IN PARA RUBBER.1 N recent years the cultivation of rubber-yielding trees has attracted an increasing amount of notice. About 12,000 acres in Ceylon, and in the Malay Peninsula a still larger area, have been stocked with the Para rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, and other species of Hevea. The cultivation has also been successful in India and South America, and experimental plots are being tested in Uganda and the Gold Coast Colony. In tropical Africa there are thousands of square miles of land suitable for growing the Para tree. But whilst the demand for rubber has been increasing with the development of the electrical and motor industries, the number of forest trees yielding the substance has been diminishing, year by year, as a consequence of the faulty methods of " tapping employed by the natives. Hence a stimulus has been given to the production of rubber by cultivation; and with a view of fostering the industry in West Africa, Mr. Johnson was commissioned by Government in 1902 to visit Ceylon and study the methods employed there in the management of the plantations and the preparation of the rubber. He now gives, for the benefit of persons taking up the cultivation, some of the results of the visit in the form of such practical advice as would be likely to assist them in their undertaking. The rubber trees are raised from the seeds, which may be obtained from Ceylon or the Straits Settlements at a cost of about 6s. 8d. per thousand. When the tree has attained a girth of twenty to twenty-four inches, the latex can safely be tapped; this may be in about five to seven years from the date of planting. The yield varies greatly, depending on the soil, the age of the tree, and the method of tapping. At present no really satisfactory data are available; but from such statistics as are given it would seem that about 1 lb. to 3 lb. of dry rubber per annum may be the average product of each tree. In addition, the seeds yield a drying oil somewhat resembling that obtained from linseed. As regards the latex-bearing "life" of the trees, it is stated, on the authority of the director of the Botanic Gardens, Straits Settlements, that trees are known to have been tapped, off and on, during fifty years, and to be still yielding a plentiful supply of latex. compare favourably with the rubber given by the older methods of separation. These consist in coagulating the latex, either by simple exposure to the air or by the addition of an acid or a salt; the resulting coagulum is washed and rolled to free it from moisture and nitrogenous matters, and then dried by gently heating. The particular process suggested by the author is that of spontaneous coagulation of the latex in shallow saucers, followed, after washing and rolling, by exposure to the smoke of a wood fire as an antiseptic treatment. The price FIG. 1. One of the Parent Trees of the Para Rubber Industry in the East, growing in the Botanic Gardens, Henaratgoda, Ceylon. (From "The Cultivation and Preparation of Para Rubber.") The rubber-substance is contained in the latex of the plant in the form of minute globules, much as butter-fat exists in cow's milk. These globules can be made to coalesce by centrifugal action, just as cream is formed from milk in an ordinary separator; but the product thus obtained does not, apparently, 1 "The Cultivation and Preparation of Para Rubber." Johnson. Pp. xii+99. (London: Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1904.) Price 7s. 6d. net. By W. H. obtained depends largely upon the care exercised in the preparation. For example, Congo rubbers, which some time ago realised only Is. to Is. 6d. a pound, now often fetch 4s. in consequence of being more carefully prepared. As showing what can be done in this direction, it is interesting to note that Ceylon Para rubber has recently commanded the "record " price of 5s. 6d. per pound. The appurtenances required are of the simplest, and no great demand is made upon the skill of the AS PREHISTORIC ENGLAND.' S this volume contains a notice by the publishers that they "will shortly begin" the issue of the series of "The Antiquary's Books, to which this belongs, it may be assumed that it is the first. For the reason that it is an earnest of the quality to be expected in its successors, the book, both in manner and matter, must be treated in somewhat more critical and judicial fashion than if the series had been already fairly launched. The responsibility of a publisher in placing an antiquarian library before the public is never light, and at the present time it suffers from the inequality of modern knowledge in respect to the various prehistoric and archæological periods. The later stages of the former class have vast floods of a true understanding of the conditions described without some fuller information on these points. It must be confessed, however, that the subject bristles with difficulties of all kinds and has tempting pitfalls for even the wary searcher, and, on the other hand, Dr. Windle has a right to set his own limits. Even within these limits he may be thought somewhat hardy, for to give an adequate account of all the material relics of man in Britain from the dawn of human life up to about 2000 years ago, within the compass of little more than three hundred pages, is not a thing to be undertaken with a light heart. One of the principal difficulties to be overcome is to avoid confusion in exposition and arrangement. In this matter Dr. Windle might have had more success. In C heaped up around Pit; c, Central support of Roof; d, Roof of Turfs and Branches. From "Remains of the Prehistoric Age in England." light thrown upon them by the constantly recurring FIG. 2.