132 



NA TURE 



[September i, 1923 



The Institute has tmdertaken the analysis of records 

 for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 19H-1914, 

 the Cope Antarctic Expedition, and the Gold Coast 

 Survey. It has also prepared for the Admiralty a 

 chart of co-tidal and co-range lines in the North Sea 

 constructed on a new plan, namely, by calculation from 

 the tidal current data, using the dynamical equations 

 which connect the currents with the surface gradients. 

 Similar methods have been applied to the tides of 

 the northern portion of the Irish Sea. Much work 

 has also been done on the more purely mathematical 

 branches of tidal theory. 



The work of the National Institute of Agricultural 

 Botany at Cambridge, though only started in the new 

 buildings in 1921, has made sufficient progress to 

 justify the issue of an annual journal embodying the 

 chief scientific results obtaified year by year. In the 

 first number the director reports on the potato 

 maturity and yield trials, from which it is already 

 possible to draw trustworthy conclusions in spite of 

 disturbances to the results brought about by such 

 factors as the use of seed tubers drawn from different 

 districts, and in some cases affected with virus 

 disease. The barley trials, however, do not as yet 

 warrant the publication of a detailed account, owing 

 to unfavourable weather conditions during 1922, but 

 it is hoped that by the end of the next season it will 

 be possible to make a critical analysis of the experi- 

 mental results. The included fifth annual report of 

 the Official Seed Testing Station indicates that much 

 wider use is being made of the facilities provided, 

 25 per cent, more persons having submitted samples, 

 the increase in the number received from farmers 

 being 35 per cent. An interesting innovation was a 

 course of training in seed testing, followed by practical 

 and theoretical examinations, several of the candidates 

 being nominated by various seed firms. The journal 

 (which may be obtained from the Secretary of the 

 Institute, Huntingdon Jload, Cambridge, price is. \d. 

 post free) concludes with the report of the Potato 

 Synonym Committee and a synopsis of recent work 

 on leaf [roll and mosaic of the potato in Ireland, 

 read before a special meeting of fellows of the Insti- 

 tute. 



An interesting note by Dr. R. C. Benedict upon 

 laws'introduced by various States in U.S.A. to protect 

 rare wild plants is published in Science for July 20. 

 More than forty species of wild ferns and flowering 

 plants are protected in Vermont by an act passed in 

 192 1 ; Connecticut legislated to protect the climbing 

 fern, Lygodium palmatum, so long ago as 1867, and 

 has since introduced new statutes extending the list 

 of protected plants ; it has also enacted that ship- 

 ments of wild plants, legally sold as from private 

 land, must bear definite indications of their source, 

 while written permission from the landowner must 

 be filed with the county officers. California protects 

 the Toyon berries (Heteromalis arhutifolia) so much in 

 demand for Christmas decoration, while practically 

 all the wild flowers of Yosemite are protected. 

 Massachusetts has also passed a comprehensive law, 

 and Dr. Benedict quotes with approval the text of a 



NO. 2809, VOL. I 12] 



plant protection law recently proposed in Illinois. 

 The many plant lovers interested in legislation tu 

 protect British wild plants would probably find the' 

 numerous legislative experiments in this direction 

 made by the different States a valuable source of 

 information on the subject, especially if trustworth> 

 information can also be obtained as to the degrc* 

 of success obtained. Dr. Benedict states that 

 evidence from both botanical and commercial sources 

 indicates that the Vermont legislation has proved 

 effective. Some laws have probably been badh 

 drafted ; Dr. Benedict emphasises the fact that th* 

 plant must be treated differently from the migratory 

 animal ; it belongs to the land on which it grows 

 and, except perhaps in the case of infectious disease 

 or poisonous plant, the State may not restrirt the 

 farmer's operations upKJn the land. 



At the third annual meeting of the British Chemical 

 Plant Manufacturers' Association, held in London on 

 July 18, the chairman (Mr. L. M. G. Eraser), in moving 

 the adoption of the annual report, directed attention 

 to the principal aims and activities of the Association. 

 He said that a great deal of work has been carried out 

 by its committee in standardising various types of 

 chemical plants, and that consequently manufacturers 

 have altered their patterns at considerable trouble 

 and expense, for the ultimate advantage of chemical 

 manufacturers. Also, the properties of chromium 

 steel have been thoroughly investigated, and it is 

 hoped that a continuance of the work will lead to a 

 satisfactory solution of some of the problems con- 

 nected with the use and manipulation of the alloy in 

 the construction of chemical plant. The technical 

 chemist is constantly needing vessels capable of with- 

 standing higher temperature and pressure than ever 

 before, and the Association is fully alive to the im- 

 portance of watching and following up the results cf 

 metallurgical research into suitable alloys for such 

 purposes. In particular, need is felt for further 

 technical research on the part of ironfounders into 

 cast-iron, with the view of obtaining a closer grained 

 and stronger metal more capable of resisting corrosion 

 by electrolytic action. It is hoped that the Associa- 

 tion will be represented on the Cast-Iron Research 

 Association and other similar research organisations. 

 An interim report has been presented to the Associa- 

 tion of British Chemical Manufacturers upon the 

 training of chemical engineers, which is full of diffi- 

 culties in regard not only to the framing of a curri- 

 culum but also to persuading educational authorities 

 to adapt their methods to new requirements. The 

 tendency of present-day education is to be too in- 

 tensive ; a much broader training would be of far 

 more use to the majority of men. It is to be re- 

 gretted that, owing to insufficient support being 

 forthcoming, the Association will not participate in 

 the Chemical Section of the British Empire Exhibition 

 next year. 



We regret to announce the death on August 26 

 of J^Irs. Hertha Ayrton, well known in the scientific 

 world for her researches on the physics of the electric 

 arc and other subjects. 



