OCTOHKR 6, 



1923! 



NA TURE 



519 



A RH^'IEW of the dye-stuffs industry of Great 

 Britain, by Prof. G. T. Morgan, is published in 

 Chemistry and ..Industry for September 14. In this 

 the progress made during and since the War in the 

 manufacture of intermediates and dyes is discussed 

 great detail, and the article gives a reasoned 

 :count of the present position and future prospects 

 \i one of the most important British industrial 

 mdertakings. 



The autumn conference of the Textile Institute 



HU be held at Leicester on October 18-19. The first 



|ay of the meeting will be spent at the Exhibition of 



Textile Machinery and Textile Fabrics which is being 



leld in Leicester on October 10-20. On the second 



lay, Mr. P. E. King, of the University of Leeds, will 



Ipresent a paper on " Artificial Silks," and later the 



^annual Mather lecture will be delivered by Prof. J. F. 



^Thorpe, who will take as his subject " The Applica- 



^tion of Dyes to Fibres and Fabrics." The remainder 



\.oi the meeting will be devoted to visits to works in the 



I neighbourhood of interest to members of the con- 



;ference. 



The first paper-mill for producing printing paper 

 and pasteboard from hydrophytes or water-plants on 

 a large scale was started on September 15 in Grossen- 

 hain, Saxony. The hydrophytes (Typha, Phragmites, 

 etc.) are made into pulp by a cheap new process of 

 the German Hydrophyte Co., and are said to yield a 

 good material for paper and pasteboard. The reeds 

 grow wild in shallow waters and their removal is 

 desirable in the interests of fishing ; in Germany, 

 therefore, as in other countries, large amounts of the 

 raw material are to be had freely. It has been 

 calculated that in Germany alone one million tons of 

 dry reed material can be gathered, thus freeing for 

 other purposes a like quantity of wood up to now used 

 for manufacturing wood pulp and cellulose. Several 

 further works for producing paper pulp from reeds are 

 to be erected in Germany as well as in other countries. 

 It is stated that the same process may also be used for 

 bamboo and similar tropical plants. 



The Gilbert White Fellowship offers an attractive 

 programme for the present session ending January 

 1924. Meetings and expeditions have been arranged 

 for most Saturdays during the winter ; noteworthy 

 events are lectures by Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan 

 on " Tlie Ah( li.inism of Inheritance" on November 3 

 and 1)\- Mr. F. K. S. Balfour on " Trees and Flowers 

 of tli( \orth-West Pacific Coast "on December i. The 

 Ramble Section of the Selborne Society has also 

 issued a programme of its fixtures for the next few 

 montlis (price 6d.). Numerous " rniiiMcs " of historic 

 and literarv interest are included, nio^tlv in London 



I'i \\> inii^'Miiiis. I. (•(lures have been arranged 

 pari iroui 1 he ruinlilcs aud ;unong them are " Among 

 the I liiiialaxas," I)\ Mr. 1-. W. Ilodi^kiusou , on 

 "ctolxT ^1 ; " Japan, I'.i^t, Present and I'uUirc," by 

 I'i')t. Wildcu-1 1,11 1 , on November 7; "In Neptune's 

 ! iUL;<l(nn," by .Mr. !■ . Mart in I )iui(au. on Xovcnibcr \ ,\ ; 



\iinn;il l)is^uis('s and Cii niou liaiv," li\- Mr. Willi'cil 

 Mark Wcl.l), on \o\ cinhcr j() : ;ind " .\al ni^c al I Ionic." 

 by Mr. M. A. I'lullips, ou i )(•( ciulx-r i..'. ( orr--- 



NO. 2814, VOL. I 12] 



spondence relating to the rambles, other than applica- 

 tions for tickets, should be sent to Mr. P. J. Ashton, 

 72 High Street, Bromley, Kent. 



A special volume of the Zeitschrift fiir Kristallo- 

 graphie, comprising no less than 640 pages and 

 numerous illustrations and plates, has been published 

 as a testimonial to the magnificent life-work in 

 crystallography of the founder and first editor (for 

 over fifty volumes) of the Zeitschrift — Prof. P. von 

 Groth. It consists of contributory memoirs on their 

 most recent original researches by thirty-two authors 

 of repute, mostly well-known contributors to the 

 Zeitschrift for many years and old friends of Prof, 

 von Groth. The two British contributors are Dr. 

 Tutton and Mr. Barlow, the former of whom sends 

 a thirty-five-page paper on the completion of his 

 many years' work on the sulphates, selenates, and 

 double salts, in the results of which Prof, von Groth 

 had taken a very deep interest, while the latter sends 

 a paper on the division of space in enantiomorphous 

 polyhedra. The universal character of this remark- 

 able birthday present — for it commemorates the 

 eightieth birthday of Prof, von Groth, which occurred 

 on June 23 — will be apparent from the mere mention 

 of the names of a few of the contributors from other 

 lands. First should be mentioned Prof. Niggli of 

 Zurich, who now acts as editor and to whom the 

 greatest credit is due for the organisation of such a 

 memorable testimonial to the great crystallographer ; 

 then we have memoirs from Prof. Jaeger of Groningen, 

 M. H. Ungemach of Paris, A. Hadding of Lund, 

 C. Leiss of Berlin, J. Beckenkamp of Wtirzburg^ 

 G. Aminoff of Stockholm, F. Zambonini of Turin, 

 H. Tertsch of Vienna, F. Rinne of Leipzig, C. Viola 

 of Parma, E. Artini of Milan, R. Scharizer of Graz, 

 and others equally famous from almost all the greatest 

 European centres of learning. The value of these 

 papers alone is a noteworthy testimony to the great 

 esteem and affection in which the recipient is held, 

 and their publication as a common dedication at a 

 time like the present should prove a valuable aid to 

 international peace and goodwill. The volume is 

 dedicated to one of the greatest of modern men of 

 science, one of the kindliest of men, who ever gave 

 the impulse of his encouragement and approbation 

 to those striving sincerely and earnestly to advance 

 the subject which he had so much at heart. 



Messrs. Longmans and Co. have many science 

 books in their new list of announcements. Among 

 them are " The Action of Alcohol on Man," by Prof. 

 E. H. Starling, with contributions on alcohol as a 

 medicine, by Dr. R. Hutchison ; alcohol and ils 

 relations to problems in mental disorders, 1>\ Sir 

 I'dederick W. Mott, and alcohol and mortalii\, by 

 I'rof. Raymond Pearl; and " GaK anouia^nctu and 

 Thermomagnetic Effects : The Hall and Allied i Mu-no- 

 mena," by Prof. L. L. Campbell (in Monographs on 

 Physics). 



Tin. autumn annonnccnient list of Messrs. Mctliuen 

 ,ind ( o., Ltd., (.out, nil. many books ol scuaititic 

 nitcrest. Among tlicm we notice " Tlie I'rnn iple ol 

 Relativity," by Profs. A. I'ansteiu, 11. A. I.oreiil/, 



