470 



NATURE 



[Febjiuary I, 191 2 



most gases ; but this might be accounted for by the un- 

 certainty of the exact value of C, arising from the small- 

 nt'ss of the temperature rango. If the values of the 

 viscosity of chlorine- and bromine at corresponding 

 temperatures are caiculatt.-d, it is found that the squares 

 of thf viscosities are proportional to the respective atomic 

 weights. (Corresponding temperatures signify those which 

 bear equal ratios to the respective critical temperatures.) 

 In this respect chlorine and bromine appear to conform 

 with the same rule as has been shown to hold for the 

 inert gases. — Dr. P. K. Shaw : The testing of plane 

 surfaces. Scraped and lapjH-d plane surfaces are found not 

 only in surface plates supplied by the engineering trade, 

 but also in several apparatus of precision, e.g. interfero- 

 meters and measuring machines. It is quite possible that 

 the errors of these surfaces may be the determining factor 

 in the accuracy of the measurement made in using these 

 apparatus, ^'et up to the present there seems to have been 

 no simple device for measuring these errors. To supply 

 this want, two forms of surface-tester have been made by 

 the writer : — (a) A stout wooden bar, 16 inches long, has 

 twin feet half-inch apart at one end, whilst there is a 

 third foot at the far end. Midway between the twin feet 

 at one end and the third foot at the other is a micrometer 

 screw. The instrument acts on the spherometer principle, 

 but contact is made electrically with a telephone in circuit. 

 (b) .\ steel bar, 12 inches long, has one foot quarter-inch 

 diameter at one end and a similar foot at the other end, 

 whilst midway between the feet is the end of a micro- 

 meter screw. Contact is generally made mechanically. 

 This instrument must be made very carefully, the flat 

 surfaces of the two feet and of the micrometer end being 

 in one position truly in one plane, (b) is made in dupli- 

 cate, so that by using first one tester and then the other 

 on one place of a surface, and then " fitting " them 

 together, the actual departure of the surface from plane- 

 ness can be found. These testers read to 1/10,000 inch, 

 and have an error on one reading of about that amount. 

 Investigations have been made on a considerable number 

 of " surface plates " and " straight edges " as supplied by 

 the engineering trade. A bad plate shows errors of about 

 1/2000 inch from true plane, an average one only 1/5000 

 inch, and some special ones of small size, recently made, 

 had a figure of only 1/10,000 as indicated by tester (b). 

 Tests were also made by these instruments on many 

 samples of plate-glass, for which the errors varied from 

 1/3000 inch to 1/300 inch on a length of 12 inches. Thus 

 we have a means of revealing a surface out of truth, 

 whether due to faulty making or to warping with lapse 

 of time. — Captain A. D. Fraser and Dr. H. L. Duke : 

 Antelope infected with Trypanosoma gambiense. (i) Ante- 

 lope may remain in apparently perfect health for a year 

 after having been infected with a human strain of T. 

 gambiense. (2) One antelope was still capable of infect- 

 ing clean laboratory-bred Glossina palpalis 315 days after 

 it had been infected. (3) A small quantity of blood taken 

 from one antelope 327 days after its infection was proved 

 by inoculation into a white rat to be infective. (4) As the 

 interval after the infection of the antelope increases, their 

 infectivity, as tested by " cycle " transmission experiments, 

 dissection of flies which have fed upon them, and by the 

 injection of the buck's blood into susceptible animals, 

 appears to diminish. (5) A duiker was infected with a 

 human strain of Trypanosoma gambiense by feeding 

 infected Glossina palpalis upon it. 



Oeological Society, January 10. — Prof. W. W. Watts, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — S. H. Warren : A late 

 glacial stage in the valley of the river Lea, subsequent 

 to the epoch of River-drift man. With reports 

 on the flowering plants, by F. J. Lewis; on the 

 mosses, by H. N. Dixon ; on the Mollusca, by A. S. 

 Kennard and R. R. Woodward ; on the Coleoptera, by 

 C. O. Waterhouse ; on the Entomostraca, by D. J. 

 Scourfleld ; and on the microscopic examination of the 

 sandy residue, by G. M. Davies. A carbonaceous deposit 

 embedded in the low-level river-drift gravel of the Lea 

 Valley, in the neighbourhood of Ponder's End, is 

 described. It belongs to the close of the Pleistocene 

 period, and is much later than the Moustierian deposits. 