-Ideal Section of Pit-dwelling. a, Natural soil; 6, Bank of same discoveries in the Levant, and the comparative method has enabled us to classify many of our native antiquities by their means. In regard to the earlier stages of man's existence we are in the main still advancing at a painfully slow rate, and can scarcely be held to have more than a misty comprehension of the subject. In historic times the same want of balance of knowledge exists equally, though it is a far easier task to mask the difficulty, and to produce a nicely balanced tale from groups of facts of very different values. The present volume deals only with the relics of man in Britain anterior to the coming of the Roman invaders, and in a sense, therefore, may be called prehistoric, for nothing in the nature of a native record can be quoted in support of any part of it. The author by his title, moreover, limits his field to the remains FIG. 1.-Section of Barrow with successive Interments. From "Remains of the Prehistoric Age in England." of the dwellers in Britain, that is to say, to the monuments they raised, the implements they made, and the graves in which they deposited their dead. The racial characteristics, as shown by the physical characters, are treated very briefly, and the burning questions of the priority of Brythons and Goidels in the land, of the precise position of the Picts as an indigenous tribe, of the succeeding immigrations from the Continent bringing with them new types of people, of weapons, or of burial customs, are only incidentally mentioned. By the elimination of all these questions Dr. Windle has set himself an infinitely lighter task; but it is to be questioned how far an intelligent reader can gain "Remains of the Prehistoric Age in England." By Bertram C. A. Windle, Sc. D., F.R.S. Pp. xv + 320; illustrated. (London: Methuen and Co.) Price 7s. 6d. net. more cases than one, instances of special types of implements are quoted without giving the very different periods. For instance, in dealing with necessary information that they belong to widely pygmy flints," a puzzling subject, Dr. Windle quotes a number of surface finds, and then goes on to say, "in France they have been discovered at Bruniquel." This can only mislead the inquirer or the student, for, so far as we know, the Bruniquel station, which is undoubtedly of the mammoth period, has no relation at all to such surface finds as have been made in Lincolnshire, Lancashire, India, or Belgium. Nothing is more certain than that mere type or form alone is the most unsafe criterion of age. This elementary axiom may sound very like a platitude, but it is constantly neglected by men whose words carry weight, and cannot, therefore, be too much insisted upon. Such errors or vague statements affect the essentials of prehistoric science, and if persisted in inevitably retard the advance of knowledge instead of accelerating it, as Dr. Windle undoubtedly wishes to do. Again, it is very questionable wisdom to devote a chapter to "bone implements," the paragraphs dealing indiscriminately with the remains from the French caves, the Swiss lakes, and from a station like Grime's Graves. In the first place, there is again no relation between the sites quoted, and, so far as the French caves are concerned, the "bone" implements are mostly of horn. No doubt the information necessary to a proper understanding of the relative ages of the Dordogne caves, the Swiss lake dwellings, and the Norfolk flint pits is to be found elsewhere in the book; but for a popular work dealing with a difficult and complicated subject the first essential is clearness of exposition beyond all possibility of misunderstanding. Further, Dr. Windle's authorities are occasionally antiquated. It is not treating the reader quite fairly to give him Dr. Thurnam's classification of barrows without qualification. Is it, for instance, quite certain in the light of recent knowledge that all round barrows are of the Bronze age? It is also a trifle hard to find the late Dr. Frazer quoted as an authority on Mr. Harold Wager, F.R.S.; L (Educational Science), The vice-presidents, recorders, and secretaries of the eleven sections have also now been appointed. In view of the numerous towns to be visited by the association, and in which lectures or addresses will be given, the number of lecturers appointed is much larger than usual. The list of these, as at present arranged, is as follows: Cape Town: Prof. Poulton, on Burchell's work in South Africa; and Mr. C. V. Boys, on a subject in physics. Durban: Mr. F. Soddy, on radio-activity. Maritzburg: Prof. Arnold, on compounds of steel. on distribution of Johannesburg: Prof. Ayrton, gold in Ireland, while Salomon Reinach is not even mentioned. A little discrimination would have shown that Mr. Romilly Allen was making a curious statement (p. 293) when he said: "The bowls . . . seem to belong to the end of the Late Celtic period and the beginning of the Saxon." What becomes of the four hundred and odd years intervening between the two, when the Roman power was dominant in Britain? Such statements betray a carelessness that is not easily excused in a man of