verse, crushing, bending and torsion tests was installed jointly with the engineering department under Prof. W. Ripper, and whilst this machine formed a solid meeting ground it may also be considered as emblematic of the relationships existing between these two departments from the beginning, namely, that the metallurgical should, so far as possible, make all metallic materials for the engineering department, and in return know of the behaviour of the materials supplied. In 1890 the technical school, apparently finding it too difficult to impress its needs on the college authorities, became an independent institution, and was thus free to work out its own ideals until 1896, when the two again joined for the purpose of applying for Prof. Arnold, his staff and students since 1889. "The Influence of Aluminium on Occluded Gases in Steel" (Arnold) was the first subject attacked, because of the many conflicting statements as to this influence. The experience gained in this work made possible the manufacture of a series of extraordinarily pure steels. the first research on which resulted in "The Influence of Elements on Iron" (Arnold), which combated Roberts-Austen's atomic volume theory as applied to steel, and Osmond's theory of the hardness of steel being due to a flint hard 8 iron apart from any carbon contained. Incidentally the micro-constituents FeS and MnS were discovered. The almost pugilistic vigour of the tone of this paper and criticisms which had preceded it seemed to turn many listeners, used to a charter to become a university college, which charter was received in May, 1897. That its isolated progress produced a result acceptable, not only to practical, but to university men, was shown when application was made to enter the then Victoria University (an application to the making of which the present writer was firmly opposed); the report of the University Commission as published in the newspapers distinctly stated that the technical department was the only part fit for inclusion in the university. It is impossible justly to estimate the influence of the metallurgical department, but the task must be attempted, as therein lies its soul. Thirty or so researches worked out in the department have been published by more gentle ways, into opponents without examination of the arguments, and it undoubtedly took many years to dispel the feeling, which still remains in the minds of some of the more unthinking or erratic, as seen from the way in which in a recent paper simple quotations from a well-known writer were treated in the discussion as attacks on him. "The Chemical Relations of Carbon and Iron" (Arnold and Read. 1893) was the result of work done to examine the discovery of the carbide of iron by Abel and Müller, and their results were fully confirmed, the carbide being obtained in chemically pure crystalline plates. In 1895, in "The Influence of Carbon on Iron" (Arnold). the discovery of the saturation point of steel was Innounced, and the quantitative composition of S admitted on all sides to be a classic. In 1896, in "The Influence of Impurities on Gold -And Copper" (Arnold and Jefferson), the first micrographic investigation of gold alloys was described, and The discovery of brittle intercrystalline cements rendered void atomic volumes as an explanation of the results. 1897 produced "The Influence of Sudden Cooling on Nearly Pure Iron" (Arnold), and "The Permeability of Steel-melting Crucibles" (Arnold and Knowles), which showed a method for quantitatively measuring the volume of gas permeating the walls of crucibles 3-inch thick during metallurgical operations. The Micro-chemistry of Cementation" was read in 1898, and the discovery of the cause of the decay of certain metals used in marine construction in connection with the disastrous explosion on the S.S. Prodano was given in a report to Lloyd's. "The Diffusion of Elements in Iron" (Arnold and McWilliam, 1899) divided the elements of steel into fixed and migratory groups and confirmed Prof. Campbell's diffusion of sulphide phenomena. During this research two very important phases of carbide interpenetration at different temperatures were discovered, and also a hitherto unsuspected segregation point which has cleared up some of the occasional mysterious failures of the highest grade cutting edge steel. a complete list, but is intended to indicate the principal and to give a good idea of the original work done, which has been acknowledged by practical as well as by professional men to have had great and important influence. With regard to the students trained, every works of any importance in the district has its quota of them, and many are reflecting great credit on their school by the success with which they are holding responsible positions. There is no doubt that all firms of importance, having ready at hand well-trained men, formed a potent factor in the signal success with which Sheffield not only repelled the American invasion of high speed steel, but was able promptly and successfully to carry the war into the enemy's territory. The associateship in metallurgy has always