598 



NATURE 



[January 28, 19 15 



possible to exert some degree of control over the 

 form and distribution of the resulting topographical 

 features, and they look forward to the time when, as 

 an outcome of detailed vegetation studies of the kind 

 here presented, the art of moulding the plastic coast 

 line will develop into a recognised craft. 



The rainfall of 19 14 is dealt with in Symons's. 

 Meteorological Magazine for January, and rather more 

 fully in the Times of January 19, by Dr. H. R. 

 Mill, Director of the British Rainfall Association. The 

 results are given in anticipation of the more copious 

 discussion which will appear some months hence. Of 

 5500 records some 3500 have been already received, 

 and a representative selection of the stations has been 

 used. The months of February, March, November, 

 and December were wet, and of these February was 

 the wettest in Ireland, and December in Great Britain. 

 The rainfall of December is said to have been excep- 

 tional in all parts of the Kingdom, and especially so 

 in the South of England. From April to October the 

 rainfall was in general well below the average, and 

 it is surmised that the dryness of this period was 

 about as abnormal as was the great rainfall of 

 December. In England and Wales the rainfall for 

 the year was 106 per cent, of the average, in Scotland 

 102 per cent., in Ireland 106 per cent., and for the 

 whole of the British Islands 105 per cent. The records 

 of 57 years at Camden Square and 41 years at Slough 

 show that no other December has j-ielded so large a 

 rainfall, and it is suggested that it was not only the 

 wettest December, but probably the wettest month on 

 record for the southern counties. At Camden Square 

 the rainfall for December was 25 per cent, of the 

 annual fall for 1914. The map giving the December 

 rains for the Thames Valley shows extensive areas 

 with the measurement of 10 inches, whilst in the 

 neighbourhood of Hindhead the rainfall for the month 

 was 12 inches. 



The recent increase of the number of lo-candle- 

 power pentane lamps sent to the Bureau of Standards 

 to be tested, has led to a detailed examination of the 

 conditions under which such lamps should be operated 

 in America to give the most accurate results. A 

 memoir on the subject by Messrs. E. C. Crittenden 

 and A. H. Taylor appears in part 3 of vol. x. of the 

 Bulletin of the bureau. It deals with the preparation 

 and testing of the pentane, the ventilation of the 

 photometer room, and the preparation and operation 

 of the lamp, and shows how the candle-power of the 

 lamp is affected by the pressure, temperature, and 

 humidity of the air of the photometer room. In 

 general the directions for use of the lamp are in 

 agreement with those issued by the Metropolitan gas 

 referees of London, but in some of the details the two 

 differ owing partly to the greater humidity of the 

 American atmosphere. 



Under the auspices of the University of Tokio the 

 hot and mineral springs of Japan are being tested 

 for radio-activity, and reports by Messrs. S. Ono and 

 H. Ikewti, on the springs of four districts appear in 

 the Proceedings of the Tokio Mathematico-Physical 

 Societv for November, 19 14. The measurements were 

 NO. 2361, VOL. 94] 



made by the bubbling method, and give for the hot 

 springs in the south of the province Higo values 

 between 14 and 03 x 10-'- curie of radium emanation 

 per c.c. of water, for the cold springs of the province 

 Ftigo the figures are 0-3 to 01 at Matunoyama, and 

 173 to 148 at Murasugi, and for those in the north- 

 east of Sinano o-i6 to zero. In comparing these 

 figures with 2x10-'^ gram of radium which forms 

 the average content of a gram of rock, it is to be noted 

 that the curie is the amount of emanation in equili- 

 brium with a gram of radium, and at normal tem- 

 perature and pressure occupies o-6o cubic millimetre. 



An important paper was read by Mr. E. Kilburn 

 Scott before the Society of Chemical Industry on 

 January 4 on a new electric furnace for the pro- 

 duction of nitrates from the atmosphere. The author 

 emphasised the immense importance, in view of the 

 war, of manufacturing nitrates from the air by elec- 

 tric power, and described a new three-phase furnace 

 which, it was claimed, has substantial advantages 

 over the existing single-phasp furnaces now in use 

 on the Continent. Briefly, the new type of furnace 

 consists of three electrodes, spaced 120° apart, con- 

 sisting of ^-in. steel rods, bent at about 30° from 

 the vertical. The top of the furnace, through which 

 air is circulated, is a boiler with vertical copper tubes 

 for the gases to pass through. The advantage of this 

 system is that with a given periodicity of supplv 

 thrice as many arcs are formed in a given time 

 as would be the case with single-phase. The three 

 phases give a combined flame of conical shape which 

 is hotter than if the same energy were expended in 

 three separate furnaces, because the latter have onlv 

 a single flat flame and the losses by radiation are 

 much greater. The efficiency per unit cost of plant 

 is much increased by the arrangement described, 

 and the heat energy can be largely recovered by using 

 the steam produced in the boiler to generate elec- 

 tricity, the combination thus working regenerativelv. 

 Owing to the increased temperature the jield of 

 oxides of nitrogen, too, is largely raised under the 

 new system of working. Since the Notodden factorv 

 was started the percentage concentration of nitric 

 oxide has been doubled merely by making small 

 modifications in furnace construction and in the rate 

 of supply of air, but it is still under 20 per cent. 

 The fact that it is so much lower than the value 

 theoretically possible indicates that great improve- 

 ments are still possible in the working details of the 

 process. 



Attention was directed b}' French surgeons some 

 time ago to the unusually high proportion of the 

 French wounded suffering from tetanus, gangrene, 

 and other forms of blood poisoning. In the Comptes 

 rendus of the Paris Academy of Sciences for January 

 II is a paper by M. Victor Henri which throws some 

 light on the cause of this. From the results of the 

 examination of a number of unexploded German 

 shells, M. G. Urbain has been able to prove the 

 presence of phosphorus. Common shell of 77 calibre 

 and shrapnel shell mostly contain a large quantity of 

 a violet-brown powder, smelling stronglv of white 

 phosphorus, and 97 per cent, of which consists of 



