December i8, 1919] 



NATURE 



399 



one of the most potent agencies of his day in direct- 

 ing the forces of Nature and adapting them to the 

 service of man. As a contractor for large public 

 works, he was responsible for the carrying out of 

 gigantic engineering schemes, which have appreciably 

 altered the topography of many lands, and remain a 

 pcimanent record for the admiration of future genera- 

 tions. His most notable achievements include the 

 great railway across the Andes from Arica to La Paz, 

 the Hindiat barrage across the Euphrates near Baby- 

 lon, harbours at Singapore and Simon's Bay, the 

 Koyham docks at Devonport, irrigation works in 

 Mesopotamia, the foundations of the Tower Bridge, 

 London, and the last section of the Manchester Ship 

 Canal. Sir John took a prominent part in political 

 life, being M.P. for Devonport from iqio to iijtK. He 

 was a member of the Royal Commission appointed to 

 iricjuire into the South .African War. .Another Roval 

 Commission recently exonerated his firm from the 

 charge brought by the Public .Accounts Committee 

 that it had unfairly secured contracts which were 

 not thrown open to competition. Sir John was 

 knighted in 1895, and created a C.V.O. in 1911. Edu- 

 cated at York and Edinburgh L?niversity, the degree 

 of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the latter. He 

 was also a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 



-V coNi-ERENCK of research associations — the second 

 of a series—organised by the Department of Scientific 

 and Industrial Research, was held on December 12 

 in the lecture-theatre of the Institution of Civil En- 

 gineers. The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, Lord President 

 of the Council, appropriately presided, the Depart- 

 ment of Scientific and Industrial Research being a 

 Committee of the Privy Council. Mr. Balfour, who 

 was wariTily greeted on his first public appearance in 

 his capacity of head of the Department, delivered a 

 short introductory address on the national need for 

 scientific research, especially in its application to 

 industry. Three points emphasised by Mr. Balfour 

 wire that, though man does not live by bread alone, 

 the amelioration of the material lot of mankind can 

 come only through progress in scientific knowledge ; 

 that we must not imitate, but follow the example of 

 the Germans in realising a helpful and close alliance 

 between science and industry ; and that, in the prosecu- 

 tion of this aim, the paramount, interests of pure 

 science must not be overlooked. Papers were after- 

 wards read by Major H. J. W. Bliss, director of the 

 British Research .Association for the Woollen and 

 \A'orsted Industries, on "Research Associations and 

 Consulting Work and the Collection and Indexing of 

 Information," and by Dr. W. Lawrence Balls on 

 "The Equipment of Research Laboratories." There 

 was a general discussion on the subject-matter of the 

 two papers, from which it was clear that, although 

 there is a large common measure of agreement among 

 the different associations, there is also enough varietv 

 of circumstance and character to make it desirable 

 for each association to work out its own salvation in 

 many problems of organisation and method. It is the 

 intention of the Department of Scientific and Indus- 

 trial Research to continue periodically these conferences 

 of research associations. .As the Department, in fos- 

 tering the associations, is engaged in a novel adven- 

 ture in Government enterprise, the research associa- 

 tions have to set sail on uncharted seas, without maps 

 or precedent experience to guide them, and these 

 periodical conferences must be of great help to them 

 in mapping out their courses and taking their 

 ^soundings. 



The important question of the future of wheat pro- 

 duction, with special reference to the Empire, is dealt 

 vith at length in the current number of the Bulletin 

 NO. 2616. VOL. 104] 



of the Imperial Institute. The annual production of 

 wheat in the world prior to the war amounted to 

 about 1 10,000,000 tons, the largest producers being 

 the Russian Empire, with an output of 22,000,000 

 tons, and the United States, which provided nearly 

 19,000,000 tons. During the war the production in 

 Europe as a whole, and in Russia in particular, 

 decreased considerably, but outside Europe there was 

 a great expansion. The acreage under wheat in 

 Canada, the United States, .Argentina, India, and 

 .\ustralia in 1918 w-as more than 25 per cent, larger 

 than the average acreiige for the five years l)efore the 

 war, and it is considered that at the present tiine there 

 is a sufficiency of wheat, even without the help of 

 Russia, to meet the requirements of the world. .As 

 regards the future also there is reason for optimism. 

 There are vast areas of land suitable for wheat- 

 growing yet to be opened up in Canada, .\ustralia. 

 South .\merica, Siberia, and other countries, whilst the 

 present low average yield of thirteen bushels per acre 

 is susceptible of great improvement. In recent years 

 the increase in the world's production has been due 

 to a great extent to an increased yield per acre, and 

 there is every reason to believe that with the intro- 

 duction of improved drought- and rust-resistant varie- 

 ties the rise will be even more rapid in the future. 



In the current number of Parasitology (vol. xi., 

 Nos. 3 and 4) Dr. D. Keilin describes the larval struc- 

 ture and the complete life-history of a species of tlv, 

 Melinda cognata, Meig., the larvae of which live as 

 parasites in the snail, Helicella virgata, and he gives a 

 short account of various other dipterous larva; that 

 have been found in living or dead snails and other 

 molhjscs. But the most generally interesting part of 

 his paper is, perhaps, the additional note relating to 

 snails and house-fiy larva;, to which Dr. C. J. Gahan 

 has directed attention in a letter to the Times. For 

 if the observations made by M. E. Seguv, which are 

 now for the first time made known, turn out to be 

 correct, as the\ probably will, a solution of the mvsterv 

 surrounding the hibernation of the house-fly cannot 

 be far distant. That from nine out of fifty snails 

 collected in midwinter larvae of Musca dontestica 

 were obtained may be an unexpected, but iSj not a1> 

 all an incredible, statement. If true, the fact would 

 at once go far to explain why the search in winter 

 for larvae or living pupte of house-flies in or near the 

 pl.ices in which they are usually to be found in 

 summer has hitherto always met with failure ; for no 

 evidence has ever been obtained to show that house- 

 flies go through the winter in the adult stage, and 

 they must go through it somehow. The larvae of 

 some flies are known to live only in one species of 

 mollusc, but there is no reason to think that this 

 will be found true of the house-fly. Those who may 

 search for its larvre this winter would do well not to 

 confine their attention to one or two common species 

 of snail only ; and should they look out also for its 

 pupae they may find them, not inside the bodv of the 

 snail, as has been absurdly suggested, but in the earth 

 near by, or in the sheltered hole in the wall where 

 the snail itself is found. 



.A HIGHLY interesting paper on "The Direct Re- 

 placement of Glycerol in Fats by Higher Polyhydric 

 .Mcohols" is contributed to the Biochemical Journal 

 for November by Prof. A. Lapworth and Mr. L.. K. 

 Pearson. The work described is the outcome cf an 

 endeavour to convert the large quantities of fatty 

 .icids produced during the war in the manufacture of 

 glycerol into an edible foodstuff. These authors found 

 that when olein or stearin is distilled under reduced 

 pressure with mannitol in the presence of a little 

 sodium ethoxide, almost the whole of the glycerol 

 present in the original fatty compound is expelled, the 



