January 20, 192 1 J 



NATURE 



679 



The Optical Glass Industry. 



THIl Daily Telegraph published in its issues of 

 December 28 and 29 two articles on the optical 

 ^lass industry in this country, in a leading article of 

 January b it says that, as England gave her scientific 

 experimenters no assistance, supremacy in this highly 

 skilled industry passed over to Germany, the Govern- 

 ment of which had had the insight and the foresight 

 to gauge its actual and potential value. When war 

 broke out in 1914 there was but one firm — Messrs. 

 Chance Brothers and Co., Ltd. — manufacturing 

 optical glass in the British Empire. The consequence 

 was that during the first year of the war our armies 

 and our fleets could not be equipped with the optical 

 glass required. Thanks to the brilliant research work 

 of Sir Herbert Jackson and his coUeacues on the 

 Glass Research Committee of the Institute of 

 Chemistry ; to the investigations and work of Messrs. 

 Chance Brothers ; and, later, to the work done 

 by the Derby Crown Glass Co., Ltd., by the end 

 of the war British optical glass was as good as 

 German, and was being produced in quantities 

 sufficient to me€t every demand. Messrs. Chance 

 Brothers were manufacturing in one year optical 

 glass sufficient to meet three years of the whole 

 world's peace demand before the war. The Derby 

 Crown Glass Co., which, before it was requested 

 to do so by the Optical Munitions Department of 

 the Ministry of Munitions, had not made an ounce 

 of optical glass, is now producing some seventy or 

 more different types and varieties "of a quality," 

 says Prof. Cheshire, " which challenges comparison 

 with the best in the world." Nor is this all. The 

 establishment of the British Scientific Instrument 

 Research .Association, of the Department of Technical 

 Optics at the Imperial College of Science and Techno- 

 logy, and of the Department of Glass Technology at the 

 University of Sheffield, and the work of the National 

 Physical I-aboratory are all designed to consolidate 

 and extend the ground gained, so that our manufac- 

 turers may keep in the front rank and not again 

 allow themselves to be outstripped. But, the Doify 

 Telegraph points out, the industry is again exposed 

 to the full blast of German competition, more formid- 

 able now than ever because of the state of the 

 Gorman exchange. The editorial article in our con- 

 temporary concludes by endorsing the demand of the 

 industry that the Government shall Implement the 

 ■ verbal assurances given during the war, and, by n 

 1 system of importation only under licence for a period 

 of, say, seven years, enable this industry — " of all 

 others a key industry " — to be safely tided over thi'^ 

 abnormal period. 



Mineral Resources of the United States. 



A TTENTION may be directed to Bulletin No. 666 

 •**• of the United States Geological Survey, recently 

 Issued, entitled "Our Mineral .Supplies," which gives a 

 brief account of the mineral resources of the United 

 States, compiled from the point of view of the import- 

 ance of rendering the United States economically in- 

 dependent of the rest of the world so far as mineral 

 output is concerned. Even before .America took part 

 in the war It was recognised that her stocks of im- 

 ported minerals were likely to be exhausted, or at any 

 rate seriously depleted, and that it was necessary to 

 fake measures to ascertain how far it was possible to 

 rrplare these minerals from home resources. Certain 

 minerals were Imported from choice rather than from 

 necessity, because tfiey could be obtained of hiche' 

 >frade, or more convei Icntly, or more cheaply fror- j 



NO. 2673, VOL 106] 



abroad, and in these case$ it was only necessary to 

 stimulate the home production. la a few other cases 

 the minerals . were imported because they either did 

 not occur at all or did not occur In workable quantities 

 or under workable conditions within the United 

 States. The list of such minerals is, however, sur- 

 prisingly short. .AH minerals are here classified under 

 three heads, namely : Class i, domestic mineral sup- 

 plies adequate to all probable peace and war needs 

 of the United States; Class 2, domestic mineral sup- 

 plies sufficient for a large part of the peace and war 

 needs of the United States ; and Class 3, domestic 

 mineral supplies inadequate in quantity or quality, 

 or both, . for the peace and war needs of the 

 United States. This last class includes only asbestos, 

 chromite, graphite, manganese ore, monazite, nickel, 

 nitrates, platinum, potash salts and tin, and in only 

 three of these, namely, monazite, nitrates and potash, 

 was there no production at all in 1913, and only in 

 the case of nitrates was there no production in 1917. 

 In many cases, even amongst those minerals that 

 occur but sparingly, the production had increased 

 immensely during those four years. Thus, for 

 example, the production of chromite was 255 tons in 

 1913 and 43,725 tons in 1917. Although not written 

 with that object, this bulletin gives a vivid impression 

 of the wonderful natural resources of the United 

 States. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Bristol. — Mr. W. A. Andrews has been appointed 

 lecturer on applied chemistry at the Merchant Ven- 

 turers' Technical College in succession to Capt. H. 

 Stanley. Mr. Andrews is at present a member of the 

 staff of the Cardiff Technical College. 



Cambkiixse. — The alternative scheme drawn up by 

 one-half of the Syndicate on the relation oi \vomeo 

 students to the University will be submitted to the 

 Senate for approval on February 12. A grace is pro- 

 posed expressing the approval of the Senate of the 

 incorporation of Girton and Newnham Colleges into a 

 University, which Cambridge University would assist 

 and co-operate with in various ways. The women's 

 colleges have given notice that they will not take 

 any steps towards the formation of a separate Uni- 

 versity even if the report is approved, so that the 

 question will not apparently be much affected which- 

 ever way the voting goes. 



Prof. Burkitt has offered the University, on behalf 

 of a number of people interested in Oriental archaeo- 

 logy, a sum of 20/. annually to enable the University 

 to become "a subscribing learned society" to the 

 British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. This 

 will give the University the power to nominate one 

 student at the school. 



\Vb have received a copy of the annual report and 

 statement of accounts of Livingstone College, E.io, 

 for the year 1919-20. For more than three years 

 during the war the buildings were used as a hospital 

 for_ wounded soldiers, but they have now reverted to 

 their proper function of training mission.-iries in the 

 elements of practical medicine and surgery. The use- 

 fulness of the college has been extended bv the decision 

 to admit women as students. It is also announce<l 

 that a special residential vacation course will be held 

 in July this year on the care of health in the tropics 

 with practical clinical work. In spite of the strictest 

 economy the debit balance increased by 360/. during 

 the venr, and the deficit now amounts to 03 if. Dona- 



