Dec. 22, 1887] 



NA rURE 



189 



lion and cultivation, vitality of seeds, jjermination of seeds, 

 and changing seed. The Report of the Botani-t consists in an 

 illustrated descriptive list of certain economic plants, and a 

 chapter upon the fungous diseases of plants. Next comes the 

 Report of the Microscopist, dealing with textile fibres, para- 

 sites of domestic fowls, crystals of fats — butter, beef, and lard 

 — beautifully illustrated with coloured plates, and highly inter- 

 esting in connection with the adulteration of butter. I must 

 content myself with a mere enumeration of the Reports of the 

 Chemist, the Chief of Division of Forestry, the Entomologist, 

 the Statistician, the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, 

 a Report on wheat-culture in India, and truck-farming, " or 

 the growing at the South, exclusively for the Northern markets, 

 as a distinct business, of all (or a selection of) such fruit and 

 vegetables as would be likely to arrive at their destination in 

 good condition." 



Before concluding this first notice, I must mention the fine 

 manner in which the work is illustrated by tables, diagrams, 

 maps, engravings, and coloured plates. The illustrations of 

 fat-crystals have been already mentioned. Other illustrations 

 are a delicately-tinted and beautifully-drawn collection of twelve 

 edible mushrooms common in the United States ; a coloured 

 picture of the transformation of Cicada septemdecim, taking place 

 in every stage, on a leafy branch of oak ; and splendidly-executed 

 coloured plates illustrative of verminous bronchitis and of 

 ulcerated caecum in the Section of Animal Industries. 



To an Englishman, probably the most interesting portion of 

 the book will be the Report of the Statistician, with its tables 

 of exports 1 and imports, area, and productive power of the 

 United States. The control which the States exercise over the 

 wheat trade of the world is indicated by a diagram showing 

 that, as the yield per acre of the States rises, the prices of wheat 

 all over the world fall ; and as the average yield diminishes the 

 prices rise. This correspondence between yield and price is 

 even more precise in the ca'e of oats and maize than in the case 

 of wheat, because, as the Statistician remarks, " we make our 

 own prices for corn and oats, while Liverpool has much to do 

 with the price of wheat." 



A very striking diagram, which cannot fail to be of deep 

 interest to those who feel themselves cramped for room in over- 

 crowded England, is one showing the proportion of forests, 

 farms, and unimproved or waste lands in the United States. The 

 vast and almost appalling extent of the first and last sections 

 shows the inexhaustible resources of the country. In Texas, 

 California, Dakota, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, 

 Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Kansas, Minnesota, 

 Nebraska, and even Washington, the amount of cultivated or 

 farmed land is quite insignificant compared with the vast tracts 

 of forest and of unreclaimed land. One cannot but reflect upon 

 the fact that a country so wealthy in the raw material of the soil 

 should yet find it advisable to spend money lavishly upon scien- 

 tific investigation of agricultural difficulties, while England, with 

 her restricted area and dense population, should allow her agri- 

 culture to drift, as though its welfare were of no importance, or 

 its downfall no cause of anxiety. John Wrightson. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



T 



HE Annual Report of the Standards Department of the 

 Board of Trade on its proceedings and business during the 

 past year has been recently issued. It would appear that the 

 Department has of late been pressingly engaged on ordinary 

 work under the several Acts of Parliament which govern its 

 proceedings, but there are some matters of scientific interest 

 referred to in the Report to which we might invite attention. 



Standards of various kinds, for determining capacity, length, 

 weight, and volume, continue to be verified for official purposes, 

 or for private use in aid of scientific research or otherwise, with- 

 out fee or any charge. 



Further representations have been made as to the want of a 

 standard hydrometer, accurately adjusted to the legal units of 

 weight and measure in force in this country, for determining the 

 specific gravities of liquids heavier than alcohol. 



The sanction of the Treasury has been obtained to the pur- 

 chase, at an estimated cost of ^^looo, of copies of the new metric 

 standards of length and weight, which are being prepared at 

 Paris, under the directions of the Comite International des Poids 

 et Mesures. 



An exhaustive series of comparisons of the geodetic standards 

 of New South Wales with those of the Board of Trade and 



the Ordnance Survey has been made by Mr. H. C. Russell, 

 Government Astronomer, Sydney, and Mr. H. J. Chaney, of 

 the Standards Department ; of which comparisons a separate 

 Report has been prepared. 



