October 13, 1923] 



NA rURE 



55. 



Industry and of Dyers and Colourists, the Pharma- 

 ceutical Society, and the Institutions of Petroleum 

 Technologists and Chemical Engineers. The Com- 

 mittee is working in close co-operation with the 

 Royal Society. Sir Herbert Jackson acts as the 

 'representative of the Royal Society on the Com- 

 ■mittee and Mr. Woolcock in a similar capacity on 

 the Royal Society Committee. In order that both 

 the general public and scientific persons may have a 

 record of the exhibit, it is proposed to publish a 

 number of pamphlets specially written for the purpose 

 dealing in popular language with the various classes 

 of exhibits in the Scientific Section. In addition to 

 this it is proposed to publish in more technical 

 language a work, which will not only explain the 

 scientific exhibits, but will put on record in a very 

 complete form the state of our knowledge in chemical 

 matters at the date of the Exhibition. It is anti- 

 cipated that there will be a very large demand for 

 this valuable record, each chapter of which will be 

 contributed by an authority in the subjects dealt with, 

 and that it is likely to find a place on the bookshelf 

 of every scientific worker. 



In the hope of checking the rabbit pest in Australia, 

 it is proposed by the Commonwealth to make large 

 advances, not exceeding 250,000/., to cover the cost 

 of supplying settlers with wire netting on easy terms. 

 Every State would get a fair proportion of the netting. 

 The second reading of the bill has been carried in the 

 House of Representatives. The money is to come 

 out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and its 

 amount indicates the continued seriousness of the 

 situation. In the course of the discussion in the 

 House it was mentioned that thousands of acres, in 

 South Australia in particular, had depreciated to half 

 their value owing to the rabbit pest, and it was stated 

 that whereas in 1893 there were 60,000,000 sheep in 

 New South Wales, the number was now down to 

 32,000,000 because of the rabbits. The calamitous 

 interference with the balance of Nature involves a 

 vicious circle, for the hope of permanent relief is 

 increase in the agricultural population so that con- 

 certed and widespread elimination may be organised, 

 but this increase is checked because the rabbits tend 

 to make the settlers' work economically hopeless. 

 Trapping and poisoning, netting and inoculation, have 

 been tried with persistence, but the prolific multiplica- 

 tion of the rabbit continues to defeat man's efforts. 

 Attention is being re-directed to the Rodier method, 

 which has proved effective in areas of considerable 

 size. ]VIr. W. Rodier suggested that doe-rabbits 

 should be killed in as large numbers as possible, but 

 no bucks. In the areas experimented with, the result 

 was that the bucks killed the helpless young and also 

 that the does were persecuted to death by the demands 

 of the bucks. In other words, the polyandry became 

 so intense that the females perished in large numbers. 

 The method has experimental facts in its favour, and 

 it is applicable to other pests such as rats and sparrows. 

 A practical difficulty is in distinguishing the sexes 

 before the act of killing. 



We regret to learn that on the afternoon of Sep- 

 tember 20, a violent explosion followed by fire occurred 



NO. 2815, VOL. I 12] 



in the Dynamometer Laboratory of the Bureau of 

 Standards, Washington, D.C. One man was killed 

 instantly, three others injured so seriously that they 

 died during the night, and four others seriously 

 burned or cut. The heroism of the survivors of the 

 staff in rescuing the injured from the furiously burning 

 wreckage and in shutting off the electric circuits and 

 the ammonia valves, minimised the loss of life and 

 property. The explosion occurred in the altitude 

 chamber which is used in testing the performance of 

 aircraft engines under the conditions of low pressure 

 and temperature obtaining at high altitudes. At the 

 time of the accident the room was being used in 

 investigating the performance of an automobile en- 

 gine, at temperatures corresponding to winter opera- 

 tion, using various grades of gasoline. The work 

 was intended to determine the possible increase in 

 ga.soline production per barrel of crude oil, with the 

 accompanying conservation of oil resources,by the 

 use of gasoline of lower volatility. The explosion 

 was due to the ignition of an explosive mixture 

 in the chamber. The men who were killed are : 

 Logan L. Lauer, Urban J. Cook, Stephen N. Lee, 

 and Joesph Kendig ; while those injured are : 

 Henry K. Cummings, Frank E. Richardson, Roger 

 Birdsell, George W. Elliott, C. N. Smith, and R. F. 

 Kohr. Most of these men were college graduates 

 with experience and skill in research work, and a 

 grave blow to science and engineering must be added 

 to the human loss to their families and colleagues. 

 Thus grows the long list of those who have given 

 their lives for the increase of human knowledge and 

 welfare. 



The first number of an important and interesting 

 publication. The British Journal of Experimental 

 Biology (Edinburgh : Oliver and Boyd. Quarterly, 

 I2S. (xi. net ; annual subscription, 405. net) has recently 

 been issued from the Animal Breeding Research 

 Department of the University of Edinburgh, with 

 Dr. F. A. E. Crew as editor in chief. The experi- 

 mental method has become so indispensable in bio- 

 logical research that it is perhaps remarkable that no 

 special journal has hitherto been devoted in Great 

 Britain to its results, though America and Germany 

 have long possessed such media of publication. The 

 British journal, however, covers a wider field than 

 any existing publication, as is sufficiently evident 

 from the fact that the contributions to the first 

 number are drawn from such diverse institutions as the 

 Animal Breeding Research Department, Edinburgh, 

 the Zoological Departments of the Universities of Edin- 

 burgh and Oxford, the Physiological Department of 

 the University of Oxford, and the Natural History 

 Department of the British Museum. Of late years there 

 has been a strong tendency towards over-specialisa- 

 tion among working biologists and the new journal 

 should do good service in promoting the unification 

 of biological science. We are glad to note that it is 

 the intention of the editors to publish regular reviews 

 of recent progress in different fields of research ; the 

 critical summary on that very modern branch of 

 biological science known as tissue culture, by H. M. 

 Carleton, which appears in the present number, shows 