Dr. Windle's standing. The same want of precision is shown in "Hallstadt" for Halstatt, "Collie March on one page and "Colley March" on another, the "forging "of bronze instead of "casting," and others of the same kind. In the circumstances it is a hard thing to say, but the illus-power; Prof. Porter, on mining; and Mr. G. W. trations leave much to be desired. The two figures we reproduce show diagrammatically a barrow with successive interments, and a restoration of a pit dwelling, from Mr. George Clinch's Kentish discoveries. The book might easily have been so much better, for it has many good and useful points, that there is something exasperating in finding much to quarrel with. The index is a good and useful one, the lists of ancient remains an excellent departure, compiled with all modesty, and there is a great deal of clear treatment of some knotty questions, such as the socalled "Eolithic " period. As a series, the size of the volume is convenient and the print good, and in spite of the strictures we have felt bound to make, there is little doubt that the publishers will find a ready sale. MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION IN SOUTH AFRICA. THE announcements. Although the annual circular and programme have not yet been issued, pending the receipt of information from South Africa, many members have already intimated their intention of being present at the meeting. The "official party "of guests invited by the central executive committee at Cape Town, and nominated in the first instance by the council of the association, numbers upwards of 150 persons, comprising members of the council, past and present general officers and sectional presidents, the present sectional officers, and a certain proportion of the leading members of each section. To this list has yet to be added, on the nomination of the organising committees, the names of representative foreign and colonial men of science, the total number of the official party being restricted to 200, including the local officials. It is hoped, however, that many other members of the association will also attend the meeting. The presidents-elect of the various sections are as follows: A (Mathematical and Physical Science), Prof. A. R. Forsyth, F.R.S.; B (Chemistry), Mr. G. T. Beilby; C (Geology), Prof. H. A. Miers, F.R.S.; D (Zoology), Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S.; E (Geography), Admiral Sir W. J. L. Wharton, K.C.B., F.R.S.; F (Economic Science and Statistics), Rev. W. Cunningham; G (Engineering), Colonel Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff, G.C.S.I., K.C.M.G., R.E.; H (Anthropology), Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S.; I (Physiology), Colonel D. Bruce, F.R.S.; K (Botany), Lamplugh, on the geology of the Victoria Falls. Most of the officials, and other members of the association, will leave Southampton on July 29 by the Union Castle Mail SS. Saxon, and arrive at Cape Town on August 15, the opening day of the meeting; but a considerable number will start from Southampton on the previous Saturday, either by the ordinary mail-boat or by the intermediate steamer sailing on that date. Subse The sectional meetings will be held at Cape Town (three days) and Johannesburg (three (three days). Between the inaugural meeting at the former and the concluding meeting at the latter town, opportunities will be offered to members to visit the Natal battlefields and other places of interest. quently a party will be made up to proceed to the Victoria Falls (Zambesi); and, should a sufficient number of members register their names, a special steamer will be chartered for the voyage home, viâ Beira, by the east coast route, as an alternative to the return through Cape Town by the west coast route. Thus all the colonies and Rhodesia will be visited by the association. The tour will last 70 days via Cape Town, or a week longer viâ Beira (all-sea), leaving Southampton on July 29 and returning thither on October 7 or 14. A central executive committee has been constituted at Cape Town, with Sir David Gill as chairman and Dr. Gilchrist as secretary; while local committees have been formed at Johannesburg and other important Sir David Gill, Mr. Theodore Reunert, and others have taken a prominent part in the initial work. The South African Association for the Advancement of Science is cordially cooperating in the local organisation, and will join with the British Association in attending the meeting. The aim of the council has been to secure the attendance of a representative body of British men of science, including specialists in various lines of investigation, and that, along with the generous support of the people and authorities in South Africa, should go far to ensure the success of the meeting and to stimulate local scientific interest and research. THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON COAL THE Royal Commission appointed on December 28, 1901, to inquire into the extent and available resources of the coalfields of the United Kingdom has issued its final report, which, in 38 pages, con. tains an able summary of the vast amount of valuable information submitted by the numerous witnesses examined. The Commission originally appointed consisted of Lord Allerton, Sir W. T. Lewis, Sir Lindsay Wood, Sir C. Le Neve Foster, and Messrs. T. Bell, W. Brace, A. C. Briggs, H. B. Dixon, J. S. Dixon, E. Hull, C. Lapworth, J. P. Maclay, A. Sopwith, J. J. H. Teall, and