54 



NATURE 



[July 14, 1910 



taken seriously ill and removed. The captain took his 

 wife and grandson on board and proceeded, but all three 

 were talcen ill. Bamfield died on November 6 and his 

 grandson on the previous day. The cause of death was 

 certified under that convenient term " ptomaine poison- 

 ing," but was afterwards proved to be due to fumes from 

 the ferro-silicon of 50 per cent, grade (actual analysis, 

 53c) per cent, silicon). 



It required, however, yet another tragedy, with the 

 added scare of cholera, to compel investigation, and this 

 was provided by the case of the S.S. Ashton in December, 

 1908, on which, after a voyage of twenty-four hours only, 

 from Antwerp to Grimsby, all the occupants of the 

 emigrant quarters, fortunately only five in number, died 

 between 6 p.m. on December 12 and 12.30 p.m. on the 

 following day. This time cholera was feared, but examina- 

 tion by the Government bacteriologist at once negatived 

 this view. Mrs. Bamfield wrote on December 17, 1908 :• — 

 " It has occurred to me since reading the account of this 

 poisoning that there may be some of this (scrap) in the 

 S.S. Ashion." Immediately these deaths were reported in 

 the newspapers, Mr. Hodgson, Mrs. Bamfield's son-in-law, 

 wrote to Dr. Simpson, medical ofificer of health for 

 Grimsby, making a similar suggestion, and that this was 

 the cause of the deaths (p. 20) : — " It was apparently in 

 consequence of this letter that attention came to be 

 directed to the possibility of the deaths on the S.S. Ashion 

 having been due to the presence of the ferro-silicon on 

 board, suspicion having arisen, in the first instance, that 

 the fatal illness of the passengers was due to cholera." 

 This was abundantly proved, and resulted in the elaborate 

 investigations of which this report is the record. 



The report is a valuable one, showing that the authors 

 have recognised the difficulties and grappled with them. 

 The original should be in the hands of all interested in 

 ferro-silicon from a medical, a shipping, or a metallurgical 

 aspect. As the authors themselves state, further investiga- 

 tion is yet required, although rules that will almost ensure 

 . safety have been found. 



Ferro-silicons of low grade, containing not more than 

 15 per cent, silicon and made in the blast-furnace, are 

 beyond suspicion, and as safe to handle and to store as 

 ordinary pig iron. The high-grades, 25 to 95 per cent, 

 silicon, made in the electric furnace, and imported to the 

 extent of about 4000 tons per annum, mostly from France, 

 but to a less e.xtent from Austria, Scandinavia, &c., include 

 the dangerous varieties. The bulk has been made to 50 

 per cent, grade for little apparent reason other than ease in 

 calculation of mixtures, a matter that may excite surprise 

 until it is remembered that a manager, with his hundred 

 w^orries per day, tries to avoid the hundred-and-first, in case 

 it might prove " the last straw." The gases given off may 

 at first have included acetylene, owing to the ferro-silicon 

 being made in calcium carbide furnaces, but as that is never 

 done now the poisonous gases given off are phosphoretted 

 h)'drogen and arseniuretted hydrogen, roughly 90 to 95 per 

 cent, of the former to 10 to 5 per cent, of the latter. .All 

 are agreed that until more is known of the fundamental 

 causes, those varieties around 50 per cent, silicon are most 

 dangerous, and should neither be made nor bought. La 

 Chambre Syndicate des Forces hydrauliques states that 30 

 to 40 per cent, and 47 to 65 per cent, grades should "be 

 avoided, but the remarkable omission of 40 to 47 per cent, 

 grades is not supported by any experimental proof. The 

 authors recommend the manufacture or use of only those 

 varieties below 30 per cent, or above 70 per cent, silicon 

 content for the present. 



The section on the functions of ferro-silicon in steel 

 manufacture hardly gets to the root of the real idea some- 

 times, but is near enough for general readers ; and technical 

 men are not likely to refer to this section of the report. 

 It will be read for the results of the experiments and general 

 investigations carried out and the opinions formed on the 

 results, and these can be recommended. The report con- 

 tains, besides matter already indicated, reports of confer- 

 ences w-ith Sheffield firms using ferro-silicon, investigations 

 at places of manufacture, a description of the manufacture 

 of ferro-silicon, conclusions and recommendations. Dr. W. 

