450 



NATURE 



[August 8, 191 8 



sumption. That is doubtless true, but the simple 

 fact remains that throughout the anxious days of 

 the food crisis, thanks to the patriotism and 

 courage of the many farmers who voluntarily 

 broke up grass last year, the nation possessed in 

 reserve this valuable store of food available, if 

 required, at short notice, and through the enter- 

 prise of the Food Production Department of the 

 Board of Agriculture can face any future emer- 

 gency with still greater confidence. Individual 

 farmers who secure less than an average crop of 

 corn may suffer loss on this year's crop, but there 

 will be few cases in which subsequent crops, draw- 

 ing upon the fertility accumulated in the soil 

 throughout the many years under grass, will not 

 satisfactorily redeem any present loss. 



NOTES. 



The important question of supplementing supplies 

 of mineral oil by the distillation of cannel coal and 

 allied bituminous minerals has been recently investi- 

 gated by two separate committees. Whilst the 

 possible production from home sources can amount 

 to but a fraction of the total requirements of motor- 

 spirit, fuel-oil, etc., yet such quantity as might be 

 furnished by the raw materials which are available 

 would undoubtedly tell appreciably in reduction of the 

 tonnage at present required for the importation of oil. 

 That large quantities of oil can be obtained from 

 such material cannot be questioned, but with the 

 reduction in labour, particularly at the mines, and 

 with other demands for constructive material which 

 would be required for the erection of retorts and 

 refineries, the problem of utilising these sources must 

 be dependent on the most economical use of available 

 labour and material under existing conditions. The 

 Government Committee presided over by Lord Crewe 

 considers that a largely increased production cannot 

 be obtained without interfering with other not less im- 

 portant industries (Cd. 9198). The Committee appointed 

 last February by the Institution of Petroleum Techno- 

 logists has considered the question as an immediate 

 war measure, and as a permanent commercial under- 

 taking and a measure of reconstruction, and in an 

 interim report urges the War Cabinet to lay down a 

 definite policy as to the relative national value of coal 

 and oil, and the provision of the necessary labour, 

 raw materials, and transport; to grant facilities for 

 the erection at suitable centres of plant to those who 

 are prepared to find the capital ; to establish at once 

 an experimental station where retorts to a design 

 provisionally approved by the mstitutlon may be tested, 

 or, falling such a Government station, to grant all 

 necessary and reasonable facilities to the institution 

 for erecting a station of its own. Whilst present 

 conditions may determine that operations on a com- 

 mercial scale are not immediately justified, there can 

 be little question as to the economic soundness of such 

 experimental Investigations as are required to establish 

 an oil Industry as a measure of reconstruction which 

 would be wholly beneficial to the nation. 



In a recent letter to the Times Mr. W. J. Maiden 

 raises again the old question whether science has 

 dene or can do anything for the farmer. The occasion 

 of the letter was Mr. Prothero's speech In the House 

 of Commons containing a tribute to the work of Prof. 

 BIffen on the breeding of wheat — a tribute which most 

 people would think was well deserved. Mr. Maiden 

 objects on the ground that " there is nothing new 

 of far-reaching value that the man of science can place 

 in the hands of the farmer at this moment. . . . All 

 NO. 2545, VOL. lOl] 



that has been done by those practising Mendelism Is 

 puny as compared with what Garton and Findlay have 

 done." But no Government Department proclaims 

 their work, and no honours are bestowed on them. 

 The claim would scarcely be worth rebutting did it 

 not represent the attitude of some of the less informed 

 farmers, who hold that there is nothing new under the 

 sun, and that science in particular can teach them 

 nothing. This opinion was at one time fairly common, 

 but it has been steadily dying out during the present 

 generation. In an ancient and highly individualised 

 industry like farming there has been such an enormous 

 variety of practices that, if one goes far enough back 

 over a sufficiently wide field, it is possible to find 

 anticipations of most of the modern improvements. It 

 would be disingenuous to argue, however, that farmers 

 have known these things for generations. It is true 

 that Messrs. Garton and Findlay have improved crops. 

 But they have made no additions to our knowledge; 

 they have "kept their secrets to themselves, and no one 

 can practise or develop their methods. It is untrue 

 that their work has remained unrecognised ; the com- 

 munity has paid them handsomely for their products. 

 The man of science does not keep his secret to him- 

 self, but gives it to the world so that others may 

 benefit thereby ; he makes no fortune, and Mr. Maiden 

 and those who think similarly should not begrudge him 

 such meagre recognition as he obtains. In the early 

 days of artificial manures it was not uncommon for 

 certain writers to maintain that these substances, being 

 new, could not possibly be useful. Yet the scientific 

 Investigator persisted, and to-day the use of artificials 

 is a regular feature of husbandry. We do not wish 

 to fall Into the opposite error and overlook the 

 enormous help rendered to agriculture by business 

 men. We must, however, point out that the man 

 of science not only provides a new appliance, but also 

 teaches how and why to use it; all experience shows 

 that intelligent men claim to know why they should 

 do a particular thing in a particular way. This 

 science alone can teach. 



The death is announced, at fifty-two years of age, 

 of Dr. F. E. Batten, physician to the National Hos- 

 pital for the Paralysed and Epileptic, London, and 

 distinguished bv his scientific work In neurology. 



The Conrad fealte-Brun prize of the French Geo- 

 logical Society has been awarded to Prof. L. Martin, 

 of the University of Wisconsin, for his researches on 

 the glaciers of Alaska. 



Prof. Theodore W. Richards, of the Wolcott 

 Gibbs Memorial Laboratory at Harvard University, 

 has been elected a -foreign member of the Accademia 

 del Lincel, Rome. 



The exploration of the cave known as " Ghar 

 Dalam," Malta, referred to by Prof. A. Keith In 

 Nature of July 25, p. 404, has been assured for the 

 present year. Besides the sum of 50L given by Sir 

 Thomas "Wrightson, Bart., Dr. Robert Mond has 

 placed 50Z., and Dr. Charles Singer lol., at the dis- 

 posal of the committee In charge of operations. 



It Is stated in the British Medical Journal that the 

 National Medical Insdtute of Mexico, which was 

 founded in 1890 for research on the flora, fauna, 

 climatology, and geography of Mexico, and for the 

 exploltadon of these resources, has by a recent decree 

 been transformed into the Institute of General and 

 Medical Biology. 



We learn from the Times that a special general 

 meeting of the Royal Society was called for Wednes- 

 day, July 31, to consider the following motion sub- 