been kept up to about the standard of an honour examination, no second classes being allowed, and the fight for the Mappin medal and 15l. premium given to the head associate of the year is long and severe. This medal and premium was founded by Sir Frederick Mappin, Bart., who has consistently for more than twenty years used not only his wealth, but his great influence with others, and his foresight and dogged perseverance, in furthering the cause of this technical department. His recent purchase and practical presentation of the adjacent Caledonian Works has enabled the authorities to apply their fifteen years' experience during the erection of a new and magnificent teaching plant, which has been so recently described that it need not have further mention here. Finally, as to the attitude of manu of fifteen years ago would have prophesied that steel makers would send for associates at the end of each session, or that some even would ask for 66 your medallist of the year if possible," but such is the fact to-day. All Sheffielders asked feel certain that but for the continued success of this and the technical department as a whole, Sheffield would never have successfully demanded a university, and that, indeed, the university inaugurated by the King on July 12, 1905, may be taken as a monument to one of the influences of the technical department. Twice in its history has this progressive department had to sever its connection with constituted authority, and many are looking, somewhat anxiously it must be confessed, to its progress under the cumbrous machinery of university government, with its several forms of outside interference. Change and progress are not now decided upon by those immediately interested, for at least a majority of a governing body, composed of professors of all and sundry, must sanction all decisions, and in its effect on this hitherto uniformly progressive and successful department university government is undoubtedly on its trial, so far as its influence on the application of science to industry is concerned. "The Properties of Steel Castings, Part i." (Arnold, 1901) dealt with pure iron and carbon castings, and showed their unsuitability for general commercial work. "The Micro-structure of Hardened Steel "facturers, few who followed with interest the doings (Arnold and McWilliam, 1902), amongst other things, first showed the cementite in the so-called austenite martensite structure. "The Elimination of Silicon in the Acid Open Hearth" (McWilliam and Hatfield, 1902) is an interesting study, under works conditions, of chemistry at high temperatures in the reaction of metal and slag on each other, in which a balance point in the composition of the slag was discovered, such that with more base C, Si, and Mn were eliminated from the metal, whilst with more acid C could still be eliminated, but Si and Mn were reduced and returned to the bath. "The Influence of Sulphur and Manganese on Steel" (Arnold and Waterhouse) and "On the Dangerous Crystallisation of Steel" (Arnold) were produced in 1903, and in the latter the author announced his now well-known method for recording results of steel under alternating stress, the stress being greater than the elastic limit instead of less, as is the case in other methods. "Acid Open Hearth Manipulation" (McWilliam and Hatfield, 1904) is another high temperature chemistry study on a 25-ton furnace, with unusual bases, in which also it was shown that the nature of the ingot is not merely a function of its composition as ordinarily determined, but varies with the history of the charge in a special manner shown. "The Thermal Transformations of Carbon Steels (Arnold and McWilliam, 1904), too complex to describe in a sentence, shows the nature of the transition forms of the constituents of steels by quenching so as to trap several forms in one small section, where they can be studied somewhat after the manner of examining rock changes over a tract of country. Winder and Brunton did early work on open hearth chrome steel castings; Longmuir here worked out what had been borne in upon him by his works experience, resulting in his two researches on "The Influence of Casting Temperature on the Properties of Metals and Alloys "; Baker did his work on "The Influence of Silicon on Iron," and half the work resulting in Ibbotson and Brearley's well-known book on "The Analysis of Steel Works Materials" is of this laboratory. The above is not by any means EARTH-EATERS IN INDIA. UN NDER the name of geophagy or earth-eating are comprehended a number of customs of very different origin and meaning. In practically every part of the world is found the habit of eating finely divided mineral substances in bulk, and not merely in small quantities as condiments; but the purpose differs no less widely than the condition of the eaters as regards age, sex, or health before and after acquiring the habit. We learn from Pliny that the Romans mixed corn with chalk from near Puteoli; Lemnian and Armenian earths, on the other hand, were famous for medicinal purposes--the use of the former has been continued to our own day; in South America clay supplies the place of food during floods; in Borneo and Indo-China it is a surrogate for confectionery, and in parts of India, America, and elsewhere its use is due to the perverted taste often found in dyspepsia and hysteria, or to the strange abnormalities associated with pregnancy. 