September 25, 1919] 



NATURE 



79 



illustrated by seven excellent plates reproduced from 

 photographs, in which the features of four of the 

 principal species of Dolium are well shown. The 

 material dealt with is largely contained in the Indian 

 Museum, and includes several species of Dolium and 

 of Pirula. A very welcome and important feature is 

 a review of the fossil occurrences of species belonging 

 to these two genera, from which it appears that the 

 genus Dolium is not known in formations older than 

 the Oligocene, the greater number of fossil representa- 

 tives being Upper Miocene and Pliocene ; it seems 

 to have reached the climax of its development at the 

 present day. The genus Pirula, on the other hand, 

 is known from Cretaceous times, and the fossil 

 species are more numerous than the recent ones. In 

 discussing the synonymy of certain of the species of 

 Dolium, the author brings forward some excellent 

 arguments in favour of the selection of specific names 

 of long-established usage and tradition instead of the 

 adoption of names which, though earlier, are not 

 always to be trusted; for, as the author points out, 

 there is always the risk of an industrious biblio- 

 grapher discovering some forgotten monograph of 

 earlier date than the one relied upon as final. This 

 is only one of many cases, both of generic and 

 sjxrific names, which can be cited to show that a 

 rigid application of the law of priority is not always 

 to the benefit of science. As has been pointed out 

 by others, it is for the International Zoological Con- 

 gress to consider the adoption of a list of notnina 

 conservanda. 



Canada and the Colonies of Bermuda and New- 

 foundland issue regularly a " Monthly record of 

 meteorological observations " under the directorship 

 of Sir Frederic Stupart. The record for March has 

 just reached us, and it contains a mass of means for 

 barometer, temperature, relative humidity, precipita- 

 tion, wind direction and velocity, and cloudiness. For 

 chosen stations the hourly readings are given which 

 allow of minute examination of the climate. The 

 detailed observations are "boiled down" to give a 

 general synopsis of temperature and precipitation for 

 the several districts and provinces. It is stated that 

 under ideal conditions the means should be derived 

 from stations uniformly distributed, but such ideal 

 conditions are not only wanting in Canada, and it is a 

 common failing elsewhere, if not everywhere. Maps 

 are given showing difference of temperature from 

 average, and total precipitation in inches. The tem- 

 perature.-marj shows a deficiency of 14° F. around 

 Alberta and an excess of 6° to the south of Hudson 

 Bay. The precipitation is indicated by degrees of 

 shading, the heavier falls being well shown over the 

 parts bordering the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. 



A MORE than usually interesting discussion of a 

 typhoon in the Eastern seas by the Rev. Jos6 Coronas, 

 S.J., the chief of the Meteorological Division of the 

 Weather Bureau of the Philippine Islands, has been 

 recently issued. The storm is called the " Quantico " 

 typhoon, as it caused the total wreck of a large 

 steamer of that name on the northern shore of Tablas 

 Island. The storm is also known as "the Christmas 

 typhoon of 1918," as it occurred on Christmas Day. 

 The typhoon is carefully tracked throughout its course 

 and maps are given at frequent intervals. Detailed 

 observations are also given of the movement of the 

 barometer and the direction and force of the wind. 

 Several plates are given showing the damage caused 

 by the typhoon. The track of the typhoon is said to 

 te altogether abnormal, and this is probably the most 

 interesting feature, as it contains a warning for both 

 the seaman and the forecaster. The typhoon is shown 



NO. 2604, VOL. 104] 



to have first moved towards the west by north, then 

 to have inclined northwards whilst to the east of the 

 central part of the Philippines, and finally recurving 

 backward not only to west by north, but to west by 

 south, and even to west-south-west. The slow move- 

 ment of the typhoon on December 23-24 is said, in 

 99 per cent, of the cases, to be a sign that the typhoon 

 was recurving north-eastward, especially at the end 

 of December, and to the east of the Philippines. 

 Observations, however, prove most conclusively that 

 the movement was in the opposite direction. The 

 rate of progress of the typhoon was at first about 

 1 1 miles an hour, the rate afterwards decreasing to 

 4 miles an hour or less, whilst after recurving to (he 

 west-south-west the typhoon attained its former rate 

 of progress. The vortical calm was probably 

 15-25 miles in diameter. The aiea of destruction 

 whilst it was raging in or near Luzon was about 

 80-100 miles in diameter. 



The "Algebraic Cube" is a model illustrating the 

 formula (a + by = a' + -^a'b + 2ab' + b\ Imagine a cube 

 of edge equal to a + b cut by three mutually per- 

 pendicular planes each distant a from one of the 

 sides. The eight pieces into which the cube is divided 

 will consist of a cube of edge equal to a, a cube of 

 edge equal to b, three blocks of base a^ and height b, 

 and three, blocks of base b' and height a. Thus each 

 piece represents a single algebraic term, which is 

 engraved on the face of the block. The block a' is 

 coloured blue, the three blocks a'b are yellow, the 

 three blocks ab' red, and the cube b' black. The 

 model is the three-dimensional analogue of the well- 

 known Euclidean construction showing the relation 

 (a + by = a' + 2ab + b', and should prove a very useful 

 aid in teaching young pupils the foundation of the 

 rule for the extraction of cube roots. The blocks are 

 supplied in a neat cubical box, 10 cm. to the edge, 

 by Messrs. Barnes and Morris, Ltd., scientific instru- 

 ment makers, Audrey House, Ely Place, London, 

 E.C.I. 



We learn from the British Journal of PhotograpKy 

 of September 12 that Mr. Herbert .'\. Lubs, of the 

 colour laboratory of the United States Bureau of 

 Chemistry, has investigated the preparation of 

 ^-aminocarvacrol and its use as a developing agent 

 in photography. It is conveniently prepared from 

 carvacrol by the production of nitrosocarvacrol, and 

 the reduction of this by ammonium sulphide. Five 

 grams of the pure derivative were obtained from 

 10 grams of carvacrol. As a developer for prints 

 /(-aminocarvacrol was found to be as good as metol, 

 />-aminophenol, or /)-aminocresol, and the lasting 

 quality of the mixed developer was suijerior to that 

 of ^-aminophenol, but not quite so good as that of 

 the others. This work has been done particularly 

 with the view of utilising the abundant source of 

 carvacrol that may be prepared from cymene. 

 Thymoquinol and /(-aminothymol were also prepared, 

 but they proved to be less satisfactory both with 

 regard to yield and their behaviour as developing 

 agents. 



In Engineering for September 12 Dr. W. C. Unwin 

 gives an account of an investigation he has made en 

 the results of notched-bar tests. Dr. Unwin has 

 applied Prof. Marfens's method of calculating the 

 "mean error," which differs little from the probable 

 error and is easier to calculate, and has taken the 

 test results given in the paper on shock tests ty 

 MM. Charpy and Thenard (Iron and Steel Institute, 

 1917), and also those in the British .Association report 

 for 19 18. Dr. Unwin finds that an empirical formula 



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