March 9, 191 1] 



NATURE 



59 



A summary of the mineral production of Canada for 

 1909 is given, some of the more interesting items of which 

 are as follows : — 



Meiallic. 



Copper « 54,061,106 lbs. 



Gold abuuc ^2,000,000 sterling 



Pig iron from Canadian ore ... 149,444 tons 



Iron ore exports ... ... ... 21,956 ,, 



Lead ... 45,857,424 lbs. 



Nickel 26,282,991 „ 



Cobalt ? 



Silver ... .. 27,878,590 ounces 



Zinc ... • .• ? 



(In addition, there were produced 607,718 tons of pig 

 iron from imported [Newfoundland] ore.) 



A'^on-meta/Zic. 



Coal 10,411,955 tons 



Asbe.stos 63,349 ,, 



Asbestic and asbestic ;and ... 23,951 ,, 



Petroleum 420,755 barrels 



Pyrites 57.038 tons 



In addition to products of less importance, a number of 

 structural materials and clay products are also included 

 in the returns. These returns have been modelled upon 

 the mineral statistics of the United States, and thus copy 

 faithfully all the mistakes of the latter, the principle 

 having apparently been to get hold of a system that shall 

 show the largest possible money value, irrespective of the 

 consideration whether this is a true or a fictitious one. 

 Thus the ores, or, as they are called in the returns, the 

 metallic minerals, are valued by the amount of metal they 

 contain, on the assumption that the whole of this metal 

 can be extracted, and that its extraction and manufacture 

 cost nothing ; to get the grand total of the value of the 

 mineral products, the total value of the coal mined is 

 added to that of the metals thus calculated, though, of 

 course, the manufactured value of a metal is made up in 

 part, and often in large part, of the value of the coal 

 used in smelting it ; hence any coal used for smelting is 

 valued twice over, and the same is true of the coal used 

 in burning bricks, tiles, lime, &c. The values assigned 

 are therefore so misleading that it appears better not to 

 quote them. It is also surely incorrect to class arsenic, 

 chromite, ochres, and pyrites amongst the non-metallic 

 minerals. Although there are thus serious grounds for 

 finding fault with the principles adopted in compiling the 

 returns of mineral statistics, the work is, as usual, done 

 thoroughly well, and gives evidence that the organisation 

 of the Canadian Department of Mines has been put upon 

 a highly systematic basis. H. L. 



SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN AUSTRALASIA.' 



'X'HE Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand 

 Institute form a very remarkable series of volumes, 

 the contents of which deserve to be better known and 

 appreciated in the mother country than would appear to be 

 the case. They contain, amongst other things, the results 

 of nearly half a century of investigation by New Zealand 

 naturalists of the unique fauna and flora of their country, 

 and local geologists and ethnologists have also contributed 

 a large share to the imposing edifice of fact and theory 

 which is gradually being built up. A generation of 

 teachers, which included in its ranks such men as F. W. 

 Ilutton and T. J. Parker, could hardly fail to stimulate 

 research — if stimulation were needed in a country where 

 everything cries out for investigation. 



The remarkable organisation of the New Zealand Insti- 

 tute, with its constituent societies in al the important 

 ( cntres of population, and the no less r:^markable facilities 

 for university education at the four university colleges, 

 have no doubt also contributed largely to the result. 

 Opportunities for original work have been abundant, and 

 good use has been made of them. Much, of course, 

 remains to be done in the future, and it will be very many 

 years before New Zealand biologists have to seek " fresh 



1 (i) Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, vol. xlii. 

 (for 1909). . . , 



(2) Collected Papers from the Science Latoratories of the University of 

 Melbourne. 2 vols. (1906-9.) 



NO. 2158, VOL. 86} 



fields and pastures new." In the meantime, the hope may 

 be expressed that the New Zealand University may soon 

 be able to see its way to an increase in the number of its. 

 science professors, accompanied by that necessary division 

 of labour vi'hich has long been urgently called for. The- 

 professors themselves would then have more liberty for 

 research work, and this is a matter of vital importance. 



