552 



NATURE 



[July i, 1920 



of Scientific and Industrial Research has appar- 

 ently been accorded for the production of an 

 English translation by Prof. Ryan of Hausding's 

 ** Handbook on the Winning and Utilisation of 

 Peat." 



As regards fuel alcohol, the position is sum- 

 marised thus : " It is obvious that until an estimate 

 has been made of the possible resources for the 

 production of alcohol within the Empire, and until 

 their probable amount and the cost of using them 

 have been ascertained, it would be useless to 

 embark upon research on any extended scale into 

 methods of production or utilisation." 



The report, under the head "Gas Standards," 

 gives a summary of the steps taken by Sir George 

 Beilby and the Board from the time they 

 were asked to advise on the subject by the Board 

 of Trade, which recognised the complete inapplica- 

 bility to modern conditions of gas standards as 

 they had existed before the war. Conferences 

 were held with those interested in the matter in 

 different ways, and at a final conference resolu- 

 tions were put and adopted which were forwarded 

 to the Board of Trade, and constitute a new and 

 much more rational method of regulating gas 

 supply by statute. The central principle is that 

 the consumer shall be charged with the potential 

 thermal units supplied to him in the gas. The 

 permissible percentage of inert constituents is 

 limited by another resolution, although, of course, 

 the temptation to pull " inerts " into the gas is 

 removed now that they have to be distributed at 

 the same cost as combustibles, but have not to be 

 paid for. The. gas undertaking can decide on the 

 calorific value of the gas it intends to deliver, a 

 power which should open the way for extensive 

 technical development of the industry, and allow 

 of the realisation of economies which have hitherto 



been rendered impossible by useless and out-of- 

 date restrictions. The refusal of Sir George Beilby 

 and the Fuel Research Board to accept any re- 

 strictions in this regard, however pertinaciously 

 and dogmatically they were put forward, unless 

 they could be justified by some adequate reason, 

 has exemplified in a striking way the advantage 

 of referring a matter of this kind to a competent 

 technical authority. The choice of a new standard 

 is a new degree of freedom, but, the choice being 

 made, the gas undertaking is required to adhere 

 very closely to it. Recognition is here given to 

 the valid principle that unsatisfactory performance 

 of a gas-using appliance is far more likely to be 

 due to variations from the standard than to any 

 lowness (or highness) in the standard itself. It is 

 recognised that if the standard is materially 

 altered the burners in consumers' appliances may 

 need alteration, ' and the gas undertaking has to 

 make the adjustment. "The calorific value of the 

 gas is to be continuously measured and recorded 

 by a recording calorimeter of a standard type to 

 be passed by the London Gas Referees," and by 

 this means it is hoped that the control of gas 

 quality can be made much more effective than it 

 has been hitherto. 



Sir George Beilby has had under observation 

 for some time the Simmance recording gas calori- 

 meter with apparently satisfactory results, but the 

 strain will come when legal penalties are depend- 

 ent upon the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of this or 

 any other form of recording gas calorimeter. Pre- 

 sumably, however, the possibilities of error will 

 receive full investigation, and the successful work- 

 ing of so promising a scheme for the regulation 

 of public gas supply will not be endangered by the 

 imposition of any rigid system of testing which 

 is not one of fully proved trustworthiness. 



Use of Sumner Lines in Navigation.^ 



By Capt. T 



'X'HE Sumner line as a means of aiding in the 

 -■- navigation of ships has been in use for 

 certainly seventy years, and is one of the best 

 methods of obtaining the position of a ship at 

 sea, for by its means both latitude and longitude 

 can be obtained simultaneously without difficulty, 

 and it has certain other advantages. In obtaining 

 both latitude and longitude simultaneously, 

 observations* of more than one heavenly body are 

 required, and the Greenwich time must be known 

 accurately, as well as the approximate latitude. 

 The altitudes of two or more heavenly bodies can 

 be observed at twilight, both morning and even- 

 ing, when the weather is clear, the horizon dis- 

 tinctly visible, and the stars are yet to be seen 

 before the sky is lit up by the sun. It is possible, 

 too, even without using the Sumner line, to 

 observe in daylight meridian altitudes of Venus 



1 "The Sumner Line or Line of Position as an Aid to Navigation." 

 By G. C. Comstock. Pp. vi + 70. (New York : J. Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; 

 London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1919.) Price ts. net. 



NO. 2644, VOL. 105] 



H. TizARD, C.B., F.R.S. 



or Jupiter if they cross the meridian at least 

 two and a half hours before or after noon, and 

 occasionally both sun and moon are available 

 during the day. In northern latitudes the pole 

 star is always available in clear weather, at twi- 

 light, for observations for latitude, and one or 

 two other stars for longitude, but if neither the 

 pole star nor a heavenly object near, or on, the 

 meridian is available for obtaining the latitude, 

 Sumner's method affords a means of doing so. 



Sumner's method briefly is as follows : If a 

 straight line be drawn from the centre of the 

 earth to any heavenly body, at the spot where 

 this line cuts the circumference of the earth, the 

 altitude of that heavenly body will be 90°, which 

 spot is named by Mr. Comstock the sub-polar 

 point ; a more appropriate name would be the 

 zenith point — that is, the point on the earth's 

 surface where the heavenly object observed would 

 be in the zenith; and if circles be drawn on 

 the earth's surface round this spot, with it 



