November 27, 1919] 



NATURE 



541 



executive for the year ending September 30, 19 19. 

 The union consists at present of 603 members dis- 

 tributed among a large number of local branches, and 

 shows evidence of great activity in various directions. 

 Among tlie more interesting are those concerned with 

 , the steps taken whereby the union may be registered 

 as a trade union and secure representation on the 

 Whitley councils set up by the Government for its 

 own employees. The status and pavment of a living 

 economic wage to research workers have been the 

 subject of consideration, and the union may in this 

 direction prove a much-needed corrective to the grow- 



. ing exploitation of junior workers and their diminish- 

 ing power to protect themselves. .As a healthy revolt 

 against a situation that has become intolerable, and 

 in which the official spokesmen of science have taken 

 only desultory interest, the formation and work of 

 this union are among the most characteristic signs of 

 ihi' times, and its further career will be watched with 

 Utin interest. Experience from the earlv historv of 

 other trade and professional unions shows that it is 



' the first step that counts, and the report seems to 

 indicate that the initial difficulties are in course of 

 li'ing surmoimted. 



I.\ a recent Smithsonian publication (Smithsonian 

 Miscellaneous Collections, vol. Ixix., No. 11) Dr. AlSs 

 ' Hrdlicka, curator of physical anthropology in the U.S. 

 . National Museum, Washington, sums up the results 

 ; of a study of historical and anthropological data relat- 

 ing to the population of Russia. From the point of 

 view of an anthropologist Dr. Hrdlicka concludes that, 

 although the " Russian giant mav have his Delilahs 

 internally as well as externally," nothing can prevent 

 the population of Russia from coming bv its potential 

 powers. He bases his forecast on the fact that there 

 an- more than 100,000,000 Russian Slavs, and that 

 every year their birth-rate adds 1,700,000 to their total 

 numbers. " Such a rate of increase of this strong and 

 able portion of the white stock means a biological 

 momentum which in the end must prevail over all 

 opposition." Dr. HrdliCka also notes the fact that 

 there is neither anthropological nor linguistic reasons 

 for the separation of the Ukrainians from the other 

 Slavs of Russia. This is onlv another example of the 

 fact that claims for national recognition need have 

 no basis in racial differentiation. 



A CORKESPONDEXT of the Moming Post (Novem- 

 ber 12-13) describes the results of a series of excava- 

 tions in Mesopotamia conducted bv officers of the 

 British Museum. .Vt the beginning of the war the 

 work was in charge of Capt. Campbell Thompson, 

 , and it was intended that on his departure on leave 

 [ he should be replaced by Prof. King, but on the 

 ' lamented death of that scholar the veteran explorer, 

 Mr. H. R. Hall, took his place. The result is that 

 thirty-two huge cases of antiquities have safely 

 I hed England, and throw new and welcome light 

 Sumcrian culture. The most remarkable dis- 

 >ries were made at Tell Obeid, close to the Biblical 

 of the Chaldees, and include a basalt statue of a 

 King or vicorov who lived five hundred years before 

 Gudea, about ^000 B.C., and a wonderful copper j^laque 

 representing a lion-headed eagle, the symbol of the 

 citv of Lachish. .At Maqayya or Ur a royal palace 

 built about 2400 B.C. has been excavated, and Capt. 

 Campbell Thompson has unearthed a remarkable 

 series of bricks and other artefact? at .Abu .Sh ihrein, 

 . the city of the Sumerian deity Rn-ki, god of earth and 

 water. With this material available English archaeo- 

 logists have no longer to depend on the discoveries 

 made bv .American and French explorers. It may be 

 ho|)ed that strong pressure will be put on the Office of 



NO. 2613, VOL. 104] 



Works to vacate the museum galleries and permit a 

 public exhibition of these valuable antiquities. 



I.\- the Kew Bulletin (No. 8, 1919) M. N. Owen 

 gives an account of one of the minor diseases of 

 potato-tubers, which has never been thoroughly in- 

 vestigated. It is known as skin-spot, the tubers 

 becoming dotted with small dark spots' during storage. 

 It is found to be due to- a minute species of mould- 

 fungus hitherto undescribed {Oospora fustulans). 

 The author describes in detail the structure and 

 development of the fungus as determined from arti- 

 ficial cultures. The disease is confined to the surface 

 layers of the tubers, and, besides disfigurement, may 

 cause serious injury by weakening or destruction of 

 the eyes. 



Ok economic importance is a report on the paper- 

 making qualities of Hawaian bagasse, or sugar-cane 

 refuse, by A. D. Little (Report of the American 

 .Station of the Hawaian Sugar Plante.'s' .Association, 

 Bulletin No. 40). The author discusses various previous 

 attempts to use the waste fibre of the cane as paper- 

 making material, the technique involved, and the 

 commercial aspect of the question. .As a result of the 

 investigation it is his opinion that, technicallv, there 

 are no difficulties which could not fairly easily be 

 overcome, and from an economic point of view the 

 use of bagasse might present under normal conditions 

 an attractive commercial venture. 



The unfailing energy of Prof. Pearson's depart- 

 ment at University College, London, has now resulted 

 in the production of a series of tracts published by 

 the Cambridge University Press. The objects of this 

 new series are not only to publish new tables (as 

 well as to republish old and inaccessible tables), but 

 also in due course to issue works on interpolation, 

 mechanical quadratures, calculating machines, and 

 other matters of importance to the practical computer. 

 The first of the series is before us, and is entitled 

 "Tables of the Digamma and Trigamma Functions," 

 by Eleanor Pairman. The w(jrk contains tables of 

 the logarithmic derivate of the Gaussian U-function 

 and of its derivate, in addition to some useful mis- 

 cellaneous information concerning these two func- 

 tions. The functions are tabulated to eight places 

 of decimals at intervals of 0-02 from o to 16, with 

 tables of second differences. There seems no doubt 

 that this series will be of extreme value to computers, 

 and we must feel deep gratitude to Prof. Pearson 

 for using the resources at his disposal in producing 

 it. Finally, it should be said that the appearance of 

 the first of the series is up to the standard which we 

 have grown accustomed to expect from the Cambridge 

 University Press. 



In making sulphuric acid by the "contact" process, 

 sulphur dioxide is converted into the trioxide by cata- 

 lytic oxidation and the product absorbed in water to 

 form the acid. .A short account of the very effective 

 "GriUo" plant, erected for the purpose in- this 

 country by the Ministry of Munitions, is given by 

 Mr. Rayrnond Curtis in the Journal of the Society of 

 Chemical Industry for October 15. The catalyst em- 

 ployed is platinum, deposited on granules of calcined 

 magnesium sulphate in the proportion of 03 per cent. 

 The purified gases from the 'sulphur burners, heated 

 to about 350° C, are passed through two converters 

 in parallel, each containing io',ooo lb. of the platinised 

 mass distributed on four trays. For absorbing the 

 trioxide produced, towers packed with quartz are 

 used, and practically perfect absorption can be ob- 

 tained. The purification of the gases, which is im- 

 portant in preventing deterioration of the catalyst. 