 Hake's chemical investigations, and Mr. Bennett's report 

 on the composition and structure of ferro-silicon. 



.As the PH, is only formed in contact with moisture, the 



NO. 2124, VOL. 84] 



material used to be packed in sealed drums, and some- 

 times was coated with paraffin wax ; but this does not 

 deal with the gas present in the cavities, and only transfers 

 the danger, for drums exploded on opening and men re- 

 moving the paraffin were made ill, so that these methods 

 should be abandoned. 



The report recognises an important point that is still 

 obscure (p. 109) : — " Dr. Heroult e.xpressed himself as 

 decidedly of opinion that the specially undesirable quali- 

 ties exhibited by this particular grade (50 per cent.) — 

 tendency to spontaneous disintegration and evolution of 

 poisonous gases — were related to the amount of aXuminMm 

 present in the alloy. He was unable ... to advance any 

 definite reasons for the opinion he had formed." Mr. 

 Bennett later expressed the same opinion, and suggested 

 that, as the heat of formation of Al^O, is very great, the 

 presence of a large percentage of aluminium is indicative 

 of very high temperature reactions in the furnace, and 

 that these reactions are favourable to the formation of 

 compounds which readily break up into poisonous and 

 explosive gases." 



This can hardly be so, for Prof. Arnold, who, it is 

 understood, will present a report later, has had one lot 

 of ferro-silicon divided into two portions and melted in two 

 crucibles. When molten, to one only was added 3 per cent, 

 aluminium, and the two portions were cast into separate 

 ingots. The present writer, being interested in the experi- 

 ment, broke a piece off each ingot, and, dipping them in 

 water, noticed that one had no particular odour, but the 

 other smelt very strongly, the latter proving to be that to 

 which aluminium had been added. A too enthusiastic repeti- 

 tion of the experiment as a test produced just a feeling of 

 discomfort which the fresh air soon dispelled, this last 

 being a point of much importance, as where lives were 

 saved it was practically the governing remedy. " Two of 

 the passengers also left their cabins and, although very 

 weak, succeeded in getting on deck. These two survived " 

 (p. 15). No. 5 of suggested regulations may be quoted : — 

 " Storage places at docks or at works where ferro-silicon 

 is used should have provision for free access of air, and 

 should be situated at a distance from work-rooms, mess- 

 rooms, offices, &c." (p. 115). 



The main conclusions of the report have been mentioned, 

 but all interested in the subject should obtain a copy, as 

 the details of the investigations are well worthy of study. 



A. McWiLLIAM. 



THE POSITION OF THE NEGRO AND PYGMY 

 AMONGST HUMAN RACES.' 

 A FULL analysis of the structural features of the negro 

 shows that in many points he is more highly 

 specialised than the less pigmented races of mankind, 

 while in other characters he has remained more primitive. 

 Although on the Continent there is a decided tendency 

 amongst anthropologists to trace the descent of the human 

 race through a non-anthropoid stock, yet those most 

 familiar with the anatomy of the Primates still agree 

 with Huxley's doctrine that the community of structure 

 shared by man and anthropoids pointed to a direct com- 

 munity of origin. The deeply pigmented skin was a 

 primitive feature ; the gorilla was the negro amongst 

 anthropoids ; the three species of chimpanzee varied as the 

 period of life at which pigmentation appeared. .All avail- 

 able evidence points to a pigmentation of the early human 

 stock, but speculations are handicapped by an ignorance 

 of the functional value of pigment. It appears to protect 

 the deeper tissues from certain injurious rays which are 

 intermediate to heat and light. The skulls of Paleeolithic 

 Europeans show so many resemblances to those of 

 Australian aborigines that a legitimate suspicion may be 

 raised as to whether or not they did not also share some 

 degree of the aboriginal pigmentation. The Palfeolithic 

 Gibraltar woman, whose skull is preserved, in the Museum 

 of the College of Surgeons, shows no community with 

 the negro in the characters of her nose. The nose of that 

 skull is altogether unlike that of any human race now 

 known ; it shares some features with the gorilla, while 

 1 Ab^lra-tsof four Hiinterian Lectures on "The Anatrmy .ind Relation- 

 ships of the Negro .-ind Negroid R.-ices," given at the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, England, by Prof. Arthur Keith. 



