,274 



NATURE 



[May 31, 1917 



examined by Dr. Bassler and Mr. Ulrich, of the 

 National Museum, Wasiiington, who regard them as 

 nearest to Camarocladia. A fragment that may be 

 part of a graptolite was also found, but it is too small 

 for confident identification. The evidence at present 

 avaiilable suggests that the lower part of the Cumber, 

 land Bay series is Silurian or Ordovician, while the 

 middle and upper parts of the series are Mesozoic. 

 The difficulty in this conclusion is that Mr. Ferguson 

 recognised no strati graphical break at thej top of the 

 Lower Cumberland Bay series ; there may be a hidden 

 disconformity which would be easily overlooked, as 

 the rocks above and below that horizon consist of 

 material derived from the same source. 



The material collected by Mr. Ferguson is against 

 rather than in favour of the view that South Georgia 

 belongs to an Andean loop, for the igneous rocks that 

 have been determined are of the alkaline or Atlantic, 

 and not of the Pacific, type, and the sedimentary rocks 

 are more allied to those of the eastern United States 

 than to those of the Andes. 



It is to be hoped that the island will soon be further 

 examined to settle the problems - which have been 

 raised by Mr. Ferguson's useful work. Mr. Wordie, 

 the geologist with Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition, 

 made an extensive collection of the igneous rocks from 

 the south-eastern end of the island, but it was un- 

 fortunately lost by the wreck of the Endurance. His 

 field observations will, however, doubtless throw much 

 further light on the general geology of South Georgia, 



J. W. Gregory. 



SOURCES OF NITROGEN COMPOUNDS. 



IN the Scientific American for April 21 Prof. T. H. 

 i Norton contributes a valuable article under the head- 

 ing, ''American Sources of Nitrogen." Prof. Norton 

 has given special attention to this miportant question, 

 an'd the Department of Commerce published in 1912 

 an exhaustive report by him on "The Utilisation of 

 Attnospheric Nitrogen." In 19 16 Congress appro- 

 priated the large sum of twenty rhillion dollars for 

 the purpose of constructing and organising Govern- 

 ment works for the production of nitrogen compounds 

 available for military requirements and for general 

 economic purposes. 



After outlining the wide application of nitrogen 

 compounds for agricultural purposes, emphasising the 

 importance of ammonia and its compounds in industry, 

 and nitric acid for the production of explosives and 

 dyestuffs, the sources of combined nitrogen are con- 

 sidered, the principal being (i) Chile saltpetre; (2) 

 ammonia ; obtained as a by-product from the carbon- 

 isation of coal and lignites, and from Mond type gas 

 plants working on coal, peat, etc. ; from cyanamide, 

 by fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by calcium 

 carbide ; synthetically from hydrogen and atmospheric 

 nitrogen by the Haber method ; (3) nitric acid ; from 

 saltpetre, by the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by 

 the electric-arc process, and by the oxidation of 

 ammonia by the Ostwald catalytic process. It is 

 shown ^hat Chile saltpetre is subject to wide fluctua- 

 tions in price, being dependent on current demands, 

 rates of freight, etc. The export duty of 11 dollars 

 per ton levied by the Chilean Government is a heavy 

 addition to cost. The economics of the various alter- 

 native methods outlined above are carefully considered 

 in detail. 



Cyanamide made at Niagara Falls, on an annual 

 rate for electric power of 12 dollars per horse-power 

 year (h.p.y.), is estimated to cost 28-74 dollars per 

 short ton; 4-12 tons of 20 per cent, cyanamide will 

 yield one ton of anhydrous ammonia ; the cost of 

 manufacture will be 3080 dollars, so that the total cost 



NO. 2483, VOL. 99] 



of one short ton of anhydrous ammonia by this pro- 

 cess is estimated to be 149-21 dollars. By the Haber 

 method (syntheticallv from its elements) it is estimated 

 that the cost should be reduced to 64 dollars per ton, 

 but the method involves technical supervision of a 

 high grade. 



Turning to the cost of nitric acid, prior to the war 

 the cost in New York for acid obtained from Chile 

 saltpetre is given as 144-5 dollars per short ton (100 per 

 cent HNO3), the cost in Hamburg being equivalent 

 to 96-32 dollars. By the Norwegian, or Birkeland and 

 Eyde, process, with electric power at 12 dollars per 

 h.p.y., the pure acid would cost 56-17 dollars. It is 

 claimed that the new American Rankin arc process 

 gives a yield 33 per cent, greater than the Norwegian 

 process per unit of elictric power, and Prof. Norton 

 estimates that the cost of nitric acid might be reduced to 

 41-47 dollars. With reference to the Ostwald catalytic 

 process, from information based upon statements of 

 results in a Belgian plant he concludes that pure 

 nitric acid, from ammonia obtained by the cyanamide 

 process, would involve a cost of production of 6368 

 dollars per short ton. In general this is the cost of 

 nitric acid (100 per cent.) when anhydrous ammonia 

 costs 150 dollars per ton. 



RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS IN THE 

 UNITED STATES.-^ 



Federal Department of Agriculture. 



VXTHEN the department was first organised, and for 

 * '' a number of years thereafter, its work was con- 

 fined largely to matters directly affecting agriculture. 

 Later, the Weather Bureau and the Forest Service 

 were transferred to the department, and more recent 

 legislation has charged the department with the 

 enforcement of a number of regulatory laws, including 

 those relating to meat inspection, animal and plant 

 quarantine, foods and drugs, game and migratory 

 birds, seed adulteration, insecticides and fungicides, 

 and vaccines and viruses. The income of the depart- 

 ment increased from i6,oooZ., in 1863, to 727,000/., in 

 1889. In 19 15 the expenditure was 5,330,000/. There 

 are now about 15,000 employees in the department. 

 Of that number 3000 are employed at Washington, 

 and 12,000 elsewhere. Nearly 2000 persons are 

 engaged in scientific investigations and research, 1400 

 in demonstration and extension work, and 700 in 

 administrative and. supervising work. 



Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. 



The grants to agricultural colleges under the Acts 

 of 1890 and 1908 are now fixed at io,oooZ. to each of 

 the forty-eight States, and to Porto -Rico and Hawaii, 

 and aid sixty-nine institutions. The total value of the 

 property held by these agricultural colleges is approxi- 

 mately 32,000,000/., and their annual revenue 

 7,000,000/., of which about 700,000/. (10 per cent.) is 

 derived from Federal grants under the above Acts, 

 3,600,000/. (52 per cent.) from State appropriations, 

 and '2,700,000/. (38 per cent.) from tuition fees, en- 

 dowments, and miscellaneous sources. 



Statistics show that approximately 53 per cent, of 

 the graduates of the agricultural colleges return to 

 the farm, and that '95 per cent, devote themselves to 

 agriculture in some form, including college and 

 station work. Of those not graduating, practically 

 all return to the land. 



The Hatch Act, 1887, provided that in order to aid 

 in acquiring and diffusing among the people of the 



1 From a Memorandum on the Organisation of Scientific Research 

 Institutions in the United States of America by Mr. Gerald Lightfoot, 

 issued by the Advisory Council of Science and Industry, Commonwealth of 

 Australia. 



