October 19, 191 1] 



NATURE 



537 



to the common denominator ; and it is shown, for 

 example, that in the Limfjord the annual increase in weight 

 of the plaice is only about one-sixth of the amount of 

 organic matter consumed, and that the annual consump- 

 tion of the plaice and eel together is only about one-ninth 

 of the nourishment available. 



The work is stated to be in its beginning, and this 

 report is to be regarded as the introduction only ; even 

 so, it is remarkable for its broad and philosophic insight 

 into fisheries problems and its wealth of ideas and prac- 

 tical suggestions. It can be strongly recommended to the 

 planktologists — as an antidote. K. 



SCIENTIFIC WORK OF THE IMPERIAL 

 INSTITUTE. 

 \ \ T E have received a copy of the " Report on the Work 

 of the Imperial Institute, 1910 " (Cd. 5467-23), 

 which contains a prefatory statement describing the 

 organisation and objects of the institute, and includes 

 summaries of the investigations carried out by the scientific 

 and technical staff during the year. These comprised the 

 examination of various minerals ; of vegetable products such 

 as cotton, rubber, oils, tobacco, foodstuffs, and so forth ; 

 and of a few animal products, including sponges, shells, 

 feathers, and hair. Among the minerals mention is made 

 of thorianite from Ceylon, containing 51-1 per cent, of 

 thoria and 240 per cent, of uranoso-uranic oxide, the case 

 being of special interest as indicating the kind of rock 

 with which thorianite may be expected to occur in other 

 localities. 



Deposits of lignite from Southern Nigeria have been 

 found to yield briquettes of excellent quality, and it is 

 now clear that the use of local fuel, by obviating the 

 heavy expenditure on imported coal, will materially assist 

 the development of the West African colonies. 



In the East African Protectorate an immense deposit 

 of " soda " is to be worked : it consists essentially of 

 sodium sesquicarbonate, and merely requires heating to 

 furnish commercial " soda " of good quality. Numerous 

 samples of rubber were examined, though only one actual 

 consignment of any magnitude is described ; this consisted 

 of about 650 lb. of Landolphia rubber from the Bahr-el- 

 Ghazal, which was of good chemical quality and realised 

 fair prices. 



In connection with the production of lemon-grass oil, the 

 report states that the cultivation and distillation of lemon- 

 grass in Uganda is now securely established. Samples of 

 wheat from the East African Protectorate and from 

 Northern Nigeria were found to be of excellent quality, 

 and some " Turkish " tobacco from the Cape Province was 

 regarded by experts as very promising. During the year 

 three papers on geological and mineralogical questions, and 

 one on the synthesis of caoutchouc, were contributed to 

 scientific journals by members of the staff of the institute. 



EXHIBITION OF MODEL AND EXPERI- 

 MENTAL ENGINEERING. 



ATR. PERCIVAL MARSHALL and those who are acting 

 with him ,ire to be congratulated on the success of the 

 third biennial exhibition of model and experimental engineer- 

 ing. As before, this is held at the Royal Horticultural Hall, 

 and it closes next Saturday. Model engines and boats, both 

 sailing and steam, and kites, have always supplied an un- 

 failing attraction to the younger generation ; but now the 

 amateur mechanic and experimentalist has a wider and 

 more attractive field, largely dependent on the gas or 

 petrol engine, a field in which in the last two years 

 enormous strides have been made. Aeroplanes and 

 hydroplanes of model size are doing wonders, though, 

 of course, in most cases the engine of the aeroplane is 

 made of elastic. The gyroscope and electricity afford more 

 subject-matter for the experimentalist, as the model 

 engineer now so often becomes, to work upon. Even wire- 

 less telegraphy is not outside his reach. When it is realised 

 that a speed of more than twenty miles an hour has now 

 been reached by a model "speed boat," and about half a 



NO. 219O, VOL. 87] 



mile has been traversed by a model aeroplane, it must be 

 felt that the model engineering and experimental art as 

 fostered by the society for which Mr. Marshall is doing 

 so much is more than mere toy-making — it has a valuable 

 educational influence. 



