March 21, 1918] 



NATURE 



49 



]>revalent that an unprecedented spectacle was wit- 

 nessed on the Sunday. Many who had been attending 

 the morning service found the spectacle of one par- 

 ticular hole, which had practically become a moving 

 mass of fish, too much for ordinary restraint." This 

 a sad decadence, but it was a miraculous draught of 

 ishes ! "The quantity of salmon taken at this point is 

 "irstood to have been extraordinary. In the town 

 question, for the space of a week at least, there was 

 10 difficulty in keeping within the strictest meat 

 Rations. Two of the captured fish weighed 50 lb. and 

 lb. respectively." We have seen in peace-times 

 lis extraordinary miracle of fishes — a vivid illustration 

 "of the abundance and insurgence of life — and we can 

 vouch, by analogy, for the accuracy of the Scotsman 

 account, though "Dora," in her mysterious reticence, 

 forbids us revealing the locus of the recent occurrence. 



Some articles on recent developments in marine 

 lighting have appeared in the Engineer, and the article 

 in the issue for March 15 gives an account of arrange- 

 ments in unattended lightships and lighthouses, and 

 unattended fog signals, all of which are features of 

 recent practice. There are several methods of operat- 

 ing fog signals on beacons. It is now five years since 

 an automatic acetylene fog gun was introduced by 

 Messrs. Stevenson at Dhuheartach lighthouse. This 

 gun is claimed to have f*reat advantages over the ordi- 

 nary tonite explosive signal. It is entirely automatic 

 and fires as frequently as four times every minute, 

 whereas the tonite apparatus can scarcely fire more 

 often than once in five minutes, and requires constant 

 attendance. Two acetylene fog guns have been 

 installed on the Clyde at Roseneath Beacon and at Fort 

 Matilda Pier, the operating station being at Gourock 

 Pier. Wireless methods of operation are adopted. 

 When fog appears, an aerial at Gourock transmits 

 energy to aerials on the beacon and at Fort Matilda, 

 thereby completing the circuits of the local batteries, 

 and switches on the fog signals. Once set in action 

 the guns work automatically, giving reports at pre- 

 determined intervals which can be heard over a 

 distance of three miles in favourable weather. The 

 guns are supplied with acetylene in measured quanti- 

 ties, the gas being mixed with the necessary proportion 



^ of air to produce a good explosive mixture. This 

 application of wireless to other than telegraphic pur- 



i poses is an important step in the field of marine light- 

 ing and signalling. 



At a recent meeting of the Royal Society of Arts, 

 [ Prof. W. Frecheville read an interesting paper on the 

 development of the mineral resources of the British 

 Empire. He outlined briefly the main sources of pro- 

 duction, and discussed more fully the measures that he 

 considers necessary in order to increase the production 

 of metals within the Empire. Like many other autho- 

 rities, he is convinced that a Mineral Resources Bureau, 

 prof>erly constituted, might play a most important part 

 in such development, and whilst fully admitting the 

 great results attained in the past by our characteristic 

 individualistic methods, he very properly raises the 

 question whether we have not carried the practice 

 of Government aloofness too far. Prof. Frecheville 

 suggests that in Great Britain mining enterprise is 

 hampered by the customary conditions of the mineral 

 lease, inasmuch as this is often for a strictly limited 

 term of years, and sometimes "royalties are exacted 

 from mines which are not paying." He further 



f touches on the injustice inflicted on mining ventures 

 by the existing methods of levying income tax, a ques- 

 tion which is at the present moment agitating many 

 of those engaged in studying and fostering British 

 mining industry. Prof. Frecheville rightly lays most 

 stress of all upon the labour problem, and he suggests 



NO. 2525, VOL. lOl] 



that " it should not be beyond the bounds of human 

 ingenuity to devise some way by which, in conceding 

 higher wages, more strenuous and intelligent labour 

 should be obtained." Ihis is beyond question the cor- 

 rect attitude towards labour, and if the Government 

 Departments dealing with labour throughout the coun- 

 try had only pursued this policy instead of raising 

 wages without demanding any increase of producing 

 activity, the country would be in every way in a 

 sounder position than it is in to-day. 



We regret to note that the Engineer for March 15 

 records the death of Mr. Greville Jones, who held the 

 position of works manager at Port Clarence Iron and 

 Steel Works for nearly twenty-five years. Mr. Jones, 

 who was born in 1864, took a keen interest in the 

 Cleveland Institution of Engineers, of which he was a 

 past president, and read several papers before this body 

 and also before the Iron and Steel Institute. 



Dr. Addison, Minister of Reconstruction, attended 

 the Women's Liberal Federation Conference at West- 

 minster on March 15, and spoke in support of a reso- 

 lution (which was adopted) urging the Government to 

 create a Ministry of Health. He said that the Govern- 

 ment fully accepted the importance of establishing a 

 Health Ministry as soon as possible. He thought that 

 there was little doubt that very shortly the various 

 authorities concerned would arrive at substantial agree- 

 ment. 



In Nature of January 31 mention was made of the 

 suggestion by Mr. R. E. Dennett as to the desirability 

 of a showroom in a London thoroughfare for exhibition 

 of produce and photographs of West Africa, and it was 

 added that further means of transport are required 

 in that part of the globe. We are informed that the 

 British West African Association, which organised the 

 West African Section of the Coronation Exhibition, is 

 establishing such an Exhibition Bureau in the City 

 shortly, and will be glad of any loans or gifts from 

 readers of Nature interested in tropical Africa. 



We notice with regret the announcement of the 

 death, in his seventy-seventh year, of Sir Swire Smith, 

 M.P., who was well known as a strong advocate of 

 technical education. From 1881-84 Sir Swire Smith 

 was the representative of the woollen industries on the 

 Royal Commission on Technical Education ; in igogi 

 he acted as vice-chairman of the Royal Commission 

 on International Exhibitions ; and he was a member of 

 the committee of the National Association for Tech- 

 nical Education, of which the late Duke of Devon- 

 shire was president. 



The issue of the Comptes rendus of the Paris Academy 

 of Sciences for February 11 contains a note entitled 

 "Observations sur le langage scientifique moderne," 

 signed by twenty well-known French savants, includ- 

 ing MM. Bigourdan, Bouvier, Guignard, Haller, 

 Lacroix, and Emile Picard. This memorandum 

 severely criticises the French of some recent scientific 

 papers, and gives examples of badly constructed or un- 

 necessary new words, of the incorrect use of recognised 

 words and of new technical words left undefined, and 

 of a too literal translation or adoption of foreign wortis. 

 The examples chosen are mainly from papers on 

 electricity, chemistry, biology, and bacteriology. 



The question of restrictions on coarse fresh-water 

 fishes was discussed in the House of Lords on March 13. 

 Lord Desborough proposed that the close season for 

 angling for these fish should be shortened, and also 

 that the restrictions on angling, for eels should be 

 removed at all times. It was announced that the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries had decided to 



