November 3. 192 1] 



NATURE 



Z^^l 



Hooper, U.S.N., on the Lafayette super-high powtr 

 radio station. The station is situated at the small 

 village of Croix d'Hins, sixteen miles south-west of 

 Bordeaux, and the memorial tablet states that it was 

 '"conceived for the purpose of ensuring adequate and 

 uninterrupted Transatlantic communication facilities 

 between the American Expeditionary Forces engaged 

 in the world-war and the Government of the United 

 States of America." The greater part of the struc- 

 tural material, amounting to some 15,000 tons, was 

 prepared in America. Work was started at Croix 

 d'Hins on May 28, 1918, and the station was com- 

 pleted on August 21, 1920. Among the principal items 

 of interest are the eight self-supporting steel towers 

 820 ft. in height, triangular in plan, placed in two 

 rows, the rows and towers being 1320 ft. apart. 

 Weighing about 550 tons, each tower is designed to 

 withstand a horizontal pull at the top of 11 tons, 

 while the dead-weight of the whole antennae system 

 supported is about 3I tons. The transmitting equip- 

 ment consists of two looo-kilowatt arc radio trans- 

 mitters complete in duplicate throughout. During the 

 trials, signals were copied without diflficulty at Cavite, 

 San Francisco,, and Darien, and it was demonstrated 

 that Lafayette's signals could be heard at suitably 

 equipped radio receiving stations all over the world. 



The report of the council of the North-East Coast 

 Institution .of Engineers and Shipbuilders contains 

 the awards made for papers read during the session 

 1920-21. The engineering gold medal is awarded to 

 Eng.-Comdr. C. J. Hawkes for his paper on Diesel 

 engines. In the graduates' section awards have been 

 made to Mr. W. S. Burn for a paper on Diesel- 

 engine flexibility, to Mr. F. McAlister for his paper 

 on the design of ship-form of the modern cargo- 

 vessel type, to Mr. E. V. Telfer for a paper on the 

 strength of ships, and to Mr. C. S. Darling for a 

 paper on internal-combustion engines for marine pur- 

 poses. Standardisation work was energeticallv pur- 

 sued during the past session by the North-East Coast 

 Institution Panels. The committees of the associa- 

 tions concerned still endorse their decision not to 

 proceed with the formation of an engineering and 

 shipbuilding research association, in view of the un- 

 favourable industrial conditions. Among other gifts to 

 the institution may be mentioned one of 250/. from 

 Mr. T. A. Reed to establish a fund for the provision 

 of an annual medal or prize in memory of his father ; 

 the details of the competition in this connection have 

 not yet been decided upon. It is of interest to note 

 that of the twelve entrants for the 192 1 scholarship, 

 one only has not y^t matriculated ; this supplies evi- 

 dence of the better standard of education attained 

 by candidates. The institution has broken new 

 ground this session by electing a shipowner to the 

 presidential chair, and the new president. Sir William 

 J. Noble, in his address delivered on October 14, in- 

 dicated the need for co-operation between shipowners, 

 shipbuilders, and employees ; our onlv light in the 

 darkness — and it is not a very illuminating one — is 

 that other countries are apparently just as badlv off 

 as ourselves. 



NO. 2714, VOL. 108] 



In his preface to Bulletin No. i, of the Department 

 of Industries, Bombay, Mr. R. D. Bell states that 

 this is the first of a series which it is proposed to 

 publish in order to make the public acquainted with 

 the activities of the Department, and to place in- 

 formation in a convenient form at the disposal of 

 those who can make practical use of it. This is ob- 

 viously a step in the right direction, and the Depart- 

 ment is to be congratulated on the bulletins which 

 have already appeared. Bulletins Nos. i and 4 con- 

 tain parts I and 2 of a series of papers on Indian 

 casein, initiated and carried out by Dr. A. N. Meldrum 

 in collaboration with Mr. D. M. Gangoli. The re- 

 sults obtained are clearly stated, and it is evident that 

 this kind of work is typical of that which must be 

 undertaken in India by competent investigators if 

 the great natural resources of the country are to be 

 applied to industrial purposes. It is of the greatest 

 interest to note that the Department has recently 

 opened a small demonstration factory at Anand, in 

 which the manufacture of casein in accordance with 

 the results of these investigators will be carried out 

 on the commercial scale. Bulletin No. 2 contains an 

 account of work by A. J. Turner on the utilisation of 

 bitterns, in which it is shown that the whole of the 

 magnesium chloride required for cotton weaving, etc.» 

 can, if desired, be obtained from Indian sources, and 

 need not be imported, as is at present the case. More- 

 over, it appears that the price of Indian salt 

 would be considerably less than that of the foreign 

 article. Hitherto the vast salt deposits at Kharag- 

 hoda, with w-hich this paper deals, have received little 

 attention, although recent analyses seem to show that 

 they are comparable with the Strassfurt deposits in 

 wealth of material, and that, if properly worked, they 

 could render India self-supporting so far as potash, 

 bromine, and magnesium salts are concerned. It is 

 therefore w-elcome news to hear that this mine of 

 wealth is at length being investigated, and that some, 

 at least, of the recommendations of the Chemical 

 Services Committee are receiving attention. 



Of special interest to students of plant physiology 

 is the recently issued instalment of the section on 

 methods of investigation of the functions of the plant- 

 organism forming Abteilung 11, Teil 2, Heft i, of the 

 " Handbuch der biologischen Arbeitsmethoden," edited 

 by Dr. E. Abderhalden, of Halle University. The 

 author, Viktor Grafe, of Vienna, deals with the fol- 

 lowing subjects : — The physico-chemical analysis of 

 the plant-cell ; the determination of permeability in 

 plant-cells ; use of adsorption and capillaritv for bio- 

 chemical analysis ; and measurement of the processes 

 of movement of gas and water in the plant-organism. 

 Various methods of experiment are described and . 

 illustrations are given of the apparatus employed. 



Mr. W. Junk, of Berlin, has issued a list of a re- 

 markable collection of botanical works, containing 

 altogether 12,900 hand-coloured plates, which he offers 

 for sale as a whole to the highest bidder. Should no 

 satisfactory offer for the whole be received, offers for 

 single works may be considered. The collection in- 

 cludes some of the finest and rarest illustrated works 



