I have before referred to Miss Maury's c and b "divisions." It is interesting to see how the stars composing them arrange themselves on the ascending and descending arms. The facts are given in Figs. 9 and 10.

Prof. Ejnar Hertzsprung 10 has discussed the divisions of Miss Maury's classification, and while he finds that there is no systematic relationship between the a and b divisions with regard to spectral differences and differences of brightness, yet it is otherwise in the case of the c and ac divisions. The c stars, he finds, are very distant, and are extraordinarily bright. According to him (and) previously according to Miss Maury) they seem to suggest different physical constitutions from the other divisions, and he terms them "whales," while the other stars he considers as "fishes." In his paper he gives a list of twenty-four c and ac stars. All of these included in my catalogue, with two exceptions probably due to errors of

classification, fall on the ascending arm of the temperature curve (see Fig. 9).

They are thus found to be condensing swarms following in a natural sequence the more sparse swarms so rich in variables of the o Ceti type.

Their great luminosity is due more to volume than to temperature, and the special characteristics of the lines, as opposed to those of the a division, are due to the difference in absorbing conditions in sparse swarms and bodies with forming atmospheres, and also to the fact that the " "solar " lines only occur in stars of lower temperature. The stars of type "b," on the other hand, are seen to arrange themselves in an orderly sequence following on those of type "c" (Fig. 10). At the top of the ascending arm, where the sequence of c stars ends, the b stars come in, and extend round through the top of the curve down to the Sirian stage on the descending side. This sequence of the b on the c stars is a very suggestive As a c star approaches its maximum tem

one.

10 Astr. Nachrichten, vol. clxxix., No. 4296, p. 374.

perature, the physical conditions change from those giving rise to type c spectra to those from which spectra of type b are produced.

We are now in a position to derive some material results from the preceding considerations. In view of the definite manner in which the physical properties considered have shown themselves to be associated with the various groups on one arm of the curve or the other, we are justified in using these physical properties as criteria for locating stars on the ascending or descending arm of the temperature curve.

In the case of the constant bright line stars, Fig. 5 shows that considerations of their physical conditions may be made under the probability that all these bodies are in the neighbourhood of the maximum temperature attained during their evolution. Thus the twenty-six bright line stars mentioned earlier as being contained in the Harvard lists may be considered as being located on the temperature curve.

On the Harvard scheme, with the exception of classes M and N, stars may belong to either, as increasing and decreasing temperatures are neither recognised nor provided for. In classes M and N, as in my hypothesis, we are dealing with the bottoms of the ascending and descending branches, lowest temperatures and vastly differing conditions are involved. Hence we can classify as Antarian or Piscian all stars designated M or N on the Harvard system. We thus obtain from the Harvard Revised Photometry and the Second Catalogue of Variable Stars, about 650 and 70 of these two classes respectively.

Next, regarding the Cepheid variables, the Harvard Second Catalogue of Variable Stars contains thirty-four short period variables with approximately solar spectra. These are Cepheid variables, and may all be placed on the ascending arm, in conformity with the six already classified.

With regard to the eclipsing variables, those with continuously varying light-curves, like that of B Lyræ, will probably lie on the ascending arm of the temperature curve, and those like Algol may be expected to occur on the descending

branch.

Finally we have to deal with the "c" and "b" stars. From the manner in which the ten of Miss Maury's Type "c" stars, which have been classified at Kensington, aggregate aggregate on the ascending arm, we may place the remaining nine given in her tables 11 in corresponding positions.

From the same source we find about ninety stars of Type "b." Those classified at Kensington are seen to cluster round the top of the curve, and to extend down the descending arm. Hence, when considering the physical conditions of those not so classified, we may regard them as occupying similar positions.

We are thus able to add nearly 900 stars to the 470 already classified on the temperature basis at Kensington.12

NORMAN LOCKYER.

11 Annals Harv. Coll. Obs., vol. xxviii., part i.

12 Catalogue of 470 of the brighter stars.

THE MANUFACTURE OF DYESTUFFS.

IN an article in NATURE of January 21, p. 555, the National Dye Scheme put forward by the Board of Trade Advisory Committee on December 22, 1914, was outlined, and in some of its aspects the development of dye manufacture in this country is of such far-reaching national importance that the subject claims the close and continued attention of all men of science. As stated last week (p. 621), the original scheme has now been replaced by modified proposals, the full details of which are not, however, yet available.