In a memorandum on the accurate definition of metrological 

 units, which is attached to the Report, it is pointed out, with 

 regard to metric units, that the relation of the metric unit of 

 weight, the kilogramme, to the metric units of length and capacity 

 is not based on a natural constant, as is generally taught. If the 

 kilogramme prototype were lost, for instance, it would not be 

 restored by reference to the weight of water contained in the 

 cubic-decimetre. The latest experiments have shown that the 

 cubic-decimetre of distilled water (^ = 4° C.) weighs, under given 

 conditions, nearly 100 milligrammes less than a true kilogramme 

 weighs. Hence the value of the unit of capacity, the litre, 

 depends on the kilogramme weight, and not on the metre measure. 

 There is de facto, it is stated, no more scientific relation between 

 the metric unit of weight, the kilogramme, and the metric units of 

 length and capacity, the metre and litre, than there is between 

 the present conventional metre and the original natural standard 

 of one ten-millionth part of the Paris meridian. 



It is curious to note, session after session, how large an 

 amount of purely technical work continues to be added to the 

 ordinary duties of local officers such as inspectors of weights 

 and measures, inspectors of gas, inspectors of petroleum, &c. 

 During the past year we notice, for instance, that the Legislature 

 has, amongst other things, made it necessary for all weighing- 

 machines used at mines in determining colliers' wages, as well as 

 machines used in weighing cattle to be examined and tested by 

 the local inspectors, many of whom are simply constabulary 

 officers. Now the testing of a compound lever weighing- 

 machine requires some special knowledge, but many of the 

 officers have, it would appear, no technical qualification whatever 

 for such duty. Hence the duties imposed by the Legislature 

 are in many districts carried out in an indifferent and per- 

 functory manner ; and another practical instance is afforded of 

 the necessity for increased technical education of that class from 

 which the above local officers are drawn. Without requiring, 

 as in Germany, that every such local officer — as an inspector 

 of weighing-machines — should pass a technical examination, it 

 would certainly appear to be desirable before such officer is 

 appointed that the local authorities (as the County Justices and 

 Town Councils) should see that he has had some proper scientific 

 training. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The term has been very uneventful so far as the 

 Natural Science School is concerned. There has been no new 

 departure in scientific education, and no important conflict with 

 the rest of the University. The most satisfactory feature of the 

 term is the granting of ;^i20o to be expended during the next 

 three years on the Pitt-Rivers Anthropological Museum. The 

 collection has been enriched by the transference of a quantity of 

 valuable objects from the Ashmolean Museum, and by private 

 gifts ; the arrangement and cataloguing of the whole collection 

 is proceeding steadily under the superintendence of Mr. Balfour 

 of Trinity. 



Unfortunately Prof. Moseley's continued illness has made it 

 necessary for him to apply for prolonged leave of absence. Dr. 

 S. J. Hickson, Downing College, Cambridge, will act as his 

 deputy next term. 



The Millard Laboratory for Experimental Mechanics at 

 Trinity is to be enlarged during the vacation by the addition of 

 a lecture-room and drawing-room, which formed part of Mr. 

 Bosanquet's Laboratory at St. John's. 



Cambridge. — At the annual election of candidates not yet in 

 residence, the following awards were made : — 



Foundation Scholarships : H. H. Hough (;^8o, in Mathe- 

 matics), St. Paul's School ; A. G. Pickford \£()0, in Mathe- 

 matics and Physics), the Owens College, Manchester ; E. F. 

 Gedye {£S'^i in Mathematics), Leys School, Cambridge. Minor 

 Scholarships : F. A. Leete (;^5o, in Mathematics), Welling- 

 borough School ; C. Robertson (;i^50, in Mathematics), Norwich 

 School. Exhibitions : E. W. MacBride {£<,o, in Natural 

 Science), Queen's College, Belfast ; V. M, Turnbull {£,2>l ds. Sd., 

 in Mathematics), St. Bee's School. Sizarships: A. W. Cuff, 

 in Natural Science ; R. E. Baker, in Natural Science ; W. N. 

 Maw and G. F. J. Rosenberg, in Mathematics. 



