Ma.Y 22, 19 19] 



NATURE 



227 



It is probable that Mr. Hawker's failure was due 

 to bad weather, and in this respect it seems a 

 pity that so difficult a feat should have become a 

 race between various competitors. Had Mr. 

 Hawker waited until the weather conditions were 

 really favourable, there seems little doubt that he 

 would have succeeded. 



In considering- the present situation, it is well to 

 realise the immense progress that has been made 

 in the last ten years. In 1909 Bl^riot first flew 

 across the Channel, and his feat was then regarded 

 in very much the same light as is the Atlantic 

 fUglit to-day. We must, therefore, not be dis- 

 couraged by the failure of the first attempt to fly 

 direct from the New World to the Old, and 

 although the Atlantic flight cannot now be con- 

 sidered as a commercial project, it may well be 

 that in ten years' time it will be as simple an 

 undertaking as a commercial flight from Paris 

 to London is at the present day. 



It is worthy of note that the great progress in 

 flying range made since Bldriot's Channel flight 

 has been due in great measure to improvements 

 in the engine, and only secondarily to better aero- 

 dynamic design. It is highly probable that 

 engine improvement will be the main factor 

 influencing the development of long-distance com- 

 mercial flying in the future. 



The main difficulty of trans-Atlantic flying will 

 always be the weather, but it is to be hoped that 

 an extended research into the meteorological con- 

 ditions at various altitudes will do much to 

 simplify the problem by enabling aviators to 

 choose the most favourable route and altitude of 

 flight. 



Meanwhile, we can but await the attempts of 

 other competitors for the honour of the Atlantic 

 conquest by air, in the certainty that effort will 

 not be relaxed until the flight is accomplished, 

 and in the hope that Mr. Hawker and his navi- 

 gator have been spared to make another attempt. 

 Trans -Atlantic Flying and Weather. 



It cannot be too well understood that a flight 

 from Newfoundland to the Azores at this time 

 of year is vastly different from a flight to the 

 British Isles. The Azores flight is made within a 

 zone where fair weather prevails. The stages to 

 Lisbon and thence to Plymouth may offer con- 

 siderable difficulties. For seaplanes, and with 

 look-out vessels fairly close to hand, the risk to 

 life is greatlv lessened. 



So far as the direct flight from St. Johns, 

 Newfoundland, to the British Isles is concerned, 

 it is at present not easy to minimise the risks. 

 Weather undoubtedly is the controlling factor. 

 There are usually exceptionally few days in the 

 year when the North Atlantic is free from cyclonic 

 disturbances, but of all seasons the present time 

 is probably normally the most favourable. The 

 conditions, however, vary so immensely in 

 different years that to choose a period for a trans- 

 Atlantic flight without reference to the actual 

 existing weather conditions involves immense 



NO. 2586, VOL. 103] 



danger. For a practically safe flight eastwards 

 the prevailing distribution of atmospheric pressure 

 over the Atlantic should be anticyclonic, with 

 direct indication that no cyclonic disturbances 

 exist along the route. In these conditions, which 

 synchronous charts of the Atlantic show to exist 

 occasionally, aircraft would have a steady 

 westerly wind over the whole course. On the 

 other hand, when cyclonic disturbances are known 

 to exist in the open Atlantic, as they have for 

 several days past, and for a much longer period, 

 stormy and probably adverse winds would have 

 to be negotiated for a considerable distance. The 

 information given in the International section of 

 the Daily Weather Report, issued by the 

 Meteorological Office, which includes wireless 

 reports from the Atlantic, shows what complete 

 data have been available for those taking part in 

 the flight. A moderate south-easterly gale was 

 blowing at the surface well to the westward of the 

 Irish coast at the time of the eastern flight, whilst 

 nothing definite was known as to the direction 

 and velocity of the upper air. Information as to 

 the drift of the air over the open sea in any part 

 of the world is of the crudest form, although evea 

 that might be of great value. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURAL 

 RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN GREAT 

 BRITAIN. 



IT was for long a reproach to this country that 

 so little attention was paid to agricultural 

 research and education. The first step to remedy 

 this state of aff'airs was taken in 1910, when Mr. 

 Lloyd George set up the Development Commis- 

 sion and provided it with funds for the promotion 

 of research and of various schemes and methods 

 calculated to assist the agricultural industry. Out 

 of its funds the Commission in 191 1 made a 

 grant to the Board of Agriculture of 50,000?. per 

 annum for the carrying out of the Board's scheme 

 to promote agricultural research and education, 

 and this sum was allocated to various institutions 

 and colleges, thereby allowing much-needed ex- 

 tensions of laboratories and staffs. It is a con- 

 dition of the grant that a report on the work of 

 the institution should be sent each year to the 

 Board, and these reports as published have been 

 duly reviewed in the columns of Nature. 



There is little doubt that this grant saved the 

 agricultural colleges and research institutions 

 from losing their best men. Up to 1910 it was 

 recognised that a good man had little prospect in 

 this country, and must perforce seek for posts 

 overseas, either in some part of the Empire or 

 in the United States. A score of names can be 

 recollected of men who went, not primarily 

 because they wanted to go, but because they saw 

 no alternative. Although a few stayed on, they 

 recognised the risk they ran. Had nothing 

 occurred to justify them, the profession would 

 soon, and deservedly, have acquired a bad reputa- 



