670 
several relating to an unexplained scarcity of sea-fowl 
at various west coast breeding stations. There follow 
short sections on winter, ringing, plumage, and 
habits, etc., each of which contains a number of inter- 
esting records. A summary is then given of the course 
of migration during the year, a paragraph being de- 
voted to each month. In the remaining two-thirds of 
this report of ninety-six pages we find a detailed list of 
the vear’s records arranged according to species. 
There is also an adequate index. The observers are 
to be congratulated on their effective report, the 
outstanding feature being the large number of un- 
common visitors and the addition of no fewer than 
five new birds to the Scottish lists. 
THE meteorological charts of the North Atlantic 
Ocean for August issued by the Meteorological Office 
and other institutions, show that ice conditions have 
considerably improved since the previous month. 
Bergs were only met wilh to any great extent north 
of 47° N.; the most westerly position in which field 
ice, with fragments of bergs embedded in it, was 
seen this year was 42° 18’ N., 62° 43’ W. The first 
issue (July 16) stated that mist and fog were prevalent 
at times, and extended up to the Arctic circle. During 
August, fog over the North Atlantic is in a transition 
stage; a remarkable feature is said to be its tendency 
to occur along the parallel of 20° N. 
Tue renewal of Antarctic exploration and research 
will bring into prominence the importance of the 
knowledge of ice conditions in the south polar regions. 
It is probably well known that the monthly meteoro- 
logical charts of the Indian Ocean issued by the 
Meteorological Office usually contain particulars of 
icebergs of the southern hemisphere, with charts. 
The issue for September, e.g. gives tables of icebergs 
met with each month during the last twenty-nine 
years, and also between January and May of this 
year. The summaries published during past years 
show that the epochs of frequency are variable, and 
that bergs may be met anywhere poleward of the 
parallel of 30° S. Heights of from 800 to 1700 ft. are 
not uncommon, and in several instances the lengths 
have been estimated to extend to many miles. It is 
stated that, unfortunately, angular measurements are 
seldom recorded. 
In ‘‘La Forme de la Terre”? (Paris: Hermann et 
Fils) Dr. Vérronet has written an extremely interest- 
ing note on the history of researches into the form of 
the earth’s surface. Pythagoras, Eratosthenes, the 
forgotten Paris philosophers of the fourteenth century, 
and Fernel, all played a part in building up our pre- 
sent knowledge. But it is from the work of Cassini 
that modern geodesy may be said to date. The dis- 
agreement that he found between geodetic measures 
and the results of mathematical reasoning led the 
Paris Academy to send out an equatorial and a polar 
expedition to measure meridian arcs so as to settle 
whether the earth is an oblate or a prolate spheroid. 
The result then as afterwards more than once was 
to confirm the conclusions of the mathematicians. 
Lately a readjustment of geodetic measures has again 
been made, in terms of such hypotheses as isostasy, 
NO. 2339, VOL. 93| 
NATURE 
i 
| 
[AuGusT 27, 1914 
to bring the measured value of the earth’s ellipticity 
into accord with the theoretical value deduced from the 
constant of precession. Despite the attempts at re- 
adjustment, Dr. Vérronet insists rightly that the ulti- 
mate decision must lie with the geodesist, as the-value 
given by the constant of precession depends on the 
hypothesis that the internal constitution of the earth 
is essentially fluid. This would appear to be Dr. 
Vérronet’s own view, and by the aid of it he indicates 
some interesting conclusions as to a belt of earthquake 
areas in the neighbourhood of latitude 35° (San Fran- 
cisco, Lisbon, Sicily, Japan). The range of uncertainty 
is steadily diminishing, and the increased accuracy of 
the modern work: is clearly indicated in the pamphlet. 
We note one small error—Huyford is spoken of as 
an English worker. The very brief criticism of Dar- 
win’s tidal friction as applied to cosmogony is not at 
all convincing, and should be either amplified or 
omitted in any subsequent edition. 
A PAPER on the demagnetisation factors of cylindrical 
rods in high uniform fields, by the late Prof. B. O- 
Peirce, of Harvard, appears in the June number of the 
Proceedings of the American Academy. With the help 
of a large solenoid nearly two metres long, capable of 
producing a magnetic field of 2500 gauss at its centre, 
the magnetic flux for high fields through the various 
sections of rods of different lengths of the same mate- 
rial were measured. It was found that at fields of the 
order of 2500 gauss the rods need only have lengths 
about 25 or 30 diameters for the magnetic flux through 
the central section to be equal, to within a small 
faction of 1 per cent., to that which would be obtained 
with a rod of infinite length. If an accuracy of 4 per 
cent. only is required the rod need only be 15 diameters 
long. These conclusions have been verified on several 
specimens of soft iron and mild, tool, and magnet 
steel. For uniformity of field the magnetising coil 
should be about 25 of its own diameters longer than 
the test piece. 
One of the most interesting cases of the presence 
of abnormal constituents in the urine occurs in 
pentosuria, when pentoses or five-carbon sugars are 
found in considerably quantity. Since the work of 
Neuberg in 1g00, the pentose present in such cases 
has generally been regarded as dl-arabinose. Messrs. 
E. Zerner and R. Woltuch, in the Sitzungsberichte 
of the Vienna Academy of Sciences (vol. cxxii., p- 
79), now bring forward good evidence to show that 
in two cases they have studied the sugar is d-xylose. 
In these cases the urine showed considerable reducing 
power, but no rotatory power. The osazone isolated 
had the same melting-point as ordinary /-xylosazone, 
but an opposite (positive) rotation; when the osazone 
was mixed with I-xylosazone the melting-point of 
the mixture rose 40°—a behaviour which is good 
evidence of its being d-xylosazone. The occurrence of 
d-xylose under such conditions is a striking example 
of abnormal metabolism, especially as the ordinary 
form of xylose which occurs in plant-materials is the 
lavo-form. 
Tue Engineer for August 7 contains an account of 
a fireless locomotive built by Messrs. Andrew Barclay, 
ee 
