-02 



NATURE 



[February 26, 1920 



The Morning Post of February 17 contained an 

 article from its correspondent in Paris stating 

 that three days previously he had witnessed five ex- 

 periments at a works in the northern suburbs of the 

 city, each of which involved the production of a ton 

 and a half of "high-class steel." At the present time 

 such steel is made either in crucibles or in an 

 electric or an open-hearth furnace. The novelty of 

 the experiments referred to consists in the fact that 

 the steels are made in some form of "converter" of 

 the Bessemer type. Usually this process does not 

 give a sufficiently scientific control of the product to 

 enable high-class steels to be made. It appears from 

 the account given that certain " secret substances " are 

 added which have the effect of controlling the quality 

 of the metal produced, so that it can be used as a 

 basis for the manufacture of high-grade alloy steels. 

 The process is said to have been \vorl-:ed out by four 

 inventors, two of whom are Belgians. The demon- 

 stration was witnessed by about a dozen metallurgical 

 experts, who were engaged in taking samples for 

 tests. If the claims of the inventors are substantiated 

 the process will be' one of considerable practical im- 

 portance, and further details will be awaited with 

 Interest. It is stated that they have decided not to 

 patent their method, but to operate it as a secret 

 ■process. 



News has just been received of the death at Cairo 

 of Mr. Henry Gribble Turner at the age of seventy- 

 seven vears. Mr. Turner joined the Madras Civil 

 Service in 1864, and soon gained a reputation by his 

 successful management of the wild tribes of Vizaga- 

 patam district on the east coat, a region where the 

 practice of human sacrifice in honour of the Earth 

 goddess had recently been discontinued. After hold- 

 ing for a time the office of Postmaster-General, he 

 returned to his old district, Vizagapatam, which he 

 administered with much credit until his retirement in 

 i88g. It was due to Mr. Turner that, in the face 

 of great opposition, the standard-gauge railway link- 

 ing Calcutta with Madras was constructed. He was 

 a skilled mineralogist, and discovered the Vizaga- 

 patam manganese deposits, the trade in which has 

 so rapidly developed" that the total export is now 

 600,000 tons annually. He also started the export of 

 Indian magnesite, which proved most useful during 

 the war. Another of Mr. Turner's projects was a 

 harbour at Vizagapatam to serve the rich uplands of 

 the interior, a scheme which is now at last to bounder- 

 taken. He failed to secure election as Member for 

 South Somerset in 1895, and he thus escaped the fate 

 of more than one distinguished Indian administrator 

 who did not succeed in making his mark in the House 

 of Commons. 



The committee of the Sheffield Museums and 

 Mappin .'\rt Gallery has issued a consolidated report 

 for the last five years. Special attention is directed to 

 an exhibition relating to infant welfare which was 

 held in 1916. The exhibits were of a comprehensive 

 character, and a series of descriptions was prepared 

 hy Dr. Scurfield, Medical Officer, and Dr. Lucy 

 Naish, which is now republished. The instruc- 

 tions in all questions relating to the care of children 

 are elaborate and arranged with full knowledge and 



NO. 2626, VOL. 104] 



much common sense. The authorities of other pro- 

 vincial museums might consider the advisability of 

 reprinting the pamphlet, which is likely to be of much 

 utility. 



In the February issue of Man Mr. A. C. Breton 

 describes a remarkable picture-map from Mexico in 

 the manuscript department of the British Museum. 

 The museum authorities acquired the map from 

 Mr. H. Stevens, who, in his turn, purchased it 

 from the original finder, Col. Campos. It was 

 found on the site of the ancient Indian city of 

 Metlaltoynca, in a stone chest which appears to have 

 formed the pedestal of an idol. Several remarkable 

 statues have been found on this site, and the building 

 depicted in the centre of the map is somewhat like 

 the existing Castillo, a pyramid on a base with six 

 high steps and a platform, on the summit of which 

 are buildings. The interpretation of the figure-groups 

 in the map is still to some degree uncertain, but its 

 publication will doubtless lead to an elucidation of its 

 meaning. 



The identification of two statues in the Indian 

 Museum, Calcutta, found at Patna about a century 

 ago, has aroused much interest among Indian 

 archaeologists. The question of the date of these 

 statues and of the inscriptions engraved upon them 

 is discussed in vol. v., part 4, of the Journal of the 

 Bihar and Orissa Research Society. Dr. Vincent 

 Smith, in one of the last articles that came from 

 his pen, was disposed to believe that they are portraits 

 of two kings who reigned in the fifth century B.C. 

 This conclusion, if it be correct, revolutionises the 

 current view of the development of Indian art, because 

 hitherto it has been supposed that stone sculpture 

 began in the time of Asoka, who reigned some two 

 centuries later than the assumed date of the Patna 

 statues. Moreover, the execution of these pre- 

 supposes a long prior development of plastic art. 

 But it must be remembered that the dates of the 

 statues are not vet quite certain, and the question is 

 still under discussion by archaeologists. 



In Sudan Notes and Records (vol. ii., No. 4, 

 October, 1919) Prof. G. A. Reisner announces the 

 discovery for the first time in the Nile Valley of a 

 horse cemetery. The graves were in four rows, and; 

 four complete skeletons were discovered, the horses 

 being of a short, small breed, not unlike the Arab. 

 Each horse was buried with its chariot trappings — • 

 thev were not ridden at that period — and placed upright 

 with the head towards the south. The regular spacing 

 of the graves, the division into rows, the chrono- 

 logical order of the rows, and the uniformity of the 

 graves in each row justify the conclusion that these 

 horses were sacrificed at the funerals of the kings in 

 order that the spirits of the hol-ses might accompany 

 the spirits of the kings into the other world. The 

 idea is widespread, but in this special form it was 

 hitherto unknown in Egypt. But excavations recently 

 made at Kerma show that the sacrifice of men and 

 animals at funerals was a well-established ancient 

 Ethiopian custom. In fact, there seems reason to 

 believe that horse-sacrifice was due to King Piankhy, 

 who was a great connoisseur of horses, as is proved 

 from his inscriptions. 