The outstanding feature of the new scheme is that the Government has undertaken to make a grant to the new company, for a period of ten years and to a total amount not exceeding 100,000l., for the specific purpose of experimental and laboratory work, this grant being independent of the Government loan of a portion of the work

FIG. 1. A German coal-tar colour factory.

ing capital of the company.

Chemical research has thus officially been recognised and endowed as an essential factor in solving a national industrial problem; and this most important and far-reaching decision has everywhere been favourably received, and represents a permanent advance in public thought and official procedure. Probably the main factor in moving the Government to assist the development of dye manufacture is the fact that one and a half millions of workpeople are more or less dependent upon the continuance of the dyeing industry. While we realise these special claims to attention, we hope at the same time that similar practical steps will at once be taken to promote the development in this country of glass manufacture and other industries dependent for their success upon progressive scientific knowledge.

The new dye company is to have powers to arrange for the assistance of a committee of experts conversant with the dyeing trade and its

requirements. In the absence of details of the scheme, it does not appear that this proposal will adequately meet the claim that the technical expert should be largely represented on the directorate.

A perusal of the Press correspondence on the whole matter indicates that opinion has crystallised to some extent into a general agreement that the first aim should be immediately to develop and co-ordinate our existing manufacturing concerns, and encourage an increased output from Switzerland by arranging for the export of raw tar products to that country, and for transport facilities through France. But these expedients can afford only a very partial relief, and stocks of dyes are rapidly disappearing. It is therefore generally recognised as a matter of great urgency that the new manufacturing company should commence operations, and the first act of the company should be to devise an organised scheme of research on the initial problems

of processes and yields.

One of the most instructive discussions of the problem facing the manufacturers of coaltar dyes in competition with Germany is to be found in an address recently delivered by Dr. W. H. Nicholls before the Philadelphia meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and printed in Science for January 8 under the title "The War and Chemical Industry." Dr. Nicholls, speaking with the authority of one who has been for many years at the head of a large chemical organisation in the United States, throws some interesting sidelights on the reason for American inactivity in this field. American manufacturers were at first assured by "one of the large producers in Germany that it was absolutely certain that American coal did not possess the necessary constituents to make it useful as a basis for the production of organic chemicals." When, in spite of this discouragement, it was actually found that aniline oil could be made at a profit in the States, "down went the price below cost. A tariff of 10 per cent. which was put upon the article was immediately absorbed by the foreign makers, and the price became lower still." The result was that the infant industry ceased to exist, and has only come to life again since the outbreak of the war.

It is emphasised that "to take away the dye business from Germany means attacking the best equipped and the best income-producer of Germany's entire chemical and allied industry "-a branch which, in 1912, with a total capital of nearly 8,000,000l., paid a dividend representing 22 per cent. of the capitalisation. The fact that German works have long ago written off the cost of their

plant, together with their acquired experience and their sales organisations, largely account for the almost complete control which Germany has acquired in this branch of industry, and these are insuperable difficulties to be met by any competing nation unless really effective State-aid is guaranteed in the future.

The accompanying illustration (Fig. 1) from the Little Journal, for December, published by Messrs. A. D. Little, of Boston, Massachusetts, shows a typical German coal-tar colour factory. Some idea of the development of the German dye industry is afforded by the history of the Farbwerke Meister, Lucius und Brüning, which was organised in 1862 by two chemists and two merchants, with a staff of five workmen, one clerk and one chemist, and an engine of three horse-power. In 1912 7680 workmen, 374 foremen, 307 chemists, and 74 other higher technical officials were employed by this single firm, the wages paid out being 8'6 million marks, whilst 5'2 million marks were expended in salaries and bonuses. Eleven thousand different substances were manufactured, and the steam engines had a total horse-power of 30,000.