1 In the paper here noticed the composition of the earth, marl, clay, or shale has been carefully analysed; the main constituents are silica (the percentage varying from 84 per cent. to 22 per cent.), lime (61 per cent. to a mere trace), alumina (26 per cent. to 2.5 per cent.), and ferric oxide (20 per cent. to a mere trace). But as a rule there is little definite information, other authors being content to speak of clay or earth without closer definition. We know, however, that steatite is favoured by the Indians of Hudson's Bay, and ferruginous clay by the Ottomacs, by the negroes of the Antilles, and by the Batanga of West Africa; earth rich in diatoms is used in North Europe, and the New Caledonians resort in time of famine to a mineral rich in lime, and ants' nests, with or without the larvæ, are eaten in Africa. The physiological basis of the habit varies probably in some degree with the different composition of the earths. On the Gold Coast white clay is used as a sweetmeat; in India the taste or odour is often the attractive feature; it may be noted in this connection that steatite (one of the minerals mentioned above) is not only eaten by wolves, reindeer, and other animals, but actually used as bait for attracting them. To the pleasant taste may be due the Roman use of chalk mentioned above; we have a parallel in the Bolivian Indian's use of a sauce of clay with his potatoes. In this category, too, we may range the German workman's "Steinbutter," and perhaps the salty earth used in Persia. In Senegal ochreous earth is mixed with rice, but it does not appear whether this is due to its pleasant taste or to a desire to increase the mass available for ingestion so as to produce a feeling of repletion. In Rajputana the latter cause is undoubtedly the main factor; for only in times of famine are ashes, powdered steatite, clay or mud mingled with barkmeal. On the other hand, it is not so much actual famine in Persia as the desire to keep the digestive organs at work without suffering inconvenience from an over-supply of nourishment which is said to lead to the use of the two kinds of earth frequently sold in bazaars; one is described as a fine, white, "fatty clay, the other as forming hard and irregular lumps. The material of ants' nests, like the Bergmehl (Kieselgur) of North Europe, is rich in organic matter, and may have real nutritive value; but on this point little positive information is available. Especially in India the habit of earth-eating is indicative of a morbid condition, either anterior to the acquisition of the taste or after it has been adopted from imitation or some other cause. The same conditions seem to prevail widely in South America, where not only Indians and negroes, but whites, are slaves to the practice; it is even said that masks are put on children at night to restrain them from pulling mud or plaster from the walls and eating it. The medicinal use of earths is a wide subject on which a large literature exists; our authors quote, among others, El-Baitar, who gives a list of the earths used in Spain in the thirteenth century; but the use of mineral substances in medicine hardly belongs to the same category as the other facts with which they deal; the same may be said of the ingestion of earths for magical purposes. In The effects on the eater seem to differ widely. West Africa no bad effects follow, according to some "Earth-eating and the Farth-eating Habit in India." By D. Hooper and H. H. Mann. (Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 1, No. 12, pp. 249-270.) authors; but when the negroes reached the Wes. Indies they found that ill-health resulted from their indulgence in decomposed porphyroid lavas as sulstitutes for their African earths. In India and South America anæmia and early death seem to follow as matter of course, but the anæmic diathesis often exists before the habit is acquired, and may be the actual cause of it. The quantity of earth or clay consumed is often con siderable. Half a pound daily is the allowance fo the Ottomacs; six ounces is recorded from Bengal They are sometimes eaten raw, sometimes roasted one of the most curious features is that the earth clay is sometimes made up into cups, figurines, and other forms; thus the Lemnos earth used in Spain ir the sixteenth century was cup-shaped, so is the clav used to-day in Bengal; in Bolivia figures of saints are among the forms, and the Javanese eat figures of men and animals. In these cases a magical element may perhaps be present. But the commoner form is that of powder; the only edible earth of which the presen writer can speak from personal experience was in this shape; it was alkaline and more like tooth-powder than anything else. N. W. T. NOTES. DR. L. A. BAUER'S resignation from the United State Coast and Geodetic