6l2 



NA TURE 



[OcTOlJKk 19, 1905 



rays. Prof. Riccke (Gbttingen), paper presented by Dr. 

 Emil Bose. 



Limitations of space prevent the enumeration of papers 

 not read at the congress but accepted for insertion in the 

 Comptcs rendus, as well Ss of the communications read 

 before the biological section. The final meeting of the 

 congress was held on September 14. .^ftcr several interest- 

 ing communications had been read, including one from 

 Sir William Huggins, presented by Prof. Becquerel, the 

 following motion was put before the meeting by the 

 executive of the congress, acting at the wish of Prof. Jose 

 Munoz del Castillo :— 



The International Congress for the Study of Radiology 

 and lonisation assembled in plenary session at Li^ge on 

 September 14, 1905,, considers that, although State regula- 

 tion and protection may sometimes impede free research 

 among men of science, it is, however, necessary that 

 <jovernments should, without creating monopolies, be 

 brought to apply to radio-active substances the same legis- 

 lative measures that prevent the monopolisation of other 

 useful substances, and should guarantee by the play of 

 economic laws free scientific research and the application 

 of these substances to the treatment of the sick ; and con- 

 siders also that it is desirable to be able to advise or remind 

 the Governments of the importance of these measures and 

 that a permanent commission invested with powers by the 

 actual congress, an assembly of men of science devoted to 

 the study of these questions and belonging to different 

 countries, would carry weight .in discussing with public 

 authorities matters appertaining to the needs of science or 

 the requirements of the sick. It has therefore decided 



(i) That an international commission for examining all 

 questions of general interest relative to radio-active sub- 

 stances shall be instituted. 



(2) That the commission shall' meet regularly each year, 

 and may be convened on any exceptional occasion by the 

 president, acting with the majority of the executive. 



(3) That it shall organise periodically international 

 congresses, to meet every five years, and shall also be 

 empowered to convene the congress in extraordinary 

 session. 



(4) That the members of this commission shall be subject 

 to re-election at each meeting of the International 

 Congress. ■ ■ . . 



THE COALFIELDS OF NORTH 

 STAFFORDSHIRE. -. 

 'T'HE memoir described below' contains detailed accounts 

 of the coalfields of North Staffordshire, especially 

 those of the Pottery and Cheadle Coalfields. The re-survey 

 on the 6-inch scale was commenced in 1898 and completed 

 in 1901. The present voltime,. which- contains detailed de- 

 scriptions furnished by each geologist of the area surveyed 

 by himself, has been largely written and edited by Mr. 

 Gibson, who personally carried but the greater part of 

 the field-work. It was pointed -out by Beete Juk^s long 

 ago that, so far as the higher- portions of the Coal-measures 

 were concerned, North Staffordshire provided the type de- 

 velopment of the JMidlands.. 'Mr. .Gibson has now estab- 

 lished in that region a definite stratigraphical sequence in 

 the comparatively barren strata which conformably overlie 

 the productive Coal-measures, and he has also proved that 

 the same sequence may be recognised in the other coal- 

 fields of the Midland area. 



The chief points of interest are contaiiied in chapter iv. , 

 which describes fully the determination of the ' Newcastle- 

 under-Lyme group, the Etruria Marl group, and the Black 

 Band group, ^nd more particularly the' removal of Hull's 

 "Salopian Permian" into the Carboriiferous. A full 

 account of the pala^ontological and stratigraphical evidence 

 on which this change is based is given at pp. 53 to 55. 

 The evidence shows that the Salopian Permian of Stafford- 

 shire, Denbighshire, Worcestershire, Warw-ickshire, and in 

 all probability Lancashire, occurs as the highest group of 

 a definite sequence everywhere overlying the higher beds 

 of the true Coal-measures, but never discordant to them. 



' " Memoirs of ihe Geological Survey of England and Wales. The North 

 Staffordshiie Coallields." By W. Gibson. With Contributions by G. 

 Barrow C. B. W«dd, and J. Ward. Pp. vii^494 : with , Coloured Map 

 and 6 Plates. (London : Edward Stanford, 1905!) Price 6s. 