Closely wrapped up with the question of the manufacture of aniline dyes in Great Britain is that of the future of indigo in India, which is discussed in an article in the Pioneer Mail of January 8. It is here emphasised that during the past few years the indigo grown in Bihar and Orissa has been falling off in a remarkable way owing to the competition of the synthetic dye; whereas in 1913 63,100 acres were under indigo, the area grown this year is only 38,500 acres. Owing to the war, however, the price of natural indigo has rushed up enormously to more than 700 rupees per maund, a rise of about 300 per cent. on the normal price of the past three years. Thus the few indigo planters who were still producing indigo have been fortunate enough to make very large profits, and if they can continue or increase their production during 1915 they will be in an equally strong position. It is, however, difficult to estimate the ultimate effect of the war upon the indigo industry of India. There is no doubt that trade with Germany will be suspended for some time to come, and some time must also elapse before the manufacture of the synthetic dye can be established in France or England. Moreover, the use of natural indigo will probably be stimulated, owing to the increased requirements of the War Office and Admiralty, so that for some time to come the indigo planters will probably benefit considerably and make profits which will be some compensation for the lean years recently passed through. But there is little doubt that in the long run the synthetic dye, whether manufactured here or in Germany, will very largely supplant the natural material; it will be a repetition of the history of the madder industry. On this side of the question reference may be made to the lecture delivered recently by Dr. F. M. Perkin before the Society of Arts, and published in the Journal for January 1, and to the discussion which this paper evoked.

CONS

METALS AND WAR.

'ONSIDERABLE attention has recently been devoted to the internal resources of Germany as a producer of various metals, more particularly, of course, of such metals as play an important part in the manufacture of war material. It has been shown that the normal consumption in Germany of copper, for example, is about 250,000 tons yearly, whilst the production is only about 25,000 tons, of which 20,000 tons are produced from one mine alone, the well-known Mansfeld mine, so that the possibility of any great increase in the domestic production would appear to be remote. The bulk of the German copper is imported from the United States, which produces more than half of the world's supply of copper, amounting now amounting now to about one million tons per annum, so that in normal times Germany purchases about one half of the United States' output of copper. It is obvious that the American producers of this metal must be seriously affected by the loss of so very important a customer.

Although public interest has centred mainly upon copper in this connection, there are other metals of scarcely less importance in this respect; thus nickel is used in the manufacture of armour plate, of special steel for ordnance and numerous similar purposes, and for some purposes can even be used to replace copper, as in the casing of leaden bullets. Germany produces practically no nickel, but has to import all its requirements; it would appear that the imports of nickel and nickel ore, which latter is smelted in Germany, would represent between 5000 and 6000 tons of nickel, of which about 1500 tons is re-exported, so that the German consumption may be taken as approximately 4000 tons per annum, out of the world's total production of some 28,000 tons. Again, manganese is indispensable in steel manufacture. In round numbers, Germany produces about 85,000 tons of manganese ore, and imports normally 650,000 to 700,000 tons, the bulk of which comes from the Caucasus, so that Germany produces only about one-ninth of its normal requirements of manganese, and the cutting off of the supplies of this substance cannot but seriously affect its steel production.

NOTES.

:

In answer to a question as to typhoid in the Army, asked in the House of Commons on February 8, Mr. Tennant, Under-Secretary of State for War, said:"Of the 421 cases of typhoid in the present campaign among British troops 305 cases were in men who were not inoculated within two years. In the 421 cases there have been thirty-five deaths. Of these deaths thirty-four were men who had not been inoculated within two years. Only one death occurred among patients who were inoculated, and that man had only been inoculated once, instead of the proper number of times namely, twice." This is a marvellous record; and no further answer than it provides is needed to the inhuman efforts made by anti-vaccina

tionists to induce men to object to inoculation by which such protection is secured. Replying to some carping criticisms against inoculation made by Mr. Chancellor in the House of Commons on February 9, Dr. Addison pointed out that in the South African war there were 58,000 cases of typhoid-more than an Army Corps-whereas in our great force now in France and Belgium, and after six months, including three months of atrocious weather, there have only been 421 cases among our troops. The total losses in South Africa were 22,000, of which about 14,000 deaths were from diseases and 8000 of these were from typhoid. When we compare this immense sacrifice of human life from preventible disease with the record stated above, we can only wonder at the patience of the British people in permitting a prejudiced faction to urge men not to subject themselves to a treatment by which they save others and themselves from suffering and death.

PROF. G. O. SARS, professor of zoology, University of Christiania, has been elected an honorary member of the Challenger Society.

SIR W. WATSON CHEYNE will deliver the Hunterian oration at the Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn Fields, on February 15, taking as his subject "The Treatment of Wounds in War."

