20 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VII. No. 1201 



aeronautical branches of the Army and Navy, 

 and plans are being perfected at several of the 

 training camps for free-air observations in aid 

 of aeronautics and the firing of projectiles. 

 Copies may be obtained on application to the 

 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Practically inexhaustible deposits of man- 

 ganese dioxide, which is extremely valuable as 

 an iron-toughening material and in great de- 

 mand for war munition purposes, have been 

 found in the Cypress Hill in South-East 

 Albert, Canada. Eight hundred thousand 

 tons, worth approximately £11,000,000, have 

 been blocked out by ordinary post-hole augers 

 in the last few months. The aimouncement 

 is also made that the staff of the department 

 of mining of the University of Toronto have 

 discovered a process by which low-grade con- 

 centrates of molybdenite can be made at 

 little cost. Molybdenite is used for hardening 

 and toughening steel, and it is most useful in 

 the manufacture of high-speed tools. Quebec 

 is a larger producer, but the need for molyb- 

 denite is great, and the new process will, it is 

 stated, render available the deposits of low- 

 grade molybdenum ore which have been dis- 

 covered in Manitoba and British Columbia. 



It is stated in Nature that a report presented 

 at the Newcastle meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation last year directed attention to the lack 

 of organization and general neglect of higher 

 geodesy in the United Kingdom. The discus- 

 sion upon this report led to the extension of 

 the terms of reference of the committee so as 

 to include, in addition to geodesy, other de- 

 partments of geophysics, such as terrestrial 

 magnetism, tides, atmospheric electricity and 

 seismology. It was felt that steps should be 

 taken to constitute a committee or association 

 to promote the advance of the various branches 

 of science which deal with the physical, metri- 

 cal and dynamical properties of the earth, on 

 both their theoretical and observational sides. 

 Such a committee has now been appointed by 

 the British Association and has arranged 

 meetings for the discussion of geophysical 

 subjects. The first meeting was held in the 

 apartments of the Royal Astronomical Society 



on Wednesday, November 7, and will be pre- 

 sided over by the chairman of the committee. 

 Sir Erank W. Dyson, the Astronomer Eoyal, 

 who made a brief statement concerning the 

 objects and future program of the meetings. 

 The subject of magnetic surveys was intro- 

 duced by Dr. S. Chapman, who made a report 

 on magnetic surveys and charts by land and 

 sea throughout the world. Dr. G. W. Walker 

 gave an account of the recent magnetic survey 

 of the United Kingdom made under the au- 

 spices of the Eoyal Society and the British 

 Association. Major Lyons exhibited and de- 

 scribed two of Gauss's heliotropes, on loan to- 

 the Science Museima. Among the subjects 

 which the committee has under consideration 

 for report and discussion at later meetings 

 may be mentioned seiches and tides; atmos- 

 pheric electricity; British earthquakes, ob- 

 servatories; methods and instruments in 

 connection with the various branches of 

 geophysics; geodetic and gravity surveys, and 

 the constitution, temperature and other phys- 

 ical conditions, motions and secular changes 

 of the interior of the earth. 



According to the London Times the Neu$ 

 Ziircher Zeitung recently published a review 

 of German activities in technical matters in. 

 the field of war economics, in which it is 

 stated that systematic investigations into the 

 properties of pit coal have been carried on by 

 the " Kaiser Wilhelm Institut fiir Kohlen- 

 forschung," and have yielded important in- 

 dustrial results. The treatment of coal with 

 liquid sulphurous acid at ordinary tempera- 

 tures has produced viscous, golden-yellow 

 mineral oils, the amount produced being 5 

 kilogs, per metric ton. A process has also 

 been elaborated by which through heating 

 naphthalene under pressure, in the presence of 

 aluminium chloride, an oil is produced which 

 can be used for illuminating purposes in the 

 same manner as petroleum. The utilization 

 of lignite has been greatly extended. In the- 

 first place it is being used extensively as a 

 fuel in the industrial establishments which 

 have recently sprung up in the central Ger- 

 man lignite fields, especially in the neighbor- 

 hood of Bitterfeld and Halle a/S, where the- 



