428 



NATURE 



[January 25, 1912 



«xi«U at the prcitcnt time, particularly ai r«;gards such 

 f-rtns as "brass" and "bronze." A kystein of nomcn- 

 II •• was put ftirward in which uUoys arc classifu-d 

 :<lin>j to ihp system of binary nlloyti to which ihcy 

 t|': <>\iniatt> inoKt cioMcly. and clasii names for such binary 

 .. ins wi-rr udvo(-at«>d. 



I'rof. T, Turner dealt with the behaviour of certain 



alloys when heated i»» va<uo. It was observed, a year 



\'<r. that on meltinf> brass xn vacuo the whole of the zinc 



ilises, leavinf> the copp<'r. This separation is quanti- 



I .' if the heating is not too prolonged and th<' t<;mpera- 

 lure nut above 1200" C. The behaviour of other copper- 

 /.inr alloys was therefore investigated. A sample of 

 " |)oisoned " brass — i.e. brass containing iron, lead, tin. 

 arsenic, and other impurities — was heated in vacuo at 

 i2«K»° C, and the residue examined. All the zinc, lead, 

 aiul arsenic, and a little of the tin, volatilised, leaving a 

 les'due of ctjpper, iron, and most of the tin. It is sug- 

 gested that heating in vacuo might be advantageously 

 applied for the refining of crude copper, brass scrap, &c. 



Hard" zinc may be refined by heating in vacuo to 

 vxi" C. i.e. to a scarcely visible red heat. Zinc distils 

 nadily in glass vessels in vacuo, the vapour being colour- 

 less and transparent. The zinc condenses in globules, 

 having the appearance of mercury. 



Prof. H. C. H. Carpenter described further experiments 

 on the critical point at 470° C. in copper-zinc alloys. The 

 so-«Talled /3 constituent in copper-zinc alloys is to be re- 

 garded below 470° C. as a minute and uniform complex 

 of a and 7 particles. Even after six weekf, annealing at 

 445^ C". no coalescence of the particles has been observed 

 in an alloy of exactly the cutectoid composition. When, 

 lu.w. \ri, a few crystallites either of a or 7 are initiallv 

 pii-ciit in an otherwise pure eutectoid allov, then, on 

 ..imealing at 445° C, this stability is easil'v destroved. 

 1 he structural stability of the pure eutectoid alloy can be 

 explained by supposing that, at the inversion temperature 

 on rooling. the jesolution of $ into a plus 7 takes place 

 throughout the entire alloy almost, if not quite, 

 simultaneously. 



.Mr. F. Johnson, in his paper on the efTect of tin and 

 lead on the micro-structure of brass, records the results of 

 experiments made with the object of ascertaining the 

 structural relations which exist between lead and tin when 

 present in brass where the ratio of copper to zinc is 2:1. 

 Me strongly advocates a very thorough annealing of all 

 cast material of the 70/20/1 and 62/37/1 compositions 

 (Admiralty and Naval brass respectively) before subject- 

 ing it to rolling or drawing. 



OXFORD METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.^ 

 "^^ E are glad to see the appearance of the volume referred 

 to below, containing as it does the meteorological 

 observations made at the RadclifTe Observatory, O.xford, 

 for the years igoo to 1905 inclusive, because there has been 

 difficulty in obtaining the necessary funds for printing. 

 Fortunately the Radcliffe Trustees, by means of a grant 

 «f a special character, have been able to overcome this 

 difficulty; and not only will the arrears of printing be made 

 ;4ood. but, as the director remarks, " we hope before manv 

 months are past to be able to clear those off and in future 

 to publish the results of our meteorological observations 

 promptly in a regular annual form." This is really good 

 news, because meteorologists— and there are now manv of 

 them — who discuss meteorological observations desire to 

 include the most recent data, and in a great number of 

 cases these are impossible owing to the values not being 

 published. The meteorological observations made at the 

 RadclifTe Observatory, some of which date from the year 

 1850, form a most valuable, continuous, and homogeneous 

 series, so that it is most important that this series should 

 be published as soon as possible. Even now the present 

 volume goes only so far as the year 1905, so that the 

 observations for the years 1906 to 1911 are still missing in 

 a published form. 



In recent years attention has been directed to the peculiar 



1 " Results of Meieorolojtical Observations made at the RadclifTe Obser- 

 vatory. Oxford, in the Six Years 1000-5." Under the direction of Dr. A. A. 

