October i8, 1917] 



NATURE 



131 



Armstrong and Co., Ltd., at the early age of twenty- 

 seven vears. He was appointed a local director of the 

 company in 1912, and was a member of the Institution 

 of Civil Engineers and of the Institution of Mechan- 

 ical Engineers. He occupied a prominent position in 

 the North-East Coast Engineer Employers' Federation. 



Dr. .\ddison, the Minister of Reconstruction, has 

 appointed a committee to consider and report on ques- 

 tions connected with the supplies of raw materials 

 which will be required by British industries for the 

 purpose of restoring and developing trade after the 

 termination of the war and the best means of securing 

 and distributing supplies, due regard being had to the 

 interests of the Allies. The committee, which will be 

 known as the Central Committee on Supplies of Mate- 

 rials, consists of the following members : — Sir Claren- 

 don Hvde (chairman). Sir H. Birchenough, K.C.M.G., 

 Mr. Cecil Budd, Sir C. \V. Fielding, K.B.E., Sir H. 

 Babington Smith, K.C.B., Mr. W. Thorneycroft, and 

 Mr. A. Weir. The secretary is Mr. J. F. Ronca, who 

 should be addressed at the Ministry of Reconstruction, 

 2 Queen Anne's Gate Buildings, Westminster, S.W.i. 



In discussing the development of the steel industry 

 in Great Britain the leading article in Engineering 

 for October 12 asks whether there are any signs during 

 the last two years in the desire of our manufacturers 

 to profit from scientific methods, and obtains a welcome 

 affirmative from the recent autumn meetings of the 

 Iron and Steel Institute and the Institute of Metals. 

 There has always been great difficulty in getting British 

 manufacturers to combine to solve collectively problems 

 which affected all, and no better evidence that the "'old 

 order changeth " could be supplied than the report of 

 Committee No. i on ore, fuels, and refractories, with 

 which the Iron and Steel Institute opened its session. 

 This report was compiled by Messrs. Guy Barrett 

 (Ebbw Vale) and T. B. Rogerson (Glasgow), and gives 

 in an admirably concise form the present state of our 

 knowledge regarding the subjects dealt with, and re- 

 ceived warm commendation from the members. In 

 connection with the utilisation of low-grade ores, con- 

 centration will be required to convert these into high- 

 grade ores, while briquetting will be necessary to make 

 the product usable. Meanwhile there is money to be 

 saved, the conservative estimate of the authors of the 

 report being more than 5000L per furnace-year. 



The Revue Scientifique records the death on July 22 

 last of M. Francois Cyrille Grand'Eury, correspondant 

 of the Institute of France in the section of botany. 

 Born at Houdreville (Meurthe-et-Moselle) on March 9, 

 ,1839, Grand'Eury adopted the profession of a mining 

 engineer, and spent his life in the coalfields. Earlv in 

 his career he became interested in the fossil plants 

 occurring in and around the coal-seams, and he con- 

 tinued until the end to make the best use of his un- 

 rivalled opportunities for observing the fossils in their 

 natural position. He was thus able to make manv 

 important contributions to knowledge of the flora of 

 the Carboniferous period, by correlating the roots, 

 stems, foliage, and fruits, which were until then 

 known only by isolated fragments and bore several 

 distinct names. .At the same time he made many 

 striking observations in reference to the mode of origin 

 of the coal-seams themselves. There are still differ- 

 ences of opinion as to some of his theories and deduc- 

 tions, but all are agreed as to the keenness of his 

 insight into the problems before him and the success 

 with which he helped to solve manv of them. His 

 numerous writings are beautifullv illustrated, and will 

 always be esteemed among the earlv classics of palseo- 

 botany. His memoir on the Carboniferous flora of the 

 department of the Loire and the centre of France was 

 published by the Academy of Sciences so long ago as 

 NO. 2';o.^, VOL. lOOl 



187b. His great work on the coal basin of the Gard 

 appeared in icSgo. At the time of his death he had 

 begun the publication of" Recherches geobotaniques," in 

 association with his only son, who has fallen in the 

 war. 



Lt.-Col. Godwin Austen writes with reference to 

 the late Capt. G. F. T. Oakes, R.E. : — " I have only very 

 recently heard of the death of this promising young 

 engineer officer, which took place so long ago as July 

 15 last year at Ovilliers la Boiselle, when urging his 

 men to complete a communication trench. Educated 

 at Dulwich College, he entered Woolwich in Septem- 

 ber, 1900, and obtained his commission in December, 

 1901. Proceeding to India in 1904, he was appointed 

 to the Indian Survey Department, and saw active ser- 

 vice in the Abor Expedition of 1911-12, was mentioned 

 in despatches, and received the medal and clasp. He 

 did some fine work in this then unknown part of the 

 Eastern Himalaya, in the great valley of the Dehang 

 (the Tsanspu of Tibet, the Brahmaputra of Assam), 

 carrying the triangulation and topography for 100 

 miles up the course of that great river to lat. 29° N., 

 long. 95° E., including the great tributaries of the 

 Siyom and Shimang on the right bank, with the 

 Yamne on the left bank. The trigonometrical stations 

 are lofty, up to 11,000 and 12,000 ft., covered with 

 dense tropical forest, climatic and transport difficulties 

 are great, and the people of the country wild ; this 

 survey he continued for another season after the troops 

 had retired. Capt. Oakes did, besides, much for 

 zoology, and I shall, ever be grateful to him for the 

 fine collection of land Mollusca he brought together; 

 many rare species reached this country alive, and lived 

 through the summer. This material, together with 

 what was collected by Mr. S. W. Kemp, of the 

 Indian Museum, during the Abor Expedition, shows 

 that a very distinct molluscan fauna has developed in 

 the Tsanspu valley, throwing much light on its ancient 

 geological history and course. The Surveyor-General 

 of India has lost a most promising assistant, and the 

 Royal Engineers a brave officer, one who, on the return 

 of peace, would have taken part in future pendulum 

 survev operations in India, for which he was well 

 fitted." 



Rainfall and gunfire is the subject of a note by Dr. 

 H. Deslandres, director of the Meudon Astrophysical 

 Observatory, in the Comptes rendus of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences for August 27. A communication 

 is included from the pen of M. C. Saint-Saens, whose 

 eminence in the \vorld of music serves him as a pass- 

 port into the realms of science. The composer relates 

 that in the time of Louis Philippe the evening display 

 of fireworks which terminated, the national festival of 

 the "Trois Glorieuses " in July at Paris had to be 

 helped out by the discharge "of ordnance with the 

 view of increasing the noise, which was otherwise 

 insufficient to satisfy the public; and that afterwards 

 there was nearly always a heavy storm, although the 

 afternoon was the usual time 'for such phenomena. 

 M. Saint-Saens is of opinion, however, that rain is 

 only produced by gunfire in certain circumstances 

 (which are not specified). Dr. Deslandres maintains 

 that gunfire is never the primary cause of rainfall, but 

 that it may serve to provoke, expedite, and increase 

 precipitation. In the latter part of the note the author 

 remarks that the statements qf Pliny and Plutarch to 

 the eff'ect that great rains followed great battles in 

 ancient times, long before the invention of explosives, 

 may not be without foundation ; he considers that the 

 friction of javelins, arrows, stones, and other missiles 

 may have been sufficient to effect an increased ionisa- 

 tion of the air, and thus by facilitating condensation to 

 bring about premature or excessive rainfall. M. Angot, 

 however, has recently pointed out that the lower 



