538 

NATURE 
[ JuLy 15, IQ15 

solution changes colour somewhat after a time, owing 
to oxidation of the ferrous salt, as Sir Wm. Ramsay 
tells me, and the moulds found in solutions prepared 
from fresh stock fluids and from others one 
or two months old have been of a_ different 
kind. The remarkable mould of Cladosporium type 
referred to in a note to my paper was found in 
each of a series of tubes the solutions of which had 
been prepared from stock fluids one month old. An 
examination of the stock fluids themselves, even after 
three months, does not reveal moulds of any kind. 
H. Cuartton BastTIAN. 
Fairfield, Chesham Bois, Bucks, July 9. 
Napoleon and the University of Pavia. 
to Napoleon having spared 
the University of Pavia in 1804 on account of the 
memory of the illustrious man of science, Spallanzani, 
who had been a professor there, is so interesting at 
the present time that I venture to bring it under the 
notice of readers of NaTURE. 
The passage is from Baron’s “Life of Dr. Edward 
Jenner” (vol. ii., p. 35), which was published in 
1838 :—‘‘ He who flushed with victory and at the head 
of the revolutionary army of France had spared the 
University of Pavia out of respect to the genius of 
Spallanzani when the city itself was given up to 
plunder, proved that the claims of science were not 
forgotten amid the astonishing events which carried 
him forward to the highest pinnacle of ambition. 
His animosity to England had been shown in that 
vehement and decided manner which marked all his 
actions; yet there was one chord of sympathy un- 
broken which, when duly touched, showed that his 
intoxicating success had not raised his proud spirit 
beyond some of the calls of justice and humanity, and 
that he could still be moved by the peaceful arguments 
of truth and science.” 
Napoleon’s conduct in regard to the ancient Univer- 
sity of Pavia is in striking contrast to that of the 
Kaiser in regard to the University of Louvain. The 
Germans, in their own opinion, are pre-eminent in the 
subject of the history of medicine, and yet it has been 
reserved for Germans to destroy the University of van 
Helmont, the father of chemistry, of Vesalius, the 
father of anatomy, of Schwann, the originator of the 
cell-theory. Further comment seems unnecessary. 
j D. Fraser Harris. 
Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., June 109, 
Tue following allusion 

A New Tsetse-Fly from Zululand. 
Tue Durban Museum has lately received from Mr. 
R. A. L. Brandon, the magistrate of Ubombo, Zulu- 
land, a tsetse-fly captured by him in the court-house 
at Ubombo, towards the end of March, which is very 
distinct from the ordinary Zululand species, Glossina 
pallidipes, Austen, and apparently belongs to an 
hitherto unknown form. 
It is a member of the palpalis group, and seems 
most nearly related to G. tachnoides, Westw., but the 
markings on the abdomen are not so strong or so 
sharply defined, and the dorsum of the thorax is buff. 
It is a female, and measures 8 mm. in length, exclu- 
sive of proboscis. In honour of the captor it may 
be known as Glossina brandoni. 
It is my intention to give a detailed description in 
the next number of the “Annals of the Durban 
Museum.” E. C. CHuss. 
(Curator). 
Durban Museum, Natal, June 16. 
NO. 2385, VOL. 95] 

MUNITION METALS. 
ie this article an attempt is made to compare 
briefly the resources of the Allies and the 
enemy countries in respect of metals which are 
regarded as essential for War purposes. 
First in order of importance comes iron, the 
basis of the modern gun, armour-plate, armour- 
piercing projectile, shrapnel shell, high-explosive 
shell, and all the varieties of steel which find appli- 
cation in one way or another. Both sides have a 
sufficiency of iron ore and the accessories required 
for smelting, although the deposits in the enemy 
countries are inferior in quality to those possessed 
by the Allies. An illustration of this is furnished 
by a comparison of the amounts of acid and basic 
steel produced in Germany and Great Britain in 
1913—the last year for which the complete figures 
are available. Germany’s total steel production for 
that year was just under 19,000,000 tons, of which 
96 per cent. was made in basic-lined furnaces ; 
Great Britain’s output was 7,663,000 tons, of 
which only 36 per cent. was made by the basic 
process. Both countries, however, imported con- 
siderable quantities of Swedish pig-iron, which 
is used for the manufacture of steels of the highest 
class, e.g., tool steels, and Great Britain also im- 
ported substantial amounts of Spanish hematite 
ore, which was smelted with the clay ironstone 
ores of the Cleveland district, which are low in 
iron, and contain, for the most part, more phos- 
phorus than is compatible with the transformation 
of the resulting pig-iron into steel by any acid 
process. 
The production of open-hearth steel from pig- 
iron—and such steel provides the casing of the 
high-explosive shell and the shrapnel shell—de- 
mands, however, a second and very important 
metal, namely, manganese, which in the form of 
| ferro-manganese or silico-spiegel is used not only 
to de-oxidise the fluid steel, but to leave from 
o°5 to 1’0 per cent. manganese in the finished pro- 
duct. The chief producers of marketable man- 
/ganese ore in order of importance are Russia, 

India, and the United States of America, which in 
1913 furnished about 93 per cent. of the total 
quantity mined. The raw material is pyrolusite, a 
“straight ” manganese ore corresponding when 
pure to MnO,. The main supplies of pure ores, 
therefore, are in the Allied or neutral countries. 
In 1913 Germany imported about 670,000 tons, 
chiefly from Russia. The figures of her domestic 
production in 1913 are not available, but in 1912 
| her output was 90,980 tons, while that of Austria- 
Hungary was 16,540 tons in 1913. 
In spite of these figures there is no sufficient 
reason for concluding that the enemy countries 
will be greatly hampered even if all external 
sources of supply are shut off, as they probably 
are. Confining our attention to Germany, the pre- 
dominant partner, it must be pointed out in the 
first place that 4,300,000 tons of her steel produc- 
tion in 1913 were exported, and that except in so 
far as Austria-Hungary and Turkey are concerned 
this excess would be available for her own 