 Kambaut, F.R.S. Vol. xlix. Pp. xx+3o<. (O.xford : Henr>' Frowde ; 

 London: Oxford University Press, tpii.) 



NO. 2204, VOL. 88] 



position the RadclifTe observations hold with regard to the 

 large qut!«tion of f!'- '! •> "•" s flow. It was foun*! '•■ '^=' 

 .Norni.tn and Dr. I. i the rainfall ut Oxf 



sented variations t: to year which con 



closely with the variuiiuus determined from a large nuiiiUrr 

 of combined stations, ;ind thes»> corresponded in nearly every 

 feature with the v. ' ' level of the Thames as 



recorded at the nu i>n the river. This fact 



showed that by sin.j... ,...^,.,^ ,..,>■ Oxford rainfall record-* 

 alone a good .'ipproxiinatiun to the subsr-quent flow of tli- 

 Thames could be gathered, because the natural flow of th" 

 Thames has a lag of four to five months on the rainfall. 

 It is noticed in this report that weekly values of rainfall 

 are communicated directly to the Thames Conservancy 

 Board, no doubt in consequence of this relationship. 



The volume is arranged on the same lines as that 

 previously issued for the period 1892 to 1899, with the 

 following important differences : — First, that the readings 

 of the fine underground platinum thermometers, which 

 were commenced in the year 189S (October), and continued 

 daily throughout the six years dealt with in this volume, 

 have been omitted, as it is intended to publish them later 

 in a separate form, with a full discussion of the results ; 

 secondly, that the tabulated daily results and monthly 

 means derived from the photographic and self-recording 

 in.struments have been included ; thirdly and lastly, that 

 the results of the hourly readings of the barograph, thermo- 

 graph, and hygrograph have also been incorporated in the 

 volume, with a discussion of the mean diurnal inequalities 

 in the readings of the three instruments for the period 

 under consideration, and a comparison of these inequalities 

 with similar qii.r.ntii;,.^ H,.,|. >,■.,! f,,,- ti,,. ,^,.r;,»^ ,ss.. t,> iR.S;.' 



AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS. 



TV/TR. ALFRED P. MAUDSLAY delivered his presi- 

 dential address at the annual general meeting of the 

 Royal .Anthropological Institute on Tuesday, January 23. 

 Mr. Maudslay said that even at the present day the idea 

 that the origin of man does not form a fit subject for 

 scientific inquiry has not yet entirely died out, and this 

 feeling has militated against anthropology becoming a 

 popular study. Meanwhile, the immediate and energetic 

 prosecution of anthropological studies is of vital necessity, 

 since the material with which this science deals is be- 

 coming rarer every year, as primitive customs yield to 

 civilisation. The fact that man's physique is less subject 

 to alteration gives a permanent value to the study of 

 physical anthropology. An example of the far-reaching 

 effects of a change in culture is, let us say, the introduc- 

 tion of writing, which has a democratic tendency, since it 

 places the tribal law, formerly preserved in the memories 

 of the elders, at the disposal of the younger members of 

 the tribe. Upon the present occasion attention may be con- 

 fined to certain points of the archaeolog}- of .'\merica, where 

 there are traces of many extinct civilisations. The word 

 civilisation is used for want of a better ; such a people as 

 the Aztecs, though civilised in some respects, were bar- 

 barous, or even savage, in others. In fact, our termin- 

 ology requires revision, for the existence of a savage 

 custom, such as cannibalism, does not necessarily imply 

 a low stage of culture. Want of recognition of this fact 

 has caused many misunderstandings between Europeans 

 and the " barbarous " races. Such misunderstandings 

 might be avoided by a knowledge of elementary anthro- 

 polog}", and this institute has not ceased to press upon the 

 Government the advisability of establishing in this country 

 an Anthropological Bureau, which would be of material 

 assistance to colonial administration. 



There is no better test of the antiquity of American 

 culture than the fact that maize and other vegetable foods 

 had been gradually evolved by patient cultivation from 

 obscure wild plants. The indigenous nature of that culture 

 is shown by the fact that they were unknown in other 

 continents before the discovery, though their value to man 

 led to their introduction all over the world immediately 

 afterwards. The languages of America, moreover, bear a 

 closer resemblance to one another than to those of the rest 

 of the world. 



In solving the many problems presented by .\merica. 



