July 21, 1923] 



NA TURE 



109 



house work in the United States has been the estab- 

 hshment of radio fog signals. A plea was entered for 

 the international adoption of some system of under- 

 water signals, by which vessels in an area of reduced 

 visibility could transmit information as to their 

 courses to other vessels in the vicinity, as well as 

 obtain the bearings of such vessels. The radio com- 

 pass and position-finder now enable ships to approach 

 the coast in thick weather. It remains to provide 

 means to ensure the safety of vessels coasting and 

 entering port. The feeling was expressed that the 

 subject of marine signalling was so important as to 

 claim a larger share of the time of the next Congress. 



On July 4 Professor Dr. Ernst Beckmann completed 

 his seventieth year. He was an apothecary originally, 

 and changed over to the study of chemistry in 1875 

 under Kolbe in Leipzig. After a short stay at the 

 Technical Highschool in Braunschweig he went to the 

 University of Leipzig in 1884, where he worked first 

 with Johannes Wislicenus and later with Wilhelm 

 Ostwald. It was about this time that Beckmann 

 made the observation that ketoximes are transformed 

 by pentachloride of phosphorus into acid amides. 

 This Beckmann transformation has shown itself to 

 be a very productive reaction for the investigation of 

 the stereo-isomeric nitrogen compounds. At the 

 same time Beckmann elaborated the well-known 

 methods for the determination of molecular weights by 

 observation of lowering of the freezing point and 

 rise of the boiling point of solutions. The use of Beck- 

 mann's apparatus is now widespread, as well as the 

 Beckmann thermometer employed in these operations, 

 which combines accuracy to one - thousandth of a 

 degree Centigrade with a very simple regulation for 

 the most varied ranges of temperatures. After 

 having been for a short time at the imiversities of 

 Giessen and Erlangen, Beckmann returned to Leipzig 

 in 1897, and remained thereas director of the laboratory 

 for applied chemistry until 191 2. During this time 

 he showed great activity in numerous investigations 

 in pure chemistry, foodstuffs, and drugs ; further, he 

 constructed the burners fitted with sprays which 

 allow of continuous working with coloured flames 

 for spectroscopic and other optical work. In 191 2, 

 Beckmann undertook the organisation of the newly 

 founded Emperor William Institute for Chemistry in 

 Dahlem, where Willstatter, Stock, O. Hahn, and Lise 

 Meitner have done inuch of their work. He resigned 

 from the directorship of this institute in 192 1, but 

 is still untiring in research and literary work. 



The rise and growth of scientific and technical 

 journalism is one of the most characteristic features 

 of modern civilisation. Some day the upward trend 

 of this movement must show a flattening tendency ; 

 but of the approach to this phase there is at present 

 little evidence. The " List of Serials received in the 

 Library of the U.S. Department of Agriculture" 

 (Washington : Government Printing Office), exclusive 

 of U.S. Government and State Agricultural College 

 and Experiment Station Publications, which has 

 recently been received, includes no less than 5586 

 disti];ict serials. If the excluded serials were added 

 o the above figure and the publications currently 



NO. 2803, VOL. T 12] 



received by the U.S. Weather Bureau were also 

 thrown in, a grand total of at least 7000 serials would 

 be recorded. All these serials, of course, are not ex- 

 clusively devoted to agriculture, but they have, at 

 any rate, been collected with the view of the further- 

 ance of the work of the Department. As regards the 

 purely agricultural serials, the list is practically a 

 bibliography of the subject. The auxiliary sciences 

 are adequately but less completely represented. The 

 list, which is an 8vo volume comprising 358 pages, 

 is divided into four parts. Parts i and 2 form a 

 register of the entire collection. Part 3 is an ad- 

 mirably compiled subject classification of the serials 

 set forth in parts i and 2. This part includes the 

 U.S. Government and State publications. Part 4 is 

 a regional distribution of the data contained in parts 

 I and 2. The list is admirably compiled and clearly 

 printed. The librarians of the Department are to be 

 congratulated upon its production. 



Referring to Dr. J. S. Owens' letter in Nature 

 of June 23, p. 848, regarding the haze overlying 

 southern England on Derby Day, Mr. F. R. Farquhar- 

 son states that he made an exposure on the course, 

 using the widest aperture of the lens on a Kodak film, 

 when the horses suddenly appeared out of the mist 

 barely a hundred yards away. The result when de- 

 veloped showed over-exposure, thus proving that the 

 mist had not that light-stopping power common to 

 the normal London mist. Dr. J. S. Owens writes: 

 " The obstruction caused by a haze depends not only 

 on its density but also on the length of path of the light 

 through the haze. The distance between camera and 

 object was short and thus obstruction correspondingly 

 small, while it is probable also that the vertical 

 thickness of the haze was small and thus plenty of 

 light penetrated. Anti-cyclonic weather, which is 

 often accompanied by an inversion of temperature 

 gradient a little above the ground, provides suitable 

 conditions for a shallow dust haze. The dust being 

 unable to penetrate the ' lid ' formed by the tempera- 

 ture inversion, may travel for great distances along 

 the ground obstructing visibility of objects at a dis- 

 tance, but having little effect on the quantity of 

 light reaching the ground from the sky. In a London 

 smoke fog both the number of particles per c.c. and 

 their size are usually greater, while the thickness of 

 the layer of fogs is probably also much greater than 

 in a haze such as that on Derby Day." 



Mr. T. H. Digges La Touche, who is so well 

 known by his published work in connexion with the 

 Geological Survey of India, has prepared the catalogue 

 and subject-index of literature added to the library 

 of the Geological Society of London during the years 

 1915-1919. This volume of 545 closely printed pages 

 fills the gap in the valuable lists issued by the Society, 

 which are now complete to the end of 1922. Its 

 price (los.) is moderate, and for libraries the collec- 

 tion of the records for several years into one con- 

 tinuous series facilitates reference. The subject-index, 

 occupying half the volume, is a monument to the 

 careful reading and judgment of Mr. Digges La 

 Touche, and it must be remembered that, for the 

 period named, the work represents very fairly the 



