502 



NATURE 



[June 8, 19 



1 1 



Norway. On ili" (.li>ininen River, in the east, three falls 

 arc utilised, I li' u|)|>(rmost, Kykkclsrud, yields about 

 4o,(>oo horse-jHJwcr, oi which 10,000 kilowatts is trans- 

 mitted at 60,000 volts (3-phasc 50 periods) to Christiania, 

 thirty-on<j miles away, and the remainder to Sarpsborg. 

 At Sarpsborg occurs the lowest fall of the Glommen, and 

 here there are two power stations — Hafslund, supplying 

 34,000 horse-j)ower to calcium carbide works and for zinc 

 smelting, and Borrcgaard, the output of 26,000 horse-power 

 of which is utilised by the Kcllner Partington Paper Pulp 

 Company, Ltd., owning the largest works in Norway. The 

 intermediate fall on the Glommen is at \'amma, where a 

 dam is now in course of construction under considerable 

 difficulties. This dam will have a height of 90 feet, and 

 will be one of the largest in Europe. The power station 

 will be in the centre of the river bed below the dam, and 

 will yield some 70,000 to 80,000 horse-power. 



A large number of the minor power stations in the 

 south supply the towns with light and power. Among the 

 smaller electrochemical works are the electro-iron and 

 steel works at Arendal. tlie experimental nitrate works of 

 the Badische Comp:iii\ :ii ("liristianssand, and nickel and 

 aluminium factories ii' .11 the same town. The nickel 

 works refine nickel matte, and turn out about 400 tons of 

 the pure metal j)er annum. .At Gjbssingfjord is Mr. Albert 

 Hiorth's small experimental electro-steel works. At Vad- 

 heim, on the west coast, is a sodium factory, and at 

 Trondhjem, in the north, carbide, ferro-chrome, and ferro- 

 silicon are manufactured. 



Another great power centre is in the Telemarken district 

 Ti the south-east of Norway. The Svaelgfoss power station 

 supplies 40,000 horse-power to the nitrate factory at 

 Notodden at a voltage of 10,000, delivered without trans- 

 formation. The four 10,000-horse-power machines — cap- 

 able of developing 13,000 horse-power — are among the 

 largest in the world. A power station now being con- 

 structed at Lienfoss will be able to furnish Notodden with 

 a further 20,000 horse-power. The Tinfoss Works, also 

 at Notodden, are intended to generate 15,000 horse-power, 

 to be used mainly for iron and steel smelting. 



The third of the great Norwegian falls is the celebrated 

 Rjukanfoss waterfall on the Maaneely River. The Mos- 

 vand dam, above this fall, provides a reservoir of about 

 840 million cubic metres (tons) of water, and five miles 

 below is another dam, forming the intake for the power 

 station, situated 1000 feet below. A lower fall of about 

 1000 feet provides the power for a second station. Both 

 of these power stations — the largest in Europe — will yield 

 140,000 horse-power, there being in each 10 units of 14,000 

 horse-power. The turbines, on account of the great height 

 of the falls, are Pelton wheels. The construction of the 

 dams, flumes, and power stations at Rjukanfoss was 

 attended with great engineering difficulties, which are 

 described in the paper. The power from these stations is 

 transmitted through sixty copper and aluminium cables to 

 Saaheim, where factories for the manufacture of nitro- 

 genous products to employ from 2000 to 3000 persons are 

 in course of erection. 



The paper concludes with a description of the power 

 plant at the Tysse falls, which consists of seven units, each 

 of 4500 horse-f>ower, and from w^hich electric energv is 

 transmitted at 12,000 volts to Odda, where it is used for 

 the manufacture of calcium carbide and of cvanamide. 

 Here again, on account of the steep, mountainous character 

 of the country, great difficulties presented themselves, par- 

 ticularly in the drilling of tunnels 1320 feet above the 

 fjord, and in fixing the flumes, some against a smooth 

 precipice, with an inclination of 60°. The Tvsse power 

 station will ovenUially yield some 100,000 horse-power. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Birmingham.— At the last meeting of the council the 

 following resolution was passed :— " The council of the 

 University has heard with great regret of the death of 

 t rof. Whitcombe. who for twentv-three vears was pro- 

 fessor of mental diseases at Queen's College, Mason 

 (ollege, and the University, and desires to place on record 

 Its appreciation of the valuable services he has rendered to 

 the University. " 



NO. 2 1 71, VOL. 86] 



Dr. Helen M. Wodehouse ha- 

 as lecturer in philosophy on b^i; 

 ship of th»' West Riding of V'ori 



At the forthcoming degree ci- 



are to be conferred on Prof. C i- - .1 ' . - ,. 



professor of accounting, and on Miss b. M. hry (.Vi.A.j, 

 the warden of the Hall of Residence for Women Students. 



