January i8, 1900] 



NATURE 



281 



including articles and memoirs on various interesting subjects by 

 Italian men of science, and notices of several prominent Italian 

 meteorologists. The work also includes valuable bibliographical 

 notices ( I) of recent publications and of articles which have 

 appeared in scientific periodicals both in Italy and other 

 countries ; and (2) references to the works of several deceased 

 Italian meteorologists. 



British agriculturists are slowly waking up to the advan- 

 tages of scientific methods of dealing with diseases of crops. Dr. 

 J. A. Voelcker, consulting chemist to the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, reports in the Journal of the Society that the use of 

 "blue vitriol" (sulphate of copper) for agricultural purposes 

 has been considerably extended of late. It has long been em- 

 ployed, either alone or in different preparations of which it 

 formed a constituent part, as a dressing for seed wheat. But of 

 later years the spraying of the potato crop with " Bouillie 

 Bordelaise" mixture, to guard against potato disease, has 

 become more general ; and quite lately a further employment of 

 sulphate of copper has been brought to the front in the spraying 

 of corn and other crops infested with charlock, a solution of this 

 salt being used, apparently with good result, for the purpose. 

 Dr. Voelcker has found that the sulphate of copper supplied to 

 farmers is frequently adulterated with sulphate of iron. He 

 points out that the two things do not serve the same purposes 

 agriculturally ; for, while sulphate of copper has undoubtedly 

 great value for grain -dressing preparatory to sowing, potato 

 spraying, and charlock destruction, sulphate of iron is practic- 

 ally useless. 



Two papers on the purification of waste in water from manu- 

 factories were read before the Institution of Civil Engineers on 

 January 9. One of the authors, Mr. R. A. Tatton, gave a 

 detailed description of the works at three manufactories where 

 the trade waste is efficiently treated. In one of these, where the 

 process of ordinary bleaching, dyeing and finishing is carried on, 

 the works for purifying the trade waste consists of precipitation- 

 tanks and filters, sludge-tanks, presses, &c. The volume of 

 water at times amounts to 500,000 gallons per day ; it is treated 

 with lime and "iron alum " and settled in tanks in which most 

 of the suspended solids are intercepted ; from these tanks the 

 water is pumped to a second series of tanks for further pre- 

 cipitation, and the clear liquor is finally passed through cinder 

 (liters to the stream. In the works of a large firm of woollen 

 manufacturers, dyers and finishers, the trade waste is pumped j 

 into a series of three tanks, in which the solids are precipitated by 

 lime and ferric chloride, the clear liquor passing forward through 

 \ second series of tanks and filters into the stream ; the sludge 

 is discharged on to filters composed of cocoanut matting, and 

 after it has dried sufficiently, it is pressed and the oil extracted. 

 The dye-water from the mill, to which is added the clear 

 liquor from the grease tanks when they are being drawn off for 

 cleaning, is settled in a series of tanks and filtered. The 

 volume of water dealt with is 180,000 gallons per day. In 

 another firm, carrying on the processes of calico printing, dyeing 

 and bleaching, the pollution is caused by alizarine, logwood and 

 nher dyes, soap, starch, &c. The total volume of the trade 

 \saste amounts to about 70,000 gallons per day ; the water from 

 the various departments is collected to a well, whence it is 

 pumped to the purification works, which consist of a central 

 settling-tank and two precipitation-tanks used alternately ; 

 iron alum is used as precipitant. The sludge is drawn from 

 the settling and precipitation-tanks into a well and is thence 

 pumped to a sludge-drying area. The water from the pre- 

 cipitation-tanks is finally filtered through fine ashes. 



The mineral resources of Vancouver and adjacent islands, 

 IJritish Columbia, are dealt with by Mr. W. M. Brewer {Trans. 

 Inst. Mining Kng., 1899). Gold, iron-ore (magnetite) and 

 NO. 1577. VOL. 61] 



coal are chiefly referred to. The author considers that th 

 possibilities of Vancouver Island as a mineral-producing region 

 are very promising. The climate is temperate, and there are 

 numerous deep-water harbours. There is, however, at present 

 a lack of waggon- roads and good trails from the coast to the 

 interior. 



The mineral wealth of Zoutpansberg forms the subject of 

 an article by Mr. Douglas S.-S. Steuart {Trans. Inst. 

 Mining Eng., 1899). The district of Zoutpansberg (Salt-pan 

 Mountain) lies in the northern part of the Transvaal, and 

 comprises about 25,000 square miles, of which proclaimed 

 gold-fields cover 3500 square miles. The author now gives 

 special attention to the gold-bearing %eefs in the strata of the 

 Murchison range ; these extend seventy miles, and have an 

 average width of four miles. The oldest rocks, known as the 

 Letaba and Murchison range schists, are considered to be of 

 pre-Cambrian age. The series has been tilted into an almost 

 vertical position, and it includes various schists and quartzites, 

 granites and gneisses, which are penetrated by dykes of basic 

 igneous rock. Numerous richly auriferous veins occur among 

 the schists. Auriferous banket, yielding 5 to 15 dwts. per 

 ton, occurs at the base of the Drakensberg series — a group 

 of sandstones, quartzites and conglomerates, which rest un- 

 conformably on the older rocks. The paper is illustrated by 

 map, sections and pictorial views. 



The Zeilschrift der Gesellschaft fiir E-kunde zu Berlin con- 

 tains a paper on the desert of Atacama, by L. Darapsky, with 

 a new map of the region. The main features of the topography 

 are described and illustrated by photographs, and some analyses 

 of the waters of thermal springs and salt marshes are given. 



In the new number of Spelunca, M. E. A. Martel givt-s a 

 summary of the results of recent observations on the move- 

 ments of water under glacier ice. The paper consists for the 

 most part of a correspondence between the author and Prof. 

 Forel, especially concerning experiments in tracing the move- 

 ments of underground waters by coloration with fluorescein. 



Beginning with the number for the last week of November, 

 Die Natur publishes a series of articles on the Antarctic regions 

 and Antarctic voyages, translated from a paper by Axel Ohien 

 in Yiner, by A. Lorenzen. The detailed account given of the 

 history of Antarctic discovery is of special interest at the 

 present time. 



Prof. W. M. Davis, of Harvard University, contributes a 

 valuable note on "A Fault Cliff in the Lepini Mountains" to 

 the December BollcUino della Societa Geografica Itahana, illus- 

 trated by a number of excellent photographs. The note is 

 translated by Fr. M. Pasanisi, who adds some bibliographical 

 paragraphs, and expresses the hope that the study of geo- 

 morphology may receive more attention from Italian geo- 

 graphers. 



Besides the usual meteorological notes, the new number of 

 the Alittheilungen von Forschungsreisendcn iind Gelehrten ans 

 den deutschen Schiitzgebieten contains an interesting paper on 

 the native methods of extracting and manufacturing iron in 

 Togoland. Diagrams of different forms of furnace are given, 

 and a vocabulary of technical terms in various dialects. 



The publication of the scientific results of the Norwegian 

 North Polar expedition (1893-1896), edited by Dr. Nansen, 

 will be commenced almost immediately by Messrs. Longmans, 

 Green and Co. The whole work is estimated to form five 

 six quarto volumes, which it is hoped will be completed in the 

 course of about two years ; it will be issued in the English 

 language only. 



