NATURE 



[July 7, 19 10 



the paper and dealt, with varvhig conclusions, with the 

 several points raised by Mr. Hinks ; the chronometer 

 difficulty appears to be an important one, and some curious 

 refraction anomalies have to be considered. 



'I'he same subject was discussed by Herr Charlier in a 

 paper which appeared in No. 4393 of the Aslronomischc 

 Nachrichten. 



The Variation of Latitude. — The usual provisional 

 results obtained by the International Latitude Bureau are 

 published, for 19080-iqioo, by Prof. ."Mbrecht in No. 4414 

 of the Aslronomische Nachrichten. A marked increase in 

 the amplitude of the departure of the momentary, from 

 the mean, pole took place during 1909, the previous curve, 

 1907-9, having shown a regularly increasing spiral form. 

 During the ten years that the international Service has 

 been at work the curve has been fairly regular, with 

 maxima in the years 1903 and 1909 ; the latter is clearly 

 shown on the chart published with the results. 



New Canals and Lakes on Mars. — Seventeen " canals " 

 and two " lakes " which were seen at the Hem Observa- 

 tory, and which M. Jonckheere has been unable to identify 

 from previous records, are enumerated in No. 4420 of the 

 Aslronomische Nachrichten. This brings M. Jonckheere 's 

 total of new " canals " up to forty, the previous lists 

 having appeared in earlier numbers of the same journal. 

 One of the " lakes," at the junction of Aethiops and 

 Cambyse, is described as small and feeble, and the other, 

 at the junction of Astaboras and Anubis, as large and 

 diffuse. 



THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS AT 

 DUSSELDORF. 

 "T^HE fifth International Congress of Mining, Metallurgy, 

 Mechanical Engineering, and Practical Geology met at 

 Diisseldorf on Monday, June 20. Whilst, strictly speak- 

 ing, this is the fifth congress, it is only the third that has 

 assumed a really international character. The first congress 

 was held in Paris in the year 1878, in connection with the 

 Great Exhibition of that year, its initiation being due to 

 the efforts of a number of prominent French mining and 

 metallurgical engineers, and more especially to that well- 

 known French association, the Soci^te de I'lndustrie 

 min^rale. The next great Paris Exhibition of 18S9 again 

 provided the occasion for a second congress, but both these 

 first two congresses were attended mainly by French 

 engineers, and could scarcely be called international. At 

 the Paris Exhibition of 1900 a vigorous effort was made 

 to interest foreign as well as French engineers, and was 

 supported warmly by both their English and their German 

 colleagues, our Iron and Steel Institute and Institution 

 of Mining Engineers both taking an active part in forward- 

 ing the .scheme. This congress was thoroughly inter- 

 national in all respects, and at its closing meeting it was 

 decided to hold a quinquennial international congress, the 

 next, that of 1905, to be held at Li^ge, in connection with 

 the International Exhibition planned for that year. This 

 congress, again, was completely successful, and its mem- 

 bers gladly accepted the invitation of the Rheno-West- 

 phalian Mining and Metallurgical Industry to hold the next 

 meeting at Diisseldorf. This town is in many respects the 

 centre of the above industries, and is remarkable not only 

 for its great industrial development, but also for its highlv 

 advanced artistic culture ; it is, furthermore, well situated 

 on the main railway system of central Germany, affording 

 ready communication with all neighbouring countries, and 

 is thus ,-idmirably adapted for the purpose of such a con- 

 gress. On the opening day the congress numbered 1762 

 members, of whom 1128 were Germans and 634 foreigners, 

 the latter comprising 94 from France, 74 from Great 

 Britain, Tic; from Austro-Hungary, and 57 from Belgium. 

 The number of entries in the different sections were : — 

 Mining, 1141; metallurgy, 1140 ; engineering, 939; geology, 

 784. Of course, it will be understood that many members 

 had entered their names in more than one section. 



The great majority of the members of the congress had 

 arrived in Diisseldorf on Saturday and Sunday, June 18 

 and 10, and on Sunday evening there was an informal 

 open-air gathering at the Zoological Gardens, this being 

 .in excellent opportunity to make and renew many acquaint- 

 .Tiiceships. The actual work of the congress began next 



NO. 2123, VOL. 84] 



morning, the meeting-place being the Tonhallc, a concert- 

 hall belonging to the town of Diisseldorf, the large main 

 hall of which was admirably adapted for the general meet- 

 ing of the congress. There are several smaller lecture- 

 rooms available for the meetings of the sections, 

 :ilthough it must be admitted that the accommodation thus 

 provided was in some cases barely sufficient for the large 

 audiences that assembled to hear some of the more im- 

 portant of the papers. The geological section met in a 

 suitable room close to the Toiilialle. 