 It may be of Magdalenian age. It is more probably post- 

 Magdalen ian, formed during the time of the supposed 



NO. 2205, VOL. 88] 



archicological hiatus between the PaUeolithic and the N< 

 tithic epochs. The deposit yields a varied fauna m 

 flora. The conclusions arrived at indicate climatic con 

 ditions similar to those now found in Lapland. Tlu 

 evidence of this comparatively late Arctic climate in the 

 south of England is important. It throws light on many 



questions with regard to the relationship of " ' ^■•^■f 



man to the (jlacial period. It may have b<i 

 conditions represented by the Ponder's End „ 

 might appropriately be named) which caused the migi 

 tion of Pala-'olithic man to less inclement regions. 'I ! 

 evidence is interesting as showing another imports 

 fluctuation of climate during the Pleistocene period. 



Royal Meteorological Society, January 17.— Dr. H. 

 Dickson, president, in the chair. — Dr. H. N. Dickson 

 Some meteorological observations. .MeteorolAr^- '^ ^ 

 the present time reached an important and ( ■■ 

 in its history. This is due, in the main, to tl 

 of three principal factors : — (i) by the effluxion of iini< 

 mass of observational material has been accumulated wh; 

 urgently requires examination and discussion with 1 

 object of ascertaining the precise meaning and value 

 the records and of improving routine methods for iK- 

 future ; {2) the rapid increase of knowledge of the condi- 

 tions obtaining in the upper atmosphere has modified and 

 is modifying current views as to atmospheric phenom* : 

 generally, and new interpretations must be placed u\>- 

 the distributions observed at the surface of the earth ; 

 (3) the importance of applied meteorology in relation to ? 

 agriculture and other activities of everyday life is '^ 

 ing more generally recognised. It follows that • 

 in many directions urgent need for the extended ji. 

 tion of research work. Increase of popular interest ;> 

 public support is necessary, and the active assistance 

 research workers must be enlisted. It is to be noted tt 

 the investigations required are of many different quali!:' 

 tions ; they include the criticism and improvement 

 methods of routine observation, participation in organ 1- 

 exploration of the upper air, investigation of statistical .1 

 analytical methcxls of dealing with data already colleci 

 investigation of mathematical or physical problems sta' 

 as the result of observation, and the examination or 

 statement of geo'graphical or other questions affecting • 

 relation of meteorology to the problems of botam .. '. 

 other applied sciences. 



Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, January k^ 

 Mr. II. Livingstone Sulman. pre>idi>nt, in the ch.i^r 

 Frank Reed: A submerged flexible-joint main. A bi 

 description of the construction and laying of a 30-ii 

 water-main across the valley of the mountain river T.i: 

 makau, New Zealand. For reasons of economy, 

 author decided to adopt the use of a submerged flexil 

 joint main in preference to a pipe bridge, despite the 

 somewhat hazardous nature of the operation, due to the 

 rapid flow and treacherous nature of the river to '^■ 

 crossed. The pipes used were 30 inches in diameter, w 

 a length of 12 feet, with flanges at each end reinforced 

 brackets, and between each set of three of these secti. 

 a flexible joint was bolted, consisting of a ball and sot- 

 connection, sealed with a lead filling, which was found 

 be quite v^atertight. The pipe was laid in the river 

 from a special pontoon moored between a line of pil<-^. 

 The main was laid on the river bed and then moored, and 1 

 it was found that the bed silted over it and prevented it 

 from shifting with variations in the current.— Cyril 

 Brackenbury : Unwatering Tresavean Mine. A descrip- 

 tion of the method adopted during the past five years 

 unwater the Tresavean Mine in Cornwall, which was r 

 onlv flooded, but in many parts of the shaft eitli- 1 , 

 partially or completelv choked by debris. The depth of 

 the main shaft was 1422 feet. Electrical high-lift turbine 

 pumps were used for the unwatering process, but the opera- 

 tion involved a number of problems due to the existence 

 of a former timbering and the extensive choking 

 encountered, together with varying quantities of incoming 

 water, according to the rainfall at different seasons of 

 the year. Consequently, the average rate of sinking was 

 subject to many fluctuations, and was sometimes for a 

 brief period a minus quantity. Much valuable experience 

 was gained during the process of unwatering the mme, 

 which is given in detail bv the author.— Humphrey M. 



