584 



NATURE 



[April 20, 1905 



The greatest inversion was recorded during the great 

 frost of February, 1895, when at 9 a.m. on February 19 

 the summit was i7°-6 warmer than the base (Ben Nevis 

 33°-6, Fort William i6°o). The longest continued in- 

 version occurred during November 2-5, 1897, when the 

 summit temperature was the higher for fifty-eight con- 

 secutive hours, the mean daily temperature on November 4 

 being 9°-7 higher on Ben Nevis than at Fort William. 



The Ben Nevis observations, of course, afford a com- 

 parison only between the conditions at the summit and 

 those at the base of the mountain. It is more than prob- 

 able that on many occasions when the summit temperature 

 becomes nearly, though not quite, as high as that at the 

 base, there is an inversion of temperature in part of the 

 air-column between the summit and sea-level. 



Andrew W.4tt. 



Scottish Meteorological Society, Edinburgh, April 12. 



Stanton Drew. 



The mysteries of this group of circles — the next in 

 importance to those of Avebury and Stonehenge — are not 

 yet fully unveiled, even by the very remarkable astro- 

 nomical discoveries made in them by Sir Norman Lockyer 

 or by his interesting description of them. 



The diameter of the north-east circle is 97 English feet, 

 or 100 of an old Mediterranean foot of 11-64 inches. This 

 is within an inch or two of the diameter of the outer 

 sarsen ring at Stonehenge, which is in itself a very 

 significant fact. The diameters of the south-western and 

 central circles are respectively 150 and 380 of this old 

 foot, so that the diameters of the circles (within a very 

 slight working error) are in proportion one to the other 

 of ,i. 7ai 3nd 19, the latter being the Metonic cycle number. 



The distances between the various parts of the group, 

 subject to a working error of from J to J of i per cent. 

 only, are : — 



Centre of cove through great circle to centre of north- 

 east circle = 14 diameters of north-east circle. 



Centre of great circle to Hauteville's Quoit = 5 diameters 

 of the great circle, or 19 diameters of the north-east circle, 

 the latter being the Metonic cycle number. 



Centre of south-west circle through great circle to 

 Hauteville's Ouoit = 7 diameters of the great circle. 



Centre of great circle to two stones too far to the west 

 to be shown on the plan in Nature = 9 diameters of the 

 great circle. 



With the exception of the last, anyone can test these 

 proportionate distances by the plan given in Nature, but 

 who will tell us what was the meaning or object of them? 



A. L. Lewis. 



ALCOHOL IN INDUSTRY. 

 "T" HE committee, consisting- of Sir Henrv Primrose, 

 ■1 K.C.B. (chairman). Sir W. Holland,' M.P., Mr. 

 J. Scott-Montagu, M.P., Sir William Crookcs, Mr. 

 Lothian Nicholson, Dr. Somerville, of the Board of 

 Agriculture, Dr. Thorpe, the director of the Govern- 

 ment Laboratories, and Mr. Thomas Tyrer, appointed 

 last autumn by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to 

 inquire into the use of duty-free alcohol in the arts 

 and manufactures have got together their evidence 

 and published their report with commendable prompti- 

 tude. The report, we are glad to find, is unanimous, 

 and this unanimity has doubtless not been without its 

 influence in accelerating the business of the committee 

 and the appearance of their report. 



The subject, as was to be anticipated, has not been 

 without its difficulties, for, as the committee state, a 

 duty that yields more than twenty millions a vear is 

 a public interest that cannot be trifled with ; but, as 

 usual when men are determined to find a solution, it 

 is remarl-cable how purely academic difiiculties tend 

 to_ disappear. Now that the suggestions of the com- 

 mittee are before us, the wonder is that thcv should 

 not have been given effect to a quarter of a century 



NO. T851, VOL. 71] 



ago. We are afraid the delay does not reflect credit 

 ably upon the enterprise, energy, or constructive 

 ability of the numerous groups of manufacturers who, 

 are interested in obtaining the greatest possible facili- 

 ties in the use of duty-free alcohol in the arts. Thi; 

 attitude of laissez-faire is seen, and commented uponi 

 by the committee, in connection with the apathy an" 

 general ignorance of manufacturers with respect to' 

 the provisions of Section S of the Finance Act of 

 1902, which gave the commissioners of Inland 

 Revenue large discretionary powers as regards the 

 use of spirit for industrial purposes. The committei 

 point out tliat advantage has not been taken of th 

 Act to the e.xtent that might have been anticipated 

 and they have been surprised to find in examining 

 the witnesses sent by the various Chambers of Com- 

 merce, who certainly ought to have had official Icnow- 

 ledge of its existence, how very inadequate has been 

 their acquaintance with its provisions. 



In view of this general indifference one is tempted 

 to inquire whether the manufacturers have had any 

 real grievance, since thev liave made so little in- 

 dividual or collective effort to remove it. Tliere is 

 certainly no evidence that any collective effort has 

 been made in the past, or, if it had been made, that 

 the Treasury or the Revenue authorities would not 

 have sympathised with it. Tlie Exchequer, at all 

 events since 1855, when the present system of de- 

 naturing spirit came into existence, may be said to 

 liave disclaimed any idea of collecting a revenue on 

 alcohol used solely as a raw material and for purely 

 industrial purposes. If the hitherto existing system 

 of denaturing and control had proved so irksome that 

 the development of chemical industry was impossible, 

 it might have been supposed that Parliament would 

 have been troubled with the question long ago. 

 But as an actual fact the languid interest of the 

 chemical manufacturers needed, apparently, to be 

 supplemented by the quickening influence of the 

 internal-combustion engine, and the possible appli- 

 cations of spirit as a motor-fuel supplied to a jaded 

 House of Commons engaged in the discussion of a 

 Finance Bill that stimulus which was necessary to 

 secure from the Chancellor the promise of the de- 

 partmental inquiry, which it would seem the great 

 body of manufacturing chemists was too lukewarm 

 to ask for. 



Great cry has been made in the past that the 

 hindrances to a free and untrammelled supply of 

 alcohol have cost us the coal-tar dye industry, which 

 originated in this country, and at one time flourished 

 here ; but the committee apparently have had little 

 difiicultv in ascertaining how " little wool " there is 

 in this cry. Thev say they are satisfied that the 

 assertion, as a statement of historical fact, is destitute 

 of substantial foundation. In their opinion the main 

 cause which led to the decadence of the industry in 

 this country' is that which we have repeatedly insisted 

 on in these columns, viz. the failure of those re- 

 sponsible for the management and for the finance of 

 the industry here during the years iS6o-tS8o to 

 realise the vital importance of its scientific side, and 

 their consequent omission to provide adequately for 

 its development on that side. 



It is true, however, that after signing the report, 

 the two Members of Parliament named were induced 

 to modify their assent to the unanimous finding of 

 the comiTiittee as to the real cause of the decline of 

 the coal-tar dye industry in this country. It will be 

 interesting to see from the evidence, when this is 

 published, what support Sir William Holland and 

 Mr. John Scott-Montagu are able to find for the 

 view thev express in their letter to the Chancellor. 



In reality, " alcohol " plays a very small part in 



