January 15, 1920J 



NATURE 



h^l 



historical account of the institute and described its 

 immediate aims and aspirations. These are mostly 

 agricultural at present, and in such a farming com- 

 munity nothing demands years of close study more 

 than the soil itself. The world over, soil science, not- 

 withstanding' many books on the subject, is in its 

 infancy. Chemical analysis of a soil, even with far 

 better methods than those now available, is only one 

 part of the question. The extremely difficult problems 

 of soil-physics at once confront the investigator. 

 Then there is the rich soil-flora and the rich soil- 

 fauna. When more of a fundamental character is 

 known as to the relation of soil-physics, soil-chem- 

 istry, and soil-biology to one another, then, said the 

 president, undoubtedly new methods of soil-utilisation 

 will be in sight. In the domain of anthropology Dr. 

 Cockayne made the interesting suggestion that there 

 is no need to confine one's investigations to primi- 

 tive races, for amongst the settlers in a new land 

 evolution in certain directions goes on apace. The 

 question of dialect, for instance, among the white 

 people of New Zealand would form a valuable study. 



Although the presidential address was mostly bio- 

 logical, it is sufficiently evident, from an examination 

 of the numerous and varied papers read, that other 

 important branches of science are not to be overlooked 

 by the institute. Section i. Biology and Agriculture, 

 had several papers of value and interest to the agricul- 

 turist, concluding with one by Sir James Wilson on 

 ".Agriculture's Debt to Science." Section 2, Geology, 

 had papers on "The Older Gravels of North Canter- 

 bury," by R. Speight; "The Significant Features of 

 Reef-bordered Coasts," by W. M. Davis; "Rough 

 Ridge, Otago, and its Splintered Fault-scarp," by 

 ■^ C. A. Cotton; "Natural Features of the Arthur's Pass 

 ^E. Tunnel," by F. W. Hilgendorf and others; and 

 ^Hv" Geology of the Middle Clarence and Ure Valleys," 

 ^^■by J. Allan Thomson. These and other papers will 

 ^^■ultimately appear in the Transactions. Dr. Thomson 

 ^^palso gave some interesting notes on the geology and 

 ^■^palaeontology of the Palliser Bay district, and a quan- 

 titative study of the silica-saturation of igneous rocks, 

 suggesting a valuable means of comparing rock ana- 

 lyses. About a thousand such analyses have been 

 calculated and plotted, and it is hoped to continue the 

 work with the aid of a Government research grant. 



Mr. E. K. Lomas dealt with some of the educa- 

 tional aspects of geography, and his opening remarks 

 are well worth quoting: "Education, from one point 

 of view, consists in bringing a mind into close touch 

 with its environment through the senses. The more 

 often the mind is roused to activity by excitations from 

 the outside the more it develops. The special section 

 of the environment in which we are particularly in- 

 terested— I speak to a meeting of geologists — is that 

 included under the term 'geology'; and the only 

 means we have of introducing our subject into the 

 schools is through the medium of geography, so that 

 this subject should be an object of lively interest to 

 all present. And there is no doubt about it, we shall 

 have to take more interest in the subject for several 

 reasons : (i) it is developing rapidly, (2) it is eminently 

 -.uitable for educational purposes, (3) the present 

 iirnorance of geography is truly alarming and deplor- 

 able." If this be true of New Zealand, with its ex- 

 cellent educational system, it is still more applicable 

 to this country. One of the most valuable papers in 

 the geologv section was "The Organisation and 

 Functions of a State Geological Survey," by Mr. P. G. 

 Morgan. This gave a brief account of most of the 

 existine State geological surveys in the United King- 

 dom, Europe. India, Canada, the United States, Aus- 

 tralia, and New Zealand, with suggestions for the 



NO. 2620, VOL. 104] 



organisation of such surveys in general and for New 

 Zealand in particular. 



In Section 3, Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering, 

 Mr. D. M. V. Sommerville described an improved 

 planisphere and a slide rule for solving the quadratic 

 equation. Dr. C. E. Adams, Government Astronomer, 

 read a paper on "Tables of Mathematical Functions." 

 Mr. Evan Parry, Government Electrical Engineer in 

 New Zealand, said these tables constructed by Dr. 

 Adains were of great value, for the ordinary tables of 

 natural logarithms were not sufficiently minute 

 for practical use in electrical work. Dr. .\dams 

 also gave another very interesting paper on "The 

 Harmonic Analysis of Tidal Observations and the 

 Prediction of Tides." No arithmetical approximations 

 are used, so that a criterion is obtained with which to 

 test the application of Fourier's series to tidal ob- 

 servations. The method of tide-prediction used in 

 New Zealand is a graphic one, controlled by calcula- 

 tion, and is fully illustrated and described in the 

 Survey Reports of the Lands and Survey Department 

 for the years 1910-14. The results for Wellington 

 and .Auckland arc published in the New Zealand 

 Nautical Almanac by the Marine Department. 



In his paper on "The Porosity of Porcelain," with 

 special reference to high-pressure insulators for elec- 

 tric transmission lines, Mr. C. C. Farr said that the 

 tests were made at the suggestion of the engineers of 

 the Lake Coleridge electric supply system, who desired 

 a method for determining whether the porcelain of 

 the insulators was porous or not. The tests were 

 carried out in the physical laboratory of Canterbury 

 College by immersing specimens of porcelain in a 

 fuchsin or red-ink coloured solution under a pressure 

 of 2000 lb. per square inch, the solution being contained 

 in a hole 3 in. in diameter and 63 in. deep bored in a 

 block of solid steel and covered with a steel cap i in. 

 thick and a leather washer by means of eight bolts. 

 Both glazed and unglazed porcelain was subjected to 

 test, and it was concluded from the results that (i) den- 

 sity and porosity have little or no connection with 

 each other, (2) porcelain can be made which shows no 

 penetration after fifty hours' immersion under the 

 pressure named, (3) porcelain is not always so made, 

 and may contain a porous layer with abrupt edges in 

 the mass of the substance. The experiments are being 

 continued. 



In a paper on "The Interference of Power Circuits 

 with Telephone Circuits " Mr. E. Parry presented a 

 mathematical treatment of the subject, as complete as 

 possible, with the view of co-ordinating results of past 

 experience and enabling effects to be predicted under 

 given conditions, with special reference to the Lake 

 Coleridge transmission lines. The New Zealand 

 Public Works Department, together with the Post and 

 Telegraph Department, has for some time been study- 

 ing the influence of power circuits on telegraph and 

 telephone circuits, since the wires for both services 

 are supported on the same poles. 



In Mr. E. E. Stark's paper on "The Effect of Low 

 Power-factor from the Viewpoint of Electric Power 

 Station Operators" it was suggested that, the power 

 stations using the alternating current system should 

 charge the consumer for the total current taken, in- 

 cluding both power-producing and wattless current — 

 that is to say, the charge should be based on kilovolt 

 amf>eres instead of kilowatts. If it is desired to 

 equalise the rates without raising the price of elec- 

 tricity, an average power factor could be taken on a 

 given system and a reductio'n made. Mr. H. Hill 

 read a paper on "National Hydro-electric Schemes for 

 New Zealand," in which he said it was difficult to 

 understand the delay in formulating a national elec- 



