72 



NATURE 



[September 26, 1918 



pstone, soap-rock, and potstone), and diato- 

 mite, has just been issued by the Ordnance Survej 

 OlTic' pton, and in London by Messrs. 'J'. 



Fisher ' nwin, Ltd. It is mainly a reprint of the 

 first edition, but gives additional information re peck 

 otash-felspars, steatite, and diatomite. 



lational Geographic Magazine for June last 



contains a very fine series of instantaneous photo- 

 graph illustrating the processes of coastal erosion 

 accumulation. We do not think that anything 

 is gained by the comparisons with military operations, 

 made by Mr. La Gorce in a series of journalistic titles 

 and descriptions. These tend, indeed, to divert atten- 

 tion from the interesting records that he has brought 

 together. 



Still further exactitude is given to our knowledge 

 of the minerals of the silica series by Messrs. J. B. 

 Ferguson and H. E. Merwin (Anier. Journ. Set., 

 vol. xlvi., 1918, p. 417). The melting-point of tridy- 

 mite has now been determined for the first time, and 

 is given as 1670°+ io°, while that of cristobalite proves 

 to be i7io°±io°, thus justifying Bowen's comments 

 on previous results in 1914. 



The occurrence of copper at certain stratigraphical 

 horizons has been attributed to the accumulation of 

 salts of the metal in the blood of organisms, and Mr. 

 A. H. Phillips, of Princeton, now. advances a similar 

 suggestion for vanadium (Amer. Journ. Set., vol. xlvi., 

 1918, p. 473). This element has been found in certain 

 ascidians and holothurians. Although it may be de- 

 tected in almost all igneous rocks, its commercial 

 sources are sedimentary rocks or coals. 



The conclusion that two distinct epochs of drift- 

 deposition are well marked in Iowa is still further 

 strengthened by Messrs. W. C. Alden and M. M. 

 Leighton in the annual report of the Iowa Geo- 

 logical Survey for 1915, p. 49. The strong clay or 

 "gumbo" produced by prolonged weathering of the 

 underlying Kansan drift is overlain by the drift of 

 the Iowan epoch. We must now be prepared for the 

 perpetuation of the quaint term " gumbo," as well as 

 G. F. Kay's "gumbotil," in glacial geology. 



The bulletins of several seismological observatories 

 have reached us recently. The most complete are 

 naturally those published in neutral countries, such 

 as those of the Dutch station of De Bilt, near Utrecht, 

 for the years 1914 and 1915 (Konink. Nederl. Meteor. 

 Inst.. No. 108), and of Zi-ka-wei (China) for February 

 to .Max of the present year. Instead of the annual 

 volume of " Notizie sui terremoti osservati in Italia," 

 I Geodynamic Office at Rome has issued a 

 list of Italian earthquakes felt during the year 1916 

 mol. Ital.. vol. xx., for 1916, pp. 228-45). 

 The bul!<: ; . of the seismological station at George- 

 town, U.S.A. (Georgetown University Publication, 

 Bull, of the Seismog. Station, No. 2, 1918), contains 

 the records for the year 1917, and also a list of 

 earthquakes during the same year compiled from 

 newspaper notices and from materials communicated 

 from the Italian obs atory of Kocca di Papa. The 

 incompleteness of this list, due to war conditions, is 

 evident from the Fact that 90 per rent, of the earth- 

 quakes noticed occuri I ml the United States. 



\ report of th< \i Committee for the 



year ended March, 19] third year of the 



Meteorological Office, ha l to the Lords 



ommissioners of his Majes T easury. The 



port is in a very condensed fi change has 



• I during the period in the membership of the 



1 1 , Sir Napier Shaw 1 ontit 1 director, 



large number of changi s h n place 



2552. VOL. I02] 



in the office staff," many being due to the 1 tigencies 

 oi the time. (ireatly increased demands are made 

 upon the Office by the Naval, Military, and \ir Ser- 

 vires, which immensely outweigh the claims of the 

 genera] public prior to the war. The demand for 

 meteorological instruments, for instance, has risen 

 from 3000T. a year to 12,000/. The chief feature men- 

 tioned is tin great development of pressing demands 

 fni expert meleiu.ili.giral assistance, and the prospecl 

 of still larger demands in the future.'' A Nasal 

 Meteorological Service is now attached to the Hydro- 

 graphil Office ol the Admiralty, and there has 'been 

 a large extension of the Meteorological Section of the 

 Royal Engineers, as well as in the Royal Air Force. 

 Post-war problems have involved correspondence with 

 the Ministry of Reconstruction. A knowledge of the 

 weather is stated to be necessarv now, not onlv at the 

 earth's surface in many parts of the globe, but also at 

 elevations. It is stated that among the immediate 

 requirements of the science is the compilation in a 

 reference form of "the information that is at present 

 scattered in scientific journals, and of which the exist- 

 ence is only known to a few experienced meteoro- 

 logists." The investigation of atmospheric pollution 

 is another branch of work now allied to the Meteoro- 

 logical Office, and there are also the numerous 

 observatories scattered over different parts of the 

 British Isles, all doing admirable and useful work. 



Symons's Meteorological Magazine for September 

 seems meagre to those accustomed to the remarkably 

 complete statistical details and the useful and interest- 

 ing map of the rainfall in the Thames Valley. The 

 magazine has now been issued for fifty-two years, and 

 this is the first time that it has " failed to contain 

 statistical data of the preceding month." The diffi- 

 culties arising from the war are referred to, and 

 mention is made of the increased labour and strain. 

 "The last difficulty, however, springs from one of 

 those conditions against which ' the gods themselves 

 fight in vain,' and we have to submit. Time will, no 

 doubt, overcome this difficultv also, and when it does 

 so the tables and maps missing will be forwarded to 

 all subscribers." In the current number an article 

 is given on "The Water-power of the British Empire," 

 based on the Preliminary Report of the Water-powei 

 Committee. Speaking for the editors of Synti 

 Meteorological Magazine, the article claims that "in 

 the Geographical Journal for April, iSq6, more than 

 twenty years ago, we elaborated a scheme For the 

 complete geographical description of the British Isles, 

 with special reference to the survey of natural re- 

 sources, and the time estimated for the completion 

 of the work was twenty years. Had the scheme, 

 which perished in a general chorus of praise of its 

 promise, been carried out, the Ministry of Reconstruc- 

 tion would now have before it a mass oi elaborated 

 data, the like of which cannot now lie obtained in time 

 to guide the after-war development of the country." 

 The correspondence on " Ashdown Forest Climato- 

 logy," suggested by a walk of two meteorologists, is 

 interesting, dealing with rain and mist formation, and 

 it rails to mind meteorological work in the neighbour- 

 hood bj Prince, of Crowborough. 



In an interesting article on run Science and tin- 

 Humanities" (Queen's Quarterly, vol. xxvi., [918, 

 pp. 54-65) Mr. J. K. Robertson acts as a daysman 

 between two disciplines which ought never to have 

 been at variance. The student of the humanities has 

 chiefly to do with man and his activities, intellectual, 

 literary, artistic, social, and political, in the past and 

 the present. But In uses scientific methods; he can- 

 not abstract man from his cosmic stage and its 

 scenerj ; and he knows ho« scientific discoveries affect 

 human thought and life. Therefore, when he is wise. 



