328 



NATURE 



[June 21, 19 17 



In order to promote the further development of the 

 dye-rnaking industry, in the United Kingdom, the 

 President of the Board of Trade has decided to estab- 

 lish a special temporary department of the Board of 

 Trade to deal with matters relating to the encourage- 

 ment, organisation, and, so far as necessary, the regu- 

 lation of that industry. The department will be under 

 the direction of Sir Evan Jones, Bart., who has placed 

 his services at the disposal of the President, and xvill 

 have the official title of Commissioner for Dyes. The 

 Commissioner, will act in close consultation with the 

 various dye-making- and dye-using interests concerned. 

 Any communications on the subject should be ad- 

 dressed to : — Commissioner for Dyes, Board of Trade, 

 7 Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W.i. 



We learn from the Scientific Monthly that the Coun- 

 cil of National Defence and the U.S. National Re- 

 search Council have sent six American men of science 

 to England and France to study problems arising out 

 of the war. Members of the party and the subjects 

 in which they will specialise are : — Dr. J; S. Ames, 

 Johns Hopkins University, aeronautical conditions ; 

 Dr. R. P. Strong, Harvard University, and Dr. L. R. 

 Williams, assistant health commissioner of New York 

 State, health and sanitation ; G. A. Hulett, Princeton 

 University, chemistry of explosives ; Dr. H. F. Reid. 

 Johns Hopkins University, scientific map-making and 

 photography from aeroplanes; and Dr. G. R. Burgess, 

 of the Federal Bureau' of Standards, metals suitable 

 for guns and rigid dirigibles. 



As a result of a long series of experiments an im- 

 portant use for horse-chestnuts has been found in con- 

 nection with the war, one of the principal results of 

 which will be the liberation of a large quantity of 

 maize hitherto used for another purpose. An appeal 

 has been issued by the Food (^War) Committee of the 

 Royal Society for the systematic collection of horse- 

 chestnut seeds during the forthcoming season. It is 

 estimated that every ton of chestnuts collected will be 

 equivalent to h.alf a ton of maize, so that the careful 

 collection of all the available supplies becomes a matter 

 of vital importance. Any quantity up to 17,000 tons 

 of chestnuts per week can be used. An organisation 

 for the collection and transport of this hitherto waste 

 product is being perfected, details of which will be 

 announced later. The work of collecting is one in 

 which many people can render service, as the trees 

 are so universally grown, and gathering the nuts is a 

 matter of no difficulty. Owing to the fine weather 

 ■during the blossoming time, there ' is every prospect 

 this year of a heavy crop of chestnuts. 



The President of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries has appointed an Advisory Committee to 

 consider and report upon technical questions of poultry 

 management and feeding, both in general and _ in 

 detaeil, and on general questions of the organisation 

 of the poultry industry, with the view of securing 

 that the readjustment of the industry to war conditions 

 shall be made in the most approved manner. The 

 committee is constituted as follows : — Mr. T. _ W. 

 Toovey (chairman). National Utility Poultry Society ; 

 Mr. Gerald Martin, Ministry of Food; Mr. P. A. Fran- 

 cis, Board of Agriculture "for Scotland; Mr. Wilfred 

 Buckley, Agricultural Organisation Society; Mr. Tom 

 Barron, National Utility Poultry Society; Mr. W. G. 

 Tarbet, Utility Duck Club; Mr." Tom Newman, Scien- 

 tific Poultry Breeders' Society; Mr. C. Longbottom, 

 Northern Utilitv Poultry Societv; Mr. F- M. Young- 

 man, J. P., Framlmgham and Eastern Counties Egtr 

 and 'Poultry Co-operative Society; and Mr. G. Tyr- 

 whitt Drake, Poultry Club; also a representative, 



NO. 2486, VOL. 99] 



when required, of the Poultry Research Society. The 

 secretary is Mr. J. R. Jackson, Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries, 4 Whitehall Place, S.W.i. 



The Edison medal of the American Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers has been awarded to Mr. Nikola 

 Tesla, for early original work in polyphase and high- 

 frequency electric currents. 



According to notices in the French Press, the 

 Soci^t6 des Mines de la Loire has just started the first 

 of two electric furnaces of 500 kilowatts for the manu- 

 facture of synthetic pig-iron, utilising current from its 

 own generating station. 



Applications are invited for the Dr. Jessie Mac- 

 gregor prize for medical science of the Royal College, 

 of Physicians, Edinburgh. The prize is of the value 

 of about 75L, and is awarded triennially for the best 

 record of original work in the science of medicine. 

 Candidates for the prize must send their applications 

 before July 23 next. 



With reference to a paragraph which appeared in 

 Nature of June 14 '(p. 312), the (Italian) General 

 Council of Limited Liability Companies has considered 

 the proposal of the Scientifico-Technical Committee as 

 regards contributions by manufacturers towards the 

 scheme for improving science laboratories in Italy. 

 The manufacturers present at the meeting decided 

 unanimously on an annual grant of 25,000 lire for the 

 object mentibneid. 



Dr. H. R. Mill records, in the Times of June 19, 

 that the thunderstorm between 5 and 7 p.m. (summer 

 time) on Saturday, June 16, was, if measured by rain- 

 fall, one of the most severe ever experienced in Lon- 

 don. More than 2 in. fell over an area measuring ten 

 miles from Barnes to Finsbury Park and four miles 

 from Hyde Park to Willesden Green. At two points 

 within this area more than 3 in. was reported — viz. 

 320 in. at Campden Hill, Kensington, and 3-37 in. at 

 Barrow Hill, north of- Regent's Park. Such falls in 

 a short period have only been exceeded in the London 

 area, so far as Dr. Mill has been able to ascertain, by 

 3-42 in. at Blackheath on July 23, 1903, and by 3-90 in. 

 at Hampstead on April 10, 1878. On June 23, 1878, 

 Mr. Symons recorded at Camden Square a fall of 

 328 in. in about an hour and a half ; on Saturday last 

 the recording gauge showed that 2-86 in. fell in two 

 hours, and no heavier rain has been recorded at Cam- 

 den Square in the thirty-nine intervening years. 



The Geological Survey of Ireland has suffered a 

 further loss in the death of Lieut. Horas T. Kennedy, 

 who was killed on June 6 during the great operations 

 south of Ypres. Lieut. Kennedy was born in London 

 in 1889, but was of Irish parentage. After securing a 

 senior scholarship at Trinitv College, Cambridge, and 

 taking a first class in the Natural Science Tripos, he 

 gained, by open competition, the post of Geologist on 

 the Geological Survey of Ireland in 1913. ,His work 

 lay in the re-examination' of the Leinster coalfield, in 

 view of industrial developments in that district. He 

 was also about to undertake the revision of certain 

 Silurian strata in western Ireland, where he would 

 undoubtedly have shown his powers of original re- 

 search ; but he obtained a commission in the North 

 Staffordshire Regiment when war broke out, and was 

 transferred later to the Roval Scots Fusiliers During 

 a short period of leave in the autumn of 19 16, he mar- 

 ried the second daughter of the Very Rev. C. T. Oven- 

 den, Dean of St, Patrick's, Dublin. His scientific 

 training led to his being attached to the Royal 

 Engineers at the close of that year. He was keenly 



