570 



NATURE 



[January 20, 19 16 



decimal coinagfe be desirable or undesirable, its 

 association with a movement for adopting- the 

 metric system can only have the effect of retard- 

 ing a change for which the time is ripe, and which 

 is necessary in order that Great Britain may hold 

 her own in the world of international commerce. 



G. H. B. 



NOTES. 



The recent circular addressed to the dealers in 

 platinum by the Director of Materials in the Ministry 

 of Munitions requiring them to make a return of the 

 whole of the stock of this metal, its ores and residues, 

 on their premises, and forbidding any trading without 

 a permit under a heavy penalty, will cause no surprise 

 to those scientific men who are cognisant of the 

 situation. Indeed, it is to be regretted that this step 

 has not been taken before. It is most unfortunate 

 that this rare, and for man)' purposes indispensable, 

 metal has been allowed to be used for jewelry and 

 purely ornamental purposes. Either silver or gold is 

 much better adapted to the production of attractive 

 ornaments and is more beautiful than the greyish- 

 white of platinum, while, of course, neither has the 

 high melting point, electrical resistance, and chemical 

 refractory qualities which make platinum so valuable 

 a metal both in science and in the arts. The normal 

 annual world's output of this metal is about 300,000 

 troy ounces. This figure dropped in 19 14 to 250,000 

 ounces in consequence of the outbreak of war. Russia 

 produces 95 per cent, of the wodd's total, chiefly from 

 the Ural placers. The crude platinum contains from 

 70 to 90 per cent, of this metal, but it is invariably 

 alloyed with iron in considerable proportions and with 

 varying amounts of the other metals of the platinum 

 group. Colombia produces about 10,000 ounces, while 

 the total output of other countries does not exceed 

 2000 ounces. It is obtained in the United States ]\Iint 

 in the electrolytic refining of gold and silver, but only 

 in amounts of about 200 ounces per annum. A small 

 amount is also recovered from the mud resulting from 

 the electrolytic refining of copper. Considerable in- 

 terest was aroused by the recent announcement that 

 platinum had been discovered in the Lower Rhine 

 region of Germany. No statements as to its possible 

 commercial exploitation have as yet been forthcoming. 



Since the outbreak of war, the research institutes 

 and stations aided by the Board of Agriculture under 

 the Development Act scheme have been fulfilling 

 useful functions. The new conditions have given rise 

 to many new problems, chiefly in regard to the use of 

 new feeding stuffs and the supply of artificial 

 manures. In relation to the former, the blockade of 

 Germany's imports has led to the appearance on the 

 home markets of a number of oil-seed residues, such 

 as palm-nut kernel, coconut, etc., in regard to the 

 use of which as feeding stuffs little precise informa- 

 tion was available ; again, the scarcity and dearness 

 of some of the other better known materials have 

 necessitated the use of substitutes, and it has become 

 important to supply agriculturists with advice on the 

 making up of rations containing unfamiliar mixtures 

 NO. 2412, VOL. 96] 



of ingredients. The Institute of Animal Nutrition at 

 Cambridge has given valuable aid in this direction, 

 and the monthly notes which it contributes to the 

 Journal of the Board of Agriculture contain informa- 

 tion which has been much appreciated by farmers. 



The utilisation of peat, whether as a source of 

 power, for use in the manufacture of explo- 

 sives, or as the basis of a manure, is attract- 

 ing much attention at present, and the sub- 

 ject is naturally one in which the Rothamsted 

 Experimental Station is in a position to undertake 

 useful work. At the request of the Board of Agri- 

 culture, the station has recently undertaken to make 

 a complete investigation of the claims made in regard 

 to Prof. Bottomley's bacterised peat or "humogen," 

 the nature and properties of which were described in 

 Nature of December 9, 1915 (p. 399). As they have 

 been stated in the daily Press, these claims appear to 

 be threefold : first, that the substance contains an 

 accessory food substance; secondly, that it supplies 

 soluble humus; and, thirdly, that its nitrogen content 

 is higher than that of most organic manures. The 

 first claim — the presence of an accessory food sub- 

 stance — is the one that will attract most attention, for 

 if it can be substantiated it will not only constitute :; 

 a distinct scientific advance, but will make the ' 

 economic problems involved much simpler. ' 

 "Humus," after all, is the cheapest manure, and it 

 is not likely that for ordinary agricultural crops any 

 manufactured product will be able to compete with I 

 such a cheap source as the farm manure-heap. The 

 investigation at Rothamsted will include an examina- 

 tion of the processes by which humogen is manu- 

 factured, as well as trials on a field scale under care- 

 fully controlled conditions. 



Mr. Tennant stated in the House of Commons a 

 few days ago that from the beginning of hostilities to 

 November last, 1365 cases of enteric (typhoid) fever 

 were reported as having occurred among British troops 

 in France and Belgium. Of these, 1150 had been 

 diagnosed after bacteriological examination. In 579 

 cases where there had been inoculation there were 

 35 deaths, and in 571 cases where there had been no 

 inoculation there were 115 deaths. We hope that Mr. 

 Tennant's statement will put a stop to the last trace 

 of opposition to the protective treatment against 

 typhoid fever. We do not say that the method is; 

 perfect; but we do say that it protects our soldiers" 

 from dying of typhoid fever. The figures given by 

 Mr. Tennant are absolutely final ; the method, in years 

 to come, may be improved; but the good which it has 

 achieved is past all possibility of sane doubt. Happily, 

 the opposition never came to much, and now is coming 

 to an end. It has had one good effect on the public 

 mind : it has helped to destroy the influence of the 

 " anti-vivlsectionists " and the "anti-vaccinationists." 

 These two bodies, never far apart, made common cause 

 against the work of protecting our soldiers against the 

 horror of death from tj-phoid fever. Among the "anti" 

 assertions, we may note the statement that typhoid 

 and paratyphoid are so like each other that the figures 

 for typhoid are worthless. This assertion is untrue. 

 Even if we add the paratyphoid cases to the typhoid 