We believe there has never yet been a professorship of 

 either botany or zoology, pure and simple, in New Zealand, 

 and the botanical teaching has generally been in the hands- 

 of professors who have themselves specialised mainly in 

 zoology. This fact makes the results attained all the more 

 remarkable. The New Zealand University has always. 

 wiselv insisted upon a course of general biology as the 

 necessary foundation for both zoology and botany, and the- 

 fatal divorce which has taken place between the two 

 subjects in the old country has thus to a large extent been 

 avoided. We should be sorry to see this admirable arrange- 

 ment upset, but surely some means could be devised 

 whereby existing chairs could be divided without sacrificing 

 the general biological training. 



The forty-second volume of the Transactions and Pro- 

 ceedings of the New Zealand Institute marks a distinct 

 advance upon its predecessors in the character of the 

 illustrations, which in previous volumes have often left 

 much to be desired. More care will have to be taken, 

 however, in supervising the printing of the coloured plates. 

 In the copy before us the registration of plate xxxi. is 

 nearlv an eighth of an inch out, producing a grotcscue- 

 dislocation. One of the most interesting papers in the 

 volume is "A Comparative Study of the .Anatomy of Six 

 New Zealand Species of Lycopodium," by T. E. Holloway, 

 a pupil of Prof. A. P. W. 'Thom.as ; and Miss B. D. Cross 

 has a well-illustrated paper on some New Zealand 

 halophytes, treated mainly from the oecological point of 

 view, in which the influence of Dr. Cockayne's work is 

 clearlv recognisable. Mr. Aston 's " Botanical Notes made 

 on a Journey across the Tararuas " deserves special mention- 

 on account of the beauty of the photographic illustrations. 



Another noteworthy paper is that by Dr. C. Coleridge 

 Farr and Mr. D. C. H. Florance, " On the Radio-act-'vity 

 of the Artesian-water System of Christchurch, New 

 Zealand, and the Evidence of its Effect on Fish-life." The 

 water from all the wells tested was found to contain a 

 considerable amount of radium emanation, and when it 

 first emerges from the well it has a very disastrous effect 

 upon voung fish and developing eggs. Experiments made 

 in the fish-hatchery of the Canterbury ^ Acclimatisation 

 Society showed that the number of eggs dying increased irr 

 direct proportion to the amount of radium emanation 

 present in the water. 



We have also received two volumes of collected paoers 

 from the science laboratories of the University of Mel- 

 bourne, published during the years 1906-q. We learn from 

 Prof. Osborne's preface to the first volume that in March, 

 IQ08, the Government of Victoria made a tjrant of loooJ. 

 to the University for the payment of scholarships in scientific- 

 research, and that in the two following years this sum wps 

 doubled. The result has been a marked increase In f-p 

 amount of research by post-graduate students in science 

 subjects. 



The volumes before us contain numerous papers emanat- 

 ing from the departments of anatomy, biolofjy, botany 

 chemistry, engineering, geology, natural philosophy, and 

 physiology. These have been collected from very various 

 nublicatio'ns and bound up together, and though they h.ive 

 been sorted out into two categories according to size, the 

 resulting volumes are necessarily somewhat clumsy and 

 awkwar'd to handle. Unfortunately, also, they do rot 

 contaMi nearly all the papers published by members of the 

 scientific departments of the university during the period 

 selected, but thev should serve to impress the supporters of 

 the university with the large amount of valuable research 

 work which is being: done. .As the different papers do not 

 anoear in these volumes for the first time, but were all 

 originally published elsewhere, it is perhaps undesirable to 

 attempt to notice them individually in this place. They 

 form a hii?hlv interesting record of what is being done in 

 the way of scientific research in the Melbourne University, 

 and show a great amount of activity on the part of both 

 teaching staff and students. A. D. 



