402 



NA TURE 



[September 15, 1923 



According to the Journal of the Washington 

 Academy of Sciences, Dr. C. A. Browne has been 

 appointed chief of the United States Bureau of 

 Chemistry, in succession to Dr. C. L. Alsberg, who 

 resigned in July 1921. Dr. Browne has for the past 

 sixteen years been head of the New York Sugar 

 Trade Laboratory, and previously was chief of the 

 sugar laboratory at the Bureau of Chemistry, 



The Western Galleries of the Science Museum, 

 South Kensington, will be closed to the public on and 

 after Monday, September 17, for the purpose of 

 transferring the collections illustrating astronomy, 

 geodesy, meteorology, geology, chemistry, physics, 

 mining and metallurgy to the new buildings of the 

 Science Museum now in course of erection. These 

 collections will be placed on exhibition as soon as 

 galleries are available for their reception. 



The Research Station, Long Ashton, Bristol, will 

 be open to visitors on Wednesday, September 26, 

 when the experimental work" in progress will be ex- 

 plained by members of the staff, and in addition some 

 of the most recent types of spraying machines and 

 cultivators will be shown in working order by re- 

 presentatives of leading firms. Demonstrations of 

 tree-stump blasting will take place at 12.45 p.m. and 

 2.30 P.M. The Minister of Agriculture, Sir Robert 

 Arthur Sanders, Bart., has intimated his intention 

 of visiting the station on this occasion. 



A Northern News Service message from Berlin 

 dated August 21, which appears in the Publishers' 

 Circular of September i, states that at a meeting 

 of the leading German publishers on August 21 it 

 was resolved to suspend entirely the publication of 

 scientific works. Those issued during the past few 

 months have proved to be a drug on the market, 

 as the people who constitute the reading public for 

 this kind of books no longer have any money to 

 purchase them. Even the public and university 

 libraries can no longer afford to do so. 



The field experiments on the manuring of root 

 crops conducted at Rothamsted Experimental Station, 

 Harpenden, provide, at this time of the year, a 

 striking series of demonstration plots to which the 

 attention of all interested in agriculture is invited. 

 The potato plots show the effects of various potash 

 manures and of the addition of increasing quantities 

 of sulphate of ammonia to a complete fertiliser ; 

 comparative trials are also in progress using new 

 fertilisers. On the mangold plots, the value of town 

 refuse can be compared with that of dung, while, on 

 the swede plots, the effect of sulphate of ammonia 

 supplementing phosphates, potash, and dung applied 

 at sowing time can be seen. With white turnips, 

 comparisons are being made of the relative values of 

 different green manuring crops which have been 

 ploughed in. The secretary of the Station will be 

 glad to make arrangements for parties of farmers or 

 others desirous of inspecting the plots, or arrange- 

 ments can be made on arrival at Harpenden. 



Applications are invited for the post of assistant 

 in the pathological laboratory at Harpenden of the 



NO. 28 Tl, VOL. 112] 



Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Applicants 

 must possess an honours degree in science, or simi!"- 

 qualification, and be proficient in zoology and bota: 

 Among the duties of the person appointed will be 1 

 investigation and inspection of living plants in c 

 nexion with trade. Forms of application are obtam- 

 able from the Secretary of the Mini.stry of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries, 10 Whitehall Place, S.W.i. They must 

 be returned, with copies of recent testimonials, bv 

 October i. 



The monthly meteorological chart of the No: 

 Atlantic for September issued by the Meteorologi 

 Office, Air Ministry, gives details of marine mete<K 

 logy of general interest to all navigators traversi 

 the Atlantic. The information deals with winds a 

 ocean currents, normal isobars for the month, a 

 limits of ice, together with the charted positions 

 derelicts, the northern and southern limits of Trad' 

 and the mean paths of cyclonic disturbances. Th< 

 is much on these meteorological charts which wiil 

 enable a commander or officer to obtain not oni 

 the normal weather conditions for his passage, 1 

 also to foresee, by comparison with his own obser\ 

 tions, the unusual or exceptional weather, and ber 

 forewarned he can often take advantage of il;- 

 weather changes he experiences. Much time h;t- 

 been spent in obtaining the valuable data exhibit 

 and any ordinary navigator can easily master t; 

 information contained. On the back of the chart 

 Capt. L. A. Brooke Smith, the marine superintendent 

 of the Meteorological Oflftce, gives a discussion of a 

 West Indian hurricane which is traced from the 

 Tropics on September 13 of last year to the south- 

 west coast of the British Isles on September 26 and 2 ~ 

 passing south-east of Newfoundland on September 2 

 The storm was also dealt with in the U.S. M 

 Weather Review for September 1922. The disc;: 

 and storm track are given chiefly to show how wirele 

 telegraphy may be usefully applied for ascertainir. 

 the movement of such a storm when the ship 

 at sea. 



A paper entitled " Le scienze fisiche e matematich- 

 nelle opere di Dante," by Francesco Vercelli, w;, 

 published in the February number of the Rivislu 

 Marittima. The author endeavours to show the 

 character of Dante's ideas on arithmetic, geometry, 

 mechanics, cosmology, meteorology, and optical 

 phenomena by means of numerous quotations from 

 the Divine Comedy and the " Convivio." Some of 

 these do not seem very conclusive as regards Dante 

 opinions about the phenomena of Nature, and ar- 

 such as may be picked out from the writings of man; 

 poets ; but the majority furnish good illustrations of 

 the ideas prevalent at the beginning of the fourteenth 

 century, of which Dante is an excellent exponent. 

 Thus we find under the heading of mechanics nothing 

 but the notions of Aristotle as to why a body set in 

 motion through the air may continue to move after 

 the moving force has ceased to act on it. The author 

 thinks there are some slight indications of inde- 

 pendent thought in the direction of the true laws of 

 motion, but the passages quoted do not seem ver>' 



