November i 7, 1923] 



NA TURE 



IZ':^ 



of 3,000,000 acres. In approaching Sir John Russell 

 and Dr. I.eake, the Sudan Government has been 

 tuated by the. desire to get the best possible advice 

 - to the organisation and direction of the agricultural 

 search work which should be undertaken in con- 

 nexion with this project, which may ultimately 

 produce 1,000,000 bales of cotton a year. It is hoped 

 iiat the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation will 

 -operate with the Sudan Government in the research 

 work to be carried out, and that this work can be 

 co-ordinated with a general plan for research work 

 on cotton problems to be organised throughout the 

 British Empire. 



In the United States National Museum there is an 

 exhibit of the original Patent Office models of the 

 more important dynamos and arc and incandescent 

 lamps which have been invented in America. There 

 are also copies of the original commercial apparatus 

 made after these models. In particular there is a 

 series of incandescent lamps visualising chrono- 

 logically the development of the Edison lamp from 

 its inception. With this collection in view, Mr. H. 

 Schroeder has written a " History of Electric Light," 

 which has been' published by the Smithsonian 

 Institution. The earliest work on filament lamps 

 dates back to 1841, when J, W. Starr, an American, 

 did valuable experimental work and took out patents 

 for " a metallic or carbon conductor intensely heated 

 by the passage of electricity for the purpose of 

 illumination." The carbon pencil operated in a 

 rometric vacuum. An illustration is given of 

 dison's carbon filament lamp of October 21, 1879, 

 which embodies the main features of the modern 

 lilament lamp. No mention is made, however, of 

 the work of Sir Joseph Swan, who developed, between 

 1878 and 1880, the parchmentised cotton thread 

 lilament and ultimately the squirted thread of cellulose, 

 which soon became the universal process. No 

 mention is made of John Hopkinson in connexion 

 with the three-wire system, and we do not agree 

 with the statement on p. 54 that the use of 220-volt 

 lamps is less economical than the use of iio-volt 

 lamps, as they are less efficient. The savings effected 

 in the mains by using the higher pressures have to 

 be taken into account before a decision can be made. 

 The excellent work done by the Germans and 

 Americans in developing the metal filament and gas- 

 (illed lamps is well described. The output of electric 

 lamps in the United States alone is 200 millions 

 per annum, and is rapidly increasing. 



A SOMEWHAT curious pamphlet has been sent to 

 us by its author, Mr. J. H. Goodchild, of Muswell 

 Hill (London : Simpkin, Marshall and Co. ; price is.). 

 It bears the attractive title of " Landscape and 

 History " ; but the history is that of the rocks which 

 landscape-painters are invited to portray. Mr. 

 Goodchild believes that the ordinary descriptions in 

 geological text-books fail to impress on the mind the 

 continuity of the processes that go on within a rock 

 mass and that make it, at any moment, what it is. 

 He appeals to the artist, with his u.se of colour, to 

 help the untrained observer to appreciate what he 



NO. 2820, VOL. 112] 



sees. It seems to us that a good deal of description 

 would be required to explain what the painter had 

 striven to represent, and that the current changes 

 and the life-history of the rocks would be much 

 better understood after a few excursions with, say, 

 the Geologists' Association in the field. Mr. Good- 

 child's views on the origin of " igneous " rocks by 

 segregative processes among the sediments that they 

 appear to penetrate were recently stated in Nature 

 (vol. no, p. 589) ; but how would these processes be 

 expressed by a painter, even if he were gifted with 

 the brain of Leonardo da Vinci and the palette of 

 Tintoretto ? The late Mr. Brett was criticised by 

 his fellow-craftsmen because a geologist could always 

 feel sure as to the rocks represented in his fine and 

 vivid pictures of coast-scenery. Mr. Goodchild 

 probably remembers Brett ; but he looks farther for 

 an artist of almost supernatural powers, who shall 

 enable us to " visualise " — to use a popular term — 

 the water trickling within a headland of white chalk, 

 or the veins of sulphide ores rusting in confinement 

 underground. We think that we have grasped his 

 meaning ; but the pamphlet, even with the aid of 

 its illustrations, possibly does not do full justice to 

 the views that he wishes to propound. 



The publication of Vol. I., No. i, of the Proceed- 

 ings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, Bio- 

 logical Series, is in effect the first appearance of a new 

 biological journal, in which it is proposed to publish 

 research work done at Cambridge in zoology, botany, 

 and physiology. This first number does not perhaps 

 give an adequate idea of the standard of work of this 

 kind which is being done in the University Labora- 

 tories, as the papers are all of a rather slight character, 

 and do not include any outstanding scientific dis- 

 coveries of first-class importance. Dr. D. Klein's 

 account of the structure and life-history of a new type 

 of Schizogregarine parasitic on the larva of a fly is a 

 piece of careful descriptive writing, and is well illus- 

 trated. Two papers by Mr. J. T. Saunders dealing with 

 hydrogen ion concentration and the methods of its 

 determination, with applications of these methods to 

 the measurement of the carbon dioxide output of 

 freshwater animals, are useful additions to the rapidly 

 increasing literature on this modern method of bio- 

 chemical research, and Mr. F. A. Potts 's paper on the 

 structure and function of the liver of the ship-worm 

 (Teredo) is suggestive, though not pretending to be an 

 account of a finished research on the subject. There is 

 a short paper by Miss D. Eyden on the vertical distribu- 

 tion of Daphne pulex and one by Messrs. F. T. Brooks 

 and W. C. Moore on the invasion of woody tissues by 

 wound parasites, both of which are valuable. The 

 number concludes with a description of a fossil alga 

 from the Middle Cambrian by Mr. J. Walton. The 

 journal, which is issued by the University Press, is 

 well produced, though many will find that the exces- 

 sive length of the line on the printed page causes the 

 reader unnecessary discomfort. 



For the benefit of private analysts and otlnis 

 concerned, Mr. C. B. Saunders (National Institute of 

 Agricultural Botany, Cambridge) describes in detail 



