September 20, 1Q06] 



NA TURE 



llie vessel : — lenglh ovi r all, 785 feet ; length between per- 

 pendiculars, 760 feel : beam, extreme, 8S feel : depth, 

 moulded, 60 feet b inches ; gross tonnage, 33,200 tons ; nel 

 tonnage. 11,900 tons; maximum draught, 37 feet; displace- 

 ment at this draught, 43,000 tons. The Maiiretania is 

 ifio feet longer than the Campania, of 1S93, 78 feet 6 inches 

 longer than the fastest of existing ships — the Kaiser 

 Wilhelm II.— and 80 feet longer than the Crcat Eastern, 

 ihe greatest of preceding vessels. 



In Cornwall at the present time, owing to the high price 

 of metals, there is great activity in copper and tin mining, 

 and it is interesting to note, in an important article in the 

 Times of September 17, the extent to which scientific 

 methods and the latest improvements in appliances are 

 being adopted at the newly started mines. At the Tywarn- 

 hailc mine, for example, with the aid of a gas-power plant 

 and electric pumps, the workings have been drained at 

 the rate of 1400 gallons a minute. This speed has never 

 been approached in the past history of Cornish mines. At 

 the Great Dowgas tin mines, pneumatic stamps will for 

 the first time be driven direct by gas power, and winding 

 and pumping will be electrical. At the Alfred mines a 

 central gas-power plant has also been installed. When 

 work was resumed at the Clitters mine some five years 

 ago, those responsible formed the opinion that the costs 

 of working mines in Cornwall were far too high ; that 

 values existed in mixed ores far beyond the knowledge of 

 those then concerned in mining and dressing such ores ; 

 and that great improvements in mining and dressing 

 methods were possible. It has been proved that these 

 impressions were true, and future developments in the 

 application of mod.ern scientific methods to the ancient 

 Cornish mines cannot fail to be watched with interest. 



The seventeenth annual general meeting of the Institu- 

 tion of Mining Engineers, held at Hanley on 

 September 12-14 under the presidency of Sir Lees Knowles, 

 was very largely attended, and an interesting programme 

 of visits and excursions was arranged. The report of the 

 council showed that the membership of the institution now 

 amounts to 3034. .Mr. Maurice Deacon (Chesterfield) was 

 elected president for the ensuing year. Three papers were 

 read. Mr. W. D. Verschoyle described a new pocket 

 transit, which was really a combined prismatic compass 

 and clinometer, ingeniously arranged for observing very 

 steep angles. Mr. T. Trafford Wynne gave a detailed de- 

 scription of the gypsum deposits of the Dove Valley. The 

 discussion on this paper was well sustained. Mr. Bennett 

 H. Brough pointed- out that the author in his introductory 

 sketch of the occurrence of gypsuin had omitted to refer 

 to the Paris deposits, which produced two-thirds of the 

 world's supply. The speaker suggested that there was 

 considerable room for improvement in the manufacture of 

 plaster of Paris. Scientific progress had hardly touched 

 the technology of this material, and the temperature of 

 burning and the degree of fineness received no attention. 

 The methods of testing gypsum were now to be investigated 

 by a committee of the International Testing Congress. The 

 charge of want of progress was warmly combated by other 

 speakers, who adduced evidence to show the high degree 

 of scientific method followed in several plaster works in 

 this country. In conclusion, a paper was read by Mr. 

 E. B. Wain and Mr. J. T. Stobbs on the Cauldon Low and 

 Manifold Valley, North Staffordshire, a district of con- 

 siderable geological interest, in which a large quarry of 

 Carboniferous limestone of very pure quality is worked, 

 and where at one time the famous Erton copper mine was 

 of great importance. ^ 



NO. 1925, VOL. ;il 



The liverworts of Japan have attracted the attention of 

 bryologists on account of the special peculiarities of certain 

 species referable to well-known genera. Mr. A. VV. Evans 

 describes and figures a few new or interesting species, 

 mostly collected in the province of Tosa, in vol. viii. of 

 the Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 

 .\ species of Harpalejeunia is interesting as forming a link 

 between that genus and Drepanolejeunia. 



Tr.'ICIng the development of the State l-"oresl Department 

 in West Prussia, Dr. Koenig attributes the foundation of 

 the present system to the personal interest and direction of 

 Frederick the Great. With regard to the extent of forest, 

 the writer is disposed to believe that more land might with 

 advantage be afforested, notably the sandy and other un- 

 profitable areas, provided the land wore acquired by the 

 State. The article appears in Schriften der nalnr- 

 forschenden Gesellschaft in Danzig, vol. ii., part iv. 



In the Indian Forester (July) the editorial article bears 

 testimony to the foresight of the present Commander-in- 

 Chief in India in demanding the preparation of working 

 plans for cantonment forests in India, and suinmarises a 

 similar scheme drafted by the United States Forest Service 

 for the Military Department for a forest reservation at the 

 military academy army post at West Point, New York. 

 Following on previous references to types of forest rest- 

 houses in India, Mr. E. P. Stebbing deals with those met 

 with in .Assam, that from descriptions and illustrations are 

 no more satisfactory than those provided in Burma. 



With reference to the maintenance of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture in the West Indies, an editorial 

 notice appears in Tropical Life on the work of botanical 

 and experimental stations. It i« appropriate to find in the 

 same number a biography of Dr. J. C. Willis, who has 

 done so much towards bringing the agricultural community 

 in Ceylon into its present prosperous condition. A note on 

 the camphor industry contains a description of the 

 Formosan method of distillation, and the opinion is ex- 

 pressed that the present price of camphor could be reduced 

 to one-third or less before the Formosan monopoly would 

 be endangered. 



The Uuseunis Journal for .August is r-ntirely occupied 

 with the report of the recent conference at Bristol and an 

 illustrated account and history of the museum buildings of 

 that city. In the latter, the development of the museum 

 and art-gallery is carefully recorded by Mr. W. R. Bacher 

 during a period approaching a century and a half — 1772- 

 1906. It is well known that the Bristol Museum possesses 

 a number of natural history treasures, among them an 

 example of the typical southern race of the bont'e-quagga, 

 or Burchell's zebra, now apparently extinct, and unrepre- 

 sented in the national collection. 



In the twenty-first Educational Leaflet, dealing with the 

 scarlet tanager, the U.S. National Association of Audubon 

 Societies (as represented by its president, Mr. W. Dutcher) 

 strikes an important note in asserting that its objects are 

 not limited to the protection of birds, but embrace the 

 awakening of an interest on the part of the agriculturist 

 (as well as the student) in bird-life generally. Undoubtedly 

 this is the right way of looking at the subject, and if it 

 were inculcated and adopted in this country (together with 

 some relaxation of the law in regard to species held to 

 be harmful by practical people), we should probably hear 

 fewer objections to bird protection. The coloured plate 

 shows the male and female tanagers in their respective 