DR. SIDNEY COUPLAND has been appointed Harveian orator (of the Royal College of Physicians) for 1915; Dr. J. Michell Clarke Bradshaw lecturer for 1915, and Dr. Samson G. Moore Milroy lecturer for 1916.

THE Secretary of the Admiralty announces that the King has approved the award of the Polar Medal to the officers and men who took part in the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-14, under the leadership of Sir Douglas Mawson.

IT is announced in the issue of Science for January 29 that the city of Philadelphia, acting on the recommendation of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pa., has awarded the John Scott legacy medal and premium to Dr. C. E. Guiliaume, of Sèvres, France, for the invention of his alloy invar.

ACCORDING to the Southern Times of February 6 the monument on the grave of the late Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace in the cemetery at Broadstone, Dorset, is a fine specimen of fossil tree from Portland, seven feet in height and weighing some two tons. The specimen stands on a foundation of Purbeck stone, and an inscription on it indicates merely Dr. Wallace's name and dates of birth and death.

He was a graduate of that institution, at which he was appointed in 1885 assistant professor of zoology, in 1886 professor of anatomy, in 1890 professor of zoology, and in 1900 professor of systematic zoology. He had made twenty-three scientific expeditions in various parts of North America, as well as Greenland and the Arctic regions, and had thereby secured for the University of Kansas one of the most valuable collections of mammals in the United States.

DR. BENJAMIN SHARP, who had charge of the department of zoology in Peary's first Arctic expedition, has died at Morehead, North Carolina, at the age of fifty-six. For a time he was professor of invertebrate zoology at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and afterwards at the University of Pennsylvania. He was then appointed corresponding secretary of the former institution, in whose interests he made collecting expeditions to the Caribbee Islands, Hawaii, and elsewhere. He was an industrious lecturer and writer on zoological subjects.

THE Occurrence of frost-bitten feet among the troops has been reported from time to time. According to the Morning Post, February 5, Dr. Temoin, of Bourges, has investigated the subject, and concludes that the affection is not due to frost-bite, but is a gangrenous condition caused by arrest of the circulation through pressure, cold being a contributing but secondary factor. Wet causes the puttees to contract and retard the circulation, and the feet swell in consequence in the boots, which also somewhat contract. The remedy is to induce the soldiers frequently to take off their boots, and to reduce the period in the trenches.

Drain

IN a paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers on February 9, Mr. F. D. Evans dealt with engineering operations for the prevention of malaria, as carried out in the Federated Malay States. age is all-important, and an inexpensive and thoroughly efficient type of drain has been evolved to meet the conditions, formed of concrete blocks of half-egg shape, laid close but unjointed. The blocks are laid without foundations even on bad ground in flowing water. Should they move out of line or gradient, it is easy to re-set them correctly when the surrounding ground has settled, after which they give no trouble; but re-setting is rarely necessary.

season.

A FEW weeks ago it was reported by cable that Sir Ernest Shackleton would not reach the base from which he intends to start his crossing of the Antarctic continent, in the Weddell Sea, in time to proceed this Letters and a diary now published in the Daily Chronicle confirm this. The ice has been very late in breaking. Sir Ernest now hopes to get away from the base at the beginning of November next, after wintering there. His present communications have come from South Georgia, and an interesting and useful piece of scientific work has already been done there in the erection of true meridian posts, which will enable whaling and other ships to test their compasses. The voyage to South Georgia appears to have been prosperous, and the expedition has

received an addition to its personnel, which must be unusual for a polar vovage, in the shape of a stowaway.

THE Calcutta correspondent of the Morning Post, in a communication dated January 7, states that the trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, have addressed to the Government of India the following protest against the acts of vandalism perpetrated by the Germans in destroying Belgian museums and buildings of historical interest: "We, the office bearers of the Board of Trustees of the Indian Museum, desire to protest on behalf of our Board against the unnecessary destruction of libraries, art galleries, museums, and buildings of purely historical and artistic value in time of war. We do so with the knowledge that we have the support of our colleagues in other countries and with the conviction that the collective opinion of the governing bodies of scientific and artistic institutions throughout the world should be regarded as a matter of international importance, and that, on the conclusion of the present war, steps should be taken to lay down definite rules under international sanction for the preservation of artistic, historical, and scientific treasures during warfare."

