533 



NATURE 



[July 24, 19 13 



n 1 ent issue of The Indian Forester (vol. xxxix., No. 4) 

 Mr. R. S. Pearson discusses the reasons why the 

 forests of India, covering about 25 per cent, of the 

 country, cannot apparently at present fully meet the 

 demands of the railway engineers, who seem inclined 

 to fall back on iron in default of a supply of suitable 

 wood. On the railways running through the desert 

 tracts, with climate ranging from severe frosts in 

 winter to fierce dry heat in summer, and salt winds 

 laden with sand, iron sleepers have proved unsatis- 

 factory, since all kinds of iron become spongy under 

 such conditions, and wooden sleepers last much longer. 

 With the extension of railways in India the demand 

 for sleepers is increasing, and for lack of suitable 

 native wood large quantities of the Australian hard- 

 woods have been imported during recent years ; these 

 answer fairly well in the damp climate of Bengal, 

 but elsewhere have failed oW'ing to inability to resist 

 the attacks of white ants. The best sleeper wood in 

 India and Burma is teak, but this is now used for 

 other purposes, for which a much higher price can 

 be paid, and Indian foresters are devoting consider- 

 able attention to the whole question of a suitable 

 timber or timbers, and the equally important matter 

 of suitable treatment to make the wood more resistant 

 and durable. 



In the June number of the Journal of the Board of 

 Agriculture, Dr. Winifred E. Brenchley gives a survej 

 of a season's work on weeds and their relations to the 

 soils of Norfolk. Compared with results of similar 

 work in Bedfordshire and the western counties, a 

 greater number of species was observed in Norfolk, 

 and this is attributed partly to greater diversity of 

 the Norfolk soils (which are of drift origin) and partly 

 to the larger area covered by the investigation. Some 

 of the weeds are proving to have a real association 

 with different types of soil, while others show decided 

 local differences. The relative richness of sand and 

 sandy loams in calcium carbonate is reflected in the 

 flora, such "acid" plants as Rumex and spurrey 

 never being found on these soils. Few species have a 

 decided preference for heavy land, and practically 

 none can be designated as absolutely symptomatic 

 of clay, though a few are certainly characteristic ; 

 of these the chief are field foxtail, cut-leaved geranium, 

 hogweed, and corn crowfoot. The occurrence of cer- 

 tain weeds with definite types of crop was also 

 observed. 



The Bulletin of the Philippine Weather Bureau for 

 October, 1912 (recently received), contains particulars 

 of four typhoons in that month, three of which crossed 

 I he archipelago. The most noteworthy was one which 

 passed over the Visayas, or central group of islands, 

 on October 15 and 16, and named the Leyte and Cebu 

 typhoon. As the observations from Yap (Western 

 Carolines) gave no indication of its existence it is 

 supposed to have originated rather near the Philip- 

 pines, probably about long. 132 E., lat. io° N. ; the 

 Manila Observatory was, however, able to give timely 

 warnings of its approach. The Rev. J. Coronas, S.J. 

 (assistant director), states that the storm must be 

 classified as one of prime importance, both on account 

 of the lowness of the barometer in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the vortex, 707 mm. (2784 in.), 

 NO. 2282, VOL. 91] 



and the consequent violence of the winds 

 (seventy to eighty miles an hour), as well 

 as on account of the torrential rains which caused in- 

 undations, more particularly in the south of Leyte 

 and north of Cebu. All towns within a radius of twenty 

 miles from the storm centre describe their losses as 

 incalculable, and several interesting photographs are 

 given showing the destructive effects of the typhoon. 

 The great loss of life in Cebu is partially due to the 

 facts (1) that little attention was paid to the warnings, 

 and (2) that the vortex passed near midnight, whereas 

 in Leyte it passed during the daytime. 



The Electrician for July 4 contains a description of 

 a method devised by Mr. G. B. Burnside for sealing 

 metallic conductors, e.g. copper into glass directly. 

 The essential feature of the method consists in the 

 repeated immersion of the glass and metal, imme- 

 diately the fusion in the usual way has been effected, 

 and the glass has cooled to a red heat, into a slightly 

 heated bath of oil or fat for a second or two, the extent 

 of the immersion being increased each time'. For 

 currents up to. 15 amperes solid conductors may be 

 used, but above that it is advisable to fuse in tubular, 

 conductors. The author has experienced no trouble 

 with these joints, and has found that a copper tube 

 capable of carrying 100 amperes fused into glass in 

 this way may be heated to ioo° C. without the joint 

 showing any signs of deterioration. The method 

 solves a difficult problem, and obviously has a wide 

 range of applications. 



Two recent Memoirs of the College of Science and 

 Engineering, Kyoto Imperial Observatory (vol. iv., 

 Nos. 1, 2), show that the Japanese are prepared to 

 follow up their previous excellent work in connection 

 with geodynamics and latitude variation by some other 

 thorough-going researches. The volume for which 

 Prof. Toshi Shida is mainly responsible, contains an 

 interesting account of preliminary horizontal pendulum 

 experiments conducted at the Kamigamo Geophysical 

 Observatory. The results of these experiments so far 

 confirm the larger value for the effective rigidity of 

 the earth found by Herglotz from the Chandler 

 period of free nutation. This is about twice the value 

 derived from the results of tidal observations and 

 deflections of the plumb-line. Heel: t's Potsdam 

 observations have been analysed by Messrs. Shida and 

 Matsuyama for the lunar diurnal term. The results 

 confirm the idea that Hecker's observations, at any 

 rate for one pendulum, were either seriously affected 

 by some local disturbance (e.g. pumping in the well) 

 or else represent some abnormal behaviour locally of 

 the earth's crust. Another interesting communication 

 from Prof. Shida is his discussion of volcanic tremors. 

 His attempt to deduce the Chandler period from the 

 time distribution of volcanic eruptions is interesting 

 if not convincing. It gives the value 431-45 days. 

 The s-term in the variation of latil ude— or the Kimura 

 term as it is known in this country — comes in natur- 

 ally for discussion in a Japanese memoir. Prof. 

 Shinzo Shinjo enters into a careful discussion of 

 possible physical explanations, and ascribes it to 

 anomalies in zenithal refraction. In this view he is 

 in agreement with Dr. Frank E. Ross. Without 

 being able to give any accurate numerical result, he 



