i6 



NATURE 



[November 2, 191 1 



found possible hereafter to exceed. These two sources the 

 commission estimated at more than 39,000 million and 

 5000 million tons respectively, or together nearly half as 

 much as the amount of coal estimated to exist in the proved 

 coalfields. In the second place, the estimate was based on 

 the assumption that the output of coal would continue, at 

 any rate for some time, to increase at the same rate as in 

 the past. The commission, on the other hand, considered 

 that at a time not far distant the rate of increase of output 

 would become slower, to be followed by a period of 

 stationary output, and then a gradual decline. The sugges- 

 tion which Sir William Ramsay is reported to have made, 

 that Parliament should impose a penalty on wasteful ex- 

 penditure of energy supplies, would involve an amount of 

 control over the industries of the country which, under 

 present conditions, it would be impossible for any Govern- 

 ment to undertake. The commission looked forward to the 

 introduction of considerable economies in the future ; and 

 1 am advised that both in the working and in the using 

 •of coal progres« is being made in this direction. 



M. Henri Martin presented to the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences on October 16 a note on the skeleton of 

 Neanderthal man discovered by him at Quina, in the 

 department of Charente, during September last. This is 

 the fourth find of Neanderthal man which has been made 

 in the south-west of France during the last four years. 

 P'ormer discoveries were made in the valley of the Dor- 

 dogne, or of its tributary the V^z^re, while the present 

 has been made in the valley of a tributary of the Charente, 

 fifty miles further to the north. The stratum of sandy 

 clay in which the skeleton was found is regarded by M. 

 Martin as a former bed of the adjacent stream, and as 

 corresponding in date to the lower strata of the Middle 

 Quaternary deposits. In former discoveries of this nature 

 there was evidence that the remains had been buried or 

 been naturally entombed, but in the present case the 

 evidence points to the remains having been embedded during 

 the formation of the deposit in which it was found. In 

 the same stratum were found flint and bone implements, 

 which M. Martin ascribes to the older Mousterian civilisa- 

 tion. The teeth are very similar in character to those 

 found recently in a cave in Jersey, and described in the 

 current issue of The Journal of Anatomy and Physiology 

 by Messrs. Keith and Knowles. The skull, which has 

 become broken along the sutural lines, is said to show the 

 well-known characters of the Neanderthal race in a very 

 pronounced degree. The remains of the skeleton have been 

 transported to Paris still embedded in the blocks of loam 

 in which they were discovered, and will ultimately be added 

 to the collection in the Museum d'Histoire naturelle. 



Agriculturists will regret to learn that M. Gaston 

 Gautier recently died at Narbonne, at seventy years of age. 

 M. Gautier, who was brother of M. Armand Gautier, 

 president of the Academy of Sciences, was a member of 

 the Soci6t6 de botanique de France, and had published 

 several botanical memoirs. But his great claim to fame 

 is that he introduced the culture of the vine into a region 

 that had been little better than a huge pestilential swamp 

 round Narbonne. The first efforts at reclamation were 

 made on his own estate of Craboules, and finally met with 

 such success that many of his neighbours followed his 

 example ; by degrees the swamp gave way to fruitful vine- 

 yards. 



The death is announced, at ninety years of age, of Mr. 

 John C. Fuller, whose name is familiar to electricians in 

 connection with the Fuller bichromate battery. A corre- 

 spondent of The Times points out that Mr. Fuller was at 

 NO. 2192, VOL. 88] 



one time an assistant of Faraday. He joined the Electrical 

 and International Telegraph Company in 1854, and during 

 his connection with it worked with Latimer Clark and Sir 

 William Preece. One of the results of Mr. Fuller's early 

 studies was the invention of the universal battery system, 

 by which one set of cells works a whole group of (t^its. 

 He invented several other forms of battery. About i%^7 h- 

 assisted Messrs. Silver and Co. (the founders of the India- 

 rubber, Guttapercha, and Telegraph Works Company) in 

 applying indiarubber to telegraph purposes. Here he 

 designed the machines and methods for covering wire and 

 made vulcanite insulators. Later, before founding his own 

 firm, Messrs. John C. Fuller and Son, he assisted Mr. 

 W. T. Henley, the submarine cable manufacturer. At this 

 time he invented and patented the mercury bichromate 

 battery. 



It is with deep regret that w^||kn 



of the premature 

 death, at fifty-four years of age(|ppi*rof. Alfred Binet. 

 Prof. Binet was director of the laboratory of physiological 

 psychology at the Sorbonne, and was very well known 

 among psychologists — above all as an ardent investigator 

 of the first rank into problems of child psychology. He 

 founded " L'Ann^e Psychologique " in 1897, in which 

 appeared, year by year, highly important articles from his 

 own pen. Among many well-known books of his upon 

 psychological topics may be especially mentioned " L 'Etude 

 Expdrimentale de I'lntelligence," " La Suggestibilit6," 

 *' L'Ame et le Corps," and " Les Id^es modernes sur les 

 Enfants " (his latest publication). The science of psycho- 

 logy has suffered a severe loss in his death. 



The annual Huxley memorial lecture of the Royal 

 Anthropological Institute will be delivered on Thursday, 

 November 23, in the theatre of the Civil Service Com- 

 mission, Burlington Gardens, S.W., by Prof. F. von 

 Luschan, whose address will be on " The Early Inhabitants 

 of Western Asia." Mr. Alfred P. Maudslay, president of 

 the institute, will occupy the chair. 



The council of the Institution of Civil Engineers has 

 made the following awards in respect of papers published 

 in Section ii. of the Proceedings for the session 1910-11 : — 

 Telford premiums to Messrs. S. M. Dixon, H. J. F. 

 Gourley, J. Holden, A. Rogers, A. E. Griffin, Dr. F. C. 

 Lea ; and a Crampton prize to Prof. W. E. Dalby. The 

 Indian premium for 1911 has been awarded to Mr. C. E. 

 Capito, and the Webb prize to Mr. F. W. Bach. 



The list of lectures to be given on Mondays and Thurs- 

 days during the present session at the London Institution, 

 Finsbury Circus, London, E.C., has been circulated. 

 .Among the numerous subjects of interest to be dealt with 

 in the lectures we notice the origin of life question, by 

 Dr. H. C. Bastian, F.R.S. ; life on the high mountains of 

 Mexico, by Dr. H. F. Gadow, F.R.S. ; man under the 

 microscope, by Dr. Alex. Hill ; storm rains, by Dr. H. R. 

 Mill ; alchemy, by Mr. M. M. Pattison Muir ; and waves 

 of the sea, by Dr. Vaughan Cornish. 



At the meeting of the London Section of the Society of 

 Chemical Industry, to be held on Monday, November 6, at 

 Burlington House, Dr. E. G. Acheson, of New York, will 

 read a paper on deflocculation as affecting lubrication. 

 Dr. Acheson is well known as the inventor of lubricants 

 consisting of deflocculated graphite — " Aquadag " and 

 " Oildag " of carborundum, &c. The paper should be of 

 interest to all who are concerned with lubrication and 

 lubricants. Dr. Acheson will also give an address to the 

 Faraday Society on Wednesday, November 8. Non- 

 members of the society will be admitted by ticket, to be 



