August 26, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



265 



search work, which go far to explain why 

 it is that sulphur in cast iron tends to 

 make it white, and why silicon tends in the 

 opposite direction. Reference has already 

 been made to the meeting which the section 

 will hold jointly with the Sections A and 

 G on Friday, September 2. The following 

 Monday morning will be devoted to a joint 

 meeting with Section I (physiology) and 

 K (botany), for the purpose of a discus- 

 sion on the subject of the "Bio-chemistry 

 of Respiration ' ' ; while in the afternoon 

 the "Neglect of Science by Commerce and 

 Industry" will be considered in conjunc- 

 tion with Section L (educational science). 

 The sitting of Tuesday, September 6, it is 

 proposed to devote to the consideration 

 of papers of a metallurgical interest. Con- 

 tributions to this day's proceedings have 

 been promised by Professor Arnold, F.R.S., 

 on "A Fourth Recalescence in Steel ' ' ; 

 Professor Me William on "The Influence 

 of Chemical Composition and Thermal 

 Treatment on the Properties of Steels"; 

 Dr. S. Monckton Copeman, F.R.S., on 

 "Ferro-Silicon"; Dr. S. N. Friend, on 

 ' ' The Corrosion of Iron and Steel ' ' ; Dr. 

 Rosenhaim, and Professor Howe. 



Professor H. E. Armstrong hopes to con- 

 tribute a paper on "The Provident Use of 

 Coal, ' ' in which he will raise the important 

 question of using coal in such a way that 

 the valuable constituents — gas, volatile 

 substances, pitch, coke — are all, as far as 

 possible, got out of it. This is a problem 

 of national importance, and it will be in- 

 teresting to see how far Professor Arm- 

 strong is able to advance its practical solu- 

 tion. Two reports will be presented to the 

 section, one on ' ' Combustion ' ' by Professor 

 Bone, F.R.S., and the other on "Solubil- 

 ity," by Dr. S. V. Eyre. Professor Bone 

 will also describe and demonstrate a new 

 method of heating by gaseous combustion, 

 and its industrial application. The report 



and demonstration will be especially in- 

 teresting in connection with the joint meet- 

 ing for the discussion of such questions 

 with the physicists and engineers. From 

 the Sheffield University Chemical Labora- 

 tory papers in organic chemistry have been 

 promised by Professor Wynne, F.R.S., and 

 Dr. S. F. Thorpe, F.R.S., and in physical 

 chemistry by Mr. W. E. S. Turner and 

 others. 



Mr. A. D. Hall, F.R.S., director of the 

 Rothamsted Experimental Station of the 

 Lawes Agricultural Trust, is this year 

 chairman of the agricultural subsection, 

 which is attached to Section B. He will 

 devote his chairman's address to a history 

 of opinions as to the causes of the fertility 

 of the soil. After allusion to the men of 

 the seventeenth century — Kenelm Digby 

 and Evelyn — who fixed on the niter of the 

 soil as the source of its fertility, he will 

 proceed to the early nineteenth century, 

 when the first exact knowledge of the nu- 

 trition of the plant was obtained. This will 

 lead to the chemical theory of the soil with 

 Daubeny's distinction between dormant 

 and active plant food, and the more re- 

 cent developments of such a theory. The 

 breakdown of this hypothesis led to another 

 theory that regarded all soils as possessing 

 an excess of plant food, their behavior 

 towards water being the factor which made 

 them fertile or unfertile. A development 

 of this latter theory has been to regard 

 plants as excreting toxins injurious to 

 themselves, so that an unfertile soil is one 

 laden with the products of the previous 

 growth of the same class of plants. With 

 the discovery of bacteria in the soil a 

 theorj^ grew up which regarded fertility 

 as due to the rate at which the soil could 

 produce nitrates; a later development of 

 this theory has arisen through the discov- 

 ery in the soil of protozoa, which by keep- 

 ing down the number of bacteria limit the 



