Elliot  Smith  :  The  com- 
mencement of  the  Neolithic  phase  of  culture.  Evidence 
pointed  to  the  introducers  of  the  Azilian  culture  as 
representing  an  early  wave  of  the  Neolithic  people, 
coming  probably  from  Africa  into  Europe.  The  author 
suggested  that  sporadic  bearers  of  the  same  culture 
probably  made  their  way  into  Europe  for  many  cen- 
turies before  the  close  of  the  Palaeolithic  epoch  there. 
This  would  explain  many  similarities  of  Magdalenian 
to  Azilian  implements,  and  of  both  to  those  of  Pre- 
dynastic  Egypt. — J.  W.  Jackson  :  The  geographical 
distribution  of  the  use  of  pearls  and  pearl-shells.  The 
special  appreciation  of  pearls  is  intimately  associated 
with  the  geographical  distribution  of  elements  of  a 
culture,  including,  amongst  other  things,  the  use  of 
shell-purple  for  dyeing  and  of  conch-shells  for  trum- 
pets. Through  Phoenician  trade  the  knowledge  of  the 
pearl  spread  from  the  eastern  Mediterranean  vid  the  Red 
Sea  and  Persian  Gulf  to  India  and  Ceylon,  China  and 
Japan,  Indonesia  and  the  Pacific  Islands,  and,  finally, 
the  New  World.— J.  W.  Jackson  :  The  use  of  shells  for 
the  purposes  of  currency.  No  form  of  shell-money 
has  been  used  so  extensively  as  the  money-cowry, 
Cypraea  moneia.  and  this  is  used  in  a  natural  state. 
The  date  of  the  introduction  of  this  cowry-currency  is 
unknown,  but  it  was  in  use  in  Egypt  in  Predynastic 
times.  Shell-currency  has  been  recorded  from  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  New  Hebrides,  and  New  Caledonia, 
and  it  was  extensivelv  used  in  China  and  on  the 
Pacific  coast  of  North  America.  Portuguese  voyagers 
refer  to  its  use  in  West  Africa  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  it  is  at  present  in  vogue  in  tropical  Africa. 

NO.    2428,    VOL.    97] 


Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  April  25.— M.  Camille  Jordan 
in  the  chair.— The  president  announced  the  death  of 
M.  Emile  Jungfleisch,  member  of  the  Academy.— G. 
itigourdan  :  Monthly  distribution  of  average  cloudiness 
in  France.  A  discussion  of  observations  from  thirty- 
five  stations  in  France  and  foreign  stations  close  to 
the  French  frontier.  In  the  scale  adopted  o  indicates 
blue  sky,  and  10  a  completely  clouded  sky,  and  the 
results  are'  shown  in  thirteen  charts,  one  for  each 
month,  and  one  for  the  yearly  average,  giving  the 
isonephs,  or  lines  of  equal  cloudiness.  More  ob- 
servation stations  are  required  before  full  conclusions 
can  be  drawn. — T.  Levi-Civita :  The  regularisation  of 
the  problem  of  three  bodies.— W.  Sierpinski :  A  can- 
torian  curve  which  contains  a  biunivocal  and  continu- 
ous image  of  any  given  curve. — E.  Baticle  :  Calcula- 
tion of  the  thrust  on  a  supporting  wall  by  a  powdery 
mass  with  free  plane  surface.— Gabriel  Sizes  :  Pr9per- 
ties  of  the  law  of  resonance  of  vibrating  bodies. — J. 
Deprat  :  The  structure  of  the  internal  zone  of  the 
preyunnan  sheets.— Emile  Belot :  Contribution  to  the 
study  of  the  causes  of  volcanoes.  An  experiment 
showing  the  production  of  a  miniature  crater  by  the 
action  of  locally  applied  heat  to  a  mixture  of  water 
and  sand,  showing  why  the  vapour  is  evolved  at  a 
considerable  distance  from  the  source  of  heat.  Assum- 
ing a  connection  between  volcanoes  and  the  influx  of 
sea-water,  this  explanation  removes  the  difficulty  of 
the  South  American  volcanoes  situated  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  sea.— E.  Mathias :  Three  observa- 
tions of  globular  lightning  made  at  the  summit  of  the 
Puy  de  D6me. — F.  Jadin  and  A.  Astruc  :  The  man- 
ganese in  some  springs  connected  with  the  central 
massif  and  some  stations  in  the  plain  of  Languedoc. 
The  amounts  of  manganese  found  van,-  between  0001 
and  04  mgr.  per  litre.  The  data  confirm  the  con- 
clusions given  in  previous  communications  on  the 
amounts  of  manganese  in  French  mineral  waters. — 
Henry  W.  BrSlemann  :  An  evolutive  process  in  Diplopod 
Myriapods. — E.  Kayser  :  Contribution  to  the  study  of 
the  ferments  of  rum.  A  study  of  the  fermentation 
products  produced  from  beetroot,  molasses,  and  cane- 
sugar  molasses  by  various  yeasts.  Figures  are  given 
for  the  higher  alcohols,  volatile  acids,  aldehydes,  and 

ethers. F.    Garrigou  :    The     hygienic,     rational,     and 

economical  treatment  of  human  excreta. — M.  Marage  : 
True  and  simulated  deaf-mutism  resulting  from 
wounds  received  in  battle.  The  medical  examination 
of  such  cases  should  avoid  experiments  causing  pain 
to  the  patient,  and  in  the  case  of  a  painful  treatment, 
involving  possibly  negative  results,  the  consent  of  the 
patient  should  always  be  obtained.— H.  Bnsqnet  :  The 
rapid  immunisation  by  small  doses  of  nucleinate  of 
soda,  or "  chaulmoogra  oil,  against  the  hypotensive 
action  of  large  doses  of  these  substances. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Statics :  A  First  Course.  By  C.  O.  Tuckey  and 
W.  A.  Nayler.  Pp.  299.  (Oxford  :  Clarendon  Press.) 
35.  6d. 

Historical  Introduction  to  Mathematical  Literature. 
By  Prof.  G.  A.  Miller.  Pp.  xiii  +  302.  (London: 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)    ys.  net. 

The  Principles  of  Agronomy.  By  Prof.  F.  S. 
Harris  and  G.  Stewart.  Pp.  xvi4-45i.  (London: 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)    6s.  net. 

The  Influence  of  Ancient  Egyptian  Civilization  in 
the  East  and  in  America.  By  Prof.  G.  Elliot  Smith. 
Pp.  32.  (Manchester  :  University  Press ;  London  : 
Longmans  and  Co.)     is.  net. 

Annual  Report  of  the  Director,  Kodaikanal  and 
Madras  Observatories  for  1915.  Pp.  24.  (Madras : 
Government  Press.) 


23^ 


NATURE 


[May  II,  1916 


An  Intermediate  Text  Book  of  Maghetism  and  Elec- 
tricity. By  G.  F.  Woodhouse.  Pp.  x  +  264.  (Sed- 
bergh  :  Jackson  and  Son.)     65.  net, 

Canada.  Department  of  Mines.  Preliminary  Re- 
port on  the  Mineral  Production  of  Canada  during  the 
Calendar  Year  1915.  Nos.  348,  349,  350,  383,  408. 
(Ottawa  :  Government  Printing  Bureau.) 

Spitsbergen  Waters.  Oceanographic  Observations 
during  the  Cruise  of  the  Veslemoy  to  Spitsbergen  in 
1912.  By  F.  Nansen.  Pp.  132.  (Christiania :  J. 
Dybwad.) 

Proceedings    of    the    Geological    Society    of    South 
Africa.     To  accompany  vol.  xviii.  of  the  Transactions. 
January-December,    1915.     Transactions    of    the    Geo- 
logical   Society    of    South    Africa.        Vol.    xviii.     Pp.  . 
134 -I- plates  xvi.     (Johannesburg.) 

The  Purpose  of  Education.  By  St.  George  Lane 
Fox  Pitt.  New  edition.  Pp.  xxviii+144.  (Cam- 
bridge :  At  the  University  Press.)     25.  6d.  net. 

The  Value  of  Science  in  the  Smithy  and  Forge. 
By  W.  H.  Cathcart.  Pp.  xiv+163.  '(London:  C. 
Griffin  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     45.  net. 

A  Guerra  E.  O.  Pensamento  Medico.  By  Prof.  R. 
Jorge.  Pp.  63.  (Lisboa  :  Sociedade  das  Sciencias 
Medicas.) 

Department  of  Commerce.  Scientific  Papers  of  the 
Bureau  of  Standards.  No.  274.  (Washington : 
Government  Printing  Office.) 

Imperial  Department  of  Agriculture  for  the  West 
Irtdies.  Sugar-Cane  Experiments  in  the  Leeward 
Islands.  Repot-t  on  Experiments  conducted  in 
Antigua  and  St.  Kitts  in  the  Season  1914-15.  Parts 
i.   and  ii.     Pp.  76.     (Barbados.) 

Yorkshire's  Contribution  to  Science,  with  a  Biblio- 
graphy of  Natural  History  Publications.  By  T.  Shep- 
pard.  Pp.  233.  (London  :  A.  Brown  and  Sons,  Ltd.) 
55.  net. 

Cassell's  Modern  School  Series.  Historical  Section. 
The  Tale  of  Ancient  Peoples.  By  A.  E.  McKilliam. 
Pp.  128.  The  Tafe  of  the  Nations.  By  A.  E.  McKil- 
liam. Pp.  160.  (London  :  Cassell  and  Co.,  Ltd.) 
Tod.  net  and  is.  net  respectively. 

The  Practical  Principles  of  Plain  Photo-Micrography. 
By  G.  West.  Pp.  xii+ 145  + plates  viii.  (Dundee: 
The  Author,  University  College.)     4s.  6d.  net. 

Annuario  publicado  pelo  Observatorio  Nacional  do 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  1916.  Anno  xxxii.  Pp.  vi  +  259.  (Rio 
de  Janeiro.) 

DIARY   OF    SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  May  ii. 

Royal  Society,  at  4.30.— Seventh  Memoir  on  the  Partition  of  Numbers. 
A  Detailed  Study  of  the  Enumeration  of  the  Partitions  of  MuUipartite 
Numbers  :  Major  P.  A.  Mai-Mahon.— LesenHre's  Functions  P«  (&)  when  « 
is  Great  and  fl  has  any  Value :  Lord  Rayleigh.— The  Ocoirrence  of 
Gelatinous  Spicules  and  their  Mode  of  Origin  in  a  New  Genus  of 
Siliceous  Sponges  :  Prof.  A.  Dendy— The  Classification  of  the  Reptilia  : 
E.  S.  Goodrich.— The  Experimental  Production  of  Congenital  Goitre:  Dr. 
R.  McCarrison. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3. — Flints  and  Flint  Implements:  Sir  Ray 
Lankester.  .  . 

Tnstitotion  of  Electrical  EkgiI^eers,  at  8.— Annual  General  Meeting. 

Institution  of  Mining  an&  Met  allurgy,  at  530. — Discwssion:  "Xh^ 
Influence  of  the  War  on  the  Mining  and  Metallurgical  Industries. 

PRTDAY,  May  12. 

Royal  Astronomical  Society,  at  5.— The  Surface  Currents  of  Jupiter  in 
1Q15-16:  S.  Bolton.— Observations  of  V  Cassiopeise  in  1910-16:  A.  N. 
Brown.— The  Certainty,  of  the  Canals  of  Mars:  G.  H.  Hamilton. — The 
Illumination  of  the  Field  of  a  Photographic  Objective  :  H.  C-  Lord.— The 
Law  of  Distribution  in  Star-clusters  :  J.  H.  Jeans.  — The  Efficiency  of  Sun 
Spots  in  Relation  to  the  Mean  Daily  Range  of  Terrestrial  Magnetic 
Declination  :  Rev.  A.  L.  Cortie.^The  Theorj'  of  Star-streaming  and  the 
Structure  of  the  Universe.     II.  :  J.  H.  Jeans. — The  Distribution  of  Stars 

in  Globular  Clusters:  A.  S.  Eddin^ton Stars  with  Lirge  Proper  Motion 

between  Declination  65°  and  the  North  Pole :  Royal  Observatory,  Green- 
wich.— Solar  Prominence  in  1915  :  G.  J.  Newbegin. 

Physical  Society,  at  s.^The  Latent  Heats  of  Fusion  of  Metals  and  the 
Quantum  Theory  :  Dr.  H  S.  Al'en.— a)  Lenses  for  Light  Distribution  ; 
(2)  The  Choice  of  Glass  for  Cemented  Objectives  :  T.  Smith. 

Malacological  Society,  at  7. — Descriptions  of  New  MoUusca  :  G.  _B. 
Sowerby. — Solknder  as  a  Conchologist :  T.  Iredale. — Misnamed  Tasmanian 
Chitons  :  T.  Iredale  and  W.  L.  May. 


-Flints    and     Flint    Implements:    Sir    Ray 


SATURDAY,  May  13. 
Royal  Institution,  at  3. — X- Rays  and  Crystals:  Prot  W.  H.  Bragg. 

MONDA  Y,  May  15. 
Aristotelian  Society,   at  8. — Symposium  at  Oxford — The  Theory  of  the 

State  :  Hon.  R  RusmII,  S.  Ball,  C.  D.  Burns,  and  G.  D.  H.  Cole. 
Royal  Society  of  Akts,  at  4. 30. ^Vibrations,   Waves,  and  Resopanqe : 

Dr."  J.  Erskine-Murray. 

TUESDAY,  May  16. 
RovAL     Institution,    at    3. — ^Unconscious    Nerves — their    Functions    in 

Internal  Life :  Prof.  C.  S.  Sherrington. 
Royal  Statistical  Society,  at  5.15. 
Institution  of  Petroleum  Technologists,  at  8. — Petroleum  Refining  : 

A.  Campbell. 

WEDNESDAY,  May  17. 
Royal    Meteorological    Society,    at    4.30. — The    Re-adjustment    of 

Pressure  Diflferences — Two  Species  of  Atmospheric  Circulation  and  their 

Connection  :  L.  C.  W.  Bonacina. 
Royal  Microscopical  Society,  at  8. — Some  Suggestion.s  regarding  Visual 
Efficiency  in  the  Use  of  the  Microscope  and  other  Optical   Instruments  : 

J.  W.  Purkiss. — A  Case  of  Apparent  Intelligence  exhibited  by  a  Marine 

Tube-bearing  Worm,  Terebella  conckiUga:  A.  T.  Watson. — Alien  Oligo- 

chxts  ill  England  :    Rev.  Hilderic  Friend. 
Royal  Society  of  Arts,  at  4.30. — Hindu   Hand-painted  Calicoes  of  the 

Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Centuries,  and  their  Influence  on  the  Tinctorial 

Arts  of  Europe  :  G.  P.  Baker. 

THURSDAY,  May  18. 
Royal  Society,  at  4.30. 
Royal    Institution,   at    3.- 
Lankester. 

FRIDAY,  May  19.         . 
Royal  Institution,  at  5.30. — The  Movements  of  the  Earth's  Pole:  Col- 

E.  H.  Hills. 
Institution    of    Mechanical    Engineers,    at    6. — Spur-Gearing :    D. 
AdamsoD. 

SATURDAY,  May  20. 
Royal  Institution,  at  3. — The  Finance  of  the  Great  War — New  Problem 
and  New  Solutions  :  Prof.  H.  S.  Foxwill. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Harvey    and   Aristotle.       By    Sir    Clifford    Allbutt, 

K.C.B.,  F.R.S 217 

The  Freshwater   Fishes  of  Africa.     By  Sir  H.  H. 

Johnston,  G.C.M.G.,  K.C.B 218 

Theoretical  and  Practical  Chemistry.     By  J.  C.  P.  218 

Our  Bookshelf 2i9 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

Science  and  the  State. — Sir  Napier  Shaw,  F.R.S.  220 

The  Daylight  Saving  Scheme.— H.  W.  M.  Willett  221 

Avoiding  Zeppelins. — Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering    ...  221 

Daylight  and  Darkness 222 

German  Metallurgy  and  British  Methods.    By  T.  T.  224 

A  Market-garden  Research  Station.     By  F.  K.  224 

Notes 225 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Uranus 229 

Mercury 229 

The  Lyrid  Meteors  of  1916 229 

Science  in  Education  and  the  Civil  Services  .    .    .  230 

National  Food  Supply  and  Nutritional  Value  .    .    .  231 

The  Future  of  Chemical  Industry.    By  J.  B.  C.  .    .  232 

Recent  Work  on  Genetics.     By  G.  H.  C.  .    .    .    .    .  232 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 233 

Societies  and  Academies 234 

Books  Received '   '. .  ^35 

Diary  of  Societies 236 


-    Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices  : 
MACMILLAN   &   CO.,    Ltd., 
ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


AdvertisemenU  and  business  letters  to  he  addressed  to  the 
Publishers.  .   . 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,  London. 
Telephone  Number :  Gerrard  8830. 


NO.    2428,    VOL.    97] 


NA  TURE 


237 


THURSDAY,    MAY    18,    1916. 


MIMICS  READY-MADE. 
Mimicry  in  Butterflies.     By  Prof.  R.  C.  Punnett. 
Pp.  vi+i88  +  xvi  plates.      (Cambridge:   At  the 
University  Press,  191 5.)    Price  155.  net. 

THE  scope  and  general  arrangement  of  this 
work  are  indicated  in  the  following  list  of 
its  eleven  chapters  :  (i.)  -^  short  introduction  on 
teleological  interpretations— theolc^ical  and  other- 
wise ;  (ii.)  A  historical  account  of  Batesian  and 
Miillerian  mimicry;  (iii.)  Old-world  mimics,  with 
a  ver}-  poor  reproduction  on  p.  19  of  Dr.  Eltring- 
ham's  illustrations  of  the  fore-feet  of  butterflies; 
(iv.)  New-world  mimics;  (v.)  Criticisms  of  "the 
five  conditions  which  Wallace  regarded  as  con- 
stant for  all  cases  of  mimetic  resemblance  ";  (vi.) 
"Mimicry  rings,"  a  discussion  on  the  origin  of 
mimetic  resemblances  and  initial  steps ;  (vii.  and 
viii.)  On  Papilio  polytes— the  Mendelian  relation- 
ship between  its  female  forms  and  their  origin ; 
(ix.)  The  enemies  of  butterflies;  (x.)  Mimicry  and 
variation;  (xi.)  Conclusion,  summed  up  in  the  last 
words — "The  facts,  so  far  as  we  at  present  know 
them,  tell  definitely  against  the  views  generally 
held  as  to  the  part  played  by  natural  selection  in 
the  process  of  evolution " — ^viz.,  against  the 
theory  that  adaptations  are  built  up  by  the 
gradual  accumulation  of  small  variations. 
.  The  last  chapter  is  followed  by  two  appendices, 
the  first  containing  a  table  by  Mr.  H.  T.  J.  Norton 
giving  the  means  for  "estimating  the  change 
brought  about  through  selection  with  regard  to  a 
given  hereditary  factor  in  a  population  of  mixed 
nature  mating  at  random  " ;  the  second  explain- 
ing the  differences  between  the  three  sections  of 
Papilio,  and  giving  a  list  of  Papilionine  models 
and  mimics  quoted  in  the  text. 

The  principal  feature  of  the  book  is  its  illustra- 
tion by  means  of  twelve  excellent  coloured  and 
four  uncoloured  plates.  There  are  unfortunately 
a  good  many  errors  and  much  want  of  judgment 
in  arrangement  and  in  some  of  the  examples 
selected. 

In  so  complicated  a  subject  as  mimicry  it  is 
a  great  help  to  the  reader  to  adopt  some  uniform 
s>'stem  in  the  arrangement  of  models  and  mimics, 
and  for  many  years  it  has  been  a  usual  custom 
when  the  figures  are  side  by  side  to  place  the 
mimic  to  the  right ;  when  they  are  one  abo^■e  the 
6ther,  to  give  it  the  lower  place.  The  present 
work  adopts  no  system  at  all.  Sometimes,  as  in 
plate  vii.,  the  mimics  are  to  the  right;  sometirhes, 
as  in  viii.  and  xv. ,  they  are  to  the  left;  and  so 
with  upper  and  lower. 

-  There  are  also  unfortunate  errors  in  the  naming. 
Fig.  3  on  plate  i.  is  certainly  not  Danais  septen- 
trionis,  but  a  Radena,  probably  R.  vulgaris.  The 
former  butterfly  is  nearly  represented'  by  the 
cfosely  allied  D.  petiverana,'  shown  on  plate  vii, 
fig.  I.  A  still  rrtore  serious  mistake  occurs  on 
litts  last  plate,  where  the  names  of  figs.  2  and 
3   are   transposed    in    the   description    and    in    the 

NO.    2429,   VOL.    97] 


text,  so  that  a  Danaine  model  is  made  to  bear 
the  name  of  the  Papilionine  mimic  of  another 
model,  and  vice  versd.  Apart  from  this,  the 
model  shown  in  fig.  2,  if  only  one  was  to  be 
figured  or  mentioned  in  the  text,  is  not  well 
chosen,  and  it  is  natural  that  the  author  should, 
on  pp.  29,  30,  criticise  his  own  selection. 
Amauris  echeria  and  albimaculata  are  the  well- 
known  models  of  the  brasidas  form  of  Pap.  leon- 
idas  in  the  south  and  south-east  parts  of  its 
range.  The  same  Danaines  are  also  deprived  of 
their  true  place  as  the  models  of  Pap.  echerioides, 
being  ousted  by  Am.   psyttalea  in  the  taWe  on 

P-   159- 

The  descriptive  title  of  plate  xii.,  "South 
American  Butterflies,"  is  unfortunately  chosen, 
for  the  lowest  of  the  four  figures  is  a  moth,  and 
the  word  "  Butterflies "  in  conspicuous  capitals 
immediately  beneath  the  figure  quite  overshadows 
the  diminutive  "  (Heterocera)  "  at  the  side.  Plate 
XV.,  "illustrating  the  closely  parallel  series  of 
patterns  occurring  in  the  two  distinct  groups 
Heliconinae  and  Ithomiinae,"  is  unfortunate,  both 
in  the  names  and  in  one  of  the  genera  selected — 
Mechanitis.  If  a  single  Ithomiine  genus  was 
to  be  shown  with  Heliconius,  it  should  have 
been  Melinaea,  the  undoubted  primary  models 
of  the  Heliconines  and  almost  certainly  of 
the  species  of  Mechanitis  as  well.  The  resem- 
blances shown  on  plate  xv.  are,  in  fact,  the 
secondary  or  incidental  resemblances  between 
species  that  mimic  the  same  models — not  them- 
selves illustrated.  As  regards  the  names,  it  is 
perhaps  too  much  to  expect  a  writer  whose  main 
interest  is  bionomic  and  evolutionary  to  follow  all 
the  ups  and  downs  of  synonymy.  But  the  ex- 
amples are  not  numerous,  and  it  is  easy  to  get 
assistance  from  friends  devoted  to  the  study  of 
systematics.  Furthermore,  most  of  the^ examples 
on  plate  xv.  had  already  been  figured  and  named 
in  the  excellent,  although  uncoloured,  plates 
XXX.— xxxiii.  of  J.  C.  Moulton's  paper  in  Trans. 
Ent.  Soc.,  1908.  Of  the  five  species  of  Heliconius 
figured  on  plate  xv.,  fig.  i,  minis  is  regarded 
as  a  form  of  novatus ;  fig.  2,  telchinia,  of  isme- 
nius;  fig.  3,  eucrate  has  been  long  known  as 
narcaea  narcaea;  fig.  5,  " splendens,"  a  name  un- 
known in  the  genus  (splendida,  Weym. ,  does  not 
resemble  the  figure),  is  aristiona  hicolorata.  Fig. 
10,  Mechartitis  "meihona"  is  doubtless  intended 
to  be  M.  decepius,  the  true  co-mimic  of  the  ac- 
companying Heficonius  (fig.  5);  but  a  butterfly 
from  a  different  association  and  from  farther 
north,  ^f.  messenoides,  has  apparently  been 
figured — either  this  or  a  form  transitional  be- 
tween it  and  decepius.  "Methona  "  is  a  third 
rendering  of  Hewitson's  moihone.  Salvin  having 
introduced  a  second  rendering,  " methone" ;  b«t 
the  butterfly  originally  named  by  Hewitson  is  a 
Melinaea,  arid  not  a  Mechanitis  at  all. 

Plate  xvi.  and  the  corresponding  parts  of  the 
text  suffer  from  the  oriiission  of  a  third  North 
American  Daname  from  Arizona,  D.  strigosa, 
and  the  corresponding  Limenitis,  L.  obsoleta 
(hulsti),    which,    although     an     excellent     mimic, 

N 


238 


NATURE 


[May  i8,  1916 


retains  more  of  the  pattern  of  the  non-mimetic 
species  than  its  two  mimetic  relatives,  L.  archip- 
pus  and  L.  floridensis  (eros).  The  structural  fea- 
tures, worked  out  by  Dr.  Eltringham,  also  con- 
firm the  conclusions  derived  from  pattern,  and 
should  have  been  taken  into  account  in  any 
useful  discussion  of   North  American   mimicry. 

Criticisms  suggested  by  the  illustrations  have 
occupied  nearly  the  whole  of  the  available  space, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  write  on  the  present  occa- 
sion of  the  numerous  errors  contained  in  the  text 
or  to  discuss  the  various  arguments  advanced  by 
the  writer.  One  general  criticism  may,  however, 
be  made.  If  we  desire,  as  the  author  desires,  by 
the  study  of  mimicry  to  throw  light  on  the  course 
of  evolution  in  general,  we  must  at  any  rate 
glance  at  mimicry  between  insects  of  different 
orders  as  well  as  the  likeness  between  butterfly 
patterns ;  for  a  hypothesis  which  attempts  to 
explain  the  latter  but  cannot  explain  the  former 
is  not  only  of  limited  interest,  but  also  unlikely 
to  provide  a  true  interpretation  in  its  own  pro- 
vince. E.   B.   P. 

THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  MIND. 
(i)  Child  Training:  a  System  of  Education  for  the 

Child  under  the  School  Age.    By  V.  M.  Hillyer. 

Pp.    xxxix  +  299.       (London  :     Duckworth    and 

Co.,   1915.)     Price  55.  net. 
(2)  The   Foundations   of   Normal    and    Abnormal 

Psychology.        By    Dr.    B.    Sidis.        Pp.    416. 

(London:    Duckworth   and   Co.,    1915.)      Price 

7s.  6d.  net. 
(i)  'T^O  stimulate  educational  ideas  is  a  most 
■*-  valuable  social  service,  but  the  neces- 
sity of  using  the  method  of  trial  and  error  in  the 
application  of  this  or  that  principle  to  the  teach- 
ing process  may  come  hard  on  the  child,  who  must 
submit  to  be  a  corpus  vile  for  experimentation. 
The  co-operation  of  teachers  and  psychologists  has 
produced  many  futile  and  even  mischievous 
"theories  of  education,"  and  the  younger  the  sub- 
ject the  more  dangerous  is  their  practical  inci- 
dence. But  this  co-operation  has  recently  begun 
to  justify  Itself.  Teachers  with  insight,  especially 
in  America,  have  been  applying  certain  approved 
results  of  psychology,  and  their  success  has  been 
considerable.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  several 
old-world  methods  are  still  found  to  be  among  the 
best;  for  instance,  the  two  main  principles  of 
savage  education,  imitation  and  "helping"  the 
parents,  and  the  classical  and  mediaeval  insistence 
upon  drill,  are  proved  foundations  of  training, 
especially  in  the  case  of  the  very  young.  A  system 
like  that  of  Mr.  V.  M.  Hillyer  Is  practical  In  the 
best  sense,  and  soundly  based  on  psychological 
fact.  "  It  aims  to  avoid  the  faults  so  common  in 
child  training — sentimentality,  effeminacy,  emo- 
tionalism, mysticism,  licence  under  the  guise  of 
freedom,  exaggeration  of  the  unimportant  or 
trivial,  the  attaching  of  Imaginary  value  to  the 
symbolic."  "The  formation  of  habits,  physical, 
mental,  and  moral,"  by  direct  drill  Is  the  keynote 
of  the  system.  Mental  training,  for  example,  de- 
NO.    2429,   VOL.    97] 


pends  on  the  formation  of  "brain  paths  "  by  repe- 
tition, and  on  their  increase  in  number  by  increas- 
ing associations. 

The  author  well  remarks  :  "  It  is  a  commonplace 
in  education  to  say  that  the  forming  of  character 
is  the  chief  aim,  that  it  is  not  so  much  what  is 
learned,  as  the  character  produced,  but  character 
is  nothing  more  than  the  sum  total  of  habits — 
good  or  bad,"  and  these  are  not  only  moral,  but 
physical  and  mental.  "  Habits  are  formed  by  repe- 
tition, and  in  no  other  way  than  by  repetition." 
It  is  very  sensible  to  say,  "the  involuntary  habits 
we  can  form  by  making  the  right  setting  for  the 
child.  His  playmates,  nurses,  and,  not  least,  his 
parents,  avIII  be  his  involuntary  copies,  models^ 
and  habit-formers.  The  voluntary  habits  we  can 
form  only  by  practising  the  child ;  they  cannot  be 
formed  by  telling  him."  Muscle-memory  must  be 
exercised,  and  reaction  must  be  encouraged ;  on 
these  lines  concentration  and  speed  may  be  deve- 
loped. It  Is  perhaps  claiming  too  much  to  say  : 
"  If  you  stimulate  and  exercise  the  brain  cells 
properly  you  can  develop  almost  any  habits,  abili- 
ties, tastes,  faculties  you  may  wish."  With  young 
children  there  Is  a  danger  from  excessive  drill,, 
which  may  induce  fatigue,  misconstrued  so  often 
by  the  inexperienced  teacher,  and  from  excessive 
habituation,  which  confines  the  child  in  a  rut  from 
which  he  may  never  escape.  In  this  case  his  work 
lacks  both  individuality  and  finish. 

If  carried  out  with  sympathy  and  intelligence,. 
Mr.  Hillyer 's  system  is  excellent.  Not  the  least  of 
its  positive  features  is  the  drill  in  social  habits. 

(2)  Dr.  Boris  Sidis  makes  a  timely  protest 
against  "practical  pseudo-psychology,"  and  those 
psychologists  "who  claim  that  they  have  some 
great  psychological  truths  to  reveal  to  business 
men,  manufacturers,  and  working  men."  He  also 
presses  the  current  objection  to  the  use  of  physical 
terms  and  metaphors  In  the  illustration  of  psychi- 
cal phenomena,  e.g.,  when  Kovalevsky  expresses 
mental  activity  In  terms  of  mechanical  energy, 
"  the  writer  might  as  well  attempt  to  change  inches 
into  pounds.  He  who  undertakes  the  examination 
and  study  of  mental  phenomena  must  bear  in 
mind  the  simple  and  Important,  but  frequently  for- 
gotten truth,  that  facts  of  consciousness  are  not 
of  a  physical,  mechanical  character." 

A  disciple  of  William  James,  the  author  attacks 
the  so-called  "  new  psychology  "  In  Its  attempt  ta 
make  psychology  a  physical  science.  But  his  very 
lengthy  argumentation  on  the  scope  and  function 
of  the  science  of  mind  Is  extremely  nebulous,  and 
consists  more  of  illustrative  phrases  than  of  illus- 
trative facts.  For  example,  the  axiom  that 
"psychological  facts  cannot  be  reached  by  any  of 
the  sense  organs  "  Is  discussed  and  Illustrated  In 
about  fifty  pages  without  any  new  light  being 
thrown  on  the  thesis.  "Nothing,"  says  Dr.  Sidis, 
"gives  me  more  pleasure  than  to  find  myself  in 
accord  with  the  great  American  psychologist  and 
philosopher  (James)."  This  Is  in  reference  to  his 
own  theory  of  "reserve  energy." 

Another  theory  of  the  author,  that  of  "moment 
consciousness,"  may  be  described,  In  view  of  its 


May  i8,  1916] 


NATURE 


239 


lengthy  presentation,  as,  in  James's  phrase,  "the 
elaboration  of  the  obvious."  The  author  says  of 
Freud  :  "  Of  course,  the  claims  of  that  school  to 
originality  and  to  the  apparent  unveiling  of  the 
causation  of  psychoneurosis  are  entirely  unjusti- 
fied." But  he  does  not  attempt  except  by  repeti- 
tion of  phrase  to  disprove  the  conception,  e.g.,  of 
das  Unbeunisste  as  suppressed  unconscious  sex- 
complexes. 

A.  E.  Crawley. 


AN  INDIAN  BIRD    CALENDAR.^ 
A  Bird  Calendar  for  Northern  India.    By  Douglas 

Dewar.     Pp.  211.     (London  :   W.  Thacker  and 

Co.,  1916.)  Price  65. 
VTR.  DEWAR  is  well  known  to  the  .Anglo- 
-^''J-  Indian  public,  and  to  a  good  many  people 
over  here,  as  the  writer  of  a  number  of  popular 
books,  which,  with  a  lively  and  trenchant  style, 
combine  a  great  deal  of  original  observation  and 
a  ver}-  iconoclastic  tendency  towards  the  tenets  of 
biological  orthodoxy.  The  present  book  shows 
that  he  is  well  capable  of  handling  his  favourite 
subject  in  quite  a  different  way;  controversial 
matters  are  left  on  one  side,  and  the  style,  though 
eminently  readable  and  full  of  descriptions  which 
bring  the  natural  surroundings  of  the  birds  vividly 
before  the  mind's  eye,  is  much  more  matter-of- 
fact  as  a  rule  than  in  the  author's  previous  writ- 
ings. 

There  is,  indeed,  so  much  to  record  in  Indian 
bird-life  from  month  to  month,  that  to  do  it  the 
justice  that  Mr.  Dewar  does  leaves  very  little 
room  for  anything  but  the  statement  of  ornitho- 
logical events.  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that 
Anglo-Indian  naturalists  will  appreciate  a  book 
like  this,  which,  in  a  compact  and  handy  form, 
puts  before  them  the  leading  events  of  the  ornitho- 
logical year  in  northern  India — the  courtship, 
breeding,  and  plumage  changes  of  the  various 
species,  and  the  arrival  and  departure  of  the 
numerous  migrants ;  not  only  of  visitors  from  the 
colder  climates  from  the  north,  but  of  birds  which 
move  about  locally  in  India,  from  the  hills  to  the 
plains,  and  from  one  province  to  another,  a 
limited  form  of  migration  which  has  been  far  less 
studied  than  the  more  sensational  movements 
familiar  in  temperate  climates.  This  will,  how- 
ever, no  doubt  in  time  be  found  to  throw  much 
light  on  the  larger  and,  to  most  people,  more 
familiar  migrations;  and  for  this  reason,  if  forno 
other,  the  book  deserves  careful  study  by  ornitho- 
logists not  directly  concerned  with  the  Indian 
fauna. 

The  birds  of  India,  and  of  the  Xorth-west  Pro- 
i  vinces  especially,  are  indeed  particularly  well 
[  suited  as  a  study  to  those  ornithologists  who  aim 
at  knowledge  rnore  scientific  than  can  possibl}-  be 
attained  by  a  study  of  European,  or,  indeed, 
Palaearctic,  birds"  only.  The  study  is  not  too  dis- 
couraging, for  many  of  the  birds  are  the  same, 
though  as  a  rule  these  naturally  are  mostly  winter 
migrants;  and  numerous  soecies  exist  belonging 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


to  European  groups,   though  very  distinct  from 
our  forms. 

These,  again,  are  differently  distributed  propor- 
tionally; Mr.  Dewar  has,  for  instance,  several 
species  of  familiar  cuckoos,  kingfishers,  and 
starlings — mynahs  in  Hindustani — to  tell  us  about, 
as  opposed  to  the  single  species  of  these  families 
which  we  have  in  England,  while  of  the  thrushes 
and  finches,  such  abundant  birds  over  here,  there 
is  little  for  him  to  say.  Notable,  too,  is  the 
abundance  and  variety  of  the  birds  of  prey  and 
waterfowl,  now  so  rare,  comparatively,  both  in 
individuals  and  species,  over  most  of  Europe  and 
especially  in  Britain ;  their  continued  abundance 
'  in  India,  even  in  the  cultivated  portions,  showing 
!  that  it  is  the  aggressiveness  of  the  European 
i  towards  wild  life,  rather  than  the  exigencies  of 
cultivation,  that  has  reduced  them  here.      F.  F. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Engineering    Geology.     By    Profs.    H.    Ries    and 

T.      L.     Watson.     Second     edition,     enlarged. 

Pp.   xxvii  +  722.        (New  York:   J.    Wilej-   and 

Sons,  Inc.,  191 5.)  Price  17s.  net. 
The  issue  of  a  second  edition  less  than  eighteen 
months  after  the  first  would  seem  to  indicate  that 
this  book  is  meeting  with  a  favourable  reception. 
The  new  volume  is  larger  than  the  earlier  by  some 
50  pages,  the  addition  consisting  of  an  eighteenth 
and  concluding  chapter  on  historical  geology. 
Since  the  authors  attempt  to  deal,  in  this  limited 
space,  with  the  nature  and  use  of  fossils, 
the  classification  of  geological  time,  the  char- 
acters and  distribution  in  North  America  of  the 
several  systems,  and  their  economic  products,  the 
treatment  is  necessarily  very  brief  and  the  descrip- 
tions meagre.  Nevertheless,  the  addition  of  the 
chapter  is  a  decided  improvement,  inasmuch  as  it 
provides,  in  what  might  be  the  only  geological 
text-book  of  an  engineering  student,  some  informa- 
tion, at  least,  as  to  the  principles,  methods,  and 
outstanding  facts  of  stratigraphy. 

The  first  seventeen  chapters  remain  practically 
as  in  the  original  edition.  They  deal  in  order 
with  rock-forming  minerals  and  rocks,  rock- 
structures  and  metamorphism,  rock-weathering 
and  soil  formation,  the  accumulation  movements 
and  effects  of  overground  and  underground 
waters,  and  with  the  principal  geological  materials 
used  by  the  civil  engineer  or  sought  by  the  mining 
engineer.  In  view  of  the  importance,  to  these 
engineers,  of  a  thorough  grasp  of  the  meaning, 
methods  of  construction,  and  utility  of  geological 
maps  and  sections,  the  treatment  of  this  part  of 
the  subject  seems  inadequate.  In  future  editions 
it  might  be  expanded  with  advantage. 

The  list  of  references  to  literature  at  the  end 
of  each  chapter  has  been  brought  up  to  date,  and 
will  prove  helpful  when  further  information  on 
special  subjects  is  desired. 

The  book  is  probably  the  best  available  exposi- 
tion of  geology  from  the  engineerinsr  point  of 
view.  C.  G.  C. 


240 


NATURE 


[May  18,  1916 


Electrical  Apparatus-making  for  Beginners.  By 
A.  V.  Ballhatchet.  Pp.  164.  (London :  P. 
Marshall  and  Co.,  n.d.)  Price  25.  net. 
The  author  has  provided,  at  a  moderate  price, 
a  very  useful  little  book,  which  should  do  much 
to  encourage  the  beginner  to  construct  simple 
electrical  apparatus  with  which  to  make  a  number 
of  instructive  experiments.  The  book  is  illus- 
trated with  a  number  of  photographs  of  the 
apparatus  described,  which  the  author  has  himself 
constructed.  In  addition,  there  are  good  work- 
ing drawings  and  diagrams  of  connections  where 
these  are  helpful.  The  real  utility  and  educa- 
tional value  of  work  of  this  kind  to  the  beginner 
cannot  be  insisted  upon  too  often.  He  has  read 
of  and  perhaps  seen  professionally  made  appa- 
ratus, and  he  naturally  supposes  that  nothing 
within  his  constructive  power  can  be  any  good, 
and  more  especially  is  this  the  case  if  he  is  not 
already  fairly  accomplished  in  the  use  of  tools. 
While  his  earlier  efforts  may  not  be  much  use  to 
anybody  else  they  are  of  immense  value  to  him — 
that  is,  if  he  has  any  perseverance.  He  may 
gradually  come  to  learn  that  rough-looking  appa- 
ratus may  really  work  up  to  a  point  well,  and  so 
begin  to  acquire  that  confidence  in  himself  which 
is  essential  when,  at  a  later  stage,  he  has  original 
ideas.  He  may  then  either  make  preliminary 
rough  experiments  to  see  if,  with  better  work, 
they  promise  to  succeed,  or  if  he  has  become  a 
good  manipulator  he  may  have  discovered  that  he 
can  carry  out  his  own  ideas  quickly  and  with 
sufficiently  good  work  in  the  essential  parts  to 
get  better  results  than  he  could  hope  for  if  he 
depended  entirely  upon  others  to  put  his  ideas 
into  form.  '  C.  V.  B. 

Guida  alio  Studio  della  Storia  delle  Matematiche. 
By  Prof.  Gino  Loria.  Pp.  xvi  +  228.  (Milano  : 
Ulrico  Hoepli,   1916.)     Lire  3. 

The  plan  of  this  work  is  rather  unusual,  but  quite 
good.  The  first  part  gives,  among  other  things, 
references  to  first-rate  works  on  history  and  his- 
torical method  in  general  {e.g.  Bernheim,  Lavisse 
et  Rambaud,  Merz),  besides  works  on  the  history 
of  mathematics  in  particular.  We  also  find  here 
summaries  of , the  contents  of  the  more  important 
journals  dealing  with  mathematical  history.  The 
second  part  is  more  specialised ;  there  are  sections 
on  manuscripts,  biographies,  editions  of  collected 
works,  mathematical  correspondence,  biblio- 
graphy, catalogues,  and  so  on.  There  is  a  name- 
index  for  each  part  separately.  The  amount  of 
information  given  is  really  remarkable,  and  It  is 
well  up  to  date;  the  author,  too,  has  not  shrunk 
from  the  disagreeable  duty  of  pointing  out  works 
(such  as  those  of  Montucla,  and  even  of  M. 
Cantor)  which  must  be  used  with  caution. 

There  are  a  good  many  misprints,  especially  in 
English  names  and  words  (Raleigh,  for  instance, 
passim) ;  we  even  find  our  familiar  friend  Bernouilli 
(p.  166);  but  few,  if  any,  are  serious,  and  the 
wonder  is  that  they  are  not  more  numerous  than 
they  are. 

G.    B.    M. 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

A  Suggestion  with  regard  to  Genera  Splitting. 

Individual  systematic  botanists  and  zoologists  differ 
much  in  the  principles  which  guide  them  with  regard 
to  the  "splitting,"  or  "lumping,"  of  genera.  Much 
can  be  said  on  both  sides.  The  splitting  into  smaller 
genera  of  a  genus  overloaded  with  species  should  help 
to  show  the  more  intimate  relationships  of  the  species 
to  each  other.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  new  ^enera 
have  names  unlike  the  original  genus,  the  kinship  of 
all  the  species  originally  included  in  the  one  genus 
is,  to  the  casual  observer,  more  or  less  masked.  When 
a  genus  is  very  small  in  species  a  better  grasp  of  thei;- 
relationship  with  each  other  is  probably  gained  by 
retaining  them  all  under  one  generic  name,  even 
though  morphological  characters  may  well  warrant 
placing  each  species  in  a  distinct  genus.  In  botany 
in  Australia  several  hundred  species  are  included  in 
the  genera  Eucalyptus  and  Acacia.  Unquestionably  a 
better  grasp  of  the  kinship  of  the  individual  species  is 
obtained  by  leaving  all  in  the  two  genera  named  rather 
than  in  instituting  new  genera  for  various  groups,  but 
it  is  equally  certain  that  some  day  a  "  splitting " 
systematist  will  erect  new  genera,  which  will  not,  I 
believe,  help  us  in  "memorising"  the  groups  as 
wholes. 

Some  time  ago,  in  discussing  this  question  with  my 
friend,  Mr.  G.  M.  Matthews,  whose  valuable  work  on 
the  "Birds  of  Australia"  is  now  in  the  press,  I  sug- 
gested that  the  letters  of  the  Greek  alphabet  should  be 
used,  when  genera  splitting  is  decided  on,  as  a  prefix 
to  the  original  generic  name,  thereby  showing  the 
common  relationship  of  all  the  species  to  each  other. 
May  I  make  this  suggestion  here  in  your  columns,  and 
add,  further,  that  the  relationship  would  be  still  more 
clearly  shown  if  the  Greek  symbol  were  used  rather 
than  a  "  translation  "  into  English?  The  original  genus 
(i.e.  the  "  split "  part,  containing  the  original  type 
species)  would  be  best  represented  as  a,  though  diffi- 
culty would  arise  in  thus  altering  the  original  generic 
name;  so,  unless  zoologists  and  botanists  could  come 
to  some  international  agreement  on  the  matter,  it 
would  probably  be  necessary  to  use  no  prefix  in  this 
portion  of  the  "split,"  but  add  (S.S.—sensu  stncto)  to 
the  simple  generic  name.  The  "splits"  could  then  be 
fi,  7,  etc.  To  take  the  genus  Eucalyptus,  for  example, 
we  should  have  a-Eucalyptus,  or  Eucalyptus  (5.5.), 
^-Eucalyptus,  y-Eucalyptus,  etc.  Such  a  method  of 
splitting  would  be  convenient  and  handy,  would  still 
show  the  broader  relationships  of  the  species,  and 
would  not  interfere  with  those  systematists  who  dis- 
approve of  splitting,  since  these  need  only  drop  the 
prefix.  J.  Burton  Cleland. 

Department  of  Public  Health, 
Sydney,  Australia. 

The  Place  of  Science  in  Education. 

The  question  as  to  whether  modern  education  should 
be  classical  and  literary,  or'  scientific,  is  one  which 
apparently,  in  certain  high  quarters,  is  still  con- 
troverted. This  matter,  once  said.  John  Stuart  Mill, 
is  very  rnuch  like  a  dispute  "whether  a  tailor  should 
make  coats  or  trousers."  Replying  in  the  philo- 
sopher's own  words,  "Why  not  both?  Can  anything 
deserve  the  name  of  a  good  education  which  does  not 
include  literature  and  sciencetoo?     If  there  were  no 


May  1 8,  191 6] 


NATURE 


241 


more  to  be  said  than  that  science  teaches  us  to  think 
and  literary  education  to  express  our  thoughts,  do  we 
not  require  both?"  Most  reasonable  people  would 
probably  be  prepared  to  concede  the  soundness  of 
Mill's  opinion.  Is  not  therefore  the  educational 
S5'stem  of  a  country*  which  concerns  itself  in  no  way 
as  to  the  status  of  science  altogether  imperfect  and 
lopsided?  The  educational  value  of  science  was  excel- 
lently assessed  nearly  half  a  century  ago  by  the  dis- 
tinguished author  of  the  words  above  quoted,  in  the 
following  terms  {yide  Rectorial  Address,  St.  Andrews 
University,  1867)  : — ■ 

•  But  it  is  time  to  speak  of  the  uses  of  Scientific 
Instruction  :  or  rather  its  indispensable  necessity,  for 
it  is  recommended  by  every  consideration  which  pleads 
for  any  high  order  of  inteflectual  education  at  all. 

"The  most  obvious  part  of  the  value  of  scientific 
instruction,  the  mere  information  that  it  gives,  speaks 
for  itself.  We  are  born  into  a  world  which  we  have 
not  made — a  world  whose  phenomena  take  place 
according  to  fixed  laws,  of  which  we  do  not  bring  any 
knowledge  into  the  world  with  us.  In  such  a  world 
we  are  appointed  to  live,  and  in  it  all  our  work  is  to 
be  done.  Our  whole  working  power  depends  on 
knowing  the  laws  of  the  world — in  other  words,  the 
properties  of  the  things  we  have  to  work  with,  and 
to  work  among,  and  to  work  upon.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  surely  no  small  part  of  education  to  put 
us  in  intelligent  possession  of  the  most  important  and 
most  universally  interesting  facts  of  the  universe,  so 
that  the  world  which  surrounds  us  may  not  be  a 
sealed  book  to  us,  uninteresting  because  unintelligible. 
This,  however,  is  but  the  simplest  and  most  obvious 
part  of  the  utility  of  science,  and  the  part  which,  if 
neglected  in  vouth,  may  be  the  most  easily  made  up 
for  afterwards.  It  is  more  important  to  understand 
the  value  of  scientific  instruction  as  a  training  and 
disciplining  process,  to  fit  the  intellect  for  the  proper 
work  of  a  human  being." 

Since  Mill's  day  there  have  been  many  realisations 
and  warnings  that  those  in  charge  of  the  country's 
affairs  were  not  maintaining  its  position  in  the  inter- 
national scale  of  scientific  efficiency,  the  probable  con- 
tingent future  effects  being  at  the  same  time  pointed 
out.  The  Government  have  no  doubt  always  listened 
respectfully  to  the  representations,  emanating  from 
conviction,  that  have  from  time  to  time  been  made  to 
them,  but,  having  no  thoroughly  intelligent  appre- 
hension, the  central  fact  remains — they  have  done 
nothing.  The  country,  in  a  matter  vital  to  its  wel- 
fare, has  been  allowed  to  fall  back  while  parliamentary 
gentlemen  have  occupied  themselves,  and  the  minds  of 
the  majority  of  their  fellow-countrj'men,  with  domestic 
questions  of  only  accessory,  not  essential,  importance. 

How   can  matters  be  remedied?     In   what   possible 
way  can  progress  in  the  future  be  ensured?     Experi- 
ence does  not  readily  incline  one  to  the  belief  that  any 
number  of  memorials,  deputations,  or  advisor}^  boards 
will  be  able  adequately  to  effect   the   greatly   desired 
result.     Would  it  not  be  an  excellent  thing  and  solve 
many  difficulties  were  there  a  body  of  scientific  opinion 
in    the    House   of   Commons?        An    old    teaching    of 
Bagehot's  was  that  any  notion,  or  creed,  which  could 
get  a  decent  number  of  English  members  to  stand  up 
for    it,    might    be    a    false,    and,    indeed,    pernicious, 
opinion,  but  it  was  felt  by  nearly  all  Englishmen  to 
be   at  all   events  possible — an   opinion   within   the  in- 
tellectual   sphere,    and    to   be   reckoned  with.     And  it 
was  an  immense  achievement.     This,  of  course,  means 
rhat  scientific  men   would  require  to  stand  as  candi-  j 
dates  for  election  to  Parliament.     The  assertion  that  • 
in    general    therr    very    specialised    scientific    training  , 
would  disqualify  them  from  being  useful  participators  , 
in    the   ordinarA*   business    of  the  •  Legislature   appears  j 
quite  unfounded. 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


To  the  writer  the  foregoing  suggests  itself  as  one 
likely  solution  of  our  difficulty.  The  country,  in  an 
educational  sense,  appears  to  have  got  somewhat  out 
of  adjustment  with  external  national  requirement. 
Equilibrium  with  environment  is,  perhaps,  not  always 
easy  of  maintenance,  but  it  is  worth  continually  striv- 
ing after,  so  far  as  is  humanly  possible;  for,  without 
this,  insidiously  begin  the  multifarious  processes  of 
destruction  compassing  an  end  which  it  is  never  p>os- 
sible  precisely  to  define,  D.  Balsillie. 

St.  Andrews,  April  30. 

A  Mysterious  Meteorite. 

The  photograph  here  reproduced  is  of  a  meteoritic 
stone  which  was  recently  obtained  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Ken- 
nard  from  a  curio-dealer  in  Beckenham,  Kent.  All 
that  could  be  discovered  of  its  history  was  that  it  had 


been  purchased  at  the  sale  of  the  effects  of  a  local 
auctioneer  named  Harris.  Hitherto  also  all  efforts 
definitely  to  fix  the  locality  given  on  the  label  have 
failed.  Any  help'  in  the  solution  of  the  mystery  will 
be  welcomed  by  me.  G.  T.  Prior. 

Natural  History  Museum,  South  Kensington. 


THE     RELIEF     OF      THE     SHACKLETON 

ANTARCTIC  EXPEDITION. 
A  S  the  middle  of  May  has  been  reached  without 
-^  *-  news  of  the  Endurance,  action  for  the  relief 
of  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton's  expedition  has  to  be 
taken  on  the  expectation  that  there  will  be  no 
further  news  this  season.  It  is  possible  that  the 
Endurance,  damaged  and  short  of  coal,  may  still 
be  slowly  working-  her  way  northward,  and  that 
any  day  we  may  hear  of  her  return  to  South  Geor- 
gia with  perhaps  the  whole  of  the  expedition  on 
board.  But  such  a  solution  of  the  difficulty  must 
be  regarded  as  highly  improbable,  and  the  relief 
expedition  must  be  prepared  with  the  information 
already  available. 

The  more  detailed  news  received  from  the 
Atirora  encourages  the  hope  that  she  can  be  re- 
fitted in  New  Zealand  and  entrusted  with  the  re- 
lief work  necessary  on  the  Australasian  side  of  the 
Antarctic.  If  so,  the  problem  there  is  compara- 
tively simple.  The  main  anxiety  in  regard  to 
that  section  of  the  expedition  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  when  the  Aurora  was  blown  out  to  sea  there 
had  been  no  news  of  the  dep6t-Iaying  parties  for 
two  months.  Three  sledge  parties  had  started  at 
the  end  of  Januar}',  1915,  from  the  Discovery  Hut 
at  the  southern  end  of  Macmurdo  Sound.  Some 
depots  were  successfully  laid  on  the  Ice  Barrier. 


242 


NATURE 


[May  i8,  1916 


By  March  11  these  dep6t  parties  had  been  re- 
organised by  Captain  Macintosh,  who  went  south 
ag^ain  to  continue  this  work.  The  Aurora,  after 
great  difficulties,  took  up  winter  quarters  opposite 
the  1910  hut  at  Cape  Evans.  After  a  stay  there 
of  nearly  two  months  she  was  carried  out  to  sea 
on  May  6  and  drifted,  imprisoned  in  the  ice,  all 
through  that  winter  and  the  succeeding  summer. 
She  was  only  released  on  March  lo,  1916,  when, 
even  if  she  had  been  undamaged  and  had  had  ade- 
quate stores,  it  would  have  been  too  late  to  re- 
turn to  Macmurdo  Sound  that  season.  The 
Aurora    had    no    news    from    Captain    Macintosh 


Proposed  routes  of  the  Shackleton  expedition. 

between  March  1 1  and  May  6,  but  there  seems  no 
serious  cause  for  anxiety.  He  would  probably 
have  spent  the  rest  of  March  and  the  early  part  of 
April  depot-laying,  and  the  bad  weather  at  the 
end  of  April  may  explain  his  failure  to  communi- 
cate from  Hut  Point  to  Cape  Evans.  The  men 
left  ashore  on  Macmurdo  Sound  have  the  choice 
of  three  huts,  and  have  ample  stores  for  the  two 
winters  which  they  have  had  to  spend  there ;  and 
there  would  be  plenty  also  for  Sir  Ernest  Shackle- 
ton's  party  if  it  has  succeeded  in  its  journey  across 
the  Pole. 

NO.    2429,   VOL.    97] 


All  that  is  necessary  on  the  Ross  Sea  side  is 
the  dispatch  of  a  ship  from  New  Zealand  in 
November  or  December  to  pick  up  the  men  left 
ashore  at  Macmurdo  Sound  and  find  what  news 
there  may  be  of  the  transcontinental  party.  As 
to  the  success  of  this  relief  expedition  there  need 
be  no  doubt,  for  no  attempt  to  reach  Macmurdo 
Sound  has  yet  failed. 

Regarding  the  opposite  side  of  Antarctica,  in 
the  Weddell  Sea  area,  there  can  be  no  such  confi- 
dence, for  the  normal  ice  conditions  there  appear 
to  be  as  unfavourable  as  those  in  the  Ross  Sea 
are  favourable.  The  plans  for  search  in  the  Wed- 
dell Sea  must  recognise  at  least 
three  distinct  possibilities. 

(i)  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  may 
have  succeeded  in  establishing  a 
land  base  where  he  hoped  to  win- 
ter, and  thence  started  overland 
to  the  Ross  Sea,  while  two 
sledge  parties  may  have  explored 
westward  to  the  base  of  Graham 
Land  peninsula  and  eastward  to 
the  south  of  Coats  Land.  The 
Endurance  may  have  failed  to  re- 
turn either  in  consequence  of 
waiting  for  one  of  the  two  sledge 
parties,  or  by  the  packed  condi- 
tion of  the  ice  in  the  Weddell 
Sea. 

(2)  The  landing  may  have  been 
effected  so  late,  or  so  much  further 
north  than  was  intended,  as  to 
leave  no  chance  of  success 
for  the  transpolar  sledge  journey- 
Sir  Ernest  Shackleton,  with  his 
usual  capacity  for  the  quick  rea- 
lisation of  facts,  may  have 
decided  to  devote  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  expedition  to  re- 
search in  the  vast  unknown  area 
beside  the  Weddell  Sea.  In  that 
case  all  the  three  sledge  parties 
should  have  returned  to  the  win- 
ter quarters,  though  any  one  of 
the  three  may  have  failed  to  get 
back,  and  thus  have  delayed  the 
return  of  the  Endurance. 

(3)  It  would,  however,  appear 
quite  possible,  since  the  Weddell' 
Sea  has  been  so  seldom  found  to 
be  navigable,  that  the  Endu- 
rance, in  the  effort  to  force  her 
way  to  the  land,    may,   like   the 

Belgica,  have  been  caught  in  the  ice,  and  the 
whole  expedition  may  be  still  on  board  drifting  in^ 
the  floes. 

It  is  obvious  that  it  is  impossible  to  decide 
between  these  three  possibilities  with  the  informa- 
tion at  present  available,  though  from  the  news 
received  as  to  the  conditions  of  the  ice  in  the  Wed- 
dell Sea  during  the  last  two  seasons  it  is  highly 
probable  that  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  may  not  have 
been  able  to  effect  his  desired  landing.  He  may 
have  been  forced  to  land  on  north-eastern  Coats 
Land.     The  Endurance  may  then  have  been  car- 


May  1 8,  191 6] 


NATURE 


243 


Tied  away  from  the  winter  quarters,  and  the  relief 
•expedition  ought  to  be  able  to  search  independently 
for  the  ice-bound  Endurance  and  for  the  party  or 
parties  left  on  shore.  There  would  obviously  be 
a  much  better  chance  of  success  if  two  vessels 
could  be  employed — one  to  search  the  coast- 
lands,  and  the  other  to  scour  the  sea  along  the 
probable  lines  of  drift  of  the  Weddell  Sea  pack. 
From  the  observations  of  the  Scotia  in  the  Wed- 
dell Sea  the  prevalent  wind  direction  there  appears 
to  be  from  the  east,  so  that  some  belt  of  "land 
Tvater "  may  be  fairly  persistent  off  Coats  Land 
and  the  drift  of  the  ice  may  be  westward;  but 
"knowledge  of  meteorology  in  the  Weddell  Sea  is 
so  scanty  that  forecasts  as  to  the  usual  drift  of  the 
ice  would  command  but  little  confidence  and  may 
be  falsified  by  an  unusual  season.  The  com- 
mander of  the  relief  expedition  should  be  at  liberty 
to  select  his  own  route. 

Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  has  met  with  very  bad 
iuck  from  the  wxather.  His  proposed  transcon- 
tinental sledge  journey  was  a  daring  and  difficult 
undertaking.  He  had,  however,  considered  all  its 
p>ossibilitIes,  and  it  promised  a  fair  chance  of  suc- 
cess ;  but  his  plans  may  have  been  deranged  at  the 
outset  by  the  exceptionally  unfavourable  season. 
The  ice  conditions  in  the  Weddell  Sea  may  have 
prevented  his  starting  forth  on  his  great  adventure. 
No  time  must  be  lost  in  organising  the  expedition 
to  take  him  the  help  which  he  and  his  colleagues 
may  sorely  need.  In  addition  to  the  return  of  the 
Aurora  to  ^facmurdo  Sound,  tw'o  vessels,  if  pos- 
sible, should  be  sent  to  the  Weddell  Sea,  for  the 
area  that  will  have  to  be  searched  is  vast,  the 
clues  are  uncertain,  and  the  season  is  short. 

THE  APPLICATION  OF  MATHEMATICS  TO 
EPIDEMIOLOGY. 

IT  may  seem  remarkable  that  serious  attempts 
to  elucidate  the  mysteries  of  epidemic  disease 
with  the  help  of  mathematical  methods  should 
only  have  been  made  within  the  last  sixty  years, 
and,  even  when  made,  should  have  been  confined 
to  the  efforts  of  a  very  small  number  of  students. 
In  the  seventeenth  and  early  eighteenth  centuries, 
the  school  of  which  Borelli  was  the  most  famous 
exponent  endeavoured  to  bring  much  less  pro- 
mising medical  fields  under  mathematical  culti- 
vation, while  Sydenham's  exposition  of  the  prin- 
cipia  of  epidemiology  would,  one  might  have 
thought,  have  suggested  to  the  founders  of  our 
modern  calculus  of  probabilities  that  here  was 
indeed  an  opportunity  for  them.  No  doubt,  how- 
ever, the  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the  absence 
of  statistical  data,  without  which  mathematical 
mills  are  forced  to  stand  idle.  It  is  of  interest 
to  recall  the  fact  that  the  solution  of  a  problem 
which  took  its  rise  in  the  failure  to  publish  cer- 
tain detailed  statistics  reveals  a  method  w-hich 
might  have  been  generalised.  We  allude  to 
Daniel  Bernoulli's  work  on  smallpox. ^ 

His  solution  was  as  follows  : — 

If  -v  denote  the  age  in  years,  ^  the  number 
who  survive  at  that  age  out  of  a  given  number 

J  See  To<Jhii'iter"«  "  Hi-trrv  o''  th"  Tfi-ory  of  Probability,'  p-  225- 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


born,  5  the  number  of  these  survivors  who  have 
not  had  smallpox,  and  if  in  a  year  smallpox 
attacks  i  out  of  every  n  who  have  not  had  the 
disease,  while  i  out  of  every  m  attacked  dies, 
then  the  number  attacked  in  element  of  time 
dx  is  sdx/n  and  we  have  : — 

,       sdx     s/j^,  sdx\         sd$-ids     $dx      dx 

-ds= -M^+  —  )  or  -H  -=^ 

n       (\  mnj  s^  ns      mn 

Substituting  q  for  ^/j,  we  have  da  =  ^~   dx,  so  that 

mn 

n  log  {tnq-  i)  =  jc  +  constant,  and  ultimately,  since 

when  x  —  o,  s  =  $, 

X 

(in  -  I  j^"  +  I 

This  investigation  contains  the  germ  of  a 
method  which,  as  Sir  Ronald  Ross  has  brilliantly 
demonstrated,  might  be  applied  to  the  study  of 
the  succession  of  cases  in  an  epidemic.  Nobody, 
however,  took  the  hint,  and  the .  real  history  of 
mathematical  epidemiology  begins  with  Farr, 
whose  work  on  these  lines  has  been  made  familiar 
to  the  present  generation  by  Dr.  John  Brownlee. 
Modern  researches  fall  into  one  of  two  classes. 
On  one  hand,  those  directly  or  indirectly  inspired 
by  the  epoch-making  discoveries  of  Prof.  Karl 
Pearson  in  the  theory  of  mathematical  statistics ; 
on  the  other,  the  independent  investigations  of 
Sir  Ronald  Ross. 

Prof,  Pearson's  development  of  a  family  of  fre- 
quency curves,  including  the  Gauss-Laplace  or 
normal  curve  as  a  particular  case  and  capable 
of  describing  effectively  distributions  very  far 
indeed  from  normal,  enabled  statisticians  to  deal 
with  a  wide  range  of  frequency  systems,  and  it 
naturally  occurred  to  some  to  use  this  method  in 
the  study  of  epidemics.  Frequency  curves  have 
been  fitted  by  Brownlee, ^  Greenwood, ^  and  other 
medical  statisticians  to  different  epidemics,  the 
most  extensive  work  in  this  direction  having  been 
that  of  Brownlee,  Much  of  this  work  was  de- 
scriptive; that  is  to  say,  the  object  was  in  the 
first  place  to  graduate  the  statistics,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, to  classify  epidemics  on  the  basis  of  the 
type  of  curve  found.  So  far  as  graduation  is 
concerned,  the  results  have  been  fairly  satis- 
factory, but  it  proved  to  be  impossible  to  effect 
any  useful  classification,  the  only  result  that 
emerged  being  that  Pearson's  Type  IV  curve  was 
more  commonly  encountered  than  any  other.  The 
more  fundamental  problem  of  epidemiology,  viz., 
that  of  discovering  the  law  of  which  the  epidemic, 
whether  viewed  in  its  temporal  or  spatial  rela- 
tions, is  an  expression,  could  scarcely  be  solved  in 
this  way.  Brownlee,  however,  was  by  no  means 
content  with  the  mere  graduation  of  statistics. 
Following  Farr,  he  surmised,  for  reasons  ex- 
plained in  his  papers,  that  the  theoretical  curve  of 
an  epidemic  in  time  or  space  should  be  normal, 
and  that  any  practical  departure  from  normalit}' 
should  be  susceptible  of  an  explanation  capable 
of  expression    in    terms   of    a    function    of    the 

-  Proc.  Roy.  5m>c.  Edin.,  1906,  xxvi.,  484  ;  ihid.,  1911,  xxxi.,  262. 
^  J oum.  Hygiene,  1911,  xi.,96;  Proc.    lyth  Inter.   Congress  Med.,  iqn. 
Sect.  18. 


2.44 


NATURE 


[May  i8,  1916 


normal  function.  By  supposing  that  a  constant 
of  the  theoretical  normal  curve,  viz.,  its  standard 
deviation,  was  itself  a  variable,  and  assuming-  for 
the  latter  a  convenient  form,  he  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  curve  which  effectively  described  cer- 
tain symmetrical  epidemics. 

Brownlee  did  not,  however,  obtain  any  function 
which  satisfactorily  accounted  for  the  marked 
asymmetry  which  characterises  many  epidemics. 
It  is  an  interesting  illustration  of  the  way  in 
which  apparently  disparate  problems  are  inter- 
connected that  his  work  owes  much  to  the  remark- 
able memoir  of  Pearson  and  Blakeman  on  random 
migration,  a  memoir  inspired  by  the  problem  of 
mosquito  distribution  suggested  to  Prof.  Pearson 
by  Sir  Ronald  Ross.  These  researches,  then, 
which  began  in  the  a  posteriori  study  of  statistics 
and  were  continued  on  the  a  priori  assumption 
of  a  normal  function  being  at  the  root  of  the 
problem,  have  carried  us  some  way,  but  have 
not  so  far  provided  us  with  a  satisfactory  mathe- 
matical law  of  epidemics.  Sir  Ronald  Ross, 
whose  interest  in  the  subject  dates  from  so  long 
ago  as  1899,  and  whose  latest  contribution  has 
just  been  published,  followed  a  different  path. 
Avoiding  any  presuppositions  as  to  the  form 
which  the  law  should  assume,  he  looked  at  the 
problem  as  one  of  transfer,  viz.,  of  mutual  inter- 
change between  groups  of  affected  and  unaffected 
individuals,  an  interchange  complicated  by  the 
subjection  of  each  group  to  certain  rates  of 
natality,  mortality,  emigration,  and  imrni- 
gration.  Being  at  first  specially  concerned  with 
the  case  of  malaria,  he  formulated  the  problem 
in  the  second  edition  of  his  treatise  on  the  pre- 
vention of  malaria  (pp.  651-686)  in  a  system  of 
difference  equations,  the  solution  of  which  should 
provide  the  required  law.  A  summary  of  this, 
work  appeared  in  Nature  of  October  5,  1911, 
under  the  title  "Some  Quantitative  Studies  in 
Epidemiology."  In  the  paper  before  us,^  these 
ideas  have  been  extended  and  clothed  in  a  more 
convenient  mathematical  form. 

Sir  Ronald   Ross's   method   may.  be   illustrated 
by  summarising  the  simplest  of  his  cases.     If  P 
be  the  whole  population,   x  the  ratio  of  affected 
to  all  members,  v  and  V  measures  of  the  varia- 
tion due  to  mortality,  natality,   immigration,   and 
emigration   of   non-affected    and    affected   persons 
respectively,    and    if    the    proportion    affected    in 
time  dt  he  h .  dt .  P  where  h  is  a  constant,  then 
we  have  the  following  system  of  equations  : — 
d?/df  =  7'V-{v-Y)xF 
dxVjdt  =  /^P(  I  -  a:)  +  ( V  -  N  -  r)xV 
dxYldt  =  xdYjdt  +  Vdxidi. 
Eliminating  dxF/dt  and  dF/dt,  we  have  :— 
dxjdt  =  h  -{h  +  v-N-\r^  +  r)x  +  (v-  Y)x^. 
If   now,  v  =  'V,  the  equivariant  case,  the  last  equa- 
tion can  be  written 

dxldf=K{h-x) 
where  K==>%  +  N  +  r  and  L  =  ^/K. 

Now  put  jF  =  L  -  jc  and  we  have  dy/y  =  -  Kd/. 

4  "  An  Application  of  the  Theory  of  Probabilities  to  the  Study  o^apriori 
Pathometry."  By  Lieut. -Col.  Sir  Ronald  Ro.ss.  Proc.  Roy.  Soc,  A,  T916, 
xcii.,  Z04. 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


So  that  '\l  y^  is  the  value  of  y  at  the  beginnings 
y=y^e~^'  and  x^'L-i^- x^e~^', 
which  gives  the  proportion  of  the  total  population 
affected  at  time  t,  this  proportion  being  x^  when 
t  =  o. 

Sir  Ronald  Ross  proceeds  to  investigate  the 
properties  of  this  curve;  he  then  takes  the  case 
of  V  not  equal  to  V,  which  is  dealt  with  on  similar 
lines,  and  ultimately  considers  the  curve  arising 
in  the  simplest  case  of  departure  from  the  assump- 
tion that  h  is  constant.  The  latter  results  are, 
no  doubt,  still  somewhat  remote  from  the  con- 
ditions obtaining  in  practice,  but  they  suffice  to 
illustrate  the  genesis  of  an  asymmetrical  curve, 
and  incidentally  show  that  a  form  regarded  by 
Brownlee  as  inconsistent  with  an  hypothesis  of 
constant  infectivity  and  the  termination  of  an 
epidemic  by  the  exhaustion  of  susceptible  persons 
may  not  be  so. 

The  advantage  of  Sir  Ronald  Ross's  method, 
apart  from  its  simplicity  and  elegance — advan- 
tages which  are,  however,  no  mean  matters — 
lies  in  its  generality,  so  that  it  may  be  possible 
to  include  the  case  hypothesised  by  Brownlee  as 
a  particular  example,  precisely  as  Prof.  Pearson's 
system  of  skew  frequency  curves  included  the 
normal  curve  as  a  special  case.  It  is,  of  course,  .  ^ 
too  early  to  speak  with  confidence.  As  restric-  i 
tions  are  relaxed,  the  analysis  will  inevitably  1 
become  more  intricate,  and,  having  evolved  an 
a  priori  law,  one  must  devise,  usually  by  the 
method  of  moments,  a  way  of  applying  the  law 
to  statistical  data.  This  is  work  for  the  future, 
and  all  epidemiologists  will  await  with  interest 
the  promised  second  part  of  Sir  Ronald  Ross's 
paper.  No  sensible  man  doubts  the  importance 
of  such  investigations  as  these ;  it  is  high  time 
that  epidemiology  was  extricated  from  its  present 
humiliating  position  as  the  plaything  of  bacterio- 
logists and  public  health  officials,  or  as,  at  the 
best,  a  field  for  the  display  of  antiquarian  research. 
The  work  of  Sir  Ronald  Ross,  of  Dr.  Brownlee, 
and  of  a  few  others  should  at  least  elevate  epi- 
demiology to  the  rank  of  a  distinct  science. 

M.  Greenwood,  Jr. 


FROF.     EMILE    JUNGFLEISCH. 

PROF.  EMILE  JUNGFLEISCH,  who^e  death 
occurred  on  April  24,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
seven,  was  born  in  Paris  in  1839.  He  devoted 
himself  to  chemistry  and  pharmacy,  and  at  an 
early  age  joined  the  Paris  Chemical  Society.  In 
1863  he  was  appointed  dispenser  to  the  hospital 
of  La  Pitie,  and  in  1869  qualified  as  pharmacist 
and  member  (agrege)  of  the  School  of  Pharmacy. 
In  the  same  year  he  became  assistant  (prepara- 
teur)  to  Berthelot,  who  had  recently  been  ap- 
pointed to  the  new  chair  of  organic  chemistry  of 
the  School  of  Pharmacy,  and  on  Berthelot's 
retirement  in  1876  was  made  his  successor.  In 
1890  Prof.  Jungfleisch  was  nominated  professor 
of  chemistry  of  the  Conservatoire  des  Arts  et 
Metiers,  and  in  1908,  again  in  succession  to  Ber- 
thelot,  was   appointed  to  the  chair  of  chemistry 


May  1 8,  19 16] 


NATURE 


245 


at  the  Collie  de  France.  In  the  following-  year 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Paris  Academy  of 
Sciences,  where  he  took  the  place  vacated  by 
M.  Ditte. 

His  numerous  contributions  to  organic  chemistry 
include  the  study  of  the  chlorine  and  nitro- 
derivatives  of  benzene  and  aniline,  of  which 
he  prepared  a  large  number ;  but,  not  con- 
tent with  the  mere  preparation  of  new 
compounds,  he  sought  to  discover  the  relation 
existing  between  their  physical  properties  and 
constitution.  He  succeeded  in  showing  that 
there  exists  a  definite  relation  between  the  num- 
ber of  substituting  atoms  and  their  melting  points, 
boiling  points,  density,  and  molecular  weight. 
These  results  ser\'ed  to  some  extent  as  the  basis 
of  Kekule's  theory. 

Another  series  of  memoirs  was  devoted  to  the 
examination  of  substances  exhibiting  molecular 
asymmetry,  and  Jungfleisch  was  able  to  show  that 
the  different  forms  of  tartaric  acid  discovered  by 
Pasteur,  when  heated  with  water,  are  transformed 
into  one  another,  yielding  an  equilibrium  mixture 
varying  with  the  conditions  of  the  experiment. 
For  these  researches  he  was  awarded,  in  1872, 
the  Jecker  prize  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences.  Up 
to  this  time  no  compound  possessing  molecular 
asymmetry  had  been  prepared  artificially,  and  it 
appeared  that  the  intervention  of  a  vital  force, 
as  Pasteur  held,  was  necessary  to  produce  it. 
Perkin  and  Duppa  had  succeeded  in  converting 
natural  succinic  acid  into  racemic  acid.  Jung- 
fleisch completed  the  synthesis  by  converting 
ethylene,  according  to  the  method  of  Maxwell 
Simpson,  into  succinic  acid.  He  also  showed  that 
camphoric  acid  exists  in  four  isomeric  forms,  the 
so-called  dextro-  and  laevo-camphoric  and  iso- 
camphoric  acids  which  he  isolated.  Following  up 
a  similar  line  of  research,  he  succeeded  in  resolv- 
ing inactive  malic  and  lactic  acids  into  their  active 
forms. 

Among  his  other  numerous  memoirs  may  be 
mentioned  his  work  on  acetylene  chlorides,  a  new 
paethod  of  reduction  of  organic  compounds  by  tin 
salts,  a  research  on  derivatives  of  thymol,  on 
laevulose,  which  he  prepared  in  the  crystalline 
state,  on  inulin,  chloral  hydrate,  phenylphospboric 
ether,  etc. 

Jungfleisch  collaborated  with  Berthelot  in  the 
study  of  the  partition  coefficient  of  a  substance  in 
presence  of  several  solvents ;  he  assisted  Lecoq 
de  Boisbaudran  in  isolating  gallium  in  quantity, 
and  applied  similar  methods  to  the  preparation  of 
indium. 

One  of  his  latest  contributions  to  chemistry  was 
the  study  of  gutta-percha,  which  resulted  in  the 
valuable  discovery  that  the  leaves  of  the  plant 
can  be  used  as  a  source  of  the  material  more 
economically  and  less  destructively  than  the  stem. 

Of  his  literary  contributions  to  the  science  men- 
tion should  be  made  of  the  Journal  de  Pharmacte  et 
de  Chimie,  to  which  he  contributed  for  twenty- 
two  years  a  review  of  foreign  researches  and  pub- 
lications, and  successive  editions  of  his  weU-known 
"  Traite  de  Chimie  Organique." 

J.  B.  C. 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


NOTES. 

The  Government  has  appointed  a  Committee  to 
recommend  the  steps  to  be  taken  for  the  relief  of  Sir 
Ernest  Shackleton's  Antarctic  Expedition.  The 
chairman  is  .-Vdmiral  Sir  Lewis  Beaumont,  G.C.B. ; 
the  other  members  are  the  hydrographer  of  the  Navy, 
Major  Leonard  Darwin  (representing  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society),  Sir  Douglas  Mawson,  Dr.  W.  S. 
Bruce  (who  has  intimate  personal  knowledge  of  the 
Weddell  Sea  area),  and  representatives  of  the 
Treasury,  Board  of  Trade,  and  of  Sir  Ernest  Shackle- 
ton.     The  Committee  has  already  begun  its  meetings. 

Universal  sympathy  will  be  felt  with  Sir  William 
Crookes,  who  has  suflered  the  heaviest  of  all  bereave- 
ments by  the  death  of  his  wife  on  May  10.  Lady 
Crookes,  whose  maiden  name  was  Ellen  Humphrey, 
was  bom  on  January  31,  1836,  and  was  therefore  in 
her  eighty-first  year.  She  was  married  to  Sir  William 
on  April  10,  1856,  and  from  the  earliest  times  took 
the  liveliest  interest  in  his  scientific  work,  helping 
him,  amongst  other  things,  in  delicate  chemical  weigh- 
ings and  the  working  out  of  the  calculations  connected 
therewith.  Her  devotion  to,  and  interest  in,  his  work 
formed  a  great  incentive,  and  in  no  small  degree 
contributed  to  his  successful  efforts  in  research.  Theirs 
was  the  first  private  house  in  England  in  which 
electric  light  was  introduced,  and  Lady  Crookes  helped 
her  husband  greatly  in  carrying  out  the  installation 
and  designing  the  ornamental  work.  She  was  a 
familiar  and  ever- welcome  figure  at  scientific  gather- 
ings, to  which  she  frequently  accompanied  her  husband, 
and  was  able  to  be  present  wuth  him  at  the  reception 
given  after  his  election  as  president  of  the  Royal 
Society  in  the  year  1913.  Sir  William  and  Lady 
Crookes  celebrated  their  golden  w-edding  in  1906,  when 
they  were  able  to  welcome  a  large  number  of  their 
friends  and  acquaintances,  and  were  also  the  recipients 
of  letters  and  telegrams  of  congratulation  from  all 
parts  of  the  world.  Lady  Crookes  was  spared  to  cele- 
brate quietly  with  her  husband  last  month  the  almost 
unique  event  of  a  diamond  wedding,  but  she  was  then 
in  failing  health,  and  passed  au-av  peacefully  on 
May  10.     Several  sons  and  a  daughter  survive  her. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Standing  Committee  on 
Metallurgy  appointed  by  the  Advisor}-  Council  for 
Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  was  held  on  Mon- 
day, May  8,  at  the  offices  of  the  Board  of 
Education.  The  committee  consists  as  to  one- 
half  of  members  nominated  by  the  professional 
societies  concerned,  the  other  half  being  ap- 
pointed direct  by  the  Advisory  Council,  and 
it  has  been  constituted  w-ith  a  view  to  the  representa- 
tion of  both  the  scientific  and  the  industrial  sides  of 
the  industries.  It  consists  of  the  following  mem- 
bers : — Prof.  J.  O.  Arnold,  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour,  Prof. 
H.  C.  H.  Carpenter,  Dr.  C.  H.  Desch,  Sir  Robert 
Hadfield,  Mr.  F.  W.  Harbord,  Mr.  J.  Rossiter  Hoyle, 
Prof.  Huntington,  Mr.  W.  Murray  Morrison,  Sir 
Gerard  Muntz,  Bt.,  Mr.  G.  Ritchie,  Dr.  J.  E.  Stead,  Mr. 
H.  L.  Sulman,  and  Mr.  F.  Tomlinson.  Sir  Gerard  Muntz 
is  the  chairman  of  the  full  committee  and  of  the 
Non-ferrous  Sub-Committee,  and  Sir  Robert  Hadfield 
is  the  chairman  of  the  Ferrous  Sub-Committee.  The 
committee  was  welcomed  by  Sir  William  M'Cormick, 
administrative  chairman  of  the  Advison,-  Council,  and 
Dr.  Heath,  administrative  secretarv-  to  the  Council. 
Sir  A.  Selby-Bigge  also  attended,  and  gave  an  account 
of  the  genesis  of  the  movement,  and  emphasised  the 
importance  which  the  Government  attaches  to  the 
establishment  of  close  relations  between  education,  re- 
search, and  industry'.  The  committee  then  proceeded 
to  consider  various  matters  of  fundamental  importance 


246 


NATURE 


[May  18,  1916 


in  regard  to  policy  and  procedure.  Afterwards  the 
two  sub-committees  met  and  formulated  their  lines  of 
policy,  after  which  they  passed  to  the  consideration 
of  various  applications  for  financial  aid  in  connection 
with  contemplated  researches  of  industrial  importance. 
Grants  in  aid  have  already  been  made  by  the  Advisory 
Council  towards  the  cost  of  carrying  out  certain 
metallurgical  researches. 

Prof.  Henri  Lecomte,  Prof.  Edmond  Perrier,  and 
Prof.  Pier'  Andrea  Saccardo  have  been  elected  foreign 
members  of  the  Linnean  Society. 

Dr.  R.  Hamlyn-Harris,  director  of  the  Queensland 
Museum,  has  been  elected  president  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Queensland  for  the  year  1916-17. 

The  Bakerian  Lecture  of  the  Royal  Society  will 
be  delivered  on  Thursday  next.  May  25,  by  Prof. 
C.  G.  Barkla,  .on  "X-rays  and  the  Theory  of  Radia- 
tion." 

The  twenty-first  annual  congress  of  the  South- 
Eastern  Union  of  Scientific  Societies  will  be  held  at 
Tunbridge  Wells  on  May  24-27.  The  retiring  presi- 
dent is  Dr.  J.  S.  Haldane,  and  the  president-elect  the 
Rev.  T.  R.  R.  Stebbing. 

We  regret  to  announce  the  death  of  Prof.  H.  C. 
Jones,  professor  of  physical  chemistry  in  Johns  Hop- 
kins University,  and  author  of  many  books  and  papers 
on  inorganic  and  physical  chemistry. 

An  extraordinary  general  meeting  of  the  Chemical 
Society  was  held  at  Burlington  House  on  May  11,  to 
consider  the  question  of  the  removal  of  the  names  of 
nine  alien  enemies  from  the  list  of  honorary  and 
foreign  members  of  the  society.  No  decision  was 
reached,   and  the  meeting  was  adjourned. 

During  recent  excavations  in  Kent's  Cavern,  Tor- 
quay, the  proprietor,  Mr.  W.  F.  Powe,  has  obtained 
a  molar  tooth  of  a  nearly  adult  mammoth  (Elephas 
primigenius).  In  the  Pleistocene  hyaena  dens  as  a 
rule  the  remains  only  of  young  individuals  of  the 
mammoth  occur,  the  smaller  animals  having  been  the 
more  easy  prey.  The  accumulated  bones  and  teeth  in 
Kent's  Cavern  were  introduced  at  different  times,  both 
by  hyaenas  and  by  man. 

Dr.  C.  a.  Catlin,  who  died  recently  at  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  had  been  chemist  to  the  Rumford 
Works  in  that  city  for  forty  years,  and  was  widely 
known  as  the  inventor  of  various  chemical  processes 
and  applications,  many  of  which  relate  to  the  manu- 
facture of  phosphates  for  dietetic  purposes.  He  was 
born  at  Burlington,  Vermont,  in  1849,  and  graduated 
in  1872  at  the  University  of  Vermont,  which  conferred 
on  him  in  1913  the  honorary  degree  of  Sc.D. 

Dr.  C.  a,  Davis,  one  of  the  foremost  American 
authorities  on  peat,  died  last  month  in  Washington 
at  the  age  of  sixty-four.  After  graduating  at  Bowdoin 
College,  Maine,  in  1886,  he  spent  several  years  as  a 
teacher  of  science  in  various  schools  and  universities. 
Since  1907  he  had  been  employed  by  the  U.S.  Govern- 
ment as  a  peat  expert,  in  connection  first  with  the 
Geological  Survey  and  afterwards  with  the  Bureau  of 
Mines.  He  was  editor  of  the  Journal  of  the  American 
Peat  Society,  and  author  of  "  Peat  in  Michigan  "  and 
"The  Use  of  Peat  for  Fuel." 

The  control  of  the  Imperial  Institute  will,  by  the 
new  Act  which  has  recently  passed  through  both 
Houses  of  Parliament  (see  Nature,  April  27,  p.  184), 
rest  with  the  Colonial  Office.  By  the  establishment 
of  an  Executive  Council  a  board  of  management  will 
be  created,  which,  subject  to  the  control  of  the  Colo- 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


nial  Office,  will  be  responsible  for  the  operations  of  the 
institute.  The  relationship  between  the  Colonial 
Office  and  the  institute  will  thus  be  analogous  to  that 
between  the  Colonial  Office  and  a  Crown  Colony. 
Matters  of  important  policy  will  have  first  to  receive 
the  sanction  of  the  Colonial  Office,  but,  subject  to 
this,  the  Executive  Council  will  possess  a  general 
executive  authority. 

It  has  long  been  known  that  cats  may  be  carriers 
of  diphtheria  and  transmit  the  disease  to  human 
beings.  A  notable  instance  of  this  is  recorded  in  the 
National  Medical  Journal.  An  outbreak  of  diphtheria 
occurred  in  an  orphanage,  and  of  seventy-one  cases 
sixty-nine  occurred  on  the  boys'  side.  Sanitary  de- 
fects and  contamination  of  water  and  food  were 
eliminated.  Attention  was  then  directed  to  the  cats  in 
the  establishment,  and  on  bacteriological  examination 
it  was  found  that  four  .cats  on  the  boys'  side  har- 
boured the  diphtheria  bacillus,  but  the  animals  on 
the  girls'  side  were  free  from  infection.  The  cats 
were  destroyed,  and  after  this  only  ten  more  cases  of 
diphtheria  occurred,  and  these  within  a  few  days, 
showing  that  infection  had  taken  place  before  the 
destruction  of  the  cats.     No  further  cases  developed. 

A  note  in  the  Times  of  May  11  states  that  at  the 
monthly  meeting  of  the  Central  Executive  Committee 
of  the  Employers'  Parliamentary  Association  a  resolu- 
tion was  passed  urging  the  necessity  (i)  of  increasing 
the  number  of  chemists  trained  in  research  work, 
and  (2)  of  making  special  effort  to  enlist  the  co- 
operation of  manufacturers  who  hitherto  have  been 
lamentably  apathetic  in  regard  to  scientific  industrial 
research  and  training.  The  resolution  was  brought 
forward  in  connection  with  the  consideration  of  the 
report  of  the  sub-committee  of  the  Advisory  Committee 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  on  Commercial  Intelligence, 
with  respect  to  the  measures  for  securing  after  the 
war  the  position  of  certain  branches  of  British  in- 
dustry. 

The  fourteenth  annual  session  of  the  South  African 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  will  be 
held  at  Maritzburg  on  July  3-8  inclusive,  under 
the  presidency  of  Prof.  L.  Crawford,  professor  of 
mathematics,  South  African  College,  Cape  Town. 
The  sections,  with  their  presidents,  will  be  as  fol- 
lows : — A  (Astronomy,  Mathematics,  Physics,  Meteoro- 
logy, Geodesy,  Surveying,  Engineering,  Architecture, 
and  Irrigation),  Prof.  J.  Orr;  B  (Chemistry,  Geology, 
Metallurgy,  Mineralogy,  and  Geography),  Prof.  J.  A. 
Wilkinson;  C  (Bacteriology,  Botany,  Zoology,  Agri- 
culture, Forestry,  Physiology,  Hygiene,  and  Sani- 
tary Science),  Mr.  I.  B.  Pole  Evans ;  D  (Anthropology, 
Ethnology,  Education,  History,  Mental  Science, 
Philology,  Political  Economy,  Sociology,  and  Statis- 
tics), Mr.  M.  S.   Evans. 

The  Illuminating  Engineering  Society,  in  common 
with  other  scientific  and  technical  institutions,  has 
been  considering  the  encouragement  of  researches  of 
special  utility  at  the  present  time,  and  at  the  annual 
meeting,  at  which  Prof.  Silvanus  P.  Thompson  pre- 
sided, a  report  on  the  subject  was  presented  by  the 
Committee  on  Research.  A  number  of  problems  are 
mentioned  which  will  receive  attention,  in  order  of 
urgency,  at  the  hands  of  the  committee.  Among  these 
are  included  researches  on  the  qualities  of  glassware 
required  for  illuminating  purposes,  the  study  of  light- 
ing appliances  (globes,  shades,  reflectors,  etc.),  and 
the  investigation  of  the  conditions  of  illumination 
required  for  various  industrial  processes.  Attention  is 
also  directed  to  the  need  for  a  series  of  standard 
colours  of  specified  tint  and  reflecting  value,  the 
standardisation  of  so-called  "artificial  daylight,"  and 


May  1 8,  19 16] 


NATURE 


247 


the  prescription  of  a  standard -method  of  testing  the 
permanence  of  colours,  all  of  which  are  of  consider- 
able interest  in  relation  to  the  dyeing  and  colouring 
trades.  The  list  includes  thirty  distinct  sections,  and 
it  is  evident  that  the  study  of  all  these  subjects  would 
provide  work  for  many  years  to  come. 

Flint  implements  of  the  Neolithic  type  are  fairly 
-common  in  the  Gold  Coast  Colony,  but  up  to  the 
present  examples  of  the  Palaeolithic  age  have  been 
wanting.  In  1914  some  rough  quartzite  stones  of 
Palaeolithic  character  were  picked  up  on  the  coast 
at  Accra.  Mr.  F.  W.  Migeod,  in  Man  for  April, 
announces  the  discovery  of  a  rude  implement  in  North 
Ashanti.  It  was  found  in  a  road  cutting  not  far  from 
the  surface.  The  material  seems  to  be  a  kind  of 
chert,  and  Mr.  Migeod  is  not  disposed  to  attribute  any 
great  antiquity  to  It.  He  suggests  that  it  was  chipped 
•experimentally,  and  was  used  for  some  temporary  pur- 
pose. This  supposition  is  confirmed  by  the  character 
of  the  material,  which  is  of  a  soft  nature,  and  the 
implement  would  scarcely  stand  much  rough  use  with- 
out losing  its  edge.  Even  if  this  specimen  proves 
to  be  comparatively  modern,  it  is  still  interesting  as 
marking  the  survival  of  the  Palaeolithic  type  of  imple- 
ment in  the  Neolithic  period. 

Dr.  J.  H.  AsHWORTH  contributes  a  brief  note  on  the 
hibernation  of  flies  to  the  Scottish  Naturalist  for 
April,  describing  the  results  of  an  inspection  of  a 
house  in  Edinburgh  during  February  last,  certain 
rooms  of  which,  facing  south,  were  harbouring 
swarms  of  flies.  These  had  evidently  been  hibernat- 
ing behind  pictures  and  furniture  during  the  winter, 
and  had  been  roused  into  activity  with  the  return  of 
sustained  sunshine.  Though  still  lethargic,  they  had 
crawled  from  their  hiding-places,  where  many  were 
still  found,  to  bask  in  the  sun  streaming  through  the 
windows.  In  all,  five  species  were  found,  mostly 
females;  but  neither  house-flies  nor  bluebottles  were 
met  with  among  them.  An  examination  of  the 
spermathecae  revealed  living  spermatozoa,  showing 
that  impregnation  must  have  taken  place  during  the 
autumn,  when  apparently  the  males  for  the  most  part 
die. 

Mr.  C.  Tate  Regan,  in  his  memoir  on  "  Larval  and 
Post-larval  Fishes,"  published  by  the  trustees  of  the 
British  Museum  as  part  of  the  official  "  Report  on 
the  Results  of  the  British  Antarctic  {Terra  Nova)  Ex- 
pedition, 19 10,"  has  accomplished  a  peculiarly  difficult 
task  with  conspicuous  success.  A  wide  knowledge  of 
ichthyology,  and  a  capacity  for  laborious  work,  are 
apparent  everywhere.  But  these  pages  owe  their 
value  not  so  much  to  the  number  of  species  which 
have  been  determined  as  to  the  insight  displayed  into 
puzzling  ontogenetic  changes,  and  the  lucid  interpre- 
tation he  has  given  in  regard  to  problems  of  geograph- 
ical distribution,  migration,  and  the  evolution  of 
curious  structural  peculiarities  which  disappear  with 
larval  life.  Among  the  latter,  perhaps  the  most  extra- 
ordinary is  that  furnished  by  the  post-larval  stage  of 
a  Stylophthalmid,  of  which  a  figure  is  given.  Herein 
the  terminal  portion  of  the  gut  hangs  down  from  the 
body  after  the  fashion  of  the  rope  trailed  from  a 
balloon.  A  special  cartilaginous  support  is  developed 
at  the  base  of  this  trailing  portion.  The  function  of 
this  remarkable  development  seems  to  be  that  of  a 
balancer.  This,  however,  is  but  one  of  many  struc- 
tural adaptations  peculiar  to  larval  life  discussed  by 
Mr.  Regan  in  the  course  of  his  "Notes  and  Conclu- 
sions," wherein  he  summarises'  the  results  of  his  in- 
vestigations. 

A  NEW  part  of  the  Palaeontologia  Indica  (new 
series,  vol.  vi..  No.    i)  is  devoted  to  a  description  of 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


additional  Ordovician  and  Silurian  fossils  from  the 
northern  Shan  States  of  Burma,  by  Dr.  F.  R. 
Cowper  Reed,  with  twelve  plates  of  beautiful  draw- 
ings  by  Mr.  T.  A.  Brock.  Although  many  of  the 
Ordovician  species  are  new,  they  are  clearly  more 
closely  related  to  the  northern  European  than  to  the 
American  forms.  They  are  also  sufficient  to  show 
that  the  rocks  from  which  they  were  obtained  may 
be  assigned  to  the  lower  part  of  the  Ordovician 
series.  Among  the  Silurian  fossils  are  many  inter- 
esting Graptolites,  which  Miss  G.  L.  Elles  refers  to 
well-known  species  of  the  European  Llandovery 
horizon.  A  few  Graptolites  from  one  locality  also 
seem  to  agree  with  those  from  the  base  of  tBe 
Wenlock  Shales.  Various  fossils  prove  that  the 
Upper  Silurian  is  represented  in  at  least  two  stages 
corresponding  with  the  European  Wenlock  and  Lower 
Ludlow.  There  also  seem  to  be  some  marine  forma- 
tions transitional  to  the  Devonian,  but  more  evidence 
is  needed  to  determine  their  exact  relationships. 

A  PAPER  was  read  on  April  18  before  the  Institution 
of  Petroleum  Technologists,  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Cunning- 
ham Craig,  upon  the  Kerogen-shales,  or  Scottish  oil- 
shales,  in  which  the  author  advances  some  novel 
theories  upon  the  origin  of  these  oil-shales.  He 
points  out  that  a  marked  characteristic  of  strata 
yielding  oil  by  distillation  is  to  be  found  in  the  small 
irregular  yellow  masses,  which  have  been  discovered 
in  most  of  these  deposits  by  microscopic  examination. 
These  were  first  held  to  be  gelatinous  algae,  and  were 
afterwards  described  by  Prof.  E.  C.  Jeffery  as  spores 
of  vascular  cryptogams.  The  author  has  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  they  are  not  vegetable  fossils  at  all, 
but  are  small  masses  of  inspissated  petroleum. 
According  to  this  view,  the  rocks  that  are  now  oil- 
shales  were  originally  argillaceous  beds  sufficiently 
colloidal  to  be  able  to  absorb  the  necessary  quantity 
of  inspissated  petroleum  from  the  porous  petroliferous 
sandstones  with  which  they  were  associated.  Such 
action  is  only  possible  in  anticlinal  areas  where  the 
petroliferous  rocks  come  to  the  surface  and  are  sub- 
ject to  the  influence  of  weathering.  Thus  the  decrease 
in  the  yield  of  oil  down  the  flanks  of  anticlines  is 
successfully  accounted  for.  The  author  suggests  that 
his  theory  affords  valuable  information  in  selecting  a 
site  for  boring  for  oil-shales. 

We  have  received  from  Dr.  N.  O.  Hoist  a  reprint 
of  his  articles  on  the  Ice  age  in  England  from  the 
Geological  Magazine,  September-November,  1915.  It 
is  an  interesting  summary  of  the  conclusions  of  one 
who  has  had  long  and  varied  experience  of  the  Glacial 
deposits  of  Scandinavia  and  other  parts  of  northern 
Europe,  besides  those  of  the  British  Isles,  and  empha- 
sises the  differences  of  opinion  that  still  exist  among 
geologists  who  have  deeply  studied  the  evidence  of 
Pleistocene  glaciation  in  this  part  of  the  world.  Dr. 
Hoist  agrees  with  those  who  maintain  that  there  was 
only  one  continuous  Glacial  period,  and  thinks  there 
is  still  no  proof  in  northern  Europe  of  the  alternation 
of  cold  and  warm  episodes  which  have  been  recog- 
nised and  named  by  Penck  in  the  Alps.  He  regards 
the  high-level  gravels  in  the  valley  of  the  Thames 
at  Swanscombe,  Grays,  Ilford,  Erith,  and  Crayford  as 
pre-Glacial,  and  points  out  "how  one  warmth-loving 
mollusc  after  the  other  disappears  from  the  Thames 
valley  in  proportion  as  the  inland  ice  approaches." 
The  associated  flint  implements  at  Crayford  are  de- 
scribed as  oldest  Mousterian.  The  Arctic  bed  at 
Ponder's  End  follows,  and  the  well-knowrj  Thames 
brick-earth  is  truly  Glacial,  "belonging  to  the  period 
of  the  melting  of  the  inland  ice."  .\fter  much  dis- 
cussion. Dr.  Hoist  concludes  that  the  Ice  age  persisted 
continuously  from  Mousterian  times,  though  not  from 
their  first  beginning,  to  the  close  of  the  Magdalenian 


248 


NATURE 


[May  18,  L916 


stage,  and  remarks  that  it  can  be  followed  among 
British  deposits  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  We 
commend  his  work  to  the  notice  of  those  who  are 
interested  in  Palaeolithic  man  and  the  associated 
mammals. 

The  annual  volume  of  "Records  of  the  Survey  in 
India"  (vol.  vii.)  for  1913-14  has  recently  been  pub- 
lished, and  is  a  summary  of  an  immense  amount  of 
useful  work  carried  out  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Surveyor-General  of  India,  Sir  S.  G.  Burrard.  Apart 
from  the  details  of  the  trigonometrical  and  geodetic 
operations,  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  deals 
with  the  exploration  of  the  north-east  frontier.  This 
work  was  done  by  Capts.  Bailey  and  Morshead  in 
1913,  and  by  the  Abor  exploration  party  in  191 1-12-13. 
Up  to  that  time  almost  the  sole  authority  for  the  Abor 
country  was  Kinthup,  w-ho  explored  the  course  of  the 
Tsan-po  through  the  Himalayan  Range  in  1880-83., 
Kinthup,  who  was  sold  into  slavery  by  his  master,  a 
Chinese  lama,  had  been  widely  discredited,  but  in  this 
report  Capt.  G.  F.  T.  Oakes,  in  a  critical  discussion 
of  his  work,  proves  its  trustworthiness. 

The  report  on  the  state  of  ice  in  the  Arctic  Seas  for 
1915  has  made  its  appearance  {Dei  Danske  Meteoro- 
logiske  Institutj  Kjobenhavn).  There  are  charts  for 
April,  May,  June,  July,  and  August,  with  full  explana- 
tions of  the  data  gathered  from  all  available  sources. 
The  publication  is  printed  in  Danish  and  English  in 
parallel  columns.  Most  interesting  are  the  abnormal 
ice  conditions  that  prevailed  in  Spitsbergen  waters. 
As  early  as  May  there  were  symptoms  of  an  unusually 
bad  season.  In  June  the  pack  extended  far  to  the 
westward,  and  there  was  no  approach  to  the  fjords. 
In  July  the  belt  of  pack  narrowed  a  little,  but  even  in 
August  it  was  lying  all  along  the  west  coast.  More 
remarkable  still  was  the  extension  of  this  belt  of  pack, 
throughout  the  summer,  well  to  the  north  of  Prince 
Charles  Foreland— an  occurrence  altogether  excep- 
tional. It  is  suggested  by  Commander  Speerschneider, 
the  author  of  the  report,  that  some  of  the  Greenland 
ice  had  drifted  eastward  to  Spitsbergen  waters,  and 
mixed  with  the  ice  that  normally  sweeps  round  South 
Cape  from  the  Barents  Sea.  Certainly  in  1907  Green- 
land pack  reached  to  8°"  E.  in  the  latitude  of  Ice 
Fjord,  Spitsbergen,  which  is  within  the  limits  of  the 
space  covered  last  year  by  the  pack  under  discussion. 
This  explanation  would  also  account  for  the  northward 
extension  of  the  ice.  Off  the  north  coast  of  Iceland 
ice  conditions  were  bad  until  the  end  of  July,  which  is 
again  an  abnormal  state  of  affairs. 

A  GOOD  instance  of  the  high  appreciation  by  scien- 
tific Americans  of  the  circulars  issued  from  time  to 
time  by  the  Bureau  of  Standards  at  Washington  is 
provided  by  the  recent  issue  by  the  Bureau  of  a  third 
edition  of  the  circular  on  magnetic  testing  of  mate- 
rials. It  covers  fifty  pages,  and  is  issued  at  15  cents 
a  copy  by  the  Government  Printing  Office  at  Wash- 
ington. It  deals  with  the  methods  of  measure- 
ment in  use  at  the  Bureau,  the  results  obtained  with 
typical  commercial  magnetic  materials,  and  gives  a 
great  deal  of  general  information  on  magnetic  sub- 
jects. Induction  and  hysteresis  data  for  straight  bars 
are  obtained  by  the  Burrows  form  of  permeameter,  in 
which  the  bar  under  test  is  combined  by  means  of  two 
soft  iron  yokes  with  an  auxiliary  bar  to  form  the 
magnetic  circuit.  Core  loss  determinations  are  made 
according  to  the  specifications  of  the  American  Society 
for  Testing  Materials  on  strips  5  by  25  cm.,  cut  half 
along,  half  across,  the  direction  of  rolling.  They  are 
assembled  in  four  equal  bundles,  and  with  four  corner 
pieces  constitute  the  magnetic  circuit.  The  measure- 
ments are  made  by  means  of  the  ballistic  galvanometer 
in    each    case.        A    number   of   hysteresis  curves    for 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


typical  materials  and  a  table  of  magnetic  susceptibili- 
ties of  chemical  elements  and  compounds  are  g^ven. 

In  two  papers  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Society 
of  Chemical  Industry  (vol.  xxxv..  No.  4)  Mr.  G.  S. 
Robertson  discusses  the  question  of  the  availability 
of  the  phosphates  in  basic  slags  and  mineral  phos- 
phates. The  increasing  demand  for  phosphatic  fer- 
tilisers is  leading  to  a  search  for  substances  previously 
considered  of  little  value  for  this  purpose.  The  value 
of  2  per  cent,  citric  acid  as  a  solvent  for  testing  the 
availability  of  phosphates  has  been  challenged  for 
minerals  and  fluorspar  slags.  On.  account  of  the  low 
solubility  of  these  phospbatic  materials  in  this  solvent 
it  has  often  been  assumed  that  they  are  not  sio  valu- 
able as  the  high-grade  basic  slags ;  indeed,  Wagner 
introduced  this  test  to  detect  the  adulteration  of  basic 
slag  with  rock  phosphate.  Mr.  Robertson  shows 
that  a  sufficient  number  of  extractions  dissolve  out 
quite  as  much  phosphoric  acid  from  the  minerals  as 
from  the  slags.  The  fineness  of  grinding  is  also  an 
important  factor  in  the  solubility  of  rock  phosphates. 
Field  results  at  various  English  centres  and  in  the 
United  States  have  shown  the  high  value  of  rock 
phosphates,  and  the  author  concludes  that  the  citric 
test  is  worthless  as  a  measure  of  the  relative  values  of 
phosphatic  fertilisers. 

It  has  usually  been  assumed  that  the  wear  of  coins 
in  circulation  is  due  entirely  to  abrasion.  In  a 
memorandum  by  Sir  T.  K.  Rose,  however,  contributed 
to  the  forty-fifth  annual  report  of  the  Deputy-Master 
of  the  Mint,  attention  is  directed  to  the  effect  of 
grease,  derived  from  the  sw^eat  of  the  fingers  or  from 
other  sources,  in  accelerating  the  wear  of  coins.  The 
fatty  acids  of  the  grease  have  a  corrosive  action  upon 
the  metal.  Copper,  in  particular,  even  if  present  only 
in  small  quantity  alloyed  with  gold  or  silver,  is  con- 
verted into  an  oleate,  stearate,  or  other  salt.  Haagen 
Smit,  of  the  Utrecht  Mint,  found  by  analysis  that  the 
dirt  on  a  bronze  coin  contained  36  per  cent,  of  copper 
in  the  form  of  pulverulent  compounds  of  the  fatty 
acids.  When  the  coin  is  handled  the  dirt  is  in  part 
detached,  and  the  coin  undergoes  a  rapid  Toss  of 
weight.  Gold  or  silver  is  not  readily  converted  into 
salts,  but  the  removal  of  the  alloying  copper  leaves 
the  less  easily  attacked  metals  in  a  spongy  form  which 
offers  little  resistance  to  abrasion.  A  surface  layer  of 
pure  silver  at  first  preserves  coins  from  chemical 
attack,  but  this  layer  is  soon  removed  by  mechanical  • 
wear.  In  new  coins  the  rapid  loss  of  weight  which 
occurs  is  doubtless  due  at  first  to  abrasion,  but  when 
the  rough  edges  have  been  removed  chemical  action 
mav  prove  to  be  of  the  first  importance  in  the  succeed- 
ing deterioration. 

In  vol.  XV.  (part  i.)  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Eng-     J 
lish  Ceramic  Society  the  feature  of  most  scientific  in-      « 
terest   is    a    series    of  three    "Studies    on     Flint    and 
Quartz,"  by  Dr.  J.  W.  Mellor  and  two  collaborators. 
The  first  paper  describes  the  effects  upon  quartz  and 
flint    of    heating    these     substances     at     temperatures 
obtained  in  pottery  ovens.     It  has  long  been  known      1 
that  quartz  on  calcination  or  fusion  shows  a  notable      | 
decrease   in   specific   gravity — a   change  which   is  pre- 
sumably attributable  to  the  conversion  of  the  quartz 
molecule  to  a  lower  degree  of  polymerisation.     Flipt, 
it  is  found,  undergoes  similarly  an  alteration  of  specific 
gravity  when   calcined,  but   much   more   rapidly  than 
quartz.     Between  grey   flint   and  black   flint   there^  is 
likewise  a  difference  in  the  rapidity  of  transformation 
to  the  form  of  lower  density,  grey  flint  being  changed 
somewhat  more  quickly  than  the  black  variety.     The 
practical  bearing  on  certain  ceramic  operations  of  these 
differences  of  behaviour  Is  pointed  out.     In  the  second 


May  i8,  1916] 


NATURE 


249 


paper  there  is  an  interesting  account  of  the  formation 
and  distribution  of  boulder  and  chalky  flints;  and  in 
the  third  the  question  of  substituting  other  forms  of 
silica  for  flint  in  potter)-^  manufacture  is  discussed.  A 
timely  article  upon  the  national  importance  of  fuel 
economy  is  contributed  by  Prof.  W.  A.  Bone. 

Several  numbers  of  the  Technologic  Papers  issued 
by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Standards  have  re- 
cently come  to  hand.  Each  deals  with  a  special 
problem  of  analytical  chemistry  which  has  been  in- 
vestigated by  the  departmental  chemists.  In  No.  64  a 
new  method  is  given  for  the  determination  of  barium 
carbonate  in  vulcanised-rubber  articles,  and  it  is 
shown  that  the  process  is  sufficiently  accurate  for  use 
in  the  somewhat  difficult  case  where  sulphates  of  lead 
and  barium  are  present  simultaneously  with  the  barium 
carbonate.  Paf>er  No.  65  includes  a  scheme  for  the 
determination  of  oil  and  resin  in  varnishes;  tested 
upon  samples  of  known  composition,  the  process  has 
given  fairl}-  good  results.  A  method  for  the  detection  of 
resin  in  driers  is  developed  in  No.  66.  It  appears  to  be 
trustworthy  except  when  the  proportion  of  resin  is  very 
small.  Analytical  chemists  who  may  have  to  deal  with 
gums  will  find  in  paper  No.  67  a  useful  summary  of 
the  chemistry-  of  gum  arable.  The  authors  of  the 
paper  find  that  basic  lead  acetate  gives  the  most 
characteristic  reaction  for  this  gum,  whilst  for  its 
quantitative  determination  they  have  devised  an  im- 
proved process,  depending  upon  the  precipitation  of 
the  gum  with  an  alcoholic  solution  of  copper  acetate. 
Paper  No.  69  describes  a  critical  study  of  the  deter- 
mination of  carbon  in  steel  by  direct  combustion  in 
oxvgen  at  temperatures  higher  than  are  ordinarily 
eniploved.  .Although  the  new  method  gives  good 
results,  the  investigators  consider  that  the  experimental 
difficulties  place  it  beyond  the  reach  of  most  industrial 
and  works  laboratories. 

The  following  works  are  in  preparation  for  appear- 
ance in  Messrs.  Longmans  and  Co.'s  Monographs  on 
Biochemistry: — "The  Development  and  Present  Con- 
dition of  Biological  Chemistry,"  Dr.  F.  Gowland  Hop- 
kins;  "'The  Polvsaccharides,"  A.  R.  Ling;  "Colloids," 
W.  B.  Hardy ;  '"  Physical  Methods  used  in  Biological 
Chemistry,"  Dr.  G.  S.  Walpole;  "Protamines  and 
Histones,"  Dr.  A.  Kossel ;  "Lecithin  and  .\llied  Sub- 
stances," Dr.  H.  Maclean;  "The  Ornamental  Plant 
Pigments,"  A.  G.  Perkin ;  "Chlorophyll  and  Haemo- 
globin," H.  J.  Page;  and  "Organic  Compounds  of 
Arsenic  and  Antimon;^"  Dr.  G.  T.  Morgan. 

Messrs.  Macmillan  and  Co.'s  list  of  forthcoming 
books  includes  the  following: — "A  Bibliography  of 
British  Ornithology,  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the 
End  of  1912,  including  Biographical  Accounts  of  the 
Principal  Writers  and  Bibliographies  of  their  Pub- 
lished Works,"  by  W.  H.  Mullens  and  H.  Kirke 
Swann,  in  six  parts,  the  first  of  which  will  be  issued 
at  the  beginning  of  June;  "Discovery,  or  the  Spirit 
and  Service  of  Science,"  by  Prof.  R.  A.  Gregory,  illus- 
trated (The  purpose  of  the  work  is  to  display  the 
nobility  of  scientific  endeavour,  the  meaning  and  value 
of  scientific  method,  and  the  practical  service  of  results 
obtained  by  research);  "Theoretical  Chemistry,"  by 
Prof.  W.  Nernst,  new  edition,  revised  by  H.  T. 
Tizard;  "i\  Manual  of  Practical  Physics,"  by  H.  E. 
Hadlev;  "Elements  of  Geometrv,"  by  S.  Barnard 
and  J.'  M.  Child,  parts  v.  and  vi. ;  "  Second  Thoughts 
of  an  Economist,"  bv  the  late  Prof.  W.  Smart,  with 
a  biographical  sketch  bv  T.  Jones;  "The  Military 
Map  :  Elements  of  Modem  Topography  (French 
School  of  War)";  "The  Statesman's  Year  Book, 
iqi6."  edited  by  Dr.  J.  Scott  Keltie,  assisted  by  Dr. 
M.  Epstein. 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Stereoscopic    Spectroheuograms. — ^A    remarkable 
pair  of  photographs  of  hydrogen  (H.)  flocculi,  show- 
ing a  stereoscopic  effect,  have  been  forwarded  to  us 
by  Prof.  Hale.     They  were  taken  with  a  new  grating 
spectroheliograph,  used  in  conjunction  with  the  60-ft. 
tower  telescope  at  Mt.  Wilson,  and  exhibit  the  flocculi 
surroundirsg  a  large  spot-group   near  the  sun's  west 
limb  on  August  7,   19 15.     The  time  interval  between 
the  two  exposures  was  seven  minutes,  giving  a  separa- 
tion of  the  two  images  due  to  the  sun's  rotation  some- 
I  what  greater  than  Helmholtz's  estimate  of  i'  for  the 
I  minimum    angular    separation    of     two    objects     just 
;  sufficing    for    stereoscopic    vision.       The   photographs 
;  show  the  structure  of  the  flocculi  in  a  way  which  at 
;  once  recalls   Langley's   well-known   representation   of 
I  the  minute  details  of  the  photosphere  about  a  spot; 
'  and    a    long,    dark    flocculus,    which  afterwards   ap- 
peared  as   a  prominence   on   the   west   limb,    is   dis- 
I  tinctly  seen  in  relief.     Photographs  of  this  kind  must 
necessarily  be  affected  by  changes  in  the  actual  details 
m   the  interval   between    the   exposures,    and   by   dis- 
tortion   arising    from    drift    of    the    solar  image,   or 
from  irregular  motion  of  the  spectroheliograph,  during 
exposure;  but  Prof.  Hale  believes  that  with  due  pre- 
cautions  the    stereograms    will    assist  in   clearing  up 
some  of  the  questions  referring  to  relative  levels.     A 
check  on  the  reality  of  the  stereoscopic  relief  has  been 
obtained  by  taking  photographs  of  a  globe  having  a 
roughened  surface,  turned  through  angles  correspond- 
ing with  the  intervals  between  the  solar  photographs. 

A  Variation  in  the  Solar  Rotation. — In  the  pro- 
gramme of  spectroscopic  work  at  the  Ottawa  Observa- 
tory a  considerable  place  is  devoted  to  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  solar  rotation.  In  the  most  recent  publica- 
tion Mr.  H.  H.  Plaskett  gives  an  account  of  a  special 
inquiry  regarding  its  variability  in  time  (Astrophysical 
Journal,  vol.  xliii..  No.  2).  In  order  to  regularise  the 
personal  equation  and  avoid  bias  all  measurement  was 
postponed  until  the  desired  series  of  spectra  had  been 
secured ;  the  plates  were  then  mixed,  divided  into  two 
bundles,  and  measured  with  two  quite  (Afferent  types 
of  machines.  The  displacements  of  eight  lines,  includ- 
ing three  of  telluric  origin,  to  serve  as  a  check  on 
possible  instrumental  displacements,  were  measured. 
Three  possible  modes  of  variation  were  looked  for  :  (i) 
diurnal ;  (2)  short  period ;  and  (3)  secular  changes.  The 
evidence  indicates  that  daily  variations,  if  existent,  do 
not  reach  o-i  km. ;  Variations  of  the  second  and  third 
tvpes  are  revealed  in  a  cyclic  change  of  0-15  km.  with 
a  period  of  about  a  month,  and  a  diminution  of  rota- 
tional velocity  amounting  to  004  km.  since  19 13- 
The  research  is  a  typical  example  of  the  thoroughness 
already  traditional  at  Ottawa. 

The  Great  Meridian  Circle  of  the  Paris  Observa- 
tory.— The  annual  reports  of  the  Paris  Observatory 
for  the  last  two  years  contain  some  interesting  facts 
concerning  the  working  of  this  instrument.  After  acci- 
dental damages  the  indications  of  the  repaired  level 
were  discordant,  so  that  throughout  the  past  twelve 
months  the  determinations  of  inclination  of  the  axis 
have  been  entirely  made  by  nadir  observations,  employ- 
ing the  suspended  mercur}'  bath  devised  by  M.  Hamy. 
Another  modification  of  procedure  concerns  the  col- 
limation  error.  It  was  found  that  when  the  usual 
daih'  determinations  were  employed  the  resulting  clock 
rates  showed  variations  greater  than  could  be  expected. 
Consequently  use  is  now  made  of  a  weighted  mean 
value  of  the  colUmation  error  determined  by  observa- 
tions of  circumpolar  stars  at  upper  and  lower  culmina- 
tions. 


250 


NATURE 


[May  i8,  1916 


THE  "SUMMER  TIME"  BILL. 


'pHE  main  provisions  of  the  "Summer  Time"  Bill, 
•*■  which  was  introduced  in  the  House  of  Commons 
on  May  9  by  the  Home  Secretary,  Mr.  Herbert 
Samuel,  and  was  read  a  second  time  in  the  House  of 
Lords  on   May   16,  are  as  follows  : — 

(i)  During  a  prescribed  period  the  local  time  in 
Great  Britain  is  to  be  one  hour  in  advance  of  Green- 
wich mean   time. 

(2)  The  prescribed  period  this  year  is  from  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  Greenwich  mean  time  on  Sun- 
day, the  twenty-first  day  of  May,  until  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning  Greenwich  mean  time  on  Sunday,  the 
first  day  of  October,  and  during  the  continuance  of 
the  present  war  the  Act  can  be  declared  by  Order  in 
Council  to  be  in  force  for  any  prescribed  period. 

(3)  During  the  prescribed  period  any  expression  of 
time  in  any  Act  of  Parliament,  Order  in  Council, 
order,  regulation,  rule,  or  by-law,  or  in  any  deed, 
time-table,  notice,  advertisement,  or  other  document, 
is  to  mean  "Summer  Time." 

(4)  The  Act  is  to  apply  to  Ireland  as  to  Great  Britain, 
with  the  substitution,  however,  of  references  to  Dublin 
mean  time  for  references  to  Greenwich  mean  time. 

(5)  Greenwich  mean  time  is  to  be  maintained  as 
hitherto,  for  purposes  of  astronomy  or  navigation. 

No  particular  time  is  prescribed  for  meteorologists, 
who  are  left  to  decide  for  themselves  whether  to  record 
their  observations  at  the  same  hour  G.M.T.  through- 
out the  year,  or  to  adopt  the  Summer  Time  for  five 
months  and  G.M.T.  for  the  remainder.  A  like  diflfi- 
culty  arises  with  self-registerinsr  meteorological  instru- 
ments, which  are  used  to  record  continuously  day  and 
night.  Either  the  instruments  are  to  be  an  hour 
wrong  in  the  summer,  or  meteorologists  are  to  use  a 
time-system  different  from  that  of  the  general  public. 
For  example,  the  five  thousand  voluntary  observers 
connected  with  the  British  Rainfall  Organisation  re- 
cord their  readings  at  9  a.m.,  which  is  to  be  10  a.m. 
Summer  Time.  Dr.  H.  R.  Mill,  director  of  the 
Organisation,  has  had  to  announce  to  his  observers 
that  the  readings  should  be  taken,  if  possible,  at 
9  a.m.  G.M.T.,  as  hitherto,  or  a  note  should  be  made 
on  each  page  of  the  observation  book  if  the  readings 
are  taken  at  9  a.m.  Summer  Time.  Anyone  who  is 
concerned  with  the  preservation  of  records  for  long 
series  of  years  must  contemplate  with  blank  dismay 
the  dual  system  about  to  be  introduced. 

Lighting-up  times,  as  was  stated  in  last  week's 
Nature,  depend  upon  local  times  of  sunset,  and  are 
therefore  based  upon  Greenwich  mean  time,  with  differ- 
ences for  latitude  and  longitude.  The  Law  Journal 
points  out  that  since  sunrise  and  sunset  always  mean 
in  law  the  exact  moment  at  which  the  sun  rises  or 
sets  at  any  particular  place,  the  obligation  to  light 
up  vehicles  an  hour  after  sunset — an  interval  which  is 
reduced  to  half  an  hour  during  the  war — is  not  affected 
by  the  Summer  Time  Bill.  The  law  will  thus  maintain 
local  time  for  many  of  the  statutes  in  which  time  is 
mentioned,  and  this,  for  nearly  all  places  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  will  be  later  than  Greenwich 
time,  not  an  hour  earlier,  as  the  Summer  Time  Bill 
prescribes.  As  the  tides,  sunrise  and  sunset,  lunar 
phases,  and  like  occurrences  belong  to  navigation  and 
astronomy,  they  will  continue  to  be  tabulated  in  ad- 
vance in  Greenwich  time;  but  all  public  clocks  are  to 
show  mid-European  time. 

The  economic  and  social  advantages  claimed  for 
this  introduction  of  confusion  into  an  orderly  system 
of  time-reckoning  remain  to  be  seen ;  but  whatever 
they  are  there  can  be  no  question  that  the  scheme  of 
a  fluctuating  time-standard  has  no  natural  basis.  It 
is  the  duty  of  a  scientific  journal  to  point  out  the 
objections  to  the  scheme,  even  though  it  stands  alone, 

NO.    2429,   VOL.    97] 


and,  in  the  opinion  of  the  public,  may  represent  what 
is  contemptuously  termed  scientific  theory  as  some- 
thing apart  from  the  practical  needs  of  life.  The  diffi- 
culties are  not  appreciated  by  our  legislators,  and  few 
writers  in  the  public  Press  have  shown  any  intelligent 
understanding  of  them,  while  scientific  interests  have 
been  completely  disregarded.  The  only  satisfaction  to 
be  derived  from  this  childish  method  of  promoting 
the  increased  use  of  daylight  is  that  the  measure  is 
limited  to  the  period  of  the  war. 

PURIFICATION  OF  COAL-GAS. 
OROF.  FRANK  CLOWES  read  a  paper  before  the 
■^  Society  of  Chemical  Industry  on  May  i  dealing 
with  the  past  and  present  of  the  sulphur  impurity  in 
coal-gas.  He  recalled  that  the  higher  temperature 
carbonisation  arising  from  the  displacement  of  iron  by 
fireclay  retorts  had  resulted  in  an  increased  amount 
of  sulphur  coming  into  the  gas,  not  only  in  the  form 
of  hydrogen  sulphide,  but  more  noticeably  as  sulphur 
compounds  of  an  organic  nature.  Purification  by 
iron  oxide  is  sufficient  to  remove  sulphuretted  hydro- 
gen, but  the  removal  of  these  organic  compounds  is 
much  more  difficult.  "  Sulphided  lime,"  prepared  by 
passing  coal-gas  containing  hydrogen  sulphide,  but 
free  from  carbon  dioxide,  over  freshly  slaked  lime, 
was  in  common  use  for  the  purpose,  but  its  action 
was  so  uncertain  that  a  Board  of  Trade  Committee 
which  inquired  into  the  subject  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  any  statutory  requirement  that  the  sulphur  im- 
purities should  be  removed  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
demand  the  use  of  lime  ought  to  be  discontinued. 
The  detrimental  physiological  effect  and  very  slight,  or 
non-existent,  disinfectant  value  of  the  sulphurous  pro- 
ducts of  combustion  of  coal-gas  were,  however,  plainly 
indicated  by  Dr.  Haldane,  and  experimental  results 
were  also  brought  forward  which  proved  that  these 
sulphurous  products  caused  leather  to  rot  and  ulti- 
mately to  crumble,  and  that  some  fabrics  were  simi- 
larly affected. 

Dr.  C.  Carpenter  and  his  collaborators  have  ad- 
vanced matters  by  working  out  on  the  large  scale  a 
practical  method  of  removing  carbon  bisulphide  by 
passing  the  gas  at  a  temperature  of  about  450°  C.^  (the 
author  gives  the  temperature  450°  F.,  presumably  a 
misprint)  over  fireclay  surfaces  impregnated  with  re- 
duced nickel.  The  hydrogen  sulphide  formed  is  re- 
moved by  subsequent  exposure  of  the  coal-gas  to  iron 
oxide,  and  the  carbon  deposited  on  the  fireclay-nickel 
surface  is  burned  off;  the  sulphur  of  the  coal-gas  is  so 
reduced  to  about  8  grains  per  100  cubic  feet. 

A  similar  process  is  in  the  hands  of  an  investigator 
in  France,  and  it  appears  that  the  immediate  pos- 
sibility of  distributing  a  much  purer  gas  supply  is 
presented  to  the  gas  industry. 

PREHISTORIC  ART. 

A  MELANCHOLY  interest  attaches  to  a  paper 
entitled  "  Nouvelles  decouvertes  k  Laugerie 
Basse :  Rabots,  os  utilises,  ceuvres  d'art,"  by  Capt. 
Bourlon,  published  in  the  last  issue  of  L' Anthropologic 
(vol.  xvii.,  Nos.  1-2,  for  January- April),  because  the 
gallant  officer  was  killed  at  the  opening  of  the  war. 
The  paper  has  now  been  edited  by  M.  I'Abb^  Breuil. 
These  new  discoveries  in  this  famous  cave  are  of 
remarkable  interest,  including  a  fine  collection  of  flint 
implements,  among  which  the  rabots,  or  scrapers,  are 
of  exceptional  interest.  We  have  also  fine  examples 
of  work  In  bone,  including  many  heads  of  animals 
engraved  on  this  material.  The  engravings  on  stone, 
besides  those  of  the  normal  type,  display  some  curious 
variants.     Of  these  the  most  remarkable  are  a  splen- 

1  Trans.  Inst.  Gas  Eng.,  1914,  p.  213. 


May  1 8,  191 6] 


NATURE 


25' 


did  picture  of  a  red  bear,  stags,  bison,  and  a  figure 
of  a  bird  with  a  long,  slightly  curved  beak,  with  a 
protuberance  on  the  throat,  which  may  make  it  pos- 
sible to  identify  the  species. 

This  type  of  prehistoric  art  is  also  illustr.ated  in  a 
novel  way  in  a  paper  in  the  same  issue  of  L'Anthro- 
pologie  by  M.  E.  F.  Gautier,  entitled  "  Nouvelles 
Stations  de  Gravures  rupestres  Nord-Africaines,"  which 
describes  a  series  of  rock  sculpturings  at  a  place  to 
the  north  of  Figuig,  on  the  Algerian-Moroccan  frontier. 
These  include  elephants,  lions,  an  animal  possiblv  a 
giraffe,  and  ostriches.  The  author  remarks  that 
eminent  geologists,  on  the  analogy  of  the  prehistoric 
drawings  in  the  French  caves,  are  disposed  to  assign 
the  North  African  specimens  to  the  Quaternian  age. 
But  he  warns  us  that  the  collection  of  examples  was 
made  in  the  course  of  a  rapid  tour,  and  that  it  is 
still  far  from  complete.  Much  further  exploration  is 
required  before  any  definite  conclusion  regarding  this 
type  of  prehistoric  art  and  the  ethnology  of  the  artists 
can  be  formulated. 


SCIEXCE     AND     CLASSICS     IN     MODERN 
EDUCATION.^ 

npHE  resolution  I  have  the  honour  to  move  seems  to 
-■■  need  but  few  words  to  commend  it  to  a  meeting 
of  scientific  men.  But  we  have  to  bear  in  mind  that 
it  is  not  scientific  men  that  have  to  be  convinced,  and 
it  becomes  necessary  therefore  to  state  clearly  what  it 
is  that  we  desire,  and  why  we  desire  it. 

I  propose  to  begin,  however,  Dy  slating  what  it  is 
that  we  do  not  desire,  my  reasons  for  so  doing  being 
that  our  aims  have  been  grossly  misrepresented  in  the 
past,  as  they  will  no  doubt  continue  to  be  misrepre- 
sented in  the  future.  Thus,  in  expressing  the  opinion 
that  science  ought  to  oust  the  study  ot  Greek  and 
Latin  from  the  prominent  position  which  these  sub- 
jects hold  in  the  educational  course  of  our  schools,  we 
have  been  accused  of  wishing  to  kill  all  learning  but 
our  own.  The  accusation  is  baseless.  We  have  never 
expressed  any  such  desire.  No  one  of  us  would  be  so 
foolish  as  to  wish  that  the  classics  should  not  continue 
to  be  a  serious  branch  of  study.  We  do  not  contest 
that  an  intimate  knowledge  of  Greek  and  Latin  may 
help  towards  the  attainment  of  literary  and  oratorical 
style,  or  that  it  may  even  add  to  the  amenities  of  con- 
versational intercourse.  We  admire — some  of  us  from 
a  long  distance — the  favoured  few  who  are  possessed 
of  those  advantages.  But  it  is  the  many  we  have 
to  consider  in  the  matter  of  general  education,  and 
we  ask  ourselves — looking  over  the  circle  of  our 
acquaintances  at  those  who  have  had  the  inestimable 
privilege  of  having  Greek  and  Latin  swished  into 
them  from  their  earliest  years — whether  in  the  great 
majority  there  is  any  sign  that  there  was  ever  much 
penetration  beyond  the  skin,  and  whether  the  educa- 
tional benefits  which  the — for  the  most  part  long- 
forgotten — acquisition  of  these  languages  has  be- 
stowed are  really  worth  the  enormous  amount  of  time 
and  trouble  expended  upon  them.  This  is,  of  course, 
an  entirely  different  question  from  what  I  may  perhaps 
be  permitted  even  by  our  opponents  to  call  the  scien- 
tific study  of  classical  languages  and  literature,  w^hich 
is  on  an  altogether  different  footing,  and  cannot  be 
promoted  by  forcing  Greek  and  Latin  on  every  school- 
boy, whether  he  has  aptitude  for  it  or  not,  to  the 
exclusion  of  subjects  the  knowledge  of  which  would  at 
least  be  of  some  benefit  to  him  in  after  life. 

We  must  all  admit  that  there  is  not  time  for  any 
adequate  study  of  both  the  classics  and  the  natural 

1  Remarks  made  by  Sir  Edward  Schaftr,  F.R.S.,  in  proposing  the  first 
resolution  at  the  meeting  on  the  Neglect  of  Science  held  at  Burlington  House 
on  May  3  (see  Nature,  May  11,  p.  230). 


sciences  in  the  general  educational  curriculum;  surely, 
therefore,  it  is  scarcely  nitmg  to  omit  subjects  which 
in  any  conceivable  circumstance  of  life  may  prove  of 
some  value  m  or<ler  to  retain  those  whicn  can  only 
be  valuable  m  professions  which  demand  a  certain 
standard  of  literarj-  attainment.  But  I  am  not  pre- 
pared to  concede  that  knowledge  ot  the  classics  is 
necessary  for  the  production  of  the  best  English.  1 
refer  to  this  point  particularly  because  the  claim  has 
been  recently  made  by  one  of  the  champions  of  the 
present  system  of  education  that  without  such  know- 
ledge we  are  unable  adequately  to  express  our  ideas 
in  our  own  language.  The  absurdity  of  this  conten- 
tion is  obvious  at  a  time  when  we  are  commemorating 
the  tercentenary  of  the  author  whose  immortal  works 
were  written  under  all  the  disadvantages  of  the  posses- 
sion of  "  small  Latin  and  less  Greek."  Perhaps  it  is 
unfair  to  bring  in  evidence  so  transcendant  a 
genius  as  Shakespeare;  he,  one  feels,  even  with  a 
complete  classical  education,  would  still  have  succeeded 
in  bewitching  the  world  with  his  wonderful  imaginings 
and  in  inspiring  his  characters  with  the  attributes 
and  sentiments  which  his  puny  fellow-mortals  have 
marvelled  at  for  three  hundred  years,  and  will  doubt- 
less continue  to  admire  as  long  as  our  world  continues. 
Nevertheless,  if  Shakespeare  had  gone  through 
a  course  of  Eton  and  Oxford  the  language  those  senti- 
ments are  clothed  in  would  certainly  have  been 
different,  and  I  imagine  that  not  even  the  most  pro- 
classical  of  our  opponents  but  is  thankful  that  he 
escaped. 

I  am  content,  however,  to  leave  Shakespeare  on  his 
pinnacle — unattained  and  unattainable — and  to  recall 
the  name  of  one  John  Bunyan.  Has  anyone  amongst 
the  polished  eighteenth-century  essayists  written  in  a 
clearer  style  than  this  Bedfordshire  tinker's  son,  whose 
literary  studies  were  mainly  confined  to  the  Bible? 
Or,  to  take  an  instance  from  our  own  times,  was 
there  ever  a  finer  political  speaker  than  John  Bright, 
"the  great  tribune,"  whose  utterances,  couched  in 
simple,  vigorous  English,  were  wont  to  pass  straight 
from  his  own  heart  to  that  of  his  audience?  And  is 
there  not  another  writer  and  speaker  of  whom  we  are 
many  of  us  proud  to  have  been  the  disciples,  and 
whose  spirit  we  may  well  imagine  to  be  with  us  this 
afternoon,  who,  without  the  advantage  of  a  classical 
upbringing,  was  pre-eminent  amongst  nineteenth- 
century  authors  for  his  faultless  diction  and  for  the 
direct  and  terse  enunciation  of  his  ideas;  needless  to 
say,  I  refer  to  Thomas  Henrj-  Huxley. 

We  have  further  been  accused  of  desiring,  in  our 
enthusiasm  for  science,  to  oust  such  subjects  as 
modern  history-,  and  geography,  and  the  study  of  the 
English  language  and  literature  from  the  educational 
curriculum.  No  accusation  can  be  more  unfair.  We 
recognise  that  these  subjects  must  for  us  form  a 
fundamental  part  of  all  education.  They  have  been 
ousted  from  the  present  scheme  because  their  imme- 
diate relation  to  the  classical  languages  and  literature 
was  remote,  and  the  amount  of  knowledge  of  Greek 
and  Latin  which  has  been  required  in  competitive 
examinations  has  needed  all  the  time  at  the  school- 
master's disposal.  We  believe,  however,  that  there 
will,  if  the  greater  part  of  that  time  can  be  recovered, 
be  opportunity  afforded  for .  the  acquisition  of  such 
knowledge  of  the  subjects  in  question  as  will  help 
to  fit  our  boys  and  girls  to  become  worthy  citizens  of 
this  great  island-empire. 

But  in  order  that  there  shall  be  a  reasonable  chance 
of  our  being  able  to  maintain  our  place  in  the  world 
it  is  above  all  necessary  that  we  should  move  with 
the  times.  We  are  a  long  way  from  the  eighteenth 
century — when  a  sound  education  in  classics  was  re- 
cognised as  the  be-all  and  end-all  of  a  boy's  upbring- 


NO.    2429,   VOL.   97] 


252 


NATURE 


[May  i8,  1916 


i.ng.  Scit-ncf  \\.i>  then  in  its  infancy.  I  iMuuj^hout 
the  ninelLL-nlh  ccnlury  it  was  advijincing  by  leaps  and 
bounds.  In  this  twentieth  n  niury  we  meet  it  at  every 
turn;  there  is  no  getting  out  uf  its  path.  That  this 
is  truly  the  age  of  science  we  have  no  lack  of  evidence 
in  the  present  war,  but  the  statement  is  no  less  true 
and  is  even  more  important  in  its  application  to  the  occu- 
pations of  peace.  And  if  we  wish  to  Uve  up  to  our 
age  we  must  do  what  in  us  lies  to  promote  the  pro- 
gress of  science.  The  mere  diffusion  of  scientific 
knowledge  throughout  the  community  will  be  directly 
beneficial;  but,  besides  this,  certain  important  conse- 
quences must  follow  such  diffusion.  Not  the  least  of 
these  is  the  capability  of  appreciating  the  fact  that  it 
is  necessary  for  our  prosperity— nay,  for  the  continu- 
ance of  our  verv  existence — that  in  every  possible  way 
knowledge  of  science  should  be  advanced.  Let  us 
make  no  mistake  on  this  point.  The  nation  which 
recognises  this  necessity  will  succeed,  the  nation 
which  refuses  to  recognise  it  will  fail. 

We  make  no  claim  to  have  eminent  representatives 
of  science  in  the  Cabinet.  We  believe  in  the  cobbler 
sticking  to  his  last.  The  qualities  for  which  poli- 
ticians are  chosen  are  rarely  found  in  men  who  devote 
their  lives  to  the  pursuit  of  science.  But  we  think 
that  even  Cabinet  Ministers  should  know  something 
about  the  world  they  live  in  and  the  bodies  they 
inhabit.  Surprise  has  been  expressed  at  the  singular 
ignorance  displayed  bv  distinguished  statesmen  of 
simple  facts  in  chemistry  and  physiology,  familiar  to 
the  most  junior  student.  This  ought  not,  however, 
to  be  surprising-.  What  chance  have  they  had  to 
acquire  any  knowledge  on  these  subjects?  Usually 
none  at  all.  We  meet  with  the  same  kind  of  ignor- 
ance in  such  a  generally  well-inforrtied  quarter  as  the 
editorial  column  of  a  newspaper ;  nor  can  this 
be  otherwise  considering  that  the  journalist  has  as  a 
rule  the  same  kind  of  education  as  the  politician — an 
education  in  which  science  has  occupied  no  part. 
Neither  is  able  to  distinguish  between  a  real  and  so'i- 
disant  authority  on  a  scientific  subject,  and  for  this 
reason  we  frequently  find  the  utterances  of  a  quack 
quoted  as  of  equal  value  with  those  of  a  master  in 
science.  And  if  men  like  these — men  who  have  had 
the  highest  educational  advantages  which  our  schools 
and  universities  can  afford — are  so  deficient  in  know- 
ledge of  things  around  them  :  things  which  really 
matter,  and  which  affect  the  well-being,  and  prosperity 
of  the  whole  community  :  what  can  be  expected  from 
the  ruck  of  their  fellow-graduates  who  have  taken — 
or  perhaps  been  excused — the  ordinary  degree  at 
our  universities,  and  who  have  acquired  in  that 
laborious  process  little  but  a  smattering  of  certain 
ancient  languages,  which  they  very  soon  contrive  to 
get  rid  of?  Or,  if  anything  remains,  it  is  of  no  pos- 
sible use  to  them  in  the  practical  avocations — agricul- 
tural, commercial,  or  manufacturing" — which  will 
occupy  so  much  of  their  subsequent  attention. 
Whereas,  had  the  time  which  most  of  them  have  thus 
wasted  in  classical  studies  been  devoted  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  a  basal  knowledge  of  the  physical  and  bio- 
logical sciences,  it  may  confidently  be  afifirmed  that 
the  living  interest  which  these  subjects  afford  would 
lead  to  a  desire  for  the  extension  of  such  knowledge, 
and  that  its  possession  could  not  but  prove  of  definite 
advantage  in  their  future  career. 

It  is.  however,  constantly  allecred  by  our  pro- 
classical  friends  that  wTiatever  may  be  said  for  the 
teaching  of  science  on  utilitarian  grounds  the  study  of 
the  classics  has  shown  itself  by  long  experience  to 
have  such  inestimable  advantages  as  an  educational 
asset  in  the  formation  of  character  that  it  is  hot  pos- 
sible for  anv  other  branch  of  knowledge  to  takef  its 
place  in  the  curricula  of  our  schools  and  universities. 
This  allegation  must,  in  the  absence  of  specific  proofs, 
NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


be  met  by  us  with  the  most  absolute  denial.  The 
evidence  we  possess  is  indeed  altogether  on  the 
opposite  side.  Of  all  the  public  services  the  one  which 
is  pre-eminent  for  the  high  character  and  efficiency 
of  its  officers  is  by  universal  consent  the  Royal  Navy. 
And  this  is  also  distinguished  from  the  rest  by  the 
fact  that  from  the  very  first  the  training-  given  is 
mainly  a  training  in  scientific  methods,  whilst  the 
very  subjects  which  are  alleged  by  so  many  instructors 
of  youth  to  be  essential  to  a  scheme  of  general  educa- 
tion are  rigorously  excluded.  We  have  here,  in  fact, 
an  experiment  in  education  which  has  been  conducted 
on  a  large  enough  scale  for  us  to  draw  definite  con- 
clusions from  it,  and  I  venture  to  say,  without  fear  of 
contradiction,  that  the  results  are  altogether  in  favour 
of  the  proposal  to  substitute  science  for  classics  in 
the  schools  and  universities  of  this  countr\\ 

Lastly,  let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  sentimental 
side.  More  than  one  recent  writer  has  argued 
as  a  proof  of  the  efficiency  of  the  existing  system  that 
if  it  is  productive  of  no  other  benefit,  the  experience 
of  the  present  war  has  shown  that  it  has  at  least 
taught  our  boys  how  to  die.  The  obvious  answer  to 
this  appeal  to  sentiment  is  that  the  lesson  has  been 
just  as  well  learned  by  those  who  have  not  passed 
under  the  classical  yoke.  Men  of  all  classes  of  the 
community  have  done  their  duty  equally  bravely  and 
unflinchingly.  The  courage  and  self-sacrifice  which 
have  been  so  abundantly  displayed  in  our  fighting  Ser- 
vices and  their  auxiliaries  cannot  therefore  be  looked 
upon  as  the  result  of  this  or  that  system  of  education, 
but  must  be  regarded  as  part  of  the  common  heritage 
of  our  race,  of  which  we  may  all  be  justly 
proud.  There  is,  besides,  one  thing  which  is  of 
equal,  or  even  greater  importance  than  the  know- 
ledge of  how  to  die,  and  that  is  the  knowledge  of 
how  to  live.  Nevertheless,  we  are  content  to  be 
ignorant  of  everything  that  pertains  to  our  bodily  life ; 
ignorant  of  the  functions  of  our  organs,  of  their  main- 
tenance in  health,  of  the  evils  which  follow  the  abuse 
of  those  functions,  of  the  relation  of  our  bodies  to  their 
environment,  of  everything  w^hich  tends  to  develop  a 
healthy  mind  in  a  healthy  body.  True,  many  of 
us  muddle  through  somehow  in  spite  of  this  ignor- 
ance, but  far  too  many  suffer  severely  on  account  of 
it,  and  one  of  the  benefits  w^hich  will  accrue  from  a 
diffused  knowledge  of  science  will  be  apparent  in  an 
enhanced  interest  in  all  questions  affecting  the  health 
of  the  individual  and  the  community.  An  educational 
curriculum  which  offers  nothing  beyond  a  little  Greek 
and  Latin  must,  by  its  very  nature,  produce  an  un- 
fertile soil,  permanently  incapable  of  encouraging  the 
growth  of  such  knowledge  as  is  of  real  value  in  the 
battle  of  life. 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Cambridge. — An  exhibition  of  50Z.  a  year,  tenable 
for  two  years,  is  offered  each  year  by  the  governing 
body  of  Emmanuel  College  to  a  research  student  com- 
mencing residence  at  Cambridge  as  a  member  of 
Emmanuel  College  in  October.  Applications,  accom- 
panied by  two  certificates  of  good  character,  should 
be  sent  to  the  Master  of  Emmanuel  not  later  than 
September  24. 

London. — The  report  of  the  Vice-Chancellor  on  the 
work  of  the  University  during  the  year  1915-16  gives 
many  interesting  particulars  as  to  the  war  wofk 
accomplished  by  the  University.  The  total  number  of 
commissions  granted  to  cadets  and  ex-cadets  of  the 
University  Contingent  of  the  Officers  Training  Corps 
since  the  outbreak  of  the  ,  war  is  2031,   and  of  com- 


May  1 8^  1916] 


NATURE 


253 


missions  granted  to  other  graduates  and  students  is 
273.  Honours  and  distinctions  conferred  include  one 
Companionship  of  the  Bath,  one  Victoria  Cross,  thirty 
Military  Crosses,  and  seventy-eight  Mentions  in 
Despatches.  Eighty-nine  members  of  the  contingent 
have  fallen  in  the  war.  Returns  received  already  from 
schools  and  institutions  of  the  University  show  that 
upwards  of  600  members  of  the  staffs,  and  more  than 
6000  of  their  present  and  former  students,  have  gone 
to  the  war.  During  the  year  the  number  of.  these 
who  have  given  their  lives  has  been  226.  A  large 
number  of  professors,  demonstrators,  and  others,  both 
teachers  and  students,  are  engaged  in  assisting  the 
national  authorities  as  chemists,  physicists,  engineers, 
and  otherwise. 

Oxford. — The  statute  providing  that  original  ex- 
perimental investigation  shall  be  a  necessary'  condition 
for  obtaining  a  class  in  the  honour  school  of  chem- 
istry passed  Convocation  on  May  16  without  a  division. 
This  marks  an  important  new  departure  in  the  regula- 
tion of  chemical  work  at  Oxford.  It  is  hoped  in  many 
quarters  that  the  principle  thus  established  may  be 
widely  extended,  so  as  to  affect  other  scientific  sub- 
jects besides  chemistrj'. 

The  Halley  Lecture  for  igi6  will  be  delivered  in 
the  Hall  of  Queen's  College  at  8.30  p.m.  on  Satur- 
day, May  20,  by  Dr.  G.  W.  Walker,  late  fellow  of 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  His  subject  is  "The 
Measurement  of  Earthquakes." 

Sheffield. — Under  the  will  of  the  late  Mr.  W. 
Edgar  Allen,  for  many  years  chairman  of  Messrs. 
Edgar  Allen  and  Company,  Ltd.,  Imperial  Steel 
Works,  Sheffield,  the  sum  of  32,000?.  has  just  been 
paid  to  the  University.  Mr.  Edgar  Allen  left  estate 
of  the  gross  value  of  271,068/.,  of  which  the  net  per- 
sonalty was  sworn  at  251,792/.  Among  the  numerous 
legacies  for  Sheffield  institutions  was  the  whole  of 
his  books  for  the  University  library,  of  which  Mr. 
Allen  was  the  donor.  He  also  appointed  the  Univer- 
sity one  of  the  residuary  legatees.  Two-fifths  of  the 
residue  of  the  property  was  to  go  to  the  University 
of  Sheffield,  one-fifth  to  Dr.  Bamardo's  Homes  for 
general  purposes,  one-fifth  to  the  Church  Army  for 
general  purposes,  and  one-fifth  to  the  Salvation  Army 
for  general  purposes. 

The  32,000/.  mentioned  is  part  of  the  residue  of  the 
estate,  though  when  the  distribution  is  completed  the 
University  will  most  likely  receive  further  substantial 
proof  of  the  late  Mr.  Allen's  thoughtful  generosity. 
The  sum  of  5000/.  is  intended  by  the  will  for  the 
Applied  Science  Department  of  the  University,  and 
the  balance  is  to  go  to  University  scholarships,  half 
of  the  sum  to  be  reserved  for  the  sons  of  working- 
men. 

Sir  Joseph  Jonas,  chairman  of  the  Applied  Science 
Committee,  who  has  been  a  generous  supporter  of  the 
Universit}'  from  the  time  of  its  inception,  was  a  close 
friend  of  the  late  Mr.  Allen,  and  he  agreed  to  giye 
5000J.  to  the  Applied  Science  Department,  and  this, 
with  the  sum  left  bv  Mr.  Allen — 10,000/.  in  all — will 
be  devoted  to- the  provision  of  materials-testing  labora- 
tories for  the  department,  to  be  known  respectively 
as  "The  Edgar  Allen  Physical  Testing  Laboratory" 
and.  "The  Jonas  Mechanical  Testing-  Laboratory'." 
In  regard  to  anv  further  amount  which  mav  still  be 
received  under  Mr.  Allen's  will,  this  sum  will  be  set 
aside  for  the  provision  of  further  scholarships. 


Summer  evening  classes  began  at  the  Manchester 
Municipal  School  of  Technology-  on  May  15.  From 
the  prospectus,  a  copy  of  which  has  been  received, 
we  find  that  classes  at  low  fees  have  been  arranged 
in  numerous  branches  of  mechanical,  electrical,  muni- 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


cipal,  and  sanitary  engineering,  chemical  technology, 
mining,  the  textile  industries,  and  in  some  depart- 
ments of  pure  science.  That  Manchester  students  are 
willing  to  devote  themselves  to  evening  study  during 
the  summer  months  is  a  satisfactory  indication  of 
their  earnest  intention  to  qualify  themselves  to  take 
a  worthy  part  in  the  international  industrial  competi- 
tion of  the  future. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Royal  Society,  May  11. — Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — Major  P.  A.  Macmahon  :  Seventh 
memoir  on  the  partition  of  numbers.  A  detailed  study 
of  the  enumeration  of  the  partitions  of  multipartite 
numbers.  Whereas  a  unipartite  number  m  enumer- 
ates objects  of  the  same  species,  a  multipartite  num- 
ber Wi,  nij,  wij .  .  .  may  be  regarded  as  numbering 
objects  which  involve  similarities.  The  problem  is 
the  partition  of  a  multipartite,  or  dividing  up  into  sets 
of  objects  a  given  assemblage  of  objects,  the  division 
being  subject  to  various  governing  conditions.  The 
author  showed  long  ago  that  the  solution  is  implicitly 
contained  in  the  algebra  of  s3Tnmetric  functions.  The 
difficulty  has  been  in  the  evaluation  of  numerical  co- 
efficients which  arise  in  the  development  of  the  sym- 
metric function  which  presents  itself  as  the  solution 
for  a  particularly  specified  problem  of  partition.  The 
discovery  of  the  paper  is  principally  that  there  exists, 
a  set  of  symmetric  functions,  Q„  O,, — Qj...such 
that  the  effect  of  any  one  of  the  operations  upon  the 
product  Qi^,  O2*"-, . .  .  Qi^' ...  is  merely  to  multiply  it  by 
an  easily  ascertainable  integer,  combined  with  the 
circumstance  that  the  symmetric  fvmction  operand  can 
be  expanded  in  terms  of  such  products.  The  result  is 
that  laws  are  obtained.  It  is  established  that  under 
any  given  conditions  enumeration  in  regard  to  a  uni- 
partite number  tn,  is  given  by  the  expression 
Xag  +  fibg  +  vCf .  .  .  wherein  X ,  /t,  v, .  . .  are  constants. 
Then  the  enumeration  in  regard  to  a  multipartite 
number  mi,  nij, . .  -  m,  is  given  by 

AttiOj . .  .  ag+fihjhj . .  .  bg  +  vCiC,  .  . .  Cg+ 

It  is  therefore  only  necessary  to  obtain  the  unipartite 
solution  in  the  form  above  given,  when  the  multi- 
partite solution  at  once  follows.  The  set  of  functions 
Q  can  be  modified  to  meet  any  specified  conditions  of 
partition.  The  complete  solution  of  the  problem  of 
multipartite  partition  has  thus  been  reached. — Lord 
Rayleigh  :  Legendre's  function  P„(^)  when  n  is  great 
and  6  has  any  value.  As  is  well  known,  an  approxi- 
mate formula  for  Legendre's  function  P„(fl),  when  n 
is  very  large,  was  given  by  Laplace.  The  subject  has 
been  treated  with  great  generality  by  Hobson,  who 
has  developed  the  complete  series  proceeding  by  de- 
scending powers  of  n,  not  only  for  P,^,  but  also  for 
the  "associated  functions."  The  generality  arrived  at 
by  Hobson  requires  the  use  of  advanced  mathematical 
methods.  A  simpler  derivation,  sufficient  for  prac- 
tical purposes  and  more  within  the  reach  of  physicists 
with  a  smaller  mathematical  equipment,  may  be  use- 
ful. It  had,  indeed,  been  worked  out  independently. 
The  series,  of  which  Laplace's  expression  constitutes 
the  first  term,  is  arithmetically  useful  only  when  n6  is 
at  least  moderately  large.  On  the  other  hand,  when 
,6  is  small,  P„  tends  to  identify  itself  with  the  Bessel"'s 
function,  J<,(r»^),  as  was  first  remarked  by  Mehler. 
A  further  development  of  this  approximation  is  here 
proposed.  Finally,  a  comparison  of  the  results  of  the 
two  methods  of  approximation  with  the  numbers  cal- 
culated by  A.  Lodge  for  »i  =  2o  is  exhibited. — Prof.  A. 
Dendy  :  The  occurrence  of  gelatinous  spicules  and  their 
mode  of  origin  in  a  new  genus  of  siliceous  sponges. 


254 


NATURE 


[May  1 8,  19 16 


Collasclerophora  arenacea,  n.  gen.,  n.  sp.,  a  sand- 
sponge  from  Australia,  contains  an  entirely  new  type 
of  spicule,  for  which  the  name  collosclere  is  proposed, 
and  similar  spicules  are  met  with  in  another  species 
from  the  Indian  Ocean.  The  collosclere  differs  from 
ail  spicules  previously  known  in  the  fact  that  it  con- 
sists of  a  gelatinous  material,  contracting  on  the  addi- 
tion of  alcohol  and  swelling  up  again  on  the  addition 
of  water.  Evidence  is  brought  forward  to  show  that 
these  spicules  are  composed  of  colloidal  silica  contain- 
ing' a  higher  percentage  of  water  than  the  hydrated 
silica  or  opal  of  which  ordinary  siliceous  spicules  are  com- 
posed. The  colloscleres  lie  in  vesicles  in  the  meso- 
gloea,  but  these  vesicles  do  not  represent  the  mother- 
cells  or  scleroblasts  by  which  they  are  secreted.  On 
the  contrary,  the  collosclere  is  an  extra-cellular  pro- 
duct, and  first  appears  as  a  knob  on  the  outer  surface 
of  the  cell-membrane  of  a  large  spherical  scleroblast. 
The  colloscleres  may  be  homologous  with  isochelae,  but 
the  supposed  intra-cellular  origin  of  the  chelate  and 
other  microscleres  must  be  re-investigated  before  this 
point  can  be  established. — E.  S.  Goodrich  :  The  classi- 
fication of  the  Reptilia.  The  group  Reptilia  represents 
not  a  true  monophyletic  class,  like  the  class  Mam- 
malia and  the  class  Aves,  but  rather  an  assemblage 
or  grade  of  Amniotes  retaining  a  more  primitive 
g^eneral  structure.  The  Reptilia  thus  include  a  basal 
Protosaurian  group  of  amphibian-like  forms  leading 
to  a  central  point,  from  which  diverge  two  main 
branches — the  Sauropsidan  branch  leading-  to  the 
birds,  and  the  Theropsidan  branch  leading  to  the 
mammals.  The  modern  classification  of  the  reptiles, 
based '  chiefly  on  the  structure  of  the  skull,  is  in  a 
very  uncertain  state.  There  is  a  great  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  relationship  of  the  various  orders. 
Certain  specialisations  in  the  skeleton  of  the  hind 
foot  and  in  the  structure  of  the  heart  and  great  vessels 
(in  living  forms)  are  of  great  importance  in  classifica- 
tion, and  deserve  more  weight  than  has  hitherto  been 
attributed  to  them.  The  development  of  a  hook-shaped 
fifth  metatarsal  and  of  a  metatarsal  articulation,  and 
the  subdivision  of  the  aortic  trunk  so  as  to  form  two 
systematic  arches  crossing  at  their  base  in  such  a  way 
as  to  become  separated  by  the  interventricular  septum, 
clearly  distinguish  the  Sauropsidan  from  the  Therop- 
sidan line  of  evolution.  •  The  possession  of  these  char- 
acters shows  that  all  living"  Reptilia  belong  to  the 
Sauropsidan  groug,  while  the  structure  of  the  foot 
enables  us  to  determine  the  affinities  of  many  incom- 
pletely known  fossil  genera,  and  to  conclude  that  only 
certain  extinct  orders  can  belong  to  the  Theropsidan 
branch. — Dr.  R.  McCarrison  :  The  experimental  produc- 
tion of  congenital  goitre. 

Mathematical  Society,  May  ii.^ — Sir  Joseph  Larmor, 
president,  in  the  chair. ^Prof.  H.  M.  Macdonald  : 
A  note  on  electrostatic  problems. ^ — G.  B.  Jeffery  : 
The  relations  between  spherical,  cylindrical,  and 
spheroidal  harmonics. — E.  K.  Wakeford  :  The  double 
six. — J.  G.  Leathern  :  Theorems  on  conformal  trans- 
formation.—G.  H.  Hardy  and  S.  Ramanujan :  A 
problem  in  the  analytic  theory  of  numbers. 


Edinburgh. 
Royal  Society,  May   i. — Dr.   J.   Home,   president,   in   ' 
the  chair.— Dr.  H.  Rainy  and  Miss  C.  M.  Hawick:  A 

clinical  method  for  the  estimation  of  sugars  in  the 
blood.  The  method  was  a  modification  of  the  method 
described  by  Bang,  and  had  advantages  over  other 
methods  on  account  of  the  small  quantity  of  blood 
which  was  required  and  the  comparatively  short  time 
in  which  the  tests  and  measurements  were  made.  The 
method  was  also  equally  aonl'cable  to  the  estimation 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


of  sugar  in  the  urine.  Experiments  showed  that  the 
blood  sugar  rose  very  rapidly  to  its  maximum,  while 
in  the  kidneys  the  maximum  was  not  reached  until 
an  hour  later. — Dr.  A.  E.  Cameron  :  The  insect  associa- 
tion of  a  local  environmental  complex  in  the  district 
of  Holmes  Chapel,  Cheshire.  The  districts  with 
which  the  study  is  concerned  were  two  fields,  Glover's 
Meadow  and  the  alluvial  pasture  situated  in  the  farm 
land  of  the  Holmes  Chapel  Agricultural  College.  In 
these  fields  the  soils  were  respectively  a  reddish  clay 
loam  and  a  dark-coloured  loam.  The  plant  environ- 
ment and  its  relation  to  the  insects  were  fully  con- 
sidered; also  the  physical  factors  of  the  environment, 
such  as  water  content,  humidity,  light,  temperature, 
precipitation,  wind,  soil,  exposure,  slope,  and  the 
like.  The  index  of  an  insect's  habitat  is  where  it 
breeds,  and  it  is  important  to  recognise  endemic  forms 
which  are  proper  to  an  association  and  polydemic  forms 
which  are  invaders.  Detailed  accounts  were  given  of 
the  various  orders  of  insects  found,  such  as  Diptera, 
Coleoptera,  Neuroptera,  Apterygota,  Hymenoptera, 
etc. ;  and  the  facts  were  brought  together  in  a  series 
of  tables,  showing  the  months  of  occurrence  of  the 
different  species,  their  habits,  and  the  plants  with 
which  they  were  associated.  Another  point  of  interest 
was  the  relation  of  the  soil-inhabiting  insects  to  the 
food  habits  of  ground-feeding  birds. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  May  i. — M.  Camille  Jordan  in 
the  chair. — G.  Lemoine  :  The  catalysis  of  hydrogen 
peroxide  in  heterogeneous  medium.  Second  part : 
experiments  with  platinum.  Experiments  were  car- 
ried out  with  distilled  hydrogen  peroxide  containing 
8-6  per  cent,  of  the  pure  peroxide,  in  contact  with 
platinum  black  and  platinum  sponge,  both  at  a  con- 
stant temperature.  The  results  are  given  in  graphical 
form.  The  velocity  of  decomposition  increases  with 
the  weight  of  the  catalyser  and  with  the  state  of 
division  of  the  platinum.  Comparison  of  platinum 
black  with  the  sponge,  in  approximately  the  same 
state  of  division,  shows  that  the  platinum  black  exerts 
a  special  catalytic  action,  much  more  energetic,  and 
due  to  a  distinct  cause.— H.  Le  Chatelier  :  Science  in 
its  relations  with  the  economic  development  of  a 
country. — A.  Righi :  Experiments  relating  to  the  in- 
fluence of  the  magnetic  field  on  the  charge  of  a  con- 
ductor in  rarefied  air.  Details  of  an  experiment 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  author,  renders  necessary 
the  hypothesis  of  magneto-ionisation,  the  action  of  the 
magnetic  field  favouring  ionisation  by  shock. — E. 
Kogbetliantz  :  The  Sturm-Liouville  series  simply  capable 
of  summation. — G.  Vacca  :  The  Harmonicon  coeleste 
of  Francois  Viete.^ — G.  Bigourdan  :  Remarks  on  the 
preceding  note. — A.  Bilimovitch  :  The  trajectories  of  a 
non-holonomial  system. ^ — T.  Peczalski  :  The  determina- 
tion of  the  law  of  integral  radiation  of  a  solid  from 
the  light  yield.— E.  Moles  :  The  absolute  density  of 
gaseous  hydrobromic  acid.  The  gas  was  prepared  by 
two  independent  methods,  liquefied,  and  purified  by 
fractional  distillation.  The  figures  obtained  for  a 
litre  of  the  gas  under  normal  conditions  varied  be- 
tween 36439  and  36447  grams,  with  a  mean  of  36444 
grams. — L.  Reutter :  The  analysis  of  two  resinous 
masses  used  by  the  Incas  of  South  America  for  em- 
balming their  dead.  These  consisted  mainly  of  Peru 
and  Tolu  balsams,  with  some  volatile  essences  con- 
taining menthol. — P.  de  Sousa  :  Contribution  to  the 
oetrocrraphical  studv  of  the  south-west  of  Angola. — V. 
Raymond  and  T.  Parisot  :  The  etiology,  prophylaxy,  and 
therapeutics  of  the  affection  called  trench  feet.  This 
affection  appears  to  be  due  to  a  pathological  fungus, 
Scoptilariopsis'  Koningii. 


May  1 8,  191 6] 


NATURE 


255 


Washington,  D.C. 
National  Academy  of  Sciences  (Proceedings  No.  4, 
vol.  ii.,  April  15). — By  the  committee  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Sciences  appointed  at  the  request  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  :  Preliminary  report 
upon  the  possibility  of  controlling  the  land  slides  adja- 
cent to  the  Panama  Canal. — H.  Shapley  :  Discovery  of 
eight  variable  stellar  spectra.  It  appears  safe  to 
infer  that  all  Cepheids  (including  the  cluster-type), 
besides  being  variable  in  light  and  in  velocity,  vary 
periodically  in  spectral  class. — G.  M.  Green  :  The  linear 
dependence  of  functions  of  several  variables,  and  cer- 
tain completely  integrable  systems  of  partial  differ- 
ential equations.  The  theory  of  linear  dependence  is 
generalised  to  the  case  of  n  functions  of  several  in- 
dependent variables,  and  is  applied  to  the  study  of  an 
important  class  of  systems  of  partial  differential 
equations. — B.  Bogs  :  Systematic  motion  among  stars- 
of  the  helium  type.  There  appears  to  be  a  strong 
tendency  for  the  helium  stars  to  move  in  their  own 
plane,  which  should  therefore  be  preserved,  at  least 
until  the  next  step  in  the  star's  evolution.  But  there 
are  likewise  strong  tendencies  on  the  part  of  helium 
type  stars  to  depart  from  the  plane,  so  that  the  ten- 
dency for  the  stars  to  spread  in  every  direction  has  its 
birth  in  the  helium  stage  of  evolution. — W.  D. 
Harkins  :  The  abundance  of  the  elements  in  relation 
to  the  hydrogen-helium  structure  of  the  atoms.  A 
spiral  form  of  the,  periodic  table  is  given.  The 
elements  are  found  to  arrange  themselves  in  three 
cycles  containing  respectively  4^,  6^,  8^  elements,  the 
last  being  incomplete.  The  even-numbered,  or 
helium-system,  elements  are  very  much  more  abundant 
in  nature  than  those  of  the  odd-numbered,  or  lithium, 
system. — C.  Wissler  :  The  genetic  relations  of  certain 
forms  in  American  aboriginal  art.  The  investigation 
reveals  several  good  examples  of  the  genesis  of  speci- 
fic decorative  designs  growing  out  of  attempts  to 
embellish  surfaces  of  fixed  contour  and  to  conceal  un- 
sightly lines. — C.  E.  St.  John  :  The  situation  in  regard 
to  Rowland's  preliminary  table  of  solar  spectrum 
wave-lengths.  The  general  transformation  from  the 
system  of  Rowland  wave-lengths  to  the  international 
wave-lengths  is  a  matter  of  the  greatest  difficulty, 
even  though  the  relative  wave-lengths  in  each  system 
be  free  from  error;  and  statistical  comparison  between 
different  systems  is  a  procedure  fraught  with  the 
possibilities  of  introducing  residuals  that  may  be  quite 
misleading. — E.  P.  Hubble  :  Changes  in  the  form  of 
the  nebula  N.G.C.  2261.  The  nebula  appears  to  be 
turning  about  its  own  axis  after  the  manner  of  a  top, 
and  there  is  some  indication  of  a  helical  motion  towards 
the  nucleus.  The  observed  shifts  seem  to  be  rather 
of  mass  than  illumination,  and  are  independent  of  the 
variability  of  the  nucleus. — Ruth  B.  Howland  :  The 
effect  of  removal  of  the  pronephros  of  the  amphibian 
embryo.  Removal  of  both  pronephroi  leads  to  oedema 
and  death,  though  the  presence  of  one  is  sufficient  to 
keep  the  embryo  healthv,  bringing  about  an  increase 
in  size  in  the  remaining  organ. — ^R.  Rnedemann  :  The 
presence  of  a  median  eve  in  trilobites.  The  question 
of  the  presence  or  absence  in  trilobites  of  the  median 
eye  is  of  considerable  phylogenetic  importance.  The 
median  eye  appears  in  the  majority  of  cases  as  a 
single  tubercle,  and  there  is  evidence  for  the  visual 
function  of  the  tubercle.— W.  J.  V.  Osterhout :  The 
nature  of  mechanical  stimulation.  In  this  conception 
of  mechanical  stimulation  the  essential  things  are  : — 
(i)  Substances  which  are  more  or  less  completely 
prevented  from  reacting  by  semi-permeable  surfaces ; 
(2)  a  deformation  of  the  protoplasm  sufficient  to  pro- 
duce in  some  of  these  surfaces  a  rupture  which  is  not 
at  once  repaired ;  {y)  a  resulting  reaction  w hich  pro- 
duces   the   characteristic    response    to    the    stimulus. — 

NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


R.  E.  Clausen  and  T.  H.  Goodspeed :  Hereditary 
reaction-system  relations  :  an  extension  of  Mendelian 
concepts.  The  mechanical  Mendelistic  theory  of  Mor- 
gan is  applied  in  the  study  of  Nicotiana,  and  it  is 
suggested  that  by  the  application  of  such  conceptions 
to  Oenothera  the  occurrence  of  mutants  and  their  sub- 
sequent behaviour  admit  of  logical  interpretation. — 
A.  B.  Coble :  Point  sets  and  allied  Cremona  groups 
(part  ii.).  Theorems  such  as  the  following  : — A  pencil 
of  plane  cubic  curves  can  be  transformed  by  ternary 
Cremona  transformation  into  only  960  projectively  dis- 
tinct pencils  of  cubics — are  proved. — M.  B.  Porter  :  A 
theorem  of  Lucas.  A  simple  proof  is  given  for  Lucas's 
theorem  that  the  zeros  of  any  polynomial  Y\z)  lie 
inside  any  closed  convex  contour  inside  of  w'hich  the 
zeros  of  F(s)  are,  and  the  theorem  is  extended  to  give 
information  concerning  the  distribution  of  zeros  of  the 
derivative  of  certain  relational  or  transcendental  func- 
tions.— E.  J.  Wilczynski :  Interpretation  of  the  simplest 
integral  invariant  of  projective  geometry. — W.  E. 
Castle :  Size  inheritance  in  guinea-pig  crosses.  Pre- 
liminary studies  published  in  1909  showed  that  size 
and  weight  in  rabbits  do  not  follow  the  Mendelian 
rules  of  dominance  and  segregation  as  unit-characters. 
A  large  amount  of  material  being  now  available  upon 
guinea-pigs,  attention  is  invited  to  the  nature  of  the 
growth  curves  observed  for  the  races  crossed  and  to 
non-genetic,  as  well  as  genetic,  factors  affecting  size. 
From  these  crosses  there  is  no  evidence  showing  either 
the  existence  of  numerous  multiple  Mendelian  factors, 
or  of  a  few  Mendelian  factors,  or  of  a  single  Mende- 
lian factor  affecting  size. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Subtropical  Vegetable-Gardening.  By  P.  H.  Rolfs. 
Pp.  xviii  +  309.  (New  York:  The  Macmillan  Co.; 
London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     6s.  6d.  net. 

The  Mechanical  Engineers'  Pocket-Book.  By  W. 
Kent.  9th  edition,  revised,  with  the  assistance  of 
R.  T.  Kent.  Pp.  xIiv+1526.  (New  York:  J.  Wiley 
and  Sons,  Inc. ;  London  :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.) 
2  IS.  net. 

Theorv  and  Applications  of  Finite  Groups.  By 
Profs.  G.  A.  Miller,  H.  F.  Blickfeldt,  and  L.  E.  Dick- 
son. Pp.  xvii  +  390.  (New  York:  J.  Wiley  and  Sons, 
Inc. ;  London  :   Chapman  and  Hall,   Ltd.)     175.   net. 

Modes  of  Research  in  Genetics.  Bv  Raymond 
Pearl.  Pp.  vii+182.  (New  York:  The  Macmillan 
Company;  London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)  55.  6d. 
net. 

The  Chemists'  Year  Book,  1916.  Edited  by  F.  W. 
.•\tack.  Vol.  i..  pp.  354.  Vol  ii.,  pp.  355  to  990. 
(London  and  Manchester :  Sherratt  and  Hughes.) 
los.  6d.  net. 

Union  of  South  Africa.  Reoort  of  the  South  African 
Museum  for  the  Year  ended  December  31.  19 15.  Pp- 
12.     (Cape  Town  :  Cape  Times.  Ltd.) 

Canada.  Department  of  Mines.  Geological  Survey. 
Memoir  58,  No.  48,  Geoloeical  Series  :  Texada  Island, 
B.C.  By  R.  G.  McConnell.  Pp.  V-H12.  Memoir  72, 
No.  60,  Geological  .Series  :  The  .Artesian  Wells  of 
Montreal.  Bv  C.  L.  Cumming.  Po.  v+153.  Memoir 
76,  No.  62,  Geological  Series  :  Geologv  of  Cranbrook 
Map-.\rea.  B.C.  Bv  S.  J.  Schofield.'  Pp.  vii  +  245. 
Museum  Bulletin  No.  22,  Geologiral  .Series,  No.  -^i  : 
The  .Age  of  Killarnev  Granite.  Bv  W.  H.  Collins. 
Pp.    12.     (Ottawa  :   Government   Printing  Bureau.) 

British  Mycolo^ical  Society.  Vol.  v.,  part  2  : 
Transactions  for  the  Season  1915.  (Worcester  :  Baylis 
and  Son.)     los.  6d. 

The  Drink  Problem  of  To-dav  in  it?  Medico-So^'io- 
logical  .Aspects.     Edited  by  Dr.  T.  N.  Kelynack.     Pp. 


256 


n:ature 


[May  18,  1916 


xii  +  318.  (London  :  Methuen  and  Co.,  Ltd.)  js.  (yd. 
net. 

The  Athenaeum  Subject  Index  to  Periodicals,  1915. 
Anthropology  and  Folk-Lore.  Pp.  32.  (London  : 
Athenaeum  Office.)     is.  bd.   net. 

Rapport  Annuel  sur  I'Etat  de  I'Observatoire  de 
Paris,  1914.  By  P.  Baillaud.  Pp.  38.  1915.  By  P. 
Baillaud.  Pp.  28.  (Paris  :  Imprnnerie  Nationale.) 
.  Les  Racines  des  Plantes  Herbacees.  By  A.  P. 
Modestov.  Livr.  i  (Publications  1-4).  Pp.  138. 
(Moscow.) 

The  Bacterial  Infection  of  Fresh  Eggs.  Bulletin  164. 
Agricultural  Experiment  Station  of  the  Rhode  Island 
State  College,  Kingston,  R.I.,  U.S.A.  Pp.  70  (King- 
ston, R.I.) 

British  Sea.  Fish.  By  H.  Swithinbank  and  G.  E. 
Bullen.  '  Pp.  xi  +  35.  (London:  Simpkin,  Marshall 
and  Co.,  Ltd.)     2s.  net. 

U.S.  Department  of  Agriculture.  Bureau  of  Bio- 
Logical  Survey.  North  American  Fauna.  No.  37  : 
Revision  of  the  American  Marmots.  By  A.  H.  Howell. 
Pp.  80  + plates  XV.  No.  38:  A  Review  of  the  Amer- 
ican Moles.  By  H.  H.  T.  Jackson.  Pp.  loo  +  plates 
vi.     (Washington  :  Government  Printing  Office.) 

Smithsonian  Miscellaneous  Collections.  Vol.  Ixii., 
No.  4  :  Hodgkins  Fund.  Reports  on  Wind  Tunnel 
Experiments  in  Aerodynamics.  By  J.  C.  Hunsaker, 
E.  Buckingham,  and  others.  With  five  plates,  (Wa^^h- 
ington  :  Smithsonian  Institution^) 

,  Smithsonian  Miscellaneous  Collections.  Vol.'  Ixiv., 
No.  3  :  Cambrian  Geology  and  Paleontology,  III. 
No.  3,  Cambrian  Trilobites.  .By  C.  D.  Walcott.  Pp. 
157  to  258  + plates  24  to  38.  Vol.  Ixv.,  No.  14:  The 
Sense  Organs  on  the  Mouth-parts  of  the  Honey  Bee. 
By  N.  E.  McIndoOi  1  Pp^  55.  (Washington  :  Smith- 
sonian Institution.) 

United  States  Department  of  Agriculture.  Report 
No.  108  :  The  Acarina,  or  Mites.  By  N.  Banks.  Pp. 
153.     (Washington  :    Government   Printing   Office.) 

Annals  of  the  Missouri  Botanical  Garden.  Vol.'  ii., 
No.  4.  Pp.  659-841.  (St.  Louis,  Mo.:  Board  of 
Trustees.) 

University  of  Nevada  Agricultural  Experiment  Sta- 
tion, Reno,  Nevada.  Bulletin  No.  83,  Technic-al  :  The 
Value  of  High-Level  Meteorological  Data  in  Fore- 
casting Changes  of  Temperature.  By  Prof.  S.  P. 
Ferguson.  Pp.  30.'  (Reno,  Nevada  :  The  Univer- 
sity.-) ... 

The  Daubeny  Laboratory  Register,  1904-1915,  with 
Notes  on  the  Teaching  of  Natural  Philosophy,  and 
witli  Lists  of  Scientific  Researches  carried  out  by 
Memb.ers.of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford.  By  R.  T. 
Giinther.  Pp.  x+139  to  292.  (Oxford:  Printed  for 
the  Subscribers  at  the  Universitv  Press.)     7s.  6d.  net.. 

Department  of  Commerce.  Technologic  Papers  of 
the  Bure.au  of  Standards.  No.  53  :  An  Investigation 
of  Fusible  Tin  Boiler  Plugs.  Bv  G.  K.  Burgess  and 
P.  D.  Merica.  Pp.  37.  (Washington  :  Government 
Printing  Office.) 

DIARY  OF   SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  May   i8. 

RoVAL  Socif.tV,  at  4.30. — An  Active  Modifi.  ation  ofNitrogen  :  Hon.  R.  J.' 
-Strutt. — A  Theory   of  Colour   Vision:    Dr.    R.   A.  Housfoun. — Linkages. 

\  Illustrating  the. Cubic  Transformation  of  Elliptic  Functions:  Col.  R  L. 
Hippisley. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3.— Flints  and  Flint  Implements:  Sir  Ray 
Lankester.  . 

Royal  Geocraphical  Society,  at  5. — Notes  on  the  Possibility  of  Ascend- 
ing the  Loftier  Himalaya  :  Dr.  A.  M.  Keltas. 

Chemical  Socikty,  -at  8.  —  New  Standpoints  in  the  CHemical  Study- of 
Nutrition  :  Prof.  F.  Gowhnd  Hopkins. 

FRIDAY,  May  19.     . 
Royai.  Institution,  at  S-Sp. — The  Mpvements  of  the  Earth's  Pole:  Col. 

E.  H.  Hills. 
iNST^TUTibN    OF'   RfEcHANiCAL    Ekginfbrs,  '  Jit    6. — ^pur^Gcaring  :  •  D. 

Adamson. 


NO.    2429,    VOL.    97] 


SATURDAY,  May  20. 
Royal  Institution,  at  3.— The  Finance  of  the  Great  War— New  Problems 
and  New  Solutions  :  Prof.  H.  S.  Fox  well. 

MONDAY,  May  jz. 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  at  3. — Anniversary  General  Meeting. 
Royal  Society  of  Arts,  at  4.30. — Vibrations,   Waves,  and  Resonance : 
Dr.  J.  Erskine-Murray. 

TUESDAY,  Mav  23. 

RovAL  Institution,  at  3. — Unconscious  Nerves — their  Functions  in 
External  Life:  Prof.  C.  S.  Sherrington. 

Royal  Anthrppoix)gical  Institute,  at  5. — The  Canoes,  of  British  New 
Guinea  :  Dr.  A.  C.  Haddon. 

Zoological  Society,  at  5.30. — The  Structure  of  the  Skull  in  Chrj'sochloris  : 
LieuL  R.  Broom. — Note  on  the  Sternum  of  a  Bird  from  the  Eocene  of 
Nigeria:  Dr.  C.  W.  Andrews. — A  Mammalian  Mandible  from  the 
Cretaceous  of  Alberta.  Canada :  Dr.  A.  Smith  Woodward. — (i)  List  of 
Carabidee(Coleoptera)  from  Chopersk  District,  South  Russia  ;  (2)  A  New 
Species  of  the  Genus  Platysma  (Coleoptera)  from  China ;  (3)  Notes  on 
Species  of  the  Genus  Platysma  from  Australia  :  V.  Lutshnik. 

WEDNESDAY,  May  24. 
Geological  Society,  at  5.50. 
I.innean  Society,  at  3. — Anniversary  Meeting. 

RovAL  Society  of  Arts,  at  4.30. — Zinc:  Its  Production  and  Industrial 
Applications  :  J.  C.  Moulden. 

THURSDA  Y,  May  25. 

Royal  Society,  at  4.30. — Hakerian  Lecture:  X-Rays  and  the  Theory  of 
Radiation  :  Prof.  C  G.  Harkla. 

Royal  I  n.stitution,  at  3. — The  Beginnings  of  the  Orchestra  and  its  Instru- 
mental Combinations  :  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie. 

FRIDAY,  May  26. 
Royal  Institution,  at  5.30.— X-Rays :  Prof.  C.  G.  Barkla. 

SATURDAY,  May  27. 
kovAL   Institution,  at  3. — The  Finance  of  the  Great  War  :  Prof.  H.  S. 
Foxwell. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Mimics  Ready-made.     By  E.  B.  P 237 

The  Growth  of  the  Mind.     By  A.  E.  Crawley  ...  238 

An  Indian  Bird  Calendar.     By  F.  F 239 

Our  Bookshelf 239 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

A  Suggestion  with  regard  to  Genera  Splitting. — Dr. 

J.  Burton  Cleland 240 

The  Place  of  Science  in  Education. — D.  Balsillie     .  240 
A  Mysterious  Meteorite.     {Illustrated.) — Dr.    G.  T. 

Prior,  F.R.S 241 

The  Relief  of  the  Shackleton  Antarctic  Expedition. 

{With  Map.) 241 

The  Application  of  Mathematics  to  Epidemiology. 

By  M.  Greenwood,  Jr 243 

Prof.  Emile  Jungfleisch.     By  J.  B.  C 244 

Notes         245 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

■    Stereoscopic  Spectroheliograms 249 

A  Variation  in  the  Solar  Rotation 249 

The  Great  Meridian  Circle  of  the  Paris  Observatory  249 

The  "Summer  Time  "  Bill 250 

Purification  of  Coal-gas 250 

Prehistoric  Art 250 

Science  and  Classics   in    Modern    Education.      By 

Sir  Edward  SchSfer,  F.R.S 251 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence    .....  252. 

Societies  and  Academies .  253- 

Books  Received 255. 

Diary  of  Societies .  256. 

Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 

MACMILLAN   &   CO.,    Ltd., 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON.    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  the 
Publishers. 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address:  Phusis,   London. 
Telephone   Number :  Gerrard  8830. 


NA  TURE 


^57 


THURSDAY,    MAY    2^,    1916. 


CHEMISTRY   FOR    STUDENTS   AND 
GENERAL  READERS. 
(i)  A    Text-book   of  Elementary   Chemistry.      By 
Prof.  A.  Smith.    Pp.  x  -r  457.    (London  :  G.  Bell 
and  Sons,  Ltd.,  1915.)    Price  5s.  net. 

(2)  A  Laboratory  Outline  of  Elementary  Chem- 
istry. By  Prof.  A.  Smith.  Pp.  152.  (London  : 
G.  Bell  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  1915.)    Price  25.  net. 

(3)  A  Text-book  of  Inorganic  Chemistry.  Edited 
by  Dr.  J.  Newton  Friend.  Vol,  viii.  :  The  Halo- 
g'ens  and  their  Allies.  By  Dr.  G.  Martin  and 
E.  A.  Dancaster.  Pp.  xviii  +  337.  (London: 
C.  Griffin  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1915.)  Price  los.  6d. 
net. 

(4)  Modern  Chemistry  and  its  Wonders.  By  Dr. 
G.  Martin.  Pp.  xvi  +  351.  (London:  Sampson 
Low,  Marston  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  191 5.)  Price 
js.  6d.  net. 

(i)  'T'HOSE  who  have  used,  and  appre- 
^  ciated  the  merits  of.  Prof.  Smith's  well- 
known  "  Introduction  to  Inorganic  Chemistry  " 
will  study  with  interest  his  new  "Text-book 
of  Elementary  Chemistry "  and  the  "  Labora- 
tory Outline "  which  has  been  written  as  a 
companion  to  it.  The  published  work  of  the 
author,  and  the  brilliant  results  that  have  followed 
from  his  experimental  researches,  are  a  sufficient 
guarantee  of  the  authenticity  and  accuracy  of  the 
statements  of  which  the  book  is  comp>osed,  and 
there  is  no  lack  of  novelty  in  the  range  of  sub- 
jects or  in  the  facts  which  are  quoted  as  illustra- 
tions. A  perusal  of  the  book  has  left  in  the  mind 
ot  the  reviewer  some  feeling  of  disappointment 
that  the  author  has  consented  to  be  bound  by  the 
narrow  restrictions  involved  in  the  compilation  of 
one  of  the  smaller  elementary  text-books.  So 
many  fascinating  subjects  are  dealt  with  that  one 
cannot  help  regretting  again  and  again  that  a  few 
lines  in  the  text  have  had  to  carry  a  load  which 
might  well  have  been  distributed  over  a  page  or  a 
chapter.  Thus  the  allotropy  of  sulphur,  the  con- 
stitution of  water,  the  chemistry  of  petroleum, 
starch  and  sugars,  enzymes  and  fermentation, 
the  fixation  of  nitrogen,  radioactivity  and  the 
inert  gases  of  the  atmosphere,  pottery  and 
cement,  colloids  and  adsorption,  fats  and  soaps, 
explosives  and  artificial  silk,  are  all  touched  upon 
very  briefly  as  illustrating  the  fundamental  laws 
of  chemistry  or  its  applications  to  everyday  life. 
Facts  and  observations  such  as  these  are  amongst 
the  most  valuable  assets  of  the  lecturer,  who  can 
use  them  at  his  own  discretion  to  cover  with  flesh 
the  bony  skeleton  on  which  his  subject  is  built 
up ;  some  teachers  at  least  will  feel  disappointed 
when  they  have  to  compete  with  a  text-book  in 
which  the  dr\-  bones  are  already  so  amply  covered 
with  flesh.  The  attention  of  English  teachers  may 
be  directed  to  the  brief  description  given  on  pages 
207  and  208  of  the  Frasch  process  of  mining 
sulphur  at  the  new  township  of  Sulphur, 
Louisiana,  where  a  quarter  of  a  million  tons  of 
sulphur   are   pumped   up   every   year   in   a   molten 


state  from  beneath  a  quicksand  with  the  help  of 
superheated  steam. 

The  book  is  illustrated  by  means  of  a  series  of 
simple,  but  very  effective,  line-drawings;  there 
are  also  full-page  portraits  of  Lomonossoff  (the 
great  Russian  chemist,  171 1— 1765,  whose  for- 
gotten work  has  been  rediscovered  to  modern 
chemists  by  the  aid  of  Prof.  Smith  himself), 
Mayow,  Ramsay,  Perrin  (a  charming  and  lifelike 
portrait),  and  Becquerel ;  a  full-page  illustration  is 
also  given  erf  C.  T.  R.  Wilson's  photographs  of 
fog-tracks  from  radium.  The  British  edition  con- 
tains two  additional  chapters,  on  the  laws  of 
chemical  combination  and  the  periodic  classifica- 
tion of  the  elements,  which  have  been  added  at  the 
suggestion  of  Mr.  H.  A.  Wootton,  the  senior 
science  master  at  Westminster  School. 

(2)  The  "  Laboratory  Outline  "  calls  for  little 
comment,  as  it  has  been  arranged  to  harmonise 
with  and  to  illustrate  the  subject-matter  of  the 
"Text-book."  Those  who  adopt  the  text-book 
will  be  glad  to  base  their  course  of  laboratory  work 
on  the  "  Laboratory  Outline,"  and  will  find  there 
an  ample  selection  of  suitable  experiments  and 
suggestions. 

(3)  Dr.  Friend's  new  "Text-book  of  Inorganic 
Chemistry  "  promises  to  be  a  very  valuable  addi- 
tion to  chemical  literature.  Vol.  viii.  is  the  second, 
out  of  nine  volumes,  to  reach  the  stage  of  publica- 
tion, and  as  it  is  the  first  volume  to  deal  system- 
atically with  an  important  group  of  elements,  it 
may  be  regarded  as  establishing  the  kind  of  trea:t- 
ment  that  will  be  adopted  throughout  the  series. 
The  general  result  is  extremely  satisfactory,  and 
will  provide  for  English  readers  an  even  more 
useful  guide  to  the  literature  of  inorganic  chem- 
istry than  they  will  find  in  the  familiar  Conti- 
nental works  of  Moissan  and  Abegg.  The  chief 
features  of  the  book,  which  arrest  attention  imme- 
diately, are  the  references  given  at  the  foot  of 
almost  every  page  to  show  the  authority  for  the 
statements  made  in  the  text,  and  the  generous 
treatment  given  to  the  physical  properties  of  the 
various  elements  and  compounds ;  manufacturing 
processes,  such  as  the  preparation  of  gaseous  and 
of  liquid  chlorine,  are  also  described  in  sufficient 
detail  for  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  various 
operations  which  are  involved.  A  wholly  unneces- 
sary prejudice  is  created  in  the  introductory  pages 
by  numerous  quotations  from  earlier  publications 
of  one  of  the  authors,  including  in  one  instance  an 
actual  claim  for  priority ;  but  this  feature  disap- 
pears as  soon  as  the  chapter  on  fluorine  has  been 
passed,  and  has  no  influence  on  the  real  utility  of 
the  book.  Now  that  the  supply  of  books  and 
journals  from  the  Continent  has  been  so  largely 
curtailed,  it  may  be  hoped  that  English  chemists 
will  take  the  opportunity  of  adding  to  their 
libraries  the  volumes  of  this  most  useful  and 
creditable  English  text-book. 

(4)  It  is  difficult  for  a  professional  worker  in 
any  subject  to  review  accurately  a  popular  exposi- 
tion of  the  "wonders"  which  form  the  familiar 
material  of  his  "daily. round  and  common  task." 
The  best  criticism  of  such  a  work  is  obviously 
that  of  the  general   reader,    for  whom    it   is   in- 


258 


NATURE 


[May  25,  1916 


tended ;  but  the  author's  colleagues  can  at  least 
bear  witness  to  the  fact  that  the  wonders  are 
described  correctly,  without  exaggeration  and 
without  any  undue  appeal  "to  the  gallery."  Dr. 
Martin  has  probably  been  wise  to  assume  that  his 
readers  are  familiar  with  chemical  formulae,  or 
that,  even  if  they  are  not,  they  will  still  like  to 
see  these  mystic  symbols  occupying  a  place  in  the 
text,  as  evidenfce  that  the  book  is  a  real  contribu- 
tion to  chemistry,  and  not  merely  a  misleading,  if 
popular,  exposition.  The  subjects  dealt  with 
include  nitrates,  explosives,  petroleum,  coal-tar, 
alcohol,  sugar,  and  salt,  whilst  on  the  more  theo- 
retical side  are  chapters  on  radium,  on  modern 
alchemy,  and  on  the  "mystery  of  the  periodic 
law."  Only  in  the  case  of  these  last-mentioned 
chapters  does  any  doubt  arise  as  to  the  ability 
of  the  general  reader  to  appreciate  the  author's 
exposition  ;  but  that  is  a  question  that  may  soon 
be  solved  when  the  book  has  circulated  as  widely 
as  its  merits  demand.  Here  and  there  the  burning 
questions  of  the  day  are  touched  upon — the  under- 
payment of  chemical  workers  generally,  and  es- 
pecially of  those  who  are  willing  to  undertake  the 
burden  of  original  research ;  the  discouragement 
of  research  by  the  undue  prolongation  of  exam- 
ination tests  at  the  universities ;  the  loss  of  the 
coal-tar  industries ;  and  the  risk  that  freedom  of 
thought  may  be  hampered  by  the  creation  of  "im- 
mensely rich  and  immensely  powerful  international 
scientific  societies."  These  questions,  discussed 
in  a  popular  book  on  the  wonders  of  modern 
chemistry,  may  perhaps  drive  home  a  lesson  which 
has  not  yet  been  fully  learned  by  a  public  un- 
versed in  the  literature  of  presidential  addresses 
to  technical  and  scientific  societies.  The  book 
contains  thirty-six  excellent  plates  and  twenty-nine 
drawings  in  the  text.  T.  M.  L. 

WIRELESS   TRANSMISSION  OF  PHOTO- 
GRAPHS. 

Wireless  Transmission  of  Photographs.  By 
M.  J.  Martin.  Pp.  xi-t- 117.  (London  :  Wireless 
Press,  Ltd.,  1916.)  Price  25.  6d.  net. 
'T'HE  problem  of  transmitting  pictures  by  wire- 
-*-  less  is  not  one  of  actual  performance,  but 
of  speed  of  transmission.  It  is  obvious  that  a 
"process"  picture,  one  inch  square,  consisting  of 
some  2000  dots  of,  say,  six  different  sizes,  could 
be  transmitted  and  set  up  as  "  letterpress  "  in  the 
time  it  takes  to  transmit  and  set  up  half  a  column 
of  Nature.  The  task  which  Mr.  Martin  faces  is, 
therefore,  the  task  of  bringing  the  speed  of  trans- 
mission within  commercially  manageable  limits. 
He  does  this  by  means  of  an  apparatus  which 
transmits  more  than  5000  dots  a  minute. 

This  transmission  is  effected  by  current  impulses 
produced  by  the  contact  of  a  metal  point  travelling 
over  a  metal  positive  of  the  picture,  consisting  of 
bichromated  gelatine  on  tin-  or  lead-foil.  Wherever 
the  stylus  touches  the  foil  it  produces  a  current 
impulse  in  the  transmitting  antenna.  At  the  re- 
ceiving station  these  impulses  are  photographically 
recorded  on  a  revolving  drum  synchronised  with 

NO.    2430,   VOL.   97] 


the  drum  on  which  the  transmitted  metal  picture 
is  fixed.  The  size  adopted  is  5  by  7  inches,  and 
the  time  required  for  transmission  is  said  to  be 
twenty-five  minutes.  This  is  short  enough  for 
practical  purposes,  but  very  considerable  skill  is 
required  to  prepare  the  metal  prints,  and  the 
whole  "  telephograph  "  consists  of  an  array  of 
different  apparatus,  each  requiring  very  careful 
adjustment.  The  author  acknowledges,  indeed, 
that  the  process  is  still  in  the  purely  experimental 
stage. 

The  book  is  useful  as  giving  a  general  survey 
of  the  present  state  of  the  problem  and  some 
guide  towards  future  experimentation.  It  should 
be  remarked,  incidentally,  that  the  sensitiveness  of 
the  Einthoven  galvanometer  is  greatly  under- 
stated, io~^  ampere  being  quite  a  strong  current 
for  the  larger  quartz-fibre  instruments.  Selenium 
and  the  preparation  of  the  metal  prints  are  dealt 
with  in  separate  appendices.  The  only  method  of 
preparing  Se  cells  described  is  Bell  and  Tainter's 
method  with  brass  electrodes,  which,  of  course, 
are  quite  unsuitable,  and  are  never  used  nowa- 
days. The  definition  of  sensitiveness  as  the  ratio 
between  resistance  in  the  dark  and  resistance 
"when  illuminated  "  is  too  vague  to  be  useful,  and 
should  be  replaced  by  some  less  ambiguous  state- 
ment. 

The  electrolytic  receiver  described  on  p.  54  as 
"the  most  practical  and  simple  of  all  photo-tele- 
graphic systems  "  is  remarkably  ingenious,  though 
its  simplicity  is  not  very  obvious.  Like  the  rest  of 
the  book,  it  gives  an  impression  of  the  great 
difficulties  encountered  and  the  amount  of  in- 
genuity already  expended  on  them. 

E.   E.   F. 


ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERING  MANUALS. 
(i)  Examples     in    Magnetism.      Second    edition. 
Pp.  90.     Price   1. 10  dollars. 

(2)  Examples  in  Alternating  Currents.  Vol.  I. 
Second  edition,  with  additions.  Pp.  223. 
Price  2.40  dollars. 

(3)  H^ow  to  Make  Low-pressure  Transformers. 
Second  edition,  with  additions.  Pp.  17.  Price 
40  cents.  All  by  Prof.  F.  E.  Austin.  (Han- 
over, N.H.  :  Published  by  the  author,  1915" 
1916.) 

(i)  /~^UR  opinion  of  this  book  is  distinctly  un- 
^^  favourable.  The  substance  is  poor  in 
quality,  and  its  quantity  is  much  less  than  many 
better  books  at  half  the  price.  In  his  very  first 
numerical  examples  the  author  shows  that  he  has 
no  sound  grasp  of  the  real  use  of  numbers  in 
connection  with  measurements ;  and  he  further 
displays  his  deficiency  by  stating  that  "  i  foot- 
pound exerts  a  force  (our  italics)  of  13,549,2 13'44 
ergs,"  in  spite  of  the  satisfactory  definition  of 
"  force  "  appearing  on  the  next  page.  Although 
he  starts  with  four-figure  data  (30*48  cm.  =  i  ft., 
453'6  grams  =  I  lb.,  ^  =  980  cm.  per  second  per 
second),  he  has  worked  this  out  to  no  fewer  than 
ten  significant  figures !  Such  a  procedure  is 
unpardonable    in    one    who    proposes    to     "give 


May  25,  19 1 6] 


NATURE 


259 


guidance "  to  others.  We  have  noted  quite  a 
number  of  points  Hke  this,  but  it  would  be  a 
waste  of  time  and  space  to  refer  to  them  in  detail. 

(2)  "  It  is  the  desig-n  of  this  book  to  furnish 
guidance  "  to  the  "college  student  "  and  to  "those 
who  are  pursuing  a  correspondence  course  "  "  in 
the  solution  of  engineering  problems."  The 
nrst  forty  pages  or  so  contain  a  resume  of  the 
mathematical  and  trigonometrical  formulae  likelv 
to  be  required.  This  is  certainly  useful,  but  much 
of  it  should  not  be  necessary  to  students  whose 
mathematical  attainments  are  sufficient  to  follow 
the  methods  employed  in  the  book,  which  make 
free  use  of  the  calculus,  and  seem  to  prefer  pure 
trigonometrical  solutions  to  those  obtained  with 
the  help  of  vectors.  Then  follow  a  number  of 
definitions  concerning  alternating  quantities  and 
elementary  electrical  matters.  The  uninitiated 
reader  should  be  warned  that  some  of  these  give 
quite  a  different  meaning  to  certain  terms  from 
that  current  in  this  country,  and  others,  if  strictly 
interpreted,  do  not  express  quite  what  the  author 
presumably  intended.  The  book,  however,  is  not 
intended  as  a  text-book,  but  as  a  book  of  ex- 
amples, and  if  the  student  conscientiously  works 
through  all  the  examples  and  problems  given, 
he  can  scarcely  fail  to  gain  a  fair  insight  into 
alternate  current  theory. 

(3)  The  amateur  or  student  who  wishes  to  make 
a  small  transformer  for  himself  will  find  the  con- 
struction of  the  little  one  described  in  this  book 
well  within  his  powers.  The  type  chosen  is  the 
Faraday  ring  type,  which  is  an  efficient  type  for 
its  size,  and  is  suitable  for  making  with  some- 
what limited  resources  as  to  tools.  The  type 
does  not,  however,  lend  itself  to  cheap  factory 
construction,  and  the  book  is  not  intended  for 
electrical  engineers.  D.   R. 


AX  AMERICAN  GARDENING  BOOK. 
My    Groiving    Garden.      By    J.    H.    McFarland. 
Pp.    xiii  +  216.      (New    York:    The    Macmillan 
Co.;  London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1915.) 
Price  85.  6d.   net. 

T  T  is  the  better  sort  of  intellectual  morality 
^  which  has  inspired  the  writer  of  "My  Grow- 
ing Garden."  As  its  title  suggests,  it  begins 
ah  initio,  almost  in  principio,  and  the  whole  book 
bubbles  over  with  the  enthusiasm  of  the  genuine 
gardener  who  creates,  aspires,  and  sometimes 
has  to  stoop  to  conquer.  The  shrewd  common 
sense  that  underlies  some  of  the  passages,  which 
a  meticulous  critic  might  perhaps  describe  as 
otherwise  florid,  has  a  pleasant  American  char- 
acter, and  gives  the  book  a  quality  of  its  own. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  the  English  garden- 
lover  may  not  be  able  to  extract  many  special 
"wrinkles"  from  Mr.  McFarland 's  book,  but  he 
will  most  surely  derive  a  good  deal  of  pleasure 
from  an  acquaintance  with  the  American  garden 
as  it  has  developed  under  the  care  of  an  American 
enthusiast.  The  chapter  on  weeds  is  especially 
a  pleasant  one,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  book  is 
well  worth  the  reading. 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


One  of  the  oddly  deep-rooted  tendencies  that 
Adam  has  transmitted  to  his  descendants  is  a 
love  of  the  garden.  Like  other  tendencies,  it  may 
be  latent  in  some,  but  is  continually  cropping  up 
after  the  fashion  of  other  primal  instincts.  Now 
and  again  it  bursts  into  widespread  activity,  which 
is  perhaps  more  than  genuine;  for  imitation,  a 
pre-Adamite  simian  character,  plays  no  small  part 
in  the  ostensible  development,  mental,  moral,  and 
otherwise,  of  gregarious  folk.  One  of  the  accom- 
panying features  of  the  present  epoch,  symp- 
tomatic, perhaps,  of  the  proselytising  spirit  of 
aggressive  humanity,  is  apparent  in  the  multitude 
of  books  on  gardens  which  have,  for  the  last 
decade  or  so,  been  rolling  so  tumultuously  from 
the  printing  press.  The  future  student  of  our 
times  might  do  worse  than  give  his  attention  to 
this  oddly  mixed  literature.  It  has  been  written 
by  and  for  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men — and 
women — and  it  reflects,  as  the  serious,  fictitious, 
or  mercenary  pursuit  of  a  widely  cultivated  hobby 
can  do  so  well,  a  wide  range  of  human  aspiration 
— a  curious  mixture  of  noble  metal  i.nd  worthless 
clay.  J.  B.  F. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Elements  of  Mineralogy.     By  F.  Rutley.     Revised 
by  H.  H.  Read.    Nineteenth  edition.    Pp.  xxii  + 
394.    (London  :  T.  Murby  and  Co.,  1916.)    Price 
3s.  6d.  net. 
L\  this  nineteenth  and  extensively  revised  edition 
of   Rutley 's   "Mineralogy"   the   general   arrange- 
ment of  the  original   has   been   largely    retained, 
but  such  changes  have  been  made  as  the  reviser 
has  thought  necessary   "to  bring  the   book   into 
line  with  modem  tendencies  in  economic  mineral- 
ogy, and  to  make  it  an  introduction  to  the  scien- 
tific   prospecting    and    determination    of    mineral 
deposits." 

Occurrence  and  origin  are  treated  more  fully 
than  in  former  editions,  also  the  uses  of  the  indus- 
trial minerals,  and  the  geographical  location  of 
important  deposits.  An  interesting  introduction 
has  been  contributed  by  Mr.  G.  T.  Holloway,  and 
a  series  of  excellent  paragraphs  prefatory  to  the 
several  useful  and  precious  metals  by  Mr.  W.  G. 
Wagner.  A  serviceable  glossary  of  terms  used  in 
economic  geology  has  been  added  by  the  reviser. 

Typographical  errors  are  few,  but  errors  of 
matter  numerous.  The  composition  of  anorthite 
is  given  as  CaO.ALOg.GSiOo  (p.  191) :  it  is  stated 
of  orthorhombic  crystals  (p.  iii)  that  "all  sections 
give  straight  extinction  "  ;  aegerine  and  wollaston- 
ite  are  classed  with  the  aluminous  pyroxenes  (p. 
198),  and  riebeckite  with  the  aluminous  amphiboles 
(p.  206).  Style,  and  precision  of  language,  too, 
are  often  defective.  The  tetragonal  system  is  char- 
acterised by  "two  equal  lateral  axes,  one  unequal 
vertical  axis"  (p.  71);  the  optic  axes  of  biaxial 
crystals  are  described  as  directions  "along  which 
light  can  travel  with  equal  velocity  "  (p.  gq) ;  the 
Mond  process  is  said  to  produce  "  nickel  in  a  great 
state  of  purity"  (p.  338);  we  are  told  (p.  116) 
that  "iron  carbonate  (FeCO,)  is  the  mineral 
chalybite,"  and  (p.  376)  that  platinum  is  used  "in 


26o 


NATURE 


[May  25,  19 1 6 


the  manufacture  of  chemicals  by  the  contact  pro- 
cess in  dentistry  and  in  jewellery." 

Mr.  Read  was  ordered  abroad  for  active  service 
while  the  volume  was  being-  set  up.  Had  he  seen 
all  proofs,  no  doubt  imperfections,  of  which  the 
foregoing-  are  random  examples,  would  have  been 
eliminated. 

The  book  is  a  useful  epitome  of  mineralogical 
principles  and  methods,  and  a  convenient  small 
work  of  reference  to  the  more  important  rock- 
forming  and  economic  minerals.  C.  G.  C. 

British  Sea  Fish:  An  Illustrated  Handbook  of  the 
Edible  Sea  Fishes  of  the  British  Isles.  By 
Harold  Swithinbank  and  G.  E.  Bullen.  Pp.  xi 
+  35.  (London:  Simpkin,  Marshall,  Hamil- 
ton, Kent  and  Co.,  Ltd.)  Price  2s.  net. 
This  is  a  pamphlet  of  which  six  pages  are  devoted 
to  an  account  of  the  British  sea  fisheries,  and 
thirty-five  pages  to  descriptions  of  some  thirty- 
four  species  of  marketable  fishes.  The  illustra- 
tions are  very  small  half-tone  reproductions  of 
mediocre  photographs.  The  descriptions  consist 
each  of  about  six  to  ten  lines  of  print  summarising 
the  characters  of  the  species ;  two  or  three  lines 
of  print  giving  the  range  of  occurrence ;  and  of 
"  remarks "  dealing  mainly  with  the  quality, 
flavour,  and  methods  of  cooking  of  the  fishes  con- 
sidered. We  learn  from  the  preface  that  the 
work  "is  to  be  regarded  as  in  no  way  scientific," 
and  that  it  is  intended  to  popularise  the  cheaper 
and  coarser  kinds  of  sea-fish  which  at  present 
suffer  from  prejudice.  Considering  these  limita- 
tions and  the  relatively  high  price  of  the  pamphlet, 
we  find  it  difficult  to  think  of  the  particular  public 
to  which  it  is  intended  to  appeal  at  the  present 
time ;  for  it  is  far  too  small  to  be  of  much  use  to 
anyone  really  interested  in  marine  biolog^y,  and 
too  expensive  to  be  used  in  a  propaganda. 

J-J- 

LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

"Summer  Time"   and  Meteorology. 

Recently  I  have  had  occasionally  to  rise  at  3  a.m. 
and  to  be  out  between  3  a.m.  and  5  a.m.  I  found  the 
weather  misty  and  relatively  verj'  cold,  with  tempera- 
ture about  45°  F.  Later  in  the  day  temperature  rose 
to  75°  F.  Clothing  suitable  for  the  early  morning 
was  quite  unsuitable  for  the  day,  and  (what  I  specially 
noticed)  vice  versa ;  it  occurred  to  me  that  civilised 
people  had  unconsciously  adopted  a  day  which  centred 
a  little  later  than  the  time  of  maximum  temperature, 
thereby  securing  the  nearest  possible  approach  to  a 
uniform  temperature  in  the  daily  period  of  their  "  away 
from  home"  existence.  In  this  wav  they  save  them- 
selves unnecessary  trouble  in  putting  on  and  taking 
off  clothing;  and,  further,  they  save  themselves  un- 
necessary risk  of  chills  and  colds.  The  change  from 
a  temperature  of  45°  F.  to  one  of  75°  F.  is  equivalent 
to  changing  from  a  cool  day  of  January  to  a  warm 
day  of  July.     The  change  ma)-  stimulate  an4  energise 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


the  labourer  in  the  fields;  I  doubt  if  its  effect  on  the 
worker  in  a  city  office  is  good  or  pleasant. 

The  average  increase  ot  temperature  from  8  a.m.  to 
9  a.m.  in  the  summer  months  is  nearly  40  per  cent, 
of  the  increase  from  9  a.m.  to  the  maximum  about 
2  p.m. ;  and  the  decrease  in  humidity  (or  dampness  of 
the  air)  from  8  a.m.  to  9  a.m.  is  nearly  50  per  cent,  of 
the  decrease  from  9  a.m.  to  the  minimum  humidity  in 
the  afternoon  (and  the  rate  of  change  from  7  a.m.  to 
8  a.m.  is  equally  fast). 

Moving  the  hands  of  the  clock  will  neither  warm  nor 
dry  the  air.  People  are  therefore  being  plunged  into 
cooler,  damper  air  through  their  ignorance  (i)  of  the 
fact  that  custom  is  usually  based  on  the  teachings  of 
experience ;  (2)  of  the  facts  of  observation  which  indi- 
cate directly  what  has  been  the  indirect  teaching  of 
experience  in  this  case. 

The  argument  that  it  is  as  cold  in  April  at  9  a.m. 
as  it  is  in  May  at  8  a.m.  is  ineffective,  because  people 
in  England  adapt  the  amount  and  character  of  their 
clothing  to  the  season  of  the  year,  and  what  they  feel 
most  is  not  absolute  cold,  but  relative  cold;  and  rela- 
tively to  the  middle  of  the  day  it  is  twice  as  cold  at 
8  a.m.  in  May  as  at  9  a.m.  in  January. 

There  is  an  element  of  romance  about  early  rising" 
if  the  exf>eriment  is  not  too  often  repeated.  Perhaps 
one  summer  will  suffice.  E.  Gold. 


In  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Summer 
Time  Act,  Greenwich  Mean  Time  will  continue  to  be 
used  for  all  meteorological  observations  and  publica- 
tions, so  that  no  discontinuity  will  be  caused  during 
the  period  when  Summer  Time  is  in  force.  But  be- 
sides the  observations  which  are  made  by  regular 
observers,  many  meteorological  phenomena  of  various 
kinds  are  from  time  to  time  recorded  or  reported,  and 
it  is  highly  desirable  that  there  should  be  no  ambiguity 
in  these  reports,  which  are  often  of  much  interest  and 
importance.  The  council  of  the  Royal  Meteorological 
Society  desires  to  direct  attention  to  the  necessity  of 
stating  precisely  the  time  of  occurrence  in  all  such 
cases,  and  whether  the  times  quoted  refer  to  Green- 
wich Mean  Time  or  to  Summer  Time,  since  the  omis- 
sion of  this  information  may  render  the  record  of  the 
phenomenon  useless  for  meteorological  purposes. 

Such  occasional  observations  form  a  valuable  addi- 
tion to  those  which  are  made  at  the  permanent  ob- 
serving stations  and  supplement  them  usefully ;  it  is 
therefore  essential  that  they  should  be  recorded  with 
precision.  H.  G.  Lyons. 

President. 

Royal  Meteorological  Society,  May  19. 


Geologists   and   Special   Constables. 

A  recent  experience  of  Canon  E.  Hill  and  myself 
may  be  useful  to  geologists.  On  May  3  we  went  by 
train  from  Lincoln  to  East  Barkwith' Station,  on  the 
line  to  Louth,  and  walked  by  a  rather  roundabout 
route  to  South  Willingham  Station,  looking  at  the 
structure  of  the  country  and  for  sections  of  drift. 
While  waiting  for  our  train  outside  the  latter  station, 
a  man,  in  dress  and  aspect  rather  above  a  farm 
labourer,  accompanied  by  another  with  a  badge  of  some 
sort  on  his  coat,  came  up  to  us,  and  in  none  too  civil 
a  tone  began  to  catechise  us  as  to  what  we  were 
doing,  where  we  were  and  had  been  staying,  our 
homes,  professions,  ages,  heights,  and  the  like,  about 
which  we  gave  him  full  information.  Apparently  he 
did  not  know  that  there  was  such  a  science  as  geolog\', 
but  after  he  had  received  a  large  amount  of  biograph- 
ical information  he  acknowledged  it  by  saying,  in  the 
tone  of  one  rebuking  two  peccant  villagers,   that    as 


May  25,   1916] 


NATURE 


201 


educated  men  we  ought  to  have  known  we  had  no 
business  to  be  going  about  the  countn-.  This  was 
rather  too  strong,  so  I  retorted,  "That  is  nonsense; 
we  have  a  right  to  take  a  walk  along  the  roads  to  see 
the  countr)-."  To  cut  a  long  storj'  short,  he  departed, 
before  our  train  arrived,  with  the  remark  that,  if  we 
had  been  photographing  or  sketching,  he  should  have 
taken  us  into  custody. 

We  were  at  nearest  about  seventeen  miles  from  the 
sea.  Neither  at  Louth  (where  we  had  spent  a  week) 
nor  at  Lincoln  was  any  notice  posted  up  in  the  hotel 
<or  elsewhere,  so  far  as  we  had  seen)  supporting  his 
view,  and  we  had  not  left  the  high  road,  except  to 
enter  two  pits.  It  is  therefore  obvious  that  any  village 
Dogberry-  may  employ  the  "brief  authority"  with 
whtch  he  imagines  himself  clad  to  prevent  all  study  of 
Enelish  geology'  or  natural  histor\\ 

T.   G.   BONNEY. 


National  Food  Supply  and  Nutritional  Value. 

One  of  the  remarks  made  in  the  article  in  Nature 
of  May  II  on  my  survey  of  the  "Food  Value  of 
Great  Britain's  Food  Supply"  is  certainly  justified, 
namely,  "the  value  for  protein  seems  low."  It  is 
too  low.  This  has  arisen  from  taking  an  analysis 
tor  wheat  flour  in  which  the  protein  was  7-9  per  cent., 
whereas  it  should  be,  more  correctly,  something  like 
107  per  cent.  Making  an  allowance  for  this  difference 
increases  the  daily  protein  ration  per  man  by  10-4  grams 
and  brings  it  to  1121  grams  instead  of  101-7.  For 
a  similar  reason  the  carbohjdrate  should  be  reduced 
from  587-12  grams  per  man  per  day  to  580-7  grains. 
Whether  the  fat  should  be  reduced  depends  on  the 
analysis  adopted  for  the  different  kinds  of  meat.  A 
recalculation,  however,  adopting  different  analyses, 
and  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  more  accurate  ones,  makes 
no  material  difference  in  the  daily  ration  "  as  pur- 
chased." It  certainly  affords  no  ground  for  reduc- 
tion; on  the  contrary,  it  shows  an 'increase  of  1-9 
grams  per  man  f>er  day. 

In  conclusion,  perhaps  I  may  be  permitted  to  ex- 
press my  grateful  appreciation  of  the  very  fair  and 
svmpathetic  way  in  which  your  article,  as  a  whole, 
is  written  and  for  the  opportunity  it  affords  of  making 
these  corrections,  which  I  hope  to  publish  later  in 
detail.  W.  H.  Thompson. 

Trinity  College,  Dublin,  May  15. 


I  AM  glad  to  find  that  Prof.  Thompson  has  dis- 
covered a  reason  for  giving  us  a  more  reassuring 
figure  concerning  the  national  supply  of  protein.  It 
is  now  clear  that  we  have  a  larger  margin  upon  which 
to  draw  in  case  retrenchment  should  prove  necessary. 

Readers    of    Nature    should    be    grateful    to    Prof. 
Thompson    for    making    the    correction,    and    I    have 
myself  to  thank  him  for  the  courtesy  of  his  letter. 
The  Writer  of  the  Article. 

May   19. 

The  Lower  Greensand  Flora. 

In  the  kind  review  of  my  work  on  the  Lower 
Greensand  Flora  in  Nature  of  May  4  your  reviewer 
states  that  I  have  overlooked  a  memoir  by  Buckland. 
This  is  the  Bridgewater  treatise.  May  I  point  out 
(i)  that  I  was  dealing  with  Lower  Greensand  and 
not  Portland  Oolite  plants,  and  therefore  not  profess- 
ing to  give  a  complete  account  of  the  latter,  but  merely 
referred  to  Buckland's  original  memoir,  in  which  the 
name  of  the  genus  was  founded,  for  purposes  of 
nomenclature;  (2)  that,  even  though  in  the  later  work 
(the  Bridgewater  treatise)  Buckland  figures  a  speci- 
men   with    the    "lateral    buds,"    which    are    probably 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


cones,  it  remains  the  fact,  as  I  stated,  that  no  cones 
are  figured  in  the  original  type;  (3)  that  the  Bridge- 
water  treatise  example  can  only  be  accepted  as  being 
the  same  species  as  the  original  type  by  an  assump- 
tion that  they  were,  in  fact,  identical,  because,  as  I 
stated,  the  original  type  specimen  is  lost ;  (4)  that,  con- 
sequently, it  is  not  carelessness,  but  a  perhaps  over- 
meticulous  scrupulousness  in  nomenclature  which 
made  me,  and  still  makes  me,  hesitate  to  accept  as  a 
certainty  the  identity  of  the  so-called  Cycadites  micro- 
phyllus  of  the  Bridgewater  treatise  with  the  lost 
original  vegetative  type  of  Cycadeoidea  microphyllus, 
in  spite  of  the  top  part  of  the  drawing. 

Marie  C.  Stores. 


Ov^erlookixg  a  reference  is  at  least  to  some  of  us 
too  common  an  occurrence  to  need  an  elaborate  de- 
fence. My  point  is  that  Buckland's  later  description 
of  one  of  his  species,  Cycadeoidea  microphylla,  is 
fatal  to  an  important  argument  used  by  Dr.  Stopes. 
Buckland  expressed  no  doubt  as  to  the  specific  identity 
of  the  specimen  figured  in  the  Bridgewater  treatise 
with  that  on  which  the  original  account  was  based, 
and,  whether  or  not  the  stems  belong  to  the  same 
species,  there  are  no  adequate  grounds  for  doubting 
their  generic  identity.  The  natural  course  to  pursue 
in  endeavouring  to  solve  a  problem  is  to  consider  such 
evidence  as  is  available,  and,  as  regards  the  question 
at  issue,  I  maintain  that  the  evidence  overlooked  by 
Dr.  Stopes  furnishes  a  serious — in  my  opinion  a  fatal 
—objection  to  her  conclusions.  A.  C.  S. 


Meteorological   Conditions   of  a   Blizzard. 

The  word  "blizzard,"  signifying  originally  a  type 
of  snowstorm  most  common  and  most  severe  in  the 
Rocky  Mountain  States  of  the  Union,  although  occa- 
sionally occurring  elsewhere,  is  now  loosely  used  to 
mean  any  heavv"  snowstorm.  This  is  unfortunate,  for 
a  term  is  needed  for  the  type  of  storm  referred  to 
above.  Three  things  must  co-exist  in  a  blizzard — 
large  quantities  of  very  fine  snow ;  very  low  tempera- 
ture, generally  below  ^ro  Fahrenheit;  and  a  high 
wind  of  great  velocity. 

Apparently  the  loose  use  of  the  word  is  becoming 
common  in  Great  Britain,  for  you  refer  in  Nature  of 
April  6  (p.  129)  to  "a  blizzard  of  unusual  severity." 
The  context  shows  that  neither  the  snow  nor  the 
temperature  condition  could  have  been  fulfilled,  for 
you  say  that  the  gale  "was  accompanied  by  rain  and 
snow." 

I  doubt  ver\'  much  whether  the  British  Isles  could 
produce  the  requisite  conditions  for  a  real  blizzard. 

Arthur  E.  Bostwick. 

St.  Louis,  Mo.,  April  24. 

THE  ROUTLEDGE  EXPEDITION   TO 
EASTER  ISLAND. 

NOW  that  members  of  Mr.  Scoresby  Rout- 
ledge's  expedition  to  Easter  Island  have 
returned  to  this  country,  it  is  possible  to  give 
some  idea  in  broad  outline  of  the  objects  of  the 
expedition  and  of  its  chief  results.  The  expedi- 
tion, which  was  aided  by  grants  from  the  British 
Association  and  the  Royal  Society,  was  excep- 
tionally well  equipped.  It  also  had  the  advantagie 
of  being  independent  of  the  infrequent  opportuni- 
ties of  communication  with  Easter  Island,  as  Mr. 
Routledge  had  built  and  fitted  at  his  own  expense 
the  schooner  Mana,  of  126  tons,  with  auxiliary 
motor  power,  in  which  the  expedition  sailed  from 


262 


NATURE 


[May  25,  1916 


Southampton  to  Chile  •yiA  the  Straits  of  Magel- 
lan, and  thence  to  its  destination.  The  party  con- 
sisted of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Routledge,  Lieutenant 
R.  D.  Ritchie  (seconded  by  the  Admiralty  for  navi- 
gation and  survey  work),  and  Mr.  F.  Lowry  Corry, 
geologist.  The  last-mentioned  gentleman  had  un- 
fortunately to  be  left  behind  in  South  America 
owing  to  a  severe  attack  of  typhoid  fever  which 
necessitated  his  subsequent  return  to  England. 
The  expedition  arrived  at  the  island  on  March  29, 
1914,  and  did  not  leave  until  August,  1915,  making 
a  stay  of  sixteen  and  a  half  months. 

Easter  Island,  or  Rapa  Nui,  the  most  easterly 
island  of  the  Polynesian  group,  lying  about  11 
miles  south-east  of  Pitcairn,  was  discovered  in 
172 1  by  a  Dutch  captain  named  Roggewein.  It 
was  visited  on  several  occasions  subsequently  by 
navigators,  notably  by  H.M.S.  Topaze  in  1868. 
Our  knowledge  of  the  history  and  antiquities  of  the 
island  is  based  largely  on  the  results  of  a  visit  of 
twelve  days'  duration  made  by  the  Mohican,  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  in  1886. 

The  islanders  speak  a  dialect  of  Polynesian,  and 
in  physical  character  they  conform  to  the  Poly- 
nesian type.  At  the  present  day  their  numbers  are 
small,  owing  to  the  fact  that  in  1862  or  1863  about 
half  of  the  population  was  carried  off  by  Chilian 
slave  raiders,  and  a  large  number  of  the  remainder 
were  transferred  to  Tahiti,  Eimeo,  and  Gambler 
by  various  agencies.  Considerable  modification  in 
their  customs  would  appear  to  have  taken  place 
after  the  Chilian  raid;  the  chiefs  upon  whom  their 
social  organisation  was  based  disappeared,  and 
many  of  their  ancient  customs  fell  into  desuetude, 
though  the  tradition  was  preserved  among  the 
older  members  of  the  community.  From  this  tradi- 
tion and  from  the  references  in  the  accounts  of  the 
older  voyagers,  it  would  appear  that  in  religion, 
culture,  and  social  organisation  the  Easter  Is- 
landers were  broadly  Polynesian.  During  their 
stay  on  the  island  the  members  of  the  Routledge 
expedition  were  able  to  get  into  intimate  relation 
with  those  islanders  who  still  have  some  know- 
ledge of  the.  older  tradition.  The  result  has  been 
a  fund  of  information  of  quite  unhoped-for  interest 
and  importance,  especially  in  its  relation  to  the 
archaeological  remains  of  the  island,  which  have 
always  been  something  of  a  puzzle. 

The  chief  interest  of  Easter  Island  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  possesses  remains  which,  although  not 
exactly  unique,  are  yet  sufficiently  remarkable  to 
have  given  rise  to  considerable  speculation.  These 
consist  of  stone  terraces,  or  platforms,  resembling 
the  Polynesian  marais  ;  colossal  monolithic  statues, 
stone  carvings,  and  stone-built  houses.  Further, 
Easter  Island  is  the  only  part  of  Polynesia  in  which 
anything  approaching  a  script  was  developed. 
About  fifteen  inscribed  wooden  tablets  from  the 
island  are  known  to  exist,  one  being  in  the  British 
Museum.^ 

The  stone  terraces  or  platforms  have  been  care- 
fully examined  and   measured  by  the   Routledge 

1  The  tablet's^  are  described  and  the  attempts  at  their  interpretation  sum- 
marised and  discussed  by  Mr.  O.  M.  Dalton.  "  On  an  inscribed  wooden 
tablet  from  Easter  Island  (Rapa  Nui)  in  the  British  Museum."  Man.  Lon- 
don, 1904.    No.  I. 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


expedition,  and  the  number  known  to  exist  has 
now  been  considerably  increased.  These  platforms 
are  remarkable  both  for  their  size — one  of  them  is 
150  feet  long,  or  with  the  wings  which  run  from 
the  upper  level  to  the  ground,  560  feet  long — and 
for  the  method  of  their  structure.  They  were  built 
by  filling  in  with  stone  rubble  the  space  between 
parallel  walls  of  squared  uncemented  stone.  On 
the  top  of  the  platforms  stood  the  stone  statues. 
These  statues,  of  which  there  are  two  examples  in 
the  British  Museum,  are  of  enormous  size,  weigh- 
ing from  10  to  40  tons.  Many  of  them  lie  where 
they  were  made  in  the  crater,  and  a  large  number 
still  stand  on  the  slopes  of  Rana  Roraku,  one  of 
the  volcanic  craters  which  form  the  chief  physical 
features  of  the  island.  Dr.  Rivers  has  recently 
directed  attention  to  the  fact  that  Moerenhout  in 
1837  pointed  out  that  similar,  though  smaller, 
statues  existed  in  Pitcairn  and  Laivaivai,  while 
he  himself  suggests  a  connection  with  the  cults  and 
secret  societies  of  Melanesia.^  None  of  the  statues 
on  the  platforms  are  now  standing,  and  their 
manufacture  appears  to  have  ceased  abruptly.  One 
explanation  of  the  cessation  which  has  been  offered 
is  that  it  was  due  to  a  volcanic  disturbance,  while 
a  native  legend  states  that  the  statues  were  thrown 
down  in  an  intertribal  quarrel.  The  Routledge 
expedition  made  a  number  of  excavations  around 
the  statues  in  the  hope  that  light  might  be  ob- 
tained on  this  point,  and  the  methods  of  manufac- 
ture were  carefully  investigated.  Particular  atten- 
tion was  given  to  the  question  of  orientation,  but 
no  uniformity  was  observed.  On  the  coast  the 
statues  on  the  platforms  faced  inland,  while  the 
platforms  themselves  faced  in  all  directions. 
Those  erected  on  the  mountain  followed  the  nature 
of  the  ground.  Inside  the  crater  they  faced  north 
and  east ;  on  the  outer  slope  south-west.  The 
stone-built  houses  were  also  subjected  to  a  close 
examination,  and  much  new  information  obtained 
as  to  them.  It  could  scarcely  be  expected  that  at 
this  late  date,  especially  having  in  view  the  results 
of  earlier  inquiries,  an  interpretation  of  the 
tablets  could  be  obtained  ;  but  a  certain  amount  of 
information  of  value  has  been  acquired. 

The  expedition,  on  leaving  Easter  Island,  visited 
Pitcairn  Island  (where  a  stav  of  four  days  was 
made),  Tahiti,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands,  in  all  of 
which  material  valuable  for  comparative  purposes 
was  obtained. 

It  would  be  premature  and  unfair,  while  the  data 
of  the  expedition  are  still  under  examination,  to  do 
more  than  indicate  in  the  briefest  manner  the 
points  to  which  attention  has  been  directed. 
Enough  has  been  stated,  however,  to  suggest  the 
value  of  the  expedition's  work,  which  it  may  safely 
be  said  will  not  only  add  considerably  to  our  know- 
ledge of  the  island  itself,  but  will  have  important 
bearing  upon  more  general  questions  relating  to 
the  culture  of  the  Pacific.  It  is  hoped  that  it  will 
be  possible  for  a  full  account  of  the  expedition  to 
be  given  at  the  forthcoming  meeting  of  the  British 

Association  at  Newcastle.  ^    ^_    _ 

E.  N.  Fallaize. 

2  W.  H.  R.  Rivers,  "Sun  Cult  and  Megaliths  in  Oceania.'  American- 
/^«Mro/o/«'.f»j/,  New  Series,  17,  1915.     442  fol. 


May  25,  1916] 


NATURE 


263 


THE   BRITISH   SCIENCE    GUILD. 

THE  tenth  annual  meeting  of  the  British  Science 
Guild  was  held  at  the  rooms  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Medicine  on  May  17,  when  the  Rt.  Hon. 
Sir  William  Mather  (president  of  the  Guild)  pre- 
sided over  a  large  attendance,  including  many 
well-known  men  of  science. 

In  moving  the  adoption  of  the  annual  report  the 
president  referred  to  the  past  work  of  the  British 
Science  Guild  in  encouraging  the  practical  applica- 
tions of  science — a  matter  the  importance  of  which 
had  been  acutely  realised  since  the  outbreak  of 
war.  Many  instances  are  furnished  in  the  report. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  public  interest  in  this 
-question  was  aroused  by  an  address  delivered  by 
Sir  William  Ramsay  on  the  organisation  of  science 
at  the  annual  meeting  in  191 5.  This  subject  has 
since  received  constant  attention  by  the  executive 
committee,  and  useful  work  has  also  been  done 
by  the  various  special  committees  of  the  Guild. 
A  journal  is  now  being  issued  periodically  sum- 
marising the  work  of  such  committees  and  other 
matters  of  general  interest  to  members  of  the 
Guild. 

It  is  remarked  that  the  need  for  the  proposed 
National  School  of  Technical  Optics  has  been 
strikingly  illustrated  by  the  difficulty,  since  the 
outbreak  of  war,  in  securing  adequate  supplies 
of  binoculars,  prismatic  compasses,  gun-sights, 
periscopes,  range-finders,  and  other  "optical 
munitions."  A  resolution  urging  the  national  im- 
portance of  such  a  school  was  passed  by  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Guild  on  December  7, 
1915,  and  forwarded  to  the  Ministry'  of  Munitions, 
but  notwithstanding  the  assurance  of  the  Minister 
that  "  the  object  in  view  appears  to  be  undoubtedly 
of  the  greatest  importance,"  the  necessary  funds 
for  this  purpose  are  not  yet  forthcoming.  Com- 
mittees are  also  engaged  in  studying  the  manu- 
facture of  British  microscopes  for  pathological, 
chemical,  and  metallurgical  work ;  and  a  special 
committee  has  outlined  a  programme  of  policy  of 
State  relationship  to  industry,  science,  and  edu- 
cation. This  memorandum  will  be  issued  in  due 
course. 

The  annual  report  contains  a  survey  of  the 
various  science  committees  working  on  war 
problems,  the  steps  taken  by  various 
scientific  societies  to  put  their  members  at 
the  service  of  the  Government  for  scientific 
work,  and  other  proposals  Of  interest  during 
the  year.  Reference  is  made  to  the  recent 
meeting  following  the  memorandum  on  "The 
Neglect  of  Science  ' ' ;  the  conference  called  by  the 
Royal  Society  with  the  view  of  establishing  a  con- 
joint board  of  scientific  societies ;  and  the  work 
of  the  advisory  council  to  the  committee  of  the 
Privy  Council  for  the  organisation  of  scientific  and 
industrial  research.  In  an  appendix,  compiled  by 
Prof.  R.  A.  Gregory,  the  work  of  the  advisory 
council  is  more  fully  described  and  a  summar\'  is 
given  of  the  scheme  for  the  establishment  of  a 
Commonwealth  Institute  of  Science  and  Industry  in 
Australia.     This  appendix  also  contains  a  review 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


of  the  Civil  Service  estimates  for  education  and 
science,  and  some  particulars  of  benefactions  to 
science  and  education  in  the  United  States. 
During  the  period  1871-1914  no  less  than 
1 16,883,000^.  was  given  in  private  donations 
for  these  purposes.  In  the  year  191 3-14  six  uni- 
versities benefited  to  the  extent  of  more  than 
200,oooL  each,  Cornell  University  receiving 
875,220/.  The  average  annual  benefactions  for 
educational  purposes  amount  to  nearly  six  million 
pounds.  The  report  as  a  whole  furnishes  an  ex- 
tremely interesting  review  of  progress  during  the 
past  year — a  year  which  may  prove  a  very 
important  one  in  the  history  of  British  science. 

The  adoption  of  the  annual  report  was  seconded 
by  Dr.  R.  Mullineux  W^almsley,  who  gave  some 
instances  of  our  present  deficiency  in  facilities  for 
the  manufacture  and  application  of  optical  glass. 
He  recalled  that  the  scheme  for  the  National 
School  of  Technical  Optics,  originally  matured  by 
the  governors  of  the  Northampton  Institute,  was 
placed  before  the  educational  authorities  thirteen 
years  ago.  Had  this  school  been  in  existence 
when  the  war  opened,  it  could  have  rendered  ex- 
ceedingly valuable  service.  In  appealing  for 
40,000/.  to  cover  the  building  and  equipment  of 
the  school  Dr.  Walmsley  read  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Lloyd  George  agreeing  that  a  National  School  of 
Technical  Optics  was  urgently  needed,  and  com- 
mending the  scheme  to  the  generous  consideration 
of  patriotic  citizens. 

An  address  was  delivered  by  the  Rt.  Hon. 
Andrew  Fisher,  High  Commissioner  for  the  Com- 
monwealth, on  the  establishment  of  a  National  In- 
stitute of  Science  and  Industry  in  Australia.  Since 
the  war  Australia  had  learned  to  appreciate  the 
value  of  organised  science.  The  laboratory  was  the 
adjunct  of  the  workshop.  Science,  added  Mr. 
Fisher,  should  be  more  adequately  represented  in 
the  Government  of  this  country,  and  mere  attach- 
ment to  tradition  should  not  interfere  with  the 
realisation  of  this  aim.  The  scheme  for  the  National 
Institute  of  Science  and  Industry  was  based  on  co- 
operation. The  Conference  called  last  Januarv'  had 
received  the  combined  support  of  men  of  science, 
manufacturers,  and  representatives  of  the  chief 
State  departments,  and  in  a  fortnight  had  evolved 
a  definite  scheme.  The  institute  will  be  under  the 
supervision  of  three  directors,  free  from  political 
control,  one  of  whom  will  be  a  man  of  proved 
ability  in  business  and  finance,  and  the  other  two 
men  of  science  of  high  standing.  The  institute 
will  encourage  and  initiate  researches  in  the  chief 
colleges  and  laboratories  throughout  the  country, 
establish  research  fellowships,  and  create  new  in- 
stitutions where  necessary.  It  is  also  proposed  to 
organise  a  bur.eau  of  information,  which  will  act 
as  a  clearing-house  for  intelligence  of  scientific 
and  industrial  value,  will  help  to  avoid  overlapping 
of  effort,  and  will  promote  the  interchange  of  ex- 
perience between  men  of  science  and  manufac- 
turers. Among  the  subjects  to  be  investigated 
will  be  many  of  great  importance  to  Australia 
connected  with  metallurgical,  chemical,  and  agri- 
cultural matters  and  the  utilisation  of  waste  pro- 


264 


NATURE 


[May  25,  1916 


iucts.  Important  work  might  also  be  done  in 
studying  the  development  of  districts  differing 
videly  in  climate  and  temperature. 

A  vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Fisher  was  proposed 
)y  Sir  Alfred  Keogh  and  seconded  by  Sir  John  S. 
t'oung.  Sir  Alfred  Keogh  expressed  the  hope  that 
he  scheme  described  by  Mr.  Fisher  would  be 
nstrumental  in  promoting  constant  interchange  of 
,'iews  between  men  of  science  in  this  country 
md  in  Australia.  As  an  illustration  of  the  prac- 
ical  applications  of  science,  Sir  Alfred  referred  to 
he  care  of  the  wounded  and  their  treatment 
luring  convalescence.  A  striking  instance  had 
)een  the  suppression  of  typhoid  fever.  To-day 
here  are  only  twenty-two  cases  in  the  British 
Vrmy  in  France,  whereas  if  we  had  gone  on  in 
he  old  way  the  number  of  cases  would  probably 
lave  reached  80,000  or  100,000. 

The  Lord  Mayor  and  Mr.  Andrew  Fisher  have 
)een  elected  vice-presidents  of  the  Guild;  and  the 
Executive  Committee  for  the  year  1916-17  is  con- 
itituted  as  follows  : — President,  Right  Hon.  Sir 
kVilliam  Mather;  chairman  of  committees,  Sir 
>Jorman  Lockyer,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.  ;  vice-chairmen 
)f  committees.  Sir  Hugh  Bell,  Bt. ,  Hon.  Sir 
ohn  Cockburn,  K.C.M.G.  ;  honorary  treasurer, 
light  Hon.  Lord  Avebury ;  honorary  assistant 
reasurer.  Lady  Lockyer;  deputy  chairman,  Sir 
5overton  Redwood,  Bt.  ;  vice-presidents.  Sir  Wil- 
iam  Phipson  Beale,  Bt. ,  K.C.,  M.P.,  Surgeon- 
general  Sir  Alfred  Keogh,  K.C.B.,  Major 
)'Meara,  R.E.,  C.M.G.,  Right  Hon.  Lord  Syden- 
lam,  G.C.M.G.,  G.C.S.L,  F.R.S. ;  hon.  secre- 
aries,  Sir  Alexander  Pedler,  CLE.,  F.R.S.,  Dr. 
".  Mollwo  Perkin ;  other  members,  Captain 
Jathurst,  M.P.,  Dr.  G.  T.  Beilby,  F.R.S.,  Mr. 
/V.  H.  Cowan,  M.P.,  Prof.  R.  A.  Gregory,  Sir 
lobert  Hadfield,  F.R.S.,  Prof.  A.  Liversidge, 
^.R.S.,  Sir  Philip  Magnus, '  M. P.,  Dr.  T.  A. 
vlatthews,  Mr.  Robert  Mond,  Prof.  John  Perry, 
^R.S.,  Sir  Ronald  Ross,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.,  Mr. 
Uan  A.  Campbell  Swinton,  F.R.S.,  Lady  Napier 
5haw,  Mr.  Carmichael  Thomas,  Dr.  R.  Mullineux 
iValmsley,  Dr.  Howard  S.  Willson,  and  Colonel 
Mr  John  S.  Young,  C.V.O. 

NOTES. 

The  Summer  Time  Bill  received  the  Royal  Assent 
in  May  17,  and  came  into  force  at  2  a.m.  on  Sunday, 
day  21.  From  now  until  the  end  of  September  three 
ystems  of  time-reckoning  will  be  legal,  namely,  (i) 
Greenwich  Time,  for  tides  and  other  occurrences  of 
lavigation  and  astronomy ;  (2)  local  time,  which  is 
lased  on  distances  from  Greenwich  in  latitude  and 
ongitude,  and  determines  lighting-up  times ;  and  (3) 
>ummer  Time;  which  is  an  hour  in  advance  of  Green- 
v^ich  Mean  Time.  The  third  clause  of  the  Act  states 
hat  "  during  the  prescribed  period  any  expression  of 
ime  in  any  Act  of  Parliament,  Order  in  Council, 
trder,  regulation,  rule,  or  by-law,  or  in  any  time- 
able,  notice,  advertisement,  or  other  document,  is  to 
nean  'Summer  Time.'"  Orders  as  to  Hghting-up 
nust,  however,  be  excluded  from  the  field  of  operations 
if  this  clause,  as  they  refer  to  an  interval  and  not  to  a 
•articular  hour.  Time-tables  showing  lighting-up 
imes  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom  are  in  common 

NO.    2430,    VOL.   97] 


use,  and  are  given  in  many  calendars  and  almanacs. 
These  times  are  determined  by  actual  sunrise  or  sun- 
set as  points  of  reference,  being  at  present  half  an 
hour  before  and  after  respectively.  The  sun  rises  to- 
day, for  example,  at  nearly  4  a.m.  in  London  and  sets  a 
little  before  8  p.m. ;  lamps  of  vehicles  must,  therefore, 
be  lighted  up  to  3.30  a.m.  G.M.T.,  and  after  8.30  p.m. 
The  corresponding  times  at  Glasgow  are  4.38  a.m.  for 
sunrise,  8.38  p.m.  for  sunset,  and  lighting-up  times 
to  about  4  a.m.  and  after  9  p.m.  All  these  times  are 
ultimately  based  on  Greenwich  Time,  with  the  neces- 
sary differences ;  and  it  will  be  a  problem  for  many  a 
village  policeman  to  decide  when  lamps  have  really  to 
be  lighted.  Symotts's  Meteorological  Magazine  for 
May,  in  an  article  deploring  the  adoption  of  the 
measure,  prints  a  letter  from  Sir  Napier  Shaw,  direc- 
tor of  the  Meteorological  Office,  instructing  observers 
to  record  their  observations  and  attend  at  their  offices 
and  observatories  according  to  the  hours  of  Greenwich 
Mean  Time,  as  heretofore,  which  shows  that  in  the 
Government  meteorological  service  the  Act  is  simply 
to  be  ignored,  as  it  must  be  in  meteorological  work 
generallv.  So  far  as  we  know,  not  a  single  daily 
paper  has  shown  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  the 
relation  of  daylight  to  time-standards,  but  we  are  glad 
to  acknowledge  that,  in  the  technical  Press,  the  Elec- 
trical Review  has  consistently  condemned  the  principle 
involved  in  the  new  measure,  as  well  as  contested  the 
claims  put  forward  bv  its  advocates.  It  remains  to  be 
seen  whether  the  promised  social  and  economic  advan- 
tages of  the  Act  will  justify  the  use  of  Summer  Time 
over  the  whole  kingdom  either  during  the  war  or 
after. 

At  a  meeting  held  at  Burlington  House  on  May  2^, 
attended  b}-  representatives  of  many  leading  firms  con- 
cerned with  chemical  industries,  it  was  resolved  that 
British  firms  engaged  in  the  chemical  and  allied  trades 
should  form  an  association  (i)  to  promote  closer  co- 
operation and  to  place  before  the  Government  the 
views  of  the  chemical  trade  generally ;  (2)  to  further 
industrial  research ;  and  (3)  to  facilitate  closer  co-opera- 
tion between  chemical  manufacturers  and  various  uni- 
versities and  technical  schools. 

In  an  interesting  and  suggestive  address  delivered 
at  the  inaugural  meeting  of  the  Ferrous  Section  of 
the  Metallurgical  Committee  of  the  Advisory  Council 
for  Scientific  Researcii  on  May  8,  Sir  Robert  Hadfield 
put  forward  a  proposal  for  the  establishment  of  a 
Central  Bureau  of  information  as  to  materials  existing 
within  the  British  Empire.  .As  he  pointed  out,  when 
it  is  a  question  of  the  adoption  of  a  new  inetallurgical 
invention  or  development,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
know  the  locality  and  extent  of  the  inaterials  which 
will  be  required.  Neither  the  work  of  the  Geological 
Survey,  nor  that  of  the  Department  of  Mines  in  the 
Home  Office,  nor  that  of  the  Imperial  Institute  really 
covers  this  field.  It  is  true  that  Dr.  Strahan,  the 
director  of  the  Geological  Survey  and  Museum,  Jermyn 
Street,  has  recently  begun  the  issue  of  a  series  of 
special  reports  on  the  mineral  resources  of  Great 
Britain.  But  '  something  very  much  broader  and 
bigger  than  this  is  required.  How  restricted  is  the 
scope  of  activities  of  the  Geological  Survey  may  be 
illustrated  from  the  fact  that  it  does  not  include 
Ireland.  The  ores  existing  in  that  countr}-  are 
not  known  officially  in  this  country  at  all ;  and  the  basis 
of  such  information  as  does  exist  rests  upon  the 
partial  work  of  one  man,  who  is  remunerated  to  the 
extent  of  100?.  per  annum.  Moreover,  the  maps  issued 
by  the  Geological  Survey  in  this  country  do  not  furnish 
sufficient  information  as  to  minerals  of  economic  value. 
With  proper  organisation  the  value  of  metallurgical 
products    within    the    British    Empire    could    be    very 


May  25,  1916] 


NATURE 


265 


greatly  increased,  and  the  proposal  made  by  Sir  Robert 
Hadfield  as  to  the  necessity  of  a  Central  Imperial 
Bureau  of  information  is  one  that  will  receive  the 
support  of  everyone  acquainted  with  the  actual  state  of 
affairs  revealed  as  the  war  has  progressed. 

On  the  invitation  of  Sir  Alfred  Keogh,  rector  of 
the  Imperial  College  of  Science  and  Technolog)-,  about 
fifty  members  of  the  Commercial  Committee  and  other 
members  of  Parliament  visited  the  college  on  May  18. 
Mr.  Arthur  Acland,  the  chairman  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  governing  body,  welcomed  them  on  behalf 
of  the  governors,  and  gave  a  short  historical  account 
of  the  college,  with  particulars  of  the  stafl,  students, 
and  buildings.  Referring  to  education  at  public 
schools,  Mr.  Acland  said  that  boys  came  to  the  college 
very  ill-prepared  to  take  up  scientific  studies ; 
this  no  doubt  was  largely  due  to  the  bias  in  favour  of 
the  classical  as  against  the  modern  or  scientific  side 
still  existing  in  most  schools,  and  he  urged  upon  the 
members  of  Parliament  present  the  necessity  of  a  full 
inquiry  into  our  public-school  system.  Dealing  with 
higher  education,  he  showed  how  technical  training 
had  suffered  in  the  past  from  lack  of  funds,  and  the 
haphazard  manner  in  which  successive  Governments 
had  dealt  with  it.  In  this  country-  there  were  no  bene- 
factions to  education  on  the  scale  of  those  given  in 
the  United  States,  nor  large  State  grants  as  in  Ger- 
many. He  referred  to  the  sites  still  unbuilt  upon  in 
the  Imperial  College  owing  to  want  of  money,  and 
made  a  strong  appeal  for  the  development  of  scientific 
institutions  generally.  It  was  important  that  develop- 
ment should  be  systematic,  with  a  view  to  the  future 
needs  of  the  Empire.  On  the  conclusion  of  Mr. 
Acland's  speech,  the  committee  proceeded  to  inspect 
the  departments,  including  those  of  chemistry, 
physics,  fuel  technology,  engineering,  mining,  metal- 
lurgy, geology  and  oil  technology,  and  plant  physi- 
ology and  pathology.  After  the  tour  the  members 
met  at  the  Imperial  College  Union,  and  the  rector, 
in  reviewing  the  purposes  of  the  college,  illustrated 
the  country's  recent  dependence  on  Germany  for 
highly  trained  men  of  science  by  mentioning  that  when 
he  first  came  to  the  college  students  who  had  been 
trained  in  botany  were  obliged  to  go  to  places  like 
Munich  for  training  in  plant  physiology  and  patho- 
logy, and  that  a  regular  employment  agency  for 
economic  botanists  for  the  British  Empire  existed  at 
that  time  in  Berlin.  This  was  now  changed  by  the 
action  of  the  college.  He  urged  industrial  people  to 
bring  their  industrial  problems  to  the  college,  where 
they  would  be  worked  out  for  them.  On  beRalf  of 
the  commercial  committee.  Major  Chappie  and  Sir 
Archibald  Williamson  expressed  their  thanks  and  the 
great  pleasure  the  visit  had  afforded  them. 

The  annual  visitation  of  the  Royal  Observator}', 
Greenwich,  will  be  held  on  Saturday,  June  3. 

Sir  Alfred  Ewing,  F.R.S.,  Director  of  Naval  Edu- 
cation, has  been  appointed  principal  of  the  University 
of  Edinburgh,  in  succession  to  the  late  Sir  William 
Turner. 

On  Thursday,  June  22,  the  Royal  Society's  Croonian 
lecture  will  be  delivered  by  Prof.  S.  J.  Hickson.  on 
"  Evolution  and  Symmetry  in  the  Order  of  the  Sea- 
p>ens." 

We  learn  from  the  Times  of  May  20  that  the 
archaeologist.  Dr.  P.  V.  Nikitine,  vice-president  of  the 
Russian  Academy  of  Sciences,  died  on  May  18  in 
Petrograd. 

The  Rev.  J.  Llewelyn  Davies  died  on  May  18  at 
Hampstead  at  ninety  years  of  age.     Mr.   Davies  was 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


an  original  member  of  the  Alpine  Club,  and  made  the 
first  ascents  of  the  Dom  and  the  Taschhorn.  He  was 
elected  one  of  the  members  of  the  first  London  School 
Board  in  succession  to  Huxley.  He  was  associated 
with  F,  D,  Maurice  in  the  foundation  of  the  Work- 
ing Men's  College  in  1854,  and  was  for  a  time  prin- 
cipal of  Queen's  College,  Harley  Street,  London,  W. 

The  band  of  the  Coldstream  Guards  will  play  at  the 
Royal  Botanic  Gardens  on  Saturday  and  Sunday  after- 
noons during  the  season,  commencing  June  3.  Future 
arrangements  include  the  National  Rose  Show  and 
other  events  of  botanical,  social,  and  charitable  pur- 
pose. 

The  death  has  occurred  of  Dr.  T.  J.  Burrill,  who 
was  professor  of  botany  at  the  University  of  Illinois 
from  1870  to  1912.  From  1891  to  1894,  and  again 
in  1904,  he  was  also  acting-president  of  that  institu- 
tion. He  was  president  of  the  American  Microscopical 
Society  during  1885  and  1886,  and  its  secretary  from 
1886  to  1889.  He  ser\-ed  as  a  botanist  in  connection 
with  the  U.S.  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  from 
1888  to  1912.  At  the  time  of  his  death  Dr.  Burrill 
had  almost  completed  his  seventy-seventh  year. 

Mr.  H.  Floy,  who  died  recently  in  New  York  in 
his  fiftieth  year,  had  considerable  repute  as  an  elec- 
trical engineer  in  connection  with  hydraulic  and  high- 
tension  long-distance  transmission  work.  From  1892 
to  1898  he  was  associated  with  the  Westinghouse 
Company,  and  had  afterwards  practised  independently 
as  a  consulting  engineer.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
jur\-  of  awards  at  the  St.  Louis  Exposition,  and  was 
the  author  of  several  works  on  electrical  subjects,  as 
well  as  of  a  large  number  of  contributions  to 
technical  journals. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Mr.  L.  I.  Blake,  who 
was  professor  of  physics  and  electrical  engineering  at 
the  Rose  Polytechnic  Institute,  Terre  Haute,  Indiana, 
from  1884  to  1887,  and  at  the.  University  of  Kansas 
from  1887  to  1906.  At  various  periods  he  was  con- 
structing electrical  engineer  on  the  U.S.  Lighthouse 
Board,  and  chief  engineer  (after\^-ards  consulting 
engineer)  of  the  Submarine  Signal  Co.,  of  Boston. 
He  was  also  director  and  engineer  of  the  Blake- 
Marscher  Electric-Static  Ore  Separating  Co.,  and 
was  a  member  of  several  American  scientific  societies. 
He  was  in  his  sixty-second  year  at  the  time  of  his 
death. 

C.^PT.  R.  J.  Smith,  of  the  Lancashire  Fusiliers,  who 
was  killed  in  action  on  May  5,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
nine,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Mr.  O.  Smith,  of  Jiggins- 
town  House,  Naas,  Co.  Kildare.  He  was 
educated  at  Mount  joy  School.  Dublin,  was  a 
graduate  of  Dublin  University,  and  secured  a 
science  scholarship  in  the  Royal  College  of 
Science  for  Ireland,  receiving  the  associateship 
of  that  college  in  1908.  He  taught  in  Kilkenny  Col- 
lege in  1909,  and  then  in  the  Technical  Institute, 
Newry,  Co.  Down,  from  which  he  entered  the  works 
of  the  British  Westinghouse  Company,  Manchester, 
as  an  engineer.  He  owed  'his  rapid  promotion  in  the 
Army  to  the  technical  knowledge  which  he  was  so 
fully  able  to  apply. 

Lieut.  R.  L.  Valentine,  of  the  7th  Batt.  Royal 
Dublin  Fusiliers,  who  died  on  April  30  from  wounds 
received  near  Loos,  was  a  scholar  and  an  associate  of 
the  Royal  College  of  Science  for  Ireland,  where  he 
devoted  himself  especially  to  natural  history  and 
geology.  He  was  the  youngest  son  of  Mr.  W.  J.  M. 
Valentine,  of  Dublin,  and  received  his  earlier  educa- 
tion   at    the    High    School.    Dublin.     When    the    war 


266 


NATURE 


[May  25,  1916 


broke  out,  he  was  engaged  on  a  research  at  Hook  Point, 
Co.  Wexford,  leading  to  a  correlation  uf  the  base  of 
the  Carboniferous  strata  with  the  recognised  horizons 
of  the  Avonian  series  in  south-western  England.  He 
had  also  just  gained,  by  competition,  a  post  as  geo- 
logist on  the  Geological  Survey  of  Ireland,  and  he 
completed  the  Civil  Service  qualifying  examination 
when  actually  in  military  training.  During  his  ser- 
vice he  devised  an  important  method  for  increasing 
the  efficiency  of  the  Lewis  machine-gun.  He  was 
keen  and  untiring  in  any  duty  that  he  undertook, 
and  would  undoubtedly  have  made  his  mark  among 
scientific  men  in  Ireland.  His  loss  is  especially  felt 
by  those  who  had  looked  forward  to  his  comradeship 
in  public  work. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Dr.  James  William 
White,  professor  emeritus  of  surgery  at  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania.  Born  in  1850,  he  graduated  in  187 1, 
and  then  joined  the  scientific  staff  of  the  Hassler 
Expedition  under  Agassiz,  returning  in  1872  after 
visiting  both  coasts  of  South  America  and  the  Gala- 
pagos Archipelago.  He  then  settled  in  Philadelphia, 
becoming  first  resident  surgeon  at  the  Eastern  Peni- 
tentiary, and  afterwards  professor  ot  genito-urinary 
surgery,  professor  of  clinical  surgery,  John  Rhea 
Barton  professor  of  surgery,  and,  finally,  emeritus 
professor  of  surgery  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
when  appointed  a  trustee  of  the  University.  He  was 
the  author  of  many  papers  and  works  on  surgery, 
and  in  former  years  was  an  athlete  of  many  parts. 
On  the  occasion  of  its  quatercentenary  in  1906  the 
University  of  Aberdeen  conferred  on  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  LL.D.  When  the  war  broke  out  Dr.  White 
devoted  himself  with  characteristic  energy  to  the  cause 
of  the  Allies,  and  published  many  articles  in  order 
to  enlighten  American  public  opinion  on  the  origin 
of  the  outbreak.  He  was  a  well-known  visitor  to  this 
country,  where  he  formed  many  friendships. 

There  has  been  a  poetic  simplicity  in  the  quiet  life, 
just  over,  of  Mr.  John  Griffiths,  Welshman,  mathe- 
matician, and  college  tutor,  for  many  years  past 
Senior  Fellow  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford.  Childhood 
in  a  farm-house  at  Llangendeirne,  near  Kidwelly ; 
schooldays  at  Cowbridge ;  half  a  century  of  congenial 
study,  research,  and  not  too  burdensome  teaching  in 
the  walls  of  his  college ;  ten  years  of  repose  in  the 
village  where  he  was  born.  His  modesty  was  ex- 
treme, his  shunning  of  company  excessive.  Happy 
with  a  few  real  friends  always  close,  and  with  Kid- 
welly for  the  Tipperary  of  his  heart,  he  wanted  no 
outer  circle  of  acquaintances.  If  he  cherished  any 
unsatisfied  ambition,  it  was  unexpressed.  Fortu- 
nately he  allowed  himself  to  write — impulsively,  ner- 
vouslv,  cleverly,  but  too  briefly  to  do  himself  justice. 
He  produced  a  quite  early  volume  on  the  geometry 
of  the  triangle,  and  some  thirty  or  forty  notes  and 
papers  for  the  London  Mathematical  Society  and  for 
journals.  Some  of  these  deal  with  geometry,  others 
with  elliptic  functions.  His  pupils,  even  if  many 
passed  from  his  sight,  were  lastingly  attached  to  him. 
Among  them  were  H.  W.  Lloyd  Tanner  (deceased), 
Prof.  W.  J.  Lew'is,  and  the  present  registrar  of  the 
University  of  Oxford. 

It    is    reported    from    Amsterdam    that    Prof.    Karl 
Schwarzschild,  director  of  the  Astrophysical  Observa- 
tory   at    Potsdam,    has    died    from    illness   contracted 
while  on  military  service.         In  the  early  part  of  the 
war  he  was  said  to  have  been  acting  as  meteorological  ! 
expert  in  connection  with  aeronautics  at  Namur,  but  I 
is    now   described  -as    having   been    an    officer  in    the  [ 
artillery.     Prof.   Schwarzschild  was  born  at  Frankfort  . 
in    1873,   and  took   his  doctor's  degree  at   Munich  in  | 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


1896.  He  was  appointed  assistant  at  the  Von  Kuffner 
Observatory  at  Vienna  in  1896,  was  P.rivatdozent  at 
-Nlunich  fron>  1899  to  1901,  and  became  professor  of 
astronomy  and  director  of  the  observatory  at  Gottingen 
in  1902.  He  succeeded  Vogel  as  director  of  the  great 
observatory  at  Potsdam  in  1910.  Prof.  Schwarz- 
schild's  contributions  to  astronomy  were  very  numer- 
ous and  covered  a  wide  range  of  subjects.  His 
mathematical  investigations  of  the  pressure  of  sun- 
light, in  relation  to  the  dimensions  of  the  particles 
acted  upon,  are  well  known  in  connection  with  theories 
of  the  solar  corona  and  the  constitution  of  comets. 
He  gave  much  attention  to  stellar  photometry,  and 
developed  important  practical  methods  of  observation 
in  this  connection ;  the  use  of  a  coarse  grating  on 
the  object-glass  ot  a  telescope,  which  has  yielded  such 
valuable  data  for  photographic  magnitudes,  was  first 
adopted  by  him  in  1895.  He  also  attacked,  with  some 
success,  the  problerri  of  applying  the  objective-prism  to 
the  determination  of  radial  velocities.  Prof.  Schwarz- 
schild was  a  notable  contributor  to  the  investigation  of 
stellar  motions  and  the  structure  of  the  universe.  His 
name  will  be  especially  identified  with  the  "ellipsoidal" 
hypothesis  as  an  alternative  to  the  hypothesis  of  two 
star  streams,  suggested  by  Kapteyn.  He  was  elected 
an  associate  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society  in 
1909.  By  his  death  astronomy  has  lost  an  investigator 
of  untiring  industry  and  marked  originality. 

In  spite  of  the  elaborate  survey  of  the  pagan  tribes 
of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  by  Messrs.  Skeat  and  Blag- 
den,  much  still  remains  to  be  done  by  local  workers. 
In  the  Journal  of  the  Federated  Malay  States  Museum, 
vol.  vi.,  part  iv.,  for  February  last,  Mr.  J.  H.  N. 
Evans,  in  his  account  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  Upper 
Perak,  supplies  much  information  interesting  to 
anthropologists.  It  is  generally  admitted  that  the 
form  of  the  round  hut  which  survives  for  ritual  pur- 
poses in  Roman  temples  and  Christian  churches  was 
originally  conditioned  b}-  the  form  assumed  in  bending 
by  elastic  bamboos  or  branches.  But  it  is  curious  to 
note  that  among  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  aboriginal  tribes 
of  the  peninsula  the  spells  of  the  magician  are  per- 
formed within  a  magic  circle ;  in  some  cases  a  round 
hut  of  leaves  is  erected  within  which  the  magician 
ensconces  himself ;  in  others  merely  a  round  frame 
with  hangings  is  used.  This  points  to  a  very  primi- 
tive ritual  use  of  the  round  hut.  The  article  contains 
much  other  valuable  information,  and  is  illustrated 
by  photographs  of  the  ethnical  types  of  the  tribes  visited 
by  Mr.  Evans. 

The  sixth  memoir  issued  by  the  South  African  Insti- 
tute for  Medical  Research  is  a  study  of  the  "Trypano- 
somes  of  Sleeping  Sickness,"  by  Mr.  G.  P.  Maynard, 
statistician  and  clinician  to  the  institute.  The  author, 
who  has  applied  Prof.  Karl  Pearson's  method  of 
resolving  a  compound  distribution  into  two  "  normal " 
components  to  a  number  of  length  distributions  of 
trypanosomes,  adversel)-  criticises  several  of  the  con- 
clusions reached  by  the  Sleeping  Sickness  Commission 
of  the  Royal  Society.  He  holds  that  the  published 
length  distributions  afford  no  valid  argument  as  to  the 
identity  or  otherwise  of  T.  brucei  and  the  trypanpsome 
causing  disease  in  man  in  Nyasaland.  Several  of  Mr. 
Maynard's  conclusions  will  not  pass  unchallenged, 
but  his  memoir  is  of  great  interest,  and  should 
be  studied  by  all  who  wish  to  master  the  numerous 
and  perplexing  problems  suggested  by  the  facts  at 
present  known  respecting  the  etiology  and  epidemio- 
logy of  sleeping  sickness. 

The  Museums  Journal  for  May  contains  an  excel- 
lent and  detailed  account  of  the  Wellcome  Historical 
Medical  Museum,  originally  formed  for  the  benefit  of 


May  25,  19 1 6] 


NATURE 


267 


the  seventeenth  International  Congress  of  Medicine, 
held  in  London  in  August,  1913.  Thanks  to  the 
generosity  of  its  founder,  Mr.  Henry  S.  Wellcome, 
the  collections  then  brought  together  were  rearranged 
and  embodied  as  a  permanent  institution  in  1914. 
"  One  of  the  chief  objects  of  the  museum,"  remarks 
Mr.  C.  -J.  Thompson,  its  curator,  "  is  to  stimulate 
among  medical  practitioners  of  to-day  the  study  of  the 
history  of  medicine,  and  thus  to  suggest  fresh  fields 
of  research."  Mr.  Thompson  has  illustrated  his 
article  with  some  excellent  photographs.  Other  items 
of  interest  in  this  number  refer  to  the  considerable 
extension  of  museum  work  in  Germany.  One  new- 
picture  gallery  and  no  fewer  than  sixteen  war  museums 
have  been  founded  since  hostilities  began.  This  con- 
trasts unfavourably  with  the  efforts,  in  the  name  of 
"economy,"  which  have  been  made  to  close  museums 
in   Great   Britain. 

Mr,  H.  F.  Witherby  makes  his  fourth  series  of 
records  on  the  moulting  and  sequences  of  plumage  in 
the  British  Passeres  in  the  May  number  of  British 
Birds.  This  is,  of  its  kind,  a  most  admirable  piece 
of  work,  and  should  earn  the  gratitude  of  all  ornitho- 
logists. In  the  course  of  the  present  article  he  gives 
a  most  interesting  example  at  one  and  the  same  time 
of  the  recapitulation  theory  and  the  disappearance  of 
structures  by  degeneration,  or  "evolution  by  loss,"  as 
Prof,  Bateson  has  it.  To  wit,  he  shows  that  in  the 
larks  the  outermost  primary  in  the  first,  teleoptyle, 
plumage  is  almost  twice  as  large  as  that  produced  in 
the  next  and  all  subsequent  moults,  this  outermost 
quill  having,  for  some  reason,  become  superfluous. 
In  the  same  issue  Miss  E.  L.  Turner  makes  some 
noteworthy  observations  on  the  breeding  habits  of  the 
sheldrake.  She  adds  to  our  knowledge  of  their  court- 
ship habits,  as  well  as  to  that  of  their  post-nuptial 
behaviour.  At  one  point  on  Holy  Island,  the  scene  of 
her  studies,  she  found  sheldrakes  breeding  in  consider- 
able numbers,  and  here,  while  the  females  were  incu- 
bating, the  males  indulged  in  "  regular  organised 
games,  and  were  more  or  less  gregarious."  On  other 
parts  of  the  island  they  were  breeding  in  isolated  pairs, 
and  in  these  cases  the  males  would  "  sit  about  in 
solitary  grandeur." 

The  results  of  a  botanical  exploration  of  Lower 
-California  are  given  in  a  useful  paper  by  Mr,  E.  A. 
■Goldman  in  Contributions  from  the  United  States 
National  Herbarium,  vol.  xvi,,  part  14.  The  author 
and  Mr.  Nelson  spent  nearly  a  year  in  traversing 
.this  interesting  region,  which  floristically  is  separable 
into  two  main  divisions,  one  identical  with  that  of 
southern  California,  the  other,  in  the  south,  of  a  more 
austral  type,  derived  from  or  related  to  that  of  the 
adjacent  Mexican  mainland.  The  higher  mountains 
are  crowned  by  oak  arid  pine  forests,  and  in  the  more 
arid  parts  monstrous  forms  of  plant-life  have  been 
developed,  which  give  the  landscape  an  aspect  of 
unreality.  Several  remarkable  genera  are  peculiar  to 
the  peninsula.  As  a  result  of  the  expedition  twenty- 
two  new  species  were  discovered.  Good  plates  are 
given  of  the  more  interesting  plants,  and  among  those 
especially  noteworthy  from  the  dry  regions  are  Pachy- 
cormus  discolor  (Anacardiaceae),  a  monotypic  genus 
confined  to  the  peninsula,  Fouquieria  peninsularis  and 
Idria  columnaris  (Fouquieriaceae),  reminding  one  of 
the  extraordinary  desert  forms  of  S.W,  Madagascar, 
and  Ibervillea  sonorae  (Cucurbibaceae),  with  a  large 
woodv  base. 

The  term  aerography  is  a  new  one,  and  probably 
■makes  its  first  appearance  in  an  article  by  Prof.  Alex- 
ander McAdie,  of  Harvard  University,  in  the  Geo- 
:graphical  Review  for  April  (vol,  i,.  No.  4).     It  is  sug- 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


gested  to  restrict  it  to  a  description  of  the  atmosphere 
at  different  levels,  or,  as  the  author  puts  it,  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  structiire  of  the  atmosphere.  Prof.  McAdie 
pleads  that  the  base-level  of  the  sea,  familiar  in 
meteorology,  must  be  discarded  in  aerography,  and 
replaced  by  the  base  of  the  stratosphere.  In  this  he 
agrees  with  the  opinion  of  Sir  Napier  Shaw.  The 
paper  is  a  short  one  and  much  condensed,  but  it  con- 
tains some  useful  suggestions,  such  as  a  plea  for 
maps  showing  the  atmospheric  conditions  at  various 
levels,  and  for  measurements  of  the  vertical  flow  of  air 
and  its  cartographical  representation.  The  construction 
of  charts  of  air  structure  would  have  a  practical 
importance  to  aviators. 

The  provision  of  a  standard  scale  of  seismic  in- 
tensity is  a  problem  which  has  for  many  years  engaged 
the  attention  of  seismologists.  In  his  presidential 
address  last  year  to  the  Seismological  Society  of 
America  (Bulletin,  vol.  v.,  1915,  p.  123J,  Prof.  A. 
McAdie  suggested  that  the  well-known  Rossi-Fore! 
scale  had  oudived  its  usefulness,  and  that  it  should  be 
replaced  by  a  dynamical  scale  of  intensity.  He  offered 
one  on  the  lines  of  the  Omori  and  Cancani  scales, 
but  consisting  of  ten  degrees,  of  which  the  lowest 
corresponds  to  an  acceleration  of  i-io  mm.  per  sec. 
per  sec,  and  the  highest  to  one  of  5000-10,000  mm. 
per  sec.  per  sec.  Prof.  McAdie's  suggestion  is  the 
subject  of  an  interesting  discussion  in  the  last  bulletin 
of  the  society  (pp.  177-89).  Though  the  general 
opinion  seemed  to  be  that  some  absolute  scale  would 
in  time  be  adopted,  the  difficult}^  of  determining  the 
intensity  accurately  from  seismographic  records  is 
noticed,  and  also,  if  it  were  otherwise,  the  impossi- 
bility of  providing  the  instruments  in  sufficient  num- 
ber. The  wide  variations  of  intensity  within  a  limited 
area,  such  as  Prof.  Milne  showed  to  exist  in  his 
seismic  survey  of  Tokj-o,  might  also  have  been  men- 
tioned as  militating  in  favour  of  the  Rossi-Forel  or  a 
similar  scale. 

Scientific  Paper  No,  264  of  the  U.S.  Bureau  of 
Standards,  by  Messrs.  Middlekauff  and  Skogland, 
deals  with  the  photometry  of  gas-filled  tungsten  incan- 
descent lamps.  It  is  found  that  when  the  volts  on 
such  a  lamp  are  kept  constant  the  current  transmitted 
and  the  candle-power  are  higher  when  the  tip  is  up 
than  when  down.  If  the  lamp  is  rotated  about  a 
vertical  axis  the  current  increases,  reaches  a  maxi- 
mum, decreases  to  its  initial  value  at  a  speed  depend- 
ing on  the  shape  and  number  of  loops  of  the  fila- 
ment, and  at  higher  speeds  decreases  still  further. 
The  changes  are  greater  with  the  tip  up  than  with  it 
down,  and  the  candle-power  in  each  case  changes  in 
the  opposite  direction  to  the  current.  The  authors 
have  succeeded  in  tracing  these  curious  effects  to  the 
convection  currents  in  the  gas  in  the  lamp.  They 
suggest  that  in  the  practical  tests  of  such  lamps  the 
speed  of  rotation  should  be  so  chosen  that  both  current 
and  candle-power  have  the  normal  values.  For  lamps 
of  similar  construction  this  speed  is  fixed,  and  is  in 
many  cases  30  or  40  revolutions  per  minute. 

In  a  paper  read  before  the  Society  of  Chemical  In- 
dustry on  April  3,  Prof.  H.  E.  Armstrong  urged  the 
formation  of  an  Imperial  Society  of  Scientific  and 
Industrial  Chemistry,  similar  in  character  to  the  Royal 
Medical  and  Chirurgical  Societ\-,  which  in  1907  united 
the  activities  of  seventeen  previously  existent  societies 
of  medical  men.  Prof.  Armstrong  enumerates  mort' 
than  a  dozen  societies,  now  entirely  independent,  which 
could  be  made  constituent  societies  of  such  an  Imperial 
L'nion.  He  points  out  the  necessity  of  co-op>eration 
in  order  to  ensure  the  progress  of  chemical  science 
and  chemical  industry,  both  terms  being  used  in  their 


268 


NATURE 


[May  25,  1916 


broadest  meaning',  lays  stress  on  the  evil  arising  from 
the  ever-increasing  specialisation  amongst  chemists, 
and  emphasises  the  present  waste  of  effort  involved  in 
the  publication  of  so  many  overlapping  journals.  Mr. 
C.  T.  Kingzett,  in  an  article  in  the  Chemical  Trade 
Journal  for  April  8,  develops  the  same  theme.  He 
advocates  the  establishment  of  a  "real"  Institute  of 
Chemistry,  to  comprise  the  present  Institute,  the 
Chemical  Society,  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  etc. 
He  also  indicates  the  waste  of  time,  energy,  and 
money  involved  in  the  present  independent  status  of 
the  various  chemical  associations,  and  remarks  on  the 
narrowing  influence  resulting  from  the  lack  of  mutual 
association  between  them. 

The  April  part  of  Science  Progress  contains  several 
articles  of  interest.  Sir  Ronald  Ross  contributes  a 
further  instalment  of  his  researches  into  the  theory 
of  equations;  Dr.  Johnstone,  under  the  slightly  mis- 
leading title,  "The  Mathematical  Theory  of  Organic 
Variability,"  provides  an  elementary  account  of  the 
genesis  of  Prof.  Pearson's  family  of  frequency  curves; 
and  Mr.  C.  Mansell  Moullin  discusses  the  natural 
history  of  tumours.  Other  contributors  are  Prof. 
Fraser  Harris  and  Mr.  Joseph  Offord.  A  valuable 
feature  is  a  sketch  of  recent  progress  in  various  de- 
partments of  science  under  the  heading.  "  Recent 
Advances  in  Science."  Few  readers  will  dispute  the 
justice  of  the  bitter  strictures  which  bulk  largely  in 
the  editorial  notes  upon  our.  national  neglect  of 
science. 


OUR   ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Comet  or  Nebulous  Minor  Planet? — At  the 
Konigstuhl  Observatory  a  photograph  taken  on 
April  3  showed  what  seemed  to  be  a  new 
minor  planet,  which  received  the  designation 
1916  ZK.  Its  daily  motion  was  —  o-6m.  and 
+  3',  whilst  its  magnitude  was  130  (Astronomische 
Nachrichten,  4841).  Three  days  later,  on  another 
photograph,  it  presented  a  nebulous  appearance.  This 
was  more  strongly  developed  by  April  27  {Astro- 
nomische Nachrichten,  4843).  Dr.  Max  Wolf's  obser- 
vations have  been  confirmed  at  the  Babelsberg  Ob- 
versatory  (Astronomische  Nachrichten,  4843).  On 
April  30  the  nebulosit}^  involved  a  stellar  nucleus. 
This  remarkable  body  evidently  bears  a  likeness  to 
Neujmin's  comet  1913c,  which  resembled  a  minor 
planet  when  first  discovered,  but  a  few  days  later 
developed  a  weak  cometic  chevelure ;  and  the  latest 
observations  indicate  that  it  is  really  a  new  comet. 
The  position  of  the  object  on  discovery  was  : — April  3, 
R.A.  i2h.  52-9m.,  declination  +0°  11';  on  April  30, 
I2h.  58-9m.,  +2°  39-6'.  The  daily  motion  on  April  27 
was  — o-5m.  and  +5'   and  the  magnitude  was  13-3. 

The  Pole  Effect  in  the  Calcium  Arc. — Important 
quantitative  details  concerning  the  pole  effect  in  the 
arc  spectrum  of  calcium  (AA  3000-4200)  are  given  by 
Messrs.  Gale  and  Whitney  in  the  Astrophysical  Journal 
(vol.  xliii..  No.  2).  The  measures  of  spectra  from  a 
horizontal  arc  4  mm.  long,  carrying  4  amperes  on  a 
iio-volt  circuit,  with  calcium  electrodes  7  to  10  mm. 
in  diameter,  indicate  a  progressive  change  of  from 
o-oi  to  0-02  tenth  metres  between  positive  and  nega- 
tive pole  correlated  with  the  series  classification  of 
the  lines.  Although  the  pole  effect  seems  to  be  in- 
dependent of  the  vapour  density  of  the  radiating  ions, 
negativing  the  suggestion  that  it  is  due  to  the  in- 
ternal pressure  of  the  arc,  yet  it  shows  a  parallel 
relationship  with  the  pressure  shift.  Very  significant 
is  the  reversal  of  the  gradients  of  both  intensity 
and  pole  effect  observed  when  the  current  is  reversed 
In  an  arc  having  one  pole  of  silver,  the  other  being 

NO.  2430,  VOL.  qy"] 


of  calcium.  The  authors  suggest  that  the  pole  effect 
depends  on  the  amplitude  of  vibration  of  the  elec- 
trons. 

The  Rotation  of  Nebul.«. — Some  additional  data 
concerning  rotating  nebulae  have  been  obtained  at  the 
Lick  Observatory  by  W.  W.  Campbell  and  J.  H. 
Moore  (Bulletin  No.  278).  In  spectrograms  of  the 
complicated  planetary  nebula  in  Aquarius,  N.G.C. 
7009,  taken  with  the  slit  set  on  the  major  axis  of  the 
image,  the  maximum  displacements  of  the  two  chief 
nebular  lines  indicate  a  rotational  velocity  of  6  kilo- 
metres per  second  at  a  distance  of  9  seconds  of  arc 
from  the  nucleus ;  the  inclination  of  the  lines  gave 
a  similar  result.  In  the  case  of  N.G.C.  6543,  the 
historic  planetary  in  Draco,  the  central  por- 
tion of  the  nebula,  about  6-7*  diameter,  is  rotating 
about  an  axis  in  P. A.  130°,  with  a  velocity  of 
c  km. /sec.  In  both  cases  the  nebular  lines,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  general  inclination,  are  also  somewhat 
contorted,  indicating  lower  velocities  in  the  outer  re- 
gions. These  observations  lead  to  some  very  interest- 
ing conclusions  regarding  the  probable  masses  of  the 
nebulae.  Corresponding  to  an  inferior  limit  of  dis- 
tance of  100  light-years,  their  respective  masses  would 
be  11-3  and  28  times  solar,  whilst  the  mean  density 
of  N.G.C.  7009  would  be  of  the  order  of  ixio"®  times 
that  of  hydrogen  at  0°  C.  and  i  mm.  of  mercury. 
The  density  of  N.G.C.  6543  appears  to  be  about  five 
times  as  great.  It  Is  considered  that  the  evidence 
indicates  that  planetary  nebulae  must  be  regarded  as 
three-dimensional  objects.  In  this  connection  it  was 
suggested  many  years  ago  that  a  bright  ellipsoidal 
shell  viewed  from  a  distance  would  present  the  appear- 
ance of  a  ring  nebula. 

NATIONAL      DEFENCE     AND      DEVELOP- 
MENT IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

THE  proceedings  of  the  American  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science  at  its  annual  meet- 
ing held  at  Columbus  at  the  end  of  last  year 
were  characterised  by  a  large  number  of  papers  read 
before  the  section  devoted  to  Social  and  Economic 
Science  on  various  aspects  of  national  defence  and 
development,  a  reprint  of  which  appears  to  the  num- 
ber of  eleven  articles  in  the  Scientific  Monthly  of  New 
York  for  the  month  of  April. 

The  events  of  the  European  war  seem  to  have 
awakened  in  the  minds  of  the  economists  of  the  asso- 
ciation dire  anticipations  of  similar  devastating  results 
to  the  United  States  so  soon  as  the  war  is  concluded, 
and  they  have  hastened  to  recommend  the  most  extra- 
ordinary provision  and  a  vast  expenditure  in  order  to 
place  the  nation  in  a  condition  of  complete  defence 
by  the  establishment  of  a  standing  army  of  from 
half  a  million  to  a  million  men,  of  a  great  reserve, 
and  of  a  navy  at  least  equal  to  that  of  the  greatest 
European  naval  Power.  The  doctrine  of  "prepared- 
ness "  seems  to  have  taken  firm  root  amongst  them, 
together  with  the  dictum  quoted  from  Washington, 
"To  be  prepared  for  war  Is  the  most  effective  means 
of  promoting  peace."  The  success  of  Germany  in  the 
early  days  of  the  war,  and  the  efficiency  of  her  military 
arrangements,  have  evidently  made  a  deep  Impression 
on  the  American  mind.  It  is  pointed  out,  for  example, 
that  England  spent  535  years  of  the  nineteenth  century 
in  war,  and  France  not  much  less,  whilst  Prussia 
spent  but  thirteen  years,  the  result  of  her  extraordinary 
preparedness.  As  a  result  of  her  efficiency,  she 
"quickly  finished  her  fights  and  got  back  to  work. 
The  wars  of  the  other  nations  were  long  drawn  out, 
due,  as  we  know,  to  the  necessity  of  their  learning 
and  preparing  to  fight  after  their  wars  had  begun." 

It    is    claimed    that    a    condition    of   perpetual    and 


May  25,  19 16] 


NATURE 


269 


universal  peace  can  only  be  attained  when  the  pre- 
ponderance of  military  power  has  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  pacific  peoples.  It  is,  in  short,  a  world 
in  arms  that  is  desiderated.  It  is  argued  that  as  the 
independence  of  the  States  was  achieved  by  an  appeal 
to  arms,  so  its  future  immunity  can  only  be  secured 
by  like  means.  If  force  was  necessary  in  the  infancy 
of  the  nation  it  is  the  more  essential  now,  having 
regard  to  the  command  men  have  secured  over  the 
powers  of  nature.  Apprehension  is  expressed  at  the 
eventual  attitude  of  Great  Britain  as  the  greatest 
naval  Power,  but  really  with  but  little  justification, 
since  a  war  with  the  United  States  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain,  however  much  provoked  by  unscrupu- 
lous commercial  enterprise  or  methods,  is  entirely  un- 
thinkable. Rightly  considered,  the  position  of  the 
United  States  is  unassailable  by  any  European  Power, 
and  having  regard  to  its  immense  natural  resources,  to 
its  great  and  increasing  population,  to  its  vast  poten- 
tial and  acquired  wealth,  it  occupies  a  unique  position 
in  the  civilised  world  as  a  preponderating,  moderating 
influence  for  good  in  the  comity  of  nations.  It  is  a 
great  factor  for  the  future  well-being  of  mankind  that 
so  vast  an  extent  of  territory  should  be  under  one  flag 
and  subject  to  one  polity,  and  that  its  people  should 
be  mainly  concerned  with  the  internal  development  of 
its  great  possibilities. 

Science  in  all  its  varied  aspects  has  an  immense 
field  in  the  United  States,  whether  in  its  application 
to  the  development  of  agriculture  (the  country  is  now 
the  greatest  grain-producing  area  of  the  globe,  with 
the  lowest  yield  per  acre),  to  the  electrical  utilisation 
of  its  abundant  water-power,  to  the  exploitation  of  its 
vast  and  varied  mineral  deposits,  to  the  creation  of  a 
great  mercantile  marine,  or  to  the  applications  of 
scientific  discovery  to  the  production  of  synthetic  pro- 
ducts of  all  kinds.  The  example  of  Germany  may 
fitly  be  followed  here.  Much  has  undoubtedly  been 
done  in  the  establishment  since  1861  in  all  the  States 
of  well-equipped  agricultural  colleges  and  by  the  extra- 
ordinarv'  munificence  of  her  wealthy  citizens  in  found- 
ing and  endowing  colleges  and  universities.  The 
example  of  Germany  has  taught  the  people  much,  and 
it  has  been  accentuated  by  the  efficiency  displayed  in 
the  course  of  the  war. 

The  best  minds  in  the  States  are  deeply  engaged  in 
the  consideration  of  the  factors  which  will  in  their 
application  make  for  the  betterment  of  all  classes  of 
the  people,  not  the  least  of  which  is  education,  wide- 
spread and  sound  in  all  its  grades,  in  which  science 
will  play  its  effective  and  humanising  part,  not  as  a 
destructive,  but  as  an  ameliorating  agency. 

The  vast  expenditure  it  is  recommended  to  incur 
upon  "preparedness"  for  war  would,  if  devoted  to 
measures  for  the  better  education  and  amelioration  of 
the  conditions  of  life  of  the  people,  be  a  surer  guar- 
antee of  f>eace  than  any  warlike  preparations,  however 
effective,  with  the  added  advantage  that  the  best 
interests  and  the  highest  happiness  of  the  nation  would 
be  secured  and  advanced. 


THE  PEAT  INDUSTRIES  OF  WISCONSIN.^ 

T  N  a  report  recently  published  upon  the  peat  re- 
^  sources  of  Wisconsin.  Mr.  F.  W.  Huels  describes 
the  attempts  which  have  been  made  to  utilise  peat  in 
that  State.  In  one  of  these,  the  Lamartine  Peat, 
Light  and  Power  Company  manufactured  machine- 
turf  on  a  moor  near  Fond  flu  Lac  during  the  years 
iqo5  and  iqo6.  The  peat,  which  v/as  raised  from  the 
bog  by  a  dredger,  was  macerated  and  moulded  in  a 
modified   form   of   pug-mill.     The   air-dried   turf   was  I 

1  Wisf  onsin  Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey.  Bulletin  No.  xlv 
Eco-iomic  >erie-5  No.  20.  Th»  Peat  Resources  of  Wisconsin.  By  F.  W. 
Huels.     Pp.  xvii+274.     (Madison,  Wis. :   Published  by  the  .^tate,  1915.) 


sold  for  twenty-five  shillings  per  ton  at  Fond  du  Lac — 
the  nearest  town — which  was  seven  miles  from  the 
factory.  As  the  fuel  contained  about  17  per  cent,  of 
ash,  it  is  obvious  that,  at  the  price,  it  could  not  com- 
pete with  coal.  The  factory  was  closed  in  1906  and 
has  not  since  been  reopened. 

The  Whitewater  Peat  Company  in  1902,  at  a  bog 
more  favourably  situated  with  regard  to  transport 
facilities  than  that  of  Fdnd  du  Lac,  manufactured 
press-turf  for  a  short  time.  The  estimated  cost  of  the 
product  was  eight  shillings  per  ton.  With  a  view  of 
avoiding  the  necessity  of  waiting  five  weeks  for  the 
air-drying  of  the  peat,  attempts  to  introduce  artificial 
dr}-ing  were  made,  and,  as  might  have  been  foreseen, 
the  failure  of  the  company  followed. 

As  a  result  of  a  detailed  examination  of  the  whole 
question,  Mr.  Huels  concludes  that  little  use  will  be 
made  of  the  Wisconsin  peat  deposits  until  at  some 
period  in  the  distant  future  fuel  has  become  scarce  and 
expensive.  This  conclusion,  although  justifiable  in 
the  case  of  peat,  like  that  of  Wisconsin,  with  high 
ash  content,  does  not  apply  to  peat  of  low  ash  con- 
tent, such  as  that  found  on  many  of  the  European 
moors,  and,  indeed,  it  is  even  possible  that  the  further 
prosecution  of  the  experiments  on  the  manufacture 
of  power-gas  from  peat,  carried  out  at  the  University- 
of  Wisconsin,  may  lead  him  to  a  reconsideration  of 
his  decision. 

There  is  now  no  doubt  that,  in  districts  where  peat 
is  plentiful  and  coal  is  dear,  f>eat  of  low  ash  content 
can  be  economically  utilised  for  the  manufacture  of 
producer-gas  or  of  semi-water  gas.  Thus  the  town  of 
Skabersjo,  in  Sweden,  for  the  past  eleven  years  has 
been  supplied  with  electricity  for  illumination  and 
power  purposes  by  a  high-voltage  current  transmitted 
from  a  bog  three  miles  from  the  town,  where  it  is 
generated  in  dynamos  driven  by  engines  supplied  with 
semi-water  gas  made  from  machine-turf  in  a  suction 
power-gas  producer  of  the  Koerting  tj-pe.  A  horse- 
power hour  requires  about  45  lb.  of  air-dried  turf, 
which  at  the  power  station  costs  less  than  four 
shillings  per  ton.  Similarly  at  Visby,  turf  costing 
about  five  shillings  per  ton  is  converted  into  semi- 
water  gas  and  employed  to  drive  the  machinery  of  a 
cement  works. 

.Apart  from  its  use  as  moss-litter,  peat  can  be  econ- 
omically employed  as  a  fuel  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood of  a  moor,  or  on  a  larger  scale  it  can  be 
converted  with  advantage  into  producer-gas,  the  latter 
serving  as  fuel  for  the  manufacture  of  substances  such 
as  glass,  or  into  semi-water  gas  for  power  purposes, 
like  that  for  which  it  is  utilised  at  Visby. 

THE  OXIDATION  OF  DRYING-OILS. 

MUCH  attention  is  now  being  paid  to  the  scientific 
aspects  of  the  phenomenon  of  "'  drv'ing  "  whereby,, 
for  instance,  boiled  linseed  oil  on  exfxjsure  to  the  air 
is  converted  by  oxidation  into  a  hard  varnish-like 
product.  The  experiments  by  which  Dr.  R.  S.  Morrell 
was  able  to  isolate  a  crj'stalline  component  from  a 
drying-oil  (Trans.  Chem.  Soc.,  1912,  vol.  ci.,  2082), 
namely,  by  the  action  of  light  upon  Hankow  "  Chinese 
wood  oil,"  have  already  been  noted  in  these'  columns. 
A  further  advance  is  recorded  in  a  paper  by  Dr.  A.  H. 
Salway,  which  has  recently  appeared  in  the  Chemical 
Society's  Journal^  (vol.  cix.,  pp.  138-45).  This  inves- 
tigator has  oxidised  linseed  oil  by  shaking  it  with 
oxygen  at  100°,  and  trapping  the  volatile  products  in 
a  wash-bottle  containing  water.  Not  only  was  the 
odour  of  acrolein,  CH.ICH-CHO,  observed,  but  the 
solution  showed  the  chemical  reactions  of  an  alde- 
hyde, and  on  shaking  with  silver  oxide  gave  a  suffi- 
cient quantity   of   silver   acr\Mate,    CH^ICH'CO-OAg, 


NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


270 


NATURE 


[May  25,  1916 


for  identification  by  estimation  of  the  silver  contained 
in  it. 

Since  acrolein  is  easily  produced  by  the  dehydration 
of  glycerine,  it  has  usually  been  assumed,  when  the 
odour  of  this  compound  has  been  detected,  that  it  was 
derived  from  the  glycerine  of  the  glycerides  which 
constitute  the  drying-oil.  This  assumption  has  been 
disproved  in  the  present  instance,  since  acrolein  was 
also  obtained  by  oxidising  in  a  similar  manner  the 
free  fatty  acids  obtained  by  hydrolysing  the  oil,  as 
well  as  by  oxidising  the  linolenic  acid  which  is  the 
chief  product  of  this  hydrolysis.  No  acrolein  was 
formed  in  the  oxidation  of  oleic  acid,  and  it  is  doubt- 
ful if  linoleic  acid  would  give  any  acrolein  if  it  could 
be  obtained  quite  free  from  linolenic  acid. 

In  order  to  explain  these  observations,  it  is  sug- 
gested that  linolenic  acid  contains  three  copulated 
double-bonds,  of  which  the  two  outer  ones  only  would 
unite  with  oxygen  to  form  an  oxygenide,  and  then 
rupture  with  formation  of  pairs  of  aldehydic  groups, 
thus — 

(i)  — CH=CH— CH=CH— CH=CH— 

(2)  — CH— CH— CH=:CH— CH— CH— 


O- 


-0 


O- 


-0 


(3)     — CHO  I  CHO— CH=CH— CHO  |  CHO— 

,  fumaraldehyde  \ 

(4)   CO  +  CH2  =  CH-CHO    (5)  CHO-CHO  +  CHO.CHO. 

acrolein 

The  hexatriene  group  would  thus  give  rise  to  fumar- 
aldehyde, from  which  acrolein  could  be  produced  by 
removal  of  carbon  monoxide  (or  b}'  oxidation  with 
removal  of  carbon  dioxide),  whilst  oxidation  of  the 
double-bond  would  give  rise  to  glyoxal,  CHO'CHO. 
It  is  suggested  that  this  formation  of  aldehydes,  by 
oxidation  is  an  essential  feature  of  the  process  of  dry- 
ing, and  that  the  varnish-like  product,  to  which  the 
name  linoxyn  has  been  given,  is  essentially  a  mixture 
of  polymerised  aldehydes,  including  polymerisation 
products  of  acrolein  and  glyoxal. 

It  is  an  encouraging  sign  of  the  times  that  investiga- 
tions such  as  these  should  be  undertaken  by  important 
commercial  companies,  as  a  normal  part  of  the  work 
of  their  research  laboratories ;  no  better  omen  could  be 
discovered  for  the  stability  of  British  chemical  indus- 
tries in  face  of  the  severe  competition  which  may  be 
anticipated  in  the  near  future.  T.  M.  L. 


INDUSTRIAL  RESEARCH  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES  A 

\\7HlhE  research  is  receiving  increasing  recogni- 
'  *  tion  as  an  essential  factor  in  industrial  work, 
little  attention  has  been  given  to  the  manner  in  which 
scientific  resources  in  this  country  can  best  be  directed 
to  meet  national  industrial  needs.  A  description  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  United  States  is  dealing 
with  this  matter  may  be  useful  in  throwing  some 
light  on  our  problem,  and  incidentally  the  evidence  of 
the  progress  in  that  country  of  industrial  research 
may  be  inspiring  to  English  manufacturers,  who  are 
somewhat  sceptical  as  to  the  value  of  science  in  in- 
dustry. 

The  term  "industrial  research"  is  often  very  loosely 
applied,  and  it  is  necessary  first  of  all  to  define  what 
it  really  comprises.  One  may  consider  it  to  be 
focussed  in  a  simple  fundamental  principle  that  an 
industry  depends  for  progress  on  a  continual  influx  of 

1  Synopsis  of  an  address  delivered  before  the  Engineers'  Cluh,  Man- 
chester, at  the  Municipal  School  of  Technology,  on  April  4,  by  A.  P.  M. 
Fleming. 


new  knowledge,  and  it  may  be  conceived  that  indus- 
trial research  embraces  all  means  whereby  this  new- 
knowledge  having  application  in  industry  can  be 
obtained,  whether  it  is  from  the  accumulated  experi- 
ence of  individual  workers,  or  from  the  efforts  of 
trained  investigators  directing  their  efforts  to  the  solu- 
tion of  manufacturing  problems  impeding  the  progress 
of  industry,  requisitionmg  where  necessary  the  aid  of 
contemporary  science ;  or  whether  from  new  dis- 
coveries resulting  from  investigations  in  pure  science 
which  ultimately  find  their  application  in  industry. 

Industrial  research  in  -the  United  States  is  mainly 
accomplished  by  individual  firms,  although  a  good  deal 
is  done  in  the  universities  and  national  institutions. 
With  certain  exceptions,  noted  later,  the  greater  part 
of  the  university  work,  however,  is  directed  to  pure 
science  investigations  having  no  immediate  commercial 
object. 

As  regards  the  work  of  individual  firms,  during  the 
past  ten  years  there  have  been  very  considerable  sums 
spent  by  the  leading  manufacturing  corporations  to 
provide  facilities  for  scientific  investigation.  Annual 
expenditures  for  this  purpose  of  25,000^.,  50,000^., 
and  even  ioo,oooZ.  are  not  uncommon.  The  leading 
firms  possessing  private  research  laboratories  include 
the  General  Electric  Co.,  Schenectady;  VVestinghouse 
Electrical  and  Manufacturing  Co.,  East  Pittsburg; 
Eastman  Kodak  Co.,  Rochester,  New  York,  this  firm 
representing  the  manufacture  of  photographic  chem- 
icals and  apparatus ;  the  Du  Pont  Powder  Co. ;  the 
American  Rolling  Mill  Co.,  producing  sheet  iron  and 
steel ;  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Association,  repre- 
senting a  large  number  of  electric  lamp  manufacturers ; 
the  General  Chemical  Co. ;  General  Bakelite  Co. ; 
United  States  Steel  Corporation ;  the  Edison  Labora- 
tories;  Pennsylvania  Railway  Co.,  which  deals  with 
all  kinds  of  materials  and  investigations  pertaining  to 
railway  requirements ;  and  many  others. 

Among  the  important  features  of  the  work  of  many 
of  these  laboratories  is  the  equipment  of  full-scale 
manufacturing  plant,  which  enables  discoveries  in  the 
laboratory  to  be  fully  tried  out  and  manufacturing 
methods  perfected,  relieving  the  manufacturing  depart- 
ments from  the  hampering  effects  of  new  develop- 
ments. Many  of  the  laboratories  also  are  equipped 
for  the  manufacture  on  a  commercial  scale  of  some  of 
the  commodities  developed  from  their  discoveries  which 
are  not  of  a  character  adapted  to  production  in  the 
manufacturing  departments.  The  laboratory  produc- 
tion in  such  cases  is  continued  until  it  reaches  such 
dimensions  as  justify  the  starting  of  a  separate  works. 
There  is  a  growing  tendency  in  many  of  the  research 
laboratories  to  devote  more  and  more  attention  to 
investigations  in  pure  science  having  no  immediate 
commercial  object  in  view,  with  an  appreciation  of  the 
fact  that  almost  invariably  such  investigations  result 
in  industrial  application,  sometimes  bringing  about 
the  development  of  entirely  new  industries.  Prominent 
examples  of  this  kind  are  represented  by  the  work  of 
the  General  Electric  Co.'s  laboratory  at  Schenectady 
and  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Association.  In  con- 
nection with  such  work,  a  very  broad-minded  policy 
is  shown  by  the  publication  of  the  scientific  investiga- 
tions carried  out. 

It  is  also  noteworthy  that  these  research  labora- 
tories serve  as  very  effective  advertising  means  by 
inspiring  confidence  in  the  minds  of  purchasers  as  a 
result  of  such  visible  evidencp  of  scientific  working. 

There  appears  to  be  no  doubt  that  these  laboratories 
have  proved  financially  successful,  not  only  in  that 
they  afford  the  greatest  possible  assistance  to  the  works 
with  which  they  are  connected  in  solving  manufactur- 
ing troubles,  developing  new  materials,  methods,  tools, 
and  making  discoveries  which  result  in  new  industrial 
developments,  but  also  in  the  direct  manufacture  and 


NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


May  25,  1916] 


NATURE 


271 


sale  in  many  cases  of  valuable  products  straight  from 
the  laboratory. 

A  great  deal  of  the  research  work  of  the  universities 
is  devoted  to  purely  scientific  investigations  arising"  in 
connection  with  the  preparation  of  degree  theses  by 
students,  and  from  work  done  by  the  staff  in  their 
spare  time.  Apart  from  this,  however,  many  inves- 
tigations directed  to  the  solution  of  particular  manu- 
facturing problems  are  carried  out  for  private  firms, 
and  in  a  number  of  cases  experiment  stations  have 
been  arranged,  the  staff  of  which  devote  all  their  time, 
or  at  least  most  of  it,  to  research  investigations.  Pro- 
minent examples  of  such  experiment  stations  are  those 
of  the  Illinois  State  University,  Massachusetts  Insti- 
tute of  Technology  (now  incorporated  with  the  School 
of  Engineering,  Harvard  University),  Ohio  State  Uni- 
versity (the  experiment  station  of  which  has  recently 
been  inaugurated),  and  the  Universities  of  Iowa,  Kan- 
sas, etc. 

In  connection  with  Columbia  University,  it  is  pro- 
posed to  erect  a  laboratory  specifically  devoted  to  re- 
search, the  cost  of  which  it  is  estimated  will  be  of  the 
order  of  130,000/.  for  buildings  and  equipment,  and 
it  is  expected  that  an  endowment  fund  for  extension 
and  maintenance  of  from  400,000/.  to  i,ooo,oooi.  will 
be  required.  This  proposal  appears  to  be  inspired 
to  some  extent  by  the  success  of  the  research  labora- 
tories associated  with  the  large  industrial  corpora- 
tions already  referred  to,  and  it  is  realised  that  there 
are  many  smaller  manufacturers  who  are  unable  to 
support  individually  the  burden  of  such  laboratories 
who  would  be  glad  to  avail  themselves  of  the  oppor- 
tunities which  this  university  research  laboratory  would 
afford. 

An  important  feature  of  the  proposal  is  the  intention 
of  devoting  means  to  the  collection  of  all  possible 
information  bearing  on  the  industrial  problems  that 
are  likely  to  be  considered. 

The  most  striking  feature  of  the  research  work  of 
the  universities  is  this  provision  of  research  facilities 
and  the  use  of  a  staff  of  highly  trained  scientific  men 
who  can  devote  their  whole  efforts  to  scientific  investi- 
gation without  the  handicap  of  a  great  deal  of  teach- 
ing work,  and  as  well  as  of  financial  anxiety.  It  is 
also  noticeable  that  increasing  numbers  of  young  men 
who  have  taken  their  bachelor's  degree  proceed  to  a 
doctor's  degree,  possibly  on  account  of  the  opportuni- 
ties for  employment  now-  presented  by  the  increasing 
number  of  research  laboratories  for  men  of  the  highest 
scientific   training. 

While  the  students  themselves  do  not  generally  par- 
ticipate in  the  investigational  work  of  the  experiment 
stations,  this  work  cannot  fail  to  be  of  considerable 
inspirational  value  to  them. 

The  researches  of  the  experiment  stations  are  freely 
published,  and  in  connection  with  the  Illinois  State 
University  more  than  eighty  important  bulletins  have 
already  been  issued,  some  of  them  comprising  the  most 
authoritative  work  on  the  subjects  with  which  they 
deal. 

The  work  of  the  Mellon  Institute  of  Industrial  Re- 
search, associated  with  the  University  of  Pittsburg, 
has  often  been  described  in  the  English  Press.  Manu- 
facturers are  invited  to  bring  their  problems  to  the 
director  of  the  institute,  and  to  provide  fellowships  to 
support  the  men  who  will  carr>'  out  their  investiga- 
tions. Usually  these  fellowships  are  tenable  for  a  period 
of  one  or  more  years,  and  may  be  of  the  value  of  from 
looL  to  400I.  or  500Z.,  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
investigation.  The  director  then  selects  suitable  men 
from  the  universities  or  other  institutions,  who  proceed 
to  the  manufacturer's  works,  study  the  problem  under 
practical  conditions,  and  then  carry  out  the  investiga- 
tional work  in  the  laboratories  provided  by  the  insti- 
tute, under  the  supervision  of  a  permanent  scientific 
.  NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


staff.  Some  seventy-five  researches  have  already  been 
carried  out  during  ihe  past  four  years,  including  such 
subjects  as  copper  leaching,  cement  manufacture, 
timber  preservation,  smoke  prevention,  glass  produc- 
tion, bread-making,  paper  manufacturing,  etc. 

Important  features  ot  the  work  of  the  institute  com- 
prise the  educative  influence  it  has  on  the  manufac- 
turers in  focussing  their  attention  on  the  possibilities 
of  industrial  research,  and  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
young  men  who  have  successfully  carried  out  re- 
searches have  been  absorbed  into  the  industry  with 
which  they  were  temporarily  associated,  and  in  this 
way  become  powerful  advocates  for  industrial  research. 
To  a  limited  extent  this  process  tends  to  the  per- 
meation of  industry  with  young  men  having  keen 
appreciation  of  the  application  of  science  in  industry. 

Of  the  national  institutions,  the  most  important  is 
that  of  the  Bureau  of  Standards,  which  at  present  does 
a  great  deal  of  investigational  work  for  the  Govern- 
ment departments,  and  is  prepared  to  carry  out  re- 
searches where  it  can  be  shown  that  these  are  likely 
to  benefit  an  appreciable  section  of  the  public,  in 
which  case  it  is  done  at  the  public  expense.  Already 
in  this  connection  much  valuable  work  has  been  done 
in  such  subjects  as  the  manufacture  of  refrigerating 
machiner}',  paper-making,  investigation  of  alloys,  etc. 

A  series  of  publications  is  issued  by  the  Bureau  of 
Standards  comprising  popular  and  technological  bulle- 
tins, and  bulletins  recording  the  results  of  scientific 
investigations. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  is  of  some  interest 
in  that  it  carries  on  a  scheme  of  investigational  work 
on  national  lines.  Connected  with  it  are  some 
hundreds  of  experiment  stations  in  different  parts  of 
the  States,  w-hich  deal  with  experimental  work  relat- 
ing to  the  growth  of  crops,  including  fertilisers,  pests, 
etc.,  cattle-breeding,  including  the  treatment  of  various 
diseases.  Bulletins  are  issued  to  the  agricultural  com- 
munities, both  in  popular  and  scientific  form,  and 
the  organisation  provides  for  lectures  dealing  with 
special  features  of  interest  to  different  sections  of  the 
agricultural  community. 

While  there  is  as  yet  no  national  plan  of  industrial 
research,  there  are  tendencies  in  that  direction,  some 
of  which  are  directed  to  linking  up  the  efforts  of  the 
universities,  the  extension  of  the  experiment  station 
scheme  to  a  number  of  universities  and  colleges,  and 
the  co-ordination  of  the  work  of  some  of  the  existing 
laboratories  connected  with  industrial  concerns.  In 
this  connection  there  is  always  the  evidence  of  the 
successful  working  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
to  serve  as  an  inspiration  to  those  who  desire  to  see 
national  scientific  facilities  made  applicable  to  manu- 
facturing interests. 

The  work  done  in  the  United  States  is  of  consider- 
able value  in  enabling  us  to  shape  our  own  schemes 
with  reference  to  research,  and  although  this  country 
is  considerably  behind  in  the  development  of  such 
schemes,  considerable  advantage  accrues  in  being  able 
to  make  use  of  the  experience  the  States  have  already 
gained.     Of  that  experience  full  use  should  be  made. 

The  distinguishing  feature  of  work  done  in  America 
is  that  it  is  mainly  in  the  hands  of  private  companies, 
and  is  carried  out  in  order  that  one  company  may 
compete  more  effectively  with  another.  The  develop- 
ment of  the  internal  resources  of  the  country  has 
occupied  most  attention,  and  little  work  has  been  done 
with  a  view  to  encouraging  export  trade.  In  this 
country  our  export  trade  is  of  the  first  importance, 
and  it  is  here  that  the  country  feels  the  pinch  of 
German  competition.  The  opportunity,  therefore, 
arises  to  take  the  greatest  possible  advantage  of  laxity 
in  the  past  and  at  the  same  time  to  take  steps  to  con- 
serve our  overseas  trade. 

This  can   only  effectively   be  done  by   co-operating 


NATURE 


[May  25,   1916 


and  pooling  our  scientific  resources,  which  have  hitherto 
lacked  organisation.  Doubtless  many  manufacturers 
will  in  future  provide  themselves  with  small  labora- 
tories where  manufacturing  difficulties  peculiar  to  their 
■own  works  can  be  solved,  but  the  big  advance  in  the 
future  can  only  come  by  concentrating  advanced  research 
in  a  large  central  institution.  The  materials,  tools,  and 
processes  which  are  common  to  any  industry  would 
be  considered  in  such  an  institution,  and  efforts  de- 
voted to  improving  them  for  the  common  benefit  of  the 
industry.  Processes  which  are  the  monopoly  of  any  indi- 
vidual firm  would  have  to  be  left  out  of  such  a  scheme. 
DifTerences  of  factory  organisation  and  management 
and  methods  of  distribution  would  still  enable  manufac- 
turers to  compete  among  each  other,  but  the  whole 
industry  would  be  lifted  to  a  higher  plane  through 
discoveries  arising  from  work  done  at  a  research  in- 
stitution, which  would  enable  foreign  competition  to 
be  met  most   successfully. 

Such  an  institution  would  comprise  a  laboratory  for 
each  of  the  great  industries — engineering,  shipbuilding, 
soap-making,  dyeing,  rubber,  paper,  metal,  and  textile 
manufacture,  mining,  etc.— housed  in  a  large  central 
building.  Much  of  the  work  done  would  be  along 
lines  of  pure  science  investigation,  so  as  to  ensure 
priority  of  new  applications  in  industry.  Patents 
would  be  taken  out  by  the  Board  of  Control,  and 
manufacturers  in  this  country  or  the  Colonies  licensed 
to  manufacture  at  a  nominal  charge. 

The  advantages  of  such  a  scheme  over  a  system  of 
isolated  laboratories  in  different  centres  are  as  fol- 
lows : — 

(i)  Work  would  be  done  without  the  overlapping 
which  inevitably  occurs  among  a  number  of 
different  institutions,  and  results  in  great  lack  of 
economy. 

(2)  Administrative  expenses  would  be  reduced  to  a 
minimum. 

(3)  Since  one  research  frequently  leads  to  others  quite 
unsuspected  originally,  if  all  the  work  were  done  in 
one  centre  fresh  investigations  could  be  carried  out 
with  the  least  loss  of  time  and  the  greatest  possible 
efficiency. 

(4)  The  problem  of  collecting  information  on 
problems  considered  would  be  reduced  to  a  minimum 
by  housing  copies  of  all  matter  required  in  one  library. 

(5)  The  problem  of  distribution  of  information  would 
in  the  same  way  give  as  little  trouble  as  possible  if 
handled  by  a  bureau  attached  to  the  institution. 

(6)  It  is  of  the  greatest  possible  value  to  have  a 
number  of  men  engaged  in  research  problems  housed 
in  one  building  where  opportunities  arise  for  frequent 
meetings.  The  stimulation  arising  from  intercourse 
in  this  way  can  scarcely  be  over-estimated.  This 
would  be  very  largely  lost  in  a  system  of  isolated 
laboratories. 

The  advantages  the  above  scheme  presents  over  any 
proposal  to  distribute  the  research  work  among  the 
universities  are  equally  obvious.  The  universities  are 
now  mainly  teaching  centres,  and  the  importance  of 
the  research  work  done  by  the  students  lies  mainly  in 
its  educational  value.  Lecturers  and  professors  are 
generally  too  much  occupied  with  teaching  to  devote 
time  continuously  to  research,  and  the  complexity  of 
modern  research  demands,  above  all  things,  continuity 
of  application.  If  the  universities  adopt  the  plan  of 
having  two  separate  staffs,  one  for  teaching  and  the 
other  for  research,  then  there  would  be  an  obvious 
gain  in  transferring  the  research  workers  to  the 
central  institution,  where  the  best  possible  equipment 
and  facilities  would  be  obtainable.  At  present  good 
research  workers  at  the  universities  are  often  spoiled 
by  having  to  undertake  teaching,  while  really  capable 
lecturers   seldom   make   first-class   research,  men. 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


On  the  other  hand,  the  existing  facilities  of  the 
universities  comprising  equipment  and  staff  could  be 
utilised  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  central  institution  for 
dealing  with  those  problems  for  which  their  scien- 
tific apparatus  and  experience  are  best  suited.  In  this 
way  the  whole  of  the  scientific  resources  of  the  country 
could  be  co-ordinated  and  utilised  in  the  national 
industrial  interests. 

British  people  seem  to  possess  a  certain  industrial 
genius  which  assured  them  priority  in  the  industrial 
world  in  the  past,  and  the  records  of  her  inventors 
and  discoverers  lead  to  the  belief  that  what  has  hap- 
pened in  the  past  may,  with  suitable  organisation,  be 
repeated  in  future. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  industrial  research  can  be 
made  to  pay  for  itself,  it  would  be  an  excellent  invest- 
ment if  manufacturers  in  this  country  would  devote 
the  necessary  percentage  of  the  gross  profits  arising 
from  industrial  processes  to  equip  and  maintain  a 
research  laboratory  planned  on  a  comprehensive  scale. 

A  critical  survey  of  the  work  already  accomplished 
in  the  States  affords  evidence  in  favour  of  the  success 
of  such  a  national  attempt  at  industrial  research,  and 
ultimately  such  a  scheme  might  be  extended  to  em- 
brace, not  only  the  interests  of  this  country,  but  also 
to  link  up  the  efforts  made  in  our  overseas  Dominfons, 
such  as  those  of  the  recently  established  Institute  of 
Science  and  Industry  for  the  Commonwealth  of  Aus- 
tralia. 

UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

At  the  forthcoming  annual  conference  of  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Education  Committees  a  demand  is  to  be 
made  for  the  appointment  of  a  Royal  Commission  to 
inquire  into  and  consider  the  whole  question  of  the 
organisation  of  our  educational  system  and  its  adapta- 
tion to  the  new  national  needs  which  will  arise  after 
the  war.  The  association  will  urge  that  there  should 
be  no  delay  in  the  appointment  of  such  a  Commission, 
and  that  the  necessary  inquiries  should  commence 
forthwith,  so  that  the  coming  of  peace  may  find  us 
in  possession  of  the  facts  as  to  the  directions  in  which 
modifications  and  developments  are  desirable.  To  pro- 
vide a  complete  and  satisfactory  system  which  will 
ensure  the  best  education  for  all  students  up  to  the 
limit  of  their  capabilities  will  of  necessity  be  a  costlv 
undertaking,  though,  from  the  national  point  of  view, 
it  will  be  a  highly  remunerative  investment.  It  is  the 
duty  of  all  who  influence  public  opinion  to  insist  upon 
this  national  need,  and  to  explain  that  recent  reductions 
in  educational  expenditure  by  local  authorities  is  a 
mistaken  and  unwise  economy. 

In  a  recent  Convocation  address  by  Dr.  Ewing,  the 
Vice-Chan cellor  of  the  Punjab  University,  attention 
was  directed  to  the  necessity  that  urgently  exists  of 
broadening  the  basis  of  higher  education  in  India. 
Dr.  Ewing  said  : — "  I  have  dreamed  of  the  establish- 
ment here  of  a  College  of  Commerce  as  an  integral 
part  of  our  activities;  of  the  foundation  of  industrial 
fellowships  for  the  investigation  of  specific  problems 
connected  with  industry."  With  this  as  a  text,  the 
Pioneer  Mail  of  March  25  includes  a  convincing  article 
pointing  out  the  enormous  numbers  of  graduates  which 
are  being  turned  out  by  Indian  universities,  the  great 
majority  of  whom  are  only  fitted  by  their  training  for 
various  posts  in  Government  employ  and  for  the  prac- 
tice of  the  law.  These  two  professions  are,  and  have 
been  for  years,  largely  overcrowded.  Relatively  few 
graduates  take  up  engineering  or  medicine,  and  still 
fewer  take  up  commerce,  trade,  or  agriculture.  It  is 
pointed  out  that  many  of  these  highlv  educated 
Indians,   trained  largely  on   a  literary  basis,  must  of 


May  25,  19 1 6] 


NATURE 


27. 


cessity   remain   unemployed,   and  the   Pioneer   Mail 
:narks  that  "  an  educated  and  unemployable  residuum, 
r   growing   bigger   and   bigger,    may    develop    into 
a   very  real   danger."     The  ertorts   which   were  made 
'    during    Lord    Curzon's    \'iceroyalty,    and    have    been 
[    continued    since,    to    make    education    in    India    more 
i     practical  appear  to  have  had  rather  slow  growth,  and 
I    it  is  to  be  hoped  that  further  efforts  will  be  made  in 
[    this  direction,  as  indicated  by  Dr.  Ewing  in  his  Con- 
vocation address. 

A  COPY  of  the  calendar  for  1915-16  of  the  University 
of  Hongkong  has  been  received.  The  historical  sketch 
which  the  calendar  contains  shows  that  the  idea  of 
establishing  a  Universit}-  in  Hongkong  was  first  sug- 
gested in  1905,  but  it  was  two  years  later  before  the 
matter  took  definite  shape.  In  1907  Mr,  H.  N.  Mod}- 
offered  to  erect  the  necessary,  buildings  at  a  cost  of 
30,000/.,-  and  to  give  6000/.  towards  an  endowment 
fund.  In  1908  it  was  proposed  to  accept  this  offer, 
and  to  erect  a  building  in  which  the  existing  Hong- 
kong College  of  Medicine  and  a  Technical  Institute 
should  be  located,  and  to  incorporate  a  University 
under  Ordinance.  The  scheme  was  somewhat  modi- 
fied in  view  of  its  cost,  and  Mr.  Mody  undertook  to 
erect  the  buildings  whatever  the  expense,  but  if  this 
exceeded  36,000/.  not  to  be  responsible  for  any  endow- 
ment or  for  furnishing.  Before  the  end  of  1909  the 
Endowment  and  Equipment  Fund  had  reached 
255,833/.  The  University  wa§^  incorporated,  and  came 
into  existence  on  March  30,  191 1.  By  March,  1912, 
the  main  building  was  practically  completed,  and  the 
University  formally  opened.  Sir  Charles  Eliot,  Vice- 
Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Sheffield,  was  appointed 
principal  and  vice-chancellor,  and  arrived  in  Hong- 
kong in  June,  1912.  The  cost  of  the  buildings  and  the 
preparation  of  the  ground  was  69,000/. ;  the  value  of 
the  sites  given  by  the  Government  is  estimated  at 
35,260/. ;  the  cost  of  the  anatomical  school  is  estimated 
at  about  6000/.,  most  of  which  was  raised  separatelv 
b}-  the  Chinese.  By  the  founding  of  the  University 
a  service  has  been  rendered  already  to  all  the  schools 
of  South  China,  and  the  success  of  the  University 
seems  assured.  Its  interests  are  represented  in  Lon- 
don by  a  consulting  committee,  many  members  of 
which  have  been  nominated  by  scientific  and  technical 
bodies. 

The  ninth  report  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Fund  for  Advanced  University  Exlucation  and  Research 
at  University  College,  London,  has  just  been  issued. 
Since  the  issue  of  the  previous  report  the  committee 
has  been  reorganised  under  the  presidency  of  H.R.H. 
Prince  Arthur  of  Connaught.  The  attention  of  the 
committee  during  the  period  under  review  (1914-15) 
has  been  chiefly  directed  to  the  completion  of  the  new 
chemistry  building.  The  work  accomplished  was  the 
completion  of  the  building  itself  and  installation  of  the 
fixed  fittings,  such  as  benches  and  cupboards,  and  gas 
and  water  supplies.  TJiis  enabled  the  transference  of 
the  department  from  its  old  quarters  to  take  place 
during  the  summer  vacation,  19 15.  The  apparatus  and 
chemicals  now  being  used  in  the  new  department  are 
the  old  and  antiquated  stock  from  the  old  building,  and 
are  hopelessly  inadequate.  The  completion  of  the 
scheme  for  an  up-to-date  laboratory  falls  into  two  main 
sections.  The  first  is  the  technical  laboratory  and  the 
physical  chemistry  laboratories  for  teaching  and  re- 
search, to  the  completion  of  which  the  chemical  staff 
attaches  the  greatest  importance.  These  cannot  be 
finished  or  equipped  until  the  money,  estimated  at 
10,000/.,  is  available.  It  may  be  pointed  out  that  Ger- 
many's success  in  chemical  industn.'  has  been  largely 
due  to  the  application  of  the  methods  and  principles 
of  physical  chemistn,-  to  technical  problems,  and  that 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


I  for  the  study  of  this  branch  of  the  subject  laboratories 
have  hitherto  offered  few  facilities.     For  the  equipment 

I  of  the  rest  of  the  building  a  sum  of  4000/.  is  required, 

;  and  a  further  sum  of  booo/.  is  considered  necessary 
for  the  development  of  research  during  the  next  few 

I  years.  Towards  the  estimated  total  cost  of  20,000/. 
several  donations  have  been  promised;   of  these  the 

!  most   important   is  one  of   5000/.     by    Sir   Ralph    C. 

1  Forster,   Bart.,   provided  that  the  balance  of    15,000/. 

I  is  subscribed  promptly.  Anyone  interested  in  this 
development  of  opportunities  for  study  in  this  impor- 
tant subject  can  obtain  further  information  on  appli- 
cation to  the  Provost,  or  to  the  Professors  of  Chem- 
istr)',  at  University  College. 

A  NOTEWORTHY  article  by  M.  Paul  Rivals,  professor 
of   industrial   chemistry   in   the   faculty  of   science   at 
Marseilles,   bearing   upon   the   organisation   of   higher 
technical  instruction  in  the  universities  of  France  ap- 
pears in  the  Revue  Generate  des  Sciences  for  March  30. 
It  discusses  a  proposal  submitted  by  M.   le  Senateur 
Goy   for   the  establishment   by   law    of   new   faculties 
of  applied  science,  for  the  conversion  of  certain  facul- 
ties of  science  into  faculties  of  applied   science,   and 
for  the  transfer  of  the  technical  institutions  now  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  faculties  of  science  to  the  con- 
trol of  the  new  faculties,   the  staffs  of   which  would 
be  appointed  irrespective  of  academic  diplomas    and 
because    of    their     technical     attainments,     and     the 
students  would  be  recruited  from  licentiates  in  science 
and  from  those  possessing  certificates  of  higher  studies. 
The  faculties  would  be  empowered  in  certain  cases  to 
confer  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Applied  Science.     The 
necessity   for   the   reinforcement    and   enlargement   of 
the  means  of  higher  technical  instruction   in   France 
is  admitted,  and  that  the  universities  should  co-operate 
in  the  work,  but  the  proposed  measures  are  not  the 
best,   says  Prof.   Rivals,  to  achieve  this  purpose.     In 
the    first    place     there    should    be    established    higher 
technical  institutions  fully  recognised  by  the  universi- 
ties,   and   in   the   second  place    they   should   be   auto- 
nomous institutions,  the  sole  aim  of  which  should  be 
the  training  of  the  technician,  whose  ultimate  worth 
would  be  established  by  his  achievements  in  the  work- 
shop rather  than  by  his  researches  in  the  laboratory. 
His  object  is  not  to  become  a  savant,  but   to  be  a 
thoroughlv    sound,    well-trained,    and    practical    tech- 
nician.    There  is  an  essential  difference  between  pure 
science    and   scientific    teaching,    and    technology    and 
the  training  of  the  technician.     They  cannot  be  run 
in  the  same  mould;  nevertheless,  there  should  be  the 
closest  relation  between  them,  and  they  should  equally 
enjoy  the  protection   and  encouragement   of  the  uni- 
versity   of  which  they  form  part.     The  director  of  the 
technical   institution   w-ill   be   a   technician   who,   with 
a  mind  sufficiently  wide  and  cultivated,   will  be  able 
and  alert  to  utilise  and  co-ordinate  the  enormous  and 
unsuspected  resources  which  lurk  in  the  least  of  the 
faculties  of  science,   and  vet  able,   because  he  is  an 
acknowledged  master  in  his  own  sphere,  to  inspire  in 
the  students  the  fullest  confidence. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Hoyal  Society,  Mav  18.— Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — Hon.  R.  J.  Strutt  :  An  active  modi- 
fication of  nitrogen,  (i)  The  production  of  active 
nitrogen  in  various  regions  of  the  steady  discharge 
has  been  studied.  If  is  greatest  near  the  kathode, 
falls  off  to  a  minimum  in  the  Faraday  dark  space,  and 
increa.ses  again  in  the  positive  column  to  a  value  which 
is  constant  along  that  column,  but  less  than  that  at 
the  kathode.     (2)  With  a  given  value  of  the  current. 


274 


NATURE 


[May  25,  1916 


fiiuch  more  active  nitrogen  is  obtained  from  the  posi- 
tive column  in  a  narrow  tube  than  in  a  wide  one. 
(3)  Tlie  yield  of  active  nitrogen  comes  to  a  limit  as 
the  length  of  positive  column  traversed  by  the  gas  is 
increased.  (4)  A  trace  of  oxygen  (or  almost  any  other 
admixture)  is  known  greatly  to  increase  the  yield  of 
active  nitrogen.  The  amount  of  oxygen  required  to 
do  this  considerably  increases  the  fall  of  potential  at 
the  kathode,  but  it  does  not  measurably  affect  the  fall 
of  potential  in  the  positive  column.  (5)  Active  nitrogen 
is  produced  by  the  spark  at  atmospheric  pressure. 
(6)  The  metal  scattered  from  a  copper  kathode  when 
the  discharge  passes  can  be  made  to  emit  its  line 
spectrum  in  a  stream  of  active  nitrogen. — Dr.  R.  A. 
Houstoun  :  A  theory  of  colour  vision.  The  paper  ex- 
plains the  facts  of  colour-mixing  by  assuming  the 
existence  of  one  class  of  oscillators  in  the  retina  with 
a  free  period  in  the  middle  of  the  spectrum.  Owing 
to  disturbing  influences,  the  vibrations  of  these  oscil- 
lators are  never  monochromatic,  but,  when  represented 
by  a  Fourier  integral,  contain  a  range  of  wave- 
lengths. Thus,  even  if  the  incident  light  is  pure  red 
or  pure  green,  the  vibrations  contain  yellow  as  well. 
Hence,  if  the  vibrations  of  the  oscillators  are  identified 
with  subjective  light,  simultaneous  excitation  of  the ' 
eye  with  red  and  green  produces  yellow. — Col.  R.  L. 
Hippisley  :  Linkages  illustrating  the  cubic  transforma- 
tion of  elliptic  functions.  The  linkage  consists  of  three 
parts.  First,  a  closed  linkage  consisting  of  three 
identical  three-bar  linkages  in  various  phases  of  de- 
formation connected  together  by  bars  equal  in  length 
to  the  traversing  links,  which,  as  has  been  described 
in  the  Proc.  Lond.  Math.  Society,  series  2,  vol.  xi., 
indicates  the  positions  of  the  points  where  the  poristic 
triangle  touches  its  inscribed"  circle.  Secondly,  three 
positive  Peaucellier  cells  which  point  out  the  positions 
of  the  vertices  of  the  triangle.  Thirdly,  a  closed 
linkage  similar  to  the  first,  which  gives  the  position 
oi  the  orthocentre.  This  orthocentre  describes  a 
circle,  and  it  can  be  shown  by  a  few  lines  of  vector 
geometry  that  its  angular  displacement  is  the  sum 
of  the  angular  displacements  of  the  circumradii  of 
the  _  vertices  of  the  triangle.  The  angles  which  these 
radii  make  WMth  the  axis  are  the  double  amplitudes 
of  the  elliptic  functions  which  express  the  positions  of 
the  vertices,   namely,   am(M  +  |5'K)(5'  =  o,  i,  2). 

Llnnean  Society,  May  4.— Prof.  E.  B.  Poulton,  presi- 
dent, m  the  chair.— E.  A.  Bunyard  :  The  origin  of  the 
garden  red  currant.  The  red  currant  has  been  culti- 
vated from  the  early  fifteenth  century,  and  was  at 
first  pure  R.  viilgare ;  for  100  years  no  variations  were 
recorded.  R.  petraeum  was  introduced  into  gardens  in 
1561  by  Konrad  Gesner,  and  a  few  vears  after  Came- 
rarius  mentions  the  "old"  red  and  a  new  variety, 
"baccis  rubris  majoribus."  R.  rubrum  seems  to  have 
come  into  currant  history  at  a  later  date.  The  author 
considers  that  interhybridisation  of  the  three  species— 
R.  vulgare,  R.  ruhrum,  and  R.  petraeum— is  sufficient 
to  account  for  the  numerous  varieties  of  the  red  currant 
as  grown  in  gardens  to-day,  and  the  supposed  effects 
of  cultivation  need  not  in  this  case  be  invoked.— Dr. 
J.  C.  Willis  :  The  dispersal  of  organisms,  as  illustrated 
by  the  floras  of  Ceylon  and  New  Zealand.  In  two 
recent  papers  on  the  flora  of  Ceylon,  and  in  a  forth- 
coming one  on  the  flora  of  New'  Zealand,  the  author 
had  brought  forward  conclusions  on  geographical  dis- 
tribution which,  if  accepted,  will  remove  that  subject 
from  the  immediate  realm  of  evolution,  and  show  that 
it  may  be  largely  studied  by  arithmetical  methods. 
Once  a  species  is  evolved,  its  distribution  depends 
upon  causes  which  act  mechanically.  As  all  families 
and  genera  behave  alike,  it  seems  to  him  that  one 
cause   only  must  be   responsible  for   their  behaviour, 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


but  a  combination  of  causes  may  be  acting,  though  in 
that  case  each  cause  must  act  mechanically  on  all 
alike.  The  cause  which  seems  the  determining  factor 
in  dispersal  is  age  within  the  country  concerned. — 
R.  J.  Tillyard  :  A  study  of  the  rectal  breathing  appa- 
ratus in  the  larvae  of  the  Anisopterid  dragon  flies. — 
W.  E.  Collinge  :  Description  of  a  new  species  of  Idotea 
(Isopoda)  from  the  Sea  of  Marmora. 

