June 15, 19 16] 



NATURE 



325 



output which has been accomplished. Especially 

 helpful was his knowledge of men and their busi- 

 ness capacity, and the Ministry owes much to him 

 in this, not only in the particular section he had 

 in charge, but throughout the organisation." 



He was the author of pap>ers on "Propulsion 

 on Canals" and "Light Railways," and translated 

 "Marine Boilers," by M. Bertin, Chief Constructor 

 of the French Navy. 



HOTES. 



We learn with deep regret that Prof. Silvanus P. 

 Thompson, F.R.S., died on June 12, a little before 

 midnight, at his residence in West Hampstead, after 

 only twx> days' illness. 



The meeting of Scandinavian naturalists, to be held 

 in Christiania on July 10-14, will be attended by not 

 fewer than 500 members. The papers announced 

 number 142. 



The Bill to advance legal time by one hour during 

 the period from June 14-15 to September 30-October i 

 has been passed by the French Senate and the 

 Chamber of Deputies, so that French time now corre- 

 sponds to British Summer Time. 



The rescue of the twenty-two members of Sir Ernest 

 Shackleton's expedition who are now marooned on 

 Elephant Island is to be undertaken by a steam- 

 trawler belonging to the Fisheries Department of 

 Uruguay. The vessel was built in Aberdeen in 1906 

 for the North Sea fishing fleet. She was expected to 

 leave Buenos Aires on June 9, and to call at the 

 Falkland Islands, where she would be joined by Sir 

 ' Ernest Shackleton, on June 13. They are nearer than 

 South Georgia to Elephant Island, which, if all goes 

 well, should be reached in four days from the Falk- 

 lands. The trawler has been fitted with wireless 

 apparatus, and communication will be maintained 

 with her by a British auxiliar}' cruiser, which wiU 

 be stationed in Drake's Strait. It is therefore pos- 

 sible that news of the rescue of Wild and his com- 

 rades may be received on June 18, and the party may be 

 back in South America before the end of the month. 

 With regard to the Ross Sea, the Secretary of the 

 Admiralty- announces that the rescue of the men left 

 ashore when the Aurora was blown away from her 

 winter quarters at Caj>e Evans will be carried out at 

 the end of this year in the Aurora, with the co-opera- 

 tion of the Governments of the Commonwealth of 

 Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand. 



We regret to learn that among the officers killed in 

 the naval action in the North Sea on May 31 was 

 Commander H. L. L. Pennell, R.N., who lost his life 

 by the sinking of H.M.S. Queen Mary. Commander 

 Pennell, who was thirt>--four years of age, joined the 

 Britannia in 1898, and became a midshipman next 

 year. In 1903 he was promoted lieutenant, and after 

 several years' distinguished service was selected bv the 

 late Capt. R. F. Scott to be one of the officers of the 

 Terra Nova in the British Antarctic Expedition of 

 1910. When Capt. Scott and the main wintering partj- 

 had landed in McMurdo Sound early in 191 1, Lieut. 

 Pennell took the Terra Nova east, along the Ross 

 Barrier, and found Amundsen in the Fram at his 

 winter base. Lieut. Pennell afterwards landed the 

 second wintering party at Cape Adare, and in the 

 following summer moved them further south. He 

 was in command of the Terra Nova throughout the 

 expedition, and it was he who, on the return to New 

 Zealand, discovered the westward trend of the north 

 coast of Victoria Land, which he named Oates Land. 



NO. 2433, VOL. 97] 



On his return from the Antarctic in 1913 Lieut. 

 Pennell was promoted commander in the Navy. 



The Morning Post of June 5 contains some of the 

 impressions of life in Germany, particularly of the 

 scientific activity, received by a neutral lately returned 

 from Berlin. The general view of the greater scien- 

 tific efficiency of Germany is confirmed, and the Ger- 

 man interest in science as a source of profit is con- 

 trasted with the study of science for its own sake in 

 this countr)'. We learn that German chemists intro- 

 duced a gaseous arsenic compound for military use 

 which could be fired into the enemy ranks in cases 

 which exploded on arrival. Fortunately, however, 

 for the Allies' troops, the gas decomposes and becomes 

 innocuous when fired from a gun. The manufacture of 

 synthetic rubber (particularly for motor-car t}-res) is 

 said to be a great success, but the process is a com- 

 petitor with the manufacture of explosives for the 

 limited supply of benzol. The neutral observes that 

 the scientific experiments with bread have been less 

 encouraging, its quality having become worse, whilst 

 the indigestible portion has increased in amount this 

 year. The people are suffering privations from in- 

 sufficiency and poverty of food, the effects being loss 

 of weight and an illness caused by unwholesome diet. 

 Great hopes are reposed in the coming harv^est, to- 

 wards the abundance of which science has done its 

 share by providing nitrates manufactured from atmo- 

 spheric nitrogen. 



It is worthy of note that the Addington-Wickham 

 bourne is now flowing, a phenomenon of very rare 

 occurrence. The last flow of any magnitude was in 

 1883, when more than three million gallons of water f>er 

 day were gauged by Mr. Baldwin Latham near Hayes. 

 Since that date two water pumping-stations have been 

 built in this valley, the combined pumping of which 

 has resulted in the present bourne being reduced to 

 1,600,000 gallons a day, as measured recently by Mr. 

 Latham. The bourne is interesting as being essen- 

 tially the highest source of the Ravensboume. It 

 now commences in springs in a field near to Adding- 

 ton village. Many springs can be seen feeding it in 

 the fields in the valley, and it has filled up two large 

 gravel pits near the Hayes railway. It passes under 

 the railway and, crossing the road, reaches what for 

 many years has been the source of the Ravensboume. 

 The present source, although now on the chalk, has 

 to well up through a considerable thickness of gravel. 

 It is surmised that in times when the Croydon and 

 other bournes are out, this one remains invisible owing 

 to its flowing over the chalk but under the gravel, 

 and only on exceptional occasions it appears at the 

 surface. It would seem that a good deal of under- 

 ground solution is going on, judging from the manner 

 in which the banks around the spring-heads have been 

 let down below the surrounding levels. 



The "Report of the Committee on Edible and Oil- 

 Producing Nuts and Seeds " of VN'est Africa [Cd. S247], 

 just issued, affords an interesting glimpse of the 

 changed attitude of the Government towards science 

 and industry, brought about by the war. The exports 

 of oilseeds and oils from British West Africa in 1913 

 were valued at 7,228,000/., and of this amount Ger- 

 many took no less than 3,869,000/., chiefly in the 

 form of palm kernels, the crushing of which for oil 

 and cake she had practically monopolised. The out- 

 break of war placed British W^est African exporters 

 in a serious position, the usual channel for more than 

 half their exports of oil and oilseeds being stopped. 

 The story of how this diflSiculty was met and a new 

 British industry in the crushing of palm kemds 

 organised is told in Prof. Dunstan's introduction to 