The general meeting was opened on Monday morning by 

 the president of the organising committee, Mr. Edward 

 Kleine, who welcomed the congress in a short address, in 

 which he referred more particularly to the increase in the 

 production of coal and iron that had taken place since the 

 last meeting of the congress. His speech was translated, 

 first into French and then into English, by Mr. E: Schalten- 

 brand, chairman of the board of management of the Steel- 

 works' .Association. The Prussian Minister of Commerce, 

 His Excellency Mr. Sydow, also welcomed the members of 

 the congress in the name of the Prussian Government and 

 of the Imperial Chancellor. 



The honorary consultative committee of the congress was 

 then formed, after which the meeting broke up into the 

 various sections, of which there were five, namely, i.. 

 Mining; iio.. Practical Metallurgy; iifc.. Theoretical 

 Metallurgy; iii., Mechanical Engineering; iv., Applied 

 Geology. 



The official list of papers submitted to these sections is 

 as follows : — 



Section !., Mining. — W. Zaringer (Nordhausen), the 

 freezing process and its latest developments; F. Bruchausen 

 (Dortmund), shaft sinking by the process of petrifaction ; 

 H. Grahn (Bochum), the use of compressed-air locks in 

 sinking ; — Viebig (Kray), the use of reinforced concrete in 

 mine workings ; Prof. J. Stumpf (Berlin), the steam-engine 

 with unidirectional flow of steam, with especial reference to 

 its use as a winding engine ; W. Schultze (Essen), recent 

 improvements in pumping plant ; O. Piitz (Tarnowitz), the 

 present position of hydraulic stowage in Germany ; Dr. W. 

 Kohlmann (Diedenhofen), the mining development of the 

 Minette iron-ore district ; P. Nicou (Nancy), the present 

 position of the Minette mining industry in French Lorraine; 

 Prof. K. Haussmann (Aachen), modern improvements in 

 mine surveying; Prof. G. Franke (Berlin), conveying of 

 coals from the working face ; J. Loiret (Clermont-Ferrand), 

 value of a rescue-chamber in an outburst of carbonic acid 

 gas at the Singles Colliery, July 26, 1909 ; sudden 

 outbursts of carbonic acid gas in the collieries of the 

 Central Plateau of France ; S. v. Bolesta-Malewski (Nalenc- 

 zow), critical observations on the existing methods of wind- 

 ing, and a proposal for their modification ; F. Schember 

 (Vienna), the development of machine kirving in coal 

 mining ; Dr. H. Bruns (Gclsenkirchen), to what extent does 

 coal mining contribute to the dissemination of infectious 

 diseases? F. Trippe (Dortmund), hydraulic impregna- 

 tion of the coal-face in the solid, and hydraulic coal-getting 

 by the Meissner method ; J. Taffanel (Lens), the French 

 experiments upon coal-dust ; W. E. Garforth (Pontefract), 

 the British coal-dust experiments. 



The last two very important papers were admirably illus- 

 trated, that of Mr. Garforth by a very fine series of coloured 

 lantern-slides, and that of Mr. Taffanel by lantern-slides 

 and by the kinematograph. 



There were further presented to this section two reports 

 on the testing of colliery ropes, namely. Prof. H. Louis 

 (Newcastle-on-Tyne), report on the testing of colliery rooes 

 in England; L. Denoel (Li^ge), the testing of winding 

 ropes in Belgium. These are to form part of a complete 

 international report on the standardisation of rope-testing. 



.'Section ii.a. Practical Metallurgy. — Dr. Blasberg (Dahl- 

 hausen), changes in the composition of fire-brick ; G. 

 .Arnou (Paris), notes upon electro-steel; P. Breuil (Couillet), 

 rail-steel ; — Esser (Differdingen), the present posi- 

 tion of the Thomas process in Germany ; Prof. G. Franke 

 (Berlin), the present position of the briquetting and nodulis- 

 ing of iron-ores in Germany ; R. Gcnzmer (Julienhiitte), 

 the open-hearth ore process in Germany; J. Hofmann (Wit- 

 kowitz), gas-producers ; H. Terpitz (Hubertushiitte), 

 the employment of various kinds of gas in the open-hearth 

 furnace, and their respective influence on the Quality of the 

 products ; O. Friedrich (Julienhiitte), recent improvements 



