io8 



NATURE 



[October ii, 1917 



accused of culpable homicide are acquitted because 

 adequate knowledge of the poisonous principles 

 contained in indigenous plants is lacking. He 

 urged, as a first step, co-ordination of effort 

 amongst those actively interested in the problem. 

 A census of the work already accomplished and 

 of that still to be done would be comparatively 

 simple, but none the less essential. 



Mr. J. Burtt-Davy occupied the presidential 

 chair in Section C, which embraces the biological 

 sciences, and he devoted his address to setting 

 forth the need for an organised biological survey 

 of South Africa. An economic survey of the 

 natural resources of the country had recently 

 been recommended to the Government by the 

 Central Committee on Industrial Research. He 

 pointed out the importance of a biological survey 

 as part of that economic survey, and suggested, 

 as means to that end, definite co-ordination of 

 existing biological workers, together with their 

 equipment. 



The Rev. B. P. J. Marchand presided over Sec- 

 tion D and discussed in his address certain points 

 relating to educational matters. He expressed 

 gratification at the encouraging movements in 

 the direction of solving the problems connected 

 with (a) industrial education; (b) gathering in the 

 large number of children who are not attending 

 school ; and (c) educating the public on the sub- 

 ject of child-life protection. He announced that 

 40,oooL was about tc be expended on the erec- 

 tion of an up-to-date technical institute in Cape 

 Town, and expressed himself in favour of the 

 establishment of agricultural schools under the 

 school boards, of rural schools of industry, and 

 of school farms of an elementary type. 



Of Section E the president was the Rev. Noel 

 Roberts, who began his address by asserting that 

 the native population of South Africa is undoubt- 

 edly one of the country's chief assets. Yet, said 

 he, year follows year, and nothing is done to 

 develop so valuable an asset. Only education 

 can convert this vast amount of latent energy 

 into productive power, and whether we send him 

 to school or not, the native is being educated by 

 the example of the ruling races — often, unfor- 

 tunately, by the vices and evil habits of the 

 white man — an education which sends him down- 

 hill. Mr. Roberts discussed the hindrances in 

 the way of turning the native into a productive 

 member of the community, and spoke highly of 

 the lofty attitude generally adopted by the 

 Government department which administers native 

 affairs, the effect of which had been to arouse in 

 the native mind a real affection for the Govern- 

 ment which protects and cares for them. 



The necessary limitations of space forbid 

 referring in more than a few brief words to some 

 of the eight dozen papers submitted to the various 

 sectional meetings. 



In Section A Mr. Innes, Union Astronomer, 

 announced the discovery of a star in the 

 constellation Centaurus, as near to us as, or pos- 

 sibly nearer than, a Centauri. Prof. J- T. Morrison 

 read a paper on problems in terrestrial physics, the 

 NO. 2502, VOL. 100] 



immediate outcome of which was the appointment 

 of a standing committee to promote meteorologi- « 

 cal and geophysical research in South Africa. 

 Mr. H. Pealing, lecturer in physics at the South 

 African College, Cape Town, discussed the effect 

 of vegetation on the rainfall of South Africa, and 

 incidentally mentioned that the evidence regarding 

 the desiccation of many large tracts of South 

 Africa is so overwhelming that few will dispute 

 the fact. The author of the paper sought to show 

 that the amount of summer rainfall in districts 

 far from the coast largely depends on the charac- 

 ter and quantity of the vegetation in the inter- 

 vening country. He urged afforestation of all 

 suitable areas and the cessation of the .wholesale 

 denudation of tree, bush, and grass land. 



Dr. S.J. Shand, professor of geology at Victoria 

 College, read a paper before Section B on the geo- 

 logy of Stellenbosch, in the course of which he 

 directed attention to a powerful dislocation that 

 had occurred along the line of Jonkers Hoek, giv- 

 ing rise to what may be fairly called the Jonkers 

 Hoek fault. Dr. A. W. Rogers, director of the geo- 

 logical survey of the Union, produced an interest- 

 ing old report, of 250 years ago, on the copper 

 fields of Namaqualand. Mr. G. F. Britten, of 

 the Government Chemical Laboratory, Cape 

 Town, read a paper on Ecklonia buccinalis as a 

 source of potash. The seaweed occurs in large 

 quantities on the South African coasts, and Mr. 

 Britten thinks it would be easy to l-ecover its 

 potash on a commercial scale ; he urged the 

 institution of an exhaustive marine survey in this 

 connection. Prof. G. H. Stanley, of the South 

 African School of Mines and Technology, Johan- 

 nesburg, read before the same section a paper 

 on the prospects and possibilities of a South 

 African iron industry, in view of the fact that the 

 pre-war importations of iron and steel articles into 

 South Africa used to approximate to six and a 

 half million pounds sterling in value annually. 

 He pointed out that on one small range alone, 

 near Pretoria, above four million tons of ore assay- 

 ing 45 per cent, of iron or more were in view, 

 while the wattle timber that was annually burnt 

 to waste in Natal could furnish 40,000 tons of 

 charcoal. 



Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton, in Section C, showed 

 how the ancient East African forests, once pro- 

 bably continuous from Melsetter to Beira, had 

 been replaced by wooded pasture land. He sug- 

 gested means for reconquest by forest of the 

 land so invaded. Prof. J. W. Bews gave a 

 j detailed account of his study of plant succession 

 in the thorn veld around Maritzburg, and a very 

 useful contribution was made by Mr. T. R. Sim 

 on the geographical distribution of the Bryophyta 

 in South Africa. Dr. T. F. Dreyer contributed 

 to the section a paper in which he offered sug- 

 gestions regarding a mechanism for the inherit- 

 artce of acquired characters. Mr. J. Leighton, 

 in view of the increased demand for paper-making 

 materials and textiles, gave the members of the 

 section opportunities of seeing some new mate- 

 rials available in connection with each of these 