Survey took effect on September As already announced in NATURE, he has accepted the permanent directorship of the department of terrestrial magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Al. his correspondence should be addressed to "The Ontario " Washington, D.C. AT the annual meeting of the Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' Club just held, Mr. T. Sheppard, who for thirteen years has been the honorary secretary, was elected president of the society. chemistry at the Royal Academy of Arts on Mondays and PROF. A. H. CHURCH, F.R.S., will give six lectures on Thursdays, beginning on October 1 at 4 p.m. The subjects of the lectures are:-Paper, canvas, panel, and other grounds; composition and classification of pigments; tests and trials of pigments; selected and restricted palettes: vehicles and varnishes; and methods of painting. A NOTE from the Rev. Guy Halliday recording the discovery of Goodyera repens near Holt, in Norfolk, was referred to in NATURE of September 6 (p. 472). Mr. W. A Nicholson, honorary secretary of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, informs us that the plant was found at Holt so far back as 1891, and at Westwick in 1885 It has since been noted in two other places in Norfolk. A REUTER message from Palermo states that earthquake shocks were felt on September 19 at 11.20 a.m. and 1.38 p.m., principally at Trabia and Termini. A messag from Lima reports that shocks were felt on September 18 at Huarmey, Alija, and Casma. AN International Congress for Cancer Research was opened at Heidelberg on Tuesday by the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden in the presence of numerous re presentatives of medical, scientific, and municipal institu tions of the world. At the same time, a new hospital and scientific laboratories for investigations into the cause and cure of cancer was opened. We learn from the Time correspondent at Heidelberg that the new buildings oc nearly an acre, and are fitted with all the latest improvements, both for the treatment of operable cases and fo investigation. The institution has already cost more than 40 0004., which was derived partly from public and partly from private sources. PROF. HERMANN COHN, the well-known ophthalmologist of Breslau, died recently at the age of sixty-eight. His contributions to ophthalmic science and practice had reference more particularly to the eyesight of school children. He was one of the first to press the needs of many reforms with the object of conserving the pupils' vision, and he was a strenuous advocate of the systematic examination of the eyes of school children, his knowledge and experience in this connection being of the greatest value in evolving and perfecting the practical details of an important branch of work. In 1883 he was honoured by receiving the State gold medal of hygiene. He lived to see much good fruit result from his labours, and it may justly be said that with him there passed away one who served well both his own and future generations. A PLEA for the preservation of natural scenes and objects in Germany was put forward a couple of years ago by Prof. H. Conwentz, director of the West Prussian Provincial Museum at Danzig, in a work on "Naturdenkmaler," described in these columns in November, 1904 (vol. Ixxi., p. 73). By Naturdenkmäler is meant the whole natural landscape, with its various soil formations, its water courses and lakes, its special plant and animal communities, as well as single rare species and individuals of the original flora and fauna. Prof. Conwentz proposed that these results of nature's handiwork in the different States of the German Empire should be placed on record so as to make them known, and that provision should be made for their protection. The Prussian Minister of Instruction has just consented to the establishment of a central office for this purpose. For the present the office will be at Danzig, and will be under the direction of Prof. Conwentz. on In his presidential address at the annual congress of the Sanitary Inspectors' Association at Blackpool September 13, Sir James Crichton-Browne dealt particularly with the rapid and remarkable fall in the birth-rate of Blackpool. It was in 1895 that a turn in the tide in the birth-rate of England and Wales was first recorded, since when it has gradually decreased, until in 1904 it dropped to 27.9, the lowest on record. In Blackpool the decline did not begin until 1898, when the rate was 27.74, showing a slight increase on the previous year; but since then it has been precipitous, reaching 20-30 per thousand for 1905. Many facts suggest that this decline in the birth-rate has occurred especially among the more intellectual, more cultured, and more prosperous classes of the community. Bearing in mind that 25 per cent. of the married population produce 50 per cent. of the next generation, and that mental and moral traits are not less hereditary than corporeal appearances, it is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the problems that are raised by the figures adduced. If we are recruiting our population