Zoological  Society,  May  9. — Dr.  S.  F.  Harmer,  vice- 
president,  in  the  chair. — Miss  Dorothea  M.  A.  Bate  : 
A  collection  of  vertebrate  remains  from  the  Har  Dalam 
Cavern,  Malta.  Birds  are  most  numerously  repre- 
sented, and  include  some  bones  of  an  Anserine  bird 
showing  a  reduction  in  its  powers  of  flight.  It  is 
believed  to  be  a  hitherto  undescribed  species,  and  is 
referred  to  the  genus  Cygnus.  A  list  is  given  of  all 
the  species  of  vertebrates  recorded  from  the  Pleistocene 
cave  and  fissure  deposits  of  the  island. — Dr.  J.  C. 
Mottram  :  An  experimental  determination  of  the  factors 
which  cause  patterns  to  appear  conspicuous  in  Nature. 
A  series  of  experiments  was  carried  out  with  artificial 
patterns  arid  backgrounds  under  controlled  conditions 
of  lighting,  and  'a  large  number  of  determining  factors 
were  discovered,  both  as  regards  plain  and  patterned 
objects  and  backgrounds.  Finally,  the  experiments 
showed  that  the  most  conspicuous  shape  and  pattern 
which  an  object  can  have,  when  viewed  against  a 
series  of  plain  and  patterned  backgrounds,  was  pre- 
sented by  a  circular  disc  of  black,  with  a  central 
circular  area  of  white.  Having  arrived  at  this  conclu- 
sion, the  Indian  diurnal  Lepidoptera  were  completely 
examined,  in  order  to  discover  whether  any  species 
presented  patterns  approaching  this  ideal  conspicuous 
pattern.  It  was  found  that  a  considerable  number 
presented  patterns  scarcely  removed  from  this  ideal, 
and  that  a  large  proportion  of  these  insects  are  con- 
sidered to  be  "protected"  species  presenting  "warn- 
ing coloration." 

Geological  Society,  May  10. — Dr.  Alfred  Harker, 
president,  in  the  chair. — F.  R.  C.  Reed  :  Carboniferous 
fossils  from  Siam.  The  fossils  described  in  this  paper 
were  collected  by  the  Skeat  Expedition  from  Cam- 
bridge in  the  year  1899,  at  a  locality  called  Kuan  Lin 
Soh,  in  the  Patalung  district  of  Lower  Siam,  and 
were  briefly  mentioned  in  the  "reports"  of  the  British 
Association  for  1900  and  1901.  They  occur  in  a  pale, 
fine-grained,  jointed  siliceous  rock,  with  an  irregular 
or  subconchoidal  fracture.  The  field-relations  of  the 
beds  have  not  been  recorded.  The  general  facies  of 
the  small  fauna  which  the  available  material  has 
yielded  indicates  a  Lower  Carboniferous  age  for  the 
beds,  and  the  affinities  of  the  species  seem  to  be 
European,  and  suggest  the  Culm  Series. — H.  G. 
Smith  :  The  Lurgecombe  Mill  lamprophyre  and  its  in- 
clusions. A  lamprophyre-dyke  intrusive  into  Culm 
Shales  has  recently  been  exposed  at  Lurgecombe  Mill, 
near  Ashburton  (South  Devon).  The  rock  is  compact 
and  fine-grained,  small  crystals  of  biotite  imparting 
to  it  a  characteristic  lamprophyric  appearance ;  vesicles 
with  secondary  ininerals  appear  towards  the  margins. 
In  thin  section,  idiomorphic  biotite,  olivine-pseudo- 
morphs,  and  felspars  are  seen  to  make  up  the  bulk 
of  tiie  rock ;  chlorite  and  secondary  quartz  occupy  the 
interstices.  One  o'f  the  thin  sections  was  seen  to  con- 
tain crystals  of  blue  corundum  associated  with  mag- 
netite, in  a  patch  which  was  obviously  foreign  to  the 
rock.  With  the  object  of  obtaining  additional 
examples  many  slices  were  cut,  sections  being  made 
of  those  that  seemed  promising.  In  this  way  several 
of  these  inclusions  were  obtained,  the  largest  being 
about  03  in.  In  diameter.  All  contain  corundum  and 
magnetite,  but  in  some  cases  staurolite  also  is  present 
and,  more  rarely,  green  spinel. 


May  25,  19 16] 


NATURE 


275 


r        Royal  Meteorological  Society,  May  17. — Major  H.  G. 

f    Lyons,  president,   in  the  chair. — L.  C.  W.   Bonacina  : 

j  The  readjustment  of  pressure  differences  :  two  species 
of  atmospheric  circulation  and  their  connection.  The 
paper  dealt  with  a  dynamical  connection  between  two 
essentially  distinct  types  of  atmospheric  circulation, 
familiarly  exemplified  in  cyclonic  gales  on  one  hand, 

\    and  in  thunderstorms  on  the  other. 

DUBUN. 

Royal  Dublin  Society,  April  18. — Prof.  Hugh  Ryan  in 
the  chair. — Prof.  G.  T.  Morgan  :  Utilisation  of  nitre 
cake.  Among  many  sources  of  economic  waste  occa- 
sioned by  the  war.  one  of  the  most  extensive  is  the  loss 
of  sulphuric  acid  and  alkali  involved  in  the  throwing 
awaj' of  enormous  quantities  of  nitre  cake  (crude  sodium 
hydrogen  sulphate),  the  by-product  of  the  manufacture 
of  nitric  acid  from  Chili  saltpetre.  Many  proposals 
have  been  made  for  the  profitable  disposal  of  this 
waste  product,  some  of  which  have  been  put  into 
practice.  In  experiments  carried  out  by  the  author  in 
the  Royal  College  of  Science  for  Ireland  this  nitre 
cake  was  converted  into  glass  or  into  an  insoluble  frit 
suitable  for  making  glasses  or  glazes.  Nitre  itself  is 
difficult  to  transport  or  to  store  because  of  its  highly 
corrosive  nature.  When  fused  with  sand  it  is  con- 
verted into  an  insoluble,  innocuous  frit.  Preferably 
it  can  be  fused  with  sand  and  limestone,  when  soda- 
lime  glass  is  produced,  and  more  than  two-thirds  of 
the  contained  sulphur  can  be  recovered  as  sulphuric 
acid  and  free  sulphur.  Nitre  cake  can  be  used  in 
making  soda-lead  glass,  which,  when  tinted  with 
coloured  oxides,  is  suitable  for  ornamental  glass. 
Nitre  cake  should  certainly  not  be  dumped  into  the 
sea,  as  at  present  practised,  without  the  attempt  being 
made  to  utilise  its  contained  soda  and  sulphur  in  a 
profitable  manner.  The  experiments  were  made 
largely  on  materials  obtained  in  Ireland,  namely,  nitric 
cake  iFrom  .Arklow.  sand  from  County  Donegal,  Sker- 
ries limestone,  and  lead  from  Ballycorus. 

P.-VRIS. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  May  8. — M.  Camille  Jordan  in 
the  chair. — G.  Humbert  :  Certain  principal  circle 
groups  connected  with  the  quadratic  forms  of  Her- 
mite. — G.  Lemoine  :  The  catalysis  of  hydrogen  peroxide 
in  heterogeneous  medium.  Third  part  :  Experiments 
with  oxides.  The  catalytic  effect  of  ferric  oxide  varied 
greatly  with  the  physical  condition  of  the  oxide.  Data 
are  given  for  experiments  with  alumina,  ceria,  silica 
(in  two  forms),  and  thoria.  The  possibility  of  the 
formation  of  peroxides  with  the  insoluble  oxides  is 
discussed. — H.  Le  Chatelier  and  F.  Bogitch  :  The  esti- 
mation of  carbon  by  the  Eggertz  method.  The  ex- 
periments var}-  from  the  usual  method  of  solution  in 
that  the  nitric  acid  is  always  kept  at  its  boiling  point. 
Each  of  the  factors — concentration  of  acid,  speed  of 
attack,  exposure  to  light,  comparison  temperature, 
turbidit\-  of  the  liquid,  duration  of  heating,  volume  of 
the  acid  liquid,  and  puritv'  of  the  acid — has  been 
studied  separately  with  respect  to  its  effect  on  the 
colour  produced.— W.  Sierpinski :  The  theory  of  en- 
sembles :  a  general  property  of  ensembles  of  points. — 
M.  Etienne  :  The  working  of  the  electrolytic  detector. 
— G.  Lecointre  :  Some  results  of  a  geological  expedition 
in  the  Gharb  (western  Morocco)  in  1914. — P.  Lecene 
and  h.  Frouin  :  New  researches  showing  the  reality  of 
latent  microbism  in  cicatrised  shot  wounds.  Twenty- 
four  cases  of  wounded  were  examined  for  the  pre- 
sence of  organisms,  capable  of  cultivation,  at  the  sur- 
face of  projectiles  enclosed  in  the  tissues.  In  all  of 
these  the  wounds  were  perfectlv  cicatrised,  and  after 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


several  months  there  was  no  trace  of  inflammation. 
In  three  cases  the  projectile  gave  a  sterile  culture; 
in  seventeen  various  micro-organisms,  including 
staphylococci,  streptococci,  and  bacilli,  were  obtained 
from  the  bullet.  In  four  cases  the  projectile  and  the 
fibrous  envelope  were  removed  together,  like  a  small 
tumour.  The  projectiles  themselves  proved  to  be 
sterile,  but  the  internal  wall  of  the  fibrous  clot  gave 
both  cocci  and  bacilli  on  cultivation.  The  bearing  of 
these  results  on  the  surgical  treatment  of  projectile 
wounds  is  discussed. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Department  of  Commerce.  U.S.  Coast  and  Geo- 
detic Survey.  Serial  No.  19  :  Results  of  Observations 
made  at  the  U.S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Sur\^ey  Mag- 
netic Observatorv  at  Cheltenham,  Maryland,  19 13  and 
19 14.  By  D.  L.  Hazard.  Pp.  98.  (\Vashington  : 
Government  Printing  Office.) 

I  The  Stars  as  Guides  for  Night  Marching  in  North 
i  Latitude  50°.  By  E.  W.  Maunder.  Pp.  72.  (Lon- 
I  don  :  C.  H.  Kelly.)    25.  net. 

The  Respiratory  Exchange  of  Animals  and  Man. 
By  Dr.  A.  Krogh.  Pp.  viii-ri73.  (London:  Long- 
mans and  Co.)    65.  net. 

Plants  in  Health  and  Disease.  By  Prof.  F.  E. 
Weiss,  Dr.  A,  D.  Imms,  and  W.  Robinson.  Pp. 
viii+143.  (Manchester:  The  University  Press;  Lon- 
don :  Longmans  and  Co.)     is.  6d.  net. 

Agriculture  after  the  War.  By  A.  D.  Hall.  Pp. 
vii+137.     (London:  J.  Murray.)     35,  6d.  net. 

Tuberculosis  and  the  Working  Man.  By  P.  C.  Var- 
rier-Jones.  Pp.  47.  (Cambridge :  W.  Heffer  and 
Sons,  Ltd.)     6d.  net. 

Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries.  Agricultural 
Statistics,  1915.  Vol.  1.,  part  i.  Acreage  and  Live 
Stock  Returns  of  England  and  Wales.  Pp.  75.  (Lon- 
don :  H.M.S.O. ;  Wj-man  and  Sons.)    [Cd.  8240.]   4^. 

Department  of  Commerce.  Circular  of  the  Bureau 
of  Standards,  No.  58.  Invar  and  Related  Nickel  Steels. 
Pp.  68.  Technologic  Papers  of  the  Bureau  of 
Standards.  No.  71.  Effect  of  Certain  Pigments  on 
Linseed  Oil.  Pp.  16.  By  E.  W.  Broughton.  Scien- 
tific Papers  of  the  Bureau  of  Standards,  No.  273. 
General  Design  of  Critically  Damped  Galvanometers. 
By  F.  Wenner.  (Washington  :  Government  Printing 
Office.) 

The  Effects  of  Radio-active  Ores  and  Residues  on 
Plant  Life.  Bulletin  No.  7.  A  Report  of  the  Second 
Series  of  Experiments  carried  out  at  Reading,  1915. 
Pp.  20.     (Reading  :  Sutton  and  Sons.)     2s,  6d.  net. 

I  University  of  Hongkong.  Calendar,  1915-16.  Pp. 
j    124.     (Hongkong.) 

j  Annuaire  general  de  Madagascar  et  Dependances. 
I  (Modifications  a  I'Annuaire,  1914.)  Pp.  227.  (Tana- 
i  narive.) 

Department  of  Agriculture  and  Technical  Instruc- 
tion for  Ireland.  Programme  of  the  Irish  Training 
School  of  Domestic  Economy.  Session  1916-17.  Pp. 
21.     (Dublin.) 

The  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 
Brooklyn  Museum  Science  Bulletin,  vol.  iii..  No.  i. 
Long  Island  Fauna,  iv..  The  Sharks.  Bv  J.  T. 
Nichols  and  R.   C.   Murphy.     (Brooklyn,   N.Y.) 

Annals  of  Tropical  Medicine  and  Parasitology. 
Vol.  X.,  No.  I.  April  29.  Pp.  164.  (Liverpool :  Uiii- 
versit>-  Press.)     ys.  6d.  net. 


276 


NATURE 


[May  25,  1916 


The  Jpurnal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of 
England.  \'ol.  Ixxvi.  Pp.  8  +  364.  (London:  John 
Murray.)     los. 

The  Microscopy  of  \'egetable  Foods.  Bv  Dr.  A.  L. 
Winton,  Prof.  /.  Moeller,  and  Dr.  K.  B.  Winton. 
Second  edition.  Pp.  xiv  +  701.  (New  York:  J.  Wiley 
and  Sons,  Inc.  ;  London  :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.) 
2-]s.  6d.  net. 

Sewerage  :  The  Designing,  Construction,  and  Main- 
tenance of  Sevveratre  Systems.  By  A.  P.  Folwell. 
Seventh  edition.  Pp.  x  +  540.  (New  York:  J.  Wiley 
and  Sons,  Inc. ;  London  :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.) 
12s.  6d.  net. 

The  Journal  of  the  South  African  Ornithologists' 
L'nion.  Vol.  xi.,  No.  i.  December,  1915.  Pp.  118. 
(Pretoria ;  London  :  Witherby  and  Co.)     ys. 

The  Nestorian  Monument  in  China.  By  Prof.  P.  Y. 
Saeki.  Pp.  x  +  342.  (London:  S.P.C.K.)  105.  6d. 
net. 

Text-Book  of  Mechanics.  By  Prof.  L.  A.  Martin, 
jun.  Vol.  vi.,  Thermodynarnics.  Pp.  xviii  +  313. 
(New  York  :  J.  Wiley  and  Sons',  Inc. ;  London  :  Chap- 
man and  Hall,  Ltd.)     75.  6d.  net. 

Geodetic  Surveying.  By  Prof.  E.  R.  Cary.  Pp. 
ix  +  279.  (New  York:  J.  Wiley  and  Sons,  Inc!^;  Lon- 
don :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.)     105.  6d.  net. 

Interpolated  Six-place  Tables  of  the  Logarithms  of 
Numbers  and  the  Natural  and  Logarithmic  Trigono- 
metric Functions.  Edited  by  H.  W.  Marsh.  Pp. 
xii+155.  (New  York:  J.  Wiley  and  Sons,  Inc.;  Lon- 
don :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.)     5^.  6d.  net. 

The  Thermodynamic  Properties  of  Ammonia.  By 
F.  G.  Keyes  and  R.  B.  Brownlee.  Pp.  V4-73.  (New 
York  :  J.  Wiley  and  Sons.  Inc. ;  London  :  Chapman 
and  Hall,  Ltd.)     45.  6d.  net. 

The  Universal  Mind  and  the  Great  War.  Bv  E. 
Drake.  Pp.  vi+ioo.  (London:  C.  W.  Daniel,  Ltd.) 
25.  6d.  net. 

Methods  in  Practical  Petrology.  By  H.  B.  Milner 
and  G.  M.  Part.  Pp.  vii  +  68.  (Cambridge:  W. 
HeflFer  and  Sons,  Ltd.)     25.  6d.  net. 

Record  of  a  Prehistoric  Industry  in  Tabular  Flint  at 
Brambridge  and  Highfield,  near  Southampton.  By 
R.  E.  Nicholas.  Pp.  92.  (Southampton  :  Toogood 
and  Sons.) 

Alfred  Russel  Wallace  :  Letters  and  Reminiscences. 
By  J.  Marchant.  Vol.  i.,  pp.  xi  +  320.  Vol.  ii.,  pp. 
vi  +  291.     (London:   Cassell  and  Co.,   Ltd.)     255.   net. 

The  Design  of  Aeroplanes.  By  A.  W.  Judge.  Pp. 
viii  +  212.     (London:  Whittaker  and  Co.)    95.  net. 

The  Small  Grains.  By  M.  A.  Carleton.  Pp.  xxxil  + 
699.  (New  York  :  The  Macmillan  Co. ;  London  :  Mac- 
millan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     ys.  6d.  net. 

Steering  by  the  Stars  :  for  Night-flying,  Night- 
marching,  and  Night  Boat-work  between  Latitudes 
40°  N.  and  60°  N.  Bv  Dr.  J.  D.  White.  Pp.  32. 
(London  :  J.  D.  Potter.)     15, 

Tunbridge  Wells   and   Neighbourhood  :  A  Chronicle 
of  the  Town   from    1608  to   1915.     Bv  H.    R.   Knipe. 
Pp.   207.     (Tunbridge  Wells  :   Pelton.) 
♦  

DIARY   OF    SOCIETIES. 

THURSDA  V,  May  25. 

Royal  Society,  at  4.30. — Bakerian  Lecture :  X-Rays  and  the  Theory  of 
Radiation  :  Prof.  C.  G.  Barkla. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3.— The  Beginnings  of  the  Orchestra  and  its  Instru- 
mental Combinations  :  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie. 

Optical  Society,  at  8. — Snnds  used  in  G'ass-making,  with  Especial  Refer- 
ence to  Optical  Glass  :  Dr.  P.  G.  H.  Boswell. 

FRTDAY,  May  26. 
Royal  Institution,  at  5.30.— X-Rays  :  Prof.  C.  G.  Barkla. 
Physical  Society,  at  5. — 1  he  Correction  of  Chromatic  Aberrations  when 

NO.    2430,    VOL.    97] 


the  External  Media  are  Dispersive  :  T.  Smith.— Note  on  the  Use  of  the 

Auto-collimating  Telescope  in  the  Measurement  of  Angles:  J.  Guild. — 
The  Vi>cosity  of  Colloidal  Solutions :  E.  Hatschek. 

SATURDAY,  May  27. 
KovAL   Institution,  at  3. — The  Finance  of  the  Great  War  :  Prof   H.  S. 
Fox  well. 

TUESDAY,  Mav  30. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3. — Optical  Research  and  Chemic.1l  Progress  : 
Dr.  T.  M.  Lowry. 

THURSDAY,  June  i. 

Royal  .Society,  at  4.30. — Probable  Papers:  The  Scattering  of  Plane 
fc-Iectric  Waves  by  Spheres  :  Dr.  T.  J.  I 'a  Bromwich. — Numerical  Results 
of  the  Theory  of  the  Diffraction  of  a  Plane  Electromagnetic  Wave  by  a 
perfectly  conducting  Sphere  :  J.  Proudman,  A.  T.  Doodson,  and 
G.  Kennedy. — Motion  of  Solids  in  Fluids  when  the  Flow  is  not  Irrota- 
tional  :  G.  I.  'I'aylor. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3.— Chamber  Music  audits  Revival  in  England  : 
Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie. 

Royal  Society  of  Arts,  at  4. 30. — The  Work  of  the  Imperial  Institute  for 
India:  Prof.  W.  R.  Dunstan. 

FRIDAY,  June  2. 
Royal  In.stitution,  at  5.30. — La  France  dans  I'Histoire  comme  Champion 

du  Droit :  Lieut.  P.  H.  Loyson. 
Geolcx-,ists'  Association,  at  7. — The   Petrology  of  the  North  Sea  Drift 

and  Suffolk  Brick-earths  :    Dr.    P.   G.    H.   Boswell. — Notes  on  Erosion 

Phenomena  in  Egypt :  Mpry  S.  Johnston. 

SA  TURDA  Y,  June  3. 
Royal  Institution,  at  3. — Folk-lore  in  the  Old  Testament :  Sir  James  G. 
Frazer. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Chemistry  for  Students  and  General  Readers.     By 

T.  M.  L 257 

Wireless  Transmission  of  Photographs.  ByE.  E.  F.  258 

Electrical  Engineering  Manuals.     By  D.  R.      ...  258 

An  American  Gardening  Book.     By  J.  B.  F.     ...  259 

Our  Bookshelf 259 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

"Summer     Time"     and    Meteorology. — Major    E. 

Gold;  Major  H.  G.  Lyons,  F.K.S 260 

Geologists   and    Special    Constables. — Prof.    T.    G. 

Bonney,  F.R.S.                              260 

National  Food  Supply  and  Nutritional  Value. — Prof. 
W.    H.    Thompson ;    "  The    Writer    of   the 

Article" .    .  261 

The  Lowei  Greensand  Flora. — Dr.  Marie  C.  Stopes  ; 

A.  C.  S.                 261 

Meteorological  Conditions  of  a  Blizzard. — Arthur  E. 

Bostwick  . 261 

The   Routledge  Expedition  to  Easter  Island.     By 

E.  N.  Fallaize 261 

The  British  Science  Guild 263 

Notes 264 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Comet  or  Nebulous  Minor  Planet?  ........  268 

The  Pole  Effect  in  the  Calcium  Arc .  268 

The   Rotation  of  Nebulas                 268 

National  Defence  and  Development  in  the  United 

States 268 

The  Peat  Industries  of  Wisconsin 269 

The  Oxidation  of  Drying-oils.     By  T.  M.  L.     ...  269 
Industrial    Research    in   the    United    States.       By 

A.  P.  M.  Fleming 270 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 272 

Societies  and  Academies 273 

Books  Received .  275 

Diary  of  Societies 276 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,   Ltd.. 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON.    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  the 
Publishers. 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,   London. 
Telephone  Number :  Gerrard  8830. 


NA  TURE 


277 


THURSDAY,    JUNE    i,    1916. 

APPLE-GROWING     FOR     PROFIT. 

The  Apple :  a  Practical  Treatise  dealing  with  the 
Latest  Modern  Practices  of  Apple  Culture.  By 
A.  E.  Wilkinson.  Pp.  xii  +  492.  (Boston  and 
London:    Ginn  and  Co.,  191 5.)     Price  8s.  6d. 

MR.  WILKINSON'S  monograph  is  a  very 
good  example  of  a  type  of  book  which 
is  indigenous  to  the  New  World.  Writers  of  such 
monographs  look  at  their  subject  keenly  and  ex- 
clusively from  its  commercial  aspect.  They  collect 
or  recount  from  their  experience  every  item  of 
information  the  possession  of  which  by  a  grower 
is  calculated  to  make  his  proposition  pay ;  with 
equal  ruthlessness  they  exclude  everything  a 
knowledge  of  which  does  not  appear  likely  to 
lead  to  monetary  profit. 

Thus  the  present  work  abounds  in  sound  and 
useful  information  on  every  section  of  commercial 
apple-growing,  yet  it  neither  mentions  nor  de- 
scribes any  form  of  training  other  than  that  for 
the  production  of  a  "  vase"-shaped  (open-headed) 
or  pyramidal  standard.  Espaliers,  cordons,  and 
the  subtler  forms  of  trained  tree  beloved  of  thrifty 
Frenchmen  are  ignored  completely.  The  American 
apple-tree  has,  in  truth,  been  standardised,  and 
the  form  prescribed  is  the  low  standard.  Dwarf- 
ing stocks  are  allowed — in  the  home  garden. 
Similarly,  admirable  accounts  are  given  of  frost 
prevention  by  the  use  of  "heaters,"  of  picking, 
packing,  grading,  marketing,  and  advertising, 
yet  the  descriptions  of  the  chief  varieties  of  apple 
are  so  brief  and  unclassified  that  growers  would 
have  the  greatest  difficulty  in  naming  an  unknown 
variety  which  happened  to  come  into  their  hands. 
So  long  as  information  has  a  commercial  bear- 
ing it  may,  however,  be  included,  even  though  it 
lack  precision.  For  example,  colour  appears  to 
be  a  very  important  attribute  of  American  apples, 
and  accordingly  the  subject  is  considered  with 
some  thoroughness,  and  quite  inconclusive  experi- 
ments are  cited,  as,  for  example,  those  on  the  in- 
fluence of  manuring  with  potash  salts  on  the  pro- 
duction of  colour.  Science  is  trying  hard  to 
discover  what  determines  coloration  in  fruit,  and 
why  the  colour  should  show  from  year  to  year 
such  remarkable  variations  in  one  and  the  same 
variety ;  but  its  efforts  so  far  have  been  unsuccess- 
ful, and  the  information  that  science  can  give  on 
this  subject  is  scarcely  worth  the  attention  of  the 
grower. 

There  is,  however,  another  aspect  of  the 
-American  type  of  monograph  well  exemplified  in 
this  book  which  deservies  nothing  but  praise  and 
emulation.  That  is  the  resolute  thoroughness 
with  which  fundamental  problems  are  envisaged. 
For  example,  we  in  this  country  are  content  to 
recognise  that  certain  varieties  of  apple  do  well 
in  certain  districts  and  badly  in  others.  We  may 
go  so  far  as  to  make  inquiry  on  the  subject  and 
publish  the  results — a  work  upon  which  the  Fruit 
Committee  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  is 
now  engaged.      The   American   does  better  than 

I     this.      He   endeavours   to   discover  what   are   the 

f  NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


soil  requirements  of  different  varieties  of  apple, 
and  in  this  inquiry  he  is,  apparently,  so  successful 
that  he  is  able  to  speak  of  and  describe  a  "Bald- 
win "  soil,  a  "  Northern  Spy "  soil,  or  a  Rhode 
Island  "Greening"  soil. 

So  excellent  are  the  brief  introductory  chapters 
on  selection  of  site  and  adaptation  of  varieties 
to  soil  that  we  can  imagine  some  strenuous  urban 
.American  exclaiming  on  reading  them  :  "  Sure, 
I  can  grow  apples,"  and  forthwith  setting  out 
and  growing  them — perhaps   successfully. 

Needless  to  say,  the  chapters  on  spraying  and 
on  insect  and  other  pests  are  well  done.  Lime- 
sulphur  increases  yearly  in  favour  with  American 
growers,  and,  indeed,  the  spraying  schedule  re- 
commended by  the  College  of  .Agriculture  of 
Cornell  University  comprises  four  annual  spray- 
ings with  lime-sulphur,  to  which,  if  insects  are  to 
be  destroyed  as  well  as  parasitic  fungi,  arsenate 
of  lead  is  added. 

The  subject  of  breeding-  is  treated  somewhat 
briefly ;  Mendelism  is  glanced  at.  The  state- 
ment (p.  425),  "A  breeder  cannot  obtain  wholly 
new  characters  in  apples  by  making  Mendelian 
combinations,"  requires  elaboration  if  it  is  not 
to  be  misleading;  and  the  list  (p.  414)  "showing 
both  self-sterile  and  self-fertile  varieties"  appears 
to  contain  only  shy,  average,  or  prolific  pollen- 
bearers.  It  is  curious  that  little  or  no  reference 
is  made  either  to  the  history  and  origins  of  the 
apple  nor  to  recent  work,  as,  for  example,  that 
conducted  by  the  Duke  of  Bedford  and  Mr. 
Spencer  Pickering  at  Woburn  on  economical 
methods  of  planting. 

The  book  is  well  written  by  the  hand  of 
an  expert.  It  should  meet  with  w^ide  success 
in  America,  and  should  be  read  with  attention 
by  all  interested  in  fruit-growing  in  this  country. 

F.   K.' 


THERMOD  YNA  MIC  C  HEM  IS  TR  Y. 
An    Introduction    to    the    Principles    of   Physical 
Chemistry    from    the    Standpoint    of    Modem 
Atomistics    and     Thermodynamics.       By    Prof. 
E.     W.     Washburn.       Pp.     xxv  +  445.       (New 
York  :   McGraw-Hill  Book  Co.  ;    London  :    Hill 
Publishing  Co.,   1915.)     Price  .155.  net. 
n^EACHERS     and    students    alike    should     be 
^      grateful  to  Prof.   Washburn  for  supporting 
the  use  in  physical  chemistry  of  the  differential 
and  integral  calculus,  which  he  introduces  freely 
in  the  work  now  under  review.     Students  will  be 
surprised  when  they  see  how  little  calculus  they 
need,    and  how   much   that  little   will    strengthen 
the  grip  they  get  of  physical  chemistry.     The  time 
required   for  acquiring  the   necessary   knowledge 
of  calculus   is   nothing   compared   with   the   time 
wasted    in    wading    through    the    tedious    mathe- 
matics  involved   in   evading    the   calculus.      It   is 
not  only  a  waste  of  time — it  is  also  misleading — to 
subject  a  number  of  difficulties  each  to  a  separate 
treatment,  as  is  done  when  no  calculus  is  used, 
as  if  they  were  of  several  quite  distinct  kinds  in 
cases  where  they  might  be  ranked  together  and 
enfiladed  in  a  single  attack. 


278 


NATURE 


[June  i,  1916 


In  the  application  of  thermodynamics  to 
chemistry  a  method  of  purely  mathematical 
analysis  may  be  adopted  or  the  principle  of  the 
efficiency  of  the  perfect  thermodynam.c  engine 
may  be  applied  directly  to  physico-chemical  pheno- 
mena, as  is  done  by  Prof.  Washburn,  who,  how- 
ever, simplifies  the  usual  procedure  by  devising  a 
specially  constructed  engine. 

The  influence  of  a  pressure-change  on  equilibrium 
receives  practically  no  quantitative  treatment  in 
most  text-books ;  in  this  work  it  receives  more  of 
the  attention  it  deserves.  The  author  discusses 
the  effect  of  extra  pressure  not  only  when  applied 
to  all  the  phases,  but  also  when  applied  to  one 
phase  only.  This  last  we  consider  of  great  im- 
portance in  elucidating  so-called  "osmotic  pres- 
sure," which  is  a  special  case  of  what  we  may 
call  one-phase  pressure. 

Under  the  treatment  of  the  influence  of  a  tem- 
perature-change on  equilibrium  we  find  no  refer- 
ence to  Nernst's  complete  integration  of  the 
differential  equation,  though  Nernst's  modifica- 
tion of  Trouton's  rule  is  mentioned.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  is  an  excellent  account  of  specific 
heat,  without,  however,  applying  the  quantum 
theory. 

The  chapters  on  electro-chemistry  are  decidedly 
good,  but  we  should  prefer,  for  teaching  purposes, 
a  different  order.  It  would  be  better  to  have  a 
special  chapter  for  E.M.F.,  which,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, should  be  kept  separate  from  Faraday's 
laws  and  conductivity.  We  hope  that  in  future 
editions  the  author  will  deal  more  fully  with 
potential  differences  at  interfaces  generally  on 
account  of  their  importance  in  the  theory  of  col- 
loids; and  for  the  same  reason  there  should  be 
more  about  the  mechanical  forces  at  interfaces. 

Equilibrium,  especially  in  solutions,  is  treated 
with  a  thoroughness  unusual  in  introductory  text- 
books. Mention  is  made  of  many  recent  advances 
in  physical  chemistry,  and  valuable  references  to 
literature  help  to  make  up  for  the  rather  scanty 
account  given  of  some  sections  of  the  subject. 
There  are  brief  biographical  footnotes,  numerous 
cross-references,  and  problems  for  practice  in  cal- 
culation. The  printer's  errors  are  few  and  not 
at  all  serious. 

This  excellent  work  is  well  worthy  of  the  earnest 
study  of  both  teachers  and  students. 

Francis  W.  Gray. 

APPLIED    MECHANICS. 
(i)  Elementary  Applied  Mechanics.     By  Prof.  T. 
Alexander  and  Prof.   A.  W.   Thomson.     Third 
edition.      Pp.    xx  +  512.      (London:    Macmillan 
and  Co.,    Ltd.,    1916.)     Price   155.    net. 

(2)  Applied  Mechanics :  First  Year.  By  H. 
Aughtie.  Pp.  184.  (London :  G.  Routledge 
and  Sons,  Ltd.,   1915.)     Price  2s.  net. 

(3)  Textile  Mechanics.  By  W.  Scott  Taggart. 
-Pp.  vii+117.  (London:  G.  Routledge  and 
Sons,  Ltd.,   191 5.)     Price  2s.  net. 

(i)  pROFS.  ALEXANDER  AND  THOMSON'S 
^       "  Elementary  Applied   Mechanics  "   is  an 
excellent    treatise — a    development    of    a     much 
NO.    24^1.   VOL.   Q7] 


smaller  one  which  engineers  knew  thirty  years 
ago.  It  follows  chiefly  the  methods  of  Rankine, 
but  with  a  larger  use  of  graphic  constructions.  It 
is  a  feature  that  the  graphic  diagrams  are  to  scale, 
and  are,  in  fact,  exercises  worked  out.  Appended 
to  each  chapter  are  examples  fully  worked  out. 
On  the  mathematical  side  and  within  its  range 
the  treatment  is  complete.  On  the  practical  side 
it  is  not  quite  so  satisfactory.  The  data  of 
weights,  working  stresses,  etc.,  involved  in  any 
practical  solution  are  very  scantily  given,  and  the 
considerations  which  lead  a  designer  to  modify 
purely  theoretical  results  are  little  touched  on.  In 
this  the  authors  differ  from  Rankine,  who  took  so 
much  trouble  with  the  data  that  his  values  are 
still  of  authority  after  fifty  years,  and  are  some- 
times quoted  in  this  book.  For  instance,  the  one 
essential  starting  point  in  roof  design  is  the  magni- 
tude and  distribution  of  the  wind  pressure.  The 
authors  merely  assume  a  wind  at  45°  with  the 
rafter,  on  one  side  of  the  roof,  with  a  normal 
component  25  per  cent,  greater  than  the  weight 
of  the  roof  at  each  joint.  But  the  wind  pressure 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  weight  of  the  roof,  and 
its  distribution  is  not  that  assumed. 

The  problem  of  rolling  loads  on  bridges  is 
treated  fully  and  with  originality.  The  bending- 
moment  diagram  of  circular  arcs  is  interesting  and 
useful.  The  maximum  moment  for  any  section  for 
any  travelling  loads  is  fully  discussed.  The 
moving  model  which  draws  the  bending-moment 
curve  for  a  trolley  is  very  ingenious,  but  it  seems 
to  us  more  difficult  to  follow  than  the  ordinary 
demonstration. 

On  the  subject  of  earth  pressure  Rankine 's  fric- 
tional  theory  is  followed,  without  reference  to  the 
reservations  he  himself  makes  or  to  the  numerous 
investigations  which  have  shown  how  in  most 
ordinary  cases,  except  for  dry  sand,  it  is  not  even 
a  good  approximation.  For  retaining  walls  the 
deviation  of  the  centre  of  pressure  from  the  centre 
of  the  joint  is  taken  at  3/ioths  of  the  width  with- 
out any  explanation.  It  is  a  critical  point,  and 
needs  defence. 

Long  struts  are  treated  well,  but  only  by  the 
use  of  the  Gordon-Rankine  formula.  The  authors 
say  that  Rankine  proved  Gordon's  formula  to  be 
rational.  This  is  disputable;  it  is  really  an  inter- 
polation formula  between  Euler's  and  that  for 
short  columns.  The  various  formulae  which  are 
more  convenient  in  use,  and  are,  in  fact,  largely 
used  in  design,  are  not  referred  to. 

Arched  ribs  are  treated  by  Levy's  graphic 
method,  and  there  is  an  interesting  and  original 
chapter  on  masonry  arches,  though,  perhaps,  the 
treatment  is  too  abbreviated  to  be  very  useful. 
Curiously,  reinforced  arches,  now  so  important 
and  affording  such  excellent  scope  for  scientific 
treatment,  are  not  alluded  to. 

The  treatise  is  excellently  printed  and  illus- 
trated, and  will  certainly  be  useful  to  students  and 
engineers.  It  seems  a  defect  that  the  book  has 
only  a  table  of  contents  and  no  index. 

(2)  This  is  a  very  elementary  book,  in  which 
ordinary  mechanics,  kinematics  of  machines,  and 
some   problems   in   work   and   power   are   treated 


June  i,  1916] 


NATURE 


279 


largely  descriptively  and  with  the  help  of  numerical 
illustrations  and  simple  experiments.  The  print- 
ing and  diagrams  are  clear.  But  one  may  be 
allowed  to  ask  why  here,  as  in  many  other  books, 
the  so-called  laws  of  friction  deduced  for  dry  sur- 
faces and  low  intensities  of  pressure  are  given 
without  a  hint  that  in  most  cases  they  are  more 
disobeyed  than  obeyed?  Also,  is  such  a  very 
roundabout  way  of  finding  the  work  of  a  fluid 
pressure  (Fig.  121)  really  helpful  to  a  student? 

(3)  Mr.  Taggart's  book  is  similar  to  the  fore- 
going, but  it  is  more  specialised,  the  illustrations 
being  taken  from  textile  machinery.  It  is  more 
original,  therefore,  and  is  likely  to  be  of  service 
to  textile  workers,  both  in  explanation  of  the 
machines  they  use  and  in  familiarising  them  with 
some  of  the  technics  of  the  industry. 


OVR    BOOKSHELF. 

On  the  Relation  of  Imports  to  Exports :  A  Study 
of  the  Basis  of  a  New  National  and  Imperial 
Policy.  By  J.  Taylor  Peddie.  Second  edition 
(enlarged).  Pp.  xxiv  +  148.  (London:  Long- 
mans, Green  and  Co.,  1916.)     Price  55.  net. 

Mr.  Taylor  Peddie 's  book  is  written  in  favour 
of  what  he  calls  National  Economics.  "National 
Economics,"  he  says,  "  to  be  based  on  freedom 
■of  trade,  must  come  under  the  heading  of  low 
tariff  duties,  for  high  tariff  duties  are  protective." 
Now,  if  low  tariffs  do  not  protect,  what  is  their 
object?  In  his  third  essay  Mr.  Taylor  Peddie 
attempts  to  answer  this  question.  "  British 
manufacturers  .  .  .  will  have  to  submit  ...  to  a 
heavy  income  tax  and  other  heavy  direct  taxation. 
...  Is  it,  then,  an  equality  of  rights  that  Ameri- 
can manufacturers  .  .  .  should  in  future  be 
allowed  to  enter  into  free  competition  with  our 
own  oroductions?  "  Mr.  Taylor  Peddie  has, 
in  fact,  rediscovered,  repainted,  and  reclothed  that 
ancient  figure  of  fun,  the  mid-nineteenth-century 
French  Free  Trade  school's  Scientific  Tariff,  and, 
with  the  true  artist's  "temperament,"  he  has 
fallen  deeply  in  love  with  it ! 

True,  his  tariffs  lack  something  in  scientific  pre- 
cision, for  he  has  found  a  special  magic  in  the 
figure  17I  per  cent.,  and  no  duty  must  exceed  that 
amount.  But  their  achievements  more  than  com- 
pensate for  all  purely  academic  desiderata.  His 
"low  tariffs,"  apparently,  are  to  counterbalance 
the  adverse  balance  of  trade,  although  (p.  42)  he 
assures  us  that  Free  Trade  has  not  produced  that 
adverse  balance.  His  "  low  tariffs  "  are  to  have  no 
effect  on  prices,  but  to  restrict  imports  (without 
protecting),  increase  the  national  productive 
capacity,  the  revenues  of  the  State,  and  the  distri- 
bution of  wages,  and  although  not  affecting  prices 
(p.  3g)  we  can  sell  cheaper  (p.  40).  Mr.  Taylor 
Peddie  is,  indeed,  to  be  congratulated  on  his  per- 
versely paradoxical  panacea. 

On  p.  98  we  are  told  that  "we  shall  never  be 
able  to  destroy  German  industrialism  by  allowing 
National  Economic  questions  to  be  discussed  in  the 
abstract  or  as  platitudes."  If  "National  Econo- 
mics "  are  really  to  be  framed  with  the  object  of 

NO.    2431,   VOL.    97] 


destroying  industrialism,  we  are  perhaps  justified 
in  hoping  that  they  will  quickly  become  what  Mr. 
Taylor  Peddie  believes  the  history  of  political 
economy  for  the  main  part  to  be — "a  record  of 
absurd  and  justly  exploded  opinions."         A.  L. 

A  Manual  on  Explosives.  By  Albert  R.  J.  Ramsey 
and  H.  Claude  Weston.  Pp.  xi+ii6.  (Lon- 
don: George  Routledge  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  1916.) 
Price  15.  net. 

This  little  manual  is  intended  to  furnish  to  the 
munition  worker,  as  well  as  to  the  general  reader, 
concise  information  on  the  nature  of  explosives 
and  on  their  manufacture,  and  further  to  empha- 
sise the  very  important  part  which  explosives  play 
in  the  sphere  of  modern  engineering.  It  is  cer- 
tainly an  excellent  little  primer.  Particularly  good 
is  the  description  of  the  manufacture  of  nitro- 
cellulose, nitro-glycerin,  and  the  modern  high 
explosives,  the  text  being  illustrated  by  excellent 
diagrammatic  representations  of  the  various  plants 
employed.  The  authors  have  shown  considerable 
discretion  in  the  allotment  of  space  to  the  different 
explosives,  but  more  might  well  have  been  devoted 
to  propellants.  Smokeless  powers,  other  than 
cordite,  scarcely  receive  mention.  The  description 
of  the  manufacture  of  cordite  is  very  brief,  and  it 
is  a  pity  the  authors  give  only  the  composition  of 
Mark  I.  cordite,  which,  through  the  serious 
erosion  it  produced  in  the  guns,  was  superseded 
some  years  ago  by  M.D.  cordite,  containing  less 
nitro-glycerin. 

A  short  chapter  is  devoted  to  fuses  and  detona- 
tors, another  to  the  application  of  explosives, 
some  interesting  examples  of  engineering  appli- 
cations being  given.  A  valuable  chapter  is  one 
on  "  Industrial  Poisoning  among  Explosive 
Workers  and  its  Prevention,"  in  which  the  authors 
deal  with  the  symptoms  by  which  poisoning  may 
be  recognised,  the  general  lines  of  first-aid  treat- 
ment, and  enumerate  some  of  the  simple  precau- 
tions which  should  be  adopted  to  minimise  risk 
of  poisoning.  Such  chemistry  as  is  necessary  to 
follow  the  various  processes  and  relating  to  the 
composition  of  explosives  is  very  clearly  set  out. 
and  altogether  the  book  admirably  fulBIs  the 
intentions  of  the  authors. 

Yorkshire's  Contribution  to  Science — with  a  Biblio- 
graphy of  Natural  History  Publications.  By  T. 
Sheppard.  Pp.  233.  (London  :  A.  Brown  and 
Sons,  Ltd.,  1916.)     Price  55.  net. 

The  object  of  this  volume  is  to  provide  students 
of  the  natural  history  of  Yorkshire  with  a  guide 
to  all  sources  of  information  likely  to  be  of  service 
to  them.  Many  workers  in  biological  and  geologi- 
cal science  will  be  grateful  to  Mr.  Sheppard  for 
the  particulars  he  has  brought  together  about 
Yorkshire  periodical  publications  dealing  with 
natural  history,  Yorkshire  scientific  magazines 
now  extinct,  and  Yorkshire  topographical  and 
general  magazines.  The  particulars  concerning 
other  British  scientific  journals  and  societies  and 
the  list  of  works  of  reference  add  to  the  complete- 
ness of  the  volume. 


28o 


NATURE 


[June  i,  1916 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Meteorological   Conditions   of  a   Blizzard. 

I  AM  glad  to  see  Mr.  Bostwick's  protest  against  the 
current  use  of  the  word  "  bhzzard,"  and  agree  with 
him  that  the  British  Isles,  excluding  mountains  like 
Ben  Nevis,  cannot  produce  the  conditions  for  a  real 
blizzard. 

There  can  be  no  comparison  between  the  pheno- 
menon as  it  occurs  in  North  America  and  the  polar 
regions  and  the  very  mild  imitation  commonly  called 
a  blizzard  in  the  English  daily  Press.  In  most  cases 
the  latter  consists  of  a  mixture  of  snow  and  rain, 
perhaps  not  amounting  to  more  than  o-io  in.  in  all, 
and  a  wind  not  exceeding  a  strong  breeze. 

The    only    approach    to    a   blizzard    in    the    S.E,    of 
England  during  the  last  fifty  years  was  on  January  i8, 
1881.     On  that  occasion   the  dry  snow  and  the  gale 
.were  present,   but   not    the    low 
temperature.       Much    inconveni- 
ience   was   caused   by    the    drifts 
iand     stoppage     of     traffic,     but 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons 
probably   made    their    usual    out- 
door journeys  on  that  day  in  their 
usual  clothing  without  danger,  a 
thing  they  could  not  have  done 
had  the  third  condition  of  a  really 
low  temperature  been   fulfilled. 

W.    H.    DlN,ES. 

Benson,  Wallingford. 


public  service  should  obviate  the  creation  of  a  new 
"Central  Imperial  Bureau."  The  deficiency  of  in- 
formation has  long  been  due  to  public  ignorance  of  the 
value  of  the  material  brought  together  by  public  ser- 
vants, an  ignorance  unhappily  shared  by  many  who 
pose  as  mine  prospectors. 

Grenville  a.  J.  Cole. 
Geological  Survey  of  Ireland, 

14  Hume  Street,  Dublin,  May  27. 

ANTARCTIC    PHYSIOGRAPHY.^ 

DR.  GRIFFITH  TAYLOR,  physiographer  to 
the  Commonwealth  of  Australia,  accom- 
panied Capt.  Scott's  last  Antarctic  Expedition  as 
its  chief  physiographer,  and  in  this  interesting 
volume  he  records  his  experiences,  gives  brief 
summaries  of  his  observations  and  conclusions, 
and  describes  the  daily  life  and  incidents  of  the 
enterprise.  His  scientific  results  will  be  given 
more  fully  and  connectedly  in  the  special  volumes 
on  the  work  of  the  expedition.  His  narrative  is 
mainly  of  interest  as  a  preliminary  statement  of 
his  conclusions,   and  for  his  racy  account  of  the 


Economic  Work  of  the  Geological 
Surveys. 

The  note  on  Sir  Robert  Had- 
field's  address  to  a  Committee  of 
the  Advisory  Council  for  Scien- 
tific Research,  given  in  Nature 
for  May  25  (vol.  xcvii.,  p.  264), 
suggests  that  the  speaker  was  ill- 
informed  as  to  the  recent  history 
of  the  Geological  Surveys  of  our 
islands.  The  activities  of  what 
Sir  Robert  Hadfield  styles 
"  the  Geological  Survey "  have 
"restricted"     as    regards     Ireland, 


Fig.  I Photo  from  the  ship  of  Cape  Evans,  January  26,  iqii.    The  Tunnel  Berg  appears  on  the  right. 

Behind  is  the  daik  line  of  the  Ramp,  and  twelve  miles  awaj-  thecone  of  Krrebus  with  a  small  steam 
cloud.     From  "  With,  Scott :  The  Silver  Lining."* 


naturally  been 
since  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  that  country  was  placed  under  the 
Irish  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Technical  In- 
struction so  far  back  as  1905.  So  soon  as  the  need 
for  more  detailed  information  as  to  our  mineral  re- 
sources became  apparent,  through  the  pressure  of  mili- 
tary operations,  the  staff  in  Ireland  was  devoted  to 
the  preparation  of  a  reference  index  to  all  known 
mines  and  mineral  localities  in  the  country,  and  the 
inquiries  that  are  almost  daily  dealt  with  already 
show  the  utility  of  the  material  thus  brought  together. 
The  remark  quoted  from  Sir  Robert  Hadfield's 
address  as  to  the  basis  on  which  our  knowledge  of 
Irish  minerals  rests  must  surely  refer  to  some  officer 
in  England.  The  Department  of  Agriculture  in  Ire- 
land employs,  in  addition  to  the  staff  of  its  Geological 
Survey,  an  officer  entitled  the  "  Economic  Geologist," 
possessed  of  special  mining  qualifications,  whose  ad- 
vice is  always  at  the  service  of  those  who  may  be 
desirous  of  developing  mineral  industry  in  the  country. 
Surelv  the  combined  work  of  the  Geological  Surveys 
and  of  the  mining  officials  already  employed  in   the 

NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


life  of  the  expedition  and  pleasing  picture  of  the 
good  humour  and  happy  comradeship  between  all 
its  members. 

Dr.  Taylor's  chief  contributions  to  the  history 
of  the  expedition  are  his  accounts  of  the  voyage 
from  New  Zealand  to  Macmurdo  Sound,  of  the 
winter's  life  at  the  base  there,  and  of  the  two 
expeditions  under  his  command  to  the  mainland 
on  the  western  side  of  Macmurdo  Sound.  During 
his  sledge  journeys  in  that  area  he  was  able  to 
supplement  the  observations  of  Ferrar,  David, 
and  Mawson,  and  by  combining  all  the  materials 
available  has  produced  the  most  detailed  map  of 
any  part  of  eastern  Antarctica.  It  is  an  area  of 
special  interest,  as  the  glaciers  descend  towards 
the  coast  through  a  series  of  remarkable  valleys 
which  notch  the  edge  of  the  Antarctic  plateau. 
Dr.    Taylor's  party   followed    the    Ferrar   Glacier 

1  "With  Scott  :  The  Silver  Lining."     By  Dr.  Griffith  Taylor.     Pp.  xiv+ 
464.    (London  :  Smith,  Elder,  and  Co.,  1916.)    Price  181.  net. 


June  i,  191 6] 


NATURE 


281 


westward  to  an  upper  section,  which  has  been 
named  the  Taylor  Glacier.  The  origin  of  the 
glacier  valleys  has  not  yet  been  fully  explained, 
but  the  solution  of  the  problem  may  be  furnished 
by  the  detailed  geological  and  geographical  in- 
formation collected  by  Dr.  Taylor  and  his 
comrades. 

Dr.  Taylor's  special  attraction  to  Antarctica 
was  the  opportunity  of  studying  the  physiography 
of  an  area  where  water  action  had  been  always 
either  absent  or  relatively  insignificant  compared 
with  glacial  erosion.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
his  Antarctic  studies  have  led  him  to  reduce  the 
importance  he  had  once  assigned  to  ice  erosion. 
He  now  attaches  more  importance  to  the  shatter- 


Taylor's  observations.  Thus  he  figures  a  hill 
slof>e  which  appears  to  be  an  ordinary  denudation 
cur\-e ;  he  attributes  this  catenary  curve  to  glacial 
erosion,  whereas  probably  most  glacialists  regard 
the  opposite  denudation  curve,  which  is  over- 
steepened  at  the  end  owing  to  the  toe  of  the  slope 
having  been  worn  away,  as  the  characteristic 
feature  of  glacial  denudation. 

One  item  in  Dr.  Taylor's  physiographic  nomen- 
clature is  open  to  regret,  since  he  has  followed  a 
growing  custom  of  adopting  an  ordinary  German 
term  with  a  sp>ecial  technical  meaning.  He  uses 
the  term  "  riegel "  for  a  rock  bar  across  a 
glaciated  valley.  In  his  first  reference  to  the 
structure  he  calls  it  a  bar  or  riegel ;   but  after- 


FlG.  2 


-The  field  of  crevasses  (SIcauk)  at  the  root  of  Mackay  Tongue,  January  6,  1912.     Behind  are  the  faceted  sk}pes  of  Moant  Allan  Thomson. 
Photo  from  the  Flat  Iron  looking  N.W.     From  '"  With  Scott :  The  Silver  Lining." 


ing  action  of  frost  than  to  the  actual  erosive  in- 
fluence of  glacier  ice.  The  frcmt  of  the  Antarctic 
plateau  which  rises  above  the  Ross  Sea  has  been 
hollowed  into  the  great  rounded  depressions 
known  as  corries  or  cirques ;  and  these  features 
have  long  been  attributed  by  many  glacialists  to 
the  direct  excavating  action  of  glaciers.  Dr. 
Taylor,  however,  adopts  the  conclusion  that  they 
are  essentially  due  to  the  action  of  frost.  This 
explanation  was  first  clearly  advanced  by  Prof. 
Cole  in  1895,  and  though  long  rejected  it  has  been 
largely  adopted  in  recent  years.  The  indefinite- 
ness  of  the  characters  used  to  distinguish  glacial 
from  water  erosion  is  illustrated  by  some  of  Dr. 

NO.    2431,   VOL.   97] 


wards  he  uses  only  the  latter.  The  word  "  bar  " 
is  the  recognised  English  term,  and  it  is  used  in 
geography,  and  there  seems  no  need  to  introduce 
a  foreign  word.  German  authors  adopt  the  term 
"  riegel  "  because  it  is  the  natural  word  for  them 
to  use  in  describing  this  structure;  and  there 
seems  no  more  reason  why  British  authors  should 
call  such  a  formation  a  riegel  than  whv  German 
geographers  should  call  it  a  bar.  It  may  be  said 
that  the  term  "bar  "  is  ambiguous,  and  can  only 
be  understood  by  the  context,  but  exactly  the 
same  objection  applies  to  "riegel." 

In     reference    to     the     general     physiographic 
Antarctic  problems,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 


282 


NATURE 


[June  i,  1916 


Dr.  Taylor  believes  in  the  connection  advocated 
by  Filchner  between  the  Ross  and  Weddell  Seas. 
From  the  account  of  the  researches  by  Dr. 
Simpson  it  appears  not  improbable  that  the  most 
important  of  the  scientific  results  of  the  expedition 
will  be  the  additions  to  Antarctic  meteorology. 

The  book  is  illustrated  by  numerous  excellent 
photographs,  including-  some  by  the  expert 
Antarctic  photographer,  Mr.  Ponting,  and  also 
many  instructive  and  ingenious  diagrammatic 
sketches  by  Dr.  Taylor.  He  publishes  a  photo- 
graph of  the  Discovery  Hut  in  which  he  lived 
for  a  month,  and  the  title  directs  attention  to  one 
feature  which  shows  that  the  hut  was  not  built 
as  designed ;  for  it  is  raised  on  supports  which 
were  only  to  have  been  used  if  the  hut  had  to  be 
erected  on  ice  into  which  they  could  have  been 
easily  sunk. 

One  interesting  psychic  incident  is  recorded. 
.'Vt  about  the  time  when  Amundsen  turned  back 
from  the  South  Pole  his  compatriot  Gran  had  a 
dream  to  that  effect,  and  promptly  recorded  it  in 
one  of  Dr.  Taylor's  books.  The  author  regards 
it  as  a  coincidence,  but  his  remarks  suggest  that 
he  is  not  very  confident  of  this  explanation. 


PTOLEMY'S    CATALOGUE    OF  STARS.-^ 

JUST  forty  years  ago  the  late  Prof.  Peters, 
of  Clinton,  New  York,  and  Mr.  Knobel 
began  independently,  and  without  either  of  them 
knowing  of  the  other's  work,  to  investigate  the 
Catalogue  of  Stars  in  Ptolemy's  Almagest. 
They  soon,  however,  got  into  correspondence,  and 
eventually  met  in  Paris  in  1887.  By  that  time 
Peters  had  collated  most  of  the  manuscripts  in 
Continental  libraries,  and  Mr.  Knobel  then  under- 
took to  examine  those  in  England.  Peters  died 
in  1890,  and  in  November,  1891,  most  of  his 
papers  and  notes  bearing  on  the  subject  were 
forwarded  to  Mr.  Knobel,  who  completed  the 
work,  and  has  now  at  last  suceeded  in  getting  it 
printed. 

Only  three  editions  of  the  Greek  text  of  the 
Almagest  have  been  published,  those  of 
Grynaeus  (1538),  Halma  (1813-16),  and  Heiberg 
{1898— 1903).  A  valuable  German  translation  by 
Manitius  came  out  three  years  ago.  Of  the 
Star  Catalogue  there  have  been  several  separate 
editions,  the  best  of  which  is  that  of  Baily  (Mem. 
R.  Astr.  Soc,  vol.  xiii.).  But  from  an  astro- 
nomer's p>oint  of  view  no  previous  edition 
can  compare  with  the  one  we  are  considering 
here,  as  this  is  founded  on  an  examination  of  a 
great  number  of  codices — Greek,  Latin,  and 
Arabic — and  contains,  besides,  many  other  things 
for  which  astronomers  looked  in  vain  in  the 
earlier  editions. 

The  investigation  of  Peters  differs  from  those 
hitherto  made,  as  he  began  by  calculating  from 
Piazzi's  star-places  and  Madler-Bradley's  proper 
motions  the  longitudes  and  latitudes  of  all 
Ptolemy's  stars  for  the  epoch  a.d.    100,   for  the 

1  "  Ptolemy's  Catalogue  of  Srars.  A  Revision  of  the  Alinagest."  By  Dr. 
C.  H  F.  Peters  and  E.  B.  Knobel.  Pp.  207.  (Washington  :  Carnegie 
Institution,  1915.) 


NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


purpose  of  identifying  the  stars  and  getting  an* 
idea  of  the  accuracy  of  the  positions.  This  was- 
done  before  Auwers  had  published  his  new  re- 
duction of  Bradley's  observations,  and  it  would 
have  been  worth  while  to  examine  what  difference 
the  adoption  of  Auwers 's  proper  motions  would 
have  made,  though  the  main  results  of  the  in- 
vestigation W'Ould  doubtless  not  have  been 
affected.  The  work  also  differs  from  all  others 
in  the  number  of  codices  consulted.  In  all, 
twenty-one  Greek  and  eight  Latin  codices  of  the 
Almagest  were  examined,  and  also  three  Arabic 
codices  of  the  Almagest,  ten  of  Al  Sufi's 
Uranometry  (the  catalogue  in  which  is  that  of 
Ptolemy,  with  a  constant  correction  for  preces- 
sion), and  one  of  Nasir-ed-din  Al  Tusi's  Com- 
pendium of  the  Almagest.  Detailed  notes  on  the 
first  thirty-three  of  these  codices  and  three  photo- 
graphic plates  are  appended ;  the  latter  help  tO' 
make  the  reader  understand  the  principal  sources- 
of  error  in  the  catalogue. 

The  original  catalogue  was  doubtless  written 
in  the  uncial  Greek  characters  of  the  seconds 
century,  and  the  most  common  error  in  all  manu- 
scripts is  that  of  confounding  the  uncial  alpha 
(=1)  and  delta  (  =  4).  Thus  the  magnitude  of 
d  Eridani  is  given  in  all  Almagests  as  i  instead 
of  4,  which  hitherto  has  puzzled  everybody,  while 
the  Bodleian  Greek  Almagest  gives  the  magni- 
tude of  Sirius  as  4.  Errors  are  also  caused  by 
confusion  between  A  and  A  (  =  30)  or  6  =  5  and 
6  =  g,  etc.  The  Arabic  MSS.  are  especially  im- 
portant for  comparison  with  the  Greek,  as  the 
errors  are  of  a  different  kind.  Unlike  the  Greeks, 
who  wrote  the  minutes  of  longitude  and  latitude 
as  fractions  of  a  degree,  the  Arabs  wrote  the 
minutes  in  figures,  and  thus  these  two  different 
methods  form  a  valuable  check  one  on  the  other. 

The  star-places  finally  adopted  by  the  authors 
are  given  in  three  catalogues.  The  first  con- 
tains for  each  star  :  Baily 's  number,  the  number 
and  Latin  description  of  the  star  from  the  Latin 
edition  printed  in  1528,  the  Flamsteed  number 
and  Bayer's  letter,  the  longitude,  latitude,  and 
magnitude.  The  second  catalogue  repeats  the 
last  three  items,  and  gives  the  longitude  and' 
latitude  computed  from  Piazzi  for  the  epoch 
A.D.  100,  and  the  difference  between  these  and' 
Ptolemy's  values;  also  the  magnitude  from  the 
revised  Harvard  Photometry.  The  third  cata- 
logue gives  Ptolemy's  longitudes  reduced  by 
2°  40',  being  the  difference  which  Ptolemy  states 
he  found  between  the  longitudes  of  Hipparchus 
and  those  of  his  own  time,  and  the  latitudes 
unaltered ;  also  the  positions  computed  for 
130  B.C.  After  a  lengthy  set  of  notes  on  various 
stars  follow  tables  collating  a  number  of  codices 
as  regards  longitude,  latitude,  and  magnitude. 

Most  writers  have  been  of  the  opinion  that 
Ptolemy's  catalogue  was  nothing  but  that  of 
Hipparchus,  the  longitudes  being  altered  by 
adding  2°  40'  for  precession.  Peters  had  already 
published  in  1877  ^  paper  showing  that  modern 
star-places^  reduced  to  a.d.  100  and  compared 
with  those  of  Ptolemy,  gave  a  mean  correction, 
to    his    longitudes  = +34*9',     making    his    epochi 


June  i,  191 6] 


NATURE 


2%X 


A.D.  58  instead  of  a.d.  138,  the  alleged  epoch. 
The  year  a.d.  58  is  187  years  after  the  epoch  of 
Hipparchus,  which  gives  the  amount  of  preces- 
sion—2°  36',  agreeing  closely  with  the  difference 
of  2°  40'  found  by  Ptolemy.  Mr.  Knobel  re- 
marks that,  as  the  correction  could  not  represent 
positions  observed  in  a.d.  138,  this  supports  the 
view  that  the  catalogue  is  simply  that  of  Hij>- 
parchus,  with  a  constant  amount  added  to  the 
longitudes. 

But  this  conclusion  is  by  no  means  certain, 
and  was  not  accepted  by  Peters  when  he  spoke 
on  this  subject  at  the  Kiel  meeting  of  the 
Astronomische  Gesellschaft  in  1887,  less  than 
three  years  before  his  death.  According  to  the 
v^ry  short  report  in  the  Vierteljahrsschrift 
(xxii.,  p.  269),  Peters  said  that  the  constant  error 
of  the  longitudes  might  very  well  be  due  to  syste- 
matic errors  of  Ptolemy's  instruments  or  to  faults 
of  the  method  (comparison  of  sun  and  stars  with 
the  moon  as  an  intermediary),  neglect  of  re- 
fraction, etc.  The  equinoxes  of  Ptolemy  should 
not  be  assumed  to  possess  the  accuracy  required 
to  justify  the  above  conclusion,  and  it  would,  in 
fact,  be  remarkable  if  such  accuracy  had  been 
attained.  Peters  added  that  stars  with  large 
proper  motion,  especially  40  Eridani,  agreed 
far  better  with  the  places  of  the  stars  at  the  time 
of  Ptolemy  than  with  those  at  the  time  of  Hip- 
parchus. To  these  reasons  for  hesitating  to 
adopt  the  usual  conclusion  we  would  add  the 
common  belief  among  the  Arabs  that  Ptolemy 
had  borrowed  his  whole  catalogue  from  Menelaus, 
adding  25'  {41  years'  precession  at  36")  to  the 
longitudes.  This  seems  in  itself  a  far  more 
likely  origin  of  the  catalogue  than  that  it  should 
have  been  borrowed  from  one  made  270  years 
earlier.  But  the  problem  of  the  origin  of 
Ptolemy's  catalogue  is  still  unsolved. 

J.  L.  E.  D. 


PROF.  H.  C.  JONBS. 
'  I  ''HE  announcement  in  Nature  of  May  18  of  the 
-•■  death  of  Prof.  Harry  Jones,  of  Johns  Hop- 
kins University,  will  be  received  by  his  many 
friends  in  this  country  with  sincere  regret,  for  his 
transparent  honesty  and  sincerity,  his  enthusiastic 
nature,  his  kindliness,  and  his  courtesy  impressed 
all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

Harry  Clary  Jones  was  born  in  New  London, 
Maryland,  in  1865,  and  received  his  academic 
education  in  the  famous  university  of  his  State. 
He  graduated  as  A.B.  in  i88g  and  as  Ph.D.  in 
1892.  The  next  two  years  he  spent  in  Europe 
working  in  the  laboratories  of  Ostwald,  Arrhenius, 
and  van't  Hoff.  Permeated  with  the  ideas  and 
theories  associated  with  these  names,  Jones  re- 
turned to  America  and  proceeded  to  promulgate 
them  with  boundless  energy  and  enthusiasm.  He 
received  an  appointment  on  the  teaching  staff  of 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  and  was  in  time  pro- 
moted to  the  chair  of  physical  chemistry.  Jones 
was  a  tireless  worker  himself  and  inspired  his 
numerous  co-workers  with  an  equal  industry. 
During  the  last  twenty  years  he  published,  alone 

NO.    243  T,   VOL.   97] 


and  in  conjunction  with  them,  well  above  a 
hundred  papers,  many  of  them  memoirs  of  con- 
siderable magnitude,  and  found  time  in  addition 
to  write  six  books  (text-books  and  semi-popular 
works),  several  of  which  have  passed  through  a 
number  of  editions. 

The  line  of  research  to  which  he  chiefly  devoted 
himself  was  the  study  of  the  intimate  nature  of 
solutions.  In  the  "ideal"  solutions  of  van't  Hoff 
the  mutual  influence  of  solvent  and  solute  may  be 
neglected.  The  main  object  of  the  investigations 
of  Jones  and  his  fellow-workers  w^as  to  ascertain 
the  nature  and  extent  of  this  influence  in  actual 
solutions.  For  aqueous  solutions  Mendeleeff  had 
advanced  the  hypothesis  that  the  dissolved  sub- 
stance existed  in  the  form  of  a  hydrate  or  hydrates 
of  definite  composition.  Jones  modified  and  ex- 
tended this  idea  and  held  that  dissolved  substances 
in  general  are  combined  with  more  or  less  of  the 
solvent  as  a  series  of  solvates.  To  test  this  "  sol- 
vate theory  of  solution  "  his  extensive  experimental 
work  was  devised.  He  explained  abnormally  low 
freezing-points  of  concentrated  solutions  as  due  to 
a  portion  of  the  solvent  having  combined  with  the 
solute,  so  that  the  concentration  in  the  remaining 
solvent  was  greater  than  that  deduced  from  the 
composition  of  the  solution,  and  showed  that  this 
abnormality  in  aqueous  solutions  was  greatest  for 
those  substances  which '  crystallise  most  readily 
with  water  of  crystallisation.  By  the  use  of  the 
grating  spectroscope  he  showed  that  the  absorption 
bands  of  solutions  became  broader  (i)  as  the  solu- 
tion became  more  concentrated,  (2)  as  the  tempera- 
ture was  raised,  (3)  as  dehydrating  substances  were 
added.  In  each  case  this  would  correspond  to  the 
production  of  simpler  hydrates.  He  also  showed 
that  different  absorption  bands  were  obtained 
according  to  the  solvent  in  which  the  salts  investi- 
gated (chiefly  those  of  neodymium,  which  give 
sharp  absorption  bands)  were  dissolved,  pointing 
to  the  formation  of  different  solvates.  By  means 
of  the  radiomicrometer  he  demonstrated  finally  that 
the  water  in  concentrated  solutions  of  non-absorb- 
ing salts  showed  a  smaller  absorption  in  the  infra- 
red region  than  water  itself. 

Of  his  text-books  the  "  Elements  of  Physical 
Chemistry "  is  deservedly  the  most  successful, 
being  written  in  an  easy,  readable  style,  which 
makes  it  popular  with  the  student.  In  his  "  New: 
Era  in  Chemistry  "  he  described  the  progress  of 
the  science  from  1887  onwards,  and  struck  a  per- 
sonal note  which  adds  to  the  interest  and  pleasure 
of  perusal.  J.  W. 


NOTES. 

The  Paris  correspondent  of  the  Times  states  that 
the  Committee  of  the  Senate  appointed  to  consider  the 
Daylight  Saving  Bill  has  reported  against  the  measure 
on  the  ground  that  the  economy  intended  to  be  realised 
IS  doubtful,  and  that  the  change  woulcT  cause  serious 
inconvenience. 

In  the  recent  debate  on  the  Air  Board  in  the  House 
of  Lords  several  references  were  made  to  the  scientific 
side  of  aeronautics.  This  aspect  of  the  subject  is  not 
nearly  so  well  known  and  appreciated  as  it  should  be 


2^4 


NATURE 


[June  i,  1916 


b\-  the  designers  and  constructors  of- our  present  aero- 
planes. If  the  new  Air  Board  succeeds  in  bringing 
about  a  better  understanding  between  the  practical 
designer  and  the  scientific  expert,  and  in  enabling  the 
results  of  scientific  experiment  and  calculation  to  be 
used  more  widely  in  the  actual  production  of  aircraft, 
it  will  be  doing  a  great  service  to  the  aeronautical 
industry.  The  proposal  for  the  establishment  of  a 
separate  Board  of  Inventions  in  connection  with  the 
Air  Board  seems  to  be  a  good  one,  provided  that  the 
Board  consists  of  men  who  have  sufficient  technical 
knowledge  to  be  able  to  discriminate  between  inven- 
tions of  real  use  and  the  many  "  freak "  inventions 
which  now  flood  the  country.  A  great  deal  of  the 
time  of  scientific  experts  is  now  wasted  in  experiment- 
ing on  inventions  that  should  have  been  thrown  out 
as  obviously  useless  in  the  first  place.  The  progress 
that  has  been  made  from  the  scientific  point  of  view 
is  very  considerable.  It  is  now  possible  to  calculate 
with  considerable  accuracy  the  performance  and 
stability  of  a  new  design  from  simple  experiments  on 
models  in  a  wind  tunnel.  In  the  matter  of  scientific 
aeronautics  we  are  well  in  advance  of  the  enemy, 
except  perhaps  in  connection  with  rigid  airships.  The 
chief  necessity  at  the  present  time  is  that  available 
scientific  information  should  be  used  to  the  fullest 
advantage.  It  is  only  by  the  combination  of  scientific 
investigation  with  the  practical  experience  of  the  pilot 
and  the  designer  that  the  best  results  can  be  obtained, 
and  the  much-desired  supremacy  of  the  air  definitely 
assured. 

The  following  officers  of  the  Linnean  Society  for 
the  ensuing  year  were  elected  at  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  society  on  May  24  : — President,  Sir  David 
Prain,  C.M.G. ;  Treasurer,  Mr.  H.  W.  Monckton ; 
Secretaries,  Dr.  B.  Daydon  Jackson,  Mr.  E.  S.  Good- 
rich, and  Dr.  A.   B.   Rendle. 

We  regret  to  see  the  announcement  of  the  death, 
on  May  28,  at  seventy  years  of  age,  of  Sir  James  F. 
Goodhart,  consulting  physician  to  Guy's  Hospital 
and  other  institutions,  and  president  of  the  Harveian 
Society  of  London  in  1898. 

The  fourth  Wilbur  Wright  Memorial  Lecture  of  the 
Aeronautical  Society,  on  "The  Life  and  Work  of 
Wilbur  Wright,"  will  be  delivered  by  Mr.  Griffith 
Brewer  at  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts,  on  Tuesday, 
June  6,  at  3  p.m.  The  Rt.  Hon.  Lord  Montagu  of 
Beaulieu  will  preside. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Mining  Engineers, 
to  be  held  at  the  rooms  of  the  Geological  Society,  Bur- 
lington House,  Piccadilly,  W.,  on  Thursday,  June  8, 
Prof.  F.  W.  Hardwick  will  deliver  a  lecture  on  "The 
History  of  the  Safety-Lamp,"  in  celebration  of  the 
centenary  of  its  invention  by  George  Stephenson  and 
Sir  Humphry  Davy. 

We  regret  to  announce  the  death,  on  May  17,  at 
eighty-four  years  of  age,  of  Mrs.  Mary  Everest  Boole, 
widow  of  George  Boole,  the  mathematician.  Devoted 
to  her  husband  and  his  memory,  she  was  an  original 
and  rather  paradoxical  writer;  for  example,  on  the 
strength  of  her  knowledge  of  the  mathematical  theory 
of  envelopes,  she  wrote  a  sort  of  metaphysical  essay 
about  free  wijl,  etc..  In  terms  of  an  envelope-theor\'. 
Like  Henry  Drummond,  she  mistook  a  picturesque 
analogy  for  a  real  explanation ;  but  the  book  is  better 
worth  reading  than  many  more  orthodox  productions. 

General  Sir  Douglas  Haig,  Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  British  Forces  in  France  and  Belgium,  in  his 
first  despatch,  dated  May  19,  and  covering  the  period 
from  December  19,    1915,  makes  the  following  appre- 

NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


ciative  reference  to  the  assistance  afforded  by  chemists 
attached  to  the  forces: — "The  valuable  nature  of  the 
work  performed  by  the  officers  of  the  Central  Labora- 
tory and  the  Chemical  Advisers  with  the  Armies  in 
investigations  into  the  nature  of  the  gases  and  other 
new  substances  used  in  hostile  attacks,  and  in  devising 
and  perfecting  means  of  protecting  our  troops  against 
them,  is  deserving  of  recognition.  The  efforts  of  these 
officers  materially  contributed  to  the  failure  of  the 
Germans  in  their  attack  of  December  19,  1915,  as 
well  as  in  the  various  gas  attacks  sin.ce  made." 

Among  the  representatives  of  applied  science  who 
have  lost  their  lives  in  the  present  war  some  mention 
should  be  made  of  Capt.  Paul  Hammond.  He  was 
born  in  Brazil  of  British  parentage,  and  was 
educated  at  Tonbridge  School.  He  studied  at 
the  School  of  Mines  at  Freiberg,  in  Saxony* 
where  he  graduated  as  a  mining  engineer.  He 
was  for  some  time  engaged  in  mineralogical  sur- 
vey work  in  the  south  of  the  State  of  Sao  Paulo,  and 
afterwards  practised  as  a  consulting  mining  engineer 
in  London.  Shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  war  he 
received  a  commission  in  the  8th  Battn.  of  the  East 
Lancashire  Regiment,  and  was  Acting  Major  when  he 
was  wounded  at  Foncquevillers.  He  died  eight  days 
later,  on  February  25  of  the  present  year,  aged  thirty- 
one.  His  keenness  and  courage  stood  him  in  good 
stead  in  his  short  military  career,  while  his  cheerful- 
ness and  kindliness  endeared  him  to  all  who  knew 
him. 

A  REPORT  has  just  been  issued  by  the  Committee 
appointed  by  the  Home  Secretary  in  March  last  to 
test  experimentally  the  value  of  dry-powder  fire- 
extinguishers  in  putting  out  fires  such  as  are  likely 
to  be  caused  by  bombs  (Cd.  8250,  price  id.).  These 
extinguishers  generally  contain  as  their  main  con- 
stituent sodium  bicarbonate,  the  amount  varying  from 
46  to  56  per  cent,  in  the  samples  analysed.  The  par- 
ticular make  chosen  for  the  fire  experiments  contained 
also  approximately  the  same  proportion  of  calcium 
carbonate,  the  total  available  carbon  dioxide  amount- 
ing to  12  or  13  per  cent.  The  efficacy  of  the  dry- 
powder  preparations  was  compared  with  that  of  water 
applied  (i)  in  buckets,  and  (2)  in  liquid  extincteurs 
spraying  a  jet  of  water  impregnated  with  carbon 
dioxide  upon  the  fires.  None  of  the  agents  employed 
had  any  material  effect  upon  the  combustion  of  the 
bomb  itself.  Water,  however,  was  far  more  effective 
than  the  dry  powder  in  preventing  the  spread  of  the 
fire,  the  wetting  of  the  surrounding  material  confin- 
ing the  conflagration  to  the  immediate  neighbourhood 
of  the  bomb.  The  general  conclusion  arrived  at  was 
that  by  far  the  best  extinguishing  agent  is  a  plentiful 
supply  of  water  applied  in  the  manner  most  con- 
venient ;  the  use  of  dry  powder  is  to  be  deprecated  as 
giving  a  misleading  sense  of  security. 

Some  interesting  details  of  his  recent  explorations 
in  Central  Asia  have  Been  furnished  by  Sir  Aurel  Stein 
on  his  return  to  England.  He  followed  a  route 
hitherto  unknown  to  the  Pamirs  across  Darel  and 
Tangier,  and  in  this  portion  of  his  journey  he  was 
assisted  by  Pakhtum  Wali,  an  exiled  chief  of  Chitral, 
who  has  recently  carved  out  for  himself  a  new  king- 
dom in  this  region,  and  desires  the  friendiv  support 
of  the  Government  of  India.  At  an  old  sand-buried 
site  in  the  Talkamakan  desert  many  ancient  writings 
on  wood  in  an  early  Indian  language  dating-  from  the 
third  century  a.d.  were  found,  and  the  old  route  by 
which  the  Chinese  conveyed  their  silks  to  Centra'l 
Asia  and  the  Mediterranean  was  traced.  On  this  road 
hundreds  of  copper  coins  and  bronze  arrow-heads,  the 
debris  of  their  caravans,  were  picked  up.     On  another 


JU^E    I,     I916] 


NATURE 


285 


part  of  the  route  the  watch-towers  erected  by  the 
Chinese  to  protect  their  western  marches  in  Kansu 
against  the  Huns  were  examined.  These  travels  in- 
volved more  than  11,000  miles  marching  over  moun- 
tain and  desert,  and  Sir  Aurel  Stein  gratefully  acknow- 
ledges the  kind  treatment  he  received  from  the  Rus- 
sian officials.  The  explorer  and  the  Indian  Grovem- 
ment,  who  organised  the  journey,  are  to  be  heartily 
congratulated  on  the  successful  completion  of  a  task 
which  will  supply  much  new  information  on  geo- 
graphy,  history,  art,   and  linguistics. 

The  provisional  programme  of  the  eighty-sixth 
annual  meeting  of  the  British  Association,  to  be  held 
at  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  from  Tuesday,  September  5, 
to  Saturday,  September  9,  under  the  presidency  of  Sir 
Arthur  Evans,  F.R.S.,  is  about  to  be  issued.  The 
inaugural  meeting  will  be  held  in  the  Town  Hall  on 
September  5,  at  8.30  p.m.,  when  the  president  will 
deliver  an  address  to  the  association.  Evening  dis- 
courses will  be  delivered  in  the  Town  Hall  on  Thurs- 
day, September  7,  by  Prof.  W.  A.  Bone,  F.R.S.,  who 
will  deal  with  some  recent  advances  in  combustion, 
and  on  Friday,  September  8,  by  Dr.  P.  Chalmers 
Mitchell,  F.R.S.,  on  "Evolution  and  the  War."  The 
reception-room  will  be  in  the  College  of  Medicine. 
Some  of  the  section-rooms  will  be  in  the  same  build- 
ing, and  the  remainder  will  be  conveniently  accessible 
from  it.  The  following  are  the  presidents  of  sections  : — 
A  (Mathematical  and  Phvsical  Science),  Dr.  A.  N. 
Whitehead.  F.R.S. ;  B  (Chemistry),  Prof.  G.  G.  Hender- 
son ;  C  (Geologv),  Prof.  W.  S.  Boulton  ;  D  (Zoologv), 
Prof.  E.  W.  MacBride,  F.R.S. ;  E  (Geography),  Mr. 
D.  G.  Hogarth;  F  (Economic  Science  and  Statistics"), 
Prof.  A.  W.  Kirkaldy;  G  (Engineering),  Mr.  G.  G. 
Stonev;  H  (.\nthropology ) .  Dr.  R.  R.  Marett;  I 
(Phvsiologv-),  Prof.  A.  '  R.  Cushnv.  F.R.S.;  K 
(Botanv),  Dr.  A.  B.  Rendle,  F.R.S.;  L  (Educational 
Science),  Rev.  W.  Temple;  M  (.\griculture),  Dr.  E.  J. 
Russell. 

A  VERB.ATiM  report  has  just  been  published  (London  : 
Harrison  and  Sons ;  price  6d.)  of  the  proceedings  of 
th^  conference  on  the  Neglect  of  Science,  of  which  an 
account  was  given  in  Nature  of  May  11  (p.  230).  The 
conference  was  successful  in  eliciting  some  notewx»rthy 
utterances  from  leading  representatives  of  many  de- 
partments of  national  activity,  and  was  fortunate  in 
securing  Lord  Rayleigh  as  the  chairman.  The  chief 
claim  of  the  first  resolution  was  that  science  "  should 
form  part  of  the  entrance  examination  of  the  Universi- 
ties of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  as  well  as  of  the  newer 
universities."  Lord  Rayleigh  is  Chancellor  of  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  which  still  makes,  not 
science,  but  Greek  an  essential  subject  of  entrance 
examinations ;  and  the  purpose  of  the  meeting  over 
which  he  presided  was  to  urge  the  need  for  reform. 
It  is  of  particular  interest,  therefore,  to  give  Lord 
Rayleigh 's  views  upon  the  sirpposed  advantages  of 
compulsory  classical  study  for  the  average  boy  in  a 
public  school.  "I  believe  it  is  true,"  he  said,  "there 
is  a  certain  type  of  mind  for  which  a  classical  educa- 
tion on  more  oc  less  existing  lines  is  perhaps  the  best 
thing  that  can  be  found;  but  when  it  comes  to  the 
majority  of  schoolboys,  I  think  it  is  nothing  less  than 
an  absurdity  to  talk  about  impressing  them  with  the 
language  and  literature  of  the  ancients.  It  is  well 
known  that  such  a  result  is  not  achieved  with  the 
average  boy.  I  myself  was  an  average  boy,  in  class- 
ical matters  anyhow,  and  I  can  speak  from  experience. 
I  was  not  behind  the  average ;  but  I  know  that  the 
long  vears  which  I  gave  to  classical  work  were  to  a 
ver>-  large  extent  thrown  away,  although  I  have  no 
dcnibt  I  got  something  from  it;  but  anv  idea  of  attain- 
ing to  an  appreciation  of  the  language  aiKl  literature 

NO.    2431,   VOL.   97] 


of  the  Greeks,  in  my  own  case,  and  in  the  case  of 
most  of  my  friends,  was  mere  moonshine.  .  .  .  You 
pretend  to  take  a  literary  education  by  Greek,  and 
you  end  by  getting  none  at  all.  My  own  belief  is  that 
modern  languages  to  a  very  large  extent  serve  the 
purpose  if  p>roperly  taught  and  properly  iasisted  upon, 
as  they  very  frequently  are  not  now." 

The  death  is  announced  of  Prof.  Paul  Lemoult  in 
tragic  circumstances.     Until  the  outbreak  of  war    he 
occupied  the  chair  of  chemistrj'  at  the  University  of 
Lille,  and  was  at  the  same  time  director  of  the  School 
of  Commerce  of  the  North,  and  chief  engineer  to  the 
chemical    works    of    La    Pallice,    near    La    Rochelle. 
!  When  Lille  was  occupied  by  the  enemy    some  of  the 
'  industries  w-ere  transferred  to  the  Lyons  district,  and 
I  under   the   direction   of   Prof.    Lemcoilt   a   picric  acid 
!  works  was  erected,  which  very  Soon  was  able  to  con- 
'  tribute  substantially  to   the  production  of  this   explo- 
sive.    On   Monday,   May    i,   a   fire"  broke  out   in   the 
;  works,    and   very    soon    assumed    serious    proportions. 
j  Lemoult  was   soon   on   the  spot,   but,   in   spite  of  his 
\  efforts,  the  fire  spread  to  the  storehouse,   which  con- 
tained 150  tons  of  picric  acid.     The  explosion  which 
ensued  destroyed  the  factory,  and  Lemoult  lost  his  life. 
i  Paul    Lemoult   was   born    in   1871,    and   after  passing 
through  the  Lyceum  at  Poitiers    he  was  admitted  to 
the  Ecole   Normale   in    1891.        He   then    entered    the 
laboratory  of  Berthelot  as  preparateur.     He  obtained 
his  doctorate  in  1898  for  a  thesis  on  the  polymerisation 
of  c\-anogen    compounds,    for   which   he  obtained   the 
Jerome  Ponti  prize.        He  afterwards  took  a  post  at 
the  celebrated  colour  factory  of  St.   Denis,  where  he 
remained   several   years,   when   he   was    appointed  to 
the  University'  of  Lille.     His  wide  knowledge  of  tech- 
nical   matters    was    greatly    valued    by    the    industrial 
community  among  which  he  lived,  and  the  confidence 
which  he  inspired  led  to  his  appointment  as  director  of 
the  School   of  Commerce   of  the   North.       He   made 
t  several  valuable  contributions  on  organic  chemistry  to 
!  the  Comptes  rendus  of  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences. 

!       In  1879  the  arrangements  for  the  transport  of  the 
;  obelisk  from  Alexandria  to  New  York  were  undertaken 
by  the  Government  of  the  United  States.     The  work 
'  was  completed,  and  the  obelisk  was  erected  at  New 
I  York    in    October,    1879.     During    the  course    of    the 
operations   Lieut. -Commander   H.    H.    Gorringe,    who 
;  was  in  command  of  the  expedition,  made  a  collection 
I  of    Egyptian    antiquities,     which     were     removed     to 
i  America,      but      after      his      death      the      coUectioa 
was      completely      lost      to      sight,     and     has     only 
i  recently      been      examined      by      Prof.      S.     A.      B. 
!  Mercer,    who    gives    an    account    of    it    in    part    ii. 
(1916)  of  Ancient  Egypt.     It  turns  out  to  be  of  excep)- 
tional  interest,  containing  a  number  of  fine  terra-cotta 
■  figurines   of   Harpocrates   and   Isis,   dating   from   the 
j  Roman    period.     The    gems    of    the    collection    are   a 
j  beautiful  bronze  figure  of  Ptolemy  Lathyros,   an   ex- 
I  cellent  example  of  Ptolemaic  art ;  a  number  of  bronze 
I  figurines  of  the  Roman  period,  and  statues  of  Osiris, 
:  Sekhmet,  Neith.  and  Isis  of  the  twenty-srxth  dvnastv. 
i  In    the    same    issue    of    Ancient   Egypt    Prof.    C.    G. 
;  SeKgman   describes  a  remarkable  ivor>'  comb  of  t±»e 
i  prehistoric  period,  with  a  representation  of  the  hippo- 
potamus goddess,  Taurt,  which  seems  to  be  the  earliest 
;  representation  of  this  di\Tnity,  and  indicates  that  her 
cult  orevailed  in  a  time  earBer  than  is  usually  sup- 
posed. 

The  visit  of  the  British  Association  to  Winnipeg  in 
'  190Q  gave  a  welcome  strmnkis  to  ethnographic  work 

in  Canada,  of  which  an  account  is  given  bv  Mr.  A.  C. 
'  Breton  in  JVfan  for  .April.     The  Dominion  Government 

has  contributed  liberallv  to  this  work  by  establishiag 
'  an  Anthropological  Division  of  the  Geological  Survey, 


286 


NATURE 


[June  i,  1916 


with  charge  of  the  Victoria  Memorial  Museum  at 
Ottawa  as  the  centre  of  research,  and  it  has  already 
published  a  series  of  papers  of  exceptional  value. 
Canada  possesses  at  the  present  time  no  fewer  than 
thirty  museums  equipped  with  anthropological  depart- 
ments, the  most  important  being  that  at  Ottawa,  In 
this  the  complete  Labrador  Eskimo  ethnological  ■  and 
archaeological  departments  are  of  special  interest. 
Toronto  possesses  the  cranial  collection  of  the  late 
Sir  D.  Wilson,  and  a  fine  series  of  skeletons  from 
mounds  in  Ontario  and  Manitoba,  brought  together 
by  Prof.  Montgomery.  In  the  Provincial  Museum  in 
the  same  city  are  stored  collections  of  Ontario  skulls 
and  a  mass  of  stone  implements  brought  from  ancient 
sites  in  the  province  by  the  late  Dr.  David  Boyle. 
A  good  example  of  a  local  museum  is  that  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  Park  at  Banff,  where  Mr.  Harlan 
Smith  is  in  charge  of  fine  collections  from  the  tribes 
of  that  region.  The  Dominion  Government  deserves 
warm  congratulations  for  the  active  interest  it  has 
shown  in  developing  the  study  of  the  ethnology  and 
archaeology  of  the  country. 

The  Annals  oj  Tropical  Medicine  and  Parasitology, 
vol.  X,,  No.  I,  April,  contains  six  papers.  Dr.  H.  H. 
Scott  deals  with  the  vomiting  sickness  of  Jamaica; 
Dr.  G.  Duncan  Whyte  with  simplified  diagnosis  and 
treatment  of  ancylostomiasis ;  Dr.  E.  R.  Armstrong 
with  differential  blood  counts  in  malaria;  Mr.  H.  F. 
Carter  with  three  new  African  midges ;  Sir  Leonard 
Rogers  with  the  reduction  of  the  alkalinity  of  the 
blood  in  cholera;  and  Dr.  H.  R.  Carter,  of  U.S.A., 
with  immunity  to  yellow  fever.  Dr.  Scott,  who  is 
Government  bacteriologist  in  Jamaica,  after  a  long 
and  careful  study,  concludes  that  vomiting  sickness,  so 
prevalent  in  that  island,  is  due  to  poisoning  by  ackee 
fruit,  Blighia  sapida.  There  has  been  much  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  the  causation  of  this  vomiting  sick- 
ness, yellow  fever  and  cerebro-spinal  meningitis 
having  been  considered  to  be  the  cause  of  death  in 
many  of  the  cases  in  the  past.  Dr.  Scott  found  in 
19 14-15  that  ackees  formed  part  of  the  last  meal  taken 
in  health  before  the  onset  of  the  disease.  Persons 
taking  the  "soup,"  or  "pot-water,"  made  with  apkees 
in  certain  conditions,  showed  the  most  acute  symptoms  ; 
the  onset  occurred  in  two  hours,  and  death  nearly 
always  resulted.  Unopened  ackees,  those  picked  from 
a  decayed,  bruised,  or  broken  branch,  those  forced 
open  unnaturally,  and  those  with  a  soft  spot  are 
poisonous.  Much  of  the  poison  is  extracted  by  boil- 
ing with  water.  The  affection  is  largely  one  of  child- 
hood. By  experiment  it  was  determined  that  intra- 
gastric administration  of  an  extract,  made  by  boiling 
unopened  ackees  with  water,  produced  in  thne  kittens 
and  one  pup  the  symptoms  and  pathological  changes 
seen  in  cases  of  vomiting  sickness.  The  pathological 
changes  in  man  and  experimental  animals  are  de- 
scribed, and  are  well  illustrated  in  two  plates. 

In  the  American  Naturalist  for  April  Prof.  T. 
Waterman  discusses  the  evolution  of  the  human  chin. 
His  main  object  is  to  demonstrate  the  fallacy  of  the 
contention  of  Dr.  Robinson  that  the  human  "  chin " 
has  evolved  as  a  consequence  of  the  habit  of  articulate 
speech.  Prof.  Waterman's  task  is  not  difTicult,  but  his 
essay  serves  a  very  useful  purpose,  and  his  facts  are 
admirably  marshalled.  It  might,  however,  have  been 
pointed  out  that  the  evolution  of  the  chin  is  due  as 
much  to  the  shortening  of  the  facial  portion  of  the 
skull  as  to  the  reduction  of  the  teeth. 

The  Museum  Journal  of  Philadelphia  for  December 
has  just  reached  us.  Among  other  .items  of  interest, 
it  contains  a  very  readable  account  of  the  Eskimo 
of  Coronation  Gulf,  known  also  as  the  "Copper" 
Eskimo,   from   the  fact  that  these  people  are  largely 

NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


dependent  on  this  metal  for  their  implements.  It  is 
among  them  that  Stefansson  found  his  "blond 
Eskimo."  The  clothing,  weapons,  and.  methods  of 
hunting  are  described  at  length,  but  no  description  of 
the  physical  characters  of  these  people  is  given. 
Copper  appears  to  be  the  only  native  metal  they 
possess,  but  they  also  use  iron  and  brass,  though  only 
to  a  very  limited  extent.  How,  and  whence,  they 
obtain  these  is  not  stated. 

Mr.  Halsey  Bagg,  in  the  American  Naturalist  for 
April,  records  the  results  of  his  recent  attempts  to 
measure  individual  differences  in  behaviour  in  white 
mice,  and  therefrom  to  determine  the  degree  to  which 
kinds  of  conduct  can  be  established  in  family  lines  by 
selection.  His  choice  of  white  mice,  in  preference  to 
man,  he  explains,  was  determined  by  the  fact  that  in 
man  the  experimental  method  cannot  be  used.  Mr. 
Bagg's  test  of  alertness  and  educability  was  made 
through  the  medium  of  a  maze  ending  in  a  food  com- 
partment. Altogether  ninety  mice  were  used,  and 
each  individual  was  passed  through  the  maze  seven- 
teen times.  There  were  no  marked  differences  be- 
tween the  sexes  in  regard  to  this  test  of  ability,  but 
yellow  mice  proved  inferior  to  white  in  this  ordeal. 
The  author  found  marked  individual  differences  in  be- 
haviour, and  discovers  an  apparent  resemblance  among 
individuals  of  the  same  litter. 

An  interesting  point  in  relation  to  the  geographical 
distribution  of  British  MoUusca  will  be  found  in  the 
Scottish  Naturalist  for  May.  Therein  Mr.  Denison 
Roebuck  reviews  the  history  of  a  slug,  Limax 
tenellus,  found  by  the  Rev.  R.  Godfrey,  in  the  Rothie- 
murchus  Forest  in  1904,  after  it  had  been  lost  sight  of 
for  fifty-six  years.  Some  were  obtained  from  under 
stones,  but  the  majority  were  taken  from  old  pine 
branches  covered  with  decayed  pine  needles  and  other 
rotten  vegetation.  This  discovery  of  the  nature  of 
the  habitat  at  once  threw  a  flood  of  light  upon  the 
occurrence  of  the  species,  and  showed  that  the  reason 
it  had  so  long  escaped  notice  was  due  to  this  prefer- 
ence for  aboriginal  pine  forests,  an  area  conchologists 
had  never  thought  of  searching,  from  a  belief  that 
pine  was  inimical  to  moUuscan  life.  The  clue  ob- 
tained, search  was  at  once  made  on  an  extended 
scale,  with  the  result  that  it  has  since  been  found  in 
no  fewer  than  six  Scottish  and  eleven  English  counties, 
five  of  these  forming  a  ring  encircling  London.  But, 
more  than  this,  it  occurs  in  abundance  in  the  pine 
forests  of  Switzerland,  and  it  now  remains  to  discover 
the  intermediate  stations  on  the  mainland  of  Europe. 

Messrs.  Sherratt  and  Hughes,  Manchester,  have 
published  a  further  account,  by  Mr.  J.  Arthur  Hutton, 
of  investigations  into  the  salmon  fisheries  of  the  River 
Wye.  Good  statistics  of  the  fish  caught  by  rods  and 
nets,  and  measurements  and  determinations  of  age  are 
given,  and  the  author  deduces  some  very  interesting 
results.  The  scarcity  in  very  large  spring  and  summer 
salmon  (five  and  a  half  to  six  years  old)  indicates  an 
apparent  failure  of  the  19 10  hatch,  and  this  appears 
to  be  traceable  to  two  causes  : — (i)  The  exceptional 
drought  and  high  temperature  in  the  rivers  in  the 
summer  of  191 1,  which  probably  encouraged  coarse 
fish  in  competition  with  the  early  stages  of  salmon ; 
(2)  the  marine  conditions  in  1912,  the  year  when  the 
parr  hatched  in  1910  would  migrate  to  the  sea.  This 
was  a  season  of  high  salinity  in  the  sea,  and  of  low 
autumn  temperature.  A  further  point  brought  out 
by  Mr.  Hutton  is  that  Wye  salmon  have  for  some 
years  been  migrating  and  spawning  earlier  than  usual. 
This  is  possibly  an  integrative  effect  of  a  series  of 
exceptionally  mild  winters.  The  change  is  probably 
only  temporary. 


June  i,  1916] 


NATURE 


287 


Oranges  and  lemons  in  which  the  style  is  persistent 
up  to  maturity  are  known  to  occur  at  certain  seasons 
and  in  certain  localities,  and  various  theories  have 
been  advanced  to  account  for  the  fact,  some  writers 
suggesting  that  these  forms  are  peculiarities  of  a  dis- 
tinct variety  of  the  plant.  In  a  note  contributed  to 
the  Mii  dei  Lincei,  xxv.  (i),  3,  R.  Pirotta  dissents 
from  these  views,  and  advances  the  theory  that  the 
persistence  or  otherwise  of  the  style  depends  on  the 
effects  of  weather  in  retarding  or  accelerating  the 
processes  of  fertiUsation  and  the  ripening  of  the  fruits. 

Owing  to  the  scarcity  of  dyestuffs  resulting  from 
the  war,  considerable  interest  attaches  to  the  attempts 
to  obtain  and  utilise  new  colouring  matters.  In  this 
connection  the  Atti  dei  Lincei,  xxv.  (i),  5,  contains  an 
account  of  investigations  by  R.  Lepetit  and  C.  Carta 
Satta  on  the  yellow  substance  extracted  from  the  bark 
of  Pinus  pinaster.  These  researches,  commenced  ten 
years  ago,  show  that  this  colouring  matter  furnishes 
tints  of  a  beautiful  yellow  with  mordants  of  alum,  of 
an  orange  colour  with  tin,  of  a  less  bright  yellow  with 
chromium,  dirty  yellow  with  copper,  and  olive-brown 
with  iron.  It  is  thus  identifiable  with  quercetin,  and 
exists  in  the  bark  of  the  fir-tree  in  a  state  of  complete 
combination  with  a  tanno-glucoside. 

The  report  of  the  Botanic  Gardens  and  Government 
Domains,  Sydney,  New  South  Wales,  has  just  been 
received,  and  contains  an  interesting  account  of  the 
various  botanical  activities  undertaken  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Mr.  J.  H.  Maiden.  In  addition,  the  report 
includes  a  valuable  contribution  relating  to  the 
Arachnida,  Myriapoda,  and  Insecta  of  the  Botanic 
Gardens,  by  Mr.  Rainbow,  entomologist  of  the  Aus- 
tralian Museum,  and  is  on  similar  lines  to  the  account 
of  the  mammals,  birds,  reptiles,  fishes,  and  shells  pub- 
lished in  the  report  of  the  previous  year.  A  long  list 
is  given  of  interesting  plants  introduced,  or  re-intro- 
duced, into  the  Gardens,  and  in  the  herbarium  report 
we  note  that  2725  sheets  have  been  added  to  the 
collection,  many  being  additions  to  the  flora  of  New 
South  Wales. 

The  report  of  the  Agricultural  Department  and  Ex- 
periment Station  in  tne  Virgin  Islands  for  the  year 
ended  March,  1915,  has  recently  reached  us,  and  shows 
that  considerable  attention  has  been  given  to  the 
cotton  crop,  especially  with  regard  to  establishing  a 
local  seed  supply,  and  thus  ensuring  uniformity  of 
crop  and  staple.  Coconut  planting  in  the  islands  is 
being  encouraged,  and  nearly  3000  nuts  were  distri- 
buted during  the  year.  An  Onion  Growers'  Associa- 
tion has  also  been  formed  with  every  prospect  of  suc- 
cess. A  similar  association  has  been  formed  in 
Antigua,  where  conditions  are  also  favourable  for  this 
crop.  From  the  reports  of  the  various  islands,  it  is 
clear  that  the  Imperial  Department  of  Agriculture 
is  making  every  effort  to  extend  the  scope  and  foster 
the  progress  of  agriculture  in  the  West  Indies. 

In  the  course  of  the  voyage  of  the  Carnegie  from 
New  Zealand  to  South  Georgia  last  December  and 
January  search  was  made  for  the  Nimrod  and 
Dougherty  Islands  in  the  South  Pacific.  The  search 
in  both  cases  was  fruitless.  In  the  Geographical 
Review  for  April  (vol.  i.,  No.  4),  where  an  account  of 
the  search  appears,  it  is  suggested  that  the  result  of 
this  work  is  to  remove  these  islands,  especially 
Dougherty  Island,  from  the  map.  The  writer  is  per- 
haps not  aware  that  in  1909,  on  the  homeward 
voyage  of  the  Nimrod,  with  Sir  E.  H.  Shackleton's 
Antarctic  Expedition,  Capt.  J.  K.  Davis  made  a 
thorough  search  for  these  islands,  and  failed  to  find 
them.  They  were  in  consequence  removed  from  the 
last  edition   of  the  Prince  of  Monaco's  bathymetrical 

NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


chart  of  the  oceans.  Without  a  doubt  icebergs  gave 
rise  to  the  reports  of  the  islands,  for  it  is  very  difficult 
in  certain  conditions  of  light  to  distinguish  some  ice- 
bergs from  land. 

During  the  last  year  or  two  the  Geographical 
Journal  has  been  devoting  some  attention  to  articles 
on  different  regions,  more  or  less  affected  by  the  war, 
each  from  the  pen  of  an  expert.  In  the  issue  for  May, 
1916  (vol.  xlvli.,  No.  5),  Prof.  J.  W.  Gregory  has  a 
long  article,  illustrated  with  maps,  on  Cyrenaica. 
Prof.  Gregory  deals  particularly  with  the  economic 
possibilities  of  Cyrenaica  and  its  future  as  a  colony. 
Over  this  he  is  not  enthusiastic,  but  at  the  same  time 
is  strongly  opposed  to  the  view  that  Cyrenaica  is  a 
useless  desert.  The  climatic  question  is  an  important 
one,  and  Prof.  Gregory  holds  that  the  evidence  points 
to  no  change  since  classical  times ;  nor  will  he  admit 
that  Turkish  control  has  been  altogether  bad  for  the 
land.  The  change  in  the  economic  value  of  Cyrenaica 
since  Roman  times  he  holds  is  due  mainly  to  competi- 
tion by  new  lands,  making  the  production  of  corn  and 
wool  less  profitable,  and  to  honey,  a  valuable  product 
in  the  past,  being  superseded  by  sugar-cane  and  beet- 
root. The  decline  in  the  trans-Saharan  trade,  owing 
to  its  diversion  to  Nile  and  Niger  routes,  and  the 
development  of  steam  navigation  on  the  Mediterranean 
have  robbed  the  country  of  its  position  on  several 
great  trade  routes. 

In  connection  with  the  Daily  Weather  Report  the 
Meteorological  Office  has  issued  a  revised  edition  of 
the  quinquennial  appendix,  giving  normal  values  for 
pressure,  temperature,  and  bright  sunshine.  The 
values  are  extended  to  Include  the  year  1915,  and  with 
the  increased  length  of  period  are  becoming  of  greater 
value.  Pressure  normals  for  the  hour  of  the  reports 
are  now  for  ten  years  instead  of  five,  while  the 
normals  for  air  temperature,  rainfall,  and  bright  sun- 
shine are  for  thirty-five  years,  from  1881  to  1915.  The 
values  are  given  for  the  several  months,  and  are  issued 
in  quarterly  sheets.  Normals  for  the  current  season 
show  only  slight  differences  of  pressure,  the  values 
being  relatively  lower  in  the  north  and  west  than  in 
the  south  and  east.  Temperature  is  rising  brisldy,  and 
in  the  late  spring  and  early  summer  the  mean  daily 
maximum  is  about  10°  warmer  in  the  south  of  Eng- 
land than  in  Scotland,  and  the  mean  night  tempera- 
ture shows  an  almost  equally  large  difference.  Rain- 
fall is  increasing  somewhat  at  the  English  stations, 
while  the  duration  of  bright  sunshine  is  at  about  its 
maximum. 

According  to  a  short  note  in  the  Atti  dei  Lincei, 
xxv.  (i),  5,  containing  the  Proceedings  for  March  5, 
it  would  appear  that  piracy  of  mathematical  dis- 
coveries was  common  in  Italy  in  early  times.  In  this 
note  the  writer.  Prof.  Gino  Loria,  discusses  the  claims 
of  a  work  by  Luca  Pacioli  (1445-15 14),  entitled 
"  Divina  Proportione,"  dealing  with  mensuration  of 
plane  and  solid  figures,  and  gives  evidence  in  support 
of  the  view  that  the  substance  of  this  work  was 
purloined  from  an  unpublished  manuscript  by  Pier 
della  Francesca  entitled  "  De  corporibus  regularibus." 
That  Tartaglia's  solution  of  the  cubic  equation  should 
have  become  wrongly  attributed  to  Cardan  would 
appear  to  be  the  result  of  a  practice  of  which  Tar- 
taglia  himself  was  not  altogether  innocent.  A  second 
part  of  Prof.  Gino  Loria 's  communication  deals  with 
some  interesting  writings  by  Tommaso  Ceva  (1648- 
1737)  and  Guido  Grandi  (1671-1737)  on  the  properties 

I  of  certain  curves  traced  on  the  surfaces  of  cones  and 

j  cylinders.  These  investigations  anticipate  Monge's 
descriptive  geometry,  inasmuch  as  the  method  of  pro- 

I  jection  was  used  in  studying  the  curves  in  question. 

j  Ceva  discussed  the  properties  of  the  curv'e  which  pro- 


288 


NATURE 


[June  i,  1916 


jects  into  a  spiral  of  Archimedes,  and  Grandi  applied 
the  same  method  to  the  curve  of  wliich  the  projection 
is  an  equiangular  spiral. 

The  October-November  part  and  the  December 
(1914)  part  of  the  Journal  de  Physique,  which  were 
published  in  the  earlier  part  of  May,  complete 
vol.  iv.  of  the  journal.  Amongst  the  longer  papers 
contained  in  the  two  parts  may  be  mentioned  one  by 
Prof.  Marcel  Brillouin  on  kinetic  energy  and  absolute 
temperature  in  isotropic  solids,  the  concluding  portion 
of  Prof.  Seligman-Lui's  paper  on  the  mechanical  inter- 
pretation of  the  law  of  gravitation.  Prof.  Gour6  de 
Villemont6e's  paper  on  the  propagation  of  electricity 
through  paraffin  oil,  and  Prof.  E.  Bouty's  paper  on 
some  exainples  of  the  application  of  the  method  of 
closed  cycles.  In  addition,  there  are  shorter  papers 
on  the  localisation  of  foreign  bodies  in  the  organism 
by  radiographs,  and  on  the  recent  determination  of 
the  latent  heat  of  fusion  of  ice  at  the  Bureau  of 
Standards  at  Washington.  The  abstracts  of  papers 
published  in  other  journals  include  a  number  in  the 
Philosophical  Magazine,  Journal  de  Chimie-physique , 
Annalen  der  Physik,  Physikalische  Zeitschrift,  and  the 
Zeitschrift  fiir  Physikalische  Chemie.  The  author 
index  of  the  volume  covers  twenty,  the  analytical 
table  of  contents  sixteen,  and  the  volume  850  pages. 

Mr.  a.  L.  Parson  has  published  a  novel  theory  of 
the  constitution  of  atoms  based  on  a  new  conception 
of  the  structure  of  the  electron  ("  A  Magneton  Theory 
of  the  Structure  of  the  Atom,"  Smithsonian  Miscel- 
laneous Collections,"  vol.  Ixv.,  No.  11).  Instead  of  the 
usual  assumption  that  the  electron  possesses  spherical 
symmetr}-,  the  author  considers  it  to  be  a  ring  of 
negative  electrification  revolving  with  high  speed. 
The  diameter  of  the  ring  is  supposed  to  be  of  the  same 
order  of  magnitude  as  atomic  diameters,  and  the  tan- 
gential velocity  of  revolution  to  be  about  the  velocity 
of  light.  The  author  points  out  that  these  assump- 
tions are  not  inconsistent  with  the  experiments  on 
which  our  knowledge  of  the  electron  is  based,  and 
shows  that  they  offer  a  mode  of  escape  from  certain 
well-known  diflficulties  in  all  theories  of  atomic  struc- 
ture based  on  the  usual  assumptions  of  simple  elec- 
trons. In  the  paper  the  application  of  the  new  con- 
ception to  the  explanation  of  the  chemical  and  mag- 
netic properties  of  the  elements  is  discussed  at  con- 
siderable length,  but  it  may  be  noted  that  all  the 
considerations  are  only  of  a  qualitative  character,  and 
do  not  provide  any  definite  test  of  the  adequacy  of 
the  theory.  It  should  be  added  that  no  use  is  made 
of  the  recent  valuable  and  extensive  evidence  as  to  the 
structure  of  atoms  derived  from  the  studv  of  the 
phenomena  of  radio-activity  and  X-rays,  and.  indeed, 
it  seems  difficult  to  account  for  them  on  the  new 
theor}'. 

Mr.  F.  C.  Thompson,  in  a  paper  recently  read  before 
the  Faraday  Society,  directs  attention  to  the  fact  that, 
almost  without  exception,  alloys  which  are  of  indus- 
trial utility  consist  of  one  or  more  solid  solutions. 
The  brasses,  nearly  all  the  bronzes,  the  nickel  brasses, 
most  coinage  alloys,  aluminium  alloys  for  aeroplane 
and  motor-car  construction,  fall  within  this  category. 
The  hardening  of  steel  is  due  to  the  formation,  and 
more  or  less  complete  preservation  on  quenching,  of 
a  solid  solution.  The  special  properties  of  the  nickel 
and  nickel  chromium,  steels  are  due  to  the  improve- 
ment conferred  by  the  alloving  element  or  elements 
which  dissolve  in  the  iron.  The  dominating  character- 
istic of  these  alloys  as  compared  with  the  pure  metals 
from  which  they  are  made  is  "  toughness,"  a  combina- 
tion of  strength  and  ductility.  As  a  result  of  his 
study  of  the  matter,  Mr.  Thompson  concludes  that  the 
remarkable  hardness  and  high  electrical  resistivity  of 

NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


solid  solutions  of  metals  point  strongly  to  the  fact 
that  they  are  caused  by  crystalline  distortion  similar  to 
that  which  arises  from  cold  work.  This  is  explained 
on  the  theory  that  the  process  of  crystallisation  of  such 
solutions  causes  an  equalisation  of  the  atomic  volumes 
of  the  constituents.  Elastic  stresses  are  thus  set  up 
which,  in  their  turn,  increasing  the  resistance  to  further 
stresses,  raise  the  hardness  of  the  mass.  Such  a  theory 
would  lead  to  a  parabolic  curve  expressing  the  relation- 
ship of  the  hardness  to  the  concentration  throughout 
the  series,  with  a  maximum  at  the  composition  of  50 
atomic  per  cent,  of  each  metal.  The  silver-gold  series 
of  alloys  fits  into  this  generalisation. 

Technologic  Paper  No  68  of  the  U.S.  Bureau  of 
Standards  -deals  with  standardisation  of  automobile 
tyre  fabric  testing.  The  chief  causes  of  variation  in 
test  results  are  due  to  different  testing  machines, 
dimensions  of  test  specimens,  moisture  content  of 
specimen  at  time  of  test,  method  of  sampling,  and  lack 
of  uniformity  in  the  material.  There  is  but  little 
difference  ip  the  results  for  strips  of  i  in.  and  2  in. 
width,  and  the  former  width  has  advantages  which 
indicate  that  preference  should  be  given  to  it.  The 
fabrics  were  supposed  to  contain  twenty-three  threads 
per  inch,  and  the  actual  width  of  the  specimens  was 
fixed  by  counting  twenty-three  threads.  The  average 
strength  of  thirty  tests  on  i-in.  specimens  was  247  lb. 
Samples  of  cotton  material  increase  in  strength  con- 
siderably when  they  have  absorbed  moisture  from  the 
atmosphere.  It  is  best  to  dry  the  sample  in  such  a 
way  as  to  eliminate  moisture  effects  entirely.  There 
are  only  small  differences  in  strength  for  specimens 
selected  from  different  parts  of  the  width  of  the  fabric; 
samples  should  be  cut  from  different  parts,  and  the 
average  result  taken.  Tests  made  in  different 
machines  show  differences  amounting  to  as  much  as 
159  per  cent.  It  is  recommended  that  testing 
machines  be  calibrated  at  frequent  and  regular  in- 
tervals. 


OUR   ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Large  Daylight  Fireball  on  May  ap. — Mr.  Den- 
ning writes  : — "  On  May  20,  at  8.8  p.m.  (18  minutes 
after  sunset,  Greenwich),  a  splendid  meteor  was  seen 
by  a  great  many  persons  in  the  southern  counties  of 
England.  The  sky  was  clear  everywhere,  and  the 
large  green  disc  of  the  meteor  created  a  vivid  effect 
as  it  passed  with  a  rather  slow,  apparent  motion  from 
N.  to  S.  across  the  western  heavens.  Reports  from 
fifty-six  casual  observers  of  the  phenomenon  have 
been  received,  and  it  appears  from  a  preliminary  dis- 
cussion of  the  data  that  the  object  was  directed  from 
a  radiant  in  Perseus  situated  in  the  N.N.W.  sky  at  the 
time  of  the  event.  The  height  of  the  meteor  was 
from  about  75  to  27  miles  along  a  course,  slightly 
declining  in  height,  of  more  than  2co  miles.  The  posi- 
tion was  from  over  the  S.E.  coast  of  Ireland  to_  the 
English  Channel,   far  south  of  Devonshire. 

"The  estimates  of  the  observed  duration  of  flight  of 
the  meteor  are  rather  conflicting,  but,  taking  a  mean 
of  what  appear  to  be  the  best  values,  the  real  velocity 
was  about  32  miles  per  second. 

"This  fine  meteor  adds  another  instance  to  the 
rather  extensive  list  of  similar  objects  which  have 
made  their  apparitions  in  twilight.  The  hour  follow- 
ing sunset  is  highlv  favourable  in  some  respects  to 
the  production  of  these  objects,  though  the  prevail- 
ing daylight  must  naturally  cause  many  of  them  to 
elude  notice." 

Comet  iqT6&  (Wolf),  19 16  ZK  (Planet). — From 
Astronomische  Nachrichten,  No.  4845,  we  learn  that  ob- 
servations of  the  anomalous  object  igi6  ZK,  discovered 


June  i,  19 i6] 


NATURE 


289 


by  Wolf,  were  made  at  Vknna  on  April  6,  7,  22,  and 
^7.  On  the  latest  date  Dr.  Palisa  observed  a  sort  of 
halo  surrxjunding  its  image,  and  further  remarked 
that  the  change  of  daily  motion  was  not  asteroidal 
in  character.  In  America  it  has  been  observed  at 
Yerkes  (May  4)  and  at  the  U.S.  Naval  Observatory 
(May  6).  It  Is  shown  on  photographs  taken  at  Berge- 
dorf  on  April  29  and  May  2  ;  on  the  earlier  date  its 
magnitude  was  13-2.  According  to  observations  by 
Prof.  Wolf  (April  30)  the  nebulosity-  was  15'  in 
diameter,  and  sharply  defined  towards  the  W.N.W., 
the  nucleus  being  eccentrically  placed  in  the  same 
direction,  thus  presenting  features  justifying  its  classi- 
fication with  comets.  The  cometary  character  is 
emphasised  by  the  Babelsberg  observers,  who  state 
that  it  is  immediately  picked  up  as  a  comet. 
Observations,  April  6-May  6,  have  been  used 
by  Prof.  Berberich  in  an  investigation  of  the  orbit 
assuming  motion  approximately  following  a  great 
circle,  but  no  useful  results  had  been  obtained.  The 
middle-place  errors  for  a  parabola  (April  6  and  22, 
Vienna,  and  May  6,  Babelsberg)  are  stated  to  be  in- 
admissibly  large'  A  provisional  ephemeris  based  on 
hyperbolic  elements  (April  6,  22,  and  30)  represented 
fairly  closely  the  Babelsberg  observation  of  May  6. 

The  following  orbit  and  ephemeris  have  been  cal- 
culated, also  by  Prof.  Berberich  {Asironomische  Nach- 
richten,  Circular  No.  508),  by  variation  of  the  distance- 
ratios  from  the  observations  of  April  6,  22,  and  May  6 
referred  to  above: — Perihelion  =  19 17,  June  15-916 
G.M.T. ;  w  =  i2o°  30'  ip-3";  ^^  =  183°  15'  12-6'';  t=25° 
35'  21-9'';  log  q  =  0227854. 

Ephemeris,  Greenwich  Midnight. 

R.A.  Decl. 

h.      m.     s.  o        / 

June     I         ...       12  29    7       ...       +4  28-5 

5        ...       12  28  46       ...  4  350 

9        ...       12  28  38       ...  4  39-9 

13        ...       12  28  43       ...  4  43-3 

17        ...       12  29    o       ...  4  45-1 

The  orbit  can  still  be  somewhat  uncertain,  but  the 
ephemeris  should  suffice  verj'  well  for  search.  Peri- 
helion passage,  it  should  be  noted,  occurs  in  the 
middle  of  June  of  next  year,  so  that  comet  1916b  pro- 
mises to  be  under  observation  for  a  very  extended 
period.  At  present  the  distance  from  the  earth 
is  increasing.  On  July  3  it  will  be,  roughly,  044 
astronomical  unit — 40  million  miles — from  both  the 
earth  and  the  sun. 

A  Possible  New  Comet. — The  following  message 
from  Prof.  Pickering  was  received  on  May  8  at  Kiel : 
"  Perrine  cables  bright  object  Thursday  evening,  nine 
to  ten,  moved  ten  degrees  alpha  Pavonis  towards 
sun.  Possibly  comet"  {Astronomische  Nachrichten, 
No.  4845). 

Venus. — On  June  3,  two  days  after  maximum 
brilliance,  Venus  will  be  in  conjunction  with  the 
moon;  the  planet  will  be  1°  19'  N.  Unless  clouds 
prevail  this  configuration  will  afford  an  excellent 
opportunity  of  viewing  the  planet  in  full  daylight 
without  optical  help.  Although  the  crescent  phase  can 
now  be  distinguished  with  quite  small  hand  telescopes, 
the  most  interesting  phenomena  of  the  phases— the 
more  or  less  complete  annulus  seen  at  inferior  con- 
junction with  the  sun  (July  3)  and  the  secondary  light, 
•'kimiere  cendree  " — are  only  to  be  seen  with  large 
instruments.  As  inferior  conjunction  occurs  at  8h. 
G.M.T. ,  English  observers  will  be  at  a  disadvantage. 
Recent  work  indicates  that  a  period  of  sun-spot  maxi- 
mum is  speciallv  favourable  for  the  development  of 
luminous  effects'  on  the  dark  side  of  the  planet,  but 
there  is  a  dearth  of  observations,  and  it  is  desirable 
that  a  close  watch  should  be  maintained. 
NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


METEOROLOGICAL    AND    MAGNETIC 
AUTOGRAPHS.^ 

COMPL.-MNT  has  been  made  from  time  to  time 
of  the  essential  dulness  of  year-books  of  tabular 
matter,  although  it  is  recognised  that  the  statistics 
must  be  compiled  diligently  year  by  year  in  order  to 
provide  material  for  exhaustive  discussion  at  some 
tinie  in  the  future.  It  is,  theretore,  all  the  more 
gratifying  to  find  in  the  Blue-book  before  us,  published 
by  the  authority  of  the  Meteorological  Committee,  and 
produced  under  the  direction  of  Sir  Napier  Shaw,  a 
definite  attempt  made  to  digest  the  magnetic  data 
obcuined  in  1913  at  Eskdalemuir,  somewhat  on  lines 
suggested  by  Prof.  Birkeland  and  also  by  Dr.  Chree. 

Mr.  L.  S.'  Richardson,  who  contributes  this  analysis 
of  magnetic  disturbances  recorded  at  Eskdalemuir 
Observatory,  of  which  he  was  appointed  director  in 
1913,  is  also  responsible  for  an  appendix  giving  in- 
direct comparisons  by  means  of  a  standard  set  of 
portable  magnetic  instruments,  between  the  standard 
instruments  in  use  at  Greenwich,  Kew,  Falmouth,. 
Valencia,  and  Eskdalemuir  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
and  also  those  at  De  Bilt  (Utrecht),  Potsdam,  and  Val 
Joyeux,  the  national  magnetic  observatories  of  Hol- 
land, Germany,  and  France,  thus  partially  anticipating 
the  comparisons  made  recently  under  the  auspices  of 
the   Carnegie   Institution. 

Mr.  Richardson  gives  two  classes  of  magnetic  dis- 
turbance, whereas  Prof.  Birkeland  indicated  three,  but 
one  of  the  three  was  an  intermediate  class,  so  per- 
haps, in  general,  two  will  be  sufticient,  the  essential 
difference  being  that  in  one  class  the  direction  of  the 
disturbance  is  constant  and  in  the  other  variable. 
In  connection  with  the  well-known  smoothness  of  the 
vertical  force  traces  as  compared  with  the  other 
magnetograras,  Mr.  Richardson  makes  a  suggestion 
worthy  of  attention.  He  says: — "The  fact  that  the 
vertical  component  is  perpendicular  to  two  electrically- 
conducting  shells,  the  earth's  surface  and  the  upper 
ionised  air,  may  have  an  influence  in  reducing  the 
amplitude  of  its  oscillations.  For  an  oscillating  cur- 
rent forcibly  maintained  in  either  shell  would  induce 
a  reverse  current  in  the  other  shell ;  and  at  an  observa- 
tory which  was  not  more  than  a  small  arc  of  the 
earth's  surface  away  from  the  currents,  the  reverse 
current,  while  partly  neutralising  the  vertical  force, 
would  increase  the  horizontal  component.  For  slower 
oscillations  the  induced  current  would  be  diminished 
bv  the  electric  resistance.  The  system  is  like  a 
transformer  with  a  short-circuited  secondary  coil.  The 
vertical  force  is  the  main  flux  of  the  transformer. 
The  horizontal  components  represent  the  magnetic 
leakage." 

The  magnetic  data  from  Eskdalemuir  form  the  prin- 
cipal part  of  the  magnetic  portion  of  the  Year  Book,  the 
Kew  data  being  given  in  much  less  detail,  Valencia 
being  unprovided  with  magnetographs,  and  Falmouth 
practically  discontinued.  Meteorology  is  represented 
bv  five  stations,  Aberdeen  being  the  additional  con- 
tributor, monthly  means  for  each  hour  of  the  day 
being  tabulated  for  temperature,  pressure,  and  rela- 
tive humidity  of  the  air,  for  wind  velocit}-,  and  rain- 
fall, sunshine  tables  being  added. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  the  mean  warmest  hour  at 
Falmouth  is  invariably  i  p.m.,  while  at  the  other 
observatories  it  is  generally  2  p.m.  or  3  p.m.  The 
arrangement  of  the  tables  is  that,  except  for  Eskdale- 
muir. the  establishment  of  which  is  too  recent  for 
normals  to  have  any  significance,  what  is  ptinted  is  a 

1  Meteorol<H^cal  Office.  British  Meteorological  and  Magnetic  Year 
Book,  1913.  F^rt  iv.,  section  a.  Hourly  Values  from  Autographic  Records^ 
Pp-  97-  (Edinburgh:  H.M.S.O.  ;  London:  Meteorok^ical  Office,  1915. 
Price  5^ 


290 


NATURE 


[June  i,  1916 


set  of  normal  values  and  the  departures  for  19 13.  It 
is  doubtful  if  this  is  more  convenient  than  the  old 
plan  of  publishing  current  values  and  departures  from 
normal.  A  brief  comparison  between  the  extremes  for 
Kew  and  Greenwich  for  1913  indicates  that  there  is 
less  close  agreement  than  might  be  expected,  showing 
that  for  London  as  a  whole  one  outlying  station  is 
totally  inadequate.  We  notice  the  employment  of 
the  millibar  in  the  pressure  tables,  and  also  of. 
absolute  temperatures,  but  neither  of  these  is  likely 
to  popularise  the  work,  but  if  the  aim  Be  uniformity 
we  might  suggest  that  a  step  in  this  direction  might 
be  made  by  adopting  a  uniform  height  above  the 
ground  for  corresponding  instruments,  especially  for 
the  thermographs,  which  are  all  at  different  heights. 

W.  W.  B. 


I 


RESEARCHES    ON    HOPS. 

N  a  contribution  to  these  pages  a  couple  of  years 
ago  (Nature,  April  23,  19 14,  vol.  xciii.,  p.  199) 
it  was  pointed  out  that  a  good  instance  of  that  scien- 
tific attention  which  is  paid  by  certain  foreign  coun- 
tries to  the  study  of  economic  plants  could  be  seen  in 
the  monographic  study  of  the  hop  which  is  being 
made  by  Dr.  J.  Schmidt,  with  his  staff  of  chemists 
and  botanists,  at  the  Carlsberg  Laboratory,  Copen- 
hagen. In  that  review  the  results  were  noted  of  Dr. 
Schmidt's  investigations  into  the  growth  in  length  and 
rotational  movement  of  the  stem  of  the  hop  and  their 
diurnal  periodicity.  We  have  now  to  hand  the  results 
of  a  number  of  further  researches.-^ 

Dr.  O.  Winge  has  investigated  the  pollination  and 
fertilisation  processes  in  H.  Lupulus  and  H.  japonicus. 
The  paper  deals  fully  with  the  cytological  and  nuclear 
phenomena,  and  is  clearly  illustrated  by  figures.  Some 
interesting  developmental  points  were  observed  in  the 
study  of  a  monoecious  hop  and  of  a  sterile  gyno- 
morphous  male.  Experiments  to  produce  a  hybrid 
between  H.  Lupulus  and  H.  japonicus  failed ;  it  may 
be  observed  here  that  the  same  negative  results  were 
obtained  by  the  reviewer  three  years  ago.  Dr. 
Winge's  investigations  showed  that  the  pollen  of  H. 
japonicus  caused  the  ovary  of  H.  Lupulus  to  swell 
almost  to  the  normal  size,  resulting  ultimately  in  a 
"fruit"  of  normal  appearance.  The  hop  strobile,  too, 
developed  its  axis  and  stipules.  Microscopical  exam- 
ination showed  that  as  a  rule  fertilisation  had  taken 
place  in  the  embryo-sac,  and  a  small  embryo  was  pro- 
duced, which,  however,  never  developed  further.  Dr. 
Winge  thinks  that  it  is  perhaps  possible  that  the  pollen 
of  Urtica  may  be  able  to  produce  "  fruits  "  in  the  hops 
in  hop-gardens,  as  was  asserted  by  a  practical  man — 
a  Bavarian  hop-grower — in  1883. 

Dr.  H.  Schjerning  gives  a  full  summary  of  his 
numerous  researches  dealing  with  the  proteid  sub- 
stances of  barley,  both  in  the  grain  itself  and  during 
the  brewing  processes ;  for  reasons  of  space,  no  further 
reference  can  be  made  to  this  here. 

A  new  method  for  the  quantitative  determination  of 
resins  in  hops  is  described  by  Messrs.  O.  Winge  and 
J.  P.  H.  Jensen.  These  ipvestigators  found  that, 
contrary  to  what  Hayduck  has  stated,  the  y  resin  is 
of  value  to  the  brewer,  since  it  gives  a  bitter  taste  to 
the  wort  and  helps  in  the  precipitation  of  the  albumens. 
For  the  determination  of  the  total  resins  in  the  hop 
the  most  satisfactory  method  was  found  to  be  that 
of  extraction  with  cold  ethyl  ether  and  titration  of  the 
solution  with  1/20  normal  potassium  hydroxide  solu- 
tion. By  this  method  the  lupulin  content  is  obtained 
as  a  percentage  of  the  dry  weight  of  the  hops ;  it  has 
been    employed    not    only    for    the    valuation    of    the 

1  "Comptes  Renrtus  des  Travaux  du  Taboratoire  de  Carlsberg,"  vol.  x'>. 
livr.  1-4  (7914-15)- 

NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


various  varieties  of  hops  grown  in  the  experimental 
garden,  but  also  in  analyses  of  trade  samples  made  by 
the  laboratory  in  co-operation  with  various  breweries. 
The  relations  between  the  bitterness  of  the  a,  ^,  and  -, 
resins  were  found  to  be  constant,  and,  respectively,  as 
10:7:4. 

Dr.  J.  Schmidt  has  a  very  interesting  paper  on  the 
aroma  of  hops.  The  author  does  not  regard  it  as 
proved  that  the  aroma  present  in  a  hop  sample,  when 
this  is  mixed  with  the  wort  for  boiling,  has  anv 
decisive  influence  on  the  flavour  of  the  beer.  This,  it 
may  be  noted,  is  in  opposition  to  the  view  held  bv 
brewing  experts,  and  the  further  information  on  this 
subject  which  Dr.  Schmidt  promises  will  be  awaited 
with  interest.  It  is  pointed  out  that  the  commercial 
varieties  of  cultivated  hops  are  verv  probably  not 
"true,"  since,  being  propagated  by  cuttings,  there  is 
always  the  danger  that  these  may  be  taken  occasion- 
ally from  seedlings  which  have  established  themselves 
in  the  garden.  To  avoid  the  danger,  Dr.  Schmidt 
has  used  exclusively  at  his  research  station  individuals 
raised  by  vegetative  propagation  from  one  plant.  This 
group  of  individuals  is  termed  a  hop-clone — a  clone- 
plant  being  any  single  plant  belonging  to  the  clone. 
In  crossing  experiments  with  two  American  varieties 
and  Danish  male  hops,  proof  was  obtained  that  the 
distinctive  aroma  of  these  American  hops — which  Dr. 
Schmidt  calls  "turpentine-like" — was  transmitted  to 
between  half  and  three-quarters  of  the  off^spring  plants, 
without  regard  to  whether  the  hops  (strobiles)  them- 
selves retained  the  appearance  peculiar  to  those  of  the 
mother  plant.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Dr.  Schmidt 
will  be  on  his  guard  against  attempting  to  ascertain 
the  true  nature  of  the  aroma  of  a  new  seedling  hop 
from  the  examination  of  the  plant  in  its  early  years 
exclusively,  since  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  this 
may  change  with  the  age  of  the  plant. 

Dr.  Schmidt  also  records  the  results  of  his  investi- 
gations as  to  the  amount  of  lupulin  in  plants  raised  by 
crossing,  and  also  their  time  of  flowering.  It  was 
found  that  the  average  lupulin  content  of  the  offspring 
shows  (with  rare  exceptions)  a  decrease,  due  perhaps 
to  the  fact  that  the  "  wild "  male  plants  used  were 
genotypically  of  a  low  order  as  regards  lupulin  con- 
tent ;  in  every  group,  however,  some  few  specimens — 
the  extreme  plus  varlates— occurred ;  a  stock  of  anv 
of  these  new  varieties  with  increased  lupulin-content 
can  be  raised  for  commercial  use  by  vegetative  pro- 
pagation. Very  similar  results  have  been  obtained  at 
Wye  College,  Kent,  in  the  breeding  of  new  varieties 
of  hops ;  Dr.  Schmidt,  referring  to  these,  writes  • — 
"Altogether,  these  two  series  of  Investigations  carried 
out  Independently  in  England  and  Denmark  respec- 
tively exhibit  remarkable  uniformity  of  results,  and 
the  discoveries  thus  made  appear  to  promise  well  for 
the  systematic  improvement  of  hops." 

E.  S.  S. 


"  TROPISMS." 

"T^HE  word  "tropism,"  first  used  to  Indicate  the 
A  growth-direction  of  plant-members  under  the 
influence  of  some  stimulus,  has  during  the  last  fifteen 
years  become  a  favourite  term  among  investigators 
of  the  behaviour  of  animals.  Those  interested  in 
physiological  terminology  will  find  accounts  of  the 
various  meanings  attached  by  different  writers  to  the 
word  in  two  controversial  articles  by  Mr.  S.  O.  Mast 
(Arch.  f.  Entuncklungsmechanik,  xli.,  1914,  pp.  251- 
263,  and  Biol.  Centralbl.,  xxxiv.,  1914,  pp.  641-674). 
He  finds  that  the  word  Is  now  "  used  In  so  many 
different  senses  that  everj^ne  finds  it  necessary  to 
Indicate  in  which  sense  he  proposes  to  use  it";  there- 


f      June  i,  1916] 


NATURE 


291 


fore  the  author  suggests  that  it  might  advantageously 
be  dropped  in  favour  of  such  well-understood  expres- 
sions as  "reaction"  or  "orientation."  It  is  satisfac- 
tory to  find  that  he  repudiates  the  endowment  of  the 
term  "  with  mystical  causal  powers."  By  calling  a 
reaction — say  to  light — a  "tropism,"  one  does  nothing 
to  explain  it. 

In  his  recent  important  work  on  the  Foraminifera, 
Mr.  E.  Heron-Allen  has  directed  attention  to  the  pur- 
poseful behaviour  shown  by  many  of  these  Protozoa 
in  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  foreign  materials 
worked  into  their  tests.  He  sums  up  the  evidence  on 
this  subject  in  a  paper  in  the  Journ,  R.  Microsc.  Soc, 
vol.  xvi.,  part  6,  and  concludes  "that  there  appears  to 
be  no  organism  in  the  animal  kingdom,  however 
simple  be  its  structure,  which  lives  a  life  of  its  own 
independently  of  any  other  organism,  which  is  not 
capable  of  developing  functions  and  behaviour  .  .  . 
which  in  the  Metazoa  might  be  called,  and  would 
properly  be  so  called,  Phenomena  of  Purpose  and  In- 
telligence." 

Turning  from  protozoa  to  insects,  Mr.  F.  M.  How- 
lett  publishes  (Bull.  Entom.  Research,  vi.,  part  3, 
19 15)  some  puzzling  observations  on  the  chemical  re- 
actions of  fruit-flies.  In  the  genus  Dacus,  the  males 
and  not  the  females  of  certain  species  are  strongly 
attracted  by  different  eugenol-compounds,  the  smell  of 
which  resembles  that  emitted  by  plants  that  also 
attract  the  male  flies.  The  corresponding-  females  do 
not  apparently  emit  similar  odours,  nor  were  they 
seen  to  frequent  the  odoriferous  plants.  Of  the  pos- 
sible explanations  suggested  by  Mr.  Howlett,  the  most 
probable  therefore  seems  to  be  that  the  smells  are 
characteristic  of  some  food  which  is  attractive  to  males 
only. 

STUDIES   IN   MENDELISM. 

AN  important  paper  on  the  inheritance  of  the 
flowering  time  in  peas  and  rice,  by  Yuzo 
Hoshino,  has  been  published  in  the  Journal  of  the 
College  of  Agriculture  (Imp.  Univ.  Sapporo,  Japan, 
vol.  vi.,  part  ix.).  The  author  concludes  that  in  peas 
the  inheritance  is  governed  by  two  pairs  of  Mendelian 
factors.  In  the  one  pair  are  lateness  (dominant)  and 
earliness  (recessive) ;  in  the  other  pair  are  acceleration 
(dominant,  hypostatic  to  lateness)  and  retardation  (re- 
cessive, hypostatic  to  earliness).  Gametic  coupling 
between  flowering  time  and  flowering  colour  is  also 
indicated,  early  red  and  late  white  flowers  being  equal 
in  number  and  far  fewer  than  early  whites  or  late 
reds.  The  experiments  on  rice  were  not  conclusive, 
but  the  author  suggests  that  three  pairs  of  Mendelian 
factors  are  probably  concerned. 

In  the  Proc.  Amer.  Phil.  Soc.  (vol.  liv..  No.  218) 
Bradley  M.  Davis  discusses  from  the  Mendelian  point 
of  view  the  mutation  phenomena  in  CEnothera,  and 
advises  caution  in  accepting  results  based  on  breeding 
experiments  where  there  is  reasonable  doubt  as  to 
the  gametic  purity  of  the  parent  "  species." 

The  March  number  of  the  Journal  of  Genetics 
(vol.  v.,  No.  3)  contains  several  papers  of  interest. 
Misses  C.  Pellew  and  F.  M.  Durham  find  that  from 
reciprocal  crosses  between  Primula  verticiUata  and 
P.  floribunda  plants  resembling  the  female  parent  are 
generally  obtained,  these  breeding  true  to  type  when 
self-fertilised.  Occasionally  the  hybrids  are  of  the 
P.  Kewensis  form,  some  partially  sterile  and  others 
fertile.  J.  V.  Eyre  and  G.  Smith  discuss  some  results 
from  the  cross-pollination  of  varieties  of  flax.  W. 
Neilson  Jones  and  Dr.  M.  Chevely  Rayner  contribute 
some  important  results  from  breeding  experiments 
with  two  varieties  of  Bryonia  dioica.  The  presence  of 
waxy  bloom  on  the  ripe  berry  is  a  recessive  character; 
the  capacity  to  increase  the  number  of  vascular  bundles 

NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


in  the  stem  beyond  ten  "  behaves  as  a  simple  dominant 
to  the  absence  of  such  capacity."  The  authors  con- 
sider that  their  experiments  "emphasise  the  need  for 
caution  in  the  subdivision  of  existing  species  without 
recourse  to  breeding  tests."  A  supplement  to  Dr.  L. 
Doncaster's  well-known  researches  on  the  magpie 
moth  {Abraxas  grossulariata)  is  afforded  by  the  Rev. 
J.  M.  Woodlock,  who  discovered  near  Dublin  a  new 
variety  of  the  moth,  resembling  lacticolor  in  pattern, 
but  behaving  as  a  simple  recessive  to  typical  grossu- 
lariata without  any  sex-limiting  complication.  The 
typical  grossulariata  pattern  depends,  according  to 
Father  Woodlock,  on  two  dominant  characters;  the 
absence  of  one  results  in  the  appearance  of  lacticolor, 
that  of  the  other  in  the  appearance  of  the  new  variety, 
which  the  reverend,  author — ^perhaps  with  some  re- 
miniscence of  literary  criticism — proposes  to  designate 
as  "O." 


EFFECT  OF  TEMPERATURE  ON  SOILS. 

THE  effect  of  temperature  on  some  of  the  most 
important  physical  processes  in  soils  has  been 
studied  experimentally  by  Mr.  George  J.  Bouyoucos, 
of  Michigan  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  and  his 
results  are  published  as  Technical  Bulletin  No.  22. 
Very  few  problems  of  this  kind  have  been  worked  out 
experimentally.  Our  knowledge  is  based  almost  en- 
tirely on  deductions  from  the  laws  of  surface  tension, 
viscosity,  and  expansion  as  affected  by  temperature. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  when  put  to  the  test  of  ex- 
periment, under  the  complicated  conditions  that  obtain 
in  soils,  these  deductions  are  found  wanting.  When 
one-half  of  a  column  of  soil  of  uniform  moisture  con- 
tent is  kept  at  20°  or  40°  C,  and  the  other  at  0°  C,  for 
eight  hours,  the  percentage  of  water  transferred  from 
the  warm  to  the  cold  soil  increases  in  all  types  of 
soil  with  rise  of  moisture  content  until  a  certain  water 
content  is  reached  and  then  falls.  The  author  terms 
the  percentage  of  moisture  at  which  this  maximum 
transfer  occurs,  the  thermal  critical  moisture  content. 
The  laws  of  capillarity  and  viscosity  do  not  by  them- 
selves explain  this  result.  Experiments  on  the  move- 
ment of  water  vapour  from  warm  to  cold  soil  through 
an  air  space  showed  that  such  movement  was  insignifi- 
cant under  all  conditions  tested.  The  conclusion  is 
drawn  that  the  source  of  water  as  dew  is  not  derived 
from  the  soil  vapour,  as  commonly  believed. 

The  translocation  of  water  from  a  moist  soil  at 
0°  C.  to  a  dry  soil  at  40°  C.  is  very  small.  This  has 
a  most  important  bearing  on  the  preservation  of  soil 
moisture  by  mulches.  The  study  of  the  effect  of  tem- 
perature on  the  rate  of  percolation  of  water  in  soils 
showed  that  the  rate  of  flow  increases  uniformly  with 
rise  of  temperature  only  in  the  case  of  sand.  In  other 
soils,  the  rate  of  flow  increases  up  to  about  30°,  and 
then  falls.  It  is  suggested  that  in  the  latter  soils  the 
swelling  of  colloidal  matter  closes  the  channels  through 
which  the  water  flowed.  Although  other  reasons 
might  be  put  forward  to  explain  this  effect,  the 
author's  hypothesis  agrees  with  some  of  the  known 
properties  of  colloids.  Further,  when  the  soil  was 
tested  at  20°  C,  then  at  50°  C,  and  again  at  20°  C, 
the  two  readings  at  20°  C.  were  not  the  same.  This 
hysteresis  effect  is  interesting. 

The  last  section  of  the  paper  is  devoted  to  the  rela- 
tion of  temperature  to  soil  aeration.  The  rate  of  flow 
of  air  through  soil  decreases  with  rise  of  temperature, 
and  this  effect  is  most  marked  in  soils  likelv  to  contain 
colloidal  matter,  e.g.  clays  and  peat.  Although  the 
author  is,  perhaps,  rather  too  ready  to  assume  that  the 
views  commonly  held  on  many  of  the  points  arising 
from  his^  work  are  inconsistent  with  his  own  deduc- 
tions, this  bulletin  is  a  notable  contribution  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  dynamics  of  soils. 


292 


NATURE 


[June  i,  1916 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  NEW  COAL-FIELDS  IN 
ENGLAND:' 

'T^  HE  search  for  concealed  coal-fields  was  one  of  the 
-*■  subjects  considered  by  two  Royal  Commissions 
appointed  to  consider  our  coal  resources.  Since  the 
publication  of  the  report  of  the  second  Commission, 
in  1905,  much  progress  had  been  made  both  in 
locating  new  coalfields  and  in  defining  the  areas  in 
which  concealed  coal-fields  could  not  exist.  By 
"visible  coal-fields  "  were  meant  those  areas  in  which 
Coal  Measures,  with  or  without  a  covering  of  super- 
ficial materials,  cropped  out  at  the  surface.  These 
areas  alone  were  shown  as  coal-fields  on  geological 
maps,  and  to  them  collieries  were  at  first  confined. 
As  the  geological  knowledge  of  the  country  progressed 
it  became  clear  that  the  Coal  Measures  might,  and 
did  in  certain  cases,  pass  under  newer  formations,  and 


had  been  proved  around  the  northjem  and  western 
borders  of  the  Kent  coal-field  and  under  London,  and 
thence  in  a  general  north-westerly  direction  through 
Buckinghamshire,  Oxfordshire,  and  Northampton- 
shire, towards  Warwickshire  and  Leicestershire.  The 
existence  of  this  barren  tract  had  been  proved  by  a 
number  of  borings  in  and  near  London  and  in  the 
counties  named,  but  its  limits  had  not  been  ascer- 
tained. On  its  north-eastern  side  rocks  older  than 
Coal  Measures  had  been  proved  at  Culford,  Lowestoft, 
and  Harwich,  rendering  the  existence  of  coal  under 
central  and  eastern  Suffolk  improbable,  though  there 
still  remained  unexplored  a  tract  extending  north- 
westward through  Essex,  Bedfordshire,  and  Rutland. 
On  its  south-western  side  there  lay  a  great  area  of 
unexplored  ground.  The  south  coast,  from  Folkestone 
to  Devonshire,  and  adjacent  areas  in  Sussex,  Hamp- 
shire, and  Dorset,  with  parts  of  Devonshire,  Somerset, 


w 

CRICM 


VISIBLE 


COALFIELD 


^■*cnes;an 


N 


LIMESTONE 


L  D  E 

TRENT      VA  L  LE Y 

KELHAM 
BORE  HOLE 


VERTICAL  SCALE.  THREE  TIMES  THE  HORIZONTAL 

Fig   I. — Section  across  the  Nottinghamshire  coal-field. 


form  "concealed  coal-fields."  A  map  was  shown  on 
which  were  distinguished  (a)  areas  occupied  by  forma- 
tions older  than  Coal  Measures,  (&)  visible  coal-fields, 
(c)  areas  occupied  by  formations  newer  than  Coal 
Measures.  On  the  last-named  concealed  coal-fields, 
so  far  as  they  had  been  found  to  exist,  and  the  dis- 
tricts in  which  the  absence  of  Coal  Measures  had 
been  proved,  were  distinguished.  Thus  the  visible 
coal-fields  of  Cumberland,  Durham  with  Northumber- 
land, Yorkshire  with  Nottinghamshire  and  Derby- 
shire, Staffordshire,  Shropshire,  Warwickshire, 
Leicestershire,  and  Somerset  with  Gloucestershire, 
were  all  bordered  on  one  side  or  the  other  by  con- 
cealed coal-fields,  while  in  Kent  a  coal-field  not  asso- 
ciated with  any  visible  outcrop  had  been  proved  to 
exist.  In  South  Wales,  however,  there  was  no  more 
than  a  trifling  part  of  the  coal-field  concealed  in  the 
sense  mentioned  above. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  absence  of  Coal  Measures 

1  Abridged  from  a  discourse  delivered  at  the  Royal  Institution  on  Friday, 
March  17,  by  Dr.  A.  Strahan,  F.R.S. 


NO.    2431,   VOL.    97] 


and  Wiltshire,  were  unproved  in  the  sense  that  no 
boring  had  yet  reached  the  base  of  the  Secondary 
rocks.  What  these  rocks  rested  upon  it  was  impos- 
sible to  say,  but  their  thickness  was  likely  to  be  great 
near  the  south  coast. 

Three  examples  were  selected  in  order  to  illustrate 
the  nature  of  the  problems  which  arose  in  the  search 
for  concealed  coal-fields. 

The  Nottinghamshire  coal-field  was  illustrated  by  a 
section  (Fig.  i)  drawn  from  near  Crich,  in  Derby- 
shire, to  Kelham,  near  Newark-on-Trent.  Com- 
mencing in  the  Carboniferous  Limestone,  the  line  of 
section  crossed  the  visible  coal-field  in  a  distance  of 
about  65  miles.  Thus  far  it  was  founded  on  observa- 
tions made  at  the  surface,  but  it  then  entered  a  region 
in  which  Permian  (Magnesian)  Limestone,  Bunter 
Sandstone,  Keuper  Sandstone,  and  Keuper  Marl  in 
succession  formed  the  surface  of  the  ground.  These 
formations  lay  unconformably  upon  the  Coal  Measures ; 
they  were  inclined  at  a  gentler  angle,  and  had  not 
been  affected  by  the  folds  which  had  bent  the  Coal 


June  i,  1916] 


NATURE 


293 


Measures  into  synclines  and  anticlines.  It  followed 
that  the  newer  strata  were  not  parallel  to  the  older, 
and  might  rest  upon  any  part  of  the  Coal  Measures, 
or  even  upon  any  older  formation.  Surface  observa- 
tions made  upon  the  newer  formations  gave  little  clue 
to  the  structure  of  the  Coal  Measures ;  reliance  had 
to  be  placed  on  boreholes,  and  on  the  identification  of 
the  specimens  obtained  from  them.  The  section  there- 
fore had  been  drawn  through  a  borehole  at  Oxton, 
and  near  the  Annesley  Colliery  now  working,  to  a 
borehole  at  Kelham. 

The  Oxton  borehole  was  put  down  75  miles  within 
the  margin  of  the  concealed  coal-field,  and  proved  that 
the  base  of  the  newer  formations  had  descended  east- 
wards 790  ft.  in  that  distance— that  is,  at  the  rate  of 
I  in  50.  The  dip  of  the  Coal  Measures  was  rather 
steeper,  and  it  seemed  possible  that 
the  coal-field  might  extend  an  in- 
definite distance  eastwards,  though 
it  might  descend  to  an  inaccessible 
depth. 

The  Kelham  borehole  was  put 
down  nearly  ten  miles  east  of  the 
Oxton  borehole,  and  proved  that  the 
eastward  dip  of  the  newer  formations 
was  maintained  at  the  same  gentle 
angle.  At  a  depth  of  a  little  more 
than  1500  ft.  it  traversed  a  seam  of 
coal,  the  identity  of  which  was  in 
doubt.  At  about  1700  ft.  it  passed 
through  a  dyke  of  igneous  rock 
which  was  of  no  significance.  More 
important  was  the  fact  that  down  to 
about  2400  ft.  it  was  in  strata  which, 
by  their  character  and  fossils,  could 
be  identified  as  Lower  Coal  Measures, 
that  below  them  it  met  little  more 
than  200  ft.  of  Millstone  Grit,  and 
that  it  then  entered  Carboniferous 
Limestone. 

The  greater  part  of  the  Millstone 
Grit  appeared  to  be  cut  out  by  a 
fault,  but  whatever  explanation  was 
adopted,  and  whatever  the  coal-seam 
might  be — whether  the  Top  Hard,  as 
supposed  by  some,  or  the  Silkstone, 
as  appeared  more  likely — an  eastward 
rise  of  the  Coal  Measures  had  been 
proved  to  exist.  The  deepest  part  of 
the  concealed  coal-field  had  been 
passed,  and  the  eastern  limit  was  in 
sight. 

Similar  explorations  were  being 
carried  on  across  other  parts  of  the 
concealed  coal-field,*  and  the  result 
had  been  to  show  that  the  eastern 
limit  lay  not  far  east  of  the  valley 
of  the  Trent.  Though  not  so 
peared    possible    to    the    Commission 


ous  faults  tended  on  the  whole  to  counteract  the  dip  and 
to  keep  the  seams  within  reach.  The  upper  measures 
were  distinguishable  into  three  groups,  and  the  recog- 
nition of  these  groups  at  their  outcrops  rendered  pos- 
sible estimates  of  depth  to  the  productive  measures 
below.  The  results  of  recent  work  had  been  to  show- 
that  the  outcrops  were  repeated — that  is,  that  the 
counteraction  of  dip  by  faults  was  continued  in  the 
areas  not  yet  proved  by  underground  workings. 
Nothing  was  yet  known  of  the  area  overlain  by  New 
Red  Sandstone, 

The  Kent  coal-field,  the  third  example  selected,  was 
wholly  concealed  by  a  blanket  of  Tertiary  and 
Secondary  strata,  with  an  average  thickness  of  1000  ft. 
towards  the  north,  but  increasing  to  upwards  of 
1700  ft.  southwards.     The  structure  of  the  Palaeozoic 


,Herr» 


RAMSGATE 


.Braboume 


VtrlK^tSc^^  J 


Fig.  2. — Contour-Knes  in  the  surface  of  the  Carboniferous  Limestone  under  Kent. 


large  as  ap- 
of  1905,  this 
extension  was  a  notable  additioh  to  the  visible  coal- 
field, but  its  productiveness  was  still  a  matter  of  doubt. 
Observations  on  the  thickness  of  coal-seams  were 
difficult  in  boreholes,  but  so  far  the  results  had  been 
disquieting. 

As  a  second  example,  the  Denbighshire  concealed 
coal-field  was  selected.  Here  it  was  not  so  much  the 
existence  as  the  accessibility  of  the  coal-seams  which 
was  in  question,  and  the  reason  was  found  in  a  great 
development  of  upper  measures,  for  the  most  part 
barren  of  good  coal.  The  dip  of  the  strata  was  much 
steeper  than  in  Nottinghamshire,  and  would  speedily 
carry  the  seams  to  an  inaccessible  depth.    But  the  numer- 

-  An  account  of  the  investigation  as  a  whole  appears  in  "  The  Concealed 
Coal-field  of  Yorkshire  and  Nottinghamshire  "  (Mem.  Geol.  Survey),  1913. 


floor  upon  which  this  blanket  rested  had  been  ascer- 
tained by  boring.  It  had  been  shown  that  the  Coal 
Measures  existed  in  a  syncline  formed  in  the  Carbon- 
iferous Limestone  (Fig.  2).  The  synclinal  axis  ranged 
a  little  west  of  north,  and  the  trough  became  shallower 
in  that  direction.  Southwards,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  deepened  and  widened,  in  a  manner  which  suggested 
that  a  large  part  of  the  coal-field  wx)uld  lie  under  the 
sea.  The  limestone-surface  had  been  reached  in  so 
many  borings  that  it  had  been  possible  to  draw  contour- 
lines  upon  it,  ranging  from  1000  ft.  to  3500  ft.  below 
sea-level  (Fig.  2).  These  lines  showed  that  the  slope  of 
the  limestone-surface,  though  somewhat  steeper  on  the 
eastern  than  on  the  western  side  of  the  trough,  was 
generally  gentle.  The  thickness  of  Coal  Measures  in 
part  of  the  trough  had  been  proved  to  exceed  2700  ft. 
The  relations  of  the  Kent  coal-field  to  those  of  the 


NO.    2431,    VOL.    97} 


294 


NATURE 


[June  i,  191 6 


north  of  France,  Belgium,  and  South  Wales  were  illus- 
trated by  a  map.  It  was  shown  that  the  line  of 
intense  disturbance  on  which  the  Continental  coal- 
fields were  situated  was  more  likely  to  pass  south  of 
the  Kent  coal-field  than  through  it,  and  that  the 
coal-field  occupied  a  position  comparable  in  this  respect 
to  that  of  the  newly  discovered  coal-field  of  La  Cam- 
pine.  Whether  the  disturbed  belt  was  continuous 
under  the  south  of  England  and  joined  up  with  the 
Armorican  folding  of  South  Wales  and  Somerset  could 
be  proved  by  further  borings,  and  in  no  other  way. 

The  registration  and  correct  interpretation  of  borings 
were  matters  of  great  importance.  A  recommendation 
made  by  the  Royal  Commission  on  Coal  Supplies,  that 
particulars  should  be  collected  and  preserved  in  a 
Government  office,  had  not  led  to  any  action.  As 
matters  now  stood,  the  records  were  not  only  liable 
to  be  lost  or  grossly  misinterpreted,  but  some  had 
gone  so  far  astray  as  to  be  accessible  only  in  a  German 
publication. 


ELECTRICAL     METHODS     IN     SURGICAL 
ADVANCED 

NO  institution  in  the  world  (said  Sir  James  Mac- 
kenzie Davidson)  had  contributed  so  largely  to 
electrical  science  as  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great 
Britain.  All  modern  electrical  developments  were 
based  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  upon  the  work  of 
Michael  Faraday  and  his  master,  Sir  Humphry  Davy ; 
and  it  was  fitting,  therefore,  that  in  the  place  which 
would  always  be  associated  with  their  labours  some 
account  should  be  given  of  those  same  electrical 
developments  as  applied  in  the  present  day  to  the  art 
of  the  surgeon. 

Before  electricity  came  on  the  scene  the  examina- 
tion of  wounded  men  who  had  bullets  lodged  in  their 
.tissues  was  largely  dependent  on  guesswork.  As  an 
early  instance  of  the  tentative  application  of  more 
scientific  methods,  he  mentioned  the  case  of  Gari- 
baldi, who,  after  the  battle  of  Aspromonte,  was 
troubled  by  a  wound  in  the  ankle  which  refused  to 
heal.  The  presence  of  an  impacted  bullet  in  the  foot 
was  not  detected  until  N^laton,  with  a  whalebone 
probe  having  at  the  end  a  button  of  porcelain, 
managed  by  introducing  it  into  the  wound  to  make  a 
rubbing  contact  with  whatever  it  was  touching,  and 
found  on  the  tip  a  black  mark  caused  by  the  embedded 
lead. 

Such  a  method  in  these  days  would  not  carry  us 
very  far,  but  since  then  the  discovery  of  X-rays  had 
come  along  to  revolutionise  surgical  diagnosis.  Sir 
James  gave  a  description  of  the  production  of  X-rays 
with  the  most  modern  of  tubes — the  Coolidge — and 
then  went  on  to  point  out  that  although  the  shadow 
picture  produced  by  X-rays  gave  a  good  deal  of  in- 
formation as  to  the  relative  densities  of  any  interposed 
materials,  it  was  not  like  an  ordinarv  photograph 
from  which  the  relative  positions  of  objects  could  be 
inferred.  It  was  a  shadow  of  the  object,  and  there- 
fore might  be  very  misleading.  He  showed  on  the 
screen  two  X-ray  pictures  of  exactly  the  same  sub- 
ject, in  which,  however,  the  tube  had  occupied  slightly 
different  positions.  In  the  one  case  a  bullet  appeared 
to  be  in  the  right  lung,  and  in  the  other  in  the  left. 
Something  more  was  needed  than  the  single  X-rav 
photograph  if  any  correct  information  as  to  the  posi- 
tion of  a  foreign  bodv  was  to  be  obtained. 

There  was.  first,  the  stereoscopic  method,  and  this 
he  illustrated  by  having  two  little  electric  bulbs  side 
by  side,  one  of  them  surrounded  by  a  green  film  of 
gelatine,  and  the  other  by  a  red  film,  each  casting  a 
shadow  of  an   object — a   cone  of  wire — from  slightly 

1  Abstract  of  arfiscourse  delivered  at  the  Royal  Institution  on  May  5,  by 
Sir  James  Mackenzie  Davidson. 

NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


different  points  of  view.  Spectacles  consisting  of  red 
and  of  green  lenses  were  distributed  among  the  audi- 
ence, and  when  the  shadows  were  viewed  through 
these  they  combined  to  give  an  impression  of  solidity, 
as  though  the  actual  object  were  being  looked  at 
instead  of  its  shadow.  With  the  spectacles  reversed, 
the  effect  became  a  pseudo-stereoscopic  one. 

This  was  not  precise  enough,  however,  for  the 
purpose  of  exact  localisation,  and  in  order  to  arrive 
at  mathematical  accuracy  a  different  system  was 
available.  Here  the  lecturer  gave  a  description  of  his 
own  well-known  cross-thread  localising  method,  and 
the  manner  in  which  the  geometrical  conditions  under 
which  the  two  X-ray  pictures  were  produced  are  re- 
constructed so  as  to  interpret  the  various  findings  on 
the  negative  in  the  terms  of  exact  measurements 
which  the  surgeon  required  to  employ.  It  was  really 
the  method  of  similar  triangles.  If  more  rapid  pro- 
cedures were  demanded,  as  they  might  well  be  by  the 
exigencies  of  the  present  time,  the  same  measurements 
could  be  carried  out  with  a  hand  lluoroscope  (shown) 
and  a  device  consisting  of  scale,  cross  wires,  and  slid- 
ing piece,  calibrated  sq  as  to  enable  one  to  determine 
by  the  simplest  adjustment  the  depth  of  a  piece  of 
metal  below  a  marked  point  on  the  skin  by  noting  the 
displacement  of  the  shadow  on  the  illuminated  screen 
when  the  tube  was  moved  to  a  given  distance. 

Having  ascertained  the  position  of  the  bullet,  other 
electrical  aids  were  available  for  the  surgeon  when  he 
came  to  deal  with  its  extraction.  One  of  the  most 
useful  was  the  telephone  attachment,  consisting  of  a 
telephone  to  one  terminal  of  which  was  attached  the 
surgeon's  exploring  instrument,  and  to  the  other  a 
carbon  plate  which,  moistened  with  salt  water,  was 
applied  to  the  patient's  skin.  When  the  exploring  in- 
strument came  into  contact  with  embedded  metals,  a 
loud  click  was  elicited,  .becoming  a  sharp  rattle  on  a 
rubbing  contact.  A  small  current,  generated  when  the 
electrical  circuit  was  completed  by  contact  between  the 
carbon  plate  and  the  foreign  body,  accounted  for  the 
microphonic  impression.  Through  the  kindness  of 
Mr.  Campbell  Swinton,  who  had  installed  a  special 
loud  telephone,  the  rattling  sound,  usually  heard  only 
by  the  surgeon  when  the  receiver  was  close  to  his 
ear,  was  audible  all  over  the  theatre.  The  lecturer 
also  showed  the  ingenious  telephone  forceps  with 
X-ray  screen  attached,  adapted  by  Captain  A.  E. 
Barclay,  of  Manchester. 

Another  device  for  the  same  purpose,  largely  used 
in  France,  was  Prof.  Bergoni6's  electromagnet,  of 
which,  through  the  kindness  of  Dr.  Ettie  Sayer,  the 
lecturer  was  able  to  show  an  example.  In  this  case 
a  large  electromagnet  was  excited  by  an  alternating 
current  and  held  over  the  suspected  part.  If  the  mag- 
netic field  thus  created  •  embraced  the  embedded  pro- 
jectile, a  vibratory  motion  was  induced  in  the  latter, 
synchronising  with  the  pulsing  of  the  current.  The 
surgeon  palpated  the  part  and  became  instantly  aware 
of  any  vibration  of  the  tissues  which  indicated  the 
presence  of  the  metal.  The  point  of  maximum  vibra- 
tion having  been  selected,  he  made  an  incision  at  that 
point,  and  then  the  magnet  was  again  used  and 
the  incision  deepened  in  accordance  with  the  informa- 
tion it  gave.  The  lecturer  was  able  to  repeat  this 
action  on  a  smaller  scale  with  some  pieces  of  high- 
explosive  shell  (lent  to  him  by  Dr.  Menzies)  placed  in 
gelatine,  and  their  vibrations  when  brought  within  the 
influence  of  the  magnet  were  projected  on  the  screen. 

The  lecturer  concluded  with  a  tribute  to  what  he 
called  the  shadow-army  (consisting  of  workers  in  all 
branches  of  war  surgery),  who  followed  the  move- 
ments of  the  combatant  army  as  exactlv  as  in  the 
experiments  he  had  shown  them  the  shadows  on  the 
screen  followed  every  alteration  in  the  position  of  the 
lamp. 


June  i,  191 6] 


NATURE 


295 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Birmingham. — On  Tuesday,  May  30,  at  a  crowded 
special  Degree  Congregation,  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
was  conferred  by  the  Vice-Chancellor  (Mr.  Gilbert 
Barling)  upon  the  Right  Hon.  W.  M.  Hughes,  Pre- 
mier of  the  Commonwealth  of  Australia.  It  was  felt 
to  be  fitting  that  the  University,  which  owes  its  foun- 
dation so  largely  to  the  great  Colonial  Secretary, 
should  thus  honour  the  distinguished  representative  of 
the  Overseas  Dominion  which  has  taken  the  lead  in 
the  promotion  of  co-operation  between  science  and 
industry  in  the  Empire. 

London. — At  a  meeting  of  the  Senate  held  on  May 
24  the  following  doctorates  in  science  were  con- 
ferred : — D.Sc.  in  geolog>-,  Mr.  P.  G.  H.  Boswell,  an 
internal  student,  of  the  Imperial  College  (Royal  Col- 
lege of  Science),  for  a  thesis  entitled  "The  Strati- 
graphy and  Petrology  of  the  Lower  Eocene  Beds  of 
East  Anglia " ;  D.Sc.  in  psychology.  Miss  M.  J. 
Reaney,  an  internal  student  of  King's  College,  for  a 
thesis  entitled  "The  Psychology  of  the  Organised 
Group  Game." 

Oxford. — The  Waynflete  professor  of  chemistry 
(Prof.  W.  H.  Perkin)  gives  notice  that  the  new  chem- 
ical laboratories  in  South  Parks  Road  will  be  open 
for  inspection  by  members  of  the  Universit}-  and  their 
friends  on  Wednesday,  June  7,  from  4  to  6  p.m. 

By  the  will  of  the  late  Mr.  J.  Forte,  his  plantation 
■'Bennetts,"  and  the  residue  of  his  estate  in  Bar- 
bados, are  left  to  Codrington  College  in  that  island. 
The  value  of  the  bequest  is  expected  to  be  not  less 
than  io,oooZ. 

A  PARTY  of  professors  from  French  universities  is 
visiting  this  country  at  the  invitation  of  the  British 
Government.  Oxford  was  visited  last  week,  and  on 
Monday,  May  29,  the  party  was  received  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  London  by  Sir  Alfred  Pearce  Gould,  Vice- 
Chancellor  of  the  University,  and  members  of  the 
Senate.  On  Tuesday,  Mr.  Henderson,  President  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  received  the  visitors  at  the 
offices  of  the  Board,  and  welcomed  them  on  behalf  of 
the  Government.  During  the  day  visits  were  paid  to 
University  College,  Gower  Street,  and  the  East  Lon- 
don College.  King's  College,  London,  was  visited  on 
Wednesday.  Cambridge  will  be  visited  to-day,  and 
the  party  will  remain  there  until  next  Monday,  after 
which  visits  will  be  paid  to  Manchester,  Liverpool, 
Sheffield,  Leeds,  Glasgow,  and  Edinburgh.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  return  to  France  on  June   12. 

The  relations  between  science  and  industry,  on  one 
hand,  and  science  and  the  State,  on  the  other,  are 
being  discussed  in  France  as  well  as  in  the  United 
Kingdom.  In  a  paper  by  Prof.  H.  Le  Chatelier,  on 
science  in  its  relations  with  economic  development,  in 
the  Comptes  rendits  for  May  i,  we  find  ourselves  held 
up  as  a  model  in  some  respects  in  these  matters. 
Prof.  Le  Chatelier  agrees  that  in  France  the  general 
public  ("Ze  grand  public,  c'est-a-dire  le  public  incom- 
pdtent ")  believes  in  science,  but  he  says  that  this  is 
unfortunately  not  the  case  either  with  the  public 
authorities  or  with  the  leaders  of  industry.  In  Ger- 
many any  captain  of  industry  is  proud  of  the  title 
of  doctor  of  science ;  in  France  this  would  be  ridi- 
culed. In  England  such  men  esteem  it  an  honour  to 
preside  over  meetings  of  learned  societies ;  in  the 
L'nited  States  leading  manufacturers  show  their  re- 
spect for  science  by  gifts  amounting  already  to  many 
millions  of  pounds.  France,  also,  has  not  established 
any  institution  corresponding  to  the  Physikalisch- 
Technische   Reichanstalt   in    Germanv,    the    National 


NO.    2431,    VOL.    97] 


Physical  Laboratory  in  England,  or  the  Bureau  of 
Standards  in  the  United  States,  though  it  has  the 
Institut  Pasteur.  The  too  frequent  absence  of  labora- 
tories in  cx)nnection  with  works  is  deplored.  It  is 
admitted  that  the  faults  are  not  altogether  on  the 
side  of  the  manufacturers,  as  the  source  of  scientific 
study  is  frequently  not  directed  to  a  practical  end,  and 
might  be  described  as  intellectual  gymnastics.  This 
is  a  fault  of  the  scheme  of  education,  and  it  is  pointed 
out  by  Prof.  Le  Chatelier  that  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  has  never  been  consulted  on  the  question  of 
the  organisation  of  teaching. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
Dublin. 
Royal  Dublin  Society,  May  2;^. — Dr.  J.  M.  Purser  in 
the  chair. — Prof.  W.  Brown  :  Note  on  laminated  mag- 
nets. When  a  compound  magnet  is  built  up  of 
laminations  the  distance  between  the  poles  decreases 
as  the  cross-section  grows  from  an  oblong  to  a  square, 
and  when  the  section  further  increases  from  a  square 
to  an  oblong  the  said  distance  then  increases.  The 
above  result  was  found  to  hold  whether  the  steel 
laminations  were  placed  in  contact  or  separated  by 
slips  of  paper,  but  the  minimum  distance  between  the 
poles  was,  in  the  latter  case,  greater  than  in  the 
former. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  May  15. — M.  Camille  Jordan  in 
the  chair. — G.  Lemoine :  The  catalysis  of  hydrogen 
peroxide  in  heterogeneous  media.  Part  iv.  Experi- 
ments with  carbon ;  conclusions.  The  three  varieties  of 
carbon  used  in  these  experiments — coconut  charcoal, 
wood  charcoal,  and  sugar  charcoal — all  acted  as  cata- 
lysers  towards  hydrogen  peroxide,  the  first  being  the 
most  energetic.  There  would  appear  to  be  a  relation 
between  the  catalytic  power  and  absorptive  capacity 
for  gases.  The  results  given  in  the  four  papers  are 
summarised. — H.  Le  Chatelier  and  F.  Bogitch  :  The 
estimation  of  carbon  by  the  Eggertz  method.  The 
effects  of  heat  treatment  of  the  steel,  of  nickel,  man- 
ganese, and  silicon  have  been  examined.- — P.  Duhem  : 
The  electrical  oscillations  on  a  system  of  purely  di- 
electric bodies. ^C  Guichard  :  The  C  congruences  of 
which  one  of  the  focal  surfaces  is  a  quadric. — M. 
Bergoni^  was  elected  a  correspondant  for  the  section 
of  medicine  and  surgerj-  in  the  place  of  the  late  M. 
Mosso. — J.  K.  de  Feriet  :  An  integral  equation  of  the 
second  species,  admitting  hyperspherical  functions  as 
fundamental  solutions. — D.  Eginitis  :  Observations  of 
the  comets  1915a  (Mellish)  and  1915c  (Taylor)  made 
at  the  Athens  Observatory  with  the  Doridis  equatorial. 

P.  Villey  :  A  stenographic  machine  for  the  blind. — 

A.  Colson :  The  consequences  of  the  assimilation  of 
reversible  solutions  to  saturated  vapours. — C.  Ravean  : 
The  complete  expression  of  the  heat  of  reversible  solu- 
tion in  a  volatile  liquid. — L.  C.  Maillard  :  The  forma- 
tion of  pyridine  bases,  starting  with  albuminoids. 
Remarks  on  a  recent  communication  on  the  same  sub- 
ject by  MM.  A.  Pictet  and  Tsan  Quo  Chou.— Mile.  R. 
Hemnierle  :  Diphenylpyruvic  acid. — J.  Bougault  : 
Phenyloxymaleic  anhydride.  This  anhydride  is  ob- 
tained by  the  action  of  sulphuric  acid  upon  o-cyano- 
phenylpyruvic  ester.  It  crystallises  with  one  molecule 
of  water,  and  hence  possesses  the  same  composition 
as  phenvloxalacetic  acid,  but  its  reactions  with  alcohols 
and  amines  clearly  distinguish  it  from  the  latter. — 
MM.  J.  and  C.  Cotie  :  The  examination  of  a  pre- 
historic paste.  A  chemical  and  microscopical  exam- 
ination of  a  coloured  paste  found  on  two  fragments  of 
bone  in  the  eneolithic  layers  of  the  cavern  of  Adaouste. 


296 


NATURE 


[June  i,  1916 


— p.  Ganbert :  Circular  polarisation  produced  by 
«pherolites. — A.  Guebhard  :  The  age  of  the  upper  con- 
glomerates of  the  region  of  Castellane  (Basses-Alpes) 
in  its  relations  with  the  alpine  foldings.— Mile.  S. 
Coemme  :  A  new  method  of  reproduction  of  the  parti- 
tions of  Ammonites. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Bulletin  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  at 
Harvard  College.  Vol.  Ix.,  No.  6.  Results  of  the 
Yale  Peruvian  Expedition  of  191 1.  The  Arachnida. 
By  R.  V.   Chamberlin.     (Cambridge,  Mass.) 

Preliminary  Report  on  the  Botanical  Results  of  the 
Danish  Expedition  to  Siam  (1899-1900).  Flora  of  Koh 
Chang.  By  Johs.  Schmidt.  Part  x.  (Copenhagen  : 
Bianco  Luno.) 

Annals  of  the  Durban  Museum.  Vol.  i.,  part  3. 
(Durban.)     5s.  net. 

Journal  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society.  Vol.  Ixxix., 
part  2,  March.     (London.)     5s. 

Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  South  Africa. 
Vol.  v.,  part  4.     Pp.  273-564.     (Cape  Town.)     12$.  6d. 

Mentally  Deficient  Children  :  their  Treatment  and 
Training.  By  Drs.  G.  E.  Shuttlevvorth  and  W.  A. 
Potts.  Fourth,  edition.  Pp.  xix+284.  (London: 
H.  K.  Lewis  and  Co.,  Ltd.)    7s.  6d.  net. 

More  Minor  Horrors.  By  Dr.  A.  E.  Shipley.  Pp. 
xiv+ 163.  (London  :  Smith,  Elder  and  Co.)  is.  6d. 
net. 

Newsholme's  School  Hygiene  :  the  Laws  of  Health 
in  relation  to  School  Life.  By  Dr.  J.  Kerr.  Pp.  352. 
New  edition.  (London  :  G.  Allen  and  L^nwin,  Ltd.) 
45.  6d.  net. 

The  Forty-fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of 
Directors  of  the  Zoological  Society  of  Philadelphia. 
Pp.  53.     (Philadelphia,  Pa.) 

A  Generation  of  Religious  Prog^ress.  Edited  by  G. 
Spiller.  Pp.  151.  (London  :  Watts  and  Co.)  is. 
net. 

A  Senior  Experimental  Chemistry.  By  Dr.  A.  E. 
Dunstan  and  Dr.  F.  B.  Thole.  Pp.  xiii  +  522.  (Lon- 
don :    Methuen  and  Co.,   Ltd.)     5s. 

The  Geology  of  the  Lake  District  and  the  Scenery 
as  Influenced  by  Geological  Structure.  By  Dr.  J.  E. 
Marr.  Pp.  xii  +  220.  (Cambridge:  At  the  University 
Press.)     12S.  net. 

DIARY   OF   SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  June  i. 

Royal  Society,  at  4.30.— The  Transmission  of  Electric  Waves  around  the 
P^arth's  Surface  :  Prof.  H.  M  Macdonald. — A  Critical  Study  of  Spectral 
Series.  IV.  The  Structure  of  Srark  Spectra:  Prof.  W.  M.  Hicks.— 
Periodic  pisturban<  e  of  Level  arising  from  the  Load  of  Neighbouring 
Oceanic  Tides  :  K.  Terazawa. — ^^T  he  Use  of  Partly  Neutralised  Mixtures 
of  Acids  as  Hvdrion  Regulators:  E.  B.  R.  Prideaux. — The  Fossil  Floras 
of  the  Coal  Measures  of  South  Staffordshire  :  Dr.  E.  A.  N.  Arber. 

Rqyal  Institution,  at  3.— Chamber  Music  and  its  Revival  in  England  : 
Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie. 

Royal  Society  of  Arts,  at  4.30. — The  Work  of  the  Imperial  Institute  for 
India  :  Prof.  W.  R.  Dunstan. 

LiNNEAN  Society,  at  5.— New  Types  of  Fossil  Characeae  from  the  Purbeck 
Reds:  Clement  Reid  and  J.  Groves. — The  Structure  of  the  Vertebral 
Column  in  the  Anura  Phaneroglossa  and  its  Importance  as  a  Basis  of 
Classifiration  :  Prof.  G.  E.  Nicholls.— Variation  in  Mniura:  Prof.  Julius 
MacLeod. — A  New  Species  of  Bennettites  :  Dr.  Marie  Slopes. 

FRIDAY,  June  2. 
Royal  Institution,  at  5.30. — La  France  dans  I'Histoire  comme  Champion 

du  Droit :  Lieut.  P.  H.  Loyson. 
Geologists'  Association,  at  7. — The  Petrology  of  the  North  Sea  Drifl 

and  Suffolk  _  Brick-earths  :    Dr.    P.   G.    H.  Boswell. — Notes  on  Erosion 

Phenomena  in  Egypt :  Mary  S.  Johnston. 

SATURDAY,  June  3. 
Royal  Institution,   at  3. — Folk-lore  in  the  Old  Testament :  Sir  J.  G. 

Frazer. 

MONO  A  Y,  June  5. 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  at  8.30. — Further  Explorations  in  Central 

Asia  :  Sit  Aiirel  Stein. 
Aristotelian  Society,  at  8 — The  Nature  of  Judgment :  E.  H.  Strange. 
Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  at  8. 
Victoria  Institute,  at  4.30.— The  Tides,  with  Special  Reference  to  their 

Effects  around  the  British  Isles  :  Prof.  E.  Hull. 


NO.    2431,   VOL.    97] 


TUESDAY,  June  6. 
Royal   Institution,   at    3. — Optical  Research  and   Chemicil  Progress  : 

Dr.  1".  M.  Lowry. 
Zoological  Society,  at  5.^30. — Discussion  :  The  Results  Published  in  the 

"  Biologia-Centrali-Americana,"    vrith    Special    Reference    to    the    Zoo- 

feographical  Relations  between  America  and  Africa — Opened  by  Dr.  F. 
)u  Cane  Godman,  followed  by  Dr.  -A.  Smith  Woodward,  Dr.  H.  Gadow, 
C.  Tate  Regan,  R.  I.  Pocock,  and  Dr.  C.  W .  Andrews. 
Rontgen  Society,  at  8.15. — Annual   Meeting. — Homogeneity  of  Visible 
Radiation:  Prof.  J.  VV.  Nicholson. 

WEDNESDAY,  June  7. 

Society  of  Public  .'Vnalysts,  at  8. — Determination  of  the  Reichert  and 
Polenskc  Figures  of  Butter  and  .Margarine,  using  Small  Quantities  of  the 
Fat:  A.  Douglas  Hey  wood. —P  tash  and  other  Mineral  Fertihsers  and 
Constituents  of  Plants  :  R.  R.  Tatlock  and  R.  T.  Thomson. — Estimation 
of  Acetone  in  the  Presence  of  Ethyl  Alcohol  :  Jitendranath  Rakshit. 

Gbological  Society,  at  5.30. 

Entomological  Society,  at  8.^ — Certain  Forms  of  Acraed  from  Madagascar : 
A  Reply  to  M.  Oberthiir :  Dr.  H.  Eltringham. 

THURSDAY,  June  8. 
Royal  Society,  at  4.30. 
Royal  Institution,  at  3. — Chamber  Music  and  its  Revival  in  England  : 

Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie. 
Institution  of  Mining  Engineers,  at  10.45  ^-"i- — The  History  of  the 

Safety-Lamp  :  Prof  F.  W.  Hardwick.— The  Health  of  Old  Cobiers  :  Dr. 

J.  S.  Haldane. — The  Estimation  of  Moisture  in  Coal  :  T.   F.  Winraill. — 

(i)  The  Absorption  of  0.\ygen  by  Coal.    VIII.  and  IX. ;  (2)  The  Oxidation 

of  Pyrites  :  T.  F.  Winmill. 
Optical  Society,  at  8.— Modern  Technical  Applications  of  Radium  and 

other  Luminous  Substances  :  F.  Harrison  Glew. 

FRIDAY,  June  9. 

Royal  Institution,  at  5.30. — Eyesight  and  the  War:  Dr.  E.  Clarke. 

Royal  Astronomical  Society,  at  5. 

Malacological  Society,  at  8. — Note  on  Erato  guttula^aw.  :  J.  R.  le  B. 
Tomlin.— An  Undescribed  Ammonoid  from  the  Lower  Greensand  (.^ptian) 
of  Kent :  G.  C.  CxxcV.— Helix scytodes :  Prof.  G.  K.  Gude. 

SATURDAY,  June  10. 
Royal  Institution,  at  3. — Folk-lore  in  the  Old  Testament:   Sir  J.  G. 
Frazer. . 


CONTENTS.  PACK 

Apple-growing  for  Profit.     By  F.  K 277 

Thermodynamic  Chemistry.   By  Dr.  Francis  W.Gray  277 

Applied  Mechanics      278 

Our  Bookshelf 279 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

Meteorological   Conditions   of  a   Blizzard. — W.    H. 

Dines,  F.R.S.          280 

EconoQiic  Work  of  the  Geological  Surveys. — Prof. 

Grenville  A.  J.  Cole      280 

Antarctic  Physiography.    [Ilhisirated.) 280 

Ptolemy's  Catalogue  of  Stars.     By  J.  L.  E.  D.     .    .  282 

Prof.  H.  C.  Jones.     By  J.  W 2S3 

Notes                                               283 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Large  Daylight  Fireball  on  May  20 288 

Comet  19163  (Wolf),  1916  ZK  (Planet) 288 

A  Possible  New  Comet 289 

Venus 289 

Meteorological   and     Magnetic    Autographs.        By 

W.  W.  B.     .                                    289 

Researches  on  Hops.     By  E.  S.  S 290 

"Tropisms"    ...            290 

Studies  in  Mendelism 291 

Effect  of  Temperature  on  Soils         291 

The  Search  for  New  Coal-fields  in  England.     {Illus- 
trated.)   By  Dr.  A.  Strahan,  F.R.S 292 

Electrical  Methods   in   Surgical   Advance.     By  Sir 

James  Mackenzie  Davidson 294 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 295 

Societies  and  Academies 295 

Books  Received         296 

Diary  of  Societies 296 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 

MACMILLAN   &   CO.,    Ltd., 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET.    LONDON,    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  the 
Publishers. 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,  London. 
Telephone  Number :  Gsrrard  8830. 


NA  TURE 


297 


THURSDAY,    JUNE    8,    1916. 


THE   MOVING   PICTURE   AND   ITS 
MECHANISM. 

Hopwood's  Living  Pictures :  Their  History,  Photo- 
Production,  and  Practical  Working.  By  R,  B. 
Foster.  New  edition,  revised  and  enlarged. 
Pp.  x  +  377.  (London  :  The  Hatton  Press,  Ltd., 
191 5.)     Price  65.  net. 

THE  last  twenty  years  have  seen  such  amazing- 
development,  both  technically  and  indus- 
trially, in  all  that  pertains  to  moving-picture  de- 
vices that  it  is  difficult  to  realise  how  long  ago 
observations  were  made  and  simple  devices  con- 
structed which  by  slow  degrees  led  to  the  position 
from  which  the  present  activity  has  sprung.  The 
whole  story  is  well  told  in  the  new  edition  of 
Hopwood's  "Living  Pictures."  The  reviser  has 
the  advantage  not  only  of  a  good  scientific  edu- 
cation, but  also  of  that  special  training  required 
for  members  of  the  legal  profession,  and  this  is 
reflected  throughout  the  book  in  the  strictly 
accurate  statements  of  the  problems  at  every  stage 
and  lucid  descriptions  of  the  method  of  solution. 
Further,  the  classification  of  the  numerous  modes 
adopted  by  different  inventors  for  arriving  at  the 
desired  end  is  a  help  to  the  reader  and  avoids  the 
confusion  which  a  merely  chronological  treatment, 
for  instance,  would  introduce.  Two  other  features 
should  be  mentioned.  The  early  history,  begin- 
ning with  the  observation  of  Dr.  Roget  on  the 
appearance  of  the  spokes  of  a  wheel  seen  through 
a  fence,  is  interesting,  in  that  we  find  how  many  of 
the  best-known  scientific  workers  made  contribu- 
tions to  the  general  subject.  The  following  is  a 
list  of  some  of  these :  Brewster,  Wollaston, 
Babbage,  Herschel,  Plateau,  Faraday,  Savart, 
W'heatstone,   Clerk  Maxwell,   Marey,  Janssen. 

The  second  feature  for  which  we  have  to  thank 
the  reviser  is  the  excellent  account  of  the  legal 
side  of  the  question,  not  only  with  regard  to  the 
restrictions  where  public  exhibitions  are  con- 
cerned, but  also  in  respect  of  the  patents  bearing 
on  the  subject,  of  which  there  is  a  complete  classi- 
fied list.  Unfortunately,  owing  to  considerations 
of  space,  this  only  contains  the  date  and  number, 
but  not  the  name  of  the  patentee  or  the  title.  In 
addition  there  is  a  valuable  exposition  of  the  state 
of  the  law  in  relation  to  copyright.  It  appears 
to  the  writer  that  the  inventor  will  find  this  book 
of  great  use,  owing  largely  to  the  careful  way 
in  which  the  problems  are  dissected  and  classified 
under  sub-subjects,  so  that  whatever  ideas  he  may 
have  he  will  be  able  to  compare  with  existing 
practice  or  proposals  by  reference  to  only  a  few 
pages. 

The  subject  is  so  vast  that  it  is  impossible  in 
a  notice  to  discuss  more  than  one  or  two  parts 
of  it.  The  author  has,  in  the  historical  section, 
preserved  an  astonishing  number  of  inventors' 
names  for  their  instruments,  derived  mostly  from 
the  Greek.  The  greater  number  of  these  are  now 
wholly  forgotten,  though  Thaumatrope,  Zoetrope, 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


and  several  others  are  still  remembered.  Later 
inventors,  with  their  kinematographs  vulgarised 
to  sinnema  and  other  -graphs  and  -scoi)es,  have, 
however,  not  entirely  succeeded  in  imposing  this 
class  of  language  upon  the  profession,  who  have 
adopted  the  short  and  simple  expression  "  movies  " 
as  a  general  term  for  moving  pictures. 

In  the  earlier  discussions  it  is  natural  that  the 
question  of  p>ersistence  of  vision  should  have 
claimed  much  attention.  The  accepted  views  have 
been  revised  from  time  to  time  when  new  demands 
were  made  upon  this  physiological  limitation, 
as,  for  example,  when  three-colour  moving  pic- 
tures or  stereoscopic  moving  pictures,  in  which 
the  two  eyes  alternately  see  succeeding  views, 
were  first  discussed.  It  is  a  question  whether  per- 
sistence of  vision  is  an  accurate  expression  in  rela- 
tion to  moving  pictures  at  all.  It  is  exact  where 
the  eye  blends  a  number  of  successive  views 
of  a  stationary  object,  but  where  the  successive 
views  are  obtained  of  a  moving  object  persistence 
is  exactly  what  is  not  present.  That  which  the 
brain  creates  for  the  eye  is  a  supposed  seeing  of 
the  object  in  all  the  intermediate  positions  which  it 
never  really  sees  at  all,  giving  the  idea  of  equable 
movement.  Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  old 
slipping  magic-lantern  slides,  or  remember  the  old 
Zoetrope  slides,  will  realise  how  much  the  brain  or 
the  imagination  can  do  in  this  respect.  The 
modern  moving  picture  does  not  call  for  a  fraction 
of  this  creative  faculty,  except  that  projected  pic- 
tures, as  distinct  from  illuminated  pictures,  seem 
to  make  much  greater  demands  upon  it.  It  is 
probable  that  the  reason  for  this  is  that  the  really 
successful  Zoetrope  slides  were  those  in  which  the 
prominent  feature  was  a  large  object  moving 
slowly,  and,  perhaps,  turning  also,  while  those 
with  many  small  moving  parts  were  not  a  success. 
The  modern  moving  picture  must  of  necessity  meet 
all  cases  as  they  arise,  but,  even  so,  there  remains 
obvious  the  greater  perfection  of  the  view  presented 
by  large  objects  moving  slowly,  as,  for  instance, 
wave  motion  on  water,  as  compared  with  smaller 
objects  in  quicker  movement,  such  as  the  arms  and 
legs  of  living  creatures,  while  the  spokes  of  a 
moving  wheel  which  succeed  one  another  about  as 
often  as  the  individual  pictures  in  the  series  do 
remain  hopelessly  unmanageable. 

Chap,  iv.,  on  "Film  Machines  and  Intermit- 
tence  ^Iechanisms,"  is  one  of  special  interest,  and 
it  well  illustrates  the  excellence  of  the  classifica- 
tion, for  every  known  method  of  arresting  the  film 
for  the  necessary  time,  or  of  making  it  appear 
stationary-  by  optical  means,  even  though  it  is  in 
reality  moving  continuously,  is  set  out  under  a 
suitable  heading,  and  the  mechanical  diflficulties 
and  limitations  of  the  different  methods  are  well 
explained.  In  the  writer's  opinion,  the  discussion 
of  the  Maltese  Cross  movement,  a  movement  of 
the  type  of  the  Geneva  stop  mechanism  of  clocks 
and  watches,  is  treated  in  an  unnecessarily  cum- 
brous manner.  This  is  due  to  the  use  of  trigono- 
metrical expressions,  -  which  are  not  well 
adapted  for  the  treatment  of  this  class  of  move- 
ment.    Some  seven  pages  might  be  replaced  by 


298 


NATURE 


juNt:  8,   1916 


one  or  two,  in  which  the  problem  could  be  dis- 
cussed with  abundant  accuracy  simply  by  the  use 
of  the  geometric  principle  enunciated  in  text-books 
in  dealing-  with  the  forms  of  the  teeth  of  wheels. 

The  development  of  the  moving  picture  and  its 
mechanism,  like  that  of  many  other  inventions, 
has  had  to  wait  for,  and  has  stimulated  invention  in 
relation  to,  its  own  elements  or  adjuncts.  For 
instance,  the  early  workers '  in  moving-picture 
photography  were  met  first  by  the  insufficient 
sensitiveness  of  the  photographic  plate.  The  wet 
plate,  with  its  silver  bath,  was,  of  course,  hope- 
less; but  the  dry  plate,  with  all  its  advantages  of 
easy  manipulation,  has  steadily  improved  in  its  re- 
quirements of  light  to  make  a  good  picture,  until 
this  has  ceased  to  be  a  serious  difficulty  in  a  good 
light.  However,  the  glass  plate  itself  limited  the 
number  of  pictures  in  a  sequence  to  those  that  could 
be  arranged  in  a  spiral  on  a  disc,  and  so  was 
wholly  inconsistent  with  the  modern  moving  pic- 
ture exhibition.  The  film,  and  with  it  the  series  of 
devices  for  sensitising,  developing,  fixing,  wash- 
ing, and  perforating,  had  to  be  created  before  the 
moving  picture  as  now  understood  could  exist. 

Two  other  questions  discussed  are  those  of 
colour  kinematography,  and  living  and  speaking 
pictures.  The  explanation  of  the  two  methods  of 
obtaining  the  three-colour  components,  the  one  by 
addition  and  the  other  by  subtraction,  is  exceed- 
ingly clear,  and  this  makes  the  discussion  of  the 
methods  of  different  inventors  the  more  luminous. 
Some  stress  is  laid,  and  rightly  so,  on  the  Urban- 
Smith  two-colour  method,  patented  in  1902,  which 
is  the  basis  of  the  popular  kinemacolour.  The 
author  does  not  state  that  this  patent  was  the 
subject  of  an  action  which  was  hotly  contested  as 
far  as  the  House  of  Lords,  when  a  judgment  was 
delivered  which  is  of  the  most  drastic  kind  in 
relation  to  ambiguity  and  confusion  of  language 
in  a  specification.  This  judgment  is  now  con- 
stantly quoted,  and  is  one  which  was  much  needed 
in  consequence  of  the  improper  use  of  English 
patent  protection,  made  more  especially  by  Ameri- 
can and  German  patentees.  While  there  was  no 
dishonest  intention  of  this  kind  exhibited  in  the 
specification  in  question,  there  is  no  doubt  that  our 
Patent  Office  has  been  induced  to  allow  patent 
specifications  to  be  issued  which  are  designed  to 
mean  anything  in  emergency,  to  the  great  advan- 
tage of  the  big  bully;  and,  thanks  to  a  kinema- 
colour specification,  w-e  now  have  in  a  judgment  a 
cure  so  drastic  as  possibly  to  be  more  dangerous 
to  the  honest  inventor  than  the  disease. 

In  the  speaking  picture  not  only  is  the  moving 
picture  projected,  possibly  in  colour,  but  the 
sounds  heard  at  the  time  at  which  it  was  taken  are 
reproduced  also.  When  it  is  remembered  how 
quick  the  eye  and  ear  are  to  p>erceive  want  of 
synchronism,  it  will  be  realised  what  the  mechani- 
cal difficulties  are  that  must  be  surmounted  in  pro- 
ducing a  successful  speaking  picture.  Those  who 
had  the  good  fortune  to  be  present  at  the  Royal 
Institution  when  the  Gaumont  speaking  pictures 
were  exhibited  in  191 3  will  remember  how  per- 
fectly every  element  separately,  and  the  whole 
conjointly,  were  produced.     Of  the  colour  effects 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


the  most  astonishing  were  those  of  butterflies,  with 
those  brilliant  iridescent  blues  and  purples  which 
would  seem  to  defy  imitation.  However,  after 
the  photograph  of  those  butterflies  mounted  on 
clockwork  stands  so  as  to  revolve  slowly  had 
been  shown,  the  originals  on  their  stands  were  set 
revolving  on  the  table,  and  it  was  seen  that  as 
far  as  the  memory  would  serve  the  succession  of 
iridescent  hues,  caused  by  the  changing  aspect  of 
the  wings,  was  identical  in  the  original  and  in  its 
presentation  on  the  screen,  and  it  appeared  that 
Clerk  Maxwell's  three-colour  theory  of  colour  vision 
could  not  have  a  better  proof  of  its  sufficiency. 
However,  the  butterflies  did  not  speak.  Other  pic- 
tures, one  of  a  cock  crowing,  another  of  lions  in  a 
cage  being  annoyed  by  a  bar  of  iron  which  was 
allowed  to  drop  on  to  the  stone  floor,  were  each 
achievements  of  so  perfect  an  order  that,  so  far  as 
the  experience  of  the  present  writer  goes,  no 
moving  picture  had  been  so  equable  and  free  from 
flicker ;  no  colour  picture,  whether  moving  or  not,, 
projected  on  the  screen  had  approached  these  in 
faithful  accuracy  of  colour ;  no  gramophone — ex- 
cept, perhaps,  the  Autexophone  of  Parsons — had 
given  so  faithful  a  sound  record ;  and  the  combina- 
tion of  the  whole  and  the  exact  synchronism  were 
such  not  only  that  the  motion  of  the  cock  agreed 
with  his  voice,  but  the  clink  and  ring  of  the  iron 
exactly  agreed  with  the  moment  at  which  it  was 
seen  to  strike  and  bounce  from  the  floor,  while  the 
lions  were  keeping  up  a  snarl  in  consonance  with 
their  features.  Where  so  much  was  attempted  a 
failure  in  any  part,  and  above  all  in  the  synchron- 
ism, would  have  converted  the  feeling  of  amaze- 
ment and  delight  experienced  by  the  audience  into 
one  of  disgust  at  the  obvious  sham  of  the  whole 
thing. 

In  addition  to  the  list  of  patents  to  which  refer- 
ence has  already  been  made,  there  is  a  bibliography 
covering  the  period  from  1825  (Roget)  to  1914 
(Hallberg),  and  a  list  of  British  and  foreign  perio- 
dicals devoted  to  the  subject. 

C.  V.  Boys. 


MODERN    ANALYSIS. 

A  Course  of  Modern  Analysis.  By  Prof.  E.  T. 
Whittaker  and  Prof.  G.  N.  Watson.  Second 
edition,  completely  revised.  Pp.  560.  (Cam- 
bridge :  At  the  University  Press,  191 5.)  Price 
18.9.   net. 

J^HE  treatise  now  under  notice,  which  appears 
as  a  second  edition  of  a  former  treatise  by 
one  of  the  authors,  is  in  all  essential  respects  a 
new  work.  Its  scope  has  been  extended  in  many 
directions,  and  very  recent  developments,  of 
which  a  substantial  number  are  due  to  the  authors, 
receive  a  fair  share  of  attention.  The  volume 
now  gives  a  somewhat  exhaustive  account  of  the 
various  ramifications  of  the  subject,  which  are  set 
out  in  an  attractive  manner.  An  unusually  com- 
plete set  of  references  is  included,  and  the  book 
should  become  indispensable,  not  only  as  a  text- 
book for  advanced  students,  but  as  a  work  of 
reference  to  those  whose  aim  is  to  extend  our 
knowledge  of  analysis.     The  references  to  original 


June  8,  1916] 


NATURE 


299 


memoirs  are  conveniently  arranged  at  the  ends  of 
the  chapters. 

Part  i.  is  concerned  with  the  processes  of 
iinalysis.  After  an  introduction  to  complex 
numbers,  continuous  functions,  and  the  more 
fundamental  theory  of  convergence  and  uni- 
formity, the  reader  passes  to  the  theory  of 
Riemann  integration.  Analytic  functions  are  then 
introduced,  and  an  account  of  Cauchy's  theory  of 
residues  is  followed  by  the  theory  of  the  develop- 
ment of  functions  in  various  forms  of  infinite 
series.  The  chapter  on  asymptotic  expansions  and 
summable  series  is  very  compact,  and  in  the 
ensuing  chapter,  on  Fourier  series,  the  authors 
have  taken  the  bold  course  of  treating  these  series 
by  the  elegant  means  of  Ces^ro's  theory  of  sum- 
mable series,  instead  of  by  Dirichlet's  method. 
But  as  the  theory  of  these  series  only  appeals  to 
the  pure  mathematician,  who  finds  Dirichlet's 
method  equally  difficult,  this  course  appears  to  be 
justified.  Part  i.  concludes  with  a  valuable 
chapter  on  integral  equations,  which,  like  those 
on  the  theory  of  integration  and  linear  differential 
equations,  is  new. 

Part  ii.  is  devoted  to  the  theory  of  the  special 
transcendental  functions,  and  commences  with  a 
very  complete  account  of  the  Gamma  function. 
The  statement  that  this  function  was  defined  by 
£uler  as  an  integral  is  slightly  misleading;  he 
obtained  a  limit  of  a  product  by  interpolation  from 
factorials,  proved  it  equal  to  a  Beta  integral,  and 
thence  derived  the  Gamma  integral.  Possibly, 
however,  the  writers  do  not  regard  the  product 
as  being  suitable  for  a  definition,  for  it  is  not  of 
NVeierstrass's  canonical  form,  and,  indeed,  it  is 
difficult  to  show  that  it  represents  an  analytic 
function.  A  sketch  of  the  theory  of  the  Zeta 
function  of  Riemann,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
analytic  functions,  is  given,  although  an  account 
of  its  applications  to  prime  numbers  seems  to  have 
been  considered  beyond  the  scope  of  the  book. 
The  work  of  Mellin  and  Barnes,  which  has  ap- 
peared since  the  first  edition,  has  enabled  the 
authors  to  give  a  more  brief  and  systematic 
account  of  the  hypergeometric  function  and  of  its 
"confluent"  form.  As  particular  cases  of  these 
functions,  the  harmonics  of  the  parabolic  cylinder, 
and,  of  course,  the  Bessel  functions,  are  con- 
sidered in  some  detail.  A  chapter  is  devoted  to 
the  differential  equations  of  mathematical  physics, 
and  a  pleasing  novelty  is  introduced  into  their 
treatment.  The  authors  are  successful  in  reducing 
to  a  minimum  the  labour  inherent  in  a  discussion 
of  Mathieu's  elliptic  cylinder  functions.  The  book 
concludes  with  three  long  and  interesting  chapters 
on  elliptic  functions,  and  it  is  pleasant  to  observe 
that  Jacobi's  notation  for  the  Theta  functions  has 
been  retained  on  account  of  its  historical  interest. 
Moreover,  it  is  actually  the  most  convenient  of 
those  in  existence. 

In  matters  of  general  arrangement  the  book  is 
excellent  throughout.  Peano's  system  of  para- 
graphing is  adopted,  and  the  reviewer  can  only 
express  the  hope  that  the  system  may  become  more 
universal.  An  appendix  gives  the  essentials  of 
the  more  elementary  theory  of  simpler  functions, 
NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


and  the  index  is  noticeably  complete.  The  ex- 
amples are  numerous  and  well  selected  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  student  who  wishes  to  pursue 
the  subject.  But  perhaps  the  most  characteristic 
feature  of  the  book  is  its  success  in  giving  rigorous 
proofs  of  theorems  without  relapsing  into  the 
dullness  too  often  associated  with  rigour.  In 
every  respect  it  is  worthy  of  the  traditions  of  the 
Cambridge  University  Press. 

DOCILITY    AND    OTHER    DISEASES. 
(i)  The  Nemesis  of  Docility:  A  Study  of  German 

Character.       By     E.     Holmes.       Pp.     vii  +  264. 

(London:     Constable    and    Co.,     Ltd.,     1916-) 

Price  45.  6d.  net. 
(2)  La  Guerre  et  la  Pensee  Medicale.     By  Prof. 

Ricardo  Jorge.     Pp.  63.     (Lisbon,  1916.) 

(i)  P^Y  docility  the  author  means  "readiness  to 
-L'  obey  for  the  sake  of  obeying,  avidity  for 
commands  and  instructions,  reluctance  to  accept  re- 
sponsibility or  exercise  initiative,  inability  to  react 
against  the  pressure  of  autocratic  authority"; 
and  this  is  what  is  wrong  with  Germany,  where 
a  slavishly  docile  majority  is  as  wax  in  the  hands 
of  a  dogmatic  and  domineering  minority.  The 
Germans  lost  their  early  domestic  freedom  in  be- 
coming feudalised,  and  they  failed  to  recover  it 
because  of  the  disruptive  influences  of  tribalism. 
The  ultra-docility  has  grown  and  is  obvious  to- 
day alike  in  the  Army,  with  its  "  serf -like  rank- 
and-file  "  and  its  "arrogant,  overbearing  caste  of 
officers,"  and  in  "an  almost  serf -like  people," 
which  bows  to  the  despotism  of  the  Kaiser,  the 
Junker,  and  the  lords  of  commerce  and  finance 
"as  to  the  gracious  rule  of  a  divinelv  instituted 
*  State.'  " 

Having  been  Prussianised  themselves,  the 
Germans  have  sought  solace  in  the  dream  of 
"forcibly  Prussianising  a  greater  Germany  which 
would  expand  at  last  into  a  world-wide  empire." 
They  have  also  sought  to  make  their  dream  come 
true.  "The  aggressive  egoism  of  an  over-docile 
people  is  the  torch  which  has  set  the  world  ablaze. " 
The  blaze  has  given  the  world  a  glimpse  of  the 
pernicious  way  in  which  over-docility  may  deaden 
and  brutalise  a  people.  We  wish  it  had  left  them 
less  effective !  That  it  will  eventually  betray 
Germany  in  the  field  is  evidently  the  author's  ex- 
pectation, which  we  cannot  but  share.  We  wish 
again,  however,  that  the  symptoms  of  material 
Nemesis  were  a  little  more  convincing  than  they 
are  as  yet,  for  the  temporan,-  success  of  the 
thoroughness  of  the  ultra-docility  which  Mr. 
Holmes  so  vigorously  damns  remains  as  the  active 
cause  of  incalculable  wastage  and  misery,  and  as 
a  terribly  disquieting  menace  to  civilisation. 

While  we  are  inclined  to  regard  the  author's 
survey  as  one-sided,  and  his  interpretation  in 
terms  of  the  "  ultra-docility "  formula  over- 
strained, we  feel  that  he  has  powerfully  pre- 
sented part  of  the  truth,  and  driven  honie  the 
salutary  moral  :  Fas  est  et  ah  haste  doceri. 

(2)  This  is  a  beautifully  printed  lecture  on 
"The  War  and  Medical  Thought,"  delivered  in 
December,   1914,  as  a  presidential  address  to  the 


300 


NATURE 


[JuNL  8,   19 16 


Lisbon  Society  of  Medical  Sciences  by  Prof. 
Ricardo  Jorg-e.  By  the  wish  of  the  society  it  has 
been  published  in  French  as  well  as  in  Portuguese, 
and  we  appreciate  this  convenience. 

The  first  part  of  the  address  traverses  familiar 
ground  in  contrasting  the  present-day  army  medi- 
cal service  with  that  of  former  times,  emphasising 
such  modern  features  as  prophylactic  inoculation 
and  conservative  surgery.  A  deeper  note  is  struck 
in  the  author's  admission  that  war  in  itself — as  a 
biological  phenomenon — is  directly  antithetic  to 
the  ideal  of  medicine,  which  is  the  increase  of 
wholesomeness  of  life.  Refusing  to  be  led  astray 
by  any  apology  based  on  the  pervasiveness  of  the 
struggle  for  existence  in  Nature,  Prof.  Jorge  asks 
eloquently  and  passionately  how  it  has  come  about 
that  the  nations  have  been  led  into  the  disastrous 
anachronism  which  the  war  implies.  The  answer 
he  feels  compelled  to  give  is  that  the  controllers 
of  German  policy  are  the  victims  of  a  "collective 
paranoia  engendered  and  sustained  by  a  mental 
and  sentimental  intoxication  of  progressive  acute- 
ness — panteutomania."  He  does  not  maintain 
that  other  countries  have  not,  from  time  to  timcj 
exhibited  analogous  aberrations,  but  his  conten- 
tion is  that  we  are  confronted  with  the  most  ter- 
rible "  psychodemic  "  in  history.  It  has  invaded 
even  the  temple  of  science,  as  is  shown  by  the 
names  of  many  of  the  93  signatories  to  the  famous 
"Appeal  to  Civilised  Nations." 

Admitting  a  profound  admiration  for  the 
achievements  of  German  science,  and  for  Virchow 
in  particular  (from  whom  some  noble-minded  say- 
ings are  quoted),  the  author  holds  to  the  thesis  that 
there  has  been  in  Germany  a  terrible  outbreak  of 
social  pathology,  a  "pandemia  vesanica. "  In  spite 
of  these  learned  terms,  which  are  rather  question- 
begging,  and  references  to  Le  Bon  and  other 
students  of  the  psychology  of  the  crowd,  we  sus- 
pect that  Prof.  Jorge's  theory  is  largely  verbal 
and  metaphorical.  The  address  seems  to  have 
been  first  published  in  Medicina  Contemporanea, 
and  a  lurid  German  review  by  Prof.  C.  Mense  is 
answered  in  a  manner  suggestive  of  high 
explosives. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Spiritualism:    A    Historical   and    Critical   Sketch. 

By  Rev.  Canon  Edmund  McClure.   Pp.  viii  +  56. 

(London  :     Society     for     Promoting     Christian 

Knowledge,  1916.)  Price  6d.  net. 
This  is  an  enlarged  version  of  an  address  to  a 
small  clerical  society,  one  member  of  which  had 
been  caused  "  distinct  anxiety  "  by  the  growth  of 
spiritualism.  Canon  McClure  touches  on  the 
Odyssey,  Saul  and  the  Witch  of  Endor,  St. 
Augustine  and  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  on  demons. 
Porphyry,  Swedenborg  (whose  "  so-called " 
visions  were  due  to  a  disappointment  in  love, 
acting  on  a  nervous  system  of  "  unbalanced  char- 
acter "),  Dr.  A.  Russel  Wallace  (who  is  treated 
with  respect  and  extreme  brevity),  Mrs.  Piper  (un- 
truly said  to  be  afflicted  with  hysteria,  like  "all 
mediums "),  and  Dr.  T.  J,  Hudson,  whose  in- 
sufficiently supported  theories  are  too  lightly 
NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


accepted.  The  Society  for  Psychical  Research, 
though  often  referred  to,  is  not  once  correctly 
named,  nor  is  the  Dialectical  Society ;  the  names 
Schiaparelli  and  Blavatsky  are  wrongly  spelt,  and 
an  American  "  Colonel  Sinnett  "  is  mentioned  who 
seems  to  be  a  blend  of  Mr.  A.  P.  Sinnett  and 
Colonel  Olcott.  These  and  other  mistakes  will 
lead  scientific  readers  to  distrust  the  author,  who, 
moreover,  has  apparently  no  first-hand  knowledge 
of  the  subject.  The  Archdeacon  of  Bristol,  in  his 
preface,  seriously  recommends  those  who  desire 
further  knowledge  to  read  Monsignor  Benson's 
novel  "The  Necromancers  "  !  Both  writers  have 
apparently  decided  that  the  alleged  phenomena 
are  due  to  fraud,  hysteria,  or  the  Devil. 

Canon  McClure  says  (p.  50)  that  hysteria 
plays  an  important  part  in  the  functions  of  all 
mediums,  "  and  notably,  according  to  Prof.  Richet, 
in  Mrs.  Piper."  The  present  reviewer,  through 
the  kind  offices  of  a  friend,  communicated  this 
statement  to  Prof.  Richet,  whose  reply  is  just  re- 
ceived, after  the  foregoing  was  in  type.  He 
emphatically  denies  ever  having  said  anything  of 
the  kind.  J.  A.   H. 

Manuring  for  Higher  Crop  Production.  By  Dr. 
E.  J.  Russell.  Pp.  vii  +  69.  (Cambridge: 
At  the  University  Press,  1916.)  Price  35.  net. 
The  problem  of  increasing  the  food  output  of 
British  farms  is  no  new  one,  but  has  been  ren- 
dered vastly  more  acute  by  the  stern  necessities  of 
war-time.  The  solution  of  the  problem  lies  obvi- 
ously along  one  or  both  of  two  lines  :  either  the 
farmer  must  increase  his  area  under  cultivation,  or 
he  must  obtain  more  from  the  existing  area.  To 
the  layman  the  former  alternative  may  appear  to 
promise  the  larger  results,  but  its  practical  appli- 
cation in  war-time  is  beset  with  g-rave  difficulties, 
which  tend  only  to  increase  with  the  prolongation 
of  the  war.  The  efforts  of  the  farmer  must  thus 
be  concentrated  more  and  more  in  the  direction 
of  the  second  alternative,  endeavouring  by  im- 
proved cultivation,  readjusted  crossing,  and  more 
liberal  and  rational  feeding  of  his  crops  to  utilise 
to  the  fullest  extent  the  capabilities  of  his  soil. 

It  is  to  assist  him  in  the  pursuance  of  this  object 
that  Dr.  Russell  has  epitomised  in  this  small 
volume  the  essential  information  now  available  on 
manures  and  soil  management,  with  special  refer- 
ence to  British  experience,  and  the  results  of 
numerous  field  trials  made  at  Rothamsted  and 
elsewhere  in  this  country.  His  aim  throughout  is 
to  state  the  facts  in  simple  and  plain  language, 
with  sufficient  illustrative  data  from  experimental 
results  to  enable  the  individual  farmer  to  draw  his 
own  conclusions  as  to  the  probable  requirements 
of  his  own  soil.  There  are  no  simple  formulae  for 
increasing  crop  production.  Local  conditions 
must  exercise  a  dominating  influence.  The  skill 
and  judgment  of  the  farmer  in  appraising-  these 
and  in  adapting  his  practice  to  them  must  be 
decisive,  but  with  Intelligent  application  of  the 
facts  set  out  so  clearly  by  Dr.  Russell  he  will  be 
but  an  incompetent  farmer  who  fails  to  achieve 
some  measure  of  success  in  increased  crop  and  en- 
hanced returns. 


June  8,  1916] 


NATURE 


301 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 
[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Molecular  Attractions  in  Solutions. 

The  following  is,  so  far  as  I  know,  a  new  method 
of  attacking  this  problem.  I  have  been  working  at 
the  experiments  for  some  time,  but  on  account  of  the 
war  progress  in  the  matter  has  come  almost  to  a 
standstill.  It  seems  desirable  to  publish  this  brief 
preliminary  note  now. 

Let  A  and  B  be  two  pure  liquids  miscible  (com- 
pletely miscible  would  be  better  still)  over  a  large 
range  of  concentrations.  Let  the  densities  and  com- 
pressibilities of  the  liquids  and  their  mixtures  be 
known.  Then,  taking  the  simplest  case  {i.e.  one  in 
which  there  is  no  association  either  in  the  mixture  or  in 
the  pure  liquids),  we  may  postulate  that  if  there  be  a 
change  in  volume  on  mixing,  this  change  is  caused 
by  the  algebraic  sum  of  the  alterations  in  the  attrac- 
tions of  A  to  A  and  B  to  B,  together  with  the  added 
effect  of  the  new  attractions  of  A  to  B. 

The  sum  of  these  three  effects  can  be  calculated 
with  considerable  plausibility.  Consider  any  definite 
mixture,  the  coefficient  of  compressibility  of  this  mix- 
ture being  supposed  known  over  a  wide  range  of 
pressure.  As  we  know  the  coefificient  for  the  separate 
pure  liquids,  we  could  calculate  the  theoretical  co- 
efficient of  the  combination.  From  these  data  we  can 
get  an  approximate  value  for  the  mean  coefficient  of 
compressibility  of  the  mixture  while  passing,  so  to 
speak,  from  the  theoretical  combined  state  to  that 
which  ultimately  prevails.  Then  the  change  in  volume 
divided  by  this  mean  coefficient  gives  the  change  of 
internal  pressure  on  mixing.  Now,  if  this  method  be 
followed  by  a  number  of  different  concentrations,  a 
series  of  different  changes  in  internal  pressures  will 
result. 

If  it  is  desired  to  disentangle  the  various  internal 
attractions  from  one  another,  this  can  only  be  done 
by  trial  and  error.  The  following  development  of 
Laplace's  method  may  be  tried.  Assume  that  the 
attractions  are  proportional  to  the  mass  of  the  opera- 
tive particles,  then,  calling  the  changes  of  pressure 
P,,  P2,  etc.,  and  referring  the  concentrations  to  a 
gram-mol.  of  liquid  A,  let  V  be  the  volume  of  the 
mixture  which  contains  i  gram-mol.  of  A,  and  n  the 
accompanying  mass  of  component  B. 

The  change  of  attraction  of  A  to  A  In  mixture  (i) 
will  be  proportionate  to  o/V,^. 

The  change  of  attraction  of  B  to  B  in  mixture  (i) 
will  be  proportionate  to  j8n,*/V,'. 

The  change  of  attraction  of  A  to  B  in  mixture  (i) 
will  be  proportionate  to  niy/Vj*. 

From  these  quantities  we  get  a  set  of  equations  : — 

P2  =  (o  +  n.y  +  ^n,«)/Vj»,  etc., 

where  o,  P,  and  y  are  algebraic  quantities. 

There  are  some  reasons  for  supposing  that  y  may 
be  equal  to  (a/3)i ;  if  so,  a  and  ^  can  be  calculated  from 
any  two  of  the  equations,  when  P,,  n,,  etc.,  are 
known,  and  hence  the  validity  of  the  assumption  may 
be  tested  over  any  range  of  concentrations.  Obviously 
a  formula  of  this  type  would  not  meet  the  case  in 
which  the  two  liquids  can  mix  in  all  proportions  with- 
out change  of  volume;  but  it  is  possible  that  although 
the  total  pressure  now  remains  constant,  yet  there 
may  have  been  a  redistribution  of  pressure  among  the 
constituents. 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


It  may  be  mentioned  that  even  an  empirical  formula 
giving  appro.ximate  values  for  the  separate  internal 
pressures  would  be  of  considerable  help  in  deducing  a 
correct  equation  of  state  for  the  osmotic  pressures  of 
solutions.  Berkeley. 

Foxcombe,  May  24. 

Meteorological   Conditions   of  a   Blizzard. 

As  used  to  signify  a  certain  type  of  snowstorm 
primarily  characterised  by  fine,  dry,  powdery,  or 
sand-like  snow  driven  before  a  gale  of  wind,  the  tem- 
perature of  which  is  extremely  low  (say  20°  below 
zero  F.),  the  term  "  blizzard "  is,  of  course,  wholly 
inapplicable  in  the  British  Isles ;  and  it  is,  moreover, 
ridiculous  to  apply  the  name  to  every  little  occurrence 
of  sleet  after  the  manner  of  the  daily  Press,  referred 
to  by  Mr.  Dines.  But  there  is  another  type  of  severe 
snowstorm  peculiar  to  damp,  stormy,  and  relatively 
warm  winter  climates  like  our  own,  the  natural  breed- 
ing-grounds of  which  are  the  wild  tracts  of  bleak, 
elevated  moorland  which  cover  so  much  of  the  north 
of  England  and  Scotland;  and  I  fail  to  see  why 
"blizzard,"  which,  after  all,  comes  from  the  same 
root  as  "blast,"  should  not  be  as  expressive  of  a 
British  moorland  snow  gale,  with  its  relatively  large 
^amp  flakes,  as  it  is  of  the  fine  dry  crjstals  of  North 
America  or  the  polar  regions,  produced  by  meteoro- 
logical conditions  practically  unknown  in  this  country. 
The  huge  falls  of  snow  swept  by  heavy  gales  which 
isolated  many  high-lying  districts  of  Great  Britain 
for  weeks  together  in  February  and  March  of  the  pre- 
sent year  (see  Symons's  Meteorological  Magazine  for 
April),  bringing  in  a  few  weeks  an  aggregate  depth 
of  some  10  ft.  to  the  Black  Mountains  in  South  Wales, 
were,  it  seems  to  me,  not  inappropriately  described  as 
"blizzards";  but  for  the  sake  of  distinction  it  might 
be  advisable  to  restrict  the  use  of  the  term  to  the 
American  type  of  storm. 

Mr.  Dines  refers  to  January  18,   1881,  as  affording 

the  nearest  approach  to  an  American  blizzard  in  the 

S.E.  of  England;  but  possibly  an  even  better  approxi- 

I  mation  was  the  great  storm  of  March  9-13,  1891,  in 

I  the  S.W.   of  England.     In  Devon   and  Cornwall   the 

I  "  great  blizzard "  of  that  spring  is  now  a  household 

i   word,    and    I    do   not   think   that   anyone   who   either 

j  experienced   that  west-countr\-   visitation   or   has  read 

j  the    vivid    narratives    regarding    its    effects    will    feel 

inclined  to  quarrel  with  the  designation. 

L.   C.   W.    BON.ACINA. 

Hampstead,   N.W.,   June  2. 

SIR  ERNEST  SHACKLETON'S  ANTARCTIC 
EXPEDITION. 

OIR  ERNEST  SHACKLETON  has  fully 
^  justified  the  faith  of  those  who  were  con- 
fident that  if  he  did  not  cross  Antarctica  his  ex- 
pedition would  make  valuable  additions  to  the 
geography  of  the  little-known  area  of  the  Weddell 
Sea  and  that  he  would  act  with  the  combined 
daring  and  sound  judgment  necessary  to  success 
in  what  was  admittedly  almost  a  geographical 
forlorn  hope.  He  is  to  be  congratulated  on  his 
return  after  one  of  the  most  adventurous  of  Polar 
expeditions;  for  its  voyage  on  the  ice-floes  has 
been  only  equalled  in  perils  by  that  of  the  Hansa 
Expedition ;  his  heroic  passage  in  search  of 
help  across  the  stormy  seas  south-east  of  Cape 
Horn  during  an  Antarctic  winter  will  rank  among 
the  finest  examples  of  seamanship  achieved  in 
an  ordinary  ship's  boat;   and,   having  landed  on 


302 


NATURE 


[June  8,  19 16 


the  uninhabited  side  of  South  -Georgia,  he  has 
achieved  the  fine  mountaineering  feat  of  the  first 
traverse  of  that   rugged   ice-capped   island. 

The  narrative  of  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  in  the 
Daily  Chronicle  of  June  2  confirms  the  expecta- 
tion that  the  Endurance  had  come  to  grief  in  the 
heavy  ice  of  the  Weddell  Sea.  She  left  South 
Georgia  on  December  6,  1914,  and  sailed  to  the 
south-east,  entering  the  pack  at  58°  40'  S.,  18°  W. 
After  a  passage  of  1000  miles  through  crowded 
ice-floes  Coats  Land  was  sighted  on  January  10, 
191 5.  The  expedition,  continuing  westward,  dis- 
covered 200  miles  of  new  land,  the  Caird  Coast, 


A    T  L  A  N   T  t  C 


OCEAN 


"ENDURANCE 
STARTED    FROM 
HERE    DEC.6.ISI* 


Falkland  I?   lA^mv^fl  mav  j<":sn 


S^U^rtStaniey 


Str. 


%:»* 


^  *"  **  TA  South 


C.florru 


Sin  i.SMACKLCTQN 
AND  /»AflTV  OF  fIVE. 
LtFT  fOn  S.6£0/*GfA 
APRIL   24     uaAVi/vO 
22  M£/v    BEHIND. 


^^ 


^^•' 


—  -TA' South 
'o"g|X^6eorgia 


>Si 


Elephant  ,*^';„^_     ,^.  South 
-■      ^^    ^^^  /.  Orkneys 


South     ^^ 
Shetlands    ?        ^" 


Statute  Miles 


GEOR&e    PHILIk    iL  SON. LTD.] 


Map  of  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton's  route.     Reproduced  by  permission  of  the  Daily  Chronicle. 

which  appears  to  fill  the  gap  between  Coats  Land 
and  Filchner's  Prince  Leopold  Land,  and  thus 
to  prove  that  they  are  part  of  the  Antarctic  con- 
tinent and  not  off-lying  islands.  The  Endurance 
was,  however,  unable  to  reach  the  hoped-for  base. 
From  the  latitude  of  77°,  her  furthest  south,  she 
was  carried  northward,  the  direction  of  drift  being 
apparently  controlled  by  land  to  the  west.  This 
land  does  not,  however,  extend  as  far  east  as  was 
thought.  Capt.  Benjamin  Morrell,  an  American 
sealer,  claimed  to  ha-fre  discovered  land,  which  he 

NO.    2432,   VOL.    97] 


called  New  South  Greenland,  in  1823.  Morrell 
was  generally  dismissed  as  the  Munchausen  of  the 
Antarctic  until  Dr.  Bruce  accepted  his  records,, 
largely  on  the  ground  that  his  other  record  of  new 
land  was  supported  by  Ross's  observation  of 
apparent  land  at  75°  S.,  44°  W.  If  those  two- 
records  had  been  confirmed,  the  land  to  the 
west  of  Weddell  Sea  would  project  north- 
westward in  two  great  peninsulas,  Grahamland 
to  the  north-west,  and  Morrell 's  New  South 
Greenland  to  the  south-east.  The  axes  of  these 
lands  would  have  been  concentric  with  one  an- 
other, and  also  with  the  line,  further  to  the  north- 
west, of  the  South  Shetlands  and 
South  Orkneys. 

Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  has 
found  1900  fathoms  of  water  over 
the  site  of  New  South  Greenland. 
He  has  therefore  restored  to  the 
Weddell  Sea  its  great  extension 
westward  and  modified  the  pos- 
sible interpretation  of  the  struc- 
ture of  the  Grahamland  region. 
Morrell  may  have  mistaken  ice 
for  land  or  may  have  been  merely 
wrong  in  his  longitude — a  very 
excusable  mistake  at  that  date  \ 
and  that  an  extensive  land  exists 
not  far  west  of  the  course  of  the 
Endurance  is  suggested  by  the' 
exceptionally  heavy  ice  pressures 
by  which  she  was  wrecked ;  but 
the  supposed  peninsula  to  the 
south-east  of  Grahamland  and 
Ross's  apparent  land  are  defin- 
itely disproved. 

The  Endurance  was  crushed  orr 
October  28,  and  sank  on  Novem- 
ber 20  as  the  ice  opened  during 
the    drift    further    to    the    norths 
The    expedition    camped    on    the 
floes,     and    passed    in    sight    of 
Joinville    Island,    off"    the    north- 
eastern end  of  Grahamland,   but 
it  was  inaccessible.     The  expedi- 
tion endeavoured  to  reach  Decep- 
tion Island,  where  there  are  huts 
and  stores  of  food ;  but  it  was  un- 
able to  force  a  way  to  the  western 
end  of  the   South   Shetlands  and- 
landed,  on  April  15,  on  Elephant 
Island,    one   of  its    north-eastern 
members.      It  is  a  rugged,   clifT- 
bound  island  rising  to  the  height  of  3500  feet,  and 
though  there  are  fair  anchorages,  landing  appears 
to  be  difficult.      As  the  food  supply  was  low  Sir 
Ernest    Shackleton    left    twenty-two    of    his    men 
camped  in  an  excavation  in  the  ice  and  started,  on 
April  24,  with  Capt.  Worsley  and  three  others,  in 
one  of  the  ship's  boats  for  South  Georgia.     The 
Falkland  Islands  are  nearer;  but  South  Georgia 
offered   an   easier  course  and  the  attraction  that 
one   of   its    whalers   might    be    available    for   the- 
immediate  rescue  of  the  party  on  Elephant  Island.. 


I 


June  8,  1916]" 


NATURE 


0^0 


Shackleton  reached  the  western  coast  of  South 
Georgia  and  climbed  over  the  AUardyce  Range 
to  the  whaling-  station  at  Stromness  Bay.  The 
fact  that  the  island  had  not  been  crossed  before 
gives  some  indication  of  the  difficulty  of  this 
feat,  which  can  also  be  realised  from  the  map 
and  photographs  published  in  Mr.  Ferguson's 
recent  memoir  on  the  island  (Transactions  Roy. 
Soc.  Edinburgh,  vol.  1.,  part  iv.,  191 5).  A 
relief  expedition  was  at  once  despatched  to  Ele- 
phant Island,  but  only  an  eighty-ton  vessel  was 
available,  and  the  ice  was  too  thick  for  her  to 
force  a  passage  to  the  land. 

The  Government  has  already  promised  the  funds 
for  the  larger  rescue  expedition  which  had  ap- 
peared necessary.  The  problem  is  now  much 
simplified,  as  the  work  to  be  done  is  definitely 
known.  Elephant  Island — in  61°  10'  S.,  about 
the  latitude  of  the  Shetlands — though  sometimes 
surrounded  by  drift  ice,  can  apparently  be  reached 
by  a  suitable  vessel  at  any  season  of  the  year. 
Relief  is  obviously  wanted  urgently.  The  party 
on  April  24  had  only  five  weeks'  provisions, 
which  it  can  doubtless  supplement  by  penguins 
and  perhaps  seals.  The  name  Elephant  Island 
refers  to  the  once-abundant  sea-elephants;  but 
as  the  island  is  easily  accessible  they  have  been 
practically  exterminated  there;  and  Sir  Ernest 
Shackleton's  account  of  the  locality  where  his 
comrades  are  camped  suggests  that  it  may  be  a 
very  difficult  hunting-ground. 

The  larger  South  Georgia  whalers  are  prob- 
ably now  on  their  way  to  Europe,  and  unless  a 
suitable  steamer  can  be  obtained  in  Argentina 
or  at  the  Falkland  Islands  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  whaler  nearest  to  South  Georgia  can  be 
promptly  intercepted  and  sent  back  there,  en 
route  for  Elephant  Island. 


RETURN  CURREXTS  AND  ELECTROLYTIC 
CORROSIONA 

T^HE  two  memoirs  referred  to  below  are  part  of 
^  the  series  of  valuable  contributions  which  are 
.being  issued  by  that  admirable  institution,  the 
U.S.  Bureau  of  Standards,  under  the  able  director- 
ship of  Dr.  Stratton. 

The  publications  before  us  relate  to  the  troubles 
which  arise  from  the  electric  return  currents  that 
leak  through  the  soil  from  electric  tramways  and 
railways,  in  consequence  of  their  setting  up  elec- 
trolytic corrosion  in  buried  pipes  or  other  metallic 
objects  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  tramway  or 
railway  lines.  This  was  an  acute  question  in 
Great  Britain  as  well  as  in  North  America  some 
twenty  years  ago  when  electric  traction  was  a 
novelty.  But,  so  far  as  England  is  concerned,  it 
long  ago  ceased  to  be  acute  in  consequence  of  the 
prompt  action  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  That  often 
abused  body  framed  a  regulation  that  the  maxi- 
mum  allowable  voltage   drop  between    any    two 

i  "  U.S.  Department  of  Commerce.  Technoloeio  Papers  of  the  Bureau  ot 
Standards  (Washington)."  No.  a6,  Farth  Re.ilsi.-»nce  ani  it*  Relation  to 
Electrolysis,  etc.  No.  52,  Electroly>.i«  and  its  Mitigation.  (Wasiington  : 
•Government  Printing  OfiSce,  1915.) 


2sO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


points  of  the  earthed  return-system,  near  which 
underground  metallic  structures  are  laid,  should 
be  limited  to  seven  volts.  This  limitation,  though  not 
an  absolute  safeguard  against  stray  currents,  has 
practically  solved  the  difficulty;  and  we  never,  or 
seldom,  hear  any  suggestion  of  electrolytic  corro- 
sion. Were  any  considerable  difference  of  poten- 
tial between  two  points  of  an  earthed  return 
system  to  be  allowed  to  subsist,  that  difference  of 
potential  would  have  the  result  of  forcing  a  frac- 
tion of  the  current  to  leave  the  return  rails  at  some 
point  of  higher  potential  and  to  find  its  way 
through  the  soil  or  other  available  path,  to  re- 
enter the  return  rails  at  some  point  of  lower  poten- 
tial, presumably  nearer  the  generating  station  or 
sub-station.  If  such  stray  or  vagabond  currents 
merely  traverse  moist  soil  in  widespread  paths 
they  do  no  damage ;  but  if  a  waterpipe,  or  other 
metallic  object,  lie  along  their  course,  some  of  the 
current  will  find  a  readier  path  along  such  con- 
ductor; and  wherever  the  current  emerges  from 
the  metallic  conductor  into  moist  surroundings, 
electrolytic  action  will  ensue,  corroding  and  pit- 
ting the  metal  surface — sometimes  with  disastrous 
effects.  \'arious  palliatives,  such  as  the  better 
bonding  of  the  return  rail  tracks,  the  use  of  return 
feeders,  the  careful  connecting  of  the  negative  side 
of  the  system  to  the  metallic  pipes  or  other  objects 
by  metal  connectors,  have  been  used,  including 
the  employment  of  appliances  called  negative 
boosters. 

The  first-named  of  the  monographs  before  us  is 
devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the  electric  conductivity' 
of  various  kinds  of  soils  under  various  conditions 
of  moisture,  pressure,  and  temperature,  and  the 
effects  of  these  factors  on  the  electrolytic  corrosion 
question.  Methods  of  measuring  the  resistivities 
of  soils  in  situ,  as  well  as  in  the  laboratory,  are 
discussed.  The  soil  of  cities  app>ears  to  be  more 
highly  conductive  than  that  of  country  districts  by 
reason  of  absorption  of  drainage  and  sew-age.  The 
presence  of  refuse  in  "  made "  land  is  distinctly 
promotive  of  conductivity,  and  therefore  of  elec- 
trolytic corrosion.  The  authors  of  the  monograph, 
Messrs.  McCollum  and  Logan,  have  done  their 
work  thoroughly,  and  have  added  statistical  tables, 
which,  in  countries  like  the  United  States,  where 
legislation  has  not  intervened  to  stay  the  damage, 
must  be  very  valuable. 

The  second  memoir,  by  Messrs.  Rosa  and 
McCollum,  is  a  lengthy  discussion,  as  an  engineer- 
ing problem,  of  the  mitigation  of  electrolytic  cor- 
rosion, or  as  they  rather  unfortunately  describe  it, 
of  "electrolysis."  They  deal  with  corrosion  in 
reinforced  concrete ;  with  attempts  to  prevent 
corrosion  by  protective  coatings  of  paint ;  with  the 
use  of  insulating  joints  in  pipes ;  with  electrical 
means  of  combating  or  compensating  the  tendency 
to  stray  currents;  with  summaries  of  the  various 
legal  regulations  in  use  in  different  countries.  It 
appears  that  the  Bureau  of  Standards  has  issued 
eight  different  publications  on  this  subject.  The 
present  memoir  alone  extends  to  more  than  143 
pages. 


304 


NATURE 


[June  8,  19 16 


SCIENCE  AND  GOVERNMENT. 
''"PHHRE  have  been  many  signs  lately  of 
-*-  awakened  interest  in  the  national  signi- 
ficance of  scientific  method  and  work,  and  not 
the  least  encouraging-  among  them  is  the  action 
taken  by  scientific  workers,  individually  and  col- 
lectively. Until  the  war  compelled  attention  to 
be  given  to  all  matters  affecting  national  effici- 
ency, both  in  the  present  and  the  future,  little 
heed  was  paid  to  the  warnings  of  those  who  dis- 
cerned clearly  the  consequences  of  the  neglect  of 
science  by  the  State.  For  this  indifference  men 
of  science  must  themselves  accept  a  share  of  the 
responsibility.  With  a  few  notable  exceptions, 
they  did  nothing  to  enlighten  the  community  as 
to  the  close  relation  between  scientific  work  and 
modern  progress,  or  to  promote  reforms  by 
organised  effort.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore, 
that  the  place  of  science  in  national  polity  is  not 
understood  by  the  general  public,  and  that  the 
activities  of  even  such  representative  bodies  as 
the  Royal  Society  and  the  British  Association  are 
commonly  regarded  as  of  little  practical  im- 
portance. 

The  neglect  of  science  by  the  public  has,  in- 
deed, been  due  largely  to  the  neglect  of  the  public 
by  science.  The  only  body  which  has  seriously 
endeavoured  to  show  the  bearing  of  science  and 
scientific  method  upon  public  affairs  of  every  kind 
is  the  British  Science  Guild ;  yet  until  recently 
its  objects,  and  the  work  of  its  various  commit- 
tees, were  disregarded  by  a  large  part  of  the 
scientific  world.  It  is  a  satisfaction  to  know, 
however,  that  the  pioneers  of  the  movement  for 
a  fuller  recognition  of  science  by  the  State  have 
exerted  a  sub-conscious  influence  upon  the  minds 
of  scientific  men,  as  evidenced  by  the  manifestoes 
lately  issued,  and  the  meetings  held,  upon  the 
subject  of  the  co-ordination  of  science  with  in- 
dustry, education,  and  administration,  which  the 
Guild  has  been  urging  for  the  last  ten  years. 
The  Royal  Society  has  formed  a  conjoint  com- 
mittee of  members  of  scientific  societies;  a  Re- 
organisation Committee  has  been  constituted  to 
deal  with  science  in  the  public  schools,  at  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  and  in  examinations  for  the 
public  services ;  an  Education  Reform  Council, 
having  upon  it  representatives  of  science,  indus- 
try, and  commerce,  as  well  as  of  education,  has 
been  brought  into  being  by  the  Teachers'  Guild; 
and  suggestions  for  reforms  have  been  issued,  or 
are  being  deliberated,  by  all  these  bodies. 

The  latest  expression  of  scientific  opinion  is 
contained  in  the  memorial,  reprinted  on  p.  305, 
from  the  professorial  staff  of  the  Imperial  College 
of  Science  and  Technology,  to  Lord  Crewe,  the 
chairman  of  the  governors.  The  memorial  was 
presented  to  Lord  Crewe  by  the  Right  Hon. 
A.  H.  D.  Acland,  chairman  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  governors ;  Sir  J.  W.  Wolfe-Barry, 
chairman  of  the  delegacy,  City  and  Guilds  (En- 
gineering) College ;  and  Sir  Alfred  Keogh,  Rector 
of  the  Imperial  College ;  and  it  was  signed  by 
the  twenty-one  professors  whose  names  appear 
at  the  end. 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


To  those  who  are  acquainted  with  such  utterances 
as  are  contained  in  Huxley's  essays  on  "Science 
and  Education,"  Sir  William  Huggins's  Royal 
Society  addresses  on  "  Science  in  the  State  and 
in  the  Schools,"  Prof.  Perry's  "England's  Neg- 
lect of  Science,"  and  Sir  Norman  Lockyer's 
presidential  address  to  the  British  Association  in 
1903,  contained  in  his  "Education  and  National 
Progress,"  most  of  the  educational  points  raised 
in  the  memorial  will  be  familiar;  nevertheless, 
it  is  well  that  they  should  be  impressed  again 
upon  the  public  mind.  The  war  is  arousing  the 
nation  to  a  sense  of  the  need  for  the  adoption 
of  new  measures  to  enable  it  to  compete  success- 
fully in  the  struggles  before  it;  and  scientific  men 
have  now  an  opportunity  of  exerting  strong  in- 
fluence upon  the  schemes  of  reconstruction  which 
are  being  put  forward.  Sporadic  memorials  are 
worthy  enough  in  intention,  but  their  eff'ect  will 
be  ephemeral  unless  the  signatories  to  them  unite 
to  form  a  strong  and  active  body  of  opinion 
which  will  guide  the  country  aright.  The  British 
Science  Guild  provides  the  machinery  by  which 
this  end  may  be  reached ;  and  it  is  the  obvious 
duty  of  all  who  believe  in  the  application  of 
scientific  method  to  national  affairs  to  give  their 
practical  support  to  an  organisation  which  exists 
solely  for  that  purpose. 

Dissatisfaction  with  existing  means  of  school 
preparation  for  the  strenuous  conditions  of  modern 
life  is  being  expressed  on  all  sides,  and  it  is 
evident  that  the  country  would  welcome  a  practical 
programme  in  which  scientific  principles  occupied 
a  prominent  place.  Most  progressive  people  are 
now  convinced  that  radical  reforms  are  needed  in 
teaching  and  outlook,  and  they  are  looking  to 
representatives  of  science  and  other  branches  of 
modern  learning  to  state  exactly  what  should  be 
done.  In  the  absence  of  a  constructive  scheme  in 
which  all  advocates  of  reform  will  co-operate,  the 
citadels  of  traditional  studies  will  stand  unshaken, 
and  the  vested  interests  in  them  will  remain  un- 
touched, be  memorials  never  so  numerous.  Our 
educational  and  scientific  deficiencies  have  been 
revealed  by  the  war,  and  the  nation  is  anxious  to 
see  them  remedied  without  further  delay.  A  letter 
published  in  the  Times  of  June  5,  and  reprinted 
on  p.  306,  is  a  characteristic  statement  of  this 
feeling,  and  we  believe  it  will  receive  wide  support 
from  the  parents  of  the  public  school  to  whom  it  is 
an  appeal. 

It  is  unlikely  that  the  Headmasters'  Conference, 
the  members  of  w^hich  are  practically  all  classical 
men,  will  be  moved  by  this  demand  for  less  classics 
and  more  science  in  the  public  schools,  but  if  they 
continue  to  obstruct  advance  action  should  be 
taken  by  the  Government  to  compel  them  to  stand 
aside.  Not  a  single  sound  argument  can  be  put 
forward  for  the  waste  of  eff"ort  in  schools  and 
universities  caused  by  the  existence  of  the  tradi- 
tional curriculum  of  classical  studies,  and  the 
sooner  it  is  superseded  by  courses  more  in 
touch  with  the  actual  needs  of  the  times,  the 
better  will  be  the  prospects  of  increased  national 
efficiencv. 


June  8,   1916] 


NATURE 


305 


(i)  Science  is  National  Education. 

We,  the  undersigned,  submitted  to  you  in  March  last 
a  brief  memorandum  in  support  of  a  memorial  which 
had  then  recently  appeared  on  "The  Neglect  of 
Science."  We  believe  that  you  will  welcome  a  further 
statement  from  us  as  to  what,  in  our  opinion,  the 
Government  could  do  in  regard  to  this  important  sub- 
ject, and  we  have,  therefore,  tried  to  indicate  some 
of  the  ways  in  which,  in  our  opinion,  the  Government 
might  render  a  service  to  the  nation  on  this  matter. 

We  assume  it  to  be  accepted  that  it  would  be  an 
advantage  to  the  country  if  more  trained  men  of 
science  could  be  found  in  our  public  services,  and  that 
it  is  desirable  that  a  larger  proportion  of  boys  and 
young  men  than  at  present  shall  have  instruction  of 
the  best  kind  in  science,  as  an  essential  part  of  their 
education.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  we  do  not  under- 
rate the  importance  of  the  teaching  of  languages  and 
other  subjects  as  part  of  a  good  educational  curri- 
culum, nor  do  we  believe  that  an  education  which 
includes  good  teaching  of  science  need  be  a  narrow 
education. 

What  seems  to  be  primarily  needed  is  that  at  this 
critical  time  in  our  history  the  Government,  through 
some  of  its  leading  members,  shall  speak  plainly  to 
the  country  on  the  question  of  national  education,  and 
shall  guide  and  instruct  the  public  in  a  matter  where 
there  is  still  so  much  lethargy,  misconception,  and 
ignorance.  There  have  been  many  reports  by  associa- 
tions and  societies,  and  advisory  bodies,  and  depart- 
mental committees,  and  Royal  Commissions.  A  strong 
lead  from  the  Government  itself,  or  a  Ministerial 
Committee  announcing  a  policy  and  offering  guid- 
ance, would  now  be  of  the  highest  value.  We  do  not 
pretend  to  indicate  what  that  policy  or  that  guidance 
should  be,  but  we  wish  to  mention  some  matters  which 
appear  to  demand  early  attention. 

A  large  body  of  opinion  at  Oxford  arKl  Cambridge, 
and  in  the  countr\-  generall}',  is  in  favour  of  altering 
the  conditions  of  entrance  to  these  universities.  It 
has  been  clear  for  a  long  time  that  to  effect  reform 
in  this  and  other  matters  an  alteration  in  the  method 
of  their  government  is  required.  And  yet  generation 
follows  generation  and  nothing  is  done.  Is  it  not 
desirable  that,  at  any  rate  immediately  after  the  war, 
the  legislative  changes  which  are  desirable  shall  be 
introduced  into  Parliament  by  the  Government?  The 
influence  of  the  old  universities  through  their  endow- 
ments and  their  examinations  upon  the  schools  is  very 
far-reaching.  For  this  reason  the  question  is  of  real 
importance.  No  reasonable  person  can  think  that  the 
study  of  languages,  including  the  ancient  languages, 
by  those  who  are  most  able  to  profit  by  them  will 
really  suffer  by  reform  in  this  direction. 

As  regards  those  public  schools  where  classical 
education  occupies  an  important  or  preponderating 
position,  information  is  needed  as  to  tEe  extent  to 
which  school  scholarships  on  entrance  to  the  schools 
and  later  are  ^ven  for  successes  in  which  knowledge 
of  Latin  and  Greek  plays  a  predominating  part.  It 
would  appear  desirable  that  the  boys  with  brains 
should  be  attracted  to  the  modern  as  much  as  to  the 
classical  side  of  the  schools,  as  far  as  the  use  of  the 
endowments  is  concerned.  At  the  present  time,  how- 
ever, it  is  the  fact  that  many  of  the  best  boys  at  the 
public  schools  are  practically  forced  to  the  classical 
side,  and  it  is  often  only  in  exceptional  cases,  as  where 
a  far-seeing  parent  has  intervened,  that  a  clever  boy 
has  been  allowed  seriously  to  study  science.  If  the 
Government  has  not  full  power  to  obtain  the  necessary 
information  on  the  above-mentioned  and  other  rele- 
vant matters,  it  seems  desirable  that  the  requisite 
power  should  be  obtained. 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97I 


In  the  past  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  cleverest 
boys  in  these  schools,  and  in  the  preparatory  schools 
which  lead  to  them,  have  been  taught  classics  from 
an  early  age,  and  because  many  boys  with  brains  who 
succeed  in  after  life  have  been  educated  in  this  way, 
it  has  been  assumed  that  a  classical  education  is  more 
likely  to  make  a  mart  successful  in  the  public  service 
and  in  other  branches  of  life  than  is  a  modern  or 
scientific  education.  We  believe  this  assumption  to 
be  quite  unfounded.  The  important  matter  is  to  allot 
to  boys  an  education  according  to  their  capacity'. 
There  is  no  doubt  at  all  that  an  enormous  amount  of 
time  is  at  present  wasted  in  trying  to  teach  certain 
types  of  boys  Greek.  The  effort  in  these  cases  is  not 
only  of  very  little  value,  but,  in  our  opinion,  is  posi- 
tively detrimental.  In  any  event  a  knowledge  of 
Greek  literature  or  culture  is  notoriously  not  obtained 
by  merely  acquiring  an  enforced  smattering  of  the 
Greek  language,  and  the  time  thus  wasted  might  well 
be  turned  to  better  purpose.  Many  boys,  to  whom 
Greek,  and  often  Latin,  too,  are  completely  distaste- 
ful, might  find  in  the  more  practical  training  of  the 
laboratory  and  the  workshop  (which  should  be  coupled 
with  thorough  instruction  in  English  subjects,  mathe- 
matics, and  a  modern  language)  an  outlet  for  faculties 
which  an  education  of  a  predominantly  literary  char- 
acter will  never  effectively  develop. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  at  some  of  the  public  schools 
careful  attention  is  given  to  the  provision  of  teaching 
of  science.  The  difficulty  that  often  arises  is  that,  in 
a  school  where  classical  teaching  predominates,  con- 
flicting claims,  which  cannot  be  met,  are  made  by 
parents  or  by  outside  examinations  on  what  is  called 
the  modern  side,  and  confusion  of  aim  results.  The 
excellent  training  of  our  officers  in  the  Nav}'  at 
Osborne  and  Dartmouth  offers  an  example  of  concen- 
tration of  aim  which  is  worthy  of  careful  attention. 

If  a  Government  Committee  could  report  exactly 
how  matters  stand  in  these  respects  at  our  public 
schools,  even  without  any  power  whatever  to  make  a 
change,  we  believe  it  would  have  a  considerable  effect 
on  public  opinion. 

We  viewed  with  great  satisfaction  the  appointment 
last  summer  of  a  Special  Committee  of  the  Privy 
Council  (of  which  you  are  chairman)  to  aid  Industrial 
Research  with  the  help  of  an  Advisory-  Council,  and 
of  other  committees  which  contain  men  of  eminence 
in  science  and  industry.  We  hope  that  the  grant  of 
money  in  Parliament  for  this  purpose  will  not  be 
stinted,  and  that  the  sum  of  40,000/.  allotted  for  this 
vear  will  be  considerably  increased,  for  our  own 
experience  in  connection  with  both  science  and  tech- 
nology shows  how  much  has  yet  to  be  done  by  the 
nation  in  this  direction. 

We  desire  to  lay  very  great  stress  upon  the  import- 
ance of  immediately  devising  means  for  sending  a 
larger  supply  of  able  young  men  who  have  been 
thoroughly  educated  in  science  as  part  of  a  well- 
considered  curriculum  to  our  universities  and  colleges. 
This  would  provide  among  men  of  business,  or  men 
in  public  careers,  a  larger  proportion  of  individuals 
trained  in  scientific  methods,  which  is  generally  recog- 
nised as  of  great  importance.  In  our  own  experience, 
now  that  many  leaders  of  industry  are  realising  the 
value  of  science,  we  have  found,  when  asked  bvthem 
to  supply  the  young  and  promising  men  that  they 
require,  that  it  has  been  sometimes  impossible  to 
answer  their  call  simply  because  of  a  shortage  of 
properly  trained  men. 

There  are  a  large  number  of  boys  and  young  men 
of  real  ability  to  be  found  in  our  State-aided  secondary 
schools,  our  technical  schools  and  classes,  and  our 
evening  schools.  What  is  needed  is  that  these  shall 
have   better  opportunities   of  being   well   taught,    and 


3o6 


NATURE 


[June  S,   191 6 


better  chances  of  coming  on  to  the  universities  and 
colleges  of  university  rank.  For  this  purpose  we  need 
in  these  schools,  above  all,  teachers  with  better  pay 
and  better  prospects.  It  is  impossible  to  get  the  best 
results  as  long  as  many  of  the  teachers  in  tnese  schools 
are  badly  paid,  and  have  not  as  yet,  like  so  many 
other  teachers,  even  any  prospects  of  a  pension.  The 
whole  scale  of  salaries  tor  teachers  ot  all  subjects, 
especially  in  the  upper  departments  of  most  of  these 
schools,  must  be  lifted. 

The  effect  of  existing  examinations  upon  secondary 
schools  of  all  kinds,  including  State-aided  schools, 
which  is  sornetimes  very  injurious,  is  a  matter  of 
importance.  We  are  glad  that  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion have  had  this  question  under  consideration,  and 
hope  that  remedies  will  be  found  for  some  of  the  more 
obvious  evils  that  arise,  at  an  early  date.  Among  the 
rest,  the  Civil  Service  Examinations  need  careful  con- 
sideration. 

In  order  to  bring  to  the  universities  the  best  boys, 
so  manv  of  whom  now  leave  the  State-aided  secondary 
schools  at  sixteen,  tempted  by  offers  of  salaries  into 
business  and  industry,  an  adequate  number  of  bur- 
saries for  those  of  from  sixteen  to  eighteen  years  of 
age  ought  to  be  provided  tenable  at  these  schools. 
Ihtise  should  be  followed  by  the  offer  of  a  large 
number  of  Government  scholarships,  adequate  m 
value,  and  tenable  at  the  universities  and  at  colleges 
of  university  rank.  For  the  above-mentioned  pur- 
poses, probably  half  a  million  a  year  could  be  wisely 
spent  with  results  to  the  nation  of  the  most  valuable 
kind.  Since  ours  is  the  only  college  in  England  at 
which  the  few  Government  scholarships  in  science  that 
exist  are  held,  it  may  be  desirable  to  state  that  in 
our  experience  the  excellent  capacity  and  diligence  of 
the  great  majority  of  these  scholars  fully  warrant  the 
opinion  that  a  large  increase  in  their  number  lor 
universities  generally  would  be  of  great  national 
value,  and  this  would  be  especially  the  case  if  the 
range  of  selection  were  widened.  The  universities  and 
colleges  have  sent  a  very  large  proportion  of  their 
students  to  the  front,  and  are  now  greatly  depleted. 
It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  Government 
should  exercise  immediate  foresight  in  order  that  the 
demand  for  trained  scientific  men  that  must  inevitably 
arise  on  the  return  of  peace  conditions  may  be  suffi- 
cientlj'  met.  By  a  scheme  of  bursaries  and  scholar- 
ships it  will  be  possible  now  to  retain  at  some  of  the 
State-aided  schools  the  best  boys  of  the  younger  gene- 
ration, who,  after  further  training  at  the  colleges,  will 
be  available  for  the  furtherance  of  the  skilled  indus- 
tries of  the  country — industries  which  are  coming 
vitally  to  depend  on  scientific  knowledge  and  research 
for  their  existence  among  us. 

As  to  the  universities  and  colleges  themselves,  no 
doubt  part  of  the  money  for  industrial  research,  which 
is  administered  by  j-our  Privy  Council  Committee, 
will  be  of  real  service  to  them.  But  much  has  to  be 
done  to  put  the  teaching  of  science  and  technology 
on  a  proper  footing  at  these  Institutions.  The  salaries 
of  the  junior  staff  are  often  much  too  low.  Money, 
which  is  greatly  needed  for  buildings,  for  equipment, 
and  for  research,  is  not  forthcoming.  New  depart- 
ments should  be  founded  as  the  demands  from  in- 
dustry increase,  and  a  considerable  number  of  research 
fellowships  are  required.  It  Is  estimated  that  the 
State  grants  to  universities  in  Germany  are  about  a 
million  and  a  half  a  year,  whilst  in  England  they 
amount  to  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  a  year. 
Another  quarter  of  a  million  a  year  could  be  advan- 
tageously expended  by  Parliament  in  this  direction. 

The  Government,  therefore,  can,  in  our  opinion, 
do  great  service  to  national  education  In  ensuring  a 
more  adequate   position    for   science — 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


(i)  By  removing  obstacles. 

(2)  By  giving  information  and  guidance  \\hich  may 
be  of  service  to  parents  and  to  the  public  at  large. 

(3)  By  recommending  to  Parliament  considerable 
grants  of  public  money  in  the  directions  we  have  indi- 
cated. 

We  have  ventured  to  lay  these  considerations  before 
you  because  we  know  that,  as  our  chairman,  you  are 
interested  in  these  matters.  Your  position,  too,  as 
chairman  of  the  Privy  Council  Committee  on  Indus- 
trial Research  brings  you  in  contact  with  many  of 
these  questions,  the  high  national  import  of  which  we 
feel  sure  you  appreciate.  We  earnestly  hope  that  the 
Government  may  give  early  attention  to  them,  for 
there  is  a  general  agreement  that  never  were  they  of 
more  vital  importance  to  the  nation  than  now. 

H.  B.  Baker,  F.R.S.     .     .    (Chemistry). 

V.  H.  Blackman,  F.R.S.  .     (Plant     Physiology     and 

Pathology). 
W.  A.  Bone,  F.R.S.  .    (Chemical     Technology — 

Fuel     and     Refractory 

Materials). 
H.  L.  Callendar,  F.R.S.     .    (Physics). 
H.  C.  H.  Carpenter  .     .     .    (Metallurgy). 
C.    Gilbert    CuUis.     .     .     .    (Economic    Mineralogy). 
W.   E.   Dalby,   F.R.S.   .     .    (Mechanical   and    Motive 

Power  Engineering). 
S.   Dixon       ......    (Civil  Engineering). 

J.  Bretland  Farmer,  F.R.S.     (Botanv). 

A.    R.    Forsyth,    F.R.S.     .    (Mathematics). 

A.   Fowler,   F.R.S.     .     .     .     (Astrophysics). 

W.   Frecheville       ....    (Mining). 

Percy   Groom (Technology     of    Woods 

and  Fibres). 
E.    W.    MacBride,    F.R.S.    (Zoology). 
T.  Mather,  F.R.S.     .     .     .    (Electrical   Engineering). 

J.  C.  Philip        (Phvsical   Chemistry). 

H.  G.  Plimmer,  F.R.S.     .     (Comparative  Pathology). 

R.    J.    Strutt,    F.R.S.     .     .    (Physics). 

Jocelvn  Thorpe,  F.R.S.       .    (Organic  Chemistry). 

W.    W.    Watts.    F.R.S.     .    (Geology). 

A.    N.    Whitehead.    F.R.S.    (Applied    Mathematics). 

(2)  Public  School   Reform. 

In  view  of  the  grave  crisis  through  which  w^e  are 
passing,  we  venture  to  ask  you  to  join  us  in  a  demand 
that  boys  at  the  public  schools  should  be  properly 
trained  in  subjects  essential  for  our  national  life.  We 
consider  a  mastery  of  science  and  of  modern  languages 
is  necessary  to  fit  our  sons  to  take  their'proper  places 
in  modern  life,  whether  in  science,  commerce,  or  the 
Forces  of  the  Crown. 

A  grave  warning  has  lately  been  issued,  signed  by 
the  most  eminent  scientific  professors,  pointing  ovit 
the  immediate  necessity  for  a  proper  education  in 
science ;  for  both  in  the  Services  and  in  every  branch 
of  commerce  is  involved  the  use  of  scientific  data  and 
a  sound  knowledge  of  scientific  processes,  and  It  con- 
stitutes a  grave  national  danger  that  this  subject  is  so 
inadequately  taught  in  our  public  schools.  Few  boys 
leave  the  public  schools  able  to  converse  freely  In 
modern  languages ;  the  presence  of  so  many  inter- 
preters In  the  British  Army  is  absolute  evidence  on 
this  point.  It  Is  clearly  seen  how  Immensely  impor- 
tant are  these  two  subjects  for  our  sons,  whatever 
may  be  their  future  professions.  The  wonderful 
efficiency  of  the  Germans,  both  in  science  and 
languages,  points  to  the  fact  that  their  schools  and 
universities  answer  these  two  vital  requirements  better 
than  do  ours.  We  consider  that  a  sound  knowledge 
of  our  own  language  and  literature,  modern  geo- 
graphy,   English    and     European    history     should     be 


June  8,  19 16] 


NATURE 


307 


taught  in  our  public  schools  far  more  thoroughly  than 
is  done  at  present. 

We  wish  to  point  out  that  the  classical  training  in 
public  schools  is  for  the  average  boy  a  deplorable 
waste  of  most  valuable  time,  and  though  a  small 
minority  doubtless  derive  advantages  from  the  study 
of  the  classics,  yet  we  deprecate  most  strongly  the 
amount  of  time  spent  on  them,  and  the  prevalent 
specialisation  in  them  on  antiquated  lines,  with  an 
adherence  to  conditions  that  no  longer  exist,,  while 
real  essentials  for  our  national  success  are  dangerously 
neglected.  As  it  is,  the  public-school  boy,  who  is  doing 
so  splendidly,  both  as  a  man  and  a  soldier,  in  the 
great  ordeal  through  which  we  are  passing,  suffers 
a  severe  and  unnecessary  handicap,  both  in  the  mili- 
tary and  commercial  professions,  compared  with  our 
present  enemies  and  permanent  trade  competitors. 

It  is  intended  to  form  a  deputation  to  approach  the 
Conference  of  Headmasters,  to  ensure  that  our  wishes 
may  be  carried  out.  Kindly  state  if  you  are  in  sym- 
pathy with  this  letter,  and  if  you  approve  of  such 
deputation.  This  letter  has  been  sent  to  the  Times 
and  the  parents  of  boys  at  one  of  the  leading  public 
schools,  the  headmaster  of  which  is  in  favour  of 
receiving  the  deputation. 

AvEBURY.  Arthur   Leetham. 

Desborough.  J.   E.   Thorn YCROFT. 

Claud  J.  Hamilton.        Charles  Walpole. 

Jn.  Jellicoe,  Admiral.      Philip  H.  Waterlow. 

NOTES. 

The  tragic  news  that  Lord  Kitchener,  the  Secretary 
of  State  for  War,  had  been  drowned  off  the  Orkneys, 
in  the  sinking,  either  by  a  mine  or  torpedo,  of  the 
cruiser  Ha^npshire,  in  which  he  was  travelling  with 
a  party  on  a  special  mission  to  the  Emperor  of 
Russia,  was  received  by  the  nation  on  Tuesday  with 
deep  emotion.  Lord  Kitchener  was  born  on  June  24, 
1850,  entered  the  Royal  Military  Academy  at  Wool- 
wich in  1868,  and  obtained  a  commission  in  the  Royal 
Engineers  in  1871.  In  the  early  years  of  his  professional 
career  he  did  notable  surveying  work  for  the  Pales- 
tine Exploration  Fund.  He  was  engaged  from  1874  to 
1878  in  mapping  1600  square  miles  of  Judah  and 
Philistia,  and  in  surveying  part  of  western  Palestine. 
Later,  he  did  similar  work  for  the  construction  of  a 
map  of  Cyprus,  and  also  took  part  in  the  survey  of 
the  Sinai  Peninsula.  In  all  the  offices  occupied  by 
Lord  Kitchener,  and  enterprises  undertaken  by  him, 
he  was  strong  with  the  strength  of  organised  know- 
ledge; and  that  was  the  secret  of  his  success.  While 
British  Agent  and  Consul-General  in  Egypt,  a  post 
to  which  he  was  appointed  in  1911,  he  had  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  transformed  into  a  Ministry,  and 
promoted  many  movements  to  improve  the  agricultural 
position  of  the  country.  He  was  also  chiefly  respon- 
sible for  the  establishment  of  the  fine  Gordon  Memo- 
fial  College  at  Khartum.  His  life  was  devoted  to  the 
service  of  the  State,  and  in  that  service  it  has  been 
lost  at  a  time  when  the  nation  can  ill  afford  to  be 
deprived  of  genius  for  organised  administration  in 
every  department.  Two  members  of  Lord  Kitchener's 
party,  who  were  lost  with  him,  were  Sir  H.  F.  Donald- 
son and  Mr.  L.  S.  Robertson.  Sir  Frederick  Donald- 
son was  formerly  Chief  Superintendent  of  the  Royal 
Ordnance  Factories,  and  resigned  that  post  in  Sep- 
tember last  to  become  chief  technical  adviser  to  the 
Ministry  of  Munitions.  He  was  president  of  the  Insti- 
tution of  Mechanical  Engineers  in  1913.  Mr.  Leslie  S. 
Robertson,  assistant  to  the  director  of  production  in 
the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  was  secretary  of  the 
Engineering  Standards  Committee. 

The  list  of  honours  conferred  in  celebration  of  the 
King's  birthday  includes  five  new  peerages,  seven  Priv}- 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


Councillorships,  twelve  baronetcies,  thirty-one  knight- 
hoods, and  a  number  of  other  promotions  and  appoint- 
ments. Arnong  the  names  of  men  either  distinguished 
by  their  scientific  work  or  associated  closely  with  it, 
we  notice  the  following  : — Knights  :  Dr.  G.  T.  Beilby, 
F.R.S. ;  Dr.  M.  A.  Ruffer,  C.M.G.,  formerly  pro- 
fessor of  bacteriology  at  Cairo  Medical  School ;  Dr. 
J.  J.  H.  Teall,  F.R.S. ,  late  director  of  the  Geological 
Survey  of  Great  Britain ;  Mr.  R.  F.  Stupart,  director 
of  the  Meteorological  Service  of  Canada;  and  Dr.  N. 
Tirard,  medical  editor  of  the  "British  Pharmacopoeia" 
(1914),  and  for  twenty  years'  secretary  of  the  Pharma- 
ceutical Committee  of  the  General  Medical  Council. 
K.C.M.G.  :  Dr.  W.  Baldwin  Spencer,  C.M.G.,  F.R.S., 
professor  of  biology  in  the  University  of  Melbourne. 
Privy  Councillor  :  Dr.  Christopher  Addison,  Parlia- 
mentary Secretary  to  the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  and 
late  professor  of  anatomy  in  the  Universitv  of  Shef- 
field. K.C.B.  :  Mr.  R.  H.  Rew,  C.B.,  assistant  secre- 
tary. Board  of  Agriculture.  C.B.  :  Col.  C.  F.  Close, 
Director-General,  Ordnance  Survey ;  Col.  A.  P.  Blen- 
kinsop.  Assistant  Director-General,  Army  Medical 
Service ;  Major  P.  S.  Lelean,  assistant  professor. 
Royal  Army  Medical  College;  Col.  C.  E.  Nuthall, 
Deputy  Director-General,  Army  Veterinary  Service. 
M.V.O.  :  Dr.  N.  D.  Bardswell,  medical  superintendent. 
King  Edward  VII. 's  Sanatorium,  Midhurst,  Sussex; 
Dr.  F.  S.  Hewett,  Surgeon  Apothecary  to  his  Majesty 
the  King.  Companion  of  the  Imperial  Service  Order  : 
Mr.  Edmund  Burke,  professor  of  surgery,  Punjab 
Veterinary-  College,  Lahore,  Punjab.  CLE.  :  Mr. 
C.  S.  Middlemiss,  superintendent  of  the  Geological 
Survey  of  India. 

An  important  question  was  asked  by  Mr.  W.  H. 
Cowan  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  May  23,  and  an 
unsatisfactory  answer  was  given  to  it.  Mr.  Cowan 
asked  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  "whether 
his  attention  has  been  called  to  a  communication 
received  by  the  Colonial  Office  from  the  British 
Science  Guild,  dated  March  12,  1915,  representing  that 
it  would  be  proper  and  advisable  for  all  departments 
of  the  Imperial  Government,  or  of  municipalities 
within  the  Empire,  to  make  it  their  invariable  rule 
and  practice  to  pay  scientific  experts  of  all  kinds  for 
assistance  rendered  by  them,  either  at  committees,  or 
by  letter,  or  in  any  other  way,  such  payments  to 
include  not  only  refunds  for  travelling  expenses  or 
other  out-of-pocket  expenses  or  maintenance,  but  also 
a  proper  fee  for  the  professional  assistance  rendered; 
and  whether  he  will  appoint  a  committee  to  consider 
and  report  upon  these  proposals  of  the  British  Science 
Guild  with  a  view  to  an  equitable  settlement  of  the 
matter."  The  answer  of  the  Colonial  Secretary  was  : — 
"  I  have  seen  the  communication  in  question,  and, 
so  far  as  the  Colonial  Office  is  concerned,  I  agree 
with  my  predecessor  in  thinking  that  there  is  no  suffi- 
cient ground  for  modifying  existing  arrangements. 
The  second  part  of  the  question  does  not,  therefore, 
arise."  What  we  should  like  to  knownow  is  why 
the  principle  of  gratuitous  service  is  not  applied  to 
legal  as  well  as  to  scientific  experts.  The  only  reason 
we  can  suggest  is  that  men  of  science  have  been 
willing  to  place  their  knowledge  at  the  disposal  of 
Government  departments  without  asking  for  fees, 
whereas  members  of  the  legal  and  other  professions 
require  payment  for  their  opinions.  The  action  of 
the  Government  in  making  no  provision  for  the  pay- 
ment of  scientific  men  appointed  to  serve  on  com- 
mittees, or  otherwise  called  upon  for  advice,  influ- 
ences the  attitude  of  municipal  councils  and  other 
public  bodies  throughout  the  country,  and  is  thus 
largely  responsible  for  the  common  view  that  science 
has  no  commercial  value.     What  can  be  obtained  for 


3oS 


NATURE 


[JUNE    8,     I916 


nothing  is  lightly  prized  by  the  British  mind,  which 
measures  the  importance  of  advice  by  the  amount 
paid  for  it.  If  science  were  a  lucrative  profession,  it 
could  command  high  fees  for  national  services ;  but 
as  it  is  not,  scientific  men  commonly  permit  them- 
selves to  be  exploited,  and  are  expected  to  find  their 
own  reward  in  the  interest  of  their  work. 

The  adjourned  extraordinary  general  meeting  of  the 
fellows  of  the  Chemical  Society  to  consider  the  ques- 
tion of  the  removal  of  the  names  of  nine  alien  enemies 
from  the  list  of  honorary  and  foreign  members  of  the 
society  will  be  held  on  Wednesday,  June  21,  at  8  p.m., 
in  the  theatre  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission,  Burling- 
ton House,  W. 

The  Paris  correspondent  of  the  Times,  in  a  message 
dated  June  4,  states  that  the  Committee  of  the  French 
Senate  appointed  to  consider  the  Daylight  Saving 
Bill  has,  after  hearing  a  statement  submitted  by  M. 
Painleve,  adopted  a  resolution  which  empowers  Par- 
liament to  advance  legal  time  by  one  hour  until 
October  i,  and  not  for  the  duration  of  the  war.  The 
Rome  correspondent  of  the  Times  reports  that  the 
new  Summer  Time  came  into  operation  throughout 
Italy  at  midnight  on  June  4. 

The  second  Japanese  Supplement  of  the  Times, 
issued  on  June  3,  contains  contributions  from  eminent 
Japanese  and  European  authorities  on  Japan,  among 
them  some  of  scientific  interest.  Prof.  F.  Omori 
describes  the  work  carried  out  in  recent  }'ears  in  the 
investigation  of  volcanic  and  seismic  phenomena  in 
Japan.  In  reference  to  the  Sakurajima  eruption,  in 
January,  1914,  he  notes  that  the  total  amount  of  ejecta 
from  the  volcano,  which  is  only  3700  ft.  in  height, 
w^as  sufficient  to  have  buried  the  entire  city  of  Tokyo, 
31  square  miles  in  area,  to  a  depth  of  about  103  ft. 
An  article  by  Mr.  Robertson  Scott,  on  enthusiasm  for 
rural  instruction,  refers  to  the  Japanese  zeal  for  educa- 
tion and  progress,  which  finds  expression  in  the  Young 
Men's  Associations.  These  associations,  a  feature  of 
every  village,  have  for  their  object  the  intelligent 
organisation  of  local  resources.  Technical  instruction 
is  very  thorough.  On  the  subject  of  rice-growing,  for 
example,  Japanese  authorities  know  not  only  all  the 
East  knows,  but  all  that  is  known  in  the  rice  tracts  of 
Italv  and  Texas.  The  rapid  development  in  the  past 
few  years  in  the  application  of  electricity  to  mechanical 
power,  lighting,  and  locomotion  in  Japan  is  another 
illustration  of  the  same  spirit,  and  is  dealt  with  by 
Prof.  Abe.  of  Waseda  University,  writing  on  muni- 
cipal problems.  Baron  Kikuchi  writes  in  favour  of 
the  adoption  of  Romaji,  or  Roman  letters,  in  place  of 
the  Chinese  characters  with  which  Japanese  is  now 
written.  This  reform  is  rendered  difficult  by  the  fact 
that  the  language  is  developing-  along  ideographic, 
rather  than  phonetic,  lines.  New  words  are  formed 
wholesale  by  the  simple  juxtaposition  of  Chinese  char- 
acters with  reference  to  their  pictorial  or  symbolic 
meanings,  and  regardless  of  their  sounds.  The  result- 
ing homonymy  in  the  literary  language  is  the  focus 
of  the  problem. 

Dr.  J.  E.  Sweet,  whose  death  is  reported  at  the 
age  of  eighty-five,  was  president  of  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  in  1883,  and  was 
the  first  president  of  the  Engine  Builders'  Association 
of  the  United  States.  From  1873  to  1879  he  occupied 
the  chair  of  practical  mechanics  at  Cornell  University. 

Mr.  W.  Stanley,  known  by  his  work  on  long-distance 
light  and  power  transmission  by  alternating  currents, 
has  died  at  his  home  at  Great  Barrington,  Mass.. 
at  the  age  of  fifty-seven.  He  was  successively  chief 
engineer  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  Co.,  the  Stanley 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


Electric  Manufacturing  Co.,  and  the  Stanley  Instru- 
ment Co.  He  had  been  vice-president  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 

The  death  is  announced,  in  his  seventy-sixth  year, 
of  Mr.  E.  L.  Corthell,  president  of  the  American 
Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  and  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Consulting  Engineers.  He  had  been  connected 
with  some  of  the  most  important  engineering  enter- 
prises, not  only  in  the  United  States,  but  in  Latin 
America.  He  was  formerly  consulting  engineer  of  the 
Department  of  Public  Works  in  the  Argentine  Govern- 
ment. One  of  his  most  conspicuous  achievements  was 
{  the  designing  of  the  harbour  works  at  Tampico,  which 
I  raised  that  port  to  the  first  rank  in  Mexico.  As  a  trustee 
of  the  University  of  Chicago,  Mr.  Corthell  played 
an  important  part  in  the  foundation  of  the  school  of 
engineering  and  architecture  at  that  institution. 

The  ninety-eighth  annual  meeting  of  the  Societe 
Helv^tique  des  Sciences  naturelles  will  be  held  on 
August  6-9  at  Tarasp-Schuls-Vulpera,  in  the  Lower 
Engadine,  north-east  of  St.  Moritz,  in  order  to  facili- 
tate visits  to  the  Swiss  National  Park.  There  will  be 
the  following  sections,  as  well  as  several  general 
conferences  : — Mathematics  and  astronomy ;  physics ; 
geophysics  and  meteorology ;  geology  and  mineralogy ; 
chemistry ;  botany ;  zoology ;  entomology  ;  anthropology 
and  ethnography ;  physiology  and  medicine.  Persons 
proposing  to  communicate  papers  to  any  of  the  sec- 
tions should  write,  before  July  i,  to  the  president, 
M.  le  Dr.  Chr.  Tarnuzzer,  Chur,  Switzerland. 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge  has  sent  to  the  Times  a  trans- 
lation of  the  letter  sent  by  Prof.  Max  Planck,  of  the 
University  of  Berlin,  to  Prof.  H.  A.  Lorentz,  of  the 
University  of  Leyden,  in  March  last  upon  the  subject 
of  the  manifesto  signed  by  ninet\'-three  German 
scholars  and  artists,  published  in  August,  19 14.  Prof. 
Planck  says  that  the  terms  in  which  the  appeal  was 
drawn  up  "led  to  mistaken  conceptions  as  to  the 
attitude  of  the  signatories,  as  I  have  repeatedly  dis- 
cov^ered  to  mv  regret."  As  the  letter  has  been  pub- 
lished in  Holland,  it  is  of  interest  to  place  a  full 
translation  on  record.  The  substance  of  the  letter 
appeared,  however,  in  the  Daily  Chronicle  of  April  24, 
and  was  given  in  Nature  of  April  27  (p.  186). 

Miss  E.  G.  Everest,  of  Chippens  Bank,  Hever, 
Kent,  whose  bequests  for  a  home  of  rest  and  a  bird 
sanctuary  are  announced  in  the  Times  of  June  5,  was 
a  daughter  of  the  late  Col.  Sir  George  Everest,  C.B., 
F.R.S.,  Surveyor-General  of  India,  in  honour  of  whom 
Mount  Everest  was  named  in  1856.  From  the  terms 
of  the  will  we  learn  that  Miss  Everest  left  her  house 
to  the  National  Trust  to  be  used  as  a  home  of  rest 
for  tired  brain-workers,  particularly  writers  and  artists. 
The  land  round  the  house  has  also  been  bequeathed 
to  the  National  Trust  to  be  used  as  a  public  park 
for  the  use  of  the  nation,  and  as  a  bird  sanctuary, 
where  bird-life  shall  be  encouraged,  together  with 
8oooi.  for  the  maintenance  of  the  estate.  Miss 
Everest  also  left  the  residue  of  her  estate,  after  pro- 
viding for  some  legacies  to  relatives  and  others,  for 
the  formation  and  maintenance  of  a  college  in  India, 
on  lines  approved  by  the  natives,  for  the  education  of 
natives  by  natives. 

A  pamphlet  on  the  urgent  necessity  of  establishing 
an  Imperial  School  of  Technical  Optics  in  this  country 
has  recently  been  issued,  with  a  foreword  by  the 
Minister  of  Munitions  commending  the  scheme  to  the 
generous  consideration  of  all  patriotic  citizens  who 
can  assist  in  providing  the  requisite  funds.  The 
scheme  was  originally  submitted  by  the  governing 
body  of  the  Northampton  Polytechnic  to  the  Technical 


June  8,   191 6] 


NATURE 


309 


Education  Board  of  the  London  County  Council  in 
1903,  and  has  been  under  the  consideration  of  com- 
mittees and  sub-committees  of  the  Council  ever  since. 
Both  the  Council  and  the  various  Government  depart- 
ments which  have  been  approached  in  the  matter  admit 
its  urgency,  but  the  sum  of  40,000/.  necessary  for 
carrying  out  the  scheme  has  not  been  provided  by 
either  authority.  As  the  scheme,  if  carried  out,  would 
establish  an  institute  in  Clerkenwell  which  would 
benefit  the  optical  industries,  both  locally  and  through- 
out the  kingdom,  there  seem  strong  reasons  fcfr 
making  the  appeal  for  funds  over  a  wide  area. 

An  article  under  the  title  of  "Air  Navies  of  the 
Future"  appears  in  the  Fortnightly  Review  for  June. 
It  consists  mainly  of  a  discussion  as  to  the  likely 
developments  in  our  air  services  in  the  near  future. 
As  is  usually  the  case  in  such  articles,  the  discussion 
is  highly  imaginative,  and  belongs  rather  to  the  realm 
of  speculation  than  to  that  of  science.  The  scientific 
statements  are  indeed  often  incorrect,  as,  for  example, 
the  statement  that  the  velocity  of  shrapnel  bullets  and 
pieces  of  steel  falling  from  a  height  of  20,000  ft.  will 
be  very  high,  and  that  such  fragments  will  be  highh' 
dangerous  in  consequence.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
limiting  velocity  of  such  bodies  will  rarely  exceed 
500  ft.  per  second,  and  the  velocity  on  reaching  the 
earth  will  be  very  nearly  the  same  for  all  heights 
above  5000  ft.  The  one  point  of  real  interest  in  the 
article  concerns  the  practicability  of  building  very 
large  aeroplanes ;  the  writer  contemplates  one  of 
240-ft.  span.  There  is  certainly  nothing  inherently 
impossible  in  the  building  of  such  a  machine,  but  it 
opens  up  a  whole  series  of  new  difficulties,  both  aero- 
dynamic and  constructional.  It  seems  unlikely  that 
such  aeroplanes  will  be  built  for  use  in  the  present 
war.  The  great  majority  of  present  machines  are  less 
than  two  tons  in  weight,  and  the  five-ton  aeroplane 
has  yet  to  become  common.  It  would  seem  that  the 
best  course  to  pursue  is  to  concentrate  on  the  con- 
struction of  moderately  large  machines,  say  about  five 
tons  total  vveight,  before  attempting  anything  ap- 
proaching a  Zeppelin  in  carrying  capacity. 

In  monograph  vol.  xii.,  No.  i  of  the  University  of 
California  Publications  in  American  Archaeology  and 
Ethnology,  Mr.  E.  W.  Gifford  discusses  the  composi- 
tion and  age  of  some  Californian  shell-mounds.  More 
than  half  their  contents  consist  of  moUuscan  shells, 
the  remainder  being  bones,  charcoal,  ash,  and  other 
substances.  The  presence  of  large  quantities  of  oyster 
shell  {Ostrea  lurida)  points  to  the  similarity  between 
the  conditions  at  the  time  of  their  growth  and  those 
of  modern  times.  The  writer  enters  into  an  interest- 
ing discussion  of  the  age  of  these  mounds,  based 
largely  on  the  assumed  numbers  of  the  population 
during  the  period  of  their  construction.  The  result  is 
that  the  age  of  one  mound,  that  of  Emer}'ville,  appears 
to  be  from  3700  to  3300  years.  The  puzzle  of  their  age, 
he  observes,  "requires  for  its  solution  every  scrap  of 
information  bearing  on  the  mounds.  A  knowledge  of 
shell-mound  composition,  of  population,  of  artifacts, 
of  skeletal  remains,  of  environment,  or  of  food  alone 
will  not  solve  the  problem.  The  proper  combination 
of  all  these  is  necessary  to  gain  the  end." 

Dr.  Giuseppe  Despott,  in  the  Zoologist  for  May, 
deplores  the  destruction  of  bird-life  which  has  been 
taking  place  in  Malta  during  the  last  few  years.  Five 
or  six  species  are  now  in  imminent  danger  of  exter- 
mination. The  number  of  both  licensed  and  un- 
licensed sportsmen  and  fowlers  is  so  large  that  very 
few  chances  of  breeding  are  afforded  to  any  of  the 
resident  species.  Such  a  thing  as  a  "  close  season  " 
is  unknown  in  Malta,  yet,  remarks  the  author,  for 
some  species  at  any  rate,  this  is  "  a  consummation 
devoutly  to  be. wished." 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


The  Scientific  Australian  for   March   gives  a  brief 
j  account   of  the   new   Zoological    Gardens   in    Sydney, 
j  which  are  now  nearing  completion.     About  sixty  acres 
I  of  land,  lying  between  the  main  arms  of  Sydney  Har- 
j  hour,   have   been   devoted   to   this   purpose.     The   site 
t  secured  is  not  only  one  of  great  natural  beauty,  it  affords 
I  also    peculiarly    suitable    conditions    for    its    purpose, 
I  since  it  comprises  rocky,  sheltered  slopes  and  gullies 
I  covered  with  natural  trees,  scrub,  and  undergrowth. 
I  The  housing  of  the   animals  will  be  on   a   generous 
I  scale  and  in  conformity  witji  the  most  recent  standards 
I  — that  is  to  say,  there  will  be  no  cages  in  the  ordinary 
I  sense,   bars   being   replaced   by   deep   trenches.       The 
I  birds,   of  course,   are  an   exception  to   this   rule,    but 
I  since   the   aviaries    provided    allow   of    full   powers    of 
j  flight,    and   reproduce   the   natural   conditions   of   the 
j  occupants,  so   far  as  is  possible,  this  exception  is  of 
no    moment.     A    number    of    photographs    afford    an 
insight  into  what  has  been  done.     One  of  these,  the 
elephant-house,    is    distinctly   disappointing,    the   out- 
door area  being  but  a  concrete  yard  provided  w-ith  a 
bath  in  the  form  of  a  huge  tub  placed  in  the  sur- 
rounding   trench,    and    having    its    rim    studded    with 
spikes.     This  is,  to   say  the  least,   inartistic. 

Drs.    VVatkins-Pitchford,   A.     J.     Orenstein,     and 

W.  Steuart  have  conducted  a  preliminary  inquiry  into 

the  prevalence  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis  among  the 

natives  working  in  the  mines  of  South  Africa.     The 

conclusions  arrived  at  are : — (a)  That  the  disease  in  its 

open,    or   communicable,   stage   is    far   less   prevalent 

amongst  natives  actually  working  on  the  mines  than 

has  been  hitherto  supposed ;  only  one  case,  out  of  400- 

examined,   has  been  detected,     (b)  That  the  problem 

:  of  the  control  of  the  disease  is  not  so  formidable  as- 

;  has   been   anticipated,   and   that  its   total   eradication 

from   the  mines,    therefore,    appears   to   be  a    feasible 

I  proposition,     (c)     That    although     107     natives     were 

I  examined    whose    term    of    employment    underground 

I  exceeded  two  years  only  one  was  found  with  marked 

I  X-ray   signs  of  silicosis  apparently   uncomplicated  by 

j  tuberculosis;  it  seems,  therefore,  fair  to  surmise  that 

I  marked  silicosis  is  at  least  not  more  prevalent  than 

j  pulmonary    tuberculosis.        Various    recommendations 

are  made  for  the  prevention  of  the  disease  {Medical 

Journal  of  South  Africa,   19 16). 

The  fossil  remains  discovered  at  Piltdown  are  being 
closely  studied  and  debated  by  American  anatomists. 
Dr.  Smith  Woodward  recognised  that  anthropoid  char- 
acters were  ven,*  clearly  marked  in  the  mandible, 
which  he  ascribed  to  Eoanthropus.  Prof.  Waterston 
(Nature,  November  13,  1913,  p.  319)  directed  attention 
to  the  close  resemblance  of  the  skiagram  of  the 
Piltdown  mandible  to  that  of  a  chimpanzee,  and  re- 
garded it  as  incompatible  with  the  skull.  That  also 
is  the  opinion  which  Mr.  Gerrit  Miller,  jun.,  has 
formed  (Smithsonian  Misc.  Coll.,  1915,  vol.  Ixv., 
No.  12)  after  a  systematic  comparison  of  casts  of  the 
Piltdown  fossils  with  corresponding  bones  of  men  and 
anthropoid  apes  contained  in  the  National  Museum 
of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Miller  regards  the  mandible 
as  that  of  a  chimpanzee  which  had  its  habitat 
in  England  during  the  Pleistocene  epoch,  and  makes 
it  the  type  specimen  of  a  new  chimpanzee  species 
which  he  names  Pan  veins,  a  procedure  which  has 
been  already  questioned  by  Dr.  Chalmers  Mitchell 
(Nature,  December  30.  1915,  p.  480).  Dr.  Wm.  King 
Gregory,  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  Histor\- 
(Amer.  Mus.  Journal,  1914,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  189),  regard's 
the  canine  tooth,  not  as  a  right  lower,  but  as  a  left 
I  upper  member  of  the  dental  series,  an  opinion  accepted 
I  by  Mr,  Miller.  At  a  recent  meeting  (Januarv  24. 
I  1916)  of  the  Odontological  Section  of  the  Roval  Sociefrv 
j  of  Medicine,  Mr.  W.  Courtney  Lyne  made  an  elaborate 
analysis  of  the  canine  tooth,  and  gave  as  his  opinion 


3IO 


NATURE 


[June  8,  1916 


that  the  canine,  tooth  was  "incongruous  in  this  [Pilt- 
down]  mandible."  We  are  of  opinion  that  future  dis- 
covery will  show  that  all  three  specimens  are,  as  Dr. 
Smith  Woodward  inferred,  parts  of  one  individual,  or 
at  least  of  individuals  of  one  species.  A  closer 
acquaintance  with  the  anatomy  of  anthropoid  apes 
will  reveal  many  similar  incongruities  in  their  struc- 
ture. If  mankind  has  been  evolved  from  an  anthro- 
poid stock  the  occurrence  of  a  combination  of  human 
and  anthropoid  characteristics  in  earlier  or  dawn 
"human  forms,  such  as  occur  in  Eoanthropus,  is  just 
what  we  ought  to  find. 

The  coast-section  of  Honte  Hermoso,  near  Bahia 
Blanca,  Argentina,  has  been  relied  on  by  authors  who 
assign  a  high  antiquity  to  man  in  South  America 
(see  Nature,  vol.  xcll.,  p.  144).  Mr.  Ricardo  Wich- 
mann,  however,  contributes  to  Physis  (tomo  li.,  1916, 
p.  131)  an  account  of  the  present  condition  of  the 
exposure,  and  remarks  that  F.  Amcghino  must  have 
compiled  his  sequence  of  formations  from  observations 
made  at  various  localities.  The  surface  of  the  Her- 
mosean  beds  now  exposed  passes  beneath  the  Puel- 
chean  without  any  appearance  of  unconformity,  and 
the  author  was  unable  to  satisfy  himself  that  the 
angular  fragments  of  quartzite,  regarded  by  Ameghino 
as  human  implements,  belong  with  certainty  to  the 
Puelchean  horizon. 

The  famous  intermittent  spring  at  Rajapur,  in  the 
Bombay  Presidency,  is  the  subject  of  a  short  paper  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Steichen,  S.J.  (Bulletin  No.  14,  Indian 
Association  for  the  Cultivation  of  Science).  A  careful 
record  of  the  flow  of  the  spring,  kept  since  1883,  shows 
that  the  flow  lasts  for  sixteen  to  sixty-eight  daj's, 
followed  by  a  dry  period  of  291  to  1189  days.  Dr. 
Steichen  has  compared  these  periods  with  the  records 
of  rainfall,  and  finds  that  there  is  no  obvious  corre- 
spondence between  the  two.  This  makes  it  unlikely 
that  the  intermittency  of  the  spring  depends  on  a 
^simple  siphon-like  arrangement  of  channels  connected 
with  an  underground  reservoir.  Dr.  Steichen  supposes 
that  the  channels  have  this  arrangement,  but  that  they 
become  choked  with  deposits  of  lime,  which  stops  the 
flo-w  in  many  cases  before  the  reservoir  Is  empty. 
This,  he  believes,  will  also  explain  how  the  flow  may 
"begin  as  late  as  five  months  after  the  last  drop  of  rain 
has  fallen.  Whether  or  not  this  is  the  true  explana- 
tion of  this  extraordinary  spring,  there  certainly  is  much 
limy  matter  in  suspension  in  the  early  part  of  the  flow. 

In  a  paper  published  by  the  University  of  Nevada 
Mr.  S.  P.  Fergusson  makes  some  interesting  remarks 
on  the  use  of  high-level  meteorological  observations  in 
making  forecasts  of  temperature.  His  comments  refer 
more  particularly  to  Mount  Rose,  a  mountain  10,800  ft. 
high,  but  he  discusses  the  results  from  other  high 
stations,  such  as  Mount  Washington,  Pike's  Peak, 
Colorado,  Ben  Nevis,  and  others.  Mr.  Fergusson 
finds  some  correlation  between  the  changes  on  the 
summit  and  the  subsequent  changes  in  the  lowlands, 
but  on  the  whole  the  Impression  given  is  that  moun- 
tain stations  are  not  of  much  use  for  forecasting. 
Pike's  Peak,  Mount  Washington,  and  Ben  Nevis  were 
all  given  up,  unfortunately,  for  meteorology,  but  their 
use  in  forecasting  was  not  sufficient  to  make  up  for 
the  cost  and  diflficulty  of  maintaining  them.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  Mount  Rose  will  not  share  the 
same  fate.  It  ought  not  to  do  so,  as  many  useful 
inquiries  are  in  progress ;  also  the  records  are  obtained 
by  autographic  instruments,  which  can  run  for  long 
periods,  so  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  the  observers 
to  remain  always  on  the  summit. 

In  a  recent  note  to  the  Faraday  Society  on  the 
annealing  of  aluminium,  Messrs.  Seligman  and  Wil- 
liams   describe   certain    interesting   anomalies    in    the 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


behaviour  of  this  metal.  Hard-worked  aluminium  is 
more  readily  soluble  in  nitric  acid  than  the  annealed 
metal.  On  heating  the  hard-worked  metal  to  125°  C. 
a  definite  change  in  the  rate  of  dissolution  is  brought 
about.  A  sample  of  the  hard-worked  metal  which 
lost  56  mgr.  per  100  sq.  cm.  per  24  hours  in  1-42  nitric 
acid  only  lost  39  mgr.  when  similarly  exposed  after 
being  annealed  at  500°  C— a  decrease  of  30  per  cent. 
On  annealing  for  10  hours  at  125°  C.  there  was  a  decrease 
in  the  rate  of  dissolution  of  53  per  cent.  It  was 
anticipated  that  if  the  heating  were  prolonged  the 
decrease  in  the  rate  of  dissolution  might  be  augmented. 
This  was  not  found  to  be  the  case,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, as  the  heating  at  125°  C.  was  prolonged  the  fall 
in  the  rate  of  dissolution  diminished  until  samples 
heated  for  80  hours  at  125°  C.  showed  the 
same  rate  of  dissolution  as,  or  even  a  slightly 
higher  rate  of  dissolution  than,  samples  which 
had  not  been  heated  at  all.  These  facts  do  not 
tally  completely  with  the  observations  of  other  worker?. 
A  release  of  strain  as  indicated  by  Dr.  Beilby  should 
be  accompanied  by  a  reduction  in  the  rate  of  dissolu- 
tion, but  such  a  release  of  strain  would  not  account 
for  the  subsequent  Increase.  The  behaviour  of 
aluminium  as  described  above  is  not  accounted  for  bv 
any  theories  which  have  yet  been  put  forward. 

Part  vi.  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Institution  oi 
Engineers  and  Shipbuilders  m  Scotland  contains  an 
interesting  paper  on  the  Ljungstrom  steam  turbine 
and  its  application  to  marine  propulsion,  read  by  Mr. 
R.  S.  Portham  on  March  21.  In  this  type  of  turbine 
the  flow  is  radial  and  outwards  from  tne  centre,  and 
takes  place  between  two  discs  fixed  on  shafts  which 
revolve  in  opposite  directions.  Each  disc  is  fitted 
with  concentric  rings  of  blades,  and  each  ring  01 
blades  on  one  disc  serves  as  guides  for  the  ring  on 
the  other  disc,  which  surrounds  it,  and  is  concentric 
thereto.  The  relative  sf)eed  is  thus  doubled,  as  com- 
pared with  a  turbine  having  fixed  guide  blades,  and 
the  system  therefore  necessitates  only  one-quarter  the 
total  number  of  rings  for  the  same  efficiency.  The 
illustrations  in  the  paper  are  exceptionally  good,  and 
includes  drawings  of  the  largest  Ljungstrom  turbine 
yet  constructed.  This  turbine  develops  10,000  b.h.p. 
at  a  sf)eed  of  3000  revolutions  per  minute ;  the 
diameter  of  the  outer  blade  ring  is  34  in.  only.  Each 
of  the  revolving  shafts  is  connected  to  an  alternator, 
one  at  each  end  of  the  turbine.  The  condenser  i.i 
placed  underneath.  The  overall  length  is  24  ft., 
height  21  ft.,  and  the  weight  of  the  complete  turbo- 
alternator  is  45  tons.  A  machine  of  this  type  of  3000 
kilowatts,  tested  in  January  last  with  steam  at 
160  lb.  per  sq.  in.  superheated  280°  F.,  gave  a  con- 
sumption of  11-15  lb.  of  steam  per  kw.  per  hour,  and 
showed  a  thermodynamic  efficiency  of  87  per  cent.,  as 
compared  with  the  ideal  engine. 

In  connection  with  the  electrification  of  the  North- 
Eastern  Railway,  the  Engineer  for  June  2  contains 
illustrated  particulars  of  the  goods  locomotives.  These 
were  designed  and  built  at  the  Darlington  works  of 
the  North-Eastern  Railway,  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  V.  L.  Raven.  There  are  four  enclosed  motors, 
each  driving  an  axle  through  single-reduction  twin 
gearing.  The  test  results  are  of  Interest.  A  train 
of  800  tons  was  hauled  from  Newport  to  Shildon, 
with  stops  on  certain  of  the  heaviest  gradients;  this 
train  was  stopped  and  started  on  a  gradient  of  i  in 
103.  The  maximum  draw-bar  pull  was  16  tons,  and 
the  average  speed  from  Newjjort  to  Shildon  was 
183  rniles  per  hour.  On  a  gradient  of  i  in  230  and 
45  miles  long  an  average  speed  of  23  miles  per  hour 
was  obtained.  The  locomotive  also  proved  capable  of 
hauling  a  train  of  1400  tons  on  the  level  at  26  miles 
per  hour. 


June  8,   19 16] 


NATURE 


1 1 


OVR   ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

A  Large  Group  of  Sun-spots. — A  remarkable  spot 
outburst,  including  a  great  irregular  active  spot  fol- 
lowed by  a  widespread  disturbed  area,  was  easily  seen 
with  the  help  merely  of  dark  glasses  on  May  27,  28, 
and  29.  Its  reappearance  on  the  eastern  limb  should 
occur  about  June  12  or  13. 

The  Total  Solar  Eclipse  of  February  3,  19 16. — 
A  brief  announcement  in  the  Publications  of  the  Astro- 
nomical Society  of  the  Pacific  (April)  states  that 
totality  was  observed  through  thin  clouds  by  a  party 
from  the  Argentine  National  Observatory  stationed 
at  ■  Tucacas,  Venezuela.  Astronomer  Chaudet  had 
charge  of  the  expedition,  and  the  equipment  included 
two  cameras  for  coronal  photography,  two  prismatic 
cameras  for  recording  the  "flash"  and  corona  spectra, 
a  small  slit  spectrograph,  and  a  photometer. 

I  The  Spectrum  of  Nova  Gemixorum  No.  2.— On 
•  a  photograph  taken  by  Messrs.  Adams  and  Pease  at 
Mount  Wilson  on  the  nights  of  February  12  and  13, 
with  a  total  exposure  of  nine  hours,  the  spectrum  still 
shows  Wolf-Rayet  features — bright  hydrogen  lines  and 
a  very  prominent  bright  band  at  A  4686  are  mentioned. 
The  continuous  spectrum  is  described  as  very  strong 
(Publications,  Astronomical  Societv  of  the  Pacific, 
No.    163). 

Latitude  Observations  by  Photography. — The  work 
of  the  International  Latitude  Commission  bids  fair  to 
be  remembered  as  the  last  great  piece  of  visual 
measurement.  The  results  obtained  at  Gaithersburg 
alone  would  demonstrate  that  by  means  of  photo- 
graphy here,  as  in  so  many  other  departments  of 
astronomy,  a  precision  of  superior  order  is  now  obtain- 
able. From  this  point  of  view  the  report  by  Dr.  Ross 
might  almost  be  regarded  as  epoch-making  (Special 
Publication  No.  27,  U.S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey, 
a  quarto  memoir  of  127  pages  and  18  plates).  The 
photographic  zenith  tube  as  developed  by  Dr.  Ross  is 
a  remarkable  and  ingenious  instrumental  achieve- 
ment, and  the  detailed  description  will  no  doubt  be 
read  with  the  greatest  interest  by  instrument-makers 
in  this  country.  It  consists  essentially  of  a  fixed 
vertical  tube  carrying  a  horizontal  lens  over  a  dish  of 
mercury,  forming  an  image  of  zenith  stars  just  below 
the  plane  lower  surface  of  the  lens  on  a  photographic 
plate.  The  objective  end  can  be  rotated  carrying  with 
it  the  plate-holder,  during  exposures  by  clockwork 
through  a  magnetic  clutch  at  suitable  rate  to  give 
point  irnages,  or  by  hand  for  reversal  through  180°. 
The  design  of  the  lens  practically  eliminates  the  effect 
of  errors  of  level.  Freedom  from  tremor  in  the  mer- 
cury reflector  was  secured  by  floating  the  amalgamated 
dish  in  a  second  placed  on  a  tripod  resting  on  a 
small  pier  independent  of  the  main  concrete  base  of 
the  tube.  The  visual  routine  programme  was  con- 
tinued without  intermission,  and  thus  a  valuable  com- 
parison of  the  two  methods  has  been  secured. 
Numerically  the  superiority  of  the  photographic  pro- 
cedure is  most  obvious  when  the  results  from  a  single 
pair  of  stars  are  considered,  the  mean  accidental  error 
of  a  determination  of  latitude  being  reduced  from 
±0-1 13"  to  0-060".  Especially  important  is  the  fact 
that  although  both  methods  yield  abnormal  values  at 
times,  no  systematic  difi'erences  can  be  traced.  The 
comparison  brings  to  light  an  error  with  the  visual 
instrument  that  results  in  a  progressive  increase  of 
latitude  during  the  night.  Dr.  Ross  is  of  the  opinion 
that  his  work  substantiates  the  reality  of  the  Kimura 
term,  and,  moreover,  proves  the  existence  of  "  fluc- 
tuations "  not  due  to  a  motion  of  the  pole. 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97I 


THE  ROYAL  OBSERVATORY,  GREENWICH. 
'X'HE  report  of  the  Astronomer  Royal  to  the  Board 
■*■  of  Visitors  of  the  Royal  Observatory,  Green- 
wich, was  read  at  the  annual  visitation  on  Saturday 
last,  J  une  3.  The  report  describes  the  chief  observation's 
and  other  work  carried  on  at  the  observatory  during  the 
year  ending  May  10,  1916.  The  subjoined  extracts 
refer  to  a  few  points  of  particular  interest. 

The  28-in.  refractor  has  been  throughout  the  year 
at  the  disposition  of  M.  Jonckheere,  director  of  the 
Lille  Observatory,  whose  observations  have  been 
mainly  of  stars  which  have  been  discovered 
to  be  double  since  1905.  He  has  spent  a 
good  deal  of  time  in  the  identifications  and  verifica- 
tions necessary  to  the  completion  of  the  catalogue  of 
double  stars  referred  to  in  last  year's  report.  During 
the  year  140  new  double  stars  with  separation  less 
than  4'  have  been  discovered. 

With  the  Thompson  equatorial  photographs  have 
been  continued  for  the  determination  of  stellar  parallax 
in  accordance  with  the  programme  outlined  in  last 
year's  report.  During  the  year  ended  May  10,  1916, 
a  first  exposure  has  been  given  to  209  plates,  and  a 
second  exposure,  approximately  six  months  after  the 
first,  on  226  plates.  In  the  same  period  164  plates 
have  been  measured,  but  the  measurement  has 
had  to  be  discontinued.  During  the  year  thirty- 
seven  photographs  have  been  taken  for  the 
determination  of  the  magnitudes  of  the  stars 
in  Kapteyn's  selected  areas.  Of  these  thirt>'- 
four  have  been  passed  as  satisfactory  for  measurement. 
Altogether  of  the  ninety  fields  from  declination  + 15° 
to  +75°i  149  photographs  of  fifty-nine  fields  have 
been  taken.  The  measurement  is  well  advanced  for 
the  plates  in  zone  15°,  but  has  made  very  little  pro- 
gress during  the  year. 

The  comparison  of  the  position  of  stars  given  in 
vol.  iii.  of  the  Greenwich  Section  of  the  Astrographic 
Catalogue  with  those  given  in  earlier  catalogues  for 
the  determination  of  proper  motions  has  been  con- 
tinued. With  the  exception  of  from  i2h.  to  oh.  in  the 
zone  65°  to  70°,  this  is  practically  completed.  A 
search  for  all  stars  in  the  Bonn  Diirchmusterung 
between  the  pole  and  declination  64°  with  large  proper 
motions  is  in  progress  by  comparison  of  photographs 
from  sixteen  to  twenty  years  apart.  Already  200 
plates  with  centres  at  declinations  66°,  68°,  70°  have 
been  compared  in  this  way. 

Photographs  of  the  sun  were  obtained  on  244  days. 
Of  these  502  have  been  selected  for  preservation,  in- 
cluding thirty-six  with  double  images  of  the  sun  for  the 
determination  of  zero  of  position  angle.  The  mean 
dailv  spotted  area  of  the  sun,  which  was  152  millionths 
of  the  sun's  visible  hemisphere  in  1914,  as  against  7  in 
1913,  rose  in  1915  to  considerably  over  700  millionths. 

The  mean  values  of  the  magnetic  elements  for 
19 15  and  four  previous  years  are  as  follows  : — 


Year 


Horizontal 
Declination  W.        Force  in 

C.G.S.  Units 


191 1  ...  15  33*o  ...  018549 

1912  ...  15  24-3    ...    0-18548 

1913  •••  15  152    •••    018534 

1914  ...  15  6-3    ...    018518 

1915  ...  14  56-5  ...  o  18494 


Dip 

66  52  6  (3-in.  needles) 

66  51  46 

66  50  27 
(66  49  27 
\  66  51  13  (dip  inductor) 

66  51   58         „       „ 

There  were  no  days  of  great  magnetic  disturbance 
in  1915,  but  three  were  classified  as  of  lesser  disturb- 
ance. 

The   principal   features  of  interest   in   the  meteoro- 


312 


NATURE 


[June  8,  1916 


logical  conditions  at  Greenwich .  during  the  year  end- 
ing April  30,  1916,  are  :  (i)  the  warm  January  with  a 
mean  temperature  2°  higher  than  any  January  from 
1841  to  1915;  (ii)  the  great  pressures  of  wind  in  the 
gales  in  the  winter;  and  (iii)  the  heavy  rainfall  in 
March,  the  wettest  March  since  the  commencement  of 
the  Greenwich  records  in   1841. 

The  following  details  of  the  chronicle  of  the  weather 
refer  to  the  year  ended  April  30,  1916.  The  mean 
temperature  was  496°,  or  01°  above  the  average  of 
the'  seventy  years  1841-1910.  The  highest  tempera- 
ture in  the  shade  was  872°  on  June  8,  and  the  tem- 
perature exceeded  80°  on  only  six  days,  as  against 
twenty-one  in  the  previous  year-  The  lowest  tempera- 
ture was  23-0°  on  November  27,  and  on  forty  days 
fell  as  low  as  320°. 

The  mean  daily  horizontal  movement  of  the  air  was 
287  miles,  which  is  three  miles  above  the  average  of 
the  previous  forty-eight  years.  The  greatest  daily 
movement,  955  miles,  was  recorded  on  February  16, 
and  the  least,  63  miles,  on  October  15.  The  greatest 
recorded  pressure  on  the  square  foot  was  350  lb.  on 
January  i ;  the  greatest  velocity  in  one  hour  51  miles 
on  December  27. 

The  duration  of  bright  sunshine  registered  by  the 
Campbell-Stokes  instrument  was  1476  hours,  out  of  a 
possible  4473  hours,  or  33  per  cent.  This  is  below  the 
average,  principally  owing  to  a  deficiency  in  August 
and  March. 

The  rainfall  was  32-17  in.,  or  8-05  in.  above  the 
average  for  the  period  1841-1905.  The  number  of 
rainy  days  (0005  in.  or  over)  was  168.  June,  with 
056  in.,  was  the  driest,  and  December,  with  5-20  irt., 
the  wettest  month.  The  rainfall  in  March  was 
413  in. 

The  scientific  work  of  the  observatory  has  neces- 
sarily been  somewhat  curtailed,  but  it  has  been  found 
possible  to  keep  up  all  observations  of  the  sun,  moon, 
and  planets ;  sun-spots,  latitude ;  magnetic  and 
meteorological  registers ;  observations  which  would 
otherwise  be  permanently  lost..  The  reductions  are  in 
some  cases  behindhand,  and  must  be  brought  up  to 
date  later.  Both  the  scientific  staff  and  the  workmen 
have  made  everv  effort  to  cope  with  the  additional 
work  caused  by  the  absence  of  their  normal  assistance. 
In  the  course  of  the  year  six  Belgian  refugees  have 
been  employed  at  the  observatory. 

THE    PLACE    OF    SCIENCE    IN    MODERN 
METALLURGICAL     INDUSTRIES. 

IT  is  significant  of  the  position  which  science  now 
occupies  in  the  iron  and  steel  industry  that  Sir 
William  Beardmore,  the  head  of  a  great  armament 
firm  in  Glasgow,  and  the  president-elect  of  the  Iron 
and  Steel  Institute,  in  discussing  the  various  factors 
which  determine  the  success  of  any  particular  process, 
said  in  his  recent  presidential  address  : — "  Science 
comes  first.  It  is  the  dominant  factor  because  it 
should  be  the  beginning  of  all  things.  .  .  ."  He  went 
on  to  point  out  that  there  is,  however,  a  tendency  at 
the  moment  to  neglect  the  other  factors,  and  especi- 
ally the  attitude  of  labour  towards  improved  rnethods 
of  manufacture  which  are  evolved  by  scientific  re- 
search. This  attitude  amounts  in  many  cases  to  an 
absolute  refusal  to  utilise  such  improvements,  and 
when  manufacturers  are  charged  with  a  lack  of  enter- 
prise in  not  adopting  modifications  which  are  demon- 
strably advantageous  the  reason  frequently  is  that  the 
obstructionist  attitude  of  labour  organisations  renders 
those  improvements  impossible  of  execution.  Sir 
William  Beardmore  quite  rightly  insists  that  the  ques- 
tion is  one  of  profound  national  importance.  He 
says  : — 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


"The  employment  of  the  people  and  their  well-being 
depend  upon  plenty  of  work.  This  in  turn  requires 
the  maintenance  of  a  great  export  trade.  Efficiency 
and  economy  in  manufactures  can  do  much  to  win 
and  retain  foreign  as  well  as  British  Imperial  markets. 
This  necessitates  advance  towards  perfection  of  design 
and  greater  volume  of  output,  through  improvement  in 
the  mechanical  means  of  production  evolved  by  experi- 
ment. It  follows  that  research  should  be  a  charge 
upon  the  selling  price.  To  counterbalance  this  charge 
it  is  essential  that  the  volume  of  output  should  be 
increased.  Thus,  when  w-e  reach  the  bedrock  of  in- 
dustrial conditions  we  find  that  unless  restrictions  and 
limitations  dictated  by  workers'  organisations  are 
abolished  much  of  the  gain  possible  to  the  nation  due 
to  research  and  experiment  must  be  lost." 

Seldom  before  has  this  point  been  made  with  such 
brevity  and  convincingness.  Sir  William  Beardmore 
went  on  to  give  instances  of  the  restrictive  methods 
of  trade  unions  during  the  war,  which  would  be 
almost  incredible  if  they  were  not,  as  they  unfor- 
tunately are,  amply  proved  to  be  true. 

One  of  the  best  points  made  in  his  address  was  the 
clear  and  proper  distinction  drawn  between  the  two 
main  divisions  of  scientific  research,  which  he  classified 
as  "  In  one  case  purely  theoretical,  almost  classical ; 
in  the  other  as  distinctly  technical,  or  practical,"  each 
of  which  has  its  proper  sphere.  As  regards  the 
former,  the  results  obtained  merely  Indicate  poten- 
tialities for  the  future;  as  regards  the  latter,  they 
are  generally  contemporaneous  with  actual  manufac- 
ture. No  more  diflficult  questions  come  up  for  decision 
than  the  potentialities,  from  a  commercial  point  of 
view,  of  problems  which  have  been  solved  In  the 
laboratorv.  It  Is  very  encouraging  to  scientific 
workers  In  metallurgy  to  find  such  stress  laid  on  the 
importance  of  theoretical  research  bv  a  practical  man 
of  the  attainments  of  Sir  William  Beardmore. 

H.  C.  H.  C. 


RECENT  ENTOMOLOGY. 

THE  Termites,  or  "  white  ants,"  of  the  United 
States  are  described  by  Thomas  E.  Snyder  from 
the  bionomic  and  economic  point  of  view  in  Bulletin 
333  of  the  U.S.  Department  of  Agriculture.  Three 
species  of  Leucotermes — one  an  inftroduced  Immigrant 
from  South  Europe — are  included  in  the  survey.  The 
principal  injury  caused  by  the  termites  Is  the  destruc- 
tion of  wooden  buildings  and  other  structures,  but  at 
times  they  devour  living  trees  and  growing  crops,  as 
well  as  books,  papers,  cloth  fabrics,  and  stored  grain 
and  flour. 

From  the  current  number  (part  3,  vol.  iv.  B)  of  the 
Review  of  Applied  Entomology  it  is  evident  that  the 
destruction  of  lice  infesting  troops  on  the  Eastern  battle- 
front  is  a  problem  confronting  both  German  and 
Russian  army  surgeons  and  sanitarians.  From  a 
summary  of  Dr.  A.  Hase's  recent  paper  in  the  Cen- 
tralbl.  Bakt.  Parasit.  u.  Infektionskrankh  (Ixxvii.,  2, 
1915),  we  learn  that  dirty,  greasy  underclothing  causes 
a  high  temperature  which  is  deterrent  to  lice,  and  we 
are  struck  Isy  a  touch  of  human  interest  rarely  found 
in  the  summary  of  a  technical  paper.  "  The  troops  were 
all  anxious  to  be  freed  from  the  pests  with  the  exception 
of  an  East  Prussian,  who  said  that  the  little  creatures 
reminded  him  of  home." 

A  recent  number  (vol.  Hi.,  3)  of  the  Indian  Journd 
of  Medical  Research  contains  some  papers  of  interest 
to  students  of  the  DIptera.  Major  S.  R.  Christophers 
revises  the  list  of  Indian  Anophelini,  and  describes  the 
various  stages  of  Anopheles  plumheus — a  species  ap- 
parently common  to  Europe,  North  America,  and 
India — the  larvae  of  which  were  found  inhabiting  holes 


June  8,  1916] 


NATURE 


313 


in  tree-trunks  near  Simla.  Baini  Prasiaad  describes 
the  microscopical  structure  of  the  halteres  in  mos- 
quitoes, and  discusses  their  use,  believing  that  the 
equilibrating  sense  is  the  only  function  certainly  attri- 
butable to  the  organs,  which  appear  to  have  no  con- 
nection with  sound  production  or  stridulation.  The 
same  author  gives  an  account  of  the  internal  inale 
organs  in  several  mosquito  genera.  A  paper  of  very 
considerable  importance  by  P.  R.  Awati,  entitled 
■'Studies  in  Flies,  II.,"  contains  descriptions  of  the 
genital  armature  in  several  Muscid  genera  as  com- 
pared with  those  of  other  Diptera,  illustrated  by  nine- 
teen clearly  drawn  plates.  The  author  points  out  that 
ten  segments  may  be  represented  in  the  abdomen  of 
the  higher  Diptera,  confirming  the  view  put  forward 
by  G.  H.  Carpenter  and  T.  R.  Hewitt  in  their  account 
of  the  reproductive  organs  of  warble-flies  (Hypoderma) 
published  in  19 14  (Sci.  Proc.  R.  Dublin  Soc,  vol.  xiv., 
No.  19).  Mr.  Awati  attempts  to  co-ordinate  the  incon- 
veniently divergent  terminology  which  has  grown  up 
in  connection  with  the  male  armature  of  flies  studied 
by  various  writers. 

The  important  families  of  the  Tabanidae  and 
Therevidae  are  dealt  with  in  part  ii.  of  A.  White's 
monograph  of  the  Diptera-Brachycera  of  Tasmania 
(Proc.  R.  Soc.    Tasmania,   1915,  pp.    1-59)- 

In  the  Journ.  Agric.  Research  (vol.  v.,  No.  12) 
D.  G.  Tower  writes  on  the  "  Biology  of  Apanteles 
militarist'  a  parasite  of  the  noctuid  moth,  Helio- 
phila  (or  Leucania)  unipuncta,  the  caterpillar  of  which 
is  notorious  in  North  America  under  the  name  of 
"  army  worm  " ;  he  describes  the  outlines  of  the  em- 
bryonic development,  the  hatching  of  the  larva,  and 
its  various  stages.  The  whole  life-history  occupies 
about  twenty-five  days.  Parthenogenesis  may  occur ; 
all  the  offspring  of  virgin  females  appear  to  be  males. 
The  author  discusses  the  function  of  the  curious  em- 
bryonic outgrowth  of  the  hind-gut,  known  as  the 
"  caudal  vesicle,"  and  agrees  with  the  view  of  R. 
Weissenberg  {Sitzb.  Gesellsch.  nattirf.  Freunde,  Ber- 
lin, 1901,  i)  that  it  is  a  temporary  organ  of  excretion. 

Prof.  Vernon  L.  Kellogg  and  Gordon  F.  Ferris  pub- 
lish, in  the  Stanford  Universitv  Series  (California), 
some  valuable  notes  on  the  Anoplura  and  Mallophaga 
of  North  .\merican  mammals.  They  point  out  that 
the  systematic  study  of  the  Anoplura  has  been 
markedly  neglected,  and  furnish  a  diagnostic  table  of 
families  and  genera  which  will  prove  useful  to 
students.  The  importance  of  these  blood-sucking  in- 
sects as  transmitters,  and  possibly  as  alternate  hosts, 
of  Protozoa  causing  disease  in  mammals  is  naturally 
emphasised. 

Students  of  economic  entomology  and  of  sacred  his- 
tory will  alike  be  attracted  by  John  D.  Whiting's 
article  on  a  recent  plague  of  locusts  near  Jerusalem 
in  the  National  Geographic  Journal  (Washington,  vol. 
xxviii..  No.  6).  This  article  gives  a  vivid  description 
of  the  locust  swarms  and  the  damage  done  by  them  to 
vegetation ;  it  is  illustrated  by  a  most  remarkable 
series  of  photographs.  G.  H.  C. 


UNIVERSITY    AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Oxford.— A  party  of  sixteen  professors  fr*m  various 
universities  in  France  has  lately  visited  Oxford.  They 
received  a  cordial  welcome,  and  were  given  ample 
opportunities  of  observing  the  effect  of  the  war  up)on 
the  life  of  the  University. 

Prof.  A.  Schuster  has  been  appointed  Halley  lecturer 
for  1917. 

Owing  to  circumstances  connected  with  the  war  the 
election  of  a  reader  in  geography  is  postponed  until 
further  notice. 


NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


By  the  will  of  the  late  Miss  C.  E.  Beckwith  one- 
half  of  the  residue  of  her  estate,  which  amounts  ta 
about  8000/.,  is  bequeathed  to  the  Victoria  University 
of  Manchester  in  aid  of  the  "John  Henry  Beckwitlv 
Scholarship,"  founded  by  her  mother. 

Science  announces  that  by  the  will  of  the  late  Mr. 
C.  W.  Harkness  Yale  University  will  receive  ioo,oooZ. 
and  the  Harkness  Fund  for  scientific  and  educational 
work  50,000/.  It  is  also  announced  that  a  bequest 
of  30,000/.  has  been  made  to  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University  by  Miss  Jessie  Gillender  for  the  purpose 
of  instituting  organised  research  into  the  problem  of 
epilepsy. 

So.\iE  months  ago  the  German  authorities  removed 
to  Germany  as  prisoners  two  professors  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Ghent,  Messrs.  Fredericq  and  Pirenne,  against 
whom  no  charge  was  made  and  no  reason  was  given. 
The  Dutch  Government  afterwards  approached  the 
German  Government  with  the  view  of  obtaining  their 
release ;  and  now  a  memorial  has  been  sent  with  the 
same  object  to  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences,  to 
other  German  academies  and  learned  societies,  to  the 
senates  of  the  Grerman  universities,  and  individually 
to  a  large  number  of  German  professors.  There  are 
nearly  200  signatories,  all  professors  in  Dutch  univer- 
sities or  members  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of 
Amsterdam,  and  the  list  includes  many  of  the  best- 
known  names  of  Dutch  science.  The  memorialists 
call  upon  their  German  colleagues  to  obtain  from  the 
Government  permission  for  Profs.  Fr6d6ricq  and 
Pirenne  to  proceed  to  Holland,  in  order  to-  continue 
their  studies  there.  They  are  convinced  that  a  refusal 
would  seriously  disappoint  a  large  part  of  the  Dutch 
nation. 

Under  the  title,  "  Om  Bi'trns  Idealer,"  Dr.  A.  Leh- 
mann  has  published  {Kgl.  Danske  Videnskabernes 
Selskabs  Forhandlingen,  19 16,  No.  2,  pp!  107)  an  illu- 
minating analysis  of  the  replies  given  by  4602  Danish 
children  to  the  question,  "'  What  person  would  you 
wish  to  be  like,  and  why  do  you  prefer  the  model  you 
have  chosen  ?  "  The  subjects  of  the  inquiry  were 
selected  from  five  distinct  types  of  schools,  and  in- 
cluded boys  and  girls  of  all  ages  from  eight  to  sixteen. 
Many  interesting  points  are  brought  out — for  example, 
that  although  parents  and  other  personal  acquaintances 
fail  badly  to  maintain  their  original  position  as  the 
heroes  of  childhood,  they  tend  to  be  rehabilitated  in 
the  esteem  of  the  adolescent.  Taking  the  results  as  a 
whole,  the  curves  showing  the  preferences  of  the  two 
sexes  for  persons,  virtues  and  accomplishments  fall 
rather  widely  apart.  In  a  final  section  of  the  pajjer 
the  author  seeks  to  determine  the  influence  of  co- 
education upon  the  course  taken  by  these  curves,  and 
shows  that  it  represents  something  much  more  positive 
than  a  mere  tendency  to  bring  the  views  of  boys  and 
girls   closer  together. 

During  the  past  year  the  sub-committee  on  research 
funds  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  of  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
has  tried  to  secure  Information  regarding  research 
funds  in  the  United  States,  and  particularly  such  as 
are  available  without  substantial  limitations  as  to  the 
residence  and  so  on  of  the  person  receiving  the  grant. 
A  list  of  the  more  important  endowments  to  which  no 
restrictions  are  attached,  with  the  exception  of  those 
devoted  to  medical  research,  has  been  prepared,  and  Is 
published  in  the  issue  of  Science  for  May  12.  The 
total  capital  value  of  these  endowments  is  4,603,150/., 
and  those  funds  where  the  endowment  reaches  5000/. 
or  more  are  as  follows  : — The  Carnegie  Institution, 
4,400,000/. ;  the  Srrythsonian  Institution,  50,000/. ;  the 
Engineering    Foundation     Board,     New    York    City, 


314 


NATURE 


[June  8,  1916 


4o,oooi. ;  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  30,640/. — 
including  the  Bache  Fund,  ii,5ooZ.,  and  the  Watson 
Fund,  5000Z.  ;  the  American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  2o,oooZ.,  made  up  of  the  Col- 
burn  Fund  of  15,000/.  and  the  General  Research  Fund 
of  5000Z. ;  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
15,760/.,  made  up  of  the  Rumford  Fund  of  13,260/. 
and  the  C.  M.  Warren  Fund  of  2500/. ;  the  California 
Academy  of  Sciences,  13,000/. ;  Harvard  College  Ob- 
servatory Advancement  of  Astronomical  Science  Fund, 
8000/. ;  the  National  Geographic  Society  Fund  for 
Exploration  and  Geographical  Research,  7000/.  ;  the 
Elizabeth  Thompson  Science  Fund,  5200/. ;  and  the 
Archaeological  Institute  of  America,  Washington, 
5000I. 

SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Royal  Society,  June  i. — Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  president, 
in  the  chair. — Prof.  H.  M.  Macdonald :  The  trans- 
mission of  electric  waves  around  the  earth's  surface. 
A  formula  is  obtained  for  the  magnetic  force  at  any 
point  of  the  earth's  surface  supposed  imperfectly  con- 
ducting when  the  source  is  a  simple  oscillator  normal 
to  its  surface.  If  jj  =  (r/2AV)3,  where  o-  is  the  specific 
resistance  of  the  earth  at  its  surface,  V  is  the  velocity 
of  radiation  in  the  space  outside  the  earth,  A  is  the 
wave-length  of  the  oscillations,  and  z  =  {2najK),  where 
a  is  the  earth's  radius,  it  appears  that,  when  »js  is  a 
small  quantity,  the  effect  of  imperfect  conduction  is 
to  increase  the  magnetic  force  at  a  distance  from  the 
oscillator,  the  ratio  of  the  magnetic  force  in  this  case 
to  the  magnetic  force  when  the  conduction  is  perfect 
increasing  with  the  distance  from  the  oscillator  and 
diminishing  with  increasing  wave-length.  When 
squares  and  higher  powers  of  7]zi  are  neglected,  the 
results  at  angular  distances  from  the  oscillator  of  6°, 
9°,  12°,  15°,  18°  for  a  wave-length  of  five  kilometres 
agree  with  those  derived  from  Love's  results  when 
the  square  of  k/m  is  neglected.  The  effect  of  the 
terms  involving  squares  of  rjzi  is  opposite  to  that  of 
the  first  order  terms.  Values  of  the  ratio  are  calcu- 
lated from  the  general  formula  for  wave-lengths  of 
five  kilometres  and  two  kilometres,  for  a  wave-length 
of  five  kilometres  the  ratio  increases  almost  uniformly 
from  1-004  ^t  an  angular  distance  of  6°  to  1027  at 
18°,  and  for  a  wave-length  of  two  kilometres  from 
1106  at  6°  to  1082  at  18°.— Prof.  W.  M.  Hicks:  A 
critical  study  of  spectral  series.  Part  IV. — The  struc- 
ture of  spark  spectra.  The  communication  deals  with 
the  nature  of  the  structure  of  spark  spectra,  using 
for  this  purpose  the  spectra  of  silver  and  gold.  It  is 
found  that  practically  the  whole  of  a  spectrum  in 
each  case  is  built  on  a  similar  plan.  Lines  differ  from 
other  lines  by  constant  differences  of  wave  number 
called  links,  and  sets  of  lines  are  connected  by  these 
links  into  chains  or  linkages  attached  each  to  one 
of  the  ordinary  series  lines.  These  links  depend  on 
successive  A-displacements  on  the  series  limits,  where 
A  is  the  displacement  which  gives  the  doublet  separa- 
tion, all  of  which  may  be  calculated  from  data  already 
known.  The  discussion  is  confined  only  to  displace- 
ments on  the  p  and  .f  sequences.  Those  depending  on 
the  d  sequences  exist,  but  their  discussion  is  post- 
poned.—K.  Terazawa  :  Periodic  disturbance  of  level 
arising  from  the  load  of  neighbouring  oceanic  tides. 
In  Hecker's  observations  on  the  lunar  deflection  of 
gravity  the  force  apparently  acting  on  the  pendulum 
at  Potsdam  is  a  larger  fraction  of  the  moon's  direct 
attraction  when  it  acts  towards  east  or  west  than 
when  it  acts  towards  north  or  south.  A  similar  result 
has  been  found  bv  Michelson  in  his  observation  of  the 
lunar  perturbation  of  water-level  at  Chicago.     A  cal- 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


culation  is  here  made  to  ascertain  to  what  extent  the 
tilting  of  the  ground  caused  by  the  excess  pressure 
of  the  tide  in  the  North  Atlantic  is  important  for  the 
explanation  of  this  geodynamical  discrepancy.  Re- 
placing the  North  Atlantic  by  a  circular  basin  of 
radius  2000  km.,  taking  the  position  of  Chicago  to  be 
1000  km.  from  the  coast,  and  the  rigidity  of  the 
earth  to  be  6 x  10*  c.g.s.,  it  is  found  that  the  attraction 
i  effect  of  a  uniform  tide  per  metre  of  height  is  about 
j  00024",  while  its  tilting  effect  is  as  much  as  00069", 
I  the  maximum  of  the  direct  lunar  attraction  being 
0-017".  If  the  surface  of  tide  is  ellipsoidal, 
shelving  towards  the  coast,  nearly  the  same  result  is 
reached  for  the  same  mean  tidal  height. — E.  B.  R. 
Prideaux  :  The  use  of  partly  neutralised  mixtures  of 
acids  as  hydrion  regulators.  It  has  been  shown  that 
niixtures  of  acids  have  certain  advantages  over  single 
acids  which  have  been  hitherto  used  for  hydrion  regu- 
lators. The  principle  of  inserting  the  acids  required 
to  make  the  neutralisation  graph  more  nearly  linear 
should  be  capable  of  wide  application.  A  mixture  of 
phosphoric,  acetic,  and  boric  acids  has  been  investi- 
gated, the  (H')  values  tabulated,  and  details  given 
ifor  the  reproduction  of  these  as  standards.  They  were 
found     to     possess     the     advantages     predicted. — Dr. 

E.  A.  N.  Arber  :  The  fossil  floras  of  the  Coal  Measures 
of  South  Staffordshire.  A  flora  of  fifty-eight  species 
is  described  from  a  new  horizon  in  South  .Stafford- 
shire, the  Red  Clay  Series,  or  Old  Hill  Marls,  of 
Transition  Coal  Measure  age.  A  new  genus,  Calamo- 
phloios,  and  new  species  of  Sphenopteris  and  Cardio- 
carpus  are  described,  as  well  as  several  records  new 
to  this  horizon.  Ten  new  records  are  added  to  the 
known  flora  of  the  Productive  Serjes  (Middle  Coal 
Measures),  including  new  species  of  Calamites  and 
Lepidostrobus.  A  large  number  of  additional  records 
from  new  localities  or  horizons  are  added  in  respect 
to  fossils  already  known  from  these  beds. 

