36 



ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. (BRITISH.) 



bushels. This shows how the bread-eating world 

 had depended, and still depends, on the United 

 States for the means of subsistence. The entire 

 world's contributions to the food-bearing area have 

 averaged but 4.000.000 acres yearly since 1869. It 

 is scarcely possible that such an average, under 

 exi.-ting conditions, can be doubled for the coining 

 twenty-five years. Almost yearly since 1885 addi- 

 tions to the wheat-growing area have diminished, 

 while tin- requirements of the increasing population 

 of tin- Stales have advanced, so that the needed 

 American supplies have been drawn from the 

 acreage hitherto used for exportation. Practically 

 there remains no uncultivated prairie land in the 

 I'nited Stales suitable for wheat growing. The 

 virgin land has been rapidly absorbed, until at 

 present there is no land left for wheat without 

 reducing the area for maize, hay, and other 

 necessary crops. It is almost certain that within a 

 generation the ever-increasing population of the 

 Vnited Stales will consume all the wheat grown 

 within its borders, and will be driven to import, 

 and, like ourselves, will scramble for a lion's share 

 of the wheat crop of the world." Continuing, 

 he described the conditions in Russia, Canada, 

 Australasia, the various countries of Europe, South 

 America, and Africa, and then claimed that 

 "should all the wheat-growing countries add to 

 their area to the utmost capacity, on the most 

 careful calculation the yield would give us only an 

 addition of some 100,000,000 acres, supplying, at the 

 average world yield of 12.7 bushels to the acre, 

 1.270,000,000 bushels just enough to supply the 

 increase of population among bread eaters till the 

 year 1931. By means of fertilizers containing 

 nitrogen the yield of wheat per acre could be 

 increased from 12.7 bushels to at least 20 bushels 

 per acre, as had been shown by experiments at 

 Rothamsted, where the high value of 36.4 bushels 

 per acre had been obtained. The source and supply 

 of nitrogen-yielding fertilizers was then discussed 

 and the conclusion reached that it would be 

 necessary to take it from the atmosphere by means 

 of electricity. We start with a shortage of wheat, 

 and the natural remedy is to put more land under 

 cultivation. As the land can not be stretched, 

 and there is so much of it and no more, the object 

 is to render the available area more productive by a 

 dressing with nitrate of soda. But nitrate of soda 

 is limited in quantity, and will soon be exhausted. 

 Human ingenuity can contend even with these 

 apparently hopeless difficulties. Nitrate can be pro- 

 duced artificially by the combustion of the atmos- 

 phere. Her" we come to finality in one direction ; 

 our stores are inexhaustible. But how about elec- 

 tricity f Can we generate enough energy to 

 produce 12,000,000 tons of nitrate of soda annually I 

 A preliminary calculation shows that there need be 

 no fear on that score ; Niagara alone is capable 

 of supplying the required electric energy without 

 much lessening its mighty flow." 



The remainder of his address was devoted to a 

 review of the recent advances in chemist ry and 

 physics. The brilliant researches in low tempera- 

 tures by Dewar were mentioned. The new elements 

 krypton, neon, and nit-Jargon, discovered by Ham- 

 say, and coronium, discovered by Nasini, were 

 alluded to. Klcctric signaling across moderate 

 distances without connecting wires as introduced 

 by Marconi and its future practical applications 

 received attention. The phenomenon discovered 

 by Zeeman, that a source of radiation i< affected by 

 a strong magnetic field in such a way that light of 

 one refrangibility becomes divided usually into 

 three components, two of which are displaced by 

 diffraction analysis on either side of the mean 

 position and are oppositely polarized to the third 



or residual constituent, was referred to. The work 

 on the relationship between ether and matter by 

 Larmor received brief mention. At greater length 

 he discussed the development of the researches that 

 began with Rontgen's discovery of his peculiar rays 

 of light, and in this portion of his address men- 

 tioned the growing acceptance of his own theory of 

 a fourth state of matter announced in 1881. The 

 fractioning of yttria, on which he began working in 

 1883, has been since continued and has recently 

 culminated in " absolute evidence that another 

 member of the rare earth groups has been added 

 to the list." For this new " asteroid of the terres- 

 trial family" he proposed the name monium. In 

 closing he referred to his connection many years ago 

 to certain psychic researches, and he boldly reiter- 

 ated his belief " that thoughts and images may be 

 transferred from one mind to another without the 

 agency of the recognized organs of sense that 

 knowledge may enter the human mind without 

 being communicated in any . hitherto known or 

 recognized ways." 



Proceedings of the Sections. A. Mathematics 

 and Physics. This section was presided over by 

 Prof. William E. Ayrton, who is Professor of Ap- 

 plied Physics in the Guilds' Central Technical Col- 

 lege, in London. In opening he referred to the fact 

 that " Section A this year is very fortunate in hav- 

 ing its meetings associated with those of an Inter- 

 national Conference on Terrestrial Magnetism and 

 Atmospheric Electricity, which is attended by the 

 members of the Permanent Committee for Terres- 

 trial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity of 

 the International Meteorological Conference. It 

 has been arranged that this permanent committee, 

 of which Prof. Riicker is the president, shall form 

 part of the general committee of Section A, ant" 

 also shall act as the Committee of the Interm 

 tional Conference, which will itself constitute a 

 separate department of Section A." Continuing, 

 he said : " Among the various subjects which it is 

 probable that the conference may desire to discuss 

 there is one to which I will briefly refer, as I am 

 able to do so in a triple capacity. The earth is an 

 object of much importance, alike to the terrestrial 

 magnetician, the telegraph electrician, and the 

 tramway engineer; but while the first aims at ob- 

 serving its magnetism, and the second rejoices in 

 the absence of the earth currents which interfere 

 with the sending of messages, the third seems bent 

 on converting our maps of lines of force into maps 

 of lines of tramway." Thus he showed how electric 

 traction seemed destined to ruin magnetic observa- 

 tions near towns, indeed had already done so in the 

 United States and British North America. 'I' IK 

 second topic which he presented before the section 

 was concerning " Science Abstracts," which, re- 

 cently established, had for its aim to " produce in 

 a single journal a monthly record in English of tho 

 most important literature appearing in all lan- 

 guages on physics and its many applications.'' 

 The general proposition of the indebtedness of in- 

 dustry to pure science he demonstrated by several 

 illustrations, after which he discussed with much 

 interest some of his own studies on the laws that 

 govern odors. He said: "There is a generally ac- 

 cepted idea that metals have smells, since if you 

 take up a piece of metal at random, or a coin out 

 of your pocket, a smell can generally be detected." 

 Then, discussing the various odors from the metals, 

 he concluded : " As regards the explanation of these 

 metallic smells, which have hitherto been attribute! 

 to the metals themselves. This. I think," he said, 

 " may be found in the odors produced when the 

 metals are rubbed with linen soaked in dilute siu- 

 phuric acid. For here, apart from any contact of 

 the metal with the skin, the aluminum, tin. and 



