October 4, 1906] 



NA TURE 



57: 



attempt to induce the Board of Agriculture and I-'islieries 

 to undertal<e tlie issue of the report. Although the attempt 

 was unsuccessful, it is hoped that in the near future the 

 Board will become more closely associated with fishery re- 

 searches throughout the country. As the result of fourteen 

 years' trawling experiments, correlated with Government 

 statistics, and a review of the history of the local fisheries, 

 the present report contains a much fuller account of the 

 " white-fisheries " of Northumberland than has previously 

 been possible. The experiments indicate that the stations 

 are subject to gain and loss from the areas immediately 

 outside, and that the inward movements include a certain 

 number of deep-sea fish, especially plaice. When reduced 

 to a common standard, the results demonstrate that while 

 there was a steady improvement in the fish-population from 

 i8q2 to 1903, a decline has set in since the latter date. 

 Recently the fish captured have been found to feed chiefly 

 on sand-eels, in place of molluscs and crustaceans, due, 

 apparently, to the scarcity of the two latter. The improve- 

 ment in the flat-fishes of the district is attributed to pro- 

 tection, and it is considered that protection will likewise 

 lead to a noticeable increase of crabs and lobsters. 

 Important statistics are furnished with regard to the rale 

 of growth and the migrations of flat-fish. 



Prof. R. de C. Ward contributes a valuable paper on 

 the classification of climates to the July and August 

 numbers of the Bulletin of the American Geographical 

 Society. The chief systems of classification described are 

 those of Supan, Koppen, Hult, and Ravenstein, and Prof. 

 Ward comes to the satisfactory conclusion that the first 

 ol these is the best for general purposes. Teachers of 

 geography will find this paper extremely useful. 



The present stage of development and the prospects of 

 the magnesite mines of South Africa are described in the 

 Engineer (vol. cii., No. 2646). They are situated between 

 Kaapmuiden and Melelana, eighty-seven miles from 

 Delagoa Bay and 300 miles from Johannesburg. The 

 magnesite occurs in nearly vertical beds associated with 

 serpentine in schists, and is worked in open cuttings. The 

 magnesite is of good quality, and the mines have opened 

 out an industry that is likely to be of considerable future 

 importance. 



Is the Engineering Magazine for September there are 

 eight articles by prominent American engineers, the most 

 striking being a warning by Dr. Louis Bell on the subject 

 of over-specialisation in manufacturing methods. Standard- 

 isation, however desirable from a pecuniary standpoint, in 

 the last resort means the cessation of active improvement. 

 Labour-saving machinery, interchangeable parts, and 

 systematised production have their due place to fill in the 

 w-orld's economy. But they need not become, as they are 

 becoming at the present time, an excuse for stagnation ; 

 and, above all, they should not be allowed to check the 

 development of the craftsman, who is necessary to the 

 perpetuation of industry. The greatest industrial problem 

 to-day is to maintain the supply of intelligent American 

 labour in spite of the .'\merican industrial system. 



The Records of the Mysore Geological Department (vol. 

 V.) contain the general report of the work of the department 

 for the year 1903-4, by Dr. W. F. Smeeth, the State 

 geologist. The work is of a very varied character, and 

 comprises, in addition to geological inquiries, inspection of 

 mines and explosives, prospecting, lectures, and the 

 management of the library, laboratory, and museum. The 

 same volume contains special reports on the Chitaldrug 

 and Tumkur districts, by Mr. E. W. Wetherell ; on the 

 NO. 1927, VOL. 74] 



Shimoga and Kadur districts, by Mr. H. K. Slater; and 

 on economic minerals, by Mr. V. S. Sambasiva Iyer. In 

 the last report the occurrence of deposits of asbestos, mica, 

 gold, pyrites, magnesite, chromite, garnet, staurolile, and 

 apatite is recorded. In the Memoirs of the Mysore Geo- 

 logical Department (vol. iii., part i.) Mr. E. W. Wetherell 

 gives a general account of laterile, and a description of the 

 more important exposures in the districts of Bangalore and 

 Kolar. The origin and nature of laterite have always been 

 such controversial questions that the author's conclusions 

 are of special interest. He shows that the Bangalore-Kolar 

 laterite is detrital and of lacustrine origin, and that there 

 is no geological relation whatever between the horizontal 

 laterite proper and the clayey lithomargic beds below. The 

 apparent gradation from these beds into laterite is due to 

 the fact that the laterite was lain down in water on the 

 decomposed surface of the preexisting rocks, and subse- 

 quently the chemical changes caused by percolating water 

 have acted both upon the laterite itself and upon the de- 

 composed material below it. 



The excellent work that is being done by the South 

 African Philosophical Society is well shown by the varied 

 contents of the Transactions (vol. xvi., part iii.). Dr. R. 

 Broom describes and illustrates Hortalotarsiis skirtopodiis, 

 the South African dinosaur described by Seeley in 1894. 

 Dr. R. Marloth gives some notes on Aloe succotrina, which 

 he has found growing at a spot on Table Mountain, and 

 Mr. T. R. Sim summarises the recent information concern- 

 ing South African ferns and their distribution. The list 

 he gives shows a total of 212 species. Mr. J. R. Sutton 

 discusses the climate of East London, Cape Colony, giving 

 a summary of meteorological observations made during the 

 twenty-one years 1884-1904. Mr. D. E. Hutchins reviews 

 the cvcle vear 1905, an important one to those interested 

 in long-period weather forecasts, and concludes that 

 farmers may expect general good seasons for the next two 

 or three years, and that after igo8 there will be six years 

 of drought. Mr. A. L. du Toit points out the considerable 

 influence of the geological formation on the storage of 

 underground water, and considers the potentialities of such 

 a supply in south-eastern Bechuanaland. Dr. Thomas 

 Muir makes known a solution to a set of linear equations 

 connected with homofocal surfaces. Mr. W. L. Sclater 

 gives an account of two recently discovered inscribed stones 

 bearing on the history of Cape Colony. One is a boundary 

 stone erected by the governor Joachim van Plettenberg at 

 Colesburg in 1778 to mark the extreme north-eastern 

 boundary of the colony, and the other is a stone in the 

 castle wall with inscriptions by John Roberts, commander 

 of the Lesser James, 1622, and by James Burgess, master 

 of the Abigail, 1622. 



The last issue of the Journal of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers contains an interesting paper on 

 long-flame arc lamps, by Mr. L. Andrews. The paper is 

 of especial interest at the present time, owing to the recent 

 development of the long-flame arc, which is largely due 

 to the enterprise and competition of the gas companies 

 during the last two years. With the perfection of high- 

 pressure gas the electric arc was seriously threatened, as 

 gas lighting, without a doubt, was driving out the arc 

 lamp from both the cost and candle-power points of view. 

 This competition, however, has had a beneficial result, in 

 that the long-flame arc lamp has been developed and can 

 now more than hold its own with high-pressure gas lamps, 

 as is proved by the fact that, after a practical trial of both 

 systems which lasted over some time, the South-Eastern 

 Railway Company has decided to adopt oriflame arc lamps 



