512 



NATURE 



[December i6, 1920 



valve promises to havo a far-roaching effect on long- 

 distance line telophony in furnishing a telephonic relay 

 <if remarUablc powers. On long lines considerable 

 <lifficulties are caused by attenuation of the current- 

 waves and distortion of their form in transmission. 

 SulHcient audibility could be obtained only by going 

 to commercially impracticable expense in the provision 

 of copper in the line, and sufficiently true reproduc- 

 tion of the wave-form for recognisable sjieech could 

 be reached only by loading the line with artificial in- 

 ductance to counteract its natural capacitv. It is true 

 that various forms of telephone relay have been experi- 

 mented with from time to time in the endeavour to 

 diminish the amplitude of the current-waves necessary 

 to an extent which would bring the cost of copper 

 within reasonable limits, and at the same time to 

 lessen the troubles due to distortion, but until the 

 advent of the thermionic valve no instrument was 

 found which combined the requisite ratio of amplifica- 

 tion with truthfulness of reproduction. .\ set of 

 thermionic telephone repeaters working- on an artificial 

 cable circuit is being demonstrated at the office of 

 the Western Electric Co. at 62 Finsbury Pavement, 

 E.C.2, which represents the state of development 

 arrived at by this company in conjunction with the 

 -American Telegraph and Telephone Co. It is in- 

 teresting to notice in the next column of the Ti'iue.T 

 to that in which appears the announcement of this 

 demonstration an account of another example of the 

 use of the thermionic valve in a wireless telephone 

 demonstration between Geneva and London organised 

 by the Marconi Co. 



The following are the lecture arrangements at the 

 Royal Institution before Easter of next year :— Prof. 

 J. Arthur Thomson, a course of lectures on The 

 Haunts of Life, adapted to a juvenile auditory, to 

 begin on December 30; Sir Gerald P. Lenox-Convng- 

 ham, two lectures on The Progress of Geodesy in 

 India ; Sir James G. Frazer, three lectures on Roman 

 Life (Time of Pliny the Younger), London Life (Time 

 of .Xddison), and Rural English Life (Time of 

 Cowper); Dr. Arthur Keith, four lectures on Dar- 

 win's Theory of Man's Origin; Dr. W. A. Herdman, 

 three lectures on Oceanography; Mr. F. Balfour 

 Browne, two lectures on Mason Bees and Wasps ; Dr. 

 G. C. Simpson, two lectures on The Meteorology of 

 the Antarctic; Dr. Percy C. Buclc, three lectures on 

 The Madrigal, with musical illustrations by the Eng- 

 lish Musical Singers; Prof. A. Fowler, three lectures 

 on Spectroscopy; and Sir Ernest Rutherford, three 

 lectures on Electricity and Matter. The Friday even- 

 ing meetings will commence on January 21, when Sir 

 James Dewar will deliver a discourse on Cloudland 

 Studies. Succeeding discourses will probably be given 

 by Sir Frank Benson, Dr. A.^D. Waller, Dr. F. W. 

 .\ston, Mr. Solomon J. Solomon. Dr. John Buchan, 

 and Sir Frederick Bridge, an)on^' others. 



The meeting of the .American Ornithologists' Union 

 in Washington, D.C., on November 8-11, was one 

 of the largest in the history of the union. The elec- 

 tion of officers for 1021 resulted as follows :—Pfesi- 

 Aeni: Dr. Witmer Stone, Philadelphia. Vke-Vresi- 

 dents: Dr. G. B. Grinnell and Dr. J. Dwight. New 

 NO. 2668, VOL-. 106] 



York. Secretary: Dr. T. S. Palmer. 1939 Biltmore 

 Street, Washington, D.C. Treasurer: Mr. W. L. 

 McAfee, Biologicd Survey, Washington, D.C. The 

 single vacancy in the council was filled by the selec- 

 tion of Dr. W. H. Osgood, of Chicago. The pro- 

 gramme of nearly forty papers, five of which were 

 illustrated by motion pictures, covered a wide range 

 of subjects relating to North American birds, and 

 also included papers on the birds of Argentina, 

 Nicaragua, Peru, Europe, and Madagascar. In crn- 

 nection with the meeting an exhibition of drawings, 

 paintings, and photographs of birds by American 

 artists, supplemented by a series of prints showing 

 the develqjment of zoological illustration as applied 

 to birds from the earliest times down to date, v;as 

 arranged in the division of print.s in the Library of 

 Congress. 



In the House of Commons on December 8 .'^ir 

 Philip Magnus asked the Prime Minister: — 

 "Whether, having regard to 'the urgent necessity 

 of securing for laboratory and other purposes a 

 sufficient supply of the different kinds of glass 

 used in the manufacture of optical and other 

 instruments, and having regard to the import- 

 ance of encouraging the production in this country 

 of such glass, he will arrange for the introduction at 

 an early date of a Bill prohibiting for a time, except 

 under special licence, the importation of such varieties 

 of glass and of such scientific instruments as mav 

 or can be produced in this country?" Sir Philip 

 Lloyd-Greame, who replied, said that the President of 

 the Board of Trade had stated during the debate on 

 December 7 that the Government intends to introduci 

 the Bill dealing with key industries, other than the 

 dye industry, as the first measure next session. 



The four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of 

 the Straits of Magellan is to be celebrated this 

 month. According to the Scientific Monthly for 

 November the festivities will centre in Santiago and 

 Punta Arenas, where the occasion will be marked 

 by the inauguration of several important oublic works, 

 including port improvements, lighthouses in Smith 

 Channel, and the laying of 'the foundation-stone of the 

 Iniversity of Punta Arenas. Great Britain, Spain, 

 Portugal, and the nations of America are to bu 

 invited to join Chile in the commemoration of the 

 anniversary. 



The Times of December 15 publishes a communica- 

 tion from its Paris correspondent describing a paper 

 read before the French .Academy of Sciences on th.' 

 use of X-rays for the examination of old paintings, 

 and the message refers to a picture by an old Dutch 

 master in which a woman had been painted in over 

 the picture of a monk. There is, however, nothing 

 new. in the report given in the Times, and this par- 

 ticular application of X-rays was described and illus- 

 trated in N.ATiRE of February 26 last (vol. civ., p. 690). 

 I.N a letter publi.shed in Nature of September 30 

 Mr. C. S. Garnett gave an account of some interest- 

 itig mineral deposits which had been investigated bv 

 him in Derbyshire. It is now announced that three 

 miles south of Matlock, near Wirksworth, Mr. Garnett 

 has discovered a new deposit of fluorspar which is re- 

 ported to be a mile in extent and 30 ft. in thickness. 



