382 



NATURE 



[November 17, 192 1 



work they had done harm by forcing the principle of 

 standard wages and by reducing output. All progress 

 in industry depends on the ability of the individual 

 or firm to give part of his "profits " to new ventures. 

 It is only when profits are adequate that facilities can 

 be given for education and research. At the present 

 moment profits are not being earned by the great 

 trading community in this country. Consequently 

 many are wanting work, and many are in distress. 

 It is necessary that masters should instruct their men 

 as to the conditions that will ensure their mutual 

 well-being. Much is being done to secure a common 

 understanding. This will doubtless lead to a co-opera- 

 tion between masters and men such as has not been 

 known for years. We can then go forvi'ard with the 

 certslinty that prosperity will return. 



The next congress of the Royal Sanitary Institute 

 will be held at Bournemouth on July 24-29, by invita- 

 tion of the Mayor and Town Council. 



TftE Revue Scientifique for October 22 contains an 

 account of the celebration of the centenaries of the 

 great Alsatian chemists Gerhardt and Wurtz, which 

 took place at Strasbourg on July 5 last. An account of 

 the work of Gerhardt and Wurtz is given by Prof. 

 Tiffeneau, of Paris. 



The issue of the Journal of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry for October 31 contains a reasoned summary 

 of the information which has appeared on the Oppau 

 explosion. It is stated that many possible causes of 

 the explosion were not taken into consideration in the 

 report issued by the directors of the Badische com- 

 pany, and that an independent investigation by an 

 expert Allied Commission is required. 



The ninety-sixth Christmas course of juvenile lec- 

 tures, founded at the Royal Institution in 1826 by 

 Michael Faraday, will be delivered this year by Prof. 

 J. A. Fleming on "Electric Waves and Wireless Tele- 

 phony." The lectures, which will be experimentally 

 illustrated, will be given on the following days at 

 3 o'clock : — December 29, " Surface Waves on 

 Liquids "; December 31, "Waves in Air "; January 3, 

 "The Telephone"; January 5, "Electric Oscilla- 

 tions " ; January 7, " Electric Waves " ; and January 10, 

 "Wireless Telephony." 



In addition to its ordinary programme, the Optical 

 Society has arranged a series of special meetings to 

 be devoted to subjects dealing with the evolution and 

 development of various types of optical instruments. 

 The Science Museum, Kensington, possesses a most 

 interesting, and in many respects unique, collection 

 of such instruments, with the characteristics of which 

 instrument makers and users might well be more 

 familiar. By arrangement with the museum authori- 

 ties these instruments will be available at the meetings 

 for purposes of illustration and demonstration. The 

 first meeting of the series will be held at the Imperial 

 College of Science and Technology on Thursday, 

 November 24, at 7.30 p.m., when Prof. F. J. Cheshire 

 will deal with "Polarising Apparatus." Other sub- 

 jects to be discussed at future meetings include 

 "Microscopes" (Prof. A. Pollard), "Telescopes" 

 NO. 2716, VOL. I08I 



(Mr. D. Baxandall), and "Astronomical and Survey- 

 ing Instruments " (Mr. L. C. Martin). 



Although under the ban of the " Com stock Law," 

 the scientific discussion of birth control is widely 

 recognised in the United States as of great racial 

 importance. Dr. Marie Stopes was invited by the 

 Voluntary Parenthood League to New York to speak 

 in the Town Hall on the subject on October 27. 

 Following the lecture, which was enthusiastically 

 received, a group of society leaders met the next day, 

 subscribed sufficient funds, and organised a managing 

 committee in order to open clinics immediately in 

 America, following so far as possible the lines of 

 the Constructive Birth Control Clinic founded by Dr. 

 Marie Stopes and Mr. H. V. Roe in London this 

 year. The position differs somewhat from that in. 

 England, for in the United States it is still legal to 

 give clinical instruction only to persons already 

 diseased. Those who are healthy and desire to remain 

 healthy are not permitted this knowledge. It is, 

 however, one step in racial advancement that the 

 diseased should be shown how to avoid procreating 

 their kind. 



The Ministry of Transport has issued an informal 

 memorandum which summarises some experimental 

 work (done at Alresford, in Hampshire) on the effect 

 of drainage from tar-macadam roads on fish-life. 

 Recently-tarred roads are certainly potentially dan- 

 gerous. The first rain-washings must be mixed with 

 at least an equal volume of clean water if they are 

 not to be actively toxic to fish. Even when the dilu- 

 tion is several times that mentioned the effects may 

 be prejudicial, and to be sure that no poisoning may 

 occur the dilution must be ten to one at least. After 

 the first washings are swept away the surface becomes 

 less objectionable. There is evidence that storage of 

 the drained-off water reduces its toxicity to fish-life, 

 and it appears also that filtration through freshly cut 

 turf may also diminish the danger. When the tar- 

 macadam surface undergoes further severe disintegra- 

 tion it may again become dangerous. The experi- 

 ments are still incomplete and are being continued, 

 but the provisional results are helpful to conservators 

 and others, and point to remedial measures in the 

 case of valuable fisheries. 



A COLD snap occurred in the weather over England 

 during the second week of this month, and the first 

 fall of snow for the present winter was experienced 

 in London on the evening of November 11, whilst 

 during the succeeding night at Greenwich the shel- 

 tered thermometer fell to 27° F., and it was 21° F. 

 on the ground open to the sky. The mean temperature 

 in London for the first six days of November was 49°, 

 and for November 7-12 it was 15° colder. The ponds 

 and ornamental waters around Landon were coated 

 with ice. The first week of November is a fairly well 

 recognised warm period in Great Britain, whilst the 

 second week is one of Dr. Buchan's cold periods, 

 associated with northerly winds. In 7910 November 

 had sixteen frosty nights at Greenwich, and in the 

 last eighty . years . .there is only one other instance 

 with so. many, ia thfi; year 185 1. In' 1908: there was 



