290 



NATURE 



[November 12, 1914 



The Bulletin of the Imperial Institute (vol. xii., 

 No. 3) contains, in addition to reports on the results 

 of the scientific and technical work of the staff on 

 various colonial products, a special article on the 

 agricultural resources of the Zanzibar Protectorate by 

 Mr. F. C. McClellan, Director of Agriculture, Zanzi- 

 bar, who describes the climate and system of land 

 tenure in this portion of the Empire, discusses ques- 

 tions of labour and wages, and deals fullv with crops 

 and products, the chief of which are coconuts and 

 cloves. In the latter article Zanzibar has practically 

 a monopoly of production. In connection with the 

 campaign for the capture of German trade an article 

 on the trade in palm kernels is of importance as show- 

 ing that a large proportion of the exports of palm 

 kernels from West Africa are shipped to Germany, 

 where they are used as the source of palm kernel oil 

 and of cake for feeding live-stock, much of the palm 

 kernel oil being re-shipped to this country. This im- 

 portant trade and industry could be well carried out in 

 this country. Other articles deal with the utilisation 

 of waste fish as a source of manure, the tin resources 

 of Australia, South Africa, and Nigeria, and the trade 

 of the Seychelles. Prof. W. R. Dunstan's address at 

 the opening of the third International Congress of 

 Tropical Agriculture (June, 1914) is printed in extenso. 



The Scientific American for October 10 contains 

 several features of particular current interest. In an 

 editorial the view is put forward that in the event of 

 conscription becoming universal, scientific men should 

 be exempt. They are of incalculable value in the 

 advancement of mankind, and as such their loss would 

 entail greater sacrifices than could be compensated 

 for by their use in the fighting field in which their 

 efficiency and their numbers would probably be too 

 small to have any appreciable influence. In a short 

 note a method is given of hardening the concrete 

 floors of factories. A mixture of 15 to 20 lb. of iron 

 dust with 100 lb. of cement and twice that amount 

 of sand is applied as a surface coating about an inch 

 thick. 



We learn from the Smithsonian Institution that Mr. 

 T. W. Smillie, who has been photographer to the 

 United States National Museum in Washington for 

 the last forty-five years, has gathered together and 

 arranged for the museum a collection of ancient and 

 modern photographic apparatus and specimens. It is 

 claimed that this collection is the most complete in the 

 world. It includes what is believed to be the first 

 American camera, namely, that made in 1839 accord- 

 ing to Daguerre's specification, for Dr. S. F. B. 

 Moore; also a print from one of Niepce's plates made 

 in 1824, several fine Daguerreotypes dating from 1839 

 and onwards, specimens of Fox Talbot's earliest pro- 

 cess, and his calotypes, and some early examples of 

 " moving pictures." 



Just as ever3'one should know something about the 

 general rudiments of astronomy so a knowledge of the 

 elements of our v.-eather and climate should be uni- 

 versally understood in these isles. The earlier such 

 knowledge is acquired the more natural is the interest 

 taken in such figures and diagrams which appear in 

 our daily papers. Besides, we all experience our 

 NO. 2350, VOL. 94] 



" weather," and this should be sufficient to bring honi.,- 

 to us the importance of understanding such data as 

 are thus placed before us, and should make us wish 

 to take an intelligent interest in some of th<' 

 elementary principles. Under the title of "Weathei 

 Chart Exercises " (British Isles and West of Europej, 

 compiled by Miss L. M. Odell, and published for thr 

 University of London Press by Messrs. Hodder and 

 Stoughton (London), we have before us a series of 

 exercises which have been given in connection willi 

 the explanation of the weather charts issued by tin 

 London Meteorological Office, and in the working 011 

 of climate with special reference to the British Isles. 

 The exercises consist in drawing monthly curves of 

 rainfall and temperature, drawing isotherms and 

 isobars, differentiating between high- and low-pressure 

 systems, and many other important factors regarding 

 weather. All the data which are to be used are given 

 in tables, printed forms and charts accompanying 

 them so as to minimise the time spent by the pupil 

 in unnecessary and mechanical work not really be- 

 longing to the subject. The exercises are arranged in 

 a progressive order of difficulty and the treatment 

 throughout is excellent and reflects great credit on the 

 compiler. The fact that the new units (millibars), as 

 well as the old, are emplo}ed, speaks well for the 

 up-to-date character of the work. It may be sug- 

 gested that as the map showing the " observation 

 stations" and the "conversion tables" art so fre- 

 quently to be used both of these should be printed on 

 folding leaves at the end so as to be before the studeni 

 on whatever page he or she may be working. 



I\ the Biochemical journal (vol. viii.. No. 4, p. 438) 

 Miss M. Cunningham and Dr. C. Doree discuss the 

 formation of co-hydroxyfurfuraldehyde from various 

 carbohydrates on distillation with hydrochloric acid 

 under the conditions generally used in estimating 

 pentoses by the well-known Tollens-Krober method. 

 The formation of this aldehyde is a source of error in 

 estimating the pentoses, but it is shown that the con- 

 densation which produces the true furfural is almost 

 completed before the hydroxymethyl derivative begins 

 to distil over, and by using aniline acetate test paper 

 it is possible to distinguish between the separation of 

 the two aldehydes, so that little error is made in the 

 estimation of pentoses or pentosans. Light is thrown 

 in this paper on the so-called " furaloid " constituents 

 of plants ; in all probability these are merely hexose- 

 yielding substances, which give hydroxymethyl alde- 

 hyde on distillation with acid, the latter substance 

 being then largely decomposed by a second distillation 

 with acid. 



In Science Progress for October Dr. H. W. By- 

 waters gives an account, under the title "Vitamines," 

 of recent work on nutrition, and of the Hght thrown 

 by the researches of Funk, Hopkins, Osborne, and 

 Mendel on the cause of such " deficiency diseases " 

 as beri-beri, pellagra, scurvy, and rickets. These re- 

 searches emphasise once again the importance of the 

 part played by the "infinitely small" in vital changes, 

 a part which has been more and more realised during 

 recent years with the increased knowledge obtained 

 of enzymes and similar agents. In a paper on the 



