450 



NATURE 



[August 7, 19 19 



September 24 and 25. This is the first gathering of 

 the institute since 1913, when a meeting was held in 

 Ghent. Among the communications to be submitted 

 to the Sheffield meeting are : — Prof. P. G. H. Boswell, 

 Moulding Sands for Non-ferrous Foundry Work; 

 Prof. C. H. Desch, Second Beilby Report on the 

 Solidification of Metals from the Liquid State ; Miss 

 H. E. Fry and Dr. W. Rosenhain, Observations on 

 a Typical Bearing Metal; Dr. W. H. Hatfield and 

 Capt. G. L. Thirkell, Season Cracking of Brass; 

 R. E. Leader, The Early History of Electro-silver 

 Plating; E. A. Smith and H. Turner, The Properties 

 of Standard or Sterling Silver, with Notes on its 

 Manufacture; Dr. J. E. Stead, The Ternary Alloys 

 of Tin-Antimony-Arsenic; Dr. F. C. Thompson, 

 Graphite and Oxide Inclusions in Nickel Silver; and 

 Dr. F. C. Thompson and F. Orme, Some Notes on 

 the Constitution and Metallurgy of Britannia Metal. 

 It is expected that some hundreds of engineers and 

 metallurgists from all parts of the world will take 

 part in the proceedings, which will include visits to 

 several famous works. 



The seventh annual meeting of the Indian Science 

 Congress will be held at Nagpur on January 13-18, 

 1920. The Chief Commissioner, Sir Benjamin Robert- 

 son, has consented to be patron of the meeting, whilst 

 Sir P. C. Ray will be president. The following sec- 

 tional presidents have been appointed : — Agricidture : 

 D. Clouston. Physics and Mathematics : Dr. N. F. 

 Moos. Chemistry : B. K. Singh. Botany : P. F. 

 Fyson. Zoology: E. Vredenburg. Geology : P. 

 Sampatiengar. Medical Research: Lt.-Col. J. W. 

 Cornwall. The honorary local secretaries are Messrs. 

 M. Owen and V. Bose. Further particulars can be 

 obtained on application to the honorary general secre- 

 tary, Dr. J. L. Simonsen, Forest Research Institute 

 and College, Dehra Dun. 



The Baly medal of the Royal College of Physicians, 

 awarded on the recommendation of the president and 

 council every alternate year to the person who shall 

 be deemed to have distinguished himself in the science 

 of physiology, especially during the two years imme- 

 diately preceding the award, has been awarded this 

 year' to Dr. Leonard Hill. The Harveian oration of 

 the college will be delivered by Dr. Raymond Craw- 

 furd on St. Luke's Day, October 18; the Bradshaw 

 lecture on November 6 by Dr. A. P. Beddard ; and 

 the FitzPatrick lectures on November 11 and 13 by 

 Dr. E. G. Browne. 



A GOOD account of that interesting race, the Nayars 

 of Malabar, was much needed, and it has now been 

 provided by a native writer, Mr. K. M. Panikkar, in 

 the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 

 (vol. xlviii., part 2). Among the more important points 

 he describes the strength of their village organisation, 

 the undivided family and descent in the female line, 

 and the classificatory system of relationship. Cross- 

 cousin marriage is the orthodox custom, and the result 

 of the influence of the Nampudiri Brahmans on their 

 social system has produced those cornplications which 

 render the study of it at once fascinating and difficult. 

 In agreement with other observers, he regards the 

 Talikeltu marriage as the actual and religious form, 

 the girl being allowed after its performance to choose 

 her own suitor; she does not mourn at his 

 death, and is not regarded as a widow; but when 

 the man who actually tied the Tali or symbol of 

 marriage; round her neck dies, she undergoes certain 

 formalities of mourning. The existence of actual 

 polyandry is still a matter of debate, but no case of 

 the kind is said to have occurred during the last 

 fifty years. 



NO. 2597, VOL. 103] 



Students of fossil botany should not overlook Dr. 

 Walkom's studies on the Mesozoic floras of Queens- 

 land, which are appearing as publications of the 

 Queensland Geological Survey (A. J. Gumming, 

 Brisbane). 



The issue of separate papers from the New Zealand 

 Journal of Science and Technology renders a number 

 of observations available in a very handy form. 

 Prospectors will be especially interested in Mr. P. G. 

 Morgan's " Magnesite and Dolomite in Australia and 

 New Zealand," which contains numerous analyses of 

 material greatly in demand. 



In two detailed papers on ripple-marks in sedi- 

 mentary rocks (Amer. Journ. Set., vol. xlvii., pp. 149 

 and 241, 1919), Mr. W. H. Bucher lays stresa^n the 

 production of ripples at rhythmic intervals in road- 

 surfaces under moving loads, and in other cases where 

 a surface is affected by friction, and regards ripple- 

 mark as due to " the tendency of two substances in 

 moving past each other to formi a surface of contact 

 which offers a minimum of resistance by substituting 

 a rhythm for uniform motion." A useful bibliography 

 is appended, and a marked addition is made to previous 

 studies of the subject. 



A BULLETIN by Mr. E. S. Simpson (Geol. Survey 

 Western Australia, No. 77, 1919) on the sources of 

 industrial potash in Western Australia is opportune in 

 its treatment of glauconite, and it is pointed out that 

 mixture of a greensand with superphosphate renders 

 "much, if not all, of the potash in glauconite water- 

 soluble." The alunite occurring in veins of kaolinised 

 rock at Kanowna is stated to be widely distributed 

 over the belt of weathering, and contains some 9 per 

 cent of potash. In view, however, of its possible 

 origin in other cases through sulphur-bearing waters^ 

 there seems no reason why it should be confined only 

 to weathered masses of rock. 



Prof. Omori's sixth memoir on the eruptions and 

 earthquakes of the Asama-yama occupies the whole of 

 the last Bulletin (vol. vii., 1919, pp. 327-456) of the 

 Imperial Earthquake Investigation Committee. The 

 greatest eruptive activity of the volcano was mani- 

 fested during the years 1911-13. The year 1914, with 

 which the present memoir deals, apparently forms the 

 closing stage of the series. Indeed, after the explosion 

 of November 20, 19 13, the volcano remained quiet for 

 nearly two months, resuming activity simultaneously 

 with the great outburst of the Sakura-jima in 

 southern Japan in January, 19 14. In this year there 

 were twenty-nine prominent eruptions, the last of 

 which occurred on December 16, but from this day 

 until Miarch of the present year the volcano has been 

 free fromi explosions, though not entirely from earth- 

 quakes oi volcanic origin. The conclusion of the 

 period of activity has been marked in several ways. 

 The lava-floor of the crater has sunk almost to the 

 level which it maintained before the great upheaval 

 of 1912. The explosions caused strong detonations, 

 but, with two exceptions, the precipitation of ashes was 

 extremely slight. As the explosive activity declined 

 the average duration of the preliminary tremors of the 

 non-eruptive earthquakes increased, showing that their 

 foci were situated either at a greater depth below the 

 crater or at a greater radial .distance. At the same 

 time a larger proportion of these earthquakes were 

 sensible without instrumental aid. In the sound- 

 areas of four of the explosions in 19 14 the silent zone 

 was developed, the outer sound-area being at about 

 the usual distance from the volcano, but in two cases 

 diverging from the usual south-westerly direction to 

 the south-east and east-north-east. 