Faraday  Society,  May  9. — Sir  Robert  Hadfield,  presi- 
dent, in  the  choir. — E.  Hatschek  :  An  analysis  of  the 
theory  of  gels  as  systemg  of  two  liquid  phases.  The 
generally  accepted  theory  of  the  constitution  of  gels  is 
that  they  are  systems  of  two  liquid  phases.  No 
attempts  have  been  made  to  determine  whether  this 
assumption  accounts  for  various  observed  properties 
of  gels.  The  present  paper  is  a  mathematical  inves- 
tigation directed  to  determining  whether  the  observed 
elastic  properties  of  gels  are  compatible  with  their 
being  composed  of  two  liquid  phases  only,  and  it  is 
concluded  that  this  theory  is  untenable. — F.  C. 
Tiiompson  :  The  properties  of  solid  solutions  of  metals 
and  of  intermetallic  compounds.  By  considering  the 
space-lattice  of  a  solid  solution  of  two  metals  as  result- 
ing from  the  substitution  of  atoms  of  B  for  an  equal 
number  of  A  in  the  space-lattice  of  the  latter,  it  is 
possible  to  predict  with  some  completeness  the  proper- 
ties, hardness,  specific  volume,  and  electrical  resistance  of 
the  allov. — F.  C.  Thompson  :  The  annealing  of  metals. 
After  briefly  considering  the  structural  changes  in- 
duced in  metals  and  simple  alloys  by  such  processes 
as  rolling  or  wire  drawing,  as  a  result  of  which  the 
crystalline  elements  remain  unchanged  in  hardness, 
the  conditions  governing  such  mechanical  treatment  of 
metals  are  examined.^ — Z.  Jeffries  :  Grain  size 
measurements  in  metals,  and  importance  of  such  in- 
formation. The  author's  method  for  mea«^ur- 
ing  £?rain  size  consists  in  counting  the  grams 
completely  included  and  partly  included  in  the 
circular  portion  of  an  imaee  of  the  specimen 
of  standard  magnification,  and  by  means  of  an  em- 
oirical  formula  determining  therefrom  the  equivalent 
number   of  whole   grains   in   the   standard   area. — Dr. 

F.  T-  Brislee  :  The  changes  in  physical  properties  of 
aluminium  with  mechanical  work.     II.- — Specific  heats 


June  8,  1916] 


NATURE 


0»D 


of  hard  and  soft  aluminium.  It  was  found  that  the 
specific  heat  of  the  hard  aluminium  was  higher  than 
for  annealed,  and  this  confirmed  the  view  that 
aluminium  is  converted  into  an  amorphous  form  by 
excessive  mechanical  work.  It  was  further  found 
that  the  specific  heat  underwent  a  change  when  the 
hard-drawn  bars  and  wire  were  heated  to  ioo°  C— 
Dr.  R.  Seligman  and  P.  Williams  :  Note  on  the  anneal- 
ing of  aluminium.  Hard-worked  aluminium  which 
had  been  heated  for  ten  hours  at  125°  C.  was  less 
readilv  soluble  in  nitric  acid  than  the  same  metal 
before  heating,  but  if  the  heating  were  continued  for 
eighty  hours,  this  comparative  immunity  from  attack 
was  lost  (see  p.  310).— E.  J.  Hartung  :  Contribution  to 
the  theorv  of  solution.  The  author  has  tested  the 
divergence  in  phvsical  properties  from  those  calculated 
bv  the  simple  mixture"  law  shown  by  two  completely 
niiscible  liquids  which  do  not  visibly  react  with  each 
other.  No  simple  solvate  theory-  will  suffice  to  explain 
the  experimental  results,  even  though  the  liquids  uSed, 
with  one  exception,  are  little  associated. 

Physical  Society,  May  12. — Prof.  C.  V.  Boys,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair.— Dr.  H.  S.  Allen  :  The  latent  heats 
of  fusion  of  metals  and  the  quantum-theory.  The  latent 
heat  of  fusion  is  identified  with  the  energ>'  necessary  to 
counterbalance  that  of  a  certain  number  of  "oscilla- 
tors" concerned  in  holding  together  the  crystalline 
structure.  Assuming  that  the  energy  of  an  oscillator 
having  a  vibration  frequency  v  is 


RTx 


^-1 


where -v  stands  for  liv/RT,  it  is  found  that  the  atomic 
heat  of  fusion  of  a  metal  can  be  calculated  with  fair 
accuracy  by  the  formula, 

AL=rNRTx      *'    . 
e^-  1 

Here  A  denotes  the  atomic  weight,  L  the  latent  heat, 
and  c  the  ratio  of  the  number  of  oscillators  in  ques- 
tion to  the  number  of  atoms.  Thus,  the  number  of 
oscillators  in  one  gram  molecule  is  Nc,  where  N  is 
Avogadro's  constant.  It  is  found  that  to  the  factor  c 
must  be  assigned  a  value  which  is  either  unity  or  a 
simple  fraction.  The  frequency  at  the  temperature  of 
the  melting  point  is  calculated  by  means  of  the 
formula  of  Lindemann.  The  application  of  Debye's 
theor>^  is  also  discussed. — T.  Smith  :  [.enses  for  light 
distribution.  The  principle  on  which  lenses  lor  secur- 
ing a  required  distribution  of  light  from  a  given  source 
have  been  designed  is  illustrated  by  a  two-dimensional 
example.  The  principle  employed  is  to  divide  the 
incident  and  emergent  energy  into  a  number  of  equal 
parts,  and  compute  the  lens  system  so  that  the  rays 
which  separate  off  these  portions  of  incident  light  from 
one  another  are  refracted  as  rays  which  separate  the 
corresponding  portions  of  the  emergent  light.  The 
surfaces  obtained  are  in  general  of  varying  cur\'ature, 
and  the  lenses  must,  therefore,  be  moulded.  It  is 
shown  how  the  effect  of  the  finite  size  of  the  light 
source  may  be  determined. — T.  Smith  :  The  choice  of 
glass  for  cemented  objectives.  The  strict  fulfilment 
of  the  mathematical  conditions  for  freedom  from 
colour,  spherical  aberration,  and  coma,  for  objects  at 
varying  distances  from  a  thin  cemented  doublet  lens, 
necessarily  demands  a  change  in  the  kinds  of  glass 
as  the  position  of  the  object  is  changed.  The  paper 
describes  a  method  by  which  the  proper  glasses  can 
be  determined  bv  using  a  ^lass  chart  on  translucent 
paper,  in  conjunction  with  diagrams  calculated  for  the 
purpose,  as  a  slide-rule. 

Zoological  Society,  May  23. — Dr.  Henry  Woodward, 
vice-president,  in  the  chair. — Lieut.  R.  Broom  : 
The  structure  of  the  skull  in  Chr\'sochloris. 
Two  stages  in  the  development  of  the  skull  have  been 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


studied.     The  earlier  is  that  of  a  newly  born  Chryso- 
1  chloris  hottentota,  the  skull  of  which  has  been  cut  into 
;  microscopic  sections   and  reconstructed,    and  a   some- 
I  what  later  stage  of   Chrysochloris  asiatica,   the  skull 
I  of  which  has  been  prepared  for  the  study  of  the  mem- 
!  brane-bones.     The  skull  is  held  to  be  in  some  respects 
I  highly  specialised,  and  in  others  degenerate,  although 
!  also  retaining  a  number  of  very  primitive  characters. 
— Dr.   C.   W.    Andrews  :   An   incomplete  sternum  of  a 
I  gigantic  carinate  bird  from  the  (?)  Eocene  of  Nigeria. 
i  Comparison  with  the  sterna  of  several  groups  of  birds 
!  leads    to   the   conclusion    that    this    specimen,    though 
'  differing  considerably  from  the  sternum  of  any  living 
I  member  of  the  group,  belonged  to  a  very  large  repre- 
\  sentative   of   the  Tubinares.     It  has   about  twice   the 
linear  dimensions  of  the  sternum  of  an  albatross,  of 
which  the  spread  of  wing  (in  the  flesh)  was  10  ft.  8  in. 
It  is  proposed  to  refer  this  species  to  a  new  genus 
Gigantornis,   the  specific   name  being   G.    eaglesomei. 
,  after    its    discoverer. — Dr.    A.     Smith     Woodward  :     A 
■  mammalian  mandibular  ramus  from  an  Upper  Creta- 
ceous formation   in   Alberta,   Canada.     The   specimen 
represented  an  opossum-like  marsupial,  and  the  author 
referred  it  to  a  new  species  of  Cimolestes,  named  C. 
cutleri,  in  honour  of  its  discoverer,  Mr.  W.  E.  Cutler. 
The   close  dental  series   behind   the   canine   measured 
30  mm.  in  length,  and  the  molars  differed  from  those 
of  the  two  known  species  of  the  genus  in  their  rela- 
tively  less   elevated   trigonid.        The    fourth    premolar 
;  was  a  large,   tumid,   laterally   compressed  cone,    with 
one  well-separated  posterior  cusp. — V.  Lutshnik  :  (i)  A 
list  of  Carabidae  collected  in  Chopersk  district.  South 
Russia ;  (2)  a  new  species  of  the  genus  Platysma  from 
China ;   and   (3)   notes   on    species   of   Platysma    from 
Australia.— E.    G.    Boulenger :    A    new    lizard    of    the 
genus   Phr}-nosoma. — Dr.    R.    W.   Shnfeldt :    Notes   on 
;  cases  of  albinism  seen  in  American  animals. 

P.ARIS. 

I  Academy  of  Sciences,  May  22. — M.  Camille  Jordan  in 
the  chair. — G.  Bigourdan  :  The  immediate  collabora- 
'  tors  of  Peiresc.  These  included  Jean  Lombard, 
'  Simon  Corberan,  and  Antoine  Agarrat,  and  an  outline 
of  the  astronomical  work  of  each  is  given. — E.  Cahen  : 
The  general  reduced  numbers  of  Hermite. — ^T. 
Bialobjeski :  The  influence  of  the  pressure  of  radiation 
on  the  rotation  of  the  celestial  bodies. — T.  Peczalski  : 
The  effect  of  temperature  on  the  structure  of  paraffin. 
A  study  of  the  effects  produced  on  paraffin  wax  by 
prolonged  exposure  to  temperatures  slightly  below  its 
melting-point.  For  a  paraffin  wax  the  density  of 
which  was  originally  below  0900  the  density  increased 
with  prolonged  heating,  and  this  change  is  accom- 
panied by  a  considerable  reduction  in  the  electrical 
conductivit}-  of  the  material. — M.  Siegbahn  :  The  exist- 
ence of  a  new  group  of  lines  (series  M)  in  high- 
frequencv  spectra.  The  lines  were  produced  by 
uranium.  On  account  of  the  absorption  of  these  lines 
bv  air  the  spectrograph  was  in  a  vacuum,  the  crA'stal 
used  being  a  plate  of  gypsum.  .  This  series  has  also 
been  found  to  be  represented  in  the  spectra  of  thorium, 
bismuth,  lead,  thallium,  and  gold. — A.  Schidlof  and  A. 
Targonski  :  The  Brownian  movement  of  particles  of 
oil,  tin,  and  cadmium  in  different  gases  and  at 
different  pressures.  From  the  results  obtained  ex- 
perimentally it  is, concluded  that  Einstein's  theon.-  of 
Brownian  motion  applies  to  all  spherical  particles 
without  restriction.  It  also  applies  to  non-spherical 
particles  of  not  too  irree^ular  form,  whatever  mav  be 
the  gaseous  medium. — F.  Pisani  :  A  new  method  for 
the  estimation  of  fluorine.  The  method  is  based  on 
the  insolubility  of  thorium  fluoride  in  solutions  faintly 
aridified  with  acetic  or  nitric  acid.  001  per  cent,  of 
fluorine  can  be  detected.  The  application  of  the 
method    to    various    minerals    containing    fluorine    is 


3i6 


NATURE 


[JUNE    8,     I916 


described. — M.  and  Mme.  F.  Mpreau  :  The  phenomena 
of  sexuality  in  lichens  of  the  genus  Solorina. — J. 
Glover :  An  electrical  apparatus  for  auscultation, 
clinical  exploration,  and  experimental  physiology. — P. 
Lecene  and  A.  Frouin  :  Experimental  researches  on 
the  mechanism  of  encystment  of  foreign  bodies  and 
on  latent-  microbism. — M.  Marage  :  The  classification 
xDf  deaf  soldiers  according  to  their  power  of  hearing. 
A  criticism  of  the  current  methods  for  determining 
deafness  in  the  French  Army.  These  are  shown  to 
be  faulty  in  three  respects. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Quartic  Surfaces  with  Singular  Points.  By  Prof. 
C.  M.  Jessop.  Pp.  XXXV+ 197.  (Cambridge  :  At  the 
University  Press.)     125.  net. 

British  Birds.  Written  and  illustrated  by  A.  Thor- 
burn.  Vol.  iii.  Pp.  vi  + 87  + plates.  (London:  Long- 
mans, Green  and  Co.)     1/.    115.  6d.  net. 

Hart's  Note-Book  for  Navigators  and  Others. 
(Colchester:   Benham  and  Co.,  Ltd.) 

Memoirs  of  the  Geological  Survey.  Special  Reports 
on  the  Mineral  Resources  of  Great  Britain.  Vol.  v.. 
Potash,  Felspar,  Phosphate  of  Lime,  Alum  Shales, 
Plumbago  or  Graphite,  Molybdenite,  Chromite,  Talc 
and  Steatite  (Soapstone,  Soap-rock,  and  Potstone), 
Diatomite.  Bv  Dr.  A.  Strahan  and  others.  Pp.  iv  + 
41.     (London  :"  H.M.S.O. ;  E.   Stanford,   Ltd.)     is. 

Men  of  the  Old  Stone  Age  :  their  Environment,  Life, 
and  Art.  By  Prof.  H.  F.  Osborn.  Pp.  xxvi  +  545. 
(London  :  G.  Bell  and  Sons,  Ltd.)     215.  net. 

Central  American  and  West  Indian  Archaeology. 
By  T.  A.  Joyce.  Pp.  xvi4-27o.  (London  :  Philip  Lee 
Warner.)     125.  6d.  net. 

The  Breath  of  Life.  By  J.  Burroughs.  Pp.  x  +  295. 
(Boston  and  New  York  :  Houghton  Mififlin  Co. ;  Lon- 
don :  Constable  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     5s.  net. 

The  Psychology  of  Relaxation.  By  Dr.  G.  T.  W. 
Patrick.  Pp.  viii  +  280.  (Boston  and  New  York: 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co.;  London:  Constable  and  Co., 
Ltd.)     55.   net. 

The  Athenaeum  Subject  Index  to  Periodicals,  1915. 
Fine  Arts  and  Archreology.  Second  edition.  Pp.  33. 
(London  :  The  Athenaeum.)     is.  6d.  net. 

Department  of  Statistics,  India.  Agricultural 
Statistics  of  India,  1913-14.  Vol.  i.  Pp.  x-t-415. 
(Calcutta  :  Superintendent  Government  Printing.) 
2.8  rupees. 

Costruzioni  di  Strade  e  Gallerie.  By  Prof.  Ing.  S. 
Rotigliano.  Pp.  xxiii  +  808.  (Milano  :  U.  HoepH.) 
18  lire. 

The  Life  of  Inland  Waters.  By  Prof.  J.  G.  Need- 
ham  and  J.  T.  Lloyd.  Pp.  438.  (Ithaca,  N.Y.  : 
Comstock   Publishing  Company.) 

A  Manual  of  Practical  Physics.  By  H.  E.  Hadley. 
Pp.    viii  +  265.     (London:    Macmillan    and   Co.,    Ltd.) 

Synchronous  Signalling  in  Navigation.  By  Prof. 
J.  Joly.  Pp.  64.  (London:  T.  Fisher  Unwin,  Ltd.) 
3s.  6d.   net. 

Wild  Flowers  of  the  North  American  Mountains. 
By  J.  W.  Henshaw.  Pp.  xv  +  383.  (London  and 
New  York  :  McBride,  Nast  and  Co.,  Ltd.)  105.  6d. 
net. 

Forty-seventh  Annual  Report  of  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History  for  the  Year  1915.  Pp- 
194.     (New  York.) 

The  Cicindelinae  of  North  America  as  arranged  by 
Dr.  W.  Horn  in  Genera  Insectorum.  Edited  by 
E.  D.  Harris  and  C.  W.  Leng.  Pp.  vi  +  23.  (New 
York  :  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.) 

NO.    2432,    VOL.    97] 


DIARY   OF    SOCIETIES. 

THURSDA  Y,  June  8. 

RovAL  SociETV,  at  4.30. — Further  Determinations  of  Direct  Osmotic  Pres- 
sures :  The  Earl  of  Herkeley  and  E.  G.  J.  Hartley. — The  Magnetic 
Shielding  of  Large  Spaces,  and  its  c  xperimental  Measurement  :  Prof.  E. 
Wilson  and-Prol.  J.  \V.  Nicholson.  —  Motion  of  Solids  and  Fluids  when 
the  Fiow  is  not  Irrotational ;  G.  I.  Taylor. 

Royal  Institution,  at  3. — Chamber  Music  and  its  Revival  in  England: 
Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie. 

Mathematical  ^oCrETV.  at  5.30.— The  Clas.sification  of  the  Integrals  of  a 
Linear  Partial  Differential  Equation  of  the  First  i  )rder  :  Prof.  M.  J.  M. 
Hill.  — (i)  Non-absolutely  Convergent,  not  necessarilv  Continuous,  Inte- 
grals ;  (?)  The  Convergence  of  Fourier  Serie<  and  of  their  derived  Series  : 
Prof  W.  H.  Voung. —  I'he  General  Linear  pifiFcrential  Equation  :  Dr.  S. 
Brodetsky. — A  Note  on  the  Seri  s  'S.an  sin  nd  and  2<in  cos  «S,  where  {uiC) 
is  a  Sequence  of  Positive  Numbers  tending  steadily  to  Zero  :  A.  E.  Jolliffe. 

Institution  of  Mining  Enginef.ks,  at  10.45  a.m. — The  History  of  the 
Safety-Lamp  :  Prof  F.  W.  Hardwick.— Th-  Health  of  Old  Col  iers  :  Dr. 
J.  S.  Haldane. — The  Estimation  of  Moisture  in  Coal  :  T.  F.  Winmill. — 
(i)  The  Absorption  of  Oxygen  by  Coal.  VIII.  and  IX. ;  (2)  The  Oxidation 
of  Pyrites  :  T.  F.  Winmill. 

Optical  Society,  at  S.^Modern  Technical  Applications  of  Radium  and 
other  Luminous  Substances  :  F.  Harrison  Glew. 

FRIDAY,  June  9. 

Royal  Institution,  at  5.3o.^Eyesight  and  the  War:  Dr.  E.  Clarke. 

Royal  Astronomical  Society,  at  5. — An  Inequality  in  the  Period  of 
the  Eclipsing  Variable  RZ  Cassiopeia; :  R.  S  Dugan. — A  Prjbable 
Relation  between  the  Changes  in  Solar  Radiation  and  the  Melting  of  the 
Polar  Snow  Caps  of  Mars:  E.  M.  Antoniadi. — Micrometrical  Measures 
of  Double  Stars :  Rev.  T.  E.  R.  Phillips. 

Malacological  Society,  at  8.— Note  on  Erato  guttula.  Sow.  :  J.  R.  le  B 
Tomlin. — An  Undescribed  Ammonoid  from  the  Lower  Greensand  (Aptian) 
of  Kent :  G.  C.  Crick. — Helix  scytodes  :  Prof.  G.  K.  Gude. 

-     SATURDAY,  JutiK  10. 
Royal  Institution,  at  3.^Folk-lore  in  the  Old  Testament :   Sir  J.  G. 
Frazer. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The  Moving  Picture  and  its  Mechanism.     By  Prof. 

C.  V.  Boys,   F.R.S 297 

Modern  Analysis 298 

Docility  and  Other  Diseases 299 

Our  Bookshelf 300 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

Molecular  Attractions   in    Solutions.— The    Earl  of 

Berkeley,  F.R.S 301 

Meteorological  Conditions  of  a  Blizzard. — L.  C.  W. 

Bonacina 301 

Sir     Ernest     Shackleton's     Antarctic    Expedition. 

{fVtl/i  Map.) 301 

Return  Currents  and  Electrolytic  Corrosion    .    .    .  303 

Science  and  Government 304 

Notes     .        307 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

A  Large  Group  of  Sun-spots 311 

The  Total  Solar  Eclipse  of  February  3,  1916    ....  311 

The  Spectrum  of  Nova  G«minorum  No,  2    .....  311 

Latitude  Observations  by  Photography 311 

The  Royal  Observatory,  Greenwich 311 

The  Place  of  Science  in  Modern  Metallurgical  In- 
dustries.    By  H.  C.  H.  C 312 

Recent  Entomology.     By  G.  H.  C 312 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 313 

Societies  and  Academies 314 

Books  Received         316 

Diary  of  Societies 316 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 

MACMILLAN   &   CO.,    Ltd., 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  the 
Publishers. 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,   London. 
Telephone  Number :  Gbrrard  8830. 


NA TURE 


Ty^^l 


THURSDAY,    JUNE    15,    1916. 

POSITION  AND  PROSPECTS  OF 
CHEMICAL  INDUSTRY. 
"D  ECENT  communications  to  the  British  and 
^  German  Press  show  that  already  the  op- 
posing- forces  of  the  trade  war  of  the  near  future 
are  manoeuvring-  into  positions  favourable  for  the 
prosecution  of  their  militant  operations.  This 
contest,  when  opened,  will  be  most  severe  in  the 
domain  of  the  coal-tar  products,  in  which  hitherto 
the  German  manufacturers  have  maintained  a  very 
lucrative  monopoly.  The  German  newspapers  of 
the  first  week  in  May  contain  references  to  an 
amalg-amation  of  the  producers  of  aniline  dyes, 
drugs,  and  other  fine  chemicals.  These  manufac- 
turers, who  have  made  enormous  profits  since  the 
outbreak  of  war,  have  been  impelled  to  take  this 
step  by  the  fear  of  foreign,  and  especially  British 
and  American,  competition.  Seven  larg-e  chemi- 
cal factories  formerly  belong-ing-  to  three  different 
g-roups  have,  while  retaining-  a  certain  degree  of 
independence,  formed  a  new  "community  of  in- 
terests," in  which  the  units  will  share  their  "ex- 
perience," so  that  all  products  will  be  manu- 
factured by  at  least  two  of  them  simultaneously. 
The  streng-th  of  this  amalg-amation  is  to  be  gauged, 
not  only  by  its  capital  of  more  than  ii,ooo,oooZ., 
but  by  its  unequalled  combination  of  financial, 
technical,  and  scientific  efficiency. 

The  advocates  of  a  chemical  directorate  for 
qhemical  factories  are  met  in  England  with  the 
statement  that  in  Germany  the  technical  directors 
are  only  apparently  supreme,  and  that  the 
hig-her  policy  is  in  reality  dictated  by  bankers 
and  financiers.  This  view  is  contradicted  by 
Vorivdrts,  which  states  that  the  German  chemical 
trust  is  the  only  one  over  which  banks  and  finan- 
ciers have  no  control,  because  this  chemical  industry 
.  has  always  made  such  hug^e  profits  that  it  is  now 
supplied  with  ample  funds  for  extension.  The 
German  Press  is  very  optimistic  as  to  the  success 
of  the  new  organisation  in  maintaining  the 
ascendancy  in  dyes  and  fine  chemicals  of  all  de- 
scriptions. This  sanguine  anticipation  is  based 
on  the  fact  that  chemical  science  has  hitherto 
been  treated  with  indifference  m  England.  The 
Neiieste  Nachrichten  of  Munich  asks,  "Do  the 
English  really  believe  that,  by  means  of  customs 
and  patent  laws,  by  waging  an  economic  war, 
and  by  boycotting  our  goods,  they  can  counter- 
balance German  intelligence?  "  Vorivdrts,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  worker,  deplores  the 
formation  of  the  German  trust  on  the  ground  that 
a  chemist  or  chemical  workman  incurring  the 
displeasure  of  one  unit  of  the  group  is  not  likely 
NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


to  find  further  employment  in  German  chemical 
industry. 

In  England  the  situation  in  regard  to  the 
grouping  of  coal-tar  industries  is  still  obscure, 
but  certain  significant  developments  have  recently 
taken  place.  The  State-fostered  organisation 
has  at  length  admitted  a  chemist  to  its  board  of 
directors,  a  step  the  desirability  of  which  has  been 
repeatedly  urged  in  the  columns  of  Nature  and 
other  organs  of  the  Press.  But  although  British 
Dyes,  Ltd.,  of  Huddersfield,  have  in  the  diffi- 
cult circumstances  of  the  war  made  commendable 
progress,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  tTTis  single  organ- 
isation can  hope  to  compete  with  the  giant  trust 
of  Germany,  with  its  vast  resources  and  accumu- 
lated experience.  Government  help  should  be 
forthcoming  for  all  willing  workers  in  this  field, 
and  attempts  at  the  boycott  and  repression  of 
individual  firms  or  chemists  should,  in  the  public 
interest,  be  rigorously  suppressed.  The  friendly 
rivalrv  between  Yorkshire  and  Lancashire,  which 
is  a  perennial  feature  of  life  in  the  industrial 
North,  is  being  extended  into  chemical  industry 
by  the  recent  noteworthy  achievements  of  the 
firm  of  Messrs.  Levinstein,  Ltd.,  of  Manchester. 
Although  excluded  from  the  Governmental 
favours  monopolised  by  their  trade  rivals,  this 
firm  now  claims  to  manufacture  one-half  the 
quantity  of  dyes  formerly  imported  into  this 
country  from  Germany.  Throughout  the  war 
Messrs.  Levinstein  have  supplied  the  Admiralty 
and  War  Office  with  enormous  quantities  of  blue 
and  khaki  dyes,  and  their  colours  have  rendered 
possible  the  equipment  of  the  Belgian  and 
Italian  armies  with  dyed  uniforms.  The  scientific 
side  of  this  enterprise  will  be  greatly  strength- 
ened and  vitalised  by  the  appointment  to  the 
headship  of  its  research  department  of  Prof. 
Green,  formerly  professor  of  tinctorial  chemistry 
in  the  University  of  Leeds,  and  the  discoverer  of 
primuline,  dianthine,  and  other  important  dyes. 

In  addition  to  the  two  oldest-established  firms, 
many  other  industrial  undertakings  are  developing 
extensively  in  the  direction  of  manufacturing  dyes 
and  other  coal-tar  products.  These  firms  include, 
not  only  those  in  the  colour  trade  before  the  war, 
but  also  munitions  factories  at  present  engaged  in 
the  production  of  high  explosives,  the  directors  of 
which  are  looking  to  the  manufacture  of  dyes  and 
fine  chemicals  for  a  profitable  employment  of  their 
numerous  workers  and  extensive  plants.  Finally, 
there  is  an  increasing  tendency  on  the  part  of 
academic  chemists  to  launch  out  in  the  direction 
of  preparing  urgently  needed  chemicals,  such  as 

j  dimethylaniline   and   )8-naphthol.     Some   of  these 
workers   are   spending  time   and   money   on   pro- 

I  ducts  which  are  already  being  successfully  manu- 


318 


NATURE 


[June  15,  1916 


factured  by  the  larger  firms."  During  the  war 
period  the  famine  in  chemicals  enables  the  "small 
men  "  to  make  a  profit,  even  on  their  necessarily 
restricted  operations.  It  is,  however,  doubtful 
whether  these  praiseworthy  enterprises  will  be 
able  to  withstand  the  stress  of  the  forthcoming- 
trade  war.  The  collapse  of  these  smaller  under- 
takings will  spell  ruin  to  some,  and  will  inevitably 
entail  losses  of  capital  and  industrial  energy. 
What  is  urgently  needed  at  present  is  an  intelli- 
gent co-ordination  of  these  useful  and  patriotic 
activities. 

The  question  of  dyes  is  only  part  of  the  larger 
problem  of  coal-tar  products,  in  which  Germany 
has  invested  a  capital  of  8o,ooo,oooJ.  The  cost 
of  producing  the  best  modern  synthetic  dyes  can 
never  in  this  country  be  brought  to  the  German 
level  until  the  utilisation  of  numerous  by-p»oducts 
is  placed  on  a  sound  economic  basis.  The  solu- 
tion of  this  intricate  problem  demands  years  of 
patient  and  often  unproductive  research,  syste- 
matic organisation  of  chemical  investigation,  co- 
ordination of  national  resources  in  men  and 
materials,  and  extensive  industrial  development, 
supported  and  defended  impartially  by  a  scienti- 
fically informed  branch  of  the  Government. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  anything  systematic 
is  being  attempted.  These  sporadic  and  dis- 
organised enterprises  will  prove  futile  against 
our  scientifically  organised  opponents.  Success 
in  this  strenuous  struggle  will  come  to  British 
chemical  industry  only  if  the  tactics  of  the  unsup- 
ported industrial  sniper  are  replaced  by  the  far- 
seeing  strategy  of  an  organised  general  staff  of 
qualified  chemists  and  manufacturers. 

An  important  step  in  this  direction  was  taken 
on  May  23  at  a  meeting,  held  at  Burlington 
House,  of  the  representatives  of  one  hundred 
leading  firms  engaged  in  chemical  industries, 
when  a  motion  was  adopted  to  the  effect  that  "it 
was  desirable  that  British  firms  engaged  in  the 
chemical  and  allied  trades  should  form  an  asso- 
ciation to  promote  closer  co-operation  and  to  place 
before  the  Government  the  views  of  the  chemical 
trade  generally ;  to  further  industrial  research ; 
and  to  facilitate  closer  co-operation  between 
chemical  manufacturers  and  various  universities 
and  technical  schools." 

At  this  meeting  the  chairman.  Dr.  Charles 
Carpenter,  president  of  the  Society  of  Chemical 
Industry,  pointed  out  that  at  present  we  had  no 
organisation  to  meet  foreign  competition  when 
war  was  over.  Mr.  Brunner,  M.P.,  mover  of  the 
resolution,  stated  that,  although  the  war  had 
shown  that  science  was  invaluable  in  time  of  war, 
yet  the  Government,  by  their  lack  of  knowledge  of 
chemistry,  had  kept  them  back  in  more  ways 
than  one. 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


The  opinion  was  also  expressed  that  this  organ- 
isation of  chemical  industries  should  be  regarded 
as  a  necessary  step  in  the  direction  of  affiliating 
chemical  manufacturers  with  a  more  comprehensive 
union  embracing  allied  trades.  How  extensive 
and  diverse  are  the  ramifications  of  the  colour  in- 
dustry will  be  seen  when  due  consideration  is 
given  to  the  trades  affected  directly  by  the  ab- 
normal price  of  dyes.  Although  textile  manufac- 
turers have  been  hardest  hit,  the  blow  has  also 
been  felt  by  paint-  and  colour-makers,  paper- 
makers,  ink-manufacturers,  leather-workers,  soap- 
boilers, coach-builders,  sealing-wax  makers,  and 
the  linoleum,  celluloid,  and  engineering  trades.  If 
further  evidence  be  needed  to  emphasise  the  claim 
of  the  synthetic  dye  manufacturers  for  impartial 
and  extensive  Government  support,  it  is  the  car- 
dinal fact  that  this  trade  is  a  key  industry  in  the 
general  scheme  of  national  defence.  An  outstand- 
ing example  may  be  cited.  One  of  the  large 
German  dye  groups  was,  before  the  war,  employ- 
ing 10,000  operatives  in  the  production  of  colours 
and  other  fine  chemicals.  To-day  there  are  14,000 
workers  in  these  factories  making  high  explo- 
sives. 

I^AMB'S  HYDRODYNAMICS. 

Hydrodynamics.  By  Prof.  Horace  Lamb.  Pp. 
xvi  +  708.  Fourth  edition.  (Cambridge  :  At 
the  University  Press,   1916.)     Price  24s.  net. 

THAT  this  work  should  have  already  reached  a 
fourth  edition  speaks  well  for  the  study  of 
mathematical  physics.  By  far  the  greater  part  of 
it  is  entirely  beyond  the  range  of  the  books  avail- 
able a  generation  ago;  and  the  improvement  in 
the  style  is  as  conspicuous  as  the  extension  of  the 
matter.  My  thoughts  naturally  go  back  to  the 
books  in  current  use  at  Cambridge  in  the  early 
'sixties.  With  rare  exceptions,  such  as  the 
notable  one  of  Salmon's  "Conic  Sections,"  and 
one  or  two  of  Boole's  books,  they  were  arid  in  the 
extreme,  with  scarcely  a  reference  to  the  history 
of  the  subject  treated  or  an  indication  to  the 
reader  of  how  he  might  pursue  his  study  of  it. 
At  the  present  time  we  have  excellent  books  in 
English  on  most  branches  of  mathematical 
physics,  and  certainly  on  many  relating  to  pure 
mathematics. 

The  progressive  development  of  his  subject  is 
often  an  embarrassment  to  the  writer  of  a  text- 
book. Prof.  Lamb  remarks  that  his  "  work  has 
less  pretensions  than  ever  to  be  regarded  as  a 
complete  account  of  the  science  with  which  it 
deals.  The  subject  has  of  late  attracted  increased 
attention  in  various  countries,  and  it  has  become 
correspondingly  difficult  to  do  justice  to  the  grow- 
ing literature.  Some  memoirs  deal  chiefly  with 
questions  of  mathematical  method  and  so  fall  out- 
side the  scope  of  this  book ;  others,  though 
physically  important,  scarcely  admit  of  a  condensed 
analysis;  others,  again,  owing  to  the  multiplicity 


June  15,  19 16] 


NATURE 


19 


ot  publications,  may  unfortunately  have  been 
overlooked.  And  there  is,  I  am  afraid,  the  in- 
stable personal  equation  of  the  author,  which 
ids  him  to  take  a  greater  interest  in  some 
anches  of  the  subject  than  in  others." 
-Most  readers  will  be  of  opinion  that  the  author 
as  held  the  balance  fairly.  Formal  proofs  of 
existence  theorems "  are  excluded.  Some  of 
these,  though  demanded  by  the  upholders  of 
mathematical  rigour,  tell  us  only  what  we  knew 
before,  as  Kelvin  used  to  say.  Take,  for  example, 
the  existence  of  a  possible  stationary  temperature 
within  a  solid  when  the  temperature  at  the  sur- 
face is  arbitrarily  given,  A  physicist  feels  that 
nothing  can  make  this  any  clearer  or  more  certain. 
^Vhat  is  strange  is  that  there  should  be  so  wide 
a  gap  between  his  intuition  and  the  lines  of  argu- 
ment necessary  to  satisfy  the  pure  mathematician. 
Apart  from  this  question  it  may  be  said  that  ever}- 
where  the  mathematical  foundation  is  well  and 
truly  laid,  and  that  in  not  a  few  cases  the  author's 
formulations  will  be  found  the  most  convenient 
starting  point  for  investigations  in  other  subjects 
as  well  as  in  hydrodynamics.  To  almost  all  parts 
of  his  subject  he  has  made  entirely  original  con- 
tributions ;  and,  even  when  this  could  not  be 
claimed,  his  exposition  of  the  work  of  others  is 
often  so  much  simplified  and  improved  as  to  be  of 
not  inferior  value.  As  examples  may  be  men- 
tioned the  account  of  Cauchy  and  Poisson's  theory 
of  the  waves  produced  in  deep  water  by  a  local 
disturbance  of  the  surface  (§  238) — the  first  satis- 
factory treatment  of  what  is  called  in  Optics  a 
dispersive  medium— and  of  Sommerf eld's  investi- 
gation of  the  diffraction  of  plane  waves  of  sound 
at  the  edge  of  a  semi-infinite  screen  (§308). 

Naturally  a  good  deal  of  space  is  devoted  to  the 
motion  of  a  liquid  devoid  of  rotation,  and  to  the 
reaction  upon  immersed  solids.  When  the  solids 
are  "fairly  "  shaped  this  theory  gives  a  reasonable 
approximation  to  what  actually  occurs ;  but  when 
a  real  liquid  flows  past  projecting  angles  the 
motion  is  entirely  different,  and  unfortunately  this 
is  the  case  of  greatest  practical  importance.  The 
author,  following  Helmholtz,  lays  stress  upon  the 
negative  pressure  demanded  at  sharp  corners  in 
order  to  maintain  what  may  be  called  the  electric 
character  of  flow.  This  explanation  may  be  ade- 
quate in  some  cases ;  but  it  is  now  well  known 
that  liquids  are  capable  of  sustaining  negative 
pressures  of  several  atmospheres.  How,  too,  does 
the  explanation  apply  to  gases,  which  form  jets 
under  quite  low-pressure  differences?^  It  seems 
probable  that  viscosity  must  be  appealed  to. 
This  is  a  matter  which  much  needs  further  eluci- 
dation. It  is  the  one  on  which  Kelvin  and  Stokes 
held  strongly  divergent  views. 

The    later   chapters    deal    with    vortex    motion, 

1  The  fact  that  liquids  do  not  hreak  under  moderate  negative  pressure 
\va<i  known  to  T.  Youns.  "  The  maenitude  of  the  cohesion  between  liquids 
and  solids,  as  well  as  of  the  particles  of  fluid  with  each  other,  is  more 
directly  shown  hy  an  experiment  "n  the  continuance  of  a  column  of  mercurj-, 
in  the  tub»  of  a  barometer,  at  a  height  considc^ibly  greater  than  that  at 
which  it  usuallv  stands,  on  account  of  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  If 
the  mercury  has  been  wU  boiled  in  the  tube,  it  may  be  made  to  remain  in 
contact  with  the  closed  end  at  the  height  of  70  in.  or  more"  (Young's 
"  Lecture-^,"  p.  626,  1807).  If  the  errury  he  wet,  boilin?  may  be  dispensed 
with,  and  negative  pressures  of  two  atmospheres  are  easily  demonstrated. 


tidal  waves,   surface  waves,   waves  of  expansion 
i  (sound),    viscosity,    and    equilibrium    of    rotating 
;  masses.     On  all  these  subjects  the  reader  will  find 
I   expositions  which  could  scarcely  be  improved,  to- 
gether with  references  to  original  writings  of  the 
author    and    others    where    further    developments 
may  be  followed. 

It  would  not  have  accorded  with  the  author's 
scheme  to  go  into  detail  upon  experimental 
matters,  but  one  feels  that  there  is  room  for  a 
supplementary  volume  which  should  have  regard 
more  especially  to  the  practical  side  of  the  sub- 
ject. Perhaps  the  time  for  this  has  not  yet  come. 
During  the  last  few  years  much  work  has  been 
done  in  connection  with  artificial  flight.  We  may 
hope  that  before  long  this  may  be  co-ordinated 
and  brought  into  closer  relation  with  theoretical 
hydrodynamics.  In  the  meantime  one  can 
scarcely  deny  that  much  of  the  latter  science  is  out 
of  touch  with  reality.  Rayleigh. 

PREHISTORY    IX    IXDIA. 

Madras  Government  Museum.  The  Foote  Col- 
lection of  Indian  Prehistoric  and  Protohistoric 
Antiquities.  Notes  on  their  Ages  and  Distri- 
bution. By  Robert  Bruce  Foote.  Pp.  xv-f- 
246 -f plates  64.  (Madras:  Government  Press, 
igi6.)     Price  145.  8d. 

THIS  book  must  be  welcomed,  in  default  of  any 
systematic  study  of  the  prehistoric  remains. 
The  late  Mr.  Bruce  Foote  had,  for  more  than 
forty  years,  been  collecting  stone  implements  as 
a  bye-issue  of  his  professional  work  as  Govern- 
ment geologist.  In  1901  he  published  a  valuable 
catalogue  of  the  collection  in  the  Government 
Museum  at  Madras.  Since  then  he  drew  up  the 
present  catalogue  of  his  own  collection,  which 
has  lately  been  added  to  that  museum.  The 
photographic  plates  here  are  sufficiently  good,  and 
a  large  map  of  India  (in  end  pocket)  shows  seven 
distinct  classes  of  prehistoric  sites  by  coloured 
signs.  The  arrangement  by  locality  is  useful  for 
the  future  worker,  but  it  makes  the  grasp  of  the 
historical  results  more  difficult  to  follow. 

The  main  question,  for  which  no  answer  seems 
forthcoming,  is  that  of  the  relative  and  absolute 
age  of  prehistory  in  India.  Some  assurances  given 
here  are  surprising,  as  that  in  India  "the  iron 
industry  is  one  of  great  antiquity  (far  greater, 
indeed,  than  in  Europe — e.g.,  at  Hallstatt  or  La 
Tene) "  (p.  25).  Also  that  "  the  iron  workers 
were  the  direct  successors  and  probably  lineal 
descendants  of  the  neolithic  people "  (p,  3). 
Further,  that  only  in  "the  Later  Iron  Age  we 
reach  a  period  in  which  we  find  Indian  man  had 
become  acquainted  with  three  additional  metals — 
gold,  copper,  and  tin "  (p.  3).  We  see  here  a 
position  so  different  from  that  of  western  Asia 
and  Europe  that  some  convincing  evidences  are 
needed.  Yet,  unhappily,  there  is  no  stratified  site 
to  prove  the  succession  of  periods  (p.  29),  nor  is 
there  a  single  evidence  stated  of  the  relative  ages. 
The  mention  of  iron  in  the  Ramayana  is  quoted, 
but  that  is  onlv  of  the  fourth  centurv     B.C.      Xo 


NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


320 


NATURE 


[June  15,  1916 


literary  evidence  is  possible  of  iron  being  earlier 
in  India  than  in  Europe,  as  the  oldest  works,  the 
Vedas,  are,  in  their  present  form,  centuries  later 
than  iron  was  known  in  Europe.  So  far  as  in- 
ternal evidence  goes  the  copper  axes  are  closely 
like  those  of  the  copper  age  in  Italy,  while  the  iron 
tools  have  much  affinity  with  those  of  the  Roman 
period.  Thus,  in  the  absence  of  any  evidence  of 
position,  we  are  thrown  back  on  the  suggestion 
that  the  iron  is  later  than  that  of  Europe,  and 
succeeded  the  use  of  copper.  That  stone  tools 
continued  in  use  until  iron  was  made,  and  so  are 
found  contemporaneously  with  it,  is  what  is  known 
in  other  countries  where  copper  and  bronze  long 
preceded  iron,  without  ousting  the  use  of  stone. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  how  the  whole  basis  of 
Indian  prehistory  needs  clearing  up  and  defining 
by  strict  evidence  fully  recorded.  In  a  land 
where  the  wealth  of  historic  buildings  far  exceeds 
the  provision  for  archaeology,  it  is  a  reproach  to 
the  Government  and  not  to  the  archceologist  that 
the  prehistory  is  left  unsettled.  We  need  first  a 
firm  basis  of  record  of  all  that  is  contemporary 
with  finds  of  Roman  coins  and  early  buildings, 
and  before  that  a  series  of  stages  of  groups  (linked 
together  by  their  resemblances  in  pottery,  stone, 
and  metal  work)  which  could  be  projected  one 
beyond  the  other  into  the  unknown. 

Some  details  will  be  of  general  interest.  The 
palaeolithic  tools  are  of  quartzite,  the  neolithic  of 
traprock  (p.  17).  There  are  no  perforated  celts 
(p.  18).  The  stone  axes  are  set  through  wooden 
handles,  secured  from  splitting  by  iron  ferrules 
(plate,  p.  60).  Amazon  stone  is  found  in  veins  in 
granite  (p.  23),  as  in  the  Egyptian  source,  the  site 
of  which  is  unknown.  W.  M.  F.  P. 

WOMEN  AND  THE  LAND. 
Women  and  the  Land.     By  Viscountess  Wolseley. 
Pp.   xi  +  230.     (London:     Chatto  and  Windus, 
1916.)     Price  5s.  net. 

ONE  of  the  characteristic  features  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  was  the  movement  from  the 
country  to  the  city,  and  now  in  the  twentieth 
century  the  process  is  being  reversed,  and  there  is 
a  strong  tendency  to  move  back  once  more  to  the 
land.  As  yet  it  is  only  in  the  tentative  stages; 
people  go  out  into  the  country  to  retire,  to  keep 
a  poultry  farm,  or  to  set  up  a  fruit  farm,  and  there 
is  much  to  be  learned,  and  still  more  to  be  done, 
before  the  movement  becomes  sufficiently  well 
organised  to  make  it  a  really  potent  factor  in  the 
national  life.  It  is  quite  clear  that  women  must 
take  part  in  it,  and  perhaps  the  most  notable 
feature  in  the  whole  business  is  the  way  in  which 
they  are  organising  themselves  for  the  purpose. 
We  may  take  it  that,  once  being  organised  for 
the  exodus,  they  are  not  likely  to  disorganise  for 
the  settlement,  and  the  new  rural  community  will 
therefore  be  very  different  from  the  old.  The 
basis  of  the  women's  organisation  is  educational, 
and  therein  it  differs  from  the  ordinary  man's 
"back  to  the  land  "  movement,  the  basis  of  which 
is  mainly  political.  It  is  this  that  makes  it  so 
full  of  portent  for  the  future. 

NO.    2433,   VOL.    97] 


Having  found  the  agricultural  colleges,  with  one 
or  two  exceptions,  barred  against  them,  some  of 
the  more  enterprising  and  far-seeing  spirits  pro- 
ceeded to  set  up  colleges  of  their  own.  Amongst 
them  is  Lady  Wolseley,  who  founded  the  institu- 
tion at  Glynde  some  fourteen  years  ago,  and  in 
the  book  before  us  she  sets  out  the  results  of  her 
experience  and  makes  various  suggestions  for  the 
future. 

Lady  Wolseley  does  not  contemplate  that 
women  shall  be  the  labourers,  but  rather  the 
leaders,  in  the  new  community.  She  considers 
them  well  fitted  for  two  classes  of  work  :  super- 
visory or  advisory  work  for  educated  women  be- 
longing to  the  middle  and  upper  classes ;  and  light 
manual  work  connected  with  the  dairy,  poultry, 
bees,  fruit,  the  house,  etc.,  for  the  village  girl. 
Facilities  for  training  the  advisers  already  exist, 
but  little  has  yet  been  done  towards  teaching  the 
more  manual  work. 

The  author  maintains,  however,  that  it  is  not 
sufficient  merely  to  turn  women  into  the  country ; 
some  sort  of  common  tie  must  be  kept  up,  and 
for  this  purpose  the  best  arrangement  is  con- 
sidered to  be  a  colony  on  co-operative  lines, 
where  it  would  be  possible  not  only  to  make  good 
business  arrangements  for  buying  and  selling 
materials,  produce,  etc.,  but  where  also  oppor- 
tunities for  social  life  would  be  afforded.  The 
details  are  discussed  in  successive  chapters.  The 
most  striking  feature  of  the  book  is  the  serious- 
ness with  which  the  whole  subject  is  taken,  and 
the  clear  recognition  that  a  second  education  is 
the  only  sure  basis  for  success.  E.  J.  R. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

The  Chemists'  Year-hook,  igi6.  Edited  by 
F.  W.  Atack.  Vol.  i.,  pp.  354.  Vol.  ii., 
pp.  355~990-  (London  and  Manchester : 
Sherratt  and  Hughes,  1916.)  Price  10s.  6d. 
net. 
This  handy  book  belongs  to  a  type  of  chemical 
literature  which  is  more  common  in  Germany  than 
with  us.  Such  examples  of  it  as  we  have  hitherto 
possessed  have  been  mainly  translations  from  the 
German,  and  have  been  prepared  for  simultaneous 
issue  in  both  countries,  usually  at  the  beginning 
of  each  year.  Almanacs  and  year-books  are  com- 
mon enough  in  all  grades  of  business,  but  it  is 
only  within  recent  years  that  they  have  been 
adapted  to  the  requirements  of  professional 
chemistry.  They  are  essentially  designed  to  meet 
the  wants  of  practising  chemists  and  public 
analysts,  to  whom  it  is  a  great  convenience  to 
have  numerical  tables,  mathematical  constants, 
and  useful  memoranda  arranged  for  them  in  a 
handy  and  easily  accessible  form. 

Mr.  Atack 's  compilation  is  a  much  more  com- 
prehensive production  than  is  usual  in  a  work  of 
this  kind,  and  includes  quite  a  remarkable  body 
of  information  ranging  from  a  list  of  notable  dates 
in  the  history  of  chemistry  to  the  pharmaceutical 
names  of  synthetic  compounds  and  trade  names 
of  drugs,  together  with  analytical  tables,  conver- 
sion tables  for  weights  and  measures,  five-figure 


June  15,  1916] 


NATURE 


321 


logfarithms,  natural  sines  and  tangents,  specific 
gravity  and  hydrometric  tables,  and  tables  of 
solubilities  of  a  wide  range  of  substances.  As  a 
rule,  care  has  been  shown  in  selecting  the  latest 
and  best  authorities,  and  the  whole  has  been  put 
together  in  a  convenient  form.  The  proofs  have 
evidently  been  very  well  read,  as  the  book  is 
remarkably  free  from  typographical  errors.  The 
editor  deserves  great  praise  for  the  thoroughness 
with  which  he  has  done  his  work,  and  the  book, 
we  trust,  will  find  a  place  in  the  laboratory  or  on 
the  desk  of  every  chemical  consultant. 

The  Purpose  of  Education:  An  Examination  oj 
the  Education  Problem  in  the  Light  of  Recent 
Psychological  Research.  By  St.  George  Lane 
Fox  Pitt.  New  Edition.  Pp.  xxviii  + 144. 
(Cambridge:  At  the  University  Press,  1916.) 
Price  2S.  6d.  net. 
Few  people,  it  is  to  be  feared,  even  among 
teachers,  ever  really  face  the  question  :  ' '  What 
ought  education  to  aim  at?"  This  book  will  at 
least  stimulate  to  such  inquiry',  and  it  points  the 
way  in  the  right  direction.  The  author,  accept- 
ing the  new  conception  of  human  personality 
which  psychical  research  has  brought  about,  con- 
siders that  the  proper  purpose  of  education  is 
the  harmonising  of  psychic  phases,  the  study  of 
the  laws  governing  them,  finding  their  interpre- 
tation in  the  art  of  living  and  "giving  them  syn- 
thetic expression  in  the  growth  of  character." 
To  put  the  matter  in  definite  form,  the  manu- 
facture of  noble  souls  is  the  right  aim,  and  the 
right  method  is  the  inculcation  of  high  ideals. 
The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  Is  the  acme  of  truth 
and  beauty.  It  urges  us  to  rely  less  on  the  seen, 
the  concrete,  the  physically  tangible,  and  more 
on  the  spiritual  side  of  our  natures,  unmanifest 
to  our  senses,  but  very  real  and  permanent,  eternal 
while  the  other  is  temporal.  Thus  we  gain  true 
security  and  everlasting  peace.  The  present  state 
of  Serbia,  Poland,  and  Belgium  shows  what  is 
the  result  when  education  in  a  neighbour-State 
becomes  materialistic,  aiming  only  at  physical 
efficiency  and  power.  The  war  has  Its  lessons : 
we  must  learn  them. 

LETTERS    TO    THE  EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  &y  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  ationymons  cotnmunications.] 

Gravitation  and  Temperature. 

As  the  outcome  of  a  very  delicate  systematic  series 
of  experiments  (Phil.  Trans.,  1916)  it  is  announced  by 
Dr.  P.  E.  Shaw  that  "  when  one  large  mass  attracts 
a  small  one  the  gravitative  force  between  them  in- 
creases by  about  1/500  as  temperature  of  the  large 
mass  rises  from,  say,  15°  C.  to  215°  C." ;  that  is,  it 
increases  by  about  1-2  x  10-'  of  itself  per  degree  Centi- 
grade. This  seems  to  be  a  very  startling  result,  at 
any  rate  if  temperature  is  merely  the  expression  of 
internal  molecular  motions,  as,  indeed,  Dr.  Shaw 
seems  to  admit. 

By   Newton's  principle  gravitation   between   masses 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


must  act  reciprocally ;  the  result,  therefore,  means  that 
the  astronomical  mass  of  a  body  must  increase  with 
temperature  by  1-2x10-*  of  itself  per  degree  Centi- 
grade. The  pendulum  experiments  of  Bessei  and  re- 
cent determinations  by  Ebtvos  seem  to  establish  pro- 
portionality between  gravitational  mass  and  mass  of 
inertia,  irrespective  of  temperature,  well  beyond  these 
limits.  Thus  inertia  also  would  have  to  increase  with 
temperature;  and  when  a  freely  moving  mass  is 
becoming  warmer  its  velocity  must  be  diminishing, 
for  its  momentum  must  be  conserved.  A  comet  like 
Halley's  is  heated  upon  approach  to  the  sun;  thus  it 
should  suffer  retardation  in  the  approaching,  and 
acceleration  in  the  receding,  part  of  the  orbit,  enough 
probably  to  upset  existing  astronomical  verifications. 
Indeed,  as  regards  change  of  inertia,  we  can  recall 
the  principle  applied  by  Prof.  Joly  to  the  question 
whether  chemical  change  involves  change  of  mass, 
viz.,  that  every  mass  around  us  is  moving  through 
space  with  the  velocity  of  the  solar  system,  and  a 
sudden  rise  of  temp>erature  In  a  body  must  therefore 
involve  a  violent  kick  if  its  inertia  is  thereby  sensibly 
altered. 

Electrodynamic  theory  does  establish  unequivocally 
an  increase  of  inertia  of  a  body  arising  from  gain  (SK) 
of  thermal  or  electric  energy;  but  this  is  only  of 
amount  SE  Ic-,  where  c  is  the  velocity  of  radiation,  and 
so  is  minute  beyond  detection.  The  question  whether 
there  is  also  an  equivalent  increase  in  gravitational 
mass  evades  discussion  until  some  link  connecting 
gravitative  and  electric  forces  has  been  established. 

J.   L. 

Cambridge,  June  5. 


A  Plague  of  Caterpillars. 

With  reference  to  what  has  appeared  in  the  public 
Press  relative  to  the  devastation  caused  by  caterpillars 
to  the  oak  trees  at  Ashtead,  you  may  be  interested  to 
know  that  some  three  or  four  years  since  a  sirnilar 
occurrence  took  place  in  the  oak  plantations  in  Rich- 
mond Park. 

The  denudation  of  the  trees  was  so  severe  that  in 
the  spring  of  1913  H.M.  Office  of  Works  consulted 
Mr.  Maxwell  Lefroy,  the  famous  entomologist  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Science,  with  the  view  of  stamping 
i  out  the  pest.  Eventually  it  was  decided  to  spraj-  the 
trees  with  chromate  of  lead  at  such  a  time  that  the 
5-oung  caterpillars,  on  hatching  out,  should  have  only 
poisoned  food.  The  spraying  operations  were  carried 
out  bv  portable  high-pressure  pumping  apparatus 
loaned  by  myself,  self-supporting  telescopic  ladders 
being  provided  to  reach  the  tree-tops  some  40  ft.  from 
the  ground. 

This  was,  I  believe,  the  first  occasion  on  which 
attempts  were  made  to  spray  such  large  trees,  and 
there  is  not  much  doubt  that  the  oaks  at  Ashtead 
could  be  treated  in  a  similar  manner. 

It  is,  of  course,  now  too  late  in  the  season  to 
undertake  preventive  measures,  but  if  spraying  were 
undertaken  early  next  Mav  I  have  not  much  doubt 
that  the  pest  could  be  eradicated. 

J.  CoMPTOx  Merry  WEATHER. 

4  WTiItehall  Court,  S.W.,  June  7. 


The   Black-eared  Wheatear:  A  New  Bird  for  the 
Irish  List. 

Ornithological  readers  of  Nature  will  no  doubt 
be  interested  to  learn  that  a  black-eared  wheat- 
ear  (CEnanthe  hispanica)  was  obtained  on  Tuskar 
Rock,  Co.  Wexford,  on  May  16,  b}'  Mr.  Glan- 
ville,  principal  lightkeejjer.  There  are  two  races 
of  this  bird,  an  Eastern  and  a  Western,  each 
of    which     exhibits     dimorphism     of     plumage,     the 


322 


NATURE 


[June  15,  1916 


throat  in  some  being  whitish,  in  others  black.  The 
bird  now  obtained  from  Tuskar  Rock  displays  the 
latter  character  in  its  plumage,  and  is  indeed,  the 
black-throated  wheatear  {Saxicola  stapazina)  of 
earlier  writers.  When  I  find  time  to  compare 
it  I  hope  to  be  able  to  assign  it  to  its 
racial  form.  In  the  meantime  it  seems  desir- 
able to  announce  its  occurrence  without  delay  as  a  hird 
quite  new  to  Ireland.  I  have  to  express  my  great 
gratitude  to  Mr.  Glanville  for  so  kindly  sending  me 
this  interesting  specimen  in  the  flesh  for  identification 
and  investigation.  C.  J.  Patten. 

The  University,  Sheffield. 


EXPERIMENTAL     BIOLOGY. 

WE  use  in  our  title  the  term  Experimental 
Biology,  which  requires  some  apology,  as 
a  convenient  label  for  an  interesting  bundle  of 
thirteen  papers  by  Jacques  Loeb  and  Hardolph 
VVasteneys.  They  give  an  account  of  important 
experiments  bearing  on  a  variety  of  puzzling  bio- 
logical problems,  (i)  Loeb  showed  many  years 
ago  (1889)  that  some  animals  orient  themselves 
in  relation  to  a  luminous  object  so  that  their 
plane  of  symmetry  falls  into  the  direction  of  the 
rays  of  light,  and  suggested  that  this  reaction 
was  comparable  to  the  heliotropic  reaction  of 
plants.  In  1897  he  brought  forward  evidence  in 
support  of  the  view  that  the  action  of  light  in 
evoking  a  heliotropic  reaction  is  chemical,  and 
this  theory  is  now  confirmed  by  additional  facts. 
According  to  the  law  of  Bunsen  and  Roscoe, 
the  photochemical  effect  of  light  is  equal  to  the 
product  of  the  intensity  into  the  duration  of 
illumination,  and  this  has  been  shown  to  hold 
for  the  heliotropic  curvatures  of  plants  (Blaauw 
and  Froschl)  and  of  hydroids  (Loeb  and  Ewald). 
Furthermore,  it  has  now  been  shown  by  Loeb 
and  Wasteneys  that  the  region  in  the  spectrum 
most  efficient  in  the  production  of  heliotropic 
curvature  is  almost  the  same  for  hydroids  (Euden- 
drium)  and  for  oat  seedlings.  The  investigators 
suggest  that  there  are  two  types  of  photosensitive 
substance,  one  with  a  maximum  sensitiveness  (or 
absorption)  in  the  yellowish-green,  and  the  other 
with  a  maximum  of  sensitiveness  in  the  blue.  The 
first  type  is  represented  by  visual  purple,  and  a 
photosensitive  substance  of  this  type  occurs  in 
Chlamydomonas  (often  claimed  as  a  plant),  in 
Daphnia,  and  in  many  other  organisms.  The 
second  type  of  photosensitive  substance  occurs 
in  Euglena,  in  Eudendrium,  and  in  many  plants. 
Thus  the  distribution  of  the  type  of  substance 
does  not  correspond  to  the  boundaries  between 
plants  and  animals. 

(2)  In  another  series  of  experiments  Loeb  in- 
quires into  the  conditions  which  determine  or 
prevent  the  entrance  of  the  spermatozoon  into 
the  egg.  It  is  well  known  that  a  fertilised  egg 
is  non-receptive  to  other  spermatozoa.  What 
is  the  nature  of  this  block?  It  is  not  due  to  the 
changes  underlying  the  development  of  the  egg, 
for  if  the  eggs  of  a  sea-urchin  are  induced  to 
develop  by  the  methods  of  artificial  partheno- 
genesis, a  spermatozoon  may  still  enter  the  egg 
or  an  individual  blastomere.  By  simply  altering 
NO.    2433,   VOL.   97] 


the  alkalinity  of  the  sea-water  Loeb  can  make  a 
sea-urchin  ovum  receptive  or  non-receptive  to  the 
spermatozoon  of  a  starfish ;  this  depends  on  some 
rapid  alteration  of  a  physical  property  of  the 
surface  of  the  ovum.  And  the  ingeniously 
worked-out  experimental  argument  points  to  the 
conclusion  that  a  block  of  this  sort  is  induced 
when   a  spermatozoon  fertilises  an  egg. 

But  what  of  the  more  positive  side  of  the 
question?  There  is  a  widespread  belief  that  a 
spermatozoon  shows  a  positive  chemotropism  for 
the  appropriate  ovum,  but  Loeb  finds  no  proof 
of  this  in  sea-urchins.  The  motility  brings  the 
spermatozoon  fortuitously  near  the  egg;  the 
vibrations  may  assist  in  boring  and  in  fixing  the 
spermatozoon  to  the  surface  of  the  ovum  until 
other  forces,  such  as  surface-tension,  come  into 
play.  What  is  certain  is  that  the  spermatozoon 
cannot  enter  the  egg  unless  physical  conditions 
at  the  boundaries  of  egg,  spermatozoon,  and  sur- 
rounding solution  are  right.  It  must  be  noted, 
however,  that  a  sea-urchin  spermatozoon  becomes 
more  active  when  it  comes  near  an  egg  of  its 
own  species,  and  Loeb  suggests  that  this  activat- 
ing effect  of  the  egg  upon  spermatozoa,  being 
most  rapid  as  regards  spermatozoa  of  its  own 
species,  is  a  means  of  preventing  hybridisation. 
In  other  words,  the  activating  influence  of  the 
egg  has  some  degree  of  selective  specificity. 

(3)  In  a  third  set  of  experiments  Loeb  tackles- 
the  problem  of  the  degenerate  condition  of  the 
eyes  in  some  cave  animals,  such  as  fishes  and 
salamanders.  Though  a  few  zoologists  cling  to 
the  "  natural "  intei-pretation  that  the  "  blind- 
ness," which  differs  considerably  in  degree,  is 
due  to  the  hereditary  accumulation  of  the  results 
of  disuse,  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  accepting 
this  Lamarckian  view  are  very  serious.  It  has 
been  assumed,  therefore,  that  the  blindness  of 
some  cave  animals  began  as  a  germinal  variation 
or  mutation.  But  confidence  in  the  legitimacy 
of  this  assumption  has  been  lessened  by  the 
meagreness  of  our  knowledge  as  to  the  occur- 
rence of  variations  in  the  direction  of  optic  de- 
generation. Very  welcome,  therefore,  are  Loeb's 
recent  experiments  which  show  that  degeneracy 
of  the  eye  can  be  readily  induced  by  influences 
affecting  the  condition  of  the  egg  or  the  earliest 
stages  of  development.  Thus,  embryos  with 
degenerate  eyes  can  be  produced  by  fertilising 
the  eggs  of  Fundulus  heteroclitus  with  the  sper- 
matozoa of  Menidia. 

Since  in  these  cases  there  is  usually  no  circu- 
lation in  the  feeble  embryos,  the  inference  is 
suggested  that  the  anomalous  condition  of  the 
eye  may  be  due  to  lack  of  circulation.  Blind 
embryos  of  the  pure  breed  of  Fundulus  may  be 
produced  by  the  addition  of  KCN  to  the  sea- 
water  ;  and  a  short  exposure  of  the  fertilised  ova 
to  temperatures  between  zero  and  2°  C.  results 
in  abnormal  embryos,  a  certain  percentage  of 
which  will  show  degenerate  eyes.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  learn  that  lack  of  light  does  not,  in 
the  case  of  Fundulus,  influence  the  development 
of  the  eye.  From  Loeb's  experiments  it  is  not 
to  be  argued  that  the  blindness  of  cave  animals 


June  15,  1916] 


NATURE 


323 


\ 


arose  in  any  of  the  ways  mentioned.  What  the 
experiments  show  is  the  legitimacy  of  the  assump- 
tion that  bhndness  may  arise  as  a  germinal 
variation  or  factorial  mutation.  And  that  is 
considerable  gain. 

(4)  Other  experiments  deal  with  the  influence 
of  balanced  and  non-balanced  salt  solutions  upon 
the  osmotic  pressure  of  the  body  liquids  of  Fun- 
dulus;  with  the  functional  importance  of  the  ratio 
of  concentration  of  antagonistic  salts  with  uni- 
valent and  bivalent  cations ;  and  with  the  mem- 
brane formation  in  the  eggs  of  the  sea-urchin. 

(5)  In  an  illuminating  essay  on  the  stimulation 
of  growth,  Loeb  states  his  view  that  it  may  be 
inherent  in  an  unfettered  cell  to  grow  and  divide 
eternally  in  appropriate  conditions,  as  is  illus- 
trated, indeed,  by  both  Protozoa  and  Proto- 
phytes.  This  capacity  may  depend  on  the 
presence  of  synthetic  ferments  or  "  synthetic 
mechanisms "  which  are  formed  from  the  food 
taken  up  by  the  cells.  But  few  cells  show  this 
capacity,  and  the  question  rises,  What  stimulates 
growth  and  what  keeps  the  cell  at  rest?  In 
most  cases  the  unfertilised  ovum  soon  dies,  in 
spite  of  its  potential'  immortality.  If  it  is  fer- 
tilised or  treated  with  the  methods  of  artificial 
parthenogenesis,  it  divides  actively.  The  con- 
dition of  rest  or  activity  in  this  case  depends, 
according  to  Loeb,  upon  the  condition  of  the 
cortical  layer  of  the  ^^^  and  the  alteration  in  the 
rate  of  oxidations  connected  with  this  condition. 
We  do  not  know  whether  the  resting  of  body- 
cells  is  determined  by  conditions  identical  with 
those  determining  rest  in  the  ^%^. 

We  know,  however,  that  specific  substances  circulat- 
ing in  the  blood  can  induce  certain  resting  cells  in  the 
body  to  grow,  and  that  these  substances  differ  appar- 
ently for  different  types  of  cells.  It  may  be  that  in 
the  body  substances  antagonistic  to  these  may  enforce 
the  inactivity  of  the  cells. 

(6)  In  a  vigorous  and  characteristic  paper  en- 
titled "Mechanistic  Science  and  Metaphysical 
Romance,"  Loeb  argues  that  the  demonstration 
of  the  reality  of  molecules  and  the  counting  of 
their  number  in  a  given  mass  of  matter  "puts 
science  for  a  long  time,  and  probably  irrevocably, 
on  a  mechanistic  basis.  It  marks,  perhaps,  the 
greatest  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  theory  of 
cognition.  It  enables  and  compels  us  to  define 
the  task  of  science  differently  from  Kirchhoff, 
Mach,  and  Ostwald.  W^e  may  say  it  is  the 
task  of  science  to  visualise  completely  and  cor- 
rectly the  phenomena  of  nature,  of  which  our 
senses  give  us  only  very  fragmentary  and  dis- 
connected perceptions.  We  must  try  to  visualise 
the  numerous  hidden  processes  and  conditions 
connecting  the  disconnected  phenomena  we  per- 
ceive." We  cannot  argue  the  question  here,  but 
we  must  be  allowed  to  enter  our  dissent  from 
Loeb's  conclusion  that  the  activities,  develop- 
ment, and  evolution  of  organisms  can  be  ade- 
quately and  exhaustively  described  in  mechanical 
terms,  or  in  chemico-physical  terms  (which  are 
regarded  by  many  as  ideally  mechanical).  We 
are  convinced  that  in  living  creatures  new 
aspects  of  reality  have  emerged  which  transcend 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


mechanistic  formulation.  We  are  inclined  to 
think  that  further  study  of  the  metaphysics  which 
this  consummately  ingenious  experimenter  slangs 
so  vigorously  might  render  him  less  confident 
in  the  stability  of  his  mechanistic  system.  We 
yield  to  none  in  our  admiration  of  his  illumin- 
ating scientific  achievements,  but  we  cannot 
agree  with  his  philosophy.  J.  A.  T. 

THE  GREAT  CANADIAN  REFLECTOR. 

\7ERY  satisfactory  progress  is  being  made  on 
*  the  great  72-in.  reflecting  telescope  which 
is  being  constructed  for  the  Canadian  Govern- 
ment, and  is  now  approaching  the  final  stages  of 
erection  and  adjusting. 

The  mounting  has  been  completed  by  the 
Warner  and  Swasey  Co.,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and 
has  been  temporarily  erected  at  their  factory. 
Exhaustive  tests  have  shown  that  the  operating 
mechanism  works  perfectly.  The  entire  mount- 
ing weighs  about  120,000  lb.,  of  which  the 
moving  parts  weigh  upwards  of  80,000  lb., 
and  yet  it  moves  with  the  greatest  smoothness 
and  ease.  The  worm  wheel  for  driving  the  tele- 
scope weighs  more  than  4000  lb.,  and  yet  it  may 
be  turned  readily  on  its  axis  with  the  finger.  By 
means  of  seven  electric  motors  and  conveniently 
situated  stationary  and  portable  switchboards, 
the  instrument  can  be  set,  driven,  and  guided  with 
the  utmost  facility.  Indeed,  the  immense  machine 
can  be  operated  and  handled  with  greater  ease 
than  many  small  telescopes.  The  mounting  will 
be  taken  down  and  shipped  to  the  observatory  as 
soon  as  the  erection  of  its  dome  is  sufficiently 
advanced. 

The  optical  portions  of  the  telescope  are  being 
made  by  the  John  A.  Brashear  Co.,  of  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.  The  principal  part,  namely,  the  great  mirror, 
73  in.  in  diameter,  is  also  well  advanced.  It 
has  been  brought  to  the  spherical  form,  and  will 
be  given  the  paraboloidal  form  and  finally 
polished  as  soon  as  the  firm  has  completed  a  large 
plane  mirror  which  is  required  for  testing  it.  The 
smaller  optical  parts  are  all  completed,  and  have 
been  attached  to  the  mounting.  It  is  hoped  that 
the  mirror  will  be  ready  as  soon  as  the  mounting 
is  erected  and  in  condition  to  receive  it,  which 
will  be  about  the  end  of  the  summer. 

The  pier  to  support  the  telescope  was  com- 
pleted last  autumn.  It  is  made  of  reinforced  con- 
crete, and  is  of  massive  construction.  The  walls 
of  the  surrounding  circular  steel  building,  66  ft. 
in  diameter,  were  erected  during  the  winter,  and 
the  dome,  constructed  by  the  Warner  and  Swasey 
Co.,  which  will  rest  and  revolve  upon  these  walls, 
arrived  in  Victoria,  B.C.,  about  the  end  of  March, 
and  is  now  being  put  in  place.  The  shutter  open- 
ing is  15  ft.  in  width.  The  dome  has  been  very 
carefully  designed  to  work  in  conjunction  with 
the  telescope,  and  it  is  confidently  believed  that  it 
will  be  the  most  complete  and  convenient  of  any 
in  the  world. 

One  of  the  observers'  residences  has  been 
erected,  but  none  of  the  other  buildings  required 
have  yet  been  begun.     It  is  hoped,  however,  that 


3^4 


NATURE 


[June  15,  19 16 


everything-  will  be  ready  to  begin  regular  ob- 
serving with  the  magnificent  equipment  next 
spring",  by  which  time  the  preliminary  experi- 
mental work  of  adjusting  will  be  completed. 

The  rapid  progress  on  the  telescope  is  largely 
due  to  the  excellent  plans  which  were  prepared 
by  Dr.  J,  S.  Plaskett  in  consultation  with  the 
Brashear  and  the  Warner  and  Swasey  companies. 
Dr.  Plaskett  will  have  charge  of  the  instrument 
when  completed. 

SIR  FREDERICK  DONALDSON,  K.C.B. 

AS  announced  in  last  week's  Nature  (p.  307), 
Sir  Hay  Frederick  Donaldson,  an  engineer 
of  distinction,  perished  in  the  disaster  to  H.M.S. 
Hampshire,  on  June  5,  when  accompanying  Lord 
Kitchener  as  a  representative  of  the  Ministry  of 
Munitions  with  the  special  rank  of  Brig- 
General.  He  held  successively  the  positions  of 
deputy-director-general,  chief  mechanical  engi- 
neer, and  chief  superintendent  of  the  Royal 
Ordnance  Factories,  Woolwich.  He  was  asso- 
cated  with,  and  largely  responsible  for,  the  great 
improvements  in  the  power  and  mechanism  of 
naval  and  land  artillery  during  the  last  twenty 
years.  Since  the  beginning-  of  the  war  his  energies 
were  severely  taxed  in  assisting  to  meet  the 
demand  for  an  enormously  increased  supply  of 
munitions  of  every  description,  and  in  augmenting^ 
the  productive  capacity  of  the  Royal  Arsenal. 
Some  months  ago  he  was  appointed  chief  technical 
adviser  to  the  Ministry  of  Munitions. 

Born  in  1856,  at  Sydney,  Sir  Frederick  was  the 
second  son  of  Sir  Stuart  A.  Donaldson,  the  first 
Premier  of  New  South  Wales.  He  was  educated 
at  Eton,  Trinity  College  (Cambridge),  Edinburgh, 
and  Zurich,  He  was  a  pupil  of  the  late  Mr.  Webb 
at  the  L.  and  N.W.  Railway  works  at  Crewe. 
Afterwards  he  was  executive  engineer  on  the 
W^est  of  India  Portuguese  Railway  and  Harbour, 
engineer-in-charge  of  No.  i  Section  of  the  Man- 
chester Ship  Canal,  and  engineer-in-chief  to  the 
London  and  India  Docks  Joint  Committee.  Then 
in  1897  he  went  to  Woolwich,  where  his  chief 
work  was  accomplished. 

In  addition  to  his  professional  avocations.  Sir 
Frederick  took  a  great  interest  in  the  scientific 
side  of  engineering.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Council  of  the  Institutions  of  Civil  Engineers, 
Mechanical  Engineers,  and  of  the  Iron  and  Steel 
Institute.  In  1913  and  1914  he  was  president  of 
the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  took  an 
energetic  part  in  guiding  its  affairs,  and  delivered 
an  admirable  address  dealing  with  the  education 
and  the  workshop  training-  of  engineers.  He  was 
actively  interested  in  the  work  of  the  Engineering 
Standards  Committee,  and  was  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  screw  threads  and  limit  gaug-es. 
The  investigations  of  this  committee  have  cer- 
tainly led  to  increased  accuracy  of  workmanship 
and  to  extensions  of  the  modern  system  of  manu- 
facturing machines  with  parts  interchangeable 
without  needing  adjustment.  At  its  instance  a 
lathe  of  the  highest  accuracy  was  installed  at  the 
National  Physical  Laboratory,  which  can  be  used 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


in  correcting  lathe  leading  screws.  In  1909  Sir 
Frederick  g-ave  an  instructive  lecture  at  the  Institu- 
tion of  Mechanical  Engineers  on  "The  Inter- 
changeability  of  Screw  Threads."  He  also  pro- 
posed a  scheme  for  the  registration  of  the  results 
of  scientific  researches  carried  out  in  private 
laboratories  and  those  attached  to  factories  and 
manufacturing  works,  with  the  object  of  prevent- 
ing reduplication  of  effort.  Valuable  as  such  a 
system  would  be,  it  has  not  so  far  been  found 
practicable. 

To  great  ability  and  wide  engineering  know- 
ledge Sir  Frederick  added  unfailing  tact  and  g-reat 
courtesy  and  charm  of  manner,  and  enjoyed  the 
esteem  of  all  who  were  associated  with  him.  His 
colleagues  mourn  his  loss,  which  to  them  and  to 
the  country  is  irreparable. 

MR.   LESLIE  S.   ROBERTSON. 

APPOINTED  to  the  staff  as  a  representative 
of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  and  with 
the  special  rank  of  Lieut. -Col.,  Mr.  Leslie 
Robertson  met  his  death  on  the  ill-fated  mission 
of  Lord  Kitchener  to  Russia.  He  was  born  in 
India  in  1863,  the  youngest  son  of  Sir  W.  R. 
Robinson,  K.C.S.I.,  Governor  of  Madras,  who 
resumed  an  earlier  family  name  in  1898.  He  was 
educated  in  Germany  and  at  King's  and  University 
CoUeg-es  in  London.  He  was  technically  trained 
in  the  works  of  Messrs.  Denny  and  Co.,  Dum- 
barton, and  Messrs.  J.  I.  Thornycroft,  Chiswick. 
Then  he  was  in  private  practice  for  a  time,  during 
which  he  represented  in  this  country  the  important 
firm  of  Normand,  of  Havre. 

In  1 90 1  he  became  secretary  to  the  Engineering 
Standards  Committee,  the  work  of  which  he 
carried  on  for  fourteen  years  with  an  enthusiasm 
and  ability  to  which  much  of  its  success  is  due. 
Founded  initially  to  standardise  rolled  sections  of 
steel,  the  work  of  this  committee  has  extended  to 
nearly  all  the  materials  largely  used  in  engineer- 
ing, and  to  a  variety  of  manufactured  products 
from  locomotives  to  glow-lamps.  Further,  it  has 
standardised  tests  and  specifications.  An  army  of 
engineers,  users,  and  manufacturers,  including 
representatives  of  the  War  Office  and  Admiralty, 
formed  its  sectional  committees,  giving  their 
services  gratuitously,  and  greatly  helped  by  the 
tactful  arrangements  made  by  Mr.  Robertson  to 
economise  their  time.  The  results  are  becoming- 
of  increasing  importance  from  an  international 
point  of  view.  In  191 2  Mr.  Robertson  was  secre- 
tary to  delegates  sent  by  the  Board  of  Trade  to 
a  congress  in  New  York  of  the  important  Inter- 
national Association  for  Testing  Materials, 
founded  by  Bauschinger  in  1884. 

In  August,  1915,  Mr.  Robertson  was  appointed 
assistant  director  of  production  in  the  Ministry 
of  Munitions,  and  was  concerned  with  organising 
the  production  of  the  metal  components  of 
ammunition.  One  of  his  coUeag^ues  at  Armament 
Buildings  writes  that  "his  almost  unique  know- 
ledge of  the  capacity  of  the  workshops  of  Great 
Britain  and  of  the  men  in  charge  of  them  was 
invaluable  in  negotiations,  leading  to  the  enormous 


June  15,  19 16] 


NATURE 


325 


output  which  has  been  accomplished.  Especially 
helpful  was  his  knowledge  of  men  and  their  busi- 
ness capacity,  and  the  Ministry  owes  much  to  him 
in  this,  not  only  in  the  particular  section  he  had 
in  charge,   but  throughout  the  organisation." 

He  was  the  author  of  pap>ers  on  "Propulsion 
on  Canals"  and  "Light  Railways,"  and  translated 
"Marine  Boilers,"  by  M.  Bertin,  Chief  Constructor 
of  the  French  Navy. 

HOTES. 

We  learn  with  deep  regret  that  Prof.  Silvanus  P. 
Thompson,  F.R.S.,  died  on  June  12,  a  little  before 
midnight,  at  his  residence  in  West  Hampstead,  after 
only  twx>  days'  illness. 

The  meeting  of  Scandinavian  naturalists,  to  be  held 
in  Christiania  on  July  10-14,  will  be  attended  by  not 
fewer  than  500  members.  The  papers  announced 
number  142. 

The  Bill  to  advance  legal  time  by  one  hour  during 
the  period  from  June  14-15  to  September  30-October  i 
has  been  passed  by  the  French  Senate  and  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  so  that  French  time  now  corre- 
sponds to  British  Summer  Time. 

The  rescue  of  the  twenty-two  members  of  Sir  Ernest 
Shackleton's  expedition  who  are  now  marooned  on 
Elephant  Island  is  to  be  undertaken  by  a  steam- 
trawler  belonging  to  the  Fisheries  Department  of 
Uruguay.  The  vessel  was  built  in  Aberdeen  in  1906 
for  the  North  Sea  fishing  fleet.  She  was  expected  to 
leave  Buenos  Aires  on  June  9,  and  to  call  at  the 
Falkland  Islands,  where  she  would  be  joined  by  Sir 
'  Ernest  Shackleton,  on  June  13.  They  are  nearer  than 
South  Georgia  to  Elephant  Island,  which,  if  all  goes 
well,  should  be  reached  in  four  days  from  the  Falk- 
lands.  The  trawler  has  been  fitted  with  wireless 
apparatus,  and  communication  will  be  maintained 
with  her  by  a  British  auxiliar}'  cruiser,  which  wiU 
be  stationed  in  Drake's  Strait.  It  is  therefore  pos- 
sible that  news  of  the  rescue  of  Wild  and  his  com- 
rades may  be  received  on  June  18,  and  the  party  may  be 
back  in  South  America  before  the  end  of  the  month. 
With  regard  to  the  Ross  Sea,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Admiralty-  announces  that  the  rescue  of  the  men  left 
ashore  when  the  Aurora  was  blown  away  from  her 
winter  quarters  at  Caj>e  Evans  will  be  carried  out  at 
the  end  of  this  year  in  the  Aurora,  with  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  Governments  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Australia  and  the  Dominion  of  New  Zealand. 

We  regret  to  learn  that  among  the  officers  killed  in 
the  naval  action  in  the  North  Sea  on  May  31  was 
Commander  H.  L.  L.  Pennell,  R.N.,  who  lost  his  life 
by  the  sinking  of  H.M.S.  Queen  Mary.  Commander 
Pennell,  who  was  thirt>--four  years  of  age,  joined  the 
Britannia  in  1898,  and  became  a  midshipman  next 
year.  In  1903  he  was  promoted  lieutenant,  and  after 
several  years' distinguished  service  was  selected  bv  the 
late  Capt.  R.  F.  Scott  to  be  one  of  the  officers  of  the 
Terra  Nova  in  the  British  Antarctic  Expedition  of 
1910.  When  Capt.  Scott  and  the  main  wintering  partj- 
had  landed  in  McMurdo  Sound  early  in  191 1,  Lieut. 
Pennell  took  the  Terra  Nova  east,  along  the  Ross 
Barrier,  and  found  Amundsen  in  the  Fram  at  his 
winter  base.  Lieut.  Pennell  afterwards  landed  the 
second  wintering  party  at  Cape  Adare,  and  in  the 
following  summer  moved  them  further  south.  He 
was  in  command  of  the  Terra  Nova  throughout  the 
expedition,  and  it  was  he  who,  on  the  return  to  New 
Zealand,  discovered  the  westward  trend  of  the  north 
coast  of  Victoria  Land,  which  he  named  Oates  Land. 

NO.    2433,   VOL.    97] 


On    his    return    from  the   Antarctic    in    1913     Lieut. 
Pennell  was  promoted  commander  in  the  Navy. 

The  Morning  Post  of  June  5  contains  some  of  the 
impressions  of  life  in  Germany,  particularly  of  the 
scientific  activity,  received  by  a  neutral  lately  returned 
from  Berlin.  The  general  view  of  the  greater  scien- 
tific efficiency  of  Germany  is  confirmed,  and  the  Ger- 
man interest  in  science  as  a  source  of  profit  is  con- 
trasted with  the  study  of  science  for  its  own  sake  in 
this  countr)'.  We  learn  that  German  chemists  intro- 
duced a  gaseous  arsenic  compound  for  military  use 
which  could  be  fired  into  the  enemy  ranks  in  cases 
which  exploded  on  arrival.  Fortunately,  however, 
for  the  Allies'  troops,  the  gas  decomposes  and  becomes 
innocuous  when  fired  from  a  gun.  The  manufacture  of 
synthetic  rubber  (particularly  for  motor-car  t}-res)  is 
said  to  be  a  great  success,  but  the  process  is  a  com- 
petitor with  the  manufacture  of  explosives  for  the 
limited  supply  of  benzol.  The  neutral  observes  that 
the  scientific  experiments  with  bread  have  been  less 
encouraging,  its  quality  having  become  worse,  whilst 
the  indigestible  portion  has  increased  in  amount  this 
year.  The  people  are  suffering  privations  from  in- 
sufficiency and  poverty  of  food,  the  effects  being  loss 
of  weight  and  an  illness  caused  by  unwholesome  diet. 
Great  hopes  are  reposed  in  the  coming  harv^est,  to- 
wards the  abundance  of  which  science  has  done  its 
share  by  providing  nitrates  manufactured  from  atmo- 
spheric nitrogen. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  Addington-Wickham 
bourne  is  now  flowing,  a  phenomenon  of  very  rare 
occurrence.  The  last  flow  of  any  magnitude  was  in 
1883,  when  more  than  three  million  gallons  of  water  f>er 
day  were  gauged  by  Mr.  Baldwin  Latham  near  Hayes. 
Since  that  date  two  water  pumping-stations  have  been 
built  in  this  valley,  the  combined  pumping  of  which 
has  resulted  in  the  present  bourne  being  reduced  to 
1,600,000  gallons  a  day,  as  measured  recently  by  Mr. 
Latham.  The  bourne  is  interesting  as  being  essen- 
tially the  highest  source  of  the  Ravensboume.  It 
now  commences  in  springs  in  a  field  near  to  Adding- 
ton  village.  Many  springs  can  be  seen  feeding  it  in 
the  fields  in  the  valley,  and  it  has  filled  up  two  large 
gravel  pits  near  the  Hayes  railway.  It  passes  under 
the  railway  and,  crossing  the  road,  reaches  what  for 
many  years  has  been  the  source  of  the  Ravensboume. 
The  present  source,  although  now  on  the  chalk,  has 
to  well  up  through  a  considerable  thickness  of  gravel. 
It  is  surmised  that  in  times  when  the  Croydon  and 
other  bournes  are  out,  this  one  remains  invisible  owing 
to  its  flowing  over  the  chalk  but  under  the  gravel, 
and  only  on  exceptional  occasions  it  appears  at  the 
surface.  It  would  seem  that  a  good  deal  of  under- 
ground solution  is  going  on,  judging  from  the  manner 
in  which  the  banks  around  the  spring-heads  have  been 
let  down  below  the  surrounding  levels. 

The  "Report  of  the  Committee  on  Edible  and  Oil- 
Producing  Nuts  and  Seeds  "  of  VN'est  Africa  [Cd.  S247], 
just  issued,  affords  an  interesting  glimpse  of  the 
changed  attitude  of  the  Government  towards  science 
and  industry,  brought  about  by  the  war.  The  exports 
of  oilseeds  and  oils  from  British  West  Africa  in  1913 
were  valued  at  7,228,000/.,  and  of  this  amount  Ger- 
many took  no  less  than  3,869,000/.,  chiefly  in  the 
form  of  palm  kernels,  the  crushing  of  which  for  oil 
and  cake  she  had  practically  monopolised.  The  out- 
break of  war  placed  British  W^est  African  exporters 
in  a  serious  position,  the  usual  channel  for  more  than 
half  their  exports  of  oil  and  oilseeds  being  stopped. 
The  story  of  how  this  diflSiculty  was  met  and  a  new 
British  industry  in  the  crushing  of  palm  kemds 
organised  is  told  in   Prof.   Dunstan's  introduction   to 


326 


NATURE 


[June  15,  1916 


"Oil-seeds  and  Feeding-Cakes"  (London:  John  Mur- 
ray, 1916),  and  need  not  be  repeated  here.  The  action 
taken  was  so  successful  that  when  the  Oilseeds  Com- 
mittee began  its  investigations  in  June,  1915,  it  was 
in  the  fortunate  position  of  merely  having  to  con- 
solidate an  industry  instead  of  having  to  create  one. 
Full  justice  is  done  in  the  report  to  the  work  of  the 
Imperial  Institute,  the  British  agricultural  colleges, 
and  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  all  of  which  took  part 
in  the  scientific,  technical,  and  commercial  investiga- 
tions which  led  to  this  successful  result.  The  Com- 
mittee makes  four  recommendations  with  a  view  to 
the  retention  of  the  new  industry  in  British  hands 
after  the  war,  and  of  these  two  are  to  be  put  into 
immediate  action,  in  accordance  with  instructions 
contained  in  a  despatch  from  Mr.  Bonar  Law 
to  the  Governments  of  Nigeria,  Gold  Coast,  and 
Sierra  Leone,  printed  with  the  report.  The  first  of 
these  is  the  imposition  of  an  export  duty  of  2Z.  per 
ton,  or  more  if  necessary,  on  all  palm  kernels  exported 
from  West  Africa  to  ports  outside  the  British  Empire. 
The  second  recommendation  is  that  the  West  African 
Departments  of  Agriculture  and  Forestry  should  take 
measures  to  continue  and  extend  their  investigations 
of  the  oil  palm,  and  that  "these  measures  should  be 
taken  in  co-operation  on  the  scientific  and  technical 
side  with  the  Imperial  Institute,  by  which  admirable 
work  has  been  done  In  the  past  in  connection  with  the 
oil  palm,  and  to  which  much  of  the  existing  know- 
ledge of  the  palm  and  its  economic  products  is  due." 

The  care  expended  on  the  well-being  of  the  animals 
in  modern  zoological  gardens  is  well  illustrated  in  the 
forty-fourth  annual  report  of  the  Zoological  Society  of 
Philadelphia,  which  we  have  just  received.  As  in  the 
Gardens  of  the  Zoological  Society  of  London,  the  most 
searching  post-mortem  examination  is  instituted  in  the 
case  of  every  death,  and  as  a  result  discoveries  are 
made  the  importance  of  which  is  not  to  be  measured 
by  their  immediate  value  to  the  society  concerned.  In 
the  present  report  the  most  interesting  items  are  a 
mysterious  epizootic  among  the  waterfowl,  and  of  an 
arachnoid  parasite  in  the  lungs  of  monkeys.  The 
lesions  they  produce  simulate,  and  may  be  mistaken 
for,  tubercles.  But  their  presence  does  not  seem  seri- 
ously to  affect  the  host.  The  original  habitat  and 
mode  of  transmission  are  unknown,  but  no  fewer  than 
four  different  species  have  been  described,  and  have 
been  taken  from  monkeys  both  in  India  and  Africa, 
as  well  as  from  captive  specimens. 

Dead  bodies  of  the  short-tailed  petrel,  to  the  number 
of  many  hundreds,  have  periodically  been  found  along 
the  beach  at  UUaduUa,  New  South  Wales,  and  a  like 
mortality  prevails  on  some  islands  a  few  miles  off  the 
mainland.  Naturally  such  discoveries  have  given  rise 
to  much  speculation  among  ornithologists.  As  a  rule 
it  is  attributed  to  disease,  starvation,  or  storms.  But 
Mr.  G.  Basset  Hull,  in  the  Emu  for  April,  advances 
what  seems  to  be  a  much  more  probable  explanation — 
to  wit,  that  these  are  the  victims  of  the  struggle  for 
breeding  territory  with  the  larger  and  more  powerful 
wedge-tailed  petrel.  Support  is  lent  to  this  view  from 
the  fact  that  on  one  island,  where  the  wedge-tailed 
species  were  breeding  in  large  numbers,  no  burrows 
were  found  tenanted  by  the  short-tailed  species,  but 
their  dead  bodies  were  found  outside  the  burrows  of 
their  larger  rivals.  If,  indeed,  the  smaller  species 
is  harried,  buffeted,  and  finally  driven  off  in  an  ex- 
hausted state  by  the  larger,  then  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence in  the  case  of  the  short-tailed  petrel  must  be 
indeed  severe.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  an  attempt  will 
be  made  to  set  this  matter  at  rest,  for  it  raises  a  point 
of  quite  exceptional  interest. 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97]' 


In  the  Australian  Zoologist  (vol.  i.,  part  3)  Dr.  A.  S. 
Le  Souef,  the  director  of  the  Zoological  Gardens, 
Sydney,  records  some  interesting  colour  variations  of 
opossums  of  the  genus  Trichosurus.  The  general 
coloration  of  the  common  opossum  {Trichosurus  vul- 
pecula)  is  grey  above,  whitish  below.  The  variants  on 
this  are  rufous,  black,  and  fawn,  but  it  seems  difficult 
to  associate  such  variations  with  environmental  con- 
ditions. Thus  "  brown  "  coloured  individuals  are  most 
common  in  Tasmania,  and  appear  to  be  confined 
to  the  moist,  heavily  timbered  districts ;  but  on  the 
mainland  brown-coloured  specimens  are  very  common, 
"particularly  in  the  drier  districts."  The  descendants 
of  the  Tasmanian  opossum  turned  out  at  Lyttelton, 
New  Zealand,  some  five  and  twenty  years  ago  already 
show  variation  from  the  typical  form,  since  the  animals 
have  become  darker  and  the  fur  longer  and  less  dense. 
The  author  suggests  that  Mr.  Oldfield  Thomas,  of  the 
British  Museum,  was  in  error  when  he  described  the 
mountain  opossum  (T.  caninus)  as  brown  in  colour. 
This  hue  appears  only  in  the  black  opossum  after  it 
has  been  partially  depigmented  by  immersion  in 
spirits.  The  existence  of  the  black  opossum  is  here 
recognised  for  the  first  time,  being  designated  a  dis- 
tinct subspecies  (T.  caninus  nigrans).  This  well- 
marked  subspecies  "  is  found  in  the  heav\-  coastal 
scrubs  in  north-eastern  New  South  Wales  and 
southern  Queensland." 

In  the  report  of  the  South  African  Museum  for 
1915,  just  issued,  Dr.  L.  Peringuey,  the  director,  re- 
lates a  very  extraordinary  occurrence.  While  the 
troops  of  the  Union  were  camped  in  the  wide  sand- 
belt  of  Luderitzbucht  and  Swakopmund,  waiting  to 
advance  inland,  there  appeared,  suddenly,  after  heavy 
rains — a  thing  almost  unheard  of  in  those  parts — all 
along  the  line,  immense  swarms  of  moths.  The  fact 
is  the  more  extraordinary  and  mysterious  since  these 
sands  are  almost  void  of  visible  vegetation.  That 
they  were  brought  by  the  wind  from  inland  Dr. 
P^riguey  considers  improbable.  They  disappeared  as 
rapidly  as  they  came.  Samples  which  were  sent  to 
the  museum  proved  to  consist  of  no  fewer  than  twenty 
species  of  Noctuidae.  In  this  report  mention  is  also 
made  of  the  fossilised  skull  of  the  "  Bosk  op  "  man 
found  in  the  Transvaal,  and  of  fragments  of  limb- 
bones,  probably  of  the  same  skeleton.  This  skull, 
which  seems  to  be  remarkable  for  its  great  length,  has 
not  yet  been  described  in  detail.  It  is  much  to  be 
hoped  that  this  will  soon  be  done.  A  mandible  found 
in  the  river-gravels  at  Harrismith,  in  the  Orange  Free 
State,  and  stone  implements  found  in  another  locality 
in  the  Orange  Free  State,  are  also  mentioned  among 
the  acquisitions  for  the  year  deserving  special  men- 
tion. 

In  an  article  under  the  title  "The  Reflex  as  a 
Creative  Act"  (Bull.  Imp.  Acad.  Sci.,  Petrograd, 
November,  1915),  the  eminent  Russian  biologist  S.  I. 
Metalnikov  discusses  the  nature  of  reflex  action,  and 
contests  the  position  of  those  biologists  and  physio- 
logists who  maintain  (a)  that  reflex  action  pre- 
supposes the  existence  of  a  central  nervous  system ; 
(b)  that  reflexes  are  unconscious  and  involuntary;  (c) 
that  they  are  uniform  and  invariable.  If,  he  says, 
we  concede  these  premises  we  are  at  the  outset 
brought  up  against  a  whole  series  of  difficulties.  In 
many  of  the  lower  Invertebrata,  and  in  all  unicellular 
organisms,  the  most  careful  research  fails  to  reveal 
any  central  nerves,  yet  they  react  to  various  stimuli 
no  less  than  the  higher  organisms.  Further,  we  can 
never  determine  by  direct  observation  whether  a  re- 
action is  voluntary  or  involuntary.  And,  lastly,  even 
as  no  two  organisms  are  exactly  alike,  so  there  are  no 


June  15,  1916] 


NATURE 


327 


two  absolutely  similar  reactions.  The  reactions  of 
Protozoa  are  never  uniform.  Even  in  Arnoeba  they 
are  so  varied  as  to  be  scarcely  ever  twice  alike.  After 
describing  some  experiments  on  Paramoecium,  the 
author  maintains  that  every  reaction  produces  a  definite 
modification  in  the  living  tissue,  and  may  therefore 
be  considered  as  closely  connected  with  the  creation 
of  the  personality,  and  he  concludes  a  closely  reasoned 
dissertation  in  these  words: — "The  life  of  every 
organism  is  an  uninterrupted  creation,  and  this  indi- 
vidual creation,  the  cause  of  endless  variety,  is  but  a 
small  part  of  that  larger  creative  cycle  which  we  call 
evolution." 

Dr.  Johs.  Schmidt,  in  vol.  xxiii.  of  Rapports  et 
Proces-verbaux  du  Conseil  Jnternational  pour  Vexplora- 
tion  de  la  tner,  gives  a  further  contribution  of  his 
studies  on  the  natural  history  of  the  eel.  The  paper 
deals  with  the  question  of  the  existence  of  "smaller 
species"  or  "races"  of  the  European  eel,  and  with 
the  distinguishing  features  of  this  species,  of  the 
American  and  of  the  Japanese  eel.  The  characters 
investigated  include  the  number  of  vertebrae,  the 
number  of  rays  in  different  fins,  and  the  number  of 
branchiostegai  rays.  The  conclusion  arrived  at  is 
that,  whilst  the  three  species  investigated  are  clearly 
marked  the  one  from  the  other,  it  has  not  been  found 
possible  to  distinguish  between  different  "races"  of 
the  European  eel.  The  most  convenient  character  is 
the  number  of  vertebrae.  The  author  brings  forward 
a  point  of  considerable  biological  interest  by  com- 
paring the  condition  found  amongst  the  eels  with 
that  found  in  the  viviparous  blenny  (Zoarces  vivi- 
parus),  a  species  having  about  the  same  number  of 
vertebrae  as  the  eel.  He  finds  that  samples  of  Zoarces 
taken  from  closely  adjacent  localities  in  Danish 
waters  may  differ  one  from  another  as  regards 
number  of  vertebrae  to  a  higher  degree  than  does 
the  European  eel  from  the  American  eel  in  respect 
of  the  same  character,  and  that,  whereas  Zoarces  vivi- 
parus  in  the  north  of  Europe  is  divided  up  into 
numerous  distinctly  different  stocks  or  populations 
according  to  locality,  all  the  eels  of  Europe  are  identi- 
cal. This  difference  the  author  considers  must  be 
due  to  the  fact  that  all  European  eels  have  the  same 
origin  in  the  spawning  grounds  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
The  blenny,  on  the  other  hand,  is  viviparous  and  has 
no  pelagic  stage,  so  that  it  is  highly  localised,  and 
specimens  collected,  for  instance,  in  the  inner  waters 
of  a  fjord  may  have  a  lower  number  of  vertebrae  than 
those  taken  at  the  mouth.  Whether  this  is  due  to 
"genotypic  differences  "  or  to  the  immediate  effect  of 
varj'ing  external  conditions,  the  author  hopes  to  make 
a  matter  of  direct  experiment. 

The  Government  of  Madagascar  has  issued  the 
■'  Annuaire  General  de  Madagascar  et  Dependances " 
for  1916.  The  war  has  affected  the  size  of  this  year's 
volume,  which  takes  the  form  of  a  supplement  and 
corrections  to  the  issue  for  1914.  Among  a  great  deal 
of  matter  the  most  useful  from  a  geographical  point 
of  view  is  the  account  of  the  railways,  to  which  is 
added  a  large-scale  map.  There  is  also  a  short  account 
of  the  chief  roads,  and  of  the  navigable  waterw^ays. 
The  last  part  of  the  volume  is  occupied  with  trade 
statistics. 

Vol.  I  of  Agricultural  Statistics  for  India,  1913-14, 
which  deals  with  British  India,  demonstrates  a  note- 
worthy steadiness  of  agricultural  operations  during 
recent  years.  In  the  preceding  decade  the  total 
area  cropped,  the  areas  sown  with  rice,  millets,  wheat, 
sugar,  cotton,  jute,  and  oil-seeds,  suffered  but 
slight  fluctuations.  The  cropped  area  which  has 
been  irrigated  and  the  area  devoted  to  food  crops 
have  both  increased,  the  former  by  30  per  cent.  In 
the  whole  of  India  80  million  acres  are  sown  with  rice, 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


which  is  ten  times  the  acreage  in  Japan;  29  million 
acres  with  wheat,  which  is  only  exceeded  by  the  wheat 
acreage  of  the  United  States ;  and  25  million  acres  with 
cotton,  which  is  two-thirds  of  the  cotton  acreage  of 
the  United  States.  About  one-eighth  of  the  Indian 
area  is  cropped  more  than  once.  The  exceptions  to 
the  general  conditions  are  indigo  and  opium,  which 
have  declined  in  acreage  by  about  a  half  since  1909. 
In  the  latest  year  the  area  devoted  to  cinchona  was 
increased  by  a  tenth ;  this  increase  is  due  to  a  great 
extension  of  the  cultivation  in  Bengal,  the  acreage 
having  declined  in  Madras,  which  is  the  other  chief 
growing  district.  Nearly  half  the  sugar-cane  is  pro- 
duced in  Agra,  where  the  area  under  this  crop  is  being 
increased.  A  third  of  the  cropped  area  in  Madras  and 
the  United  Provinces,  a  half  in  the  Punjab,  and  three- 
quarters  in  the  district  of  Sind  depend  upon  irrigation 
from  canals,  tanks,  or  wells  for  their  water  supply. 

The  fifth  volume  of  the  special  reports  on  the 
"  Mineral  Resources  of  Great  Britain  "  has  just  been 
issued  by  the  Geological  Survey  (London  :  H.M.  Sta- 
tionery Office  and  E.  Stanford,  Ltd. ;  price  15,).  This 
is  rather  more  miscellaneous  in  scope  than  its  pre- 
decessors, and  deals  with  a  number  of  mineral  sub- 
stances between  which  there  is  neither  economic  nor 
geological  relationship,  namely  : — Potash-felspar,  phos- 
phate of  lime,  alum  shales,  plumb^ago,  molybdenite, 
chromite,  talc  and  steatite,  diatomite.  It  will  be  noted 
that  some  of  these  substances,  like  alum  shales,  are 
being  worked  to-day;  others,  like  plumbago,  have 
given  rise  to  important  mining  operations  in  the  past; 
and  others  again,  like  molybdenite,  never  have  been 
worked  in  this  country,  nor  does  there  seem  to  be 
much  probability  as  regards  this  mineral  that  work- 
able deposits  are  likely  to  be  discovered.  It  might  be 
suggested  that  in  such  a  case  as  the  last-named  rather 
more  attention  might  be  devoted  to  the  known  occur- 
rences within  the  Dominions  of  Greater  Britain.  The 
first  article  in  the  volume  is  perhaps  the  most  interest- 
ing, because  the  discovery  of  an  economically  work- 
able British  source  of  potash  is  one  of  the  great  needs 
of  the  moment.  It  is  curious  to  note  that  in  the 
section  dealing  with  the  extraction  of  potash  from 
felspar  foreign  authorities  are  freely  quoted,  but  no 
reference  is  made  to  an  exhaustive  recent  article  on 
the  subject  in  the  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Chemical 
Industry  (April  30,  1915).  If  the  present  ux)rk  serves 
to  direct  the  attention  of  chemists  and  geologists  to 
this  important  subject,  nothing  but  good  can  result ; 
indeed,  it  seems  strange  that,  at  a  moment  when 
committees  by  the  score  are  being  created  to  advocate 
researches  into  all  manner  of  subjects,  some  of  them, 
perhaps,  of  but  remote  practical  interest,  the  important 
question  of  potash  supply  has  not  received  more  atten- 
tion. It  would  indeed  be  a  wise  move  if  the  Board  of 
Agriculture  would  offer  a  handsome  prize  as  an  induce- 
ment to  chemical  investigators  to  work  at  this  problem, 
which,  although  admittedly  difficult,  should  not  be 
incapable  of  solution. 

An  interesting  addition  to  the  existing  literature 
on  the  eruptions  of  the  volcano  Stromboli  has  come 
to  our  notice  in  the  form  of  a  collection  of  papers 
published  in  a  particularly  interesting  number  of  the 
Atti  dei  Lincei,  xxv.  (i),  5.  It  was  after  an  interval 
of  twenty-four  years  that  an  eruption  characterised  by 
copious  flows  of  lava  made  its  first  appearance  in 
June,  1915,  and  Prof.  Gaetano  Platania  and  Prof. 
Gaetano  Poute  were  deputed  to  study  the  phenomena, 
being  assisted  in  this  work  by  an  American  vulcan- 
ologist,  Mr.  F.  A.  Perret.  The  papers  here  referred 
to  describe  separately  the  individual  experiences  of  the 
three  observers.  Profs.  Platania  and  Poute  contribut- 
ing their  own  observations,  while  those  of  Mr.  Perret 
are  detailed  in  a  paper  by  Prof.  A.  Ricc6. 


328 


NATURE 


[June  15,  1916 


Although  figures  of  equilibrium  of  rotating  liquids 
have  already  been  fairly  thoroughly  studied  by  the 
late  Sir  George  H.  Darwin  and  others,  a  fresh  method 
of  approximate  solution  of  the  problem,  by  Prof.  A. 
LiapounofT,  appears  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Petrograd 
Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences,  vi.  (April  15).  The 
principal  feature  of  this  method  is  that,  after  obtain- 
ing an  equation  which  is  not  in  itself  soluble,  the 
author  substitutes  an  approximate  formula,  which  may 
be  taken  as  equivalent  to  the  previous  one  to  a 
sufficient  degree  of  accuracy  within  the  limits  involved 
in  the  calculation  and  overcomes  the  mathematical 
difficulties. 

The  May  issue  of  Section  A  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy  contains  three  papers  by  Prof. 
McClelland  and  his  assistants  which  deal  with 
methods  of  production  and  detection  of  ions  in  the 
atmosphere.  In  the  first  of  the  series  it  is  shown 
that  leaves  exposed  to  the  ultra-violet  light  of  an 
electric  spark  between  aluminium  electrodes  show  the 
photoelectric  effect  to  an  extent  which  in  some  cases 
is  a  tenth  of  that  shown  in  the  same  circumstances 
by  copper.  A  cold-water  extract  from  the  leaves  may 
show  an  activity  a  third  of  that  of  copper,  while  an 
acetone  extract  shows  no  activity.  A  few  drops  of  the 
acetone  solution  will,  however,  render  a  large  volume 
of  water  strongly  active.  The  other  papers  relate  to 
the  ions  produced  when  water  is  sprayed  into  air  or 
air  bubbled  through  mercury.  In  both  cases  the 
saturation  curves  of  the  air  show  that  there  are  four 
or  five  kinds  of  ions  present  in  it  with  mobilities  which 
vary  from  those  of  the  large  Langevin  ions  to  those 
of  the  ordinary  small  ions,  while  there  appear  to  be 
present  in  addition  at  least  two  types  of  ions  with 
still  greater  mobilities. 

A  VERY  timely  and  valuable  essay  on  "  Zinc,  its 
Production  and  Industrial  Applications,"  by  Mr.  J.  C. 
Moulden,  was  recently  read  in  abstract  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts.  This  essay  was  the  re- 
sult of  a  prize  founded  by  Mr.  Reginald  Le  Neve 
Foster  in  memory  of  his  father,  a  former  secretary 
of  the  society  from  1853  to  1879,  the  subject  being 
determined  by  the  council.  The  publication  is  one 
of  considerable  length,  and  extends  over  two  weekly 
issues  of  the  society's  journal.  It  opens  with  an 
account  of  the  physical  and  chemical  properties  of  the 
metal,  and  then  passes  to  a  consideration  of  its  his- 
tory, from  which  it  appears  that  although  it  played  no 
part  of  any  importance  in  the  economics  of  the 
ancients  it  was  known  to  them  both  as  the  metal  and 
in  the  form  of  alloys.  The  first  zinc  smelting  works 
were  established  in  this  country  at  Bristol  in  1743 
by  John  Champion.  He  also  secured  a  patent  in 
1758  for  the  winning  of  brass  and  zinc  from  blende 
as  a  substitute  for  calamine,  which  hitherto  had 
been  the  sole  source  of  the  metal.  Succeeding  sec- 
tions deal  with  zinc  ores,  their  nature,  occurrence, 
and  distribution,  and  the  metallurgy  of  the  metal. 
The  essay  should  be  of  great  service,  appearing,  as  it 
does,  at  a  time  when  the  possibility  of  establishing 
a  great  zinc  industry  in  this  country  is  being  care- 
fully considered. 

The  U.S.  Bureau  of  Standards  has  recently  issued 
a  circular  (No.  58)  entitled  "  Invar  and  Related 
Nickel  Steels,"  which  is  mainly  a  compilation  from 
sources,  many  of  them  inaccessible,  as  to  the  pro- 
perties of  nickel  steels,  with  particular  reference  to 
the  properties  of  the  non-expanding  alloy  known  as 
"invar."  This  should  prove  to  be  an  exceedingly 
useful  publication.  After  a  brief  historical  introduc- 
tion the  following  properties  receive  attention  : 
(a)  Reversible  and  irreversible  nickel  steels,  their 
equilibrium    diagram,    microstructure,    and    constitu- 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


tion.  (fc)  Magnetic  properties,  (c)  Electrical  proper- 
ties, (d)  Thermal  expansion,  (e)  Transitory  length 
variations  following  temperature  changes.  (/)  Per- 
manent changes  in  length  at  constant  temperature. 
(^)  Elongation  of  invar  with  time.  {Iri)  Rapidity  of 
invar  transformations,  (i)  Effect  of  composition  on 
instability.  (;)  Reproducibility  of  properties  of  invar, 
(fe)  Density.  (Z)  Mechanical  properties,  (tn)  Resist- 
ance to  corrosion,  (n)  Applications,  sources  of  supply, 
and  bibliography.  The  knowledge  of  ferro-nickels 
goes  back  to  the  year  1822,  when  Stodart  and  Fara- 
day published  a  paper.  It  was  in  1889  that  James 
Riley,  of  Glasgow,  described,  before  the  Iron  and 
Steel  Institute,  his  epoch-making  investigation  which 
disclosed  the  remarkable  mechanical  properties  of 
nickel  steels.  His  alloys  contained  various  amounts 
of  nickel  up  to  49  per  cent.,  which  had  been  prepared 
for  him  in  France  by  Marbeau.  The  above  circular 
may  be  obtained  free  by  addressing  a  request  to  the 
Bureau  of  Standards. 

OVR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Comet  1916b  (Wolf).- — The  following  ephemeris  is 
a  continuation  of  that  given  in  Nature  of  June  i  for 
Greenwich  midnight  : — 

R.A.  Decl 

h.        Ml.       s.  „  , 


June  21 

12 

29  31 

••       +4  45-4 

25 

30  14 

4  44-2 

29 

31  10 

4  41-6 

July     3 

32  18 

4  37-6 

7 

33  39 

4  323 

Correction. — The  comet's  distance  on  July  3  will  be 
400  million  miles,  i.e.  ten  times  the  figures  given  by 
error  in  the  note  referred  to  above. 

The  Solar  Activity. — Another  very  large,  active, 
spot  disturbance  has  appeared.  The  following  spot 
has  developed  considerably  since  Monday.  The  larger 
spot  has  been  seen  with  ease,  using  a  small  glass 
magnifying  five  times.  Extremely  bright  faculae  have 
been  noticed  (June  13)  on  the  eastern  limb. 

The  New  Draper  Catalogue. — ^The  seventieth 
annual  report  of  the  Harvard  Observatory  contains 
the  extremely  interesting  announcement  that  the  first 
step  in  the  formation  of  the  monumental  New  Draper 
Catalogue — the  classification  of  the  stellar  spectra — 
has  been  completed.  The  number  of  spectra  classified 
is  233,050,  covering  the  entire  sky  from  the  North 
Pole  to  the  South. 

The  Spectrum  of  Coronium. — The  new  red  line  in 
the  spectrum  of  the  corona,  shown  by  M.  Carrasco 
to  be  a  member  of  the  same  series  as  A  5303-3,  has 
enabled  Prof.  Nicholson  to  extend  his  analysis  of  the 
coronal  spectrum  to  include  the  six  outstanding  lines, 
whence  the  conclusion  is  arrived  at  that  the  Coronium 
atom  is  a  simple-ring  system  with  nucleus  ye.  When 
it  has  eight  electrons  or  a  single  negative  charge  it 
emits  the  lines  AA  6374-5,  5303-3.  4566-0,  4359-0,  3642-5, 
and  3534-0.  The  lines  in  the  spectra  of  neutral  or  of 
positively  charged  atoms  are  found  to  be  situated  too 
far  in  the  ultra-violet  for  observation  (No.  5,  Monthly 
Notices,    Royal    Astronomical    Society). 

The  Visibility  of  Stars  in  Daylight. — M. 
Bigourdan's  researches  in  the  history  of  astronomy 
have  brought  to  light  some  interesting  facts  concern- 
ing early  modern  observations  of  stars  in  da5'light 
{Comptes  rendus,  No.  22).  The  earliest  record  ap- 
pears to  be  a  note  found  by  Zach  among  the  papers 
of  J.  Gaultier,  stating  that  the  latter  at  Aix-en-Provence 
observed  Mercury  on  March  i,  1611,  at  6h.  30m.  a.m. 
- — the  sun  would  then  be  above  the  horizon.  The  day- 
light observation  of  stars  proper  appears  to  date  from_ 
May  2,  1632,  when  W.  Schickhard  first  saw  Regulus. 


June  15,  1916] 


NATURE 


329 


I 


GEOLOGY  OF  SOUTH-WEST  AFRICA. 

T  is  not  often  that  a  geological  memoir  appears 
in  such  inspiring  circumstances  as  that  issued 
v  the  Mines  Department  of  the  Union  of  South 
Africa  on  "The  Geolog>-  and  Mineral  Industry  of 
South-west  Africa "  (Pretoria,  1916,  price  7s.  6d.). 
-Mr.  P.  A.  Wagner  writes  with  an  eye  tor  geographic 
I  atures  and  for  plant-associations,  and  his  photo- 
-,raphic  illustrations,  such  as  that  of  the  Okavango 
Iviver,  or  that  of  the  noble  barchans  in  the  sand- 
desert,  convey  vivid  information  in  regard  to  the  new 
territory-  of  the  Union.  Here  and  there  in  his  ad- 
mirably written  text  a  war  that  has  recently  taken 
l^lace  is  casually  mentioned ;  otherwise  the  transference 
of  this  rich  and  developing  mineral  territory  from  one 
Government  to  another  could  only  be  guessed  by  the 
quiet  excision  of  "  German "  from  its  official  name. 
An  exact  Dutch  translation  follows  the  English  text, 
and  the  titles  beneath  the  pictures  are  given  in  both 
languages.  In  a  few  minutes  we  find  ourselves  at 
home  with  the  simple  phraseology  of  our  African  com- 
rades, and  the  memoir  will  form  an  excellent  lesson- 
book  for  mining  men  travelling  out  to  '"Walvis 
Bay." 

Mr.  Wagner's  description  of  the  geology,  accom- 
panied by  a  remarkable,  if  provisional,  coloured  map, 
shows  how  the  features  familiar  through  the  Cape 
Province  stretch  bevond  the  Kalahari  region  to  the 
coast.  Certain  shales  in  the  Karroo  formation  appear, 
however,  to  be  marine  in  South-west  Africa,  and 
Lx)wer  Miocene  strata  occur  in  detached  areas  south 
of  Liideritz  Bay.  The  composite  gneisses  of  the  basal 
complex  are  fineh'  illustrated  from  Diamantberg.  In 
■  the  author's  review  of  the  ven,-  varied  mineral  pros- 
pects we  are  glad  to  note  that  the  Union  Government 
has  arranged  for  the  protection  of  guano-producing 
birds.  The  output  of  minerals  so  far  has  been  prac- 
tically confined  to  the  very  prosperous  diamond-fields 
of  the  Liideritz  coast,  and  the  copper  ores  of  the 
Grootfontein    district    in   the    north-east. 

Mr.  Wagner  directs  attention  to  the  great  explosion 
which  formed  the  ring  of  Geitsi  Gubib,  north  of 
Berseba  (Bathsheba).  This  ring  has  been  recently 
described  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Rogers  (Trans.  Roy.  Soc. 
S.  Africa,  vol.  v.,  p.  247),  who  shows  that,  contrary  to 
Dr.  Schenck's  opinion,  volcanic  rocks  are  not  to  be 
found  in  its  materials.  The  "breccias"  and  tuffs  are 
formed  mainly  from  shattered  sediments,  together  with 
some  fragments  of  deep-seated  holocrystalltne  rocks. 
The  central  "crater"  is  merely  the  result  of  denuda- 
tion acting  on  a  softer  tuff  within  a  wall  of  more 
resisting  but  equally  fragmental  matter.  The  whole 
jnountain  is  a  volcanic  neck  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
in  diameter,   choked   bv    its   products   of   explosion. 

G.  A.  J.  C. 


ANTARCTIC  HYDROGRAPHY. 

MANY  of  the  scientific  results  of  the  Scotia  Ant- 
arctic Expedition  (1902-04)  of  Dr.  W.  S.  Bruce 
have  now  appeared,  but  want  of  funds  has  seriously 
delayed  the  publication  of  the  valuable  observations. 
The  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  which  has  done  a 
great  deal  to  further  the  publication,  has  issued  in 
its  Transactions  (vol.  li.,  4,  pp.  71-170)  a  lengthy 
memoir  on  the  temperatures,  specific  gravities,  and 
salinities  of  the  Weddell  Sea  and  of  the  North  and 
South  Atlantic  Ocean  by  W.  S.  Bruce,  A.  King,  and 
D.  W.  Wilton.  The  surface  observations  were  taken 
daily  by  Mr.  Wilton  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
of  the  expedition,  except  during  the  wintering  of  the 
Scotia  at   the  South   Orlcneys,   and   extend   from   the 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


North  Atlantic  to  the  Weddell  Sea  via  the  Falkland 
Islands,  and  home  vid  Gough  Island  and  Cape  Town 
to  St.  Helena  and  the  Azores.  In  Antarctic  waters 
observations  were  generally  taken  every  four  hours, 
and  sometimes  oftener.  In  addition,  many  readings 
were  taken  at  depths  down  to  3000  fathoms. 

Dr.  Bruce  recounts  the  minute  care  exercised  in 
taking  the  observations,  which  deal  with  nearly  six 
hundred  samples.  The  densities  were  determined  by 
hydrometers  lent  by  Mr.  J.  Y.  Buchanan.  Deep 
samples  were  obtained  by  the  Buchanan-Richard 
water-bottle.  Occasionally  the  Pettersson-Nansen  in- 
sulated water-bottle  with  the  direct-reading  Richter 
thermometer  was  used,  but  for  polar  work  this  has 
its  drawbacks,  quite  apart  from  its  excessive  cost  and 
the  liability  of  loss  in  bad  weadier.  The  fine  screws 
are  difficult  to  manipulate  with  cold  fingers,  and  it  is 
questionable  whether  the  insulation  is  trustworthy  at 
low  air  temperatures.  In  one  case  the  contents  were 
frozen  solid  when  the  bottle  came  on  deck.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Buchanan-Richard  bottle  is  cheap, 
easily  manipulated,  does  not  jam  by  freezing,  and  is 
trustworthy  at  any  depths.  Nor  is  it  probable  that 
errors  are  frequent  or  large  due  to  variations  in  the 
point  at  which  the  mercury  breaks  in  the  reversing 
thermometer.  In  the  case  of  every  sample,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  data  relating  to  collection,  those  in  relation 
to  the  determination  of  its  density  are  given.  The 
densit}'^  is  given  (i)  at  the  temperature  of  the  experi- 
ment, (2)  at  1556°  C,  (3)  at  the  temperature  of  the 
sea  at  the  time  the  sample  was  taken.  This  last  gives 
the  actual  density  of  the  water  in  situ.  Some  of  these 
calculations  are  the  work  of  Mr.  A.  King,  and  all 
the  others  have  been  checked  by  him.  Exigencies  of 
space  and  e.vpense  have  prevented  a  full  discussion  of 
the  results  and  the  addition  of  charts,  but,  neverttie- 
le^s,  the  memoir  constitutes  the  finest  contribution  ever 
made  to  Antarctic  hydrography. 


PORTLAND      CEMENT. 

PORTLAND  cement  has  in  recent  years  come  into 
such  extensive  use  for  a  variety  of  purposes  that 
particulars  concerning  it  should  interest  a  wide  circle 
of  readers.  In  vol.  lix.  (part  iii.,  January,  1916J  of  the 
Transactions  of  the  Institution  of  Engineers  and  Ship- 
builders in  Scotland,  appears  a  paper  by  Mr.  B.  J. 
Day  on  the  manufacture,  properties,  and  testing  of 
Portland  cement,  with  a  special  description  of  a  cement 
works  erected  by  the  author  at  Aberthaw,  Glamorgan- 
shire. This  article  forms  the  basis  of  the  following 
short  descriptive  account ;  and  by  Mr.  Day's  courteous 
permission  we  are  able  to  use  two  of  the  illustrations 
which  accompany  his  paper. 

The  difference  between  limes  and  cements  should 
be  clearly  understood.  Common  lime,  made  by  burn- 
ing pure  limestone  (composed  essentially  of  calcium 
carbonate),  slakes  in  water,  but  has  no  hydraulic 
properties  (does  not  harden  or  set  under  water). 
Hydraulic  lime,  made  by  burning  at  a  low  temperature 
impure  limestones  or  limestone  mixed  with  clay,  slakes 
on  adding  water,  and  has  hydraulic  properties.  Port- 
land cement  is  made  by  burning  at  a  high  temperature 
— to  incipient  fusion  of  the  material — a  definite  mix- 
ture of  limestone  with  clay  or  shale,  and  finely  grind- 
ing the  resulting  clinker.  The  powder  so  obtained  has 
strong  hydraulic  properties.  It  is  important  to  distin- 
guish Portland  cement  from  Roman  cement  and  cer- 
tain other  natural  cements,  and  slag  cements,  all  of 
which  are  inferior  in  strength  and  less  constant  ia 
composition. 

The  original  Portland  cement,  patented  in  1824  by 
Joseph  Aspdin,  of  Leeds,  was  so  called  because  after 


330 


NATURE 


[June  15,  1916 


hardening  it  looked  like  Portland  stone ;  but  though 
the  composition  was  similar  to  irliat  of  modern  Port- 
land cement,  the  mixed  material  was  only  lightly 
calcined.  Portland  cement  is  manufactured  in  Eng- 
land, chiefly  about  the  Thames  and  Medway,  Rugby, 
Leamington,  Cambridge,  Hull,  and  the  north-east 
coast,  and  also  in  South  Wales. 

The  preparation  and  mixing  of  the  raw  material 
before  burning  is  effected  by  the  dry  process  or  the 
wet  process.  The  method  known  as  the  semi-wet 
process  is  practically  the  same  as  the  wet  process, 
using  less  water. 

In  the  dry  process  the  raw  material  is  stored  under 
cover  before  being  crushed,  so  that  the  exact  amount 
of  moisture  may  be  ascertained  and  allowed  for  when 
mixing  lime  with  the  shale  or  clay.  After  preliminary 
crushing  in  gyratory  or  jaw-crushers,   the  raw  mate- 


to  burn  the  slurry  than  the  dry  powder  in  the  dry 
process. 

At  the  Aberthaw  cement  works  are  beds  of  hard 
crystalline  limestone  interstratified  with  beds  of  shale, 
all  the  necessary  materials  thus  occurring  together  on 
the  spot.  The  quarrying  is  done  by  means  of  a  steam 
navvy,  aided  by  a  small  amount  of  powder  to  shake 
the  face  of  the  quarry. 

The  crushed  material  is  ground  in  vertical  mills 
(chiefly  in  America),  or  in  horizontal  mills  (mostly  in 
Europe).  Horizontal  mills  are  generally  installed  in 
pairs,  a  ball-mill  for  preliminary  grinding,  and  a  tube- 
mill  as  a  finishing  mill.  The  tube-mill  is  much  longer 
than  the  ball-mill,  and  contains  flint  pebbles  of  various 
sizes  instead  of  steel  balls.  The  ground  material  from 
the  ball-mill  passes  through  sieves  to  reach  the  tube- 
mill,    the   portion    retained  by    the   sieves   being   auto- 


FlG.   I. — Raw-mill  grinding-housejat  Aberthaw  during  construction,  showing  arrangement  of  ball  and  tube-mills. 


rials  are  dried,  then  weighed,  and  delivered  to  the  mills 
in  definite  proportions.  After  grinding  to  an  extremely 
fine  powder  the  mixture  is  fed  into  the  kiln  for  burn- 
ing. In  the  wet  process  the  material  is  often  delivered 
in  the  correct  proportions  from  the  quarry  into  crushers 
or  wash-mills. 

On  the  Thames  and  Medway,  the  raw  material,  con- 
sisting of  soft  chalk  and  river  mud,  is  washed  through 
fine-meshed  sieves,  and  the  "  slurry  "  is  then  pumped 
or  elevated  to  the  kiln.  At  Aberthaw,  the  raw  mate- 
rial, consisting  of  hard  limestone  and  shale,  is  crushed 
in  jaw-crushers  and  delivered  to  the  wet  mills  for 
grinding  with  water  to  a  fine  slurry. 

In  the  wet  process  less  power  is  required  to  grind 
hard  material,  and  the  slurry  is  easily  dealt  with  by 
means  of  pumps ;  but  more  fuel  is  needed  in  the  kiln 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


matically  returned  to  the  ball-mill  for  further  grinding. 
In  the  wet  process  similar  mills  are  employed  with 
only  coarse  sieves  or  screens,  as  otherwise  thev  would 
tend  to  get  choked. 

At  Aberthaw,  after  leaving  the  mills,  the  slurry  falls 
into  a  trough,  and  by  means  of  a  special  conveyer  is 
delivered  to  two  slurry  pumps,  which  deliver  the 
slurry  into  one  of  two  large  storage  tanks.  The 
chemist  takes  half-hourly  samples  from  each  mill,  and 
hourly  samples  from  the  large  storage  tanks  while 
being  filled.  The  mixture  in  the  tanks  is  thus  kept 
practically  constant,  and  is  continually  agitated. 

From  the  storage  tanks  the  slurry  is  delivered  to 
the  feeding  apparatus  of  the  nearly  horizontal  rotary 
kilns.  Dried,  finely-powdered  coal-dust  is  blown  into 
the  outlet  end  of  the  kiln,  and  ignites  8  to  lo  ft.  from 


June  15,  1916] 


NATURE 


the  outlet,  the  temperature  in  the  burning  zone  being 
approximately  1370°  to  1650°  C.  This  temperature  is 
gradually  reduced  until  at  the  inlet  end  it  is  3 15°  10455°  ^• 
The  slurry  is  first  dried  by  the  hot  issuing  gases,  then 
water  of  combination  is  driven  off  and  organic  matter 
carbonised;  the  dehydrated  clay  and  lime  gradually 
approaches  the  clinkering  zone,  where  at  1540°  to 
1650°  C.  the  combination  of  the  Hme,  silica,  and 
alumina  takes  place.  The  clinker  thus  formed  con- 
tinues to  travel  down  the  kiln  and  drops  into  the  cooler 
as  a  white  hot  mass  of  small  nodules.  As  these  pass 
down  the  cooler  the  incoming  air  abstracts  heat  from 
the  clinker,  and  thus  receives  a  large  part  of  the  heat 
necessary  for  combustion.  Each  ton  of  clinker  burnt 
requires  about  5  cwt.  of  fuel. 

Formerly  the  shaft  or  chamber  kiln  was  used,  but 
the  rotary  type  of  kiln  is  now  almost  universally 
adopted  in  modern  plants  of  any  size,  owing  to  better 
burning  of  the  clinker,  greater  output,  and  economy. 

The    clinker   is    finally    ground    to     an     impalpable 


come  up  draw  some  of  their  food  material  from  the 
soil,  and  they  build  up  their  leaf  and  stem  tissues 
partly  out  of  this  and  partly  out  of  the  carbon  dioxide 
in  the  air.  The  process  requires  that  energj- 
should  be  put  into  it;  in  this  case  the  energy 
comes  from  sunshine,  and  as  neither  energy  nor 
matter  is  ever  destroyed  in  natural  processes  they 
are  added  to  the  mineral  matter  of  the  soil  after  these 
plants  die,  and  their  leaves,  stems,  etc.,  become 
mingled  with  it. 

Direct  exp)eriment  shows  that  this  addition  of  plant 
residues  is  beneficial  to  plant  growth,  and  it  is  now 
known  that  the  difference  between  the  surface  and 
the  subsoil  lies  largely  in  the  presence  of  residues 
left  by  generations  of  plants  that  have  lived  and  died 
there.  The  problem  is  to  find  why  the  plant  residues 
are  so  beneficial. 

These  plant  residues  contain  carbon  and  oxygen 
in  large  proportions,  hydrogen  and  nitrogen  in 
smaller    proportions,    and    lesser    quantities    of    phos- 


FiG.    2. — View  taken  from  the  kiln  firing  platform,   showing  the  two   200-feet  kilns,    slurry   feed  -apparatus,    dust   chambers,  and 

chimneys  at  Aberthaw. 


powder,  the  grinding  arrangements  being  similar  to 
those  for  the  raw  materials.  The  Aberthaw  works 
produce  2400  tons  of  cement  per  <veek.  J.  A.  A. 


THE  SOIL  AND  THE  PLANT. 
Nature's  Cycle  and  Man's  Control.* 

T  T  is  a  familiar  observation  that  the  upper  layer  of 
A  the  soil  alone  is  well  adapted  for  plant  growth, 
the  underlying  material  or  subsoil  being  wholly  un- 
suited  for  the  purpose.  But  this  distinction  did  not 
always  exist.  When  the  soil  was  first  laid  down  it 
was  all  like  the  subsoil ;  something,  however,  has 
happened  to  bring  about  the  change.  Observations 
on  land  slips  and  cliff  falls,  and  direct  experiments,  all 
show  that  whenever  subsoil  is  left  exposed  to  the  air 
it  begins  to  cover  itself  with  vegetation,  the  seeds  of 
which  are  blown  or  carried  on.     The  first  plants  that 

1  Summary   of  two   lecture:  delivered  before   the   Royal    Institution   on 
February  29  and  March  7  by  Dr.  E.  J.  Russell. 


NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


phorus,  calcium,  magnesium,  potassium,  etc.  The 
chief  reaction  in  the  soil  is  an  oxidation ;  oxygen  is 
absorbed  and  carbon  dioxide  given  out  in  approxi- 
mate equal  volume.  The  carbohydrates  of  the  plant 
disappear  very  rapidly;  some  of  the  cellulose  takes 
longer  and  gives  rise  to  the  black  humus  familiar  to 
all  gardeners.  The  nitrogen  appears  as  nitrate.  This 
last  is  not  quite  w^hat  one  would  expect.  In  the 
decomposition  of  protein  as  studied  in  the  laboratory 
the  result  is  always  a  mixture  of  amino-acids.  Under 
the  action  of  putrefactive  bacteria  the  decomposition 
is  carried  a  stage  further,  yielding  ammonia  and  other 
bases,  but  nitrates  are  not  found  by  the  processes  of 
the  chemist.  At  first  sight,  therefore,  the  laboratory 
decomposition  appears  quite  distinct  from  that  in  the 
soil,  but  close  study  shows  that  this  is  not  so.  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  groups  isolated  in  the  laborator>'  can 
be  found  in  the  soil,  and,  what  is  still  more  to  the 
point,  if  a  trace  of  chk)roform  or  toluene  is  added  to 
the  soil  no  nitrate  is  formed,  but  ammonia  accumu- 
lates instead.  When  a  trace  of  untreated  soil  is  added 
the   process    starts    again,    and    nitrate    is    found    as 


332 


NATURE 


[June  15,  1916 


usual.  Thus  it  appears  that  ampionia  is  the  precursor 
of  nitrates,  and  is  itself  preceded  by  the  usual  amino- 
acids.  The  distinguishing  feature  of  the  soil  decom- 
position is  simply  that  it  is  carried  several  stages 
further. 

This  decomposition  is  absolutely  indispensable  to  the 
plant ;  the  initial  products — the  proteins — are  useless 
for  plant  nutrition ;  the  intermediate  products  are  not 
much  good ;  the  ammonia  is  considerably  better,  while 
the  final  stage — the  nitrate — is  the  best  of  all. 

During  this  decomposition  also,  the  energy  stored 
up  by  the  plant  during  its  lifetime  is  run  down,  so  that 
there  is  a  transformation  both  of  material  and  energy. 
Neither  the  energy  nor  the  material  is  wasted ;  they 
go  to  support  a  vast  population  of  the  most  varied 
kind,  ranging  from  microscopic  bacteria  to  earth- 
worms. All  these  depend  on  the  plant  residues  for 
their  food  and  their  energy.  But  theirs  is  no  case  of 
taking  all  and  giving  nothing  in  return.  'Their  work 
is  nothing  less  than  the  production  of  food  for  the 
plant :  preparing  new  plant  food  out  of  old  plant 
residues. 

Thus  we  have  a  great  cycle  going  on  in  the  soil; 
dead  plant  residues  mingle  with  it,  and  give  life  to 
countless  micro-organisms,  which  in  turn  manufacture 

.    Complex  pUnt  substaT\ccs. 


PI  ^ 


^c5 


:3 


P-  3 


&asfous 
N 


Nitrates 


COa 


iCOi       Ccnpounds 
of  p.  K.  etc. 


out  of  these  residues  food  for  a  new  generation  of 
plants. 

It  is  necessary  to  set  some  limits  to  the  inquiry,  and 
so  we  restrict  ourselves  to  the  production  of  nitrates. 
This  process  is  the  work  of  a  great  number  of  organ- 
isms, some  of  which  carry  out  the  first  stages,  and 
others  the  later  stages.  It  resembles  the  process  of 
making  munitions  in  that  the  first  stages  can  be 
brought  about  by  a  large  variety  of  workers,  while 
later  stages  are  much  more  specialised,  and  can  be 
effected  only  by  one  or  two  special  workers.  Indeed, 
in  the  wars  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  process  was 
actually  under  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  of  the  time, 
and  both  in  Sweden  and  in  Germany  elaborate  in- 
structions were  drawn  up  for  the  working  of  nitrate 
beds. 

The  process  of  nitrate  formation  is  not  free  from 
waste;  starting  with  loo  parts  of  nitrogen  as  protein, 
one  never  recovers  loo  parts  of  nitrogen  as  nitrate; 
there  is  always  a  loss.  But  the  fault  does  not  appear 
to  be  with  the  special  organisms  carrying  out  the  last 
stages  of  the  process,  for  at  least  96  per  cent,  of  the 
ammoniacal  nitrogen  reappears  as  nitrate.  It  is  not 
clear  that  it  lies  with  the  organisms  ^  producing 
ammonia;  at  any  rate,  they  can  work  without  loss. 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


The  probability  is  that  the  loss  arises  from  some  of 
the  nitrate  that  has  been  actually  formed. 

However  it  arises,  this  loss,  as  well  as  the  leaching 
out  of  nitrate  by  rain,  would  in  natural  conditions 
bring  the  stock  of  soil  nitrogen  to  a  very  low  level  if 
there  were  no  counterbalancing  processes,  and  for  the 
last  fifty  years  chemists  and  bacteriologists  have  been 
searching  the  soil  very  thoroughly  to  find  out  how 
these  gains  are  brought  about.  Two  sources  are 
known  :  the  organisms  associated  with  clover  and 
other  Leguminosae,  and  free-living  nitrogen-fixing 
organisms.  These  differ  very  much  in  appearance  and 
mode  of  life,  but  they  both  require  energy  for  the 
nitrogen  fixation,  and  this  they  obtain  from  the  com- 
bustion of  carbohydrate  materials. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  organ- 
isms bringing  about  these  changes  are  the  only  ones 
in  the  soil,  or  that  they  lead  their  lives  quite  inde- 
pendently of  the  rest  of  the  soil  population.  Indeed, 
they  could  scarcely  do  so  in  any  case,  for  there  is  only 
a  limited  store  of  food  and  energy,  and  whatever  is 
not  helping  is  hindering  them.  Numerous  experiments 
show  that  there  is  some  factor — neither  food,  air, 
water,  nor  temperature — which  is  operating  to  keep 
down  their  numbers.  As  it  is  put  out  of  action  by 
heating  to  55°  C,  or  by  traces  of  volatile  antiseptics, 
and  can  be  reintroduced  by  adding  a  little  untreated 
soil,  it  is  presumably  biological,  and  the  evidence  shows 
that  it  consists  in  part  at  least  of  certain  amoebae; 
it  is  quite  possible  that  other  forms  are  involved  as 
well.  But  whatever  the  detrimental  organisms  may 
be  they  impede  the  work  of  the  organisms  producing 
plant  food  in  the  soil.  Fortunately  they  are  put  out 
of  action  more  easily,  so  that  we  get  the  apparent 
paradox  that  any  process  fatal  to  life  (but  not  too 
fatal)  proves  ultimately  beneficial  to  fertility,  while 
any  process  beneficial  to  life  proves  ultimately  harm- 
ful. Long  frost,  drought,  heat,  therefore  benefit  the 
useful  makers  of  plant  food,  while  prolonged  warmth, 
moisture,  and  treatment  with  organic  manures  lead  to 
deterioration  or  to  "  sickness,"  as  the  practical  man 
puts  it. 

Having  thus  set  out  the  general  nature  of  the  cycle, 
we  next  proceed  to  see  how  and  to  what  extent  it  can 
be  controlled. 

Control  may  take  place  in  two  directions  :  the 
amount  of  organic  matter,  i.e.  raw  material  out  of 
which  plant  food  is  made,  may  be  increased,  or  the 
pace  of  the  manufacturing  process  may  be  forced. 

The  necessity  for  increasing  the  organic  matter  in 
the  soil  was  realised  very  early.  Arable  farmers  soon 
found  that  land  cannot  be  cropped  indefinitely;  sooner 
or  later  it  becomes  "exhausted";  it  recovers,  how- 
ever, if  it  is  left  to  itself  for  a  time,  so  that  natural 
vegetation  can  spring  up  and  die  again.  The  Mosaic 
law  commanded  the  Jews  to  leave  their  land  for  one 
year  in  seven  and  not  to  reap  "  that  which  groweth 
of  its  own  accord."  The  system  survived  in  our  own 
land  through  Saxon  and  medieval  times ;  land  v/as 
uncropped  one  year  in  three,  two  corn .  crops  were 
taken,  then  grass  was  allowed  to  grow  up  on  the 
stubble  to  be  ploughed  in.  The  principle  still  under- 
lies our  modern  rotations;  crops  are  grown,  then  the 
land  is  left  covered  with  vegetation,  but  the  process 
is  regulated  by  sowing  a  definite  mixture  of  grass  or 
clover  chosen  to  make  vigorous  growth. 

Another  method  for  increasing  the  amount  of  organic 
matter  in  the  soil  consists  in  growing  a  crop  exclu- 
sively for  the  purpose  of  ploughing  it  in.  This  also 
goes  back  to  ancient  times  :  Theophrastus,  300  years 
before  Christ,  tells  us  that  beans  were  grown  in 
Macedonia  and  Thessaly  expressly  to  be  ploughed  in  at 
flowering  time,  and  Varro,  about  50  B.C.,  states  that 
lupins  were  grown  for  the  same  purpose.     This  method 


June  15,  1916] 


NATURE 


333 


is  called  "green  manuring,"  and  even  to-day  is  not 
so  fully  developed  as  it  ought  to  be.  Instead  of 
ploughing  in  the  crop  it  may  be  fed  to  animals  on 
the  ground;  there  are  other  methods  also,  but  the 
object  is  always  the  same. 

The  cultivator's  aim,  however,  is  not  to  accumulate 
fertility  but  to  use  it.  We  must  therefore  turn  to  the 
other  part  of  the  cycle  and  see  how  far  the  down 
grade  can  be  controlled.  The  most  obvious  method 
is  to  try  to  control  the  soil  organisms.  This  has 
proved  very  difficult,  and  only  the  fringe  has  yet  been 
touched.  Soon  after  bacteriologists  had  picked  out 
the  organisms  that  cause  clover  to  fix  nitrogen  they 
conceived  the  idea  of  breeding  them  in  quantity  and 
putting  them  on  to  the  seed  or  into  the  soil,  with  a 
view  of  getting  better  clover  crops,  and  therefore  a 
greater  store  of  fertility.  These  hopes  were  dis- 
appointed. Inoculation  succeeded  only  in  one  case; 
when  a  new  leguminous  crop  was  introduced  it  some- 
times proved  more  economical  to  add  the  proper  strain 
of  organisms  than  to  wait  until  the  native  organisms 
had  had  time  to  adapt  themselves.  This  has  happened 
in  Scotland,  Canada,  and  the  United  States.  But 
usually  in  this  country  the  proper  bacteria  appear 
already  to  be  present,  and  little  is  gained  by  adding 
to  their  numbers ;  they  merely  die  down  to  the  proper 
number  the  soil  can  carry.  If  one  wishes  to  increase 
the  number  it  is  necessary  to  improve  the  soil  condi- 
tions. Even  this  does  not  settle  the  matter,  for,  as 
already  shown,  the  soil  population  is  very  mixed,  and 
improvements  in  soil  conditions  may  benefit  the  whole 
crowd,  bad  and  good.  Indeed,  under  specially  intense 
glasshouse  conditions  the  harmful  population  may 
prosper  so  much  that  the  efficiency  of  the  soil  becomes 
lowered  and  the  soil  becomes  "  sick."  The  remedy  is 
obvious  :  it  consists  in  improving  the  soil  population, 
and  this  is  done  by  taking  advantage  of  the  fact  that 
the  harmful  organisms  are  more  easily  killed  than  the 
useful  ones.  Steam  is  used  successfully  in  glass- 
houses ;  antiseptics  would  be  cheaper,  but  in  spite 
of  considerable  search,  nothing  has  yet  been  found 
suitable  for  field  work.  The  problem  is  still  under 
investigation. 

More  success  has  been  attained  in  the  control  of  soil 
conditions.  Fortunately  these  are  the  same  for  organ- 
isms as  for  plants,  so  that  anything  benefiting  the  one 
helps  the  other  as  well.  But  there  is  one  fundamental 
law  that  always  holds ;  the  plant  must  have  all  its 
requirements  satisfied  or  it  will  fail;  for  example,  no 
amount  of  food  or  water  makes  up  for  the  lack  of 
temperature^  Anything  setting  a  limit  to  growth  is 
called  a  limiting  factor.  Common  limiting  factors  in 
the  soil  are  sourness,  wetness,  dryness,  poverty,  thin- 
ness of  soil,  etc.  In  soil  fertility  problems  the  first 
step  is  always  to  discover  the  limiting  factor,  and  then 
to  put  it  out  of  action. 

One  of  the  commonest  defects  is  sourness  or  lack 
of  lime.  From  the  dawn  of  history  this  has  been  one 
of  the  troubles  of  the  Celtic  tribes^  and  before  History 
began  they  had  discovered  the  remedy.  Pliny  tells 
us  that  they  drew  chalk  out  of  the  earth  to  "  nourish  " 
the  soil ;  to  this  day  the  process  is  still  carried  out  in 
Hertfordshire  much  as  he  describes  it.  In  modern 
times  ground  lime  is  more  convenient,  and  ground 
limestone  sometimes  proves  even  better  still. 

Wetness  can  be  remedied  only  in  one  way — by 
drainage.  This  is  an  old  art  that  was  forgotten  for 
a  long  time;  it  is  not  mentioned  in  the  great  English 
agricultural  revival  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Gervase 
Markham,  for  instance,  wrote  books  on  every  branch 
of  farming — so  many,  indeed,  that  his  publishers  made 
a  contract  with  him  to  write  no  more — but  never  one 
on  drainage.  By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  it  was  well  known,  though  not  much  practised  ; 
by  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  however,  it 
NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


was  extensively  carried  out.  Much  of  it  wants  re- 
doing. Pipe  drainage  is  out  of  the  question  nowadays 
on  any  large  area,  but  a  cheap  and  effective  substitute 
seems  to  be  forthcoming  in  mole  drainage,  which  con- 
sists in  making  tunnels  through  the  soil  about  9  to 
18  in.  below  the  surface  with  a  special  form  of  plough. 

Dryness  can  either  be  overcome  by  adding  water,  as 
in  the  big  irrigation  schemes,  or  by  taking  more  care 
of  the  natural  water  supply.  Addition  of  clay  or 
organic  matter  reduces  the  loss  of  water ;  so  also  does 
the  preservation  of  a  fine  soil  mulch  on  the  surface. 
Implements  have  been  devised  to  produce  this  soil 
layer.  Much  can  be  done  also  by  selecting  suitable 
crops  or  varieties;  special  drought-resisting  wheats 
have  been  bred  in  Australia,  and  maize  in  the  western 
States  of  America. 

Shallowness  of  soil  is,  however,  more  serious, 
especially  when  the  thin  soil  is  underlain  by  gravel  or 
very  coarse  sand ;  indeed,  in  this  case  no  one  has 
evolved  any  satisfactory  method  of  treatment.  Some- 
thing may  be  done  if  a  soft  rock  lies  beneath,  and 
especially  if  it  forms  only  a  thin  layer  which  can  be 
removed.  But  when  all  is  said  and  done,  there  remain 
great  areas  of  waste  land  that  cannot  be  dealt  with  on 
our  present  methods. 

Apart  from  these  cases,  however,  a  very  considerable 
degree  of  control  of  the  soil  cycle  is  possible.  The 
question  naturally  arises  :  How  far  can  the  process 
go?  Not  indefinitely.  In  any  scheme  of  improvement 
we  are  soon  brought  up  against  the  fundamental  law 
that  plants  must  have  all  their  requirements  fulfilled, 
anything  lacking  setting  a  limit  to  their  growth. 
Agricultural  investigators  aspire  to  a  good  deal  in  the 
way  of  control  and  improvement,  but  they  admit  they 
cannot  overcome  the  weather.  Here,  then,  is  one 
limiting  factor  which  has  wrecked  many  schemes  of 
soil  improvement. 

Another  is  the  soil  type.  In  spite  of  all  efforts  a  clay 
remains  a  clay  and  a  sand  remains  a  sand.  A  gar- 
dener on  sandy  soil  may  with  great  pains  be  able 
to  grow  clay-soil  plants,  but  they  will  never  "  do  "  as 
well  as  if  equal  care  were  bestowed  on  theoi  in  their 
natural  habitat.  The  farmer  cannot  lavish  care  on 
individual  plants,  but  has  to  deal  with  masses ;  he 
therefore  is  less  able  to  overcome  the  difficulties  of 
soil  type.  This  problem,  however,  is  not  insuperable, 
and  attempts  are  now  being  made  to  deal  with  it. 


UNIVERSITY  AND   EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Cambridge. — ^The  General  Board  of  Studies  has  pub- 
lished a  report  to  the  Senate  on  the  desirability  of 
instituting  degrees,  other  than  the  doctorate,  to  be 
given  for  original  research;  the  board  is  of  opinion 
that  the  present  is  a  favourable  opportunity,-  for  insti- 
tuting a  more  distinctive  recognition  of  research  work 
than  is  at  present  available.  Two  classes  of  student 
have  to  be  considered  :  first,  that  composed  of  gradu- 
ates of  the  University ;  and,  secondly,  that  consisting 
of  graduates  of  other  universities  who  may,  under  the 
present  regulations,  obtain  the  Cambridge  degree  by 
two  years'  research  work  carried  out  in  the  Univer- 
sity. The  Board  recommends  that  the  degrees  of 
Bachelor  of  Letters  and  Bachelor  of  Science  be  estab- 
lished ;  that  a  Bachelor  of  Arts  of  the  University  may, 
in  or  after  his  eleventh  term,  submit  for  approval  a 
dissertation  upon  original  research  for  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Letters  or  Science ;  that  a  research  student 
who  is  not  a  graduate  of  the  University  may  submit 
a  dissertation  upon  original  research  for  one  or  other 
of  the  new  degrees  after  six  terms'  residence.  It  is, 
also  recommended  by  the  board,  although  with  dis- 
sentients,  that  holders  of  the  new  degrees  may  pro- 


334 


NATURE 


[June  15,  1916 


ceed   to   the   degree  of   Master  of  Arts   in  the   same 
manner  as  do  Bachelors  of  Arts'  at  present. 

Dr.  Cobbett  and  Dr.  Graham-Smith  have  been  re- 
appointed University  lecturers  in  pathology  and 
hygiene  respectively. 


The  Conference  (1916)  of  the  Association  of  Teachers 
in  Technical  Institutions  will  be  held  on  Saturday, 
June  17,  at  2.30  p.m.,  in  the  Lecture  Theatre,  Day 
Training  College,  Southampton  Row,  W.C.  The 
chair  will  be  taken  by  the  president,  Dr.  T.  Slater 
Price  (military  duties  permitting),  and  Dr.  W.  Garnett 
will  deliver  an  address.  A  number  of  important  reso- 
lutions referring  to  technical  education,  scientific  re- 
search, and  industrial  development  will  be  put  to  the 
meeting. 

Arrangements  have  been  made,  with  the  approval 
of  the  Foreign  Office,  for  extending  to  British 
prisoners  of  war  interned  abroad  the  benefits  of  the 
scheme,  which  has  been  in  operation  for  the  last  year 
in  connection  with  Ruhleben,  for  supplying  selected 
books  of  an  educational  character  to  those  of  the 
interned  who  may  be  desirous  of  continuing  their 
studies  in  any  subject.  Under  this  scheme  several 
thousands  of  carefully  selected  volumes,  mostly 
standard  works,  have  been  supplied  to  the  Ruhleben 
Camp,  which  is  now  provided  with  excellent  libraries 
(class,  reference,  and  lending).  These  books,  which 
have  been  sent  out  through  the  agency  of  officers  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  have  proved  a  great  boon 
to  the  Interned,  and  have  enabled  sustained  educa- 
tional work  of  a  definite  character  to  be  carried  on  by 
the  Camp  Education  Department  formed  amonj*  the 
prisoners.  In  view  of  the  value  of  the  work  the  Board 
of  Trade  (Marine  Department)  have  decided  to  take 
it  into  account  in  connection  with  their  examinations 
for  the  certificates  of  competency  granted  by  them  to 
officers  of  the  Mercantile  Marine  and  the  Fishing 
Service.  Accordingly,  arrangements  have  now  been 
completed  for  recording  the  time  spent  by  any  prisoner 
interned  at  Ruhleben  or  Gronlngen  in  the  studv  of 
nautical  or  other  subjects.  An  appeal  is,  therefore, 
now  made  for  a  plentiful  supply  of  new  or  second- 
hand books  of  an  educational  character  (light  literature 
and  fiction  are  available  from  other  sources)  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  many  thousands  of  British  prisoners 
interned  in  enemy  or  neutral  countries.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  to  this  appeal  there  may  be  a  liberal 
response.  A  circular  explanatory  of  the  educational 
book  scheme  can  be  obtained  bv  sending  a  postcard 
addressed  at  the  Board  of  Education,  Whitehall,  S.W., 
to  Mr.  A.  T.  Davies,  who  is  in  charge  of  the  arrange- 
ments. 

Science  for  May  5  contains  an  interesting  and  sug- 
gestive address  by  Prof.  Alex.  Smith  on  "The  Train- 
ing of  Chemists,"  in  which  the  questions  of  standard 
and  overlapping  courses,  lecturing,  and  laboratory 
facilities  are  dealt  with.  Prof.  Smith  deprecates  the 
very  general  practice  of  compelling  undergraduates 
who  have  studied  chemistry  at  school  to  take  the 
same  course  in  their  first  year  as  those  who  know 
nothing  of  the  science.  He  advocates  placing  such 
students  in  a  section  by  themselves,  and  finds  in  his 
experlencse  that  they  progress  50  per  cent,  more 
rapidly  when  so  segregated.  The  overlapplner  which 
results  from  the  instructor  in  one  branch  of  chemistry 
{e.g.  qualitative  analysis)  assuming  that  the  student  is 
ignorant  of  facts  and  principles  which  he  has  already 
learnt  in  another  branch  (e.g.  the  inorganic  course) 
Is  also  emphasised.  It  is  pointed  out  that,  on  the 
other  hand,  organic  chemistry  frequently  suffers  from 
the  fault  of  being  taught  as  a  separate  science  and 
not  sufficiently  co-ordinated  with  the  inorganic  branch. 
Prof.  Smith  urges  that  considerable  advantage  would 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


accrue  by  the  standardisation  of  the  courses  in  the 
various  branches  of  chemistry  for  the  different  univer- 
sities and  colleges,  on  account  of  the  facts  that  migra- 
tion from  one  college  to  another  is  rapidly  increasing, 
and  that  colleges  of  medicine  are  requiring  previous 
college  work.  In  order  that  students  may  acquire 
that  ability  to  apply  theoretical  conceptions  which  will, 
more  than  over,  be  indispensable  in  the  future, 
standardising  the  elementary  courses  in  chemistry  is 
essential.  Doubt  Is  thrown  on  the  value  of  lecturing 
to  elementar^"^  students.  It  is  argued  that  lectures 
inculcate  an  ability  to  understand  statements  made 
by  others,  whereas  the  object  to  be  achieved  is  to 
train  the  student  to  make  correct  statements  on 
chemical  topics,  and  deduce  sound  conclusions,  him- 
self,  even  though  these  conclusions  are  not  new.  Prof. 
Smith  advocates  book  study  of  the  subject,  the  class 
work  being  restricted  to  the  testing  of  the  work  pre- 
pared, experiments  illustrating  the  work,  the  dis- 
cussion of  difficulties,  and  the  asklngf  of  questions. 
He  admits  the  value  of  lectures  to  students  who  know 
how  to  study;  that  is,  to  those  taking  the  more  ad- 
vanced courses. 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 
London. 

Royal  Microscopical  Society,  May  17. — Mr.  E.  Heron- 
Allen,  president,  in  the  chair. — J.  W.  Purkiss  :  Some 
suggestions  regarding  visual  efficiency  in  the  use  of 
the  microscope  and  other  optical  instruments.  From 
experience  of  work  with  the  spectrophotometer  and 
other  comparative  instruments  for  measuring  colour 
absorptions,  the  author  had  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  observer's  visual  efficiency  and  accuracy  over 
prolonged  periods  depend  very  largely  on  adjusting 
the  light  in  which  he  was  working,  so  that  it  should 
be  approximate  to  the  light-Intensity  in  the  field  of  the 
observing  instrument.  He  developed  this  principle  in 
its  application  to  the  microscope  and  other  optical 
instruments,  and  showed  how  the  more  or  less  rapid 
succession  of  efforts  of  the  eye  to  accommodate  itself 
to  changes  of  luminosity  was  usually  a  much  more 
potent  cause  of  eye  fatigue  or  strain  than  the  actual 
conditions  of  light  In  the  field  of  the  instrument  itself. 
— Rev.  H.  Friend  :  Alien  Ollgochaets  in  England. — • 
A.  T.  Watson  :  A  case  of  apparent  Intelligence  exhibited 
by  a  marine  tube-bearing  worm,  Terehella  conchilega. 

Pliysical  Society,  May  26. — Prof.  C.  V.  Boys,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — T.  Smith :  The  correction  of 
chromatic  aberrations  when  the  external  media  are 
dispersive.  When  one  of  the  external  media  of  a 
lens  system  is  dispersive  it  is  not  possible  to  ensure 
the  absence  of  differences  in  the  size  and  position  of 
images  of  all  objects  formed  by  length  of  different 
wave-lengths.  The  degree  to  which  correction  can  be 
carried  is  investigated,  and  formulae  are  given  by 
which  the  power  and  position  of  the  external  surfaces 
of  a  system  can  be  found  when  the  type  of  correction 
to  be  adopted  is  given. — J.  Guild  :  Note  on  the  use  of 
the  autocolllmating  telescope  in  the  measurement  of 
angles.  The  measurement  of  angles  by  means  of  the 
autocollimator  resolves  itself  into  the  measurement  of 
the  distance  between  two  images  produced  in  the  focal 
plane  of  a  micrometer  eyepiece.  In  most  cases  the 
liefht  forming  these  Images  passes  through  portions 
of  the  object  glass  on  opposite  sides  of  a  diameter. 
It  is  shown  that,  when  this  diameter  Is  perpendicular 
to  the  direction  of  the  displacement  to  be  measured, 
uncertainty  and  error  are  introduced  on  account  of  any 
residual  spherical  aberration  of  the  obiect  glass  and 
the  depth  of  focus  of  the  telescope.  One  or  two  par- 
ticular cases  are  discussed  In  which  it  is  shown  how 
this  may  be  obviated. — E.  Hatschek  :  The  viscosity  of 


June  15,  1916] 


NATURE 


335 


colloidal  solutions.  The  author,  in  reply  to  some 
remarks  made  by  Mr.  W.  B.  Hardy  in  the  course 
of  his  Guthrie  lecture,  points  out  (a)  that  no  viscosity 
formula  can  cover  the  stage  of  gel  formation,  since 
the  change  from  a  liquid  with  only  slight  anomalies 
to  a  system  having  many  properties  of  an  elastic  solid 
necessarily  precludes  this,  and  (6)  that  the  formula 
given  by  Einstein,  and,  independently  by  himself,  for 
the  viscosity  of  a  suspension  of  rigid  spherical  par- 
ticles, does  not  in  any  event  apply  to  systems  such 
as  discussed  by  Mr.  Hardy,  which  belong  to  the  class 
known  as  emulsoids. 

Linneaii    Society,    June    i. — Sir    David    Prain,    presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — C.  Reid  and  J.  Groves  :  New  types 
of   fossil   Characeae   from    the   Purbeck    Beds.       The 
earliest  known  remains  of  undoubted  Characeae  were 
detached   fruits    recorded  from    the    Lias    and    Oolite, 
the    earliest    remains    of    the    vegetative    parts    being 
those   in    the    Middle    Purbeck    Beds.     By    subjecting 
slices    of    the    limestone,    in    which    the    plants    were 
found,  to  a  prolonged  drip  of  very  slightly  acidulated 
water,    so   that   the   Chara-remains   were  etched   out, 
the  authors   had   been    able   to   elicit   much    fresh   in- 
formation as  to  structure,  which  had  not  been  obtain- 
able from  the  sections  and  polished  surfaces  of  chert 
—Prof.  G.  E.  NichoUs  :  The  structure  of  the  vertebral 
column  in  the  Anura  phaneroglossa  and  its  importance 
as  a  basis  of  classification. — Prof.  J.  MacLeod  :  Ouan-  | 
titative   variation    in  certain    diagnostic   characters   of  i 
ten    species   of   the   genus    Mnium.     Is   it  possible   to  j 
describe   and    to    identify    an    animal    or   a    vegetable  ;' 
species  by  means  of  numbers  representing  the  value   I 
of  the  specific   characters?     The  author  has  tried  to  j 
realise   this   by   measuring   thirty-eight    characters    in   j 
about  ninety  species  and  twenty  varieties  of  the  genus  | 
Carabus.     The  war  prevented  him  from  finishing  and 
publishing  his   work.     He   tried  to  carry  out   similar 
work  with  plants,  taking  mosses  of  the  genus  Mnium. 
He  limited  himself  to  the  study  of  the  leaves  of  the 
fertile  stem  of  ten  species  of  that  genus.     When  the 
length  of  the  successive  leaves  from  the  base  to  the 
summit  of  a  fertile  stem  of  a  Mnium  is  measured  it 
is  seen  that  the  length  increases  uo  to  a  maximum 
and  then  diminishes.     This  curve  represents  the  varia- 
tion  of   the   character  under  consideration    along   the 
axis.     This  peculiar  form  of  variation  mav  be  called 
gradation.     The  gradation  of  the  measured  characters 
of  the  ten   species  of   Mnium   shows  much  diversitv. 
In  these  examples  it  is  possible  to  find  the  name  by 
four  characters ;  but  it  may  be  necessary-  to  use  five 
or  more  characters.     As  a  dozen  characters  are  avail- 
able,   it   is   honed   that   the   identification    of   a  ^iven 
specimen  will  be  always  oossible,   even  if  thf»  species  j 
were  more  numerous. ^V.  L.  Distant  :  The  Rhvncota  I 
from  the  Indian  Ocean.  j 

Dublin.  I 

Royal  Irish  Academy,  May  22.— The  Most  Rev.   Dr.   I 
Bernard,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  president,  in  the  chair.   | 
— J.  Algar  :   Diketones  derived  from  diacetoresorcinol- 
dimethylether.     The  diketone    dianisovlacetoresorcinol- 
dimethylether    is    obtained     by    the     condensation     of  ; 
diacetoresorcinoldimethylether    with    anisic    ester    by 
means  of  sodium.     Similar  diketones  may  be  obtained 
by    the    condensation    of    the  dimethylether  with  the 
esters   of  phenylacetic,    acetic,    and  oxalic   acids.     Di- 
acetylacetoresorcinoldimethylether      and      di-a-phenyl- 
acetylacetoresorcinoldimethylether  are  colourless  crystal-  ■ 
line  substances,  while  dianisoylacetoresorcinoldimethyl-  1 
ether   is   coloured   slightlv   yellow,    and  dimethoxytso-  ' 
phthaloyldipyruvic,     ethylester     is     coloured     strongly  ' 
yellow.        These   diketones   on    heating    with   concen-  | 
trated   hydriodic   acid  should   give  dichromone   or  di-  1 
flavone  derivatives.     In  the  condensations  with  anisic  j 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


and  phenylacetic  esters  the  yields  of  the  diketones 
were  insufficient  to  try  this  reaction.  Diacetylaceto- 
resorcinoldimethylether  on  heating  with  hydriodic  acid 
gave  a  tarry  product,  from  which  an  extremely  small 
amount  of  colourless  substance  was  isolated,  which 
dissolved  in  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  giving  a  solu- 
tion with  the  strong  green  fluorescence  characteristic 
of  chromone  derivaties.  This  colourless  substance  was 
probably  a  dichromone  derivative. 

P.ARIS. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  May  29. — M.  Camille  Jordan  in 
the  chair. — The  President  gave  an  account  of  the 
scientific  work  of  the  late  General  J.  S.  Gallieni, 
correspondant  in  the  section  of  geography  and  navi- 
gation.—G.  Bigonrdan  :  Joseph  Gaultier  and  the  dis- 
covery of  the  visibility  of  the  stars  in  full  daylight. 
This  discovery  has  been  in  turn  attributed  to  Picard 
(1668),  Morin  (1635),  Hortensius  (1633),  Schickhardt 
(1632).  It  is  shown  that  this  discover}.-  was  made  in  161 1 
by  Joseph  Gaultier,  of  Aix-en-Provence  (see  p.  328). — 
P.  Dnhem  :  The  general  theorj'  of  electric  oscillations. — 
M.  Balland  :  An  unpublished  letter  of  Parmentier.  The 
letter  is  dated  August  13,  1800,  and  has  reference  to 
the  quality  of  the  bread  supplied  to  the  Hotel  des 
Invalides. — B.  Globa-Mikhailenco  :  The  movement  of  a 
billiard  ball  with  sliding  and  rolling  friction. — M. 
Mesnager  :  All  points  of  a  supported  thin  rectangular 
plate  are  lowered  on  the  application  of  a  uniform 
load,  no  element  remains  horizontal,  the  lines  of 
greatest  fall  all  end  at  the  centre. — C.  Stormer  :  The 
integration  of  a  system  of  differential  equations  met 
with  in  the  study  of  a  cosmical  problem.  The  equa- 
tions occur  in  the  problem  of  finding  the  motion  of 
an  electrified  corpuscle  in  the  field  of  an  elementar}- 
magnet,  supposing  the  corpuscle  to  be  also  submitted 
to  the  action  of  a  central  force  emanating  from  the 
magnet  and  inversely  proportional  to  the  square  of 
the  distance. — Ed.  Sarasin  and  Th.  Tommasina  :  The 
proof  of  a  third  Volta  effect  and  the  experimental 
confirmation  of  the  given  explanation. — F.  Zambonini : 
The  relations  which  exist  between  the  angles  of 
mixed  crystals  and  those  of  their  components.  The 
mixed  crystals  studied  included  the  molybdates  of 
lead  and  cerium,  calcium  and  cerium,  strontium  and 
cerium,  lead  and  didymium,  calcium  and  didymium, 
calcium-yttrium-cerium,  and  the  tungstates  of  calcium 
and  cerium.  In  nearly  all  the  cases  studied  there 
was  no  precise  relation  between  the  values  of  the 
angles  and  the  composition. — P.  Fallot :  The  presence 
of  the  Aptian  in  the  sierra  of  Majorca. — C.  Sanvagean  : 
The  heterogamic  sexuality  of  Alaria  esctilenta. — J. 
Amar  :  The  functional  value  of  the  mutilated  limbs. — 
Ch.  J.  Gravier  :  The  Actinean  fauna  of  the  island  of 
San  Thome  (Gulf  of  Guinea). — A.  TriUat  and  M. 
Fouassier  :  Study  of  some  factors  exercising  an  influ- 
ence on  the  rapiditN-  of  evolution  of  the  t\-phoid  bacillus 
in  milk. 

Cape  Town. 

Royal  Society  of  South  Africa,  April  19. — Dr.  L. 
Peringuey,  president,  in  the  chair. — -Sir  T.  Mnir  :  Note 
on  pfaffians  connected  with  the  difference-product.  In 
addition  to  the  discovery-  of  the  connection  referred 
to  in  the  title,  there  is  established  a  series  of  theorems 
bringing  pfaffians  into  relation  with  permanents  and 
other  integral  functions. — Sir  T.  Muir  :  Note  on  the 
so-called  Vahlen  relations  between  the  minors  of  a 
matrix.  The  paper  contains  a  critical  examination  of 
the  relations  in  question,  and  an  attempt  to  put  the 
subject  on  a  sounder  basis.  There  is  also  incidentally 
involved  a  rectification  of  the  statements  hitherto 
accepted  regarding  the  histon,-  of  the  subject. — R.  T.  A. 
Innes  :  The  development  of  the  perturbative  function 
in  the  theor>'  of  planetary'  motion.     The  author  has 


33^ 


NATURE 


[June  15,  1916 


published  a  paper  in  the  society's  Transactions,  191 1, 
upon  the  Newcomb  operators  used  in  the  algebraical 
development  of  the  elliptic  perturbative  function.  The 
present  paper  deals  with  a  further  extension  of  the  uses 
of  these  Newcomb  operators. — P.  A.  Wagner  :  A  con- 
tribution to  our  knowledge  of  the  "  national  game " 
of  Africa.  Among  most  of  the  native  races 
of  Africa  there  is  played  in  one  form  or  another,  either 
in  rows  of  holes  scooped  out  of  the  ground  or  on 
wood,  stone,  or  even  ivory  boards,  a  peculiar  game  of 
skill,  that  from  its  wide  distribution  over  the  continent 
has  been  appropriately  styled  "the  national  game  of 
Africa."  The  game  is  described  by  the  author,  and  is 
essentially  a  war  game.  Two  players  or  sides  direct 
a  contest  between  armies  of  equal  strength,  the  object 
in  view  being  the  capture  or  "  Idlling"  of  "men  "  who 
are  represented  by  small  stones,  seeds,  shells,  or  frag- 
ments of  dry  cow-dung. — J.  Hewitt  :  A  survey  of  the 
Scorpion  fauna  of  South  Africa.  The  main  features 
of  the  Scorpion  fauna  of  South  Africa  have  been 
known  for  some  years,  though  up  to  the  present  time 
no  complete  lists  or  descriptions  of  the  fauna  as  a 
whole  have  been  available.  In  this  paper  an  attempt 
has  been  made  to  provide  a  trustvvorthv  synopsis  of 
the  main  distinguishing  characters  of  all  the  species 
and  varieties  known  to  inhabit  South  Africa.— S. 
Schonland  :  Note  on  a  petiole  and  portion  of  the  lamina 
of  Cotyledon  orbiculata  functioning  as  a  stem.  The 
author  describes  a  case  of  the  formation  of  adventi- 
tious roots  on  a  leaf  of  Cotyledon  orbiculata,  which 
remained  attached  to  its  stem  for  seven  months  after- 
wards. The  roots  grew  considerably,  the  petiole  and 
the  lower  part  of  the  leaf  thickening  and  resembling 
the  stem  in  outward  appearance.  So  far  as  examined, 
the  petiole  retained  the  external  structure  character- 
istic of  such  an  organ,  and  did  not  turn  into  a  stem 
as  was  expected,  although  it  had  to  perform  stem- 
functions  for  such  a  long  time.  In  analogous  cases 
in  other  plants    radical  changes  have  been  observed. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Harper's  Hydraulic  Tables  for  the  Flow  of  Water, 
in  Circular  Pipes  under  Pressure,  Timber  Flumes, 
Open  Channels,  and  Egg-shaped  Conduits,  with  much 
Accessory  Information.  By  J.  H.  Harper.  Pp.  192. 
(London  :   Constable  and  Co.,   Ltd.)     85.   6d.   net. 

The  Principles  of  Apprentice  Training,  with  Special 
Reference  to  the  Engineering  Industry.  By  A.  P.  M. 
Fleming  and  J.  P.  Pearce.  Pp.  xiii  +  202.  (London  : 
Longmans  and  Co.)     3s.   6d.   net. 

Chemistry  in  the  Service  of  Man.  By  Prof.  A. 
Findlay.  Pp.  xiv  +  2S5.  (London  :  Longmans  and 
Co.)     55.   net. 

Revista  de  la  Academia  de  Ciencias  Exactas.  Fisico- 
Quimicas  y  Naturales  de  Zaragoza.  Tomo  i. 
Numero  i.  Pp.  72 ;  Academia  de  Ciencias  Exactas. 
Fisico-Quimicas  y  Naturales  de  Zaragoza.  Discurso 
leido  por  su  presidente.  Dr.  Z.  G.  de  Galdeano,  en  la 
sesion  inaugural  celebrada  el  dia  28  de  Mayo  de  1916. 
Pp.    32.     (Zaragoza  :    G.    Casanal   Coso.) 

Coal-Tar  and  Ammonia.  By  Prof.  G.  Lunge. 
Fifth  and  enlarp-ed  edition.  Part  i.,  Coal-Tar.  Pp. 
xxix  +  527.  Part  ii.,  Coal-Tar.  Pp.  xi4-53i  to  1037. 
Part  iii.,  Ammonia  Pp.  xvi+1041  to  1658.  (Lon- 
don :  Gumey  and  Jackson.)  The  three  parts,  3Z.  35. 
net. 

Wisconsin  Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey. 
Bulletin  No.  xxxvi.  Education  Series.  No.  4 :  The 
Physical  Geography  of  Wisconsin.  By  Dr.  L.  Mar- 
tin.    Pp.  xxii  +  549-     (Madison,  Wis.) 

The  Science  of  Musical  Sounds.  Bv  Prof.  D.  C 
Miller.     Pp.    viii  +  286.     (New   York:    The   Macmillan 

NO.    2433,    VOL.    97] 


Co.;  London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)  105.  6d. 
net. 

Anthropological  Report  on  Sierra  Leone.  By  N.  W. 
Thomas.  Part  i.  Law  and  Custom  of  the  Timne  and 
other  Tribes.  Pp.  196.  Part  ii.  Timne-English  Dic- 
tionary. Pp.  139.  Part  iiL  Timne  Grammar  and 
Stories.  Pp.  xxx  +  86.  (London  :  Harrison  and 
Sons.) 

Specimens  of  Languages  from  Sierra  Leone.  By 
N.  W.  Thomas.  Pp.  62.  (London :  Harrison  and 
Sons.) 

DIARY  OF   SOCIETIES. 

MONDAY,  June  19. 
RovAL  Geographical   Societ\%   at  8.30. — The  Gold  Coast :  Some   Con- 
siderations of  its  Structure,  People,  and  Natural  History:  A.  £.  Kitson. 

TUESDAY,  June  20. 

Royal  Statistical  Society,  at  5.15  — Annual  General  Meeting. 

Mineralogical  SociETV,  at  5.30. — The  Relation-;  of  Kquivalent  Twinning 
Operations  :  Dr.  J.  W.  Evans. — (i)  The  Meteorites  of  Khairpur  and  Soko- 
I5anja  ;  (2)  The  Classification  of  Meteorites  :  Dr.  G.  T.  Prior. — Note  on  a 
New  Occurrence  of  Gold  from  Cornwall  :  Lieut.  A.  Russell. — Volcanic 
Rocks  from  Angola  :  A.  Holmes  (with  analyses  by  Dr.  H.  F.  Harwood). — 
A  New  Zinc  Phosphate  from  British  Columbia  :   Prof.  T.  L.  Walker. 

IVEDNESDAY,  June  2t. 

RovAL  Meteorological  Society,  at  4.30. — Report  on  the  Phenological 
Observations  (or  1915  :  J.  E.  Clark  and  tl.  B.  Adames. — Audibility  of  the 
Gun  Firing  in  Flanders  over  the  South-east  of  England,  September,  1914 
— April,  1916  :  Miller  Christy  and  W.  Marriott. — The  Relation  between 
Atmospheric  Pressure  and  Rainfall  at  a  Single  Station  :  Lieut.  E.  H. 
Chapman. 

THURSDAY,  June  22. 

Royal  Society,  at  4.30. — Croonian  Lecture:  Evolution  and  Symmetry  in 
the  OrJer  of  the  Se;»-pens  :  Prof.  S.  J.  Hickson. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Position  and  Prospects  of  Chemical  Industry    .    .  317 
Lamb's  Hydrodynamics.    By  Lord  Rayleigh,  O.M., 

F.R.S .                   318 

Prehistory  in  India.     By  W.  M.  F.  P 319 

Women  and  the  Land.     By  E.  J.  R 320 

Our  Bookshelf 320 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

Gravitation  and  Temperature. — J.  L 321 

A    Plague    of    Caterpillars. — ^J.    Compton    Merry- 
weather          ...            .    .            321 

The  Black-eared  Wheatear :  A  New  Bird  for  the  Irish 

List.— Prof.  C.  J.  Patten      321 

Experimental  Biology.    ByJ.  A.  T .    .   .  322 

The  Great  Canadian  Reflector 323 

Sir  Frederick  Donaldson,  K.C.B 324 

Mr.   Leslie  S.  Robertson 324 

Notes 325 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Comet  1916/5  (Wolf) ••     ...  328 

The  Solar  Activity 328 

The  New  Draper  Catalogue 328 

The  Spectrum  of  Coronium 328 

The  Visibility  of  Stars  in  Daylight 328 

Geology  of  South-west  Africa.     ByG.  A.J.  C.     .    .  329 

Antarctic  Hydrography  .        ...            329 

Portland  Cement.     (Hhcstrated  )     By  J.  A.  A 329 

The  Soil  and  the  Plant.     {With  Diagram.')     By  Dr. 

E.  J.  Russell 331 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 333 

Societies  and  Academies 334 

Books  Received 336 

Diary  of  Societies 336 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 
MACMILLAN   &   CO.,   Ltd., 
MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


ST. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  the 
Publishers. 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address:  Phusis,   London. 
Telephone  Number :  Gerrard  8830. 


NA TURE 


337 


THURSDAY,    JUNE   22,    1916. 


LETTERS    AND    REMIXISCEKCES    OF 
ALFRED    RUSSEL    WALLACE. 

[Alfred    Russel     Wallace:    Letters     and    Remini- 
scences.    By   James    Marchant.     In   two   vols. 
Vol.  i.,  pp.  xi  +  320;  vol.  ii.,  pp.  vi  +  292.     (Lon- 
■  don:  CasseU  and  Co.,  Ltd.,   19 16.)     Price  255. 
net. 

ALTHOUGH  Alfred  Russel  Wallace  published 
a  detailed  autobiography,  a  welcome  must 
given  to  this  book  of  letters  and  reminiscences, 
/hich  contains  fresh  and  interesting  information 
regarding  one  of  whom  we  wish  to  know  all  that 
significant.  Mr.  Marchant,  whose  work  has 
:n  a  labour  of  love  and  veneration,  tells  us  that 
le  original  idea  was  to  make  a  comparative  study 
jntitled  "Darwin  and  Wallace,"  which  was  also 
to  include  an  estimate  of  the  present-day  position 
the  theory  of  natural  selection.  In  this  rather 
lifEcult  task  the  veteran  naturalist,  whose  courage 
lever  wavered,  proposed  to  co-operate,  but  he 
[died  soon  after  the  agreement  with  the  publishers 
had  been  signed.  Thus  the  originally  projected 
[book  remains  unwritten,  and  what  Mr.  Marchant 
has  done  is  rather  less  ambitious.  He  has  made 
[^  selection  from  several  thousands  of  letters,  and 
las  bound  these  together  with  a  sympathetic  and 
rell-written  biographical  commentan.-.  We  wish, 
ideed,  that  there  had  been  more  commentary  and 
fewer  letters,  for  some  of  these  seem  to  us  quite 
trivial,  and  others  lose  in  effect  because  their  sig- 
lificance  is  not  adequately  indicated.  We  recog- 
lise  the  value  of  having  "the  complete  extant 
>rrespondence  between  W'allace  and  Darwin " 
[1857-188 1 ),  though  many  of  the  fascinating 
locuments  have  been  published  before ;  but  we 
cannot  repress  our  judgment  that  the  book  would 
have  been  twice  as  valuable  if  half  of  it  had 
been  left  out.  It  is  the  old  stor}-  of  the  over- 
crowded picture  gallery. 

Restrained  as  Mr.  Marchant  is  in  his  apprecia- 
tion of   Wallace,    for   whom    he   evidently   has   a 
reverence  as   deep   as  his   affection,    he  gives  us 
glimpses   of    a   well-considered    and    intellectually 
^  balanced  hero-worship  which  eveni'one  will  com- 
\  mend.     But  we  are  not  at  all   inclined  to  agree 
;  that    "uD  to   the   present  time   the   unique   work 

•  and  position  of  Wallace  have  not  been  fully  dis- 
closed owing  to  his  ereat  modesty  and  to  the 
fact  that  he  outlived  all  his  contemporaries."    The 

•  fact  is  that  the  merits  of  Wallace's  work  have 
:  been  carefully  appreciated  by  those  interested  in 
i  the  personal  and  historical  side  of  biological  pro- 
;  gress:    moreover,    the   charm    of    his    personality 

and  the  sincerity  of  his  character  led  both  his 
contemporaries  and  those  who  have  entered  into 
his  labours  to  a  wise  and  generous  inattention  to 
various  intellectual  idiosvncrasies  which  would 
otherwise  have  blemished  the  great  naturalist's 
scientific  reputation.  It  remains,  unfortunatelv, 
a  matter  of  opinion  whether  Wallace  was  right  in 
his  vigorous  dissent  from  Darwin's  theor>'  of 
NO.    2434,   VOL.   97] 


sexual  selection,  but  no  biolc^ist  questions  the 
value  of  his  criticism  and  of  his  suggestions;  on 
the  other  hand,  it  will  be  found  difficult  to  main- 
tain that  what  Wallace  said  (in  his  later  years) 
regarding-  either  mutations  or  Mendelian  inheri- 
tance was  marked  by  competence,  hot  to  speak 
of  wisdom. 

It  is  indicative  of  the  greatness  of  the  man 
that  (as  the  preface  tells  us)  there  was  not  in 
all  the  thousands  of  letters — published  or  un- 
published— anything  that  an  editor  might  be  in- 
clined to  suppress,  but  our  point  is  that  in  the 
volumes  before  us  it  is  not  difficult  to  find  ex- 
amples of  obiter  dicta  which  are  all  verA-  well  in 
a  letter,  but  do  not,  when  read  in  cold  blood, 
conform  with  what  we  know  of  the  writer's 
sagacity.  In  illustration  we  may  point  to  the 
sentence,  "The  Piltdown  skull  does  not  prove 
much,  if  anything,"  and  to  the  remarks  on  Berg- 
son  and  on  Bateson.  Little  thing^s  of  this  sort 
do  not,  of  course,  affect  Wallace's  scientific  repu- 
tation, which  it  would  be  an  impertinence  to  speak 
or  think  of  except  in  terms  of  the  highest  respect, 
but  -we  see  little  use  in  seriously  chronicling-  re- 
marks which  were  based  on  misunderstandings. 

But  too  much  must  not  be  made  of  the  inclusion 
of  matierial  which  a  more  critical  editor  might 
have  sifted  out,  for  the  task  of  selection  must 
have  been  exceedingly  difficult,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  as  to  the  value  of  even  minute  details  in 
producing  a  picturesque  impression.  It  may  well 
be  that  some  of  the  letters  that  appear  to  us 
without  significance  will  be  appreciated  by  other 
readers.  In  any  case,  we  have  to  thank  Mr. 
Marchant  for  a  picture  of  Wallace  as  a  man  which 
is  firmer  and  more  complete  than  that  previously 
available.  A  very  lovable  and  noble  picture  forms 
round  our  memories  of  him  as  the  apprecia- 
tion before  us  recalls  his  guilelessness,  sincerity, 
kindness,  and  humility,  his  eagerness  of  mind  and 
unlimited  range  of  interests,  his  adventurous 
speculativeness,  his  enjoyment  of  all  aspects  of 
Nature,  his  continual  thoug-ht  for  the  welfare  of 
his  fellows,  and  his  undimmed  vision  of  the  un- 
seen. From  first  to  last  we  get  an  impression  of 
magnanimity  that  makes  us  proud  of  our  race. 
As  Mr.  Marchant  T^'ell  says  :- — 

".Apart    altogether   from    his   scientific    p>osition 
and  attainments,  which  set  him  on  hig-h,  he  was 
I  a  noble  example  of  brave,   resolute,   and  hopeful 
I  endeavour,    maintained  without    faltering    to    the 
I  end  of  a  long  life.     .And  this  is  not  the  least  valu- 
able part  of  his  legacy  to  the  race." 

.  In  spite  of  the  g^eneral  criticism  which  we  have 
,  been  compelled  to  make,  we  heartily  congratulate 
Mr.  Marchant  on  the  effectiveness  of  his  tribute 
to  his  illustrious  friend.  The  commentary  is  in- 
teresting- in  style  and  admirable  in  its  mood ;  the 
editing-  has  been  done  with  scrupulous  carefulness. 
The  lists  of  Wallace's  works  include  his  letters 
and  reviews  in  Nature,  arranged  chronologically. 
The  illustrations  "are  of  g-reat  interest,  especially 
the  frontispieces  to  the  two  volumes  and  the 
charming  photc^raph  of  Wallace's  mother. 


33^ 


NATURE 


[June  22,  1916 


INTERNAL   SECRETIONS. 

The  Endocrine  Organs:  An  Introduction  to  the 
Study  of  Internal  Secretion.  By  Sir  E.  A. 
Schafer.  Pp.  ix+156.  (London:  Longmans, 
Green  and  Co.,   1916.)     Price  105.  6d.  net. 

THE  matter  in  this  book  represents  the  sub- 
stance of  the  Lane  Medical  Lectures,  given 
at  the  Stanford  University,  California,  in  1913. 
It  deals  with  a  subject  which  is  of  increasing 
interest  and  importance  to  a  large  number  of 
readers,  and  in  which  Sir  Edward  Schafer  has 
himself  done  pioneer  work. 

The  object  of  the  volume  is  "to  supply  a  con- 
cise account  of  our  present  knowledge  of  the 
subject  for  the  benefit  of  students  and  practi- 
tioners who  may  be  desirous  of  obtaining  more 
information  regarding  the  internal  secretions  than 
is  afforded  by  the  ordinary  text-books  of  physio- 
logy, but  have  not  the  time  or  opportunity  to 
peruse  extensive  monographs  or  consult  original 
articles." 

The  work  is  very  well  got  up ;  there  are  104 
illustrations,  which  for  the  most  part  are  care- 
fully chosen  and  splendidly  reproduced.  The 
space  which  these  demand  probably  necessitates 
a  large  page,  which  is  the  only  technical  fault  to 
be  found  with  the  production  of  the  book. 

There  is  rather  much  new  terminology  for  a 
volume  of  the  size  and  scope  of  the  present  one. 
The  author  proposes,  for  the  internal  secretions, 
the  general  term  autacoids  (avrds,  self,  and 
aK05,  a  medicinal  agent),  and  he  divides  the  auta- 
coids into  hormonic  and  chalonic  autacoids, 
according  as  their  action  is  to  be  regarded  as 
excitatory  or  depressant.  According  to  this  classi- 
fication, an  autacoid  is  to  be  called  a  hormone 
only  if  its  action  is  an  excitatory  one.  The  idea 
is  doubtless  a  good  one  in  many  respects,  but 
the  author  is  not  unaware  of  the  shortcomings 
of  such  a  classification,  and  anticipates  some  of 
these  on  page  7  in  considering  the  action  of 
adrenalin  in  causing  excitation  in  some  struc- 
tures and  inhibition  in  others,  by  regarding  both 
phenomena  as  being  due  to  sympathetic  stimula- 
tion ;  the  adrenalin  thus  acts  as  a  hormone  in 
both  cases,  stimulating  on  the  one  hand  an  ex- 
citatory mechanism,  on  the  other  an  inhibitory 
one.  It  is  not  clear  why  all  the  so-called  chalones 
might  not  be  regarded  in  like  manner,  at  all 
events  provisionally,  since  the  evidence  for  the 
existence  of  some  at  least  of  them  is  by  no  means 
strong. 

Names  are  also  suggested  for  hypothetical 
autacoids,  e.g.,  parathyrine  from  the  parathy- 
roids, and  insuline  from  the  islet  tissue  of  the 
pancreas,  but  these  names  are,  of  course,  only 
of  a  provisional  nature. 

The  best  chapters  are  those  dealing  with  the 
thyro-parathyroid  group  and  those  which  treat  of 
the  pituitary  body  and  suprarenal.  The  clinical 
material  introduced   is   of  especial   interest. 

There  is  a  misprint  of  importance  on  page  58, 
where,  in  dealing  with  the  synthesis  of  adrenalin, 
the  words  "  methyl-acetyl-pyrocatechin "  should 
read    "  methylamino-acetyl-pyrocatechin." 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


Investigations  connected  with  the  internal 
secretions  are  beset  with  innumerable  pitfalls, 
and  it  is  easy  for  the  zealous  to  discover  what 
they  seek,  unless  great  care  is  taken  not  to  read 
too  much  into  the  results  obtained.  The  caution 
required  in  drawing  conclusions  is  exemplified  in 
the  case  of  the  hormones  causing  "secretion" 
of  milk  :  such  bodies  appear  to  be  present,  not 
only  in  the  blood  of  non-lactating  animals  (p.  95)^ 
but  also  in  the  pituitary  of  the  skate  (p.  99)^ 
which  also  acts  on  the  uterus,  yet  does  not  in- 
fluence the  blood  pressure  or  the  kidney. 

One  feature  of  the  book  should  make  it  welcome- 
to  a  general  reader,  namely,  the  reduction  of 
references  and  conflicting  statements  to  a  mini- 
mum. In  the  chapters  dealing  with  the  inter- 
relations of  the  various  organs  this  impression 
cannot  in  any  case  very  well  be  avoided,  as  ex- 
treme conclusion?  have  been  pushed  by  many 
workers,  and  conflicting  statements  are  too  often 
the  only  ones  available. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  book  will  appeal 
to  a  wide  circle  of  readers. 

SIR  GEORGE  DARWIN'S  LECTURES. 
Scientific  Papers  by  Sir  G.  H.  Darwin.     Vol.  V. 
Supplementary  Volume  containing  Biographical 
Memoirs    by    Sir   Francis    Darwin    and    Prof. 
E.  W.  Brown,  Lectures  on  Hill's  Lunar  Theory, 
etc.     Edited  by  F.  J.  M.  Stratton  and  J.  Jack- 
son.       Pp.      lv  +  8i.        (Cambridge:      At     the 
University  Press,    1916.)     Price  65.  net. 
'T'HE    previous    four    volumes    contain  all  the 
-■-      papers  that   Sir  George   Darwin  desired  to 
see  reprinted ;   and,   although  there  remain  many 
scientific   reports  on  geodesy   and   the   tides,    the 
editors     of     this     supplementary     volume     have 
adhered  to  his  judgment  in  excluding  them.     The 
chief   occasion   for   adding    a    fifth    volume   is    in 
order  that  Darwin's  course  of  lectures  on   Hill's 
lunar   theory   may   be   included.       These   lectures 
were  delivered  to  his  classes  of  students  at  Cam- 
bridge, and  naturally  do  not  contain  original  con- 
tributions    to     science;     indeed,    Darwin    in     his 
scientific  investigations   scarcely  touched  on   this 
subject.       But   it   was   through    this   course   that 
■several  well-known  astronomers  were  first  intro- 
duced   to    Hill's    work,    who    have    since   greatly 
developed   on  these   lines   our   knowledge   of   the 
moon's   motion.      The  lectures  will  now  be  read 
by  a  wider  circle,   and   they   thoroughly   deserve 
to  be  well  known.     A  very  clear  presentation  of 
the   principles   of  the   method   is  given,    and   the 
more  tedious  analytical  development  is  cut  short 
where  necessary  with  excellent  judgment.      This 
volume  contains    also    Darwin's    last    paper   on 
periodic   orbits,    published    in    191 2,    too  late   for 
inclusion  with  his  other  papers  on  the  subject. 

The  reader  will  turn  with  the  greatest  pleasure 
to  the  two  biographical  memoirs  by  Sir  Francis 
Darwin  and  Prof.  E.  W.  Brown.  The  former 
gives  a  vivid  personal  sketch  of  his  brother.  The 
story  of  the  early  life  at  Down  is  of  interest  not 
only  on  account  of  George  Darwin,  but  for  the 
incidental    references    to    his    illustrious    father. 


June  22,  19 16] 


NATURE 


339 


I  W'e   read   that    Darwin's    capacity   as   a   mathe- 

\  matician   was   probably    of   slow   g-rowth ;    as    an 

undergraduate    he    did    not    display    any    of   that 

\    colossal  power  of  work  and  taking  infinite  trouble 

'   which   characterised  him   later.      It   surprised   his 

friends  afterwards  that  he  should  have  developed 

the  patience  for  making-  the  laborious  numerical 

calculations  on  which  much  of  his  most  original 

work  was  based. 

Prof.  Brown's  memoir  deals  with  Darwin's 
scientific  work.  A  leading  characteristic  is 
that  he  was  an  applied  mathematician  in  the 
'  strict  and  older  sense  of  the  word.  He  did 
not  undertake  investigations  for  the  interest  of 
the  mathematical  processes,  but  for  the  interest 
of  the  phenomena.  "  Darwin  belonged  essentially 
to  the  school  which  studies  the  phenomena  by  the 
most  convenient  mathematical  methods.  Strict 
logic  in  the  modern  sense  is  not  applied  nor  is 
it  necessary,  being  replaced  in  most  cases  by 
intuition  which  guides  the  investigator  through 
the  dangerous  places."  When  the  problem  seemed 
intractable  to  analysis,  he  had  recourse  to 
numerical  methods,  and  never  seemed  to  hesitate 
to  embark  on  the  most  laborious  computations 
which  might  throw  light  on  the  phenomena.  In 
his  address  to  the  International  Congress  of 
Mathematicians  at  Cambridge  (which  is  also  re- 
printed in  this  volume)  he  referred  to  his  methods 
in  the  words :  "  My  own  work  on  the  subject 
cannot  be  said  to  involve  any  such  skill  at  all, 
unless  indeed  you  describe  as  skill  the  procedure 
of  a  housebreaker  who  blows  in  a  safe  door  with 
dynamite  instead  of  picking  the  lock." 

Prof.  Brown  gives  an  admirable  review  of  the 
ground  covered  by  the  papers  in  the  earlier 
volumes,  showing  the  unity  of  aim  throughout 
all  Darwin's  work;  his  memoir  will  form  an 
excellent  introduction  for  those  who  wish  to 
enter  on  a  serious  study  of  the  papers. 


OVR    BOOKSHELF. 

Diseases  of  Poultry :  their  Etiology,  Diagnosis, 
Treatment,  and  Prevention.  By  Raymond 
Pearl,  Frank  M.  Surface,  and  Maynie  R.  Curtis. 
Pp.  xi  +  342.  (New  York:  The  Macmillan 
Company;  London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd., 
1915.)     Price  85.  6d.  net. 

This  interesting  and  well-illustrated  book  con- 
tains twenty-one  chapters  and  a  glossary  of  tech- 
nical terms.  The  chief  subjects  dealt  with  are  the 
diagnosis  of  diseases  in  poultry,  avian  materia 
medica,  a  discussion  of  the  diseases  generally 
found  to  infect  the  various  organs,  poisons,  in- 
ternal and  external  parasites,  tumours,  and 
poultry  surgery. 

The  book  is  stated  to  be  a  compilation,  but  it 
is  unfortunate  that  few  other  than  American  pub- 
lications appear  to  have  been  used  as  sources  of 
information.  Thus,  the  use  of  catechu  for  white 
diarrhoea  is  ascribed  to  Salmon,  who  published  in 
191 3,  while  the  treatment  was  originally  set  forth 
by  Fantham  and  employed  in  England  in  1910. 
NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


Mention  should  be  made  of  the  very  clear  and 
concise  exposition  of  poultry  hygiene  that  is  given 
in    the    second    chapter.     Were    the    instructions 
detailed  therein  to  be  carried  out  universally  there 
is   no  doubt  that   nine-tenths   of   the   losses   now 
experienced  among  poultry  would  be  saved.     The 
short  account  on  materia  medica  for  the  poultry- 
man    is   simple,    sound,    and  eminently   practical. 
Many  useful  hints  on  the  administration  of  drugs 
used    in    combating    such   parasitic    infections    as 
tapeworms  are  also  given. 
i      The  chapter  on  the  recognition  of  external  para- 
j  sites  and  the  eradication  of  diseases,  such  as  scaly 
!  leg  and  depluming  scabies,   is  ably  written,   and 
I  the  section  on  skin  diseases  and  their  cure  is  ade- 
j  quately    treated.      When    dealing    with    diseases 
I  of  the  reproductive  organs  an  interesting  account 
of   the  various    abnormalities  .observed    in    eggs, 
;  their  causation  and  prevention,  is  given,  attention 
.  being   directed   to  the   abnormalities  of   practical 
I  importance     in     egg-production     and     marketing. 
There   is   also  a   chapter   on   white   diarrhoea,    in 
;  which   the  chief  American  views   on   the  various 
forms  of  this  disease,  coccidial  and  bacillary,  are 
set  forth. 

We  have  pleasure  in  recommending  the  book  to 
the  attention  of  the  practical  poultrv-keeper. 

F. 

.4  Generation  of  Religious  Progress.  Edited  by 
G.  Spiller.  (Issued  in  Commemoration  of  the 
2 1st  Anniversary  of  the  Union  of  Ethical 
Societies.)  Pp.151.  (London  :  Watts  and  Co., 
1916.)  Price  15.  net. 
A  COLLECTION  of  articles  by  nine  contributors. 
Sir  H.  H.  Johnston,  dealing  with  science  and 
religion,  eloquently  sketches  the  progress  of 
thought  from  simian  times,  and  has  interesting 
things  to  say  about  family  affection  in  apes  and 
savages,  and  about  development  of  ancestors  into 
local  deities.  He  thinks  that  "religion,  as  the 
conception  of  a  heavenly  being,  or  heavenly  beings 
...  concerning  themselves  greatly  with  the 
affairs  of  man,  has  been  abolished  [or,  later,  "put 
entirely  in  the  background  "]  for  all  thoughtful  and 
educated  people  by  the  discoveries  of  science " ; 
but  he  shows  reverence  for  the  teaching  of  Jesus, 
and  believes  true  Christianity  is  primarily  con- 
cerned   with    the   service    of    rrian. 

In  the  remaining  essays  in  the  volume  Mr. 
Alfred  Martin  describes  the  history  and  methods  of 
the  higher  criticism  ;  Mr.  William  Archer  writes  on 
religion  and  democracy,  with  Asia  and  Europe  as 
the  fount  of  each  respectively;  Miss  Margaret 
McMillan,  in  her  section  on  woman's  mission,  is 
advanced,  but  sensible,  as  always ;  Mr.  Joseph 
McCabe,  on  the  humaner  spirit,  mentions  reforms 
in  the  hours  of  labour,  in  the  sanitation  of  prisons, 
in  Parliamentary  representation,  and  claims  that 
not  science,  but  humanistic  idealism  is  the 
greatest  phenomenon  of  modern  times;  Prof.  J.  S. 
Mackenzie  writes  on  educational  ideals,  Mr.  C.  T. 
Gorham  on  the  moral  ideal,  and  Mr.  G.  Spiller  on 
the  future  of  religion. 


340 


NATURE 


[June  22,  1916 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Elasticity  and   Entomology. 

While  Euler's  problem  of  the  buckling  of  elastic 
rods  and  shafts  under  end  thrust  has  received  much 
attention  both  from  mathematicians  and  from 
engineers,  the  importance  of  the  results  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  appreciated  in  the  entomological 
world. 

I  have  been  recently  attempting  to  rearrange  an 
old  butterfly  collection  mounted  in  the  so-called  "Con- 
tinental "  fashion,  high  up  on  entomological  pins 
about  1.5  in.  long,  and  I  find  that  except  in  the  case 
of  the  thickest  pins  elastic  instability  invariably 
occurs  when  it  is  attempted  to  insert  the  specimens 
in  the  cabinet.  This  effect  causes  great  trouble  and 
inconvenience  even  with  pins  of  thickness  suitable  for 
mounting  average-sized  Lyceaenidae.  The  drawers  of 
my  cabinet  are  lined  with  peat,  coated  with  a  thin 
layer  of  cork,  and  are  specially  constructed  for  the 
purpose,  so  the  resistance  is  not  great. 

In  the  case  of  brass  pins  "made  in  Germany  "  it 
is  impossible  to  insert  them  from  above  without  per- 
manently bending,  and  often  doubling  them  up.  In 
this  case  the  flexure  due  to  buckling  causes  permanent 
"set."  Steel  pins,  on  the  other  hand,  are  not  usually 
bent  beyond  the  elastic  lirnits,  but  the  result  of  the 
buckling  is  to  cause  the  end  of  the  pin  to  take  a 
wrong  direction  when  it  is  driven  into  the  box;  con- 
sequently, when  the  forceps  is  removed,  the  insect 
springs  back  into  a  position  different  from  that 
originally  intended,  not  only  causing  the  collection 
to  look  very  unsightly,  but  often  resulting  in  the 
antennae  breaking  off  in  consequence  of  the  momen- 
tum generated  in  them  by  the  vibration.  The  effect 
of  excessive  strain  in  the  case  of  steel  would  probably 
be  to  break  the  pin  in  two. 

It  is  curious  that  when  studying  these  problems 
in  elasticity  nearly  thirty  years  ago  the  idea  never 
occurred  to  me  to  apply  the  results  to  account  for 
the  incessant  troubles  and  misfortunes  which  in  later 
years  resulted  in  my  abandoning  entomology  as  a 
hobby.  The  present  experiences,  affording  as  they  do 
a  theoretical  explanation  of  the  difflculties,  prove  con- 
clusively that  the  Continental  system  of  setting  butter- 
flies and  other  insects  high  up  on  long  German  pins 
is  fundamentally  wrong  In  principle,  and  entomolo- 
gists would  do  well  to  take  account  of  the  phenomena 
of  elastic  instatwlity  in  deciding  the  style  in  which 
they  mount  their  future  collections. 

It  would  be  the  easiest  thing  In  the  world  to  cal- 
culate the  maximum  length  of  pin  of  a  ^iven  thick- 
ness that  could  be  driven  without  buckling  Into  a 
cabinet  drawer  or  store-box  offering  a  given  resist- 
ance, but  the  question  Is  so  easllv  decided  by  trial 
that  a  mathematical  investigation  appears  scarcely 
necessarv,  G.  H.  Bryan. 


Babylon's  Sacred  Way. 

The  discovery  of  the  Sacred  Way,  or  Procession 
Street,  of  Babylon  is  one  of  the  results  of  excavations 
carried  out  by  Dr.  Robert  Koldewey  on  the  site  of 
this  ancient  city.  This  Sacred  Street  extended  ap- 
proximately north  and  south  through  Babylon  so  far 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


as  the  south-east  corner  of  a  level  quadrangular  en- 
closure wherein  was  situated  the  famous  'lower  of 
Babylon.  Here  the  Sacred  Way  turned  sharply  west- 
ward towards  the  Euphrates,  where  the  stone  piers 
of  the  bridge  which  spanned  the  river  have  been  found. 
All  the  temples  of  Babylon,  including  those  of  the 
goddess  Ishlar  and  of  Marduk,  the  lord  of  Babylon, 
have  been  found  in  the  vicinity  of  this  Sacred  Way 
on  either  side.  The  street  was  extended  slightly  west 
of  north  and  east  of  south,  and  the  temples  were 
similarly  oriented,  the  southward  aspect  being  approxi- 
mately S.S.E.  Apparently  no  attempt  has  been  made 
to  ascertain  the  azimuth  of  any  of  the  temples,  or  of 
the  Procession  Street.  Prof.  Leonard  W.  King,  in 
his  recently  published  "  History  of  Babylon,"  states 
that  ■■  Nebuchadnezzar  boasts  that  he  paved  the  street 
of  Babylon  for  the  procession  of  the  great  lord  Mar- 
duk,  to  whom  he  prays  for  eternal  life  "  (p.  59). 

The  foundation  of  the  Sacred  Way  was  laid  with 
burnt  bricks.  The  pavement  throughout  its  entire 
length  was  constructed  of  square  slabs,  those  in  the 
middle  being  "  a  fine  hard  limestone,"  those  along 
each  side  being  of  "red  breccia  veined  with  white"; 
but  along  that  part  of  the  Sacred  Way  between  the 
royal  palace  and  the  main  entrance  to  the  enclosure 
of  the  Tower  of  Babylon  the  pavement  was  formed 
entirely  with  slabs  of  breccia.  A  plate  facing  p.  60  of 
the  "  History,"  showing  part  of  the  Procession  Street 
uncovered,  makes  It  appear  that  the  slabs  were  about 
18  in.  square.  They  were  held  firmly  in  position  by 
being  laid  on  bitumen,  which  also  filled  the  inter- 
stices between  the  slabs. 

Dr.  R.  Koldewey  thinks  the  limestone  may  have 
been  obtained  from  Hit,  on  the  Euphrates.  Prof. 
L.  W.  King  has  Informed  me,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry, 
that  "it  is  not  yet  known  whence  the  breccia  for  the 
Sacred  Way  was  obtained,  though  at  the  time  of  Its 
discovery  Dr.  Koldewey  consulted  more  than  one 
geologist  on  the  subject." 

Inscriptions  on  the  edges  of  the  slabs  record  that 
the  pavement  was  constructed  bj^  Nebuchadnezzar 
(604-561  B.C.);  but  It  is  recorded  on  many  of  the 
slabs  of  breccia  that  they  had  formed  part  of  an  earlier 
pavement  which  had  been  the  work  of  the  great 
Sennacherib  (688-681  B.C.)  during  the  Assyrian 
domination.  It  would  be  Interesting  to  know  from 
what  quarries  the  breccia  and  the  limestone  were 
obtained. 

Bv  his  extremely  valuable  "  History  of  Babylon," 
Prof.  L.  W.  King  has  placed  archaeolog'Ists  and  all 
interested  in  ancient  civilisations  under  a  heavy  debt  of 
obligation.  The  long  chapter  dealing-  with  the  most 
recent  discoveries,  with  numerous  plans  and  illustra- 
tions, is  a  treatise  in  itself  of  thrilling  interest. 

H.    KiDNER. 

194  Shelbourne  Road,  Bournemouth. 

P.S. — Since  the  foregoing  letter  was  in  type  I  have 
made  a  closer  examination  of  the  plans  of  the  city 
and  of  its  temples,  published  in  Dr.  King's  "  History 
of  Babylon." 

The  plans  on  pp.  74  and  83  show  that  the  part  of 
the  Sacred  Way  leading  J;o  the  Euphrates  branched 
from  the  main  street  at  an  angle  of  about  87°.  This 
part  of  the  street  was  oriented  about  10°  to  12°  N.  of 
E.  and  S.  of  W.  The  street  passed  alongside  the 
eastern  and  southern  wall  of  the  peribolos  of  the 
Temple  Tower,  and  in  this  latter  part  of  its  course 
towards  the  river  It  had  the  tower  on  the  right  (N.) 
and  the  Temple  of  Marduk  on  the  left  (S.).  Prof. 
King  states  that  the  main  street  doubtless  also  con- 
tinued southwards  to  a  gate  In  the  southern  wall  of  the 
citv. 


June  22,  1916] 


NATURE 


34^ 


The  temples  are  quadrangular  structures  enclosing 
one  or  more  courts  open  to  the  sky,  and  ihey  all 
agree  in  having  the  eastward  side  more  or  less  north 
of  east,  the  western  side  facing  south  of  west.  But 
the  orientation  varies  considerably.  Thus  while  the 
Temple  of  Ishtar  is  oriented  almost  due  N.  and  S. 
and  E.  and  W.,  facing  only  about  4°  N.  of  E., 
the  Temple  of  Ninib  faces  about  20°  N.  of  E.,  and 
the  Temple  of  Ninmakh  some  25°  N.  of  E.  This 
latter  temple  has  its  entrance  on  the  northerly  side, 
and  the  shrine  on  the  southern,  whereas  the  Temple 
of  Ishtar  has  entrances  on  the  E.  and  S.  sides,  and 
'•e  shrine  on  the  W.     The  figures  given  are  approxi- 

ate  only. 

Dr.  King  is  now  at  work  on  the  third  volume  of 
his  "History,"  each  volume  treating  of  a  separate 
period,  and  being  to  some  extent  independent  of  the 
others.  When  completed  the  work  will  be  of  lasting 
value,  although  each  year  adds  fresh  knowledge  from 
new  discoveries.  Dr.  King  teaches  us  much,  but  he 
also  makes  us  feel  how  much  there  is  to  learn.  What 
principles,  for  instance,  guided  the  Babylonian  archi- 
tects and  builders  in  the  orientation  of  their  temples? 

June  12.  H.  K. 


"  Ptolemy's  Catalogue  of  Stars." 

M.\Y  I  point  out  that  your  reviewer  of  "Ptolemy's 
Catalogue  of  Stars"  (June  i,  p.  282)  is  mistaken  in 
suggesting  that  a  mere  confusion  between  the  uncial 
alpha  (  =  1)  and  the  uncial  delta  (  =  4)  will  account  for 
Ptolemy's  assignment  of  the  first  magnitude  to  what 
is  now  the  third-magnitude  star,  B  Eridani? 

The  star,  called  "  the  last  in  the  River,"  whence  the 
Arabic  name  of  Achernar,  is  expressly  described  in 
the  catalogue  as  "brilliant,"  XauTrpdj,  an  epithet  ap- 
plied to  no  other  in  the  group.  And  in  another  work 
of  Ptolemy's,  the  '^afrns,  in  which  the  risings  and 
settings  of  thirt\-  "  fundamental "  stars,  fifteen  of 
the  first  magnitude  and  fifteen  of  the  second,  are 
calculated  for  several  parallels  of  latitude,  "the  last 
of  the  River "  takes  its  place  among  those  of  the 
first  magnitude. 

Moreover,  the  same  star  is  mentioned  several  times 
by  Hipparchus  in  his  one  surviving  work,  the  com- 
mentary on  Aratus,  and  in  each  case  it  is  described 
a^  the  brightest  in  the  constellation  of  the  River, 
\\  hich  it.  could  not  have  been  had  it  been  of  the  fourth 
magnitude  only. 

Again,  the  star  is  of  the  first  magnitude  to  Al  Sufi, 
whose  catalogue  was  drawn  up,  800  years  after 
Ptolemy,  for  the  express  purpose  of  revising  the 
magnitudes  given  in  the  Almagest.  Al  Sufi  adds 
some  particulars  as  to  its  position  which  alone  would 
suffice  to  refute  the  wild  suggestion  that  the  star 
meant  was.  not  6,  but  the  modern  a  Eridani,  Acher- 
nar, a  star  invisible  to  Greek  and  Arab  astronomers. 

There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  B  Eridani 
has  declined  in  lustre,  from  the  first  magnitude  to 
the  third,  in  the  interval  between  Al  Sufi  and  the 
(lavs  when,  during  the  early  Portuguese  voyages,  it 
again  was  seen,  after  many  centuries,  by  European 
eyes.  That  Ulugh  Beg,  1437,  should  still  make  it  a 
first-magnitude  star  is  remarkable,  but  not  conclu- 
sive, as  his  work  was  a  revision  of  the  places  only, 
not  the  magnitudes,  assigned  to  the  stars  by  his  pre- 
decessors. E.  J.  Webb. 

Noke,  IsHp,  Oxford.  • 


The  suggestion  was  not  made  by  the  reviewer,  but 
is  made  in  the  work  under  review  (p.  no),  where  it 
is   stated  that   "it  is   most  probable   that   in   a  very 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


ancient  manuscript  the  delta  =  4  was  erroneously  taken 
to  be  an  alpha=i,  of  which  the  present  investigation 
shows  numerous  examples."  As  regards  the  state- 
ments of  Hipparchus,  Ptolemy,  and  Sufi,  the  facts 
are  : — 

0  Eridaiii 


Hipparchus,  Rhodes 
Ptolemy,  Alexandria 
Sufi,  Bagdad  

Shiraz    

Teheran 


Lat. 

+  36 
+  31 
+  33 
+  30 
+  35 


Decl. 

-50 
-48 

-45 

-45 
-45 


Zen.  dUt. 

.     86 

•  79 
.     78 

•  75 
.     80 


Sufi,  on  account  of  the  low  altitude,  took  the  mag- 
nitude from  Ptolemy.  That  Q  Eridani  was  of  the 
first  magnitude  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  and 
from  the  time  of  Halley  (1677)  to  the  present  dav  of 
uniform  brightness  (3  or  4  mag.),  without  sign  of 
variability,  will  scarcely  be  accepted  by  astronomers. 

The  Reviewer. 


MeteorologicaJ   Conditions  of  a   Blizzard. 

Your  correspondents  are  entirely  right  in  their  con- 
tention that,  in  this  country,  the  word  "blizzard"  is 
used  as  a  rule  quite  wrongly.  I  have  protested  many 
times  in  the  past  against  this  misuse. 

For  various  reasons,  a  true  blizzard  cannot  occur  in 
Britain.  In  the  first  place,  as  several  correspondents 
have  already  pointed  out,  the  necessary  climatic  condi- 
tions are  lacking;  for  a  wind  of  extremely  high  velo- 
city never  occurs  here  in  conjunction  with  sufficiently 
intense  cold,  producing  fine  dry  powdery  driving  snow. 
Secondly,  a  wind-velocity  sufficiently  high  to  produce 
a  blizzard  is  seldom  or  never  attained,  except  in  a 
region  marked  by  an  immense  extent  of  level  surface, 
little  broken  by  trees  and  other  obstructions,  and  there 
is  no  such  region  in  Britain.  All  the  necessary  condi- 
tions, both  climatic  and  physical,  exist,  however,  in 
that  true  home  of  the  blizzard — the  vast  plains  and 
prairies  lying  to  the  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  in 
Central  North  America,  especially  in  Dakota  and 
Manitoba.  Even  the  great  EngAsh  snowstorm  of 
January  18,  188 1  (which  I  remember  very  well  indeed), 
bore  little  resemblance  to  a  true  blizzard,  for  the 
intense  cold  and  high  wind-velocity  characteristic  of  a 
blizzard  were  both  absent. 

Those  interested  in  the  subject  could  not  do  better 
than  refer  to  a  little  work,  "  Manitoba  Described," 
which  I  published  in  1885,  after  a  visit  to 
that  countr}-.  Therein  will  be  found  (pp.  57-58) 
an  excellent  description  of  a  Manitoban  blizzard, 
written  by  my  friend  Mr.  Ernest  Thompson  Seton, 
then  living  there.  It  was,  I  believe,  the  earliest  de- 
scription ever  published,  at  all  events  in  this  countr}'. 
Moreover,  its  graphic  style  has  never  been,  and  could 
not  be,  excelled. 

It  may  be  worth  mentioning — though  the  pohitjs  of 
etymological  rather  than  of  scientific  interest— that  the 
use  of  the  word  "blizzard"  in  the  above-mentioned 
article  (1885)  marked,  I  believe,  its  first  appearance  in 
permanent  literature  in  this  country,  though  there  are 
instances  of  its  use  three  or  four  years  earlier  in  Eng- 
lish periodical  literature.  Earlier  than  that  the  word 
cannot  have  been  used  anywhere  in  the  sense  in  ques- 
tion ;  for  it  did  not  make  its  appearance,  even  in 
American  journalism,  before, the  winter  of  1880-81. 

Miller  Christy. 

Broom   Wood    Lodge,    Chignal    St.    James, 
Chelmsford,  Juneis-" 


342 


NATURE 


[June  22,  1916 


THE  OVER-FISHING  OF  JHE  NORTH  SEA.^ 
'^r'HE  problem  of  over-fishing  of  the  North  Sea 
-^  was  stated  in  general  terms  by  several 
committees  of  inquiry  during  the  latter  decades 
of  the  last  century,  and  particularly,  in  regard  to 
the  fishes  of  which  the  plaice  is  the  type,  by  the 
International  Council  for  Fishery  Investigations 
about  ten  years  ago.  Since  then  a  large  amount 
of  scientific  and  statistical  research  has  been 
carried  on  in  this  and  other  European  countries 
with  the  object  of  providing  data  for  international 
schemes  of  fishery  regulation.  A  series  of  reports 
recently  published  by  the  English  Board  of  Agri- 
culture and  Fisheries  forms  what  is  obviously  a 
very  important  contribution  towards  the  settle- 
ment of  these  very  diflficult  questions.  The  series 
includes  three  papers  on  the  routine  work  dealing 
with  the  age,  growth,  and  sexual  maturity  of  the 
North  Sea  plaice,  with  the  food  of  the  fish  in 
different  areas  and  at  different  times,  and  with  the 
distribution  of  the  sexes.  These  reports  have 
been  prepared  by  Dr.  W.  Wallace,  Mr.  R.  A. 
Todd,  and  Mr.  A.  E.  Hefford.  Miss  R.  M.  Lee 
reviews  an  extensive  series  of  commercial  trawler 
statistics  dealing  with  plaice,  soles,  and  haddock; 
and  Lieut.  H.  J.  B.  Wollaston  gives  an  account  of 
investigations  undertaken  with  the  object  of  de- 
limiting the  positions  of  plaice-spawning  grounds  in 
the  North  Sea.  These  two  latter  papers  are  distin- 
guished by  much  originality  of  treatment,  clear  and 
orderly  presentation  of  the  facts  elicited,  and  read- 
able discussions  of  the  trend  of  the  data.  They 
contain  some  noteworthy  results  :  interesting  cases 
of  high  statistical  correlation  between  the  density 
of  plaice  and  haddock  on  the  various  fishing 
grounds  of  the  North  Sea,  established  by  Miss 
Lee ;  and  details  of  some  novel  methods  of  plank- 
ton investigation  devised  by  Lieut.   Wollaston. 

The  main  problem  is  discussed  by  Dr.  A.  T. 
Masterman.  Is  there  evidence  of  indubitable  over- 
fishing of  the  North  Sea?  In  its  inception  the 
problem  was  an  international  one,  and  it  has,  to 
some  extent,  been  treated  as  such.  But  the 
English  trawl-fisheries  are  so  predominant  as  to 
make  it  apparent  that  the  statistical  data  obtained 
by  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries  must 
form  the  main  mass  of  material  to  be  considered. 
The  returns  of  plaice  landed  at  English  ports 
during  the  period  1906-1912  are  therefore  those 
dealt  with  by  Dr.  Masterman.  Nevertheless  the 
report  to  the  International  Fishery  Investigations 
Council  prepared  by  Dr.  Heincke,  and  published 
in  the  seventeenth  volume  of  "  Rapports  et  Proces- 
\'erbaux,"  should  also  be  seen  by  readers  of  the 
present  papers. 

Dr.  Masterman 's  report  is  difficult  to  read  be- 
cause of  the  great  mass  of  detail  considered.  The 
statistics  are  complicated  rather  unnecessarily  (in 
the  meantime  at  least)  by  the  rather  minute  sub- 
division of  the  North  Sea  into  statistical  areas, 
nineteen  in  all.  If  the  areas  are  considered  indi- 
vidually the  fishery  statistics  of  other  North  Sea 
nations  must  be  included,   and  this  has  not  been 

1  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries.  Fishery  Invest'galion'!.  Series  II., 
.Sea  Fisheries  Vo'.  ii.,  Nos.  1-5;  Vol.  iii  ,  No«.  i-z.  (London:  H.M. 
Stationerv  Office,  191 5.) 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


attempted — perhaps  it  is  impracticable.  Now  the 
period  of  time  covered  by  the  investigations,  1906— 
191 2,  is  far  too  short  to  enable  us  to  decide 
whether  over-fishing  has  actually  occurred.  There 
are  fluctuations  during  this  period,  and  these 
"maximal  and  minimal  years"  are  not  the  result 
of  statistical  "accidents,"  for  they  are  demon- 
strated independently  by  Miss  Lee's  data.  But  they  I 
are  fluctuations  most  probably  dependent  on,  or  to  1 
be  associated  with,  meteorological  cyclical  events, 
and  do  not  bear  on  the  question  of  over-fishing. 

Perhaps  over-fishing  has  been  demonstrated  by 
Dr.  Masterman  as  the  result  of  the  consideration 
of  the  "trade-categories."  Plaice  landed  in 
England  are  subdivided  into  "large,"  "medium," 
and  "small."  The  variation  in  the  total  annual 
quantities  of  all  plaice  landed  during  1906-1912  is 
not  significant,  but  there  is  a  significant  decrease 
in  the  quantity  of  "large,"  and  a  compensatory 
increase  in  the  quantity  of  "small."  These 
variations  in  the  quantities  belonging  to  the 
various  classes  may  be  unreal,  for  there  are 
apparently  no  statistical  descriptions  of  the  "cate- 
gories," and  it  is  not  impossible  that  these  have 
not  always  been  the  same  throughout  the  period 
considered.  The  terms  are  trade  ones,  and  the 
classification  is  a  trade  convention  made  inde- 
pendently of  the  system  of  statistical  collection. 
Nevertheless  it  is  most  probably  true  that  modern 
trawl-fishing  has  diminished  the  stock  of  large 
plaice  inhabiting  the  North  Sea  :  Dr.  Masterman's 
discussion  indicates  so  much.  The  composition  of 
a  natural  fish-population  inhabiting  this  very  ex- 
tensive area  has  been  affected  by  artificial  means. 
In  other  words,  the  "  mean  after-lifetime "  of  a 
plaice  inhabiting  the  North  Sea,  at  the  time  when 
it  is  big  enough  to  be  caught  in  a  trawl-net,  has 
been  reduced  as  a  result  of  the  development  of 
the  British  steam-fishing  fleets. 

The  problem  is  thus  one  of  the  eliciting  of  facts 
rather  than  of  the  provision  of  remedial  legislative 
measures.  It  is  highly  unlikely  that  such  will  be 
attempted  for  some  time  to  come,  but  the  thing  to 
be  immediately  considered  is  the  recommendation 
made  to  the  various  Governments,  in  1913,  by  the 
International  Fishery  Investigation  Council.  This 
suggested  a  minimum  size-limit  upon  plaice  landed 
of  20  cm.  during  the  winter  months,  and  of  22  cm. 
in  the  summer  months.  Now  one  must  con- 
sider rather  carefully  what  is  meant  by  "over- 
fishing." The  natural  problem  that  confronts  sea- 
fishery  authorities  is  to  get  as  great  a  quantity 
annually  of  niarketahle  plaice  from  the  North  Sea 
as  this  area  will  afford  without  progressive  deple- 
tion of  its  resources.  The  commercial  value  of 
this  annual  yield  must  not  alone  be  considered, 
nor  the  relative  value  of  one  fraction  of  it  (large 
plaice)  as  against  another  fraction  (small  plaice). 
Other  questions  incidental  to  the  general  one,  such 
as  the  effect  of  the  proposed  legislation  upon  the 
commercially  unorganised  smaller  inshore  fisheries, 
must  also  be  considered.  These  considerations 
are,  of  course,  not  relevant  to  Dr.  Masterman's 
discussion,  but  they  ought  to  be  in  the  minds  of 
readers  of  these  important  papers.  J.  J. 


June  22,  1916] 


NATURE 


343 


INHERITANCE  IN  ROVING  AND  IN 

ROMANTIC  TYPES.^ 

T  X    his    interesting    study    Dr.  Davenport  deals 

-L      first   with   those   not   unfamiliar    types    who 

innot  settle  down,  who  run  away  from  home  and 

■  hool,    who   disappear   suddenly     and    are    next 

card  of  at  the  ends  of  the  earth.     When  the  im- 

)ulse  is  well-marked  those  whom    it    sways    are 

known  as  rovers,   and  the  periodic  or  prevailing 

domination  of  life  by  the  wandering  impulse  may 

be  called  nomadism.      It  occurs  in  various  forms 

and  degrees,  but  the  term  nomadism  should  not 

be  used  too  widely  if  it  is  to  be  of  any  use.    Thus 

Meunier's  classification  includes  legitimate  nomads 

(like      peddlers      and     missionaries),      delinquent 

nomads   (like  fugitives  from  justice),   nomads  of 

ethnic  origin  (like  gipsies  and  crusaders),  as  w^ell 

as  nomads  of  morbid  origin  (who  are   "rovers" 

in  the  strict  sense).      But  this  net  has  been  too 

widely  cast,  and  the  suggestion  that  the  rovers  are 

necessarily   morbid    is   unfortunate.      The   truant 

ay  become  a  scholar-gipsy  and  the  stowaway  a 

reat  explorer. 

According  to  Dr.  Davenport,  "nomads,  of  all 
lads,  have  a  special  racial  trait — are,  in  a  proper 
nse,  members  of  the  nomadic  race.  This  trait 
.s  the  absence  of  the  germinal  determiner  that 
makes  for  sedentariness,  stability,  domesticity." 
From  the  data  of  a  hundred  family  histories  (some 
of  which  seem  to  us  far  from  convincing  as  illus- 
trations of  true  roving),  the  investigator  concludes 
that 

nomadism  is  probably  a  sex-linked  recessive  mono- 
hvbrid  trait.  Sons  are  nomadic  only  when  their 
mothers  belong  to  nomadic  stock.  Daughters  are 
nomadic  only  when  the  mother  belongs  to  such  stock 
and  the  father  is  actually  nomadic.  When  both 
parents  are  nomadic,  expectation  is  that  all  children 
will  be. 

The  wandering  impulse  is  frequently  associated 
with  various  kinds  of  periodic  behaviour,  such  as 
depression,  migraine,  epilepsy,  and  hysteria,  but 
Dr.  Davenport  is  probably  right  in  concluding 
that  these  merely  permit  the  nomadic  impulses  to 
assert  themselves.  We  do  not  feel  at  all  con- 
vinced, however,  by  the  argument  that  nomadism 
in  man  is  of  the  same  order  as  the  regularised  rest- 
lessness of  migratory  birds,  or  that  it  is  the  re- 
assertion  of  a  fundamental  human  instinct,  nor- 
mally inhibited  by  the  conditions  of  civilisation. 

The  second  study  deals  with  the  inheritance  of 
temperament,  more  especially  of  the  "romantic" 
and  "classic"  types,  that  is  to  say,  the  quickly- 
reacting  and  the  slowly-reacting,  the  feebly-inhi- 
bited and  the  strongly-inhibited.  In  the  old  ter- 
minology the  choleric  and  nervous  were  contrasted 
with  the  phlegmatic  and  melancholic ;  in  the  new 
Terminology  the  "  hyperkinetic "  are  contrasted 
with  the  "hypokinetic."  Politically,  Dr.  Daven- 
port tells  us,  the  contrast  spells  radical  and  con- 
servative ;  in  any  case,  the  dualism  runs  through 
our  whole  population. 

The  investigator  is  well  aware  that  our  tempera- 

1  ''The  Feeblv  Inhibited.  Nomadism,  or  the  Wandering  Impulse  with 
Special  Reference  to  Heredity.  Inheritance  of  Temperament."  By  C.  B. 
Davenport.     Pp.158.     (Washington  :  Carnegie  Institution,  1915.) 

XO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


mental  outlook  is  profoundly  affected  by  a  com- 
plexity of  conditions,  such  as  the  secretion  of  tlie 
suprarenal  bodies,  the  blood-pressure,  the  state  of 
the  arterial  walls,  the  adequacy  of  digestion  and 
toxin-elimination,  the  state  of  the  eyes  (as  Gould's 
well-known  studies  show),  as  well  as  by  such  un- 
considered trifles  as  an  ambition,  a  passion,  an 
enthusiasm,  an  ideal ;  but  he  is  not  afraid  to  launch 
the  hypothesis  that  there  is  in  the  germ-plasm  a 
factor,  E,  which  makes  for  excitability,  while  its 
absence  means  calm ;  that  there  is  another  factor, 
C,  which  makes  for  cheerfulness,  while  its  absence 
"permits  a  more  or  less  periodic  depression." 

This  hypothesis  is  supported  by  an  analysis  of 
the  pedigree-charts  of  eighty-nine  families.  There 
is  interesting  evidence  of  similarity  of  tempera- 
ment in  "identical  twins."  As  regards  marriage 
it  is  pointed  out  that  "  these  twain  "  rarely  have 
"the  same  zygotic  temperamental  formula,"  which 
is  doubtless  providential.  As  regards  suicide  it 
is  shown  that  the  hyperkinetic  and  the  hypokinetic 
types  are  consistent  even  to  the  end,  for  they  keep 
to  their  distinctive  methods.  The  factorial  hypo- 
thesis seems  to  work  well  in  certain  cases,  but  we 
must  confess  that  the  theory  of  a  factor  C,  "  which 
makes  for  normal  cheerfulness  of  mood,"  appears 
to  us  an  incredible  simplification  of  the  facts  of 
life. 


PROF.  SILVANUS  P.   THOMPSON,  F.R.S. 
'^F'HE    sudden   and    unexpected    death    of    Prof. 

A  Silvanus  Thompson  will  be  deeply  regretted 
by  a  large  and  distinguished  circle  of  personal 
friends,  as  well  as  by  the  many  engineers,  elec- 
tricians, and  others  who,  either  directly  in  his 
classes,  or  indirectly  through  his  books  and  writ- 
ings, have  come  under  the  influence  of  his  teach- 
ing. A  many-sided,  cultivated,  and  highly  gifted 
man  of  untiring  industry',  possessed  of  an  almost 
unique  knowledge,  not  only  of  the  highways  and 
byways  of  science  itself,  but  also  of  its  history 
and  the  history  of  its  creators,  Prof.  Thompson 
held  a  distinguished  position  in  the  scientific 
world. 

During  the  past  three  centuries  scientific  facts 
have  been  accumulating  so  rapidly  and  on  so  vast 
a  scale  that  no  one  could  to-day  honestly  pretend, 
with  Francis  Bacon,  that  he  took  all  knowledge 
for  his  province.  Nor  would  it  be  possible  nowa- 
days for  any  single  individual  to  be,  like  Leonardo 
da  Vinci,  the  master,  not  only  of  every  branch  of 
science  and  engineering,  but  also  of  literature  and 
the  arts.  Prof.  Thompson,  however,  if  he  fell 
short  of  reaching  the  unattainable,  was  a  real 
master  in  many  separate  intellectual  fields.  In 
the  sciences  of  electricity,  magnetism,  and  optics, 
and  in  other  branches  of  physics,  he  made  dis- 
coveries and  did  original  work  of  his  own,  besides 
much  other  work  in  the  way  of  elucidating  and 
popularising  what  was  done  by  others.  Gifted 
with  a  peculiar  charm  of  manner,  a  pleasantly 
resonant  voice,  great  clarity  of  diction,  and  an 
immense  facility  for  finding  the  proper  words  and 
expressions,  his  lectures  were  always  a  pleasure 
to  listen   to,    particularly    as,    in    addition    to   his 


344 


NATURE 


[June  22,  1916 


powers  of  locution,  he  was  also  exceedingly  suc- 
cessful with  his  experiments.  His  speeches, 
whether  prepared  or  extempore,  were  always 
models  of  lucidity,  and  when  moved  he  was  capable 
of  attaining  to  real  eloquence.  From  a  combined 
scientific  and  literary  point  of  view  he  possessed 
not  a  few  points  of  resemblance  with  Tyndall, 
thougfh  very  different  himself  in  other  ways  from 
Tyndall  as  a  man. 

The  late  Sir  William  White,  himself  a  very 
fluent  and  effective  speaker,  and  himself  a  no  mean 
judge  of  oratory,  once  told  the  present  writer  that 
he  had  heard  Prof.  Thompson  deliver  an  address 
at  a  religious  meeting  in  the  Friends'  Meeting 
House  at  York,  and  that  it  was  the  best  sermon 
he  had  ever  heard  in  his  life.  Nor  were  Prof. 
Thompson's  powers  of  speech  limited  to  his  own 
language,  as  he  was  equally  at  home  both  in  con- 
versation, and  w^hen  speaking  in  public,  in  the 
French,  German,  and  Italian  languages.  In  his 
writings  also  he  showed  himself  to  be  a  master  of 
English.  If  the  subject  was  scientific  his  language 
was  always  extraordinarily  clear  and  to  the  point, 
which  explains  the  remarkable  success  of  some  of 
his  books.  His  treatise  on  "Dynamo  Electric 
Machinery,"  for  example,  which  was  first  published 
in  1884,  has  run  to  seven  English  editions  and  has 
further  been  translated  both  into  French  and 
German.  Again,  his  "  Elementary  Lessons  in 
Electricity  and  Magnetism  "  has  been  translated 
into  French,  German,  Italian,  Polish,  and 
Japanese,  and,  in  addition,  has  had  a  circulation 
of  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
copies  in  this  country ;  while  other  of  his  technical 
books,  such  as  his  "Electro-Magnet,"  his  "Poly- 
phase Electric  Currents  and  Motors,"  and  his 
"Light,  Visible  and  Invisible,"  together  with 
many  of  his  other  scientific  writings  and  lectures, 
have  met  with  world-wide  success. 

To  turn  to  Prof.  Thompson's  efforts  of  a  more 
purely  personal  character,  his  fine  literary  style 
was  turned  to  good  use  in  his  life  of  Faraday,  his 
biographical  notice  of  Philip  Reis  and  his  tele- 
phone, and  his  recent  two-volume  "  Life  of  Lord 
Kelvin."  Then,  again,  he  was  always  keenly  alive 
to  the  historical  side  of  science,  particularly  from 
a  romantic  point  of  view,  as  is  seen  from  the  large 
amount  of  time  and  labour  that  he  devoted  to  old 
books,  such  as  the  "  De  Magnete "  of  William 
Gilbert  of  Colchester,  physician  to  Queen  Elizabeth, 
which  book  he  assisted  to  translate.  He  also  devoted 
attention  to,  and  reprinted,  some  of  the  seven- 
teenth-century W'Orks  on  magnetism  of  Robert 
Boyle.  Mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  trans- 
lation he  made  from  the  original  Latin  of  the 
epistle  on  magnetism  of  Peter  Peregrinus,  written 
in  the  year  1269  by  a  soldier  in  the  trenches 
during  a  siege,  which  translation  he  caused  to  be 
privately  printed,  ornamenting  the  coloured  initial 
letters  with  his  own  hand.  For,  in  addition  to 
being  a  man  of  science  and  a  man  of  letters.  Prof. 
Thompson  was  also  an  artist  who  was  able  him- 
self to  draw  the  portrait  of  Faraday  that  illustrates 
his  life  of  that  great  man,  and  whose  water-colours 
of  Alpine  scenery  have  appeared  on  the  walls  of 
the  Royal  Academy. 

NO.    2434,   VOL.    97] 


As  a  man  Prof.  Thompson  was  a  genial  and 
interesting  companion  of  wide  general  interests 
and  sympathies.  He  lived  up  to  the  high  standard 
of  the  Society  of  Friends,  of  which  he  was  a  life- 
long member,  and  was,  indeed,  a  very  good  and 
true  friend  to  many,  to  whom  he  tendered  a  helping 
hand  in  his  quiet  unostentatious  way.  Perhaps 
his  chief  characteristic  was  his  amazing  industry, 
and  it  is  to  this  that  is  due  the  vast  amount  of 
work  that  he  accomplished,  though,  passing  away 
as  he  did  at  less  than  sixty-five,  he  has  not  attained 
even  to  the  three  score  years  and  ten  of  the 
Psalmist,  much  less  to  the  four  score  years  which 
are  now  so  commonly  surpassed  by  many  of  our 
grand  old  men  of  science. 

Few  of  the  many  who  attended  the  service  "  For 
Worship,"  in  memory  of  Prof.  Thompson,  on 
Friday  last,  in  the  Friends'  Meeting  House,  St. 
Martin's  Lane,  will  readily  forget  that  remarkable 
and  moving  occasion.  Many  of  the  veterans  of 
British  science  were  there  assembled,  and  the  com- 
plete absence  of  any  approach  to  form  or  ceremony, 
and  the  austere  simplicity  of  the  proceedings,  were 
very  impressive  and  carried  one  back  to  the  days 
of  the  Puritans.  Such  was  a  fitting  finale  to  a 
strenuous  and  distinguished  career,  by  the  close 
of  which  science  has  lost  an  enthusiastic  leader 
and  an  illuminating  exponent.  Amongst  those  who 
knew  Prof.  Thompson  personally  all  will  deplore 
the  departure  of  a  trusted  and  very  sincere  friend 
— one  who  will  not  readily  be  forgotten. 

A.  A.  Campbell  Swinton. 

WHAT  SCIENCE   SAYS    TO    TRUTH. 
A    S  is  the  mainland  to  the  sea, 
Thou  art  to  me  : 
Thou  standest  stable,  while  against  thy  feet 
I  beat,  I  beat ! 

Yet  from  thy  cliffs  so  sheer,  so  tall, 

Sands  crumble  and  fall ; 

And  golden  grains  of  thee  my  tides  each  day 

Carry  away. 

William  Watson. 


NOTES. 

We  regret  to  see  the  announcement  of  the  death 
on  June  18  of  Dr.  R.  H.  Scott,  F.R.S.,  superintendent 
of  the  Meteorological  Office  from  1867  to  1900. 

The  longevity  of  men  of  science  has  often  been 
brought  under  notice.  On  Saturday  next,  June  24, 
the  Rt.  Hon.  Henry  John  Moreton,  Earl  of  Ducie, 
F.R.S.,  enters  on  his  ninetieth  year,  having  been  born 
in  1827.  His  lordship  is  the  senior  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society  in  point  of  election  to  that  body,  this 
dating  from  1855.  When  Lord  Moreton,  he  obtained 
from  the  Jurassic  limestone  of  Burford  the  fossil  species 
of  star-fish  named  by  Prof.  Edward  Forbes  Solaster 
nioretoni,  in  honour  of  the  finder.  In  connection  it 
may  be  mentioned  that  Sir  Robert  Palgrave,  F.R.S.*, 
entered  on  his  ninetieth  year  in  the  early  part  of  this 
month,  while  Sir  William  Crookes  attainecj  the  age  of 
eighty-four  on  Saturday  last,  June   17. 


June  22,  1916] 


NATURE 


345 


Dr.  Axel  Gavehn  has  been  appointed  director  of  the 
Swedish  Geological  Survey. 

The  Sulitelma  Company  has  made  a  grant  of  20,000 
kronen  (about  iiooZ.)  to  assist  geological  research  in 
Norway. 

A  CORRESPONDENT  of  Svenska  Dagbladet  states  that 
in  the  Berlin  Zoological  Gardens  carnivores  are  fed 
no  longer  on  horseflesh,  but  on  general  offal  obtained 
in  the  slaughter-houses,  especially  those  of  large  pre- 
serving factories,  and  other  places.  Animals  formerly 
fed  on  oats  are  now  given  various  roots,  and  it  is 
found  that  they  appreciate  these  much  better  when 
boiled. 

The  special  correspondent  of  the  Times  at  Port 
Stanley  (Falkland  Islands)  reports  that  the  ship  sent 
by  the  Uruguayan  Government  for  the  relief  of  the 
members  of  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton's  expedition  on 
Elephant  Island  left  there  on  Saturday,  June   17. 

At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Optical  Society  the 
president  (Mr.  F.  J.  Cheshire)  stated  that  it  had  re- 
cently been  discovered  by  a  well-known  London 
optician  that  the  apochromatic  systems  of  Carl  Zeiss 
often,  if  not  always,  contained  a  strong  negative  lens 
made  from  ordinary  potash  alum.  This  lens  had  also 
been  found  in  combination  in  such  systems  with  a 
lens  made  from  fluorspar. 

A  SCIENTIFIC  lawyer  writes  : — "  In  the  legal  pro- 
fession the  axiom  that  '  a  man  who  gets  his  law  for 
nothing  feels  that  he  has  got  his  money's  worth  '  has 
assumed  the  purple  among  accepted  facts."  On  this 
principle  the  best  way  to  secure  appreciation  for  the 
expert  knowledge  which  men  of  science  are  continu- 
ally giving  gratuitously  to  Government  departments 
would  be  to  require  reasonable  payment  for  it. 

The  death  is  announced,  in  his  sixtieth  year,  of  Mr. 
C.  Sooysmith,  consulting  engineer,  of  New  York,  who 
introduced  into  the  United  States  the  so-called  freez- 
ing process  for  excavating,  and  took  out  many  patents 
for  its  application  to  the  building  of  subaqueous 
tunnels.  He  also  inaugurated  the  pneumatic  caisson 
method  for  constructing  the  foundation  of  high  build- 
ings, and  constructed  the  foundation  for  a  number 
of  large  bridges,  including  the  bridge  over  the  Schuyl- 
kill River  at  Philadelphia  and  the  Harlem  River  bridge 
at  New  York. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Association 
for  the  Study  and  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  it  was 
announced  that  it  had  received  from  the  Metropolitan 
Life  Insurance  Co.  a  gift  of  2o,oooZ.  for  a  "'com- 
munity experiment,"  with  the  idea  of  proving  that 
tuberculosis  can  be  controlled.  First,  there  is  to  be 
selected  a  suitable  communit)-,  of  a  character  as  nearly 
typical  American  as  possible.  In  this  community  will 
be  placed  a  staff  of  experts,  who  will  get  in  touch 
with  ever}-  person  living  within  its  boundaries  who 
either  has  tuberculosis  or  has  been  exposed  thereto. 
The  staff  will  then,  it  is  hoped,  get  every  case  under 
supervision,  and  control  the  disease  in  that  particular 
town.     The  experiment  is  to  last  three  years. 

The  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  has  appointed 
a  Committee  to  investigate  the  principal  causes  which 
have  led  to  the  increase  of  prices  oT  commodities  of 
general  consumption  since  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
and  to  recommend  such  steps,  if  any,  with  the  view  of 
ameliorating  the  situation  as  appear  practicable  and 
expedient,  having  regard  to  the  necessity  of  maintain- 
ing adequate  supplies.  The  Committee  is  constituted 
as  follows  :— Rt.  Hon.  J.  M.  Robertson,  M.P.  (chair- 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


man),  Mrs.  Pember  Reeves,  Mr.  W.  C.  Anderson, 
M.P.,  Prof.  W.  J.  Ashley  (professor  of  commerce, 
University  of  Birmingham),  Mr.  John  Boland,  M.P., 
Mr.  T.  Brodrick,  Sir  Gilbert  Claughton,  Baft.,  Mr. 
J.  R.  Clynes,  M.P.,  Mr.  R.  E.  Prothero,  M.P.,  Mr. 
T.  Shaw,  J. P.,  and  Sir  W.  Capel  Slaughter.  Mr. 
E.  C.  Ramsbottom,  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  will  act 
as  secretary  to  the  Committee. 

The  death  is  announced  on  June  13  of  Commander 
C.  B.  Neate,  R.N.  Commander  (then  Lieutenant) 
Neate  was  the  head  of  the  British  expedition  to 
Rodriguez,  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  for  the  observation 
of  the  transit  of  Venus  in  1874.  Three  stations  in  the 
island  were  occupied,  J^ieut.  Neate  himself  being  at 
Point  Venus,  where  all  contacts  were  successfully 
observed.  The  "black  drop"  was  seen,  both  at  in- 
gress and  egress.  At  ingress  the  whole  planet  was 
distinctly  seen  outside  the  sun's  limb,  the  following 
limb  of  Venus  being  bright,  "  like  a  very  young 
moon."  The  observations  are  fully  described  and 
illustrated  in  the  volume  edited  by  Sir  G.  B.  Airy, 
and  published  in  1881.  Lieut.  Neate  was  also  a 
member  of  the  expedition  for  the  transit  of  1882, 
being  stationed  at  Bermuda,  where,  however,  owing  to 
cloud,  the  obser\'ations  were  only  partial!}'  successful. 

In  some  agricultural  districts  the  times  at  which 
labourers  commence  work  have  been  advanced  by  one 
hour,  thus  cancelling  the  operation  of  the  Summer 
Time  Act.  The  reason  given  for  this  action  is  that  at 
the  earlier  hour  there  is  too  much  dew  to  enable  farm 
work  to  be  carried  on.  The  advantage  of  the  later 
lighting-up  time  in  houses  is  also  apparently  to  be 
discounted  by  an  increase  in  the  cost  of  artificial 
illumination,  for  the  Brompton  and  Kensington  Elec- 
tricity Supply  Co.,  Ltd.,  has  just  made  the  following 
announcement : — "  In  consequence  of  the  operation  of 
the  '  Daylight  Saving  '  Act,  and  in  furtherance  of  the 
appeal  of  the  Board  of  Trade  to  economise  as  far  as 
possible  in  the  use  of  electricity  and  gas  (owing  to 
the  need  for  reducing  the  consumption  of  coal),  the 
price  of  current  will  be  increased  by  a  further  10  per 
cent.,  to  take  effect  from  the  date  of  reading  the 
meters  at  the  end  of  the  current  quarter."  Other  com- 
panies are  also  making  this  additional  charge,  which 
means  that  consumers  will  now  have  to  pay  a  20  per 
cent,  increase  on  the  cost  of  the  units  used,  as  there 
has  been  for  some  time  an  increase  of  10  per  cent, 
upon  the  pre-war  rate.  Whatever  economy  is  effected 
in  the  consumption  of  current  and  gas  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Daylight  Saving  measur*  will  not,  there- 
fore, be  to  the  advantage  of  the  consumer,  who  will, 
under  the  increased  rate,  have  to  pay  much  the  same 
for  illumination  as  in  corresponding  periods  before  the 
Act  came  into  force. 

The  Standing  Committee  on  Engineering  appointed 
by  the  Advisor}-  Council  for  Scientific  and  Industrial 
Research  held  its  first  meeting  on  Wednesday,  June  7. 
The  Committee  has  been  so  constituted  as  to  represent 
both  the  scientific  and  the  industrial  sides  of  engineer- 
ing, and  includes  the  following  members  nominated 
by  the  professional  associations  : — Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers,  Sir  Maurice  Fitzmaurice;  Institution  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  Mr.  J.  S.  Highfield;  Institution 
of  Mechanical  Engineers,  Dr.  Dugald  Clerk;  Institu- 
tion of  Naval  Architects,  Sir  Archiljald  Denny,  Bart.  ; 
N.E.  Coast  Institution  of  Engineers  and  Shipbuilders, 
Mr.  Herbert  Rowell ;  Manchester  Association  of 
Engineers,  Mr.  Alfred  Saxon;  Institution  of  Engineers 
and  Shipbuilders  in  Scotland,  Mr.  James  Brown ;  and 
the  following  members  appointed  directly  by  the  Advi- 
sor}- Council  : — Mr.  F.  R.  Davenport,  ^Ir.  Alfred 
Herbert,    Prof.    Bertram     Hopkinson,     F.R.S.,     Mr. 


346 


NATURE 


[June  22,  1916 


C.  H.  Merz,  Mr.  V.  L.  Raven,  Mr.  A.  A.  Remington, 
Mr.  G.  Gerald  Stoney,  F.R.S.,  Mr.  Douglas  Vickers, 
Prof.  Miles  Walker.  The  Advisory  Council  has  ap- 
pointed Sir  Maurice  Fitzmaurice  to  be  chairman  of  the 
Committee. 

The  formation  by  the  Advisory  Council  for  Scien- 
tific and  Industrial  Research  of  a  Standing  Com- 
mittee on  Mining,  constituted  so  as  to  represent  both 
the  scientific  and  industrial  sides,  has  now  been  com- 
pleted. The  Standing  Committee  includes  the  follow- 
ing members  nominated  by  professional  associa- 
tions : — Institution  of  Mining  Engineers  :  Sir  William 
Garforth,  Dr.  John  Haldane,  Dr.  R.  T.  Moore,  Mr. 
Wallace  Thorneycrof  t ;  Institution  of  Mining  and 
Metallurgy  :  Mr.  Edward  Hooper,  Mr.  Edgar  Taylor ; 
Iron  and  Steel  Institute:  Prof.  H.  Louis;  the  South 
Wales  Institute  of  Engineers :  Mr.  W.  Gascoyne 
Dalziel ;  and  the  following  members  appointed  directly 
by  the  Advisory  Council  :— Sir  Hugh  Bell,  Bart.,  Mr. 
Hugh  Bramwell,  Lieut.-Col.  W.  C.  Blackett,  Prof. 
Cadman,  Prof.  Frecheville,  Mr.  Bedford  McNeill,  Mr. 
Hugh  F.  Marriott,  Sir  Boverton  Redwood,  Bart.,  Mr. 
C.  E.  Rhodes.  The  Advisory  Council  has  appointed 
Sir  William  Garforth  to  be  chairman.  The  Com- 
mittee is  divided  into  two  sections,  as  follows  : — Sec- 
tion on  the  Mining  of  Iron,  Coal,  and  Hydrocarbons  : 
Sir  William  Garforth  (chairman),  Sir  Hugh  Bell, 
Bart.,  Mr.  Hugh  Bramwell,  Lieut.-Col.  W.  C. 
Blackett,  Prof.  Cadman,  Mr.  W.  Gascoyne  Dalziel, 
Dr.  John  Haldane,  Prof.  Louis,  Dr.  R.  T.  Moore, 
Sir  Boverton  Redwood,  Bart.,  Mr.  C.  E.  Rhodes,  Mr. 
Wallace  Thorneycroft.  Section  on  the  Mining  of 
Minerals  other  than  Iron,  Coal,  and  Hydrocarbons  : 
Mr.  Edgar  Taylor  (chairman).  Sir  Hugh  Bell,  Bart., 
Prof.  Frecheville,  Mr.  "Edward  Hooper,  Prof.  Louis, 
Mr.  Bedford  McNeill,  Mr,  Hugh  Marriott. 

General  Joseph  Simon  Gallieni,  whose  death  was 
recently  announced  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven,  had 
achieved  fame,  not  only  as  a  soldier,  but  as  an  ex- 
plorer and  colonial  administrator.  In  1880  he  ascended 
the  Senegal  and  explored  the  course  of  its  two  prin- 
cipal tributaries,  the  Ba-Khoy  and  the  Ba-Fing,  and 
the  hitherto  unknown  regions  between  the  Senegal 
and  the  Niger,  and  then  descended  the  Niger  to  Segu 
Sikovo.  Seven  years  later  he  was  again  exploring  in 
the  same  region,  and  his  work  had  much  to  do  with 
the  extension  of  French  influence  in  the  western  Sudan 
and  Timbuctu.  In  1892  Colonel  Gallieni  was  sent 
to  Tongking,  and  combined  mi^ch  topographical  work 
with  his  arduous  military  duties.  But  perhaps  the 
most  difficult  task  he  ever  undertook,  and  the  one  in 
which  he  was  most  successful,  was  his  governorship 
of  Madagascar.  In  nine  years  he  rescued  that  island 
from  a  state  of  chaos  and  turned-  it  into  a  possession 
worthy  of  France.  Roads  and  a  railway  were  built, 
agriculture  put  on  a  firm  basis,  mining  was  developed, 
and  education  taken  in  hand — to  mention  but  a  few 
of  General  Gallieni 's  works.  Lastly,  a  detailed  survey 
of  Madagascar  was  commenced.  General  Gallieni 
distinguished  himself  in  the  Franco-German  war  of 
1870,  and  in  the  present  war  was  entrusted  in  Sep- 
tember, 1914,  with  the  defence  of  Paris  at  a  time 
when  the  enemy's  forces  were  advancing.  This  task 
General  Gallieni  was  happily  spared  by  the  repulse  of 
the  enemy  at  the  Marne. 

A  SUMMARY  of  the  weather  for  the  spring  season 
for  the  several  districts  of  the  United  Kingdom,  col- 
lated by  the  Meteorological  Office  from  the  weekly- 
returns  for  March,  April,  and  May,  shows  that  beyond 
an  excessive  amount  of  rain  the  conditions  were  fairly 
normal  in  spite  of  the  fickle  character  of"  the  weather. 
The  mean  temperature  was  below  the  normal  in   all 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


districts  except  the  north-east  and  east  of  England, 
but  the  deficiency  was  small,  except  in  Ireland,  where 
it  amounted  to  nearly  2°  F.  Rainfall  was  in  excess 
of  the  average,  except  in  the  north  of  Scotland,  where 
the  deficiency  was  only  004  in.  The  most  abnormal 
rainfall  was  153  per  cent,  of  the  average  in  the  east 
of  Scotland.  Sunshine  was  deficient  over  the  entire 
kingdom.  Summer  has  commenced  with  exception- 
ally cold  weather  over  the  whole  of  the  British  Isles. 
The  London  reporting  station  of  the  Meteorological 
Office  at  South  Kensington  has  no  day  temperature 
higher  than  65°  from  June  i  to  16,  the  mean  of  the 
maximum  readings  for  the  period  being  595°,  which 
is  the  normal  for  the  middle  of  April  or  October.  It 
is  6°  lower  than  the  average  of  the  day  temperature 
in  May  last,  and  is  only  1°  warmer  than  the  average 
maximum  for  last  April.  Several  days  have  been 
colder  than  on  some  days  in  January  last.  The  Green- 
wich records  only  show  one  colder  June  day  in  the 
last  seventy-five  years  than  June  12  this  jear, 
when  the  thermometer  did  not  exceed  50°,  the  excep- 
tion occurring  on  June  19,  1903.  Only  three  Junes  in 
the  last  seventy-five  years  have  failed  to  record  a 
London  temperature  of  70°  in  the  first  sixteen  days ; 
the  exceptions  are  1909,  maximum  68° ;  i860,  maxi- 
mum 67° ;  and  1843,  maximum  69-9'^.    . 

The  Executive  Council  appointed  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  on  the  management  of  the  Imperial  Institute 
under  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  has 
been  constituted  as  follows,  the  members  being 
appointed  by  the  Departments,  Ministers,  and  Govern- 
ments named  : — Board  of  Trade  :  Sir  W.  H.  Clark, 
K.C.S.I.,  Mr.  H.  Fountain.  Secretary  of  State  for 
India  :  Sir  J.  P.  Hewett,  Mr.  L.  J.  Kershaw.  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries  :  Sir 
Sydney  Olivier,  K.C.M.G.  Government  of  India: 
Sir  R.  W.  Carlyle,  K.C.S.L  Government  of  the 
Dominion  of  Canada:  Sir  G.  H.  Perley,  K.C.M.G. 
Government  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Australia  :  Mr. 
Andrew  Fisher,  High  Commissioner  for  Australia. 
Government  of  the  Union  of  South  Africa  :  Mr. 
Philip  Schreiner,  High  Commissioner  for  South 
Africa.  Government  of  the  Dominion  of  New 
Zealand:  Sir  T.  Mackenzie,  K.C.M.G.,  High  Com- 
missioner for  New  Zealand.  Secretary  of  State  for 
the  Colonies  :  Lord  Emmott,  Director,  War  Trade  De- 
partment; Lord  Islington,  Parliamentary  Under-Secre- 
tary for  India;  Lord  Scarbrough,  chairman,  the  Niger 
Co.,  Ltd.;  Lord  Burnham;  Sir  Algernon  Firth,  presi- 
dent, Association  of  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  United 
Kingdom;  Sir  Owen  Philipps,  K.C.M.G.;  Sir  W. 
Taylor,  K.C.M.G.,  formerly  Resident-General,  Malay 
States ;  Sir  M.  F.  Reid,  chairman,  Bombay  Chamber 
of  Commerce  (on  the  recommendation  of  Secretary  of 
State  for  India) ;  Prof.  W.  R.  Dunstan,  director. 
Imperial  Institute;  Mr.  R.  Threlfall,  formerly  pro- 
fessor of  physics  in  the  University  of  Sydney;  N.S.W. ; 
Mr.  R.  M.  Kindersly,  director.  Bank  of  England;  Mr. 
D.  O.  Malcolm,  director,  British  South  Africa  Com- 
pany; Mr.  G.  E.  A.  Grindle,  Colonial  Office;  Mr. 
T.  C.  Macnaghten,  Colonial  Ofhce.  The  Government 
of  Newfoundland  will  shortly  appoint  a  representative 
on  the  Executive  Council. 

In  the  Psychological  Review  (vol.  xxiii.,  No.  3)  Mr. 
S.  Bent  Russell,  in  an  article  on  "The  Effect  of  High 
Resistance  in  Common  Nerve  Paths,"  discusses  the 
means  by  which  he  thinks  complex  forms  of  behaviour 
may  be  interpreted  in  terms  of  nervous  mechanisms, 
such  as  are  generally  admitted  for  the  simpler  forms 
of  behaviour.  His  theory  depends  upon  the  assump- 
tion of  the  synapses,  i.e.  junctions  or  points  of  con- 
tact between  neurons,  as  centres  of  resistance  to  the 


June  22,  1916] 


NATURE 


347 


nervous  impulse,  and  is  an  attempt  to  make  more 
concrete  the  way  in  which  competing  paths  may 
operate.     He  shows   how   a  synapse   mechanism,   t.e. 

system  of  interrelated  neurons  connected  with  other 

^tems  similarly  constructed,  by  the  varying  degrees 

:  resistance  at  their  junction    may  ser\e  for  the  selec- 

\e  distribution   of  impulses,   and  for  the  linking  of 

^ae    impression    with    another    in    the    formation    of 

habits. 

The  new  volume  of  the  Anales  of  the  National 
Museum  of  Natural  History  of  Buenos  Aires  (vol. 
xxvii.,  for  1915)  contains  a  very  varied  series  of  con- 
tributions to  our  knowledge  of  the  natural  history  of 
the  Argentine  Republic.  Beginning  with  some  ob- 
servations on  ants,  by  the  director  of  the  museum. 
Dr.  A.  Gallardo,  it  comprises  several  technical  papers 
on  entomology  and  botany,  and  deals  with  many  other 
subjects,  ranging  from  old  maps  of  the  River  Plate 
and  drawings  of  the  fabulous  beast  known  as  the 
■  succarath,"  to  a  detailed  f>etrographical  account  of 
some  granitic  rocks.  The  exploration  of  a  sepulchral 
cave  on  the  coast  of  Chubut  leads  Dr.  F.  F.  Outes 
to  conclude  that  during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries  the  Patagonians  possessed  only  the  bow  and 
arrow  as  a  weapon ;  that  in  the  first  third  of  the 
eighteenth  century  they  began  to  use  the  imported 
horse,  and  then  first  emplo\ed  the  bolas.  Photo- 
o^raphs  of  well-preser\-ed  portions  of  three  arrows,  or 
javelins,  provided  with  a  stone  tip,  are  given. 

In  the  Journal  of  the  South  African  Ornithologists' 
Union  for  December,  which  has  just  reached  us,  Mr. 
C  F.  M.  Swynnerton  gives  a  long  account  of  his 
experiments  with  captive  birds  in  regard  to  their 
choice  of  insect  food.  For  the  most  part  his  experi- 
ments were  made  with  butterflies  and  moths  and 
their  caterpillars,  though  wasps,  beetles,  and  other 
insects  were  also  used.  The  Lepidoptera  included 
both  the  protectively  coloured,  edible  species  and  the 
Nvarningly  coloured,  nauseous  species.  He  finds  that 
birds  will  readily  eat  even  the  most  nauseous  forms 
if  they  are  hungry,  but  their  readiness  to  accept  these, 
and  their  ability  to  retain  them  when  swallowed, 
decrease  rapidly  as  hunger  is  satisfied.  Thus  the 
warningly  coloured  species  derive  benefit  from  their 
coloration  only  when  their  avian  enemies  can  afford 
to  pass  them  by.  Even  those  birds  with  the  smallest 
capacity  for  eating  nauseous  insects  are  able  to  eat 
one  or  two  with  apparent  impunity,  and  even  eager- 
ness, when  their  stomachs  are  empty  and  the  appetite 
is  good.  A  bird  with  a  rapid  digestion  is  able  to  go  on 
eating  the  most  nauseous  insects  indefinitely,  with 
frequent  short  inter\-als  for  assimilation,  provided  that 
no  more  tempting  insects  are  within  reach  to  carry  the 
filling  of  the  stomach  well  beyond  the  point  at  which 
such  nauseous  morsels  are  usually  refused.  Dis- 
crimination between  edible  and  nauseating  forms,  the 
author  contends,  comes  by  experience  only,  and  not 
instinctively. 

In  the  Ke-w  Bulletin,  No.  3,  ten  new  exotic  fungi 
are  described  by  Miss  E.  M.  Wakefield.  Polyportis 
shoreae,  a  serious  disease  of  Sal  {Shorea  robusta),  is 
illustrated  by  a  photograph  showing  the  large  sporo- 
phore  at  the  base  of  a  tree-trunk  in  Bengal.  Cordy- 
ceps  peltata,  a  species  parasitic  on  the  larvae  of  a 
Cryptorhynchus,  which  infests  cultivated  Codiaeums  in 
St.  Vincent,  differs  from  all  other  species  in  the  very 
large  spores,  which,  instead  of  breaking  apart  at  ever}- 
septum  at  maturity,  only  separate  at  the  middle  into 
two  narrowly  wedge-shaped  halves.  The  description 
of  the  fungus  is  illustrated  by  text  figures. 

In  the  Journal  of  Botany  for  April  Dr.  \V.  Botting 
Hemsley  contributes  a  paper  on  the  flora  of  the  Sey- 
chelles and  Aldabra,  giving  descriptions  of  new  flower- 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


ing  plants  collected  mainly  during  Prof.  J.  Stanley 
Gardiner's  Percy  Sladen  Trust  Expedition  in  1905. 
Fifteen  new  species  are  described  in  the  present  con- 
triburton,  which  includes  the  Rubiaceae  and  the  de- 
scription of  a  new  Impatiens  drawn  up  in  1910  by 
the  late  Sir  J.  D.  Hooker.  Some  emendations  in 
synonymy  are  also  made.  In  a  short  introduction 
Dr.  Hemsley  gives  an  account  of  the  botanical  collec- 
tions made  in  the  Seychelles  since  190 1,  when  the 
flora  of  the  islands  was  being  critically  studied  by 
the  author. 

A  SUBJECT  of  considerable  importance  to  officers  is 
most  clearly  and  simply  treated  by  Mr.  E.  A.  Reeves 
in  a  paper  on  "  Night  Marching  by  Stars "  in  the 
Geographical  Journal  for  June  (vol.  xlvii..  No  6.).  A 
good  deal  has  recently  been  published  on  the  subject, 
but  no  one  perhaps  has  to  such  an  extent  the  happy 
way  of  Mr.  Reeves  of  putting  technicalities  in  simple 
language.  This  paper,  based  on  a  lecture  delivered  at 
the  Royal  Geographical  Socier\-,  deals  both  with  the 
methods  of  finding  the  bearings  of  stars  at  any  time 
and  the  more  practical  issue  of  using  these  bearings 
in  marching. 

An  important  paper  in  Swedish  by  V.  Tanner, 
occupying  more  than  800  pages,  describes  the  develop- 
ment and  retreat  of  the  continental  ice  in  Finnish  and 
Scandinavian  Lapland  {BiilL  de  la  Comm.  giol.  de 
Finlande,  No.  38,  1915).  A  good  resume  in  French  is 
given.  Numerous  eskers  have  been  examined,  and 
the  author  points  out  that  several  of  these  have 
suffered  since  their  formation  from  fluvioglacial 
erosion  and  deposition.  He  takes  the  view,  now 
common,  that  the  eskers  arose  in  tunnels  in  or  under 
the  ice-sheet,  the  eskers  with  "centra,"  described  by 
De  Geer,  from  the  Stockholm  district  being  special 
cases  of  formation  where  the  ice-front  abutted  upon 
a  lake  or  sea.  The  author  wishes  to  reserve  judgment 
as  to  whether  centra  in  the  eskers  of  Lapland  have 
been  produced  in  the  same  manner.  Good  illustra- 
tions are  given  of  the  gorges  cut  by  glacial  waters 
during  the  epoch  of  ice-recession.  The  work  repre- 
sents field-obser\'ations,  extending  over  several  years, 
in  a  country  sparsely  inhabited,  difficult  to  traverse, 
and  of  singular  monotony  from  the  scenic  point  of 
view.  The  glacial  map  forming  plate  i.,  which  un- 
fortunately has  no  place-names,  sufficiently  attests  the 
author's  industry,  covering  an  area  of  "350,000  sq. 
kilometres,  or  some  135,000  sq.  miles,  between  lati- 
tude 66°  30'  N.  and  the  desolate  tundras  that  bound 
the  Arctic  seas. 

We  have  received  Revista  de  la  Academia  de  Cieti- 
cias,  etc.  (vol.  i..  No.  i.  May,  1916;  Zaragoza),  and 
"  La  Ciencia,  La  Universidad,  y  La  Academia,"  the 
latter  being  an  inaugural  address  by  Dr.  Zoel  G.  de 
Galdeano.  Their  principal  interest  is  that  they  show 
that  Spain  is  beginning  to  appreciate  the  value'  of  the 
exact  sciences. 

As  supplementing  the  information  given  in  the  note 
on  the  "  Mineral  Resources  of  Great  Britain,"  vol.  v., 
which  appeared  in  Nature  of  June  15  (p.  327),  refer- 
ence may  be  made  to  the  account  of  the  occurrences  of 
molybdenum  ores  throughout  the  world  which  ap- 
peared in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Imperial  Institute,  No.  2 
of  1908.  The  information  then  published  was  brought 
up  to  date  by  a  special  circular,  issued  by  the  Imperial 
Institute  in  1915,  dealing  with  occurrences  of  molyb- 
denite in  the  British  Empire,  which  are  either  com- 
mercially productive  or  afford  promise  of  becoming  so. 
The  collection  and  publication  of  information  respect- 
ing the  occurrence  of  economic  minerals  in  the  Colo- 
nies and  India  has  for  some  years  been  a  prominent 
part  of  the  operations  of  the  Imperial  Institute. 


348 


NATURE 


[June  22,  1916 


In  an  address  to  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  which  is  reproduced  in  the  April  number  of 
the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  Mr.  J.  D.  Ball, 
of  the  General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady,  gave 
a  resume  of  the  results  obtained  by  him  in  his  recent 
examination  of  the  magnetic  properties  of  steels  and 
other  materials.  He  finds  that  for  pure  materials  the 
reluctivity  when  plotted  against  magnetising  force  H 
gives  a  straight  line  from  H  =  io  to  400,  and  that  the 
hysteresis  loss  per  cycle  for  such  materials  varies  as 
the  ibth  power  of  the  maximum  induction.  The 
deviations  from  these  laws  which  have  been  found 
by  other  observers  are  due,  he  finds,  to  the  use  of 
impure  or  mixed  materials.  A  mixture  of  two  mate- 
rials which  follow  both  laws  follows  neither  at  high 
fields.  In  the  case  of  steels  the  presence  of  scale  on 
the  surface  is  sufficient  to  account  for  the  observed 
deviations  from  the  two  laws.  The  paper  contains  a 
number  of  tables  and  curves  showing  the  magnetic 
properties  of  steel,  cast-iron,   and  scale. 

Smokers  have  hitherto  been  iniplored — or  compelled 
through  heavier  taxation — to  practise  war  economy  by 
avoiding,  or  at  least  restricting  their  use  of,  tobacco. 
Now  it  seems  that  were  one  of  the  products  of  their 
indulgence  to  be  collected  they  would  become  national 
benefactors  in  disguise.  In  an  article  in  the  Chemical 
News  for  June  2  Mr.  B.  A.  Burrell  points  out  that 
tobacco  ash  contains  20  per  cent,  of  potash.  A  cigar, 
cigarette,  and  pipe  of  tobacco  of  ordinary  sizes,  weigh- 
ing severally  106-5,  27,  and  255  grains,  will  give  ash 
containing  respectively  6-5,  175,  and  i-6o  grains  of 
potash.  (We  think  that  there  must  be  some  mistake 
in  Mr.  Burrell's  figures,  since  in  our  experience  ordinary 
cigarettes  weigh  eighteen  to  twenty  to  the  ounce,  whilst 
it  is  difficult  to  obtain  more  than  fourteen  "pipes" 
from  an  ounce  of  tobacco.)  As  regards  the  possibility 
of  recovering  this  waste  potash,  Mr.  Burrell  found 
that  from  the  smoke-room  of  a  club  9I  oz,  of  ash 
and  unburnt  tobacco  could  be  collected  in  eight  days; 
from  the  lounge  of  a  large  hotel  13  oz.  in  four  days ; 
from  a  large  restaurant  2^  lb.  in  ten  days,  and  from 
a  music-hall  (one-tenth  part  of  the  auditorium)  4  oz. 
after  one  performance.  The  tobacco  consumed  in  the 
United  Kingdom  for  the  year  ending  March  31,  1914, 
would  give  "approximately  13,359  tons  of  ash,  contain- 
ing 2672  tons  of  potash,  which,  at  the  pre-war  price 
of  kainit,  would  be  worth  nearly  51,000^. 

In  a  paper  read  before  the  Federated  Malay  States 
Chamber  of  Mines  in  March  last,  Mr.  J.  B.  Scrivener, 
geologist,  discusses  the  situation  in  the  peninsula 
created  bv  the  increased  demand  for  tungsten.  The 
peninsula'  is  one  of  the  chief  world  sources  of  this 
metal,  which  nearly  always  occurs  in  the  form  of 
wolfram— a  mixed  Von  and  manganese  tungstate — 
contaminated  with  tin-stone.  To  get  new  supplies 
Mr,  Scrivener  concludes  that  two  courses  are  open. 
The  first  is  to  encourage  prospecting  in  new  land  and 
to  do  ever^^thing  to  encourage  the  Chinese  miners 
going  into  the  less  known  parts  of  the  granite  ranges. 
It  is  anticipated  that  it  is  unlikely  that  large  quantities 
of  pure  tungsten  ores  will  be  found,  but  that  mixed 
wolfram  and  tin-stone  areas  will  be  discovered.  The 
second  course  is  to  improve  the  facilities  for  the 
magnetic  treatment  of  this  mixture  with  the  separa- 
tion of  the  wolfram.  For  this  at  present  only  two 
plants  exist,  and  much  wolfram  contaminated  with 
tin  ore  is  lying  idle  because  of  the  expense  of  sending 

'  it  for  treatment.  Scheelite  (calcium  tungstate),  which 
cannot  be  magneticallv  purified,  is  in  a  different  cate- 
gory. It  is  certainly  to  be  hoped  that  the  Government 
will  do  all  in  its  po'wer  to  encourage  the  output  of  a 

•  metal  the  usefulness  of  which,  both  for  war  and  peace 
purposes,   is  increasing  every  year. 
NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


The  Revue  ginirale  des  Sciences  for  May  15  con- 
tains an  article  by  M.  Zach  in  which  he  gives  formulae 
for  the  strength  of  flat  rectangular  plates  encastr^  at 
the  edges,  and  subjected  to  uniform  pressure  p. 
These  formulae  are  based  on  experiments  made  by 
Bach,  and  by  the  Naval  Departments  in  Germany  and 
the  United  States  of  America.  The  maximum  bend- 
ing moment  occurs  at  the  middle  of  the  long  edge  of 

the  plate,   and   is  ^        if   the   ratio   of   breadth   a  to 

length  b  is  greater  than  i  :  3.  The  bending  moment 
at  the  centre  of  the  plate  has  a  value  less  than  half  of 
this.  For  other  ratios  of  a  :b,  the  bending  moments 
at  the  middle  of  the  long  edge  and  short  edge  respec- 


tively are    K^^  and  K„^', 
12  12 


wli 


K.    and    Kb   are 


factors  having  the  following  values  : — 

a  :  6      I  :  2  's        1:2         I  :  1  '8       i  :  i  '6       i  ;  i  "4       i  :  i  "2        1:1 

Kji      099      o'96      o"94      o"9i       086      079      064 
Kb      003      006      009      014      o"22      o"38      0*64 

At  the  corners  of  the  plate  the  bending  moment 
reverses  in  sign.  The  subject  is  of  considerable  im- 
portance in  connection  with  the  design  of  bulkheads, 
and  we  believe  that  the  results  of  other  experiments 
which  have  been  made  in  this  country  will  be  avail- 
able shortly. 

Under  the  title,  "A  Scheme  for  the  Promotion  of 
Scientific  Research,"  a  suggestive  little  volume  by 
Mr.  W.  B.  Priest  was  published  by  Messrs.  Stevens 
and  Sons,  Ltd.,  Chancery  Lane,  London,  E.C.,  in 
1908  (see  Nature,  January  21,  1909,  vol.  Ixxix., 
p.  345).  The  scheme  is  based  on  the  Patent  Acts, 
and,  according  to  it,  any  person  who  had  made  a 
scientific  discovery  of  a  prescribed  description  could 
apply  for  a  grant  of  money,  the  application  being 
accompanied  by  a  specification  of  the  discovery.  The 
formation  of  the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  for 
Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  has  led  Mr.  Priest 
to  adapt  his  scheme  to  the  work  of  this  Committee ; 
and  he  has  sent  us  a  copy  of  a  communication  made 
bv  him  to  the  Advisory  Council  upon  the  matter.  One 
of  the  chief  difficulties  which  the  Council  has  to  meet 
is  that  industrial  firms  are  unwilling  to  make  known 
valuable  results  of  researches  in  their  works  without 
adequate  safeguards  for  the  protection  of  their  in- 
terests. Mr.  Priest  shows  in  detail  how  his  scheme 
mav  be  used  for  this  purpose,  and  we  have  no  doubt 
it  will  receive  careful  consideration  from  the  Advisory 
Council. 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

The  Solar  Activity. — The  large  spot  group 
(Nature,  June  8)  is  again  visible,  and  can  be  easily 
seen  with  binoculars  screened  with  smoked  glass. 

Comet  1916a  (Neujmin). — A  possible  connection  be- 
tween this  comet  and  Encke's  comet  has  been  traced 
by  H.  Svoboda.  A  comparison  of  their  orbit  elements 
indicates  that  Neujmin 's  comet  originated  in  the  path 
of  Encke's  comet,  possibly  by  a  partition  of  the  latter. 

The  Shower  of  Perseid  Meteors.— There  is 
evidence  that  the  Perseids  begin  to  appear  during  the 
last  week  in  June,  and  that  the  whole  duration  of 
the  shower  extends  over  ten  weeks. 

This  year  there  will  be  a  favourable  opportunity  for 
making  observations,  the  moon  being  only  slightly 
in  evidence  between  June  25  and  July  7.  If  any 
streaking  meteors  are  seen  during  this  interval  directed 
from  the  region  of  Andromeda,  near  the  stars  37  and 


June  22,  1916] 


NATURE 


349 


theta,  they  should  be  carefully  recorded.  Duplicate 
observations  of  the  same  meteors  will  be  very  valu- 
able, and  will  probably  supply  the  data  from  which 
the  question  of  duration  may  be  finally  answered. 
The  computed  place  of  the  radiant  is  as  follows  : — 


June  25 

358  +  33 

Jul. 

I 

2  +  39 

26 

358  +  34 

2 

3  +  40 

27 

359  +  35 

3 

3  +  41 

28 

0  +  36 

J. 

4  +  42 

29 

0  +  37 

5 

5  +  43 

30 

1  +  38 

6 

6  +  44 

Selenium  Photometry. — Prof.  J.  Stebbins  describes 
his  important  work  in  connection  with  the  employ- 
ment of  selenium  bridges  in  astronomical  photometry 
in  the  current  number  of  the  Observatory.  This 
doubtless  forms  a  completed  chapter  in  the  stors-  of 
the  electrical  measurement  of  radiation,  since  Prof. 
Stebbins  has  for  some  time  directed  his  attention 
to  the  later  photo-electrical  methods  (Nature,  May  4). 
It  may  be  remarked  that  there  is  a  somewhat  mislead- 
ing reference  to  Prof.  Minchin's  work  in  the  brief  his- 
torical statement,  as  the  "cell,''  properly  so  called, 
devised  by  him  was  based  on  a  quite  different  principle 
from  that  of  the  bridges  used  by  Prof.  Stebbins. 
Moreover,  the  first  essays  in  the  application  of  Prof. 
Minchin's  selenium  cell  to  stellar  photometry  were 
made  by  Mr.  Monck  and  Prof.  Fitzgerald  in  1892,  at 
Dublin.  Afterwards  Prof.  Minchin  greatly  increased 
the  efficiency  of  his  apparatus,  and  himself  made 
measures  of  stellar  radiation  in  1895  ^^  Daramona. 

The  Chemical  Origin  of  Solar  Radiation. — This 
question  is  discussed  by  Dr.  Briner  in  the  Revue 
gendrale  des  Sciences,  No.  9.  The  adequacy  of  purely 
mechanical  processes  to  account  for  the  vast  out-turn 
of  solar  energy  became  seriously  questioned  after  the 
discovery  of  radium.  Later,  spectroscopic  evidence 
pointed  to  the  existence  of  chemical  compounds  in 
the  sun's  atmosphere,  and  additional  hypotheses  were 
advanced.  Dr.  Briner  agrees  with  Arrhenius  regard- 
ing the  inefficiency  of  radio-active  changes,  but  shows 
that  both  endothermic  and  exothermic  reactions  in- 
volving either  elementary  or  compound  substances  are 
likewise  insufficient.  Dr.  Briner  then  proceeds  to 
consider  the  thermo-chemical  aspects  of  Sir  Norman 
Lockyer's  dissociation  hypothesis,  and  concludes  that 
if  the  interior  of  the  sun  is  largely  made  up  of  matter 
in  a  proto-atomic  state,  it  would  constitute  a  respect- 
able reservoir  of  energ\-  capable  of  supplying  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  solar  radiation  by  the  suc- 
cessive associations,  resulting  ultimately  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  chemical  elements. 


THE  SOUTH-EASTERN  UNION  OF 
SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES. 
T^HE  South-Eastern  Union  of  Scientific  Societies 
-*■  held  its  twenty-first  annual  congress  at  Tun- 
bridge  Wells  on  May  24-27,  with  the  Rev.  T.  R.  R. 
Stebbing  in  the  presidential  chair.  Mr.  Stebbing  was 
president  of  the  first  congress  held  in  the  same  town 
in  1896.  Dr.  Geo.  Abbott,  who  was  the  chief  founder 
of  the  union,  was  also  present,  and  read  a  paper  on 
"Some  Remarkable  Resemblances  of  Inorganic  Forma- 
tions to  Organic."  The  president's  address,  which 
was,  as  he  said,  full  of  "thoughts  that  burn,"  took 
the  unusual  form  of  a  comparison  of  Biblical  records 
with  scientific  truth.  Considerable  feeling  was  elicited 
in  discussion,  and  a  proposal  that  the  address  should 
not  be  printed  was^  defeated  overwhelmingly.  Mr. 
H.  R.  Knipe,  in  giving  a  paper  on  some  extinct 
animals,  showed  a  series  of  new  slides  made  from 
remarkably  lifelike  drawings  bv  Miss  Alice  M.  Wood- 


ward. Dr.  Keeble's  paper  on  "'  Prehistoric  Man  "  was 
illustrated  by  models  of  a  lake-village,  beehive  Neo- 
lithic huts,  etc.,  thus  introducing  an  excellent  method 
of  educating  an  audience  into  the  mysteries  of  human 
ancestrj\  Dr.  P.  Chalmers  Mitchell  lectured  on  the 
■'  Youth  of  Animals,"  and  Mr.  A.  Archibald  gave  a 
valuable  paper  on  the  "Coinages  and  Mints  of  the 
South-Eastern  District,"  illustrated  by  the  asphingo- 
scope. 

In  speaking  on  "  Some  Rarer  British  Birds,"  Miss 
E.  L.  Turner  spoke  of  the  reeve  having  been  known 
to  nest  in  England  in  1907,  and  previously  in  1897 
and  1890,  although  now  it  is  merely  a  migrant.  Whole- 
sale "egging,"  and  the  reclamation  of  land,  were  the 
causes  of  the  extinction  of  the  bittern  in  our  country. 
The  "boom"  of  the  bittern  was  heard  by  a  watcher  in 
July,  191 1,  and  by  careful  tracking  the  bird  was  found 
to  be  actually  breeding.  Miss  Turner  referred  to  the 
great  crested  grebe  as  a  species  which  has  largely 
benefited  by  the  Bird  Protection  Acts.  The  curiously 
furtive  habits  of  the  water-rail  were  illustrated  by  a 
fine  series  of  photographs,  its  shy  habits  making  it  a 
difficult  bird  to  approach.  Miss  Turner  undoubtedly 
scored  a  triumph  when  she  found  a  pair  of  cormorants 
breeding  in  a  disused  heron's  nest  in  Norfolk  in  July, 
1914.  This  was  the  more  remarkable  in  that  there 
has  been  no  record  of  nesting  since  1825,  and  that  in 
Suffolk.  For  upwards  of  200  years  Norfolk  had  lost 
the  cormorant  as  a  nesting  bird.  Sir  T.  Browne 
states  that  it  built  at  Needham  "upon  trees,  from 
where  King  Charles  I.  was  wont  to  bee  supplved" 
("  MS.  Notes  and  Letters,  1605-82,"  printed  by  T. 
Southwell,  1902).  The  nest  which  Miss  Turner  observed 
could  only  be  reached  by  a  40-ft.  ladder,  and  at 
this  distance  above  the  ground  she  exposed  more 
than  one  hundred  negatives.  Some  of  these  showed 
the  playfulness  of  the  young  cormorants,  and  the 
insight  gained  into  the  habits  of  the  nestlings  is 
invaluable. 

In  a  lecture  by  Prof.  H.  H.  Turner,  on  "The  Dis- 
coverv  of  Oxygen  in  the  Stars,"  the  various  steps 
by  which  the  knowledge  of  this  occurrence  has  been 
obtained  w^re  described.  A  paper  which  mav  prove 
of  great  educational  importance  was  given  in 
"Kosmos"  Cinema  Theatre  by  Dr.  W.  Martin  on 
"The  Educational  Importance  of  the  Cinema."  It  was 
pointed  out  how  valuable  a  means  of  education  is 
being  lost  in  the  neglect  of  this  invention,  and  it  was 
especially  emphasised  that  by  leaving  picture-palaces 
severely  alone  the  better  classes  were  tending  to  allow 
the  degradation  of  the  t\-pe  of  film-pictures  which  are 
shown  in   them. 

The  congress  met  in  very  fine  weather,  and  the 
excursions  that  were  arranged  met  with  success. 
Mention  should  be  made  of  the  visit  to  Lawson 
Wood's  half-timbered  house  at  Groombridge,  which 
was  removed  from  Udimore,  near  Winchelse^.  where 
it  was  threatened  with  demolition.  The  remains  of 
this  fine  old  fourteenth-century  court-house  were  thus 
saved  from  being  treated  as  firewood. 


NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


BRITISH  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETIES. 
T^HE  deep  attraction  which  the  studv  of  the  earth 
^  possesses  for  dwellers  in  our  islands  is  shown 
by  the  existence  of  local  geological  societies,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  numerous  bodies  devoted  to  natural  history. 
While  to  many  workers  "the  Geological  Societv'" 
means  that  founded  in  London  in  1807,  and  worthily 
commemorated  in  the  "  History  "  written  bv  the  late 
H.  B.  Woodward,  we  must  remember  that  associa- 
tions with  similar  objects  exist  in  Edinburgh,  Glas- 
gow, Manchester,  and  Liverpool.  The  Geological 
Society  of  Dublin  issued  its  first  publication  in  18^8, 


350 


NATURE 


[June  22,   1916 


and  its  last  in  1889,  after  it  had  become  the  Royal 
Geological  Society  of  Ireland.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
a  knowledge  of  the  aims  of  geology  was  more  gener- 
ally diffused  in  Ireland  during  the  fifty  years  of  its 
existence  than  is  the  case  at  the  present  day.  Though 
the  publication  of  researches  outside  London  is  natur- 
ally regretted  by  dwellers  in  the  capital,  a  proper 
system  of  exchange  and  distribution  after  all  renders 
reference  easy.  The  index  of  geological  literature, 
published  annually  by  the  Geological  Society  of  Lon- 


the  frequent  occurrence  of  analcite.  An  international 
character  is  given  to  the  Transactions  by  a  paper  by 
R.  M.  Craig  on  Prince  Charles  Foreland,  Spits- 
bergen, the  peaks  of  which  are  so-  conspicuous  from 
the  entrance  to  the  Ice  Fjord.  A.  McEwen  Peach 
follows  with  an  account  of  the  pre-Glacial  platform 
and  raised  beaches  of  the  island  (Fig.  i).  The  plat- 
form has  the  same  relation  to  the  submerged  valleys 
as  that  discovered  by  Maufe  and  Wright  in  southern 
Ireland. 


Fig.  I.— West  coast  of  Prince  Charles  Foreland,  showing  trie  ui-^secieu      ijaLkbone  Ridge  "  and  the  coasi.Ti  piaiii>rin  \\  im  lais-ju 

From  the  Transactions  of  the  Edinburgh  Geological  Society. 


icaes  and  lagoons. 


don,  now  makes  the  place  of  publication  unimportant. 
The  recognition  of  other  cities  as  centres  of  research 
requires  a  certain  magnanimity,  but  is  in  itself  a 
stimulus  to  cultured  minds  throughout  the  country. 
The  claims,  moreover,  on  the  resources  of  metropolitan 
societies  enable  the  publications  of  smaller  bodies  to 
compete  successfully  as  regards  style  of  issue  and 
illustration. 
The  Edinburgh  Geological  Society  has  just  published 


The  Geological  Society  of  Glasgow,  in  part  3  of 
vol.  XV.  of  its  Transactions  (igi6),  devotes  itself  to 
the  basin  of  the  Clyde.  Prof.  J.  W.  Gregory  (p.  310) 
regards  the  hanging  valleys  on  the  walls  of  Loch  Long 
as  pre-Glacial  in  origin.  W.  R.  Smellie  describes  in 
detail  the  igneous  rocks  of  Bute,  after  a  field-survey 
of  the  island  (Fig.  2).  P.  Macnair  correlates  the 
Lower  Carboniferous  limestones  of  North  Lanark- 
shire with  those  farther  to  the  south,  in  a  paper  that 


keft>cty>    fvi  l.«vo  pisuj.  ^y^  t  »  "i 

Fig.  2.— Panorama  of  South  Bute,  showing  escatpments  of  lava  uptiltsd  towards  the  right,  and  a  raised  beach  in  the  foreground. 
From  the  Transactions  of  the  Geological  Society  of  Glasgow. 


part  3  of  volume  x.  of  its  Transactions.  It  contains 
a  noteworthy  and  beautifully  illustrated  paper  on  the 
incorporation  of  dolomite  in  an  intrusive  basaltic  sill 
at  Gullane,  near  North  Berwick,  by  T.  Cuthbert  Day, 
who  also  traces  similarly  intimate  associations  of 
igneous  rock  and  sediments  at  Weak  Law,  where  the 
con^'posite  mass  resembles  a  fault-breccia  or  a  con- 
glomerate. Mrs.  Wallace  describes  volcanic  rocks 
from  the  necks  along  the  coast  of  Fife,  and  points  out 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


reveals    characteristically   patient    research    in    river- 
banks  and  quarries. 

The  Liverpool  Geological  Society  continues  to  inves- 
tigate the  Triassic  strata  of  the  district.  In  part  2  of 
vol.  xii.  of  the  Proceedings  (1915),  this  work  is  repre- 
sented by  F.  T.  Maidwell,  H.  W.  Greenwood,  and 
C.  B.  Travis.  There  is  an  interesting  reference  in  a 
paper  by  the  two  latter  authors  to  "boulders  of  stron- 
tium "  in  the  Keuper  Marls  of  Bristol.     These  are  pre- 


June  22,  1916] 


NATURE 


351 


w 


sumably  celestine,  like  the  well-known  examples  from 
Aust,  which  were  mentioned  by  \Vm.  Phillips  as  far 
back  as  1816.  H.  Bolton  and  C.  J.  Waterfall  have 
described  the  occurrence  at  Abbots  Leigh  as  '"  strontia." 
Messrs.  Greenwood  and  Travis  indicate  the  presence 
of  secondary,  as  well  as  primary,  rutile  in  the  Triassic 
rocks  of  W'irral.  The  former  author,  in  a  paper  on 
the  paragenesis  of  marcasite,  wurtzite,  and  calcite  at 
Halkyn  Mountain,  North  Wales,  concludes  that,  while 
the  two  former  minerals  arise  from  acid  solutions  ^sce 
Nature,  vol.  xciv.,  p.  430),  a  higher  temperature  or  a 
greater  concentration  ot  acid  is  required  for  the  pro- 
duction of  wurtzite  than  is  required  for  marcasite.  In 
the  Halkyn  case  the  acid  present  was  the  carbonic 
acid  that  simultaneously  gave  rise  to  calcite.  Zinc- 
blende  here  predominates  largely  over  wurtzite,  while 
more  than  90  per  cent,  of  the  iron  disulphide  is  present 
in  the  form  of  marcasite. 

The  same  society  also  issues  a  part  entitled  the  Cope 
Memorial  Volume,  presented  to  geologists  in  this  form 
bv  the  generosity  of  Mrs.  T.  H.  Cope,  and  embodying 
the  researches  of  her  late  husband  on  the  igneous 
rocks  of  the  Berwyn  Hills.  G.  A.  J.  C. 

THE  ''RUSSIAN   ZOOLOGICAL   REVIEW.' 

JE  have  received  the  first  number  of  a  new  Russian 
journal,  of  which  the  French  title  is  given  as 
Revue  Zoologtquc  Kusse.  It  is  published  at  aIoscow, 
under  the  editorship  of  Prof.  A.  N.  Sewertzoff  and 
W.  S.  Elpatiewsky,  of  the  Moscow  University.  The 
intention  of  the  editors  is  to  publish  preliminary  notes 
and  short  articles  on  zoology,  comparative  anatomy, 
histology,  and  embryology,  together  with  abstracts, 
personalia,  and  a  zoological  bibliography.  The  text 
is  to  be  either  in  Russian  with  a  French  or  English 
resume,  or  in  French  or  English  with  a  Russian 
resume. 

The  contents  of  this  first  number  show  that  the 
editors  aim  at  a  high  standard  of  work.  One  of  the 
most  interesting  contributions  is  an  account  of  some 
important  experiments  by  D.  Filatoff  on  the  removal 
and  transplantation  of  the  auditor}-  vesicle  of  the 
embryo  toad.  It  has  been  known  for  some  years  that 
the  optic  vesicle  of  certain  embr\os  can  be  transplanted, 
and  that  the  presence  of  such  transplanted  vesicles 
determines  the  development  of  a  lens  from  the  epiblast 
in  abnormal  situations.  M.  Filatoff  claims  to  have 
established  analogous  facts  with  regard  to  the  auditory 
vesicles.  He  maintains  that  the  presence  of  the  audi- 
tory vesicle,  even  in  an  abnormal  situation,  determines 
the  formation  of  a  cartilaginous  auditory  capsule  from 
the  surrounding  mesenchyme  cells,  which  would 
not  normally  give  rise  to  such  a  structure.  Unfor- 
tunately for  English  readers,  tfie  original  article  is 
published  in  Russian,  and  the  English  abstract  is 
scarcely  detailed  enough  to  afford  convincing  proof 
that  the  author  has  established  his  point  with  regard 
to  the  development  of  the  auditor}'  capsule.  That  an 
auditory  capsule  does  actually  develop  around  the 
transplanted  vesicle  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt,  but, 
as  the  author  himself  suggests,  it  seems  to  be  possible 
that  it  may  develop  from  mesenchyme  cells  trans- 
planted with  the  auditor}'  vesicle,  and  this  is  the  point 
which  we  should  like  to  see  more  satisfactorily  cleared 
up,  though  we  agree  that  the  probabilities  are  in  favour 
of  the  contention  that  it  arises  from  the  surrounding 
mesenchyme  of  the  new  locus. 

We  regret  to  note  in  this  article  the  oft-repeated  use 
of  the  German  word  "Anlagfe,"  which  seems  to  have 
established  itself  permanently  as  an  essential  part  of 
embryological  terminology.  Why  it  should  have  done 
so  we  have  never  been  able  to  understand,  for  the 
term  "  rudiment "  seems  to  meet  all  requirements  in  a 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


perfectly  satisfactory  manner.  It  is  true  that  this 
term  used  to  be  very  loosely  employed  by  Eng- 
lish writers,  and  was  at  one  time  very  generally 
applied  to  disappearing  structures.  The  much  more 
appropriate  term  "vestige"  has,  however,  now  been 
very  generally  accepted  for  structures  belonging  to 
the  latter  category,  and  all  possible  objection  to  the 
use  of  the  term  "rudiment"  for  the  first  recognisable 
indication  of  a  developing  organ  seems  to  have  dis- 
appeared. Not  long  ago  it  was  customary  on  the  part 
of  certain  English  zoologists  to  use  the  German 
term  "  Haus "  for  the  enveloping  test  of  certain 
Ascidians.  The  inappropriateness  of  the  English  word 
'■  house "  was  perhaps  recognised  by  these  writers, 
but  did  it  really  improve  matters  very  much  to  adopt 
the  German  form  of  the  same  word?  Even  since  the 
commencement  of  the  war  we  have  seen,  in  a  news- 
paper, the  term  "under-sea  boat" — an  obvious  adop- 
tion from  the  German- — used  in  place  of  our  own  "sub- 
marine." It  is  little  wonder,  when  we  show  ourselves 
so  slavishly  dependent  qpon  German  phraseology,  that 
the  impression  should  have  been  created  that  in  scien- 
tific matters  our  German  antagonists  are  a  long  wav 
ahead  of  us. 

This  digression,  however^  has  taken  us  a  long  wav 
from  the  Revue  Zoologique  Russe,  to  which  we  wish 
to  extend  a  hearty  welcome,  and  our  best  wishes  for 
a  long  and  useful  career.  It  says  much  for  the  con- 
fidence and  sanity  of  our  great  Allies  that  they  are  able 
at  such  a  time  as  this  to  devote  their  attention  to 
researches  in  pure  science  and  even  to  find  funds  for 
the  publication  of  new  journals.  They  have  set  an 
example  which  those  of  us  who  are  unable  to  take  anv 
active  share  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war  need  not 
be  ashamed  to  follow.  A.  D. 


TffE  WATER  SUPPLY  OF  MELBOURNE. 
"DECENT  issues  of  the  Engineer  (April  7  and  Mav 
A^-  5)  contain  an  extremely  interesting  resume  of 
the  inception  and  gradual  development  of  the  water 
supply  system  of  the  city  of  Melbourne.  As  is  custo- 
mary in  the  case  of  primitive  settlements,  the  earliest 
supplies  were  derived  from  the  local  river,  the  Yarra, 
and  until  about  the  middle  of  last  century  this  simple, 
although  scarcely  altogether  satisfactorv,  expedient 
sufficed  for  the  needs  of  the  inhabitants.  In  1853,  the 
first  steps  were  taken  to  secure  a  more  trustworthy 
and  less  contaminated  supply  from  the  watershed  at 
Mount  Disappointment.  This  was  achieved  by  the 
formation  of  an  embankment  at  Yan  Yean.  The 
undertaking,  which  was  completed  in  1857,  at  a  cost 
of  754,206/.,  was  considered  to  be  capable  of  providing 
a  population  of  200,000  with  water  at  the  rate  of 
30  gallons  per  head  per  day;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it 
considerably  exceeded  this  expectation.  The  dam, 
which  was  of  earth,  was  30  ft.  in  height,  and  formed 
a  lake  of  1360  acres,  with  a  water  capacity  of  6400 
million  gallons,  of  which  5400  million  gallons  were 
available  for  consumption. 

By  the  year  1879  it  became  evident  that  additional 
gathering  ground  was  necessary  to  meet  the  demands 
of  a  population  now  grown  to  256,000.  with  a  con- 
sumption of  80  to  90  gallons  per  head  per  day.  After 
some  search,  a  suitable  extension  of  the '  existing- 
system  was  devised  to  Wallaby  Creek,  on  the  north 
side  of  Mount  Disappointment'.  The  Wallabv  Aque- 
duct was  constructed  in  1883,  5^  miles  long,  with  a 
carrying-  capacity  of  33  million  gallons,  together  with 
the  Toorourrong  Reservoir,  holding  up  60  million 
gallons  of  water,  and  forming  a  lake  of  ■?6  acres  sur- 
face. 

The  city  continued  to  expand,  and,  in  process 
of  time,  the  Yan  Yean  system  was  fully  exploited  and 


352 


NATURE 


[June  22,  1916 


incapable  of  further  development.  In  anticipation  of 
this  exhaustion,  in  1880,  a  scheme  had  been  prepared 
for  tapping  the  Watts  River,  the  average  daily  flow 
of  which  was  estimated  at  42  million  gallons.  The 
execution  of  the  project  was,  however,  delayed,  and  it 
was  not  until  189 1  that  water  from  this  source  was 
actually  turned  on,  when  the  name  of  the  system, 
as  well  as  of  the  river  itself,  was  changed  into 
Maroondah.  The  aqueduct  is  41  miles  long,  with 
255  miles  of  open  channel  and  twelve  tunnels  (three 
over  a  mile  in  length).  The  total  cost  of  the  Maroon- 
dah system  amounted  to  778,9442. 

By  1907  the  population  had  increased  to  536,540,  and 
still  further  sources  of  supply  were  found  necessary. 
In  1910,  powers  were  granted  to  incorporate  the 
O'Shannassy  and  Upper  Yarra  watersheds,  and  by 
1914  a  supply  of  20  million  gallons  per  day  was  being 
obtained  from  the  former  river  bv  means  of  an  aque- 
duct 485  miles  in  length.  The  Upper  Yarra  supplies 
remain  to  be  exploited  at  some  future  date.  The 
amount  spent  so  far  on  the  O'Shannassy  scheme  has 
been  426,890/. 

THE  MECHANISM  OF  CHEMICAL  CHANGE 
IN  LIVING   ORGANISMSA 

T  F  we  take  a  general  view  over  the  large  field  of 
^  chemical  reactions  known,  we  notice  that  there 
is  a  great  variety  in  the  rate  at  which  these  reactions 
take  place.  Some,  and  especially  those  in  which  elec- 
trical forces  play  a  part,  reactions  between  inorganic 
ions,  are  practically  instantaneous.  They  are  familiar 
to  all  in  the  precipitations  of  the  anal3''tical  chemist. 
Others,  such  as  the  hydrolysis  of  cane-sugar  by  water, 
are  so  slow  as  to  be  incapable  of  detection  at  ordinary 
temperatures,  unless  a  very  long  time  is  allowed. 
There  are,  moreover,  all  possible  stages  intermediate 
between  these  extremes.  Reactions  between  carbon 
compounds  are,  generally  speaking,  comparatively 
slow;  but,  as  the  name  "organic"  indicates,  they  are 
the  characteristic  chemical  changes  of  the  living  cell. 

Early  workers  in  the  domain  of  physiological  chem- 
istry— Schonbein,  for  example — were  struck  by  the  fact 
that  reactions  which  require,  in  the  laboratoi'y,  power- 
ful reagents,  such  as  strong  acids  and  high  tempera- 
tures, to  make  them  take  place  at  a  reasonable  rate, 
occur  rapidly  in  the  living  organism  at  moderate  tem- 
peratures and  in  the  presence  of  extremely  weak  acids 
or  alkalis.  I  may  refer  to  the  decomposition  of  pro- 
teins into  their  constituent  amino-acids,  which  is  a 
part  of  the  normal  process  of  digestion,  but,  when 
ordinary  laboratory  methods  are  used,  requires  boil- 
ing for  several  hours  with  concentrated  hydrochloric 
or  sulphuric  acid. 

The  problem  before  us,  then,  is  to  discover  how  a 
slow  reaction  can  be  made  to  go  faster.  The  most 
obvious  and  well-known  method  of  doing  this  is  by 
raising  the  temperature;  but  this  is  clearly  out  of  the 
question  in  living  cells.  Another  possibility  is  to  make 
use  of  mass  action,  increasing  by  some  means  the 
effective  concentration  of  the  reacting  substances;  in 
this  way  the  number  of  contacts  per  unit  time  would 
be  raised.  This  is  possible  in  the  cell.  There  remains 
a  third,  the  formation  of  an  intermediate  compound 
with  another  substance.  This  compound  may  be 
supposed  to  be  both  formed  and  again  decomposed 
at  a  rapid  rate,  so  that  the  total  time  taken  is  much 
less  than  that  of  the  original  reaction. 

Now  it  is  evident  that  something  of  the  kind  con- 
templated by  these  two  latter  possibilities  is  at  the 
bottom  of  the  process  called  "catalysis"  by  Berzelius. 
Tills  chemist  directed  attention  to  the  numerous  cases 

•    1  Abridged  from  a  discourse  delivered  at  the  Royal   Institution  on  March 
24,  by  Prof.  W.  M.  Payliss,  F.R.S. 


NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


known,  even  at  his  time,  where  the  presence  of  a 
third  substance  brings  about  an  enormous  accelera- 
tion of  a  reaction,  without  itself  taking  part  in  it, 
so  far  as  appears  at  first  sight;  at  all  events,  this 
third  substance  reappears  at  the  end  unchanged.  An 
example  is  the  effect  of  finely  divided  platinum  on 
hydrogen  peroxide.  Similar  phenomena  were  known 
to  Faraday,  and  described  by  him  about  the  same 
time,  but  without  giving  them  a  special  name. 

Agents  of  this  kind  were  soon  discovered  to  be  pre- 
sent in  living  cells.  Such  catalysts  are  called,  for 
convenience,  "enzymes,"  as  suggested  by  Kiihne, 
although  there  is  no  real  scientific  necessity  for  the 
name.  That  of  "  ferments "  is  still  sometimes  used, 
and  is  not  now  liable,  as  it  was  in  Kiihne's  time,  to 
cause  confusion  by  application  to  living  microbes. 

Since  catalysts  are,  as  a  rule,  found  unchanged  at 
the  end  of  their  work,  it  is  clear  that  they  do  not 
themselves  afford  energy  for  the  purpose.  Indeed,  the 
energy  change  of  a  catalysed  homogeneous  system  is 
the  same  as  that  of  the  reaction  when  proceeding  at 
its  ordinary  slow  rate.     How,  then,  do  they  act? 

The  first  thing  to  note  with  respect  to  enzymes  is 
that  they  are  capable  of  activity  in  media  in  which 
they  are  insoluble.  Whatever  may  be  the  nature  of 
this  activity,  therefore,  it  is  exerted  by  the  surface  of 
the  catalyst.  We  may  then  reasonably  ask,  as  the 
most  obvious  hypothesis,  is  there  ground  for  holding 
that  the  increased  rate  of  reactions  brought  about  by 
enzymes  is  effected  by  increase  of  concentration  of  the 
reagents  at  the  surface  and  consequent  acceleration 
of  the  reaction  by  mass  action?  We  know  that  sub- 
stances which  lower  surface  energy  of  any  form  are 
concentrated  at  such  boundary  surfaces.  The  process 
is  well  known  as  "adsorption,"  and  is  a  consequence 
of  the  operation  of  the  principle  of  Carnot  and 
Clausius,  which  states  that  decrease  of  free  energy 
always  occurs,  if  it  is  possible  for  it  to  do  so.  In 
fact,  such  an  explanation  was  given  by  Faraday  of  the 
effect  of  metallic  platinum  in  causing  combination  of 
oxygen  and  hydrogen  gases.  Although  the  name  "ad- 
sorption "  was  not  used  in  this  description,  Faraday 
had  very  clear  ideas  of  the  process,  and  gives  several 
interesting  cases.  He  showed  that  the  necessary  con- 
dition for  the  activity  of  platinum  in  the  case  referred 
to  is  a  chemically  clean  surface,  in  order  that  the 
gases  may  condense  on  it.  It  matters  not  whether 
the  removal  of  deposit  is  effected  by  mechanical  polish- 
ing ;  by  the  action  of  acid  or  of  alkali ;  by  oxidation  or 
reduction — making  it  either  anode  or  kathode  in  an 
electrolytic  cell  will  serve.  It  should  be  mentioned 
that  this  view  did  not  receive  universal  acceptance,  but 
the  fact  that  it  recommended  itself  to  the  keen  insight 
of  Faraday  is  powerful  evidence  in  its  favour. 

I  would  not  venture  to  state  that  this  hypothesis  is 
yet  in  a  position  to  explain  all  the  facts  met  with  in 
the  action  of  enzymes  themselves,  but  it  is  remarkable 
how  many  receive  a  satisfactory  account.  We  are  at 
once  confronted  by  the  difficulty  of  the  considerable 
number  of  different  enzymes.  But  we  must  not  forget 
that  adsorption  is  controlled  by  a  great  number  of 
factors  in  addition  to  mechanical  surface  tension.  All 
those  properties  which  suffer  modification  at  phase 
boundaries:  play  their  part — electrical  charge,  solu- 
bility, compressibility,  even  chemical  reaction  itself, 
may  be  mentioned.  Moreover,  as  Hardy  has  pointed 
out,  the  act  of  condensation  in  itself  may  well  be 
accompanied  by  the  manifestation  of  molecular  forces 
which  result  in  increased  chemical  potential  of  the 
reacting  substances.  It  is  clear  that  experimental 
decision  of  the  questions  involved  is  almost  impossible 
until  we  have  in  our  hands  pure  preparations  of 
enzj'mes.  We  cannot  as  yet  exclude  the  possibility 
of  the  formation  of  intermediate  chemical  compounds 


June  22,  1916] 


NATURE 


353 


between  enzyme  and  substrate,  but  their  existence  has 
not  been  demonstrated,  and  what  I  may  venture  to 
call  Faraday's  view  has  the  advantage  of  simplicity, 
and  thus  the  support  of  WiHiam  of  Occam's  "razor." 

The  important  question  of  the  synthetic  action  of 
enzymes  demands  a  little  attention  at  this  point.  All 
reactions  may  be  regarded  as  being,  in  principle, 
reversible  or  balanced,  and  the  greater  part  of  those 
of  the  living  organism  are  found  experimentally  to  be 
so.  If  we  take  for  consideration  those  enzymes  the 
action  of  which  consists  in  the  addition  or  removal  of 
the  elements  of  water,  we  find  that,  as  would  be 
expected  from  the  law  of  mass  action,  the  position  of 
equilibrium  in  the  presence  of  a  large  excess  of  water 
is  \'er}-  near  to  that  of  complete  hydrolysis,  and  this 
is  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  usual  laboratory  experi- 
ments. On  the  other  hand,  the  less  water  is  pre- 
sent, the  greater  is  the  preponderance  of  the  opposite — 
synthetic — aspect.  Take  the  classical  case  of  ethyl 
acetate.  If  the  ester  and  water  are  mixed  in  mole- 
cular proportions,  hydrolysis  to  acid  and  alcohol  occurs 
until  two-thirds  of  the  ester  are  decomposed.  More- 
over, the  same  final  composition  is  obtained  if  we 
commence  with  acid  and  alcohol,  and  so  work  in  the 
other  direction.  But  these  reactions  proceed  by  them- 
selves with  extreme  slowness,  taking  months  before 
coming  to  an  end.  But  the  presence  of  a  catalyst, 
such  as  mineral  acid,  brings  about  equilibrium  in  an 
hour  or  so,  and  we  notice  that  it  is  the  same  as  the 
spontaneous  one.  An  enzyme,  known  as  lipase,  also 
brings  about  equilibrium  rapidly.  The  important  point 
in  respect  of  the  mechanism  of  living  cells  is  that  by 
changing  the  available  amount  of  water,  the  reaction 
may  be  made  to  proceed  in  either  direction  at  will. 
The  series  of  curves  given  by  Armstrong  and  Gosney 
(Proc.  Roy  Soc,  88B,  p.  176)  show  this  fact  very 
clearly.  Further,  if  the  equilibrium  is  brought  about 
rapidly,  even  if  to  any  position  except  thafof  com- 
plete change  in  one  or  the  other  direction,  the  enzyme 
must  accelerate  hoih  reactions,  and  any  hypothesis  of 
special  ""  synthesising  "  enzymes  is  superfluous.  This 
is  essentially  the  position  taken  by  van't  Hoff  in  the 
work  with  which  he  was  engaged  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  What  is  required,  then,  is  a  means  by  which 
the  cell  is  enabled  to  change  the  available  water  at 
the  disposal  of  reactions  occurring  therein.  We  do 
not  as  yet  know  the  precise  nature  of  such  mechanisms, 
but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  are  provided 
by  changes  in  the  surface  area  of  colloidal  consti- 
tuents or  in  the  power  of  imbibition  possessed  by 
certain  contents  of  the  cell. 

We  here  come  across  an  interesting  problem  which 
cannot  be  said  to  be  solved  satisfactorily  at  present. 
We  have  seen  that  the  equilibrium  position  of  an 
ester  system  when  reached  rapidly  under  the  action 
of  a  soluble  catalyst  is  the  same  as  the  spontaneous 
one.  But  there  is  a  certain  difference  when  a  hetero- 
geneous catalyst,  or  enzyme,  is  used.  Nevertheless, 
the  equilibrium  is  a  true  one,  being  in  the  same  posi- 
tion when  approached  from  either  end.  The  amount 
of  butyric  acid  combined  as  amyl  ester  in  a  particular 
system  under  acid  catalysis  was  found  by  Dietz  to 
be  88  per  cent,  of  the  total ;  under  the  action  of  the 
enzyme  lipase  it  was  only  75  per  cent.  This  fact  has 
given  rise  to  various  suggestions,  and  has  troubled 
people's  minds  because  it  appears  to  give  a  possibility 
of  evading  the  second  law  of  energetics.  Now,  it  was 
pointed  out  to  me  by  Prof.  Hopkins  that,  on  the  hypo- 
thesis of  a  rapid  attainment  of  equilibrium  by  con- 
densation on  the  surface  of  the  enzyme,  it  Is  necessary, 
if  the  natural  equilibrium  is  to  be  unaltered,  that  ad- 
sorption of  all  the  components  of  the  system  should  be 
the  same  proportion  of  each,  because  the  position  of 
equilibrium  must  be  the  same  on  the  surface  of  the 
enzyme  as  that  which  results  in  the  body  of  the  solu- 
NO.    24.34.    VOL.    97] 


tion.  In  the  presence  of  a  large  excess  of  water,  it 
does  not  seem  likely  that  a  dirterence  of  equilibrium 
owing  to  this  cause  could  be  detected.  But  this  should 
be  possible  when  the  equilibrium  position  is  nearer 
the  middle,  so  to  speak,  and  I  am  at  present  engaged 
in  exf>eriments  on  the  question.  At  any  rate,  ditter^ 
ence  in  adsorption  may  be  the  cause  of  the  pheno- 
menon of  Dietz.  It  would  simply  imply  that  w-ater  is 
adsorbed  by  the  enzyme  in  relatively  larger  proportion 
than  the  other  constituents  of  the  system.  It  should 
be  remembered  that  the  solvent  in  these  experiments 
was  amyl  alcohol  containing  about  8  per  cent,  of  water, 
and,  as  Arrhenius  has  shown,  all  substances  present 
are  adsorbed,  although  the  laws  governing  the  relative 
proportion  of  these  various  substances  are  not  yet 
completely  worked  out. 

We  see,  by  consideration  of  the  facts  relating  to  the 
action  of  enzymes,  how  important  a  part  is  played  by 
changes  in  the  rate  of  reactions,  and  there  are  two 
further  points  to  which  attention  has  been  directed  by 
Prof.  Hopkins.  Take,  first,  a  series  of  reversible 
reactions  in  which  the  products  of  one  form  the  start- 
ing point  of  the  next  following  : — 

^-Z^'S^-ZIZQ-ZZDZH  etc. 

If  the  rate  at  which  B  is  converted  into  C  is  greater 
than  that  at  which  A  changes  into  B,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  amount  of  B  present  at  any  moment  may  be 
extremely  small,  although  the  whole  of  the  final  pro- 
ducts have  passed  through  the  stage.  The  fact  warns 
us  from  estimating  the  importance  of  any  particular 
constituent  of  the  cell  by  the  quantity  to  be  obtained. 

The  second  point  is  this.  Suppose  that  there  are 
two  independent  reversible  reactions,  both  leading  to 
the  same  product,  C. 

and  that  A — >C  is  more  rapid  or  easier  than  B — >-C. 
This  latter  reaction  will  be  practically  absent,  being 
balanced  by  the  excess  of  C.  But,  if  the  former 
reaction  is  abolished  by  removal  of  A,  then  B — >-C 
will  take  place  in  proportion  as  C  is  used  up  in  other 
reactions.  Thus,  uncier  special  conditions,  a  reaction 
may  take  place  which  is  not  detectable  under  normal 
conditions,  although  capable  of  taking  place. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  questions  is  the  manner  In 
which  the  various  components  of  the  cell  are  prevented 
from  entering  into  chemical  reaction  except  when 
required.  Enzymes,  for  example,  are  not  always  in 
activity.  The  conception  which  states  that  the  cell 
consists  of  numerous  minute  "reaction  chambers,'* 
separated  from  one  another  by  membranes,  seems  to 
present  most  possibilities.  These  membranes  must  be 
regarded  as  capable  of  removal  and  of  reconstruction, 
or  reversible  as  regards  their  permeability.  The  food 
vacuoles  of  an  Amoeba  may  serve  as  an  illustration 
of  such  chambers  on  a  comparatively  large  scale.  In 
these  vacuoles  digestion  processes  are  going  on  inde- 
pendently of  other  reactions  in  various  parts  of  the 
same  cell  protoplasm,  although  this  latter  behaves 
as  a  liquid. 

The  general  conclusion  to  which  we  arrive  is  that 
velocity  oj  reaction  plays  an  exceedingly  important 
part  in  the  regulation  of  cell  mechanics.  I  venture  to 
think  that  the  conception  is  destined  to  replace  static 
points  of  view,  such  as  that  of  "  lock  and  key "  or 
the  fitting  together  of  molecular  groupings.  That 
there  is  still  verv  much  to  be  discovered  is  obvious. 
We  have  to  find  out  how  the  living  cell  is  able  to 
modify  and  adjust  together  the  large  number  of 
reactions  known  to  the  chemist.  The  study  of  the 
methods  by  which  the  rate  of  these  reactions  is 
affected  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  o*  those  accessible 
to  us. 


354 


NATURE 


[June  22,  1916 


UNIVERSITY   AND   EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

In  "A  Forgotten  Chapter  in  the  History  of  Educa- 
tion," referring  especially  to  the  important  report  of 
the  Consultative  Committee  on  Examinations  in 
Secondary  Schools,  issued  in  191 1,  Mr.  J.  S.  Thorn- 
ton pleads  earnestly  the  case  of  the  College  of  Pre- 
ceptors, a  union  essentially  of  the  private  schools,  as 
the  originator  and  sustainer  of  a  system  of  leaving 
examinations  which  has  not  only  been  the  inspirer  of 
the  Local  Examinations  instituted  by  the  Universities 
of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  but  has  also  helped  mate- 
rially in  making  them  efficient.  To  quote  his  own 
words,  the  College  '"  was  the  poor  inventor;  the  Univer- 
sities, by  their  capital  and  prestige,  have  worked  the 
invention  for  all  it  is  worth.  College  and  University 
have  done  together  what  neither  of  them  could  have 
done  separately."  So  he  urges  that,  rather  than  setup 
some  other  system,  the  State  should  more  fully  utilise 
the  services  of  both  bodies.  But  Mr.  Thornton's 
pamphlet  is  much  more  than  an  apologia  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Preceptors;  it  is  really  a  fervent  plea  for  the 
full  recognition  by  the  State  of  the  private  school- 
master and  the  private  school,  even  to  thfe  extent  of 
adequate  financial  aid.  In  support  of  such  a  policy  he 
adduces  the  example  of .  Scandinavian  countries,  and 
claims  that  the  extraordinary  success  it  has  achieved 
from  the  point  of  view  of  efficiency,  fruitfulness  of 
suggestion,  freedom  of  experiment,  excellence  of 
results,  and  economy  in  working  fully  warrants  the 
closest  investigation  with  a  view  to  the  recognition  by 
the  State  under  conditions  of  educational  freedom  of 
every  kind  of  efficient  and  needed  school. 

Several  important  points  relating  to  university 
education  In  the  United  States,  Germany,  and  the 
United  Kingdom  are  referred  to  in  the  Ohserver  of 
June  18,  in  an  interview  which  a  representative  of  our 
contemporary  had  with  Mr.  Alfred  Noyes,  who  has 
just  returned  to  this  country,  after  occupying  the 
chair  of  English  literature  at  Princeton.  Mr.  Noyes 
points  out  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  staffs  of  the 
colleges  and  universities  in  the  United  States  received 
all  its  educational  training,  or  at  any  rate  its  post- 
graduate training,  in  Germany.  Americans  have  been 
encouraged  to  go  to  Germany  and  to  pass  from  one 
university  to  another  to  take  whatever  courses  they 
desire,  but  no  facilities  of  this  kind  have  been  offered 
them  here.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that, 
in  addition  to  providing  opportunities  for  intensive 
or  extensive  study,  English-speaking  students — 
whether  American  or  British — have,  by  going  to  Ger- 
many, had  the  advantage  of  acquiring  the  use  of  the 
German  language.  This  fact  has  no  doubt  often 
induced  American  students  to  take  post-graduate 
courses  in  German,  instead  of  British,  universities. 
Mr.  Noyes  says: — "I  am  told  by  Americans  that  in 
many  cases  when  they  want  to  oome  to  English 
universities  to  do  post-graduate  work  they  must  begin 
all  over  again,  and  that  the  work  they  have  done  for 
their  American  degrees  will  not  be  allowed  to  count." 
W«  believe,  however,  that  this  is  not  now  the  case, 
and  that  post-graduate  students  are  welcomed  at  most 
of  our  universities.  Mr.  Noyes  refers  to  the  large 
number  of  students  in  American  universities,  and  we 
are  able  to  supplement  his  remarks  with  figures  show- 
ing—to the  nearest  hundred — the  enrolment  for  iqi5 
in  thirty  institutions,  excluding  summer-session 
students  :— Columbia.  7000;  Pennsylvania,  6600;  Cali- 
fornia, 6000;  New  York  University,  5900;  Michigan, 
:;qoo;  lUinois,  5500:  Harvard,  5400;  Cornell,  5400; 
Ohio  State,  4900;  Wisconsin,  4900;  Minnesota,  4700; 
Chicago,  4300;  North-western,  4100;  Syracuse,  3800; 
Pittsburgh,   3600;   Yale,   3300;   Nebraska,    3100;    Mis- 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


souri,  3000 ;  Iowa  State,  2700 ;  Texas,  2600 ;  Cincin- 
nati, 2500;  Kansas,  2500;  Stanford,  2000;  Indiana, 
1800;  Princeton,  1600;  Western  Reserve,  1500; 
Tulane,  1300;  Washington  University,  1300;  Johns 
Hopkins,   1200;  Virginia,    1000. 

The  confidence  of  the  German  nation  in  the  value 
of    education    and    in    its    uplifting   and'  recuperative 
power,  even  in  face  of  a  disastrous  termination  to  the 
present  struggle,  is  strikingly  illustrated  by  the  follow- 
ing extract,   which  appeared  in  the  Schoolmaster  for 
June    17,    taken    from    Der   Tag,    a   paper  established 
some  years  ago  with  the  view  of  promoting  German 
naval    supremacy.        "We    Germans,"    it    said,    "can 
proudly  point  to  the  fact  that  our  expenditure  on  the 
education  of  our  children   has  been   fully   maintained 
during  the   war  at  its   former  level.     In   Prussia  and 
elsewhere   it   has   even,    for  certain   objects,    been   in- 
creased.    But  the  money-making,  so-called  democratic 
England  finds  it  necessary  to  cut  down  her  education 
bill  to  the  lowest  limit.     We  rejoice  at  the  fact  that 
our  enemies  are  discouraging  the   education   and  in- 
struction of  the  masses.     By  the  mere  fact  that  British 
children   are  being  deprived  of  education   we  have   a 
great  victory  over  England,  for  after  the  war,  more 
than    ever    before,     will    knowledge    and     education, 
organisation  and  adaptability  on  the  part  of  all  classes 
of    the    population    bring     victory     in     the     economic 
struggle."     The    leaders    of   the    nation    look   forward 
with     triumphant     anticipation     to     the     resumption 
of     the     economic     struggle      after     the     close     of 
the  war,  and  are  intent  upon  preserving  and  enhanc- 
ing the  educational  means  and  methods  which  have 
given    them   victory    in    the   past.     We,  on    the   other 
hand,  both  Imperially  and  locally,  have  entered  upon 
a    policy    of   educational    starvation  :    urgent    building 
operations     are    suspended,    equipment     is     curtailed, 
school  buildings  are  commandeered    and  school  hours 
reduced,  secondary-school  fees  are  raised,  scholarships 
are  reduced  in  value  or  are  suspended,  evening  classes 
are    in    large    measure    closed,    and    school    children 
allowed  to  leave  school  at  a  much  earlier  age.     It  is 
not  for  want  of  means — witness  the  enormous  profits 
made  as  a  result  of  the  war  as  appears  from  a  statement 
in  the  Manchester  Guardian  of  June   19,  wherein  ap- 
peared a  list  of  154  firms  engaged  in  shipping,  coal, 
iron,    engineering,    tea,    rubber,    and    other    industries 
which  showed  a  gross  and  net  profit  for  19 16    exceed- 
ing bv  thirteen  millions  sterling  those  for   1914;  and 
our  direct  expenditure  upon  drink  exceeds  180  millions 
annually — but  lack   of  vision  and   indifference  to  the 
value  and  potency  of  education.     We  need  to  raise  the 
status  of  the  Board  of  Education  and  give  it  the  rank 
of  a  department  of  the  State,  so  that  it  will  attract  to 
its  direction  men  of  the  hig^hest  intelligence  and  zeal. 
Education  is  at  least  as  vital  to  the  well-being  of  the 
nation  as  anv  other  of  the  great  services  under  the 
Crown.     Whilst    leaving   a   desirable  liberty   of   inter- 
pretation  according   to  local    conditions,    it   should   at 
least  make  mandatory  upon   all  local   authorities  the 
duty   of  providing   completely  and  adequately   for   all 
forms  of  education. 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 

London. 
Royal  Society,  June  8.— Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — The  Earl  of  Berkeley  and  E.  G.  J. 
Hartley  :  Further  determinations  of  direct  osmotic 
pressures.  In  this  communication  the  osmotic  pres- 
sures of  the  following  substances  are  measured 
directly  : — Cane-sugar  and  methyl  glucoside,  a  number 
of  ferro-  and  ferri-cyanides,  and  one  or  two  other 
salts.     The  cane-sugar  determinations  were  made  on  a 


June  22,  19 16] 


NATURE 


somewhat  purer  sugar  than  was  the  case  in  the  pre- 
vious work;  the  results  extend  over  the  range  alreadv 
covered  by  Prof.  Morse  and  his  co-workers,  and  the 
two  sets  of  numbers  are  found  to  differ  slightlv  at  the 
lower  concentrations.  For  the  ionised  substances 
examined  it  may  be  stated  that,  with  the  exception  of 
one  salt,  all  those  having  a  molecule  made  up  of  a  dyad 
base  combined  with  a  dyad  acid  radicle  are  associated 
in  aqueous  solution.  The  "dynamic"  method  of 
measuring  osmotic  pressures  is  developed  so  as  to 
afford  a  means  of  rapidly  estimating  molecular  weights 
to  a  considerable  degree  of  accuracv  even  in  ver\- 
dilute  solution.— Prof.  E.  Wilson  and  Prof.  J.  W. 
Nicholson  :  The  magnetic  shielding  of  large  spaces  and 
fts  experimental  measurement,  (i)  The  magnetic 
shielding  of  a  large  space  is  a  problem  wholly  different 
in  practice  from  that  of  a  small  space,  and  in  view 
of  important  applications  the  efficiency  to  which  much 
shielding  can  be  raised  is  a  matter  of  importance. 
Considerations  of  mobility  of  the  apparatus  and  weight 
of  iron  required  necessitate  the  solution  of  the  problem 
of  maximum  shielding  for  a  given  weight  of  iron  and 
more  than  two  shells,  together  with  an  examination  of 
the  limitations  of  utility  of  lamination.  These  problems 
are  discussed  in  the  paper.  (2)  A  field  of  order  as 
low  as  3  X  10-^  has  been  obtained  in  a  space  of  radius 
30  cm.  by  the  use  of  1273  kilos  (2806  lb.)  of  high- 
permeabilit}.-  dynamo  magnetic  steel,  and  an  accurate 
method  designed  for  the  measurement  of  fields  of 
lower  order.  (3)  The  leakage  through  air  spaces  in  a 
magnetic  shield  has  been  studied.  (4)  It  is  now  pos- 
sible to  examine  the  behaviour  of  iron  under  prac- 
tically no  magnetic  force.— G.  I.  Taylor  :  Motion  of 
solids  and  fluids  when  the  flow  is  not  irrotational. 
The  paper  deals  with  the  motion  of  solids  in  rotation- 
ally  moving  fluids,  a  problem  which  has  not  appar- 
ently engaged  the  attention  of  mathematicians  before. 
The  motion  of  cylindrical  solids  in  rotating  fluids  is 
discussed,  and  it  is  shown  that  a  solid  cylinder  of  the 
same  density-  as  the  fluid  will  move  through  a  rotating 
fluid  exactly  as  if  the  fluid  were  not  rotating.  On 
the  other  hand,  a  solid  sphere  of  the  same  density  as 
the  fluid  will  be  deflected  to  the  right  if  the  fluid  is 
rotating  anti-clockwise,  and  to  the  left  if  it  is  rotating 
clockwise.  This  property  of  rotating  fluids  is  demon- 
strated experimentally  by  means  of  experiments  per- 
formed with  a  rotating  tank  full  of  water.  It  is 
shown  experimentallv  that  vortex  ring.s  move  in  circles 
through  a  rotating  fluid. 

