484 



NA TURE 



[September 5, 1907 



Prof. T. B. Wood described in detail experimental in- 

 vestigations from which he concludes that two factors 

 arc involved in the term strength, that of size, which is a 

 function of the gas evolved by the flour due to its diastatic 

 capacitj-, and that of shape, which is a function of the 

 proportion of acid and salts present in the flour. Mr. 

 Julian Baker mentioned some determinations of the 

 diastatic power of flours from which he infers that 

 diastase is always present in excess, so that the deter- 

 mination of diastatic power will not be of much value in 

 judging a flour. Dr. E. F. Armstrong alluded to the 

 importance of the gas formed during the early stages of 

 fermentation in distending and affecting the gluten, and 

 pointed out, as also did Mr. Baker, that the enzymes of 

 flour other than diastase should receive the closest 

 attention. 



GEOLOGY AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 

 'T'HE papers on local geology which followed the presi- 

 dent's address were of more than ordinary interest. 

 Mr. Fox Strangways dealt with the district round 

 Leicester as a whole, dwelling specially on those points 

 which are obscure and require further elucidation. Prof. 

 Watts gave an account of his researches in the rocks of 

 the Charnwood Forest. Dr. F. Bennett and Dr. B. 

 Stacey, in describing the felsltic agglomerates occurring 

 at Bardon Hill and in other parts of Charnwood, gave 

 a new reading of some of the features described by Prof. 

 Watts. These questions raised an interesting discussion, 

 which was carried on, not only in the sectional meetings, 

 but also in the field, when the localities were visited in the 

 course of the admirable series of afternoon excursions which 

 had been arranged by the local secretary of the section. 



A full day was given to papers dealing with the Triassic 

 rocks. Mr. H. T. Ferrar led off with a description of 

 the features and activities of the desert regions of eastern 

 and western Egypt, and he dealt more particularly with 

 those which have a bearing on the origin of the British 

 Trias. The Libyan Desert presents broad, featureless 

 plains, with no very definite drainage system, and the 

 veneer of waste is protected from removal by wind by 

 layers of pebbles. The Etbai, on the other hand, displays 

 bare hillsides free from debris, aggrading wadis, no sand 

 dunes, and an integrated drainage system. 



The origin of the Trias about Leicester w-as very ably 

 discussed by Mr. T. O. Bosworth. He showed that the 

 Charnian rocks beneath the Keuper were fresh right up 

 to the surface, and when the marl had been denuded, the 

 igneous rocks of Mount Sorrel, Croft, Scapcote, Groby, 

 Sec, were smoothed, fretted, and carved by wind action. 

 The beds themselves dip in the direction of the slope of 

 the underlying rocks, and catenary bedding is seen at 

 Croft and Groby. At the base of the marls, too, there 

 are breccias with chemically unaltered stones, and these 

 he considered to be desert screes. .Such evidence of sub- 

 aqueous deposition as there is points to the existence of 

 occasional streams and salt pools rather than the deep 

 waters of one great Keuper lake. 



Messrs. Keay and Gimson discussed the relation of the 

 Keuper marls to the pre-Cambrian rocks at Bardon Hill. 

 They showed that the Keuper fills in joints of the pre- 

 Cambrian rocks to a height of 880 feet, which is the 

 greatest altitude yet reached in Britain for any rocks of 

 the Triassic system. 



Dr. Cullis, in dealing with the mineralogical constitu- 

 tion of the Keuper marls in the west of England, 

 announced the discovery of minute crystals of dolomite, 

 which he contended were precipitated from the waters of 

 an inland sea. In the discussion which followed, Mr. 

 Lomas showed that dolomite was absent from the Keuper 

 marls of the north of England, and their occurrence in 

 the sands now being laid down by the River Mersey 

 showed that other modes of origin are possible. The 

 exact manner in which limestones become dolomitised and 

 crystals of dolomite are produced in sands is still a matter 

 of great uncertainty, and no satisfactory explanation has 

 yet been offered. 



Messrs. Bolton and Waterfall communicated a naper 

 on the occurrence of boulders of strontia in the Upper 



NO. 1975, VOL. 76] 



Triassic marls of Abbots Leigh, near Bristol. This re- 

 markable deposit contains boulders of all sizes from a pea 

 to 100 tons in weight ; the yield is about 2000 tons per 

 acre, and it has become the principal world's supply of 

 this mineral. 



