January 3, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



39 



sions. Similar prfeparations made before the 

 ascent showed no such appearances. M. Gaule 

 therefore considers that at high altitudes there 

 is an actual formation of red corpuscles and 

 that this takes place with great rapidity. At 

 the following meeting M. Tissot and M. 

 Haillon §ave an account of researches on a 

 somewhat analogous subject. On November 

 21 they undertook some researches at various 

 altitudes into the physics and chemistry of 

 the respiration. Experiments were made at 

 the following heights : 1,350 meters, 2,600 

 meters, and 4,450 meters in the case of M. 

 Tissot, and at 1,700 meters and 3,500 meters 

 in the case of M. Haillon. The chemical 

 phenomena of the respiration did not vary 

 appreciably at these different altitudes. The 

 respiratory rhythm, however, was greatly 

 modified. Although the total quantity of air 

 entering the lungs was less the number of 

 respirations was not sensibly altered. It 

 would thus appear that at high altitudes the 

 air is purer and more completely used. 



The London Times states that Sir Colin 

 Scott Moncrieff, has been appointed by the 

 Secretary of State for India to preside over a 

 commission to consider exhaustively the possi- 

 bilities of further protection against famine 

 by means of irrigation. His colleagues will be 

 Mr. Ibbetson (recently appointed to fill a pros- 

 pective vacancy in the Viceroy's council), Mr. 

 Higham, of the Irrigation Department, and 

 the Hon. Ml-. Eajaratna Mudaliyar, of Madras. 

 The Punjab, Sind and Eajputana are the parts 

 of India to be first visited as being most sus- 

 ceptible to the advantages of irrigation. Other 

 provinces will then be taken one after the 

 other, Burma alone being left unvisited. In 

 order that the commission may be assisted in 

 its inquiries by local knowledge, each provin- 

 cial administration has been asked to nomi- 

 nate an experienced revenue ofiicer to be a 

 member of the commission for the period that 

 it remains in the province. The terms of refer- 

 ence to the commission show that the inquiry 

 will be of a most exhaustive character. The 

 Government resolution points out that the 

 irrigation works hitherto constructed by the 

 State have on the whole proved directly re- 

 munerative, but it is recognized that the pro- 



gram of works of this kind may be approach- 

 ing completion. • The gi'eat storage works re- 

 quired for any considerable extension of irri- 

 gation in tracts most exposed to famine must 

 necessarily be more costly per acre protected, 

 and therefore less remunerative than com- 

 pleted works, which draw unfailing and per- 

 ennial supplies from the great rivers of North- 

 ern and Southern India. As regards new 

 works, therefore, the Commission is directed 

 to regard as the main question not whether 

 they will be likely to prove directly remunera- 

 tive, but whether the net financial burden 

 which they may impose on the State in the 

 form of charges for interest and maintenance 

 will be too high a price to pay for the protec- 

 tion against famine which they may be re- 

 lied on to afford. One of the most valuable 

 results that may be anticipated from the labors 

 of a Commission taking this as its guiding 

 principle will be to authoritatively set at rest 

 the assumption that in all cases areas liable to 

 famine can be protected by irrigation with 

 comparatively small cost annually to the State. 



The London Times states that the National 

 Association of British and Irish Millers have 

 decided to institute an inquiry into the whole 

 question of the relative strengths of English 

 and American wheats, and have secured the 

 cooperation of the Southeastern Agricultural 

 College at "Wye, Kent, in the agricultural side 

 of the work. The question has arisen in con- 

 sequence of complaints by agriculturists that 

 English millers will not purchase English- 

 grown wheats as they did formerly, but give 

 the preference to American wheat, though they 

 have to pay a higher price for it. The millers 

 reply that, however favorably they may be 

 situated for obtaining home-grown corn, they 

 cannot sell for bread-making purposes flour 

 made from English wheats, because they lack 

 the strength of the American kinds. It is 

 hoped that the inquiry will result in an im- 

 provement in the quality and yield of Eng- 

 lish wheat. For this season the Southeastern 

 Agricultural College is sowing the same 

 wheats on different soils ; different manures are 

 being tried, and the wheats in each case will 

 be tested by milling and baking. New varie- 

 ties are being obtained from Canada and 



