i6 



NATURE 



[March 2, 19 16 



spectively. The subject indexes extend to fifty-two and 

 thirty pages respectively, and the method of arrange- 

 ment adopted in past years is continued. The facility 

 with which a piece of research can be looked up in 

 " Science Abstracts " makes it invaluable to those 

 engaged in scientific work in either physics or elec- 

 trical engineering. 



The Journal of the Royal Society of Arts for 

 December 31 contains an interesting article by Sir 

 Charles Watson on the origin of English measures 

 of length. The author is of opinion that the measures 

 of length used by the different nations of the world 

 are for the most part derived from a common origin. 

 He regards the longer measures of distance as having 

 been first used by a people who possessed a high degree 

 of astronomical knowledge, who were acquainted with 

 the form of the earth and were able to carry out 

 accurate geodetic measurements. He explains the 

 means by which the ancients determined the unit for 

 terrestrial measurements of distance, now known as 

 a geographical mile, and he then proceeds to con- 

 sider how the subdivisions of the geographical mile 

 were assimilated with the cubit. Two new cubits 

 appear to have been invented for this purpose ; one 

 of these was. equivalent to 18225 English inches, and 

 the other, afterwards known as the Babylonian royal 

 cubit, was equal to 2025 inches. Sir Charles points out 

 that the English sea mile is exactly the same as the 

 geographical mile of the Babylonian system; that its 

 tenth part, the cable length, is identical with the 

 stadium ; and that generally the English measures 

 of length are no haphazard modern invention, but 

 have come down to us from prehistoric times. 



A SHORT article on the production of potash in the 

 United States appears in the Chemical Trade Journal 

 of February 12. In 1915 steps were taken to produce 

 potash salts on a commercial scale in the United 

 States, and the plant of the Universal Products Cor- 

 poration began to operate in October last at Marys- 

 vale, Utah, producing both potassium sulphate and 

 alumina, in high-grade form. The rated capacity of 

 the works is from 25 to 30 tons of 95 per cent, potass- 

 ium sulphate per day. The present plant handles 

 about 150 tons of alunite dail}', and plans are being 

 made to double its capacity. At Searles Lake, Cali- 

 fornia, the .American Trona Corporation proceeded 

 with the construction of its works to treat the potass- 

 ium-bearing brine of that desert basin by the Grim- 

 wood, process. At Trona (Searles Lake) only mixed 

 salts are produced from the first part of the process, 

 and these are refined at the port of San Pedro, Cali- 

 fornia. The initial plants are expected to produce 

 100 tons of potash and 30 tons of borax daily. The 

 alunite deposits of the Florence Mining and Milling 

 Company at Marysvale, Utah, is to be exploited by a 

 newly-formed corporation, the Utah Potash Syndicate. 

 Some plants were erected elsewhere to utilise the 

 potash of the felspars, but did not get into operation 

 on a commercial scale, 



"The Athenaeum Subject Index" to the periodical 

 literature on the economic, political, and military his- 

 tory of the war is a classified list of the titles of articles 



NO. 2418, VOL. 97] 



that have appeared during 1915. About 150 periodicals 

 are cited, including twenty published in the United 

 States and ten published in France. There is an 

 alphabetical list of authors' names. The titles of the 

 articles are classified under more than 250 headings, 

 arranged in alphabetical order. The primary classi- 

 fication is in great measure topographical, being based 

 upon the names of countries, and such headings as 

 " Eastern Question " and " European War." These main 

 sections are, however, subdivided into subsections, such 

 as "Army," "Colonies," "Commerce," "Economic 

 Condition." " Finance," and " Intellectual Life." In 

 addition to the topographical headings, there are many 

 others, such as "Aliens," ".'\rchitecture," "Civilisa- 

 tion," " Compulsory Service," " Eugenics," " Food 

 Supply," "Liquor Problem," "National Character- 

 istics," and "Social Psychology." In drawing up such 

 a list it is obviously very difficult to decide what are 

 the subjects of greatest interest to those who will con- 

 sult the index. Compensation for any defects in the 

 arrangement will be found in the large number of 

 cross-references, which make it possible without much 

 difficulty to trace the various entries relating to any 

 subject that may not have been confined to one 

 section. 



The letter of Sir Lauder Brunton which we pub- 

 lished in our issue of February 10 (vol. xcvi., p. 649), 

 advocating the introduction of Latin as an inter- 

 national language, has inspired several communications 

 on the subject for which we are unable to find space. 

 Mr. L. F. Richardson, of Eskdalemuir Observatory, 

 directs attention to the simplicity of " Ido," which has 

 been suggested as an international language, and 

 points out that the language can be read by anyone. 

 Mr. F. H. Perrycoste, Polperro, Cornwall, emphasises 

 the saving of time which would result from the adop- 

 tion of Sir Lauder Brunton 's suggestion, and urges 

 that most people would really be better off with a 

 good equipment of Latin thaii they now are " with a 

 more or less efficient or inefficient equipment of 

 French and German and a practically useless semi- 

 equipment of Latin acquired at enormous expense of 

 school time." Mr. P. W. Stuart-Menteath, writing 

 from Ciboure, Basses Pyrenees, maintains that "The 

 revival of Latin as the unique language of science 

 can alone secure the co-operation of the humanist, 

 the intellectual independence of the Latin nations^ 

 and the essential unity of both their science and their 

 religion." Mr. C. M. Houghton urges the advantages 

 of Esperanto, the inventor of which was an adherent 

 to the Latin project for many years before he con- 

 structed his artificial language for international use. 

 He adds that Mr. W. J. Clark's " International 

 Language" (Dent, is. net) "contains a resumd of the 

 history of the problem and its solution from 1653 up 

 to 1910, together with a large amount of other valu- 

 able information." 



In future the journal hitherto known as the Journal 

 of Economic Biology will bear the name of the Journal 

 of Zoological Research, the subject-matter of which 

 will be confined to original zoological research — 

 systematic and anatomical. The style and price of the 

 periodical will remain unaltered. 



