May 31, 1917] 



NATURE 



26Q 



of the valuable work accomplished in glass research 

 since 1914 at the instigation of the Institute of Chem- 

 istry and the Ministry of Munitions. One outcome of 

 this' work has been the placing of at least fifty new 

 batch formulae at the disposal of glass manufacturers, 

 to experiment with, to adopt, and to improve. 

 Amongst the most important formulae available may 

 be mentioned batches for resistant and ordinary chem- 

 ical ware ; soft glass for lamp work ; combustion tub- 

 ing ; various types, of glasses for X-ray work ; opal 

 glasses ; thermometer glasses ; and optical glasses. 

 To show the widespread nature of the researches 

 already carried out upon glass, he said, the effect of 

 almost every known element has been tried, and many 

 glasses with interesting properties are now available 

 both for present and post-war use. By fostering re- 

 search in many directions and by the admission of 

 science in its most advanced form into their industry 

 glass manufacturers have ensured the progress of the 

 industry in the future. The enthusiasm of the manu- 

 facturer is reflected in the founding of the Society of 

 Glass Technology, and the interests" of the whole glass 

 industn,- are being well served by the glass technology 

 department of the University' of Sheffield, and by the 

 numerous representative committees set up by the 

 Ministry of Munitions. The glass industry, in fact, is 

 a striking example of the co-ordination of the 

 manufacturer and man of science at its best. The 

 next meeting of the Society of Glass Technology will 

 be in June, at the University of Sheffield, when a joint 

 discussion on refractory materials has been arranged 

 with the Faraday Societ}-. 



In the May issue of Man Mr. E. W. P. Chinnery 

 describes the use among the coast tribes of Papua 

 of the conch shell and wooden trumpet as a mode of 

 signalling. This is usually performed by males, but 

 women sometimes use these instruments, and in the 

 Kikori River delta women beat a kind of tattoo with 

 sticks on the sides of their canoes to announce the killing 

 of men and pigs, while the males sound calls on the 

 conch shell. This account is supplemented by a note 

 contributed by Dn A. C. Haddon, with a good biblio- 

 graphy, in which he describes the distribution of 

 similar wooden trumpets in Netherlands New Guinea 

 and on the Sepik River. 



In the Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological 

 Society, N.S. (vol. vii., part i.). Sir P. I. Hamilton 

 Grierson discusses the question of fosterage, not as a 

 chronicle of phenomena, but as a process of evolution. 

 By fosterage he means the rearing of a child, under- 

 taken at the request of its parents by someone who is 

 neither its father nor its mother, for a limited time, 

 with the result that a bond is created between the 

 foster-child and its foster-parent and foster-brethren, 

 and, in many instances at any rate, between the natural 

 father and the foster-father. Dealing with the question 

 in detail from this point of view, he arrives at the 

 conclusion that if we would make fosterage yield the 

 secret of its origin, we must study it in connection 

 with other forms of artificial relationship — the milk- 

 bond, the bond of the blood-brothers, the bond of 

 adoption, the bond of gossiprede, and the bond existing 

 between teacher and scholar; and such a study will 

 be found to illuminate not only the questions involved 

 in this inquiry, but other vexed problems of early 

 family relationships. 



In a panphlet published for the Polish Information 

 Committee, Mr. W. Nalkowski has endeavoured to 

 show what the natural features of Poland are which 

 give it its individuality f" Poland as a Geographical 

 Entitv." London : Geo. Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 6d. 

 net). Despite considerable compression and a rather 

 ponderous style, the author has succeeded in giving 



NO. 2483, VOL. 99] 



a very able and useful survey of the characteristics of 

 Polish geography, and has proved his contention that 

 the outstanding feature is the " transitionality " of 

 Poland. It is a country in which western and eastern 

 Europe mingle, and the reciprocal action of these 

 influences gives a colour to its life. Whether or not 

 that characteristic is one which fits Poland to stand 

 as a separate nation might be open to argument. 

 Mr. Nalkowski foresees this criticism, which he 

 answers by pointing out that original Poland has 

 clear frontiers to north and south, and in the basin 

 of the Vistula has a nucleus around which the country 

 centres. The latter contention, to a certain extent, is 

 true, but the transitionality of Poland results not from 

 her northern and southern frontiers, but from her 

 eastern and western ones, which the author admits 

 are weak. These indefensible frontiers have sub- 

 jected Poland to heavy blows and ceaseless struggles 

 in the past. The future of a regenerated Poland will 

 show whether open frontiers favouring human inter- 

 course stand a country in better stead than physical 

 barriers crossed with difficulty. The pamphlet is a 

 useful contribution of geography to a problem in' 

 world-politics and throws much light on the subject. 



The annual report for 19 15 of the Technological 

 Museums, Sydney, New South Wales, well indicates the 

 way in which our Colonies are using the collections in 

 their' great museums. We learn, for example, that 

 "it is clear to most people now that the prosperity 

 and safety of the Empire will in a la'ge measure 

 depend upon the manner in which scientific research 

 and discovery are encouraged in the future. If we 

 are to succeed, no initial outlay should be spared, as 

 it does not take long, once a discovery has been made 

 into a going concern, for the initial outlay to be 

 easily covered. This is well illustrated in one of the 

 museum researches alone — i.e. on the pines of Aus- 

 tralia — as the commercial advantages to the State 

 will more than repay a hundredfold the cost of the 

 whole of the researches carried out here. Conse- 

 quently, I view with great interest th^ proposal of the 

 Prime Minister to establish a Bureau of Scientific 

 Research — a scheme which, if carried out on proper 

 lines, will no doubt result in an effective achievement 

 worthy of Australia." The present report deals with 

 the technological work of the Technical Education 

 Branch of the Department of Public Instruction, and 

 the document is illustrated by reproductions of photo- 

 graphs of the "Australian Essential Oil Cases" and 

 the "Museum Essential Oil Still." Mr. R. T. Baker 

 is the curator. 



The life-history of bacteria is dealt with by Mr. 

 Edward Hort in a paper in the British Medical Journal 

 (May 5. p. 571)- The current view is that bac- 

 teria reproduce by simple binary fission and occa- 

 sionally also by endospore formation. Mr. Hort main- 

 tains that a relatively complicated life-cycle takes 

 place in the enteric group of bacilli which he has 

 studied. Superficial, median, and terminal minute buds 

 are formed by gemmat'on from the parent, and these 

 buds may undergo segmentation. The buds vary in 

 size from about o'l fi. to several n. and the smallest 

 forms mav be filterable. Some of the aberrant forms 

 in cultures may be mutations or developmental stages, 

 and not involution forms as they are usually regarded. 

 In order to demonstrate the various stages a some- 

 what acid broth was used as culture medium, and the 

 films were treated bv Benian's Congo-red absorption 

 method for microscopical examination. 



Mr. N. L. Bowen adds an important paper to his 

 previous study of nepheline, and has prepared the 

 potassium representative of this mineral artificially 

 (Amer. Journ. Science, vol. siiii., p. 115, 1917). This 



