176 



NATURE 



[October 14, 1915 



mearne, of the 8th Seaforth Highlanders. An Austra- 

 lian by birth, he served in the South African war, 

 and later obtained an appointment in the Nigerian 

 Police Force. There he acquired proficiency in the 

 Hausa language, and studied the anthropology and 

 folklore of this people. He then gained a scholarship 

 at Christ's College, Cambridge, and was awarded the 

 diploma in anthropology. The results of his work in 

 Nigeria were published in " Hausa Superstitions and 

 Customs," and "The Tailed Hunters of Nigeria." 

 Later on he visited North Africa and published a work 

 on demonology, entitled "The Ban of the Bori," in 

 1914. His sympathetic knowledge of the African races 

 enabled him to carry out valuable field work, and the 

 results of this were published in numerous papers in 

 the Transactions of the British Association, the Royal 

 Anthropological Institute, and the Folklore Society. 

 It will be difficult to fill his place as a competent field 

 anthropologist. 



The Revue Scientifiqiie for September 18 reproduces 

 an important address delivered at the Conservatoire 

 des Arts et Metiers in February, by Prof. J. Violle. 

 Its subject is the future of the physical industries of 

 France after the war. By a comparison of the statis- 

 tics of Import and export of the countries of Europe 

 he shows how France has in the last twenty or thirty 

 j-ears lost its place as a leading constructor of mechan- 

 ical, electrical, and optical apparatus for the civilised 

 world. He urges on the Government the importance 

 of providing schools for the training of skilled work- 

 men, of a National Laboratory of Weights and 

 Measures on the lines of the National Physical Labora- 

 tory of this country, the Bureau of Standards of Wash- 

 ington, and the Physikalische Reichsanstalt of Ger- 

 many. The country urgently needs such a central 

 institution to which the scientific problems which arise 

 in Industry may be taken for solution. Behind these 

 requirements he recognises the importance of following 

 the example of Russia and removing the formidable 

 temptation of alcohol from the workman's path, and 

 points out finally how in the workshop, in the field, 

 no less than in the army, France is suffering from 

 "the shameful reduction in the birth rate." 



The abnormal condition of the market for feeding 

 stuffs caused by the war suggested to Prof. Hendrick 

 and Mr. W. J. Profeit the experiment described in 

 Bulletin No. 20 issued by the North of Scotland Col- 

 lege of Agriculture. The object of the experiment was 

 to determine the feeding value of palm-kernel cake in 

 comparison with linseed and decorticated cotton cakes. 

 The first of these cakes is a feeding stuff hitherto little 

 used in this country, almost the whole production 

 going to the Continent, chiefly to Germany, where it 

 has always found a ready market. Now, however, 

 large stocks of palm-kernel cake are, or shortly will 

 be, at the disposal of the home feeder. In Prof. 

 Hendrick 's experiment thirty head of cattle were 

 divided into three lots, each consisting of six heifers 

 and four bullocks. Throughout the period of eighty- 

 fcur days covering the experiment, each lot of animals 

 was fed with one variety of cake mixed with locust- 

 bean meal in addition to a diet of swedes and straw to 

 all alike. The three lots of cattle all did well, and the 

 NO. 2398, VOL. 96] 



return in live weight Increase was practically the same 

 for each kind of cake. The monetary return from 

 the palm-kernel cake was, however, considerably better 

 than that given by either cotton or linseed cakes at 

 present prices. Some doubts have been expressed as 

 to the keeping properties of palm-kernel cake owing 

 to the oil becoming rancid, but no difficulty of this 

 kind was found after nine months' storage. The high 

 percentage of fibre in this cake does not appear to 

 affect the digestibility of the feeding stuff. 



The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries is circulat- 

 ing an appeal by Lord Selborne to the farmers and 

 occupiers of land in England and Wales calling on j 

 them to produce as much food as possible during the i 

 coming year. No hope of financial support from the ! 

 State is held out, but farmers are asked to do their 

 part In Increasing the supply of food as the sf>eclal ' 

 war service which they can render to their country, i 

 Leaving the precise means to be adopted to the ; 

 farmer's judgment and to the advice of his friends and ] 

 neighbours, it is suggested that the object In view • 

 may be attained by one or more of the following ' 

 methods :— (a) By ploughing up the poorest permanent 1 

 pasture and so increasing the arable land; (b) by ' 

 shortening the period for which existing arable land is ' 

 kept under clover or rotation grasses ; (c) by Improving 

 the remaining grass land so that it will carry more i 

 stock; and (d) by reducing the acreage of bare fallow \ 

 wherever possible. Lord Selborne realises the many ] 

 special difficulties that have to be overcome, of which ^ 

 the chief is that of labour. Arrangements have already ; 

 been made that men skilled in agricultural work, such ; 

 as shepherds and engine-drivers, are not to be accepted « 

 for enlistment, yet this difficulty will remain with J 

 regard to the supply of ordinary farm labour. ■ 

 Machinery is to be set up to link the actual producer 

 with the Board of Agriculture through the agency of 

 local committees in each district, acting under the 

 guidance of a War Agricultural Committee for each 

 county. The farmer should consult his local com- 

 mittee on any problems or difficulties that may con- 

 front him. By this means it will be possible for the 

 President of the Board to be kept Informed of the 

 needs of farmers throughout the country and to secure 

 that all the help that can be given them is placed at 

 their disposal. 



The idea of a universal permanent or durable peace 

 has seemed to many minds merely Utopian. But the 

 peculiar circumstances of a world-war are more and 

 more forcibly impressing upon the world the desira- 

 bility of realising the Idea, and are also beginning to 

 make clear the necessary bases of such realisation. 

 The present war may be termed scientific from many 

 aspects, and a permanent world-peace can only be 

 attained by scientific study of the causes of war and 

 of the possible ameliorating conditions. Several 

 publications dealing with these matters have reached 

 us recently. The Swiss thinker, Prof. August Fore], 

 shows, In his " Die Vereinigten Staaten der Erde," 

 how the causes of war and of this war are rooted in 

 every department of social life and organisation. The 

 brochure has many Interesting apergus on national 

 psychology, and the meaning of race-hatred, war- 



