NOTES 469 



In a short note to the Library Association Record Mr. F. W. Clifford gives 

 an account of the scheme for the foundation of a representative Library of 

 Chemical Literature which has been rendered possible by the co-operation of the 

 Chemical Society with a number of other societies interested in chemistry — 

 namely, the Association of British Chemical Manufacturers, the Biochemical Society, 

 Faraday Society, Institute of Chemistry, Society of Chemical Industry, Society of 

 Dyers and Colourists, Society of Public Analysts. These societies contribute 

 towards the cost of the scheme, and their members have full use of the library 

 both for loan and reference. The generous policy of the Council of the Chemical 

 Society towards their library in pre-war days resulted in a collection of books 

 dealing not merely with the purely scientific aspect of chemistry, but also with 

 industrial processes. As a consequence, many important works of foreign origin 

 were to be found on their shelves which were of the greatest possible value to the 

 various War Departments and manufacturers who were striving to make essential 

 products which had always before been purchased from Germany. 



The Lancashire and Cheshire Coal Research Association has issued its first 

 two Bulletins. No. 1 contains notes of ten Introductory Lectures on Organic 

 Chemistry, with special reference to coal, and No. 2 deals with the Sampling of 

 Coal. Both are extremely clear and concise, and Captain F. S. Sinnatt, the 

 Director of Research, is to be congratulated on the manner in which his Associ- 

 ation is making its work public. It is a pity, however, that the pages of these 

 little pamphlets are of such an unusual size. It is generally agreed that we should 

 aim at standardisation in such matters, and while very large pages may sometimes 

 be desirable, those at the other extreme are not. 



The Radio Review (Wireless Press, is, bd.) is the name of a new monthly 

 journal whose sole aim is to record the scientific developments of radiotelegraphy 

 and telephony, and of related branches of applied science. During the war 

 period a vast amount of research has been carried out which is directly or 

 indirectly connected with the subject, and the three-electrode thermionic vacuum- 

 tube has produced a complete revolution in wireless practice. It has become 

 imperative for the research worker that information hitherto scattered through 

 many periodicals should be gathered together in a single one ; and it is believed 

 that the number of people interested in this branch of science has become 

 sufficiently large to give the journal every prospect of success. The fact that 

 Prof. G. W. O. Howe has consented to act as editor serves as a sufficient guarantee 

 of the scientific character of the journal. The first number contains, among 

 other articles, the first portion of a paper by Prof. Eccles on the mathematical 

 theory of the Triode valve ; an excellent account of the Proceedings of the British 

 Association at Bournemouth which were concerned with wireless work ; and a 

 valuable collection of abstracts of the latest radio literature (including patents), 

 which, from their excellence, we suspect to be the work of Mr. P. R. Coursey, 

 the assistant editor. 



Major-General George O. Squier, the chief Signals Officer of the U.S. Army, 

 has given some account of the work done during the war on the use of trees as 

 antennas in wireless practice in the Journal 0/ the Franklin Institute (June 1919). 

 He does not explain details very clearly, and avoids giving diagrams of connec- 

 tions, but it would appear that tree-contact should be made by driving a copper 

 nail well into the tree (e.g., 3 in.), while the earth should consist " practically of 

 several short pieces of insulated wire sealed at the outer ends, radiating from a 

 common centre, and buried a few inches beneath the surface of the ground in the 

 neighbourhood of the tree." So complicated an earth is not, however, essential, 



