October 4, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



543 



The other English and American members 

 present were : Sir William H. Bailey (Man- 

 chester), Mr. Bertram Blount (London), Dr. 

 C. J. Renshaw (Ashton-on-Mersey), and Dr. 

 R. Moldenke (New York). In addition to 

 the various reports of committees dealing 

 with technical problems, the following papers 

 dealing with metals were read and discussed : 

 *0n the Measurement of Internal Tension,' by 

 Mr. Mesnager (Paris) ; ' On the Forms of Carbon 

 in Iron,' by Baron Jiiptner (Leoben) ; ' On Bri- 

 nell's Researches,' by Mr. A. Wahlberg (Stock- 

 holm) ; ' On the Testing of Metals by Means of 

 Notched Bars,' by M. H. Le Chatelier (Paris), 

 by M. G, Charpy (Paris), and by Professor 

 Belelubsky (St. Petersburg) ; ' On Micrographi- 

 cal Researches on the Deformation of Metals,' 

 by Mr. F. Osmond (Paris); ' On Metallography,' 

 by Mr. E. Heyn (Charlottenberg) ; ' On the 

 Testing of Railway Material,' by Mr. E. Van- 

 derheym (Lyons) ; and ' On the International 

 Iron and Steel Laboratory,' by Professor H. 

 Wedding (Berlin). Several papers dealing 

 with stone and mortars were also read, and an 

 interesting lecture on the iron industry of 

 Hungary was delivered by Professor Edvi- 

 Illes (Budapest). 



It is now said that the German government 

 has authorized the purchase of the astronomical 

 instruments originally taken from Pekin by the 

 German soldiers. 



In addition to the Lucania, three other 

 steamships of the Cunard Line — the Campania, 

 the Umbria and the Etruria — will be fitted with 

 Marconi's system of wireless telegraphy. 



Consul Haynes, of Rouen, under date of 

 August 26, 1901, says that the metric system is 

 compulsory in twenty countries, representing 

 more than 300,000,000 inhabitants — Germany, 

 Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Spain, France, 

 Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Rou- 

 mania, Servia, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, 

 Argentine Republic, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, 

 Peru, and Venezuela — and advises American 

 exporters in dealing with any of these coun- 

 tries to adopt the system. 



We learn from the Electrical World that the 

 International Statistical Institute will hold this 

 year in Budapest, from September 20 until 



October 5, an international exhibit of all kinds 

 of machines and instruments which facilitate 

 work with figures. The aim of the exhibit is 

 to furnish to the most competent representa- 

 tives of scientific and practical statistics assem- 

 bled from different parts of the world the op- 

 portunity of gathering personal information 

 about this kind of technical construction. The 

 exhibit will include all kinds of inventions, 

 engines and apparatus which are intended to 

 facilitate work with figures in general, and es- 

 pecially those which are devised to facilitate the 

 compilation of statistical data and to perform 

 the necessary proportional calculations, and to 

 accelerate and render more economical statisti- 

 cal labor ; especially machines for adding, mul- 

 tiplying, dividing, tabulators, accounting ma- 

 chines for the combined compilation of data, etc. 

 It is announced that a commission, to be pre- 

 sided over by Sir Colin Scott-MoncriefF, is being 

 appointed to lay down rules for control of irri- 

 gation works in India. In connection with this 

 announcement the London Times quotes figures 

 given in the annual review of irrigation issued 

 recently in India. From them it appears that 

 22 of the large productive works realized a net 

 revenue amounting to 9.52 per cent, on the 

 capital outlay, while 13 others yielded only 0.79 

 per cent., reducing the average return to 7 per 

 cent. The total area of the crops irrigated or 

 protected exceeded 18 J millions of acres, being 

 an increase of over three quarters of a million 

 during the year. The principal enhancements 

 were in respect to the Punjab canals, the area 

 irrigated there exceeding all previous records 

 by over 300,000 acres, while the net return on 

 capital in respect to that province was as high 

 as 10.24 per cent. Still more gratifying re- 

 sults may be looked for in the current year, since 

 the great Jehlum Canal, begun in the autumn 

 of 1898, is to be formally opened in October, 

 and will irrigate a vast tract of country lying 

 between the Chenab and Jehlum rivers, a great 

 portion of which has hitherto lain waste. 

 Other large projects are being carried out in the 

 Punjab, and will, when ready, be worked on 

 the lines so successfully adopted in the case of 

 the Chenab colonies. The total surplus revenue 

 earned since irrigation works were undertaken 

 by government has been nearly ten millions 