Mattiematical  Society,  June  8. — Sir  J.  Larmor,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair.— Prof.  M.  J.  M.  Hill  :  The  classifi- 
cation of  the  integrals  of  a  linear  partial  differential 
equation  of  the  first  order.^Prof.  W.  H.  Yonng  :  (i) 
Non-absolutely  convergent,  not  necessarily  continuous, 
integrals.  (2)  The  convergence  of  Fourier  series  and 
of  their  derived  series. — Dr.  S.  Brodetsky  :  The  general 
linear  differential  equation. — A.  E.  Jollilfe  :  A  note  on 
the  series  ^a^  sin  nB  and  Sa,  ^^s  nB,  where  (a,)  is  a 
sequence  of  positive  numbers  tending  steadily  to  zero. 
— -T.  C.  Lewis  :  Circles  connected  with  "  four  Tucker 
circles."— F.  J.  \V.  Whipple  :  A  symmetrical  relation 
between  Legcndre's  functions  with  parameters  cosh  a 
and  cotho." — H.  T.  J.  Norton:  A  problem  in  Diophan- 
tine  approximation^ 

CAMBRIDGE. 

Philosophical  Society,  May  22. — Prof.  Xewall,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — Dr.  Willis  :  Some  considerations 
on  the  geographical  distribution  of  species.  In  some 
recent  papers  it  has  been  sought  to  show  that  the 
dispersal  of  species  (so  long  as  no  barriers  inter\-ene) 
depends  simply  upon  their  age  within  the  country-  con- 
cerned, and  is  independent  of  natural  selection.  A 
general  account  was  given  of  the  results  so  far  ob- 
tained by  a  study  of  the  floras  of  Ceylon   and  New 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97] 


'  Zealand. — C.  P.  Dntt :  A  preliminarj-  note  on  the 
internal  structure  of  Pityostrobus  {Pinites)  macro- 
cephalus  from  the  Lower  Eocene.  A  brief  description 
is  given  of  the  general  anatomy  of  two  forms  of  cone 
from  the  Lower  Eocene  of  the  London  basin,  attention 
being  drawn  to  certain  unrecorded  or  characteristic 
features.  The  structure  of  the  seeds  is  described  for 
the  first  time,  and  the  presence  of  fossil  embr>os  is 
recorded.  Pollen  grains  are  found  occurring  at  the 
apex  of  a  peculiar  nucellar  column.  Evidence  is 
given  that  the  two  forms  are  specifically  identical,  and 
are  related  to  an  existing  species,  Pintis  excelsa. 

Edinburgh, 
Royal  Society,  May  15.— Dr.  J.  Home,  president,  in 
the  chair.— Dr.  D.  Ellis  :  The  Jurassic  fossil  fungus, 
Phycomycites  Frodinghamii,  Ellis.  The  paper  brings 
forward  fresh  evidence  of  the  true  biological  nature 
of  this  fossil  fungus,  found  by  the  author  in  the 
Frodingham  Ironstone  of  Lincolnshire.  It  is  the  first 
recorded  instance  of  fossil  fungi  from  Jurassic  rocks. 
The  probable  reason  for  its  preservation  was  the 
absorption  within  the  organism  of  iron  from  the  sur- 
rounding water.  The  members  thus  became  impreg- 
nated with  ferric  oxide,  as  in  the  case  of  modern 
iron-bacteria.  The  most  significant  feature  is  that  the 
fossil  threads  show  the  same  variations  in  nature  of 
membrane  as  in  these  bacteria.  Although  no  traces 
were  found  of  the  cellular  tissues  of  the  animal  host 
in  the  Frodingham  Ironstone,  such  traces  were  found 
in  combination  with  fungal  threads  in  the  Dunliath 
ferruginous  limestone.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
this  fossil  fungus  was  found  in  a  marine  deposit. — 
Dr.  R.  A.  Honstonn :  A  possible  explanation  of  the 
satellites  of  spectral  lines.  Many  bright  lines  in  the 
spectra  of  gases  are  accompanied  by  fainter  lines 
loiown  as  satellites.  The  usual  way  of  regarding 
these  is  to  consider  them  as  due  to  independent  elec- 
trons or  degrees  of  freedom  in  the  molecule.  The 
view  presented  in  this  paper  and  worked  out  mathe- 
matically was  that  thej'  might  be  regarded  as  due  to 
the  same  degree  of  freedom  as  the  main  line,  being 
caused  merely  by  the  manner  in  which  the  vibrations 
are  started  or  stopped. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  June  5. — M.  Camille  Jordan  in 
the  chair. — H.  Le  ChateUer :  The  devitrification 
of  glass  (cristai).  Devitrification  has  hitherto 
been  noticed  only  in  glasses  containing  lime 
and  calcium  monosilicate,  CaSiOj  separating  out. 
Details  are  given  of  a  case  of  devitrification  in  a  lead 
glass.  The  separated  crystals  in  this  case  were  found 
to  be  tridymite,  and  this  is  the  first  example  of  a 
crystallisation  of  silica  in  the  devitrification  of  a  glass. 
— A.  Chanvean  :  Dr.  Lucien  Jacquet  and  tuberculosis 
j  in  the  employes  in  Parisian  wine-bars.  Important 
hj-gienic  consequences  of  the  new  facts  obtained  in 
this  study. — A.  Blondel  and  J.  Rey  :  The  comparison, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  range,  of  short  light  signals 
produced  by  a  rotating  apparatus,  by  sources  of  light 
giving  different  periods  of  impression.  The  conditions 
of  maximum  efficacity  of  the  light  flux  utilised.  The 
e.xperiments  described  prove  that  in  the  utilisation  of  a 
source  of  light  for  the  production  of  light  flashes  suc- 
ceeding each  other  at  fixed  intervals,  and  produced  by 
the  rotation  of  an  optical  apparatus,  it  is  better  that 
the  flashes  should  be  as  short  as  possible. — A.  Denjoy  : 
Certain  classes  of  functions  of  real,  variables.— M. 
Frechet :  The  equivalence  of  two  fundamental  proper- 
ties of  linear  ensembles. — G.  Hall-Hamilton  :  Study  of 
the  planet  Mars  at  the  Flagstaff  Observatory,  .Arizona. 
.\  map  of  the  markings  on  the  planet  is  given.  The 
atmosphere  proved  to  be  exceptionally  favourable  for 


35^ 


NATURE 


[June  22,  1916 


these  observations. — C.  V.  L.  Charller  :  The  construc- 
tion of  the  galaxy.  Charts  are  given  showing  the 
projections  of  the  group  of  star's  of  spectral  class  B 
(helium  stars)  in  three  directions. — A.  Plctet  and  P. 
Stehelin  :  The  formation  of  pyridine  bases  by  condensa- 
tion of  ketones  and  amides.  Following  the 
analogy  of  the  formation  of  mesitylene,  an  attempt 
was  made  to  prepare  pyridine  by  the  condensation  of 
acetone  and  acetamide.  The  experiment  failed  with 
the  usual  dehydrating  reagents,  but  pyridine  (2  to 
3  per  cent,  yield)  was  obtained  by  heating  in  sealed 
tubes  to  250°  C. — B.  Galitzine  :  The  localisation  of  the 
epicentre  of  an  earthquake  from  observations  at  a 
single  seismic  station. — L.  Eble  :  The  deviations  from 
the  vertical  at  Paris. — J.  Cardot  :  The  bryological  flora 
of  Kerguelen.  This  flora  presents  close  analogies 
with  that  of  South  Georgia. — MM.  Neveu-Lemaire, 
Debeyre,  and  Rouvifire  :  A  prolonged  form  of  cerebro- 
spinal meningitis  and  cerebral  trepanning.  A  descrip- 
tion of  a  case  in  which  the  injection  of  antimeningo- 
coccic serum  into  the  right  lateral  ventricle  was  re- 
sorted to,  resulting  in  a  complete  cure. — F.  Bordas  : 
Ozonised  oxygen  in  the  treatment  of  war  wounds. 
The  wounds  are  kept  in  an  atmosphere  of  ozonised 
oxygen,  without  dressings,  and  exposed  to  solar  radia- 
tion. The  results  have  been  particularly  satisfactory 
in  large  wounds  where  the  tissues  had  been  invaded 
more  or  less  deeply  by  septic  products  and  anaerobic 
fermentations.  The  treatment  can  be  prolonged  without 
inconvenience  to  the  patient,  and  the  general  appear- 
ance of  the  wounds  rapidly  improves,  the  fetid  smells 
disappearing  at  the  very  commencement. — J.  Amar  : 
The  sense  education  and  utilisation  of  mutilated 
limbs. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Milk  and  its  Hygienic  Relations.  By  Dr.  J.  E. 
Lane-Claypon.  Pp.  viii  +  348.  (London:  Longmans 
and  Co.)    75.  6d.  net. 

The  Cruise  of  the  Tomas  Barrera.  By  J.  B.  Hen- 
derson. Pp.  ix  +  320..  (New  York  and  London  :  G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons.)     12s.  6d.  net. 

Proceedings  of  the  South  London  Entomological 
and  Natural  History  Society,  1915-16.  Pp.  xv+156. 
(London  :    Hibernia  Chambers.)     5s. 

Exercices  Numeriques  et  Graphiques  de  Math^- 
matiques  sur  les  legons  de  Mathematiques  generates 
du  meme  auteur.  By  Prof.  L.  Zoretti.  Pp.  xv+124. 
(Paris  :   Gauthier-Villars  et  Cie.)     7  francs. 

Legons  sur  le  Fonctionnement  des  Groupes  Elec- 
trogfenes  en  Regime  Trouble.  By  Prof.  L.  Barbillion. 
Pp.  ii  +  306.  (Paris:  Gauthier-Villars  et  Cie.)  11 
francs. 

Sex-Linked  Inheritance  in  Drosophila.  By  T.  H. 
Morgan  and  C.  B.  Bridges.  Pp.  87  + plates  ii.  (Wash- 
ington :   Carnegie  Institution.) 

Guide  to  the  Materials  for  American  History  in 
Swiss  and  Austrian  Archives.  By  Prof.  A.  B.  Faust. 
Pp.  x  +  299.     (Washington  :    Carnegie  Institution.) 

On  the  Manufacture  and  Testing  of  Prismatic  Com- 
passes, especially  Mark  VII.,  Military  Pattern.  By 
F.  E.  Smith.     Pp.  48.     (London  :  Optical  Society.) 

My  Yoruba  Alphabet.  By  R.  E.  Dennett.  Pp. 
xi4-45.  (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)  is.  6d. 
net. 

Man — an  Adaptive  Mechanism.  By  Prof.  G.  W\ 
Crile.  Pp.  xyi  +  387.  (New  Y6rk :  The  Macmillan 
Company;  London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.) 
10s.  6d.  net. 

NO.    2434,    VOL.    97]  . 


The  iMilitary  .Map.  Elements  of  Modern  Topo- 
graphy (French  School  of  War).  Pp.  vii4-i30.  (Lon- 
don :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     2s.  6d.  net. 

Some  Recent  Researches  in  Plant  Physiology.  By 
Dr.  W.  R.  G.  Atkins.  Pp.  xi  +  328.  (London: 
Whittaker  and  Co.)     ys.   6d.   net. 

Discovery  :  or,  The  Spirit  and  Service  of  Science. 
By  R.  A.  Gregory.  Pp.  x  +  340.  (London:  Mac- 
millan and  Co.,  Ltd.)     55.  net. 

DIARY   OF    SOCIETIES. 

THURSDAY,  June  22. 
Royal  Society,  at  4.30.— Croonian  Lecture:  Evolution  and  Symmetry  in 
tlie  OrJer  of  the  Sea-pens  :  Prof.  S.  J.  Hickson. 

WEDNESDAY,  June  28. 
Geological  Society,  at  5.50. — \  New  Species  of  Edestus  from  the  Lower 
Carboniferous  of  Yorkshire  :  Dr.   A.    Smith  Woodward. — The  Tertiary 
Volcanic  Rocks  of  Mozambique  :  A.  Holmes. 

THURSDAY,  June  29. 
Royal  Society,  at  4.30. — Probable  Papers:  The  Genesis  of  Pleochroic 
Haloes  :  Prof.  J.  Joly. — Some  Determinations  of  the  Sign  and  Magnitude 
of  Electric  Discharges  in  Lightning  Flashes  :  C.  T.  R.  Wilson. — Further 
Observanons  on  Protozoa  in  relation  to  Soil  Hacleria  Dr.  T.  Goodey. — 
New  Bennettitean  Cones  from  the  British  Cretaceous:  Dr.  M.  C  Slopes. 
— And  other  Papers. 
Royal  Society  of  Arts,  at  4.30. — The  Sikhs:  Sirdar  Daljit  Singh. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Letters  and  Reminiscences  of  Alfred  Russel  Wallace  337 

Internal  Secretions 338 

Sir  George  Darwin's  Lectures 338 

Our  Bookshelf 339 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

Elasticity  and   Entomology. — Prof.  G.  H.  Bryan, 

F.R.S.        .                                    340 

Babylon's  Sacred  Way. — H.  Kidner 340 

''Ptolemy's    Catalogue    of   Stars." — E.   J.    Webb; 

The  Reviewer         341 

Meteorological    Conditions    of    a    Blizzard. — Miller 

Cliiisty 341 

The  Over-fishing  of  the  North  Sea.     By  J.  J.       .    .  342 

Inheritance  in  Roving  and  in  Romantic  Types  .    .  343 
Prof    Silvanus  P.    Thompson,   F.R.S.       By  A.    A. 

Campbell  Swinton,  F.R.S.     .                        .....  343 

What  Science  Says  to  Truth.    By  William  Watson  344 

Notes 344 

Our  Astronomical  Column  : — 

The  Solar  Activity 348 

Comet  1916a  (Neujmin) .  348 

The  Shower  of  Perseid  Meteors  . 348 

Selenium   Photometry 349 

The  Chemical  Origin  of  Solar  Radiation   • 349 

The  South-eastern  Union  of  Scientific  Societies  .  349 
British     Geological     Societies.        {Illustrated )       By 

G.  A.  J.  C.    .        .    .                349 

The   "Russian  Zoological  Review."     By  A.  D.  .    .  351 

The  Water  Supply  of  Melbourne 351 

The    Mechanism   of   Chemical   Change   in   Living 

Organisms.     By  Prof.  W.  M.  Bayliss,  F.R.S.    .    .  352 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 354 

Societies  and  Academies 354 

Books  Received      356 

Diary  of  Societies 356 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 

MACMILLAN   &   CO.,    Ltd., 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  the 
Publishers. 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address  :  Phusis,   Lonixjn. 
Telephone  Number :  Gbrrard  8830. 


NA  TURE 


357 


THURSDAY,    JUNE  29,    191.6. 


RESEARCH  IX  INDUSTRY  AXD  THE 
FUTURE  OF  EDUCATION. 
'  I  ""HE  demand  for  a  drastic  review  of  the  whole 
of  our  educational  policy  and  methods, 
having  regard  to  the  results,  grows  apace.  The 
events  of  the  war  have  served  to  reveal  in  startling 
fashion  our  shortcomings  in  production,  especially 
in  the  domain  of  the  applied  sciences,  and  notably 
in  the  extent  to  which,  by  reason  of  our  neglect 
to  train  adequately  those  engaged  in  scientific  in- 
dustries, we  have  found  ourselves  almost  slavishly 
dependent  upon  our  chief  industrial  and  com- 
mercial rival — with  whom,  alas !  we  are  now 
engaged  in  deadly  strife — for  some  of  the  most 
vital  necessities  of  our  industries.  Of  this  regret- 
table fact  the  great  textile  industries  of  Lanca- 
shire and  Yorkshire  (so  large  a  proportion  of 
which  are  engaged  in  manufacture  for  export), 
many  important  departments  of  chemical  and 
engineering  enterprise,  the  manufacture  of 
chemical  and  optical  glass  and  endless  other  pro- 
ductions of  service  in  medicine  and  in  the  arts  of 
life,  not  to  speak  of  the  grave  difficulties  with 
which  we  have  been  confronted  in  the  supply  of 
high  explosives,  furnish  abundant  evidence. 

Could  it  be  shown  that  this  failure  on  our  part 
arises  from  some  special  advantages  of  climate  or 
of  natural  resources  possessed  by  Germany,  it 
might  be  accepted  as  in  the  order  of  Nature  and 
as  a  satisfactory,  though  regrettable,  explanation, 
but  the  very  reverse  is  the  case ;  nor  is  it  to  be 
found  in  any  lack  of  intellectual  ability  in  the 
English  child.  The  real  solution  is  to  be  found 
in  the  more  effective  provision  for  the  education 
of  all  classes,  such  as  that  prevailing  in  Germany, 
whether  of  the  rank  and  file  or  of  those  intended 
to  be  the  directors  of  industry  or  of  commerce. 
Hence  the  provision  in  Germany  of  (i)  a  complete 
system  of  elementary  education  applying  without 
compromise  to  the  children  of  the  industrial  class 
up  to  the  close  of  their  thirteenth  year  and  con- 
tinued under  specialised  conditions,  within  the 
normal  working  time,  for  at  least  six  to  eight 
hours  per  week  in  continuation  schools  until  the 
age  of  eighteen  is  reached  ;  we,  on  the  contrary, 
allow  some  two  and  a  quarter  millions  of  our 
youth  between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  eighteen 
to  cease  entirely  their  attendance  at  school; 
(2)  ample  facilities  for  all  forms  of  secondary 
education,  covering,  from  the  tenth  year,  six  or 
nine  years,  and  leading  up,  so  far  as  the  higher 
schools  are  concerned,  direct  to  the  universities 
and  technical  high  schools,  with  a  preparation  on 
the  part  of  the  matriculated  students  far  in  excess 
of  that  which,  generally  speaking,  obtains  with 
NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


us,  since  the  average  length  of  secondary-school 
life  in  England  does  not  exceed  three  years. 
These  facilities  for  general  education  are  crowned 
by  magnificent  provision  for  scientific  training  in 
the  universities  and  technical  high  schools,  not 
to  mention  numerous  special  schools  dealing 
exclusively  with  mining,  agriculture,  forestry,  or 
with  the  textile  or  other  industries. 

The  easy  optimism  of  some  of  the  Speakers 
at  the  recent  conference  of  the  British  Imperial 
Council  of  Commerce  is  somewhat  disturbing  in 
view  of  the  actual  facts  as  to  the  students  in 
attendance  at  German  technical  high  schools,  ex- 
cluding those  in  the  universities,  as  compared 
with  those  in  all  British  institutions. 

It  may  be  admitted  at  once  that  since  1902 
there  has  been  a  great  and  gratifying  increase  in 
the  number  and  efficiency  of  the  institutions  in 
Great  Britain  giving  scientific  and  technical  train- 
ing, and  in  the  number  of  students  participating 
therein,  but  so,  too,  has  been  the  advance  in 
Germany.  A  useful  and  striking  comparison  may 
be  found  in  the  statistics  collected  by  the  Assoc;; 
tion  of  Technical  Institutions  in  1902.  Informa- 
tion was  obtained  from  ninety-nine  institutions 
in  the  United  Kingdom,  including  all  the  universi- 
ties, as  to  the  number  of  day  students  of  fifteen 
years  of  age  and  upwards  engaged  in  scientific 
and  technical  studies,  no  matter  what  their 
character,  and  the  figures  supplied  were  compared 
with  those  obtained  from  nine  German  technical 
high  schools,  with  results  absolutely  startling  in 
their  significance.  In  no  case  were  the  students 
in  the  German  schools  less  than  eighteen  years  of 
age,  whilst  of  these  almost  the  entire  number  pre- 
sented certificates  of  attendance  on  a  nine  vears' 
classical  or  modern  course,  and  their  ranges  of 
study  were  confined  in  the  main  to  civil  and  naval 
architecture,  engineering  and  chemical  subjects. 
The  total  number  of  such  students  was  12,422, 
whilst  the  immatriculated  students  numbered 
3020,  or  a  total  of  15,442,  including  a  large  body 
of  foreign  students. 

Contrast  this  with  figures  relating  to  the  ninety- 
nine  British  institutions,  including  the  universities 
(the  German  universities  were  not  included), 
which  showed  3873  enrolled  of  fifteen  years  of 
age  and  upwards  taking  many  subjects  not  in- 
cluded in  the  German  return.  Of  this  number 
2259  took  engineering  and  667  chemistry,  includ- 
ing dyeing  and  metallurgy.  The  number  of 
third-year  matriculated  students  in  the  nine  Ger- 
man schools  was  2021,  in  all  the  English  institu- 
tions 535;  in  the  fourth  year  it  was  1800  and  113 
respectively  (in  the  Charlottenburg  school  alone 
there  were  477  third-  and  fourth-year  students). 
To   seek   another  comparison,    there   were   in  the 

T 


358 


NATURE 


[June  29,  19 16 


Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  in  1902 
more  than  iioo  students  of  the  average  age  of 
i8"2.  It  is  childish  to  talk  of  "enemy  students 
in  British  schools  "  when  in  one  German  technical 
high  school  alone,  that  of  Karlsruhe,  there  were 
in  1902  283  foreign  students,  whilst  it  is  well 
known  that  in  the  camp  at  Ruhleben  a  large  num- 
ber of  interned  men  are  young  English  students 
who  had  gone  to  Germany  to  complete  their 
studies.^ 

It  is  gratifying  to  find  that  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Association  of  Education  Committees 
held  on  June  8  the  appeal  for  a  comprehensive 
review  of  the  whole  educational  work  of  the 
country  at  the  hands  of  a  Royal  Commission  or 
some  equally  authoritative  body  met  with  such 
significant  support,  nor  can  we  read  unmoved  the 
appeal  in  the  Educational  Supplement  of  the  Times 
for  June  or  the  strong  demand  in  support  of 
it  of  the  Royal  Society,  the  British  Science  Guild, 
and  the  Teachers'  Guild.  All  through  the 
country  it  is  felt  on  the  part  of  educationists,  of 
men  of  science,  and  of  the  leaders  of  industry  that 
important  and  speedy  changes  in  our  system 
and  methods  of  education  are  imperative, 
not  only  in  the  interests  of  industry  and 
commerce,  but  in  all  that  makes  for  en- 
lightenment and  good  government,  and  that 
nowhere  is  it  more  necessary  than  in  the  sphere 
of  general  education,  if  scientific  research  and  its 
application  to  the  nation's  needs  are  to  be  made 
effective.  We  want  "freedom,  variety,  and  elas- 
ticity," with  the  minimum  of  routine  control,  and 
we  must  needs  adopt  such  measures  as  will  ensure 
the  adequate  education  of  all  the  children  of  the 
nation  and  the  easy  passage  of  the  gifted  to  the 
highest  facilities  of  learning  the  nation  can  offer. 


THE   MOULDING    OF   HUMANITY. 
Civilisation  and  Climate.     By  Ellsworth  Hunting- 
ton.    Pp.   xii  +  333.     (New   Haven:    Yale   Uni- 
versity    Press ;      London :     Oxford     University 
Press,  1915.)     Price  105.  6d.  net. 
T^HE    effect    of    climate    on    civilisation     is    a 
-■-       fascinating     subject ;      there     is     something 
hazardous  in  trying  to  define  either  of  them.    Both 
have  a  chequered  past,  and  to  bring  the  two  into 
relation,  historically  and  therefore  prospectively  as 
well,    is    an    elusive    but    exciting    pursuit.     Mr. 
Huntington      states      his      own      position      thus 
(p.  269)  :— 

"The  two  phases  of  our  climatic  hypothesis  are 
now  before  us.  In  point  of  time,  though  not  of 
presentation  in  this  book,  the  first  step  was  a  study 
of  the  climate  of  the  past.     Ten  years  of  work 

1  In  191 1  the  number  of  full-time  day  students  in  the  universities  of  the 
United  Kingdom  was  about  20,000,  in  comparison  with  55,000  in  German 
universities.  In  our  technical  institutions  the  day  students  were  about  2000, 
compared  with  16,000  in  the  German  technical  high  schools,  with  no  adequate 
comparison  on  our  part  in  respect  of  age,  attainments  on  entrance,  or  duration 
of  study. 

NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


along  this  line  have  led  to  the  hypothesis  of  pulsa- 
tory changes,  and  finally  to  the  idea  that  the 
changes  consist  primarily  of  a  shifting  of  the  belt 
of  storms.  After  this  conclusion  had  been 
reached  a  wholly  independent  investigation  of  the 
effect  of  present  climatic  conditions  upon  human 
activity  led  to  two  conclusions,  neither  of  which 
was  anticipated.  One  was  that  under  proper  con- 
ditions a  relatively  high  temperature  is  not  par- 
ticularly harmful  provided  it  does  not  go  to  undue 
extremes.  The  other  was  that  changes  of  tem- 
perature from  day  to  day  are  of  great  importance. 
On  the  basis  of  these  two  conclusions  it  at  once 
becomes  evident  that  the  stimulating  effect  of 
climates  in  the  same  latitude  and  having  the  same- 
kind  of  seasonal  changes  may  be  very  different. 
It  also  becomes  clear  that  the  distribution  of 
civilisation  at  the  present  time  closely  resembles 
that  of  climatic  energy.  From  this  the  next  step 
is  naturally  back  to  our  previous  conclusion  that 
changes  of  climate  in  the  past  have  consisted 
largely  of  variations  in  the  location  of  the  storm 
belt.  If  this  is  so,  evidently  the  amount  of  climatic 
stimulus  must  have  varied  correspondingly.  Thus 
we  are  led  to  the  final  conclusion  that,  not  only 
at  present,  but  also  in  the  past,  no  nation  has  risen 
to  the  highest  grade  of  civilisation  except  in 
regions  where  the  climatic  stimulus  is  great.  This 
statement  sums  up  our  entire  hypothesis." 

So  far  as  the  book  is  concerned  with  the  study 
of  the  variations  of  climate  in  historic  time  or . 
recent  geological  time,  it  is  a  resume  and  con- 
tinuation of  previous  work  by  the  same  author, 
and  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  both  in  Europe 
and  America  "the  location  of  storms  shifts  in 
harmony  with  variations  in  the '  activity  of  the 
sun  " ;  and  thus  we  are  invited  to  consider  climatic 
changes  as  fluctuating  rather  than  steadily  pro- 
gressive. One  point  in  this  connection  invites 
further  consideration — that  is,  the  ultimate  fate 
in  this  world  of  the  accumulations  of  blown  sand. 
Are  they  in  process  of  being  cleared  away?  Do 
they  fluctuate  with  sunspots,  or  are  they  increasing 
progressively,  and  will  sand  ultimately  bury 
modern  civilisation  in  spite  of  all  efforts,  as  it  did 
the  Egyptian  yesterday? 

In  the  study  of  civilisation  Mr.  Huntington's 
book  strikes  out  a  new  line.  We  have,  first  of  all, 
measures  of  the  activity  and  efficiencies  of  workers 
in  relation  to  various  elements  of  climate  and  to- 
the  seasonal  and  casual  variations  of  weather, 
from  which  it  appears  that  in  determining  efficiency 
the  fluctuations  of  weather  are  more  important 
than  the  uniformities  of  climate.  These  studies 
are  not  always  quite  easy  to  follow.  When,  for 
example,  one  thinks  of  the  output  of  work  in  Con- 
necticut in  relation  to  temperature  one  might  havt 
in  mind  the  temperature  of  the  workshop  or  of  th( 
habitation,  and  only  in  the  third  place  of  the  un-J 
mitigated  open  air  which  makes  climate.  Indeed, 
in  another  part  of  his  book  Mr.  Huntington  him- 
self suggests  that  warm  climates  may  hereafter  be 
mitigated  by  special  measures  for  cooling  houses, 
and  it  seems  reasonable  to  regard  cold  climates  as 
already  mitigated  by  artificial  means. 


June  29,  19 16] 


NATURE 


359 


Next  there  is  a  bold  attempt  to  estimate 
numerically  the  stage  of  civilisation  reached  by 
different  states  or  nations.  This  has  been  done 
by  circular  letter  to  214  gentlemen,  inviting  each 
to  assign  to  every  nation  under  heaven  its  place  in 
civilisation  b^sed  upon  "its  power  of  initiative,  the 
capacity  for  formulating  new  ideas  and  for  carry- 
ing them  into  effect,  the  power  of  self-control,  high 
standards  of  honesty  and  morality,  the  power  to 
lead  and  control  other  races,  the  capacity  for  dis- 
seminating ideas  .  .  .  high  ideals,  respect  for 
law,  inventiveness,  ability  to  develop  philosophical 
systems,  stability  and  honesty  of  g'overnment,  a 
highly  developed  system  of  education,  the  capacity 
to  dominate  the  less  civilised  parts  of  the  world, 
and  the  ability  to  carry  out  far-reaching  enter- 
prises." Having  received  replies  from  138  of  the 
214  correspondents,  and  opinions  from  54,  maps  of 
the  distribution  of  civilisation  are  prepared  which 
are  in  curious  agreement  with  the  distribution  of 
stimulating  climate  as  previously  defined. 

It  is  odd  that  in  enumerating  his  factors  of 
civilisation  the  author  says  nothing  about  wealth 
or  capital;  and  yet  the  maps  of  distribution  of 
civilisation  suggest  at  once  the  distribution  of 
wealth  more  than  anything  else.  In  pessimistic 
moments,  having  regard  to  what  is  happening  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic  and  on  the  other,  civilisa- 
tion seems  to  be  little  else  than  the  wealth  neces- 
sary "to  'maxim'  other  people  as  a  Christian 
ought  to  do."  A  big  M  seems  appropriate  to  this 
side,  the  little  m  to  the  other.  A  stimulating 
climate  without  the  wealth  necessary  to  protect 
himself  strikes  one  as  a  very  poor  outlook  for 
primitive  man.  The  power  to  use  climate  to  advan- 
tage must  be  very  much  a  question  of  accumulated 
wealth.  One  can  imagine  a  very  stimulating 
health  resort  in  Spitsbergen  or  Ross  Island  if  it 
were  preceded  by  sufficient  preliminary  outlay  of 
capital  and  associated  with  some  easy  mode  of 
producing  wealth. 

In  presenting  his  case,  therefore,  Mr.  Hunting- 
ton has  left  a  number  of  things  for  other  people 
to  say.  The  material  adduced  is  solid  or  interest- 
ing, sometimes  both,  but  the  discussion  is  by  no 
means  closed.  The  book  is,  in  fact,  an  invitation 
to  others  to  take  an  interest  in  the  subject,  and 
the  style,  which  is  lively  and  unconstrained,  makes 
the  invitation  still  more  attractive. 


5.4  LT  AND  ALKALI. 
Manuals  of  Chemical  Technology.  VL,  The  Salt 
and  Alkali  Industry,  including  Potassium  Salts 
and  the  Stassfurt  Industry.  By  Dr.  G.  Martin, 
S.  Smith,  and  F.  Milsom.'  Pp.  viii+ioo. 
(London  :  Crosby  Lockwood  and  Son,  1916.)  1 
Price  75.  6d.  net.  { 

^PHIS  book  constitutes  No.  6  of  the  series  of  ! 
^  "  Manuals  of  Chemical  Technology  "  which 
are  being  issued  under  the  direction  of  Dr. 
Geoffrey  Martin.  In  scope  and  general  character 
it  differs  in  no  essential  features  from  its  pre- 
decessors. No  matter  what  may  be  the  relative 
importance  of  the  subject,  the  various  members  of  ! 
NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


:  the    series   are    substantially    of    the    same    size. 
j  They   are  published   at  a   uniform   price,   and   in 
j  return  the  purchaser  obtains  with  each  practically 
I  the  same  amount  of  printed  matter.     It  is  impos- 
sible,  under  such  limitations,   for  the  authors  to 
ensure  or  for  the  reader  to  expect  that  the  various 
subjects  shall  receive  even  approximately  adequate 
treatment.     We    have    already    had    occasion    to 
point    out    this    fact    in    noticing    the    preceding 
manual  on   sulphuric  acid  and   sulphur  products. 
What  was  stated  in  that  case  applies  with  even 
greater  force  to  the  present  book. 

The  editor  states  that  the  industries  dealt  with 
in  this  manual  are  not  only  among  the  oldest, 
I  but  they  are  also  among  the  largest  and  most 
important  of  all  chemical  industries.  "They  form, 
so  to  speak,  the  basis  or  groundwork  on  which  are 
erected  most  of  the  great  trades  of  industrial 
countries."  Yet  all  that  we  are  informed  concern- 
ing these  large  and  most  important  of  chemical 
industries,  including  illustrations,  diagrams, 
numerical  tables,  statistical  and  bibliographical 
matter,  is  comprised  within  about  ninety  openly 
spaced  octavo  pages.  It  must  be  obvious,  there- 
fore, that  the  descriptive  matter  can  only  be  of  the 
very  slightest  character — such,  in  fact,  as  a  precis- 
writer  might  attempt. 

From  the  fragmentary  and  jejone  nature  of 
the  editor's  preface  it  would  seem  that  the  book 
is  intended  for  the  general  reader.  No  practical 
man  or  student  of  technology  needs  to  be  told 
how  a  stoppage  in  the  supplies  of  salt,  and  hence 
of  soda  ash  and  salt  cake,  by  interfering  with 
the  manufacture  of  window  glass  would  hamper 
the  buildingf  trade.  Indeed,  apart  from  the  biblio- 
graphy and  the  statistical  and  tabular  matter, 
there  is  very  little  in  the  book  of  value  to  the 
specialist  or  the  student.  With  one  exception,  to 
be  referred  to  hereafter,  such  a  compilation  might 
be  put  together  in  a  few  hours  in  a  well-furnished 
librarj'  like  that  of  the  Patent  Office  by  a  fairly 
industrious  person  possessing  bibliographical  skill 
and  the  requisite  flair  for  good  "copy." 

That  the  book  has  been  compiled  under  some 
such  conditions  is  obvious  even  after  a  ver\' 
cursory  examination.  There  are  a  want  of  balance 
and  a  lack  of  a  sense  of  proportion  in  the  arrange- 
ment and  distribution  of  the  material.  Compara- 
tively unimportant  facts  receive  undue  attention, 
whereas  really  vital  matters  are  dismissed  in  a 
few  words,  even  when  they  obtain  any  notice  at 
all.  The  subject  of  the  salt  industry  of  the  world 
— which  should  include  descriptions  of  the  various 
methods  practised  in  England,  Germany,  France. 
Russia,  Portugal,  and  America — occupies  about  a 
dozen  pages.  The  manufacture  of  hydrochloric 
acid  is  dealt  with  in  less  than  five  pages.  Salt- 
cake  is  disposed  of  in  about  the  same  space.  A 
general  survey  of  the  sodium  carbonate  industrv 
occuoies  less  than  three  pages.  An  account  of 
the  Leblanc  process,  including  diagrams  and  a 
slight  reference  to  the  treatment  of  alkali  waste^ 
is  compressed  within  eight  pages. 

The  one  valuable  feature  of  the  work  is  a  de- 
scription of  a  form  of  the  ammonia-soda  process. 
This  is  evidently  based  upon  expert  knowledge, 


360 


NATURE 


[June  29,  1916 


and  is  both  novel  and  interesting^.  It  is  the  long-est 
section  in  the  book,  occupying  nearly  one-third  of 
the  whole,  and  may  be  commended  as  being-  what 
the  editor  claims  for  it — the  most  authoritative 
and  detailed  account  of  the  process  which  has  yet 
appeared  in  the  language. 

A  short  account  of  the  Stassfurt  industry  and 
of  the  extraction  of  potassium  and  magnesium 
salts,  very  slightly  and  imperfectly  treated,  con- 
cludes the  volume. 

A  book  of  this  kind  may  serve  to  show  how 
dependent  industry  is  upon  science,  and  may  pos- 
sibly quicken  the  interest  of  the  general  reader  in 
a  question  of  which  the  national  importance  is  now 
being  forcibly  brought  home  to  us.  But  it  is 
difficult  to  see  what  other  useful  purpose  it  fulfils. 
It  certainly  is  not  calculated  to  strengthen  the 
position  of  any  one  of  the  branches  of  techno- 
logical chemistry  with  which  it  professes  to  deal. 


OPEN-AIR   NATURAL   HISTORY. 
(i)  Rambles  of  a  Canadian  Naturalist.     By  S.  T. 

Wood.     Pp.    vii  +  247.     (London  :    J.    M.    Dent 

and  Sons,  Ltd.,  1916.)     Price  6^. 
(2)  The  Life  Story  of  an  Otter.     By  J.   C.   Tre- 

garthen.   New  edition.   Pp.  xiii+188.   (London: 

John  Murray,  1915.)     Price  2s.  6d. 

(1)  T^ HE  rambles  of  which  Mr.  S.  T.  Wood 
-*-  gives  an  account  were  pursued  through- 
out the  year,  and  their  record  makes  a  pleasant 
season-book.  The  studies  express  a  blend  of  bio- 
logical inquiry  and  poetic  reflectiveness,  and  they 
represent  an  end,  rather  than  a  means,  of  nature- 
study.  They  put  into  words  the  joyous,  intelli- 
gent appreciation  which  well-educated,  normal 
human  beings  have,  or  should  have,  when  they 
take  country  walks.  "What  is  seen  and  heard — 
things  revealed  to  the  eye  and  ear- — awaken  a  de- 
lighted interest,  but  our  thoughts  and  fancies, 
stirred  by  what  is  partly  revealed,  have  a  deeper 
charm.  Following  these  suburban  rambles  may 
yield  the  keen  pleasure  of  observations  verified. 
And,  perhaps,  in  the  wayward  ramblings  a  com- 
munity of  fancy  may  be  discovered  more  pleasant 
and  more  fraternal  than  the  kindred  joy  of  dis- 
closing Nature's  guarded   secrets." 

The  author  writes  of  the  pitcher-plant  and  its 
interrelations,  the  early  migrants  and  flowers, 
the  renascence  of  spring,  the  honking  of  the  wild- 
geese,  the  night-cries  of  the  toads,  the  beauty  of 
the  dandelion,  the  midsummer  birds,  the  life-cycle 
of  the  Promethea  moth,  the  gorge  below 
Niagara,  the  Great  Northern  Diver,  the  autumnal 
flocking,  the  haunt  of  the  coot,  some  winter- 
visitors,  and  much  more  besides.  We  cannot  say 
that  we  have  found  anything  very  remarkable  in 
these  essays,  but  we  found  each  of  them  too  short 
— which  points  to  fine  quality.  They  are  alto- 
gether wholesome  and  beautiful,  indirectly  edu- 
cative in  the  best  sense. 

Worthy  of  the  highest  praise  are  the_  charac- 
teristic colour  illustrations — by  Robert  Holmes — 
of  whip-poor-will,  bloodroot,  Promethea  moth, 
lady's    slipper,    monarch    butterfly,    and    winter's 

NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


robin.  There  are  also  beautiful  chapter-headings 
(of .  nature-study  inspiration)  by  students  of  the 
Ontario  College  of  Art.  They  are  in  fine  harmony 
with  the  spirit  of  the  book. 

(2)  Mr.  J.  C.  Tregarthen's  admirable  "Life 
Story  of  an  Otter "  appears  in  a  new  edition^ 
which  deserves  a  wide  welcome.  With  patience 
and  sympathy  he  has  been  able  to  build  up  a 
coherent  biography  of  a  singularly  elusive 
creature,  which  few  naturalists  know  except  in 
glimpses.  His  account  of  the  education  of  the 
cubs,  of  the  varied  business  of  life,  of  the  nomad- 
ism, of  the  combats  of  dog-otters,  of  the  partner- 
ship of  the  pair,  of  the  inextinguishable  playful- 
ness, and  so  on,  is  altc^ether  admirable. 

Mr.  Tregarthen  writes  of  what  he  has  seen^ 
his  inferences  are  restrained,  and  his  style  sug- 
gests the  opyen  air.  We  do  not  share  his  enthu- 
siasm for  the  otter-hunt,  for  which,  however,  he 
is  prepared  to  give  a  reasoned  defence,  but  we 
recognise  the  value  of  his  first-hand  observational 
natural  history.  There  are  some  beautiful  and 
interesting  illustrations  of  the  otter  and  its 
haunts. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Penzance  and  the  Land's  End  District.  Edited  by 
J.  B.  Cornish  and  J.  A.  D.  Bridger.  Pp.  128. 
(London :  The  Homeland  Association,  Ltd., 
n.d.)     Price  6d.  net. 

The  Penzance  Chamber  of  Commerce  has  con- 
ferred a  boon  on  all  visitors  to  their  beautiful 
district,  and  especially  on  those  who  are  inter- 
ested in  something  more  than  mere  scenery. 
Guide-books  are  generally  most  disappointing  to 
anyone  who  seeks  information  on  the  geology  or 
natural  history  of  a  region  which  is  new  to  him, 
but  the  guide-book  recently  added  to  the  Home- 
land series  Is  a  good  example  of  the  way  in  which 
the  needs  of  scientific  visitors  may  be  met  without 
in  the  least  detracting  from  the  usefulness  of  the 
book  to  the  ordinary  reader.  The  chapters  deal- 
ing with  each  special  topic  have  been  entrusted  to 
experts  who  know  the  district  thoroughly,  and 
they  are  consequently  of  real  use  to  other  experts 
or  students  to  whom  Penzance  and  its  neighbour- 
hood may  be  comparatively  unknown. 

The  book  Is  well  got  up,  clearly  printed  in  good 
type,  very  well  illustrated,  and  is  written  in  an 
easy  and  interesting  style.  There  Is  a  clear  map 
of  Penzance,  and  a  sufficient  map  accompanies 
Mr.  Dewey's  lucid  account  of  the  local  geology. 
The  map  of  the  district,  however,  might  well  be 
improved.  It  Is  a  reproduction  of  the  one-inch 
Ordnance  Survey  map,  but  seems  to  lack  clearness. 
This  is  particularly  noticeable  in  the  names  of 
points,  bays,  and  places  along  the  coast,  which 
are  often  so  obscured  by  the  unnecessary  shading 
of  the  sea  as  to  be  barely  legible  even  with  a 
lens.  Again,  Mr.  J.  B.  Cornish  contributes  a 
good  account  of  the  antiquities  of  the  district,  and 
the  value  of  this  interesting  chapter  to  an 
archaeologist  would  be  greatly  enhanced  if  the 
places  described  could  be  easily  identified,  as  by 


June  29,  1916] 


NATURE 


361 


red  dots,  or  letters,  or  some  such  device  printed 
on  the  map.  This  is,  however,  a  small  detail, 
and  on  the  whole  the  book  is  one  which  we  hope 
will  be  imitated  for  other  holiday  resorts. 

Economics:    An     Introduction    for    the     General 

Reader.      By     Henry     Clay.      Pp.      xvi+476. 

(London:     Macmillan    and    Co.,     Ltd.,     1916.) 

Price  35.  6d.  net. 
Mr.  Cl.w  has  written  a  meritorious,  in  many 
ways  an  excellent,  book;  but,  though  his  style  is 
good  and  his  reasoning  clear,  he  has  neither  the 
elevated  clarity  of  Bagehot  nor  the  racy  charm 
of  Mr.  Hartley  Withers,  ^'ery  rightly  has  he 
laid  special  emphasis  both  on  the  problems  which 
border  the  tvvo  provinces  of  politics  and  ethics 
and  on  such  essentially  vital  questions  as  specula- 
tion and  wages.  Indeed,  his  chapters -on  these 
last-mentioned  subjects,  amongst  the  best  in  the 
book,  merit  the  highest  praise.  But  the  pages  on 
banking,  though  containing  an  interesting  dis- 
cussion of  the  principles  of  finance,  would,  we 
fear,  with  their  continual  ghb  references  to  "  runs," 
"liquid  assets,"  etc.,  prove  difficult  reading  for, 
let  us  say,  a  tutorial  class;  nor  are  such  sen- 
tences as  :  "  There  is  an  '  intensive  '  as  well  as  an 
*  extensive  '  margin  of  cultivation  ..."  very  de- 
lectable nourishment  for  the  general  reader. 

The  book,  in  fact,  though  in  many  ways  an 
excellent  elementary  treatise  on  economics,  is 
essentially  academic. 

The  scope  of  the  work  has  already  been  indi- 
cated, and  includes  the  ordinary  principles,  money, 
banking,  and  finance.  But  it  is  not  quite  clear 
why  Mr.  Clay  should  consider  that  "the  object 
...  of  economics  is  explanation  solely,"  or  that 
"ought  "  must  necessarily  involve  a  moral  con- 
tent. Surely  it  is  arguable  that  any  teleological 
conception  may  involve  an  appendent  obligation, 
and  that  economics  is  a  normative  science.  May 
we  add  that  the  absence  of  an  index  is  not  the 
criterion  of  popularity?  A.  L. 

Methods    in    Practical    Petrology:    Hints    on    the 
Preparation   and   Examination   of  Rock   Slices. 
By  H.  B.  Milner  and  G.  M.  Part.     Pp.  vii  +  68. 
(Cambridge:  W.  Heff^r  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  1916.) 
Price  25.   6d.   net. 
This   little   book  cannot   be   regarded   as   in  any 
sense  a  complete  exposition   of   the  subject,   but 
it  contains  some  useful  suggestions,  especially  on 
section-cutting  and  simple  microchemical  methods, 
incuding  staining.     It  was,  however,  hardly  neces- 
sary to  give  directions  for  the  preparation  of  well- 
known   dyes,    such   as   fuchsine,    malachite-green, 
and   methylene-blue.     We   are   even   told   how   to 
prepare   nitroso-dimethyl-aniline,   one  of  the   sub- 
stances employed  in  the  production  of  methylene- 
blue.     Several   pages  are  devoted  to  the  subject 
of   the    classification    of    rocks,    which    is    neces- 
sarily so  briefly  treated  as  to  be  somewhat  mis- 
leading in  places.     If  these  digressions  had  been 
omitted,   space  would  have  been  obtained   for  a 
more    extended    consideration    of    the    practical 
methods  with  which  the  book   is  primarily  con- 
cerned. 
[  NO.    2435,   VOL.    97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Negative   Liquid   Pressure  at  High  Temperatures. 

It  must  have  been  remarked  in  the  discussions  of 
the  various  forms  of  equation  of  state  for  vapour-liquid 
(c/.  K.  Onnes  and  Keesom,  "  Ency.  der  Math.," 
or  in  Leyden  Communications,  xi.,  1912,  p.  727) 
that  this  equation  should  determine  the  range 
of  possible  negative  pressures  in  liquid.  If  we  could 
assume  the  van  der  VVaals  form  of  equation  to  hold 
over  the  wide  range  that  is  concerned,  it  would  readily 
follow  that  negative  pressure  could  subsist  only  at 
absolute  temperatures  below  27/32  of  the  critical  point 
of  the  substance.  For  water  the  latter  is  365°  C. ; 
thus  in  that  substance  internal  tension  could  (theo- 
retically) persist  up  to  538°  absolute,  which  is  265°  C. 
Such  an  order  of  magnitude  appears  at  first  sight 
surprisingly  high,  though  really  there  is  nothing  to 
compare  it  with.  By  an  oversight  I  have  recently 
(Proc.  Lond.  Math.  Soc,  1916,  p.  191)  quoted  the 
critical  point  of  water  as  365°  absolute,  and  so 
obtained  the  much  lower  limit  35°  C. ;  and  it  was  a 
reference  to  experiments  by  Prof.  H.  H.  Dixon  (Proc. 
R.  Dublin  Soc,  1914,  p.  233),  realising,  for  vegetable 
sap,  tensions  of  the  order  of  a  hundred  atmospheres 
at  temperatures  around  80°  C,  that  has  given  rise 
to  this  correction.  Joseph  Larmor. 

Cambridge,  June  24. 


Science,  Scholarships,  and  the  State. 

All  scientific  men  must  welcome  the  renewed  vigour 
of  the  campaign  for  a  recognition  of  science  by  the 
State,  and  incidentally  for  the  introduction  of  scien- 
tific instruction  into  our  public  schools,  a  campaign 
in  which  Nature  has  taken  so  prominent  a  part.  I 
have  followed  with  the  greatest  interest  the  pronounce- 
ments of  the  many  eminent  men  on  the  subject  of 
science  and  Government  published  from  time  to  time, 
and  in  view  of  the  greatness  of  the  authorities  who 
have  written  on  the  question  it  is  with  considerable 
diffidence  that  I  direct  attention  to  what  seems  to  be 
an  oversight  in  many  of  the  views  put  forward  as  to 
the  proper  way  to  give  science  its  due  in  England. 

I   refer   to   the  continued   proposals   to   found    fresh 
scholarships     for   the   encouragement   of   scientific  re- 
search, accompanied  as  they  so  often  are  by  statements 
as  to  the  lack  of  trained  men  of  science.     In  view  of 
the  present  (or  rather,  as  I  have  no  actual  experience 
of  the  present  conditions  in  England,  let  us  say  the 
pre-war)   attitude  of  the  State,   the  universities,    and 
private  enterprise  towards   the   men   already   trained, 
it  seems  to  me  futile  to  make  plans  for  training  fresh 
men  until  very  definite  steps  have  been  taken  to  see 
that  there  are  to  be  recognition  and  scope  granted  to 
them  when  trained.     Anyone  who  has  a  knowledge  of 
1  the   typical    careers  of   the   most    successful    (from    a 
I  scientific  point  of  view)  students  and  younger  research 
I  workers  will  readily  understand  the  state  of  things  I 
I  have  in  mind.     If  a  concrete  example  is  required,  the 
case  of  the  185 1  Exhibition  scholars  rriay  be  cited:   I 
choose  this  case  as  those  scholarships  are  in  the  nature 
I  of  State  institutions.     They  would  seem  to  be  exactly 
of  the  type  intended  by  the  advocates   of  the  estab- 
I  lishment  of  new  scholarships ;  they  are,  according  to 
the  conditions   of   award  (so   far   as    I    can  recollect 


362 


NATURE 


[June  29,  19 16 


them),  granted  for  promise  shown  in  scientific  research 
to  students  whose  work  is  considered  likely  to  be  of 
benefit  to  the  nation  and  national  industries.  The 
men  who  have  held  these  scholarships  for  two  or  three 
years  form  a  body  highly  trained  in  the  best  English 
and  Continental  universities,  with,  in  most  cases,  con- 
siderable research  experience  under  varied  conditions 
and  breadth  of  view.  Yet  we  see  on  all  hands  these 
men  barely  able  to  make  a  living  (unless  they  go  to 
America).  They  are  in  general  men  of  all-round 
education,  with  sf)ecialised  knowledge  in  science  in 
addition;  they  are  not  particularly  uncouth,  unprac- 
tical, or  unbalanced,  as  popular  tradition  would  have 
men  of  science  to  be.  It  is  this  addition  of  specialised 
knowledge  that,  under  present  conditions,  is  the 
greatest  obstacle  to  their  earning  a  living ;  they  would 
probably  be  better  paid  if  they  turned  their  hand  to 
any  employment  other  than  the  pursuit  of  science,  or 
became  the  worst  paid  of  Government  clerks. 

In  case  I  should  be  supposed  to  be  taking  a  sordid 
view  and  claiming  riches  for  the  man  of  science,  1 
explain  that  when  I  write  "earning  a  living  "  I  mean 
earning  just  sufficient  to  enable  a  single  man  to  live 
in  the  most  modest  way  befitting  a  member  of  a 
learned  profession,  and  I  state  without  fear  of  con- 
tradiction that  to  do  so  was  a  matter  of  grave  diffi- 
culty .'for  our  younger  men  of  science  before  the  war. 

There  is  nothing  unique  about  the  treatment  of  the 
185 1  .'Exhibition  scholars.  Taking  scientific  research 
workers  in  general,  the  State  has  nothing  to  offer 
them  except  occasional  grants  of  5^.  or  10/.  towards 
purchasing  apparatus ; .  the  modern  universities  offer 
them' (and  the  offer  is  widely ;  accepted)  150/."  or  so  a 
year  (see  the  advertisement  columns  of  Nature)  for 
lecturing  on  the  higher  and  lower  branches  of  their 
science,  and  for  spending  all  their  spare  time  in  re- 
search ;  private  enterprise  treats  them  as  amiable 
eccentrics  on  a  par  with  the  pleasant  gentlemen  who 
devise  in  our  popular  papers  and  magazines  problems 
dealing  with  the  joint  ages  of  old  families,  and  the 
division  of  ridiculouslv  shaped  fields  into  absurd  areas. 
Only  their  love  of  -science  keeps  them  employed  on 
scientific  work,  and  you  are  not  likely  to  extend  the 
class  of  men  willing  to  accept  scholarships  under  such 
conditions  and  with  such  prospects,  however  many 
scholarships  you  may  offer. 

So  long  as  the  present  attitude  towards  science  and 
scientific  workers  obtains  it  is  useless  to  train  fresh 
men,  and  by  means  of  scholarships  to  set  keen  workers 
on  a  path  which  leads  them  through  the  pleasant  fields 
of  scientific  discovery  to  the  pathless  waste  of  apathy 
and  neglect  which  lies  in  the  way  of  all  workers  in 
pure  science  in  England,  a  waste  where  material  life 
is  very  scarcely  nourished.  .  Once  the  waste  is 
abolished  the  path  need  not  be  made  so  smooth.  .  To 
drop  the  obscurity  of  metaphor,  once  show  the  young 
and  keen  student  that  he  has  some  hopes  of  employ- 
ment for  his  activities  and  recognition  for  his  work, 
that  there  is  some  place  for  him, in  national  life  when 
he  is  accomplished  as  a  research  worker,  and  he  will 
derive  more  encouragement  from:  the  prospect  of  some 
future  definite  goal  than  from  'all  the  help  by  the 
way  to  nowhere  offered  by  scholarships,  exhibitions, 
and  such  like.  These  are  of  little  use  until  there  is 
good  prospect  of  the  attitude  of  the  governing  classes 
towards  science  being  changed,  and,  in  my  humble 
opinion,  all  energies  should  be  devoted  to  bringing 
about' this  change  of  opinion.  It  is  conceivable  that 
a  refusal  by  our  great  men  of  science  to  do  national 
work  for  nothing  but  scant  and  grudging  thanks 
would  do  more  to  increase  the  national  reputation  of 
science  than  any  sort  of  begging  for  scholarships. 
It  would  mark  a  new  era,  when  the  man  of  science 
will  be  held  worthy  of  his  hire,  and  not  as  one  rather 
permitted  to  exist  than  encouraged ;  and  who  will  be 
NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


found  to  say  that  such  a  new  era  would  be  a  bad 
thing? 

One  further  point.  All  present  discussion  seems  to 
be  concerned  only  with  the  direct  application  of  science 
to  industry,  and  not  at  all  with  the  advisability  of 
encouraging  pure  science.  Many  of  us  would  "wel- 
come a  definite  pronouncement  from'  the  leading 
authorities  as  to  their  attitude  towards  pure  science. 
If  only  science  which  can  be  immediately  applied  to 
industrial  processes  is  in  future  to  be  considered  of 
national  value,  let  us  have  a  clear  announcement  to 
this  effect  from  some  responsible  body.  This  will  give 
those  of  us  who  have  spent  their  youth  working  in 
pure  science,  and  who  are  now  on  active  service,  a 
fair  opportunity  to  set  about  cultivating  the  correct 
attitude  of  mind  towards  science  before  returning  to 
peace-time  pursuits.  For  an  attitude  of  mind  is  one 
of  the  few  things  easily  cultivated  within  range  of 
German  guns.  E.  N.  da  C.  Andrade. 

B.E.F.,   France,  June  21. 


On   the    "Wolf-note"    of   the    Violin   and    'Cello. 

It  has  long  been  known  that  on  all  musical  instru- 
ments of  the  violin  family  there  is  a  particular  note 
which  is  difficult  to  excite  in  a  satisfactory  manner, 
and  that  when  this  "  wolf-note,"  as  it  is  called,  is 
sounded,  the  whole  body  of  the  instrument  vibrates  in 
an  unusual  degree,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  also 
understood  that  the  difficulty  of  eliciting  a  smooth 
note  of  this  particular  pitch  is  due  in  some  way  to  the 
sympathetic  resonance  of  the  instrument  (Guillemin, 
"The  Applications  of  Physical  Forces,"  1877).  In  a 
recent  paper  (Proc.  Camb.  Phil.  Soc,  June,  1915)- 
G.  W.  White  has  published  some  experimental 
work  confirming  this  view.  The  most  striking 
effect  noticed  is  the  cyclical  variation  in  the  in- 
tensity of  the  tone  obtained  when  the  instrument  is 
forced  to  speak  at  this  point.  White  suggests  as  an 
explanation  of  these  fluctuations  of  intensity  that  they 
are  due  to  the  beats  which  accompany  the  forced  vibra- 
tion imposed  on  the  resonator.  The  correctness  of  this 
suggestion  seems  open  to  serious  criticism.  For  the 
beats  which  are  produced  when  a  periodic  force  acts 
on  a  vibrator  are  essentially  transitory  in  character, 
whereas  in  the  present  case  the  fluctuations  in  intensity 
are  persistent. 

The  following  explanation  of  the  effect,  which  is 
different  from  that  .suggested  by  White,  occurred  to 
me  some  time  ago  on  theoretical  grounds,  and  has 
since  been  confirmed  by  me  experimentally.  The  effect 
depends  on  the  fact  (which  is  itself  a  consequence 
of  theory)  that  when  the  pressure  with  which  the  bow 
is  applied  is  less  than  a  certain  critical  value  propor- 
tionate to  the  rate  of  dissipation  of  energy  from  the 
string,  the  principal  mode  of  vibration  of  the  latter,  in 
which  the  fundamental  is  dominant,  is  incapable  of 
being  maintained  and  passes  over  into  one  in  which 
the  octave  is  prominent.  When  the  bow  sets  the 
string  in  vibration  the  instrument  is  strongly  excited 
by  sympathetic  resonance,  and  the  rate  of  dissipation 
of  energy  rapidly  increases  and  continues  to  increase 
beyond  the  limit  up  to  which  the  bow  can  maintain 
the  string  in  the  normal  mode  of  vibration.  The  form  of 
vibration  of  the  string  then  alters  into  one  in  which  the 
fundamental  is  feeble  compared  with  the  octave. 
Following  this,  the  amplitude  of  vibration  of  the  belly 
decreases,  but  this  change  lags  behind  that  of  the 
string  to  a  considerable  extent.  When  the  rate  of 
dissipation  of  energy  again  falls  below  the  critical 
limit,  the  string  begins  to  regain  its  original  form 
of  vibration  with  the  dominant  fundamental.  This  is 
accordingly  followed,  after  an  Interval,  by  a  fresh 
increase  in  the  vibration  of  the  belly,  and  the  cycle 
then  repeats  itself  Indefinitely. 


June  29,  1916] 


NATURE 


l^l 


The  accompanying  photograph  showing  the  simui- 
aneous  vibration-curves  of  the  belly  and  string  of  a 
rello  amply  confirms  the   foregoing  explanation  sug- 
gested bv  theory,  and  is  itself  of  interest.     It  will  be 


Tim  e  Axis 


een  that  the  changes  in  the  vibrational  form  of  the 
-rring  are  about  a  quarter  of  a  cycle  in  advance  of 
those  of  the  belly,  and  that  in  both  curves  the  octave 
is  conspicuous  when  the  amplitude  is  a  minimum. 

C.  V.  Raman. 
The  Indian  Association  for  the  Cultivation  of 
Science,  Calcutta,  May  20, 


THE     ETHNOGRAPHY 
INDLi.^ 


OF     CENTRAL 


THE  publication  of  this  work  recalls  the  tragical 
fate  of  its  author,  who  soon  after  the  final 
revision  of  the  proof-sheets  sailed  for  India  and 
lost  his  life  in  the  s.s.  Persia,  sunk  by  a  German 
submarine  in  the  Mediterranean.  The  book  is  the 
result  of  a  long-  study  of  the  races  of  the  Province, 
begfun  when  the  author  was  placed  in  charge  of 
the  census  operations  in  1901,  and  since  steadily 
prosecuted,  in  spite  of  very  indifferent  health.  He 
enjoyed  opportunities  denied  to  the  writers  of  the 
volumes  on  Northern  India — Mr.  Crooke  for  the 
United  Provinces  and  Mr.  Rose  for  the  Punjab, 
who  dealt  with  regions  where  the  all-absorbing 
Brahmanism  and  militant  Islam  had  caused  much 
of  the  more  primitive  beliefs  and  usages  to  dis- 
appear. Sir  H.  Risley,  in  his  account  of  the 
tribes  of  Chota  Xagpur,  and  Mr.  Thurston,  in 
those  of  the  Nilgiri  Hills,  were  dealing  with 
people  believed  to  be  indigenous,  or  at  least 
settlers  of  whose  coming  no  information  is  now 
available,  and  their  religion  and  organisation  are 
of  a  very  primitive  type.  The  people  considered 
by  Mr.  Russell  are  perhaps  ev^en  more  interesting 
— Gonds,  Baigas,  Korkus,  and  the  like,  about 
whom  little  has  hitherto  been  known. 

The  scheme  of  Mr.  Russell's  work  differs  from 
that  of  others  in  the  same  series,  inasmuch  as  in 
his  Introduction  and  throughout  the  caste  and 
tribal  articles  he  has  not  confined  himself  to  a 
mere  description  of  the  religious  and  social  life. 
He  has  taken  occasion  to  discuss  questions  such 
as  the  character  and  origin  of  the  local  totemism 

1  "The  Tribes  and  Castes  of  the  Central  Provinces  of  India.  "  By  R.  V. 
Russell,  assisted  by  Rai  Bahadur  Hira  Lai.  Four  volumes.  Vol.  i.. 
pp.  .\xv4-426  Vol.  ii.,  pp.  xi-i-540.  Vol.  iii.,  pp.  xi+589.  Vol.  iv., 
pp.  xi+608.  (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1916.)  Price-42J.  net, 
four  vols. 

Vn       -7  4  7^       VOT.      071 


and  animism,  the  Corn  Spirit,  the  sanctity  attached 
to  opium  and  alcohol,  the  pig  as  a  sacred  animal, 
the  buffalo  as  representing  the  Corn  God,  the 
resp>ect  paid  to  the  umbrella  and  to  counting,  and 
so  on.  In  the  course  of  these  digressions  he 
quotes  largely  from  standard  words  on  anthropo- 
Ic^y,  such  as  Sir  J.  G.  Frazer's  "The  Golden 
Bough,"  "The  Religion  of  the  Semites,"  by  Prof. 
Robertson  Smith,  "The  History  of  Human  Mar- 
riage "  and  "  The  Origin  and  Development  of 
-Moral  Ideas,"  by  Prof.  Westermarck,  and  other 
standard  authorities.  This  method  possesses 
some  advantages,  inasmuch  as  it  tends  to  j>opu- 
!arise  the  principles  of  anthro{X)logy,  and  his  work 
is  learned  and  interesting.  But  it  is  doubtful  if 
this  advantage  justifies  the  space  which  is  occupied 
by  these  discussions.  They  are  unnecessary  to 
the  trained  anthropologist,  and  it  is  a  question 
how  far  this  learning  is  likely  to  be  assimilated 
by  the  persons — the  officials,  European  and  native, 
of  the  Province — who  will  chiefly  use  the  book. 
Further,  it  must  be  remembered,  as  appears  from 


Fig.  I. — Bahrupla  inip<rsonating  ihe  Goddess  Kali.    Reproduced  from 
"The  Tribes  and  Caste»  oi  ibe.Cenirai  Provinces  ot  India." 

Prof.  Ridge  way's  latest  book,  reviewed  recently 
in  these  columns,  many  of  these  principles  are 
still  the  subject  of  active  controversy. 


3^4 


NATURE 


[June  29,   1916 


The  scheme  of  the  work  is  purely  ethno- 
graphical. Anthropometry,  in  India  at  least,  has 
fallen  into  some  discredit  since  the  death  of  Sir 
H.  Risley,  partly  because  it  is  now  realised  that 
the  materials  on  which  he  based  his  conclusions 
were  incomplete,  partly  because  the  groups 
which  he  discriminated  have  been  shown  to  be 
less  completely  isolated  than  he  supposed. 

Much  space  might  have  been  saved  "by  compres- 
sion. If,  for  instance,  a  set  of  standard  accounts 
of  birth,  marriage,  and  death  observances  were 
once  for  all  prepared,  it  would  save  constant 
repetition,  and  it  would  be  necessary  only  to  refer 
to  variations  from  the  normal  practice.  But  the 
author  has  followed  here  the  example  of  other 
writers  in  the  series.  When  these  monographs 
come  to  be  revised,  the  scheme  of  arrangement 
might  with  advantage  be  reconsidered. 


Fig.  2. — Jain  Ascetics  with  cloth  before  mouth  and  sweeping  brush.  Repro- 
duced from  "The  Tribes  and  Castes  of  the  Central  Provinces  of  India." 

In  these  criticisms  we  must  not  be  supposed  to 
underrate  the  value  of  this  important  contribution 
to  the  ethnography  of  India.  Every  article  shows 
the  assiduous  care  with  which  the  facts  have  been 
investigated;  the  articles  are  well  arranged,  and 
in  *  the  case  of  the  less  known  tribes,  like  the 
Gonds,  Bhils,  and  Korkus,  much  novel  informa- 
tioti  is  supplied,  while  other  less  distinctively  local 
groups,  like  Marathas,  Jats,  Gujars,  and  Rajputs, 
are  adequately  dealt  with,  the  articles  displaying 
full  acquaintance  with  the  work  done  in  other 
Provinces,  which  is  invariably  quoted  with  full 
acknowledgment.  In  almost  every  page  there  are 
accounts  of  quaint  usages  and  beliefs  of  the 
highest  interest.  .  The  work  is  provided  with  an 
excellent  set  of  photographs,  and  its  format 
NO.    2435,   VOL.    97] 


is    what    might    have    been    expected    from    the 
reputation  of  the  publishers. 

The  untimely  death  of  Mr,  Russell  is  a  serious 
loss  to  anthropology,  and  it  is  sad  to  think  that 
it  occurred  on  the  eve  of  the  publication  of  a  book 
which  was  the  work  of  his  life,  and  will  do  much 
to  preserve  the  memory  of  his  learning  and 
devotion  to  science. 


BIRDS'  SONGS  AND  THE  DIATONIC  SCALE. 
A  LETTER  from  Dr.  R.  H.  Bellairs,  of  Chel- 
■^^  tenham,  appeared  in  the  Times  of  June  14, 
describing  the  performance  "by  a  wild  bird, 
probably  a  thrush,  of  the  arpeggio  of  the  common 
chord  in  tune,  absolutely  in  tune."  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  other  letters,  of  which  the  Times  printed 
three  and  gave  a  summary  of  the  rest.  Their 
contents  amount  to  this :  blackbirds  do  occa- 
sionally sing  a  few  notes  in  our  diatonic  scale ; 
thrushes  less  often.  Only  one  other  bird  was 
mentioned,  "the  whitethroat  or  willow-wren," 
which  leaves  the  identity  of  the  species  doubtful; 
and  neither  whitethroat  nor  willow-wren  has 
ever  even  dimly  suggested  to  me  the  use  of  our 
musical  scale.  But  as  the  voices  of  blackbird 
and  thrush  do  now  and  then  make  this  sugges- 
tion, I  will  venture,  at  the  Editor's  request,  to 
say  a  few  words  on  the  subject. 

Few  ornithologists  are  musicians,  and  few 
musicians  are  ornithologists,  so  that  a  knowledge 
of  the  elementary  facts  of  the  two  sciences  (if  I 
may  for  the  moment  consider  music  as  a  science) 
is  not  a  common  acquisition.  But  if  we  are  to 
judge  of  the  songs  of  birds  by  reference  to  the 
diatonic  scale,  we  must  be  quite  clear  about  the 
following  two  facts  :  First,  our  present  musical 
scale  is  an  artificial  selection,  the  result  of  a  long 
evolutionary  process,  from  innumerable  possible 
intervals  within  the  octave,  and  does  not  seem  to 
be  based  on  any  natural  human  instinct,  prompting 
to  one  particular  selection  rather  than  another. 
(See  the  article  "Scale"  in  Grove's  "Dictionary 
of  Music,"  or  Dr.  Pole's  "Philosophy  of  Music," 
chaps.   V.   and  vii.) 

Secondly,  the  vocal  mstrument  of  a.  bird  is  not 
constructed  so  as  to  produce  with  any  readiness 
the  tones  of  any  scale  consisting  of  fixed  intervals. 
The  pitch  of  the  bird's  notes  is  regulated  by 
muscles  attached  to  the  windpipe,  which  is  as 
elastic  as  the  body  of  a  worm ;  and  a  moment's 
thought  will  show  that  this  is  not  an  ai>- 
paratus  suited  for  producing  a  fixed  succession  of 
sound-intervals.  Our  reed  instruments  are  more 
like  the  bird's  organ  than  any  others,  but  they 
are  of  hard  material,  with  air-holes  and  a 
mechanism  based  on  mathematical  principles. 

Combining  these  two  facts,  we  may  safely  con- 
clude that  it  needs  a  muscular  effort,  and  probably 
a  strong  one,  for  a  bird  to  produce  anything  like  a 
tune  on  our  scale;  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  not 
impossible  where  the  notes  are  produced  slowly 
and  deliberately,  as  in  the  blackbird's  song,  and  to 
some  extent  in  that  of  the  thrush.  It  would  seem 
that  these  birds  are  occasionally  prompted  to  such 


June  29,  19 16] 


NATURE 


365 


an  effort  by  an  imitative  instinct  which  is  strong- 
in  all  birds  that  sing  vigorously;  and  they  succeed 
in  imitating  with  something  like  accuracy  church 
bells  or  other  musical  sounds  made  by  human 
beings  on  the  diatonic  scale.  Sometimes  this 
accuracy  in  the  production  of  intervals  may  be 
the  result  of  accident  rather  than  imitation. 

The  difficulty  that  birds  have  in  attaining  this 
accuracy  is  well  shown  in  a  letter  by  Canon  Grevile 
Livett  (June  i6),  who  tells  how  a  blackbird  which 
had  attained  it  one  year  had  to  practise  hard  for 
a  week  the  following  spring  before  he  recovered 
it.  The  only  bird  known  to  me  whose  natural 
"  song  "  is  on  the  diatonic  scale  is  the  cuckoo ;  and 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  his  third  is  not  often 
j)erfect  major  or  minor,  but  fluctuates  between  the 
two.  W.  Warde  Fowler. 

DR.  R.  H.  SCOTT,  F.R.S. 

DR.  ROBERT  HENRY  SCOTT  died  on 
Sunday,  June  i8,  at  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-three.  He  was  well  known  as  the 
chief  of  the  staff  of  the  Meteorological  Office 
from  the  commencement  of  the  operations  of 
the  Meteorological  Committee  of  the  Royal 
Society  in  1867  until  his  retirement  on  a  pension 
in  1900,  for  the  first  nine  years  as  Director  of  the 
Office,  and  for  the  remainder  of  the  term  as 
secretary  of  the  Meteorological  Council,  which  took 
over  the  direction  of  the  Office  in  1876.  He  was 
also  secretary  of  the  International  Meteorological 
Committee  from  its  commencement  in  1874 
until  his  retirement  from  office,  and  his  work  for 
that  body  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  his  col- 
leagues in  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  He  was  a 
fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  from  1870.  He  re- 
ceived the  honorarv  degree  of  D.Sc.  at  Dublin  in 
1898. 

Dr.  Scott  was  born  in  Dublin  in  1833,  a  member 
of  a  well-known  family.  His  father  was  a  Q-C, 
and  his  mother  a  daughter  of  the  Hon,  Charles 
Brodrick,  Archbishop  of  Cashel ;  one  of  his 
brothers  was  Headmaster  of  Westminster,  and 
another  was  Vicar  of  Bray  and  Archdeacon  of 
Dublin.  He  was  educated  at  Rugby  and  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  where  he  was  .  classical  scholar 
in  1853,  and  graduated  as  Senior  Moderator  in 
Experimental  Physics  in  1855.  He  studied 
also  at  Berlin  and  Munich,  1856  to  1858, 
chiefly  chemistry,  physics,  and  mineralogy.  He 
was  appointed  Lecturer  In  Mineralogy  to  the 
Royal  Dublin  Society  in  1862,  and  published  a 
Manual  of  Volumetric  Analysis  in  that  year.  He 
also  published  in  the  same  year  a  translation  of 
the  second  edition  of  "The  Law  of  Storms,  by 
H.  W.  Dove,  F.R.S.,"  whose  lectures  he  had 
attended  at  Berlin.  The  book  is  dedicated  by  the 
author  to  FitzRoy,  who  had  translated  the  first 
edition.  It  was  on  that  account  that  Scott  was 
selected  by  the  Meteorological  Committee  of  the 
Royal  Society,  of  which  Sir  Edward  Sabine  was 
chairman,  to  take  charge  of  the  Meteorological 
Office.  His  relations  with  Sabine  were  intimate, 
and  he  became  his  executor. 

In  1861  FitzRoy,  whose  original  duty  was  ex- 
NO.    2435,   VOL.    97] 


clusively  with  the  meteorology  of  the  sea,  had 
begun  the  issue  of  forecasts  and  storm-warnings, 
based  upon  the  information  collected  daily  by  tele- 
graph and  charted  on  maps.  \  map  of  the 
weather  is  often  a  fascinating  document,  and  the 
impulse  towards  sharing  the  information  with  the 
general  public,  all  of  whom  are  interested  in  the 
weather,  is  very  difficult  to  resist;  but  some  pro- 
minent members  of  the  Royal  Society  thought 
that  FitzRoy 's  action  in  publishing  forecasts  and 
storm-warnings  was  premature.  They  were  in- 
terested in  the  continuous  records  of  weather 
which  they  had  obtained  at  Kew  Observatory,  and 
thought  the  proper  plan  was  to  have  seven  other 
observatories  of  the  same  kind  and  study  the 
maps  in  relation  to  the  records.  The  ix>pular 
interest  which  FitzRoy 's  action  had  aroused 
secured  for  them,  with  the  co-operation  of  the 
Admiralty  and  the  Board  of  Trade,  a  Government 
grant  of  10,000/.  a  year  for  the  Office,  and  Scott 
was  entrusted  with  the  direction  of  the  new  enter- 
prise, while  a  marine  superintendent,  Captain 
Henry  Toynbee,  was  appointed  to  carry  on  the 
original  duty  of  collecting  and  discussing  marine 
observations. 

The  issue  of  forecasts  and  storm-warnings  was 
suppressed;  but  at  the  request  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  the  issue  of  storm-warnings  was  at  once 
revived.  The  telegraphic  work  was  developed  on 
careful  lines,  and  the  first  result  of  Scott's  work 
appeared  in  1876  in  a  little  book  entitled 
"Weather  Charts  and  Storm-Warnings."  In 
1879  the  work  had  progressed  so  far  that  it  was 
deemed  appropriate  by  the  Meteorological  Council, 
a  very  powerful  body  of  scientific  experts  then  in 
control  of  the  Office,  to  recommence  the  issue  of 
forecasts.  The  issue  was  commenced  on  April  i 
of  that  year,  and  has  continued  ever  since.  This 
was  followed  in  1883  by  Scott's  "Elementary 
Meteorology,"  in  the  "International  Scientific 
Series,"  which  took  a  foremost  place  as  a  text- 
book of  meteorology. 

From  that  time  onward  Scott  devoted  his  at- 
tention mainly  to  the  administration  of  the  Office 
and  to  the  work  of  the  Meteorological  Society, 
of  which  he  became  the  foreign  secretary',  a  post 
which  he  retained  up  to  the  time  of  his  death. 
He  was  president  in  1884  and  1885.  He  still  con- 
tinued to  take  an  active  interest  in  mineralogy  and 
was  at  one  time  president  of  the  Mineralogical 
Society.  His  other  contributions  to  meteorological 
literature,  whether  official  or  unofficial,  were 
mostly  of  a  technical  character. 

After  the  great  generalisation  of  cyclones  and 
anti-cyclones,  and  their  movement,  which 
emerged  almost  immediately  from  the  study 
of  maps  and  records,  meteorology*  was  found 
to  resist  all  ordinary  endeavours  to  make 
it  disclose  its  secrets,  and  it  was  not  until 
the  development  of  the  study  of  the  upper  air 
from  1896  onwards  that  a  fresh  impetus  was 
g^iven  to  it  and  we  learned  that  many  of  the  funda- 
mental ideas  of  atmospheric  circulation  required 
re\''ision.  But  by  that  time  Scott's  active  interest 
in  the  development  of  the  subject  had  waned. 

He  was  most  methodical  and  punctilious  in  the 


366 


NATURE 


[June  29,  19 16 


discharge  of  his  many  official  duties.  He  probably 
never  left  the  Office  with  an  official  letter  un- 
answered. Perhaps  it  was  his  methodical  habits 
which  led  to  a  number  of  rather  serious  feuds 
in  the  small  meteorological  circle.  Certainly  they 
did  exist,  though  Scott  himself  was  a  kindly  and 
thoroughly  clubbable  man.  He  was  a  recognised 
leader  of  the  Royal  Society  Club  and  took  a 
leading  part  in  the  incorporation  therewith  of  the 
Philosophical  Club.  He  retained  his  connection 
with  the  Athenaeum  to  the  last.  He  was  an 
energetic  and  useful  member  of  the  governing 
body  of  the  South-Western  Polytechnic. 

Shortly  after  his  retirement  he  had  the  great 
misfortune  to  lose  his  wife,  who  was  a  womaji  of 
strong  personality  and  character,  and  very  active 
in  the  management  of  workmen's  dwellings  in 
Chelsea.  She  was  a  daughter  of  the  Hon.  W. 
Stewart,  Island  Secretary,  Jamaica.  Shortly 
after  her  death  Dr.  Scott  had  a  severe 
fall  on  the  stairs  of  the  Meteorological 
Society  and  injured  the  base  of  his  skull, 
grimly  remarking  when  he  was  recover- 
ing that  if  he  had  not  been  Irish  the  accident 
would  have  been  fatal.  But  he  never  completely 
recovered  from  the  effects,  and  for  the  later  years 
of  his  life,  though  he  preserved  all  the  outward 
forms  of  business,  he  was  not  able  to  take  an 
active  part  in  it.  He  was  buried  at  Peper  Harrow, 
the  seat  of  the  Brodrick  family,  near  Godalming, 
on  Wednesday,  June  21.  Napier  Shaw. 


NOTES. 

The  adjourned  extraordinary  general  meeting  of  the 
Chemical  Society,  called  to  consider  the  question  of 
the  removal  of  the  names  of  nine  alien  enemies  from 
the  list  of  honorary  and  foreign  members,  was  held 
on  June  21,  Dr.  Alexander  Scott,  president,  in  the 
chair.  Prof.  W.  H.  Perkin's  amendment,  which  was 
carried  on  May  11,  "That  judgment  be  suspended 
until  after  the  war,  in  accordance  with  the  resolution 
of  the.  former  council,"  was  the  motion  before  the 
meeting.  As  an  amendment  to  this  it  was  proposed 
by  Mr.  J.  L.  Baker,  and  seconded  by  Mr.  F.  F.  Ren- 
wick,  "That  the  fellows  of  the  Chemical  Society 
hereby  record  their  detestation  of  German  malpractices 
in  connection  with  the  war,  and  whilst  they  refrain 
at  the  present  time  from  attaching  personal  respon- 
sibility for  the  initiation  of  these  to  individual 
chemists,  they  desire  to  mark  their  protest  by  resolv- 
ing that  the  names  of  the  following  alien  enemies  : — 
A.  von  Baeyer,  T.  Curtius,  E.  Fischer,  C.  Graebe, 
P.  H.  R.  von  Groth,  W.  Nernst,  W.  Ostwald,  O. 
Wallach,  and  R.  Willstatter,  shall  not  appear  in  the 
list  of  honorary  and  foreign  members  so  long  as  the 
war  shall  last,  after  which  their  position  shall  be 
reconsidered."  After  considerable  discussion,  this 
amendment  was  put  to  the  meeting  and  was  declared 
lost.  Mr.  John  Hodgkin  then  proposed  a  second 
amendment  in  the  following  terms: — "The  Chemical 
Society  considers  that  it  is  neither  compatible  nor  con- 
sistent with  its  loyalty  to  the  Crown,  whence  the 
royal  charter  under  which  it  works  was  derived,  to 
retain  any  alien  enemies  upon  its  list  of  honorary  and 
foreign  members.  It  is  therefore  resolved  that  the 
names  of  A.  von  Baeyer,  T.  Curtius,  E.  Fischer,  C. 
Graebe,  P.  H.  R,  von  Groth,  W.  Nernst,  W.  Ostwald, 
O.  Wallach,  and  R.  Willstatter,  who  were  elected 
under     happier     conditions     in     recognition     of     their 

NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


eminent  services  to  chemical  science — for  which  the 
society  still  retains  an  undiminished  appceciation  and 
regard — be,  and  are,  hereby  removed  from  the  list  of 
honorary  and  foreign  members."  This  was  seconded 
by  Dr.  S.  Russell  Wells,  and  put  to  the  meeting,  and 
the  president  declared  it  as  carried  by  94  votes  to  76- 
The  amendment  was  afterwards  carried  as  a  sub- 
stantive motion,   and  the  meeting  then  ended. 

Dr.  J.  G.  Andersson,  until  lately  head  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  Sweden,  has  accepted  the  task  of 
organising,  as  director,  a  Geological  Survey  for  China. 

Prof.  H.  Th6el  has  retired  from  his  post  as  intendant 
of  the  collection  of  invertebrate  animals  at  the  Riks- 
museum,  Stockholm.  Dr.  E.  W.  Dahlgren,  the  State 
Librarian,  has  also  retired  on  the  completion  of  a 
specially  extended  term  of  service. 

The  special  correspondent  of  the  Times  at  Port  Stan- 
ley (Falkland  Islands),  in  a  message  dated  June  26,| 
says  : — "  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  returned  here  yesterll 
day.  The  relief  ship  got  to  about  twenty  miles  off 
Elephant  Island,  but  was  unable  to  make  its  way 
further  through  the  icebergs  and  floating  masses  of 
ice  which  surrounded  the  island.  Winter  conditions 
in  the  Antarctic  this  year  are  peculiarly  severe,  and  a 
more  powerfully  equipped  ship  than  that  lent  by  the 
Uruguayan  Government  is  needed  to  force  a  way  to 
Elephant  Island,  and  relieve  the  twenty-two  men 
stranded  there." 

The  death  of  Mr.  Frederick  Enock  removes  a  figure 
well  known  to  the  public  as  a  popular  lecturer  on 
natural  history.  Few,  however,  realised  the  immense 
amount  of  time  he  devoted  to  original  research,  chiefly 
into  the  life-histories  of  insects.  Of  recent  years  he 
devoted  himself  largely  to  the  study  of  the  Mymaridae, 
or  "fairy  flies,"  a  group  of  very  minute  liymeno- 
pterous  parasitic  insects.  In  this  group  he  discovered 
many  new  genera  and  species,  and  traced  out  the 
life-histories  of  not  a  few.  Unfortunately,  the  results 
of  most  of  these  investigations  have  not  yet  been 
published.  Mr.  Enock's  powers  of  manipulation, 
whether  as  draughtsman  or  mounter  of  microscopical 
objects,  were  of  a  high  order.  Originally  intended 
for  the  engineering  profession,  his  innate  passion  for 
Nature  soon  asserted  itself,  and  his  life  was  practically 
all  devoted  to  work  in  natural  history.  He  had 
suffered  for  some  time  from  pernicious  anaemia,  and 
passed  away  at  his  home  at  Hastings  in  his  seventieth 
year. 

Those  who  are  interested  in  rites  of  initiation  will 
be  attracted  by  a  paper  by  the  Rev.  Noel  Roberts  on 
"  The  Bagananoa  or  Ma-laboch :  Notes  on  their 
Early  History,  Customs,  and  Creed,"  published  in 
the  issue  of  the  South  African  Journal  of  Science  for 
last  February.  It  contains  a  very  complete  account 
of  the  practice  of  circumcision,  which  is  the  leading 
part  of  the  tribal  initiation  rite.  A  remarkable  feature 
in  the  beliefs  of  the  tribe  is  the  cult  of  an  image  of 
the  sacred  crocodile,  carved  out  of  a  block  of  wood 
and  kept  in  a  secret  mountain  cave.  A  goat  is 
sacrificed,  and  after  it  is  cooked  the  soup  is  poured 
into  a  rude  trough  hollowed  out  in  the  underside  of 
the  image.  The  crocodile  is  known  as  "  the  father 
of  the  snake."  The  writer,  on  obviously  insufiicient 
grounds,  compares  this  rite  with  the  Egyptian  legend 
of  the  contest  between  Horus,  god  of  light,  and  Sut, 
god  of  darkness.  The  correct  interpretation  is  prob- 
ably to  be  found  in  a  further  study  of  the  tribal  myths, 
which  is  obviously  desirable. 

In  the  issue  of  Man  for  June  Mr.  V.  Giuffrida- 
Ruggeri     discusses     the    relation     of     the     Neolithic 


June  29,  1916] 


NATURE 


367 


Egyptians  to  the  Ethiopians.  His  notes  are  not 
published  in  a  form  which  admits  of  full  examina- 
tion, but  he  supposes  that  "the  prehistoric  series 
were,  at  least  to  a  great  extent,  made  up  of 
Ethiopians,  and  that  afterwards  a  great  infiltration 
in  the  opposite  direction  took  place ;  this  infiltration 
must  have  been  fed  from  the  near  east,  that  is,  from 
Syria,,  the  peninsula  of  Sinai,  and  the  North  African 
coast,  territories  already  occupied  by  the  Mediter- 
ranean race."  Into  the  wider  speculations  advanced 
by  the  writer  we  cannot  enter,  but  it  is  noteworthy 
that  he  assumes  that  the  brachycephalic  form  of 
skull  "does  not  imply  any  correlation  to  other  physical 
characters.  This  skeletal  character  owes  its  ex- 
aggerated importance  to  the  fact  that  it  is  very  visible 
in  the  living  man  and  in  the  series  of  skulls  collected 
in  museums,  but  in  my  opinion  it  is  only  valuable  in 
determining  varieties;  therefore  it  has  no  value  in 
joining  together  across  the  terrestrial  space  all  those 
who  are  alike  in  that  character." 

A  VALUABLE  "Review  of  the  American  Moles,"  by 
Mr.  Hartley  Jackson,  has  just  been  published  by  the 
U.S.  Department  of  Agriculture — No.  38  of  the  series 
on  the  North  American  Fauna.  In  his  introduction 
the  author  discusses  the  habits  and  economic  status 
of  moles,  the  characteristics  of  the  young,  pelages, 
and  moults,  and  variations;  while  further  details  of 
this  kind  are  given  under  the  heading  of  the  various 
species.  Among  the  many  interesting  details  the 
author  has  brought  to  light. in  the  course  of  his  inves- 
tigations is  the  fact  that  the  star-nosed  mole  {Condy- 
lura  cristata)  accumulates  fat  around  the  tail  at  the 
approach  of  winter.  In  the  matter  of  classification, 
the  author  objects  to  the  system  proposed  by  Mr. 
Oldfield  Thomas,  who  recognises  no  fewer  than  five 
subfamilies.  To  be  consistent,  he  maintains,  every 
genus  would  have  to  be  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  sub- 
family. Numerous  text  figures,  maps,  and  several 
plates  add  materially  to  the  value  of  this  most  excel- 
lent piece  of  work. 

During  the  past  year  the  State  of  California 
experienced  niore  earthquakes  than  all  the  remain- 
ing States.  According  to  Mr.  A.  H.  Palmer  (Bull. 
Seis.  Soc.  America,  vol.  vi.,  1916,  pp.  8-28),  the 
number  of  sensible  shocks  observed  was  eighty-three, 
of  which,  however,  only  two  (those  in  the  Imperial 
Valley  on  June  22)  were  of  destructive  intensity. 
Except  in  this  valley,  they  were  most  numerous  in 
the  district  bordering  the  Pacific  coast.  They  were 
entirely  absent  from  northern  California,  which 
includes  the  active  volcano  of  Lassen  Peak,  and  only 
one  occurred  at  Lone  Pine  (Inyo  County),  the  seat  of 
the  great  earthquake  of  1872. 

Lassen  Peak  is  not  the  only  active  volcano  in  the 
United  States  (excluding  Alaska),  but  it  is  described 
by  Mr.  J.  S.  Diller  as  the  most  active  (Bull.  Seis. 
Soc.  America,  vol.  vi.,  1916,  pp.  1-7).  The  peak 
rises  to  a  height  of  10,460  ft.,  the  oldest  crater  is 
more  than  a  mile  in  diameter,  and,  until  the  end  of 
May,  19 14,  it  had  not  been  in  action  for  about  two 
centuries.  The  first  phase  of  activity  lasted  for  about 
a  year,  and  consisted  of  more  than  150  gas  eruptions 
from  a  new  crater  formed  within  the  old  one.  In 
May,  1915,  the  second  phase  began;  a  stream  of  lava 
filled  both  the  new  and  old  craters,  and  flowed  some 
way  down  the  western  side  of  the  mountain.  This 
phase  culminated  on  May  19  and  22,  when  hot  blasts, 
resembling  those  of  Mont  Pelee,  descended  the  north- 
eastern slope. 

Though  it  may  be  long  before  the  stratigraphy  of 
the  Philippine  Isles  can  be  correlated  with  that  of  othe- 
lands,  the  exploration  of  the  country  for  useful  prc- 

NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


ducts  is  bringing  details  of  interest  to  light.  Mr. 
W.  D.  Smith,  in  his  "Geologic  Reconnaissance  of 
Mountain  Province,  Luzon  *'  {Philippine  Journ.  of 
Set.,  vol.  X.,  1915,  p.  177),  quotes  von  Drasche  on 
the  definite  stratification  of  certain  uplifted  coral-reefs. 
Von  Drasche  held  this  structure  to  be  due  to  a  periodic 
cessation  in  coral  growth.  The  large  part  played  in 
reef-formation  by  sediments  intercalated  between  the 
oorals  is  now  more  fully  recognised.  The  hilly  and 
difficult  nature  of  the  surface  of  the  province  is  well 
illustrated.  The  same  author  deals  with  Panay 
(p.  211),  where  petroleum  may  possibly  exist.  Mr.  W.  E. 
Pratt,  who  ingenuously  refers  to  "old"  Spanish  re- 
cords of  1892,  has  an  interesting  paper  (p.  241)  on 
"  Petroleum  and  Residual  Bitumens  in  Leyte."  The 
bitumens  promise  material  for  asphalt  paving;  but 
no  large  mass  of  porous  strata  is  yet  known  in  the 
petroleum  region.  The  same  author,  in  a  paper  on 
"The  Persistence  of  the  Philippine  Coal-beds  "  (p.  289), 
p>oints  out  encouragingly  that  their  discontinuity  is 
due  to  faulting,  so  that  mining  of  the  seams  may 
some  day  be  resumed.  It  should  be  noted  that  the 
Bureau  of  Science,  Division  of  Mines,  is  now  issuing 
geological  maps  in  connection  with  the  Philippine 
Journal  of  Science. 

The  annual  report  for   19 14  of  the  Department  of 
Mines  and   Geology   of    Mysore   gives   an    interesting 
summary   of  progress   in    the  mining   and  geological 
work   of    that   State.     The    Mysore    gold   mines    well 
maintain  their  output,  though  the  Ribblesdale  section 
has  now  entered  a  poor  zone   like   that  once  passed 
through  in  the  higher  levels.     The  air-blasts  or  explo- 
I  sions  of  rock  owing  to  the  relief  of   tension  during 
j  mining,   which  are  so  unusually   troublesome  on  the 
j  Mysore  goldfield,   occasioned   somewhat   fewer   fatali- 
I  ties,  only  seventeen  instead  of  thirty-one  in  the  year 
j  before.    -  No     method     of     recognising     when      the 
;  rock    is    in    this   explosive    condition     has    yet    been 
;  discovered.     A   geological    map    of    the    State   on    the 
scale  of  eight  miles  to  the  inch  has  been  commenced. 
Dr.  Smeeth,  the  director,  again  insists  that  the  great 
Kaldurga  conglomerates  are  crush  conglomerates  and 
not   of   sedimentary   origin,    a    view     for    which    the 
evidence    has    been    regarded   by    some   geologists   as 
;  inadequate.       He   shows    that   many    of    the    Mysore 
j  quartzites    are    intrusive    into    the    schists,    and    are 
i  silicified   felsites   or   acid   quartz-porphyries.        In   the 
hope  of  developing  the  iron  industry  in  the  State  the 
,  iron  ores  have  been  further  studied',  and  Dr.   Smeeth 
j  publishes  a  valuable  report  upon  them.     He  classifies 
•  them    into    five    groups;    they    include    banded    iron- 
stones ;   ores   of  magmatic    origin    in    the   ultra-basic 
rocks  and  in  the  charnockite  series,  of  which  the  latter 
are  low-grade  quartz-magnetite  ores ;  and  also  various 
replacement  ores  in  schists.     This  last  group  includes 
those  which  appear  most  Hkelv  to  be  of  commercial 
value. 

I      The    recent   presidential    address   delivered   by   Dr. 

I  A.  W.  Rogers  before  the  Geological  Societv  of 'South 
Africa  gives  an  interesting  description  of  the  geology 
of  the  copper  deposits  of  Namaqualand.  He  show's 
that  the  deposits  of  economic  importance  are  those 
associated  with  igneous  intrusions  in  gneiss,  and 
thus  fall  into  line  with  many  of  the  important  copper 
deposits  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  The  most  widelv 
distributed  of  these  igneous  rocks  is  mica-diorite, 
which  is  well  developed  at  Ookiep,  where,  as  is  well 
known,  the  most  important  of  the  Namaqualand 
copper  mines  is  situated.  Next  in  importance  comes 
norite,  which  appears  to  be  of  a  verv  variable  com- 
position, ranging  from  rocks  that  differ  onlv  from 
me  mica-diorite  by  the  presence  of  a'  little 
hjrpersthene  to  rocks  so  rich  in  the  latter  mineral  as 
to  be  almost  capable  of  being  classed  as  hypersthen- 


368 


NATURE 


[June  29,  19 16 


ites.  Hornblendites  also  occur,  but  appear  not  to  be 
associated  \vith  copper  deposits  to  the  same  extent 
as  the  two  first-named.  It  will  be  noted  that  the 
igneous  rocks  are  of  a  decidedly  basic  type  and  that 
they  are  rich  in  magnesian  minerals,  although  the 
absence  of  olivine  forms  a  constant  and  interesting 
feature  in  their  mineralogical  composition.  The 
igneous  intrusions  assume  many  different  forms,  such 
as  dykes,  pipes,  sheets,  and  irregular  bodies,  but  no 
trt.:e  batholites  have  yet  been  met  with.  No  fewer 
than  344  such  intrusions  have  been  mapped  up  to 
the  present.  Very  many  of  these  rocks  show  a 
certain  admixture  of  sulphide,  including  copper 
sulphide,  in  the  form  of  interstitial  grains.  The 
question  whether  these  sulphides  are  or  are  not 
original  constituents  of  the  rocks  does  not  admit  of 
any  very  precise  answer,  but  must  be  decided  by  a 
review  of  the  whole  of  the  phenomena  characterising 
these  occurrences.  Dr.  Rogers  concludes,  upon  the 
whole  of  the  evidence,  that  the  copper  deposits  are 
magmatic  segregations;  that  "the  intrusions  were 
complex  bodies  of  two  or  more  differentiates  from 
one  magma  basin";  that  each  differentiated  portion 
of  the  magma  held  a  certain  quantity  of  sulphides  at 
the  time  of  intrusion  ;  and  that  these  sulphides  often 
collected  together  within  the  individual  differentiates, 
and  that  they  were  further  able  to  migrate  and  to 
impregnate  the  country  to  a  distance  of  a  few  feet 
from  the  contact.  The  paper  forms  an  interesting 
contribution  to  the  study  of  magmatic  ore  deposits, 
a  group  to  which  increasing  attention  has  been 
devoted  during  recent  years. 

The  geographical  problems  in  boundary  marking 
are  discussed  by  Sir  Thomas  H.  Holdich  in  the 
Geographical  Journal  for  June  (vol.  xlvii..  No.  6).  Sir 
T.  H.  Holdich  has  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with 
frontier  delimitations  in  India  and  South  America, 
and  no  man  is  better  qualified  to  speak  on  the  sub- 
ject and  to  direct  attention  to  the  necessity  of  geo- 
graphical knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  statesmen 
who  decide  frontiers.  The  paper  gives  many  in- 
stances of  complications,  needless  expense,  and  the 
threat  of  war  due  to  ignorance  of  geographical  con- 
ditions or  the  misapplication  of  geographical  terms. 
The  question  will  soon  be  one  of  vital  importance.  It 
may  be  too  much  to  hopye  that  expert  geographical 
advice  will  be  sought  at  least  in  the  wording  of  fron- 
tier treaties,  but  it  is  nevertheless  not  an  unreasonable 
demand  to  make. 

Mr.  O.  F.  Cook  gives  an  interesting  account  of 
agriculture  and  native  vegetation  in  Peru  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Washington  Academy  of  Sciences, 
vol.  vi.,  No.  10,  May,  1916.  Mr.  Cook  deals  particularly 
with  the  region  around  Cuzco,  the  chief  centre  of  the 
Inca  and  pre-Inca  civilisation.  He  points  out  that 
the  present  distribution  of  the  principal  types  of  vege- 
tation is  not  a  natural  effect  of  altitudes,  climates, 
or  soils,  but  an  artificial  result  of  intensive  agricul- 
tural occupation  of  land  over  a  long  period  of  time. 
The  primeval  forest  which  probably  clothed  the  hills 
has,  in  his  opinion,  been  everywhere  destroyed  for  agri- 
cultural purposes,  and  the  forests  which  are  now  found 
are  of  secondary  origin,  having  sprung  up  on  land 
which  has  gone  out  of  cultivation.  The  absence  of 
palms  in  such  forests  is  cited  in  support  of  this  view. 
He  considers  that  the  denudation  of  the  higher  land 
formerly  under  cultivation  has  given  rise  to  the  large 
areas  of  grass  land  now  sterile  and  abandoned. 

The  Optical  Society,  39  Victoria  Street,  Westmin- 
ster, has  reprinted  in  pamphlet  form,  at  the  price  of 
a  shilling,  the  paper  on  the  manufacture  and  testing 
of  prismatic  compasses  read  recently  before  the  Society 

NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


by  Mr.  F,  E.  Smith,  of  the  National  Physical  Labora- 
tory. It  describes  the  methods  adopted  at  the  labora- 
tory to  test  the  instruments  for  the  possible  errors, 
and  gives  sufficient  details  to  enable  any  maker  to  set 
up  without  great  expense  his  own  testing  arrange- 
ments. In  addition,  much  valuable  information  is 
given  as  to  the  best  form  of  needle,  the  best  shape 
of  the  hard  steel  pivots,  the  superiority  of  garnets 
to  agates  as  jewels,  the  proper  degree  of  hardness  of 
the  needle  (secured  by  the  faintest  straw  colour  in 
tempering),  the  advantage  of  magnetising  the  needles 
in  coils  giving  a  magnetic  field  of  400,  and  the  supe- 
riority of  a  dead-beat  motion  of  the  needle,  secured  by 
the  use  of  liquid,  air,  or  magnetic  damping.  In  prac- 
tical use  Mr.  Smith  thinks  it  advisable  to  tap  the  com- 
pass gently  to  give  the  needle  the  best  chance  of  taking 
up  a  correct  position.  He  finds  many  of  the  compasses 
at  present  made  cannot  be  trusted  to  half  a  degree. 

Bulletin  No.  59  of  the  Technological  Series  of 
the  Bureau  of  Standards  gives  an  account  of  an 
investigation  of  standard  test  specimens  of  zinc-bronze 
(Cu  88,  Sn  10,  Zn  2)  by  C.  P.  Carr  and  H.  S.  Rawdon. 
The  authors  conclude  (a)  that  the  addition  of  the 
small  percentage  of  zinc  does  not  affect  the  theoretical 
microstructure  of  the  alloy;  (b)  that  the  method  of 
casting,  pouring  temperature,  etc.,  affect  the  structure 
only  indirectly  by  influencing  the  rate  of  cooling, 
amount  and  distribution  of  "enclosures,"  etc.;  (c)  that 
the  microstructure  offers  an  explanation  for  the  char- 
acteristic appearance  of  the  tensile  bars  after  testing ; 
and  (d)  that  of  the  various  microstructural  features 
affecting  the  physical  properties,  oxide  films  must  be 
considered  to  exert  by  far  the  greatest  influence.  The 
best  type  of  test  bar  where  the  metal  is  to  be  cast  into 
sand  is  the  cast-to-size  shape,  and  if  the  metal  is 
poured  anywhere  in  the  range  1270-1120°  C. 
uniformity  of  tensile  strength  and  ductility  are  ob- 
tained. The  advantages  of  the  cast-to-size  shape  are 
that  it  is  easy  to  mould  and  inexpensive  to  machine 
into  the  shape  and  size  required  for  testing.  It  is 
recommended  as  the  form  which  should  be  adopted 
as  standard  for  general  foundry  practice. 

Considering  what  a  fundamentally  important  sub- 
stance it  is,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  frequently  used  in 
molecular  weight  determinations,  one  would  have 
thought  that  trustworthy  data  for  the  melting  and 
solidifying  points  of  benzene  would  have  been  recorded 
long  ago.  From  an  article  by  Mr.  R.  Meldrum  in 
the  Chemical  News  for  June  9,  however,  this  does 
not  seem  to  be  the  case.  With  the  most  nearly  pure 
benzene  commercially  procurable,  which  was  solidified 
at  3°  C.  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  then  drained,  this 
author  obtained  3-92°  and  3-95°  C.  as  the  solidifying 
point.  The  rate  of  crystallisation  at  this  temperature, 
however,  slackened  very  considerably  after  10  per 
cent,  had  solidified.  For  the  melting  point,  determined 
by  keeping  the  thermometer  immersed  in  the  melting 
crystals,  the  value  obtained  was  4°  C.  Using  the 
crystals  solidified  from  the  sample,  after  pressing  be- 
tween filter  paper  at  3°  C,  the  author  found  56°  for 
the  solidifying  point  and  57°  for  the  melting  point. 
Benzene  kept  in  a  tube  of  i-in.  bore  at  a  temperature 
of  1°  C.  solidified  without  crystalline  structure,  and 
hence  was  probably  in  the  colloidal  condition.  Mr. 
Meldrum  concludes  that  above  the  melting  point  ben- 
zene exists  in  more  than  one  modification. 

There  has  just  been  completed  on  one  of  the  main 
lines  of  the  Great  Central  Railway  a  bridge  over  one 
of  the  English  rivers  (which  cannot  be  named  for 
military  reasons)  having  a  Scherzer  rolling-lift  open- 
ing  span  weighing  2900  tons,  the  largest  in  this 
country,  if  not,  indeed,  in   the  world.     An  illustrated 


I 


June  29,  19 16] 


NATURE 


3^ 


account  of  this  bridge  appears  in  Engineering  for  June 
23.  The  bridge  was  designed  by  Mr.  T.  B.  Ball,  the 
engineer  of  the  railway  company,  and  provides  for  a 
double  line  of  railway  and  for  a  broad  road  bridge, 
with  footpaths  parallel  to  the  railway  track.  The  lift- 
ing span  gives  a  clear  waterway  150  ft.  in  width. 
The  operating  gear  is  provided  with  two  electric 
motors,  each  of  115  horse-power,  and  these  are  con- 
nected by  gearing  to  the  main  gudgeon  pins  at  the 
outer  girders.  The  bridge  is  accurately  balanced,  with 
a  slight  preponderance  to  the  nose  end  in  order  to 
prevent  hammering  on  the  bearings.  The  gear  is 
sufficiently  powerful  to  operate  the  bridge  against  a 
20-lb.  wind,  and  the  time  for  opening,  or  closing,  is 
three  minutes.  The  bridge  was  constructed  by  Sir 
William  Arrol  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  of  Glasgow. 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Comet  19156  (Taylor). — Messrs.  Jeffers  and  Neu- 
bauer,  of  the  Berkeley  Astronomical  Department  (Uni- 
versity of  California),  have  calculated  elements  and 
ephemeris  for  this  comet.  Three  normal  places  were 
formed  from  the  observations,  1915,  December  5-10; 
1916,  Januar}-  7-1 1  and  April  5,  the  latter  being  photo- 
graphic (Lick  Obser\^ator)-  Bulletin,  No.  281).  The 
new  orbit  agrees  ver\-  closely  with  the  Copenhagen 
calculation  (Nature,  March  16;  see  also  issue  for 
February   17)  : — 

T  =  l9i6  Jan.  30-9403  G.M.T.         P— 6-3662  years 
M  =  S57-345o'' 

Epoch  1916  Jan.  3'5  ti-M.T. 


Equinox  i9i6'o 

•  =354'  49'  o''6" 
0  =  113'  54'  05-1" 
/  =   15°  31'  435" 


^Io  =  356'  31'  330" 


e  =0-546458  (<^  =  33^  7'  277") 
Log  <j  =  0535922 

The  ephemeris  has  been  calculated  to  August,  but 
the  comet  is  stated  to  have  been  only  of  the  fifteenth 
magnitude  early  in  May. 

Return  of  Daniel's  Comet  (1909^). — According  to 
new  elements  calculated  by  S.  Einarsson  and  Margaret 
Harwood,  the  undisturbed  time  of  perihelion  passage 
is  1916,  May  23-422  G.M.T.,  but  the  ephemeris  shows 
that  the  comet  will  not  be  favourably  situated  for 
observation. 

•  Variation  of  Latitude. — In  the  course  of  a  review 
of  this  subject  Prof.  F.  Schlesinger  incidentally  men- 
tions that  on  account  of  the  war  the  second  American 
station  of  the  International  Latitude  Service  may  pos- 
sibly be  closed  down  (Proc.  American  Philosophical 
Societ}-,  vol.  liv..  No.  220).  The  two  American  stations 
?\-ere  Gaithersburg  and  Ukiah.  The  former  has 
already  been  abandoned  (N.ature,  March  2).  An 
American  observ-atory — Cincinnati — participates,  but, 
of  course,  is  not  maintained  bv  the  international 
organisation. 

Difference  of  Longitude  between  Paris  and 
Washington. — Prof.  Abraham's  photographic  method 
of  recording  wireless  time  signals  has  been  tested 
during  the  past  winter  in  the  determination  of  the 
above  long  arc.  For  various  reasons  only  seven  pairs 
of  records  are  available  for  reduction ;  nevertheless, 
cximparison  with  the  results  obtained  bv  telephonic 
reception  is-  decisively  favourable.  M.  Baillaud 
{Cotuptes  rendus,  No.  24)  states  that  the  Bureau  of 
Longitudes  has  come  to  the  conclusion  that  for  the 
determination  of  longitudes  over  distances  too  great 
for  the  transmission  of  verA'  short  signals  the  only 
method  which  can  be  employed  with  success  is  that 
of  photographic  registration. 

The  CoNSTrTLTiON  of  the  Milky  Way. — Prof.  C.  V. 
Charlier  has  published  a  preliminary  statement  of 
results  obtained   at   Lund  on   the  distribution   of  the 

NO.    2435,   VOL.    97] 


helium  stars.  The  special  significance  of  this  group 
of  celestial  bodies  is  due  to  their  close  and  real  asso- 
ciation with  the  Milky  Way.  As  it  now  appears  that 
the  whole  class  (804  stars)  has  been  catalogued  at 
Harvard,  they  afford  a  unique  body  of  data  for  statis- 
tical investigation  (Cotuptes  rendus,  No.  23).  The 
luminous  radiation  of  these  the  brightest  and  hottest  of 
stars  is  such  that,  viewed  at  the  limits  of  the  stellar 
universe,  one  of  them  would  still  appear  as  an  8th 
magnitude  star.  The  nearest  of  the  type  is  4  sirio- 
meters  (1  S.M.  =  1,000,000  astronomical  units)  distant, 
and  the  most  distant  250  S.M.  The  centre  of  the 
group — considered  to  be  the  probable  centre  of  the 
sidereal  universe — is  situated  in  the  direction  of 
Carina  (o=7-7h.,  S=  — 55-6°).  Two-thirds  are  contained 
in  an  ellipsoid  of  revolution  having  axes  of  37-3  and 
13-1  S.M.  in  the  plane  of  the  galaxy  and  at  right 
angles  respectively. 


HYDROLOGY  AT  THE  ARCTIC  CIRCLED 

THERE  is  something  mysteriously  fascinating  about 
regions  which  are  remote  from  the  ordinary- 
haunts  of  men.  The  silence  of  illimitable  wilds  and 
the  solitudes  of  eternal  snow  stir  the  heart  and  stimu- 
late the  imagination  as  no  other  field  of  human  enter- 
prise can  do.  Explorers  feel  the  irresistible  call ; 
pioneers  grope  their  lonely  way;  by  degrees  the  track- 
less unknown  is  traced  and  probed  and  scanned,  until 
the  survey  is  complete  and  earth's  secret  recesses 
are  defined  as  completely  and  accurately  as  an  English 
coimty. 

Such  is  the  reflection  which  arises  as  one  turns  over 
the  pages  of  the  extremely  interesting  hydrographical 
record  of  the  Yukon-Tanana  region,  Alaska.  Lying 
along  the  Arctic  Circle,  hemmed  in  by  frozen  seas  and 
peaks  of  ice,  this  great  tract  of  40,000  square  miles 
has  been  patiently  mapped  out  aiid  indexed  throug^h 
six  long  years,  with  praiseworthy  persistence  and 
energy,  by  workers  in  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey.  The  preface  does  them  but  bare  justice  when 
it  points  out  that  their  investigations  have  necessitated 
journeys  which  have  put  their  physical  endurance  to 
severe  tests  and  entailed  considerable  hardship. 

The  Yukon-Tanana  region  forms  part  of  the  central 
plateau  of  Alaska.  It  is  an  upland  diversified  by  many 
broad  valleys,  with  fiat,  interstream  areas,  above 
which  rise  numerous  rounded  domes  and  mountain 
masses.  The  surface  of  the  upland  ranges  from  2000 
to  3500  ft.  in  altitude;  the  domes,  irregularly  distri- 
buted, reach  4000  to  5000  ft,  and  the  highest  moun- 
tain crests  to  6000  ft.  high.  The  domes  are  almost 
entirely  composed  of  igneous  rocks,  and  the  mountains 
of  these  and  closely  folded  sediments,  .-^s  a  geological 
field,  the  country'  is  one  of  great  interest ;  it  is  a  region 
of  sedimentation,  diastrophism,  widespread  meta- 
morphism,  abundant  intrusion,  and  volcanic  action. 

The  rocks  may  be  divided  into  two  principal  groups  :  • 
one  consisting  of  metamorphic  schists  of  pre-Ordo- 
vician  origin,  and  the  other,  ranging  in  age  from 
Ordovician  to  Carboniferous,  made  up  of  folded  argil- 
lites,  quartzite,  conglomerate,  sandstone,  and  lime- 
^tone,  resting  unconformably  in  relation  to  the  schists, 
larneous  rocks  are  represented  by  areas  of  granite  and 
by  dykes  of  varied  composition.  The  most  notable 
:  uneral  resource  of  the  country  is  placer  gold,  the 
developed  deposits  of  which  lie  chiefly  among  the  elder 
schistose  and  intrusive  rocks.  Silver,  antimony, 
silver-lead,  and  tin  ores  are  also  worked. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  climate  is  one  of  estrones. 

l'"Snrf«ce  Water  Supolr  of  tb«  YBkoa-Tanma  Region.  Alaska."  By 
C.  K.  Eltsworth  and  R.  W.  Davenport.  (Water  Supp'v  Paper  No.  342.) 
^'P-  34'>>  with  *>»p*,  photographs,  and  diagraois.  (Washingtoo  :  Unaed 
-^:ates  Geological  Surrey.  19T5.) 


170 


NATURE 


[June  29,  igi6 


The  annual  range  varies  from  i2o°  to  i6o°  F.  The 
maximum  temperature  reported  is  96°  F. ,  the  minimum 
—  76°F.  A  range  of  90°  or  more  is  experienced  in  the 
months  of  January  and  February.  The  winters  are 
long  and  intensely  cold,  with  the  result  that  the  ground 
has  become  frozen,  in  places,  to  depths  of  more  than 
300  ft.  The  effect  of  the  brief  summer  warmth  is 
merely  to  thaw  a  few  feet  at  the  surface. 

The  mean  annual  rainfall  is  estimated  on  the  incom- 
plete data  available  at  about  12  in.,  but  there  is  con- 
siderable local  variation,  and  the  records  are  as  yet  too 
inadequate,  both  in  extent  and  duration,  to  permit  of 
any  definite  conclusions  being  drawn  from  them. 
Vegetation  generally  takes  the  form  of  a  covering  of 
moss,  beneath  which  is  the  tundra,  a  thick  turf,  con- 
sisting of  a  wet,  spongy  mass  of  roots  and  accumulated 
vegetable  matter.  Spruce  trees  are  plentiful,  and 
birch  and  cottonwood  grow  in  certain  areas.  The 
conditions  are  scarcely  such  as  to  lead  one  to  expect  to 
find  much  horticultural  development,  yet  i*  is  stated  in 
the  report  that  in  nearly  every  small  town  and  in 
many  outlying  districts  gardening  has  proved  success- 
ful. Many  varieties  of  vegetables  are  profitably  grown 
for  local  use. 

Transportation  is  difficult,  slow,  and  expensive. 
There  are  three  main  routes,  two  available  during  the 
summer  months  only,  the  third  mainly  used  for  pas- 
sengers and  mails  during  the  winter  at  considerable 
cost.  Many  outlying  places  are  accessible  with  the 
greatest  difficulty. 

From  the  data  collected,  it  is  evident  that  the  water 
resources  are  not  adapted  for  hydraulic  development 
to  any  extent.  Mining  is,  of  course,  the  principal  con- 
sideration at  present,  and  for  this  the  winter  supply 
is  quite  inadequate,  while  in  summer  the  flow  fluc- 
tuates considerably.  Hitherto  wood  fuel  has  been 
exclusively  used  for  the  production  of  steam  for  power 
purposes,  but  each  year  the  cost  increases  with  the 
greater  distance  of  transport.  The  problem  of  obtain- 
ing power  is  therefore  annually  becoming  more  serious 
with  the  diminution  in  the  supply  of  fuel.  It  is  one, 
moreover,  which  will  have  to .  be  faced  and  solved 
before  any  extensive  industrial  development  of  the 
region  becomes  practicable.  B.  C. 


UPPER  AIR    INVESTIGATION. 

THE  Meteorological  Service  of  Canada  has  pub- 
lished an  interesting  account  of  its  upper-air 
investigation.  Part  i.,  which  is  now  published,  deals 
with  the  records  of  registering  balloons;  the  work 
has  been  done,  and  the  report  prepared  by  Mr.  Patter- 
son, under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Stupart,  the  director. 
Ninety-four  balloons  were  sent  up,  and  fifty-three 
recovered,  a  fair  proportion  perhaps,  considering  the 
nature  of  the  country.  The  instruments  and  methods 
are  practically  the  same  as  in  England,  but  the 
balloons  have  all  been  started  at  8  p.m.  local  time,  so 
as  to  avoid  solar  radiation.  The  mean  annual  tem- 
perature at  each  height  up  to  11  km.  is  very  similar  to 
that  in  England,  the  temperature  fall  per  kilometre  is 
almost  identical,  but  the  actual  temperature  is  a  degree 
or  two  higher.  In  view  of  the  lower  latitude  this  is 
not  surprising.  But  in  Canada  the  fall  of  tempera- 
ture continues  to  a  greater  height  than  in  Europe, 
the  mean  value  of  H^.  being  given  as  ii-y  km., 
against  about  10-7  for  Europe,  and  in  consequence 
the  temperature  of  the  stratosphere  is  from  6°  to  7°  C. 
colder.  Except  in  the  case  of  the  surface  pressure,  the 
variations  of  all  the  elements  are  larger  in  Canada ; 
the  amplitude  of  the  seasonal  variation  of  H^  is  about 
20,  and  the  standard  deviation  is  i'96.  The  correla- 
tion between  H^  and  the  pressure  at  9  km.   is  very 

NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


high,  but  the  correlation  between  the  surface  pressure 
and  the  other  quantities  is  very  small,  perhaps  on 
account  of  the  small  variation  shown  by  the  former. 
The  most  remarkable  result  given  is  that  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  stratosphere  over  Canada  is  colder  in 
summer  than  in  winter.  The  number  of  observations 
is  scarcely  enough  to  establish  this  with  absolute  cer- 
tainty, but  they  suffice  to  make  it  almost  certain, 
and,  after  all,  it  is  no  more  surprising  than  that  the 
lowest  temperatures  of  the  stratosphere  should  have 
been  found  over  the  equator.  The  general  drift  of  the 
balloons,  in  Canada  as  in  Europe,  is  towards  the 
east,  but  there  are  a  few  instances  of  a  balloon  falling 
westward  of  its  starting  point. 


GENETIC  STUDIES  FROM  AMERICA. 

A  FURTHER  instalment  of  Dr.  Raymond  Pearl 
and  M.  R.  Curtis's  "  Studies  on  the  Physiology 
of  Reproduction  in  the  Domestic  Fowl  "  appears  in 
the  Journal  of  Experimental  Zoology,  vol.  xix..  No.  i. 
In  this  paper  they  deal  with  the  distinction  between 
"genetic"  and  "somatic"  sterility.  Some  hens  from 
high-laying  strains,  with  the  genetic  characters  for 
rich  egg-production,  were  found  to  be  sterile ;  the 
cause,  when  made  evident  by  dissection,  proved  to  be 
an  oviduct  with  a  mouth  too  narrow  to  afford  entrance 
to  the  yolks,  which,  shed  into  the  body-cavity,  became 
absorbed  through  the  peritoneum. 

Some  suggestive  remarks  on  "  Heredity  and  Muta- 
tion as  Cell  Phenomena  "  wiff  be  found  in  a  paper  by 
Dr.  R.  Ruggles  Gates  (Amer.  Joiirn.  Bot.,  1915,  pp. 
519-28),  in  which  attention  is  directed  to  the  fact  that 
whereas  the  normal  number  of  chromosomes  is  four- 
teen in  CEnothera,  (E.  lata  has  fifteen,  one  of  the 
original  chromosomes  having  been  doubled  through 
an  irregular  meiotic  division ;  CE.  latescens  has  six- 
teen ;  and  CE.  gigas  and  its  derivatives  have  twenty- 
eight,  the  chromosome  series  in  this  case  being  doubled 
and  "  the  plant  being  a  cell-giant  and  not  merely 
gigantic  in  its  external  dimensions." 

In  view  of  the  importance  now  assigned  by  many 
biologists  to  the  "mutation  theory,"  interest  will  be 
aroused  by  Dr.  Gates's  appreciation  (Amer.  Nat., 
vol.  xlix.,  pp.  645-8)  of  the  neglected  work  of  Thomas 
Meehan  (1826-91),  a  British  gardener  who  settled  in 
Philadelphia.  Meehan  asserted,  from  his  observations 
on  wild  and  garden  plants,  that  "strikingly  distinct 
forms  come  suddenly  into  existence  .  .  .  and  act  in 
every  respect  as  acknowledged  species,"  and  that 
"morphological  changes  in  individual  plants  are  by 
no  means  by  gradual  modification." 


CHEMICAL    SCIENCE 
CIVILISATION.^ 


AND 


\17E  who  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  modern  civili- 
*  *  sation  are  apt  to  forget  how  much  we  owe  to 
the  efforts  of  mankind  to  investigate,  understand,  and 
utilise  the  things  around  them.  Let  me  very  briefly 
trace  this  element  of  civilisation  in  its  relation  to  the 
chemical  arts  and  chemical  science.  It  is  certain 
that  the  early  development  of  human  beings  was 
dependent  upon  their  ability  to  gain  the  mastery  over 
other  animals  of  greatly  superior  strength,  speed, 
and  power  of  attack.  This  was  rendered  possible  by 
the  discovery  of  means  of  making  efficient  weapons 
and  tools ;  the  former  for  purposes  of  attack  and 
defence  and  for  the  obtaining  of  food,  the  latter  for 
building   secure  habitations,   tilling  the  ground,    and 

1  From  an  address  on  "The  Ro/e  of  Chemical  Science  in  Civilisation," 
delivered  in  the  Lecture  Theatre  of  the  new  Chemical  Laboratories  at  Uni- 
versity College,  London,  on  May  i6,  by  Prof.  F.  G.  Donnan,  F.R.S. 


Ju-\L  2y,   iyi6] 


NATURE 


5/1 


cooking  food.  Metallurgy,  or  the  methods  of  ex- 
tracting the  metals  from  their  ores,  which  is  a  branch 
of  chemistry,  has  thus  been  one  of  the  greatest 
factors  in  civilisation.  Indeed,  the  successive  dis- 
coveries of  the  means  of  extracting  metals,  and  out 
of  them  fashioning  weapons  and  tools,  form  recog- 
nised landmarks  throughout  the  development  of 
civilisation.  Thus  the  age  of  stone  has  been  followed 
by  the  ages  of  copper,  bronze,  iron,  and  steel.  The 
-cience  and  the  art  of  engineering,  which  attained  to 
such  a  vast  development  in  the  nineteenth  centurj, 
and  of  which  the  present  century  has  already  wit- 
nessed such  a  new  and  wonderful  development  in  the 
mastery  of  the  air,  are  wholly  dependent  on  chemical 
science,  which  has  provided  the  engineer  with  the 
chief  materials  for  the  construction  of  his  tools, 
engines,  machines,  and  structures. 

The  invention  and  development  of  explosives  have 
conferred  on  man  undreamt-of  powers  of  action,  and 
have  raised  his  puny  strength  to  that  of  a  giant  who 
can  move  mountains.  Without  the  use  of  explosives 
we  could  not  quarry  for  stone,  mine  for  coal  and 
metallic  ores,  bore  tunnels  and  build  railways,  or 
carry  out  many  of  the  great  works  necessary  for  the 
modern  complex  civilisation  of  the  present  day.  The 
progress  of  engineering  is  thus  absolutely  dependent 
upon  the  progress  of  chemistrj-.  The  high-speed  tools, 
the  armour-plate,  the  aeroplanes  and  aeroplane 
engines  of  to-day,  have  only  been  made  possible  by 
successive  advances  in  the  application  of  chemical 
science.  If  men  have  in  past  ages,  as  at  the  present 
hour,  made  use  of  the  discoveries  and  inventions  of 
the  chemist  and  the  engineer  to  compass  their  own 
destruction,  it  is  a  question,  not  of  chemistry  and 
engineering,  but  of  the  imperfect  development  of 
national  and  international  psychology.  Or  perhaps, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  angels,  it  may  represent 
but  a  fluctuating  molecular  turbulence  in  a  statistically 
harmonious  system,  just  as  most  of  our  laws  of  physics 
and  chemistry,  simple  and  harmonious  as  they  appear 
to  us  to  be,  are  but  the  expressions  of  statistically 
steady  averages  beneath  which  lie  the  wildest  mole- 
cular devilry    and  commotion. 

If  we  turn  to  the  realm  of  art,  we  find  that  plastic 
and  pictorial  art  and  architecture  itself  are'individually 
bound  up  with  the  discoveries  and  inventions  of 
chemical  craft  and  science.  We  may  admire  the 
magnificent  blue  of  an  Egyptian  enamel,  the  white 
depth  and  the  glorious  hues  of  Chinese  porcelain, 
the  mural  decoration  of  a  Roman  .villa,  or  the  splendid 
colours  of  the  Book  of  Kells  or  of  the  painting  of  a 
Flemish  master,  but  do  we  always  realise  that  behind 
the  imaginative  work  of  the  artist  lies  a  long  and 
laborious  history  of  chemical  craft  and  science? 

I  have  spoken  of  chemistry  in  its  relation  to 
engineering  and  art.  I  shall  not  weary  you  with  a 
detailed  account  of  chemical  science  in  its  relation 
to  the  manifold  material  wants  of  modern  civilisation. 
There  exists,  however,  scarcely  a  single  branch  of 
industry  that  does  not  in  some  shape  or  form  make 
use  of  chemical  craft  and  knowledge.  We  are  de- 
pendent upon  these  for  paper,  glass,  porcelain,  metals, 
alloys,  soap,  dyes,  drugs,  disinfectants,  perfumes, 
etc.,  to  mention  only  a  few  classes  of  common  sub- 
stances of  daily  use. 

A  great  man  once  said  that  one  could  measure  the 
civilisation  of  a  nation  by  its  consumption  of  sulphuric 
acid.  However  that  may  be,  the  present  century  will 
be  dominated  and  characterised  by  the  development 
and  application  of  chemical  science,  just  as  the  nine- 
teenth century  was  characterised  by  the  enormous 
development  and  progress  of  mechanical  and  engineer- 
ing science.  Germany  alone  of  the  nations  of  the 
world  has  had  the  ability  and  prescience  to  foresee 

NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


this.  It  is  chemical  science  that  has  made  the  power 
of  the  Germany  of  to-day,  and  however  much  we 
may  loathe  and  abhor  the  policy  of  those  who  rule 
her,  there  is  no  gainsaying  the  fact  that  she  repre- 
sents a  great  and  powertul  force  in  material  and 
intellectual  progress.  Viewed  quite  apart  from  any 
question  concerning  the  morality  of  war  in  general 
or  of  the  present  war  in  particular,  Germany  alone 
amongst  the  nations  has  perceived  to  its  full  extent 
that  the  problem  of  organising  a  nation  lor  attack  or 
defence  is  largely  a  question  of  the  development  and 
organisation  of  chemical  science  and  chemical  in- 
dustry. Previous  to  the  war  we  failed  to  realise  that 
vital  and  fundamental  fact.  We  may  dislike  war,  but 
we  have  to  defend  our  honour.  We  have  to  take  the 
world  as  it  is  and  to  face  realities.  It  may  be  stated 
with  a  sense  of  the  most  solemn  conviction  that  the 
very  life-blood  of  England  to-day  is  sulphuric  acid. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  ethics  or  of  polite  political 
philosophy.  It  is  a  question  of  life  or  death.  Whether 
we  like  it  or  not,  without  sulphuric  acid  and  a  few 
other  fundamental  chemical  substances  the  honour  of 
England  would  to-day  be  lying  in  the  dust,  and  the 
blood  of  our  brave  manhood  would  have  been  poured 
out  in  vain,  a  tragic  libation  to  the  gods  of  vanity  and 
ignorance. 

But  it  is  not  in  the  grim  necessities  of  war  that  I 
would  ask  you  to  seek  the  paramount  importance  of 
chemical  science.     Let  us  turn  from  the  destruction  of 
life  to  the  conservation  and  production  of  life,  to  life 
itself.     What  do  we  find  there?    That  life  has  chosen 
chemical  action   as  the  mode  of  its  material  expres- 
sion.    We    who   consider  ourselves   the   overlords   of 
creation  are  as  dependent  as  the  modest   flowers  be- 
neath our  feet  upon  the  ever-recurrent  ebb  and  flow 
!   of  chemical  change.     The  green  plant  is,  as  Huxley 
;   said,  the  fundamental  capitalist,  the  producer  of  that 
;  store  of  potential  chemical  energy  on  the  setting  free 
j   of  which  in  the  process  of  oxidation  all  life  ultimately 
\   depends.       The   struggle  of  life   is   the   struggle   for 
1   chemical  energy. 

Agriculture  is  indeed  the  fundamental   industry  of 
man,  as  it  is  the  fundamental  chemical  industry.     It 
!  is  only  by  supplying  the  soil  in  increasing  quantities 
;    with  the  required  amounts  of  potash  salts,  chemically 
i  combined    nitrogen,    and    phosphates    that    the    ever- 
1  increasing  population  of  the  earth  can  be  fed.       The 
progress  of  agriculture  is  dependent  upon  the  applica- 
tion of  chemical   science  in  ever-increasing  measure. 
This  applies  as  much  to  the  rearing  and  feeding  of 
j  live-stock  as  to  the  growing  of  plant  crops.    A  cow  is  a 
chemical  apparatus  for  the  manufacture  of  milk  or  beef 
j  from  grass  and  clover.     For  the  efficient  operation  of 
1    this  chemical  machine  it  is  necessan,-  to  make  the  most 
!  careful  chemical  study  of  the  food  or  fodder  which  is 
I   supplied  to  it,  and  which  it  in  its  turn  transforms  into 
1   food  for  ourselves. 

I  A  man,  like  any  other  animal,  requires  for  the  per- 
I  formance  of  his  work  a  definite  stock  of  chemical 
energy,  a  definite  diet  consisting  of  certain  deter- 
minate chemical  substances,  such  as  carbo- 
;  hydrates,  fats,  proteids,  salts,  and  water.  The  amount 
and  cxjmposition  of  his  diet  must  be  most  carefully- 
adjusted  to  the  physical  and  mental  work  which  he 
has  to  perform.  The  study  of  national  diet  from  the 
point  of  view  of  chemical  physiology  is  more  important 
to  the  statesman  and  the  political  philosopher  than 
many  matters  over  which  they  are  apt  to  wrangle  and 
debate. 

The  cure  and  the  prevention  of  disease  def>end  ulti- 
mately on  a  profound  understanding  of  the  conditions 
which  control  and  regulate  these  chemical  changes. 
It  is  perhaps  needless  to  dwell  on  the  advances  already 
made.     Chemical   science  has   supplied   the  physician 


372 


NATURE 


[June  29,  19 16 


with  his  means  of  allaying  pain  and  fever,  of  regu- 
lating many  physiological  functions,  of  neutralising 
bacterial  poisons,  and  of  determining  the  death  of  the 
parasites  of  disease.  Already  the  chemical  manu- 
facture of  pharmacologically  active  substances  con- 
•  stitutes  one  of  the  vital  activities  of  modern  civilisation. 
But  the  application  of  chemical  science  to  physiology 
and  medicine  is  in  its  earliest  infancy,  though  it  will 
lead  in  time  to  advances  as  yet  undreamt  of.  For 
further  progress  we  require  a  finer  and  more  subtle 
analysis  of  those  wonderful  chemical  and  physico- 
chemical  changes  which  preserve  the  mobile  and 
dynamic  equilibrium  of  living  matter. 

The  problem  of  life,  of  living  matter,  forms  one  of 
the  great  goals  of  chemical  science,  on  the  slow  and 
progressive  solution  of  which  depend  our  future  exist- 
ence and  well-being.  At  the  other  end  of  the  long 
chain  of  evolution  lies  the  problem  of  the  birth  of 
matter.  This  is  perhaps  the  other  great  goal  of 
chemical  science.  It  is  a  very  long  way  from  the 
shining  nebula  to  the  speck  of  protoplasm.  There  are 
many  who  would  dig  an  impassable  ditch  in  this  long 
road. 

But  however  that  may  be,  the  question  of  the 
synthesis  and  possible  reconstruction  of  what  we  call 
our  material  world  is  one  of  truly  transcendant  import- 
ance. The  discovery  that  the  atoms  of  matter  can, 
and  in  certain  instances  actually  do,  break  up  into 
other  atoms  and  into  electricity  we  owe  to  the  genius 
of  French  and  British  science,  and  the  first  recog- 
nisable transmutation  was  discovered  at  Univer- 
sity College,  London,  by  Sir  William  Ramsay 
and  Prof.  Soddy.  So  tremendous,  however,  are 
the  forces  in  operation  during  these  changes 
that  hitherto  it  has  proved  impossible  to  con- 
trol them  irt  any  wise.  I  might  perhaps  mention 
that  we  owe  to  Sir  William  Ramsay  and  to  Prof. 
Norman  Collie  the  first  determined  and  courageous 
attempts  »to  begin  this  battle  of  the  giants.  We  find 
ourselves  here  in  a  new  world  of  chemical  and  mole- 
cular science.  We  are  the  spectators  of  forces  and 
velocities  hitherto  undreamt  of.  But  the  progress  of 
electrical  science,  which  has  ever  been  the  fairy  god- 
mother of  chemistry,  gives  us  reason  to  be  of  good 
courage. 

Already  we  know  that  electricity,  which  is  but  a  finer 
form  of  matter,  is  a  component  of  the  atom.  We  know 
from  the  researches  of  von  Laue  and  of  Prof.  Bragg 
and  his  son  that  the  excessively  short  electric  waves  sent 
out  by  certain  forms  of  electrical  discharge,  the  so- 
called  X-  or  Rontgen-rays,  can  penetrate  and  analyse 
the  exceedingly  fine-grained  atomic  structure  of  a 
ci-ystal.  Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  still  shorter  and 
denser  electric  waves,  sent  out  by  the  most  powerful 
sources,  may  be  able  some  day  to  penetrate  the  very 
core  and  nucleus  of  the  atom  and  disturb  the  potent 
equilibrium  that  reigns  therein? 

The  researches  of  astronomers,  chemists,  and 
physicists  have  shown  that  in  the  gaseous  nebulae  and 
the  early  stars  matter  exists  in  forms  as  yet  unknown 
to  us  on  our  planet,  and  that  as  the  progress  of  stellar 
evolution  proceeds  we  gradually  arrive  at  stars  akin 
in  nature  and  composition  to  our  sun  and  our  own 
world.  Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  we  may  so  suc- 
ceed in  employing  electricity  and  electrical  energy  as 
synthetic  reagents  that  we  shall  eventually,  and 
indeed  perhaps  at  no  distant  date,  arrive  at  the  pro- 
duction of  these  simple  and  primary  forms  of  nebu- 
lous matter?  Whether  these  problems  will  admit  of 
solution  in  the  near  or  the  distant  future,  or  whether, 
indeed,  some  of  those  which  I  have  mentioned  will 
ultimately  defy  all  our  efforts,  it  is  here  that  I  would 
ask  you  to  seek  the  profound  rdle  which  chemical 
science  is  destined  to  play  in  civilisation. 

NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


I 


E  VOL  UTION  AND  S  YMMETR  }  .1 
N  the  animal  kingdom  two  dominant  types  of  body 
symmet/y  are  to  be  found.  In  animals  that  are 
sedentary  or  floating  in  habit  the  symmetry  is  fre- 
quently radial,  but  in  animals  that  are  free  and  move 
rapidly  by  their  own  muscular  activity  the  symmetry  is 
bilateral.  In  those  classes  of  animals  now  sedentary 
in  habit,  which  by  their  developmental  history  show 
a  descent  from  a  previously  free  and  bilaterally  sym- 
metrical ancestry,  a  secondary  -radial  symmetry  is 
usually  found  either  in  the  form  of  the  body  or  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  organs  for  the  capture  of  food. 
Similarly  in  the  Echinodermata  some  examples  are 
found,  particularly  in  the  class  Holothuroidea,  of 
animals  descended  from  a  sedentary  and  radially  sym- 
metrical ancestry  assuming  with  their  freedom  and 
increased  muscular  activity  a  secondary  bilateral  sym- 
metry. 

In  the  groups  of  animals  that  are  radially  sym- 
metrical, whether  sedentary  or  floating  in  habit,  there 
is  usually  a  far  greater  range  of  variability  than  in  those 
that  are  bilaterally  symmetrical,  and  in  the  endeavour 
to  classify  them  into  genera  and  species  on  the  Linnean 
system  the  zoologist  finds  so  many  cases  of  overlapping 
and  fusion  that  some  doubt  arises  as  to  the  existence 
in    Nature   of   discontinuous    specific   groups. 

In  the  order  of  the  sea-pens  there  is  a  complete 
series  of  forms  connecting  the  radially  symmetrical 
colonies  of  the  genera  Veretillum  and  Cavernularia 
with  the  bilaterally  symmetrical  genera  Pennatula  and 
Pteroeides.  In  this  series  the  difference  between  the 
range  of  variation  in  the  radially  symmetrical  genera 
and  that  in  the  bilaterally  symmetrical  genera  is  very 
pronounced. 

In  such  characters  as  the  size  of  the  zooids,  the  size 
and  shape  of  the  spicules,  and  the  length  of  the  axis, 
remarkable  variations  are  found  in  the  radially  sym- 
metrical genera.  In  the  bilaterally  symmetrical  genera 
these  characters  are  far  more  definitely  fixed,  and  can 
usually  be  relied  upon  for  determination  of  species. 

Having  examined  a  large  number  of  specimens  of 
the  Pennatulacea  collected  by  the  Siboga  expedition 
and  in  other  collections  in  this  country  and  abroad, 
the  author  believes  that  in  some  of  the  radially  sym- 
metrical genera  there  is  no  such  discontinuity  of  stinjc- 
ture  as  would  justify  their  division  into  specific 
groups.  In  the  bilaterally  symmetrical  genera,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  existence  of  definite  specific  groups  is 
certain.  If  this  view  is  justified,  the  conclusion  would 
be  reached  that  the  evolution  of  those  discontinuous 
groups  of  specimens  which  are  commonly  recognised  as 
species  is  correlated  with  the  change  from  a  radially 
symmetrical  to  a  bilateral  symmetry  of  the  body. 

The  evidence  at  present  at  our  disposal  points  very 
definitely  to  the  conclusion  that  the  radially  sym- 
metrical sea-pens  are  more  primitive  than  the  bilater- 
ally symmetrical  sea-pens,  and  evidence  is  produced 
which  suggests  that  the  former  are  derived  from  an 
Alcyonacean  ancestry  which  assumed  a  floating  or 
drifting  habit. 


UNIVERSITY    AAW    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Glasgow. — The  degrees  conferred  on  Commemora- 
tion Day,  June  26,  included  the  following : — Doctor 
of  Laws  (honoris  causd).  Dr.  J.  Ferguson,  emeritus 
professor  of  chemistry;  Doctor  of  Letters,  W.  H. 
Dunn,  thesis,  "The  Development  of  English  Bio- 
graphy ";  Doctor  of  Science,  Alex.  Scott,  thesis,   'Con- 

1  Summary  of  ihe  Croonian  Lecture  on  "  Evolution  and  Symmetry  in  the 
Order  of  the  Sea-pens,"  delivered  before  the  Royal  Societv  on  June  2a  by 
■Prof.  S.J.  Hickson,  F.R.S. 


June  29,  1916] 


NATURE 


nz 


tributions  to  .the  Petrology  of  the  West  of  Scotland," 
with  other  papers ;  Doctor  of  Science  in  Public  Health, 
Dr.  W.  Barr,  thesis,  "  I.K.  Therapy  in  Pulmonary 
Tuberculosis." 

Leeds. — Sir  James  Roberts,  Bt.,  has  made  a  gift 
of  io,oooi.  to  the  University  for  the  foundation  and 
maintenance  of  a  professorship  of  the  Russian 
language  and  literature. 

Liverpool.— By   the   will   of  the   late   Mr.    N.    E. 

p   Roberts  pooi.  is  bequeathed  to  the  Chancellor  of  Liver- 

K   pool  University  for  the  benefit  of  the  University,  and 

loooZ.  for  the  endowment  of  a  scholarship  in  the  de- 

fiartment  of  infectious  diseases,  payable  on  the  death 

of  a  niece. 

LoNDO.N. — At  a  meeting  of  the  Senate  held  on  June 
21  Sir  Alfred  Pearce  Gould  was  elected  Vice-Chan- 
cellor  for  a  second  term  of  office,  viz.  until  June,  1917. 
The  following  doctorates  were  conferred  : — D.Sc.  in 
Physical  Chemistry  :  Mr.  A.  Bramley,  an  internal 
student  of  the  Imperial  College  (Royal  College  of 
Science),  for  a  thesis  entitled  "A  Study  of  Binary 
-Mixtures,  with  special  reference  to  Viscosity."  D.Sc. 
in  Chemistry  :  Mr.  A.  F.  Joseph,  an  internal  student 
of  the  Imperial  College  (Royal  College  of  Science)  and 
Birkbeck  College,  for  a  thesis  entitled  "  Experimental 
Investigations  on  the  Properties  of  Bromide  Solu- 
::ons."  D.Sc.  in  Geology  :  Mr.  W.  Jones,  an  external 
student,  for  a  thesis  entitled  "The  Origin  of  the 
Tin  Ore  Deposits  of  Kinta  District,  Federated  Malay 
States,"  and  other  papers. 

Oxford. — The  delegates  of  the  University  Museum 
have  just  presented  their  annual  report.  They  direct 
attention  to  the  large  number  of  members  of  the 
teaching  staff,  research  workers,  and  service  staff  who 
have  been  serving  in  the  Navy  or  Army,  or  have  been 
otherwise  engaged  on  work  directly  connected  with 
the  war.  In  the  pathological  department  much  bac- 
teriological work  has  been  done  for  thl  Third  Southern 
General  Hospital ;  a  standards  laboratory  has  also  been 
set  up,  and  is  occupied  in  the  preparation  and  issue  of 
standard  agglutinating  cultures  and  serums  for  use  in 
the  diagnosis  of  typhoid  and  paratyphoid  fevers.  The 
report  in  physiology  records  researches  by  the  Wayn- 
flete  professor,  by  Dr.  Vernon,  Dr.  Chuai  Asayama, 
of  Kioto,  and  Prof.  Denys,  of  Louvain.  It  also  men- 
tions the  gaining  of  the  V.C.  by  Lieut.  Maling,  a 
physiology-  student  in  1909-10,  and  adds  that  of  recent 
students  in  the  department  ten  have  lost  their  lives  in 
the  war.  In  the  department  of  zoologv  and  compara- 
tive anatomy  research  has  been  carried  on,  in  the 
absence  on  militarj-  service  of  the  Linacre  professor, 
by  the  deputy-professor  and  Mrs.  Goodrich,  by  Mr. 
G.  W.  Smith  and  Mr.  J.  B.  Gatenby.  A  representa- 
tive collection  of  insects,  presented  by  the  Hope  depart- 
ment, has  been  prepared  and  exhibited.  Since  the 
resignation,  after  fifty  years'  ser\-ice,  of  Prof.  Clifton, 
the  work  of  his  department  has  been  carried  on  by 
Mr.  James  Walker.  Research  on  wireless  telegraphy 
for  the  naval  air  ser\-ice  has  been  conducted  by  the  Wyke- 
ham  professor  of  physics,  who  reports  with  great 
regret  the  loss  in  action  of  Mr.  H.  G.  J.  Moseley,  2nd 
Lieut.  R.E.,  already  a  very  distinguished  physicist. 
War  work,  as  well  as  other  forms  of  activity,  has  gone 
on,  under  Prof.  Perkin,  in  the  new  chemistrv  laborator\- 
now  open.  The  report  of  Mr.  H.  Balfour,  the  curator 
of  the  Pitt-Rivers  Museum,  contains  a  long  list  of 
donations,  some  of  the  most  important  of  which  were 
procured  by  Miss  M.  Czaplicka  during  her  recent  ex- 
pedition to  Siberia.  Other  accessions  worthy  of  speci:^] 
mention  came  from  Mr.  J.  H.  Hutton  and  from  Mrs. 
Sollas,  the  latter  forming  part  of  the  collection  made 
bv  the  late  Prof.  Moseley  during  the  voyage  of  H.M.S. 
Challenger. 

NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


The  School  of  Geography  announces  that  a 
vacation  course  for  teachers  and  others  interested 
in  geography  will  be  held  this  year  from  August  3 
to  Augaist  18.  Particulars  of  the  lectures  and  classes 
planned,  with  other  information,  may  be  obtained  on 
application  to  the  vacation  course  secretary.  School  of 
Geography,  40  Broad  Street,  Oxford. 

The  third  conference  on  new  ideals  in  educatiort 
will  be  held  at  Oxford  on  July  29-.\ugust  5.  The 
programme  includes  papers  on  The  Boy  Scout  move- 
ment, by  Sir  Robert  Baden-Powell;  The  place  of 
science  in  education,  by  Sir  Henry  Miers;  Universi- 
ties and  their  re-planning,  by  Prof.  Geddes ;  Work- 
manship and  education,  by  Mr.  H.  Wilson;  and 
Regional  studies  and  human  surveys,  by  Prof.  Fleure. 
.\mong  the  chairmen  are  the  Earl  of  Lytton,  Lord 
Sydenham,  Sir  William  Mather,  Dr.  Macan  (Master 
of  University  College,  Oxford),  Rev.  T.  Provost  (of 
Oriel  College,  Oxford),  Mr.  Fred  Burridge,  Miss 
Caroline  Herford,  Mr.  A.  C.  Coffin,  and  others.  .All 
information  with  reference  to  the  conference  can  be 
obtained  from  ,  the  Secretarv*,  24  Royal  Avenue, 
Chelsea,  S.W. 


Following  on  the  large  developments  undertaken 
by  British  Dyes,  Limited,  the  governors  of  the 
Huddersfield  Technical  College  have  decided  to  estab- 
lish a  new  department  for  specialised  study  and  re- 
search in  coal-tar  colour  chemistry-  (aniline  and 
alizarine  dyes).  The  department  has  been  placed 
under  the  headship  of  Dr.  A.  E.  Everest,  now  lecturer 
in  chemistry  at  University  College,  Reading,  who, 
during  recent  years,  has  been  carrj-ing  out  a  series 
of  investigations  upon  colours  and  plant  pigments. 
Work  will  be  commenced  in  September  next,  and  the 
department  w-ill  provide  advanced  teaching  in  matters 
relating  to  the  production  of  dyestuffs,  colours,  and 
other  allied  substances.  Facilities  will  be  offered  for 
research  of  all  kinds  relating  to  the  chemistrj-  of 
colouring  matters.  The  department  will  be  worked  in 
close  connection  with  the  existing  departments  of 
chemistry  and  of  dyeing,  thereby  giving  its  students 
the  benefit  of  keeping  in  touch  with  the  practical  appli- 
cation of  the  products  to  be  dealt  with.  Spacious 
laboratories  are  to  be  provided,  furnished  with  modern 
equipment  and  arranged  with  a  view  to  special  attenr 
tion  being  devoted  to  research.  •  The  department  is 
being  founded  with  the  full,  concurrence  and  support 
of  the  directors  of  British  Dyes,  Limited,  who  are 
prepared  to  contribute  towards  its  establishment. 

Middlesbrough,  the  most  important  iron  centre  of 
the  north  of  England,  has  depended  in  the  past  for  its 
research  work  upon  the  enterprise  of  indi\ndual  firms, 
but  the  question  of  erecting  a  technical  college  where 
students  could  be  trained  efficiently  to  take  their  places 
in  the  works'  laboratories  has  been  persistently  before 
the  Education  Committee  for  some  years.  A  plan  for 
erecting  a  college  was  seriously  contemplated  in  1914, 
but  the  outbreak  of  war,  by  preventing  the  raising  of 
a  loan,  caused  any  prospect  of  building  to  be  relegated 
to  the  conclusion  of  hostilities.  The  opportunity  to 
make  progress  in  metallurgical  science  was  not  post- 
poned, for  the  Cleveland  Institution  of  Engineers  took 
the  matter  in  hand  and  designed  to  start  a  research 
laboratorj-  of  its  own.  The  plan  was  progressing 
when,  on  June  5,  a  combined  meeting  of  the  Cleveland 
Institution  of  Engineers  and  the  education  authorities 
of  Middlesbrough  and  the  neighbouring  localities  was 
held  to  hear  of  the  munificent  offer  of  Mr.  Joseph  Con- 
stantine  to  guarantee  a  sum  of  40,000/.  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  technical  college  on  a  piece  of  ground  which 
had  already  been  purchased  by  the  SliddJesbrough 
Town  Council  for  such  a  purpose.     This  splendid  offer 


374 


NATURE 


[June  29,  1916 


was  accepted  with  considerable  applause  and  gratitude, 
and  led  to  other  members  of  the  meeting  making 
further  offers.  Messrs,  Bell  Bros.,  Ltd.,  and  Messrs. 
Dorman,  Long  and'  Co.,  Ltd.,  and  their  allied  firms 
offered  io,ooo2.,  and  Messrs.  Sir  Bernard  Samuelson 
and  Co.,  Ltd.,  5000Z.,  towards  the  equipment.  It  is 
expected  that  the  sum  of  100,000/.  will  be  obtained 
without  difficulty.  The  minor  scheme  of  establishing 
a  metallurgical  laboratory  is  being  proceeded  with, 
and  part  of  its  equipment  may  come  out  of  the 
generous  donations  which  have  been  made,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  war  the  equipment  will  be  transferred 
to  the  new  Constantine  Technical  College. 

It  is  somewhat  of  a  novelty  to  find  in  a  paper  such 
as  the  Manchester  Guardian,  in  its  issue  of  June  19, 
a  full-column  advertisement  urging  the  claims  of 
education.  But  "it  brings  hope  with  it  and  forward- 
looking  thoughts,"  since  it  gives  welcome  evidence 
that-  the  value  of  education  has  at  last  come  home  to 
the  British  business  man,  who  now  sees  that  "national 
education  of  the  broadest  possible  kind  is  the  onlv 
method  by  which  we  can  secure  permanent  British 
trade  supremacy."  The  advertiser,  Mr.  C.  F.  Higham, 
realises  that  this  cannot  be  done  unless  measures  are 
taken  to  ensure  for  every  child  of  the  nation  "a 
sound,  efficient  education  "  at  the  hands  of  more  and 
much  better  paid  teachers,  and  that  such  effective 
training  should  be  followed  by  specialised  teaching  in 
every  branch  of  industry  for  both  employers  and 
employed.  He  further  urges  a  closer  co-operation 
between  capital  and  labour,  and  a  better  appreciation 
of  their  respective  functions.  "  National  education  is 
a  fundamental  need."  It  "  should  be  the  national 
extravagance  after  the  war."  Let  us  maintain  the 
same  energy  of  organisation  and  of  production  for 
the  purposes  of  peace  that  we  have  shown  in  equip- 
ment for  war.  The  cost  will  be  heavy,  but  it  is  the 
price  demanded  for  efficiency,  and,  as  the  war  has 
clearly  shown,  our  financial  resources  are  fully  equal 
to  any  demands  required  for  the  well-being  of  the 
nation.  This  is  a  timely  plea  that  British  industrial 
enterorise  shall  be  fostered  and  maintained  upon  a 
sound  footing,  namely,  that  of  an  "  all-round  en- 
lightenment," and  that  no  mere  "  tinkering  with 
tariffs  or  makine  mild  concessions  after  strikes  will 
ensure  it."  .Amidst  all  this  strife  it  might,  perhaps, 
be  as  well  to  listen  to  a  voice  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  that  of  Rousseau  in  his  "  Emile  "  :  "To  live 
is  the  trade  I  would  teach  him." 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 
London. 

Royal  Meteorological  Society,  June  21. — Major  H.  G. 
Lyons,  president,  in  the  chair.^ — J.  E.  Clark  and  H.  B. 
Adames:  Report  on  the  phenological  observations  for 
1915.  The  year,  as  a  whole,  approxirhated  closely 
to  the  mean  for  the  twenty-five  years  over  which 
records  now  extend,  being,  if  anything,  a  shade 
earlier;  but  this  new  mean  for  England  and  Wales, 
falling  on  May  18  (taking  the  whole  British  Isles, 
the  mean  date  is  May  21),  is  a  day  earlier  than  that 
for  the  twenty  years.  Every  one  of  the  intervenin.c^ 
years  was  early,  whilst  the  four  preceding  these  had 
been  late;  1914  was  seven  days  earlier  than  1915,  of 
which  the  outstanding  features  were  the  mild  and 
very  wet  winter;  the  following  period  of  drought, 
interrupted  in  most  parts  through  July  and  early 
August,  in  others  almost  continuous  through  October ; 
the  genial  conditions,  as  a  whole,  in  April  and  June, 
but  with  cold  spells  and  frosts  in  May  and  June ;  the 

NO.    2435,    VOL.   97] 


cold,  sunless,  wet  Jjjly,  followed  by  a  genial  autumn 
ending  in  the  unprecedented  November  frosts.  The 
cold  periods  in  spring  affected  migrants  adversely, 
the  mean  date  being  April  26,  compared  with  April  24 
in  19 14  and  April  23  for  the  twenty  years'  mean  of 
the  Natural  History  Journal  records,  1877  to  1896. 
An  important  appendix  deals  with  a  communication 
by  Dr.  Ihne,  of  Darmstadt,  extending  to  the  British 
Isles  the  mean  date,  in  six  weekly  zones,  of  the 
coming  of  spring  in  various  parts,  such  as  he  has 
carried  out  for  the  Continent.  The  map  representing 
this  roughly  shows  that  Central  England  corresponds 
to  Belgium,  North  England  and  the  Lowlands  of 
Scotland  to  Holland,  and  the  northern  Highlands  to 
Denmark.  Ireland  has  similar  zones,  except  the  last, 
the  southern  parts,  as  also  in  England,  coming  under 
the  two  earlier  zones,  starting  from  April  17. — M. 
Christy  and  W.  Marriott:  Audibility  of  the  gun-firing 
in  Flanders  over  the  south-east  of  England,  Sep- 
tember, 1914-April,  1916.  The  sound  of  the  fighting 
in  Flanders  has  been  repeatedly  heard  in  many  parts 
of  the  south-east  of  England  since  an  early  period  of 
the  war.  From  the  records  collected  it  appears  thatj 
the  gun-firing  has  been  heard  at  one  time  or  another! 
over  the  counties  of  Essex,  London,  Kent,  Surrey,  andl 
Sussex,  the  most  distant  place  being  about  150  miles] 
from  Ypres.  The  weather  charts  show  that  gener-* 
ally  there  is  a  somewhat  irregular  or  not  definitely 
defined  distribution  of  barometric  pressure,  but  mostly 
with  a  region  of  high  pressure  wedged  in  between 
areas  of  slightly  lower  pressure.  These  conditions 
are  such  as  to  produce  light  winds  at  the  surface, 
mostly  between  north  and  east,  over  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  North  Sea.  Aspect  and  elevation  are  also 
important  factors  for  the  hearing  of  the  firing. — 
Lieut.  F.  H.  Chapman:  The  relation  between  atmo- 
spheric pressure  and  rainfall  at  a  single  station.  In 
this  paper  the  author  deals  with  the  relationship 
between  (i)  actual  pressure  values  and  rainfall,  and 
(2)  mean  pressure  values  and  rainfall  Itotals.  The 
former  relationship  is  small,  and  the  author  deals 
with  it  by  the  method  of  probability  values.  Curves 
are  given  showing  the  chances  of  rain  at  Kew 
during  the  hour  6.30  a.m.-7.3o  a.m.,  and  during  the 
twenty-four  hours  7.30  a.m.-7.3o  a.m.,  according  to 
the  height  of  the  barometer  at  7  a.m.  These  curves 
are  based  on  data  for  Kew  for  the  ten  years  1904-13. 
The  relationship  between  mean  pressure  and  rainfall 
totals  is  dealt  with  by  the  method  of  correlation. 
The  coefficients  obtained  are  high,  and  the  correspond- 
ing regressions  are  shown  to  be  very  nearlv  linear. 
In  this  latter  part  of  the  paper,  data  for  Kew  and 
Valencia  for  the  forty-seven  years  1869-1915  are 
used. 

Mineralogical  Society,  June  20.— Dr.  A.  E.  H.  Tutton, 
past-president,  in  the  chair. — Dr.  J.  W.  Evans  :  The 
relations  between  different  laws  oif  twinning  giving 
the  same  twin-crystal.  If  the  untwinned  crystal  has 
no  symmetry,  different  twin-laws  give  different  results. 
In  the  presence  of  a  centre  of  symmetry  an  axis  of 
rotation-twinning  is  an  axis  of  reflection-twinning. 
An  axis  of  rotation-twinning  lying  in  a  plane  of  sym- 
metry has  at  right  angles  to  it  in  the  same  pfane 
an  axis  of  reflection-twinning.  If  the  normal  to  a 
plane  of  symmetry  be  an  axis  of  rotation-twinning,  or 
if  a  line  of  symmetry  (axis  of  even  symmetry)  be  an 
axis  of  reflection-twinning,  the  same  result  may  be 
obtained  by  the  complete  inversion  of  the  structure ; 
vice  versd,  in  an  inversion-twin  the  normal  to  every 
plane  of  symmetry  is  an  axis  of  rotation-twinning, 
and  every  line  of  symmetry  is  an  axis  of  reflection- 
twinning.  If  a  twin-axis  be  at  right  angles  to  an 
axis  of  n  degrees  of  symmetry,  there  will  be  in  all 
n  twin-axes  of  the  same  kind  at  right  angles  to  the 


June  29,  19 16] 


NATURE 


375 


same  axis  of  symmetry-.  Other  more  complex  rela- 
tions were  described. — Dr.  G.  T.  Prior  :  The  meteorites 
)f  Khairpur  and  Soko-Banja.  The  Khairpur 
meteorite  is  precisely  similar  to  the  Daniels  Kuil,  and, 
like  it,  belongs  to  the  rare  Hvittis  type  of  chondritic 
stones,  which  contain  oldhamite,  and  are  almost  free 
from  oxide  of  iron.  The  Soko-Banja  meteorite  con- 
tains a  small  amount  (4  per  cent.)  of  nickel-iron,  very 
rich  in  nickel,  together  with  ferro-magnesian 
minerals  rich  in  ferrous  oxide. — Dr.  G.  T.  Prior  :  The 
■  classification  of  meteorites.  In  chondritic  stones  the 
richer  the  nickel-iron  in  nickel  the  richer  the  ferro- 
magnesian  minerals  in  ferrous  oxide,  and  in  general 
the  smaller  the  amount  of  nickel-iron  the  richer  it  is  in 
nickel.  On  these  principles  chondritic  stones  are 
divided  into  four  groups  corresponding  to  the  types  : — 
(i)  Daniels  Kuil;  (2)  Cronstad;  (3)  Baroti;  (4)  Soko- 
Banja.  Under  the  same  groups  the  meteoric  irons 
may  be  arranged  according  to  their  richness  in  nickel, 
and  the  non-chondritic  stones  according  to  the 
richness  in  iron  of  the  ferro-magnesian  sili- 
cates, except  that  a  •  fifth  group  is  added  for 
Eucrite,  Howardite,  Shergottite,  Angrite,  and 
Nakhlite,  since  they  are  richer  in  lime,  ferrous 
oxide,  and  mostly  also  in  alumina,  than  any  chon- 
dritic stone  at  present  known. — Lieut.  A.  Russell  : 
Note  on  a  new  occurrence  of  gold  from  Cornwall. 
Alluvial  gold  was  found  *in  the  bed  of  a  small  stream 
adjoining  a  jamesonite  mine  near  Port  Isaac. — A. 
Holmes  :  A  series  of  volcanic  rocks  from  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Lucalla  River,  Angola.  The  rocks 
described  were  collected  by  J.  J.  Monteiro  in  i860, 
and  include  porphyritic  basalts,  biotite  trachyte, 
trachyte  with  aegirine  and  cossjrite,  nephelinite,  and 
pyroxene  andesite.  They  occur  partly  over  Archaean, 
and  partly  over  Karoo,  rocks,  and  are  probably  related 
to  the  Tertiar\'  alkali  rocks  between  Senza  do  Itombe 
and  Bango.  An  olivine  camptonite  of  post-Miocene 
age  from  Dombe  Grande,  near  Benguella,  was  also 
described. — Prof.  T.  L.  Walker  :  Sf>encerite,  a  new  zinc 
phosphate  from  British  Columbia.  The  new  mineral 
occurs  as  the  core  of  stalactites  of  hemimorphite  in 
the  H.B.  zinc  mine  near  Salmo,  in  the  West  Kootenay 
district.  It  is  snow-white  in  colour,  with  brilliant 
pearly  lustre  on  the  perfect  cleavage.  The  three 
rcctj  ngular  cleavages  and  the  optical  characters  sug- 
gest at  first  sight  rhombic  symmetrv,  but  complex 
lamellar  twinning  is  present,  and  etched  figures  are 
symmetrical  about  one  plane  only.  Analyses  of  the 
verv  pure  material  conform  closelv  with  the  formula 
Zn.7PO,),.Zn(OH),.3H30,  the  mineral  being  a 
hydrated  basic  zinc  phosphate,  and  thus  differing  from 
the  other  zinc  phosphates — hopeite,  parahopeite,  and 
tarbuttite.  It  is  named  after  Mr.  L.  J.  Spencer,  of 
the  British  Museum. — E.  L.  Bruce  :  Magnesian  tour- 
maline from  Renfrew,  Ontario.  Brown  crystals 
occur  at  the  contact  of  crystalline  limestone  and 
gneiss  in  a  limestone  quarry  at  the  town  of  Renfrew. 
.Analysis  shows  the  presence  of  1453  per  cent,  of 
magnesia. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  June  13. — M.  CamiUe  Jordan  in 
the  chair. — G.  Bigourdan  :  The  discovery  of  the 
visibility  of  the  stars  in  full  daylight,  and  the  works 
of  Gassendi.  The  author  corrects  his  former  note  on 
this  subject,  as  the  author  of  the  MSS.  describing  the 
appearance  of  Mercur>-  in  daylight  was  Peiresc,  and 
not  J.  Gaultier. — B.  Baillaud  :'  Remarks  on  the  deter- 
mination of  the  difference  of  longitude  between  the 
Obser\'atories  of  Paris  and  Washington.  The  figures 
are  based  on  wireless  telegraphv  between  the  two 
stations,  and  the  value  adopted  for  the  difference  of 
longitude  is  5h.  17m.  36-771$. — L.  Landouzy  :  Observa- 
tions on  the  note  of  A.   Chauveau  (Comptes  rendiis. 

NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


1916,  p.  855).  A  discussion  of  the  relations  between 
1  tuberculosis  and  alcoholism. — C  (iuichard  :  A  particu- 
lar class  of  congruences  of  circles.^ — W.  H.  Voong  : 
The  basis  of  the  theory  of  integration.— C  Cheneveaii  : 
.\  direct  reading  density  balance.  The  instrument 
described  permits  the  determination  of  the  density  of 
a  liquid  (up  to  2-5)  to  about  one  unit  in  the  third 
decimal  place. — M.  Zenghelis :  The  synthesis  of 
ammonia.  Experiments  of  the  combination  of 
hydrogen  and  nitrogen  at  the  ordinary  temperature 
in  presence  of  various  catalysts. — W.  Broniewski  :  Mar- 
tensite  in  the  iron-carbon  diagram. — F.  Zambonini : 
Some  observations  on  the  comf)Osition  of  apatites. — 
C.  Sauvageau  :  The  "mucilage  glands"  of  certain 
Laminar  ia. 

Linneaa  Society,  .March  29. — Mr.  A.  G.  Hamilton, 
president,  in  the  chair. — \.  G.  Hamilton :  Presi- 
dential address.  A  review  of  the  relations 
of  birds  and  flowers  in  regard  to  pollina- 
tion, with  special  reference  to  the  .\ustralian 
aspect  of  the  subject.  The  entire  absence  of  bird- 
poJlinated  flowers  from  the  European  flora  is  respon- 
sible for  some  general  statements  concerning  the  rela- 
tions of  insects  and  flowers,  which  are  not  applicable, 
without  qualification,  to  other  floras.  .Mr.  Bentham, 
in  his  important  paper,  "  Notes  on  the  Styles  of  Aus- 
tralian Proteaceae,"  was  apparently  unaware  that,  so 
far  as  is  known,  the  highly  specialised  flowers  of  the 
suborder  Folliculares  are  entirely  dependent  on  birds 
for  pollination,  for  he  speaks  of  the  possibility-  of 
insect-agency  being  required  to  transfer  the  pollen 
of  certain  Grevilleas  to  adjoining  fk)wers.  In  addition 
to  the  Proteaceae,  there  are  numerous  less  specialised 
flowers— species  of  Myrtaceae  (Eucalypts,  Angophora, 
Callistemon,  Darwinia,  etc.),  Epacrideae  (Stjpheha), 
Loranthaceae,  and  others— which,  though  freely  visited 
by  birds,  may  not  be  entirely  dependent  on  them,  as 
these  are  also  visited  by  numerous  insects.  The  .Aus- 
tralian "professional"  pollinating  birds  comprise 
seventy-two  species,  in  twenty-three  genera,  of  Meli- 
phagidae,  and  seven  species  of  brush-tongued  lorikeets, 
besides  a  few  species  of  other  families  which,  occa- 
sionally, may  play  a  subordinate  part  as  amateurs. 
The  interaction  of  these  agencies,  over  a  continental 
area,  must,  in  the  aggregate,  be  of  some  considerable 
magnitude.  Bird-pollination  is  a  much  more  difllicult 
problem  for  investigation  than  insect-pollination.  The 
birds  are  shv,  and  resent  the  presence  of  intruders,  so 
that  the  obser\^er  can  rarely  approach  sufliciently  near 
to  make  out  all-important  details,  and  quick  in  their 
movements.  The  individual  flowers  of  the  Australian 
Proteaceae  are  small,  though  usually  massed  in  showy 
spikes  or  heads,  and  this  increases  the  difficulty-. — 
R.  J.  TiUyard  :  Studies  on  Australian  Neuroptera. 
No.  II.— Descriptions  of  new  genera  and  species  of 
the  families  Osmvlidae,  Myrmeleontidae,    and    -Ascala- 

phidje. A.    White':    Revision  of   the   Stratiomyidae   of 

.Australia  (Diptera).  The  Stratiomyidae  form  one  of 
the  larger  families  of  the  Diptera,  containing  about 
one  thousand  species  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
They  are  conspicuous  flies,  many  of  them  possessing 
splendid  metallic  colouring,  but,  so  far  as  the  Aus- 
tralian species  are  concerned,  they  have  been  little 
studied.  The  present  paper  lists  thirty  species,  be- 
longing to  eighteen  genera,  all  the  species,  with  one 
doubtful  exception,  and  twelve  of  the  genera  being 
peculiar  to  .Australia. 

Cape  Towx. 
Royal    Society    of    Soath    Africa,    May     17.— Dr.    -\. 
Marius    Wilson    in    the    chair. — W.    T.    Saxton:    Eco- 
logical   notes   on    the   district    of    Manubie.    Trnnskei. 


176 


NATURE 


[June  29,   1916 


The  area  comprises  thret;  chief  plant  formations, 
namely,  woodland,  park-like  grassland  with  scattered 
trees  arid  bushes,  and  in  the  more  low-ljdng  parts  of 
the  •  latter,  sedge  vegetation.  The  soil  is  essentially 
uniform  throughout  the  area,  being  a  fine  red-brown 
loam  containing  comparatively  few  large  particles  or 
stones.  No  marked  differences  in  climatic  or  edaphic 
factors  distinguish  the  woodland  from  the  grass  land, 
though  these  are  of  strikingJ4y  different  appearance 
and  are  separated  by  a  sharp  boundary  line. — 
J.  S.  V.  d.  Lingen:  (i)  Note  on  the  radiations 
emitted  by  degenerating  tissues ;  (2)  note  on  the 
ionisation  produced  by  degenerating  nerve-muscle  pre- 
parations. The  author  brings  forward  some  evidence 
that  organic  tissues  may  post  mortem  give  rise  to 
ionisation,  which  can  be  detected  by  the  discharge  of 
an  electroscope.  On  the  second  and  third  days  after 
death  the  discharge  seems  to  attain  its  maximum. 
There  is  also  some  evidence  that  radiations  are  given 
off  which  can  affect  photographic  plates.  The  author 
states  that  control  experiments  are  in  progress. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Aids  to  Bacteriology.  By  C.  G.  Moor  and  W. 
Partridge.  Pp.  viii  +  278.  Third  edition.  (London: 
Bailli^re,  Tindall  and  Cox.)     3s.  6d.  net. 

A  Bibliography  of  British  Ornithology,  from  the 
Earliest  Times  to  the  End  of  1912,  including  Bio- 
graphical Accounts  of  the  Principal  Writers  and  Bib- 
liographies of  their  Published  Works.  By  W.  H. 
Mullens  and  H.  Kirke  Swann.  Part  i.  Pp.  112. 
(London  :   Macmillan  and  Co.,   Ltd.)     6s.   net. 

The  Declining  Birth-rate  :  its  Causes  and  Effects. 
Pp.  xiv  +  450.  (London  :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.) 
los.  6d.  net. 

University  College  of  W^ales,  Aberystwyth.  Agri- 
cultural Department.  The  Improvement  of  Upland 
Pastures.  By  A.  E.  Jones  and  R.  G.  Stapledon. 
Pp.   24.     (Aberystwyth  :   John  E.    Evans.) 

Luther  Burbank :  his  Life  and  Work.  By  Dr. 
H.  S.  Williams.  Pp.  xii  +  333.  (London  :  Grant 
Richards,  Ltd.)     105.  6d.  net. 

What  is  Coming?  A  Forecast  of  Things  after  the 
War.  By  H.  G.  Wells.  Pp.  295.  (London  :  Cassell 
and  Co.,   Ltd.)    65.  net. 

Lays  of  Love  and  Life.  By  Rev.  E.  E.  Bradford. 
Pp.  163.  (London  :  Kegan  Paul,  Trench  and  Co., 
Ltd.)     2s.  6d.  net. 

Survey  of  India.  General  Report,  1914-15.  Pp. 
40-1-14  maps.     (Calcutta.)     2  rupees,  or  35. 

Annals  of  the  South  African  Museum.  Vol.  xv., 
part  iii.,  containing  : — (3)  Contributions  to  the  Crus- 
tacean Fauna  of  South  Africa.  By  K.  H.  Barnard.  Pp. 
io5~302.  Plates  xxvi-xxviii.  (London  :  .  Adlard  and 
Son.)     125.  6d. 

Canada.  Department  of  Mines.  Geological  Survey. 
Memoir  55  :  Geology  of  Field  Map-Area,  B.C.  and 
Alberta.  By  J.  A.  Allen.  Pp.  viii  +  312.  Memoir  77: 
Geology  and  Ore  Deposits  of  Rossland,  B.C.  By 
C.  W.  Drysdale.  Pp.  xi  +  317.  Annual  Report  of  the 
Mineral  Productions  of  Canada  during  the  Calendar 
Year  19 14.  Pp.  362.  (Ottawa :  Government  Print- 
ing  Bureau.) 

Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries.'  Fishery  In- 
vestigations. Series  ii.  Sea  Fisheries.  Vol.  iii.. 
No.  3  :  An  Analysis  and  Review  of  the  English  Plaice- 
Marking  Experiments  in  the  North  Sea.  Pp.  126. 
(London:  H.M.S.O. ;  Wyman  and  Sons,  Ltd.)     85. 

Royal  Botanic  Gardens,  Kew.  Bulletin  of  Miscel- 
laneous Information,  1915.  Pp.  iv  +  444  +  98.  (Lon- 
don :   H.M.S.O.  ;  Wyman  and  Sons,  Ltd.)     4s.  6d. 

NO.    2435,    VOL.    97] 


DIARY   OF    SOCIETIES. 


THURSDAY,  i\:KK  2:). 

Rov^L  Society,  at  4.30.— The  Determination  of  Gravity  at  Sea  :  Prof  \- 
Schuster.— The  Genesis  of  Pleochroic  Haloes  :  Prof.  J.  Joly.— Some 
Determinations  of  the  Sign  and  Magnitude  of  Electric  Discharges  in 
Lightning  Flashes  :  C.  T.R.  Wilson.— The  Kinetic  I  heory  of  a  Com- 
posite Monatomic  Gas;  Diffusion,  Viscosity,  and  Thermal  Conduction:- 
S.  Chapman. — Further  Observations  on  Protozoa  in  relation  to  .Soil 
Bacteria:  Dr.  T.  Goodey.— New  Bennettitean  Cones  from  the  British 
Cretaceous:  Dr.   M.  C.  Stopes.— And  other  Papers. 

RovAL  SociETv  OF  Ar Ts,  at  4.30.— The  Sikhs:  Sirdar  Daljit  Singh. 

FRIDAY,  June  30. 
Physical  Society,  at  5.— A  Sensitive' Magnetometer  :  Dr.  P.  E.  Shaw  and 
C.  Hayes.— The  Latent  Heat  of  Fusion  of  a  Metal  and  the  Quantum- 
Theory  :  Dr.  H.  S.  Allen.— Experiments  on  the  Thermoelectric  Properties 
of  Fused  iMetals  :  C.  R.  Darling.— Cohesion,  Part  II  :  Prof.  H.  Chatley. 

MONDA  Y,  July  3. 
Aristoteli.\n   Society,   at   8.— The    Import  of    Propositions:    Prof.   J- 
Brougb. 

FRIDAY,  July  7. 
Geologists'  Association,  at  7.30.— Geology  and  Scenery  of  the  Cardiff 
District:  Prof.  T.  F.  Sibly. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Research  in  Industry  and  the  Future  of  Education  357 

The  Moulding  of  Humanity 358 

Salt  and  Alkali 359 

Open-air  Natural  History 360 

Our  Bookshelf , 360 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

Negative  Liquid  Pressure  at    High  Temperatures. — 

Sir  Joseph  Larmor,  M.P.,  F.  R.S 361 

Science,  Scholarships,  and  the  State. — Lieut.  E.  N, 

da  C.  Andrade 361 

On    the    "Wolf-note"    of    the    Violin    and    'Cello. 

{Illustrated.)— Q,.  V.  Raman 362 

The  Ethnography  of  Central  India.     {Illustrated.).  363 
Birds'  Songs  and  the  Diatonic  Scale.     By  Dr.  W. 

Warde  Fowler 364 

Dr.    R.    H.    Scott,    F.R.S.      By   Sir   Napier  Shaw, 

F.R.S 365 

Notes 366 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Comet  I9I5<J  (Taylor) 369 

Return  of  Daniel's  Comet  (1909^) 369 

Variation  of  Latitude 369 

Difference  of  Longitude  between  Paris  and  Washington  369 

The  Constitution  of  the  Milky  Way 369 

Hydrology  at  the  Arctic  Circle.     By  B.  C 369 

Upper-air  Investigation 370 

Genetic  Studies  from  America 370 

Chemical  Science  and  Civilisation.     By  Prof.  F.  G. 

Donnan,  F.R.S 370 

Evolution  and  Symmetry.     By  Prof.  S.  J.  Hickson, 

F.R.S 372 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 372 

Societies  and  Academies 374 

Books  Received 376 

Diary  of  Societies 376 

Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 

MACMILLAN   &   CO.,    Ltd., 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  th4 
Publishers. 


Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,  Lonixjn. 
Telephone  Number :  Gbrrard  8830. 


NA  TURE 


377 


THURSDAY,    JULY    6,    1916. 


OCCUPATION  AND  HEALTH. 

Occupations :    From    the    Social,    Hygienic,    and 
Medical    Points     of     View.     By     Sir    Thomas 
Oliver.     Pp.  x  +  1 10.   (Cambridge  :  At  the  Uni- 
versity Press,    1916.)     Price  6s.   net. 
''THE  subject  of  this  book  is  the  influence  of  occu- 
-L       pation  upon  health.     After  a  brief  historical 
introduction  the  author  deals  with  the  effect  upon 
health  of  contamination  of  the  air  by  smoke  and 
dust,  both  out  of  doors  and  in  factories,  this  dis- 
cussion being-  followed  by  chapters  on  fatigue,  on 
the  hygienic  condition  of  factories,  on  the  relation 
of  occupation  to  mortality,  and  on  the  choice  of  a 
career.     Finally,  an  account  is  given  of  the  harm- 
ful effects  of  certain  dusty  occupations,  of  gases, 
and  of  electric  currents. 

The  brief  space  at  his  disposal  and  the  wide 
scope  of  the  subject  have  doubtless  made  it  im- 
possible for  the  author  to  give  more  than  the 
merest  outline  of  the  relation  of  occupation  to 
health.  He  does  not  appear,  however,  to  have 
been  altogether  happy  in  his  treatment  of  the 
question.  Although  the  book  contains  a  mass  of 
interesting  information,  the  reader  constantly  re- 
ceives the  impression  that  he  is  being  presented 
with  a  succession  of  disconnected  and  unrelated 
statements.  No  stress  has  been  laid  upon  funda- 
mental principles,  such  as  that  health  may  be 
affected  either  by  the  nature  of  the  occupation,  or 
by  the  conditions  in  which  the  occupation  is 
carried  on.  Nor  has  any  attempt  been  made  to 
distinguish  essential  from  subsidiary  factors. 
The  chapter  on  fatigue,  for  example,  contains 
scarcely  any  reference  to  the  means  by  which 
industrial  fatigue  can  be  recognised  or  prevented, 
although  recent  work  has  shown  both  that 
diminished  output  is  the  surest  evidence  of 
fatigue,  and  that  the  introduction  of  short  rest 
periods  at  intervals  during  the  working  day 
lessens  the  risk  of  over-fatigue.  In  view  of  the 
extreme  importance  of  the  subject,  both  for  em- 
ployer and  employed,  a  fuller  treatment  of  indus- 
trial fatigue  would  have  been  advantageous. 
The  book  suffers,  moreover,  from  faulty  English 
and  from  much  needless  repetition ;  a  paragraph 
on  pp.  55  and  56  is  reproduced,  for  instance, 
almost  word  for  word  on  pp.  65  and  66. 

The  least  satisfactory  portions  of  the  book  are 
those  dealing  with  the  causation  of  fatigue,  and 
with  the  action  of  gases  on  the  bodv :  these  are 
not  up  to  date.  In  the  section  on  the  causation 
and  nature  of  fatigue  the  author  adopts  the  obso- 
lete view  that  toxins  formed  during  muscular 
exercise  are  the  cause  of  fatigue ;  and  no  refer- 
ence is  made  to  the  modern  conception  of 
■fatigue,  although  most,  if  not  all,  physiologists 
now  hold  that  the  accumulation  of  lactic  acid  in 
active  muscles  is  an  important  factor  in  its  pro- 
duction. Again,  in  the  chapter  on  gases,  the 
author  speaks  of  carbon  monoxide  toxaemia  and 
apparently  regards  this  gas  as  directly  poison- 
ous ;  thus  the  statement  is  made  (p.  89)  that 
NO.    2436,    VOL.    97] 


carbon  monoxide  "  may  exercise  a  paralysing 
influence  upon  the  nerves  of  the  heart,  or  upon 
the  nerve  centres  in  the  medulla  oblongata." 
These  statements  are  erroneous,  since  Haldane 
has  shown  that  carbon  monoxide  is  not  directly 
poisonous,  and  that  its  harmful  effects  are  due 
solely  to  the  fact  that  it  displaces  oxygen  from 
combination  with  haemoglobin ;  and  their  inclu- 
sion in  this  book  seriously  detracts  from  its 
!  scientific  value. 

In  spite  of  these  defects  the  book  contains  much 
}  that  is  useful,  especially  in  the  chapters  on  factory 
hygiene  and  on  dusty  occupations,  and  although 
'  it  cannot  be  recommended  from  a  scientific  point 
!  of  view  it  may  prove  of  value  to  the  general 
j  reader.  F.  A.  B. 

;  EXPERIMENTAL    SPECTROSCOPY. 

Collected  Papers  on  Spectroscopy.  By  Prof. 
G.  D.  Liveing  and  Sir  J.  Dewar.  Pp.  xv  -f-  566. 
(Cambridge:  At  the  University  Press,  191 5.) 
Price  30s.  net. 

THE  names  of  Profs.  Liveing  and  Dewar  stand 
out  prominently  in  the  history  of  modern 
spectroscopy,  and  the  publication  of  their  col- 
lected papers  will  be  cordially  welcomed  by  all 
who  are  interested  in  this  rapidly  advancing 
subject.  The  chief  results  of  their  investigations 
have  doubtless  already  become  widely  known 
through  references  which  have  appeared  in  text- 
books and  in  papers  by  other  workers,  but  to 
those  actually  engaged  in  spectroscopic  research 
it  will  be  a  great  convenience  to  have  the  com- 
plete papers  in  this  handy  form.  Moreover,  it 
will  be  especially  stimulating  to  students  to  be 
able  to  follow,  step  by  step,  the  development  of 
the  authors'  ideas  and  methods  of  observation. 

The  papers  have  been  reprinted  from  the 
original  sources,  with  only  printers'  errors  cor- 
rected and  the  addition  of  a  diagram  for  the  sake 
of  greater  clearness  in  the  description  of  an  instru- 
ment. It  may  be  questioned  whether  the  wisest 
course  has  been  adopted  in  the  arrangement  of 
the  papers,  which  merely  follow  each  other  in  the 
order  of  dates  of  publication.  There  are  several 
instances  in  which  a  number  of  different  papers 
refer  to  the  same  subject,  and  an  arrangement  in 
groups  would  not  often  have  required  the  dividing 
up  erf  a  paper  into  sections.  Inconvenience  arising 
from  the  plan  adopted,  however,  is  considerably 
reduced  by  the  addition  of  a  classified  index. 
There  is  also  a  useful  index  of  names. 

Excluding  abstracts  of  papers  which  also  appear 
in  full,  and  a  few  lectures  dealing  with  subjects 
of  the  authors'  researches,  the  number  of  separate 
papers  is  about  seventy,  dating  from  1877  to 
1904.  The  first  is  a  brief  account  of  the  phos- 
phorescence and  flame  sp>ectra  of  calcium  fluoride, 
and  it  is  fortunate  that  this  is  the  only  case  in 
which  positions  in  the  spectrum  are  not  expressed 
on  the  scale  of  wave-lengths.  It  is  not  possible 
even  to  enumerate  the  subjects  of  the  remaining 
papers,  but  it  may  be  mentioned  that  among  the 
more  extensive  investigations,  each  of  which 
occupies  several  papers,  are  those  on  the  reversal 

U 


378 


NATURE 


[July  6,  191 6 


of  the  lines  of  metallic  vapours,  the  spectra  of 
carbon  and  its  compounds,  the  ultra-violet  spectra 
of  the  elements,  the  emission  spectrum  of  water 
vapour,  the  spectrum  of  magnesium,  the  absorp- 
tion spectrum  of  oxygen,  and  the  spectra  of  the 
rare  gases.  There  are  also  several  papers  refer- 
ring to  new  forms  of  spectroscopes  or  details  of 
instruments. 

The  general  impression  conveyed  to  the  re- 
viewer by  the  volume  is  not  so  much  of  striking 
discoveries  as  of  a  steady  output  of  careful  work 
which  almost  invariably  contributed  materially  to 
the  general  advance  of  spectroscopy.  Neverthe- 
less, only  a  small  part  of  the  work  can  be  de- 
scribed as  having  been  of  a  routine  character, 
and  the  papers  have  a  special  value  on  account 
of  the  great  variety  of  experimental  methods 
devised  by  the  authors  with  definite  objects  in 
view.  Thus  the  student  or  the  beginner  in  spec- 
troscopic research  will  find  an  abundance  of  useful 
hints  on  manipulation  which  it  would  be  difficult 
to  find  in  a  convenient  form  elsewhere. 

Perhaps  the  most  laborious  piece  of  work 
undertaken  by  the  authors  was  that  on  the  ultra- 
violet spectra  of  the  elements,  which  involved  the 
taking  of  some  thousands  of  photographs,  and 
the  determination  of  wave-lengths  under  conditions 
much  more  difficult  than  would  be  the  case  at  the 
present  time.  The  recognition  of  "harmonic 
series "  of  lines,  with  alternating  sharp  and 
diffuse  members,  was  a  notable  outcome  of  this 
work,  and  although  the  authors  were  not  com- 
pletely rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  the  laws  of 
spectral  series,  their  observations  greatly  facili- 
tated the  subsequent  investigations  of  series  lines 
by  Rydberg. 

Spectroscopy  is  full  of  pitfalls,  largely  on 
account  of  the  difficulty  of  preparing  perfectly  pure 
substances  for  experiment,  but  the  authors  have 
had  the  satisfaction  of  themselves  correcting  some 
of  their  misinterpretations  of  observations,  as  in 
the  case  of  certain  silicon  lines  at  first  assigned 
to  carbon,  and  a  triplet  of  the  Swan  spectrum 
attributed,  in  the  first  instance,  to  cyanogen.  It 
might  have  been  expected,  however,  that  they 
would  have  taken  advantage  of  the  opportunity 
of  indicating,  by  footnotes  or  otherwise,  further 
developments  in  connection  with  some  of  the  sub- 
jects dealt  with.  It  might  have  been  pointed  out, 
for  example,  that  about  50  per  cent,  of  the  un- 
identified lines  of  atmospheric  gases  not  con- 
densed at  the  temperature  of  liquid  hydrogen  are 
accounted  for  by  the  second  spectrum  of  neon 
discovered  by  Merton. 

The  publication  of  this  volume  can  scarcely 
fail  to  stimulate  further  research  in  many 
directions.  One  point  which  has  received 
less  attention  than  it  deserves  is  the  ob- 
servation by  the  authors  that  the  mixed  vapours 
of  magnesium  and  sodium,  in  their  experiments 
on  reversals,  yielded  an  absorption  line  about 
wave-length  5300,  which  did  not  appear  with 
either  vapour  separately,  or  when  sodium  was  re- 
placed by  potassium.  Other  lines  were  similarly 
found  to  be  characteristic  of  a  mixture  of  mag- 
nesium and  {X)tassium.  Since  mixtures  of  vapours 
NO.    2436,    VOL.    97] 


are  involved  in  the  sun  and  stars,  as  well  as  in 
many  of  the  laboratory  applications  of  spectrum 
analysis,  the  possibility  of  the  development  of 
lines  characteristic  of  mixtures  would  appear  to 
be  of  fundamental  importance.  There  are  pro- 
bably few  observations  which  favour  this  supposi- 
tion, but  a  more  extended  investigation  is  cer- 
tainly desirable. 

The  volume  concludes  with  a  supplementary 
memoir,  not  previously  published,  on  the  separa- 
tion of  gases  by  electric  discharges  with  various 
electrodes.  It  fully  maintains  the  high  standard 
of  the  earlier  investigations,  and  will  be  appre- 
ciated, for  example,  by  anyone  who  has  attempted 
to  prepare  a  vacuum  tube  of  oxygen  uncontami- 
nated  with  carbon  impurities. 

The  authors  may  well  take  pride  in  this  hand- 
some record  of  their  long-continued  labours  in  the 
field  of  spectroscopy,  but  it  may  be  hoped  that 
the  volume  is  not  intended  to  mark  the  termination 
of  their  contributions  to  the  subject. 

YORKSHIRE  TROUT  FLIES. 
Brook  and  River  Trouting:  A  Manual  of  Modern 
North  Country  Methods,  with  Coloured  Illus- 
trations of  Flies  and  Fly-dressing  Materials. 
By  H,  H.  Edmonds  and  N.  N.  Lee.  Pp.  106. 
(Bradford  :  Published  by  the  Authors.)  Price 
los.  6d.  net. 
nPHIS  is  an  attractive  little  book,  well  produced, 
-L  admirably  illustrated,  and  written  by  two 
anglers  who  obviously  know  their  subject.  As 
what  may  be  called  a  "local  "  manual  it  is  as  good 
as  anything  that  has  been  produced  for  a  long 
time.  It  has  special  claim  to  consideration  in  its 
handling  of  the  question  of  flies.  The  authors 
select  some  three  dozen  patterns,  commonly  and 
profitably  used  on  north-country  streams,  and 
make  it  possible  for  the  amateur  fly-dresser  to  be 
sure  of  getting  them  right  by  giving,  besides  the 
verbal  instructions,  coloured  plates  which  -show 
both  the  flies  and  the  materials  of  which  they 
are  made.  One  plate  also  gives  the  colour  shades 
by  which  fly-tying  silk  may  be  matched.  The 
result  is  a  really  practical  text-book  on  which,  so 
far  as  it  goes,  the  amateur  can  safely  depend. 
No  doubt  it  will  be  apparent  to  many  readers  that 
it  might  go  farther,  and  that  a  good  many 
favourite  flies  are  omitted  from  its  list.  But  it  is 
at  any  rate  arguable  that  the  list  is  sufficient  with- 
out them,  and  that  an  angler  entirely  without  pre- 
judices would  do  as  well  with  it  as  he  would  with 
any  other  list  of  similar  length  designed  to  meet 
similar  conditions. 

The  authors  give  brief  but  sound  instructions 
as  to  methods  of  fishing  on  north-country  streams, 
fly-fishing,  both  wet  and  dry,  creeper  and  stone-fly 
fishing,  clear-water  worming,  and  spinning  the 
minnow.  In  each  case  they  illustrate  precept  by 
detailed  experience,  always  a  useful  and  interest-! 
ing  plan.  When  an  angler  can  say  "by  doing 
so-and-so  I  killed  so  many  on  such-and-such 
occasions,"  and  can  describe  the  events  which  led 
up  to  and  characterised  the  successes,  it  is  more 
convincing    than    the    use    of   bare    imperatives. 


July  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


379 


The  present  authors  have  the  requisite  experience 
on  which  to  draw,  and  a  knack  of  using  it  pleas- 
antly. They  might  have  made  larger  demands  on 
our  patience  than  they  have  without  risk  of  over- 
straining it. 

It  is  to  be  understood  that  anyone  who  rules  his 
fishing  by  this  book  surrenders  himself  to  north- 
country  ideas.  For  instance,  he  uses  lightly 
dressed  patterns,  he  learns  to  talk  of  "bloas,"  he 
renounces  such  tried  favourites  as  the  "blue  up- 
right "  or  the  "coch  y  bonddu,"  becomes,  in  short, 
wedded  to  a  particular  convention.  He  might 
have  to  contract  a  similar  alliance  in  other  dis- 
tricts— in  the  Lake  country,  where  they  have 
"bleas,"  among  the  "bumbles"  of  Derbyshire, 
or  when  taking  to  the  "half-stones  "  and 
"  pheasant-tails  "  of  the  West. 

Probably  there  is  little  loss  of  eflSciency  involved 
in  such  a  surrender,  but  it  is  not  wholly  satis- 
factory for  all  that.  A  consideration  of  the 
various  local  conventions  of  pattern  induces  the 
reflection  that  there  is  a  good  deal  of  unnecessary 
confusion,  some  waste  of  effort,  and  some  sacrifice 
of  intelligence  caused  by  the  present  system  of 
local  "water-tight  compartments."  Roughly,  the 
insect  life  of  all  wet-fly  streams  is  the  same,  w'hat- 
ever  their  district.  Roughly,  also,  the  intentions 
of  all  local  fly-tiers  are  the  same,  to  imitate  those 
insects.  But  local  nomenclature  and  idiom  have 
largely  obscured  this.  It  would  be  a  valuable, 
and  we  should  say  an  extremely  interesting,  task 
for  some  competent  fly-dresser  and  angler  to  col- 
late all  the  local  patterns,  to  select  the  best  imita- 
tions without  respect  of  districts,  qnd  to  attempt 
a  standardisation  of  wet  flies  which  should  include 
whatever  is  most  worth  having.  Ronalds,  of 
course,  did  something  of  the  kind,  and  did  it  very 
well,  but  that  was  a  long  time  ago.  Since  then 
we  have  had  Mr.  Halford's  invaluable  work  on 
chalk-stream  flies,  and  Mr.  Skues's  revelations 
on  nymphs.  So  there  are  more  data  for  such  a 
work  as  is  suggested. 

GERUAl^Y   AND   RACIAL   CHARACTERS. 
The  Germans:  (i)  The  Teutonic  Gospel  of  Race: 
(2)  The  Old  Germany  and  the  New.     By  J.  M. 
Robertson.     Pp.  viii  +  291.     (London  :  Williams 
and  Norgate,   1916.)     Price  ys.  6d. 

IN  the  first  part  of  his  book  Mr.  Robertson  gives 
an  admirable  and  timely  exposition  of  the 
crude  falsity  of  certain  current  doctrines  of  race. 
The  much^used  "Aryan,"  if  understood  ethnologic- 
ally,  is  almost  meaningless;  all  that  we  know  is 
that  certain  peoples  speak  Aryan  languages.  We 
do  not  know  that  those  peoples,  e.g.,  in  Europe, 
are  the  descendants  of  the  invaders  who  brought 
the  original  Aryan  speech.  Similarly  with  skull- 
measurement.  Many  writers  have  claimed  a 
generic  superiority  for  the  long-headed  type — 
which,  according  to  Gobineau,  is  that  of  the 
Teuton  warrior — regardless  of  insuperable  diffi- 
culties. For  example,  the  Swedes  are  dolicho- 
cephalic, and  they  are  not  a  leading  nation ; 
worse  still,  it  is  found  that  their  best  individuals 
are  less  dolichocephalic  than  the  average.  And 
XO.    2436,   VOL.   97] 


dolichocephaly  is  characteristic  of  the  negro,  the 
Eskimo,  and  the  gorilla.  Equally  fallacious  is 
the  Germans'  claim  that  their  ancestors  were 
exceptional  in  their  considerate  treatment  of 
women ;  Plutarch  proves  that  the  Ligiirians  ex- 
celled them,  as  the  North  American  Indians  did 
later  on.  Indeed,  all  talk  about  "Germanic" 
virtues  is  absurd  if  its  aim  is  to  glorify  Germany ; 
for  East  Germany  is  partly  Slav,  and  Belgium  ana 
North-east  France  are  ethnologically  more  Ger- 
manic than  Bavaria. 

Part  ii.  traces  the  process  by  which  the  Ger- 
many of  Kant  and  Herder  and  Goethe  became 
the  Germany  of  Treitschke,  Bernhardi,  and  the 
author  of  "The  Hymn  of  Hate."  Mr.  Robert- 
son gives  an  excellent  historical  survey,  and, 
coming  to  recent  times,  quotes  telling  proofs  of 
Germany's  scheming  for  Britain's  downfall  from 
the  writings  of  Prince  von  Bulow  and  other  states- 
men. It  is  clear  enough  now  that  only  our 
supremacy  at  sea  saved  us  from  attack  in  1900. 
The  great  blunder  of  Germany  in  1914  was  in 
supposing  that  Britain  would  not  fulfil  her  treaty 
obligations  to  Belgium.  Having  no  principles 
herself,  no  recognition  of  international  morality, 
she  expected  a  similar  lack  in  others.  Formerly 
few  of  us  could  believe  in  her  criminal  attitude. 
Now  she  has  opened  our  eyes,  and  we  see  that 
her  power  must  be  crushed  before  stable  peace 
in  Europe  can  be  hoped  for. 

OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

The   Value  of  Science  in  the  Smithy  and  Forge. 

By  W.  H.  Cathcart.     Pp.  xiv  -f  163.     (London  : 

Charles  Griffin  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1916.)     Price  45. 

net. 
This  handy  volume  is  a  welcome  addition  to  the 
metallurgical  series  already  issued  by  the  same 
publishers.  It  is  written  by  a  practical  smith,  who 
is  president  of  the  Associated  Foremen  Smiths  of 
Scotland.  The  object  is  to  impress  upon  young 
craftsmen  the  value  and  importance  of  some  scien- 
tific knowledge.  The  earlier  part  of  the  book,  or 
about  one-fourth  in  all,  contains  examples  of 
calculations  relating  to  forgings  and  simple 
mathematical  and  geometrical  problems  applied 
to  practical  cases.  The  remaining  portions  of  the 
volume  are  those  which  will  probably  attract  more 
attention.  The  subjects  dealt  with  include  metal- 
lography, heat  treatment  of  iron  and  steel,  the 
chemistry  of  welding,  and  case-hardening.  In  these 
subjects  the  author  has  acquired  a  skill  which  is 
altogether  exceptional  in  a  practical  smith,  and  he 
writes  with  an  enthusiasm  and  intimate  know  ledge 
which  should  commend  the  volume  to  a  wider  circle 
of  readers  than  that  for  which  it  was  originally 
intended. 

Dr.  Stead  has  contributed  a  short  introduction 
to  the  volume  and  has  taken  much  interest  in  its 
production.  Mr.  Cathcart  has  proved  an  apt  pupil 
of  Dr.  Stead,  upon  whose  researches  he  largely 
draws.  References  to  the  work  of  Rosenhain, 
Ewing,  Sauveur,  and  others  make  the  account 
more  complete.  It  assumes  some  previous  know- 
ledge on  the  part  of  the  young  craftsman,  which 


;8o 


NATURE 


[July  6,  1916 


he  may  not  possess ;  but  for  those  who  can  follow 
it  the  book  should  be  full  of  charm,  of  interest, 
and  of  real  utility.  T.  T, 

More  Minor  H6rrars.       By   Dr.    A.    E.    Shipley. 

Pp.  xiv+i63.     (London:  Smith,  Elder  and  Co., 

1916.)  Price  IS.  6d.  net. 
This  little  volume  is  to  be  reg-arded  as  a  sequel 
to  the  author's  "Minor  Horrors  of  War,"  and, 
like  the  latter,  is  written  in  a  style  calculated  to 
entertain  and  instruct  the  layman.  Dr.  Shipley's 
innate  humour  leavens  the  "  horrors "  that  are 
commonly  associated  with  the  subjects  which  he 
treats  of,  but  at  the  same  time  he  imparts  in- 
formation which  is  both  accurate  and  up  to  date. 

The  book  opens  with  a  dissertation  on  the 
ubiquitous  cockroach  and  its  various  phases  of 
activity.  The  following-  chapter  treats  of  the  ox 
warble-fly,  the  larva  of  which,  by  destroying  the 
continuity  of  the  integument  of  our  oxen,  affects 
detrimentally  an  important  munition  of  war. 
Mosquitoes  come  in  for  a  very  full  share  of  treat- 
ment, with  special  reference  to  those  which  serve 
as  carriers  of  malaria  and  yellow  fever.  The  ex- 
tension of  the  war  into  Asiatic  Turkey  may  have 
possibly  suggested  to  the  author  the  inclusion 
of  the  fig  moth  in  the  present  volume,  and  to 
dilate  on  the  ravagfes  it  entails  among  the  chief 
product  of  Smyrna.  Among-  other  topics  the 
common  stable  fly  is  well  described,  and  timely 
reference  is  made  to  the  rdle  which  it  may  very 
likely  perform  in  the  spread  of  infantile  paralysis. 

The  book  is  well  printed  and  illustrated,  and 
for  the  modest  expenditure  of  eighteenpence  we 
can  glean  an  insight  into  the  ways  and  means  of 
some  of  the  undesirable  companions  of  our 
countrymen  now  fighting-  in  divers  lands  and 
seas.  A.   D.    Imms. 

Rhizopod  Protozoa.     The   Causes  of  Cancer  and 

Other  Diseases,    being  Part   iv.   of   "Protozoa 

and  Disease."     By  J.  J.  Clarke.     Pp.  xiv+187. 

(London:    Balli^re,    Tindall     and    Cox,     1915.) 

Price  75.  6d.  net. 
In  this  book  the  author  bring-s  together  data  and 
observations  which  he  considers  enable  him  to 
state  definitely  that  cancer  and  certain  other 
diseases  are  caused  by  protozoa  belonging  to  the 
same  group  of  organisms  as  the  Mycetozoa.  The 
author  has  studied  the  mycetozoon  Dydimium 
difforme,  and  believes  that  similar  structures  and 
developmental  forms  are  met  with  in  it  and  in 
cancers,  moUuscum,  etc.,  from  which  he  concludes 
that  these  appearances  in  the  latter  must  be  due 
to  a  parasite  of  the  same  botanical  or  zoological 
position  as  the  mycetozoon.  He  similarly  holds 
that  the  Negri  bodies  of  rabies,  the  trachoma 
bodies,  the  Councilman  bodies  of  small-pox,  etc., 
are  the  actual  parasites,  and  are  protozoa,  and 
are  not,  as  is  usually  held,  the  "g-arments" 
enclosing  an  ultra-microscopic  organism. 

Mr.  Jackson  Clarke  is  well  known  for  his  pro- 
nounced views  on  the  cancer  question,  but  so  far 
he  has  failed  to  carry  conviction,  and  we  doubt 
if  this  work  will  do  much  to  advance  his  propa- 
ganda. The  book  is  lavishly  illustrated  by  a 
number  of  beautiful  drawings. 
NO.    2436,    VOL.    97] 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 
[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Economic   Geology   and   an    Imperial   Bureau   of 
Scientific  intelligence. 

The  subject  of  Sir  R.  Hadfield's  address  to  the 
Ferrous  Section  of  the  Metallurgical  Committee  of 
the  Advisory  Council  for  Scientific  Research  (see 
"Nature,  May  25,  p.  264)  i$  of  much  interest. 

As  far  back  as  igoi  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
and  Technical  Instruction  for  Ireland,  recognising  the 
need  for  obtaining  information  as  to  the  economic  raw 
materials  which  would  be  worthy  of  development  in 
Ireland,  decided  to  appoint  a  practical  man  trained 
in  this  special  work.  I  had  the  honour  to  be  the 
person  appointed  as  their  economic  geologist. 

The  inquiry  thus  begun  has  resulted  in  furnishing 
considerable  data  as  to  the  mineral  industries  already 
existing,  and  as  to  mineral  deposits  capable  of  develop 
ment.  Some  progress  has  been  made,  the  exports 
of  raw  materials  (stones,  slates,  metal  ores)  having 
risen  in  value  from  380,188/.  in  1909  to  524,458/.  in  1914. 
In  the  course  of  the  inquiry  a  comprehensive  collection 
of  mineral  raw  materials,  building  stones,  etc.,  was 
got  together  and  shown  at  various  exhibitions  in  Ire- 
land, also  at  the  Imperial  Institute,  London,  and  at 
the  St.  Louis  Exposition,  U.S.A.,  with  the  object  of 
attracting  capital  to  develop  the  deposits,  finding  a 
market  for  the  materials  ajready  being  worked,  etc. 
The  Department  has  thus  organised  what  is  in  effect 
a  bureau  of  investigation  and  information  upon  the 
economic  side  of  the  mineral  resources  of  the  country. 
Through  this  bureau  the  I>epartment  give  a  degree  of 
assistance  in  the  form  of  inquiry  and  information 
which  goes  as  far  as  is  deemed  proper  to  Government 
action  in  any  country,  and  of  a  kind  which  is  not 
furnished  by  Government  departments  elsewhere  in 
the   United  Kingdom. 

I  am  in  thorough  agreement  with  Sir  R.  Hadfield 
in  his  proposal  for  the  establishment  of  a  central 
bureau  of  information  as  to  the  materials  existing 
within  the  British  Empire.  I  well  know  the  need  for 
such  a  bureau,  which,  in  my  opinion,  should  also 
collect  information  regarding  materials  exported  from 
enemy  countries,  and  which  might  be  replaced  by  our 
own  products.  Since  the  beginning  of  hostilities  I 
have  been  engaged  in  special  inquiries  and  experi- 
ments, having  in  view,  amongst  other  purposes,  the 
finding  of  possible  substitutes  for  raw  materials  im- 
ported from  enemy  countries,  and  if  such  a  bureau 
had  been  in  existence  it  would  have  been 
of  much  assistance  in  this  work.  I  have  had 
an  opportunity  of  visiting  the  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum,  and  the  Commercial  Museum,  Brus- 
sels, and  much  appreciate  the  advantages  of  these 
institutions. 

A  circumstance  in  Irish  conditions  which  tends  con- 
siderably to  facilitate  the  work  of  State  action  in  the 
development  of  minerals  is  the  fact  that  under  the 
Land  Purchase  Acts  of  1903  and  subsequent  years  the 
mineral  rights  of  the  land  sold  are,  as  a  rule,  vested 
in  the  Irish  Land  Commission.  The  Department  work 
in  this  matter  in  close  co-operation  with  the  Land 
Commission,  my  services  being  placed  by  special  . 
arrangement  at  the  disposal  of  this  body.  The  policy 
regarding  the  leasing  of  mineral  rights  is  to  give 
fair  and  equitable  terms  to  the  prospector. 

E.  St.  John  Lyburn. 

4  Upper  Merrion  Street,  Dublin,  June  19; 


July  b,   1916] 


NATURE 


;8i 


The  N^ect  of  Science. 

The  following  aphorisms,  whicli  have  a  strangeh' 
modern  air,  arfe  quoted  in  Flaubert's  "Lettres" 
{Paris,  1884)  :— 

Est-il  necessaire  d 'observer  que  cette  vaste  science 
^ia  chimie]  est  absolument  deplacee  dans  un  enseigne- 
ment  general?  A  quoi  sert-elle  pour  le  ministre,  pour 
le  magistral,  pour  le  militaire,  pour  le  marin,  pour 
le  negotiant? 

De  Maistre,  "Lettres  et  opuscules  inWits." 

II  appartient  aux  pr61ats,  aux  nobles,  aux  grands 
officiers  de  I'Etat,  d'etre  les  d^ositaires  et  les 
gardiens  des  verites  conser\'atrices,  d'apprendre  aux 
nations  ce  qui  est  mal  et  ce  qui  est  bien,  ce  qui  est 
vrai  et  ce  qui  est  faux  dans  I'ordre  moral  et  spirituel. 
Les  autres  n'ont  pas  le  droit  de  raisonner  sur  ces 
sortes  de  matieres.  lis  ont  les  sciences  naturelles 
pour  s'amuser.  De  quoi  pourraient-ils  se  plaindre? 
De  Maistre,  "Soirees  de  Saint-P^tersbourg." 
8^  Entretien,  p.   131. 

Si  Ton  n'en  vient  pas  aux  anciennes  maximes,  si 
I'education  n'est  pas  rendue  aux  pretres  et  si  la 
science  n'est  pas  mise  partout  a  la  seconde  place,  les 
maux  qui  nous  attendent  sont  incalculables :  nous 
serons  abrutis  par  la  science,  et  c'est  le  dernier  degr6 
de  I'abrutissement. 
De  Maistre,  "Essai  sur  les  principes  gen^rateurs. " 

Glasgow,  July  i.  D.  M. 


World-Time. 

■"  Summer  Time"  has  come  to  some  of  the  cities 
and  towns  of  Canada;  while  the  continental  railways 
and  their  affiliations  keep  to  their  old  "hour-belt 
times."  I  find  I  have  to  make  my  daily  meteoro- 
logical notes  in  60th  meridian  time,  although  my 
watch  runs  one  hour  ahead.  The  confusion  when  the 
different  time  notations  of  tide  tables,  astronomical 
tables,  railway  time  tables,  and  the  town  clock  have 
to  be  observed  cannot  be  obviated.  It  may  train  us, 
however,  to  be  ready  to  adopt  world-time  when  it  is 
offered. 

Is  it  not  now  desirable  that  with  our  continental 
railways  and  telegraphs,  transoceanic  cables  and  omni- 
present wireless,  we  should  use  the  same  time  in  even- 
part  of  the  world?  For  railway  travel,  telegraphic 
contracts,  news,  and  scientific  observations  it  would 
be  exact,  simple,  and  without  danger  of  confusion. 

SupjX)se,  when  the  sun  is  vertical  to  the  180th 
meridian  from  Greenwich,  every  clock  and  watch  in 
the  world  should  point  to  the  hour  o  at  the  beginning 
of  "  the  day."  When  vertical  to  the  meridian  of 
Greenwich  it  would  be  12  everywhere.  A\'hen 
approaching  the  i8oth  meridian  the  clocks  would  be 
approaching  24. 

Every  locality  would  settle  its  most  convenient 
:ime  for  breakfast,  etc.,  at,  e.g.,  6,  8,  12,  14,  or 
23  o'clock.  From  May  i  to  October  i  we  could 
henceforward  with  comfort  adopt  the  unwritten  law 
of  fixing  the  events  one  hour  earlier.  Nothing  to 
puzzle  over — not  necessary  even  to  change  your  watch 
an  hour  four  times  in  going  from  Halifax  to  Victoria. 
.The  telegram  dates  in  the  newspapers  would  give  us 
the  true  interval  of  time  since  the  event  without  a 
calculation.  Even  the  reductions  of  the  diurnal  tem- 
peratures of  the  meteorologist  would  be  no  more 
troublesome  than  they  are  at  present  under  the  so- 
called  "  daylight-saving,"  time-consuming  attempt  to 
deceive   the   public   to   its  advantage. 

Halifax,    Nova   Scotia,  A.    H.    Mack.ay. 

June  16. 

NO.    2436,    VOL.    97] 


Birds'  Songs  and  the   Diatonic  Scale. 

The  records  of  birds'  songs  given  in  the  Times  of 
June  14  and  following  days,  imd  referred  to  in  the 
interesting  article  by  Dr.  W.  Warde  Fowler  in 
Nature  of  June  29,  are  almost  entirely  confined 
to  the  major  triad  and  its  inversions.  These  three 
notes,  though  taking  their  place  in  the  diatonic  scale, 
are  the  least  artificial  part  of  that  scale,  being  the 
third,  fourth,  and  fifth  harmonics  of  a  fundamental 
note.  The  writer  has  so  frequently  heard  these  three 
notes  sung  in  good  tune  by  the  blackbird  in  rural 
districts  and  in  different  parts  of  the  country  that 
the  suggestion  that  the  song  is  due  to  imitation  seems 
untenable;  neither  does  it  seem  necessary  to  attribute 
to  the  bird  a  mental  appreciation  of  correct  intonation. 
The  writer  hazards  the  suggestion  that  these  ele- 
mentary inter\als  are  produced  without  mental  or 
undue  muscular  effort  as  harmonics,  just  as  a  bugler 
sounds  his  calls  on  these  same  notes  by  evoking  the 
different    harmonics   of    his   instrument. 

32  Willoughby  Road,  N.W.,         C.  O.   Bartrum. 
July  2. 


i  STATE    AFFORESTATION. 

SIR  JOHN   STIRLING   MAXWELL   in   three 
recent  articles  in  the  Times  (June  19,  20,  and 
!  26)  deals  with  State  afforestation,  which  will  prob- 
'  ably  prove  to  be  one  of  the  best  means  for  the 
'.  settlement  of  soldiers  and  sailors  on  the  land  after 
.  the  war,   and   at  the   same   time   be  effective   in 
'  utilising-  the  large  tracts  of  waste  land  which  are 
unsuitable  for  tillage  and  unprofitable  for  grazing. 
In  spite  of  the  numerous  official  Commissions  and 
Committees  w-hich  during  the  past  twenty  years 
i  have  all  agreed  on  the  urgent  need  of  national 
I  afforestation,  little  progress  has  been  made.     The 
i  Development  Grant  was  instituted  in  1909  for  the 
express  purpose  of  "the  purchase  and  preparation 
of  land  for  afforestation  and  the  setting  up  of  a 
number  of  experimental  forests  on  a  large  scale  " ; 
but  these  objects   have   not  been   achieved.      Sir 
John    points   out    the   probable    reasons    for   this 
failure.       In     the     past    poor     management   and 
irregular  sales  on  the  majority  of  privately  owned 
woodland     estates,    in    conjunction    with    an    un- 
organised  timber   trade   and   heavy   and   unequal 
rates  of  freight  by  rail  on  home-grown  as  com- 
pared  with   imported  timber,    have   all  combined 
"to  turn  profit  into  loss,  and  give  forestry  a  bad 
name."     This  influenced  the  Development  Com- 
missioners,  who  limited   their  encouragement  erf 
forestry   to   "certain   small  but  useful   grants   in 
aid  of  education,  and  in  finding  money  to  provide 
local  forestry   advisers.      Of  actual  afforestation, 
a  few  acres  planted  in  the  water  catchment  areas 
of  Liverpool  and  Edinburgh  are  the  only  instal- 
ments." 

Conditions  have  naturally  not  improved  since 
August,  1914.  Owing  to  the  rapidly  increasing 
price  and  serious  diminution  in  the  import  of 
foreign  timber,  the  Government  has  been  forced 
to  draw  extensively  on  home  supplies;  and  an 
enormous  amount  of  timber  is  now  being  felled 
in  all  parts  of  the  country.  This  is  necessary 
as  a  war  measure ;   but   we  do   not   hear  of   anv 


382 


NATURE 


[July  6,  191 6 


precautions  being  taken  to  secure  the  replanting 
of  the  felled  areas.  The  destruction  of  our  wood- 
lands, already  much  too  small  for  our  needs,  is 
alarming.  The  consideration  now  of  some  definite 
forest  policy,  to  be  carried  out  immediately  after 
the  war,  is  a  pressing  matter. 

Sir  John  Maxwell  proposes  a  scheme  for  the 
gradual  planting  of  the  better  class  of  waste 
land  now  included  in  sheep  grazings  and  deer 
forests.  About  6,000,000  acres  can  probably  be 
profitably  planted,  of  which  2,000,000  acres  might 
be  undertaken  during  the  next  twenty  years.  This 
is  to  be  carried  out  in  combination  with  the  estab- 
lishment of  small  holdings,  the  occupiers  of  which 
will  do  the  necessary  work  of  planting  in  winter, 
while  attending  to  their  little  farms  in  summer.  It 
is  estimated  that  10,000  acres,  which  under  sheep 
or  deer  at  present  support  ten  or  twelve  families, 
will,  if  the  bulk  be  planted,  afford  direct  support 
to  more  than  a  hundred  families.  The  dales  of 
northern  England,  the  valleys  of  Wales,  and  the 
glens  of  Scotland  afford  perfect  sites  for  such 
settlements.  This  forest  policy,  here  so  briefly 
outlined,  is  based  on  an  elaborate  study,  "The 
Forest  Survey  of  Glen  Mor,^  made  by  Lord  Lovat 
and  Captain  Stirling  of  Keir,  and  published  in 
191 1  by  the  Royal  Scottish  Arboricultural  Society. 
This  scheme  of  afforestation  has  the  great  ad- 
vantage that  it  does  not  interfere  in  any  way 
with  existing  cultivation. 

The  concluding  article  urges  the  immediate  ap- 
pointment of  a  small  body,  say  three  Forestry 
Commissioners,  to  whom  shall  be  assigned  the  task 
of  creating  a  definite  area  of  forest  within  a  definite 
time.  It  will  take  at  least  two  years  to  make  the 
necessary  preparations,  so  that  this  new  Commis- 
sion, devoted  to  forestry  and  to  nothing  else, 
should  be  appointed  at  once.  About  a  hundred 
forestry  officers  will  utimately  be  required,  who 
would  be  trained  in  forestry  for  two  years,  partly 
in  France  or  Denmark  and  partly  in  this  country 
— young  men  with  a  good  scientific  education 
to  be  selected,  and  "the  temptation  to  employ 
retired  Indian  foresters  in  these  posts  to  be 
resisted." 

Other  immediate  steps  advocated  are  the  survey 
of  districts  suitable  for  afforestation  and  the  selec- 
tion of  forest  sites.  The  land  is  to  be  acquired  by 
purchase  or  perpetual  lease — compulsion  to  be  re- 
sorted to  and  the  price  to  be  settled  by  arbitration 
when  terms  cannot  be  otherwise  arranged.  The 
forests  should  be  4000  to  10,000  acres  in  extent, 
but  not  necessarily  inside  a  ring  fence,  as  a 
forest  may  be  composed  of  separate  blocks  (each 
not  less  than-  500  acres  in  area)  situated  in  the 
same  district.  The  necessary  housing  for  the 
foresters,  woodmen,  and  labourers  cannot  be 
undertaken  while  the  war  lasts ;  but  if  men  are  to 
be  absorbed  from  the  Army  after  peace  is  made, 
temporary  buildings,  of  which  there  will  be  no 
lack,  can  be  used.  Many  other  practical  proposals 
are  embodied  in  this  comprehensive  plan  for  the 
economic  establishment  of  State  forests  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland. 

NO.    2436,   VOL.    97] 


SCIENTIFIC   DEVELOPMENT    IN    RUSSIA. 

A  REVIEW,  however  cursory,  of  scientific 
-^^  work  in  Russia  during  the  past  two  years 
must  take  account  of  two  features  of  outstanding 
interest  and  importance.  One  is  the  appointment, 
on  the  initiative  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of 
Sciences  of  Petrograd,  of  a  commission  to  in- 
vestigate and  report  on  the  natural  resources  of 
the  Russian  Empire  with  a  view  to  their  scientific 
and  practical  development  and  utilisation. 

Stated  in  one  bald  sentence  this  may  not  appear 
particularly  impressive,  but  looked  at  through  the 
lens  of  imagination  it  is  revealed  as  a  stupendous 
project  with  far-reaching  aims  and  destined  to 
lead  to  incalculable  results.  The  prime  incentive 
is  the  fact  that  in  Russia,  as  elsewhere,  the  eyes 
of  the  nation  have  been  opened  and  attention  has 
been  focussed  on  what  was  in  times  of  peace 
known  to  many,  deplored  by  some,  and  passively 
acquiesced  in  by  all :  the  extent  to  which  its 
economic  life  has  been  honeycombed  by  the 
greater  energy,  enterprise,  and  initiative  of  the 
Germans.  It  is  now  realised  that  this  economic 
dependence,  extending  to  many  things  which 
might  just  as  well  have  been  supplied  by  native 
industry,  went  far  beyond  the  limits  of  a  natural 
and  legitimate  exchange  of  products  between 
neighbouring  countries,  and  the  Empire  is  firmly 
resolved  to  make  a  determined  effort  to  put  an 
end  to  an  intolerable  anomaly.  Russia  stands  at 
the  parting  of  the  ways,  and  we  in  this  year  of 
grace  are,  it  may  be,  witnessing  the  economic 
birth  of  a  nation. 

As  may  be  supposed,  the  development  of  such 
a  comprehensive  scheme  to  the  point  of  efi"ective 
utility  has  not  been  accomplished  without  much 
discussion  and  some  hostile  criticism.  One  critic 
"doubts  if  the  time  is  well  chosen  for  embarking 
on  such  an  ambitious  enterprise  when  the  strength 
of  the  Empire  is  being  taxed  to  the  utmost  by 
this  terrible  war.  The  end  proposed  is  highly 
desirable,  but  .  .  .  the  programme  is  so  enormous 
that  the  preliminary  steps  alone  will  take  years, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  long  interval  that  must 
elapse  between  scientific  investigation  and  prac- 
tical fruition  .  .  .";  and  he  goes  on  to  point  out 
many  problems  to  the  immediate  solution  of  which 
the  Academy  might  in  this  crisis  more  profitably 
apply  its  energies.  However,  the  commission  has 
in  a  surprisingly  short  time  got  to  work — the  first 
sitting  took  place  only  in  October  of  last  year — 
and  is  issuing  a  series  of  monographs,  several  of 
which  have  already  been  published,  each  written 
by  a  specialist,  dealing,  by  way  of  a  commence- 
ment, with  the  vast  field,  in  many  directions  Un- 
developed, in  others  lying  fallow,  of  Russian 
mining  and  metallurgy. 

The  other  item  of  interest  is  the  convening  of 
a  conference  by  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences 
to  consider  the  proposal  to  found  a  Russian 
Botanical  Society  with  its  own  official  journal. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  botanical  investigation 
carried  on  in  Russia  by  various  institutions 
scattered  all  over  the  country,  but  it  is  felt  that 


July  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


3«3 


great  advantage  would  accrue  from  co-ordination 
and  centralisation,  and  that  the  founding  of  such 
a  society  is  only  the  just  due  of  the  importance  of 
Russian  botany  "in  view  of  the  eminent  position 
which  Russia  is  destined  to  occupy  after  the  war." 

But  side  by  side  with  these  special  activities, 
which  are  the  direct  outcome  of  the  quickening 
of  the  nation's  pulse,  there  is,  as  in  normal  times, 
a  great  amount  of  quiet,  unobtrusive  research  in 
the  domains  of  biological  and  physical  science. 
Though  there  may  be  no  epoch-making  discovery 
to  record,  there  is  scarcely  a  field  of  mental 
activity  left  untilled.  Many  a  peaceful  backwater 
is  being  navigated  undisturbed  by  the  clash  of 
arms,  and  it  is  pleasant  to  read  of  ethnographical 
and  philological  investigations,  or  of  an  exp>edition 
to  the  Jablonovy  Range  to  study  the  local  fauna, 
with  its  picturesque  account  of  explorations  in 
stepp>es,  morasses,  and  virgin  forests.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  note,  in  this  connection,  that  there  is 
scarcely  a  provincial  town  of  any  importance  in 
Russia  without  its  medical  society  and  association 
of  local  naturalists,  or,  as  the  charming  Russian 
idiom  has  it,  "lovers  of  nature  lore,"  true 
amateurs  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word  and  all 
contributing  their  quota  to  the  common  stock. 
Worthy  of  mention  also  are  the  efforts  made  for 
the  preservation,  as  far  as  may  be  possible  in  the 
circumstances,  of  valuable  treasures  of  art, 
science,  and  archaeology  in  the  war-zone,  such 
efforts  not  to  be  confined  to  the  limits  of  the 
Empire,  but  to  be  extended  to  enemy  territory 
occupied  by  Russia.  It  is  pointed  out  that  price- 
less products  of  human  culture  may  be  saved  if 
timely  measures  be  taken,  and  to  this  end  the 
service  of  various  scientific  experts  has  been 
secured  and  the  sympathetic  co-operation  of  the 
military  staff  enlisted. 

Finally,  mention  must  be  made  of  the  decision 
of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  exclusion  of  alien  enemies  from  the 
list  of  honorary  members.  As  the  result  of  a 
conference  held  in  March  of  last  year  to  consider 
the  matter  the  Academy  expresses  itself  as  loth, 
by  such  exclusion,  to  place  any  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  the  resumption  after  the  war  of  that  inter- 
national co-operation  for  the  progress  of  science 
which  will,  it  foresees,  play  a  greater  part  than 
ever  in  the  development  of  European  civilisation, 
"when  an  end  has  been  made  of  those  hegemo- 
nistic  strivings  which,  not  content  with  the  sphere 
of  politics,  have  invaded  that  of  science."  Truly 
a  dignified  attitude,  worthy  of  an  august  institu- 
tion which  can  look  back  with  just  pride  on  well- 
nigh  two  centuries  of  enlightened  effort  and  solid 
achievement. 


MORTALITY   TABLES  AND   PREVENTIVE 
MEDICINE. 

THE  presidential  address  of  Dr.  W.  W.  Camp- 
bell to  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  at  its  San  Francisco  meet- 
ing, which  was  reprinted  in  Nature  of  December  2, 
191 5  (xcvi.,  pp.  381-386),  raised  a  question  of 
much  interest  from  both  the  scientific  and  practical 
NO.    2436,   VOL.    97] 


points  of  view.  Starting  from  the  principle  of  the 
infallible  and  universal  obedience  to  law,  the  strict 
accountability  of  effect  to  cause,  which  is  the 
property  of  all  matter,  Dr.  Campbell  showed  that 
the  recent  discoveries  in  preventive  and  curative 
medicine  are  among  the  most  valued  contributions 
to  civilisation  in  the  entire  range  of  scientific  re- 
search. He  argued  that  they  had  increased  the 
average  length  of  life  by  many  years,  and  that, 
while  that  increase  had  been  greatest  for  children 
and  women  and  those  not  in  robust  health,  it  had 
also  been  great  for  those  healthy  men  whose  lives 
have  been  accepted  as  risks  to  be  insured  by  the 
life  insurance  companies.  He  suggested  that 
during  the  past  thirty  years  the  increase  in  the 
duration  of  those  lives  has  meant  a  money-saving 
far  surpassing  all  the  sums  that  universities, 
research  institutes,  and  individuals  have  ever 
spent  in  medical  investigation.  In  the  same  spirit 
of  scientific  enthusiasm,  Sir  William  Ramsay 
said  at  Havre,  a  few  days  before  the  European 
war  broke  out,  that  "Pasteur  and  Lister  had 
saved  more  lives  than  the  most  sanguinary  of  wars 
had  destroyed." 

We  need  not  question  these  authoritative  state- 
ments. There  is  a  high  probability  that  the  dura- 
tion of  human  life  has  increased ;  there  is  also 
a  high  probability  that  recent  progress  in  preven- 
tive and  curative  medicine  has  greatly  contributed 
to  that  increase.  But  there  are  also  other  causes 
which  may  have  contributed  to  it.  The  extent  of 
the  improvement  in  longevity  which  had  taken 
place  during  the  nineteenth  century  was  discussed 
by  the  fourth  International  Congress  of  Actuaries 
at  New  York,  and  a  paper  was  read  by  Mr. 
Warner,  actuary  of  the  Law  L'nion  Insurance 
Company  in  London,  in  which  he  estimated  the 
average  age  at  death  of  males  in  England  and 
Wales  at  27' 15  in  1840,  28'35  ^^  1870,  and  33*63 
in  1900 ;  and  that  of  females  at  29*38  in  1840, 
3088  in  1870,  and  3690  in  1900 — the  increase 
during  the  second  thirty  years  having  been  in  both 
cases  more  than  four  times  that  of  the  previous 
thirty  years.  Though  the  data  upon  which  these 
estimates  were  founded  are  admitted  to  be  imper- 
fect, their  results  tend  to  confirm  the  conclusions 
to  which  we  have  referred  as  highly  probable. 
The  contributory  causes  would  seem  to  be  greater 
care  of  infant  life,  better  sanitation,  temperance, 
general  prosperity  leading  to  more  abundant  and 
wholesome  nutrition,  and  perhaps  also  more  atten- 
tion to  athletics  and  ablutions. 

Dr.  Campbell,  indeed,  says  that  "life  assurance 
business  has  been  based  upon  mortality  tables 
which  represented  the  expectation  of  life  under 
the  relatively  unhealthy  conditions  which  existed 
a  half-century  ago.  Those  tables  do  not  fit  modem 
conditions."  We  agree  with  him  that  the  law  of 
uniformity  is  the  foundation  of  actuarial  science, 
and  that  given  a  sufficient  average  the  rate  of 
mortality  now  existing  may  be  expected  to  con- 
tinue to  prevail  as  long  as  circumstances  remain 
the  same;  but  in  the  practical  conduct  of  life 
insurance  that  is  not  the  only  thing  to  be  con- 
sidered. A  short  sketch  in  broad  outline  of  its 
past  history  may  serve  to  explain  what  we  mean. 


384 


NATURE 


[July  6,  1916 


The  early  insurance  companies  charged  a  flat 
rate  of  5I.  per  cent,  for  members  of  all  ages, 
which  was  unfair  to  their  younger  members,  but 
profitable  to  the  companies.  Then  Price  was 
lucky  enough  to  come  across  the  work  of  that 
worthy  clerk  of  Northampton  whose  bills  of  mor- 
tality were  prefaced  each  year  by  verses  of  the  poet 
Cowper,  and  by  the  aid  of  those  bills  constructed 
a  table  of  mortality.  His  method  was  erroneous, 
but  the  error  was  on  the  right  side,  for  he  made 
the  mortality  to  be  greater  than  it  really  was,  and 
so-  as  long  as  the  Northampton  table  was  used 
the  prosperity  of  the  companies  continued.  Then 
Milne  constructed  another  table  from  the  mor- 
tality .experienced  at  Carlisle.  Milne's  methods 
were  correct,  but  his  table,  being  based  on  a 
limited  local  experience,  was  founded  on  insuffi- 
cient data  and  was  unevenly  graduated.  Still  it 
served  as  a  standard  table  for  very  many  years, 
until  Farr  prepared  from  the  Registrar-General's 
returns  for  the  whole  population  the  English  life 
tables.  These  failed  in  the  other  direction;  they 
were  too  general.  We  are  not  including  in  these 
observations   the   industrial   insurances. 

In  these  circumstances  the  Institute  of  Actuaries 
constructed  a  table  from  the  actual  experience  of 
the  companies,  known  as  the  H°^  or  healthy  male 
table;  but  by  the  year  1893,  as  Mr.  George  King 
wrote,  "it  came  to  be  felt  that  the  Institute  of 
Actuaries'  experience  was  passing  out  of  date." 
It  was  resolved  to  construct  a  table  of  mortality 
on  the  experience  of  sixty  companies  during  the 
thirty  years  from  1863  to  1893,  leaving  out  of 
account  all  the  experience  of  the  earlier  days  of 
the  companies.  In  1901  (not  "a  half-century  ago," 
as  Dr.  Campbell  puts  it)  tables  based  on  this 
experience  were  published,  and  they  are  now  the 
standard  tables  in  use. 

It  appears  from  all  we  have  said  that  the  insur- 
ance companies  have  been  alive  to  the  fact  that 
the  duration  of  hfe  has  been  gradually  increasing, 
and  have  not  been  unwilling  to  give  their  policy- 
holders from  time  to  time  the  benefit  of  the 
advance  of  knowledge  in  that  respect.  The  war 
has  now  come  to  throw  a  new  and  lurid  light  on 
this  question.  It  has  destroyed  the  lives  or  ruined 
the  health  of  many  of  those  "whose  lives  have 
been  accepted  as  risks  to  be  insured."  But  it  will 
come  to  an  end  some  day,  and  normal  conditions 
will  in  time  be  restored.  Meanwhile,  we  may  be 
well  content  with  the  materials  with  which 
actuarial  science  has  already  furnished  us. 


TROPICAL    DISEASES. 

THE  Bulletin  of  the  St.  Louis  University  for 
January,  1916,  contains  a  report  of  the  work 
of  the  expedition  sent  by  the  University  to  British 
Honduras  last  summer  for  the  study  of  tropical 
diseases.  This  expedition,  intentionally  planned 
for  the  purpose  of  a  preliminary  study  of  methods 
of  procedure,  etc.,  illustrates  the  advantage  of 
these  research  expeditions.  It  is  not  that  labora- 
tories do  not  exist  and  that  research  is  not  carried 
out  in  British  Honduras,  but  such  an  expedition 

NO.    2436,   VOL.   97] 


comes  with  a  fresh  outlook  on  problems,  and 
matters  which  may  be  taken  to  be  among  the 
most  ordinary  events,  scarcely  worthy  of  record  in 
official  reports,  strike  the  members  of  an  expedition 
with  an  entirely  fresh  force.  We  may  illustrate  this 
by  two  interesting  examples,  though  perhaps  not 
of  great  importance.  We  do  not  recollect  in  the 
official  reports  of  British  Honduras — and,  indeed, 
it  may  be  because  one  does  not  read  official  reports 
sufficiently  carefully — the  occurrence  of  poisoning, 
said  to  be  common  during  the  summer  months, 
by  the  baracouta  fish,  nor  do  we  recollect  having 
heard  of  this  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  where 
the  baracouta  forms  a  welcome  addition  to  the 
ordinary  diet  of  skinny  chickens.  Again,  the 
"  botlass"  fly  (unidentified),  after  alighting  on  the 
skin,  leaves  a  black,  hard  spot  and  the  bite  is 
very  painful.  This,  again,  to  us  is  a  new  fact 
and  one  certainly  that  should  be  investigated. 

The  Bulletin  has  a  special  interest  in  that  it 
contains  an  "  In  Memoriam  "  notice  of  the  life  and 
work  of  Dr.  Edward  Nelson  Tobey,  who  was  in 
charge  of  this  expedition  to  British  Honduras  to 
study  tropical  diseases.  He  lost  his  life  on  the 
ship  Marowijne,  in  a  West  Indian  hurricane,  on 
August  14.  His  life,  as  recorded  here,  was  "one 
of  unreached  ambition  and  of  unrealised  hope. 
It  was  all  effort  and  venture,  with  but  little 
fruition  and  rest."  The  words  of  Meredith's 
sonnet  on  "  Internal  Harmony  " — 

So  that  I  draw  the  breath  of  finer  air 
Station  is  nought,  nor  footways  laurel-strewn 
Nor  rivals  tightly   belted  for  the  race. 
Good  speed  to  them  !    My  place  is  here  or  there ; 
My  pride  is  that  among  them  I  have  place  : 
And  thus  I  keep  this  instrument  in  tune  — 

are,  as  those  who  knew  "  old  Tobey  "  personally 
can  confidently  assert,  well  applicable  to  him. 

J.  W.  w.  s. 

THE  MITTAG-LEFFLER   INSTITUTE. 

IT  was  announced  in  our  issue  of  March  23 
(p.  85)  that  Mme.  Mittag-Leffler  and  her 
husband.  Prof.  G.  Mittag-Leffler,  the  eminent- 
inathematician,  had  made  a  will  devoting  the  whole 
of  their  property  to  the  promotion  of  pure  mathe- 
matics. Details  of  this  significant  foundation  are 
given  in  the  Revue  generale  des  Sciences  of  May 
30,  from  which  the  following  particulars  have  been 
derived  : — 

The  bequest  includes  their  freehold  villa  with 
its  contents,  among  which  is  a  fine  mathematical 
library ;  and  an  endowment  to  provide  for  its 
upkeep,  salary  of  its  curator,  and  other  specified 
purposes.  To  encourage  the  study  of  pure  mathe- 
matics in  Sweden,  Denmark,  Finland,  and  Norway 
there  are  to  be  bursaries  tenable  by  young  people 
of  both  sexes  belonging  to  these  countries;  they 
must  show  real  aptitude  for  research  in  pure 
mathematics,  but  may  pursue  their  studies  at  home 
or  abroad.  There  is  to  be  a  gold  medal,  similar 
to  the  minor  Nobel  medal,  for  pure  mathema- 
ticians belonging  to  the  aforesaid  countries  who 
produce  works  above  the  average ;  and  a  prize 
for  pure  mathematics,  to  be  awarded,  if  possible, 


July  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


385 


at  least  once  in  every  six  years,  which  is  open 
to  the  whole  world.  The  only  express  condition 
is  that  the  award  is  to  be  for  discoveries  of  real 
importance  in  the  domain  of  pure  mathematics. 

It  is  intended  that  the  director  of  the  institute 
should  be  an  eminent,  and  at  the  same  time  sym- 
p>athetic,  mathematician.  The  library  will  be 
available  for  all  serious  students,  and  they  will 
have  the  privileg-e  of  consulting-  the  director.  Part 
of  his  duties  will  consist  in  giving  courses  of 
lectures  to  a  limited  number  of  "  really  gifted 
auditors,  keenly  interested  in  his  discourses." 
Prof.  Mittag-Leffler  states  that,  in  making  his 
arrang-ements,  he  has  taken  as  his  model  the 
Pasteur  Institute;  and  the  final  clause  of  this 
enlightened  and  far-seeing  document  is  as 
follows  : — 

Our  will  owes  its  origin  to  the  lively  conviction 
that  a  people  which  does  not  hold  Mathematics  in 
high  esteem  will  never  be  able  to  fulfil  the  loftiest 
duties  of  civilisation ;  and  that  consequently  it  will 
fail  to  enjoy  that  international  consideration  which, 
in  the  long  run,  forms  an  effective  means  of  preserv- 
ing our  status  in  the  world,  and  of  maintaining  our 
right  to  live  our  individual  life.* 

We  have  only  to  add  that  in  our  opinion  this 
is  a  noble  example  of  well-directed  pjatriotism  and 
philanthropy  which  ought  to  lead  to  many  imita- 
tions. 

NOTES. 

We  learn  with  much  regret  that  Prince  Boris 
Galitzin,  professor  of  physics  in  the  Impterial  Academy 
of  Sciences,  Petrograd,  and  a  distinguished  worker  in 
seismology,  died  on  April  21/ May  4. 

We  notice  with  deep  regret  the  announcement  of 
the  death  on  June  30,  at  seventy  years  of  age,  of  Sir 
Gaston  Maspero,  the  well-known  Egyptologist  and 
permanent  secretary  of  the  Acad^mie  des  Inscriptions 
et  Belles-Lettres,  Paris. 

The  twenty-seventh  annual  meeting  of  the  Museums 
Association  will  be  held  at  Ipswich  on  Tuesday  and 
Wednesday,  July  11  and  12,  under  the  presidency  of 
Mr.  E.  Rimbault  Dibdin,  Curator  of  the  Walker  Art 
Gallery,   Liverpool. 

The  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Eugenics  Educa- 
tk)n  Society  will  be  held  at  the  Grafton  Galleries, 
London,  W.,  to-day  (July  6),  at  4  p.m.,  when  the 
presidential  address  wiU  be  delivered  by  Mr.  Leonard 
Darwin. 

A  SPECIAL  Prize  Fellowship  of  looZ.,  offered  by  the 
Federation  of  University  Women  to  encourage  research 
on  some  questions  of  special  interest  in  the  present 
national  crisis,  has  been  awarded  by  the  Federation 
to  Dr.  Alice  Lee,  Fellow  of  University  College, 
London.  Miss  Lee  has  collaborated  for  some  years 
with  Dr.  Karl  Pearson  in  many  statistical  investiga- 
tions, and  is  also  the  author  of  several  independent 
communications.  She  is  about  to  undertake  an  in- 
vestigation into  the  birth-rate  as  affected  by  present 
conditions. 

In  the  Times  of  July  3  its  special  correspondent, 
in  describing  the  battle  on  the  Somme,  refers  to  the 

^  "  Notre  testament  doit  son  origine  a  la  Tivante  conviction  qu'un  peuple 
qui  n'accorde  pas  aux  Matbematlqoes  un  rang  elev6  dans  son  estime,  ne  sera 
iamais  en  etat  de  remplir  le?  plus  hautes  taches  civilisatrices  et  de  jouir,  par 
SBite,  de  la  consideration  Internationale  qui,  elle  au^si,  constitue  a  la  longn« 
un  moyen  eflicace  de  conserver  notre  situation  dans  le  monde  et  de  sauve- 
garder  notre  droit  a  vivre  notre  propre  vie." 


occasional  inaudibility  of  the  gun-firing  at  short 
distances.  "Last  night"  (June  29),  be  says,  "I 
watched  the  bombardment  from  a  p>osition  commandr 
ing  a  view  of  a  large  section  of  the  front.  ...  It 
was  a  soft  dark  night,  with  a  light  westerly  wind. 
.  .  .  The  comparative  noiselessness  of  the  bombard- 
ment from  near  at  hand  last  night  was  very  curious." 
On  the  hilltop  where  he  stood  he  was  unable  to  hear 
"  any  sound  save  of  the  guns  immediately  by  us, 
with  occasional  bursts  of  sound  coming  quite  illogic- 
ally  from  far  away.  And  all  the  while  the  flare  and 
flashing  of  the  shells  was  continuous." 

We  regret  to  announce  that  M.  Emile  Waxweiler, 

who  before   the   war   was   the  director  of  the  Solvay 

Institute    of    Sociology    at    Brussels    University,    was 

killed    in    London    on    June  26   by    a    motor-car.     An 

appreciative  account  of  M.  Waxweiler's  work,  in  the 

i   Times   of   June   29,    points    out    that    the  sociological 

I  studies  produced  by  him  and  under  his  direction  were 

j  models  of  scientific  inquiry.     Among  his  best-known 

j  works  before  the  war  are  his   '"High  Wages  in   the 

I  United     States"     and     '^Profit     Sharing."     He     was 

j  recently   apqjointed  director  of   the    Belgian    Office  of 

I   Economic  Studies,  established  in  London  to  ascertain 

j   the  needs  of  Belgian  trade  and  industry- ;  and  he  was 

i   also    chosen    as   a    delegate    to    the    recent    Economic 

I   Conference  at  Paris,  where  he  was  the  right  hand  of 

I  the  Belgian  Premier,   M.  de  Broque\ille. 

A  DEPUTATION  from  the  Royal  Scottish  Arboricul- 
tural  Society  met  a  number  of  Scottish  members  at 
the  House  of  Commons  on  July  4  and  laid  before 
them  the  case  for  the  creation  of  a  Department  of 
Forestry  connected  with  the  Board  of  Agriculture, 
for  the  development  of  forestry'  in  Scotlan<^  and  the 
preparation  of  schemes  of  afforestation.  In  connection 
with  this  subject  the  Parliamentary  correspondent  of 
the  Times  states  that  the  Government  has  decided  bo 
conduct  an  inquuy-  into  the  subject  of  afforestation 
after  the  war.  The  inquiry  has  been  entrusted  to  a 
sub-committee  of  the  Reconstruction  Committee  of 
the  Cabinet. 

The  failure  of  the  L"ruguayan  trawler  Instituto 
Pesca  to  reach  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton's  men  on 
Elephant  Island  was  not  surprising  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  she  is  an  unprotected  vessel  and  made  the 
attempt  in  the  Antarctic  midwinter.  The  Uruguayan 
Government,  however,  has  ordered  her  to  lie  at  Punta 
Arenas  awaiting  a  more  favourable  opportunity. 
Meanwhile  the  damage  she  sustained  in  the  ice  is 
being  repaired.  Open  water  up  to  Elephant  Island 
is  quite  possible  .in  any  month  of  the  year,  but  it  can 
never  be  relied  on,  and  so  the  chances  of  the  Instituto 
Pesca  succeeding  are  most  problematical.  The  Argen- 
tine sloop  Uruguay,  which  rescued  the  wTecked 
Swedish  exf>edition  in  1903,  is  unfit  for  service.  But 
it  is  reported  that  the  Chilian  Government  has  a 
wooden  whaler,  which  has  been  offered  to  Sir  Ernest 
Shackleton.  If  she  is  in  good  repair,  this  vessel 
should  be  able  to  reach  the  marooned  men,  for  even 
if  heavv  pack  is  encountered  a  strong  wooden  ship 
could  either  force  a  passage  or  lie  and  wait  for  the 
pack  to  slacken.  This  appears  to  be  the  only  possible 
ship  in  South  American  waters.  A  suitable  ship  could 
be  secured  in  this  country,  but,  at  the  earliest*  could 
not  reach  Elephant  Island  before  the  end  of  August. 
If,  however,  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  reports  that  the 
shipping  resources  of  South  America  cannot  meet  the 
demand,  a  vessel  will  be  sent  from  home. 

The  Manchester  City  Council  (governing  bodv  of 
the  Manchester  School  of  Technology)  has  just  decided 
to  establish  forthwith  a  new  sub-apartment  of  the 
school  for  post-graduate  studv  and  research  in  coal- 


NO.    2436,    VOL.    97] 


;86 


NATURE 


[July  6,  191 6 


tar  products  and  dyestuffs,  and  has  appointed  Prof. 
A.  G.  Green,  F.R.S.,  to  take  charge  of  it.  Prof. 
Green  recently  resigned  the  chair  of  tinctorial  chemis- 
•  try  at  Leeds  University  in  order  to  direct  the  research 
department  of  the  largest  Lancashire  firm  of  dyestuff 
manufacturers.  His  sub-department  will  be  under 
the  general  direction  of  Prof,  Knecht,  who  is  head  of 
the  department  of  applied  chemistry,  and  is  expert 
in  the  use  of  dyestuffs,  as  Prof.  Green  is  expert  in 
their  manufacture.  With  two  such  distinguished 
chemists  in  command,  the  Manchester  School  of 
Technology  should  be  able  to  render  invaluable  assist- 
ance to  producers  and  users  of  dyes,  and  so  to  assist 
materially  in  the  development  of  this  specially 
important  branch  of  British  chemical  industry. 

Prof.  Paul  Janet,  of  the  Sorbonne,  gives  in  the 
Revue  gdnirale  des  Sciences  a  short  account  of  the 
work  of  the  late  Prof.  Eric  Gerard,  of  the  Montefiore 
Electrotechnical  Institute,  Li^ge.  He  was  born  in 
Liege  on  September  22,  1856,  and,  after  graduating 
as  an  engineer  at  the  University  there  in  1878,  com- 
pleted his  studies  at  Paris.  In  1881  he  returned  to 
Li^ge  as  professor  of  applied  electricity  at  the  School 
of  Mines,  and  two  years  later  was  made  director  of 
the  newly  founded  Montefiore  Institute.  His  great 
abilities,  both  as  an  administrator  and  as  a  teacher, 
rapidly  raised  the  institute  to  the  prominent  position 
it  has  occupied  for  so  many  years,  and  his  "  Lemons 
sur  TElectricit^,"  which  appeared  in  1890,  was  recog- 
nised as  a  masterpiece  throughout  the  electrotechnical 
world.  He  represented  Belgium  on  all  international 
electrical  commissions,  and  his  opinions  had  great 
weight  with  his  colleagues.  When  Li^ge  was 
attacked  by  the  Germans  in  19 14  he  was  recuperating 
after  the  term's  work  at  his  country  house,  sixteen 
miles  south-east  of  Liege,  and  only  with  difficulty  got 
away  to  Holland.  Early  this  year  he  came  to 
England,  but  on  his  health  giving  way  he  returned 
to  Paris,  and  died  there  on  March  28  without  having 
seen  his  own  country. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh 
held  on  July  3  the  following  Honorary  Fellows  were 
elected  : — British  Honorary  Fellows  : — Sir  Francis 
Darwin,  Cambridge;  Dr.  J.  W.  L.  Glaisher,  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge;  Prof.  J.  N.  Langley, professor  of 
physiology,  Cambridge;  Prof.  C.  Lapworth,  emeritus 
professor  of  geology,  University  of  Birmingham ; 
Prof.  A.  Macalister,  professor  of  anatomy,  Cambridge  ; 
Prof.  A.  Schuster,  emeritus  professor  of  physics. 
University  of  Manchester.  Foreign  Honorary 
Fellows: — Prof.  C.  Barrois,  professor  of  geology  and 
mineralogy,  Lille;  Prof.  D.  H.  Campbell,  professor 
of  botany,  Leland  Stanford  University,  Cal.,  U.S.A.; 
Prof.  M.  E.  Gley,  professor  of  physiology,  Paris; 
Prof.  C.  Golgi,  professor  of  anatomy,  Rome ;  General 
W.  C.  Gorgas,  U.S.  Army  Medical  Department; 
Prof.  G.  B.  Grassi,  professor  of  comparative  anatomy, 
Rome;  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering,  professor  of  astronomy, 
Cambridge,  U.S.A. ;  Prof.  E.  Warming,  emeritus 
professor  of  botany  and  keeper  of  the  Royal  Botanic 
Gardens,  Copenhagen.  The  following  prizes  of  the 
societv  were  presented  :— The  Keith  Prize  Award  for 
the  biennial  period  1913-1915  to  Dr.  J.  H.  Ashworth 
for  his  papers  on  "  Larvae  of  Lingula  and  Pelago- 
discus "  and  on  "  Sclerocheilus,"  published  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Society,  and  for  other  papers  on 
the  morphology  and  histology  of  Polychaeta ;  and  the 
Neill  Prize  Award  for  the  biennial  period  1913-1915 
to  Dr.  R.  Campbell  for  his  paper  on  "The  Upper 
Cambrian  Rocks  at  Craigeven  Bay,  Stonehaven,"  and 
"  Downtonian  and  Old  Red  Sandstone  Rocks  of  Kin- 
cardineshire," published  in  the  Transactions  of  i!he 
Society. 

NO.    2436,    VOL.    97] 


The  Albert  Medal  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts  for 
the  current  year  has  been  awarded  to  Prof.  Elias 
Metchnikoff,  For.Mem.R.S.,  "in  recognition  of  the 
value  of  his  investigations  into  the  causes  of  immunity 
in  infective  diseases,  which  have  led  to  important 
changes  in  medical  practice,  and  to  the  establishment 
of  principles  certain  to  have  a  most  beneficial  influence 
on  the  improvement  of  public  health."  The  annual 
report  of  the  council,  published  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Society  for  June  30,  refers  to  the  award  as  follows  : 
"  The  discoveries  of  Prof.  Metchnikoff  in  regard  to  the 
nature  of  immunity  to  infective  diseases  have  con- 
i  tributed,  more  than  the  work  of  any  other  living 
man,  to  the  control  of  such  diseases,  and  to  the 
consequent  improvement  in  the  health  of  great  Euro- 
pean jjopulations,  and  the  safeguarding  of  those  who 
have  to  face  the  dangers  of  bacterial  infection, 
whether  on  the  battlefield  or  as  pioneers  in  tropical 
climates.  For  many  years,  as  professor  of  zoology 
at  Odessa,  he  was  an  ardent  student  of  lower  forms 
of  life.  It  was  by  the  study  with  the  microscope  of 
the  cell  activities  of  sponges  and  transparent  marine 
organisms  that  he  arrived  at  his  discovery  of  phago- 
cytosis. These  researches  into  the  development  and 
metamorphoses  of  invertebrates  prepared  the  way  for 
his  great  discovery,  as  he  was  led  by  the  observation 
of  the  action  of  the  mesoderm  cells  in  the  embryonic 
organs  of  echinoderms  to  the  knowledge  that  the 
white  blood-cells  or  phagocytes  devour  the  invading 
microbes  in  vertebrates  also,  and  he  was  thus  able 
to  show  the  universal  applicability  of  his  generalisa- 
tion. Prof.  Metchnikoff's  services  to  zoology  and 
pathology  are  of  world-wide  repute,  and  have  already 
been  recognised  by  the  award  of  the  Nobel  Prize  for 
Medicine,  and  of  the  Copley  Medal  of  the  Royal 
Society." 

Two  methods  of  mounting  fossil  vertebrates  are 
described  in  the  Museums  Journal  for  June.  One  of 
these  includes  the  skeleton  of  Stenomylus,  a  diminu- 
tive relation  of  the  camel.  This  has  been  recently 
mounted  in  the  British  Museum  of  Natural  History 
in  a  standing  posture,  and  partly  embedded  in 
plaster.  The  other  is  that  of  the  skeleton  of  an 
extinct  reptile,  Thescelosaurus  neglectus,  which  is 
exhibited  in  the  United  States  National  Museum 
"almost  in  the  position  in  which  the  bones  were 
found."  It  is  not  clear,  from  the  description  here 
given,  whether  the  term  "almost"  refers  merely  to 
slight  restoration  or  implies  a  remounting,  as  in  the 
original  matrix.  In  the  latter  case  the  method  has 
nothing  to  commend  it,  but  rather  the  reverse. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Zoological  Society  of 
Scotland  appears  this  year  in  a  slightly  abbreviated 
form,  owing  to  the  falling  off  of  income  incidental 
to  the  war.  It  is  devoutly  to  be  hoped  that  the 
society  has  weathered  the  worst  of  the  storm,  for 
the  newly  established  Zoological  Park  bids  fair  to 
excel  even  its  rival  in  London,  at  least  in  so  far  as 
sumptuousness  in  the  housing  of  the  animals  is  con- 
cerned. In  this,  of  course,  the  natural  advantages  of 
the  site  play  an  important  part.  Diminishing  funds 
have  made  strict  economy  an  urgent  necessity,  but  it 
is  to  be  hooed  that  no  further  curtailments  will  be 
needed.  The  Carnegie  Trustees  have  generously 
promised  the  sum  of  io,oooZ.  for  the  purpose  of  build- 
ing and  equipping  an  aquarium  in  the  park,  but^  it 
is  not  the  intention  of  the  council  to  proceed  with 
the  work  until  after  the  war. 

The  report  of  the  director  of  the  Aquarium  of  the 
Zoological  Society  of  New  York,  which  has  just 
reached  us,  has  some  interesting  comments^  on  the 
use   of   metal   tanks    for    the   transport    of    live   fish. 


July  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


1^1 


Finding  that  the  galvanised  tanks  commonly  used 
suffered  much  from  the  rough  handling  to  which  they 
were  subjected  on  shipboard,  wooden  tanks  were 
substituted.  These  have  a  capacity  of  156  gallons, 
and  have  proved  in  every  way  preferable.  A  great 
saving  both  of  labour  and  expense  has  been  effected 
by  feeding  the  fish  on  alternate  days  instead  of  every 
day.  The  mortality  has  also  decreased,  an  excess  of 
fat  having  resulted  from  a  too  liberal  diet.  Altogether 
more  than  3000  fishes,  representing  140  species,  are 
exhibited  here,  and  among  these  are  an  unusually 
fine  series  of  tropical  species,  and  "jew-fishes"  up  to 
500  lb.  in  weight.  The  porpoises  died  during  the  year 
from  water  fouled  by  sewage ;  to  avoid  losses  from 
this  source  filtering  tanks  have  been  established, 
with  eminently  satisfactory  results. 

In  Californian  Fish  and  Game,  the  journal  pub- 
lished by  the  Board  of  Fish  and  Game  Commissioners 
of  San  Francisco,  vol.  ii..  No.  2,  Mr.  Chase  Little- 
john  gives  a  brief  but  valuable  account  of  the  habits 
and  hunting  of  the  sea-otter,  which  is  fast  nearing 
extinction.  As  the  author  was  himself  for  some  years 
engaged  in  hunting  this  animal,  his  summary  makes 
an  important  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  its  life- 
history.  Unlike  all  other  aquatic  mammals,  the  sea- 
otter,  he  tells  us,  swims  on  its  back,  turning  swiftly 
over  when  about  to  dive,  but  he  affords  no  informa- 
tion as  to  the  part  played  by  the  tail  while  swimming 
at  the  surface.  Sea-urchins  appear  to  be  the  staple 
food  of  this  animal,  and  these  are  brought  to  the 
surface  and  eaten  as  the  swimmer  floats  upon  his 
back.  Squids  and  seaweed  are  also  eaten,  and 
occasionally  fish.  After  man,  the  greatest  enemy 
of  the  sea-otter  is  the  killer-whale,  from  which  it 
contrives,  at  times,  to  escape  by  floating  at  the  surface 
as  if  dead.  In  the  early  days  of  the  author's  hunting, 
sea-otters  were  met  with  off  the  coasts  of  Japan 
in  "schools"  of  as  many  as  400,  but  owing  to  the 
merciless  persecution  to  which  they  have  been  sub- 
jected hunting  is  now  no  longer  a  profitable  under- 
taking and  has  been  abandoned. 

British  Birds  for  June  contains  the  first  of  what 
promises  to  be  a  valuable  series  of  records  on  the 
breeding  habits  of  the  sparrow-hawk.  In  the  present 
contribution  the  author,  Mr.  J.  H.  Owen,  describes  ^he 
behaviour  of  the  adults  towards  the  young  during  rain. 
Ordinarily,  after  the  young  are  a  few  days  old,  the  hen 
does  not  require  her  mate  to  bring  food  to  the  nest. 
In  rain,  and  especially  in  heavy  rain,  this  is  not  so. 
She  takes  no  notice  of  his  calls,  and  he  has  to  bring 
the  food  and  deposit  it  on  the  nest.  If  the  rain  is 
not  very  heavy  she  will  then  break  it  up  and  dis- 
tribute it,  but  in  a  heavy  downpour  she  will  wait 
until  its  violence  has  ceased  rather  than  expose  her 
offspring  to  the  danger  of  a  soaking.  During  pelting 
rain  the  hen,  hurrying  home  at  the  first  sign  of 
the  impending  storm,  stands  over  her  young  with 
outspread  wings,  taking  especial  care  to  cover  her 
youngest  completely.  When  the  storm  ceases  she 
will  take  up  her  position  on  some  neighbouring  tree 
and  expose  her  sodden  plumage  to  the  sun  and  air. 
The  down  of  the  nestlings  seems  never  to  get 
thoroughly  soaked,  and  no  attempt  is  made  to  preen 
it  until  some  time  after  the  hen  has  left  them.  This 
account  is  illustrated  by  some  excellent  photographs. 

In  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society 
(vol.  xli.,  part  3,  for  May)  Mr.  C.  H.  Senn  contributes 
a  useful  paper  on  leaf  vegetables  and  how  to  cook 
them.  Vegetables  are  essential  to  both  good  eating  and 
good  health,  so  that  their  proper  preparation  and 
cooking  are  matters  of  the  first  importance.  Compared 
with  other  articles  of  diet — fish,  meat,  and  poultry — 

NO.    2436,   VOL.    97] 


vegetables  when  properly  cooked  can  be  converted 
into  correctly  balanced  food  at  about  one-third  the 
cost.  The  importance  of  paying  attention  to  such 
matters  is  therefore  essential,  especially  at  the  present 
time. 

The  importance  of  the  Canary  Island  palm.  Phoenix 
canariensis ,  is  referred  to  in  Kew'  Bulletin  No.  a. 
Dr.  G.  V.  Perez  states  that  it  is  the  best  wind-break 
for  plantations  and  also  that  it  is  an  ideal  tree  to 
plant  along  river-banks  to  prevent  soil  erosion.  In 
addition,  the  hard  kernels  are  found  in  the  Canaries 
to  be  one  of  the  best  and  most  fattening  foods  for 
pigs,  and  they  are  also  relished  by  goats.  Dr.  Perez 
mentions  that  he  is  feeding  a  milch-cow  on  the  kernels 
after  steeping  them  for  a  few  days  in  water,  and  has 
found  them  useful  for  fattening  turkeys.  Palm  honey 
can  be  obtained  from  the  trees  by  tapping.  The  prac- 
tice of  tapping  the  palms  was  probably  introduced  from 
the  opposite  coast  of  Africa  by  the  aborigines  of  the 
islands. 

In  vol.  Ixxvi.  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agri- 
cultural Society,  recently  issued.  Dr.  Winifred  Brench- 
ley  describes  the  weeds  on  arable  land  and  the  best 
means  for  their  suppression.  Surveys  of  considerable 
areas  of  agricultural  England  have  shown  that  com- 
paratively few  weeds  are  definitely  associated  with  a 
single  type  of  soil.  Some  of  the  most  noxious  weeds, 
from  the  farmer's  point  of  view,  are  quite  indifferent 
to  soil  variations ;  others,  although  of  general  dis- 
tribution, are  more  frequently  found  on  certain  soils; 
while  a  small  number  are  characteristic  of  particular 
soils,  more  especially  sand  and  chalk.  The  methods 
of  suppression  applicable  to  annual  and  perennial 
weeds  are  dealt  with  generally,  special  treatments 
being  prescribed  for  the  most  noxious  species.  Thus 
charlock  {Brassica  arvensis)  is  very  susceptible  to 
sprays  of  copper  and  iron  sulphates,  which  do  no 
harm  to  cereals  growing  in  the  same  field,  as  their 
long,  narrow  leaves  do  not  hold  the  poisons  like  the 
rough  leaves  of  the  weed.  In  this  connection  it  may 
be  noted  that  arsenical  sprays  have  been  used  success- 
fully abroad  for  weed  eradication  on  a  large  scale. 
Sometimes  a  weed  becomes  so  firmly  established  that 
ordinar>'  methods  are  useless,  and  fallowing  or  a 
change  in  the  rotation  must  be  tried.  .\s  jbl  rule, 
thorough  cultivation  of  the  soil  at  the  right  times — 
and  it  is  here  that  Dr.  Brenchley's  paper  will  greatly 
help  the  farmer — is  all  that  is  required. 

Some  notes  on  the  meteorological  obser\ations  of 
Roald  Amundsen's  .'\ntarctic  expedition  of  1911-12 
appear  in  Naturen,  a  monthly  publication  of  the 
Bergen  Museum,  for  March  and  April,  1916  (vol.  xl., 
Nos.  3  and  4).  The  paper  is  by  H.  Mohn,  who  was 
responsible  for  the  volume  on  meteorology  in  the 
scientific  publications  of  the  expedition.  Prof.  Mohn 
points  out  that  the  observations  support  the  idea, 
advocated  by  Prof.  Meinardus,  that  there  is  a  cyclonic 
movement  of  air  over  the  -\ntarctic  plateau.  The 
winds  seem  to  have  a  comparatively  high  temperature 
and  the  characteristics  of  cyclonic  winds.  The  pres- 
sure observations  showed  a  decrease  towards  the  Pole. 
The  existence  of  cyclonic  conditions  over  the  continent 
\\x)uld  account  for  the  heavy  snowfall  that  must  have 
been  required  for  the  formation  of  the  ice-cap.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  must  be  remembered  that  there  are 
evidences  that  the  snowfall  in  Antarctica  is  less  than 
it  was  and  insufficient  to  account  for  the  formation 
of  the  ice.  Certainly  it  is  not  proved  that  the  inferior 
snowfall  on  the  plateau  is  heavj-,  and  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  we  have  no  winter  observations,  except 
on  the  coast. 


388 


NATURE 


[July  6,  191 6 


After  many  vicissitudes  and  much  conflict  of 
opinion,  a  water-supply  scheme  for  Aberdeen  has  been 
definitely  laid  down,  and  although  some  time  will 
necessarily  elapse  before  the  undertaking  can  be 
carried  out  in  its  entirety  and  the  town  enjoy  the  full 
advantages  of  the  additional  supply,  it  is  recognised 
on  all  sides  that  the  settlement  of  the  vexed  question 
is  a  matter  for  congratulation.  The  present  supply 
is  drawn  from  the  Dee,  and,  despite  strong  advocacy 
of  the  merits  of  the  Avon  and  the  Dj'e,  the  future 
supply  '  will  continue  to  be  drawn  from  the  same 
source,  though  from  a  point  some  distance  further 
upstream.  The  new  intake  will  be  at  Cairnton, 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  twenty  miles  above 
Aberdeen.  One  of  the  principal  objections  raised 
against  the  Dee  scheme  was  that,  before  interception, 
the  stream  passes  through  several  populous  districts, 
such  as  Braemar,  Balmoral,  and  Ballater,  which  must 
inevitably  cause  some  degree  of  pollution.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  wide,  shallow,  and  pebbly  bed  of  the 
river  lends  itself  admirably  to  the  oxidation  of  its 
waters.  It  has  been  felt  preferable  not  to  rely  merely 
on  filtration  and  storage,  but  to  bring  about  further 
purification  by  the  excess  lime  treatment.  A  section 
of  this  work  has  already  been  installed,  and  is 
described,  with  illustrations,  in  the  Engineer  of 
June  23.  The  population  to  be  supplied  with  water 
numbers  170,000,  and  the  average  daily  consumption 
per  head  is  computed  at  40  gallons.  The  new  scheme, 
as  a  first  instalment,  will  provide  85  million  gallons 
per  day,  and  afterwards  an  additional  i^  million 
gallons  per  day. 


OVR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

A  June  Meteoric  Display. — Mr.  W.  F.  Denning 
writes  from  Bristol  :^"  On  the  evening  of  June  28, 
after  a  cloudy,  oppressive  day,  the  atmosphere  cleared. 
On  going  out  into  my  garden  to  commence  observa- 
tions at  about  10.25  G-M.T. ,  I  almost  Immediately 
saw  that  a  very  rich  and  unexpected  display  of 
meteors  was  in  progress. 

"Continuing  to  watch  until  12.15,  ^  saw  fiftj^-five 
meteors,  including  many  fine  ones.  Then  clouds 
interrupted,  but  these  had  drifted  away  and  left  the 
sky  clear  again  at  12.45,  ^"d  fourteen  additional 
meteors  were  seen  in  half  an  hour. 

"The  radiant  was  at  230^  +  54°,  and  there  seemed 
to  be  a  well-marked  companion  centre  near  ^  Bootis 
at  223° +  41°.  The  meteors  were  slow,  and  all  the 
brighter  ones  left  evanescent  trains  of  sparks.  The 
shower  seems  quite  unknown,  but  there  are  rich 
radiants  in  Quadrans  on  January  2  and  October  2." 

The  Visibility  of  Stars  in  Daylight. — Among  other 
interesting  items,  a  note  in  the  Observatory  (June) 
records  that  Sirius  was  seen  with  the  naked  eye  by 
Mr.  A.  E.  M.  Fleming  one  minute  before  sunset  on 
April  18.  It  may  be  stated  here  that  M.  Bigourdan 
has  now  obtained  grounds  for  believing  that  the 
observation  referred  to  in  Nature,  June  15,  should 
really  be  ascribed  to  Peiresc  (Cotnptes  rendus.  No.  24). 

The  Large  Meteorite  of  February  13,  1915. — This 
object  fell  in  the  Chusan  Archipelago,  near  Video,  and 
an  interesting  description  of  the  facts  attending  its 
fall,  by  Mr.  W.  F.  Tyler,  appears  in  the  Journal  of 
the  Royal  Asiatic  Society  (vol.  xlvi.,  19 15).  Mr. 
Tyler  alludes  to  many  of  the  observations  and  dis- 
cusses the  real  path,  but  the  data  were  somewhat  con- 
flicting, and  he  found  it  impossible  to  harm'onise 
them  and  derive  a  perfectly  trustworthy  result.  He 
concludes  that  the  meteorite  probably  exhibited  a 
curved  flight,  being  directed  from  N.N.E.  at  first  and 

NO.    2436,   VOL.    97} 


from  N.W.  towards  the  end.  As  to  the  actual  dimen- 
sions of  the  meteor,  Mr.  Tyler  concludes  that  the 
incandescent  mass  at  one  point  of  its  path  was  1500  ft. 
in  diameter,  while  at  the  end  it  had  declined  to  80  ft. 

Mr.  Tyler  has  done  the  best  he  could  with  dis- 
cordant materials,  but  it  is  far  easier  to  assume  that 
the  obviously  rough  observations  were  wrong  than 
that  the  meteor  had  a  very  devious  course.  The  writer 
would  prefer  to  adopt  a  straight  course  of  about 
60  geographical  miles  from  N.  by  W. 

As  to  the  diameter,  the  actual  nucleus  was  probably 
not  more  than  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter.  It 
is  well  known  that  meteoric  bodies  when  incandescent 
appear  enormously  larger  than  they  really  are.  Thus 
the  meteorite  which  fell  near  Wigan  on  October  13, 
1914,  gave  a  brilliant  illumination  and  thunder-like 
reports  over  a  wide  area,  though  it  only  weighed 
33  lb.  when  afterwards  discovered. 

The  Motion  of  the  Nuclei  of  Comet  19 15^ 
(Taylor). — In  a  series  of  measures  of  the  nuclei  of, 
Taylor's  comet,  made  at  Bergedorf  by  H.  Thieler 
between  February  19  and  April  3,  the  distance  showed; 
little  change,  but  the  position  angle  varied  consider- 
ably. The  observation  gave  a  period  of  about  thirty 
days.  If  this  is  considered  to  be  a  rotational  motion 
the  total  mass  of  the  comet  would  be  about  10-^' 
(Astronomische  Nachrichten,   No.   4846). 

On  Centre — Limb  Shifts  of  Solar  Wave-lengths. 
— An  important  memoir  dealing  with  this  subject,  by 
Mr.  J.  Evershed  and  Dr.  T.  Royds,  appears  as 
Bulletin  No.  xlix.  of  the  Kodaikanal  Observatory. 
The  alterations  of  wave-lengths  of  certain  iron  lines 
have  been  studied  in  greater  detail  over  the  sun's 
disc,  and  it  appears  that  they  begin  to  be  measurable 
not  far  from  the  centre  (o"3  of  the  radius).  Thus  the 
displacements  cannot  be  due  to  differential  pressure 
effects.  The  Inverse  relation  between  the  limb  shift 
and  centre  shift  Is  held  to  indicate  that  they  have  a 
common  origin.  The  authors  prefer  to  seek  the  cause 
In  line-of-slght  motion  rather  than  In  anomalous  dis- 
persion, although  recognising  the  possibility  of  basing 
thereon  an  attractive  explanation.  The  Doppler  effects 
would  result  if  there  exists  a  general  motion  directed 
away  from  the  earth  ,all  over  the  disc.  A  crucial  test 
of  the  hypothesis,  It  is  suggested,  would  be  afforded 
by  measures  of  lines  in  the  spectrum  of  that  face  of 
the  sun  reflected  from  the  planet  Venus. 


METALLOGRAPHIC   METHODS   IN 
AMERICA. 

TN  a  paper  on  "A  Metallographic  Description  of 
-»■  Some  Ancient  Peruvian  Bronzes  from  Machu 
PIcchu,"  Mr.  C.  H.  Matthewson,  in  the  American 
Journal  of  Science  (No.  240,  December,  1915),  gives 
an  interesting  account  of  the  detailed  application  of 
modern  metallographic  methods  to  the  study  of  ancient 
metal  objects  with  the  view  of  arriving  at  an  insight 
into  the  methods  of  working  employed  by  those  who 
fashioned  the  various  objects.  Some  work  of  this 
kind  has  already  been  done  by  Garland,  Hadfield,  and 
Rosenhain,  but  the  present  paper  carries  the  piatter 
further,  for  the  author  has  carried  out  a  somewhat 
extensive  series  of  experiments  on  the  behaviour  of 
the  tin-copper  alloys  under  cold  and  hot  working  and 
annealing,  in  order  to  arrive  as  closelv  as  possible  at 
the  precise  mode  of  treatment  which  each  of  the 
thirty-three  objects  examined  had  undergone.  While 
in  general  terms  it  has  always  been  possible  to  deter- 
mine from  a  microscopic  examination  of  such  an 
object  whether  it  has  been  cast  or  wrought,  Matthew- 
son  endeavours   to   carry   the  matter   further  and  to 


July  6,  19 16} 


NATURE 


389 


establish  with  some  degree  of  accuracy  at  what  tem- 
perature working  has  been  carried  out  and  what 
ranges  and  durations  of  annealing  have  been  em- 
ployed. For  this  purpose  he  makes  use  of  measure- 
ments of  grain-size,  of  a  classitication  of  the  degree 
of  "coring"  or  of  " homgenisation  "  which  has  been 
produced,  and  also  of  the  various  indications  of  cold 
work  or  overstrain.  Quite  apart  from  its  archaeo. 
logical  interest,  the  paper  represents  a  valuable  study 
of  the  behaviour  of  the  tin-copper  alloys  ranging  in 
tin-content  from  about  2  to  14  per  cent,  under 
mechanical  deformation  and  annealing.  Less  happy 
are  the  author's  excursions  into  the  domain  of  theories 
of  plastic  strain  and  of  annealing  in  metals  generally ; 
they  burden  a  lengthy  paper  with  much  additional 
matter  scarcely  relevant  to  the  subject. 

From  the  Scientific  Materials  Co.,  of  Pittsburgh, 
U.S.A.,  we  have  received  pamphlets  descriptive  of  the 
Simatco  apparatus  for  the  determination  of  trans- 
formation or  critical  points  in  iron,  steel,  or  ■  altoys, 
and  of  appliances  for  general  metallographic  work. 
While  it  is  difficult  to  form  any  real  opinion  on  such 
appliances  without  having  seen  them  and  tested  them 
in  actual  use,  the  fact  that  special  apparatus  of  this 
kind  is  now  being  placed  upon  the  market  in  America 
is  significant  of  the  widespread  development  and  ajv 
plication  of  metallography.  So  far  as  can  be  gathered 
from  the  very  clear  descriptions  and  illustrations  of 
the  apparatus  given  in  the  pamphlets,  much  of  it 
appears  to  be  highly  convenient  and  ingenious;  on 
the  other  hand,  certain  features  are  obviously  open 
to  serious  criticism.  For  instance,  the  claim  is  made 
that  a  very  simple  form  of  well-lagged  electrically- 
wound  furnace  can  by  means  of  a  special  rheostat 
be  caused  to  give  a  uniform  rate  of  rise  and  fall  of 
temperature  over  a  wide  range,  and  it  seems  most 
unlikely  that  this  can  be  realised.  The  form  of  speci- 
men adopted  is  also  open  to  objection  on  the  ground 
that  much  of  the  metal  is  further  away  from  the 
thermo-couple  than  is  necessary  or  permissible.  The 
shape  adopted  arises  from  the  use  of  a  leading- 
in  tube  of  special  shape — in  itself  very  con- 
venient— by  which  the  wires  of  the  thermo-couples  are 
brought  into  the  specimen.  This  shape  of  tube,  how- 
ever, demands  a  very  wide  hole,  and  the  effort  to 
compensate  for  this  by  a  "deep  immersion"  results 
in  an  unsatisfactory  shape.  Further,  for  indicating 
the  temperatures  of  the  thermo-junctions,  both  for  in- 
verse rate  and  for  differential  curves,  nothing  better  is 
provided  than  a  galvanometer  with  a  pointer  moving 
over  an  ordinary  scale.  The  entire  apparatus  thus 
appears  to  be  suitable  only  for  work  of  the  less  deli- 
cate or  accurate  kind,  which,  however,  is  of  very  con- 
siderable importance  in  works  practice. 


R' 


PROBLEMS   OF   CORAL  REEFS. 

i  ECENT  work  on  coral  reefs  has  established  firmly 
>-  the  part  played  by  submergence  in  the  produc- 
tion of  encircling  and  barrier  reefs.  At  the  same 
time,  such  reefs  are  shown  to  be  based  on  extensive 
platforms,  from  which  there  is  a  further  descent  to 
oceanic  waters.  Mr.  T.  W.  Vaughan  points  out 
(Amer.  Joiirn.  of  Science,  vol.  xli.,  1916,  p.  134)  that 
the  banks  off  Newfoundland,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Cape 
Cod  "would  furnish  proper  habitats  for  reef-building 
corals  did  they  not  lie  outside  the  life-zone  of  such 
organisms,"  while  the  corresponding  plateaus  of 
Florida  and  the  Central  American  coast  support  many 
reefs.  He  attributes  the  general  overftowing_  of  the 
marginal  land  areas  in  recent  geological  time  to 
•some  diastrophic  change  in  the  earth,"  and  is  un- 
willing to  accept  Glacial  control  as  accounting  for  all 
the  facts.     His  paper  is  an  introduction  to  one  on  the 

NO.    2436,   VOL.    97] 


"  Relations  of  Coral  Reefs  to  Crust  Movements  in  the 
Fiji  Islands,"  by  E.  C.  Andrews,  of  Sydney  {ibid., 
p.  135),  in  which  submergence  is  regarded  as  essential 
to  the  formation  of  the  Great  Barrier  Reef  of  Queens- 
land, while  the  barrier  reefs  of  the  Fijis  are  reviewed 
as  narrow  growths  rising  from  land  areas  that  have 
been  recently  submerged.  Prof.  R.  -A.  Daly  follows 
{ibid.,  p.  153)  with  a  paper  on  "  Problems  of  the 
Pacific  Islands,"  and  emphasises  the  presence  of  plat- 
forms one  or  two  miles  to  one  hundred  miles  in  width 
as  bases  for  the  growth  of  reefs.  He  also  considers 
the  case  of  Queensland,  and  the  numerous  sections 
given,  drawn  to  scale,  are  an  important  contribution 
to  geography.  "  The  problem  of  the  coral  reef,"  he 
concludes,  "is,  in  essence,  the  problem  of  the  plat- 
form." Mr.  T.  W.  Vaughan,  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Washington  Academy  of  Sciences,  vol.  vi.,  1916,  p.  53, 
describes  the  association  of  platforms  and  reefs  in 
the  Virgin  and  Leeward  Islands,  where  the  platforms 
were  moulded  by  marine  erosion  during  Pleistocene 
time  and  then  submerged,  the  changes  of  sea-level 
thus  according  with  Daly's  theory  of  Glacial  control. 
Readers  of  Nature  will  remember  a  recent  considera- 
tion of  this  theorv  (vol.  xcvii.,  p.  191). 

G.  A.  J.  C. 

SPECTRA  IN  ELECTRIC  FIELDS. 

SHORTLY  after  Stark's  discovery  that  certain  spec- 
tral lines  could  be  split  up  into  two  or  more 
components  by  an  electrical  field,  an  account  was  given 
in  Nature  (May  14,  1914,  vol  xciii.,  p.  280),  under 
the  title  "An  Electrical  Analogy  of  the  Zeemann 
Effect,"  of  the  experiments  of  the  Italian  physicist, 
Lo  Surdo,  upon  the  Balmer  series.  It  was  shown  by 
Lo  Surdo  that  the  resolution  of  the  four  lines  in  the 
visible  spectrum  followed  some  remarkably  simple 
laws.  In  a  paper,  dated  December  19,  1915,  in  the 
Rendiconti  della  R.  Accademia  dei  Lincei,  C.  Sonaglia 
shows  that  Lo  Surdo's  laws  hold  for  the  first  line  in 
the  ultra-violet,  i.e.  the  fifth  of  the  Balmer  series. 
The  total  number  of  components  into  which  the  line 
can  be  resolved  is  seven,  corresponding  to  the  value  of 
the  parameter  n  in  the  Balmer  formula  which  gives  the 
line,  and  the  number  of  components  the  vibrations  of 
which  are  perpendicular  to  the  field  is  five,  equal  to 
the  number  which  gives  the  position  of  the  line  in  the 
series. 

In  the  same  volume.  No.  xxiv.,  are  two  papers  by 
Rita  Brunetti,  which  detail  the  results  obtained  on  the 
helium  spectrum  by  Lo  Surdo's  method.  In  the  third 
subsidiary  series,  in  which  four  lines  have  been 
examined,  it  is  found  that  the  number  of  components 
into  which  a  line  can  be  resolved  is  again  equal  to  the 
value  of  the  parameter  n  giving  the  position  of  the 
line  in  the  series.  For  each  line  there  are  three  un- 
pjolarised  components,  while  the  number  of  polarised 
components  is  equal  to  (n— 3).  In  the  first  subsidiary 
series  only  the  first  member,  for  which  n.=3,  possesses 
any  polarised  component;  for  all  the  lines  of  this 
series  the  number  of  unpolarised  components  of  any 
line  is  (n  — 2).  It  is  interesting  to  notice,  when  British 
science  is  so  much  under  discussion,  that  the  optical 
apparatus  used  in  all  these  researches  was  supplied 
by  an  English  firm- 

We  have  also  received  vc4.  xxiv.,  96  pp.,  of  Atti 
della  iondazione  scieniifica  CagnoJa  daUa  sua  Istitu- 
zione  in  Pot,  containing  a  report  by  Prof.  G.  Vanni 
on  the  progress  and  present  position  of  wireless  tele- 
graphy and  telephony.  For  choice  of  material, 
lucidity,  and  an  interesting  style  this  little  volume 
would  be  difficult  to  beat.  The  literature  is  brought 
up  to  about  the  end  of  1914. 

R.  S.  W. 


390 


NATURE 


[July  6,  191 6 


SCIENCE    IN    EDUCATION   AND 
INDUSTRY, 

LORD  CREWE  announced  at  a  meeting  of  the 
governing  body  of  the  Imperial  College  of  Science 
and  Technology  on  June  30  that  it  is  the  intention 
of  the  Government  to  appoint  a  Special  Committee 
to  inquire  into  the  question  of  the  position  of  science 
in  national  education.  It  is  proposed  that  the  Com- 
mittee, working  in  close  concert  with  the  President  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  shall  include  representa- 
tives of  pure  science,  of  applications  of  science  to 
commerce  and  industry,  and  also  those  who  are  able 
from  general  experience  to  correlate  scientific  teaching 
with  education  as  a  whole.  The  Committee  will 
have  a  close  connection  with  Government,  and  Lord 
Crewe  himself  will  be  the  chairman.  The  general 
objects  of  the  Committee  will  be,  broadly  speaking, 
to  inquire  into  the  position  of  science  in  our  educa- 
tional system,  especially  in  universities  and  secondary 
schools.  Its  duty  will  be  to  advise  the  authorities 
how  to  promote  the  advancement  of  pure  science  and 
also  the  interest  of  trades,  industries,  and  professions 
dependent  on  the  application  of  science,  not  neglecting 
the  needs  of  a  liberal  education. 

These  objects  are  almost  identical  with  those  which 
the  British  Science  Guild  and  its  various  important 
committees  have  been  urging  upon  public  attention 
for  the  past  ten  years,  without  much  practical  support 
from  the  scientific  societies  and  educational  associa- 
tions, which  only  awakened  to  their  importance  after 
the  war  had  been  upon  us  for  some  months.  The 
new  Committee  is  to  be  connected  with  the  Recon- 
struction Committee  appointed  by  the  Prime  Minister 
in  March  last,  to  consider  and  advise  upon  the  prob- 
lems that  will  arise  on  the  conclusion  of  peace,  and 
to  co-ordinate  the  work  which  has  already  been  done 
by  the  Departments  in  this  direction.  Lord  Crewe 
said  on  June  30  that  it  had  been  thought  wise  that 
the  Prime  Minister's  Reconstruction  Committee 
should  undertake  the  general  supervision  and  review 
of  the  changes  which  might  be  required  in  our 
national  system  of  education,  rather  than  that  this 
inquiry  should,  as  had  been  recommended,  be  en- 
trusted to  a  Royal  Commission.  The  possibility  of 
immediate  action  by  any  Department  on  any  point 
on  which  necessity  for  action  was  proved  was  a  most 
distinct  and  substantial  gain  over  what  would  be 
possible  if  the  procedure  had  been  by  Royal  Commis- 
sion. It  was  clear  that  a  review  of  our  education 
generally  could  not  be  regarded  as  strictly  one  of  the 
subjects  of  reconstruction  after  the  war,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  two  things  could  not  be  disconnected. 

Any  suggestions  or  other  communications  from  indi- 
viduals or  organisations  bearing  upon  the  inquiries 
now  being  undertaken  should  be  addressed  to  Mr. 
Vaughan  Nash,  C.V.O.,  C.B.,  Secretary  of  the 
Reconstruction  Committee,  6a  Dean's  Yard,  West- 
minster. They  will  be  considered  and  referred  in 
suitable  cases  to  the  Department  concerned  or  to  one 
of  the  Sub-committees  to  which  particular  subjects 
or  groups  of  subjects  have  been  referred  by  the 
Reconstruction    Committee. 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  BREWING  INDUSTRY.^ 

AT  the  commencement  of  the  period  under  review, 
when  the  author  first  became  definitely  asso- 
ciated with  the  brewing  industry,  at  Burton-on-Trent 
in  1866,  brewing  operations  were  conducted  on  purely 
empirical   lines,  the  real   nature   of   the  processes    in- 

'  .Abstract  of  .1  paper  read  before  the  Institute  of  Brewing,  Mav  8,  on 
"  Some  Reminiscen'-es  o*"  Fifty  Years'  Experienc<?  of  the  Application  of 
Scientific  Method  to  Brewing  Pr.ictice."  hv  Br.  Horace  T.  Brown,  F.R.S. 


volved  being  unknown.  The  rational  scientific  control 
of  these  operations  which  is  possible  to-day  is  the 
outcome  ot  a  vast  amount  of  experimental  study  of 
brewing  problems,  and  this  study  has  not  only  extended 
the  bounds  of  natural  science  beyond  all  expectations, 
but  has  indirectly  conferred  incalculable  benefits  on  the 
human  race  by  its  influence  on  the  development  of 
medicine,  surgery,  and  sanitation.  The  views  of 
Berzelius  and  Liebig  on  fermentation  were  still  widely 
accepted  fifty  years  ago,  and  the  maladies  to  which 
beer  was  subject  were  attributed  to  some  indefinable 
transformations  of  its  albuminoid  constituents.  The 
true  nature  of  alcoholic  fermentation  as  a  normal  func- 
tion of  the  living  yeast  cell  was  elucidated  by  Pasteur, 
who  rendered  immense  services  to  the  fermentation 
industries  by  his  studies  on  the  technology  of  vinegar, 
wine  (1863-66),  and  beer  (1871-76),  bringing  to  light 
for  the  first  time  the  action  of  bacteria  in  producing 
disorders  of  these  beverages.  What  is  not  generally 
recognised  is  that  his  later  work  on  infectious  diseases 
and  immunisation,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
subsequent  wonderful  developments  of  preventive 
medicine  and  hygiene,  was  the  direct  outcome  of  these 
researches  on  the  fermentation  industries,  and  was  in 
large  measure  rendered  possible  by  a  technique  which 
he  acquired  therein. 

The  reactions  which  take  place  in  the  brewer's 
mash-tun  were  investigated  by  O 'Sullivan  at  one  of 
the  Burton  breweries,  from  about  1870  onwards,  in 
a  series  of  researches,  of  the  first  importance,  not 
only  to  brewing,  but  to  the  chemistry  of  enzyme 
action.  Applying  the  polarimeter,  an  instrument 
rarely  used  in  this  country  at  that  time,  he  studied 
the  action  of  malt-diastase  on  starch,  demonstrated 
that  the  crystallisable  sugar  formed  is  not  dextrose, 
but  maltose,  and  studied  the  quantitative  relation  of 
the  maltose  and  dextrin  under  varying  conditions  of 
temperature. 

The  study  of  malting  processes  was  stimulated  by 
the  transference  of  the  excise  tax  from  malt  to  beer, 
in  1881,  when  certain  restrictions  on  malting  opera- 
tions imposed  by  the  authorities  were  removed.  In  a 
long  series  of  researches  the  author,  in  collaboration 
with  G.  H.  Morris  and  others,  succeeded  in  bringing 
to  light  the  principal  chemical  and  morphological 
changes  which  go  on  in  the  barley  grain  during  the 
early  stages  of  germination,  and  laid  the  foundation 
of  a  scientific  control  of  malting  processes.  He  demon- 
strated that  the  embryo  of  the  grain  is  related  to  the 
endosperm  as  a  vegetable  parasite  to  its  host,  that 
there  is  no  structural  connection  between  the  two, 
and  that  If  the  surrounding  integuments  common  to 
both  are  removed  the  embryo  can  be  readily  separated 
from  the  endosperm  and  reared  into  a  perfect  plant 
by  the  application  of  suitable  nutriment.  In  the  ger- 
minating barley  grain  the  food  reserve  in  the  endo- 
sperm is  made  available  for  the  embryo  by  means  of 
diastatic,  cytatic,  and  proteolytic  enzymes  secreted  by 
the  epithelial  cells  of  the  scutellum  of  the  embryo ; 
these  enzymes,  projected  into  the  endosperm,  dissolve 
the  cell  walls  and  corrode  and  dissolve  the  starch 
granules. 

The  study  of  the  micro-organisms  of  fermentation 
received  a  fresh  impulse,  some  years  after  the  con- 
clusion of  Pasteur's  studies  on  beer,  from  the  work 
of  Emil  Chr.  Hansen  at  Copenhagen.  He  intro- 
duced new  methods  of  investigation,  distinguished  the 
primary  brewers'  yeast,  Saccaromyces  cerevisiae.  from 
other  types  capable  of  producing  secondary  changes 
In  beer,  and  introduced  the  practice,  common  on  the 
Continent,  of  using  pure-culture  yeasts,  produced  from 
a  single  cell,   for  brewing. 

Manv  of  the  problems  which  arise  in  connection 
with  the  fermentation  industries  deserve  the  closest 
attention  of  physiologists  and  pathologists.   Inasmuch 


NO.    2436,    VOL.    97] 


July  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


391 


as  they  present  aspects  of  biochemistry  and  cell- 
functioning  in  a  relatively  simple  form  free  from  many 
of  the  complications  encountered  with  higher  organisms. 
One  such  problem  is  the  activation  of  enzymes  which 
is  sometimes  produced  by  the  presence  of  living  cells. 
The  author  observed,  for  instance,  that  certain  kinds 
of  starch  granules,  capable  of  resisting  indefinitely  the 
action  of  a  highly  diastatic  liquid  in  which  they  were 
immersed,  were  readily  attacked  by  the  diastase  after 
a  trace  of  yeast  had  been  added.  Possibly  the  ex- 
planation is  to  be  sought  in  the  reversible  nature  of 
enzyme  action  and  the  continuous  removal  of  certain 
products  by  the  yeast.  The  subject  may  perhaps 
throw  some  light  on  the  influence  of  "vitamines"  on 
animal  nutrition.  The  allied  problem  of  symbiosis  is 
exemplified  in  a  relatively  simple  form  by  the  "  amylo- 
process  "  employed  in  certain  distilleries  at  Seclin,  in 
France.  In  this  process  the  sterilised  amylaceous 
material  is  saccharified  and  converted  into  alcohol  and 
carbon  dioxide  in  one  operation  by  the  joint  action  of 
a  mould  fungus  which  produces  diastase,  and  a  yeast 
which  effects  fermentation.  Another  subject  which 
should  be  of  interest  to  the  physiologist  relates  to  the 
quantitative  relation,  between  the  reproduction  of  yeast 
cells  and  the  supply  of  oxygen  available.  The  author 
found  that  when  cells  are  sparsely  distributed  through 
a  nutrient  liquid  the  oxygen  initially  dissolved  in  the 
liquid  is  rapidly  absorbed  by  the  cells,  and  the 
"oxygen-charge"  per  cell  thus  taken  up  determines 
the  reproductive  capacity  of  the  yeast,  provided  no 
further  oxygen  is  available.  The  author  gives  further 
examples  of  the  extension  of  scientific  knowledge  re- 
sulting from  the  study  of  brewing  problems,  and 
discusses  at  length  some  of  the  more  technical  matters 
which  still   await  solution. 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NORTHERN  INDIA  AND 

THEIR  RELATIONSHIP  TO  THE  HIMALAYA 

MOUNTAINSA 

A  HUNDRED  years  ago  the  accepted  idea  was 
-^"^  that  mountain  ranges  were  due  to  the  upward 
pressure  of  liquid  lava,  and  that  their  elevation  had 
been  caused  by  volcanic  forces.  But  when  geologists 
began  to  study  the  structure  of  rocks,  they  found  that 
mountains  had  suffered  from  horizontal  compression, 
which  was  evident  from  the  folding  of  strata. 
This  discover^'  led  to  the  idea  that  mountains  had 
been  elevated,  not  by  vertical  forces,  but  by  horizontal 
forces,  which  squeezed  the  rock  upward.  The 
wrinkling  of  the  earth's  crust  into  mountains  by 
horizontal  forces  was  explained  by  the  cooling  of  the. 
earth ;  this  is  the  well-known  contraction  theory ;  the 
earth's  interior  is  held  to  cool  and  to  contract,  and  the 
outer  crust  is  supposed  to  get  too  large  for  the  shrink- 
ing core  and  to  wrinkle. 

About  i860  the  observations  of  the  plumb-line 
brought  to  light  a  most  important  and  totally  un- 
expected fact,  namely,  that  the  Himalaya  were  not 
exercising  an  attraction  at  all  commensurate  with  their 
bulk. 

The  plumb-line  was  observed  at  Kaliana,  60  miles 
from  the  foot  of  the  mountains ;  the  observers  found 
that  the  Himalaya  were  exercising  no  appreciable 
attraction.  By  the  theory  of  gravitation  the  plumb- 
line  ought  to  be  deflected  at  Kaliana  .^8  seconds 
towards  the  hills.  It  is  not  deflected  at  all ;  it  hangs 
vertically.  This  discovery  was  the  first  contribution 
made  by  geodesy  to  the  study  of  mountains.  The  dis- 
covery was  this,  that  the  Himalaya  behaved  as  if 
they  had  no  mass,  as  if  they  were  an  empty  eggshell ; 

1  Abrideed  from  an  addreii  to  the  Tndian  Science  ConereM  at  Lncknow 
on  January  13  by  the  president,  Sir  Sidney  Burrard,  F.R.S. 


NO.    2436',    VOL.    97] 


they  seemed  to  be  made  of  rock,  and  yet  they  exercised 
no  more  attraction  than  air.  From  the  Kaliana  ob- 
servations Pratt  deduced  his  famous  theory  of  moun- 
tain compensation ;  he  explained  the  Kaliana  mystery 
by  assuming  that  the  rocks  underlying  the  mountains 
must  be  lighter  and  less  dense  than  those  underlying 
plains  and  oceans.  The  visible  mountain  masses,  he 
said,  are  compensated  by  deficiencies  of  rock  under- 
neath them.  This  is  the  theory  of  mountain  compensa- 
tion. The  compensation  of  the  Himalaya  is  not  be- 
lieved now  to  be  exactly  complete  and  perfect ;  they 
seem  to  be  compensated  to  the  extent  of  about  80  per 
cent.  ;  their  total  resultant  mass  is  thus  about  one-fifth 
only  of  their  visible  mass  standing  above  sea-level. 
The  discovery  of  mountain  compensation  struck  a  blow 
at  all  theories  which  attributed  the  elevation  of  moun- 
tains to  any  additional  masses  that  had  been  pushed 
in  from  the  sides.  The  elevation  of  mountains  by 
subterranean  lava  squeezed  in  from  the  side  had  to  be 
rejected  because  it  gave  to  mountains  additional  mass ; 
the  w-rinkling  of  the  earth's  surface  by  lateral  hori- 
zontal forces  had  to  be  rejected  because  it  gave  to 
mountains  additional  mass  pushed  in  from  the  sides. 
As  the  Himalaya  possess  only  one-fifth  of  their  appar- 
ent visible  mass,  I  am  led  to  suggest  that  the  prin- 
cipal cause  of  their  elevation  has  been  the  vertical 
expansion  of  the  rocks  underlying  them,  vertical  ex- 
pansion due  to  physical  or  chemical  change. 

Mountains  Originate  at  Great  Depths. 

A  very  important  work  has  been  that  of  Mr.  Hay- 
ford,  who  has  recently  discussed  the  results  of  the 
plumb-line  at  a  large  number  of  stations  in  America. 
He  has  confirmed  Pratt.  'Hayford  has  investigated 
the  depth  to  which  the  deficiency  of  density  underlying 
mountains  goes  down,  and  he  has  found  that  that 
depth  is  between  60  and  90  miles.  That  is  to  say,  he 
has  shown  that  the  depth  of  subterranean  compensa- 
tion is  very  great  compared  with  the  height  of  moun- 
tains. The  discovery  that  mountains  originate  from 
the  great  depth  of  60  to  90  miles  is  the  second  impor- 
tant contribution  of  geodesy  to  this  study.  The  first 
was  compensation,  the  second  is  great  depth. 

Southerly  Deflections  Prevail  over  the  Ganges  Plains. 

Now  let  me  tell  you  of  the  third  discovery  due  to 
this  plumb-line.  The  survey  found  that  at  60  miles 
from  the  hills  this  plumb-line  hung  vertically,  and 
Pratt  deduced  the  theory  of  mountain  compensation. 
But  when  the  survey  began  to  extend  their  operations, 
a  new  phenomenon  came  to  light,  which  caused  great 
surprise.  All  over  northern  India  at  distances  exceed- 
ing 70  miles  from  the  hills,  this  plumb-line  was  found 
to  hang  decisively  away  from  the  mountains ;  here  at 
Lucknow  it  is  deflected  9  seconds  to  the  south. 
If  the  Himalaya  were  simply  compensated,  this 
plumb-line  should  be  hanging  at  Lucknow 
exactly  vertical ;  if  the  mountains  were  not 
compensated,  it  should  be  defkcted  here  about  50 
seconds  towards  the  north.  But  it  is  deflected  9  seconds 
towards  the  south.  The  observers  were  astonished  to 
find  that  at  places  in  sight  of  Himalayan  peaks  the 
plumb-line  turned  away  from  the  mountain  mass ;  that 
at  .\mritsar,  in  sight  of  the  Dhauladhar  snows,  it  was 
deflected  towards  the  low  Punjab  plains ;  at  Bombay 
it  was  deflected  seawards  away  from  the  Western 
Ghats ;  on  the  east  coast  of  India  it  w^as  deflected  sea- 
wards  away  from  the  Eastern  Ghats. 

The  new  lesson  to  be  learnt  from  the  plumb-line 
is  this :  a  hidden  subterranean  channel  of  deficient 
density  must  be  skirting  the  mountains  of  India. 
Here  in  North  India  is  a  wide  zone  of  deficient  densitv, 
of  crustal  attenuation ;  it  is  the  presence  of  this  zone 
of  deficiency  that  accounts  for  the  southerly  deflection 


•392 


NATURE 


[July  6,  191 6 


of  the  plumb-line.     What  is  the  meaning  of  this  zone? 
How  has  it  oome  into  existence? 

If  you  look  at  this  section  the  earth's  crust  in  these 
outer  Himalaya  has  been  compressed  laterally  :  of 
this  there  is  no  doubt.  The  area  between  the  snowy 
range  and  the  foothills  is  a  zone  of  crustal  com- 
pression. And  I  suggest  for  your  consideration  that 
the  Gangetic  trough,  this  zone  of  deficiency,  is  a  zone 
of  tension  in  the  crust.  The  crust  has  been  stretched 
here  and  attenuated.  Here  you  have  compression,  and 
alongside  is  the  tension.  The  tension  is  the  comple- 
ment of  the  compression.  I  have  pointed  out  that  the 
Himalaya  mountains  are  largely,  but  not  completely, 
compensated  by  their  underlying  deficiencies  of 
density;  their  compensation  is,  however,  rendered 
complete  by  the  presence  of  the  Ganges  trough ;  if 
the  Himalayan  compression  and  the  Gangetic  tension 
are  considered  together,  it  will  be  found  that  there  is 
no  extra  mass. 

Hypothesis  of  a  Rift. 
I  showed  you  on  the  evidence  of  the  plumb-line  that 
the  Gangetic  trough  was  a  zone  of  crustal  attenuation, 
a  zone  in  which  the  earth's  crust  was  deficient  in 
density.  I  then  took  one  step  forward  and  suggested 
that  it  was  a  zone  of  tension.  I  will  now  take  another 
step  forward  and  suggest  to  you  that  there  has 
occurred  an  actual  opening  in  the  subcrust,  and  that 
the  outer  crust  has  fallen  in  owing  to  the  failure  of  its 
foundations.  I  suggest  that  the  Ganges  plains  cover 
a  great  rift  in  the  earth's  crust. 

The  earth  is  a  cooling  globe ;  an  increase  of  tem- 
perature occurs  as  we  descend  into  mines ;  and  this 
temperature  gradient  is  a  proof  that  the  earth  is  losing 
heat  by  conduction  outwards.  The  discovery  of 
radium  has  not  affected  the  argument. 

The  rock  composing  the  crust  and  subcrust  is, 
however,  a  bad  conductor,  and  the  interior  of  the  earth 
will  not  shrink  away  from  its  crust,  as  has  been 
assumed  in  the  contraction  theory.  The  inner  core  of 
the  earth  is,  in  fact,  not  losing  heat  appreciably.  The 
outer  shell  was  the  first  to  lose  its  heat,  then  the 
shell  below  it,  and  the  subcrust  is  now  losing  its  heat 
more  quickly  than  the  interior  core.  As  the  outer 
shells  contract  from  cooling  they  become  too  small 
for  the  core,  and  they  crack.  Supposing  we  had  here 
a  great  globe  of  rock,  red-hot  throughout ;  how  would 
it  cool?  Can  you  imagine  it  cooling  in  such  a  way 
that  the  core  became  too  small  for  the  outer  shell,  and 
the  outer  shell  became  wrinkled  ?  No ;  the  outer  shell 
would  cool  first,  and  would  crack. 

The  outer  shell  of  the  earth  was  the  first  to  crack 
millions  of  years  ago ;  now  a  lower  shell,  the  sub- 
crustal  shell,  is  cracking.  When  a  crack  occurs  in 
the  subcrust,  parts  of  the  upper  crust  fall  in. 

You  will  see  that  this.  Indus-Ganges  trough  has  the 
appearance  of  a  crack.  And  there  are  reasons  for 
Iselieving  that  these  Himalaya  have  been  split  off 
from  this  ancient  table-land,  and  have  been  moved 
northwards  and  crumpled  up  into  mountains. 

From  the  Bay  of  Bengal  to  the  Mediterranean. 

Geologists  have  discovered  that  the  ancient  table- 
land of  the  Vindhyas  and  Deccan  is  a  remnant  of  a 
much  greater  table-land  that  in  very  early  ages  in- 
cluded Africa  and  Arabia.  Africa  and  Arabia  and  the 
Deccan  table-land  are,  in  fact,  fragments  of  one  exten- 
sive and  ancient  continent. 

To  the  west  of  Karachi  we  see  the  Persian  Gulf 
and  the  plains  of  the  Tigris-Euphrates.  The  plains 
of  the  Tigris-Euphrates  are  very  similar  to  those  of 
the  Ganges:  they  consist  of  mud,  sand,  and. sediment 
lying  in  a  long  trough  betv^een  the  ancient  .table-land 
■of  Arabia  and  the  mountains  of  Persia.  .        - 

Further  west  we  find  the  Euphrates  trough  is  con- 

NO.    2436,   VOL.    97] 


tihued  by  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Taurus  moun- 
tains, by  the  Balkans,  Carpathians,  Apennines,  and 
Alps. 

Throughout  the  whole  distance  from  Calcutta  to 
Sicily  we  see  that  the  old  table-land,  India-Arabia- 
Africa,  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  a  long  trough,  and 
that  this  trough  is,  in  its  turn,  bounded  by  the 
younger  mountain  ranges  from  the  Himalaya  to  the 
Alps.  Geologists  have  discovered  that  all  these  moun- 
tain ranges  were  elevated  in  the  same  era ;  they  are 
all  of  the  same  age. 

I  submit  for  your  consideration  that  the  Ganges- 
Indus-Euphrates-Mediterranean  trough  is  an  indica- 
tion at  the  earth's  surface  of  a  rift  in  the  subcrust. 

The  whole  zone  from  Java  to  Sicily  has  been  visited 
by  earthquakes  throughout  the  historic  period.  And 
the  recent  earthquakes  in  Shillong,  Dharmsala,  and 
Messina  show  that  seismic  activity  is  continuing  in 
our  time.  This  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the  zones  of  th© 
earth    along  which  earthquakes  occur  most  frequently^^ 

The  Bombay  Coast.  ^ 

I  must  now  invite  your  attention  to  the  Bombay 
coast.  From  the  Tapti  to  Cape  Comorin  runs  the 
range  of  mountains  known  as  the  Western  Ghatsl 
This  range  is  parallel  to  the  coast  of  India  and  about 
40  miles  inland ;  it  rises  suddenly  with  a  steep  scarp. 
The  strata  are  almost  as  horizontal  as  when  first  laid 
down ;  they  have  never  been  compressed  or  folded. 

The  survey  has  observed  the  plumb-line  at  different 
points  along  this  coast ;  it  is  always  deflected  strongly 
towards  the  sea.  To  the  west  of  Bombay  and  Manga- 
lore  there  is  the  deep  sea ;  and  to  the  east  there  is  a 
massive  range  more  than  4000  ft.  high ;  yet  the  plumb- 
line  will  hang  seawards.  If  the  Western  Ghats 
possessed  the  mass  which  they  appear  to  possess,  and 
which  the  Suess  school  ascribes  to  them,  then  the 
Bombay  plumb-line  should  be  deflected  15  seconds 
towards  them.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Western 
Ghats  are  ooippensated  by  deficiencies  of  mass  under- 
lying them  in  accordance  with  the  compensation 
theories  of  Pratt  and  Hayford,  then  the  plumb-line 
should  hang  vertically  at  Bombay.  But  the  plumb- 
line  takes  neither  of  these  courses ;  it  hangs  towards 
the  sea.  We  have  been  puzzled  for  years  by  the 
plumb-line  at  Bombay ;  we  used  to  think 
that  the  rock  under  the  ocean  must  be 
so  dense  and  heavy  that  it  was  able  to 
pull  the  plumb-lines  towards  the  sea.  Major 
Cowie,  however,  observed  in  the  south  of  Kathiawar, 
and  found  that  the  plumb-line  here  had  a  strong 
landward  deflection.  The  seaward  deflections  occur 
throughout  the  Bombay  coast,  but  not  round  Kathia- 
war. It  is  only  quite  recently  that  we  have  realised 
we  have  at  Bombay  the  same  phenomenon  as  at 
Lucknow. 

In  northern  India  the  plumb-line  will  persist  in 
hanging  away  from  the  visible  mountains,  and  at 
Bombay  it  takes  the  same  course,  and  when  I  consider 
its  constant  seaward  deflection  I  can  only  suggest  to 
you  that  a  crack  in  the  subcrust  has  extended  from 
Cape  Comorin  to  Cambay,  and  that  as  this  crack 
has  occurred  the  Western  Ghats  have  been  elevated. 
The  crack  has  been  filled  by  masses  of  fallen  rock 
and  bv  alluvial  deposits  brought  down  by  rivers. 

Geologists  have  shown  that  this  range  consists,  from 
latitude  20°  to  16°,  of  the  lavas  of  the  Deccan,  com- 
paratively recent  rocks,  whilst  from  latitude  16°  to  8^ 
the  range  consists  of  ancient  metamorphic  rocks.  The 
rorks  of  the  northern  part  of  the  range  are  of  a 
different  age  and  structure  and  origin  from 'these  of 
the    southern. 

Nevertheless,  geodesists  contend  that  this  Is  one  and 


July  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


393 


the  same  range;  the  rocks  composing  it  have  had 
nothing  to  do  with  its  elevation.  The  Western  Ghats 
have  been  elevated,  after  the  Deccan  lavas  had  become 
solidified,  into  surface  rocks.  Their  elevation  took 
piace  in  the  Tertiary  age. 

The  Depth  of  the  Gangetic  Rift. 

In  considering  the  depth  of  the  Gangetic  rift  we 
must  appeal,  first,  to  geodesy,  and  then  to  seismology. 
Now  geodesy  tells  us  that  the  compensation  of  the 
Himalaya  {i.e.  the  root  of  the  Himalaya)  extends 
downwards  to  a  great  depth.  I  regard  the  Gangetic 
plains  and  the  Himalayan  range  to  be  the  two  parts 
of  one  whole ;  I  believe  that  they  have  originated 
together,  and  if  the  depth  of  Himalayan  compensation 
extends  down  to  60  miles,  then  I  think  that  the 
Gangetic  rift  may  extend  down  to  that  depth  also. 

Now  let  us  turn  to  seismology;  seismologists  are 
able  to  form  rough  estimates  of  the  depths  of  earth- 
quakes. In  the  Dharmsala  earthquake  Middlemiss 
estimated  its  depth  to  be  between  12  and  40  hiiles. 
Middlemiss's  maximum  value  is  not  very  different 
from  the  geodetic  value. 

It  is  an  interesting  question  to  consider  whether  a 
fissure  in  rocks  could  extend  downwards  to  a  great 
depth.  From  a  place  near  the  Indus  in  Kashmir  it  is 
possible  to  see  a  continuous  wall  of.  rock  4  miles  in 
height,  on  the  flank  of  Nanga  Parbat.  Mount  Everest 
stands  erect  5^  miles  above  sea-level ;  its  summit 
stands  firm  and  rigid  11  miles  above  the  depths  of  the 
Bay  of  Bengal.  We  have,  therefore,  evidence  that  the 
materials  of  the  crust  are  strong  enough  to  admit  of 
the  continued  existence  of  great  differences  in  altitude. 

But  Mount  Everest  is  standing  in  air,  whereas  a 
crack  in  the  subcrust  becomes  filled  with  rocks  falling 
in  and  with  fluid  rock  magma  from  below ;  and  the 
walls  of  the  crack  thus  get  a  support  that  Mount 
Everest  does  not  possess.  It  seems  to  me  quite  pos- 
sible that  a  crack  such  as  I  have  described  may  have 
extended  down  to  a  depth  of  60  miles  by  successive 
fractures  at  increasing  depths,  the  opening  being  filled 
by  falling  material. 

Internal   Causes  of  Mountain  Elevation. 

I  have  shown  you  how  zones  of  subsidence  in  the 
crust  are  bordered  by  mountains,  and  I  have  now  to 
discuss  the  relationship  of  subsidence  to  elevation,  of 
troughs  to  mountains.  The  Red  Sea  is  a  zone  of  frac- 
ture, and  it  is  bordered  on  each  side  by  a  zone  of 
elevation.  But  along  the  Bombay  coast  the  zone  of 
subsidence  is  bordered  only  on  the  one  side  by  a  zone 
of  elevation.  The  subcrustal  crack  from  Surat  to 
Cape  Comorin  has  been  accompanied  by  a  vertical 
uplift  of  the  Ghats,  and  I  suggest  for  your  considera- 
tion that  the  vertical  force  which  elevated  the  Ghats 
was  the  expansion  of  the  underlying  rock  due  to 
physical  or  chemical  change. 

Mr.  Hayden  informs  me  that  the  specific  gravity  of 
the  rock  composing  the  Neilgherries  varies  from  2-67 
to  303 — that  is,  14  per  cent. — and  that  the  rock  of  the 
Hazaribagh  plateau  varies  from  2-5  to  31 — 24  per 
cent. 

The  Western  Ghats  app>ear  to  have  risen  about 
4000  ft.  Now  we  know  that  the  Western  Ghats  are 
largelv  compensated  by  underlying  deficiency  of 
density;  if  the  compensation  of  the  W^estern  Ghats 
extends  downwards  to  a  depth  of  60  miles,  then  an 
expansion  of  2  per  cent,  would  be  more  than  sufficient 
to  account  for  the  elevation  of  the  Ghats.  Mr.  Hay- 
den finds  variations  of  14  and  of  24  per  cent,  in  the 
densities  of  surface  rocks,  and  yet  an  expjansion  of 
only  2  per  cent,  would  account  for  both  the  elevation 
and  the  compensation  of  the  Ghats. 

The  heterogeneous  rocks  composing  the  earth's  crust 
are  continually  undergoing  changes  of  structure,  known 

NO.    2436,    VOL.    97] 


to  geologists  as  metamorphism.  At  a  depth  of  30 
miles  the  temperature  is  sufficiently  high  to  melt  all, 
known  rocks ;  but  increase  of  pressure  raises  the  melt- 
ing point,  and  the  increase  of  pressure  underground 
may  be  sufficiently  great  to  counteract  the  effects  ot 
the  increase  of  temperature.  So  that  at  a  depth  of 
even  60  miles  rocks  may  still  be  scJid  and  rigid,  as 
geodesy  leads  us  to  believe  they  are. 

The  main  ranges  of  the  Himalaya  are  composed  of 
granite;  this  granite  has  protruded  upwards  from 
below.  I  suggest  that  the  protrusion  of  granite  is  due 
to  expansion  of  rocks  in  the  subcrust.  The  great 
Himalayan  range  is  5  miles  high,  and  the  compensa- 
tion of  this  range — that  is,  its  underlying  deficiency  of 
density — is  estimated  to  extend  downwards  to  a_  depth 
of  perhaps  75  miles.  An  underground  expansion  of 
7  per  cent,  would  be  sufficient  to  account  for  the 
elevation  of  the  Himalaya. 

Many  of  the  faults  which  intersect  the  Himalaya 
may,  I  think,  be  ascribed  to  the  shearing  which  must 
have  ensued  when  certain  areas  of  the  crust  were 
forced  vertically  upwards  by  the  metamorphism  of 
subcrustal  rock.  Many  distortions  of  surface  strata 
may  be  ascribed  to  local  variations  in  the  vertical  ex- 
pansion of  deep-seated  rocks. 

The  f)eculiar  sinuous  curve  of  the  northern  Tibetan 
border,  concave  on  the  east,  convex  on  the  west,  is  re- 
produced in  the  north  of  Persia,  and  again  in  the  Car- 
pathians. The  Persian  ranges  all  have  a  trend  frorr 
south-east  to  north-west,  except  that  the  Caspian 
subsidence  seems  to  have  pushed  rudely  in  from  the 
north  and  forced  the  northern  range  into  a  sinuous 
curve.  It  is  significant  that  at  the  point  of  the  Cas- 
pian push  stands  the  peak  of  Demavend,  the  highest 
point  in  all  Persia.  Elevation  is  the  companion  of 
subsidence. 

The  conclusions  which  I  have  ventured  to  submit  to 
this  meeting  may  be  summarised  as  follows  :— 

(i)  The  fundamental  cause  of  both  elevation  and 
subsidence  is  the  occurrence  of  a  crack  in  the  sub- 
crust. 

(2)  Mountains  are  compensated  by  underlying  de- 
ficiencies of  matter. 

(3)  Mountains  have  risen  out  of  the  crust  from  a 
great  depth,  possibly  60  miles. 

(A  Mountains  owe  their  elevation  mainly  to  the 
vertical  expansion  of  subjacent  rock. 

I  have  now  had  the  great  privilege  of  placing  cer- 
tain problems  before  you.  My  endeavour  has  been 
to  point  out  to  this  congress,  and  especially  to  its 
younger  members,  the  manv  scientific  secrets  that 
are  lying  hidden  under  the  plains  of  northern  India. 

UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELUGENCE. 

Oxford.— No  honorary  degrees  were  conferred  at 
this  year's  Encaenia,  but  on  June  29  Mr.  Douglas  W. 
Freshfield  received  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L. 
The  Public  Orator,  in  presenting  Mr.  Freshfield,  laid 
especial  stress  on  his  advocacy  of  the  claims  of  geo- 
graphy for  full  recognition  among  university  studies. 
He  spoke  also  of  Mr,  Freshfield's  eminence  as  a 
mountaineer,  of  his  personal  devotion  to  the  theory 
and  practice  of  geographical  science,  and  of  his 
achievements  as  a  man  of  letters. 

Sheffield. — In  connection  with  the  new  department 
of  glass  technology  the  University  has  instituted  a 
diploma  in  the  subject.  The  course  of  study  will 
cover  three  years,  but  candidates  who  have  spent  at 
least  two  years  in  the  glass  industry  may  be  exempted 
from  attendance  in  the  first  year's  course  under 
certain  conditions.  The  last  tvix>  years'  study  will  be 
devoted  almost  entirely  to  the  chemistry,  physics,  and 


394 


NATURE 


[July  6,  191 6 


technology  of  glass,  with  a'  certain  amount  of  instruc- 
tion in  engineering  principles  and  mechanical 
drawing. 

Three  scholarships,  of  the  approximate  value  of  50Z. 
each,  are  offered  by  the  Co^nmon  Cause  (the  organ 
of  the  National  Union  of  Women's  Suffrage  Societies) 
to  women  who  wish  to  qualify  for  positions  as  indus- 
trial chemists.  Applications  must  be  made  not  later 
than  the  morning  of  July  17  to  the  scholarship  secre- 
tary, the  Common  Cause,  14  Great  Smith  Street, 
London,  S.W.,  from  whom  further  particulars  can  bo 
obtained. 

Dr.  a.  H.  Graves,* who  during  the  year  1914-1915 
was  engaged  in  botanical  research  at  the  laboratory 
of  Prof.  V.  H.  Blackman,  Imperial  College  of  Science 
and  Technology,  London,  has  been  appointed 
associate  professor  of  biology  in  the  new  Connecticut 
College  for  Women  at  New  London,  Connecticut, 
U.S.A.  Dr.  Graves  was  formerly  assistant  professor 
of  botany  in  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale 
University,  and  instructor  in  forest  botany  in  the 
Yale   Forest    School. 

The  eighth  annual  meeting  and  conference  of  the 
Secondary  Schools  Association  will  be  held  at  Caxton 
Hall,  Westminster,  S.W.,  on  Wednesday,  July  12, 
at  2  o'clock  p.m.  Sir  Philip  Magnus,  M.P.,  will 
preside.  Two  papers  will  be  read  on  this  occasion, 
namely,  (1)  "Scientific  Habits  and  Knowledge,"  by 
Mr.  F.  Beames,  senior  science  master  at  Bristol 
Grammar  School,  and  (2)  "Scientific  Method  in 
Education,"  by  Mr.  S.  E.  Brown,  headmaster  of  the 
Liverpool   Collegiate   School. 

Regimental  care  committees  and  relatives  and 
friends  of  British  prisoners  of  war  will  do  them  a 
good  service  by  bringing  to  the  notice  of  the  in- 
terned, in  their  letters  to  them,  the  fact  that  if  they 
are  desirous  of  carrying  on  serious  reading  they  can 
obtain,  free  of  charge,  educational  books  on  almost 
any  subject  by  writing  to  Mr.  A.  T.  Davies  at  the 
Board  of  Education,  Whitehall,  London,  S.W.  To 
facilitate  the  dispatch  of  parcels  of  books  and,  if 
possible,  the  organisation  of  an  educational  library 
in  every  camp,  all  applications  for  books  should,  as  a 
rule,  be  sent  through,  or  endorsed  by,  the  senior,  or 
other  responsible,  British  officer  or  N.C.O.  in  the 
camp.  Where  for  any  reason  (which  should  be  stated 
in  the  application)  this  course  is  impracticable,  re- 
quests from  individual  prisoners  wall  be  acceded  to 
so  far  as  possible. 

The  General  Education  Board  of  the  United  States 
announces  that  grants  amounting  to  158,000/.  were 
made  at  its  annual  spring  meeting.  The  largest  grant  was 
one  of  50,000/.  for  the  medical  department  of  Washing- 
ton University,  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  This  gift  makes 
20o,oooZ.  appropriated  by  the  General  Education 
Board  to  this  institution  towards  a  total  of  300,000/. 
for  the  purpose  of  placing  the  teaching  of  medicine, 
surgery,  and  pediatrics  on  the  so-called  full-time  basis. 
Including  the  aopropriations  now  made,  the  General 
Education  Board  has,  since  its  organisation  in  1902, 
made  grants  amounting  to  3,677,400/.  This  amount 
was  either  appropriated  outright  or  towards  total 
funds  to  be  raised  amounting  in  all  to  12,897,400/. 
Of  the  grants  made  during  this  period,  about  600.000/. 
was  for  medical  schools,  2,500,000/.  for  universities  and 
colleges,  20,000/.  for  further  prosecution  of  educational 
researches,  180.000/.  for  colleges  and  schools  for 
negroes,  60,000/.  for  professors  of  secondary  educa- 
tion, and  20,000/.  for  ifarm  demonstration  work. 

The  Board  of  Education  has  issued  a  circular 
dealing    with    several    points    in    connection    with    the 

NO.    2436,    VOL.    97] 


education  services  and  military  service.  Teachers, 
full-time  students  ir:  public  schools  of  various  grades, 
and  education  officials  who  are  not  passed  as  lit  for 
general  service  are  not  to  be  called  up  without 
reference  to  the  War  Office,  which  will  consult  with 
the  Board  of  Education.  The  procedure  now  applic- 
able in  the  case  of  attested  teachers  and  officials  fit 
for  general  service  may  also  be  used  in  the  case  of  un- 
attested as  well  as  of  attested,  but  reference  is  in  future 
to  be  made  to  the  War  Office  (not  the  Board  of 
Education  as  heretofore).  Full-time  students  fit  for 
general  service  are  not  for  the  present  to  be  called 
up  until  they  attain  the  age  of  eighteen ;  but  the 
Army  Council  may  terminate  this  arrangement  after 
July  31.  The  Army  Council,  on  grounds  of  public 
interest,  will  consider  applications  endorsed  by  the 
Board  of  Education  for  the  postponement  of  military 
service  in  the  case  of  specially  selected  students  of 
science  or  technology.  The  applications  must  be 
limited  to  research  students  or  post-graduate  students, 
and  other  students  who  are  likely  to  attain  a  standard 
equivalent  to  first-  or  second-class  honours  in  courses 
leading  to  degrees.  Applications  on  behalf  of  such 
students  are  to  be  made  in  the  first  instance  to  the 
Board  of  Education  by  the  authorities  of  the  univer- 
sities  and  colleges   concerned. 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 

London. 
Physical  Society,  June  16.— Prof.  G.  W.  O.  Howe  in 
the  chair. — Capt.  C.  E.  S.  Phillips  :  Experiments 
with  mercury  jet  interrupters.  The  paper  describes 
an  experimental  attempt  to  ascertain  the  form  of 
the  mercury  column  issuing  from  a  hole  in  the  side 
of  a  rotating  drum,  that  is  continuously  supplied  with 
mercury  by  centrifugal  action.  Incidentally  a  new 
form  of  interrupter  is  introduced,  in  which  the  interior 
is  visible  through  a  window  in  the  lid.  Experiments 
with  various  forms  of  orifice  are  described,  and  it  is 
pointed  out  that  the  issuing  stream  is  only  slightly 
affected  by  this  means.  An  explanation  is  given  of 
the  fact  that  a  vertical  slit  orifice  will  not  produce  a 
ribbon  of  mercury,  and  that  no  matter  how  much  the 
diameter  of  the  orifice  is  increased  beyond  about 
2  mm.,  the  cross  section  of  the  mercury  column 
remains  unaltered.  A  method  is  described,  however, 
by  which  a  much  larger  stream  of  mercury  can  be 
obtained  from  the  rotating  drum,  if  necessary. — G.  D. 
West :  A  method  of  measuring  the  pressure  of  light 
by  means  of  thin  metal  foil.  Part  ii.  The  pressure 
of  the  radiation  emitted  by  a  carbon  filament  lamp, 
at  a  distance  of  a  few  centimetres,  is  sufficient  to 
cause  a  microscopically  measurable  deflection  of  the 
end  of  a  strip  of  gold  or  aluminium  foil,  suspended  in 
a  closed  test  tube.  By  this  means  the  radiation  pres- 
sure may  be  measured,  and  the  results  may  be  checked 
by  a  comparison  with  the  energy  density  of  the  radia- 
tion, as  deduced  from  the  initial  rate  of  rise  of  tem- 
perature of  an  exposed  blackened  copper  plate.  In  a 
previous  paper  experiments  were  carried  out  in  atmo- 
spheres of  air  and  hydrogen,  and  at  pressures  extending 
from  76  cm.  to  i  cm.  of  mercury.  Under  certain 
conditions  it  was  found  possible  to  obtain  satisfactory 
results.  The  present  paper  deals  with  experiments  at 
pressures  from  i  cm.  of  mercury  down  to  the  highest 
exhaustions  that  could  be  reached.  Experiments  on 
the  pressure  of  ligfht  may  thus  be  advantageously 
carried  out  at  the  highest  vacua  obtainable,  or  at 
pressures  as  far  above  0-002  cm.  of  mercury  as  con- 
vection currents  will  permit.  The  latter  alternative  is 
the  easier,  and  leads  to  more  consistent  results. — ■ 
Edith    Humphrey    and    E.    Hatschek  :   The   viscosity   of 


July  6,  191 6] 


NATURE 


395 


suspensions  of  rigid  particles  at  different  rates  of 
shear.  This  investigation  was  undertaken  with  a 
view  of  testing  the  Einsteln-Hatschek  formula  at 
variable  rates  of  shear.  According  to  this  formula  the 
viscosity  of  a  suspension  of  rigid  spherical  particles 
grows  in  linear  ratio  with  the  aggregate  volume  of 
suspended  particles,  and  is  independent  of  their  size, 
so  long  as  the  latter  conforms  to  Stokes's  formula. 
The  suspension  chosen  was  one  of  rice  starch  of 
0003  mm.,  and  less,  diameter,  in  a  mixture  of  carbon 
tetrachloride  and  toluene  having  the  same  specific 
gravity.  The  results  of  the  investigation  are  : — (i) 
The  viscosity  of  a  suspension  is  a  function  of  the  rate 
of  shear,  and  increases  as  the  latter  decreases,  the 
difference  being  more  marked  at  higher  concentrations ; 
(2)  for  all  rates  of  shear  the  viscosity  of  the  suspension 
increases  more  rapidly  than  the  aggregate  volume  of 
suspended  matter ;  (3)  for  any  one  rate  of  shear  the 
relative  viscosity  of  a  suspension,  i.e.  its  absolute 
viscosity  divided  by  the  absolute  viscosity  of  the 
medium  at  the  same  rate  of  shear,  also  increases  more 
rapidly  than  the  percentage  of  suspended  matter,  the 
divergence  from  the  linear  increase  demanded  by  the 
formula  becoming  less  as  the  rate  of  shear  becomes 
greater,  so  that  a  linear  law  may  possibly  hold  good 
at  rates  of  shear  higher  than  those  attainable  in  the 
present  apparatus  without  turbulence.  The  general 
conclusion  is  that  the  assumption  on  which  the 
Einstein-Hatschek  formula  is  based,  viz.  non-inter- 
ference between  adjoining  particles,  is  not  tenable  in 
the  case  of  suspensions  containing  between  2  and  6  per 
cent,  of  suspended  matter. — Dr.  A.  GriflBths  and  others  : 
A  correction  of  some  work  on  diffusion.  When  salt 
diffuses  through  water,  in  general  there  must  be  a 
movement  of  the  water  due  to  volume-changes  asso- 
ciated with  variations  in  concentration.  In  the  papers 
to  which  the  recalculation  refers  reference  was  made 
to  the  velocity  of  the  liquid  or  solution ;  but  what  was 
meant  bv  the  velocity  of  the  liquid  was  not  explained. 
The  author  now  deals  with  the  velocity  of  the  water- 
component  of  the  solution,  to  which  a  clear  mathe- 
matical meaning  can  be  given. 

