July 13, 1916] 



NATURE 



409 



by fixation from atmospheric nitrogen lends additional 

 interest to the account of a Swedish company for 

 the same purpose contained in Dagens Nyheter 

 (June 8). Eyde's method of obtaining nitrogen from 

 the air by means of an electric arc is relatively dear, 

 and its profits depend on the local price of electrical 

 energy. It has, moreover, been calculated that if all 

 the waterfalls of Europe were to supply energy for 

 this industry alone, this would not result in a greater 

 production than would balance the present yearly 

 increase in the world's need of fertilisers. The 

 Swedish company employs a method invented by 

 Th. Thorssell (formerly technical head of the fertiliser 

 and sulphuric acid factories in Malmo), which method 

 depends on purely chemical processes, and demands 

 only the special treatment of easily accessible raw 

 material ; but no details of the process are given in 

 the article. The chief products of the new factory 

 are ammonia, ammonium nitrate and cyanide com- 

 pounds, saltpetre, and sulphuric acid. The process is 

 said to be of such a character that factories can be 

 installed in most places without requiring any large 

 supply of energy. Experimental work was begun in 

 the autumn of 191 1, and during the summer of 1912 

 the results were approved by the outside experts — 

 Prof. H. G. Soderbaum and Dr. Gustaf Ekman. 

 The company was then set going definitely, and, in 

 spite of difficulties inseparable from an entirely new 

 manufacture, as well as losses by fire, it is now pre- 

 paring to deliver its products in large quantities, and 

 has for this purpose decided to increase its capital 

 from 3-7 million to 8 million kronor. 



Prof. Otto Pettersson, of Holma, Lysekil, 

 Sweden, has devised an apparatus for saving life at 

 sea which presents some features of novelty and 

 interest. It consists of three parts : (i) An ordinary 

 horsehair mattress of the thickness, width, and length 

 which are usual for a ship's berth. This mattress 

 is to form the bottom of what will be a kind of 

 collapsible boat when used for life-saving. (2) 

 Attached to the sides of the mattress, and capable of 

 being folded underneath it when used for sleeping 

 purposes, are two cushions which, when the whole is 

 employed for life-saving, form the sides of the craft 

 and on which its buoyancy depends. In the original 

 model these cushions were filled with the hair of the 

 reindeer — a material much used for such purposes in 

 Scandinavia — ^but, of course, kopok would be equally 

 serviceable. (3) The stem and stern of the little craft 

 are formed of double layers of imf>ermeable, closely 

 woven waterproofed cloth strengthened by cords sewn 

 in and uniting at the ends of the mattress in a metal 

 ring, to which the rope of a sea-anchor may be fixed. 

 Each seam is strengthened by a layer of india-rubber 

 to keep the water from entering the inner stuffing 

 of the mattress. Between the mattress and the side 

 cushions are two pieces of cloth with holes for putting 

 the arms through. The whole forms a sort of cloak 

 in which one wraps oneself, as in an ulster coat, 

 securing it round the waist. The sea-anchor is taken 

 in one hand and one flings oneself backward into the 

 sea. The anchor is let go and the craft emptied 

 of water by a syringe which is placed at the side 

 and is easily worked by the passenger. Once 

 emptied it will not easily fill again, the sea-anchor 

 keeping the prow against the wind and the waves. 

 The little boat is unsinkable, even when filled with 

 water, and is sufficiently buojant to carry more than 

 one person. If two or three boats are tied together 

 by the anchor line one sea-anchor will keep them 

 steady. The sea-anchor is an essential part of the 

 apparatus. It consists of a canvas bag sewn on to 



NO. 2437, VOL. 97] - 



a metal ring, and is provided with a stout manila 

 rope about 20 m. long. The apparatus is made by 

 K. M. Lundberg, of Stockholm, and has been proved 

 to be very serviceable. 



An article on " Fruits for Health, Strength, and 

 Longevity," which appears in the Fortnightly Review 

 for July, though an advocacy of fruitarianism, fails 

 to offer any convincing physiological argument in 

 supj)ort of the end in view. Like most productions 

 of its kind it consists of manifest inaccuracies mixed 

 with a modicum of truth. For example, " when a 

 man reaches the age of fifty, especially should he be 

 careful about his diet," is only too true; but that "the 

 juices of oranges and lemons act like magic upon the 

 waste chalky accumulations which bring about the 

 stiffening of the arteries" — in other words, cure arterio- 

 sclerosis — is a statement unsupported by experimental 

 evidence in the field of modern therapeutics. Nor is 

 there sufficient evidence to show that eating fish and 

 the flesh of the pig is in any way associated with 

 cancer, scrofula, and tumours. Fruit jellies are said 

 to "possess no nitrogen"! and "condensed starch 

 seriously taxes the digestive organs." What is con- 

 densed starch? "The action of glucose, like that 

 of cornflour, induces sluggish action of the system and 

 tends to disorganisation, driving consumers to purga- 

 tives." Yet many fruits are rich in glucose or sugars 

 readily converted into glucose. Moreover glucose has 

 a mild aperient action on most people. " Utilised over 

 a course of years ripe fresh fruits and their juices 

 will effectually prevent aneurismal dilatations and 

 arterial rupture, which of late years have increased 

 to an alarming extent." It would be interesting to 

 know what medical evidence there is for either of 

 these conclusions. 



The June issue of the Chemical Society's Journal 

 contains a report of a lecture by Dr. F. Gowland 

 Hopkins delivered before the society on May 18 on 

 " Newer Standpoints in the Study of Nutrition." 

 This is the third of a series of lectures delivered by 

 invitation of the council during the past session, the 

 two earlier lectures having been given by Dr. E. J. 

 Russell and by Prof. W. H. Bragg, To the chemist. 

 Dr. Hopkins's lecture is particularly attractive by reason 

 of the large measure of success which the author has 

 achieved in his endeavour to interpret biochemical 

 phenomena in terms of the known reactions and 

 products of organic chemistry. Amino-acids, such as 

 tryptophane, arginine and histidine, glutamic and 

 aspartic acids, derived from 'the hydrolysis of natural 

 proteins, are shown to be the essential units in the 

 nutrition of animals. If these are provided, together 

 with filtered butter-fat or lard, potato-starch, cane 

 sugar, the requisite inorganic salts, and the mysterious 

 vitamine or food-hormone factor (supplied in the form 

 of a nitrogen-free alcoholic extract of fresh milk), 

 life can be preserved and growth maintained without 

 protein or any nitrogenous compounds of unknown 

 constitution. Interesting experiments have been made 

 which show that the withholding of the aromatic com- 

 pound tryptophane, or of both arginine and histidine, 

 prevents growth and causes a rapid loss of weight; 

 but glutamic and aspartic acids, which constitute 28 

 per cent, of the protein molecule (as contrasted with 

 ih per cent, of tryptophane), can both be removed with- 

 out causing loss of body-weight or even any marked 

 retardation of growth; and the removal of histidine 

 and arginine separately does not arrest growth, in- 

 dicating that these two amino-acids can replace one 

 another in nutrition, and may even prove to be chemi- 

 cally interconvertible. 



