December i8, 1919] 



NATURE 



397 



existid so far north as Greece so recently as the 

 Ijeijinning of the Pliocene Tertiary. The okapi is a 

 rongriious African animal, but a dinosaur would be 

 an anachronism. 



In his Trueman Wood lecture delivered before the 

 Royal .Society of .\rts on December lo, Sir Oliver 

 Lodge dealt with " Sources of Power Known and 

 Unknown." Power or energy, he said, is the rnost 

 prtssinj,"^ material need of man. His entire material 

 activity consists in moving matter, and food is mainlv 

 used by an animal for developing energy before it has 

 assumed the form of heat. The best engines hitherto 

 devised leave much to be desired in that respect. Even 

 ihe internal-combustion engine is imperfect so long 

 as it requires a cooling jacket. By the second law of 

 thermodynamics, heat is most efficiently utilised at the 

 highest temperatures. The sun's temperature being 

 6(100° C. approximately, its direct utilisation would 

 offer an efficiency closeiy approaching unity. The 

 leaves of trees, and vegetables generally, are able to 

 absorb and utilise solar energy in producing wood, 

 coal, and food, and they seem to be able to do this 

 without much regard to any hampering law of 

 efficiency. There are two sources of energv not 

 derived from the sun — the internal heat of the 

 earth and the tides. X beginning has been made 

 in utilising volcanic heat in Italy, but the utilisation 

 of tides involves a use of reclaimed land which might 

 be more valuable for other purposes. Dealinfj final. y 

 with atomic energy, Sir Oliver Lodge gave an admir- 

 ably lucid account of the " planetary " atom on the 

 basis of Bohr's model, showing that electrons can be 

 " evaporated " or ejected with comparative ease, 

 whereas the projection of an a-particle amounts to a 

 veritable explosion. So far, the vast store of atomic 

 energy becomes available only in radio-active sub- 

 stances, and this is already utilised for therapeutic 

 and other purposes. There is, however, the control of 

 electrons emitted from hot bodies, which has been 

 brilliantly applied to the construction of " valves " for 

 many electric purposes, among them being long-dis- 

 i.'ince wireless telephony. 



The successful termination of Capt. Ross-Smith's 

 nitrht from Hounslow to Port Darwin marks a great 

 advance in the history of aeronautics, and is a good 

 omen for the future of commercial aviation. This 

 remarkable accomplishment leaves no doubt as to 

 the possibilities of the aeroplane with regard to rapid 

 tiansit to distant parts of the earth, especially when 

 It is noted that the weather conditions were bv no 

 ineans good over the greater portion of the route. The 

 machine used was a Vickers " Vimy," fitted with two 

 R(jris-Royce " Eagle " engines of 350 horse-power 

 i-.-ich, and the greatest credit is due to the two firms 

 Ini the remarkable endurance of their products under 

 vi ry trying conditions of both flying and landing:. The 

 difficulties attending- such a flight are verv different 

 from those of the trans-.Atlantic journey. In the latter 

 ■case an endurance of 2000 miles without landing was 

 <ssential, involving the carrying of an enormous load 

 <if fuel. The cross-country route to Australia, on the 

 111 her hand, provided many possible landing places, 

 l)ut endurance of a different kind was necessary, inas- 

 much as the machine had to fly dav after day with 

 little time for attention and repairs, if the flight was 

 to be completed within the specified time limit. Capt. 

 Ross-Smith left Hounslow on November 12 and 

 reached Port Darwin on December 10, having 

 traversed a distance of 11,294 miles, steady progress 

 being maintained throughout the flight. The feat will 

 'rank as one of the g-reatest in the development of the 

 aeroplane, and the heartiest congratulations are due 

 to the pilot and his companions for their remarkable 

 addition to the list of aeronautical triumphs. 

 NO. 2616, VOL. 104] 



On Monday, December 15, one of the gaileries of 

 th.-; new building for the Science Museum, South Ken- 

 sington, was opened for the exhibition of the existing 

 aeronautics section of the collections and for the 

 development of that section by additions which are 

 being selected under the guidance of a number of 

 expe;rt advisers. The occasion was marked by the 

 formal presentation of the Vickers " Vimv " Rolls-Royce 

 aeroplane which crossed the Atlantic, 'in the absence 

 of the President of the Board of Education, Dr. Ogil- 

 vie. Director of the museum, took the chair and 

 referred briefly to the building scheme which had been 

 put in hand for the museum in 1913, but was inter- 

 rupted by the war. The gallery now occupied was, he 

 said, in the temporary state in which it had been 

 used for war purposes ; it was, however, spacious and 

 well-lit, and its use by the museum for a time now 

 would give an opportunity of preparing a more ade- 

 quate representation of the applications of science in 

 aeionautics. Sir Richard Glazebrook, a member of 

 the Advisory Council for the museum, reviewed recent 

 progress in aviation, and stated that if this country 

 was to hold the place it had taken in the forefront of 

 aeronautics a complete exposition of the subject must 

 be made available for reference in a central museum, 

 such as the Science Museum. It was a matter for 

 great gratification that the Government was giving 

 seiious attention to the promotion of research, and 

 one of the functions of the museum was to aid in this 

 by bringing together examples of the ways in which 

 science gave help to industry and commerce. In pre- 

 senting the aeroplane to the nation, Mr. Douglas 

 Vickers, for Messrs. Vickers, Ltd., explained that it 

 was one of the Vickers "Vimv " machines— bombing 

 machines to carry a crew of three and a ton of bombs 

 for 1000 miles on a non-stop flight. That standard 

 machine had been varied only so as to take, instead, a 

 crew of two with fuel for a journey of 2500 miles. 



Mr- VV. Walker has been appointed Chief Inspector' 

 of Mines in succession to Sir Richard Redmayne, 

 whose impending resignation we announced last week. 



.Mr. T. W. Reader has been selected bv the Geo- 

 logists' Association as the first recipient of the 

 Foulerton award. The sum of money which has 

 enabled the association to make this award is the 

 recent generous gift of Miss Foulerton in accordance 

 with the Wishes of her late uncle, Dr. John Foulerton, 

 who was for many years secretary to the association. 



Prof. H. G. Greenish, Dean of the Pharmaceutical 

 Society's School of Pharmacy, has, we learn from the 

 Pharmaceutical Journal, been nominated by the 

 Board of Professors of I'Ecole Sup^rieure de Pharmacie 

 de Paris as one of five foreign men of science upon 

 whom the University of Paris has decided to confer 

 ■the diploma of " Docteur honoris causa " on the occa- 

 ,sion of " Une Stance Solennelle de rentr^ pour feter 

 le retour des ^tudiants des diverses Facult(5s," on 

 Saturday, December 20. 



0\ Wednesdav, December to, a memorial tablet 

 with a medallion portrait and a suitable inscription 

 was unveiled in memory of Sir William Ramsav in 

 the presence of Lady Ramsav and a large number of 

 friends and members of the' University of Glasgow. 

 1 he address of presentation was delivered by Prof. 

 G. G. Henderson, of the Regius chair of chemi.stry! 

 and the custody of the memorial was accepted on 

 behalf of the University Court bv the Vice-Chancellor. 

 The medallion is the work of Mr. Paulin, and is an 

 excellent likeness; the design of the memorial is due 

 to Sir John J. Burnet. The mural tablet is olaced at 

 the head of the great staircase leading to the Bute 

 Hall and the Hunterian Museum. It is set in an 

 arched recess lined with grev marble, and bears reliefs 



