152 

NATURE 
[AprIL 8, 1915 

Ir is announced in the issue of Science for March 12 
that Col. George W. Goethals has been promoted to 
be a major-general of the line in recognition of his 
in the construction of the Panama Canal. 
Brig.-Gen. William C. Gorgas, surgeon-general, has 
been promoted to be major-general in the medical 
department. Col. H. F. Hodges and Lieut.-Col. W. L. 
Sibert, U.S. Corps of Engineers, have been promoted 
to be brigadier-generals. The Bill authorising these 
promotions extends the thanks of Congress to the 
officers mentioned. 
services 
WE regret to see the announcement of the death on 
Sunday, April 4, at fifty-eight years of age, of Dr. 
H. Lewis Jones, medical officer in charge of the elec- 
trical department at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and 
a leading authority upon electro-therapeutics. | Dr. 
Jones was president in 1903-4 of the British Electro- 
Therapeutic Society, and acted as official delegate for 
the British Government to the International Congress 
of Physiotherapy at Liége in 1905, and also at Paris 
in 1910. He was the author of ** Medical Electricity,” 
and of numerous papers on the principles of ionic 
medication and related subjects. 
Tue desirability of excluding cotton from Germany 
and Austria has been urged upon the Government by 
a number of men of science. At a conference on 
March 1o a letter was drawn up and sent to Lord 
Moulton at the High Explosives Department of the 
War Office, pointing out that Germany is entirely 
dependent on her imports of unspun cotton for the 
manufacture of propulsive explosives, and asking 
whether a complete embargo on cotton destined to 
Germany and Austria by any channel had been de- 
clared and would be exercised. Among the signatories 
to the letter were Sir William Ramsay, Prof. Clowes, 
Sir Alex. R. Binnie, Prof. H. Jackson, Mr. B. Blount, 
Prof. Meldola, and Prof. W. J. Pope. Lord Moulton 
replied on March 19 to the effect that the Order in 
Council of March 11 would, he thought, satisfy the 
signatories, who, however, on March 22 pointed out 
that the Order in Council would become effective only 
if cotton were made contraband of war. Further 
correspondence has taken place, and the signatories 
have had an interview with the Board of Trade, but 
they appear to have been unable to obtain the assur- 
ance they desire for the prevention of the importation 
of cotton by Germany. 
THE present shortage in this country of synthetic 
yellow dyes has put difficulties in the way of manu- 
facturers of khaki cloth. A temporary way out of the 
difficulty was found, however, by the increased use of 
fustic, a natural yellow dye-stuff, consisting of the 
wood of a tree (Chlorophora tinctoria) which grows 
freely in Jamaica and also in British Honduras. 
When the shortage of yellow dye-stuffs first became 
apparent the Imperial Institute took steps to place 
British dye firms in touch with exporters of fustic in 
Jamaica. Only a moderate amount of cut fustic wood 
was, as it happened, then available in the island, but, 
as a result of the institute’s action the Government 
of Jamaica has offered to purchase from the growers 
further supplies, and carry these at Government cost 
NOWZG71, VOL. 95i| 

to Kingston, the port of shipment. Negotiations are 
aecordingly now pending for the purchase and ship- 
ment of considerable quantities of Jamaica fustic by 
dyers in this country. The Government of British 
Honduras is also taking action in this matter, and a 
further supply of the wood may possibly be forth- 
coming from that Colony. Further information may 
be obtained on application to the Imperial Institute, 
South Kensington, London, S.W. 
By the death of Mr. J. J. Beringer on March 28, 
Cornwall has lost an indefatigable worker whose in- 
vestigations in the science of mining and metallurgy 
made him one of her most prominent and in- 
teresting personalities. A personal friend, W. H. T.-J., 
sends us the following particulars of his career and 
work. Born at Penzance, Cornwall, in 1857, Mr. 
Beringer was educated at Redruth. In 1877 he won 
a Royal Exhibition, and took the course of the Royal 
School of Mines in London. In 1880 he passed his 
examinations with distinction, and secured his diploma 
A.R.S.M. In 1881 he became assistant in the chem- 
istry and assaying department to Prof. Huntingdon 
at King’s College, where his work was very highly 
appreciated. From 1882 to 1891 he was lecturer to 
the Miners’ Association, also public analyst for the 
county of Cornwall. From 1882 down to the date of 
his death, he was principal of the County School of 
Metalliferous Mining, Camborne, of which he also was 
made a governor, and it is mainly in that position 
that he distinguished himself as a lecturer of remark- 
able ability on mining and metallurgical subjects, not 
only by his erudition, but also by his sympathetic hold 
on his students. He was the author of a text-book 
on assaying, which has gone through some ten or 
more editions, and remains to-day the standard text- 
book in Great Britain, and may be said to be used in 
nearly all schools of mines throughout the world. 
The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, in 
recognition of the distinguished services he had ren- 
dered to the science and industry of metallurgy, be- 
stowed upon him the honorary membership of the 
institution. His death was partly due to weakness in- 
duced by severe and continuous overwork, and 
especially by the loss of vision in one eye due to his 
close application to microscopic and ultra-microscopic 
work. His loss will long be keenly felt, especially in 
Cornwall, by a large circle of personal friends, includ- 
ing the many students who passed through his hands. 
In the University of Pennsylvania’s Anthropological 
Publications, vol. iv., No. 2, Mr. M. R. Harrington 
describes a remarkable collection of the sacred bundles 
of the Sac and Fox Indians collected by the expedition 
maintained by Mr. G. G. Heye. These bundles, con- 
taining many heterogeneous articles, are held in the 
highest veneration, and in many cases the religious 
observances of the tribe centre round them. The con- 
cepts underlying their use are often obscure, but the 
idea at the basis is that they are endowed with some 
supernatural power or mana, which directly influences 
the phenomena of life in the interest of their owner. 
The bundles are supposed to possess a consciousness 
of their own, to understand what is said to them, 
and to enjoy offerings presented to them. Some are 

