92 



NATURE 



[November 17, 1910 



and that it Is very advantageous greatly to reduce the 

 amount of grass land and instead to grow crops intensively 

 cultivated, as in this way a given amount of land can 

 be made to produce a much larger yield. 



Sulphate of ammonia is a particularly good fertiliser for 

 the purpose of growing sugar beet, and here again it is 

 probable that the availability of large quantities of this 

 fertiliser at a very much lower price than at present pre- 

 vails would enable us to produce the whole of our sugar 

 at home, especially as the by-product, obtained in the 

 form of crushing* from the beet, is a very valuable food 

 for cattle raising, and also as the crop is a very suitable 

 one for growing alternately with wheat. 



If it was found that a larger amount of fertiliser than 

 the 3 million tons of sulphate of ammonia, which would 

 be the principal by-product from 60 million tons of coal 

 turned into electricity, could be advantageously used, this 

 would be very economically produced from the electrical 

 station by the oxidation of atmospheric nitrogen, giving 

 a valuable fertiliser in the form of nitrate of lime. This 

 could be made intermittently by means of current filling 

 up the load curve, and would not necessitate the expendi- 

 ture of any more money on plant for generation or trans- 

 mission of the current. It would, however, require the 

 burning of additional coal, and this in itself would add to 

 the sulphate of ammonia available. 



It is assumed by many people that the climate of this 

 country is largely unsuitable for the purpose of growing 

 food, and for this reason it is thought that we can never 

 grow the food which we require. This is largely a mis- 

 conception, as crops both large in quantity and of good 

 quality can be produced in this country. Nevertheless, it 

 would be a desirable thing if, instead of the dark weather 

 that we now often experience ow'ing to cloud obstruction, 

 we could have continuous sunshine at certain times of the 

 year. The amount of sunshine would, no doubt, be largely 

 increased by the abolition of all smoke in the air, as not 

 only does the smoke itself obscure the sun, but also it 

 seems to have the effect of assisting the formation of 

 ■cloud, which greatly diminishes the light and heat which 

 we receive. 



At present it is considered quite right and reasonable 

 to canalise rivers and make great works for adding to 

 the fertility of countries by means of irrigation, but I 

 believe that in the future the time will come when it will 



be thought no more wonderful largely 



to control our weather than it is now 



thought wonderful to control the water 



after it has fallen on the land. I think 



that it will be possible to acquire know- 

 ledge which will enable us largely to 



control by electrical means the sunshine 



which reaches us, and, in a climate 



which usually has ample moisture in the 



atmosphere, to produce rainfall when 



and where we require it. 



It seems to me that it may be possible, 



when we know a great deal more about 



electricity than we do to-day, to set up 



an electrical defence along our coasts by 



which we could cause the moisture in 



the clouds to fall in the form of rain, 



and so prevent these clouds drifting over 



the country between ourselves and the 



sun which they now blot out. It also 



seems to me that it will be possible, 



when more water on the country is re- 

 quired, to cause the falling of rain from 



the clouds passing over the highest part 



of the country, and so produce an abund- 

 ance of water which, properly used, 



would greatly add to the fertility of the 



country. 

 Of course, it may seem that these are 



only mad visions of the future, but I 



think we can hardly consider these 

 results more improbable than anyone 



would have considered wireless tele- 

 graphy or fiight in heavier-than-air machines fifty years 



ago. My excuse for mentioning these matters here is that 



they might constitute another great use of electricity, and 



thtiT useful consummation would certainly be facilitated by 



an abundant supply of electrical energy. 



NO. 2142, VOL. 85] 



At piesent, although the using of our coal may mean 

 commercial activity, it certainly means the desolation of 

 the country in parts where it is largely used. Instead of 

 this harm being done to the country by our coal, we should 

 fertilise the lands by its means, and might even, as I 

 have indicated, use it in the future to increase our sun- 

 shine. 



Of course there are many things which at present stand 

 in the way of realising such a scheme as I have outlined. 

 There are many technical details which nothing but an 

 immense amount of work can solve satisfactorily. There 

 are also political and legislative difficulties standing in the 

 way, but these, when the time arrived, would have to be 

 got rid of rather than allow them to handicap the advance 

 of the country. The more, however, that I have con- 

 sidered these ideas in detail, the more certain am I of the 

 fundamental soundness underlying them, and that it is 

 only a matter of time before such a scheme is carried out 

 in its entirety. 



What interests us most, perhaps, is the question of how 

 long it is likely to be before the all-electric idea becomes 

 possible. At present there is so much required to be done 

 to make it workable in all its details that it seems as 

 though its realisation would be long deferred. It must, 

 however, be remembered that knowledge is continually 

 being acquired which brings us nearer to its realisation, 

 and that things engineering, and especially in electrical 

 engineering, now move very rapidly. It may therefore 

 come to pass that the all-electric idea, with its far-reaching 

 changes and great benefits, will become an accomplished 

 fact in the near future. 



MATAVAl^l]: A NEW VOLCANO IN SAVAII 

 (GERMAN SAMOA).' 



T^ HOUGH not the seat of government, Savaii is the 

 ''- largest of the Samoan Islands in the Central Pacific 

 Ocean. It has a backbone of volcanic mountains, some 

 of which rise to a height of more than 4000 feet ; most 

 of them are extinct or dormant, but there have been 

 several small eruptions within the last 200 years, and one 

 as lately as 1902. 



The volcano of Matavanu was formed in 1905 to the 



Photo.\ 



Fig. I. — Steam Clouds from Lava falling into the Sea. 



[■/'. Ande7Son. 



north of the main ridge, and near the centre of the island. 

 The early part of the eruption was characterised by 

 explosions, and the ejecta were mainly solid, but later on 

 1 Abstract of a Di<course delivered at the Royal Institution on Friday, 

 April 29, by Dr. Tempest Anderson. 



