552 



NATURE 



[October 27, 1910 



graphv. jMr. C. Johns gave an account of the geology of 

 uie Sheffield district. He was followed by Prof. A. 

 McWilliam, who read a paper on the metallurgical 

 industries in relation to the roclcs of the district. Sheffield 

 is a striking example of a town that has arisen in response 

 to local geographical controls. In past times the thick 

 woods of the district supplied the principal metallurgical 

 fuel, charcoal. The clay ironstone yields excellent pig-iron 

 suitable for castings and the best qualities of wrought iron. 

 1 he bulk of the ironstone now used, however, is brown 

 iron-ore, hydrated ferric-oxide, from Northampton, Leicester, 

 and Lincoln, though for the best steels the hematite ores 

 of Lancashire, Cumberland, and Spain are imported, and 

 Swedish wrought irons are used for cutlery and edge tools. 

 The district is one of the richest in the kingdom in regard 

 to coal supply. Different beds are found suitable for 

 nLaking coke for crucible, cupoia, and blast furnaces, and 

 even one that fulfils the very exacting needs of the cementa- 

 tion furnace. The sandstones of the coal measures, often 

 containing 98 per cent, of SiO,, yield excellent ganistcr. 

 Fireclay is abundant and of exceedingly good quality. The 

 sandstones of the coal measures, not millstone grit, are now 

 principally employed for grindstones. The carboniferous 

 limestone is available as a flux, while fluorspar, easily 

 obtainable in the great heaps of gangue left by the lead 

 miners of Derbyshire, is used to help in desulphurising 

 steel. Lastly, a soft Upper Permian sandstone makes an 

 ideal moulding sand, since, from the nature of the com- 

 ponent grains, it exactly strikes a compromise between 

 binding properties on the one hand and porosity on the 

 other. Speaking after this paper, Prof. Kendall' directed 

 attention to the importance to Sheffield of the unoxidised 

 iron ores of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, which are 

 almost identical with the Cleveland iron ore. When the 

 oxidised ores of Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire are 

 exhausted in about thirty years' time, these will be of great 

 value to Sheffield. Prof. Herbertson insisted on the im- 

 portance of improving the Trent as a waterway in connec- 

 tion with the eastward extension of the coal-field. 



The Humber during the human period was the subject 

 of a communication by Mr. T. Sheppard. With the help 

 of a series of maps, he showed the changes that have 

 occurred in the Humber and on the coast of Holderness 

 from the time of Henry VHI. until the present day. The 

 rapid destruction of the coast at the rate of several feet a 

 year is, in a sense, compensated for bv the silting up of the 

 Humber and the growth of new land. Hull is slowly but 

 steadily moving southward to maintain its position as a 

 deep-water port. 



Dr. Tempest .Anderson gave a description of Matavanu, a 

 new volcano which broke out in Savaii in the Samoa 

 Islands in 1905. Other papers read before the joint 

 meeting of Section E and C were, on the present Triassic 

 conditions in Australia, by Mr. E. C. Spicer, anJ one by 

 Dr. W. H. Hobbs on some considerations concerning the 

 alimentation and the losses of existing Continental glaciers. 



In the afternoon Dr. Hamilton Rice gave a lecture on his 

 journey across South America from BogolA to Mandos, the 

 object of which was to discover the sources of the Uaup^s 

 River. The route from Bogoti was to Villavicencio, and 

 thence over the .Andes to San Martin and the densely 

 forested area of the Amazon basin. He described the 

 aborigines inhabiting the banks of the Uaup^s, among 

 whom he found both Caucasian and Mongoloid tvpes. 



On Monday, September 5, the first paper w.-i's by Mr. 

 J. Howard Reed on the geography of British cotton- 

 growing. A shortage in the supply of raw cotton threatens 

 seriously to affect Lancashire. The quantity of cotton used 

 to-day in Lancashire is only a trifle more than was the 

 case _ twenty years ago, but the amount used on the 

 Continent has nearly doubled, and the total is now more 

 than twice that of the British figure. The American mills 

 now consume an amount nearly'equal to the whole of the 

 continental demand and about double the British demand. 