It may be said that there are two types of small 

 machine or model, one the faithful copy on a small 

 scale of the big machine, and the other the small 

 machine made so as itself to be as good as possible as a 

 working machine. The two ideals are wholly distinct ; 

 each has its attractive side, each is well represented at the 

 exhibition ; but it is the second that is the most instructive, 

 and this appeals most to the scientific imagination. While 

 the visitor cannot help admiring the model of an engineer- 

 ing workshop with its steam engine, shafting, travelling 

 crane, lathes, shapers, and planing machines, all beauti- 

 fully made, and with leg vices, spanners, and small tools 

 all in keeping, and while so beautifully made a model is 

 quite instructive, model machines made not a bit like their 

 large prototypes, but with their proportions altered so as 

 to make them work as well as possible, are more interest- 

 ing. They may fail in appealing to the aesthetic sense, if 

 that be the sense which makes scale models so attractive, 

 but if so they satisfy the reasoning faculty and experi- 

 mental sense, and to the writer they appear the more 

 important. Of course, at times proportions become so 

 wildly inverted as to lead to a ludicrous appearance ; but 

 that only indicates the triumph of reason over the imitative 

 art. For instance, there is a model petrol engine with 

 pressure tank, carburettor, and engine in which the pro- 

 portion of carburettor and cylinder irresistibly remind one 

 of Lear's "young bird in that bush." 



The only regret, and this is expressed not for the first 

 time, is that Mr. Marshall so far has been unable to 

 organise his exhibition at a time of year when boys are 

 having their holidays. 



FORTHCOMING BOOKS OF SCIENCE. 



T N addition to the books announced in Nature of 



October 5, the following works may be expected : — 



Agriculture. 



W. H. and L. Collingridge. — Manures for Garden and 

 Farm Crops, W. Dyke. John Murray. — A new edition of 

 Elements of Agriculture : a Text-book Prepared under 

 the Authority of the Roval Agricultural Society of England, 

 by the late Dr. W. Fream, edited by Prof. J. R. Ainsworth- 

 Davis, illustrated. 



Archeology. 



Cambridge University Press. — The Thunderweapon in 

 Religion and Folklore :' a Study in Comparative Archaeo- 

 logy, Dr. C. Blinkenberg, illustrated. Oxford University 

 Press. — Four Years' Excavations at Thebes, the Earl of 

 Carnarvon and Mr. Howard Carter, with chapters by Mr. 

 F. L. Griffith, M. George Legrain, Dr. Moller, Prof. New- 

 berry, and Prof. Spiegelberg, illustrated. 



Biology. 

 Blackie and Son, Ltd.— Methodical Nature Study, W. J. 

 Claxton, illustrated. Gebruder Bomtraeger (Berlin).— Die 

 Wirbeltiere, Prof. O. Jaekel, illustrated ; Symbolae 

 Antillanae seu fundamenta florae Indiae Occidentalis, 

 edited bv I. Urban, Band iv., fasc. 4; Flora von Steier- 

 mark, Dr. A. von Hayek, Band ii., Heft 1 ; Handbuch der 

 systematischen Botanik, Prof. E. Warming, new edition 

 by Prof. M. Mobius ; Kulturpflanzen und Haustiere in 

 ihrem I'bergange aus Asien nach Griechenland und Italien 

 sowie in das iibrige Europa, V. Hehn, new edition, edited 

 by Prof. O. Schrader. Cambridge University Press.— 

 Types of British Vegetation, by members of the Central 

 Committee for the Survey and Study of British Vegetation, 

 edited by A. G Tansley,' illustrated'; The Vegetation of the 

 Peak District, Dr. C. E. Moss; Life in the Sea, J. John- 

 stone; Heredity and Eugenics, edited by J. M. Coulter; 

 American Permian Vertebrates, S. W. Williston, illustrated. 

 W. H. and L. Collingridge. — Orchids for Amateurs, C. A. 

 Harrison, illustrated ; Rock Gardens and Alpine Plants, 



