6o 



NATURE 



[September 20, 1917 



plutonic masses from which the younger Tertiary 

 basalts — alkaline, trachytes, etc. — were derived. They 

 permeated the Jurassic beds, and the reservoir became 

 charged with waters of fairly uniform composition, 

 carbonate of soda predominating over chloride — in the 

 west. In the east the denudation of the basalt from 

 the intake beds, accompanied by rainfall conditions in 

 early Pleistocene, led to the accession of surface water 

 which is not only displacing earlier accumulations, but 

 also carrying salts downwards from the actual outcrop. 

 The meteoric supply is considered to be the pre- 

 dominant, and the plutonic supply the subordinate, at 

 the present day. Various lines of further inquiry are 

 pointed out, and it is strongly urged that the Govern- 

 ment may realise the extremely important an(J complex 

 nature of the problem, and should sanction some 

 scheme for its thorough study. — T. W. Keele : The 

 Sydney water supply. The author relies upon the pre- 

 sent catchment area of 350 square miles, on which 

 there are seven available sites for storage reservoirs, 

 together with the Woronora catchment area of eighty- 

 five square miles, on which there are two sites for 

 reservoirs, together with fifty-five square miles on the 

 cap of the mountain range at Wingecarribee, on which 

 there are two sites for reservoirs ; the total storage 

 capacity, including Prospect Reservoir, amounting to 

 116,337 million gallons, to meet the requirements of 

 Sydney for the next twenty years, or up to the end of 

 I937» when, he estimates, there will be a population of 

 2,082,000, with a consumption per head per day of 

 63 gallons, the total estimated daily consumption being 

 131,207,000 million gallons. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, -September 3. — M. J. Boussinesq 

 in the chair.— G. Humbert : Some properties of binary 

 indefinite quadratic forms. — ^G. A. Boulenger : The 

 classification of fresh-water fishes. — G. Remoundos : 

 The classification of the transcendental points of the 

 inverse of integral or meromorphic functions. — P. 

 Dejean : The classification of nickel and manganese 

 steels. Steels containing less than 25 per cent, of 

 nickel, giving a critical point at different temperatures 

 on heating or cooling, and usually classified as irre- 

 versible, should be divided into two classes : from o to 

 10 per cent, of nickel, the perlitic steels, pseudo- or 

 quasi-reversible, and from 10 to 25 per cent, nickel, 

 martensic, and truly irreversible. The classification of 

 manganese steels is also considered and some modifi- 

 cations suggested. — C. Galaine, C. Lenormand, and C. 

 Houlbert : The economic utilisation of the peats of 

 Chateauneuf-sur-Rance (Ille-et-Vilaine). The turf is 

 submitted to a hydraulic press giving pressures of 50 

 to_ 100 kilograms per square centimetre, and the 

 "briquettes thus formed contain only 60 per cent, of 

 water. These are heated in an autoclave for twenty- 

 five minutes to a temperature of 160° C., and on leav- 

 ing_ the autoclave are in a condition permitting of 

 rapid air drying down to 25 per cent, of moisture. A 

 recuperative arrangement for the drying is suggested. 

 —A. Cochain : An attempt at an explanation of some 

 peculiarities in the tectonics of the Alpine system.— 

 J.Mascart: The winter of 1916-17.- A. Goris : The 

 utilisation of Esculus hippocastanum (horse chestnut). 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Proceedings of the London Mathematical Societv. 

 Second Series. Vol. xv. Pp. liii + 454. (London: F. 

 Hodgson.) 



A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus. Bv 

 J. H. Maiden. Vol. iv. Part i. (Sydnev : W. A. 

 Gullick.) 25. 6d. V ^ . 



Ulugh Beg's Catalogue of Stars. Revised from all 



Persian Manuscripts existing in Great Britain, with a 

 Vocabulary of Persian and Arabic Words. By E. B. 

 Knobel. Pp. 109. (Washington: Carnegie Institu- 

 tion.) 



Department of Marine Biology of the Carnegie In- 

 stitution of Washington. Papers from the Department. 

 Vol. xi. (Washington : Carnegie Institution.) 



The Beginner's Psychology. By Prof. E. B. 

 Titchener. Pp. xvi4-362. (New York : The Macmillan 

 Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 6s. net. 



Human Physiology. By Prof. L. Luciani. Trans- 

 lated by F. A. Welby. Vol. iv.. The Sense Organs. 

 Pp. x + 519. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 21s. 

 net. 



Artificial Dye-Stuflfs : Their Nature, Manufacture, 

 and Uses. By A. R. J. Ramsey and H. C. Weston. 

 Pp. ix + 2i2. (London: G. Routledge and Sons, Ltd.) 

 35. 6d. net. 



Refractory Materials : Their Manufacture and Uses. 

 By A. B. Searle. Pp. xii + 444. (London: C. Griffin 

 and Co., Ltd.) 155. net. 



A Concordance to the Poem< of John Keats. Com- 

 piled and edited by D. L. Baldwin and others. (Wash- 

 ington : Carnegie Institution.) 



General Types of Superior Men. By O. L. Schwarz. 

 Pp- 435- (Boston, Mass. : R. G. Badger.) 2.50 dollars 

 net. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Public Schools and National Supremacy. By 



W. A. T 41 



Useful Mathematics. By G. H. B 41 



Our Bookshelf 43 



Letters to the Editor:— 



The Audibility of Distant Gunfire. — Dr. F. J. Allen 44 



Unusual Rainbows.— Allan J. Low ... 44 



The Convolvulus Hawk-moth.— C. E. Robson ... 45 



Examinations in Secondary Schools 45 



Locusts. By H. M.-L. . 46 



Bird Migration in Central Switzerland in Relation 



to Meteorological Conditions. By W. E. C. . . . 47 



Contributions to Embryology. By A. K 48 



Notes 48 



Our Astronomical Column :— 



Distribution of Spiral Nebulse ... 52 



The Great Solar Prominence of 1916, May 26 ... . 52 



Colours of Stars in Galactic Clouds . . • -53 



Germ-cells and Body in Inheritance. By G. H. C. 53 



Terrestrial Magnetism 54 



American Fossil Vertebrate Animals. By A. S. W. 54 



Forthcoming Books of Science 55 



Explorations in the Hawaiian Islands 57 



Higher Education in the United States 58 



University and Educational Intelligence . . 58^ 



Societies and Academies • • 59 



Books Received 60 



(Index.) 



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ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters to be addressed to the 

 Publishers. 



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Editorial Communications to the Editor 

 Telegraphic Address : Phusis, London. 

 Telephone Number : Gfrrard 8830. 



