November 17, 1923] 



NA TURE 



l-hl 



3) the nature of liquids ; (4), (5), and (6) the nature 

 of crystals — (a) diamond ; (6) ice and snow ; (c) metals. 

 The first lecture will be given on Thursday, 

 December 27, and the succeeding ones on December 29, 

 1923, and January i, 3, 5, and 8, 1924. This will 

 be the first course of lectures to be delivered at the 

 Royal Institution by Sir William Bragg since his 

 appointment by the Board of Managers of the Royal 

 Institution in June last to be Fullerian professor of 

 chemistry and director of the Laboratory and of the 

 Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory. 



At a meeting of the Linnean Society of New South 

 Wales held on August 29, a proposal for the reserva- 

 tion of all areas in New South Wales with altitude 

 greater than 4000 ft. was discussed, and it was 

 resolved " that this Society desires to advocate the 

 reservation from alienation and the more conservative 

 administration of the Crown Lands of New South 

 Wales on which grow the upland forests at the sources 

 of the principal rivers for the following considerations : 

 (i) the quality and regularity of river supply, (2) the 

 preservation of undergrowth and timber, and (3) the 

 preservation of the fauna and flora of scientific value ; 

 and that the terms of this resolution be conveyed to 

 the State Government for consideration." 



The governing body of the Imperial College of 

 Tropical Agriculture, realising the need for the pro- 

 vision of scientific workers and technologists if the 

 sugar industry of the British Empire is to be de- 

 veloped and our dependence on foreign countries 

 for our sugar supplies obviated, is establishing and 

 nipping at St. Augustine, Trinidad, a model sugar 

 ctory towards which the British Sugar Machinery 

 anufacturers are contributing plant to the value 

 20,000/. It is expected that the factory will be 

 mpleted next year, and meanwhile the governing 

 y has appointed Mr. E. C. P'reeland to be 

 professor of sugar technology, and Mr. P. E. Turner 

 to be his assistant and demonstrator. Mr. C. L. 

 Withycombe and Mr. E. E. Cheesman have been 

 appointed demonstrators in zoology and entomology, 

 and botany, respectively. 



A COLD snap has recently occurred in many parts 

 of England, and the Times of November 9 states that 

 the frost experienced on the previous morning was 

 the sharpest recorded for many years in the early 

 part of November. In the screen the thermometer 

 fell to 19° F. at Leamington, Andover, and Shoebury- 

 ness, while on the grass the radiation thermometer 

 registered 11° at Shoeburyness. At Kew, the shade 

 temperature fell to 22° F., which is said to be a 

 " record " for the first ten days of November, being 

 2° lower than the previous " record " on November 10, 

 1 92 1. At Greenwich Observatory the thermometer 

 in the screen fell to 23° F. and the radiation ther- 

 mometer registered 14'* F, On November 10, 1908, 

 the thermometer in the screen registered 22° F., 

 which is the lowest temperature at Greenwich for 

 the first ten days of November since 1841, a period 

 of 82 years, while on the grass the radiation tempera- 

 ture was 9° F., which is the lowest radiation 

 temperature at any time in Novemhor sinre 1856, 



NO. 2820, VOL. I 12] 



when the thermometer registered 8 "5° F. on 

 November 30. 



The Optical Society of America held its eighth 

 annual meeting at Cleveland, Ohio, on October 25, 

 26, and 27, the business being conducted in the 

 physics building of the Case School of Applied 

 Science. The meetmgs for the reading of papers 

 were open to non-members, and abstracts of all 

 papers to be read were available before the meetings. 

 Twenty-eight papers were read, including one on the 

 optical problems of an Art Museum, by Mr. F. A. 

 Whiting, director of the Cleveland Museum. Prof. 

 Michelson gave a paper on the limit of accuracy in 

 optical measurement, and Prof. Nichols one on the 

 spectra of incandescent oxides. Seven of the papers 

 dealt with geometrical and general optics, eight with 

 vision, colorimetry and photometry, and the rest 

 with the optics of instruments and with miscella- 

 neous optics. They originated from the Bureau of 

 Standards, the Eastman Research Laboratory, the 

 Research Laboratory of Bausch and Lomb, the Nela 

 Research Laboratory, the Munsell Research Labora- 

 tory, the Research Laboratories of the American 

 Telephone and Telegraph Co. and the Western 

 Electric Co., from Frankland Arsenal, and from the 

 laboratories of many of the American universities 

 and technical schools. America is evidently alive 

 to the necessity for research in optics. 



Particulars of a very complete series of adjustable 

 resistances of the type consisting of a tube, or in 

 some cases of a block, of rectangular section wound 

 with a single layer of bare wire over which a sliding 

 contact moves, are contained in a new catalogue 

 from the Zenith Manufacturing Co. (Villiers Road, 

 Willesden Green). The range of these has been 

 extended to cover a variety of requirements, from 

 compact laboratory resistances to large switchboard 

 apparatus. Several improvements in design have been 

 made, notably in the way in which the tubes are 

 gripped in their holders and in the clamping on the 

 broad metal rings at the ends, which form the 

 terminals and zero contacts. The resistances can 

 be connected up in a variety of waj'-s and can be 

 wound non-inductively when required. In some 

 cases also it is found convenient to provide them 

 with windings of increasing cross section, by which 

 method some saving in space and material can be 

 obtained, as the section of the conductor can be made 

 to increase approximately at the same rate as the 

 current when the slider is moved to diminish the 

 resistance in circuit. 



Messrs. W. and G. Fovle, Ltd., 121 Charing 

 Cross Road, W.C.2, have just sent us a copy of the 

 catalogue of their department No. 18, of 569 second- 

 hand books on alchemy, magic art, curiosities, Utopias, 

 natural sciences, mining, architecture, mechanics, and 

 their bibliography and literary history. It will repay 

 perusal. A welcome and unusual feature is the 

 inclusion of an index of proper names. 



Among the announcements of the Oxford Uni- 

 versity Press is a new edition of " English Industries 

 in the Middle Ages," by L. F. Salzman, in which 



