APRIL 16, 1914] 
NATURE 
it 
goes much further, owing to the work which has 
been done in the interval, and includes a discussion 
of the factors which influence the flow during the 
low-temperature period, and the calculation of the 
flow from the observations taken. 
Tue Journal of the Washington Academy of 
Sciences for March 19 contains a résumé of a paper 
on the brightness of optical images by Mr. P. G. 
Nutting, which is to be published in extenso else- 
where. The results obtained deal principally with the 
transmitting power of various types of photographic 
lenses. The method adopted consists in exposing a 
white magnesia block to a luminous source of 1500 
candle-power enclosed in opal glass, and comparing 
the brightness of the magnesia when _ illuminated 
direct, with the brightness of the image of the source 
when thrown on the same surface by the lens system 
under test. The observed transmissions vary from 
57 per cent. for a Zeiss-Krauss tessar to 92 per cent. 
for a Fuess telescope objective. For several process 
lenses the transmission is 76-78 per cent., showing 
that for the six glass-air surfaces of which they con- 
sist the transmission is quite up to that theoretically 
obtainable. 
Ir is interesting to read in the Revue Générale des 
Sciences (March 15) an elementary discussion of the 
principle of relativity by Prof. H. A. Lorentz, to 
whom, more than to any other, the hypothesis owes 
its origin. After a very clear exposition of some 
simple ideal experiments which illustrate the relative 
nature of the measures of space and time, he dis- 
misses in a single paragraph what is to most physicists 
the greatest objection to the principle, the apparent 
denial of the existence of the ather as they had come 
to think of it. ‘‘ That is, as it seems to me, a question 
towards which each physicist may take the attitude 
which best agrees with the way of thinking to which 
he is best accustomed.” “. . . he must recognise 
that it is impossible for him to know the direction 
and the velocity of the zether (relative to his apparatus), 
and, if he feels the need of not concerning himself 
with his ignorance, he will take the side of M. Ein- 
stein.’’ It is interesting to speculate how far it is 
possible to use these words and at the same time 
to feel convinced of the objective existence of a unique 
zther, which is something more than a convenient way 
of correlating phenomena, but may be described in 
Prof. Lorentz’s own words as ‘‘always remaining at 
rest,” and ‘‘endowed with a certain degree of sub- 
stantiality.”’ 
In the Monist (vol. xxiv., No 1) Mr. Leonard T. 
Troland, under the title ‘‘The Chemical Origin and 
Regulation of Life,’’ combats recent views on vitalism, 
that “cult of incompetence”’ in biology. The position 
taken up is that ‘‘a single physico-chemical concep- 
tion may be employed in the rational explanation of 
the very life phenomena which the neo-vitalists regard 
as inexplicable on any but mystical grounds. This 
conception is that of the enzyme or organic catalyst.”’ 
The thesis is developed along five distinct lines, the 
author maintaining that this conception will ultimately 
prove adequate to resolve such fundamental mysteries 
NO. 2320, VOL. 93] 
as the origin of living matter, the origin of organic 
variation, the problems of heredity, the mechanism of 
individual development, and the nature of physio- 
logical regulation in the mature organism. 
AN important method for the rapid estimation of 
zinc in coinage bronze and similar alloys is described 
by Dr. T. K. Rose, Assayer to the Mint, in a paper 
read before the Society of Chemical Industry 
(vol. xxxiii., No. 4). In this method the zinc is 
volatilised away by heating one gram of the alloy 
in a carbon crucible for two hours at a temperature 
of about 1375° C. Strictly speaking, this is not an 
entirely new method in principle, having been de- 
scribed many years back, but it is a process that has 
never come into general use. Dr. Rose has now 
made the method a perfectly practical one by accu- 
rately defining the conditions which are necessary 
for success. The main advantage of the method lies 
in the great saving of time and the avoidance of 
troublesome chemical manipulations. 
THE use of catalysis in organic syntheses has come 
into increasing use in recent years. In the current 
number of the Comptes rendus (No. .14, April 6) 
additional details are given by MM. Paul Sabatier 
and A. Mailhe on the advantages of manganous oxide 
as a catalytic agent in the synthesis of aldehydes and 
ketones. A fatty acid mixed with an excess of formic 
acid: passed over a column of manganous oxide at a 
temperature of 300° C. to 360° C. gives the aldehyde 
corresponding to the acid, the yields being from 50-70 
per cent. of the theoretical. The authors describe the 
preparation by this method of six aldehydes. With 
the same reagent adipic acid gives cyclopentanone in 
80 per cent. yield, and f-methyladipic acid gives 
8-methylcyclopentanone. Manganous oxide is cheap, 
and preserves its catalytic properties over a long 
| period. 
OIL-SEEDS, oils, fats, and waxes are the subjects 
dealt with in a recently issued collection of ‘‘ Selected 
Reports”? from the Scientific and Technical Depart- 
ment of the Imperial Institute (No. 88, Colonial Re- 
ports—Miscellaneous, Cd. 7260). The publication in- 
cludes all the more important reports on the above- 
mentioned products made to the Colonial, Indian, and 
other Governments during the years 1903 to 1912. A 
large number of seeds and oils have been analysed 
and otherwise tested by the department, the object in 
view being to give information as to the yield and 
nature of the oil obtainable from the seeds, and the 
possibility of utilising the products commercially. The 
reports proper are preceded by a short introduction 
explaining the classification of the oils into groups, 
and the meaning of the analytical terms employed in 
the descriptions. Among the more interesting 
memoirs is one on the utilisation of para rubber seed, 
which contains a drying oil possessing properties very 
similar to those of linseed oil; it is concluded that the 
kernel is a valuable economic product. One of the 
longest reports treats of the palm-oil industry in 
British West Africa. Large areas of oil-palm forest 
still exist almost untouched, and though the native 
processes for extracting the oil are crude and waste- 
