December 20, 1917] 



NATURE 



II 



works manager of the Caledonian Railway Company's 

 Works at St. Rollox, Glasgow. He was elected a 

 member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 

 1899. 



We learn from the Chemical Trade Journal that Mr. 

 W. J. E. Foakes, late Chief Government Inspector of 

 Explosives for Cape Colony, has died in London. For 

 eleven years Mr. Foakes was chief assistant and part- 

 ner with the late Dr. Dupr^, chemical adviser to the 

 Home Office. He was appointed Chief Government 

 Inspector of Explosives for Cape Colony on the recom- 

 mendation of Sir Vivian Majendie in 1898. 



The council of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 

 has passed the following resolution, which has been 

 transmitted to Sir Albert Stanley: — "That the council 

 of the Institution of Electrical Engineers welcomes 

 the Non-ferrous Metals Bill, approves its principles, 

 and congratulates the President of the Board of Trade 

 on its introduction. The council, representing an in- 

 stitution the members of which are interested so widely 

 in the supply of non-ferrous metals, unanimously sup- 

 ports this measure designed to keep the control of the 

 supply of these essential metals in British hands." 



The thirty-fifth annual meeting of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union was held in Cambridge, Mass., 

 on November 12-16. The following officers were 

 elected for the ensuing year : — President, J. H. Sage ; 

 Vice-Presidents, H. W. Henshaw and Dr. Witmer 

 Stone; Secretary, Dr. T. S. Palmer; and Treasurer, 

 Dr. J. Dwight. Two additions were made to the list 

 of honorary fellows. Dr. A. H. Evans and Mr. W. L. 

 Sclater, and Dr. F. E. Beddard was elected a correspond- 

 ing fellow. The next meeting, in 1918, will be held 

 in New York City. 



Many who are acquainted with the works of Mr. 

 ■ Ewing Matheson will regret to hear of his death, 

 which is announced in Engineering for December 14. 

 Mr. Matheson was in his seventy-eighth year, and had 

 been a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 since May, 1876. His books deal with civil engineer- 

 ing subjects, and he was a .partner in the firm of 

 Messrs. Andrew Handyside and Co., Derby, in which 

 connection he was actively associated in all the large 

 civil engineering undertakings successfully carried out 

 by his firm. He took an active part in the business 

 and municipal life of Leeds. 



It is reported in Science that a special board of 

 chemists has been appointed in the United States to 

 investigate explosives and the uses of gases in warfare 

 and to act as advisers to the Bureau of Mines. The 

 board will study the problem of increasing the produc- 

 tion of materials used in the manufacture of explosives 

 and will advise the bureau in the operation of the 

 recently enacted law regulating the sale of explosives. 

 The members are : — Dr. W. H. Nichols, of the General 

 Chemical Company, New York (chairman) ; Prof. H. P. 

 Talbot, head of the chemical department of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology ; Mr. W. Hoskins, of 

 Chicago, a consultinq: chemist; Prof. H. P. Venable, 

 of the University of North Carolina; Prof. E. C. 

 Franklin, of Stanford University; and Dr. C. L. Par- 

 sons, of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. 



The natural history and possibilities of the Murray 

 River are graphically described in the Victorian 

 Naturalist for August by Mr. O. W. Rosenhain. A 

 system of irrigation canals and locks, he points out, 

 would convert many thousands of miles, now barren 

 waste, into fertile land. He deplores the destructive- 

 ness of the early settlers, who have destroyed millions 

 of pounds' worth of trees, the bleached trunks of which 

 NO. 2512, VOL. 100] 



now extend along the banks on either side as far as the 

 eye can reach. A scheme of irrigation has actually 

 been proposed by which immense areas all along the 

 Murray, from Echuca to Lake Alexandria, will be 

 converted into fertile land capable of supporting more 

 than the whole present population of Australia. At a 

 rough estimate, it is contended, more than 3,000,000 

 acres could be transformed into corn and grass land 

 and flourishing orchards. It is to be hoped, therefore, 

 that this work of reclamation will not be long delayed. 



In January, 1914, two young king penguins, still 

 in the nestling-down stage, were presented to the Scot- 

 tish Zoological Society. A very careful study of their 

 moulting has been made by Prof. J. Cossar Ewart and 

 Miss Dorothy Mackenzie, and they have placed the 

 results of their observations on record in the Trans- 

 actions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. lii., 

 part i. (1917). So good an opportunity of studying this 

 stage of the moulting of this species has never fallen 

 to the lot of any previous workers, and the authors 

 have made good use of their chance. Perhaps the 

 most interesting item in this communication is that 

 concerning the arrested moult, which showed signs of 

 beginning in May, when it was four months over- 

 due, and was not resumed until August. It then 

 followed its normal course, but the resultant plumage 

 was scarcely different from that of the adult— that is 

 to say, the^ immature dress was skipped. A precisely 

 similar omission was induced by changing the condi- 

 tions of the environment in the case of bobolinks by 

 Mr. W. Beebe in the New York Zoological Gardens 

 about ten years ago. But here the change was from 

 nuptial to nuptial plumage, instead of from the nuptial 

 to the eclipse, or "winter," plumage. The authors, 

 by the way, scarcely .seem to have grasped the nature 

 of these plumages, to judge from their comments 

 thereon. Nor is their comparison between the king- 

 fisher and the king penguin likely to be regarded by 

 ornithologists as more happy. We cannot answer for 

 the Neo-Lamarckians, but we find it difficult to believe 

 that such a one "might even assert that, notwith- 

 standing the necessity to moult, birds have long been 

 endeavouring not only to obtain as brilliant a plumage 

 as possible, but to wear fine feathers all the year 

 round." 



Wart disease of potatoes {Chrysophlyctis endio- 

 hioticum) has long been known in this country, 

 but in recent years it has become much more 

 prevalent, owing partly to the popularity of certain 

 varieties of potatoes which are now known to be highly 

 susceptible to the disease. Fortunately for the potato- 

 growing industry in many parts of the country, it 

 has been found that cettain varieties of potatoes are 

 absolutely immune. With the view of ascertaining 

 the character of each variety in this respect, the Board 

 of Agriculture has carried out in each of the last 

 three years extensive field trials of varieties at Orms- 

 klrk, which is the centre of an important potato- 

 growing district that has suffered serious losses -through 

 the ravages of the disease in recent years. A report 

 on the three years' trials has now been published in 

 the November issue of the Journal of the Board 

 of Agriculture, and is issued separately as Food Pro- 

 duction Leaflet No. 21. The report gives a detailed 

 account of the trials, the results of which are of the 

 greatest practical value. Brief notes on the chief 

 immune varieties are appended. 



The fourteenth annual report of the West of Scot- 

 land Agricultural College comprises a series of reports 

 on experimental work and other matters which have 

 engaged the attention of the staff. These reports have 



