April 21, 1910] 



NA TURE 



233 



o the plane of quantitative determination. It is on this 

 ilane that the department in question is seeking, with 

 apital initial success, to carry on its investigations. The 

 mblications of the department already issued are reckoned 

 imong the most important of recent contributions in this 

 arge field of research. 



The work of the geophysical laboratory proceeds by 

 neans of some of the most recent methods and appliances 

 >f research, and hence its aims and lines of investigation, 

 ike those of all new sciences, present to the public more 

 )r less of obscurities of interpretation and obstacles to 

 eady appreciation. The researches of the laboratory 

 ifford another instance of the normal evolution of a science 

 rom the observational and descriptive stage to the higher 

 evel of measurement and calculation. That geology and 

 nineralogy will be much advanced by such researches is 

 low recognised and attested by eminent specialists. 

 Indeed, the definitive results already attained by members 

 jf the laboratory staff are now finding their way into the 

 jlementary as well as into the more technical literature 

 jf those sciences. The equipment of the laboratory has re- 

 ceived an important addition during the year in apparatus 

 For subjecting materials under observation to high pressures 

 and temperatures, either simultaneously or separately. 

 Phis apparatus, developed by Dr. A. Ludwig, research 

 '"""iate of the department for the year, will give pressures 

 17,000 atmospheres, or 250,000 lb. per square inch, 

 e Tortugas laboratorj- of the department of marine 

 iioiogy is proving highly effective as a centre for research 

 by a wide range of specialists. Eight associate investi- 

 - have availed themselves of the opportunities afforded 

 e department during the past season, and the results 

 ■ i iieir studies are now in preparation for publication as 

 contributions to science from the laboratory. It is of 

 interest to note the advent of quantitative investigations 

 here as well as elsewhere in the advancing biological 

 sciences. 



The apparatus of the nutrition laboratory proves highly 

 effective, and the experiments already made, on patho- 

 logical as well as normal subjects, fully justify the confi- 

 dent expectations hitherto entertained with respect to this 

 line of research. Many additions have been made during 

 the year to the equipment of the laboratory. Among these 

 are a bed-calorimeter into which a recumbent patient m.iy 

 jenter with ease and safety ; a portable respiration apparatus 

 which may be applied readily to a patient reclining on a 

 cot while his respiratory action is accurately determined ; 

 and an automatic temperature register, which will give .1 

 continuous record of temperature changes in the calori- 

 meters to which it is applied. 



The achievements already attained in the development 

 of novel methods and effective apparatus for studies of 

 the sun, and the additions to our knowledge of solar 

 physics already made at tho solar observatory, not only 

 justify the predictions of its founders, but warrant the 

 anticipation of still more important contributions to astro- 

 physics in the near future. Work of investigation and 

 work of construction have proceeded simultaneously during 

 the year, both at the observatory site on Mount Wilson 

 and at the shops and phvsical laboratory in Pasadena. 

 The 60-inch equatorial reflecting telescope, the installa- 

 tion of which was completed a year ago, has been tested 

 during the past year and proved to be of unequalled excel- 

 lence, whether used as a visual or as a photographic 

 instrument. Its optical perfection and its wide range of 

 applicability make it a noteworthy contribution to progress 

 in observational astronomy. The 150-foot tower telescope, 

 authorised by the budget of the current year, is in a for- 

 ward state of construction, and will soon become one of 

 the most effective units in the telescope battery of the 

 observatory. The discoverv of the existence of the Zeeman 

 effect in the sun, announced by the director a year and 

 a naif ago, has been confirmed and extended in its applica- 

 tion to further interoretation of the nature of sun-spots, as 

 well as to researches into the more recondite electro- 

 magnetic properties shown by the sun. Closely connected, 

 apparently, with these properties are the major and minor 

 " magnetic storms " to which the earth's magnetism is 

 subject, now of special interest alike to the staff of the 

 solar observatory and to the staff of the department of 

 terrestrial magnetism. It may suffice here to record only 

 one other item of interest, namely, the failure, thus far, of 

 NO. 21 12, VOL. 83] 



the manufacturers of glass at St. Gobain, France, to 

 furnish a satisfactory disc for the loo-inch Hooker tele- 

 scope. The disc reported as en route for delivery a year 

 ago proved so defective that it had to be rejected. The 

 manufacturers are still confident, however, that they can 

 meet the requirements, and it is hoped that through the 

 collaboration of Prof. Ritchey, of the observatory staff, 

 who has spent some months at St. Gobain during the year, 

 a satisfactory disc may be ultimately secured. 



