55 4 



NATURE 



[October 26, 191 1 



icular feature of the conduction system is that 

 ii is not superficial, as was at one time suspected, 

 ['hi clear telephonic conversation carried out between 

 the low level in a mine and the surface dispelled the 

 idea altogether, and hence no difficulty would be ex- 

 perienced in speaking from a battleship to a sub- 

 marine, even when the latter was submerged to .1 yerj 

 , 1 nsi'dei able depth. 



In the experiments recently carried out by Mr. 

 Sharman, a motor-boat was employed as the floating 

 si ition, and two plates of iron buried in the sand led 

 u . to a shore station situated in a room in an inn on 

 the cliff. Speech was carried on very distinctly on 

 some occasions over a distance of a mile and a 

 quarter, but there were some apparent variable factors, 

 possibly water temperature, which prevented an _ abso- 

 lute uniformity of results. An interesting point_ is 

 that, when the tide was some distance out, there being 

 half sand, half water, between the two stations, the 

 speech was quite perfect, so that it is improbable that 



there is any refraction of the waves at the separating 

 surface. It is possible that the currents were trans- 

 mitted through the sand right up to the position imme- 

 diately under the motor-boat, selecting the shortest 

 path through the water, for, in the writer's opinion, 

 in the conductivity of the separating medium 

 does not by any means agree with increase in the 

 3s of the transmitted speech. 

 1 Considering the very small amount of primary 



energy used, the results so far obtained havi I 



surprisingly good, and it is to be hoped that efforts 

 to find a microphone capable of withstanding heavier 

 currents will meet with success. The extreme sim- 

 . the system and insignificant bulk of the 

 us used are in themselves points which place 

 it at once on a level with commercial tele- 

 phony over wires. A greal advantage of the system 

 is that telephony or telegraphy are available at will, 

 as impulses can be generated by means of a Morse 

 I 1 uned buzzer, and signals 



NO. 2 191, VOL. 87] 



transmitted over at least double the distances at pre- 

 sent possible for speech. There is undoubtedly 

 the prospect of considerable development in a systen 

 based on such simple foundations, and Mr. Sharman 's 

 future work in this direction will be watched with 

 interest. T. Thorne Baker. 



FORESTRY IN INDIA. 



IN the issue of Nature of October 12, attention was 

 directed to Lord Curzon's spirited protest against 

 the change of system in regard to the preservation ol 

 the ancient monuments of India. In a letter published 

 in The Times of October 11, Sir VV. Schlich enters 

 a similar protest against the proposed abolition of 

 the post of Inspector-General of Forests, the technical 

 adviser of the Government of India on all questions 

 referring to the administration of the forests of India. 

 He points out the immense progress made during 

 the last forty-seven years in the systematic manage- 

 ment of the forests covering one-fourth of the total 

 area of British India, a progress chiefly due to the 

 initiative of successive inspectors-general of forest ... 

 He believes that the contemplated abolition, if carried 

 out, for the sake of the possible saving of a few 

 thousand rupees, if any, will have a disastrous effect 

 upon the further progress of forest conservancy in 

 India. This view is supported in a letter from Sir 

 Herbert Maxwell, published in The Times of Octobei 

 iS, 



Systematic forest management on scientific lines is 

 of vital importance to the Indian community, not only 

 in the British part of the country, but also in the 

 Native States. Important questions must continue to 

 be dealt with by the supreme Government, and serious 

 mistakes can scarcely be avoided, if that Government 

 has not its own expert at hand to advise it. Lord 

 Lamington, in a letter published in The Times of 

 October 20, though not attacking Sir W. Schlich 's 

 views, says that no one man can by any possibility 

 be able to give trustworthy guidance " on the multi- 

 tudinous points connected with forest administration 

 over such a vast area as that of India and Burma." 

 No Inspector-General would attempt to guide the de- 

 tails of the administration. His duty would be la 

 advise on general policy, and that he would be able to 

 do, be. .nis, no sensible Government would think ol 

 appointing to the post a man who had not a sufficient 

 knowledge of the conditions prevailing in the several 

 provinces. Moreover, he would visit the different 

 parts, just as heads of other departments do. At any 

 rate, the same objection could be raised in the casi 

 of any other branch of the administration. 



Decentralisation is desirable in such a large country 

 as India, but it must not go so far as to deprive the- 

 supreme Government of the necessary technical advice. 

 The Government of India will still have to deal with 

 numerous questions, such as the establishment _ of 

 further reserved State forests, legislation in connection 

 with it, the general lines on which the management 

 of the forests is to proceed, the control of the Imperial 

 Forest College al Dehra Dun, the Research Bureau! 

 and its labours, extending over the several provinces, ; 

 advice to Native States as regards forest administra- 

 tion, tli' education of the Imperial forest staff, as 

 well as of the superior provincial staff, tli 

 tion and reorganisation of the superior and! 

 subordinati staff, and last, but not least, the control 

 of forest finance. Without a duly qualified technical 

 adviser at headquarters, these questions cannot pos-1 

 siblv he dealt with in a satisfactory manner. No 

 doubt, the Secretary of State for India will take all 

 these matters into consideration when dealing with! 

 the proposals now before him. 