R. Young. Mr. A. Strahan was subsequently added to the Commission; Sir C. Le Neve Foster and Mr. Ralph Young died before the inquiry was completed. On the whole the report is of a reassuring character. Adopting 4000 feet as the limit of practicable depth in working, and one foot as the minimum workable thickness, the commissioners estimate the available quantity of coal in the proved coalfields of the United Kingdom to be 100,914,668,167 tons, as compared with the 90,207,285,398 tons estimated by the Coal Commission of 1871, notwithstanding the fact that 5,694,928,507 tons have been raised in the meantime. The excess is accounted for by the more accurate knowledge of the coal-seams. It is also estimated that there are 39,483 million tons of coal in the concealed and unproved coalfields. It is thought that in future thin seams will be worked more extensively than at present, and that the use of coal-cutting machines will facilitate this. The amount of unavoidable loss incident to coalmining is a serious factor in estimating the available resources. Much coal is lost by leaving unnecessary barriers between properties, and a certain amount must necessarily remain in order to support the surface. The amount thus left might perhaps be reduced by the introduction of the methods employed on the Continent and in America of packing excavations with water-borne sand or other materials. recovery of coal formerly abandoned might be facilitated by the establishment of central pumping stations. The The possible economies to which attention is directed comprise the adoption of coal-cutting machines, of which 483 were in use in 1902 and 643 in 1903, and the use of electricity for the transmission of power. The importance of cleaning, sizing, and sorting coal is also strongly urged, and the extended adoption of coking advocated. In this connection the advantages of by-product coke ovens are pointed out, and it is shown that washing and compression render it possible to coke many coals previously considered worthless. It is probable that briquettes will in future be more largely used for steam and domestic purposes, and there appears to be a promising field It is calculated by Mr. Beilby that in this total there is a possible saving of 40 to 60 million tons. More particularly in connection with the raising of steam there are immense economies capable of realisa tion. Economy in the production of power may be effected by the combustion of gas obtained as a byproduct. Information submitted by Mr. Bennett Brough points to increasing opportunities of utilising blast-furnace waste gases as a source of power Waste gases from coke ovens might similarly be utilised. Gas engines are referred to as the most economical of heat motors, but increased efficiency both thermally and mechanically is still possible. The importance of the development of producer-gas plants is strongly urged as rendering possible the utilisation of inferior coal. Interesting information is given regarding various other ways in which economies in consumption may be effected. Regret is expressed that the recommendations of the Mining Royalties Commission of 1893 and of the Departmental Committee of the Home Office in 1895 regard ing mineral statistics had not been carried out. The commissioners recommend that accurate information on the coal industry should be published by one authority, and they think that it would be of great advantage if particulars of deep borings could be preserved in a Government office. The report must necessarily attract great attention from mining engineers and economists; and it should also be carefully studied by students in mining classes. It is essentially a cautious document; and the general public will doubtless be disappointed that Lord Allerton and his colleagues have made no sensational prophecies as to the probable duration of our coal supplies, and have given no indication as to the way in which their estimate of the available tonnage of coal compares with that of other countries. Their report certainly shows that, while the coal resources are ample, the cost of coal is not likely to decrease, as the improved methods and appliances wil probably be neutralised by the increased cost of working deeper and thinner seams. Where we should be glad of clearer light from the Royal Commission is on the question of the probable condition of compet ing coal-producing countries when the cost of production in Great Britain is considerably raised. It is futile to offer a detailed criticism of the final report until the sections containing the reports of the district commissioners, the report of the geological committee, and the minutes of evidence and appendices are published. The probable duration of the coalfields and the colonial and foreign coal resources appear to have been dealt with in special reports written respectively by Mr. R. Price-Williams and Mr. Bennett Brough, and to these the commissioners direct attention. NOTES. THE Royal Meteorological Society has arranged for an exhibition of meteorological apparatus to be held on March 14-17. The exhibition will be chiefly devoted to recording instruments, but it will also include new meteorological apparatus invented or first constructed since the society's last exhibition, as well as photographs, drawings, and other objects possessing meteorological interest. Science announces that Prof. Ernest