July 20, 1922 



NA TURE 



i59 



Atomic Weight of Silver, and the Dielectric Constants 

 of Dry Gases " in the chemistry department, and Mr. 

 Challenor will continue his work on " Ring Formation 

 in the Aromatic and Aliphatic Series of Organic Chem- 

 istry " in the chemistry department, both under the 

 direction of- Prof. H. B. Baker. Mr. Buston will carry 

 out investigations on " Nitrogenous Metabolism in 

 Plants " in the biochemistry department under the 

 supervision of Prof. J. B. Farmer. 



The final attempt, .at least for this year, to reach 

 the summit of Mount Everest was made on June 7. 

 The party, according to General Bruce's despatch 

 to the Times, consisted of Messrs. Mallory, Somervell, 

 Finch, Wakefield and Crawford, with native coolies. 

 From the outset bad weather was experienced. 

 Captain Finch, feeling the result of his great exertions 

 during the previous climb, had to give up and return. 

 On the North Col the rest of the party were caught 

 in an avalanche ; Messrs. Mallory, Somervell and 

 Crawford and one porter were able to extricate 

 themselves unhurt, but the second party consisting 

 of porters were overwhelmed. Three of them were 

 rescued, but seven lost their lives. The attempt to 

 gain the summit was then abandoned. General 

 Bruce writes in terms of great praise of the loyalty 

 and devotion of the native porters, whose loss the 

 expedition felt keenly. Most of the Europeans with 

 the expedition appear to be suffering from exposure 

 at high altitudes ; there are several cases of frostbite. 

 It is not yet decided if a new attempt on Mount 

 Everest is to be made next season. Several members 

 of the exepedition, including Colonel Strutt, Dr. 

 Longstaff and Captain Finch, have already reached 

 England. 



For some time past the practicability of measuring 

 the depth of the ocean by means of sound waves 

 reflected from the bottom has been discussed. A 

 short explosive signal is made at the ship's hull 

 and the time of this, and the echo from the bottom, 

 are recorded. Apparently corrections are made for 

 temperature effects on the velocity of transmission 

 of the signal. Obviously the measurements can be 

 repeated very quickly, or they may even be carried 

 out automatically. It was announced in New York, 

 on Jul}' 6, that extended trials had been made by 

 Dr. Hayes, on board one of the U.S.A. destroyers, 

 with much success. The outline of the sea bottom 

 on a traverse between Rhode Island and Gibraltar 

 is said to have been charted and minute records 

 between Josephine and Tysburg Banks have been 

 obtained. The bottom here is an extensive plain, 

 bordered by mountains and tablelands rising to a 

 height of 4000 feet above the plain, and containing 

 several unrecorded deeps. Doubtless the apparent 

 uniformity of level over vast areas of ocean bottom 

 is to be explained partly by the paucity of deep 

 soundings : this applies particularly to much of the 

 Pacific Ocean. Should the new method prove trust- 

 worthy on critical investigation it will be possible 

 to study the minor differences of depth with ease. 



A memorandum regarding the probable amount 

 of monsoon rainfall in 1922 was submitted to the 



NO. 2752, VOL. I IO] 



Government of India in the early part of June by 

 Dr. G. T. Walker, Director-General of Observatories. 

 As frequently happens there are said to have been 

 temporary advances of the monsoon in May, and 

 in early June the rains began much earlier than usual 

 in upper India, but the advance did not persist. The 

 monsoon rainfall is affected by previous conditions 

 over various parts of the earth, and a summary is 

 given of the recent data which appear to be of im- 

 portance. Among the factors stated as available are : 

 a slight excess of snow in the mountain region of 

 north-west India, a deficiency of rainfall over Java 

 during the period of October to February, an excess 

 of rain in Ceylon during May, and an excess of pressure 

 at Mauritius in the same month. The data of Java, 

 the Azores, and South America are decidedly favour- 

 able, of Iceland and the Cape scarcely appreciable, 

 and of the east African coast decidedly unfavourable. 

 The resulting indication shows that the Peninsula 

 rainfall will be in excess, and for north-west India 

 the rain is likely to be slightly deficient but not far 

 from the normal. The establishment of the Arabian 

 Sea monsoon will probably be delayed. For Upper 

 Burma, north-east India, Mysore, and Malabar the 

 indications are said to be conflicting and a useful 

 forecast cannot be made. 



The Empire Forestry Association, which held its 

 inaugural meeting in November last, was founded 

 with the object of federating all the various societies 

 interested in forestry throughout the Dominions 

 overseas and India, as well as in the home countries. 

 One of the functions of the Association is to dissemi- 

 nate information by means of a journal, Empire 

 Forestry, the first number of which appeared in March. 

 This contains about a dozen articles, the most impor- 

 tant being a statement by Mr. R. L. Robinson, 

 Forestry Commissioner, concerning forestry practice 

 and available timber supplies throughout the Empire, 

 based on the latest official information and statistics. 

 Canada heads the list, as regards forest area, with 

 932,420 square miles of forest lands, of which, how- 

 ever, only 390,630 square miles are considered to be 

 merchantable, the remainder being unprofitable or 

 inaccessible. British India is second, with 126,310 

 square miles of merchantable forests ; Nigeria is next, 

 with 50,400 square miles ; while Australia has 37,840 

 square miles. It is fortunate that 75 per cent, of 

 the forest area of the Empire still belongs to the State. 

 There is time yet to preserve the forests from ruthless 

 destruction, by wise legislation aiming at effective 

 regulations as regards felling, natural regeneration, 

 and protection from fire. A useful feature in this 

 number of Empire Forestry is a list of books, reports, 

 and other publications on forestry and timbers, 

 issued in 1920 and 1921. 



Reports on lac, turpentine, and rosin have been 

 issued by the Imperial Institute (London : J. Murray . 

 5s. net). Shellac is a characteristic Indian product, 

 and indeed 94 per cent, of the world's supply comes 

 from India and Burma. It is a resinous exudation 

 produced by the lac insect, Coccus lacca, on various 

 trees. In spite of the practical monopoly enjoyed. 



