36o 



NATURE 



[May 20, 1920 



ment monopoly, could in cases of advantage be 

 partly transferred to air routes. Speed may in 

 tirne be increased in two ways — first, by the 

 improvement of ground organisation, so as to 

 permit night flying with a relay system ; and 

 secondly, by improvement of the engine. 



Sir Frederic Sykes quotes some remarkable 

 figures to show the comparatively small risk in 

 flying. During the last eight months of 1919 the 

 total mileage flown by the principal firms engaged 

 in civil aviation was 593,000, and the passengers 



Fig. 2. — Canea from the east. From the Geographical Journal. 



carried totalled 64,416. During this period only 

 four pilots and one passenger were killed, and six 

 pilots and ten passengers injured. This small 

 proportion of casualties will no doubt be reduced 

 as machines are perfected, ground organisation 

 improved, and air surveys carried out. The close 

 association of the Meteorological Office with the 

 Department of Civil Aviation is a happy augury 

 for the future, and the International Air Conven- 

 tion, to which most of the Allies, and several 

 neutrals, have subscribed, should help to 

 co-ordinate efforts in civil aviation. 



The consideration of good landing-places to a 



large extent controls the course of air routes. 

 From Egypt the route to India is direct from 

 Kantara to Damascus and Baghdad, thence to 

 Basra, Bushire, and along the shores of the 

 Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea to Karachi. 

 Through India two routes to Calcutta are sug- 

 gested — a northern one via Delhi, Cawnpore, and 

 Allahabad, which is part of the route to Australia ; 

 and a southern one by Ahmadabad, Bombay, and 

 Nagpur. On both routes aerodromes are already 

 built or under construction, and there is now an 

 aerial postal service 

 between Karachi and 

 Bombay. The Australian 

 route from Calcutta 

 goes -via Akyab to Ran- 

 goon, whence a stretch of 

 hazardous flying over 

 mountainous country leads 

 to Bangkok. The route 

 continues -via Singapore, 

 Java, and Dutch Timor 

 to Port Darwin. The 

 latter stages of the journey 

 offer difficulties in suit- 

 able 1 a n d i n g-p laces. 

 Alternative routes are 

 proposed, and have been 

 partly surveyed, and it 

 is even suggested that the 

 use of Dutch territory 

 might be avoided by a 

 route from Singapore to 

 Australia via Christmas 

 Island. This would entail 

 two stages of 810 and 

 950 miles respectively, to 

 say nothing of the pos- 

 sible difficulties of aero- 

 drome construction on 

 Christmas Island. 

 Routes from Egypt to Cape Town, and from 

 England to St. John's (Newfoundland), Toronto, 

 Winnipeg, and Vancouver are also suggested 

 by Sir Frederick Sykes. The route from 

 England to Egypt, although flown numerous 

 times, presents difficulties, especially in Italy 

 and the eastern Mediterranean. An alterna- 

 tive, but longer, route is tentatively sug- 

 gested from Naples via Sicily, Malta, Tripoli, 

 and the northern coast of Africa. The chief 

 problem seems to be in ' the provision of a 

 suitable aerodrome at Malta, for, once the African 

 coast is reached, favourable conditions are found. 



Helium: Its Discovery and Applications. 



By Dr. William J. S. Lockyer. 



T^HE year 1868 is rendered memorable in the 

 -*- advancement of solar physics by the fact 

 that the spectroscope was first used on an eclipsed 

 sun. Up to that time the composition of the pro- 

 minences and corona was unknown, although both 

 these phenomena were then proved to be truly 

 NO. 2638, VOL. 105] 



solar, the result of diligent systematic application 

 of photography to eclipse problems since the year 

 i860. 



On August 18, 1868, a total solar eclipse 

 occurred in the Indian and Malayan peninsulas, 

 lasting for about five minutes and thirty-eight 