Royal  Microscopical  Society,  June  21. — Mr.  E.  Heron- 
Allen,  president,  in  the  chair. — Miss  G.  Lister  :  The 
life-history  of  Mycetozoa,  with  special  reference  to 
Ceratiomyxa.  The  author  referred  to  the  work  of 
Dr.  Jahn,  of  the  Berlin  University,  proving  that  the 
amoebulae  produced  by  division  of  the  swarm-spores 
united  in  pairs  as  gametes  to  produce  zygotes,  from 
which  the  plasmodia  grew.  The  nuclei  of  the  zygotes 
had  twice  as  many  chromosomes  as  the  nuclei  of  the 
gametes.  In  Ceratiomyxa  Dr.  Jahn  was  the  first  to 
observe  the  division  of  nuclei  in  the  young  sporo- 
phores  prior  to  spore-formation ;  this  was  found  to  be 
a  reduction  division,  and  took  place  during  the  "  net- 
wx)rk "  stage  of  the  maturing  sporophore.  To  illus- 
trate these  observations,  lantern  slides  taken  from  the 
preparations  lent  by  Dr.  Jahn  were  shown  on  the 
screen,  as  well  as  a  series  of  slides  showing  the  more 
striking  forms  of  sporangia  met  with  among  the 
Mycetozoa. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  June  19.— M.  Camille  Jordan  in 
the  chair. — G.  Bigourdan  :  Honor^  Gaultier  and  some 
confusion  which  has  arisen  concerning  him. — G. 
Bigourdan  :  The  propagation  of  sound  to  a  great  dis- 
tance in  the  open  air.  It  is  known  that  intense  sounds, 
produced  by  explosions,  are  not  regularly  propagated 
round  the  source,  but  that  there  are  zones  of  silence  and 
zones  in  which  the  sound  is  heard.  The  cannonade  at  the 
front  offers  an  opportunity  for  the  experimental  study 
of  this  phenomenon,  and  a  plan  is  outlined  for  its 
systematic    study. — H.    Le    Chatelier :    The    maximum 

NO.    2436,    VOL.    97] 


solubility  of  calcium  sulphate.  A  reply  to  some 
criticisms  of  M.  Colson. — A.  ChanTcau  :  The  precau- 
tions necessary  in  the  study  of  tuberculosis  in  i>ersons 
employed  in  Parisian  wine-bars.  A  reply  to  the  views 
expressed  by  M.  Landowz}'.  The  author  maintains 
that  tuberculous  infection  is  independent  of  alcoholism. 
— A.  Versclialfel :  A  new  method  for  the  study  of  the 
graduations  of  a  circle. — R.  Garnier :  Study  of  the 
general  integral  of  equation  (VI.)  of  M.  Painlev^  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  its  transcendant  singularities. — 
E.  Baticle  :  The  pressure  exerted  by  a  pulverulent  mass 
with  a  free  plane  surface  on  a  sustaining  wall. — 
S.  Posternak  :  The  isomers  T;.^  and  Tveof  stearolic 
acid.  Only  four  of  the  sixteen  possible  isomers  of  the 
normal  chain  acetylenic  acids,  CH-jjOj,  have  up  to 
the  present  been  described.  The  preparation  and  pro- 
perties of  two  additional  isomers  are  described  in  the 
present  paper. — M.  Dalloni :  The  marine  Bartonian  in 
the  Pyrenees. — M.  de  Lamothe  :  The  ancient  outlines 
of  the  coast  of  the  basin  of  the  Somme,  and  their  con- 
cordance with  those  of  the  western  Mediterranean. — 
E.  Belot  :  The  asymmetr\^  of  the  Pacific,  the  law 
of  the  antipodes,  and  the  general  profound  forms  of 
the  earth  in  the  hypothesis  of  a  primitive  southern 
deluge. — B.  Galitzine':  The  localisation  of  the  epicentre 
of  an  earthquake.  The  author  recently  developed  a 
method  for  fixing  the  position  of  the  epicentre  of  an 
earthquake  from  observations  at  a  single  station. 
Since  this  method  has  been  adversely  criticised,  the 
records  at  the  Pulkovo  Observatorj-  have  been  ex- 
amined, and  in  18  per  cent,  of  the  shocks  registered 
the  epicentre  could  be  localised. — G.  Bonrguignon  :  The 
measurement  of  resistances  by  discharges  of  con- 
densers, using  a  sensitive  milliammeter  as  a  ballistic 
galvanometer.  For  physiological  purposes,  the 
method  gives  a  maximum  error  of  4  per  cent. — A.  Ch. 
Hollande  :  The  anti-coagulating  power  of  acid  aniline 
dves  towards  albuminoid  materials.  Acid  aniline  dyes 
combine  with  albuminoids  forming  coloured  acido- 
albumens;  these  are  not  coagulated  at  100°  C,  nor 
even  after  twenty  minutes  in  an  autoclave  at  120°  C. 
— M.  Steppanides  :  A  colorimetric  method  used  by 
the  Romans  for  testing  drinking  water.  Claim  for 
priority   against   M.   Trillat. 

Washington,  D.C. 
National  Academy  of  Sciences,  May  (Proceedings  No.  5, 
vol.  ii.).— W.  Hull  and  Marion  Rice  :  The  high- 
frequency  spectrum  of  tungsten.  The  authors  show 
two  photographs  of  the  spectrum  of  X-rays  taken  in 
the  usual  manner  in  a  rock-salt  crystal.  They  also 
give  figures  which  show  the  ionisation  current  as  a 
function  of  the  angle  of  incidence.  A  comparison  with 
previous  results  obtained  by  others  is  sketched. — R.  L. 
Moore  :  The  foundations  of  plane  analysis  situs.  As 
point,  limit-point,  and  regions  (of  certain  t}-pes)  are 
fundamental  in  analysis  situs,  the  author  has  set  up 
two  systems  of  postulates  for  plane  analysis  situs  based 
upon  these  notions ;  each  set  is  sufficient  for  a  consider- 
able body  of  theorems.— E.  B.  Wilson  and  C.  L.  E. 
Moore  :  A  general  theory  of  surfaces.  Continuing  the 
work  of  Kommerell,  E.  Levi,  and  Segre,  a  theory  of 
two-dimensional  surfaces  in  n-dimensional  space  is 
developed  bv  the  method  of  analysis  outlined  by  Ricci 
in  his  absolute  differential  calculus. — J.  C.  Hunsaker  : 
Dynamical  stability  of  aeroplanes.  A  comparative 
detailed  study  of  two  aeroplanes,  one  a  standard  mili- 
tary tractor,  the  other  designed  for  inherent  stability, 
is  made  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  general  conclu- 
sions of  a  practical  nature  with  respect  to  aeroplane 
design.  It  appears  that  inherent  stability  (except  at 
low  speed)  can  be  obtained  by  careful  design  without 
departing  seriously  from  the  standard  type  now  in  use. 
— W.  M.   Davis  :  Clift  islands  in  the  coral  seas.     The 


396 


NATURE 


[July  6,  191 6 


author  extends  his  former"  work  on  "  The  Origin  of 
Corals  Reefs  "  to  include  the  explanation  of  the  clifts 
of  exceptional  reef-encircled  islands,  of  which  no 
adequate  explanation  has  previously  been  ^"^iven. — C.  D. 
Perrine  :  Some  relations  between  the  proper  motions, 
radial  velocities,  and  magnitudes  of  stars  of  Classes  B 
and  A.  The  velocity  distribution  of  classes  B-B5  apd 
A  differ  from  the  distributions  found  for  the  F,  G,  K, 
and  M  classes  by  Kapteyn  and  Adams. — C.  D.  Perrine  : 
Asymmetry  in  the  proper  motions  and  radial  velocities 
of  stars  of  Class  B  and  their  possible  relation  to  a 
motion  of  rotation.  Stars  of  Class  B  show  differences 
in  the  proper  motions  in  the  two  regions  of  the  Milky 
Way  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  of  solar  motion ; 
the  differences  appear  to  be  best  explained  by  a  general 
motion  of  rotation  of  the  system  of  stars  in  a  retro- 
grade direction  about  an  axis  perpendicular  to  the 
Milky  Way. — E.  B.  Wilson  :  Theory  of  an  aeroplane 
encountering  gusts.  The  longitudinal  motion  of  an 
aeroplane  encountering"  head-on,  vertical,  or  rotary 
gusts  is  discussed  by  the  method  of  small  oscillations. 
An  inherently  stable  machine  striking  a  head  gust  of 
J  ft.  per  second  soars  to  an  altitude  of  about  4I  j  ft. 
above  its  initial  level,  and,  after  executing  oscillations, 
remains  about  35  J  ft.  above  the  original  level. — T. 
Michelson  :  Terms  of  relationship  and  social  organisa- 
tion. From  the  point  of  view  of  Algonquian  tribes 
terms  of  relationship  are  linguistic  and  disseminative 
phenomena,  though  in  other  cases  they  may  be 
primarily  psychological  and  sociological. 


BOOKS  RECEIVED. 

Department  of  the  Interior.  Bureau  of  Education. 
Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  the 
year  ended  June  30,  1915.  Vol.  i.  Pp.  XX-H780. 
(Washington  :    Government   Printing   Office.) 

Library  of  Congress.  Report  of  the  Librarian  of 
Congress  and  Report  of  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Library  Building  and  Qrounds,  for  the  fiscal  year 
ending  June  30,  igiS-  Pp.  231.  (Washington: 
Government  Printing  Office.) 

Smithsonian  Institution.  U.S.  National  Museum. 
Report  on  the  Progress  and  Condition  of  the  U.S. 
National  Museum  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1915. 
Pp.  215.     (Washington  :  Government  Printing  Office.) 

Department  of  the  Interior.  U.S.  Geological 
Survey.  Thirty-sixth  Annual  Report  of  the  Director 
of  the  U.S.  Geological  Survey  for  the  fiscal  year 
ended  June  30,  1915.  (Washington  :  Government 
Printing  Office.) 

Report  on  the  Progress  of  Agriculture  in  India  for 
.1914-15.  Pp.  ii-h82.  (Calcutta  :  Superintendent, 
Government  Printing.)     6d. 

Government  of  India.  Bureau  of  Education. 
Indian  Education  in  1914-15.  Pp.  77.  (Calcutta  : 
Superintendent,   Government   Printing.)     35. 

Jahrbuch  des  Norwegischen  Meteorologischen  In- 
stituts  fiir  1915.  Pp.  xi  +  140.  (Kristiania  :  Gron- 
dahl  and  Son.) 

Nedbdriagttagelser  I  Norge  utgit  av  Det  Norske 
Meteorologiske  Institut.  Pp.  xi  +  66.  -(Kristiania: 
Aschehoug  and  Co.)     Kr.3.00. 

•  The  Heat  Treatment  of  Tool  Steel.  By  H.  Brear- 
ley.  Second  edition.  Pp.  xv+223.  (London:  Long- 
mans and  Co.)     los.  6d.  net. 

Macmillan's  Greographical  Exercise  Books.  V.  Asia 
and  Australasia,  with  questions  by  B.  C.  Wallis. 
Pp.  48.     (London:    Macmillan  and  Co.,   Ltd.)     yd. 

Theorv  of  Errors  and  Least  Squares.  By  Le  Roy 
D.  Weld.  Pp.  xii  +  iQO.  (New  York:  The  Macmillan 
Co.;  London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     55.  6d.net. 

Vinegar:    Its    Manufacture   and    Examination.      By 

NO.    2436,    VOL.    97] 


C.  A.  Mitchell.  Pp.  xvi  +  201.  (London:  C.  Griffin 
and  Co.,  Ltd.)     8s.  6d.  net. 

Department  of  Commerce.  U.S.  Coast  and  Geo- 
detic Survey.  Serial  No.  21  :  Results  of  Observations 
made  at  the  U.S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  Mag- 
netic Observatory  near  Honolulu,  Hawaii,  1913  and 
1914.  Pp.  105.  (Washington :  Government  Printing 
Office.) 

Summary  Report  of  the  Geological  Survey,  Depart- 
ment of  Mines,  for  the  Calendar  Year  1915.  Pp.  viii 
+  307.     (Ottawa  :  J.  de  L.  Tach^.)     15  cents. 

Canada.  Department  of  Mines.  Geological  Survey, 
Memoir  79 :  Ore  Deposits  of  the  Beaverdell  Map 
Area.  By  L.  Reinecke.  Pp.  v+ 178.  (Ottawa  : 
Government  Printing  Bureau.) 

City  and  Guilds  of  London  Institute.  Report  of 
the  Council  to  the  Members  of  the  Institute.  Pp. 
xlv+ii2.     (London:   Gresham   College.) 


DIARY   OF    SOCIETIES. 


FRIDA  y,  July  7. 
Gbologists'  Association,  at  7.30. — Geology  and  Scenerj-  of  the  Cardiff 
District :  Prof.  T.  F.  Sibly. 


CONTENTS.  PAoi 

» 

Occupation  and  Health.     By  F.  A.  B 377 

Experimental  Spectroscopy 371 

Yorkshire  Trout  Flies 378 

Germany  and  Racial  Characters 379 

Our  Bookshelf 379 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

Economic  Geolocy  and  an  Imperial  Bureau  of  Scien- 
tific Intelligence.  —  E.  St.  John  Lyburn    ....  380 

The  Neglect  of  Science.  —  D.  M 381 

Worlii-Time.— Dr.  A.  H.  Mackay 381 

Birds'  Songs  and  the  Diatonic  Scale.— C.  O.  Bartrum  381 

State  Afforestation  381 

Scientific  Development  in  Russia 382 

Mortality  Tables  and  Preventive  Medicine  ....  383 

Tropical  Diseases.      By  J.  W.  W,  S 384 

The  Mittag-Leffler  Institute    .    .       384 

Notes 385 

Our  Astronomical  Column  : — 

A  June  Meteoric  Display 3^ 

The  Visibility  of  Stars  in  Daylight 388 

The  Large  Meteorite  of  February  13,1915 388 

The  Motion  of  the  Nuclei  of  Coitiet  19I5<?  (Taylor)  .    .  388 

On  Centre — Limb  Shifts  of  Solar  Wave-lengths  .    .    .  388 

Metallographic  Methods  in  America 388 

Problems  of  Coral  Reefs.     By  G.  A.  J.  C 38$ 

Spectra  in  Electric  Fields.     By  R.  S.  W 389 

Science  in  Education  and  Industry 39O 

Science  and  the  Brewing  Industry.     By  Dr.  Horace 

T.  Brown,  F.R.S.  ...  .390 

The  Plains  of  Northern  India  and  their  Relation- 
ship to  the  Himalaya  Mountains.     By  Sir  Sidney 

Burrard,  K. C.S.I. ,    F.R.S 391 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 393 

Societies  and  Academies 394 

Books  Received         396 

Diary  of  Societies 396 


Editorial  and  Pullishing  Offices: 

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NA  TURE 


397 


THURSDAY,    JULY    13,    1916. 


BRITISH    MARINE    ANNELIDS. 

A  Monograph  of  the  British  Marine  Annelids. 
Vol.  iii. ,  part  i.  Text.  Polychaeta :  Opheliidae 
to  Ammocharidae.  By  Prof.  W.  C.  Mcintosh. 
Pp.  viii  +  368.  Also  vol.  iii.,  part  ii.  Plates 
Ixxxviii-cxi.  (London:  Dulau  and  Co.,  Ltd., 
1915.)     Price  25s.  net  each  volume. 

'T'HE  first  part  of  the  first  volume  of  this  mono- 
-^  graph  of  British  Annelids  dealt  with  the 
Nemertine  worms.  The  second  part  of  the 
first  volume,  the  two  parts  of  the  second  volume, 
and  now  the  third  volume  are  devoted  to  the 
Chaetopoda,  and  still  the  great  work  is  incomplete. 
At  least  one  more  volume  will  be  required  before 
the  order  Polychaeta  is  finished. 

The  third  volume  includes  those  families  that 
were  grouped  together  by  Benham  in  the  sub- 
orders Spioniformia,  Capitelliformia,  and  Scoleci- 
formia,  together  w  ith  the  family  Cirratulidae  of  the 
sub-order  Terebelliformia. 

The  author  has  not  adopted  in  his  monograph 
any  system  of  grouping  the  families  into  sub- 
orders such  as  that  suggested  by  Benham,  and  it 
is  rather  awkw^ard  for  the  zoologist  who  is  not  a 
specialist  in  the  Chaetopoda  and  does  not  know  the 
sequence  of  families  which  Prof.  Mcintosh  em- 
ploys that  he  has  no  guide  to  the  position  in  the 
three  volumes  of  any  family  he  w^ishes  to  study, 
nor  a  list  of  those  that  have  still  to  bfi  described. 

No  doubt  the  author  will  prepare  a  tabular  state- 
ment of  the  classification  of  the  order  for  the  last 
volume,  but  it  would  have  been  a  great  conveni- 
ence if  he  had  included  in  each  part  a  list  of  all  the 
families  arranged  in  the  order  of  their  treatment. 

We  make  this  comment  in  the  first  place  because 
the  monograph  is  on  a  much  higher  plane  than 
many  of  the  systematic  treatises  on  zoology  with 
which  we  are  acquainted,  and  it  is  important  in 
the  interests  of  science  that  everything  should  be 
done  to  facilitate  its  use. 

The  present  volume  includes  many  of  the  most 
important  of  the  marine  worms,  such  as  the 
Arenicola  (or  lug-w^orm  of  the  fisherman),  the 
phosphorescent  Chaetopterus,  the  Spionidae,  the 
rock-boring  Polydora,  and  the  morphologically 
Interesting  forms  Magelona  and  Capitella.  In 
studying  the  chapters  on  these  important  worms 
the  reader  must  be  impressed  not  only  by  the  vast 
amount  of  labour  and  learning  bestowed  upon  their 
systematic  treatment,  but  also  by  the  author's 
generous  appreciation  of  the  anatomical,  physio- 
logical, and  embryological  knowledge  concerning 
them  that  has  accumulated  during  recent  years. 
It  is  clearly  show^n  on  every  page  that  infinite  pains 
have  been  taken  with  the  tedious  but  necessary 
and  valuable  work  of  completing-  the  lists  of 
synonyms  and  references  to  species;  but  intimate 
knowledge  and  life-longf  research  have  also  been 
employed  in  summarising  what  is  known  of  the 
morpholoev  of  the  species  described.  The  mono- 
graph stands,  therefore,  as  an  important  contrlbu- 
NO.    2437,   VOL.   97] 


tion  to  our  general  knowledge  of  the  order  as  a 
whole,  as  well  as  a  descriptive  catalogue  of  the 
species  that  inhabit  the  British  sea  area.  It  is  a 
standard  work  of  the  highest  importance,  and  we 
may  be  proud  of  it  as  a  product  of  British  science. 
It  is  unfortunate  that  our  final  judgment  of  the 
illustrations  must  be  suspended.  Six  of  the  twenty- 
four  plates  that  illustrate  part  ii.  of  this 
volume  were  to  have  been  issued  in  colours,  but 
in  consequence  of  the  war  they  have  not  yet  been 
delivered,  and  to  prevent  further  delay  in  publica- 
tion uncoloured  copies  have  been  substituted  for 
them.  This  is  undoubtedly  a  serious  misfortune, 
and  we  may  cordially  extend  to  Prof.  Mcintosh 
our  good  wishes  that  in  the  coming  times  of  peace 
the  coloured  plates  may  be  recovered.  In  the 
meantime,  however,  we  may  say  that,  apart  from 
this  drawback,  the  illustrations  are  at  least  equal 
to  the  very  high  standard  attained  by  those  of 
the  earlier  volumes,  and  add  immensely  to  the 
value  of  the  monograph.  S.  J.  H.    . 

COLLOIDAL   SOLUTIONS. 

The  Physical  Properties  of  CoUoidal  Solutions. 
By  Prof.  E.  F.  Burton.  Pp.  vii  +  200.  (London  : 
Longmans,  Green,  and  Co.,  1916.)  Price  65. 
net. 

THIS  work  forms  one  of  the  series  of  mono- 
graphs on  physics  edited  by  Sir  J.  J.  Thomson, 
and  it  is  perhaps  natural  that  the  author  should 
have  practically  confined  himself  to  discussing  that 
class  of  colloidal  solutions  which  has  so  far  proved 
amenable  to  quantitative  and  mathematical  in- 
vestigation— the  class  known  as  suspensoids. 
The  treatment  of  the  emulsoids  is  very  brief  and 
inadequate,  an  omission  all  the  more  striking  as 
the  author  several  times  insists  on  the  importance 
of  colloidal  physics  to  the  arts  and  to  biology  and 
physiolc^y,  the  former  of  \vhich  are  largely,  and 
the  latter  exclusively,  concerned  with  emulsoids. 

Within  these  limits,  however,  the  treatment  is 
full  and  very  clear.  The  chapter  on  preparation 
and  classification  gives  all  that  is  necessary  in  a 
small  compass.  In  that  on  the  ultramicroscope 
the  author  has  gone  a  good  deal  further  than  is 
usual,  and  perhaps  necessary,  by  including  a  brief 
account  of  the  principval  theories  of  image  forma- 
tion and  resolving  power.  The  chapters  dealing 
with  the  theory  of  the  Brownian  movement — to 
the  physicist  the  crowning  achievement  of  col- 
loidal sciences-are  admirable  and  give  the  best 
historical  account,  as  well  as  the  clearest  pre- 
sentation, of  the  mathematical  work  of  Einstein, 
V.  Smoluchowski,  Langevin,  and  Perrin  at  pre- 
sent available  in  any  text-book.  The  optical 
properties  are  also  treated  with  unusual  fulness, 
while  the  electrical  ones  receive  ample,  but  not 
excessive,  attention.  The  frank  confession — 
which  probably  only  one  of  the  best-known 
workers  in  this  much-tilled  field  can  afford  to 
make — that  the  stability  of  sols  is  still  a  puzzle 
is  to  be  welcomed.  Adsorption  is  only  touched 
upon  as  bearing  upon  electrolyte  coagfulation, 
and   the   statement   that  the   adsorption  isotherm 


398 


NATURE 


[July  13,   1916 


approaches  a  line  parallel  to  the  C-axis  "  asymp- 
totically "  is  certainly  surprising,  if  Freundlich's 
equation  is  accepted  as  correct. 

An  ag-reeable  feature  of  the  book  is  the  amount 
of  space  devoted  to  presenting  the  historical 
development  of  different  branches  of  the  subject, 
many  quotations  from  the  original  papers  of 
pioneer  workers  being  given.  In  this  connection 
the  author  fixes  1750  as  the  earliest  date  at  which 
gold  sols  had  been  obtained  by  reduction. 
"Aurum  potabile,"  however — a  red  liquid  pre- 
pared by  reducing  gold  chloride  with  oil  of  rose- 
mary and  undoubtedly  a  gold  sol — had  consider- 
able vogue  as  a  medicine  much  before  that  time, 
being  mentioned,  e.g.,  by  John  Evelyn  in  his  diary 
under  the  date  June  2'j,  1653. 

The  references  to  literature — given  at  the  end 
of  each  chapter — are  copious,  and  names  and  sub- 
ject matter  are  well  indexed.  The  book  may  be 
thoroughly  recommended  to  the  large  class  of 
students  to  whom  a  knowledge  of  colloidal  science 
is  becoming  increasingly  necessary;  to  cover  the 
whole  field  it  should  be  supplemented  by  a  volume 
dealing  with  emulsoid  sols  and  gels,  which  latter 
in  particular  are  systems  quite  as  fascinating,  and 
certainly  as  important,  as  sols. 

MATHEMATICAL    PAPERS    AND 
ADDRESSES. 

(i)  Proceedings     of    the    London    Mathematical 

Society.       Second     Series.       Vol.     xiv.       Pp. 

xxxviii  +  480.      (London:    F.    Hodgson,    1915.) 

Price  255. 
(2)  Four  Lectures  on  Mathematics.     Delivered  at 

Columbia    University     in     191 1     by     Prof.     J. 

Hadamard.    Pp.  v  +  52.    (New  York:  Columbia 

University  Press,   191 5.) 

(i)  A  VOLUME  of  the  L.M.S.  Proceedings  is 
-^"^  not  only  a  permanent  record  of  achieve- 
ment. At  its  first  appearance  it  is  a  useful  index  of 
the  state  of  English  mathematics  at  the  time ;  and 
it  also,  from  year  to  year,  suggests  the  appear- 
ance of  new  stars  in  the  mathematical  firmament. 
It  may  be  not  without  significance  that,  in  the 
present  volume,  there  is  a  first  contribution  (we 
believe)  by.  a  Japanese  gentleman,  and  another 
by  an  Indian  fellow-subject.  Unless  we  are 
greatly  mistaken,  or  unkindly  fate  should  inter- 
vene, Mr.  S.  Ramanujan  is  likely  to  become  an 
arithmetician  of  the  first  rank.  At  any  rate,  his 
paper  on  highly  composite  numbers  is  original, 
profound,  and  ingenious,  and  shows  complete 
mastery  of  the  new  methods  and  notation  in- 
augurated by  Landau.  Mr.  Tadahiko  Kubota 
provides  one  of  the  two  papers  in  the  volume 
which  have  any  claim  to  be  called  geometrical, 
and  of  these  it  is  the  more  truly  such.  Under 
certain  assumptions,  most  of  which  are  explicit, 
or  nearly  so,  he  proves  the  following  theorem  : 
"  If  a  closed  convex  surface  be  cut  by  every  pencil 
of  parallel  planes  in  homothetic  curves,  it  is  an 
ellipsoid."  The  method  of  proof  consists  mainly 
in  showing  that  such  a  surface  defines  a  polar 
field  precisely  similar  to  that  which  is  determined 
NO.    24^7,    VOL.    Q71 


by   an   ellipsoid.      The   comparative   simplicity   of 
the  demonstration  is  very  remarkable. 

The  other  geometrical  paper,  by  Mr.  E.  H. 
Neville,  was  suggested  by  the  racecourse  puzzle 
of  covering  a  circle  by  a  set  of  five  circular  discs. 
Unfortunately,  the  solution  depends  upon  four 
simultaneous  trigonometrical  equations,  and  as 
these  are  treated  analytically,  the  paper  has  only 
a  tinge  of  geometrical  theory.  Once  more  we 
must  express  our  regret  that  English  mathe- 
matics is  so  predominatingly  analytical.  Cannot 
someone,  for  instance,  give  us  a  truly  geo- 
metrical theory  of  Poncelet's  poristic  polygons,  of 
of  Staude's  thread-constructions  for  conicoids? 

The  other  papers  cover  a  wide  range,  from 
group-theory  at  one  end  (Prof.  Burnside)  to  tide- 
theory  at  the  other  (Prof.  Larmor).  One  of  the 
most  important,  in  our  opinion,  is  that  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  W.  H.  Young  on  the  reduction  of  sets 
of  intervals — one  of  the  many  notable  extensions 
of  the  famous  Heine-Borel  theorem.  It  would  be 
foolish  to  try  to  give  a  detailed  estimate  of  all  the 
twenty-six  papers. 

Prof.  Love's  address  on  mathematical  research 
is  bright  as  well  as  stimulating,  and  many  of  his 
crisp  sayings  deserve  the  most  careful  attention ; 
for  example,  his  remarks  on  exact  solutions  of 
physical  problems,  on  the  difficulty  of  applying 
the  general  theory  of  ordinary  linear  differential 
equations,  on  "curiosity,"  on  the  danger  of  being 
overwhelmed  by  the  mass  of  literature,  and  so  on. 
We  wish  we  could  agree  with  his  unqualified 
assertion  that  "text-books  and  treatises  include 
always  later  additions  to  knowledge  "  ;  perhaps 
he  regards  productions  that  do  not  conform  to 
this  statement  as  mere  samples  of  those  "books 
that  are  no  books  "  to  which  Lamb  refers.  Lastly,. 
we  may  note  that  Prof.  Love  attaches  due  im- 
portance to  mathematical  style  in  composition. 
This  is  too  often  neglected ;  simplicity,  clearness,, 
and  appropriate  notation  ought,  at  any  rate,  to  be 
aimed  at  with  all  possible  diligence.  We  rejoice, 
too,  that  in  this  connection  he  boldly  and  truly 
says  that  a  mathematical  book  or  paper  is  (or 
should  be)  a  work  of  art. 

(2)  The  United  States  have  been  pioneers  in  the 
practice,  now  common,  of  inviting  eminent 
foreigners  to  give  occasional  lectures,  or  courses- 
of  lectures,  on  their  chosen  subject ;  we  do  not 
refer  to  lectures  or  addresses  on  ceremonial  occa- 
sions. Prof.  J.  Hadamard  is  renowned  for  his 
original  researches  in  function-theory ;  in  the 
present  short  course  of  four  lectures  he  deals  with 
the  bearings  on  physics  of  various  types  of  equa- 
tions (differential,  integral,  integro-diflerential)^ 
and,  in  a  minor  degree,  of  topology  {analysis 
situs).  It  is  needless  to  say  that  they  are  highl] ' 
suggestive  and  valuable ;  their  defect,  such  as  it 
is,  is  that  in  trying  to  cover  a  wide  field  the 
author  is  obliged  to  be  very  concise,  and  in  some 
cases  this  leads  to  obscurity.  As  an  example  ot 
what  we  mean,  take  p.  34.  Substantially  (unless 
we  mistake  the  author's  intention).  Prof. 
Hadamard  wishes  to  point  out  that  physical 
problems  which  have  the  same  analytical  solutioD 
lead   to  different  interpretations   of  the   solution^ 


July  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


399 


and  that  in  drawing-  our  conclusions  we  must 
attend  to  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  The 
example  he  chooses  is  the  dynamical  one,  where 
we  have  a  Lagrangian  system  in  generalised  co- 
ordinates, reducible  to  2T  —  m  {x-  +  y^),  \J  =  c, 
where  m,  c  are  constants.  One  such  system  is 
that  of  a  particle  under  no  forces ;  another  is  a 
gyrostat  with  two  degrees  of  freedom,  for  which 
X,  y  are  angular  co-ordinates  (and  therefore 
periodic,  so  far  as  the  actual  motion  is  concerned). 
All  this  is  plain  enough ;  but  when  the  lecturer 
says,  "The  assemblage  of  all  possible  positions  of 
system  (2)  can  be  represented  not  on  a  plane,  but 
on  the  surface  of  an  anchor-ring,"  the  reader  may 
feel  confused,  especially  since  to  trace  the  path 
of  any  particular  point  of  the  gyrostat  we  must 
introduce  additio7ial  co-ordinates. 

Prof.  Hadamard  emphasises  (p.  17)  the  work 
of  Poincare  on  ordinary  differential  equations, 
especially  in  the  Journ.  de  Math.,  1887  (on  the 
shape  of  curves  defined  by  differential  equations). 
He  also  (p.  33)  protests,  we  are  glad  to  see, 
against  the  over-analytical  drift  of  current  mathe- 
matics. In  his  dealing  with  Green's  theorem  we 
regret  to  see  no  reference  to  Mr.  J.  Dougall. 
Doubtless  this  is  due  to  ignorance ;  but  Mr. 
Dougall's  work  is  masterly  and  in  the  true  spirit 
of  Green,  and  it  is  most  unfortunate  that  it  is 
practically  buried  in  a  periodical  which  (for  no 
fault  of  its  own)  has  no  very  wide  circulation. 

■  The  text,  on  the  whole,  seems  to  be  a  satisfac- 
tory rendering  of  the  French  original ;  "  admit " 
for  "allow"  or  "assume,"  "effectively"  for  "as 
a  matter  of  fact,"  etc.,  are  such  common  errors 
that  they  are  unlikely  to  lead  to  mistakes  on  the 
part  of  the  reader.  The  typ>ography  is  unusually 
good,  and  a  credit  to  the  Columbia  University 
Press.  G.  B.  M. 

W.  B.  TEGETMEIER. 
A  Veteran  Naturalist:  being  the  Life  and  Work  of 
W.  B.  Tegetmeier.  By  E.  W.  Richardson. 
With  an  introduction  by  the  late  Sir  Walter 
Gilbey,  Bart.  Pp.  xxiv  +  232.  (London: 
Witherby  and  Co.,  1916.)     Price  10s.  net. 

THIS  is  a  pleasantly  written  sketch  of  the  life 
of  a  versatile  naturalist,  of  strong^ly  marked 
individuality,  whose  name  will  be  for  long  asso- 
ciated with  poultry  and  pheasants,  homing 
pigeons  and  bees,  to  the  study  of  which  he  made 
notable  contributions.  W.  B.  Tegetmeier  (1816- 
191 2)  was  the  son  of  a  doctor  and  also  the  grand- 
son ;  and  he  was  himself  more  or  less  of  a  medical 
student  and  apprentice  for  ten  years  (1831-41). 
But  an  inborn  attraction  to  birds  and  beasts,  a 
recoil  from  humdrum  routine,  and  a  conspicuous 
absence  of  a  bedside  manner  (as  he  said  himself) 
led  him  to  teaching  for  a  short  time,  and  to 
journalism  for  a  very  long  time,  and  to  a  life  of 
fruitful  zoological  inquiry,  especially  along 
economic  lines. 

The  story  of  Mr.  Tegetmeier's  life,  which  Mr. 
E.  W.  Richardson,  a  son-in-law,  has  told  with 
directness  and  enthusiasm,  shows  how  a  man  of 
talent  and  industry,  honestv  and  courage,  wrung 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


a  livelihood  out  of  unpromising  circumstances, 
and  won  the  respect  and  affection  of  all  worthy 
men  who  knew  him.  For  half  a  century  Mr. 
Tegetmeier  was  in  charge  of  the  poultry  and 
pigeon  department  of  the  Field,  and  for  a  score 
of  years  he  wrote  regularly  for  the  Queen.  As 
a  consultant  and  expert  judge  he  was  incessantly 
busy  in  connection  with  pheasants,  poultry, 
pigeons,  and  the  like,  and  did  important  work  in 
setting  a  high  standard  of  accuracy,  both  of 
statement  and  action. 

Introduced  by  Yarrell  to  Darwin  in  1855,  he 
enjoyed  the  master-naturalist's  friendship  for 
twenty-five  years,  and  the  value  that  Darwin  put 
upon  his  observations  is  well  known.  It  may  be 
recalled  that  Tegetmeier,  who  was  a  convinced 
evolutionist,  had  strong  suspicions  as  to  the  theory 
of  sexual  selection,  pointing  out,  for  example,  that 
disfigured  game-cocks  were  accepted  just  as 
thoroughly  as  the  dandiest  of  their  rivals.  In 
connection  with  the  Savage  Club,  of  which  he 
was  one  of  the  founders,  and  in  the  pursuit  of 
various  hobbies,  Mr.  Tegetmeier  allowed  himself 
relaxation-,  but  it  appears  that  he  never  went  for 
a  walk  or  took  a  holiday.  He  was  absorbed  in 
his  work,  almost  always  thoroughly  enjoying  it, 
and  he  lived  for  nearly  a  century. 

Mr.  Richardson  tells  us  of  Tegetmeier's  early 
"observation-hives,"  and  how  he  once  took  a 
swarm  of  bees  from  over  the  door  of  the  Gaiety 
Theatre,  to  the  fearful  delight  of  the  spectators; 
how  he  was  interested  in  school  "  nature-study  " 
when  the  very  idea  was  novel ;  of  his  numerous 
breeding  experiments  when  neither  Darwin  nor 
he  knew  of  Mendel;  of  his  realisation  of  the 
importance  of  homing  pigeons  in  ante-"  wireless  " 
days;  of  his  endless  post-mortems,  which  some- 
times rather  embarrassed  his  household ;  of  his 
interesting  chronicling  of  the  metamorphosis  of 
the  axolotl ;  and  of  much  more  besides,  not  for- 
getting his  anti-feminist  prejudices.  The  delight- 
ful biography  is  in  its  mood  harmonious  with  the 
sincerity  of  one  who  never  suffered  humbugs 
gladly,  and  the  numerous  interesting  illustrations 
increase  the  impression  of  picturesqueness  which 
marked  the  man  himself.  Of  a  sceptical  and 
agnostic  mood,  he  never  disparaged  religion ;  and 
when  Mr.  Richardson  once  asked  him  if  he  denied 
the  existence  of  God,  he  replied:  "My  boy,  how 
could  I,  when  every  leaf  on  every  tree  proclaims 
its  Maker,  and  is  a  living  witness  to  the  power, 
wisdom,  and  providence  of  the  Creator  of  the  leaf 
and  of  life  and  of  all  things  ?  " 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Modes    of   Research    in   Genetics.     By   Raymond 
Pearl.     Pp.   vii+182.     (New  York:  The   Mac- 
millan    Co.  ;     London :     Macmillan     and     Co., 
Ltd.,   1915-)     Price  5^.  6d.   net. 
Dr.    Raymond    Pearl's    book    inquires   into   the 
methodoloev  of  modern  genetic  science,  and  does 
so  with  clearness,  concreteness,  and  vigour.     The 
first  chapter  discusses  the  current  modes   of  re- 
search on  heredity,  by  which  is  meant  the  complex 


4O0 


NATURE 


[July  13,  1916 


of  causes  which  determine  the  resemblance 
between  individuals  genetically  related.  "The 
critical  problem  of  inheritance  is  the  problem  of 
the  cause,  the  material  basis,  and  the  maintenance 
of  the  somatogenic  specificity  of  germinal  sub- 
stance." Towards  a  solution  of  this  problem  con- 
tributions have  been  made  along  four  lines — bio- 
metric,  Mendelian,  cytological,  and  embryological, 
and  each  of  these  methods  is  valuable  and  neces- 
sary. But  they  have  at  least  one  fundamental 
limitation  in  common.  "This  is  that  they  offer 
ho  means  of  directly  getting  at  any  definite  in- 
formation regarding  the  origin,  cause,  or  real 
nature  of  that  specificity  of  living  material  which 
is  the  very  foundation  of  the  phenomenon  of 
heredity."  The  most  hopeful  line  of  attack  on 
this  outstanding  problem  is  biochemical. 

A  second  chapter  deals  with  the  value  and  like- 
wise the  limitations  of  biometric  methods,  and  it 
is  full  of  good  sense  and  good  counsel.  "  To 
attempt  to  draw  conclusions  in  regard  to  inheri- 
tance from  studies  involving  the  correlation 
method  alone  is  futile."  Third  comes  a  useful 
essay  on  the  nature  of  statistical  knowledge, 
which  is  not,  as  some  would  have  us  believe,  a 
higher  kind  of  knowledge  than  that  obtained  in 
other  ways.  The  statistical  method  furnishes 
shorthand  descriptions  of  groups  and  a  test  of  the 
probable  trustworthiness  of  conclusions. 

"  It  is,  however,  a  descriptive  method  only,  and 
has  the  limitations  as  a  weapon  of  research  which 
that  fact  implies."  After  a  more  technical  chapter 
on  certain  logical  and  mathematical  aspects  of  the 
problem  of  inbreeding,  the  author  completes  his 
interesting  volume  with  the  warning  that  the  value 
of  research  in  genetics  is  to  be  judged  by  its  con- 
tributions to  knowledge  rather  than  by  its  aid  to 
the  practical  breeder — useful  as  that  aid  may  be. 

The  Universal  Mind  and  the  Great  War.  Out- 
lines of  a  New  Religion,  Universalism,  based  on 
science  and  the  facts  of  creative  evolution.  By 
E.  Drake.  Pp.  vii  +  loo.  (London :  C.  W. 
Daniel,  Ltd.,  n.d.)  Price  2S.  6d.  net. 
There  is  much  honest  and  suggestive  thinking 
in  this  book,  though  the  writer  is  sometimes  both 
pedantic  and  ill-informed.  Having  proclaimed 
the  bankruptcy  of  all  dogmatic  religion,  all  philo- 
sophy, and  all  ethics,  he  proceeds  to  give  us  the 
right  thing.  Matter  and  mind  are  the  two  cer- 
tainties ;  they  are  entities,  of  which  we  can  know 
only  the  manifestations.  The  universal  mind  is 
individualised  in  each  living  organism,  the  crea- 
tive intellect  directing  matter  from  within.  God 
is  in  us ;  we  are  His  direct  personification.  From 
the  first  beginnings  of  life  on  the  planet  He  has 
been  moulding  matter  for  His  ends  of  manifesta- 
tion, dropping  the  saurian  forms,  e.g.,  when  not 
found  to  work,  and  trying  another  tack.  He  is 
continually  fighting  matter,  aiming  at  fuller  con- 
trol, fuller  manifestation ;  and  matter  is  so  big  and 
strong  that  only  a  bit  at  a  time  can  be  grappled 
with — i.e.,  the  part  which  thereby  we  see  as 
"alive."  At  death  the  mind  that  was  in  the 
organism  survives,  but  in  what  form — individual- 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


ised  or  not — we  cannot  know.  The  whole  argu- 
ment is  in  the  right  direction,  though  it  is  crudely 
put;  if  the  author  had  read  Fechner  and  Samuel 
Butler  he  might  have  improved  it.  Both  of  these 
see  God  as  Logos  manifesting  through  matter ; 
but  Fechner  from  the  beginning,  and  Butler  after 
trying  a  theory  almost  exactly  identical  with  Mr. 
Drake's  and  finding  it  unsatisfactory,  accept  Him 
as  energising  not  only  through  that  small  portion 
of  matter  which  we  call  "hving,"  but  through  all 
the  matter  of  the  universe. 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Gravitation  and  Temperature. 

I  SHOULD  like  to  make  a  statement  on  the  very 
suggestive  contribution  by  "J.  L."  in  Nature,  June  15, 
regarding  my  result  of  a  temperature  effect  for 
gravitation  of  +1-2x10-*  per  i°C.  The  confirmation, 
or  otherwise,  of  this  result  will  come,  of  course,  from 
the  laboratory,  not  the  study.  Still,  a  discussion  at 
this  difficult  juncture  might  define  the  issue  and  per- 
haps indicate  the  best  line  for  further  experiment. 

To    take    the    scanty    known    data    chronologically : 

I.  From  Kepler's  third  law  we  deduce  that  gravi- 
tational mass  (g.m.)  and  inertia  mass  (i.m.)  vary 
together  at  the  same  rate,  if  at  all,  with  tempera- 
ture change.  The  mean  temperature  of  the  larger 
planets  is  probably  much  higher  than  that  of  the 
smaller  ones.  Thus  if  it  were  established  that  at 
these  high  temperatures  g.m.  rises  with  temperature, 
i.m.  must  rise  proportionally.  Any  small  departure 
from  this  principle  would  apj>ear  as  a  change  in  the 
mean  motion  for  the  observed  distance,  not  as  a 
periodic  inequality ;  so  it  would  be  cumulative,  and, 
with  the  great  accuracy  of  modern  astronomical 
methods,  should  be  observed,  unless  very  small.  No 
such  effect  is  known. 

II.  The  pendulum  experiments  of  Bessel  establish 
the  same  principle,  but  since  the  temperature  range 
is  very  small,  this  test  is  probably  much  less  severe. 

III.  Poynting .  and  Phillips  found  that  for  change 
in  temperature  of  100°  in  a  mass  of  200  grams, 
counterpoised  on  a  balance,  the  change  in  g.m.  is 
less  than  i/io*  per  1°  C.  This  very  exact  and  direct 
result,  taken  in  conjunction  with  I.  and  II.,  would 
seem  to  show  that  in  the  case  of  a  gravitational 
couplet  of  a  very  large  mass  M  and  a  small  mass  m 
the  temperature  of  the  latter  can  vary  considerably 
at  ordinary  temperature  without  sensible  change  in 
g.m.  or  i.m. 

IV.  My  result,  quoted  above,  shows  that  when  M, 
but  not  m,  is  raised  in  temperature,  there  is  an  in- 
crease in  g.m.  It  will  be  seen  that  this  case  differs 
from  I.,  II.,  and  III.,  in  that  here  the  large,  not  the 
small,  mass  has  temperature  varied.  My  result 
appears  to  be  in  direct  conflict  with  III.  Can  we 
make  any  justifiable  physical  assumptions  whereby 
this  seeming  conflict  may  disappear? 

A  simple  view  of  the  effect  of  temperature  on 
attraction  is  that  the  gravitational  masses  M,  m 
increase  with  temperature,  and  the  two  increased 
masses,  M(i  +  aT)  and  m(i  +  at),  would  be  multiplied 
together    to    obtain    the  resulting    attraction        Thus, 


July  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


401 


before  rise  of  temperature,  we  have  GMm/d*.     After 
rise  we  have 


GMw 


,    [_l  +a(T  +  /)J. 


^[l+a'(T/)] 


If  we,  however,  assume  that  increments  in  g.m.  are 
multiplied  separately,  we  should  have 
GM///[ 

Neither   of   these   formulae   helps   us   to   reconcile  the 
above  facts. 

But  now  suppose  that  gravitational  attraction  be- 
tween two  masses  consists  of  two  parts  : — 

(a)  The  essential-mass  term.  Attraction  between 
the  masses  occurs  in  virtue  of  the  ether  displaced  by 
the  Faraday  tubes  attached  to  their  electrons.  This 
would  be  like  Maxwell's  stress  theory  of  gravitation  : 
compression  of  ether  radially  from  each  body  and 
tensions  in  directions  perpendicular  to  the  radii.  This 
term  is  represented  by  the  usual  form  fi  —  G^lm/d-. 
It  is  independent  of  molecular  vibration  and  exists  at 
absolute  zero. 

(b)  The  temperature  term.  Attraction  is  due  to 
vibration  of  the  Faraday  tubes,  which  are  carried  to- 
and-fro  by  the  molecules  in  their  vibratory  motion. 
This  is  like  Challis's  wave  theory  of  gravitation, 
whereby  bodies  in  a  vibrating  medium  attract  one 
another  if  their  phases  are  in  close  agreement.  Dr. 
C.  V.  Burton  suggested  that  for  very  high  velocity 
of  wave  transmission  the  vibrating  bodies  might 
resonate  one  another  and  have  approximately  like 
phases.  Presumably  the  waves  in  this  case  are  longi- 
tudinal and  their  velocity  nearly  infinite.  If  the 
po-wer  that  one  mass  has  of  setting  another  to  resonate 
depends  on  the  ratio,  mass  of  vibrator /total  mass, 
this  attraction  would  be 

y:,=;grMaT(-^V+„.a/-^  )m1 

Adding  (a)  and  (&)  terms, 
GMw 


/=/!+/.  =  - 


iT- 


b-imin')} 


This  expression  was  suggested,  though  not  derived, 
by  Poynting  and  Phillips.  Evidently,  when  M  pre- 
ponderates greatly  over  m  (the  only  case  we  need 
:onsider), 


/=__(^r+aT) 


so  that  a  change  in  temperature  of  M  might  affect  / 
appreciably,  but  no  such  change  in  m  could  do  so. 

This  expression,  then,  would  make  all  the  facts 
compatible.  We  have  supposed  that  the  temperature 
effect  depends  on  the  first  power,  but  it  would  be 
more  natural  to  consider  that  the  intensity  of  vibration 
varies  as  the  square  or  higher  power  of  temperature. 
In  that  case  we  should  have  for  variation  in  the  New- 
tonian constant,  G  =  G,(i  +  aT«). 

It  may  be  significant  that  the  coefficient  of  cubical 
expansion  of  lead  (the  material  used),  viz.  8"4Xio-*, 
is  of  the  same  order  as  my  result,  i-2Xio-*,  the 
increment  of  /  being  1/7  of  the  increment  in  volume 
in  the  lead. 

Above  we  have  taken  g.m.  and  i.tn.,  so  far  as  these 
depend  on  ether  displacement,  to  be  invariable,  but 
as  the  body  rises  in  temperature  from  absolute  zero, 
the  vibrations  may,  especially  at  high  temperature, 
cause  such  violent  agitation  of  Faraday  tubes  that 
the  effective  displacement  of  ether  is  increased.  If 
this  were  so,  of  course  both  g.m.  and  t.m.  would 
increase,  since  in  that  case  the  essential  mass  would 
increase.  Mathematicians  might  assist  in  deciding 
this  point.     But,  at  present,   for  temf>eratures  up  to, 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


say,  500°  C,  we  might  suppose  neither  g.m.  nor  i.m. 
to  change  from  this  cause  to  any  perceptible  amount. 

To  make  clear  the  action  of  the  above  formula, 
imagine  the  case  of  sun,  earth,  and  moon.  If  the 
mean  temperature  of  the  earth  were  to  rise  greatly, 
say  through  sudden  radio-activity  in  its  interior  of 
some  element  previously  Inactive,  then  the  tempera- 
ture term  for  the  earth  would  Increase  by  an  amount 
small  compared  with  the  essential  mass  term  of  (sun 
+  earth),  but  large  compared  with  that  of  (earth + 
moon).  Thus  the  earth's  orbital  motion  would  not 
change  appreciably,  but  attraction  between  earth  and 
moon  would  increase  and  the  moon's  orbital  motion 
1  might  be  greatly  affected. 

Applying  our  formula  i.  to  the  comments  of  "'J.  L.," 
we  should  not  anticipate  change  due  to  temperature 
in  g.m.  or  i.m.  in  the  cases  of  pendulum  experiments 
or  planetarj-  orbital  movements,  nor  should  we  expect 
"  kicks  "  in  moving  masses  the  temperatures  of  which 
are  suddenly  changed.  In  like  manner,  a  comet,  even 
though  considerably  heated  or  cooled,  would  be  ex- 
pected to  have  regular  motion.  The  great  difficulties 
suggested  by  "  J.  L."  would  all  vanish  If  formula  i. 
or  something  akin  were  true. 

It  might  be  thought  that  my  research,  standing 
alone,  is  slender  evidence  on  which  to  raise  such  Im- 
portant results;  but  I  would  mention  that,  as  shown 
in  my  paper,  my  result  is  buttressed  by  indirect 
evidence. 

If  the  formula  I.  be  true,  my  contention  is 
strengthened  (see  Nature,  October  7,  1915)  that  a 
laboratory  value  of  G  should  not  be  considered  valid 
for  application  to  the  attraction  between  masses  {e.g. 
the  heavenly  bodies)  the  temp>eratures  of  which  are 
far  from  ordinar)'.  The  whole  problem  is  complicated 
by  the  high  temperatures  involved  in  the  members  of 
the  solar  system.  We  know  that  the  rigidity  of  the 
earth,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  very  great,  so  that  the 
immense  pressure  in  the  core  counteracts  the  fluidising 
Influence  of  the  very  high  temperature.  Elasticity 
is,  at  a  surface  view,  a  molecular  property ;  gravity 
is  primarily  an  electrony'ether  propert}-;  nevertheless 
we  are  on  unsure  ground  In  reasoning  that  any 
property  will  be  the  same,  say,  at  5000°  C,  and  at 
o°C. 

Following  the  guidance  of  the  formula  I.,  we  may 
expect  fruitful  research  if  we  vary  the  temperature 
of  the  large  mass ;  but  we  should  anticipate  that  no 
good  results  could  be  derived  from  ex{>eriments  on 
temperature  change  of  the  small  mass. 

Poincar^  pointed  out  (Report  to  the  International 
Congress  in  Physics,  1900)  that  the  mass  of  Jupiter, 
as  derived  from  the  orbits  of  its  satellites,  as  derived 
from  its  perturbations  of  the  large  planets,  and  as 
derived  from  its  perturbations  of  the  small  planets, 
has  three  different  values.  This  would  lead  one  to 
give  to  G  a  different  value  in  each  of  the  three  cases. 
It  will  be  seen  to  accord  with  equation  i.   above,  for 

in  the  three  cases  the  ratio  {  ^-i )  is  very  different. 

It  may  be  a  useful  fact  in  the  present  argument, 

P.  E.  Shaw. 

University  College,  Nottingham,  June  24. 


Payment  for  Scientific  Research. 

In  future  discussions  on  this  difficult  but  important 
question.  It  will  be  well  that  a  distinction  should  be 
drawn  between  the  case  of  a  specialist  who  engages 
in  research  on  a  subject  of  his  own  choice,  devoting 
as  much  or  as  little  of  his  time  as  he  cares  to  give 
to  it,  and  that  of  a  scientific  expert  who  agrees  to 
undertake  work  for  the  Government  or  some  other  bodv 


402 


NATURE 


[July  13,  19I6 


on  definitely  stated  subjects,  and  who  is,  as  a  general 
rule,  expected  to  complete  the  duties  within  a  more  or 
less  definite  time-limit. 

For  investigations  falling  under  the  first  category 
the  problem  of  remuneration  presents  serious  diffi- 
culties, and  we  may  at  least  console  ourselves  with  the 
knowledge  that  a  step  in  the  right  direction  has  been 
taken  by  the  Board  of  Education  in  requiring  returns 
to  be  made  of  researches  conducted  by  the  staffs  and 
graduates  of  our  university  colleges.  In  this  connec- 
tion it  is,  further,  becoming  recognised  that  teachers 
in  these  institutions  should  have  sufficient  opportunity 
in  term  time,  as  well  as  in  vacation,  for  research. 

It  is  with  regard  to  the  second  class  of  investi- 
gation that  the  claim  for  remuneration  is  most 
urgent.  From  personal  knowledge,  I  consider  that 
it  is  impossible  for  an  average  skilled  labourer  in  the 
scientific  industry  to  earn  a  living  wage  consistent 
with  his  necessary  expenses  unless  his  whole  time  is 
available  for  remunerative  duties.  It  is  true  that 
intervals  occur,  sometimes  quite  unexpectedly,  during 
which  he  may  be  temporarily  unemployed,  and  these 
can  be  utilised  for  purposes  of  research ;  on  the  other 
hand,  there  are  certain  periods  of  the  year  when  the 
work  is  extremely  heavy,  and  latitude  of  time  is 
necessary  even  for  the  performance  of  paid  work. 

There  are  probably  very  few  scientific  labourers  who 
would  be  justified  in  refusing  an  invitation  to  mark 
500  examination  papers  at  a  fee  of  is.  per  paper  in 
order  to  complete  an  investigation  for  the  Government 
for  which  they  received  no  fee.  As  soon,  how- 
ever, as  the  labourer  accepts  remuneration  for  a 
definite  undertaking,  his  employer  has  some  guarantee 
that  he  will  not  let  future  engagements  interfere 
with  the  fulfilment  of  his  contract.  This  at  least 
applies  to  scientific  specialists  who  are  not  members 
of  trade  unions. 

I  am  very  much  afraid,  however,  that  a  great  many 
people  are  undertaking  unpaid  work  under  conditions 
quite  incompatible  with  the  present  depressed  con- 
ditions of  the  scientific  labour  market.  In  some  cases 
this  is  being  done  from  a  sense  of  patriotism.  Un- 
doubtedly their  labours  may  have  the  effect  of  reducing 
the  duration  and  the  severity  of  the  lesson  which  the 
enemy  countries  are  teaching  us  in  regard  to  our 
national  neglect  of  science — a  lesson  which  is  the  one 
good  turn  the  Huns  are  doing  us.  But  they  are 
certainly  tending  to  diminish  the  efficacy  of  that 
lesson.  G.  H.  Bryan. 


Negative  Liquid  Pressure  at  High  Temperatures. 

In  my  paper  with  Lieut.  Entwistle  on  the  effect  of 
temperature  on  the  hissing  of  water  when  flowing 
through  a  constricted  tube  (Proc.  Royal  Soc,  A.  91, 
1915)  I  h'-vc  determined  the  temperature  coefficient 
o^  £.11  effect  which  indicates  that  the  tensile  strength 
of  water  would  be  zero  at  a  temperature  between 
279°  C.  and  363°  C,  with  a  mean  from  all  the  experi- 
ments published  of  328°  C.  Sir  Joseph  Larmor's 
calculated  result,  265^0.,  quoted  by  him  in  his  letter 
in  Nature  of  June  29,  agrees  satisfactorily  with  the 
experimental  value  if  we  take  into  account  the  difficulty 
of  getting  the  precise  point  at  which  hissing  ceases, 
and  that  the  result  was  obtained  by  extrapolation 
from  observations  taken  at  temperatures  between 
12°  C.  and  99°  C.  Lieut.  Entwistle  and  I  have  ex- 
perimented with  other  liquids — alcohol,  benzene, 
acetone,  and  ether — and  obtained  results  of  a  similar 
character.  Experiments  are  now  in  abeyance,  for  my 
colleague  is  otherwise  engaged. 

My  own  view,  formed  from  physical  conceptions, 
was  that  the  tensile  strength  of  a  liquid  would  become 
zero   at  its  critical  temperature.      It  is  of  very  great 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


interest  that  Sir  Joseph  has  been  able  to  show  mathe- 
matically that  the  negative  pressure  can  only  subsist 
at  absolute  temperatures  below  27/32  of  the  critical 
point  of  a  substance. 

The  conclusions  appended  to  our  paper  are  : — 

1.  That  the  phenomenon  of  hissing  of  water  passing 
a  constriction  is  due  to  a  true  rupture  of  the  stream- 
at  the  point  where  the  pressure  is  lowest. 

2.  That  the  temperatures  at  which  the  hissing  just 
occurs,  between  0°  and  100°  C,  follow  a  law  which 
may  be  expressed  V  =  C(0— f),  where  V  is  the  velocity 
of  the  stream  at  a  temperature  t,  6  the  critical  tem- 
perature of  water,  and  C  a  constant. 

If  we  adopt  Sir  Joseph  Larmor's  view  the  latter 
law  will  require  to  be  expressed 

V  =  C;27/32(e  +  273)-(t  +  273);, 

or  by  a  slightly  more  complex  formula. 

Sidney  Skinner. 
South-Western  Polytechnic  Institute,  Chelsea. 
July  3- 


THE  PROPAGATION  OF  SOUND   BY   THE 
ATMOSPHERE. 

SINCE  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  sound  of 
gun-firing  in  Flanders  and  France  has  often, 
been  heard  in  the  south-eastern  counties  of 
England.  There  can  be  little  doubt  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  sounds,  for  the  reports  of  distant 
heavy  guns  have  a  character  which  is  readily 
recognised.  A  correspondent  of  the  Daily  Mail 
(July  6)  states  that  at  Framfield  (near  Uckfield), 
in  Sussex,  it  is  easy  to  identify  the  particular  kind 
of  gun  which  is  being  used.  The  great  distance 
to  which  the  sound-waves  are  carried  under 
favourable  conditions  is  evident  from  the  letters, 
recently  published  in  the  Daily  Mail.  As  firing, 
has  occurred  lately  over  a  great  part  of  the 
Western  front,  the  exact  position  of  the  source 
of  the  sound  is  uncertain.  But  if  it  were  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Albert  the  waves  must  have 
travelled  about  118  miles  to  Framfield,  150  miles, 
to  Sidcup,  and  158  miles  to  Dorking. 

Of  far  greater  interest  are  the  form  and  dis- 
continuity of  the  sound-area.  A  remarkable- 
example  of  the  inaudibility  of  neighbouring, 
reports  in  the  face  of  a  gentle  wind  was  given 
in  the  last  number  of  Nature  (p.  385).  This  is 
a  subject  on  which  many  observations  have  been- 
made  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century, 
especially  in  connection  with  the  sounds  of  vol- 
canic and  other  explosions.  The  source  of  sound 
is  always  surrounded  by  an  area  of  regular  or 
irregular  shape  within  which  the  sound  is  every- 
where heard,  though  the  source  is  not  always- 
situated  symmetrically  with  reference  to  the 
boundary  of  the  area.  On  several  occasions  a 
second  sound-area  has  been  mapped,  separated' 
from  the  former  by  a  "  silent  region  "  in  which 
no  sound  is  heard.  Sometimes  this  second  area 
partly  surrounds  the  other,  sometimes  it  consists 
only  of  isolated  patches.  As  a  rule,  according 
to  Dr.  E.  van  Everdingen,  who  has  made  a  de- 
tailed study  of  the  subject, ^  the  least  distance  of 
the   second   area   from  the   source  is   much   more- 

1  "The  Propagation  of  Sound  in  the  Atmosphere."     Koninklijke  Akad.. 
van  Wetenschappen  te  Amsterdam,  Proc.,  vol.  xviii.,  1915,  pp.  933-960. 


July  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


403 


than  100  km.,  and  the  intensity  of  the  sound  at 
this  least  distance  is  not  less  than  near  the 
boundary  of  the  inner  sound-area. 

Dr.  van  Everdingfen  refers  to  several  dynamite 
-and  volcanic  explosions  which  have  been  carefully 
studied  from  1903  to  191 1,  He  also  adds  some 
interesting-  observations  made  chiefly  in  Holland 
during-  the  present  war.  The  most  important 
case  is  that  of  the  bombardment  of  Antwerp  on 
October  8,  1914.  The  reports  were  heard  at 
many  places  in  Holland  within  100  km.  from  the 
source  and  ag-ain  outside  a  circle  of  158  km. 
radius,  but  at  very  few  intermediate  places.  The 
.silent  region  is  bounded  by  two  curves,  which 
are  roughly  circular,  the  inner  arc  being  traced 
for  more  than  180°  and  the  outer  for  more  than 
•90°.  In  some  cases  of  heavy  firing-  at  later  dates 
there  are  also  indications  of  silent  regions ;  in 
others  an  increased  audibility  has  been  established 
near  the  line  of  160  km.  In  no  case  is  there  any 
certain  indication  of  any  asymmetrical  propa- 
g-ation  of  the  sound. ^ 

Dr.  van  Everding-en  examines  the  two  exolana- 
tions  which  have  been  offered  of  the  existence  of 
the  silent  region,  one  of  which  relies  on  varia- 
tions of  wind-velocity  and  temperature  with  the 
altitude;  the  other  (von  dem  Borne's)  on  changes 
in  the  composition  of  the  atmosphere  at  great 
heights.  On  the  former  explanation  we  might 
expect  asymmetry,  on  the  latter  symmetry,  with 
regard  to  the  source  of  sound.  He  considers  that 
both  explanations  are  true  and  should  be  applied 
in  combination.  In  favour  of  the  second  explana- 
tion, he  urges  the  facts  that  in  recent  cases  the 
outer  margin  of  the  silent  region  has  always  been 
about  160  km.  from  the  probable  source  of 
sound  and  that  no  appreciable  deviations  from  the 
circular  form  have  been  observed.  The  above 
distance  is  greater  than  the  limiting-  distance 
(114  km.)  assigned  by  von  dem  Borne,  but  Dr. 
van  Everdingen  shows  that  it  agrees  well  with 
estimates  made  on  the  supposition  that  the  per- 
centage of  hydrogen  in  the  upper  atmosphere  is 
much  smaller  than  that  assumed  by  von  dem 
Borne. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  value  and  in- 
terest of  Dr.  van  Everdingen 's  investigations.  It 
would  seem  desirable,  however,  to  continue  and 
extend  them.  Though  the  existence  of  silent 
regions  may  be  reearded  as  established,  many 
more  negative  records  are  required  to  prove  the 
symmetry  of  the  region  with  reference  to  the 
source  of  sound.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  deep  sounds  of  these  explosions  may  at  great 
distances  be  below  the  lower  limit  of  audibility 
of  some  observers.  Moreover,  the  mean  radius 
of  the  outer  margfin  of  the  silent  region  is  very 
far  from  being-  constant.  In  one  of  the  earliest 
cases  in  which  the  silent  region  was  noticed — that 
of  the  minute-guns  fired  during  the  funeral  pro- 
cession of  Queen  Victoria  on  February  i,  1901 
{Knowledge,  vol.  xxiv.,  1901,  pp.  124-5) — ^^^ 
radius  was  about  80  km.  C.  Davison. 

2  It  may  be  mentioned  that,  on  October  28,  1914,  the  sound  of  the  British 
naval  guns  that  bombarded  the  Flemish  coast  was  heard  at  a  distance  of 
280  km.,  or  174  miles. 

NO.    2437,   VOL.   97] 


AERONAUTICS   AND    THE    WAR.^ 

(i)  |V/[  R.  LANCH ESTER'S  latest  book,  unlike 
^^^  his  previous  works  on  aerial  flight,  can 
be  read  with  considerable  interest  and  without  any 
great  effort.  The  preface,  by  Lieut. -General  Sir 
David  Henderson,  at  once  arrests  attention  and 
has  caused  more  comment  than  any  other  equally 
long  section  of  the  book,  i'he  summary  of  the 
present  aeronautical  position  is  so  interesting  that 
a  quotation  of  considerable  length  is  here  given. 
General  Henderson  writes  : — 

There  are  no  experts  in  military  aeronautics ;  there 
are  experts  in  the  various  branches  :  in  flying,  in 
scientitic  research,  in  the  design  and  construction  of 
aeroplanes  and  engines,  in  military  organisation  and 
tactics.  But  as  yet  there  is  little  opportunity  for  the 
expert  in  one  branch  to  gain  definite  knowledge  of 
the  others  except  by  hard  personal  experience;  in 
every  direction  there  is  progress,  in  ever\-  section  of 
work  opinion  is  fluid.  ...  Of  all  the  fields  in  which 
work  for  the  advancement  of  military  aeronautics  has 
been  undertaken  in  this  country,  that  of  scientific 
research  has,  up  to  the  present,  produced  the  results 
that  will  probably  be  most  enduring.  ...  In  the 
work  of  stating  and  solving  the  problems  of  aero- 
nautics, Mr.  Lanchester  was  one  of  the  pioneers;  he 
was  bold  enough  to  publish  the  results  of  his  investi- 
gations at  a  time  when  flying  had  only  just  been 
proved  possible;  and  he  has  reason  now  to  be  well 
satisfied  with  the  quality  of  his  early  work. 

The  author  himself,  in  his  introductory  note, 
rubs  in  the  last  point  very  vigorously. 

Mr.  Lanchester  commences  by  describing  the 
functions  of  an  aeronautical  arm,  stating  that 
reconnaissance  is  the  main  duty,  in  which  aircraft 
are  related  to  the  older  arms  of  the  Service.  The 
opposing  and .  destruction  of  enemy  aircraft  are 
classed  as  secondary  functions.  The  problem  of 
the  relative  merits  of  aeroplane  and  dirigible  is 
treated  at  some  length.  Attention  is  directed  to 
the  superior  speed  of  the  aeroplane  (practically 
double  that  of  the  dirigible).  The  limit  of  size  is 
practically  reached  for  the  dirigible,  whereas  the 
present-day  aeroplane  nowise  defines  the  limit,  in 
Mr.  Lanchester's  opinion.  This  seems  scarcely 
consistent  with  his  present  views,  for  his  recent 
article  in  Engineering  expresses  the  opinion  that 
large  aeroplanes  will  be  less  efficient  than  smaller 
ones.  Mr.  Lanchester  is  doubtful  whether  fight- 
ing is  a  primary  function  of  the  dirigible,  and 
thinks  that  bomb-dropping  is  altogether  a  misuse. 
He  points  to  the  vulnerability  of  the  airship,  stat- 
ing that  "even  to-day  the  finest  of  Germany's 
fleet  of  Zeppelins  would  be  absolutely  at  the  mercy 
of  a  modern  aeroplane  in  the  hands  of  a  man  pre- 
pared to  make  his  one  and  last  sacrifice."  Before 
proceeding  to  more  general  considerations  he  dis- 
poses of  the  dirigible  as  a  part  of  the  aeronautical 
ser\'ice,  pointing  out  that  if  this  proves  untrue  his 
main  conclusions  will  not  be  affected. 

The  question  of  the  vulnerability  of  the  aero- 

1  (1)  "Aircraft  in  Warfare:  the  Dawn  of  the  Fourth  Arm."  By  F.  W* 
Lanchester.  Pp.  xviii  +  222.  (London :  Constable  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1916.' 
Price  I2J.  M.  net. 

(2)  "Aircraft  in  War  and  Peace."  By  W.  A.  Robson.  Pp.  xi  +  176. 
(London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1916.)    Price  zr.  6rf.  net. 


404 


NATURE 


[July  13,  1916 


plane  is  next  dealt  with,  the  advantage  of  the 
small  target  area  offered  is  pointed  out,  and  the 
possibility  of  armouring  for  low-altitude  flying 
discussed.     The     fact     that     an     insufficiency     of 


armour   is   worse   than  none  is   strongly    insisted 
upon. 

Next   follows   a   discussion   of  the  principle   of 
concentration,    with    numerous    examples    of    the 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


author's  n-square  law.     This  section  does  not  call 
for  much  comment  here. 

Mr.     Lanchester    expresses     the    opinion    that 
treaty   restrictions  framed  for  the  other  arms  of 
the  Service  should  not  apply  to  the 
new  arm,   particularly  pointing  out 
that  expanding  bullets  could  be  used 
with  great  effect  in  the  destruction 
of  the  spars  and  struts  of  aeroplanes 
by   gunfire.       The   question   of   the 
-^        difficulty  of  aiming  bombs  is  dealt 
J        with,    and    Mr.     Lanchester    thinks 

1  that  the  gun  will  eventually  displace 
c        the  bomb  in  the  armament  of  air- 

«        craft. 

u  The  subject  of  naval  aeronautics 

<        receives   some   attention,    the   great 

"g        difference    of    the    conditions    from 

2  those  of  military  aeronautics  being 
specially  remarked  upon.     The  great 

%  value  of  aircraft  for  combating  sub- 
^  marines  is  mentioned,  and  the  ques- 
'^_  tion  of  the  relative  merits  of  sea- 
^  planes  and  aeroplanes  carried  by 
^  pontoon  ships  is  discussed.  It  is 
s  stated  that  the  pontoon  ship  offers 
■;;  better  alighting  facilities  and  enables 
-  faster  machines  to  be  used. 
^  A  great  deal  of  space  is  devoted  to 

5  the  probable  tactics  of  large  fleets  of 
^  aeroplanes.  This  subject  gives  Mr. 
•=  Lanchester  ample  scope  for  his  lively 
I  imagination,  and  his  treatment  of 
J  the  subject  is  speculative  in  the 
S        extreme.     It  seems  scarcely  possible 

1  to  define  aeronautical  tactics  in  such 

2  an  extensive  fashion  at  such  an  early 
I  stage  in  the  development  of  the  new 
5        arm. 

■;;  Mr.     Lanchester     completes     his 

"  book  with  a  consideration  of  the 
i  present  position,  pointing  out  with 
"g        no  uncertain  voice  that  the  British 

3  aeroplane  of  to-day  is  better  aero- 
dynamically,      more     stable,      more 

^        robust,  and  more  weatherproof  than 
pi        the  enemy's  best  machines,   and   in 
"o        all  ways  better  fitted  for  service  con- 
?        ditions.     It  is  stated  that  there  was 
s        no  good  gun-carrying  aeroplane  in 
1        existence   at  the  commencement  of 
I        the  war,  and  that  the  progress  made 
■g        has  been  astonishing.     Reference  is 
S        made  to  the  work  of  the  Royal  Air- 
X.       craft  Factory,   special  praise  being 
j|        given  to  the  full-scale  experimental 
work  of  the  late  Mr.    E.   T.   Busk. 
The  scientific  research  work  of  the 
National    Physical    Laboratory    re- 
ceives consideration,   and  Mr.   Lan- 
chester   reiterates   that    in    scientific 
knowledge  we  are  well  ahead  of  all 
other  nations.     A  board  of  aeronautical  construc- 
tion is  advocated,   as  apart  from  the  present  ad- 
visory committee. 

There  is  a  brief  appendix  giving  some  details 


July  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


405 


of  the  Lewis  gun,  the  chief  armament  of  our 
present  military  machines. 

As  General  Henderson  remarks  at  the  close  of 
his  preface,  Mr.  Lanchester's  book  is  well  worth 
reading,  and  there  is  much  in  it  worthy  of  study 
and  reflection. 

(2)  The  book  by  Mr.  Robson  can  in  no  sense 
of  the  word  be  called  a  scientific  work.  It  is  a 
book  for  the  "  man  in  the  street  "  who  wishes  to 
know  a  little  about  aircraft  and  about  the  organ- 
isation of  our  present-day  air  services.  A  great 
part  of  the  discussion  of  the  importance  of  the 
new  aeronautical  arm  follows  Mr.  Lanchester's 
argument  verj'  closely,  often  in  almost  identical 
terms.  There  are  many  extravagant  phrases  in 
the  book,  as  an  example  of  which  may  be  given 
the  author's  statement,  in  treating  of  the  courage 
and  resource  of  British  airmen  :  "  Germany  could 
not  wrest  from  us  our  ascendancy  in  the  air  even 
if  she  had  ten  times  as  many  aeroplanes  as  we 
have."  This  is  obvious  exaggeration.  Mr.  Rob- 
son  foresees  the  time,  after  peace  is  established, 
when  aerial  travel  and  transport  will  be  the  order 
of  the  day,  and  everyone  of  moderate  means  will 
possess  his  own  private  aeroplane.  This  seems 
to  be  going  too  far  at  the  present  stage  of  develop- 
ment, and  only  future  experience  can  justify  the 
prediction  of  such  a  brilliant  future  for  aero- 
nautics. The  book  can  in  no  w'ay  be  compared 
with  Mr.  Lanchester's  work  on  the  same  subject, 
but  it  may  prove  useful  to  those  who  want  a 
non-technical  and  popularly  written  outline  of  the 
present,  and  possible  future,  position  of  aero- 
nautics in  warfare.  E.  F.  R. 


SIR    GASTON    MASPERO,    K.C.M.G.    (Hon.). 

THE  receipt  of  the  news  of  the  sudden  death  of 
Sir  Gaston  Maspero,  whilst  attending  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Academic  des  Inscriptions  et  Belles- 
Lettres  in  Paris  on  Friday,  June  30,  has  been 
received  with  keen  regret  not  only  by  Egypto- 
logists, of  w-hose  science  he  was  the  ablest  and 
most  competent  living  exponent,  but  also  by 
archaeologists  generally  throughout  the  world.  To 
his  personal  friends  his  death  was  not  wholly  unex- 
pected, for  during  the  last  two  years  he  suffered 
severely  from  acute  illnesses  at  intervals,  and  his 
usually  bright  and  cheery  outlook  on  life  was 
clouded  by  the  bitter  grief  he  felt  at  the  loss  of  his 
nearest  and  dearest  during  the  war.  His  brave 
spirit,  however,  clung  to  his  work,  and  the  last 
parts  of  the  Annales  du  Service  and  Recueil  de 
Travaux  prove  by  his  contributions  to  them  that 
his  great  mental  faculties  and  powers  of  work 
remained  in  effective  condition  to  the  end. 

Maspero  was  born  in  Paris  on  June  23,  1846, 
and  his  family  appears  to  have  been  of  Italian 
origin.  Little  is  known  of  his  early  years,  but 
whilst  still  a  boy  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study 
of  Egyptology  as  exp>ounded  in  the  works  of 
Chabas  and  de  Rouge.  His  first  important  pub- 
lication was  a  copy  of  the  hieratic  text  of  an 
Egvptian  hymn  to  the  Nile,  edited  from  papyri  in 
the  British  Museum,  and  accompanied  by  a  French 
NO.    2437,   VOL.    97] 


translation;  it  appeared  in  Paris  in  1868,  when  he 
was  about  twenty-two  years  old.  He  was  greatly 
encouraged  in  his  work  by  Mariette,  who  in  1854 
had  been  commissioned  by  Said  Pash^  to  found 
a  museum  of  Egyptian  antiquities  at  Bulak.  In 
1873  Maspero  took  the  degree  of  Docteur-es- 
Lettres,  and  soon  after  succeeded  de  Rouge 
as  professor  of  the  Collie  de  France.  In 
1878  Mariette  proposed  to  the  French  Govern- 
ment to  found  an  archaeological  mission,  and, 
on  the  proposal  being  accepted,  Mariette  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  the  apf)ointment  of  director 
for  Maspero,  who  took  up  his  duties  in  Cairo  in 
1880. 

In  the  following  year  (January  17,  1881) 
Mariette  died,  and  Maspero  became  director  of 
the  Bulak  Museum.  In  a  very  short  time  he 
arranged  the  objects  in  the  museum  on  a  definite 
system,  and  the  catalogue  of  them  w-hich  he  pub- 
lished formed  a  most  valuable  compendium  of 
Egyptian  archaeology.  That  the  book  may  still 
be  read  with  pleasure  and  advantage  is  a  great 
testimony  to  the  literary  skill  and  knowledge  of 
its  writer.  Having  arranged  the  museum, 
Maspero  devoted  himself  to  developing,  through- 
out the  country,  the  system  of  excavations  which 
Mariette  had  begun,  and  to  the  completion  of 
Mariette's  unfinished  editions  of  papyri,  etc.  The 
discovery  of  the  royal  mummies  and  of  the  necro- 
pKjlis  of  Panopolis,  and  the  clearing  of  the  royal 
pyramids  at  Sakkarah  and  of  the  Temple  of  Luxor 
are  evidences  of  the  activity  of  Maspero  during 
the  first  period  of  his  rule  at  Bulak.  In  1886,  for 
private  reasons,  Maspero  resigned  his  directorship 
at  Biilak  and  returned  to  Paris,  where  he  devoted 
several  of  the  best  years  of  his  life  to  the  com- 
pilation of  his  monumental  "Histoire  Ancienne  des 
Peuples  de  1 'Orient  Classique,"  which  appeared  in 
three  portly  quarto  volumes  in  1895-99.  A  smaller 
work,  bearing  almost  the  same  title,  was  pub- 
lished by  him  in  1875,  ^nd  the  number  of  editions 
through  which  it  has  passed  attests  its  utility  and 
popularity. 

After  Maspero's  departure  from  Cairo  in  1886 
the  management  of  the  Egyptian  museum  fell  into 
weak  hands,  and  the  scandal  that  attended  the 
removal  of  the  collections  from  Bulak  to  the  Gizah 
Palace  will  not  soon  be  forgotten  by  all  who  are 
interested  in  Egyptology.  Matters  went  from  bad 
to  worse  until  British  public  opinion  in  Elgypt 
demanded  a  change  of  director,  and  another 
Frenchman  was  brought  to  Egypt  to  preside  over 
the  Ser\'ice  des  .\ntiquit^s.  After  two  years  it 
became  evident  that  the  scandals  connected  with 
the  administration  of  the  museum  were  increasing 
in  frequency  and  magnitude,  and  at  length 
Maspero  was  induced  to  return  to  Egypt  and  to 
resume  the  directorship  of  antiquities.  This  he 
did  in  1899. 

From  1899  to  1914  Maspero  worked  with  a  con- 
stancy and  vigour  which  were  marvellous.  He 
directed  and  visited  the  excavations  carried  out 
by  the  Egyptian  Government ;  he  inspected  the 
temples,  and  tombs,  and  other  ancient  buildings 
each  year,  spending  some  months  in  the  process ; 


4o6 


NATURE 


[July  13,  1916 


he  directed  the  publication  of  the  volumes  of  the 
official  "Catalogue,"  which  were  compiled  by 
English,  French,  and  German  experts;  he  edited 
thei?ecMei7  de  Travaux,  the  Annales  du  Service,  the 
"  Memoires  "  of  the  French  archaeological  mission 
in  Cairo,  and  the  Bibliotheque  Egyptologique,  and 
still  found  time  to  write  his  new  books  and  to 
revise  and  re-edit  long  Egyptian  texts.  His 
management  of  the  museum  was  broad-minded 
and  liberal,  and  he  did  a  great  deal  to  popularise 
the  collections  in  it  by  means  of  his  "Guide,"  of 
which,  alas  !  edition  after  edition  has  been  pub- 
lished without  an  index  ! 

Maspero's  knowledge  of  Egyptology  was 
colossal,  and  he  was  always  ready  to  place  it  at  the 
disposal  of  the  expert  as  well  as  of  the  layman. 
He  broke  through  the  old  rule  of  only  allowing 
favoured  investigators  to  excavate  in  Egypt,  and 
often  supported  personally  applications  to  dig 
made  to  the  committee  by  comparatively  unknown 
individuals.  He  was  courteous  and  helpful  to 
every  honest  inquirer,  and,  oddly  enough,  seemed 
to  go  out  of  his  way  to  help  most  those  who 
exploited  his  works  and  who  most  reviled  his 
methods  and  belittled  his  learning.  During  the 
last  two  or  three  years  of  his  career  in  Egypt  his 
action  in  respect  of  the  native  dealers  in  antiquities 
was  much  criticised,  and  it  provoked  much  angry 
comment  both  among  natives  and  Europeans.  But 
his  friends  knew  that  the  mistakes  he  made  were 
not  due  to  incapacity  or  ignorance,  but  to  failing 
health  and  overwork.  He  did  his  own  work  well, 
but  in  doing  that  of  half  a  dozen  other  men  he 
did  some  of  it  badly.  No  French  official  in  Egypt 
was  ever  more  liked  and  respected  by  the  natives 
than  Maspero,  for  they  trusted  him  and  regarded 
him  as  a  friend,  and  they  greatly  appreciated  his 
justness.  In  private  life  he  was  a  delightful  com- 
panion, and  his  stories  of  Oriental  life  and  char- 
acter were  drawn  from  a  fund  of  knowledge  of 
the  East  which  seemed  to  be  literally  inex- 
haustible. The  charm  of  his  conversation  was 
great.  His  words  were  carefully  chosen,  though 
his  expressions  were  often  archaic  and  quaint, 
whilst  the  little  mannerisms  and  gestures  by  which 
they  were  accompanied  well  suited  the  genial 
nature,  the  warm  sympathy,  and  the  kind-hearted- 
ness of  the  man.  In  both  hemispheres  his  death 
will, be  greatly  regretted.  Maspero  received  the 
D.C.L.  from  Oxford  in  1886,  an  honorary 
K.C.M.G.  in  1909,  and  he  was  elected  perpetual 
secretary  of  the  Academic  des  Inscriptions  et 
Belles-Lettres  in  1914.  E.  A.  W.  B. 

NOTES. 
The    King   has   been    pleased    to    approve   of    the 
appointment  of  the  Earl  of  Crawford  to  be  President 
of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries. 

The  Harben  lectures  for  1916,  on  "  Rivers  as 
Sources  of  Water  Supply,"  will  be  delivered  by 
Dr.  A.  C.  Houston  at  the  Royal  Institute  of  Public 
Health,  37  Russell  Square,  W.C.,  on  July  13,  20, 
and  27,  at  5  p.m. 

Prof.  Arthur  Smithells,  F.R.S.,  professor  of 
chemistry  in  the  University  of  Leeds,  has  received  a 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


special  appointment  for  scientific  service  on  the  Staff 
at    General    Headquarters    (Home    Forces)    with    the  ' 
rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  and  graded  for  pay  as  a 
Deputy-Assistant   Adjutant-General. 

The  medical  committee  of  the  British  Science 
Guild,  under  the  chairmanship  of  Sir  Ronald  Ross, 
passed  the  following  resolutions  at  a  recent  meeting : 
(i)  The  medical  committee  of  the  British  Science 
Guild  views  with  disfavour  the  suggestion  that  has  ' 
been  made  by  certain  district  councils  to  cease  water- 
ing the  streets  as  a  war  economy,  and  is  convinced 
that  such  a  step  would  be  prejudicial  to  the  public 
health.  (2)  The  medical  committee  also  views  with 
great  disfavour  the  pollution  of  the  streets  of  London, 
and  of  most  cities  and  big  towns,  by  dogs,  and 
considers  that  the  attention  of  the  Government  and 
of  municipalities  should  be  called  to  the  possibility 
of  reducing  the  evil  by  increasing  the  tax  on  dogs 
and  by  enforcing  by-laws.  The  committee  considers 
that  in  towns  the  tax  on  one  dog  should  be  doubled 
and  a  large  progressive  increase  imposed  on  each 
additional  dog. 

The  Times  announces  the  death  from  wounds 
received  in  action  of  Lieut.  C.  G.  Chapman,  R.E., 
at  the  age  of  twenty-four.  Lieut.  Chapman,  who 
had  served  in  more  than  one  of  the  theatres  ot  war, 
was  the  son  of  Prof.  R.  W.  Chapman,  of  Adelaide 
University.  He  was  formerly  in  the  Irrigation  Branch 
of  the  Survey  Department  of  the  Australian  Govern- 
ment, and  had  been  in  charge  of  surveying  parties 
which  did  good  work  in  the  Northern  Territory  and 
the  Daly  River  country.  Since  the  outbreak  of  war, 
when  he  enlisted  as  a  private,  he  took  part  in  the 
survey  of  Lemnos  for  the  Headquarters  Staff,  and 
afterwards  passed  through  the  Royal  Engineers' 
School  at  Chatham. 

Attention  is  directed  to  the  confusion  that  may  be 
caused  by  the  Summer  Time  Act  in  the  Meteorological 
Ofifice  Circular,  No.  i.  In  accordance  with  the  Act, 
the  use  of  Greenwich  mean  time  is  not  interfered 
with  for  meteorological  purposes,  yet  it  is  inevitable 
that,  unless  the  standard  of  time  used  is  always 
indicated  in  the  record  of  observations,  mistakes  will 
occur,  especially  as  the  expression  "  local  time "  is 
often  erroneously  used  as  a  synonym  for  the  new 
"Summer  Time."  The  scheme  of  hours  of  observa- 
tion at  meteorological  stations  is  international  in 
usage,  and  alternative  schemes  for  winter  and  summer 
were  never  contemplated.  The  eight  sets  of  observing 
hours  are  given  in  the  Circular,  and  observers  who 
cannot  continue  at  the  old  hours  are  strongly  recom- 
mended to  select  from  the  eight  alternatives  one  which 
will  be  convenient  both  for  summer  and  winter,  and 
to  change  to  that  scheme  once  for  all.  A  list  is  given 
of  the  observatories  in  the  British  Isles  which  have 
changed  their  hours  of  observation  since  the  Act 
came  into   force. 

A  conference  organised  by  the  Bread  and  Food 
Reform  League  on  the  national  importance  of  utilis- 
ing whole  cereals  in  time  of  war  was  held  in  London 
on  July  4.  The  Government  was  urged  to  make 
the  use  of  whole  cereals,  especially  whole  wheat  meal 
and  80  per  cent,  wheat  flour,  i.e.  meal  from  which 
the  less  digestible  woody  fibre  has  been  removed, 
much  more  general  than  it  is  at  present.  In  this 
way  it  is  claimed  that  not  only  would  the  national 
bread  supply  be  considerably  increased,  but  the  public 
would  be  provided  with  a  more  substantial  and 
nutritious  food.  The  Government  was  further  asked 
to  take  action  to  prevent  the  abstraction  from  cereal 
foods  of  the  germ  of  wheat  and  of  the  strong  gluten 


July  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


407 


without  notification  to  the  consumer.  The  questions 
involved  in  these  resolutions  have  been  before  the 
public  on  several  occasions  during  the  last  hundred 
years,  most  recently  in  the  form  of  the  "Standard" 
bread  crusade,  but  the  present  conditions  give  them 
a  new  significance,  and  in  any  case  the  matter  is 
of  real  scientific  importance.  In  1881  the  late  Sir 
J.  H.  Gilbert,  in  a  letter  to  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts, 
expressed  the  view  that  while  whole  meal  bread  was 
undoubtedly  beneficial  to  the  sedentary  worker,  the 
bulk  of  the  labouring  population  was  better  suited 
by  a  white  bread  containing  a  more  concentrated 
nourishment.  The  apparent  waste  involved  in  the 
production  of  white  flour  is  largely  illusory,  as  the 
offals  when  fed  to  stock  are  merely  converted  into 
another  form  of  concentrated  food.  Modern  methods 
of  milling  have  since  introduced  another  factor,  but 
until  rigidly  controlled  feeding  experiments  on  the 
human  subject  have  been  made,  the  question  must 
remain  controversial. 

It  is  of  high  importance  to  the  well-being  of  our 
industries  that  we  should  gather  the  views  of  men 
who  stand  at  the  head  of  great  manufacturing  con- 
cerns as  to  the  type  of  man,  his  education  and  train- 
ing, who  in  their  opinion  is  best  fitted  to  direct  them. 
We  welcome,  therefore,  the  experience  of  so  eminent 
an  industrial  leader  as  Sir  Robert  Hadfield,  who,  in 
a  recent  issue  of  the  Coal  and  Iron  Trades  Review, 
has  expressed  himself  on  this  subject.  We  have  not 
always  had  this  advantage :  nothing  in  the  past  has 
been  more  discouraging  to  the  directors  of  our  scien- 
tific and  technical  institutions  than  the  apathy,  not 
to  say  the  callous  indifference,  of  all  but  a  few  far- 
seeing  employers.  This  newly-awakened  interest 
doubtless  finds  its  origin  in  the  successful  industrial 
rivalry  of  the  United  States  and  Germany,  and  if  we 
fail  to  grip  the  true  reason  for  its  success  in  the  wise 
and  ample  provision  of  general  scientific  and 
specialised  education  we  shall  miss  its  vital  signifi- 
cance. Yet  the  burden  of  Sir  Robert  Hadfield's 
message  is  that  of  the  old  adage,  Poeta  nascitur,  non 
fit,  that  the  successful  "  captain  of  industry "  must 
have  original  force  of  character  and  gifts  of  natural 
temperament ;  in  short,  must  possess  inborn  qualities 
that  neither  education  nor  training  can  bestow,  but 
only  develop.  It  thus  becomes  the  business  of  the 
nation  to  set  up  what  Huxley  called  "  effective  capacity- 
catching  machinery,"  so  that  no  potentially  capable 
child  shall  wither  in  neglect.  One  of  the  greatest 
qualities  of  an  organiser  is  the  gift  of  selection,  the 
ability  to  pick  out  the  fit  man  for  a  given  place,  and 
if  he  has  had  a  sound  general  education  and  an  effec- 
tive scientific  training  he  will  be  in  full  sympathy  with 
all  grades  of  workers,  and  alive  to  the  possibilities 
of  each.  The  qualities  of  mind  leading  to  scientific 
discovery  are  one  thing,  the  gift  of  invention  and 
application  another,  and  they  do  not  often  reside 
in  the  same  person ;  they  even  indicate  a  different  order 
of  mind.  A  Dalton  or  a  Faraday  would  not  neces- 
sarily have  made  a  first-rate  organiser  of  a  modem 
business,  but  by  their  patient  investigations  and  their 
penetrating  vision  they  have  made  possible  the  great 
modern  technical  developments.  The  true  place  for 
the  adjustment  of  theoretical  knowledge  to  industrial 
aims  and  conditions  is  in  the  workshop,  and  if  manu- 
facturers were  wise  and  far-seeing  they  would  give 
ample  opportunity  to  the  well-educated  young  man 
to  acquire  this  essential  experience,  and  would  find 
abundant  reward  therein. 

The  paper  published  in  No.  3317  of  the  Journal  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  Arts  for  June  16,  by  the  Right 
Hon.    Sir    W.     MacGregor,    entitled    "Some    Native 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


Potentates  and  Colleagues,"  supplies  an  admirable 
example  of  the  methods  by  which  one  of  our  most 
distinguished  colonial  officials  succeeded  in  gaining  the 
confidence  and  affection  of  the  native  races  under  his 
control.  He  begins  with  an  account  of  Thakambau, 
"  the  greatest  and  best-known  man  of  the  Fijian 
race,"  of  whom  it  may  be  said  that  no  ruler  "ever 
saw  his  country  transformed  by  such  enormous 
changes  as  this  Fijian  chief  saw  and  assisted  in." 
Sedu,  the  Papuan,  "one  of  the  finest  characters  I 
have  ever  known,"  met  an  untimely  fate  in  an 
ambuscade,  and  the  Garter  King-of-Arms  has  allowed 
Sir  W.  MacGregor  to  quarter  a  figure  of  this  hero 
as  the  dexter  supporter  of  his  coat-of-arms.  The 
writer's  wide  experience  enables  him  to  record  worthies 
of  other  races,  such  as  John  Allan,  an  Australian 
Aboriginal,  and  the  Alake  of  Abeokuta  in  West 
Africa.  In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  reading 
of  the  paper  the  Hon.  J.  G.  Jenkins  acknowledged  in 
graceful  terms  the  great  services  of  the  writer  in  the 
administration  of  British  New  Guinea  in  the  early 
days  of  the  colony. 

Most  of  the  June  number  of  the  Zoologist,  (4), 
vol.  XX.,  No.  900,  is  occupied  by  Capt.  Malcolm  Burr's 
highly  interesting  account  of  his  travels  in  the 
Caucasus  and  the  Asiatic  territory  beyond.  His 
military  duties  have  taken  him  through  a  remark- 
able country,  and  he  is  able  to  record  many  observa- 
tions on  plants  and  animals,  notably  birds  and  ortho- 
ptera.  The  centre  of  attraction,  from  the  naturalist's 
point  of  view,  is  Geok  Tapa,  where  Capt.  Burr  was 
the  guest  of  that  famous  collector,  Alexander 
Shelkovinov. 

Some  facts  bearing  on  the  "struggle  for  existence," 
as  understood  by  Darwin,  are  contributed  in  a  short 
note,  "  Sur  I'^quilibre  naturel  entre  les  diverses  esp^ces 
animales,"  by  A.  Pictet  in  the  C.  R.  des  Stances  de 
la  Soc.  de  Physique  et  d'Hist.  nat.  de  Geneve  (xxxii., 
1915,  pp.  10-13).  The  author  reckoned  that  if  a  pair 
of  white  butterflies  {Pieris  brassicae)  produce  500 
eggs,  99'6  of  the  larvae  must  be  destroyed  if  the 
numbers  of  the  species  remain  constant.  He  then 
collected  all  the  caterpillars — 148  in  number — from 
a  certain  bush,  and  found  that  of  these  137  had  been 
parasitised  by  the  small  ichneumonoid  Microgaster, 
that  9  died  of  disease,  and  that  only  2  completed  their 
transformations.  From  the  age  of  these  collected 
larvae  he  believed  that  twice  as  many  had  already 
perished,  and  thus  arrives  at  a  survival  ratio  (0*04 
per  cent.)  agreeing  with  his  estimate.  The  agreement 
thus  reached  after  several  assumptions  is  perhaps  too 
close  to  be  altogether  convincing. 

The  January  number  of  the  South  African  Journal 
of  Science  (vol.  xii.,  No.  6)  contains  an  article  on 
the  Sarcosporidia  by  G.  van  de  Wall  de  Kock,  in 
which  the  effect  of  these  obscure  protozoan  parasites 
on  their  mammalian  hosts  and  their  probable  action 
in  causing  various  diseases  are  discussed.  Recent 
work  on  the  life-history  of  Sarcosporidia  is  usefully 
summarised. 

In  the  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  Victoria  (xxviii.,  1916,  part  2) 
Miss  G.  Buchanan  gives  the  results  of  a  comparative 
examination  of  the  blood  of  certain  Australian  animals, 
with  coloured  figures  of  the  various  forms  of  cor- 
puscles. She  finds  a  general  decrease  in  size  and 
increase  in  number  of  red  cells  in  ascending  through 
the  vertebrate  classes,  while  the  lymphocytes  decrease 
in  number  and  increase  in  size.  The  reptilian  re- 
lationship   of    the    Monotremes     is     suggested    by    a 


4o8 


NATURE 


[July  13,  1916 


similarity    in    the   mononuclear    corpuscles.      Platelets 
were  recognised  in  mammalia  only. 

Valuable  reports  on  sponges  (calcareous  and  non- 
calcareous)  from  the  Indian  Ocean  have  lately  been 
published  by  Prof.  A.  Dendy  in  the  "  Report  to  the 
Government  of  Baroda  on  the  Marine  Zoology  of 
Okhamandal,  in  Kattiawar "  (part  ii.,  pp.  79-146, 
10  plates).  The  specimens  described  were  collected 
by  Mr.  J.  Hornell  in  1905-6.  Many  of  the  calcareous 
species  are  identical  with  those  from  the  African 
coast,  while  a  large  proportion  of  the  Tetraxonida 
and  Ceratosa  were  already  known  from  the  seas 
around  Ceylon.  The  plates  show  the  general  aspect 
and  the  spicules  of  the  new  species;  unfortunately, 
the  material  was  largely  unsuitable  for  histological 
study,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  collectors  will  take 
to  heart  Prof.  Dendy 's  exhortation  to  avoid  formalin 
as  a  preservative  for   sponges. 

In  the  recently  issued  part.  No.  4,  of  vol.  v.  of  the 
Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  South  Africa 
Mr.  F.  Eyles  contributes  a  long  list  of  plants 
collected  in  southern  Rhodesia.  His  record,  which 
occupies  251  pages  and  is  furnished  with  a  full  index, 
includes  representatives  of  160  families,  869  genera, 
and  2397  species.  The  plants  collected  are  mainly 
flowering  plants  and  ferns,  and  details  of  localities, 
collectors'  names,  and  numbers  are  given  for  each 
species.  The  record  will  prove  of  value  to  students 
of  African  botany,  and  especially  to  those  of  the 
Rhodesian  flora ;  it  should  also  serve  to  encourage 
others  to  collect  and  study  the  plants  of  the  country. 

A  STUDY  of  the  geography  of  the  Fox  Valley  is  the 
first  of  a  series  of  regional  surveys  on  the  State 
of  Wisconsin,  U.S.A.  Three  years  ago  the  Wis- 
consin Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey  pub- 
lished an  introductory  survey  devoted  to  the 
State  as  a  whole.  The  present  volume  (Bulletin 
xlii..  Educational  Series,  No.  5)  is  by  Prof.  R.  H. 
Whitbeck,  and,  like  the  preliminary  one,  is  pub- 
lished by  the  State.  The  object  of  the  work  is 
educational  in  the  main,  and  the  study  of  geography 
in  the  schools  of  the  district  will  certainly  be  helped 
by  the  use  of  this  intensive  survey  of  a  small  region. 
Physical  considerations  occupy  but  a  small  part  of 
the  volume,  which  is  mainly  concerned  with  cities 
and  industries.  The  requirements  of  school  children 
appear  to  have  been  kept  well  in  view  throughout, 
and  yet  the  book  avoids  being  either  trivial  or 
didactic. 

The  question  of  the  nature  and  origin  of  the  minute 
plates  that  impart  the  "  aventurine  "  effect  to  felspars 
appears  to  have  been  finally  solved  by  Olaf  Andersen 
("An  Aventurine  Feldspar,"  Amer.  Journ.  Sci., 
vol.  xl.,  1915,  p.  351)-  The  author,  after  goniometric 
and  optical  investigation,  adopts  Scheerer's  view,  put 
forward  in  1845,  that  the  substance  present  is  haema- 
tite. His  research  covers  American  albites,  oligoclase 
from  Kragero  and  Tvedestrand  (sunstone),  labradorite 
from  Labrador,  and  several  microclines.  The  plates 
are  found  always  to  be  oriented  after  simple  crystal 
forms,  although  these  forms  may  not  be  present  in 
the  felspar  crystal ;  but  the  edges  of  the  plates  do  not 
yield  simple  crystallographic  relations.  These  edges, 
however,  are  referred  to  a  mineral  with  hexagonal 
or  trigonal  symmetry.  The  author  believes  that 
FejOj  was  originally  present  in  solid  solution  in  the 
felspar,  either  as  haematite  or  as  a  constituent  of  a 
ferric  compound ;  a  disturbance  of  equilibrium,  perhaps 
a  temperature-change,  has  caused  it  to  separate  out  as 
individual  crystals  of  haematite  along  structural  planes 
of  the  felspar.  The  bluish  tints  of  the  schillerised 
moonstones,  murchlsonites,  and  labradorites  are  said 
NO.    2437,    VOL.   97] 


to  be  due,  like  the  blue  of  the  sky,  to  the  "  scattering 
of  light  by  particles  smaller  than  the  wave-length  of 
light,  and  cannot  be  explained  as  ordinary  interference 
colours  of  thin  films." 

In  the  Journal  of  the  Washington  Academy  of 
Sciences  for  June  4  Mr.  Paul  D.  Foote,  of  the  U.S. 
Bureau  of  Standards,  shows  how  the  melting  points 
of  metals,  e.g.  tungsten,  can  be  determined  from  the 
luminosity  of  the  molten  metal.  The  radiation  at 
absolute  temperature  6  of  a  black  body  between 
wave-lengths  X  and  X  +  ^X  being  taken  as  CiX'-'e-^it^^d .  d\, 
where  c,  and  c,  are  constants,  that  of  a  metal  over 
the  visible  part  of  the  spectrum  the  author  repre- 
sents by  i\X~^e~^2/>^^ .  Aef/^ .  ei^ifil^ .  d\,  where  p  and  g  are 
constants.  If  V(X)  is  the  visibility  of  radiation  X,  the 
luminosity  of  the  surface  of  the  metal  is 

A^/9  .cj\-  5^-^2A(i/«-/) .  Y(\)d\. 

On   writing   ijO'  =  ijd--py   this   becomes 

A^?/«.  fj J X-V-2'Arv(X)^X, 

which,  with  the  proper  value  of  V(A),  has  been 
shown  graphically  to  reduce  to  Aegl^ .  P{(^'  +  B)/(^'  +  C)fi', 
where  P,  B,  C,  D  are  constants.  In  the  case  of 
tungsten  the  author  shows  that  the  values  of  the 
constants  are  A  =  o-303,  ^=i'o4xio~*,  ^  =  322, 
C2=  14450,  B=  — 106,  €  =  265,  D  =  72,  P=  1-91x10-^. 
From  Langmuir's  observation  that  at  the  melting 
point  tungsten  has  a  luminosity  of  6994  candles  per 
square  centimetre,  it  is  shown  that  the  preceding 
constants  give  3712°  as  the  absolute  temperature  of 
the  molten  surface.  This  method  of  determining  high 
temperatures  seems  likely  to  prove  of  great  value. 

The  Mathematical  Gazette  for  May  contains  a 
paper  by  Prof.  H.  S.  Carslaw  entitled  "A  Progres- 
sive Income  Tax,"  dealing  with  the  complicated 
system  of  taxation  adopted  in  Australia.  Although 
the  British  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  took  his 
B.A.  degree  in  the  Cambridge  Mathematical  Trif>os 
in  1886,  he  seems  to  have  so  far  forgotten  all  his 
mathematics  that  he  has  imposed  taxes  at  the  rates 
of  more  than  2500,  5000,  or  8000  per  cent,  on 
persons  whose  incomes  exceed  loooi.,  1500^.,  or  2000Z. 
by  a  single  pound.  It  would  be  more  correct  to  say 
that  the  rate  becomes  infinity  in  the  pound  at  these 
points  of  the  scale,  and  the  case  may  easily  arise 
in  which  a  professional  man  may  have  to  throw 
up  his  duties  at  short  notice  in  order  to  avoid  losing 
money  by  earning  more.  But  in  Australia  they 
appear  to  have  gone  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and 
determined  the  rate  of  tax  by  complicated  mathe- 
matical formulae  defined  by  curves  of  the  second  and 
third  degrees.  Indeed,  Prof.  Carslaw  has  to  use  the 
integral  calculus  in  the  examples  that  he  works. 
Why  cannot  Chancellors  of  the  Exchequer  bring  a 
little  more  common  sense,  as  well  as  elementary 
mathematical  knowledge,  to  bear  on  income-tax 
problems?  The  discontinuities  in  the  gradient  of  the 
income-tax  curve,  which  the  Australians  have  taken 
so  much  trouble  to  eliminate,  are  of  no  very  great 
moment,  while  the  present  English  discontinuities 
in  the  total  amount  of  the  tax  are  open  to  serious 
objection.  With  looZ.  exempt,  and  rates  of  25.  6d. 
on  the  next  400Z.,  45.  on  the  next  500Z.,  and  55.,  65., 
and  7s.  on  subsequent  additions  to  income  of  500Z., 
the  average  rate  on  2500Z.  would  be  very  nearly  55. 
in  the  pound,  but  the  man  with  2000Z.  who  earned 
an  extra  iZ.  would  still  gain  135.  instead  of  losing 
more  than  50Z.  or  80Z. 

The  statement  that,  since  the  war  began,  Germany 
has  succeeded  in  obtaining  her  full  supply  of  nitrates 


July  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


409 


by  fixation  from  atmospheric  nitrogen  lends  additional 
interest  to  the  account  of  a  Swedish  company  for 
the  same  purpose  contained  in  Dagens  Nyheter 
(June  8).  Eyde's  method  of  obtaining  nitrogen  from 
the  air  by  means  of  an  electric  arc  is  relatively  dear, 
and  its  profits  depend  on  the  local  price  of  electrical 
energy.  It  has,  moreover,  been  calculated  that  if  all 
the  waterfalls  of  Europe  were  to  supply  energy  for 
this  industry  alone,  this  would  not  result  in  a  greater 
production  than  would  balance  the  present  yearly 
increase  in  the  world's  need  of  fertilisers.  The 
Swedish  company  employs  a  method  invented  by 
Th.  Thorssell  (formerly  technical  head  of  the  fertiliser 
and  sulphuric  acid  factories  in  Malmo),  which  method 
depends  on  purely  chemical  processes,  and  demands 
only  the  special  treatment  of  easily  accessible  raw 
material ;  but  no  details  of  the  process  are  given  in 
the  article.  The  chief  products  of  the  new  factory 
are  ammonia,  ammonium  nitrate  and  cyanide  com- 
pounds, saltpetre,  and  sulphuric  acid.  The  process  is 
said  to  be  of  such  a  character  that  factories  can  be 
installed  in  most  places  without  requiring  any  large 
supply  of  energy.  Experimental  work  was  begun  in 
the  autumn  of  191 1,  and  during  the  summer  of  1912 
the  results  were  approved  by  the  outside  experts — 
Prof.  H.  G.  Soderbaum  and  Dr.  Gustaf  Ekman. 
The  company  was  then  set  going  definitely,  and,  in 
spite  of  difficulties  inseparable  from  an  entirely  new 
manufacture,  as  well  as  losses  by  fire,  it  is  now  pre- 
paring to  deliver  its  products  in  large  quantities,  and 
has  for  this  purpose  decided  to  increase  its  capital 
from  3-7  million  to  8  million  kronor. 

Prof.  Otto  Pettersson,  of  Holma,  Lysekil, 
Sweden,  has  devised  an  apparatus  for  saving  life  at 
sea  which  presents  some  features  of  novelty  and 
interest.  It  consists  of  three  parts  :  (i)  An  ordinary 
horsehair  mattress  of  the  thickness,  width,  and  length 
which  are  usual  for  a  ship's  berth.  This  mattress 
is  to  form  the  bottom  of  what  will  be  a  kind  of 
collapsible  boat  when  used  for  life-saving.  (2) 
Attached  to  the  sides  of  the  mattress,  and  capable  of 
being  folded  underneath  it  when  used  for  sleeping 
purposes,  are  two  cushions  which,  when  the  whole  is 
employed  for  life-saving,  form  the  sides  of  the  craft 
and  on  which  its  buoyancy  depends.  In  the  original 
model  these  cushions  were  filled  with  the  hair  of  the 
reindeer — a  material  much  used  for  such  purposes  in 
Scandinavia — ^but,  of  course,  kopok  would  be  equally 
serviceable.  (3)  The  stem  and  stern  of  the  little  craft 
are  formed  of  double  layers  of  imf>ermeable,  closely 
woven  waterproofed  cloth  strengthened  by  cords  sewn 
in  and  uniting  at  the  ends  of  the  mattress  in  a  metal 
ring,  to  which  the  rope  of  a  sea-anchor  may  be  fixed. 
Each  seam  is  strengthened  by  a  layer  of  india-rubber 
to  keep  the  water  from  entering  the  inner  stuffing 
of  the  mattress.  Between  the  mattress  and  the  side 
cushions  are  two  pieces  of  cloth  with  holes  for  putting 
the  arms  through.  The  whole  forms  a  sort  of  cloak 
in  which  one  wraps  oneself,  as  in  an  ulster  coat, 
securing  it  round  the  waist.  The  sea-anchor  is  taken 
in  one  hand  and  one  flings  oneself  backward  into  the 
sea.  The  anchor  is  let  go  and  the  craft  emptied 
of  water  by  a  syringe  which  is  placed  at  the  side 
and  is  easily  worked  by  the  passenger.  Once 
emptied  it  will  not  easily  fill  again,  the  sea-anchor 
keeping  the  prow  against  the  wind  and  the  waves. 
The  little  boat  is  unsinkable,  even  when  filled  with 
water,  and  is  sufficiently  buojant  to  carry  more  than 
one  person.  If  two  or  three  boats  are  tied  together 
by  the  anchor  line  one  sea-anchor  will  keep  them 
steady.  The  sea-anchor  is  an  essential  part  of  the 
apparatus.     It   consists  of  a  canvas  bag  sewn  on  to 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97]   - 


a  metal  ring,  and  is  provided  with  a  stout  manila 
rope  about  20  m.  long.  The  apparatus  is  made  by 
K.  M.  Lundberg,  of  Stockholm,  and  has  been  proved 
to  be  very  serviceable. 

An  article  on  "  Fruits  for  Health,  Strength,  and 
Longevity,"  which  appears  in  the  Fortnightly  Review 
for  July,  though  an  advocacy  of  fruitarianism,  fails 
to  offer  any  convincing  physiological  argument  in 
supj)ort  of  the  end  in  view.  Like  most  productions 
of  its  kind  it  consists  of  manifest  inaccuracies  mixed 
with  a  modicum  of  truth.  For  example,  "  when  a 
man  reaches  the  age  of  fifty,  especially  should  he  be 
careful  about  his  diet,"  is  only  too  true;  but  that  "the 
juices  of  oranges  and  lemons  act  like  magic  upon  the 
waste  chalky  accumulations  which  bring  about  the 
stiffening  of  the  arteries" — in  other  words,  cure  arterio- 
sclerosis— is  a  statement  unsupported  by  experimental 
evidence  in  the  field  of  modern  therapeutics.  Nor  is 
there  sufficient  evidence  to  show  that  eating  fish  and 
the  flesh  of  the  pig  is  in  any  way  associated  with 
cancer,  scrofula,  and  tumours.  Fruit  jellies  are  said 
to  "possess  no  nitrogen"!  and  "condensed  starch 
seriously  taxes  the  digestive  organs."  What  is  con- 
densed starch?  "The  action  of  glucose,  like  that 
of  cornflour,  induces  sluggish  action  of  the  system  and 
tends  to  disorganisation,  driving  consumers  to  purga- 
tives." Yet  many  fruits  are  rich  in  glucose  or  sugars 
readily  converted  into  glucose.  Moreover  glucose  has 
a  mild  aperient  action  on  most  people.  "  Utilised  over 
a  course  of  years  ripe  fresh  fruits  and  their  juices 
will  effectually  prevent  aneurismal  dilatations  and 
arterial  rupture,  which  of  late  years  have  increased 
to  an  alarming  extent."  It  would  be  interesting  to 
know  what  medical  evidence  there  is  for  either  of 
these   conclusions. 

The  June  issue  of  the  Chemical  Society's  Journal 
contains  a  report  of  a  lecture  by  Dr.  F.  Gowland 
Hopkins  delivered  before  the  society  on  May  18  on 
"  Newer  Standpoints  in  the  Study  of  Nutrition." 
This  is  the  third  of  a  series  of  lectures  delivered  by 
invitation  of  the  council  during  the  past  session,  the 
two  earlier  lectures  having  been  given  by  Dr.  E.  J. 
Russell  and  by  Prof.  W.  H.  Bragg,  To  the  chemist. 
Dr.  Hopkins's  lecture  is  particularly  attractive  by  reason 
of  the  large  measure  of  success  which  the  author  has 
achieved  in  his  endeavour  to  interpret  biochemical 
phenomena  in  terms  of  the  known  reactions  and 
products  of  organic  chemistry.  Amino-acids,  such  as 
tryptophane,  arginine  and  histidine,  glutamic  and 
aspartic  acids,  derived  from  'the  hydrolysis  of  natural 
proteins,  are  shown  to  be  the  essential  units  in  the 
nutrition  of  animals.  If  these  are  provided,  together 
with  filtered  butter-fat  or  lard,  potato-starch,  cane 
sugar,  the  requisite  inorganic  salts,  and  the  mysterious 
vitamine  or  food-hormone  factor  (supplied  in  the  form 
of  a  nitrogen-free  alcoholic  extract  of  fresh  milk), 
life  can  be  preserved  and  growth  maintained  without 
protein  or  any  nitrogenous  compounds  of  unknown 
constitution.  Interesting  experiments  have  been  made 
which  show  that  the  withholding  of  the  aromatic  com- 
pound tryptophane,  or  of  both  arginine  and  histidine, 
prevents  growth  and  causes  a  rapid  loss  of  weight; 
but  glutamic  and  aspartic  acids,  which  constitute  28 
per  cent,  of  the  protein  molecule  (as  contrasted  with 
ih  per  cent,  of  tryptophane),  can  both  be  removed  with- 
out causing  loss  of  body-weight  or  even  any  marked 
retardation  of  growth;  and  the  removal  of  histidine 
and  arginine  separately  does  not  arrest  growth,  in- 
dicating that  these  two  amino-acids  can  replace  one 
another  in  nutrition,  and  may  even  prove  to  be  chemi- 
cally interconvertible. 


4IO 


NATURE 


[July  13,   1916 


OVR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

A  Partial  Eclipse  of  the  Moon. — ^The  moon  will 
be  in  partial  eclipse  during  the  early  morning  hours 
of  Saturday,  July  15.  The  first  contact  with  the 
shadow  occurs  at  3h.  igsm.  a.m.,  the  angle  from  the 
north  point  being  40°  to  E.  At  Greenwich  the  moon 
sets  at  3h.  59m.  a.m.  (one  hour  later  in  legal  time), 
nearly  47  minutes  before  the  middle  phase. 

A  Bright  Meteor. — A  notable  meteor  was  observed 
at  the  Hill  Observatory,  Sidmouth,  early  on  July  8. 
First  seen  at  ih.  5m.  a.m.  G.M.T.  a  little  E.  of  N. 
about  15°  above  the  sky-line,  rising  in  the  sky,  it  then 
passed  not  quite  overhead  and  reached  30°-40°  beyond 
the  zenith.  Unfortunately,  although  the  sky  was 
clear  and  the  meteor  considerably  exceeded  Jupiter  in 
brightness,  it  left  no  visible  trail.  The  meteor  gave 
the  illusory  impression  of  coming  quite  near  to  the 
observer  and  not  of  describing  a  meridian,  an  effect 
no  doubt  largely  due  to  its  increasing  brilliancy. 

Comet  1916&  (Wolf).^ — An  investigation  of  the  orbit 
of  this  comet  has  been  carried  out  by  Messrs.  R.  T. 
Crawford  and  Dinsmore  Alter,  of  the  Berkeley  Astro- 
nomical Department  (Lick  Obs.  Bull.,  No.  282).  From 
this  it  appears  that  Prof.  Barnard  succeeded  in 
identifying  the  comet  on  a  photograph  taken  on 
April  24.  The  time  of  the  observation  indicates  that 
it  must  be  the  same  photograph  on  which  a  confusion 
of  the  minor  planet  446  ^ternitas  with  the  new 
comet  had  been  pointed  out  by  the  editors  of  the 
Astronomisch  Nachrichten  (No.  4845).  The  earliest 
position  available  to  the  American  calculators  was  that 
derived  from  Prof.  Barnard's  plate.  With  this  and 
other  observations  made  at  Yerkes,  May  loandMay  23, 
the  following  differentially  corrected  parabolic  orbit 
has  been  calculated  : — 

T=i9i7  June  16-4806  G.M.T. 
cu=i2o=  37'  07-9''  ^1  =  183°  16'  58-8" 

/=  25°  40'  06*4"  log  ^  =  0226855 

These  elements  and  the  resulting  ephemeris  only 
differ  slightly  from  the  calculations  by  Prof.  _  A. 
Berberich  (Nature,  June  i).  Numerous  American 
observations,  mostly  made  at  Yerkes,  are  represented 
closely.  The  orbit  resembles  that  of  Wolf's  periodic 
comet  1884,  III.,  and  consequently  an  elliptic  orbit 
with  a  period  of  seven  years  was  calculated;  the 
differences,  however,  disproved  identity.  The  faint 
luminosity  and  low  altitude  of  the  comet  now  prob- 
ably put  it  out  of  reach  until  it  becomes  a  morning 
star. 

Arequipa  PYRHELiOMETRY.^In  consequence  of  the 
recommendations  of  the  Committee  of  the  Inter- 
national Union  of  Solar  Research,  measures  of  solar 
radiation  have  been  made  at  Arequipa  since  1912. 
Some  of  the  results  so  far  obtained  have  been  pub- 
lished by  C.  G.  Abbot  (Smithsonian  Miscellaneous 
Collection,  vol.  Ixv.,  No.  9).  Special  attention  has 
been  given  to  the  question  of  solar  variability  and 
atmospheric  transmission.  At  Arequipa  the  chief 
factor  in  the  latter  connection  is  the  amount  of  water 
vapour,  and  consequently  the  silver-disc  pyrheliometer 
measures  of  radiation  have  been  supplemented  by  a 
nearly  simultaneous  series  of  measures  of  atmospheric 
humidity.  The  monthly  mean  values  show  a  close 
connection  between  the  solar  radiation  and  vapour 
pressure.  This  was  represented  by  empirical  formulae 
which  gave  values  of  the  solar  constant  in  good  agree- 
ment with  the  more  rigorous  values  obtained  at 
Mount  Wilson  and  generally  confirming  the  varia- 
bility of  the  solar  radiation. 

The  dust  of  the  Katmai  eruption  (June,  19 12")  did 
not  affect  the  Arequipa  measures. 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


CANADIAN   ECONOMIC   GEOLOGY.^ 

''jTHE  White  River  District  of  Yukon  extends  east 

■•■  from  the  Alaskan-Canadian  boundary,  and  its 
geology  continues  that  of  country  well  known  by 
the  work  of  the  American  geologists.  Some  Carbon- 
iferous rocks,  resting  on  an  Archean  foundation,  are 
followed  by  thick  Mesozoic  sediments  which  contain  a 
few  Cretaceous  fossils.  The  Cainozoic  is  represented 
by  land  and  fresh-water  beds  containing  lignites.  As 
in  Alaska,  there  are  two  volcanic  series,  one  of  which 
was  erupted  during  the  world-wide  disturbances  be- 
tween the  Jurassic  and  Cretaceous,  and  the  other  is 
Upper  Cainozoic  and  continued  until  very  recent 
though  pre-Glacial  times.  In  the  early  Pliocene  the 
country  was  uplifted  and  greatly  fractured,  the  evi- 
dence of  which  is  most  distinct  on  the  coast.  The 
chief  ores  of  the  White  River  District  are  of  gold 
and  copper.  The  discovery  of  the  placer  deposits  at 
Chisana  in  1913  occasioned  the  greatest  "stampede" 
or  mining  rush  since  that  to  Klondyke  in  1897-98. 
The  copper  ores  have  long  been  worked  by  the 
Indians,  and  in  189 1  the  exaggerated  reports  of  their 
quantity  led  to  the  first  prospecting  of  the  country. 
Mr.  Cairnes's  memoir  is  illustrated  by  some  excellent 
maps  and  photographs. 

At  the  opposite  corner  of  Canada,  on  the  southern 
shore  of  the  Northumberland  Strait,  is  an  area  strik- 
ingly unlike  the  White  River  District.  It  was  one  of 
the  first  Canadian  districts  geologically  investigated; 
it  was  settled  during  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  the  names  Arisaig,  Knoj'dart,  Moydart, 
Lismore,  etc.,  show  that  the  pioneers  were  the  ex- 
patriated exiles  from  the  western  Highlands.  The  dis- 
trict is  composed  of  Palaeozoic  rocks  ranging  from  the 
Ordovician  to  the  Upper  Carboniferous,  with  some 
Ordovician  rhyolite  lavas  and  Upper  Palaeozoic  diabase 
dykes.  The  surveys  of  recent  years  have  supplemented 
and  in  some  respects  corrected  the  earlier  results  of 
Dawson  and  Honeyman.  Thus  there  is  a  full  Silu- 
rian sequence,  as  the  Moydart  beds  represent  the 
Wenlock  series,  which  had  been  considered  absent. 
The  Devonian  is  represented  by  the  Knoydart  series, 
which  is  correlated  with  the  British  Lower  Old  Red 
Sandstone.  The  absence  of  the  Middle  and  Upper  Old 
Red  Sandstone  is  attributed  to  great  faulting,  that 
corresponds  to  that  which  caused  the  absence  of  the 
Middle  series  from  south-western  Scotland.  The 
Carboniferous  is  represented,  as  in  Britain,  by  a  lower 
marine  series  and  an  upper  continental  series. 

The  most  interesting  economic  deposits  in  this  dis- 
trict are  the  Silurian  oolitic  ironstones,  which  the 
author  infers  from  their  special  fauna  were  laid  down 
under  unusual  conditions,  during  which  the  sea  con- 
tained much  ferruginous  material.  This  view  is  not 
adequately  explained,  and  there  is  no  proof  that  the 
ores  were  not  due  to  a  partial  replacement  of  an 
oolitic  limestone.  The  report  is  accompanied  by  two 
clear  geological  maps. 

The  oil  discoveries  in  the  United  States  in  the  early 
'sixties  stimulated  research  for  oil  in  eastern  Canada. 
Oil  was  found,  though  in  comparatively  small  quanti- 
ties, and  some  of  the  districts  continued  to  yield  ever 
since.  This  oil  belt  extends  from  Lake  Huron  to  the 
Gaspe  peninsula,  south  of  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence. The  most  important  fields  are  in  the  south- 
western peninsula  of  Ontario,  south  of  a  line  from 
the  southern  end  of  Lake  Huron  to  the  western  end 
of  Lake  Ontario.     The  oils  come  from  various  hori- 

1  D.  r>.  Cairnes:  Uoper  White  River  District,  Yukon.  Canada,  Depart- 
ment of  Mines,  GeoL  Surv.  Mem.  50,  Geol.  Ser.,  51,  1915,  "v.  Pp-  191+xvii 
ptates  +  3  maps. 

M.  Y.  Williams  :  Arisaig-Antigonish  District,  Nova  Scotia.  ISi'a.,  Mem. 
60.  Geol.  Ser.,  47-  iQi*-  ^'-     Pp-  '73  +  2  maps. 

W.  Malcolm  :  The  Oil  and  Gas  Fields  of  Ontario  and  Quebec.  Itiet., 
Mem.  81,  Geol.  Ser.,  67,  1915,  ii.     Pp.  248. 


July  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


411 


zons.  There  are  traces  in  the  Trenton  (Ordovician) ; 
small  quantities  are  obtained  from  four  distinct  Silu- 
rian series.  The  largest  quantity  of  oil  comes  from 
the  Onondaga  beds,  which  are  Devonian.  The  author 
mentions  both  the  organic  and  inorganic  theories  of 
the  origin  of  petroleum ;  he  expresses  no  definite  pre- 
ference, but  appears  to  be  inclined  to  the  latter,  and 
some  of  the  facts  stated  in  the  memoir  indicate  why 
some  Canadian  geologists  are  firmly  attached  to  that 
view.  The  most  interesting  evidence  is  based  on  the 
uniform  composition  of  the  associated  natural  gas, 
which  is  advanced  as  incompatible  with  its  local 
origin ;  but  the  balance  of  the  evidence  stated  seems 
difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  inorganic  hypothesis. 

Each  of  the  three  memoirs  is  a  useful  contribution 
to  Canadian  geology.  J.  W.  G. 

RADIO-ACTIVITY  AND  PLANT  GROWTH. 
YIJ"OR  some  time  past  Mr.  Martin  Sutton  has  been 
^  making  experiments  on  the  effects  of  radio-active 
ores  and  residues  on  plant  growth.  A  preliminary 
account  of  the  experiments  was  given  in  Nature  for 
October  7,  1915,  and  the  detailed  report  now  to 
hand,  issued  as  Bulletin  No.  7,  from  Messrs.  Sutton, 
of  Reading,  confirms  the  conclusions,  then  drawn. 
The  experiments  were  soundly  conceived  and  well  car- 
ried out ;  the  results  showed  that  radium  compounds 
have  no  sufficient  effect  on  plant  growth  to  justify 
any  hopes  of  practical  application  in  horticulture  or 
agriculture. 

The  experiments  were  made  with  tomatoes,  pota- 
toes, radishes,  lettuces,  vegetable  marrows,  carrots, 
onions,  and  spinach  beets ;  some  of  the  plants  were 
grown  in  pots,  and  others  in  the  open  ground.  Pure 
radium  bromide  was  used  in  some  experiments,  and 
radium  ores  in  others.  In  order  to  eliminate  the 
effect  of  substances  other  than  radium  present  in  the 
ores,  a  mixture  of  these  was  made  and  applied  to 
some  of  the  plants.  In  certain  cases  small  increases 
in  growth  over  the  unmanured  plants  were  obtained, 
but  nothing  approaching  the  increases  given  by  arti- 
ficial fertilisers  or  farmyard  manure. 

A  number  of  rather  extravagant  claims  are  thus 
disposed  of,  including  one  to  the  effect  that  radium 
treatment  caused  plants  to  take  on  certain  flavours 
that  they  do  not  naturally  possess.  Thus  a  previous 
investigator  had  claimed  that  vegetable  marrows 
grown  in  presence  of  radium  compounds  assume  the 
flavour  of  pineapples;  Mr.  Sutton's  marrows  were 
cooked  and  tasted  by  a  distinguished  exponent  of 
horticultural  science,  whose  tastes  in  these  matters 
are  recognised  as  being  beyond  reproach,  and  were 
found  to  be  indistinguishable  from  the  others.  Mr. 
Sutton  has  rendered  good  service  by  disposing  of  this 
and  other  of  the  hares  started  in  the  field  of  horticul- 
ture that  were  distracting  attention  from  the  larger 
problems  with  which  the  horticulturist  has  to  deal. 

THE  ORGANISATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL 

SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH  A 

I. 

IF  one  attempted  to  formulate  the  common  belief 
concerning  the  origin  and  development  of  modern 
technical  industries,  it  would  probably  be  found  that 
stress  would  be  laid  upon  financial  ability  or  manu- 
facturing skill  on  the  part  of  the  founders ;  but  if, 
instead,  we  were  to  make  a  historical  survey  of  the 
subject,  I  think  that  we  should  find  that  the  starting 
and  development  of  most  manufacturing  businesses 
depended  upon  discoveries  and  inventions  being  made 

1  An  address  delivered  at  Columbia  University  by  Dr.  C.  E.  Kenneth 
Mees,  director  of  the  Research  Laboratory,  Eastman  Kodak  Co.,  Rochester, 


NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


by  some  individual  or  group  of  individuals  who  de- 
veloped their  original  discoveries  into  an  industrial  pro- 
cess. Indeed,  if  the  localities  in  which  various  indus- 
tries have  developed  be  marked  on  the  map,  they  will 
often  be  found  to  have  far  more  relation  to  the  acci- 
dental location,  by  birth  or  otherwise,  of  individuals- 
than  to  any  natural  advantages  possessed  by  the 
situation  for  the  particular  industry  concerned.  The 
metallurgical  industries,  of  course,  are  situated  chiefly 
near  the  sources  of  the  ores  or  of  coal,  but  why  should 
the  chief  seat  of  the  spinning  industry  be  in  Lan- 
cashire or  of  modern  optical  industry  in  Jena,  except 
that  in  those  places  lived  the  men  who  developed  the 
processes  which  are  used  in  the  industry?  And,, 
moreover,  industries  are  frequently  transferred  from 
one  locality  to  another,  and  even  from  one  country 
to  another,  by  the  development  of  new  processes, 
generally  by  new  individuals  or  groups  of  workers. 

The  history  of  many  industries  is  that  they  were 
originated  and  developed  in  the  first  place  by  some 
man  of  genius  who  was  fully  acquainted  with  the 
practice  of  the  industry  and  with  such  theory  as  was 
then  known ;  that  his  successors  failed  to  keep  up- 
with  the  progress  and  with  the  theory  of  the  cognate 
sciences ;  and  that  sooner  or  later  some  other  genius^ 
working  on  the  subject  has  rapidly  advanced  the  avail- 
able knowledge,  and  has  again  given  a  new^  spurt  to 
the  development  of  that  industry  in  another  locality. 

Thus,  in  the  early  days  of  the  technical  industries- 
the  development  of  new  processes  and  methods  was 
often  dependent  upon  some  one  man,  who  frequently 
became  the  owner  of  the  firm  which  exploited  his 
discoveries.  But  with  the  increasing  complexity  of 
industry  and  the  parallel  increase  in  the  amount  of 
technical  and  scientific  information,  necessitating  in- 
creasing specialisation,  the  work  of  investigation  and 
development  which  used  to  be  performed  by  an  indi- 
vidual has  been  delegated  to  special  departments  oi 
the  organisation,  one  example  of  which  is  the  modern 
industrial  research  laboratory. 

The  triumphs  which  have  already  been  won  by 
these  research  laboratories  are  common  knowledge. 
The  incandescent  lamp  industry,  for  instance,  origin- 
ated in  the  United  States  with  the  carbon  lamp,  but 
was  nearly  lost  to  the  United  States  when  the  tungsten 
filament  was  developed,  only  to  be  rescued  from  that 
danger  by  the  research  laboratory  of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company,  who  fought  for  the  prize  in  sight  and 
developed,  first,  the  drawn-wire  filament,  and  then  the 
nitrogen  lamp ;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  if  the  theo- 
retical and  practical  work  of  the  research  laboratory 
of  the  General  Electric  Company  were  not  kept  up 
the  American  manufacturers  could  by  no  means  rest 
secure  in  their  industry,  as,  undoubtedly,  later  de- 
velopments in  electric  lighting  will  come,  and  the 
industry  might  be  transferred,  in  part,  if  not  com- 
pletely, to  the  originators  of  any  improvement.  Manu- 
facturing concerns,  and  especially  the  powerful,  well- 
organised  companies  who  are  the  leaders  of  industry 
in  this  country,  can,  of  course,  retain  their  leadership 
for  a  number  of  years  against  more  progressive  but 
smaller  and  less  completely  organised  competitors, 
but  eventually  they  can  ensure  their  position  only  by 
having  in  their  employ  men  who  are  competent  to^ 
keep  in  touch  with,  and  themselves  to  advance,  the 
suhject,  and  the  maintenance  of  a  laboratory  staffed 
by  such  men  is  a  final  insurance  against  eventual 
loss  of  the  control  of  its  industry  by  any  concern. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  chief  makers  of  photo- 
graphic lenses  were  the  British  firms,  the  owners  of 
which  had  been  largely  instrumental  in  developing  the 
early  theory  of  lens  optics,  but  that  position  was  lost 
entirely  as  a  result  of  the  scientific  work  of  the  Ger- 
man opticians,  led  by  Ernst  Abbe ;  in  a  smaller  divi- 


412 


NATURE 


[July  13,  19 16 


sion  of  optical  work,  however,  the  staff  of  Adam 
Hilger,  Ltd.,  has  been  able  by  its  superior  knowledge 
and  intensive  study  of  the  manufacture  of  modern 
spectroscopes  to  transfer  a  large  portion  of  the  manu- 
facture of  such  instruments  from  Grermany  to  England 
again. 

In  a  recent  book  review  in  Nature  (December  2, 
1915,  p.  366)  it  is  pointed  out  that  the  rare  earth  in- 
dustry has  been  chiefly  concentrated  in  Germany.  The 
manufacture  of  gas  mantles,  discovered  by  an  Austrian, 
developed  an  entirely  new  chemical  industry,  which 
has  been  carried  on  almost  completely  under  German 
auspices.  It  seems  to  be  suggested  at  the  present 
time  by  some  of  the  leaders  of  British  industry 
that  such  specialised  chemical  operations  as  the  manu- 
facture of  compounds  of  the  rare  earths  can  be  trans- 
ferred to  Great  Britain  by  the  application  of  superior 
financial  methods,  or  better  business  foresight,  or  even 
merely  more  intense  application.  I  do  not  believe 
that  anyone  who  is  acquainted  with  the  business  men 
of  several  countries  will  believe  that  the  British  manu- 
facturer is  lacking  either  in  financial  capacity,  or  in 
business  foresight,  or  in  application,  but  none  of  these 
things  by  itself  will  develop  a  chemical  industry. 
The  only  thing  that  will  attract  and  retain  the  busi- 
ness is  the  manufacture  and  development  of  new  and 
improved  products,  and  this  can  be  done  only  by  the 
use  of  more  and  better  research  chemists  and  physicists 
than  the  competitor  is  willing  to  employ.  In  fact,  at 
the  present  time  it  seems  to  be  clear  that  the  future 
of  any  industry  depends  upon  its  being  able  to  com- 
mand a  sufficient  supply  of  knowledge  directed 
towards  the  improvement  of  the  product  and  the  de- 
velopment of  the  methods  of  that  industry,  and  that 
any  failure  in  this  respect  may  involve  eventual  failure. 
While  this  view  of  the  importance  of  research  work 
to  the  industries  is  now  obtaining  universal  acceptance, 
I  feel  that  many  who  assent  without  hesitation  to  the 
value  of  a  research  laboratory  still  take  far  too  low 
a  view  of  the  work  which  it  should  perform. 

Industrial  laboratories  may  be  classified  in  three 
general  divisions  : — 

(i)  Works  laboratories  exerting  analytical  control 
over  materials  or  processes. 

(2)  Industrial  laboratories  working  on  improvements 
in  product  and  in  processes,  tending  to  lessen  cost  of 
production  and  to  introduce  new  products  on  the 
market. 

(3)  Laboratories  working  on  pure  theory  and  on  the 
fundamental  sciences  associated  with  the  industry. 

The  first  class  of  laboratories  are  so  obviously  neces- 
sary that  practically  all  works  are  so  equipped,  and 
frequently  each  department  of  a  factory  maintains  its 
own  control  laboratory.  The  second  class  of  labora- 
tories are  frequently  termed  "research"  labora- 
tories, and  this  type  has  been  very  largely  instrumental 
in  forwarding  the  introduction  of  scientific  control  into 
industry. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  immediate  success  of 
the  application  of  scientific  methods  to  industrial  pro. 
cesses  has  often  led  the  executives  of  commercial  enter- 
prises into  the  belief  that  such  work  along  directly 
practical  lines  is  capable  of  indefinite  extension,  and 
'n  this  belief  a  number  of  laboratories  have  been 
started,  some  of  which,  at  any  rate,  have  been  sources 
of  disappointment  in  consequence  of  a  failure  to  grasp 
the  fact  that  if  the  whole  future  of  an  industry  is 
dependent  on  the  work  of  the  research  laboratory,  then 
what  is  required  is  not  merely  an  improvement  in 
processes  or  a  cheapening  in  the  cost  of  manufacture, 
but  fundamental  development  in  the  whole  subject  in 
which  the  manufacturing  firm  is  interested,  and  for 
this  purpose  it  Is  clear  that  something  very  different 
from  the  usual  works  laboratory  will  be  required,  and 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


that  in  order  to  attain  progress'  the  work  of  the  re- 
search laboratory  must  be  directed  primarily  towards 
the  fundamental  theory  of  the  subject.  This  is  a  point 
which  seems  to  be  continually  overlooked  in  discus- 
sions of  industrial  scientific  research,  where  such 
stress  is  generally  laid  upon  the  immediate 
returns  which  can  be  obtained  from  works 
laboratories,  and  upon  the  advantage  of  scientific 
control  of  the  operations ;  but  in  every  case  where  the 
effect  of  research  work  has  been  very  marked,  that 
work  has  been  directed,  not  towards  the  superficial 
processes  of  industry,  but  towards  the  fundamental 
and  underlying  theory  of  the  subject.  From  Abbe's 
work  on  lenses,  and  Abbe  and  Schott's  work  on 
glasses,  to  the  work  of  the  research  laboratory  of  the 
General  Electric  Company  on  the  residual  gases  in 
lamp  vacua,  which  resulted  in  the  production  of  the 
nitrogen-tungsten  lamp  and  the  Coolidge  X-ray  tube, 
this  will  be  seen  to  be  true,  and  we  must  consequently 
agree  that  for  Industries  to  retain  their  position  and 
make  progress  they  must  earnestly  devote  time  and 
money  to  the  investigation  of  the  fundamental  theory 
underlying  the  subject  in  which  they  are  interested. 

Research  work  of  this  fundamental  kind  involves 
a  laboratory  very  different  from  the  usual  works 
laboratory,  and  also  investigators  of  a  different  type 
from  those  employed  in  a  purely  industrial  laboratory. 
It  means  a  large,  elaborately  equipped,  and  heavily 
staffed  laboratory,  engaged  largely  on  work  which  for 
many  years  will  be  unremunerative,  and  which,  for 
a  considerable  time  after  Its  foundation,  will  obtain 
no  results  at  all  which  can  be  applied  by  the  manu- 
facturer. 

The  value  of  a  research  laboratory  is  essentially 
cumulative;  in  the  beginning  it  may  be  of  service  as 
bringing  a  new  point  of  view  to  bear  on  many 
problems ;  later,  accumulaved  information  will  be 
more  and  more  available;  but  most  men  acquainted 
with  Industrial  research  work  consider  that  five  years 
Is  the  earliest  date  at  which  any  considerable  results 
can  be  expected  from  a  newly-established  research 
laboratory,  and  that  the  development  of  really  new 
material  in  considerable  quantities  so  that  It  will  have 
an  effect  upon  the  industry  as  a  whole  cannot  be 
looked  for  In  less  than  ten  years'  consecutive  work. 
This  does  not  mean  that  a  laboratory  is  useless  during 
the  Initial  period,  since  it  will  be  of  considerable  service 
In  many  other  directions  than  in  that  of  Its  main 
work  on  the  fundamental  problems,  but  when  this 
main  line  of  research  begins  to  bear  fruit  it  will  absorb 
the  energies  both  of  the  laboratory  and  of  the  factory. 

It  is  often  suggested  that  the  problem  of  the 
organisation  of  scientific  industrial  research  is  really 
the  problem  of  obtaining  satisfactory  co-operation  be- 
tween the  manufacturers  and  the  universities,  possibly 
with  small  research  laboratories  in  the  factories  them- 
selves acting  as  intermediaries.  Various  schemes  have 
been  suggested  for  enabling  the  universities  to  carry 
out  research  work  of  value  to  the  manufacturers,  but 
If  it  is  believed  that  the  work  chiefly  required  for  the 
development  and  maintenance  of  Industry  deals  with 
the  fundamental  theory  of  the  subject,  it  will  be  seen 
that  this  cannot  possibly  be  carried  ori  to  any  large 
extent  in  collaboration  with  a  university ;  it  requires 
a  continuity  of  application  by  the  same  Investigators 
over  long  periods,  with  special  apparatus,  and  with 
the  development  of  special  methods  which  cannot  be 
expected  from  any  university.  This  necessity  for  con- 
tinuous work  along  the  same  line  is.  Indeed,  the 
greatest  difficulty  in  making  use  of  the  universities  for 
Industrial  research.  The  conditions  of  a  university 
laboratory  necessarily  make  it  almost  impossible  to 
obtain  the  continuous  application  to  one  problem  re- 
quired for  success  In  Industrial  research,  and,  Indeed, 


July  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


413 


in  the  interests  of  teaching,  which  is  the  primarj- 
business  of  a  university,  such  devotion  to  one  problem 
is  undesirable,  as  tending  to  one-sidedness. 

There  are  also  difficulties  in  obtaining  the  co-opera- 
tion of  manufacturers  with  universities  and  in  the 
application  of  university  work  to  industry,  which  I 
see  no  hope  whatever  of  overcoming ;  the  universities 
do  not  understand  the  requirements  of  the  manufac- 
turer, and  the  manufacturer  distrusts,  because  he  does 
not  understand,  the  language  of  the  professor.  More- 
over, it  is  quite  essential  that  any  investigator  who  has 
worked  out  a  new  process  or  material  should  be  able 
to  apply  Jriis  work  on  a  semi-manufacturing  scale,  so 
that  it  can  be  transferred  to  the  factory  by  skilled 
men  who  have  already  met  the  general  difficulties 
which  would  be  encountered  in  facton,-  application. 
This  development  on  a  semi-manufacturing  scale  is, 
indeed,  one  of  the  most  difficult  parts  of  a  research 
resulting  in  a  new  product,  and  the  importance  of  it 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  all  the  large  industrial 
research  laboratories,  however  concerned  thev  may  be 
with  the  theory  of  the  subject,  have,  as  parts  of  the 
laborator}',  and  under  the  direction  of  the  research 
staff,  experimental  manufacturing  plants  which  dupli- 
cate many  of  the  processes  employed  in  the  factory 
itself. 

All  these  arguments  tend  to  show  that  an  industrial 
research  laboratory  must  necessarily  be  of  considerable 
size,  but  this  requirement  is  much  accentuated  by 
another  consideration  altogether. 

Except  in  a  few  branches  of  pure  science  small 
research  laboratories  are  relatively  inefficient,  in  the 
technical  sense  of  the  term — that  is,  they  require  more 
time  and  cost  more  money  for  the  solution  of  a  given 
problem. 

When  considering  this  subject  it  is  necessary  first 
to  dismiss  completely  from  the  mind  the  idea  that  any 
appreciable  number  of  research  laboratories  can  be 
staffed  by  geniuses.  If  a  genius  can  be  obtained  for 
a  given  industrial  research,  that  is,  of  course,  an  over- 
whelming advantage  which  may  outweigh  any  dis- 
advantages, but  we  have  no  right  to  assume  that  w-e 
can  obtain  geniuses ;  all  we  have  a  right  to  assume 
is  that  we  can  obtain,  at  a  fair  rate  of  recompense, 
v.ell-trained.  average  men  having  a  taste  for  research 
and  a  certain  ability  for  investigation.  The  problem, 
then,  is,  how  can  we  obtain  the  greatest  yield  from  a 
given  number  of  men  in  a  given  time?  Investigation 
of  the  subject  shows  that  the  yield  per  man  increases 
very  greatly  as  the  number  of  men  who  can  co-operate 
together  is  increased.  The  problems  of  industrial  re- 
search are  not  often  of  the  type  which  can  be  best 
tackled  by  one  or  two  individual  thinkers,  and  they 
rarely  involve  directly  abstract  points  of  theory,  but 
they  continually  involve  difficult  technical  and  mechan- 
ical operations,  and  most  of  the  delays  in  research 
work  arise  because  the  workers  engaged  on  the  subject 
do  not  know  how  to  do  some  specific  operation.  In 
my  own  experience,  I  have  seen  a  good  man  stick  for 
six  months  at  an  investigation  because  he  did  not  know 
and  could  not  find  out  how-  to  measure  a  conductivity 
with  a  precision  higher  than  one  part  in  a  thousand, 
a  point  which  was  finally  found  to  be  perfectlv  well 
known  to  several  scientific  workers  in  the  country. 
.Again,  it  took  another  good  man  three  months  to 
learn  how  to  cut  a  special  form  of  section,  but.  having 
learned  the,  trick,  he  can  now  cut  sections  for  all  the 
workers  in  the  laboratory  with  no  delav  whatever. 

In  this  connection  the  advantage  of  permanent  set- 
ups of  apparatus  may  be  pointed  out.  Among  a  large 
number  of  chemists  some  one  will  continuallv  be  want- 
ing to  photograph  an  ultra-violet  absorption  spectrum 
or  to  take  a  photomicrograph,  and  if  the  apparatus 
for  these  purposes  is  erected  and  in  charge  of  a  com- 
petent man  who  understands  its  use,  the  work  can  be 
NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


done  without  any  delay  at  all,  the  photography  of  the 
absorption  spectrum  of  an  organic  liquid  by  a  man 
who  is  used  to  the  work  taking  only  an  hour ;  but  if 
this  point  is  vital   to  the  research,   and  the  chemist 

!  is  quite  unacquainted  with  the  technique  of  the  sub- 

!  ject  and  has  no  apparatus  available,  it  may  easily 
take  him  six  months  to  find  out  what  has  been  done 

I  on  absorption  spectra,  to  buy  and  erect  the  apparatus 

1  and  become  skilled  in  its  working. 

I  From  these  causes,  then,  the  efficiency  of  a  labora- 
tory increases  verj'  greatly  with  its  size,  provided  that 
there  are  good  arrangements  for  co-operation  between 
the  different  workers  of  the  laboratory,  so  that  they 

I  are  kept  informed  of  each  other's  problems. 

When   considering  the  efficiency  of  research   work 

i  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  efficiency  is  necessarily 
extremely  low,  since  it  is  ver\-  rarely  possible  to  arrange 
any  research  so  that  it  will  directly  proceed  to  the 
end  required. 

(J^o  he  concluded.) 

UNIVERSITY    AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Birmingham. — Dr.  O.  F.  Hudson  has  resigned  his 
post  as  lecturer  and  instructor  in  assaying  and  special 
lecturer  in  metallography  in  order  to  take  up  duties 
as  assistant  investigator  to  the  Corrosion  Committee 
of  the  Institute  of  Metals. 

The  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science  has  been  awarded 
to  the  following :  Elizabeth  .A^cton  (botany),  Henry 
Briggs  (mining),  George  William  Clough  and  Albert 
Parker  (chemistry). 

Leeds. — On  the  occasion  of  Degree  Day  on  July  i 
the  vice-chancellor  (Dr.  M.  E.  Sadler)  in  the  course 
of  an  address  reviewed  the  position  of  the  university, 
with  special  reference  to  the  war.  Of  nearly  fourteen 
hundred  associated  with  the  university  who  are  on 
active  service,  fifty-one  had  received  military  distinc- 
tion. The  war  has  found  the  university  able  and 
ready  to  give  the  nation  unforeseen  and  many-sided 
service,  and  the  long  vacation  is  little  more  than  a 
name  for  those  in  the  universitv  w-ho  are  doing 
scientific  or  administrative  work  in  connection  with 
the  war.  The  war.  Dr.  Sadler  remarked,  has  already 
enriched  the  university  with  a  deepened  tradition  of 
fellowship  in  public  service.  In  the  years  to  come  it 
will  be  called  upon  to  prove  the  power  of  patient  but 
imaginative  investigation,  of  trained  judgment,  and  of 
unjealous  and  patriotic  gnergy  in  helping  forward 
whatever  will  impart  a  finer  quality  to  the  social  and 
economic  conditions  of  the  national  life.  Grateful 
mention  was  made  of  the  recent  benefaction  of  Sir 
James  Roberts  for  the  endowment  of  a  chair  of 
Russian  language  and  literature — an  act  of  inter- 
national significance.  As  impwrtant  and  opportune 
would  be  the  foundation  of  a  professorship  of  Spanish 
language   and   literature. 

Alluding  to  the  future  of  the  universities.  Dr.  Sadler 
said,  whilst  they  must  continue  to  work  in  intimate 
co-operation  with  the  great  local  authorities  and  the 
Gk)vernment,  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the  living 
power  of  their  work  will  depend  on  their  continuing 
free  from  mistaken,  how^ever  well-meant,  kinds  of 
external  interference.  Germany  has  failed,  in  spite 
of  her  brilliant  endowment  of  knowledge,  to  keep 
unsullied  in  her  universities  freedom  of  moral  judg- 
ment in  respect  of  some  vital  questions  of  dut\-  to 
mankind  and  to  the  State.  She  has  gradually  and 
half-con sciously  undermined,  by  subtle  pressure  of 
State  control  and  by  inducements  of  official  distinc- 
tions, independence  of  moral  and  political  judgment 
in  some  of  the  teachers  through  whom  that  higher 
education  is  given.     This  should  be  a  warning  to  us. 


414 


NATURE 


[July  13,  1916 


St.  Andrews. — At  the  summer  graduation  cere- 
mony on  July  6  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  was 
•conferred  upon  Mr.  W.  E.  Clarke,  keeper  of  the 
zoology  department,  Royal  Scottish  Museum,  Edin- 
burgh ;  Mr.  C.  T.  Clough,  district  geologist,  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  Scotland ;  Dr.  R.  B.  Don ;  Mr. 
L.  R.  Farnell,  rector  of  Exeter  College,  Oxford ; 
Dr.  C.  G.  Knott,  lecturer  in  applied  mathematics, 
University  of  Edinburg^h ;  Dr.  J.  Musgrove,  Bute 
professor  of  anatomy,  St.  Andrews,  1901,  1914;  and 
Prof.  W.  R.  Scott,  professor  of  economics.  University 
of  Glasgow. 


Mr.  Asquith  stated  in  the  House  of  Commons  on 
July  10  that  he  does  not  propose  to  advise  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Royal  Commission  on  Education.  The 
Government  is  itself  engaged  in  a  comprehensive 
review  of  the  system  of  education  as  a  whole. 

At  the  invitation  of  the  Paris  Academy  the  Imperial 
Academy  of  Sciences  of  Petrograd  has  appointed 
three  of  its  members  as  delegates  to  the  International 
Commission  established  on  the  initiative  of  the  Paris 
Academy  for  the  purpose  of  taking  steps,  after  the 
war,  of  restoring  so  far  as  possible  the  library  of 
the   University  of  Louvain  burnt  by  the   Germans. 

The  recently  established  School  of  Slavonic  Studies 
at  King's  College,  London,  wishes  to  form  a  special 
Slavonic  library,  and  hopes  for  the  sympathetic  co- 
operation of  Russian  learned  societies  by  donations  of 
suitable  books.  This  having  been  brought  to  the 
notice  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Petro- 
grad by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  the 
Academy  at  once  expressed  its  willingness  to  con- 
tribute to  the  desired  end,  and  directed  that  a  cata- 
logue of  the  Academy's  publications  be  sent  to  the 
school  with  the  request  that  a  list  be  prepared  of  the 
works  which  it  wishes  to  receive. 

Numerous  bequests  to  aid  medical  science  in  the 
United  States  are  reported  in  a  recent  issue  of  Science. 
By  the  will  of  the  late  Dr.  J.  W.  White,  trustee  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Prof.  J.  R. 
Barton,  emeritus  professor  of  surgery,  30,oooZ,  is 
bequeathed  in  trust  as  a  permanent  endowment 
fund,  the  Income  to  be  used  for  establishing  a 
professorship  of  surgical  research  in  the  medical 
department  of  the  university.  Two  hundred 
thousand  pounds  will  be  available  for  use  by  the 
Washington  University  Medical  School,  with  the 
opening  of  the  new  term  in  September,  through  the 
gift  to  the  school  of  33,200?.  each  by  Mr.  E.  Mallinc- 
krodt  and  Mr.  J.  T.  Milliken,  of  St.  Louis.  One 
fund  of  ioo,oooZ.,  to  be  known  as  the  Edward  Mallinc- 
krodt  Fund,  will  be  devoted  to  teaching  and  research 
work  in  pediatrics.  The  other  fund  of  ioo,oooZ.,  to 
be  known  as  the  John  T.  Milliken  Fund,  will  be 
devoted  to  teaching  and  research  work  in  medicine. 
The  funds  will  enable  the  medical  school  to  employ 
physicians  in  these  departments  for  their  full  time. 
The  amount,  in  addition  to  the  Mallinckrodt  and 
Milliken  donations,  to  brinsf  the  fund  to  20o,oooZ.  has 
been  given  by  the  General  Education  Board.  A  move- 
ment has  been  inaugurated  to  secure  at  least  400,000?. 
additional  endowment  for  Jefferson  Medical  College, 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  D.  Baugh,  founder  of  the  Baugh 
Institute  of  Anatomy  and  Biology,  subscribed  20,000?., 
provided  that  an  equal  amount  was  raised  on  or 
before  June  16.  The  executors  of  the  estate  of  the 
late  Mr.  Emil  C.  Bundy,  of  New  York,  have  paid 
over  to  Columbia  University  the  sum  of  20,oooZ.  for 
research  work   In   cancer. 

Attention  may  be  directed  to  the  help  rendered  to 
manufacturers  and  business  men  for  some  time  past 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


by  the  librarian  and  staff  of  the  City  of  Coventry 
Public  Libraries.  From  time  to  time  lists  of  recent 
books  in  technical  chemistry,  metallurgy,  etc.,  are 
issued  in  printed  form  and  circulated  widely  among 
those  likely  to  be  interested.  In  addition,  lists  are 
prepared  and  issued  dealing,  e.g.,  with  a  specific 
metal  and  its  alloys.  We  have  before  us  one  such 
relating  to  aluminium,  which  gives  an  admirable 
series  of  references  to  original  papers  and  books  pub- 
lished in  the  last  ten  years.  These  lists  are  not  only 
circulated  among  manufacturers  and  business  men, 
but  are  also  given  a  wider  publicity  by  being  pasted 
inside  books  on  the  same  subject.  The  Central 
Library  and  Its  branches  are  well  supplied  with  tech- 
nical journals,  to  which  the  public  have  access  with- 
out any  restriction.  The  technical  section  Is  rein- 
forced by  cutting  out  the  best  articles  from  duplicate 
and  unbound  periodicals,  mounting  them  on  sheets, 
and  exposing  them  In  boxes  where  they  are  classified 
under  appropriate  headings.  In  addition,  the  staff 
of  the  library  invites  Inquiries  for  Information, 
whether  made  verbally,  or  by  letter,  or  by  telephone. 
All  Inquiries  are  treated  as  confidential,  and  no  effort 
Is  spared  to  supply  the  fullest  and  most  trustworthy 
information.  No  doubt  the  instance  we  have  quoted 
is  not  unique,  but  It  appears  worth  while  directing 
attention  to  a  practice  which  must  be  most  helpful 
to  fthe  technical  staff  of  manufac'tories,  particularly 
where,  as  Is  so  often  the  case,  few.  If  any,  technical 
books  or  periodicals  are  taken.  The  example  of  the 
staff  of  the  Coventry  Public  Libraries  Is  warmly  to  be 
commended. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Challenger  Society,  June  28. — Dr.  E.  J.  Allen  in  the 
chair. — Capt.  Campbell  Hepworth  :  The  meteorology  of 
Davis  Strait  and  Baffin  Bay,  including  ice  distribution 
and  frequency.  The  paper  was  based  on  a  set  of 
charts  that  had  been  prepared  In  the  Meteorological 
Ofl^ce. 

Dublin. 

Royal  Dublin  Society,  June  20. — Dr.  J.  M.  Purser  In 
the    chair.— Prof.    W.    H.    Thompson    and    J.    Pimlott : 

The  possibilities  of  food  production  in  the  United 
Kingdom. — Prof.  G.  H.  Carpenter :  Injurious  Insects 
and  other  animals  observed  in  Ireland  during  the 
years  19 14  and  19 15.  The  summer  of  19 14  was  note- 
worthy for  the  great  abundance  of  the  "  diamond- 
back  "  moth  (Plutella  cruciferarum)  on  turnip  crops, 
both  In  the  east  and  west  of  Ireland.  Nymphs  of  the 
large  shield-bug,  Tropicoris  rufipes,  were  very  destruc- 
tive to  young  apples  in  Co.  Kilkenny  In  the  summer 
of  1915.  Another  unusual  observation  was  the 
abundance  of  two  weevils,  Phyllobius  argentatus  and 
Strophosonius  coryli,   on  larch. 

Royal  Irish  Academy,  June  26. — The  Most  Rev.  Dr. 
Bernard,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  president,  in  the 
chair. — M.  W.  J.  Fry  :  Impact  In  three  dimensions. 
The  paper  showed  that  the  course  of  impact  In  three 
dimensions  can  be  minutely  followed  In  the  rnost 
general  case.  There  are  two  or  four  directions 
(according  to  the  value  of  the  coefficient  of  friction) 
In  which  If  sliding  initially  takes  place  it  persists 
without  change  of  direction,  and  of  these  alternate 
ones  correspond  to  stable  motions.  Any  other  direc- 
tion of  sliding  tends  to  get  parallel  to  the  adjacent 
stable  direction,  and  does  so  If  the  Impact  is  suffi- 
ciently prolonged,  and  at  the  same  time  the  velocity  of 
sliding  vanishes,  but  does  not  if  the  direction  Is  that 
special  one  along  which  sliding  may  take  place,  when 


July  13,  1916] 


NATURE 


415 


the  velocity  of  sliding  vanishes  and  rolling  is 
impossible.  In  three  dimensions  the  velocity  of  com- 
pression may  vanish  three  times,  so  that  before  the 
first  period  of  compression  is  over  a  second  one  may 
intervene.  No  matter  how  rough  the  bodies  are, 
sliding  may  not  cease,  and  the  solution  often  given  of 
impact  between  perfectly  rough  bodies  may  be  inaccu- 
rate.— H.  Kennedy  :  The  large  ions  and  condensation 
nuclei  from  flames.  An  examination  is  made  of  the 
nature  of  the  large  ions  and  nuclei  from  flames,  which 
seem  to  be  identical  with  those  studied  by  Aitken  and 
occurring  in  the  atmosphere.  The  rate  of  decay  of 
ionisation  in  the  case  of  the  large  ions  from  flames 
is  found  to  be  according  to  the  law  dq/dt=—Pq^, 
where  q  is  the  charge  of  one  sign  per  c.c.  and  /8  a 
constant.  The  number  of  nuclei  per  c.c.  was 
measured  by  Aitken 's  apparatus.  It  is  found  that  the 
nuclei  disappear  according  to  the  law  dn/dt—  —yti-, 
and  the  rate  of  disappearance  seems  to  be  the  same 
whether  the  nuclei  are  charged  or  uncharged.  The 
large  ions  carrj-  multiple  charges,  and  the  value  of 
the  charge  depends  on  the  circumstances  of  produc- 
tion. The  mobility  of  the  large  ion,  so  far  as  experi- 
ment has  gone,  seems  to  be  the  same  in  all  circum- 
stances of  production.  The  mobility  must,  therefore, 
be  independent  of  the  charge.  The  formation  of  the 
nucleus  does  not  depend  on  the  presence  of  the 
charge. 

Edinburgh. 
Royal  Society,  June  4. — Dr.  J.  Home,  president,  in 
the  chair. — Prof.  A.  A.  Lawson  :  The  prothallus  of  Tmesi- 
pteris  tannensis.  Tmesipteris  and  the  closely-related 
Psilotum  form  a  group  the  main  interest  of  which 
lies  in  their  phylogenetic  isolation.  Both  genera  are 
limited  to  the  tropics  and  sub-tropics,  Tmesipteris 
being  found  in  the  South  Sea  Islands,  Australia,  New- 
Zealand,  and  parts  of  Polynesia.  With  the  exception 
of  certain  important  descriptions  by  Lang,  our  know- 
ledge of  the  gametophytes  and  embryo  of  the  Psilotaceae 
may  be  regarded  as  a  complete  blank.  Shortly  after 
his  rrrival  in  Australia  in  1913  Prof.  Lawson  learned 
that  both  genera  were  to  be  found  in  great  abundance 
in  the  vicinity  of  Sydney.  After  careful  search  several 
specimens  of  the  prothallus  of  Tmesipteris  and  one 
specimen  of  what  is  believed  to  be  the  prothallus  of 
Psilotum  were  discovered.  The  present  paper  con- 
tained an  account  of  the  general  features  of  these 
prothalli,  including  descriptions  of  the  antheridia  and 
the  archegonia.  Observations  on  the  embryo  were 
also  made,  but  a  full  account  is  reserved  for  a  later 
paper,  when  more  material  will  have  been  obtained. 
As  regards  the  structure  of  the  archegonium,  which 
bears  no  very  striking  resemblance  to  either  Equisetum 
or  Lycopodium,  one  is  inclined  to  regard  it  as  reduced. 
This  is  not  surprising  in  a  plant  the  sf)orophyte  and 
gametophyte  of  which  are  both  reduced  and  highly 
specialised  in  their  adaptation  to  definite  habitats. — 
Prof.  E.  T.  Whittaker :  On  the  theory  of  continued 
fractions.  The  paper  gave  a  general  process  for  ex- 
pressing a  continued  fraction  as  a  continuant,  and 
showed  how  to  express  the  differential  coefficient  of 
a  continued  fraction  as  the  ratio  of  two  determinants 
the  constituents  of  which  are  definite  functions  of  the 
terms  of  the  continued  fraction. 

June  19. — Sir  T.  R.  Eraser,  vice-president,  in  the 
chair. — Prof.  C.  R.  Marshall :  The  pharmacological 
action  of  nitric  esters.  The  paper  dealt  mainly  with 
the  relation  between  the  chemical  constitution  and 
pharmacological  action  of  these  esters.  All  that  were 
investigated,  except  those  of  organic  acids  and  their 
alkyl  esters,  caused  dilatation  of  the  blood-vessels. 
The  quantitative  effect  of  the  fully  nitrated  esters  of 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


the  polyhydric  alcohols  and  the  sugars  was  chiefly 
dependent  on  their  solubility  in  aqueous  media ;  that 
of  nitric  esters  of  monohydric  alcohols  was  much  less 
dependent  on  this  property.  The  influence  of  different 
groupings  was  described,  and  the  theory  th^t  the 
pharmacological  action  of  nitric  esters  is  wholly  due 
to  their  reduction  to  nitrites  was  combated.  Evidence 
of  the  formation  of  nitric  oxide  haemoglobin  was  not 
obtained. — C.  W.  Tyrrell :  On  the  petrography  of  the 
trachytic  and  allied  rocks  of  the  Carboniferous  age 
in  the  Clyde  lava  plateaux.  These  rocks  were  shown 
to  fall  into  four  groups,  viz.  :  (o)  Albite  Bostonites,  A. 
Trachytes,  and  A.  Keratophyres ;  (b)  Bostonites, 
Trachytes,  and  Keratophyres ;  (c)  Quartz  Kerato- 
phyres and  Felsites ;  (d)  Phonolites. 

New  South  Wales. 

Linnean  Society,  April  26. — Mr.  C.  Hedley,  vice 
president,  in  the  chair. — G.  I.  Playfair  :  Oocystis  and 
Eremosphaera  (Algae).  The  object  of  this  paper  is 
threefold  : — (i)  To  give  an  account  of  all  forms  of 
Oocystis  and  Eremosphaera  met  with  in  New  South 
Wales;  (2)  to  direct  attention  to  the  polymorphism  of 
Eremosphaera,  and  to  its  connection  with  Oocystis; 
(3)  to  supply  the  original  descriptions  and  figures,  so 
far  as  possible,  of  all  published  species  and  forms  of 
the  two  genera. — Dr.  J.  M.  Petrie :  The  chemical 
investigation  of  some  poisonous  plants  in  the  N.O. 
Solanaceae.  Part  ii. — Nicotiana  suaveolens,  and  the 
identification  of  its  alkaloid.  JV.  suaveolens  is  the 
"native  tobacco"  of  Australia,  and  the  only  endemic 
species.  It  is  a  troublesome  weed  in  the  stock  country, 
sometimes  referred  to  as  poisonous,  at  other  times  as 
a  good  fodder-plant,  readily  eaten  by  stock.  As  only 
a  very  few  among  the  eighty  described  species  of 
Nicotiana  are  known  to  contain  nicotine,  the  author 
examined  plants  from  three  different  localities  in  the 
interior  of  New  South  Wales,  and  in  all  identified  and 
proved  the  presence  of  nicotine.  The  amounts  found 
were  0035,  0003,  0004  per  cent,  of  the  fresh  plants, 
or  0-124,  001 1,  0015  per  cent,  of  dried  (at  100°) 
plants.  It  was  calculated  from  the  lowest  figxire 
stated  that  enough  alkaloid  is  contained  in  half  a 
pound  of  green  plant  to  poison  an  ordinary-sized 
sheep. — ^A.  A,  Hamilton :  The  instability  of  leaf- 
morphology  in  relation  to  taxonomic  botany.  The 
principal  factors  affecting  leaf-morphology  are  tabu- 
lated, and  a  summary  of  the  more  important  altera- 
tions resultant  from  their  agency  are  given.  -\  series 
of  examples  (chiefly  Australian)  is  submitted,  illustrat- 
ing the  effect  of  environment  on  leaf-structure;  and 
evidence  is  offered,  in  certain  cases,  demonstrating  the 
development  of  heterogeny  in  the  foliage  of  closely 
allied  plants,  using  dissimilar  contrivances  as  protec- 
tive agencies  against  adverse  conditions ;  and  homo- 
plasy  in  plants  distantly  related,  but  employing  a 
common  protective  device. — ^J.  H.  Maiden  :  Br  achy- 
chiton  populneo-acerifolius,  F.  v.  M.,  the  crimson- 
flowered  Kurrajong.  The  name  was  applied  by  the 
late  Baron  von  Mueller  to  a  tree,  recognised  as  a 
hybrid  between  B.  acerifoUtis  and  B.  populneus,  grow- 
ing in  a  garden  at  Mulgoa.  Plants  of  the  parent 
species  were  then  growing  in  the  garden,  but  it  was 
I  not  certain  that  the  hybrid  had  not  been  introduced  as 
I  a  seedling  from  elsewhere.  Inquiries  for  similar 
}  plants  have  been  widely  circulated,  and  records  are 
!  now  given  of  examples  growing  in  different  localities; 
'  but,  except  in  one  instance,  they  are  all  cultivated 
I  plants,  the  historv  of  which  is  unknown. — J.  H. 
Maiden :  A  Eucaly'pt  hybrid  (Eucalyptus  calophyllaX 
\  E.  ficifolid).  E.  cahphylla  has  white  or  creamy  fila- 
I  ments,    and  E.   -ficifolia  bright   scarlet.     Plants   of   a 


4i6 


NATURE 


[July  13,  1916 


more  or  less  intermediate  character,  with  rose  to  crim- 
son filaments,  are  now  in  cultivation ;  and  these  are 
regarded  as  hybrids. 

Queensland. 

Royal  Society  of  Queensland,  May  i. — H.  A.  Long- 
man :  The  supposed  Queensland  artiodactyle  fossils. 
In  1886  a  series  of  teeth  from  post-Pliocene  deposits 
on  the  Darling  Downs,  Queensland,  was  described 
by  the  late  C.  W.  De  Vis  as  artiodactyle,  under  the 
name  of  Prochoerus  celer  (Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  Queens- 
land, vol.  iii.,  p.  42).  Although  the  author  suggested 
that  the  teeth  denoted  an  alliance  with  the  peccaries 
rather  than  with  the  true  pigs,  his  statements  were 
interpreted  as  evidence  of  the  occurrence  in  southern 
Queensland  of  the  Papuan  Sus,  The  Darling  Downs 
deposits  have  yielded  such  a  harvest  of  marsupial 
remains  (including  Diprotodon,  Nototherium,  Thy- 
lacoleo,  and  extinct  kangaroos  and  wombats)  that  this 
supposed  exception  aroused  considerable  interest.  The 
results  of  an  examination  of  the  type  specimens  by 
Mr.  Longman  show  that  the  tooth  recorded  as  a 
lower  incisor  is  identical  with  the  left  lower  laniary 
incisor  of  Thylacoleo  carnijex ;  that  the  upper  incisors 
and  paratypes  closely  correspond  with  the  posterior 
incisors  of  Nototheroid  marsupials ;  that  the  imperfect 
molar  tooth  has  no  affinity  with  the  Papuan  pig,  and 
does  not  present  sufficient  evidence  to  warrant  its 
designation  as  non-marsupial.  This  molar  is  of  a 
somewhat  similar  tyf>e  to  the  remarkable  large  pre- 
molar of  Macleay's  ''  Zygotnaturus  trilohus,'"  the 
status  of  which  is  in  doubt,  and  which  was  included 
by  Owen  in  Nototherium  mitchelli.  The  evidence  for 
the  presence  of  fossil  artiodactyles  in  Queensland  thus 
disappears,  and  a  much-discussed  question  has  been 
settled. 

Calcutta. 

Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  June  7. — Dr.  N.  Annan- 
dale  :  Zoological  results  of  a  tour  in  the  Far  East. 
The  tour  was  undertaken  chiefly  in  order  to  investi- 
gate the  lake-fauna  of  certain  districts  in  Japan, 
China,  and  the  Malay  Peninsula.  Three  large  lakes 
were  visited,  namely,  Biwa-Ko  in  the  main  island  of 
Japan,  the  Tai  Hu  or  Great  Lake  in  the  Kiangsu 
province  of  China,  and  the  Tal6  Sap  or  Inland  Sea 
of  Singgora  in  the  north-east  of  the  Malay  Peninsula. 
The  first  two  of  these  are  inland  lakes,  whereas  the 
Tal6  Sap  is  a  lagoon  connected  with  the  Gulf  of 
Siam.  Full  geographical  details  are  reserved  for  a 
series  of  faunistic  papers.  Twenty-eight  species  of 
fresh-water  Lamellibranch  shells  are  discussed,  be- 
longing to  the  families  Mytilidae,  Arcidae,  Unionidae, 
and  Cyrenidae.  The  species  of  polyzoa  of  fresh  and 
brackish  water  discussed  are  mostly  from  China  and 
the  Malay  Peninsula.  Four  new  Spongillidae  (three 
species  representing  Spongilla  and  one  Trochospon- 
gilla)  were  found  in  the  Tai  Hu,  and  three,  two  of 
which  were  already  known,  in  the  Tal6  Sap. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Indian  Forest  Records.  Vol.  v.,  part  7.  (Cal- 
cutta :  Superintendent,  Government  Printing.)    25.  3^. 

Indian  Forest  Memoirs.  Sylviculture  Series.  Vol.  i., 
part  i.  Pp.  iv+ 126.  (Calcutta  :  Superintendent, 
Government   Printing.) 

English  Landscape  : 
M.  Baring.  Pp.  122. 
Press.)     15.  net 

M^moires  de  la  Soci^t^  de  Phvsique  et  d'Histoire 
Naturelle  de  Geneve.  Vol.  xxxviii.  Fasc.  4  and  5. 
(Geneve :   Georg  et  Cie.)     5  and  7  francs  respectively. 

NO.    2437,    VOL.    97] 


An    Anthology,    compiled   by 
(London  :    Oxford   University 


A  Scientific  German  Reader.  By  H.  Z.  Kip.  Pp. 
xii  +  445.    (London:  Oxford  University  Press.)   55.net. 

Compendio  de  Algebra  de  Abenb^der.  By  J.  A.  S. 
Perez.     Pp.  xlvii  +  117.     (Madrid:   E.   Maestre.) 

Hitting  the  Dark  Trail :  Starshine  through  Thirty 
Years  of  Night.  By  C.  Hawkes.  Pp.  191.  (London  : 
G.  G.  Harrap  and  Co.)    35.  6d.  net. 

The  Mentally  Defective  Child.  By  Dr.  M.  Young. 
Pp.  xi+140.  (London:  H.  K.  Lewis  and  Co.,  Ltd.) 
3s.  6d.  net. 

Studies  in  Blood  Pressure,  Physiological  and 
Clinical.  By  Dr.  G.  Oliver.  Third  edition.  Edited 
by  Dr.  W.  D,  Halliburton.  Pp.  xxiii  +  240.  (London  : 
H.   K.  Lewis  and  Co.,   Ltd.)     ys.  6d.  net. 

Department  of  Mines.  Memoirs  of  the  Geological 
Survey  of  New  South  Wales.  Geology,  No.  7  : 
Geology  and  Mineral  Resources  of  the  Southern 
Coalfield,  with  Maps  and  Sections.  Part  i — The 
South  Coastal  Portion.  By  L.  F.  Harper.  Pp.  xiii 
+  410  + plates  xlvi.     (Sydney:  W.  A.  GuUick.)     15s. 

A  Critical  Revision  of  the  Genus  Eucalyptus.  By 
J.  H.  Maiden.  Vol.  iii.  Parts  v.  and  vi.  (Parts  xxv. 
and  xxvi.  of  the  complete  work.)  (Sydney  :  W.  A. 
Gullick.)     2s.  6d.  each. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

British  Marine  Annelids.     By  S.  J.  H 397 

Colloidal  Solutions 397 

Mathematical  Papers  and  Addresses.    By  G.  B.  M.  398 

W.  B.  Tegetmeier 399 

Our  Bookshelf 399 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

Gravitation  and  Temperature. — Dr.  P.  E.  Shaw  .    .  400 
Payment    for    Scientific     Research. — Prof.     G.    H. 

Bryan,  F.R.S 401 

Negative  Liquid   Pressure  at   High  Temperatures. — 

Sidney  Skinner 402 

The    Propagation    of  Sound   by  the   Atmosphere. 

By  Dr.  C.  Davison 402 

Aeronautics  and  the  War.    {Ilhtstrated.)    ByE.  F.  R.  403 
Sir     Gaston     Maspero,      K.C.M.G,      (Hon.)       By 

E.  A.  W.  B 405 

Notes 406 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

A  Partial  Eclipse  of  the  Moon 410 

A  Bright  Meteor 410 

Comet  1916^  (Wolf) 410 

Arequipa    Pyrheliometry 410 

Canadian  Economic  Geology.    By  J.  W.  G.      ...  410 

Radio-activity  and  Plant  Growth 411 

The  Organisation  of  Industrial  Scientific  Research. 

I.     By  Dr.  C.  E.  Kenneth  Mees 411 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 413 

Societies  and  Academies 414 

Books  Received 416 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 

MACMILLAN   &   CO.,    Ltd., 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON.    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  the 
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Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 

Telegraphic  Address  :  Phusis,  London. 
Telephone  Number :  Grrrard  8830. 


NA  TURE 


4«7 


THURSDAY,    JULY    20,    1916. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  EDUCATION. 
nPHE  speech  of  Lord  Haldane  in  the  House 
^  of  Lords  on  July  i^,  on  the  training  of  the 
nation  and  the  necessity  of  preparing  for  the 
future,  is  a  timely  contribution  to  the  momentous 
discussion  of  the  question  of  the  educational 
position  of  Great  Britain,  and  especially  of  that 
portion  of  it  identified  with  England.  Our  only 
regret  is  that  while  Lord  Haldane  was  a  member 
of  the  Government  he  did  not  see  that  decided 
steps  were  taken  to  remedy  the  defects  to  which 
he  refers,  and  thus  give  us  the  strength  needed 
to  compete  successfully  in  the  rivalry  of  nations. 
When  he  was  president  of  the  British  Science 
Guild  he  took  an  active  part  in  asserting  the 
claims  of  science  and  scientific  education  to  fuller 
recognition  by  the  State,  and  we  looked  naturally 
to  the  realisation  of  these  aims  when  he  was  in 
office.  Statesmen  have  yet  to  learn  that  it  is 
their  duty  to  lead  the  people,  instead  of  waiting 
for  a  mandate  from  them.  If  industrialists  have 
failed  to  take  the  fullest  advantage  of  scientific 
knowledge  and  research,  the  omission  is  due 
largely  to  the  indifferent  attitude  shown  by  the 
Government  until  recently  towards  these  factors 
of  modern  progress. 

Whilst  giving  due  credit  to  the  iccults  of  the 
Education  Act  of  1902,  particularly  in  respect  of 
its  effect  in  improving  the  supply  of  secondary 
education,  in  breathing  new  life  into  the  numerous 
endowed  schools  of  the  country.  Lord  Haldane  is 
careful  to  point  out  that,  despite  the  improvement 
which  has  been  achieved,  this  feature  of  our  edu- 
cational system  remains  our  weak  spot.  So  long 
as  the  possibilities  of  secondary  education  continue 
to  be,  to  so  large  an  extent,  undeveloped  and 
unorganised,  as  regards  number,  accessibility, 
staff,  and  equipment,  so  long  as  most  of  the 
pupils  in  secondary  schools  do  not  remain  after 
they  are  about  fifteen  years  of  age,  the  possibility 
of  efficient  and  abundant  university  education  re- 
mains an  unrealised  dream. 

It  is.  Lord  Haldane  says,  an  appalling  reflection 
that  in  this  country  go  per  cent,  of  our  young 
people  get  no  further  education  after  the  age  of 
fourteen,  not  to  speak  of  the  many  thousands 
-who  cease  school  attendance  at  a  much  earlier 
age,  and  he  further  states  that  between  the  ages 
of  sixteen  and  twenty-five  much  more  than  five 
and  a  quarter  millions  get  no  further  education 
at  all.  The  number  of  students  who  enter  the 
universities  of  England  and  Wales  in  each  year 
is  18,000  from  a  population  of  38  millions,  whilst 
in  Scotland,  out  of  a  population  of  four  and  three- 
NO.    2438,   VOL.    97] 


quarter  millions,  the  number  who  enter  the  uni- 
versities annually  is  7770.  If,  therefore,  there 
was  the  same  proportion  of  students  to  population 
entering  the  universities  of  England  and  Wales 
as  in  Scotland  the  number  would  be  upwards  of 
57,000. 

It  may  well  be  asked  what  chance  have  we 
against  other  nations  which  go  on  a  different  plan 
and  thereby,  to  put  the  question  on  no  higher 
plane,  have  the  knowledge  and  the  power  to 
stimulate  industrial  capacity  and  activity.  "  What 
does  education  mean  but  the  training  of  the  whole 
nature  in  the  widest  and  most  comprehensive 
sense,  so  that  the  youth  of  the  nation  may  be 
able  when  the  time  comes  to  turn,  it  might  be  to 
science,  it  might  be  to  the  humanities,  or  to  any 
of  the  thousand  and  one  subjects  which  are  covered 
by  the  field  of  knowledge  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury?" It  is  an  absurd  travesty  of  the  situation, 
in  the  controversy  now  going  on  as  to  the  respec- 
tive share  of  science  and  the  humanities,  especi- 
ally the  classics,  in  the  sphere  of  education,  to 
accuse  the  advocates  of  science  of  claiming  that 
science  shall  have  the  dominating  influence  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  humanities.  They  plead  that 
science  and  scientific  training  shall,  having  regard 
to  the  great  advance  in  the  knowledge  of  natural 
phenomena  and  of  the  constitution  and  potentiali- 
ties of  matter  which  has  now  been  gained,  and 
the  great  part  which  these  discoveries  now  play 
in  human  activities  and  as  contributories  to  human 
well-being,  be  accorded  their  due  place  in  the 
scheme  of  education  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest  grades  and  be  accepted  as  an  essential 
factor  in  the  equipment  of  every  educated  man. 

In  defence  of  the  attitude  of  scientific  men  on 
this  question,  we  cannot  do  better  than  cite  the 
words  of  Huxley,   where  he  says  : — 

Do  not  expect  me  to  depreciate  the  earnest 
and  enlightened  pursuit  of  classical  learning.  I 
have  not  the  least  desire  to  speak  ill  of  such 
occupations  nor  any  sympathy  with  those  who 
run  them  down.  .  .  .  Classical  history  is  a  great 
section  of  the  palaeontology  of  man,  and  I  have 
the  same  double  respect  for  it  as  for  other  kinds 
of  palaeontology — that  is  to  say,  a  respect  for  the 
facts  which  it  establishes  as  for  all  facts,  and  a 
still  greater  respect  for  it  as  a  preparation  for 
the  discovery  of  a  law  of  progress. 

In  addressing  the  students  of  the  South  London 
Working  Men's  College  in  1868  he  laments 
that— 

Literature  is  not  upon  the  college  programme, 
but  I  hope  some  day  to  see  it  there.  For  literature 
is  the  greatest  of  all  sources  of  refined  pleasure, 
and  one  of  the  greatest  uses  of  a  liberal  educa- 
tion is  to  enable  us  to  enjoy  that  pleasure.  Edu- 
cation   is    the    instruction    of   the    intellect    in    the 


4i8 


NATURE 


[July  20,   1916 


laws  of  Nature,  under  which  1  include,  not  merely 
things  and  their  forces,  but  men  and  their  ways; 
and  the  fashioning  of  the  affections  and  of  the 
will  into  an  earnest  and  living  desire  to  move  in 
harmony  with  those  laws.  For  me  education 
m.£ans  neither  more  nor  less  than  this.  Anything 
which  professes  to  call  itself  education  must  be 
tried  by  this  standard,  and  if  it  fails  to  stand  the 
test,  I  will  not  call  it  education,  whatever  may 
be  the  force  of  authority  or  of  numbers  on  the 
other   side. 

This  is  how  the  question  stands  to-day,  and  it 
will  be  strange — not  to  say  tragical- — if  it  be  not 
possible  for  the  leaders  of  the  nation,  in  view  of 
the  tremendous  issues  which  lie  before  us,  to  devise 
the  means  of  solving  it  without  further  delay  so 
as  to  set  up  as  "the  ideal  of  a  national  educa- 
tional system  an  organisation  giving  every  single 
individual  a  chance  to  attain  to  a  maximum  of 
personal  culture  and  social  efficiency  according  to 
his  natural  gifts  and  the  strength  of  his  will." 

Lord  Cromer,  in  a  speech  following  Lord 
Haldane's,  remarked  of  Germany  that  "side  by 
side  with  a  great  advance  in  national  prosperity 
and  scientific  knowledge  there  had  been  a  vast 
deterioration  of  character " ;  and  he  feared  the 
same  moral  collapse  for  us  "if  not  sufficient 
attention  was  paid  to  humanistic,  particularly 
classical,  education  in  this  country."  The  associa- 
tion of  science  with  crass  materialism,  and  the 
suggestion  that  we  must  look  to  classical  educa- 
tion to  preserve  our  national  character,  are  both 
presumptuous  and  misleading.  Lord  Cromer  must 
know  that  until  after  the  year  1900  the  only  way 
of  access  to  the  university  in  Germany  was  through 
the  Gymnasium  with  a  nine  years'  Latin  course 
and  a  six  years'  Greek  course.  It  would  be  more 
accurate,  therefore,  to  seek  the  origins  of  the 
present  war  and  of  German  barbarisms  in  classical 
education  rather  than  in  that  of  science.  The  diplo- 
matists and  statesmen  who  are  responsible  for  the 
war  have,  almost  without  exception,  been  trained 
on  classical  lines ;  and  they  have  called  in  the  aid 
of  forces  provided  by  science,  which  mvist,  how- 
ever, not  be  made  responsible  for  the  ignoble 
uses  to  which  its  knowledge  is  put.  Men  who 
have  had  a  scientific  education  have  answered 
their  country's  call,  and  made  the  supreme  sacri- 
fice, just  as  readily  as  those  trained  in  classical 
schools.  To  suggest  that  the  British  nature  and 
the  noblest  characteristics  of  "  an  English  gentle- 
man "  must  have  the  flimsy  classical  teaching  of 
public  schools  to  cultivate  them  is  a  fallacy  which 
will  not  bear  a  moment's  serious  consideration. 

Lord   Cromer's   speech    is   just   such   a   one   as 

might  have  been  made   in   supjX)rt  of  Latin  as  a 

humanising  influence,   when,   at   the   Renaissance, 

the  humanists  of  that  time  were  urging  the  intro- 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


duction  of  Greek  into  the  curriculum.  In  those 
days  the  humanists  were  on  the  side  of  the  nev^ 
learning,  but  now  they  range  themselves  against 
it,  forgetting  that  education  must  take  account 
of  the  demands  and  tendencies  of  the  day.  When 
placing  utilitarianism  in  contrast  with  literary 
studies,  and  science  against  spirituality,  it  should 
be  borne  in  mind  by  advocates  of  established 
methods  that,  at  the  time  when  the  foundations 
of  classical  education  were  laid,  Latin  and  Greek 
had  a  very  definite  utilitarian  object — one  as  the 
international  language  of  the  learned,  the  other 
as  the  storehouse  of  mathematical  and  scientific 
knowledge. 

The  time  is  ripe  for  a  great  and  fundamental 
change  in  our  methods  and  means  of  education. 
Modern  needs  demand  not  only  that  science  and 
scientific  training  should  be  given  their  rightful 
and  due  place  in  the  curricula  of  all  grades  of 
schools  and  in  the  universities,  but  also  the  aboli- 
tion of  all  restrictions  which  prevent  the  children 
of  the  nation  from  the  enjoyment  of  school-life 
until  fourteen  years  of  age.  Part-time  instruction 
should  be  arranged  within  the  normal  hours  of 
labour  for  those  who  have  left  school  until  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  year  at  least,  and,  lastly, 
the  status  and  rewards  of  the  teacher  should 
be  raised  and  made  more  attractive.  The 
Promised  Land  is  in  sight,  and  must  be  won.  It 
lies  with  our  statesmen  to  give  effect  to  these 
imperative  claims  and  so  provide  for  the  best 
development  of  the  Empire. 

THEORY  OF  CALCULATION. 

Theory  of  Measurements :  a  Manual  for  Physics 
Students..  By  Prof.  J.  S.  Stephens.  Pp.  vii-i- 
81.  (London:  Constable  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1915.) 
Price  6s.  net. 

A  NATURAL  but  erroneous  impression  pro- 
duced by  the  title  of  this  book,  "Theory  of 
Measurements  :  a  Manual  for  Physics  Students," 
is  that  it  has  to  do  with  apparatus  such  as  is 
found  in  a  physical  laboratory ;  but  actually,  while 
occasionally  some  piece  of  apparatus  is  just  men- 
tioned, the  book  has  but  little  to  do  with  physical 
apparatus  or  its  use.  Measurements  are  supposed 
already  to  have  been  made,  and  then  the  "theory 
of  measurements  "  comes  in,  and  considerations 
of  accuracy,  probability,  least  squares,  and 
scientific  juggling  generally  are  set  before  the 
reader.  It  is  difficult  to  say  that  they  are  ex- 
plained ;    they  are  stated. 

After  a  short  introductory  chapter,  in  which  the 
extreme  accuracy  of  wave-length  observations  are 
referred  to  and  contrasted  with  a  crude  deter- 
mination of  ^  bv  means  of  an  extemporised  simple 
pendulum,  with  the  view  apparently  of  giving 
some  idea  of  the  use  of  significant  figures,  the 
author  discusses   in   the   next   chapter   the   theory 


July  20,  1916] 


NATURE 


419 


of  probabilities,  the  weighting-  of  observations, 
and  the  treatment  of  the  figures  obtained,  but 
illustrations  are  deferred  until  after  the  chapter  on 
the  precision  of  observations.  Some  interesting 
subjects  for  discussion  are  appended.  The  last 
relates  to  gambling,  and  the  views  of  Dr.  Burn- 
ham,  of  Chicago,  are  quoted,  who  believed  .that 
if  the  laws  of  chance  were  taught  to  children  in 
the  schools,  they  would  steer  clear  of  the  slot 
machine  in  early  years,  and  later  would  shun  the 
bookmaker  and  every  other  gambling  magnate. 
Now,  would  they?  Might  not  they,  even  though 
they  had  been  taught  that  the  value  of  the  chance 
was  .only  halt  what  they  were  paying,  come  to 
that  other  conclusion — natural  if  they  have  im- 
perfectly understood  what  they  were  taught — that 
the  laws  of  chance  are  "all  theory  like  the  stars," 
and  that  with  luck  they  might  easily  win  a  big 
prize  ? 

The  third  chapter  is  on  "the  adjustment  of 
observations,'  and  here  we  find  more  pains  taken 
to  explain  how  observations  in  general  and  ob- 
servations that  are  not  exactly  consistent  in  par- 
ticular should  be  dealt  with  to  obtain  the  best  or 
most  likely  results. 

In  the  chapter  on  "the  precision  of  observ^a- 
tions  "  the  probability  curve  is  treated  graphically, 
and  mean  square  error,  average  deviation,  and 
probable  error  are  explained.  The  next  chapter, 
on  the  propagation  of  errors,  perhaps  most  nearly 
touches  the  experimental  work  of  the  student,  for 
here  the  relation  of  error  of  observation  to  error 
of  result  is  discussed.  After  this,  plotting  and 
negligibility  are  the  subjects  of  two  chapters,  in 
the  latter  of  which  the  slide  rule  is  taken  as  an 
example.  The  concluding  chapter  is  on  empirical 
formulae  and  constants. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  tabular  statement  of 
the  subjects  considered  that  they  are  of  the  first 
importance  to  the  experimentalist.  At  the  same 
time,  unless  the  student  is  made  to  appreciate 
well  both  the  niceties  of  the  experimental  art  and 
the  matters  dealt  with  in  this  book,  the  latter 
may,  if  imperfectly  understood,  be  a  source  of 
danger.  The  student  may  not  appreciate  the 
futility  of  overloading  a  multitude  of  bad  observa- 
tions, subject  of  necessity  to  consistent  errors,  with 
sheets  of  least  square  calculations.  If  he  has  more 
aptitude  for  figures  than  for  experiment,  he  may 
even  delude  himself  into  believing  that  his  cal- 
culated probable  errors  really  are  probable  errors. 
In  such  cases  it  is  much  more  important  to  spend 
the  time  required  for  these  calculations  in  im- 
proving his  apparatus  or  varying  his  method  so  as, 
so  far  as  possible,  to  avoid  consistent  errors.  Two 
or  three  experiments  really  well  conducted  are 
worth  far  more  than  a  multitude  performed  in  a 
slovenly  wav,  and  no  scientific  juee-ling  will  give 
the  multitude  more  value.  The  writer  feels  that  this 
aspect  of  the  general  question  is  not  sufficiently 
insisted  on,  and  the  book,  in  spite  of  its  many 
excellent  features,  would  be  more  valuable  to  the 
student  if  the  author  had  condescended  to  give 
more  attention  to  the  actual  operations  of  the 
laboratory  and  their  relation  to  the  consequent 
calculations.  C.  V.  Boys. 

NO.    2438,   VOL.   97] 


■■srcrrrED  fever. 


Cerebrospinal  Fever.  By  Dr.  Michael  Foster 
and  Dr.  J.  F.  Gaskell.'  Pp.  x  +  222.  (Cam- 
brijlge:  At  the  University  Press,  igi6.)  Price 
125.  6d.  net. 

'T'HIS  excellent  and  complete  monograph  of  the 
^  much-dreaded  disease,  cerebro-spinal  fever — 
dreaded  because  of  its  high  mortality  and  inca- 
I>acitating  sequelae — should  prove  of  great  interest 
not  only  to  the  members  of  the  medical  profession 
but  to  men  of  science  generally. 

The  book  is  dedicated  by  the  authors  to  the 
memory  of  their  respective  fathers,  and  on  account 
of  its  careful,  lucid,  scientific,  yet  withal  practical, 
exposition  of  the  subject  it  is  a  worthy  tribute 
to  those  two  great  founders  of  the  modern  school 
of  English  physiology. 

The  authors  claim  that  this  monograph  has  for 
its  aim  an  attempt  to  bring  together  and  correlate 
the  clinical  and  pathological  facts  which  they  were 
enabled  to  accumulate  during  the  epidemic  of  1915 
in  the  Eastern  Command,  and  the  views  set  forth 
are  the  outcome. of  clinical  and  pathological  obser- 
vations made  in  the  wards,  the  laboratory,  and 
tlie  post-mortem  room  of  the  ist  Eastern  General 
Hospital. 

There  are  eleven  chapters  and  two  appendices, 
and  the  excellent  plan  of  giving  a  summary  in 
italics  of  the  principal  facts  dealt  with  in  each 
chapter  is  helpful  to  the  reader.  There  are  eleven 
excellent  plates,  eight  of  which  are  coloured. 
The  work  commences  with  an  interesting  histori- 
cal account  of  the  disease — largely  a  summary 
from  the  exhaustive  treatise  by  Hirsch  on  Geo- 
graphical and  Historical  Pathology.  The  first 
authentic  account  of  an  epidemic  is  that  which 
occurred  in  Geneva  in  1805.  From  the  date  of 
this,  its  first  appearance,  the  disease  was  epidemic 
at  various  places  both  in  Europe  and  .America. 
Read  in  the  light  of  modern  knowlege  of  carriers 
in  the  propagation  of  disease,  we  can  understand 
how  this  disease  suddenly  appeared  and  travelled 
according  to  no  appreciable  law. 

Prior  to  191 5  cerebro-spinal  fever  in  an  epi- 
demic form  had  been  confined  in  Great  Britain  to 
the  industrial  centres  of  Scotland  and  Ireland.  The 
authors  point  out  that  although  the  naso-pharynx 
is  the  location  in  which  the  specific  organism  is  to 
be  found,  yet,  according  to  their  experience,  it  may 
be  present  without  causing  any  marked  inflamma- 
tory condition  of  the  mucous  membrane.  Conse- 
quently, carriers  may  appear  to  be  healthy  per- 
sons; and  it  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that 
when,  in  1915,  large  numbers  of  soldiers  were 
crowded  into  huts  and  billets  with  deficient  venti- 
lation and  other  favouring  conditions,  outbreaks 
of  the  disease  should  have  occurred  not  only 
among  the  soldiers  but  also  among  civilians. 
Serious  epidemics  occurred  at  Salisbury  Plain, 
Aldershot,  in  the  London  area,  and  in  the  eastern 
counties  of  England.  A  good  account  of  the 
symptomatology,  diagnosis,  and  treatment  of  the 
disease  is  given.  Four  excellent  coloured  plates 
illustrate  the  four  distinct  varieties  of  rash,   and 


420 


NATURE 


[July  20,  19 16 


the  statement  of  the  authors  may  be  noted  that  in 
their  39  cases  a  rash  was  present  in  22. 

The  symptoms  due  to  the  inflammation  of  the 
meninges,  viz.,  severe  headache,  vomiting,  retrac- 
tion of  the  head  and  neck,  stiffness  of  the  neck, 
and  the  presence  of  Kernig's  sign,  are  common  to 
all  forms  of  meningitis.  But  the  presence  of  the 
rash,  and  the  discovery  of  the  Meningococcus 
(diplococcus)  intracellularis  in  the  cerebro-spinal 
fluid  after  withdrawal  by  lumbar  puncture,  consti- 
tute the  essential  differential  diagnostic  signs. 
Excellent  photographs  are  given  illustrating  cases 
exhibiting  the  head  retraction  and  Kernig's  sign; 
also  remarkably  well-executed  coloured  plates 
illustrating  the  macroscopic  appearances  presented 
by  the  brain  and  spinal  cord,  and  the  micro- 
scopic appearances  of  the  meninges  and  the  cere- 
bro-spinal fluid  containing  the  diplococcus  intra- 
cellularis. 

Various  statistics  are  quoted  which  appear 
to  prove  that  the  authors  are  right  in  asserting 
that  frequent  lumbar  puncture  is  the  most  valu- 
able therapeutic  measure,  and  that  it  is  not 
enhanced  by  subsequent  intrathecal  injection  of 
Flexner's  serum.  In  fact,  they  state :  "  In  our 
somewhat  limited  experience  the  introduction  of 
serum  caused,  for  the  most  part,  a  decided  aggra- 
vation of  cerebral  symptoms."  An  excellent 
chapter  on  the  pathology  of  the  disease  follows, 
in  which  the  authors  discuss  the  channels  by 
which  the  diplococcus  passes  from  the  naso- 
pharynx to  the  subarachnoid  space.  This  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  chapter  on  changes  in  the  cerebro- 
spinal fluid  and  the  cultivation  of  the  meningo- 
coccus from  it,  from  the  blood,  and  from  the  urine. 
The  last  fifty  pages  are  devoted  to  an  exhaustive 
account  of  the  epidemiology  and  bacteriology,  in 
which  are  discussed  the  contagion  direct  from 
throat  to  throat,  the  mode  of  examination  of 
carriers,  and  their  treatment  by  isolation  and  l(x;al 
applications  to  the  throat  and  nose.  In  conclusion, 
there  is  an  appendix  containing  a  remarkable  ex- 
ample of  the  spread  of  the  meningococcus  from 
carrier  to  carrier. 


A    MONOGRAPH    ON    TICKS. 

Ticks.  A  Monograph  of  the  Ixodoidea.  Part  iii. 
The  Genus  Haemaphysalis.  By  Prof.  G.  H.  F. 
Nuttall  and  C.  Warburton.  October,  1915- 
.  Pp.  xiii  +  349—550  +  plates  viii-xiii.  (Cam- 
bridge :  At  the  University  Press.)  Price  125. 
net. 

Bibliography  of  the  Ixodoidea.  Part  ii.  May, 
1915.  By  Prof.  G.  H.  F.  Nuttall  and  L.  E. 
Robinson.  Pp.  32.  (Cambridge :  At  the 
University  Press.)     Price  45.   6d.   net. 

THE  present  part  of  this  useful  monograph 
deals  with  the  fifty  species  and  varieties  of 
Haemaphysalis  recognised  as  valid  by  the  authors. 
The  distinguishing  features  of  the  genus  are 
stated  and  discussed,  and  the  diflficulty  is  noted 
of  finding,   among  the  many  negative  characters 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


in  this  genus,  points  which  can  be  employed  for 
differentiating  the  species.  Nevertheless,  the 
authors  have  succeeded  in  drawing  up  a  helpful 
dichotomic  key  for  the  determination  of  the 
species.  The  species  are  then  considered  in  turn, 
and,  as  in  the  two  previous  parts  of  the  mono- 
graph, careful  drawings  are  given  of  those  parts 
which  are  of  systematic  importance.  Interesting 
conclusions  are  reached  from  a  study  of  the  geo- 
graphical distribution  of  the  different  species ; 
e.g.,  that  H.  bispinosa  has  almost  certainly  been 
imported  into  East  Africa,  and  possibly  into  New 
South  Wales,  with  Indian  cattle.  Only  one 
species  of  Haemaphysalis  appears  to  be  re.stricted 
to  birds,  whereas  several  species  of  Ixodes  are 
found  only  on  birds.  The  authors  give  a  list  of 
hosts  on  which  the  various  species  of  Haema- 
physalis have  been  found,  and  discuss  the  con- 
demned and  doubtful  species.  An  account  is 
given  of  all  that  is  known  regarding  the  biology 
of  six  species,  two  of  which  have  been  proved 
to  be  the  carriers  of  pathogenic  protozoa, 
one  especially — H.  leachi — ^being  known  in 
many  parts  of  Africa  as  the  carrier  of  a  fatal 
disease — canine  piroplasrrosis  or  malignant 
jaundice. 

The  bibliography  (462  titles)  contains  references 
to,  and  in  many  cases  short  notes  on  the  nature 
and  contents  of,  papers  which  for  the  most  part 
have  appeared  since  the  publication  of  the 
previous  bibliography  in  191 1. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Newsholme's  School  Hygiene.  The  Laws  of 
Health  in  relation  to  School  Life.  New  edi- 
tion, rewritten  for  all  School  Workers,  by  Dr. 
J.  Kerr.  Pp.  352.  (London :  G.  Allen  and 
Unwin,  Ltd.,  n.d.)     Price  4s.  6d.  net. 

Newsholme's  text-book  on  school  hygiene  first 
appeared  in  1887,  and  in  1912  it  reached  its 
thirteenth  edition.  That  fact  is  sufficient  evidence 
of  the  appreciation  it  has  met  with ;  but  circum- 
stances have  not  made  it  possible  for  Dr.  News- 
holme  to  continue  to  develop  the  work  so  as  to 
keep  it  abreast  of  the  rapid  advance  of  the  science 
of  school  hygiene  and  the  extension  of  its  practice 
which  recent  years  have  witnessed.  Hence  it 
became  desirable  that  the  text-book  should  be  re- 
written by  one  who,  like  Dr.  James  Kerr,  has 
played  a  more  prominent  part  in  these  develop- 
ments. The  result  is  a  text-book  possessing  much 
merit,  and  embodying  facts  and  opinions  based 
upon  a  large  amount  of  experience  and  research. 
It  seems  from  a  perusal  of  the  first  paragraph 
that  the  book  is  more  particularly  designed  for 
school-teachers,  but  to  ?uch  it  will  be  more  satis- 
factory when  Dr.  Kerr  is  able  in  the  next  edition 
to  bring  his  exceptional  knowledge  and  experience 
to  bear  upon  a  fuller  treatment  of  some  matters 
of  importance;  for  while  the  book  is  (generally 
speaking)  well  balanced  in  its  treatment  of  the 
subject-matter,  it  is  in  places  much  too  brief.     To 


I 


July  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


421 


give  two  instances  :  The  practical  guidance  upon 
-the  diet  of  the  school  child  is  very  scant ;  and  the 
subject  of  the  disinfection  of  school  books  and 
papers  demands  something  more  than  the  state- 
ment (p.  345)  that  "any  practical  results  of  treat- 
ment of  books  or  papers  require  so  much  care 
that  destruction  is  probably  the  best  treatment  for 
such  infected  things."  If  this  pronouncement  is 
warranted  by  Dr.  Kerr's  experience,  it  stands  in 
need  of  some  amplification,  if  only  in  view  of  his 
subsequent  statement  (p.  346)  with  reference  to 
scarlet  fever  and  diphtheria  that  "no  case  is  on 
record  where  school  material  has  been  demon- 
strated as  the  cause  of  spread."  Part  ii.  of  the 
book  stands  much  in  need  of  more  and  better 
illustrations. 

The    Daubeny    Laboratory    Register,    1904-1915. 
With  Notes  on  the  Teaching  of  Natural  Philo- 
sophy, and  ivith  Lists  of  Scientific  Researches 
Carried  Out  bv  Members  of  Magdalen  College, 
Oxford.     By  R.   T.    Gunther.      Pp.   x+139  to 
295.     (Oxford :     Printed    for     the     Subscribers 
at  the   University  Press,    19 16.)     Price  75.   6d. 
net. 
In   this  volume  Mr.    R.    T.    Gunther,   fellow  and 
tutor  of  Magdalen  College,  has  furnished  a  sup- 
plement to  the  register  of  workers  in  the  college 
laboratory   already   published   as   an   appendix   to 
his  "History  of  the  Daubeny  Laboratory."     It  is, 
as  the  compiler  states,  a  record  of  quiet  achieve- 
ment by  men  who  have  been  trained  in  the  science 
schools  of  Oxford,  and  it  may  well  be  commended 
to    the    notice    of    those    critics   who   are  accus- 
tomed   to    speak    as    if    the    neglect    of  science 
were    characteristic    of    Oxford     at    the    present 
day. 

The  lists,  though  naturally  of  chief  interest  to 
Magdalen  men,  contain  many  names  of  members 
of  other  colleges  who  have  laid  the  foundation  of 
future  distinction  in  the  historic  buildings  by  the 
Cherwell.  Among  the  records  here  given  are 
those  of  R.  T.  Reid  (Lord  Loreburn),  F.  Jeffrey 
Bell,  G.  T.  Prior,  J.  B.  Farmer,  G.  A.  Buck- 
master,  A.  F.  S.  Kent,  F.  C.  R.  Jourdain,  J.  A. 
Gardner,  W.  A.  F.  Balfour-Browne,  C.  G. 
Douglas,  C.  H.  G.  Martin  (all  members  of  Mag- 
dalen), Lazarus  Fletcher  (as  Millard  lecturer),  and 
F.  Soddy.  The  book  also  contains  a  list  of 
apparatus  bequeathed  by  Daubeny,  of  much 
historic  interest. 

Mr.  Gunther's  labours  have  not  been  confined 
to  the  mere  preparation  of  lists  and  enumeration 
of  alterations  and  enlargements.  He  has  given 
incidental  expression  to  views  on  the  position  of 
science  in  Oxford,  which,  as  coming  from  a 
teacher  of  experience  and  success,  deserve  serious 
consideration.  Many  would  agree  with  him  that 
the  ultimate  success  of  students  is  not  to  be  esti- 
mated by  the  awards  of  examiners.  More  ques- 
tionable, perhaps,  is  his  opinion  that  the  establish- 
ment of  the  final  honour  schools  early  in  the  last 
century,  engineered  by  a  party  in  favour  of  one 
form  of  learning,  exerted  a  sinister  influence  on 
other  studies,  including  natural  science. 
NQ.    2438,   VOL.   97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Gravitation  and  Temperature. 

As  one  had  anticipated,  Dr.  P.  E.  Shaw  has  been 
well  aware  (Nature,  July  13,  p.  401J  of  the  surprising 
character  of  the  conclusions  to  which  his  very  refined 
and  searching  experimental  investigation  on  the  rela- 
tion of  gravitation  to  temperature  had  led  him,  and 
has  recognised  the  possibility  of  other  obscure  causes 
being  in  operation. 

He  steers  clear  of  collision  with  awkward  facts, 
ivith  much  success,  by  the  hypothesis  that  the  gravita- 
tion between  two  masses  depends,  not  on  their  indi- 
vidual temperatures,  but  on  a  mean  temperature  of  the 
pair,  the  mean  being  reckoned  in  any  way  that  makes 
the  larger  mass  preponderant. 

This  hypothesis  does,  of  course,  set  aside  the  New- 
tonian principle  of  mutual  forces.  For  example,  that 
principle  postulates  independent  mutual  attraction  be- 
tween ever}-  two  elements  of  mass,  unchanged  by  the 
nature  or  temperature  of  any  material  obstacle  that 
may  intervene  between  them  :  every  delicate  opera- 
tion of  weighing  invokes  this  principle.  Yet  here  the 
total  amount  of  heat  in  the  attracting  pair,  or  some- 
thing of  that  sort,  is  held  to  affect  their  attraction, 
while  intervening  obstacles  are  of  no  account. 

Theoretical  considerations  are,  of  course,  rarely 
competent  absolutely  to  rule  out  a  new  phenomenon, 
however  strange,  provided  it  is  on  a  small  enough 
scale ;  their  function  is  to  make  an  analysis  into  its 
essential  elements,  and  to  formulate  the  points  to  be 
tested  in  order  to  arrive  at  rejection,  or  incorporation 
with  existing  theory.  The  main  surprise  in  the  pre- 
sent case  is  the  very  high  value  for  an  influence  of 
temperature   on  gravitation   that   is   obtained. 

Cambridge,   July  5.  J.  L. 


The  Great  Aurora  of  June  17,  1915. 

Regarding  the  magnetic  storm  and  the  auroral 
display  of  June  17,  1915,  referred  to  by  Prof.  Barnard 
and  Father  A.  L.  Cortie  (see  Nature,  vol.  xcv.,  pp. 
450,  536,  etc.),  it  may  be  of  interest  to  place  on 
record  the  following  facts.  Independent  reports  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Tulloch,  the  meteorological  observer, 
and  Mr.  Henderson,  the  wireless  operator,  at  Mac- 
quarie  Island,  lat.  55°  S.,  each  mention  the  Aurora 
Australis  of  that  date  as  the  most  brilliant  noted  in 
periods  of  one  year  and  two  years  respectively.  It 
was  also  the  only  occasion  in  two  years  when  it  was 
absolutely  impossible  to  receive  signals  from  any 
other  station — even  the  high-power  plant  at  Awanui, 
near  Auckland  (New  Zealand),  which  seldom  failed 
to  make  itself  heard. 

Mr.  Tulloch 's  reports  for  three  days  were  as 
follows  : — 

June  16,  9  p.m. — Barometer  (corrected)  28460  in., 
temperature  37-4°  F.,  wind  N.N.W.,  force  5  (Beau- 
fort scale).  Fierce  gales  in  morning ;  fine  clear  night ; 
slight   auroral   glow   in   the   south. 

June  17,  9  p.m. — Barometer  29-361  in.,  tempera- 
ture 27-0°  F.,  wind  S.W.,  7.  Snowstorms  continued 
throughout  the  day ;  three  inches  of  snow  on  the 
ground.  Squally  S.W.  winds  and  high  seas.  Baro- 
meter rising  rapidly. 

Brilliant  red  aurora.  Looked  something  like  a 
Japanese  fan  opening  and  closing.  Its  centre  or  base 
was  a  little  north  of  the  zenith  and  spread  out  from 


422 


NATURE 


[July  20,  19 16 


about  E.S.E.  to  W.N.W.  The  colours  varied  from 
bright  green  and  purple  to  a  deep  red  round  the 
edges.  The  display  continued  all  the  evening,  and 
at  10  p.m.  it  worked  to  the  N.N.W.,  appearing  to 
reach  the  northern   horizon. 

June  18,  9  p.m. — Barometer  29-658  in.,  tempera- 
ture 278°  F.,  wind  S.W.,  9.  Snowstorms  through- 
out the  day  with  fierce  S.W.  gales.  Brilliant  aurora 
visible  between  breaks  in  the  clouds. 

Mr.  Henderson  reports  : — 

June  16,  8.40  p.m. — Very  pale  glow  low  down  to 
the   south. 

June  17,  5.30  to  5.40  p.m. — Very  vivid  blanket  form 
of  aurora  in  the  zenith,  then  a  large  red  bank  to 
the  north-east  very  low  and  close,  and  red  to  the 
north ;  red  fades  and  glow  remains. 

10  p.m. — Streamers  and  blanket  form,  and  ring  to 
the  west  and  north. 

The  "atmospherics"  heard  in  the  wireless  receiver 
varied  in  strength  from  o  to  5  at  intervals  of  about 
thirty  minutes. 

June  18,  9.20  p.m. — Sky  nearly  overcast,  but  bright 
glow  visible  overhead  for  a  few  minutes. 

Although  the  auroral  and  wireless  data  appear  to 
lack  correlation,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  note  the 
circumstances  under  which  the  long  and  short  waves 
(2000  m.  and  600  m.)  from  Awanui,  near  Auckland, 
were  received  at   Macquarie   Island. 

Of  the  six  nights  when  both  wave-lengths  were 
recorded,  the  600-metre  wave  was  much  the  stronger 
on  three  nights  when  no  aurora  was  seen ;  on  two 
nights  when  the  aurora  was  reported  the  longer  wave- 
length was  the  stronger.  On  the  remaining  night  the 
longer  wave  was  again  the  stronger,  but  the  sky 
was  overcast  and  the  moon  approaching  the  full. 
An  aurora,  if  there  had  been  one,  could  scarcely  have 
been    seen    in    the    circumstances. 

H.  A.  Hunt 
{Commonwealth  Meteorologist). 

Meteorological   Bureau,   Central   Office, 
Melbourne,  May  24. 


The  Utilisation  of  Waste  Heat  for  Agriculture. 

In  the  cheap  generation  of  electricity  the  great 
problem  must  be  how  to  secure  and  utilise  by-pro- 
ducts. With  steam-driven  stations  the  chief  by-pro- 
duct is  an  abundant  supply  of  hot  water  from  the 
condensers,  which  in  this  country  is  looked  upon  as 
a  nuisance  to  be  got  rid  of  as  easily  as  possible. 
Would  it  not  be  possible  to  make  use  of  this  low- 
grade  heat  for  agricultural  purposes,  so  supplementing 
our  all  too  scanty  summers? 

Power-houses  burning  1000  tons  of  coal  and  up- 
wards per  week  are  quite  common,  and  something 
like  half  of  the  heat  generated  by  the  coal  is  absorbed 
by  the  condensing  water.  It  might  be  possible  to 
heat  fields  by  running  the  warm  water  through 
ditches,  or  perhaps  better  results  would  be  obtained 
by  running  it  through  pipes  buried  in  the  ground. 
By  this  means  large  areas  of  land  might  be  stimulated 
to  produce  much  greater  crops  than  have  hitherto 
been  found  possible.  It  may  be  urged  that  the 
majority  of  existing  power-houses  are  not  in  agri- 
cultural districts,  so  that  the  proposed  experiment  is 
not  possible  except  in  a  few  cases.  To  this  one  may 
reply  that,  in  the  near  future,  many  large  stations 
will  be  put  down  to  supply  current  in  bulk  to  vast 
areas.  With  the  high  voltage  used  for  them  the 
location  of  the  power-house  becomes  a  matter  of  wide 
choice,  and  it  would  be  possible  to  put  them  in  agri- 
cultural districts  if  this  should  prove  financially  worth 
while.  The  views  of  readers  of  Nature  on  this  point 
would  be  of  interest.  C.   Turnbull. 

Electricity  Works,  Tynemouth,  June  29. 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


SCIENTIFIC    HORTICULTURE.^ 

''T^HE  periodic  reports  of  the  experiments  con- 
-*-  ducted  by  the  Duke  of  Bedford  and  Mr. 
Spencer  Pickering  at  Woburn  are  always  sure  of 
a  warm  welcome  by  scientific  horticulturists.  It 
is  true  that  these  reports  often  give  rise  to  con- 
troversy, and  sometimes  disturb  the  tranquillity 
of  established  horticultural  belief;  but  if  horti- 
culture is  to  be  a  progressive  craft  both  contro- 
versy and  loss  of  tranquillity  are  to  be  welcomed. 

The  present  (fifteenth)  report  covers  a  wide  area 
of  ground  and  records  the  results  of  observation 
and  experiment  on  many  subjects  of  importance 
to  the  fruit-grower.  Among  these  subjects  are  : 
the  fruiting  of  trees  in  consecutive  seasons,  injury 
to  tree-roots  in  planting,  ramming  the  roots  cf 
trees  at  planting-time,  modes  of  planting  and 
pruning.  The  observations  on  the  alternation  of 
fruitfulness  and  relative  unfruitfulness  support  in 
a  measure  the  view  commonly  held  by  fruit- 
growers that  such  an  alternation  exists,  although 
the  authors  are  inclined  to  attribute  it  rather  to 
the  effect  of  external  conditions — for  example, 
spring  frosts — than  to  an  internal  rhythm. 

For  our  part,  we  are  convinced  that  if  the 
alternation  is  to  be  ascribed — as  in  fact  it  may 
well  be — to  external  conditions,  those  con- 
ditions are  more  subtle  and  complex  than 
the  authors'  hypothesis  suggests.  As  to  the 
fact  of  alternate  fruitfulness  and  barrenness 
exhibited  by  certain  varieties  of  apple  there  can 
be  no  doubt.  One  of  the  most  striking  exarnoles 
was  published  some  years  ago  by  the  Dominion 
Horticulturist  (Canada),  and  was  cited  in  the 
Gardeners'  Chronicle.  The  numbers  are  so  re- 
markable that  they  may  be  repeated  here.  A 
single  tree  of  the  apple  Wealthy  yielded  the  fol- 
lowing amounts  of  fruit : — 

Year       loih     nth  12th    13th  14th    15th  i6th 

Gallons  of  fruit      33         052         2       93         o       1 1  ^ 

Year       17th      i8th       19th      20th    21st      22nd 

Gallons  of  fruit      22         96^  i|         75  5  118 

Such  a  record  establishes  the  fact  of  alternation 
of  fruitfulness  once  for  all,  and  it  is  the  business 
of  the  scientific  horticulturist  to  discover  the  ex- 
planation why  certain  varieties  exhibit  this  alter- 
nation and  why  others  do  not. 

Although  we  are  far  from  being  able  to  give  a 
sufficient  explanation  of  this  alternate  fruitfulness 
and  barrenness,  yet  it  is  by  no  means  impossible 
to  see  the  direction  in  which  the  explanation  is 
to  be  sought. 

Kleb's  brilliant  investigations  show  that  the 
nature  and  amount  of  the  raw  and  elaborated  food 
materials  at  the  disposal  of  a  plant  determine  the 
formation  of  vegetative  or  reproductive  tissues. 
In  such  fruit-trees  as  the  apple  the  blossom  buds 
are  laid  down  early  in  the  preceding  year.  If  at 
the  period  of  their  development  there  is  a  large 
demand  on  the  part  of  the  setting  and  maturing 
fruit  for  certain  food  materials,  and  if  the  supply 


1  Woburn    Experimental    Fruit    Farm.       Fifteenth    Report. 
(London  :  Amalgamated  Press,  Ltd.,  1916.)    Price  25.  ■^d. 


Pp.    83. 


I 


July  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


423 


of  those  materials  is  limited,  the  blossom  buds 
may  have  to  go  short.  This  effect  of  one  year 
will  be  manifested  in  the  poverty  either  of  blossom 
or  of  fruit — or  both — in  the  following  year. 

The  sequence  of  barrenness  on  fruitfulness  is,  of 
course,  not  confined  to  fruit-trees,  but  is  of  com- 
mon occurrence  in  forest-trees  also.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  this  interesting  inquiry  will  be  pursued 
at  Wobufn,  and  that  a  more  precise  expression 
may  be  given  to  the  somewhat  sketchy  views  with 
which  we  have  at  present  to  content  ourselves.  In 
an  earlier  report  (the  ninth)  the  authors  startled 
orthodox  fruit-growers  by  announcing  that  the 
practice  of  trimming  tree-roots  before  planting  is 
a  work  of  supererogation,  and  that  trees  planted 
with  bruised  (untrimmed)  roots  do  rather  better 
than  those  with  which  this  trouble  is  taken.  The 
experiments  described  in  this  report  tend  rather 
to  point  away  from  the  conclusions  reached  earlier, 
for  they  indicate — in  the  case  of  apples,  pears,  and 
plums — that  root-trimming  shows  a  balance  in  its 
favour  of  15  per  cent.  In  another  experiment 
(with  apples)  there  was  no  advantage  either  way ; 
but  with  bush  fruits  (red  currants  and  gooseberries) 
the  untrimmed  showed  an  advantage  of  16  per 
cent,  in  the  former  case  and  '5  per  cent,  in  the 
latter. 

It  must,  we  think,  be  conceded  that  the 
authors  have  established  their  contention  that 
root-trimming  is  unnecessary.  Growers  are  con- 
servative and  will  doubtless  need  further  convin- 
cing. In  America,  however,  fruit-growers  appear 
to  share  the  authors'  view,  for  in  the  most  recent 
work  on  the  apple  (by  Mr.  Albert  E.  Wil- 
kinson) we  read  that  the  leaving  "of  clean  cuts 
is  not  being  emphasised  so  much  as  formerly." 
It  is  noteworthy  in  this  connection  that  in  the 
southern  States  what  is  known  as  the  String- 
fellow  method  of  root-pruning  is  practised.  In 
this  system  all  the  roots  are  removed  at  planting 
and  only  small  stubs  left. 

Further  experiments  on  "  careless "  versus 
"  careful  "  planting,  in  which  the  roots  are  either 
bundled  in  or  spread  out  carefully,  lead  the 
authors  to  conclude  that  the  carefiJ  method  is 
unnecessary.  They  hold  also  to  their  previously 
expressed  conclusion  that  ramming  the  roots  is 
beneficial  to  the  growth  of  the  tree.  We  do  not 
remember  whether  the  experiment  has  been  tried 
under  the  somewhat  drastic  conditions  of  pot- 
cultivation — the  pots  would  need  to  be  strong — 
but  we  are  inclined  to  think  that  only  by  some 
such  means  may  this  point  of  practice  be  estab- 
lished beyond  cavil.  All  are  agreed  that  firm 
planting  is  necessary ;  the  point  on  which  growers 
are  not  at  present  convinced  is  the  beneficent 
effect  produced  by  such  drastic  ramming  as  is 
likely  to  injure  the  roots. 

In  expressing  our  gratitude  to  the  authors  for 
their  valuable  researches  .we  would  venture  on 
the  suggestion  that  the  time  has  come  for  the 
publication  of  a  full  summary  of  the  work  at 
"\\'oburn. 

F.  K. 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


THE  ORGANISATION   OF  BRITISH 
CHEMICAL  INDUSTRIES. 

THE  term  "chemical  industry"  includes  so 
many  diverse  interests,  many  of  which  are 
relatively  small,  that  hitherto  no  joint  action  has 
been  possible,  and  the  smaller  firms  in  particular 
have  not  been  in  a  position  to  take  advantage 
of  the  modern  progress  of  science.  There  has 
been  intense  competition  between  neighbouring 
firms,  and  consequently  great  secrecy  as  to 
methods  and  results.  All  this  must  be  changed 
in  the  future  if  the  competition  of  enemy  and 
friendly  States  is  to  be  met  successfully ;  British 
firms  with  kindred  interests  must  unite  and  pool 
their  resources  instead  of  competing.  The  posi- 
tion to-day  of  those  branches  of  the  chemical 
industry  which  are  highly  organised  shows  that 
foreign  competition  can  be  encountered  and 
defeated,  and  that  the  knowledge  how  to  organise 
for  success  is  not  lacking  in  this  country. 

The  formation  of  an  association  of  British 
chemical  manufacturers  under  the  auspices  of  the 
most  progressive  chemical  manufacturing  firms  in 
the  country  is  undoubtedly  an  event  of  the  deepest 
significance  for  the  welfare  of  the  industry.  At  a 
meeting  held  in  London  on  June  22  a  draft  con- 
stitution and  rules  were  approved,  and  the  follow- 
ing provisional  committee  elected  : — 

Dr.  E.  F.  Armstrong  (Joseph  Crosfield  and 
Sons),  F.  W.  Brock  (Brunner,  Mond  and 
Co.),  Dr.  Charles  Carpenter  (South  Metropolitan 
Gas  Co.),  Dr.  M.  O.  Forster,  F.R.S.  (British 
Dyes),  J.  Gray  (Lever  Bros.),  C.  A.  Hill 
(The  British  Drug  Houses),  X.  Holden 
(Hardman  and  Holden),  C.  P.  Merriam 
(British  Xylonite  Co.),  the  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Alfred 
Mond,  Bart.,  P.C,  M.P.  (Mond  Nickel  Co.), 
Max  Muspratt  (United  Alkali  Co.),  Sir  William 
Pearce,  M.P.  (Spencer,  Chapman  and  Messel), 
R.  G.  Perry  (Chance  and  Hunt),  R.  D.  Pullar 
(PuUar's  Dye  Works),  Dr.  Alfred  Ree  (Society 
of  Dyers  and  Colourists),  A.  T.  Smith  (Castner- 
Kellner  Co.),  the  Rt.  Hon.  J.  W.  Wilson  (Albright 
and  Wilson). 

The  objects  of  the  new  body  are  ver\-  com- 
prehensive. Broadly,  the  association  aims  to  re- 
present the  chemical  industry  when  dealing  with 
the  Government,  to  develop  technical  organisation, 
and  to  promote  new  industries  and  the  extension 
of  existing  ones.  In  addition  to  the  usual  powers 
taken  by  trade  associations,  the  objects  enumer- 
ated include  the  promotion  of  industrial  research, 
the  encouragement  of  the  sympathetic  association 
of  manufacturers  with  the  various  universities 
and  teaching  institutes,  and  the  co-operation  with 
any  society  having  for  its  object  industrial  eflS- 
ciency  or  the  advancement  of  applied  chemistry. 
The  names  of  the  members  of  the  committee  are 
a  guarantee  that  the  scientific  side  of  the  work  of 
the  new  association  wiU  not  be  neglected,  and, 
moreover,  provision  is  made  for  co-opting  to  the 
committee  four  representatives  of  allied  associa- 
tions, such,  for  example,  as  the  scientific  societies. 

The  subscription,   which  is  based  pro  rata  on 


424 


NATURE 


[July  20,   igio 


the  size  of  the  subscribing-  undertakings,  is  suffi- 
ciently large  to  ensure  that  the  association,  if 
successful,  will  have  ample  funds  at  its  disposal. 
It  is  generally  admitted  that  much  remains  to 
be  done  to  bring  about  closer  co-operation  between 
science  and  industry,  and  it  is  therefore  satis- 
factory to  note  that  the  new  association  proposes 
to  arrange  systematic  conferences  between  manu- 
facturers and  teachers,  at  which  the  methods  of 
teaching  and  the  production  of  the  particular  type 
of  trained  man  which  manufacturers  desire  for 
their  laboratories  and  works  can  be  discussed. 


PRINCE   BORIS    GALITZINE,   For.Mem.R.S. 

PRINCE  BORIS  BORISOVITCH  GALIT- 
ZINE  died  at  Petrograd,  after  a  short  ill- 
ness, on  May  4/17  of  this  year,  at  the  early  age 
of  fifty-four  years.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he 
was  director  of  the  meteorological  service  of  the 
Russian  Empire,  which  has  its  centre,  in  the 
winter,  at  the  Nicholas  Central  Observatory, 
Petrograd,  and,  in  the  summer,  at  the  Constantine 
Observatory  at  Pavlovsk,  about  twenty  miles 
away.  For  that  appointment  he  was  chosen  by 
the  Imperial  Academy  in  succession  to  Lieut. - 
General  Rykatcheff,  who  retired  in  191 3  after 
many  years'  service. 

Before  his  appointment  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Academy,  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  1894, 
sometimes  acting  as  secretary,  a  professor  in  the 
University  of  Petrograd,  and  in  charge  of  the 
seismological  station  at  Pulkovo,  which  had  been 
initiated  by  him,  with  the  co-operation  of  Prof. 
Backlund,  in  November,  1906. 

Born  at  Petrograd  on  February  18,  1862  (O.S.), 
Prince  Galitzine  was  brought  up  at  first  abroad, 
and  spent  the  eight  years,  1880-1887,  as  a 
naval  officer;  he  graduated  in  philosophy  at 
Strasburg  in  1890,  and  became  Privatdocent  in 
Moscow,  and  afterwards  professor  of  physics  in 
Jurjef,  before  his  promotion  to  Petrograd  in  1893. 
His  earlier  scientific  papers  were  chiefly  on  the 
properties  of  gases  and  liquids,  and  the  critical 
state,  but  his  work  covered  also  other  branches 
of  general  physics.  So  early  as  1887  he  pub- 
lished, with  General  Rykatcheff,  a  handbook  of 
meteorology,  and  later  he  organised,  carried  out, 
and  reported  upon  the  observation  of  clouds  and 
other  meteorological  and  hydrographical  obser- 
vations of  the  expedition  of  the  Imperial  Academy 
of  Sciences  to  Nova  Zembla  in  1896. 

He  is,  however,  best  known  for  his  work  in 
seismology,  in  which  department  of  science  he  was 
a  distinguished  leader.  He  was  elected  president 
of  the  international  Seismological  Association  at 
the  meeting  at  Manchester  in  1912.  He  designed 
the  instruments  which  go  by  his  name,  and  which 
are  recognised  as  giving  records  specially  adapted 
for  the  analysis  of  the  various  displacements  of 
the  solid  earth,  transmitted  m  the  form  of  earth- 
quake waves  from  one  point  to  another  of  the 
globe. 

A  complete  set  of  instruments  of  this  type  was 
presented  bv  Prof.  Schuster  to  the  observatory  at 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


Eskdalemuir — the  pair  of  horizontal  recorders  in 
191 1,  and  the  vertical  recorder  in  1912.  Prince 
Galitzine  came  to  England  with  his  wife  in  191 1,  \ 
and  made  use  of  the  opportunity  to  visit  Eskdale- 
muir and  supervise  the  erection  of  the  horizontal 
pendulums  there.  Thereafter  he  took  a  paternal 
interest  in  the  observatory.  He  visited  it  again 
at  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  International 
Association  in  1912,  and  in  the  same  year  he  gave 
a  remarkable  address  to  the  meeting  of  the  Inter- 
national Mathematical  Association  at  Cambridge. 
He  received  the  degree  of  Sc.D.  from  the 
University  of  Manchester  in  191 1,  and  was  only 
recently  elected  a  foreign  member  of  the  Royal 
Societ}-.  His  untimely  death  will  be  felt  as  a 
great  loss  by  all  who  are  interested  in  meteoro- 
logical and  geophysical  subjects.  His  genius 
was  undoubted.  His  energy  and  goodwill  in- 
spired confidence  and  commanded  success. 

Napier  Shaw. 

NOTES. 

We  notice  with  very  deep  regret  the  announcement 
that  Prof.  E.  Metchnikoff,  foreign  member  of  the 
Royal  Society,  died  at  the  Pasteur  Institute,  Paris, 
on  July  15,  at  seventy-one  years  of  age. 

The  death  of  Mrs.  McKenny  Hughes,  wife  of  the 
Woodwardian  Professor  of  Geology  in  the  University 
of  Cambridge, which  occurred  on  the  9th  of  this  month, 
will  be  widely  regretted.  She  was  the  constant  com- 
panion of  her  husband  in  his  geological  expeditions, 
not  only  in  Great  Britain,  but  also  so  far  as  to  the 
Caucasus  and  western  America,  which  they  visited 
after  meetings  of  the  Greological  Congress  in  Russia 
and  in  the  United  States.  She  took  a  keen  interest  in 
natural  history,  was  a  lover  of  flowers,  especially  the 
Alpine  kinds,  as  was  shown  by  the  charming  garden 
at  their  house  in  Cambridge,  and  had  great  artistic 
tastes,  sketching  admirably  in  water-colours.  Sharing 
her  husband's  interests  in  geology  and  archaeology,  she 
joined  him  in  writing  the  volume  on  Cambridgeshire 
in  the  "  Cambridge  County  Geographies,"  and  her 
hand  may  be  seen  in  two  drawings  illustrating  his 
paper  on  the  Cae  Gwyn  cave  in  the  forty-fourth  volume 
of  the  Geological  Society's  Quarterly  Journal.  She 
made  the  moUusca,  recent  and  subfossil,  her  special 
study,  determining  those  found  in  that  cave,  and  con- 
tributing an  excellent  paper  on  the  subfossil  contents 
of  some  Cambridgeshire  gravels  to  the  Geological 
Magazine  for  1888.  Her  death  takes  away  from 
Cambridge  a  lady  of  rare  attractiveness  and  most 
valuable  as  a  social  influence,  for  she  never  flagged 
in  helping  her  husband  to  make  young  geologists 
feel,  as  they  passed  through  the  University,  that, 
great  as  was  her  love  for  the  inmates  of  her  home, 
she  could  yet  find  a  place  for  them. 

Economics  has  suffered  a  serious  loss  in  the  death 
of  Capt.  W.  J.  Mason,  who  was  killed  in  action  on 
Julv  3.  Although  only  twenty-seven  years  of  age, 
Capt.  Mason,  without  contributing  to  the  literature 
of  economics,  was  making  his  influence  felt,  both  as 
a  lecturer  and  as  a  member  of  that  rising  school  of 
economists  which  is  devoting  its  attention  to  the 
social  aspects  and  living  problems  of  the  science. 
Capt.  Mason,  whose  experience  was  unusually  wide, 
having  been  an  examiner  in  the  Exchequer  and  Audit 
Department,  after  a  distinguished  academic  career  at 
the  London  School  of  Economics,  where  he  obtained 
both    the    Gerstenberg    scholarship    in    191 1    and    the 


July  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


425 


Gladstone  prize,  held  for  a  time  the  position  of  tutor 
under  the  Workers'  Educational  Association,  and 
afterwards  accepted  a  lectureship  at  the  University  of 
Bristol,  where  he  found  that  combination  of  learning 
and  industrialism  which  naturally  appealed  to  a  man 
of  his  inclinations  and  ability. 

The  issue  of  Science  for  June  23  last  publishes  the 
text  of  a  Bill  introduced  by  Mr.  Newlands  last  March 
m  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  the  object  of 
which  is  to  establish  engineering  experiment  stations 
in  the  State  colleges  of  the  United  States.  The  Bill 
was  read  twice,  and  has  been  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Senate  on  Agriculture  and  Forestry.  The 
Committee  of  One  Hundred  on  Scientific  Research  of 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science  has  passed  a  resolution  recommending  the 
passage  of  the  Bill,  and  emphasising  the  untold  value 
to  American  agriculture  of  the  similar  agricultural 
experiment  stations  already  established  by  the  State 
in  connection  with  the  colleges.  The  Bill  provides 
that  "  in  order  to  aid  in  acquiring  and  diffusing  among 
the  people  of  the  United  States  useful  and  practical 
information  on  subjects  connected  with  engineering 
and  the  other  branches  of  the  mechanic  arts,  and  to 
promote  the  scientific  investigation  and  experiment  re- 
specting the  principles  and  applications  of  the  mechanic 
arts,"  there  shall  be  established  under  the  direction 
of  the  State  college  in  each  State  a  department  to 
be  known  as  an  "engineering"  or  a  '"mechanic  arts" 
experiment  station.  The  Bill  provides  also  for  a  grant 
of  3000/.  a  year  to  each  State  for  the  purposes  of  such 
an  exf>eriment  station.  It  is  worthy  of  note  in  this 
connection  that,  according  to  the  Scientific  Monthly, 
these  State,  or  land  grant,  colleges  and  the  institutions 
of  which  they  are  a  part  received  in  1914,  from  the 
United  States,  500,000^. ;  from  the  States  and  from 
other  sources,  more  than  6,000,000/.  They  have  9000 
instructors  and  105,000  students. 

Another  attempt  is  being  made  to  rescue  the 
stranded  Antarctic  explorers  on  Elephant  Island.  Last 
week  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  left  Punta  Arenas  in  an 
auxiliary  motor  schooner  of  70  tons,  placed  at  his 
disposal  by  the  British  settlers  in  the  Magellan  Straits. 
The  vessel  was  to  be  towed  south  so  far  as  possible 
by  a  steamer  lent  by  the  Chilian  Government.  The 
prospects  of  a  rescue  are  considerably  better  than  in 
the  attempt  made  in  the  Instituto  Pesca,  for  the  Emma 
is  a  wooden  vessel,  and  so  better  suited  for  the  work. 
Moreover,  the  probability  of  open  water  up  to  Elephant 
Island  is  greater  this  month  than  last,  when  the  ice 
conditions  were  exceptionally  severe.  There  is,  how- 
ever, a  possibility  of  failure,  for  the  vessel  has  not 
power  to  force  her  way  into  pack-ice,  and  as  no  time 
must  be  lost  in  effecting  a  rescue  of  Wild  and  his 
men,  arrangements  have  been  made  by  the  British 
Government  to  dispatch  a  relief  ship  from  this  country 
without  further  delay.  Meanwhile,  the  Aurora  is 
being  repaired  by  the  New  Zealand  Government,  and 
will  leave  Dunedin  in  December  under  the  command 
of  Mr.  Stenhouse,  her  first  officer,  to  fetch  Mackin- 
tosh and  his  party  at  Cape  Royds.  There  is  no  likeli- 
hood that  the  Aurora  will  find  any  difficulty  in  pene- 
trating the  Ross  Sea,  or  that  the  men  at  Cape  Royds 
are  in  serious  straits. 

The  Athens  correspondent  of  the  Times  reports  that 
a  decree  has  been  published  whereby  from  4  a.m.  on 
July  28  Greece  will  adopt  East  European  time,  and 
will  thus  be  two  hours  in  advance  of  Greenwich  mean 
time,  and  one  hour  in  advance  of  Summer  Time. 

The  Indian  Forester  records  with  great  regret  the 
<ieath  in  action  (in  Flanders)  of  2nd  Lieut.  G.  R. 
Jeffen,',   deputy  conservator  of  forests,   Burma.       We 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


j  learn  that  Mr.  Jeffery  was  born  on  December  12,  1880, 

I  educated   at   Coopers    Hill,   and   joined   the    Imperial 

j  Forest  Service  in  1902.     He  was  a  man  of  high  ability 

i  and  professional  knowledge,  and  his  death  will  be  a 

j  serious  loss    to  the  Forest  Department. 

I  On  August  24-26  the  third  annual  conference  of  the 
Society  for  Practical  Astronomy  will  be  held  at  the 
Bausch  and  Lomb  Observatory  in  Rochester,  N.Y. 
'  The  president  of  the  society,  Mr.  L.  J.  Wilson,  extends 
i  the  invitation  to  the  meeting  to  all  who  are  interested 
i  in  astronomy.  The  observatory  at  which  the  meeting 
:  will  be  held  is  equipped  with  an  ii-in.  refractor  oon- 
l  structed  by  the  Bausch  and  Lomb  Optical  Company. 

1      Dr.  J.  C.  Tello,  Mr.  G.  K.  Noble,  and  Dr.  L.  S. 

j  Moss  have  left  New  York  on  a  South  American  ex- 

i  pedition  on  behalf  of  the  Harvard  Museum  of  Com- 

;  parative  Anatomy.     Arriving  at  Paita,   in  Peru,   they 

will  travel  on  mules  across  the  Andes  and  into  the 

Amazon  Valley,  where  they  hope  to  collect  zoological 

specimens  and  to  study  the  tribe  of  Guanani  Indians. 

An  important  ethnological  expedition  is  about  to  be 
;  undertaken   by   Dr.    R.    H.    Lowie,   of   the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History.     He  will  visit,  first,  the 
Crow    Reservation    in    southern    Montana,    where    he 
hopes  to  secure  a  thorough-going  account  of  the  war 
customs  of  the  tribe  and  to  complete  a  collection  of 
i  myths    and    folk-tales,     .\fter   spending    a    short  time 
j  with  the  Arapaho,  of  Wind  River,  Wyoming,  in  order 
j  to    re-examine    their    ceremonial    organisations.     Dr. 
!  Lowie   will    proceed    to    northern    Arizona,    where   an 
investigation  of  certain  problems  connected  with  the 
Hopi  will  be  carried  out  in  considerable  detail.     The 
main  points  of  inquiry  will  be  the  character  and  func- 
tions of  the  Hopi  medicine-man,  and  the  nature  of  the 
religious  feelings  underlying  the  ceremonial  perform- 
ances already  noted  by  previous  observers. 

The  President  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and 
Fisheries  has  appointed  Mr.  Richard  Brown,  Walton 
Bank,  Eccleshall,  Staffordshire,  to  be  a  member  of  the 
.\gricultural  Consultative  Committee. 

The  wireless  station  on  Dickson  Island  was  to  have 
been  dismantled,  but  thanks  to  the  timely  and  en- 
lightened intervention  of  the  Russian  Naval  Ministry^ 
which  is  providing  the  necessary-  funds,  its  existence 
is  saved,  and  it  will  be  able  to  carry  on  work,  not 
only  of  great  scientific  value,  but  also  of  practical 
utilit}'  for  Arctic  navigation,  which  is  just  now  of 
special    importance    for    Russia. 

The  Prime  Minister  has  appointed  a  Committee  to 
consider  the  commercial  and  industrial  policy  to  be 
adopted  after  the  war,  with  special  reference  to  the 
conclusions  reached  at  the  Economic  Conference  of  the 
Allies,  and  to  the  following  questions  : — (a)  What 
industries  are  essential  to  the  future  safety  of  the 
nation ;  and  what  steps  should  be  taken  to  maintain 
or  establish  them.  (6)  What  steps  should  be  taken  to 
recover  home  and  foreign  trade  lost  during  the  war, 
and  to  secure  new  markets.  (c)  To  what  ex- 
tent and  by  what  means  the  resources  of  the  Em- 
pire should  and  can  be  developed,  (d)  To  what  extent 
and  by  what  means  the  sources  of  supply  within  the 
Empire  can  be  prevented  from  falling  under  foreign 
control.  The  Committee  is  composed  as  follows  : — 
The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh,  K.T., 
G.C.M.G.  (chairman),  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour,  Mr.  H. 
Gosling,  Mr.  W.  A.  S.  Hewins,  M.P.,  Mr.  A.  H. 
Illingworth,  M.P.,  Sir  J.  P.  Maclay,  Bt..  the  Right 
Hon.  Sir  A.  Mond,  Bt.,  M.P.,  Mr.  Arthur  Pease, 
Mr.  R.  E.  Prothero,  M.P.,  Sir  Frederick  H.  Smith, 
Bt.,  Mr.  G.  J.  Wardle,  M.P.,  together  with  the  follow- 


426 


NATURE 


[July  20,  19 16 


ing  gentlemen,  who  are  presiding  over  the  Board  of 
Trade  Committees  on  the  position  of  important  indus- 
tries after  the  war  :— Sir  H.  Birchenough,  K.C.M.G., 
Lord  Faringdon,  Sir  C.  G.  Hyde,  the  Hon.  Sir  C.  A. 
Parsons,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.,  Lord  Rhondda,  and  Mr.  G. 
Scoby-Smith.  Mr.  Percy  Ashley,  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  and  Mr.  G.  C.  Upcott,  of  the  Treasury,  have 
been  appointed  secretaries  to  the  Committee. 

For  the  first  half  of  the  present  summer  there  has 
been  a  complete  absence  of  seasonable  weather,  the 
conditions  continuing  most  persistently  dull,  damp, 
and  cool.  The  weather  reports  from  the  health 
resorts  issued  each  day  by  the  Meteorological  Office 
scarcely  show  a  temperature  of  70°  at  any  of  the 
English  stations.  Very  little  sunshine  has  been  regis- 
tered, although  the  amounts  are  somewhat  erratic, 
but  the  sun's  rays  have  had  little  effect  in  raising  the 
shade  temperature.  Since  the  commencement  of  the 
summer  the  amount  of  the  rainfall  is  given  separately 
for  night  and  day,  a  matter  of  considerable  interest, 
hoth  scientifically  and  to  the  general  public.  Records 
are  published  from  rather  more  than  thirty  English 
health  resorts,  but  the  June  values  are  only  complete 
for  every  day  throughout  the  month  from  six  stations. 
The  night  observations  are  covered  by  the  Summer 
Time  hours  from  5  p.m.  to  9  a.m.,  a  period  of  six- 
teen hours,  and  the  day  from  9  a.m.  to  5  p.m.,  a 
.period  of  eight  hours,  so  that  the  night  period  is 
•double  the  length  of  the  day.  Notwithstanding  that 
the  day  is  only  one-half  the  duration  of  the  night 
the  rainfall  for  the  day  is  more  than  that  for  the  night 
•at  all  the  six  stations,  except  at  Ramsgate,  where  it 
is  only  32  per  cent,  of  the  total  fall.  At  Felixstowe 
the  day  fall  is  64  per  cent,  of  the  total ;  in  London  it 
is  62  per  cent. ;  at  Harrogate  61  per  cent. ;  Worthing 
59  per  cent.;  and  at  Leamington  Spa  51  per  cent. 
of  the  total  rainfall.  This  great  excess  during  the 
day  is  abnormal. 

The  names  Hurter  and  Driffield  (more  familiarly 
"  H.  and  D.")  will  be  remembered  as  long  as  photo- 
graphy is  studied,  on  account  of  the  results  of  many 
years'  work  which  they  published  about  twenty-six 
years  ago.  Dr.  Hurter,  a  Swiss,  was  the  chief 
chemist,  and  Mr.  Driffield  the  engineer,  at  Messrs. 
Gaskell,  Deacon  and  Co.'s,  of  Widnes,  now  the 
United  Alkali  Company,  and  in  their  spare  time 
they  worked  together  on  some  of  the  fundamental 
problems  connected  with  photography  with  such 
success  that  their  names  will  always  be  associated 
with  the  subjects  that  they  investigated.  Their 
methods  of  expressing  the  character  of  negatives  and 
of  estimating  the  sensitiveness  of  photographic  plates, 
of  which  the  present  "  H.  and  D.  numbers"  are 
living  examples,  form  an  important  section  of  their 
work.  The  recent  death  of  Mr.  Driffield,  seventeen 
years  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Hurter,  has  given  rise 
to  a  strong  desire  to  commemorate  their  work  done 
in  the  advancement  of  photography.  A  committee  of 
the  Royal  Photographic  Society  is  therefore  arranging 
a  scheme  to  this  end,  and  it  is  asking  for  subscrip- 
tions for  the  purposes  of  :  (i)  The  endowment  of  an 
annual  Hurter  and  Driffield  memorial  lecture.  (2)  The 
publication  in  book  form  of  their  most  important 
writings,  together  with  desirable  but  hitherto  un- 
published matter.  (3)  Providing  suitable  accommoda- 
tion in  the  house  of  the  Royal  Photographic  Society 
for  the  original  apparatus,  together  with  MSS.,  note- 
books, correspondence,  etc.,  all  of  which  have  been 
bequeathed  to  the  society  by  Mr.  Driffield  and  handed 
over  to  it  by  his  executors.  Several  generous  dona- 
tions have  already  been  acknowledged  by  the  hon. 
treasurer,  Mr.  W.  B.  Ferguson,  K.C.,  48  Compayne 
Gardens,  South  Hampstead,  N.W. 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


In  the  Journal  of  the  College  of  Science,  Imperial 
University  of  Tokyo,  for  October,  19 15,  which  has 
only  recently  been  received,  Mr.  R.  Torii  publishes 
an  elaborate  article  on  the  prehistoric  population  of 
Southern  Manchuria.  This  paper,  well  furnished  with 
photographs,  describes  a  population  of  hunters  and 
fishermen,  who  seem  to  have  very  slowly  gained  a 
knovk'ledge  of  iron  and  were  practically  in  the  age 
of  stone.  The  discoveries  of  flint  implements  were 
exceedingly  numerous.  The  pottery  with  its  decora- 
tion in  encrusted  nodules  of  clay,  and  often  coloured 
in  red,  is  particularly  interesting.  The  clothing  of 
these  people  consisted  of  skins  with  some  textiles 
"  made  of  hemp  and  other  fibres.  In  the  kitchen 
middens  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Port  Arthur  some 
decorative  objects  made  of  bronze,  iron,  and  jade, 
probably  imported,  were  found.  Southern  Manchuria 
offers  a  practically  unworked  field  for  archaeological 
work,  and  the  Japanese  scholars  who  have  undertaken 
the  work  of  exploration  may  be  trusted  to  make  the 
best  use  of  this  favourable  opportunity. 

A  GOOD  illustration  of  the  direct  relation  which 
obtains  between  the  play  of  animals  and  the  vital 
activities  of  life,  such  as  the  capture  of  agile  prey, 
the  avoidance  of  their  most  formidable  enemies,  or  I 
conflict  with  rivals,  is  furnished  by  Mr.  C.  J.  Carroll 
in  the  Irish  Naturalist  for  May.  Herein  he  describes 
the  behaviour  of  the  raven  when  attacked  by  the 
peregrine.  On  such  occasions  every  effort  is  made  to 
escape  by  flight,  but  if  overtaken  the  pursued  throws 
himself  on  his  back,  and  opposes  beak  and  claws  to 
his  pursuer,  thus,  time  after  time,  beating  off  the 
attacker.  So  soon  as  the  young  of  the  raven  are  able 
to  fly  the  parents  put  them  through  a  course  of  train- 
ing in  these  tactics,  acting  the  rdle  of  the  peregrine 
until  efficiency  is  attained.  "At  first  the  young  are 
stupid  and  clumsy,  but  they  soon  learn  to  avoid  the 
onslaught  by  turning  over  and  presenting  their  claws, 
or  by  rising  high  in  the  air." 

Mr.  J.  H.  Owen,  in  British  Birds  for  July,  con- 
tinues his  record  of  observations  made  on  the  nesting 
habits  of  the  sparrow-hawk.  In  the  present  section  he 
describes  the  behaviour  of  the  hen  at  the  nest,  bring- 
ing out  some  extremely  interesting  facts.  Thus,  for 
example,  he  remarks  that  when  the  young  hatch  she 
does  not  take  the  egg-shells  to  a  distance  and  drop 
them,  as  so  many  other  birds  do,  but  eats  them  while 
she  broods.  Great  attention  is  paid  to  the  sanitation 
of  the  nest,  the  faeces  of  the  very  young  birds  being 
carefully  gathered  up,  and  either  swallowed,  or 
thrown  clear  of  the  nest  by  a  jerk  of  the  head.  Later 
they  are  able  to  eject  them  over  the  edge  of  the  nest, 
and  so  relieve  the  mother  of  this  task.  Until  the  young 
are  from  twelve  to  fourteen  days  old  all  the  food  is 
brought  to  the  nest  by  the  male,  who  is  promptly  and 
unmistakably  informed  if  he  displays  an  excess  of  zeal 
in  this  matter.  There  is  one  point  on.  which  the  author 
fails  to  make  himself  clear.  This  concerns  his  state- 
ment that  as  incubation  proceeds  the  hen  sheds  down 
about  the  nest  until,  at  hatching  time,  it  is  flecked  with 
down,  which  is  removed  very  soon  after  the  young  are 
hatched.  Is  this  down  naturally  moulted  or  pulled  out? 
Why  is  it  allowed  to  accumulate,  since  it  serves  to 
direct  attention  to  the  nest,  and  why  is  it  later  so 
carefully  removed? 

The  annual  volume  of  the  Kew  Bulletin  for  the 
year  1915  has  only  just  been  published,  although  the 
concluding  part  was  issued  on  December  24.  Several 
articles  of  economic  importa.ice  will  be  found  in  the 
438  pages  comprising  the  volume.  In  particular,  one 
on  the  gemination  of  coconuts,  from  which  it  appears 
that    nuts    taken    from    young    trees    may     safely     be 


July  20,   19 16] 


NATURE 


427 


planted;  another  on  the  species  of  Sansevieria,  the 
source  of  bowstring  hemp,  with  numerous  figures; 
and  a  third  on  Iburu  and  Fundi,  two  cereals  from 
Upper  Guinea,  deserve  particular  notice.  Of  papers 
dealing  with  systematic  botany,  those  on  South 
African  Santalacaceae,  the  genus  Meconopsis,  new 
tropical  African  species  of  Ficus,  and  the  genus 
Phelipea,  a  remarkable  parasitic  genus  containing 
three  species,  are  among  the  more  important  con- 
tributions. 

In  the  Memoirs  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in 
India,  vol.  vii.,  No.  7,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Howard  and  Mr. 
Khan  contribute  important  papers  on  the  Indian  oil 
seeds,  safflower  and  mustard.  As  in  the  Howards' 
earlier  investigations  into  the  economic  plants  of  India, 
the  various  races  have  been  collected  and  carefully 
studied  at  Pusa.  Twenty-four  types  of  safflower,  Car- 
thamnus  tinctorius,  L.,  have  been  isolated  and  separated 
on  the  characters  afforded  by  leaves,  bracts,  flower- 
colour,  and  general  habit.  As  a  dye  plant  the  saf- 
flower has  only  local  importance,  but  it  is  interesting 
to  find  that  some  of  the  types  which  yield  most  dye 
also  yield  a  high  oil  content  in  the  seeds.  Improve- 
ment by  selection  could  be  undertaken  with  ease  as 
a  result  of  the  work  done  at  Pusa,  though  it  may 
not  be  an  easy  matter  to  establish  a  superior  variety 
on  a  large  scale.  Not  only  may  it  be  difficult  to 
replace  the  country  crop,  but  owing  to  the  frequency 
of  natural  crossing  in  the  -plant,  the  deterioration  of 
an  improved  variety  would  be  very  liable  to  take  place. 

Several  important  publications  have  been  received 
from  the  Norwegian  Meteorological  Institute.  The 
Jahrbuch  for  19 15  contains  a  summary  of  the  meteor- 
ological observations  of  all  the  stations  in  Norway 
for  the  3ear  19 15,  including  the  station  at  Green 
Harbour,  in  Spitsbergen,  which  is  maintained  in  that 
no  man's  land  by  the  Norwegian  Government.  This 
station,  in  78°  2'  N.,  is  the  most  northerly  permanent 
observatory  in  the  world.  The  annual  volume  on  the 
rainfall  of  Norway  ("  Nedb0riagttagelser  i  Norge ") 
gives  the  rainfall  and  snowfall  for  nearly  500  stations 
for  the  year  1915,  and  includes  a  large-scale  rainfall 
map  in  two  sheets.  A  further  pamphlet  ("  Oversigt 
over  luftens  temperatur  og  nedbpren  i  Norge  i  advet 
1914  ")  gives  the  monthly  mean  temperatures  and  the 
rainfall  for  Norwegian  stations,  with  their  departure 
from  the  normal,  in  1914. 

The  May  number  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Tokio 
Mathematico-Physical  Society  contains  a  paper  on 
the  silver  voltameter,  by  Mr.  J.  Obata,  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Communications.  In  accordance  with  the 
specifications  of  the  London  conference  of  1908  and  of 
the  Washington  committee  of  1910,  the  kathode  was 
one  of  three  platinum  bowls,  and  the  anode  a  plate  of 
silver.  After  deposition  the  deposit  was  transferred 
from  the  bowl  to  the  silver  by  electrolysis.  Acidity 
of  the  silver  nitrate  solution  was  found  to  produce  a 
decrease  in  the  deposit  of  rather  more  than  four  parts 
in  a  million  for  an  acidity  near  the  kathode  of  one  part 
in  a  million.  With  the  help  of  two  ohm  coils  previ- 
ously standardised  by  comparison  with  the  mercury 
ohm,  the  electromotive  force  of  the  normal  Weston 
cell  was  found  to  be  i"oi827  international  volts  at 
20°  C.  The  author  recommends  for  ordinary  labora- 
tory work  a  silver  voltameter  in  which  anode  and 
kathode  are  strips  of  silver  bent  into  cylindrical  hoops, 
the  one  of  greater  diameter  being  the  kathode,  placed 
in  a  glass  dish,  with  a  shallow  glass  dish  below  the 
anode  to  catch  any  particles  of  silver  detached  from  it 
during  the  experiment. 

In  the  development  of  the  sugar  industry  the  sac- 
charimeter  has  been  a  noteworthy  factor,  because  of 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


the  accuracy  and  simplicity  with  which,  by  its  aid, 
sugar  and  sugar-products  can  be  evaluated.  Moreover, 
in  recent  years  the  instrument  has  been  increasingly 
used  for  the  purposes  of  general  scientific  research. 
It  is  therefore  important  that  any  questions  regarding 
the  accuracy  of  the  fundamental  constants  of  the 
apparatus,  and  of  sugar  polarimetry  in  general,  should 
be  critically  examined,  and  any  uncertainty  respecting 
the  basis  of  standardisation  removed.  In  No.  268  of 
the  "  Scientific  Papers  "  issued  by  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Standards  an  account  is  given  of  investi- 
gations carried  out  with  this  object  in  view  by  Messrs. 
Bates  and  Jackson,  who  have  studied  the  "constants" 
of  the  quartz-wedge  saccharimeter  and  the  specific 
rotation  of  sucrose.  They  find  that  pure  sugar  gives 
a  reading  of  only  99*89°  for  the  normal  solu- 
tion, instead  of  100°  as  hitherto  accepted.  In  other 
words,  the  "  100°  sugar  point "  was  found  to  be  rather 
more  than  one-tenth  of  i  per  cent,  too  high,  thus 
making  the  proportion  of  sugar  in  specimens  tested 
with  the  saccharimeter  too  low  by  this  amount.  The 
authors'  result,  if  confirmed,  is  important,  not  only 
to  producers  of  sugar,  but  to  fiscal  authorities,  inas- 
much as  sugar  is  assessed  for  duty  by  means  of  the 
saccharimeter.  The  specific  rotation  of  sucrose  in 
solutions  of  normal  concentration  was  found  to  be 
66'529°,  light  of  wave-length  5892'5  A  being  used; 
this  is  a  slightly  higher  value  than  that  generally 
accepted,  namely  66'502°. 

In  view  of  the  abnormally  high  price  of  petrol  and 
the  difficulty  of  obtaining  it,  an  article  in  the  Engineer 
for  July  7  will  be  read  with  interest.  The  article  is 
descriptive  of  the  Binks  vaporiser  and  carburettor,  by 
use  of  which  paraffin  may  be  substituted  for  petrol 
in  motor-driven  vehicles.  A  small  petrol  tank  is  fitted 
for  the  supply  of  petrol  for  starting  the  engine ;  paraffin 
is  employed  after  the  vaporiser  has  become  sufficiently 
hot.  The  carburettor  has  two  float  chambers,  one 
for  petrol  and  the  other  for  paraffin,  and  has  a  main 
jet  and  two  pilot  jets.  The  sprayed  paraffin  enters 
the  vaporiser,  which  consists  of  two  concentric  tubes, 
between  which  the  exhaust  gases  from  the  engine 
pass,  and  thus  heat  the  walls  of  the  inner  tube.  The 
latter  tube  contains  a  worm  which  causes  the  mixed 
air  and  paraffin  to  whirl  as  the  mixture  traverses 
the  inner  tube.  There  is  thus  a  tendency  to  throw- 
any  unvaporised  paraffin  into  contact  with  the  hot 
walls,  where  vaporisation  is  completed.  With  present 
prices,  application  of  this  and  similar  devices  may 
reduce  the  cost  of  fuel  for  motor-engine's  by  50  per 
cent. 

The  following  books  of  science  are  to  be  found  in 
Mr.  John  Murray's  new  list  of  forthcoming  books  : — 
"David  Gill:  Man  and  Astronomer,"  by  Prof.  G. 
Forbes ;  "  Man  as  He  Is,"  by  Sir  B.  Fuller ;  "  The 
Ages  of  Man,"  by  C.  Sayle;  "What  is  Instinct?  Some 
Thoughts  on  Telepathy  and  Subconsciousness  in 
Animals,"  by  C.  B.  Newland ;  "  British  Forestry  :  its 
Present  Position  and  Outlook  after  the  War,"  by 
E.  P.  Stebbing;  "The  Lost  Cities  of  Ceylon,"  by 
G.  E.  Mitton,  illustrated;  "A  Book-Lover's  Holidays 
in  the  Open,"  by  T.  Roosevelt,  illustrated ;  "  Form  and 
Function  :  a  Contribution  to  the  History  of  Animal 
Morphology,"  by  E.  S.  Russell,  illustrated;  "Hunting 
Pygmies,"  by  Dr.  W.  E.  Geil,  illustrated;  "Vegetable 
Fibres,"  by  Dr.  E.  Goulding  (Imperial  Institute  Hand- 
books) ;  and  new  editions  of  "  Recent  Progress  in  the 
Study  of  Variation,  Heredity,  and  Evolution,"  by  Dr. 
R.  H.  Lock,  revised  by  Dr.  L.  Doncaster,  with  a 
Biographical  Note  by  B.  S.  Woolf  (Mrs.  R.  H.  Lock) ; 
and  "The  Study  of  Animal  Life,"  by  Prof.  J.  A. 
Thomson,  illustrated. 


428 


NATURE 


[July  20,   19 16 


OVR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Origin  of  Group  G  of  the  Solar  Spectrum. — In 
a  preliminary  note  presented  at  the  June  meeting  of 
the  Royal  Astronomical  Society,  it  was  announced  by 
Messrs.  Newall,  Baxandall,  and  Butler  that  the  group 
of  lines  in  the  solar  spectrum  marked  G  by  Fraun- 
hofer  had  been  proved  by  them  to  be  mainly  due  to 
absorption  corresponding  with  the  hydrocarbon  band 
about  wave-length  4314.  The  band  in  question  is 
well-known  from  its  occurrence  in  the  "candle-flame" 
spectrum,  where  it  appears  in  association  with  the 
"  Swan  "  bands,  and  Lockyer's  work  has  shown  that 
it  is  the  characteristic  band  of  the  spectra  of  undis- 
sociated  hydrocarbons.  The  conspicuous  presence  of 
the  band  in  the  Fraunhofer  spectrum  is  in  striking 
contrast  with  its  absence  from  the  spectrum  of  the 
chromosphere  as  photographed  during  total  eclipses, 
and  further  investigation  of  the  details,  which  is  in 
progress  at  the  Solar  Physics  Observatory,  will  prob- 
ably throw  light  on  this  important  difference.  The 
discovery  of  the  origin  of  the  G  group  will  doubtless 
also  be  of  considerable  importance  in  connection  with 
the  interpretation  of  stellar  spectra,  as  a  gradual  re- 
duction in  the  intensity  of  the  group  on  passing  to 
stars  hotter  than  the  sun  is  a  well-marked  feature  of 
the  stellar  sequence. 

Variable  Stellar  Spectra. — In  continuation  of  pre- 
vious work  on  the  spectra  of  Cepheid  variable  stars 
Mr.  Harlow  Shapley  has  recently  obtained  150  spectro- 
grams of  representative  stars  of  this  class,  using  the 
lo-in.  portrait  lens  and  objective  prism  of  the  Mount 
Wilson  Observatory  (Proc.  Nat.  Acad.  Sci.,  vol.  ii., 
p.  208).  The  eleven  stars  investigated  have  periods 
ranging  from  nine  hours  to  twenty-seven  days,  and 
include  some  well-known  naked-eye  variables,  and 
some  for  which  orbits  have  been  computed  from 
spectroscopic  data.  For  some  of  the  stars  the  place 
of  greatest  intensity  of  the  general  spectrum  had 
already  been  observed  to  shift  towards  the  blue  on  the 
approach  of  maximum  luminosity,  and  it  has  now 
been  proved  in  addition  that  the  details  of  the  spectra 
change  with  the  phase  of  the  variable,  in  accordance 
with  the  normal  stellar  sequence — that  is,  when  the 
star  is  at  maximum  brightness,  its  spectrum  corre- 
sponds to  a  higher  stage  of  the  spectral  series  than 
when  at  minimum.  The  change  of  spectrum  was 
particularly  easy  of  observation  in  the  case  of  small 
dispersion  spectra  of  the  F  type,  where  the  variations 
in  the  relative  intensities  of  Hy  and  the  G  group  were 
very  marked ;  this  is  especially  interesting  in  connec- 
tion with  the  recent  discovery  that  the  G  band  is  of 
hydrocarbon  origin  (see  preceding  note).  As  examples 
of  the  range  of  spectral  variation  the  following  may 
be  noted  : — 8  Cephei,  F2  to  G3 ;  RR  Lyrae,  B9  to  F2 ; 
RT  Aurigae,  A8  to  Go.  It  is  inferred  that  all 
Cepheids,  including  those  of  the  cluster  type,  vary 
periodically  in  spectral  class,  as  well  as  in  magnitude 
and  radial  velocity. 

A  Large  Meteor.— On  July  8,  at  11.59  p.m.  G.M.T., 
a  large  meteor  equal  to  Venus  was  seen  at  Bristol  by 
Mr.  Denning,  and  at  Totteridge  by  Mrs.  Wilson.  The 
radiant  point  was  at  22° +  24°,  and  the  height  of  the 
object  was  from  77  to  51  miles.  Its  luminous  course 
was  120  miles  long,  and  observed  velocity  32  miles 
per  second. 

The  Extraordinary  Meteoric  Shower  of  June  28. 
— Mr.  Denning  has  been  endeavouring  to  collect  ob- 
servations of  this  event,  but  it  seems  to  have  been 
witnessed  by  very  few  persons.  The  sky  was  cloudy 
in  the  eastern  counties  of  England,  but  all  over  the 
west,  from  Bournemouth  to  Fleetwood,  the  weather 
seems  to  have  been  favourable. 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


An  observer  living  at  Birmingham  states  that  be- 
tween II  and  12  p.m.  G.M.T.  he  saw  nearly  one 
hundred  meteors,  and  that  the  radiant  point  was 
between  the  stars  Eta  and  Zeta  Ursae  Majoris,  He 
describes  the  meteors  as  often  dropping  over  the  S.E. 
and  E.  horizon.  They  were  frequently  of  a  golden 
hue,  with  very  short  paths  and  moderately  slow  in 
their  flight.  Several  of  the  larger  meteors  were 
bluish-white,  and  flashed  out  with  startling  sudden- 
ness and  brilliancy,  sufficient  to  render  them  visible 
through  the  cloud  stratum  w^hich  gathered  in  various 
parts  of  the  sky. 

Another  observer  at  Bournemouth  says  that  at 
II  p.m.  G.M.T.  he  noticed  three  bright  meteors  in 
about  as  many  minutes,  and  that  this  rate  of  appari- 
tion appeared  to  be  maintained  until  the  early  dawn. 

This  shower  is  certainly  the  richest  which  has  been 
observed  since  the  Leonid  display  of  November,  1903, 
and  being  altogether  unexpected  and  unknown  in- 
creases its  importance  and  makes  it  very  desirable 
that  it  should  be  fully  investigated.  Possibly  the 
orbit  of  some  recent  comet  may  be  found  to  coincide 
with  it.  It  is  certainly  curious  that  definite  showers 
proceed  from  the  same  apparent  radiant  point  in 
Quadrans  on  about  January  2-3,  March  27-30,  June 
28,  and  October  2,  the  intervals  approximating  three 
months. 


NATIONAL  INTEREST  IN  MINERAL 
RESOURCES. 
"r  HE  United  States  Geological  Survey  has  issued 
A  its  usual  series  of  bulletins  dealing  with  the 
mineral  production  of  America  in  the  year  19 14.  As 
pointed  out  in  the  introductory  section,  this  com- 
pilation is  the  thirty-third  of  the  published  reports  of 
the  Mineral  Resources  Division  of  the  Geological 
Survey,  and  thus  enables  comparisons  to  be  instituted 
extending  over  a  third  of  a  century.  The  series  is, 
however,  rendered  of  still  greater  interest  owing  to 
the  inclusion  in  it  of  an  article  by  G.  O.  Smith, 
director  of  the  Survey,  on  "The  Public  Interest 
in  Mineral  Resources."  It  need  scarcely  be  said 
that  this  is  written  entirely  from  the  American 
point  of  view;  at  the  same  time,  it  is  very  largely 
applicable  to  conditions  in  this  country,  because,  as 
is  well  known,  America  and  Great  Britain  stand 
practically  alone  amongst  the  world's  great  mineral 
producers  in  their  system  of  mineral  ownership. 
Everywhere  the  mineral  resources  of  a  country  have 
been  recognised  since  Roman  times  as  originally  the 
property  of  the  State,  to  be  administered  for  the 
benefit  of  the  nation  at  large.  The  fact  that  the  actual 
exploitation  of  its  mineral  deposits  by  the  State  is 
an  unsatisfactory  arrangement  has  been  pretty  uni- 
versally recognised ;  there  are  a  few  isolated  examples 
of  such  exploitation,  which  may  succeed  here  and 
there  under  abnormal  conditions,  and  the  German 
Empire  has  carried  this  method  further  than  any 
other  State,  but  even  in  that  autocratically  governed 
country,  where  the  working  community  is  treated! 
as  a  well-drilled  machine  subservient  absolutely  to 
the  will  of  the  ruling  classes.  State-worked  mines 
cannot  be  described  as  successful.  Apart  from  this 
ineffective  method  of  dealing  with  their  mineral 
wealth.  States  can  choose  between  two  very  different,— 
but  both  highly  efficient,  principles.  Most  of  the  great* 
Continental  States  adopt  the  mining  concession  prin-li 
ciple ;  under  this  the  State  retains  for  all  time  its  ' 
absolute  ownership  of  the  minerals,  but  grants  con- 
cessions to  individuals  or  corporations  under  which 
these  are  allowed  to  exploit  the  mineral  deposits  upon 
payment  to  the  State  of  a  definite  proportion  of  the 


I 


July  20,   19 16] 


NATURE 


429 


wealth  so  won  in  the  shape  of  a  royalty.  This 
system  is  often  described  as  a  mineral  lease,  but  the 
term  is  misleading,  because  a  mineral  deposit  is  a 
wasting  asset,  and  cannot  therefore  be  leased  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word,  which  implies  that  the  lessee 
should  return  his  property  to  the  lessor  in  unimpaired 
good  condition  at  the  expiry  of  the  period  of  lease. 
The  system  may  be  more  correctly  described  as  a 
sale  of  the  minerals  as  and  when  extracted,  the 
purchase  consideration  taking  the  form  of  an  annual 
royalty  payment. 

The  other  principle,  adopted  by  the  United  States 
and  bv  ourselves,  is  that  of  out-and-out  alienation, 
from  the  very  commencement,  of  the  mineral  dejx)sit. 
With  us  this  process  of  alienation  has  long  been 
completed;  in  the  United  States  it  is  still  proceeding 
as  fast  as  mineral  deposits  are  discovered.  The  mode 
of  tenure  of  the  mineral  deposits  being,  however, 
essentially  the  same,  the  greater  part  of  Mr.  Smith's 
remarks  are  perfectly  applicable  to  conditions  in  this 
country.  His  point  of  view  is  indicated  by  tw-o  apt 
quotations,  one  from  Gen.  Halleck,  who  wrote  in 
i860,  to  the  effect  that  mines  "are  by  nature  public 
property,  and  that  they  are  to  be  used  and  regulated 
in  such  a  way  as  to  conduce  most  to  the  general 
interest  of  society."  He  also  quotes  Dr.  R.  W. 
Ravmond,  who,  it  may  be  remembered,  gave  evidence 
as  to  the  American  system  of  dealing  with  mineral 
lands  before  our  1889  Royal  Commission  on  Mining 
Royalties,  in  which  he  showed  that  the  policy  which 
the  United  States  had  adopted,  as  best  calculated  to 
promote  the  national  welfare,  was  "  to  get  its  mineral 
lands  as  soon  as  possible  into  private  hands,"  and 
the  quotation  from  Dr.  Raymond's  first  report  on 
mineral  resources,  written  in  1868,  is  so  particularly 
applicable  to  British  conditions,  and  deserves  so  well 
the  careful  consideration  of  all  interested — and  who 
is  not? — in  our  mineral  resources,  as  to  deserve  repro- 
duction here  : — 

"  In  view  of  these  peculiar  relations  of  mining,  it 
is  evident  that  Governments  are,  in  a  certain  sense, 
trustees  of  the  wealth  stored  in  the  mineral  deposits 
of  their  realms — trustees  for  succeeding  generations 
of  their  own  citizens  and  for  the  world  at  large. 
It  is  not  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  citizens  of 
this  country  whether  our  mining  fields  be  ravaged 
and  exhausted  in  one  or  even  five  centuries,  when 
they  might  last  a  score." 

At  a  moment  like  this,  when  w-e  stand  at  the 
beginning  of  what  promises  to  be  an  industrial 
struggle  even  more  keen  and  bitter  than  the  actual 
warfare  to  which  we  are  now  devoting  all  our 
national  energies,  those  responsible  for  the  govern- 
ment of  Great  Britain  would  assuredly  do  well  to 
take  some  account  of  the  huge  wastage  of  our  own 
national  resources  that  is  going  on  unchecked  and 
almost  unheeded,  and  to  ask  themselves  with  what 
measure  of  fidelity  they  are  discharging  their  trustee- 
ship. 

Mr.  Smith  lays  much  stress  upon  the  development 
that  has  taken  place  in  every  portion  of  the  American 
mineral  industry  within  the  past  thirty-three  years, 
and  upon  the  fact  that  the  utilisation  of  these  resources 
has  resulted  in  a  "higher  standard  of  public  service" 
bv  "  giving  all  the  workers  a  better  opportunity  to  live 
a  full  life,"  this  being,  as  he  justly  observes,^  "the 
ideal  of  democracy."  He  is  a  firm  believer  in  the 
advantage  of  the  system  of  alienation  of  mineral 
lands ;  as  he  says  :  "  Both  the  past  record  and  the 
present  status  of  the  mining  industry  show  that  the 
mineral  resources  of  the  United  States  possess  largest 
public  value  in  their  indirect  contribution  to  national 
development.  ...  In  fact,  it  may  be  easily  shown 
that  the  State  or  nation  will  not  be  so  much  bene- 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


fited  through  a  direc-t  royalty  as  through  the  indirect 
revenue  gained  by  the  establishment  of  a  new  in- 
dustry, and  by  its  influence  on  the  neighbouring 
agricultural  areas  and  the  transportation  systems  to 
w^hich  the  new  traffic  is  tributary."  He  points  out 
in  some  detail  that  the  most  equitable,  as  well  as  the 
most  conveaient,  method  of  obtaining  a  direct  return 
for  the  nation  from  Jts  mineral  w-ealth  is  by  means 
of  an  income  tax  upon  the  profits  realised  by  the 
miner;  yet,  as  he  is  careful  to  add,  "the  public's 
direct  share  of  the  proceeds  from  mineral  resources 
must  not  be  so  great  as  to  affect  unfavourably  labor's 
opportunity  or  capital's  incentive." 

Few  short  ai'ticles  have  appeared  wjithin  recent 
years  that  will  better  repay  careful  study  by  legislators 
and  economists  than  will  the  article  now  before  us 
It  needs  neither  justification  nor  corroboration ;  yet 
were  such  required,  they  may  be  found  in  most  em- 
phatic form  in  the  statistical  summary  of  the  mineral 
production  "of  the  United  States  in  1914,  issued 
simultaneously.  To  take  only  a  few  items,  the  pro- 
duction of  the  principal  metals  was  : — 

Pig  iron       ...         ...         22,263,263  tons 

Copper        1,150,137,1921b. 

Lead  512,994  short  tons 

Zinc  343i4i8      „        „ 

Nickel         845,331  lb. 

Cold  4,572,976  oz. 

Silver  ...  ...         72,455,100  ,. 

Amongst  non-metallic  minerals  the  mo.st  important 
are  coal,  of  which  the  total  output  was  513,525,477 
short  tons,  and  petroleum,  with  a  production  of 
265,762,535  barrels.  The  total  value  of  the  mineral 
production  of  the  United  States  is  given  as  the 
enormous  sum  of  nearly  2 115  millions  of  dollars  (say 
about  440,000,000/.),  amounting  to  21.40  dollars  (say 
4Z.  I05.)  per  head  of  the  population;  the  latter  has 
practically  doubled  since  1880,  whilst  the  value  of 
the  mineral  production  has  increased  nearly  sixfold. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  show  such  vast  progress  in 
any  other  similar  field  of  human  industry,  and,  though 
due  in  the  first  place  to  the  wonderful  natural 
resources  of  the  United  States,  credit  must  also  be 
given  to  the  enlightened  spirit  in  which  these  re- 
sources have  been  utilised.  Our  conditions  in  this 
country'  are,  of  course,  widely  different,  yet  there  is 
no  reason  why  we  too  should  not  strive  to  utilise 
what  we  have  to  the  uttermost.  Our  need  in  this 
country  is  to  realise  and  act  upon  the  counsel  which 
Mr.  Smith  embodies  in  one  brief  sentence:  "The 
governmental  duty  to  the  mining  industry  first  of  all 
is  to  promote  use  without  w^aste."  H.   L. 

TRE     SMOKE     NUISANCE     IN     THE 
UNITED    STATES. 

LIKE  ourselves,  the  industrial  centres  of  the  United 
States  are  beginning  to  realise  the  serious 
economic  and  hygienic  effects  caused  by  the  unscien- 
tific combustion  of  coal.  In  the  Journal  of  the  Frank- 
lin Institute  for  March,  Dr.  W.  F.  M.  Goss  has  con- 
tributed a  paper  on  "  Smoke  as  a  Source  of  Atmo- 
spheric Pollution,"  in  which  he  discusses  the  results 
of  a  very  elaborate  investigation,  extending  over  six 
vears,  into  the  consumption  of  coal  and  loss  in  the 
form  of  smoke  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  an  inquiry 
undertaken  under  the  auspices  of  the  Chicago  Asso- 
ciation of  Commerce. 

He  begins  by  summarising  the  general  results  of 
previous  observers  in  regard  to  the  effect  of  smoke 
on  health,  on  vegetation,  and  on  the  loss  and  damage 
to  property,  and  then  proceeds  to  discuss  in  detail 
the  sources  of  industrial  smoke  in  Chicago  and  the- 
extent  of  wastage. 


430 


NATURE 


[July  20,  19 16 


The  amount  of  fuel  (excluding  liquid  fuel)  con- 
sumed annually  in  the  industrial  area  of  the  city  is 
estimated  at  about  17^  million  tons,  and  includes 
anthracite,  coke,  and  bituminous  coal,  the  last  repre- 
senting nearly  one-half  of  the  total.  The  following 
figures  are  given,  though,  as  all  experimental  details 
are  omitted,  it  is  impossible  to  comment  on  the  method 
bv  which  they  have  been  ascertained  : — 

c  Coal  con-       ^^^^t^t       Loss  in    Percentage 

So"'^^  sumed,  tons     '""^"^P^"^  tons       of  total  loss 

Steam  locomotives     ...  2,099,044  1*084  22,750  7*47 

Steam  vessels     «i,375  I  "233  995  0-33 

High  -  pressure   boilers 

and  public  buildings.  7,316,257  0-805  58,867  19-34 
Low  -  pressure     boilers 

and  private  houses...  4,154,746  0630  26,180  860 

Gas  and  coke  plant    ...  234,551  —  —             — 
Metallurgical  and  other 

furnaces   3,696,550  5-291  195-599  64-26 


17, 58.', 523     1-808     304,391     100  00 

The  author  discusses  the  causes  of  imperfect  com- 
bustion and  the  best  means  of  ameliorating  the  out- 
put of  smoke;  but  as  these  are  generally  well  known 
and  recognised,  at  least  in  theory,  they  need  not  be 
reproduced.  That  smoke  abatement  is  nearly  always 
an  indirect  means  of  effecting  economy  is  another 
well-established  fact  to  which  he  refers.  Dr.  Goss 
points  out  the  interesting  observation,  which  may 
not  be  generally  known,  that  the  visibility  or  other- 
wise of  smoke  has  no  direct  relation  to  its  content 
of  solid  matter.  The  adoption  of  anthracite  coal  or 
coke  as  fuel  will  serve  to  render  the  discharge  less 
visible,  but  will  not  eliminate  the  emission  of  dust  or 
fine  cinder.  He  appears  to  think  that  the  replace- 
ment of  coal  by  electrical  energy  will  not  reduce  the 
amount  of  visible  smoke  to  any  serious  extent,  for 
steam  raising  will  still  be  necessary.  The  more 
extensive  use  of  gaseous  fuel,  smoke-washing,  and 
electrical  precipitation  of  smoke  as  a  means  of  smoke 
abatement  are  passed  over,  for  some  unexplained 
reason,  as  not  within  the  scope  of  the  paper. 

The  author  is  not  very  optimistic  in  his  outlook, 
for  he  considers  that  a  revolution  in  practice  which 
will  result  in  the  elimination  of  existing  sources  of 
atmospheric  pollution  is  not  to  be  expected  "because 
present-day  knowledge  is  insufficient  to  supply  the 
necessary  means,  and,  second,  because  the  immediate 
application  to  all  sources  of  pollution,  even  of  such 
means  as  are  now  available,  is  mechanically  and 
financially  impracticable." 

If  by  this  statement  Dr.  Goss  includes  all  forms 
of  atmospheric  pollution  such  as  arise  from  gaseous 
impurities  and  dust  particles  blown  into  the  air  from 
the  streets,  etc.,  no  doubt  he  is  right;  but  he  has  him- 
self shown  that  gaseous  impurities  are  minimal  in 
quantity,  because  they  are  rapidly  dispersed,  whilst 
dust  particles,  which  exist  everywhere,  have  never 
been  regarded  as  causing  injury  either  to  animal  or 
plant  life. 

But  the  really  harmful  constituents  of  a  town  atmo- 
sphere are  unequivocally  derived  from  one  source — 
the  incomplete  combustion  of  coal,  and  there  are  few 
people  who  have  studied  the  question  in  this  country 
who  are  not  thoroughly  convinced  that  the  pressure 
of  properly  instructed  and  firm  control,  supported  by 
adequate  legal  penalties  and  the  force  of  intelligent 
public  opinion,  would  rapidly  diminish  and  eventually 
eliminate  an  evil  for  which  no  economic  or,  indeed, 
any  other  excuse  can  exist.  We  are  throwing  away 
in  a  wanton  and  criminal  fashion,  without  let  or 
hindrance,  a  valuable  inheritance  which  should  belong 
to  coming  generations,  and  which  they  will  never  be 
able  to  recover.  J.   B.   C. 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


MAN  AS  A  MACHINE.^ 
(i)  A  NUMBER  of  different  e.Kperimental  methods 
■^'*-  for  deterinining  the  respiratory  exchange  of 
man  have  been  employed  in  the  past,  some  of  which 
are  designed  for  long  experiments  and  some  for  short, 
and  of  late  years  it  has  become  evident  that  a  critical 
examination  ought  to  be  made  with  the  view  of  deter- 
mining how  far  the  different  methods  give  trustworthy 
and  comparable  results.  A  comparison  of  this  kind 
involves  very  great  labour,  and  Dr.  Carpenter  is  to  be 
congratulated  on  having  undertaken  the  work.  His 
investigation  is  throughout  characterised  by  that  care- 
ful attention  to  detail  that  we  have  learnt  to  associate 
with  the  Nutrition  Laboratory  at  Boston  of  the  Car- 
negie Institution. 

The  experimental  methods  examined  in  detail  are 
the  bed  respiration  calorimeter  described  by  Benedict 
and  Carpenter,  two  types  of  the  Benedict  universal 
respiration  apparatus,  and  the  apparatuses  described 
by  Zuntz  and  Geppert  (the  absence  of  the  portable 
apparatus  of  Zuntz  is  perhaps  a  matter  for  regret),  by 
Tissot  and  by  Douglas.  In  addition,  there  is  a  de- 
scription of  accessory  apparatus,  including  the  Haldane 
gas  analysis  apparatus. 

The  experiments  were  made  on  resting  subjects 
twelve  hours  or  more  after  their  last  meal.  In  each 
experiment  two  of  the  different  forms  of  apparatus 
were  used  either  alternately  or  in  series,  the  periods 
following  each  other  as  rapidly  as  possible.  The 
three  forms  of  Benedict  apparatus  were  compared  with 
one  another,  and  the  other  methods  were  compared 
with  the  Benedict  universal  apparatus.  Full  tables  of 
results  are  given,  and  these  show  that  there  is  a 
wonderfully  close  agreement  between  the  average 
figures  obtained  by  the  different  methods. 

In  a  critical  discussion  the  author  deals  with  the 
possible  sources  of  error,  as  well  as  with  the  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages  of  each  of  the  methods. 

In  general  comparable  results  can  be  obtained  with 
all  the  methods  investigated  if  care  is  taken,  but  pre- 
ference is  given  to  the  Benedict  apparatus,  mainly  on 
the  ground  that  it  is  possible  to  obtain  trustworthy 
results  more  quickly  with  it  than  with  methods  which 
involve  volumetric  gas  analysis. 

It  would  have  lent  additional  interest  to  this  dis- 
cussion if  a  few  comparative  experiments  could  have 
been  made  during  muscular  work,  as  it  is  possible 
that  some  additional  sources  of  error  or  inconvenience 
may  become  apparent  when  the  different  forms  of 
apparatus  are  called  upon  to  deal  with  a  greatly 
increased  respiratory  exchange. 

(2)  The  authors  confine  themselves  in  this  publica- 
tion to  the  calculation  from  the  total  respiratory  ex- 
change of  the  actual  amount  of  energy  liberated  in  the 
human  body  during  walking  exercise,  but  it  is  their 
intention  to  extend  their  observations  in  the  future  by 
means  of  direct  calorimetry.  An  admirable  introduc- 
tion is  afforded  by  an  account  of  the  previous  history 
of  the  subject,  amplified  by  an  extensive  table  giving 
a  complete  summary  of  the  results  of  previous  observa- 
tions. 

The  research  has  been  conducted  throughout  in  the 
laboratory  on  two  athletic  subjects.  An  ingenious 
form  of  "horizontal  treadmill  is  described,  on  which 
the  subject  walks  at  different  paces,  while  the  respira- 
tory exchange  is  measured  by  means  of  the  Benedict 
universal  apparatus,  various  devices  being  employed 
for  recording  automatically  the  distance  traversed,  the 
number  of  steps  taken,  and  the  height  through  which 
the  body  Is  raised  at  each  step. 

1  (i)  "A  Comparison  of  Methods  for  Determinin?  the  Respiratory 
Exchnnge  of  Man."  By  T.  IVf.  Carpenter.  Pp.265.  (Publicntion  No.  216 
of  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington.)    Price  2.50  dollars. 

(a)  "Energy  Transformations  during  Horizontal  Walking."  I'v  F.  G. 
Benedict  and  H.  Murschhauser.  Pp.  100.  (Publication  No.  231  of  the 
Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington.)     Price  i  dollar. 


July  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


431 


In  attempting  to  estimate  correctly  the  amount  of 
energy  used  for  the  actual  forward  progression  of  the 
body  it  is  essential  to  deduct  from  the  total  measured 
energy  output  a  fraction  which  will  represent  what 
may  be  termed  the  basal  maintenance  metabolism,  and 
it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  decide  what  value  to  take 
for  this  purpose.  The  authors  on  the  whole  prefer 
to  take  as  this  basis  the  energy  output  found  when 
the  subject  is  standing  still  with  the  muscles  relaxed, 
and  this  value  certainly  appears  more  reasonable  than 
that  found  when  the  subject  is  lying  at  rest,  though 
the  latter  has  been  used  frequently  by  earlier  workers 
on  the  subject.  They  have,  however,  considered  other 
possible  bases,  especially  with  reference  to  walking  at 
a  very  fast  pace  when  pronounced  movements  of  the 
arms  occur. 

With  one  of  the  subjects  the  pace  was  limited  to 
slightly  under  three  miles  an  hour,  but  with  the  other 
it  was  varied  widely,  ranging,  roughly,  from  two  and 
a  half  to  five  and  a  half  miles  an  hour.  As  the  pace 
increases  the  amount  of  energy  output  to  move  one 
kilo  of  the  body  weight  one  metre  horizontally  in- 
creases very  greatly,  as  other  observers  have  found. 

Some  experiments  performed  with  the  subject  run- 
ning showed  that  it  was  more  economical  of  energy 
to  run  than  to  walk  at  the  rate  of  more  than  five 
miles  an  hour. 

In  examining  the  influence  of  food  on  the  energ}' 
output  during  the  exercise,  the  authors  find  that  the 
increase  in  the  metabolism  due  to  the  walking  is  at 
any  given  pace  in  the  main  constant  and  merely  super- 
imposed on  the  increased  resting  metabolism  due  to 
the  food.  With  a  large  protein  diet  there  is  evidence 
that  the  heat  output  per  unit  of  work  is  increased. 
Apart  from  the  question  of  the  absolute  expenditure 
of  energy,  the  figures  in  the  various  tables  will  be  of 
extreme  interest  to  any  who  wish  to  study  the  char- 
acter of  the  metabolism  during  muscular  exertion. 

C.  G.  D. 


THE  GRAVELS   OF  EAST  ANGLIA. 

THE  Cambridge  University  Press  has  published 
two  interesting  geological  pamphlets  by  Prof.  T. 
McKenny  Hughes,  the  first  on  "The  Gravels  of  East 
Anglia  "  (price  15.),  the  second  entitled  *'  Notes  on  the 
Fenland,"  with  a  description  of  the  Shippea  man  by 
Prof.  A.  Macalister  (price  6d.).  The  gravels  of  East 
Anglia  are  especially  useful  in  any  inquiry  as  to  the 
age  and  origin  of  the  superficial  deposits  of  our 
countn,',  because  of  their  wide  distribution  and  the 
long  continuous  sections  on  the  coast,  in  which  many 
of  them  may  be  studied.  They  consist  for  the  most 
part  of  subang^lar  flints,  which  cannot  have  been 
derived  directly  from  the  chalk,  and  Prof.  Hughes 
concludes  that  they  are  the  debris  of  an  old  Miocene 
land-surface  on  which  the  chalk  with  flints  was  ex- 
posed. After  a  well-illustrated  account  of  many  sec- 
tions, and  a  brief  discussion  of  the  mammalian 
remains  found  in  the  gravels  and  associated  deposits. 
Prof.  Hughes  summarises  the  sequence  of  phases 
in  the  later  geological  histor}-  of  East  Anglia  as  he 
now  understands  them.  All  these  gravels  are  of 
Pleistocene  age,  but  the  marsh-deposits  of  the  fenland 
are  distinctly  later.  They  contain  remains  of  the 
brown  bear  and  the  beaver,  which  survived  in  England 
until  historic  times,  but  none  of  the  typical  Pleisto- 
cene mammalia ;  while  the  most  remarkable  of  the 
birds  is  the  pelican.  There  is  no  definite  chrono- 
k)gical  succession  which  will  hold  throughout  the 
fens,  and  the  relative  dates  of  the  various  remains 
found  in  them  cannot  be  well  determined.  The  human 
skull  and  associated  remains  from  Shippea  Hill, 
described  bv  Prof.  Macalister,  may  be  quite  modern, 
though  perhaps  as  old  as  the  Bronze  age. 
NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


THE  ORGANISATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL 

SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCHA 

II. 

IT  is  the  common  opinion  of  those  who  have  to  deal 
with  the  organisation  of  research  that  only  a  small 
percentage  of  all  the  investigations  started  are  likely 
to  be  successful,  the  great  majority  being  either 
dropped  before  they  come  to  an  end,  or,  being  carried 
through,  are  filed  simply  as  records,  without  any 
results  having  been  obtained  which  would  justify  the 
expense  of  the  investigation ;  that  is  to  say,  industrial 
research  is  justified  only  by  the  great  value  of  the 
successful  attempts,  and  these  must  bear  the  burden 
of  a  great  number  of  unsuccessful  attempts,  which 
may  have  been  quite  as  costly  as  the  successful  ones 
themselves.  Naturally,  the  object  of  organisation  is  to 
attempt  to  reduce  the  proportion  of  unsuccessful  in- 
vestigations which  will  be  undertaken,  as  has  already 
been  shown.  This  can  be  done  by  increasing  the  size 
of  the  laboratory,  by  increasing  the  specialisation  of 
the  workers,  and  especially  by  increasing  co-operation 
between  workers  in  different  fields. 

Naturally,  the  most  important  step  which  could  be 
taken  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  industrial  research 
would  be  to  increase  the  likelihood  of  correct  choice 
of  a  promising  investigation,  but,  unfortunately,  very 
little  can  be  done  in  this  direction.  Those  with  the 
most  experience  in  research  work  are  all  agreed  that 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  say  whether  a  given  investi-. 
gation  will  prove  remunerative  or  not.  The  only 
general  conclusion  that  can  be  drawn  is  that  the  deeper- 
a  given  investigation  goes  towards  the  fundamentals 
of  the  problem  the  more  likelihood  there  is  that  the 
results  will  be  of  value,  and  the  more  superficial  an 
investigation  is,  even  although  it  appears  more  pro, 
mising  at  first  sight,  the  less  likelihood  there  is  that 
it  will  finally  prove  of  real  worth,  so  that  the  choice 
of  investigations  must  necessarily  be  made  largely  at 
random,  and  will  be  influenced  to  a  great  extent  by 
the  ideas  of  the  scientific  workers  themselves;  if  any 
worker  has  a  desire  to  take  up  any  particular  line  of 
work,  provided  that  it  is  associated  with  the  general 
trend  of  work  in  the  laboratory-,  it  is  usually  wise 
to  let  him  do  so,  but  the  expedition  with  which  a 
decision  can  be  reached  as  to  the  probable  value  of  the 
investigation  after  it  has  been  started  is  ver>-  g^reatly 
enhanced  by  the  complete  co-operation  of  workers  in 
the  different  branches  of  science  in  consultation  on  the 
problem. 

At  this  point  it  might  be  well  to  discuss  the  organisa^ 
tion  of  a  large  research  laborator\'.  Such  a  laboratory 
should  be  established  in  charge  of  a  director  who  has 
had  some  actual  manufacturing  experience  in  the 
works  processes,  but  at  the  same  time  he  must  have 
a  considerable  sympathy  with  purelv  scientific  work 
and  an  interest  in  the  advancement  of  scientific  theory-. 
Both  these  qualifications  are  desirable,  but  if  such  a 
director  combining  the  two  cannot  be  found,  then  a 
man  of  full  scientific  training  should  be  chosen  and 
put  into  a  position  of  responsibility  in  the  manufactur- 
ing side  of  the  industry  until  he  has  become  fully 
acquainted  with  the  technique  of  the  industry-.  It  is 
most  inadvisable  to  take  a  man  from  the  industry 
who  has  not  had  a  full  scientific  traininer,  including 
advanced  research  work  in  academic  problems,  since, 
he  will  generally  be  lacking  in  sufficient  knowledge  of, 
and  svmpathy  with,  the  more  academic  investigations 
of  which  he  will  be  in  charge,  and  if  the  two  necessary 
qualifications  cannot  be  found  united  in  one  man,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  take  a  man  with  the  scientific 

1  Ad  address  delivered  at  Columbia  University  by  Dr.  C.  E.   Kenneth  . 
Me<>5,  director  of  the  Research  Laboratory,  Eastman  Kodak  Co.,  Rochester, 
N.V.     Continued  from  p.  413. 


432 


NATURE 


[July  20,  19 16 


qualifications  and  give  him  the  practical  training, 
which  is  just  as  essential  for  the  director  of  a  labora- 
tory as  scientific  knowledge. 

These  necessary  qualifications  in  the  director  are 
reflected  in  the  division  of  the  laboratory  itself  into 
manufacturing  and  scientific  sections,  since  the  manu- 
facturing section  should  be  able  to  carry  out  on  a 
small  scale  all  the  chief  manufacturing  operations,  so 
that  any  investigations  made  in  the  laboratory  can  be 
carried  through  to  the  practical  works'  scale  without 
interfering  with  the  production  departments.  In  the 
research  laboratory  of  the  Eastman  Kodak  Company 
the  manufacturing  department  includes  emulsion- 
making  and  plate,  film,  and  paper-coating  departments, 
the  capacity  being  very  considerable,  the  plate  depart- 
ment being  able  to  make  300  dozen  8  in.  by  10  in. 
plates  a  day.  These  departments  are  used  not  only  for 
systematic  experiments  on  emulsion  suitable  for  various 
purposes,  such  as  different  kinds  of  plate  emulsion, 
colour-sensitive  emulsions,  especialfy  for  colour  photo- 
graphy, and  experimental  printing  papers,  but  they 
are  further  used  to  make  en  a  small  scale  products 
which  are  required  for  special  purposes  in  very  small 
quantities,  such  as  special  plates  required  by  astro- 
nomers or  spectroscopists,  or  special  films  required  for 
experimental  purposes  by  tho^se  working  on  colour 
photography,  or  attempting  to  develop  other  photo- 
graphic processes.  Requests  for  such  special  materials 
are  received  by  every  large  manufacturing  company, 
and  the  execution  of  the  orders  in  the  production 
departments  frequently  involves  much  delay  and  loss, 
whereas  the  manufacturing  section  of  the  laboratory 
can  carry  out  the  work  with  a  full  understanding  of 
the  use  to  which  the  materials  are  to  be  put,  and  can 
often  materially  assist  the  purchaser  in  working  out 
his  idea.  Co-operation  of  this  kind  between  the 
general  public  and  the  laboratory  cannot  but  be  of 
advantage  to  both  parties. 

The  manufacturing  departments  should  be  in  charge 
of  skilled  foremen  who  have  had  previous  experience 
in  the  works,  and  be  run  in  exactly  the  same  way 
as  the  production  departments  themselves,  being  under 
the  general  supervision  of  the  director  of  the  laboratory 
and  of  any  assistants  that  it  may  be  necessary  for  him 
to  employ.  The  foremen  of  the  departments  should, 
however,  co-Of>erate  very  fully  with  the  scientific  de- 
partments. 

There  is  always  some  difficulty  in  a  laboratory  in 
getting  the  scientific  departments  to  make  full  use  of 
the  special  knowledge  of  the  manufacturing  division 
and  at  the  same  time  to  realise  the  practical  difficulties 
which  occur  in  works  processes,  but  this  difficulty  can 
be  overcome  much  better  in  the  case  of  the  manufac- 
turing division  of  the  laboratory  than  it  could  if  an 
outside  production  department  were  involved  without 
the  laboratory  division  acting  as  intermediary. 

The  scientific  division  of  the  laboratory  should  be 
divided  into  departments  dealing  with  the  special  sub- 
jects, but  every  care  should  be  taken  that  these  depart- 
ments do  not  become  at  all  isolated  from  each  other, 
and  that  they  co-operate  with  each  other  in  the  most 
complete  way  on  the  solution  of  the  problems  on  which 
the  laboratory  is  engaged.  In  order  to  ensure  this  the 
main  lines  of  work  under  investigation  may  be  suit- 
ably discussed  at  a  morning  conference  at  the  beginning 
of  the  day's  work,  one  day  of  the  week  being  assigned 
to  each  subject.  The  laboratory  organisation  will*  then 
resolve  itself  into  a  number  of  different  departments 
engaged  in  dealing  with  a  number  of  different  lines 
of  work,  and  the  total  work  of  the  laboratory  during 
the  year  may  be  suitably  represented  by  a  chart 
similar  to  that  devised  for  the  research  laboratory  of 
the  Eastman  Kodak  Company. 

The  departments  of  the  laboratory  are  represented 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


as  circles  on  the  outside  of  the  chart,  the  main  divi- 
sions in  which  problems  group  themselves  being 
represented  by  rectangles,  subdivided  in  some  in- 
stances, occupying  the  middle  of  the  chart.  Each 
of  these  rectangles  will  correspond  to  a  morning  con- 
ference; thus,  a  conference  will  be  held  on  general 
photography,  at  which  there  will  be  present  members 
of  the  photographic  department,  the  physics  depart- 
ment, the  department  of  organic  chemistrj',  and  the 
emulsion  and  coating  or  manufacturing  departments. 
There  will  be  present  at  the  conference,  in  fact,  every 
scientific  worker  of  the  laboratory,  whatever  his  rank, 
who  is  directly  engaged  on  the  subjects  which  are 
included  under  the  head  of  general  photography,  and 
in  some  cases,  or  on  special  occasions,  members  of  the 
staff  of  the  compan)'  external  to  the  laboratory  may 
be  invited  to  these  conferences,  although  as  a  general 
rule  in  the  case  of  a  large  company  it  will  not  be 
possible  for  them  to  be  regularly  present.  All  the 
main  lines  of  investigation  should  be  laid  down  at 
these  conferences,  and  the  progress  from  week  to  week 
carefully  discussed.  This  procedure  will  enable  a  great 
saving  in  time  to  be  made,  since  it  will  avoid  the  loss 
of  time  which  continually  occurs  in  laboratories  from 
the  wrong  man  doing  a  specific  piece  of  work ;  and 
the  economy  can  be  much  increased  by  a  suitable 
arrangement  of  the  building  and  equipment  itself. 

The  building  should  be  so  arranged  that  all  the 
laboratories  are  open  to  everybody  in  the  scientific 
departments,  but  that  in  each  laboratory  involving 
special  classes  of  apparatus  there  are  specialists  con- 
tinually working  who  are  available  for  consultation 
and  assistance  to  all  other  workers  in  the  laboratory. 
In  this  way  single  operations  which  become  necessary 
in  the  course  of  an  investigation  may  frequently  be 
transferred  from  the  man  who  has  carried  on  the  main 
line  of  work  on  the  subject  to  some  other  specialist  in 
the  laboratory.  In  the  Kodak  laboratory,  for  instance, 
electrical  measurements,  photometric  measurements, 
sfiectrophotography,  lens  optics,  photographic  sensito- 
metry,  work  involving  dyestuffs,  and  all  strictly  photo- 
graphic operations,  such  as  copying,  lantern-slide 
making,  printing  and  enlarging,  making  up  de- 
velopers, etc.,  are  in  the  hands  of  specialists,  and; 
whenever  any  of  these  operations  become  necessary  in] 
the  course  of  an  investigation,  the  conference  directs] 
that  they  be  carried  out  by  the  specialist  on  the  subject. 
In  this  way  an  organic  chemist,  for  instance,  will  have 
the  absorption  curve  of  his  products  measured,  not  by 
an  instrument  in  the  organic  laboratory,  but  by  the 
physics  department,  while  the  preparation  of  photo- 
graphs, lantern-slides,  and  prints,  which  are  often 
involved  in  publication,  are  carried  on  by  the  photo- 
graphic department  and  not  by  the  man  who  did  the 
work,  these  arrangements  relieving  specialists  in  on« 
subject  from  having  to  acquire  technical  skill  in 
another.  It  is  in  such  complete  co-operation  that  th« 
greatest  economy  in  scientific  investigation  is  to  b^ 
found. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  such  specialisation  aA 
this  is  not  at  all  suitable  for  use  in  a  university,  where 
the  object  is  the  broadening  and  education  of  the 
students;  it  is  one  of  the  many  differences  between 
research  work  in  a  university  and  in  a  set  research 
laboratory,  whether  it  be  industrial  or  not,  that  in  a 
university  the  primary  object  is  the  training  of  the 
worker,  while  in  the  research  laboratory  the  primary 
object  is  the  carrying  out  of  the  investigation. 

The  best  utilisation  of  the  results  obtained  in  an 
industrial  research  laboratory  is  only  second  in  import- 
ance to  the  organisation  required  to  obtain  them.  All 
results  of  general  scientific  interest  and  importance 
should  undoubtedly  be  published,  both  in  the  public 
interest,   and   because   only   by   such   publication    can 


July  20,  19 16] 


NATURE 


433 


he  interest  of  the  laboratorj-  staff  in  pure  science  be 
iiaintained.     It  is  doubtful  if  the  importance  of  main- 
lining   the    full  interest    in    theoretical    science   of   a 
<boratory    staff    has    been    fully    realised.     When    the 
len  come  to  the  laboratory  they  are  usually  interested 
niefly  in  the  progress  of  pure  science,  but  they  rapidly 
■  come  absorbed  in  the  special  problems  presented  to 
lem,  and,  without  definite  effort  on  the  part  of  those 
sponsible  for  the  direction  of  the  laboratory,  there  is 
,reat  danger  that  they  will  not  keep  up  to  date  in 
v.hat  is  being  done  by  other  workers  in  their  own  and 
allied    fields.       Their   interest   can    be    stimulated   by 
journal   meetings   and   scientific  conferences,    but   the 
j^reatest  stimulation  is  afforded  by  the  requirement  that 
they  themselves  should  publish  in  the  usual  scientific 
journals  the  scientific  results  which  they  may  obtain. 
Another  reason  for  publication  is  that  when  a  piece  of 
work   is   written   up   for  publication   the  necessity  for 
linishing  loose  ends  becomes  manifest,  and  that  work 
which  is  published  is  therefore  more  likely  to  be  pro- 
perly completed. 

With  some  laboratories  publication  is  rendered  diffi- 
cult by  the  industrial  organisation ;  while  nominally 
manufacturing  companies  are  usually  willing  that  re- 
sults of  scientific  interest  should  be  published,  the  organ- 
isation of  the  company  frequently  requires  that  they 
should  be  passed  on  by  the  heads  of  several  departments, 
such  as  the  sales,  patent,  advertising,  manufacturing, 
and  so  on,  and  the  heads  of  these  departments,  pos- 
sibly not  understanding  the  subject,  and  being  afraid  of 
passing  material  which  might  prove  detrimental,  fre- 
quently err  very  much  in  the  direction  of  withholding 
entirely  harmless  information  from  lack  of  sufficient 
knowledge.  It  is  much  more  satisfactory,  if  possible, 
for  one  responsible  executive  to  pass  on  all  matter 
submitted  for  publication,  and  this  will  inevitably 
result  in  a  much  more  liberal  policy  than  where  the 
responsibility  is  delegated  to  a  number  of  representa- 
tives of  different  departments  of  the  company. 

In  addition  to  these  scientific  papers  special  tech- 
nical reports  for  the  information  of  the  staff  of  the 
company  itself  should  be  circulated  by  the  laboratory, 
and  in  the  case  of  the  Kodak  laboratory  an  abstract 
bulletin  is  published  monthly  giving  information  as  to 
the  more  important  papers  appearing  in  the  technical 
journals  associated  with  the  photog'raphic  industry  and 
also  of  all  photographic  patents.  It  is  often  advisable, 
also,  to  prepare  special  bulletins  dealing  with  the  appli- 
cation of  scientific  investigations,  which  have  already 
been  published,  to  the  special  needs  and  interests  of 
the  company. 

Since  the  evidence  points,  therefore,  to  the  establish- 
ment of  really  large  research  laboratories  as  the  most 
economical  and  efficient  way  of  increasing  the  applica- 
tion of  science  in  industrial  work,  the  question  arises 
as  to  how  these  large  laboratories  are  to  be  supported. 
In  the  United  States  the  great  manufacturing  cor- 
porations, who  can  afford  the  necessary  capital  and 
expenditure  for  maintenance,  and  are  willing  to  wait 
for  the  results,  have  already  undertaken  the  establish- 
ment of  a  number  of  large  research  laboratories.  Such 
concerns  as  United  States  Steel,  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, United  States  Rubber,  Du  Pont  de  Nemours,  and 
many  others  are  supporting  large  and  adequately 
equipped  research  laboratories,  the  staffs  of  which  are 
engaged  in  work  on  the  fundamental  theorv  of  the 
industries  in  which  they  are  interested,  and  undoubtedly 
more  and  more  such  laboratories  will  be  established 
in  the  course  of  the  struggle  for  increased  industry 
which  the  United  States  is  preparing  to  waire.  There 
are  a  Iarg:e  number,  however."  of  smaller  ifirms,  who 
cannot  afford  the  great  expenditures  involved,  but  who 
are  anxious  to  benefit  by  the  application  of  science  to 
their  work,  and  it  seems  that  the  onlv  solution  of  the 


NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


problem  of  providing  for  such  firms  is  in  the  direction 
either  of  co-operative  laboratories  serving  the  whole 
industry,  as  has  already  been  done  in  the  case  of  the 
National  Canners'  Association  and  the  National  Paint 
Association,  and  no  doubt  in  some  others,  or  of 
national  laboratories  devoted  to  special  subjects  con- 
nected with  industry  and  corresponding  to  such  institu- 
tions dealing  with  special  branches  oi  pure  science  as 
the  Geophysical  Laboratory  of  the  Carnegie  Institution. 
Schemes  l€r  industrial  scholarships  tenable  at  universi- 
ties do  not  meet  the  case  at  all,  since  work  done  under 
such  arrangements  must  necessarily  be  directed  towards 
a  definite  practical  end  rather  than  towards  the  general 
acquisition  of  knowledge  connected  with  the  under- 
lying principles  on  which  an  industry  rests.  In  the 
same  way  consulting  laboratories,  Hke  industrial 
scholarships,  are  interested  in  the  development  of  re- 
sults for  immediate  practical  application,  and  both 
these  methods  of  work  are  substitutes  for  the  practical 
industrial  laboratories  belonging  to  my  second  general 
division  rather  than  for  the  large  laboratories  here 
discussed. 

In  England  the  co-ordination  of  industry  has  not  pro- 
ceeded as  in  the  United  States,  and  there  are  very  few 
corporations  who  would  be  willing  to  maintain  a  large, 
fully  equipped  research  laboratory  of  the  type  dis- 
cussed, although  a  few  such  laboratories  are  well 
known  to  be  in  existence,  but  British  industry  has 
been  brought  very  much  together  during  the  past 
eighteen  months,  and  the  organisation  of  industry  is 
already  a  familiar  phrase.  Why,  then,  should  England 
not  establish  a  National  Industrial  Research  Labora- 
tory to  assist  all  British  manufacturers,  and  to  de- 
velop-the  theory  underlying  the  great  fundamental  in- 
dustries on  which  British  work  depends?  Such  a 
laboratory  could  take  the  theory  from  the  universities, 
or,  where  the  theorj-  was  lacking,  develop  it  and  apply 
it  to  the  separate  industries,  working  out  the  results 
on  a  semi-manufacturing  scale,  and  finally  passing  it 
on  to  the  manufacturer.  It  may  be  of  interest  to 
glance  at  the  possible  size  and  scope  of  such  an 
organisation,  and  I  have  attempted  to  formulate  a 
scheme  which  will  represent  the  minimum  which  would 
be  required. 

A  laboratory  on  the  smallest  scale  adequate  to 
British  industry  would,  at  the  beginning,  require  a 
staff  of  about  two  thousand  men,  one  thousand  of  them 
scientifically  trained  and  the  other  thousand  assistants 
and  w-orkmen.  It  should  have  about  three  or  four 
hundred  men  of  the  rank  of  professor  or  assistant 
professor  in  the  universities,  or  of  works  manager  or 
assistant  manager  or  chief  chemist  in  the  factory.  It 
wx)uld  require  land  and  buildings  costing  about 
6oo,oooZ.,  and  its  annual  upkeep  with  allowance  for 
expansion   would  be  about  8oo,oooZ. 

Vast  as  these  figures  are,  they  are  infinitesimal  com- 
pared with  the  value  of  the  industries  which  they 
would  serve.  They  represent  a  charge  of  less  than 
I  per  cent.,  and  probably  not  more  than  i/5th  per  cent., 
of  the  net  profits  of  British  industry ;  moreover,  after 
the  initial  period  had  been  paid  for,  such  a  laboratoPi' 
might  be  self-supporting,  and  might,  indeed,  finally 
make  a  very  handsome  profit  on  the  original  invest 
ment. 

Suppose  that  such  a  laboratory  patented  all  inven 
tions  and  licensed  manufacturers  to  use  them,  then, 
I  think,  it  is  not  too  much  to  expect  that  after  the 
first  five  or  six  years  it  would  be  paying  for  itself, 
and  that  five  years  later  it  would  be  able  to  establish 
a  great  many  subsidiary  institutions  from  its  profits; 
at  any  rate,  such  a  vast  laboratory  would  produce  far 
more  results  at  lower  cost  than  would  result  from  any 
other  expenditure  of  a  oomoarable  sum  of  money  on 
industrial  research  bv  the  British  industries. 


434 


NATURE 


[July  20,  19 16 


I  believe,  however,  that  within  the  lifetime  of  most, 
if  not  all,  of  us  we  shall  see  such  extensions  of  in- 
dustrial research  as  will  make  all  that  we  now  have 
in  mind  seem  insignificant,  and  it  is  because  I  believe 
so  strongly  in  the  importance  of  the  subject  that  I 
have  endeavoured  to  collect  some  impressions  on  the 
subject  and  to  bring  them  before  you  this  evening. 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

London. — At  the  assembly  of  faculties  of  University 
College  on  July  6,  Dr.  G.  Carey  Foster  in  the  chair, 
the  provost's  report  on  the  session  1915-16  was  read. 
In  addition  to  the  services  rendered  in  the  Navy  and 
Army  by  members  of  the  college,  laboratory  and 
workshop  accommodation  has  been  utilised  for  various 
forms  of  war  work.  It  is  not  permitted  to  give 
detailed  particulars  of  the  work  done ;  but  the  de- 
partments that,  from  the  nature  of  their  work,  have 
been  particularly  active  are  those  of  physics,  chemistry, 
physiology,  pharmacology,  applied  statistics  and 
eugenics,  and  all  the  departments  of  the  faculty  of 
engineering.  The  effect  of  the  war  upon  the  college 
finances  has  been  a  cause  of  grave  anxiety.  This  has 
been  to  some  extent  mitigated  by  a  grant  from  the 
Treasury  of  10,500^.  and  by  the  economies  that  it  has 
been  possible  to  introduce  owing  to  the  unsparing 
efforts  of  members  of  the  academic  staff  in  this  direc- 
tion, and  owing  also  to  the  friendly  co-operation  of 
other  London  colleges,  more  especially  King's  and 
Bediord  Colleges.  The  chief  domestic  event  of  the 
year  is  the  occupation  of  the  new  chemistry  labora- 
tories. They  are  well  on  the  road  towards  completion, 
but  much  equipment  is  still  needed,  and  can  only  be 
provided  as  the  means  are  forthcoming.  Towards  the 
sum  of  20,oooZ.  still  required  for  this  purpose,  the  bene- 
factor. Sir  Ralph  Forster,  to  whom  the  college  is 
largely  indebted  for  the  new  chemistry  buildings,  has 
promised  a  sum  of  5000Z.  provided  the  balance  of 
15,000/.  is  speedily  subscribed. 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the  Household  and 
Social  Science  Department  of  King's  College 
for  Women  has  appointed  Miss  Lane-Claypon  to  be 
the  chief  administrative  officer  of  the  department 
under  the  committee,  with  the  title  of  dean.  This 
office  will  be  combined  with  that  of  lecturer  on  hygiene. 
The  committee  has  decided  upon  this  new  appointment 
with  the  view  of  meeting  the  rapidly  growing  needs  of 
the  department.  Dr.  Lane-Claypon,  w^ho  is  at  present 
an  officer  of  the  Local  Government  Board,  will  take 
up  her  duties  next  session. 

Manchester. — The  total  number  of  students  in  all 
faculties  for  the  session  just  concluded  was  1165.  In 
the  sessions  1913-14  and  1914-15  the  numbers  were 
1654  and  1415  respectively.  The  list  of  past  and 
present  members  of  the  university  serving  with  H.M. 
Forces  in  the  war,  or  engaged  in  approved  war 
service,  now  numbers  more  than  1300.  The  number 
of  past  or  present  members  of  the  university  killed 
in  action,  died  through  the  war,  or  reported  missing 
has  now  reached  qo. 

Manv  of  the  departments  of  the  university 
have  been  able  to  render  special  scientific  service, 
both  advisory  and  experimental,  in  connection 
with  the  war.  Prof.  Petavel  is  a  member  of 
the  Government  Advisory  Committee  on  Aero- 
nautics, and  all  the  work  now  being  done  in 
the  department  of  engineering  under  his  direction  has 
a  bearing  upon  war  problems,  and  is  being  placed 
at  the  service  of  the  Government.  Prof.  Dixon  has 
been  appointed  deputy-inspector  of  high  explosives  for 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


the  Manchester  area,  and  all  the  high  explosives 
manufactured  in  the  district  are  tested  in  the  uni- 
versity chemical  laboratory.  Prof.  Lapworth  has  been 
authorised  by  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  to  conduct 
a  number  ot  war  researches,  and  a  staff  has  been 
organised  in  his  department  for  testing  tars  made 
in  various  gasworKs  in  ihe  country.  I'rof.  Edwards 
and  his  assistants  in  the  metallurgy  department  have 
been  fully  engaged  in  testing  work  for  the  Admiralty. 

Sir  E.  Rutherford  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Investigation  and  Research  of  the  .Admiralty,  and 
special  investigations  are  in  progress  in  the  physics 
department  dealing  with  the  problems  that  engage 
the  attention  of  that  Board.  The  testing  of  optical 
instruments  for  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  is  also 
carried  on  in  that  department. 

In  the  school  of  technology  a  large  staf?  of  teachers 
and  students  is  engaged  in  various  kinds  of  work 
for  the  Ministry  of  "Munitions  and  other  departments 
of  the  Government. 

Prof.  Chapman  has  been  appointed  by  the  Board 
of  Trade,  and  Profs.  Calder  and  Dickie  by  the  Admi- 
ralty, for  special  service  in  these  Government  depart- 
ments. War  work  is  also  being  conducted  in  the 
botany  department  for  the  Royal  Aircraft  Factory, 
and  by  Prof.  Beattie  in  the  department  of  electro- 
technics. 

The  women  teachers  and  students  have  organised 
two  \.A.  detachments  of  the  Red  Cross  Society,  and 
have  been  engaged  in  other  forrhs  of  work  for  the 
relief  of  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  in  the  Man- 
chester hospitals. 

Several  of  the  elementary  schools  having  been  taken 
over  for  military  hospitals,  the  museum  committee, 
in  consultation  with  the  education  authorities,  has 
made  arrangements  for  classes  of  students  to  be  given 
in  the  natural  history  and  Egyptology  departments 
of  the  museum.  By  this  arrangement  effective  in- 
struction is  provided  for  900  to  1000  children  per  week 
in   the  museum. 


The  next  general  meeting  of  the  Association  of 
Public  School  Science  Masters  will  be  held  at  Eton, 
under  the  presidency  of  Prof.  H.  H.  Turner,  on 
January  3  and  4,    1917- 

The  trustees  of  the  Beit  Fellowships  for  Scientific 
Research,  which  were  founded  and  endowed  three 
years  ago  by  Mr.  Otto  Beit,  in  order  to  promote  the 
advancement  of  science  by  means  of  research,  have 
elected  to  fellowships  for  1916-17  :  Mr.  H.  N.  Walsh, 
Cork  (extension  for  a  second  year) ;  Mr.  W.  A. 
Haward,  Tufnell  Park ;  and  Mr.  C.  C.  Smith,  Bristol. 
The  three  Fellows  will  carry  on  their  respective  re- 
searches in  the  Imperial  College  of  Science  and 
Technology. 

The  issue  of  the  Times  for  July  15  gives  some  par- 
ticulars of  a  meeting  on  July  6  between  the  parents 
of  bovs  at  twenty-six  of  the  principal  public  schools 
and  a  committee  of  public  school  headmasters.  The 
attitude  taken  up  by  some  of  the  headmasters  showed 
a  misapprehension  of  the  claims  made  by  the  cham- 
pions of  the  value  of  a  training  in  science  in  the 
education  of  all.  To  study  science  is  not  of  necessity 
to  become  materialistic,  and  science  and  materialism 
are  not  by  any  means  synonymous  terms,  though  one 
headmaster  argued  as  if  they  were.  The  man  of  science 
values  as  much  as  others  high-mindedness  and  real 
character,  but  he  urges  that  these  may  be  secured  side 
by  side  with  an  acquaintance  with  modern  science  and 
general  efficiency.  The  headmaster  of  Harrow  ex- 
plained that  in   his  school  all  boys   are  compelled  as 


July  20,  1916] 


NATURE 


435 


part  of  their  school  career  to  learn  science,  and  any 
boy  with  special  scientific  abilit\-  was  encouraged  to 
develop  it.  A  wrong  use  may  be  made  of  many  good 
gifts,  and  because  modern  research  may  be  directed 
to  destructive  ends  is  no  reason  why  our  boys  should 
leave  school  ignorant  of  subjects  which  will  be  essen- 
tial in  the  coming  economic  struggle,  and  without  a 
knowledge  of  which  efficiency  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  a  modern  State  is  impossible. 

The  terrible  conflict  in  which  we,  together  with 
the  chief  civilised  nations  of  Europe,  are  now  engaged 
has  served  to  awaken  in  this  country  a  deep  unrest 
as  to  educational  results  and  methods,  especially  in 
respect  of  the  place  of  science  in  education.  This 
question  formed  the  subject  of  a  significant  article 
by  Prof.  J.  A.  Fleming,  F.R.S.,  in  the  Journal  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  Arts  for  June  23.  In  this  article 
Prof.  Fleming  seeks  to  lay  the  true  foundations  of 
national  education  for  all  classes  of  the  people,  and 
he  demands  that  a  careful  and  searching  analysis 
shall  be  instituted  into  the  causes  which  have  led  to 
our  failure  to  cultivate  sufficiently  scientific  knowledge 
and  to  estimate  its  proper  place  and  function  in 
general  education.  The  true  philosophy  of  education 
is  to  enable  the  child  to  educate  himself,  for  he  is 
naturally  a  philosopher,  an  experiinentalist,  and  an 
artist,  and  the  best  we  can  do  is  to  direct  his  activities 
into  right  channels,  to  teach  him  how  to  do  things, 
and  especially  to  bring  the  town-born  child  into  closer 
touch  with  Nature.  As  to  the  secondary  and  public 
schools  a  complete  change  is  demanded  in  the  curri- 
culum, even  to  the  extent  of  the  abolition  in  the 
latter  of  the  present  division  into  classical  and  modern 
sides,  so  that  the  various  great  groups  of  educational 
subjects — languages  and  literature ;  science,  or  a 
knowledge  of  the  facts  and  laws  of  the  universe; 
mathematics  and  graphics ;  religious  and  ethical  in- 
struction ;  history ;  economics ;  the  duties  of  citizen- 
ship ;  and  physical  care — may  be  put  upon  a  footing 
of  strict  equality  in  the  school  course.  The  right 
methods  of  scientific  teaching  applied  to  all  branches 
of  study,  the  importance  of  experimentation  on  the 
part  of  the  pupil  rather  than  that  of  much  lecturing, 
the  value  of  re-discovery,  under  due  guidance,  of  the 
elementary  laws  and  facts  of  science,  are  strongly  in- 
sisted upon.  So  in  the  universities  their  function 
should  be  not  so  much  the  dissemination  of  scientific 
knowledge  as  the  due  training  and  instruction  of 
men  who  can  create  new  knowledge,  it  being  the 
main  duty  of  the  university  to  increase  by  means  of 
research  the  sum  of  knowledge  based  upon  that 
already  gained,  opening  up  for  the  first  time  some 
novel  and  rich  mine  of  scientific  truth.  Everv  .  en- 
couragement should  be  given  to  men  of  ori_Q:inal 
powers  of  mind,  and  we  need  to  search  diligently  for 
such  men  in  the  firm  belief  that  "there  are  revolution- 
ising discoveries  and  inventions  vet  to  be  made  which 
will  affect  human  life  in  everv  wav." 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 
Edinblrgh. 
Royal  Society,   Tulv  3. — Dr.  Home,  president,  in  the 
chair.— Dr.    R.   Kidrton  and   Prof.   W.    H.    Lang:    On 

Old  Red  Sandstone  fossil  plants  showing  structure, 
from  Rhynie  Chert  Bed,  .Aberdeenshire.  Well-preserved 
silicified  plant  remains  have  been  found  in  a  chert 
band  not  younger  than  the  Middle  Old  Red  Sandstone. 
There  are  two  vascular  plants.  Rhvnia  gwynne- 
vaughatii,  n.sp.  and  n.g.,  and  Asteroxylou  mackiei, 
n.sp.  and  n.g.  The  olants  of  Rhvnia  grew  closely 
crowded  together,  and  their  remains  formed  a  peat. 
The  plant  was  rootless  and  leafless,  consisting  en- 
NO.    2438,    VOL.    97I 


tirely  of  a  system  of  cylindrical  stems.  Rhizomes  were 
fixed  in  the  peat  by  rhizoids,  and  tapering  aerial  stems 
grew  up  from  them.  These  stems  bore  small  hemi- 
spherical projections,  and  branched  dichotomously  and 
laterally.  They  had  a  thick-walled  epidermis  with 
stomata,  and  a  simple  central  cylinder  consisting  of  a 
strand  of  tracheides  surrounded  by  phloem.  Large 
cylindrical  sporangia,  containing  numerous  spores, 
were  borne  terminally  on  some  of  the  leafless  aerial 
stems.  The  plant  is  compared  with  some  of  the  speci- 
mens of  Psilophyton  princeps,  figured  by  Dawson ;  and 
a  new  class  of  vascular  cryptogams,  the  Psilophytales, 
is  founded  for  their  reception.  This  is  characterised 
by  the  sporangia  being  borne  at  the  ends  of  branches 
of  the  stem  without  any  relation  to  leaves  or  leaf-like 
organs.  A  comparison  is  made  between  Psilophytales 
and  the  existing  class  of  Psilotales. — Dr.  R.  Kidston  : 
Contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  British  Palaeozoic 
plants.  Part  L  :  Fossil  plants  from  the  Scottish  coal 
measures.  The  paper  contains  descriptions  of  new  or 
little-known  species. — Dr.  W.  B.  Blaikie  :  Exhibition 
of  a  universal  sun-dial  giving  any  standard  mean  time 
and  of  a  diagram  giving  sunrise  and  sunset  in  mean 
time  for  all  longitudes  and  latitudes.  The  dial  was 
mounted  equatorially,  and  was  translucent,  so  that  a 
shadow  could  be  cast  whether  the  sun  shone  from  above 
or  from  below.  A  simple  rotation  set  the  instrument  to 
the  mean  time  for  any  longitude,  and  a  tangent  screw 
adjustment  applied  the  equation  of  time  with  great 
simplicity.  The  diagram  consisted  of  two  ruled  sur- 
faces, of  which  the  upper  was  transparent.  When 
the  graduation  representing  latitude  on  the  one  was 
made  to  coincide  with  the  graduation  representing 
declination  on  the  other,  certain  radial  lines  gave  the 
times  of  sunrise  and  sunset. — Prof.  M.  Maclean 
and  D.  J.  Mackellar  :  On  the  heating  of  field  coils  of 
dynamo-electric  machinery.  Temperatures  were 
measured  by  thermometers,  by  resistance  measure- 
ment, and  by  thermo-couples  placed  at  different  points 
in  the  coil.  Results  were  obtained  for  various  condi- 
tions of  load  and  for  various  speeds,  and  were  dis- 
cussed under  the  two  heads:  (i)  the  effect  of  the 
armature  current,  (2)  the  effect  of  armature  peripheral 
speed.^Dr.  M.  Kojima :  Preliminar\'  communication 
on  the  effects  of  thyroid  feeding  upon  the  pancreas. 
The  work  had  been  carried  out  in  the  physiological 
laboratory  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  It  was 
found  that  the  addition  of  a  certain  amount  of  thyroid 
to  the  food  of  animals  (rats)  produced  pronounced 
morphogenetic  changes  in  the  pancreas,  .\fter  a  few- 
days'  feeding,  the  gland  cells  multiply,  their  nuclei 
exhibiting  marked  evidence  of  kar\-okinesis.  .Accom- 
panving  this  change  there  is  a  decided  diminution  in 
the  amount  of  zymogen  contained  in  the  cells,  which 
are  now  much  smaller  than  normal,  .\fter  two  or 
three  weeks  the  cell-multiplication  ceases  and  zymogen 
again  accumulates,  so  that  the  cells  increase  in  size, 
a  general  enlargement  of  the  gland  being  ultimately 
effected. — J.  Littlejohn  :  The  application  of  operators  to 
the  solution  of  the  algebraic  equation.  The  operators 
were  differentiations  and  integrations  with  respect  to 
the  coeflficients,  and  it  was  shown  how  the  roots  could 
be  evaluated  in  the  case  of  numerical  equations. — Dr. 
H.  Bateman  :  On  systems  of  partial  differential  equa- 
tions and  the  transformation  of  spherical  harmonics. 
The  paper  showed  how  the  general  equation  of  wave- 
motion  associated  with  Maxwell's  electromagnetic 
theorv  could  be  transformed  into  the  Laplacian  form  of 
equation  in  three  variables.  Thus  the  electrostatic 
vector  E  can  be  expressed  in  the  form  Grad  V,  where 
V  is  a  solution  of  the  Laplacian  equation  in  terms  of 
the  variables  X,  Y,  Z,  which  are  functions  of  the 
original  variables  x,  y,  z,  t.  The  result  is  that  a 
solution  of  Laplace's  equation  in  X,  V,  Z  is  a  solution 
of  the  wave  equation  in  .\-.  y.  z.  t. 


