March 14, 19 18] 



NATURE 



27 



>ns was rapidly increased; in 1871 there were 

 fty-five, in 1898 eighty. The collection of rain- 

 ill statistics also interested Prof. Mohn greatly, 

 id by 1890 he had established nearly loo stations, 

 [895 the number reached about 300, and a few 

 ears later 500 stations rcp>orted rainfall to the 



ititute. 



The international exchange of telegrams was 



50 developed. As early as 1869 telegrams were 



jived from Great Britain ; Denmark commenced 



1871, Sweden in 1873; Russia, Finland, Ger- 



lany, and France began in 1892, and the Faroe 



Jslands in 1907; Spitsbergen, Austria-Hungary, 



id Italy joined in 1912, followed in 1913 by 



loUand, Spain, Portugal, and Madeira. 



Meanwhile the telegraphic reporting of observa- 



ms from Norwegian stations was increased ; by 

 thirty-three stations reported by telegraph, 

 ttiile by 1914 the number had increased to sixty- 



le. 



Services of storm-warnings and forecasts were 

 >mmenced early in the history of the institute. 



le reports and publications were organised and 



,'eloped, and the volume gives diagrammatic 

 ^presentations of the growth of the institute's 

 )rting stations, staff, budget, and library. 



Aerology received much attention at the begin- 

 |ng of the present century ; sounding balloons 



;re sent up, and in 1909 pilot-balloon ascents 



^ere begun. In 1912 this part of the work was 



':en over by Prof. V. Bjerknes, and it is now 



rried on by the observatory at Aas. 



Notes are given on the past and present mem- 

 irs of the staff of the institute, and detailed 

 ascriptions of the growth and work of each of the 

 iree sections dealing with climatology, forecast- 

 and rainfall respectively. The establishment 

 id work of the observatories at Aas, Bergen, and 

 [aldde are described, and the book is illustrated 

 V interesting photographs of the institute and 

 iservatories, and by reproductions of charts and 



igrams. 



NOTES. 



The letters that have appeared recently in the Times 



id in articles elsewhere on the effect of electric action 



the growth of plants show a readiness to believe that 



lost any wonders may be wrought by electricity. 



[est scientific workers will agree with Prof. Armstrong 



Sir James Crichton-Browne in their scepticism as 



the proved value of electrical treatment as a general 



;thod of increasing crop production. It is asserted 



It by the electrical treatment of seeds increases of 



;Id of 20 to So per cent, may be produced. The state- 



;nt seems to refer to a commercial process in which, 



irently, seeds are subjected to the combined action 



electric currents and certain solutions ; in the method 



jctrolysis appears to play some part. The process 



is based on the treatment known to physicians as 



>nic medication," and used, for example, for the 



luction of swollen joints. Treatment of seeds in this 



ly appears to have no sound physiological basis, and 



b data derived from experiments carried out under 



critical conditions appear to be available, so that it is 



imp>ossible to evaluate the method. No one who knows 



the difficulty of carrying out satisfactory agricultural 



experiments, and the ease with which a few favourable 



NO. 2524, VOL. lOl] 



j but illusory results can be obtained, is likely to accept 



I the views of a few farmers as convincing evidence of 



I the value of the process. The method of treatment of 



' the growing plant with a high-tension discharge from 



I overhead wires has been Ix-'fore the public for some 



j years ; it is certainly more promising, but it is generally 



j admitted to be in a purely experimental stage. 



Sir J.J. DoBBiE, Government Chemist, and principal 

 of the Government laboratories, has ibeen elected a 

 member of the .'\thenaeum Club under the rule of the 

 club which empowers the annual election by the com- 

 mittee of a certain number of persons of distinguished 



; eminence in science, literature, the arts, or for public 



1 service. 



Summer-time began in France and Italy on March 



10 ; it begins with us on March 24, and will begin in 



Holland on April i. The dates on which si4mmer- 



time ends are also different in different countries. 



However much "daylight saving" by alteration of 



I clocks may be appreciated by the public, there can be 



; no doubt that the varying dates adopted for the begin- 



j ning and ending of the change of standard are most 



confusing, and will render it very difficult to determine 



the exact instant at which any records of observations 



\ of natural occurrences are made. 



' The issue of the Comptcs rendus of the Paris 

 ; Academy of Sciences for January 28 contains a decree 

 of the President of the Republic creating a new divi- 

 j sion under the title " Application de la Science k 

 I 1 'Industrie," which is to consist of six members, who 

 ! are to enjoy the same privileges as the " Acad^miciens 

 libres," without restriction as to residence. There is 

 probably no more conservative scientific organisation 

 in the world than the Academie des Sciences, and 

 there could be no more significant sign of the changed 

 conditions of the times than this action on the part 

 of the French Government and the academy in thus 

 seeking to brin^ science and industry into closer rela- 

 tionship. 



In connection with our note on the Air Force Medi- 

 cal Service in last week's issue, we may direct atten- 

 tion to the appointment of a Medical Administrative 

 Committee. According to the Lancet, the Director- 

 General of the Naval Medical Service is chair- 

 man. The other members are the Director- 



I General of the .Army Medical Service, Fleet-Surgeon 

 R. C. Munday, Major C. B. Heald, Surgeon-General 

 Rolleston, Dr. Henry Head, Mr. Raymond Johnson, 



' Dr. Leonard Hill, and Sir Walter Fletcher. We ob- 

 serve with satisfaction that the scientific aspects of the 



I problems will be likely to receive consideration. At 



j the same time, the physiological representatives are 

 small in number compared with the official and medi- 

 cal members, a fact to be regretted in view of the 



, nature of the chief questions with which the Committee 

 will have to deal. These questions require a wide 

 knowledge of a great variety of physiological problems. 



As the outcome of a conference held on November 7 

 last, at which there were present representatives of 

 the Committee of the Privy Council for Scientific and 

 Industrial Research and of the Department for the De- 

 velopment of Mineral Resources, besides many of the 

 land- and mine-owners of Cornwall, a fund for research 

 has been raised, and a Research Board has been ap- 

 pointed by the Committee of the Privy Council. The 

 members of the Board are : — Sir Lionel Phillips, Bt. 

 (chairman) ; Mr. J. G. Gilbert, Cornish Chamber of 

 Mines ; Sir Frank Heath, Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research; Sir T. K. Rose, chairman of the 

 Research Committee of the Board ; Mr. Edgar Taylor, 



