45° 



NATURE 



[December 2, 1920 



place within tlic cells themselves. The essential 

 features of malignant growths were described and the 

 outline of a plan of research for the advancement of 

 our knowledge of the causes of cancer was sug- 

 gested. 



The proceedings of the sixth annual Indian Science 

 Congress, which was held in Bombay on January 

 13-18, 1919, have been published in the Journal and 

 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. xv., 

 No. 4. The volume contains full reports of the presi- 

 dential address delivered by Sir Leonard Rogers, an 

 abridged version of which appeared in Nature of 

 May 29, 1919, and of the presidential addresses 

 delivered to the various sections. The latter are fol- 

 lowed by brief abstracts of the other papers read at 

 the meeting. 



A GAZETTEER of Streams of Texas has been compiled 

 by the United States Geological Survey and published 

 as Water Supply Paper No. 448. Source, length, and 

 topographical details are given in all cases, while in 

 that of the more important streams other in- 

 formation, such as seasoij of greatest flow, gradient, 

 and precipitation in the basin, is added. The work is 

 Ijased on the best maps available, supplemented by 

 personal reconnaissance. References are given to 

 sheets of the topographic survey. The addition of a 

 map to the volume would have rendered it more 

 useful for reference. 



We learn from the Geographical Journal for 

 November that Col. P. H. Fawcett is planning to 

 return to his work of exploration in Western Brazil 

 east of the Bolivian frontier. The expedition, which 

 has the active support of the Brazilian Government, 

 will include, besides Col. Fawcett, two Brazilian 

 officers and Major Lewis Brown, of the Australian 

 infantry. The investigation of the Indian tribes is 

 one of the chief objects of the expedition. Carto- 

 graphical work will be governed by astronomical 

 observations and based for its longitudes upon the 

 courses of the main rivers as determined by the work 

 of the Rondon Commission. 



The potentiality of Australia for white settlers is 

 discussed by Dr. Griffith Taylor in an article entitled 

 "Nature versus the Australian" in Science and 

 Industry for August. After a discussion of the 

 amount and variability of rainfall in Australia, Dr. 

 Taylor divides the country into seven regions based 

 on rainfall, in terms of which agricultural and pas- 

 toral production can be classified. Farming and close 

 white settlement generally are, and, he contends, will 

 be, confined to three of these regions, which embrace 

 the Riverina, Victoria, Tasmania, eastern Queensland, 

 the north-east of New South Wales, and "Swanland" 

 in Western Australia. The distribution of minerals, 

 especially coal, will in time result in dense population 

 irrespective of agricultural potentiality, but in Aus- 

 tralia the coalfields occur in the regions favoured bv 

 climate, and so tend to more centralisation of popula- 

 tion. Dr. Taylor is not hopeful of white settle- 

 ment in tropical Australia, arid gives adequate climatic 

 reasons for his opinions. The paper concludes with a 

 NO. 2666, VOL. 106] 



tentative map showing the habitability of the globe. 

 In the southern hemisphere south-eastern Australia 

 and New Zealand alone are indicated as areas with a 

 potentiality in white settlement of more tlian 125 per 

 square mile. 



The Department of .Agriculture of the Union of 

 South Africa has recently issued a report (Bulletin 

 No. 4, 1920) on investigations in the wool industries 

 of Great Britain and the United States of America 

 with a view to the betterment of the industry in 

 South Africa. An interesting survey is made of the 

 kinds and qualities of wool and its substitutes, and 

 a useful comparative statement gives the countries 

 to which South .African wool was exported from 1913 

 to 1919. Next to Great Britain, Germany was the 

 largest purchaser of South .African w-ool previous to 

 the war, and since then her place has been taken by 

 America and Japan. Very informative tables are 

 appended showing the world's wool production and 

 the estimated world's wool stocks in the 1919-20 

 season. While the usual annual supply of the world 

 is estimated at 2,700,000,000 lb., there was available in 

 1919-20 for consumption by manufacturing countries 

 as much as 4,200,000,000 lb. The defects of South 

 African wool are gone into in detail, and useful 

 suggestions are made with a view to their elimina- 

 tion. Great care appears to have been taken in 

 estimating the capital expenditure required to build 

 and equip factories for specialisation in the various 

 branches of manufacture of woollens and worsteds, 

 the expected output from certain machines is properly 

 tabulated, and the cost of labour is shown for Eng- 

 land, France, the United States, Germany, and 

 Austria, while the cost of running and maintenance 

 of plant is dealt with systematically. 



Until recently the process of the melting and cast- 

 ing of metal in a brass mill was very similar to that 

 practised 240 years ago. As a rule, small crucibles 

 having a maximum holding capacity of about 300 lb. 

 were used. The advent of the electric furnace, how- 

 ever, is now rapidly revolutionising the industry. In 

 one type the heat of the electric arc is used, and in 

 the other— the induction type — the metal is melted 

 by the electric currents induced in it. An interesting 

 account of the latter kind of furnace is given by Mr. 

 G. H. Clamer in the Journal of the Franklin Institute 

 for October. Official tests show that about 10 lb. 

 of two-to-one yellow brass are brought to the casting 

 temperature (2000° F.) per electric unit expended in 

 the Ajax-Wyatt furnace. The metal is melted directly 

 by the Joule effect, the electromagnetic forces keep- 

 ing it circulating. A very interesting induction fur- 

 nace has been invented by Dr. Northrup. Instead of 

 using alternating current of the ordinary commercial 

 frequencies, he uses currents having frequencies of 

 10,000, similar to those sometimes used in long- 

 distance radio-telegraphy. In this case no resistance 

 column of molten metal is necessary. The metal con- 

 tained in a plain cylindrical crucible is brought to any 

 required temperature by the induced eddy currents. 

 These furnaces are suitable for very high temperature 

 melting, such as is required, for instance, by alloy 

 steels and precious metals. 