436 


NATURE 


[July  20,  19 16 


Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  June  26.— M.  Camille  Jordan  in 
the  chair. — G.  Bigourdan  :  The  propagation  of  sound 
to  a  great  distance.  It  is  established  that  tlie  cannon- 
ade at  the  front  has  been  heard  at  a  distance  of  250 
Icilometres. — A.  Gautier  :  The  historical  origin  of  the 
sugar-cane  and  cane-sugar.  Cane-sugar  was  used  in 
•China  in  a.d.  749,  and  introduced  into  Japan  a  century 
later.  It  did  not  reach  Europe  until  after  the 
Crusades,  and  was  grown  in  Spanish  America  in  1566. 
— L.  Landouzy  :  Predispositions,  innate  or  acquired,  to 
tubercular  infection. — Dr.  Ramon  y  Cajal  was  elected 
a  correspondant  for  the  section  of  anatomy  and 
zoology  in  the  place  of  the  late  Jean  Perez,  and  Prof. 
Morat  a  correspondant  for  the  section  of  medicine  and 
surgery  in  the  place  of  the  late  M.  Zambaco. — R. 
Birkeland  :  Some  important  formulae  and  their  applica- 
tions.— N.  Lusin  :  Research  in  primitive  functions. — 
C.  Benedicks  :  The  determination  of  thermoelectric 
power  by  means  of  the  differential  galvanometer.  The 
exact  determination  of  the  difference  of  temperature 
"between  two  given  points  of  a  good  conductor  requires 
the  use  of  two  thermo-couples.  If  these  are  joined 
separately  to  the  two  circuits  of  a  differential  galvano- 
meter, the  difference  of  temperature  can  be  obtained 
with  greater  precision  than  by  following  the  usual 
method. — P.  Choflat  :  Volcanic  phenomena  on  the 
Portuguese  coast  north  of  the  Tagus.— S.  Stefanescu  : 
The  origin  of  the  lozenge-shaped  figures  of  the  dental 
plates  of  elephants  (Loxodon). — Ch.  J.  Gravier  :  Incuba- 
tion in  Actinia  equina  at  the  island  of  San  Thom6 
•(Gulf  of  Guinea). 

July  3. — M.  Camille  Jordan  in  the  chair. — J. 
Bergonie  :  Powerful  electro-vibrators  working  with 
small  current,  continuous  or  alternating.  A  resonance 
electro-vibrator.  In  a  previous  paper  the  author 
described  an  electro-vibrator  for  detecting  and  extract- 
ing fragments  of  projectiles,  using  from  550  to  950 
watts,  but,  on  account  of  the  high  self-induction,  re- 
quiring 60  amperes  at  200  to  220  volts.  By  com- 
pensating the  self-induction  with  a  capacity  the  power 
required  can  be  much  reduced.  Thus  in  such  a  reson- 
ance electro-vibrator  recently  constructed,  working  on 
an  alternating  current  of  no  volts,  42  periods,  7-5 
amperes  were  taken,  and  its  electromagnetic  action  is 
the  same  as  that  of  an  apparatus  without  a  capacity, 
with  a  current  of  more  than  100  amperes. — Dr. 
Boulenger  was  elected  a  correspondant  for  the  section 
of  anatomy  and  zoology,  in  the  place  of  Prof.  Waldeyer. 
— R.  Gamier  :  Study  of  the  general  integral  of  equation 
(VI.)  of  Painlev^  in  the  neighbourhood  of  its  transcen- 
dental singularities. — E.  Gadeceau  :  The  submerged 
forests  of  Belle-Ile-en-Mer. — A.  Nodon  :  Observations  on 
the  terrestrial  electromagnetic  disturbances. — A. 
Lameere  :  A  new  phase  of  Dicyema. — Ch.  DWre  and 
G.  Vegezzi  :  Acid  haemochromogen. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Laboratory  Manual  in  General  Microbiology.  Pp. 
xvi  +  418.  (New  York  :  J.  Wiley  and  Sons,  Inc. ;  Lon- 
don :   Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.)     105.  6d.  net. 

Arithmetic  for  Engineers,  including  Simple 
Algebra,  Mensuration,  Logarithms,  Graphs,  and  the 
Slide  Rule.  By  C.  B.  Clapham.  Pp.  xi  +  436.  (Lon- 
don :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.)     5s.  6d.  net. 

The  World  and  its  Discovery.  By  H.  B.  Wetherill. 
Four  parts.  (London  :  At  the  Clarendon  Press.)  is. 
each. 

Contents  and  Index  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  ladia.  Vols,  xxi.-xxxv.,  1884-1911. 
By  G.  de  P.  Cotter.  Pp.  iv+119.  (Calcutta:  Super- 
intendent Government  Printing.) 

NO.    2438,    VOL.    97] 


The  Statesman's  Year  Book.  .  Fifty-third  Annual 
Publication.  Edited  by  Dr.  J.  Scott  Keltic,  assisted 
by  Dr.  M.  Epstein.  Pp.  xliv+ 1560  + plates  iv.  (Lon- 
don:  Macmillan  and  Co.,   Ltd.)     los.  6d.  net. 

Shakespeare's  England :  An  Account  of  the  Life 
and  Manners  of  his  Age.  Vol.  i.,  pp.  xxiv  +  546. 
Vol,  ii.,  pp.  X  +  610.  (London  :  At  the  Clarendon 
Press.)     Two  vols.,  255.  net. 

Tales  from  a  Boy's  Fancy.  By  A,  Shawmeker. 
Pp.  320.  (Kansas  City :  Burton  Publishing  Com- 
pany.)    I  dollar  50  cents. 

A  Manual  of  Mendelism.  By  Prof,  J.  Wilson.  Pp. 
152.     (London  :  A.  and  C.  Black,  Ltd.)     2s.  6d.  net. 

The  Dreams  of  Orlow.  By  A.  M.  Irvine,  with  an 
introduction  by  J.  A.  Hill.  Pp.  256.  (London  :  G. 
Allen  and  Unwin,  Ltd.)     5s.   net. 

A  Course  in  Mathematical  Analysis.  Functions  of 
a  Complex  Variable,  being  part  i,  of  vol.  ii.  By 
Prof.  E.  Goursat.  Translated  by  Prof.  E.  R. 
Hedrick  and  O.  Dunkel.  Pp.  x  +  259.  (Boston  and 
London  :   Ginn  and  Co.)     115.   6d. 

A  Text-book  of  Physics  and  Chemistry  for  Nurses. 
By  Profs.  A.  R.  Bliss  and  A.  H.  Olive.  Pp.  xiv  +  239, 
(Philadelphia  and  London  :  J.  B,  Lippincott  Com- 
pany.)    6s.  net. 

A  Modern  Job :  an  Essay  on  the  Problem  of  Evil. 
By  E.  Giran.  Translated  by  F.  Rothwell,  Pp.  92, 
(London  :  Open  Court  Publishing  Company.)  2s.  6d, 
net. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The  Future  of  Education                    .........  417 

Theory  of  Calculation.   By  Prof.  C,  V.  Boys,  JF.R.S.  418 

"Spotted  Fever" 419 

A  Monograph  on  Ticks 420 

Our  Bookshelf 420 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

Gravitation  and  Temperature. — ^J.  L 421 

The  Great  Aurora  of  June  17,   1915.— H.  A.  Hunt  421 
The  Utilisation  of  Waste  Heat  for  Agriculture. — C. 

Turnbull           ...                   422 

Scientific  Horticulture.     By  F.  K.             422 

The  Organisation   of  British  Chemical  Industries  423 
Prince     Boris    Galitzine,    For.Mem.R.S,       By    Sir 

Napier  Shaw,  F.R.S 424 

Notes                    424 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Origin  of  Group  G  of  the  Solar  Spectrum     ....  428 

Variable  Stellar  Spectra 428 

A  Large  Meteor 428 

The  Extraordinary  Meteoric  .Shower  of  June  28     .    .  428 

National  Interest  in  Mineral  Resources.     By  H.  L.  428 
The  Smoke  Nuisance   in  the    United  States.      By 

J.  B.  C.                     .                           429 

Man  as  a  Machine.    By  C.  G.  D 430 

The  Gravels  of  East  Anglia               , 431 

The  Organisation  of  Industrial  Scientific  Research. 

II.     By  Dr.  C.  E.  Kenneth  Mees 43' 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 434 

Societies  and  Academies 435 

Books  Received             43^ 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices: 

MACMILLAN   &   CO.,    Ltd., 

ST,    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON.    W.C. 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  be  addressed  to  the 
Publishers. 

Editorial  Communications  to  the  Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,  London. 
Telephone  Number :  Gkrrard  8830. 


NA  TURE 


437 


THURSDAY,    JULY    27,    1916. 


THE  NATIONAL  AWAKENING. 

\\THEN  the  events  of  the  early  days  of  the 
*  *  South  African  war  made  men  reflect  upon 
the  consequences  of  a  conflict  with  a  strong  Euro- 
pean Power,  the  nation  was  partly  awakened  from 
its  sleep  in  the  Garden  of  Ease.  There  were  de- 
mands for  the  reorganisation  of  our  forces  for 
peace  and  war,  and  an  incipient  feeling  prevailed 
that  the  plan  of  depending  upon  rule-of-thumb 
methods  and  knowledge  acquired  from  endless 
mistakes — many  of  them  painful — ^was  not  com- 
pletely satisfactory.  Over-prosperity  was  respon- 
sible for  the  lethargy  into  which  we  had  fallen, 
and  we  began  to  learn  in  the  school  of  adversity 
that  modern  struggles  require  strenuous  prepara- 
tion for  success.  With  the  end  of  the  war,  how- 
ever, the  stimulus  subsided,  and  the  nation  again 
closed  its  eyes  to  the  marvellous  progress  which 
other  countries  were  making. 

We  have  now  been  at  war  for  nearly  two  years 
with  the  chief  of  these  countries ;  and  the  con- 
sequent dislocation  of  trade  and  commerce  has 
forced  attention  upon  the  ramifications  of  its  influ- 
ence throughout  our  Empire.  It  is  realised  now 
more  than  ever  before  that  the  development  of  our 
natural  resources,  and  the  profitable  employment 
of  our  discoveries,  have  been  left  largely  to  the 
initiative  of  an  alien  people,  and  that  there  must 
be  an  Imperial  Renaissance  if  we  are  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  such  enterprise  in  the  future.  We 
entered  into  the  war  in  defence  of  international 
right  against  an  aggressive  military  Power  :  we 
liave  to  sec  that,  when  success  has  been  achieved 
by  our  arms,  the  nation  is  fully  prepared  for  the 
economic  struggle  to  follow. 

The  recent  activities  of  many  national  interests 
show  that  the  need  for  a  new  Imperial  policy  is 
widely  understood.  Political  parties  have  united 
to  present  an  undivided  front  to  the  enemy ;  and 
whatever  opposition  exists  to  them  has  for  its 
object  the  effective  prosecution  of  the  war  and  the 
promotion  of  industrial  progress  afterwards.  We 
hope  that  the  electorate  wiU  never  again  be  de- 
luded by  the  platitudes  of  the  party  politician  of 
the  pre-war  era,  and  that  the  line  of  cleavage  will 
be  between  obscurantism  and  progressive  develop- 
ment. Commerce,  industry,,  and  education  have 
ranged  themselves  with  science  to  fight  inactivity 
and  inefficiency.  Educational  associations  are 
endeavouring  to  produce  reformed  curricula  and 
connecting  links  between  school  and  university; 
trade  associations  and  chambers  of  commerce 
NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


are  asking  for  the  creation  of  departments  of  State 
which  will  promote  the  development  of  industry 
and  research  and  co-ordinate  their  efforts ;  engi- 
neers, chemical  manufacturers,  and  other  produc- 
tive bodies  have  organised  themselves  for  the 
advancement  of  their  particular  interests;  and 
scientific  societies  have  formed  a  joint  committee 
to  deal  with  matters  of  national  importance-  All 
these  bodies  are  separate  organisations,  though 
their  aims  are  the  same.  It  is  obviously  desirable 
that,  while  retaining  thei'-  individual  characteris- 
tics, they  should,  to  give  them  political  strength, 
come  together  in  a  single  body  like  the  British 
Science  Guild,  which  represents  the  interests  of 
education,  commerce,  and  industry,  as  well  as  of 
science. 

Without  a  unifying  policy  there  is  little  possi- 
bility that  a  sufficient  body  of  opinion  will  be 
created  to  carry  into  effect  the  reforms  which  are 
being  advocated.  A  series  of  articles  on  "The 
Elements  of  Reconstruction,"  which  began  in  the 
Times  of  July  17,  traces  the  outlines  of  an  econo- 
mic principle  by  which  "those  who  are  attacking 
the  problem  of  the  industrial  reorganisation  of 
the  Empire  and  those  who  are  working  for  educa- 
tional reconstruction  "  may  be  made  to  join  hands. 
The  State  has  already  assumed  full  powers  of 
reorganisation  towards  the  scientific  foundations 
of  industries  concerned  with  the  provision  of  muni- 
tions of  war  :  it  should  be  induced  to  carry  on  the 
same  policy  after  the  war,  and  thus  enable  the 
nation  to  meet  the  competition  of  advancing 
rivals.  In  business  the  dominating  influence  is 
individual  interest,  and  it  will  not  be  necessary-  to 
urge  the  advantages  of  education  and  science 
when  the  community  as  a  whole  really  believes 
that  they  can  be  made  creators  of  wealth.  These 
agents  must  be  brought  into  close  connection  with 
economic  life  if  they  are  to  have  a  decisive  voice  in 
national  affairs.  This  does  not  mean  that 
teachers  and  men  of  science  should  necessarily 
seek  seats  in  Parliament,  but  they  should  asso- 
ciate themselves  with  any  organisation  which 
endeavours  to  secure  supporters  for  measures 
designed  to  increase  national  efficiency  by  means 
of  educational  and  scientific  work. 

The  action  of  the  State  when  it  comes  in  con- 
tact with  business  must  be  determined  by  econo- 
mic values  and  represent  the  action  of  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole  in  the  conduct  of  modern  busi- 
ness. The  only  way  in  which  the  community  can 
advance  as  a  whole  is  by  an  increase  of  the  total 
production  or  an  improvement  in  the  quality  of 
what  can  be  distributed.  To  secure  either  of 
these  things  knowledge  mus't  be  kept  progressive ; 
and,  if  wisdcm  is  to  control  the  State,  provision 

Z 


43« 


NATURE 


[July  27,  1916 


must  be  made  for  its  development  to  the  utmost. 
It  is  only  by  the  introduction  of  these  principles 
into  the  field  of  practical  politics  that  the  resources 
of  the  Empire  can  be  fully  developed,  and  we  shall 
be  able  to  hold  our  own  against  the  competition 
of  other  countries,  or  maintain  that  supremacy 
which  was  obtained  under  entirel}'  different  con- 
ditions by  rule-of-thumb  methods  and  speculation. 
Mr.  Henderson,  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  referred  to  the  changing-  conditions, 
and  the  need  for  reform,  in  his  speech  in  present- 
ing the  Education  Estimates  to  the  House  of 
Commons  on  July  18.  In  the  course  of  his 
remarks  he  said  : 

The  war  is  assisting  in  the  creation  of  a 
greater  body  of  public  opinion  in  favour  of  a  more 
liberal  expenditure  on  education ;  and  the  essential 
importance  of  a  comprehensive  and  efficient 
system  of  education  on  the  progressive  develop- 
ment of  national  life  and  the  solidifying  of  the 
Empire  is  going  to  be  more  universally  recog- 
nised. This  principle  must  be  encouraged  and 
fostered,  and  on  no  account  should  the  nation,  in 
consequence  of  its  expenditure  on  the  war,  be  de- 
tained from  bringing  it  into  action. 

The  Government  has  decided  to  appoint  com- 
mittees to  reorganise  our  whole  system  of  educa- 
tion, and  one  of  these  committees  will  be  con- 
cerned with  the  position  of  science.  British  edu- 
cational endeavour  has  too  often  proved  unproduc- 
tive because  of  its  haphazard  character  and  its 
control  by  men  out  of  touch  with  modern  needs. 
A  classical  education  at  one  of  the  fashionable 
public  schools,  followed  by  something  very  similar 
at  an  ancient  university,  accompanied  probably  by 
the  pursuit  of  some  branch  of  athletics  and  almost 
certainly  by  a  continuous  neglect  of  all  branches 
of  science,  is  the  typical  training  of  our  statesmen 
and  administrators.  It  is  impossible  for  these 
men  to  know  what  scientific  teaching  means  to  the 
nation,  or  to  understand  the  real  difference  be- 
tween it  and  purely  literary  studies.  Book-learning 
may  be  ornamental  to  the  individual,  but  it  is  not 
of  much  practical  value  to  a  progressive  com- 
munity and  is  a  danger  when  it  prevents  attention 
to  scientific  things.  None  of  us  wish  the  training 
of  character  to  be  disregarded  in  education,  nor 
do  we  desire  to  depreciate  the  influence  of  litera- 
ture, art,  philosophy,  and  religion.  But  we  have 
to  safeguard  our  existence  both  in  peace  and  war, 
and  scientific  knowledge  is  necessary  to  ensure 
this  aim.  The  Empire  is  awake  to  the  need  for 
a  policy  which  will  correlate  education,  science, 
and  industrialism  for  the  benefit  of  all  classes  :  if 
our  statesmen  do  not  respond  to  the  call  to  action 
we  hope  that  a  new  party  of  reform  will  arise 
to  drive  them  into  the  wilderness. 
NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


SCIENCE    FOR    LIFE. 

Discovery ;  or.  The  Spirit  and  Service  of  Science. 
By  R.  A.  Gregory.  Pp.  x  +  340.  (London : 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1916.)     Price  5s,  net. 

THIS  book  is  the  realisation  of  a  long-cherished 
project,  "  une  pensee  de  la  jeunesse  executee 
par  I'age  mur,"  its  ambition  being  to  make  clear 
what  science — and  natural  science  in  particular — 
aims  at,  what  its  human  values  are,  and  what 
spirit  characterises  the  discoverer.  We  think  that 
Mr.  Gregory  has  done  notable  service  in  submit- 
ting his  apologia  at  the  present  time,  when  the 
disposition  to  turn  with  expectation  to  science  is 
probably  more  widespread  than  ever  in  the  past, 
and  we  would  congratulate  him  on  the  success 
with  which  he  has  stated  his  case.  For  while 
he  hides  no  convictions,  he  has  written  temperately 
and  good-humouredly,  with  such  wealth  of  con- 
crete and  personal  illustration  that  there  is  no 
hint  of  sermonising  to  offend.  Perhaps  the  only 
passage  in  the  book  which  betrays  a  trace  of 
impatience — and  we  are  not  surprised— is  one  in 
which  the  author  speaks  his  mind  in  regard  to 
politicians.  But  it  is  all  "good  hunting,"  and 
the  politicians  will  not  wince  at  worse. 

We  admire  greatly  the  restrained  enthusiasm 
with  which  Mr.  Gregory  writes  of  the  advance- 
ment of  natural  knowledge  and  of  the  great 
masters  who  have  contributed  to  this,  and  the 
carefulness  with  which  he  gives  chapter  and  verse 
from  the  history  of  science,  so  that  even  a  preju- 

j  diced  reader  cannot  but  be  impressed.  Con- 
tributing greatly  to  the  pleasant  temper  of  the 
book  is  the  author's  evident  sympathy  with 
humanistic  as   well   as    scientific    studies,    and  his 

!  clear  recognition  that  if  an  antithesis  is  made 
there  is  something  wrong  either  with  the  science 
or  the  humanism.  It  is  ours  to  warm  both  hands 
at  the  fire  of  life. 

Mr.  Gregory  is  quite  clear  that  scientific  work 
is  not  confined  to  any  particular  body  of  facts  or 
to  any  number  of  laboratories.  As  Clifford  said, 
"there  are  no  scientific  subjects.  The  subject  of 
science  is  the  human  universe — that  is  to  say, 
everything  that  is,  or  has  been,  or  may  be  related 
to  man."  "The  work  of  science,"  Ruskin  said, 
"  is  to  substitute  facts  for  appearances  and 
demonstrations  for  impressions."  These  quotations 
are  taken  from  a  very  interesting  series  (not  of 
uniform  value,  we  must  confess),  which  occur  as 
a  sort  of  intellectual  hors  d'oeuvre  at  the  begia 
ning  of  each  of  the  twelve  chapters. 

"La  Republique  n'a  pas  besoin  de  savants, 
coldly  remarked  the  president  of  the  tribunal  ol 
French  Revolutionists  which  condemned  Lavoisiei 
to  death  in  1793,  and  a  "crime  against  the  whol 
intellectual  world "  was  perpetrated.  In  such 
measure  as  science  is  wilfully  neglected  and  dis 
coverers  are  starved  or  smothered  in  toil,  civilis 
tion  remains  impenitent,  and  it  is  part  of  the  meri 
of  this  book  that  it  presses  the  charge  home.  The 
fine  chapter  on  "The  Conquest  of  Disease"  illus- 
trates one  side  of  the  debt  that  humanity  owes  to 
science,     and     not    less     eloquent     chapters     on 


,s 

1 


is«i 
rifl 


July  27,  1916] 


NATURE 


439 


*'  Scientific  Motive  "  and  "  Practical  Purpose  "  are 
very  convincing.  "Savoirc'est  prevoir;  prevoir 
c'est  pourvoir."  But  there  is  no  bowing-  in  the 
house  of  utiUtarianism,  for  the  author  takes  such 
wonders  of  the  modern  world  as  wireless  tele- 
graphy, the  telephone,  the  aeroplane,  radium, 
antiseptics  and  antitoxins,  spectrum  analysis  and 
X-rays,  and  shows  most  circumstantially  that 
"each  one  of  these  things  had  its  foundations  in 
purely  scientific  work,  and  was  not  the  result  of 
deliberate  intention  to  make  something  of  service 
to  humanity."  In  this  connection  we  confess  to 
being  staggered  by  a  remarkable  quotation  from 
the  late  Prof.  W.  K.  Brooks ;  we  like  better  one 
from  Prof.  A.  X.  Whitehead  that  "it  is  no 
paradox  to  say  that  in  our  most  theoretical  moods 
we  may  be  nearest  to  our  most  practical  applica- 
tions." 

In  the  very  first  volume  of  Xature  a  strong 
plea  was  made  on  behalf  of  scientific  discipline, 
and  from  time  to  time  since  powerful  voices  have 
urged  upon  the  nation  the  imperativeness  of  payinjr 
more  heed  to  the  advancement  and  application  of 
natural  knowledge  and  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
scouting  intelligence.  Much  has  been  done  which 
it  would  be  inaccurate  and  ungrateful  to  ignore, 
but  still  the  people  perish  in  thousands  for  lack 
of  knowledge,  and  science,  as  Mr.  Gregory  says, 
is  still  too  much  the  Cinderella  in  the  house  of 
education.  It  is  valuable,  therefore,  that  we 
should  have  in  this  book  a  judicial  and  factual 
statement  showing  not  merely  that  natural 
science  has  given  great  gifts  to  mankind  and  put 
into  our  hands  the  keys  to  many  doors,  but  that 
the  mastery  of  some  of  its  methods  and  the  under- 
standing of  some  of  its  principles  are  in  themselves 
an  educative  discipline  that  cannot  be  attained  in 
any  other  vvay  whatsoever.  We  are  glad  that  the 
author  has  gone  a  step  further  in  insisting  on  the 
ethical  value  of  learning  to  be  a  respecter  of  things 
and  of  habituating  oneself  to  a  high  standard  of 
accuracy. 

In  his  references  to  the  life  and  work,  of  men 
like  Galileo,  Xewton,  Faraday,  Darwin,  Huxley, 
Kelvin,  and  Pasteur,  the  author  illustrates  the 
spirit  of  the  discoverer — his  fanaticism  for  the 
sanctity  of  truth,  his  disinterestedness  and  im- 
personal detachment,  his  delight  in  his  work,  and 
his  cautious  yet  alert  recognition  of  the  possi- 
bility of  error.  As  we  read  of  the  masters  we 
feel  a  freshened  conviction  of  the  value  of  studies 
—far  too  rarely  prosecuted — in  the  history  of 
science.  Much  of  the  book  is  an  eloquent  com- 
mentary on  the  text:  "The  future  of  our  civilisa- 
tion def>ends  upon  the  widening  spread  and  deepen- 
ing hold  of  the  scientific  habit  of  mind."  And 
since  the  happiness  of  a  people  depends  not  a 
little  on  their  capacity  for  the  profitable  enjoyment 
of  leisure,  we  welcome  the  author's  insistence  on 
the  inexhaustible  delights  of  what  our  fathers 
called  the  pursuit  of  knowledge.  It  is  man's 
prerogative  to  try  to  know  Nature  increasingly 
well,  and  it  is  certain  that  in  proportion  to  his 
sincerity  in  this  endeavour  will  be  his  enjoyment 
of  her  acquaintance. 

Mr.  Gregory  has  been  well  advised  to  dwell  at 
NO.    2439,    vol.    97] 


considerable  length  on  certain  illustrations  of  the 
moods  and  methods  of  the  discoverer,  for  the 
reader  thus  gets  adequate  concrete  material  on 
which  to  base  an  appreciation  of  his  own.  This 
greatly  increases  the  value  of  the  book.  It  has 
been  quizzingly  said  that  "the  man  of  science 
appears  to  be  the  only  man  in  the  world  who  has 
something  to  say,  and  he  is  the  only  man  who 
does  not  know  how  to  say  it."  It  is  unnecessary 
to  mention  that  Mr.  Gregory,  at  any  rate,  must 
be  exempted  from  this  reproach,  for  his  style  is 
luminous  and  refreshing.  We  find,  indeed,  but 
one  blemish  in  his  work — that  he  does  not  tackle 
with  sufficient  directness  the  very  interesting 
problem  of  the  different  kinds  of  discoverer,  for 
there  are  certainly  several  distinct  species  which 
it  would  be  profitable  to  have  discriminated. 

J.  Arthur  Thomson, 

MA  THEM  A  TIC  A  L    TEX  T-B  OOKS. 

(i)  Arithmetic.  Part  i.  By  F.  W'.  Dobbs  and 
H.  K.  Marsden.  Pp.  xv  +  353.  (London  :  G. 
Bell  and  Sons,  Ltd.,  1915.)     Price  2^. 

(2)  First-year  Mathematics  for  Secondary  Schools. 
By  E.  R.  Breslich.  Fourth  edition.  Pp.  xxiv 
+  344.  (Chicago  :  The  University  of  Chicago 
Press ;  London  :  Cambridge  University  Press, 
1915.)     Price  4^.  net. 

(3)  Mathematics  for  Machinists.  By  R.  W.  Burn- 
ham.  Pp.  viii  +  229.  (New  York  :  J.  Wiley 
and  Sons,  Inc.  ;  London  :  Chapman  and  Hall, 
Ltd.,  1915.)     Price  5s.  6d.  net. 

(4)  A  First  Course  of  Geometry.  By  Dr.  C. 
Davison.  Pp.  89.  (Cambridge :  At  the  Uni- 
versity Press,  1915.)     Price  15.  6d. 

(i)  T^HIS  text-book  consists  chiefly  of  sets  of 
J-  examples  and  test-papers,  with  some 
typical  solutions.  Detailed  explanations  are  left 
to  each  teacher  to  give  as  he  thinks  fit.  This 
has  the  double  advantage  of  keeping  the  book 
within  reasonable  compass  and  at  the  same  time 
including  as  much  as  any  boy  is  likely  to  require, 
for  boys  do  not,  and  probably  never  will,  read 
long  discussions  in  the  text.  But  when  revising 
or  doing  out-of-school  work  a  certain  number  of 
specimen  solutions  are  of  real  use.  We  like  the 
general  appearance  of  the  book ;  there  are  numer- 
ous interesting  and  attractive  questions,  those  on 
contours  and  map-reading  deserving  special  men- 
tion. 

(2)  The  author  has  drawn  up  a  continuous  course 
of  algebra,  geometry,  and  very  simple  trigono- 
metry, suitable  for  a  first  reading.  He  claims 
that  the  fusion  of  these  subjects  in  a  single  volume 
increases  the  interest  of  the  students,  enriches  the 
content  of  the  teaching  syllabus,  and  emphasises 
the  relation  between  the  different  subjects.  The 
geometry  includes  simple  prop>erties  of  parallelism, 
congruence,  tangency,  and  similarity ;  the  algebra 
goes  up  to  factors  and  quadratic  equations.  The 
book  is  printed  in  a  most  attractive  form,  and 
there  are  a  number  of  excellent  portraits  of 
famous  mathematicians,  with  interesting  historical 
notes  attached. 

(i)  The  author  of  this  volume  has  had  consider- 


440 


NATURE 


[July  27,  19 16 


able  experience  in  the  training-  of  mechanics,  and 
he  remarks  on  the  surprising  number  of  cases 
where  their  knowledge  of  mathematics  is  limited 
to  the  first  four  rules.  This  naturally  leads  to 
an  unintelligent  use  of  formulae  and  a  marked  in- 
ability to  make  applications  to  practical  problems 
as  they  arise.  The  plan  of  this  book  is  desig'ned 
to  meet  these  cases.  It  starts  with  the  use  of 
fractions  and  decimals,  and  includes  chapters  on 
percentage,  mensuration,  constructions,  trigono- 
metry, and  some  of  a  more  technical  character  on 
lathes,  threads,  machines,  gears,  and  business 
organisation. 

{4)  This  small  book  includes  the  principal 
theorems  of  the  first  three  books  of  Euclid.  It  is 
intended  to  be  used  after  the  ordinary  introductory 
graphical  course,  and  aims  at  giving  the  reader  a 
bird's-eye  view  of  a  subject  to  be  covered  in  more 
detail  at  a  second  reading.  Those  who  are 
familiar  with  Dr.  Davison's  larger  work  will 
recognise  a  similarity  of  treatment  in  these  pages. 
It  would  be  an  improvement  if  answers  to  the 
numerical  exercises  were  given. 

APPRENTICE  TRAINING. 
The  Principles  of  Apprentice  Training,  with 
Special  Reference  to  the  Engineering  Industry. 
By  A.  P.  M.  Fleming  and  J.  G.  Pearce.  Pp. 
xiii  +  202.  (London  :  Longmans,  Green  and  Co., 
1916.)     Price  3s.  6d.  net. 

MANY  interesting  opinions  are  expressed  in 
this  book,  but  the  same  thing  is  repeated 
too  often  under  different  headings.  The  authors 
give  particulars  of  the  mode  of  selecting  and 
training  apprentices  which  was  begun  in  191 3 
at  the  British  Westinghouse  Company's 
works  at  Manchester ;  all  the  lecturers  are 
either  engineers  or  foremen,  and  many  of 
the  former  are  graduates  in  engineering.  Men 
so  chosen  are  not  always  good  teachers, 
though  they  may  be  excellent  as  practical  men ; 
so  future  lecturers  are  being  trained  from  among 
the  apprentices  under  the  supervision  of  the 
authors.  So  far  the  scheme  seems  to  promise 
success.  In  October,  191 5,  there  were  309 
apprentices  out  of  a  total  of  1348  youths  in  the 
works ;  the  number  of  apprenticed  boys  is  increas- 
ing. The  course,  while  thoroughly  practical, 
makes  reasonable  demands  on  the  pupils'  intelli- 
gence. 

On  the  general  question  the  authors  give  details 
as  to  the  present  inadequate  methods  of  prepar- 
ing for  work  in  life  both  "  specialists  " — by  which 
term  they  indicate  repetition  workers  using  auto- 
matic or  semi-automatic  machinery — and  crafts- 
men, who  need  wider  experience,  skill,  and  intelli- 
gence. They  point  out  that  in  the  elementary 
schools  book-learning  is  predominant ;  they  show 
how  inadequate  is  the  time  spent  in  manual 
training  and  other  forms  of  "doing."  They  indi- 
cate that  in  the  secondary  schools  most  of  the 
pupils  are  trained  as  though  their  main  object  in 
life  was  to  pass  the  entrance  examination  to  a 
university — although  the  percentage  of  such 
children  who  become  undergraduates  is  small. 

NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


All  this  is  but  too  true,  and  there  is  little  likeli- 
hood that  it  will  be  changed  so  long  as  prac- 
tically all  the  higher  officers  in  the  Board  of 
Education  and  in  the  Civil  Service  generally  are 
selected  from  those  who  have  had  a  literary 
training.  For  science,  modern  languages,  and 
manual  work  are  regarded  as  forms  of  improper 
educational  "specialisation,"  and  Latin  and 
Greek  as  the  sole  means  for  developing  the  char- 
acter and  intelligence  of  British  youth ;  and  this, 
although  our  naval  officers,  whose  characters  and 
intelligence  most  of  us  admire,  are  trained  by 
means  of  mathematics  and  science,  and  have  been 
deprived  of  the  supposed  indispensable  benefits 
of  classical  training.  J.    W. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

.4   Bibliography  of  British  Ornithology,  from  the 

Earliest  Times  to  the  End  of  1912.     By  W.  H. 

Mullens  and  H.  Kirke  Swann.   Part  i.   Pp.   112. 

(London:     Macmillan    and    Co.,     Ltd.,     1916.) 

Price  65.  net. 
We  have  not  hitherto  had  an  adequate  biblio- 
graphy of  British  ornithology,  for  the  one  by 
Elliott  Coues  begun  thirty-six  years  ago  was 
never,  we  believe,  completed,  and,  excellent  as 
was  the  first  instalment  so  far  as  it  went,  it  is,  of 
course,  now  out  of  date.  The  bibliography  upon 
which  Major  Mullens  (who  has  already  done  work 
which  may  be  considered  as  the  basis  of  the 
present  book)  and  Mr.  Swann  have  embarked  is 
of  an  ambitious  and  comprehensive  nature.  The 
aim  of  the  authors  has  been  to  give  a  biographical 
account  of  each  author  of  a  separately-published 
work,  followed  by  a  bibliography  of  their  works 
and  of  their  papers  contributed  to  journals  bear- 
ing on  British  ornithology.  Collations  are  given 
and  spaced  titles  of  books  published  before  1850; 
critical  notes  also  on  many  books  are  included. 

The  first  part  of  the  book  (of  which  there  are 
to  be  six)  has  now  been  issued,  and  fully  comes 
up  to  the  promise  of  the  prospectus.  Even  in 
this  one  part  we  meet  with  many  books  and 
authors  with  which  few  book-loving  birdmen  were 
probably  previously  acquainted.  Under  the  head- 
ing "  Anonymous "  alone  there  are  more  than 
eighty  items,  and  the  present  biographers  have 
been  very  successful  in  hunting  down  the  authors 
of  these.  The  biographical  notices  are  sufficiently 
full  and,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  older  writers, 
very  interesting.  In  fact,  the  book  promises  to 
be  not  only  a  very  useful  work  of  reference  for 
British  ornithologists,  but  also,  what  at  first  sight 
we  might  not  expect,  a  very  readable  and  enter- 
taining book.  It  is  well  printed  on  very  good 
paper. 

An  Elementary   ManUrOl   of  Radiotelegraphy   and 

Radiotelephony    for    Students    and    Operators. 

By  Prof.   J.   A.   Fleming.     Third  edition.      Pp. 

xiv+360.         (London  :    Longmans,    Green    and 

Co.,    1916.)     Price   75.    6d.    net. 
It   is   unnecessary   to   do   more   than    refer   very 
brieflv    to    the    third    edition    of    Prof.    Fleming's 


I 


July  27,  1916J 


NATURE 


441 


book,  as  we  have  already  reviewed  the  first 
editions  in  Nature,  and  also,  on  two  occasions, 
Prof.  Fleming- 's  more  comprehensive  treatise  on 
wireless  telegraphy.  We  ventured  then  to  pre- 
dict that  both  these  books  would  become  standard 
manuals  on  the  subject,  and  our  forecast  is  shown 
to  have  been  correct  by  the  recurring  necessity 
for  the  issue  of  new  editions.  There  is  not  much 
difference  to  be  noted  between  the  present  volume 
and  its  forerunners,  but  certain  additions  have 
been  made  to  bring  it  up  to  date. 

No  doubt  when  the  present  war  is  over  much 
valuable  experience  which  has  been  gained  of  the 
use  of  wireless  telegraphy  both  in  sea  and  land 
operations  will,  by  degrees,  become  public,  but 
one  does  not  look  for  such  information  at  present. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  experience  may  be 
turned,  in  due  course,  to  more  peaceful  ends,  in 
which  case  one  may  look  forward  to  a  fresh 
edition  of  Prof.  Fleming's  book.  In  the  mean- 
time, it  remains  the  best  introduction  to  the  sub- 
ject for  all  students,  and  a  sufficient  manual  for 
those  who  intend  to  take  up  the  practical  applica- 
tion, but  who  do  not  wish  to  go  too  deeply  into 
the  theoretical  and  mathematical  side.  The  book 
is  well  and  amply  illustrated,  though  some  of  the 
process-blocks  are  not  so  clear  as  could  be  wished. 

M.  S. 

An  Inquiry  into  the  Statistics  of  Deaths  from 
Violence  and  Unnatural  Causes  in  the  United 
Kingdom.  By  Dr.  W.  A.  Brend.  Pp.  v  +  8o. 
(London:  C.  Griffin  and  Co.,  Ltd.,-1915.)  Price 
35.  6d.   net. 

The  object  of  this  book  (a  thesis  approved  for 
the  M.D.  degree,  University  of  London)  is  to 
examine  the  official  statistics  relating  to  deaths 
from  violence  and  unnatural  causes  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  to  investigate  their  usefulness  and  the 
accuracy  of  the  returns,  and  to  sugg^est  modifica- 
tions in  the  present  system. 

Several  different  authorities  (Home  Office, 
Board  of  Trade,  Local  Government  Board,  Regis- 
trar-General, etc.)  compile  the  returns,  but  the 
different  reports  do  not  seem  to  be  co-ordinated. 
Thus  during  the  same  period  the  deaths  from 
alcoholism  in  Liverpool  are  given  by  the  Registrar- 
General  as  36,  by  the  Home  Office  as  113;  the 
Local  Government  Board  records  deaths  from 
*'  starvation  and  privation "  as  94,  the  Home 
Office  ("want  and  exposure")  as  231.  and  the 
Registrar-General  ("cold  and  starvation  ")  as  146, 
and  these  instances  might  be  multiplied  ! 

More  accurate  returns  are  needed  in  many  in- 
stances. The  importance,  for  example,  of  trust- 
worthy information  concerning  infant  mortality 
from  overlying  and  deaths  of  children  from 
burning  is  obvious. 

Dr.  Brend 's  analysis  shows  that  there  are  classes 
of  deaths  of  which  our  knowledge,  both  statistical 
and  otherwise,  is  seriously  inadequate.  At  pre- 
sent, for  example,  the  records  of  coroners'  courts 
are  practically  inaccessible ;  the  sug-gestion  is  made 
that  all  the  records  should  be  sent  to  a  central 
office  where  they  could  be  further  analysed. 
NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  fur 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

The    Universities,   the   Technical   Colleges,   and   the 
Army. 

A  COUPLE  of  months  ago  it  occurred  to  myself  and 
the  staff  of  the  Heriot-VVatt  College  that  the  first-year 
engineering  course  for  the  diploma  would — with  a  few 
modifications — form  an  excellent  preliminary  scien- 
tific training  for  boys  entering  the  Army  who  might 
hope  for  promotion  to  an  officer  cadet  unit,  the  course 
at  the  same  time  still  to  remain  an  integral  part  of 
our  diploma  course. 

The  suggestion  did  not  meet  with  local  approval, 
but  while  thinking  out  the  details,  I  also  brought 
the  matter  before  the  Board  of  Education  and  the 
Association  of  Technical  Institutions,  where,  I  gather, 
it  is  meeting  with  some  attention.  I  also  found  that 
similar  suggestions  had  already  been  made  by  Mr. 
Darling  in  Nature  (January  20  and  February  10)  in 
some  communications  which  I  had  missed,  and  also 
that  a  similar  scheme  was  being  carried  out  in  certain 
English  public  schools. 

Among  those  to  whom  I  wrote  was  the  Vice-Chan- 
cellor of  Leeds  University,  and  I  have  just  heard  from 
him  that  in  his  hands  the  whole  scheme  has  taken  a 
wider  aspect,  the  idea  being  to  devise  courses  of  train- 
ing which,  while  valuable  as  a  preliminary  scientific 
training  for  boys  entering  the  Army,  will  at  the  same 
time  be  allowed  to  qualify  as  part  of  the  course 
required  for  a  university  degree.  It  is  on  account  of 
this  wider  aspect  given  to  the  matter  by  Principal 
Sadler  that  I  venture  to  write  to  you  on  the  matter. 

The  idea,  which  I  believe  originated  with  Lord 
Haldane,  of  drawing  upon  the  universities  for  officers 
in  the  Army,  and  the  establishment  of  the  O.T.C., 
is  no  doubt  a  sound  one.  At  the  same  time,  at  that 
stage  the  conception  seemed  to  be  to  allow  a  student 
to  go  on  with  his  ordinary  university  course  while 
giving  him  in  his  spare  time  a  certain  amount  of 
military  training  on  the  lines  required  by  an  officer. 

It  seems  to  me  that  among  us  we  have  evolved  a 
much  sounder  conception  of  the  duties  of  the  univer- 
sity towards  the  Army,  and  that  is,  to  give  the  boys 
such  a  scientific  training  as  will  be  of  value  to  them 
when  they  go  to  their  special  military  training.  There 
can  be  no  harm  in  giving  them  a  little  drill,  but  the 
main  object  of  the  universities  and  the  technical  col- 
leges should  be  to  devote  the  time  at  their  disposal 
principally  to  laying  the  foundations  of  the  scientific 
knowledge  of  which  modern  warfare  is  an  application. 

A.  P.  Laurie, 

Principal. 

Heriot-Watt  College,  Edinburgh,  Julv   18. 


The  late  M.  Joseph  Decheiette. 

Of  the  many  scientific  men  who  have  fallen  in  the 
present  war  none  calls  forth  a  deeper  note  of  r^ret 
than  the  eminent  and  promising  French  archaeologist 
and  anthropologist,  M.  Joseph  Decheiette,  who  was 
killed  while  leading  his  company  to  attack  on  October 
4,  19 14.  A  committee,  embracing  all  the  leading 
archaeologists  and  anthropologists  of  France,  has  been 
formed  "de  con  server  son  effigie  et  de  glorifier  sa 
m^moire."  The  committee  has  secured  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  sculptor,  M.  Henry  Nocq,  to  prepare  a 
portrait  plaque  with,  on  the  reverse  :  "  L'ep^e  modeme 


442 


NATURE 


[July  27,   1916 


de  I'h^roique  capitaine  s'y  croisera,  au  travers  d'une 
large  couronne  de  lauriers,  avec  le  glaive  de  la  grande 
dpoque  gauloise  que  I'arch^ologue,  a  si  bien  fait  re- 
vivre."  Nor  can  one  abstain  from  quoting  from  the 
circular,  which  has  been  sent  out  by  our  colleagues  in 
France,  the  following  sentence: — "C'est  I'unite  d'une 
carriere  riche  d'ceuvres,  plus  pleine  encore  de  pro- 
messes,  que  rappellera  la  l^gende  :  galliae  •  reliquias 

ILLUSTRAVIT    •    PRO    •    GALLIA    •    MILES    •    CECIDIT." 

There  is  not  a  British  archaeologist  or  anthropologist 
who  is  not  indebted  to  M.  D^chelette,  and  I  am  certain 
they  will  be  only  too  glad  to  participate  in  a  movement 
which  has  been  rightly  initiated  by  their  French  col- 
leagues. Subscriptions  should  be  sent  to  M.  le  Comte 
O.  Costa  de  Beauregard,  Sainte-Foy,  par  Longueville 
(Seine-Inf^rieure).  Those  sending  a  subscription  of 
10  francs  are  entitled  to  a  replica  of  the  plaque  in 
bronze,  those  giving  50  francs  to  one  in  silver,  and 
those  giving  80  francs  to  one  in  enamel,  should  they 
so  wish. 

Arthur  Keith, 
President  of  the  Royal  Anthropological  Insti- 
tute   of    Great    Britain    and    Ireland. 

50   Great  Russell   Street,   W.C. 


A  Sunset  Phenomenon  on  July  22. 

An  interesting  sunset  phenomenon  was  visible  here 
at  8.10  p.m.  G.M.T.  on  Saturday  last,  July  22.  Two 
verv  well-marked  dark  bands  were  seen  rising  from 
the  south-eastern  horizon  across  the  pale  pink  counter- 
glow.  On  the  north-western  horizon  the  tops  of  two 
verv  distant  cumulo-nimbus  clouds  were  visible,  the 
tops  being  about  half  a  degree  above  the  horizon ;  the 
clouds  were  dark  against  the  sunset,  but  their  upper 
edges  were  bright.  The  dark  bands  were  the  shadows 
of  these  clouds  projected  right  across  the  sky.  The 
shadows  could  be  followed  for  some  distance  from 
the  clouds,  but  were  not  visible  in  the  plane  at  right 
angles  to  the  direction  of  sunset.  They  were  visible 
for  quite  ten  minutes  after  I  first  noticed  them,  by 
which  time  the  twilight  arch  was  some  way  above 
the  horizon  and  the  dark  bands  rose  from  it.  The 
two  cumulo-nimbus  clouds  and  a  small  patch  of  cirrus 
were  the  only  clouds  visible ;  their  bearings  were  302° 
and  305°  respectively.  An  inquiry  by  telephone  elicited 
the  fact  that  no  clouds  were  visible  at  Benson  Observa- 
torv,  and  the  cumulo-nimbus  must  have  been  at  a 
great  distance.  It  would  be  of  some  interest  to  know 
this  distance,  and  I  should  be  very  grateful  to  any 
readers  of  Nature  in  Herefordshire,  Wales  (especially 
Anglesey  and  the  west  coasts),  and  any  part  of  Ireland 
roughly' between  Co.  Dublin  and  Sligo  and  Donegal 
Bays,  if  they  could  let  me  know  the  character  of  the 
weather  at  the  time  mentioned,  whether  any  cumulo- 
nimbus clouds  were  noticed,  and  especially  if  rain  or 
thunderstorms  were  experienced,  or  even  merely 
whether  the  sky  was  clear  or  cloudy.  I  fear  the 
weather  of  a  week  ago  is  not  often  remembered,  but 
it  is  possible  that  some  of  your  readers  may  recollect 
it  or  have  recorded  it. 

Had  the  clouds  been  more  numerous  the  shadows 
would  have  encroached  more  on  the  sunset  glow  and 
on  the  counter-glow,  and  the  appearance  would  have 
resolved  itself  into  crepuscular  rays,  the  explanation 
of  which  has  been  a  matter  of  some  discussion. 

C.  J.  P.  Cave. 

Meteorological  Oflfice,  South  Farnborough,  July  24. 


may  therefore  be  interesting  to  put  on  record  what 
our  friend,  George  Flemwell,  the  well-known  painter, 
naturalist,  and  writer,  living  in  Switzerland,  says  in  a 
letter  from  Zermatt : — 

"To  my  mind  enough  has  not  been  said  of  his 
power  for  rendering  ice  in  water-colour.  I  knew 
nobody  to  touch  him  in  the  painting  of  glacier  ice 
at  close  quarters."  (I  believe  Mr.  Flemwell,  himself 
a  distinguished  painter  of  Alpine  scenery,  has  seen 
little  of  Edw.  Compton's  work.)  "And  his  method 
was,  considering  the  excellence  of  the  result,  the 
simplest  and  most  direct  I  have  ever  seen.  With  the 
utmost  care  he  worked  with  great  quickness  and 
facility.  A  few  simple  washes,  and  there  was  the 
ice  :  its  form,  its  structure,  and  its  quality.  His 
values  were  right  and  his  colour  clean ;  he  gjDt  the 
body  and  substance  of  the  glacier.  I  am  happy  to 
think  I  have  two  or  three  pencil  sketches  I  made  of 
him  when  he  was  working  on  the  Glacier  d'Argen- 
ti^re  and  at  the  Mer  de  Glace ;  and  I  was  with  him 
when  he  painted  the  original  of  the  Christmas-card 
of  which  you  speak.  .  .  ."  H.  S.  T. 

Bristol,  July  17. 


Silvanus   P.  Thompson   as  a   Painter. 

The  late  Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson  was  a  man  of  such 
extraordinary  versatility  and  power  that  his  artistic 
side   was    scarcely   done   justice   to   in   the  Press.     It 

NO.    2439,   VOL.    97] 


The  Utilisation  of  Waste  Heat  for  Agriculture. 

Mr.  C.  Turxbull's  scheme  (Nature,  July  20^ 
p.  422)  for  artificially  heating  the  soil,  if  feasible, 
would  tend  to  encourage  the  insect  pest.  As  all 
farmers  and  fruit-growers  are  aware,  this  has  of 
recent  years  increased  to  an  alarming  extent.  But 
for  the  seasonal  lowering  of  the  soil  temperature  it 
would  become  more  serious  still. 

C.  Carus-\\''ilsox. 

Casterton,  Kirkby   Lonsdale,   July  22. 


THE  INDIAN   BOARD    OF   SCIENTIFIC 
ADVICE. 

THE  Report  for  the  year  1914-15  of  the  Board 
of  Scientific  Advice  for  India  consists  almost 
entirely  of  isolated  summaries  of  the  work  done 
during  the  year  by  the  several  scientific  depart- 
ments and  scientific  institutions  of  the  Indian 
Government.  As  most,  if  not  all,  of  these  depart- 
ments and  institutions  issue  independent  annual 
reports  of  their  own,  it  is,  to  say  the  least,  dis- 
appointing- to  find  these  technical  summaries  filling 
the  report  of  a  scientific  body  styled  advisory ; 
unless,  indeed,  the  term  "  advice "  be  understood 
in  the  commercial  or  notificatory  sense  as  merely 
indicating  the  existence  in  working  order  of  these 
various  departmental  instruments  of  research. 

The  advisory  proceedings  of  the  Board  occupy 
only  thirty-seven  lines  of  the  180  pages  of  the 
report,  and  all  the  information  they  afford  is  that 
the  Board  accepted  the  programmes  of  the  several 
scientific  departments,  but  would  rather  not  have 
them  in  so  much  detail  in  future;  and  that  it  re- 
commended (a)  that  officers  attending  the  next 
Indian  Science  Congress  should  be  regarded  as 
on  duty,  (b)  that  a  catalogue  of  scientific  serials 
prepared  by  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal  should 
be  published  at  the  expense  of  Government,  and 
(c)  that  experiments  should  be  undertaken,  as 
requested  by  the  Punjab  Veterinary  Department, 
to  determine  the  vitality  of  rinderpest  virus  under 
Indian  conditions — all    three    mere    departmental 


July  27,  1916] 


NATURE 


443 


^latters  that  scarcely  need  to  be  referred  to  a 
pecial  advisory  board. 

Of  any  far-reaching  advisory  purpose,  of  any 
great  original  directive  enterprise,  of  anything  in 
the  nature  of  spontaneous  movement,  this  report 
shows  no  record ;  one  looks  in  vain  for  any  re- 
ference to  scientific  education,  or  even  for  a 
connected  account — as  contrasted  with  bald,  dis- 
jointed departmental  summaries — of  the  general 
progress  of  science  in  India,  vital  affairs  in  which 
a  Board  of  Scientific  Advice  might  be  expected  to 
exercise  a  missionary  influence,  if  not  to  take  a 
commanding  lead. 

The  simple  fact  is  that,  so  far  as  the  advisory 
business  goes,  this  Report  of  the  Board  of  Scien- 
tific Advice  for  India  is  a  document  of  the  ex 
officio  genus ;  and  it  can  scarcely  be  otherwise 
when  the  President  of  the  Board  is  merely  an  ex 
officio  hierarch  of  the  Indian  Secretariat,  instead 
of  being  a  man  of  science  specially  selected  for  his 
critical  knowledge  of  scientific  affairs. 

ELI  AS  METCHNIKOFF. 

ONE  of  the  most  remarkable  figures  in  the 
scientific  world  passed  from  among  us  on 
July  15.  Elie  Metchnikoff,  as  they  wrote  his 
name  in  France,  his  adopted  home,  stands  out  as 
the  type  of  a  gifted,  indefatigable  investigator  of 
Nature  who,  in  accordance  with  his  beautiful  and 
earnest  character,  never  faltered  in  his  career, 
but  from  his  boyhood  onwards  devoted  himself  to 
the  minute  study  of  animal  life,  and  by  a  natural 
and  as  it  seemed  inevitable  process  passed  through 
the  study  of  the  microscopic  structure  and  embry- 
onic growth  of  simple  marine  organisms  to  the 
investigation  of  human  diseases  and  his  great  dis- 
■coveries  of  the  nature  of  the  process  known  as 
inflammation  and  of  the  mechanism  of  "  immu- 
nity "  to  infective  germs  and  the  poisons  produced 
by  them.  By  every  zoologist  in  the  world  he  was 
■especially  honoured  and  revered ;  for  it  was  to  him 
that  we  owed  the  demonstration  of  the  unity  of 
biological  science  and  the  brilliant  proof  of  the 
invaluable  importance  to  humanity  of  that  delight- 
ful pursuit  of  the  structure  and  laws  of  growth 
and  form  of  the  lower  animals  which  he  and  we 
had  pursued  from  pure  love  of  the  beauty  and 
wonder  of  the  intricate  problems  of  organic 
morphology. 

Just  as  his  chief  and  friend,  the  great  Pasteur, 
was  privileged  to  proceed  directly  and  logically 
in  his  own  life's  work,  by  his  genius  and  insight, 
from  the  discovery  of  astonishing  new  facts  as  to 
crystalline  structure — which  seemed  to  have  no 
bearing  on  human  affairs — to  the  understanding 
(by  the  aid  of  those  discoveries)  of  fermentation 
and  infective  disease ;  so  did  Metchnikoff  himself 
both  discover  the  activity  and  universality  of  the 
organic  cell-units  which  he  called  "phagocytes," 
and  at  once  proceed  to  demonstrate  their  prime 
importance  in  the  process  known  as  inflammation 
and  the  understanding  of  "  immunity,"  which  has 
revolutionised   medical   theory   and   practice. 

Elie  Metchnikoff  was  born  in  1845  at  Ivanavka, 
■near    Kharkoff.     His    father    was    of    Moldavian 
NO.    2439,   VOL.   97] 


ancestry  and  an  officer  of  the  Imperial  Guard, 
from  which  he  retired  with  the  rank  of  major- 
general.  He  was  devoted  to  the  pursuits  of  a 
country  gentleman,  among  which  horse-racing 
was  his  special  favourite.  He  had  no  tendencies 
to  scientific  study.  Elie's  mother,  whose  family 
name  was  "  Nevakovitch,"  was  a  Jewess.  He 
owed  his  mental  gifts  largely  to  her.  From  child- 
hood he  showed  a  strong  taste  for  the  study  of 
Nature,  .\fter  passing  through  the  high  school 
of  Kharkoff  he  entered  the  university  at  the  age 
of  seventeen  and  completed  his  degree  examina- 
tions in  two  years,  when  he  went  off  (in  1864)  to 
Germany  for  further  biological  training.  He  had 
already,  in  1863,  when  he  was  only  eighteen,  pub- 
lished a  paper  in  Reichert's  Archiv  on  the  stalk 
of  \'orticella,  and  another  on  the  nematode  Diplo- 
gaster.  In  1864  he  published  some  obseiAations 
on  the  Acinetarian  Sphaerophrya.  After  a  brief 
sojourn  in  Heligoland  he  went  to  work  in 
Leuckart's  laboratory  at  Giessen,  and  accompanied 
the  professor  to  Gottingen  when  the  latter  was 
promoted  to  that  chair.  In  Leuckart's  laboratory 
he  worked  at  the  parasite  of  the  frog,  .4 scam 
nigrovenosa,  and  made  the  important  discovery 
of  the  fact  that  the  hermaphrodite  parasite  of 
the  frog's  lung  hatched  from  eggs  gives  birth 
viviparously  to  a  free-living  generation  of  males 
and  females.  .  This  he  published  in  1865  in 
Reichert's  Archiv,  and  a  translation  of  his 
paper  appeared  in  the  Quarterly  Jourrial  of 
Microscopical  Science  in  1866.  Leuckart  claimed 
to  have  made  the  discovery  "with  the  assist- 
ance of  Herr  Mecznikow,"  but  Metchnikoff 
briefly  stated  that  this  was  erroneous  and  that 
he  alone  had  done  the  work  in  the  absence  of 
Prof.  Leuckart  and  with:>ut  his  aid  or  sugges- 
tion. Naturally  this  terminated  their  friendly 
relations.  In  the  same  year  he  published  some 
notes  on  those  little-known  microscopic  animals, 
Icthydium,  Chaetonotus,  Echinoderes,  and  Des- 
moscolex.  This  also  was  translated  for  the 
Quarterly  Journal  in  1866,  and  tlius  I  became 
familiar  with  his  name  and  the  interesting  charac- 
ter of  his  work,  though  I  did  not  make  his  per- 
sonal acquaintance  until  twenty-two  years  later, 
when  (in  1888)  Pasteur  introduced  me  to  him  in 
his  laboratory  in  the  rue  Vaugirard. 

These  papers  were  rapidly  followed  in  1866  by 
others  showing  his  first-rate  powers  of  accurate 
observation  and  originality,  viz.  on  a  European 
land  Planarian ;  on  the  development  of  Myzosto- 
mum,  the  ecto-parasite  of  the  feather-star,  which 
he  showed  to  be  a  modified  Chaetopod ;  on  insect 
embrj'ology  (Hemiptera  and  Diptera) ;  on  the 
remarkable  new  rotifer,  Apsilus  lentiformis ;  and 
on  the  viviparous  reproduction  of  the  larvae  of  the 
fly  Cecidomyia.  Then  he  sojourned  for  a  time 
(1867)  at  Naples  (before  the  days  of  Dohrn's 
Zoological  Station)  and  wrote  on  the  embryology 
of  the  cuttle-fish  Sepiola,  on  the  strange  marine 
forms  Chaetosoma  and  Rhabdogaster,  and  in  1869 
on  Tornaria  (which  he  showed  to  be  the  larva  of 
Balanoglossus)  and  on  the  embryology  of  Echino- 
derms  and  of  jelly-fish. 

In  1870  he  was  appointed  professor  ordinarius 


444 


NATURE 


[July  27,  1910 


of  zoology  in  the  University  of  Odessa,  and  soon 
afterwards  published  papers  on  the  embryology  of 
Chelifer  and  of  Myriapods.  In  the  previous  year  he 
published  an  interesting  paper  on  the  little  nema- 
tode parasite  of  fishes'  gills— Gyrodactylus — and 
joined  with  that  fine  naturalist,  ClaparMe,  whom 
he  met  at  Naples,  in  a  paper  on  the  embryology  of 
Chaetopods. 

After  his  appointment  at  Odessa  his  work  was 
interrupted  by  the  illness  and  death  from  tuber- 
culosis of  his  first  wife,  whom  he  had  married  in 
1868.  In  spite  of  every  care  and  a  long  sojourn 
in  Madeira,  whither  he  accompanied  her,  she  died 
there  in  1873.  But  in  1874  we  find  a  paper  by 
him  "  On  the  Eyelids  of  Mongolians  and  Cauca- 
sians," of  considerable  value  to  anthropologists, 
and  in  1877  one  of  a  bionomic  character  on  "The 
Struggle  for  Existence  between  Two  Species  of 
Cockroaches — PeripJaneta  orientalis  and  Blatta 
gernianica." 

In  1875  he  married  his  second  wife,  Olga  Belo- 
coyitoff,  who  was  only  seventeen  years  of  age. 
She  had  just  completed  her  studies  in  the  "  lycee  " 
of  Odessa,  and  attended  after  her  marriage  her 
husband's  zoological  teaching  in  the  university. 
She  survives  him,  and  was  his  constant  com- 
panion and  ceaselessly  devoted  friend  and  help- 
meet. She  often  aided  him  in  laboratory  work 
and  by  her  knowledge  of  English  and  other 
languages,  though  her  own  special  gifts,  which 
she  has  cultivated  to  a  high  degree  of  excellence, 
are  in  painting  and  sculpture.  From  time  to  time 
she  has  published  her  own  contributions  to  sub- 
jects which  were  occupying  her  husband's  atten- 
tion. ^  The  earliest  of  these  is  one  "  On  the 
Morphology  of  the  Pelvis  and  Shoulder-girdle  of 
the  Cartilaginous  Fishes,"  published  in  th; 
Zeitsch.  iviss.  Zoologie,  1880. 

Metchnikoff  holds  an  important  place  beside  his 
great  fellow-countryman  and  intimate  friend, 
Alexander  Kowalewsky  (who  died  some  years 
ago),  in  the  establishment  of  what  may  be  called 
cellular  embryology  and  the  investigation  of  the 
early  stages  of  development  of  invertebrata  by  fol- 
lowing out  the  process  of  cell-division  and  the 
arrangement  of  the  early  formed  cells  in  layers. 
In  the  twelve  years  1875  to  1886,  when  his  last 
embryological  paper  was  published,  he  produced 
many  important  memoirs  on  cellular  embryology 
: — namely,  on  that  of  calcareous  sponges  (in  which 
he  showed  that  the  inner  and  outer  primitive  layers 
had  been  transposed  in  regard  to  their  origin  by 
Haeckel  and  Miklucko-Macleay) ;  on  that  of 
jelly-fishes,  of  Planarians,  of  Echinoderms,  of 
Ctenophora,  and  of  Medusae.  These  were  accom- 
panied by  important  theoretical  discussions  and 
suggestions  as  to  the  ultimate  ancestral  origin  of 
the  endoderm  and  the  mesoblast.  He  also  wrote 
on  that  curious  group  of  minute  parasites,  the 
Orthonectids,   and  on  insect  diseases. 

But  the  new  departure  in  his  fruitful  career  was 
approaching.  It  grew  out  of  his  observations  on 
living  jelly-fishes  and  sponges  and  on  the  .trans- 
parent marine  embryos  of  Echinoderms  and  the 
transparent  floating  mollusc  PhyUirhoe.  In  1882,  1 
NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


owing  to  political  disturbances  in  the  University 
of  Odessa,  Metchnikoff  migrated  to  Messina,  the 
harbour  of  which  is  celebrated  among  zoologists 
for  its  rich  fauna  of  transparent  floating  larvee 
and  adjult  glass-like  Pteropods  and  jelly-fishes. 
Here  he  developed  his  views,  already  fore- 
shadowed in  1880  [Zoolog.  Anzeiger),  on  intra- 
cellular digestion  exhibited  by  the  amoeboid  cells 
of  animal  organisms,  and  published  a  series  of; 
papers  in  which  the  name  "phagocyte"  is  first 
applied  to  these  cells.  In  this,  as  in  similar  cases 
of  discovery,  neither  Metchnikoff  himself  nor  any 
of  his  friends  claimed  that  he  was  the  first  to 
observe  all  the  facts  leading  to  his  generalisation^ 
He  was  not  the  first  to  witness  the  ingestion  of 
foreign  particles,  of  fragments  of  dead  tissue,  and 
even  of  bacteria,  by  the  amoeba-like  cells  of  the 
animal  body.  He  knew  and  cited  the  early  ob- 
servations of  Haeckel  on  the  ingestion  of  pigment 
granules  by  the  amoeboid  blood-corpuscles  of  the 
sea-slug  Tethys.  He  knew  and  cited  the  nume- 
rous observations  on  the  activity  of  large  amoeboid 
cells  in  assisting  the  resorption  or  rapid  destruc- 
tion of  other  tissues  in  some  special  instances. 
He  knew  the  observations  of  Jeffrey  Parker  and 
others  on  the  intra-cellular  digestion  of  food  par- 
ticles taken  into  their  substance  by  the  endoderm 
cells  lining  the  digestive  cavity  of  Hydra.  He 
knew  Koch's  observation  of  bacilli  within  a 
colourless  vertebrate  blood-corpuscle,  attributed 
by  that  observ^er  to  the  active  penetration  of  the 
blood-corpuscle  by  the  aggressive  bacilli.  These 
and  other  like  instances  were  all  regarded  as  ex- 
ceptional by  their  observers  and  not  interpreted 
as  evidences  of  a  definite  and  universal  activity  of 
the  amoeboid  cells  of  large  physiological  signifi- 
cance. Metchnikoff  was  acquainted  with  the 
remarkable  discoveries  of  Cohnheim,  Strieker,  and 
others  (in  some  of  which  I  had  a  pupil's  share 
during  my  stay  in  the  winters  of  1869-70  and 
1870-71  at  Vienna  and  Leipzig  respectively). 
The  pathological  laboratories  were  full  of  observa- 
tions and  talk  about  the  "diapedesis"  and  "out- 
wandering  "  of  the  amoeboid  corpuscles  in  inflamed 
tissues,  the  origin  of  pus-corpuscles,  and  the  acti- 
vity of  the  amoeboid  cells  in  the  stellate  cavities  of  i 
the  frog's  cornea  and  other  connective  tissues  1 
when  stimulated.  Metchnikoff  put  two  and  two 
together,  and  formulated  the  proposition  that  in  , 
all  multicellular  animals  the  main  function  of  the  I 
cells  derived  from  the  deep  or  mid-embryonic  ' 
layer  between  the  dermal  and  intestinal  lining 
layers  is  nutritional,  and  that  they  possess  the 
power  of  ingesting  and  digesting — as  does  an 
amoeba — solid  particles,  whether  such  particles 
are  introduced  from  the  outside  or  are  parts  of  the 
organism  which,  owing  to  one  reason  or  another, 
must  be  broken  up  and  removed.  The  amoeboid 
cells  in  connective  tissues  and  in  the  blood  and 
lymph  are  such  eater-cells  or  phagocytes,  as  he 
now  termed  them. 

He  at  once  proceeded  to  explain  the  significance 
of  these  phagocytes  and  their  utility  to  the  organ- 
ism, not  only  by  pointing  to  their  work  as  scaven- 
gers removing  injured  and  dead  tissue,  to  which 


July  27,  1916] 


NATURE 


445 


Lhey  are  brought  in  hundreds  of  thousands  by  the 
process  known  as  inflammation,  but  he  also  imme- 
diately g-ave  first-class  importance  to  their  recog- 
nition by  connecting  them  with  Pasteur's  great 
discoveries  as  to  the  cause  of  infective  diseases  by 
poisonous  "  microbes  "  which  intrude  into  previ- 
ously healthy  organisms,  and  he  further  connected 
his  generalisation  with  Darwin's  theory  of  the 
origin  of  species  by  the  natural  selection  of 
favoured  races  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  He 
published  in  1884  an  essay  entitled  "The  Struggle 
of  the  Organism  against  Microbes,"  in  which  he 
maintained  the  thesis  that  the  phagocytes,  univer- 
sally present  in  multicellular  animals,  have  been 
developed  and  established  by  natural  selection  in 
the  animal  organism  as  a  protection  against  intru- 
sive disease-causing  bacteria. 

He  was  able  in  1884  to  observe  and  give  illus- 
trative drawings  of  a  demonstrative  case  of  the 
activity  of  the  phagocytes  in  the  blood  of  a  trans- 
parent fresh-water  flea  (Daphnia)  when  it  was 
infected  by  a  yeast-like  parasite  called  Monospora. 
This  parasite  frequently  makes  its  way  into  the 
blood  of  the  water  flea  and,  multiplying  there, 
often  causes  death.  Metchnikoff  watched  with 
his  microscope  and  made  careful  drawings  of  the 
phagocytes  as  he  saw  them  in  the  living  flea  en- 
gulfing and  digesting  the  intrusive  Monospora. 
In  some  cases  the  phagocytes,  in  others  the  Mono- 
spora, got  the  upper  hand.  Later  when  I  knew- 
him  he  had  a  small  aquarium  dedicated  to  the 
cultivation  of  these  demonstrative  w-ater  fleas  and 
their   infective   microbe. 

Having  now  determined  to  give  up  his  zoologi- 
cal and  embryolc^ical  researches  in  order  to  devote 
the  rest  of  his  life  to  the  development  of  his  doc- 
trine of  "phagocytosis,"  Metchnikoff  accepted  the 
invitation  to  become  director  of  a  new  bacterio- 
logical laboratory  at  Odessa,  but,  finding  the  con- 
ditions there  not  favourable  to  his  special  work, 
he  relinquished  the  post  in  1888  and,  having  for- 
tunately been  cold-shouldered  in  Berlin,  came  to 
Pasteur  in  Paris^  who,  thoroughly  appreciating 
the  value  of  his  work,  gave  him  a  laboratory  and 
every  facility  for  his  investigations  in  his  own 
institute,  at  that  time  located  in  the  Ecole  Normale, 
rue  Vaugirard.  When  a  few  years  later  the 
Institut  Pasteur  was  built  in  the  rue  Dutot 
Metchnikoff  was  given  a  fine  suite  of  laboratories, 
lecture-room,  and  space  for  keeping  animals, 
and  became  sub-director  of  the  institute  a  few 
years  ago. 

Young  investigators  now  came  in  growing  num- 
bers to  Paris  in  order  to  work  in  Metchnikoflf's 
laboratory,  and  he  pursued  with  triumphant  suc- 
cess, but  not  without  opposition  and  sometimes 
insult  from  the  older  and  more  ignorant  medical 
men,  the  establishment  of  his  views  as  to  the 
essential  importance  of  "  phagocytosis  "  in  resist- 
ance to  disease.  Among  his  more  fatuous  oppo- 
nents was  a  prominent  English  pathologist  who 
scornfully  alluded  to  his  views  as  "  Metchni- 
kof!ism."' 

In  1892  he  produced  as  an  illustrated  volume, 
with  the  title  "The  Comparative  Pathology  of  In- 

NO.    2439,   VOL.   97] 


flammation,"  the  substance  of  a  course  of  lectures 
delivered  at  the  Institut  Pasteur.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  delightful  examples  of  scientific  method  con- 
ceivable. It  is  essentially  a  careful  and  logical 
presentation  of  minute  observations  arranged  so 
as  to  bring  before  the  reader  the  evidence  in 
favour  of  his  argument.  He  invariably  followed 
this  method  in  the  controversies  in  which  he 
necessarily  engaged.  He  never  recriminated ; 
he  never  cited  mere  authority  nor  endeavoured 
to  falsify  his  opponent's  statements  by  "smart" 
word-play.  He  simply  made  new  experiments 
and  observations  suggested  by  his  adversary's 
line  of  attack,  and  so  practically  smothered 
him  by  the  weight  of  honest,  straightforward 
demonstration  of  fact.  He  showed  that  in 
the  lower  rnimals  the  phagocytes  are  attracted 
in  hundreds  by  "  chemiotaxis "  to  intrusive  or 
injurious  bodies  which  occur  in  the  tissues,  and 
then  either  enclose  or  digest  them.  He  proceeded 
10  show  that  in  the  vertebrates,  where  the  immense 
network  of  the  blood-vessels  is  under  the  control 
of  the  nervous  system,  "inflammation"  is  set  up 
as  a  curative  process,  and  that  the  elaboration  of 
its  mechanism  has  been  established  by  natural 
selection.  A  local  arrest  of  the  blood-stream  is 
produced  by  the  ner\-e-control  of  the  vascular  sys- 
tem, resulting  in  the  out-wandering  from  the  now 
nearly  stagnant  blood  of  phagocytes  chemically 
attracted  to  an  injured  spot,  where,  arriving  like 
an  innumerable  crowd  or  army  of  scavengers,  they 
proceed  to  engulf  and  digest  tissue  which  has 
been  killed  by  injury,  and  similarly  to  isolate  or  to 
destroy  and  digest  injurious  intrusive  substances, 
prominent  among  which  are  infective  poisonous 
bacteria. 

Metchnikoff  thus  finally  and  conclusively  "ex- 
plained" the  process  called  "inflammation."  His 
attention  and  that  of  his  pupils  was  now  given 
for  some  years  to  the  great  question  of  "immu- 
nity." How  is  it  that  some  individuals  are  either 
free  from  the  attacks  of  parasitic  micro-organisms 
to  which  their  fellows  are  liable,  or,  if  attacked, 
suffer  less  seriously  than  others  do?  To  answer 
this  question  is  to  go  a  long  way  to  the  solution 
of  the  great  practical  question  as  to  how  to  pro- 
duce immunity  to  infective  disease  in  man.  It 
involved  the  investigation  of  the  chemical  activi- 
ties of  the  phagocytes,  to  the  knowledge  and  theo- 
retical understanding  of  which  a  great  number  of 
highly  gifted  leaders  of  experimental  inquiry — to 
name  only  Ehrlich,  Behring,  and  Almroth  Wright 
— have  contributed  in  the  most  important  way. 
It  is  impossible  on  this  occasion  to  enumerate  or 
even  indicate  the  large  series  of  investigations  and 
records  of  experiment  now  continuously  produced 
by  Metchnikoff  or  by  assistants  under  his  imme- 
diate supervision.  The  Annales  de  I'Institut 
Pasteur  are  largely  made  up  of  these  records  and 
discussions.  In  1901  Metchnikoff  produced  his 
great  book  on  "  Immunity  in  Infectious  Diseases," 
an  English  translation  of  which  \\  as  at  once  pub- 
lished. The  subject  branched  out  into  various 
lines,  such  as  are  indicated  by  the  names  sero- 
therapy, toxins  and  anti-toxins,  haemolysis,  opso- 


446 


NATURE 


[July  27,   1916 


xiins,  and  bacteriotropins.  It  must  suffice  here  to 
state  that  Metchnikotf  successfully  established  the 
doctrine  that  it  is  to  the  healthy  activity  of  our 
phagocytes  that  we  have  to  look  not  only  for  tem- 
porary protection,  but  for  immunity  against  the 
micro-organisms  of  disease. 

Since  1901 — until  he  fell  ill  last  winter — Metch- 
nikoff  was  incessantly  active  in  his  labora- 
tory, working  there  from  early  morning  until 
evening,  when  he  took  train  to  his  country  house 
on  the  heights  above  the  Seine.  Rarely  would 
he  tear  himself  away  from  his  absorbing  work  to 
enjoy  a  holiday.  He  went  a  few  years  ago  to 
Astrachan,  on  the  Caspian,  to  inquire  for  the 
iRussian  Government  into  the  occurrence  of 
^bubonic  plague  in  that  region,  and  studied  also 
the  incidence  of  tuberculosis  in  the  town  popula- 
tions and  among  the  Kalmuck  Tartars.  On  the 
.latter  subject  he  gave  (in  response  to  my  urgent 
.request)  a  valuable  lecture  in  London  before  the 
National  Health  Society  (in  1912),  and  on  other 
•occasions  he  made  short  visits  to  this  country, 
in  order  to  receive  honours  and  deliver  special  dis- 
•courses — as  at  the  Darwin  celebration  at  Cam- 
bridge in  1909.  The  variety  of  infective  diseases 
to  the  experimental  investigation  of  which  he 
turned  the  resources  of  his  laboratory  and  his 
theoretical  conceptions  is  truly  astonishing.  As 
late  as  191 1  he  wrote:  "Perhaps  before  long  it 
will  be  possible  to  explain  diabetes,  gout,  and 
rheumatism  by  the  injurious  activity  of  some 
"Variety  of  microbe "  (preface  to  the  invaluable 
volume,  "Microbes  and  Toxins,"  by  Dr.  Etienne 
Burnet,  published  in  London  by  Heinemann). 

In  1903  he  found  time  to  write  a  profoundly  in- 
teresting popular  book,  "  The  Nature  of  Man " 
(London :  Heinemann),  in  which,  among  other 
things,  he  discourses  of  old  age,  and  his  view  that 
unhealthy  fermentation  commonly  occurring  in 
the  large  intestine  produces  poisons  which  are 
absorbed,  and  lead  to  deterioration  of  the  tissues 
of  the  walls  of  the  arteries,  and  so  to  senile 
changes  and  unduly  early  death.  He  satisfied 
himself,  experimentally  and  clinically,  that  the  use 
of  "  sour  milk  "  as  an  article  of  diet  checks  or 
altogether  arrests  this  unhealthy  fermentation  in 
the  intestine  by  planting  there  the  lactic  bacillus 
which,  forming  lactic  acid,  renders  the  life  and 
growth  of  the  bacteria  of  those  special  poisonous 
fermentations  (which  cannot  flourish  in  an  acid 
environment)  impossible.  Hence  he  himself  daily 
took  a  pint  or  so  of  sour  milk,  and  he  recom- 
mended it  to  others  and  arranged  for  the  commer- 
cial preparation  of  a  particularly  pure  and  agree- 
able "sour  milk,"  from  the  sale  of  which  he 
scrupulously  abstained  from  deriving  any  pecu- 
niary profit.  This  small,  though  valuable,  adven- 
ture of  his  in  dietetics  has  been— unfortunately, 
but  perhaps  inevitably — the  one  and  only  feature 
of  his  long  career  of  vast  scientific  discovery 
which  has  impressed  itself  on  the  somewhat  erra- 
tic intelligence  of  the  "man  in  the  street." 

Metchnikoff  was  a  foreign  member  and  Copley 
medallist  of  the  Royal  Society,  a  member  of  the 
Institute  of  France,   of  the  Academy  of  Sciences 

NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


of  Petrograd,  and  of  many  other  societies.  In 
1908  he  was  awarded  the  Nobel  prize  for  his 
researches  on  immunity,  and  he  received  only  a 
fortnight  before  his  death  the  announcement 
that  the  Albert  Medal  of  the  Society  of  Arts  of 
London  had  been  this  year  awarded  to  him  in  view 
of  the  benefit  to  humanity  of  his  scientific  dis- 
coveries. 

I  cannot  close  this  imperfect  survey  of  the  im- 
pressive and  ideally  complete  career  of  my  friend 
without  some  few  personal  notes.  From  the  day 
when  I  met  him  in  Pasteur's  laboratory  in  1888 
we  became  warm  friends.  He  was  singularly 
simple,  genuine,  and  unaffectedly  good  and 
unselfish.  I  could  tell  a  hundred  tales  of  his  bene- 
volence and  humane  spirit;  of  the  unrecorded 
charitable  aid  given  by  him  and  his  wife  to  the 
poor  of  Paris  and  to  expatriated  Russians ;  of  his 
exquisite  politeness  and  consideration  to  all  those 
who  were  his  servants.  I  am  convinced  that  the 
devotion  of  the  latter  half  of  his  life  to  the  solution 
of  the  problems  of  disease  was  due  to  his  goodness 
of  heart  and  his  ardent  desire  to  alleviate  human 
suffering.  He  never  was  a  smoker,  and  twenty 
years  ago  gave  up  the  use  of  alcohol  entirely. 
He  had  no  taste  for  sport  of  any  kind,  and  never 
indulged  in  "recreations"  or  "amusements"  or 
big  social  functions.  He  was  a  devoted  lover  of 
music,  and  had  much  knowledge  of  art  and  many 
friends  in  the  great  art  world  of  Paris.  His 
beard  was  large  and  his  hair  long,  and  he  was 
thick-set  and  muscularly  strong,  though  he  became 
more  and  more  bent,  as  the  years  went  on,  by  his 
constant  stooping  over  the  microscope.  No  year 
passed,  after  I  first  knew  him,  without  my  spend- 
ing some  time  with  him  and  Madame  Metchnikoff 
in  Paris  or  in  their  home  at  Sevres,  and  on  several 
occasions  he  has  stayed  with  me  in  London  or 
earlier  in  Oxford.  From  time  to  time  he  has 
shown  to  me  the  experiments  and  microscopic  evi- 
dence upon  which  his  own  and  his  pupils'  dis- 
coveries were  based,  and  has  put  before  me  the 
preliminary  hypotheses  by  aid  of  which  he  was 
seeking — as  opportunity  offered — to  arrive  at 
further  knowledge  of  appendicitis,  syphilis,  the 
yaws,  infantile  paralysis,  green  diarrhoea,  cholera, 
tubercle,  cancer,  diabetes,  gout,  and  rheumatism. 
Only  three  years  ago  he  carried  out  some  new 
researches  on  a  zoological  subject — the  natural 
removal  of  black  pigment  from  the  wing-feathers 
of  gulls — which  he  proposed  to  publish  in  the 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Microscopical  Science.  But 
the  terrible  events  of  the  last  two  years  put  such 
work  out  of  his  power.  In  his  last  moments  he 
insisted  very  urgently  that  an  immediate  autopsy 
should  follow  his  death.  He  had  suffered  for  six 
months  frjom  'pneumonia,  pleurisy,  and  latterly 
bronchitis.  The  autopsy  showed  atheroma  of  the 
aorta  and  related  cardiac  disease.  Metchnikoff 
died  in  the  apartments  of  the  Institut  which  had 
been  assigned  as  a  dwelling  to  Pasteur.  Accord- 
ing to  his  wish,  his  remains  have  been  incinerated, 
and  the  urn  containing  his  ashes  will  be  placed  in 
the  library  of  the  Pasteur  Institute. 

E.  Ray  Lankester. 


July  27,  1916] 


SIR  VICTOR  MORS  LEY,  F.R.S. 


NATURE 


A47 


SIR  VICTOR  A.  H.  HORSLEY,  whose  death 
on  July  16  we  record  with  the  deepest  regret, 
was  born  in  1857  of  a  family  long  distinguished 
for  ability  in  natural  science  and  the  arts.  His 
descent  was  chosen  by  Galton  to  illustrate  the 
view  that  unusual  talents  are  hereditary  in  certain 
stocks  of  the  community  in  this  island. 

On  leaving  school  he  entered  University  College, 
and  carried  all  before  him.  He  early  showed  his 
interest  in  the  physiology  of  the  nervous  system, 
and  in  1884  published  a  study,  with  Prof.  Schafer, 
on  the  functions  of  the  marginal  convolution.  The 
same  year,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-seven, 
he  was  appointed  professor-superintendent  of  the 
Brown  Institution,  a  post  much  coveted  by  physi- 
ologists. His  energy  and  enthusiasm,  coupled 
with  his  astonishing  youth,  were  a  revelation  to 
all  who  came  into  contact  with  him.  In  his  com- 
pany work  became  a  fascinating  game,  and  never 
was  there  such  a  keen  playmate.  He  was  singu- 
larly attractive,  with  a  charming  voice  and  infec- 
tious laugh ;  his  manner  was  boyishly  unaffected, 
and  as  he  struck  out  one  line  after  another  in  the 
application  of  physiology  to  medicine  our  enthu- 
siasm was  unbounded.  He  was  always  sincerely 
interested  in  the  work  of  others,  and  would  devote 
much  time  and  energy  to  understanding  it 
thoroughly.  Throughout  his  period  at  the  Brown 
Institution  he  worked  more  particularly  at  hydro- 
phobia, and  the  functions  of  the  thyroid  and  pitui- 
tary body,  besides  continuing  his  studies  in  cere- 
bral localisation. 

Horsley  was  surgeon  to  University  College  Hos- 
pital and  to  the  National  Hospital  for  the  Para- 
lysed and  Epileptic,  Queen  Square,  W.C. ,  and  it 
was  at  this  time  that  he  became  the  pioneer  of  sur- 
gery of  the  central  nervous  system.  Instigated  by 
Dr.  Hughlings  Jackson  and  Sir  William  Cowers, 
he  was  the  first  successfully  to  operate  on  the  brain 
and  to  remove  a  tumour  pressing  on  the  spinal 
cord.  To  us  his  operating  was  an  inspiration ; 
he  was  never  at  a  loss,  and  his  brilliancy  lay 
rather  in  his  attitude  to  the  problem  in  front  of  him 
than  in  pure  mechanical  dexterity.  He  was  never 
afraid,  and  the  complete  reliance  he  placed  on  his 
subordinates  was  sometimes  almost  embarrassing. 

Honours  poured  upon  him.  He  was  early 
elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and 
obtained  the  Royal  medal;  Halle  made  him  an 
M.D. ,  Paris  elected  him  a  Fellow  of  the  Acad^mie 
de  Medecine,  and  numerous  medical  societies  all 
over  the  world  claimed  him  as  an  honorary 
member.  Xo  British  worker  in  his  field  has  been 
so  much  admired  on  the  Continent  as  Horsley. 

Practice  came  to  him  abundantly,  but  until 
shortly  before  the  war  he  always  devoted  one 
day  in  the  week  to  work  in  his  private  laboratory, 
tucked  away  under  the  lecture  theatre  at  Uni- 
versity College.  Here  he  did  all  his  work  on  the 
functions  of  the  brain,  including  the  long  series  of 
researches  with  Dr.  R.  H.  Clarke  on  the  cere- 
l:>ellum,  carried  out  with  an  accuracy  never  before 
attainable.  Many  younger  men  who  are  now  dis- 
tinguished as  neurologists  in  different  parts  of  the 
NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


world  came  to  work  with  him  here  in  London,  and 
owe  the  success  of  their  researches  not  only  to  his 
guidance,  but  to  his  remarkable  operative  skill  on 
animals,  for  in  almost  all  cases  the  actual  experi- 
mental lesions  were  his  handiwork. 

He  was  Croonian  lecturer  to  the  Royal  Society, 
and  on  this  occasion  published  the  work  carried 
out  with  his  brother-in-law.  Prof.  Gotch,  on  elec- 
trical changes  in  the  spinal  cord. 

He  was,  however,  essentially  a  pioneer,  inter- 
ested mainly  in  working  at  a  subject  until  the 
field  was  laid  open  to  all.  This  accounts  for  the 
comparatively  small  bulk  of  his  publications.  He 
showed  all  the  surgeons  of  the  world  how  to 
operate  on'  the  brain  and  spinal  cord,  but  left  no 
co-ordinated  account  of  his  methods,  procedure,  or 
results.  This  was  in  part  due  to  impatience  at 
being  forced  to  go  back  over  the  road  he  had 
travelled,  and  partly  to  the  overwhelming  worries 
of  the  political  and  social  work  into  which  he 
threw  himself  with  all  his  original  scientific  ardour. 

His  death  was  characteristic  of  his  desire  always 
to  be  moving  forwards,  to  be  in  the  advance,  for, 
as  consulting  surgeon  and  inspector  of  hospitals, 
he  might  have  stopped  in  the  Mediterranean, 
where  he  had  been  occupied  usefully  for  some 
time.  But  he  demanded  to  be  sent  to  Mesopo- 
tamia, where  he  knew  the  need  was  urgent,  and 
there  he  died  at  Amara,  laying  down  his  life  at 
the  early  age  of  fifty-nine.  H.  H. 


NOTES. 

The  death  of  Sir  William  Ramsay  on  July  23  has 
deprived  the  world  of  one  of  its  greatest  men  and 
science  of  a  pioneer  whose  work  has  opened  up  the 
richest  fields  of  research  explored  in  modem  times. 
For  several  months  the  sympathies  of  scientific  men 
have  been  with  Sir  William  on  his  bed  of  affliction, 
and  rebellious  thoughts  have  surged  through  the 
minds  of  all  of  us  that  such  an  intellectual  giant 
should  have  been  rendered  helpless  when  his  dominat- 
ing influence  was  most  needed  in  national  life. 
Though  he  was  sixty-three  years  of  age,  he  was 
much  younger  in  spirit  and  vigour;  and  until  last 
November  everyone  who  knew  him  supposed  that  he 
had  a  long  period  of  activity  still  in  front  of  him.  He 
has  now  passed  to  his  rest,  and  no  words  can  express 
the  grief  felt  by  his  countless  friends  and  admirers  at 
the  loss  sustained  by  them  and  by  the  nation.  His 
genius  was  undoubted,  and  in  personal  characteristics, 
as  well  as  in  productive  work,  he  represented  science 
at  its  highest  and  best.  His  funeral  is  taking  place 
at  Hazlemere  Church,  High  Wycombe,  as  we  go  to 
press,  but  the  place  where  his  remains  should  rest  is 
Westminster  Abbey,  for  the  honour  which  he  brought 
to  his  country  would  have  been  justly  recognised  by  this 
mark  of  national  recognition.  The  greatness  of  his 
work,  and  the  high  regard  in  which  it  is  held,  were 
shown  in  an  article  on  Sir  William  Ramsay  in  our 
series  of  "Scientific  Worthies"  in  N.\tlre  of  Januarv 
II,  1912.  His  memor>-  will  be  cherished  with  affection 
by  all  who  came  under  the  influence  of  his  attractive 
personality,  and  his  contributions  to  knowledge  will 
constitute  a  permanent  monument  to  him  in  the  fields 
of  science.  The  nation  itself  has  been  exalted  bv  his 
achievements,  and  a  memorial  of  them  should  be 
placed  where  all  may  see  and  be  uplifted  bv  the  spirit 
of  scientific  life  so  fully  manifested  in  him. 


448 


NATURE 


[July  27,  1916 


An  instructive  example  of  the  manner  in  which 
Germany  has  in  the  past  been  permitted  to  exploit 
British  resources  is  provided  by  the  management  by 
a  German  company  of  the  Travancore  monazite  de- 
posits. The  sand  was  obtained  in  Travancore  at  a 
cost  of  about  4Z,  per  ton,  and  shipped  to  Germany 
for  the  use  of  the  manufacturers  of  Germany.  Only 
a  limited  quantity  of  the  sand  was  allowed  to  be  sold 
in  the  United  Kingdom,  and  the  price  of  about  36Z. 
per  ton  was  demanded.  In  a  paper  on  the  British 
rare-earth  industry,  read  by  Mr.  S.  J.  Johnstone  at 
the  annual  meeting-  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  In- 
dustry, these  and  other  interesting  particulars  were 
given.  Prof.  Wyndham  Dunstan,  director  of  the  Im- 
p>erial  Institute,  dealt  with  the  same  subject  in  a  paper 
read  to  the  Indian  Section  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Arts  on  June  i,  and  printed  in  the  issues  of  the 
society's  journal  of  July  7  and  14.  Thorium,  the 
constituent  of  monazite  of  industrial  importance,  is 
essential  to  the  gas-mantle  industry,  which  until  lately 
was  under  German  control.  Germany,  having  secured 
the  monopoly  of  the  Brazilian  supplies  of  monazite, 
was  able  to  dominate  the  manufacture  of  gas  mantles 
in  this  country.  Owing  to  the  activities  of  the  Impe- 
rial Institute,  Ceylon  was  found  to  supply  scattered 
monazite  and  thorianite,  the  richest  known  ore  of 
thorium,  containing  more  than  80  per  cent,  of  thoria, 
as  against  about  5  per  cent,  in  Brazilian  monazite. 
In  1909  monazite  sand  was  discovered  on  the  coast 
of  Travancore,  and  the  monazite  found  to  contain 
nearly  twice  as  much  thoria  as  the  monazite  of  Brazil. 
Thorianite  has  been  secured  by  the  Imperial  Institute 
for  British  users,  by  whom  virtually  the  entire  output 
of  Ceylon  has  been  taken.  Though  at  first  Travan- 
core monazite  was  worked  in  German  interests,  a 
reconstruction  since  the  war  of  the  company  working 
it  will  secure  its  produce  also  for  British  industry. 

As  was  the  case  last  year,  the  Swedish  Govern- 
ment has  decided  to  postpone,  this  time  until  July  i, 
1917,  the  distribution  of  the  Nobel  prizes  in  physics, 
chemistry,  medicine,  and  literature. 

The  Finsbury  Technical  College  Old  Students' 
Association  is  preparing  a  scheme  to  perpetuate  the 
memory  of  the  late  Prof.  Silvanus  P.  Thompson  in 
a  suitable  manner.  All  who  wish  to  assist  in  the 
establishment  of  such  a  memorial  should  communicate 
with  Mr.  J.  E.  Raworth,  Queen  Anne's  Chambers, 
28  Broadway,  Westminster,  London,  S.W. 

The  death  is  announced,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight, 
of  Dr.  Bushell  Anningson,  lecturer  in  medical  juris- 
prudence in  the  University  of  Cambridge  since  1884. 
Dr.  Anningson  was  the  author  of  "  Evolution  of 
Human  Communities  in  Relation  to  Disease,"  "The 
Origin  and  Progress  of  Sanitary  Endeavour,"  and 
other   works. 

Lieut.  J.  J.  Ball,  who  was  killed  at  the  front  on 
June  27  while  acting  as  observing  officer,  entered  the 
University  of  London,  University  College,  as  a  student 
of  civil  engineering  in  1912,  and  had  just  completed 
his  second  year's  course  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 
He  was  by  no  means  a  "bookworm,"  but  perhaps 
his  distinguishing  feature  as  a  student  was  the  quiet 
determination  with  which  he  tackled  his  studies,  even 
when  they  were  clearly  distasteful.  His  friends  and 
teachers  at  University  College  feel  that  by  his  death 
the  war  has  robbed  them  of  a  promising  young 
engineer,  as  well  as  of  a  man  they  were  glad  to  call 
friend. 

Major  (Temporary  Lieut.-Col.)  Boyd  Robert 
HoRSBRUGH,  who  died  recently  at  his  home,   Oxted, 

NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


Surrey,  was  well  known  as  an  authority  on  the  birds  of 
South  Africa,  where  he  had  lived  for  nearly  seven  years, 
and  had  travelled  extensively  throughout  the  country ; 
he  also  served  with  distinction  in  the  South  African 
war.  He  is  best  known  as  the  author  of  a  book  on  the 
"  Game  Birds  and  Waterfowl  of  South  Africa,"  pub- 
lished in  1912,  a  most  useful  work  to  the  naturalist, 
but  mainly  designed  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the 
average  sportsman  in  that  country.  A  special  feature 
of  the  work  is  the  field  notes  by  the  author  and 
artist,  and  the  beautiful  series  of  coloured  plates  by 
Sergt.  C.  G.  Davies,  Cape  Mounted  Riflemen,  which 
bear  evidence  of  being  drawn  from  life  by  one  who 
had  watched  and  studied  in  their  native  haunts  the 
subjects  of  his  pencil. 

The  death  of  Paul  Lemetayer  in  Chile  closes  a  most 
useful  career.  Born  at  Avranches  in  1849,  he  was 
the  pupil  and  later  the  collaborator  of  Paul  Issidor. 
In  1881  he  was  appointed  director  of  the  agricul- 
tural station  at  Santiago,  and  held  a  distinguished 
position  in  connection  with  agricultural  and  analytical 
chemistry  in  Chile.  As  technical  adviser  to  the 
Government,  Lemetayer  contributed  much  to  the  wel- 
fare and  progress  of  Chile.  The  important  nitrate 
industry,  the  growth  of  sugar-beet,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  vineyards  have  been  specially  encouraged  by 
State  grants,  but  agricultural  enterprise  has  also  been 
stimulated  in  other  directions.  The  "  Quinta  Normal 
d'Agricultura,"  with  which  Lemetayer  was  closely 
connected,  is  regarded  as  the  largest  and  best 
organised  of  agricultural  schools  in  South  America, 
and  is  rivalled  by  few  similar  institutions  in  Europe. 

Mr.  Edgar  Albert  Smith,  who  died  on  July  22,  was 
born  in  1847.  His  father  was  Frederick  Smith,  a 
well-known  entomologist,  and  assistant-keeper  in  the 
zoological  department  of  the  British  Museum.  In 
1867  Edgar  Smith  joined  the  staff  of  the  museum  as 
an  assistant,  and  took  charge  of  the  mollusca ;  for 
several  years  he  was  largely  occupied  with  the 
arrangement  of  the  famous  "Cuming  Collection." 
Afterwards,  when  the  collections  were  transferred 
from  Bloomsbury  to  South  Kensington,  he  was  re- 
sponsible for  the  arrangement  of  the  shell  gallery, 
which  he  planned  especially  for  the  convenience  of 
the  numerous  amateur  collectors  and  students  of  shells 
who  visited  the  Natural  History  Museum,  and  at 
whose  service  he  freely  placed  his  wide  knowledge  and 
experience.  In  1895  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
assistant-keeper,  and  in  1903  he  received  the  I.S.O. ; 
he  retired  in  1913.  Mr.  Smith  was  recognised  as  a 
high  authority  in  conchology,  and  he  was  the  author 
of  more  than  300  monographic  and  faunistic  works 
on  mollusca,  including  the  important  volume  on  the 
Challenger  Lamellibranchs.  He  had  held  the  office 
of  president  of  both  the  Conchological  and  Malaco- 
logical  Societies,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Academy 
of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia  and  of  the  Linnean 
Society  of  New  South  Wales. 

Capt.  J.  M.  Charlton,  who  was  killed  on  July  i, 
at  twenty-five  years  of  age,  was  an  enthusiastic 
naturalist  and  amateur  taxidermist,  and  had  written 
and  illustrated  several  short  works  on  ornithology, 
among  them  "The  Birds  of  South-East  Northumber- 
land." He  was  in  Uppingham  School  from  1907  to 
1910.  During  his  last  two  years  there  he  was  one  of  the 
official  "observers"  of  the  Ornithological  Section  of 
the  Natural  Science  Society,  and  for  his  last  year  he 
was  secretary  of  the  section.  He  was  always  very 
keen  on  birds,  spent  all  his  spare  time  in  observing 
them,   and   would   travel    miles    on    the    off-chance    of 


July  27,  1916] 


NATURE 


449 


seeing  anything  novel  to  the  district.  He  had  also 
artistic  power,  and  in  1908  was  awarded  first  prize 
in  the  school  exhibition  for  some  coloured  studies  of 
birds.  In  the  Public  Schools  Essay  Competition  of 
1910  he  was  awarded  a  special  bronze  medal  for  his 
essay  on  "  Observations  during  a  Fortnight's  Holiday 
on  the  Island  of  Gigha." 

It  is  officially  announced  that  in  view  of  the  possi- 
bilitv  of  the  failure  of  the  third  attempt  now  being 
carried  out  by  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton,  in  a  small 
vessel,  to  rescue  the  twenty-two  men  of  his  party  left 
on  Elephant  Island,  South  Shetlands,  and  at  his 
urgent  request,  the  Government  has  now  decided  to 
dispatch  a  vessel  from  England  as  soon  as  she  can 
be  fitted  out,  no  suitable  wooden  vessel  being  avail- 
able in  any  South  American  port.  The  Governor  and 
Company  of  Adventurers  of  England  Trading  into  the 
Hudson's  Bay  have  generously  placed  tlieir  vessel, 
the  Discovery,  which  was  specially  built  for  Antarctic 
exploration,  at  the  disposal  of  the  Adrniralt}',  for  as 
long  as  she  may  be  required  for  this  service,  free  of  all 
cost.  Lieut. -Commander  James  Fairweather  has 
been  appointed  to  command  the  vessel,  which  is  now 
fitting  out  at  H.M.  Dockyard,  Devonport.  On  her 
completion,  if  news  has  not  been  received  of  a  success- 
ful issue  of  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton 's  present  attempt 
to  reach  Elephant  Island,  she  will  then  proceed  to 
Elephant  Island,  embarking  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  on 
her  way. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  City  of  London  Court  of 
Common  Council  on  Thursday,  July  20,  it  was  re- 
solved : — (i)  That  in  view  of  the  great  advantages 
which  would  accrue  to  British  commerce  in  foreign 
markets  by  the  use  of  the  decimal  system  of  coinage 
and  weights  and  measures,  in  the  opinion  of  this  court 
it  is  desirable  that  steps  should  be  taken  to  ensure  its 
immediate  introduction,  so  that  it  may  be  already  in 
operation  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war;  (2)  That  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  England  and  the  Allies  are  enter- 
ing into  arrangements  for  concerted  action  with  regard 
to  future  trade  matters,  it  would  be  of  immense  value 
If  one  language  could  be  recognised  as  the  commercial 
language,  and  taught  in  all  schools,  here  and  abroad. 
By  so  doing,  English,  French,  Russian,  Esperanto,  or 
any  other  language  decided  on  would  form  the  basis 
of  communication  on  business  matters  throughout  the 
world. 

At  the  beginning  of  July  a  party  of  thirty  men,  led 
by  Mr.  Birger  Johnsson,  left  Sweden  for  Spitsbergen 
in  order  to  work  the  coal  deposits  at  the  head  of  Bell 
Sound  (Braganza  Creek)  and  Isfjord.  At  Braganza 
Creek  the  coal,  though  of  Tertiary  age,  is  said  to  be 
of  good  burning  quality,  and  there  is  an  average 
thickness  of  2- 15  metres  over  an  area  of  about  100 
kilometres.  At  the  Pyramid  Hill  and  in  Biinsow's 
Land,  at  the  head  of  Isfjord,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
coal  is  culm  of  Carboniferous  age,  and  is  not  so  good 
as  at  Braganza.  None  the  less,  these  two  areas  are 
calculated  to  yield  about  3000  million  tons  of  good 
coal.  Other  members  of  the  expedition  are  Mr.  S. 
Ohman,  who  will  be  responsible  for  the  mapping;  Mr. 
H.  Odelberg,  agronomist,  who  will  see  to  the  pro- 
visioning; Mr.  E.  Lundstrom,  who  will  serve  as 
botanist  and  make  a  map  according  to  Prof.  De  Geer's 
photographic  method;  and  a  palaeontologist,  Mr.  Erik 
Andersson,  of  Upsala,  who  was  recently  studying  the 
fossil  fishes  of  Spitsbergen  in  the  British  MuseunK 
Mr.  Lundstrom  is  taking  some  plants  to  see  if  they 
will  grow  there.  Among  them  are  various  willows, 
the  dwarf  birch.  Convolvulus  sepium,  Potentilla  fruti- 
cosa.  and  Papaver  niidicaule. 

NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


Of  great  interest  to  zoologists  is  the  proposal, 
reported  in  the  June  number  of  the  Bui.  Imp.  Acad. 
Sci.,  Petrograd,  to  establish  a  biological  station  on 
Lake  Baikal.  The  largest  of  the  fresh-water  lakes 
of  Europe  and  Asia,  and  said  to  be  the  deepest  in  the 
world,  it  possesses  a  fauna  in  many  respects  unique. 
Some  of  its  fishes  are  found  nowhere  else,  and  some 
live  at  a  greater  depth  than  any  other  fresh-water 
fishes.  Among  them  are  very  ancient  forms,  and, 
according  to  some  investigators,  vestiges  of  the 
Upper  Tertiary  and  sub-tropical  fauna  of  Siberia 
and,  possibly,  of  Central  Asia.  Though  Lake  Baikal 
has  long  since  attracted  the  attention  of  Russian 
zoologists,  much  remains  to  be  done,  and  it  is  felt 
that  private  research,  valuable  as  its  achievements 
have  been,  should  be  supplemented  by  a  fully  equipped 
biological  station,  which  alone  can  cope  with  the 
problems  involved  in  a  thorough  and  systematic  in- 
vestigation. The  subject  has  been  mooted  for  some 
time  past  in  Russian  scientific  circles  and  is  now 
brought  within  measurable  distance  of  realisation  by 
a  donation  of  1600Z.  received  from  a  Siberian  gentle- 
man, Mr.  A.  Vtorov,  and  the  Academy  has  appointed 
a  commission  to  take  immediate  steps  to  give  con- 
crete form  to  a  project  destined  to  be  of  great  im- 
portance for  biological  science. 

In  the  July  issue  of  Man  Mr.  J.  Reid  Moir  pub- 
lishes a  further  report  on  the  discovery  of  human 
bones  and  other  articles  of  Neolithic  and  later  date  in 
the  Ipswich  district.  The  skeleton  of  an  individual 
buried  in  the  contracted  posture  has  been  examined 
by  Prof.  Arthur  Keith,  who  reports  that  it  is  that  of 
a  lad  of  the  Neolithic  age,  decidedly  smaller  and  of 
slighter  make  than  a  modern  boy.  Of  another  skull 
Prof.  Keith  remarks  that  "amongst  British  skulls, 
attributed  to  a  prehistoric  or  pre-Roman  date,  a 
markedly  prominent  nose  is  very  rare  :  I  have  never 
seen  a  single  case."  As  regards  the  stature  and 
muscular  development  of  some  of  these  skeletons,  it 
is  to  be  regretted  that,  although  the  skeleton  was 
represented  in  each  case,  the  long  bones  were  so 
fragile  and  fragmentary  that  it  was  found  impossible 
to  obtain  complete  reconstruction. 

We  have  received  from  the  National  Clean  Milk 
Society  copies  of  two  publications  just  issued  by  the 
society.  One  is  a  leaflet  intended  for  distribution 
among  producers  of  milk,  containing  recommenda- 
tions for  the  care  of  cows  and  of  milk  which  should 
be  observed  by  farmers  and  dair\-men.  These  are 
simple  and  capable  of  being  carried  out  by  all,  and 
if  observed  would  do  much  to  ensure  a  clean  milk 
supply.  The  other  publication  is  a  form  of  agree- 
ment for  the  wholesale  purchase  and  sale  of  milk  by 
institutions,  dealers,  and  milk  producers.  In  particu- 
lar it  provides  for  the  tuberculin  testing  of  all  cows 
and  for  a  bacterial  content  of  the  milk  not  exceeding 
60,000  bacteria  per  cubic  centimetre.  This  last  pro- 
vision is  certainly  a  very  stringent  one,  and  difficult 
to  attain ;  unless  the  conditions  of  bacteriological 
examination  are  very  carefully  defined  it  will  lead  to 
trouble,  for  American  investigations  have  recently 
shown  an  extraordinary  variation  in  the  bacterial  con- 
tent of  the  same  milk  sample  examined  bv  different 
obserA'ers.  The  agreement  is,  however,  for  a  high- 
grade  milk,  the  price  of  which  is  put  at  id.  per  gallon 
more  than  that  of  ordinary  or  market  milk. 

The  need  of  a  publication  in  English  which  will 
contain  not  only  abstracts  of  purelv  physiological 
papers,  but  also  summaries  of  important  papers  bear- 
ing on  physiology  in  other  branches  of  science,  has 
long  been  recognised.  It  is  hoped  that  the  Physio- 
logical Abstracts   will   meet   this   need,   and   will   also 


450 


NATURE 


July  27,  19 16 


form  a  link  between  British  and  American  physio- 
logists and  their  colleagues  in  France,  Russia,  Italy, 
Scandinavia,  and  Holland.  The  abstracts  are  issued 
by  the  Physiological  Society  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  under  the  able  editorship  of  Prof.  W.  D. 
Halliburton,  and  with  the  co-operation  of  the  American 
Physiological  Society ;  associated  with  the  editor  are 
many  of  the  most  eminent  physiologists  in  this  and 
other  countries.  The  publication  is  issued  monthly, 
and  although,  up  to  the  present,  only  four  numbers 
have  appeared,  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  its  value  for 
purely  physiological  workers.  Indeed,  its  success 
appears  to  be  assured,  not  merely  from  a  scientific 
point  of  view,  but  also  as  regards  its  wider  purpose 
of  more  closely  uniting  physiologists  in  the  allied  and 
neutral   countries. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  in  these  columns 
of  the  very  useful  and  comprehensive  survey  of  the 
phenomena  of  light  production  by  animals  which 
Mr.  Ulric  Dahlgren  is  publishing  in  the  Journal  of 
the  Franklin  Institute  of  Pennsylvania.  In  the  May 
and  June  numbers  he  proceeds  with  his  task,  survey- 
ing now  the  marine  worms  and  the  Crustacea.  The 
author  makes  no  claim  to  originality  in  regard  to 
this  work,  but  he  has  added  materially  to  our  know- 
ledge of  the  histological  structure  of  these  light- 
producing  tissues.  Particular  attention  is  directed  to 
the  difficulty  of  finding  any  satisfactory  interpretation 
as  to  the  significance  of  the  extraordinary  luminosity 
of  Chaetopterus,  one  of  the  most  luminous  of  living 
animals,  but  which,  like  the  mollusc  Pholas,  endowed 
with  like  powers,  lives  in  a  burrow  on  the  sea-floor. 
In  some  of  the  Crustacea  a  luminous  discharge  is 
made  which  seems  to  serve,  like  the  ink  of  the 
cuttle-fish,  as  a  means  of  escape  from  enemies. 

That  the  maple  aphis  {Chaitophorus  aceris)  gives 
rise  to  dimorphic  larvae,  the  one  normal,  the  other 
having  a  tessellated  carapace,  and  the  abdomen, 
anterior  border  of  the  head,  and  the  limbs  fringed 
with  small  leaf-like  expansions,  has  long  been  known. 
When  first  discovered,  however,  this  curiously  modi- 
fied type  was  regarded  as  representing  a  distinct 
species.  In  the  Proceedings  of  the  South  London 
Entomological  and  Natural  History  Society,  1915-16. 
Mr.  E.  J.  Bunnett  reviews  the  work  of  earlier  ob- 
servers, and  adds  some  valuable  observations-  of  his 
own,  based  on  specimens  bred  from  two  black 
apterous  females  during  June,  19 14.  In  the  course  of 
his  investigations  he  was  further  enabled  to  show 
that  this  "  pseudomorphic,"  or  periphyllous,  form  is 
produced  also  by  the  winged  black  form.  An  admirable 
figure  of  this  most  puzzling  larva  compared  with  the 
normal  form  adds  immensely  to  the  value  of  this  con- 
tribution. 

No.  3  of  vol.  iii.,  series  ii.,  Fislicry  Investiga- 
tions, Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries,  has  just 
;been  published.  It  is  an  analysis  and  review  of  the 
English  plaice-marking  experiments  carried  out  in 
-the  North  Sea  since  1903.  In  the  course  of  this  work 
more  than  17,000  living  plaice  were  marked  and 
liberated.  The  objects  of  the  investigation  were 
mainly  the  detection  of  migrations  and  of  their 
causes,  an  estimate  of  the  rate  of  growth  of  the  fish 
In  different  seasons  and  areas,  and  an  estimate  of 
the  actual  effect  of  fishing  upon  the  North  Sea  plaice 
population.  In  spite  of  the  large  mass  of  material 
dealt  with,  it  has  not  been  possible  to  attain  to  very 
definite  conclusions  with  regard  to  these  questions. 
The  movements  of  plaice  in  the  North  Sea  are  rather 
of  the  nature  of  general  dispersions  than  of  move- 
ments along  definite  paths,  correlated  with  seasonal 
conditions.  Growth,  too,  is  remarkably  variable. 
An    important    and    interesting   result   apparent    from 

NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


the  experiments  is  the  practicability  of  carrying  out 
"  transplantation  "  on  a  very  large  scale  with  valuable 
commercial  results.  In  such  areas  as  that  of  the 
Dogger  Bank  growth  is  much  more  rapid  than  in  the 
coastal  areas,  and  removal  of  small  fish  from  the 
latter  to  the  former  grounds  would  be  an  economically 
valuable  proceeding  if  possible  on  an  international 
scale. 

In  the  National  Geographic  Magazine  for  May  Mr. 
Hiram  Bingham,  director  of  the  expedition  sent  to 
Peru  in  1915  by  the  National  Geographic  Society  and 
Yale  University,  gives  an  account  of  the  operations. 
Its  main  object  was  to  secure  information  about 
the  inhabitants  of  the  wonderful  city  of  Machu  Picchu, 
which  was  discovered  during  the  exploration  of  191 1. 
Several  ancient  Inca  trails  leading  to  the  city  were 
examined,  and  it  was  ascertained  that  Machu  Picchu 
was  the  centre  of  a  densely  populated  region,  the 
inhabitants  of  which  possessed  a  highly  organised 
civilisation.  Amongst  other  discoveries,  a  consider- 
able number  of  trepanned  skulls  were  found.  It  is 
remarkable  that  a  people  capable  of  constructing  these 
fine  megalithic  buildings,  and  whose  skill  in  engineer- 
ing, pottery,  and  textiles  was  of  a  high  order,  should 
not  have  succeeded  in  inventing  an  alphabet  or  even 
some  form  of  hieroglyphic  writing  similar  to  that 
which  existed  in  Mexico  and  Central  America.  The 
report  is  illustrated  by  an  excellent  collection  of  photo- 
graphs. 

We  have  received  the  report  of  the  Survey  of  India 
for  1914-15,  which  shows  considerable  progress  despite 
the  shortage  of  staff.  Of  the  i-in.  map  154  sheets  were 
published  during  the  year,  of  the  "  degree  "  sheets 
seven,  and  of  the  "  one-millionth  "  map  five  sheets. 
A  preliminary  edition  of  the  map  of  Tibet,  on  a  scale 
of  I  to  2,000,000,  has  been  published.  The  Govern- 
ment of  India  has  sanctioned  the  publication  of  a  new 
"  half-inch  "  map  of  India,  which  is  to  be  compiled 
from  available  sources.  One  sheet  has,  so  far,  ap- 
peared, but  several  new  sheets  should  be  ready  shortly. 
In  addition  to  this  work,  a  great  deal  of  topographical 
survey  was  done  during  the  year.  Quicker  progress 
in  survey  work  can  be  expected  in  future  years,  as 
it  has  been  decided  to  reduce  the  scale  for  certain 
sparsely  populated  areas.  About  half  of  the  600,000 
square  miles  that  remain  are  to  be  surveyed  for  a  half- 
inch  or  smaller  scale. 

Communications  No.  147  and  148  from  the  Univer- 
sity of  Leyden  contain  new  data  obtained  by  Prof. 
Onnes  and  his  pupils  with  regard  to  the  behaviour 
of  oxygen,  nitrogen,  neon,  and  helium  at  low  tem- 
peratures. For  helium  the  vapour  pressure  varies 
with  absolute  temperature  as  follows  : — ^At  1-48° 
/>  =  o-42;  3-52°,  36;  4-20°,  75-8;  4-9°,  133;  5"  16°,  167  cm. 
of  mercury.  For  neon  the  isothermals  at  20°  C, 
0°,  -183°,  -200°,  -208°,  -213°,  and  -2x7-5°  are 
given,  and  liquid  neon  is  shown  to  provide  a  much- 
needed  constant  temperature  bath  in  the  gap  between 
55°  absolute,  which  is  furnished  by  liquid  oxygen,  and 
20°  absolute,  for  which  liquid  hydrogen  is  available. 
The  behaviour  of  neon  corresponds  closely  with  that 
of  argon.  The  previous  vapour  pressure  tables  of 
oxygen  and  nitrogen  are  corrected  according  to  th€ 
most  recent  comparisons  of  the  platinum  with  the 
hydrogen  thermometer,  and  for  oxygen  vapour  pres- 
sures are  given  from  90-2°  absolute  when  the  pres- 
sure is  767  cm.,  down  to  574°  when  it  is  027  cm. 
For  nitrogen  vapour  pressures  are  given  from  80-5^ 
when  p  =108-6,  down  to  57°,  at  which  it  is  2-2  cm. 
of  mercury. 

Mr.  a.  B.  Dobrowoi.ski  has  recently  contributed  tc 
,  the  Arkiv  for  Kemi,  Miner alogi  och  Geologi  (vol    vi., 


JULY    27,    I916] 


NATURE 


451 


7,  pp.  1-53J,  under  the  title  "  Les  cristaux  de 
^  ^e,"  an  interesting  resumd  of  what  is  as  yet  known 
of  this  the  commonest  of  substances,  in  which  he 
points  out  the  lacunae  that  remain  and  the  questions 
that  are  still  unsettled.  He  has  himself  studied  no 
fewer  than  3000  photomicrographs  of  actual  ice 
crystals  under  the  microscope,  the  photographs  being 
taken  from  the  fine  collections  formed  by  A.  W. 
Bentley,  G.  Nordenskiold,  and  F.  Hallberg.  There 
appear  to  be  three  different  types  of  habit  of  natural 
crystals  of  ice,  viz.  lamellar,  rod-like,  and  acicular, 
of  which  the  first  Is  by  far  the  commonest.  The 
author  hazards  the  suggestion  that  the  other  two 
result  from  the  transitory  presence  in  the  air  of 
certain  unstable  gases,  but  hesitates  to  say  which. 
From  a  study  of  the  tapering,  rod-like  crj'stals  he 
concludes  that  ice  belongs  to  the  tourmaline  class 
of  the  hexagonal  system,  which  is  characterised  by  a 
trigonal  polar  axis  of  symmetry.  No  measureniients 
which  will  permit  of  the  determination  of  a  satisfac- 
tory value  for  the  ratio  of  the  crystallographical  axes 
have  yet  been  published;  that  quoted  in  the  text- 
books is  based  upon  some  extremely  rough  observa- 
tions made  by  Nordenskiold,  and  is  quite  untrust- 
worthy. In  the  rod-like  and  acicular  types  twinning 
about  0001  is  common,  as  is  shown  by  the  existence 
of  groups  in  which  two  tapering  ends  are  aligned 
in  contact.  It  is  well  known  that  laboratory  experi- 
ments have  produced  different  kinds  of  crj'stals  of 
ice.  For  instance,  water  when  containing  more  than 
50  per  cent,  of  alcohol  forms  cubic  crystals  on  freezing. 
For  a  smaller  percentage  such  crystals,  if  formed, 
are  unstable,  and  their  occurrence  in  Nature  would 
therefore  appear  doubtful.  Certain  photomicrographs 
taken  by  Bentley  and  by  Hallberg  appear  to  suggest 
cubic  svmmetr>-,  but.  failing  optical  tests,  it  remains 
uncertain  whether  they  may  not  be  merely  distorted 
forms   of  the  ordinarj'  type  of  crystals. 

The  following  volumes  are  announced  for  early 
publication  in  the  "  University-  of  Chicago  Science 
Series  "  by  the  University  of  Chicago  Press  (London  : 
Cambridge  Universitv  Press)  :—••  The  Origin  of  the 
Earth,"  T.  C.  Cha'mberlin ;  '"The  Isolation  and 
Measurement  of  the  Electron,"  Prof.  R.  A.  Millikan ; 
and  "Finite  CoUineation  Groups,"  Prof.  H.  F.  Blich- 
feldt.  Other  volumes  in  preparation  for  the  same 
series  are: — "The  Evolution  of  Reptiles,"  S.  W. 
Williston;  "Food  Poisoning,"  E.  O.  Jordan;  "The 
Problem  of  Individuality  in  Organisms,"  C.  M.  Child; 
"The  Development  of  a  New  System  of  Organic 
Chemistrv,  based  on  Dissociation  Concepts,"  J.  U. 
Nef  and  J.  VV.  E.  Glattfeld;  "The  Living  Cycads," 
C.  J.  Chamberlain ;  '•  Mechanics  of  Delaved  Germina- 
tion in  Seeds."  W.  Crocker;  "The  Rigidity  of  the 
Earth  and  of  Materials,"  A.  A.  Michelson ;  "The 
Problem  of  Fertilization,"  F.  R.  Lillie;  and  "Linear 
Integral  Equations  in  General  Analysis,"  E.  H. 
Moore. 

Messrs.  Const.able  and  Co..  Ltd.,  announce  the 
following  books  of  science: — "The  Flying  Machine 
from  an  Engineering  Standpoint,"  F.  W.  Lanchester 
(the  James  Forrest  Lecture,  19 14.  including  a  discus- 
sion concerning  the  Theory  of  Sustentation  and  the 
Expenditure  of  Power  in  Flight) ;  "  Some  Modem 
Methods  of  Ventilation,  with  Special  Reference  _  to 
Public  Buildings,"  R.  Grierson,  illustrated;  "Mining 
andMineVentilation,"  J.  J.  Walsh,  illustrated;  "Prac- 
tical Surveying,"  E.  McCullough,  illustrated;  "Colour 
and  its  Applications,"  M.  Luckiesh,  illustrated; 
"Atoms,"  J.  Perrin,  translated  by  D.  L.  Hammick. 
illustrated;  and  a  new  and  enlarged  edition  of 
"Manual  of  Reinforced  Concrete,"  C.  F.  Marsh  and 
W.   Dunn, 

NO.    2439,    VOL.    9>] 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Po.vs-Winnecke's  Comet  and  the  Meteoric  Shower 
OF  June  28. — Mr.  Denning  writes  : — "  That  the  remark- 
able display  of  June  28  was  due  to  the  earth  passing 
through  or  very  near  a  cometar)'  orbit  appears  highly 
probable.  The  elements  of  the  meteoric  shower  present 
some  resemblances  to  those  of  Pons-Winnecke's  comet 
of  1819,  which  has  a  period  of  about  58  years,  and 
last  reached  perihelion  on  September  i,  1915.  Any 
meteoric  shower  connected  with  Pons-Winnecke's 
comet,  though  not  visible  in  past  years,  may  well  be 
perceptible  in  future  times.  In  1869  the  perihelion 
distance  was  0-7815,  or  about  2 15  millions  of  miles  inside 
the  earth's  orbit,  but  in  1915  the  P.D.  had  increased 
to  09725,  or  only  4  millions  of  miles  inside  our  orbit. 
Planetary-  perturbations  have  effected  changes  in  the 
orbital  elements  of  the  comet,  and-  brought  it  so  near 
to  us  at  one  section  that  a  meteoric  rencontre  seems 
very  likely." 

Differential  Measurement. — Mr.  H.  H.  Plaskett 
has  made  an  interesting  study  of  some  questions  in- 
volved in  measures  of  the  distance  between  a  pair  of 
lines  with  the  object  of  tracing  the  origin  of  differ- 
ences found  when  different  observers  measure  the 
same  spectrograms,  with  special  reference  to  spectro- 
graphic  determinations  of  the  solar  rotation  (Journal 
Roy.  Ast.  Soc.  of  Can.,  vol.  x..  No.  5).  He  finds  the 
chief  source  of  these  differences  is  the  "  attitude "  of 
the  observer,  and  defines  two  modes  of  measurement, 
the  "attentive"  and  the  "automatic,"  according  as 
the  measures  are  made  under  the  influence  of  pre- 
possessions or  otherwise.  It  must  suffice  to  add  that  the 
automatic  mode  is  found  to  possess  the  desirable  ad- 
vantages of  speed,  accuracy,  and  economy  of  effort,  but 
is  marred  by  high  fortuitous  error  (apparently,  greater 
p.e.).  Mr.  Plaskett  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  highest 
accuracy  can  only  be  attained  in  replacing  differential 
measures  by  determinations  of  changes  of  wave- 
length with  the  help  of  standard  absorption  lines.  A 
very  successful  application  of  these  results  has  already 
been  made  at  Ottawa  (Nature,  May  18). 

Wave-lengths  in  the  Iron  Spectrum. — Interfer- 
ometer measures  of  the  wave-lengths  of  some  400  lines 
in  the  spectrum  of  the  iron  arc  in  the  region  covered 
by  the  international  secondary'  standards  have  been 
made  by  Messrs.  Burns,  Meggers,  and  Merrill  in 
continuation  of  the  revision  of  wave-lengths  under- 
taken at  the  L'nited  States  Bureau  of  Standards 
(Scientific  Paper  No.  274).  The  poles  used  were  either 
of  electrolytic  or  Norwegian  iron,  and  only  iron  lines 
were  measured.  The  reductions  were  based  on  the 
international  secondary  standards,  and  the  final  wave- 
lengths were  corrected  by  means  of  a  smoothed 
curve  obtained  by  plotting  the  differences  between 
observed  and  normal  wave-lengths  of  the  standard 
lines.  The  mean  difference  is  stated  to  be  about  one 
part  in  four  millions.  Three  interferometers  have 
been  used  in  measuring  each  line,  and,  in  addition  to 
the  work  on  wave-lengths,  considerable  attention  has 
been  devoted  to  observations  of  the  physical  character- 
istics of  the  lines.  Thus,  more  than  five  hundred 
lines  have  been  divided  into  four  groups  according 
to  the  limiting  path  difference  at  which  interference  is 
shown,  and  the  data  have  been  examined  in  connec- 
tion with  pole-effect,  intensity,  and  pressure  shifts. 
It  appears  that  lines  showing  negative  pole  shift  are 
never  sharp;  lines  of  faint  or  moderate  intensit\*  are 
sharper  than  strong  lines,  whilst  the  lines  shifted 
by  pressure  are  more  likely  to  be  broad  than  un- 
affected lines. 


452 


NATURE 


[July  27,  19 16 


SOUTHERN  GEORGIA  AND  ITS  HYDRO- 
GRAPHY.'^ 
ALONG  the  eastern  coast  of  North  America,  com- 
mencing at  Long  Island  and  passing  southward 
through  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
and  Florida,  there  lies  a  broad  tract  of  country  known 
as  the  Atlantic  Coastal  Plain.  This  plain,  which 
also  extends  round  the  northern  part  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  where  it  is  distinguished  as  the  Gulf  Coastal 
Plain,  is  a  region  of  low  elevation,  with  a  relatively 
gentle  seaward  slope.  Part  of  it  passes  through  and 
embraces  35,000  square  miles  of  the  southern  half  of 
the  State  of  Georgia,  and  this  constitutes  the  purview 
of  an  extremely  interesting  and  informative  report 
issued  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  from 
which  the  following  particulars  are  gleaned. 

Although  characterised  as  a  plain  in  comparison 
with  the  mountainous  country  behind,  the  expanse 
under  consideration  is  not  entirely  without  topograph- 
ical features  and  contrasts.  There  are  hilly  and 
broken  areas,  especially  towards  the  north,  but  these 
do  not  rise  above  the  general  level,  and  their  summits 
present  an  even  skyline.  The  plain  lends  itself  to 
subdivision  into  six  physiographical  districts,  the 
nature  of  which  may  be  to  a  large  extent  gauged  from 
their  designations,  viz.,  the  Fall-Line  Hills,  the 
Dougherty  Plain,  the  Altamaha  Upland,  the  Southern 
Lime-Sink  Region,  the  Okefenokee  Plain,  and  the 
Satilla  Coastal  Lowland.  The  lithological  com- 
ponents of  these  belts  are  principally  sands,  clays,  and 
marls,  with,  subordinately,  limestones  and  sandstones. 
The  former  are  largely  unconsolidated,  and  have 
undergone  little  alteration  since  their  original  deposi- 
tion. The  sediments  are  representative  of  the  Lower 
Cretaceous  and  subsequent  systems,  and  include  the 
Ripley  Formation,  about  950  ft.  thick,  of  grey,  cal- 
careous, and  micaceous  sand,  and  sandy  clay,  and  the 
Midway  Formation,  about  400  ft.  thick,  of  ferru- 
ginous sand,  with  local  beds  of  white  clay,  and 
fossiliferous  limestone  and  calcareous  quartzite.  The 
Cretaceous  deposits  immediately  and  unconformably 
overlie  a  basement  of  crystalline  rocks  believed  to  be 
pre-Cambrian. 

The  mean  annual  rainfall  of  the  plain  is  about 
49  in.,  and  the  quantity  absorbed  by  the  soil  and 
rocks  is  roughlv  estimated  at  90  to  95  per  cent,  of 
the  total.  If  nearly  60  per  cent,  of  the  rainfall  be 
assumed  to  be  lost  by  evaporation  and  4  or  5  per  cent, 
escape  as  run-off  or  flood-flow,  there  remains  about 
35  per  cent,  to  form  the  underground  water  supply; 
but  much  of  this  is  not  actually  utilisable,  on  account 
of  the  depth  to  which  it  descends. 

Although  several  of  the  cities  in  central  Georgia, 
such  as  Augusta  and  Macon,  obtain  their  water  sup- 
plies from  adjacent  rivers,  the  majority  of  the  in- 
habitants have  to  depend  upon  supplies  drawn  from 
artesian  wells,  of  which  there  are  probably  some  700 
or  800  in  active  operation.  These  wells  range  in 
depth  from  100  to  1000  ft.  All  the  Cretaceous  forma- 
tions contain  water-bearing  strata,  as  also  the  Eocene 
and  Oligocene  series  of  the  Tertiary  system.  The 
Quaternary  svstem  furnishes  non-artesian  water, 
which  is  tapped  by  shallow  borings.  Such  water,  on 
account  of  its  high  content  of  organic  matter  in  many 
cases,  is  not  generally  suitable  for  domestic  use. 

A  large  number  of  analyses  of  the  ground  waters 
have  been  made,  and  from^  them  it  is  computed  that 
relatively  few  contain  normal  carbonate  (CO,),  while 
the  presence  of  hvdrogen-sulphide  gas  and  of  excessive 
amounts  of  iron'  is  reported  in  waters  from  all  the 
formations.     The  gas  imparts  an  objectionable  odour 

1  "Underground  Waters  of  t^e  Coastal  Plain  of  Geo-g^a."  Bv  L.  W 
Stephenson.  T.  O.  Veatch,  and  R.  B.  Polo,  (Water  Sunnly  Paper  No  3.41  ) 
Pp  530.  with  photographs,  maps,  and  diagrams.  Washington:  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  icjis-) 

Tjn     OAlQ     VOL.    Q71 


in  certain  instances  and  gives  rise  to  corrosion  in 
boilers  and  mains.  The  iron,  which  in  a  number  of 
cases  exceeds  three  parts  per  million,  is  then  per- 
ceptible to  the  taste,  and  tends  to  produce  stains  in 
fabrics  which  are  washed  in  it.  B.  C. 

HARDNESS  AND  CRITICAL  COOLING 
VELOCITIES  OF  STEELS. 
T'HE  maximum  cutting  hardness  of  pure  carbon  tool 
•'•  steel  is  achieved  by  water-quenching.  With  the 
introduction  of  Mushet's  special  steel,  engineers  ob- 
tained a  material  which  was  called  '"self-hardening,' 
because  it  did  not  require  to  be  water-quenched  in 
order  to  bring  out  its  maximum  cutting  hardness.  It 
was  sufficient  for  the  tool  to  be  cooled  from  above  a 
certain  critical  temperature  in  air.  The  modern  high- 
speed tool  steel  falls  into  the  same  class  of  materials, 
the  chief  difference  from  Mushet's  special  steel  being 
that  the  "lip"  or  "nose"  of  the  tool  requires  to  be 
actually  melted  and  then  cooled  in  an  air  blast  if  the 
maximum  cutting  hardness  is  to  be  obtained.  Stated 
in  general  terms,  therefore,  the  rapid-cutting  tool  of 
to-day  is  gas-quenched  as  contrasted  with  the  carbon 
tool,  which  is  water-quenched. 

Various  theories  of  the  mechanism  of  the  above 
changes  are  held,  and  therefore  the  research  by  Prof. 
C.  A.  Edwards,  of  the  University  of  Manchester, 
assisted  by  J.  N.  Greenwood  and  H.  Kikkawa,  re- 
cently presented  to  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  on 
some  very  remarkable  properties  of  a  chromium  steel, 
is  to  be  welcomed  in  that  it  throws  valuable  light  on 
what  are  to  some  extent  matters  of  dispute.  This 
steel  contained  6-15  per  cent,  of  chromium  and  063 
per  cent,  of  carbon,  the  balance  being  iron,  except 
for  impurities  unavoidably  present  in  small  amounts. 
By  suitably  varying  the  initial  temperature  and  the 
cooling  velocity  of  this  steel  by  air-quenching,  Brinell 
hardness  numbers  varying  from  194  to  700  could  be 
obtained.  Such  a  material  therefore  falls  within  the 
category  of  self-hardening  steels  in  the  sense  that 
water-quenching  is  not  required  to  harden  it.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  was  found  that  unless  a  certain  critical 
velocity  of  cooling  was  exceeded  depending  on  the 
initial  temperature  this  steel  did  not  harden.  In  this 
sense,  therefore,  the  steel  does  not  appear  to  be  self- 
hardening.  On  this  point  the  authors  say  : — "  Whilst 
with  the  chromium  steel  the  cooling  rates  which  pro- 
duce hardening  are  extremely  slow  as  compared  with 
those  which  are  obtained  in  the  hardening  of  steels 
by  quenching,  the  two  operations  are  fundamentally 
the  same.  In  other  words,  a  given  rate  of  cooling, 
which  might  be  regarded  as  slow  for  carbon  steels, 
really  constitutes  quenching  in  the  case  of  some  special 
alloy  steels."  The  authors  have  further  found  that 
the  hardening  of  the  steel  coincides  with  the  presence 
of  large  quantities  of  martensite,  and  a  diminution 
in  the  magnitude  of  the  carbide  thermal  change.  The 
maximum  hardness  was  obtained  when  the  thermal 
transformation  had  been  entirely  prevented,  and  when 
this  was  accomplished  the  steel  was  purely  martensitic 
in  structure.  The  following  table  gives  the  connec- 
tion between  the  initial  temperature  and  the  cooling 
velocities  between  836°  C.  and  546°  C.  which  suppress 
the  carbide  change  : — 


Initial  temperature 

°C 

.   860 

90S 

960 

1029 

1 147 

1200 

1267 


Cooling  velocities 

1  36 

2  24 

3  o 

4  o 

6  o 

7  o 

8  56 

H.  C.  H.  Carpenter. 


July  27,  1916] 


NATURE 


453 


r 


7  \IE  SOCIETY  OF  CHEMICAL  INDCSTRY. 

HE  annual  g/eneral  mct:ting  of  the  Society  of  Chem- 
ical Industry  was  held  in  Edinburgh  on  July  19-21. 
meeting  this  year  took  the  form  of  a  congress  on 
progress  made  since  the  outbreak  of  war  in  British 
inical    industry-.     The    following   papers  were   read 
i  discussed  : — 

! )  Fuel. — Fuel  economy :  a  national  policy  re- 
red,  Prof.  H.  E.  Armstrong;  Some  recent  improve- 
nts  in  coke  works  practice,  Dr.  G.  P.  Lishman ; 
.ste  in  coal  production,  Prof.  H.  Louis.  (2)  Shale 
Oil.— The  shale  oil  industry,  D.  R.  Steuart.  (3)  Tar 
Distilling. — A  short  review  of  the  influence  exerted 
by  the  war  on  the  tar  distilling  industry,  W.  H.  Cole- 
man ;  ITie  extraction  of  tar  fog  from  hot  gas,  G.  T. 
Purves.  (4)  Dyes. — The  difficulties  of  coal-tar  colour- 
making  in  war-time,  C.  M.  Whittaker  (British  Dyes, 
Ltd.).  (5)  Fine  Chemicals. — Notes  on  the  production 
of  alkaloids  as  affected  by  the  war,  D.  B.  Dott;  The 
manufacture  of  synthetic  organic  drugs  as  affected  by 
the  war,  F.  H.  Carr;  The  manufacture  of  fine  chem- 
icals in  relation  to  British  chemical  industry,  C.  A. 
Hill  and  T.  D.  Morson.  (6)  Paper-making.— The 
paper-mill  chemist  in  war-time,  J.  F.  Briggs.  (7) 
Patent  La-w. — The  overhauling  of  our  Patent  Law, 
J.  W.  Gordon ;  The  influence  of  the  Patent  Laws  upon 
industry,  W.  F.  Reid ;  Proposed  amendments  to  Eng- 
lish Patent  Law,  W.  P.  Thompson.  (8)  Rare  Earths. 
— The  progress  of  British  rare-earth  industry  during 
the  war,  S.  J.  Johnstone. 

To  illustrate  the  progress  that  has  been  made,  an 
exhibition  was  held,  at  the  same  time,  of  specimens  of 
British-made  coal-tar  dyes,  glass,  porcelain,  and  filter 
paper,  along  with  several  other  interesting  substances 
now  made  in  Edinburgh.  Among  these  may  be  men- 
tioned cobalt-blue — a  substance  never  before  manufac- 
tured in  this  country- — now  made  by  the  Beaverhall 
Colour  Co. ;  trinitrotoluene  by  the  Lothian  Chemical 
Co. ;  erasers,  etc.,  manufactured  by  the  North  British 
Rubber  Co.,  the  supply  of  which  formerly  was  en- 
tirely imported  from  Germany.  The  papers,  and  the 
discussions  upon  them,  will  be  printed  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry. 

TECHNICAL  EDUCATION  AND  INDUSTRY. 

AT  the  annual  conference  of  the  Association  of 
■^~*-  Teachers  in  Technical  Institutions  on  June  24 
Dr.  W.  Garnett  read  a  paper  on  technical  instruction 
after  the  war.  His  arguments  and  examples,  drawn 
from  his  long  experience  of  the  administration  of 
technical  education  in  London,  should  convince  states- 
men and  manufacturers  of  the  imperative  need  for 
a  close  rapprochement  of  industry  and  science.  Dr. 
Garnett  thinks  that  one  of  the  most  important  effects 
of  the  war  has  been  the  bringing  together  of  men  of 
science  and  leaders  of  industry.  Manufacturers  have 
learned  more  clearly  than  before  that  scientific  men 
can  help  them  in  the  solution  of  technical  problems 
of  industry,  and  men  of  science  appreciate  more  fully 
that  the  world  of  manufacture  provides  problems 
worthy  of  their  best  attention.  Urging  the  necessity 
for  industrial  research,  he  said  the  greatest  need  of 
the  teachers  in  technical  institutes  is  more  time  and 
facility  for  research,  and  the  greatest  need  of  British 
industry  is  that  more  research  should  be  devoted  to  it. 
Dr.  Garnett  also  dealt  comprehensively  with  the 
organisation  of  technical  training,  the  need  for 
changes  in  the  character  of  the  science  teaching  in 
secondary  schools,  and  the  part  that  science  should 
take  in  Civil  Service  examinations. 

The  principal  points  of  the  paper  are  summarised 
as  follows  : — 

NO.    2439,    VOL.    97I 


(i)  Leaders  of  industry  must  place  a  higher  value 
on  industrial  scientific  research,  which  is  the  greatest 
need  of  British  industry. 

(2)  Teachers  in  technical  institutions  must  be  more 
closely  associated  with  industrial  leaders. 

(3)  Time  and  other  necessary  facilities  must  be 
given  to  teachers  in  technical  institutions  to  enable 
them  to  carry  out  industrial  research. 

(4)  Consumers  must  be  willing  to  make  a  sacrifice 
in  order  to  contribute  to  the  nursing  of  infant  in- 
dustries, so  as  to  avoid  entire  dependence  on  foreign 
sources  for  the  necessaries  of  life  or  civilisation. 

(5)  The  war  has  shown  that  our  universities  and 
technical  schools  are  able  to  render  services  to  the 
State  which  very  few  persons  two  years  ago  believed 
to  be  possible. 

(6)  Trade  associations  and  technical  institutions 
should  combine  to  co-operate  with  the  Advisory  Coun- 
cil for  Research. 

(7)  A  better  connection  is  required  between  the 
elementary  school  and  the  technical  institute,  and 
this  will,  in  part,  have  to  be  supplied  by  a  com- 
pulsory continuation  school  for  boys  leaving  the  day 
school  at  fourteen,  and  by  extension  of  the  leaving 
age  in  central  and  higher  elementary  schools. 

(8)  A  more  complete  organisation  of  the  educational 
system  is  required  so  as  to  provide  suitable  training 
for  all  ranks  of  industrial  workers,  making  appro- 
priate distinction  between  the  manual  workers  and 
the  thinkers. 

(9)  A  more  liberal  system  of  scholarships  is  neces- 
sary, especially  to  enable  university  students  to 
engage  in  post-graduate  research. 

(10)  Reasonable  prospect  of  suitable  promotion 
must  be  offered  to  students  who  have  passed  through 
a  course  of  training  intended  to  prepare  them  for 
higher   industrial   appointments. 

(11)  Science  should  be  taught  to  all  the  pupils  of 
secondarv  schools,  but  the  course  of  instruction 
for  boys  in  classical  forms  should  differ  from  that 
for  boys  who  are  intending  to  pursue  the  study  of 
science  after  leaving  school. 

(12)  In  Civil  Service  and  other  public  examinations 
a  general  knowledge  of  physical  phenomena  and  the 
applications  of  science  to  industry  should  be  required 
of  all  candidates ;  but  science  should  not  be  pitted 
against  the  humanities  in  competitive  examinations. 

(13)  With  elementary  students  practice  must  almost 
always  be  in  advance  of  theory ;  and  theory  should 
not  be  introduced  into  elementary  teaching  until  the 
pupils  have  been  led  to  recognise  its  necessity. 

(14)  Much  of  the  equipment  of  the  schools  and  some 
of  the  methods  of  instruction  will  be  modified  in 
consequence  of  experience  gained  during  the  war; 
and  it  is  desirable  that  all  teachers  in  technical 
institutions  should  be  prepared  for  these  changes. 

UNIVERSITY  AND   EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Leeds. — The  University  has  decided  to  institute  a 
new  course  of  study  in  scientific  and  technical  subjects 
preparatory  to  military  duties,  and  to  accept  this 
course  as  a  part  of  the  intermediate  course  for  degrees 
in  arts,  science,  law,  and  commerce.  The  new  course, 
while  counting  as  a  degree  subject,  will  be  carried 
out  in  conjunction  with  the  work  of  the  Officers 
Training  Corps. 

Mr.  W.  Morrison,  to  whose  personal  interest  in 
its  library  the  University  is  under  obligation,  has 
given  loooZ.  for  the  development  of  the  new  School  of 
Russian  Studies,  of  which  the  Sir  James  Roberts 
professorship  of  Russian  language  and  literature  will 
be  the  centre. 


454 


NATURE 


[July  i"],  191 6 


London. — At  a  meeting  of  the  Senate  held  on  July 
19  offers  were  accepted  with  thanks  from  (i)  an 
anonymous  donor  to  establish  an  endowment  fund 
producing  200Z.  a  year,  to  be  devoted  to  the  prosecu- 
tion of  experimental  scientific  research  at  King's 
College  by  members  of  the  staff  and  post-graduate 
students  of  the  college;  (2)  Dr.  R.  VV,  Seton-Watson 
to  provide  looZ.  a  year  for  five  years  towards  the 
expenses  of  the  library  of  the  School  of  Slavonic 
Studies  at  King's  College;  (3)  the  War  Office  to  pre- 
sent to  the  University  a  German  aeroplane  which  had 
been  shot  down  in  France  by  the  Royal  Flying 
Corps. 

The  following  doctorates  in  science  have  been  con- 
ferred : — Botany  :  (i)  Mr.  W.  Brown,  an  internal 
student,  of  the  Imperial  College  (Royal  College  of 
Science),  for  a  thesis  entitled  "Studies  in  the  Physio- 
logy of  Parasitism  :  L — The  Action  of  Botrytis 
cinerea" ;  (2)  Mr.  Franklin  Kidd,  an  internal  student, 
of  the  Imperial  College  (Royal  College  of  Science), 
for  a  thesis  entitled  "The  Controlling  Influence  of 
Carbon  Dioxide."  Psychology  :  Miss  Nellie  Carey,  an 
internal  student,  of  University  College,  for  a  thesis 
entitled  "  Factors  in  the  Mental  Processes  of  School 
Children."  Engineering :  Mr.  F.  T.  Chapman,  an 
external  student,  for  a  thesis  entitled  "  The  Air-Gap 
Field  of  the  Polyphase  Induction  Motor." 

The  directors  of  British  Dyes,  Ltd.,  have  pro- 
mised to  contribute  5000Z.  towards  the  scheme  for  the 
erection  of  a  new  chemistry  department  at  Hudders- 
field  Technical  College  for  the  development  of  ad- 
vanced teaching  and  research  in  applied  chemistry, 
referred  to  in  Nature  of  June  29,  p.  373.  Half  of 
the  contribution  is  towards  the  building  fund  and  the 
remainder  for  scholarships  and  research. 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the  City  and  Guilds 
of  London  Institute  has  appointed  Dr.  W.  Eccles  to 
the  professorship  of  electrical  engineering  and  applied 
physics  at  the  institute's  Technical  College,  Finsbury, 
rendered  vacant  by  the  death  of  Prof.  Silvanus  P. 
Thompson.  Dr.  Eccles  is  at  present  university  reader 
of  graphics  at  University  College,  and  is  the  author 
of  a  work  on  "Wireless  Telegraphy  and  Telephony," 
and  numerous  papers  and  inventions  on  subjects  con- 
nected with  electrical  engineering. 

The  issues  of  Science  for  June  30  and  July  7 
announce  further  gifts  to  higher  education  in  the 
United  States,  among  which  the  following  are  most 
important.  Members  of  the  Du  Pont  family,  who  are 
alumni  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
have  given  i6o,oooZ.  for  the  extension  and  mainten- 
ance of  the  new  buildings.  Four  other  alumni  have 
subscribed  sums  amounting  to  40,000^.  It  is  under- 
stood that  an  anonymous  donor  who  has  already  made 
large  gifts  to  the  institute  has  undertaken  to  give 
five  dollars  for  each  three  dollars  subscribed  by  the 
alumni  during  the  present  year.  The  will  of  Mrs. 
Helen  C.  JulHard  gives  io,oooI.  to  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History,  and  5000Z.  to  Colorado 
College.  Mrs.  Russell  Sage  has  given  15,000?.  to 
Knox  College  of  Galesburg,  111.,  to  make  possible  the 
securing  of  the  amount  to  complete  its  ioo,oooL  en- 
dowment fund. 

A  COPY  of  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  United 
States  General  Education  Board  for  19 14-15  has  been 
received  from  New  York.  During  the  year  grants 
were  made  to  eight  American  colleges  and  universities 
amounting  to  255,000?.  towards  funds  amounting  to* 
1,040,000?.,  which  were  being  raised  by  them.  Refer- 
ence is  also  made  to  grants  totalling  550,000?.  in  the 
previous  year  to  Johns  Hopkins,  Yale,  and  Washing- 

NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


ton  Universities  for  the  purpose  of  reorganising 
clinical  instruction  on  the  basis  that  the  hospital  and 
teaching  staff  in  medicine  and  surgery  may  devote 
their  entire  time  to  the  service  of  the  hospital  and 
medical  school,  withdrawing  altogether  from  paid  pri- 
vate practice.  The  scheme  has  not  yet  been  inaugu- 
rated at  Yale  or  at  Washington;  but  at  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University  it  had  at  the  date  of  the  report 
been  in  operation  a  year.  The  Board  continued  during 
the  year  under  review  to  support  rural  schools  in  eleven 
southern  States,  professors  of  secondary  education  in 
eleven,  and  negro  education  in  seven  States.  The 
report  also  states  that  the  General  Education  Board 
has  decided,  by  means  of  grants,  to  aid  promising 
workers  in  the  investigation  of  problems  in  educa- 
tional theory  and  practice. 

The  report  of  the  council  to  the  members  of  the 
City  and  Guilds  of  London  Institute  for  the  year 
1915  has  now  been  published.  The  continuance  of 
the  war  has  led  to  further  modifications  of  the  work 
of  the  institute.  The  absence  of  many  members  of 
the  staff  has  thrown  much  extra  work  on  those  left 
behind,  especially  upon  the  heads  of  departments. 
The  staff  and  some  senior  students  have  undertaken 
much  new  and  original  work  in  the  design  and  manu- 
facture of  munitions  of  war.  The  institute's  labora- 
tories and  workshops  are  being  utilised  for  war  work 
to  their  full  extent.  The  roll  of  honour  of  past  and 
present  students  and  members  of  the  staff  of  the  City 
and  Guilds  College  who  have  taken  service  in  the 
Navy  or  Army  had  on  November  10  last  a  total  of 
811  :  514  commissioned  officers  and  297  non-com- 
missioned officers  and  men.  As  a  result  of  the  ab- 
normal conditions  the  work  of  the  department  of 
technology  has  suffered ;  the  number  of  students  in 
attendance  at  registered  classes  fell  from  55,996  in 
1913-14  to  47,050,  while  the  number  of  candidates 
for  examinations  in  technology  in  the  United  King- 
dom was  15,623,  as  compared  with  23,119  in  the 
previous  year.  The  report  shows  that  the  total 
amount  of  the  donations  and  subscriptions  to  the 
funds  of  the  institute  since  its  foundation  in  1878  to 
the  year  of  the  report  (1915)  was  952,773?. 

The  first  volume  of  the  report  of  the  U.S.  Commis- 
sioner of  Education  for  the  year  ended  June  30, 
1915,  has  been  received  from  "Washington.  It  is  a 
volume  of  780  pages,  and,  in  addition  to  a  full  treat- 
ment of  all  grades  of  education  in  the  United  States, 
provides  chapters  on  the  condition  of  education  in  the 
chief  countries  of  the  world.  A  chapter  on  higher 
education  in  the  States,  by  Mr.  S.  P.  Capen,  is  of. 
special  interest.  He  tells  us  that  the  conviction  that 
both  higher  and  secondary  education  must  be  made 
more  sound  and  serious  has  been  reiterated  in  educa- 
tional gatherings  throughout  the  United  States,  and 
has  been  reflected  in  numerous  intensive  studies  of 
college  and  university  administration  and  standards. 
The  organisation  and  management  of  State-supported 
institutions  for  higher  education  have,  at  the  request 
of  various  legislatures,  been  critically  investigated  with 
a  view  to  render  their  work  sound  and  efficient.  The 
question  of  academic  freedom,  too,  has  been  widely 
discussed.  Within  the  past  two  or  three  years  there 
have  been  so  many  recurrences  of  disciplinary  action 
directed  by  trustees  and  presidents  of  prominent  insti- 
tutions against  professors  reputed  to  hold  unorthodox 
political,  economic,  or  religious  views  that  the  ques- 
tion of  academic  freedom  has  become  temporarily  one 
of  the  foremost  issues  in  university  administration. 
As  Mr.  Capen  says,  upon  Its  correct  settlement  depends 
not  only  the  integrity  of  the  universities,  but,  more 
remotely,  the  whole  welfare  of  American  education. 


July  27,  1916] 


NATURE 


455 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Royal  Society,  June  29. — Sir  J.  J.  Thomson,  presi- 
i,  in  the  chair. — Prof.  A.  Schuster:  The  determina- 
of  gravity  at  sea.  Dr.  Duffield  has  recently  de- 
bed  some  preliminary  experiments  on  the  measure- 
it  of  gravity  at  sea  by  means  of  a  new  method 
-finally  suggested  by  Hecker,  and,  in  the  main,  con- 
ng  in  balancing  the  pressure  of  a  column  of  gas 
L  at  constant  temperature  and  that  of  a  column 
mercury  the  length  of  which  can  be  indirectly 
rmined.  The  results  are  very  promising,  but  as 
ultimate  success  of  the  method  must  depend  on 
me  elimination  of  errors  due  to  unavoidable  disturb- 
ances, it  seemed  advisable  to  discuss  the  theory  of  the 
apparatus  a  little  more  fully.  The  present  paper  deals 
more  particularly  with  the  effects  of  the  forced  oscil- 
lation of  the  mercury  due  to  the  vertical  motion  of  the 
ship,  but  other  sources  of  error  are  also  considered. — 
Prof.  J.  Joly  :  The  genesis  of  pleochroic  haloes.  Both 
uranium-radium  and  thorium  haloes  develop  according 
to  the  same  laws,  certain  internal  structures  appear- 
ing first  in  the  form  of  ring  haloes.  The  addition  to 
these  of  the  outermost  feature  due  to  RgC  or  ThCj 
appears  at  an  early  stage.  Intermediate  details  then 
follow.  It  is  clearly  shown  that  some  cause  exists  to 
modify  the  effects  of  the  divergence  of  the  rays  out- 
wards. Haloes  derived  from  emanation  of  radium  as 
primary  substance  have  been  identified ;  also  what 
appear  to  be  *"  reversed"  haloes. — C.  T.  R.  Wilson: 
Some  determinations  of  the  sign  and  magnitude  of 
electric  discharges  in  lightning  flashes.  Measure- 
ments have  been  made  of*  the  sudden  changes  pro- 
duced in  the  potential  gradient  at  a  point  on  the 
earth's  surface  by  lightning  discharges,  the  approxi- 
mate distance  of  the  discharge  being  in  many  cases 
determined  by  timing  the  resultant  thunder.  The 
results  of  one  thunderstorm  (August  15,  1915)  may  be 
interpreted  as  indicating  that  the  discharges  were 
nearly  all  approximately  alike,  Q  being  about  33 
coulombs  and  H  of  the  order  of  10  kilometres;  the 
range  of  variation  in  the  distances  of  the  discharges 
was  not  quite  sufficient  to  decide  whether  the  dis- 
charges reached  the  earth's  surface  or  not,  but  the 
value  of  Q  is  practically  the  same  on  either  view. — 
S.  Chapman  :  The  kinetic  theory  of  a  composite  mon- 
atomic  gas  :  diffusion,  viscosity,  and  thermal  conduc- 
tion.— Dr.  T.  Goodey  :  Further  observations  on  protozoa 
in  relation  to  soil  bacteria,  (i)  Protozoa,  especially 
amcEbae  of  the  Umax  groups,  and  other  larger  forms, 
can  lead  an  active  existence  and  multiply  in  soil  and 
exert  a  depressing  effect  on  bacterial  numbers.  (2)  It 
is  probable  that  for  a  given  soil  a  certain  point  must 
be  reached  in  protozoal  numbers  before  the  depression 
in  bacterial  numbers  is  caused.  (3)  It  appears  to  be 
necessary  to  add  the  protozoa  to  a  treated  soil  in  a 
small  quantity  of  untreated  soil  to  ensure  their  having 
a  suitable  medium  in  which  to  grow  and  multiply. 
Under  these  conditions  it  is  shown  that  they  can 
increase  in  numbers  and  depress  the  numbers  of  bac- 
teria. (4)  It  does  not  appear  to  be  possible  to  carry 
out  mass  inoculations  of  protozoa  into  a  treated  soil 
in  such  a  way  that  they  come  into  action  and  limit 
bacterial  activity,  and  the  explanation  advanced  to 
account  for  this  failure  is  that  the  treated  soil  affords 
an  unsuitable  medium  for  the  active  trophic  existence 
of  protozoa. — Dr.  Marie  C.  Stopes  :  New  Bennettitean 
cones  from  the  British  Cretaceous.  The  present  paper 
describes  two  new  types  of  well-preserved  fructifications 
of  Bennettites  in  Britain.  One  is  that  of  an  entirely 
new  species  from  the  Gault;  the  other  is  from  a 
Lower  Greensand  specimen,  diagnosed  from  externals 
bv  Carruthers,  but  not  hitherto  described. — T.  R. 
Merton  and  J.  W.  Nicholson  :  Phenomena  relating  to 
NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


the  spectra  of  hydrogen  and  helium,  (i)  A  method 
has  been  found  for  the  accurate  determination  of  the 
photographic  intensities  of  spectrum  lines  and  the  re- 
duction of  such  intensities  to  absolute  values  by  com- 
parison with  the  continuous  black-body  radiation  of 
the  carbon  arc.  (2)  A  study  has  been  made  of  the 
relative  intensity  distribution  in  the  spectra  of  helium 
and  hydrogen  under  different  conditions  of  excitation. 
(3)  It  has  been  found  that  under  certain  specified  con- 
ditions there  is  a  transfer  of  energy  from  the  longer 
to  the  shorter  wave-lengths  in  any  given  series,  and 
that,  under  such  conditions,  the  associated  series,  and 
in  particular  the  diffuse  series,  are  relatively  enhanced 
at  the  expense  of  the  principal  series.  (4)  It  has 
also  been  found  that  the  distribution  of  intensity 
found  in  certain  celestial  spectra  can  be  approximately 
reproduced  in  the  laboratory.  (5)  A  study  has  been 
made  of  the  separations  of  the  components  of  lines 
of  the  Balmer  series  of  hydrogen,  and  the  mean 
values  of  the  separations  of  the  doublets  constituting 
the  lines  Ho  and  Hy8  have  been  found  to  be  respec- 
tively 0132  A.U.  and  0033  A.U.  These  values  are 
consistent  with  the  separations  appropriate  to  a  prin- 
cipal series,  and  the  first  is  in  precise  agreement  with 
the  value  deduced  by  Buisson  and  Fabry. — F.  P. 
White  :  The  period  of  a  spherical  resonator  with  a 
circular  aperture.  In  a  recent  paper  in  the  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Royal  Society,  Lord  Rayleigh  has  carried 
the  determination  of  the  wave-length  of  the  funda- 
mental aerial  vibration  in  a  spherical  vessel  with  a 
small  circular  perforation  to  a  higher  degree  of 
approximation  than  was  done  by  Helmholtz.  The 
present  communication  employs  Lord  Rayleigh's 
method  to  obtain  a  still  closer  appro.ximation  to  the 
wave-length. — Capt.  S.  R.  Douglas  :  The  role  of  the 
blood  fluids  in  the  intraleucocytic  digestion.  Rosenow 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  variation  in 
the  degree  of  digestion  undergone  by  the 
micro-organisms  after  their  ingestion  by  the 
leucocytes  was  due  to  a  property  of  the  serum 
which  was  quite  independent  of  the  opsonic  power. 
Further,  he  concluded  that  the  serum  influenced  the 
digestion  of  the  ingested  bacteria  by  acting  directly 
on  the  leucocytes — not  on  the  bacteria — stimulating 
them,  so  that  they  had  greater  digestive  powers.  The 
j  experiments,  of  which  details  are  given  in  the  present 
I  communication,  confirm  Rosenow 's  results  as  regards 
I  the  blood  fluids  possessing  the  power  of  favourably 
;  influencing  the  digestion  of  bacteria  ingested  by  the 
leucocytes,  and  that  this  property  is  quite  independent 
of  the  opsonic  power;  but,  contrary  to  his  conclu- 
sions, these  experiments  defi.nitely  prove  that  the 
blood  fluids  act  directly  on  the  bacteria  or  on  the  red 
blood  cells,  preparing  them  for  digestion  by  the  leuco- 
cytic  ferments.  In  addition  to  these  conclusions,  they 
show  that  heating  normal  serum  to  60°  C.  for  a 
few  minutes  completely  destroys  this  propertv*. 

Washington,  D.C. 
National  Academy  of  Sciences,  June  15  (Proceedings 
No.  6,  vol.  ii.). — W.  L.  Hart :  Differential  equations 
and  implicit  functions  in  infinitely  many  variables. 
Three  problems  are  handled  :  First,  certain  fundarrKntal 
theorems  concerning  a  type  of  real-valued  functions 
of  infinitely  many  real  variables.  Second,  the  problem 
of  infinite  systems  of  ordinary  differential  equations. 
Third,  the  fundamental  problem  of  implicit  function 
theory  in  this  field. — Jacques  Loeb  :  The  sex  of  par- 
thenogenetic  frogs.  Two  frogs  obtained  by  artificial 
parthenogenesis,  one  ten  months  old,  the  other  thirteen 
months  old,  were  found  to  be  males,  and  the  thesis 
that  animals  produced  by  artificial  parthenogenesis 
ire  males  is  thus  further  corroborated. — J.  A.  Harris  : 
De  Vriesian  mutation  in  the  garden  bean.  The  origin 
of  the  new  race  of  beans  seems  most  logically   ex- 


456 


NATURE 


[July  27,  1916 


plained  as  a  case  of  de  Vriesian  mutation.    In  this  race 
the  whole  morphological  organisation  of  the  seedling 
has  apparently  been  changed,  and  the  race  is  charac- 
terised    by    a     high     degree     of     variability. — W.    B. 
Cannon  ;    Studies  of  ductless  glands  by  the  electrical 
method.     The   nerves  distributed   to   the   thyroid  cells 
belong  to  the  "sympathetic,  and  not  to  the  vagus,  supply, 
and  their  effects  are  not  indirect  through  alterations  of 
blood   flow.     They  are  true  secretory  nerves. — E.    B. 
Wilson  :  The  distribution  of  the  chondriosomes  to  the 
spermatozoa  in  scorpions.    The  chondriosome-material, 
having  the  same  origin,  fate,  and  (presumably)  physio- 
logical significance,   may  be  distributed  to  the  germ- 
cells    by    processes    widely    different     even     in     nearly 
related  animals.     In  one  of  the  scorpions  the  distribu- 
tion is  effected  by  a  definite  process  of  division,  in  the 
other  by  an  operation  that  has  at  least  the  aspect  of  a 
hit-or-miss   segregation,   and  one   that  gives  only  an 
approximate  equality  of  result. — H.  J.   Spinden  :   New 
data  on  the  archaeology  of  Venezuela.     Stone  imple- 
ments,    including    celts,     pestles,     etc.,     vessels    and 
figurines   of  clay   with  painted  and   modelled   decora- 
tions, personal  ornaments  of  shell,  nephrite,  jet,  and 
serpentine,  as  well  as  the  petroglyphs  and  pictographs, 
occur    in    considerable    quantity.     The    plastic    art    of 
Venezuela  is  one  and  the  same  with  the  "  archaic  art  " 
alreadv  known  in  Central  America  and  Mexico. — E.  L. 
Nichols  ;  Note  on  the  phosphorescence  of  uranyl  salts. 
For  the  only  examples  of  luminescence  which  admit  of  ^ 
detailed   inspection,   the  spectrum  of  phosphorescence 
is  identical  with  that  of  fluorescence,   and  it  is  sug- 
gested   that    this    also    applies    to    all    phosphorescent 
materials.     In  spite  of  its  great  complexity,  the  lumi- 
nescence spectrum  of  a  uranyl  salt  is  to  be  regarded  as 
a  unit,  all  its  components  decaying  at  the  same  rate 
after    the   cessation    of   excitation. — C.    G.    Abbot    and 
L.   B.   Aldrich  :   The  pyranometer :   an   instrument  for 
measuring  sky   radiation.     Two   satisfactory  types   of 
this    instrument,    both    derived    in    principle    from    the 
electrical  ^compensation    radiation    instruments   of   the 
late   K.    Angstrom,    have    been    devised.       Numerous 
others  of  the  sky-radiation  have  been  made.     On  fine 
davs  the  sky-radiation  alone  received  on  a  horizontal 
surface   ranges   from   007  to   0-13   calorie  per   square 
centimetre    per     minute. — M.     B.     Porter  :     Note    on 
Lucas's  theorem.    A  more  general  result  than  that  ob- 
tained  by   Borel  or  Polya    has    been     found. — H.    S. 
White  :    A  variable  system  of   sevens  on   two  twisted 
cubic    curves.— G.   H.    Parker   and   E.    G.    Titus:    The 
neuromuscular  structure  of  sea  anemones.     There  are 
four  types  of  muscle  action;  they  are  of  phylogenetic 
significance,  and  show  that  the  neuromuscular  mech- 
anism of  sea  anemones  is  by  no  means  so  simple  as 
originallv  supposed.— F.  G.  Keyes  and  W.  J.  Winning- 
hofl  :    Change   of   the   ionisation   of   salts   in   alcoholic 
solvents  with  the  concentration.     The  present  investi- 
gation on  the  conductance  of  sodium  iodide  and  am- 
monium iodide  in  isoamyl  alcohol  and  of  sodium  iodidp 
in  proDvl  alcohol  w'as  undertaken'  for  two  purposes: 
prirharily    to    determine    whether    in    these    solvents, 
somewhat  similar  in  nature  to.  water,  salts  conform  to 
the  mass-action  law  at  very  small  concentrations;  and, 
secondarilv,  to  test  further  the  applicability  of  Kraus's 
empirical  equation  throughout  the  fairly  wide  range  of 
concentration  employed  in  the  work. 


Prof.    O.    W.    Richardson.     Pp.    vii-l-304.     (London 
Longmans  and  Co.)    gs.  net. 

The   Animal   Parasites   of    Man.        By    Dr.    H. 
Fantham,  Prof.  J.  W.  W.  Stephens,  and  Prof.  F. 
Theobald.       Pp.    xxxii-l-900.       (London:    John   Bale| 
Sons,  and  Danielsson,   Ltd.)     455.   net. 

The  National  Physical  Laboratory.     Report  for  tl 
Year     1915-16.       Pp.     80  +  Figs.     7.       (Teddingtonj 
W.  F.  Parrot.) 

Measures  for  Avoidance  and  Extermination  of  Flies 
Mosquitoes,    Lice,    and   other   Vermin.     By   Prof.    H. 
Maxwell-Lefroy.        Second   edition.      Revised   for    the 
Tropics.        Pp.    17.       (Calcutta  and  Simla  :   Thacker, 
Spink  and  Co. ;  London  :  Thacker  and  Co.)     is.  net. 

Fire  Protection  for  Passenger  Ships.  Pp.  44.  (Lon- 
don :    British   Fire  Prevention  Committee.)     35.   6d. 

Geological  Survey.  Southern  Coal-field.  Maps  and 
Sections.     10   maps.     (Sydney  :    W.    A.    Gullick.) 

Elements  of  Folk  Psychology.  By  W,  Wundt. 
Translated  by  Prof.  E.  L.  Schaub.  Pp.  xxii  +  532. 
(London  :   G.  Allen  and  Unwin,  Ltd.)     15s.  net. 

British  Forestry  :  its  Present  Position  and  Outlook 
after  the  War.  By  E.  P.  Stebbing.  Pp.  xxv  +  257. 
(London  :  John  Murray.)     6s.  net. 

Commercial  Egg  Farming.  By  S.  G.  Hanson.  Pp. 
62.     (London  :  Constable  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     is.  net. 


CONTENTS.  PAGB 

The  National  Awakening 437 

Science  for  Life.     By  Prof.  J.  Arthur  Thomson  .    .    438 

Mathematical  Text-books  439 

Apprentice  Training.     By  J.  W 44° 

Our  Bookshelf 44° 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

The  Universities,   the   Technical    Colleges,    and    the 

Army.— Dr.  A.  P.  Laurie         44^ 

The    late    M.    Joseph    Dechelette.— Prof.     Arthur 

Keith,  F.R.S 44i 

A  Sunset  Phenomenon  on  July  22. — Capt.  C.  J.   P. 

Cave 442 

Silvanus  P.  Thompson  as  a  Painter. — H.  S.  T.  .    .    .    442 
The  Utilisation  of  Waste  Heat  for  Agriculture.  — C. 

Carus-Wilson 442 

The  Indian  Board  of  Scientific  Advice  ......    442 

Elias    Metchnikoff.      By    Sir    E.    Ray    Lankester, 
T^CR      FRS  .        ........"••    443 

Sir  Victor  Horsley,  F.R.S.     By  H.  H 447 

Notes ...........    447 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

Pons-Winnecke's  Comet  and  the  Meteoric  Shower  of 

June  28 451 

Differential  Measurement 45' 

Wave-lengths  in  the  Iron  Spectrum n.'    ^^^ 

Southern  Georgia  and  its  Hydrography.     By  B.  C.    452 
Hardness  and  Critical  Cooling  Velocities  of  Steels. 

By  Prof.  H.  C.  H.  Carpenter  45^ 

The  Society  of  Chemical  Industry .    •    453 

Technical  Education  and  Industry 453 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 453 

Societies  and  Academies 455 

Books  Received 45^ 


BOOKS    RECEIVED. 

The  Contingency  of  the  Laws  of  Nature.  By  E. 
Boutroux.  Translated  by  F.  Rothwell.  Pp.  ix+196. 
(London  :  Open  Court  Publishing  Company.)     ?,s.  net. 

Ruler  and  Compasses.  By  Dr.  H.  P.  Hudson. 
Pp    143.     (London  :  Longmans  and  Co.)     6s.  net. 

The  Emission  of  Electricity  from   Hot  Bodies.     By 

NO.    2439,    VOL.    97] 


ST. 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices : 
MACMILLAN    &    CO.,    Ltd., 
MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON.    W.C 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to   he  addressed  to  thi 
Publishers. 


Editorial   Communications  to   the   Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,   Londo^i. 
Telephone   Number :  Gf.rr.ard  8830. 


NA  TURE 


457 


THURSDAY,    AUGUST   3,    1916. 


ORE-DEPOSITS. 

The  Deposits  of  the  Useful  Minerals  and  Rocks: 
their  Origin,  Form,  and  Content.     By  Dr.   F. 
Beyschlag,   Prof.   J.    H.   L.    Vogt,   and  Dr.   P. 
Krusch.    Translated  by  S.  J.  Truscott.    Vol.  ii., 
pp.    xxi-f 515-1262.     (London:    Macmillan   and 
Co.,  Ltd.,  1916.)     Price  205.  net. 
^PHE  first  volume  of  this  treatise  was  reviewed 
J"      in  Nature  for  January  28,  191 5  (vol.  xciv., 
p.   583).     The  second  volume  completes  the  work 
so  far  as  ore-deposits  are  concerned.     The  third 
volume  does  not  appear  as  yet  to  have  been  pub- 
lished   in    Germany.     Ore-deposits    are    classified 
according    to   their   mode   of   origin    as   follows : 
magmatic    segregations,    contact-deposits,    lodes, 
and  ore-beds.     The   first   volume   dealt   with   the 
first  two  of  these  groups  and  with  tin-lodes  and 
quicksilver  deposits  belonging  to  the  third.     The 
second  volume  deals  with  lodes  of  gold  and  silver ; 
lead,  silver,  and  zinc ;  uranium  ;  antimony ;  iron  ; 
manganese;    copper;    pyrites    and    arsenopyrites ; 
nickel  and  cobalt.     It  concludes  with  an  account 
of  those  ores  which  occur  as  beds  in  sedimentary 
deposits.     Each  section  is  preceded  by  a  biblio- 
graphy. 

Gold-silver  lodes  are  first  described.  The 
largest  and  richest  of  these  occur  in  geologically 
young  and  chiefly  Tertiary  districts.  The  most 
striking  examples  are  found  in  the  Andes  of 
Chile,  Bolivia,  and  Peru,  in  the  mount^qin  ranges 
of  Mexico,  in  the  Great  Basin  of  the  United  States, 
in  the  Sierra  Nevada,  and  in  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains. Similar  lodes  are  met  with  in  Japan,  in 
Sumatra,  in  Borneo,  and  in  the  Philippines. 
Examples  occur  in  Europe  in  the  Carpathians  and 
in  south-eastern  Spain,  where,  as  in  the  localities 
already  mentioned,  Tertiary  igneous  rocks 
abound ;  but  not  in  the  -Alps  and  Pyrenees,  where 
such  rocks  are  absent.  The  evidence  from  dis- 
tribution alone  that  they  are  in  some  way  con- 
nected with  vast  outpourings  of  igneous  rock — 
especially  andesite  and  dacite — is  therefore  very 
strong,  but  it  does  not  stand  alone ;  other  reasons 
are  given,  and  finally  the  conclusion  is  reached 
that  the  young  gold-silver  lodes  were  formed  by 
heated  waters  circulating  towards  the  close  of  the 
eruptive  activity  in  the  district  in  which  they 
occur,  and  that  "  these  waters,  together  with  their 
metal  content,  were  derived  directly  from  the 
eruptive  magma."  The  view  expressed  in  the 
sentence  just  quoted  will  certainly  not  be  generally 
accepted  if  it  must  be  taken  to  imply  that  the 
water  is  not  of  meteoric  origin.  Having  dealt 
with  the  common  characteristics  and  discussed 
the  mode  of  origin  of  this  important  and  widely 
distributed  group  of  lodes  the  authors  proceed 
to  describe  special  cases.  These  local  descriptions 
are  illustrated  by  maps  and  diagrams,  and  in  the 
more  important  cases  contain  particulars  as  to  the 
development  of  the  industry  and  of  the  amount 
and  value  of  the  ore  raised.  Take,  for  example, 
the  case  of  Western  Australia.  The  Kalgoorlie 
NO.    2440,   VOL.   97] 


field  was  discovered  at  the  beginning  of  the 
'nineties.  The  economic  conditions  at  the  start 
were  most  unfavourable,  supplies  had  to  be  ob- 
tained from  Perth,  more  than  300  miles  away, 
and  water  cost  2^d.  a  gallon.  But  in  a  few 
years  all  was  changed.  A  railway  was  con- 
structed between  the  two  places,  and  also  a  pipe 
line  capable  of  delivering  5,000,000  gallons 
of  water  per  day.  In  1909  Western  Australia 
produced  1,595,263  oz.  of  fine  gold,  about  one- 
fourteenth  of  the  world's  production,  and  not 
quite  one-half  of  the  total  production  of  Austral- 
asia. Between  1903  and  1909,  the  last  date  for 
which  figures  were  available  when  the  book  was 
written,  there  had  been  a  continuous  decline, 
which  the  authors  attribute  to  decrease  of  value 
with  depth.  The  corresponding  figures  for  1913,  as 
quoted  in  Whitaker's  Almanack,  are  1,314,043  oz., 
so  that  the  decline  is  still  going  on. 

This  goldfield  has  been  examined  by  Dr. 
Krusch.  The  lodes  are  intimately  associated  with 
amphibolites,  some  of  which .  are  schistose  and 
others  massive.  Although  no  evidence  is  given 
that  any  of  the  surrounding  rocks  are  of  Tertiary 
age,  the  authors  refer  the  lodes  to  the  younger 
series  on  account  of  their  nature.  They  are  de- 
scribed as  veined  zones  consisting  of  a  large 
number  of  small  fissure-filings  from  which  intense 
impregnation  and  replacement  of  the  country 
rock  have  proceeded.  The  lode  material  con- 
sists chiefly  of  quartz  containing  auriferous 
pyrites  with  gold — and  other  tellurides  in  variable 
quantities.  All  the  lodes  are  more  or  less  decom- 
posed near  the  surface,  and  where  the  gold  is 
chiefly  associated  with  sulphides  two  well-marked 
depth-zones  occur  :  an  oxidation  zone  from  which 
most  of  the  gold  has  been  leached,  and  an  abnor- 
mally rich  cementation  zone.  On  the  other  hand, 
where  the  gold  is  chiefly  in  the  form  of  telluride 
no  cementation  zone  exists,  and  the  oxidation  zone 
carries  free  gold  exclusively. 

The  book  then  deals  with  the  old  gold  lodes. 
These  are  not,  as  a  rule,  associated  with  eruptive 
rocks,  quartz  is  by  far  the  most  abundant  ganglie 
mineral,  and  the  country  rock  is  rarely  impreg- 
nated with  metal,  as  is  so  frequently  the  case  with 
the  young  gold-silver  lodes.  That  quartz-veins 
carrying  gold  are  more  abundant  and  lodes  of  the 
Comstock  type  less  abundant  in  the  pre-Tertiary 
than  in  the  Tertiary  rocks  is  unquestionable,  but 
it  may  be  doubted  whether,  on  this  account,  it  is 
desirable  to  introduce  age  as  a  factor  into  the 
classification  of  ore-deposits.  The  gold-quartz 
lodes  of  California,  Ballarat,  the  Barberton  district 
of  the  Transvaal,  and  other  areas  are  then  de- 
scribed. The  wonderful  de{X>sit  of  Mount  Morgan 
is  considered  in  this  connection,  and  the  various 
theories  that  have  been  advanced  to  account  for  it 
are  discussed.  The  authors  favour  Rickard's  view 
that  it  represents  a  highly  altered  part  of  a  shat- 
tered country  which  has  been  saturated  with 
mineral  solutions  and  in  part  replaced  by  auri- 
ferous quartz;  or,  in  other  words,  that  it  is  one 
of  the  rare  cases  of  a  metasomatic  gold-deposit. 

Space  prevents  us  from  following  the  authors 
in    their  descriptions    of   the    other    metalliferous 

A  A 


458 


NATURE 


[August  3,  19 16 


lodes,  but,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  two  of  them 
are  Germans,  it  may  be  interesting  to  note  briefly 
what  they  say  about  the  mineral  resources  of 
"  German  "  colonies.  Gold-bearing  lodes  occur  in 
the  contact-belts  around  different  eruptives,  mostly 
of  a  dioritic  nature,  near  the  village  of  Sekenke, 
in  East  Africa.  They  are  lenticular  in  form,  and 
five  of  them  are  payable,  three  of  these  con- 
stituting the  Dernberg  lode.  The  average  assay 
of  sixty  samples,  after  rejecting  those  which 
yielded  abnormally  high  results,  gave  47  gm.  per 
ton.  These  samples  were  taken  from  the  cementa- 
tion zone,  which  is  of  no  great  depth.  The  gold 
content  of  the  primary  zone  does  not  appear  to 
be  sufficient  to  pay  for  working.  In  West  Africa 
gold-copper  ore  is  won  on  Swakop  River,  where 
a  garnetiferous  layer  in  gneiss  is  sparsely  im- 
pregnated with  copper.  Auriferous  copper  de- 
posits of  a  more  important  character  occur  on 
the  Groot  and  Klein  Spitzkop,  some  20  km.  to 
the  north-west  of  Rehoboth.  The  copper-ore 
occurs  sometimes  as  malachite,  sometimes  as 
chalcocite,  bornite,  or  chrysocolla.  The  primary 
ore  probably  consists  of  pyrites  and  chalcopyrite. 
The  gold  occurs  either  as  free  gold  or  associated 
with  pyrites.  Wedges  of  country  rock  between 
converging  veins  have  assayed  3  gm.  to  4  gm.  of 
gold  and  20  gm.  of  silver  per  ton.  Auriferous  con- 
glomerates have  been  observed  in  the  Ussungo 
district,  but  they  have  not  as  yet  proved  to  be  of 
any  economic  importance. 

In  dealing  with  the  world's  production  of  gold 
and  silver  the  authors  estimate  that  the  total  yield 
from  1493  to  191 1  was  20,737  tons,  representing 
2838  millions  sterling,  a  small  sum  compared  with 
the  cost  of  the  present  war. 

The  volume  concludes  with  an  account  of  ore- 
bearing  rocks  interstratified  with  sedimentary  de- 
posits. This  part  commences  with  a  description 
of  the  conditions  under  which  stratified  rocks  are 
formed,  and  especially  of  those  chemical  and 
physical  processes  which  throw  light  on  the 
origin  of  ore-deposits.  Then  follow  descriptions 
of  iron-ore  beds,  of  manganese  beds,  of  copper- 
shale  beds,  of  auriferous  conglomerates,  and 
finally  of  placer  deposits  yielding  tin,  gold,  and 
platinum. 

The  treatise  is  a  valuable  addition  to  the  litera- 
ture of  ore-deposits,  and  the  translator  deserves 
high  praise  for  the  way  in  which  he  has  done 
his  work. 


NAPIER   AND   HIS   LOGARITHMS. 
Napier  Tercentenary  Memorial    Volume.      Edited 
by  Dr.  C.  G.  Knott.     Pp.  xi  +  441.     (Published 
for  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  by  Long- 
mans,   Green  and  Co.,   London,    1915.)     Price 
215.   net. 
'X'HE  first  place  in  this  miscellany  is  naturally 
-*-      assigned     to     Lord     Moulton's     inaugural 
address.      For    once    in    a    way,    this    is    not    an 
empty   compliment;   for  the   address   is   a   model 
of  what  such  an  oration  should  be.    There  is  only 
one    mathematical    formula    in    it,    and    this    so 
simple   and   familiar  to  the   audience   that  it  did 

NO.    2440,   VOL.   97] 


not  need  lo  be  written  down,  while  several  im- 
portant points  are  brought  out  with  convincing 
lucidity.  Of  these  are  (i)  that  Napier,  before 
publishing  his  "Canon,"  had  arrived  at  the  notion 
of  a  logarithm  as  a  continuous  function — we  may 
even  say,  as  one  defined  by  a  differential  equa- 
tion ;  (ii)  that  the  essential  property  of  the  log- 
arithm, in  Napier's  eyes,  is  that,  if  a  :  b  =  c  :  d,  then 
log  a  ~Iog  b  =  log  c  ~  log  ci,  so  that  a  table  with 
numbers  as  entries,  and  logarithms  as  extracts, 
will  economise  labour  in  doing  rule  of  three  sums.^ 

The  papers  contributed  are,  on  the  whole,  more 
interesting  and  appropriate  than  is  usual  in  pro- 
ductions of  this  kind.  Of  course,  some  of  the 
contributors,  however  eminent,  have  little  know- 
ledge, and  less  interest,  about  the  history  of 
logarithms ;  so  they  either  write  an  original  note 
on  an  irrelevant  subject  (such  as  spherical  har- 
monics) or  a  perfunctory  page  or  so  on  relevant 
but  well-known  topics.  As  there  are  twenty-six 
technical  papers,  we  cannot  notice  them  all,  but 
have  to  select  those  which  seem  to  us  most  worthy 
of  attention. 

Among  these  are  the  two  brief  contributions 
by  Prof.  G.  Vacca.  One  of  these  recalls  the  work 
of  Pietro  Mengoli ;  the  other  is,  we  think,  vital 
to  the  whole  question  of  what  was  the  induction 
that  led  Napier  to  his  goal.  In  Fra  Luca  Paciolo's 
"Summa  de  Arithmetica  "  (Venice,  1494)  there  is 
the  following  statement : — 

"  If  you  wish  to  know  in  how  many  years  a 
sum  of  money  will  double  itself  at  compound 
interest  (paid  per  annum),  divide  72  by  the  rate 
per  cent.  For  example,  if  the  rate  of  interest 
is  6  per  cent.,  the  number  of  years  is  12." 

No  doubt  this  rule  was  obtained  empirically ; 
but  the  interesting  thing  is  that  we  have  a  formula 
implying  that  the  number  of  years  required  is 
inversely  as  the  rate  per  cent.  Now,  Napier  was 
a  business  man,  and  his  constructio  is  essentially 
the  formation  of  a  table  of  compound  discount 
at  a  very  small  rate  per  cent.  We  are  convinced 
that  this  mercantile  method  contains  the  germ 
of  Napier's  invention,  and  not  any  trigonometrical 
formula.  If  we  assume  that,  for  a  small  fixed 
rate  r, 

A  =  (i+r)«=i  +  ar, 
then  with 

B  =  {i+r)P,  C  =  {i+r)y,  D  =  (i+r), 

we  have  approximately 

and  now,  if  A:  B  =  C:  D,  we  have,  to  the  same 
degree  of  approximation,  o-j8  =  y-5,  which  is 
Napier's  fundamental  theorem.  We  now  kno\ 
that  if 

</>(.r/y)  =  «^(x)-<^(y)  +  <^(i), 

then  cf>(x)  =  p\ogeX  +  q,  where  p,  q  are  constants. 
In    Napier's    original    system,   as    Prof.    Gibson' 
points  out  (p.   128), 

p=  -  10^,  g'  =  7.io^log«  10. 

1  For  rea.<ons  given  later,  we  entirely  disagree  with  Lord  Moulton'» 
suggestion  that  the  first  germ  of  Napier's  discovery  is  to  be  found  in  the 
expression  for  the  difference  of  two  cosines  as  the  product  of  two  sines. 


August  3,  19 16] 


NATURE 


459 


These  "  Ic^arithms "  serve  for  rule  of  three 
sums,  but  they  are  not  suitable  for  simple  multi- 
plications or  divisions.  Briggs  appears  to  have 
seen  how  to  amend  the  system  by  choosing-  lo 
for  the  base,  and  i  as  the  antilogarithm  of  zero. 
Whether  the  same  idea  had  occurred  to  Napier 
is  uncertain ;  at  any  rate,  after  consultation,  the 
two  men  agreed  upon  the  usefulness  of  the  trans- 
formation, and  Briggs  performed  the  necessary 
computations.  On  all  points  in  this  connection 
Prof.  Gibson's  paper  is  very  convincing  and  in- 
structive. We  do  not  suppose  that  either  Briggs 
or  Napier  consciously  thought  of  a  base  or  a 
unit  as  we  do,  but  they  probably  realised  the 
meaning  of  a  formula, 

A(x)  =  ^log(x)  +  q, 

where  A.(^),  log  {x)  are  logarithms  of  the  same 
number  in  two  related  systems.  Here,  again. 
Prof.   Gibson's  paper  should  be  consulted. 

We  now  come  to  the  question  of  priority,  which 
ought  never  to  have  been  raised;  it  is  astounding 
that  even  M.  Cantor  should  prolong  this  idle 
controversy.  Burgi's  table  of  antilogarithms 
appeared  in  1620;  his  calculations  appear  to  have 
been  finished  by  1610  (p.  209);  Napier's  table  of 
logarithms  appeared  in  1619.  Each  table  was 
the  result  of  years  of  work;  to  convert  either 
into  the  other,  fraudulently,  would  involve  a  vast 
amount  of  labour;  and  there  is  not  a  shred  of 
evidence  that  either  man  had  access  to  the  MS. 
of  the  other.  It  is  the  case  of  Newton  and  Leib- 
niz over  again  in  another  form.  So  far  as  actual 
priority  in  publishing  a  table  of  logarithms  is 
concerned,  Edward  Wright  has  a  claim  superior 
to  that  of  either  Napier  or  Burgi ;  but  he  was 
sensible  enough  to  know  the  difference  between 
a  special  table  constructed  for  use  with  Mercator's 
chart  (essentially  a  log  tan|^  table)  and  one 
adapted  for  general  computation ;  even  supposing 
that  he  knew,  before  the  "Canon  "  was  published, 
that  his  own  table  was  a  table  of  logarithms — 
which  is  extremely  unlikely.  Finally,  Wright 
paid  ample  tribute  to  the  genius  of  Napier,  and 
never  made  any  claim  on  his  own  account.  This 
was  reserved  for  the  eccentric  Benjamin  Martin. 

Among  the  other  papers  may  be  noted  Dr. 
Glaisher's  excellent  paper  on  logarithms  and 
computation;  Prof.  Sampson's  careful  biblio- 
graphy of  books  exhibited ;  Dr.  Knott's  account 
of  Edward  Sang  and  his  logarithmic  calculations; 
Prof.  d'Ocagne's  notes  on  nomograms  and  multi- 
plying machines;  Mrs.  E,  Gifford's  account  of 
her  new  table  of  natural  sines ;  papers  on  prob- 
ability by  Messrs.  Erlang  and  Quiquet;  and  one 
on  the  arrangement  of  mathematical  tables  by 
Dr.  J.  R.  Milne.  In  its  way,  the  last  is  of.  out- 
standing importance,  because  everything  possible 
should  be  done  for  those  who  have  to  use  tables 
daily  and  for  hours  together;  such  things  as 
paper,  colour,  typography,  etc.,  are  not  the  trifles 
they  may  seem  to  the  amateur. 

The  general  appearance  of  the  volume  is  ex- 
cellent; it  is  well  printed,  and  the  illustrations 
(two  in  colour)  are  most  interesting;  the  indexes 
are  ample,  and  the  price  is  not  extravagant.  The 
NO.    2440,    VOL.   97] 


biography  of  Napier  has  been  well  done  by  Dr. 
P.  Hume  Brown,  and  Mr.  G.  Smith  has  con- 
tributed a  careful  account  of  Merchiston  Castle. 
The  editor  (Dr.  Knott)  may  be  congratulated 
on  the  result  of  his  labours.  G.  B.  M. 

AN    AGRICULTURAL    POLICY. 
Agriculture  after  the  War.     By  A.  D.  Hall.     Pp. 

vii  +  137.     (London :     John     Murray,      1916,) 

Price  35.  6d.  net. 
TN  this  little  book  Mr.  Hall  sets  out  his  views 
-*-  as  to  the  methods  to  be  adopted  after  the 
war  in  order  to  develop  agriculture  to  the  full 
extent  demanded  by  the  national  necessities.  Mr. 
Hall  insists  that  more  food  must  be  grown  at 
home  as  an  insurance  in  time  of  war,  to  develop 
our  resources  and  reduce  our  foreign  indebted- 
ness, and  to  increase  the  agricultural  population 
as  a  specially  valuable  element  in  the  community. 
This  can  be  attained  only  by  bringing  more  land 
under  the  plough.  Farmers  will  not  on  their 
own  responsibility  plough  up  grass  land  :  to  do  so 
is  to  destroy  a  certain,  though  small,  source  of 
profit  for  the  sake  of  a  more  risky,  but  possibly 
larger,  one.  Mr.  Hall  considers  that  the  old 
laissez-faire  policy  will  no  longer  meet  the  case  : 
the  State  may  be  driven  to  adopt  some  system  of 
bounties  or  protective  duties  to  make  the  profits 
more  certain  and  the  inducements  more  tangible. 
Five  methods  are  outlined  for  obtaining  a  more 
intensive  cultivation  of  the  soil :  the  establish- 
ment of  large  industrial  farms  working  on  a 
considerable  area  with  all  the  economic  advan- 
tages of  organisation  and  scientific  management; 
the  establishment  under  certain  conditions  of 
colonies  of  small  holders  working  under  co- 
operative organisation ;  the  intensification  of 
existing  methods;  the  reclamation  and  settlement 
of  waste  and  undeveloped  areas ;  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  certain  subsidiary  industries. 

Mr.  Hall's  writings  are  always  marked  by 
breadth  of  view  and  saneness  of  outlook,  and  it 
is  gratifying  to  know  that  these  have  not  deserted 
him  since  he  left  the  country  for  Dean's  Yard. 
He  has  never  hesitated  about  a  proposal  because 
it  happened  to  be  rather  revolutionary,  nor  does 
he  do  so  here.  The  scheme  suggested  is  com- 
prehensive and  logical,  but  it  has  its  revolution- 
ary aspect,  and  the  final  solution,  in  his  own 
words,  is  "for  the  State  to  become  the  ultimate 
landowner. " 

It  is  undeniable  that  the  land  is  not  producing 
as  much  as  it  might  do.  It  is  equally  undeniable 
that  no  comprehensive  attempt  has  been  made 
to  get  it  to  do  so.  Almost  ever}'  estate  has  an 
amenity  value  and  a  sporting  value  in  addition 
to  its  agricultural  value — ^thus  the  land  has  to 
serve  three  masters.  Trees,  hedgerows,  grass, 
parks,  plantations,  warrens,  are  all  kept  up, 
even  when  they  are  in  direct  conflict  with  the 
agricultural  productivity  of  the  land.  To  make 
matters  worse,  the  farmer  lacks  the  manufac- 
turer's certainty  of  return.  The  manufacturer 
works  on  a  contract ;  he  knows  precisely  how 
1  much  he  will  be  paid,  and  what  output  he  may 


460 


NATURE 


[August  3,  19 16 


expect;  he  usually  has  a  quick  return  for  his 
outlay,  and  he  can  insure  against  many  of  his 
risks.  The  farmer,  on  the  other  hand,  rarely,  if 
ever,  works  on  a  contract;  he  starts  expending 
money  in  August  on  a  crop  that  will  not  be  sold 
for  fifteen  months ;  he  does  not  know  definitely 
what  price  he  will  receive,  or  what  yield  he  will 
get.  The  whole  thing  is  a  hazard,  and  he  can- 
not insure  against  his  risks.  Consequently  he 
has  to  allow  a  large  margin  for  safety,  and  he 
balances  his  risk  on  the  arable  land  by  having  a 
considerable  area  of  grass  on  which  the  risk  is 
at  a  minimum. 

The  application  of  scientific  methods  has 
decreased  the  risk  and  increased  the  effectiveness 
of  the  capital  involved,  but,  of  course,  it  cannot 
deal  with  the  great  factor  of  price.  This 
problem  is  for  the  statesman,  and  when  he  comes 
to  deal  with  it  he  will  find  Mr.  Hall's  book  a 
useful  guide.  E.  J.  R. 

OVR    BOOKSHELF. 

The  New  Public  Health.     By  Prof.   H.  W.   Hill. 

Pp.  X  +  206.     (New  York  :  The  Macmillan  Co. ; 

London:      Macmillan    and    Co.,     Ltd.,     1916.) 

Price  55.  6d.  net. 
The  object  of  this  book  is  to  bring  before  the 
general  public  the  newer  conceptions  of  the  aims 
and  methods  of  public  health.  The  older  public 
health  mainly  dealt  with  the  environment ;  the 
newer  is  chiefly  concerned  with  the  individual. 
The  old  teaching  stated  that  infectious  diseases  were 
generated  in  the  foul,  ill-smelling,  unventilated, 
sunless  hovels  of  the  slums ;  that  a  pinhole  leak 
in  some  plumbing  fixture  accounted  for  diphtheria 
or  typhoid  fever ;  that  dampness  caused  malaria, 
and  impure  water  yellow  fever.  The  new  teaching 
begins  and  usually  ends  with  the  search  for  (a)  the 
infected  individual,  (b)  the  routes  of  spread  of 
infection  from  that  individual,  (c)  the  routes  of 
disposal  of  the  excreta  of  the  community,  by 
which,  if  infection  occur,  the  infecting  agent  might 
reach  the  members  of  the  community.  To  locate 
all  the  infective  individuals  of  the  community  and 
to  guard  all  their  discharges  is  the  ultimate  goal 
of  modern  preventive  measures. 

The  author  surveys  the  sources,  routes,  and 
'control  of  infectious  diseases,  the  old  and  the  new 
practice  in  the  control  of  epidemics,  and  individual 
and  community  defence  and  administration.  The 
book  Is  written  in  a  vigorous  and  trenchant  style 
which  arrests  the  attention  and  carries  conviction. 
The  only  criticism  of  it  that  might  be  passed  is 
that  the  casual  reader  might  gather  that  such 
factors  as  garbage  heaps  and  ill  ventilation  are  of 
little  moment  to  the  public  health,  whereas  actually 
the  author  indicates  that  they  are  not  to  be  neg- 
lected, though  their  importance  and  significance 
are  very  different  from  what  used  to  be  considered 
to  be  the  case.  R.  T.  H. 

The   Pathology   of   Tumours.        By    Dr.    E.    H. 

Kettle.     Pp.  viii+224.     (London  :   H.  K.  Lewis 

and  Co.,  Ltd.,   1916.)     Price  los.  6d.  net. 
In  this  book  the  author  gives  an  excellent  account 
of  the  characters,  occurrence,  and  general  patho- 
NO.    2A4.0.    VOL.    Q71 


logy  of  tumours,  innocent  and  malignant.  No 
doubt  students  and  practitioners  will  find  it  of 
considerable  service,  though  it  may  be  remarked 
that  we  fail  to  find  in  it  any  novelty  in  matter 
or  arrangement,  or  anything  that  has  not  been 
just  as  adequately  stated  in  some  other  books 
that  could  be  named.  The  illustrations,  how- 
ever, are  both  numerous  and  excellent,  and  this 
feature  will  probably  be  the  one  which  will  recom- 
mend the  book. 

In  the  opening  chapters  the  general  biology 
of  tumours  is  dealt  with,  including  statistics  of 
occurrence,  the  experimental  study  of  tumour 
growth,  and  the  general  principles  of  treatment. 
Here,  however,  we  fail  to  find  any  reference  to 
changes  in  the  body  fluids  which  occur  in  malig- 
nant disease,  such,  for  instance,  as  alterations  in 
the  anti-tryptic  power  and  lipoclastic  action  of 
the   blood-serum. 

In  the  second  part  the  naked-eye  and 
microscopical  characters  of  the  different  forms  of 
tumours  are  described,  and  finally  the  occurrence 
of  tumours  in  the  various  organs  and  tissues  of 
the  body  is  detailed.  Altogether  the  book  gives 
a  very  practical  summary  of  tumour  formation 
and  development  in  general. 

Harper's  Hydraulic  Tables  for  the  Flow  of  Water, 
in  Circular  Pipes  under  Pressure,  Timber 
Flumes,  Open  Channels,  and  Egg-shaped 
Conduits,  with  much  Accessory  Information. 
By  J.  H.  Harper.  Pp.  192.  (London :  Con- 
stable and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1916.)  Price  8s.  6d.  net. 
With  painstaking  assiduity,  the  author  has 
worked  out,  with  the  aid  of  certain  well-estab- 
lished formulae,  what  he  terms  a  "  grill  "  or  net- 
work of  solutions,  covering  such  problems  as  are 
likely  to  arise  in  actual  practice  "regarding  the 
flow  of  water  in  either  closed  or  open  conduits, 
with  any  reasonable  assumption  of  rugosity  and 
with  any  rational  arrangement  of  grade,  in  quan- 
tities from  a  small  fraction  of  a  foot  to  several 
thousand  feet  per  second."  The  formulae  selected 
are  those  of  D'Arcy,  Bazin,  and  Kutter — all 
authoritative  in  their  degree,  but  labouring  under 
the  disadvantage  of  possessing  extremely  vari- 
able coefficients,  which  render  their  application 
a  matter  of  some  difficulty,  quite  apart  from  the 
complexity  of  the  expressions  themselves.  It  has 
recently  been  shown  by  Mr.  A.  A.  Barnes  that  the 
inherent  cause  of  this  diversity  lies  in  the  strict 
adherence  to  the  fundamental  equation  of  Chezy, 
viz.  v  —  CsJrs,  and  that  if  the  equation  were 
written  in  the  form  v  =  cr'^s^,  coefficients  could  be 
determined  which  are  simple  In  character  and 
constant  for  the  same  class  of  channel.  For 
those  who  prefer  older  methods  the  volume  will 
undoubtedly  prove  of  use  in  obviating  the  neces- 
sity for  working  out  experimental  cases  in  detail. 
Within  the  range  of  the  tabulated  results,  it  is 
easy  to  interpolate  values  sufficiently  correct  for 
preliminary  approximations.  The  tables  are  also 
diagrammatically  expressed  in  charts,  and  there 
are  some  supplementary  notes  on  hydraulic 
formulae  generally,  which  make  the  book  a 
succinct  little  manual  on  the  subject.  B.  C. 


August  3,  19 16] 


NATURE 


46) 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 
[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

Productive    Work    and    Classical   Education. 

At  this  time  people  are  awakening  to  the  mischief 
that  has  been  done  to  this  country  by  the  neglect  of 
science  as  a  part  of  education,  and  there  seems  a 
danger  of  the  pendulum  of  opinion  swinging  too  far, 
and  of  classics  being  looked  upon  as  something  to  be 
completely  eliminated  from  the  educational  curri- 
culum. In  relation  to  this,  I  think  a  short  personal 
anecdote  may  be  instructive.  In  1868  I  had  the  privi- 
lege of  working  with  the  late  Prof.  Willy  Kiihne  as 
his  only  student  in  his  laboratory  in  Amsterdam,  and 
the  friendship  which  began  there  continued  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death. 

Prof.  Kiihne  was  a  most  remarkable  man.  He 
was,  I  think,  one  of  the  greatest  physiological  chemists 
of  last  century,  and  was  quite  half  a  century  in  ad- 
vance of  nearly  all  his  contemporaries.  Belonging  to 
a  rich  banking  family,  he  could  go  where 
he  pleased,  do  what  he  pleased,  and  obtain 
any  optical  or  other  apparatus  he  needed, 
regardless  of  cost.  He  accordingly  elected  to  work 
with  Claude  Bernard,  and  used  the  chemical  and 
microscopical  skill  which  he  acquired  to  such  advan- 
tage that  at  an  age  when  most  men  are  only  thinking 
of  beginning  university  life  he  had  produced  a  mono- 
graph on  protoplasm  and  contractilit}^  ("  Ueber  Proto- 
plasma  und  Contractilitat  "),  which  was  not  only  far  in 
advance  of  anything  then  in  existence  when  it  was 
written,  but  still  remains  unrivalled  half  a  century 
later. 

His  great  ability  led  to  an  invitation  to  become  pro- 
fessor of  physiology  at  Amsterdam.  After  some  years 
he  was  invited  to  occupy  the  chair  at  Heidelberg 
rendered  vacant  by  the  transference  of  Prof.  H.  von 
Helmholtz  to  Berlin.  This  invitation  he  accepted,  and 
remained  at  Heidelberg  until  his  death. 

Such  a  career  seems  ample  vindication  of  the  claim 
that  classics  is  unnecessary  to  education,  more 
especially  if  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  Kiihne  was  an 
exceptionally  good  linguist,  si>eaking  three  or  more 
languages  with  perfect  ease,  that  he  had  travelled 
much  in  Euroj>e,  and  was  a  perfect  encyclopaedia  of 
knowledge  and  criticism  in  painting  and  sculpture. 
Yet  there  was  one  bitter  drop  in  his  cup  of  know- 
ledge and  honour.  The  nature  of  this  was  confided 
to  me  as  a  strict  secret  by  our  mutual  friend.  Prof. 
Hugo  Kronecker,  when  we  were  discussing  together 
some  data  for  a  short  life  of  Kuhne  which  Kronecker 
thought  of  writing.  As  both  Kiihne  and  Kronecker 
are  dead,  there  is  no  further  reason  for  preserving  the 
secret,  which  I  for  one  never  could  have  suspected. 
It  was  that  Kiihne  had  felt  deeply  the  scorn  with 
which  some  people  had  regarded  him  because  he  had 
never  taken  a  classical  degree.  Fools  they  were  no 
doubt,  but  their  attitude  probablv  indicated  the  mental 
attitude  of  the  mass  of  German  graduates  to  whose 
devotion  to  a  scientific  education  we  are  now  inclined 
to  attribute  much  of  Germany's  success. 

Lauder  Brunton. 

1  De  Walden  Court,  New  Cavendish  Street, 
London,  W.,  July  15. 

Gravitation  and  Temperature. 

Dr.    P.    E.     Shaw's    striking   experimental    result 
(Phil.  Trans.,   1916)  as  to  a  variation  of  gravitational 
attraction   with   temperature   of   the   large   mass,   and 
NO.    2440,    VOL.    97] 


that  of  Poynting  and  Phillips  as  to  no  variation  in 
attraction  with  temperature  of  the  small  mass,  may 
seem  reconciled  satisfactorily  by  the  formula  put  for- 
ward by  the  latter  collaborators,  and  quoted  by  Dr. 
Shaw  in  Nature  (July  13),  viz.  : — 

Mm 


^=K-4r:r)^  •  •  •  <■> 


where  T  and  t  are  the  absolute  temperatures  of  the 
masses  M  and  m  respectively,  placed  at  a  distance  r 
apart.  But  it  seems  desirable  to  notice  that  this 
formula  does  not  in  general  allow  of  the  derivation  of 
the  attraction  of  a  finite  mass  from  the  attractions  of 
its  component  particles  in  the  usual  ^ay  by  vector 
addition. 

Thus,  for  a  pair  of  particles,  each  of  mass  m,  at 
temperatures  T  and  t,  and  placed  r  apart,  we  have 
as  the  attraction  : — 

F,=c(.+Jf')-'  ....    (a) 

Again,  the  attraction  of  two  particles,  each  of  mass 
m,  close  together,  and  at  temperature  T,  on  a  single 
particle  of  mass  m  and  temperature  f  at  a  distance  r, 
would  be  : — 

F,  =  G{i+.iniy^,     ...     (3) 

Hence,  F,  is  not,  in  general,  equal  to 

2F, (4) 

For  the  effective  temperature  of  the  system  varies  be- 
tween those  of  the  particles,  according  to  their  relative 
masses,  just  as  the  position  of  the  centre  of  mass  of 
a  system  varies  among  those  of  its  particles  accord- 
ing to  their  masses. 

Accordingly,  the  component  attractions  do  not  sum 
to  their  resultant  in  the  usual  way. 

Of  course,  this  is  no  disproof  of  the  formula,  but 
must  be  regarded  simply  as  a  somewhat  grave  conse- 
quence involved  by  the  formula.  It  is  indeed  a  conse- 
quence that  may  well  give  us  pause  before  accepting 
the  formula,  pending  either  (a)  a  rigorous  deriva- 
tion of  the  formula  theoretically,  or  (b)  some  crucial 
experimental  evidence  that  it  is  preferable  to  other 
formulae. 

Suppose,  instead  of  formula  (i),  we  tr\-  the  follow- 
ing :— 

F^G(i+a^^(-^^y»+^).     .     (la) 

where,  as  before,  T  and  t  are  the  absolute  tempera- 
tures of  the  masses  M  and  m,  and  6  is  the  mean,  or 
effective,  temperature  of  the  ^ace,  whether  vacuous 
or  not,  between  the  masses. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that,  with  Max  Planck's  theory  of 
entropy,  a  temperature  is  now  theoretically  assign- 
able to  a  vacuous  space  which  is  a  field  of  radiation. 
Using  this  different  formula  for  the  cases  already 
considered,  if  one  particle  at  temperature  t  is  attracted 
by  one  or  two  particles  at  temperature  T,  we  have 
the  relations  : — 

Fi  =  G(i+o^(i+/3T)(i+)5/)^*     .     (m) 

F,=G(i+a<>)(i+^T)(i+/3/)?'«'    .     (3a) 

So  here,  F,=2Fi {4a) 

And,  however  we  vary  the  mass  at  temperature  T, 
provided  the  temperature  6  remains  unchanged,  the 
attraction  on  the  single  particle  would  vary  in  direct 
proportion  to  the  attracting  mass. 

This  new  formula,  then,  restores  the  validity  of  die 
vector  addition  of  the  component  attractions.  It 
seems,  however,  at  first  sight  to  have  lost  the  power 


462 


NATURE 


[August  3,  19 16 


to  explain  the  contrasted  experimental  results  of  the 
temperature  effect  of  the  large  mass,  and  the  lack  of 
it  in  the  small  mass.  For,  obviously,  the  tempera- 
tures of  the  masses  may  now  be  intercnanged  without 
altering  the  value  of  the  attraction  if  only  the  value 
of  B  is  constant. 

But,  in  the  actual  expyeriments  by  Dr.  Shaw,  might 
not  the  heating  of  the  large  mass  near  the  small  one 
possibly  involve  an  increase  of  5?  And  again,  in  the 
heating  of  the  small  mass  carried  out  by  Poynting  and 
Phillips,  the  earth  itself  being  the  large  mass,  might 
not  the  value  of  6  be  practically  constant?  If  so,  pos- 
sibly the  formula  (la)  here  suggested  might  prove 
consistent  with  all  the  experimental  results  just  re- 
viewed. E.  H.  Barton. 

Nottingham,  July  i8. 


The  Gun-firing  on  the  Western  Front. 

In  Nature  for  July  13  Dr.  C.  Davison  directs 
attention  to  Dr.  van  Everdingen's  investigations  with 
regard  to  the  propagation  of  sound,  and  he  also  refers 
to  the  inaudibility  of  the  reports  in  the  face  of  a  gentle 
wind  when  the  observer  was  comparatively  near.  In 
this  neighbourhood  the  sounds  are  heard  distinctly 
when  a  quiet  situation  is  found,  but  a  very  marked 
peculiarity  is  the  fact  that  the  direction  of  the  wind 
seems  to  make  no  appreciable  difference  in  the  in- 
tensity of  the  sound.  For  example,  on  July  19  the 
booming  was  very  intense  and  quite  easilv  heard  with 
the  wind  blowing  from  the  north-west.  On  the  20th, 
with  the  wind  from  the  east,  the  audibility  was  no 
greater,  possibly  not  so  great.  Westerly  winds  have 
been  frequent  of  late,  but  have  not  diminished  the 
sounds  at  all,  whereas  it  is  a  fact  that  on  some  occa- 
sions with  an  easterly  wind  no  sounds  were  heard. 
It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say  whether  there  was 
firing  or  not  on  these  latter  occasions,  but  it  is  cer- 
tainly worth  recording  that  on  the  majority  of  the 
occasions  upon  which  I  have  heard  the  sounds  since 
the  end  of  1914  I  have  at  the  same  time  observed 
that  the  wind  was  westerly. 

Presumably  in  this  neighbourhood  we  are  beyond 
the  silent  zone,  and  in  the  second-sound  area,  and 
the  suggestion  seems  to  be  that  in  this  area  the  effect 
of  wind  is  negligible.  Two  further  points  worth 
noting  are  the  facts  that  the  sounds  here  are  practically 
as  intense  as  at  Brighton,  though  we  are  about  fifty 
miles  farther  from  the  source,  and  also  that  the  direc- 
tion of  the  source  is  always  fairlv  obvious. 

The  sounds  being  so  distinct  here,  and  having  lost 
so  little  intensity  in  the  fifty  miles  which  lie  between 
this  neighbourhood  and  Brighton,  it  seems  likely  that 
they  should  still  be  audible  at  much  greater  distances. 
Possibly  they  could  be  traced  to  very  extreme  distances 
with  the  aid  of  some  very  sensitive  sound  detector,  if 
any  suitable  instrument  is  available. 

it  would  also  be  interesting  to  get  evidence  from 
aeronauts.  Plenty  of  balloons  are  in  use  now,  and 
doubtless  the  sounds  have  been  noted,  if  audible. 

C.  Welborne  Piper. 

Blackheath,  S.E. 


Portraits  of  Wm.   Smitit. 

In  Phillips's  "  Memoirs  of  Wm.  Smith,"  the  father 
of  English  geology,  p.  125,  reference  is  made  to  his 
portrait,  taken  in  1805,  by  Solomon  Williams,  and 
another  by  Jackson,  and  still  another  by  Fourau,  the 
last  presumably  being  now  in  the  Geological  Society's 
rooms.  So  far  I  have  been  unable  to  trace  the  por- 
traits by  the  two  first-named  artists.  Can  any  of 
your  readers  assist  me?  T.   Sheppard. 

Museum,  Hull. 

NO.    2440,    VOL.   97] 


XATIONAL   AFFORESTATION. 

SIR  \V.  SCHLICH,  in  an  important  article  in 
the  Quarterly  Journal  of  Forestry  for  July, 
urges  the  importance  of  afforestation  and  dis- 
cusses the  measures  which  should  be  taken  to 
secure  for  the  nation  a  sufficient  supply  of  timber 
in  the  future.  The  quantity  of  timber  used  in  the 
United  Kingdom  is  enormous,  and  increases  year 
by  year.  In  addition  to  the  home  production,  esti- 
mated at  about  2,000,000  loads  annually,  there 
was  an  import  of  11,590,318  loads,  valued  at 
33,788,884!.,  in  1913,  as  compared  with  10,104,504 
loads,  worth  25,676,988/.,  in  1899.  Only  10  per 
cent,  of  the  total  timber  imported  in  1913  came 
from  British  possessions,  as  against  22  per  cent, 
in  1899.  All  these  figures  relate  solely  to  the  raw- 
material,  timber;  but  there  must  be  added  wood 
manufactures  to  the  value  of  3,583,187!.,  and 
wood-pulp  estimated  at  4,617,739!,,  entering  our 
ports  in  19 13.  We  draw-  our  main  supplies  from 
Russia,  Sweden,  Norway,  France,  the  United 
States,  and  Canada.  In  all  these  countries,  except 
Russia  and  Canada,  the  tendency  in  the  future 
will  be  towards  restricted  production,  diminished 
export,  and  increasing  prices  of  timber,  owing  to 
the  annual  growth  in  the  forests  not  being  suffi- 
cient to  replace  what  is  taken  away  by  cuttings 
and  by  fores:  fires.  Our  main  imports  are  coni- 
ferous timber,  pitwood,  and  wood-pulp,  three 
classes  of  forest  produce  which  can  be  profitably 
produced  in  our  climate.  A  review  of  the  whole 
situation  shows  that  a  considerable  increase  in  the 
area  under  timber  in  the  United  Kingdom  w-ould 
be  economically  sound,  and  would  also  ser\-e  as 
an  insurance  against  an  unexpected  timber  famine 
brought  about  by  international  complications  in 
the  future. 

Sir  W.  Schlich  discusses  at  length  the  amount 
and  nature  of  the  land  available  for  afforestation. 
As  most  forest  work  is  done  in  winter,  when  agri- 
cultural work  is  slack,  a  scheme  of  aflforestation 
will  provide  extra  labour  for  agriculture  in  spring 
and  summer,  and  consequently  will  be  a  consider- 
able help  to  increased  productivity  of  the  land 
generally.  This  point  is  of  especial  importance  in 
connection  with  small  holdings,  and  should  be 
taken  into  account  when  considering  schemes  for 
the  settlement  of  discharged  soldiers  after  the  war. 
Very  large  continuous  forest  tracts  are  not  neces- 
sary. Small  blocks  of  woodland,  with  a  minimum 
area  of  500  acres,  scattered  over  the  country  in 
the  vicinity  of  small  holdings,  make  an  ideal  com- 
bination. Sir  \V.  Schlich  summarises  his  pro- 
posals for  afforestation  as  follow-s  : — 

(i)  The  afforestation  of  not  less  than  3,000,000 
acres  of  surplus  land,  by  planting  about  30,000  acres 
a  year. 

(2)  Private  proprietors.  Corporations,  and  the  State 
should  take  part  in  the  work  of  afforestation,  the  State 
doing  that  part  which  the  other  two  agencies  are  not 
willing  or  able  to  undertake. 

(3)  Financial  assistance  should  be  given  to  private 
proprietors  in  the  work  of  afforestation,  if  necessary, 
by  making  advances  to  them  at  the  rate  of  interest  at 
which  the  State  can  take  up  money. 

To  secure  success  from  the  verv  outset  it  is  essential 


August  3,  19 16] 


NATURE 


463 


to  create  a  separate  branch  for  forestry  in  the  Board 
of  Agriculture  to  deal  with  all  forestry  questions. 
There  should  be  a  Director  of  Operations,  occupying 
the  post  of  Joint  Secretary  or  Assistant  Secretary,  to 
begin  with.  He  should  be  a  duly  qualified  forest 
expert,  and  be  assisted  by  an  adequate  number  of 
trained  inspectors  to  supervise  the  field  work.  Well- 
considered  plans  of  operations  must  at  once  be  drawn 
up  for  each  block,  laying  down  the  order  of  planting, 
deciding  the  selection  of  species  to  be  planted  accord- 
ing to  the  quality  of  the  soil  in  each  subdivision, 
drawing  up  a  network  of  roads  for  future  transport, 
to  be  constructed  when  required,  and  other  matters. 


A  NATIONAL  STATUTORY  BOARD  OF 
SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY. 

WE  have  received  for  publication  from  the 
British  Science  Guild  the  following-  memo- 
randum on  the  relations  which  should  exist  in 
future  between  the  State  and  science,  and  suggest- 
ing- that  a  national  statutory  Board  of  Science  and 
Industry  should  be  forrned.  The  memorandum, 
which  has  been  forwarded  to  the  Government,  is 
signed  by  some  220  of  the  most  important  repre- 
sentatives of  industry,  science,  and  education  : — 

The  British  Science  Guild,  which  was  founded  in 
1905  with  the  object  of  bringing  home  to  all  classes 
"  the  necessity  of  applying  the  methods  of  science  to 
all  branches  of  human  endeavour,  and  thus  to  further 
the  progress  and  increase  the  welfare  of  the  Empire," 
is  of  opinion  that  the  present  European  crisis  affords 
a  unique  opportunity  for  impressing  upon  all  who  are 
engaged  in  the  executive  functions  of  government,  as 
well  as  upon  those  who  are  concerned  with  industry 
and  commerce,  the  paramount  importance  of  scientific 
method  and  research  in  national  affairs. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  upon  these  matters, 
and  the  following  conclusions  are  submitted  by  the 
Guild  as  representing  authoritative  opinion  : — 

A.  The  material  prosperity  of  the  civilised  world 
during  the  past  century  is  mainly  due  to  the  applica- 
tion of  science  to  practical  ends. 

B.  While  we  stand  high  among  all  nations  in 
capacity  for  original  research,  as  represented  by  the 
output  of  our  scientific  workers,  this  capacity  has 
been  comparatively  little  utilised  in  British  industry. 

C.  The  State  has  neglected  to  encourage  and  facili- 
tate scientific  investigation,  or  to  promote  that  co- 
operation between  science  and  industry  which  is  essen- 
tial to  national  development. 

D.  Modern  conditions  of  existence  demand  that  in- 
struction in  science,  and  training  in  scientific  method, 
should  be  a  fundamental  part  of  education. 

E.  The  present  control  of  all  stages  of  educational 
work,  from  the  primary  school  to  the  university, 
mostly  by  men  who  have  an  inadequate  appreciation 
of  the  meaning  and  power  of  science,  is  largely  resj>on- 
sible  for  the  unsatisfactory  preparation  commonly  pro- 
vided for  the  work  of  life. 

Since  its  foundation  the  British  Science  Guild  has 
urged  that,  in  the  interests  of  national  welfare, 
serious  attention  should  be  given  to  these  defects,  and 
steps  taken  to  remedy  them.  The  establishment  of 
the  scheme  for  the  development  of  scientific  and  indus- 
trial research,  under  a  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council, 
is  a  welcome  recognition  of  the  intimate  relations  be- 
tween scientific  investigation  and  industrial  advance ; 
and  the  Advisory  Council  which  advises  the  Committee 
as  to  the  expenditure  of  the  sums  provided  by  Parlia- 
ment, amounting  for  the  year  1916-17  to  40,000!.,  has 
alreadj'    been    responsible    for    the    institution    of    re- 

NO.    2440,   VOL.   97] 


searches  which  should  lead  to  most  valuable  industrial 
results.  The  outlook  of  the  Council  may,  however, 
be  extended  profitably  in  several  directions;  for  it 
should  be  even  more  comprehensive  than  that  of  the 
Development  Commission,  which,  provides  for  the 
development  of  rural  industries,  among  other  matters. 
This  Commission,  with  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and 
Fisheries,  and  the  Imperial  Institute,  which  has  re- 
cently been  transferred  from  the  Board  of  Trade  to 
the  Colonial  Office,  is  not  concerned  directly  with 
manufacturing  industries,  upon  which  90  large  a  part 
of  the  nation's  prosperity  depends. 

The  field  of  the  Privy  Council  Committee  and  its 
Advisory  Council  is  thus  distinct  from  that  of  any 
existing  State  department;  and  it  should  embrace  all 
progressive  industry  and  science.  It  is  suggested  that 
a  Board  or  Ministry  is  necessary  to  discharge  the  func- 
tions indicated  in  Clause  I.  of  the  recommendations 
subjoined,  in  such  a  way  as  to  fulfil  modern  require- 
ments. 

I.  A  national  statutory  Board  of  Science  and  In- 
dustry, the  permanent  staff  of  which  should  consist 
mainly  of  persons  of  wide  scientific  knowledge  and 
business  e.xperience,  should  be  established  to  : — 

(i)  Promote  the  co-ordination  of  industrial  effort. 

(2)  Secure  co-operation  between  manufacturers  and 
all  available  laboratories  of  research. 

(3)  Co-ordinate,  and  be  the  executive  centre  of,  such 
joint  scientific  committees  as  have  been  formed  by  the 
Royal  Society,  the  Chemical  Society,  and  various 
trade  and  educational  associations. 

(4)  Undertake  inquiries  as  to  products  and  mate- 
rials, and  generally  to  serve  as  a  national  bureau  of 
scientific  and  industrial  intelligence. 

(5)  Collect  and  publish  information  of  a  scientific 
and  technical  character ;  and  provide  so  far  as  possible 
for  the  solution  of  important  problems  bearing  upon 
industry. 

(6)  Institute  a  number  of  paid  advisory  committees 
consisting  of  men  of  wide  scientific  knowledge  assisted 
by  expert  investigators  and  technologists  who  should 
receive  reasonable  fees  for  their  services. 

(7)  Organise  scientific  effort  on  the  manufacturing 
side  and  in  commercial  relations  with  other  countries. 

(8)  Arrange  measures  for  the  mobilisation  of  the 
scientific,  industrial,  and  educational  activities  of  the 
nation  so  as  to  ensure  ready  response  to  national  needs 
and  emergencies. 

(9)  Encourage  investigation,  and,  where  necessary, 
give  financial  aid  towards  the  synthesis  anc  artificial 
production  of  natural  products  and  for  other  re- 
searches. 

Such  a  Board  wouW  naturally  administer  the  scheme 
of  the  Privy  Council  Committee,  as  well  as  take  over 
certain  functions  of  existing  departments  and  boards. 

The  functions  of  the  Board  would  be  much  the  same 
as  regards  the  promotion  of  scientific  and  industrial 
research  and  training,  the  co-operation  of  universities 
with  industries  through  trade  associations,  and  the 
maintenance  of  a  record  of  scientific  and  technical 
experts,  as  outlined  in  the  report  on  "  British  Trade 
after  the  War"  by  a  Sub-Committee  of  the  Board  of 
Trade. 

II.  In  all  departments  of  State  in  which  scientific 
work  is  carried  on,  adequate  provision  should  be  made 
for  the  periodical  publication  and  wide  distribution  of 
bulletins,  leaflets,  and  reports,  so  that  increased  public 
interest  and  attention  may  be  encouraged  in  the  re- 
sults. 

III.  Every  industrial  undertaking,  subsidised  or 
otherwise  assisted  by  the  State,  should  have  upon 
its  board  of  directors  men  who  possess  expert  scien- 
tific knowledge  of  the  business  in  which  they  are 
engaged. 


464 


NATURE 


[August  3,  19 16 


IV.  In  order  to  develop  industries  which  especially 
require  the  services  of  scientific  workers,  adequate 
remuneration  and  improved  prospects  should  be  offered 
by  the  Government,  by  municipal  corporations,  and 
by  manufacturers  to  men  who  have  received  an  effec- 
tive scientific  training.  Means  should  be  found  of 
compensating  and  rewarding  persons  whose  researches 
have  proved  of  decided  national  or  public  advantage 
without  being  profitable  to  themselves. 

V.  A  knowledge  of  science  should  be  regarded  as  an 
essential  qualification  for  future  appointments  in  the 
departments  of  the  public  service  concerned  with  indus- 
trial, scientific,  and  technical  developments.  The 
Royal  Commission  on  the  Civil  Service  recommended 
in  1914  that  a  Committee  should  be  appointed  to  con- 
sider the  present  syllabus  of  subjects  of  examination 
for  clerkships  (Class  I.).  This  Committee  should  be 
constituted  without  delay,  and  science  as  well  as  other 
branches  of  modem  learning  should  be  adequately 
represented  upon  it,  and  upon  the  Civil  Service  Com- 
mission itself. 

VI.  Measures  should  be  taken  to  revise  the  educa- 
tional courses  now  followed  in  the  public  schools  and 
the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 

VII.  In  elementary  and  secondary  schools  super- 
vised by  the  Board  of  Education,  more  attention  should 
be  given  to  scientific  method,  observation,  and  experi- 
ment, and  to  educational  handwork. 


THE  NATIONAL  RESEARCH  COUNCIL  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Preliminary  Statement. 

IN  response  to  a  request  from  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  the  National  Academy  of 
Sciences  has  undertaken  to  organise  the  scientific 
resources  of  educational  and  research  institutions 
in  the  interest  of  national  preparedness. 

Public  welfare  and  national  security  depend 
upon  industrial  progress  and  military  efficiency, 
and  these  in  turn  result  from  practical  applica- 
tions of  scientific  knowledgfe.  A  superstructure, 
no  matter  how  perfect,  must  have  firm  founda- 
tions, and  thus  the  development  of  our  industries 
must  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  advancement  of 
science  through  research. 

Euclid,  working  out  problems  in  pure  mathe- 
matics in  Alexandria,  prepared  the  way  for  the 
calculations  of  the  engineer.  Galileo,  discovering 
the  satellites  of  Jupiter,  convinced  the  world  of 
the  truth  of  the  Copernican  theory,  broke  down 
absurd  medieval  conceptions  which  prevented 
scientific  progress,  and  stimulated  exploration  and 
advance  in  every  field.  Pasteur,  studying  the 
optical  properties  of  certain  crystals  with  no 
thought  of  practical  result,  was  led  to  his  investi- 
gations of  bacteria  and  his  epoch-making  dis- 
coveries for  the  benefit  of  mankind. 

Thus  scientific  research  in  the  laboratory, 
whether  for  the  advancement  of  knowledge  or  for 
direct  industrial  application,  is  a  most  fundamental 
form  of  national  service,  which  should  be  encour- 
aged by  every  possible  means.  Since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war  this  fact  has  been  recognised  in 
England  by  the  creation  of  a  Scientific  Council,  and 
in  Australia  by  the  establishment  of  a  National 
Institute  of  Science  and  Industry.  Both  bodies 
will  devote  their  efforts  to  the  promotion  of  scien- 
tific and  industrial  research. 

MO      9AAn.    VOT,.    Q^l 


Organisation  of  the  National  Research 
Council. 

During  the  Civil  War  the  need  of  scientific 
advice  was  clearly  recognised  by  our  Govern- 
ment. Accordingly  the  National  Academy  of 
Sciences  was  chartered  in  1863  by  Act  of  Con- 
gress, which  stipulated  that  "  the  Academy  shall, 
whenever  called  upon  by  any  department  of  the 
Government,  investigate,  examine,  experiment, 
and  report  upon  any  subject  of  science  or  art.  ..." 
During  the  war,  and  frequently  in  later  years,  the 
Academy  has  been  consulted  by  Congress,  by  the 
President,  and  by  various  members  of  his  Cabinet. 

The  Naval  Consulting  Board,  recently  appointed 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  has  recommended 
the  establishment  of  a  naval  experimental  and 
testing  laboratory  and  taken  steps  of  far-reaching 
importance  in  the  mobilisation  of  the  industrial 
resources  of  the  nation.  The  National  Academy 
is  now  requested  by  the  President  to  organise  the 
extensive  scientific  resources  of  existing  research 
laboratories  in  the  interest  of  preparedness.  To  this 
end  it  has  established  a  National  Research  Council. 

The  purpose  of  the  Council  is  to  bring  into 
co-operation  existing  Governmental,  educational, 
industrial,  and  other  research  organisations,  with 
the  object  of  encouraging  the  investigation  of 
natural  phenomena,  the  increased  use  of  scientific 
research  in  the  development  of  American  indus- 
tries, the  employment  of  scientific  methods  in 
strengthening  the  national  defence,  and  such  other 
applications  of  science  as  will  promote  the  national 
security  and  welfare. 

Membership. — The  Council  will  be  composed  of 
leading  American  investigators  and  engineers, 
representing  the  Army,  Navy,  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution, and  various  scientific  bureaux  of  the 
Government;  educational  institutions  and  research 
endowments ;  and  the  research  divisions  of  indus- 
trial and  manufacturing  establishments. 

In  order  to  secure  a  thoroughly  representative 
body,  the  members  of  the  Council  are  being  chosen 
in  consultation  with  the  presidents  of  the  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
the  American  Philosophical  Society,  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  the  American 
Association  of  University  Professors,  and  the 
Association  of  American  Universities,  and  with 
the  advice  of  a  special  committee  representing  the 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Mining  Engineers,  the  American 
Society  of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  the  American 
Chemical  Society.  Members  of  the  Cabinet  will 
be  asked  to  name  the  representatives  of  the 
various  departments  of  the  Government. 

Research  committees  of  two  classes  will  be 
appointed :  central  committees,  representing 
various  departments  of  science,  comprised  of  lead- 
ing authorities  in  each  field,  selected  in  consulta- 
tion with  the  president  of  the  corresponding 
national  society ;  local  committees  in  co-operat- 
ing institutions  engaged  In  research. 

The  Council  of  the  Academy  will  recommend  to 
the  National  Research  Council  the  following  plan 
of  procedure,  subject  to  such  modification  as  may 
seem  desirable  : — 


August  3,  19 16] 


NATURE 


465 


(i)  The  preparation  of  a  national  inventory  of 
equipment  for  research,  of  the  men  engaged  in  it, 
and  of  the  lines  of  investigation  pursued  in  co- 
operating Government  bureaux,  educational  insti- 
tutions, research  foundations,  and  industrial 
research  laboratories ;  this  inventory-  to  be  pre- 
pared in  harmony  with  any  general  plan  adopted 
by  the  proposed  Government  Council  of  National 
Defence. 

(2)  The  preparation  of  reports  by  special  com- 
mittees, suggesting  important  research  problems 
and  favourable  opportunities  for  research  in 
various  departments  of  science. 

(3)  The  promotion  of  co-operation  in  research, 
with  the  object  of  securing  increased  efficiency; 
but  with  careful  avoidance  of  any  attempt  at  coer- 
cion or  interference  with  individual  freedom  and 
initiative. 

(4)  Co-operation  with  educational  institutions, 
by  supporting  their  efforts  to  secure  larger  funds 
and  more  favourable  conditions  for  the  pursuit  of 
research  and  the  training  of  students  in  the 
methods  and  spirit  of  investigation. 

(5)  Co-operation  with  research  foundations  and 
other  agencies  desiring  to  secure  a  more  effective 
use  of  funds  available  for  investigation. 

(6)  The  encouragement  in  co-operating  labora- 
tories of  researches  designed  to  strengthen  the 
national  defence  and  to  render  the  United  States 
independent  of  foreign  sources  of  supply  liable  to 
be  affected  by  w^ar. 

Co-operating  Bodies. — Arrangements  have  been 
made  which  assure  the  Council  of  the  hearty  co- 
operation and  Fupport  of  members  of  the  Cabinet 
and  other  officers  of  the  Government;  the  officers 
of  many  national  societies ;  the  heads  of  the 
larger  universities  and  research  foundations;  and 
a  long  list  of  the  leading  investigators  in  Govern- 
ment bureaux,  research  foundations,  industrial 
research  laboratories,  and  educational  institutions. 
From  the  cordial  interest  shown  by  all  those 
who  have  learned  of  the  work  in  its  preliminary 
stages,  it  is  evident  that  as  soon  as  a  widespread 
request  for  co-operation  can  be  extended  it  will 
meet  with  general  acceptance.  ' 

Edwin  G.  Conklin, 

Simon   Flexner, 

Robert  A.  Millikan, 

Arthur  A.   Noves, 

George  Ellery  Hale,  Chairman. 
{Organising  Committee.) 

PSYCHOLOGICAL  EFFECTS  OF  ALCOHOL.^ 

THE  literature  on  the  alcohol  question  is 
already  vast,  but  it  promises  to  be  bigger 
still  if  the  ambitious  programme  of  Prof.  F.  G. 
Benedict  and  his  colleagues  is  accomplished  to  the 
full.  It  must  be  more  than  thirty  years  ago  that, 
feeling  the  tyrannv  of  the  ultra-teetotal  party  in 
America,  the  late  Prof.  Atwater  founded  a  famous 
committee  with  the  object  of  freeing,  at  any  rate, 

1  "Psychological  Efifects  of  Alcohol:  an  Experimental  Inve«dearion  of 
the  Effect  of  Moderate  Doses  of  Ethyl-alcohol  on  a  Related  Group  of 
Nenro-muscular  Processes  in  Man."  By  Raymond  Dodge  nnd  Francis  G. 
Benedict.  Pp.  281+ 32  figures.  (Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington.  Pub- 
lication No.  252-     igi5-)     Price  2.50  dollars. 


NO.    2440,    VOL.    97] 


the  scientific  section  of  the  community  from  the 
limitations  of  opinion  and  research  on  the  question 
which  the  so-called  temperance  party  sought  to 
impose  upon  them.  Excellent  work  they  did,  but 
in  the  intervening  years  the  methods  of  research 
have  been  so  improved  that  the  work  of  that  com- 
mittee urgently  needed  revision.  So  in  January, 
1913,  Prof.  Benedict  invited  the  co-operation  of 
physiologists  throughout  the  world  to  share  in  a 
gigantic  investigation  of  the  numerous  problems 
presented  by  the  dietetic  use  of  alcoholic  beve- 
rages, and  obtained  sympathetic  answers  from  a 
large  number  of  eminent  people  in  all  countries. 
In  the  present  volume  a  long  list  is  given  of  these, 
and  grateful  acknowledgment  is  made  of  friendly, 
helpful  letters  from  the  majority  of  them. 

This  appears  to  have  completed  the  measure  of 
their  co-operation,  and  Prof.  Benedict,  so  far  as 
actual  work  is  concerned,  has  been  left  to  tread 
an  almost  lonely  furrow.  The  brochure  from  the 
pen  of  himself  and  Dr.  R.  Dodge  deals  only  with 
quite  a  limited  branch  of  the  subject,  but  the 
results  obtained  are  of  considerable  imjxjrtance. 
The  experiments  wxre  f>erformed  with  moderate 
doses  of  alcohol  (30  to  45  cc),  and  were  carried 
out  with  great  perfection  of  technique  and  with 
proper  controls.  The  majority  of  the  subjects 
were  normal  young  men,  a  few  were  psycho- 
pathic owing  to  previous  misuse  of  alcohol,  fewer 
still  were  the  number  of  actual  teetotalers  who 
consented  to  lend  themselves  to  the  experiment, 
and  one  only  was  a  confirmed  heavy  drinker ;  the 
results  obtained  with  him  can  be  left  out  of 
account,  as  he  soon  rebelled  against  a  limitation 
of  his  usual  supply  of  whisky.  Otherwise,  with 
differences  in  detail,  the  main  results  were  the 
same  in  all  cases. 

The  principal  question  investigated  was  whether  or 
not  these  small  doses  of  alcohol  produced  any  delay 
of,  or  interference  with,  various  neuro-muscular 
processes,  and  the  selected  processes  were  some 
of  them  simple,  such  as  the  knee  jerk,  others  more 
complex,  such  as  reflexes,  in  which  the  eyes  were 
concerned,  and  others,  still  more  complicated,  in- 
volved mental  operations,  such  as  association  of 
ideas  and  memory.  Electrocardiograms  and  pulse 
records  were  also  taken,  and  the  cardiac  accelera- 
tion noted  was  found  to  be  due  to  a  depression 
of  the  inhibiting  mechanism.  The  answer  to  the 
main  inquiry  is  certainly  a  rather  unexpected  one, 
so  Insistent  are  the  claims  of  the  teetotalers  that 
even  a  moderate  drinker  is  putting  an  enemy  into 
his  mouth  to  steal  away  his  brains.  For  it  was 
found  that,  whereas  these  small  doses  of  the  drug 
depressed  the  simplest  reflex  actions,  such  as  the 
knee  jerk,  the  more  complex  the  neural  arc  in- 
volved in  a  reflex,  the  less  was  this  effect  mani- 
fested, whilst  in  operations  involving  mental  work 
and  memory  the  effect  was  either  nil  or  an  im- 
provement was  noted.  In  other  words,  the  lower 
centres  {e.g.,  the  vagus  centre  and  the  knee-jerk 
centre  in  the  lumbar  cord)  are  depressed  most,  and 
the  highest  least.  "  If  alcohol  had  selectively  nar- 
cotised the  higher  centres  it  would  have  been  used 
as  an  anaesthetic  centuries  ago."  W.  D.  H. 


466 


NATURE 


[August  3,  19 16 


TH£  FUNERAL  OF  SIR  WILLIAM  RAMSAy. 

THE  funeral  of  Sir  William  Ramsay  took  place 
at  Hazlemere,  High  Wycombe,  on  Wednes- 
day, July  26,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  and  repre- 
sentative gathering  comprising  very  many  who 
had  been  students  of  his.  The  congregation  in- 
cluded : — Sir  J.  J.  Thomson  and  Prof.  Emerson 
Reynolds  (representing  the  Royal  Society) ;  Prof. 
F.  G.  Donnan,  Prof.  E.  G.  Coker,  Prof.  A.  R. 
Cushny,  Prof.  G.  D.  Thane,  Prof.  J.  A.  Piatt, 
Dr.  S.  Smiles,  Mr.  H.  Keene  (acting  treasurer), 
and  Dr.  W.  W.  Seton  (secretary)  (representing 
University  College,  London) ;  Dr.  Alexander 
Scott,  Sir  W.  Tilden,  Sir  J.  Dobbie,  Lieut. -Col. 
A.  Smithells  (also  representing  the  University  of 
Leeds),  Prof.  Liversidge,  Prof.  J.  M.  Thomson 
(also  representing  King's  College,  London),  Prof. 
Frankland  (also  representing  the  University  of 
Birmingham),  Prof.  H.  E.  Armstrong,  Prof.  J.  F. 
Thorpe,  Prof.  W.  H.  Perkin  (also  representing 
Magdalen  College,  Oxford),  and  Prof.  Phillips 
(representing  the  Chemical  Society) ;  Sir  Boverton 
Redwood,  Sir  A.  Pedler,  Lady  Napier  Shaw,  and 
Mr.  R.  Mond  (representing  the  British  Science 
Guild) ;  Sir  Philip  Magnus  and  Prof.  H.  Jackson 
(representing  the  University  of  London) ;  Sir 
Henry  Craik,  M.P.  (representing  the  University 
of  Glasgow) ;  Prof.  Philip  and  Dr.  Schryver  (repre- 
senting the  Imperial  College  of  Science  and  Tech- 
nology) ;  Prof.  C.  Lloyd  Morgan  (representing  the 
University  of  Bristol) ;  Mr.  T.  F.  Burton  (repre- 
senting the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry) ;  Mr. 
A.  Chaston  Chapman  (representing  the  Society  of 
Public  Analysts) ;  Dr.  L.  Thorne  (representing  the 
Institute  of  Brewing) ;  Prof.  A.  M.  Worthington, 
Sir  Napier  Shaw,  Sir  Edward  and  Lady  Brabrook, 
Dr.  Veley,  Dr.  J.  A.  Harker,  Mr.  O.  Hehner, 
Dr.  W.  Gray,  Sir  J.  Mackenzie  Davidson,  Dr.  G. 
Carey  Foster,  Dr.  G.  Senter,  Dr.  Morris  W. 
Travers,  Dr.  Lewis  Reynolds,  Mr.  W.  Macnab, 
Mr.  G.  McGowan,  Dr.  J.  Scott  Keltic,  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  R.  Priestley.  The  last-named,  it  is  of 
interest  to  note,  in  addition  to  paying  their  per- 
sonal tribute  of  respect,  represented  the  family  of 
the  great  chemist  Priestley.  W^e  understand 
that  telegrams  of  condolence  were  received  from 
the  Franklin  Society,  the  New  York  section 
of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  the  Principal 
of  Houston  University,  Texas,  and  the  President 
of  the  Instruction  Publique  de  France,  also  many 
letters  and  telegrams  from  the  presidents  and 
secretaries  of  various  learned  societies  among  the 
Allies,  and  that  a  wreath  has  been,  or  is  being, 
sent  by  the  Chemical  Society  of  France.  The 
foregoing  list,  which  does  not  aim  at  complete- 
ness, testifies  to  the  esteem  and  affection  felt  for 
the  great  man  of  science  whose  remains  were  laid 
to  rest  a  week  ago. 


DR.    /.    A.    HARVIE-BROWN. 

THE  ranks  of  naturalists  have  suffered  a  great 
loss  through  the  death  of  Dr.  J.  A.  Harvie- 
Brown,  who  took  for  many  years  an  active  and 
effective    interest    in    ornithology    and     faunistic 
studies.    He  was  born  at  Dunipace  in  Stirlingshire 
NO.    2440,    VOL.    97] 


in  August,  1844,  and  died  there  on  July  26  last. 
He  studied  at  the  universities  of  Edinburgh  and 
Cambridge,  travelled  widely  in  Norway,  Russia, 
Transylvania,  and  elsewhere,  and  had  a  very  inti- 
mate acquaintance  with  Scotland.  A  very  active 
man  in  early  life,  and  keen  with  his  rod  and  gun, 
he  was  for  many  years  unable  to  move  about 
much,  and  was  but  little  known,  except  by  his 
writings,  to  the  younger  naturalists.  To  the  end, 
however,  he  kept  up  his  interests,  and  was  a  very 
good  correspondent.  His  generous  recognition  of 
the  work  of  other  naturalists  was  very  charac- 
teristic, and  he  was  always  ready  to  give  assist- 
ance from  his  extraordinary  store  of  information. 
He  had  a  very  high  standard  of  precision  and 
cautiousness  of  statement,  and  was  not  slow  to 
winnow  wheat  from  chaff,  but  there  was  always 
good-humour  behind  his  tonic  criticisms.  Dr. 
Harvie-Brown  had  a  very  extensive  and  accurate 
knowledge  of  birds  and  their  habits,  and  was  par- 
ticularly interested  in  problems  of  distribution  and 
migration.  His  studies  of  the  capercaillie,  the 
squirrel,  the  fulmar,  and  so  on  are  models  of  their 
kind.  He  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  editors 
of  the  Annals  of  Scottish  Natural  History,  and 
continued  his  assistance  when  that  became,  in 
1912,  the  Scottish  Naturalist.  The  number  of 
articles  and  notes  that  he  published  in  those  jour- 
nals and  elsewhere  was  enormous.  Dr.  Harvie- 
Brown  will  be  most  remembered  as  the  editor  of, 
and  chief  contributor  to,  the  well-known  series  of 
volumes  on  the  "Vertebrate  Fauna  of  Scotland." 
Along  with  Mr.  T.  E.  Buckley,  he  wrote  the 
volumes  on  Sutherland,  Caithness,  and  Cromarty 
(1887),  the  Orkney  Islands  (1891),  Argyll  and  the 
Inner  Hebrides  (1892),  the  Moray  Basin  (1895), 
and  he  was  alone  responsible  for  that  dealing 
with  the  Tay  Basin  and  Strathmore  (1906).  The 
fine  workmanship  of  these  volumes  is  widely 
recognised.  Dr.  Harvie-Brown  was  a  landed  pro- 
prietor, and  a  good  instance  of  the  gentleman  of 
leisure  who  worked  hard  at  ornithology  and  came 
to  have  an  expert  knowledge  of  some  of  its 
aspects.  In  1912  he  received  the  honorary  degree 
of  LL.D.  from  the  University  of  Aberdeen  in 
recognition  of  his  contributions  to  a  knowledge  of 
the  Scottish  fauna. 


NOTES. 

The  second  National  Exposition  of  Chemical  Indus- 
tries will  be  held  in  New  York  on  September  25-30. 
During  the  same  week  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
American  Chemical  Society  will  take  place.  The 
meetings  of  the  American  Electrochemical  Society  will 
be  held  on  September  28-30. 

On  Wednesday,  July  26,  the  memorial  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam White,  promoted  by  the  Institution  of  Naval 
Architects,  was  formally  handed  over  to  the  council  of 
the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers.  The  presentation 
was  made  by  Adrniral  Sir  Reginald  Custance  and 
Earl  Brassey,  who  stated  that  3000Z.  had  been  col- 
lected. The  money  is  to  be  allotted  to  the  foundation 
of  a  Research  Scholarship  Fund,  the  provision  of  a 
memorial  medallion  to  be  placed  in  the  hall  of  the 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  and  a  grant  to  West- 
minster   Hospital.     The    memorial    was    accepted    by 


August  3,  19 16] 


NATURE 


467 


Mr.  Alexander  Ross,  the  president  of  the  Institution 
of  Civil  Engineers,  and  now  occupies  a  position  on 
the  right  hand  of  the  entrance  hall.  The  medallion 
consists  of  a  portrait  of  Sir  William,  carved  in  relief 
in  white  stone,  with  a  warship  visible  in  the  distance. 
The  carving  is  mounted  on  grey  marble,  and  carries 
underneath  it  a  tablet,  on  which  are  inscribed  the 
words:— "Sir  William  Henry  White,  K.C.B.,  LL.D., 
D.Sc,  F.R.S.,  President,  1903-1904,  Director  of  Naval 
Construction,  1885-1902.  A  Tribute  from  the  Ship- 
builders of  Many  Nations."  Above  is  a  scroll  bearing 
the  motto,  "Build  Staunch,  Build  True." 

News  of  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton's  latest  attempt  to 
rescue  his  comrades  on  Elephant  Island  is  expected 
daily.  Last  week  the  small  Chilean  steamer  Yelcho 
returned  to  Ushuaia,  in  Tierra  del  Fuego,  after  tow- 
ing to  a  point  240  miles  south  of  Cape  Horn  the 
schooner  Emma,  with  the  rescue  party  on  board.  The 
Yelcho  was  in  a  damaged  condition,  but  that  may  be 
the  result  of  heavy  seas.  The  telegram  makes  no 
mention  of  ice,  and  the  report  that  the  weather  was 
favourable  when  the  Yelcho  turned  back  has  really 
no  bearing  on  the  prospects  of  approaching  Elephant 
Island.  As  already  announced,  the  Discovery  will  be 
dispatched  by  the  British  Admiralty  in  the  event  of 
the  Emma  failing.  It  will,  of  course,  take  the  Dis- 
covery some  sixty  days  to  reach  Elephant  Island,  but, 
whatever  the  condition  of  the  pack  may  be,  she  is 
powerful  enough  to  force  her  way  through  and  reach 
the  stranded  men. 

A  MAL.ARIA  mosquito  survey  is  being  conducted,  under 
the  supervision  of  Prof.  W.  B.  Herms  and  Mr.  S.  B. 
Freeborn,  on  behalf  of  the  California  State  Board  of 
Health  and  the  University  of  California.  So  far 
endemic  malaria  has  been  found  at  a  maximum  height 
of  5500  ft.,  and  the  anopheline  carriers  have  been 
located.  It  is  estimated  that  three  sumuicrs  will  be 
required  to  complete  the  survey  of  the  State. 

The  Ellen  Richards  Research  prize  of  200Z.  for  the 
best  thesis  written  by  a  woman  embodying  new  ob- 
servations and  new  conclusions  based  on  independent 
laboratory  research  in  biology  (including  psychology), 
chemistry,  or  physics  is  offered  by  the  Naples  Table 
Association  for  Promoting  Laboratory  Research  by 
Women.  Application  forms  are  obtainable  from  Mrs. 
A.  W.  Mead,  283  Wayland  Avenue,  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  U.S.A.  The  competing  papers  must  reach  the 
chairman  of  the  committee  before  February  25,  igi?- 

We  regret  to  announce  the  death,  on  July  25,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-six,  of  Mr.  Roland  Trimen,  F.R.S. 

We  note  with  regret  the  death,  on  July  28,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-three,  of  Sir  W.  H.  Power,  K.C.B., 
F.R.S. ,  from  1900  to  1908  principal  medical  officer  of 
the  Local  Government  Board. 

The  death  is  announced,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years, 
of  the  anthropologist.  Prof.  Johannes  Ranke,  of  the 
L'niversity  of  Munich. 

It  is  with  great  regret  that  we  learn  that  Lieut. 
Harper  has  been  killed  in  action.  Edgar  H.  Harper, 
who  was  thirty-three  years  of  age,  was  bom  at  Ehm- 
gannon,  not  far  from  Belfast.  His  university  career 
was  one  of  exceptional  brilliancy.  At  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  he  won  the  McCullagh  and  Bishop  Law's 
prizes,  and  was  awarded  a  special  prize  in  the  junior 
fellowship  examination.  He  also  graduated  with 
first-class  honours  in  the  Royal  University  of  Ireland. 
About  the  year  1908  he  was  appointed  assistant- 
lecturer  in  pure  and  applied  mathematics  in  the  Uni- 
versity College  of  North  Wales,  and  six  years  later 
he    obtained    the    chair    of   mathematical    physics    at 

NO.    2440,   VOL.   97] 


University  College,  Cork.  Last  year  he  took  a  com- 
mission in  the  South  Staffordshire  Regiment.  During 
his  tenure  of  office  at  Bangor  Prof.  Harper's  talents 
were  turned  to  good  account  in  the  important  part 
that  he  played  in  developing  the  mathematical  theory 
of  aeroplane  stability.  Although  this  work  was  under- 
taken in  collaboration,  the  numerous  references  to  his 
name  in  Prof.  Bryan's  "  Stability  in  .\viation "  bear 
testimony  to  his  powers  as  an  original  investigator, 
quite  a  number  of  the  results  stated  in  that  work 
having  been  first  discovered  by  him.  It  was 
Prof.  Harper,  for  example,  who  first  discovered 
the  necessity  of  extending  the  theorj-  of  in- 
herent stability  to  cases  other  than  that  of  horizontal 
flight.  One  result  was  the  discovery  of  serious 
theoretical  limitations  in  the  angle  at  which  an  aero- 
plane could  be  expected  to  rise  in  the  air.  In  con- 
nection with  the  effect  of  a  dihedral  angle  on  lateral 
stability  we  are  also  indebted  to  Prof.  Harper  for 
a  number  of  elegant  geometrical  and  other  artifices 
by  which  the  use  of  cumbersome  algebraic  expressions 
is  greatly  reduced.  He  was  also  joint  author  with 
Mr.  Ferguson  of  "Aerial  Locomotion"  in  the  series 
of  "  Cambridge  Manuals  of  Science  and  Literature." 

Second-Lieut.  F.  W.  Caton,  who  was  killed  in 
France  on  June  28,  was  a  chemist  of  rare  ability, 
though  he  had  contributed  little  to  the  literature  of 
the  subject.  His  influence  was  chiefly  through  his 
lectures  on  chemical  and  botanical  subjects,  but  he 
showed  great  promise  in  biochemical  research,  on 
which  he  was  engaged  when  war  broke  out.  In 
August,  19 15,  he  was  gazetted  to  a  commission  in 
the  South  Staffordshire  Regiment,  but  it  was  felt 
that  his  chemical  knowledge  could  be  of  greater 
service  to  his  country,  and  he  was  transferred  to  the 
Royal  Engineers  in  March  last,  and  soon  afterwards 
accompanied  them  to  France.  He  had  a  brilliant 
academic  career-;  he  went  to  Oxford*  from  Brighton 
Grammar  School  with  a  postmastership  to  Merton 
College,  and  took  his  degree  with  honours  in  1906, 
afterwards  taking  the  London  B.Sc.  with  first  class 
honours  in  chemistry.  For  two  years  he  was  at  the 
Wellcome  Chemical  Research  Laboratory,  where  his 
work  was  productive  of  good  results.  In  1910  he 
was  appointed  chemistry  master  at  Taunton  School, 
leaving  there  in  19 12  to  take  up  the  appointment  of 
lecturer  and  inspector  under  the  Staffordshire  Educa- 
tion Committee.  His  death  at  the  early  age  of  thirty- 
two  is  sincerely  deplored  by  those  who  knew  him, 
either  as  a  man  or  as  a  scientific  worker. 

Malacologists  will  learn  with  regret  of  the  death, 
at  the  age  of  fifty,  of  Henri  Fischer,  the  son  of  Paul 
Henri  Fischer,  the  celebrated  author  of  the  "  Manuel 
de  Conchyliologie "  (a  translation  and  extension  of 
S.  P.  Woodward's  "  Manual ").  Henri  was  educated 
at  the  Ecole  Normale  Sup^rieure  and  became  "  Maitre 
de  Conferences"  attached  to  the  Sorbonne.  Follow- 
ing in  his  father's  footsteps,  he  took  up  the  study  of 
mollusca,  but  more  especially  from  the  morphological 
point  of  view.  In  his  thesis,  "  Recherches  sur  la 
morphologie  du  foie  des  Gast^ropodes,"  and  in  many 
other  memoirs  of  his  he  paid  sjiecial  attention  to  the 
embryological  development.  Individually  and  in  col- 
laboration with  other  zoologists,  he  wrote  numerous 
important  pap>ers  on  his  chosen  subject,  besides  contri- 
buting articles  on  the  mollusca  collected  on  the  "  Mis- 
sion Pavie"  (1904),  on  those  obtained  by  Prince  Albert 
of  Monaco  in  his  dredging  expeditions  (1906  and  1910), 
and  on  the  Arctic  mollusca  procured  by  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  in  1907  (1910),  whilst  with  Prof.  Jobin  he 
described  the  Cephalopoda  obtained  on  the  scientific 
expeditions  of  the  TravaQleur  and  Talisman  in  1880- 
1883  (1906).    He  was  besides  one  of  the  editors  of,  and 


468 


NATURE 


[August  3,  19 16 


a  frequent  contributor  to,   the  Journal  de   ConchyliO' 
logic,  from  vol.  xHi.,  1894,  to  the  date  of  his  death. 

We  have  just  learned  that  Dr.  Francesco  Bassani, 
professor  of  geology  in  the  University  of  Naples,  died 
at  Capri  on  April  26  last.  He  was  bom  near  Vicenza 
on  October  29,  1853,  and  graduated  in  the  University 
of  Padua.  After  studying  vertebrate  palaeontology  at 
Paris,  Munich,  and  Vienna,  he  eventually  became 
professor  at  Naples  in  1887.  He  devoted  himself  es- 
pecially to  the  study  of  fossil  fishes,  and  published 
numerous  important  memoirs  on  the  fossil  fishes  of 
Italy.  With  the  aid  of  many  devoted  pupils  he  en- 
riched the  geological  museum  of  the  University  of 
Naples  until  it  became  one  of  the  greatest  collections 
of  fossils  in  Italy;  and  during  the  failing  health  of  his 
latter  years  he  never  lacked  willing  helpers  in  the 
continuation  of  his  researches.  One  of  his  most  dis- 
tinguished pupils,  Prof.  G.  de  Lorenzo,  has  contri- 
buted an  appreciative  notice  of  the  professor,  with  a 
portrait  and  list  of  his  writings,  to  the  Rendiconti  of 
the  Royal  Academy  of  Naples  (May-June,  1916). 

We  have  received  from  Prof.  A.  Cushieri  a  copy 
of  his  oration  delivered  at  the  funeral  of  the  late  Mr. 
Napoleone  Tagliaferro,  who  was  for  many  years 
director  of  public  instruction  in  Malta.  Mr.  Taglia- 
ferro, who  died  in  October,  1915,  was  a  most  active 
supporter  of  the  scientific  exploration  of  the  Maltese 
Islands,  and  his  loss  is  mourned  by  many  friends  in 
Britain  as  well  as  in  his  native  land.  He  laboured 
much  in  making  known  the  dolmens  and  other  pre- 
historic monuments  of  Malta,  and  took  part  in  many 
excavations  of  the  caves  which  were  inhabited  by 
early  man.  He  also  helped  to  make  the  Valetta 
Museum   worthy   of  the   Maltese   University. 

In  a  paper  read  before  the   Indian   Section   of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Arts  on  June  1  Prof.  Wyndham  Dun- 
stan  summarised  the  work  which  the  Imperial  Insti- 
tute has  done  for   India,  more  especially  during  the 
thirteen   years    in    which   the    institute    has    been     a 
Government  establishment.     The  work  may  be  classi- 
fied under  three  heads.  First,  there  has  been  organised 
for  public  exhibition  a  collection  of  articles  represent- 
ing important  raw  materials  produced  in  the  depend- 
ency, with  illustrations  of  the  chief  industries,  tabular 
information,  and  diagrams  respecting  Indian  trade  and 
commerce,  and  maps,  pictures,  and  photographs  of  the 
cities  and  industries  concerned.     All  important  exhibits 
are  provided  with  descriptive  labels,  which  enable  the 
visitor    at    once    to    gain    general    knowledge    of    the 
sources  and  uses  of  the  materials   shown ;   these  in- 
clude,  for   example,    fibres,    teas,    silks,    opium,    lac, 
metals,   and  minerals.     Secondly,   valuable  work   has 
been  done  by  the  Scientific  and  Technical   Research 
Department,  including  special  investigations  upon  the 
constituents   of    Indian    drugs,    oils,     foodstuffs,     and 
minerals.     These  researches  were  carried  out  with  the 
view  of  promoting  the  utilisation  of  Indian  raw  mate- 
rials in  British  manufactures,  and  were  often  supple- 
mented by  technical  trials  on  a  commercial  scale  under- 
taken  in  conjunction  with  trade  experts  or  manufac- 
turers.    Among   examples    mentioned   in    some   detail 
are   researches   upon    opium,     podophyllum,    aconite, 
henbane,  and  datura ;  tanning  materials  and  leather ; 
turpentine   and   rosin ;   Burma   beans ;    various    textile 
and  other  fibres  ;  coals,  and.  thorium  minerals.    Finally, 
there   has   been    established   a    Technical    Information 
Bureau,  the  functions  of  which  are  to  collect,  collate, 
and   distribute     published   information   respecting    the 
production  and  industrial  uses  of  raw  materials.     This 
branch  has  been  increasingly  patronised  by  merchants, 
Tianufacturers,  and  producers,  and  has  gradually  come 
to  be  recognised  as  a  sort  of  general  "  clearingJiouse  " 

NO.    2440,   VOL.   97I 


for  information  of  the  character  indicated.  That  there 
is  room  for  India  to  contribute  more  largely  in  the 
future  to  the  Empire's  resources  of  raw  materials  is 
instanced  by  particulars  given  respecting  cotton,  copra, 
hides,  beeswax,   thymol,   and  potash  supplies. 

An  article  of  general  interest  has  lately  been  pub- 
lished, in  the  Lancet,  on  some  of  the  wounded  in  the 
battle  of  Jutland  Bank.  It  gives  great  and  well-deserved 
praise  to  Sir  Almroth  Wright's  plan  for  the  treatment 
of  septic  wounds,  not  by  antiseptic  dressings,  but  by 
continuous  saline  irrigation.  The  action  of  the  saline 
fluid  not  only  washes  out  the  interstices  of  the  wound, 
but  promotes  the  outward  flow  of  lymph,  which  car- 
ries out  of  the  wound  the  causes  of  its  infection.  This 
method,  founded  on  an  immense  amount  of  scientific 
research,  has  given  admirable  results  in  the  war,  and 
the  national  debt  of  gratitude  to  Sir  Almroth  Wright 
Is  larger  than  ever.  But  while  we  praise  his  work  we 
must  not  be  led  Into  the  folly  of  befitting  that  of  Lister. 
To  be  able  to  prevent  an  accidental  wound,  already 
infected,  from  going  septic — that  was  Lister's  achieve- 
ment in  1865,  and  the  world's  gratitude  to  him  Is 
everlasting.  To  be  able  to  make,  in  the  operations 
of  surgery,  a  deep  extensive  wound,  exposing  freely 
any  cavity  of  the  body,  and  to  know  that  the  whole 
wound  would  heal  rapidly  and  painlessly,  from  end  to 
end,  under  a  single  dressing,  left  untouched  until  the 
wound  was  healed — that  was  Lister's  achievement  in 
the  years  after  1865.  In  the  multitude  of  wounds 
there  are  thousands  of  opportunities  for  Wright's 
method,  and  there  are  thousands  of  opportunities  for 
Lister's  method,  with  those  modifications  which  have 
since  1865  been  found  valuable.  Nothing  could  be 
less  logical,  or  less  practical,  than  to  represent  these 
two  methods  as  hopelessly  at  strife ;  each  has  its  worth 
for  the  saving  of  limbs  and  lives. 

Mr.  R.  E.  Nicholas,  hon.  curator  of  the  Tudor 
House  Museum,  Southampton,  has  published  a  "Re- 
cord of  a  Prehistoric  Industry  in  Tabular  Flint  at 
Brambridge  and  Highfield,  near  Southampton  "  (Too- 
good  and  Sons,  Southampton).  He  carefully  describes 
the  sites  with  explanatory  diagrams,  and  devotes  no 
fewer  than  forty-one  plates  to  illustrations  of  the  flints, 
which  are  photographed  or  drawn  in  a  most  effective 
manner.  The  modes  of  chipping  of  the  specimens  are 
remarkably  varied,  and  in  an  appended  note  Dr. 
Robert  Munro  expresses  the  opinion  that  the  industry 
represents  the  transition  period  between  the  Palaeo- 
lithic and  Neolithic  civilisations.  He  compares  the 
undoubtedly  worked  flints  with  those  found  at  CIss- 
bury,  in  the  Oban  caves,  and  in  the  shell  mounds  of 
Oronsay.  Such  discoveries  appear  to  be  rare  along 
the  south  coast  of  England  on  account  of  Its  sub- 
mergence in  post-Glacial  times. 

The  great  sea-serpent  was  observed  on  June  14  by 
a  Swedish  officer.  Major  O.  Smith,  in  Lllla  Vartan, 
a  small  tract  of  water  not  far  from  Stockholm,  con- 
nected with  the  Baltic.  "At  2.25  p.m.,"  he  says,  "we 
suddenly  observed  a  movement  on  the  water  like  a 
choppy  swell,  not  more  than  100  metres  from  us. 
Elsewhere  the  water  surface  was  smooth,  without 
boat  or  anything  that  could  cause  such  a  movement 
in  the  water.  Observing  more  closely,  we  each  of 
us  saw  a  very  distinct  head,  like  a  huge  serpent  head, 
somewhat  elongate,  larger  than  a  man's  head,  and 
behind  it  a  long,  serpent-like  body  with  a  length  of 
about  25  metres.  One  wave  or  hump  followed  the 
other,  ten  or  more  in  number.  Towards  the  hinder 
end  a  larger  part  of  the  body  was  raised  above  the 
water.  For  more  than  a  minute  we  could  observe  this 
peculiar  creature.  It  swam  at  a  speed  of  about  two 
knots.     I  have  seen  both  porpoises  and  whales,  and 


August  3,  19 16] 


NATURE 


469 


can  judge  of  the  differences  between  the  various  move- 
ments in  the  water.  This  movement  was  like  that  of 
a  serpent."  A.  F.  Robbert  writes  to  Svenska  Dag- 
btadet  (June  21)  that  last  year  he  observed  a  similar 
phenomenon  due  to  sudden  gusts  of  wind  raising  small 
regular  billows  which  interfered  with  the  reflection  of 
the  sun  from  the  water  and  thus  intensified  the  effect. 
Had  he  not  been  possessed  of  a  scientific  training  and 
a  critical  spirit  accustomed  to  observation,  he  would 
certainly  have  regarded  the  phenomenon  as  produced 
by  a  sea-serpent. 

The  Brooklyn  Museum  Science  Bulletin,  vol.  iii.. 
No.  4,  is  devoted  to  the  description  of  the  sharks  of 
lx>ng  Island.  The  authors,  Messrs.  J.  T.  Nichols  and 
R.  C.  Murphy,  have  brought  together  some  valuable 
information  on  this  theme,  in  regard  to  the  life- 
histories  of  these  fishes.  In  referring  to  the  food 
of-  the  blue  shark,  the  "  junior  writer  "  remarks  that 
captured  blue  sharks,  as  well  as  certain  other  species, 
have  the  power  of  everting  the  stomach,  so  that  the 
whole  organ,  turned  inside  out,  trails  a  foot  or  more 
from  the  mouth.  Possibly,  it  is  suggested,  this  denotes 
a  habit  of  ejecting  indigestible  material  such  as  most 
sharks  frequently  swallow.  In  regard  to  the  strange 
hammer-head  shark,  he  remarks  that  its  food  includes 
squids,  barnacles,  and  crabs,  as  well  as  menhaden  and 
other  fishes.  But  on  one  occasion,  from  an  eleven-foot 
specimen,  many  detached  parts  of  a  man,  together 
with  his  clothing,  were  taken.  Outlines  of  the 
several  species  described  aod  materially  to  the  value 
of  this  report. 

Dr.  jAJkCES  Ritchie's  paper  on  a  remarkable  brackish- 
water  hydroid  (Rec.  Ind.  Mus.,  xi.,  part  vi..  No.  30) 
is  well  worth  the  attention  of  students  of  the  Hydrozoa. 
The  organism  described,  Annulella  gemtnata  by 
name,  comes  from  a  brackish  pond  in  Lov.-er  Bengal. 
It  consists  of  solitary,  naked  polyps  temporarily 
attached  by  an  adherent  basal  bulb  which  is  sur- 
rounded by  perisarc  embedded  in  a  gelatinous  secre- 
tion. The  usual  mode  of  reproduction  is  by  asexually 
produced  buds,  which  break  away  from  the  parent  as 
minute  planulae.  Dr.  Nelson  Annandale,  who  collected 
the  hydroid  and  studied  it  alive,  believes  that  he  saw 
gonosomes  borne  in  a  circle  round  the  hydranth  and 
breaking  away  as  free  medusae,  but  Dr.  Ritchie  finds 
no  trace  of  such  an  arrangement  in  the  preserved 
material. 

In  the  Journ.  Agric.  Research  (vi..  No.  3)  J.  H. 
Merrill  and  A.  L.  Ford  describe  two  nematode  worms 
parasitic  on  insects.  Both  worms  belong  to  the  genus 
Diplogaster,  the  host  of  one  being  the  longhom 
beetle,  Saperda  tridentata,  of  the  other  Leucotertnes 
lucifugus.  The  life-histories  of  the  nematodes  are 
described,  and  the  termite-infecting  species  may  be 
deadly  to  its  host. 

Under  the  title  of  "Staircase  Farms  of  the 
Ancients,"  Mr.  O.  F.  Cook,  in  the  National  Geo- 
graphic Magazine  for  May,  gives  a  striking  account 
of  the  system  of  terrace  cultivation  and  irrigation 
carried  out  in  Peru  during  the  Inca  period.  The 
writer,  an  accomplished  botanist,  remarks  that, 
Peru  being  the  home  of  the  potato,  it  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  source  from  w-hich  will  be  derived  new 
stocks  to  maintain  the  varieties  of  this  great  food 
staple.  Peru  has  many  kinds  of  potatoes,  superior 
in  quality  to  the  varieties  now  under  cultivation  in 
the  United  States,  but  most  of  them  would  not  meet 
with  approval,  because  the  tubers  would  be  difficult 
to  peel  on  account  of  their  irregular  form  and  deep 
eyes.  But  with  such  an  infinity  of  new  forms  to  draw 
upon  in  South  America,  it  should  be  possible  by  care- 

NO.    2440,   VOL.   97] 


ful  selection  to  combine  all  the  desirable  features. 
Peru  offers  a  specially  important  field  for  economic 
botany,  as  many  of  the  agricultural  plants  of  this 
region  are  still  entirely  unknown  in  other  countries. 

"Pinus  longifolia,  a  Sylvlcultural  Study,"  by  R.  S. 
Troup,  is  the  latest  issue  in  the  series  of  Indian 
Forest  Memoirs  (Calcutta,  1916).  This  pine  is  one 
of  the  most  useful  trees  in  the  Himalayas,  where  it 
forms  at  low  altitudes  extensive  gregarious  forests, 
which  are  accessible  and  easily  worked,  yielding  a 
timber  of  fair  quality.  The  tapping  of  the  tree  for 
resin  and  turpentine  promises  to  develop  into  a  con- 
siderable industry,  and  the  revenue  from  this  source 
in  the  Naini  Tal  division  is  now  much  greater  than 
that  derived  from  timber  and  fuel.  The  memoir  is 
profusely  illustrated,  but  lacks  an  index  and  also  a 
map  of  the  distribution  of  the  forests  of  this  valu- 
able tree.  The  botanical  account  is  elaborate,  and 
errors  in  current  text-books  concerning  the  period  of 
shedding  of  the  leaves  and  the  time  required  by  the 
cones  to  ripen  are  corrected.  This  species  is  very 
liable  to  "  twisted  fibre,"  which  renders  useless  a  con- 
siderable percentage  of  the  timber,  as  it  cannot  be 
sawn  into  planks.  The  cause  of  this  phenomenon, 
which  may  be  often  obser\-ed  in  sweet  chestnut  grow- 
ing near  London,  is  obscure,  but  some  evidence  is 
adduced  to  show  that  it  may  be  attributed  to  damage 
done  during  youth  by  fire  or  other  injurious  agency. 
Full  information  is  given  concerning  the  natural  and 
artificial  modes  of  regeneration  and  the  best  methods 
of  management  of  forests  of  this  pine,  as  well  as  of 
the  ways  by  w-hich  danger  from  fire  and  grazing  can 
be  averted  or  lessened.  Numerous  tables  relating  to 
rate  of  growth  and  yield  f)er  acre  are  appended. 

Dr.  Erwin  F.  Smith,  to  whose  researches  we  owe 
so  much  of  our  knowledge  of  plant  diseases,  has  ex- 
pounded his  views  on  the  parasitic  nature  of  cancer  in 
an  address  before  the  Washington  Academy  of  Sciences 
(Science,  June  23).  With  refreshing  vigour  he  claims 
a  close  analogy-  between  the  malignant  tumours  of 
animals  and  the  crown-gall  of  plants  due  to  Bad. 
tumefaciens.  Great  weight  is  laid  on  the  peculiar 
group  of  sarcomatous  tumours  of  birds,  discovered  by 
Peyton  Rous,  and  shown  by  the  latter  to  be  due  to  an 
ultra-microscopic  virus,  while  the  fact  that  the  majority 
of  bird  tumours  have  not  been  reproduced  in  the  same 
way  is  ignored.  The  paper  on  "Crown-Gall"  in  the 
Journal  of  Cancer  Research  (vol.  i..  No.  2,  1916)  is  a 
monument  to  Dr.  Smith's  industry,  and  gives  a  very 
complete  picture  of  the  varied  effects  of  B.  tumefaciens 
in  a  variety  of  plants.  The  results  of  animal  inocula- 
tion with  this  organism  are  in  no  way  comparable 
with  tumour  growth,  a  failure  which  does  not  greatly 
detract  from  the  interest  of  the  author's  ingenious 
speculation. 

Mr.  R.  Bullkn  Newton  has  contributed  to  the 
"Reports  on  the  Collections  made  by  the  British 
Ornithologists'  Union  Exf>edition  to  Dutch  New 
Guinea,  19 10-13,"  an  important  description  of  some 
fossiliferous  limestones  from  Mount  Carstensz,  widi 
photographic  illustrations  of  their  microscopical  struc- 
ture. The  limestones  obtained  from  the  snow-line  at 
14,200  ft.  apfjear  to  be  of  Miocene  age,  and  corre- 
spond with  limestones  already  known  from  the  Philip- 
pines, Formosa,  Christmas  Island,  Sumatra.  Borneo. 
Celebes,  and  Australia.  They  are  filled  with  Fora- 
minifera  of  the  genera  Lepidocyclina,  Cjcloclypeus, 
and  Amphistegina,  besides  abundant  Nullipores  of  the 
genus  Lithothamnium.  Pebbles  from  the  bed  of  the 
Utakwa  River  seem  to  represent  another  much  older 
limestone,  perhaps  of  Lower  Jurassic  age.  Fragmehts 
of  lignite  of  uncertain  origin  also  occur.    Mr.  Newton 


470 


NATURE 


[August  3,  19 16 


has  added  to  the  value  of  his  work  by  including  an 
exhaustive  bibliography  of  the  geology  of  New 
Guinea. 

The  water-f>ower  resources  cf  the  United  States 
continue  to  be  studied  in  detail  by  the  Geological 
Survey,  and  several  further  reports  have  been  pub- 
lished. Water-supply  Paper  372  deals  with  a  water- 
power  reconnaissance  in  South-central  Alaska,  and 
shows  that  there  is  less  water-power  available  in  that 
region  than  had  been  supposed,  and  most  of  it  is 
unavailable  during  the  winter  months.  This  latter 
objection  could,  of  course,  be  overcome  by  adequate 
storage  reservoirs,  which  are  no  doubt  possible ;  but 
more  accurate  surveys  are  needed  before  this  could  be 
decided.  The  possible  competition  of  water-power 
with  coal  power — for  coal  occurs  in  this  region — raises 
important  geographical  questions,  but  is  outside  the 
scope  of  the  inquiry.  A  second  volume  (No.  373)  deals 
with  the  water  resources  of  Hawaii,  but,  unfor- 
tunately, contains  no  discussion  of  results. 

The  Geological  Survey  Report,  No.  6  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Mines,  Tasmania,  "  Reconnaissance  of  the 
North  Heemskirk  Tinfield,"  by  L.  L.  Waterhouse 
(1915,  pp.  iv  +  74,  7  plates),  describes  the  economic 
geology  of  the  mining  field,  which  is  situated  on  a 
somewhat  inaccessible  part  of  the  western  coast  of 
Tasmania.  The  oldest  rocks  are  a  series  of  slates, 
quartzites,  and  tuffs,  which  are  regarded  by  Twelve- 
trees  as  Cambro-Ordovician,  though  there  is  no  direct 
fossil  evidence  of  their  age.  These  rocks  have  been 
invaded  by  Devonian  granites  and  gabbros,  and  by 
diabase  which  is  assigned  to  the  same  age  as  the 
upper  Mesozoic  sill  that  is  such  a  conspicuous  feature 
in  the  central  plateau  of  Tasmania.  The  only 
Cainozoic  rocks  consist  of  flows  of  basalt  and  beds 
of  sandstone  and  conglomerate,  some  of  which  have 
been  cemented  into  a  hard  quartzite,  such  as  is  often 
found  associated  with  the  Australian  basalts. 
Associated  with  these  rocks  are  ancient  river  deposits 
with  tin-bearing  gravels.  Mr.  Waterhouse  shows 
that  these  are  younger  than  the  diabase  and  gabbro 
and  older  than  the  basalt;  hence  his  geological  study 
of  the  field  helps  the  prospector  by  showing  that  it  is 
no  use  boring  through  the  older  basic  rocks  in  the 
hope  of  discovering  under  them  a  continuation  of  the 
tin-bearing  gravels.  The  tin  is  primarily  due  to  the 
Devonian  granites,  and  quartz-tourmaline-cassiterite 
veins  occur  around  it  near  Mount  Heemskirk.  Some 
primary  ores  of  copper  have  been  found,  but  also  in 
too  small  quantities  to  be  of  economic  value.  Some 
extensive  masses  of  magnetic  iron  ores  occur  beside 
the  granite  massif,  but,  owing  to  their  inaccessible 
position,  their  tonnage  is  too  small  for  present  use. 
The  value  of  the  field  depends  upon  its  alluvial  tin 
ores,  which  are  worked  by  hydraulic  sluicing.  The 
report  is  illustrated  by  a  useful  geological  sketch- 
map. 

The  Memoir  of  the  Geological  Survey  on  the  country 
around  Milford  (1916,  price  2s.  6d.)  is  a  further  addi- 
tion to  the  description  of  the  South  Wales  coalfield, 
and  includes  a  petrological  account  of  the  Ordovician 
volcanic  rocks  of  Skomer  Id.  Dr.  Thomas  proposes 
two  new  names,  Skomerite  and  Marloesite,  for  types 
of  lava  in  which  albite-oiigoclase  is  associated  with 
augite  in  a  fine-grained  ground.  The  marloesites 
contain  glomeroporphyritic  groups  of  olivine  and  alblte. 
The  map  given  indicates  a  remarkable  variety  of 
igneous  typ>es  running  in  parallel  bands  across  the 
island,  and  summarises  the  work  already  published  by 
Dr.  Thomas  in   igii. 

Mr.  S.  Taber  publishes  in  the  American  Journal  of 
Science,  vol.  xli.  (June,  1916),  p.  532,  a  paper,  based 

NO.    2440,    VOL.    97] 


on  experiments,  on  "The  Growth  of  Crystals  under 
External  Pressure,"  which  has  a  wide  geological 
bearing.  Previous  workers  have  held  contradictory 
views  as  to  the  reality  of  a  crystallising  force,  which 
the  author  reconciles  by  showing  that  "  a  crystal 
surface  will  not  grow  under  pressure  and  therefore 
will  not  do  work  in  overcoming  external  forces  resist- 
ing growth  unless  the  surface  is  in  contact  with  a 
supersaturated  solution."  He  suggests  that  the  out- 
ward  pressure  exerted  by  a  growing  concretion  may 
cause  the  solution  of  material,  which  it  gradually 
replaces.  On  the  other  hand,  when  a  material  has  its 
solubility  increased  by  pressure,  there  is  a  contraction 
of  the  total  volume,  and  the  separation  of  such  a  sub- 
stance again  from  solution  in  a  closed  and  limited 
space,  as  in  the  capillary  passages  of  a  shale,  may 
develop  enormous  pressure.  Is  the  author  right,  how- 
ever,  in  stating  that  concretions  in  which  the  bedding 
planes  are  retained,  and  not  thrust  aside,  are  rare  in 
shales  ? 

The  report  of  the  Chief  Inspector  of  Mines  in  My- 
sore for  the  year  19 14  has  just  been  issued,  and  shows 
quite  a  flourishing  state  of  affairs.  The  staple  mining 
industry  is,  of  course,  gold  mining,  and  the  pro- 
duction for  the  year  amounts  to  562,617-56  ounces, 
being  an  increase  of  about  o'2  per  cent,  on  the  previous 
year.  It  is  a  very  satisfactory  feature  of  the  report 
that  this  production  was  obtained  with  a  considerably 
greater  measure  of  safety  so  far  as  the  workers  are 
concerned ;  the  death-rate  in  the  gold  mines  was  228 
per  thousand,  as  against  438  in  1913,  whilst  the 
number  of  serious  injuries  also  shows  a  marked 
decrease.  A  considerable  proportion  (27*9  per  cent.) 
of  the  fatalities  were  due  to  the  air-blasts  that  form 
such  a  marked  characteristic  of  the  Kolar  gold 
mines.  Much  attention  is  being  given  to  these  air- 
blasts,  which  are  due  to  the  splitting  off  of  masses 
of  the  country  rock,  which  appears  to  be  in  a  condition 
of  excessive  internal  strain,  and  the  methods  recently 
adopted  of  closely  stowing  the  stoped-out  areas  with 
waste  rock  appears  to  have  been  attended  with  de- 
cidedly beneficial  results.  Of  the  other  mineral  pro- 
ducts, manganese  ore  is  the  most  important,  the 
output  being  given  as  18,055  tons,  as  against  10,501 
tons  in  1913.  Small  quantities  of  chromite,  magnesite, 
mica,  asbestos,  and  corundum  have  also  been  pro- 
duced, but  none  of  these  minerals  are  as  yet  being 
got  in  any  important  quantity. 

The    Meteorological    Service   of    Canada    has   intro- 
duced a  change  in  its  monthly  record  of  observations, 
and  the  issue  for  January,    1916,   which  has  recently 
been  received,  gives  data  in  more  extended  detail  than 
formerly.        Under     the    directorship    of    Mr.    R.    F.  j 
Stupart  the  results  published  are  of  a  high  scientific  i 
value,    and    deal    practically     with     every     branch    of  j 
meteorology.     A  detailed  list  is  given  of  the  stations  j 
used,    which    shows    a   very    extensive    and    complete  | 
series  of  observations.     Hourly  observations  of  pres-  i 
sure,  temperature,  and  humidity  are  given  at  selected  | 
stations,  and  there  are  detailed  observations  of  rain-1 
fall,    sunshine,    and    wind.     The    weather    conditions! 
during  January,   1916,  were  far  from  normal,  and  it} 
is    mentioned   that    the    result    of    the    persistent    far 
southerlv  course  of  the  depressions  tracked  from  th 
Pacific  Ocean  was  a  continuance  of  northerly  wind 
and   almost   unprecedented    cold   in    British  Columbia 
and  the  Western  Provinces.   A  map  for  the  area  under 
discussion,     exhibiting    the    difference    from    average 
temperature,  shows  a  deficiency  of  20°  F.  over  Yukon, 
and  as  much  as  25°  F.  in  British  Columbia,  whilst  the; 
eastern  half  of  the   Dominion  experienced  very  mildi 
weather  with  much  rain.     It  will  be  remembered  thatj 
over    England,    and    generally    on    this    side    of    thes 


August  3,  19 16] 


NATURE 


471 


Atlantic,  the  weather  was  abnormally  warm  in 
January. 

The  rainfall  maps  of  Australia  for  1915,  prepared 
by  Mr.  H.  A.  Hunt,  Commonwealth  meteorologist, 
have  been  published.  A  large  map  shows  the  dis- 
tribution of  rainfall  for  the  year,  and  a  number  of 
smaller  maps,  printed  on  the  back,  give  the  rainfall 
for  each  month.  The  year  was  characterised  by  an 
unusual  amount  of  rainfall  in  the  western  part  of  the 
continent,  which  in  some  parts  was  the  heaviest  on 
record.  On  the  other  hand,  the  drought  conditions 
in  Queensland  were  the  most  severe  ever  experienced 
in  that  State.  There  were  great  losses  of  stock,  and 
the  sugar  crops  in  the  east  coastal  districts,  as  well 
as  many  of  the  cereal  crops  on  the  downs,  were  every- 
where a  failure.  In  the  southern  wheat  belt,  how- 
ever, the  conditions  of  rainfall  were  all  that  could  be 
desired.  Accompanying  these  well-sustained  rains 
another  important  factor  was  the  exceptionally  mild 
winter,  with  a  June  and  July  temperature  for  the 
continent  about  2^°  above  the  normal.  Probably  the 
wheatlands  of  Australia  never  before  experienced  such 
favourable  conditions  of  temperature  and  rainfall, 
and  the  result  was  a  record  harvest.  The  comparison 
with  the  previous  year  was  most  marked,  for  1914 
was  a  year  of  drought  in  South  Australia  and  the 
Riverina. 

The  Quarterly  Review  for  July  contains  an  article 
by  Dr.  Charles  Davison  on  the  sound  of  big  guns. 
The  author  has  collected  together  those  accounts  of 
the  propagation  of  the  sounds  of  big  guns  to  great 
distances  which  are  sufficiently  numerous  and  well- 
authenticated  to  provide  a  basis  for  generalisations  on 
the  subject.  The  firing  at  Waterloo  appears  to  have 
been  heard  in  Kent,  140  miles  away,  and  that  when 
the  Alabama  w-as  sunk  by  the  Kearsarge  in  1864,  125 
miles  away.  The  guns  fired  at  the  Naval  Review  in 
1897  were  heard  135  miles  away,  and  the  minute-guns 
fired  at  the  funeral  of  Queen  Victoria  in  190 1,  13^^ 
miles  away.  In  all  cases  the  audibility  was  greatest 
down  the  wind,  owing,  as  Sir  George  Stokes  showed 
sixty  years  ago,  to  the  bending  of  the  sound-waves 
downward  by  the  greater  speed  of  the  wind  as  the 
height  above  the  ground  increases.  The  remarkable 
zones  of  silence  which  sometimes  intervene  between 
stations  near  the  guns  and  the  more  distant  points  at 
which  the  sounds  are  heard  are  equally  well  explained 
by  the  existence  of  local  winds  blowing  towards  the 
source  of  sound  and  tilting  up  the  sound-wave  above 
the  heads  of  the  listeners.  The  author  makes  no 
reference  to  the  approximate  equality  of  the  maximum 
distances  a  century  ago  and  now  when  the  g^ns  are 
much  larger,  although  this  requires  explanation. 

At  the  present  time,  when  the  production  of  glass 
apparatus  for  scientific  and  technical  purposes  is 
receiving  special  notice  in  this  country,  attention  may 
be  directed  to  Circular  No.  9  of  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Standards,  which  deals  with  the  testing 
of  glass  volumetric  apparatus.  It  is  draw-n  up,  no 
doubt,  with  a  view  to  American  requirements,  but 
the  principles  involved  are  of  general  application. 
For  the  assistance  of  manufacturers  specifications  are 
given  respecting  the  construction  of  glass  instruments, 
such  as  measuring  flasks,  cylinders,  pipettes,  burettes, 
specific  gravity  bottles,  and  "  Babcock "'  bottles  for 
milk  analysis.  The  information  indicates  the  re- 
quirements of  the  Bureau  as  to  the  dimensions,  de- 
signs, and  types  of  vessels  which  are  suitable  for 
standardisation,  and  describes  how  the  graduation  of 
them  should  be  carried  out,  with  the  limits  of  error 
which  are  tolerated  in  the  calibration.  Useful  hints 
may  be  gathered  from  the  circular  bv  manufacturers 
who  are  taking  up  the  industry  in  question. 
NO.    2440,    VOL.    97T 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

MO.NOCHROMATIC    PHOTOGRAPHS     OF     PlANETS. — Prof. 

R.  W.  Wood  has  given  an  account  of  further  results 
obtained  by  the  photography  of  celestial  bodies  through 
filters  transmitting  limited  regions  of  the  sj>ectrum 
{Astrophysical  Journal,  vol  xliii.,  p.  310).  After  much 
preliminary  work,  successful  photographs  were  readily 
obtained  when  the  60-in.  reflector  at  Mount  Wilson 
was  placed  at  his  disposal  for  four  nights  during  last 
October.  For  the  ultra-violet  filter  a  bromine  cell 
was  used,  transmitting  the  region  from  3500  to  the 
end  of  the  solar  spectrum  at  2900;  the  infra-red 
screen  transmitted  the  region  above  7000,  the  yellow 
screen  all  rays  above  5000,  and  the  violet  from  4000 
to  4500.  In  the  case  of  Saturn  the  pictures  taken 
through  the  infra-red  screen  only  showed  the  merest 
traces  of  the  belts  ordinarily  seen,  while  through  the 
yellow  screen  the  planet  presented  its  usual  appear- 
ance. On  the  plates  taken  with  violet  light  a  very 
broad,  dark  belt  surrounded  the  planet's  equator,  and 
a  dark  cap  of  consitlerable  size  was  shown  about  the 
pole.  These  features  were  also  present  in  ultra-violet 
light,  but  were  less  pronounced;  they  may  possibly  be 
due  to  the  existence  in  the  planet's  atmosphere  of  some 
substance  capable  of  absorbing  violet  and  ultra-violet 
light.  Another  point  of  interest  was  a  decrease  in 
contrast  between  the  inner  and  outer  ring  as  the  wave- 
length of  the  effective  light  decreased,  suggesting  that 
the  outer  ring  contains  so  much  finely  divided  matter 
that  it  shines  in  part  by  diffusion.  In  the  case  of 
Jupiter,  the  dark  belts  were  scarcely  visible  on  the 
infra-red  plates,  while  they  were  shown  in  greatest 
contrast  with  violet  light.  The  dark  polar  cap  shaded 
off  gradually  in  the  yellow  and  infra-red  pictures,  but 
was  sharply  terminated  in  the  violet  and  ultra-violet 
photographs.  It  is  hoped  that  it  may  be  possible  to 
investigate  the  surface  of  Mars  by  this  method  at  the 
next  near  approach  to  the  earth. 

The  Polar  Caps  of  Mars  and  Solar  Radlatiox. — 
An  interesting  investigation  of  the  rate  of  melting  of 
the  polar  caps  of  Mars  in  relation  to  the  sun-spot 
period  has  been  made  by  M.  Antoniadi.  An  examina- 
tion of  the  records  of  the  planet  from  1862  to  1914 
has  shown  that,  in  general,  the  polar  caps  melt  more 
rapidly  at  times  of  great  solar  activity  than  when  solar 
activity  is  feeble.  Out  of  twenty-one  series  of  observa- 
tions during  the  period  in  question,  .no  fewer  than 
seventeen  were  definitely  in  favour  of  this  conclusion, 
and  only  four  unfavourable.  Two  of  the  exceptions 
were  the  oppositions  of  1862  and  1873,  when  the  melt- 
ing of  the  caps  was  normal,  in  spite  of  considerable  solar 
activity;  another  was  in  1877,  when  rapid  melting 
occurred  with  feeble  solar  activity;  and  the  fourth  in 
1886,  when  rapid  melting  was  associated  with  only 
moderate  solar  activity.  The  slowest  recorded  shrink- 
age of  the  caps  accompanied  the  prolonged  sun-spot 
minimum  of  three  years  ago,  while  one  of  the  most 
rapid  rates  of  melting  coincided  with  great  spot 
activity  in  1894.  M.  Antoniadi's  conclusion  is  in  satis- 
factory agreement  with  the  now  generally  accepted 
view  that  solar  radiation  is  greatest  at  times  of  sun- 
spot  maximum,  and  with  the  supposition  that  the 
polar  caps  of  Mars  are  very  thin,  and  consequently 
very  sensitive  to  variations  of  temperature  (Roval 
Astronomical  Society,  June). 

Variable  Stars  near  the  Solth  Pole. — In  con- 
tinuation of  the  search  for  variables  on  photographs 
covering  the  entire  sky.  Miss  Leavitt  has  examined 
plates  of  the  stars  near  the  South  Pole,  and  has  dis- 
covered nineteen  new  variables  in  that  region.  One 
of  them  is  apparently  of  the  Algol  type,  having  a 
normal  magnitude  in  and  a  minimum  of  10-6  (Har- 
vard Circular  191). 


.472 


NATURE 


[August  3,  19 16 


THE  IPSWICH  CONFERENCE  OF  THE 
MUSEUMS  ASSOCIATION. 
'T'HE  twenty-seventh  annual  conference  of  the 
■■■  Museums  Association  was  held  in  Ipswich  on 
July  10-12,  when  the  following  institutions  were  re- 
presented by  delegates  :— (i)  Five  national  museums— 
the  British  Museum,  the  British  Museum  (Natural 
History),  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum,  the 
National  Museum  of  Waks,  and  the  Museums  of  the 
Royal  Botanic  Gardens  at  Kew ;  (2)  two  London 
museums— the  Horniman  Museum  and  the  Wellcome 
Historical  Medical  Museum;  (3)  the  following  twenty- 
five  provincial  museums  and  art  galleries— Brighton, 
Bristol,  Carlisle,  Chelmsford,  Derby,  Dundee,  Exeter, 
Halifax,  Hastings,  Hull,  Ipswich,  Leicester,  Lincoln, 
Liverpool,  Merthyr  Tydfil,  Newbury,  Norwich,  Perth, 
Peterborough,  Plymouth,  Reading;  Salford,  Warring"- 
ton,  Worcester,  and  Worthing;  and  (4)  the  Museum 
of  the  University  of  Manchester. 

After  a  hearty  welcome  by  the  Mayor  of  Ipswich, 
the  president,  M'r.  E.  Rimbault  Dibdin,  curator  of  the 
Walker  Art  Gallery,  Liverpool,  addressed  the  dele- 
gates, taking-  as  his  subject  the  effect  of  the  war  upon 
the  art  museums  of  the  country.  He  had  sent  a  series 
of  questions  to  eighty-two  art  museums  in  Great 
Britain,  and  from  their  answers  was  able  to  give  some 
interesting  details  as  to  their  experiences.  Briefly 
summarised,  his  remarks  indicated  that  whereas 
several  London  galleries  have  been  closed  by  the 
action  of  the  Government,  and  one  or  two  others 
report  a  reduced  attendance,  the  majority  of  the  pro- 
vincial institutions  show  an  increased  attendance,  and 
only  one  has  been  closed.  It  thus  appears  that  the 
protest  lodged  with  the  Prime  Minister  by  the 
Museums  Association  against  the  Government  Re- 
trenchment Committee's  suggestion  that  provincial 
museums  and  art  galleries  should  be  closed  has  been 
thoroughly  justified. 

Mr.  F.  Woolnough  read  a  paper  on  "The  Future 
of  Provincial  Museums,"  in  which  he  said  the  ques- 
tion was  chiefly  one  of  finance,  and  pleaded  for  the 
removal  of  the  restrictions  which  either  make 
museums  dependent  upon  a  share  of  the  library  rate 
•for  their  income  or  limit  them  to  the  Museums  and 
'Gymnasiums  Act  halfpenny. 

Some  remarkable  specimens  were  shown  by  Mr. 
F.  R.  Rowley  in  illustration  of  his  comments  on 
the  use  of  arsenious  jelly  as  a  preservative.  This 
method  was  described  by  S.  Delepine  in  the  Museums 
Journal  for  April,  1914,  p.  322.  Mr.  Rowley  has  made 
some  slight  modifications,  which  will  form  the  subject 
of  a  note  in  the  journal.  Among  the  specimens  shown 
were  a  viper,  newts,  Crustacea,  and  marine  algee.  The 
latter  were  beautifully  preserved,  both  as  to  colour  and 
form,  and  all  had  the  advantage  of  being  embedded 
in  a  clear,  solid  mass,  which  could  be  laid  flat. 

"The  Educative  Value  in  Public  Museums  of  Intro- 
'ductory  Cases  to  Animal  Groups"  was  introduced  by 
Dr.  J.  A.  Clubb,  who  advocated  the  primary  import- 
ance _  of  comparative  morphology,  as  against  mere 
classification,  for  the  inspiration  and  enlightenment 
of  the  ordinary  visitor.  How  to  get  hold  of  those 
who  come  to  the  museum  with  no  previous  know- 
ledge of,  or  particular  interest  in,  its  "subjects  is  an 
urgent  problem,  to  which  Dr.  Clubb  and  many  other 
thinking  curators  are  addressing  themselves. 

Mr.  R.  A.  Smith,  of  the  British  Museum,  announced 
that  certain  duplicates  of  prehistoric  implements  were 
available  for  distribution  to  provincial  museums. 

The    claims    of    the     British     Science     Guild     were 
brought  forward  by  Mr.    E.    E.    Lowe,   who  spoke  of 
the  Guild  as  an  association  with  magnificent  and  com- 
prehensive aims  which  should  claim  the  allegiance  of 
NO.    2440,    VOL.    97I 


every  person  interested  in  the  national  utilisation  an<3 
recognition  of  scientific  work  and  workers. 

Many  communities  are  now  organising  photographic 
surveys  of  their  own  districts  in  order  that  accurate 
historical  and  scientific  records  may  be  handed  down 
to  posterity,  and  Dr.  A.  H.  Millar's  paper  on  the 
"Photographic  Survey  of  Dundee"  was  particularly 
opportune.  ^ 

Mr.  F.  Woolnough,  the  curator  of  the  Ipswich 
Museum,  gave  demonstrations  (a)  upon  a  case  for  ex- 
hibiting postage  stamps,  and  (b)  upon  the  "  Fother- 
gill  "  and  hot-sand  methods  of  drying  flowering  plants 
in  their  natural  colours.  Many  of  the  plants  dried  by 
the  "Fothergill"  process  showed  remarkably  success- 
ful results.  A  useful  demonstration  was  given  by 
Mr.  W.  K.  Spencer  on  the  use  of  gelatine  moulds  for 
plaster  casts.  He  showed  that  where  an  object  was 
much  "undercut"  the  flexibility  of  gelatine  gave  it 
many  advantages  over  plaster. 

/a7^  *^^  business  meeting  the  hon,  secretary 
(Mr.  E.  E.  Lowe)  reported  as  to  his  efforts  to  get 
rectangular  glass  exhibition  jars  made  in  England. 
Many  manufacturers  had  been  interviewed,  but  none 
were  able  to  tackle  the  work  in  the  midst  of  present 
labour  and  other  difficulties.  There  is  little  doubt, 
however,  that  the  manufacture  will  be  embarked  upon 
within  the  next  year  or  so,  thus  rendering  museums, 
hospitals,  and  medical  schools  independent  of  the 
German  supply.  The  secretary  can  offer  an  imme- 
diate order  for  250Z.  worth  to  anyone  who  will  under- 
take to  produce  rectangular  jars  of  a  good  quality  at 
a  reasonable  price,  an4  he  has  evidence  of  a  large 
annual  demand. 


IN 


RECENT     ZOOLOGICAL     RESEARCH 

SOUTH  AFRICA.^ 
'X'HE  "Annals  of  the  Natal  Museum,"  although  only 

-■-  yet  in  its  third  volume  of  publication,  has 
justly  earned  repute  for  the  quality  of  the  researches 
pubhshed  therein.  The  journal  is  well  printed  and 
admirably  illustrated  with  lithographic  and  other 
plates.  In  its  current  issue  we  have  a  bulky  record 
of  original  investigations  covering  a  wide  field  in  the 
rich  fauna  of  South  Africa.  Mr.  Hugh  Watson  con- 
tributes an  important  and  very  fully  illustrated  memoir 
on  the  carnivorous  slugs,  with  particular  reference  to 
the  genus  Apera.  This  genus  appears  to  be  confined 
to  the  maritime  provinces  of  South  Africa,  one  species 
occurring  on  the  slopes  of  Table  Mountain,  and  the 
remainder  in  Natal  and  the  eastern  part  of  the  Cape 
Provinces.  In  addition  to  a  systematic  revision  of  its 
species,  the  author  gives  a  valuable  account  of  the 
anatomy  of  the  genus  and  a  full  discussion  of  its 
phylogeny.  He  concludes  that  the  species  of  Apera 
have  not  been  directly  evolved  from  any  herbivorous 
form,  and  in  their  anatomy  and  geographical  distribu- 
tion are  more  closely  related  to  the  Rhvtidse  than  to 
any  other  group.  The  only  other  carnivorous  slug 
found  in  South  Africa  is  the  English  Testacella 
tnaugei,  F^r,  which  has  a  very  wide  distribution,  and 
has  probably  been  introduced  into  South  Africa 
through  the  agency  of  man. 

Mr.  Claude  Fuller,  of  the  Division  of  Entomology, 
Pretoria,  writes  on  South  African  Termites,  and  in  a 
paper  of  more  than  170  pages  records  a  good  deal 
that  is  new  and  interesting  concerning  the  biology  of 
these  insects.  Termites  appear  to  be  irregularly  dis- 
tributed in  the  Union,  being  rare  in  the  South^West 
Cape,  while  in  Natal  and  the  Transvaal  the  soil  is 
riddled    from   end    to   end    of   the   country  with    their 

,.  \  "  .^nna's  of  the  Natal  Museum."  Edited  by  Dr.  Ernest  Warren,  director. 
Vol.  ui.,  part  u.,  October,  1915.  Pp.  107-504  and  plates  vii-xxxv.  Price 
iSJ.  net. 


August  3,  1916] 


NATURE 


473 


'  tunnellings.  Mr.  Fuller  describes  his  observations 
upon  the  behaviour  of  the  winged  sexual  forms  be- 
longing to  six  different  species.  He  shows  that  the 
belief  that  the  aerial  migration  has  for  its  object  the 
prevention  of  interbreeding  is  not  necessarily  true, 
since  the  flights  frequently  comprise  individuals  of 
both  sexes  which  readily  pair.  This  same  feature  has 
also  been  observed  by  the  reviewer  in  the  case  of  a 
Himalayan  Termite.  Intercrossing  occurs  at  times 
among  individuals  of  different  nests,  but  Mr.  Fuller 
concludes  that  the  real  object  of  the  production  of 
sexual  forms  in  such  vast  numbers  is  in  order  to 
perpetuate  the  species,  which  suffers  immense  mor- 
tality during  the  annual  exodus.  Some  sixtj'-four 
pages  are  devoted  to  observations  on  the  nest-building 
habits  and  general  economy  of  thirteen  species  of 
Termites,  and  details  of  the  various  types  of  nests 
are  well  illustrated  on  the  accompanying  plates.  The 
remainder  of  the  paper  comprises  a  systematic  account 
of  species,  chiefly  belonging  to  the  genera  Hodotermes, 
Termes,  and  Eutermes.  The  characters  of  the  soldiers 
and  workers  are  well  described,  but  unfortunately  no 
accounts  of  the  winged  forms  are  included,  and  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  author  will  make  these  the 
subject  of  a  further  memoir. 

Mr.  J.  Hewitt  contributes  a  paper  on  South  African 
Arachnida,  mostly  based  on  specimens  in  the  Albany 
Museum.  Altogether  three  genera,  eleven  species,  and 
one  variety  are  recorded  as  new,  and  the  most  in- 
teresting feature  brought  to  light  is  the  discovery  of 
two  new  genera  of  marine  spiders  taken  near  Cape 
Town.  The  remainder  of  the  journal  is  occupied  bv 
two  short  papers  by  Dr.  Warren,  one  dealing  with  the 
tendency  of  the  Saturniid  moth,  Melanocera  menippe, 
Westw.,  to  exhibit  parthenogenesis,  and  the  other 
with  an  extension  of  his  previous  observations  upon 
hybrid  cockatoos.  A.  D.  Imms. 

THE    CROYDON    NATURAL    HISTORY 
SOCIETY. 

HE  Transactions  of  the  Croydon  Natural  History 
and  Scientific  Society  for  1915,  a  copy  of  which 
has  just  reached  us,  contain  a  particularly  good  paper 
by  Mr.  G.  M.  Davies  on  the  rocks  and  minerals  of  the 
Croydon  regional  survey  area.  The  paper  runs  to 
44  pages,  and  includes  a  careful  series  of  analyses 
of  rock-specimens  from  the  Weald  Clay  and  all  the 
more  recent  formations.  Reference  is  made  to  the 
discovery  of  the  Marsupltes-zone  of  the  chalk  at 
Russell  Hill,  Purley,  and  to  the  decomposition  of 
marcasite,  which  gives  rise  to  the  soft  masses  of 
hydrated  iron  oxide  ("red  ochre")  so  frequent  in  the 
chalk.  A  few  sarsens  are  noted  as  occurring  in  the 
neighbourhood.  Granules  and  grains  of  zinc-blende 
and  galena  are  noted  as  occurring  in  fuUer's-earth  at 
Redhill  and  Nutfield.  The  number  of  minerals  found 
in  residues  is  somewhat  surprising,  and  a  complete 
list  is  given.  The  regional  survey,  under  the  direction 
of  Mr.  C.  C.  Fagg,  shows  satisfactory  progress,  and 
in  connection  with  it  Baldwin  Latham  has  prepared 
a  map  showing  the  site  of  the  five  Bournes  which 
flow  in  the  area. 

Mr.  William  Whitaker  describes  an  extraordinary 
outlier  of  Blackheath  pebble-beds  at  Tandridge 
Hill.  With  the  pebbles  are  patches  of  fairly 
large  unworn  flints,  resembling  in  shape  flints  as 
found  in  chalk-pits.  .Flints  in  any  intermediate 
stage  of  weathering  are  not  found,  and  the  two 
cannot  have  been  produced  by  the  same  agency.  It 
is  thought  that,  during  or  after  the  deposition  of  the 
rounded  Blackheath  beds,  the  unworn  flints  have  been 
quietly  removed  from  the  chalk  during  the  dissolution 
of  the  latter,  and  left  near  to  their  original  position. 

NO.    2440,    VOL.    97] 


T' 


The  extension  of  the  outlier  so  far  south  is  of  interest, 
but  especially  is  it  so  in  that  though  the  uppermost 
outlier  is  nearly  800  ft.  O.D.,  the  lowest  extension 
is  200  ft,  lower,  on  the  face  of  the  escarpment  of 
the  chalk.  Hence  we  here  find  Eocene  beds  resting 
on  lower  chalk,  an  occurrence  unknown  elsewhere. 
The  conclusion  come  to  is  that  long-continued  solu- 
tion of  pebble-covered  chalk  took  place  on  a  large 
scale,  and  the  pebble-beds  were  very  gradually  let 
down.  There  was  no  evidence  of  faulting.  It  is 
fairly  certain  they  could  not  have  been  originally 
deposited  on  the  middle  and  lower  chalk  as  now- 
found. 

The  usual  valuable  meteorological  statistics  for 
1915,  compiled  by  Mr.  F.  Campbell-Bayard,  with 
rainfall  day  by  day  from  104  stations,  is  of  value  to 
water-economists.  In  a  paper  summarising  the  fossil 
records  of  Ginkgo  hiloba  and  its  ancestors,  Mr.  E.  A- 
Martin  remarks  that  there  has  been  of  late  a  con- 
siderable increase  of  small  specimens  of  this  tree  in 
this  country.  Hitherto  this  "  living  fossil,"  as  Seward 
calls  it,  has  been  represented  chiefly  by  male  trees, 
and  it  is  hoped  a  balance  may  be  restored  now  that 
it  is  included  in  florists'  catalogues. 


THE  LAKE   VILLAGERS  OF 
GLASTONBURY,^ 

THE  Lake  Village  of  Glastonbury  consisted  of  be- 
tween eighty  and  ninety  round  huts  surrounded 
by  a  stockade,  and  planted  for  security  at  the  edge 
of  the  sheet  of  water,  that  is  now  represented  by  the 
peat  in  the  marshes,  extending  from  Glastonbury  west- 
ward to  the  sea.  The  inhabitants  smelted  iron  and  made 
various  edged  tools  and  weapons — axes,  adzes,  gouges, 
saws,  sickles,  bill-hooks,  daggers,  swords,  spears,  etc. 
They  also  smelted  lead  ore  from  the  Mendip  Hills, 
and  made  net-sinkers  and  spindle-whorls.  They  prob- 
ably carried  on  the  manufacture  of  glass  beads  and 
rings  and  other  personal  ornaments.  They  were  also 
workers  in  tin  and  bronze.  It  is  likely  that,  the  beau- 
tiful Glastonbury  bowl  was  made  in  the  settlement, 
since  unused  rivets  of  the  same  type  as  those  of  the 
bowl  have  been  commonly  met  with.  They  were  ex- 
pert spinners  and  weavers,  carpenters  and  potters, 
using  the  lathe  in  both  industries.  The  dis- 
coverj"  of  a  wooden  wheel,  with  beautifully  turned 
spokes,  proves  that  they  possessed  wheeled  vehicles, 
while  the  snaffle-bits  of  iron  imply  the  use  of  the 
horse.  Their  commerce  was  carried  on  partly  by  land, 
and  the  possession  of  canoes  gave  them  the  use  of  the 
waterways.  They  were  linked  with  other  settlements 
by  the  road  running  due  east  from  Glastonbury,  that 
formed  a  part  of  the  network  of  roads  traversing  the 
country  in  the  prehistoric  Iron  age,  more  especially 
with  the  lead  mines  and  the  fortified  oppida,  or  camps, 
of  Mendip  and  of  the  rest  of  the  county.  They  were 
also  linked  with  the  Bristol  Channel  by  a  waterway 
along  the  line  of  the  river  Brue,  and  along  this  was 
free  communication  with  the  oppidum  of  Worlebury, 
then  inhabited  by  men  of  their  race. 

The  lake  villagers  were  undoubtedly  in  touch  with 
their  neighbours  by  sea  and  by  land.  Their  jet  prob- 
ably came  from  Yorkshire;  their  Kimmeridge  shale 
from  Dorset ;  the  amber  from  the  eastern  counties,  or 
from  the  amber  coast  south  of  the  Baltic.  The  cocks 
for  fighting  were  probably  obtained  from  Gaul,  and 
the  oblong  dice  are  identical  with  those  used  in  Italy 
in  Roman  times.  Some  of  the  designs  on  their  pot- 
tery are  from  the  south,  and  the  bronze  mirrors  are 
probably  of  Italo-Greek  origin.     The  technique  of  the 

1  Abridged  from  a  paper  read  before  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society 
of  Manche^ter  on  April  i8  by  Hon.  Prof.  W.  Boyd  Dawklns,  F.R.S. 


474 


NATURE 


[August  3,  1916 


Glastonbury  bowl  is  that  of  the  goldsmiths  of 
Mykenae.  The  whole  evidence  pjoints  to  a  wide  inter- 
course with  the  other  British  tribes,  as  well  as  to 
a  commerce  with  those  of  the  Continent,  extending 
so  far  south  as  the  highly  civilised  peoples  of  the 
Mediterranean.  It  falls  in  line  with  that  offered  by 
other  discoveries  recorded  in  other  parts  of  Britain, 
in  settlements  and  tombs,  by  General  Pitt-Rivers,  Sir 
Arthur  J.  Evans,  and  others,  proving  that  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Britain  were  highly  civilised,  and  were  not 
isolated  from  the  high  Mediterranean  culture  for  some 
two  hundred  years  before  the  Roman  conquest. 

We  may  infer  from  the  absence  of  Roman  remains 
that  the  lake  village  was  abandoned  before  the  influ- 
ence of  Rome  was  felt  in  Somerset.  All  doubt,  how- 
ever, as  to  this  point  is  removed  by  the  recent  explora- 
tions of  Wookey  Hole  Cavern,  where  the  group  of 
objects  in  the  lake  villages  was  found  in  five  well- 
defined  layers  underneath  two  superficial  strata  of 
Roman  age,  the  latter  being  dated  by  the  coins,  rang- 
ing from  the  time  of  Vespasian  (a.d.  69-79)  to  Valen- 
tinian  II.  (a.d.  375-392).  Here  we  have  proof  that 
the  civilisation  of  the  prehistoric  Iron  age  was  pre- 
Romap,  and  that  it  ended  in  Somerset  with  the 
Rornan  conquest.  It  has  been  traced  in  other  parts 
of  Britain  so  far  back  as  150  to  200  B.C. 

The  lake  villagers  were  of  pure  Iberic  stock,  without 
admixture  with  other  races.  They  belong  to  the 
small  aborigines  in  Britain  in  the  Neolithic  age,  char- 
acterised by  long  or  oval  heads,  who  were  conquered 
in  the  Bronze  age  by  the  invading  Goidels,  and  in 
the  prehistoric  Iron  age  by  the  invading  Brythons, 
both  of  whom  have  left  their  mark  in  the  topography 
of  the  district,  by  river  names,  such  as  the  Axe 
(Goidelic)  and  the  Avon  (Brythonic  for  water),  and 
hill  names,  such  as  Dundry  dun  (Gold)  =  fort,  Mendips 
Maen  (Bryth)  =  stone,  Pen  (Bryth)  =  hill.  From  these 
it  may  be  concluded  that  the  language  spoken  by  the 
lake  villagers  was  closely  allied  to  the  Welsh.  They 
were  closely  related  to  the  Silures,  the  ruling  tribe  in 
South  Wales  at  the  time  of  the  Roman  conquest. 

The  village  was  sacked,  and,  as  the  skulls  exhibited 
show,  the  inhabitants  had  been  massacred,  prob- 
ably during  the  conquest  of  that  region  by  the  Belgic 
tribes,  whose  further  progress  was  arrested  by  the 
Romans.  This  remarkable  discovery  is  being  followed 
up  by  the  examination  of  another  lake  village  at 
Meare,  on  the  same  waterway,  and  belonging  to  the 
same  pre-Roman  age.  The  first  volume  was  published 
in  191 1,  and  the  second  is  now  nearly  completed. 
When  the  whole  story  is  told,  by  Bulleid  and  Gray 
and  the  other  contributors  to  "The  Lake  Village  of 
Glastonbury,"  it  will  fill  a  blank  in  the  prehistory  of 
Britain,  and  form  a  sound  basis  for  history. 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Mr.  T.  E.  Gordon  has  been  appointed  professor  of 
surgery  in  Trinitv  College,  Dublin,  in  succession  to 
Prof.  E.  H.  Taylor. 

The  Astley  Cooper  prize  for  the  present  year,  for  a 
treatise  on  "The  Physiology  and  Pathology  of  the 
Pituitary  Body,"  has  been  awarded  to  Dr.  W.  Blair 
Bell,  of  Liverpool. 

Dr.  T.  G.  Moorhead  (Captain,  R.A.M.C.)  has  been 
elected  professor  of  the  practice  of  medicine  in  the 
school  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  in  Ireland,  in 
the  place  of  Sir  John   Moore,  retired. 

Efforts  are  being  made  by  the  Kansas  State  Board 
to  get  the  State  universities  to  co-operate  in  an  en- 
deavour   to    induce    the    Government    to  establish    a 

NO.    2440,    VOL.    97] 


health  exf>eriment  and  research  laboratory  in  connec- 
tion with  each  university  school  of  medicine  under  the 
U.S.  Public  Health  Service. 

The  Board  of  Education  has  recently  issued  an  in- 
teresting Memorandum  on  the  teaching  of  coal-mining 
in  part-time  schools  (Circular  953 ;  price  4d.J,  upon 
lines  which  constitute  a  departure  to  some  extent  from 
the  methods  of  teaching  coal-mining  students  that 
have  hitherto  obtained,  in  that  they  definitely  recog- 
nise the  principle  already  tacitly  admitted  by 
some  of  the  most  experienced  teachers  of  min- 
ing, namely,  that  the  subject  in  which  coal- 
mining students  least  need  instruction  is  that 
of  coal-mining.  The  coal-mining  communities  may 
to-day  claim  to  rank  amongst  the  most  intelli- 
gent of  our  working  classes,  a  condition  of 
things  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  a  man  is  required 
to  pass  a  written  examination  before  he  can  enter  the 
ranks  of  the  higher  colliery  officials.  All  British  coal- 
fields have  accordingly  arranged  some  system  of 
mining  tuition,  and  the  object  of  the  present  Memo- 
randum is  to  co-ordinate  these,  and  to  base  the 
methods  of  instruction  upon  sound  principles.  The 
insistence  upon  a  scientific  training  as  the  basis  of  all 
mining  education  is  a  welcome  feature  of  this  Memo- 
randum, and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  its  general 
adoption  will  prove  useful.  It  is  perhaps  legitimate 
to  regret  that  its  wording  is  in  places  open  to  mis- 
construction ;  thus  the  expression  "  practical  mathe- 
matics"  is  here  used  in  the  sense  of  elementary  mathe- 
matics applied  to  practical  purposes,  instead  of  in  its 
generally  adopted  sense;  again,  it  is  a  pity  that  the 
term  "mining  science"  is  repeatedly  used  when  the 
real  meaning  is  science  applied  to  mining.  The 
main  point,  however,  is  that  the  Board  of  Education 
has  now  issued  a  definite  scheme  in  which  a  systematic 
and  progressive  education  in  scientific  principles  is 
recognised  as  the  correct  method  of  training  coal- 
mining students. 

The  report  of  the  Board  of  Education  for  the  year 
1914-15  (Cd.  8274)  is  now  available.     The  period  dealt 
with   coincides  almost  exactly   with   the   first  year  of 
the  European  war,  and  the  report  is  consequently  con- 
cerned largely  with  the  dislocations  and  modifications 
in  the  educational  services  brought  about  by  the  con- 
flict.    For  reasons  of  economy  the  Board  has  suspended 
the  great  bulk  of  its  statistical  work,  and  many  of  the 
illuminating  tabular  statements  of  previous  years  are 
wanting.     The  report  not  unnaturally  emphasises  the 
need  for  economy  in  the  administration  of  the  public 
services ;   but   we   notice  with   satisfaction  the  admis-  i 
sion  :^ — "We  desire,  however,  to  record  our  conviction  I 
that  the  claim  to  regard  reductions  of  expenditure  on  I 
the  public  service  of  education  as  true  economies  re^j 
quires,    in   the   case  of   every   item,    the  most  careful  | 
scrutiny."     All  grades  of  education  are  dealt  with  fully! 
in  the  report,  but  it  is  possible  here  to  refer  to  one  or| 
two  points  only.     The  demand  for  munitions  of  war; 
has  had  two  effects  upon  technical  schools  :  first,  many^ 
schools  have  been  engaged  in  actual  munition  work,  1 
and,  secondly,  many  schools  have  inaugurated  experi- 
mental courses  for  the  training  of  unskilled  persons  1 
for   the   purpose.     As   to   the    number   of    students  in 
attendance    at    continuation    and    technical    schools  in 
England,  the  report  states  that  the  number  of  evening 
and  other  part-time  schools  recognised  by  the  Board  for 
1913-14   was    6269,    and    the    number    of    individual 
students  under  instruction  at  any  time  during  the  year 
in    these    schools    was    726,626.        In    the    same  year 
twenty-seven  institutions  providing  instruction  courses 
were  recognised,  the  total  number  of  such  courses  in 
them  being  seventy-eight.     The  number  of  institution? 
in    w^hich    day    technical    classes    were    recognised   in 


August  3,  19 16] 


NATURE 


475 


1913-14  was  eighty-nine;  the  corresponding  number 
for  1912-13  was  no,  but  this  included  institutions  pro- 
viding courses  which  in  19 13-14  became  junior  tech- 
nical schools.  Up  to  and  including  19 14-15  there 
were  forty-nine  recognised  junior  technical  schools, 
thirty-seven  for  boys  and  twelve  for  girls.  The  report 
contains  also  a  survey  of  the  influence  of  the  war  upon 
the  work  of  universities  and  university  colleges  assisted 
by  Treasury  grants. 

SciEN'CE  as  "  Cinderella  "  is  the  subject  of  an  inform- 
ing and  suggestive  article  in  a  recent  issue  of  the 
Glasgow  Herald,  and  of  a  subsequent  trenchant  letter 
in  the  same  journal  by  Prof.  Soddy,  F.R.S.,  which 
deals  with  the  manner  in  which  a  certain 
large  endowment  intended  for  the  promotion 
of  scientific  study  and  research  is,  and  has 
been,  diverted  largely  to  other  purposes  of  an  en- 
tirely general  educational  character,  which,  how- 
ever desirable  to  promote,  were  not  the  objects  Mr. 
Carnegie  had  directly  in  view  when  making  his 
generous  gift  of  i,ooo,oooZ.  sterling  in  aid  of  the  ex- 
tension of  the  means  of  scientific  investigation  in  the 
Universities  of  Scotland.  It  was  perhaps  too  much 
to  expect  that  a  bodv  of  trustees,  upon  which  there 
was,  and  is,  only  a  very  limited  representation  of 
men  of  distinction  who  were,  or  had  been,  actively 
engaged  in  scientific  research,  should  regard  that  ob- 
ject as  its  first  duty,  but  it  is  startling  to  learn  how 
inadequately  the  interests  of  science  have  been  served 
in  the  disposal  of  the  income  derived  from  the  trust. 
The  truth  is  that  there  is  a  lamentable  lack  of  vital 
and  intelligent  interest  in  the  sphere  of  science  as  an 
essential  factor  in  the  education  of  the  nation,  and  as 
an  indispensable  instrument  of  its  civilised  progress. 
It  is  only  by  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  pheno- 
mena of  Nature  and  of  man  in  all  his  activities  and 
aspects,  and  through  a  firm  grasp  of  the  knowledge 
so  gained,  that  humanity  can  rise  to  higher  levels  of 
well-being.  The  unfortunate  attitude  of  the  govern- 
ing classes  of  the  nation  towards  science  is,  as  has 
been  well  said,  largely  "the  result  of  the  monastic 
traditions  of  the  great  public  schools  and  universities 
in  which  most  of  our  leading  politicians  have  been 
trained."  We  need  a  genuine  endowment  of  re- 
search, which  shall  have  for  its  sole  purpose  the  per- 
sonal encouragement  and  support  of  the  most  gifted 
men  of  the  time,  who  will  give  their  whole  energies 
to  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  assisted  by  men  of  proved 
competence.  The  teaching  and  training  of  the  capable 
youth  of  the  nation  may  well  be  left  to  the  many  able 
expounders  of  scientific  theory  and  practice  now  avail- 
able, who  would  draw  their  inspiration  from  the  work 
of  such  men  as  are  here  indicated.  We  seek  at  this 
supreme  crisis  of  our  national  history  a  man  of  clear 
vision  and  firm  purpose  who,  taking  all  branches  of 
knowledge  for  his  province,  will  assign  to  each  its 
true  place  and  function  in  the  education  and  training 
of  all  classes  of  the  j>eople.  Such  a  man  and  such  a 
purpose  have  yet  to  be  achieved. 

SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Physical  Society,  June  30.— Prof.   C.  V.   Bovs,  presi- 
dent, in  the  chair.— Dr.   P.   E.   Shaw  and  C.   Hayes  : 

A  sensitive  magnetometer.  A  torsion  balance  of  ex- 
treme delicacy  carries  a  pair  of  purest  silver  balls,  each 
3  gm.  weight.  A  solenoid,  with  horizontal  axis  pass- 
ing through  one  of  the  silver  balls,  is  brought  close 
to  the  balance.  On  exciting  the  solenoid,  divergent 
fields  of  known  strength  are  obtained  in  the  region 
of  the  ball.  The  resulting  attraction  of  the  ball  to 
the  solenoid  is  shown  by  a  mirror  reflecting  a  distant 
scale  to  a  telescope.     The  couple  on  the  torsion  beam 

NO.    2440,    VOL.    97] 


required  to  produce  i  mm.  scale  deflection  is  4-5x10-'^ 
dyne  cm.,  and  this  torsion  balance  is  10*  times  as 
sensitive  as  any  known  to  have  been  used  previously 
in  this  kind  of  work.  The  results  of  these  experi- 
ments are  : — (i)  The  magnetic  prof>erties  of  the  silver 
are  ascertained  even  for  weak  fields  of  i-io  gauss. 
(2)  The  silver  has  a  pronounced  retentivity,  this  efi'ect 
being  presumably  due  to  the  small  trace  of  iron 
impurity.  (3)  The  relation  of  susceptibility  of  the 
silver  to  the  field  used  is  found.  The  susceptibility 
of  each  of  the  constituent  materials,  (a)  pure  silver, 
(6)  residual  pure  iron,  appears  to  be  greatly  modified 
by  the  presence  of  the  other  material. — Dr.  H.  S. 
Allen  :  The  latent  heat  of  fusion  of  a  metal,  and  the 
quantum-theory.  A  criticism  is  given  of  a  theory  of 
the  process  of  fusion  recently  put  forward  by  Ratnow- 
sky.  The  author  of  the  theory  obtains  an  expression 
on  certain  assumptions  for  the  entropy  of  a  substance 
in  the  solid  state.  He  then  proceeds  to  deduce  a 
simple  forrnula  suitable  for  use  at  high  temperatures. 
It  is  shown  that  this  formula  is  incorrect  in  conse- 
quence of  the  omission  of  a  term  in  the  expansion. — 
Prof.    H.    Chatley :    Cohesion   (part  ii.). 

Manchester. 

Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  May  9, — Prof. 
W.  W.  Haldane  Gee,  vice-president,  in  the  chair. — 
Dr.  E.  Newbery  :  The  theory  of  over-voltage.  The 
author  gave  an  account  of  the  history'  and  reasons 
for  the  study-  of  over-voltage.  The  following  points 
were  discussed  : — (i)  Methods  of  measuring  over- 
voltage,  including  the  direct  potential  difference 
method,  the  "knickpunkt"  method,  the  bubble-angle 
method,  the  oscillograph  method,  and  the  rotating 
commutator  method.  (2)  The  most  important  pheno- 
mena connected  with,  and  controlling  factors  of,  over- 
voltage.  (3)  The  chief  theories  put  forward  to  account 
for  over-voltage.  (4)  The  following  theory  was  sug- 
gested— over-voltage  of  an  electrode  is  determined  by 
four  factors  : — (a)  Supersaturation  of  the  electrode 
surface  with  non-electrified  gas  under  very  high  pres- 
sure, due  to  the  permeability  of  the  metal  to  the 
ionised  gas,  but  non-permeability  to  the  molecular 
and  also  to  the  spontaneous  decomposition  of  the 
alloys  containing  the  same  gas.  (b)  Formation  of  a 
series  of  alloys  or  solid  solutions  of  gas  (or  compound 
of  gas  and  electrode  substance)  with  the  electrode  sur- 
face, (c)  Deficiency  or  excess  of  non-hydrated  ions, 
charged  and  discharged,  in  the  immediate  neighbour- 
hood of  the  electrodes,  (d)  Inductive  action  of  the 
escaping  ionised  gas  on  the  electrode. — R.  F.  Gwyther  : 
The  specification  of  stress.  Part  iv.  (continued).  The 
paper  contains  the  stress  relations  for  the  most  usual 
co-ordinate  systems  which  were  previously  withheld. 
The  method  originally  used  to  obtain  the  equations 
is  retained,  as  the  fact  of  the  elimination  of  the  dis- 
placement is  of  importance.  The  stress  relations  are 
consequently  not  limited  in  their  application  to 
specifically  elastic  stresses ;  they  apply  with  equal  effect 
to  stress  having  only  the  general  character  of  elastic 
stresses. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  July  10. — M.  Camille  Jordan  in 
the  chair. — E.  Perrier  :  Remarks  on  the  book,  "  Les 
AUemands  et  la  Science." — M.  Gonessiat  was  elected 
a  correspondant  for  the  section  of  astronomy  in  the 
place  of  the  late  G.  H.  Hill ;  M.  Walden  a  correspon- 
dant in  the  section  of  chemistry  in  the  place  of  Emil 
Fischer ;  M.  Bataillon  a  correspondant  for  the  section 
of  anatomy  and  zoology  in  the  place  of  the  late  J.  H, 
Fabre ;  and  M.  Depage  a  correspondant  for  the  sec- 
tion of  medicine  and  surgery-  in  the  place  of  the  late 
Guido  Bacelli. — M.    Akimofl':     The    transcendants    of 


476 


NATURE 


[August  3,  19 16 


Foarier-Bessel  with  several  variables. — F.  Arago  :  Con- 
tribution '  to  the  experimental  study  of  waves. — M. 
Dussand :  New  experiments  on  the  separation  of  the 
luminous  and  calorific  effects  of  a  source  of  light. 
The  two  lenses  forming  the  optical  system  are 
separated  in  such  a  manner  that  air  can  be  circulated 
between  them.  The  heat  effects  are  thus  reduced  to 
a  negligible  quantity.— G.  K.  Burgess  and  H.  Scott : 
The  thermo-electric  measurement  of  the  critical  points 
of  iron.  By  the  method  described,  which  is  a  modifi- 
cation of  that  used  by  MM.  Boudouard  and  Le 
Chatelier,  both  the  Aj  and  A3  points  are  clearly  shown 
by  pure  iron  (99968  per  cent.  iron). — J.  M.  Lahy  :  The 
psycho-physiology  of  the  machine-gunner. — L.  Roule  : 
The  migration  of  the  tunny  fish  (Orcynus  thymius).— 
C.  NicoUe :  An  attempt  at  preventive  inoculation  in 
exanthematic  typhus. 

