352 



NATURE 



[November ii, 1920 



methods. It will be remembered that this proposal 

 received the support of all the Sections of the Asso- 

 ciation by formal resolution, and the council was 

 asked to appoint a committee to take the necessary 

 steps to urge its need upon the Government and the 

 nation. This committee has now been appointed, 

 and the scientific world will follow its activities and 

 their result with close attention. .'\n oceanographical 

 expedition along the lines contemplated, and equipped 

 with the instruments which modern science can pro- 

 vide, would lead to a great increase of knowledge 

 both for scientific study and for profitable development, 

 and no nation could carry it out more appropriately 

 than Great Britain in co-operation with our overseas 

 Dominions. There will be an eclipse of the sun in 

 September, 1922, with the line of totality crossing 

 the Maldive Islands, and the expedition could ■"ery 

 well include an astronomical party to observe it. It 

 is believed that the .Admiralty is favourably disposed 

 towards the scheme, and every scientific man hopes 

 that the necessary support will be forthcoming to 

 carry out the enterprise on a scale worthy of the 

 British Emoire. 



Mr. H. G. Wells, who has recently been in 

 Russia, describes in the SunAay Express of Novem- 

 ber 7 the position of some leading men of science 

 whom he met at Petersburg, by which name, and not 

 Petrograd, this city is now called. He saw Pavlov, 

 the physiologist, Karpinsky, the geologist, Belopolsky, 

 the astronomer, Oldenburg, the Orientalist, and 

 Radlov, the ethnologist, among others who have sur- 

 vived the complete social disruption which Russia 

 has undergone since the catastrophe of 1917-18. 

 Such privileges as are possible in the country under 

 existing conditions appear to be extended to scientific 

 workers; for Mr. Wells mentions that the ancient 

 palace of the Archduchess Marie Pavlova is now a 

 House of Science, where a special rationing system 

 "provides as well as it can for the needs of four 

 thousand scientific workers and their dependents — in 

 all, perhaps, for ten thousand people." In spite of 

 this, however, there are much privation and misery, 

 and unless food and clothing are provided few arxi 

 likely to survive the coming winter. What struck 

 Mr. Wells more than anything else was that even 

 under the present disordered conditions, and with 

 physical vitality reduced almost to its lowest limits, 

 a certain amount of scientific work is still carried on, 

 and there is a burning desire to know what has been 

 done for the advancement of natural knowledge in 

 other parts of the world since the Russian collapse. 

 "The House of Literature and .Art," we are told, 

 " talked of want and miseries, 'but not the scientific 

 men. What they were all keen about was the possi- 

 bility of getting scientific publications; thev value 

 knowledge more than bread." There would, we are 

 sure, be no difficulty in obtaining the books and pub- 

 lications needed by, or funds for providing warm cloth- 

 ing for, the great survivors of the Russian scientific 

 world, if their colleagues here were assured that the 

 parcels would reach their destination. This specific 

 aid is, however, a different matter from general 

 provision for the physical and mental needs of the 

 NO. 2663, VOL. 106] 



" four thousand " scientific workers to whom Mr. 

 Wells refers. We should scarcely have placed so 

 many men in that category even before the war, and 

 the ranks of scientific forces in Russia must have 

 been greatly reduced by the revolution. 



A GOOD deal of uneasiness has recently been mani- 

 fested with regard to the free importation of German 

 dyes into this country, and in reply to questions on 

 this subject the President of the Board of Trade 

 stated on November i in the House of Commons 

 that proposals to protect the industry for a time, so 

 as to enable it to be placed on a secure foundation, 

 will be embodied in a Bill relating to key industries 

 which will be introduced and proceeded with as soon 

 as possible. It appears that during the first nine 

 months' of this year 1574 tons of dyes were imported 

 from Germany, of which 877 were consigned under 

 the reparation clauses of the Peace Treaty. The 

 value of the whole quantity was 1,399,027!., and as 

 the average price per lb. is thus about 7s. iid. it 

 would not appear that there can be any question of 

 dumping as alleged in some quarters. The amount 

 imported is at the rate of about 2000 tons per annum, 

 whilst in 1913 there were imported from Germany 

 about 13,000 tons*. It is evident that there is a 

 demand in this country for certain dyes of German 

 origin, and this is not surprising when it is con- 

 sidered that with one conspicuous exception British 

 manufacturers at the commencement of the war, like 

 the -Americans, concentrated their attention on the 

 production of those dyes which were most in demand, 

 simple to make, and required readily obtainable inter- 

 mediate products. It is high time, however, that a 

 serious effort should be made to produce such im- 

 portant dyes as the rhodamines and others, for which 

 special plant and intermediate products not easy to 

 make are required ; and it may be noted that the 

 former, in consequence of the remarkable discovery 

 of a new catalytic method of preparing phthalic 

 anhydride at a very low cost, are already appearing 

 in America. Until this can be done the introduction 

 of legislation such as that foreshadowed by the Presi- 

 dent of the Board of Trade is quite essential. 



In view of the increasing population in England 

 and the imperative necessity that this country should 

 in the future be more self-supporting in the matter 

 of food than in the past, few subjects are of more 

 vital importance than that of the reclamation of 

 waste lands. The .Association of Economic Bio- 

 logists, presided over by Sir David Prain, discussed 

 this problem at its meeting in the Imperial College 

 of Science on Friday, November ■;. In addresses 

 very fully illustrated by lantern-slides Prof. F. W. 

 Oliver considered the question of reclamation by 

 botanical means and Dr. E. J. Russell that of re- 

 clamation by agricultural means. The former 

 devoted his attention primarily to the reclamation 

 of salt marshes and other maritime tracts, showing 

 the manner in which this process slowly occurs in 

 Nature through the accreting activities of certain 

 ordered successions of plants, and then indicating 

 how such action might be accelerated and made of 

 immediate practical value bv the wise interference 



