NOTES 117 



of hydrolysis resemble those of mustard gas, but which yields on hydrolysis inside 

 the cell a base, e.g. ammonia, instead of an acid. 



We have received Bulletins Nos. 8, 9, 10 and 1 1 from the Advisory Council of 

 Science and Industry, Australia. No. 8 contains the results of further investi- 

 gations of the geology of the Bendigo Gold Field ; No. 9 deals with the possibilities 

 of the manufacture of ferro-alloys in the Dominion ; No. 10 gives a most in- 

 teresting account of the cardboard substitutes for tin-plate containers, with which 

 we have become familiar during the last two or three years. The most important 

 problem in their manufacture is the selection of suitable proofing materials for 

 different classes of containers. Of the various substances available for this purpose 

 {e.g. waxes, drying oils and resins, casein and gelatine, viscose and synthetic 

 resins) the Committee of the Research Council recommend a Bakelite varnish 

 which they call Magramite. 1 The cardboard container has first to be immersed 

 in a 20 per cent, solution of carpenters glue, to make the absorbent cardboard 

 surface impervious to the magramite. It is then dried and varnished by dipping, 

 painting or spraying, and finally it is stoved to harden the Bakelite surface and 

 to make it insoluble and free from odour. Containers so prepared are not only 

 suitable for foodstuffs, but also for such searching liquids as kerosene, turpentine, 

 and methylated spirits. The last Bulletin contains a review of the possibilities of 

 paper pulp manufacture in Australia. It appears that the prospects for materials 

 native to the Continent are not too promising, and it is anticipated that for some 

 years to come the principal material which would have to be used is straw. Apart 

 from this, satisfactory results have been obtained by pulping young karri-trees, 

 and a paper made from a blended pulp containing 80 per cent, karri and 20 per cent. 

 Gahnia decomposita (a sedge which grows abundantly near karri-trees) is reported 

 on very favourably. It is hoped that this may prove a partial solution of the 

 problem of utilising the enormous quantities of waste karri at the saw-mills in 

 Western Australia. 



The second Report of the British Association Committee on Colloidal Chemistry 

 and its general and Industrial Applications has been published by the Department 

 of Scientific and Industrial Research (H.M. Stationery Office, pp. 172, is. 6d. net), 

 as the British Association found itself unable to meet the greatly enhanced cost of 

 production. On the industrial side the Report deals with the part played by 

 colloids in the textile industry, in agriculture, in sewage purification, in the dairy, 

 in physiology, and in medicine ; while from its purely scientific aspect it discusses 

 peptisation and precipitation, emulsions, the Liesegang phenomena and electric 

 endosmose. Each page is so crammed with interesting information that it is 

 quite hopeless to attempt a detailed review, but any one desirous of obtaining 

 up-to-date information on this subject, which has become so amazingly important 

 in modern industry, would be well advised to procure a copy forthwith ; albeit, the 

 Report is primarily intended for those engaged in research work in colloidal 

 chemistry. 



On March 14 Prof. R. W. Wood of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 

 gave, before the Physical Society, a most interesting demonstration of two 

 signalling-lamps he has devised for use in warfare. The first consisted of an 

 electric lamp with a small filament placed at the focus of the object-glass of a 

 telescope. This produces a narrow beam, visible only at points covered by the 

 image of the filament when the telescope is sighted on them in the usual way. 

 If the beam so directed crosses a line of enemy trenches the bulb can be 



1 Bakelite is a synthetic resin obtained by the interaction of carbolic acid and 

 formalin. 



