January ii, 19 12] 



NATURE 



o7 



prepared by the Meteorological Office, explain the very un- 

 settled weather over this country and western Europe. 

 While on the American side of the Atlantic the distribu- 

 tion of pressure was anticyclonic, and the weather for the 

 most part fair and quiet, iln weather over the eastern half 

 of the ocean remained 'in an exceedingly disturbed state. 

 A summary given of the Arctic weather in the summer of 

 191 1 from the log of the whaler Diana is of interest. The 

 ship passed Cape Wrath outwards on April 24, and again 

 homewards on November i ; she reached lat. 75° 28', 

 long. 75° 19' W., on July 18. Fog was included in 25 per 

 cent., and snow in about 20 per cent., of the weather 

 observations. The lowest temperature recorded was 23°, 

 on May 22. Gales were experienced in each month, especi- 

 ally in May and October. The north-west storm of 

 October 30, in about 59° N., 10° W., was little short of a 

 West India hurricane. 



According to the December (191 1) number of The 

 Illt4Tninating Engineer of New York, the American 

 illuminating engineer, after devoting his attention in the 

 past mainly to mechanical efficiency, is now in a position 

 to consider looks, and the question of attractive design will 

 play a prominent part in his business in the near future. 

 He appears to feel acutely the monopoly in electric lamps 

 held by the National Electric Lamp Co. The relations 

 between the gas and electric companies seem to be as 

 strained in America as they are in this country. At the 

 recent annual Convention of the National Commercial Gas 

 Association there were papers read which, on the one 

 hand, treated gas lighting as a decaying industry, and on 

 the other claimed for it a position of recognised superiority. 

 With such extreme statements possible, it does not appear 

 that the question is any nearer settlement in America than 

 it is here. The present tendency to use as the source of 

 light a tungsten filament or an incandescent mantle, neither 

 of which can with comfort be viewed directly, and to place 

 them in situations in which they are not themselves visible, 

 may lead to more trustworthy statements as to their 

 relative merits. 



In the Proceedings of the Royal Academy of Sciences of 

 Amsterdam (November 22, 191 1, p. 370) Dr. Th. Weevers 

 describes the isolation from the spadix of Sauromatum 

 venosuni, Schott., by pressing out and precipitating the 

 press-juice with alcohol or acetone, an enzyme which 

 decomposes dextrose with formation of carbonic and 

 organic acids, but without any production of alcohol. The 

 decomposition occurs equally well in an atmosphere of 

 either air or hydrogen. The action of the enzyme is in 

 some respects, especially as regards the formation of acids, 

 reminiscent of that of certain fungi and of the nocturnal 

 production of acids by Crassulaceae. The acid formed is 

 non-volatile with steam, and is therefore not formic, acetic, 

 propionic, or a higher fatty acid ; judging by microchemical 

 tests, citric acid is formed, and in one instance malic acid 

 was detected. Other acids may perhaps be present, but 

 lactic and tartaric acids are apparently not formed. The 

 same enzyme, but weaker in action, was isolated from the 

 leaves of the same plant. It is noteworthy that, contrary 

 to what appears to be the case with other respiratory 

 enzymes, alcohol and acetone do not destroy its action, so 

 that there is little, if any, loss of activity on precipitation 

 of the aqueous extracts with these solvents. 



The Scientific American for December 9, 191 1, is a 

 special naval number containing many articles by chief 

 officials connected with the United States Navy. Dealing 

 with the question of ammunition, we note that Rear- 

 Admiral N. C. Twining, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, 

 states that nitro-cellulose smokeless powder continues to 

 be the standard propellant. He claims for this powder that 



NO. 2202, VOL. 88] 



it is extremely satisfactory in stabilitj', ballistic character- 

 istics, and keeping qualities, and that there is no better 

 smokeless powder in the world. The powder consists 

 essentially of cotton dissolved in nitric acid, then dried, 

 colioided, and pressed into the desired form of grain. 

 When not unfavourably affected by climatic and other 

 adverse conditions, the powders retain their qualities for 

 from twelve to fifteen years. In case deterioration occurs, 

 due to such conditions, ample warning is given by the 

 physical appearance of the powder, so that no spontaneous 

 explosion or combustion is ever to be apprehended ; it is, 

 in fact, extremely doubtful whether spontaneous combus- 

 tion is possible, unless the powder should be subjected to 

 abnormalLy high temperatures. Powder which has changed 

 in character to such an extent as to reduce its ballistic 

 value is now reworked and made over into new powder. 



Dealing with failure of buildings caused by the drought 

 of last summer, an article in The Builder for January. 5 

 says that it is impossible to estimate the enormous damage 

 to buildings throughout the country produced by such 

 weather conditions as have been experienced. Suburban 

 London has suffered to a remarkable degree. In many 

 districts where the foundations rest upon clay buildings by 

 the hundred have needed underpinning. Clay retains a 

 considerable amount of water in its structure, and even 

 at the height of an ordinary summer is found to be quite 

 moist at a depth of from 2-5 to 3 feet from the surface. 

 Last year, however, the moisture evaporated to a much 

 greater depth, and the clay was often found to be perfectly 

 dry at depths of 5 and 6 feet. The consequent shrinkage 

 in bulk led to settlements in the buildings above. Again, 

 clay when dry tends to fall to powder, and the early 

 autumn rain, instead of percolating gradually through the 

 soil, finds its way into the fissures and washes the 

 powdered clay out of its place. Sliding or lateral move- 

 ment is likely to occur where a part only of the soil is 

 wet, the remaining parts being still quite dry. The 

 stability of a structure depends not so much upon whether 

 the clay is moist or dry as upon the condition, whichever 

 it be, remaining unaltered. The consideration of the action 

 of the. weather upon the clay emphasises the importance of 

 obtaining a depth of foundation sufficient to reach below 

 the point affected by sun and rain, and, further, of carry- 

 ing all foundations to a uniform depth. The writer of the 

 article, in dealing with more than seventy cases of failure 

 last autumn, found only two or three cases of fractures 

 occurring where the foundations were at a uniform depth. 

 The explanation is that uniform depth of foundation is 

 more likely to secure even settlement of the structure. 



The presidential address to the Dumfriesshire and Gallo- 

 way Natural History and Antiquarian Society, delivered 

 by Mr. Hugh S. Gladstone on October 20 last, consisted 

 of addenda and corrigenda to his volume " The Birds of 

 Dumfriesshire," which was reviewed in these columns on 

 January 19 of last year (vol. Ixxxv., p. 378). The council 

 of the Dumfries society has published the address in 

 pamphlet form, and this will prove a valuable adjunct to 

 Mr. Gladstone's book. 



Messrs. J. and .\. Churchiu. announce the following 

 works for early publication : — " Diseases of the Stomach," 

 by Prof. C. D. Aaron; "Who's Who in Science, 1912," 

 edited by H. H. Stephenson ; " Annual Tables of Constants 

 and Numerical Data," issued under the authority of the 

 International Congress of Applied Chemistry. The tables 

 are intended to contain all the numerical data likely to be 

 of interest in connection with chemistry, physics, and 

 allied sciences, pure and applied, to be found in the litera- 

 ture published during the previous year. 



