August 24, 19 16] 



NATURE 



523 



ise publicity the worth of its goods, sometimes 

 c;^>^ client, but sometimes also copies of our models 

 and inferior to ours ; their catalogues, well edited 

 and illustrated, are published in many languages, 

 and give full details of the instruments they 

 describe, their travellers, men of parts, knowing 

 ; intimately their instruments . . . and trying to 

 [satisfy the wishes of their customers." 

 I M. Boutaric points out that the collaboration 

 between the man of science and the manufacturer 

 is far more close in Germany than in France. In 

 the former the man of science is in intimate touch 

 with the works, and is well paid for his services. 

 The foreman and apprentices are trained in the 

 theoretical side of their subject in classes they are 

 obliged to attend. In the firm of Zeiss half the 

 time spent by the workers in the technical classes 

 is counted as time spent in the works. Xo steps 

 are neglected to perfect the organisation as a 

 whole ; everything is done to make the machine 

 independent of a single individual. In France the 

 success and reputation of a firm have too fre- 

 quently depended on one individual. That some 

 steps are being taken to strengthen the optical 

 industry in France is shown by the fact that a 

 large factory has been built by La Societe 

 francaise d'Optique, formed in conjunction with 

 the firm of Lacour-Berthiot, for meeting the 

 ■competition of the best German firms. M. 

 i Boutaric urges that if the future of the industry 

 '' is to be assured, new^ blood must be introduced, 

 young mechanics trained, and a school of optics 

 founded. This school, for which M. Violle has 

 pleaded, should be divided into at least two 

 sections: optics proper and photography. In it 

 practical classes on glass grinding, etc., should be 

 given in conjunction with theoretical work. 

 I After an appeal for mutual co-operation between 

 ' the various firms and individuals interested, M. 

 Boutaric urges that the Government should take 

 steps to protect French patents and trade marks 

 against unfair competition. Anyone with experi- 

 ence of the laxity of the French patent specifica- 

 tion and patent laws will appreciate the force of 

 this appeal. 



ARCTIC OCEANOGRAPHY. 



T MPORTANT contributions to Arctic oceano- 

 ■*■ graphy are contained in the report of Dr. 

 F. Nansen's work in Spitsbergen seas in 191 2 

 ("Spitsbergen Waters." By F. Xansen. Chris- 

 tiania, 1915). Dr. Xansen spent July and 

 August of that year in his yacht, the J'eslemoy, 

 on the west and north of Spitsbergen. His main 

 object was to push far to the north to get deep- 

 water samples from the polar basin in order to 

 make more accurate determinations of specific 

 gravity than were possible during the voyage of 

 the Fram. But this aspect of the expedition was 

 only partially successful on account of the pack 

 ice being unusually far south. However, a great 

 deal of valuable work was done, both in the open 

 seas and in the fjords. Only one or two of many 

 interesting results can be noticed here. 

 XO. 2443, VOL. 97] 



It has been maintained that the melting of 

 glacier ice has a considerable cooling effect on the 

 water strata of Spitsbergen fjords. Dr. Xansen 

 confutes this idea. He took a vertical series of 

 temperatures at the entrance to Ice Fjord in July, 

 when it was clear of ice, and again in August, 

 when ice almost blocked the way. The water at 

 50 metres and the intermediate cold layer were 

 much warmer in August than in July. Again, in 

 Cross Bay, at both 100 and 200 metres from the 

 face of Lillehook Glacier, the cold intermediate 

 layer was both thinner and warmer than further 

 out in the fjord. The bottom temperatures near 

 the glacier were also higher than further out in 

 the fjord. But as the surface salinity was greater 

 near the glacier than further away it would appear 

 that the glacier ice does not melt rapidly at the 

 upper end of the fjord. The high salinities of 

 the inner end of the fjord may be in part due to 

 the more extensive formation of ice in winter 

 there than further out, which would increase the 

 salinity. 



Another important matter raised in this paper 

 is the extension and shape of the north polar 

 basin. In this matter Dr. Xansen has modified 

 his views since the days of his Fram exj>edition. 

 The result of that expedition led to the belief that 

 the water of the north polar basin differed from 

 that of the Xorwegian Sea. The work of the 

 Veslemoy contradicts this, and shows that the 

 salinities of the two are identical. The deep 

 water of the north polar basin is probably derived 

 from the Xorwegian Sea. This discovery does 

 away with the necessity for postulating a high 

 submarine ridge between Greenland and Spits- 

 bergen, yet one at a depth of about 1200-1 :;oo 

 metres is still necessary to account for the differ- 

 ence in temperature of the deep water in the two 

 basins. In any case, if the deep water of the 

 polar basin is derived from the Norwegian Sea 

 and not formed in the basin itself, there is no 

 need to believe in such an extensive polar basin 

 as formerly was considered necessary. The dis- 

 covery, a few^ years ago, by Vilkitski, of islands 

 north of Cape Chelyuskin does something to con- 

 firm this belief in a less extensive deep basin. It 

 is true that the Stefansson expedition found no 

 new land, and that Pear)''s Crocker Land has 

 apparently no existence, but these facts do not 

 disprove the possibility of a wide continental 

 shelf, and Nansen goes at considerable length 

 into questions of the drift of the Fram and of 

 the ice to substantiate the probability of this 

 being the case. We have followed Nansen in 

 using the form Norwegian Sea, but there seems 

 to be no reason why this should replace the older 

 and generally accepted name, Greenland Sea. 



NOTES. 



Dr. J. O. Backlund. M. B. Baillaud, Sir F. W. 

 Dyson, Dr. P. Lowell, Prof. F. Schlesine^er, and 

 Prof. H. H. Turner have been elected honorary 

 fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 



The provisions of the "Summer Time'" Act 

 will cease to operate at the end of September. In a 



