November 8, 19 17] 



NATURE 



93 



referred to the genus Sclerotinia. It appears to attack 

 the flower, fruit, and all parts of the apricot. 



The October number of the Journal of the Board of 

 Agriculture contains several articles of interest relating 

 to seeds. A summary is given of the more general 

 measures taken by ' the Governments of British 

 Dominions and of foreign countries with the object 

 of eradicating weeds and providing pure seeds. The 

 summary deals mainly with measures for the preven- 

 tion of the importation of weed seeds, restrictions on the 

 internal sale of seeds, and control stations for analyses 

 of seeds. It is of interest to note that the reproach 

 that England is almost the onl)^ important country 

 having no adequate seed regulations and no olBcial 

 seed-testing station is about to be removed, as it is 

 announced that an official seed^testing station for 

 England and Wales is being organised at the Food 

 Production Department. The station will be under 

 the direction of Mr. R. G. Stapledon, adviser in agri- 

 cultural botany to University College, Aberystwyth. 

 Other articles in the same number deal with seed 

 production in Canada and economy in the use of 

 vegetable seeds. The latter is published separately 

 as Food Production Leaflet No. 8, copies of which 

 may be obtained gratis on application to the Board. 



The disadvantages of the various thermometric 

 scales in use is raised by Mr. A. McAdie, director of 

 the Blue Hill Observatory, in a pap«r in the Geo- 

 graphical Review for September (vol. iv.. No. 3) 

 entitled "The Passing of the Fahrenheit Scale." The 

 growing study of the upper air and the structure of 

 the atmosphere has led, at least in America, to a tend- 

 encv to use the Absolute scale, insteadof the Centigrade 

 or Fahrenheit. The chief advantage of the Fahrenheit 

 over the Centigrade and Absolute scales is the smaller 

 divisions, which give the readings more definite- 

 ness. In order to combine this featui-e with the ad- 

 vantages of the Absolute scale Mr. McAdie proposes a 

 new scale, for which he has found no name. Zero is 

 the same as in the Absolute scale ( — 27302° C), and 

 freezing point is 1000. The divisions are considerably 

 smaller than on the Fahrenheit scale, there are no 

 minus signs, and there is a fundamental difference 

 between readings above and below freezing point, to 

 cite only some of the merits which the author claims 

 for his new scale. 



The weakest part of school geography as a rule lies 

 in the .teaching of climate. Broad generalisations 

 based on the general laws of physics, but fallacious 

 in their application, mar the treatment of the subject 

 in almost all school books. We welcome, therefore, 

 an article by Mr. B. C. Wallis on the monsoon in the 

 School World for October (abridged from an article 

 written for Indian Education). In this article Mr. 

 Wallis sets out the facts of the monsoon and the 

 incidence of the monsoon rains, wisely refraining from 

 any attempt to explain the phenomena. He gives five 

 rainfall areas for India, each marked by rainfall in- 

 tensity at one or other period of the year, and indi- 

 cates the major portions of each without vainly 

 attempting to find precise boundaries. The article, 

 which we notice is not copyrighted, should be most 

 useful to teachers and students in its clear present- 

 ment of facts and its absence of any striving for 

 false simplicity. Incidentally, it is hoped that it will 

 help to kill the lonrf-established myth of the monsoon 

 as gigantic land and sea breezes based on the heating 

 and cooling of Central Asia. This fallacy i§ still cur- 

 rent in school geography, despite repeated attempts 

 by the late Prof. Herbertson to dispel it in his many 

 text-books. 



NO. 2506, VOL. 100] 



A REPORT of the Fernley Observatory, Southport, 

 with the meteorological results for the year 19 16, under 

 the directorship of Mr. Joseph Baxendell, meteorologist 

 to the corporation, has been issued by theicounty borough 

 of Southport. The observations are carried out with 

 the greatest care, and the instruments and their posi- 

 tions are such as to render the results of the highest 

 possible value. Close contact has been kept with the 

 Meteorological Office, and detai'ed observations are 

 supplied for the various official reports. In the statis- 

 tical tables the new units of measurement are given, as 

 well as the old. A new table is given which shows 

 the amount, duration, and intensity of rainfall for each 

 eight points of wind direction. For the year 1916 the 

 largest amount of rain fell with south-west and south 

 winds, the measurement being six times as great as 

 with a north wind. The duration of rainfall was 

 greatest with south-west, west, and south-east winds. 

 A " discontinuity " in the amount of rainfall for the 

 several months of the year is shown by the series of 

 observations. During the twenty-six years from 1871 

 the average rainfall for July is given as 364 in., whilst 

 during the subsequent nineteen years it was only 

 225 in. ; September in the earlier series has 346 in., 

 and later only 2-38 in. The later series of observa- 

 tions shows that all the months July to November have 

 become drier, whilst six out of seven of the remaining 

 months, December to June, have actually become 

 wetter. Older records in the district show the change 

 in the character of the weather to be subject to periodic 

 variation. 



Recent writers on the subject of optical glass have 

 shown a tendency to assign the whole of the credit 

 for the introduction of the newer materials like 

 baryta, magnesia, and the phosphates into glass- 

 making to Abbe and Schott, of Jena. In an editorial 

 note in the British Journal of Photography for Octo- 

 ber 19 it is pointed out that baryta has been used in 

 glass-making since 1830, and that both Fraunhbfer 

 and Faraday made boro-silicate glass, Schroeder made 

 magnesia glass, Mais used zinc oxide, both Harcourt 

 and Stokes made phosphate glasses, while French 

 glass-makers have used thallium and fluorides for 

 some time. The journal claims that some of the 

 credit for the introduction of the newer materials now- 

 used in glass-making should be given to these .pioneer 

 workers . 



What is called the "uniform movement" of flame 

 occurs when an inflammable mixture of gases is 

 ignited at the aj>en end of a horizontal tube closed 

 at the other end. Messrs. W. A. Haward and 

 S. G. Sastry (Journal of the Chemical Society, 

 September, 19 17) have determined the speeds 

 of this uniform movement in mixtures of acety- 

 lene and air. When these speeds (obtained 

 with a glass tube 12 mm. in diameter) are 

 plotted against the percentages of acetylene, a curve 

 is obtained which rises rapidly from 3 per cent, of 

 acetylene to a maximum at 8-10 per cent., and then 

 falls more slowly to 20 per cent, of acetylene. Mix- 

 tures richer than the last in acetylene deposit soot 

 when burnt, and the propagation of flame is slow. 

 There is a gradual flattening of the curve towards 

 the limits of inflammability, as in other inflammable 

 mixtures. Previous experiments with mixtures of 

 acetylene and air, by Le Chatelier, led him to depict 

 the results by a curve consisting of three straight 

 lines, the first to a maximum at 10 per cent, of 

 acetylene, the second falling from this maximum, and 

 the third (from 20 per cent, acetvlene to the limit of 

 inflammabilitv) corresponding with combustion with 

 a fuliginous flame. As stated, the authors obtained a 

 smooth curve not consisting of straight lines. <• 