 Mr. Howard Reed foresees a serious crisis for the Lanca- 

 shire mills unless supplies of raw cotton can be obtained 

 from other than American fields. It is only by fostering 

 and developing cotton-growing in British colonies that, he 

 believes, the English cotton industry can be saved from 

 virtual extinction. Hence the efforts 'of the British Cotton- 

 growing Association. Considerable success has attended 

 th> efforts of the association in the British West Indies, 

 NO. 2139, VOL. 84] 



but the greatest results are expected from Uganda, Nyasa- 

 land, and Nigeria. The increased production of cotton, 

 due to the efforts of the association, has been progressive 

 from year to year, but the needs are so enormous and the 

 work so colossal that the increased supplies obtained during 

 seven years only reach about one-thirtieth of Lancashire's 

 average yearly demand. Mr. Reed said that a sum of five 

 millions might well be employed in the development of 

 cotton-growing, and the African colonies he looked upon 

 as an incomparable field. Mr. G. G. Chisholm, in making 

 some remarks on this paper, declined to take anything like 

 so pessimistic a view with regard to the future of our 

 cotton industry, nor, on the other hand, was he so hopeful 

 with regard to the effect on Lancashire of the remedies 

 suggested. 



Alajor R. G. T. Bright followed with a paper on the 

 Uganda-Conifo boundary survey, in which he described ihe 

 country on the western frontier of the Uganda protectorate. 

 Captain E. M. Jack communicated a report on the survey 

 of the 30th meridian arc, Uganda protectorate, 1908-9. 



Lieutenant P. T. Etherton, Indian .Army, gave an account 

 of a journey from India through Gilgit, Hanza. across the 

 Pamirs, and thence by Chinese Turkestan, Mongolia, and 

 Siberia to the Trans-Siberian railway. Lieutenant Etherton 

 left Lansdowne in the Himalayas in March, 1909, and 

 reached the Siberian railway in February, 1910. From the 

 Pamirs the route was by the Hi Su Pass (16,750 feet) Ic 

 the Yarkand River, and thence to the Kulan Urgu valley 

 by a previously unexplored pass at 17,400 feet. Three 

 months were spent in the Tian Shan mountains, during 

 which time the little-known Great Yulduz valley was 

 traversed. Thence the expedition passed by the Hi valley 

 to the town of Kulja. From here Lieutenant Etherton 

 struck through the Sairam Nor and Ebi Nor country to 

 Chuguchak, and reached the foot of the Altai mountains 

 on the northern side of the Black Irtish valley in the 

 depths of winter. After considerable difficulty the .e.\pedi- 

 tion reached Zaisan, a small town on the Siberian- 

 Mongolian frontier, early in January this year. Big game 

 shooting was the chief object of the journey. 



On Tuesday, September 6, the first paper was by Mr. 

 William Wilson, on a new globe-map of the world. The 

 author emphasises the importance of the globe in geo- 

 graphical teaching, and he overcomes the drawbacks of its 

 high price and cumbrous nature by mounting a special 

 globe map on thin cardboard and cutting out the gores. 

 The two ends of the map are joined to form a cylinder by 

 a clip at the equator ; a spindle is introduced, and the tips 

 of the gores are passed down over the ends of the spindle 

 by means of holes punched at the ends of each gore where 

 I'le p'-les W'nltl be. .A metal clip at each end holds th'' 

 tips in position, and serves as a convenient means of 

 handling the globe. The apparatus can be made up or 

 dismantled in a few minutes, and can be studied flat or as 

 a globe. The world from equator to pole is divided into 

 three belts of 30° each, which form the primary divisions o' 

 latitude. The longitudes are divided primarily into eight 

 groups of 4S° e.ach, a group forming a gore. By these 

 primary divisions the world is divided into forty-eight 

 sections. The sections can be enlarged to any extent, 

 forming an atlas on a simple eciual scale that is readily 

 grasped. .A set of " window " diagrams, each one com- 

 bining a section of one belt on this plan and the same area 

 as shown on .Mercator, makes an instructive demonstration 

 of the exaggeration necessary to Mercator. 



Two p.apers followed dealing with regional surveys of 

 selected areas of the British Isles on the lines indicated 

 some years ago by Dr. H. R. Mill. Mr. James Cossar 

 dealt with the .\iidlothian district. .After pointing out 

 the configuration of the area, Mr. Cossar dwelt on its 

 geology so far as it affects the place relations, local con- 

 ditions, or economic development. Ihus the volcanic action 

 of the past gave rise to hills and ridges in the western part 

 of the region, which have in cases offered sites for fortifica- 

 tions, as Edinburg^h Castle and Inchkeith, and have 

 materially affected the lines of communication. The export 

 of road metal and the physical conditions at Oueensferry, 

 which favoured the construction of the Forth Bridge, both 

 entail a discussion of geological facts. The importance of 

 the glacial period was considered, firstly in its influence on 

 the physical structure, secondly on the drainage system, 

 and thirdly on the economic resources. In this connection 



