March 23, 1922; 



NA TURE 



383 



'he Rothamsted Experimental Station has taken 

 over the Stackyard field, Wobum, which for many 

 years was held by the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England; and proposes to continue the experiments 

 on wheat and barley in close association with the 

 work at Rothamsted. Although the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society thus gives up its experimental farm, 

 it is gratifying to know that the Society does not 

 intend to break its connection with scientific research ; 

 it has set up a Research Fund and a Committee to 

 initiate or receive schemes for investigation, and it 

 proposes to carry out its experiments on the farms of 

 its members. In the first instance four problems will 

 be studied : — (i) The value of ground mineral phos- 

 phates, more particularly in the improvement of 

 pasture. (2) The use of various forms of lime on 

 grass and tillage crops. (3) The use of wild white 

 clover, wild red clover, bird's -foot trefoil, etc., in 

 laying down land to grass. (4) The profitable utiUsa- 

 tion of whey. We welcome this further evidence of 

 the recognition now widely accorded by farmers to 

 the necessity for further research work in agriculture, 

 and we trust that fruitful means of carrying out such 

 work will be found. There are certain difficulties 

 which should be pointed out. Unless the programme 

 of work and the actual experiments are closely super- 

 vised by scientifically trained men, there is great 

 danger tliat the results may be incomplete, giving 

 much less information than might otherwise be 

 obtained. Without a carefully-drawn -up programme 

 something vitally important is liable to be left undone, 

 or some observation omitted, and in {igricultural 

 investigations lost opportunities rarely recur. More- 

 over, there is a real danger of overlapping ; at the 

 present moment there are already two separate bodies 

 studying the effects of mineral phosphates on grass- 

 land ; fortunately they ,have co-ordinated their 

 efforts. Neither of these difficulties is insuperable and 

 we have Uttle doubt the Committee will be able to 

 overcome them. 



Scarcely any department of scientific research is 

 of such general interest as that which concerns pre- 

 historic man, his development during the Ice Age and 

 the changes thefi taking place in the conformation of 

 land and sea. Yet, with the exception of the Institute 

 of Human Palaeontology in Paris, which was gener- 

 ously endowed by Prince Albert of Monaco, there 

 has been hitherto no special centre for the investiga- 

 .tion of this deeply interesting and important period. 

 A public institution for study of the Ice Age has 

 now been established in Vienna in connection with 

 the Natural History Museum of the Austrian Republic, 

 and every effort will be made to investigate the 

 phenomena of the Ice Age on a broad scientific basis. 

 The geographical position of Vie*ina renders it well 

 adapted for this purpose, since the land structures 

 associated with the glaciation can be studied in the 

 near vicinity and observed in their ancient relations 

 to the environment of pre-historic man. Lower 

 Austria has already furnished a rich store of ancient 

 stone implements and weapons. The Vienna Insti- 

 NO. 2734, VOL. 109] 



Current Topics and Events. 



tute is under the able- leadership of Dr. J. Bayer, 



director of the anthropological and ethnographical 



Bayer's papers, in which he demon- 



collections. Dr. 

 strates the existence of no more than two distinct 

 periods of glacial conditions, may be said to have 

 created a new basis for this field of research. Dr. 

 Bayer is assisted by a distinguished group of col- 

 leagues, and it is hoped to extend the circle of workers 

 to include those in other countries who are devoting 

 themselves to research on this period. Any such are 

 freely invited to enter into communication with 

 Dr. Bayer at the Natural History Museum, Vienna, 

 who will be pleased to give fuller information as to 

 the present activities of the Institute. 



The Daily News for March 3 contained an article 

 of three columns by W. B. W. on the constitution of 

 the atom according to the nuclear theory and the 

 disintegration of the atoms of the lighter elements 

 which has been effected recently by Sir E. Rutherford 

 and Dr. Chadwick. The results of their work were 

 recorded in the November issue of the Philosophical 

 Magazine, and Sir E. Rutherford gave an account of 

 them in his address to the Chemical Society a few 

 days ago. We welcome the appearance of articles 

 on scientific subjects in the daily press, as they furnish 

 one of the best means of keeping the public acquainted 

 with the interesting work which is being done. There 

 is a tendency, however, in such articles to represent 

 each development as a sensational one, and the public 

 gets the impression that the foundations of science 

 are overturned every month or two. It is not in the 

 interests of science that such a false impression should 

 be produced, and we see no reason why a sensational 

 turn should be given to an article on a scientific subject 

 while an archaeological discovery is allowed to speak 

 for itself. There is room in the daily press for a 

 regular series of articles on scientific subjects to 

 maintain the tradition established by Lord Rayleigh 

 and Sir Ray Lankester a dozen years ago. 



The British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Associa- 

 tion has just issued its second annual report. During 

 the past year the membership of the Association has 

 increased very largely, the principal trade associations 

 having joined it. The programme of research work 

 which has been undertaken is very extensive and has 

 been divided among various university and national 

 laboratories and individual firms having the necessary 

 equipment. The influence of impurities on copper, 

 the poUshing of metals, atmospheric corrosion and 

 methods of joining metals, are among the subjects 

 now being investigated, and considerable progress has 

 been made in dealing with some of them. At the 

 second annual meeting, held in Birmingham on 

 March 3, and preceded by a luncheon, the progress of 

 the Association was surveyed. Vice- Admiral Sir 

 George Goodwin, Dr. Rosenhain, Sir Henry Fowler, 

 and Sir Frank Heath were among the speakers, who 

 emphasised the importance of co-operative research 

 of this kind to the metal industry. The policy of the 

 Association is not confined to the solution of imme- 