Bristol. — Mr. Herbert Bolton, curator of the Bristol 

 Museum of Natural History, has been appointed reader in 

 pain-ontology in the University. 



The thanks of the council have been accorded to the 

 Local Committee on Agricultural Development (or passing 

 the following resolution : — " In view of the valuable re- 

 search work now being done in the University of Brist<4 

 in the interests of the cheese industry, and also in the; 

 investigation of plant diseases, this meeting urges that a 

 substantial grant for a given period of time be provided |^ 

 by the Development Commission, to enable th»* in%'«»«ti;^a-; 

 tions to be proceeded with until practical i re 



arrived at." 



Cambridge. — An offer to contribute 200I. a yctr !>«r the 

 next five years to the Geographical Education Fund ha* 

 been made by the council of the Royal Gec^raphical 

 Society, which has further granted an additional 100/. for 

 the year ending Michaelmas, 1912. A private benefactor 

 has also oflfered 100/. for the ensuing academic year. It 

 is proposed that these offers be gratefully accepted by the 

 University. 



A lecturer in historical and economic geography, a 

 lecturer in regional and physical geography, and a lecturer 

 in surveying and cartography, will be appointed by the ^ 

 General Board for five years from Michaelmas. The two ^ 

 latter will be known as the Royal Gec^raphical Society's 

 lecturers. 



It is proposed to confer the degree of Doctor of Letters, 

 honoris causa, upon Prof. Wilhelm Dorpfeld, principal ^ 

 secretary of the Imperial German ArchaK>lt^ical Institute 

 in Athens ; and the degree of Master of Arts, honoris 

 causa, upon Mr. John Watson. 



Oxford. — The following is the te.xt of the speech 

 delivered by Prof. Love in introducing Prof. H. L. Bergson 

 for the degree of D.Sc. honoris causa on May 27 : — 

 " Adest Henricus Ludovicus Bergson. inter huius aetatis ^ 

 philosophos insignis, vir multis nominibus laudandus, doc- 

 trinae novae et singularis suasor, eiusdem variis in r''bu« 

 probator, rationis sibi constantis et late patentis in\ 

 orationis vi lumine venustate pollens. Qui cum non 

 mathematicam et scientiam naturalem, sed etiam lii.-i 

 et philosophiam penitus hausisset, id consecutus est ut, - 

 quis alius, ipsius scientiae rationes corrigere et qua- 

 terminos statuere posset. Nova profecto eius est sententia. 

 esse quaedam, velut durand: notionem, sine qua vita et 

 libertas esse non po- i<^ in scientiam physicam 



mathematicis fundam uctam non cadant : nova 



etiam eius doctrina, fs>. quoddam cognitionis gen-. " " 

 scientiae non obnoxium, quo usa mens ipsam v» 



capiat, et durandi, vivendi, mutationis. motuum na; 



comprehendat. Hanc ad sententiam, cum multa alia, tun 

 rationem Darwinia.~;am exegit, qua de re magna contn 

 versia exorta est. cum multi multis in terris huic suffra 

 gentur, ii qui adhuc dissident eius acumen admirentur. 



Sheffield. — Mr. Llewellyn Lloyd, assistant curator 

 the Museum of Zoology, has been appointed entomologi 

 to the Sleeping Sickness Commission of the British South 

 Africa Company, and is leaving England at once f 

 northern Rhodesia. 



is^^f 



Thf. fourth holiday course and second nine ir 

 training course in physical instruction for men and 

 at Silkeborg. Denmark, sanctioned by the Danish 1 

 of Education, will commence respectively on July 31 atM 

 September 2. Particulars can be obtained from the prii - 

 cipal, H. G. Junker, Silkeborg, Denmark. 



A COURSE of three lectures on " The Evolution of 

 Coasts " will be Jliven by Prof. Albrecht Penck. director 

 of the " Institut fur Meereskunde. " Berlin, at Burlingtoi 

 House, Piccadilly. London, W., at 5.30 p.m. on June 27, 

 28. and 2Q. The following is an outline syllabus :— 

 development of English mastal scenery ; formation of 



