5o» 



NATURE 



[February 27, 1919 



- reliable in service than the Bosch mag- 

 netos manufactured before the war, 01 than the 

 examples found in captured German aero 

 planes. ' 



" 1 1 is thus not only on the field," adds Mr. 

 tvellaway, "that we have beaten the Bosch." 

 What is true of the magneto is equalh trui 



ignition-plug. In 19x4 three linns wnc pro- 

 ducing a yearly output of not more than 5000 

 plugs. By October ji, [918, the yearl) output 

 of five firms had risen to 2,i4>s,7_'5, and they wen 

 being supplied, no1 only to our own Services, but 

 also to our French, Italian, and American Allies. 



I In- storj ol the influence oi the war upon our 

 glass industry, and especiall) upon the manufac- 

 ture ol scientific and optical glassware, is no less 

 inspiriting. German) has once more been beaten 

 at Jena. But it will scarcely be credited that at 

 the outbreak of war a considerable part of our 

 artillery was equipped with gun-sights exclusively 

 "made in Germany" the dial sight Xo. 7 of 

 doer/. There is much that needs clearing up 

 i ning the pre-w ar methods of the War < (ffice, 

 and surelj this is a case in point. That we should 

 have become dependent upon a potential cneim 

 tor so essential a piece of mechanism as a gun- 

 sighi is surel) one of the most astonishing 

 instances ol departmental ineptitude thai could 

 l.e conceived. But it is reassuring to be told that 

 the resourcefulness of our opticians has been equal 

 to the nation's emergen :y. The British sight is 

 described as "a beautiful and delicate pice, ol 

 work, and its production in such numbers, and 

 in a perfection which Germany never exceeded, is 

 a triumph for British skill." 



NOTES. 

 The achievement in wireless telephony recorded it 

 the daily Press during the past few days is l>v rto 

 means unique. It is reported that Mr. Daniel . 

 Secretary ot the U.S. Navy, successfully telephoned a 

 wireless greeting to President Wilson on board the 

 George Washington when the vessel was more than 

 1 ight hundred miles out at sea. According to a paper 

 presented before the American Institute of Electrical 

 Engineers, wireless and wire telephone systems can 

 be linked so that the human voice will perform one 

 lap of its journey over wire and the next lap through 

 die ether to its final destination, while the replying 



3 will travel the air waves first and then proo 

 on v ri Phi operation of transferring sound from 

 wire i, air ran he accomplished by a device similar 

 to tin 1 atei now used in long-distance telephony. 



Latesl d elopments in connection with thi wireless 

 telephoni ild mi^si the latter as an excel! 



supplemenl oi win systems. As a rival, howevi 

 has not ret hi -i igi when its claims 1 an hi 



! 1 1 ii iartl; because ol die lack oi 



51 crecj invnb . .1 



Proclamation is made thai the unlicensed imports 

 tion into the United Kingdom is prohibited of tin 

 following articles : All di rivatives of coal-tar generally 

 known as intermedial products capable of being usi 

 01 adapted foi usi is 1 or of being modified 



or furthei manufai tared into tuffs. Ml dii 1 1 



m colours, all union colours, all arid wool colours, 

 hi mm and mordant colours, all alizarine colours, 



NO. 2574, VOL. IO2] 



iasii colours, all sulphidi colours, all vat colours 

 [including synthetic indigo), all oil, spirit, and wax 

 colours, all lake colours, and any other syntl 

 colours, iIm-s, stains, coloui adds, coloui bases, colour 

 lakes, 1. ui o-, 11 ids, leuco-bases, whether in ; 

 po der, solution, or any other form. 



I in municipality of Le Havre, l>\ a resolution of 

 Septembei m. 1918, established the Institut Oceano- 

 graphique du Havre and appropriated funds fo 

 maintenance. This places on a secure and publii 

 foundation the institute and laboraton of the L'ni- 



versttj of Caen al I Havre, and it will I 



by the same stall, to the efforts of which during thi 

 pasl lew years this Last success is din, namely, the 

 director, Dr. \. Loir, medical officer of health; thi 

 head ol die laboratory, Mr. II. Legangneux; 

 the superintendent ot biological research, Mi 

 Peau. Dail) observations on thi and 



condition of the water, and on its bacterial, plank- 

 tunic, and general biotic content, will be recorded a1 

 fixed points, with the en-operation ot I 



officers. Other observations will continually in 

 a du French and British naval stations in da 



by permission of tin- respective commanding 1 



Results of scientific and practical importance have 

 already been jbtained, and will now increasi 

 number and extent. 



Mr. R. C. J. Sw in , oi Mandalay, has presented' 



10 tin Geological Department of the British Museun 

 a collection of red amber from Burma, sometimes 

 known as burmite, which contains die remains of a 

 lemarkabh interesting insect fauna. The material 

 has been examined i>\ Prof. T. I). A. Cockerell, whi 

 has published in Psyche .md in die Annals oi thi 

 Entomological Society of America tin- descriptioi 

 thirty-one new ^inir,. five ol which are typi - 

 new genera. Most of these weri contained in a 

 of amber rather larger than a man's li-i ; this 

 been cul into slices about half an inch thick, 

 ever) one of them is crowded with insect remain-. 

 There are representatives of Hymeitoplera, Hemipl 

 Homoptera, Diptera, Trichoptera, Coleoptera, Ter- 

 mites, Acarina, and Diplopoda- in fact, ants an 

 the onlv kind of insect the absence of which i- 

 -picuous. Tin- amb.r occurs in ela\ beds ol Mi 1 

 age, hut il was washed into them from higher level-. 



and mav he much older. This is certainh h mos 

 importanl addition made of recent years to the ven 

 large collection of insects in amber alre.nb pres< 

 in du- department. It is unfortunate that thi 

 colour of the amber renders it very difficult to exhibit 

 die specimens so that their contents can be seen b\ 

 the public. 



In main cities of the United Stale- there are his- 

 torical societies which have organised museums illus- 

 trating the history of the State or locality, hut then 

 i- no central museum of national history. So, 

 there are many museums of an, well known for 

 their treasures and their enterprise, but such 

 lections as pertain to the National Gallen of Art 

 are provisionally housed in one of tin- halls of the 

 Natural History' Museum. It is, therefore, good news 

 that on January 29 a Bill was introduced : 

 gressman Hick- in the House of Representatives 



providi foi a national museum of history ami die 

 ail-, and il \\a- a hap|>\ thought of his 



such an institution as a memorial to Theodore Roose- 

 velt ih. id.., is one that would have commend 

 itself io thai wide-reaching, enthusiastic, and patriotii 

 spirit, for it is inli uded to assemble and display, 

 nereh reKcs illustrating die personal and poli 

 histon of the United States-, 'an also such objects a- 



