February 17, 1916] 



NATURE 



685 



market for the product in this country, which is likely 

 to expand when the new factories now building start 

 work. 



Students of f>etrography will note the description 

 of three Indian meteorites by J. Coggin Hrown 

 ("Records Geol. Surv. India," vol. xlv., 1915, p. 209), 

 the falls of which were actually observed between 1902 

 and 1914. All are referable to the prevalent sporado- 

 siderite type, and show marked chondritic structure. 



A SECOND edition of "The Geology of the Country 

 between Whitby and Scarborough" has been issued 

 by the Geological Survey of Great Britain (1915, 

 ])rice 2.V. 6d.). It is practically a new work, and the 

 description of the strata by the late C. Fox-Strangways 

 and G. Barrow has been supplemented by a chapter 

 by S. S. Buckman on their palaeontological classifica- 

 tion. The critical revision of the species and genera 

 of ammonites will be very welcome to those who first 

 examined the Whitby coast when far less exactitude 

 prevailed. Considering how many visitors to this 

 part of Yorkshire become here attracted for the first 

 time to geology, we might suggest the insertion in 

 A third edition of plates showing some of the most 

 common forms, and the suture-lines that can be 

 traced on rubbing down the surface of good speci- 

 iiens. Popular works on the Whitby district are 

 l)tainable, such as that by L. Walmsley (Nature, 

 vol. xciii., p. 382); but the Geological Survey is not 

 sufficiently recognised as a powerful help in public 

 education. The present memoir is further strengthened 

 by a review of the glacial geology by G. W. 

 Lamplugh. 



Nearly two years have elapsed since the circum- 

 stances of the loss of the Karluk, the ship of Stefans- 

 son's Arctic Expedition, were announced, but a full 

 account of her voyage and her drift in the pack, and 

 the escape of her crew after the sinking of the vessel, 

 have so far been lacking. Captain R. A. Bartlett's 

 diary from his departure from Nome to his return to 

 Esquimalt is now published in full in the report of 

 Department of the Naval Service for the year 

 ding March 31, 1915 (Ottawa). It is accompanied 

 a sketch map showing the drift of the Karluk from 

 near Flaxman Island, where she was caught on August 

 12, to her destruction on January 11, north of Herald 

 Island. The diary is characteristically brief, but it 

 shows with what ability Captain Bartlett was prepared 

 1) handkj the situation. Had all the members of the 

 xpedition taken his advice, there would probably have 

 len no loss of life. Captain Bartlett wisely decided 

 i> bivouac on the ice for several weeks in order to 

 larden the men and to get a track made over the 

 aigh ice by the time the light conditions improved. 

 A road was prepared and depots of provisions laid 

 down, with the result that Captain Bartlett's party 

 reached Wrangell Island in safety. How Captain 

 '^artlett crossed to the mainland and ultimately re- 

 irned from Nome with help has been told before. 

 Unfortunately, there is now no hope of the safety of 

 Dr. Forbes Mackay, Mr, James Murray, M. Henri 

 I -cuchat, and those members of the crew who accom- 

 mied them in their independent attempt to reach the 

 nd at an earlier date. 



NO. 2416, VOL. 96] 



j^^ie 



The council of the Rontgen Society has drawn up 

 and issued with the January number of the journal of 

 the society a number of recommendations for the pro- 

 tection of X-ray operators. They are printed on a 

 card, which should be suspended in a prominent posi- 

 tion in every X-ray laboratory. In the early days of 

 the therapeutic use of the rays many cases of X-ray 

 'dermatitis occurred, but these injurious effects may 

 now be readily avoided. The X-ray bulb should be 

 enclosed in a box lined with sheet lead two millimetres 

 thick, and provided with an opening through which 

 alone the rays required can emerge. The observer 

 should protect himself with sheet lead of the same 

 thickness, or with gloves or lead glass screens with 

 an equivalent amount of lead in them. The efficiency 

 of each screen should be tested before it is brought 

 into use. 



The director of the Bureau of Standards at Wash- 

 ington gives a short account of the recent work done 

 by the bureau in the January number of the Journal 

 of the Franklin' Institute. We have already given in 

 these columns the results of the inquiry into the cause 

 of the failure of fusible tin boiler plugs, and the 

 investigation of the permissible variations in the 

 method of manufacturing bronzes. Amongst the other 

 subjects under investigation at the present time are : — 

 The best platinum alloy for platinum ware, the causes 

 of failure of wheels, rails, and other railway materials, 

 the standardisation of test steel ingots, the distribution 

 of the carbon in steels, the preparation of pure iron, 

 the manufacture and properties of non-ferrous metals 

 and alloys, and the causes of failure of structural 

 brasses. It is impossible to read a list of investiga- 

 tions like this without feeling that the United States 

 Government is providing a sound scientific basis for 

 her industries, and that the money required for main- 

 taining the bureau is well spent, or, we should prefer 

 to say, well invested. 



" Selling Machinery by Motion Pictures " is the title 

 of an article in the Engineering Magazine for January. 

 Machines are generally too large to be sent for inspec- 

 tion bv the prospective customer, and experience shows 

 that it is very difficult to persuade him to visit the 

 works where the machines are made. Many firms 

 are now making a speciality of portable kinemato- 

 graphs, light in weight, small in size, and easy to 

 operate. These can be connected to the lighting cir- 

 cuit in the customer's office with a blank wall as the 

 screen, and the films show the mode of operation and 

 construction of the machine in an ideal manner from 

 the business point of view. The motion picture 

 obliterates the seasons, and the action of a harvester 

 can be shown in winter as easily as that of a planter 

 in autumn. The article gives many instances of the 

 use of the kinematograph for business purposes, and 

 includes copies from parts of several typical films. 



The use of dry blast in the manufacture of iron and 

 steel is discussed in Engineering for February 11. At 

 least five plants have been installed in Great Britain ; 

 most of these have not been considered to yield a 

 sufficient return for the outlay involved. Two plants 

 erected in Germanv were shut down after twelve 



