45^ 



NATURE 



[June 9, 192 1 



committee, the chairman of which is Sir_ Richard 

 Gregory, is anxious, in view of the conflicting state- 

 ments which have appeared from time to time on 

 these matters, to obtain the views of scientific workers 

 who have experience of recent articles of the kmd 

 described, both of British and foreign manufacture. 

 It is obvious that the information can be of use only 

 when it applies to goods of definitely known origiri. 

 The points on which information is desired are :— Ihe 

 quality of the goods; their price as compared with 

 that of imported articles of the same quality; the 

 facilities for obtaining supplies; and the effects, if 

 any, on research work of restrictions imposed on the 

 importation of German goods. The committee would 

 also welcome statements made, or reasoned conclu- 

 sions arrived at, bv competent bodies who have inves- 

 tigated these questions recently, and from rnanufac- 

 turers who wish to add any further definite informa- 

 tion to that which has already appeared in the Press. 

 The Information should be sent to the secretaries of 

 the committee. Prof. J. R. Partington, East London 

 College, or Mr. C. L. Brvant, 23 Peterborough Road, 

 Harrow, as soon as oossible. 



J- R- Partington. 



C. L. Bryant. 



Science and Technology in Palestine. 



In a lucid article, •'Water-Power of Jordan," which 

 appeared in the Times of May 18 the twofold scheme 

 of the Jewish engineer, Mr. Rutenberg, was explained. 

 Mr. Rutenberg proposes, first, to establish a barrage 

 at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee to be used 

 as the main power-house for the general purpose of 

 electrification. Secondly, the malaria-breeding marshes 

 of Lake Huleh are to be drained and a power-house 

 constructed which will utilise the fall of the Jordan 

 between Lake Huleh and the Sea of Galilee for power 

 generation. 



Readers of Nature may be interested in a few 

 further details of these plans. The latest calculations 

 value the total potential water-power of Palestine at 

 1,000,000 h.p., ^\us a water-supply which will suffice 

 to irrigate 1,200,000 acres of land. There is, of 

 course, no intention of generating electricity to the 

 full extent of this power; e.g. the proposed power 

 station on the lower part of the Jordan, capable of 

 generating 100,000 h.p. in twenty-four hours, would be 

 sufficient to electrify the already existing railways of 

 Palestine — which would need approximately 30,000,000 

 kw.h. per annum — as well as to supply the present 

 general needs of Palestine. This station would also 

 produce about 200,000,000 cubic yards of water for 

 irrigation purposes ; the installation would probably 

 cost about 2,ooo,oooL 



It is not necessary to emphasise the value of such 

 schemes, both as regards increased fertility and pro- 

 ductivity of the land, and in their effects on the social 

 and economic life of the country. 



In view of the local need for scientific knowledge, 

 particular attention has to be paid to the Scientific 

 Department which is to form the nucleus of the pro- 

 posed University of Jerusalem. Already in 1913 Dr. 

 Welzmann and the University Committee (whose 

 chief scientific adviser was the late Prof. Paul Ehrlich) 

 decided that research institutes should be founded, 

 to be transformed as soon as possible into complete 

 teaching faculties. Institutes of physics, chemistry, 

 and microbiology were included in the initial scheme. 

 It is hoped that through these institutes opportunity 

 will be given for the solution of practical problems 

 by Jewish experts on the spot. Obviously, from a 

 practical point of view, it is better that Jewish talent 

 should be utilised locally in this way, and from a 

 NO. 2693, VOL. 107] 



wider point of view the University in its humanitarian 

 as well as in its scientific aspects will form an integral 

 part of the national life. Daisy L. Adler. 



The Zionist Organisation, 77 Great Russell 

 Street, London, W.C.i, May 20. 



Foreign Scientific Literature. 



Prof. Gardiner in Nature of May 19, p. 359, writes 

 of the difficulty of obtaining Continental publications, 

 whilst the complaint from Central Europe is all about 

 the difficulty of getting English scientific literature. 

 Perhaps something can be done by exchange. There are 

 probably readers of Die Naturwissenschaften and of 

 the Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift willing and eager to 

 exchange with Nature and the Electrician. Second- 

 hand books with pages cut and owners' names in- 

 scribed would probably follow the analogy of worn 

 clothes and be exempt from the interest of Customs 

 officials. A year ago the Swiss bookshops in Berne 

 seemed to carry a heavy stock of recent German 

 scientific literature. Travellers returning from the 

 Alps may wish to inspect these. For exchange of 

 transactions of learned societies the mediation of the 

 Anglo-American Library (hon. secretary, Mr. B. M. 

 Headicar, School of Economics, Clare Street, 

 London, W.C.2) might be invoked. 



Hugh Richardson. 



Stocksfield-on-Tvne, Mav 26. 



Flint Implements in the Cromer Forest Bed. 



Since the reading of my paper on the humanly 

 fashioned flints found upon the foreshore at Cromer 

 before the Royal Anthropological Institute on May 3, I 

 have again visited the Norfolk coast. This visit, in 

 company with my friend Mr. Frank Barclay, of 

 Cromer (who has recently collected close upon one 

 thousand specimens of the ochreous artefacts from the 

 foreshore), has resulted in the discovery of two 

 flints, exhibiting the now well-known yellow colora- 

 tion, in situ in the surface of the ferruginous "pan " 

 or Stone Bed resting upon the chalk, and exposed, I 

 conclude recently, at the base of the cliff^ above the 

 beach deposits under Beeston Hills at Sheringham. 

 This ferruginous deposit is of extreme hardness, and 

 the two ochreous flints discovered could be dislodged 

 only with great difficulty. There is, therefore, no 

 doiibt of any kind that the specimens form part of the 

 deposit in which they occurred, which, without ques- 

 tion, passes in under the very lofty cliff present at this 

 spot. 



Mr. Clement Reid ("Pliocene Deposits of Britain," 

 p. 155) regarded the "pan " and Stone Bed at Shering- 

 ham as of Weybourne Crag age, and I think that, speak- 

 ing generally, this opinion Is correct. The two flints 

 which have now been found were embedded in the sur- 

 face of the Stone Bed, associated with a number of 

 examples of clay pebbles such as occur In the lower- 

 most strata of the Cromer Forest Bed deposits, and 

 seem, therefore, to be referable to the horizon men- 

 tioned by me (Nature, February 10, 192 1) as that to 

 which the Cromer artefacts might. In all probability, 

 belong. 



I have now found that the ochreous flint Imple- 

 ments and flakes occur upon the foreshore exposed at 

 low water at Sheringham and West and East 

 Runton, as well as at Cromer, though thev are much 

 more numerous at the latter place. The peculiar 

 form and technique of the specimens from all the 

 sites mentioned are almost precisely similar, and I 

 entertain no doubt that they mav all be referred 

 to one and the same "Industry." The two flints now 

 discovered, to which this letter especially relates, 



