NATURE 



[October ii, 1917 



discussion, and deliver an introductory address. In- 

 struments for high-temperature measurements will be 

 exhibited by leading makers. 



Prof. G. H. Bryan has received from the D€$)art- 

 ment of Scientific and Industrial Research a grant to 

 enable him to complete the researches into some of 

 the unsolved problems as to the effects of atmospheric 

 and other disturbances, such as gusts, air-pockets, 

 bomb-throwing, etc., upon aeroplanes, referred to in 

 his ''Stability in Aviation." He has been granted 

 leave of absence for a year from the University College 

 of North Wales, where he is professor of mathematics, 

 and has proceeded to the University of Bristol, where 

 he proposes to work for a time. 



Announcement is made that Mr. Walter Long, who 

 has been requested by the War Cabinet to take control 

 of all questions affectinf petroleum oils and petroleum 

 products, has appointed Prof. J. Cadman to be his 

 technical adviser and liaison officer between the various 

 Government departments. Prof. Cadman will also 

 take charge of an organisation to be established for 

 giving effect to Mr. Long's instructions, and will 

 assume the title of Director of the Petroleum Execu- 

 tive. Mr. E. S. Shrapnell-Smith has been appointed . 

 economy offi::er to the Petroleum Executive, and he 

 will be concerned in introducing economies both in the 

 Services and in the civil use of petroleum and petrol- 

 eum products. The headquarters of the Petroleum 

 Executive are at 8 Northumberland Avenue, W;C.2, 

 to which all communications should be addressed. 



Melbourne newspapers of August lo and ii contain 

 accounts of large magnetic disturbances which occurred 

 on the afternoon of August 9 and on the forenoon of 

 August 10, Australian time. These clearly correspond 

 with disturbances recorded in England during the 

 morning and late evening of August 10, Greenwich 

 time. The earlier of the two disturbances, lasting 

 from about 2 to 8 p.m. local time, was accompanied 

 by bright aurora. At Melbourne there was a brilliant 

 display of streamers for about an hour. At Ballarat 

 the aurora, being of a ruddy tint, was mistaken for a 

 conflagration, and the fire brigades turned out. There 

 were also strong earth currents throughout Australia, 

 interfering with the telegraph service, especially in Vic- 

 • toria and New South Wales. 



The Royal Photographic Society is holding its 

 annual exhibition this year in the society's own house 

 at 35 Russell Square, W.C. Admission is free for about 

 six weeks. The autochrome process still holds its own 

 for colour transparencies, though the few results on 

 Paget plates leave little or nothing to be desired so far 

 as an inspection, without the original for comparison, 

 is concerned. The Astronomer Royal, Greenwich, has 

 contributed recent photographs of" sun-spots, nebulae, 

 comets, and star regions. Among other astronomical 

 photographs taken with telescopes of very large aper- 

 ture are several by Mr. J. H. Reynolds, of Birming- 

 ham. These include series of the moon, Jupiter, 

 Brooks's comet, and the great nebula in Orion. The 

 photomicrographs are far more numerous than usual, 

 and vary very much in quality. An experiment by 

 Dr. Rodman, made at the suggestion of Capt. Owen 

 Wheeler, of using a more highly corrected lens as eye- 

 piece (a Ross l-in. achromatic objective was used in- 

 stead of the "ordinary ocular") distinctly discourages 

 any further attempts in this direction. Mr. Ernest 

 Marriage shows an extensive series to demonstrate the 

 comparative proportion of starch in plant roots, espe- 

 cially in those plants that market-gardeners would 

 wish to be rid of. He photographs sections (X5) as 

 cut, and also after treatment with iodine, the darken- 

 NO. 2502, VOL. lOol 



ing with iodine indicating starch. Photographs at 

 X250 show the starch granules. There are notable 

 collections of radiographs, natural history photographs, 

 and other matters too numerous to mention. Doubt- 

 less the photographs of the widest general interest are 

 those contributed by the Royal Flying Corps. The 

 exigencies of the times have caused aerial photography 

 to advance to a perfection scarcely thought possible a 

 few years ago. The photographs show definitely the 

 changes in buildings, trenches, etc., during the various 

 stages of the war. 



It is announced that the Ministry of Munitions does 

 not regard coal-gas as coming within the category of 

 a petrol substitute. On the question of the unrestricted 

 use of gas, the Ministry states that it is consulting 

 the Home Oifice. The motor industry has now taken 

 up this substitute for petrol, which involves only a 

 slight alteration to the engines of the vehicles. Gas 

 has been used as the motive power in many char-i- 

 bancs during the summer season, the fuel being stored 

 in a large bag carried on the roof. The question as to 

 how gas can be stored in motor-cars, taxi-cabs, etc., 

 has given rise to the adoption of several plans. Open 

 motor-cars are not adapted to the carriage of gas- 

 bags, and the experiment of using light trailers for 

 that purpose is being tried. In the case of taxi-cabs 

 little difficulty will arise, and a slight alteration of 

 the front seats on the top of motor-omnibuses is all 

 that is necessary for the storage of bags. It is likely 

 that gas will be adopted largely, since it can be ob- 

 tained at about one-fourth the present price of petrol. 

 Owing to the difficulty of procuring steel cylinders, 

 compressed gas is not likely to come into use during 

 the war; there is also the point to be considered that 

 coal-gas stored under pressure is liable to deteriorate. 



j A Reuter message from Tokio, dated October i, 

 1 which appeared in the Times of October 4, reports the 

 occurrence in Japan of a typhoon of unprecedented 

 I violence, which swept over Tokio on the morning of 

 t that day, lasting for four hours. The casualties caused 

 [ by the visitation appear to have been deplorably 

 i numerous, and the destruction of property exception- 

 \ ally great, thousands of people being rendered home- 

 ' less. The typhoons of the North Pacific and China 

 j Seas are divided by the Rev. J. Algue, S.J., director 

 of the Manila Observatory, in his "Cyclones of the 

 Far East," into classes, according to the zones of their 

 trajectories : those of the North Pacific, all of which 

 keep to the west of the twenty-fourth meridian. East; 

 and those of the China Sea, which cross this meridian. 

 It is the former to which the typhoons that visit Japan 

 belong. Fr. Algu^ then groups these -conformably with 

 the months of their occurrence; the mean inclination 

 of their branches (i) before, (2) after they have re- 

 curred; also the mean latitude of their vertex. Re- 

 duced to three groups, December to March, inclusive, 

 is the first; April, May, October, November, the 

 second; June to September, inclusive, the third. The 

 typhoon of October i belongs rather to the third group 

 of trajectories than to the second, because in the case 

 of the former the latitude of its vertex is highest of 

 all the groups. The zone of origin of typhoons of the 

 first group lies between the parallels of 5° N. and 

 12° N. ; that of the second between 6° N. and 17° N. ; 

 that of the third between 8° N. and 20° N. In the 

 Philippines a typhoon with an hourly velocity of 

 motion exceeding twelve nautical miles is said to 

 travel rapidly ; when at fewer than from six to twelve 

 miles an hour to move slowly, but to have a regular 

 velocity when it progresses at that rate. 



An interview with Sir Henry Trueman Wood pub- 

 lished in Sunday's Observer (October 7) brings together 

 several interestirtg reminiscences of his long association 



