cobe] to 



X. ITU RE 



terest ing to note thai a small quantity ol man 



prod 

 shipped i" Japan, h i- also notewonth) thai a small 

 cemenl plant, with .1 rapacitj ol 50a barrels pei day, 

 has been install' I, i-ork al Rizal 



sin., 1915; the cemenl made is -aid to be ol highly 

 isfa< tory qualitj . A gooi 1 ispecting and 



exploratory work is being done, and th< coal out- 

 look in particular is well spoken of. It is stated thai 



the Batan coalfield is to I" reo| d, and that it is 



possible thai tlii- will become the main r< 



auction; the Cebu and Danaq fields are also attract- 

 ing attention. 



Will' 



mal Educator, a quarter!) publication of the 

 Decimal Association. The principal jjbjects of this 

 new periodical will be to si ol 



decimal - ind 1 he 1 ompulsot j intro- 



the metric s 1 ■ asures, 



and also to advocate improvi I decimal methods in 

 and busim ss. article is an his- 



torical sketch of the Decimal Association, in which 

 attention is din cted to thi important pat I played l>\ 

 the association in securing the appointment of the 

 Selecl Committee ol [895 with inquiring into 



the question of metric weights and measures, 

 tin tmpaign wagi he assoi ation in 



the 1 urj , which r< sulti d 



in the Metric Bill of 1906. The Act of 1897, which 

 i -. <l the use of meti ii w eigh u.res in 



■ . was also to .1 largi extei due to the exertions 

 of the .1~-.1ri.ni. m. Anothei ai '■• le, on ti ai hit 

 metric system, protests against tin 1 1 stress 



which many text-book writers I.e. upon tediot 

 unpractical conversions from oni system of weights 



and measures to another, and calls foi a revisii ! 



the present methods of teaching the metric system. 

 On tli.' whole, this new publication promises to be a 

 useful auxiliary to the metrii and decimal causi 



Vol. ix. ni Technology, thi journal of thi Man- 

 chester Municipal College of 1 , is a quarto 

 volume of nearl) 260 pages, and consists mainly of 

 reprints of nineteen scientific and technical papers b\ 

 members of the staff which a 1 iournals and 

 proceedings during thi [Tie papers cover 

 a wide field, from education and th< laboui problem 

 to the construction oi a id the abolition of 

 ike. The} all bear more or less on the industries 

 of tin district, and show what an important assi 1 the 

 countrj possesses in an institution of this kind. A- .1 



of Mi s Evans u;u be mentii I. 



It dials with .a score ol cases in which some metal 

 portion of a manufacturing plant h ring to 



causes not at once apparent. lm ich case the steps taken 

 to investigate the cause ol the troubli are described and 

 the remedy found. The savin- in monej and time 

 ted by investigations oi this kind is enormous; it 

 could safefj be pul down as si v. ral hundred times the 

 salaries "l the whole "I the stafl ol (he college. The 

 iter the numbi r of collegi 1 1 inti 1 apabli 



of turning out so en ditabl. 1 - « 01 k as this 



volume represents, the bi 



- iB 1 si mds in tin 1 offl I11 boi ough 

 meti ervatii tb superintend- 

 ence id Mr. Joseph Baxendell I 1 1 < report ol thi 

 Fernlej Observatory Fi ives de- 

 taili A estive to othet 



lugh councils which are aiming to be of - 



in the varied interests "f ''°gy. Many of 



the matters discussed steadih 



1 ring the di fferenl el. n a numb 



\ usi ImI and valuabl given show- 

 ing for practicalh all the health ;orts in th< British 

 NO. 2554. VOL. \Ci2~ 



Isles thi • pai ■ 1 the year 1017." 



Somi ni interest at Southport 



in 1917 are the unpn mean and 



ii pressures in August, the unusually dry 

 period for nine weeks from to August 7, and 



the warm suinmet followi winter, which 



is mentioned as exemj n \ ma de In 



old writers. December had the high mean baro- 



metric pressure of am p 



the year 1879. In addition to 1 ordinary 



li mi ins, tables are given show it ■ iunl and 



frequenc) of rainfall with different wind 

 and there are now added hourly averages rainfall 

 and sunshine foi ars. O 



supplii il in the Mi te logfi al 1 >ffii e 



British Rainfall Organisation, Both the ol 

 new units of measurement are used in thi 

 and if any criticism can be made it is that in 

 cases as the air temperature the us.- o! both Fal 

 In it and Absolute temperatures leads somewha 

 confusion. The remarkable "discontinuity" in the, 

 mal rainfall records shown in the preceding 

 report foi 1916 lias been interrupted in 1917 b\ the 

 p uiiialh heavy rains of August, with an excess 

 ni 2-55 in., and October, with an excess of 2-97 in., 



but the .I isi d rainfall in July and Septembei is 



well maintained. 



s - \ 1 ■■ pears' experience in the Austrian Govern- 

 ment relegraph Department has led a writer in 

 Chemiker Zeitung for August 3 to recommend zinc 

 fluorides as a preservative "I wooden poles, li com- 

 pares Favourabh with coppe'r sulphate. When com- 

 plete impregnation of the wood is unnecessary, .1 

 partial application oi sodium fluoride will be found 

 t.i exhibil gt eal presei vath e action. 



L'lndustria for July 15 describes a new method foi 

 the electrolytic extraction of copper hum pyritic 

 ashes. The method is based on the electrolytic con- 

 version of sulphide or sulphate of copper into cupric 

 or cuprous chloride by the action of chlorine at the 

 anode. If in an electrolytic bath containing hydro- 

 chloric acid in solution the anode is surrounded by a 

 mass of pyritic scoria, the chlorine liberated by the 

 hvdrogen attacks the oxides, sulphates, or sulphides ol 

 copper more rapidly than the oxides of iron, and com- 

 bines with them to form cupric chloride. This re- 

 action extends to the entire mass of scoria, so that the 

 latter acts as an electrode. The copper loss l>\ this 

 method is only 01 per cent. A simple type of ap- 

 paratus for applying the process industrially is 



described. 



The permeameter devised h\ Mr. F. P. Fahy, of 

 the Pennsylvania Raihvaj Co., and described in the 

 Electrical World a yeai igo, has been subjected to 



s.\ere tests at the 1 S Bun iu ..I Standards, and the 

 report on it appears in the Bulletin of the Bureau 

 for June. The instrument consists of an H-shaped 

 iron core, on thi ii which the main mag- 



netising coil is wound. The magnetomotive fo 



between the ■ bottom ends of the two upright 



limbs ran be i a 1 b} two uniformly wound sol- 

 enoids with thi i ads close up in the ends of the limbs. 

 If one pail i i in. -ends is joined b\ a bar nl mag- 

 netisal tl, the magnetomoti\ i Foro bi 

 the tv i edui ed. B\ means oi i ompi n 



iund round the vertical limbs of til. yoki 



their ends, ii may be brought up to its non 

 The magnetising force and the magnetii 

 a,-.- 'i detet mini I from the el. 



. thi top and I rersal 



: ring current. Foi d con- 



the Bureau i a dis- 



mi ■ on pt vi is pi 



