Notes and Comments. 215 
British steel metallurgy owes to German inventors, and (2) 
that the steel department of the University of Sheffield has 
done work greatly superior to that of the corresponding depart- 
ment at Charlottenburg. The following is the claim bearing 
on the latter thesis:—‘ There are about twenty-nine con- 
stituents or sub-constituents of steel and iron. Of these, 
twenty-six have been discovered in Sheffield, the steelopolis 
of Great Britain ; three in Middlesbrough, its ironopolis ; and 
the record of Charlottenburg in this branch of research is 
absolutely blank.’ 
THE ‘ IDEAL CURATOR.’ 
Different people have different ideas as to the duties and 
accomplishments of Museum Curators. We know of several 
‘ideal curators,’ but the writer of the following paragraph 
taken from the daily press, has evidently peculiar views as to 
a curator’s duties :—‘ In George IV.’s wardrobe were found 
many things that could not be offered for sale—countless 
bundles of women’s love letters, women’s gloves, and locks 
of women’s hair. These were destroyed. And five hundred 
pocket-books came to light, all containing sums of money, 
£10,000 in all was thus collected. For the King was a great 
hoarder and yet systematic in his hoarding. He carried the 
catalogue of his wardrobe in his head, and could, it is said, 
call for anything at any moment. He would have made an 
ideal curator of a museum.’ 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 
We should like to congratulate the Secretary of the British 
Association on the fact that the annual reports are now being 
issued a little more promptly. In the past we have been 
given to understand that it was impossible for the report of 
one meeting to be issued much before the eve of the next ; 
impossible or not, the reports now appear earlier than they did. 
The report of the 1914 meeting, notwithstanding the fact 
that it was held in Australia, was received by us on June 4th. 
We shall still hope that the day will come when the report 
is issued during the same year as the meeting. 
SECTIONS OF COAL STRATA. 
From the Midland Institute of Mining, Sheffield, has been 
issued two valuable volumes, the first being entitled ‘ Sections 
of Strata of the Coal Measures of Yorkshure, together with a 
few Derbyshire Sections, compiled from Records of Borings 
and Sinkings’ (303 pages, royal 8vo), and the second, * Cross 
Country Sections and Map of Yorkshire Coalfield.’ The 
sections were prepared by Messrs. W. H. Chambers, H. St. 
John Durnford, John Gerrard, Prof. F. W. Hardwick, W. 
Hargreaves, W. H. Humble, T. W. H. Mitchell, J. Nevin, 
1915 July 2. 
