Ee ee 
_ determinations. 
trations, a map of the peninsula, and one of the lakes 
JANUARY 15, 1914] 
NATURE 
tions, and General Shokalski on the hypsometrical | 2 francs), and No. 6 ‘L’additivité des propriétés 
The volume contains numerous illus- 
Noi-to and Yambu-to, from a survey by Captain 
Vvedenski. 
IN the last annual report of the Meteorological 
Committee it was stated that, at the request of H.M. 
Treasury, the committee had entered into negotiations 
with the Scottish Meteorological Society with the 
object of placing the finances of the latter upon a 
satisfactory footing as regards the supply of informa- 
tion to the public generally, and of securing a closer 
cooperation with the Meteorological Office in respect 
of climatological stations in Scotland. The Journal of 
the society (vol. xvi.), and the last report of the coun- 
cil to the general meeting of the society, show that 
the financial position of the latter had long caused 
great anxiety, the only additions to its ordinary in- 
come (derived chiefly from decreasing voluntary 
sources), being small annual payments for observations 
by the Registrar-General (Scotland) and the Meteoro- 
logical Committee. A strongly supported appeal to 
the Treasury ultimately resulted in the action above | 
referred to, and we are glad to find that the delibera- 
tions between the various authorities interested have 
been crowned with success. The amount hitherto 
paid by the Meteorological Committee is very mate- 
rially increased (from April 1, 1913), and _ that 
paid by the Registrar-General will be continued. A 
Meteorological Office has been established in Edin- 
burgh, the organisation of the supply of information 
on the lines above-mentioned has been secured, and 
the arrangements are considered to be ‘“‘in the best 
interests of meteorology and of the society.” The 
public funds will be administered by a representative 
committee (including several members of the society), 
with Dr. W. N. Shaw as chairman. 
A CAREFUL examination of the effects of temperature 
on the physical properties of a number of minerals 
has been undertaken by the geophysical laboratory of 
the Bureau of Standards. The first communication 
dealing with the results obtained, appears in the 
Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences for 
December 4, and is devoted to the measurements of 
the change in the crystal angles of quartz made by 
Mr. F. E. Wright at temperatures between 0° C. and’ 
1250° C., with a special two-circle goniometer con- 
structed for the laboratory. The author finds that 
the polar angle for the unit rhombohedron (1011) 
decreases from 51° 47-5’ at 0° C. to 51° 37’ at 575° C., 
the quartz then changes from the « to the B form, 
and the angle becomes 51° 35’ and remains constant 
up to 1250° C. The agreement between these observa- 
tions and those of Randall on the expansion of quartz, 
those of Sosman on its specific volume, and the 
tabulated values of its birefringence is very close over 
the range 0° C. to 550° C. 
We have received copies of Nos. 5 and 6 of the 
Publications de la Société de Chimie-Physique, issued 
by the Librairie Scientifique A. Hermann et Fils, 
Paris. No. 5 is entitled ‘‘L’Etude physico-chimique 
des sels chromiques,” by M. A. Sénéchal (pp. 28, price 
NO. 2307, VOL. 92] 
diamagnetiques et son utilisation dans la recherche 
des constitutions,’ by M, P:.ul Pascal (pp. 26, price 
1 franc). These form part of the useful series of 
monographs issued by the society, and were originally 
delivered as lectures before the members. 
In the Sitsungsberichte of the Imperial Academy of 
Sciences, Vienna (vol. cxxii., class ii. b, p. 75), Messrs. 
V. Rothmund and A. Burgstaller describe a method 
for the estimation of ozone and hydrogen peroxide in 
presence of each other, for which purpose no accurate 
method is yet known. Advantage is taken of 
the fact that, by the addition of a trace of 
molybdic acid, it becomes possible accurately to deter- 
mine hydrogen peroxide iodometrically. Difficulties 
are encountered in estimating ozone directly in a 
similar manner, but by adding potassium bromide 
under certain defined conditions, and subsequently 
potassium iodide, iodine is liberated quantitatively, 
and the two methods can be combined so as accurately 
to estimate both substances. 
Tue presidential address delivered to the American 
Chemical Society at Rochester, N.Y., by Mr. A. D. 
Little, is reprinted in Science (vol. xxxviii., No. 984), 
under the title, ‘‘ Industrial Research in America.” 
Mr. Little points out that although Germany has 
long been regarded as pre-eminently the country of 
organised research, a new competitor is arising in the 
United States, ‘‘that prodigal among nations, still 
justly stigmatised as the most wasteful, careless, and 
improvident of them all.’’ Within the last few years 
enormous funds have been allotted to the organisation 
of research in a large number of the principal indus- 
trial concerns of the United States, and a very striking 
account is given of some of the most important 
achievements of this new system. ‘Research has 
firmly established itself among the foundation-stones 
of our industrial system, and the question is no longer 
‘What will become of the chemists?’ It is now, 
‘What will become of the manufacturers without 
them?’” There are in the United States at least fifty 
notable laboratories engaged in industrial research for 
private companies, in several of which the expendi- 
ture is more than 300,000 dollars a year. An interest- 
ing summary is given of the activities of Govern- 
ment departments, such as the Department of Agri- 
culture, the Bureau of Mines, and the Bureau of 
Standards of the Department of Commerce, which 
alone devotes about 700,000 dollars annually to scien- 
tific work. 
The Engineer for January 9g has an illustrated article 
on the motor ship Fionia, the largest and highest 
powered ship of this kind in service. This vessel is 
the ninth motor ship built by Messrs. Burmeister and 
Wain, of Copenhagen, and is 395 ft. long, with a 
dead-weight capacity of 7ooo tons. She is propelled 
by two sets of Diesel engines, having a combined 
horse-power of 4ooo, Each set has six cylinders as 
| compared with eight in earlier ships, and the cylinder 
sizes have been increased from 530 mm. diameter and 
730 mm. stroke to 740 mm. diameter and 1100 mm. 
stroke. -The speed has been reduced from 135 to 100 
