84 Notes and Comments. 



frequently happens these collections of pamphlets and authors' 

 reprints are of exceptional use to later students working on 

 the same lines. The present writer, for instance, has the 

 collections of authors' copies formed by the late Gwynn 

 Jeffreys, the late Sir Andrew Ramsay, the late C. P. Hobkirk 

 and others, which in each case should have been lodged in 

 some permanent institution. 



MICROSCOPIC SECTION OF COAL SEAM. 



At a meeting of the Leeds Geological Association, held at 

 the Leeds University recently, the Chairman (Professor Kendall) 

 drew the attention of the Association to an interesting gift 

 which has been made to the University by Sir William Garforth, 

 the head of the Altofts Colliery. It consists of a complete 

 thin section, in column, of every layer of one of the principal 

 coal seams in the Yorkshire coal-field. The gift was of immense 

 economic importance, showing as it did the various layers of 

 coal in such a way that it was possible to discover which 

 particular seams were liable, by spontaneous combustion, to 

 cause gob fires Professor Kendall characterised the making 

 of the section as being unique. It was the work of Mr. James 

 Lomax, and his son, of Bolton, Lancashire, and it was gratifying 

 to know that there were two men in England capable of this 

 astonishing feat. He knew of no other country in the world 

 where such a coal section, showing the constitution of coal at 

 every stage of its growth, had been prepared. 



PEAT PROBLEMS. 



At the same meeting a paper on ' Peat Problems/ with 

 lantern illustrations, was read by Miss Elsie D. Whitaker, 

 who is the first woman to whom a Leeds University fellowship 

 has been awarded. Miss Whitaker's paper dealt with the 

 properties and origin of peat in their relation to the formation 

 of coal, and gave an account of various North-country accumu- 

 lations of peat, mentioning as two of the main types those at 

 Goole and at Thome, near Doncaster. Pointing out that, 

 at the present time, research work in peat was divided into 

 two distinct classes, scientific and commercial, Miss Whitaker 

 urged that it would be well, in the interests of both science 

 and industry, if the two branches of study could be more 

 closely allied. 



LIGHT AND PHOTOTROPISM. 



At a recent meeting of the Linnean Society of London, a 

 paper was read by Harold Wager, D.Sc, F.R.S., F.L.S., 

 entitled ' Intensity and Direction of Light as Factors in 

 Phototropism,' and illustrated by lantern slides and models. 

 In this communication an account is given of experiments 

 made to determine the influence of the intensity and the 



Naturalist 



