48o 



NATURE 



[December 30, 191 5 



but the author is evidently a keen and thoughtful 

 observer, and he has much to tell us on the recon- 

 struction of the country. We fully agree with 

 him that the real Egyptian of Egypt is not to be 

 found in the towns but in the country villages, 

 and we have been particularly interested in read- 

 ing how he succeeded in training fellahin, or 

 members of the peasant class, to undertake the 

 skilled work of observation required in an experi- 

 mental garden, including the use of a chemical 

 balance and other laboratory appliances. These 

 later parts of the book are preceded by three 

 chapters on the ancient history of the country. 

 Here the author has no special knowledge, but he 

 has in the main followed sound authorities, and 

 the outline he gives serves as an effective foil to 

 the account of modern developments. 



Among the numerous half-tone plates, repro- 

 duced from photographs, several make effective 

 illustrations and others are of technical interest. 

 But a few are not of a distinctive character, 

 either in subject or treatment, and, like the not 

 very artistic representation of the Egyptian flag 

 on the cover, scarcely do the author justice. 

 Perhaps we are hypercritical. But first-hand in- 

 formation and experience of Egypt or the East 

 are so rarely coupled in their record with a real 

 sense of style; when we do meet them we are, 

 perhaps, inclined to be ungratefully impatient of 

 accessories which tend to disguise the com- 

 bination. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 

 opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither 

 can he undertake to return, or to correspond with 

 the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 

 this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 

 taken of anonymous communications.] 

 An Application of the Rules of Zoological Nomenclature. 

 Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, Jan., has published (Smith- 

 sonian Misc. Coll., vol. Ixv., No. 12, November 24, 

 1915) the results of his investigation of a set of casts 

 of the famous Piltdown fossils as compared with a 

 large series of actual anthropoid and human skulls. 

 Modern casts are made with great accuracy, and Mr. 

 Miller is a competent and experienced authority on the 

 skulls and teeth of mammals. He confirms the doubt 

 already stated by many investigators as to whether 

 or no the Piltdown lower jaw belongs to the same 

 individual as the Piltdown skull, and goes further in 

 the discrimination of the anthropoid character which 

 has been obvious to all the investigators. He admits 

 that the skull is human, but decides that the lower jaw 

 is that of an extinct chimpanzee. 



Mr. Miller's arguments are impressive, and may 

 turn out to be convincing when they have been 

 examined by persons who have seen the actual speci- 

 mens. But Mr. Miller, who is also experienced in the 

 application of the rules of nomenclature, has thought 

 it necessary to name and describe a new species of 

 chimpanzee, founding it on a jaw that he has never 

 seen. Thus, if his opinion be sustained, the very 

 famous Piltdown jaw, discovered by Mr. Dawson, 

 made known to science by Mr. Dawson and Dr. A. 

 Smith Woodward, and lodged in the British Museum, 

 will have to be cited as the type of Pan vetus, Gerrit 

 S. Miller. P. Chalmers Mitchell. 



Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, 

 London, N.W., December, 1915. 



NO. 2409, VOL. 96] 



THE SCIENTIFIC ORGANISATION OF 

 INDUSTRIES. 



AN article by M. Jules Gar9on on the scientific 

 organisation of industries appears in the 

 Bulletin d' Encouragement pour I'Industrie 

 nationale for September-October, p. 383. After 

 describing the proceedings of the deputations to 

 Messrs. Pease and Runciman on behalf of the 

 Royal and Chemical Societies, with representa- 

 tives from the Society of Chemical Industry, the 

 Society of Public Analysts, and the Institute of 

 Chemistry, as the sequel to memorials presented 

 to the Prime Minister on March i, which have 

 already been treated of in Nature (May 13, 

 p. 295), and giving a useful analysis of the various 

 points raised, the sympathetic replies of the 

 Ministers are alluded to. An account follows of 

 the proceedings at the annual meeting of the 

 Society of Chemical Industry at Manchester in 

 July of this year, with reports of the addresses 

 given. by the president. Dr. M. O. Forster, Mr. 

 Charles Carpenter, Prof. H. E. Armstrong, and 

 Dr. Beilby. Next follows a summary of the 

 address delivered by Sir W. Ramsay to the 

 British Science Guild at its annual meeting on 

 July I, and, lastly, the details of the Committee 

 and Advisory Council on Scientific and Industrial 

 Research, appointed under the Board of Edu- 

 cation. 



M. Gargon sums up these various opinions and 

 resolutions in several pages of "conclusions," 

 which it may be useful here to indicate. The 

 English men of science are unanimous in their 

 view that the technical and scientific knowledge 

 of the nation should be utilised to the greatest 

 possible extent during the war, as well as to 

 guarantee future progress. They demand the 

 formation of a permanent central committee ; that 

 scientific investigation shall be encouraged ; that 

 the teaching of science in the universities shall 

 be reformed ; and that the scientific societies lend 

 their aid to effect these changes. They demand 

 prompt and decided action. The committee in 

 connection with the Board of Education has 

 now been appointed ; it consists of men of 

 acknowledged ability in science and industry, and 

 is now busying itself with various items on the 

 programme drawn up in accordance with the 

 demands of the scientific societies. It has, 

 besides, a very considerable annual grant to dis- 

 pose of. It is the closer association of science 

 and industry which is most to be desired, and an 

 effort must be made to arrange university courses 

 so that they will furnish young technologists able 

 to experiment and to assist manufacturers. 

 Centralisation is also Imperative, for much has 

 been lost in England for lack "of concentrated 

 effort. 



M. Gar9on notes that while the Soci^te 

 d'Encouragement, under the chairmanship of M. 

 L^on Lrndet, has done excellent work in succeed- 

 ing in its attempt to induce chemical manufac- 

 turers in France to collaborate, and while in 

 France there has been formed a " Union des 

 Societes industrielles de France," also while in 



