April i8, 191 8] 



NATURE 



^oZ 



We regret to note that Engineering for April 12 

 rocords the death of Mr. John Shanks Brodie, who 

 since 1900 had been the borough engineer and sur- 

 veyor of Blackpool. Mr. Brodie was born in 1850, 

 and acted as engineering assistant from 1877 to 1884 

 to the Corporation of Liverpool. During the follow- 

 ing sixteen years he occupied the positions of borough, 

 harbour, and waterworks engineer at Whitehaven. 

 Among many other improvements carried out at 

 l)lackpool under his direction are the sea-walls, de- 

 signed by Mr. Biodie and executed under his direct 

 supervision. It would be difficult to find around our 

 oast sea-defence works carried out in a more thorough 

 manner. Mr. Brodie was elected a member of the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers in 1906. 



According to an announcement in the Times of 

 April 6, the Royal Agricultural Society is entering 

 upon an important development of its activities in the 

 prosecution of agricultural experimental investigation. 

 For several decades the society has carried on valuable 

 work on its experimental farm at Woburn, but it is 

 realised that many important practical problems cannot 

 be adequately dealt with at a single centre. Members 

 if the society are being invited, therefore, to co-operate 

 Aith the view of carrying out experiments under 

 lie widely differing conditions prevailing in various 

 jarts of the country. Among the subjects for investi- 

 gation referred to in the preliminary announcement 

 ire the continuous growing of corn, green manuring, 

 unexhausted manurial value, the use of lime, the treat- 

 iient of pasture, and calf-rearing. These subjects 

 afford abundant scope for the practical investigator, but 

 lie value of the work accomplished under the scheme 

 \ ill depend largely upon the detailed arrangements for 

 he planning and supervision of the work, further in- 

 iormation concerning which will be awaited with 

 interest. 



The report of the council of the Institution of Mining 

 md Metallurgy for the year ended December 31 last, 

 presented at the annual meeting held on April 11, 

 icords the increasing inclination of Government de- 

 jartments to turn to scientific and technical organisa- 

 ions for advice and assistance. The council is pre- 

 paring to deal with problems of reconstruction after 

 he war. Co-operation between the leading scientific 

 and engineering societies has increased, the report 

 points out, and augurs well for future developments. 

 Substantial progress was made during 19 17 in the tin 

 and tungsten research inaugurated by the institution 

 with the co-operation of the Royal ' Cornwall P0I3'- 

 technic Society, and ciirried out under the direction of 

 the committee of which Sir Thomas Rose is chair- 

 man. In connection with the organisation of the 

 mineral resources of the Empire the council has done 

 useful work in urging the establishment of a Depart- 

 ment of Minerals and' Metals. The Imperial War Con- 

 ference which met in London during the spring of 19 17 

 decided that it was desirable to establish in London 

 an Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau, upon which 

 should be represented Great Britain, the Dominions, 

 India, and other parts of the Empire. The bureau 

 should be charged with the duties of collection of in- 

 formation* from the appropriate departments of the 

 Governments concerned and other sources regarding 

 the mineral resources and the metal requirements of 

 the Empire, and of advising from time to time what 

 action, if any, may appear desirable to enable such 

 resources to be developed and made available to meet 

 the metal requirements of the Empire. The committees 

 appointed by the various Government Com- 

 mittees have recognised the necessity for such a 

 central organisation, and the council awaits the final 

 decision of the Government. 



NO. 2529, VOL. lOl] 



In the issue of Man for April Dr. A. C. Haddon 

 discusses the outrigger canoe of East Africa. Canoe* 

 with outriggers are confined to the Indo-Pacific area, 

 and are absent, and so far as we can tell always have 

 been, from the American continent and Europe. 

 Canoes with single outriggers are unknown in Africa, 

 while canoes with double outriggers are confined to the 

 east coast, from Lamu to Dar-es-Salaam, to the 

 (Comoro Islands, and to the north-west coast of Mada- 

 gascar. Their occurrence in this region is certainly due 

 to a cultural drift from Indonesia, which also brought in 

 its train a peculiar form of fish-trap. Mr. C. W. Hob- 

 ley, through Mr. H. R. Montgomery, District Com- 

 missioner, East Africa, has supplied Dr. Haddon 

 with an interesting account, furnished with numerous 

 illustrations, of the East African type of canoe. Fur- 

 ther information, both from East Africa and Indo- 

 nesia, is required before the question of the origin of 

 this type of canoe can be regarded as definitely settled. 



At a meeting of the Zoological Society on March $ 

 Mr. Tate Regan exhibited photographs of a fish with 

 markings on the tail simulating old Arabic characters, 

 on one side " Laillaha lUalah" — "There is no God but 

 Allah" — and on the other " Shani Allah " — "A warn- 

 ing sent from Allah." The fish was sold in the market 

 at Zanzibar for a penny ; the man who bought it was 

 going to eat it and cut off the tail, throwing it on the 

 ground ; another man picked up the tail and saw the 

 writing ; great excitement ensued, and the fish changed 

 hands at increasing prices, until 5000 rupees was 

 offered. Major H. R. Cartwright, Commandant of 

 Police, had the fish preserved and sent photographs 

 of it to the Natural History Museum, where it was 

 identified as Holacanthus semicirculatiis, Cuv. et Val., 

 a widely distributed Indo-Pacific species of Chaeto- 

 ,dontidaB. Mr. Regan considered the markings as 

 .falling within the limits of normal variation of the 

 species. 



Under the title "Our Ill-fed Foes" the Illustrated 

 London News of March 23 devotes a page to illustra- 

 tions, drawn by Mr. W. B. Robinson, of some of the 

 food substitutes used in Germany. The more thought- 

 ful reader who will carefully examine his drawings 

 may, however, learn many lessons which he will find 

 distinctly beneficial in these days of rations and dear 

 foods. We have before us also a paper written a 

 year ago by Dr. F. A. Bather (of the Natural Histon*' 

 Museum) in the Putney News Letter, advocating the 

 use as vegetables of several of our common weeds, 

 notably the dandelion and stinging-nettle, and sprouts 

 of hops. The present writer can speak from experi- 

 ence as to the excellence of the young nettle-tops when 

 served like spinach, and the attempt to weed the gar- 

 den of dandelions is greatly stimulated by the reward 

 of daily after-<linner coffee made from ground and 

 well-roasted roots. Dr. Bather also recommends 

 nettle soup, and dandelions stewed, while the 'latter are 

 often eaten in salad by travellers abroad. Of the other 

 "vegetables" depicted in the Illustrated London News 

 we regard sorrel as a great delicacy; "Good King 

 Henry " and watercress are too well known to require 

 comment, but meadow-cress, herb Barbarea, and scurvy 

 grass seem well worth trying, and without follow'ing 

 the German practice of roasting the roots of " Lords 

 and Ladies " (which are poisonous when raw), it would 

 be very interesting to try using them for starching 

 our shirts and collars. The German coffee substitutes 

 .shown in the diagram referred to include asparagus 

 5eeds and ground acorns; of these we are informed 

 that the latter are often used in Switzerland; but 

 quite a long list of other German substitutes, both for 

 coffee and for tea, is given. Apparently hops and 

 beech leaves form the staple substitutes for tobacco in 