THE North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders has conferred its honorary membership upon Lord Fisher, First Sea Lord, in recognition of the part taken by him in bringing about the reform of the position of the rank and status of the naval engineer officer. In asking Lord Fisher to accept this honour the institution wrote: "It was with special satisfaction and pride that the council of this institution learned of the Admiralty order of the 24th December conferring military rank upon the old entry engineer officers of the Royal Navy-satisfaction, in that it is believed that the change will lead to increased naval efficiency; pride, in the realisation of the fact that their professional brothers have won so honourable a recognition of their value in the constitution of our sure shield' the Navy. Our institution is convinced that it is chiefly to your lordship's keen perception of the dominating importance of engineering science and matériel in the constitution of the modern Navy that the nation is indebted for this wise and generous readjustment of the rank and status of naval engineer officers."

THE explosives industry has experienced a severe loss in the death of Capt. M. B. Lloyd, late of the Royal Artillery, and for the last seven years a director of the well-known firm of Messrs. Curtis's and Harvey. Born in 1865, Capt. Lloyd entered the Army from the Royal Military Academy in 1884, and in 1896 passed first out of the advanced class of the Ordnance College, obtaining the Lefroy gold medal and "honours" in practically every subject, including mathematics-a very rare distinction. On the death of Sir Vivian Majendie in 1898 he was appointed an inspector of explosives at the Home Office, and for a year or more was in charge of the recently established testing station for mining explosives on Plumstead marshes, where he did a considerable amount of useful work in connection with the risks due to the presence of gas and

dust in coal mines, the experience he thus gained proving most valuable when he was subsequently appointed secretary of the Departmental Committee on "bobbinite." After leaving the Home Office early in 1908, and joining the directorate of Messrs. Curtis's and Harvey, Capt. Lloyd's exceptional qualifications led to his services being much in demand on technical committees; he was selected to represent the explosives trade on the War Office Committee on the Shipment of Explosives, on the Departmental Committee on the Heat Test, and on an informal committee appointed to consider the best form of construction for "danger buildings," and was made a member of the Home Office Committee on celluloid and its dangers. His premature death will cause a gap difficult to fill.

IN his paper on the "Fortified Headlands and Castles on the South Coast of Munster," reprinted from vol. xxxii., 1914, of the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Mr. T. J. Westropp has discovered an almost unexplored field in Irish archæology. These Irish coastal forts were constructed at various epochs. In some, like Howth, near Dublin, and Shanoan in Waterford, flint instruments have been discovered; some belong to the Bronze Age; others, again, were built or occupied by Danes, Welsh, or Normans. They differ greatly in form, and the following types are recognisable: simple headland forts with a single wall; complex, with several earthworks or walls; entrenchments or citadels; multiple forts with a single wall; complex, with several earthwith a gangway natural or artificial; headlands with a deep natural hollow at the neck; and fortified shorerocks, usually isolated at high water. This interesting paper is well illustrated with photographs and ground plans. The completion of this investigation along the other parts of the Irish coasts, for which materials are now available, will be welcome.

In the latest issue of the Anthropological Publications of the University of Pennsylvania (No. 1, vol. vi., 1914) Dr. G. G. Maccurdy has given an account of a collection of twenty-four skulls of the natives of the eastern end of New Britain-or, as the Germans have renamed the island, Neu Pommern. The natives of this island have heads which are very narrowly compressed from side to side, but in their general feature are clearly close relatives of the Australian aborigines. Dr. Maccurdy finds their canial capacity to be very low, the average for male skulls being 1345 c.c., for female skulls 1214 c.c. Apparently such an estimate depends on the material used in filling the cranial cavity, for Dr. Krause, employing millet as a measuring medium, in place of the shot used by Dr. Maccurdy, found the cranial capacity to be much lower for the natives of New Britain, viz., 1267 c.c. for males and 1180 c.c. for females. Dr. Maccurdy directs attention to a remarkable observation which Virchow made on three skulls from a common grave in New Britain. One was that of a man with a capacity of 2100 c.c., the other of a woman with a capacity of only 860 c.c. Virchow explained the difference as being due to the fact that the man had suffered from hydrocephaly, while the woman had been a subject of imbecility. It would be very in