June 26, 1913] 



NATURE 



43 1 



from the general secretary to the congress, Kursaal, 

 Ostend, Belgium, direct, or through the Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries, 4 Whitehall Place, London, 



s.w. 



The annual congress of the Royal Sanitary Insti- 

 tute is to be held this year at Exeter on July 7-12, 

 under the presidency of Earl Fortescue, who will 

 deliver the inaugural address. A popular lecture on 

 imported foods from a Colonial point of view will be 

 given by Sir John McCall, Agent-General for Tas- 

 mania. Sir William Collins will lecture to the con- 

 gress on "The Chadwick School of Thought : An 

 Vppeal from the New Sanitarians to the Old." The 

 work of the congress will be divided into four sec- 

 tions, which, with their presidents, will be : — Sanitary 

 Science and Preventive Medicine, Mr. A. Wynter 

 Blyth; Engineering and Architecture, Mr. H. P. 

 Boulnois ; Domestic Hygiene, Mrs. Michelmore, 

 Mayoress of Exeter; Hygiene of Infancy and Child 

 Study, Mr. E. J. Domville. During the meetings the 

 following associations will hold conferences : — Muni- 

 cipal representatives, medical officers of health, 

 engineers and surveyors to county and sanitary autho- 

 rities, veterinary and sanitary inspectors. 



The report of the council of the Concrete Institute, 

 recently presented at the annual general meeting, 

 shows a gratifying increase in membership, and an 

 increasing interest in everything pertaining to the 

 theory and practice of construction in concrete, plain 

 and reinforced. The science committee has under 

 consideration a system of standard notation for calcu- 

 lations in structural engineering, and also, in con- 

 junction with the reinforced concrete practice standing 

 committee, a proposed standard specification for re- 

 inforced concrete work. Among other work in hand 

 the committee is investigating the effect of oils and 

 fats on concrete, and the adhesion of and friction 

 between concrete and steel. The practice standing 

 committee of the institute has drafted reports on the 

 surface treatment of concrete, and cracks in concrete, 

 which were submitted for discussion at a general 

 meeting, while the committee on tests has many 

 matters under investigation, including the collection 

 of data regarding the moduli of elasticity of concrete 

 for stresses within working limits. The activity of 

 the institute is a healthy sign of the attention which 

 English engineers are giving to the vast possibilities 

 of reinforced concrete, already more fully developed 

 and realised in some other countries. 



Mr. Stefansson's expedition has started for the 

 Beaufort Sea, and will be followed with intense in- 

 terest by all interested in polar exploration. It means 

 to attack the last great problem of the Arctic. It 

 has been maintained by certain authorities of the 

 highest standing that there is an extensive land to 

 be discovered in the Beaufort Sea quadrant, but the 

 question has long been disputed. Mr. Stefansson 

 hopes to settle it, and is giving himself nearly four 

 years in which to do so. There will be much occa- 

 sion for scientific research, and these are days of large 

 scientific staffs on polar expeditions. The staff of the 

 present expedition numbers no fewer than fifteen, and 

 if land is discovered and the expedition is in proper 

 NO. 2278, VOL. 91] 



state to take advantage of the discovery, there will 

 be unsurpassed opportunities for scientific work. So 

 far as it is possible to judge in advance, the leader of 

 the expedition appears to expect moderately favour- 

 able conditions for the voyage northward from the 

 North American Arctic coast. With easterly winds a 

 clear sea is practically assured; westerlies will pack 

 the ice. It is believed that a condition of balance 

 between these two extremes is to be expected, and 

 the resulting conditions should not offer serious 

 obstacles to a well-tried vessel under so well experi- 

 enced a commander as Captain Bartlett. 



In the House of Commons on June 18 Mr. Cathcart 

 Wason asked what percentage of men have failed 

 with the colour-vision tests introduced on April 1, 

 and how this percentage compares with that of former 

 years ; and how many men have passed with the 

 wool test and failed with the lantern test, and vice 

 versd? The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of 

 Trade (Mr. Robertson) replied : — " The total number 

 of men examined in colour vision from April 1 to May 

 ;i was 1689, and of these 105, or 6-22 per cent., failed. 

 Of the 105 failures, fifty-five failed in both the wool 

 test and lantern test, and fifty in the lantern test only. 

 None failed in the wool test only. I regret that it is 

 not possible to give corresponding figures for previous 

 years, since the statistics available for previous years 

 relate to examinations, and not to individuals. I may 

 mention, however, that in 1912, out of 7326 examina- 

 tions in colour vision, 163, or 2-22 per cent., resulted 

 in failure. The figures for the two periods are not 

 comparable, both because of the difference of basis 

 and because the Board of Trade have reason to be- 

 lieve that the number of candidates examined in the 

 last two months includes an abnormal proportion of 

 persons who have never been examined before, among 

 whom, naturally, the percentage of rejections is dis- 

 proportionately high." 



The committee of the twelfth International Geo- 

 logical Congress has now issued the third and 

 final general circular. Applications to join excursions 

 have been received more rapidly than was anticipated, 

 therefore intending participants should delay no longer. 

 Delegates appointed by universities, &c, are re- 

 minded that their application for membership should 

 be sent in at once. The monograph on coal resources 

 will be issued in three volumes (not two) and folio 

 atlas — price, to members, 20 dollars, if ordered from 

 Morang and Co., Toronto, before August 15. Changes 

 are announced in several excursion programmes. 

 Excursion A9 will start from Kingston at the foot of 

 Lake Ontario. The visit to the Dinosaurian bone 

 beds near Munson, Ex. Ci, may not be possible, but 

 those who specially desire to visit the deposits should 

 advise the secretary. The Sudbury ore region will 

 be visited on Ex. Ci, in order that participants in 

 excursions Ci and C2 may meet in Victoria, B.C., 

 on August 26. Special attention is directed to Ex. C5 

 on account of its many attractions, including a 

 "show" by native Indians on Grand Manitoulin 

 Island. Ex. C8, Juneau-Yakutat section, will afford 

 a unique opportunity for studying active glacial 

 phenomena. Particulars are given of reductions in 



