788 



NATURE 



[August 19, 1920 % 



which are given separately, 178,400 and 235,700 

 respectively, an increase of nearly one-third ; by far 

 the larger number of these were undoubtedly engaged 

 in steel manufacture. The paper deals also with the 

 production of iron and steel in France and in the 

 United States, and includes an interesting table of 

 the production and export of iron and steel in the chief 

 iron-producing countries of the world, which shows 

 strikingly the amount of loss that the war has inflicted 

 upon the German iron and steel industries. 



Hong-Kong Royal Observatory has recently issued 

 its report for the year 19 19, under the directorship 

 of Mr. T. F. Claxton. The report deals mainly with 

 meteorology, but it includes in a general way the 

 magnetic elements and time services, with the neces- 

 sary astronomical observations for the latter. In the 

 description of the various meteorological instruments 

 in use a doubt is thrown on the relation between the 

 temperatures in the thermograph shelter and the 

 hourly readings by the rotation thermometers, and it 

 is stated that the difference is not constant throughout 

 the day. Details of the comparison would be useful 

 and interesting. In addition to the automatic records, 

 eye observations of the same elements are said to be 

 made each hour ; perhaps less frequent eye observa- 

 tions would be sufficient, and time thus saved might 

 with advantage be devoted to a discussion of clouds, 

 the character and direction of which are said to be 

 observed every three hours. Attention is directed to 

 the large departures from normal from month to 

 month in atmospheric pressure, temperature, and 

 wind. A typhoon on August 22 occasioned a squall 

 at the rate of 84 m.p.h., although the centre of the dis- 

 turbance passed about 150 miles to the south-west of 

 Hong-Kong. The greatest rainfall in twenty-four hours 

 was 480 in. on July 5, and the greatest in one hour 

 was 1-35 in. between 5 and 6 a.m. on October x. 

 The total rainfall for the year at the observatory was 

 7614 in., of which 49-92 in. fell in June, July, and 

 August; and in these months, in the heaviest rains 

 occasioning floods, 3879 in. fell in 186 hours. Seventy- 

 one per cent, of the daily weather forecasts are said 

 to have been completely successful. Meteorological 

 logs were received from eighty-one ships operating in 

 the Far East, representing 2i:;87 days' observations. 

 It would be a valuable asset for aeronautics if 

 observers could be encouraged to give especial atten- 

 tion to cloud observations ; marine and aeronautic 

 meteorology are becoming closely interlocked. 



The June issue of Terrestrial Magnetism and 

 Atmosphemc Electricity contains Capt. J. P. Ault's 

 preliminary results of the magnetic observations 

 taken on the United States Magnetic Survey ship 

 Carnegie during her voyage from Buenos Aires to St. 

 Helena in February and March last. According to 

 the new measurements, the deviation of the compass 

 and the dip as given on the most recent British 

 Admiralty Chart No. 3775 are in many cases 1° out 

 in the deviation and 2° or 3° out in the dip. The 

 most serious diff^erences are to be found in the region 

 between . 45° south latitude 329° ea,st longitude, and 

 36° south 354° east, where the British chart gives 

 NO. 2651, VOL. 105] 



the deviation to the west too small by about 1° ; 'k' 

 while over the region 33° south 2° east to 16° south*; 

 8° east the dip is given between 2° and 3° too small. '^I 

 The horizontal intensity given on the chart is every- \\ 

 where too large by about one unit in the second:,! 

 decimal place of the value in C.G.S. units. 



The Journal of the Torquay Natural History 

 Society, vol. ii.. No. 6, has just reached us. Among 

 other interesting papers is one on the scientific cor- 

 respondence of Charles Kingsley and William 

 Pengelly. An account of the life of Charles Kingsley 

 is given, together with extracts from letters written 

 by him between 1867 and 1870 to William Pengelly. 

 Points of natural history, mostly of a geological 

 nature, were raised in these letters. Another paper 

 of interest is " Mendelism and Selection." The 

 results of recent experiments by Prof. Castle are dis- 

 cussed in terms of germ-plasm with the view of recon- 

 ciling Mendelism with selection. In yet another paper 

 some account is given by Mr. H. G. Lowe of the 

 origin of the needle ; its history is traced back 

 through three needle-like implements which have 

 been found while excavating in Kent's Cavern. The 

 view taken is that the discovery of the needle marked 

 the first step in man's struggle from a purely animal 

 state of existence. 



Messrs. Gauthier-Villars, of Paris, are pub- 

 lishing a series of works of great men of science 

 entitled " Les Maitres de la Pens^ Scientifique," 

 with the object of making the original works kno\Yn 

 to scientific students. We have received four volumes 

 containing writings of Lavoisier, Huygens, and 

 Spallanzani, each including a short biographical note 

 on its author. " M^moires sur la Respiration et la 

 Transpiration des Animaux," by Lavoisier, is a col- 

 lection of four papers read to the Acad^mie des 

 Sciences between 1777 and 1790. The text is taken 

 from the M^moires of the society for the appropriate 

 years. "Traits de la Lumifere," by Huygens, is re- 

 printed from the original work published in 1690, 

 with some necessary alterations in spelling and punc- 

 tuation. The two volumes entitled "Observations et 

 Experiences faites sur les Animalcules des Infusions," 

 by Spallanzani, are copies of a translation of the 

 original work by Jean Senebier published at 

 Geneva in 1786. The diagrams included in the trans- 

 lation are not reproduced. When the series is com- 

 pleted it will serve as a ready means of access to the 

 works of men prominent in the history of science, and 

 it should be particularly valuable to the student by 

 giving him an opportunity of learning at first hand the 

 methods and arguments by which scientific knowledge 

 has been advanced. 



Messrs. Sifton, Praed, and Co., Ltd., promise 

 for the autumn publishing- season an illustrated 

 volume by Miss Gardner King on the present condition 

 of the inhabitants of the Fiji Islands, based upon the 

 author's experiences among them shortly before the 

 war. Miss King lived much among the natives in 

 their own homes, and should therefore have an 

 Interesting storv to tell. 



