October 2s, 



191; 



NATURE 



153 



individual plant will affect that individual itself. The 

 practical bearing of these observations in various 

 directions is discussed in the light of experimental 

 results. 



An interesting example of the awakening of a 

 national consciousness and political organisation among 

 a nomadic people is recorded in La Geographic, vol. 

 xxxi., No. 5. In February of this year the Lapps of 

 northern Norway and Sweden held a conference at 

 Trondhjem, to consider certain questions affecting their 

 interests. More than a hundred, including several 

 women, attended, and the conference claimed to be 

 representative of all the Lapps in Scandinavia. The chief 

 complaint of the Lapps, and one felt more in Norway 

 than in Sweden, is that their grazing grounds are being 

 steadily restricted, and they themselves frequentlv fined 

 heavily for damage done to crops by their reindeer. 

 This is merely one expression of the usual contest 

 between nomadic and settled people whose territories 

 adjoin. The conference resolved to press for modifica- 

 tions of the Norw'egian law of 1883, by which penalties 

 must be paid for damage to crops, and to demand 

 reserves where reindeer can be pastured without inter- 

 ference. 



The winter of 19 17 in Norway and Sweden is the 

 subject of an article by M. Charles Rabot in La Geo- 

 graphic, vol. xxxi., No. 5. Scandinavia, like other parts 

 of western Europe, experienced a severe winter, with 

 temperatures considerably below the average. The 

 most interesting part, however, of M. Rabot 's article 

 deals with the unusual ice-conditions in the Baltic in 

 the first three months of the year, and their effect in 

 hampering German shipping with Sweden. From the 

 middle of January to the end of March the ports on 

 Christiania fjord, including Christiania, were blocked 

 with ice, and often quite inaccessible. For two 

 months the Kattegat was full of ice, and the .Sound 

 virtually impassable ; even an ice-breaker nearly came 

 to grief. The ports of southern and central Sweden, as 

 far as Stockholm, during all the winter montlis were 

 only kept open with the help of ice-breakers. In 

 normal winters these ports may be closed to sailing 

 vessels, but are open to steamiers. The ferry-boats 

 from Helsingborg and Malmo to Elsinore and Copen- 

 hagen suffered frequent and long interruptions, and 

 Oxelosund, the port for shipping Swedish iron-ore to 

 Germany, was practically closed for two months. 



I.N the September number of La Science et la Vie 

 Signor Funaioli, engineer of the Societa Boracifera di 

 Lardarello, gives an interesting account of the utilisa- 

 tion of the natural steam from the volcanic area of 

 Tuscany, and of the manufacture of boric acid and 

 borax. The highly saturated steam issues from the 

 ground often at fairly high pressures, but for purposes 

 of conversion it is utilised for heating a series of tubes 

 containing water, the steam pressure in these tubes 

 being two atmospheres (say 30 lb. per sq. in.). The 

 steam drives low-pressure turbines, which in turn are 

 coupled to alternators. The steam and water of these 

 "soffioni," as they are termed in the vernacular, con- 

 tain quantities of boric acid, which is concentrated in 

 a special apparatus and gives a product of about 99 per 

 cent, purity. The acid, treated with sodium carbonate, 

 gives borax, which is manufactured in the form of 

 crystals and powder. Ammonium carbonate is also 

 manufactured, the carbonic acid necessarv for the pro- 

 cess being also derived from the "soffioni." Prof. 

 Nasmi, the chemist in charge of the research depart- 

 ment of the establishment, is now carrving out inves- 

 tigations on the radio-activity of the ' gases of the 

 NO. 2504, VOL. 100] 



" soffioni," and on the separation of the helium, which 

 is another element present. 



Reports have lately been current with regard to a 

 method of making ships " invisible " which is attri- 

 buted to Mr. Edison. The method is said to consist 

 of a kind of " camouflage," which makes a vessel 

 " absolutely invisible at a short distance." The idea 

 j is not new, though possibly some new device may 

 j have made its application more successful. The diffi- 

 ! culty as regards submarines lies in the fact that to a 

 submarine periscope every vessel is seen against the 

 sky, and usually "hull down." A vessel disguised by 

 ! camouflage may therefore be " invisible " against a 

 j background of water, and yet very obvious to a sub- 

 j marine observer, who sees it against a varying sky. 

 Much can, no doubt, be done to deceive the submarine 

 I as to the course of the vessel by suitably " breaking 

 : up " its outline, and this seriously affects the aim of a 

 torpedo. But the problem of naval camouflage 

 1 remains quite different from similar problems 

 I on land, where a definite background can be counted 

 j upon. 



j Messrs. Arnold and Read showed in 1914 that two 

 carbides, FejC and WC, are probably present in 

 tungsten steels. Messrs. Kotaro Honda and Murakami 

 1 conclude, in a research just published, that these can 

 I exist either as a double carbide or as two carbides in 

 j magnet steels according to the heat treatment. If the 

 ! steel is heated to from 8oo°-9oo° C, and then slowly 

 cooled, a double carbide is formed. Above Ac, this 

 decomposes into its components, but both remain dis- 

 solved in the austenite. On heating still further, the 

 tungsten carbide begins to dissociate into tungsten and 

 carbon, and the dissociation is complete at about 

 1100° C. On cooling the steel from above this tem- 

 perature, Ar, begins at about 550° C, and Ar, at 

 500° C. On reheating to 900° C the double carbide 

 is once more formed. Magnet steels cooled from 900° C. 

 deposit granular ferrite and eutectoid. If, however, 

 they are cooled from above 1100° C. the ferrite is 

 needle-shaped. The granular ferrite is regarded by the 

 authors as pure iron, while the needle-shaped ferrite 

 is a solid solution of tungsten in iron. These conclu- 

 sions agree with those drawn from the magnetic experi- 

 ments. Some specimens exhibiting the Ar, change, 

 partly at 700° C. and partly at 500° C, have both 

 granular and needle-shaped ferrite. In some of the 

 above conclusions the authors merely confirm well- 

 established work done in England and France several 

 years ago. 



The Journal of the Department of Agriculture and 

 Technical Instruction for Ireland (vol. xvii.. No. 4) 

 contains the report of a lecture entitled ".Chemistry 

 in Industry," delivered by Prof. G. T. Morgan to a 

 gathering of teachers. Perhaps even yet the general 

 public does not realise the fundamental importance of 

 the application of chemistry to industry. If so. Prof. 

 Morgan's answer to the question : What part does 

 chemistry play in satisfying the two primary wants of 

 mankind, food and shelter? may perhaps serve to 

 make the whole subject more " understanded of the 

 people." He points out that scientific agriculture is 

 absolutely essential in food production, and that the 

 exhaustion of soils following intensive cultivation must 

 be made good by artificial fertilisers. The methods of 

 preparing calcium nitrate used in Norwav and that 

 of Kilburn Scott are described, and stress is laid on 

 the necessity of burning coal in a rational manner so 

 as to recover all the ammonia and other by-products. 

 The production of superphosphate by the use of nitre- 

 cake and the recovery of potash from the flue-dust 



