654 



NATURE 



[February II, 1915 



According to a narrative published in the January 

 number of British Birds, Miss Haviland found the 

 species comparatively abundant in the Golchica district, 

 and procured several skins, as well as a clutch of eggs 

 and a couple of young birds. The last are very similar 

 to young dunlin, but even when a few days old may 

 be distinguished by the shape of the beak. As soon 

 as hatched they leave the dry upland slopes for the 

 sphagnum-bogs that occupy the hollows in the tundra. 



R. L. 



CLAY AND POTTERY INDUSTRIES.^ 



IN an interesting and valuable introduction, Mr. 

 Graham Balfour, who has been for so many 

 years closely associated with educational work in 

 North Staffordshire, says:— "This volume of collected 

 papers is the first fruits of the Stoke-on-Trent Pottery 

 School, and will in due course • • • be followed by 

 many successors of equal size and value." 



The publication of this record of work done by the 

 students and members of the staff coincides with the 

 opening of the New Central Schools of Science and 

 Technology at Stoke-on-Trent, which contain finely 

 equipped chemical, physical, and pottery laboratories 

 and class rooms, and in which the old pottery school 

 finds at last a suitable home. 



The school has been conducted by Dr. Mellor for 

 some ten years under conditions which would cer- 

 tainly have damped the ardour of any ordinary man, 

 but this record of work accomplished during these 

 years by Dr. Mellor and his students is a striking 

 testimony to the enthusiasm and ability with which 

 the work has been carried on. It is no longer neces- 

 sary or desirable that an English pottery student 

 should go to Charlottenburg for his training as a 

 ceramic chemist, for here at hand he has a splendidly 

 equipped school, which has already built up a tradi- 

 tion for research work of the highest importance. 

 The subjects dealt with cover a very large field, but 

 nearly all are of direct practical value to the potter. 



Paper xxix. on studies on cylinder grinding is 

 a most excellent contribution, and is a typical example 

 of the thoroughness with which the subjects are 

 treated in their theoretical and practical aspects. 



Paper xxiv., on the absorption and dissolution 

 of gases by silicates, by Mr. Bernard Moore and 

 Dr. Mellor, is an extremely interesting and important 

 paper of direct practical value, and the publication of 

 this and other similar work has already beneficially 

 affected pottery practice in this country. 



The papers on the nomenclature of silicates and 

 on the chemical constitution of the kaolinite 

 molecule are in another category, but although they 

 are not of direct practical application, they are of great 

 interest to the ceramic chemist, and they show that 

 the outlook of the school is comprehensive and that 

 the work done has an importance beyond the confines 

 of the pottery industry. 



The illustrations and descriptions of apparatus — 

 much of which is here described for the first time — are 

 excellent, and it need scarcely be said that Dr. Mellor 

 has used his mathematical ingenuity to advantage in 

 working out and in explaining the problems dealt 

 with. The references to original papers and other 

 published work of German, French, American, and 

 English chemists is a very useful feature of the book. 



The papers are naturally of very different values, 

 and their publication in one volume produces a rather 



i " Clay and Pottery Industries." Being vol. i. of the Collected Papers 

 from the County Pottery Laboratory, Staffordshire. By several Authors. 

 Edited by Dr. J. W. Mellor. Pp. xvii + 4ii. (London : C. Griffin and Co., 

 Ltd., 1914.) Price 15^. net. 



NO. 2363, VOL. 94] 



uneven "Mosaic" effect, but the impression one 

 gathers from a perusal of the book is the wide scope 

 and thoroughness of the work and its practical value. 

 It is a unique publication in this country as a record 

 of work done by so small a school and in so, modest 

 a way. Joseph Burton. 



THE IRISH TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION 

 ASSOCIATION. 



THE proceedings of the Annual Congress of the 

 above Association, held at Killarney in May last, 

 are of more than usual interest. The operations of 

 the association cover virtually the whole of Ireland, 

 and the congress just held is the thirteenth since the 

 Act of 1902. Without any question these congresses 

 have contributed largely to the development of 

 scientific and technical instruction in Ireland, and 

 incidentally to a keener interest in a more efficient 

 elementary and intermediate education. 



The subjects dealt with have been concerned mainly 

 with industrial progress and with the conditions and 

 problems which await investigation and solution in 

 order to ensure a stable advance in the agricultural, 

 industrial, and commercial well-being of the nation. 



In this endeavour there is the closest co-operation on 

 the part of the Government and other official authori- 

 ties with the education committees of the various areas, 

 and four of the papers of high importance, dealing 

 with the "Problem of Small Industries," "The 

 Technical Training of Skilled and Unskilled Workers 

 in France and Germany," "An Industrial Survey of 

 Ireland," and "Technical Instruction for Small 

 Holders," were read by officials of the Department of 

 Agriculture and Technical Instruction, and Mr. T. P. 

 Gill, the secretary of the Department, gave an in- 

 spiriting review of the progress of technical instruction 

 in Ireland since its initiation in 1902. 



The position and future of the Irish woollen trade 

 was the subject of a highly interesting paper by Mr. 

 J. F. Crowley, of Siemens Bros., Ltd., with the 

 object of showing that the industry, now somewhat 

 languishing, is peculiarly suited to the genius, 

 temperament, and circumstances of the Irish people, 

 and that, given the organisation, both industrial and 

 commercial, due technical training and capital, there 

 is no reason why the industry should not take a 

 high place amongst the productive enterprises of Ire- 

 land. It is essential to its success that there should 

 be, amongst other measures, a central woollen textile 

 school established in the south of Ireland for the 

 efficient training of the various grades of persons 

 engaged in the industry. 



The paper by Mr. Macartney-Filgate, well illus- 

 trated by maps, diagrams, and lantern slides, setting 

 forth the varied industries and natural resources of 

 Ireland and suggesting lines and methods of scientific 

 development, was of much interest. Whilst the avail- 

 able coal supply is limited, there is water power 

 available, easy of transformation into electrical energy, 

 to the extent of I5 million horse power, together with 

 an almost unlimited supply of peat fuel, and examples 

 were given showing how this and the former source 

 of power had been successfully utilised on a large 

 scale, and only needed capital and enterprise still 

 further to develop it. The extraction of oil from shale 

 on a considerable scale has also been successfully 

 begun, rendering it possible to utilise the internal 

 combustion engine for the service of the small manu- 

 facturer. Much valuable information was given by 

 Mr. L. J. Humphreys on the efficiency of co-operative 

 effort in his paper on "Technical Instruction for Small 



