114 



NATURE 



[October ii, 19 17 



nutritive value of feeding-stuffs which is issued by 

 the Cambridge University Press. The tables cover 

 the whole range of farm feeding-stuffs, and give in- 

 formation as to average composition, digestible nutri- 

 ents, food units, nutritive ratios, and relative values 

 for maintenance and productive purposes, the last- 

 named being expressed in the now familiar ■ form of 

 " starch equivalents." Wherever possible the averages 

 are based upon analyses of the materials actually used 

 by British farmers, and this feature alone renders the 

 tables invaluable and indispensable to all concerned in 

 the inculcation and carrying out of rational methods 

 of feeding live stock in this country. 



The Food Production Department of the Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries has issued a report (Mis- 

 cellaneous Publications, No. 19) on the methods 

 adopted in breaking up grass land during the past 

 winter, and on the results achieved. The report is 

 based upon the replies furnished by more than 300 

 farmers in fifty-five counties, to whom schedules of 

 questions vi'ere addressed. In view of the difficulties 

 attending the work last spring the results are con- 

 sidered to be very satisfactory, failure being reported 

 in only one-fifth of the cases dealt with. Although some 

 of the failures cannot be accounted for, most of them 

 were due to reasons which further experience should 

 enable farmers to avoid. Failures occurred chiefly in 

 the south and east. In by far the greater number 

 of cases wireworm was reported as the ostensible cause 

 of failure, but it is suggested that in many of these 

 cases the damage was primarily due to the drying out 

 of the newly ploughed soil through lack of proper 

 tillage, whilst in other cases it was almost certainly 

 due to fritfly. There was general unanimity that the 

 production of a firm seed-bed by pressing or heavy 

 rolling after the plough is of prime importance for 

 success. In a discussion of the lessons drawn from the 

 successes and failures of 1917 much useful guidance is 

 furnished as to time of ploughing, subsequent cultiva- 

 tion, and manuring in relation to land of different 

 tyi>es. A brief resiinid of the report is issued separately 

 as Food Production Leaflet No. 5. 



Messrs. Honda and Ishiwara describe, in a report 

 from the Allo5's Research Institute of the Tohoku Uni- 

 versity,_ Japan, the results of tests on the magnetic 

 properties of manganese-antimony alloys in a field of 

 about 500 gauss. Manganese is paramagnetic, and 

 antimony diamagnetic, but their compounds, MngSb, 

 and Mn2Sb, are both ferromagnetic with a critical 

 temperature at 315° C. Magnetisation at different 

 high temperatures was also measured. This gives im- 

 portant data with regard to the structure of the alloys. 



In a report from the Alloys Research Institute of 

 the Tohoku University, Japan, Messrs. Honda and 

 Murakami publish certain data with regard to the 

 thermomagnetic properties of the carbides found in 

 steels. They find that iron cementite is ferromagnetic, 

 the specific magnetisation of which (p = 2-559) in a field 

 of 500 gauss is 197. Its critical temperature is 215" C. 

 In the free state it is almost wholly decomposed into 

 its components by heating it sufficiently long at 900° C. 

 The double carbide of iron and tungsten found in low 

 tungsten steels is also ferromagnetic, and its specific 

 magnetisation (p= 1-435) in a field of 500 gauss is 15-5. 

 Its critical temperature is 400° C, and in the free state 

 it is decomposed on heating to 850° C. 



The August number of the Journal of the Franklin 

 Institute contains a valuable outline of the publica- 

 tions on the subject of the submarine and its equip- 

 ment which have appeared in the technical Press during 

 NO. 2502, VOL. 100] 



the last six years. It is due to Helen R. Hosmar, 

 and deals in order with the history of the development 

 of the submarine, its proper function in war, the power 

 and dimensions of the most recent submarines built in 

 different countries, the various forms of internal-com- 

 bustion engine used for propulsion on the surface, and 

 of storage cells for use when submerged, the peri- 

 scopes, and the forms of apparatus for signalling to 

 and from submarines. A list of builders and a biblio- 

 graphy conclude the article, which occupies fifty-five 

 pages of the journal. The outlines given are sufficient 

 to give the reader a good general knowledge of the 

 rapid advances which have taken place during the last 

 few years, while the bibliography provides the refer- 

 ences which enable the specialist to turn to the original 

 sources for detailed information. 



An article in Engineering for October 5 contains 

 some interesting particulars of ferro-concrete shipbuild- 

 ing. It is satisfactory to learn that Lloyd's Register 

 of Shipping has approved plans for the construction 

 of a number of such ships up to 500 tons dead-weight 

 capacity. A director of the Norwegian Veritas has 

 lately given his views, unofficially. He is convinced 

 that ferro-concrete, under normal conditions, will be 

 used for lighters, floating docks, buoys, etc., where the 

 weight does not play a very important part. So far 

 as sea-going vessels are concerned, he is of opinion 

 that the weight of ferro-concrete vessels will detract 

 from their carrying capacity to a serious extent. The 

 Fougner yard in Norway has already commenced work 

 on its eighteenth ferro-concrete floating structure— a 

 floating dock — while several vessels up to 1000 tons 

 dead-weight have been contracted for. Sister com- 

 panies of the Fougner firm are in course of formation 

 in England and America. M. Harald Alfsen, of the 

 Norwegian company, has from the outset been con- 

 vinced that ferro-concrete boats should be built bottom 

 uppermost, and by using only an inner shuttering, or 

 only outer boarding, so far as the vertical sides are 

 concerned. The vessel takes the water bottom up- 

 ward, in the position in which it is cast, and is turned 

 upright after launching. The article contains an illus- 

 trated description of the ferro-concrete ship, Beton I. 



One of the completest and most conveniently ar- 

 ranged special catalogues of second-hand books that 

 have recently reached us is New Series No. 81, Zoo- 

 logical, just issued by Messrs. John Wheldon and Co., 

 38 Great Queen Street, W.C.2. It is divided into two 

 parts — classified subjects and faunas of all countries — 

 and should appeal to all zoological readers, being very 

 easy of reference and containing many scarce work's 

 and others not easily obtainable at the present time, 

 being of foreign origin. We notice that Messrs. 

 Wheldon are offering for sale a set of the PhiJ. Trans. 

 of the Royal Society from 1665 to 1913; Proceedings 

 of the Royal Society from 1800 to 1916; the Ibis from 

 1859 to 1915; Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' 

 Club, vols. i. to xx>.iv. ; Transactions of the Linnean 

 Society from 1791 to 1916; a complete set of the 

 Zoologist; and Nature from its commencement to 

 1916. 



The new announcement list of the Cambridge Uni- 

 versity Press contains the following books:— "The 

 Theory of Electricity," G. H. Livens; "British Grasses 

 and their Employment in Agriculture," S. F. Arm- 

 strong, illustrated ; " Instinct in Man : A Contribution 

 to the Psychology of Education," Dr. J. Drever; 

 "Locke's Theory of Knowledge and its Historical 

 Relations," Prof. J. Gibson; "Agriculture and the 

 Land," G. F. Bosworth (Cambridge Industrial and 

 Commercial Series); and a new and revised edition of 



