December 6, 1917] 



NATURE 



275 



points out, this is merely an alleviation, and the only 

 satisfactory method is that which goes to the root of 

 the trouble and removes the salt accumulation entirely 

 bv efficient drainage. Bkysson Cunningham. 



T' 



ANNIVERSARY MEETING OF THE ROYAL 

 SOCIETY. 

 HE anniversary meeting of the Royal Society was 

 held on Friday last, November 30, when the 

 council and officers' whose names were given in 

 Nature of November 8 (p. 190) were elected. The 

 annual report of the council was adopted, and the 

 president, Sir J. J. Thomson, delivered his address. 

 Subjoined are a summary of some of the main points 

 in the report of the council, and an abridgment of the 

 president's address. 



Report of the Council. 



The report of the council records that shortly after 

 the entry of the United States into the war the Royal 

 Society received the following cable message from the 

 National Academy of Sciences at Washington : — 



"The entrance of the United States into the war 

 unites our men of science with yours in a comnion 

 cause. The National Academy of Sciences, acting 

 through the National Research Council, which has 

 been designated by President Wilson and the Council 

 of National Defence to mobilise the research facilities 

 of the country, would gladly co-operate in any scien- 

 tific researches still underlying the solution of military 

 or industrial problems." 



The following reply was dispatched : — 



"The Royal Society heartily welcomes the offer of 

 the National Academy to co-operate in scientific re- 

 searches connected with the war, and will communicate 

 by letter proposals for carrying this into effect." 



Steps have been taken by the society to carry the 

 proposed co-operation into effect in connection with 

 the Admiralty, the Ministry of Munitions, and the 

 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Ex- 

 periments on a large scale have been undertaken by 

 the U.S. National Research Council to determine the 

 effect of variations in the milling standard, and in the 

 nature of the cereals empl«yed, upon the digestibility 

 of bread ; and parallel investigations are in progress 

 in this country. 



Reference is made to the transfer of the National 

 Physical Laboratory to the Department of Scientific 

 and Industrial Research. The scientific control of 

 the laboratory will continue to be exercised by the 

 president and council of the Royal Society, as in the 

 original scheme, but the financial responsibility will be 

 assumed by the Committee of the Privy Council for 

 Scientific and Industrial Research. A working ar- 

 rangement has been arrived at between the Advisory 

 Council of this body and the Government Grant 

 Committee of the Royal Society by which the society 

 is to inform the council of applications received for 

 sums of money out of the Government grant, and the 

 council is to refer to the society any applications re- 

 ceived by it which may be more suitably dealt with by 

 the society than by the council. It is not clear whether 

 this arrangement accounts for the fact that though 

 applications for grants amounting to 538 iL were re- 

 ceived by the Government Grant Committee, the 

 ordinary grants made amounted to only 1295!. The 

 grants made in 1915 amounted to 3344^., and in 1916 

 to 2482?. 



The reduction of the magnetic survey of the British 

 Isles was completed in the early part of this year. 

 The important and simple result has been obtained 

 that "formulae for the geographical components of 

 magnetic force, which are linear in the differences of 



NO. 2510, VOL. 100] 



latitude and longitude all over the British Isles, 

 and satisfy the condition for a potential, give as 

 close a representation of the main features as ttie more 

 elaborate and empirical expressions obtained by Riicker 

 and Thorpe." Accordingly "disturbances" are defined 

 as the difterences between the observed values and those 

 calculated from this potential. Direct comparison of the 

 primary pbservations in the two surveys has been made, 

 and shows that, with few exceptions, the secular change 

 is remarkably uniform in the various districts. The 

 mean annual change for these islands generally has 

 been in H+I3-2 7, in D — 6-i', and in 1—1-2'. The 

 annual change in H and I has been distinctly less in 

 the north, but the change in D is practically constant 

 all over. The disturbing forces in the two surveys are 

 also in good general agreement, although the differ- 

 ences, which are chieliy in the vertical component, 

 suggest a modified view of "ridge" lines. The two 

 surveys, however, prove that these disturbances are 

 not mere errors of observation, but are due to regional 

 and local causes. That they arise from magnetic mate- 

 rial (presumably iron) seems undoubted, and the only 

 questions are whether this material is concentrated 

 locally or disseminated widely, and whether it is near 

 the surface or deeply seated. The possible economic 

 importance of this led to the appointment of an Iron 

 Ore Committee, to consider whether magnetic observa- 

 tions might be of assistance in locating iron ore. A 

 more detailed survey of the Melton district was made 

 by Mr. G. W. Walker this autumn, by aid of a grant 

 from the society, and this is being followed up by a 

 petrological survey under the director of the Geological 

 Survey. 



The possibility of introducing a more convenient 

 system of timekeeping at sea has lately been under 

 consideration, both in this country and in France. 

 The conclusions reached at a conference under the 

 chairmanship of the Hydrographer to the Admiralty, 

 in which representatives of scientific societies took 

 part, are included in the report of the council. The 

 most practical method of obtaining uniformity is con- 

 sidered to be the establishment, outside territorial 

 waters, of zones corresponding with the hourly zones on 

 land. It is proposed that the zone extending from 

 7^° east to 75° west of Greenwich should be the zero 

 zone, and that the other zones west and east should be 

 respectively described as plus or minus, with an indi- 

 cation of the actual correction required for reduction 

 to Greenwich time and date. On this system + 12 

 would be the half-zone east of the " date line," and 

 — 12 the half-zone west. Any alteration of the time 

 of clocks in ships should always be one hour, but the 

 instant of making the change need not necessarily 

 be that of passing to a new zone. In the case of self- 

 recording meteorological instruments, which it would 

 be difficult to adjust for changing zone time, Green- 

 wich time is considered most convenient, but ship's 

 time should be used for the regular observations. If 

 the proposed zone times be generally adopted, it is 

 recommended that the receipt and dispatch of tele- 

 graphic and other messages should for the immediate 

 future be recorded in zone time ; but, eventually, it 

 would be most convenient for such purposes to adopt 

 Greenwich time throughout the world. 



Presidential Address. 

 The extent to which men of science in this country 

 are engaged on investigations connected with the war 

 is scarcely realised, except by those who have to try 

 to find the men for any new piece of work of this kind 

 which may have to be put in hand. It is a matter of 

 the greatest difficulty to find any competent person 

 who is not already engaged on such work. Professors 

 from our Colonies have come back to help at home, 

 and in some cases have brought their, demonstrators 



