370 



NATURE 



[September 8, 1923 



undergoing combustion at high pressures is prejudicial 

 to the " activation " of nitrogen. This is a point of 

 considerable theoretical as well as practical interest ; 

 and it harmonises with the views which I have put 

 forward respecting the mechanism of carbon monoxide 

 combustion. 



Leaving the many theoretical issues raised by our 

 experiments to be settled by a further appeal to facts 

 as the investigation proceeds, I perhaps may be per- 

 mitted to indicate in conclusion one or two directions 

 in which, if followed up with adequate means and 

 resources, the work might lead to results of further 

 interest. 



In tin- fust place, we have already in some of our 

 experiments attained extraordinarily high tempera- 

 tures ; and we could go even higher were it not for 

 the fact that we are approaching the safety limits of 

 the bomb. If funds were forthcoming for the con- 

 struction of a new bomb, with the necessary acces- 

 sories, to enable us to work at still higher initial 

 pressures than we have hitherto employed, we should 

 be able to study the effects of subjecting small 

 quantities of diluent gases to the combined influence 



of exceedingly high temperatures and intensive radia- 

 tion. This is an aspect of the research which wc arc 

 hoping it may be possible for us to pursue in the 

 interests of science. 



It is also obvious that !;:ive con- 



siderable bearing upon the problem of nit 

 For, having proved that nitrogen can \>' 

 the combustion of carbon monoxide at ! 



especially when hydrogen is so far as po.. 1 



from the system, we have in blast-furnace gas an 

 almost unlimited supply of just the right kind of rav 

 material from which nitric acid could undoubtedly b< 

 easily produced under the conditions indicated by our 

 experiment. In view of the national importance o: 

 nitrogen fixation we hope these possibilities will 1>< 

 thoroughly explored at home, and not left entirely t' 

 foreign organisations, which will probably not bt 

 to seize upon them. High-pressure combustion 

 is opening up new possibilities of extending our know 

 ledge, and however much chemical research may ha\< 

 taught us concerning flame and combustion since thr 

 time of Davy, there remains a vast amount still to bt 

 learned. 



Current Topics and Events. 



The terrible calamity in Japan caused by an earth- 

 quake on Saturday last, September i, arouses the 

 most profound sympathy in the scientific world, in 

 which every one has the highest regard for the 

 brilliant achievements of the Japanese. It is re- 

 ported that the cities of Yokohama and Tokyo, 

 including the Imperial University buildings, have 

 practically been destroyed and that as many as 

 300,000 persons have lost their lives. The catas- 

 trophe is therefore one of the greatest ever recorded, 

 and Japan will need all the help which other nations 

 can give in order to recover from it. The chief 

 shocks occurred about noon on Saturday and were 

 recorded at 4h. iim. i8s. on Saturday morning on 

 Mr. J. J. Shaw's seismograph at West Bromwich, 

 Birmingham, as well as at other seismological stations 

 throughout the world. The earthquake was pre- 

 ceded by a typhoon ; and it will be remembered that 

 the Messina-Reggio earthquake at the end of 1908, 

 when 77,000 lives were lost, was similarly preceded 

 by torrential rain. It is reported that the Osaka 

 Observatory places the seismic centre in the Izu 

 Peninsula. When, in 1906, an earthquake wrecked 

 a great part of the city of San Francisco, the terrible 

 fire which broke out immediately afterwards com- 

 pleted the destruction, and this appears to have been 

 the course of events at Tokyo and Yokohama. As 

 is usual, high sea- waves, often incorrectly called 

 " tidal waves," have flooded low-lying land and 

 thereby added to the destruction and casualties. 

 Most Japanese earthquakes originate in the great 

 trough of the ocean floor, nearly 5^ miles deep, known 

 as the Tuscarora Deep, between the Kurile Islands 

 and the coast of Japan. This was the place of origin 

 in 1896 when the coast of Japan was devastated by 

 three great waves, the largest about 50 feet in height, 

 which caused the destruction of 20,000 lives in a few 

 minutes. The Messina-Reggio earthquake similarly 



NO. 2810, VOL. 1 12] 



originated beneath the sea and a destructive sea- 

 wave rose to a height of 25 feet and swept over the 

 coasts on both sides of Messina Strait. Japan ha<: 

 suffered grievously from earthquakes and effect- 

 caused by them, but the catastrophe of Saturda> 

 last seems to have been the worst that it has ex 

 perienced, and the Japanese people will need great 

 fortitude in order to face the future with the confidence 

 in which they have met other trials in the past. 



Sir Arthur Evans has published in the Times of 

 August 28 and 29 an account of his past season's 

 excavations at Knossos, which have produced some 

 remarkable results. In particular, a wonderful series 

 of frescoes was recovered from a town house, belong- 

 ing to the beginning of the Late Minoan age, which 

 was found at a depth of about five metres in an un- 

 excavated strip of ground running up sdmost to tlv 

 western border of the Palace. The frescoes had beti! 

 torn from the walls of upper rooms in the house and 

 lay heaped together in a ver^- fragile state. The 

 principal elements of three or four whole scenes, 

 besides a multitude of detailed features, have been 

 reconstituted. Taken as a whole they are said to 

 afford a unique illustration of the painter's art of 

 the golden age of Minoan Crete at approximately 

 1600 B.C. The variety of naturalistic detail, which 

 is described as going beyond anything yet brought 

 to light among Minoan remains, includes marine 

 growths, birds, and many flowering plants, some of 

 which can be identified. Monkeys of the genus 

 Cercopithecus, which are not found nearer than the 

 Sudan, and a group of three warriors, of which t\\ 

 are negro mercenaries, point to close African con- 

 nexions. Some of the painted fragments are partly- 

 filled with Minoan writing. The abutment on the 

 Palace of the important prehistoric main road from 

 the south has been estabUshed^ and Sir Arthur Evans 



