544 



NATURE 



January 14, 191 5 



CHEMICAL TESTS AND STANDARDS. 



AS is well known, the Bureau of Standards of the 

 U.S. Department of Commerce ^ issues from time 

 to time circulars and technological or scientific papers 

 upon various matters which have come before it for 

 investigation. Among a budget of these publications 

 received recently are papers dealing with the questions 

 indicated below. 



In Technologic Paper No. 31, Mr. E. T. Mont- 

 gomery describes experiments made with " Some lead- 

 less borosilicate glazes maturing at about 1100° C." 

 In ceramic practice glazes containing lead have cer- 

 tain advantages, but are often potentially poisonous. 

 The object of the experiments was to make a general 

 comparison between lead glazes and leadless glazes 

 for white ware and china at a firing temperature of 

 about 1100° to 1120° C. Seger's work on leadless 

 glazes was taken as the basis. The author concludes 

 that both kinds have special faults and special virtues, 

 but it is not likely that any leadless glaze will be 

 found " which will exactly duplicate the many excel- 

 lent properties " of glaze containing lead as .an in- 

 gredient. 



Paper No. 33 describes a method of determining 

 the carbonic acid, obtained from the combustion of 

 carbon in iron, by converting it into barium carbonate 

 and titrating this salt. This avoids certain errors to 

 which the use of potash bulbs or soda-lime tubes for 

 weighing the carbonic acid is liable. The principle of 

 the process is well known ; the point of the paper lies 

 in the details given for obtaining accurate and fairly 

 rapid results. 



In Paper No. 35 Mr. L. G. Wesson explains a 

 "combustion method for the direct determination of 

 rubber." It consists in converting the rubber into a 

 nitrosite, which is then dissolved out with acetone, 

 and a combustion analysis made upon an aliquot part 

 of the solution after expulsion of the solvent. The 

 process promises to be a useful one. 



The "Scientific Paper" (No. 221) is a discussion of 

 the "influence of atmospheric conditions in the test- 

 ing of sugar." During the operations of clarifying 

 and filtering solutions of sugar for polarimetric ex- 

 amination, the liquids, if not kept covered, lose water 

 by evaporation. The concentration of the sugar is 

 thus increased, and the polarisation-value rendered too 

 high. The magnitude of this effect, and the condi- 

 tions modifying it, have been investigated by the 

 authors of the paper. By keeping the liquids covered 

 during the operations practically all increase in the 

 polarisation-value may be prevented. 



Of the " Circulars " in question one (No. 16) is a 

 small pamphlet which describes the testing of hydro- 

 meters as carried out by the Bureau of Standards, 

 and gives instructions with a view of promoting 

 uniformity in the construction and verification of these 

 instruments. The other (No. 44, " Polarimetrv ") 

 treats of the principles which underlie the construction 

 and use of the polariscope and the analysis of sugars. 

 It is written from the point of view of the standards 

 department, and deals at some length with the 

 different systems, scales, and sources ol Illumination 

 employed in modern polarimetry. This publication i« 

 distinctly of value both to polariscope makers and to 

 sugar analysts. 



WAR AND THE RACE. 



THE Manchester Statistical Society has printed an 

 eloquent address by Dr. C. W. Saleeby, 

 "The Longest Price of War." The thesis is 

 the old, but politically ignored, result of war 

 in " reversed selection." Quoting Michelet's epi- 



1 Rureau of Standards. Technologic Paperp, Nos. 31, 33, 35 : Scientific 

 Paper No. 221 ; Cirrul.nrs N"«. 16, 44. 



NO. 2359, VOL. 94] 



gram that the campaigns of Napoleon lopped 

 a cubit from the stature of the French, and Prof. 

 J. A. Thomson's observation that not even the dis- 

 coveries of Pasteur could restore the phj-sique which 

 the victories of Napoleon's armies had destroyed, Dr. 

 Saleeby notes the small size of the present-day French 

 soldier, as remarked by many observers. To-day, for 

 our own forces, "the brave, the vigorous, the healthy, 

 the patriotic are taken, and the others left. . . , The 

 rejected recruits recruit the race." The whole ques- 

 tion is one which statisticians should investigate in 

 special reference to the present war. Dr. Starr 

 Jordan's study, "The Human Harvest," and the late 

 J. Novikow's " Darwinisme Sociale," are the best of 

 a meagre list of popular expositions of the thesis, of 

 which the decay of the Roman Empire Is the classic 

 type. Speeck estimated that of every hundred 

 thousand Romans, eighty thousand were slain. " Vir " 

 thus gave place to " homo " ; " the Roman Empire 

 perished," says Seeley, "for want of men." 



No scientific mind wishes to eulogise war, in the 

 German fashion, which depends for its argument on 

 the primitive athletic form of war, whereas war of 

 to-day is simply peace riddled with casualties. Dar- 

 win's famous sentences refer onh" to a more or less 

 imaginary conscript army in a country which is always 

 at war — " in every country in which a large standing 

 army is kept up, the finest young men are taken by 

 the conscription or are enlisted. They are thus ex- 

 posed to early death during war, are often tempted 

 into vice, and are prevented from marrying during 

 the prime of life. On the other hand, the shorter and 

 feebler men, with poor constitutions, are left at home, 

 and consequently have a much better chance of marry- 

 ing and propagating their kind." It seems a fairly 

 obvious inference that the dysgenic results of modern 

 warfare remain to be proved. The deliberate sacrifice 

 of life by exploiting the mass-formation is a special 

 case needing, investigation. The whole subject calls 

 for investigation ; until this is carried out, nothing is 

 at all clear either for or against the biological effects 

 of war. 



STANDARDISATION OF ELECTROTECH- 

 NICAL SYMBOLS. 



THE International Electrotechnical Commission has 

 recently issued its report (Publication 27 ^) upon 

 international symbols in electrotechnics. In the pre- 

 face to the report, it is pointed out that the subject 

 of international agreement in regard to symbols em- 

 ployed in electrotechnics was first brought before the 

 International Electrotechnical Commission at its meet- 

 ing in London in 1908. In Brussels, in 1910, a few 

 general rules, together with a certain number of 

 symbols, were adopted for circulation to the various 

 national committees. The question of international 

 agreement in regard to the symbols for the algebraic 

 representation of Ohm's law was briefly mentioned, 

 with the result that the following year, at Cologne, 

 certain definite proposals were made by Dr. E. Budde, 

 president of the German committee, which culminated 

 in international agreement being reached in this im- 

 portant matter at the plenary meeting of the com- 

 mission held in Turin in September, 191 1. At the 

 latter meeting a number of other proposals were pro- 

 visionally adopted, and a special committee was insti- 

 tuted to continue the work and draw up further pro- 

 posals to be placed before the national committees for 

 their consideration. At the plenary meeting of the 

 Commission held in September, 1913, at which twenty- 



1 London : Published-for the Commission'by Waterlow and Sons, Ltd., and 

 tol"? oVitained from the Oeneral Secretary, 28 Victoria Street, Westminster, 

 S.W. Price 2s. id. post free. 



