20 



NATURE 



[October ii, 191 7 



now much greater than at the higher ages. " Until 

 recently, very little encouragement was given to 

 females to keep up their previously acquired knowledge 

 after marriage, and many soon forgot what they had 

 learned at school. But the main reason no doubt is 

 that at the present time education is spreading very 

 rapidly amongst them, and the number which is being 

 taught in the schools is very much larger t,han even a 

 decade ago." Female education is checked by the 

 seclusion of womeft m the higher classes and by the 

 early age of marriage. The results of this prevailing 

 ignorance are shown in the high death-rate among 

 young women, due to want of fresh air, inefficient 

 midwifery, hard work at the critical period of life, and 

 neglect of girl babies due to hypergamy. As Miss 

 Boyd, the secretary of the Women's University Settle- 

 ment, Bombay, pointed out, the Indian woman in 

 childbirth has less chance of life than a soldier on the 

 battlefield. Lord Sydenham remarked that nothing 

 had touched the Indian soldieis in France and Belgium 

 more than seeing how the women helped the men in 

 those countries. More active sympathy between Eng- 

 lish ladies in India towards their native sisters, leading 

 to the establishment of women's clubs, zenana visiting, 

 employment of Indian women in the medical and nurs- 

 ing professions, etc., is greatly to be desired. At the pre- 

 sent time the way is open, without any violent disturb- 

 ance of existing social conditions, to ameliorate the 

 condition of women and children in our Indian Empire. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, September 24.— M. Camille 

 Jordan in the chair. — G. Sizes : Practical modifications 

 of the " law of resonance of sonorous bodies " and 

 correction to the note on Chinese gongs.^ — M. Travers : 

 A new_ separation of tin and tungsten in wolframs 

 containing tin. The mineral is fused with sodium 

 sulphite, the aqueous solution slightly acidified, and 

 the impure stannous sulphide, which is free from 

 tungsten, filtered off. The tungsten is determined in 

 a separate sample, opening up with sodium sulphite 

 fusion as before. — M. Baudouin : A new disease of 

 Chipea spratta, caused by a parasitic Copepod, 

 I.crnoeenicus sardinae. — P. Wintrebert ; The gastrula of 

 Scyllium canicula. — L. Lapicque : The separation of bran 

 and the food yield of wheat. The calorific value, and 

 hence the food value, of bread increase with the 

 amount of bran extracted in the process of milling, so 

 that white bread is more nutritious than wholemeal 

 bread. It is pointed out, however, that, taking into 

 account the percentage of white flour obtained for a 

 given weight of wheat, a higher nutritive value is 

 obtained with a wholemeal bread, since white flour 

 rejects about 28 per cent, of the wheat. The 85 per 

 cent, extraction now practised in France appears to 

 be beneficial.— G. A. Le Roy: The use of glucosates 

 of hme in bread-making. Glucosates of lime may be 

 employed with advantage from the points of view of 

 taste and keeping power in the place of lime-water, for 

 improving bread made from flour containing a high 

 proportion of bran, such as the 85 per cent, extraction 

 in current use. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Histology of Medicinal Plants. By Prof. W. Mans- 

 field. Pp. xi + 305. (New York: J. Wiley and Sons, 

 Inc. ; London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd.) ns. 6d. 

 net. * ' ^ J 



Manual for the Essence Industry. By E. Walter. 

 Pp. iii + 427. (New York: J. Wiley and Sons, Inc.; 

 London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd.) 185. 6d. net. 

 NO. 2502, VOL. 100] 



Practical Cheesemaking By C. W. Walker-Tisdale 

 and W. E. Woodnuct. Pp. 182. (London : Headley 

 Bros., Ltd.) 45. 6d. net. 



Through Lapland with Skis and Reindeer, with 

 some Account of Ancient Lapland and the Murman 

 Coast. By F, H. Butler. Pp. xii + 286 + 4 maps and 

 illustrations. (London : T. Fisher U^nwin, Ltd.) ] 



I2S. 6d. net. 



Memoires de la Soci^t^ de Physique et d'Histoire 

 Naturelle de Geneve. Vol. xxxviii., fasc. 6. (G^eneve : 

 G€org et Cie.) 25 francs. 



The Road and the Inn. ' By J. J. Hissey. Pp. 

 xviii + 435 + 32 illustrations. (London: Macmillan and 

 Co., Ltd.) I05. net. 



About Winchester College. By A. K. Cook. To 

 which is prefixed De Collegio Wintoniensi. By R. 

 Mathew. Pp. xvii + 583. (London: Macmillan and 

 Co., Ltd.) 185. net. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, October ii 

 Optical Society, at 8.— The Grading of Carborundum for Optical 

 Purposes : J. W. French. 



TUESDAY, October i6. 

 Institution OF Petroleum Technologists, at 8.— Testing and Standard- 

 isation of Motor Fuel : E. L. Lomax, 



WEDNESDAY, October 17. 



Royal Microscopical Society, at 8.— Report on the Recent Foraminifera 

 Dredged off the East Coast of Australia by W. H. Thornhill, H.M.S. 

 Dart, Station 19 (May 14, 1895)^ H. Sidebottom.— Mounting and 

 Preserving Marine Biological Specimens : F. Martin Duncan. 



Entomological Society, at 8. 



FRIDAY, October 19. 

 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, at 6.— A Comparison of the 

 Working Costs of the Principal Prime Movers : O. Wans. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Marshall's "Explosives " loi 



The Car and its Design 102 



Our Bookihelf 103 



Letters to the Editor:— 



The Modern Range-finder. — ^James Weir French ; 



Prof. C. V. Boys, F.R.S J04 



A Plea for the Fuller Utilisation of Coal.— Prof. 



K. C. Browning; Major Arthur J. Martin . . 104 



The Harvest Moon.— C. T. Whitmell . .105 



Folk-lore and Local Names of Woodlice. — Dr. 



Walter E. Collinge 105 



The Convolvulus Hawk-moth.— J. Laker 105 



Organisation of Chemical Industry after the War . 106 

 The Stellenbosch Meeting of the South African 



Association 107 



The Physique of Recruits 109 



Prof. Charles Latham no 



Notes no 



Our Astronomical Column :— 



Ephemeris of Encke's Comet 115 



The New Star in N.G.C. 6946 115 



Work-hardened Metals. By H, C, H. C 115 



Brilliant Fireball of October i. By W. F. Denning 116 



The Task of British Agriculture ... 116 



Chemical Laboratory Porcelain. By Henry Watkin 117 



University and Educational Intelligence 118 



Societies and Academies 120 



Books Keceived 120 



Diary of Societies .... . . 120 



ST. 



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Advertisements and business letters to be addressed to the 

 Publishers. 



Editorial Communications to the Editor. 

 Telegraphic Address : Phusis, London. 

 Telephone Number : Gerr.^rd 8830. 