NO. 1877, VOL. 72] 



and that the Salopian Permian on either side of the 

 Pennine Chain conforms to the Coal-measures, but is un- 

 conformably overlain on the eastern side by the Magnesian 

 Limestone series. 



It has been found advisable to adopt purely descriptive 

 terms for various subdivisions, and for similar reasons the 

 expressions Upper, Middle, and Lower Coal-measures have 

 not been adopted, since the positions of the pal^ontological 

 boundary lines which give a definite significance to the 

 terms have not been determined w'ith accuracy. Since the 

 memoir was written, Mr. R. Kidston has contributed a 

 paper to the Geological Society on the divisions and corre 

 lation of the upper portions of the Coal-measures, in 

 which he proposes the name " Staffordian " for the series 

 included between the Black Band group and the Newcastle- 

 under-Lyme group, while the Keele group and similar beds 

 in the Midland coalfields, hitherto referred to the Permian 

 system, are classed with the Radstock group, previously 

 called Upper Coal-measures. The distribution of the 

 plants certainly favours such a classification, but there is 

 evidence which seems to show a gradual passage of one' 

 group into another, and Dr. Hind, who has devoted con- 

 siderable attention to the study of the lamellibranchs, is 

 not in favour of the proposed subdivision. 



One of the most pleasing features is the accurate and 

 complete description of the palEeontology, which is treated 

 in detail by Mr. John Ward, and is accompanied by full 

 lists, with six plates, of the common fossils of the Coal- 

 iTieasures. The Pottery Coalfield has long been recognised 

 as an unrivalled field for the study of Carboniferous fishes, 

 the study of which has to some extent overshadowed the 

 examination of a numerous and varied series of moUuscan 

 remains and the equally abundant flora it has yielded. 

 In this section Dr. W. Hind has given Mr. Ward a great 

 deal of assistance. The fossil fishes have been named by 

 Dr. Traquair and Dr. Smith Woodward, while the plants- 

 have been dealt with by Mr. Kidston. A complete geo- 

 logical bibliography of the North Staffordshire coalfieldsj, 

 covering fifteen pages, forms a valuable appendix. 



The Triassic and Glacial deposits are described in 

 separate chapters, and the econoinic products of the Pottery. 

 Coalfields are treated in chapter xii. The latter account 

 includes the consideration of the future coal supply of the 

 district from the concealed coalfield, to which consider- 

 able attention is paid. In addition descriptions are added 

 of the local building stones, clays, and marls, supplemented 

 by an enumeration of the chief source of water. 



H. W. HlC.HES. 



T 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF POWER.' 

 WENTV-SIX y<ars ago, at the meeting of the British 

 .Association at Sheffield, .August, 1879, a lecture, on 

 " Electricity as a Motive Power," was delivered to some 

 thousands Of working men, and, for the first time, they 

 realised that forks and spoons could not only be plated 

 with the electric current, but could also be polished with 

 a brush .made to, spin with the sannc agency. 



The, sea of .upturned faces beamed with delight when 

 Jack, their popular comrade, stepped on to the platform, 

 took the new'ly plated spoon in his hands, and burnished it 

 — a pair of thin wires tied to a church steeple being the 

 only connecting link between the dynamo machine in a 

 neighbouring works — ordinarily used there for electro- 

 plating — and the electro-motor driving the polishing brush 

 in the Albert Hall, Sheffield. 



But ah electro-motor is only a toy, thought tny audience: 

 nobody could construct an electro-motor that we could 

 not stop with our hands ; and at the end of my lecture 

 they actually tried, and — wondered. 



As far as I am aware, it was at that lecture that the 

 following composite suggestion was first put forward — to 

 obtain economy in electric transmission of power the current 

 must be kept, small, while to transmit much power the 

 electric pressure betw^een the conducting wires must be 

 made large; and, lastly, to secure safety and convenience 



1 Lecture delivered on Tuesday, .iVugust 29. at a meeting of the British 

 Associ.-itipn in Johannesbure, by Pmf. W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S., and illus- 

 trated with many experiments • n moving m.-ichinery, diagrams and 

 lantern slides, two lanJerns being vised, in the American fashion, for 

 enabling pictures to be contrasted on the screen. 



