July 7, 192 1] 



NATURE 



599 



■"Paper-pulp Supplies from India"; Sir George 

 Curtis, "The Development of Bombay"; A. H. 

 Ashbolt, " Industrial Development in Australia during 

 and after the War"; and Sir Charles H. Bedford, 

 "Industrial (including Power) Alcohol." 



We have received a communication from Mr. W. J. 

 Lewis Abbott in reference to a statement made in 

 the course of the discussion on Mr. Reid Moir's paper 

 on "An Early Chellean Palaeolithic Workshop-site at 

 Cromer," which took place at a meeting of the Ro)al 

 Anthropological Institute (see Nature of May 26, 

 p. 406). In that discussion one of the speakers stated 

 that the flints in question were " no more than* a 

 foreshore accumulation of flints which differed in no 

 way from other flints found on the foreshore along- 

 the whole East and South Coast. '-* Mr. Abbott 

 directs attention to the distinctive coloration of the 

 Cromer specimens, of which there are three types : 

 (i) Those which are porcellanised or whitened; (2) 

 those exhibiting the characteristic orange-red colour; 

 and (3) specimens which have been changed from 

 white to black, the white porcellanous condition being 

 present under the black. He maintains that this 

 peculiar feature cannot be due to beach action. In 

 regard to the evidence for dating the finds, Mr. Abbott 

 states that he has discovered specimens in association 

 with remains of Elephas (?) meridionalis , in one case 

 in situ. The question of the coloration of the Cromer 

 flints is one of considerable difficulty, for which 

 ■no satisfactory explanation has yet been offered, while 

 in regard to the stratigraphical evidence, it is clear 

 that a systematic investigation at the base of the 

 Forest Bed series on this site, as suggested by Mr. 

 Reid Moir himself, is extremely desirable. 



" Sun-spots and Weather " is the title of an article 

 in the Meteorological Magazine for June, dealt with 

 by Mr. C. E. P. Brooks. It is mentioned that the 

 subject is again opened by the recent development of 

 an unusually large sun-spot with associated electrical 

 and magnetic phenomena. A bibliographical list is 

 given of authorities on the subject, and the author 

 states that although the literature is enormous, we 

 are still far from definite conclusions. So long ago 

 as 165 1 Riccioli claimed that temperature rose with 

 decreasing sun-spots and vice versa. The discovery in 

 1844 of an eleven-year periodicity in spots caused a 

 renewal of the study, and in 1873 results of an 

 investigation by Koppen were published showing 

 that temperature reaches a maximum shortly before 

 spot minimum and a minimum about spot maximum. 

 A positive correlation of sun-spots with rainfall has 

 been found in the tropics, and also with elements such 

 as lake levels which depend on rainfall. A close 

 parallelism has been demonstrated between sun-spots 

 and tropical hurricanes, and the author states that 

 the study of eleven years' wind data in the Falkland 

 Islands suggests that at spot maximum the stormi- 

 ness is greatest. 



POPOCATAPETL exhibited only slight activity in the 

 way of fumaroles and solfataras in the two centuries 

 that followed the eruption of 1720. In 1920, however, 

 small eruption-clouds became visible from Mexico 

 City, and Mr. Paul Waitz has described an ascent 

 NO. 2697, VOL. 107] 



made by him in October last (Amer. Journ. Set., 

 vol. cci., p. 81, 1921). Considerable outbursts of 

 steam were then taking place from the crater, accom- 

 panied by a small quantity of stones and ashes, and 



Fig. I. — Cauliflower clouds of a steam eruption of Popocatapetl, 

 October 12, 1920. From the Aiiurican Journal 0/ Science, 

 Januarj', 1921. 



it appears that the old central plug of 1720, formerly 

 concealed by a lakelet, is now being pushed upward 

 in the crater-floor. Two fine photographs accompany 

 the paper, one of which is here reproduced. 



The current issue of the Journal of the Institute of 

 Petroleum Technologists contains, among other 

 papers, some interesting details by Capt. Paul H. 

 Mangin on boring in Palestine in search of water 

 during the progress of military operations from 1917 

 to 1919. Although both drilling personnel and equip- 

 ment were initially somewhat crude, very credit- 

 able results were achieved, no less than a gross total 

 of 5500 ft. being drilled in the putting down of 

 forty-five wells, from which something like 1,500,000 

 gallons of water per day were obtained. The area in 

 which the wells were sunk borders the coast between 

 the Egyptian frontier (at Rafah) and Mount Carmel 

 on the north. The chief difficulties encountered 

 apart from those mentioned were the loose nature of 

 the sands penetrated and the prevention of their 

 caving in and blocking up the hole. Five types of 

 drilling rig were used, but the best results were ob- 

 tained by the hydraulic percussion system with mud 

 flush. An important feature of the work was the 

 excellent log kept of each well, which, together with 

 samples of the formations met with, have been pre- 

 served for future reference. Although having no 



