5§2 



NA TURE 



October 28, 1922 



amounting to 100,000/. in 1/. shares, has been 

 guaranteed by the British Thomson-Houston Com- 

 pany, General Electric Company, Marconi's Wireless 

 Telegraphy Company, Metropolitan-Vickers Electri- 

 cal Company, Radio Communication Company, and the 

 Western Electric Company : bona-fide British manu- 

 facturers alone will be allowed to join the broadcasting 

 company and may take up one or more shares. The 

 guaranteeing companies are immediately responsible 

 for 60,000/. of the capital, and the balance of 40,000/. is 

 offered for subscription : should applications be received 

 for a number of shares in excess of the balance men- 

 tioned, the guaranteeing companies will reduce their 

 holdings with the view of meeting the applications of 

 other manufacturers. Lord Gainford has consented to 

 become the chairman of the board of the broadcasting 

 company, which, in the words of its memorandum, is 

 a public utility service for the broadcasting of news, 

 information, concerts, lectures, educational matter, 

 speeches, weather reports, and theatrical entertain- 

 ments. Each member of the broadcasting company 

 is required to make a deposit of 50/., returnable to 

 him when he withdraws therefrom ; he must also 

 enter into an undertaking neither to sell any apparatus, 

 except batteries, accumulators, and aerial equipment, 

 not made in this country, nor to make broadcasting 

 apparatus for any person who is not a member of 

 the company. For transmission purposes, every 

 member owning an invention must give the use of 

 the same to the company, i.e. all patents are to be 

 pooled, so that the broadcasting company will be 

 free of royalties. The expenses of broadcasting are 

 to be met partly from the fees collected on broad- 

 casting licences, the Postmaster-General having 

 agreed to pay over one half of the 10s. to be charged 

 for each licence to the company, and partly by 

 contributions, on a royalty basis, to be made by the 

 members of the broadcasting company ; the scale of 

 these contributions ranges from 2/. 5s. in respect of 

 each three-valve set to 2d. in respect of each single 

 valve sold. The date for opening broadcasting 

 services has not yet been definitely fixed. 



At a joint meeting of the Royal Geographical 

 Society and the Alpine Club on October 16, General 

 the Hon. G. C. Bruce, Mr. G. L. Mallory, and Mr. G. I. 

 Finch gave accounts of the recent expedition which 

 failed by 1700 ft. to reach the summit of Mount 

 Everest. Mr. Mallory said that in light of the 

 experience gained this year the problem of climbing 

 the mountain must be reviewed afresh. The most 

 important modification must be in respect of porters. 

 On this expedition porters had carried a camp to 

 25,500 ft. and had shown astonishingly little fatigue. 

 It seemed certain that after a night's rest at 25,000 ft. 

 the porters could carry a camp to 27,000 ft. If this 

 could be done, it would facilitate the task, which 

 would then depend on the endurance of the trained 

 climbers. This would entail a climb of 2000 ft. and 

 the corresponding descent in a day. The effort of 

 climbing the last 2000 ft. should not be considerably 

 greater than that of climbing from 25,000 ft. to 27,000 

 ft., for the difference in atmospheric pressure is only 

 08 in. between 27,000 ft. and the summit, compared 



NO. 2765, VOL. I IO] 



with a difference of 195 in. between sea-level and 

 27,000 ft. But the fatigue of the previous days' 

 efforts and possibly the ill-effects of sleeping at high 

 altitudes would tell against the climber on the last 

 lap. Mr. Mallory is not inclined to think that with 

 the help of oxygen the feat was impossible. A 

 significant fact was that three climbers at a height of 

 27,000 ft. felt no special distress. Two other con- 

 siderations must be borne in mind : the dangers 

 involved in avalanches and in the possible loss of 

 muscular power, and the difficulties due to weather. 

 The latter was most serious. Unless the bad weather 

 of this year was abnormal, the weather factor reduces 

 the likelihood of men reaching the summit of Mount 

 Everest and descending in safety. 



It was stated in Nature for September 16, p. 394, 

 that a committee had been appointed to work out a 

 proposed Federation of American Biological Societies. 

 The constitution proposed by that committee is pub- 

 lished in Science for September 29. It follows the main 

 lines adumbrated in our previous note. We are glad 

 to observe that, in the opinion of the committee, the 

 Federation should in no way conflict with existing 

 organisations, but should rather strengthen their 

 efforts and should avoid unnecessary duplication of 

 effort and expenditure. It proposes therefore to act 

 in close co-operation with such existing agencies as 

 the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science and the National Research Council. The 

 ldnd of work that may be undertaken by such a 

 Federation appears from the fact that the proposed 

 constitution calls for the appointment of a Committee 

 on Bibliography and Publication to act in co-operation 

 with similar committees that may be appointed by 

 the two bodies just mentioned. It may be remem- 

 bered that the British Association has a committee 

 dealing with the zoological branches of this subject, 

 and that the recent Conference of Corresponding 

 Societies requested the Council of the British Associa- 

 tion to inquire into the general question of scientific 

 bibliography. 



Mr. Spurley Hey, Director of Education in the 

 city of Manchester, has been moved by our article on 

 " Children and Museums " (Nature, September 2, 

 1922) to send us a report on the lectures for elementary 

 school children in the Museums and Art Galleries of 

 Manchester. We were well aware of the admirable 

 work begun in Manchester as a war measure, but 

 found so successful that it has since been continued 

 and extended. Classes are at present held in six 

 institutions, and it is hoped to include three others. 

 Of the eleven demonstrators engaged, nine are 

 certificated teachers. Every attempt is made to 

 co-ordinate the museum work with the inside work 

 of the schools. There seems to be a larger demand 

 for the science courses than for those at the art 

 galleries, but all the courses are exceedingly popular 

 with the children. The general opinion seems to be 

 that these classes awaken the intellect of the children. 

 It is natural that they should help them in such 

 subjects as geography and science, but it appears 

 that they also improve their drawing, teach them in 



