3 o4 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



however, that Prof. Thomson's microphotographs have come out so badly in the 

 paper, and we have no hesitation in saying that the value of his interesting study 

 is much curtailed by unsatisfactory text figures. We hope that Prof. Arthur 

 Thomson will republish his work with hand-drawn illustrations. 



The recent eruption of the Kalut volcano in Java cost 40,000 native lives, and 

 caused millions of dollars worth of damage by inundations of hot mud and by falling 

 ashes. The eruption was, nevertheless, on a much smaller scale than that of 

 Krakatoa in 1883, the smaller death-roll in that catastrophe (estimated at 35,000 

 lives) being due to the isolation of the volcano. The area and population of Java 

 are almost identical with those of England ; the distribution of the inhabitants is, 

 however, much more uniform than in this country. Hence it follows that an 

 eruption of any one of the many volcanoes in the island involves a disastrous loss 

 of life. 



The details of our method of sound-ranging, which has been in active use since 

 the early months of 191 5, have not yet been released for publication (so far as the 

 writer is aware) ; but Prof. Trowbridge, who had control of the U.S. Signals 

 Service, has made known something of the American system {Science, May 30), 

 and the Scientific American (May 17) has given photographs of the apparatus 

 employed, though without any adequate description. A sound-ranging section 

 consisted of about 70 men commanded by a lieutenant. These had charge of a 

 central instrument which recorded photographically the time of arrival of the 

 sound of the enemy guns at a series of instruments at surveyed positions near the 

 front line, and covering a length of about five miles. The central instrument 

 delivered automatically developed and fixed photographic records in less than one 

 minute after the sound of the enemy gun reached the front line, and this record 

 could be interpreted by the use of quick graphical methods, so that the position 

 of the gun could be telephoned to the friendly artillery in about one minute more. 

 A survey after the advances of the American army in September and November 

 last " showed that the estimates of accuracy made by the sound-rangers in 

 reporting a location had been very conservative ; a location reported not accurate 

 to within fifty yards was often accurate to within twenty-five yards. In general, 

 the average of half a dozen locations of the same gun taken on different days under 

 different weather conditions was of a very high order of accuracy ; often a matter 

 of but five or ten yards." The method used by the U.S. army was apparently the 

 same as that used by ourselves. The original device must be credited to the 

 French ; the sound-receivers placed near the front line were invented by an 

 English physicist. 



Quite lately a new book of practical exercises on mammalian physiology has 

 appeared from the pen of Prof. C. S. Sherrington. This is the greatest con- 

 tribution to the teaching of physiology published within recent times, and it is 

 especially arranged in order to give the medical student of the better type an 

 insight into the physiology of the mammal from the point of view of experimental 

 medicine. We have no doubt that this book will cause a complete remodelling 

 of the teaching of mammalian physiology in this country and elsewhere. The 

 illustrations are surprisingly good, and are not over-burdened by explanations. 



Prof. Arthur Dendy has almost finished his work on certain aspects of 

 wheat and grain preservation. This work has been very successfully carried 

 out by Dr. Dendy, but we shall be glad to see his return to pure zoology. The 

 results of the work have been in the discovery of several important facts with 

 regard to the modus vivendi of the destructive wheat weevil. These discoveries 

 should lead to a modification of the modern methods of storing and packing 