July  17.  —  M.  Ed.  Perrier  in  the  chair.  — 
The  president  announced  the  death  of  Elias 
Metchnikoff,  foreign  associate,  and  gave  an  account 
of  his  life-work. — G.  Bigourdan  :  The  renaissance  of 
astronomy  at  Paris,  starting  from  the  sixteenth 
century. — A.  Colson :  Demonstration  of  the  rational 
character  of  the  new  solubility  formulae. — E.  Bourquelot 
■  and  A.  Aubry  :  The  biochemical  synthesis  of  a  galacto- 
biose.  The  synthesis  was  effected  by  the  action  of 
emulsln  upon  an  aqueous  solution  of  galactose. 
Although  the  product  could  not  be  obtained  in  the 
crystallised  state,  it  is  shown  that  a  galactobiose  is 
formed. — E.  Teodoresco  :  The  presence  of  a  phyco- 
erythrin  in  Nostoc  commune. — J.  Pavillard  :  Some  new 
flagellae,  epiphytes  of  the  pelagic  diatoms. — G. 
Bourguignon  :  A  method  of  determining  chronaxy  in 
man  with  the  aid  of  condenser  discharges.  Classifica- 
tion of  the  muscles  of  the  superior  member  by  the 
chronaxy  according  to  their  radicular  origins. — J. 
Delphy  :"  Abdominal  scoliosis  in  Mu^il  auratus  and  the 
presence  of  a  parasitic  myxosporidia  in  this  fish. 


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Material  from  Machu  Picchu.  By  G.  F.  Eaton.  Pp. 
96  + plates    xxxix.     (New    Haven,    Conn.) 

Cours  de  Manipulations  de  Chimie  Physique  et 
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I*- 

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Les  Allemands  et  la  "Science.  Bv  Prof.  G.  Petit  and 
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NO.    2440,    VOL.    97] 


NA  TURE 


477 


THURSDAY,    AUGUST   lo,    1916. 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE    FAMILY. 

The  History  of  the  Family  as  a  Social  and  Educa- 
tional Institution.  By  Prof.  W.  Goodsell. 
Pp.  xiv  +  588  pp.  (New  York  :  The  Macmillan 
Co.;  London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1915.) 
Price  85.  6d.  net. 

IN  what  sense  is  it  right  to  speak  of  the  history 
of  the  family?  As  an  institution  it  occupies 
so  central  a  position  in  the  social  structure  that 
it  may  well  seem  fundamental.  Should  we  write 
a  history  of  stellar  motion  so  long  as  the  com- 
ponent forces  determining  it  are  constant?  Are 
the  forces  which  find  expression  in  the  family 
constant?  Can  it  be  said  to  have  a  history?  The 
institutions  surrounding  the  family  vary  from  one 
age  to  another,  and  from  people  to  people.  Mar- 
riage ceremonials,  customs  in  such  matters  as 
dowries,  settlements,  and  other  marriage  contracts, 
are  not  uniform.  The  rights  of  parents  over  their 
children,  of  husbands  over  their  wives,  differ  in 
a  similar  way.  But  can  these  differences  be 
brought  into  any  general  historical  scheme,  or 
are  they  local  variations  brought  about  by 
economic  and  ideal  forces  acting  upon  an  institu- 
tion the  essential  nature  of  which  has  never 
altered  ? 

Some    such   questions    as    these  arise    in   one's 
mind  as  one  takes  up  Prof.  Goodsell's  book,  which 
is,    however,    rather  descriptive    in   its   treatment 
than  historical.     True,  he  has  adopted  a  chrono- 
logical   order.     After   a    very    brief    discussion    of 
the  primitive  family  he  describes  the  matrimonial 
institution    and   family   life   of    Hebrews,    Greeks, 
1  and  Romans,  and  the  changes  brought  about  by 
:  Christianity.      Thus     we     proceed     through     the 
i  Middle  Ages  and  the  Renaissance  to  the  modern 
1  period,  in  which  attention  is  confined  to  England 
and  America.     In  this  section  there  is  a  chapter 
•describing  the  influence  of  the  industrial  revolution 
on    the    family,    and    elsewhere    the    influence    of 
[chivalry   is   discussed,  but,    broadly   speaking,   as 
jwe  pass  from  chapter  to  chapter  we  feel  ourselves 
I  in  a  different  atmosphere  without  knowing  exactly 
(what  it  is  that  has  brought  the  change  about.    In 
.consequence,    the    book   is    more   like    a    selected 
: series  of  panoramic  views  than  a  history  in  the 
Istrict  sense.     It  may  be  that  the  author's  treat- 
ment is   the  only   possible  one,   but   in   that  case 
why  has  so  much  been  omitted?     Except  for  the 
Hebrew,     the    Asiatic    civilisations     are    entirely 
emitted ;      Egypt     is     not     mentioned,     and     an 
important  institution  like  the  "  Conseil  de  Famille  " 
?scap>es  notice. 

Obviously,  the  subject  so  interpreted  is  one  of 
•  ast  ranee ;  indeed,  we  have  only  to  interpret 
•videly  enough  to  make  it  include  the  greater  part 
>f  the  history  of  civilisation.  Prof.  Goodsell  him- 
self takes  a  wide  view  and  includes  much  of  that 
•ide  of  human  conduct  which  springs  directly 
rom     the     sex-impulse.      Modes     of     courtship, 

NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


prostitution,  education  in  matter's  of  sex,  house- 
hold furniture,  clandestine  marriages,  Platonic 
love  are  examples.  The  odd  way  in  which  they 
occur  in  the  various  sections  helps  to  destroy  the 
unity  of  the  book  and  to  confirm  the  "panoramic 
feeling "  previously  mentioned.  Accessibility  of 
material  rather  than  a  philosophic  plan  seems  at 
times  to  have  led  the  author  into  side-tracks, 
attractive  and  interesting  enough  in  themselves, 
but  culs-de-sac  in  spite  of  that,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  subject  as  a  whole. 

A  short  notice  of  this  kind  cannot  cover  the 
ground  of  such  a  book,  though  even  a  casual 
reader  will  be  struck  by  a  want  of  precise  refer- 
ences in  certain  of  the  chapters,  particularly, 
f>erhaps,  in  that  dealing  with  the  primitive 
family.  Where  is  the  *'  weight  of  evidence " 
which  shows  that  polygamy  is  unpopular  among 
savage  women  ?  The  author  gives  several  reasons 
why  li'e  condemn  it,  but  there  is  surely  room  for 
doubt  whether  deprivation  of  the  father's  care  in 
the  rearing  of  children  or  any  other  of  the  alleged 
reasons  for  this  feeling  could  have  operated — in- 
deed. Prof.  Goodsell  himself  suggests  this,  for  he 
says  on  the  preceding  page  that  primitive  man 
could  not  be  aware  of  the  physical  and  moral 
advantages  which  monogamy  brings.  How  much 
attention  could  the  politically  occupied  citizen  of 
Athens  give  to  the  care  of  his  children?  And 
what  of  men  in  the  modem  industrial  State? 
What  proportion  of  men  in  our  day  feel  this  par- 
ticular disability?  In  the  same  chapter  the 
author  has  clearly  confused  the  household  and  the 
village  community  as  it  still  exists  in  Russia.  It 
is  the  whole  community  w-hich  owns  the  land,  not 
the  related  families  living  under  one  roof,  and 
communal  authority,  not  patriarchal,  which  allots 
the  land  to  the  householder. 

His  account  of  Greek  family  life  omits  all  refer- 
ence to  the  Spartan  system  of  common  meals,  so 
much  admired  by  Plato  and  Aristotle.  It  does 
little  justice  to  Plato's  high-minded,  if  mistaken, 
attack  upon  the  family,  and  still  less  to  Aristotle's 
defence  of  it.  Both  these  philosophers  raised 
moral  and  educational  issues  in  this  connection 
which  should  have  found  a  place  in  a  book  which 
gives  considerable  space  to  Edward  Carpenter  and 
Ellen  Key  amongst  the  moderns. 

From  the  particular  point  of  view  of  education 
the  book  is  perhaps  least  satisfying,  but  the  task 
which  Prof.  Goodsell  undertook  was  one  of 
extraordinary  difficulty.  It  called  for  scholarship 
of  a  high  order,  and,  above  all,  for  a  philosophical 
outlook  which  would  help  to  preser\"e  unity  of 
aim  and  balance  of  treatment.  Although  defective 
in  tTiese  respects,  the  book  is  full  of  human  in- 
terest. The  pictures  of  home  life  in  the  old 
colonial  days  are  especially  so.  As  a  collection  of 
facts  connected  more  or  less  closely  with  the  family, 
many  readers  will  find  pleasure  in  its  perusal, 
and  as  each  chapter  closes  with  a  long  list  of 
references  it  may  serve  as  a  very  useful  in- 
troduction to  a  subject  of  vast  interest  and 
importance. 

J.  A.  Green. 

B   B 


478 


NATURE 


[August  io,  191 6 


FORECAST  BY  MR.    WELLS. 

What  is  Coming?  A  Forecast  of  Things  after  the 
War.  By  H.  G.  Wells  Pp.  295.  (London : 
Cassell  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1916.)     Price  6s.  net. 

AX/HEN  Mr.  Wells  writes  upon  social  and  poli- 
^  *  ticaf  questions  he  is  a  prophet  whom  it  is  a 
pleasure  to  follow,  even  when  we  feel  that  time 
will  prove  his  extrapolation  careless.  What  mis- 
takes he  may  have  made  in  this  book  will  declare 
themselves  in  a  year  or  two,  so  that  he  has  placed 
his  reputation  in  more  jeopardy  than  usual.  He 
believes  that  Germany  will  be  beaten,  but  not  com- 
pletely crushed  by  this  war ;  "  she  is  going"  to  be 
left  militarist  and  united  with  Austria  and  Hun- 
gary, and  unchanged  in  her  essential  nature ;  and 
out  of  that  state  of  affairs  comes,  I  believe,  the 
hope  for  an  ultimate  confederation  of  the  nations 
of  the  earth."  The  Central  Powers  remaining  a 
menace,  the  Allies  and  America  will  reform  all 
their  methods.  It  is  in  discussing  these  reforms 
that  Mr.  Wells  is  at  his  best ;  he  is  on  his  own 
familiar  ground,  and  he  excites  the  admiration  and 
sympathy  of  his  most  exacting  critics.  The  chap- 
ter, "Nations  in  Liquidation,"  contains  in  one 
sentence  his  great  idea :  "  The  landlord  who 
squeezes,  the  workman  who  strikes  and  shirks, 
the  lawyer  who  fogs  and  obstructs,  will  know, 
and  will  know  that  most  people  know,  that  what 
he  does  is  done,  not  under  an  empty,  regardless 
heaven,  but  in  the  face  of  an  unsleeping  enemy 
and  in  disregard  of  a  continuous  urgent  necessity 
for  unity." 

Thus  we  shall  have  a  millennium  induced  by  the 
German  menace  :  we  wish  we  could  believe  in  it. 
In  the  chapter,  "The  Outlook  for  the  Germans," 
we  find  that  he  relies  upon  the  great  middle  class 
to  save  Germany  from  Junkerdom.  He  does  not 
take  into  account  the  fact  that  the  German  nation 
must  get  tired  of  being  intense  and  perhaps  may 
even  get  disgusted  with  "  Kultur."  Readers  know 
his  views  on  Socialism,  and  they  can  imagine  how 
he  mocks  at  our  present  want  of  organisation,  our 
rottenness  and  dishonesty,  and  how  in  particular 
he  makes  war  against  the  lawyers  and  school- 
masters. There  is  a  good  chapter  on  "  What  the 
War  is  doing  for  Women." 

Mr.  Wells's  whole  scheme  is  based  on  his  be- 
lief that  the  Central  Powers  will  continue  to 
menace  the  world,  and  this  belief  is  itself  based 
upon  a  certain  hypothesis  which  might  almost  have 
been  called  an  axiom  five  months  ago,  when  Mr. 
Wells  wrote.  This  hypothesis  is  that  in  en- 
trenched warfare  the  defensive  has  an  advantage 
over  the  most  brilliant  strategy  and  over  consider- 
ably superior  numbers,  and  that  there  must  be  a 
deadlock,  followed  by  the  complete  exhaustion  of 
both  sides.  If  Mr.  Wells  had  waited  only  a  few 
months  he  would  have  seen  that  the  great  wealth 
and  patriotism  of  England  and  the  enormous 
population  of  Russia  and  the  intense  feeling 
of  France  now  enable  the  Allies  to  break 
through  the  long  German  fortifications  at  all 
points  with  advantages  in  power  which  get 
greater  and  greater  every  day,  so  that  the  dead- 

NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


lock  is  already  at  an  end.  Exhaustion  in  men  is 
fKJssible,  and  as  there  are  more  than  twice  as 
many  available  soldiers  with  the  Allies  as  with 
the  Central  Powers,  the  speedier  exhaustion  of 
Germany  in  men  is  quite  certain.  As  for  exhaus- 
tion in  wealth  :  in  two  years  of  the  Napoleonic 
war  we  spent  one-third  of  a  million  pounds  per 
day.  In  a  week  we  spent  as  much  as  Charles  II. 
spent  in  a  year.  Now  we  have  reached  an  ex- 
penditure of  six  millions  per  day,  and  yet  un- 
scientific persons  refuse  to  recognise  that  the 
wealth  of  England  is  unimaginably  great,  and 
that  the  steam-engine  has  given  us  the  whole 
earth  in  fee.i  Germany  in  1871  thought,  and 
everybody  thought,  that  she  had  ruined  France 
financially.  We  know  now  that  if  she  had  en- 
forced an  indemnity  ten  times  as  great  France 
would  have  paid  it  easily.  We  talk  of  the  cost  of 
the  war  to  Germany  spelling  her  financial  ruin, 
whereas  those  scientific  persons  who  have  studied 
Germany  know  that  at  the  end  of  this  war,  if  we 
compel  Germany  to  pay  the  total  expenditure  of 
the  Allies  (we  do  not  recommend  this),  she  will  still 
be  in  a  flourishing  condition.  Mr.  Wells  thinks 
that  the  world  peace  is  coming  soon  through  uni- 
versal self-sacrifice ;  it  is  a  guileless  notion.  Peace 
will  come  to  the  world  by  such  a  loss  of  its  wealth 
as  people  do  not  think  about — by  the  exhaustion  of 
its  coal.  The  man  in  the  street  who  reads  scraps  of 
scientific  literature  believes,  like  the  spendthrift,  in 
a  miracle — namely,  that  unknown  stores  of  wealth 
will  be  opened  up  when  our  coal  fails.  Before  the 
war  we  recognised  with  sorrow  that  he  was 
wrong,  but  we  have  less  sorrow  now  when  we 
know  that  our  greatest  blessing  has  become  a 
curse.  J.   P. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

The     Cruise    of    the     "  Tomas     Barrera "  :    Th- 
Narrative  of  a  Scientific  Expedition  to  Wester 
Cuba  and  the  Colorados  Reefs,  with  Observu 
tions  on  the  Geology,  Fauna,  and  Flora  of  th 
Region.     By  John  B.  Henderson.     Pp.  ix+32 
(New  York  and  London  :  G.  P.  Putnam's  Son 
1916.)     Price  125.  6d.  net. 

This  book  is  the  narrative  of  a  "  delightful  outin 
and  a  most  successful  collecting  expedition  "  to  tl 
north-west  end  of  Cuba.  The  account  throughoi 
is  essentially  domestic,  the  doings  of  each  d:i 
are  recorded,  and  there  are  the  usual  more  or  le- 
informed  pages  on  mosquitoes,  snakes,  ar 
sharks.  It  was  a  scramble  of  nine  "  naturalists 
for  six  weeks  to  secure  specimens  of  as  mai 
different  animals  as  possible,  rather  than  to  stu( 
scientific  problems  or  living  beasts.  The  cc 
lectors  secured  a  well-found  fishing  schooner  \ 
65  ft.  length,  with  a  launch,  and  dodged  in  ai 
out  of  the  barrier  reefs  of  the  Colorados,  wherev- 
possible  securing  specimens  by  shallow  dredgin. 
the  use  of  copper  sulphate  for  doping  rock  poo. 
and  the  attraction  of  the  electric  bulb  at  nigH 
It  is  a  slightly  known  area,   but  reefs,   lagooJj 

1  It  has  been  proved  that  the  steam-engine  has  multiplied  the  wealtl' 
the  world  by  some  number  between  200  and  loco. 


August  io,   1916] 


NATURE 


479 


and  mangrove  swamps  seem  to  be  little  different 
from  others  in  the  same  region.  No  fresh  light 
is  thrown  on  their  origin.  They  differ  mamly 
from  Indo-Paciiic  reefs  m  the  shallowness  of  the 
lagoons — seldom  more  than  ten  fathoms — within 
the  barrier  reefs,  but,  unfortunately,  in  an  other- 
wise well-got-up  book,  the  chart  given  is  totally 
inadequate. 

Some  of  the  party  were  more  interested  in  the 
land  than  in  the  sea,  and  much  of  their  time  was 
spent  in  hunting  for  land-shells.  It  is  upon  the 
great  limestone  ridges  (sierras)  which  stretch 
through  Cuba  from  east  to  west  that  that  island's 
astounding  wealth  of  land  moUusca  is  found.  In 
addition,  there  are  isolated  mounds  of  limestone 
^mogotes),  rich  in  peculiar  genera  and  species.  The 
author  is  an  authority  on  these,  and  we  are  sorry 
not  to  hear  much  more  of  them.  Clearly  he  con- 
siders that  the  land  moUusca  reached  their  climax 
after  the  elevation  of  the  limestones,  apart  from 
which  they  cannot  maintain  themselves.  Later, 
abrasion  has  been  at  work,  and  their  original  range 
has  dwindled  as  continuous  limestone  areas  were 
replaced  by  broken  sierras  and  isolated  mogotes. 
Isolation  in  plastic  genera  gave  rise  to  the  forma- 
tion of  new  species.  The  widely  distributed 
families,  genera,  and  species  are  hence  the  ancient 
forms,  the  isolated  genera  and  species  their 
modern  descendants. 

The  Statesman's  Year-Book.     Statistical  and  His- 
torical Annual  of  the  States  of  the  World  for  the 
year    1916.       Edited    by    Dr.    J.    Scott    Keltic, 
assisted  by  Dr.   M.   Epstein.     Pp.  xliv+i56o  + 
maps  4.      (London  :    Macmillan   and   Co.,    Ltd.) 
Price   I05.   6d.   net. 
The   "Statesman's   Year-Book"   makes   its  ever- 
welcome    appearance.       The    editors.     Dr.    Scott 
Keltic  and  Dr.   Epstein,  have  been  able  to  obtain 
much   statistical   information   regarding   the  belli- 
gerent countries,  and,  in- the  case  of  Germany,  to 
include  facts  and  figures  based  upon  the  latest  offi- 
cially published  information.     Maps  show  the  rail- 
way   schemes    in    Asiatic    Turkey    and    in    Africa 
respectively,  and  the  distribution  of  Germans  both 
in  the  world  as  a  whole  and,  in  greater  detail,  in 
:he  United  States.     The  introductory  tables  pro- 
vide a  world  review  of  the  production  of  wheat, 
sugar,   ships,   etc.,    and   usually   include   the  year 
-inder  review.     There  is  an  illuminating  summary 
vhich   deals   with    the   Great   War   in   regard    to 
jopulation,   books,   loans,   and  war  finance.     The 
iVllies  outnumber  the  Central  Empire  Alliance  by 
j>   to    I  ;    the    war    has    cost    already    more    than 
1 10,000,000. oooL,   of    which    a    quarter    has    been 
-pent  by   Britain,   nearly   a   quarter  by   Germany, 
md   a   fifth   by    Russia.     Mr.    John    Leyland   has 
evised  the   information  concerning  the  navies  of 
I  he  world  in  succession  to  the  late  Mr.   Fred  T. 
ane.     We  cull  a  few  facts  at  random  :  There  is  a 
olunteer   corps    among    the    2328    males     in    the 
<land    Islands;    Oregon    University,    organised 
1876,    has    108   professors;    the    Free   City    of 
>rtmen     in      191 3     exported     goods     valued     at 
o.iio.oooZ.   to  Great  Britain,   about  9  per  cent. 
t  the  total  exports  of  the  port. 

XO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 
[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  'juriters  oj,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

is  Proto-Oxygen  the  Principal  Constituent  of  the 
.A  toms  ? 

.As  from  Moseley's  experiments  we  know  the  num- 
ber of  rare-earth  elements  between  La  and  Ta  to  be 
15,  the  mean  difference  between  atomic  weights  is, 
from  Mg  on,  for  6  atomic  numbers,  16  exactly. 
So  for  Mg  (Atw.  24,  N  12)  and  Th  (.\tw.  232,  N  90) 
we  get  (232  — 24)/i6  =  (90— I2)/6=I3.  Between  U 
and  Nt  this  difference  of  238  —  222  =  16  is  known 
to  be  a  difference  of  40+ 2^  particles.  But 
if  the  a  particle  is  the  real  constituent  of  the  atoms, 
40+2^  is  the  inner  part  of  the  oxygen  atom  (the 
additional  6  /3  particles  being  electrons  of  valency). 
That  atomic  weights  are  not  twice  the  atomic  num- 
bers would  be  due  thus  to  the  formation  of  04^;  =  ^ 
particles,  or  proto-cxygen,  within  the  nucleus,  and 
radio-activity  should  be  the  disintegration  of  these 
6  particles  into  their  constituents.  It  may  be  remarked 
that  aiP2  =  6  is  similar  to  H  +  fii  =  a  (which  might  be  the 
formula  for  the  o  particle).  A.  van  den  Broek. 

Gorsel,   Holland,  July    17. 


International   Commission  on  Zoological   Nomenclature. 

Opinions  on  the  following  subjects  are  before  the 
International  Commission  on  Zoological  Nomen- 
clature for  final  vote  : — 

Opinion  70.^ — The  case  of  Libellula  americana,  L., 
1758,  vs.   Libellula  americanum,  Drury,   1773. 

Opinion  71. — Interpretation  of  the  expression 
"typical  species"  in  Westwood's  (1840)  synopsis. 

Opinion  72. — Herrera's  zoological  formulae. 

Opinion  73. — Five  generic  names  in  Crinoidea, 
ninety-two  generic  names  in  Crustacea,  and  eight 
generic  names  in  Acarina,  placed  in  the  official  list 
of  generic  names. 

If  anyone  is  interested  in  these  opinions  and  has  not 
alreadv  been  reached  bv  the  Commission,  and  there- 
fore has  not  had  an  opportunity  of  being  heard  upon 
them,  he  is  cordially  invited  to  send  his  views  to  the 
Secretary'  of  the  Commission,  and  if  any  new  point  is 
raised  that  is  likely  to  alter  the  opinion  of  the  Com- 
mission, the  data  will  be  forwarded  to  the  Commis- 
sioners for  consideration. 

C.  W.   Stiles, 
Secretary  to  the  Commission. 

Office   of   Secretary  to   International   Commission 
on  Zoological  Nomenclature, 
Smithsonian   Institution,  Washington.  D.C., 
July    13. 


The  Magnitude  of  6  Eridani. 

The  arguments  of  Mr.  E.  J.  Webb  (Nature,  vol. 
xcvii.,  p.  341)  seem  conclusive  as  to  this  star  having 
been  of  the  first  magnitude  at  the  epoch  of  Ptolemy's 
catalogue,  but  are  perhaps  less  conclusive  as  to  its 
magnitude  at  any  other  time,  though  the  reviewer  of 
Peters's  and  Knobel's  work  is  surely  wrong  in  assum- 
ing that"  .-M  Sufi  would  find  any  difficulty  in  judging 
between  a  first  and  a  third  magnitude  star  at  an 
altitude  of  10°.  Have  astronomers  considered  the 
possibilitv  of  0  Eridani  having  been  practically  a  tem- 
porary- star  at  Ptolemy's  epoch?  Do  Peters  and 
Knobel  come  to  any  conclusion  as  to  the  magnitude 
of  thi^  star?  T.  W.   Backhouse. 

West  Hendon   House,  Sunderland,  .August  4. 


48o 


NATURE 


[August  io,  19 i6 


SOVTH  AFRICAN  UNIVERSITY 
LEGISLATION. 
TDL'BLIC  discussion,  extending-  over  many. years, 
J-  in  the  Press  and  m  Parliament,  on  higner  edu- 
cation in  South  Africa  has  at  length  resulted  in 
legislation.  The  old  University  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  with  its  offices  at  Capetown,  was  merely 
an  "'examining"  institution,  founded  on  the  model 
of  the  University  of  London.  The  constituent 
colleges  were  (the  figures  give  distances  in  miles 
from  Capetown) : — '1  he  South  African  College  at 
Capetown,  the  \'ictoria  College  at  Stellenbosch  (31), 
the  Huguenot  Ladies'  College  at  Wellington  (45), 
the  Rhodes  University  College  at  Grahamstown 
(757)>  the  Grey  University  College  at  Bloemfontein 
(750),  the  Natal  University  College  at  Pietermaritz- 
burg  (1182),  the  Transvaal  University  College  at 
Pretoria  (looi),  and  the  South  African  School  of 
Mines  and  Technology  at  Johannesburg  (956). 
There  are  many  objections  to  a  university  which  is 
a  mere  examining  body ;  there  are  many  objections 
to  a  university  the  constituent  colleges  of  which 
are  separated  even  by  such  short  distances  as 
are  Liverpool,  Manchester,  and  Leeds ;  it  has  long 
been  felt  that  all  such  objections  are  greatly  magni- 
fied when  a  meeting  of  Senate  cannot  be  held 
unless  many  of  its  members  spend  six  or  eight 
days  in  travel.  It  scarcely  needs  the  words  of 
the  report  of  the  University  Commission  (p.  138) 
to  let  us  know  that,  in  spite  of  having  distin- 
guished, well-paid  professors,  the  only  work  done 
by  the  colleges  hitherto  has  been  mere  cramming 
for  examinations,  and  that  there  is  an  almost  total 
absence  of  the  university  spirit  in  South  Africa. 

In  1904  Mr.  Alfred  Beit  gave  an  estate  near 
Johannesburg  to  the  Government  of  the  Transvaal 
(this  was  before  the  union  of  the  States  under  one 
Government)  for  agricultural  and  other  educational 
purposes.  The  estate  is  probably  worth  20,000/. 
now.  In  1905  he  made  a  will  giving  200,000/.  to 
the  University  of  Johannesburg  for  university 
buildings  on  the  estate;  "but  if,  at  the  expiration 
of  ten  years  after  my  death,  the  said  200,000/.  shall 
not  have  been  applied  in  such  building  and  equip- 
ment as  aforesaid,  then  this  legacy  shall  lapse  and 
fall  into  my  residuary  estate."  Even  now  there  is 
no .  university  at  Johannesburg,  nor  is  there  any 
college  of  university  rank  except  the  School  of 
Mines.  Mr.  Beit  died  in  igo6.  In  1910  General 
Smuts,  the  Union  Minister  of  Education,  sug- 
gested to  Mr.  Otto  Beit  (his  brother's  heir)  and 
to  Sir  Julius  Wernher  that  Mr.  A.  Beit's  bequest 
ought  to  be  increased  to  500,000/.  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  national  university  on  the  Rhodes 
estate  at  Groote  Schuur  (at  Capetown),  which 
belonged  to  the  Government.  Sir  Julius  promised 
250,000/.,  and  Mr.  Otto  Beit  50,000/.  The  De 
Beers  Company  offered  also  25,000/.  In  a  joint 
letter  Sir  Julius  Wernher  and  Mr.  Otto  Beit  said 
that  "the  primary  condition  underlying  the  gift 
.  .  .  was  that  the  university  to  be  erected  shall 
and  must  be  a  residential  teaching  university." 

There   was    universal   approval   all   over    South 
Africa  of  the  idea   of   a   residential   teaching   uni- 
versity  at  Capetown,   but  it   soon   appeared   that 
NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


there  was  room  for  divergent  opinion  as  to  th 
nature  of  such  a  university.  A  proposal  large! 
approved  of  and  soon  after  almost  universally  con 
demned  was  that  the  new  institution  should  be  j 
"  post-graduate  "  university.  Then  came  a  ne\ 
proposal,  so  favourably  received  that  it  was  em 
bodied  in  a  Parliamentary  Bill,  that  entrance  t« 
the  new  university  should  require  "  intermediate  ' 
qualifications,  and  not  merely  the  ordinary 
matriculation.  To  this  proposal,  also,  oppositioi 
became  too  great,  and  the  Bill  was  withdrawn 
Before  191 4  there  was  a  general  expression  o 
opinion  in  favour  of  two  universities — north  an( 
south.  A  University  Commission  met  in  January 
1914,  and  reported  just  before  the  war  in  favou 
of  two  universities — a  southern  university  wit! 
new  buildings  on  the  Rhodes  estate  at  Capetown 
incorporating  the  South  African  College  and  th« 
Victoria  College,  and  a  northern  university  in^ 
corporating  all  the  other  colleges.  The  committer 
recommended  that  350,000/.  should  be  spent  ir 
buildings  and  equipment  at  Capetown,  that  Stel- 
lenbosch should  get  25,000/.,  and  that  the  rest  oj 
the  money  should  be  distributed  among  the  more 
distant  colleges. 

Prof.    John    Perry,  who   was   one   of  the   com- 
missioners,  agreed  to  the  more  important  recom- 
mendations of  the  report,  only  with  reservations ; 
he   especially  wished    half   a    million  to   be   given 
to    a    teaching    university    at    Capetown    so   that 
South  Africa  might  have   at  least   one   real  uni- 
versity.    He   said  that  no  scheme  could   succeed 
unless  Stellenbosch  had  some  endowment,  and  he 
proposed   that    to    the    25,000/.    there    should    be 
added  a  Government  grant  of  50,000/.,   and  also 
that  Stellenbosch  should  be  encouraged  to -gather 
more  money  so  that  she  might  soon  apply  for  ;i 
charter  of  her  own.      In  that  case  the  Capetown 
University    would    consist    of    the    South    Afric;- 
College  only.      Prof.  Perry  was  strongly  of  opinii 
that  no  distant  college,  such  as  that  of  Graham 
town,  should  be  incorporated  with  Capetown,  ai- 
in   this  consisted  his  greatest  difference  from  h 
colleagues.     This    gentleman's    recommendatioi 
have  now  been  carried  out  in  an  Act  of  Parli: 
ment.     The   South  .\frican  College  is  to  becon 
"The   University  of  Capetown,"   with  its  preset 
buildings  and  new  ones  on  the  Rhodes  estate,  an- 
with  525,000/.      The  \'ictoria  College  is  to  becorr 
"The    University    of  Stellenbosch,"   a   recent   be 
quest  of  50,000/.   by  Dr.   Marais  taking  the  plat 
of  the  proposed  Government  grant.      (There  ougl 
certainly  to  be  a  large  additional  grant  from  th 
Government.)     The   proposed   northern   universit 
is  to  be  called  "The  University  of  South  Africa. 
It   is  to  be   hoped  that  the  Johannesburg   Scho( 
of  Mines  will  soon  apply  for  a  charter  of  its  owm 
it  is  already  nearly  as  well  equipped  as  any  pohi 
technie  in  the  world. 

Now  that  the  scheme  has  been  carried  ou; 
the  people  of  Johannesburg  make  objection: 
having  awakened  to  the  knowledge  tha, 
except  for  their  School  of  Mines,  they  ha^ 
no  teaching  there  of  a  university  characti 
nearer    than    Pretoria,    which    is    forty-five    mil* 


August  io,  191 6] 


NATURE 


481 


distant.  On  March  28,  1914,  their  educa- 
tional authorities  said  :  "The  scheme  for  founding 
a  great  residential  university  at  Groote  Schuur 
has  our  hearty  and  unanimous  support.  We  are 
prepared  to  abandon  any  local  ambitions  we  may 
have  had  in  favour  of  this  truly  national  enter- 
prise, even  though  it  involves  our  losing  the 
revenue  we  at  present  derive  from  the  Beit  be- 
quest." It  is  difficult  to  see  why  objections  should 
now  be  brought  to  the  very  university  which  two 
years  and  a  half  ago  had  the  unanimous  approval 
of  the  Rand.  Public  meetings  have  recently  been 
held  at  which  most  of  the  speakers  showed  but  little 
knowledge  either  of  the  history  of  the  subject  or 
of  what  is  meant  by  a  university.  They  have  sud- 
denly discovered  that  their  rich  district  is  being 
exploited  for  the  benefit  of  Capetown,  and  that 
their  great  thirst  for  university  education  has  been 
left  unslaked,  deliberately,  by  the  Union  Govern- 
ment. They  are  greatly  mistaken.  If  these  public 
meetings  create  such  a  thirst  they  will  prove 
a  godsend,  for  such  a  thirst  cannot  exist  in 
rich  Johannesburg  without  almost  immediately 
creating  a  worthy  university.  We  think  that  the 
people  of  South  Africa  ought  to  be  ven,^  well  satis- 
fied with  the  recent  university  legislation.  Some 
years  ago  the  question  was  a  very  vexed  one. 
There  were  great  jealousies  between  north  and 
south,  but  still  greater  were  the  racial  difficulties, 
both  in  the  north  and  south,  and  of  all  these 
troubles  nothing  remains  except  an  apparent  griev- 
ance at  Johannesburg.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
men  who  drew  up  that  magnanimous  statement  of 
two  and  a  half  years  ago  will  take  advantage  of 
the  present  agitation  to  give  Johannesburg. a  teach- 
ing university  of  its  own. 


THE  NEWCASTLE  MEETING   OF   THE 
BRITISH  ASSOCIATION. 

WHEN  it  was  first  suggested  that  the  1916 
meeting  of  the  British  Association  should 
be  held  in  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  the  conditions  in 
that  city  were  very  different  from  what  they  are 
now.  The  same  might  be  said  of  any  town  in 
Great  Britain ;  but  the  war  has  affected  Newcastle 
Itself  with  no  uncertainty ;  and  the  Northumber- 
land and  Durham  miners,  as  well  as  the  shipyard 
and  engine  workers,  have  contributed  handsomely 
to  the  ranks  of  our  New  Army. 

With  this  war  atmosphere  thickening  as  the 
demands  of  the  Navy  and  Army  became  greater, 
it  was  natural  that  considerable  discussion  should 
arise  as  to  the  wisdom  of  holding  the  meeting  in 
Newcastle  this  year.  It  was,  however,  finally 
decided  to  hold  the  meeting  on  September  5-9, 
on  the  understanding  that  it  would  be  a  purely 
business  meeting,  shorn  of  all  the  festivities,  such 
as  garden  parties  and  excursions,  to  which  the 
members  are  accustomed.  In  fact,  the  meet- 
ing will  be  on  similar  lines  to  those  on  which  the 
Manchester  meeting  was  run  last  year. 

In  normal  times  the  meeting  would  have  centred 
itself   round    Armstrong   College,    and    in    conse- 
quence the  work  of  the   Sectional  Arrangements 
NO.    24.4.1,    VOL.    Q7l 


Committee  would  have  been  comparatively  light; 
its  spacious  halls  and  lecture-rooms  and  its  well- 
equipped  laboratories  would  have  provided  that 
arrangement  which  is  so  eminently  suited  to  a 
British  Association  meeting,  viz.  the  reception- 
room  and  its  adjuncts,  as  well  as  a  large  proportion 
of  the  section-rooms,  in  one  building.  Armstrong 
College,  however,  was  taken  over  by  the  War 
Office  during  the  early  part  of  the  war,  and 
became,  and  still  is,  the  ist  Northern  General 
Hospital.  Nevertheless,  ample  and  satisfactory 
accommodation  has  been  obtained ;  in  several  in- 
stances two  or  more  sections  will  meet  in  the 
same  building,  and  all  the  section-rooms  are  in 
close  proximity  to  one  another. 

As  in  1889,  the  reception-room  will  be  tht 
library'  of  the  College  of  Medicine,  where  also 
several  section-rooms,  smoke-rooms,  writing- 
rooms.  Press  and  general  offices  will  be  provided. 
The  following  list  shows  where  the  various  sec- 
tions will  meet : — A  (Mathematical  and  Physical 
Science),  Trinity  Church  Rooms ;  B  (Chemistry), 
College  of  Medicine;  C  (Geology),  Friends'  Meet- 
ing House ;  D  (Zoology),  Grand  Assembly  Rooms ; 
E  (Geography),  Friends'  Meeting  House;  F 
(Economic  Science),  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Society;  G  (Engineering),  Institute  of  Mining  and 
Mechanical  Engineers;  H  (Anthropology),  Friends' 
Meeting  House ;  I  (Physiology),  College  of  Medi- 
cine; K  (Botany),  Grand  Assembly  Rooms;  L 
(Educational  Science),  St.  James's  Church  Rooms; 
M  (Agriculture),  Grand  Assembly  Rooms. 

Sir  Arthur  Evans,  F.R.S.,  the  president-elect, 
will  deliver  his  address  on  Tuesday  evening, 
September  5,  at  the  inaugural  meeting,  which  will 
be  held  in  the  Town  Hall.  In  the  same  hall  on 
Thursday  evening,  September  7,  Prof.  William  A. 
Bone,  F.R.S. ,  will  deliver  a  discourse  on  "Flame 
and  Flameless  Combustion,"  and  on  September  8 
Dr.  P.  Chalmers  Mitchell,  F.R.S. ,  will  deliver  a 
discourse  on  evolution  and  the  war. 

Owing  to  circumstances  incident  to  the  war,  it 
has  been  found  to  be  impossible  to  arrange  this 
year  visits  to  the  armament  factories  or  the  great 
shipbuilding  and  engineering  works  on  the  North- 
East  Coast.  A  further  announcement,  however, 
may  be  made  in  the  early  future  with  regard  to 
this  matter.  Nor  will  there  be  any  excursions  of 
the  usual  type,  although  it  is  understood  that  a 
number  of  the  sections  are  promoting  shorter 
excursions  of  special  interest. 

The  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society's  Li- 
brary, the  Laing  Art  Gallery,  the  Hancock  Museum 
of  Natural  History,  and  the  Black  Gate  Museum 
w^ill  be  open  to  members  of  the  .Association  during 
the  meeting.  The  majority  of  the  clubs  of  New- 
castle have  granted  temporary  membership  to 
those  attending  the  meeting. 

Following  the  course  adopted  at  Manchester, 
the  Association  has  again  offered  students  and 
teachers  of  Newcastle  and  district  associates' 
tickets  at  a  reduced  fee,  and  it  is  hoped  that  a 
large  number  will  show  their  appreciation  of  this 
encouragement.  Lectures  to  the  public  will  be 
given  in  Newcastle,  Sunderland,  Durham,  and 
Ashington  by  distinguished  men. 


482 


NATURE 


[August  io,   19 i6 


SIR   WILLIAM  RAMSAY,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S. 

THE  first  scientific  words,  probably,  ever 
printed  from  the  pen  of  Sir  William  Ramsay 
read  curiously  now  that  the  full  chapter  of  his 
writings  is  closed.  They  served  to  introduce  his 
career,  and  may,  with  an  unexpected  aptness,  be 
recalled  at  its  close.  Though  he  left  early, 
he  left  behind  much  that  has  already  become  a 
permanent  part  of  the  common  heritage  of  science, 
well  known  to  all.  On  this,  once  again  for  a 
moment,  those  now  mourning  his  sad  and  untimely 
death  may  linger,  loth  to  say  farewell. 

The  words  introduce  his  thesis  for  the  doc- 
torate at  Tubingen  under  Fittig  in  1872:  "To 
determine  the  constitution  of  chemical  compounds 
has  been  the  endeavour  of  chemists  ever  since  the 
mere  discovery  of  new  bodies  has  ceased  to 
engross  their  chief  attention."  Little  could  the 
youth  of  nineteen  then  have  tasted  of  the  joys  of 
discovery  that  he  could  so  talk  of  "  mere "  dis- 
covery. Before  him  the  unknown  future  held  a 
career  of  discovery  which  was  to  raise  him  to  an 
unchallenged  pinnacle  among  his  colleagues,  not 
of  new  compounds,  but  of  a  whole  family  of  new 
elements,  unsuspected  even  though  the  Periodic 
Law  had  long  since  called  their  roll,  and  utterly 
different,  in  the  entire  negation  of  their  chemical 
properties,  from  any  kind  of  matter  previously 
known;  Yet  fundamentally  true  the  random 
words  have  proved  themselves,  even  in  connection 
with  so  great  advances,  in  that  crescendo  of  scien- 
tific accomplishment  which  heralded  the  coming  of 
another  century.  It  is  no  longer  these  discoveries 
that  engross,  but  the  problems  of  constitution  to 
which  they  led  up  and  contributed — no  longer, 
however,  the  problem  of  the  constitution  of  chemi- 
cal compounds,  but  the  key  problem  of  all  physical 
science  and  of  materialistic  philosophy,  the  prob- 
lem of  the  constitution  of  the  elements  and  the 
structure  of  the  atom. 

Ramsay,  whatever  had  been  his  youth,  training, 
or  after  circumstances,  would  never  have  been 
content  to  think  the  thoughts  of  others,  nor  to 
confine  himself  to  the  paths  that  they  had  rough- 
hewn.  His  earlier  work  in  physical  chemistry — the 
determination  of  the  molecular  weight  of  liquids 
from  their  surface-tension  with  Shields,  his  work 
on  accurate  vapour  density  measurements,  and  his 
studies  of  vapour  pressure  with  Young — already 
showed  his  disposition  to  stray  from  the  well- 
beaten  track.  But  the  clue  to  the  existence  of  a 
new  gas  in  the  atmosphere,  found  by  Lord  Ray- 
leigh  in  the  discrepancy  between  the  density  of 
atmospheric  nitrogen  and  that  prepared  from 
compKDunds,  started  him  off  definitely  into  the 
trackless  wild  and  gave  his  exceptional  gifts  full 
and  free  scope.  Every  faculty  is  now  at  its  best, 
and  in  the  field  of  chemistry  so  opened  up  little 
nelp  is  forthcoming  from  the  current  methods  of 
experiment  and  deduction.  In  such  an  apparently 
trivial  experimental  detail,  for  example,  as  the 
choice  of  a  suitable  lubricant  for  taps  and 
ground  joints  might  lie  the  difference  between  mas- 
tery and  total  failure.  Pertinacity,  too,  is  called 
for  to  pursue  a  uniform  series  of  negative  results 
NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


in  the  search  for  positive  chemical  properties  of 
the  new  gases  until  the  sum  of  the  apparent 
failures  should  unite  in  a  single  satisfying  positive 
conclusion,  that  the  gases  were  non-valent,  not 
merely  exceptionally  difficult  to  bring  into  com- 
bination. Lastly,  new  methods  of  reasoning  from 
the  physical  qualities,  in  the  absence  of  chemical, 
must  be  brought  to  l>ear  before  the  atomic  weight 
of  these  elements  can  be  assigned  and  they  can 
take  their  proi>er  place  in  the  scheme  of  elements. 

Novel  as  it  all  appeared,  fitting  place  was  found 
for  Ramsay's  love  of  the  early  history  of  his  sub- 
ject a:nd  the  delight  he  took  in  the  work  of  the 
early  pioneers.  After  a  century's  oblivion,  the 
remarkable  experiment  of  Cavendish  on  the  spark- 
ing of  air  over  alkalis  was  re-discovered,  and 
another,  and  by  no  means  the  least,  tribute  so  paid 
to  the  foresight  of  this  remarkable  man.  Since 
then  this  same  experiment  has  had  on  the  indus- 
trial and  practical  side,  in  the  fixation  of  atmo- 
spheric nitrogen,  as  remarkable  a  sequel  as  it 
received  at  the  hands  of  Lord  Rayleigh  and  Sir 
William  Ramsay  in  the  discovery  of  argon. 

It  is  customary  to  regard  the  next  step,  which 
was  essentially  Ramsay's  alone,  the  discovery  of 
helium,  as  a  very  natural  and  direct  development 
of  his  earlier  work  with  Lord  Rayleigh  on  argon. 
This  is  only  partially  true.  In  one  sense  the  dis- 
covery of  helium  was  entirely  distinct ;  for,  though, 
like  the  other  inert  gases,  it  exists  in  the  atmo- 
sphere, unlike  all  the  others  it  was  not  discovered 
there.  The  name,  of  course,  recalls  the  long  arm 
of  scientific  method  and  the  .discovery  of  the  chief 
of  its  spectrum  lines  in  the  spectrum  of  the  sun's 
chromosphere  by  Lockyer  and  Frankland  in  1868. 
By  the  way,'  would  it  not  be  a  graceful  tribute  to 
Ramsay,  and  also  a  step  in  the  right  direction  of  a 
consistent  nomenclature,  to  rechristen  this  gas 
"helion,"  so  making  it  correspond  with  the  other 
members  of  the  family,  argon,  neon,  krypton, 
xenon,  and,  by  chance,  the  three  isotopic  radio- 
active emanations?  j 

When  Ramsay  came  upon  this  gas  for  the  first! 
time,  as  it  were,  face  to  face  in  the  gases  froirj 
the     uranium     minerals     which     Hillebrand     ha<| 
thought  to  be  nitrogen,   recognised   its   signature 
in  the  X  of  its  D3  line,  and  found  that  it  was  onl} 
present     in     minerals     containing     uranium     anc 
thorium,    he   broke,    unawares,    new   ground   in   ; 
field    totally   unconnected   with    that    hitherto  cr 
tivated   for   argon.       His   proof   that   it   possesst 
the    same   absolute     lack     of   chemical    combinii 
power,  his  immediate  recognition  of  the  fact  th 
he  had  found  a  second  member  of  what  was  a  ne 
family    of    elements     of    y/hich     probably    mo:  i 
existed,    and   the   successful   separation   of  these 
and   also  helium   itself,   from   the  atmosphere    i! 
collaboration    with    Travers,    brought    back    th 
research  into  its  former  course.     The  significant 
of  the  remarkable  fact  that  helium   alone  of  th 
inert  gases  existed  otherwise  than  in  a  free  stat 
in  the  atmosphere,   and  that,   in  spite  of  its  toti 
lack  of  combining  power,   it  was  found  pent  u 
somehow  in  uranium  and  thorium  minerals,  wa 
grasped  only  later  by  others.     But  it  was  essei 
tlally  the  starting  point  of  a  new  departure  whic 


August  io,  191 6] 


NATURE 


483 


in  the  fullness  of  time  was  again  to  link  itself 
with  its  source. 

It  has  been  well  remarked  of  Ramsay  that  he 
stood  to  the  outside  world  for  an  essentially 
British  school  of  chemistry.  To  describe  him  as 
arig-inal  would  be  like  saying  water  is  wet.  He 
was  of  the  essence  of  originality,  and,  during  the 
time  the  writer  knew  him,  entirely  without  any 
apparent  sheet-anchor  of  fixed  conviction  or  estab- 
lished belief  in  scientific  doctrine,  which  at  all 
times,  in  a  science  somewhat  prone  to  let  go  sheet- 
anchors,  made  him  a  unique  and  almost  incom- 
prehensible personality.  It  is  true  that  in  his  later 
years  he  suffered  from  the  defects  of  these  quali- 
ties, and  he  failed  to  criticise  sufficiently  his  own 
ideas  and  experimental  results  before  making  them 
public.  He  seemed  to  lose  something  of  that 
sense  of  the  great  and  terrible  responsibility  which 
must  at  all  times  rest  heavily  on  the  scientific 
leader,  and  never  more  than  in  the  case  of  the 
pioneer.  All  through  his  work,  probably,  his  col- 
laborators had  perforce  to  assume  to  an  undue 
extent  the  role  of  "devil's  advocate,"  and  much  of 
his  best  work  was  done  in  partnership  with  those 
who  recognised  this.  But  in  the  zenith  of  his 
powers  at  University  College  and  in  the  full  swing 
of  his  elucidation  of  the  family  of  inert  gases,  he 
trod  fearlessly  and  without  an  error  the  difficult 
path  of  the  pioneer  and  won  a  permanent  right  to 
something  far  greater  than  the  title  of  a  successful 
discoverer.  Argon,  helium,  neon,  krypton,  and 
xenon  were  capital  discoveries,  but  the  bringing  of 
this  group  into  harmony  with  the  rest  of  the  ele- 
ments might  have  appeared  a  task  almost  insuper- 
able in  the  face  of  their  total  lack  of  chemical 
properties.  The  recognition  that  they  were  mon- 
atomic  and  non-valent  gases  occupying  a  "zero" 
family  of  the  Periodic  Table,  preceding  that  of 
tne  monovalent  alkali-metal  family,  from  which 
hitherto  the  table  had  seemed  to  start,  was  made 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  argon  itself  is  an  "excep- 
tion," in  the  orderly  sequence  of  elements,  of  the 
same  type  as  tellurium,  which  was  then  a  very 
hotly  debated  and  puzzling  question. 

This  was  physical  chemistry  in  a  sense  as  origi- 
nal and  bold  as  the  great  thermo-dynamical  and 
electro-chemical  generalisations  of  the  American 
and  Continental  savants,  which  hitherto  had 
almost  monopolised  the  term.'  It  initiated  a 
widening  of  the  domain  that  was  to  grow  apace. 
The  human  mind  seems  incapable  in  its  initial 
processes  of  grasping  thoroughly  more  than  one 
fundamental  point  of  view  at  a  time.  Each  has 
to  be  grasped  separately  before  both  eyes  can  be 
opened  without  the  image  becoming  blurred.  The 
phlogistonists  had  a  single  eye  for  what  we  now 
call  energy,  Lavoisier  for  what  we  now  call  mass. 
The  first  physical  chemists  found  the  thermo- 
dynamical  point  of  view  so  ciear-cut  and  complete 
that  some  of  them  sought  to  banish  from  their 
conceptions  the  molecular  and  atomic  viewpoints 
as  unnecessary,  unproved,  and  unprovable  hypo- 
theses. Ramsay,  confronted  with  a  type  of  element 
utterly  devoid  of  chemical  properties  and  forced 
to  rely  entirely  on  their  physical  properties  to  put 
them  in  their  proper  relation  to  the  whole,  solved 
NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


the  problem  completely  and  correctly  by  the  aid  of 
the  molecular  and  atomic  conceptions  alone, 
though  it  is  only  lately  that  opposition  to  his  views 
has  entirely  died  down.  Before  he  died  he  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  this  his  own  side  of 
physical  chemistry  developed,  by  the  discoveries 
in  connection  with  radio-activity  and  the  Brownian 
movement,  to  an  amazing  extent.  The  physical 
reality  of  atoms  and  molecules  has  been  demon- 
strated by  methods  of  great  directness  and  power; 
and  these,  incidentally,  applied  to  the  case  of  his 
own  gases,  confirmed  his  earlier  interpretation  of 
their  monatomic  character  in  a  way  that  made 
further  cavil  impossible. 

But  now  we  must  go  back  to  1896,  to  the  year 
of  the  discovery  of  helium  and  to  the  year  that 
Henri  Becquerel  in  Paris  discovered  the  radio- 
activity of  uranium,  but  a  few  months  after 
Rontgen  had  given  to  the  world  a  sixth  sense.  In 
Becquerel's  footsteps  M.  and  Mme.  Curie  were 
starting  on  the  quest  which  led  to  radium. 
Rutherford  had  come  from  the  mirror  image  of 
our  islands  in  the  Southern  Seas  to  learn  at  the 
Cavendish  Laboratory  under  Sir  J.  J.  Thomson, 
and  with  him  to  forge  the  weapons  of  measure- 
ment and  discrimination  which,  in  the  new  sciences 
that  the  dying  century  had  called  forth,  were  to 
prove  their  sufficiency.  His  specific  recognition 
of  the  o-rays  was  one  of  the  first-fruits  of  the  new 
methods,  which,  a  little  later,  in  Canada,  at  the 
McGill  University,  in  the  fine  Macdonald  science 
laboratories,  were  to  play  such  an  important  part 
in  the  amazing  succession  of  discoveries  that 
followed,  and  which  culminated  in  the  complete 
and  satisfying  explanation  of  radio-active  pheno- 
mena which  is  accepted  to-day. 

Then,  by  one  of  the  strangest  combinations  of 
destiny,  the  centre  of  interest  shifts  again  for  the 
moment  back  to  the  laboratory  where  helium  was 
discovered,  as  the  associate  of  uranium  and 
thorium  in  minerals,  seven  years  before,  to  Sir 
William's  private  laboratory  at  University 
College.  Word  had  passed  along  the  under- 
ground corridors  below,  and  the  room  had  swiftly 
and  silently  filled  with  a  throng  of  staff  and 
students,  clustering  round  those  fortunate  enough 
to  possess  a  pocket  spectroscope,  all  making  the 
one  short  remark,  "Yes!  it's  helium."  For  that 
was  the  room  where  was  being  put  the  coping- 
stone  to  the  arch  that  in  seven  short  years  had 
sprung  up  from  the  twin  discoveries  of  the  rare 
gases  and  of  radio-activity,  and  Sir  William  was 
witnessing  with  the  spectroscope  the  first  ocular 
proof  of  the  genesis  of  helium  from  radium,  which 
had  been  predicted  from  the  theory  of  atomic  dis- 
integration. Nobody  can  deny  that  destiny,  so 
frequently  erratic,  here  made  a  happy  choice,  not 
only  because  the  original  discovery  of  helium  was 
made  by  Ramsay,  but  also  because  in  his  labora- 
tory had  been  worked  out  those  delicate  methods 
of  gas  manipulation  which  alone  were  equal  to 
dealing  with  the  minute  amounts  of  helium 
involved  in  this  investigation. 

In  another  direction  there  was  an  intimate  con- 
nection between  the  discovery  of  the  Inert  gases 
and    radio-activity.       The    "radio-active    emana- 


484 


NATURE 


[August  io,  19 i6 


tions  "  discovered  by  Rutherford  were  shown  to 
be  inert  gases  of  the  arg-on  type,  and  Ramsay, 
having  satisfied  himself  of  this,  enthusiastically 
took  up  the  study  of  the  radium  emanation,  and 
made  an  exhaustive  study  of  its  physical  proper- 
ties, largely  in  conjunction  with  Whytlaw  Gray. 
In  his  research  on  xenon  his  methods  of  gas  mani- 
pulation had  had  a  severe  test,  two  or  three 
cubic  centimetres  of  gas  being  the  total  stock 
available  after  working  up  an  enormous  quantity 
of  air.  But  in  the  case  of  the  radium  emanation, 
only  a  small  fraction  of  a  cubic  millimetre  at  most 
can  be  obtained  at  a  time,  and  the  methods  were 
tried  to  the  uttermost.  The  extraordinary  amount 
of  information  which  these  workers  and  also 
Rutherford  were  enabled  to  obtain  about  the 
physical  constants  of  the  new  gas  in  approxi- 
mately pure  condition  is  one  of  the  triumphs  in  the 
investigation  of  minute  amounts  of  matter.  In 
this  research  also  the  extraordinarily  delicate 
micro-balance,  devised  by  Steele,  found  something 
worthy  of  its  powers. 

For  many  of  the  latter  years  of  his  life  Ramsay 
brought  forward  evidence  to  show  that  the  energy 
liberated  in  radio-active  transformations  was  suffi- 
ciently powerful  to  bring  about  the  transmutation 
of  one  element  into  another.  But  these  and  simi- 
lar attempts  to  produce  artificial  transmutation  by 
radio-active  and  electrical  agencies  are  not  yet 
accepted  by  the  majority.  The  subject  is  under- 
mined with  pitfalls,  and  to  history  must  be  left  the 
final  judgment  on  this  thorny  question. 

The  writer's  personal  acquaintance  with 
Ramsay  dates  only  from  1898,  and  his  association 
with  him  only  from  the  time  when  his  great  work 
on  the  rare  gases  of  the  atmosphere  was  com- 
pleted. His  views,  therefore,  can  only  be  partial, 
and  as  regards  one  of  the  most  fruitful  periods  of 
his  life  indirect.  In  1898  a  group  of  honours 
candidates  in  white  ties  outside  the  chemical 
laboratories  at  Oxford  was  joined  by  the  distin- 
guished examiner  from  London,  whose  discoveries 
were  upon  everyone's  lips.  W'e  were  chaffed  at 
the  state  of  our  hands,  yellow  from  a  nitrification 
set  upon  the  previous  day's  examination,  and  we 
were  assured  that  we  need  not  scruple  to  accept 
an  invitation  to  dinner,  as  the  stains  were  quite 
invisible  by  artificial  light  ! 

The  instant  popularity  of  such  a  man  with  his 
juniors  and  students  is  not  difficult  to  account  for. 
At  University  College  he  was  looked  up  to  by  them 
in  a  way  that  can  scarcely  be  expressed.  He  was 
at  once  genial,  approachable,  and  great— any  of 
which  alone  is  an  infallible  passport  to  the  student's 
heart — and  he  repaid  their  trust  and  affection  with 
a  loyalty  to  them  as  complete  as  that  of  a  Scottish 
chieftain  to  his  clan.  But  even  among  those  who, 
at  one  time  or  other,  may  have  been  sharply  in 
conflict  with  him — and  among  contemporary 
chemists  none  probably  have  been  the  centre  of 
so  much  controversy- — there  must  be  few  who  did 
not  feel  the  fascination  of  his  personality,  and  are 
not  now  among  the  multitude  of  friends  and 
admirers  who  feel  his  loss  as  personal  and  irre- 
placeable. It  may  be  worth  recording,  seeing  the 
stormy  time  through  which  he  passed,  that  one 
NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


who  had  known  him  well  all  his  life  could  say  to 
the  writer  that  he  had  never  heard  a  really  unkind 
thing  said  by  Ramsay  of  any  of  his  colleagues  or 
opponents.  >rot  only  his  personal  friencjs  and 
whole-hearted  admirers  are  to-day  among  those 
who  are  feeling  that  "  they  loved  the  man  and 
revere  his  memory."  F'rederick  Soddv. 


It  was  in  1880  or  1881,  very  soon  after  Ramsay 
had  come  to  the  Bristol  Chair  of  Chemistry,  that 
late  one  very  hot  and  sultry  summer  evening 
a  newly  made  friend,  tennis-racquet  in  hand, 
came  to  seek  him  in  his  private  laboratory.  "  Ah, 
I'm  glad  you've  come.  No,  I'd  not  forgotten,  but 
I've  had  trouble  with  this  and  a  long  day  of  it> 
but  it  is  all  right  now,  and  I'll  come."  Across  the 
window  of  the  narrow  make-shift  room  of  the  old 
building  that  served  as  the  first  home  of  the  Uni- 
versity College  stretched  the  long  length  of  a  com- 
plicated system  of  glass  bulbs  and  tubes  and  mer- 
cury pumps  in  which  he  was  conducting  a  dis- 
tillation for  one  of  his  vapour  pressure  investiga- 
tions. At  that  moment  some  ill-annealed  junc- 
tion, perhaps  too  near  a  flame,  cracked  and  gave 
way ;  air  entered  with  a  hiss  and  reversed  the  flow 
of  hot  liquid ;  another  crack  and  then  a  crash — 
for,  though  he  sprang  to  save  it,  a  large  mercury 
receiver  broke  and  discharged  its  contents  over 
the  edge  of  the  table  on  to  the  floor,  where  most 
of  it  disappeared  between  the  ill-fitting  boards. 
"Well,"  thought  the  friend,  "that  will  be  the  end 
of  this  day's  work."  But  he  did  not  yet  know 
Ramsay,  who,  looking  up  with  a  rueful  smile, 
said:  "I'm  afraid  this  means  no  tennis  for  me 
to-day."  "What  are  you  going  to  do?  "  "Take 
up  the  floor  and  recover  the  mercury — and  a  dirty 
job  it  will  be."  And  so  it  proved;  but  by  next 
morning  the  mercury  had  been  recovered  and  the 
apparatus  had  been  rebuilt  and  was  at  work  again. 
That  was  Ramsay  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight, 
this  my  first  glimpse  of  the  indomitable 
energy  which  was  one  of  the  secrets  of  his  noble 
career.  In  the  thirty-six  years  that  have  elapsed 
since  then  it  seemed  to  me  that  his  instinct  and 
practice  were  always  the  same  :  so  soon  as  any 
demand  for  action  came,  to  make  up  his  mind 
what  to  do  and  then  to  act  at  once.  Ask  any  of  1 
the  hundreds  of  friends  who  have  sought  and  ! 
received  his  help  and  you  will  hear  from  all  sides 
how  quickly  as  well  as  how  generously  the  help  ! 
was  given.  ■ 

This  energy  in  action  was  the  outcome  of  a  ' 
remarkably  healthy  and  vigorous  physique,  which 
he  knew  how  to  attend  to;  and  any  challenge  to  ; 
which  in  a  feat  of  skill  was  accepted  as  an  inten- 
tional exercise.  A  fifty-mile  bicycle  ride  left  him 
quite  willing  to  walk  another  twenty  miles.  This 
tireless  physical  vigour  without  doubt  contributed 
to  the  attainment  of  his  well-known  mechanical 
skill  in  glass-blowing  and  to  the  steadiness  of  hand 
and  eye  which  underlay  many  of  his  great  experi- 
mental achievements.  So,  too,  his  quickness  in 
picking  up  foreign  languages  was  partly  due  to  his 
fine  and  acute  musical  ear.  Even  the  sense  of 
smell  was  for  him  an  instrument  of  analvsis  the 


August  io,  19 i6] 


NATURE 


4»5 


use  of  which  he  had  learnt  to  push  far  beyond  the 
limits  of  ordinary  expectation,  and  was  the  subject 
of  more  than  one   scientific  communication. 

Such  was  the  happy  physical  endowment  at  the 
command  of  the  eager  and  affectionate  spirit 
which,  wherever  he  went,  made  William  Ramsay 
so  extraordinarily  lovable  and  acceptable  to  all 
classes  of  men.  A  man  so  harmoniously  consti- 
tuted is  not  often  met,  and  there  have  been  many 
moments  when,  watching  my  friend  in  the  midst 
of  his  ideally  happy  family  surroundings,  I  have 
said  to  myself  that  I  have  never  seen  an  expres- 
sion so  beautiful  and  radiant  on  any  human  coun- 
tenance. "  Radiant  energy "  is  the  phrase  that 
best  recalls  and  summarises  his  personal  charac- 
teristics. 

No  accession  of  honours  or  acclamation  sp>oilt 
for  one  moment  the  childlike  simplicity  of  his 
character.  Of  course  he  enjoyed  them,  but  that  his 
friends  should  rejoice  seemed  what  he  cared  for 
most.  They  brought  him  new  and  enlarged  inter- 
course, but  the  old  channels  of  quiet  and  tried 
affection  ran  deep  and  full  as  ever;  discussion  was 
as  free,  as  patient,  and  as  fruitful.  Genius  of  any 
kind  he  always  disclaimed.  "  It  is  all  pure  luck 
and  pegging  away,"  was  his  phrase;  or,  as  he 
insisted  when  revisiting  the  Scientific  Club  at  the 
Bristol  University,  which  he  had  helped  to  found 
twenty-one  years  before,  his  chief  asset  in  any 
success  he  had  attained  had  been  a  "  shocking  bad 
memor\',"  which  prevented  his  recollecting  a 
chemical  or  physical  fact  of  which  he  had  been 
told  or  had  merely  read,  till  he  had  forced  himself 
to  rediscover  it  in  some  phenomenon  within  his 
own  experience.  Then,  indeed,  he  admitted  that  he 
never  forgot  it.  It  was,  I  think,  a  similarity  of 
instinct  for  learning  by  an  experimental  appeal 
in  which  physical  sensation  should  be  involved 
that  first  drew  us  together. 

Any  mistakes  he  made  were  those  inevitable  to 
an  eager  and  impetuous  temperament.  Always 
grateful  for  help,  he  sometimes  over-estimated  the 
abilities  of  the  friend  who  gave  it.  Accustomed 
to  find  difficulties  yield  to  his  own  labour  and 
ingenuity,  his  sanguine  expectation  sometimes 
blinded  him  to  obstacles  which  were  destined  to 
prove  insurmountable.  Unsuspicious  and  always 
approachable,  and  a  little  impatient  of  the  limita- 
tions of  scientific  orthodoxy,  he  found  that  he  had 
sometimes  lent  too  ready  an  ear  to  representations 
that  were  to  prove  untrustworthy ;  but,  being 
willing  to  follow  ten  false  clues  father  than  miss 
one  real  one,  he  was  ever  more  afraid  of  the  con- 
sequences of  over-caution  than  of  over-confidence. 

So  wide  were  his  sympathies  and  interests  and 
so  quick  his  ability  to  take  in  new  ideas  or  follow 
a  subtle  argument  that  men  of  every  profession 
and  workers  in  eveVy  branch  of  science  found 
in  him  an  ideal  listener,  and  were  stimu- 
lated by  his  quick  grasp  and  pertinent  and 
suggestive  inquiries,  and  so  it  came  to  pass, 
as  it  seemed  to  us  who  watched  him  from  the 
ranks,  that  he  moved  among  the  leaders  of 
thought  in  any  sphere  and  in  any  country,  recog- 
nised as  intellectually  their  peer,  while  behind  all 
his  questionings  burned  continually  the  passionate 
NO.    2441.    VOL.    Q7l 


desire  to  help  to  unravel  the  mystery  of  life  and 
the  significance  of  the  physical  universe.  "  Most 
men,"  he  once  lamented  to  me,  "have  no  interest 
in  physical  facts  of  Nature.  They  pretend  interest 
because  they  cannot  igncwe  the  palpable  results  of 
applying  science,  but  the  things  in  themselves  are 
I  absolutely  without  interest  for  them."  How  this 
interest  might  be  aroused  by  education  was  a 
matter  that  he  was  always  ready  to  discuss. 

Of  all  his  most  intimate  friends  who  had 
already  passed  away,  none  was  more  deeply 
mourned  by  him  than  G.  F.  Fitzgerald,  whose 
suggestion  and  counsel  were  ever  at  his  disposal. 
Par  nobile  fratrum !  let  us  always  remember  them 
together.  A.   M.  Worthixgton. 

ROLAND  TRIM  EX,  F.R.S. 

"pOLAND  TRLMEN,  the  third  son  of  Richard 
-'-^  and  Marianne  Esther  Trimen,  of  3  Park  Place 
\'illas,  Paddington,  w-as  bom  on  October  29,  1840. 
He  was  educated  at  King's  College  School,  which 
he  entered  in  1853,  having  previously  been  a  pupil 
at  a  private  school  at  Rottingdean.  When  about 
eighteen  he  took  the  voyage  to  Capetown  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health,  returning  to  England  in 
1859.  In  the  following  year  he  again  sailed  to 
Capetown  and  entered  the  Cape  Civil  Service. 
In  1872  he  was  appointed  Curator  of  the  South 
African  Museum  in  succession  to  E.  L.  Layard. 
In  1881  he  was  appointed  sole  commissioner  to 
the  Phylloxera  Congress  at  Bordeaux,  and  in  1886 
a  member  of  the  Commission  for  extirpating 
this  pest  from  the  Cape  vineyards.  In  1892 
he  became  a  member  of  the  Cape  Fisheries  Com- 
mission. 

In  1883  he  married  Miss  Blanche  BuD. 
In  1895  Trimen  was  compelled  by  the  state  of 
his  health  to  resign  the  curatorship  of  the  Caf>e- 
town  Museum  and  return  to  England.  He  be- 
came a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1883,  and 
was  awarded  the  Darwin  medal  in  1910.  The 
general  feeling  of  naturalists  when  this  award 
became  known  was  well  expressed  in  the  letter  of 
congratulation  sent  by  the  Entomological  Society 
of  London  to  their  past  president  of  1897-98  : — 

"Among  living  naturalists  there  are  few  indeed 
whose  merits  as  associates  and  fellow-workers 
with  Darwin  can  bear  comparison  with  your  own ; 
and  we  feel  sure  that  all  alike,  in  rejoicing  at  this 
puWic  recognition  of  your  life-long  services  to 
biological  science,  will  agree  that  the  present 
honour  could  not  have  been  more  worthily  be- 
stowed." 

Trimen  contributed  the  third  of  the  three  great 

papers  which  laid  the  foundations  of  the  study  of 

insect  mimicry,  and  were  published  by  the  Linnean 

Society  in   1862,    1865,   and   1869.     The  dates  of 

the  two  latter  are  generally  quoted  as   1866  and 

1870,   the  years  of  the  volumes  of  transactions; 

but  the  papers  were  published  in  the  parts  issued 

in  the  previous  years.     The  first,  by  Bates,  dealt 

with  the  Lepidopterous  fauna  of  the  Amazon  valley ; 

*  the  second,  by  Wallace,  with  that  of  the  East ;  while 

j  Trimen  completed  the  survey  by  extending  it  to 

'  Africa.      In  this  he  had  perhaps  the  hardest  task 


486 


NATURE 


[August  io,  19 i6 


in  solving-'  the  extraordinary  problem  of  Papilio 
dardanus,  then  known  as  nierope,  with  its  train 
of  mimetic  females.  His  sound  conclusions  were 
in  advance  of  their  time,  and  were  received  with 
incredulity,  and  indeed  ridicule,  by  entomologists 
of  that  day ;  but  he  lived  to  see  them  confirmed  by 
breeding-  experiments  and  universally  accepted.  The 
last  lime  the  present  writer  saw  him,  a  few  weeks 
before  his  death,  he  found  that  a  new  observation 
on  Papilio  dardanus  was  the  one  subject  that 
restored  for  a  moment  his  failing-  powers  and 
broug-ht  back  his  oM  enthusiasm. 

Trimen's  greatest  work  is  his  fine  monograph 
in  two  volumes  on  the  butterflies  of  South  Africa, 
the  expansion  of  a  smaller  book  he  wrote  when  a 
young-  man.  This  fine  work  is  a  model  not  only 
for  its  hig-h  scientific  value,  but  also  for  a  literary 
grace  which  was  characteristic  of  all  its  author's 
writings. 

Roland  Trimen  was  full  of  humour  and  a  delight- 
ful companion,  and  inspired  the  warm  affection  of 
a  wide  circle  of  friends.  By  his  death  the  world 
has  lost  the  last  of  the  six  naturalists  who  created 
the  modern  study  of  insect  bionomics — Darwin, 
Bates,  Fritz  Miiller,  Wallace,  Meldola,  and 
Trimen.  E.    B.    P. 

NOTES. 

The  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  has 
elected  Sir  Norman  Lockyer  a  foreign  honorary 
member. 

It  is  announced  that  the  Daylight  Saving  Bill  has 
been  rejected  by  the  New  Zealand  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. 

We  announced  in  our  issue  of  March  i6  last  that 
an  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Applied  Optics 
had  been  formed  in  the  city  of  Rochester,  N.Y.  We 
now  learn  of  the  recent  formation  of  a  national  society 
called  the  Optical  Society  of  America,  of  which  the 
association  at  Rochester  referred  to  by  us  is  a  section. 
It  is  proposed  to  hold  annual  meetings,  and  that  the 
society  shall  serve  as  the  parent  organisation  for  local 
sections  holding  frequent  meetings.  It  is  intended 
to  cover  all  branches  of  optics,  theoretical  and  experi- 
mental :  pure  optics,  lenses  and  optical  instruments, 
optical  glass  and  refractometry,  colorimetry,  vision, 
photometry,  illumination,  radiometry,  polarimetric 
analysis,  photography  and  similar  related  subjects;  and 
to  begin  the  publication  of  an  international  optical 
journal  in  January  next.  The  officers  of  the  society 
for  the  year  are  : — President,  Dr.  P.  G.  Nutting ; 
vice-president,  Dr.  G.  E.  Hale ;  treasurer,  Mr.  A. 
Lomb ;  secretary,  Dr.  F.  E.  Ross.  The  executive 
council  consists  of  the  above-named  officers  and  Dr. 
F.  E.  Wright.  Dr.  C.  E.  K.  Mees,  Mr.  N.  Macbeth, 
and   Prof.  J.   P.   C.    Southall. 

The  fifth  Brazilian  Geographical  Congress  will  be 
held  at  Bahia  on  September  7-16.  There  will  be  twelve 
sections,  devoted  respectively  to  the  following  subjects  : 
Mathematical  Geography  (astronomical  '  geography, 
topography,  geodesy) ;  Physical  Geography  (aerology, 
oceanography,  geomorphology) ;  Physical  Geography 
(hydrography,  potamology,  limnology) ;  Vulcanology 
and  Seismology ;  Climatology  and  Medical  Geography ; 
Biogeography  (phytogeography  and  zoogeography) ; 
Human  Geography ;  Political  and  Social  Geography ; 
Economic  and  Commercial  Geography,  including 
Agricultural  Geography;  Military  and  Historical  Geo- 

NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


graphy;  Teaching  of  Geography,  Rules  and  Nomen- 
clature ;  Regional  Monographs.  Papers  intended  for 
presentation  must  not  have  appeared  elsewhere,  must 
be  typewritten,  and  reach  the  Secretary  of  the  Organis- 
ing Committee  not  later  than  August  30. 

We  learn  from  the  Museu^ns  Journal  for  August 
that  the  present  Lord  Avebury  has  handed  to  the 
British  Museum  authorities,  for  retention  in  the 
national  collection  or  distribution  among  provincial 
museums,  certain  portions  of  the  late  Lord  Avebury 's 
collection  of  prehistoric  and  ethnographical  specimens 
from  various  parts  of  the  world,  use  of  which  was 
made  in  the  writing  of  "  Prehistoric  Times."  The  gift 
includes  a  fine  series  from  the  early  Iron  age  cemetery 
at  Hallstatt,  Upper  Austria,  which  will  be  kept  in  the 
British  Museum,  but  many  of  the  stone  implements 
are  available  for  distribution,  and  a  list  of  them  is 
given  in  the  journal.  Applications  for  specimens 
should  be  made  to  Sir  Hercules  Read  at  the  British 
Museum. 

As  already  announced,  Sir  William  Henry  Power, 
K.C.B.,  F.R.S.,  medical  officer  of  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board  from  igoo  to  1908,  died  on  July  28  last, 
after  a  lingering  illness.  Greatly  distinguished  as  an 
epidemiologist  and  administrator,  his  services  to 
hygienic  science  and  practice  had  extended  over  a 
period  of  more  than  forty  years.  Owing  to  a  retiring 
disposition  and  a  dislike  for  gatherings  of  a  social  nature, 
he  was  comparatively  little  known  outside  official 
circles.  Nevertheless,  during  his  long  connection  with 
the  Local  Government  Board  he  planned  and  directed 
a  large  part  of  the  work  of  the  Medical  Department, 
and  numerous  reports  dealing  with  matters  concerning 
the  public  health  issued  during  that  period  were  either 
written  by  him  or  owed  much  to  his  editorial  criticism 
and  supervision.  His  was  a  charming  personality, 
which  endeared  him  to  all  his  colleagues,  many  of  whom 
benefited  to  no  small  extent  from  his  Idndly  help  and 
encouragement,  always  so  readily  accorded.  He  was 
the  first  (in  1878)  to  direct  attention  to  the  dissemina- 
tion of  diphtheria,  and  later  of  scarlet  fever,  through 
the  consumption  of  milk ;  while  his  classical  work  on 
the  spread  of  smallpox  from  hospitals  in  which  cases 
of  that  disease  were  under  treatment  formed  the  basis 
of  legislative  action  resulting  in  the  removal  of  small- 
pox hospitals  out  of  the  metropolitan  area.  While 
medical  officer  to  the  Local  Government  Board  he  also 
served  on  the  General  Council  of  Medical  Education, 
and  the  Royal  Commission  on  Tuberculosis,  of  which 
he  afterwards  became  chairman.  He  was  also  ap- 
pointed a  member  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  Sewage 
Disposal.  He  received  the  C.B.  in  1902,  and  the 
K.C.B.  in  1908  on  retirement  from  his  official  post. 
He  was  elected  F.R.S.  in  1895,  and  was  awarded  the 
Buchanan  medal  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1907.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  no  man  in  this  country  has 
done  more  than  Sir  William  Power  to  advance  the 
cause  of  scientific  hygiene. 

The  many  friends  and  scientific  associates  of  Prof. 
W.  A.  Herdman  and  Mrs.  Herdman  will  sympathise 
deeply  with  them  in  the  great  grief  they  are  at  jiresent 
suffering  through  the  death  in  action  of  their  only  son, 
George  Andrew  Herdman.  The  young  officer  was 
educated  at  Clifton  College,  and  was  a  scholar  of 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  He  entered  Clifton  Col- 
lege with  a  mathematical  scholarship,  was  head  of  his 
house  at  Clifton,  came  out  top  of  the  school  in  physics 
and  chemistry,  and  won  an  entrance  scholarship  at 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  December,  1913.  He 
early  showed  a  wide  and  keen  interest  in  scientific 
problems,  and  in  19 14  went  out  to  Australia 
with  the  British  Association.  On  returning, 
he    immediatelv   volunteered    for   active     service,    and 


August  io,  191 6] 


NATURE 


487 


joined  the  Cambridge  O.T.C.  in  October,  1914,  was 
gazetted  to  the  Liverpool  Regiment  in  January,  1915, 
proceeded  to  the  front  in  the  following  August, 
and,  after  seeing  much  hard  service,  was  killed 
in  action  by  a  shell-burst  whilst  gallantly  lead- 
ing in  a  charge  at  the  battle  of  the  Somme 
on  July  I  last,  aged  twenty  years.  The  academic 
career  of  George  A.  Herdman  was  brilliant, 
but  only  those  scientific  friends  who  knew  him  person- 
ally were  able  to  appreciate  his  originality  of  outlook 
and  scientific  independence  of  spirit,  and  to  look  for- 
ward to  the  development  of  a  great  career,  which  has 
been  so  untimely  cut  short  by  the  cruel  fate  of  war. 
Although  his  university  career  was  only  opening  when 
the  call  to  arms  came,  he  was  already  deeply  interested 
in  several  original  problems,  and  had  been  taking 
physical  observations  on  sea-water  at  Port  Erin  Marine 
Biological  Station  and  on  the  west  coast  of  Scotland 
during  vacations  for  several  years,  as  also  on  the 
voyage  to  Australia.  He  had  recently  worked  assidu- 
ously and  successfully  with  Prof.  Benjamin  Moore 
upon  biochemical  problems  in  nutrition  of  marine 
animals  and  plants,  and  questions  in  the  physics  and 
chemistry  of  photosynthesis,  and  he  was  joint  author 
of  two  papers  from  the  Port  Erin  Laboratory  partly 
recording  these  observations:  (i)  "The  Nutrition  and 
Metabolism  of  Marine  Animals :  the  Effects  in  the 
Lobster  of  Prolonged  Abstention  from  Food  in  Cap- 
tivity," and  (2)  "  Seasonal  Variations  in  the  Reaction 
of  Sea-water  in  relation  to  the  Activities  of  Vegetable 
and  .Animal  Plankton"  (Trans.  Biol.  Soc,  Liverpool, 
1914  and  1915).  While  science  deplores  the  early  loss 
of  such  a  promising  young  votary,  those  who  knew 
him  will  agree  that  he  himself  would  have  gloried  in 
the  splendid  victory  won  in  the  charge  in  which  he 
fell,  and  counted  his  personal  sacrifice  as  nothing  for 
the  honour  of  the  cause. 

It  is  with  great  regret  that  we  record  the  death  of 
Lieut.  Arthur  Poynting,  who  was  killed  in  action  in 
France  on  July  25.  Lieut.  Poynting,  who  was  thirty- 
three  years  of  age,  was  the  only  son  of  the  late  Prof. 
J.  H.  Poynting,  F.R.S.  After  a  four-year  course  in 
civil  engineering,  he  graduated  as  B.Sc.  of  Birming- 
ham University  in  1905.  On  leaving  the  University 
he  entered  the  service  of  the  Midland  Railway  Co., 
being  engaged  for  a  short  time  at  Derby,  and  after- 
wards on  the  construction  of  Heysham  Harbour.  For 
a  thesis  on  his  work  at  Heysham  he  was  awarded  the 
degree  of  M.Sc.  in  1909,  and  in  the  same  year  he  was 
elected  an  associate  member  of  the  Institution  of 
Mechanical  Engineers.  In  1910  he  became  assistant- 
engineer  at  the  London  and  St.  Katharine  Docks,  and 
a  year  later  was  transferred  to  the  Port  of  London 
-Authority  as  assistant  to  the  chief  engineer,  by  whom 
he  was  regarded  as  a  man  of  exceptional  abilitv,  with 
a  first-class  knowledge  of  engineering,  and,  in  addi- 
tion, a  special  aptitude  for  the  legal  aspects  of  his 
profession.  In  his  university  days  he  was  an  enthu- 
siastic Volunteer,  and  on  the  outbreak  of  the  present 
war  he  obtained  a  commission  in  the  6th  (Service) 
Battalion  of  the  Royal  Warwickshire  Regiment,  going 
to  the  front  early  in  19 15.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
he  was  in  command  of  a  machine-gun  section,  and 
was  shot  by  a  sniper,  being  killed  instantaneously. 
Energetic  and  efficient  in  his  work,  modest  and  kind'lv 
in  his  bearing,  steadfast  of  purpose,  he  was  indeed 
a  very  gentle,  perfect  knight. 

,  .^^^-CoL.  A.  St.  Hill  Gibbons,  who  has  been 
killed  in  action,  was  well  known  as  an  African  ex- 
plorer. During  the  'nineties  he  and  the  men 
who  were  associated  with  him  in  his  travels 
covered  more  than  20,000  miles  beyond  the  reach  of 
railways,  mainly  in  remote  parts  of  the  continent. 
NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


On  two  expeditions  in  1895-6  and  1898-1900  he 
thoroughly  explored  and  mapped  Barotseland  and 
other  parts  of  the  Upper  Zambezi  basin,  tracing  the 
Zambezi  to  its*  most  remote  source,  and  providing 
valuable  information  about  the  navigability  of  the 
river,  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  the  customs 
of  its  inhabitants.  His  routes  in  this  region  covered 
at  least  8000  miles.  His  maps  were  based  on  numerous 
astronomical  observations,  as  well  as  careful  compass 
surveys,  and  the  late  Mr.  E.  G.  Ravenstein  formed  a 
high  opinion  of  their  accuracy.  On  his  second  expedi- 
tion. Col.  Gibbons,  after  completing  his  work  in  Barotse- 
land, followed  the  Congo-Zambezi  watershed  towards 
Lake  Tanganyika,  and  then,  striking  north,  made  his 
way  to  the  Nile  Valley.  Ewart  Grogan  was  the  first 
traveller  to  complete  the  transcontinental  journey  from 
south  to  north;  Col.  Gibbons  was  a  close  second.  He 
lectured  more  than  once  before  the  Royal  Geograph- 
ical Society,  and  in  1906  was  awarded  by  the  society 
the  Gill  Memorial.  After  serving  through  the  South 
African  War,  Col.  Gibbons  settled  in  northern 
Rhodesia,  and  took  an  active  interest  in  the  develop- 
ment of  that  territory,  delivering  a  lecture  on  its 
resources  and  prospects  before  the  Royal  Colonial 
Institute  only  a  few  months  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
present  war. 

We  regret  to  learn  of  the  death,  in  action,  on  July 
14,  of  Second  Lieut.  C.  M.  Selbie,  formerly  assistant- 
naturalist  in  the  National  Museum,  Dublin.  He  en- 
listed as  a  private  in  the  Royal  Scots,  and  in  Januarv, 
1915,  he  received  a  commission  as  second  lieutenant 
in  the  Scottish  Rifles,  and  had  been  at  the  front  since 
November.  During  the  two  years  that  Lieut.  Selbie 
spent  in  the  National  Museum  of  Ireland  he  devoted 
himself  with  energy  and  enthusiasm  to  the  collections 
of  the  Myriapoda  and  Crustacea.  He  rearranged  the 
exhibition  series  and  also  undertook  to  name  a  portion 
of  the  collections  of  Crustacea  procured  on  the  west 
coast  of  Ireland  during  the  Fishery  Sur\ev  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture.  The  following  is  a  list 
of  the  more  important  notes  and  papers  published  by 
him  : — "  A  New  Variety  of  Polydesmus  coriaceus, 
Porat,  and  Note  on  a  Centipede  Monstrositv  "  (Annals 
and  Magazine  of  Natural  History) ;  "  Some  New  Irish 
Myriapods  "  (Irish  Naturalist) ;  "  New  Records  of  Irish 
Myriapods"  (Irish  Naturalist);  "The  Decapoda  Rep- 
tantia  of  the  Coasts  of  Ireland,"  part  i.,  "  Palinura, 
Astacura,  and  Anomura  (except  Paguridea)  "  (Fisheries, 
Ireland,  Sci.  Invest.).  In  addition,  he  had  prepared 
but  left  unpublished  "The  Paguridea  of  the  Coasts  of 
Ireland." 

By  the  deaths  of  Prof.  Johannes  Ranke,  of  the 
University  of  Munich,  and  of  Prof.  Gustav  Schwalbe, 
of  the  University  of  Strasburg,  Germanv  has  lost  two 
of  her  most  renowned  students  of  the  human  body. 
Both  died  full  of  years  and  honours.  Their  careers 
were  remarkably  alike.  Ranke,  who  was  born  in 
1836,  did  his  first  research  on  tetanus,  then  devoted 
himself  to  physiologv",  and,  finallv,  in  the  earlv 
eighties,  took  up  the  study  of  physical  anthropolog\-, 
and  made  many  and  important  contributions  to  our 
knowledge  of  that  subject.  For  manv  vears  he  was 
editor-in-chief  of  the  Archiv  filr'  Anthropologic. 
Schwalbe,  somewhat  Ranke's  junior— he  was  born  in 
1844 — did  his  first  research  on  Infusoria,  then  devoted 
himself  to  the  study  of  the  microscopic  structure  of 
tissues,  his  chief  work  being  an  elaborate  and  accurate 
investigation  of  the  finer  structure  of  the  sense  organs. 
He  taught  and  researched  at  Bonn,  Amsterdam,  Halle, 
Freiburg,  Jena,  and  Konigsberg,  being  ultimately  called 
to  the  chair  of  anatomv  in  Strasburg  in  1883,  where 
he  laboured  for  thirty-six  years.  He  was  well  known 
and  much  respected  by  anatomists  in  every  country. 


488 


NATURE 


[August  io,  1916 


The  worl^  by  which  he  is  best  known,  his  researches 
into  the  nature  of  fossil  apes  and  men,  he  began  rela- 
tively late  in  life.  At  the  end  of  last  century  he  had 
accumulated  such  masses  of  observation  dealing  with 
the  anatomical  evidence  bearing  on  the  origin  of  man 
that  he  founded  and  issued  a  journal-  the  Zeitschrift 
fiir  Morphologic  und  Anthropologic — for  the  publica- 
tion of  papers  dealing  with  the  evolution  of  the  higher 
mammals. 

Among  the  promising  young  geologists  who  have 
given  their  lives  for  their  country  we  regret  to  note 
the  name  of  Lieut.  Richard  Roy  Lewer,  King's  Royal 
Rifle  Corps.  He  died  on  July  21  of  wounds  received 
a  few  days  previously,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six.  He 
was  the  elder  son  of  Mr.  H.  VV.  Lewer,  of  Priors, 
Loughton,  Essex,  and  was  educated  at  Denstone 
College,  and  afterwards  at  Wren's.  On  the  outbreak 
of  war  he  was  carrying  on  geological  exploration  at 
Calgary,  but  at  once  returned  to  England  to  take  up 
military  duties,  and  was  gazetted  second  lieutenant 
on  September  24,  19 14,  and  lieutenant  on  February 
22,  1915.  He  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Geological 
Society  in  191 1,  and  joined  the  Geologists'  Asso- 
ciation in  1914.  His  principal  geological  work  had 
consisted  in  professional  oil  exploration,  which  he  had 
carried  out  in  Burma,  Russia,  Asia,  and  Western 
Canada. 

The  death  is  announced,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine 
years,  of  Mr.  Morton  A.  Smale,  for  many  years  dean 
of  the  Royal  Dental  Hospital,  examiner  in  dental  sur- 
gery at  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  England, 
and  joint  author  of  "  Injuries  and  Diseases  of  the 
Teeth." 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  British  Pharma- 
ceutical Conference,  held  on  July  12,  the  president 
(Dr.  David  Hooper)  devoted  his  address  chiefly  to  an 
account  of  the  drug  resources  of  India  and  the  Colo- 
nies. India  is  rich  in  drugs ;  our  ancestors  long  ago 
sailed  thither  to  fetch  "spices,  precious  stones,  and 
drugges  for  the  Poticaries."  Amongst  the  products 
to  which  attention  was  directed  are  cinchona,  senna, 
strychnine,  opium,  turpentine,  and  thymol,  not  to 
mention  frankincense  and  rayrrh,  which  are  still  sold 
from  the  godowns  of  Bombay.  Thousands  of  acres 
of  cinchona  are  now  grown  near  Darjeeling  and  in 
the  Nilgiri  Hills,  and  this  is  noted  as  "a  grand  result 
in  acclimatisation,"  due  to  the  pioneer  work  of  the 
late  Sir  Clements  Markham.  Indian  henbane  has 
been  found  to  give  a  high  yield  of  mydriatic  alkaloids, 
which  are  now  becoming  very  valuable.  Cantharidin, 
too,  is  furnished  in  high  proportion  by  Indian  species 
of  Mylabris.  In  the  Malay  States  ipecacuanha  is  suc- 
cessfully cultivated,  whilst  aloes,  buchu,  belladonna, 
and  monsonia  are  exported  from  South  Africa. 
Coriander  and  caraway  are  cultivated  by  farmers' 
wives  in  the  latter  country  for  the  sake  of  pin-money, 
and  it  is  suggested  that  this  example  might  be  followed 
here  as  an  inducement  to  grow  medicinal  herbs. 

M.  Chambrelent  has  studied  statistically  the  sub- 
ject of  still-births  and  deaths  of  infants  within  three 
days  of  birth  in  France.  He  finds  that  the  annual 
mortality  from  this  cause  is  4  per  cent,  of  births, 
that  it  is  much  greater  in  the  towns  than  in  the 
country,  and  that  it  is  higher  the  more  populous  the 
town.  This  difference  between  town  and  country  he 
considers  to  be  due  to  the  less  hygienic  conditions 
obtaining  in  the  towns,  to  alcoholism,  and  to  chronic 
maladies,  particularly  syphilis  and  tuberculosis,  which 
are  more  prevalent  in  towns  than  in  the  country.  The 
male  sex  is  more  affected  by  still-birth  than  the  female 
sex-  It  is  particularly  at  birth  and  the  few  days 
following  birth  that  this  mortality  among  boys  is  so 

NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


marked,  and  to  a  considerable  degree  it  is  prevent- 
able. Illegitimacy,  as  might  be  expected,  consider- 
ably augments  this  mortality.  The  older  the  mother, 
also,  the  greater  the  mortality,  while  it  is  much  higher 
at  the  first  pregnancy  than  in  subsequent  pregnancies. 
This  mortality  is  a  factor  which  is  by  no  means 
negligible  in  bringing  about  the  depopulation  of 
France    {Revue   scientifique,   July    1-8,    1916,    p.    391). 

The  Indian  Journal  of  Medical  Research  for  April 
(vol.  iii..  No.  4)  contains  a  number  of  papers  on  bac- 
teriology, parasitology,  and  public  health.  Capt. 
Morison  discusses  the  dose  of  alum  necessary  for  the 
purification  of  water  by  precipitation.  He  finds  that 
the  best  dose  of  alum  for  the  perfect  clarification  of 
a  soft  water  is  obtained  by  adding  half  the  equivalent 
weight  of  alum  necessary  to  react  completely  with 
the  alkalinity  calculated  as  calcium  carbonate.  For 
a  hard  water  the  same  rule  holds  good ;  but  an 
equally  good  clarification  can  be  obtained  by  the  use 
of  a  smaller  dose  and  a  mechanical  filter.  A  watery 
solution  of  haematoxylin  gives  a  reddish  colour  when 
the  correct  dose  has  been  given. 

In  second  series,  part  ii.,  vol.  xvi.,  of  the  Journal 
of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Philadelphia, 
Mr.  C.  B.  Moore  presents  an  elaborate  memoir  on 
the  exploration  of  aboriginal  sites  in  the  Tennessee 
River  valley.  The  report  would  have  been  more  valu- 
able if  it  had  been  accompanied  by  a  summary  and 
some  attempt  to  assign  the  remains  to  a  particular 
tribe  or  group  of  tribes ;  but  it  contains  abundant 
materials  for  a  study  of  Indian  mortuary  customs. 
The  district  has  suffered  much  from  the  depre- 
dations of  curio-hunters,  and  the  trade  of  "  fak- 
ing "  flint  implements  seems  to  be  a  thriving 
one.  The  finest  thing  found  is  a  splendid 
native  pipe,  cut  in  Catlinite  or  some  similar  red  stone, 
representing  a  figure  bent  on  pjie  knee,  the  bowl  and 
place  for  the  mouthpiece  being  in  the  back  of  the 
carving.  It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  im- 
portance of  this  admirable  specimen,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  best  examples  of  the  art  of  the 
aborigines.  He  also  found  specimens  of  a  reel-shaped 
decoration  in  copper,  which  seems  to  have  served  as  a 
pendant  or  breast  ornament.  Only  one  other  speci- 
men of  this  type  appears  to  be  in  existence.  We  have 
also  the  record  of  the  first  discovery  of  cowrie  shells 
in  an  aboriginal  mound.  The  date  and  mode  of  their 
introduction  are  questions  of  some  difficulty,  and  Dr. 
W.  H.  Dall,  writing  to  the  author,  says  : — "  Your 
cowries  may  have  come  off  one  of  Columbus's  own 
ships !  " 

In  vol.  Ixiv.,  No.  3322,  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Society   of    Arts,    Sirdar    Daljit    Singh,    of    the    India 
Council,  gives  a  good  account  of  the  Sikhs.     The  sect 
at  present  numbers  about  five  millions.     It  is  well  to 
have  a  description  by  an  expert  of  the  remarkable  rite 
of  pahul,  or  initiation.     An  iron  vessel  is  brought  intoj 
the    assemblage,    in   which   a    mixture    of    water    and 
sugar   is  placed.      This   is   stirred   with   the    point  ' 
a  sword    while  the  Japji  and  a  collection  of  sayini: 
of  Guru   Govind,   who  died  a  martyr  in   the  time  > 
the   Emperor  Aurangzeb,   are   recited.        Some  of  tb 
mixture  is  poured  over   the   heads  of  the   candidate 
for    initiation,    and    the    rest    is    drunk.     The    Sirdr: 
rightly  directs  attention  to  the  fact  that  Sikhism  is 
literary  religion,  and  to  the  beauties  of  the  Granth,  ( 
Scripture,  of  the  sect.     He  also  pays  a  well-deserve., 
tribute  to  the  loyalty  and  bravery  of  his  brethren  in 
the  present  war. 

The  apparent  ease  with  which  the  ancient  Eg\'ptiar 
cut  so  stubborn  a  material  as  granite  has  long  occupie 
the  attention  of  Egyptologists.     In  part  iii.  of  Anciei. 


August  io,  1916I 


NATURE 


4S9 


Egypt  for  1916  Mr.  Somers  Clarke  describes  how 
granite  boulders  from  which  building  stone  for  the 
Aswan  Dam  was  procured  were  dealt  with  by  a  party 
of  quarrymen  imported  from  Baveno,  in  North  Italy. 
A  vertical  cut  was  made  across  the  boulder,  and  it 
was  split  by  wedges,  each  group  containing  two 
pairs  of  wedges  side  by  side,  driven  into  holes  made 
with  steel  points.  Dressing  was  done  by  means  of  a 
heavv  metal  tool,  not  unlike  an  adze,  with  its  sharp 
end  serrated.  This  was  let  fall  vertically  on  the  face 
of  the  stone,  and  by  means  of  it  all  inequalities  were 
removed.  In  the  same  connection,  Mrs.  Bertha 
Broadwood  describes  the  method  in  use  at  the  granite 
hills  in  Mysore.  A  line  of  small  hollows  is  worked 
on  the  surface  of  the  rock,  a  little  straw  is  burnt  over 
the  hollows,  a  cupful  of  water  is  poured  in,  and  the 
rock  is  thus  split  along  the  line  of  hollows  to  the 
depth  of  several  inches.  It  ma}-  also  be  noticed  that 
"feathers,"  or  slips,  of  sheet  metal  are  in  Egypt  placed 
on  each  side  of  the  wedges  to  prevent  them  from 
crushing  and  grinding  the  edfi[es  of  the  grooves,  which 
would  waste  the  force  used  in  merely  enlarging  the 
hole.  These  do  not  seem  to  have  been  used  before 
Roman  times. 

A  RECENT  number  of  the  Bulletin  of  Entomological 
Research  (vol.  vii.,  part  i)  contains,  among  other 
papers,  one  by  Dr.  A.  E.  Cameron  describing  some 
experiments  on  the  breeding  of  the  man  gold- fly. 
This  student  has  already  identified  this  common 
farm  pest  {Pegomyia  hetae,  Curtis)  as  P. 
hyoscyami,  Panz.,  the  maggots  of  which  often 
mine  the  leaves  of  Belladonna  and  other  Solanaceae. 
He  now  shows  that  flies  reared  from  Belladonna 
will,  in  the  absence  of  that  plant,  lay  eggs  on  mangold 
leaves,  in  which  the  maggots  complete  their  trans- 
formations. Curiously,  flies  reared  from  mangolds 
could  not  be  induced  to  lay  eggs  on  the  closely  allied 
sugar-beet.  The  dock-mining  maggots  belong  to  a 
distinct  species  of  Pegomyia — P.  hicolor,  Wied — which 
will  not  lay  eggs  on  either  mangold  or  beet. 

i  Another  destructive  dipteran  crop  pest  of  the  British 
Islands,  the  cabbage-root  maggot  [Phorbia  brassicae), 
which  is  also  common  and  harmful  in  North  America, 
is  described  at  length  by  A.  Gibson  and  R.  C. 
Treherne  in  Bulletin  12  of  the  Canadian  Department 
of  Agriculture  (Entomological  Branch).  The  nearly 
allied  P.  fusciceps  and  the  onion  maggot  {Hylemyia 
antiqua)  are  also  dealt  with.  This  bulletin  is  impor- 
tant for  the  careful  records  of  generations  through  the 
yearly-  cycle  and  the  variation  in  the  numbers  of  eggs 
laid  in  the  diff^erent  months;  also  for  some  excellent 
photographs  of  the  damage  caused  by  the  maggots  to 
plants.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  tarred  discs  for  pro- 
tecting cabbage  plants  from  egg-laying  by  the  fly 
are  "  widely  used  by  market  gardeners  "  in  Canada, 
whereas  suggestions  to  try  them  in  these  countries 
usually  give  rise  to  contemptuous  amusement.  The 
iarv«  of  P,  fusciceps  eat  a  great  variety  of  plants, 
t>ut  occasionally  they  seek  a  change  of  diet  by  devour- 
[ing^  locusts'  eggs. 

!    Publication  253  of  the  Queensland  Geological  Sur- 
ivey  contains  a  description  "by  R.  J.  Tillvard  of  some 
Mesozoic  and  Tertiary  insects,  mostlv  collected  by  the 
:hief  Government  geologist,  B.   Dunstan,  who  contri- 
butes notes  on  the  stratigraphical  position.       Most  of 
•-he  specimens   come   from   a   thin   bed   in    the    Coal 
VIeasures  of  Ipswich,  South  Queensland,  for  which  a 
Triassic   age   is    now   claimed.     These    represent   new 
•^"'-ra  of  Blattoidea  (i),  Protorthoptera  (2),  Coleoptera 
Mecoptera(i),  Protohemiptera  (i),  and   Hemiptera 
besides  a   new   and   interesting  archaic    Odonate 
the  wing  of  a  supposed  Lepidopteron  (Dunstania, 
XO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


n.g.),  which,  however,  is  perhaps  more  comparable 
with  such  a  Dipteron  as  Psychoda.  Triassic  insects 
are  little  known,  and  we  are  glad  to  learn  that  this 
is  only  a  foretaste  of  what  may  be  expected  from  the 
Ipswich  bed,  in  which  the  combination  of  archaic 
with  more  modern  specialised  types  is  particularly 
marked.  From  the  Jurassic  Wianamatta  shales  of 
St.  Peter's,  near  Sydney,  are  some  new  genera  of 
Blattoidea  and  Coleoptera,  as  well  as  a  Protortho- 
pteron,  Mesotatan,  with  a  forewing  estimated  to 
measure  9  in.  by  3  in.,  recalling  the  huge  Titano- 
phasma  of  the  Commentry  Coal  Measures,  and  afford- 
ing yet  another  instance  of  the  persistence  of  archaic 
tjpes  in  the  Australian  fauna.  The  wing  of  a  Neuro- 
pteron  from  the  Tertiary  shales  of  Goodna,  Queens- 
land, is  referred  to  the  Osmylidae  under  the  new 
generic  name,  Euporismites.  The  poor  impressions 
of  a  dragon-fly  larva  from  the  Tertiary  or  Cretaceous 
shale  of  Duaringa  scarcely  w^arrant  the  introduction 
of  a  new  generic  name,  even  if  it  were  ever  wise  to 
base  a  new  genus  on  the  larva  alone. 

The  New  South  Wales  Department  of  Mines  is 
publishing  a  very  elaborate  monograph  upon  the 
geology  and  mineral  resources  of  the  southern  coal- 
field, of  which  part  i.,  dealing  with  the  south  coastal 
portion,  by  Mr.  L.  F.  Harper,  has  just  been  issued  in 
the  form  of  a  handsome  volume  of  more  than  400  pages 
with  numerous  illustrations.  The  Permo-Carbonifer- 
ous  formations  within  the  area  described  are  divided 
into  four  series,  namely,  (i)  upper  (Bulli-Newcastle) 
coal  measures,  (2)  middle  (East  Maitland  or  Tomago) 
coal  measures,  (3)  upper  marine  series,  (4)  lower  (Clyde- 
Greta)  coal  measures.  The  upper  marine  series  has 
not  been  found  to  contain  any  productive  coal  seams, 
and  only  the  first-named  series  has  hitherto  been 
found  to  be  of  any  value  as  a  coal  producer,  the  seams 
of  the  middle  coal  measures  being  of  poor  quality, 
whilst  the  areas  of  the  lower  coal  measures  are  com- 
paratively small,  and  the  coal  in  them  is  of  variable 
quality.  The  workable  area  of  the  upper  coal 
measures  is  estimated  at  about  350  square  miles;  it 
contains  seven  coal  horizons,  of  which  the  uppermost, 
or  BuIH,  coal  seam  is  practically  the  sole  source  of 
ooal  supply.  This  seam  appears  to  vary  from  2  ft. 
to  9  ft.  in  thickness,  and  "rolls"  and  wash-outs 
appear  to  be  numerous.  The  coal  is  of  fair  quality, 
but  contains  a  rather  high  percentage  of  ash.  The 
geology  of  the  coal  seams  as  exposed  in  the  various 
collieries  is  described  in  much  detail  in  the  memoir. 

The  Transactions  of  the  Geological  Society  of  South 
Africa,  vol.  xviii.  (1916),  include  a  long  paper  by  ^Mr. 
E.  T.  Mellor  on  the  Upper  Witwatersrand  system,  in 
which  a  case  is  made  out  for  a  deltaic  origin  of  a  large 
part  of  the  strata.  The  quartzites,  banded  iron-ores, 
and  other  features  interestingly  resemble  those  of  the 
Algonkian  beds  of  North  America.  In  the  discussion 
on  this  paper  (Proc,  ibid.,  p.  42)  Prof.  Schwarz 
regards  the  conglomeratic  layers  as  incompatible  with 
delta-flats,  and  as  produced  by  temporary  floods  run- 
ning from  mountain-sides  over  the  accumulations  of 
normally  dr)^  plain-lands. 

The  tern  "  peneplain  "  has  undergone  modification 
in  meaning,  and  sometimes  in  spelling,  since  it  was 
first  introduced  by  Prof.  W.  M.  Davis  in  i88g.  In 
the  Geographical  Review  for  June,  vol.  i..  No.  6, 
Prof.  D.  W.  Johnson,  of  Columbia  University,  pleads 
for  an  extension,  and  at  the  same  time  precision,  in 
its  use.  He  suggests  writing  the  word  "p>eneplane" 
and  using  it  for  the  penultimate  stage  in  any  cycle  of 
erosion.  The  word  "plane"  he  would  use  for  the 
level  erosion  surface  produced  in  the  ultimate  stage, 
and  "plain,"  as  generally  used,  for  a  low-relief  region 


490 


NATURE 


[August  io,  191 6 


of  horizontal  rocks.  The  question  is,  of  course,  a 
technical  one  for  geographers  to  decide,  and  Prof. 
Johnson's  short  paper  is  worth  consideration. 

In  recent  years  the  intercorrelation  of  meteoro- 
logical data  in  different  parts  of  the  world  has  sug- 
gested important  results  which  promise  to  have  con- 
siderable economic  value.  Dr.  G,  T.  Walker,  Direc- 
tor-General of  Observatories  in  India,  has  published 
a  memorandum  regarding  the  probable  amount  of 
monsoon  rainfall  in  1916  (Simla:  Government  Press; 
8  annas).  Data  from  South  America,  the  Indian 
Ocean,  and  Ceylon,  as  well  as  from  India,  are  briefly 
considered,  and  the  result  is  to  lead  Dr.  Walker  to 
suggest  that  the  outlook  for  the  general  monsoon 
rainfall  of  India  is  on  the  whole  unfavourable  this 
year,  and  that  the  rainfall  is  likely  to  be  in  slight  or 
moderate  defect,  at  any  rate  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
season.  The  deficiency  is  likely  to  be  most  marked 
in  north-west  India,  while  conditions  appear  to  be 
favourable  in  Lower  Burma,  Assam,  Malabar,  and 
south-east  Madras.  Forecasting  of  this  nature  is  still 
in  its  infancy,  but  Dr.  Walker's  attempt  is  most 
interesting,  and  promises  to  grow  in  value  year  by 
year. 

The  August  "  Catalogue  of  Books  in  Standard 
Literature  "  of  Mr.  F.  Edwards,  High  Street,  Maryle- 
bone,  contains  many  works  dealing  with  general 
natural  history,  botany,  conchology,  ornithology,  mam- 
malia, entomology,  and  ichthyology. 


OVR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

The  August  Meteors. — Mr.  Denning  writes  : — 
"There  is  every  indication  that  the  Perseid  display  of 
igi6  will  be  of  rather  unusual  activity.  The  shower 
was  quite  rich  on  July  31,  August  i  and  5,  and 
evidently  increasing.  Some  fine  meteors  were  ob- 
served, and  especially  on  July  26,  loh.  7m.,  August  2, 
iih.  41m.,  August  3,  gh.  44m.,  and  August  5,  gh.  14m. 
That  on  the  latter  date  was  a  fireball,  and  it  formed  a 
brilliant  spectacle  as  seen  from  Bristol,  falling  from 
Cygnus  to  Ophiuchus. 

"The  maximum  of  the  shower  will  probably  be 
attained  on  Friday,  August  11,  but  there  will  be  many 
meteors  visible  also  on  August  12.  The  display  is 
one  noted  for  its  long  duration,  but  the  really  active 
phase  of  the  phenomenon  is  included  within  one  or 
two  nights. 

"The  average  height  of  the  Perseids  is  from  81  to  53 
miles,  and  their  velocity  38  miles  per  second.  Their 
flights  are  directed  from  the  north-eastern  sky,  the 
radiant  at  44° +  57°  in  Perseus  being  situated  in  that 
quarter  of  the  heavens. 

"The  time  of  maximum  should  be  carefully  deter- 
mined, and  the  horary  numbers  ascertained  during 
the  nights  of  August  11  and  12.  The  moon,  however, 
being  very  nearly  full,  will  prevent  many  of  the  smaller 
meteors  being  observed. 

"The  more  brilliant  objects  should  be  especially 
noted,  and  their  paths  among  the  stars  recorded  as 
accurately  as  possible.  The  phosphorescent  streaks 
which  are  generated  along  the  courses  enable  the  direc- 
tion to  be  exactly  registered  on  a  star  map  or  celestial 
globe.  These  Perseids  furnish  many  fine  meteors,  and 
fireballs  frequently  occur  among  them.  In  the  case 
of  one  of  the  streaks  or  afterglows  remaining  visible 
for  several  minutes,  its  drift  amongst  the  neighbour- 
ing stars  should  be  noted  as  precisely  as  possible." 

July  Meteors. — Mr.  Denning  writes: — "The  very 
fine  summer  weather  prevailing  during  the  latter  half 
of  July  enabled  a  large  number  of  observations  to  be 
obtained.     The  first  Perseids  were  detected  on  July  8, 

NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


but  the  shower  was  not  very  prominent  until  July  3 
and  August  i.  A  splendid  meteor  was  seen  from  it 
or  possibly  from  a  contemporary  display  in  the  sam 
region,  on  July  2b,  at  loh.  7m. 

"There  was  a  very  active  radiant  of  slow  and  bril 
liant  meteors  from  the  point  at  about  302° -8°  fron 
July  7  to  the  end  of  the  month,  and  it  was  still  visibli 
on  August  2.  Twenty  of  its  meteors  were  recorded  a 
Bristol,  and  many  others  were  seen  by  Mrs.  Fiam 
metta  Wilson  at  Totteridge.  Six  of  the  meteors  wen 
doubly  observed,  and  their  real  paths  have  been  com 
puted. 

"During  the  last  week  of  the  month  the  Aquaric 
shower  came  actively  into  play  from  338°— 11°.  Thi; 
stream  has  been  only  scantily  visible  in  the  past  few 
years,  but  its  return  in  1916  showed  it  to  have  re 
covered  its  old-time  prominence.  The  chief  radiant! 
seen  were  : — 


July 

31 

3'+53i 

8|'s 

Perseids 

August  I 

31  +  55 

10  I  '.s 

, 

, 

Tuly 

25-29    ... 

36  +  47 

7l's 

e  Perseifls 

July 

7- August  2 

302-   8 

20  I 's 

aCi 

pricornid. 

ruly 

23- August 

I 

302  +  24 

6j's 

S^g 

ttids 

July 

23-29    .. 



33^  +  58 

7l's 

C  Cepheids 

July 

23-August 

I 

338-11 

12  J  's 

5  A 

quarids   | 

"The  more 

interesting  real 

paths  were  : — 

J 

G.M.T. 

Height 

Height 

Velocity 

Radu«a 

Mag.. 

at  first. 

at  en 

d.  Path. 

per  sec. 

PoinX 

July 

h.     m. 

Miles 

Mi! 

;s    Miles 

Mile,s 

«i 

8 

I'  59 

>1  -   ? 

77 

51 

121 

32 

2°2  +  2°4 

19 

10  i8i 

I  -  1 

76 

51 

60 

26 

301  -    8 

25 

10  13I 

2-2 

89 

55 

40 

48 

334  +  57 

,, 

II   14 

>  I  -  > 

7:      70 

41 

61 

25 

302-  8^ 

,, 

II  32 

>   9   -2-r 

9    62 

44 

37 

18 

302-  9 

,, 

II  39 

2-    6 

61 

41 

46 

23 

301  - 10 

26 

10    7 

>  I'  -  > 

9       86 

49 

91 

37 

35  +  51 

27 

10  344 

>I  -  > 

69 

60 

52 

•37 

338-14 

'> 

10  15^ 

3-2 

59 

51 

18 

18 

301-  9 

,, 

10  45i 

4-3 

6Q 

43 

36 

54 

332  +  25 

29 

10    3 

>  I  -  > 

I       78 

55 

49 

24 

303-   7 

,, 

10  loi 

2-  > 

[        84 

5« 

118 

48 

5  +  13 

31 

10  39" 

5-4 

61 

55 

80 

40 

342  -  16 

"Observers — Mrs.  Fiammetta  Wilson,  Totteridge; 
Miss  A.  Grace  Cook,  Stowmarket ;  and  the  writer, 
Bristol." 

A  Sun-spot   ix   High   L.atitude. — In   the  course  of 
the  heliographic  work  at  Greenwich,  it  has  been  found 
that  photographs  of  the  sun  taken  at  the  Cape  Ob-i 
servatory  on  December  26,  1915,  show  a  srriall,  but  un- 
mistakable, spot  in  the  extraordinary  latitude  59-6°  S  ' 
This  is  considerably  above  that  of  the  spot  observe 
by  Peters  in  1846,  the  latitude  of  which  was  50-4°,  an 
is  apparently  the  highest  yet  recorded  (Journal  B.A..'\. 
vol.  xxvi.,  p.  292). 

Lowest  effective  Power  of  a  Telescope. — It  hr 
usually  been  considered  that  the  lowest  power  whi( 
can  be  employed  on  a  telescope,  while  retaining  fu 
illumination,  is  one  of  five  to  each  inch  of  apertur< 
this  estimate  being  based  on  the  assumption  that  tl. 
average  diameter  of  the  pupil  of  the  eye  is  one-fift 
of  an  inch.  Mr.  W.  H.  Steavenson  has  investigate 
the  diameter  of -the  pupil  by  flashlight  photograph} 
and  has  found  that  while  one-fifth  of  an  inch  may  b 
a  fair  estimate  of  the  aperture  in  daylight,  one-thir> 
of  an  inch  is  much  nearer  the  aperture  at  night.  A: 
interesting  application  of  this  result  has  been  mad 
by  Naval  Instructor  M.  A.  Ainslie,  R.N.,  in  connec 
tion  with  the  72-in.  mirror  of  the  Rosse  reflector,  tio\ 
included  in  the  collections  at  the  Science  Museun^ 
The  "original"  eyepiece  of  the  great  telescope  ha 
been  found  to  have  an  equivalent  focal  length  c 
77  in.,  giving  a  magnifying  power  of  84  and  a 
emergent  pencil  of  0-855  i"-  diameter.  It  follows  th? 
the    effective    aperture    of    the    speculum,    when   thi; 


August  io,   i9i6j 


NATURE 


491 


I  piece  was  used,  would  be  only  25  in.,  or  approxi- 
itely  equal  in  light-gathering  power  to  a  refractor 
ot  2o-in.  aperture.  A  power  not  less  than  216  would 
be  necessary  to  give  the  full  benefit  of  the  large  mirror. 
Although  the  eyepiece  in  question  was  not  the  only 
one  employed,  it  may  be  important  to  take  account  of 
the  fact  that  some  of  the  observations  at  Parsonstown 
were  not  made  with  the  full  aperture  of  the  telescope 
(Journ.  B.A.A.,  vol.  xxvi.,  p.  302). 

VENTILATION  AND  METABOLISM. 

THE  New  York  State  Commission  on  Ventilation 
has  issued  an  outline  statement  of  the  work 
done  in  1915.  In  the  first  report  the  Commission 
supported  the  view  of  the  English  physiologists,  that 
the  principal  factors  which  make  for  comfort  are 
temperature  humidity  and  air  movement,  and  that  the 
effects  of  poor  ventilation  cannot  be  explained  by  the 
presence  of  volatile  organic  poisons  in  the  air  or  any 
chemical  change  in  the  atmosphere.  Even  slight 
differences  in  temperature  produce  characteristic 
phvsiological  responses  in  the  body,  affecting  the  out- 
put of  physical  work  and  likewise  the  inclination  to  do 
mental  work.  "  In  only  one  respect  did  the  chemical 
quality  of  the  air  breathed  show  any  characteristic 
effect  on  the  body  mechanism,  this  effect  appearing 
in  the  slightly  diminished  appetite  for  food  in  a  stale, 
unventilated  atmosphere." 

The  Commission  has  now  sought  to  find  what 
quality  of  the  stale  used  air  has  this  effect.  Is  it  the 
odour  present?  the  increased  COo?  or  what?  Arti- 
ficial body  odours  and  excess  of  COj  have  been  intro- 
duced into  a  room  ventilated  with  fresh  air,  but  these 
have  not  produced  the  effect  on  the  appetite.  We 
do  not  believe  that  the  Commission  has  ever  properly 
eliminated  the  physical  conditions.  In  their  experi- 
ments they  arranged  that  the  temperature  (wet  anddr\' 
bulb)  should  be  kept  the  same  in  the  ventilated  as 
in  the  stale-air  chamber,  and  in  the  latter  they  placed 
a  table  fan  to  blow  air  upon  the  subjects,  in  order 
to  imitate  the  current  of  air  w'hich  circulated  in  the 
chamber  ventilated  with  fresh  air.  There  is  no  proof 
that  the  fan  had  this  effect.  It  may  not  have  venti- 
lated the  clothes  of  the  subjects  as  effectually  as  the 
current  of  air  did  in  the  fresh-air  chamber.  We  w'ould 
suggest  that  the  rate  of  cooling  be  measured  with 
the  katathermometer.  Until  this  is  done  we  cannot 
accept  the  view  that  the  diminished  appetite  is  due 
to  any  chemical  alteration  of  the  stale  atmosphere. 
It  seems  more  likely  to  be  caused  by  a  diminution  in 
metabolism  resulting  from  a  lessened  rate  of  cooling 
of  the  body  surface. 

The  Commission  says  that  for  extreme  mental  con- 
centration, involving  an  almost  entire  absence  of 
physical  exertion,  a  temperature  of  75°  at  50  per  cent, 
relative  humiditv  was  preferable  to  68°  at  the  same 
humidity,  whereas  for  tasks  involving  greater  motor 
effort,  such  as  typewriting,  the  cooler  temperature 
was  coincident  with  the  greater  output.  Here  again 
data  are  wanted  as  to  rate  of  cooling.  Was  the  atmo- 
sphere a  still  one?  In  this  country  63°  F.  is  regarded 
as  a  suitable  tem{>erature,  but  the  comfort  is  far  more 
a  question  of  rate  of  cooling  than  of  temperature. 
We  would  point  out  that  mental  concentration  which 
demands  an  entire  absence  of  physical  exertion  and 
so  warm  an  atmosphere  tells  against  the  health  of  the 
body;  the  metabolism  is  greatly  reduced,  and  with  it 
the  appetite ;  the  digestive  organs  miss  the  massage 
due  to  bodily  exercise  and  deep  breathing ;  the  circula- 
tion is  not  made  vigorous  by  the  pumping  action  of 
the  skeletal  muscles  and  those  of  respiration ;  and  the 
lunss  are  but  little  expanded  by  the  shallow  breathing. 
Daily  open-air  exercise  is  essential  to  compensate  for 

NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


such  intense  mental  application  if  the  health  is  to  be 
maintained.  Such  work,  together  with  high  feeding, 
alcoholic  pick-me-ups,  and  amusements  taken  in  hot 
atmospheres,  leads  to  the  bodily  flabbiness  and  middle- 
age  degeneration  of  the  business  man.  The  scholar 
requires  his  "constitutional"  or  else  he  will  become 
hypochondriacal. 

The  Commission  has  examined  the  conditions  of  the 
nasal  mucous  membrane  in  hot  and  cold  atmospheres, 
and  generally  confirms  conclusions  reached  by  the  re- 
i  viewer  (c/.  Lancet,  May  10,  1913).  In  the  majority 
of  subjects  examined  the  reaction  from  heat  is  one 
of  increased  swelling,  moisture,  and  redness,  and  the 
reverse  from  cold.  Air  blown  upon  the  face  by  fans 
greatly  modifies  the  effect.  On  eoing  from  the  cold 
to  the  hot  room  with  fans  there  is  a  decrease  in  the 
size  of  the  inferior  turbinates  and  in  the  amount  of 
moisture.  The  characteristic  change  on  passing  from 
the  hot  to  the  cold  condition  with  fans  is  an  increase 
in  the  turbinates  and  secretion.  The  Commis- 
sion reports  that  laundry  workers  show  a  high  per- 
centage of  cases  of  atrophic  rhinitis,  the  result  of 
working  in  hot  humid  atmospheres.  The  changes  of 
the  nasal  membrane  produced  by  environment  must 
materially  affect  the  incidence  of  infection  by  "colds." 
This  subject  is  dealt  w-ith  by  the  reviewer  in  an  article 
published  in  the  British  Medical  Journal  for  April  15, 
1916. 

Mr.  Palmer,  the  chief  of  the  investigating  staff  of 
the  Commission,  has  fashioned  a  new  sampling  appa- 
ratus for  the  determination  of  aerial  dust.  Air  is 
drawn,  by  means  of  an  electric-driven  fan,  through  a 
U-tube  containing  some  water.  The  water  is  thrown 
into  a  spray  formation  in  a  conical  glass  vessel  at- 
tached to  the  U-tube,  and  the  air  is  washed  of  its 
suspended  dust  as  it  passes  through  the  water  shower. 
One  hundred  cubic  feet  of  air  can  be  put  through  in 
thirty  minutes.  The  water  can  be  evaporated  and  the 
dust  weighed,  or  the  dust  can  be  estimated  by  the 
turbidity  of  the  water  against  a  set  of  standards,  or 
the  particles  of  dust — in  a  measured  quantity  of  the 
water — counted  under  the  microscope.  The  pernicious 
effect  of  dust  on  the  lung  is  not  properly  realised  by 
the  public.  Dust  containing  free  silica  is  the  most 
potent  cause  of  phthisis  prevalent  in  miners,  granite 
and  flint  workers,  etc.  The  motor-cars  stir  up  clouds  of 
dust  from  roads  metalled  with  flint  and  granite.  People 
dislike  the  dust  on  their  clothes,  but  do  not  realise 
the  damage  it  causes  to  their  lungs.  All  dusts 
diminish  the  efficiencv  of  the  lungs  and  lead  to 
lessened  expansion  and  shortened  breath — the  asthma 
of  dusty   occupations.  Leonard    Hill. 

THE   AMERICAN    PHILOSOPHICAL 
SOCIETY. 

'X'HE  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Philosophical 
A  Society  was  held  on  April  13-15,  during  which 
nearly  fifty  papers  were  presented  on  a  large  variety 
of  topics.  The  address  of  welcome  was  delivered  by 
Dr.  W.  W.  Keen,  the  president,  who,  with  the  vice- 
presidents.  Dr.  W.  B.  Scott  and  Prof.  E.  C.  Picker- 
ing, presided  at  the  various  meetings. 

We  are  able,  from  the  material  which  the  secretary-. 
Prof.  A.  W.  Goodspeed,  has  sent  us  from  Philadelphia, 
to  give  brief  abstracts  of  some  of  the  papers  which 
were  read. 

Dr.  R.  F.  Bacon,  "The  Work  of  the  Mellon  Insti- 
tute in  its  Relations  to  the  Industries  and  to  the 
Universities  "  : — 

The  first  industrial  fellowship  at  the  Mellon 
Institute  was  founded  through  a  grant  from  a 
baking  company  which  desired  to  improve  its  product. 
The  sum  of  money  given  was  used,  as  has  been  all 


492 


NATURE 


[August  io,  191 6 


the  mortey  which  has  been  subscribed  to  industrial 
fellowships,  with  the  exception  of  small  sums  for  the 
purchase  of  very  special  apparatus,  to  secure  the  ser- 
vices of  a  man  who  had  shown  a  gift,  for  research 
to  devote  all  his  time  to  certain  problems  connected 
with  the  baking  industry.  Durmg  the  five  years 
which  have  elapsed  since  the  establishment  of  the  first 
fellowship  forty-seven  distinct  business  organisations 
have  endowed  one  hundred  and  five  one-year 
fellowships.  The  total  amount  of  money  contributed 
to  the  institute  for  the  five  years  ending  March  i, 
1916,  was  72,oooi.  In  addition  to  this  sum  4260!. 
was  awarded  in  bonuses  to  fellows  for  the  successful 
completion  of  problems.  During  the  five  years  the 
institute  itself  expended  about  35,000/.  Besides  this 
amount,  the  building  and  permanent  equipment  of  the 
institute  represent  an  investment  of  between  6o,oooi. 
and  70,000/.  That  the  results  obtained  under  the  in- 
dustrial fellowship  system  of  the  Mellon  Institute  have 
justified  the  expenditure  of  these  sums  of  money  has 
been  shown  by  the  fact  that  during  the  first  four  years 
seven  out  of  each  ten  problems  assigned  to  the  institute 
for  study  were  solved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  donors. 
A  large  percentage  of  the  fellowships  were  renewed, 
showing  the  confidence  which  industrialists  have  in  the 
institute.  Twenty-five  patents  have  been  granted  to 
the  holders  of  fellowships,  and  there  are  as  many  more 
pending.  Above  all,  some  twenty  new  processes 
developed  in  the  Institute  are  now  in  actual  operation 
on  commercial  scales. 

Dr.  G.  F.  Atkinson,  "The  Fj  Generations,  and 
Back-  and  Inter-crosses  of  the  Fi  Hybrids  between 
CEnothera  nutans  and  pycnocarpa  "  : — 

The  result  of  the  observations  shows  that  in  the  Fi 
generation  from  a  cross  between  two  feral,  non-mutat- 
ing species  quadruplet  hybrids  appear  in  the  Fi  gene- 
ration ;  one  is  n  blend  and  self-sterile,  but  its  pollen 
and  egg  cells  are  fertile;  two  of  the  degregates  are 
fixed  types  and  breed  true,  while  the  fourth  hybrid 
(third  segregate)  appears  to  split  in  the  second  genera- 
tion. The  back-  and  inter-crosses  show  either  striking 
examples  of  patrocliny,  or  splitting  into  two  types. in 
some  cases,  into  three  types  in  other  cases.  But  no 
new  types  (with  a  single  exception)  appear;  ihey  all 
conform  to  one  or  other  of  the  six  types,  the  primary 
parental  types,  or  one  or  more  of  the  Fj  hybrid  types. 
The  single  exception  is  a  mutant  of  the  dwarf  gracilis 
type. 

Prof.  J.  M.  Coulter,  "  Inheritance  through 
Spores  "  : — 

The  current  work  in  plant  genetics  suggests  the 
question  of  the  most  favourable  material.  If  sexual 
forms  are  desirable,  it  seems  obvious  that  the  most 
primitive  should  be  included  in  experimental  mate- 
rial, since  in  such  forms  the  sex  act  is  not  in- 
volved with  other  structures,  the  origin  of  the  sexual 
cells  is  observable,  and  the  whole  situation  lends  itself 
to  more  complete  control  and  analysis.  The  sexual 
cells,  however,  are  genetically  related  to  spores,  so  that 
the  origin  of  spores  and  their  behaviour  in  reproduc- 
tion are  preliminary  to  the  origin  of  gametes  and 
sexual  reproduction.  Reproduction  by  spores,  therefore, 
is  a  field  rich  in  experimental  possibilities.  Analysis  of 
the  conditions  of  spore  formation  furnishes  a  clue  to 
the  additional  conditions  necessary  for  gamete  forma- 
tion;  experimental  modification  of  the  "germ  plasm" 
is  more  simple  and  definite  than  in  complex  material ; 
and  breeding  from  spores  with  essentially  pure  lines 
is  especially  favourable  for  securing  more  definite  data 
in  reference"  to  the  possibilities  of  variation  and  in- 
heritance. 

Prof.  W.  J.  V.  Osterhout,  "The  Dynamics  of 
Antagonism  "  : — 

If  two  toxic  substances  ainagonise  each  other  this 
is  called  action  antagonism.  An  accurate  measure  of 
NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


antagonism  is  afforded  by  determining  the  electrical 
resistance  of  living  tissues.  Toxic  substances  cause  a 
fall  of  resistance,  but  if  in  a  mixture  of  two  such 
substances  resistance  falls  less  rapidly,  it  is  evident  that 
this  is  due  to  antagonism.  In  the  case  of  the  common 
kelp,  Laminaria,  NaCl  causes  a  fall  of  resistance, 
while  CaClj  causes  a  rise,  followed  by  a  fall,  of  resist- 
ance. In  mixtures  of  NaCl  and  CaClj  tne  resistance 
rises  and  then  falls ;  by  using  the  right  proportions  the 
fall  may  be  made  very  gradual.  These  facts  may  be 
explained  by  assuming  that  the  resistance  is  due  to  a 
substance  the  production  of  which  is  accelerated  by 
CaClj,  while  its  decomposition  is  checked  by  a  com- 
pound formed  by  the  union  of  both  NaCl  and  CaCl, 
with  a  substance  in  the  protoplasm.  This  throws  new 
light  on  the  manner  in  which  salts  act  in  preserving 
life.  It  has  been  found  that  the  electrical  resistance 
rs  a  very  delicate  and  accurate  indicator  of  the  vitality 
of  protoplasm,  since  any  kind  of  Injury  is  at  once 
indicated  by  a  fall  of  resistance.  This  permits  a  quan- 
titative meaning  to  be  given  to  such  terms  as  vitality, 
injury,  recovery,  and  death.  The  mechanism  by  which 
changes  in  resistance  are  produced  by  salts  is  therefore 
of  great  importance.  The  facts  here  presented  give 
a  new  insight  into  this  mechanism. 

Prof.  F.  Ehrenfeld,  "Jointing  as  a  Fundamental 
Factor  In  the  Degradation  of  the  LIthosphere  "  : — 

In  most  text-books  the  question  of  land  surface" 
levelling  or  degradation  is  considered  more  from  the 
view-point  of  the  atmospheric  or  other  surface  cause 
than  from  that  of  the  construction  of  the  solid 
portions  of  the  earth  itself.  This  Is  a  somewhat  mis- 
taken view  to  take  of  the  case,  as  the  stony  mass 
of  the  earth  has  been  shown  by  many  geologists  to  be 
subject  to  a  constant  fracturing,  or  jointing,  which 
shows  itself  in  various  ways,  such  as  influence  on 
river  drainage,  repeated  groups  of  islands,  bays  along 
sea  coasts,  and  in  certain  types  of  volcanic  and  earth- 
quake appearances.  The  paper  discussed  these  and 
also  the  subject  of  marine  planation  to  produce  a 
lowering  of  the  land  below  sea-level.  Illustrations  of 
such  marine  action  were  shown  from  the  Maine  coast 
and  also  from  the  forms  and  positions  of  some  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  Islands.  This  subject  of  the  action  of 
the  sea  to  produce  a  general  levelling,  though  much 
discussed  some  decades  ago,  has  been  neglected  by 
many  modern  students,  but  is  now  becoming  prominent 
under  newer  Ideas,  and  this  paper  is  in  part  a  study 
of  jointing  in  the  mass  of  the  lands  to  assist  in  such 
action  and  hasten  continental  land  levelling  and  de- 
struction by  creating  In  the  rock  mass  through  joints 
great  lines  of  weakness  which,  under  the  attack  of 
both  the  atmosphere  and  the  sea,  compel  the  falling 
apart  of  the  land.  The  author  proposed  a  "law  of 
joints  "  in  which  fhe  controlling  influence  of  joint 
lines  was  more  definitely  stated. 

Prof.  W.  M.  Davis,  "  Sinking  Islands  versus  a 
Rising  Ocean  in  the  Coral-Reef  Problem  "  : — 

Since  Darwin's  voyage  in  the  Beagle,  eighty  years  I 
ago,   nearly  all  geologists  who  adopted  his  theor}'  of  | 
coral  reefs  accepted  also   his   postulate  that  the  reef- 
bearing  islands  have  subsided  with  the  subsiding  ocean 
bottom.     In  later  years,  and  largely  under  the  leader- 
ship   of   Suess   and   Penck,    the   possible  variation    of 
ocean  level  around  fixed  Islands  has  been  emphasised.  1 
When  it  is  seen  that  a  rise  of  the  ocean  surface  around  j 
still-standing  islands  would  produce  all  the  conditions  > 
that  arise  from  Darwin's  postulate  of  subsiding  islands 
in  an  ocean  of  constant  level,  search  should  be  rnade 
for  some  means  of  evaluating  these  two  alternatives. 
The  result  of  such  a  search  shows  that  the  theorv  of 
a  changing  ocean  involves  many  extravagant  complica- 
tions  which  have  not  been   sufficiently  considered  by 
those  w^ho  accepted  it ;  while  the  theory  of  subsiding 
islands  is  relatively  simple  and  economical.     Darwin  s 


August  io,  191 6] 


NATURE 


493 


iginal       theory      is     to     be      preferred      on      those 
,  rounds. 

Prof.  J.  P.  Iddings,  "The  Petrology  of  some  South 
Sea  Islands  and  its  Significance"  : — 

The  islands  of  Tahiti,  Moorea,  Huaheine,  Raiatea, 
Tahaa,  Bora  Bora,  of  the  Society  group,  and  Hiva-oa 

id  Nukahiva,  of  the  Marquesas,  were  visited  in  order 

1  ascertain  whether  the  volcanic  rocks  composing 
them  are  of  such  a  character  that  they  support  the 
theory  of  isostacy,  which  demands  that  the  deep  por- 
tions of  the  earth's  crust,  or  the  lithosphere,  under 
the  Pacific  Ocean  should  consist  of  heavier  material 
than  that  underlying  the  continent  of  North  America. 
It  was  found  that  the  volcanic  rocks  of  these  islands 
are  noticeably  heavier  on  the  average  than  the  igneous 
rocks  occurring  in  various  parts  of  the  American  con- 
tinent. Each  of  the  islands  visited  was  found  to  be  an 
extinct  basaltic  volcano,  considerably  eroded,  and 
partly  submerged  beneath  the  sea. 

Prof.  J.  J.  Stevenson,  '"Coal  Formation": — 

The  doctrine  that  the  fossil  fuels  from  peat  to 
anthracite  are  a  continuous  series  has  been  the  subject 
of  renewed  discussion  within  recent  years.  The  author 
felt  compelled  to  make  serious  investigation  to  free 
himself  from  doubts  aroused  by  the  statements  of  some 
authors.  The  general  study  has  advanced  so  far  as  to 
'  justify  presentation  of  the  first  part  of  his  monograph. 
The  plan  adopted  is  to  discuss  the  fuels  in  order  of 
age,  beginning  with  peat  and  closing  with  the  Palaeo- 
zoic coals.  The  first  part  considers  peat  and  the 
Tertiary  coals ;  the  second  will  consider  the  Mesozoic 
and  the  Palaeozoic  coals.  The  author  hopes  to  make 
evident  the  inherent  probability  of  the  doctrine  that, 
in  spite  of  difference  in  plant  materials,  the  coals 
throughout  form  a  connected  series,  not  merelv  in 
mode  of  accumulation,  but  also  in  phvsical  structure 
and   in   chemical   composition. 

Mr.  G.  Scatchard  and  Prof.  M.  T.  Bogert,  ".\  New 
and  very  Sensitive  Indicator  for  Acidimetr^'  and  Alkali- 
metr\-  and  for  Determining  Hydrogen  Ion  Concentra- 
tions between  the  limits  of  6  and  8  on  the  Sorensen 
Scale  "  :— 

The  authors  have  discovered  that  dinitrobenzoylene 
urea  is  an  unusually  sensitive  indicator,  and  one  which 
can  be  prepared  easily,  in  any  desired  amount,  from 
anthranilic  acid.  It  changes  from  colourless  to 
greenish-yellow  with  a  change  in  hydrogen  ion  con- 
centration from  IO-*  to  lo-*,  the  development  of  the 
colour  following  regularly  the  decreasing  concentration 
of  hydrogen  ion.  It  is  very  little  aflfected  by  neutral 
salts  or  proteins,  and  not  at  all  by  the  ordinary  bio- 
logical preservatives,  chloroform  and  toluene.  The  colour 
does  not  fade  perceptibly  in  two  days,  and  does  so  but 
very  slightly  in  a  week.  It  therefore  promises  to  be 
very  useful  in  the  measurement  of  hvdrogen  ion  con- 
centration of  biological  or  other  liquids  in  this  impor- 
tant range,  for  which  the  previously  known  indicators 
are  not  very  satisfactorv. 

Dr.  F.  W.  Clarke,  "The  Inorganic  Constituents  of 
Marine  Invertebrates  "  : — 

It  is  a  commonplace  of  geology  that  many  lime- 
stones are  formed  from  the  remains  of  marine 
animals,  such  as  corals,  molluscs,  crinoids,  etc.  Some 
of  these  limestones  are  magnesian,  some  are  phos- 
phatic,  and  others  are  of  the  ordinary  type,  consisting 
chiefly  of  calcium  carbonate.  They  were  originally 
deposited  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  their  composi- 
tion depends  upon  the  composition  of  the  organisms 
which  formed  them.  The  present  investigation  has 
for  its  purpose  to  determine  what  each  group  of 
organisms  contributes  to  the  sediments ;  and  in  order 
to  answer  this  question  nearly  250  analyses  have  been 
made  of  the  shells  or  skeletons  of  marine  inverte- 
brates, covering  a  range  from  the  Foraminifera  up 
to  the  Crustacea,  and  including  also  the  coralline 
NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


'  algae.     It    was   already  well   known    that   corals   and 
moUuscan    shells    were    composed    almost    entirely    of 
calcium   carbonate,    and   that    fact   has   been   verified. 
The  shells  of  one  group  of  brachiopods,  however,  con- 
sist largely  of  calcium  phosphate,  and  that  substance 
is   also   abundant    in    the   Crustacea.     These   animals, 
I  and   also   vertebrate    skeletons,    contribute  phosphates 
j  to  the  sediments.     The  Foraminifera,  Alcyonaria,  sea- 
fans,  echinoderms,    and  calcareous   algae,    with   some 
I  minor  groups  or  organisms,  contain  much  magnesia, 
j  and  thereiore  aid  in  the  formation  of  magnesian  lime- 
!  stones.     Curiously  enough,  the  amount  ot  magnesium 
j  carbonate  in  any' series  of  organisms  varies  with  the 
I  temperature  of  the  water  in  which  the  creatures  lived, 
i  being  small   in   cold  and   large   in    warm   waters.     A 
I  sea-urchin    from    Greenland,    for    example,    contained 
6  per  cent,    of  magnesium   carbonate,   and  one   from 
near   the  equator  contained   more    than    13    per   cent. 
In  certain  algae  from  the  West  Indies  25  per  cent,  was 
found.     Furthermore,  some  organisms  have  their  cal- 
cium carbonate  in  the  form  of  aragonite,  and  others 
consist  of  calcite.     The  aragonitic  organisms  are  all 
non-magnesian,    while    the   magnesian    forms   are    aU- 
calcitic.     The  data  obtained  in  this  investigation  have 
been   applied  to  the  study  of  coral  reefs,   which  owe 
their    composition    to    all    the    creatures    living    upon 
them,  and  not  to  the  corals  alone.     In  fact,  the  corals 
are  often  of  less  importance  than  their  associates. 

Dr.  W.  Duane,  'Some  Relations  between  Matter 
and  Radiation  "  : — 

It  is  known  that  the  impacts  of  atoms  of  electricity 
against  atoms  of  ordinary  matter  produce  radiation. 
Mr.  Hunt,  Dr.  Webster,'  and  the  author  have  been 
investigating  the  relations  between  the  energy  of  the 
atom  of  electricity  and  the  frequency  of  the  radiation 
it  produces.  The  most  striking  facts  discovered  are 
that  in  the  case  of  the  so-called  general  radiation  the 
energv  required  is  strictly  proportional  to  that  fre- 
quency, and  in  the  case  of  the  so-called  characteristic 
radiation  the  energy  required  is  larger  than  in  the 
preceding  case  and  not  always  proportional  to  the 
frequency.  High-frequency  vibrations  are  associated 
with  the  central  parts  of  an  atom  of  matter,  in  which 
the  electromagnetic  field  is  very  strong.  In  order  to 
reach  a  p>oint  in  an  atom  of  matter  where  a  given 
frequency  of  vibration  is  produced  the  atom  of  elec- 
tricitv  must  have  at  least  enough  energy  to  over- 
come a  certain  force  of  repulsion  acting  between  them. 
If  we  follow  out  the  line  of  reasoning  and  apply  ivlax- 
well's  distribution  law  and  what  has  been  called  the 
fourth  power  law  to  the  case  of  the  atoms  of  elec- 
tricity flying  about  in  a  hot  body  owing  to  its  thermal 
agitation,  we  arrive  at  an  equation  for  the  distribution 
of  energy  in  the  spectrum  that  represents  the  facts 
with  considerable  precision.  These  laws  discovered- 
by  experimental  investigation  have  a  practical  bearing 
on  X-ray  phenomena  also.  They  indicate  what  must 
be  done  in  order  to  produce  those  very  high-frequency 
radiations  that  hitherto  have  been  obtained  from  radio- 
active substances  only. 

Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer,  "Relation  between  Changes  in 
Solar  .\ctivity  and  the  Earth's  Magnetic  Activity, 
1902-14  "  : — 

No  criterion  of  solar  activity  has  been  found  to  syn- 
chronise precisely  with  any  quantitv  used  as  an  index 
of  the  earth's  magi^etic  actrvitv'.  Thus,  for  example, 
the  maximum  magnetic  activity  in  i8q2  preceded  the 
maximum  sun-spot  activity  of  that  period  bv  a  vear. 
So  again  the  recent  minimum  magnetic  activity  of  the 
earth  seems  to  have  occurred  in  1912.  whereas  the 
minimum  sun-spot  activitv  did  not  take  place  until 
iqi^.  or  a  year  later.  Then  the  amount  of  magnetic 
activity  is  not  necessarily  commensurate  with  that  of 
solar  activity,  whatever  measure  of  the  latter  be 
used.     When  the  comparisons  between  the  solar  data 


494 


NATURE 


[august  io,  1916 


and  the  magnetic  data  are  made  for  intervals  of  less 
than  a  year — a  month,  for  example — the  lack  of  exact 
synchronism  and  the  lack  of  proportionality  between 
the  two  sets  of  changes  become  especially  noticeable. 
Fortunately,  beginning  with  1905,  we  have  a  new  set 
of  figures,  the  values  of  the  solar  constant,  determined 
with  high  precision  at  Mount  Wilson,  California,  by 
Dr.  Abbot.  Remarkable  fluctuations  are  shown  in 
these  values,  amounting  at  times  to  10  per  cent,  of 
the  value.  The  present  paper  makes  a  comparison 
between  the  annual  changes  in  the  values  of  the  solar 
constant  for  the  period  1905  to  19 14,  with  the  irregu- 
larities in  the  annual  changes  of  the  earth's  magnetic 
constant.  It  is  found  that  the  two  sets  of  data,  in 
general,  show  similar  fluctuations.  Also,  a  closer 
correspondence  is  found  between  these  two  sets  of 
changes  than  between  either  set  and  that  of  sun-spot 
frequencies.  In  brief,  the  solar-constant  values  furnish 
another  index  of  changes  in  solar  activity  which  may 
be  usefully  studied  in  connection  with  rninor  fluctua- 
tions in  the  earth's  magnetism. 

Dr.  VV.  Patten,  "Co-operation  as  a  Factor  in 
Evolution  "  : — 

The  purpose  of  this  discussion  is  to  show  that  co- 
operation, or  the  summation  of  power,  is  the  creative 
and  preservative  agent  in  evolution,  and  that  the 
summation  of  power  depends  on  co-operation  in  the 
conveyance  of  power.  Co-operation  in  the  inner  life 
of  the  individual  is  a  pre-requisite  to  co-operation  in 
its  external  life.  The  larger  physical  volume  and 
organic  power  of  the  individual  are  the  means  by 
which  it  finds  the  larger  sources  of  supplies  and  the 
better  ways  of  cosmic  and  social  co-operation.  What 
we  call  "  evil "  is  that  which  prevents,  or  destroys, 
co-operation.  "  Good  "  is  that  which  perpetuates  and 
improves  co-operation.  The  "  struggle  for  existence  " 
is  a  struggle  to  find  better  ways  of  co-operation,  and 
the  "fittest"  is  the  one  that  co-operates  best.  The 
same  laws  which  prevail  in  the  inner  and  outer  life  of 
animals  and  plants  prevail  in  the  social  life  of  man. 
Man's  social  progress  is  measured  by  the  degree  to 
which  he  has  extended  the  mutually' profitable  give- 
and-take  of  co-operative  action  beyond  himself  to  the 
family,  tribe,  and  State,  and  into  the  world  of  life 
at  large.  The  chief  agents  of  civilisation — language, 
commerce,  science,  literature,  art,  and  religion — are 
the  larger  and  more  enduring  Instruments  of  convev- 
ance,  which  better  enable  the  part  and  the  whole  to 
avoid  that  which  is  "  evil  "  and  to  find  that  which  Is 
"good,"  and  which  yields  a  larger  surplus  for  "free- 
dom." 

Prof.  G.  H.  Parker,  "Types  of  Neuromuscular 
Mechanism   In   Sea-Anemones": — 

In  the  origin  of  nerve  and  muscle  the  sea-anemone 
has  been  supposed  to  represent  a  step  In  which  a 
nervous  net  of  very  primitive  structure  could  thrown 
Into  prolonged  contraction  the  general  musculature  of 
the  animal's  body.  An  examination  of  the  body  of 
the  sea-anemone  shows  that  its  muscular  activities 
are  of  a  much  more  diverse  kind.  They  include,  first, 
muscles  that  act  under  direct  stimulation  and  without 
the  Intervention  of  nerves ;  secondlv,  muscles  that  are 
stimulated  directly,  as  well  as  bv  nerves ;  thirdlv, 
muscles  that  are  stimulated  only  by  nerves  and  ex- 
hibit In  these  circumstances  profound  tonic  contrac- 
tions ;  and,  finally,  muscles  that  react  in  the  same 
reflex  way  that  those  in  the  higher  animals  do.  This 
diversity  of  muscular  response  has  not  been  fully 
appreciated  by  previous  workers. 

Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering.  "  Determination  of  Stellar 
Magnitudes  by  Photography  "  : — 

An  Immense  amount  of  work  Is  being  carried  on 
bv  observatories  all  over  the  world  In  determining 
the   photographic   magnitudes   of   the   stars.     It  Is   of 

NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


the  utmost  importance  that  all  these  magnitudes 
should  be  reduced  to  the  same  scale.  Accordingly,  in 
April,  1909,  an  International  Committee  was  appointed, 
with  members  from  England,  France,  Germany,  Hul- 
land,  Kussia,  and  the  United  States.  This  committee 
met  in  1910  and  1913,  and,  after  a  most  amicable 
discussion,  agreed  on  a  system  in  which  all  stars  were 
to  be  referred  to  a  standard  sequence  of  stars  near  the 
North  Pole.  'Ihe  magnitudes  of  the  latter  were  deter- 
mined at  Harvard  by  Miss  H.  S.  Leavitt  by  six 
different  methods,  using  eleven  dllferent  telescopes, 
having  apertures  from  one-half  to  sixty  Inches.  All 
gave  accordant  results,  and  were  adopted  by  the  com- 
mittee. A  simple  method  was  found  for  transferring 
these  magnitudes  to  stars  in  other  parts  of  the  sky, 
but  here  extraordinary  sources  of  systematic  errors 
presented  themselves.  For  example,  if  two  equal  ex- 
posures were  made  on  a  plate,  the  second  was  found 
to  give  fainter  images ;  If,  by  means  of  a  small  prism, 
exposures  were  made  simultaneously  with  ditferent 
ap-.-'ures,  the  smaller  aperture  indicated  a  brighter 
magnitude  than  the  larger  when  the  stars  were 
bright,  and  a  fainter  magnitude  when  they  were  faint. 
The  colour  equation  was  found  to  vary  by  different 
amounts,  not  only  for  difl^erent  instruments,  but  for 
different  magnitudes. 

Miss  A.  J.  Cannon,  "A  New  Catalogue  of  Variable 
Stars  "  : — 

So  great  has  been  the  Increase  in  the  number  of  vari- 
able stars  that  a  new-  catalogue  now  being  compiled 
contains  4641  stars,  of  which  3397,  or  nearly  three- 
quarters  of  the  whole,  have  been  found  at  Harvard, 
and  1244  elsewhere,  by  astronomers  in  nearly  all  por- 
tions of  the  civilised  world.  The  variable  stars  are 
divided  Into  five  classes,  dependent  upon  the  character 
of  their  variation  In  light.  The  periods  vary  from 
three  hours  to  698  'days.  Determination  of  the  periods 
and  light  curves  of  these  stars  constitutes  a  large  piece 
of  work.  Much  has  been  done  at  Harvard  in  this 
field,  and  many  observations  have  been  furnished  by 
other  astronomers  for  such  determinations.  No  more 
suitable  place  could  be  found  for  the  preparati6n  of 
this  catalogue  than  the  Harvard  Observatory,  for  the 
rich  library  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  stellar  photo- 
graphs furnishes  the  only  complete  mdte'rial  in  the 
world  for  the  studv  of  these  stars  during  the  last 
twenty-fiVe  years.  By  examining  the  past  history  of 
a  star  on  these  photographs,  the  investigator  may 
far  more  readily  find  an  answer  to  such  perplexing 
questions  as  to  whether  a  star  is  variable  or  constant, 
what  Is  the  length  of  the  period,  is  the  period  change- 
able,  what  is  the  colour  or  the  spectrum  of  the  star, 
th^n  bv  waiting:  months  or  years  to  accumulate 
additional  observations. 

During  the  morning  of  April  15  the  following 
foreign  members  were  elected  : — Dr.  F.  D.  .Adams, 
F.R.S.,  of  Montreal;  Dr.  W.  L.  Johannsen,  of  Copen- 
hagen ;  and  Dr.  J.  D.  van  der  Waals,  of  Amster- 
dam. 


UNTVERSTTY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

The  sum  of  3000Z.  has  been  bequeathed  to  the  Yale 
University  School  of  Medicine  by  Mr.  Norman  B. 
Bayley. 

Prof.  J.  J.  van  Loghem  has  been  appointed  to  the 
newly  founded  chair  of  tropical  hygiene  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Amsterdam. 

Dr.  R.  Armstrong-Jones  has  resigned,  as  from 
September  next,  after  twentv-three  years'  service,  the 
medical  superintendency  of  Claybury  Asylum. 


August  io,  19 i6] 


NATURE 


495 


The  Gladstone  Memorial  prize  at  the  London  School 
of  Economics  and  Political  Science  has  been  awarded 
to  Mr.  Ramchandra  Mahadev  Joshi,  of  Bombay. 

The  sum  of  10,000/.  in  Consols  has  been  given  by 

Mrs.    Streatfeild,    to    be  held  in   trust  jointly  by  the 

;  Royal  College  of  Physicians  of  London  and  the  Royal 

j  College  of  Surgeons  ot  England,  for  the  promotion  of 

-research. 

The  programme  for  the  session  19 16-17  of  the 
Department  of  Technology  of  the  City  and  Guilds  of 
London  Institute  has  now  been  published  by  Mr.  John 
Murray  at  the  price  of  gd.  net.  It  contains  the  regu- 
lations for  the  registration,  conduct,  and  inspection  of 
classes,  the  examination  of  candidates  in  technological 
subjects,  and  for  the  award  of  teachers'  certificates  in 
manual  training  and  domestic  subjects.  The  sylla- 
buses in  the  following  subjects  have  been  revised  : — 
Gasfitting,  silversmiths'  work,  goldsmiths'  work,  and 
jewelry,  painters'  and  decorators'  work,  and  heating 
and  ventilating  engineering.  Other  syllabuses  have 
been  redrafted,  and  these  include  r^Electrical  installa- 
tion work,  typography,  carpentry  and  joinery,  brick- 
work, masonry,  and  plasterers'  work. 

Work  has  been  begun  upon  the  building  of  the 
Museum  of  the  American  Indian,  at  155th 
Street  and  Broadway,  New  York,  which  is 
to  house  the  ethnological  collection  made  by 
Mr.  George  G.  Heye  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years.  It  will  be  in  charge  of  a  group  of  trustees, 
of  which  Mr.  Heye  himself  is  chairman.  The  ground 
was  given  by  Mr.  .Archer  M.  Huntington,  and  the  cost 
of  the  building,  amounting  to  50,000/.,  has  been  sub- 
scribed by  other  friends  of  Mr.  Heye.  The  collection 
will  be  supplemented  by  the  working  library-  of 
archaeology  which  has  been  brought  together  bv  Prof. 
Marshall  H.  Saville.  of  Columbia  Universitv.  In 
addition  to  Prof.  Saville,  Mr.  George  H.  Pepper,  who 
has  spent  much  time  among  the  Navajo  and  Hopi 
Indians,  will  be  a  member  of  the  staff  of  the  museum. 

.•\t  the  conference  of  presidents  and  other  representa- 
tives of  Canadian  universities  held  at  McGill  Univer- 
sity. Montreal,  in  May  last,  the  following  resolution 
was  unanimously  adopted: — "This  conference  is 
strongly  of  the  opinion  that,  to  strengthen  the  unity 
of  the  Empire,  the  universities  of  Great  Britain  should 
be  urged  to  modify  and  increase  their  graduate  facili- 
ties to  meet  the  needs  especially  of  students  of  the 
Dominion ;  and  also,  to  effect  this  purpose,  that  a 
committee  be  appointed  to  correspond  with  the  univer- 
sities of  Great  Britain,  and  that  the  committee  also 
correspond  with  the  universities  of  France,  with  the 
object  of  increasing  the  number  of  students  from  Cana- 
dian colleges."  The  members  of  the  committee  are 
President  Falconer,  of  Toronto  Universitv;  Sir  W. 
Peterson,  president  of  McGill  Universitv';  Abbe  E. 
Chartier,  of  Laval  Universitv ;  and  Dean'  Cappen,  of 
Queen's  University.  The  ne.xt  conference  will  be  held 
in  Ottawa  in  1917. 

.\  COPY  of  the  prospectus  of  the  university  courses 
in  the  Manchester  Municipal  School  of  Technology  for 
the  session  1916-17  has  been  received.  The  school 
offers  systematic  training  in  the  principles  of  science 
and  art  as  applied  to  mechanical,  electrical,  and  muni- 
cipal and  sanitary  engineering;  architecture  and  the 
building  trades;  the  chemical  industries;  the  textile 
industries;  and  photography  and  the  printing  crafts. 
It  possesses  extensive  laboratories  and  workshops 
equipped  with  full-sized  modern  machinerv.  tools,  and 
apparatus,  including  not  only  machines  of  the  types 
now  in  general  use,  but  also  machines  especiallv  con- 
structed for  demonstration,  experiment,  and  original 
research.     Its   work  includes  advanced  studv  and   re- 


NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


search  in  science  and  technology;  university  courses 
in  the  faculty  of  technology,  leading  to  degrees  in 
applied  science ;  and  part-time  day  and  evening  courses 
for  a  great  variety  of  workers.  Ihe  present  prospectus 
forms  the  first  part  of  the  calendar  of  the  school,  the 
other  activities  of  which  are  to  be  described  and  e.x- 
plained  in  later  parts  of  the  calendar. 

In  his  opening  address  to  the  vacation  course  of 
the  Oxford  School  of  Geography  on  August  3,  Dr.  J. 
Scott  Keltic  reviewed  the  progress  of  geography  during 
the  last  half-century.  This  included,  first,  the  addi- 
tions to  our  knowledge  by  means  of  exploration ; 
secondly,  progress  in  the  methods  of  dealing  with  such 
results;  and  thirdly,  improvements  in  geographical  edu- 
cation.  No  period,  said  Dr.  Keltie,  had  been  so  pro- 
lific in  exploration  since  the  half-century  following  the 
discovery  of  America  by  Columbus.  The  {wo  poles 
have  been  reached,  and  large  additions  made  to  our 
knowledge  of  polar  regions.  The  unknown  two-thirds 
of  Africa  have  been  provisionally  mapped.  Great  areas 
of  North  America  have  been  surveyed  and  occupied, 
and  much  of  South  America  has  been  explored.  The 
map  of  Asia  has  been  largely  reconstructed,  the 
interior  of  Australia  traversed  in  all  directions,  and 
much  of  Europe  re-surveyed.  Lastly,  the  science 
of  oceanography  has  been  created.  Geograph- 
ical research  is  now  conducted  on  scientific  lines,  and 
the  explorer  of  the  future  must  be  differently  equipf>ed 
from  the  pioneer  of  the  past.  Geographical  education 
has  made  strides  in  universities  and  schools,  but  there 
is  still  a  dearth  of  adequately  trained  teachers  to  do 
the  subject  justice. 

The  future  of  the  British  chemical  industries  is  so 
closely  bound  up  with  the  education  of  the  technical 
chemist  that  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  this  constantly 
discussed  in  the  technical  and  daily  Press.  In  the  July 
Engineering  Supplement  of  the  Times  Prof.  F.  G. 
Donnan  deals  with  the  relation  of  the  engineer  and 
the  chemist  from  the  point  of  view  that  it  is  necessary 
to  bridge  the  gap  which  exists  between  our  present 
chemical  and  engineering  laboratories  by  "  inter- 
linking "  laboratories  of  chemical  engineering.  He 
pictures  the  young  chemists  and  engineers  who  intend 
to  enter  the  field  of  applied  chemistry  meeting  here 
and  learning  to  work  together  to  the  great  benefit  of 
the  industries.  Unfortunately,  this  development  is 
hindered,  if  not  prevented,  by  the  British  examination 
degree  sj'stem,  which,  as  Prof.  Donnan  truly  observes, 
is  even  more  powerful  at  the  newer  and  supposedly 
modern  universities  than  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 
The  only  apparent  remedy  is  for  manufacturers  to 
recruit  their  staff  by  taking  men  on  the  personal 
recommendation  of  the  university  professor,  a  course 
which  the  more  enlightened  firms  have  been  following 
for  some  time.  This  involves,  however,  that  the  pro- 
fessor should  have  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
requirements  of  industry,  so  that  he  may  not  recom- 
mend the  wrong  type  of  man.  Prof.  Donnan  lays 
great  stress  on  the  superiority  of  a  training  in  physical 
chemistry  as  the  only  road  to  real  applied  chemistry, 
and  condemns  what  he  terms  the  molecule-juggling 
type  of  chemist  usually  turned  out  from  the  chemical 
laboratories  of  the  universities  and  higher  technical 
schools.  The  training  in  physical  chemistry  as 
sketched  bv  Prof.  Donnan  appears  to  be  open  to  the 
criticism  of  being  too  general  and  not  yielding  a  pro- 
duct of  sufficiently  high  calibre  to  act  in  any  other 
capacity  than  as  departmental  under-manager  in  the 
works.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  industry 
needs  also  men  with  a  real  knowledge  of  chemistry-, 
above  all  of  organic  chemistry,  and,  though  the  de- 
mand for  such  men  is  less  than  that  for  under- 
managers,  they  alone  can  act  to  recreate  the  industrv. 


496 


NATURE 


[August  io,  19 i6 


It  is  within  experience  also  that  the  plant  constructed 
by  the  so-called  chemical  engineer,  meaning  the 
chemist  with  a  knowledge  of  engineering,  is  likely  to 
result  in  heavy  repair  costs.  As  Prof.  Donnan  truly 
indicates,  what  the  industry  wants  is  the  association 
of  specialists  in  both  sciences,  each  understanding 
enough  of  the  other's  profession  to  enable  them  to 
work  together  with  the  greatest  efficiency. 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  July  24. — ^Ttl.  Ed.  Perrier  in  the 
chair. — The    president    announced    the    death    of    Sir 
William    Ramsay,    foreign    associate. — G.    Bigourdan  : 
The  propagation   of   sound  .to  a  great  distance.     The 
distance  at  which  the  sound  of  firing  at  the  front  can 
be   heard,    given  in   a   recent   note  as   250   kilometres, 
must  be  extended  to  300  kilometres. — C.  Richet  :  The 
time  minimum  in  the  psycho-physiological  reaction  to 
visual  and  aural  stimulations.     Remarking  on  a  note 
by  MM.  J.  Camus  and  Nepper  (see  below),  the  author 
agrees  that  the  figures  put  forward  by  M.  Lahy  appear 
to  be  too  low,  and  are  probably  affected  by  a  systematic  j 
•error. — M.    Petrovitch  :   The  relations  of  inequality  be- 
tween     arithmetical      and      geometrical      means. — M. 
Mesnager  :   The  displacement  of  the  points  of  a  rect- 
angular plate. — M.  de  Broglie  :  The  K  absorption  band 
of  the  elements  for  the  X-rays,  from  bromine  to  bis- 
muth, and  the  emission  of  a  Coolidge  tube  for  very 
short   wave-lengths.     Measurements  of  the  absorption 
band  of  elements — that  is,  indirectly  the  shortest  line 
of  the  K  group  of  their  spectra — are  given  for  twenty- 
four  elements,  ranging  in  atomic  weight  from  bromine 
to  thorium.     A   tungsten   antikathode   was   used     and 
the  wave-lengths  measured,  decreasing  regularly  with 
the  increase  in  the  atomic  weight,  the  only  exception 
being  the  relative  positions  of  iodine  and  tellurium. — 
Mile.   P.    Collet  :   The  working  of  galena  employed  as 
detectors    in    wireless    telegraphy.— MM.     Massol     and 
Faucon  :    The   absorption   of   ultra-violet   radiations  by 
the     bromo-derivatives      of     methane.        Experiments 
were  made  on  bromine,  carbon  tetrabromide,  tribromo- 
methane,    and    dibromomethane.        The    characteristic 
band  of  bromine  in  solution  was  not  found  in  any  of 
the  bromo-derivatives  of  methane.     These  compounds 
increase   in   transparency   for  ultra-violet  light  as   the 
proportion  of   bromine    they    contain    diminishes,    and 
•each  bromine  derivative   is  less  transparent  than   the 
corresponding     chlorine     derivative,     examined    under 
the  same  conditions  of  concentration  and  thickness. — 
E.    Moles  :    The    density  of   hydrogen    bromide.     Con- 
tribution   to   the   revision    of    the    atomic    weight    of 
bromine.     The   mean   of  thirty-two   determinations   of 
the  density  of  hydrobromic  acid  is  364442  grams  per 
normal  litre.     This  leads  to  the  value  79-926  for  the 
atomic  weight  of  bromine.— J.  Eriksson  :  The  reappear- 
ance of  mildew  (Phytophtora  infestans)  in  the  potato. 
— M.    Repelin  :   The  age  of  the   OHgocene  deposits  of 
the  basins  of  Aix  and  Marseilles,  and,  in  particular,  of 
the  clavs  of  Milles  and  the  lignites  of  Saint-Zacharie. 
— Mmes.  M.  Lapicque  and  C.  Veil  :  Muscular  velocities 
measured  bv  chronaxy  in  the  different  cavities  of  the 
heart.^ — J.   Camus  and  M.  Nepper  :  The  reaction  times 
of  the  candidates  for  aviation.     A  criticism  of  a  recent 
communication  by  M.  Lahy.     The  authors  find  it  diffi- 
cult  to   explain   the   reaction    times   measured   by    M. 
Lahy,    which    appear    to     be     much     too     small. — L. 
Viatleton  :    Ontogenjc   development   and   the  analogous 
organs.— H.     Bierry  :     The    detection    of     tuberculous 
bacilli   in   sputa.     Details   of  a  method   based  on   the 
liquefaction     and     subsequent     centrifugation     of     the 
sputa,  which  has  given  good  results  in  practice. 

NO.    2441,    VOL.    97] 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Fossil  Vertebrates  in  the  American  Museum  of 
Natural  History.  Department  of  Vertebrate  Palaeon- 
tology. Vol.  v.,  Articles  collected  from  the  American 
Museum  Bulletin  for  the  Years  1913-14.     (New  York.) 

Scientific  Method  in  Schools  :  A  Suggestion.  B\ 
W.  H.  S.  Jones.  Pp.  36.  (Cambridge  :  At  the  Uni- 
versity Press.)     15.  net. 

Papers  from  the  Geological  Department,  Glas-.v 
University.  Vol.  ii.,  1915.  .  (Glasgow  :  J.  Macleiu.- 
and   Sons.) 

The  Genus  Phoradendron  :  a  Monographic  Revision. 
By  Prof.  W.  Trelease.  Pp.  224-hplates  245.  (Urbana, 
111.,   U.S.A.:  The  University.) 

Concentrating  Ores  by  Flotation.  By  T.  J.  Hoover. 
Third  edition.  Pp.  vi  +  326.  (London  :  The  Mining 
Magazine.) 

The  Nation  of  the  Future.  By  L.  Haden  Guest. 
Pp.   115.     (London  :  G.  Bell  and  Sons,  Ltd.)     25.  net. 

An  Emperor's  Madness  or  National  Aberration?  By 
Prof.  E.  Lugaro.  Translated  by  Dr.  W.  N.  Robin- 
son. Pp.  v+  135.  (London  :  G.  Routledge  and  Sons, 
Ltd.)     25.  6d.  net. 

Department  of  Statistics,  India.  Agricultural 
Statistics  of  India,  1913-14.  Vol.  ii.  Pp.  v-f-iiO. 
(Calcutta  :  Superintendent  Government  Printing, 
India.)     i    rupee. 

Preliminary  Geometry.  By  F.  Rosenberg.  Pp. 
vi  +  22o.     (London  :  W.  B.  Clive.)     25. 

Commercial  Arithmetic  and  Accounts.  By  A.  R. 
Palmer  and  J.  Stephenson.  Part  i.,  pp.  xiv  +  292  +  lvi. 
Part  ii.,  pp.  xi  + 293-5 14 -flvii-cliv.  (London:  G.  Bell 
and  Sons,  Ltd.)     Each  25.  6d.  net. 

Return.  British  Museum.  May,  19 16.  Pp.  no. 
(London  :    H.M.S.O.  ;   Wyman  and  Sons,   Ltd.)     5^d. 

CONTENTS.  PAGF 

The  History  of  the  Family.     By  Prof.  J.  A.  Green  477 

Forecast  by  Mr.  Wells.     By  J.  P 478 

Our  Bookshelf 478 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

Is    Proto-Oxygen   the   Principal    Constituent   of    the 

Atoms? — a',  van  den  Broek         .    .    .  ' 479 

International  Commission  on  Zoological  Nomenclature. 

—Dr.  C.  W.  Stiles                   479 

The  Magnitude  of  d  Eridani.— T.  W.  Backhouse  .  479 

South  African  University  Legislation 480 

The  Newcastle  Meeting  of  the  British  Association  481 
Sir    William    Ramsay,    K.C.B.,    F.R.S.      By    Prof. 
Frederick     Soddy,     F.R.S.,     and     Prof.    A.     M. 

Worthington,  C.B.,  F.R.S 482 

Roland  Trimen,  F.R.S.     By  E.  B.  P 485 

Notes 486 

Our  Astronomical  Column  : — 

The  August  Meteors 49° 

July  Meteors •    •  49° 

A  Sun-spot  in  High  Latitude 49° 

Lowest  Effective  Power  of  a  Telescope              .    .  490 
Ventilation    and   Metabolism.     By   Prof.    Leonard 

Hill,  F.R.S 491 

The  American  Philosophical  Society      49^ 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 494 

Societies  and  Academies 49^ 

Books  Received 49^ 


ST. 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices: 
MACMILLAN    &    CO.,    Ltd., 
MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to  he  addressed  to  the 
Publishers. 


Editorial   Communications   to   the   Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :  Phusis,   London. 
Telephone  Number :   Gerrard  8830. 


NA TURE 


497 


THURSDAY,    AUGUST   17,    1916. 


A' 


NEIJROLOGY. 

An  Introduction  to  Neurology.  By  Prof.  C. 
Judson  Herrick.  Pp.  355.  (Philadelphia  and 
London:  W.  B.  Saunders  Co.,  1916.)  Price 
7.S-.   6d.  net. 

LL  the  special  sciences  naturally  seek  incor- 
poration into  some  comprehensive  scheme 
of  thought  which  tends  to  embody  the  conceptions 
that  we  hold  into  one  organic  unity.  Neurology, 
for  instance,  is  brought  out,  with  its  component 
parts  of  anatomy,  physiology,  and  psychology, 
into  the  conception  of  biology.  In  no  department 
of  human  thought  is  this  striving  for  an  organic 
unity  better  exemplified  than  in  the  co-ordination 
and  subordination  of  these  special  studies  into 
the  wider  and  more  embracing  science  of 
biology. 

The  researches  which  have  been  brought  to- 
gether in  this  volume  cover  an  immense  reading ; 
the  references  amount  to  many  scores  of  con- 
tributions, and  the  book  will  be  of  great  value  to 
those  who  seek  for  an  exact  knowledge  and  a 
succinct  account  of  the  ner\'Ous  system,  the 
highest  controlling  machinery'  of  animal  and 
human  life ;  for  it  is  the  nervous  system  that  deter- 
mines the  adjustments  and  mutual  relationships 
of  all  the  other  systems,  as  well  as  those  of  its 
own  activities,  which  are  so  regulated  as  to  pro- 
mote its  own  welfare. 

The  study  of  neural  actions  must  proceed  from 
the  more  simple  to  the  more  complex — i.e.,  from 
simple  reflex  action  up  to  acts  of  consciousness 
involving  deliberation,  reflection,  and  judgment. 
This  progress  depends  upon  (a)  a  correlation, 
which  is  the  resultant  of  all  the  afferent  processes 
involved ;  (b)  the  co-ordination  or  orderly  co- 
adjustment  and  sequence  of  these — absence  of 
this  means  inco-ordination ;  and  (c)  the  full 
association  of  responses  secured  by  individual 
modifications.  In  the  simple  reflex  mechanism 
there  are  three  essential  factors  :  (a)  an  initiating 
organ  or  receptor,  sensitive  to  receive  a  stimulus 
which  is  often  far  less  in  intensity  than  the  energy 
liberated,  and  which  may  only  be  some  change  of 
environment  acting  upon  the  organ ;  (b)  a  con- 
ductor to  and  from  a  correlating  centre ;  and  (c) 
an  efi"ector  or  organ  of  response — the  data  from 
these  three  instruments  being  as  necessary  for 
the  most  elementary  nervous  response  as  they 
are  for  the  highest  mental  manifestations,  in- 
cluding abstract  thought.  The  author  accepts  the 
classic  exp>eriments  of  H.  S.  Jennings  to  explain 
the  adaptation  of  an  organism  to  its  changing 
environment,  and  he  divides  behaviour  or  conduct 
(which  he  calls  "action  system")  into  two  kinds, 
viz..  that  which  is  innate  and  invariable,  and  that 
which,  through  "docility  or  plasticity,"  is  modi- 
fiable and  variable  or  labile.  He  maintains  that 
ever}'  reaction  contains  elements  of  both,  the 
XO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


variable  being  characteristic  of  the  higher  animal 
type,  implying  an  intelligently  directed  choice,  yet 
expressed  always  through  the  agency  of  the  lower 
centres. 

The  volume  under  review  commences  with  a 
useful  biological  introduction,  describing  life  as  a 
correlation  of  physical  forces  for  the  conservation 
of  the  individual,  the  continued  welfare  of  any 
living  organism  depending  upon  a  properly 
balanced  adjustment  between  itself  and  its  sur- 
roundings— i.e.,  between  internal  and  external 
relations.  An  interesting  chapter  is  devoted  to 
the  neurone  or  the  nerve  cell,  which  is  itself  an 
independent  unit,  leading  an  independent  life,  and 
separated  from  its  fellows  by  a  reticulated  con- 
tinuum— the  synapse — yet  it  is  linked  with  them 
by  this  fibrillar  structure,  which  acts  as  a  damper 
or  a  resistance  to  the  passage  of  impulses,  thus 
limiting  excitability.  The  neurone  effects  the 
conduction  of  physico-chemical  waves  towards  the 
effectors,  but  in  one  direction  only,  and  this  by 
means  of  its  dendrites,  axon,  and  collaterals, 
which  are  continuous  with  the  ner\-e  fibre.  The 
author  omits  to  mention  the  important  discovery 
that  the  living  neurone  consists  of  protoplasmic 
granules,  each  surrounded  with  a  lipoid  oxidising 
substance ;  the  Xissl  granules  of  the  neurone, 
or  the  tigroid  bodies,  being  artefacts  after 
death. 

The  last  four  chapters  are  devoted,  fully 
but  concisely,  respectively  to  the  physiological 
psychology  of  pain  and  pleasure — i.e.,  the 
hedonic  tone  of  consciousness  connected  with 
modifications  of  the  subject  by  the  object; 
the  track  of  the  pain  nerves  in  the  spinal 
cord  being  illustrated  in  the  text;  to  the  general 
anatomy  of  the  cerebral  cortex,  and  here,  we 
note,  there  is  no  reference  to  the  extremely  valu- 
able and  important  work 'of  Dr.  G.  A.  Watson  on 
the  mammalian  cortex ;  and  to  reflex  acts,  instinct 
and  intelligence.  This  chapter  opens  up  two  or 
more  interesting  psychological  points,  viz., 
whether  reflex  acts  and  instinct  are  only  biological 
adaptations,  and  whether  instincts  are  intelligent 
acts.  In  regard  to  these  the  opinions  of  psycho- 
logists differ,  but  the  view  of  the  majority  is  that 
every  instinctive  act  is  determined  by  intelligence. 
Between  the  chapters  named  the  text  is  mainly 
histological  and  descriptive. 

The  book  is  concise  and  scientifically  accurate, 
but  owing  to  its  extreme  technicality  it  is  difficult 
to  read  except  by  the  expert  anatomist  or  the 
senior  advanced  student.  It  certainly  should  be 
in  the  hands  of  every  teacher  of  psychiatry.  The 
illustrations  are  numerous  and  well  chosen  to  illus- 
trate the  text,  the  bibliography  is  extensive,  and 
the  index  as  perfect  as  can  be  made  and  doubly 
useful  through  the  help  of  the  glossary.  It  may 
safelv  be  added  that  the  author  has  succeeded  in 
his  aim  "to  disentangle  the  inconceivably  complex 
interrelations  of  the  nerve  fibres  which  serve  all 
the  manifold  functions  of  adjustment  of  internal 
and  external  relations." 

Robert  Armstroxg-Joxes, 

C   C 


498 


NATURE 


[August  17,  19 16 


PSYCHOLOGY. 

(i)  Human  Motives.  By  Prof.  J.  J.  Putnam. 
Pp.  xvii+i7g.  (London:  W.  Heinemann, 
1915.)     Price  55.  net. 

(2)  Sleep  and  Sleeplessness.  By  H.  A.  Bruce. 
Pp.  ix  +  219.  (London:  W.  Heinemann, 
1915.)     Price  55.  net. 

(3)  The  Meaning  of  Dreams.  By  Dr.  L  H. 
Coriat.  Pp.  xiv  +  194.  (London:  W.  Heine- 
mann, 191 5.)  Price  5s.  net.  {Mind  and 
Health  Series.) 

(i)  A  READABLE  volume,  with  many  apt 
■^  quotations  for  which  Emersonians  in 
particular  will  be  thankful.  Motives  may  be 
classified  as,  on  the  one  hand,  due  to  sense  of 
obligations  (virtually  religious),  and  on  the 
other  to  self-regarding,  emotional  impulses  which 
are  the  outcome  of  biological  evolution.  Prof. 
Putnam  emphasises  and  supports  the  rationality 
of  religious  ideals,  remarking  that,  "  in  so  far 
as  religion  is  the  expression  of  the  truth,  it 
expresses  the  most  important  aspect  of  the 
truth  " — a  pregnant  phrase ;  and  he  advances 
weighty  philosophical  arguments  in  favour  of 
Theism.  On  the  biological  side  he  follows  Freud 
very  largely  in  tracing  many  motives  and  ideas 
to  repressed  desires.  He  wisely  realises  that 
Freud  goes  rather  far  in  pushing  his  theory,  but 
argues  that  it  is  based  on  a  large  accumulation 
of  data.  A  hostile  critic  might  say  with  some 
justification  that  Freud  came  to  conclusions  and 
then  interpreted  all  new  data  in  terms  of  those 
conclusions ;  moreover — this  is  usually  not  suffi- 
ciently recognised — the  data  themselves  are  un- 
trustworthy when  accumulated  by  a  theorist  with 
an  already  elaborated  system,  for  they  will 
inevitably  be  influenced  by  his  conscious  or  un- 
conscious suggestion. 

(2)  We  are  still  very  ignorant  of  the  physioloe^v 
of  sleep,  but  Mr.  Bruce  gives  a  good  popular 
survey  of  the  psychological  side.  Dealine  with 
dreams,  he  explains  the  common  flying"  dream  as 
initiated  by  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  chest,  plus 
absence  of  sensations  from  the  soles  of  the  feet; 
many  dreams  of  discomfort  in  certain  organs  are 
due  to  incipient  disease  noted  by  the  subcon- 
sciousness, though  not  known  to  the  waking 
mind ;  and  others  are  due  to  external  stimuli  as 
of  noises  outside  or  to  memories.  Briefly,  it  may 
be  said  that  most  dreams  are  attempts  of  the 
subconscious  to  interpret  internal  or  external 
stimuli,  the  character  of  the  dream  being  largely 
determined  by  the  emotion-complexes  which 
were  roused  by  the  experiences  of  the  previous 
day.  As  to  dreams  in  which  problems  are  solved 
(e.g..  Prof.  Hilprecht's  case)  or  information 
apparently  supernormally  received  (Miss  Conley's 
case),  Mr.  Bruce  quotes  extensively  from  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research, 
but  thinks  that  all  can  be  explained  on  normal 
lines.  In  attempting  such  explanation  of  some 
actual  cases,  however,  the  phrases  "it  is  probable 
that,"  "it  is  safe  to  assume  that,"  are  notably 
frequent;  and  though  we  may  sympathise  with 
the  author's  aims,  we  may  discern  a  certain  rash- 

NO.    2442,    VOL.   97] 


ness  in  his  assumptions.  On  insomnia  the  anti 
drug  attitude  is  adopted,  and  stress  laid  on  sug 
gestion,  for  which,  however,  more  is  claimec 
than  most  practitioners  would  concede.  A  drug 
is  sometimes  necessary  to  break  the  insomnij 
habit;  but  either  veronal,  trional,  or  adalin  i; 
better  .than  the  old  sulphonal,  which  is  all  that  ii 
here  mentioned. 

(3)  More  Freud.  Every  dream  represents  th( 
fulfilment  of  a  repressed  wish.  If  during  youi 
father's  lifetime  you  dream  that  he  is  dead,  it  v. 
because,  through  jealousy  of  his  place  in  you: 
mother's  affections,  you  wished  him  dead.  I 
you  deny  it,  the  truth  of  it  is  confirmed ;  you  di( 
wish  it,  but  the  wish  was  repressed  into  th( 
subconscious  and  forgotten.  And  if  you  do  no 
dream  that  he  is  dead  but  only  that  he  is  ai 
assistant  in  the  business  of  which  he  is  really  th( 
proprietor,  the  explanation  is  pretty  much  th( 
same ;  you  have  evidently  wished  him  superseded 
Similarly  with  the  flyinp-  dream  :  this  is  due  to  ; 
wish  for  absolute  freedom  from  all  restraint.  Thi 
dream-flyer  is  evidently  a  Free  Lover  and  an  An 
archist.  If  the  dream  absolutely  refuses  to  b 
an  CEdipus  affair,  you  interpret  by  other  wishes 
remembering  for  your  assistance  that  the  drean 
itself  is  often  a  disguise.  E.g.,  a  woman  dream: 
that  one  of  her  brothers  is  going  to  be  hanged 
The  interpretation  is  that  in  consequence  of  t\v( 
other  brothers  having  died  of  cancer  and  tuber 
culosis,  which  she  therefore  feared  in  her  owi 
case,  she  wished  that  they  had  died  of  somethins 
else;  even  hanging  would  have  been  preferable 
Dr.  Coriat  advances  this  interpretation  quit 
seriously.  Now  we  may  readily  admit — withou 
comparing  Freud  with  Darwin,  as  Dr.  Coriat  doe 
— that  dream-observation  and  analysis  are  im 
portant  for  the  investigation  of  the  subconscious 
and  that  Freud  has  done  good  pioneer  work ;  bi 
in  both  Freud  and  many  of  his  followers  the  goo 
work  is  vitiated  by  a  peculiar  narrowness.  The 
suffer  from  idee  fixe — a  well-known  psychosis 
The  neatness  of  the  formula  that  every  dreaij 
represents  a  repressed  wish  has  hypnotised  theni 
as  a  bright  point  will  hvonotise  the  gazing  sr 
ject,  and  they  can  see  nothing  else.  We  n^ 
hope  before  long  for  an  interesting  volume  ' 
the  psychology  of  the  Freudian  psychologist 
analysing  their  peculiar  obsession. 

THE  DECLINING  BIRTH-RATE. 
The  Declining  Birth-rate :  Its  Causes  and  Effec 
Pp.    xiv  +  450.     (London:    Chapman   and   H; 
Ltd.,  1916.)     Price  i05.  6d.  net. 

THIS  book  constitutes  the  Report  of,   and    - 
eludes     the     chief     evidence    taken   by,   i- 
National   Birth-rate  Commission,   instituted,  ^^  ' 
official    recognition,    by   the    National    Council 
Public  Morals.     The  committee  was  a  strong  o 
and  included  upon  it  Dr.    Stevenson,   Superint 
dent  of  Statistics  for  the  General  Register  Oft;^ 
and  Dr.  Newsholme,  Medical  Officer  of  the  Lc" 
Government  Board.     The  subject  of  the  decling 
birth-rate  is  one  of  enormous  importance  at  'C 
present  time.     The  birth-rate  reached  a  maxin-ni 


August  17,  19 16] 


NATURE 


499 


in  1876 — 36'3  per  looo  population — and  has  gradu- 
ally fallen  since  then  to  about  23  at  the  present 
time,  and  this  in  spite  of  the  marriage-rate  having 
remained  almost  constant.  The  decline  of  the 
birth-rate  has  not  oj>erated  uniformly  throughout 
the  country,  but  is  more  marked  among  the 
middle  and  upper  classes.  Thus  in  Hampstead 
the  corrected  birth-rate  fell  from  30'oi  in  1881  to 
I7'55  in  191 1,  while  the  corresponding^  rates  for 
Shoreditch  are  3i'32  and  30' 16. 

The  general  conclusion  of  the  committee 
seems  to  be  that  the  decline  in  the  birth-rate  is 
due  to  the  deliberate  limitation  of  families  by  anti- 
conceptives  and  other  means.  At  the  same  time 
it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  result  of  a  census — a  com- 
paratively small  one,  it  is  true — taken  by  the  Com- 
mission of  those  who  employed  anti-conceptive 
measures  and  of  those  who  did  not  showed  that 
the  size  of  the  families  was  slightly  larger  among 
fhe  former  I  The  conclusion  arrived  at  by  the 
Commission  seems  to  be  based  upon  the  unani- 
mous opinion  of  the  witnesses  of  the  extensive 
and  increasing  use  of  anti-conceptive  measures, 
particularly  among  the  more  well-to-do  classes  of 
the  community.  Two  of  the  witnesses,  however, 
Dr.  Chalmers  and  Dr.  Brownlee,  maintained  that 
there  are  cycles  in  fertilit] ,  and  that  now  we 
happen  to  be  in  a  cycle  of  low  fertility.  Among 
the  lower  classes,  especially  in  industrial  areas, 
the  use  of  abortifacients  appears  to  be  rife,  and 
this  may  be  a  not  unimportant  factor  in  reducing" 
the  birth-rate. 

Various  topics  bearing  on  the  question  are  dealt 
with  in  the  evidence,  such  as  the  influence  of  finan- 
cial circumstances,  housing,  religious  belief,  etc. 
One  point  of  interest  brought  out  is  that  the  fer- 
tility of  "  college  "  women  seems  to  be  as  great 
as  that  of  "non-college"  women,  though,  as  might 
be  expected,  the  age  at  marriage  of  the  former  is 
somewhat  higher  than  that  of  the  latter. 

The  Commission  is  unable  to  formulate  any 
measures  for  arresting  the  decline  beyond  the  use 
of  moral  suasion  to  induce  the  married  to  fulfil 
their  responsibilities. 

The  volume  is  an  intensely  interesting  one,  and 
should  be  in  the  hands  of  all  who  are  interested 
in  this  national  question.  R.  T.   Hewlett. 

I     S^.VG'S     SEVEN-PLACE     LOGARITHMS. 
A   A'ett'    Table   of  Seven-Place   Logarithms   of  all 
numbers  from  20,000  to  200,000.      By   Edward 
Sang.      Reprinted   from   the   original   stereotype 
plates  now  in  the  custody  of  the  Royal  Society 
of    Edinburgh.       Pp.     xviii  +  365.       (London : 
C.  and  E.   Layton,   1915.)     Price  215.  net. 
"^T^HIS  table  was  originally  printed  in  1870  from 
^      the  stereotype  plates  in  the  custody  of  the 
,  Royal  Society   of   Edinburgh.     The  present  book 
!  is  a  reprint  published  in  191 5. 

Edward     Sang     (1805-90)     was     perhaps     the 

^^[reatest   calculator   of   logarithms.     An    excellent 

I  account    of    the    extraordinary    energy    that    he 

I  brought  to  bear  upon  this  work  is  to  be  found  in 

j  a  paper  by  Dr.  C.  G.  Knott,  of  the  Royal  Society 

of  Edinburgh,    which   forms   part   of  the   Napier 

XO.    2442,    VOL.    97I 


memorial  volume  published  in  connection  with 
the  Xapier  tercentenary  held  in  Edinburgh  in 
July,  1914.  Sang  computed,  independently  of  all 
previous  work,  the  logarithms  to  twenty-eight 
places  of  all  primes  up  to  10,037,  each  prime 
beine  put  into  relation  to  at  least  three  others. 
By  combination  of  these  primes  he  tabulated  the 
logarithms  to  twenty-eight  places  of  all  integral 
composite  numbers  from  i  to  20,000,  a  few  gaps 
due  to  uncalculated  primes  being  left.  From  this 
table  he  calculated  by  interpolation  a  great  table 
of  logarithms  to  fifteen  places  of  all  integral 
numbers  from  100,000  to  370,000.  Dr.  Knott 
considers  that  Dr.  Sang  was  justified  in  assuming 
the  absolute  accuracy  of  these  tables  to  the  four- 
teenth place. 

This  material,  which  may  be  regarded  as  a 
fundamental  basis  for  all  future  tabulations,  has 
never  been  published.  All  mathematicians  would 
agree  that  publication  should  take  place,  and  Dr. 
Knott  discusses  at  length  different  methods  of 
procedure.  As  the  manuscripts,  are  beautifully 
written  he  inclines  to  the  opinion  that  it  would 
be  simple  and  a  guarantee  of  accuracy  to  repro- 
duce them  as  line  engravings  by  photography. 
He  considers  that  a  quarto  volume  of  some  1200 
pages  would  suffice  for  the  fundamentally  im- 
portant parts  of  the  manuscripts,  and  he  estimates 
that  the  cost  of  reproduction  by  photography 
would  be  about  one-third  or  one-fourth  the  cost  of 
setting  them  .up  in  type  in  the  usual  way.  It 
would,  indeed,  be  a  fitting  outcome  of  the  Xapier 
tercentenary  if  this  could  be  brought  about,  and 
the  writer  is  convinced  that  if  Dr.  Knott  and  his 
colleagues  in  Scotland  will  persevere  with  the  idea 
they  will  be  astonished  at  the  support  they  will 
receive  even  in  these  strenuous  times. 

This  reprint  is  perfectly  and  conveniently 
printed  with  the  usual  description  and  examples  of 
computation.  P.   A.   M. 

OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Mentally  Deficient  Children:  Their  Treatment  and 
Training.       By    Drs.    G.    E.    Shuttleworth    and 
W.  A.   Potts.     Pp.  xix  +  284.     Fourth  Edition. 
(London:    H.    K.   Lewis  and  Co.,   Ltd.,    1916.) 
Price  75.  6d.  net. 
We  welcome  very  heartily  the  fourth  edition  of 
Drs.    Shuttleworth    and     Potts's   excellent   hand- 
book on   mentally   deficient   children.      The  book 
has   been   very  carefully   revised,    and   a   chapter 
added  concerning  the   mental   troubles  of  youth. 
The  main  new  feature  of  the  present  volume  is 
an   extremely   interesting   account   of   the   Mental 
Deficiency  Acts  of  191 4 — these  being  the  ultimate 
result  of  the  Royal  Commission  of  1904. 

The  Acts  now  enable  the  authorities  to  deal 
with  all  mental  defectives  :  (a)  if  under  twenty- 
one  years,  at  the  instance  of  parent  or  guardian ; 
or  (b)  at  any  age  if  found  neglected,  abandoned, 
destitute,  or  cruelly  treated,  criminal  or  inebriate, 
or  being  the  pauper  mother  of  an  illegitimate 
child — and  Dr.  Shuttleworth  states  that  "with 
the  judicious  administration  of  the  new  Acts  it 
i  is  hoped  that  Great  Britain  will  stand  ahead  of 


500 


NATURE 


[August  17,  19 16 


other  countries  in  its  treatment  of  the  mentally 
defective  class."  He  points  out  the  ^reat  advan- 
tage of  "the  physiological  education  of  the 
senses  "  (Seguin)  of  these  children,  and  afterwards 
of  their  mental  and  moral  education,  both  to  the 
individual  concerned  and  to  the  community.  He 
shows  how  such  children  can  find  occupation  and 
happiness  as  inmates  of  permanent  working 
homes  and  contribute  appreciably  to  the  support 
of  such  homes,  also  how  the  "  improved  imbecile  " 
is  of  far  less  risk  to  future  generations,  especially 
if  carefully  supervised. 

Certain  weak  points  in  the  Acts  are  dealt  with, 
particularly  the  inadequate  provision  for  "  back- 
ward children,"  who  tend  to  gravitate  to  the 
"  special  "  schools,  and  the  inadequate  after-care 
of  the  children  on  leaving  the  institutions.  This 
latter  defect  must  necessarily  damp  the  enthusi- 
asm of  the  teachers,  on  whose  devoted  self-sacri- 
fice the  efficient  working  of  the  Acts  is  largely 
dependent.  We  strongly  recommend  the  book  to 
all  interested  in  the  subject,  though  mainly  written 
for  the  medical  profession.  W.    F.    B. 

The  Microscopy  of  Vegetable  Foods,  with  Special 
Reference  to  the  Detection  of  Adulteration  and 
the   Diagnosis   of  Mixtures.     By   Drs.    Andrew 
L.    Winton,    Josef   Moeller,    and    Kate    Barber 
Winton.        Pp.      xiv  +  701.         Second      edition. 
(New  York  :  John  Wiley  and  Sons,  Inc.  ;  Lon- 
don :    Chapman  'and   Hall,    Ltd.,    1916.)      Price 
275.  6d.  net. 
Just  as  the  sophistication  of  foods  and  drugs  has 
developed,   so  have  the  means  of  detecting  them 
been  devised.        For    this    purpose    microscopical 
examination  is  one  of  the  most  important  proce- 
dures, and  a  knowledge  of  the  microscopic  charac- 
ters of  the  products  and  of  their  chief  adulterants 
is  therefore  essential.     Not  only  the  analyst,  but 
the  miller,  the  brewer,  the  oil-presser,  the  cattle- 
food  manufacturer,  the  canner,  and  the  coffee  and 
spice  grinder,   should  all  be  conversant  not  only 
with  the  naked-eye  characters,   but  also  with  the 
microscopic  structure  of  their  raw  materials. 

The  present  book,  now  in  its  second  edition, 
deals  with  the  needs  of  most  of  these  industries, 
and  the  authors  have,  we  think,  successfully 
accomplished  their  task. 

First,  equipment,  methods,  and  general  prin- 
ciples are  dealt  with,  after  which  the  microscopic 
characters  of  the  various  products  and  their  chief 
adulterants  and  impurities  are  described.  In  this 
way  grain,  oil-seeds,  legumes,  nuts,  fruit  and 
fruit  products,  vegetables,  alkaloidal  products  and 
their  substitutes  (coffee,  tea,  cocoa,  etc.),  spices 
and  condiments  and  commercial  starches,  are  all 
considered  at  length,  and  an  enormous  amount  of 
valuable  information  is  collected  and  collated. 
The  text  is  illustrated  with  no  fewer  than  635 
figures,  and  concludes  with  a  full  bibliography, 
glossary,  and  index.  The  book  is,  of  course, 
especially  written  for  American  practice,  and 
many  articles  are  described  which  are  rarely  met 
with  in  this  country,  but  it  will  be  found  none  the 
less  useful  bv  our  analysts  and  laboratories. 

R.  T.   H. 

NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  by  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

A  Peculiar  Thunderclap. 

Possibly  some  one  of  your  readers  may  be  able  to 
throw  light  upon  the  peculiarity  of  a  thunderclap  which 
occurred  here  during  a  severe  thunderstorm  on  July  27. 
This  parish  lies  in  a  hollow  of  the  hills,  and  almost 
always  escapes  close  contact  with  thunderclouds.  On 
the  date  mentioned  a  peal  of  extraordinary  suddenness 
resembling  the  crashing  burst  ot  a  big  gun  followed 
instantaneously  a  vivid  flash  at  my  point  of  observa- 
tion. Two  or  three  trees  were  afterwards  observed  to 
have  been  struck,  and  a  paling  rai]  near  some  wire  was 
split  into  pieces  and  thrown  some  distance.  Now  the 
peculiarity  is  this  :  that  very  similar  experiences  were 
noted  at  places  more  than  a  mile  distant  and  in  various 
directions.  The  same  crash  following  immediately  on 
the  lightning  was  noted  by  quite  a  number  of  inde- 
pendent witnesses.  A  mile  to  the  east  of  this  dwelling 
the  lightning  was  seen  to  run  down  a  wire  fixed  to 
the  top  of  a  flagstaff.  About  a  mile  to  the  north  a 
farmer  driving  home  was  alarmed  to  see  the  lightning 
flash  along  the  wire  paling  by  the  roadside  and  split 
one  post  at  least    and  cast  the  fragments  on  the  road. 

On  considering  all  the  circumstances,  I  think  the 
following  may  be  an  explanation.  The  thunderclouds 
which  contributed  mostly  to  the  storm  were  floating  at 
a  pretty  high  elevation,  possibly  2000  ft.,  as  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  day  they  were  just  grazing  the 
tops  of  the  hills.  But  about  3  p.m.  a  bank  of  cloud 
began  to  form  in  this  hollow  much  nearer  the  ground, 
and  half  an  hour  later,  when  the  thunderclap  came,  the 
light  was  much  obscured.  My  opinion  is  that  the 
lower  cloud  drew  an  overwhelming  charge  from  the 
clouds  above,  and  accordingly  flashes  sped  to  earth 
from  several  points  at  the  same  instant. 

I  have,  of  course,  made  certain  that  we  are  dealing 
here  with  one  and  the  same  thvmderclap,  as  was  not 
difficult  to  do,  seeing  that  all  the  other  peals  of  thunder 
were  comparatively  distant.  John  Don. 

Lumphanan,  Aberdeen,   July  30. 


The  Gun-firing  on  the  Western  Front. 

The  firing  of  very  heavv  guns  at  a   great  distance 
was    clearly    audible    at    Harpenden    throughout    the; 
days    of   August    7    and    8,    as    well    as    on    previous 
occasions.      The   direction    of   the    sound    is   evidently 
from  the  south-east,  and  that  of  each  explosion  lasts 
about  two  seconds.     Our  elevation  is  440  ft.,  and  th 
local   wind  has  been   from   west  to  north-west.      TIi 
distance  between   Harpenden  and  Bapaume  would  b 
about  185  miles.  Spencer  Pickering. 


Mr.  Piper's  letter  (Nature,  August  3)  is  interesdn^ 
My    extended    experience    confirms    his.       When    th 
great  bombardment  began   I   was  staying  at  a  farn 
house  on  high  ground  near  Chilham,  Kent.     We  hear 
the  firing  day  and  night  during  the  two  weeks,  an^ 
I  roughly  calculated  that  three  or  four  guns  were  fin 
per  second.     During  almost  all  the  time  the  wind  w- 
S.W\,  and  often  quite  strong,  yet  this  did  not  interfer' 
with  the   sound  if  one  was  sheltered  from   the  win'^ 
and  awav  from  rustling  foliage. 

The  firing  front  would  be  S.E.,  and  about  100  mile 
away.  I.  W.  Boothroyd. 

9  The  Circus,  Greenwich,  S.E. 


August  17,  1916] 


NATURE 


501 


lUE   PRESIDENCY   OF    THE   BOARD    OF 
EDUCATION. 

THE  office  of  President  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion has  again  become  the  shuttlecock  of 
politics,  pointedly  illustrated  by  the  remark  so 
aptly  made  by  a  member  of  the  House  in  the  course 
of  the  important  debate  of  July  i8  on  the  introduc- 
tion by  Mr.  Henderson  of  the  Education  Estimates, 
that  "  I  have  sat  for  eleven  years  in  this  House, 
and  I  have  heard  during  that  time  no  fewer  than 
five  Ministers  make  their  statements  on  educa- 
tional matters."  It  is  thus  that  we  are  content 
to  deal  with  the  vital  question  of  education.  The 
circumstances  of  the  war  have  forced  home  upon 
the  attention  of  the  least  reflective  of  politicians 
the  claims  of  the  subject  to  the  serious  attention 
of  the  nation. 

The  course  of  the  debate,  in  which  members  of 
very  diverse  political  views  participated,  indicates 
that  the  time  is  fully  ripe  for  a  drastic  review  of 
the  question  in  all  its  bearings.  To  do  this  effec- 
tively requires  that  there  should  be  placed  in  con- 
trol of  the  department,  v.hich  should  now  take 
an  equal  place  in  the  hierarchy  of  Government 
with  the  other  great  departments  of  the  State  alike 
in  respect  of  the  salary  attached  to  it  and  of  the 
dignity  and  responsibility  in  which  it  is  held,  a 
man  of  large  and  clear  vision,  of  intimate  know- 
ledge, and  of  deep  sympathy  with  the  educational 
well-being  of  all  classes  of  the  people,  and  who  is 
prepared  with  a  single  mind  to  devote  all  his  time 
and  thought  to  the  consideration  and  solution  of 
the  serious  problems  which  beset  it.  We  have 
got  as  the  most  pressing  need  of  the  time  to  create 
in  the  English  nation,  as  distinguished,  say,  from 
the  Scotch,  a  genuine  belief  in  the  value  of  educa- 
tion as  the  true  and  only  uplifting  and  sustaining 
force  in  the  spiritual  life  and  continued  progress 
of  the  people.  This  can  only  have  some  chance 
of  realisation  in  the  event  of  the  office  of  Secretary 
of  State  for  Education — since  that  should  be  its 
rightful  designation — being  in  the  hands  of  such 
a.'  man  as  is  here  described,  who  enjoys  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people  and  is  prepared  to  regard 
the  office,  not  as  a  stepping-stone  or  mere  adjunct 
to  some  other,  but  as  one  demanding  a  continuity 
of  thought  and  policy  throughout  the  whole  time 
his  Government  is  in  power.  Such  a  Minister 
should  be  prepared,  not  merely  from  his  place  in 
Parliament,  but  from  time  to  time  in  various  great 
centres  of  population,  to  set  forth  his  policy  and 
to  seek  to  arouse  in  the  people  by  the  enunciation 
of  his  ideals  and  by  the  methods  of  their  realisa- 
tion a  great  enthusiasm  for  education  as  the  true 
foundation  of  the  national  salvation.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  a  classical  education  versus  an  educa- 
tion in  science,  nor  a  question  of  industrial  and 
comm.ercial  supremacy,  nor  of  one  class  as  dis- 
1  tinguished  from  another,  but  of  the  right  upbring- 
•  ing  and  development  of  all  the  children  of  the 
j  nation  according  to  their  gifts  and  capabilities. 
t  To  a  man  of  such  distinction  as  is  here  fore- 
j  shadowed  would  inevitably  be  committed  a  full 
inquiry  under  his  presidency  and  with  the  aid 
I  not  merely  of  officials,  but  also  with  that  of  the 

NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


best  available  thought  and  ripe  experience  of  every 
class,  into  the  present  conditions  of  education  as 
exhibited  throughout  its  entire  range,  from  the 
kindergarten  up  to  and  including  the  university, 
with  a  view  to  its  unification  and  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  broad  highway  along  which  the  gifted 
children  of  the  nation  might  freely  travel.  This, 
as  the  course  of  the  recent  debate  shows,  is  the 
psychological  moment,  and  it  should  be  seized 
with  a  firm  hand.  It  will  mean,  as  Mr.  Henderson 
puts  it,  "money  and  more  money."  It  w^ill 
demand  a  higher  and  more  attractive  status  for  the 
teacher,  with  a  clear  avenue  for  the  highest  public 
service  of  which  he  is  capable.  But  it  will  result 
that  the  coming  generation  of  Englishmen  will 
possibly  be  as  receptive  and  as  appreciative  of  the 
fruits  of  investigation,  often  enough  due  to  the 
patience  and  genius  of  their  own  countrymen,  as 
are  the  foreign  enemies  whose  culture  they  hold 
in  such  disdain. 

EXPERIMENTS    IN    AERODYNAMICSA 

THE  volume  before  us  gives  some  of  the  first 
results  obtained  in  the  four-foot  wind  tunnel 
which  has  been  erected  at  the  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute of  Technology,  and  consists  of  ten  sections 
dealing  with  various  phases  of  the  work.  The 
first  section  gives  a  detailed  description  of  the 
wind  tunnel,  the  design  of  which  is  practically 
identical  with  that  of  the  four-foot  tunnel  at  the 
National  Physical  Laboratory,  Teddington.  This 
is  followed  by  a  discussion  of  the  dimensional 
theory  as  applied  to  aerodynamic  problems.  The 
theory  is  treated  in  a  simple  and  easily  followed 
manner,  but  due  credit  has  not  been  given  to 
Lord  Rayleigh,  who  first  proposed  the  theory  in 
this  form.  Lord  Rayleigh  is  mentioned,  however, 
in  this  connection  in  a  later  section  of  the  book. 
Section  3  deals  with  the  inclined  tube  alcohol 
manometer  for  measuring  small  pressure  differ- 
ences. The  results  of  the  calibration  of  such  an 
instrument  against  a  standard  Chattock  mano- 
meter are  given.  The  inclined  tube  instrument 
certainly  has  no  advantages  over  the  Chattock 
form,  and  experience  at  the  National  Physical 
Laboratory  shows  that  the  latter  is  exceedingly 
convenient  for  use.  The  theory  of  the  pitot  tube 
is  considered,  and  experimental  results  are  ap- 
pended to  show  that  several  types  of  combined 
pitot  and  static  pressure  tubes  give  identical  cali- 
brations. 

An  interesting  comparison  with  the  National 
Physical  Laboratory  is  given  in  the  form  of  char- 
acteristic curves  for  the  w'ing  section  known  as 
R.A.F.6,  and  this  comparison  shows  in  a  striking 
manner  the  accuracy  of  wind  tunnel  experiments. 
The  results  obtained  in  the  two  wind  tunnels  agree 
to  the  order  of  about  2  per  cent.,  which  is  as 
good  as  the  accuracy  of  manufacture  of  the 
models  will  allow. 

The  question  of  the  steering  of  a  dirigible  is 
dealt  with  in  one  section  of  the  volume,  and  the 
conclusion   is  drawn  that   it  is  almost  out  of  the 

1  "Report  on  Wind  Tunnel  Experiments  In  Aerodynamics."  Smithsonian 
Miscellaneous  Collections,  vol.  Ixii.,  No.  4.        . 


502 


NATURE 


[August  17,  19 16 


question  to  put  sufficient  fin  area  on  a  dirigible 
to  render  it  directionally  stable,  but  that  it  may 
be  controlled  by  comparatively  small  movements 
of  the  rudder.  This  conclusion  is  also  in  agree- 
ment with  National  Physical  Laboratory  results. 

Section  8,  on  svvept-back  wings,  and  the  follow- 
ing section  on  the  effects  of  dihedral  angle,  are 
of  considerable  interest.  The  Dunne  aeroplane 
has  excited  much  interest,  and  great  claims  have 
been  made  for  its  stability.  The  results  ot  the 
experiments  in  the  American  wind  tunnel  show 
that  the  effect  of  swept-back  wings  on  longitudinal 
stability  is  nil,  and  that  the  degree  of  lateral 
stability  due  to  a  sweep  back  of  20°  is  equally 
well  obtained  by  a  dihedral  angle  of  only  2i°, 
while  the  latter  is  much  better  from  a  construc- 
tional point  of  view. 

The  last  section  deals  with  the  critical  flow 
round  flat  discs  normal  to  the  wind.  A  mathe- 
matical investigation  is  given  for  the  case  of  non- 
viscous  irrotational  motion,  and  it  is  shown  that 
the  results  are  of  the  same  order  as  those  of  the 
experiments.  The  mathematical  treatment  is 
obviously  inadequate,  since  it  ignores  just  those 
qualities  of  the  motion  which  affect  its  critical 
change  of  flow  :  the  viscosity  and  the  rotational 
motion.  Similar  problems  have  received  attention 
at  the  National  Physical  Laboratory,  and  it  is 
hoped  to  obtain,  from  actual  photographs  of  the 
motion  in  special  cases,  some  information  which  is 
not  forthcoming  from  the  hydrodynamical  theory. 

On  the  whole,  the  results  given  in  the  Smith- 
sonian publication  are  very  interesting  and  afford 
a  useful  independent  comparison  with  those  ob- 
tained in  our  own  country  at  the  National  Physical 
Laboratory.  The  excellent  agreement  obtained 
in  the  general  conclusions  of  the  present  volume 
with  the  previous  work  at  the  National  Physical 
Laboratory  leaves  no  possible  doubt  concerning 
the  accuracy  of  experimental  work  of  this  descrip- 
tion, or  of  the  great  utility  of  such  experiments 
in  helping  forward  the  design  of  all  kinds  of  air- 
craft. E.  F.  R. 


GEOFFREY  W ATKINS  SMITH. 

BY  the  death  of  Captain  Geoffrey  Watkins 
Smith,  of  the  Rifle  Brigade,  who  was  killed 
by  a  shell  in  France  on  July  10  in  a  trench  just 
taken  from  the  enemy,  zoological  science  loses 
one  of  the  most  promising  and  brilliant  of  its 
younger  adherents,  and  his  many  friends  have  to 
regret  a  particularly  lovable  and  gracious  per- 
sonality. Though  only  thirty-four  years  of  age, 
Geoffrey  Smith,  by  the  abimdance  and  originality 
of  his  researches,  had  won  for  himself  a  secure 
place  in  the  scientific  world,  and  his  work  was  of 
such  a  nature  that  each  step  gave  promise  of 
further  and  more  important  discovery.  It  is  not 
possible  within  the  present  limits  of  space  to  give 
more  than  a  bare  outline  of  his  career  and  per- 
formance. 

Geoffrey  Smith,  a  son  of  Mr.  Horace  Smith,  the 
well-known  Metropolitan  magistrate,  was  born  at 

NO.    2442,   VOL.   97] 


Beckenham,  Kent,  on  December  9,  1881.  He 
was  educated  at  Temple  Grove,  East  Sheen,  and 
afterwards  at  Winchester  College,  of  which  he 
was  a  scholar,  and  in  due  course  obtained  a 
scholarship  at  New  College,  Oxford.  At  Oxford, 
working  under  the  late*  Prof.  Weldon,  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  studies  for  which  he  had  already 
shown  great  aptitude  in  boyhood,  and  gained  a 
first  class  in  the  Honour  School  of  Natural  Science 
in  1903.  He  proceeded  to  the  Zoological  Station 
at  Naples  in  the  same  year,  and  remained  there 
till  1905,  when,  having  finished  his  monograph  on 
the  Rhizocephala,  the  only  monograph  in  the 
Naples  Fauna  and  Flora  written  by  an  Englishman, 
he  returned  to  Oxford  to  take  up  the  duties  of 
demonstrator  and  lecturer  in  the  University 
Museum.  In  1906  he  was  elected  fellow  and 
tutor  of  New  College  in  succession  to  Prof.  G.  C. 
Bourne,  and  remained  at  Oxford  till  October, 
1914,  except  for  an  excursion  to  Tasmania  in 
1907,  the  scientific  results  of  which  are  published 
in  a  volume  entitled  "A  Naturalist  in  Tasmania." 

Geoffrey  Smith's  monograph  on  the  Rhizo- 
cephala, an  excellent  piece  of  zoological  research, 
has  already  been  mentioned.  As  a  result  of  his 
voyage  to  Tasmania  he  made  several  solid  contri- 
butions to  zoological  science,  publishing  a  memoir 
on  the  Anaspidacea,  living  and  fossil,  in  1909,  and 
monographs  on  the  fresh-water  Crustacea  of  Tas- 
mania and  on  the  fresh-water  Crayfishes  of  Aus- 
tralia in  1909  and  191 2.  But  his  chief  and  most 
important  work  was  his  series  of  memoirs,  eleven 
in  number,  on  the  experimental  analysis  of  sex, 
issued  from  1910  to  1914.  In  these  essays,  follow- 
ing up  clues  suggested  to  him  by  his  work  on  the 
Rhizocephala,  Geoffrey  Smith  attempted,  and 
attempted  successfully,  to  probe  the  physiological 
causes  of  the  phenomena  of  secondary  sexual 
.characters.  He  showed  that  the  assumption  of 
female  characters  by  the  parasitised  male  crab 
Inachus  is  due  to  a  profound  change  in  metabolism 
induced' by  the  parasitic  Sacculina,  and  incidentally 
demonstrated  that  the  facts  proved  that  the  mak 
is  heterozygous  and  the  female  homozygous  foi 
sex.  By  a  masterly  association  of  ideas  he 
showed  the  close  analogy  between  this  physiologij 
cal  regulation  in  parasitised  crabs  and  the  phei 
nomena  of  regulation  which  produce  immunity  r 
bacterial  diseases.  He  extended  his  observatioi 
to  bees,  frogs,  fowls,  and  pheasants,  and  succes 
fully  demonstrated  similar  physiological  processt 
in  these  animals,  at  the  same  time  bringing  acu- 
critical  experimental  work  to  bear  on  certai 
current  theories  of  sex  production. 

Much  had  been  achieved,  but  much  was  let 
unfinished  when  he  accepted  a  commission  in  tl 
New  Armies  in  1914.  It  is  doubtful  whether  tl 
work  so  brilliantly  initiated  can  be  carried  on  b 
any  other  hand,  certainly  not  with  the  same  pro^ 
pect  of  success. 

A  final  word  must  be  said  in  praise  of  the  ek, 
gance  of  Geoffrey  Smith's  literary  style,  and  thl 
grace,  humour,  and  courtesy  with  which  he  waj 
wont  to  deal  with  attacks  upon  his  work. 


August  17,  19 16] 


NATURE 


503 


On  the  initiative  of  the  Royal  Society,  a  Board 
of  Scientific  Societies,  consisting  at  present  of  repre- 
sentatives of  twenty-seven  scientific,  including  tech- 
nical, societies,  has  been  established  for  the  further- 
ance of  the  following  objects  : — Promoting  the  co- 
operation of  those  interested  in  pure  or  applied 
science;  supplying  a  means  by  which  the  scientific 
opinion  of  the  country  may,  on  matters  relating  to 
science,  industry',  and  education,  find  effective  ex- 
pression ;  taking  such  action  as  may  be  necessary  to 
promote  the  application  of  science  to  our  industries 
and  to  the  service  of  the  nation ;  and  discussing 
scientific  questions  in  which  international  co-opera- 
tion seems  advisable.  An  executive  committee  has 
been  appointed,  consisting  of  the  following  mem- 
bers : — Sir  Joseph  Thomson  (chairman),  Dr.  Dugald 
Clerk,  Sir  Robert  Hadfield,  Mr.  A.  D.  Hall,  Prof. 
Herbert  Jackson  (hen.  secretary),  Sir  Alfred  Keoe''' 
5ir  Ray  Lankester,  Prof.  A.  Schuster,  Sir  John  Snell, 
Prof.  E.  H.  Starling,  Lord  Sydenham,  and  Mr.  R. 
Threlfall.  The  first  meeting  of  the  Board  w^s  held  on 
July  20,  when  important  questions  relating  to  scien- 
tific, educational,  and  industrial  matters  were. under 
consideration,  with  a  view  to  effective  steps  being 
taken  for  co-ordinating  the  work  carried  out  at  pre- 
sent by  a  number  of  independent  bodies,  or  initiating 
action  in  the  case  of  other  matters  of  national  import- 
ance. 

It  is  announced  that  the  Discovery,  with  the 
Shackleton  Relief  Expedition,  left  Plymouth  Sound 
last  Thursday.  She  will  proceed  to  Port  Stanley, 
Falkland  Islands,  to  embark  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton, 
and  then  leave  for  Elephant  Island.  It  is  hoped  that 
she  will  reach  the  Falkland  Islands  by  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember, and  Elephant  Island  a  week  later.  The 
Discovery  should  have  no  difficulty  in  penetrating  the 
pack  and  reaching  the  stranded  men.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  conditions  will  be 
so  favourable  in  October  that  little  or  no  ice  will  be 
•encountered.  Lieut.-Commander  J.  Fairweather, 
R.N.V.R.,  is  in  command  of  the  Discovery.  He  has 
had  long  exp^ience  among  Arctic  ice,  although  this 
is  his  first  visit  to  the  Antarctic. 

It  is  stated  in  the  Times  that  the  sum  of  2500Z.  is 
being  raised  by  the  Archangel  Society  for  the  study 
of  the  Russian  Far  North,  in  furtherance  of  the 
search  for  the  two  Russian  expeditions  which  sailed 
in  19 12  under,  respectively,  Lieut.  Brusiloff  and  M. 
Rousanoff.  The  rtloney  in  question  is  to  be  used  as 
rewards  for  information  obtained  as  to  the  fate  of 
'^.e  explorers. 

A  COLLECTION  of  British-made  laboratory  apparatus 
"is  on  view  at  the  Institute  of  Chemistry,  30  Russell 
Square,  \V.C.  The  exhibition  will  remain  open  until 
the  end  of  September. 

A  WARNING  against  the  suggested  use  of  benzoate 
of,  soda  as  a  substitute  for  sugar  in  jam-making  has 
been  issued  bv  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries. 
It  is  pointed  out  that  serious  results  may  follow  if 
"he    substance  in    question    is    used    for    the    purpose 

imed. 

The  programme  of  the  celebrations  on  June  13  in 
connection  with  the  centenary  of  the  Botanic  Gardens, 
Sydney,  has  just  reached  us.  Speeches  were  delivered 
on  the  occasion  by  the  Governor  of  New  South  Wales, 

"le  Premier,  and  the  Minister  for  Agriculture,  and  a 

:  ief  historical  address  was  given  by  Mr.  J.  H. 
\taiden,   F.R.S.,   the  director  of  the  gardens.     Three 

Istas    were    named     respectively    after    Capt.    Cook, 

NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


Sir  Joseph  Banks,  and  Governor  Phillip,  and  a  rosery 
is  to  be  known  in  future  as  the  "Centenary  Roser}." 
The  following  memorial  trees  were  planted  simul- 
taneously by  representatives  of  the  Empire  and 
the  Allies : — Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  the  British 
Oak  [Quercus  pedtinculata);  .Australia,  the  Bunya 
Bunya  {Araucaria  Bidwilli)  and  the  Flame  Tree 
{Brachychiton  acerifolia);  Sydney,  the  Port  Jackson 
Fig  {Ficus  rubiginosa);  New  Zealand,  the  Kauri 
{Agathis  australis);  South  Africa,  the  Cape  Chestnut 
{Calodetidron  capensis);  Canada,  the  Sweet  Gum 
{Liquidambar  styracijlua) ;  India,  Indian  Date  Palm 
(Phoenix  sylvestris);  Belgium,  Black  Belgian  Poplar 
{Populiis  monilifera) ;  France,  Nettle  Tree,  or  Per- 
pignan  Wood  {Celtis  australis);  Russia,  the  Aspen 
(Popiilus  tremula) ;  Italy,  Lombardy  Poplar  (Populus 
nigra,  var.  pyramidalis) ;  Serbia,  the  Carob  {Ceratonia 
siliqua) ;  Montenegro,  the  Olive  {Olea  europaea) ; 
Portugal,  Portugal  Laurel  {Prunus  lusitanicus) ;  Japan, 
Japanese  Maple  (Acer  japonica) ;  after  which  a  memo- 
rial stone  of  a  proposed  museum  of  botany  and  horti- 
culture was  laid. 

We  regret  to  record  the  death  of  Mr.  Charles 
Dawson,  which  occurred,  after  a  long  illness,  at 
Lewes  on  August  10.  Mr.  Dawson  was  born  in  Lanca- 
shire on  July  II,  1864,  but  spent  most  of  his  early 
life  at  St.  Leonards-on-Sea,  where  he  soon  became 
interested  in  the  geology  and  archaeology  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood. Encouraged  by  the  late  Mr.  S.  H.  Beckles, 
he  devoted  attention  especially  to  the  fossil  remains 
of  reptiles  found  in  the  Wealden  formations  quarried 
round  Hastings,  and  made  a  large  collection,  which 
he  placed  in  the  British  Museum,  and  continually 
enriched  almost  until  the  end  of  his  life.  He  dis- 
covered some  new  species  of  iguanodon,  of  w-hich 
one  was  named  after  himself  by  Mr.  R.  Lydekker. 
After  persistent  search  in  the  bone-beds  for  many 
years,  Mr.  Dawson  also  found  the  first  tooth  of  a 
Wealden  mammal  (Plagiaulax  dawsoni).  His  interest 
in  archaeology  gradually  led  him  to  studies  of  pre- 
historic man,  and  for  many  years  he  searched  the 
gravels  and  other  superficial  deposits  of  southern 
Sussex  for  traces  of  man  and  his  handiwork.  He  was 
ultimately  rewarded,  in  1912,  by  the  discovery  of  the 
now  famous  skull  and  mandible  of  Eoanthropus 
daii'soni  in  a  ver\'  old  gravel  at  Piltdown,  near  Uck- 
field.  During  his  busy  professional  career  as  a 
solicitor  Mr.  Dawson  never  neglected  any  opportunity 
of  contributing  to  the  knowledge  of  the  geology-  and 
archaeology  of  the  district  in  which  he  resided,  and 
his    comparativelv    earlv    death    is    a    distinct    loss    to 


The  death  is  announced,  in  his  sevent>--third  year, 
of  Dr.  William  Simon,  professor  of  chemistry  at  the 
Baltimore  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  since 
1880.  He  was  president  of  the  Marv'land  Pharma- 
ceutical Association  in  1887.  Dr.  Simon  was  the 
author  of  a  manual  of  chemistry,  and  had  done  special 
work  in  autochromatic  photography. 

The  death  is  announced,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four 
years,  of  Dr.  Ferdinand  Fischer,  professor  of  chemical 
technology  in  the  University  of  Gottingen. 

The  report  of  the  Advisory  Committee  for  Aero- 
nautics, 1915-16,  contains  a  summan."  of  the  work 
carried  out  by  the  Advisory  Committee  during  the 
past  year,  and  shows  in  a  striking  way  the  effect  that 
the  war  has  had  upon  aeronautics  in  general  and 
upon  experimental  aeronautics  in  particular.  The  ex- 
perimental work  at  the  National  Physical  Laboratory 
is  first  dealt  with,  and  the  extent  of  the  developments 
in  this  branch  of  the  work  is  very  marked,  the  aero- 
nautical   department    at    the    laboraton,-    having   prac- 


504 


NATURE 


[August  17,  19 16 


tically  doubled  in  size  since  the  outbreak  of  war. 
The  experimental  work  that  has  been  done  covers  a 
wide  range,  including  experiments  in  the  wind 
channels  on  models  of  aeroplanes  and  parts  of  aero- 
planes, airships,  and  kite  balloons ;  investigations  into 
the  strength  of  fabrics,  wing  spars,  light  alloys, 
stream-line  wires,  and  other  materials  of  construc- 
tion ;  and  researches  into  many  special  subjects  that 
have  arisen  from  time  to  time.  The  work  of  the 
Royal  Aircraft  Factory  is  summarised,  with  particular 
attention  to  the  experimental  side  of  the  work,  and  to 
the  endeavours  which  are  being  made  to  link  up 
model  experiments  with  full-scale  tests.  Considerable 
stress  is  laid  on  the  precision  with  v^hich  the  perform- 
ance and  stability  of  a  new  design  can  now  be  calcu- 
lated, and  on  the  fact  that  it  has  been  found  possible 
to  obtain  large  quantities  of  good,  stable,  and 
serviceable  machines  from  firms  without  previous  ex- 
perience of  aircraft  construction  by  providing  them 
with  complete  drawings  and  details.  The  design  of 
new  machines  proceeds  by  making  a  few  trial 
machines,  and  four  main  types  have  been  standardised 
for  contract  purposes.  A  brief  account  of  the  work 
done  specially  for  the  Admiralty  Air  Department, 
and  of  the  meteorological  work  of  the  past  year,  com- 
pletes the  report.  The  technical  appendix,  containing 
detailed  results  of  experiments,  cannot,  of  course,  be 
published  during  the  war,  but  it  is  clearly  emphasised 
in  the  report  itself  that  the  detailed  technical  results 
are  freely  communicated  to  Government  contractors 
who  need  them,  and  who  apply  for  them  through  the 
proper  channels. 

The  paper  by  Messrs.  H.  J.  Fleure  and  T.  C. 
James,  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Anthro- 
pological Institute,  vol  xlvi.,  January-June,  1916,  one 
of  the  most  valuable  recent  contributions  to  the  study 
of  the  races  of  Great  Britain,  must  be  read  as  a 
whole  with  due  regard  to  the  mass  of  statistics  on 
which  the  authors  base  their  conclusions  regarding  the 
geographical  distribution  of  anthropological  types  in 
Wales.  At  present  they  are  inclined  to  believe  that 
a  Brythonic  advance  into  Wales,  probably  vi&.  Powys, 
occurred  at  some  time  not  remote  from  the  Roman 
invasion.  It  may  have  been  in  waves  pushing  back 
old  languages  or  dialects  which  were  probably 
nearer  to  the  Gaelic  group  than  is  Brythonic.  As 
regards  physical  types,  they  note  a  characteristic  in- 
crease of  the  fair,  medium-headed  type  as  we  descend 
into  the  Severn  basin  and  that  of  the  Wye,  and  all 
through  this  region,  and  the  Welsh  border  generally, 
there  is  a  suggestion  of  dilution  of  pigment  in  the 
Neolithic  or  Mediterranean  type.  Whether  this  can 
be  connected  with  the  Brythonic  invaders  is  doubtful ; 
it  may  be  due  to  later  infiltration.  They  also  remark 
that  while  the  fair-haired,  light-eyed  men  of  the 
Severn  and  Wye  valleys  often  have  medium  to  broad 
heads,  this  tj'pe  also  appears  in  eastern  England. 
The  suggestion  is  made  that  in  the  latter  area  fhe 
infusion  may  be  partly  Brythonic,  partly  Anglo-Saxon. 
It  is  not  safe  to  assume  that  the  fair  men  in  eastern 
England  are  necessarily  post-Roman  Teutons ;  they 
may  be  Brythons,  and  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish 
their  ultimate  origin.  There  is  at  least  the  possibility 
that  the  pre-Roman  peoples  are  fairly  well  represented 
even  in  East  England. 

In  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Anthropological  Insti- 
tute, vol.  xlvi.,  January-June,  1916,  Mr.  Harold 
Peake  investigates  the  ethnology  of  the  people  who 
destroyed  the  Trojan  city  known  as  Hissarlik  II. 
Following  the  lead  of  Mr.  Ellsworth  Huntington,  he 
suggests  that  a  period  of  drought,  beginning  about 
2450  B.C.,  led  to  extensive  race  movements  of  Arabian 
tribes  across  the  Sinaitic  peninsula  into  the  Egyptian 

NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


delta,  while  later  waves  successively  invaded  Pales- 
tine and  Syria,  introducing  the  knowledge  of  metals, 
perhaps  gained  from  their  kinsmen  in  Egypt,  and 
founding  Damascus.  Thence  they  migrated  to 
.\ssyria  and  Babylonia.  Meanwhile  the  drought  in  the 
steppes  adjoining  the  Caspian  led  to  the  migration 
of  the  Bak  tribes  into  China.  Later  on  the  Nordic 
steppe-folk  on  either  side  of  the  Volga,  finding  their 
pasturage  diminishing,  occupied  the  region  abandoned 
by  the  Bak  tribes,  and  passed  into  Persia,  where  they 
became  known  as  the  Kassites.  Others  of  the  same 
group  overran  Galicia  and  Rumania,  and  penetrated 
into  Hungary  and  Thrace.  This  last  body  divided  into 
two  groups;  one  occupied  the  Larissan  plain,  while 
another  party  crossed  the  Hellespont,  destroyed  Hissar- 
lik II.,  and  poured  into  Anatolia.  These  may  have 
later  appeared  south  as  the  Amorites,  or  they  may 
survive  to  the  present  day  as  the  Kurds.  Many  of 
these  conclusions  are  speculative,  but  the  theory  now 
presented  with  a  considerable  array  of  corroborative 
evidence  clears  up  many  difficulties,  and  is  decidedly 
attractive. 

The  Royal  Botanic  Gardens,  Kew,  have  received  a 
very  interesting  and  valuable  presentation  from  Lady 
Church  in  the  collection  of  botanical  water-colour 
drawings  brought  together  by  the  late  Sir  Arthur 
Church.  The  drawings  have  been  placed  in  a  roon 
leading  out  of  the  North  Gallery; — once  Miss  North '- 
studio — and  are  now  open  to  public  inspection.  Th' 
exhibition  of  the  pictures  has  been  made  possible  b} 
the  generosity  of  Lady  Church.  There  are  some  fine 
examples  of  the  work  of  Simon  Varelst,  G.  D.  Ehret, 
R.  P.  Nodder,  A.  Power,  and  other  well-known  flower 
painters.  In  order  to  make  the  collection  as  repre- 
sentative as  possible  some  examples  of  the  work  of 
W.  H.  Fitch,  Sir  J.  D.  Hooker,  F.  Bauer,  and  other- 
have  been  placed  on  the  walls  from  the  collection  oi 
paintings  already  at  Kew.  An  account  of  the  collection 
is  given  in  Kew  Bulletin,  No.  6,   1916. 

The  luminous  and  very  poisonous  fungus,  Pleurotus 
japonicus,  which  grows  on  decaying  trunks  of  the 
beech  tree  in  Japan,  has  been  investigated  by  Kata- 
mura  in  the  Journal  of  the  College  of  Science,  Tokyo, 
vol.  XXXV.,  p.  I.  The  light  is  emitted  from  the  gills, 
which  are  luminous  all  over,  and  the  range  of  tem- 
perature for  luminosity  is  3°-4o°  C.  It  is  stated  that 
100  sq.  cm.  of  luminous  area  gives  light  enough  foi 
reading,  and  that  the  light  is  noticeable  for  a  distanct 
of  some  30  m.  The  poisonous  properties  of  the 
fungus  do  not  appear  to  be  destroyed  by  cooking. 

The  wild  and  cultivated  forms  of  the  Japanese  cher- 
ries form  the  subject  of  a  monograph  by  'M.  Miyoshi 
in  the  Journal  of  the  College  of  Science,  Tokyo,  vol. 
xxxiv.,  art.  i.  The  species  concerned  are  PrMn«swM/a- 
bilis,  Miyos.,  P.  sachaliensis,  Miyos.,  and  P.  serriilata. 
Lindl.  Some  sixty-eight  varieties  of  the  last-named 
species  are  described  and  figured  in  a  series  of  ver>' 
beautiful  coloured  plates.  Ten  forms  of  P.  sacha- 
liensis and  sixty-five  forms  of  P.  mutabilis  are  simi- 
larly described  and  illustrated.  There  is  some  intro- 
ductory historical  matter,  and  under  each  form  the 
Japanese  name,  flowering  time,  and  other  particular? 
are  given.  Many  of  the  forms  are  now  known  in 
Great  Britain,  but  the  monograph  deserves  careful 
study  by  all  lovers  of  flowering  trees,  if  only  because 
of  the  artistic  beauty  of  the  plates. 

The  Scottish  Naturalist,  in  the  form  of  a  double 
number  (July-August),  is  devoted  entirely  to  the 
"  Report  on  Scottish  Ornithology  in  1915."  Though 
this  resumi  contains  nothing  of  very  remarkable  im- 
port, it  is  full  of  interesting  items.  Among  these  must 
be  mentioned  an   extension  of  the  breeding  range  of 


August  17,  19 16] 


NATURE 


505 


the  gannet,  four  pairs  of  which  nested  on  the  Noup 
of  Noss,  Bressay,  Shetland,  during  this  season.  Until 
now  all  the  known  nesting-places  of  this  species  in  our 
islands,  with  the  exception  of  the  Bass  Rock,  have 
been  on  the  west  coast.  This  report  is  the  work  of 
Misses  Evelyn  Baxter  and  Leonora  Rintoul,  and  we 
regret  to  notice  that  while  showing  a  determination 
to  be  very  up-to-date  in  the  matter  of  nomenclature 
they  have  not  adopted  that  laid  down  by  the  British 
Ornithologists'  Union,  of  which  they  are  honorary 
members. 

In  the  Irish  Naturalist  for  July  Mr.  R.  A.  Phillips 
describes  and  figures  two  species  of  fossil  Pisidium 
new  to  Ireland.  They  were  obtained  from  a  deposit 
in  the  Suir,  near  Fiddown,  about  fifteen  miles  above 
Waterford.  One  of  these,  P.  supinum,  was  found  in 
association  with  a  thickened,  triangular  form  of  P. 
Casertanuni,  which  it  closely  resembled ;  the  other, 
P.  parvulum,  has  apparently  not  previously  been 
recognised  as  a  British  species,  having  been  "  confused 
with,  and  mistaken  for,"  the  young  of  P.  supinum. 
Mr.  Phillips,  in  his  paper,  gives  the  distinguishing 
characters  between  the  two  species  in  tabular  form. 
Many  of  the  shells  which  he  has  obtained  from  the 
Suir  and  Shannon  have  all  the  appearance  of  drift- 
shells  only  recently  killed ;  hence  it  is  probable  that 
the  species  will  be  found  living  in  both  rivers.  For 
similar  reasons  hfe  believes  that  P.  supinum  will  also 
be  found  living  in  Irish  rivers. 

The  second  volume  of  "  Papers  from  the  Geological 
Department,  Glasgow  University"  (see  N.-ixURE,  vol. 
xcvi.,  p.  236),  bears  further  testimony  to  the  energy 
of  Prof.  J.  W.  Gregory  and  his  colleagues.  One  of  the 
most  notable  contributions  is  that  in  which  Prof. 
Gregory  records  the  discovery  of  pebbles  of  the  Moine 
Gneiss  in  Torridon  Sandstone,  and  thus  makes  a 
marked  advance  in  the  stratigraphy  of  the  Scottish 
Highlands.  His  description  of  "  Pseudo-Glacial 
Features  in  Dalmatia"  contains  several  illustrations 
from  the  karstland  that  are  specially  interesting  at  the 
present  time. 

Dr.  H.  H.  Hayden's  "Notes  on  the  Geology  of 
Chitral,  Gilgit,  and  the  Pamirs "  (Rec.  Geol.  Surv. 
India,  vol.  xlv.,  pub.  1916,  p.  271)  need  no  apology 
for  incompleteness.  They  were  drawn  up  during 
steady  journeying  in  a  region  of  rocky  and  snow- 
capped heights,  of  which  the  photographic  illustra- 
tions give  a  striking  record.  Dr.  Hayden  finds  that 
the  trend-lines  of  the  mountains  between  the  Pamirs 
and  Kungur  and  Mustagh-ata  do  not  present  anoma- 
lies such  as  Suess  and  Fiitterer  pointed  out.  Stolic- 
zka's  and  Ivanov's  observations  on  the  Pamirs,  pub- 
lished in  1878  and  1886,  are  now  for  the  first  time 
supplemented. 

Dr.  W.  F.  Smeeth's  "Outline  of  the  Geological 
History  of  Mysore "  (Bangalore,  price  one  rupee)  is 
accompanied  by  a  coloured  geological  map  of  southern 
India,  on  a  scale  of  about  one  inch  to  one  hundred 
miles.  The  references  to  the  banded  iron-ores,  the 
quartz-magnetite  dykes  or  tongues  in  charnockite, 
and  the  intrusive  character  of  the  "  peninsular  gneiss," 
once  regarded  as  "  fundamental,"  are  brief,  but  are 
suggestive  for  comparison  with  other  pre-Cambrian 
regions.  The  Dharwar  schists  have  affinities  with 
the  Keewatin  series  of  North  America. 

The  remarkable  new  canal  between  Aries,  on  the 
Rhone,  and  Marseilles  is  the  subject  of  an  article  by 
Prof.  Piero  Gribaudi  in  the  Bollettino  della  Reale 
Societa  Geographica  Italiana  for  July  (vol.  v.,  No.  7). 
The  canal,  which  was  opened  last  May,  is  carried 
through    the    hills    north    of    Marseilles    in    a    tunnel 

NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


four  and  a  half  miles  long  and  72  ft.  wide,  with  a 
depth  of  10  ft.  of  water.  It  will  make  direct  barge 
traffic  possible  between  Marseilles  and  the  Rhone. 
Equally  important  is  the  construction  of  a  new  line 
of  railway  from  Marseilles  to  Miramas,  where  it 
connects  with  the  Paris-Mediterranean  line.  This 
new  line  leaves  Marseilles  westward  along  the  coast, 
and  is  an  alternative  to  the  long  Nerte  tunnel,  which 
was  always  the  weak  link  on  the  old  line  in  case  of 
an  accident. 

The  Canadian  Department  of  Mines  has  just  pub- 
i  lished  a  volume  (Bulletin  No.  11)  upon  the  "  Investiga- 
j  tion  of  the  Peat  Bogs  and  Peat  Industry  of  Canada 
j  in  1913-14,"  by  Aleph  Anrep,  which  will  be  found 
I  interesting  to  all  concerned  in  the  problem  of  the 
I  utilisation  of  peat.  It  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  volumes  upon  peat  already  issued  by 
the  same  Department,  and  brings  the  information  upon 
this  subject  well  up  to  date.  The  first  portiorj  con- 
tains detailed  descriptions  of  a  number  of  peat  bogs 
in  Ontario,  Quebec,  Prince  Edward  Island  and  Nova 
Scotia,  and  is  followed  by  a  particularly  well  illustrated 
account  of  the  botany  of  these  bogs.  This  is  followed 
by  a  series  of  notes  upon  special  appliances  for  the 
manufacture  of  peat  fuel,  and  upon  the  peat  production 
in  certain  foreign  countries,  and  an  appendix  contains 
abstracts  of  Canadian  patents  for  excavating  and 
handling  peat  and  for  the  manufacture  of  peat  fuel. 
This  bulletin  is  a  further  example  of  the  sedulous 
care  with  which  the  Canadian  Government  endeavours 
to  foster  the  development  and  utilisation  of  the  natural 
resources  of  the  Dominion ;  it  is  greatly  to  be  desired 
that  the  example  thus  set  may  be  followed  in  our 
country,  and  that  we  may  see  before  long  some  Govern- 
ment department  specially  charged  with  the  duty  of 
seeing  that  British  natural  resources  are  turned  to  the 
best  possible  account. 

An  attempt  to  gauge  the  agricultural  possibilities 
of  Australia  so  far  as  the  climatic  factor  is  con- 
cerned has  been  made  by  Mr.  Griffith  Taylor,  and  his 
results  are  published  in  Bulletin  No.  11  of  the 
Commonwealth  Bureau  of  Meteorology.  The  scops 
of  the  inquiry  includes  the  distribution  of  cattle, 
sheep,  and  wheat.  Rainfall  is  the  chief  control  in  the 
case  of  wheat,  and  scarcely  of  less  value  as  regards 
cattle  and  sheep.  Temperature  is  an  important  factor 
in  the  case  of  wheat,  and  of  considerable  influence  in 
the  distribution  of  sheep.  Cattle,  on  the  other  hand, 
show  a  wide  adaptability  to  temperature.  The  author 
briefly  considers  the  topographic  control  and  the  ques- 
tion of  accessibility,  but  to  both  these,  as  well  as  to 
the  question  of  soil,  more  attention  would  need  to 
be  paid  to  make  such  a  survey  complete.  These,  how- 
ever, he  rules  outside  the  scope  of  the  memoir.  From 
a  consideration  of  the  temperature  and  rainfall  in  the 
wheat  lands  of  Texas  and  northern  India,  Mr.  Taylor 
concludes  that  south-eastern  Queensland  is  well  suited 
for  wheat  grown  under  the  same  conditicms.  The 
area  at  present  under  wheat  in  Queensland  is  small. 
In  these  new  wheat  lands  it  is  suggested  that  the 
Indian  practice  should  be  followed  of  planting  the 
wheat  towards  the  end  of  the  summer  rains — that  is, 
early  in  March.  The  wheat  would  rif>en  in  about 
four  months,  during  which  it  would  receive  an 
additional  five  inches  of  rainfall. 

It  is,  we  think,  almost  an  article  of  faith  amongst 
chemists  that  the  preparation  of  sodium  chloride  pure 
enough  for  ordinary  analytical  operations  is  a  com- 
paratively easy  matter.  But,  according  to  Mr.  Clifford 
Lohman,  who  writes  from  Cornell  College  in  the 
Chemical  News  of  August  4,  this  is  not  the  case. 
Three   specimens  of   sodium   chloride   (presumably   of 


5o6 


NATURE 


[August  17,  19 16 


American  manufacture),  each  alleged  to  be  chemically 
pure,  contained  respectively  057,  0-45,  and  049  per 
cent,  of  potassium  chloride.  Samples  prepared  by 
this  author  (i)  by  precipitation  of  a  saturated  solution 
of  common  salt  with  hydrogen  chloride  ;  (2)  by  purifica- 
tion with  milk  of  lime,  excess  of  which  was  pre- 
cipitated with  sodium  carbonate,  the  excess  of  the 
latter  being  neutralised  with  hydrochloric  acid;  (3) 
from  metallic  sodium  by  dissolution  in  water  and 
neutralisation  of  the  solution  with  hydrochloric  acid; 
and  (4)  by  neutralising  with  hydrochloric  acid  a  solu- 
tion of  the  most  nearly  pure  caustic  soda  (not  purified 
with  alcohol),  contained  respectively  :  (i)  0-42,  (2)  0-32, 
^3)  0"27,  and  (4)  0-48  per  cent,  of  potassium  chloride. 
In  each  case  the  potassium  was  estimated  by  the 
platinic  chloride  method.  It  would  be  interesting  to 
Jearn  whether  the  "  chemically  pure "  sodium  chloride 
of  English  origin  is  equally  contaminated. 

The  ions  of  low  mobility  the  presence  of  which  in 
air  at  ordinary  pressures  was  discovered  by  Langevin 
have  frequently  been  called  large  ions  owing  to  the 
belief  that  their  low  mobility  was  due  to  their  rela- 
tively great  mass.  Some  measurements  rhade  at  the 
suggestion  of  Prof.  Millikan  by  Mr.  L.  B.  Loeb,  and 
published  in  the  July  Proceedings  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Sciences,  seem  to  indicate  that  this  belief 
was  unjustified.  Using  the  alternating-field  method  of 
Rutherford,  Mr.  Loeb  has  measured  the  mobilities  of 
both  positive  and  negative  ions  at  fields  from  90  to 
i2,ooo  volts  per  centimetre,  and  in  neither  case  has 
he  found  any  marked  increase  in  the  mobility.  At 
the  high  speeds  due  to  the  strong  fields  the  clusters  of 
uncharged  molecules  about  an  electron,  which  were 
supposed  to  constitute  the  ion  of  low  mobility,  should 
be  broken  up  and  the  mobility  show  an  increase  corre- 
sponding to  the  reduced  mass.  As  the  measurements 
show  no  such  increase,  the  author  adopts  the  theory 
that  each  ion  consists  of  a  single  molecule  and  its  low- 
mobility  is  due  to  the  action  of  its  charge  on  neutral 
molecules  increasing  the  number  of  collisions. 

.\ccoRDiNG  to  the  Scientific  American,  there  has  been 
a  remarkable  increase,  since  the  war  commenced,  in 
the  number  of  American  engineering  firms  who  make 
use  of  the  metric  system  of  measurement.  Many  firms 
who  t\yo  years  ago  upheld  the  yard,  foot,  inch,  eighths, 
sixteenths,  thirty-secondths,  and  sixty-fourths  as  more 
convenient  than  the  metre  and  its  decimal  sub- 
divisions are  now  turning  out  machines  gauged 
solely  on  the  metric  system.  This  remarkable  volte- 
face  appears  due  to  the  desire  on  the  part  of  American 
firms  to  meet  the  demand  for  machinery  which,  in 
the  past,  has  been  supplied  by  Germany.  Whatever 
the  reason  for  this  rapid  change,  the  fact  that  it  has 
been  carried  out  voluntarily  in  so  short  a  time  seems 
a  sufficient  refutation  of  the  argument  that  the  intro- 
duction of  the  metric  system  into  engineering  works 
in  this  country  would  cause  endless  confusion  and 
great  expense. 

We  have  received  from  Prof.  R.  Gautier,  director  of 
the  Geneva  Observatory,  the  annual  report  describing 
the  chronometrical  service  carried  on  in  that  institu- 
tion. It  appears  from  the  report  that  the  war  has 
affected  the  activity  of  the  observatory  very  adversely, 
and  that  the  number  of  instruments  submitted  to  trial 
conditions  has  fallen  below  that  of  any  year  since 
1872.  Of  marine  chronometers  only  one  has  been 
received,  and  of  pocket  watches,  152,  as  against  296 
in  1914.  M.  Gautier  takes,  however,  a  hopeful  view 
of  the  national  industry  in  the  future  when  normal 
conditions  have  returned,  basing  this  opinion  on  the 
improved  character  of  the  work.  For  if  the  number 
of  instruments  has  been  less,  the  proportion  of  those 

NO.    2442,    VOL.   97] 


which  obtain  the  highest  certificate  of  excellence  has 
increased.  No  less  than  95  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
deposits  has  obtained  a  first-class  certificate,  and  less 
than  10  per  cent,  of  the  instruments  submitted  to  test 
has  failed.  These  figures  constitute  a  record  in  the 
history  of  the  annual  trials.  M.  Gautier  gives  some 
details  of  the  examination  of  chronometers  at  the 
neighbouring  observatories  of  Neuchatel  and  Besan- 
9on,  giving  also  an  abstract  of  the  Kew  results  for 
comparison.  The  effect  of  the  war  is  everywhere 
noticeable  in  the  quantity  of  instruments  deposited, 
but  the  quality  oT  the  work  is  everywhere  maintained 
with  gratifying  uniformity.  The  general  adoption  of 
the  Guillaume  balance  has  contributed  to  this  success- 
ful result.  In  the  Kew  report  it  is  stated  that  the 
Swiss  manufacturers  have  universally  adopted  the 
Guillaume  t\'pe,  and  "il  n'y  a  pas  de  doute  que 
I'emploi  de  ce  type  de  balancier  contribue  largement 
aux  brillants  r^sultats  obtenus  par  les  montres 
d^pos^es  par  ces  fabricants." 

In  response  to  many  requests,  the  Board  of  Agri- 
culture and  Fisheries  has  issued  (at  15.)  a  second 
edition  of  vol.  i.  of  the  "  Special  Reports  on  the 
Mineral  Resources  of  Great  Britain."  It  will  be 
remembered  that  the  work  deals  with  the  uses,  dis- 
tribution, treatment,  and  output  of  tungsten  and 
manganese  ores,  and  that  in  it  particulars  are  given 
of  the  mines  containing  the  ores. 

An  interesting  volume  has  been  sent  to  us  by  the 
Royal  Cornwall  Polytechnic  Society,  entitled  "  His- 
torical Synopsis  of  the  Royal  Cornwall  Polytechnic 
Society  for  81  Years,  1833-1913,"  by  Wilson  Lloyd 
Fox,  with  indexes  by  Howard  Fox.  The  work 
is  divided  into  two  parts,  covering  the  periods 
1833-81  and  1882-1913.  The  activities  of  the  society 
have  been  numerous  and  valuable,  and  merit  this 
permanent  record. 

A  NEW  series  entitled  the  "  Cambridge  Botanical 
Handbooks  "  is  being  edited  by  Prof.  A.  C.  Seward 
and  Mr.  A.  G.  Tansley  for  the  Cambridge  University 
Press.  The  development  of  certain  branches  of 
botanical  science  in  recent  years  has  emphasised  the 
need  for  books  by  specialists  on  different  groups  of 
the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  the  new  series  is  being 
issued  to  meet  this  want.  A  book  by  Prof.  West 
dealing  biologically  with  all  the  algas  included  in  the 
Myxophyceas,  Peridinieae,  Bacillacieae,  and  Chloro- 
phyceae,  both  fresh-water  and  marine,  will  be  the  first 
volume  to  appear.  It  will  be  followed  by  another 
work  by  Prof.  West,  on  all  the  fresh-water  algae 
(with  the  exception  of  desmids  and  diatoms)  which 
are  known  to  occur  in  the  British  Isles.  Volumes  on 
lichens,  fungi,  and  gnetales,  by  Miss  Lorrain  Smith, 
Dr.  Helen  Gwynne-Vaughan,  and  Prof.  Pearson 
respectively,  are  in  an  advanced  state  of  preparation. 

The  Harvard  University  Press  (Cambridge,   Mass., 
U.S.A.)  has  begun  the  publication  of  a  series  entitled 
"Harvard  Health  Talks,"  being  the  substance  of  some 
of  the  public  lectures  delivered  at  the  Medical  School  of 
Harvard  University,  and  aiming  at  providing  in  easily 
accessible  form  modern  and  authoritative  information 
on  medical  subjects  of  general   importance.     Among^ 
the  volumes  in  the  series  we  notice  "The  Care  an4H 
Feeding  of  Children,"  by  J.  L.  Morse;   "Preservatives" 
and  other  Chemicals  in  Food  :    their  Use  and  Abuse," 
bv  O.  Folin;  "The  Care  of  the  Skin,"  by  C.  J.  White; 
"'The  Care  of  the  Sick  Room,"  by  E.  G.  Cutler;   and 
"The  Care  of  the  Teeth,"  by  C.  A.   Brackett.     The 
series  is  published  in  this  country  by  the  Oxford  Uni- 
versity Press. 


August  17,  1916] 


NATURE 


507 


OVR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

A  Large  Solar  Prominence. — An  eruptive  promin- 
ence  of  exceptional  altitude  was  photographed  by  Mr. 
Evershed  at  Srinagar,  Kashmir,  on  May  26,  1916. 
Photographs  were  obtained  at  intervals  from  near 
the  beginning  of  the  outburst  until  the  final  fragments 
had  risen  to  a  height  of  a  little  more  than  a  semi- 
diameter  from  the  sun's  limb.  The  velocity  away 
from  the  sun  was.  190  km.  per  sec,  and  faint  exten- 
sions could  be  traced  at  18'  from  the  limb,  representing 
a  height  of  close  upon  half  a  million  miles.  This 
would  appear  to  be  the  highest  prominence  which  has 
yet  been  recorded.  {The  Observatory,  vol.  xxxix., 
P-  358.) 

The  Spectroscopic  Binary  o-  Aquil^^e. — ^The 
variable  radial  velocity  of  this  star,  detected  at 
Mt.  Wilson  in  1912,  has  been  further  investigated  by 
Mr.  F.  C.  Jordan  (Pub.  Allegheny  Obs.,  vol.  iii., 
No.  22).  The  star  is  interesting  as  one  in  which  both 
components  are  readily  obser\-ed  separately.  Both 
spectra  are  of  type  B  8,  and  from  their  relative  inten- 
sities it  is  inferred  that  the  components  differ  in 
brightness  by  about  half  a  magnitude.  The  period  is 
195022  days,  with  a  probable  error  of  about  8^  seconds. 
The  orbit  is  sensibly  circular,  and  the  velocities  of 
the  components  163  and  199  km.  per  sec.  respectively, 
that  of  the  primary  being  the  highest  so  far  known 
with  the  exception  of  ^  Lyrae,  V  Puppis,  and  /i^  Scorpii. 
The  star  is  of  further  interest  as  an  additional  case 
in  which  the  K  line  of  calcium  indicates  a  velocity 
differing  from  that  given  by  other  lines  of  the 
spectrum.  The  mean  velocity  differs  so  little  from 
that  of  the  system,  -5  km.,  that  it  suggests  an  origin 
of  the  line  in  the  system  itself.  If  the  line  were  due 
to  absorption  by  a  calcium  cloud  stationary  with 
respect  to  our  stellar  system,  its  velocity  due  to  the 
solar  motion  would  be  — 16  km.  The  individual  plates 
show  considerable  variations,  but  these  are  aoparently 
unrelated  to  the  oscillations  of  the  component  stars. 

j  B.ANDED  Spectra  fro.m  the  Electric  Furnace. — At 
the  Mount  Wilson  laboratory  Dr.  A.  S.  King  has 
investigated  the  conditions  of  occurrence  in  the  elec- 
tric furnace  of  the  banded  sp>ectra  which  have  been 
attributed  to  titanium  oxide,  magnesium  hydride,  aiid 
calcium  hydride  {Astrophysical  Journal,  vol.  xliii., 
p.  341).  .\11  the  bands  in  question  have  been 
identified  In  the  spectra  of  sun-spots,  and  those  of 
titanium  oxide  are  the  most  characteristic  feature  of 
the  spectra  of  Antarian,  or  third-type,  stars.  The 
outcome  of  Dr.  King's  experiments  on  titanium  is  to 
confirm  the  conclusion  previously  arrived  at  by  Fowler, 
that  the  bands  attributed  to  the  oxide  of  this  element 
are  certainly  dependent  upon  the  presence  of  oxygen, 
and  to  show  that  with  a  sufficient  supply  of  oxygen 
in  the  furnace  the  spectrum  consists  of  the  bands 
alone.  There  was  no  evidence  of  a  material  change 
in  temperature  caused  by  the  introduction  of 
oxygen,  and  there  would  seem  to  be  no  reason  for  the 
disappearance  of  the  line  spectrum  unless  an  actual 
compound  were  formed.  In  the  case  of  magnesium 
and  calcium,  the  experiments  similarly  indicated  a 
clear  dependence  of  the  bands  on  the  presence  of 
hydrogen,  without  any  apparent  change  in  the  action 
of  the  source.  While  the  bands  appeared  through  a 
considerable  range  of  furnace  temperatures,  the  upper 
limit  for  their  greatest  strength  was  about  2300°  C. 
There  would  accordingly  seem  to  be  ample  justifica- 
ition  for  regarding  the  presence  of  the  three  sets  of 
oands  as  evidence  of  a  relatively  low  temf>erature  in 
sun-spots,  and  the  occurrence  of  titanium-oxide  bands 
IS  direct  evidence  of  the  presence  of  oxygen  in  the 
i^tarian  stars  and  in  the  sun. 

NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  NATIONAL  PHYSICAL 
LABORATORY  DURING  THE  YEAR  1915-16. 

THE  report  of  the  National  Physical  Laboratory  for 
the  year  1915-16  again  presents  a  record  of 
useful  national  work.  The  importance  of  the  labora- 
tory has  been  rendered  more  prominent  owing  to  the 
war,  not  only  because  of  the  direct  assistance  it  has 
been  called  upon  to  giva  to  the  Services,  but  also 
through  its  co-operation  in  the  solution  of  industrial 
problems  which  our  blindness  and  lack  of  national 
prudence  has  been  content  to  leave  unattempted,  an 
open  field  wherein  the  scientific  and  technical  organ- 
isation of  Giermany  might  find  its  reward. 

Two  prominent  members  of  the  general  board  of 
the  laboratory,  Sir  Frederick  Donaldson  and  Mr. 
Leslie  Robertson,  lost  their  lives,  in  their  country's 
service,  on  the  Hampshire.  The  board  have  put  on 
record  in  the  report  their  appreciation  of  the  services 
rendered  to  the  laboratory  by  these  members  of  their 
body.  Sir  Frederick  Donaldson  was  an  active  mem- 
ber also  of  the  executive  committee.  Mr.  Leslie 
Robertson,  from  the  nature  of  his  duties  as  secretary 
to  the  Engineering  Standards  Committee,  had  been 
closely  associated  for  many  years  with  the  work  of 
standardisation  and  maintenance  of  standards,  which 
constitutes  one  of  the  main  functions  of  the  labora- 
tory. 

Last  year  the  laboratory  had  also  to  mourn  the 
loss  of  two  of  its  earliest  and  most  active  supporters. 
Sir  Andrew  Noble  and  Sir  Arthur  Riicker,  both  mem- 
bers of  the  Treasury-  Committee,  presided  over  by 
Lord  Rayleigh,  which  in  1897  reported  in  favour  of 
the  establishment  of  the  laboratory. 

One-quarter  of  the  permanent  staff  of  the  laboratory 
are  at  present  on  active  service.  Two  who  served  in 
France  have  lost  their  lives.  One,  taken  prisoner  at 
Antwerp,  succeeded  about  a  year  later  in  escaping 
from  Doberitz.  During  the  past  year  the  services  of 
all  away  have  been  much  missed,  and  it  has  been 
necessary  to  provide  a  constantly  increasing  tempor- 
ary staff,  including  many  women,  of  whom  it  is 
recorded  that  their  work  has  been  very  efficiently 
done. 

Owing  to  the  depletion  of  the  staff  and  the  large 
demands  made  on  the  laboratory  by  the  Admiralty, 
the  War  Office,  and  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  for 
the  investigation  of  special  questions,  the  research 
work  has  necessarily  suffered,  and  in  many  depart- 
ments has'  been  altogether  in  abeyance.  On  the 
formation  of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  Dr.  Glaze- 
brook,  the  director  of  the  laboratory,  was  appointed 
its  scientific  adviser  on  physical  questions.  The 
laboratory  undertook  the  testing  of  gauges  required 
in  the  manufacture  of  fuses  and  shells.  The  initial 
difficulties  were  considerable :  the  degree  of  accuracy 
needed  in  the  gauges  was  scarcely  realised  at  first 
by  many  of  the  numerous  manufacturers  vho  gave 
their  assistance  to  the  Ministry  in  meeting  the  needs 
of  the  Army,  and  the  laboratory  has  earned  their  con- 
fidence and  appreciation  by  the  valuable  help  it  has 
been  able  to  give,  both  directly  and  indirectly,  in  the 
improvement  of  the  methods  employed. 

The  war  has  lent  a  great  stimulus  to  the  production 
in  this  country  of  optical  glass,  an  industry  which  had 
previously  tended  more  and  more  to  become  a  Grerman 
monopoly.  The  shortage  in  the  early  months  of  the 
war  must  have  been  a  source  of  most  serious  anxiety 
to  those  responsible  for  the  supply  of  optical  muni- 
tions, and  it  is  a  matter  for  congratulation  that  the 
difficulty  has  been  met  so  successfully.  Research  on 
optical  glass  has  now  been  undertaken  by  the  labora- 
tory, with  the  aid  of  a  grant  from  the  Privy  Council 
Committee  for  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research. 
This  work  is  of  the  utmost  national  and  scientific  im- 


5o8 


NATURE 


[August  17,  1916 


portance,  and  the  committee  will  doubtless  spare  no 
effort  to  ensure  that  it  is  actively  continued  and  ex- 
tended, and  that  in  the  future  no  risk  shall  be  run  of 
this  fundamentally  important  industry  passing-  into 
foreign  hands.  Research  on  chemical  and  other 
glasses  has  been  done  during  the  year  by  the  labora- 
tory, as  well  as  by  other  institutions. 

As  is  well  known,  one  of  the  principal  difficultieis  in 
the  manufacture  of  optical  glass  lies  in  the  choice  of 
suitable  refractory  material  for  the  pots  in  which  it 
is  made.  The  report  states  that  the  research  has  so 
far  been  mainly  directed  to  the  production  of  satis- 
factory pots,  and  that  similar  work  on  heat-resisting 
materials,  and  more  generally  on  the  behaviour  of  the 
rare  earths  and  other  substances  at  high  tempera- 
tures, is  of  great  importance  in  a  large  number  of 
industrial  processes.  For  such  work  a  technological 
laboratory  on  a  large  scale  is  needed ;  and  notwith- 
standing the  economic  diflficulties  existing,  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  matter  will  receive  immediate  and 
serious  consideration. 

The  laboratory  has  earned  a  world-wide  reputation 
for  its  successful  investigation  of  some  of  the  more 
difficult  questions  in  aeronautics.  The  immediate 
importance  of  the  work  to  the  Army  and  the  Navy 
has  led  to  large  additions  to  the  equipment  for 
aeronautical  research,  for  which  new  buildings  have 
been  provided  during  the  year ;  in  these  a  second 
7-ft.  and  a  second  4-ft.  channel  have  been  installed. 
The  laboratory  has  now  five  air-channels,  as  well  as 
a  whirling  table,  available  for  experiments  on 
models,  and  with  a  greatly  increased  staff  has  been 
continuously  occupied  in  dealing  with  the  questions 
constantly  arising  in  connection  with  the  design  of 
new  types  of  machine.  In  the  investigation  of  light 
alloys  and  materials  of  construction  a  large  field  of 
work  remains  open,  and  it  Is  satisfactory  to  learn 
that  this  branch  of  the  work  is  receiving  increased 
attention  on  an  extended  scale. 

Provision  for  other  new  work  has  been  rendered 
possible  through  a  timely  gift  from  Sir  Charles 
Parsons.  Arrangements  have  been  made,  at  the 
request  of  the  Rontgen  Society,  for  the  examination 
of  materials  employed  for  the  protection  of  X-ray 
workers.  The  equipment  has  been  installed,  and  the 
conditions  of  test  are  being  determined  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  Council  of  the  Rontgen   Society. 

By  desire  of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  arrange- 
ments were  made  for  the  testing  of  prismatic  com- 
passes In  considerable  numbers.  A  paper  describing 
the  methods  employed  was  read  before  the  Optical 
Society.  Assistance  has  been  given  to  the  Board  of 
Trade  in  preparing  a  specification  of  liquid  compasses 
for  use  on  the  lifeboats  of  merchant  ships.  The 
examination  of  the  luminous  dials  fitted  on  Instru- 
ments for  night  use  constitutes  an  important  branch 
of  new  test  work,  involving  also  the  examination  of 
the  luminous  radium  compounds  employed.  Tests  of 
radium  preparations  have  been  continued,  and  further 
Improvements  have  been  made  In  the  methods  of  test- 
ing optical  pyrometers,  which  are  now  being  manu- 
factured in  increasing  numbers  In  this  country. 

Turning  to  work  which  falls  more  appropriately 
under  the  heading  of  research,  an  Investigation  has 
been  made  into  methods  of  magnetic  testing  of 
straight  and  curved  bars,  and  improvements  effected. 
The  work  has  been  described  in  a  paper  presented 
to  the  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers.  A  research 
on  magnet  steels  Is  in  progress.  In  the  heat  division 
an  appreciable  amount  of  work  has  been  done  In 
the  investigation  of  the  thermal  conductivity  of 
various  substances,  both  refractory  materials  for 
furnace  construction  and  materials  employed  for  cold- 
storage  work.  The  rate  of  heat  transmission  through 
roofing  materials  has  also  been  investigated,  and 
NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


found  to  depend  to  a  much  greater  degree  upon  the 
emissivity  of  the  surface  than  on  the  rate  of  con- 
duction through  the  material.  The  loss  of  heat 
through  special  roofing  material  was  thus  found  to 
be  20  per  cent,  greater  than  that  through  galvanised 
iron,  owing  to  the  difference  in  surface  emissivity. 
When  the  special  material  was  painted  with 
aluminium  paint,  the  transmission  became  practic- 
ally identical  with  that  of  the  sheet  iron.  Other 
experiments  on  heat  loss  from  surfaces  have  been 
continued,  and  an  investigation  has  been  conducted 
Into  the  qualities  of  British-made  porcelain  for  pyro- 
meter tubes. 

In  the  Optics  Division,  tables  for  the  construction 
of  small  telescope  objectives  from  glasses  of  usual 
types  have  been  prepared  and  published  at  the  request 
of  the  Ministry  of  Munitions,  and  the  results  of  con- 
tinued experience  and  investigation  in  the  design 
and  calculation  of  lens  systems  have  been  communi- 
cated to  the  Physical  Society  in  a  series  of  papers. 
Another  Investigation  relates  to  the  improvement  of 
hydrogen  vacuum  tubes  for  use  In  the  examination 
of  optical  glasses. 

The  Metrology  Division  has  been  closely  occupied 
with  special  test  work.  Some  work  relating  to  the 
sizes  of  commercial  sparking  plugs  and  tapped  holes 
for  motor  engines  has  been  carried  out  for  the 
Engineering  Standards  Committee. 

In  the  Engineering  Department  progress  has  been 
made  with  a  number  of  researches.  A  new  machine 
has  been  constructed  for  testing  the  endurance  of 
specimens  under  combined  bending  and  twisting. 
The  methods  of  notched-bar  impact  testing  have 
been  Investigated ;  various  methods  for  testing  the 
hardness  and  wearing  properties  of  metals  have  been 
compared,  and  experiments  have  been  carried  out  on 
the  resistance  of  wood  to  reversals  of  stress.  Shock 
tests  on  railway  couplings  have  been  made.  The 
measurement  of  the  rate  of  growth  of  cracks  in  the 
Tower  of  London  is  a  matter  of  general  public 
Interest.  In  Aeronautics  the  investigation  of  Btabilitj' 
has  been  extended  to  the  case  of  curvilinear  motion. 

In  the  Metallurgy  Department,  investigatory  work 
has  been  mainly  confined  to  matters  of  Immediate 
importance ;  some  interesting  papers  relating  tc 
appliances  for  metallurgical  research  have  been  read 
before  the  Institute  of  Metals.  Valuable  papers  havf 
been  contributed  to  various  Institutions  by  member; 
of  the  staff  of  the  Froude  Tank,  which  has,  however 
also  been  occupied  almost  entirely  with  urgent  wort 
for  the  Admiralty. 

The  report  makes  It  clear  that  the  laboratory  h 
borne  its   full  share  of  the  burden   which  has  fall' 
upon  the  nation,   and  the  country  Is  indebted  to  t: 
director  and   his   staff   for   their   strenuous  efforts 
the  furtherance  of  technical  efficiency. 


THE   RECENT  DEVELOPMENT  OF 
GERMAN  AGRICULTURE. 

THE  fact  that  on  each  hundred  acres  of  cultivate 
land  Germany  feeds  seventy  of  her  people  whi' 
Britain  can  only  support  forty-five  has  rightly  receiv 
wide  publicitv  In  the  daily  Press.     The  memorandu 
by   Mr.   T.    H.    Middleton,  Assistant-Secretary,    Bo. 
of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries,  which  explains  how  Gt 
many   does   this,    should  be  studied  by  all   who  ha 
the  welfare  of  British  agriculture  at  heart.     The  tv 
chief  factors  in  the  recent  remarkable  developrnent 
German  agriculture  are  her  settled  economic  policy  ai 
her    well-thought-out     system     of     agricultural  _  ed 
cation.     It   was    the   belief   that   he    was   essential 
the  community,  and  that  his  land  would  not  be  aUo^^ 
to  go  out  of  cultivation,  rather  than  the  extra  pro 


August  17,   19 16] 


NATURE 


509 


on  his  wheat,  that  has  inspired  the  German  farmer  to 
greater  efforts  during  the  last  ten  years.  The  need 
for  well-educated  men  as  managers  of  estates  is  more 
commonly  recognised  in  Germany  than  in  England ; 
hence  a  career  is  open  to  successful  students  from  the 
training  institutions  of  Prussia,  while  the  English 
student  who  lacks  the  capital  to  farm  on  his  own 
account  must  look  abroad  for  an  outlet  for  his  know- 
ledge of  practical  agriculture. 

Mr.  Middleton  believes  that  our  system  of  education, 
though  starting  thirty  years  behind  that  of  Germany, 
mainly  wants  time  to  grow.  It  is  unfortunate  that  it 
had  only  just  started  before  the  war  and  that  results 
will  be  sought  at  a  time  when  patience  will  be  neces- 
sar\'  but  very  difficult  to  exercise.  The  chief  imme- 
diate cause  of  the  increased  productivity  of  German  soil 
is  the  increase  in  the  use  of  artificial  manures.  The 
German  farmer  is  no  more  skilful  than  the  British, 
but  his  natural  obedience  to  authority  leads  him  to 
apply  artificial  manures  in  such  quantities  as  his  in- 
structors, relying  on  the  systematic  work  of  the  ex- 
periment stations,  may  from  time  to  time  direct. 
Twice  as  much  nitrogen,  one-third  more  phosphate, 
and  five  times  as  much  potash  are  used  in  Germany 
as  on  an  equal  area  of  our  cultivated  land.'  As  regards 
the  two  former  manures,  we  import  nearly  three  tons 
more  feeding  stuffs  per  one  hundred  acres  than  the 
Germans,  and  this  should  balance  to  some  extent  the 
smaller  amounts  of  nitrogen  and  phosphate  applied 
direct  to  the  soil ;  but  careless  storage  of  farmyard 
manure  results  in  the  loss  of  some  50  per  cent,  of  the 
nitrogen  and  a  good  deal  of  the  phosphate,  so  that  far 
less  than  the  theoretical  amount  ever  gets  to  the  grow- 
ing crop.  Germany  is  fortunate  in  that  she  has  not 
only  immense  deposits  of  potash  salts,  but  also  vast 
i  areas  of  light  soils  able  to  give  abundant  returns  from 
I  these  manures  when  skilfully  applied.  This  combina- 
I  tion  plays  an  important  part  in  the  recent  progress  of 
1  German  farming. 

IHE   ROYAL  AIRCRAFT  FACTORY 
INQUIRY. 

npHE  whole  question  of  the  Royal  Aircraft  Factory 
■■■      administration     and     cost     seems     to     turn     on 
i  whether  it  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  experimental  or  a 
j  productive  concern.     If  it  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  fac- 
I  tor}-  for  the  production  of  service  machines,  then  there 
'  is  little  doubt  that  it  is  not  administered  as  efficiently 
as  it  might  be.     But  if  it  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  purely, 
I  or  at   least   chiefly,   experimental   establishment,    then 
1  the  case  is  completely  altered.     In  the  development  of 
I  a  new  industry,  such   as  aeronautics,   there   must  be 
I  a  certain  amount  of  experiment,  and  in  modem  times 
I  the  tendency  is  to  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  result  by 
the  application  of  science  to  the  fullest  possible  extent, 
;  rather  than  to  attain  that  result  by  a  lengthy  process 
,  of  trial  and  error.     The  inevitable  result  of  the  scien- 
tific method  is  that  it  appears  as  though  a  consider- 
able amount  of  money  is  being  wasted  with  no  appre- 
I  ciable  result,  but  in  reality  the  money  is  being  well 
;  spent  if  it  leads  to  scientific  results  of  a  widely  useful 
I  nature.     The  Royal  Aircraft  Facton,-  should  therefore 
be  judged  by  its  achievements  in  the  advance  of  aero- 
:  nautical   science  rather  than   by  its   actual   output  of 
i  machines  for  service  use.     There  can  be  no  doubt  at 
I  all  that  the  work  done  at  the  factory,  in  conjunction 
'  vyith  the  model  experiments  and  mathematical   inves- 
tigations   at    the    National    Physical    Laboratory,    has 
I  elucidated  many  questions  of  vast  importance  concern- 
ing the  design  and  stabilit}'  of  aeroplanes  in  a  way 
I  which  would  perhaps  never  have  been  done  by  private 
j  firms,    where    output    is    the    primary    consideration. 
'  Once   it   is    admitted    that   this    scientific   information 
XO.    2442,    VOL. 


97] 


is  needed,  the  Royal  Aircraft  Factory  stands  justified 
by  its  past  work.  By  all  means  reorganise,  if  by  such 
reorganisation  increased  efficiency  can  be  obtained, 
but  let  it  not  be  at  the  expense  of  the  exceedingly 
valuable  experimental  work  which  is  being  done,  and 
which  can  be  done  in  no  other  way  at  the  present 
time. 

It  is  often  argued  that  private  firms  can  produce 
machines  equal  to  those  of  the  Factory,  without  spend- 
ing so  much  time  and  money  on  the  experimental  side. 
This  is  by  no  means  true,  since  the  results  of  such 
experimental  work  at  the  Factor^'  and  elsewhere  have 
always  been  available  to  a  large  extent  to  any  who 
cared  to  avail  themselves  of  them,  and  many  good  points 
in  proprietary  machines  are  indirectly  due  to  this  fact. 
There  is  still  an  inclination  on  the  part  of  some  firms 
to  view  the  scientific  side  of  the  subject  with  suspicion, 
and  even  to  depreciate  experimental  aeronautics  alto- 
gether, but  surely  the  sooner  experimental  results  be- 
come more  widely  known  the  better  it  will  be  for  the 
future  development  of  the  aeronautical  industry.  In 
the  provision  of  these  scientific  fundamentals  of  aero- 
nautics the  Royal  Aircraft  Factory  has  played,  and  is 
playing,  an  important  part,  and  any  attempt  at  re- 
organisation which  would  impair  its  utility  as  an 
experimental  establishment,  and  reduce  it  to  the  level 
of  a  productive  factory  for  existing  designs,  would  be 
a  great  mistake  at  the  present  early  stage  of  aero- 
nautical development. 

LORD  KELVIN  AND  TERRESTRIAL 
MAGNETISM.^ 
T  IKE  most  branches  of  physics,  terrestrial  mag- 
^-^  netism  has  associations  w^ith  the  name  of  Kelvin, 
and,  characteristically  enough,  these  associations  are 
at  the  two  confines  of  the  subject,  the  immediately 
practical,  and  the  speculative.  Lord  Kelvin,  I  need 
scarcely  remind  you,  introduced  important  changes  of 
design  into  compasses,  and  the  construction  of  com- 
passes was  an  important  object  of  the  Glasgow  firm 
which  eventually  bore  his  name. 

The  other  point  of  contact  between  Lord  Kelvin  and 
terrestrial  magnetism,  as  already  mentioned,  relates  to 
theory.  All  here  know  that  there  occur  from  time  to 
time  phenomena  known  as  magnetic  storms,  during 
which  there  are  difficulties  in  carrv'ing  on  ordinarv 
telegraphy.  There  has  long  been  a  belief  that  the  sun 
is  the  principal,  if  not  the  only,  source  of  magnetic 
storms,  and  of  the  less  striking  regular  changes  every 
day  visible.  Lord  Kelvin  directed  attention  to  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  accepting  any  sensible  direct 
magnetic  action  between  the  sun  and  the  earth.  His 
earliest  remarks  on  the  subject,  to  which  I  shall  refer, 
are  contained  in  a  short  note  on  p.  154  of  vol.  iv.  of 
his  "Mathematical  and  Physical  Papers."  "The 
sun's  magnetisation,"  he  said,  "would  .  .  .  need  to 
be  120  times  as  intense  as  the  earth's  to  produce  a 
disturbance  of  i'  in  declination  even  by  a  complete 
reversal  in  the  most  favourable  circumstances." 

The  much  later  communication,  to  which  I  ne.xt 
refer,  was  made  in  1892  to  the  Royal  Society,  on  an 
occasion — a  presidential  address — when  original  con- 
tributions to  science  are  unusual.  Lord  Kelvin,  how- 
ever, devoted  fully  half  his  address  to  terrestrial  mag- 
netism. After  referring  to  various  solar  and  terrestrial 
magnetic  phenomena  he  adds  (loc.  cit.,  p.  307)  : — "But 
now  let  us  consider  .  .  .  the  work  which  must  be 
done  at  the  sun  to  produce  a  terrestrial  magnetic 
storm."  He  then  quotes  from  a  paper  by  the  late 
Prof.  W.  G.  Adams  data  relating  to  a  magnetic  storm 
of  June  25,  1885,  and  proceeds  :—"  To  produce  such 
changes  as   these   by    any    possible   dynamical    actioa 

i  Abridged  from  the  Seventh  Ketvin  Lecture  delivered  be/br»  the  Instita 
tion  of  Electrical  Engineers  on  February  17,  by  Dr.  C.  Chree,  F.R.S. 


5IO 


NATURE 


[August  17,  19 16 


within  the  sun,  or  in  his  atmosphere,  the  agent  must 
have  worked  at  something  like  i6o  million  million 
million  million  horse-power.  .  .  .  This  result,  it  seems 
to  me,  is  absolutely  conclusive  against  the  supposition 
that  terrestrial  magnetic  storms  are  due  to  magnetic 
action  of  the  sun ;  or  to  any  kind  of  dynamical  action 
taking  place  within  the  sun,  or  in  connection  with 
hurricanes  in  his  atmosphere,  or  anywhere  near  the 
sun  outside.  It  seems  as  if  we  may  also  be  forced 
to  conclude  that  the  supposed  connection  between 
magnetic  storms  and  sun-spots  is  unreal,  and  that  the 
seeming  agreement  between  the  periods  has  been  a 
mere  coincidence.  We  are  certainly  far  from  having 
any  reasonable  explanation  of  any  of  the  magnetic 
phenomena  of  the  earth ;  whether  the  fact  that  the 
earth  is  a  magnet;  that  its  magnetism  changes  vastly, 
as  it  does  from  century  to  century ;  that  it  has  some- 
what regular  and  periodic  .  .  .  solar  diurnal  .  .  . 
variations ;  and  (as  marvellous  as  the  secular  variation) 
that  it  is  subject  to  magnetic  storms." 

To-night  I  shall  confine  myself  to  three  of  the  out- 
standing problems  enumerated  by  Lord  Kelvin  :  the 
secular  change,  the  solar  diurnal  variation,  and  the 
phenomena  of  magnetic  disturbances. 

Secular   Change. 

Our  knowledge  of  secular  change  prior  to  the  nine- 
teenth century  is  confined  to  declination  and  dip.  For 
these  elements  we  have  in  some  districts  data  covering 
more  than  three  centuries. 

The  total  range  of  D  (declination)  observed  in  Lon- 
don has  exceeded  35°.  The  only  actual  turning  point 
observed,  24-6°  W.,  presented  itself  about  1818,  the 
direction  of  secular  change  then  altering  from  westerly 
to  easterly.  We  have  no  idea  how  the  value,  ii^°  E., 
observed  in  1580  stood  to  the  previous  turning  point. 
The  declination  was  approximately  the  same  as  at 
present  in  1730.  When,  if  ever,  it  will  have  the  same 
value  again,  we  have  not  the  ghost  of  an  idea.  The 
change  in  each  of  the  centuries  1600  to  1700  and  1700 
to  1800  was  about  16°,  whereas  during  the  last 
hundred  years  the  change  has  been  only  about  9°.  The 
rate  of  change  has,  however,  markedly  increased  of 
late  years,  as  may  be  recognised  on  consulting  Fig.  i, 
which  shows  the  change  at  Kew  during  the  last  fifty 
years. 

The  turning  point  in  the  dip,  when  it  attained  its 
highest  value,  presented  itself  about  1723,  or  nearly  a 
century  before  the  turning  point  in  D.  _  The  dip  in 
London  is  now  lower  than  it  has  been  since  observa- 
tions began.  Of  late  "years  the  rate  of  change  has 
been  very  small,  but  whether  this  heralds  the  near 
approach  of  a  minimum,  or  is  merely  a  temporary 
slackening,  we  do  not  know. 

The  intensity  of  magnetic  force  changes  as  well  as 
the  direction.  Thus  at  Kew  between  1890  and  1900 
H  (horizontal  force)  increased  from  o- 18 169  to  o- 18428 
c.g.s.  When  dealing  with  such  small  changes  as 
ordinarily  present  themselves  in  terrestrial  magnetism, 
it  is  convenient  to  employ  as  unit  ly,  or  oooooi  c.g.s. 
Thus  the  mean  annual  rise  of  H  from  1890  to  1900 
was  26  7.  After  1900  the  rate  of  increase  of  H  rapidly 
fell  off,  and  the  element  seems  to  have  attained  a 
maximum  and  begun  to  diminish.  V  (vertical  force) 
has  been  diminishing  for  some  time. 

Diurnal  Variation. 
To  give  a  full  account  of  the  diurnal  variation  as  It 
presents  itself  at  different  parts  of  the  earth  would 
require  a  large  treatise.  Here  I  shall  confine  myself 
to  data  from  two  stations,  and  to  certain  aspects 
only  of  these  data.  The  one  station,  Kew,  is  fairly 
representative  of  the  British  Isles.  The  other  station 
is  that  used  in  1911-12  as  the  base  station  of  the 
National  Antarctic  Expedition  under  the  late  Captain 
NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


Robert  Falcon  Scott,  R.N.  The  reduction  of  the  Ant- 
arctic observations  has  been  prosecuted  at  Kew  Ob- 
servatory for  the  last  two  years  under  my  supervision. 
For  permission  to  make  a  free  use  of  existing  data 
I  am  indebted  to  the  committee  of  the  Captain  Scott 
Antarctic  Fund. 

The  tragic  fate  of  Captain  Scott  is  still  no  doubt 
fresh  in  your  memories.  It  produced  a  great  impres- 
sion  on  his  countrymen,  who  saw  in  it  evidence  that 
the  characteristics  on  which  the  nation  prided  itself 
in  more  warlike  times  still  survived.  The  appreciation 
of  courage  is  practically  universal,  but  even  a  scientific 
audience  may  have  to  be  reminded  that  the  prosecu- 
tion of  pure  science  under  the  arduous  conditions  pre- 
vailing in  the  Antarctic  calls  for  no  small  measure 
of  pluck  and  endurance.  It  also  calls,  if  success  is  to 
be  attained,  for  other  qualities,  which  though  making 
less  appeal  to  the  public  imagination,  are  perhaps 
of  equal  value  for  the  welfare  of  a  nation,  viz.,  scien- 
tific knowledge  and  forethought.  If  I  am  able  to- 
night to  mention  Important  deductions  from  the  Ant- 
arctic observations,  it  is  to  the  physical  observers, 
Dr.  Simpson,  F.R.S.,  and  Mr.  C.  S.  Wright,  that 
recognition  is  in  the  first  place  due.     In  spite  of  the 


lC5t)5: 

K 

1870 

S 

St 

1875 

1 

\ 

^ 

\ 

1880 

\ 

V. 

\ 

1885 

\ 

s, 

\ 

1890 

Si 

\ 

1895 

k 

\ 

1900 

> 

V 

\ 

\ 

1905 

V 

I9IO 

\ 

N. 

Tarn 

■ 

"K 

t 

zr 


20° 


19° 


18° 


17° 


16°        15" 


Fig.  I. — Changes  of  westerly  declination  at  Kew  since  1865.     Change  in  the 
last  fifty  years  5  J°.     Present  annual  change  9'. 

great  diftlcultles  arising  from  the  low  temperature  anc 
the  extraordinarily  disturbed  magnetic  conditions,  thej 
secured  an  almost  unbroken  record  for  a  period  ol 
nearly  twenty-two  months. 

In  Fig.  2  the  vector  diagrams  refer  to  mean  results 
from   the    whole   year.     The    full-line   diagram   repre- 
sents at  either  station  results  based  on  all,  or  all  bu' 
highly  disturbed  days,  the  dotted-line  diagram  resultil 
from   quiet  days  only,    the  origin,   the   centre  of  tl 
cross,    being   the  same    for   the   two.     The  Antarc^ 
quiet  davs  (selected  by  myself)  were  ten  a  month, 
against  five  at  Kew  (international  quiet  days).     Th 
a   priori  we  should  have  expected  less   difference  h 
tween  the  two  Antarctic  diagrams  than  between  t 
two  Kew  ones.     As  regards  tj^pe,  there  Is,  In  fact.  If 
difference  in  the  Antarctic,  but  as  regards  amplitu< 
the  difference  at  Kew  is  slight,   and  not  always 
favour  of  the  all-day  vector,  whereas  in  the  Antarct 
the   excess    of    the    all-day    vector    is    conspicuous 
every  hour. 


August  17,  19 16] 


NATURE 


511 


The  great  difference  in  amplitude  between  the  Ant- 
arctic diurnal  inequalities  from  all  and  from  quiet 
days  suggested  a  comparison  between  inequalities 
from  highly  disturbed  days,  on  the  one  hand,  and  quiet 
days  on  the  other.  To  secure  a  demonstrably  impar- 
tial selection,  I  took  for  each  month  the  five  inter- 
national quiet  days  selected  at  De  Bilt  and  the  live 
davs  which  had  the  largest  "character  "  figures  on  the 
international  list.  "  Day "  in  this  connection  means 
a  period  of  twenty-four  hours  commencing  at  Green- 
wich midnight.  Thus  Greenwich  civil  time  has  been 
used  in  the  curves  in  Fig.  3,  which  embody  the  results 
obtained  for  the  two  sets  of  days  in  the  Antarctic. 
When  comparing  Antarctic  results  in  Figs.  2  and  3, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  i  ih.  on  the  former 
answers  to  oh.  on  the  latter. 


-K  All  or  ordinctry  days 


Year 


o o  Quiet  ddy5 


Kew 


Antarctic 


Fig.  2. — Diurnal  variation. 

Fig.  3  is  confined  to  the  four  midwinter  months, 
May  to  August. 

Large  as  was  the  difference  between  the  all  and 
quiet-day  vectors  in  Fig.  2,  it  is  quite  eclipsed  by  the 
difference  between  the  disturbed  and  quiet-day  vectors 
in  Fig.  3.  In  the  latter  figure  the  amplitude  of  the 
disturbed-day  vector  averages  about  four  times  that  of 
the  quiet-day  vector.  In  fact,  the  vector  for  the  dis- 
turbed winter  day  averages  about  the  same  as  the 
vector  of  the  ordinary  summer  day. 

While  opinions  may  differ  as  to  what  the  pheno- 
mena shown  by  Figs.  2  and  3  really  imply,  it  can 
scarcely  be  questioned  that  they  have  an  important 
bearing  on  theories  which  attempt  to  account  for  the 
diurnal  variation.  A  difference  in  t>'pe  between  simul- 
taneous diurnal  inequalities  at  different  places  is  a 
natural  enough  consequence  of  difference  of  geograph- 

NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


ical  position.  But  the  influence  of  disturbance  is  out 
of  all  proportion  greater  in  the  Antarctic,  and  pre- 
sumably also  in  the  Arctic,  than  in  the  temperate 
latitudes  of  Europe,  and  no  mathematical  formula 
which  contains  only  geographical  co-ordinates  and 
sun's  position  can  adequately  meet  the  case  of  diurnal 
inequalities  the  ratio  of  the  amplitudes  of  which  at 
different  places  varies  from  day  to  day  according  to 
the  prevalence  of  disturbance. 

The  2'j-Day  Period. 

A  remarkable  feature  in  magnetic  disturbance  is  the 
so-called  27-day  period.  This  seems  to  have  been  first 
noticed  by  J.  A.  Broun  *  in  1858,  but  the  phenomenon 
for  some  reason  was  practically  overlooked  until  re- 
discovered by  W.  Maunder'  in  1904  in  Greenwich 
magnetic  storms,  and  about  the  same  time  or  a  little 
earlier  by  A.  Harvey  *  in  Toronto  disturbances. 

All  I  think  we  are  really  entitled  to  say  is  that  if  a 
certain  day  is  disturbed,  days  from  twenty-five  to  thirty 
days  later  have  more  than  the  usual  chance  of  being 

Autarctic 
■winter 


-K  Disturbed  days  (5a  month) 
•«  Quiet    days  -  «      ■• 

Fig.  3. — Dinmal  variation. 


disturbed,  and  this  probability  is  greater  for  the 
twenty-seventh  day  than  for  the  twenty-sixth  or 
twenty-eighth. 

If  we  confine  our  attention  to  large  magnetic  dis- 
turbances an  obvious  difficulty  arises.  Large  disturb- 
ances are  rare,  and  if  all  but  large  disturbances  are 
disregarded,  a  very  inadequate  supply  of  data  remains. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  count  a  large  number  of 
disturbances  as  magnetic  storms,  numerous  chance 
ref>etitions  in  twenty-seven,  or  any  other  specified 
number  of  days,  must  be  expected ;  and  in  the  absence 
of  any  precise  definition  of  what  constitutes  a  storm — 
and  none  commands  general  respect — claims  as  to 
repetitions  in  twenty-seven  days  naturally  fail  to  carry 
conviction.  There  are,  however,  ways  of  testing  the 
existence  of  the  period  less  exposed  to  criticism,  and 
those  I  have  tried  point  to  the  real  existence  of  a 
27-day  period  in  a  certain  sense  of  the  term. 

The  first  thing  is  to  get  what  will  be  generally 
accepted  as  an  impartial  measure  of  disturbance,  so 
that  days  may  be  selected  as  representative   of   dis- 

S  Ph'losopkieal  Magazint,  August,  1858. 
'  R.A.S.  Notices,  vol.  Ixv..  pp.  2  and  538,  etc. 

*  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society  of  Canada,  igos-s, 
P-  74- 


512 


NATURE 


[August  17,  1916 


turbed  conditions,  and  every  day  may  have  a  numerical 
measure  attached  to  its  disturbance.  International 
"character"  figures  naturally  suggest  themselves  for 
the  purpose. 

The  "character"  figures  were  entered  in  successive 
columns,  representing  from  so  many  days  before  to 
so  many  days  after  the  representative  disturbed  day. 
The  successive  columns  were  summed,  and  the  result- 
ing means  taken  as  a  measure  of  the  average  disturb- 
ance presented  from  so  many  days  before  to  so  many 
days  after  the  representative  day. 

The  days  recognised  by  Maunder  as  magnetic  storms 
average  only  about  one  a  month,  and  were  much  more 
numerous  in  some  years  than  others.  If  the  27-day 
period  had  been  a  phenomenon  confined  to  such  highly 
disturbed  days,  the  procedure  adopted  here  could 
scarcely  have  brought  it  into  evidence,  except  in  dis- 
turbed years.  It  proved,  however,  to  be  as  much  in 
evidence  in  the  less  disturbed  as  in  the  more  disturbed 
years.  This  suggests  that  it  is  not  peculiar  to  dis- 
turbed conditions,  a  conclusion  which  is  strongly  sup- 
ported by   Fig.   4,   which  shows  the  results  of  apply- 


acter"  figures  on  the  days  which  are  twenty-seven 
days  subsequent  to  the  representative  disturbed  and 
quiet  days  respectively.  The  total  length  of  the  ver- 
tical line  may  be  regarded  as  a  measure  of  the  primary 
dilTerence  pulse  (disturbed  less  quiet),  and  the  length 
of  the  thickened  portion  as  a  measure  of  the  corre- 
sponding secondary  pulse.  The  short  horizontal  line 
shows  the  "  character  "  level  of  the  average  day  of  the 
year.  The  lengths  of  thickened  line  above  and  below 
this  level  may  thus  be  regarded  as  representing  re- 
spectively the  amplitudes  of  the  secondary  pulses  of 
disturbed  and  quiet, conditions.  Above  the  nine  lines 
are  given  Wolfer's  mean  sun-spot  frequencies  for  the 
respective  years. 

The  27-day  period  is  conspicuously  shown  in  Fig.  4 
in  every  year  except  1914,  where  the  secondary  pulse 
associated  with  the  representative  disturbed  dav  is 
abnormal.  The  two  years  in  which  the  27-day  period 
is  most  in  evidence  are  igii  and  1913,  both,  especially 
the  latter,  years  of  few  sun-spots ;  while  1907,  the  year 
of  sun-spot  maximum,  shows  it  less  than  any  other 
year  except    1914.     In    1912    the    secondary    disturbed 


Sunspot  f  requencj  53-8     62-0    4S-5    45-0    16-6     5-2       3-6      1-4!     9.7 


I-30 

I-20 
I  10 
I-OO 

<u 

^0-90 
ho 
<f-0-8o 

^0-70 

o 
^0-60 

50-50 

OvJ.O 

030 
ozo 
010'- 


-  1 


Normal 


26  27 


Yed.ri906   I907  I908  1909    I9IO    I9U     1912    1913    1914 

Fig.  4. — 27-day  period.     International  "character"  figures  1906  to  1914. 


ing  the  procedure  explained  above  to  the  international 
quiet  days  as  well  as  to  the  representative  disturbed 
days  of  the  nine  years  1906  to  1914.  The  representa- 
tive days  in  each  category  were  five  a  month.  The 
normal  line  in  Fig.  4  represents  the  mean  "  character  " 
figure,  o-6o<,  of  all  days  of  the  nine  years.  Above 
this  normal  line  we  have  the  primary  and  secondary 
pulses  associated  with  the  representative  disturbed 
day,  the  "  character "  figure  of  which  was  1-26,  and 
below  it  are  the  primary  and  secondary  pulses  asso- 
ciated with  the  representative  quiet  day,  the  "  char- 
acter"  figure  of  which  was  o-ii.  The  secondary  pulse 
associated  with  the  representative  quiet  day  is  not 
quite  so  deep  as  that  associated  with  the  representative 
disturbed  day,  but  the  same  is  true  and  to  a  like  extent 
of  the  primary  pulses. 

The  graphical  representation  of  the  results  for  the 
individual  years  in  Fig.  4  is  confined  to  days  o  and  27. 
The  extreme  top  and  bottom  of  the  lines  represent  the 
"  character "  figures  on  the  representative  disturbed 
and  quiet  days,  on  the  same  scale  that  serves  for  the 
nine  years  combined.  The  top  and  bottom  of  the 
thickened  portions  of  these  lines  represent  the  "  char- 

NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


pulse  is  much  better  developed  than  the  secondary 
quiet  pulse,  and  19 13  shows  the  same  phenomenon  to 
a  minor  extent.  In  1906,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
secondary  quiet  pulse  is  the  more  prominent.  In  the 
years  1907  to  191 1  the  development  of  the  two 
secondary  pulses  is  very  similar. 

A  good  deal  probably  remains  to  be  done  to  unravel 
the  exact  nature  of  the  relationship  between  sun-spots 
and  magnetic  phenomena.  There  can  scarcely  be  any 
doubt  that  the  range  of  the  mean  diurnal  variation 
for  the  whole  year  varies  from  year  to  year  in  almost 
exactly  the  same  way  as  the  mean  sun-spot  frequency 
or  the  sun-spot  area.  Also  the  two  phenomena  exhibit 
a  27-day  period,  and  to  approximately  the  same  extent. 
In  the  average  year  of  an  ii-year  period,  1896  to  1900, 
the  daily  range  of  H  at  Kew  showed  a  decided  tend- 
ency to  be  above  its  mean  value  during  several  suc- 
cessive days  subsequent  to  the  appearance  of  excep- 
tionally large  sun-spot  area,  the  maximum  in  the 
range  following  four  days  after  the  maximum  in  the 
area.  The  phenomenon,  however,  did  not  seem  to 
arise  from  special  disturbance,  but  rather  to  be  a 
variant  of  the  phenomenon  of  large  regular  diurnal 


August  17,  191 6J 


NATURE 


513 


variation  in  years  of  many  sun-spots.     As  regards  dis- 
turbance, in  some  years  there  seems  a  clear  connection 
with  sun-spots,  in  others  little,  if  any.     This  is  what 
we  might  expect  to  happen  if  the  27-day  periods  in  the 
two  elements  in  one  year  tended  to  be  in  phase,  and  in 
another  year  did  not.     But  the  27-day  period  may  be 
prominent    in    magnetic    phenomena    in    years    when 
re  are  almost  no  sun-spots.     Also  the  27-day  period 
xhibited  by  magnetic  calms  as  well  as  by  magnetic 
ms,  and  no  one  has  suggested  that  limited  solar 
is  can  exercise  a  calming  influence  on   terrestrial 
magnetism. 

On  the  question  naturally  of  most  interest  to  my 
audience,  whether  terrestrial  magnetism  has  any  direct 
bearing  on  the  problems  of  electrical  engineering,  a 
few  words  must  suffice.  If  wireless  phenomena  are 
affected,  as  has  been  suggested,  by  the  greater  or  less 
conductivity  of  the  upper  atmosphere,  one  would  ex- 
pect them  to  have  certain  features  in  common  with 
magnetic  phenomena.  In  particular,  the  ii-year 
period  and  the  27-day  period  might  be  expected  to  dis- 
close themselves.  If  these  periods  affect  wireless  to 
anj-thing  like  the  same  extent  as  they  do  terrestrial 
magnetism,  there  should  be  no  great  difficulty  in 
establishing  the  fact,  if  systematic  observations  were 
directed  to  that  end.  Another  possibility  is  that 
means  may  be  developed  for  utilising  some  of  the 
power  that  now  goes  to  magnetic  storms.  This  would 
naturally  be  most  feasible  in  high  latitudes  where 
aurora  and  magnetic  disturbance  are  most  in  evidence. 


UNIVERSITY   AXD   EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

We  learn  from  the  British  Medical  Journal  that 
Prof.  Charles  Richet,  of  the  University  of  Paris,  has 
been  awarded  the  State  prize  for  poetr\-.  The  subject 
was  ''The  Glory  of  Pasteur." 

Examinations  in  biological  chemistn.-,  bacteriolog}', 
fermentation  and  enzyme  action,  and  in  chemical 
technology  will  be  held  in  connection  with  the  Institute 
of  Chemistry  in  October  next.  The  lists  of  candi- 
dates will  close  on  September  12.  .  __ 

Dr.  a.  Lauder,  of  the  Edinburgh  and  East  of  Scot- 
land College  of  Agriculture,  has  been  elected  honorary- 
secretar)-  of  the  Edinburgh  and  East  of  Scotland  sec- 
tion of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industrv,  in  succession 
to  Dr.  J.  P.  Longstaff,  now  general  secretary  of  the 
society   in    Lx)ndon. 

Miss  S.  E.  S.  Mair  and  Mrs.  A.  M.  Chalmers 
Watson,  on  behalf  of  women  medical  graduates,  stu- 
dents, and  their  friends,  have  offered  to  pay  to  the 
Edinburgh  University  Court  within  a  year  the  sum 
of  4000/.  to  defray  the  cost  of  undertakings  intended 
to  facilitate  the  medical  education  of  women. 

The  following  Edgar  Allen  entrance  scholarships  are 
being  offered  by  the  University  of  Sheffield  : — ^Two 
open  to  men  and  women,  and  two  restricted  to  the 
"  sons  of  workmen  earning  daily  or  weekly  wages  and 
foremen  of  workmen  and  managers."  Each  scholar- 
ship is  of  the  annual  value  of  looZ.,  and  is  tenable 
for  three  years. 

The  part  of  the  forthcoming  calendar  for  1916-17 
of  University  College,  London,  dealing  with  the 
facult}-  of  engineering  has  been  published  in  advance 
as  a  booklet.  This  faculty,  including  the  departments 
of  civil,  mechanical,  electrical,  and  municipal  engineer- 
ing, is  intended  to  provide  for  students  wishing  to 
devote  themselves  to  engineering  as  a  systematic  train- 
ing in  the  application  of  scientific  principles  to  indus- 
trial purposes.  The  courses  of  work  are  suited  to  the 
requirements    of    students    who    intend    to    enter    for 


XO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


appointments  in  the  Indian  Public  Works  Depart- 
ment, Engineering  Department  of  the  General  Post 
Office,  Department  of  the  Director  of  Engineering 
and  Architectural  Works  in  the  Admiralty,  Patent 
Office,  and  other  similar  services.  Facilities  are  pro- 
vided also  in  the  engineering  departments  for  post- 
graduate and  research  work  in  all  subjects  of  engineer- 
ing. The  more  important  engineering  institutions 
grant  various  exemptions  to  holders  of  the  different 
certificates  awarded  by  the  college.  All  communica- 
tions from  intending  students  should  be  addressed  to 
the  Provost. 

The  calendar  for  the  session  1916-17  of  the  North 
of  Scotland  College  of  Agriculture  is  now  available. 
The  classes  of  the  college  are  held  in  the  buildings  of 
the  University  of  Aberdeen,  except  those  in  agricul- 
tural engineering,  which  are  held  at  Robert  Gordon's 
Technical  College.  The  college  farm  at  Craibstone. 
about  five  miles  from  Aberdeen,  includes  experimental 
plots,  an  experimental  and  demonstration  garden,  and 
a  horticultural  department.  Field  experiments  and 
demonstrations  are  carried  out  on  ordinary  farm  crops. 
Feeding  and  other  experiments  upon  stock  are  con- 
ducted, and  there  are  extensive  woods,  including  both 
conifers  and  hardwood  trees,  on  the  estate,  which  are 
being  utilised  for  the  purposes  of  the  forestry  depart- 
ment. It  is  proposed  to  institute  a  school  of  rural 
domestic  economy  for  girls.  There  is  a  large  mansion- 
house  on  the  Craibstone  estate  which  will  be  equipped 
as  a  residence  in  which  classes  will  be  carried  on. 
It  is  proposed  to  provide  courses  of  instruction  suitable 
for  those  who  intend  to  spend  their  lives  on  farms 
and  crofts.  For  the  instruction  of  classes  in  nature- 
study  and  school  gardening,  two  acres  of  ground  at 
Kepplestone,  Rubislaw,  have  been  laid  out  as  a  demon- 
stration garden. 

The  valuable  series  of  papers  on  the  better  co- 
ordination of  science  and  industry  read  during  the 
last  six  months  before  the  American  Chemical  Society 
was  followed  by  the  appointment  of  a  committee,  who 
have  now  presented  a  report  based  on  the  examina- 
tion of  the  subject  from  three  different  points  of  view, 
viz.  those  of  the  universit}',  of  the  industries,  and  of 
the  consulting  chemists.  The  report  is  classified 
under  findings,  conclusions,  and  a  single  recommenda- 
tion to  the  effect  that  a  permanent  central  committee 
should  be  created  and  appointed  by  representatives  of 
the  universities  and  the  industries  to  studv  opportuni- 
ties and  make  public  recommendations.  The  distinc- 
tion is  drawn  between  industrial  problems  which  are 
common  to  specific  industries,  so  that  research  on 
them  can  be  carried  out  in  universities  and  published, 
and  those  problems  which  cannot  properlv  be  pub- 
lished, and  are,  therefore,  not  adapted  to  university 
treatment.  On  the  other  hand,  the  industries  are 
asked  to  make  known  to  the  universities  problems 
which  are  not  of  sufficient  importance  to  the  industrv 
to  undertake  their  solution  directly  so  that  the  univer- 
sities can  use  them  as  live  material  on  which  the 
students  can  be  trained.  The  recognition  by  the  uni- 
versity that  the  industry-  alone  is  in  a  p>osition  to  state 
its  problems,  and  by  the  industry  that  it  should  be  pre- 
pared to  give  the  necessan*^  financial  assistance  to  the 
university  to  investigate  these,  is  an  important  step 
towards  the  desired  co-ordinated  effort.  It  is  pointed 
out  that  no  matter  how  efficiently  the  university  may 
train  its  men,  the  industries  that  take  up  such  men 
must  be  prepared  to  expend  much  time,  effort,  and 
money  in  training  them  for  the  specific  work  before 
them,  but  it  is  agreed  that  co-operation  between  the 
university  and  the  works  as  to  the  requirements  of  the 
latter  in  tlie  fundamentals  of  instruction  seems  pos- 
sible, feasible  and  mutually  profitable.  The  findings 
deal  with  certain  controversial  points  in  the  education 


514 


NATURE 


[August  17,  19 16 


of  the  technical  chemist.  For  example,  the  part-time 
system  whereby  the  summer  vacation  is  spent  in  the 
industry  is  condemned ;  the  value  of  industrial  fellow- 
ships is  regarded  as  diminishing  as  the  liberty  to  pub- 
lish is  restricted.  The  report  is  eminently  practical, 
and  it  will  well  repay  serious  consideration  in  this 
country. 


SOCIETIES    AND    ACADEMIES. 

Manchester. 

Literary  and  Phi'osophical  Society,  May  30. — Prof. 
W.  W.  Haldane  Gee,  vice-president,  in  the  chair. — 
Dr.  W.  H.  R.  Rivers  :  Irrigation  and  the  cultivation 
of  taro.  In  the  New  Hebrides  and  New  Caledonia 
irrigation  is  only  used  for  the  cultivation  of  Colocasia 
antiqiiorum,  the  taro  of  the  Polynesians.  This  inti- 
mate connection  between  irrigation  and  taro,  which  is 
found  in  other  parts  of  Oceania,  suggests  that  if  irri- 
gation belongs  to  the  megalithic  culture  (W.  J.  Perry, 
Manchester  Memoirs,  vol.  Ix.,  part  i.),  taro  must  have 
had  a  similar  history.  The  distribution  of  the  plant 
supports  this  suggestion,  showing  a  close  correspond- 
ence with  that  of  the  megalithic  culture  when  its 
tropical  and  semi-tropical  habits  are  taken  into  account. 
It  occurs  in  Oceania,  the  Malay  Archipelago,  India 
and  eastern  Asia,  Arabia,  Egypt,  East  and  West 
Africa,  the  Canary  Islands,  Algeria,  southern  Italy, 
Spain  and  Portugal,  as  well  as  tropical  America. 
Since  the  original  habitat  of  the  plant  is  southern 
Asia,  its  use  as  a  food  was  probably  acquired  by  the 
megalithic  people  in  India  and  taken  by  them  both  to 
the  east  and  west.  Although  the  general  distribution 
of  taro  in  southern  Melanesia  corresponds  with  that  of 
the  megalithic  influence,  a  difficulty  is  raised  by  the 
island  of  Malekula,  in  the  New  Hebrides.  So  far  as 
we  know,  irrigation  does  not  occur  in  this  island, 
although  megalithic  influence  is  present  in  a  very 
definite  form.  To  account  for  the  absence  of  irriga- 
tion in  this  island  it  is  shown  that  modes  of  disposal 
of  the  dead  point  to  two  megalithic  intrusions  into 
Oceania,  and  the  high  degree  of  development  of  irriga- 
tion in  such  outlying  islands  and  districts  as  New 
Caledonia,  Anaiteum,  and  north-western  Santo  in 
Melanesia,  and  the  Marquesa  and  Paumotu  Islands 
in  Polynesia,  suggests  that  this  practice  belonged  to 
the  earlier  of  the  two  movements.  There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  this  movement  had  relatively  little  influ- 
ence in  Malekula.— Prof.  G.  Elliot  Smitli  :  The  arrival 
of  Homo  sapiens  in  Europe.  At  a  time  when  little 
was  known  of  early  man  and  his  works  beyond  the 
stone  implements  which  he  fashioned.  Sir  John  Lub- 
bock (afterwards  Lord  Aveburv)  suggested  the  use  of 
the  terms  Palaeolithic  and  Neolithic  to  distinguish 
respectively  between  the  earlier  part  of  the  Stone  age, 
when  crudely  worked  implements  were  made,  and  the 
later  period,  when  more  carefully  finished  workman- 
ship was  shown.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  subsequent 
investigation  revealed  a  high  degree  of  skill  in  the 
craftsmanship  of  the  Upper  Palaeolithic  period,  which 
in  many  respects  shows  a  very  much  closer  affinity  to 
the  Neolithic  than  to  the  Lower  Palaeolithic  period, 
Lubbock's  terminology  has  become  so  firmlv  estab- 
lished that  it  has  continued  to  determine  the  primary 
subdivision  into  epochs  of  the  early  history  of  man. 
Recent  research  has  brought  to  light  a  vast  amount 
of  new  information  relating  to  the  achievements  of 
Upper  Palaeolithic  man,  and  has  conclusively  shown 
that  human  culture  and  artistic  expression  had  already 
attained  the  distinctive  characters  which  mark  them 
as  the  efforts  of  men  like  ourselves.  This  view  has 
been  amply  confirmed  by  the  general  recognition  of  the 


fact  that,  after,  the  disappearance  of  Neanderthal  man 
at  the  end  of  the  .Mousterian  period,  the  new  race  of 
men  that  supplanted  them  in  Europe  and  introduced 
the  Aurignacian  culture  conform  in  all  essential  re- 
spects to  our  own  specific  type,  Homo  sapiens.  Thus 
the  facts  of  physical  structure,  no  less  than  the  artistic 
abilities  and  the  craftsmanship,  of  the  men  of  the 
Upper  Palaeolithic  proclaim  their  affinity  with  our- 
selves. The  earlier  types  of  mankind  which  invaded 
Europe  and  left  their  remains  near  Piltdown,  Heidel- 
berg, and  in  the  various  Mousterian  stations  belong 
to  divergent  species,  and  perhaps  genera,  which  can 
be  grouped  together  as  belonging  to  a  Palaeanthropic 
age,  which  gave  place  (at  the  end  of  the  Mousterian 
epoch  in  Europe)  to  a  Neoanthropic  age,  when  men  of 
the  modern  type,  with  higher  skill  and  definite  powers 
of  artistic  expression,  made  their  appearance  and  sup- 
planted their  predecessors.  So  long  as  primary  im- 
portance continues  to  be  assigned  to  the  terms  Palaeo- 
lithic and  Neolithic,  the  perspective  of  anthropologv 
will  be  distorted.  Though  the  facts  enumerated  in 
this  communication  are  widely  recognised,  it  is  found 
that  the  writers  who  frankly  admit  them  lapse  from 
time  to  time  into  the  mode  of  thought  necessarily 
involved  in  the  use  of  the  terms  Palaeolithic  and 
Neolithic.  If  modern  ideas  are  to  find  their  just  and 
unbiassed  expression  some  such  new  terminology  as  is 
suggested  here  becomes  necessary. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  July  31.— M.  Ed.  Perrier  in  the 
chair. — At  the  preceding  meeting  of  the  Academy  the 
president,  in  announcing  the  death  of  Sir  William 
Ramsay,  gave  an  account  of  his  work  in  chemistry. — 
J.  Bergonie  and  C.  E.  Guillaume  :  Surgical  instru- 
ments adapted  to  the  field  of  the  electro-vibrator. 
Ordinary  surgical  instruments  utilised  in  the  field  of 
the  electro-vibrator  are,  like  the  projectile  sought  for, 
submitted  to  an  intense  oscillatory  movement,  a 
matter  of  difficulty  for  the  surgeon.  To  reduce  this 
vibration  to  negligible  proportions,  it  is  necessary  that 
the  instruments  should  be  constructed  of  a  metal  non- 
magnetic and  of  high  resistivity.  The  iron-nickel 
alloys,  containing  between  22  per  cent,  and  30  per 
cent,  of  nickel,  fulfil  these  conditions,  but  offer  diffi- 
culties in  manufacture.  Another  group  of  alloys  suit- 
able for  this  purpose  contains  90  per  cent,  nickel,  the 
remaining  10  per  cent,  consisting  of  chromium, 
manganese,  and  a  little  copper.  Such  an  alloy,  under 
the  name  of  baros,  has  been  used  for  some  years  for 
weights  of  precision,  and  fulfils  all  the  conditions  of 
the  present  problem ;  it  works  like  mild  steel,  is 
practically  unoxidisable,  and  is  free  from  action  in 
the  field  of  the  electro-vibrator. — R.  Garnier  :  Studv 
of  the  general  integral  of  equation  (VI.)  of  M- 
Painlev^  in  the  neighbourhood  of  its  transcendental 
singularities. — H.  Arctowski  :  The  influence  of  Venus 
on  the  mean  heliographic  latitude  of  the  sun- 
spots.  The  earliest  communication  on  this  subject 
was  due  to  Warren  de  La  Rue,  Stewart,  and  Loewy  in 
1867,  and  F.  J.  M.  Stratton  has  recentiv  taken  up  the 
same  question.  The  author  does  not  think  the  results 
of  Stratton 's  calculations  can  be  considered  as  con- 
clusive, and  has  made  a  fresh  series  of  calculations 
based  on  the  Greenwich  heliographic  observations. 
It  is  difficult  to  decide  from  the  curves  whether  thr 
action  of  Venus  is  direct  or  the  inverse. — A.  Colani :  . 
The  oxalates  of  uranyl  and  potassium. — C.  Zenghelis :  j 
The  composition  and  use  of  Greek  fire. — F.  Dienert 
and  L.  Gizolme  :  The  influence  of  the  algae  on  sub- 
mere^ed  sand  filters  on  the  purification  of  water.  Th« 
purifying  oower  of  these  filters  is  a  function  of  the 
development    and    vitality    of    the    algae,    and    can    be  ^ 


NO. 


2442,    VOL.    97] 


August  17,  19 16] 


NATURE 


515 


measured  by  the  reduction  of  the  alkalinity  of  the 
water. — J.  Amar  :  The  dynamographic  path.  The 
apparatus  described  permits  of  a  graphical  record 
being  traced  of  the  movement  and  forces  exercised 
by  the  limbs  in  walking.  It  has  been  applied  to  the 
<;'^'!dy  of  models  of  artificial  limbs,  and  of  pathological 

~fs    of   injured   or    missing    limbs.— C.    Galaine   and 

Houlbert  :  The  removal  of  flies  from  houses.     The 

-ible   part  of  the   spectrum   for    flies   appears   to   be 

nprised  between  the  green  and  the  orange.  Mak- 
ing use  of  this  fact,  coloured  glass,  especially 
blue,  is  suggested  for  hospitals,  and  for  protecting 
food  in  restaurants  and  shops,  without  restricting  the 
free  access  of  air. — E.  Flenrcnt  :  A  method  of  preserv- 
ing bread  destined  especially  for  prisoners  of  war. 
The  method  suggested  by  the  author  in  19 15  has  been 
tried  in  practice,  and  its  value  has  been  confirmed. — 
J.  Roubinovitcb  :  Ocular  compression  in  the  examina- 
tion of  the  oculo-cardiac  reflex. 

Washington,  D.C. 
j       National   Academy    of    Sciences    (Proceedings    No.    7, 
i    vol.  ii.). — L.   B.   Loeb  :  The  mobilities  of  gas  ions  in 
high  electric  fields.     The  results,   though  at  variance 
with    those   of   most   observers   at  low   pressures    for 
j    negative    ions,    are    in    good    agreement    with    recent 
j    results  of  Wellisch,  and  likewise  lead  to  the  conclu- 
i    sion  that  the  •"cluster"  theory  is  no  longer  tenable. — 
;    H.  H.  Donaldson  :  The  relation  of  myelin  to  the  loss  of 
I    water  in  the  mammalian  nervous  system  with  advanc- 
j    ing  age.     There    is   no  evidence   that   the   cell   bodies 
I    and  their  unsheathed  axons  suflfer  any  significant  loss 
{    of    water ;    the    progressive    diminution    in    the    water 
j    content   of   the  brain  and   spinal    cord   is   mainly   due 
:    to  the  accumulation  of  myelin,  the  formation  of  which 
I    is  a  function  of  age,  the  most  active  production  occur- 
:    ring  during  the  first  twentieth  of  the  life  span. — R.  W. 
I    Hegner  and  C.  P.  Russell  :   Differential  mitoses  in  the 
i    germ-cell     cycle     of     Dineutes     nigrior.       The     most 
conspicuous       difference       discovered       between       the 
i    origin     of    the    oocyte    in    Dineutes    nigrior    and   in 
Dytiscus  is  in  the  number  of  differential  mitoses;  in 
Dineutes    nigrior    there    are    only    three,    whereas    in 
Dytiscus    there    are    four. — E.    S.    Larsen  and    R.    C. 
Wells  :    Some    minerals    from    the    fluorite  barite    vein 
near  Wagon  Wheel  Gap,  Colorado.     A  description  of 
specimens   of  the   unusual  mineral    gearksutite,    of   a 
peculiar    kaolinite,    and    of    a    new    fluoride-sulphate, 
creedite.— P.   D.    Lamson  :   The  processes  taking  place, 
in  the  body  by  which  the  number  of  erythrocytes  per 
unit  volume  of  blood  is  increased  in  acute  experimental 
polycythaemia.     It  is  concluded  that  the  liver  acts  as  a 
reservoir  for  erythrocytes.     The  process  by  which  the 
liver    increases    the    number    of    the    er>'throcytes    is 
thought  to  be  a  loss  of  plasma  from  the  liver  capil- 
laries,   together   with   a   constriction   of  these   vessels, 
driving  the  erythrocvtes  on   into  the  blood   stream. — 
I.    S.    Kleiner    and    "S.    J.    Meltzer  :    The    influence    of 
morphin  upon  the  elimination  of  intravenouslv  injected 
dextrose  in  dogs.     Morphin  increases  the  elimination 
through  the  kidneys  of  intravenously  injected  dextrose 
and   retards   the   return   of   the    sugar   content   of   the 
blood  to  its  previous  level. — C.  P.   Olivier  :  The  work 
of  the   American    Meteor    Society   in    1914   and    1915. 
From  the  554-5  observations  of  meteors,    139  radiants 
have  been  deduced  with  sufficient  accuracy  to  calcu- 
late parabolic  orbits  for  the  meteor  streams  they  repre- 
sent.—A.   J.    Dempster  :    The   light  excitation   by  slow 
positive  and  neutral  particles.     Ven,'  slow  positive  rates 
are  still  able  to  excite  light  with  a  speed  corresponding 
to   fewer   than    5   volts.     The   neutral    rays    can   also 
excite  light  at  very  slow  speeds ;   the  excitation  may 
occur    directly   because   of   the  collision    of   a    neutral 

NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


particle  with  a  neutral  molecule  of  the  gas. — C.  D. 
Perrine ;  An  apparent  dependence  of  the  apex  and 
velocity  of  solar  motion,  as  determined  from  radial 
velocities,  upon  proper  motion.  The  position  of  the 
solar  apex  and  of  the  solar  velocity  appear  to  vary  with 
the  proper  motion  of  the  stars  used  in  the  determina- 
tion. Such  variations  point  ultimately  to  some  form 
of  rotary  or  spiral  motion  among  the  stars. — C.  Bams  : 
Channelled  grating  spectra  obtained  in  successive 
diffractions.  A  brief  abstract  of  work  presented  by 
the  author  to  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington. 
— R.  Pearl :  The  effect  of  parental  alcoholism  (and 
certain  other  drug  intoxications)  upon  the  progeny  in 
the  domestic  fowl.  Out  of  twelve  different  characters 
for  which  there  are  exact  quantitative  data,  the  off- 
spring of  treated  parents  taken  as  a  group  are  superior 
to  the  offspring  of  untreated  parents  in  eight  char- 
acters. The  results  with  poultry  are  in  apparent  con- 
tradiction to  the  results  of  Stockard  and  others  with 
mammals,  but  the  contradiction  is  probably  only 
apparent. — G.  H.  Parker  :  The  effectors  of  sea- 
anemones.  It  seems  clear  that  among  the  muscles  in 
sea-anemones  there  are  not  only  independent  effectors 
and  tonus  muscles  associated  with  nerve-nets,  but 
neuromuscular  combinations  that  exhibit  true  reflex 
action.— G.  H.  Parker  :  Nervous  transmission  in  sea- 
anemones.  There  is  evidence  not  only  for  the  assump>- 
tion  of  independent  receptors,  but  of  relatively  in- 
dependent transmission  tracts,  a  first  step  in  the  kind 
of  differentiation  so  characteristic  of  the  nervous  organ- 
isation in  the  higher  animals. — G.  H.  Parker :  The 
responses  of  the  tentacles  of  sea-anemones.  The 
tentacles,  in  contradistinction  to  such  appendages  as 
those  of  the  arthropods  and  vertebrates,  contain  within 
themselves  a  complete  neuromuscular  mechanism  by 
which  their  responses  can  be  carried  out  independ- 
ently of  the  rest  of  the  animal. — A.  van  Maanen  : 
Preliminary  evidence  of  internal  motion  in  the 
spiral  nebula  Messier  10 1.  The  mean  rotational 
motion  is  0-022''  left-handed ;  the  mean  radial 
motion  is  0007''  outward.  There  is  perhaps  a  small 
decrease  of  the  rotational  motion  with  increasing 
distance  from  the  centre.  The  annual  rotational  com- 
ponent of  0022"  at  the  mean  distance  from  the  centre 
of  5"  corresponds  to  a  rotational  period  of  85,000  years. 
— Symposium  on  the  exploration  of  the  Pacific  : — (a) 
W.  M.  Davis  :  The  exploration  of  the  Pacific;  (b)  J.  F. 
Hayford :  The  importance  of  gravit\'  observations  at 
sea  on  the  Pacific;  (c)  L.  J.  Briggs  :  A  new  method  of 
measuring  the  acceleration  of  gravity  at  sea;  (d)  C. 
Schnchert  :  The  problem  of  continental  fracturing  and 
diastrophism  in  Oceanica;  (e)  J.  P.  Iddings :  The 
petrology  of  some  South  Pacific  islands  and  its  signifi- 
cance ;  (/)  G.  W.  Litllehales  :  In  relation  to  the  extent 
of  knowledge  concerning  the  oceanography  of  the 
Pacific  :  {g)  C.  F.  Marvin  :  Marine  meteorology  and  the 
general  circulation  of  the  atmosphere;  (/j)  W.  H. 
Dall  :  The  distribution  of  Pacific  invertebrates ;  (i) 
W.  G.  Farlow  :  The  marine  algae  of  the  Pacific ;  (/) 
i  J.  W.  Fewkes  :  The  Pacific  as  a  field  for  ethnological 
and  archaeological  investigation;  (fe)  H.  A.  Pilsbry  : 
Mid-Pacific  land  snail  faunas;  {I)  D.  H.  CampbeU  : 
Some  problems  of  the  Pacific  floras.  The  symposium 
contains  a  summary  of  some  of  the  results  obtained 
in  past  exploration  of  the  Pacific  and  an  outline  of 
the  importance  to  many  sciences  of  further  systematic 
and  continuous  exploration  of  the  Pacific. 

C.'VPE  Town. 

Royal   Society   of   South    Africa,     June    21. — Dr.     L. 

Peringuey,  president,  in  the  chair. — J.  D.  F.  Gilchrist : 

Protective  resemblance  in  post-larval  stages  of  some 

South    African    fishes.     In    Hemiramphus    calabaricus 


5i6 


NATURE 


[August  17,  igib 


the  post-larval  stages  of  the  fish  have  the  size  and 
colour  of  fragments  of  weed,  which  often  are  found  in 
the  waters  which  these  young  fish  frequent.  VVhen 
alarmed,  the  fish  become  rigid  and  float  about  in  an 
apparently  inanimate  condition.  When  this  occurs,  it 
is  difficult  to  distinguish  them  from  the  pieces  of  weed 
floating  around.  In  klipfish  {Clinus  spp.)  the  young 
are  born  alive,  and  they  are  of  a  clear,  glassy  trans- 
parency difficult  to  detect  in  the  water.  The  contour 
of  the  body  is  probably  disguised  by  a  number  of 
minute  dark  dots.  The  colour  pattern  in  other  young 
fish  is  shovv^n  to  be  more  marked  and  considerably 
different  from  that  of  the  adult.  Some  details  of  this 
difference  are  enumerated  in  the  cases  of  the  Jeerfish 
and  the  stockfish  and  a  species  of  dogfish.  It  is  indi- 
cated how  this  colour  pattern  of  the  young  fish  may 
be  a  form  of  protective  resemblance. — H.  H.  W. 
Pearson  :  Morphology  of  the  female  flower  of  Gnetum. 
Much  work  has  been  done  in  recent  years  on  the 
morphology  of  the  flower  of  the  Gnetales,  and  very 
diverse  views  have  been  put  forward.  These  are  dis- 
cussed, summarised,  and  compared  in  this  paper,  with 
special  reference  to  recent  investigations  by  the  author 
and  to  the  conclusions  of  MM.  Lignier  and  Tison, 
both  as  published  and  as  discussed  in  correspondence 
with  the  author.  Investigations  have  tended  of  late 
to  emphasise  the  Angiosperm  characters  of  the 
Gnetales,  and  MM.  Lignier  and  Tison  even  reach  the 
conclusion  that  the  innermost  envelope  of  the  female 
flower  in  Gnetum  and  Ephedra,  and  of  both  flowers 
in  Welwitschia,  is  a  plurilocular  ovary  containing  a 
single  naked  ovule.  They  derive  their  evidence  partly 
from  the  anatomical  structure  of  the  envelope,  partly 
from  its  form,  terminating  as  it  does  in  "a  long  style 
and  a  stigma."  The  anatomical  evidence  they  adduce 
is  discussed  in  detail,  and  it  is  shown  that  the  apparent 
traces  of  a  vascular  system  do  not  necessarily  prove 
the  envelope  to  be  an  ovary,  as  well-developed  vascular 
systems  are  present  in  the  ovular  integuments  of 
Cycads  and  a  number  of  the  lower  Angiosperms.  Re- 
garding the  resemblance  of  the  envelope  to  a  carpel 
with  style  and  stigma,  it  is  pointed  out  that,  external 
appearances  to  the  contrary,  there  is  no  evidence  that 
it  is  a  reduced  form  of  a  functional  stigma.  Its  pre- 
sent function  is  to  facilitate  the  dispersal  of  pollen 
by  attracting  insects,  and  there  is  no  sufficient  reason 
for  supposing  that  it  has  ever  been  concerned  in  the 
collection  of  pollen.  The  question  of  the  cauline  or 
foliar  nature  of  the  Gnetalean  ovwUe  arises  in  this 
connection  ;  this  is  discussed  in  detail,  and  it  is  shown 
that  recent  investigations  tend  to  confirm  the  opinion 
that  it  is  cauline.  Finally,  the  new  knowledge 
furnished  by  MM.  Lignier  and  Tison  for  Gnetum  is 
summarised,  and  their  comparisons  of  the  Gnetalean 
and  Angiosperm  flowers  are  reduced  to  tabular  form 
and  correlated  with  those  of  other  investigators,  figures 
being  given  to  render  the  comparison  and  correlation 
clear.— P.  A.  v.  d.  Bijl  :  Heart  rot  of  Ptaeroxylon  utile 
(sneezewood)   caused  bv  Forties  rimosus,   Berk. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

The  Bearings  of  Modern  Psychology  on  Educational 
Theory  and  Practice.  By  C.  M.  Meredith.  Pp.  140. 
(London:   Constable  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     is.   6d.   net. 

Color  and  its  Applications.  By  M.  Luckiesh. 
Pp.  xii  +  357.  (London  :  Constable  and  Co.,  Ltd.) 
1 6s.   net. 

An  Introduction  to  the  Use  of  Generalized  Co- 
ordinates in  Mechanics  and  Physics.  By  Prof. 
Byerly.  Pp.  vii-l-ii8.  (London:  Ginn  and  Co.) 
5s.  6d. 

NO.    2442,    VOL.    97] 


Organic    Agricultural    Chemistry.     By    Prof.    J.    S. 
Chamberlain.     Pp.  xvii  +  3i9.     (New  York:  The  Macl 
millan  Company;  London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Lti' 
ys.  net. 