The field-work of the terrestrial magnetism department 

 has gone forward with dispatch. Surveys have been carried 

 on in fifteen different countries distributed over four 

 different continents. The routes traversed by the observers 

 will give a large aggregate of data from hitherto little- 

 known or unexplored regions. Thus Mr. Sowers has 

 obtained observations at intervals along a route extending 

 from eastern China west across China and Chinese 

 Turkestan, and thence south to Bombay, India ; Prof. 

 Beattie, research associate of the department, has com- 

 pleted a survey from Cape Town to Cairo ; Mr. Pear- 

 son has secured measurements in Persia, Beluchistan, 

 .Arabia, Turkey, and Russia ; while other observers have 

 been equally active in South America, Central .America, 

 and British .America. 



The publication of sixteen volumes of researches has 

 been authorised by the executive committee during the 

 year at an aggregate estimated cost of 5840/. 



RECENT WORK OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS.' 

 III. — Caxad.4. 



THE Geological Survev Branch of the Canadian Depart- 

 ment of Mines continues to issue colour-printed geo- 

 logical maps at an extremely moderate price, as well as 

 numerous mining plans on a large scale. >\e note that 

 •• individual maps or reports will be furnished free to 

 bona fide Canadian applicants." . . • 



The Mines branch deals in its reports with technical 

 matters relating to ore-deposits, the occurrence of which 

 means so much to the Dominion ; but its memoirs cannot 

 be neglected bv the geologist. Mr. Fritz Cirkel s report 

 on the chrome' iron ore deposits in eastern Quebec (i909> 

 thus contains an interesting account of the seiT)entines ot 

 Canada (p. 121 ; the chromite occurs in those of Cambrian 

 age while the earlier serpentines appear, so far, unpro- 

 ductive. The Cambrian serpentines are associated with 

 diorite, and are regarded (p. iS) as alteration-products of 

 an olivine-gabbro. Their non-aluminous character, as 

 shown in the tvpical analysis given, would lead one to 

 assume that considerable differentiation had gone on in 

 the basic series, and that the serpentine was at one time 

 an olivine rock rather than a gabbro. This is probably 

 the author's view, as stated on p. 87. The chromite is 

 irregularlv distributed in pockets, a provoking arrange- 

 ment for 'the miner, and reminding one of the occurrences 

 in the Dun Mountain district of New Zealand. Ihis re- 

 port with its review of chromite ores in the world at 

 large is of far more than local value, and the deposits 

 in the Transvaal, so recently described, are well referred 

 to and illustrated. Mr. F. Hille's report, on some iron- 

 ore deposits in Thunder Bay and Rainy River districts, 

 Ontario dwells on the possibility of using peat-coke, 

 manufactured bv the Ziegler process, as a fuel for smelt- 

 ing Manv provinces of Canada are rich m peat, poor in 

 wood and destitute of coal. The ores dealt with in the 

 report are magnetite and haematite, and a magnetic survey 

 has been used in the detection of the former. 



The recent reports of the Canadian Geological Survey 

 Branch include one bv Mr. W. H. CoUins on Gowganda 

 Mining Division, Ontario (1909), with a ver>- large geo- 

 logical map on the scale of one inch to one mile. The 

 district described lies along the Montreal River, west of 

 the Quebec border, and is being invaded by a rush of 

 prospectors, owing to the discovery- of silver cobalt ores 

 similar to those that have made the reputation of Cobalt. 

 The valuable veins occupy large fissures in quartz-diabase, 

 which is intrusive in Huronian sediments. The author 

 traces a magmatic gradation from the diabase into an 

 aplite intimately associated with it (p. 33). The illustra- 



1 The second article appeared in Nature of February 10. 



