November 19, 1914] 



NATURE 



319 



Irish Academy, vol. xxxi., part 7, price \s. 6d.). 

 Reference is made for further details to the memoir 

 recentlj' published by the Geolog^ical Survey of Ire- 

 land ; but the present account shows especially how 

 the district was influenced by the ice of glacial times, 

 and an excellent series of illustrations has been in- 

 cluded, most of which were hitherto unpublished. 

 The map of Clew Bay and its numerous partially- 

 drowned drumlins will interest those who have entered 

 Boston harbour from the sea. The large coloured 

 ;4fological map is repeated, by arrangement with the 

 ( "ontroller of the Stationery Office, from the Geological 

 Survey memoir. 



We have frequently taken occasion to refute some 

 of the long-lived popular fallacies relating to the 

 weather. The Scientific American of October 24 

 refers to a statement in a recent London weekiv 

 journal that "it is one of the extraordinary- things of 

 warfare that a big battle invariably produces rain." 

 < )ur American contemporary has no difficulty in 

 refuting the "particularly fatuous fallacy" that a 

 battle could have any appreciable effect on the tem- 

 perature or humidit}^ of the air, upon which conditions 

 rainfall depends. He points out that rainfall may 

 follow battles for various reasons, e.g. meteorological 

 records in northern France show an average of about 

 157 rain-days per annum, according to which rain 

 might possibly fall about even*- other day. Recent 

 literature upon the subject is abundant and conclusive; 

 as one instance we may refer to an interesting and 

 instructive article by Prof. Cleveland Abbe in the 

 L'nited States Popular Science Monthly of January, 

 u)ii, which shows by laboratory experiments that the 

 tiring of cannon or dynamite to produce rain cannot 

 nossibly succeed. We may also mention a pertinent 



mmunication to Symons's Meteorological Magazine 

 : March, 191 1. in which Mr. F. Gaster (formerly of 

 the Meteorological Office) pointed out that at Shoe- 

 buryness, where great guns are fired almost daily, 

 the average rainfall is probably the smallest in the 

 United Kingdom. 



The Committee of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 

 w hich has been making inquiries as to the best course 

 of training for engineers, mentions in its report that 

 one firm considered technically trained men of "no 

 use for dividend earning." Mr. F. M. Denton, in a 

 letter in the Electrician of November 6, points out 

 that this prejudice against technical college-trained 

 men on the part of engineering firms has cost us very- 

 dearly in the past, much of our best trade, and more 

 new trade we should have liked, having gone to our 

 rivals. The hope of regaining and retaining this trade 

 in the future is, he considers, elusive unless manu- 

 facturers are prepared to recognise that a technical 

 training permits a man to see further than he would 

 otherwise do, and that research carried out by such 

 men has been responsible for practically all the ad- 

 vance in heavy electrical engineering in recent years. 

 We cannot as a nation content ourselves with merel}- 

 making and selling what others have developed, but 

 must provide our own army of research, and lead 

 instead of following. 



NO. 2351, VOL. 94] 



In the Compfes rendus for Nov-ember 3 M. G. Lipp- 

 mann directs attention to the possibility of applying 

 the Hughes induction balance to military surgery. 

 This invention, it is remarked, appears to-day to be 

 totally forgotten. It consists of a batter\-, two small 

 induction coils, a contact-breaker, and a telephone, 

 the connections being crossed in the primary circuit 

 so that the induced electromotive forces are in contrary 

 directions. The coils can then be adjusted so that no 

 sound is heard in the telephone in the secondary 

 circuit. On the approach of a metallic mass to one 

 of the bobbins, a sound is heard in the telephone. 

 If the metal is magnetic, as is the case with a frag- 

 ment of shell or a German bullet, the effect is more 

 marked; French and German bullets can in this 

 way be distinguished. M. Lippmann thinks the 

 apparatus should be useful in militar}- surgerj-, as it 

 is easily made in numbers, simple to use, portable, 

 and cheap. 



AiX'MiMUM is now employed to a greater or less 

 extent in almost all engineering and allied trades, 

 but it is doubtful if the full extent and variety of its 

 applications are generally recognised. About 60,000 

 tons of the material are produced ever\- year. Engineer- 

 ing for November 13 points out that there is no reason 

 why the foundry of a general engineering shop should 

 not produce aluminium castings in the same way that 

 it now produces those of the copper alloys. Probably 

 the reason for the neglected use of aluminium is that 

 the average engineer is not practised in the manipula- 

 tion of this metal. A quite definite case can be made 

 out for the employment of aluminium for low-tension 

 electric cables, particularly those of large section. 

 There are a number of important installations in exist- 

 ence, e.g. the Paris General Omnibus Company has 

 650 tons of aluminium cables, yet on the whole the 

 material does not occupy the position which might be 

 expected. There is little doubt that in many cases 

 copper cables are now being installed where important 

 saving might be made by employing aluminium. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Comet 19 14^ (Lunt). — The comet discovered by Dr. 

 Lunt at the Cape Obser\ atory is travelling northward, 

 and the elements and ephemeris (the Observatory. 

 November) have been calculated by Drs. Hough and 

 Halm, and these are as follows :— 



Elements. 



T = -914 August 491638 G.M.T. 



6> = 269- 536' \ 



0,= 0° 22-5' - 19140 



i = 77- 53-3' J 

 logj? =9-85024 



Ephemeris for Greenwich Midnight. 



Dec!. 



Nov. 18 

 22 

 26 

 30 



R.A. 



h. m. <i. 

 21 51 8 

 S3 20 



55 41 

 21 58 21 



+ 8 27 



9 13 



9 56 



10 38 



It is stated that the corrections to the above on 

 October 11 were -20s , +/, and on October 17 

 -25s., +11'. 



