NA TURE 



925 



CONTENTS. 



Government Publications and their Distribution 

 The Physiology of Sex-Determination. By Julian 

 S. Huxley ...... 



Chemistry of Urea and Resins. By J. B. C . 

 Micrography as a Fine Art. By Prof. A. C. Seward 



F.R.S 



Our Bookshelf ...... 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Gorilla's Foot— Dr. W. K. Gregory . 

 Psycho- Analysis and Anthropology. — -Prof. C. G 



Seligman, F.R.S. 

 Malaria ancl Anopheles funestus in Mauritius.— 

 Malcolm E. MacGregor ; Sir Ronald Ross, 

 K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S. ... 



Methods of Chemical Reactions. — Prof. W. C 



Kistiakowsky 

 Mechanism of the Hydrogen Chlorine Combination 



—A. L. Marshall and Prof. H. S. Taylor 

 Remarkable Ascending Currents at Melbourne.— 

 Capt. E. Kidson ..... 



Long Range a-I'articles. — L. F. Bates and J 



Stanley Rogers 



Continental Drift and the Stressing of Africa. — E. J 

 Wayland ...... 



Mrs. Ilertha Ayrton.— Prof. T. Mather, F.R.S. 

 A Waltzing Mouse.— G. W. Harris 

 Eg^pt as a Field for Anthropological Research. By 



Prof. P. E. Newberry 

 Rare Gas Discharge Lamps. {With Diagiani.) By 



J. W. Ryde 



Obituary : - 



Lieut. -Col. H. H. Godwin-Austen, F.R.S 

 Herluf Winge. By M. A. C. H. 

 Current Topics and Events .... 



Our Astronomical Column ... 

 Research Items ..... 



The Jubilee Celebrations of the French Physical 

 Society ....... 



Virus Diseases of Plants. By F. T. Brooks . 

 Australian Railway Development : a Study 

 Political Geography ..... 



Structure of Greenland ..... 



Building Materials made of Waste Materials. By 

 Prof. A. P. Laurie .... 



University and Educational Intelligence 



Societies and Academies 



Diary of Societies ..... 



Recent Scientific and Technical Books . 



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Supp. iii 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



MACMILLAN 6- CO., LTD.. 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON. W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters should be 



addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number : GERRARD 8830. 



NO. 2826, VOL. 112] 



Government Publications and their 

 Distribution. 



WHEN a government takes in its own hands the 

 publication of matters of scientific interest, it 

 may be assumed that this is done with three distinct 

 objects in view. In the first place, it wishes to bring to 

 the notice of scientific workers the results of original 

 researches carried out by experts in Departments under 

 its control, in order that these results may form a 

 foundation for further advance in knowledge. So are 

 published the papers comprised in the excellent scien- 

 tific reports of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries 

 in England, and of the Fishery Board for Scotland. Or 

 it desires to bring to the notice of the public, for the 

 sake of the individual and through him of the nation at 

 large, the condensed wisdom of science as bearing upon 

 matters of practical importance. Such is embodied in 

 the pamphlets and leaflets dealing with agricultural 

 pests and plant diseases, with methods of land-cultiva- 

 tion and stock-raising, issued by the Ministry of Agri- 

 culture and Fisheries and the Board of Agriculture for 

 Scotland. Sometimes these two aims are seen to run 

 side by side, as in the Journals of Agriculture published 

 both by the English Ministry and Scottish Board, in 

 which matters of both scientific and practical interest 

 appear. 



The third object is very different from either of the 

 above, its end being to inform the outside world, scien- 

 tific and non-scientific, regarding the activities of 

 institutions in which a general interest is taken ; it 

 takes its typical form in the annual reports of such 

 establishments as the British Museum, the Natural 

 History Museum, and the Royal Scottish Museum. 

 This last object may seem to have little of scientific 

 value to commend it, but it is in reality of prime 

 importance ; for institutions of the kind mentioned 

 depend for many of their most valuable acquisitions 

 upon the generosity of the public, and unless public 

 interest is stimulated by full knowledge of progress and 

 requirements, the national collections, and science, 

 must in the end suffer. 



The duty of scientific publisher assumed by the 

 Government does not end, however, with the printing 

 of pamplilets, nor are its aims thus attained ; the 

 question of distribution is second only to that of print- 

 ing, and it is to this that we wish particularly to direct 

 attention. Every scientific worker is aware of the 

 generous and even lavish free distribution of scientific 

 publications carried out by Government Departments 

 of the United States of America ; and one is tempted 

 to speculate whether the activity and originality of 

 research now apparent there may not be due in part 

 to this sustained appeal to the scientific mind. 



