232 



NATURE 



[May II, 19L6. 



farms, and must be reduced to something like 97 grs. 

 for the ration "as purchased." This, however, is 

 about the amount consumed by the more poorly fed 

 among the population — by the agricultural labourer, 

 lor instance. One would have expected the average 

 for the whole country to be appreciably higher. On 

 the other hand, the value 4129 calories (3875 "as 

 purchased ") seems high for the energy ration, and 

 the proportion it bears to the figure for protein is 

 exceptionally high. We cannot but think that Prof. 

 Thompson has tailed to make sufficient allowance for 

 the starch, and especially for the fat, which, while 

 appearing in the market returns, is diverted to indus- 

 trial uses and never reaches the mouth of the con- 

 sumer. If the figure for protein accurately represents 

 the available supply and measures our consumption 

 before the war it would seem that there is not much 

 room for economy in the amount eaten. 



Prof. Thompson, in considering the possibilities of 

 economy, emphasises, however, a point upon which 

 most writers have insisted : " The British nation as a 

 whole relies too much on flesh meat for the protein 

 element of its food. This is the most costly of all the 

 common articles of diet to produce." He has himself 

 shown, " from calculations based on average results, 

 that an acre of land, if used for grazing sheep or 

 cattle, produces per annum not more than 260 oz. of 

 protein, and 290 kilolitre calories of energy. Whereas, 

 if used for tillage, the same area of land produces in 

 wheat 19 times as much protein, and 15 times as much 

 food energy ; in beans 20 times as much protein, and 

 9 times as much food energy ; in peas 10 times as 

 much protein, and 4 times as much food energy; in 

 potatoes 17 times as much protein, and 30 times as 

 much food energy." 



" Economy practised in the direction indicated would 

 entail no loss of efficiency, and would work out to the 

 economic advantage of the country as a whole. It 

 would also have another indirect result. The food of 

 Great Britain is brought from the ends of the earth, 

 the charges for transit adding considerably to its cost. 

 A man of twelve stone weight requires, as already 

 stated, nine times his own weight of food every year, 

 or three-quarters of his own weight every month. 

 This entails in freight charges an outlay which adds 

 considerably to the food item in a working-class 

 budget. Every additional ton weight of home-pro- 

 duced food should reduce this sum, if freight charges 

 be justly apportioned." 



THE FUTURE QF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. 



AT a recent meeting of the New York Section of 

 the Society of Chemical Industry, Dr. Baeke- 

 land was awarded the Perkin medal for his discoveries 

 in technical chemistry. Dr. Baekeland, in acknow- 

 ledging the honour, gave an interesting account of the 

 introduction of the well-known- Velox paper into photo- 

 graphy, and the successive steps in the production of 

 bakelite — an artificial resin of great hardness and 

 durability, which has found a variety of important 

 applications. 



The portion of the address which should command 

 most attention at the present time is not so much the 

 account of the inventive skill, tenacity of purposej and 

 never-failing resourcefulness, associated with a highly- 

 trained scientific mind, which have brought Dr. 

 Baekeland's investigations to a successful issue, for 

 these are qualities which have been shared by most of 

 the great inventors ; but his views on the present and 

 future condition of the chemical industries of the 

 United States. For these conditions are not unlike 

 our own, and we may well learn a lesson from one 

 who by education and experience in the laboratory 



NO. 2428, VOL. 97] 



and in the works is so wpll equipped to speak with 



authority. 



Dr. Baekeland points out that the country has 

 enough capable chemists, but that there are conditions 

 under which the best chemists cannot succeed, for 

 success depends just as much on the kind of men 

 who are at the business end of the new chemical 

 enterprises. " It will certainly do no harm," he says, 

 " to many of our new chemical enterprises if among 

 their directors they have at least some chemists as 

 well as purely business men or bankers and lawyers." 

 "Why should a chemist," he asks, "if he is intelligent 

 enough to master the most intricate problems of 

 chemistry, not be able also to learn how to exercise 

 enough common sense and good judgment to help to 

 discuss and devise successful business policies?" He 

 points out that all the largest chemical enterprises of 

 the world have always had prominent chemists among 

 their directors, and the policy of these enterprises has 

 not been left entirely in the nands of a set of purely 

 business men who remained wilfully ignorant of the 

 essential technical parts upon which their enterprise 

 was based. He refers also to the industrial part played 

 by the German banks, who, with a staff of scientific 

 advisers, have mastered the art of nursing new 

 chemical industries. 



A successful industry, he says, must be built upon 

 sound scientific knowledge, which consists in the put- 

 ting into practice principles of efficiency and introduc- 

 ing knowledge where ignorance formerly existed, with 

 its usual accompaniments of w-aste and slovenliness. 

 It does not mean merely dividends for its stockholders 

 or wages for its workmen. Dr. Baekeland looks with 

 considerable apprehension on the future of some of 

 the ventures which are being started now by men who 

 are merely trying to make money quickly, who look 

 upon their chemists merely as temporary* tools, and 

 see in their enterprise only a pretext for realising their 

 greedy ambitions. 



Finally, Dr. Baekeland touches upon the educa- 

 tional question. He exonerates the chemist for the 

 part that chemistry has been forced to play in the 

 war by showing how war is ages older than science 

 and has been born of greed, iniquity, and lust for 

 power. It is the main inheritance of the aims and 

 thoughts of the past, rendered respectable by a rather 

 large share of our so-called classical literature, to- 

 gether with our awe for tradition, which keeps us in 

 the cold, relentless grip of the wrong ethics of bygone 

 ages. J. B. C. 



RECENT WORK ON GENETICS. 



T\R. L. DONCASTER'S work on sex-limited colour- 

 -L^ inheritance in cats is well known to students of 

 heredity, the typical " tortoiseshell" coat being almost 

 always characteristic of a female. An account of the 

 microscopic structure of a testis from a tortoiseshell 

 male which after repeated matings failed to beget 

 kittens is given by Dr. Doncaster and Mr. D,. W. 

 Cutler in the December number of the Journal of 

 Genetics (vol. v.. No. 2). The tubules were absolutely 

 devoid of spermatocytes and spermatozoa, while the 

 interstitial tissue which is supposed to be concerned 

 with the secretion of the sexual hormones was excep- 

 tionally well developed. The belief that the rare tor- 

 toiseshell tom-cat is normally sterile is thus confirmed, 

 though the records of breeders show that a fertile 

 male of this colour has been known. The conclusion 

 drawn, therefore, is the possibility that " the abnormal 

 transmission of a sex-limited colour-factor to a male 

 may sometimes cause the animal to be sterile, and in 

 other cases not have this effect." 



This number of the journal contains also an impor- 



