October 6, 192 1] 



NATURE 



189 



ployed in his grandfather's g^lue factory, and he 

 followed this up with new forms of centrifugal 

 machines, evaporators, and other devices for use 

 in breweries. He made many experiments and a 

 number of inventions in connection with motor 

 vehicles and flying machines, and in later vears 

 devoted a considerable amount of time to the 

 study of the helicopter. 



About 1898 Dr. Cooper Hewitt directed his 

 attention to electrical science, and became a con- 

 tributor to scientific discovery in a diversitv of 

 fields, from wireless telegraphy and telephony 

 to a special process for the electrical weld- 

 ing of steel. However, his name is prob- 

 ably best known in connection with his 

 fundamental work relating to the mercury 

 vapour arc which he brought into com- 

 mercial use when he founded, in conjunction with 

 the late Mr. George Westinghouse, the Cooper 

 Hewitt Electric Company of New York, and the 

 \\'estinghouse Cooper Hewitt Company, now 

 known as Hewittic Electric Company, Limited, in 

 England. His original work on the mercury 

 vapour rectifier has been followed up until this 

 apparatus has become a most useful adjunct to the 



dynamo, not only in street lighting but also in the 

 serious work of power distribution, and it has not 

 yet been brought to its full industrial value. A 

 generation hence the world will have begun to reap 

 some of the larger benefits conferred by the dis- 

 coveries of this notable scientific worker. 



We regret to learn of the death of Mr. 

 Bingham Xewlaxd, an observant and original 

 naturalist, author of "What is Instinct?*', which 

 was reviewed some time ago in these columns. Mr. 

 Newland held very strong views in regard to the 

 infallibility of the subconscious mind in animals, 

 and thought of this as strangely detached from 

 individual testing, experimenting, and learning. 

 Perhaps what he was feeling towards was a 

 theory of the germinal origin of new- departures 

 in instinctive behaviour. Another of his amiable 

 heresies was a belief in "mind-blending" or tele- 

 pathic communication in birds, by means of which 

 effective co-operation is achieved. Mr. Xewland's 

 original and independent mind was handicapped 

 by ill-health, but he had the reward of all those 

 who read deeply in the book of Nature. 



Notes. 



We much regret that the reference to the Calcutta 

 munitions case in last week's Nature, p. i6o, did not 

 accurately represent Sir Thomas Holland's position in 

 the matter. It was Sir Thomas Holland himself 

 who, acting on the highest motives and after consulta- 

 tion with two members of the Viceroy's Council, 

 ordered the withdrawal of the prosecution, but 

 when all the facts are published we believe that the 

 real reason for his action will reveal more than the 

 stated reason as to the harm that might be done to 

 Indian industrial development if it succeeded. As the 

 Government of India could not support the view 

 publicly stated, Sir Thomas Holland's resignation of 

 the post of Minister of Industries naturally followed. 

 Later, however, it was officially announced that the 

 prosecution would not be proceeded with because 

 "widespread commercial and industrial interests 

 would be seriously affected," though when the 

 .Advocate-General withdrew from the case on August 6 

 he declared that all the charges could be proved. 

 This decision seems, therefore, to support Sir Thomas 

 Holland's action ; and, notwithstanding the sugges- 

 tion that the Minister of Industries should have re- 

 ceived legal training, his reputation as a scientific 

 administrator is safe with all who realise what the 

 building-up of the Indian Munitions Board during the 

 stress of war meant for India, the Entente Powers, 

 and the final victory. 



I\ memory of those lost in R38 and in previous air- 

 ships, a decision to establish a fund for airship re- 

 search has been made by the council of the Roval 

 Aeronautical Society. It \z believed that sucfi a course 

 of action would most nearly meet the wishes of those 

 who have lost relatives and friends in the disaster. 

 NO. 2710. VOL. 108] 



It is important for the country that the lessons should 

 not be lost, and the view of those most closely con- 

 nected with airships is that analysis of the causes of 

 the breaking of R38 in the air can give the founda- 

 tion for a sound system of construction. Such a result 

 would afford some comfort to the relatives of the 

 officers and men who gave their lives for progress, 

 and, in view of the well-known decision of the Air 

 Ministry to cease all work on airships, it is desirable 

 that others should take up the problems connected 

 with their development. The memorial fund is to be 

 devoted to this end. Over the signature of Lord 

 Weir, the president of the society, an appeal for con- 

 tributions has just been issued, with the suggestion 

 that they should be sent to the Secretary, Royal Aero- 

 nautical Society, 7 Albemarle Street, London, W.i. 



The Times announces that Mr. Knud Rasmussen's 

 ethnological expedition to the Canadian Arctic Archi- 

 I pelago left Godthaab, on the south-west coast of 

 Greenland, on September 7 in the motor schooner Sea 

 King. On his arrival in Greenland in the early 

 summer Mr. Rasmussen went to Thule, near Cape 

 York, to secure Eskimo, dogs, and furs for his ex- 

 f>edition. Some delay was caused bv pneumonia 

 spreading among the Eskimo and causing two deaths. 

 .After a call on the coast of Labrador the Sea King 

 will sail for Lyon Inlet, in the Melville Peninsula, 

 which will be the base for the first winter. From 

 there the little-known tribes around Fury and Hecla 

 Strait will be visited by sledge journeys. In the 

 spring of 1922 Mr. Rasmussen plans to move south 

 to Chesterfield Inlet in order to pick up stores sent 

 north by the Hudson Bay Co., and he will then 

 visit tribes in the Barren Lands and along the shores 



