■May 28, 1903] 



I 



IKeat and grease to burn for cooking it ; but the utmost 



l^fcuety was caused by the wearing out of the 



fTBuminium stove and cooking utensils. As regards 



clothing, the Italians found woollen material much 



more useful and satisfactory than furs. The point is 



discussed at some length by Dr. Cavalli, who observed 



that light porous cloth allowed the perspiration to 



n.iss to the outside before freezing, and there it could 



-^craped off and the clothes kept comparatively dry ; 



reas when skin clothing of any kind was used, 



snuw and ice were formed on the inner surface, and 



when warmed in the sleeping-bag the clothes were 



saturated with moisture. 



The Italian and Norwegian members of the expedi- 

 tion appear to have been on the best of terms through- 

 ' lit, and but for the loss of the first party returning 

 n the great journey over the sea-ice, their 

 I in the Arctic regions must be pronounced 

 a most successful one. What is now wanted in the 

 interest of science is no mere dash to the Pole, no more 

 experiments as to modes of travelling, but a repetition 

 of the drift of the Fram from a point north of Bering 

 Strait, with abundant equipment for oceanographical, 

 meteorological and magnetic research. It would cost 

 but a trifle compared with the expense of an expedition 

 with dogs and stores enough to ensure reaching a very 

 high latitude from any land base, and the value of the 

 results is certain, though five years might not be too 

 much to allow for obtaining them. It is a great oppor- 

 tunity, ready for some wealthy person with a love of 

 solitude and science. 



THE RESTORATION OF THE LAND OF 

 CHALDEA. 



TWO lectures by Sir William Willcocks, late Director- 

 General of the Irrigation Works in Egypt, delivered 

 before the Khedival Geographical Society at Cairo, 

 have been published in a pamphlet,' a copy of which has 

 been received. Sir William Willcocks, as is well 

 known, is an enthusiast in irrigation matters, and has 

 had a very large share in bringing Egypt to its present 

 state of prosperity by the reorganisation of the canal 

 and reservoir system, and in designing the new works 

 that have recently been carried out at Assuan. The 

 pamphlet under notice relates to the ancient country 

 of Chaldea, which bears a great resemblance in its 

 physical features to Egypt, the river Tigris being 

 capable of performing the same functions as the Nile. 



In view of the proposed Bagdad Railway, which will 

 traverse this delta, the subject is of considerable in- 

 t' rest. The author's view is that the resuscitation of 

 till- ancient canal system would create along the line of 

 railway a country as rich as Egypt, the rent of which 

 would pay for both railway and irrigation works, and 

 1. ave a surplus " which only those can realise who have 

 been in intimate touch with Egyptian Agriculture." 



Bagdad lies at a distance of about 500 miles from 

 the sea, measured along its course. From the city to 

 the Persian Gulf is a country now completely desolate, 

 but which formerly was one of the most fertile and 

 populous districts in the world. Opis, situated on the 

 banks of the Tigris, and which was at one time the 

 wealthiest mart of the East, bears to the delta of the 

 Tigris very much the same relation that Cairo bears to 

 the delta of the Nile ; and here were situated the head 

 of the great canals which irrigated the delta. The 

 great Nahrwan canal had its intake in this locality, 

 and extended for a length of about 250 miles, feeding 

 an immense number of subsidiary canals. This canal, 



1 "The Restoration of the Ancient Irrigation Works of the Tigris : or, the 

 Re-creation of Chaldea"; and " t^gypt Fifty Years Hence." By Sir William 

 Willcocks. Pp. 71 ; with lo plates. (Cairo : National Printing Depart- 

 ment, 1903.) 



NATURE 



81 



for the first ten miles of its course, was cut through 

 hard conglomerate rock to a depth of 50 feet, and was 

 65 feet wide, increasing lower down to 394 feet. These 

 dimensions considerably exceed those of the largest 

 irrigation canal in Egypt. It was described as late 

 as 970 A.D. as flowing amid continuous and extensive 

 villages, date groves, and well-cultivated lands, the 

 whole region over an area of 4600 square miles con- 

 taining a population, judged from the ruins left, that 

 no spot on the globe could excel. Owing to 

 neglect of the works the main stream of the 

 Tigris became diverted, the old bed of the river 

 silted up, and the ruin of the irrigation system 

 became complete, and now the ruins of Opis and many 

 other mounds of adjacent buildings spread like islands 

 over the deserted plain, which is quite bare of vegeta- 

 tion. The author of the pamphlet estimates that there 

 are about one and a quarter million acres of first-class 

 land of the value of 38,000, oooZ. that could be reclaimed 

 and once more made prosperous by an outlay of 

 8,ooo,oooZ., and which would produce a rental of 

 3,840,000^ Beyond this is an area of one and a half 

 millions of acres of less fertile land, that could also be 

 reclaimed and cultivated. 



The second lecture is a description of what Egypt will 

 be in fifty years' time, according to the author's ideas, 

 when the country " will attain a height of splendour 

 and magnificence." which will surpass the great works 

 of the days of the Pharaohs, which have survived the 

 revolutions and catastrophes of four thousand years. 



THE DALTON CELEBRATIONS AT 

 MANCHESTER. 



THE Manchester celebrations in connection with the 

 centenary of Dalton's atomic theory began on 

 Tuesday afternoon. May 19, when Prof. F. W. Clarke, 

 chairman of the International Commission on Atomic 

 Weights, delivered the "Wilde" lecture on "The 

 Atomic Theory " to the Manchester Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society. Addresses were presented on behalf 

 of the Royal Society and the Chemical Society, and a 

 message was received from the Russian Physico- 

 Chemical Society. In an admirable discourse Prof. 

 Clarke sketched the history of the atomic theory from 

 its first conception in the minds of Greek philosophers 

 down to the present day. He pointed out the directions 

 in which the atomic theory would probably develop, 

 but declared that the problem of matter would never be 

 solved until the atomic weights of the elements had 

 been finally settled. "Who," he asked, "will 

 establish the Dalton Laboratory for pure research, and 

 so give the work which he started a permanent 

 home? " 



In the evening the Literary and Philosophical Society 

 gave a dinner, at which the principal guests were 

 Profs. Clarke and van 't Hoff, Prof. A. E. Armstrong, 

 Mr. Brereton Baker, Prof. P. F. Frankland, Mr. 

 Vernon Harcourt, Dr. Harden, Sir James Hoy, Prof. 

 Kipping, Dr. W. H. Perkin, sen., Sir William Ram- 

 say, Prof. Emerson Reynolds, Sir Henrv Roscoe, Prof. 

 Smithells, Dr. Scott, Prof. Thorpe and Prof. Tilden. 



In proposing the toast of the evening, the " Wilde " 

 medallist— Prof. Clarke — and the Dalton medallist- 

 Prof. Osborne Reynolds — Sir Henry Roscoe said that 

 Dalton's atomic theory and Joule's discovery of the 

 mechanical equivalent of heat reflected more distinction 

 on Manchester than the city's association with the 

 cotton industry or with the Ship Canal. 



On Wednesday morning a special meetmg of the 

 Owens College Chemical Society was held to offer an 

 address to the great Dutch chemist, J. H. van 't Hoff, 

 now professor at the Berlin University. Prof. Dixon 



NO. 1752, VOL. 68] 



