January 27, 19 16] 



NATURE 



599 



1915 — i.e. from 500,000^. to 5,000, oooL The values of 

 total imports for 1915 are above six millions sterling, 

 which includes esparto grass (700,000/.), rags and rag 

 pulps, and miscellaneous raw materials. As to the 

 distribution of the sources of supply of the wood pulps, 

 a large part of the total — 60 to 70 per cent. — is derived 

 from Scandinavia, Norway sending a larger propor- 

 tion of "mechanical" pulp, which is the basis of our 

 newspapers, and Sweden the larger proportion of 

 chemical pulp, used in higher class printings and also 

 writings. The chemical pulps of the American con- 

 tinent, i.e. including Canada, are little exported, but a 

 fairly large amount of " mechanical " pulp, that is, 



Ijound wood pulp, is obtained from Canada, and some 

 rom Newfoundland. Our dependence upon Scandi- 

 avia is obviously reciprocal ; their wood-pulp industry, 

 ^hich is now a very important means of exploitation 

 f their pine forests, is certainly of primary in^portance 

 3 them. The general conclusion of specialists is that 

 Iweden cannot afford to enforce any such prohibition, 

 t is probably a card played in the game of haute 

 politique, and the solution of the matter is to be 

 expected in some form of licence to export, similar to 

 our licences in the case of sulphur and other products 

 ranking directly or indirectly as "munitions." 



On Thursday next, February 3, Prof. W. H. Bragg 

 will deliver before the Chemical Society his lecture 

 entitled "The Recent Work on X-Rays and Crystals 

 and its Bearing on Chemistry." 



At the annual general meeting of the Royal 

 Meteorological Society held on January 19 the Symons 

 Memorial gold medal, which is awarded biennially for 

 distinguished work in connection with meteorological 

 science, was presented for transmission to Dr. C. A. 

 Angot, Bureau Central M^t^orologique de France. 



At a meeting of the council of the Royal Society of 

 Arts on Monday, January 24, the society's Albert medal 

 was presented to Sir J. J. Thomson, " for his re- 

 searches in chemistry and physics and their application 

 to the advancement of arts, manufactures, and com- 

 merce." The medal was founded in 1863 as a memo- 

 rial of H.R.H. the Prince Consort, and is awarded 

 annually " for distinguished merit in promoting arts, 

 manufactures, and commerce." 



In order to secure the integrity of the estate of the 

 Zoological Station at Naples, and to provide that Its 

 scientific function shall not be interrupted, the Royal 

 Italian Government has appointed a committee, of 

 which Prof. F. S. Monticelli is president, for the tem- 

 porary and extraordinary administration of the Zoo- 

 logical Station. The committee will endeavour to pro- 

 vide the station with financial means for the develop- 

 ment of its activities, particularly the fulfilment of its 

 obligations towards the table-occupants. All com- 

 muncations — financial and scientific — which may con- 

 cern the station should be sent to Prof. Monticelli. 



In view of the uncertainty as to the sufficiency of 

 the supplies of sulphate of ammonia to meet the home 

 demands during the next few months, it has been 

 decided, on the recommendation of the Fertilisers' 

 Committee, with the approval of the President of the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and the President 

 NO. 2413, VOL. 96] 



I of the Board of Trade, to suspend for the present the 

 issue of licences for the export of sulphate of ammonia. 

 Under normal conditions it is well known that the 

 production of sulphate of ammonia considerably ex- 

 ceeds home requirements, but Lord Selborne con- 

 fidently hopes that farmers will this year greatly in- 

 crease their demands for fertilisers of all descriptions 

 so as to stimulate so far as practicable the production 

 from the land, and thus reduce the importation of 

 foodstuffs. 



We referred in a leading article on December 23 to 

 the question of an adequate supply of nitrates for agri- 

 cultural and other purposes, and we commended it to 

 one of the scientific committees which have been estab- 

 lished since the outbreak of war. What is mainly 

 wanted is a careful consideration of all available facts, 

 so that a precise statement may be made of the possi- 

 bilities of the synthetic production of nitrates in this 

 country as a commercial enterprise. The subject is 

 one that intimately concerns the Board of Agriculture ; 

 and it seemed to us that it could be considered appro- 

 priately by the Departmental Committee appointed by 

 the President of the Board to make arrangements 

 with a view to the maintenance, so far as possible, of 

 adequate supplies of fertilisers for the use of farmers 

 in the United Kingdom. We are glad to see, there- 

 fore, that the omission of a chemist from this com- 

 mittee, to which we directed attention in our article, 

 has now been rectified. It has just been announced 

 that the President of the Board has appointed Sir 

 James J. Dobbie, F.R.S., Government Chemist, and 

 Mr. J. R. Campbell, of the Department of Agriculture 

 and Technical Instruction for Ireland, additional mem- 

 bers of the committee. Mr. H. Chambers has been 

 appointed secretary to the committee vice Mr. H. D. 

 Vigor, resigned. 



We learn from the Chemist and Druggist of the 

 death, at seventy-five years of age, of Dr. R. C. Engel, 

 professor of chemistry at the Ecole Centrale des Arts et 

 Manufactures, Paris, and a corresponding member of 

 the Academy of Medicine. 



The death is announced, at the age of sixty-nine 

 years, of Mr. H. M. O'Kelly, formerly superintendent 

 of Government telegraphs in India. He joined the 

 Indian Telegraph Department in 1866, was appointed 

 superintendent in 1886, and retired in 1898. 



We regret to announce that in the list of deaths 

 due to the loss of the Persia is included the name of 

 Mr. Robert Vane Russell, of the Indian Civil Service. 

 Mr. Russell joined the service in 1893, ^"d at the time 

 of his death had reached the rank of Deputy Com- 

 missioner in the Central Provinces. His ability, 

 powers of work, and knowledge of the people marked 

 him out for early distinction, and in 1901 he conducted 

 the census of the province and wrote a valuable report. 

 After the completion of the census he was engaged 

 on the revision of the series of district gazetteers, of 

 some of which he was sole author, and all were im- 

 proved by his wide knowledge of the country. But his 

 most important work was the ethnographical survey 

 I of the province, to which his later years were devoted. 

 j He carried on this work with unfailing energy, in 

 • spite of the fact that a painful disease compelled him to 



