May 20, 1920] 



NATURE 



369 



interest because it contains the conclusion of the 

 late E. K. Wake ford's paper on canonical forms. 

 The paper is remarkable for its generality and the 

 simplicity which it gains by the use of the theory of 

 apolarity. Moreover, certain results follow almost 

 intuitively from known geometrical facts, e.g. the 

 general ternary quartic cannot be expressed as the 

 sum of five fourth powers, hecause the square of the 

 conic through five points may be regarded, in this 

 connection, as a quartic with double points at all of 

 them. This example is interesting historically, 

 because the original (and different) proof of the 

 theorem in question was one of the first to show the 

 untrustworthiness of the method of counting constants. 

 Wake ford's premature death will be deplored by all 

 who can appreciate the brilliance and originality of 

 his work. 



The April issue of the Journal of the Rontgen 

 Society contains the communication made to the 

 society at a recent meeting by Prof. E. T. Jones on 

 the action of the induction coil. By means of an 

 electrostatic oscillograph Pjof. Jones has investigated 

 the effects on the potential of the' secondary of the 

 coil, both on open circuit and when connected to an 

 X-ray tube, of changes in the capacity of the con- 

 denser shunting the break, and in the degree 

 of coupling between the primary and secondary of 

 the coil. He finds that the effects correspond clos<;ly 

 with those to be anticipated on the theory that in the 

 secondary on open circuit the potential after break 

 consists of two component waves, which begin in 

 •opposite phase and have amplitudes inversely propor- 

 tional to their frequencies. He considers that induc- 

 tion coils can be further improved by investigating 

 and reducing the losses in the iron cores of the coils, 

 t)v introducing interrupters which will break stronger 

 currents without such large capacities in parallel with 

 them, and by determining the best method of adjust- 

 ing the coupling between the primary and secondary, 

 either by alteration of their relative lengths or widths 

 or by other means. 



A VERY interesting example of the progress which 

 has taken place durmg recent years in electric power 

 supply is presented in a paper by Mr. J. S. Watson 

 read on April 30 before the North-East Coast Institute 

 of Engineers and Shipbuilders, in which he gave a 

 brief historical sketch of the development of the 

 generating stations of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Elec- 

 tric Supply Co., the principal pioneer of electric power 

 supply on a large scale in this country. Dividing 

 the twenty-nine years of this company's activity into 

 stages, Mr. Watson traced the progress from a small 

 station with 2400 kw. in 200-kw. units to the latest 

 addition, the Carville "B" station, with its five 

 io,ooo-kw. turbo-generators. Among the many im- 

 portant features referred to is the gradual decrease in 

 steam consumption per kw.-hour from 285 lb. to 10 lb. 

 An equally interesting comparison lies in the plant 

 capacity per square foot of floor-space occupied, which 

 is 15 kw. as against 03 kw., and other figures show- 

 ing gain in economy are those of kilowatt capacity per 

 man employed in the station^ — 633 kw. and 141 kw. 

 NO. 2638, VOL. 105] 



respectively. These improvements are attributable 

 mainly to increases in boiler pressure, steam tempera- 

 ture, speed of revolution and size of unit, and to more 

 complete utilisation of labour-saving appliances. Another 

 no less important feature of the scheme is the running 

 in parallel with the steam-driven stations of " waste- 

 heat " generating plants at various points on the net- 

 work utilising on a considerable scale by-product 

 energy from coke-ovens and blast-furnaces. 



In a paper on the economics of the petroleum 

 industry read recently by Mr. R. S. Dickie at the 

 Imperial College of Science and Technology, there 

 appears a series of well-justified criticisms relative to 

 the geological, chemical, and engineering procedure 

 of the producing companies. Such subjects as the 

 proper spacing of well-sites, the economical utilisation 

 of fuel by the provision of heat and cold inter- 

 changers, the preposterous waste in the current use 

 of boiler-stills, the insufficiency of our present know- 

 ledge of lubrication and lubricating oils, the need for 

 research on blended motor-fuel, and the possibilities of 

 recovering valuable components from the crude oil by 

 methods other than distillation were briefly touched 

 upon. Among the more interesting statements 

 made is the following : The greatest producing 

 well is No. 4 Potrero del Llano (Mexican Eagle Co.), 

 which ran wild for ninety days, flowing at the rate of 

 100,000 barrels per day. In the eight years of its life 

 it produced 100,000,000 barrels of oil (i barrel = about 

 45 English or 50 U.S.A. gallops). 



We have received from Messrs. A. Hilger, Ltd., 

 75A Camden Road, N.W.i, an attractive catalogue of 

 their well-known wave-length spectrometer with high 

 resolving power accessories, including the Lummer- 

 Gehrcke parallel plate, the Fabry and Perot etalon, 

 and the Michelson echelon diffraction grating. At a 

 time when the structure of spectra is receiving so 

 much attention from physicists it is good to know that 

 a British firm can still assist in supplying the ver\' 

 necessary "munitions" in the form of efficient 

 scientific apparatus. As is well known, this firm has 

 been able very largely to control the effects of lack 

 of homogeneity in glass by interferometer methods, 

 which should considerably improve the performance 

 of such instruments. 



Readers of Nature in search of book bargains 

 should obtain and consult Catalogue No. 187 just 

 issued by Messrs. W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., Cam- 

 bridge, in which some 331 books in new and perfect 

 condition are listed at greatly reduced prices. Among 

 the works relating to science we notice the " Scientific 

 Papers" of Prof. J. C. Adams; sets in different 

 bindings of " Biologia Centrali-Americana," also 

 separate sections of the work; Prof. J. Stanley 

 Gardiner's "The Fauna and Geography of the 

 Maldive and Laccadive Archipelagoes"; Hagen's 

 "Atlas Stellarum Variabilium " ; Hewitson's "Exotic 

 Butterflies " and " Illustrations of Diurnal Lepido- 

 ptera"; Leech's "Butterflies from China, Japan, and 

 Corea"; and a set of "The British Bird Book," 

 edited by F. B. Kirkman. 



