11'^ 



NATURE 



[August 4, 192 1 



In connection with animal nutrition the Cambridge 

 station is trjing to obtain growth-curves showing 

 the relation between the food consumed, the live and 

 dead weight, and the useful meat, fat, and offal for 

 each stage of the animal's development, while the 

 station at Aberdeen is paying particular attention to 

 the importance of vitamins in the nutrition of farm 

 animals. 



At Long Ashton and East Mailing researches are 

 being made in fruit growing and preserving, so that 

 some quick method of storing fruit for future use 

 may be available whenever a glut occurs in the 

 market. Research on plant disease is being conducted 

 more with the object of producing immune varieties 

 than of finding curative methods. That this is the 

 right line to take is shown by the fact that whereas 

 ■all attempts to free a soil from wart-disease infection 

 liave been unsuccessful, there are certain immune 

 potatoes which will grow without blemish in the most 

 heavily infected soils. 



The lecturer remarked that although our organisa- 

 tion for agricultural research is young, and we cannot 

 •compare with America or with Germany before the 

 war, either in the number of workers engaged or in 

 expenditure, yet "it is not too much to claim that 

 the majority of really fruitful ideas and conceptions 

 that have recently been current in agricultural science 

 have sprung from English laboratories." 



Meteorology of the Philippines.^ 



THIS work is rightly claimed in the preface by the 

 director of the Philippine census to be of "great 

 practical value." Observations from sixty official 

 stations and fifty-three voluntary stations have been 

 dealt with, and the maps and plates aid much in the 

 simplification of the large amount of data contributed 

 to the world's meteorology. The elements dealt with 

 are temperatures, rainfall, humidity,' cloudiness, wind 

 direction and force, and typhoons. 



Temperature is treated, as to both exposure and 

 method of obtaining averages, in a manner quite com- 

 parable with the most approved European system. The 

 mean annual temperature for the whole archipelago 

 obtained from stations near the sea level is 269° C. 

 (804° F.), The seven warmest months are April to 

 October, and the live coldest November to March. 

 Mav is the warmest, and January the coldest. Tables 

 are given showing in great detail the mean, extreme, 

 and range of temperature at all stations. 



Rainfall distribution throughout the year forms the 

 most interesting feature of the weather of the 

 Philippines. The exposure to the prevailing winds 

 occasions great differences in the amount of rain, in 

 spite of the relatively small extent of the archipelago. 

 The winter rains come direct from the Pacific and 

 cause large falls over the eastern part of the 

 archipelago ; these are called the north-east mon- 

 soon rains. The summer and autumn rains are 

 due chiefly to the influence of typhoons; these rains 

 are most abundant in Luzon and the Visayas. The 

 thunderstorm rains which occur in spring are of little 

 importance compared with the other rains. 



The annual means of seventy stations give 

 2366-1 mm. (9318 in.) as the annual average rainfall 

 for the Philippines. The annual averages at the 

 several stations range from 45976 mm. (181-05 in.) 

 to 989-8 mm. (38-98 in.). The greatest fall is _ at 

 Baguio, due to its elevation and the local topographical 

 features; the least at Zamboanga. The annual ex- 



1 "The Climate and Weather of the Philippines, 1903 to iqi8." By the 

 Rev. Jos^ Coronas, S.J., Chief of the Meteorological Division, Philippine 

 Weather Bureau. Pp. 195 + 29 plates and 3 illustrated maps. 



tremes are very divergent. The heaviest annual fall 

 at Baguio is 9038-3 mm. (355-91 in.) in 1911. 



A feature of some interest is the summary of the 

 weather of official holidays in Manila for the sixteen 

 years. This is a step in advance of European official 

 discussions. C. H. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Leeds. — The James Edmondson Ackroyd memorial 

 fellowship has been awarded to Mr. F. W. Dry, who 

 will undertake a research on the comparative 

 anatomy, histology, and pigmentation of mammalian 

 hair as a basis for breeding and other experiments. 

 The value of the fellowship is 300Z. per annum, renew- 

 able for a period of three years. 



Manchester. — Mr. J. M. Nuttall, senior lecturer in 

 physics, has been appointed assistant director of the 

 physical laboratories, and Mr. D. C. Henry lecturer 

 in chemistry. 



Mr. A. J. Hailwood has been awarded the Moseley 

 memorial pi-ize in physics. 



The Berlin correspondent of the Times announces 

 that Prof. Walter Nernst has been elected Rector of 

 the Berlin University. 



Dr. Livingston Farrand has accepted election to 

 the presidency of Cornell University in succession to 

 Dr. J, G. Schurman, recently appointed American 

 Minister to China. After graduating at Princeton in 

 1888 and at the Columbia College of Physicians and 

 Surgeons in 1891, Dr. Farrand spent two years in 

 study at Cambridge and Berlin. From 1893 to 1914 

 he was connected with Columbia University, first as 

 instructor in psychology and later as professor of 

 anthropology. He was president of Colorado Uni- 

 versity from 1914 until after the armistice, when he 

 joined the American Red Cross. In 1917 and 1918 he 

 directed the anti-tuberculosis work of the International 

 Health Board in France. Dr. Farrand was at one 

 time editor of the American Journal of Public Health, 

 and has contributed largely to psychological and 

 anthropological publications. In 1904 he published a 

 study of the Indian population and physical geography 

 of North America entitled " Basis of American 

 History." 



The Roll of War Service of the University of 

 London Officers Training Corps has been published 

 by the Military Education Committee of the Univer- 

 sity. The first section, devoted to the roll of the 

 fallen, contains the names and other particulars of 

 065 officers who were members or former members of 

 the contingent. Section ii. records 1726 honours and 

 distinctions awarded to 1068 officers. The roll of war 

 service forming the third section gives particulars of 

 4276 officers and former officers and cadets of the con- 

 tingent who served as officers in the war. The appen- 

 dices contain statistical and historical information. 

 Of the 4218 former cadets who served as officers 

 during the war 1579 were first enrolled in the con- 

 tingent before the war, the remainder (2639) during 

 the war, but only 202 obtained their commissions 

 before the war. The colleges of the University con- 

 tributing the largest number of cadets are University 

 College, 558; King's College, 484; Imperial College, 

 471; Guv's Hospital, 235; and St. Bartholomew's 

 Hospital,"^ 230. The illustrations include portraits of 

 the late Lt.-Col. A. G. E. Egerton, Coldstream 

 Guards, first Adjutant 1909-13, and the five former 

 cadets who were awarded the V.C. The volume is 

 published by the Military Education Committee of the 

 Universitv of London at 46 Russell Square, London, 



NO. 2701, VOL. 107] 