Rutherford, of McGill University, has been appointed Silliman lecturer at Yale University for 1905. The previous Silliman lecturers have been Prof. J. J. Thomson and Prof. C. S. Sherrington. As Prof. G. H. Bryan, F.R.S., is unable to lecture at the Royal Institution on Friday evening, March 24, Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., will deliver a discourse on that date on "A Pertinacious Current." A GRANT of 5ol. has been awarded by the Berlin Academy of Sciences to Prof. R. Hagenbach, of Aachen, and Dr. Konen, of Bonn, for the publication of a spectrographic atlas. THE de Candolle prize of 20l. for the best monograph on a genus or family of plants is offered by the Physical and Natural History Society of Geneva. Papers may be written in Latin, French, German, Italian, or English, and should be sent before January 15, 1906, to M. le Président de la Société de Physique et d'Histoire naturelle de Genève, l'Athénée, Genève (Suisse). Members of the society are not admitted to this competition. We are sorry to see in the Athenaeum the announcement of the death, on January 21, of Mr. E. Crossley, of Halifax, in his sixty-fourth year. Mr. Crossley published in 1879, in conjunction with Messrs. Gledhill and Wilson, a valuable Handbook of Double Stars," which is complete in its information up to the time of publication. The Crossley reflector, with which excellent work is being done at the Lick Observatory, was presented to that observatory by Mr. Crossley, and contains one of the best mirrors made by the late Dr. Common. PROF. J. W. MASON, professor of mathematics at the College of the City of New York from 1879 to 1903, died on January 10 at the age of sixty-nine years. The death is also announced of Dr. Guido Bodlaender, professor of physical chemistry and electrotechnics at the Brunswick Technical College. We regret to see the announcements of the deaths of Dr. T. H. Behrens, professor of microchemistry at the Delft Polytechnic School, on January 14, at the age of sixty-two; of Dr. Albert von Reinach, the eminent geologist of Frankfurt, on January 12; of Prof. Benjamin W. Frazier, professor of mineralogy and metallurgy at Lehigh University since 1871; and of M. Joseph Chaudron, the Nestor of Belgian mining engineers, at the age of eighty-two. M. Chaudron's method of boring shafts was first employed in 1848, and its most recent application is now in progress at the colliery at Dover. THE annual general meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute will be held on May 11 and 12. The annual dinner will be held-under the presidency of Mr. R. A. Hadfield-in the Grand Hall of the Hotel Cecil on May 12. The autumn meeting will be held in Sheffield on September 25-29. Members of the institute are invited to participate in an International Congress of Mining, Metal lurgy, Mechanics and Applied Geology, to be held at Liége on June 26 to July 1, in connection with the International Exhibition. The general secretary of the organising committee is M. Henri Dechamps, 16 Quai de l'Université, Liége. DR. F. T. ROBERTS will deliver the Harveian Oration of the Royal College of Physicians of London on June 21. Dr. W. H. Hamer has been appointed to deliver the Milroy lectures on State medicine and public hygiene for 1906; the lectures for this year will be delivered by Dr. T. M. Legge on "Industrial Anthrax," on March 7, 9, and 14; Dr. W. H. Allchin will deliver the Lumleian lectures, Some Aspects of Malnutrition," on March 28, 30, and "The April 4; and the second Oliver-Sharpey lecture, Influence of Atmospheric Pressure on Man, will be delivered by Dr. L. E. Hill on April 6. Other lectures to be delivered during the year are the Croonian, by Prof. E. H. Starling, F.R.S.; the FitzPatrick, on "The History of Medicine," by Dr. Norman Moore; and the Bradshaw lecture, by Dr. G. R. Murray. ON Sunday, January 22, M. Victor Serrin died, at Neuilly-en-Tel, Department of Oise, aged seventy-five years. M. Serrin was the inventor of the first automatic regulator of the electric arc light used in the public service. The action is so satisfactory that the apparatus is still in use, after fifty years of scientific progress. M. Serrin produced other ingenious inventions, but no other has had the importance of his arc lamp. In 1852, M. Serrin was in charge of the rebuilding of the Pont St. Michel in Paris, and, as the work was urgent, men were kept busy night and day. At night an electric light, with hand-feed adjustment, was used, since no regulators existed. Provided with blue spectacles, Serrin watched the lamp and adjusted the carbons when necessary. He thus contracted ophthalmia, in consequence of which he nearly lost his sight. The idea of the regulator then occurred to him, and he made all the parts with his own hands. At the funeral the principal scientific societies of Paris sent wreaths. MESSRS. WINSLOW AND BELCHER have carried out an investigation on the variations in the number of bacteria in samples of sewage kept in the laboratory (Journal of Infectious Diseases, i., No. 1). They find that the total number of bacteria rises rapidly during the first twenty-four hours of storage, increasing more than ten-fold, and then decreases steadily for at least six months. The rise and fall in the number of bacteria appear to affect the various organisms in an almost equal degree, there being no tendency towards the development of a pure culture of any dominant form. |