426 



NA TURE 



[September 23, 1922 



Current Topics and Events. 



Stagnation of trade in the year 1921 is responsible 

 for a situation in the American dyestuff industry 

 resembling, in many respects, that which prevailed 

 in this country. Firms engaged in the manufacture 

 of coal-tar derivatives numbered 201, of which 74 

 produced colouring -matters with an output of 

 39,000,000 lb., while the sales exceeded 47,000,000 

 lb. Thus the domestic consumption of that year 

 was in part supplied from the large stocks carried 

 over from the previous year's abnormally high pro- 

 duction. Nevertheless, it is satisfactory to note that 

 progress was made in the direction of a wider range, 

 many dyes of greater complexity and more specialised 

 application being produced and marketed for the 

 first time in the United States ; although such 

 materials do not make substantial additions to the 

 bulk of production, they are essential factors in the 

 development of a flourishing domestic industry. 

 Further encouragement follows from the circum. 

 stance that in the year 1914 the United States im- 

 ported nearly 46,000,000 lb. of dyes and produced 

 only 6,000,000 lb., almost entirely from German 

 intermediates. There are still requirements which 

 have to be met from foreign sources, however, 

 3,914,036 lb. being imported in 1921, principally 

 from Germany (48 per cent.) and Switzerland (41 

 per cent.) ; while this quantity exceeds by 511,454 lb. 

 the amount imported in 1920, the average price has 

 fallen from 1-7 dollars for that year to 1-3 dollars for 

 1 92 1. Simultaneously, the price of domestic dyes 

 has fallen from an average of 1-08 dollars per lb. in 

 1920 to 83 cents in 1921. From an American stand- 

 point, the most disturbing feature of the year under 

 review is the diminution of exports, the value of 

 which has fallen from 29,833,591 dollars in 1920 

 to 6,270,139 dollars in 192 1 ; the total exports 

 thus fell below those of the year 1917, when the 

 first considerable expansion of the domestic dye- 

 manufacturing industry from pre-war dimensions 

 was noted. 



Subject to the sanction of Parliament, the Ministry 

 of Agriculture is putting forward a further scheme for 

 the drainage of agricultural land as a measure towards 

 the relief of unemployment, especially in rural dis- 

 tricts. It is estimated that last winter not less than 

 340,000 acres were relieved of flooding or water- 

 logging, but a far greater area is still in need of 

 drainage. The scheme is designed for the improve- 

 ment of arterial drains and watercourses, and grants 

 cannot be made in aid of such work as tile-draining or 

 the cleansing of field ditches. The work must in all 

 cases be completed by March n, 1923, as no public 

 money will be forthcoming after March 31 next. All 

 schemes from Drainage Authorities must be submitted 

 to the Ministry before December 1, and from County 

 Agricultural Committees before December 16. As 

 the main object to be achieved is to get unemployed 

 men rapidly to work, the Ministry does not intend to 

 let any unnecessary formalities stand in the way of 

 schemes that can be put into operation promptly. 



NO. 2760, VOL. I 10] 



The Journal of the Royal Society of Arts for August 4 

 contains the three Cantor Lectures recently delivered 

 before the Society by Mr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell, on 

 " Inks." It is sixty-five years since a communication 

 was made to the Society on this subject — the previous 

 one being a paper by Mr. Underwood in 1857. The 

 lecturer traces the use of inks as far back as 2697 B - c -» 

 the date of an old Chinese manuscript in which is 

 described the process of making Chinese ink from 

 lamp-black and glue. Iron gall inks are known to 

 have been used in this country as early as the ninth 

 century a.d. The use of indigo in blue-black ink 

 was introduced in this country in 1836 by Stephens. 

 Aniline dyes were certainly used in inks more than 

 forty years ago, but their presence in the inks in 

 entries in old family Bibles put forward as proofs 

 that claimants for old age pensions were seventy years 

 old, has several times been fatal to the claim. Docu- 

 ments alleged to date from 1719 to 1792 in support of 

 a claim to a baronetcy were proved to be written with 

 ink containing aniline dyes, and therefore were 

 certainly very much more recent. The manufacture, 

 properties, sophistication, analysis, and legal aspects 

 of the uses of inks of various kinds were discussed by 

 the lecturer. 



We have already referred in these columns to the 

 formation of LTnstitut d'Optique and the publication 

 of the Revue d'Optique in France. These measures 

 have been taken in order that she may manufacture 

 all the optical instruments she requires at home, in- 

 stead of importing them. The July issue of the 

 Bulletin of the Societe d'Encouragement pour lTn- 

 dustrie nationale contains a report on the first two 

 years' work of the Institut. According to this report 

 the services of the Institut are likely to be in great 

 demand in the near future, and the accommodation 

 at present provided must be extended. More instru- 

 ments for the practical work of students are required, 

 and time must be allowed in the three years' course 

 for laboratory work. It is hoped that the publication 

 of the lecture courses will reduce the time of attend- 

 ance at lectures and thus provide the additional time 

 required in the laboratory. The researches which 

 the optical industry requests the Institut to carry 

 out are increasing in number and importance and 

 show that it meets a real need. 



The fourth centenary of the first circumnavigation 

 of the world was celebrated at Guetaria, near San 

 Sebastian, on September 7. Guetaria was the birth- 

 place of Juan Sebastian del Cano, who succeeded 

 to the command of Magellan's expedition after the 

 leader was killed in the Philippines. He returned to 

 Spain in the Vittoria on September 6, 1522. An inter- 

 national fleet of twenty-one ships assembled in the 

 bay to take part in the centenary celebrations, at 

 which Great Britain was represented by Rear-Admiral 

 W. S. Nicholson in H.M.S. Curacoa. A service in 

 the old church was followed by a pageant depicting 

 the scenes which took place on del Cano's return. 



