October 20, 1923] 



NA TURE 



597 



difficult to trace any actual connexion between the two. 

 The most that can be said at present is that both in 

 North America and Europe the storm tracks lay for the 

 most part rather far north. During sunspot minima, 

 which are usually associated with low values of solar 

 radiation (as in the present instance), a similar north- 

 ward displacement of the storm tracks has been 

 remarked, and in fact has been made use of by Hunting- 

 ton and Vissher in their theory of climatic changes 

 (Nature, vol. iii, 1923, p. 561). The solar effect, 

 however, is difficult to trace because of the great com- 

 plexities introduced by terrestrial conditions, and 

 particularly by the movements of Arctic ice. For 



example, the anomalous weather of May last in the 

 British Isles has been traced back to ice movements 

 and variations of North Atlantic currents set on foot 

 in 1 92 1 and the early months of 1922 (Meteorological 

 Magazine, June 1923, p. 100), that is, before the de- 

 crease of solar radiation had set in, though of course 

 the latter may have played some part in it. It will be 

 possible to analyse the effects of the decrease in greater 

 detail when the volumes of the " Reseau :\Iondial " for 

 1922 and 1923 are completed, since this publication 

 gives the deviations of temperature from normal 

 at a large number of stations distributed over the 

 globe. 



The resignation of Prof. A. G. Green from the post 

 of chief research chemist to the British Dyestuffs 

 Corporation is followed by the announcement that 

 Prof. W. H. Perkin has been appointed advisor to the 

 headquarters research staff of the Corporation. This 

 notice is reminiscent of a statement publislied in the 

 Times of February ii, 1916, to the effect that " Prof. 

 W. H. Perkin, F.R.S., of Oxford has been appointed 

 to conduct the Research Department of British Dyes 

 (Limited) and he has also accepted the Chairmanship 

 of the advisory council of the company." Taking 

 these two notices in conjunction, it does not appear 

 that the recent one entails any material change in 

 the relationship between the Waynflete professor of 

 chemistry in the University of Oxford and the British 

 Dyestuffs Corporation. Meanwhile the Corporation 

 has in quick succession lost the whole-time services of 

 Prof. Robinson, Dr. Herbert Levinstein, and Prof. 

 Green. Moreover, in his last report to the Corpora- 

 tion, the chairman of the merger company intimated 

 the directors' belief that " further economies can be 

 effected in our research department." It will be of 

 interest to note the attitude of the reappointed 

 advisor towards the impending diminution in the 

 research staff. Although the 400,000/. spent in 

 ; research during four years is a considerable sum, yet 

 Ut is probably less than the expenditure on trained 

 chemists incurred by the pre-War forerunners of the 

 iCorporation, taking into account the much smaller 

 (Capital sum at the disposal of these firms. The 

 ^chemical staff of the Corporation is smaller consider- 

 ably than that of any of the larger units of the 

 |lnteressen Gemeinschaft. If, therefore, the Corpora- 

 Ition is to compete successfully against its foreign 

 Frivals, further economies as regards chemists are very 

 ► undesirable ; for without ample technical assistance, 

 the Corporation cannot fulfil the purpose for which it 

 was founded with very substantial financial assistance 

 from l!ie Government, namely, with " I lie piini.n \- 

 ()l)j("(:1s of supplying dyes and colours to Liiose 

 I'.ritish trades which depend for their continuance on 

 tlicir ;il)ilitv to obtain them." 



'I'm: '■ liL;ht. jiLiik: " iri.ils at Lympne have demon- 



.strated the possibilit>- of mrni (h^'ht 

 power engine. Two a<T()])l;mi-, tinl i 

 test for fuel econonu', witli Sj-^ inT 

 The former had a 3^0 li.p. engine, a.sj;^ 



NO. 2816, VOL. I 12] 



Current Topics and Events. 



and a mileage for the week of 362 ; the latter 5^-10 h.p., 

 74 m.p.h., and 775 miles, to which must be added a 

 winning climb to 14,400 ft. The decisive value of 

 excess power is thus shown. The cost of light planes 

 built singly is about 500/., and the competing machines 

 were handled by the most experienced pilots in the 

 country, while Maneyrol, perhaps the most brilliant 

 pilot present, met with fatal accident, thus reminding 

 us that flying still has its special risks. It would, 

 therefore, be rash to conclude that flying is now cheap, 

 easy, and entirely safe, but in spite of these cautions 

 the results achieved will stimulate flying in many 

 directions. The Director of Research indicated one 

 of the most interesting of these in remarking that 

 trials on light planes could be applied to geometrically 

 similar aeroplanes of the largest size. There is a 

 fairly satisfactory theory of similar aeroplanes, but 

 the best type is being slowly evolved by the efforts 

 of designers and the criticisms of pilots. What is 

 suggested is that it is possible to investigate the 

 relative merits of different types on the scale of the 

 light plane at comparatively small expense, and then 

 to apply the results to the largest aeroplanes, which 

 have proved enormously expensive in development 

 by direct methods. 



An account of the investigation of a prehistoric 

 flint mine at South Down, about three miles north of 

 Chichester, was" given by Major A. G. Wade at a 

 meeting of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia 

 held at Burlington House on October 10. Major 

 Wade has identified twenty-one circular depressions, 

 averaging about 12 ft. in diameter, running along the 

 summit of the Down in a straight line from east to 

 west. Tliree of these, on excavation, proved to be 

 mine-shafts sunk in the chalk for the purpose of 

 extracting flint-nodulcs. The first shaft measured 

 12 ft. in (li;nii(-t('r .ind 13 I'l . in (U'ptli. and the second 

 ft. Ml ilianictcr ami >i It., ui dcpLh. Although no 

 L;ailcnc. wiTc found, the Inst shaft, was deeply under- 

 cut on on(> side w hrrr the nuncis had followed a vein 

 of tlint. in this shaft a ]>!( I< made from an antler of 

 red drcr, -anular to thos,' fonnd at Grimes' Graves 

 and (i-laii\, iiuluaii'd ihr method employed in 

 ^\ith 3 horse- mining. A large number of implements of Auri- 

 principal gnaciau type was found in the inlilling of the shafts, 

 gallon. and in tiie second the top-stone of a saddle quern of 

 :,5 m.p.h., green sandstone, A large elongated axe is regarded 