Practical  Mathematics  for  Technical  Students.  By 
T.  S.  Usherwood  and  C.  J.  A.  Trimble.  Part  ii. 
Pp.  x  +  565.  (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.) 
ys.   6d. 

Historical    Synopsis    of    the    Royal    Cornwall   Pol 
technic  Societv   for  the   Years    1833-1913.     By  W.   1. 
Fox,     Pp.   80.'    (Falmouth  :   J.   H.   Lake  and  Co.) 

Journal  of  the  Institute  of  Metals.  Vol.  xv.  No.  i. 
Pp.  viii  +  3g2.  (London:  The  Institute  of  Metals.) 
2  IS.    net. 

The  Investigation  of  Rivers.  Final  Report.  Special. 
(London  :    Royal   Geographical   Society.)     3s.   6d.  net. 

Preservatives  and  other  Chemicals  in  Foods  :  Their 
Use  and  Abuse.  By  Prof.  O.  Folin.  Pp.  60.  (Cam- 
bridge, Mass.  :  Harvard  University  Press ;  London  : 
Oxford  University   Press.)     2s.   6d.   net. 


CONTENTS.  PAOF 

Neurology.     By  Dr.   Robert  Armsttong-Jones  .    .    .  497 

Psychology 498 

The  Declining  Birth-rate.     By  Prof.  R.  T.  Hewlett  .  498 

Sang's  Seven-place  Logarithms.     By  P.  A.  M.     .    .  499 

Our  Bookshelf 499 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

A  Peculiar  Thunderclap. — ^John  Don 500 

The    (jun-firing    on    the   Western    Front — Spencer 
Pickering,  F.R.S.  ;  I.  W.  Boothroyd    .        .500 

The  Presidency  of  the  Board  of  Education    ,    .    .  501 

Experiments  in  Aerodynamics.     By  E.  F.  R.    .    .    .  501 

Geoffrey  Watkins  Smith 502 

Notes ■.    .  503 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

A  Large  Solar  Prominence 507 

The  Spectroscopic  Binary  tr  Aquilae 507 

Banded  Spectra  from  the  Electric  Furnace 507 

The   Work   of  the   National   Physical  Laboratory 

during  the  Year  1915-16  .    .            507 

The   Recent  Development  of  German  Agriculture  508 

The  Royal  Aircraft  Factory  Inquiry 509 

Lord    Kelvin    and   Terrestrial    Magnetism.      {IVith 

Dtasrams.)     By  Dr.  C.  Chree,  F.R.S 509 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 513 

Societies  and  Academies  .    .        514 

Books  Received                 516 


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NA  TURE 


517 


I 


THURSDAY,    AUGUST  24,    1916. 


COAL-TAR   AND   AMMONIA. 

"oal-Tar  and  Ammonia.  By  Prof.  G.  Lunge. 
Fifth  and  enlarged  edition.  Part  i.  Coal- 
Tar.  Pp.  xxix  +  527.  Part  ii.  Coal-Tar. 
Pp.  xi  +  531  to  1037.  Part  iii.  Ammonia. 
Pp.  xvi+io4i  to  1658.  (London:  Gurney 
and  Jackson,  1916.)  Price,  three  parts,  3Z.  35. 
net. 

rHIS  well-known  book  is  one  of  the  acknow- 
ledged classics  of  chemical  technology. 
>riginally  published  in  1882,  it  has  now  reached 
ts  fifth  edition.  Perhaps  nothing  could  pos- 
ibly  serve  to  illustrate  more  strikingly  the 
xtraordinary  development  of  chemical  industry 
luring  the  past  third  of  a  century  than  a  coni- 
larison  of  the  contents  and  size  of  the  volumes 
'f  the  successive  editions.  The  1882  edition, 
ihich  all  authorities  agreed  was  a  faithful  reflec- 
ion  of  the  then  condition  of  this  particular 
adustry,  consisted  of  a  modest  volume  of  some 
70  pages,  of  which  about  300  treated  of 
oal-tar,  its  origin,  properties,  distillation, 
actionation,  etc.,  while  fewer  than  sixty  pages 
ere  devoted  to  the  subject  of  ammoniacal 
quor,  its  treatment,  and  the  manufacture  of  the 
lore  industrially  important  ammoniacal  salts,  the 
imainder  of  the  book  comprising  tabular  matter, 
inversion  tables,   appendix,   and   index. 

The  present  {1916)  edition  extends  to  three 
>lumes,  each  of  which  is  nearly  double  the  size 
'*  the  single  volume  of  which  the  first  edition 
insisted.  Two  of  these  volumes  are  taken  up 
;ith  coal-tar  and  its  products,  while  the  third 
eats  exclusively  of  ammonia  and  its  commer- 
al  compounds.  It  may  serve  to  indicate  the 
iportance  which  this  subject  has  assumed  to 
ate  that  the  space  which  has  now  to  be  given 

it  is  nine  times  greater  than  was  needed  some 

irty-four  years  ago. 

In  the    first   edition    no   attempt    was    made    to 

timate  the  amount  of  the  by-products  obtained 
the  destructive  distillation  of  coal.  In  the 
;rly  'eighties  the  industry,  although  no  longer 
'  its  infancy,  was  still  comparatively  un- 
♦veloped,  and  statistics  were  not  readily  avail- 
•le,  nor  when  obtained  were  they  very  con- 
stent.  Wurtz,  in  1876,  in  connection  with  the 
«rly  history  of  the  coal-tar  colouring  matters, 
|d  estimated  the  total  production  of  coal-tar  in 
|irope  at  about  175,000  tons,  of  which  Great 
Mtain  produced  about  130,000  tons.  Weyl,  of 
-innheim,  some  years  later,  put  the  amount  for 
<  Europe  at  350,000  tons,  of  which  England 
P'duced  more  than  half,  exclusively,  of  course, 
S-as-works.  In  1880  Germany  worked  up 
37,500  tons.  In  1883  the  total  production 
j-  the  principal  European  countries  was  stated 
0  Gallois  to  be  675,000  tons,  of  which  Great 
^tain    produced     450,000     tons     and     Germany 

000  tons.  At  about  that  time  (1884),  arcord'- 
*  a  report  of  the  directors  of  the  South 
XO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


Metropolitan  Gas  Company,  the  sale  of  tar  and 
sulphate  of  ammonia  realised  82  per  cent,  of  the 
initial  cost  of  the  coal  incidentally  employed. 
"Residuals,"  however,  do  not  always  command 
such  prices.  Tar,  for  example,  has  fluctuated  in 
value  in  recent  years  from  265.  a  ton  in  1903  to 
as  low  as  115.  in  1909.  Owing  to  the  special 
circumstances  of  the  times  it  has  doubtless 
greatly   increased   in   price. 

The  production  of  tar  and  the  working  up  and 
treatment  of  tar-products  and  "  residuals " 
generally  have  made  enormous  strides  in  Ger- 
many during  recent  years,  and  she  is  now,  in  all 
probability,  no  longer  dependent  upon  outside 
sources  as  she  formerly  was.  \'ery  recent 
statistics  are,  of  course,  not  to  be  looked  for. 
The  latest  which  are  available  for  a  comparison 
between  our  position  and  that  of  Germany  in  this 
respect  refer  to  1909,  and  no  doubt  are  not 
strictly  applicable  to  the  present  abnormal  condi- 
tions. But  even  as  they  stand  they  are  very 
significant,  and  leave  no  room  for  doubt  as  to 
their  meaning. 

According  to  the  figures  furnished  by  the 
author  the  amount  of  tar  produced  in  the  L'nited 
Kingdom  in  1909  was  1,100,000  tons,  made  up 
as  follows  : — 

Tons 

Gas-tar         ...         ...         ...         750,000 

Coke-oven  tar         ...         ...         150,000 

Blast-furnace  tar     200,000 


1,100,000 


In  the  same  year  the  aggregate  production  of 
tar  from  all  sources  in  Germany  was  1,012,000 
tons.  In  other  words,  whilst  the  United  King- 
dom had  rather  more  than  doubled  her  production 
in  about  twenty-five  years,  Germany,  during 
the  same  interval  of  time,  had  increased  her 
supply  by  about  twelve  times  the  amount.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  her  production  at  the 
present  time  exceeds  that  of  the  United  Kingdom 
and  that  we  have  now  definitely  lost  our  pre- 
eminence in  this  particular  industry.  The 
greatly  increased  production  in  Germany  would 
appear  to  be  due  to  the  extraordinary  developn 
ment  of  the  coke-oven  industry  which  has  taken 
place  within  recent  years  in  that  country.  There 
is  at  the  present  time  about  three  times  as  much 
coke-oven  tar  produced  in  Germany  as  of  gas-tar, 
whereas  with  us  the  amount  of  coke-oven  tar  until 
quite  recently  was  barely  half  that  of  the  gas- 
tar.  This  great  disparity  in  the  rate  of  develop- 
ment of  this  particular  phase  of  the  industry  is, 
no  doubt,  due  to  several  causes,  some  of  them, 
possibly,  purely  economic.  On  the  other  hand, 
something  must  be  set  down  to  the  conservatism 
and  apathy  of  coalowners  and  to  the  prejudice 
of  ironmasters.  It  is  lamentable  to  think  how 
one  of  the  greatest  assets  this  country  possesses 
continues  to  be  wasted  through  ignorance  and 
neglect.  Some  day  we  shall  wake  up  to  the  fact 
that  we  have  heedlessly  squandered  the  potential 
riches  with  which  we  have  been  endowed. 

Considering     the     part     played      by      coal-tar 

D  D 


5i8 


NATURE 


[August  24,  1916 


products  in  furnishing  certain  of  the  raw 
materials  needed  in  the  manufacture  of  high 
explosives,  the  astonishing  development  of  the 
coal-tar  industry  in  Germany  affords  one  more 
illustration  of  the  means  by  which  that  country 
has  so  sedulously  prepared  herself  for  the  titanic 
struggle   upon   which   she  has  embarked. 

It  remains  to  be  seen  what  the  influence  of  the 
war  will  be  on  the  future  of  tar  production  and 
distilling  in  this  country.  It  is  practically  cer- 
tain that  Germany  will  no  longer  be  the  market 
for  our  intermediate  tar-products  that  she  has 
hitherto  been.  Dr.  Lunge  tells  us,  what  we  begin 
to  realise,  that  Germany  "  is  now  in  a  position  to 
furnish  almost  the  whole  of  the  requirements  of 
coal-tar  products  for  its  colour  industry,  the 
largest  in  the  world."  What  is  in  store  for  the 
colour  industry  with  us  is  very  difficult  to  fore- 
cast. Time  and  a  more  intelligent  fiscal  policy 
may  tell.  As  we  all  know,  attempts  are  bejng 
made  to  recover  the  great  leeway  we  have  lost 
by  our  lack  of  foresight  and  our  want  of  an  intel- 
ligent appreciation  of  the  relation  of  science  and 
research  to  industry.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  in  the 
interest  of  our  textile  manufactures,  that  at  least 
a  certain  measure  of  success  may  be  reached.  But 
it  is  questionable  whether,  on  the  lines  of  the 
present  effort,  the  success  will  be  very  far- 
reaching.  It  is  certain  that  the  methods  which 
are  being  employed  are  very  different  in  character 
from  those  which  have  placed  the  industry  in  its 
present  high  position  in  Germany.  It  is  no  less 
certain  that  no  other  mode  of  direction  than  this 
last  will  be  successful  in  the  long  run. 

As  compared  with  the  preceding  edition,  which 
appeared  in  1909,  the  most  important  factor  of 
increase  in  the  present  work  is  in  the  section 
relating  to  ammonia,  concerning  which  there  has 
been  a  great  development  within  recent  years. 
Ammonia  and  ammoniacal  compounds  are,  of 
course,  used  to  a  large  and  increasing  extent  in 
a  great  variety  of  industries,  e.g.  manufacture 
of  alkali ;  coal-tar  colours ;  in  bleaching,  dyeing, 
and  calico-printing  ;  in  zinc-coating  ;  explosives  ; 
artificial  silk;  medicine,  pharmacy,  and  photo- 
graphy; and  in  the  production  of  cold.  But  by 
far  the  largest  amount  of  combined  ammonia  is 
used  in  agriculture.  During  the  first  decade  of 
this  century  the  consumption  of  ammonium 
sulphate  rose  from  125,000  to  322,000  tons, 
whereas  during:  the  same  period  the  consump- 
tion of  sodium  nitrate  rose  from  470,000  to 
637,000  tons — a  far  less  rapid  rate  of  increase 
than  in  the  case  of  the  ammoniacal  salts, 
which  is  bound  to  get  still  less  as  the  Chile 
beds  approach  exhaustion.  .Although  synthetic 
methods  of  production  of  ammonia  will  play  an 
increasingly  important  part,  it  is  practically  cer- 
tain that  the  principal  source  of  ammonia  and  its 
compounds  will  continue  to  be  the  nitrogen  of 
coal,  and  it  is  on  the  development  of  the  coking 
industry  and  on  the  recovery  of  the  by-products 
former!}'  lost  that  the  future  of  the  ammonia 
industry  will  depend. 

We  heartily  congratulate  the  veteran  Professor 
NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


Emeritus  of  the  Zurich  Federal  Techni( 
Univ'ersity  on  the  appearance  of  this  admiral 
work.  Dr.  Lunge  deserves  well  of  the  indusl 
which  he  has  laboured  so  faithfully  to  sen 
Every  page  of  his  treatise  bears  witness  to  I 
zeal  and  painstaking  care  with  which  it  has  be 
compiled  and  revised.  The  book,  as  hitherto, 
admirably  printed  and  excellently  illustrat< 
Indeed,  no  efforts  have  been  spared  by  all  cc 
cerned  to  make  it,  what  it  unquestionably  is. 
far  the  most  complete  and  authoritative  work 
have  upon  the  important  subjects  of  which 
treats.  T.  E.  Thorpe. 


MATERIALS    OF    CONSTRUCTION. 

The  Structure  and  Properties   of  the  More   Co 
mon    Materials     of    Construction.       By    G. 
Upton.      Pp.    v  +  327.     (New    York:    J.    Wi 
and   Sons,    Inc.  ;    London  :    Chapman   and  H; 
Ltd.,  1916.)     Price  10s.  6d.  net. 
''T^'HIS    volume    had    its    origin    in    a    course 
J-      theoretical     instruction     preparatory     to 
laboratory     course    at     Sibley     College,     Corr 
University.      The  first  part  deals  with  the  elas 
theory  and  the  determination  of  the  properties 
materials  of  construction,  chiefly  metals,   by  tt 
ing.     The   ordinary    rules    connecting    stress   i 
strain   are   discussed,    but   not   in   general   the 
struments    used    in    testing.      Rather    more  att 
tion     is     given     to     the     behaviour     of    materi 
strained  beyond  the  elastic  limit  than  in  treat! 
on    applied    mechanics.      Some    of    the    stateme 
are  rather  too'dogmatic.      Is  the  author  sure  ti 
in    a  tension   test    "the   break    must   start   at 
outside    and    work    inwards"     (p.     36)?     Engl 
engineers  will   scarcely   agree  with   the  statem 
that  "  there  is  not  much  excuse  for  the  use  of 
Rankine  or  Ritter  formulas  "  for  columns.    It  ' 
be  new  to  them  to  learn  that  "live  loads  appl 
without  shock  (for  example,   a  rolling  load  crC| 
ing  a  bridge  at  low  speed)  actually  set  up  stresi 
twice    as    great    as    a    dead    load    of    the    '- 
amount."     The    injurious    effect    of    a    live 
without  shock  as  compared  with  a  dead  loai 
not    that    it    increases    the    stresses,    but    tha 
causes  the  "  fatigue  "  effect.     Of  course,  al? 
produces    shocks,    which    the    author    deals 
separately.      A  live  load  is  not  a  suddenly  ap; 
load.      Nevertheless,  this  section  is  generally 
and  useful.     The  discussion  of  the  cause  of  fai 
failure  is  fuller  than  usual.      No  attempt  is  i 
to  give  collections  of  results  of  tests. 

The  second  and  rather  larger  part  of  the 
deals  with  the  internal  structure  of  materials 
,  its  modification  by  mechanical  action,   heat  t 
ment,   etc.      Is  it  true  that  the  corrosion  of 
"  takes    place    whenever    the    moisture   in    co: 
with  the  metal  becomes  electrolytic  either  bv  : 
or     alkalies  "  ?     Freezing-{X>int     and     equilib  jr 
diagrams   for   lead-tin   and    iron-carbon  alloys^r 
described,    and   the   constituents   of  cast-iron  ,n 
steel,    austenite,    pearlite,    ferrite,   cementite,    c 
are  discussed  verv  fully.      So  also  are  the  vari  JO 


August  24,   19 16] 


NATURE 


519 


if  the  properties  of  steel  with  the  carbon  content 
nd  the  influence  of  nickel,  mang-anese,  vanadium, 
hromium,  etc.  The  author  gives  a  general  theory 
if  the  heat  treatment  of  steels  which  is  original, 
nd  which,  the  author  believes,  throws  much  light 
in  practical  problems  and  is  certainly  interest- 
\^.  Cements  are  shortly  treated  in  a  final 
hapter. 

Although  some  defects,  probably  due  to  haste, 
lave  been  indicated,  this  treatise  is  really  a  good 
ne  and  can  be  recommended  to  practical  engi- 
eers  as  containing  information  not  easily  acces- 
ible  elsewhere.  Perhaps  the  fault  of  being  rather 
DO  positive  in  accepting  conclusions  not  fullv 
stablished  is  one  to  which  a  teacher  of  students 
-  specially  liable. 


SOUND     AXALYSIS. 

he  Science  of  Musical  Sounds.  By  Prof.  D.  C. 
Miller.  Pp.  viii  +  286.  (New'  York  :  The 
Macmillan   Company ;    London :    Macmillan   and 

I  Co.,  Ltd.,  1916.)     Price  105.  6d.  net. 

r  TNDER  the  above  title  the  author  has  pre- 
1^  sented  in  book  form  a  series  of  eight 
;ctures  on  sound  analysis  delivered  at  the  Lowell 
istitute  in  Januar\-  and  February,  1914.  A 
)urse  of  scientific  lectures  designed  for  the 
eneral  public  must  consist  in  large  part  of 
ementary  and  well-known  material,  selected  and 
iranged  to  develop  the  principal  line  of  thought, 
'ut  it  is  expected  that  lectures  under  the  auspices 
j  the  Lowell  Institute,  however  elementary  their 
iundation,  will  present  the  most  recent  progress 
!  the  science  in  question.  It  is  further  expected 
";at  such  lectures  will  be  accompanied  by  experi- 
jents  and  illustrations  to  the  greatest  possible 
'gree.  _ 

Thus,  in  the  present  work,  we  find  that  mathe- 
matical treatment  is  almost  absent ;  the  few  equa- 
ins  that  occur  throughout  its  pages  might  be 
«llected  so  as  to  appear  at  a  single  opening  of 
^e  book.  On  the  other  hand,  the  figures  number 
larly  two  hundred,  many  of  them  being  photo- 
japhic  reproductions  of  vibration  curves  or 
Jparatus.  These  serve  to  indicate  the  wealth  of 
ti  demonstrative  material  by  which  the  lectures 
\re  illustrated. 

The  first  lecture  deals  with  sound-waves,  simple 
Irmonic  motion,  noise,  and  tone ;  the  second  with 
t?  characteristics  of  tones.  The  third  lecture  is 
ticerned  with  methods  of  recording  and  photo- 
J:iphing  sound-waves,  and  includes  a  description 
<^  the  author's  special  recorder  called  the  phono- 
cfe.  Lectures  four  and  five  develop  the  analysis 
aJ  synthesis  of  compound  harmonic  curves,  and 
tat  the  influence  of  horn  and  diaphragm.  The 
sth  and  seventh  lectures  are  concerned  with  the 
^le  qualities  of  musical  instruments  and  the 
'  '^''^al  characteristics  of  the  vowels.  The  eighth 
treats    the    problems    of    the    synthesis    of 

vis  and  words,  and  concludes  with  remarks  on 
"  relations  of  the  art  and  science  of  music. 

he    work    includes     a     valuable     bibliographic 
XO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


appendix  of  more  than  a  hundred  references.  The 
type  and  illustrations  are  large  and  clear,  and  the 
book  should  prove  welcome  to  a  wide  circle  of 
readers  and  find  an  honoured  place  in  every 
acoustical  library.  E.  H.  B. 


OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Studies  in  Blood-Pressure,  Physiological  and 
Clinical.  By  Dr.  George  Oliver.  Edited  by 
Dr.  VV.  D.  Halliburton.  Pp.  xxiii  +  240.  Third 
edition.  (London:  H.  K.  Lewis  and  Co.,  Ltd., 
1916.)  Price  75.  6d.  net. 
This  posthumous  edition  opens  with  an  obituary 
notice  of  the  author  by  Prof.  Halliburton,  who  has 
undertaken  the  duties  of  editor  as  a  "  true  labour 
of  affection  and  respect."  This  latest  edition  em- 
bodies the  chief  advances  in  the  clinical  investiga- 
tion of  blood-pressure,  and  contains  a  description 
of  the  author's  own  instruments  for  testing  the 
pressure.  It  is  argued  that  the  condition  of  the 
vessel  wall  does  not  seriously  interfere  with  cor- 
rect readings ;  hypertonicity,  which  produces  the 
greatest  resistance,  can  be  counteracted  by 
repeated  compression  or  massage.  It  is  note- 
worthy that  occupations  involving  anxiety,  worry, 
and  nerve  strain  tend  to  augment  blood-pressure. 
It  is  pointed  out  that  "pulse-pressure"  (the  dif- 
ference between  the  systolic  and  the  diastolic  pres- 
sure) tends  to  increase  after  the  age  of  forty.  The 
suggestion  that  arterio-sclerosis  may  be  so  ad- 
vanced as  to  cause  an  entire  abolition  of  vaso- 
motor control  is  open  to  question ;  for  it  is  diflScult 
to  see  how  life  could  be  carried  on  under  such  con- 
ditions. The  author  holds  that  widespread 
thickening  of  the  arterial  wall  suffices  to  maintain 
long-continued  high  pressure,  and  that  there  is  no 
need  to  postulate  f>ersistent  hypertonicity  of  the 
arteries,  which  he  considers  physiologically 
improbable. 

The  Chemistry  of  the  Garden:  A  Primer  for  Ama- 
teurs and  Young  Gardeners.  By  Herbert  H. 
Cousins.  Revised  edition.  Pp.  xviii  + 143. 
(London:  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.,  1916.) 
Price  IS. 
When  the  demand  for  a  book  is  such  that  it  needs 
to  be  reprinted  eight  times  since  its  first  issue  in 
1898  and  now  calls  for  a  revised  edition,  it  obvi- 
ously needs  little  commendation  to  the  public  for 
whom  it  is  written.  Mr.  Cousins 's  volume  con- 
tains in  its  143  pages  a  vast  amount  of  informa- 
tion on  the  management  of  soil  for  the  successful 
production  of  garden  crops.  In  the  new  edition 
we  notice  reference  to  recent  Rothamsted  work  on 
partial  sterilisation  and  to  the  shortage  of  potash 
caused  by  the  war.  On  the  latter  account  the 
gardener  need  not  worry,  as  any  moderately  good 
garden  soil  has  ample  reserves  of  potash,  which 
can  be  made  available  as  plant  food  by  suitable 
treatment.  We  do  not  agree  with  two  of  the 
author's  remarks  on  dung.  He  says  that  "no 
analysis  is  of  much  value  "  :  on  the  contrary,  ex- 
perience at  RotJiamsted  and  elsewhere  shows  that 


520 


NATURE 


[August  24,  19 1( 


the  crop  yields  consistently  follow  the  chief  ana- 
lytical figures,  and  especially  the  ammonia. 
Again,  stable  (horse)  manure  is  said  to  be  more 
liable  to  loss  on  keeping-  than  cow  manure.  Recent 
experiments  show  that  horse  manure  loses  much 
less  nitrogen  than  cow  manure  during  storage  for 
periods  of  three  or  four  months.  The  chapter  on 
garden  remedies  and  insecticides  is  likely  to  be 
very  useful  this  summer,  when  pests  of  all  kinds 
are  unusually  active.  E.   H.  R. 

The     World     and    its     Discovery.       By     H.     B. 

Wetherill.      Part  i.,  Africa,  pp.    119.     Part  ii., 

Asia,    pp.    99,      Part    iii.,   America,    pp.     131. 

Part   iv. ,   Australia,   pp.    62.     (Oxford:    At  the 

Clarendon  Press.)  Price  15.  each. 
Mr,  Wetherill  has  a  story  of  surpassing  interest 
to  tell,  and  he  succeeds  in  conveying,  by  means  of 
the  accounts  of  the  work  of  the  chief  explorers,  a 
succinct  summary  of  the  main  features  of  the  geo- 
graphy of  the  four  continents  other  than  Europe. 
Told  in  this  fashion,  with  the  emphasis  on  the 
lands  and  their  peoples,  the  geography  of  the 
remoter  continents  becomes  vivid,  and  thus 
appeals  to  the  pupils  with  a  sense  of  reality ;  ex- 
perience with  this  book  leads  to  these  conclusions. 
For  example,  the  characteristics  of  the  people  and 
the  lands  near  the  Gambia  and  the  Niger  gain  in 
precision  and  definiteness  in  relation  to  the  travels 
of  Mungo  Park ;  and  the  gradual  development  of 
the  story  of  the  conquest  of  the  Central  Australian 
desert  provides  a  useful  account  of  the  control 
exerted  upon  life  on  the  earth  by  the  absence 
of  rain  in  a  hot  region. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 
[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
opinions  expressed  hy  his  correspondents.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  or  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

The   Formation   of   Dust-ripples. 

Last  evening  when  returning  from  a  visit  to  the 
trenches  I  noticed  an  interesting  illustration  of  the 
formation  of  dust-ripples.  A  battery  of  field-guns  had 
been  placed  nearly  parallel  to  a  road  some  2000  yards 
behind  the  lines.  Owing  to  the  continued  fine  weather 
the  roadway  was  covered  by  a  coating  of  fine  dust. 
The  guns  were  about  100  yards  from  the  road,  on 
lower  ground,  and  pointing  so  that  the  shells  just 
cleared.  The  battery  had  been  in  action  all  day. 
There  was  very  little  wind  and  no  traffic  over  the 
road  during  day-time.  The  whole  surface  of  the  road 
in  front  of  the  guns  was  covered  by  a  series  of  small 
ripples  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  of  the  guns. 
The  ripples  were  about  1/12  in.  apart,  from  east  to 
west.  They  were  evidently  caused  by  the  explosive 
wave  passing  over  the  road.  The  same  effect  can  be 
produced  by  discharging  a  Leyden  jar  across  a  spark- 
gap  near  a  card  on  which  some  light  pov\der  has  been 
sprinkled,  or  by  tapping  sharply  a  piece  of  parchment 
stretched  tightly  over  the  end  of  a  lamp-glass  con- 
taining fine  powder.  H.  U.  G.  (C.F.). 

France,  August  10. 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


A  Sunset  Phenomenon  on  July  22. 

Rekekrinc;  to  the  sunset  phenomenon  seen 
July  22,  and  described  in  Nature  of  July  27,  it  se 
probable  from  information  kindly  sent  by  var 
correspondents  that  the  clouds  seen  were  somewl 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Plinlimmon.  If  this  v 
the  case,  the  height  of  the  tops  of  the  clouds  w( 
have  been  from  18,000  to  18,500  ft.,  and  the 
clouds  would  have  been  about  eight  miles  apart, 
correspondent  who  watched  the  sunset  from  Mine 
hampton  Common  reports  that  no  clouds  were  vis 
from  there,  but  even  from  so  far  west  the  altil 
of  clouds  at  a  height  of  18,000  ft.  over  Plinlimi 
would  not  have  exceeded  1°  40',  and  they  w( 
have  only  been  visible  if  the  horizon  were  a  godd 
and  the  atmosphere  very  clear.  In  asking  for  infor 
tion  from  Ireland  I  was  casting  my  line  too  far ;  the 
of  a  cloud  the  height  of  which  is  24,000  ft.  (whic 
probably  high  for  a  cumulo-nimbus  in  these  latitu 
would  not  be  visible  more  than  190  miles  away, 
distance  of  Plinlimmon  from  Farnborough  is 
miles ;  clouds  at  such  distances  can  probably  onh 
seen  when  the  sun  sets  behind  them  in  an  other 
clear  sky.  C.  J.   P.   Cav 

Meteorological   Office,    South  Farnborough,        _ 
August  14.  I 

The  Utilisation  of  Waste  Heat  for  Agriculture. 

With  regard  to  Mr.  Carus-Wilson's  fear  (Xati 
July  27)  that  the  heating  of  the  earth  will  mull 
pests,  one  may  point  out  that  earth-warming  is  aln 
greatly  used.  Large  areas  of  land  are  covered 
glass  to  maintain  a  high  temperature,  and  land  is 
heated  directly  for  forcing  rhubarb.  One  may 
elude  that  farmers  would  welcome  further  means 
heating  the  land  if  the  expense  were  not  too  grea 

If  the  waste  heat  from  electricity  stations  were  1 
in  the  manner  I  have  suggested,  it  would  still 
possible  to  remove  the  heat  during  winter  month 
destroy  pests,  if  this  were  found  desirable,  or 
could  even  cool  the  ground  artificially. 

I  would  like  to  mention  here  Prince  Kropotl' 
astonishing  book,  "  Fields,  Factories,  and  Worksho 
in  which  he  shows  that  agriculture  may  be  spei 
up  in  a  way  that  would  surprise  most  people 
look  on  farming  as  an  almost  non-progressive  in 
try.  In  it  the  author  states  that  even  in  France, 
its  abundant  sunshine,  growers  are  experimer 
with  the  direct  heating  of  the  soil,  and  if  foum 
advantage  there,  surely  it  would  be  even  more  s 
this   country.  C.   TurnbUI 

Electricity  Works,  Tynemouth,  August  4.  \ 


A  Peculiar  Thunderclap. 

The  writer  would  suggest  as  an  alternative  exp' 
tion  of  the  peculiar  thunderclap  described  by  Mr. 
(Nature,  August  17)  at  different  places  withi: 
circumscribed  area  he  mentions  that  probabl 
lightning  discharges  were  not  from  cloud  to  eart 
in  the  reverse  direction,  from  a  large  area  of  i^ 
heavily  charged  relieving  itself  at  several  points  - 
taneously.  H.  O. 

ENGINEERING      EDUCATION      AND 
SEARCH      IN      RELATION      TO 
ORGANISATION      OF      BRITISH 
GINEERING  INDUSTRY. 

THE   Manchester  Engineers'  Club,  which 
established  about  three  years  ago,   int 
among  its  members  most  of  the  leading  engi  - 
in      South-East     Lancashire.      During     the   « 
winter  of  the  war  a  series  of  debates  was  hd 


August  24,  19 16] 


NATURE 


521 


the  club  on  problems  connected  with  the  future  of 
British  eng^ineering.  About  Easter,  191 5,  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  bring-  together  some  of 
the  suggestions  which  had  most  commended 
themselves  to  the  club  in  the  course  of  these 
debates.  The  committee  met  weekly  during-  the 
summer  of  191 5,  and  in  November  last  presented 
its  report  to  the  club.  This  report  was  unani- 
mously adopted. 

A  number  of  members  of  the  club  then 
formed  themselves  into  a  "Council  for  Organ- 
ising British  Engineering  Industry,"  and  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  secure  the  support  of 
engineering-  firms  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Manchester.  At  the  present  time,  almost  ever}- 
important  engineering  concern  in  the  Manchester 
district,  and  all  but  very  few  throughout  South- 
East  Lancashire,  have  promised  their  support  to 
the  movement.  Moreover,  the  professional 
societies  which  have  been  approached  by  the  Coun- 
cil have  replied  sympathetically,  and  have,  for  the 
most  part,   promised  their  active  co-operation. 

The  time  has  come  for  the  extension  of  the 
movement  so  as  to  make  it  of  national  dimen- 
'sions.  Steps  have  already  been  taken  to  extend 
its  activities  to  the  Midlands,  where  influential 
support  is  assured.  Meanwhile,  the  British 
Engineers'  Association  has  been  moving  in  a 
similar  direction.  The  fusion  of  the  two  move- 
ments appears  to  be  imminent.  When  that 
fusion  has  taken  place,  the  process  of  organising 
British  engineering  industry  should  proceed  more 
rapidly   still. 

The  report  which  led  to  the  establishment  of 
;the  Council  for  Organising  British  Engineering 
Industry  began  by  pointing  out  that  the  develop>- 
ment  of  British  engineering  export  trade  had  been 
highly  unsatisfactory  for  some  years,  while  Ger- 
many had  been  making  rapid  progress.  The 
report  suggested  that  Germany's  success  had 
oeen  due  "to  education,  to  co-operation,  and  to 
organisation  in  manufacturing  and  selling,  backed 
up  by  adequate  financial  support;  in  Britain,  on 
:he  other  hand,  education"  had  been  "unsystem- 
atic, organisation  weak,  and  co-operation  between 
competing  firms  almost  non-existent."  The  com- 
mittee concluded  that  every  British  engineer  ought 
how  to  realise  that  his  British  competitor  in  some 
markets  must  be  his  friend  and  ally  in  others ;  and 
that,  in  short,  the  time  had  come  for  the  federation 
of  British  manufacturing  engineers  so  as  to 
organise  the  industn.-.  The  report  proceeded  to 
describe  in  outline  the  association  of  manufactur- 
ing engineers  which  the  committee  would  like 
to  see  formed.  The  co-ordination  and  develop- 
ment of  education  and  research  were  given 
prominent  places  among  the  functions  of  the  pro- 
posed association. 

Since  the  adoption  of  the  report  and  the 
establishment  of  the  Council,  the  question  of 
pngineering  education  and  research  has  continued 
i-"©  receive  attention.  In  evidence  given  on 
lehalf  of  the  Council  to  the  Board  of  Trade  Com- 
jTiittee  on  the  Iron,  Steel,  and  Engineering  Trades, 
l^pecjal  emphasis  was  laid  upon  the  Council's  view 
NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


that,  without  the  co-operation  of  engineering 
manufacturers  in  the  education  of  engineers  and 
without  a  great  increase  in  the  volume  of 
engineering  research,  no  amount  of  organisation 
could  place  the  British  engineering  industry  on  a 
permanently  satisfactory  basis.  The  Board  of 
Trade  asked  for  further  particulars  of  the  Coun- 
cil's proposals  in  regard  to  education  and 
research.  The  Council  accordingly  appointed  a 
committee  to  repK>rt  further  upon  this  matter. 
The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  committee's 
recommendations,  which  have  been  approved  by 
the  Council  and  forwarded  to  the  Board  of 
Trade  : — 

1.  The  organisation  of  British  engineering  indus- 
try, by  the  federation  of  British  manufacturing 
engineers,  for  purposes  which  include  education  and 
research.  Such  a  federation  should  co-operate  with 
governing  bodies  of  schools  and  colleges,  as  well  as 
with  education  authorities,  in  providing  a  satisfac- 
tory system  for  educating  engineers ;  with  universities 
and  colleges  in  testing  and  research ;  and  with  the 
Government  in  conducting  a  central  research  institu- 
tion specially  equipped  for  investigations  with  which 
existing  research  laboratories  are  unable  to  cope. 

2.  The  co-ordination  of  the  existing  means  for 
educating  engineers  and,  in  particular,  the  provision 
of  an  adequate  and  more  uniform  system  of  scholar- 
ships. To  this  end,  the  number  of  local  education 
authorities  for  the  highest  education  should  be  much 
reduced,  correspondingly  larger  areas  being  assigned 
to  each. 

[This  recommendation  was  supported  by  an  appen- 
dix showing  the  number  and  value  of  the  university 
scholarships  at  present  offered  by  various  local 
education  authorities.  It  appeared  from  these  figures 
that  a  candidate's  chance  of  winning  such  a  scholar- 
ship largely  depends  upon  the  particular  town  in 
which  he  happens  to  live.] 

3.  That  a  large  number  of  "  junior  technical  schools  " 
be  established  for  the  education  between  twelve  and 
fifteen  of  bojs  who  intend  to  become  apprenticed  to 
engineering  trades. 

4.  That  all  apprentices  under  eighteen  \ears  of  age 
be  required  to  attend  part-time  classes  for,  say,  eight 
hours  a 'week  during  works  hours;  but  that  this  be 
subject  to  certain  exceptions  in  the  case  of  young 
people  who  continued  in  attendance  at  secondary  or 
junior  technical  schools  up  to  at  least  fifteen  years  of 
age. 

5.  That  the  instruction  given  to  trade  a.pprentices 
in  these  part-time  classes  be  reformed  so  as  to  relate 
it  more  closely  to  the  apprentices'  everyday  work  and 
so  as  to  include  what  are  known  as  citizenship  sub- 
jects^— for  example,  economic  histor\- ;  and  that,  where 
a  sufficient  number  of  apprentices  is  emploved  by 
the  same  firm,  such  classes  be  conducted  in  that 
firm's  own  works  and  by  the  works  staff. 

6.  That  the  specific  education  given  to  future 
members  of  the  highly  trained  staff  be  provided  in  a 
university  or  college  of  university  rank  for  the 
majority,  who  should  be  enabled  to  continue  their 
studies  up  to  twenty-one  or  twenty-two  years  of  ap:e; 
and  in  a  "senior  technical  school"  for  the  minority, 
who  may  have  to  enter  engineering  works  at  eighteen. 

7.  That  boys  who  are  to  study  engineering  in  a 
university  should  carr>-  their  study  of  mathematics 
and  physical  science  to  a  higher  stage  before  leaving 
school,  and  that,  in  general,  the  education  of  a  boy 
at  school,  instead  of  being  entrusted  (as  in  some 
modern  secondary  schools)  to  six  or  seven  specialist 
teachers  whose  business  it  is  to  advance  his  know- 


522 


NATURE 


[August  24,  19 16 


ledge  of  an  equal  number  of  separate  subjects  to  a 
uniform  level  of  mediocrity,  should  be  in  the  hands 
of  a  succession  of  form  masters,  who,  knowing  their 
boys,  well,  may  exercise  a  profound  influence  upon 
their  characters  and  carry  to  a  high  level  their  studies 
in  a  more  coherent  curriculum. 

8.  That  the  conditions  for  admission  to  universi- 
ties should  be  reconsidered  and  rendered  more  uni- 
form as  between  different  universities  and  less 
uniform  as  between  different  faculties  and  different 
honours  schools  in  the  same  university ;  and  that,  in 
the  interest  of  candidates  of  mature  age  and  of  other 
candidates  approaching  the  university  otherwise  than 
through  the  normal  avenue  of  the  secondary  school, 
university  entrance  tests  should  be  distinguished  from 
secondary  school  examinations. 

g.  The  reform  of  university  teaching  in  certain 
important  respects,  notably  by  a  reduction  in  the 
number  of  lectures. 

10.  That  the  completion  of  a  three  years'  university 
course  in  engineering  should  entitle  students  to  no 
more  than  the  B.A.  degree ;  and  that,  until  candi- 
dates have  added  works  e.xperience  to  academic  train- 
ing, they  should  not  receive  technical  degrees  (such 
as  Bachelor  of  Engineering  or  Bachelor  of  Technical 
Science)  which  might  then  serve  as  professional  quali- 
fications. 

11.  That  any  time  spent  in  works  between  school 
and  college  should  not  be  unduly  prolonged. 

12.  That  university  teachers  be  encouraged  to 
undertake  research  on  behalf  of,  and  in  co-operation 
with,  manufacturing  firms;  and  that  additional 
Government  grants  be  paid  to  universities  and 
colleges  with  this  end  in  view. 

13.  That,  by  the  establishment  of  such  an  associa- 
tion of  manufacturing  engineers  as  we  have  advo- 
cated and  by  other  means,  the  volume  of  research 
work  carried  out  in  connection  with  the  British 
engineering  industry  be  greatly  increased;  and  that 
provision  be  made  for  this  increase  in  the  volume  of 
research  by  fully  utilising  and  extending  the  facili- 
ties already  available  in  universities  and  colleges,  as 
well  as  in  the  works  of  private  firms,  and  also  by 
establishing  a  central  research  laboratory  for  investi- 
gations that  cannot  be  undertaken  elsewhere. 

The  report  was  accompanied  by  a  diagram 
illustrating  the  scholarship  system  recommended 
by  the  committee.  This  diagram  differs  but 
slightly  from  one  reproduced  in  Nature  of 
October  21,  191 5  (vol.  xcvi.,  p.  214). 

J.  C.  M.  G. 


THE    OPTICAL   INDUSTRY    IN   FRANCE. 

A  SERIES  of  articles  by  various  authors  has 
recently  been  appearing  in  the  Revue 
generale  des  Sciences  on  the  methods  to  be 
adopted  for  the  development  of  French  trade  after 
the  war.  Amongst  these  have  appeared  two 
articles  (May  30  and  June  13)  by  M.  A.  Boutaric 
on  the  French  optical  industry  and  its  future. 

He  points  out  that  before  the  Napoleonic  wars 
France  had  been  dependent  on  England  for  its 
optical  glass,  and  it  was  as  a  result  of  the  British 
blockade  that  its  manufacture  was  commenced 
in  France. 

At  the  present  time  the  house  of  Parra-Mantois 
manufactures  practically  all  the  special  optical 
glasses  made  by  Schott  and  Co.,  and  the  French 

NO.    2443,   VOL.    97] 


makers  undoubtedly  are  more  successful  lh;i 
their  competitors  in  the  manufacture  of  the  gla* 
discs  required  for  very  large  astronomical  mirroi 
and  objectives.  In  every  branch  of  optic; 
science  French  physicists  have  invented  instn 
ments  and  methods  for  testing  their  qualities,  bi 
the  French  manufacturers  have  not  done  then 
selves  justice  by  an  efficient  catalogue  prop; 
ganda.  M.  Boutaric,  when  referring  to  the  fin 
of  Zeiss,  mentions  especially  that  it  "has  su 
rounded  its  products  with  a  scientific  propaganda. 
He  shows  how  severe  the  German  competition  i 
microscopes  was  before  the  war,  although  thei 
are  two  good  French  makers — Nachet  an 
Stiassnie.  The  metallurgical  microscope  of  L 
Chatelier  has  been  developed  by  Pellin  with  coi 
siderable  success.  The  polarimeter  in  its  presei 
commercial  form  was  developed  by  the  Frenc 
makers  Soliel  and  Laurent,  and  is  essentially 
French  instrument,  yet  the  German  houses  ha\ 
almost  obtained  a  monopoly  in  the  sale  of  t\ 
instrument  outside  France. 

The  manufacture  of  binoculars  is  the  most  sui 
cessful  of  all  the  French  optical  industries,  sever 
large  firms  (Balbreck,  Baille-Lemaire,  Sociel 
fran^aise  d'Optique,  Societe  des  Lunetiers,  etc 
being  employed  in  their  manufacture.  As  showin 
the  large  quantity  of  optical  glass  used  in  the; 
glasses,  it  is  stated  that  the  Societe  des  Lunetiei 
alone  use  about  200,000  kilos    of  glass  annually. 

Although  French  makers  showed  several  prisi 
binoculars  of  the  Porro  type  at  the  1867  Exhibitioi 
yet  the  manufacture  of  these  glasses  passed  almo: 
entirely  to  Germany.  Now,  however,  glass* 
equal  to  the  best  German  models  are  being  mad 
in  France  in  large  numbers  for  her  Army  an 
those  of  her  Allies.  The  original  supremacy  ( 
the  French  photbgraphic  lens  has  passed  awa; 
because,  in  the  opinion  of  M.  Boutaric,  the  Frenc 
makers  did  not  use  the  new  glasses  and  moder 
grinding  methods,  nor  sufficiently  avail  themselv( 
of  skilled  technical  knowledge.  M.  J.  Richard  ht 
developed  with  great  skill  and  success  a  sterec 
scopic  camera,  the  "Verascope,"  and  also  a  ver 
rapid  camera  shutter,  but  the  majority  of  th 
cameras  used  in  France  have  been  imported.  Th 
kinematograph,  the  invention  of  a  Frenchmai 
Prof.  Marey,  has  been  carried  to  a  high  state  < 
perfection  by  the  firms  of  Lemaire,  Pathe,  ar 
Gaumont.  To  a  certain  extent  France  is  depei 
dent  on  outside  sources  for  kinematograph  filn 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  she  exports  finished  printej 
film  to  the  annual  value  of  6oo,oooZ.  The  lighj 
house  industry,  built  on  the  theoretical  work  • 
Fresnel,  is  a  successful  one,  although  it  has  h- 
to  face  keen  competition  from  English  and  Gern 
makers. 

M.   Boutaric  points  out  that  although  in  near 
all  optical  matters  French  savants  are  the  pionee 
yet  the  French  optical   industry   is  very  small 
compared   with    the    German.      In    an    interesti: 
paragraph  he  endeavours  to  analyse  the  reaso 
for  this  success.      "  Here,  as  in  everything  else,  t 
Germans  have  been  saved  by  their  deep  sense 
business.     The  German  industry  demonstrates 


August  24,   19 16] 


NATURE 


523 


ise  publicity  the  worth  of  its  goods,  sometimes 
c;^>^ client,  but  sometimes  also  copies  of  our  models 
and  inferior  to  ours ;  their  catalogues,  well  edited 
and  illustrated,  are  published  in  many  languages, 
and  give  full  details  of  the  instruments  they 
describe,  their  travellers,  men  of  parts,  knowing 
; intimately  their  instruments  .  .  .  and  trying  to 
[satisfy  the  wishes  of  their  customers." 
I  M.  Boutaric  points  out  that  the  collaboration 
between  the  man  of  science  and  the  manufacturer 
is  far  more  close  in  Germany  than  in  France.  In 
the  former  the  man  of  science  is  in  intimate  touch 
with  the  works,  and  is  well  paid  for  his  services. 
The  foreman  and  apprentices  are  trained  in  the 
theoretical  side  of  their  subject  in  classes  they  are 
obliged  to  attend.  In  the  firm  of  Zeiss  half  the 
time  spent  by  the  workers  in  the  technical  classes 
is  counted  as  time  spent  in  the  works.  Xo  steps 
are  neglected  to  perfect  the  organisation  as  a 
whole ;  everything  is  done  to  make  the  machine 
independent  of  a  single  individual.  In  France  the 
success  and  reputation  of  a  firm  have  too  fre- 
quently depended  on  one  individual.  That  some 
steps  are  being  taken  to  strengthen  the  optical 
industry  in  France  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  a 
large  factory  has  been  built  by  La  Societe 
francaise  d'Optique,  formed  in  conjunction  with 
the  firm  of  Lacour-Berthiot,  for  meeting  the 
■competition  of  the  best  German  firms.  M. 
i  Boutaric  urges  that  if  the  future  of  the  industry 
''  is  to  be  assured,  new^  blood  must  be  introduced, 
young  mechanics  trained,  and  a  school  of  optics 
founded.  This  school,  for  which  M.  Violle  has 
pleaded,  should  be  divided  into  at  least  two 
sections:  optics  proper  and  photography.  In  it 
practical  classes  on  glass  grinding,  etc.,  should  be 
given  in  conjunction  with  theoretical  work. 
I  After  an  appeal  for  mutual  co-operation  between 
'  the  various  firms  and  individuals  interested,  M. 
Boutaric  urges  that  the  Government  should  take 
steps  to  protect  French  patents  and  trade  marks 
against  unfair  competition.  Anyone  with  experi- 
ence of  the  laxity  of  the  French  patent  specifica- 
tion and  patent  laws  will  appreciate  the  force  of 
this  appeal. 


ARCTIC  OCEANOGRAPHY. 

T  MPORTANT  contributions  to  Arctic  oceano- 
■*■  graphy  are  contained  in  the  report  of  Dr. 
F.  Nansen's  work  in  Spitsbergen  seas  in  191 2 
("Spitsbergen  Waters."  By  F.  Xansen.  Chris- 
tiania,  1915).  Dr.  Xansen  spent  July  and 
August  of  that  year  in  his  yacht,  the  J'eslemoy, 
on  the  west  and  north  of  Spitsbergen.  His  main 
object  was  to  push  far  to  the  north  to  get  deep- 
water  samples  from  the  polar  basin  in  order  to 
make  more  accurate  determinations  of  specific 
gravity  than  were  possible  during  the  voyage  of 
the  Fram.  But  this  aspect  of  the  expedition  was 
only  partially  successful  on  account  of  the  pack 
ice  being  unusually  far  south.  However,  a  great 
deal  of  valuable  work  was  done,  both  in  the  open 
seas  and  in  the  fjords.  Only  one  or  two  of  many 
interesting  results  can  be  noticed  here. 
XO.    2443,   VOL.    97] 


It  has  been  maintained  that  the  melting  of 
glacier  ice  has  a  considerable  cooling  effect  on  the 
water  strata  of  Spitsbergen  fjords.  Dr.  Xansen 
confutes  this  idea.  He  took  a  vertical  series  of 
temperatures  at  the  entrance  to  Ice  Fjord  in  July, 
when  it  was  clear  of  ice,  and  again  in  August, 
when  ice  almost  blocked  the  way.  The  water  at 
50  metres  and  the  intermediate  cold  layer  were 
much  warmer  in  August  than  in  July.  Again,  in 
Cross  Bay,  at  both  100  and  200  metres  from  the 
face  of  Lillehook  Glacier,  the  cold  intermediate 
layer  was  both  thinner  and  warmer  than  further 
out  in  the  fjord.  The  bottom  temperatures  near 
the  glacier  were  also  higher  than  further  out  in 
the  fjord.  But  as  the  surface  salinity  was  greater 
near  the  glacier  than  further  away  it  would  appear 
that  the  glacier  ice  does  not  melt  rapidly  at  the 
upper  end  of  the  fjord.  The  high  salinities  of 
the  inner  end  of  the  fjord  may  be  in  part  due  to 
the  more  extensive  formation  of  ice  in  winter 
there  than  further  out,  which  would  increase  the 
salinity. 

Another  important  matter  raised  in  this  paper 
is  the  extension  and  shape  of  the  north  polar 
basin.  In  this  matter  Dr.  Xansen  has  modified 
his  views  since  the  days  of  his  Fram  exj>edition. 
The  result  of  that  expedition  led  to  the  belief  that 
the  water  of  the  north  polar  basin  differed  from 
that  of  the  Xorwegian  Sea.  The  work  of  the 
Veslemoy  contradicts  this,  and  shows  that  the 
salinities  of  the  two  are  identical.  The  deep 
water  of  the  north  polar  basin  is  probably  derived 
from  the  Xorwegian  Sea.  This  discovery  does 
away  with  the  necessity  for  postulating  a  high 
submarine  ridge  between  Greenland  and  Spits- 
bergen, yet  one  at  a  depth  of  about  1200-1  :;oo 
metres  is  still  necessary  to  account  for  the  differ- 
ence in  temperature  of  the  deep  water  in  the  two 
basins.  In  any  case,  if  the  deep  water  of  the 
polar  basin  is  derived  from  the  Norwegian  Sea 
and  not  formed  in  the  basin  itself,  there  is  no 
need  to  believe  in  such  an  extensive  polar  basin 
as  formerly  was  considered  necessary.  The  dis- 
covery, a  few^  years  ago,  by  Vilkitski,  of  islands 
north  of  Cape  Chelyuskin  does  something  to  con- 
firm this  belief  in  a  less  extensive  deep  basin.  It 
is  true  that  the  Stefansson  expedition  found  no 
new  land,  and  that  Pear)''s  Crocker  Land  has 
apparently  no  existence,  but  these  facts  do  not 
disprove  the  possibility  of  a  wide  continental 
shelf,  and  Nansen  goes  at  considerable  length 
into  questions  of  the  drift  of  the  Fram  and  of 
the  ice  to  substantiate  the  probability  of  this 
being  the  case.  We  have  followed  Nansen  in 
using  the  form  Norwegian  Sea,  but  there  seems 
to  be  no  reason  why  this  should  replace  the  older 
and  generally  accepted  name,  Greenland  Sea. 


NOTES. 

Dr.  J.  O.  Backlund.  M.  B.  Baillaud,  Sir  F.  W. 
Dyson,  Dr.  P.  Lowell,  Prof.  F.  Schlesine^er,  and 
Prof.  H.  H.  Turner  have  been  elected  honorary 
fellows  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society  of  Canada. 

The  provisions  of  the  "Summer  Time'"  Act 
will  cease  to  operate  at  the  end  of  September.     In  a 


524 


NATURE 


[August  24,  191b 


written  answer  to  an  inquiry  raised  by  a  member  of 
Parliament  the  Home  Secretary  said: — "The  three 
hours  following  midnight  (Summer  Time)  of  the  night 
of  September  30-October  i  are  included  in  the  Summer 
Time  period.  The  change  does  not  take  place  until 
3  a.m.  Summer  Time,  or  2  a.m.  Greenwich  Time,  on 
October  i.  At  that  hour  the  clocks  will  be  put  back 
one  hour,  so  that  the  period  2-3  a.m.  .Summer  Time 
will  be  followed  by  a  period  2-3  a.m.  Greenwich  Time, 
and  they  can  readily  be  distinguished  by  the  addition 
of  the  words  '  Summer  Time  '  or  '  Greenwich  Time,' 
as  the  case  may  be." 

We  announce  with  much  regret  the  death,  on 
August  20,  at  the  age  of  fifty  years,  of  Dr.  T.  Gregor 
Brodie,  professor  of  physiology  in  the  University  of 
Toronto. 

The  Times  for  August  11  contains  a  notice  of  the 
death  in  action  of  a  very  promising  young  geologist, 
Eric  VVarr  Simmons,  who  was  gazetted  2nd  Lieut, 
in  the  6th  York  and  Lane.  Regiment  in  January, 
1915.  He  took  part  in  the  landing  at  Suvla  Bay,  and 
was  reported  missing  on  August  11,  1915.  He  studied 
geology  at  University  College,  London,  gaining 
several  prizes  and  a  university  scholarship,  and  gradu- 
ated with  first  class  honours  in  19 14.  He  was  a 
student-demonstrator  in  the  geological  department  of 
University  College.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  member 
of  the  University  O.T-C,  and  immediately  after 
taking  his  degree  applied  for,  and  obtained,  a  com- 
mission. He  had  no  time,  therefore,  for  completing 
any  original  research.  He  was  elected  a  fellow  of 
the  Geological  Society  in  1915.  His  death  adds 
another  name  to  the  list  of  the  younger  generation 
of  scientific  men  from  whom  much  was  expected  who 
have  perished  in  the  war. 

The  death  is  ann,ounced,  in  his  sixty-fourth  year, 
of  Mr.  C.  W.  H.  Kirchhoff,  one  of  the  leading  Ameri- 
can authorities  on  metallurgy  and  allied  subjects.  A 
native  of  San  Francisco,  he  graduated  at  the  Royal 
School  of  Mines,  Clausthal,  Germany,  in  1874,  as 
mining  engineer  and  metallurgist.  Returning  to 
America,  he  served  for  three  years  as  chemist  of  a 
lead  refinery  in  Philadelphia,  and  then  joined  the  staff 
of  the  Metallurgical  Review.  His  principal  work  in 
technical  journalism  was  done  in  connection  with  the 
Iron  Age,  of  which  he  was  associate  editor  from  1884 
to  1889  and  editor-in-chief  from  1889  to  19 10.  From 
1883  to  1906  he  was  a  special  agent  of  the  L'.S.  Geo- 
logical Survey  for  the  collection  of  statistics  on  the 
production  of  lead,  copper,  and  zinc.  He  was  elected 
president  of  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  En- 
gineers in  1898  and  again  in  1912.  In  1910  he 
published  "Notes  on  Some  European  Iron  Districts." 

The  sixty-first  annual  exhibition  of  the  Royal  Photo- 
graphic Society  opened  last  Monday  at  the  Suffolk 
Street  Galleries,  and  it  is  surprising  to  see  how  little 
effect  the  war  has  had  upon  the  number  and 
the  interest  of  the  exhibits.  The  chief,  if  not  the  only 
reminder  of  the  crisis  is  a  series  of  three  official  war 
photographs,  panoramas  made  by  the  Printing  Com- 
pany of  the  Royal  Engineers.  They  are  enlargements 
of  two  diameters  from  5x4  negatives,  taken  with  tele- 
photographic  lenses  (30  in.  and  72  in.  equivalent  focal 
lengths)  on  panchromatic  plates  and  with  dense  colour 
screens.  They  show  the  trenches.  Each  consists  of 
several  prints  joined  to  form  a  continuous  picture,  and 
the  quality  of  the  work  leaves,  practically  speaking, 
nothing  to  be  desired.  Among  the  photomicrographs 
is  a  fine  series  of  sixty  b\'  Mr.  G.  Ardaseer  of  the 
Radulae  of  Mollusca  from  specimens  lent  by  the  Rev. 
Prof.  H.  M.  Gwatkin,  Mr.  E.  A.  Pinchin  sends  a  series 
of  Naviculae,  photographs  of  diatoms  of  a  quality  that 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


has  never  been  surpassed  and  rarely  equalled,  and 
Dr.  G.  H.  Rodman's  macroscopic  and  microscopic 
examples  of  the  flora  and  fauna  remains  found  in  Coal 
Measures,  from  specimens  in  the  Natural  History 
Museum,  form  an  extensive  and  very  valuable  series. 
Among  the  astronomical  photographs,  the  most  re. 
markable  are  by  Dr.  R.  VV.  Wood  of  Saturn  and 
Jupiter  taken  at  Mount  Wilson  by  the  60-in.  reflector. 
Each  planet  is  photographed  by  means  of  infra-red, 
yellow,  violet,  and  ultra-violet  light,  and  the  differences 
are  demonstrated  by  various  combinations  of  these  ir 
different  colours.  Of  the  many  other  exhibits  we  have 
only  space  to  refer  to  Mr.  J.  H.  Gardiner's  auto-radio, 
graphs  of  radium-bearing  minerals,  which  clearly  show 
the  radium-bearing  parts  of  each  specimen,  and  Mis* 
M.  O.  Edis's  photographs  of  Sir  James  Dewar's  17-in. 
soap  bubble  taken  during  the  first,  second,  and  thirt 
weeks  of  its  life,  the  last  quite  black  and  very  near  tc 
the  limit  of  thinness. 

An  increased  prevalence  of  acute  poliomyelitis  (in- 
fectious or  infantile  paralysis)  is  reported  in  New  York 
and  in  Aberdeen.  The  somewhat  alarmist  notices  or 
the  subject  in  the  daily  Press  are  scarcely  warrantee 
at  present,  as  the  actual  number  of  cases  notified  does 
not  appear  to  be  large  in  either  case — forty-eight  ir 
the  former  and  thirty-nine  in  the  latter.  But  the  dis- 
ease is  most  prevalent  in  July,  August,  and  Septem- 
ber, so  that  the  occurrence  of  further  cases  is  likelv. 
As  regards  the  British  Isles,  the  population  in  general 
and  adults  in  particular,  seem  to  be  relatively  insus- 
ceptible. The  early  recognition  and  isolation  of  thi 
first  cases  are  important,  for  all  the  available  evidence 
points  to  the  transmission  of  the  disease  by  direct  con- 
tact with  acute  cases  or  carriers,  and  not  bv  flies  01 
vermin.  The  secretion  from  the  nose  or  mouth  nearh 
always  seems  to  be  the  source  of  infection.  The  virus 
is  easily  destroyed  by  dilute  solutions  of  disinfectants 
and  does  not  appear  to  be  capable  of  survival  for  mon 
than  a  very  short  period  outside  the  human  body. 

The  American  Museum  has  recently  selected  fron^ 
its  large  collections  a  special  exhibit  of  m'occasin; 
illustrating  the  principal  patterns  and  their  decora- 
tion, as  well  as  the  relation  between  the  style  o] 
decoration  and  the  structure.  The  true  moccasin  is 
almost  confined  to  Canada  and  the  northern  two-thirds 
of  the  United  States.  So  far  as  the  data  from  the 
museum  collections,  described  bv  Mr.  C.  \\'issler  in  tht 
American  Museum  Journal  for  May,  indicate,  it  does 
not  occur  in  Mexico  or  South  America,  but  it  extends  t( 
Siberia  and  Lapland.  Though  the  types  used  b> 
American  Indians  seem  to  be  infinitely  varied,  they 
possess  a  few  common  structural  features.  As  regards 
material,  reindeer  skin  is  used  in  the  Old  World  and 
caribou  in  the  New,  two  closely  allied  species.  Ii 
thus  turns  out  that  the  skin  shoe  is  the  correlate  of 
the  reindeer  culture,  a  fact  of  interest  to  the  ethno- 
grapher. As  regards  decoration,  the  styles  were  ai 
the  outset  correlates  of  the  structural  pattern,  serv- 
ing at  first  some  useful  purpose ;  but  when  once  the> 
were  established  as  styles  thev  were  carried  over  tc 
footwear  of  other  kinds  where  they  serve  no  practica 
purpose. 

The  designer  of  art  fabrics,  who  is  always  in  searcf 
of  new  sources  of  inspiration,  may  well  direct  hi.'i 
attention  to  the  article  on  the  decorative  value  o:l 
Indian  art,  by  Miss  E.  A.  Coster,  in  the  May  issu<' 
of  the  American  Museum  Journal.  The  patterns  ir; 
Indian  weaving  have  not  the  variety  shown  in  Persiarj 
and  Italian  textiles,  but  possess  strength,  simplicity 
and  fine  proportion.  For  the  worker  in  ceramics  thi 
are  unbounded  possibilities,  both  in  shapes  and  decor 
tions.  In  metal- working  the  rosette  type  of  decora j 
tion    will    be   especially    helpful.       The   author  rightbj 


August  24,  1916] 


NATURE 


525 


observes  : — •'  In  adapting  Indian  motives  the  primitive 
spirit  must  be  retained  or  the  resuh  will  be  a  disap- 
pointment ;  but  a  reversion  to  the  simplicit}-  and  free 
expression  of  Indian  art  is  what  modern  craftsmen 
most  need  to  counteract  the  tendency  to  over-decora- 
tion, mechanical  technique,  and  lack  of  individuality." 

The  question  of  the  origin  of  the  dolmen  is  a  sub- 
ject of  active  controversy  into  which  we  have  at  pre- 
sent no  desire  to  enter.  But  for  the  benefit  of  those 
who  are  interested  in  the  problem  we  may  note  the 
latest  theory  presented  by  Mr.  Harold  Peake  in  the 
.A.ugust  issue  of  Man.  He  suggests  that  prior  to 
2200  B.C.  some  traders  from  the  north  of  the  itgean, 
familiar  with  the  use  of  copper,  and  probably  possessing 
the  secret  of  bronze-making,  set  out  from  their  home, 
which  may  have  been  Lemnos,  in  search  of  copper 
and  tin.  He  notes  in  this  connection  the  cult  of  the 
Dactyls  or  Cabiri,  mysterious  divine  or  heroic 
beings,  at  some  centre  in  the  south-east  i^gean,  and 
of  Hephaistos  at  Lemnos,  both  connected  with  metal- 
working.  These  traders  were  also  in  touch  with  the 
Morbihan,  possibly  through  the  mediation  of  western 
merchants  engaged  in  commerce  on  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board. At  home  they  may  have  had  relations  with 
Crete,  the  Cyclades,  and  Hissarlik,  and  through  the 
last  with  Cyprus.  They  were  accustomed  to  erect 
Cyclopean  walls,  and  learnt  the  use  of  cists  from  the 
people  of  the  Cyclades.  This  combined  knowledge  they 
carried  with  them  to  the  western  people  with  whom 
they  traded.  The  result  w-as  the  evolution  of  the  dol- 
men as  we  find  it  in  the  western  Mediterranean  and 
along  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

The  Zoologist  for  July  contains  a  most  interesting 
account  of  the  prevalent  beliefs  concerning  animals, 
their  uses,  and  the  rSle  they  play  in  the  m\-thology 
of  South  India,  by  Prof.  Rae  Sherriflfs.  At  first  sight 
this  contribution  might  seem  to  represent  no  more 
than  a  collection  of  curious  beliefs,  founded  for  the 
most  part  on  ver}'  slendejr  knowledge.  More 
closely  examined,  it  will  be  found  to  afford  a 
valuable  insight  into  the  habit  of  mind  of  the 
less  educated  portion  of  the  papulation,  which  should 
be  thoroughly  understood  by  all  Europeans  who  are 
engaged  in  administrative  work  in  India.  Having 
regard  to  the  fact  that  there  is  still  a  great  mortality 
from  snake-bite  in  India,  it  is  strange  that  the  people 
"as  a  rule  have  not  acquired  a  more  exact  knowledge 
of  these  scourges.  But  the  belief  is  still  common 
that  the  cobra,  the  best-known  snake  of  India  and 
widely  worshipped,  is  the  female,  and  the  rat-snake 
the  male,  of  a  common  species.  We  look  forward  to 
the  promised  continuation  of  this  theme. 

Under  the  title  of  "The  Free-living  Nematodes  of 
the  Gulf  of  Sevastopol "  an  important  monograph  by 
I.  Filipjev  has  recently  been  published  in  the  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Sevastopol  Biological  Station  and  of  the 
Zoological  Laboratory'  of  the  Imp.  Acad.  Sci..  Petro- 
grpd.  This  work  is  of  special  interest  in  that  it  gives 
for  the  first  time  a  description  of  the  Nematode  fauna 
of  the  Black  Sea,  a  group  of  Vermidea  which  presents 
'  great  difficulties  from  a  systematic  point  of  view,  and 
has  therefore  been  less  investigated  than  other  groups 
of  Vermidea.  Filipjev's  work  is  in  three  parts : — 
(i)  Systematic,  including  the  description  of  about  a 
hundred  species  of  Nematodes,  of  which  some  eightv 
are  new,  and  a  few  new  genera.  (2)  Morphological, 
containing  many  new  anatomical  data.  (3)  General. 
giving  the  topographical  distribution  and  synoptical 
cables  of  genera  and  species. 

Report  No.  108  of  the  U.S.  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture consists  of  an  admirable  summan.'  by  Nathan 
Banks  of  the  Acarina  or  mites  "  for  the  use  of  economic 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


entomologists."  This  booklet  of  153  pages  contains  a 
general  introduction  to  the  structure  and  life-history 
of  mites  and  a  synopsis  of  the  families  and  principal 
genera  of  the  order,  illustrated  by  nearly  300  figures, 
and  concluding  with  a  bibliography  and  index. 
Though  primarily  intended  for  use  in  America,  Mr. 
Banks's  work  cannot  fail  to  be  of  service  to  British 
students  who,  not  having  special  knowledge  of  the 
Acarina,  are  called  on  to  classify  members  of  this 
difficult  order.  Under  the  heading  "  Uncertain 
Acari "  reference  is  made  to  the  Ling^atulida  and  the 
Tardigrada;  it  is  somewhat  surprising  to  find  the 
Pycnogonida — which  axe  surely  further  from  mites 
than  any  other  order  referable  to  the  Arachnida — in 
the  same  assemblage. 

The  current  number  of  the  Quarterly  Journal  of 
Experimeyital  Physiology  contains  a  long  and  valuable 
paper  by  Dr.  E.  G.  Boring  on  the  return  of  sensation 
after  the  division  of  cutaneous  nerves.  l"he  author 
lays  great  stress  on  the  importance  of  statistical 
methods  and  of  the  standardisation  of  the  experimental 
conditions  in  investigations  of  this  nature.  He  further 
points  out  that  the  analysis  of  the  nature  of  the 
cutaneous  sensations,  as  they  return  during  regenera- 
tion of  a  divided  nerve,  calls  for  psychological 
as  well  as  physiological  training.  As  a  result 
of  his  own  observations,  the  author  has  failed 
to  confirm  some  of  Head's  observations,  and  he 
entirely  disagrees  with  the  hypothesis  of  the  existence 
of  "  protopathic "  and  "epicritic"  sensibilit}'  which 
was  advanced  by  Head  and  his  co-workers.  Dr. 
Boring  considers  that  the  results  are  best  explained 
on  the  assumption  that  single  sensor)-  spots  are  in- 
nen'ated  by  more  than  one  ner\'e-fibre  and  that  the 
multiple  innervation  is  projected  upon  the  central 
nervous  system  as  multiple  excitations;  he  concludes 
that  the  sensory  phenomena  occurring  during  the 
return  of  cutaneous  sensation  can  be  accounted  for 
on  this  hypothesis. 

In  the  Psychological  Review  (vol.  xxiii..  No.  4) 
Harvey  Carr  revives  the  problem  of  cutaneous  sen- 
sitivity, as  formulated  by  Rivers  and  Head  in  their 
well-known  article  of  some  years  ago  entitled  "A 
Human  Experiment  in  Nerve  Division."  The  writer 
challenges  the  correctness  of  Head's  theor>',  both  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  facts  and  of  the  inter- 
pretation of  those  facts.  The  nerve  section,  he  main- 
tains, produced  an  extremely  abnormal  condition  of 
the  cutaneous  tissues,  so  that  peculiarities  of  sensi- 
tivity were  to  be  expected ;  hence  it  is  not  surprising 
that  other  investigators  have  failed  to  discover  what 
Head  calls  the  protopathic  sensibility  mediating  four 
functions,  and  the  epicritic  mediating  three.  So  far 
they  have  only  been  able  to  get  evidence  of  the  four 
sensory  functions  as  formulated  by  earlier  writers. 
Even,  however,  granting  Head's  evidence,  Harvey 
Carr  submits  that  the  facts  do  not  bear  out  the  inter- 
pretation put  upon  them.  He  thinks  that  there  is  a 
too  general  tendency  to  accept  enthusiastically  and  un- 
critically Head's  theory.  The  article  will  prove  inter- 
esting to  many  men  of  science,  but  particularly  to 
physiologists  and  psychologists. 

In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Physiological  Society 
for  July,  Dr.  Edridge-Green  records  the  subjective 
phenomena  produced  by  gazing  steadily  with  one  eye 
at  a  rotating  cylinder  of  paper,  half  of  which  is  black 
and  half  white.  He  finds  that  the  centre  of  the  field 
of  vision  appears  to  be  in  violent  motion  of  a  whirl- 
pool character,  and  that  the  white  part  of  the  cylinder 
may  appear  green  or  rose-coloured  according  to  the 
rate  at  which  it  is  rotated.  Dr.  Edridge-Green  explains 
these  phenomena  by  supposing  that  the  rods  have  the 


;26 


NATURE 


[August  24,  19 16 


function  of  supplying  visual  purple  to  the  cones,  and 
thus  increasing  the  sensitiveness  of  the  latter  to  the 
light.  The  movement  seen  on  gazing  at  the  rotating 
cylinder  is  due  to  currents  of  photo-chemical  liquid 
(visual  purple)  flowing  towards  the  fovea  in  order  to 
sensitise  it. 

In  Memoirs  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  New  South 
Wales,  Ethnological  Series,  No.  2,  Mr.  Etheridge, 
curator  of  the  Australian  Museum,  Sydney,  discusses 
the  remarkable  cylindro-conical  and  cornute  stones 
found  in  the  valley  of  the  Darling.  All  kinds  of  ex- 
planations of  their  use  have  been  given,  some  utilita- 
rian, as,  for  instance,  that  they  were  employed  as 
grinders,  tombstones,  records  of  the  dead,  challenge 
stones,  or  hora  message  stones;  others  magical,  as  used 
in  rain-making  and  snake-producing,  as  death  bone 
pointers,  and  so  on.  On  the  whole,  it  seems  clear  that 
they  were  used  by  the  aborigines  for  some  magical  pur- 
pose, which  may  have  varied  among  the  different  groups 
which  possessed  them.  But  the  balance  of  evidence 
indicates  that  they  were  of  a  phallic  type,  and  that 
they  were  used  in  some  form  of  fertility  rites. 

Calcium  carbonate  in  its  crystalline  forms  gains 
further  interest  from  a  paper  by  Messrs.  J.  Johnston, 
H.  E.  Merwin,  and  E.  D.  Williamson  {Amer.  Journ. 
Set.,  vol.  xli.,  1916,  p.  473).  It  is  shown  that  the 
presence  of  calcium  sulphate  determines  the  precipi- 
tation of  aragonite,  a  small  quantity  of  the  sulphate 
becoming  associated  in  solid  solution  in  the  crystals. 
Aragonite  has  been  thus  obtained  at  as  low  a  tempera- 
ture as  19°.  A  form  styled  //  — CaCO,,  in  scales  and 
hexagonal  plates,  has  been  obtained  under  conditions 
which  are  not  fully  determined.  It  has  refractive 
indices  between  1*550  and  1650,  a  density  of  2'54,  and 
is  unstable  in  the  presence  of  nuclei  of  calcite  or  ara- 
gonite, which  are  less  soluble.  This  form  behaves  like 
aragonite  with  Meigen's  test.  Useful  warnings  are 
given  as  to  the  use  of  this  test  in  the  case  of 
mixed  ,  materials.  Calcium  carbonate  hexahydrate 
(CaC03.6H20)  is  precipitated  as  monocHnic  crystals 
at  temperatures  below  about  20° ;  it  can  be  preserved 
for  months  in  isolated  crystals  in  clove  oil  as  a  micro- 
scope preparation,  but  it  changes  rapidly  at  ordinary 
room  temperature  into  calcite  and  water.  The  natural 
forms  are  carefully  considered,  and  it  is  suggested 
that  the  preservation  of  aragonite  in  any  but  recent 
geological  formations  may  depend  upon  its  having 
been  kept  dry.  It  may  be  mentioned  that  this  agrees 
with  the  observations  of  Horwood,  Cole,  and  Little, 
who  show  that  geologically  old  aragonite  shells  are 
-preserved  in  clays  rather  than  in  limestones. 

"The  Data  of  Geoch'^mistry,"  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Clarke 
(U.S.  Geological  Survey,  Bull.  616,  1916)  now  appears 
in  its  third  edition,  enlarged  by  some  fort}-  pages.  The 
guarded  discussion  of  Brun's  results  on  volcanic  gases 
in  the  edition  of  191 1  here  receives  important  modifi- 
cations ;  additional  references  are  given  to  the  prob- 
lems of  radio-activity ;  and  even  in  the  treatment  of 
the  deposition  of  carbonates  by  organisms  new  ob- 
servations have  been  noted.  It  is  remarkable  how  this 
book,  embodying  an  enormous  range  of  facts,  and 
without  a  single  illustration,  retains  its  philosophic 
character  and  is  readable  throughout.  We  turn  to  it 
from  the  ordinary  manual  of  petrography  as  we  might 
turn  from  a  stained-glass  window  to  a  conference  with 
the  cathedral  founders. 

The  peridotite  with  rhombic  pyroxene  that  traverses 
gneiss  in  the  Sierra  de  Ronda  in  Malaya  proves  to  be 
the  source  of  platinum  in  the  sandy  alluvium  of  the 
streams.  This  occurrence  is  contrasted  by 'MM.  L. 
Duparc   and   A.    Grosset   (M^m.    Soc.    de   physique    et 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


d'hist.  nat.  de  Geneve,  vol.  xxxviii,  1916,  p.  253)  with 
the  platiniferous  dunite  of  Tagilsk  in  the  Urals;  the 
parent  rock  and  its  products  of  weathering  are  shown 
to  resemble  far  more  closely  those  of  Khrebet  Salatim, 
which  lie  farther  north  on  the  east  flank  of  the  Urals, 
and  were  discovered  by  M.  Duparc  in  1907.  Maps 
are  given  of  these  three  localities ;  the  numerous  small 
landscapes  from  the  Ronda  district  have  no  great 
geological  interest. 

A  VERY  interesting  and  important  paper  by  P.  H. 
Galle  on  the  relation  between  fluctuations  in  the 
strength  of  the  trade  winds  of  the  North  Atlant-c 
Ocean  in  summer  and  departures  from  the  normal  of 
the  winter  temperature  in  Europe  appears  in  a 
recent  issue  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Amsterdam 
Royal  Academy  of  Sciences.  In  a  previous  paper  the 
author  had  shown  that  variations  in  the  strength  of 
the  trade  winds  (15^-25°  N.,  long.  25°-45°  W.)  were 
apparent  two  or  three  months  later  in  some  hvdro- 
graphical  phenomena  in  northern  Europe.  The  subse- 
quent variations  in  winter  temperature  have  now  been 
investigated.  From  an  exhaustive  comparison  of  vari- 
ous groups  of  months  for  the  period  1899— 1914  for 
combinations  of  five  Dutch  ,  stations,  three  German 
stations,  and  three  in  the  Far  North-west,  it  was  found 
that  the  largest  correlation  was  obtained  between  the 
fluctuations  of  the  trade  wind  for  the  six  months  May 
to  October  on  one  hand,  and  those  in  the  tern- 
p>erature  for  the  three  winter  months  December  to 
F"ebruary  following,  on  the  other.  The  results,  based 
on  values  computed  for  135  stations,  are  graphically 
shown  by  iso-correlational  lines  on  two  charts  which 
apply  to  the  trade  winds  of  May  to  October  and  of  June 
to  November  respectively.  P'or  the  first  period  the 
maximum  positive  value  of  r,  o~o,  is  obtained  in  East 
Germany,  the  largest  negative,  o'6o,  in  North  Iceland 
and  East  Greenland.  The  largest  correlation  factor 
for  any  period  was  found  in  that  part  of  Germany 
embracing  the  stations  Berlin,  Gorlitz,  Posen,  and 
Ratibor,  where  the  relation  between  the  strength  of 
the  trade  winds  over  the  months  June  to  November 
and  the  following  winter  temperature  gave  r  =  o'85 
and  /=o'04.  By  this  method  a  successful  prediction 
was  made  of  the  temperature  over  north-western 
Europe  last  winter. 

The  Meteorological  Office  has  issued  a  chart  dealing 
with  temperature  scales  which  is  evidentlv  intended 
for  the  use  of  meteorological  observers,  but  might  with 
great  advantage  be  suspended  in  every  physical  labora- 
tory in  the  country.  On  the  left-hand  side  of  the 
chart  the  absolute,  the  Centigrade,  and  the  Fahrenheit 
scales  of  temperature  are  drawn  alongside  each  other 
from  the  absolute  zero  to  1500°  A.  of  the  absolute 
scale,  the  divisions  being  at  10°  intervals  on  the  abso- 
lute and  Centigrade,  and  at  20°  intervals  on  the 
Fahrenheit  scale.  A  number  of  important  thermo- 
metric  points  are  indicated  on  the  absolute  scale,  e.g. 
4°  A.  helium  boils ;  43°  A.  oxygen  melts ;  90°  A.  oxygen 
boils;  234°  A.  mercury  melts;  37265°  A.  water  boils 
under  one-bar  pressure;  505°  A.  tin  melts;  717°  A. 
sulphur  boils ;  800°  A.  bodies  just  red-hot,  etc.  On 
the  right-hand  side  of  the  chart  the  three  scales,  from 
180°  to  330°  on  the  absolute  scale,  are  drawn  together, 
the  divisions  on  the  absolute  and  Centigrade  scales  being 
one,  and  those  on  the  Fahrenheit  scale  two  degrees 
apart.  A  number  of  important  meteorological  tem- 
peratures are  indicated — e.g.  219°  A.  the  mean  tem- 
perature of  the  stratosphere  over  England,  246°  A.  the 
lowest,  and  311°  A.  the  highest,  temperature  observed 
in  the  British  Isles,  etc.  The  strength  of  the  solar 
heat  stream  is  gi\-en  as  135  milliwatts  per  sq.  cm.,  but 
there  is  no  indication  as  to  where  it  has  this  particular 
strength. 


August  24,  19 16] 


NATURE 


527 


In  the  Times  Trade  Supplement  for  August  Prof. 
H.  E.  Armstrong  strongly  urges  that,  without  delay, 
concerted  action  should  be  taken  for  the  complete 
association  and  organisation  of  all  the  interests 
connected  with  the  manufacture  of  dye-stuffs.  He 
argues  that  the  Government  has  failed  to  appreciate 
the  requirements  of  the  situation,  and  has  antagonised 
the  interests  concerned,  and  advocates  the  provision, 
in  place  of  the  body  now  ruling  British  Dyes,  Ltd., 
which  is  described  as  incompetent,  of  a  satisfactory 
joint  management  on  which  the  fine  chemical  industry 
shall  also  be  represented.  Prof.  Armstrong  points  out 
that  five-sixths  of  the  coal  raised  in  this  countr}-  is 
used  direct,  whilst  the  valuable  volatile  matters  are 
conserved  only  from  the  remaining  sixth.  If  the  whole 
of  the  raw  bituminous  coal  were  coked  at  suitable 
temperatures,  large  quantities  of  liquid  fuel  suitable 
for  use  in  internal  combustion  engines  would  be 
obtained ;  there  would  be  a  more  than  sufficient  supply 
of  the  raw  materials  necessar}-  for  the  manufacture  of 
modern  high  explosives ;  the  raw  material  for  dyes 
would  be  more  than  enough  to  supply  the  whole 
world ;  large  quantities  of  ammonia  would  be  avail- 
able for  agricultural  use ;  the  volume  of  high-grade  gas 
produced  would  be  more  than  sufficient  for  domestic 
use ;  and  bv  using  the  resulting  soft  coke  the  open  fire 
could  be  retained  with  the  advantage  that  soot  and 
smoke  would  be  abolished  and  less  acid  sent  into  the 
atmosphere.  It  has  been  stated  that  since  the  war 
began  ten  or  more  works  for  the  carbonisation  of  coal 
at  low  temperatures  (designed  on  the  experience  gained 
from  experiments  carried  out  in  this  countr})  have  been 
erected  in  Germany,  whilst  our  works  are  still  in  the 
course  of  erection.  Prof.  Armstrong  urges  that  the 
Government  should  legislate  forbidding  the  use  of  raw- 
coal,  and  endorses  the  suggestion  of  the  President  of 
the  Society-  of  Chemical  Industry  that  only  the  export 
of  coke,  not  that  of  raw  bituminous  coal,  should  be 
allowed.  Legislation  is  also  necessary  for  the  provi- 
sion of  funds  for  the  study  of  all  problems  relating  to 
the  development  of  coking  processes,  the  efficient  use 
of  fuels,  and  the  utilisation  of  by-products.  More  than 
600,000/.  could  be  obtained  annually  for  this  purpose 
by  placing  a  tax  of  only  one  halfpenny  on  each  ton  of 
coal  raised.  Not  only  would  all  the  industries  depen- 
dent on  coal  as  a  basis  be  developed  as  a  result  of  such 
legislation,  but  our  universities  would  be  stimulated  in 
the  production  of  highly  trained  scientific  workers,  for 
whom  there  would  then  be  a  considerable  demand. 

CiRcui-AR  No.  19,  issued  by  the  Bureau  of  Standards, 
United     States     Department    of    Commerce,    consists 
:  chiefly  of  a  collection  of   standard  density  and  volu- 
I  metric  tables  issued  in  connection  with  the  use  of  the 
,  hydrometer  for  industrial  purposes  or  for  the  assess- 
'■  ment   of   revenue   duties.     The    confusion    which    had 
resulted  from  the  employment  of  insufficiently  defined 
:  hydrometer  scales,   and   the   lack  of  a   uniform   basis 
for  the  verification   of   standards,    led   the   Bureau   to 
investigate  the  problems  connected  with  hydrometry, 
and  to  prepare  standard  density  tables   which   would 
I  serve  the  purposes  of  accurate  definition.     The  tables 
are  set  out  clearly,  so  that  there  is  no  ambiguity-  as 
to  their   meaning  or  as   to   the   bases   on    which    the 
calculations    are    founded.     In    addition    to    the    main 
particulars    referring    to    aqueous    solutions    of    ethyl 
and  methyl  alcohols,  sulphuric  acid,  and  cane  sugar, 
various  auxiliary  tables  are  given,  including  tempera- 
ture  corrections,    Baume    equivalents,    and    reduction 
weighings   in   air  to   the   corresponding  values   in 
'tto.     The  inclusion   of  various  physical  constants, 
and  of  data  for  the  computation  of  volumetric  capa- 
;  citj'  from  apparent  weight  of  water-content,  increases 
the  usefulness  of  the  compilation.     A  similar  produc- 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


tion  adapted  to  British  requirements  might  with  ad- 
vantage be  made  available  for  use  in  this  country. 

We  have  received  Technologic  Paper  No.  76  of  the 
Bureau  of  Standards,  L'.S.  Department  of  Commerce. 
It  contains  an  account  of  experiments  made  uf)on  the 
determination  of  the  proportion  of  volatile  "  thinning  '* 
or  diluent  substances  present  in  oil  varnishes. 

The  trajectory  of  a  body  falling  freely  in  vacuo 
forms  the  subject  of  a  paper  by  M.  A.  Viljev  ?n  the 
Bui.  Acad.  Sci.,  Petrograd  (May,  191b,  pp.  643-671). 
After  referring  to  the  work  of  previous  investigators 
he  sums  up  the  results  of  his  own  researches  thus  : 
1.  In  dealing  with  this  problem  some  authors  have 
used  inaccurate  equations  of  motion,  while  others 
have  not  correctly  defined  the  position  of  the  vertical 
line.  2.  A  distinction  must  be  made  between  the 
vertical  line  and  the  plane  of  the  prime  vertical  at 
the  upper  point  of  the  trajectory,  corresponding  to 
the  initial  position  of  the  falling  body,  and  the  vertical 
line  and  plane  of  the  prime  vertical  at  the  lower 
point  of  the  trajectory,  where  the  fall  of  the  body 
ceases.  At  each  point  the  vertical  line  is  defined  as 
passing  through  the  initial  position  of  the  body  per- 
pendicular to  the  surface  of  the  equipotential  of  the 
full  force  of  gravity,  produced  through  the  given 
point.  The  plane  of  the  meridian  passes  through  the 
axis  of  the  earth's  rotation  and  the  initial  position 
of  the  body.  The  plane  of  the  prime  vertical  passes 
through  the  vertical  line  as  above  defined  and  is 
perpendicular  to  the  plane  of  the  meridian.  3.  On 
the  basis  of  these  definitions  it  is  found  that  the  body 
swerves  from  the  plane  of  the  prime  vertical  of  the 
upper  point  of  the  trajectory'  slightly  towards  the 
pole.  Relatively  to  the  plane  of  the  prime  vertical 
of  the  lower  point  of  the  trajectory  it  swerves  more 
towards  the  equator.  4.  In  falling  in  a  shaft  it 
swerves  from  the  plane  of  the  prime  vertical  of  the 
uf>per  pKjint  of  the  trajectory  towards  the  equator. 
Also  relatively  to  the  plane  of  the  prime  vertical  of 
the  lower  point  of  the  trajectory  it  swerves  towards 
the  equator. 

The  Royal  Worcester  Porcelain  Company,  Ltd.,  has 
sent  us  some  specimens  of  its  porcelain  dishes  and 
crucibles  for  chemical  use.  As  is  well  known,  before 
the  war  our  chemical  laboratories  were  entirely  depen- 
dent on  material  of  German  origin.  This  Worcester 
porcelain  has  been  examined  by  the  National  Physical 
Laboratory-,  which  reports  that  in  regard  to  all  the 
qualities  which  can  be  examined  in  a  short-period 
test  the  Royal  Worcester  laboratory-  ware  is  as  good 
as  the  best  laboratory-  ware  hitherto  employed,  of 
which  the  Royal  Berlin  ware  is  a  typical  example. 
Details  are  given  of  the  tests,  which  included  the 
effect  of  strong  sulphuric  acid,  and  10  per  cent,  solu- 
tions of  caustic  soda  and  sodium  carbonate,  the  be- 
haviour of  the  glaze  at  high  temperatures,  the  con- 
stancy of  weight  of  the  dishes,  and  the  resistance  to 
sudden  changes  of  temperature.  As  regards  crucibles, 
thanks  to  the  purely-  British  industry  in  fused  silica 
ware,  we  are  almost  independent  of  the  quality  of 
porcelain,  but  for  basins  porcelain  is  still  essential. 
For  these  it  is  a  vital  point  that  material  used  in  one 
experiment  shall  not  be  in  part  retained  by  the  glaze 
and  carried  on  to  the  next,  and  the  National 
Physical  Laboratory  report  would  carry  more 
conviction  if  greater  attention  had  been  paid 
to  this  matter.  There  was  a  slight  gain  in 
weight  after  the  treatment  with  sulphuric  acid,  and 
on  this  the  remark  is  made  :  "  It  has  not  been  con- 
sidered necessary-  to  ascertain  whether  the  increase  in 
weight  is  due  to  combination  between  the  sulphuric 
acid  and  the  material  of  the  glaze  or  to  a  slight  pene- 


528 


NATURE 


[August  24,  1916 


tration  of  the  acid  in  the  ware  below  the  glaze." 
Time  would  have  been  better  spent  in  developing  this 
point  than  in  high-temperature  experiments,  which, 
for  dishes,  were  superfluous.  The  ware  is  made 
very  much  thinner  than  has  been  customary,  and  con- 
sequently is  unduly  fragile.  In  spite  of  careful  pack- 
ing two  of  the  specimens  arrived  broken.  It  is  very 
desirable  that  we  should  be  independent  of  foreign 
supplies  of  porcelain,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
enterprise  of  the  Royal  Worcester  Porcelain  Company 
and  other  British  porcelain  manufacturers  will  be 
rewarded,  but  prolonged  use  in  the  laboratory  is  the 
only  certain  means  of  proving  the  qualities  of  the 
new  ware. 

^^  Messrs.  Williams  and  Norgate  announce 
"  Raphael  Meldola  :  Reminiscences  by  those  who 
knew-  him,"  with  a  preface  by  Lord  Moulton  and  a 
chronological  list  of  Prof.  Meldola 's  publications.  The 
work  will  be  divided  as  follows  : — Biographical 
memoir ;  early  years  ;  professor  of  chemistry ;  chemical 
investigator;  naturalist;  astronomer;   personality. 

OVR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

The  Solar  Physics  OfiSERVATORY.^The  report  of 
the  director  of  the  Solar  Physics  Observatory  for  the 
year  ending  March  31,  1916,  has  recently  been  issued, 
this  being  the  third  annual  report  since  the  transference 
of  the  observatory  from  South  Kensington  to  Cam- 
bridge. The  work  of  the  observatory'  has  been  car- 
ried on  with  difficult}-  on  account  of  the  war,  two 
members  of  the  staff  now  being  absent  on  military- 
service  and  two  on  munition  work.  Observational  work 
with  the  Newall  telescope  and  the  Huggins  instru- 
ments was  not  attempted,  but  the  spectroheliograph 
was  in  regular  use,  photographs  of  the  sun's  disc  in 
K2_3_,  light  having- been  obtained  on  112  days,  and  of 
prominences  at  the  limb  on  93  days.  Sun-spot  spectra 
in  the  region  A  5300  to  A  5500  were  also  successfully 
photographed  with  the  McClean  installation.  Mr. 
Baxandall  has  made  considerable  progress  in  the 
assignment  of  chemical  origins  of  lines  in  stellar 
spectra,  and  in  a  revision  of  the  origins  given  by 
Rowland  for  lines  in  the  solar  spectrum.  The  great  . 
majority  of  Rowland's  identifications  have  been  con- 
firmed, and  terrestrial  equivalents  for  many  line?  not 
identified  by  Rowland  have  been  found  by  reference 
to  data  subsequently  published.  Experimental  work 
has  established  the  identity  of  the  G  group  of  the 
solar  spectrum  with  the  hydrocarbon  band  A  4314  (see 
N.ATURE,  July  20),  and  it  is  thought  that  a 
clue  has  been  obtained  to  the  interpretation,  in  terms 
of  carbon,  of  the  remarkable  spectrum  of  Comet  Wells, 
1882.  In  the  department  of  meteorological  physics, 
Mr.  C.  T.  R.  Wilson  has  continued  the  study  of 
lightning  discharges. 

With  regard  to  the  "Annals  of  the  Solar  Physics 
Observatory,"  of  which  vol.  iii.,  part  i,  has  already 
been  distributed,  it  is  now  explained  that  vol.  i.  is 
intended  to  contain  historical  and  descriptive  matter, 
vol.  ii.  to  refer  to  stellar  investigations,  and  vol.  iii. 
to  deal  with  work  on  the  sun. 

Relative  Luminosities  of  Sun  and  Stars. — A  con- 
venient formula  for  comparing  the  luminosity  of  a 
star  with  that  of  the  sun  has  been  given  by  Mr.  C.  T. 
Whitmell  (L'Astronomie,  August,  1916).  Assuming 
the  stellar  magnitude  of  the  sun  to  be  —26-5,  and 
designating  the  luminosity,  parallax,  and  magnitude 
of  the  star  by  L,  p,  and  m,  the  luminosity  of  the  star 
in  terms  of  that  of  the  sun  is  given  by  the  equation  : 

log  L  =  0-0289  — 2  log/)  — 04  m. 

In  the  case  of  Sirius,  for  example,  where  p  —  o-2,S"  and 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


"'"~':^'  'og'^=i-5"93  and  L  =  32-3,  showing  that 
Sinus  Ks  about  32  times  as  bright  as  our  sun.  The 
constant  term  in  the  equation  depends  upon  the  value 
assigned  to  the  sun's  stellar  magnitude,  and  is  equal 
to  106289 4- o-4(S),  where  S  is  the  adopted  value. 

The  Thermopile  in  Photographic  Photometry.— 
The  usual  method  of  arriving  at  the  magnitudes  of 
stars  shown  on  photographs  is  to  measure  the  dia- 
meters of  the  stellar  images,  or  to  determine  the 
opacity  of  images  purposely  taken  out  of  focus.  In 
either  case  the  result  depends  in  part  on  the  judgment 
of  the  observer,  and  the  application  of  some  purely- 
physical  method  is  evidently  desirable.  Such  a  method 
has  been  devised  by  Mr.  H.  T.  Stetson,  of  the  Yerkes 
Observatory,  in  which  the  star  image  is  surrounded 
by  a  small  circular  diaphragm,  and  the  intensity  of 
the  transmitted  beam  from  a  steady  source  of  light, 
as  compared  with  that  of  the  unrestricted  beam,  is 
measured  by  means  of  a  thermopile  and  galvanometer. 
Theory  leads  to  the  expectation  of  a  fourth-root  rela- 
tion between  galvanometer  deflections  and  stellar  mag. 
nitudes,  and  this  has  been  confirmed  experimentally. 
The  device  appears  to  have  reached  a  convenient  prac- 
tical form,  and  measurements  of  a  plate  of  the 
Pleiades,  for  example,  indicated  a  probable  error  of 
0-022  mag.  for  a  single  star.  An  extensive  applica- 
tion of  the  method  to  the  eclipsing  variable  U  Cepht'i 
has  been  commenced,  and  variations  not  explained  by 
the  eclipse  theory  have  been  detected.  When  provided 
with  a  stage  having  a  micrometer  screw,  and  the 
circular  aperture  being  replaced  by  a  slit,  the  appa- 
ratus becomes  well  adapted  for  certain  investigations 
of  spectra.  In  this  form  it  seems  likely  to  be  especially 
useful  in  the  study  of  colour  index,  and  may  possibly 
aid  in  the  determination  of  radial  velocities  of  faint 
stars  from  objective  prism  plates  taken  through  a  neo- 
dymium  absorption  cell  {Astrophysical  Journal,  vol. 
.xliii.,  pp.  253  and  325). 


RECENl     INDIAN    MUSEUM 
PUBLICATIONS. 

THE  latest  serial  publications  of  the  Indian  Museum 
reach  a  very  high  level  of  excellence.  Vol.  v., 
No.  3,  of  the  Memoirs  consists  of  Mr.  Stanley  Kemp's 
report  on  the  Decapod  Crustacea  of  the  Chilka  Lake, 
an  area  where  the  density  of  the  water  ranges  ac- 
cording to  season  between  freshness  and  a  saltness 
equal  to  that  of  the  sea.  The  si>ecies,  which  number 
54,  include  crabs,  hermit-crabs,  Thalassinids,  Caridea 
and  Peneids.  Among  the  permanent  inhabitants,  0; 
species  capable  of  withstanding  every  seasonal  change 
in  the  water,  from  fresh  to  salt,  it  is  surprising  to 
find  such  characteristically  marine  forms  as  Leucosiid 
and  Xanthid  crabs,  Alpheidae,  and  the  pelagic  Lucifer. 
The  permanent  inhabitants  constitute  72  per  cent.  0: 
the  whole.  The  seasonal  immigrants  (about  7'5  0 
the  whole)  all  appear,  whether  normally  marine  o: 
fresh- water  species,  to  breed  in  the  lake.  The  casu.i 
visitors  (about  20  per  cent.)  are  almost  all  from  th- 
sea.  Among  the  12  species  described  as  new  i- 
Athanas  polymorphus,  the  males  of  which  are  trimor- 
phic.  The  report  is  a  model  of  clear  and  critical 
exposition,  being  rich  in  inference  and  illustration,  but 
always  concise  and  explicit. 

No.  I  of  vol.  vi.  of  the  Memoirs  contains  two 
important  papers,  one  on  Indian  Tunicata  by  Dr. 
Asajiro  Oka,  the  other  by  Colonel  J.  Stephenson  on 
Oriental  earthworms.  The  first  deals  with  simple 
Ascidians  and  pelagic  forms,  and  does  not  go  much 
outside  the  collections  made  by  the  Investigator,  i 
Perhaps  the  most  interesting  item  is  a  full  descrip-j 


August  24,  19 16] 


NATURE 


529 


tion  of  the  extraordinary  deep-sea  genus  Hexacrobylus, 
hitherto  known  but  imperfectly  Ironi  a  single  speci- 
man  discovered  by  the  Stboga  expedition,  but  now 
elucidated  by  five  well-preserved  specimens  dredged 
by  the  Investigator  from  1912  fathoms  off  Ceylon. 
In  Hexacrobylus  indicus,  which  the  author  regards  as 
an  aberrant  Molgulid,  the  body  is  ovate  and  covered 
with  delicate  hairs ;  the  branchial  aperture  is  a  wide 
transverse  slit,  ventral  in  position,  and  surrounded  by 
six  many-lobed  tentacles,  which  collectively  resemble 
thick,  prominent,  warty  lips ;  the  branchial  siphon  is 
nearly  as  large  as  the  trunk  itself;  the  branchial  sac 
is  scarcely  distinguishable  from  the  oesophagus,  and  is. 
imperforate  ana  destitute  of  stigmata,  endostyle,  and 
dorsal  lamina;  the  gonads  are  symmetrically  developed 
on  both  sides  of  the  body,  and  the  ovaries  and  testes 
have  separate  ducts  :  though  differing  from  the 
Siboga  species,  it  agrees  with  it  in  those  features 
which  separate  it  so  widely  from  all  other  Ascidians. 
Another  interesting  new  genus  is  Monobotryllus, 
which,  though  a  simple  Ascidian,  is  most  closely 
related  to  some  of  the  holosomatous  compound 
Ascidians. 

Colonel  Stephenson's  paper,  which  treats  of  Oligb- 
chseta  collected  mainly  in  southern  India  and  Ceylon, 
though  largely  anatomical  and  systematic,  is  digni- 
fied by  much  instructive  comparison  and  criticism. 
Twentv  species  and  five  varieties  are  described  as  new, 
among  them  a  Pontodrilus  from  Ceylon  remark- 
able in  its  habitat,  far  from  the  sea,  at  an  elevation 
of  6200  to  7000  ft.  Two  new  genera  are  defined, 
namely,  Erythraeodrilus  from  Bombay,  apparently 
related  to  the  Madagascar  Howascolex ;  and  Comaro- 
drilus  a  Megascolecine  from  Cochin,  in  alliance  with 
Woodw'ardia. 

Part  vi.  of  vol.  xi.  of  the  Records  contains  three 
papers  of  more  than  common  interest.  Dr.  James 
Ritchie  gives  an  exhaustive  description  of  Annulelta 
gemmata,  a  remarkable  new  Hydroid  discovered  by 
Dr.  Annandale  in  a  brackish  pond  at  Port  Canning 
in  the  Gangetic  Delta.  It  is  a  minute  form,  solitary 
and  usually  attached,  but  also  freely  locomotive.  Its 
attachment  is  by  a  "  basal  bulb,"  which  alone  is  in- 
vested bv  perisarc,  and  is  regarded  as  something 
between  a  basal  disc  and  a  hydrorhiza.  Its  tentacles, 
which  are  of  extreme  length,  have  the  cnidoblasts 
concentrated  in  whorl-like  rings,  the  cnidoblasts  being 
almost  identical  with  those  of  Hydra.  The  usual 
methods  of  propagation  seem  to  be  non-sexual,  but 
Dr.  .Annandale,  who  kept  specimens  alive,  states  that 
minute  medusae  are  liberated.  The  non-sexual 
methods  include  longitudinal  fission,  transverse  fission 
of  the  basal  bulb,  and  the  detachment  of  remarkable 
planula-like  buds. 

Dr.  Annandale  contributes  an  account,  biological 
and  systematic,  of  sponges  parasitic  on  Indian  Clionid 
sponges.  Ten  such  parasites  are  reviewed,  along 
with  five  Clionid  hosts,  the  greater  part  of  the  col- 
lection being  furnished  by  a  few  ounces  of  Madre- 
porarian  coral.  The  methods  of  attack  and  defence 
are  discussed  very  fully.  Among  assumed  methods  of 
protection  observed  in  certain  Clionids  inhabiting 
great  depths,  where  the  inorganic  conditions  of  life 
may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  be  constant,  is  the 
production  of  gemmules. 

Mr.     F.     H.    Graveley's    copious    and    well-ordered 
notes  on  the  habits  of  insects  and  other  Arthropods 
must  be  greatly  commended.     In   addition   to  record- 
ing  many   original  observations   of  behaviour,    court- 
ship, breeding,  etc.,  particularly  of  that  retiring  group 
the    Pedipalpi,    the    author    has    extracted    references 
',   to     multifarious     observations    published,    mainly    in 
!    Indian   journals   and  in    books   relating   to    India,   by 
'   other  writers. 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


RECENT    ECONOMIC   ENTOMOLOGY. 

THE  economic  importance  of  the  Coccidae  ('  mealy 
bugs  "  and  scale-insects)  is  verj'  great,  especially 
in  warm  countries.  It  is  satisfactory  to  see,  therefore, 
the  first  part  of  an  extensive  monograph  on  the  Cocc- 
idae of  South  Africa,  by  C.  K.  bram,  published  as 
part  2  of  vol.  V.  of  the  Transactions  Royal  Soc.  S. 
Africa  (Cape  Town,  1915).  This  contains  a  general 
introduction  to  the  study  of  the  family  and  detailed 
descriptions  of  the  genera  and  species  of  the  Pseudo- 
coccinae,  Ortheziinae,  Coccinae,  Monophlebinae,  and 
Margarodinae.  The  systematic  work  has  been  done 
witii  great  care,  a  notable  feature  being  the  charts 
demonstrating  in  the  case  of  each  species  the  range 
of  variation  in  the  lengths  of  the  antennal  segments ; 
the  illustrations — photographs  and  drawings — fill 
thirteen  plates.  The  author  has  spared  no  pains  to 
enlighten  his  readers,  but  it  was  scarcely  necessary 
to  include  in  his  glossary  the  information  that  "  ovum  " 
means  "  an  egg,"  and  ""  transparent,"  "  so  clear  as  not 
to  obstruct  vision." 

The  Bulletin  of  Entomological  Research,  vol.  vi., 
part  4,  lately  issued,  contains,  as  usual,  several  note- 
worthy papers.  Prof.  G.  H.  F.  Nuttall  and  Mr.  C. 
Warburton  describe  briefly,  with  clear  illustrations, 
thirty  species  of  ticks  from  the  Belgian  Congo,  and 
point  out  the  importance  of  each  as  a  carrier  of  disease. 
Mr.  C.  H.  T.  Townsend,  of  the  U.S.  Department  of 
Agriculture,  establishes — in  reply  to  some  recent  scep- 
tical criticism — that  Phlebotomus  is  truly  the  infec- 
tive carrier  of  the  Verruga  parasite.  Dr.  G.  A.  K. 
Marshall  describes,  with  excellent  figures,  some  weevils 
injurious  to  various  cultivated  plants  in  India.  The 
highly  useful  Review  of  Applied  Entomology  has  just 
commenced  its  fourth  volume,  and  the  first  summary 
in  the  medical  and  veterinary-  series  directs  attention 
to  the  existence  of  the  British  and  Irish  sheep-fly 
{Lucilia  sericata)  as  a  pest  in  the  southern  United 
States,  together  with  Phormia  regina,  on  the  authority 
of  Messrs.  F.  C.  Bishopp  and  E.  \V.  Loake,  in  a 
paper  published  in  the  Journ.  Econ.  Entotn.,  vol.  viii., 
No.  5. 

Literature  on  the  common  house-fly  continues  to 
accumulate  rapidly.  Mr.  R.  H.  Hutchinson  (U.S. 
Dept.  Agric,  Bull.  345)  contributes  same  interesting 
observations  on  the  "  Pre-oviposition  Period "  of  the 
insect,  with  a  view  of  estimating  the  value  of  fly-traps 
for  reducing  the  numbers  of  eggs  and  larvae.  He  finds 
that  the  term  of  the  female's  life  before  egg-laying 
varies  from  2^  to  23  days,  "  most  of  the  records  falling 
on  the  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  ninth,  twelfth,  and  'four- 
teenth days  after  emergence." 

The  larval  trombidiid  mites  known  as  "  harvest 
bugs  "  are  too  familiar  as  a  well-nigh  intolerable 
pest  in  some  localities.  Mr.  Stanley  Hirst  (Journ. 
Econ.  Biol.,  vol.  x.,  No.  4)  gives  a  careful  description 
of  this  larva  under  the  name  of  Microtrombidium 
autumnalis.  He  also  describes  a  Japanese  species, 
M.  akamushi ,  which  carries  the  germ  of  a  disease 
known  as  '"river  fever." 

In  a  Technical  Bulletin  (No.  21)  of  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College  Exf>eriment  Station,  Mr.  Geo.  D. 
Shafer  continues  the  account  of  his  investigations  as 
to  how  "contact  poisons"  kill  insects.  Such  gases  as 
sulphuretted  hydrogen,  hydrocyanic  acid,  and  the 
vapours  of  carlxjn  disulphide,  benzine,  or  paraffin  affect 
insects  when  actually  taken  up  by  the  tissues,  where 
their  presence  seems  to  prevent  oxygen  assimilation. 
This  result  is  due  to  the  harmful  effect  of  such  gases 
and  vapxjurs  on  the  enzyme-like  bodies — reductases, 
catalases,  and  oxydases — which  are  functional  in  insect 
tissues.  The  contact  poisons  are  believed  to  affect  the 
activities  of  these  enzymes  to  an  unequal  degree,  thus 
disturbing  their  normal  balance. 


53^ 


NATURE 


[August  24,  191b 


A  paper  of  exceptional  value  and  interest,  on  the 
morphology  and  biology  of  the  green  apple  aphis  {A. 
posni),  is  contributed  by  A.  C.  Baker  and  W.  F. 
Turner  to  the  Washington  Journal  of  Agricultural 
Research  (vol.  v.,  No.  21).  This  is  the  •'common 
apple  aphid"  in  North  America,  as  well  as  in  these 
countries,  and  the  whole  life-cycle  is  passed  on  the 
apple.  Very  full  and  careful  descriptions  of  the  struc- 
ture of  the  various  forms  are  given  by  the  authors, 
who,  in  the  course  of  their  season's  work,  examined 
no  fewer  than  75,000  specimens.  Stages  in  the 
embryonic  development  are  described,  from  which  it 
appears  that  the  embryo,  after  five  days'  growth,  has 
a  long  resting  period  through  the  colder  Season  of  the 
year,  lying  in  the  centre  of  the  winter  egg.  Of  all 
the  results  obtained,  however,  the  tracing  of  the  suc- 
cession through  the  spring  and  summer  of  a  number 
of  forms  derived  from  a  single  stem-mother  is  the 
most  important.  Among  the  daughters  of  the  stem- 
mother  there  may  be  one  winged  insect,  and  interest- 
ing "intermediates" — virgin  females  with  rudimentary 
wings — appear  together  with  the  usual  winged  and 
wingless  aphids.  Sexual  individuals  may  appear  in 
the  eleventh  generation  from  the  stem-mother,  the 
earlier  ones  appearing  as  brothers  and  sisters  of  par- 
thenogenetic  females.  The  authors  believe  that  tem- 
perature is  by  far  the  most  important  factor  in  deter- 
mining the  appearance  of  the  sexual  insects. 

A  paper  by  J.  R.  Malloch,  on  Chironomidas  and 
other  Diptera  from  Illinois  (Bull.  111.  State  Lab.  Nat. 
Hist.,  vol.  xi.,  4),  is  noteworthy  because  the  systematic 
descriptions  of  the  midges  and  flies  are  accompanied 
by  detailed,  well-illustrated  accounts  of  the  larvae  and 
pupae  of  many  genera  of  Mycetophilidse,  Asilidae,  Bom- 
bilidae,  Syrphidae,  and  other  families.  G.   H.  C. 


CHILIAN    METEOROLOGY.^ 

ALTHOUGH  Chile,  in  common  with  other  South 
American  countries,  has  suffered  greatly  from 
the  conditions  brought  about  by  the  European  situa- 
tion, the  large  budget  of  memoirs  recently  issued  by 
Dr.  Knocke  shows  little,  if  any,  restriction  in  the 
work  of  the  Central  Meteorological  and  Geophysical 
Institute  during  1915.  No.  13,  part  i.,  of  the 
Meteorological  Year  Book  gives  in  cxtenso  the  tri- 
daily  observations  carried  on  at  thirty  stations  during 
the  year  1913,  the  data  comprising  barometric 
pressure,  air  temperature  humidity,  wind  direction 
and  force  (the  latter  both  in  Beaufort  and  by  anemo- 
meter), cloud,  rainfall,  evaporation,  and  exposed 
temperatures. 

In  No.  15,  part  ii.,  of  the  Meteorological  Year 
Book  the  data  are  summarised  in  great  detail  from 
records  kept  at  fifty-two  stations,  daily,  monthly,  and 
annual  abstracts  being  given.  As  the  stations  cover 
more  than  35°  of  latitude,  and  range  in  altitude  from 
4  to  more  than  3500  metres,  all  varieties  of  climate 
are  to  be  found  among  the  records.  The  warmest 
station,  apart  from  Easter  Island  in  the  Pacific,  was 
Arica,  mean  temperature  19-4°  C.  (66-9°  F.),  and  the 
coldest  Punta  Arenas,  6-3°  C.  (43-3°  F.).  The  abso- 
lute maximum  was  383°  C.  (1009°  F.)  at  San  Felipe, 
lat.  32°  40'  S.,  height  63:;  m.,  and  the  absolute  mini- 
mum -80°  C.  (176°  F.)  at  Punta  Arenas.  The 
effect  of  the  cold  Humboldt  current  in  keeping  down 
the  temperature  is  well  shown  in  the  data  for  Arica 
(lat.    185°   S.)  and  San   Felipe,  the  mean  daily  maxi- 

1  Institute  Central  Meteoroloeiico  y  Geofisico  de  Chile,  Santiago,  Dr.  W. 
Knocke,  Directr.  No.  i^,  "Anuario  Meteoroldgico  de  Chile,  1913." 
Pp.  339.  No.  14,  "  Medidas  de  asua  caida  en  1913."  Pp.  71  +  plates, 
No.  15,  "Anuario  Meteoroldgico  de  Chile."  Segunda  parte.  Pp.  134  + 
plates.  No.  16,  "  V.Tlores  horarios  de  lo=  elementos  meteoroMgico.s  en  I-os 
Andes,  191 1  y  1912."  Pp.  8i+plates.  No.  17,  "Valores  horarios  de  los 
elementos  meteorologicos  en  Santiago,  1914."     Pp.  91  +  plates. 


NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


mum  values  at  the  latter  station  on  the  mean  of  the 
year  being  17°  C.  higher  than  at  Arica,  14°  nearer 
the  equator,  and  situated  at  sea-level.  A  comparison 
of  the  temperature  data  from  Ollagiie,  at  a  height 
of  3695  metres,  with  those  from  Iquique  shows  a  fall 
of  1°  C.  for  each  323  m.,  both  stations  being  close  to 
lat.  2oi°  S. 

Great  variations  in  the  mean  amount  of  cloud  are 
to  be  found,  the  mean  annual  values  ranging  from 
09  at  Calama  in  the  north  to  8-8  at  Evangelistas, 
near  the  Pacific  entrance  to  Magellan  Straits.  .•Xt 
the  former  station  there  were  327  clear  days  (cloud 
amount  less  than  2)  and  not  a  single  cloudy  day 
(cloud  amount  more  than  8),  while  at  Evangelistas 
only  2  days  were  clear  and  305  cloudy.  It  is  of 
interest  to  note  that  at  the  island  of  Juan  Fernandez 
the  barometric  indications  are  very  frequently  an 
index  of  those  taking  place  twenty-four  hours  later 
on  the  Chilian  coast  in  about  the  same  latitude. 

No.  14  gives  the  daily  rainfall  recorded  at  112 
stations  for  the  year  1913,  arranged  in  parallel 
columns,  thus  exhibiting  the  distribution  of  the  rain 
throughout  the  whole  length  of  the  country.  The 
wettest  station  was  Caf>e  Raper,  lat.  46°  49'  S.,  long. 
75°  36'  W.,  with  4607  mm.  (181-38  in.),  the  value's 
for  December  being  interpolated.  .\t  Calama  and 
Copiap6  in  the  north  no  rain  fell,  and  ten  other 
stations,  all  to  the  north  of  30°  S.,  had  less  than  an 
inch.  Hourly  rainfall  values  are  given  in  extenso  for 
seven  stations.  From  these  records  it  is  seen  that 
torrential  rains  are  uncommon,  there  being  onlv  two 
instances  of  more  than  an  inch  (25-4  mm.)  falling  in 
an  hour,  the  maximum  hourly  fall  being  40  mm.  at 
Contulmo. 

We  are  glad  to  see  that  in  No.  16  Dr.  Knocke 
continues  to  give  hourly  values  of  all  the  elements, 
the  station  selected  in  this  instance  being  Los  Andes, 
situated  at  the  foot  of  Aconcagua,  at  a  heipht  of 
820  metres,  where  the  Chilian  section  of  the  Trans- 
andine  railway  begins.  Los  Andes  enjoys  an  admir- 
able climate- — cool  in  summer  and  temperate  in  winter. 
Although  300  metres  higher  than  Santiago,  the  mean 
temperature  is  slightly  higher,  while  peaches  and 
walnuts  flower  a  fortnight  earlier  than  in  the  Chilian 
capital.  No.  17  of  the  memoirs  contains  the  hourly 
values  for  the  year  1914  of  the  principal  climatic 
elements  at  Santiago,  including  earth  temperature 
and  the  electric  conductibility  of  the  air  observed  once 
dailv  bv  means  of  a  Wulff  electroscope. 

R.   C.   M. 

THE    MOVEMENTS     OF     THE    EARTH'S 
POLE.^ 

MORE  than  a  century  ago  it  was  shown  bv  the 
mathematician  Euler  that  if  the  axis  round 
which  the  earth  was  rotating  were  not  coincident 
with  the  axis  of  figure,  which  latter  in  the  case  of  a 
spheroidally  flattened  earth  is  the  shortest  axis  that 
can  be  drawn,  the  axis  of  rotation  will  revolve  about 
the  axis  of  figure  in  a  period  which,  upon  certain 
assumptions,  can  be  precisely  predicted.  The  time 
of  one  revolution  of  the  pole  of  rotation  around  the 
pole  of  figure  depends  only  upon  the  shape  and  degree 
of  elasticity  of  the  earth.  In  Euler 's  days  the  sup- 
position that  the  solid  earth  had  any  appreciable 
elasticitv  was  so  far  outside  the  range  of  experience 
that  it  was  not  considered  by  him.  He  calculated 
the  period  of  the  polar  rotation  on  the  assumption 
that  the  earth  was  perfectly  rigid,  and  showed  that 
this  period  would  be  about  305  days. 

If    we    determine    the    latitude    of    a    point    on    the 

1  ni-v-ours.;  I'elivered  at  the  Royal  Institution  on  Frday,  May  19,  by  Col. 
E.  H.  Hills,  C.M.G.,  F.R.S. 


August  24,  19 16] 


NATURE 


531 


earth's  surface  by  observations  of  the  stars,  we  are  in 
crtect  measuring  the  angular  distance  between  the 
axis  of  rotation  of  the  earth  and  the  vertical  line,  or 
line  through  the  zenith,  at  the  point  of  observation. 
If,  now,  this  axis  of  rotation  moves,  the  observed  lati- 
tude of  the  place  will  change,  and  if  we  prolong  the 
observations  over  a  suthcient  time,  we  ought  to  find 
that  this  observed  latitude  fluctuates  backwards  and 
forwards  about  a  mean  value  with  the  same  periodicity 
as  that  in  which  the  earth's  pole  of  rotation  moves 
round  the  pole  of  figure. 

Every  observer  who  is  engaged  in  making  observa- 
tions to  determine  the  precise  positions  of  the  stars, 

\  a  class  of  observation  which  up  to  a  few  years  ago 
occupied  a  very  large  fraction  of  the  time  and  energies 
of  astronomers,  is  actually  continually  determining 
and  redetermining  the  latitude  of  his  instrument. 
There  is  thus  an  enormous  mass  of  latitude  observa- 
tions available  for  examination,  and  it  should  prove 
a  not  too  difficult  task  to  analyse  these  with  the  object 
of  detecting  a  periodic  variation.  Two  causes,  how- 
ever, militated  against  success  in  this  inquiry  :  first, 
the  very  small  magnitude  of  this  variation ;  and, 
secondly,  the  fact  that  the  earth  is  by  no  means  rigid, 
and  hence  that  the  true  period  of  the  precessional 
rotation  differs  very  substantially  from  the  Eulerian 
period  of  305  days. 

'  All  the  earlier  attempts  to  find  evidence  of  this  varia- 

tion   were,    in    fact,    hampered    by    this    preconceived 

,  notion  of  the  ten-month  period ;  the  observations  were 
carefully  scrutinised  with  the  view^  of  detecting  it,  a 
process,  as  we  now  see,  foredoomed  to  failure.  It 
would  be  a  useless  task  to  recount  here  the  various 

{  attempts  that  were  made.  Two  of  these,  however, 
I  should  not  like  to  pass  over  without  notice,  those 
of  C.  A.  F.  Peters,  at  Pulkowa,  and  Clerk  Maxwell 
in  this  country. 

Peters  in  his  great  and  classic  memoir  on  the  parallax 
of  the  fixed  stars  devoted  one  section  to  a  discussion 
on  the  variability  of  the  latitude  in  a  ten-month  period. 
He  found  that  the  actual  variation  derived  from  the 
observations  was  of  so  minute  a  magnitude  that  it 
was  well  within  the  limits  of  unavoidable  sources  of 
error,  and  he  therefore  concluded  that  if  there  was 
any  separation  of  the  two  poles  it  was  too  small  to 
be  detected  by  observation. 

Clerk  Maxwell  examined  the  Greenwich  observa- 
tions of  Polaris  in  185 1-4,  and  thought  he  found 
some  small  indications  of  maxima  at  about  ten-month 

j      intervals,  but  he  considered  the  results  as  very  doubt- 

•  ful,  and  that  more  observations  would  be  required 
to  establish  the  existence  of  so  small  a  fluctuation. 

Substantially  the  same  result  was  derived  by  other 
inquirers.  Astronomers  were  therefore  satisfied,  up 
to  the  year  1884,  that  the  earth's  axis  of  figure  was 
so  nearly  coincident  with  its  axis  of  rotation  that  the 
difference  between  the  two  was  inappreciable  to  the 
most  refined  observations.  All  methods  of  observa- 
tion and  all  principles  of  the  reduction  of  observations, 
both  of  astronomers  and  of  geodesists,  were  tacitly 
based  upon  the  idea  of  absolute  coincidence  between 
the  two  axes. 

In  1884  the  subject  was  independently  reopened  by 
two  men — Chandler  in  America,  and  Kiistner  at  Bonn 
— and  entirely  fresh  light  was  thrown  upon  it.  Their 
work  was  simultaneous  and  quite  independent.  I  will 
take  Chandler's  first. 

In  1884-5  ^^  took  a  thirteen-month  series  of  observa- 
tions at  Harvard  with  an  instrument  of  his  own 
devising,  to  which  I  will  revert  later.  These  observa- 
tions showed  a  progressive  change  in  the  derived  lati- 
tude, which  appeared  to  him  of  a  greater  magnitude 
than  could  be  accounted  for  bv  any  instrumental 
errors.     He,  however,  hesitated  to  ascribe  it  to  a  real 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


change  in  the  latitude  without  further  confirmatory 
observations,  which  he  could  not  then  make.  He 
therefore  put  these  observations  aside,  and  was,  six 
years  later,  drawn  to  re-examine  them  by  the  publica- 
tion of  some  of  Kiistner's  results,  which  were  also 
only  explicable  on  the  hypothesis  of  an  actual  varia- 
tion in  the  latitude  of  the  place  of  obser\'ation.  It 
was,  however,  quite  obvious  to  Chandler  that  his 
series  of  observations  contained  no  warrant  for  an 
Eulerian  period  of  ten  months,  and  he  therelore,  to 
quote  his  own  words,  "deliberately  put  aside  all  teach- 
ings of  theory,  because  it  seemed  to  me  high  time 
that  the  facts  should  be  examined  by  a  purely  induc- 
tive process;  that  the  nugatory  results  of  all  attempts 
to  detect  the  existence  of  the  Eulerian  period  probably 
arose  from  a  defect  of  the  theory  itself,  and  that  the 
entangled  condition  of  the  whole  subject  required 
that  it  should  be  examined  afresh  by  processes  un- 
fettered by  any  preconceived  notions  whatever."  This 
bold  rejection  of  theory  and  appeal  to  observation 
alone  was  rewarded  with  immediate  success,  and 
Chandler  was  able  to  show  that  his  observations  of 
1884-5  contained  unmistakable  evidence  of  the  rotation 
of  the  one  pole  about  the  other  in  a  p>eriod  of,  not 
305  days,  but  428  days.  Wherein,  then,  lay  the  de- 
ficiency of  Euler's  investigation?  As  already  hinted, 
this  arose  from  the  assumption  of  rigidity,  and  it  was 
shown  first  by  Newcomb,  and  afterwards,  more  com- 
pletely, by  Hough,  that  the  428-day  period  was  fully 
in  accord  with  a  degree  of  elastic  yielding  of  the 
earth  quite  consonant  with  probabilitv.  Hough 
showed  that  if  the  earth  were  as  rigid  as  steel  the 
period  would  become  440  days;  that  the  actual  period 
is  somewhat  shorter  than  this  means  that  the  earth 
as  a  whole  is  decidedly  more  rigid  than  steel,  a  result 
which  accords  perfectly  with  other  known  phenomena 
which  depend  upon  the  earth's  elasticity,  such  as  the 
rate  of  propagation  of  earthquake  waves. 

Immediately  following  on  this  initial  success 
Chandler  undertook  a  prolonged  and  most  laborious 
examination  of  old  observations  and  reached  results 
which  have  not  completely  borne  the  test  of  subse- 
quent review.  He  was  confident  that  the  whole  move- 
ment of  the  pole  might  be  explained  as  the  super- 
position of  two  rotations,  one  circular,  with  a  428-day 
period,  and  one  elliptical,  with  a  period  of  a  year. 
He  thought,  further,  that  there  was  evidence  that  the 
longer  period  had  varied  in  past  times,  and  that  in 
1770  it  was  less  than  a  year.  This  last  result  was 
traversed  by  Newxomb,  who  showed  its  extreme  im- 
probability. While  fully  bearing  in  mind  the  lessons 
of  past  experience  as  to  the  unwisdom  of  relying  too 
closely  upon  pure  theory,  we  cannot  resist  the  con- 
clusion that  to  accept  any  large  change  in  the  428-dav 
period  within  recent  years  would  be  to  set  aside  the 
whole  dynamical  justification  for  accepting  this  period 
as  a  reality,  it  being  quite  impossible  to  admit  that 
the  elastic  constants  of  the  earth  can  be  subject  to 
any  appreciable  alteration  within  such  time  as  a 
century  or  so. 

As  regards  an  annual  period,  we  should  now  prefer 
to  say  that,  while  there  are  doubtless  seasonal  trans- 
fers of  material  upon  the  earth,  such  as  the  accumu- 
lation and  melting  of  Arctic  ice,  which  may  produce 
a  movement  of  the  pole  with  an  approach  to  a  vearlv 
periodicity,  the  part  of  the  movement  due  to  a  true 
annual  period  is  very  small,  and  is  quite  masked  bv 
large;  irregular  disturbances.  We  shall  be  on  safe 
ground  if  we  say  that  the  observed  polar  motion  is 
compounded  of  a  precessional  rotation  in  a  period  of 
something  very  near  428  days  at  an  average  distance 
of  20  ft.  from  the  mean  pole,  with  an  irregular  move- 
ment superimposed  on  it ;  this  irregular  movement 
having  sometimes  the  effect  of  mcdifv^ng  the  nte  of 


NATURE 


[August  24,  iyi6 


precessional  rotation  and  sometimes  of  changing  its 
amplitude — that  is  to  say,  altering  the  distance  be- 
tween the  pole  of  rotation  and  the  mean  pole — accord- 
ing as  it  is  acting  parallel  to,  perpendicular  to,  or 
at  any  intermediate  angle  to  the  direction  of  the  pre- 
cessional rotation.  1  shall  revert  to  this  question 
later,  and  show  how  it  is  possible  by  a  simple  graph- 
ical construction  to  separate  out  this  irregular  motion 
and  construct  a  diagram  of  it  which  should  be  helpful 
in  elucidating  its  cause. 

While  it  is  thus  to  Chandler  that  the  credit  of  dis- 
tx)vering  the  428-day  period  should  be  ascribed,  it  is 
to  Kijstner  that  we  owe  the  first  real  proof  that  there 
is  an  actual  variation  in  the  latitude  of  a  point  upon 
the  earth. 

Kiistner's  observations  were  made  in  the  same  years 
as  Chandler's,  1884-5,  ^*"<J  were  designed  to  determine 
the  constant  of  aberration,  a  class  of  observation 
identical  with  those  which  would  be  used  to  determine 
the  latitude  of  the  place.  Upon  reducing  these  ob- 
servations the  results  were  at  first  sight  anomalous 
in  that  they  gave  an  impossibly  small  value  of  the 
aberration  constant.  The  anomaly  was  not  due  to  any 
instrumental  cause ;  it  could  not  be  due  to  any 
seasonal  change  in  the  refraction,  as  the  morning 
observations  of  1884  were  not  accordant  with  the 
morning  observations  of  1885,  nor  could  it  be  explained 
by  any  possible  error  in  the  proper  motions  of  the 
stars.  Kiistner  was  thus  enabled  to  state  positively 
that  the  latitude  of  the  place  of  observation  had 
actually  changed.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  years 
1884-5  were  particularly  favourable  ones,  and  that 
both  these  astronomers  were  in  a  sense  lucky  in 
having  chanced  upon  them.  The  movement  of  the 
pole  happened  at  that  time  to  be  exceptionally  rapid. 
I  do  not,  however,  mention  this  as  detracting  in  any 
way  from  the  merit  of  their  achievements ;  they  deserve 
to  be  remembered  as  simultaneous  but  independent 
discoverers  of  this  important  and  interesting  pheno- 
menon, and  should  be  honoured,  Chandler  esj^ecially 
for  his  courageous  rejection  of  mathematical  theory, 
and  Kiistner  for  the  very  high  skill  and  exquisite 
refinement  of  his  observational  work. 

The  importance  of  Kiistner's  discovery  was  at  once 
recognised  upon  the  Continent,  and  a  proposal  was 
made  to  the  International  Geodetic  Conference  to 
establish  a  chain  of  stations  for  carrying  on  a  series 
of  simultaneous  observations  and  thus  deducing  the 
true  law  of  this  latitude  variation.  The  suggestion 
was  soon  carried  into  effect.  Six  stations  were  chosen, 
all  at  the  same  latitude,  39- 1°  N.^ — Carloforte,  in  an 
island  close  to  Sardinia ;  Mizusawa,  in  Japan ; 
Gaithersburg  in  Maryland,  and  Ukiah  in  California — 
all  new  stations,  where  special  observatories  had  been 
built  for  the  purpose ;  a  new  observatory,  established 
by  the  Russian  Government  at  Tschardjui,  in  Russian 
Asia ;  and  the  existing  observatory  at  Cmcinnati.  The 
reason  for  selecting  stations  at  the  same  latitude  was 
that  identical  sets  of  stars  could  be  observed  at  each 
place,  and  thus  any  errors  due  to  defective  knowledge 
of  star  places  are  similar  for  all.  These  began  work 
in  1899.  Later,  two  stations  in  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere, at  latitude  315°  S.- — Bayswater  in  Western 
Australia,  and  d'Oncatwo  in  the  Argentine— were 
added. 

The  results  were  reduced  and  discussed  by  Prof. 
Albrecht  at  the  Geodetic  Institute,  Potsdam,  and  pub- 
lished with  a  diagram  showing  the  actual  polar  move- 
ment as  deduced  from  the  mean  of  the  observations 
at  all  the  stations,  from  time  to  time. 

It  was  not  long  before  these  observations  yielded  a 
result  of  the  highest  interest.  The  observatory  which 
devoted  itself  most  whole-heartedly  to  the  work,  and  at 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


which  the  observations  were  most  extensive  and  most 
precise,  is  that  in  Japan.  This  was  under  the  able 
direction  of  Prof.  Kimura.  By  a  searching  discussion 
of  the  whole  series  of  observations  he  showed  that 
they  became  far  more  consistent  if  a  new  term  were 
introduced  into  the  expression  for  the  Jatitude  varia- 
tion, this  term  having  an  annual  period,  but  being 
independent  of  longitude  and  having  the  same  value 
for  all  the  stations  at  the  same  date. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  this  term  differs  com- 
pletely from  those  we  have  been  considering  hitherto, 
it  is  not  a  shift  of  the  earth's  axis  or  a  movement  of 
the  pole  of  rotation;  as  it  affects  all  places  along  a 
parallel  of  latitude  equally  the  pole  evidently  does  not 
move,  but  something  which  has  an  effect  exactly  the 
same  as  if  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  earth  were 
shifted  a  few  feet  up  and  dow-n,  northward  and  south- 
ward, from  its  mean  position. 

The  great  difficulty  in  elucidating  the  Kimura  term 
lies  in  its  extremely  small  magnitude  and  in  the  con- 
sideration that  there  are  so  many  possible  sources  of 
error  affecting  observations  of  this  class  which  might 
have  annual  periodicities  that  their  separation  and 
evaluation  are  extraordinarily  complicated  questions. 
This  is  not  the  place  to  attempt  any  complete  discus- 
sion, but  a  mention  of  some  of  the  lines  along  which 
a  solution  has  been  sought  may  detain  us  for  a  few 
minutes. 

The  magnitude  of  the  term  at  the  latitude  of  39°  is 
about  6/iooths  of  a  second  of  arc,  or  6  ft.  on  the 
earth's  surface.  It  has  the  same  value  and  phase 
for  every  station  on  the  same  parallel  and  is  zero  on 
about  March  9  and  September  12,  and  maximum  and 
minimum  on  June  10  and  December  10,  i.e.  about  ten 
days  before  the  equinoxes  and  solstices  respectively. 
It  cannot  be  accounted  for  as  a  real  shift  of  the 
earth's  centre  of  gravity.  It  is  true  that  in  the  alter- 
nate melting  and  accumulation  of  ice  and  snow  at  the 
two  poles  we  have  a  periodic  factor  at  work  which 
does  do  this,  but  the  amount  is  far  too  small.  If  was 
pointed  out  long  ago  by  Van  de  Sande  Bakhuysen 
that  to  fit  in  with  the  observed  value  of  this  term  the 
apparent  path  of  the  centre  of  gravity  must  have  an 
amplitude  of  3  metres,  which,  if  translated  into  terms 
of  polar  ice,  would  mean  that  a  cap  of  ice  one  kilo- 
metre thick  and  244  square  degrees  in  area  would 
have  to  form  and  disappear  each  year.  This  is  ob- 
viously quite  impossible.  There  are  certain  possible 
errors  in  the  accepted  values  of  the  proper  motions 
and  parallaxes  of  the  fixed  stars  w^hich  might  produce 
an  apparent  variation  in  the  observed  latitude  of  this 
nature.  As  all  parallaxes  are  based  upon  differential 
measures  we  cannot  with  certainty  say  that  such 
errors  are  impossible ;  we  can  only  say  that  they  appear 
to  us  very  unlikely,  and  that,  if  they  were  actually 
proved  to  exist,  our  ideas  of  the  stellar  universe  would 
be  profoundly  modified. 

If  there  were  a  yearly  term  in  the  refraction  which 
had  the  effect  of  a  periodic  change  in  the  apparent 
zenith  we  should  get  a  corresponding  periodicity  in 
the  observations.  If,  for  example,  there  were  a  solar 
atmosphere,  even  of  a  quite  tenuous  nature,  which 
extended  into  space  beyond  the  earth's  orbit,  we  should 
get  a  seasonal  change  due  to  the  varying  angular 
distance  of  the  sun  from  the  zenith  of  the  place  of 
observation.  An  atmosphere  which  could  bend  rays 
of  light  to  the  requisite  amount,  though  undoubtedly 
extremely  rare,  would,  however,  be  dense  enough  to 
offer  an  amount  of  resistance  to  a  planet,  or  o  fortiori 
to  a  comet,  inconsistent  with  observed  facts.  It  is, 
however,  quite  possible  that  the  changing  declination 
of  the  sun  may  curve  or  tilt  the  mean  isobaric  surfaces 
in    the    upper    atmosphere    in    such    a    way    that    the 


August  24,  19 16] 


NATURE 


apparent  zenith  moves  north  and  south  about  its  mean 
value,  and  that  it  is  to  this  cause  we  owe  the  greater 
part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  the  Kimura  term.  Such  a 
displacement  of  the  isobars  is  highly  probable,  and  the 
phase  times  of  the  latitude  variation — nil  at  equinoxes, 
maximum  northward  at  summer  solstice,  and  maxi- 
mum southward  at  winter  solstice — fits  in  perfectly 
with  this  explanation.  The  observations  made  in  the 
southern  hemisphere  should  form  a  crucial  test.  If 
this  is  the  true  cause  the  apparent  latitude  of  a 
southern  observatory  will  be  shifted  in  the  same  direc- 
tion as  that  of  its  northern  counterpart,  i.e.  north- 
ward in  June  and  southward  in  December.  We  have 
only  a  short  series  of  observations  from  southern 
stations,  but  so  far  as  they  go  they  appear  to  conform. 
There  is  thus  fairly  strong  evidence  in  favour  of  this 
explanation. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  assumed  that  the  matter- 
is  settled  beyond  dispute.  More  observations  are 
necessary,  and  especially  observations  at  widely 
different  latitudes.  The  international  stations  are, 
as  to  the  northern  ones,  almost  exactly  on  a  parallel, 
and,  as  to  the  southern  ones,  on  a  parallel  differing 
only  by  7^°  from  the  northern.  This  uniformity, 
highly  advantageous  for  securing  a  precise  record  of 
the  motion  of  the  earth's  pole,  is  disadvantageous 
for  solving  the  riddle  of  the  Kimura  variation,  and 
other  places  should  join  in  the  attack.  Unfortunately 
the  observations  are  ven,^  laborious  and  require  the 
almost  exclusive  attention  of  an  observer.  There  is, 
therefore,  a  very  real  want  of  an  instrument  which 
shall  demand  something  short  of  the  whole  time  of  a 
skilled  astronomer.  With  this  object,  and  also  with 
the  intention  of  eliminating  certain  sources  of  error, 
instruments  of  new  form  have  been  devised.  A  short 
account  of  these  will  be  of  interest. 

I  shall  not  here  attempt  anv  description  of  the 
methods  of  observation  used.  It  will  be  sufficient  to 
say  that,  as  what  we  want  to  find  is  the  direction  of 
the  zenith  at  the  place,  all  methods  ultimately  depend 
either  upon  a  level,  giving  us  the  horizontal  plane,  or 
upon  a  plumb-line,  giving  us  the  vertical,  and  that  of 
these  two  the  level  is  the  one  that  has  almost  exclu- 
sively been  employed  by  the  astronomer.  The  level  is 
an  instrument  capable  of  a  high  degree  of  precision, 
but  it  has  the  disadvantage  of  being  ver}-  susceptible 
to  temperature  changes,  and,  as  both  the  glass  tube  of 
the  level  and  the  spirit  with  which  it  is  filled  are  bad 
conductors  of  heat,  it  is  impossible  to  ensure  that  it  is 
at  an  even  temperature  throughout.  Irregularities 
are  thus  produted  which  the  reading  of  both  ends  of 
the  bubble  only  partially  eliminates.  The  mere  fact 
of  an  observer  standing  near  a  sensitive  level  to  read 
it  may  seriously  vitiate  its  accuracy. 

Some  of  these  errors  mav  be  avoided,  and  such  errors 
as  are  due  to  faulty  reading  of  the  level  graduations 
by  the  observer  entirelv  eliminated,  by  making  the 
level  an  integral  part  of  the  instrument  by  floating 
the  whole  in  liquid.  The  first  application  of  this  prin- 
ciple to  an  astronomical  instrument  was  bv^Chandler, 
who  carried  out  his  series  of  latitude  obser\'ations, 
already  mentioned,  with  an  almucantar,  being  a 
transit  telescope  floated  in  a  trough  of  mercur>'.  The 
name  "  almucantar  "  means  a  small  circle  of  the  heavens 
parallel  to  the  horizon,  and  it  will  be  sufficiently 
obvious  that  if  the  telescope  can  be  set  at  any  angle 
with  the  float,  then  as  the  instrument  is  rotated  in 
the  trough,  or  the  whole  trough  itself  is  turned,  the 
line  of  sieht  of  the  telescope  will  move  round  such  a 
circle.  With  this  instrument  the  stars  are  observed, 
not  as  in  a  transit  circle  crossing  a  vertical  line,  but 
crossing  a  horizontal  circle  of  constant  altitude.  For 
convenience  of  calculation  this  horizontal  circle  would 
generallv  be  selected  as  that  through  the  celestial  pole 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


at  the  place.  Chandler's  instrument  was  purposely 
designed  so  as  to  differ  as  little  as  possible  from  the 
ordinary  visual  type,  and  must  have  been  a  most 
difficult  instrument  to  use.  The  fact  that  he  got  such 
excellent  results  from  it  is  no  small  tribute  to  his 
manipulative  skill.  The  use  of  this  form  of  instru- 
ment cannot  be  said  to  have  found  great  favour 
among  astronomers;  there  is  only  one  example  of  it 
in  this  country,  and,  so  far  as  I'know,  none  on  the 
Continent.  The  one  we  have  is  at  the  Durham  Uni- 
versity Observator>-,  and  was  designed  by  the  present 
Astronomer  Royal  for  Scotland,  in  co-operation  with 
the  late  Dr.  Common.  It  marked  a  very  decided  ad- 
vance upon  the  earlier  type.  In  two  points  special!^', 
the  screen  of  the  floating  part  from  wind  disturbance, 
and  the  attachment  of  the  eyepiece  to  the  fixed  part, 
the  designers  had  the  idea  of  a  movable  instrument, 
which  a  slight  touch  or  a  puff  of  wind  would  set 
vibrating  to  such  an  extent  that  no  observation  would 
be  possible  for  a  minute  or  two,  clearly  before  them. 
The  almucantar  method  of  observation,  meaning  by 
this,  not  the  use  of  a  floating  type  of  instrument,  but 
the  observing  of  stars  crossing  a  horizontal  circle, 
though  appropriate  for  the  particular  class  of  obser\'a- 
tion  we  are  here  concerned  with,  those  for  determina- 
tion of  latitude,  is  not  absolutely  the  best  that  can  be 
used.  To  reduce  every  possible  source  of  error  to  a 
minimum,  particularly  those  due  to  refraction  of  the 
atmosphere,  we  want  to  observe  stars  as  near  the 
zenith  as  possible. 

The  floating  principle  has  been  applied  with  great 
success  to  a  zenith  instrument  in  the  Cookson  floating 
zenith  telescope  now  at  Greenwich,  designed  bv  the 
late  Bryan  Cookson,  whose  early  death  was  a  great 
loss  to  astronomy. 

It  is  a  photographic  instrument,  with  a  telescope  or 
camera  tube  attached  to  a  circular  float  w-hich  floats 
in  a  ring-shaped  trough  of  mercury.  The  angle  be- 
tween telescope  and  float  can  be  altered  so  that  it 
can  be  clamped  to  point  either  vertically  upwards  or  at 
any  angle,  up  to  about  30°,  from  the  vertical.  It  is 
used  in  the  well-known  Talcott  method.  A  pair  of 
stars  is  selected  which  cross  the  meridian  within  a 
few  minutes  of  each  other  at  nearlv  the  same  zenith 
distance,  one  north  and  one  south  of  the  zenith.  The 
instrument  is  set  so  as  to  include  the  first  star  in  the 
field,  the  lens  is  opened,  and  as  the  image  of  the  star 
moves  across  the  plate  it  traces  a  fine  line  or  trail. 
.After  the  star  has  crossed  the  meridian,  the  telescope 
is  turned  through  180°,  leaving  tube  and  float  clamped 
in  the  same  relative  position,  and  the  second  star 
traces  out  its  trail.  The  distance  between  the  two 
trails  on  the  plate,  w^hich  is  small  if  the  difference  of 
their  zenith  distances  is  small,  when  the  appropriate 
corrections  are  applied,  gives  the  observed  difference 
of  zenith  distance  of  the  two  stars,  and,  therefore,  the 
observed  position  of  the  zenith,  and  hence  the  latitude 
of  the  obser\-er.  By  repeating  the  observation  with  a 
number  of  pairs  of  stars  a  very  precise  determination 
of  the  latitude  is  made. 

Recently  a  zenith  telescope,  designed,  not  on  the 
floating,  but  on  the  hanging  principle,  finding  the 
vertical  line  by  virtue  of  its  free  suspension  in  a  gimbal 
ring,  has  been  constructed,  and  would  have  been  at 
work  by  now  had  it  not  been  for  the  interruption 
caused  by  the  war.  Though  it  has  thus  not  vet  been 
tested  by  practical  experience,  a  few  words  on  it  may 
not  be  out  of  place.  The  method  of  observation  will 
be  the  same  as  I  have  just  described,  except  that  there 
is  no  arrangement  for  clamping  the  instrument  at  an 
inclination  to  the  vertical ;  it  is  intended  to  be  used 
only  in  the  vertical  position,  and  the  angle  covered 
bv  the  photographic  plate  will  be  a  few  degrees  from 
the  zenith  on  each  si^*».     Exactly  how  far  we  can  go 


534 


NATURE 


[August  24,  19 16 


from  the  zenith  depends  upon  the  qualities  of  the  lens, 
and  no  confident  statement  can  be  made  until  this  has 
been  tested,  but  it  is  hoped  that  star  trails  perfectly 
sharp  for  measurement  will  be  secured  up  to  an 
angular  distance  of  3°  from  the  centre.  This  gives  us 
as  available  for  our  purpose  the  stars  over  a  belt  6° 
wide  down  to  the  sixth,  and  possibly  the  seventh, 
magnitude.  The  actual  work  of  observing  will  be 
very  simple,  and  will  only  mean  that  the  whole  in- 
strurnent  is  rotated  through  180°  at  certain  pre- 
arranged times,  and  that  the  lens  is  open<xl  after 
twilight  and  covered  before  the  dawn.  It  would  be 
possible  for  this  to  be  done  by  mechanism  controlled 
by  a  clock. 

As  the  telescope  hangs  freely  always  in  a  vertical 
position,  we  entirely  get  rid  of  one  of  the  astronomer's 
anxieties,  the  risk  of  error  due 
to  flexure  or  bending  of  his 
telescope,  for  though  the  tube 
can  be  made  apparently  very 
rigid,  the  excessively  minute 
degree  of  bending  sufficient  to 
introduce  appreciable  errors  is 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
avoid  in  a  telescope  which  has 
to  be  used  in  different  posi- 
tions. Then,  again,  the  errors 
due  to  changes  of  temperature 
inside  or  close  to  the  instru- 
ment should  almost  disappear 
in  this  form.  First,  no  tem- 
perature changes  affect  the 
suspension ;  so  long  as  the 
l)ody  of  the  telescope  remains 
undistorted  the  position  of  the 
true  vertical  in  regard  to 
the  optical  axis  remains 
constant.  Secondly,  as  the 
whole  hanging  part  of  the 
instrument  is  perfectly  sym- 
metrical about  the  vertical 
axis,  with  the  trifling  excep- 
tion that  the  plate-carrier  and 
photographic  plate  are  not 
circular,  but  rectangular,  no 
temperature  change  should 
distort  the  axis.  Any  distor- 
tion that  can  take  place  will, 
in  fact,  be  the  very  smal' 
change  of  sc"!e  that  will  re- 
sult from  the  difference  in  th'^ 
expansion  of  the  glass  plat ^ 
and  the  brass  rube.  Thirdly, 
it  is  possible,  and  in  this  in- 
strument has  been  done,  to 
enclose  the  whole  in  an  outer 
case  which  can  be  made  air- 
tight and  kept  at  a  constant 
temperature  by  a  thermostat, 
instrument   in 


vane  attached  to  a  rod  at  the  base  is  immersed  in  a 
dash-pot  or  bath  of  glycerine.  This  rod  must  be 
centred  in  prolongation  of  the  vertical  axis,  otherwise 
the  capillarity  between  rod  and  liquid  will  introduce  a 
force  deflecting  the  telescope  from  the  true  vertical. 
While  it  would  thus  appear  that  in  this  form  of  instru. 
ment  most  of  the  familiar  sources  of  error  are  mini- 
mised, it  is  interesting  to  note  the  introduction  of  one 
possible  cause  of  error,  quite  unfamiliar  to  astronomers, 
namely,  the  deflection  that  might  be  due  to  the  attrac- 
tion of  the  earth's  horizontal  magnetic  force  upon  the 
hanging  part.  If  the  telescope-tube  were,  as  is  custo- 
mary, made  of  iron  or  steel,  this  would  reach  a 
serious  magnitude,  and  even  if  a  proportion  only  of 
the  suspended  weight  were  of  iron  a  perceptible  devia- 
tion might  result.     It  would,  in   fact,  not  be  safe  to 


PO  v   /           ,J 

J                  \ 

K    ) 

I'lG.  1. — Track  of  polar  movement,  1900-3. 


Fig.  2. — Same  track  referred  to  axis  rotating  in  the 
earth  with  a  fourteen-month  period. 


■^ 

!/80" 

sow                    V-^ 

0 

0 
0 

Fig.  3.— Hodograph  of  Fig.  2. 


Fig.  4. — Hodograph  referred  back  to  axes  fixed  in 
the  earth,  or  torque  diagram. 


In  order  to  close  the 
front  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  plane 
parallel  glass  of  slightly  larger  aperture  than  the  lens. 
As  this  glass  has  to  be  worked  with  the  same  refine- 
ment as  a  lens,  and  as  a"  plane  surface  is  more  trouble- 
some to  work  than  a  curved  one,  this  is  rather  a 
costlv  addition.  Whether,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is 
worth  while  keeping  the  instrument  at  the  same  tem- 
perature, or  whether  it  will  be  better  to  reduce  the 
temperature  change  to  a  minimum  by  covering^  the 
whole  with  non-conducting  material,  and  then  apply 
the  very  small  corrections  necessary  to  the  measure- 
ments made  on  the  plate,  is  a  question  for  experience 
to  decide. 

As  a  heavv  hanging  mass  would  be  liable  :o  long-, 
continued    vibrations    when    disturbed,    a    four-armed 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


allow  this  proportion  to  exceed  one-tenth  of  the  whole 
weight,  and  it  therefore  seemed  better  to  exclude  the 
use  of  iron  or  steel  altogether.  There  is  accordingly 
none,  with  the  exception  of  the  four  thin  flat  pendulum 
springs  which  form  the  gimbal  suspension. 

In  detaining  you  with  these  short  descriptions  of 
recentlv  devised  instruments,  I  may  appear  to  have 
been  wandering  rather  far  from  my  subject,  the 
wanderings  of  the  earth's  pole.  You  will,  however, 
appreciate  that  in  reality  they  follow  very  closely  from 
it,  being  instruments  designed  with  the  special  object 
of  solving  the  particular  problem  we  are  discussing. 

We  will  now  revert  to  the  diagram  of  the  observed 
polar  motion,  and  I  will  indicate  how  it  is  possible 
to  analvse  this  so  as  to  separate  the  irregular  move- 
ments from   the  more  orderly   fourteen-month  preces- 


August  24,  19 16] 


NATURE 


:)3d 


sional  rotation.  We  are  justified  in  assuming  that  this 
free  precessional  period  is  constant  in  duration  and 
therefore  determines  the  average  rate  of  rotation  of 
the  pole  of  revolution.  If,  therefore,  we  take  a 
diagram  of  the  polar  movement,  which  will  naturally 
have  its  axes  of  reference  fixed  in  relation  to  the  earth, 
and  convert  it  into  another  diagram,  showing  the 
same  movement,  referred  to  axes  rotating  in  the  earth 
at  the  average  rate  of  the  precessional  rotation,  we 
obtain  a  graph  of  the  irregular  part  of  the  polar  path. 
If  this  irregular  part  has  any  well-marked  annual 
period,  such  period  ought  to  be  apparent  on  inspection 
of  the  converted  diagram.  In  the  actual  diagrams 
obtained  there  seems  little  or  no  evidence  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  yearly  term. 

W'e  now  take  the  second  diagram,  and  by  the  well- 
known  process  construct  its  hodograph,  the  curve 
which  gives  us  a  measure  of  the  amount  and  direction 
of  the  force  which  could  have  caused  the  movement 
recorded  in  diagram  No.  2.  This  will  still  be 
referred  to  the  moving  axes,  so  is  not  directly  avail- 
able for  deducing  the  true  direction  of  these  forces  in 
the  earth.  Before  we  can  do  this  we  must  refer  the 
diagram  back  again  to  axes  fixed  in  the  earth.  Thus, 
finally,  we  obtain  our  diagram  No.  4,  which 
may  be  called  the  torque  diagram,  as  it  represents  in 
direction  and  relative  magnitude  the  torque  or  twisting 
force  which  has  been  acting  upon  the  earth  to  produce 
the  observed  movement  of  the  pole. 

The  interpretation  of  such  a  diagram  is  a  somewhat 
complex  matter,  and  has  not  yet  advanced  far.  The 
causes  that  seem  to  be  at  work  producing  the  irregular 
shift  are  either  movements  of  the  earth's  crust,  slow 
or  rapid,  as  in  an  earthquake ;  the  transfer  of  Arctic 
ice  from  one  point  to  another,  or  its  accumulation  and 
disappearance  so  far  as  this  takes  place  unsymmetric- 
ally  with  respect  to  the  earth's  axis ;  and  possibly 
extensive  barometric  changes  extending  over  consider- 
able areas. 

Of  these  the  transfer  of  ice  is  the. largest  factor  and 
is  probably  the  one  to  which  most  of  the  irregular 
polar  movement  may  be  ascribed.  An  earthquake, 
even  of  gigantic  dimensions,  would  have  an  almost 
negligible  etTect.  The  late  Prof.  Milne  estimated 
that  a  very  large  earthquake  might  displace  ten 
million  cubic  miles  of  earth  through  a  distance  of  10  ft. 
horizontally  or  vertically.  Such  a  vast  cataclysm 
would  only  change  the  position  of  the  pole  by  a  few 
inches. 


In  conclusion  it  will  be  an  act  of  natural  curiosity 
to  inquire  whether  there  is  any  evidence  of  the  ampli- 
tude of  these  jjolar  wanderings  having  been  greater 
in  past  times  than  at  present,  and  whether  there  is 
any  likelihood  of  their  being  greater  in  the  future. 
To  both  these  questions  the  answer  is  "  No."  The 
axis  of  rotation  is  always  kept  near  the  axis  of  figure 
by  internal  friction,  and  it  would  require  a  large 
change  in  the  distribution  of  mass  to  move  the  axis 
of  figure  very  far. 

As  regards  the  future,  the  probabilities  point  still 
more  strongly  in  the  same  direction.  Each  shrinkage 
of  the  earth,  whatever  its  immediate  eflfect  on  the 
position  of  the  axis  of  rotation  may  be,  tends  ulti- 
mately to  bring  it  nearer  to  the  axis  of  figure  or  prin- 
cipal axis  of  inertia,  and  therefore  tends  to  reduce  the 
average  amplitude  of  the  polar  path.  The  distance  of 
the  pole  of  rotation  from  the  mean  pole  will  therefore 
pradually  decrease  as  the  world  grows  older,  while  at 
the  same  time,  as  the  earth  cools  and  becomes  less 
elastic  and  more  rigid,  the  rate  of  rotation  will 
c'uicken. 


NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
The  Marquess  of  Crewe  has  been  appointed  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Education,  in  succession  to  Mr. 
Arthur  Henderson,  resigned. 

The  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  laws  has  been  con- 
ferred upon  Dr.  Otto  Klotz,  of  the  Dominion  Astro- 
nomical Observatory,  Ottawa,  by  the  University  of 
Pittsburgh. 

Ax  explanatory  circular  respecting  the  programme 
for  technical  schools  and  classes  for  the  session  1916-17 
has  been  issued  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and 
Technical  Instruction  for  Ireland.  The  regulations 
which  were  in  operation  during  the  session  1915-16 
will  continue  in  force  with  some  few  alterations, 
among  which  we  note  that  a  school  will  not  be  recog- 
nised as  a  technical  school  under  the  conditions  of 
section  ii.  (a)  of  the  programme  unless  there  are  at 
least  twenty  approved  introductor}-  and  specialised 
course  students  in  attendance  in  any  session,  of  w^hom 
not  less  than  50  per  cent,  are  specialised  course 
students.  Teachers  recognised  for  grants  under  the 
conditions  of  the  third  paragraph  of  the  explanatory- 
circular  will  not  be  recognised  for  this  purpose  as 
specialised  course  students.  The  case  of  schools  of  a 
special  character  will  receive  special  consideration, 
and,  if  it  is  thought  desirable,  this  regulation  may  be 
modified  in  the  case  of  such  schools.  Grants  will  not 
be  paid  upon  the  attendance  of  a  student  at  more  than 
one  lesson  in  the  same  syllabus  on  the  same  day, 
unless  there  is  an  interval  of  at  least  15  min.  between 
each  lesson.'  Instruction  in  the  first-year  syllabus  of 
a  subject  of  a  specialised  course  will  not  be  permitted 
to  be  given  concurrently  by  the  same  teacher  with 
instruction  in   any  other  syllabus  or  subject. 

A  REPORT  on  Indian  education,  1914-15,  by  Mr. 
Sharp,  educational  commissioner  with  the  Govern- 
ment of  India,  has  recently  been  received.  The  ref>ort 
is  a  verv  brief  narrative  of  the  main  lines  of  Indian 
educational  progress,  and  consists  of  twentj-seven 
pages  (quarto)  of  letterpress  and  fifty-seven  pages  of 
tables.  In  addition,  something  like  fifty  interesting 
illustrations  are  given  of  educational  buildings  of 
different  grades  and  classes  which  have  been  com- 
pleted during  the  twelve  months  under  review,  and 
of  the  arrangements  in  such  buildings.  When  it  is 
considered  that  all  forms  of  education  are  dealt  with, 
from  university  standards  down  to  primary  schools, 
with  an  area  about  fifteen  times  as  large  as  the 
United  Kingdom,  with  a  number  of  pupils  of  between 
seven  and  eight  millions,  and  at  a  cost  of  eleven 
crores  of  rupees  (that  is,  more  than  7,200,000/.),  it 
will  be  understood  that  a  volume  of  the  size  mentioned 
represents  almost  the  utmost  limits  of  condensation. 
The  effects  of  the  war  in  Europe  have  been  very-  dis- 
tinctlv  felt  in  India,  in  the  first  place,  in  the  desir- 
abilitv  for  economy,  though  even  here  it  was  found 
that  the  expenditure  for  the  year  under  review  was 
about  90  lakhs  (nearly  6oo,oooZ.)  higher  than  in  the 
vear  previous  to  the  war.  The  increase  appears  to 
have  been  mainly  due  to  the  rapidly  increasing  number 
of  pupils  in  the  schools,  etc. ;  for  in  the  five  years  up 
to  19 14  the  numbers  had  increased  by  no  fewer  than 
one  and  a  third  million  pupils.  The  war,  however, 
has  affected  the  higher  educational  institutions  more 
than  the  lower,  for  a  good  many  of  the  British  pro- 
fessors in  colleges,  etc.,  are  now  on  military  service. 
It  is  noticeable  that  pamphlets,  such  as  '"  Why  Britain 
is  at  War "  and  others,  have  been  widely  distributed 
in  several  of  the  Indian  vernaculars  to  pupils.  Also 
other  means,  such  as  lectures,  etc.,  have  been   taken 


536 


NATURE 


[August  24,   19 16 


to  put  the  war  in  its  proper  lipht.  On  the  other 
hand,  though  it  was  known  that  Germany  had  long 
maintained  a  regular  organisation  of  propagandist 
schools  throughout  the  world,  it  was  not  until  July, 
19 15,  that  steps  were  taken  by  the  Government  of 
India  to  intern  or  repatriate  the  enemy  aliens  in 
India  who  were  engaged  in  school  work,  when  such 
schools  were  handed  over  to  other  agencies. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  August  7. — M.  Paul  Appell  in  the 
chair.  C.  Richet  :  The  monthly  variation  of  natality. 
For  a  period  of  fiifty-seven  years  the  maximum 
number  of  births  is  in  February  or  March.  For  the 
years  1906-10  the  maximum  in  these  two  months 
is  shown  in  all  countries  in  the  Northern  Hemisphere, 
and  figures  for  eleven  countries  are  cited.  In  the 
Southern  Hemisphere  the  monthly  maximum  is  in 
August-October,  or  a  period  six  months  from  the  maxi- 
mum in  the  Northern  Hemisphere.  The  maxima  are 
in  the  same  months  both  for  legitimate  and  illegiti- 
mate births,  for  rural  and  urban  populations,  for  the 
poor  and  rich ;  but  a  relation  can  be  traced  between 
the  latitude  and  the  date  of  the  monthly  maximum. — 
C.  Camichel  :  Hammering  in  water  mains  :  the  exam- 
ination of  the  state  of  a  main.  P.  Choffat  :  The 
volcanic  intrusive  rocks  of  the  region  situated  to  the 
north  of  the  Tagus. — E.  Belot  :  Experimental  vol- 
canoes and  the  laws  of  volcanic  phenomena.  The  ex- 
perimental arrangement  described  in  an  earlier  com- 
munication can  be  modified  by  the  introduction  of  a 
layer  impermeable  to  water  and  steam  (slate)  above  the 
source  of  heat. — R.  Soueges  :  The  first  divisions  of  the 
egg,  and  the  origin  of  the  hypophysis  in  Capsella 
bursa-pastoris. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Theorie  Generale  des   Nombres  :    Definitions   fonda- 
mentales.        By      E.     Dumont.        Pp.     92.        (Paris  : 
Gauthier-Villars  et  Cie.)     2   francs. 
.    Petit    Atlas    Celeste.     By    G.    Bigourdan.       Pp.    57. 
(Paris  :  Gauthier-Villars  et  Cie.)    2  francs  75  centimes. 

Le  Climat  de  la  France :  Temperature,  Pression, 
Vents.  By  G.  Bigourdan.  Pp.  135.  (Paris  : 
Gauthier-Villars  et   Cie.)      4  francs. 

Mitteilungen  der  Naturforschenden  Gesellschaft  in 
Bern.  1913.  Pp.  xxxv  +  266.  1914-  Pp-  xxv  +  324. 
1915.     Pp.  1  +  315.     (Bern:  K.  J.  Wyss.) 

Centenaire  de  la  Societe  Helvetique  des  Sciences 
Naturelles.  Band  1.  Pp.  vi  +  316.  (Basel:  Georg 
and  Co.) 

Neue  Denkschriften  der  Schweizerischen  Natur- 
forschenden Gesellschaft.  Band  li.  (Basel  :  Georg 
and  Co.) 

.\ctes  de  la  Societe  Helvetique  des  Sciences  Natur- 
elles, 97me  Session.  2  Pts.  (.Aarau  :  H.  R.  Sauer- 
lander  et  Cie.) 

Verhandlungen  der  Schweizerischen  Naturforschen- 
den Gesellschaft,  1914.  2  Pts.  (.\arau  :  H.  R.  Sauer- 
lander  et  Cie.) 

The  Sea-Trout.  By  H.  Lamond.  Pp.  xi  +  219. 
(London  :    Sherratt  and    Hughes.)      21s.    net. 

Observations  made  at  the  Royal  Magnetical  and 
Meteorological  Observatory  at  Batavia.  Vol.  xxxv. 
(1912.)  Pp.  xxvi4-96.  Observations  made  at  Second- 
ary   Stations    in    Netherlands     East-India.        Vol.    iii. 

NO.    2443,    VOL.    97] 


(1913.)  Pp.  ix+119.  (Batavia:  Government  Printing; 
Office.) 

Results  of  Registering-Balloon  Ascents  at  Batavip. 
By  Dr.  \V.  van  Bemmclen.  Pp.  lvii+109.  (Batavia: 
Javasche  Bockhandel  en   Drukkerij.) 

Regenwaarnemingen  in  Nederlandsch-lndle. .  Zes 
en  Dertigste  Jaargang,  1914.  Deel  ii.  Uitkomsten. 
Pp.    ix  +  230.     (Batavia:    Landsdruckkerij.) 

Oeeanographische  Waarnemingcn  in  den  Indischen 
Oceaan,  Sept.,  Oct.,  Nov.  (1856-1914).  Tabellen  : 
Observations  Oceanographiqucs  et  M^tterologiques 
dans  rOcean  Indien.  Pp.  xi  +  240;  Kaarten  25, 
(Utrecht  :  Versluys  and  Scherjon.)  Text  and  atlas, 
6.50  florins. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Coal-tar  and  Ammonia.    By  Sir  T.  E.  Thorpe,  C.B., 

F.R.S 517 

Materials  of  Construction 5^8 

Sound  Analysis.     By  E.  H,  B 5^9 

Our  Bookshelf 5'9 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

The  Formation  of  Dust-ripples.— H.  U.   G.  (C.F.).  520 
A  Sunset  Phenomenon  on  July  22.— Capt.  C.  J.  P. 

Cave 520 

The  Utilisation  of  Waste  Heat  for  Agriculture.- C. 

TurnbuU • 520 

A  Peculiar  Thunderclap.— H.  O.  F 520 

Engineering  Education  and  Research  in  Relation 
to  the  Organisation  of  British  Engineering  In- 
dustry,   ByJ.  C.  M.  G 520 

The  Optical  Industry  in  France 522 

Arctic  Oceanography 523 

Notes 523 

Our  Astronomical  Column  :— 

The  Solar  Physics  Observatory 528 

Relative  Luminosities  of  Sun  and  Stars 528 

The  Thermopile  in  Photographic  Photometry    .    .    .  528 

Recent  Indian  Museum  Publications 528 

Recent  Economic  Entomology.     By  G.  H.  C.  .    .    .  529 

Chilian  Meteorology.     By  R.  C.  M 530 

The  Movements  of  the  Earth's  Pole.     ( IVM  Dm- 

oraws.)    By  Col.  E.  H.  Hills,  C.M.G.,  F.R.S.     .    .  530 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 535 

Societies  and  Academies 53^ 

Books  Received     53^ 


Editorial  and  Publishing  Offices: 

MACMILLAN    &    CO.,    Ltd., 

ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,    LONDON,    W.C 


Advertisements  and  business  letters  to   be  addressed  to   the 
Publishers. 


Editorial   Communications   to   the   Editor. 
Telegraphic  Address :   Phusis,   London. 
Telephone   Number :   Gerrard  8830. 


NA TURE 


5Z7 


THURSDAY,    AUGUST  31,    1916. 


1   SURGICAL  BOOK  FROM  THE  FRONT. 

Surgery  in  War.     By  Major  A.  J.  Hull.     Pp.  xv  + 
390.      (London:    J.    and    A.    Churchill,    1916.) 
^     Price  I05.  6d.  net. 

•'T^HIS  handbook  is  described  in  the  introduction 
Ll      by  Lieut. -Col.  E.  M.  Pilcher,  R.A.M.C.,  as 
resume  of  current  practice  and  experience  at  the 
nt;   and   the  fact  that  Sir  Alfred   Keogh,   the 
irector-General  of  the  Army  Medical  Service,  has 
itten  a  preface  to  it  stamps  it  as,  at  any  rate, 
semi-official."  It  has,  therefore,  an  interest  apart 
-m  its  strictly  surgical  aspect,  and  although,  as 
ir  Alfred  Keogh  remarks,  "the  views  expressed 
therein  may  not  command  assent  in  every  quar- 
they  demand  careful  and   sympathetic  con- 
ration. 
1  he  author  has  enlisted  the  service  of  several 
:•:  his  colleagues  who  have  had  special  experience 
ertain   types   of  cases   and   have   written   the 
^^-.ions  of  the  book  corresponding  to  their  own 
particular    speciality :   Lieut. -Col.     Harrison    dis- 
cusses  the  bacteriology   of  wounds  in  war;   Dr. 
Creenfield,  the  general  condition  of  the  wounded 
— ■  wounds  of  the  abdomen,  and  he  is  also  respon- 
for  the  illustrations;  Lieut.  Tanner,  the  treat- 
ent  of  wounds  by  saline  solution  ;  Capt.  Snowden, 
juries  to  peripheral  nerves ;  and  Lieut.  Edwards 
responsible  for  the  radiographic  section  of  the 
k. 
The  treatment  of  a  wounded  man  can  be  con- 
red   in   three  stages.     The  first  is  to  combat 
k  and  arrest  haemorrhage ;  the  second  is  the 
'reat  fight  against  infection ;  while  the  third  is  the 
effort  to  restore  the  damaged  part  to  its  normal 
function  and  the  injured  man  to  his  normal  health. 
For  the  first  of  these  stages  the  author  strongly 
advocates  the  free  use  of  morphia  given  in  full 
doses — that   is  to  say,    until   the   patient   is   well 
onder  its  influence  and  his  pain  has  been  materially 
subdued.      This   treatment   will   meet   with   fairly 
general  approval.     It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
flie  Service  affection  for  initial-letter  abbreviations 
Ids  reached  even  to  the  morphia  bottle  :  the  dose 
lecommended  is   I.M.H.   gr.   \. 

The  author  is  not  in  favour  of  stimulants,  and 
it  is  possible  that  in  this  he  is  regarding  shock 
from  an  ultra-academic  point  of  view.  It  is  hard 
to  define  exactly  what  is  meant  by  shock,  and  it  is 
<juite  possible  that  a  treatment  which  is  not  suit- 
able for  "shock  "  as  defined,  for  example,  by  Crile 
may  be  quite  a  good  one  for  a  wounded  man.  It 
may  be  easy  to  draw  laboratory  distinctions  be- 
tween shock  and  collapse,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  say 
where  one  begins  and  the  other  ends  when  con- 
fronted with  what  one  of  our  statesmen  so  aptly 
calls  a  "heap  of  bloody  rags." 
i  Injection  of  saline  solution  is  not  recommended 
"unless  thefe  has  been  haemorrhage,"  as  its  effects 
are  transitory.  This  remedy  is  oif  course  often 
■  disappointing  in  its  results,  but  it  would  be  a  great 
pity  if  so  simple  a  method  of  treatment  were 
discredited.     It  is  not  easy  to  say  how  much  blood 


a  man  has  lost,  and  unless  the  saline  injection  be 
excessive  in  amount,  it  is  hard  to  see  what  harm 
is  done,  especially  if  the  other  methods  of  relieving 
shock  be  adopted  as  well. 

The  warning  on  p.  30  against  keeping  a 
patient  too  long  on  a  restricted  diet  is  very  much 
to  the  point :  this  error  is  probably  a  survival  of 
the  ancient  doctrine  of  "starving  a  fever."  A 
patient,  however,  who,  in  addition  to  prolonged 
physical  fatigue  and  mental  strain,  has  to  combat 
a  severe  suppuration  lasting  often  for  weeks  or 
even  months  requires  as  generous  a  diet  as  he 
can  digest  and  assimilate. 

The  second  phase  of  the  surgeon's  work  is  the 
struggle  against  infection,  and  in  this  connection 
the^author  is  a  strong  supporter  of  the  "strong 
salt  "  or  "  salt-bag  "  treatment,  and  equally  op- 
jX)sed  to  the  use  of  chemical  antiseptics.  To  quote 
from  p.  66  :  "I  have  found  the  results  of  treatment 
by  hypertonic  solution  superior  to  any  antiseptic 
treatment.  .  .  .  The  ordinary  antiseptics,  iodine, 
boric  fomentations,  peroxide  of  hydrc^en,  and 
alcohol  dressing,  have  appeared  to  me  decidedly 
inferior  to  the  saline  treatment.  The  strong  anti- 
septics— for  example,  pure  carbolic — have  not  been 
used  in  my  wards." 

This  quotation  is  an  ample  explanation  of  the 
author's  distaste  for  antiseptics.  Iodine  is  so 
readily  rendered  inert  by  albuminous  material  as 
to  be  practically  useless  for  a  discharging  wound ; 
boric  acid  is  a  feeble  germicide,  and  its  main  value 
is  the  prevention  of  secondary  infection ;  while  per- 
oxide of  hydrogen  and  alcohol  must,  from  then- 
physical  properties,  exert  a  very  transient  in- 
fluence. 

In  an  earlier  section  the  author  quotes  the 
results  of  treating  wounds  with  strong  antiseptics 
early  in  their  course,  and  sums  up  strongly  against 
them.  The  evidence  w-hich  he  quotes  of  twenty- 
seven  cases  treated  with  pure  carbolic  acid — be 
does  not  say  exactly  how — is  not  ver}-  satisfying. 

The  whole  subject  of  the  disinfection  of  wounds 
by  chemical  antiseptics  has  been  argued  with  an 
enthusiasm  which  has  at  times  almost  carried  with 
it  a  sort  of  "odium  theologicum."  This  is,  bow- 
ever,  merely  an  indication  of  the  sincerity  of  the 
protagonists.  There  are  undoubtedly  many 
wounds  which  it  is  impossible  to  disinfect,  if  for 
no  other  reason  than  that  the  patient  is  unable  to 
bear  the  severe  operation  whicA  would  be  neces- 
sary, in  order  to  open  up  the  remote  recesses  of 
the  wound  and  apply  the  antiseptic,  until  the  infec- 
tive process  has  gained  too  firm  a  hold  for  it  to  be 
stamped  out.  There  are  times,  too,  when  the 
necessary  personnel  and  equipment  for  such  treat- 
ment are  not  available,  and  this  must  be  so ;  but 
there  are  wounds  w:hich  can  be  cleaned  surgically, 
and  there  are  occasions  when  opportunities  for 
carrying  this  out  are  present,  even  if  on  rare 
occasions. 

There  is  a  solution  commonly  called  "Lister's 
strong  lotion,"  which  consists  of  5  per  cent,  car- 
bolic acid  containing  i  /500th  part  of  perchloride 
of  mercury.  This  can  be  applied  freely  and  thor- 
oughly to  wounds,  and  in  some  cases  is  successful 
in  disinfecting  them,   even  when  bone  has  been 


538 


NATURE 


[August  31,  1916 


involved.  But  it  must  be  allowed  some  time  to 
act,  and  must  be  applied  thoroughly  to  every  part 
of  the  wound,  not  neglecting  to  remove  foreign 
bodies  and  provide  for  the  due  drainage  of  the 
wounds.  Further,  it  and  all  other  antiseptics 
must  be  applied  early,  since  when  the  wound  is 
actually  suppurating  they  are  of  little  value,  and 
in  such  cases  the  patient's  own  resisting  power, 
aided  by  drainage,  irrigation,  artificially  induced 
lymph  discharge,  or  other  methods  of  removing 
the  bacterial  toxins,  is  the  main  factor  ensuring 
his  recovery. 

The  author  is  almost  as  much  opposed  to  the 
use  of  hypochlorous  acid  and  its  salts.  He  only 
makes  mention  of  "  Eusol,"  which  has  not  the  valu- 
able property  of  hypochlorite  of  soda — namely, 
of  dissolving  sloughs,  which  of  itself  aids  materi- 
ally in  facilitating  drainage.  Those  who  have 
seen  stinking  wounds  become  sweet  very  rapidly 
under  the  application  of  this  group  of  disinfectants, 
or  have  seen  wounds  of  the  mouth  treated  with 
Chloramine  T,  will  feel  that  these  substances 
deserve  stronger  commendation. 

In  the  sections  of  this  book  devoted  to  the  third 
phase  of  the  surgeon's  work  there  is  less  disput- 
able matter.  In  operations  the  use  of  local  anaes- 
thesia, supplemented  if  necessary  by  a  general 
anaesthetic,  is  advocated,  and  for  the  treatment  of 
the  various  groups  of  injuries  excellent  and  defi- 
nite rules  are  laid  down,  one  of  the  best  sections 
being  that  on  injuries  of  the  peripheral  nerves. 

The  book  is  illustrated  with  a  number  of  simple 
drawings  of  splints  and  apparatus,  which  might 
perhaps  be  amplified  in  a  succeeding  edition,  show- 
ing more  exactly  the  details  of  their  use.  The 
mass  of  compound  fractures  which  has  come  for 
treatment  has  resulted  in  the  invention  of  numer- 
ous, ingenious,  practical  devices  for  their  fixation, 
and  for  a  surgeon  to  avail  himself  of  these,  it  is 
necessary  that  he  should  have  exact  working 
details— for  example,  how  to  take  the  appropriate 
measurements,  and  also,  in  the  case  of  more  elabo- 
rate apparatus,  where  to  procure  the  same. 
There  is  also  an  interesting  series  of  skiagrams 
taken  by  Lieut.  Edwards,  the  majority  of  which 
show  bullets  in  various  situations  in  the  body. 
Might  It  be  suggested  that  some  of  these  plates, 
which  for  the  most  part  give  no  guide  to  the  prac- 
tical surgeon,  could  be  replaced  with  advantage 
by  photographs  of  the  various  splints  as  fixed  to 
actual  patients? 

THE    WORTH   OF    CHEMISTRY. 

Chemistry  in  the  Service  of  Man.  By  Prof. 
Alexander  Findlay.  Pp.  xiii  +  255.  (London: 
Longmans,  Green  and  Co.,  1916.)  Price  55. 
net. 

THIS  book  is  based  upon  a  course  of  lectures 
delivered  in  191 5  by  the  author  to  the  United 
Free  Church  College  at  Aberdeen.  As  a  teacher 
of  chemistry  Prof.  Findlay  rightly  considered 
he  could  do  no  more  useful  ser\'ice  than  to  give 
his  hearers,  who  would  otherwise  have  little 
opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted  with  such 
matters,  some  information  concerning  what  the 
NO.    2Ad.A.    VOL.    Q7l 


science  of  chemistry  has  been  able  to  accomplis] 
in  the  "  uplifting  "  of  mankind  and  in  promoting 
its  material  well-being. 

Although  originally  addressed  to  a  Scottisl 
audience,  the  author,  in  the  selection  and  arrange 
ment  of  his  subject-matter,  has  been  guided  b; 
other  considerations  than  the  purely  utilitarian 
His  hearers,  as  a  body,  were  presumably  suffi 
ciently  enlightened  to  appreciate  the  philosophic 
vein  which  runs  through  the  method  of  its  pre 
sentation,  and  were  able  to  set  a  proper  value  01 
his  attempts  to  elucidate  the  abstract  principle 
he  sought  to  inculcate.  His  purpose  was  t( 
recount  not  merely  "the  manifold  ways  in  whicl 
chemistry  has  revolutionised  life  and  has  contri 
buted,  on  the  material  side,  to  a  civilised  exist 
ence,"  but  also  to  indicate  "some  of  the  principle 
which  underlie  chemical  change  and  some  part  0 
the  contribution  which  chemistry  has  made  to  ou 
knowledge  of  the  constitution  of  matter."  In  thi 
happy  blending  of  the  philosophic  and  purel 
scientific  with  the  utilitarian  and  material  the  booi 
may  be  said  to  fulfil  the  ideal  of  what  such  ; 
work  should  be.  The  author  treats  his  theme 
with  the  dignity  and  reverence  which,  as  a  teache 
imbued  with  the  true  spirit  of  science,  he  feel 
instinctively  they  merit.  The  doctrine  is  soun 
and  accurate,  and  is  set  forth  in  sufficient  fullnes 
for  the  immediate  purpose  of  exposition.  At  th 
same  time  the  lay  reader,  for  whom  of  course  th 
book  is  mainly  intended,  will  not  be  wearied  0 
his  interest  weakened  by  technicalities  or  discus 
sions  of  purely  abstract  principles.  The  tactfi 
manner  in  which  Prof.  Findlay  has  managed  t 
steer  a  middle  course  in  this  respect  is  a-charac 
teristic  feature  of  his  work.  Moreover,  he  ha 
not  been  unmindful  of  the  signs  and  portents  c 
the  times.  They  have  afforded  him  ampl 
material  for  a  lay-sermon,  which  he  has  not  faile 
to  drive  home.  The  appearance  of  such  a  book  i 
the  present  juncture  is  therefore  most  opportun* 

The  work  opens  with  an  exordium  in  which  tf 
province  and  scope  of  chemistry,  both  as  a  sciencj 
and  an  art,  are  clearly  and  succinctly  defined.      | 
presents,  as  might  be  anticipated,  no  special  fe;| 
tures  of  novelty  to  the  trained  chemist,  but  it 
well  written,   and  is  a  good  illustration  of  Pro 
Findlay 's   power  of    lucid    exposition    and    cle 
thinking.      In  a  few  comprehensive  statements 
traces  in  broad  outline  the  developments  of  t! 
conception  of  the   atomic  constitution   of  matte 
the  gradual  recognition  of  its  various  element 
forms,    and   of   the   distinction   between   elemec 
and  compounds ;  the  perception  that  the  form 
energy    with    which    chemistry    is    specially    co 
cerned  acts  in  accordance  with  definite  laws,  sn 
that    it     is     a    science    of    quantitative     relatii 
capable  of  rigorous  mathematical  treatment.    I 
the  basis  of  this  preparatory  ground-work  he 
ceeds  to  illustrate  and  explain,   in  about  a  do? 
chapters,    some   of   the   most   important   achies 
ments  of  the  science,  each  chapter  dealing  witiS 
specific   subject  or  group   of  correlated   subjeb 
such  as  Combustion  and  the  Production  of  Fr 
the  Chemistry  of   Illuminants ;    Energy,   Fuel  rJ 
Explosives ;     Cellulose    and    Cellulose    Produc  '• 


August  31,  19 16] 


NATURE 


539 


Velocity  of  Reactions  and  Catalysis;  Fixation  of 
Atmospheric  Nitrogen;  Glass,  Soda,  Soap;  Elec- 
tricity and  Chemistry ;  the  Colloidal  State ;  Mole- 
cular Structure ;  and  Synthetic  Chemistry. 

The  mere  enumeration  of  the  titles  of  the 
several  chapters  will  serve  to  show  the  range  and 
method  of  treatment  of  the  subject-matter  of  the 
book.  Prof.  Findlay,  it  will  be  observed,  carried 
his  hearers,  and  will  carry  his  readers,  far  beyond 
the  stock  subjects  of  ordinary  lecturers  on  the 
utility  of  chemistry.  He  has  not  hesitated,  in 
fact,  to  deal  with  some  of  the  most  recondite 
problems  of  modern  science,  and  has  given 
amongst  his  illustrations  many  of  the  most  strik- 
ing and  characteristic  achievements  of  the  present 
time.  In  so  doing  he  has  acted  wisely.  He  has 
not  only  added  thereby  to  the  interest  and  merit 
of  his  book,  but  he  has  conferred  upon  it  a 
measure  of  permanency  which  it  might  other\vise 
not  possess. 

The  work  is  a  distinct  and  valuable  addition  to 
the  popular  literature  of  science,  and  it  is  well 
vorthy  of  a  place  in  the  library  of  every  secondary 
school.  No  more  appropriate  gift-book  to  the 
youthful  tyro  could  be  given,  for  it  is  admirably 
calculated  to  awaken  the  aspiration  and  quicken 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  boy  or  girl  who  has  any 
latent  faculty  for  science.  Even  if  it  does  not 
impel  them  towards  a  scientific  calling,  it  will  at 
least  furnish  them  with  a  stock  of  facts  and  ideas 
which  cannot  but  tend  to  widen  their  intellectual 
horizon  and  enlarge  their  mental  outlook.  If 
books  of  this  kind  were  more  generally  read  and 
digested  we  should  have  less  cause  to  complain 
of  that  apathy  which  has  hitherto  characterised 
€ven  the  cultured  classes  in  this  country  in  regard 
to  the  claim  of  physical  science  to  be  an  essential 
part  in  the  scheme  of  our  national  education. 

T.  E.  Thorpe, 


ECONOMIC     GEOGRAPHY. 

Commerce  and  Industry.  By  Prof.  J.  R.  Smith. 
Pp.  viii  +  596.  (New  York:  H.  Holt  and  Co., 
1916.)     Price  1.40  dollars. 

'X'HIS  book  is  for  the  most  part  an  abridgment 
-*-      and  rearrangement  of  the  matter  composing 
same   author's    "Industrial    and    Commercial 
graphy,"  reviewed  in  Nature  of  February  26, 
.1914  (vol.   xcii.,  p.   707),  though  this  fact  is  dis- 
Iguised,  to  some  extent,  by  the  titles  given  to  the 
;i sections   and  chapters.     Part   i.    is  entitled   "The 
United  States,"  but  the  chapters  are,  for  the  most 
part,  the  same,  even  in  title,  as  those  which  come 
under    the    general    heading,     "  Industrial     Geo- 
graphy," in  the  earlier  and  larger  work,  but  with 
the  omission  or  transference  to  another  part  of  the 
ibook  of  paragraphs  which  do  not  properly  come 
I  under   the   head    of    "The    United    States."     The 
jsecond  part  is  entitled  "Foreign  Countries,"  and 
jhere  comes  in  most  of  the  new  matter;  but  even 
here  so  much  is  made  up  of  paragraphs  derived 
from  the  source  just  indicated  that  it  requires  a 
ver}'    close    comparison    of    the   two    volumes    to 
ascertain  how  much  altogether  is  new.     A  third 
vn     '>  A  A  A     \rm      n*;"! 


part  is  entitled  "World  Commerce,"  and  this  is 
entirely  composed  of  chapters  abridged  from  the 
corresponding  chapters  of  either  part  i.  or  part  ii. 
of  the  "Industrial  and  Commercial  Geography." 
A  statistical  appendix  is  added,  containing  tables 
transferred  from  the  body  of  the  earlier  work, 
brought  up  to  date  where  necessary,  in  addition 
to  a  few  others,  these  latter  including  elaborate 
and  useful  international  comparisons. 

From  the  account  just  given  it  will  be  under- 
stood that  though  the  title  of  the  present  volume 
does  not  profess  to  offer  us  a  geographical  text- 
book, the  contents  are  even  more  geographical  in 
form  than  those  of  its  predecessor.  Different 
countries,  or  sometimes  regions,  are  the  subjects  of 
the  chapters  in  the  part,  comprising  just  200 
pages,  bearing  the  general  heading  "  Foreign 
Countries."  In  the  arrangement  of  these  chapters, 
as  well  as  in  the  allotment  of  space  to  the  different 
countries,  the  American  point  of  view  is  naturally 
dominant.  The  first  six  chapters  are  devoted  to 
American  countries  outside  the  United  States, 
and  take  up  one-fourth  of  the  space  given  to  the 
whole  of  this  part.  The  descriptions  of  countries 
are  necessarily  brief.  They  do  not  go  into  details 
of  regional  geography,  but  everywhere  they  show 
the  author's  well-known  penetrating  intelligence. 
They  are  admirable  summaries  from  the  view- 
point indicated  in  the  title  of  the  book.  They 
provide  teachers  with  much  food  for  thought  as 
to  the  geographical  causes  explaining  or  con- 
tributing to  explain  the  actual  state  of  industrial 
and  commercial  development  and  course  of  trade, 
as  well  as  those  which  afford  grounds  on  which 
to  base  reasonable  estimates  for  the  future.  .And 
in  this  respect  the  text  is  well  supplemented  by 
illustrations  (many  new  to  this  work)  of  striking 
significance. 

One  defect  of  the  larger  work  is  illustrated  in 
this  book  also.  The  author  does  not  seem  to  be 
a  very  good  proof-reader.  On  p.  132,  title  of 
illustration,  we  have  "countries  "  for  "counties  "; 
p.  476,  "Cerea"  for  "Ceara";  p.  480,  "Mas- 
samedes  "  for  "  Mossamedes  " ;  p.  482,  "Beiro" 
for  "Beira."  In  the  last  table  of  the  book,  a 
reproduction  of  that  given  on  p.  100  of  the  earlier 
work,  the  obvious  mistake  of  "1*65"  for  "i6"5" 
as  the  percentage  of  protein  in  sirloin  steak  is 
repeated.  In  the  legend  to  the  wheat  map  of 
Russia  on  p.  400  one  is  obliged  to  ask,  i  per  cent, 
of  what?  G.  G.  C. 

OUR    BOOKSHELF. 

Geodetic  Surveying.     By  Prof.   Edward  R.  Cary. 
Pp.    ix  +  279.        (New   York  :    John   Wiley   and 
Sons,  Inc.  ;  London  :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd., 
1916.)     Price  105.  6d.  net. 
Under    the    title    of  " Geodetic    Surveying "  this 
book  deals  with  the  determination  of  positions  of 
points  with  the  aid  of  which  topographical  surveys 
can  be  controlled   and  combined  to  form  a  con- 
sistent whole.     The  methods  described  are  those 
which  have  been  developed  by  the  Coast  and  Geo- 
detic Survey  of  the  United  States,  and  their  pub- 
lication in  the  present  work  provides  a  convenient 


540 


NATURE 


[August  31,  19 16 


summary  of  much  that  has  been  published  in  the 
reports. of  the  survey. 

Primary,  secondary,  and  tertiary  triangulations 
are  included,  the  permissible  triangular  error  in 
the  first  of  these  being  put  at  3"  and  that  of 
tertiary  triangulations  at  15".  The  measure- 
ment of  base  lines  is  fully  described,  and  examples 
are  given  to  show  how  various  sources  of  error 
are  eliminated.  Invar  tapes  of  50-metres  length 
are  used  exclusively  for  base  measurement  in  all 
grades  of  work,  and  a  precision  of  i  in  2  million 
is  found  to  be  attainable.  The  cost  of  such 
measurements  is  given  as  2oi.  per  kilometre  on 
the  average,  rising  to  30L  in  some  cases.  The 
tape  is  usually  supported  in  the  centre  and  at  each 
end,  but  in  windy  weather  two  additional  inter- 
mediate supports  are  advantageously  employed. 
The  observation  of  horizontal  angles  is  fully 
dealt  with,  and  the  reduction  of  the  results  is 
explained  and  illustrated  by  well-selected  examples. 
A  short  chapter  deals  with  the  subject  of  map  pro- 
jections, and  as  this  branch  of  the  subject  had  to 
be  so  superficially  dealt  with,  references  to  works 
which  treat  of  it  more  completely  might  with 
advantage  have  been  added. 

Two  appendices  are  devoted  to  the  determina- 
tion of  time,  longitude,  latitude,  and  azimuth,  and 
to  the  method  of  least  squares  as  required  by  the 
surveyor.  The  whole  forms  a  very  useful  and 
convenient  manual  of  advanced  surveying  based 
on  American  requirements,  but  it  will  be  welcomed 
also  by  surveyors  in  British  colonies,  where  much 
work  of  this  character  has  still  to  be  done,  as  it 
will  suggest  methods  which  may  suit  the  cases 
there  occurring.  H.   G.   L. 

The    Birds    of    Britain:    Their    Distribution    and 

Habits.       By    A.     H.     Evans       Pp.    xii  +  275. 

(Cambridge :    At   the    University   Press,    1916.) 

Price  45.  net. 
Mr.  Evans's  name  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  accu- 
racy, and  this  little  volume,  intended  primarily  for 
schools,  calls  for  no  adverse  criticism.  The  con- 
siderable advances  in  our  knowledge  of  British 
birds  which  have  been  won  and  "consolidated" 
during  the  last  twenty  years  or  so  have  all  been 
taken  account  of,  with  due  caution  as  to  the  present 
tendency  to  discover  innumerable  local  forms  and 
to  recognise  plenty  of  sub-species.  In  point  of 
method  Mr.  Evans  adopts  a  new  plan ;  he  deals 
with  the  birds  according  to  their  families,  giving 
a  separate  section  to  each  family,  but  not  to  each 
species.  In  this  way  the  learner  gets  a  better  idea 
of  the  British  bird-world  as  a  whole,  and  of  the 
several  departments  of  it,  than  he  could  have  done 
from  the  older  books,  where  the  interest  was  con- 
centrated on  the  individual  species.  No  doubt 
those  older  books,  with  their  pleasant  talks  about 
the  ways  of  a  species,  will  always  be  both  welcome 
and  necessary ;  but  this  one  has  a  value  of  its 
own,  and  is  at  the  present  moment  the  only  cheap 
handbook  which  is  fully  up  to  date.  The  illus- 
trations are  the  least  attractive  part  of  it,  and 
much  space  might  have  been  saved  for  the  letter- 
press by  the  omission  of  some  photographs  by 
which  nothing  seems  to  be  gained. 
NO.    2444,   VOL.    97] 


LETTERS    TO    THE   EDITOR. 

[Tite  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for 
i> pinions  expressed  by  his  correspundenls.  Neither 
can  he  undertake  to  return,  ur  to  correspond  with 
the  writers  of,  rejected  manuscripts  intended  for 
this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.  No  notice  is 
taken  of  anonymous  communications.] 

On  Fizeau's  Experiment. 

In  two  papers  published  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Amsterdam  Academy  (vol.  xvii.,  445,  1914;  vol.  xviii., 
398,  1915)  an  experimental  investigation  concerning 
Fresnel's  convection-coefficient  for  light  of  various 
colours  was  described.  The  main  object  of  my  repeti- 
tion  of  Fizeau's  experiment,  in  the  improved  form 
introduced  by  Michelson,  was  to  decide  between  the 
expressions  for  the  convection-coefficient  given  by 
P'resnel  and  by  Lorentz.  As  a  review  of  the  papers 
mentioned  has  appeared  in  Nature  (vol.  xcvi.,  430, 
1915),- 1  may  be  permitted  to  give  here  a  short  account 
of  further  progress.  It  may  suffice  to  recall  that  my 
results  were  largely  in  favour  of  the  Lorentz  ex- 
pression with  the  dispersion  term.  For  the  wave- 
length 4500  A.U.  the  difference  between  the  two  ex- 
pressions under  consideration  amounted  for  water  to 
quite  5  per  cent.  The  probable  error  of  the  experi- 
mental result  was  estimated  at  somewhat  less  than 
I  per  cent. 

The  weak  point  of  my  investigation  is  the  deter- 
mination of  the  velocity  of  the  running  water  at  the 
axis  of  the  tubes.  This  velocity  was  deduced  from 
the  mean  velocity  combined  with  the  ratio  of  the  mean 
velocity  to  the  velocity  at  the  axis.  The  most  trust- 
worthy measurements  available  at  the  time  gave  for 
this  ratio  084,  and  this  number  was  adopted.  A  direct 
measurement  of  the  velocity  at  the  axis  would  have 
been  preferable,  but  only  lately  have  I  succeeded  in  de- 
vising an  (optical)  method  for  this  purpose.  Small  gas 
bubbles  introduced  into  the  running  water  are  illu- 
minated by  a  very  intense,  narrow  beam  along  the 
axis  of  the  tube.  A  small  window  in  the  wall  of  the 
tube  permits  the  inspection  of  the  brilliant  bubbles  in 
a  rotating  mirror.  From  the  inclination  of  the  paths 
of  the  bubbles,  as  seen  in  the  mirror,  and  the  constants 
of  the  apparatus,  the  velocity  is  deduced  at  once. 
Direct  tests  proved  the  trustworthiness  of  the  optical 
method. 

Applying     this     method     (Amsterdam     Proc,     vol.; 
xviii.,     1240,     1916)    to    my    original    apparatus,     the| 
window  being  at  the  prism  end  of  the  arrangement, 
unexpected     results     were     obtained.       The     velocil^' 
actually    observed    by    the    optical    method    not    on% 
diflFered    from    the    formerly    accepted    value    of    tlR 
velocity  at  the   axis   by  several   per  cent.,   but  by  ne- 
versing    the    flow    of    water    its    value    (at    the    sani* 
window)   appeared   to   change   by    quite    10  per   cent 
Nothing  short  of  a  measurement  of  the  velocity  at 
number  of  points  of  the  tubes  and  for  both  directions 
of  the  water  current  became  necessary.     For  this  pur 
pose  a  Pitot  tube,  verified  by  the  optical  method,  wa.' 
made  use  of.     The  results  were  further  confirmed  t? 
the  determination  of  the  velocity  distribution  over  di 
cross-section  of  the  tubes  at  a  few  places.     Evidend; 
one   cannot  speak   of  the  velocity  at  the  axis,  as  k 
value  changes  in  a  rather  complicated  manner  alonj 
the    tube.     A    detailed    description    will    be   publish© 
shortly  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Amsterdam  AcadenM 
The  average  mean   value  of  the  velocity  at  the  aJB 
comes   out   5508   cm. /sec.     This    is   only   5   per   ceilf 
smaller  than  the  value  accepted  in  my  principal  paptt 
The   conclusions   there   given    remain   unchanged,   tM 
thev  are  now  arrived  at  very  directly,  all  verification 
of    water-meters    and  the    determination    of    the    ra 


August  31,  19 16] 


NATURE 


541 


of  mean  velocity  to  velocity  at  the  axis  being  avoided. 
The  formula  for  the  displacement  of  the  interference 
fringes    must    henceforth   be    written    with    a    factor 

<//,     instead     of    the     simple     product    "v^^.l. 


/  0 


Final!}',  the  value  of  the  ratio  of  the  mean  velocity  to 
the  velocity  at  the  axis  may  now  be  calculated.  We 
obtain  0-844.  This  number  is  not,  however,  a 
physical  constant,  but  a  constant  of  my  apparatus. 

Only  quite  recently  have  I  become  acquainted  with 
the  extremely  important  and  exhaustive  work  done  at 
the  National  Physical  Laboratory,  published  by  Drs. 
Stanton  and  Pannell  in  their  memoir  on  similarity 
of  motion  in  relation  to  the  surface  friction  of  fluids. 
From  their  data  I  find  for  the  often  mentioned  ratio 
082,  when  the  values  of  maximum  velocity  and 
diameter  of  the  tubes  in  my  case  are  substituted. 
Their  observations  were  made,  however,  after  the 
passage  of  a  length  of  pipe  varying  from  90  to  140 
diameters,  sufficient  to  enable  any  irregularities  in 
the  distribution  of  the  velocities  to  die  away.  In 
my  repetition  of  Fizeau's  experiment  this  condition 
was,  of  course,  largely  departed  from,  so  that  there 
is  no  conflict  between   the  results. 

Amsterdam,  August.  P.  Zeeman. 


THE  NEWCASTLE  MEETING  OF  THE 
BRITISH  ASSOCIATION. 

JUDGING  by  the  number  of  members  who  have 
already  intimated  their  intention  to  be  present 
at  the  meeting-  of  the  British  Association  in  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne, which,  as  previously  announced, 
will  open  on  Tuesday,  September  5,  and  close  on 
Saturday,  September  9,  and  taking  into  account 
the  numbers  who  have  enrolled  locally,  an  attend- 
ance of  about  1200  is  expected.  The  intention 
is  to  hold  a  purely  business  meeting — a  meeting 
in  keeping  with  Newcastle  in  particular  and  the 
world  in  general. 

The  general  title  of  the  President's  address, 
which  Sir  Arthur  Evans  will  deliver  in  the  Town 
Hall  on  the  Tuesday  evening,  is  "The  Cradle  of 
European  Civilisation." 

The  work  of  the  sections  will  commence  on  the 
Wednesday  morning-,  and  so  far  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained at  present  the  following  are  the  pro- 
grammes : — 

Section  .A  (Mathematics  and  Physical  Science). 
The  title  of  Prof.  Whitehead's  address  to  Sec- 
tion A  is  "The  Organisation  of  Thought."  The 
address  is  a  brief  examination  of  the  nature  of 
scientific  thought.  The  crude  immediate  experi- 
ence of  Nature  is  contrasted  with  the  refined  scien- 
tific conceptions  and  with  the  exact  deductions  of 
applied  mathematics.  The  problem  considered  is, 
"How  do  these  two  sides  of  scientific  knowledge 
fit  together?"  Two  discussions  have  been 
arranged,  one  on  gravitation,  to  be  opened  by 
Mr.  E.  Cunningham,  and  the  other  on  osmotic 
pressure,  to  be  opened  by  Prof.  A.  W.  Porter. 
Papers  to  be  read  are  :-^"  The  Partition  of 
Numbers,"  bv  Major  P.  A.  MacMahon;  "The 
Measurement 'of  Time,"  by  Prof.  H.  H.  Turner; 
"X-Ray  Spectra  of  the  Elements,"  by  Sir  E. 
Rutherford. 

On  the  Friday  of  the  meeting  the  section  will 
divide   into  departments   of   (a)   General   Physics, 

NO.    2444,    VOL.    97] 


(b)  Cosmical  Physics,  and  (c)  Mathematics.  In  (a) 
Prof.  VV^.  M.  Hicks  will  deal  with  "Can  the  Fre- 
quencies of  Spectral  Lines  be  represented  as  a 
Function  of  their  Order?  "  Dr.  R.  T.  Beatty  is  to 
read  a  paper  on  "  Measurement  of  the  Energy  in 
Spectral  Lines";  Prof.  J.  C.  McLennan  on  "  lon- 
isation  Potential " ;  and  Dr.  S.  Chapman  on  "  The 
Kinetic  Theory  of  Gases."  Communications  to 
Department  (6)  are  "  Efficiency  of  Sun-spots  in  rela- 
tion to  Terrestrial  Magnetic  Phenomena,"  by  the 
Rev.  A.  L.  Cortie ;  and  the  Report  of  the  Seismo- 
logy Committee.  Department  (c)  is  to  consider  : — 
"Oscillating  Asymptotic  Series,"  by  Prof.  G.  N. 
Watson ;  "  Suggestions  for  the  Practical  Treat- 
ment of  the  Standard  Cubic  Equation,"  by 
Prof.  R.  W.  Genese ;  and  "  On  a  New  Method  for 
the  Solution  of  Quartic  Equations,"  by  Mr.  P. 
Burton.  By  way  of  explanation  of  the  section 
devoting  its  main  attention  to  problems  which  may 
seem  remote  from  those  especially  in  the  nation's 
thoughts  at  the  present  time,  it  is  explained  that 
much  of  the  work  now  being  done  by  members  of 
the  section  is  of  a  confidential  nature,  and  that  it 
is  considered  undesirable  to  discuss  such  subjects 
as,  say,  aviation  or  optical  problems,  on  which  it 
would  be  impossible  to  speak  freely  without 
indiscretion. 

In  the  presidential  address  to  Section  B 
(Chemistry),  Prof.  G.  G.  Henderson  proposes  to 
give  a  short  account  of  the  chief  developments  in 
chemical  technology  during  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century,  and  then  to  deal  with  the  future  prospects 
of  the  chemical  industry  in  this  country.  The 
papers  to  be  read  before  Section  B  are: — "The 
Future  of  the  Organic  Chemical  Industry,"  by  Mr. 
F.  H.  Carr;  "The  Britisli  Coal-tar  Colour  Industry 
in  Peace  and  War,"  by  Mr.  C.  M.  Whittaker; 
"The  Preparation  of  Chemicals  for  Laboratory 
Use,"  by  Mr.  W.  Rintoul ;  several  short  papers  on 
iron  and  steel  problems  by  Dr.  J.  E.  Stead ;  and 
"On  the  Stepped  Ignition  of  Gases,"  by  Prof. 
W.  M.  Thornton.  There  will  be  joint  discussions 
with  Sections  A,  C,  and  G. 

In  Section  C  (Geology)  there  will  be  papers  read 
on  "Local  Geology,"  by  Prof.  G.  .A.  Lebour; 
"  The  Old  Red  Sandstone  Rocks  of  Kiltorcan,  Ire- 
land," by  Prof.  T.  Johnson;  "Description  of  a 
Plexc^raphic  Model  of  the  South  Staffordshire 
Thick  Coal,"  by  Mr.  W.  Wixham  King;  "The 
Acid  Rocks  of  Iceland,"  by  Mr.  Leonard  Hawkes; 
"The  Petrology  of  the  Arran  Pilchstones,"  by  Dr. 
Alexander  Scott;  "The  Carboniferous  Succession 
in  North  Cumberland,"  by  Prof.  E.  J.  Garwood ; 
"The  Permian  of  North  England,"  by  Dr.  D. 
Woolacott ;  "  Geological  Characters  of  Glass 
Sands,"  by  Dr.  P.  G.  H.  Boswell;  and  "Some 
Geological  Aspects  of  Moulding  Sands,"  by  Dr. 
Boswell.  There  is  to  be  a  joint  meeting  with 
Section  B  on  "Coal  and  Coal  Seams,  with  Special 
Reference  to  their  Economic  Uses."  The  section 
will  also  hold  joint  meetings  with  Section  E  and 
Section  K. 

Prof.  MacBride's  address  to  Section  D 
(Zoology)  will  take  the  form  of  a  review  of  our 
progress  during  the  last  twenty  years  in  elucidat- 


542 


NATURE 


[August  31,  19 16 


ing  the  laws  governing  the  development  of  the 
germ  into  the  adult  animal.  Some  of  the  lantern- 
slides  to  be  shown  will  illustrate  the  results 
already  obtained  by  Prof.  MacBride  in  the  salt- 
water tanks  in  the  Imperial  College  of  Science, 
where  for  some  years  he  has  been  perfecting  his 
arrangements  for  rearing  marine  animals.  The 
papers  to  be  read  before  the  section  are : — 
"Bitharzia,"  by  Dr.  R.  T.  Leiper ;"  Further 
Materials  for  a  Graphic  History  of  Comparative 
Anatomy,"  by  Prof.  F.  J.  Cole;  "Some  Points  of 
Bionomic  Interest  observed  during  the  Visit  of 
the  British  Association  to  Australia,"  by  Dr.  F.  A. 
Dixey;  "The  Exploitation  of  British  In-shore 
Fisheries,"  by  Prof.  W.  A.  Herdman;  "The 
Coastal  Fisheries  of  Northumberland,"  by  Prof. 
A.  Meek;  "The  Further  Development  of  Shell 
Fisheries,"  by  Dr.  James  Johnstone;  "The 
Scheme  of  Mussel  Purification  of  the  Conway 
Fishery,"  by  Dr.  A.  T.  Masterman;  "The  Scales 
of  Fishes  and  their  Value  as  an  Aid  to  Investiga- 
tion," by  Prof.  A.  Meek;  "Some  Notes  on  the 
Determination  of  the  Age  of  Fishes  by  their 
Scales,"  by  Dr.  A.  T.  Masterman;  "Review  of  the 
Fluctuations  of  the  Herring,  Mackerel,  and  Pil- 
chard Fisheries  off  the  South-west  Coasts  in  the 
Light  of  Seasonal  Variations  of  Hydrographical 
Factors,"  by  Dr.  E.  C.  Jee.  On  Friday  morning 
four  papers  are  to  be  dealt  with,  viz.  "Amcebse 
in  Relation  to  Disease,"  by  Dr.  Pixewell-Good- 
rich ;  "  Notes  on  the  Amoebae  from  the  Human 
Mouth,"  by  Dr.  T.  Goodey;  "The  Flagellate  Pro- 
tozoa associated  with  Diarrhoea  and  Dysentery," 
by  Dr.  Annie  Porter;  "War  and  Eugenics,"  by 
Mr.  Hugh  Richardson.  In  the  afternoon  of 
Friday  the  section  will  visit  the  Dove  Marine 
Laboratory  at  Cullercoats. 

In  Section  E  (Geography)  there  is  to  be  a  dis- 
cussion on  political  frontiers,  to  be  opened  by  Sir 
T.  H.  Holdich,  and  the  following  papers  are  to  be 
dealt  with  : — "  France — a  R.egional  Interpreta- 
tion," by  Mr.  H.  J.  Fleure ;  "Generalisations  in 
Human  Geographv,"  by  Mr.  G.  G.  Chisholm ; 
"The  Weddell  Sea,"  by  Dr.  W.  S.  Bruce;  "The 
Adriatic  Problem,"  by  Dr.  R.  W.  Seton-Watson ; 
"  Salonica  :  Its  Geographical  Relation  to  the 
Interior,"  by  Mr.  H.  C.  Woods;  "Recent  Explora- 
tion in  the  Japanese  Alps,"  by  the  Rev.  W'alter 
Weston;  "Nepal,  the  Home  of  the  Gurkha,"  by 
Mr.  A.  Trevor-Battye.  The  section  on  the  Friday 
will  hold  joint  meetings  with  Sections  C  and  E. 

The  general  title  of  Prof.  Kirkaldy's  address  to 
Section  F  (Economics  and  Statistics)  is  "Thoughts 
on  Reconstruction  after  the  War."  He  will  refer 
to  the  economic  condition  and  industrial  changes 
resulting  from  the  war,  and  then  attempt  a  fore- 
cast of  the  industrial  future  and  make  some 
suggestions  as  to  how  we  may  prepare  ourselves 
industrially  to  meet  the  changed  conditions  at 
home  and  abroad.  The  section  will  give  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  to  the  consideration  and 
discussion  of  the  reports  of  the  investigations 
which  have  been  going  forward  during  the  year. 
These  subjects  were  reported  upon  last  year  at 
Manchester,  and  were  felt  to  be  of  such  import- 

NO.    2444,   VOL.    97] 


ance  that  all  the  investigations  were  continued. 
The  first  three  reports,  "Industrial  Harmony," 
"Outlets  for  Labour,"  and  "The  Effect  of  the  War 
on  Credit,  Currency,  and  Finance,"  are  being  pub- 
lished in  one  volume,  and  will  be  a  continuation 
of  last  year's  volume  on  "Credit,  Industry,  and 
the  War."  The  papers  to  be  read  before  Sec- 
tion F  are: — "Land  Settlement,"  by  Mr.  Chris- 
topher Turner;  and  "The  English  Historical 
Method  in  Economics — Rent,"  by  Mr.  T.  B. 
Browning. 

It  is  understood  that  Mr  Gerald  Stoney,  in  his 
address  to  Section  G  (Engineering),  will  deal  with 
various  subjects  of  vital  importance  at  the  present 
moment.  The  section  will  hold  a  joint  meeting^ 
with  Section  B  (Chemistry)  and  consider  the  sub- 
ject of  "Fuel  Economy."  The  papers  to  be  read 
are  : — "  Standardisation  and  its  Influence  on  the 
Engineering  Industries  "  (with  a  foreword  by  Sir 
John  Wolfe  Barry),  by  Mr.  C.  le  Maistre;  "The 
Calculation  of  the  Capacity  of  Aerials,  including 
the  Effects  of  Masts  and  Buildings,"  by  Prof. 
G.  W.  O.  Howe;  "The  Influence  of  Pressure  on 
Ignition,"  by  Prof.  W.  M.  Thornton;  "Some 
Characteri^stic  Curves  for  a  Poulsen  Arc  Genera- 
tor," by  Mr.  N.  W.  McLachlan;  "Pressure  Oil 
Film  Lubrication,"  by  Mr.  H.  T.  Newbigin.  The 
section  will  also  receive  the  reports  of  the  com- 
mittees on  Complex  Stress  Distribution,  Engi- 
neering Problems  affecting  the  Future  Prosperity 
of  the  Country,  and  Gaseous  Explosions. 

In  Section  H  (Anthropology)  Dr.  R.  R.  Marett 
will  devote  his  presidential  address  to  the  subject 
of  "Anthropology  and  University  Education,"  in 
the  course  of  which  he  will  supplement  the  address 
delivered  to  the  section  in  191 3  by  Sir  Richard 
Temple  on  the  need,  from  an  imperial  point  of 
view,  of  an  applied  anthropology.  Dr.  F.  B. 
Jevohs  will  deal  with  the  disputed  question  of  the 
exact  boundary  in  primitive  culture  between  prac- 
tices regarded  as  religious  and  liturgical  and  those 
considered  to  belong  to  the  domain  of  magic  and" 
sorcery.  Prof.  Ridgeway  will  explain  the  origin 
of  the  actor,  with  probably  special  reference  to  pre- 
classical  times  in  Greece  and  the  neighbourhood. 
Prof.  Keith  will  discuss  the  question  of  whether 
the  British  facial  type  is  not  changing.  There  will 
be  a  description  given  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scoresby 
Routledge  of  the  expedition  to  Easter  Island  in 
the  Pacific,  with  the  latest  explanation  of  the- 
mysterious  stone  statues  on  that  island,  which  has 
been  inhabited  by  Polynesians,  who  elsewhere 
have  been  workers  and  carvers  in  wood  rather 
than  stone.  It  is  believed  that  this  expedition 
may  have  solved  the  mystery.  Papers  will  be 
read  on  the  Roman  wall  by  Prof.  Haverfield,  aad 
on  Early  Christian  monuments  in  Northumbria 
by  Mr.  Collingwood.  On  the  Friday  there  will 
be  a  discussion  on  the  cultures  of  New  Guinea 
and  the  New  Hebrides,  and  a  paper,  by  Prof. 
Sollas,  on  a  sub-crag  flint  implement.  Dr. 
Marett  will  narrate  the  story  of  recent  archaeo- 
logical discoveries  in  the  Channel  Islands.  Dr. 
Fraser  will  continue  the  account  of  the  excava- 
tions   in    artificial     islands     in     the     lochs    of    the 


August  31,  191 6] 


NATURE 


543 


Scottish  Highlands,  Miss  CzapUcka  will  relate 
.her  experiences  during  a  winter  and  a  summer 
spent  among  the  tribes  of  Arctic  Siberia,  a  paper 
which,  illustrated  by  a  unique  series  of  lantern 
slides,  will  throw  much  light  on  the  culture  and 
beliefs  of  the  Tungus  and  other  tribes,  and,  in  a 
second  communication,  will  deal  with  the  physical 
types  of  these  tribes.  Finally,  Miss  Freire- 
Marreco  will  deal  with  personal  experience  as  an 
•element  in  folk  tales. 

In  Section  I  (Physiology)  Prof.  A.  R.  Cushny 
will  deal  in  his  presidential  address  with  the  ana- 
lysis of  living  matter  through  its  reactions  to 
poisons.  He  proposes  to  discuss  how  far  the 
reaction  to  drugs  may  be  utilised  to  test  for  the 
.presence  of  different  kinds  of  living  matter.  The 
papers  to  be  considered  by  the  section  are  : — 
"Report  on  Chloroform  Apparatus,"  by  Prof. 
A.  D.  Waller;  "Effect  of  Pituitary  Extract  on  the 
Secretion  of  Cerebro-Spinal  Fluid,"  by  Prof. 
W.  D.  Halliburton ;  "  Arginine  and  Creatine 
Formation  (Further  Investigations),"  by  Prof. 
W.  H.  Thompson;  "The  Properties  required  in 
Solutions  for  Intravenous  Injection,"  by  Prof. 
W.  M.  Bayliss ;  "  The  Secretion  of  Urea  and 
Sugar  by  the  Kidney,"  by  Prof.  P.  T.  Herring; 
■"The  Effect  of  Thyroid-feeding  on  the  Pancreas," 
by  Dr.  Kojima.  There  will  also  be  a  discussion 
upon  the  action  of  poison  gases,  inaugurated  by 
Sir  Edward  Schafer. 

The  subject  of  Dr.  A.  B.  Rendle's  presidential 
address  to  Section  K  (Botany)  is  unusual  in  that 
it  will  deal  with  the  application  of  botanical  work 
ro  economic  uses.  It  is  believed  that  the  circum- 
stances, especially  the  conditions  which  will  obtain 
after  the  war,  call  for  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
botanist  to  meet  problems  which  will  then  be 
pressing.  The  papers  to  be  read  before  the  sec- 
tion include: — "Leaf  Architecture,"-  by  Prof. 
F.  O.  Bower;  "The  Botanical  Study  of  Coal,"  by 
X)r.  Marie  Stopes ;  "  On  Rhynia  gwynne- 
vaughanii,"  by  Dr.  R.  Kidston  and  Prof.  W.  H. 
Lang;  "Are  Endemics  the  Oldest  or  the  Youngest 
Species  in  a  Country?"  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Willis;  "Geo- 
graphical Distribution  of  the  Composite,"  by  Mr. 
J.  Small;  "Survey  Work  near  Bellingham,"  by 
Miss  Charlotte  Measham ;  "On  the  Distribution 
of  Starch  in  the  Branches  of  Trees  and  its  Bearing 
on  the  Statolith  Theory,"  by  Miss  T.  L.  Prankerd. 
In  addition  there  will  be  a  lecture  by  Sir  J.  Stirling 
Maxwell  on  "Afforestation,"  and  a  number  of 
reports  on  various  problems ;  there  will  also  be  a 
discussion  on  the  collection  and  cultivation  of  drug 
plants. 

In  Section  L  (Educational  Science)  the  pro- 
gramme will  be  devoted  to  three  main  topics  :  the 
position  of  science  in  secondary  and  higher 
education,  the  reform  of  the  primary  school,  and 
the  normal  performances  of  school  children. 
Papers  on  primary  school  reform  will  be  read 
by  Mr.  J.  G.  Legge,  Prof.  T.  P.  Nunn,  and  Prof. 
J.  A.  Green,  and  the  discussion  will  be  opened  by 
Mr.  Crook,  oresident  of  the  National  Union  of 
Teachers.  Next  day  Mr.  J.  Talbot  will  deal  with 
science  teaching  in  public  and  grammar  schools, 

NO.    2444,    VOL.    97"| 


and  will  be  followed  by  the  Rev.  H.  B.  Gray  on 
"  The  Relative  Value  of  Literary  and  Scientific  Sub- 
jects in  a  Course  of  General  Education  "  ;  Principal 
Hadow  on  "  Science  Teaching  in  the  Universities"  ; 
and  Dr.  E.  F.  Armstrong  on  "The  Value  of 
Science  in  Industrial  Works."  On  the  subject  of 
"The  Place  of  Science  in  the  Education  of  Girls  " 
Miss  M.  E.  Marsden  and  Dr.  Mary  H.  Williams 
will  read  papers.  At  the  meeting  on  the  Friday, 
held  jointly  with  the  Psychological  Sub-Section, 
Prof.  J.  A.  Green  and  Mr.  C.  L.  Burt  are  to  open 
a  discussion  on  "  Normal  Performances  of  School 
Children  at  Different  Ages." 

In  Section  M  (Agriculture)  the  presidential 
address  to  be  given  by  Dr.  E.  J.  Russell  will  be 
a  discussion  of  the  methods  by  which  crop  produc- 
tion can  be  increased.  The  following  papers  will 
be  read: — "British  Forestry,  Past  and  Future," 
by  Prof.  W.  Somerville;  "The  Utilisation  of 
Forest  Waste  by  Distillation,"  by  Mr.  S.  H. 
Collins;  "  Soil  Protozoa  and  Soil  Bacteria,"  by  Mr. 
T.  Goodey ;  "Climate  and  Tillage,"  by  Mr.  T. 
Wibberley ;  "Economy  in  Beef  Production,"  by 
Prof.  T.  B.  Wood  and  Mr.  K.  J.  J.  Mackenzie; 
"The  Relation  of  Manuring  and  Cropping  to 
Economy  in  Meat  Production,"  by  Prof.  D.  A.  Gil- 
christ;  "The  Composition  of  British  Straws,"  by 
Prof.  T.  B.  Wood;  "Losses  from  Manure  Heaps," 
by  Dr.  E.  J.  Russell  and  Mr.  E.  H.  Richards ; 
"The  Fixation  of  Nitrogen,"  by  Mr.  E.  H. 
Richards.  There  will  also  be  a  discussion  on 
motor  cultivation,   and  another  on  ensilage. 

As  already  announced,  several  sections  are 
arranging  excursions.  In  this  connection  it  may 
be  mentioned  that  Section  M  proposes  on  the  Tues- 
day to  visit  the  Northumberland  County  Council 
Farm  at  Cockle  Park ;  on  the  Wednesda}'^  Lord 
Allendale's  Farm  will  be  inspected;  on  the  Thurs- 
day the  woods  near  Lintz  Green  will  be  visited, 
where  H.M.  Woods  and  Forests  Department  has  a 
plant  in  operation  for  the  distillation  of  waste  wood  ; 
and  on  the  Friday  there  will  be  an  opportunity  to 
Insp>ect  general  types  of  local  farming  in  Durham. 

Section  H  also  Is  arranging  to  meet  the 
Cumberland  and  W^estmorland  Archaeological 
Society  on  the  Thursday  and  visit  the  Roman  wall. 
Papers  relevant  to  this  visit  are  to  be  read  by 
Prof.  Haverfield  and  Mr.  Collingwood  on  the 
evening  of  Wednesday,  September  6.  In  view  of 
the  local  interest  and  the  fact  that  leading  archae- 
ologists, including  the  President,  are  to  take  part, 
it  is  prop>osed  that  the  meeting  be  held  in  the 
Lecture  Theatre  of  the  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Society. 

Another  engagement  for  the  Wednesday  evening 
is  that  of  an  informal  reception  and  conversazione, 
which  will  be  held  in  the  Laing  Art  Gallery  and 
Museum.  The  Right  Hon,  the  Lord  Mayor  of 
Newcastle  has  very  kindly  consented  to  welcome 
the  guests.  Not  only  will  this  function  provide  a 
common  meeting-ground  for  the  members,  but  it 
will  also  give  them  an  opportunity  of  viewing  the 
special  loan  collections  which  have  been  formed 
by  the  Laing  Art  Gallery  Committee  in  connection 
with  the  Association's  visit. 


544 


NATURE 


[August  31,  1916 


SCHOLARSHIPS  AND   THEIR  RELATION 
TO  HIGHER  EDUCATION.^ 

THE  Board  of  Education  has  recently  issued  an 
interim  report  from  the  Consultative  Com- 
mittee on  the  reference  made  to  the  Committee 
early  in  191 3.  The  inquiry  was  interrupted  by  the 
war,  but  its  resumption  a  few  months  later  has 
furnished  material  for  the  present  document, 
which  contains  a  discussion  of  many  subjects 
deserving-  attention  by  men  of  affairs  no  less  than 
by  teachers  and  professional  educationists.  The 
original  reference  was  as  follows  : — 

To  consider  the  existing  provision  of  awards — 
whether  by  local  education  authorities,  by  the  govern- 
ing bodies  of  secondary  schools,  universities,  and  col- 
leges, by  the  trustees  of  endowments  or  otherwise — 
for  assisting  pupils  (other  than  those  who  have  de- 
clared their  intention  to  become  teachers  in  State- 
aided  schools)  to  proceed  from  secondary  schools  to 
universities  or  other  places  of  higher  education ;  and 
to  report  how  far  such  provision  is  adequate  in  char- 
acter, extent,  and  distribution,  and  effective  in  meet- 
ing educational  needs,  and  what  measures  are  neces- 
sary and  practicable  for  developing  a  system  of  such 
scholarships  and  exhibitions  in  organic  relation  to  a 
system  of  national  education. 

This  is  a  fairly  wide  reference,  and  since  it  is 
true,  as  observed  in  the  report,  that  "no  educa- 
tional problem  of  any  magnitude  can  be  isolated," 
it  seems  obvious  that  the  whole  ground  cannot  be 
covered  in  an  interim  report.  The  Committee, 
therefore,  has  confined  its  attention  to  the  needs 
of  industry  and  commerce  in  connection  with 
scholarships  to  be  held  at  universities  and  other 
places  of  higher  education.  The  sub-committee 
charg-ed  with  the  investig-ation  sat  on  fourteen 
days  and  examined  twenty -nine  witnesses. 

The  main  object  of  the  scholarship  system, 
which  is  almost  peculiar  to  this  country,  is  to 
assist  the  student  who  has  shown  promise  and  is 
at  the  same  time  in  need  of  pecuniary  help. 
Properly  administered,  it  may  be  expected  to 
afford  encouragement  to  learning  and  to  assist  in 
the  provision  of  useful  public  servants.  But,  how- 
ever obvious  it  may  be  to  the  majority  of  the 
public  that  such  a  system  is  desirable,  the  expen- 
diture of  larger  sums  of  money  on  its  further  ex- 
tension has  not  been  without  opponents.  The 
late  Sir  William  Ramsay,  for  example,  was  one 
of  those  who  thought  it  advisable  to  subsidise 
teachers  and  teaching  institutions  with  the  object 
of  increasing  efficiency  and  reducing  fees,  rather 
than  to  add  to  the  pecuniary  resources  of  the 
student.  This  was  probably  in  part  connected 
with  his  known  objection  to  examinations,  and 
recalls  to  mind  one  of  the  chief  difficulties  con- 
nected with  any  scholarship  scheme — namely,  the 
problem,  at  present  unsolved,  as  to  the  best  mode 
of  selection. 

This  question  naturally  receives  considerable 
attention  from  the  Committee,  and  alternative 
methods  of  award  are  discussed  in  connection  with 
scholarships  from  secondary  schools  to  universi- 

1  Interim  Report  of  the  Consultative  Committee  on  Scholarships  or 
Higher  Education.  [Cd.  8291.]  (London  :  Wyman  and  Sons  Ltd.  1916. 
Price  4W. 

NO.    2444,    VOL.    97] 


ties.  The  Committee  is  there  led  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  no  practicable  method  of  award  can  be 
suggested  which  does  not  mainly  depend  on  com- 
petitive examination.  But  in  the  succeeding  para- 
graphs it  proceeds  to  consider  the  importance  of 
the  adjuncts  to  examination  derived  from  the 
school  record  and  the  opinion  of  teachers,  the 
vivd-voce  examination  of  selected  candidates,  and 
in  the  case  of  science  candidates  the  attested  labo- 
ratory note-books,  since  laboratory  examinations 
admit  a  large  element  of  luck.  But  when  all  pre- 
cautions have  been  observed,  the  marks  gained  in 
an  examination  must  be  chiefly  given  for  know- 
ledge already  acquired,  and  most  examiners  of 
experience  would  admit  the  great  difficulty  of  esti- 
mating justly  the  capacity  of  candidates  to  deal 
with  unfamiliar  problems  and  the  probability  of 
their  success  in  research. 

In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  look  with  special 
attention,  not  only  at  the  best  candidates,  but  here 
and  there  at  some  of  the  worst.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  quote  here  the  famous  cases  of  men  who  have 
risen  to  eminence  after  an  unsatisfactory  career 
at  school.  The  boy  supposed  to  be  dull  is  some- 
times merely  not  interested  in  the  conventional 
school  subjects,  and  lives  in  a  world  of  his  own. 
There  are  probably  few  of  this,  kind  among  candi-' 
dates  for  scholarships,  but  there  should  be  a  con- 
stant look-out  for  them  on  the  part  of  the  school- 
master and  some  means  devised  for  giving  help 
and  encouragement  if  needed. 

The  report  before  us  raises  in  the  mind  of  the 
reader  a  great  many  questions  besides  those  con- 
nected with  the  cfeation,  award,  and  distribution 
of  scholarships.  It  leaves,  for  example,  the  old 
confusion  between  education  and  instruction 
uncorrected,  or  rather,  if  possible,  further  Ije- 
clouded.  It  discusses  briefly  but  suggestively  the 
demand  for  what  is  called  equal  opportunity.  It 
points  out  that  it  is  impossible,  and  undesirable 
to  attempt,  to  give  higher  education  to  all,  and 
it  justly  points  out  that 

the  public  interests  demand  that  none  shall  waste 
his  time  and  the  time  of  others  by  schooling  or  train- 
ing at  the  public  expense  unless  he  or  she  has  proved 
that  such  training  is  likely  to  be  advantageous.  .  .  . 
It  will  be  economical  to  give  more  training  to  the 
highest  talent  and  less  to  the  inferior  or  mediocre. 

Then,  again,  it  appears  that  there  are  persons 
among  the  witnesses  before  the  Committee  who 
are  prepared  to  find  in  the  "  public  schools  "  the 
great  impediment  to  educational  progress.  It  is 
therefore  well  that  the  Committee  should  remind 
such  persons,   in  the  words  of  the  report,  that 

the  public  schools  have  a  great  tradition ;  a  tradition 
of  character,  a  tradition  of  manners,  a  tradition  of 
physical  excellence,  a  tradition  of  self-government. 
They  do,  in  fact,  supply  the  boys  of  the  country  with: 
more  than  half  the  higher  secondary  education  that| 
they  receive.  It  would  be  wasteful  to  weaken  their] 
vigour  and  independence. 

The  Committee  itself  goes  so  far  as  to  express! 
the  opinion  that  "it  is  desirable  in  the  national 
interest  that  after  the  war  the  public  schools 
should  devote  more  energy  to  scientific  and  prac- 


August  31,  1916] 


NATURE 


545 


tical  training-."  This,  however,  must  not  be 
taken  to  mean  technical  instruction  in  applied 
science,  or  the  position  of  physical  and  natural 
science  as  an  integral  part  of  a  truly  liberal  edu- 
cation will  be  seriously  imjjerilled.  How  far  the 
old  universities  themselves  should  be  encouraged 
to  deal  with  the  technological  aspects  of  science 
is  an  open  question.  The  report  states  that  "  the 
subjects  for  which  either  Oxford  or  Cambridge, 
or  both,  may  be  regarded  as  offering  special 
advantages  are :  Classics,  history,  mathematics, 
pure  science.  The  modern  universities  should  be 
better,  as  a  rule,  for  students  desirous  to  pursue 
commerce,  applied  science,  technology."  All  this 
has  its  bearing  on  the  source,  the  p>ecuniary  value, 
and  the  tenure  of  scholarships  to  be  held  in  the 
universities. 

The  Government  has  already  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee of  the  Privy  Council  for  Scientific  and  In- 
dustrial Research  and  an  Advisory  Council  to  sur- 
vey the  field  and  propose  schemes  to  this  com- 
mittee. In  connection  with  research,  the  impor- 
tance of  continuing  scholarships  for  a  fourth  or 
fifth  year  is  indicated  in  the  report.  After  the 
rather  obvious  remark  that  "the  good  researcher 
is  rare,"  reference  is  made  to  the  qualifications  of 
women  in  this  direction.  "  One  of  our  witnesses," 
it  is  said,  "has  spoken  unfavourably  of  women 
as  researchers,  at  any  rate  in  chemistry;  but  in 
our  opinion  experience  does  not  point  to  any 
such  general  conclusion.  Judgment  should  come 
later,  after  a  full  trial  of  feminine  capacity  in  this 
direction."  With  this  sentiment  we  heartily 
agree,  notwithstanding  the  impression  that  the 
experience  of  teachers  of  chemistry  and  physics 
up  to  the  present  generally  supports  the  view  of 
the  witness  referred  to.  The  independent 
research  accomplished  by  women,  to  judge  by 
published  work,  has  been  chiefly  in  connection 
with  biological  subjects. 

The  Committee  has  drawn  up  a  series  of 
General  Conclusions,  followed  by  a  number  of 
definite  Recommendations.  Among  the  general 
conclusions  the  report  contains  the  following 
passages,  with  which  most  readers  will  agree  •. — 

The  system  of  scholarships  at  every  grade  of  educa- 
tion should  be  judged  from  the  point  of  view  of 
national  needs.  .  .  .  The  exceptional  needs  of  the 
nation  are  at  the  present  moment,  and  will  be  for 
some  time  to  come,  rather  on  the  scientific  and  tech- 
nological side  than  on  the  literary  side.  ... 

The  first  need  is  the  wider  recognition,  especially  by 
employers,  of  the  benefits  that  can  be  obtained  by  the 
employment  in  industry',  agriculture,  and  commerce 
of  men  trained  in  science — in  all  grades,  but  especially 
for  directive  and  advisory  posts. 

Secondly,  the  most  useful  thing  that  can  be  done 
without  any  great  increase  in  the  means  at  our  dis- 
posal is  to  encourage  research  in  existing  institutions 
after  graduation.  The  prolongation  of  scholarships 
in  suitable  cases  is  one  means  that  is  available ;  other 
means  fall  within  the  province  of  the  Committee  of 
the  Privy  Council. 

Improved  and  extended  .places  of  higher  tech- 
nical and  scientific  instruction  as  well  as  improved 
secondary  education  are  needed,  and  as  the  uni- 

NO.    2444,    VOL.    97] 


versities,  colleges,  and  schools  are  strengthened 
and  the  number  of  workers  increases,  so  an 
increase  in  the  supply  of  scholarships  will  become 
necessary.  It  appears  to  be  admitted  on  all  sides 
that  we  must  be  prepared  after  the  war  for  a 
great  increase  in  the  cost  of  education  in  all  de- 
partments. The  Committee  makes  an  estimate 
of  the  cost  of  the  additional  .scholarships  and 
other  forms  of  endowment  recommended  in  the 
report.  The  amount  of  their  estimate,  339,500^. 
a  year,  cannot  be  regarded  as  excessive,  but  it 
will  probably  be  prudent  to  begin  with  modera- 
tion and  to  be  satisfied  with  additional  endow- 
ments in  proportion  as  the  expense  seems  to  be 
justified  by  experience. 

The  recommendations  of  the  Committee  are  as 
foUov/s  : — 

We  recommend  for  the  consideration  of  the  Board 
of  Education,  and  of  those  local  education  authorities 
which  have  power  to  grant  scholarships  from 
secondary  schools  to  universities  and  other  places  of 
higher  education,  and  of  other  authorities  so  far  as 
they  may  be  concerned  :— 

General  Principles. 

(i)  That,  in  framing  schemes  for  scholarships,  the 
following  ends  be  kept  in  view  :  the  training  of  men 
and  women  according  to  their  capacity  that  they  may 
serve  the  needs  of  the  nation  in  the  manner  for  which 
they'  are  best  fitted ;  the  reward  of  merit  and  the 
encouragement  of  learning;  and  the  provision  of  equal 
educational  opportunity  :  the  furtherance  of  industry, 
agriculture,  and  commerce  being  regarded  as  a  prin- 
cipal need  of  the  nation,  and  higher  education  being 
regarded  as  a  means  to  this  end  among^  others. 

(2)  That,  for  the  furtherance  of  higher  scientific 
and  technological  education,  scholarships  from 
secondary  schools  to  universities  and  the  highest  scien- 
tific and  technical  colleges  be  still  accepted  as  the 
principal  means. 

(3)  Nevertheless  that,  as  supplementary  and  subsi- 
diary means  to  the  same  end.  scholarships  from 
secondary  schools  to  senior  technical  schools  and  tech- 
nical colleges,  from  senior  technical  schools  to  univ^- 
sities  and  other  places  of  higher  education,  from  even- 
ing classes  and  works-schools  to  technical  colleges  and 
universities,  be  also  granted  on  a  suitable  scale. 

(4)  That  a  certain  proportion  of  scholarships  to 
places  of  higher  education  should  be  granted  to  candi- 
dates who  show  merit  under  scientific  and  mathe- 
matical tests  alone,  without  any  test  of  general  educa- 
tion beyond  an  examination  in  the  English  language. 

(5)  That  the  matriculation  tests  at  the  universities 
be  modified  so  as  to  admit  to  full  university  privileges 
scholars  who,  having  obtained  their  training  by  part- 
time  or  discontinuous  instruction,  have  been  selected 
by  the  tests  indicated  in  recommendation  (4),  and  are 
able  to  satisfy  the  university  authorities  that  thev  are 
fit  to  take  advantage  of  university  instruction  in  science 
or  technolo^-. 

Aid  Required  from  Government. 

(6)  In  proportion  as  the  provision  of  higher 
secondarx"^  education  is  extended,  improved,  and  used, 
the  provision  of  scholarships  by  local  authorities  to 
universities  will  need  to  be  correspondingly  increased. 

The  provision  of  such  scholarships  for  women  needs 
immediate  increase. 

But,  in  order  to  hasten  the  extension  of  higher 
secondare'  education — especially  for  boys — we  venture 
to  suggest  that  a  substantial  grant-in-aid  be  made  at 


546 


NATURE 


[August  31,  191 6 


the  earliest  opportunity  for  strengthening  the  higher 
parts  of  selected  secondary  schools,  or  that  some  similar 
expedient  be  adopted  for  the  same  purpose.  For  this 
purpose  we  suggest  as  a  beginning  the  sum  of 
loo.oool.  a  year. 
VVe  recommend  : — 

(7)  That  the  State  provide  maintenance  grants  to  enable 
selected  scholars  to  continue  their  secondary  education 
from  the  age  of  sixteen  to  that  of  eighteen  or  nineteen. 
For  this  purpose  we  consider  that  90,000!.  would  be 
required  in  the  third  year. 

(8)  That  the  State  provide  about  250  scholarships 
every  year  for  students  from  secondary  schools  who 
intend  to  pursue  scientific  or  technical  subjects  at  the 
universities.  That  these  scholarships  be  allotted  to  tfie 
several  universities  and  awarded  by  the  universities. 
We  estimate  the  cost  of  this  provision  at  the  annual 
sum  of  67,500!.  Should  the  second  alternative  recom- 
mendation in  (26)  below  be  adopted,  a  further  sum  of 
about  io,oooZ.  would  be  needed  for  the  additional  cost 
of  such  of  these  scholarships  as  may  be  held  at  Oxford 
or  Cambridge. 

(9)  To  encourage  local  authorities  to  develop  their 
schemes  of  scholarships  from  secondary  schools  to  the 
universities,  and  with  special  reference  to  increased 
provision  of  scholarships  for  women,  we  recommend 
that  a  special  grant-in-aid  of  25,000!.  be  made. 

(10)  For  scholarships  to  the  universities  from  senior 
technical  schools,  and  for  candidates  who  have  obtained 
part-time  instruction  in  scientific  and  technical  subjects 
while  pursuing  their  vocation,  we  recommend  for  the 
present  that  the  annual  sum  of  27,000!.  be  granted. 

We  recommend  : — • 

(11)  That,  on  the  application  of  a  scholar  and  on  the 
recommendation  of  some  professor  who  is  willing  to 
undertake  his  or  her  training  in  scientific  or  tech- 
nological research,  the  prolongation  of  a  scholarship 
for  a  year  after  the  conclusion  of  a  degree  course  be 
favourably  considered,  and  the  cost  of  such  a  system 
be  defrayed  from  national   funds. 

(12)  That  after  such  prolongation  for  one  year  the 
scholarship  be  capable  of  prolongation  for  another  year 
on  the  certificate  of  the  professor  that  the  scholar  shows 
aptitude  for  research,  and  is  willing  to  pursue  research 
under  his  guidance  in  some  specified  branch  of  science 
or  technology,  the  cost  being  met  from  national  funds. 

We  consider  that  for  the  purposes  of  recommenda- 
tions (11)  and  (12)  the  annual  sum  of  20,000!.  would 
be  sufficient  at  the  inception,  and  we  recommend  that 
in  so  far  as  these  prolongations  are  defrayed  from 
national  funds  the  regulation  of  such  prolongations 
be  entrusted  to  a  Central  Committee  nominated  by 
the  Board  of  Education. 

Value  of  Scholarships  to  Universities. 

We  recommend  : — 

(13)  That  the  value  of  a  scholarship  to  a  university 
granted  by  the  Government  or  by  a  local  authority  be 
60!.,  and  that  all  university  fees  and  dues  be  defrayed 
in  addition  by  the  Government  or  the  authority,  except 
in  the  case  of  scholars  who  also  hold  a  scholarship 
at  Oxford  or  Cambridge  or  some  other  emolument. 

(14)  That  the  sum  payable  annually  by  virtue  of  the 
scholarship  be  withheld  or  reduced  if  the  Government 
or  the  local  authority  be  satisfied  that  the  scholar  or 
his  parents  or  his  guardians  can  themselves  afford  to 
defray  the  whole  cost,  or  part  of  the  cost,  of  his 
university  education. 

Duration  of  Scholarships. 

(15)  That  the  normal  duration  of  a  scholarship  to  a 
university  be  three  years,   subject  to  residence,   good 

NO.    2444,    VOL.    97] 


conduct,    and    satisfactory    reports    on    the    scholar's 
work. 

(16)  That  (subject  to  the  same  conditions)  the 
scholarship  be  prolonged  for  one  year  when  the  normal 
university  course  for  that  scholar  is  four  years. 

(17)  That  a  scholarship  to  the  university  once 
awarded  by  a  local  education  authority  should  not 
be  dependent  on  the  continued  residence  of  the  holder 
or  his  parents  or  guardians  in  the  area  of  the  awarding 
authority. 

Methods  of  Award  of  Scholarships   to    Universities. 

(18)  That  every  local  authority  offering  scholarships 
from  secondary  schools  tenable  at  a  university  entrust 
to  some  university  the  award  of  such  scholarships. 
That  Government  scholarships  be  allotted  to  the  several 
universities   and   be   similarly   awarded. 

(19)  That  such  award  be  made  accordmg  to  the 
responsible  judgment  of  a  board  of  about  five  award- 
ing examiners,  after  consideration  of  the  marks  allotted 
and  the  reports  made  by  the  examiners  in  the  several 
subjects,  after  interviewing  selected  candidates,  after 
such  further  scrutiny  of  the  written  work  as  may  seem 
to  the  board  desirable,  and  after  weighing  in  cases  of 
doubt  such  further  evidence  as  may  be  made  admissible 
by  the  regulations. 

(20)  That  evidence  of  general  education  up  to  an 
adequate  standard  be  required  as  a  qualification  for 
appointment  to  scholarships  from  secondary  schools  to 
universities. 

(21)  That  a  serious  test  in  EngHsh  be  imposed  on 
all  candidates  in  such  competitions,  and  be  taken  into 
account  in  the  award  of  scholarships. 

(22)  That  subjects  be  grouped  for  purposes  of  exam- 
ination according  to  some  reasonable  principle  so  as 
to  discourage  excessive  specialisation  on  the  one  hand, 
and  heterogeneous  study  on  the  other. 

(23)  That  the  examination  be  designed  to  encourage 
an  adequate  breadth  of  study,  but  that  nevertheless 
the  boards  of  examiners  have  fulf  discretion  to  recog- 
nise either  exceptional  merit  and  promise  in  one  sub- 
ject, or  general  excellence  over  a  wider  range,  as  they 
think  fit. 

(24)  That,  in  view  of  the  special  need  of  encourage- 
ment for  scientific  and  technological  studies,  scholar- 
ships be  awarded  somewhat  more  readily  to  candidates 
who  intend  to  pursue  such  studies  than  to  others. 

(25)  That  no  examination  for  scholarships  from 
secondary  schools  to  universities  be  regarded  as  satis- 
factory in  which  more  than  two  hundred  candidates 
are  examined  in  one  batch. 

(26)  We  recommend  to  the  attention  of  the  local 
authorities  the  practice  of  the  London  County  Council 
in  awarding  senior  scholarships  without  further  written 
examination  to  those  who  have  won  open  scholarships 
by  the  award  of  the  colleges  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge; and  to  the  colleges  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
we  recommend  that  they  should  seek  powers  to  grant 
a  proportion  of  scholarships  on  their  own  foundations 
to  such  Government  or  county  scholars  as,  having 
received  the  grant  of  a  scholarship  by  the  aw'ard  of  a 
board  of  examiners  acting  for  some  university,  have 
(without  further  examination)  proved  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  college  that  they  would  benefit  by  educa- 
tion at  Oxford  or  Cambridge. 

Or,  as  an  alternative,  that  all  scholarships  to  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  whether  granted  by  the  Government 
or  bv  a  local  authority,  or  by  a  college  so  far  as 
college  statutes  permit,  shall  be  of  such  value  as  to 
cover  all  strictly  necessary  expenses  of  residence,  main- 
tenance while  residing,  and  education,  subject  to  the 
provisions  of  recommendation  (14)  above. 


August  31,  19 16] 


NATURE 


47 


PROF.   W.  ESSON,  F.R.S. 

IN  William  Esson,  Savilian  professor  of  geo- 
metry since  1897,  Oxford  loses  one  who  has 
done  much  for  it.  A  Scot  whose  family  came 
South  in  his  boyhood,  there  was  the  air  of  a  viking 
about  him,  and  few  who  looked  upon  his  magnifi- 
cent beard  during  most  of  the  sixty-one  years  of 
his  university  life  were  not  conscious  of  a  radia- 
tion of  vigour  as  from  the  North.  Born  at  Dundee 
in  1838,  he  was  educated  first  at  Inverness,  and 
then  at  Cheltenham  Grammar  School.  In  1855 
he  became  Bible  clerk  of  St.  John's  College, 
Oxford.  Here  he  obtained  two  second  classes 
(1856,  1858)  in  classics,  and  in  mathematics 
carried  all  before  him,  gaining  first  classes  in  1856 
and  1859,  and  the  junior  and  serior  mathematical 
scholarships  in  1857  and  i860.  In  i860  he 
became  Fellow  of  Merton  and  mathematical  tutor. 
He  was  also  tutor  or  lecturer  for  various  f>eriods 
at  Magdalen,  Corpus,  Worcester,  and  Hertford. 
Enormous  as  have  been  his  services  to  Merton 
and  to  the  university  as  financier  and  man  of  busi- 
ness, and  real  as  have  been  his  achievements  in 
geometrical  and  mathematico-chemical  investiga- 
tion, the  writer  and  others  put  first  his  leadership 
in  college  mathematical  teaching.  In  the  'sixties 
and  'seventies  there  were  two  classes  of  mathe- 
matical students  in  Oxford — those  who  blessed 
the  Providence  which  had  put  them  under  him, 
and  those  who  envied  the  others. 

When  Prof.  Sylvester's  health  began  to  fail  in 
1894  Esson  became  deputy  Savilian  professor  of 
geometry,  and  after  three  years  he  succeeded 
Sylvester  in  the  chair.  He  lectured  most  on 
the  comparison  of  synthetic  and  analytic  methods 
in  geometry.  With  such  subjects  his  not  very 
numerous  publications  in  pure  mathematics  have 
been  concerned.  They  are  above  all  things  inci- 
sive. Probably  he  was  prouder  of  his  only  semi- 
mathematical  work  on  chemical — or,  as  he  was 
always  very  careful  to  say,  chymical — change. 
This  was  done  largely  in  concert  with  Mr.  A.  G. 
\'ernon  Harcourt,  and  expounded  in  the  Philo- 
sophical Transactions  for  1864,  1866,  and  1895. 
The  work  secured  him  the  Fellowship  of  the  Royal 
Society  as  early  as  1869.  Among  the  little  jokes 
in  which  he  delighted  was  one  that  in  1897  the 
Savilian  professorship  of  geometry  passed  from  a 
poet  to  a  chymist. 

Though  as  professor  he  became  Fellow  of  New 
College,  he  was  bursar  of  Merton  till  he  died. 
For  very  many  years  he  served  the  university 
as  a  curator  of  the  university  chest;  and  here  his 
loss  will  be  keenly  felt.  His  great  administrative 
powers  were  used  for  the  good  of  the  university 
in  matters  directly  associated  with  university 
studies,  and  not  in  finance  only.  For  about  fifteen 
3'ears,  ending  in  191 3,  he  was  chairman  of  the 
Board  of  the  Faculty  of  Natural  Science.  He  was 
a  visitor  (and  secretary)  of  the  university 
obser^'atory.  * 

Until  a  few  months  ago  his  natural  force  seemed 
in  no  wise  abated.  But  his  last  surviving  son 
went  down  with  H.M.S.  Russell,  and  his  strength 
then  began  to  fail. 

NO.    2444,   VOL.   97] 


PROF.  S.  B.  MCLAREN. 

LIEUT.  S.  B.  McL.VREN,  professor  of  mathe- 
matics in  University  College,  Reading,  met 
his  death  on  August  14  on  the  VV'estern  front, 
where  he  was  serving  with  a  signalling  company 
of  the  Royal  Engineers. 

McLaren  was  of  Scottish  parentage.  A  son  of  the 
late  Rev.  W.  D.  McLaren,  of  Melbourne,  he  was 
born  in  Japan,  but  most  of  his  early  life  was  spent 
in  Australia,  .\fter  a  distinguished  career  at  the 
University  of  Melbourne,  he  proceeded  to  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  of  which  he  became  a  major 
scholar.  He  was  third  wrangler  in  1899,  gained 
a  first  class  in  Part  II.  of  the  Mathematical  Tripos 
in  1900  and  the  Isaac  Newton  studentship  in  1901. 
He  continued  in  residence  at  Cambridge  until 
1903,  when  he  accepted  a  position  at  Bristol  Uni- 
versity College,  whence  in  1906  he  proceeded  to 
Birmingham  University  as  assistant-lecturer  in 
mathematics.  Shortly  before  his  appointment  to 
the  professorship  of  mathematics  in  University 
College,  Reading,  he  had  shared  with  Prof. 
Nicholson  the  Adams  prize  at  Cambridge. 

The  outbreak  of  war  found  McLaren  in  Aus- 
tralia with  the  British  Association,  acting  as  a 
secretary  of  Section  A,  and  back  with  his  parents 
and  among  his  earlier  friends.  During  the  return 
voyage  he  was  fired  with  an  enthusiasm  to  offer 
his  ser\'ices  to  his  country,  and  he  employed  his 
time  on  board  in  learning  signalling,  and  on  arri- 
val joined  the  signalling  company  organised  by  a 
colleague.  Major  Pearson,  of  University  College, 
Reading.  He  saw  several  months  of  active  ser- 
vice before  receiving  the  wound  which  only  a  few 
days  later  proved  fatal.  He  was  fearless  and 
intrepid  on  the  field,  and  carried  out  his 
duties  tirelessly  and  with  a  disregard  for  his 
personal  safety  which  was  at  once  an  inspiration 
to  his  men  and  the  concern  of  his  brother  officers. 

McLaren's  published  work,  which  was  charac- 
terised by  originality  and  a  fine  boldness  of  con- 
ception, related  particularly  to  the  mathematical 
treatment  of  the  phenomena  of  radiation  and  of 
gravity.  Shortly  before  he  gave  up  his  academic 
work  he  was  engaged  in  writing  upon  the  mag- 
neton, and  he  considered  that  he  had  obtained 
results  of  value.  But  his  interest  in  mathematical 
physics  is  not  adequately  gauged  by  his  published 
work.  He  was  a  diligent  worker  and  thinker, 
contrary,  perhaps,  to  the  impression  of  the  casual 
acquaintance,  and  he  sought  strenuously  for  a 
basis  upon  which  to  build.  His  interest  in  philo- 
sophy was  part  and  parcel  of  his  regard  for  the 
fundamental  things.  All  who  have  been  asso- 
ciated with  him  will  regret  the  cutting  short  of  a 
promising  career  and  the  loss  of  a  simple,  sincere, 
and  grenial  friend.  W.   G.    D. 


NOTES. 

The  terms  of  reference,  and  the  constitution,  of  the 
two  committees  appointed  by  the  Prime  Minister  to- 
inquire  into  the  position  of  science  and  modern 
languages  respectively  in  the  system  of  education  in 
Great  Britain  have  now  been  announced.  The  mem- 
bership of  the  committees  suggests  that  the  Govern- 


548 


NATURE 


[August  31,  19 16 


ment  wishes  each  of  these  subjects  to  be  considered 
chiefly  from  the  point  of  view  of  education  as  a  whole ; 
for  the  particular  interests  of  science  and  modern 
languages  are  represented  by  a  few  members  only.  The 
terms  of  reference  and  constitution  of  the  Science  Com- 
mittee are  as  follows  : — To  inquire  into  the  position 
occupied  by  natural  science  in  the  educational  system 
of  Great  Britain,  especially  in  secondary  schools  and 
universities ;  and  to  advise  what  measures  are  needed 
to  promote  its  study,  regard  being  had  to  the  require- 
ments of  a  liberal  education,  to  the  advancement  of 
pure  science,  and  to  the  interests  of  the  trades,  indus- 
tries, and  professions  which  particularlj'  depend  upon 
applied  science;  Sir  J.  J.  Thomson  (chairman),  the 
Rt.  Hon.  F.  D.  Acland,  Prof.  H.  B.  Baker,  Mr. 
Graham  Balfour,  Sir  William  Beardmore,  Bart.,  Sir 
G.  H.  Claughton,  Bart.,  Mr.  C.  W.  Crook,  MissE.  R. 
Gwatkin,  Sir  Henry  Hibbert,  M.P.,  Mr.  William 
Neagle,  Mr.  F.  G.  Ogilvie,  C.B.,  Dr.  Michael  Sadler, 
C.B.,  Prof.  E.  H.  Starling,  Mr.  W.  W.  Vaughan ; 
secretary,  Mr.  F.  B.  Stead,  H.M.  Inspector  of  Schools. 
Owing  to  unforeseen  circumstances  Lord  Crewe  finds 
that  it  will  not  be  possible  for  him  to  act  as  chairman 
of  the  committee,   as  previously  announced. 

The  terms  of  reference  and  constitution  of  the 
Modern  Languages  Committee  appointed  by  the 
Government  are  as  follows  : — To  inquire  into  the  posi- 
tion occupied  by  the  study  of  modern  languages  in  the 
educational  system  of  Great  Britain,  especially  in 
secondary  schools  and  universities,  and  to  advise  what 
measures  are  required  to  promote  their  study,  regard 
being  had  to  the  requirements  of  a  liberal  education, 
including  an  appreciation  of  the  history,  literature, 
and  civilisation  of  other  countries,  and  to  the  interests  of 
commerce  and  the  public  service ;  Mr.  Stanley  Leathes, 
C.B.  (chairman),  Mr.  C.  A.  Montague  Barlow-,  M.P., 
Mr.  E.  BuUough,  the  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Maurice  de  Bun- 
sen,  Mr.  A.  G.  Coffin,  Dr.  H.  A.  L.  Fisher,  Mr. 
H.  C.  Gooch,  Mr.  J.  W.  Headlam,  Mr.  L.  D.  Holt, 
Dr.  Walter  Leaf,  Dr.  G.  Macdonald,  Mr.  A.  Mans- 
bridge,  Mr.  Nowell  Smith,  Miss  M.  J.  Tuke,  Sir 
James  Yoxall,  M.P. ;  secretary,  Mr.  A.  E.  Twentyman. 
In  considering  the  provision  of  scholarships,  bursaries, 
etc.,  the  committees  are  requested  to  take  into  account 
the  interim  report  of  the  consultative  committee  of 
the  Board  of  Education  on  this  subject. 

Lord  Montagu  of  Beaulieu,  in  a  speech  at  Bury 
St.  Edmunds  on  August  23,  gave  some  interesting 
particulars  of  Germany's  new  super-Zeppelins.  These 
are  said  to  have  a  capacity  of  2, 000,000  cubic  ft.,  giving 
a  total  lift  of  about  60  tons.  Their  length  is  780  ft., 
speed  65  miles  per  hour,  and  the  engines  develop  more 
than  1500  horse-power.  (The  original  figure  given  was 
15,000,  but  this  was  an  error,  and  has  since  been 
corrected.)  These  figures  are  a  little  surprising,  but 
there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  such  an  airship 
should  not  be  satisfactorily  designed,  especially  after 
the  experience  which  Germany  has  had  with  the  older 
types.  It  would  appear  that  these  super-Zeppelins  are 
intended  for  offensive  operations,  rather  than  as  scouts 
for  the  fleet,  for  which  latter  purpose  the  existing 
types  are  of  sufficient  capacity.  If  this  is  the  case, 
our  anti-aircraft  defences  will  need  to  be  as  efficient 
as  we  can  make  them.  Raids  by  means  of  rigid  air- 
ships have  introduced  a  new  problem  for  the  gunnery 
experts  to  solve,  for  a  Zeppelin  at  10,000  ft.  altitude, 
and  moving  at  60  miles  an  hour  on  a  dark  night,  pre- 
sents an  exceedingly  difficult  target,  and  the  small 
number  of  hits  scored  up  to  the  present  is  not  sur- 
prising. However,  a  great  deal  is  being  done  to  deal 
with  this  new  situation,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped,  as 
Lord  Montagu  said,  that  the  super-Zeppelins  will  not 
achieve  the  results  which  our  enemies  seemingly 
anticipate. 

NO.    2444,    VOL.    97] 


Sir  Ernest  Shackleton  is  losing  no  opportunity  of 
attempting  to  rescue  his  stranded  comrades  on 
Elephant  Island.  Last  Saturday  he  sailed  from  Punta 
Arenas  on  his  fourth  attempt.  This  time  his  vessel 
is  the  Yelcho,  a  small  Chilian  steamer  which  towed 
the  Emma  240  miles  south  of  Cape  Horn  in  the  last 
unsuccessful  attempt  at  rescue.  The  Yelcho  does  not 
appear  to  be  well  suited  for  the  task  before  her,  but, 
failing  such  a  ship  as  the  Discovery,  now  on  her  way 
out,  one  vessel  is  little  better  or  worse  than  another, 
and  success  or  failure  depends  entirely  on  the  ice 
conditions.  In  this  respect  there  is  some  prospect  of 
September  proving  better  than  July  or  August.  If 
Elephant  Island  is  clear  of  ice,  the  Yelcho  should 
return  to  civilisation  early  in  September  with  the 
explorers  on  board. 

We  regret  to  announce  the  death,  on  August  27,  at 
sixty-three  years  of  age,  of  Dr.  C.  T.  Clough,  district 
geologist  of  H.M.  Geological  Survey,  Scotland. 

The  twenty-seventh  annual  general  meeting  of  the 
Institution  of  Mining  Engineers  will  be  held  at  Glas- 
gow on  September  14-15.  The  institution  medal  for 
the  year  1915-16  will  be  presented  to  Dr.  W.  N. 
Atkinson,  in  recognition  of  his  investigations  in  con- 
nection with  colliery  explosions  and  coal-dust. 

Sir  Charles  H.  Bedford  has  been  appointed 
genera!  secretary  of  the  newly  constituted  Association 
of  British  Chemical  Manufacturers.  The  business  of 
the  association  is  for  the  present  being  carried  on  at 
the  offices  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  Broad- 
way Chambers,  Westminster. 

The  Toronto  correspondent  of  the  Times  states 
that  the  Naval  Service  Department  in  Ottawa 
has  received  the  following  message  from  Dr.  Anderson 
at  Nome  respecting  the  Stefansson  expedition  : — 
"Starkerson  has  reported  that  Stefansson  is  safe  on 
north-west  coast,  where  he  was  reported  on  May  7. 
The  Polar  Bear,  Mary  Sachs,  and  North  Star  are 
safe." 

Capt.  a.  R.  Brown,  formerly  science  master  at 
Buckhaven  High  Grade  School,  and  2nd  Lieut.  H. 
Watson,  mathematical  master  at  Ormskirk  Grammar 
School,  have  both  been  killed  in  action.  Capt.  Brown 
was  educated  at  Airdrie  Academy  and  Glasgow  Uni- 
versitv,  where  he  graduated  M.A.  and  B.Sc,  and  he 
was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh. 
2nd  Lieut.  Watson  was  educated  at  Burnley  Grammar 
School  and  Manchester  University,  where  he  gradu- 
ated with  first-class  honours,  obtaining  his  degree  of 
B.Sc.  in  1907.  Before  going  to  Ormskirk  he  held  the 
position  of  mathematical  master  at  the  Technicaf 
Institute  and  Secondary  School,   Salford. 

During  the  early  hours  of  August  16  an  earthquake 
was  felt  at  Ancona,  Pesaro,  Rimini,  and  other  places 
on  the  north-east  coast  of  Italy.  The  shock  seems  to 
have  been  strongest  at  Rimini,  where  several  houses 
were  wrecked,  though  buildings  were  also  damaged 
at  Pesaro,  twenty  miles  to  the  south-east.  All  three 
places  lie  within  well-defined  seismic  zones,  but,  while 
the  earthquakes  of  the  Pesaro  and  Ancona  zones  are 
usually  of  a  local  character,  those  of  the  Rimini  zone 
(and  especiallv  the  earthquakes  of  1672  and  1875)  are 
often  felt  over  a  wide  area.  According  to  the  Times 
of  August  17,  seven  earthquakes  were  recorded  at 
Shide  on  August  16,  originating  in  northern  Italy  or 
in  Austria. 

The  autumn  meeting  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Insti- 
tute will  be  held  at  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers 
on  September  21  and  22.  The  following  papers  are 
expected :—"  Some   Properties   of   Ingots,"    H.    Brear- 


August  31,  1916] 


NATURE 


549 


ley;  "Influence  of  Heat-Treatment  on  the  Thermo- 
electric Properties  and  Specific  Resistance  of  Carbon 
Steels,"  Prof.  E.  D.  Campbell;  "Heat  Treatment  of 
Eutectoid  Carbon  Steels,"  Dr.  H.  M.  Howe  and  A.  G. 
Levy;  "Steel  Ingot  Defects,"  J.  N.  Kilby;  "Man- 
ganese Ores  of  the  Bukowina,  Austria,"  H.  K.  Scott; 
•  Influence  of  Elements  on  the  Properties  of  Steel," 
Dr.  J.  E.  Stead;  "Notes  on  (a)  Nickel  Steel  Scale, 
(fe)  on  the  Reduction  of  Solid  Nickel  and  Copper 
Oxides  by  Solid  Iron,  (c)  on  Effect  of  Blast-furnace 
Gases  on  Wrought  Iron,"  Dr.  J.  E.  Stead;  "Use  of 
Meteoric  Iron  by  Primitive  Man,"  G.  F.  Zimmer. 

We  regret  to  notice  that  Sir  Richard  Biddulph  Mar- 
tin, the  chairman  of  Martin's  Bank,  died  on  August 
23,  in  his  sevent}-eighth  year.  Sir  Richard  Martin 
was  not  only  an  eminent  banker  and  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Institute  of  Bankers,  but  also  gave 
much  time  during  his  long  and  active  life  to  the 
work  of  charitable  and  social  undertakings,  and  of 
more  than  one  scientific  society'.  Of  the  Fishmongers' 
Company  he  was  twice  Prime  Warden,  and  represented 
the  company  on  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  City 
and  Guilds  of  London  Institute.  He  had  held  the 
office  of  treasurer  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society  of 
London  since  1875,  '^^  longest  period  of  office  of  any 
treasurer  since  the  foundation  of  the  society,  and  was 
elected  to  the  presidency  in  1906.  He  always  exhibited 
the  warmest  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  society, 
and  was  a  regular  attendant  at  council  and  ordinary 
meetings  until  increasing  lameness  in  recent  years 
rendered,  attendance  almost  a  physical  impossibility. 
Sir  Richard  was  also  keenly  interested  in  the  work  of 
the  Royal  Anthropological  Institute,  of  which  he  was 
a  vice-president,  and  in  that  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society. 

A  RECENT  article  by  Dr.  Saleeby  on  "Armoured 
Men,"  published  in  the  Daily  Chronicle  of  August  7, 
gives  some  particulars  as  to  the  construction  of  the 
"soup-plate"  helmet  with  which  British  troops  are 
now  provided.  It  is  really  a  double  structure.  It  is 
first  a  soft  cap,  bounded  all  round  its  edge  with  thick 
rubber  studs — now  made  hollow  for  greater  resilience. 
This  cap  has  a  double  lining  of  felt  and  wadding,  so 
that  even  if  the  helmet  be  pierced  at  point-blank 
range  the  scalp  is  guarded  from  the  steel.  Upon  this 
padded  cap  is  poised  the  casque  of  steel.  The  interval 
between  the  two  serves  for  ventilation.  The  steel  used 
is  that  discovered  some  twenty  years  ago  by  Sir 
Robert  Hadfield,  and  known  as  manganese  steel.  The 
helmet  weighs  2  lb.,  and  is  said  to  be  bullet-proof 
to  a  Webley  automatic  pistol  at  five  yards'  range. 
Every  helmet  now  supplied  to  the  troops  is  proof 
against  a  shrapnel  bullet,  forty-one  to  the  pound,  with 
a  striking  velocity  of  750  ft.  per  second.  To  prevent 
the  surface  from  acting  as  a  mirror  it  is  sanded  and 
roughened.  The  helmet  is  fixed  with  an  adjustable 
strap  under  the  chin,  and  its  rim  is  blunted  so  as  to 
avert  injur\'  to  the  temples  of  the  next  men's 
heads  in  the  close  company  of  the  trenches.  The  pitch 
of  the  helmet  is  made  as  low  as  possible.  Dr. 
Saleeby  finally  urges  that  the  protection  of  similar 
steel  should  be  now  applied  to  other  vital  parts  of  the 
body.  It  is  estimated  that  this  would  cause  an  addi- 
tion of  not  more  than  4  lb.  to  the  weight  car- 
ried by  the  soldier,  and  that  this  addition  could  be 
compensated  by  the  temporary  reduction  of  other  equip- 
ment, at  least  when  the  soldier  is  storming  positions- 
held  by  the  enemy. 

Those  who  are  interested  in  iconography  will  wel- 
come the  paper  by  Prof.  Flinders  Petrie  on  "Early 
Forms  of  the  Cross  from  Egyptian  Tombs,"  pub- 
lished  in    part    iii.    of  Ancient    Egypt    for    1916.    The 

NO.    2444.    VOL.    97] 


numerous  examples  illustrated  are  taken  from  tombs 
of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  B.C.  As  persecution  in- 
creased in  Egypt  there  arose  a  tendency  to  disguise 
the  forms  of  the  symbol,  so  that  it  should  be  recognis- 
able only  by  the  initiated.  Prof.  Petrie  disregards 
the  so-called  Tau  cross,  represented  in  some 
dictionaries  as  having  come  from  Eg>'pt.  He 
says  that  he  has  never  seen  it  represented  or  described 
there,  and  he  does  not  understand  why  Egypt  has  been 
regarded  as  its  source.  On  the  other  hand,  he  has  no 
doubt  of  the  Egyptian  origin  of  early  crosses  found 
in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  though  most  of  these 
have  the  long  form  which,  probably  with  the  object  of 
disguise,  was  at  an  early  period  abandoned  in  Eg\'pt 
and  replaced  by  that  of  the  square  shape. 

Prof.  M.  Caullery's  introductory  "exchange" 
lecture  at  Harvard  on  "The  Present  State  of  the 
Problem  of  Evolution "  is  published  in  Science  of 
April  21  last.  He  surveys  broadly,  in  this  discourse, 
the  progress  of  biological  speculation  from  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  pointing  out 
that  some  recent  interpretations  of  heredity  tend  to 
bring  the  concept  of  evolution  into  line  with  the 
"  evolutio "  of  pre-Lamarckian  philosophers.  With 
these  interpretations  Prof.  Caullery  admits  imperfect 
sympathy,  and  promises  his  hearers  "  support  of  a 
transformism  more  or  less  Lamarckian."  From  this 
introductory  lecture  they  may  look  forward  to  a  stimu- 
lating course,  and  Prof.  Caullery's  graceful  tribute 
to  American  workers  in  biology — from  Louis  and 
Alexander  Agassiz  to  E.  B.  Wilson,  Loeb,  and  Castle 
— must  have  been  welcome  to  bis  hearers  at  Harvard. 

On  the  other  hand.  Dr.  Chas.  B.  Davenport,,  xnnrit- 
ing  in  the  American  Naturalist  (1.,  No.  596,  August, 
19 16)  On  "The  Form  of  Evolutiqnar)'  Theory  that 
Modern  Genetical  Research,  seems  to  Favour,"  ex- 
presses belief  in  "internal  changes  chiefly  independent 
of  external  conditions "  as  furnishing '  the  effective 
agency  in  development.  He  adopts  Bateson's  sugges- 
tion of  a  primitive  germ-{>lasm  with  highly  complex 
constitution,  from  which  factors  ("genes")  have  be- 
come split  off  and  lost  in  the  course  of  ages,  thus  giving 
rise  to  new  forms  of  life.  Yet  Dr.  Davenport  does 
not  absolutely  exclude  environmental  influence.  "  There 
is  some  evidence,"  he  admits,  "although  not  as  critical 
as  might  be  wished,  that  the  germ-plasm  is  not  beyond 
the  reach  of  modifying  agents." 

The  last  meeting  of  the  session  of  the  Zoological 
Society  of  London  was  held  on  August  16,  Dr.  Henry 
Woodward  being  in  the  chair.  The  report  laid  before 
the  meeting  w^as  most  gratifying,  since  it  showed  that 
the  number  of  visitors  to  the  Gardens  from  Januarv  i 
to  July  31  showed  an  increase  of  14,619,  as  compared 
with  the  corresponding  period  of  1915,  while  the  re- 
ceipts during  the  same  period  showed  an  increase 
of  733^- »  ^s  compared  with  the  corresponding  period 
of  last  year.  The  number  of  new  fellows  admitted 
also  show^ed  an  increase.  Among  the  most  noteworthy 
additions  to  the  society's  collection  during  the  month 
of  July  were  a  pair  of  Fennec  foxes,  Vulpes  zerda. 
This  species  is  the  smallest  existing  member  of  the 
Canidae,  and  is  found  not  only  all  over  the  Sahara,  but 
extends  also  into  south-western  Asia. 

A  REPORT  of  considerable  value  and  interest  appears 
in  the  Meddetelser  fra  Kommissionen  for  Havunders^- 
gelser  on  "Marking  Experiments  with  Turtles  in 
the  Danish  West  Indies."  by  Dr.  Jos.  Schmidt.  Four 
species  are  found  in  this  area — the  leathery,  logger- 
head, hawksbill,  and  green  turtles — and  the  author 
gives  a  brief  but  extremely  useful  summary  of  their 
breeding  habits,  supplemented  by  some  excellent  figures 
of  newly  hatched   specimens   of  each   species.       The 


550 


NATURE 


[August  31,  1916 


leathery  turtle  and  the  loggerhead  have  no  great  com- 
mercial value,  but  their  eggs  are  taken  in  large  num- 
bers. The  green  turtle,  however,  for  its  meat,  and 
the  hawksbill  for  the  sake  of  irs  horny  shields,  which 
form  the  "  tortoiseshell "  of  commerce,  are  subjected 
to  a  heavy  toll,  young  and  adults  alike  being  taken. 
The  green  turtle  is  happily  enabled  to  lessen  the 
strain  of  this  persecution  in  that  it  lays  its  eggs  so 
near  the  margin  of  the  sea  that  all  traces  of  their 
whereabouts  are  obliterated  by  the  wash  of  the  tide. 
Since  the  Danish  West  Indies  have  recently  been 
purchased  by  the  United  States  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
stringent  protective  measures  will  speedily  be  devised 
and  enforced,  for  it  is  evident  that  otherwise  the 
extermination  of  these  colonies  is  within  measurable 
distance. 

In  a  "  Note  on  the  Economic  Uses  of  Rosha  Grass, 
Cymbopogon  martini,  Stapf,"  published  in  the 
"Indian  Forest  Records,"  Mr.  R.  S.  Pearson  points 
out  that  this  grass  exists  in  two  forms,  known  to 
the  natives  as  "Motia"  and  "Sofia."  The  two  forms 
appear  to  differ  morphologically  only  in  the  fact  that 
in  the  Motia  grass  the  leaf  blade  makes  a  wider  ang^le 
with  the  culm  than  is  the  case  in  the  Sofia  grass.  The 
distribution  of  the  two  forms  also  differs  considerably, 
Motia  growing  in  isolated  clumps  on  bare  hot  slopes, 
whilst  Sofia  occurs  on  low  ridges  and  in  shady  nullahs 
often  as  a  dense  crop.  The  chief  difference  between 
the  two  forms  lies,  however,  in  the  characters  of  the 
■essential  oils  they  contain,  Motia  grass  yielding 
"palmarosa  oil,"  containing  as  much  as  90  per  cent, 
■of  free  and  combined  geraniol,  whilst  the  Sofia  form 
yields  the  so-called  "ginger  grass  oil,"  containing  only 
about  half  as  much  geraniol.  The  note  states  that 
experimental  cultivation  of  the  two  forms  has  now 
"been  undertaken  at  Dehra  Dun  by  Mr.  R.  S.  Hole 
with  the  view  of  determining  their  botanical  relation- 
ship. 

The  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Siberian  Engineers 
•(Tomsk,  March,  19 16)  directs  attention  to  the  back- 
ward state  of  Russian  agriculture  in  the  matter  of 
the  employment  of  artificial  fertilisers,  and  emphasises 
the  vital  necessity  of  reform  in  this  direction.  In 
contrast  with  other  countries  it  is  pointed  out,  among 
other  things,  that  Russia  does  not  yet  possess  a  single 
factory  for  utilising  atmospheric  nitrogen  in  the  pre- 
paration of  fertilisers,  though  she  has  ample  supplies 
of  raw  material  and  water-power. 

An  interesting  instance  of  untutored  native  ability 
is  reported  from  Tomsk  in  the  Journal  of  the  Society 
of  Siberian  Engineers  (January,  1916).  In  the 
Ochansky  district  a  self-taught  farm  labourer,  Kazy- 
mov  by  name,  working  on  the  model  of  the  American 
machines,  made  a  horse  reaper  of  a  very  simple  type, 
weighing  only  400  lb.,  and  capable  of  being  worked 
easily  by  one  horse.  The  local  council,  on  hearing  of 
this,  considered  it  sufficiently  important  to  warrant 
official  investigation,  and  appointed  a  special  com- 
mittee for  that  purpose.  After  inspecting  the  machine 
the  committee  came  to  the  conclusion  that  although 
of  very  primitive  construction  R  is  suitable  for  the 
work  and  might  with  some  trifling  technical  altera- 
tions be  widely  adopted,  seeing  that  it  is  superior  to 
the  factory-made  machine  in  lightness  and  in  suit- 
ability for  the  small  "one  horse"  farmer.  The  price 
of  the  Kazymov  reaper  may  be  estimated  approximately 
at  81. 

The  distribution  of  cyclonic  precipitation  in  Japan 
is  the  subject  of  a  paper  by  Messrs.  Terada,  Yokota,  and 
Otuki  in  the  Journal  of  the  College  of  Science,  Tokyo, 
vol.  xxxvii,  art.  4.  The  paper  is  partly  a  statistical 
Investigation   of   the  influence  of   land   and   water   in 

NO.    2444,    VOL.    97] 


modifying  the  rainfall  from  1905  to  1915,  but  contains 
also  an  attempt  to  analyse  the  factors  that  determine 
the  unsymmetrical  distribution  of  precipitation.  These 
the  authors  group  as  (i)  thermal  and  planetary,  which 
depend  on  latitude ;  (2)  thermal  and  geographical, 
which  depend  on  the  prevalence  of  sea  or  land;  (3) 
hydrodynamical  and  topographical,  caused  by  the 
ascending  air  current.  The  whole  discussion  is  some- 
what hypothetical,  and  would  be  more  profitable  were 
the  data  more  numerous. 

The  eruption  of  Mauno  Loa  which  took  place  last 
May  is  briefly  described  by  Mr.  H.  O.  Wood  in  the 
Weekly  Bulletin  of  the  Hawaiian  Volcano  Observa- 
tory (vol.  iv..  No.  5,  igi6).  Fume-columns  were  first 
noticed  at  7  a.m.  (or  5.30  p.m.,  G.M.T.)  on  May  19. 
At  8  a.m.  the  crown  of  the  cloud  had  reached  a  height 
of  not  less  than  20,000  ft.  above  the  mountain  profile, 
but  by  noon  the  rush  of  fumes  had  almost  ceased.  A 
small  amount  of  lava  was  ejected  at  the  time  of  this 
outburst.  Shortly  after  11  p.m.  on  May  21  another 
and  greater  flow  began  from  a  source  lower  down 
the  slope,  at  an  altitude  of  about  7000  ft.  on  the  south- 
south-west  slope  of  the  mountain.  Hundreds  of  very 
slight  tremors  were  registered  during  these  days  at  the 
Volcano  Observatory  on  the  north-eastern  slope  of 
Kilauea,  though  only  three  or  four  were  strong  enough 
to  be  felt  in  the  .neighbourhood  of  the  observatory. 

The  August  number  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Physical  Society  of  London  completes  vol.  xxviii. 
The  seven  papers  included  in  it  cover  seventy 
pages,  and  are  of  exceptional  interest.  Mr.  G.  D. 
West  deals  with  the  effects  of  the  residual  gas  in 
measurements  at  low  gas  pressures  of  the  pressure 
due  to  radiation.  Miss  Humphrey  and  Dr.  Hatschek 
show  that  the  viscosity  of  a  liquid  having  small  solid 
particles  in  suspension  increases  more  rapidly  than  the 
aggregate  volume  of  the  suspended  matter,  and  depends 
on  the  rate  of  shear.  Capt.  Phillips  describes  a 
form  of  mercury  jet  interrupter  by  means  of  which 
he  has  investigated  the  conditions  which  determine-the 
smooth  working  of  the  interrupter.  Dr.  P.  E.  Shaw 
and  Mr.  C.  Hayes  describe  a  magnetometer  of  the 
torsion  balance  type  a  million  times  as  sensitive  as  any 
previous  instrument.  Dr.  S.  W.  J.  Smith  discusses 
the  relation  between  the  original  migration  experi- 
ments of  Hittorf  and  the  recent  ones  of  Mrs.  Griffiths, 
which  have  given  somewhat  different  results.  Dr. 
Allen  shows  that  Ratnowsky's  recent  theory  of  the 
process  of  fusion  is  incorrect,  and  Dr.  Chatley  describes 
the  present  position  of  the  attempts  to  explain  cohesion 
and  shows  that  it  must  be  regarded  as  the  difference 
between  the  attractive  and  repulsive  forces  between 
molecules. 

The    sixth   annual    report  of    the    Road    Board    has 
just  been  issued.     The  amount  of  new  work  sanctioned 
has    been    reduced    greatly,    but    the    Board    has    con-        ■ 
tinued  to  supervise  the  construction  and  maintenance 
of  new  roads  required  for  military  purposes,  and  this        | 
work  has  extended  considerably.     An   account  of  the        | 
method  of  testing  surfaces  by  rotary   machine   is   in-        } 
eluded.     The   machine   consists   of   a   revolving   frame       , 
supported  on  wheels  running  on  a  circular  test  path 
at  any   desired   speed — not   exceeding   seven   miles  an        : 
hour  for    steel    tyres.     Each    of   the    eight    wheels    is        ' 
independently    driven    by    electromotors.     The    usual 
load  per   inch   width  of  tyre   has  been   about   470   lb. 
Since    wetted    surfaces    can    be    tested  to  destruction 
sooner  than  dry  surfaces,  the  wet  test  has  become  the 
standard   of    comparison.        A   room,   temperature   ap-     _ 
proaching  that  of  summer  has  generally  been   main-     | 
tained^    since   bituminous   materials   soften    and    show 
the  least  resistance  to  deformation  during  the  summer 
months.     After    the    test    track    has    been    laid,    the 


August  31,  1916] 


NATURE 


DO 


machine  is  started  and  run  on  the  new  surface  with 
a  gradually  increasing  load  until  about  4000  to  6000 
tons  per  yard  of  width  have  rolled  over  it;  this  is 
called  the  consolidation  period.  The  test  proper  is 
then  commenced,  and  the  machine  is  rup  at  a  rate  of 
about  2200  tons  per  yard  of  width  per  hour.  In  most 
cases  with  good  materials  a  well-laid  surface  remains 
smooth  and  polished  until  about  200,000  tons  per  yard 
of  width  have  rolled  over  it.  About  this  stage  wave- 
like markings  begin  to  appear;  these  gradually  extend 
until  at  400,000  tons  the  surface  becomes  consider- 
ably waved  and  the  vibration  is  excessive.  The  test 
is  then  considered  complete.  The  results  of  four  tests 
with  mexphalte  and  aztecphalte  are  included,  and  are 
of  interest  as  showing  that  considerable  difference  in 
the  durability  may  be  caused  by  the  method  of  laying 
nd  by  the  workmen  employed. 

We  have  received  a  booklet  entitled  "Economical 
Dishes  for  War-time,"  by  Miss  Florence  A.  George 
(Messrs.  Cornish  Bros.,  Birmingham,  price  6d.).  It 
contains  a  number  of  useful  recipes  for  the  preparation 
of  economical  meat  and  vegetable  dishes  and  sweets. 
A  brief  introduction  deals  with  the  food  requirements 
of  the  body,  and  at  the  end  some  hints  are  given  on 
';;e  management  of  gas-stoves. 

The  following  books  are  in  the  press  for  inclusion 
in  the  "Cambridge  Technical  Series"  of  the  Cam- 
"' ridge  University  Press  : — "  Experimental  Building 
science,"  vol.  i.,  J.  Leask  Manson  ;  '"Alternating  Cur- 
rents," W.  H.  N.  James;  "Development  of  English 
Building  Construction,"  C.  F.  Innocent;  "Naval 
Architecture,"  J.  E.  Steele;  "Chemistr}'  and  Tech- 
nology of  Oils  and  Fats,"  F.  E.  Weston  and  P.  J. 
Fryer;  "Physics  for  Engineers,"  J.  Paley  Yorke; 
"Chemistry  of  Dyeing,"  Dr.  L.  L.  Lloyd  and  M.  Fort. 


OUR    ASTRONOMICAL    COLUMN. 

Bright  Display  of  Auror.a  Bore.\lis  on  August  27. 
— A  fine  exhibition  of  Aurora  Borealis  was 
observed  by  Mr.  W.  F.  Denning  at  Bristol 
in  the  early  morning  of  Sunday,  August  27, 
between  the  hours  of  2  and  4  G.Sl.T.  Shafts  of 
light  were  first  observed  at  about  2h.  15m.  ascending 
amongst  the  stars  of  Ursa  Major  and  Draco,  and 
reaching  considerable  altitudes.  Changes  affected  the 
appearances  at  short  intervals,  the  streamers  would 
fade  away  and  new  ones  form,  while  the  invariable 
disposition  of  the  \\hole  was  to  move  quickly  from 
the  west  to  the  east  side  of  the  north  point.  Some 
of  the  more  conspicuous  streamers  were  particularly 
recorded  as  they  passed  over  certain  stars,  and  the 
mean  rate  of  motion  across  Ursa  Major  was  found 
to  be  15°  in  three  minutes. 

The  active  region  seemed  to  extend  from  as  nearly 
as  possible  N.W.  to  N.E.,  but  the  N.W.  and  N. 
showed  the  greatest  abundance  of  streamers ;  in  the 
N.X.E.  there  was  a  succession  of  faint  bands  of  light 
rising  upwards  to  the  left  of  Auriga.  Many  of  the 
rays  observed  in  the  X.  region  could  be  faintly  traced 
to  altitudes  of  70°.  The  phenomenon  was  watched 
until  3.45,  when  the  sky  had  regained  its  normal  ap- 
pearance, and  twilight  had  become  strong  in  the  north- 
east. 

DlSTRIBLT^ION  OF  THE  PoLES  OF  PLANETARY  OrBITS. — 

Prof.  H.  C.  Plummer  recently  found  that  the  mean 
pole  of  the  orbits  of  the  minor  planets  was  situated 
at  a  distance  of  53'  from  the  pole  of  the  ecliptic,  in 
longitude  16-7°,  and  he  was  led  to  investigate  Its 
relation   to   the  poles  of  the  major  planets   (Monthly 


NO.    2444,    VOL.    97] 


Notices,  R.A.S.,  vol.  Ixxvi.,  p.  378).  A  diagram  show- 
ing the  relative  positions  of  the  poles  revealed  several 
features  of  interest,  to  which  no  special  attention  had 
previously  been  directed.  It  thus  appeared  :  (i)  that 
the  poles  lie  three  by  three  on  five  lines;  (2)  that  the 
pole  of  each  orbit,  with  the  exception  of  Neptune,  lies 
on  two  of  these  five  lines ;  (3)  that  each  line  contains 
the  orbital  poles  of  two  adjacent  major  planets.  Prof. 
Plummer  found  it  difficult  to  believe  that  this  was 
merely  a  chance  arrangement.  Prof.  J.  B.  Dale  has. 
since  directed  attention  to  further  interesting  features 
of  the  polar  diagram  (Roy.  Ast  Soc.,  June).  On 
measuring  the  inclinations  of  the  five  lines  to  the  line 
drawn  from  the  pole  of  the  ecliptic  in  the  direction 
315°,  he  obtained  the  following  results: — 

(i)  Earth — Mars — Mercury,  3°  =  82° -79°. 

(2)  Earth — Uranus — Venus,  3i°=82°-5i°, 

(3)  Uranus — Jupiter — Saturn,  82° =82°. 

(4)  Mars — Jupiter— Neptune,  136°  =  82 '^  +  54°. 

(5)  Mercury — Venus — Saturn,        i6i°  =  82°  +  79°. 

The  directions  of  the  five  lines  can  thus  be  expressed 
very  closely  by  the  formulae,  o,  o±2)3,  a±3l8,  where 
0=82°  and  )8  =  26^°. 

The  diagram  also  shows  that  there  are  several  pairs 
of  lines  joining  poles  which  are  nearly  parallel.  1  here 
is  apparently  nothing  in  the  theory  of  the  secular  per- 
turbations of  the  nodes  and  inclinations  of  the 
planetary  orbits  which  would  lead  to  the  expectation 
of  such  definite  relations,  or  to  the  continuance  of 
these  relations  if  they  did  exist  at  a  given  time,  but 
Prof.  Dale  considers  it  almost  incredible  that  iht 
should  be  purely  accidental.  He  inclines  to  the  view 
that  these  remarkable  relations  may  indicate  the  action 
of  other  forces,  such  as  might  be  due  to  a  resisting 
medium,  in  addition  to  the  gravitational  forces. 

Solar  Variability. — For  the  more  precise  study  of 
the  distribution  of  radiation  of  different  wave-lengths 
across  the  sun's  disc,  the  obser\^ing  station  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  at  Mount  Wilson  has  been 
provided  with  a  tower  telescope  having  a  concave 
mirror  of  12-in.  aperture  and  75-ft.  focal  length.  A 
description  of  this  instrument,  together  with  some  of 
the  observational  results  for  1913  and  1914,  has  been 
given  by  Messrs.  Abbot,  Fowle,  and  Aldrich  (Smith- 
sonian Miscell.  Collections,  vol.  Ixvi.,  No.  5).  Spectro- 
bolometric  measurements  were  made  at  seven  different 
wave-lengths,  namely,  3737,  4265,  5062,  5955,  6702,, 
8580,  and  10,080.  The  new  results  agree  cjosely  with 
those  obtained  at  Washington  in  1907,  so  fai  as  the 
two  series  are  comparable,  and  the  curves  of  intensitv 
distribution  show  in  a  ven.-  striking  way  the  greater 
uniformity  of  the  light  across  the  disc  as  the  wave- 
length increases.  There 'were,  however,  slight,  but 
significant,  differences  between  the  mean  results 
for  different  years,  a  greater  contrast  of 
brightness  between  the  centre  and  edge  occurring 
in  1907  and  1914..  as  compared  with  1913,  taken  as  a 
standard ;  that  is,  in  years  when  the  solar  constant 
was  high  the  solar  contrast  was  greater  than  usual. 
Besides  the  long-period  change,  there  were  small 
changes  of  contrast  from  day  to  day,  correlated  with 
short-period  fluctuations  of  solar  radiation ;  for  this 
type  of  variation  increase  of  solar  radiation  was 
attended  by  decrease  in  the  contrast  between  the  edge 
and  centre  of  the  disc.  The  authors  are  thus  led  to 
consider  that  there  are  two  causes  of  change  existing 
in  the  sun  :  (i)  the  increased  effective  solar  tempera- 
ture accompanying  high  solar  activity*-,  producing  in- 
creased radiation  and  increased  contrast ;  (2)  the  vary- 
ing transparency  of  the  outer  solar  envelopes  from 
day  to  day,  increased  transparency  resulting  in  in- 
creased radiation  but  decreased  contrast. 


00- 


NATURE 


[August  31,  19 16 


MINERAL  PRODUCTION  OF  CANADA. 

THE  preliminary  report  on  the  mineral  production 
of  Canada  during  the  year  1915  has  just  been 
issued  by  the  Canadian  Department  of  Mines,  and  it 
is  satisfactory  to  find  that  upon  the  whole  the  output 
shows  a  marked  improvement  upon  the  previous  year. 
Amongst  the  metals  the  only  decrease  to  be  noted  is  in 
the  production  of  silver,  which  amounted  to  28,401,735 
ounces,  as  against  28,449,821  ounces  in  1914,  so  that 
the  decrease  is  quite  insignificant,  and  is  less  than 
the  decrease  in  1914  below  1913;  it  will  be  found  that 
Canada  contributes  just  about  13  per  cent,  of  the 
world's  total  silver  production.  The  gold  output  for 
1915  was  916,076  ounces,  as  against  773,186  ounces  in  i 
1914;  it  may  be  noted  that  only  about  one-third  of 
the  gold  production  now  comes  from  alluvial,  and  that 
although  the  production  is  less  than  it  was  when  it 
was  mainly  derived  from  the  easily-won  alluvials  of  the 
Klondyke,  the  output  is  now  increasing  steadily.  The 
copper  output  for  1915  is  more  than  102^  millions  of 
pounds,  constituting  a  record  for  Canada,  and  show-, 
ing  an  increase  of  35  per  cent,  as  compared  with  the 
previous  year. 

Nickel  is  not  being  smelted  in  Canada  on  any  scale 
worth  mentioning,  the  bulk  of  the  Canadian  nickel 
production  being  exported  to  the  United  States  and 
to  Great  Britain  in  the  form  of  matte;  the  estimated 
quantity  of  nickel  was  68  millions  of  pounds,  again 
constituting  a  record,  and  being  an  increase  of  50  per 
cent,  on  19 14.  Seeing:  that  Canada  is  the  world's  chief 
producer  of  nickel,  it  is  a  matter  for  regret  that  Cana- 
dian nickel  refineries  have  not  yet  been  established, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Commission  appointed 
last  year  to  investigate  this  matter  may  find  some 
effective  means  of  rendering  Canada  indej>endent  in 
this  respect. 

The  production  of  pig-iron  in  1915  was  913,717  tons, 
an  increase  of  i6|  per  cent,  above  that  of  1914, 
whilst  the  total  steel  output  amounted  to  1,020,335 
tons,  an  increase  of  23  per  cent. ;  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  this  item  includes  5626  tons  of  steel  produced 
in  electric  furnaces.  Of  the  non-metallic  products,  by 
far  the  most  important  is  coal,  of  which  the  output, 
13,209,371  tons,  shows  a  small  decrease,  namely,  about 
3  per  cent.,  below  that  of  the  previous  year.  It  may 
be  added  that  the  decrease  in  Portland  cement  and 
other  structural  materials,  which  was  so  marked  a 
feature  of  the  1914  returns,  has  continued  in  1915. 
Whilst  all  the  above  returns  are  stated  as  provisional, 
it  is  very  rare  that  the  final  returns,  when  completed, 
differ  in  any  important  respects  from  those  given  in 
the  preliminary  reports. 


NEW    ASPECTS    IN    THE    STUDY    OF 
JUNGLE    LIFE. 

AVERY  realistic  description  of  the  abundance  and 
variety  of  animal  life  in  the  tropics  is  given  by 
Mr.  C.  W.  Beebe  in  Zoologia,  vol.  ii.,  published  by 
the  Zoological  Society  of  New  York.  Mr.  Beebe  has 
had  a  wide  experience  of  jungle-life  In  many  lands, 
and  hence  his  latest  experiences  in  Brazil  have  the 
greater  value,  though  his  stay  there  was  confined  to  a 
few  days  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Para.  Abundance 
of  species  and  a  relative  fewness  of  individuals,  he 
remarks,  are  pronounced  characteristics  of  any  tropical 
fauna.  This  was  abundantly  confirmed  during  the 
trip  now  under  discussion.  He  quickly  discovered  that 
more  was  to  be  obtained  by  watching  particular  trees 
which  afforded  special  attractions  in  the  form  of 
vividly    coloured    fruit    than    in    aimless    wandering. 

NO.    2444,   VOL.    97] 


From  one  such  tree  during  the  space  of  a  week  of 
intermittent  watching  he  obtained  no  fewer  than 
seventy-six  species.  His  notes  were  not  confined  td 
birds. 

Some  of  Mr.  Beebe 's  most  interesting  observations 
are  indeed  those  which  relate  to  arachnids,  insects, 
and  the  great  land-snail,  Strophocheilus,  which 
was  apparently  eagerly  sought  by  kites.  His 
notes  on  Acrosoma  spinosa,  an  exceedingly 
spiny,  gaudy  spider,  the  lurking  place  of  which 
was  in  the  centre  of  its  web  near  the  ground, 
will  probably  provide  material  for  controversy  as  to 
the  value  of  "warning  coloration."  "Its  scarlet, 
yellow,  and  black  coloration,"  he  remarks,  "seemed  to 
indicate  an  unsavoury  mouthful,  and  it  was  corre- 
spondingly slow  to  take  alarm."  But  as  it  "hung 
upside  down  the  brilliant  colours  of  the  upper  side  of 
the  body  [were]  .  .  .  completely  hidden.  When  the 
creature  was  alarmed  it  dropped  to  the  ground.  .  .  . 
The  moment  it  touched  land  it  slipped  under  a  leaf. 
.  .  .  When  caught  in  the  hand  it  at  once  turned  upon 
its  back  and  feigned  death."  Thus  no  use  whatever 
seems  to  be  made  of  the  "  warning  coloration " ;  on 
the  contrary,  the  utmost  care  seems  to  be  taken  to 
conceal  these  tokens  of  inedibility.  A  "protectively 
coloured"  sf>ecies,  Epeira  audax,  lived  much  more 
closely  up  to  its  traditional  behaviour.  When  alarmed 
it  would  leave  its  web  and  seek  safety  by  clinging  to 
"mossy  or  lichened  bark,"  with  which  its  coloration 
harmonised  so  completely  that  "the  eye  had  to  search 
carefully  to  rediscover  it  each  time  it  sprinted  to 
safety." 

Just  before  leaving  a  brilliant  idea  struck  Mr.  Beebe, 
and  one  which  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  henceforth  be 
followed,  wherever  possible,  by  all  who  visit  the  forests 
of  the  tropics.  Filled  with  regret  at  leaving  the  scene 
of  so  many  wonders,  he  suddenly  bethought  him  to 
fill  a  bag  with  four  square  feet  of  jungle^  earth,  and 
this  was  examined  minutely  with  a  lens  while  on  board 
ship  on  the  voyage  home.  For  days  and  days  the 
search  went  on,  the  captures  being  sorted  out  and 
placed  in  spirit.  An  amazing  wealth  of  life  was  thus 
obtained,  remarkable  for  its  variety  of  form  and  colora- 
tion. The  latter  aspect  again  raises  interesting 
problems  concerning  the  precise  significance  of  colora- 
tion. Among  the  captures  thus  made  were  Ifpr«" 
sentatives  of  two  genera  of  ants  new  to  science.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  important  discoveries  m 
regard  to  the  animal  life  of  jungle  earth  would  accrue 
if  this  example  of  Mr.  Beebe's  were  generally  followed 
in  the  future. 


W.  P.  P. 


EYESIGHT  AND  THE  WAR.'^ 

(i)   The  Army   Sight  Test. 

AS  the  subject  of  refraction  is  our  text  this  evening 
it  is  only  meet  that  we  should  remember  the 
enormous  debt  we  owe  to  Donders,  the  great  Dutch 
ophthalmologist,  the  centenary  of  whose  birth  will  be 
celebrated  in  Holland  as  soon  as  the  war  is  over. 

One  of  the  subjects  that  Donders  threw  light  upon 
was  myopia,  or  short-sight.  In  his  classical  work  on 
refraction,  published  in  1864,  he  showed  that  the 
mvopic  eye  was  the  over-developed  eye,  the  too  k>ng 
eye,  contrasted  with  the  under-developed,  the  hyper- 
metropic, or  too  short,  eye.  ^ 

Now  myopia  has  been  the  hite  notre  of  the  War 
Office  for  very  manv  3'ears — thousands  of  young  men, 
otherwise  eligible,  have  been  rejected  for  the  Armv 
because  of  myopia.     The  nlyope  is  useless  without  his 

1  Abstract  of  a  Friday  evening  discourse  at  the  Royal  Institution  delivered 
on  June  9,  by  Dr.  Ernest  Clarke.  .... 


August  31^  1916] 


NATURE 


553 


glasses,  and  the  War  Office  has,  up  to  the  present, 
set  its  face  against  the  wearing  of  glasses.  The 
reasons  which  existed  formerly,  although,  of  course, 
quite  inadequate  now,  were  that  we  had  a  very  small 
Armv,  and  a  sufficiency  of  officers  and  men  could 
alwavs  be  counted  on,  besides  which,  this  small  Army 
was  mostly  employed  abroad,  and  then  chiefly  in  the 
tropics,  and  lost  or  broken  spectacles  could  not  easily 
be  replaced. 

Not  only  must  a  myope  wear  glasses  for  distance, 
but  he  must  wear  them  for  near  work — that  is,  always. 
It  was  the  old  treatment  of  wearing  them  for  distance 
only  (because  he  could  see  so  well  without  them  for 
near  work)  that  we  now  know  was  the  cause  of  the 
increase  of  the  myopia,  an  increase  which  sometimes 
led  to  complete  blindness. 

When  a  myope  does  any  near  work  without  glasses 
he  converges  unduly ;  this  means  excessive  pull  on  the 
internal  recti  muscles,  which  in  their  turn  pull  on  the 
tunics  of  the  eye,  which  leads  to  the  eyes  lengthening 
antero-posteriorly,  which  means  that  the  eye  becomes 
more  short-sighted.  This  increase  of  myopia  again 
causes  more  convergence,  and  so  a  vicious  circle  is 
produced. 

(Lantern  slides  were  here  exhibited  showing  the 
harmful  changes  produced  in  high  myopia,  viz.  atrophy 
of  the  choroid  and  retina,  haemorrhages  at  the  macula, 
and  retinal  detachment.) 

If  the  eyes  are  thoroughly  tested  under  atropine  or 
homatropine  and  the  full  correction  given  to  be  worn 
always  they  are  thus  made  normal,  undue  convergence 
ceases,  as  the  work  can  be  held  further  from  the 
eyes,  and  the  ciliary  muscle  is  made  to  work  normally, 
and  the  progress  of  the  myopia  is  stayed.  Out  of 
532  myopes  watched  by  me  over  a  period  of  five  years, 
ail  of  whom  were  fully  corrected,  only  four  progressed 
to  any  appreciable  extent. 

In  the  Army  we  can  get  rid  of  the  difficulty  of 
replacing  lost  or  broken  glasses  by  having  an  oculist 
and  one  or  more  working  opticians  attached  to  ever>' 
"centre"  with  a  register  of  the  glasses  worn  in  that 
centre,  and  once  we  have  this  as  part  of  the  Army 
equipment  we  can  replace  an  effete  sight  test,  which 
judges  only  the  uncorrected  vision,  by  the  Continental 
plan  of  estimating  the  value  of  a  man's  vision  when 
corrected. 


By  the  accompanying  table  we  see  that  the  highest 
amount  of  myopia  we  allow  is  about  25  D.,  whereas 
abroad  6  or  7  D.  pass  easily. 

A  strong  argument  showing  the  inadequacy  of  our 
present  system  is  that  men  will  pass  in  easily  who, 
from  the  visual  point  of  view,  may  be  far  worse  than 
those  rejected.  A  high  hypermetrope,  for  instance,  at 
twenty,  will  pass  the  present  test  easily,  but  some 
years  later  he  has  to  use  up  the  whole  of  his  accom- 
modative power  in  correcting  his  distant  vision,  and 
later  still  he  even  loses  the  power  of  correcting-  this, 
and  so  he  must  have  glasses  for  distant  and  near 
vision,  whereas  the  myope  of  5  or  6  D.,  or  more,  will 
be  able  to  read  without  glasses  when  he  is  a  hundred 
years  old ! 

It  is  true  that  at  present  a  jxjrtion  of  the  scheme 
suggested  above  is  being  adopted,  but  we  want  to  see 
it  in  its  entirety  and  for  all  time,  and  that  in  future 
the  wearing  of  glasses  will  never  be  considered  a 
disability  in  the  Army. 

Although  mj'opia  is  the  chief  visual  cause  that  keeps 
men  out  of  the  Army,  high  hypermetropia  and 
astigmatism  also  do  so,  and  the  maiorit>'  of  cases  can 
be  made  absolutely  normal  with  suitable  glasses. 

(2)  Eyestrain. 

We  now  pass  to  the  important  subject  of  eyestrain 
as  it  affects  our  soldiers. 

There  are  three  chief  causes  of  eyestrain  : — (i)  Low- 
errors    of    astigmatism ;    (2)    low    anisometropia ;    (3) . 
small  want  of  balance  in  the  external  muscles  of  the 
eye. 

(i)  Astigmatism. — Large  errors  take  care  of  them- 
selves. The  craving  for  distinct  vision  leads  the 
possessor  to  have  the  error  properly  corrected,  but  he 
is  generally  totally  unconscious  of  the  presence  of  a 
small  error,  as  the  ciliary  muscle,  by  producing  an  . 
astigmatism  of  the  lens — the  inverse  of  that  of  the 
cornea — corrects  it,  with  the  result  that  his  vision  is 
so  perfect  that  he  is  quite  annoved  with  the  physician 
he  is  consulting  for  some  functional  nerve  trouble,  if 
he  suggests  that  the  eves  are  at  fault.  It  should  be 
remembered  that  there  is  not  a  single  functional  nerve 
trouble  that  may  not  be  caused  bv  eyestrain.  The 
great    prevalence    of    astigmatism    is    shown    in    the 


Table  showing  the   Visual  Standards  for  Recruits  in   the    Chief  European   Armies. 

(Paterson  and  Traquair.) 


Amount  of  short-sight  (myopia)  allowed. 


Standard  of  corrected  vision. 


Remarks. 


Combatants. 


Germany 


Austria.  . 


Franxe     . 


6'5  D.  For  Landsturm 
no  limit  if  standard  of 
corrected  vision  attained. 


Non-combatants. 


Combatants. 


Non-combataots. 


1/2  in  better  eye.     Other  [ 
eye  may   have   minimal 
vision.     For  Landsturm 
vision  =  1/4.     If  one  eye  , 
bas\-ision  —  1.2  the  other 
may  be  blind. 


Virion  with  glasses  (corrected 
vistoo)  comits. 


6  D. 


7D. 


Abo\-e  6  D.  no  limit  if 
standard  of  corrected 
vision  is  attained. 


Above  7  P.  no  limit  if 
standard  of  cfxmeted 
vi^on  is  attained. 


Italy  . 


7D. 


Gre.\t 
Brit.\in 


No  amount  specified,  but 
according  to  vision  re- 
quired highest  amount 
possible  is  about  2*5  D. 


No  amount  specified,  but 
according  to  vision  re- 
quired highest  amount 
possible  is  about  2*5  D. 
in  better  eye  and.  3*5  D. 
in  worse  eye. 


Group  I,  1/2  in  each  eye. 
Group  2,  1/2  in  one ; 
1/4  in  other. 


1/4  in  one ;  i/io  in  the 
other. 


1/2  in  one   eye ;    i/zo  ia 
the  other. 


1/4  in  one  eye ;  i/ao  ia 
the  other. 


1/3  iu  each  eye,  or  1/12  in  one  eye  if  the  other  has 
i/i  (full  vision). 


No  correction  allowed  for  (  Uncorrected  vision 

general     service.        Un-        must   be  1/4  in  better 
corrected  \-ision  most  be 
1/4  in  each  eye,  or  1/4  in 
the  right  eye  with    i/io 
in  the  left. 


eye,  i/io  m  worse  eye. 
The  better  eve  may  be 
the  left. 


Visioa  with  glasses  counts. 


Vision  ^th  glasses  counts. 


Vision  with  glasses  counts. 


Vision  without  glasses  counts. 
For  home  service,  garrison 
ser\ice,  and  garrison  service 
abroad  glasses  are  allowcff 
within  un.«pccified  limits. 


NO.    2444,    VOL.    97] 


;54 


NATURE 


[August  31,  1916 


accompanying  table,  where,  out  of  5000  eyes,  4303  were 
found  by  me  to  be  astigmatic  : — 

1.  Same  refiac-  j'rtEmmeliopia(see  Pies- 
l     lion   in   boih  I  byopia  below)  ...         9 

eyes.                -[  b  Hypermetropia     ...  ^3 

(657)           L   Myopia       22 

\d  Astigmatism 

j  tlypermetropic  438 

\  Myopic          ...  113 

\^Mixed            ...  \2. 

2.  Refraction  different  ni  llie  two  eyes 
(Anisonieiropia)      ...         ...         ...  1843 


2500  individuals 
whose  sight 
aftercorrection 
was  normal  and<[ 
who  had  no 
dise.ise  of  the 
eyes. 


2500 


Emmetropia 

...      56 

Hypermetropia... 

...    425 

Myopia  ... 

...     210 

Astigmatism 

•••  4303 

5000  eyes  (as  above) 


5000 

Of  the  2500  individuals  961  were  presbyopic,  and  only  9  of 
these  were  emmetropic. 

(2)  Low  Anisometropia. — When  the  difference  be- 
tween the  two  eyes  is  small,  impulses  can  pass  from 
the  brain  to  one  ciliary  muscle  to  correct  this  defect. 
In  the  above  table,  out  of  2500  individuals,  no  fewer 
than  1843  had  "odd"  vision. 

(3)  Want  of  Balance  between  the  External  Muscles. 
— When  small  in  amount  impulses  caii  pass  to  one 
muscle  to  preserve  the  balance  and  so  avoid  diplopia. 

In  all  these  instances  of  eyestrain  this  extra  work 
means  an  enormous  unnecessary  waste  of  nerve  energy 
going  on  all  the  waking  hours,  and  it  becomes  im- 
perative to  stop  this  waste  in  all  cases  where  a  large 
amount  of  nerve  energy  has  already  been  lost,  which 
occurs  from  the  effects  of  high  explosives  on  our 
soldiers. 

At  the  time  of  the  explosion  the  "wind  pressure" 
is  so  great  that  I  have  recorded  a  case  ^  where,  with- 
out being  hit  by  any  foreign  body,  an  eye  was  com- 
pletely destroyed  through  detachment  of  the  retina 
by  wind  pressure.  This  wind  pressure  is  followed  by 
a  high  vacuum,  which  may  be  so  great  that  in  one 
case  I  saw  at  the  King  George  Hospital  the  eye  had 
been  evulsed.  Such  etfects  show  how  the  soldier's 
nervous  system  can  suffer.  Nerve  energy  is  lost — as 
after  a  bad  railway  collision — "virtue"  is  knocked 
out,  and  it  becomes  imperative  to  conserve  all  the 
■energy  that  is  left,  and  we  must  therefore  remove  the 
eyestrain  if  it  is  present.  At  the  King  George  Hos- 
pital oift-  resident  ophthalmic  medical  officer.  Dr. 
Harwood,  is  keenly  alive  to  the  ill-effects  of  eyestrain, 
and  almost  miraculous  have  been  some  of  the  cures 
by  simply  putting  the  invalid  into  glasses.  The  neur- 
asthenia following  head  injuries  can  often  be  cured 
in  the  same  way,  and  we  had  one  very  marked  case 
as  an  example  of  this.  The  man,  aged  thirty-eight, 
was  hit  on  the  head  while  lying  in  his  dug-out  at 
Gallipoli  by  a  wet  sand-bag  falling  8  ft.  He  was  not 
rendered  unconscious,  but  could  not  stand  or  walk. 
After  about  six  weeks  he  was  admitted  into  the  King 
George  Hospital.  His  symptoms  all  the  time  had 
been  inability  to  stand  or  walk,  constant  headache 
and  giddiness,  inability  to  read  or  even  look  at  the 
light,  with  rather  sluggish  memory  and  mental  facul- 
ties— no  treatment  had  succeeded.  Dr.  Harwood  put 
the  eyes  under  atropine,  when  there  was  an  imme- 
diate improvement.  He  was  given  glasses  correcting 
0-25  astigmatism  in  one  eye  and  037  in  the  other. 
Within  a  few  hours  of  getting  the  glasses  he  was 
reading,  and  within  a  week  he  could  stand  and  walk, 
and  his  headache  and  giddiness  had  disappeared. 

2  Medicnl  Press  and  Circular,  December  29,  1915. 


In  many  cases  where  wounds  had  remained  sluggish, 
the  nerve  energy  required  for  the  healing  processes 
being  used  up  by  eyestrain,  a  suitable  pair  of  glasses 
immediately  proved  a  remedy. 

When  there  is  a  want  of  muscle  equilibrium  the 
correction  of  the  astigmatism  generally  removes  it, 
and  in  bad  cases  of  head  injuries,  when  testing  the 
patient  was  impossible.  Dr.  Harwood  has  obtained 
excellent  results  by  simply  bandaging  up  one  eye. 
The  testing  has  to  be  very  carefully  done,  always 
under  a  cycloplegic,  and  the  ophthalmometer  is  a  most 
invaluable  instrument  for  estimating  the  astigmatism, 
even  012  D.  being  recorded. 

(The  ophthalmometer  and  its  working  were  here 
explained.) 

(3)  Presbyopia. 

We  have  been  reviewing  the  effects  of  the  war  on 
combatants ;  we  now  turn  to  the  effects  produced  on 
those  of  us  who  are  disqualified  by  age  to  take  an 
active  part. 

We  have  been  considering  defects  of  the  eyes  due 


-1«      iS       ?J      1?      30     -SS" 


NO.    2444,    VOL.    97] 


Fig.  I. — Variation  of  accommodative  power  with  age.     1200  cases. 

to  their  shape,  and  have  seen  how  prevalent  these 
defects  are;  yet  some  eyes  (it  is  true  very  few)  are 
normal.  Now  there  is  a  defect  that  attacks  aU  eyes 
if  the  individual  lives  long  enough,  viz.  presbyopia,  or 
old  sight.  It  may  not  be  manifest,  and  the  individual 
may  be  quite  unconscious  of  it,  but  nevertheless  no 
eve',  after  about  the  age  of  forty-five,  escapes  it.  It 
is  a  senile  change,  and  is,  as  Donders  observed,  no 
more  a  disease  than  is  grey  hair. 

At  the  beginning  of  life  the  crystalline  lens  is 
nothing  more  than  a  little  bag  of  semi-fluid  jelly._  By 
making  the  lens  thicker  we  can  focus  for  near  objects. 
This  is  done  by  the  ciliary  muscle,  and  chiefly  by  that 
portion  of  the  muscle  which  surrounds  the  lens  and 
acts  like  a  sphincter.  Tscherning's  theory  of  the 
accommodation  which  states  that  the  lens  is  squeezed 


August  31,   1916] 


NATURE 


000 


by  the  circular  portion  of  the  ciliary  muscle  and  made 
to  bulge  in  the  centre  explains  all  the  clinical  pheno- 
mena, which  the  old  theor)*  (Helmholt's)  failed  to  do. 
The  aberration  which  the  central  bulging  would  cause 
at  the  margin  of  the  lens  is  masked  by  the  contraction 
of  the  pupil,  which  always  accompanies  normal 
accommodation ;  thus  the  accommodative  power  de- 
pends rather  on  the  "squeezability"  of  the  lens  than 
the  power  of  the  muscle.  Now  this  "  squeezabilitj' " 
of  the  lens  becomes  less  as  the  lens  tissue  becomes 
firmer.  I  have  known  in  a  young  child  the  accom- 
modative power  to  be  as  much  as  20  D.,  whereas  it 
is  rare  to  find  anyone  above  fortj'-five  with  an  accom- 
modative power  higher  than  4  or  5  D.  Donders  gave 
us  a  diagram  showing  the  gradual  loss  of  accommo- 
dative power  through  age,  i.e.  through  the  sclerosing 
of  the  lens,  but  he  only  examined  150  cases,  and  in- 
cluded in  these  some  latent  hypermetropes,  so  that  he 
reckoned  the  accommodative  power  per  age  lower  than 
it  really  is. 

The  diagram  (Fig.  i)  was  prepared  by  me  from  1200 
cases,  all  of  which  were  first  made  normal  by  correct- 
ing their  defects.  Donders's  mean  line  is  marked,  and 
it  is  seen  that  it  coincides  practically  with  my  mini- 
mum line  from  the  age  of  thirt}-.  From  my  table  the 
presbyopic  point  may  be  said  to  be  arrived  at  between 
ages  fort\--five  and  forty-eight ;  in  other  words,  the 
emmetrope,  or  those  made  emmetropic  by  correction, 
must  at  that  age  have  increased  help  for  near  work. 


Age 

Minimum 

Mean 

Maximum 

7- ID 

9 

14 

18 

10-15 

7 

12 

iS 

20 

6 

10 

14 

25 

5  5 

9 

13-5 

30 

45 

75 

12 

35 

4 

6-5 

10 

40 

25 

5-5 

8-5 

4"; 

2 

4 

7 

:0 

I 

3 

0 

55 

075 

2 

; 

60 
65 

0-50 
050 

i75_ 
»-5     - 

4 
3 

70 

o-oo 

I 

2 

In  the  above  table  made  from  my  diagrams  there 
is  seen  to  be  a  great  difference  between  the  maximum 
and  minimum.  What  is  the  cause  of  this  difference? 
If  a  person  has  more  accommodative  power  than  the 
average  it  means  that  he  is  younger  than  his  years, 
and  if  less,  older. 

Among  the  many  causes  of  premature  seriilit)',  which 
a  lessened  accommodative  power  implies,  the  follow- 
ing are  the  chief  : — 

(i)  Alimentary  Toxaemia. — ^As  amply  shown  by  Sir 
William  Arbuthnot  Lane.  In  these  cases  I  have  found 
the  lens  to  be  a  very  delicate  index. 

(2)  Eyestrain. 

(3)  Worry,  Anxiety,  Sorroiv,  and  Overwork. — ^This 
war  has  hastened  the  onset  of  presbyopia,  and  in- 
creased it  rapidly  in  those  already  presbyopic,  through- 
out England,  and  probably  throughout  Europe.  The 
only  preventive  treatment  is  peace,  but  until  that  comes 
we  should  conserve  all  the  nervous  energy  we  have 
and  not  waste  it. 

Intestinal  toxaemia  should  be  removed  by  the  surgeon 
or  physician.  Eyestrain  should  be  prevented;  if  there 
is  any  defect  besides  the  presbyopia  (and  it  must  be 
remembered  that  simple  presbyopia  is  ver^'  uncommon, 
only  about  i  per  cent,  of  presbyopes)  it  must  be 
corrected,  and  the  invisible  bifocal  glasses,  which  cor- 
rect the  distant  vision  in  the  upper  portion  and  the 
reading   in    the   lower,    give   the   best   result.     If   two 

NO.    2444,    VOL.    97] 


separate  glasses  are  worn  they  are  not  changed  when 
they  should  be.  The  presbyopic  period  is  just  that  timt 
of  life  when  it  is  most  important  to  conserve  all  pos- 
sible nerve  energy.  Responsibilities,  worries,  and 
anxieties  are  probably  at  their  maximum,  and  we  have 
not  yet  reached  the  callousness  of  old  age ! 

Finally,  for  our  own  sakes  and  also  for  those  around 
us,  we  should  not  make  the  most  of  our  troubles : 
we  should  not  go  out  to  meet  them,  nor  let  "to-day's 
strength  bear  to-morrow's  loads." 


UNIVERSITY   AND   EDUCATIONAL 

INTELLIGENCE. 

The  Board  of  Education  has  issued  a  circular  (961) 
stating  that  with  a  few  alterations  the  Regulations  for 
Technical  Schools,  etc.,  in  England  and  Wales  (Cd. 
7996)  will  continue  in  force  for  the  school  year  1916-17. 
The  special  regulations  for  grants  in  aid  of  instruc- 
tion for  men  serving  with  the  colours  are  withdrawn, 
as  it  appears  from  the  returns  of  the  work  done  during 
the  past  winter  that  there  is  now  little  demand  in 
camp  for  classes  of  an  educational  character. 

The  Weardale  Lead  Company  is  establishing  two  min- 
ing scholarships,  each  of  the  annual  value  of  6cJ.,  in 
connection  respectively  with  the  Royal  School  of  Mines 
and  Armstrong  College,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  with 
the  object  of  combining  university-  training  with 
a  year's  practical  work  calculated  to  advance  a  student 
in  the  knowledge  of  mining  engineering.  The  scholar- 
ships are  to  be  known  as  the  "  Richardson  "  and  the 
"Cameron,"  after  two  directors  of  the  company. 

The  first  award  of  the  annual  prize  of  40Z.  founded 
bv  the  Earl  of  Cromer,  and  administered  by  the 
British  Academy,  for  the  best  essay  on  any  subject  con- 
nected with  the  language,  historv',  art,  literature,  or 
philosophy  of  ancient  Greece,  will  be  made  before  the 
end  of  19 1 7.  The  competition  is  open  to  all  British 
subjects  under  the  age  of  twent\-six  years  on  October  i, 
19 17.  Intending  competitors  must  send  the  title  of 
their  proposed  essay  to  the  Secretary  of  the  British 
Academv,  Burlington  House,  Piccadilly,  on  pr  before 
December  i,  1916.  The  essays  on  approved  subjects 
must  reach  the  Academy  by,  at  latest,  October  i,  1917- 

The  current  issue  of  the  Reading  University  Col- 
lege Review  is  concerned  almost  exclusively  \\-ith  the 
affairs  of  the  college.  It  includes  the  sixth  revised 
list  of  present  members  of  the  staff,  past  and  present 
students,  and  present  servants  of  the  college  who  are 
serving  with  the  Forces  or  in  the  French  Army.  The 
numerous  notes  which  begin  the  re\'iew  ser\-e  as  an 
excellent  record  of  the  various  developments  in  the 
activities  of  the  college.  Among  these,  the  extension 
of  domestic  training  may  be  mentioned.  A  scheme  has 
been  sanctioned  for  a  diploma  course  in  domestic 
subjects  extending  over  two  years,  and  for  a  certificate 
course  extending  over  one  year.  The  aim  of  these 
courses  is  to  train  girls  of  good  secondarv'  education 
to  manage  an  institution,  household,  or  home  with 
practical  efficiency  and  intelligence.  Instruction  in 
poultn.'-keeping  has  been  inaugurated,  and  the  work 
of  the  department  of  horticulture  is  being  extended. 

SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  August  14. — M.  Paul  Appell  in 
the  chair. — C.  Richet  :  The  conditions  which  influence 
the  average  monthly  deviation  of  the  birth-rate.  In 
countries  with  a  high  birth-rate  (more  than  350  per 
10,000)  the  mean  monthly  deviation  of  the  birth-rate 


556 


NATURE 


[August  31,  1916 


is  more  than  double  that  of  countries  with  low  birth- 
rate.— E.  Esclangon  :  The  sound  of  gunfire  and  zones 
of  silence.  The  detonations  arising  from  the  sudden 
expansion  of  gas  at  the  mouth  of  the  gun  and  from 
the  explosion  of  the  shell,  even  of  the  largest  calibre, 
are  inaudible  at  about  30  kilometres,  and  the  author 
concludes  that  the  sounds  heard  at  distances  of  50  to 
200  kilometres  from  the  front  are  due  to  the  waves  set 
up  in  the  air  by  projectiles  moving  with  initial  veloci- 
ties greater  than  the  velocity  of  sound. — L.  Bouchet  : 
The  electric  expansion  of  solid  insulators  in  the  sense 
normal  to  an  electrostatic  field.  The  changes  of 
length  were  observed  by  an  interferential  method  for 
glass,  ebonite,  and  paraffin.  Calculations  based  on 
Maxwell's  equation  for  the  pressures  normal  to  the 
field  agree  well  with  the  experimental  figures  for 
paraffin  wax,  but  are  not  in  accord  with  the  results 
-for  ebonite  and  glass. — R.  Ledoux-Lebard  and  A. 
DauTillier  :  Theoretical  and  experimental  researches  on 
the  bases  of  radiological  dosimetry. — Ed.  Lesne  and 
M.  Phocas  :  The  presence  of  living  and  virulent  micro- 
organisms at  the  surface  of  projectiles  enclosed  in 
cicatrised  tissues.  Experiments  with  bullets  extracted 
from  healed  wounds  demonstrate  the  reality  of  latent 
microbism. 


New  South  Wales. 


G.    Hamilton, 

Carabidae  from 

In    December, 


Linnean    Society,     May    31. — Mr.    A. 

president,  in  the  chair.^ — T.  G.  Sloane  : 
the    Upper    Williams    River,    N.S.W. 
-1915,  a  party  of  naturalists,  organised  by  Mr.  W.  J. 
Enright,    of    West    Maitland,    visited   the   part  of    the 
Mount  Royal   Range  known  as  the  Barrington   Tops 
. — a    basalt-capped    plateau,    5000    ft.    above    sea-level, 
from  which  the  Barrington,  Allyn,  Paterson,  and  other 
rivers  take  their  rise.     The  route  followed  was  north- 
west  from  Dungog,   along  the  Williams   River;   after 
the   level    of   3500    ft.  is   reached,   the   track  keeps   to 
the  summit  of  the  narrow  ridge  dividing  the  valleys 
of   the  Williams  and  Allyn   Rivers,   until,  beyond   the 
-source  of  the  Williams,  Barrington  Tops  are  reached, 
distant  about  37  miles  from  Dungog.     Fagus  moorei 
is  the  predominant  tree  in  the  brushes  at  4100  ft.  and 
upwards.     In   one   locality,    near  the    southern    source 
of    the     Barrington,     at    about    4800    ft..    Eucalyptus 
coriacea  was  plentiful.     Collecting  was  carried  on  in 
six   localities,    four  of  them   above  4000  ft.,    and   two 
much   below.     Representatives   of   forty-six   species   of 
Carabidae  were  obtained,  and  have  been  identified,  of 
which  nine,  and  two  varieties,  are  described  as  new. 
Eighteen   species,   all   of   which   are   known    from   the 
coastal    districts    between    Sydney    and    the    Clarence 
River,  were  found  to  occur  below  the  level  of  4000  ft. 
Specimens  of  twenty-eight  species  were  collected  above 
this    level,    mostly    members    of    typical    eastern    Aus- 
tralian   genera-     The    most   striking   is   a    remarkable 
species,    doubtfully    referred    to    Trichosternus.    which 
appears    to    be    more    closely    allied    to    certain    New 
Zealand  species    than  to  any  known  Australian  species. 
Another   notable   species    is   Agonochila  ruficollis,    SI., 
hitherto  known  only  from  the  forests  of  south-western 
Australia;   but   this  is   closelv   allied   to  a  Tasmanian 
species,  and  to  A.  hinotata,  White,  from  New  Zealand. 
— H.  J.  Carter  :  Description  of  a  new  genus  and  three  new 
species  of  Tenebrionidae  from  Barrington  Tops,  N.S.W. 
A  genus,  with  the  facies  of  Cryptodus,  and  presenting 
some  resemblance  to  Asphalus,  Pasc,  with  one  species, 
and    two    species    of    Cardiothorax,    are    described    as 
new. — The  late  Dr.   A.    Rutherford,   with   notes  by  E. 
Jarvis :    A    new    scale-insect    affecting    sugar-cane    in 
New  Guinea.     A  new  species  of  Aulacaspis.  different 
from  either  of  the  two  known   Australian  species,   is 
described. 

97] 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

Highways  and  Byways  in  Galloway  and  Carrick. 
By  the  Rev.  C.  H.  Dick.  Pp.  xxix  +  536.  (London: 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     6s.  net. 

Bacon's  Large-Scale  Map  of  the  British  Battle  Front. 
(London  :  G.  W.   Bacon  and  Co.,  Ltd.)     6cl).  net. 

Smithsonian  Institution  Bureau  of  American  Ethno- 
logy. Bulletin  62.  Physical  Anthropology  of  the 
Lenape  or  Delawares,  and  of  the  Eastern  Indians  in 
General.  By  A.  Hrdliiika.  Pp.  130.  (Washington ; 
Smithsonian   Institution.) 

Domestic  Science.  By  C.  W.  Hale.  Part  ii.  Pp. 
x  +  300.  (Cambridge:  At  the  University  Press.)  4s. 
net. 

Field  and  Laboratory  Studies  of  Crops.  Bv  Prof. 
A.  G.  McCall.  Pp.  viii+133.  (New  York:  J.  Wiley 
and  Sons,  Inc.;  London:  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.) 
2,s.  6di.  net. 

American  Civil  Engineers'  Pocket  Book.  By  M. 
Merriman  and  others.  Third  edition.  Pp.  ix+ 1571. 
(New  York  :  J.  Wiley  and  Sons,  Inc. ;  London  :  Chap- 
man and  Hall,  Ltd.)     21s.   net. 

Parks  and  Park  Engineering.  By  Prof.  W.  T. 
Lyle.  Pp.  viii+130.  (New  York  :  J.  Wiley  and  Sons, 
Inc.  ;  London  :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.)  5s.  6d. 
net. 

Earth  Pressure,  Retaining  Walls,  and  Bins.  By 
I^rof.  W.  Cain.  Pp.  x  +  287.  (New  York:  J.  Wiley 
and  Sons,  Inc. ;  London  :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Ltd.) 
I05.  6d.  net. 


PAGE 

•    537 


CONTENTS. 

A  Surgical  Book  from  the  Front  

The     Worth    of   Chemistry.      By   Sir   T.    Edward 

Thorpe,  C.B.,  F.R.S 538 

Economic  Geography.     By  G.  G.  C 539 

Our  Bookshelf 539 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

On  Fizeau's  Experiment. —Prof.  P.  Zeeman     ...  540 
The  Newcastle  Meeting  of  the  British  Association  541 
Scholarships  and  their  Relation  to  Higher  Educa- 
tion       544 

Prof.  W.   Esson,  F.R.S 547 

Prof.  S.  B.  McLaren.     By  W.  G.  D 547 

Notes 547 

Our  Astronomical  Column  : — 

Bright  Display  of  Aurora  Borealis  on  August  27  .    .    .  551 

Distribution  of  the  Poles  of  Planetary  Orbits  ....  551 

Solar  Variability 55^ 

Mineral  Production  of  Canada 552 

New  Aspects   in   the   Study    of  Jungle    Life.      By 

w.  P.  p •  552 

Eyesight  and  the   War.     {IVu/i  Diagram.)    By   Dr. 

Ernest  Clarke 55^ 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 555 

Societies  and  Academies 555 

Books  Received                                55^ 


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