426 



NATURE 



[July 20, 19 16 



ing gentlemen, who are presiding over the Board of 

 Trade Committees on the position of important indus- 

 tries after the war :— Sir H. Birchenough, K.C.M.G., 

 Lord Faringdon, Sir C. G. Hyde, the Hon. Sir C. A. 

 Parsons, K.C.B., F.R.S., Lord Rhondda, and Mr. G. 

 Scoby-Smith. Mr. Percy Ashley, of the Board of 

 Trade, and Mr. G. C. Upcott, of the Treasury, have 

 been appointed secretaries to the Committee. 



For the first half of the present summer there has 

 been a complete absence of seasonable weather, the 

 conditions continuing most persistently dull, damp, 

 and cool. The weather reports from the health 

 resorts issued each day by the Meteorological Office 

 scarcely show a temperature of 70° at any of the 

 English stations. Very little sunshine has been regis- 

 tered, although the amounts are somewhat erratic, 

 but the sun's rays have had little effect in raising the 

 shade temperature. Since the commencement of the 

 summer the amount of the rainfall is given separately 

 for night and day, a matter of considerable interest, 

 hoth scientifically and to the general public. Records 

 are published from rather more than thirty English 

 health resorts, but the June values are only complete 

 for every day throughout the month from six stations. 

 The night observations are covered by the Summer 

 Time hours from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m., a period of six- 

 teen hours, and the day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., a 

 .period of eight hours, so that the night period is 

 •double the length of the day. Notwithstanding that 

 the day is only one-half the duration of the night 

 the rainfall for the day is more than that for the night 

 •at all the six stations, except at Ramsgate, where it 

 is only 32 per cent, of the total fall. At Felixstowe 

 the day fall is 64 per cent, of the total ; in London it 

 is 62 per cent. ; at Harrogate 61 per cent. ; Worthing 

 59 per cent.; and at Leamington Spa 51 per cent. 

 of the total rainfall. This great excess during the 

 day is abnormal. 



The names Hurter and Driffield (more familiarly 

 " H. and D.") will be remembered as long as photo- 

 graphy is studied, on account of the results of many 

 years' work which they published about twenty-six 

 years ago. Dr. Hurter, a Swiss, was the chief 

 chemist, and Mr. Driffield the engineer, at Messrs. 

 Gaskell, Deacon and Co.'s, of Widnes, now the 

 United Alkali Company, and in their spare time 

 they worked together on some of the fundamental 

 problems connected with photography with such 

 success that their names will always be associated 

 with the subjects that they investigated. Their 

 methods of expressing the character of negatives and 

 of estimating the sensitiveness of photographic plates, 

 of which the present " H. and D. numbers" are 

 living examples, form an important section of their 

 work. The recent death of Mr. Driffield, seventeen 

 years after the death of Dr. Hurter, has given rise 

 to a strong desire to commemorate their work done 

 in the advancement of photography. A committee of 

 the Royal Photographic Society is therefore arranging 

 a scheme to this end, and it is asking for subscrip- 

 tions for the purposes of : (i) The endowment of an 

 annual Hurter and Driffield memorial lecture. (2) The 

 publication in book form of their most important 

 writings, together with desirable but hitherto un- 

 published matter. (3) Providing suitable accommoda- 

 tion in the house of the Royal Photographic Society 

 for the original apparatus, together with MSS., note- 

 books, correspondence, etc., all of which have been 

 bequeathed to the society by Mr. Driffield and handed 

 over to it by his executors. Several generous dona- 

 tions have already been acknowledged by the hon. 

 treasurer, Mr. W. B. Ferguson, K.C., 48 Compayne 

 Gardens, South Hampstead, N.W. 



NO. 2438, VOL. 97] 



In the Journal of the College of Science, Imperial 

 University of Tokyo, for October, 19 15, which has 

 only recently been received, Mr. R. Torii publishes 

 an elaborate article on the prehistoric population of 

 Southern Manchuria. This paper, well furnished with 

 photographs, describes a population of hunters and 

 fishermen, who seem to have very slowly gained a 

 knovk'ledge of iron and were practically in the age 

 of stone. The discoveries of flint implements were 

 exceedingly numerous. The pottery with its decora- 

 tion in encrusted nodules of clay, and often coloured 

 in red, is particularly interesting. The clothing of 

 these people consisted of skins with some textiles 

 " made of hemp and other fibres. In the kitchen 

 middens in the neighbourhood of Port Arthur some 

 decorative objects made of bronze, iron, and jade, 

 probably imported, were found. Southern Manchuria 

 offers a practically unworked field for archaeological 

 work, and the Japanese scholars who have undertaken 

 the work of exploration may be trusted to make the 

 best use of this favourable opportunity. 



A GOOD illustration of the direct relation which 

 obtains between the play of animals and the vital 

 activities of life, such as the capture of agile prey, 

 the avoidance of their most formidable enemies, or I 

 conflict with rivals, is furnished by Mr. C. J. Carroll 

 in the Irish Naturalist for May. Herein he describes 

 the behaviour of the raven when attacked by the 

 peregrine. On such occasions every effort is made to 

 escape by flight, but if overtaken the pursued throws 

 himself on his back, and opposes beak and claws to 

 his pursuer, thus, time after time, beating off the 

 attacker. So soon as the young of the raven are able 

 to fly the parents put them through a course of train- 

 ing in these tactics, acting the rdle of the peregrine 

 until efficiency is attained. "At first the young are 

 stupid and clumsy, but they soon learn to avoid the 

 onslaught by turning over and presenting their claws, 

 or by rising high in the air." 



Mr. J. H. Owen, in British Birds for July, con- 

 tinues his record of observations made on the nesting 

 habits of the sparrow-hawk. In the present section he 

 describes the behaviour of the hen at the nest, bring- 

 ing out some extremely interesting facts. Thus, for 

 example, he remarks that when the young hatch she 

 does not take the egg-shells to a distance and drop 

 them, as so many other birds do, but eats them while 

 she broods. Great attention is paid to the sanitation 

 of the nest, the faeces of the very young birds being 

 carefully gathered up, and either swallowed, or 

 thrown clear of the nest by a jerk of the head. Later 

 they are able to eject them over the edge of the nest, 

 and so relieve the mother of this task. Until the young 

 are from twelve to fourteen days old all the food is 

 brought to the nest by the male, who is promptly and 

 unmistakably informed if he displays an excess of zeal 

 in this matter. There is one point on. which the author 

 fails to make himself clear. This concerns his state- 

 ment that as incubation proceeds the hen sheds down 

 about the nest until, at hatching time, it is flecked with 

 down, which is removed very soon after the young are 

 hatched. Is this down naturally moulted or pulled out? 

 Why is it allowed to accumulate, since it serves to 

 direct attention to the nest, and why is it later so 

 carefully removed? 



The annual volume of the Kew Bulletin for the 

 year 1915 has only just been published, although the 

 concluding part was issued on December 24. Several 

 articles of economic importa.ice will be found in the 

 438 pages comprising the volume. In particular, one 

 on the gemination of coconuts, from which it appears 

 that nuts taken from young trees may safely be 



