330 



NATURE 



[June 21, 1917 



given with qualifications. In other words, the promise 

 is extended only to investigations calculated to further 

 the ends of commerce. Students of what is commonly 

 known as "pure science" will not only not participate 

 in the grants that are to be made, but they may be 

 called upon to subsist upon even smaller doles than 

 were allotted to them m the pre-war days. Our ad- 

 ministrators seem incapable of appreciatinjg the fact 

 that "applied science" has its roots in "pure science," 

 so that if these be starved the tree will of necessity 

 be stunted. This much is well brought out by Principal 

 Charnock Bradley in a presidential address delivered 

 in 1915, and printed in the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Physical Society, part ii., vol. xx., which might be 

 read with profit bv all concerned in allocating the 

 grants which have been promised. 



We are glad to see that in spite of the strenuous 

 times through which they are passing, our Russian 

 Alljes still manage to maintain their keen interest in 

 pure science and to continue the publication of those 

 journals which were recently founded with the view of 

 making Russian investigators independent of German 

 channels of publication. Some months ago we noticed 

 the appearance of the first number of the Revue 

 Zoologique Russe. The first volume (for 19 16) is now 

 completed, and the second (19 17) already begun. _ The 

 contributions range over a great variety of subjects, 

 including systematic zoology, protozoology, cytology, 

 embryology, and experimental zoology, and there is a 

 comprehensive bibliography of current Russian zoo- 

 logical literature, which affords a striking testimony 

 to the activity of Russian workers. Apparently there 

 is no paper shortage in Russia, and the attitude of the 

 authorities towards scientific publication during the 

 war would appear to be very different from what it is 

 in this countrv. The majority of the memoirs pub- 

 lished in the Revue Zoologique Russe are naturally 

 written in the Russian language, but there are a few 

 in French or English, and the Russian papers have 

 French or English summaries. The review should 

 therefore appeal to zoologists in many parts of the 

 world, especiaFy as it contains numerous articles of 

 general biological interest. Amongst the latter we 

 mav direct attention to a thoughtful paper by Eug. 

 Scfiultz, written in French, on the application of ex- 

 perimental psychology to the phenomena of morpho- 

 genesis. The review is well printed and illustrated, 

 and we hope that the enterprise of the publishers will 

 be rewarded by a wide circulation. 



The sixth half-yearly review of the world's produc- 

 tion, distribution, and consumption of fertilisers 

 issued by the International Institute of Agri- 

 culture in March last is an interesting com- 

 mentary on the influence of the _ war upon 

 this important group of industries in the_ past 

 year. Mineral phosphates, of which the production in 

 19 13 amounted to roughly 6 million tons, and in 19 15 

 to 2h million tons, fell still further to 2-8 million tons. 

 The decrease as compared with 1915 was due entirely 

 to a great drop in the American production, which for 

 the first time fell far below that of North Africa. The 

 production of superphosphate showed an even more 

 marked decline on account of the difficulties of obtain- 

 ing supplies of sulphuric acid. The production and 

 export of nitrate of soda reached the high-water mark 

 of three million tons. The data for sulphate of 

 ammonia are naturally incomplete, being limited to' 

 Allied and neutral countries. The British production 

 showed a slight increase over that of the previous 

 year, whilst the production of the United States was 

 the largest on record, being practically 50 per cent, 

 higher than in the previous year. 

 NO. 2486, VOL. 99] 



In the report of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries on the agricultural output of Great Britain 

 (Cd. 6277), made in connection with the Census of 

 Production Act, 1906, the output per person perman- 

 ently employed in agriculture was ascertained to be 

 90Z., counting the farmer in, or 129Z. if the occupiers 

 were excluded. A general confirmation of this figure, 

 making due allowance for the rise in prices of agri- 

 cultural produce since 1906, has been arrived at by Mr. 

 C. S. Orwin, director of the Institute for Research 

 in Agricultural Economics of the University of Oxford, 

 in an analysis of the accounts kept at the institute in 

 19 14-15 of six farms of varied type in widely different 

 parts of the country. The results are summarised in 

 the May issue of the Journal of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture, and show an average net output per man (occu- 

 piers excluded) of i6gl. The proportions of the net 

 output assignable to farmer, labour, and landlord 

 worked out at 47-9, 29-9, and 222 per cent, respec- 

 tively, the variation from farm to farm being surpris- 

 ingly small. The proportions of net output falling to 

 the farmer and landlord are subject to considerable 

 deductions before the net returns can be arrived at, 

 and a recalculation of the figures with the view of 

 assessing the latter indicated the average share of each 

 interest on all the holdings to be 407 per cent, to the 

 farmer, 39-5 per cent, to labour, and 198 per cent, to 

 the landlord. 



In a paper read before the Carpenters' Company in 

 London on April 4, published in pamphlet form by 

 the Oxford University Press, Prof. W. Somervllle 

 gives an account of forestry in Britain during the last 

 thirty years. Progress, except in increased facilities 

 for education, has been very meagre. "'There has 

 been practically no afforestation of fresh land, and 

 what little has taken place has been more than can- 

 celled by the curtailment of the area of previously 

 existing woodlands." Prof. Somervllle, believing that 

 national afforestation is essentially a subject for direct 

 action by the State, advocates " the creation of a 

 strong central authority with power to survey and 

 schedule all land that is. more suitable for afforestation 

 than for other purposes Experience in the past has 

 unfortunately shown that the Government Is apt to 

 seize on any excuse for delaying action, and the 

 country must see to it that directly the survey has 

 revealed a single area afforestation shall proceed." 

 In some cases the capital required for the work would 

 be provided by the Government in the form of a loan. 

 It is not to be expected, however, that private action 

 will do much to clothe with trees the wide stretches of 

 poor pastoral land that constitute the bulk of our 

 afforestable area, and purchase outright by the State 

 would seem in this case to be the only practical pro- 

 cedure, or, as an alternative, the owner might be 

 given the option of granting a perpetual lease to the 

 Government, receiving an annuity as rent. While 

 most of the land would probably be obtainable 

 by mutual agreement, the State must be provided 

 with compulsory powers to be used where necessary. 



The fossil fishes in the United States National 

 Museum, Washington, have lately been arranged by 

 Dr. C. R. Eastman, who publishes notes on some of 

 the specimens in a new part of the Proceedings of 

 that museum (vol. HI., pp. 235-304, plates 1-23). 

 American geologists appear now to be satisfied that 

 the fragmentary fish-remains discovered by Dr. C. D. 

 Walcott near Canon City, Colorado, are really of 

 Ordovician age, as originally claimed by him ; and 

 equallv old fragments arc now recorded both from the 

 Bighorn Mountains of Montana and the Black Hills of 

 South Dakota. Most of the specimens are too much 



