478 



NATURE 



[December 9, 1920 



silting of the estuary and on the general rigime 

 of the river, the best size and form of turbine 

 and generator, the use of alternating- or direct- 

 current generators and of geared or ungeared tur- 

 bines, the maximum economic capacity of the installa- 

 tion, and the volume of water actually available in 

 the case of such an estuary as that of the Severn 

 under operating conditions. All these are problems 

 to which existing data are inadequate to enable a com- 

 plete answer to be supplied, but to which such experi- 

 ence as is available, augmented by some special 

 experimental investigations, should be adequate to 

 give a definite answer. Tempting as the scheme may 

 appear, it \vould be wise to suspend judgment as to 

 its possibilities until the report of some such Com- 

 mission as is suggested is available. 



In continuation of the article in Nature of April i 

 last, p. 153, on the Tropical Agricultural College in the 

 West Indies, it may be noted that a circular letter 

 dated January 27, 1920, was sent out by the Colonial 

 Office to Governors of West Indian Colonies directing 

 their attention to the report of the Committee upon 

 the proposed agricultural college, and to the advan- 

 tages that would be likelv to accrue to the Colonies 

 from its establishment. It was pointed out that the 

 West Indies had now the chance of creating an 

 epoch in their economic history, especially as they 

 are at present so prosperous that they might well 

 hope to equal or surpass any similar institution on 

 foreign soil. Much hard work and skilled direction 

 will, however, be necessary if Buitenzorg is to be 

 surpassed. The letter ends by demurring to the pro- 

 posal that the Imperial Government should contribute 

 half the cost, pointing out that the Colonies do not 

 contribute to the cost of institutions in this country 

 that are of value to them. Later telegrams announce 

 that the vexed question of the site has been settled in 

 favour of Trinidad, which Colony has now a great 

 opportunity before it. The site has been selected on 

 the Government farm at St. Augustine, about six miles 

 from Port of Spain. The Governments of Trinidad, 

 Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, the Lee- 

 ward Islands, as well as Bermuda, have offered 

 financial support. 



A CONSIDER.WLE impetus should be given to elec- 

 trical research by the incorporation under the Depart- 

 ment of Scientific and Industrial Research of the 

 British Electrical and Allied Industries Research Asso- 

 ciation, which is the outcome of the joint activities of 

 the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the British 

 Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association. 

 Half of a guaranteed minimum income of i6,oooJ. 

 per annum is to be contributed by the Department of 

 Scientific and Industrial Research, which has also 

 undertaken to contribute pound for pound against 

 further manufacturers' subscriptions up to twice that 

 figure. The association is in close touch with the 

 British Engineering Standards Association and the 

 National Physical Laboratory, and the council, which 

 is under the chairmanship of Mr. C. H. Wordingham, 

 includes seven representatives each of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers and of the British Electrical and 

 Allied Manufacturers' Association, with Prof. W. H. 



NO. 2667, VOL. 106] 



Eccles and Sir J. E. Petavel as representing the 

 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 

 The character of the work already undertaken gives 

 some indication of the wide field which may be 

 covered. This includes a comprehensive investigation 

 into composite and fibrous insulating materials, porce- 

 lain, and mica, and inquiries into particular classes of 

 apparatus such as mining switchgear. The present 

 programme also includes investigations on sludging 

 in insulating oils,, the preparation of data for standard 

 specifications for these and other insulating materials, 

 and a research on the heating of buried cables. Ar- 

 rangements are in hand for rapidly extending the pro- 

 gramme of research, and all communications regard- 

 ing the association should be addressed to Mr. E. B. 

 Wedmore, secretary and director of research, at 

 ig Tothill Street, Westminster, S.W.i. 



The British Music Industries Research .Association 

 has iDeen approved by the Department of Scientific 

 and Industrial Research as complying with the condi- 

 tions laid down in the Government scheme for the 

 encouragement of industrial research. The associa- 

 tion may be approached through Dr. R. S. Clay, 

 Northern Polytechnic Institute, Hollowav, London, 

 N.7. 



The next meeting of the Chemical Society will be 

 held on Thursday, December 16, at 8 p.m., in the 

 lecture hall of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 

 Storev's Gate, Westminster, S.W.i, when Sir Robert 

 Robertson will deliver a lecture entitled " Some Pro- 

 perties of Explosives." 



Sir J. F. C. Snell, member of council of the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers and past-president of 

 the Institution of Electrical Engineers, has been 

 appointed by an Order of Council to be a member of 

 the Advisory Council to the Committee of the Privy 

 Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. 



Prof. J. Perrin (Paris) and Prof. C. Fabry 

 (Marseilles) have been elected honorary members of 

 the Royal Institution, and Prof. Arthur Keith has 

 been re-elected Fullerian professor of physiology for 

 a further term of three years. The Christmas course 

 of juvenile lectures this vear will be delivered by 

 Prof. J. Arthur Thomson on " The Haunts of Life,'" 

 commencing on Thursday, December 30, with The 

 School of the Open Shore as the subject, and fol- 

 lowed by The Open Sea, The Great Deeps, The 

 Fresh-waters, The Conquest of the Land, and The 

 Mastery of the -Air. 



On December i the Natural History Museum Staff 

 Association held, by permission of the Trustees, the 

 last of its scientific reunions for the current year. 

 Many interesting exhibits of new acquisitions to the 

 museum collections and other specimens of excep- 

 tional interest were shown in the board room, and in. 

 a darkened room close by Dr. E. A. Cockayne gave 

 a demonstration of the remarkable fluorescent pro- 

 perties of certain moths and butterflies in ultra- 

 violet light, the specimens used being drawn from 

 the museum collection. Among the visitors present 

 were Lord Rothschild, Lord Sudeley, Lt.-Col. A. W. 

 Alcock, Prof. E. B. Poulton, Prof. J. H. Ashworth, 



