Z7^ 



NATURE 



[July 5, 1917 



furnace at Remscheid was still in good condition after 

 four months' continuous working at high tempera- 

 tures. Calculations based on the same tests showed 

 in actual maintenance costs a saving of more than 

 50 per cent, in favour of zirconia as compared 

 with the refractory lining ordinarily used. Ferro- 

 zirconium, containing up to 35 per cent, zirconium, 

 obtained by reducing a mixture of the oxides with 

 aluminium, has been prepared and used as the basis 

 of introduction of the metal into steel for armour- 

 plates, armour-piercing projectiles, and bullet-proof 

 steel. 



Zirconia also finds application as an addition to 

 melted quartz to prepare " siloxide glass," a product 

 resembling quartz opaque glass, but harder, less 

 fragile, more resistant to mechanical stresses and basic 

 oxides (excepting alkalies), and less easily devitrified 

 than quartz glass. 



Recently Ruff and Lauschke have investigated the 

 refractoriness and other properties of zirconia, alone, 

 and mixed with certain other oxides. 



HYDRO-GEOLOGY IN THE UNITED 



STATES A 



DIPPING into a bundle of recently issued reports of 

 the United States Geological Survey, all exhibit- 

 ing evidence of the scrupulous care and unwearied 

 industry of those responsible for the collection of data 

 relating to the water-bearing capacities of the several 

 regions under observation, we extract from a consider- 

 able mass of information one or two items which 

 seem to possess some general, as well as local, in- 

 terest. 



(i) The topography of certain ,i>arts of Arkansas and 

 the adjoining Sta;tes is characterised by numerous low, 

 circular mounds, from 20 to 100 ft. in diameter, and 

 from 1 to 4 ft. in height. It is stated that in certain 

 districts they are present in astonishing numbers, many 

 fields being completely covered with them. They 

 occur indiscriminately among the unconsolidated clays, 

 loams, marls, sands, and gravels in the lowlands, 

 on the uplands of Cretaceous and Tertiary age, and 

 on the slopes of Palaeozoic hills. The materials of 

 which they are composed are in some cases slightly 

 coarser and lighter in colour than the surrounding 

 soils, while in other cases the components are essen- 

 tially similar in structure, composition, and colour. 

 No satisfactory explanation has yet been put forward 

 to account for these conformations. Springs and gas- 

 vents, coastal dunes and ant-hills, wind action and 

 human agency, have all been suggested as originating 

 or contributory causes ; but no single theory fits in 

 convincingly with all the conditions and facts. They 

 remain a standing nuzzle to observers. 



(2) The broad desert valleys of New Mexico, com- 

 posed of gravel, sand, and clay, are designated "bol- 

 sons." Rising up at intervals from the level uniformity 

 of their surfaces are narrow, rocky ridges, ranging 

 in length from two to twenty miles, and in height 

 from a few hundred to nearly 2500 ft. It is probable 

 that all these ranges have an underground connection, 

 forming in reality a single range. They represent a 

 thick succession of sedimentary rocks of all ages, from 

 Cambrian to Recent, overlying pre-Cambrian granite, 

 which outcrops in some of the ridges. In places the 



1 d) "Geology and Ground Waters of North-Eastern Aikansas." By 

 L. W. Stephenson, A. F. Crider, and R. B. Dole. 



(2) "Geology and Underground Water of Luna County, New Mexico." 

 By N. H. Darton. 



(3) " Ground Water in the Hartford, Stamford, Salisbury, Willimantic, 

 and Saybrook Areas, Connecticut." By H. E. Gregory and A. J. Elli<:. 



(4) "Ground Water in San Joaquin Valley, California." By W. C. 

 Mendenhall, R. B. Dole, and H. Stables. 



(Published by United States Geological Survey, Washington Government 

 Printing Office, 1916.) 



depth of the bolson deposits runs to considerably more 

 than 1000 ft. 



(3) The chief water-bearing formations of Connec- 

 ticut are the unconsolidated materials of Glacial 

 origin which overlie the bedrock. There are two tvpcs 

 — the unstratified and the stratified, the former a 

 heterogeneous mixture of debris deposited directly bv 

 ice, and the latter the same ingredients, but reasserted 

 and deposited by water. The Glacial drift is onlv thin, 

 and the surface of the underlying rock rugged.' This 

 results largely in the localisation of much of the rain- 

 fall (amounting to 4; in. per annum), causing sup- 

 plies, at times, to be deficient through periods of 

 several weeks, or even months. 



(4) One of the difficulties confronting settlers in the 

 San Joaquin Valley, California, is the adverse influ- 

 ence on plant culture of the alkali salts in the soil. 

 If the alkali content be in any degree excessive, 

 growth is retarded, and possibly arrested altogether.' 

 The farmer has to control the accumulation of soluble 

 salts near the surface of his land, if he is to obtain 

 saUsfactory results. A common practice is to flood 

 the area with water, which dissolves the alkali salts 

 and carries them down below the zone of influence on 

 delicate rootlets; but this method is onlv partially 

 effective, unless measures are taken to prevent" surface 

 evaporation by means of the shade afforded bv trees 

 and the cover of stands of grass or grain. B. C. 



T' 



no: 2488, VOL. 99] 



. SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



HE important and impressive review of the rise 

 and progress of the organic chemical industrv 

 issued by Messrs. Levinstein, Ltd., of Blackley, near 

 Manchester, and of EUesmere Port, which appeared as 

 a supplement to the Manchester Guardian of June 30, 

 marks a welcome development of industrial enterprise. 

 Even the most indifferent and ill-informed reader 

 cannot but be made aware, as a result of its perusal, 

 of the importance of the highest facilities for scientific 

 education and training, when in so striking a fashion 

 he IS compelled to realise the fruits of it in the enor- 

 mous industrial advance of Germany in all that per- 

 tains to the organic chemical industries, whether it 

 takes the form of artificial dyestuffs, synthetic organic 

 products, or that of chemico-therapeutics. The advent 

 of the war quickly laid bare our serious deficiencies, 

 not to say our utter poverty, in all three departments 

 of chemical manufacture. 



In the course of the articles, which have been written 

 by men eminent in their respective fields of chemical 

 science and its applications, the distinction is made 

 absolutely clear as between industries the development 

 of which has mainly been the result of the adoption of 

 steam power and of mechanical appliances, and those 

 depending upon fundamental researches of a physical 

 and chemical character, such as are, to use the phrase 

 of one of the writers, "huilt up from the depths," and 

 require, therefore, not merely the energetic business 

 organiser and "scientific management," with a view to 

 output, but the highly trained scientific man capable of 

 appreciating the discoveries of pure science and apt in 

 their application to human needs. In this valuable 

 review of the progress of the many departments of a 

 vital industry — the key, indeed, to the successful prose- 

 cution of many allied and dependent industries — it is 

 clearly revealed how remiss the nation has been in a 

 true appreciation of what constitutes the firm founda- 

 tion of industrial pre-eminence. The fault has lain not 

 so much, as some of the writers seem to indicate, with 

 the colleges and universities as with the indus- 

 tries concerned, which have hitherto offered small 

 salaries and poor prospects to the carefully trained and 

 competent science student ; indeed, have looked upon 