The fifth report of the committee appointed to mvesti- 

 gate the fauna and flora of the Trias was presented by 

 the secretary. To this report Dr. A. Smith Woodward 

 contributed ' an important paper on a mandible of 

 Labyrinthodon leptogiiathus, Owen, recently obtained from 

 the Keuper sandstone of Cubbington Heath, near Leam- 

 ington. Its structure confirms the recent conclusions as 

 to'' the complex nature of the mandibular ramus of 

 Labyrinthodonts, .nnd helps to connect these early 

 amphibians with the Palajozoic Crossopterygian fishes. 



Mr. H. C. Bcaslev has taken advantage of the great 

 find of footprints at' Storeton, in Cheshire, last year to 

 re-describe some of the forms hitherto imperfectly known, 

 and Mr. Lomas gave a detailed account of a large slab 

 recently presented to the Liverpool University. This slab 

 gives a track containing fifteen impressions made by the 

 same individual, and the markings arc so perfect that the 

 minutest detail of the skin, claws, and movements of the 

 animal which made them, can be observed. It is sug- 

 gested that Cheirotherium w'alked erect, and only used 

 the manus to steadv itself when bending down to drink 

 or feed. The rocks containing the footprints have been 

 found to contain, besides quartz, felspars, zircon, tourma- 

 line, anatase, rutile, kyanite, staurolite, chert, and 

 numerous black grains not identified. 



Mr. A. R. Horwood also contributed to the report an 

 account of the plants and animal remains found in the 

 Leicestershire Trias, and a bibliography of works referring 

 to the flora and fauna of the Keuper of the district. 



Mr. L. J. Wills gave an account of a very rich 

 assemblage of fossils he recently obtained from (he Lower 

 Keuper of Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire. 



Prof. Seeley, in describing the structure of the mandible 

 of a South .African Labyrinthodont, pointed out the grea 

 resemblance between the British Triassic fauna and thr 

 of the Karroo in South .\frica. 



A discussion on iron-ore supplies was opened by J 

 Bennett Brough and Prof. Sjogren. Mr. Brough c 

 tended that as the production and consumption of 1 



per head of population is increasing year by year, ai 

 the world's production in 1905 attained the enormo 

 •total of 56.000,000 tons, the outlook for the future 

 disquieting, though not necessarilv depressing. The futu 

 of the home demand is likely to be affected by the develc 

 ment of the basic open-hearth process of steel maku 

 which enables phosphoric ores to be utilised. Thedeveli 

 ment of magnetic concentration and of the briquettt 

 of pulverulent ores for furnace use will render possil 

 greater utilisation of poorer ores, and the electric furna 

 will doubtless render it possible to use black sands a 

 other titaniferous iron ores, which cannot be treated pro 

 ablv in the blast furnace. , • j i- 



Prof. Sjogren took a more hopeful outlook m_ deal 

 with the Scandinavian iron ores. These are distributedi 

 "ore-provinces" characterised by special geological str- 

 tures. While the view that the iron-ore supply is - 

 limited is not well founded, the professor estimated_ f 

 the total supplv for the difl'erent provinces in Scandina 

 is 1 105 millions of tons of ore, equivalent to 582 millH 

 of tons of pig iron. Of these, 60 millions contain a ' 

 percentage of phosphorus and are suitable for reduCi 

 bv the Bessemer process, 545 millions are richer in pl- 

 phorus and can be worked bv the basic-hearth proc, 

 and 500 millions are lean ores only profitable to srt 

 after magnetic concentration. 



Continuing the dicussion. Prof. Lapworth congratulaiec 

 the association upon the importance of the communiGy 

 tions. He referred to the great changes in the_ positioi 

 of the centre of gravity of the iron industry. Years ag 

 the native forests served for the w^orking of the ore 

 when the Weald was the great centre of output. V "'e 

 coal came to be used, the coalfields bernme the ^ "■ 

 centres, and in later davs the ores of the Lias and Oc^ 

 had come to the front, and probably for some time t^ 

 would be the chief British sources of suoply. 



Mr. G. W. Lamplugh said that an important aspect ^ 



