70 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1438 



to take advantage of the openings that public 

 policy seemed to offer? 



We were informed on the highest authority 

 that British effort, in the universities and in 

 technical works, overtook and far out-distanced 

 that long start that German miUtary chemists 

 possessed as regards noxious gases and other 

 agents of chemical warfare. Has that superiority 

 now disappeared, and why? One maj' even ask, 

 judging from public pronouncements, is the same 

 the case with our war-time superioritj' in aircraft 

 and the relative scientific problems? Or is it that 

 these things are now back under official control, 

 with copious production of Blue-books? 



A dozen years ago my duties threw me in the 

 way of observing some of the great German 

 university chemists who developed into chemical 

 engineers on the grand scale and founded the 

 German industry. While struck by their quiet 

 capacity and apparent friendliness, it did not 

 appear for a moment that they rated themselves 

 higher than their British colleagues who had 

 never had the same opportunities. 



AGRICULTURE AND WIRELESS TELEPHONY 

 IN FRANCE 



An editorial article in the London Times 

 says: 



While England has been considering France 

 has acted and has arranged to bring wireless 

 telephony to the assistance of agriculture. A gen- 

 erous extension of the telephone system to rural 

 districts has long been urged on our own General 

 Post Office. It would help to redress the isolation 

 of the country and it would confer the special 

 benefit of prompt knowledge of approaching 

 meteorological changes. Farmers and gardeners, 

 who are at the mercy of vagaries of the weather, 

 could do much to arrange their work or even to 

 protect their crops were they in possession of 

 weather bulletins such as are posted at harbors 

 for the benefit of fishermen and mariners. But 

 the cost of telephone cables has retarded the 

 progress of extensions, and would, indeed, pro- 

 hibit even the ultimate completion of a sufficient 

 network. According to a message from our 

 Paris correspondent, printed in our columns last 

 Wednesday, Prance has overcome the difficulties 

 of cost and" distance by a prompt application of 

 wireless telephony. The ministers of air and of 

 agriculture, acting in concert, have arranged that 

 the National Meteorological Office shall ' ' broad- 

 cast ' ' a weather bulletin twice daily. Every 

 commune will have a receiving station in the 

 parish school or police station, where the mes- 



sages will be received and posted. It is pro- 

 posed, further, that the peasants shall be warned 

 of any sudden storm by ringing the village bell. 

 Such an organization is well suited to rural 

 France, where, for the most part, the owners are 

 the actual cultivators and live in villages from 

 which they sally forth to their fields. It would 

 require modification in this country, where the 

 isolated farm rather than the village is the center 

 which would have to be reached. But messages 

 issued by the Meteorological Office, now under 

 the Air Ministry, could be received at suitablj' 

 chosen towns, from which they would be redis- 

 tributed not only to villages, but to farms in 

 possession of the cheap wireless receivers already 

 at the disposal of the general community. 



THE MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION 



At a recent meeting of the Royal Geograph- 

 ical Society Sir Francis Younghusband, the 

 president, made the following announcement 

 in regard to the Mount Everest Expedition : 



As this is the last meeting of the session and 

 consequently the last occasion on which I shall 

 have the honor of addressing you as your presi- 

 dent, perhaps yon will allow me to summarize the 

 results of the Mount Everest Expedition, so far 

 as we at present know them. The climbers were 

 on June 6 to have made a final effort to reach 

 the summit — or raither the real attempt, for the 

 previous efforts were more in the nature of 

 reconnaissances. But we know that the monsoon 

 broke on June 3 and we fear that this will have 

 definitely frustrated any further effort. 



But the expedition has, in spite of terrific 

 weather, already accomplished much. As you 

 know, they have reached 26,800 feet without oxy- 

 gen and 27,300 feet with its aid. And in accom- 

 plishing these great feats they have gained much 

 experience for future use. They have ascertained 

 that the mountain itself at the highest points 

 reached is, in Mallory's words, "not difficult," 

 and Finch and Bruce were able to proceed along 

 the north face without ropes. Mallory was con- 

 vinced, too, that with favorable weather the 

 porters could have carried a camp to 26,000 feet 

 and so brought the climbers within reach of the 

 summit. And Pinch's experience was that by a 

 moderate use of oxygen in camp both sleep and 

 hunger were induced. So that, even if the final 

 climbers did not carry oxygen on them, they 

 might start from their high camp refreshed by 

 its use. 



The experience gained this year also shows that 

 skilled mountaineers are able to take those un- 



