io8 



NA TURE 



[November 30, 1905 



smaller in this type than in the ordinary one, that it acts 

 more rapidly in its indications, and that the combined 

 recorder and open thermometer may be standardised in 

 such a way as to require no control readings. The author 

 gives a number of tables which seem to show that the 

 advantages claimed are supported by the results obtained. 

 Specimens of thermograms obtained by the employment 

 of the usual and of the modified type show that the fluctu- 

 ations are more minute in the latter case. It is also 

 stated that Prof. Callendar has expressed approval of the 

 reasons which have led to the adoption of the modified 

 type of thermometer. 



The Rendiconti of the Royal Lombardy Institution, 

 xxxviii., 16, contains a short abstract of the report for 

 1904 of the meteorological observatory on Monte Rosa, by 

 Dr. Camillo Alessandri. The " Capanna Regina Mar- 

 gherita," of which the first wing was opened in 1893, has 

 from that time onwards been visited by many observers, 

 chiefly in connection with physiological researches, and 

 Prof. Mosso's work in this direction is well known ; but 

 it was not until May, 1904, that the Italian Meteorological 

 Office placed Dr. Alessandri in official charge of a meteor- 

 ological station there. During the short time available 

 up to the date of the report, observations were made of 

 temperature, atmospheric electricity, refraction, and time. 

 The climatic conditions occasion great difficulties with the 

 use of instruments, and the author proves the necessity 

 of devising new forms of instruments specially adapted to 

 these conditions. As a beginning, a new metallic thermo- 

 meter and a registering electrometer have been described 

 by Dr. Alessandri himself. 



The twentieth Bulletin issued by the Geological Survey 

 of Western Australia (Perth) covers 127 pages, and forms 

 a further report by Mr. A. Gibb Maitland on the geological 

 features and mineral resources of the Pilbara goldfield. It 

 includes full details regarding the Nullagine, Warrawoona, 

 and Marble Bar fields, and is accompanied by coloured 

 geologii al and mining maps. Special interest attaches to 

 the Nullagine district on account of the occurrence of gold 

 in sedimentary rocks bearing a close resemblance to the 

 auriferous conglomerates of the Witwatersrand. The 

 auriferous deposits of \V; rrawoona and of Marble Hill are 

 quartz reefs. 



An interesting preliminary report has been issued by 

 the mines branch of the Canadian Department of the 

 Interior on the raw materials, manufacture, and uses of 

 hydraulic cements in Manitoba. It has been drawn up 

 by Mr. J. Walter Wells, and involved an examination of 

 the limestones, marls, clays, shales, and coal deposits of 

 the province. Particulars are added of the cement mills 

 in North Dakota, in Minnesota, and. in South Dakota; and 

 much information is given regarding the manufacture of 

 cement from the raw materials available that cannot fail 

 to be of practical value in furthering the cement industry 

 of Manitoba. In that province timber is becoming scarce, 

 and suitable building stone and bricks are expensive. 

 Cement is therefore coming into increasing use in house 

 and farm construction, in railway work, in municipal 

 work, and in factories and mills ; and within the last 

 eight years the uses of concrete have been greatly extended 

 by the introduction of iron and steel reinforcements, con- 

 sisting of skeleton structures so arranged in the concrete 

 masses that rods, bars, wires, and bands help in resisting 

 stresses in tension. A very important application of re- 

 inforced cement concrete in Manitoba is the construction of 

 NO. 1883, VOL. J T,] 



grain elevators. The various applications of cement in the 

 province are well shown in photographic illustrations 

 accompanying the report. 



At the last meeting of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers a paper was read by Dr. H. C. H. Carpenter, 

 Mr. R. A. Hadfield, and Mr. Percy Longmuir on the 

 properties of a series of iron-nickel-manganese-carbon 

 alloys. It constituted the seventh report to the Alloys Re- 

 search Committee, and formed an interesting continuation 

 of the previous reports presented by the late Sir William 

 Roberts-Austen. The research was carried out at the 

 National Physical Laboratory, the alloys having been pre- 

 pared by .Mr. Hadfield at his works at Sheffield. The alloys 

 contained on an average o-ja per cent, of carbon and o-8S 

 per cent, of manganese, and the following percentages of 

 nickel: — A, nil; B, 120; C, 215; D, 425; E, q-^r ■ 

 F, 6-42; G, 705; H, 12-22; J, 15-98; and K, 19-91. The 

 report embodies the results of an exhaustive examination of 

 the mechanical, physical, chemical, and metallographies] 

 properties of these alloys. It has previously been shown 

 that an increase in the content of nickel raises the maxi- 

 mum stress and lowers the extension. The present research 

 shows that, so far as industrial products are concerned, a 

 danger limit for nickel content is found at 43 per cent, 

 when carbon and manganese are present to the extent of 

 044 per cent, and 0-88 per cent, respectively. The brittle 

 zone extends from about 5 per cent, to 16 per cent, of 

 nickel. The report, which covers 102 pages, contains a 

 mass of observations of the greatest scientific interest, and 

 the Institution of Mechanical Engineers is to be congratu- 

 lated on having promoted a costly research of which the 

 immediate practical value to the engineer is very slight. 



We have received from Mr. A. Gibb Maitland a copy 

 of an interesting paper lead by him before the Western 

 Australian Natural History Society on the salient geological 

 features of British New Guinea. The territory was 

 annexed to the Crown in 188S, and in 1901 passed into 

 the possession of the Commonwealth of Australia. The 

 geology presents many points of interest. New Guinea 

 rests upon a submarine bank which has been termed the 

 Melanesian Plateau and is separated from another by an 

 abyss 2000 fathoms deep. The coral formations of British 

 New Guinea are very remarkable. All gradations from 

 reefs only a few feet above the water up to 2000 feet in 

 height were noticed. The reef masses are composed of 

 very hard limestones. Coral fragments do not appear to 

 be very common. The volcanic phenomena present all 

 phases, their products being scattered over almost the whole 

 length of the possession. The various sedimentary rocks 

 are well developed in many portions of the territory, and, 

 so far as at present understood, they comprise : — (1) Kevori 

 grits (post-Tertiary) ; (2) Port Moresby beds (Pliocene) ; 

 (3) Boioro limestones (undetermined age) ; (4) Purari River 

 beds (Cretaceous); (5) Strickland River shales (Jurassic); 

 (6) Tauri limestones (Devonian) ; and (7) metamorphic 

 rocks and crystalline schists. The last named are of con- 

 siderable economic importance in that they form the 

 original matrix of those deposits that have yielded, from 

 1S88 to 1904, alluvial gold to the value of 255,115/. Frag- 

 ments of coal have been met with in the Purari River beds. 

 It is believed that the formation must attain a thickness 

 of 3000 feet, which would leave room for the intercalation 

 of coal seams. Should a coalfield exist it might exercise 

 a great influence on the future of the possession. 



An interesting paper on the linear force of growing 

 crystals is contained in the Proceedings of the Washington 

 Academy of Sciences (vol. vii. p. 283); the authors, Messrs. 