from the poorer and mentally and physically feebler stocks of the community at a greater rate than from the better and more capable stocks, then gradual deterioration of the race is inevitable. of congratulation from other societies were presented, and the secretary, Dr. J. P. Thomson, gave an account of the history of the society. At an evening meeting on June 27 a paper by Dr. H. R. Mill, on the present problems of geography, was read. A garden-party was given at Government House in the afternoon of June 28, and at the evening meeting a paper by Prof. R. E. Dodge, Columbia University, on school geography, was read, Lord Chelmsford taking part in the discussion. A conversazione was given on June 30, at which it was announced that a paper by Sir John Murray, on the oceanography of the southwestern Pacific, had been received too late for reading at the business meetings, but would be included in the society's Transactions. The Royal Geographical Society of Australasia was founded in 1885, chiefly on the initiative of its present secretary, Dr. J. P. Thomson. Its activities include the whole range of geographical work, and it has published twenty-one volumes of Proceedings and Transactions containing communications, of which "about 80 per cent. are original contributions to geographical literature, the remainder being the result of research work, in contradistinction to mere compilations." On the THIS is the season for great hurricanes within the northern tropical belt. Thus far the West Indies have escaped, but the China Sea region was last week the scene of two very violent and destructive typhoons. morning of September 18 there does not seem to have been anything in the aspect of the weather at Hong Kong to suggest the proximity of a storm. People went about their business as usual, suspecting no danger, and the authorities at the observatory found nothing in the reports to justify the hoisting of the warning signals, expecting only moderate winds to prevail during the day. At about ΙΟ a.m. the neighbourhood was startled by the sudden bursting of a storm of great violence, which maintained its strength until midday. In these couple of hours it Many occasioned enormous damage ashore and afloat. war vessels, merchant steamers and sailing ships, lighters, junks, and other craft were severely crippled or totally lost, and one of the latest estimates places the loss of life at 10,000 Chinese and several Englishmen and other Europeans. The Governor, Sir Matthew Nathan, has decided to appoint a committee to inquire into the failure of the observatory to give due warning of the approach of the typhoon, but he is confident that Dr. Doberck is not to in the circumstances. Four days later, September 22, news was received of the Philippines, south of Manila, having been struck by a typhoon. The information to hand at present is very meagre, owing to the destruction of the telegraph wires, but a gunboat was driven ashore, and the arsenal and the shipping at Cavité suffered considerably. blame on A PAPER, by Messrs. B. Stracey and F. W. Bennett, on the felsitic agglomerate of Charnwood Forest, is the most important of the contributions relating to natural science contained in vol. x., part ii., of the Transactions of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society. ACCORDING to the report for 1905-6, the Manchester a valuable Museum, Owens College, recently received collection of mammals from N.E. Rhodesia, but funds are lacking for mounting and encasing a representative series of these in the gallery. The museum will shortly also receive a collection of insects made in the same district. The well-known and extensive series of stone implements collected during the last forty years by Mr. R. D. Darbishire has been presented by that gentleman to the museum. It is satisfactory to learn that the financial condition of the institution has materially improved since the date of the previous report. PROF. HICKSON'S letter on remarkable colenterates from the west coast of Ireland in NATURE of November 2, 1905 (vol. lxxiii., p. 5) is reprinted in a volume just issued on Irish fisheries (Scientific Investigations, 1905, v.). This is followed by a notice of a leach parasitic on torpedoes taken on the Irish coast, and this, again, by the mention of a mollusc of the genus Lamellaria captured in a trawl off Cork. The particular species, which is common to both sides of the Atlantic, is new to the Irish fauna. Finally, Mr. S. W. Kemp adds ten species of long-tailed crustaceans to the marine fauna of Ireland. THE report of the Danish Biological Station for 1903 and 1904, recently issued at Copenhagen as a translation from Fiskeri-Beretning, deals with the distribution and dispersal of the young and eggs of fishes which at one period or another are pelagic. From the study of the Icelandic seas it has been found that three belts may be distinguished in the neighbourhood of land, the first of which is characterised by the presence of pelagic eggs and the minute fry of species with demersal (deep sea) eggs, while the second is inhabited by the young fry of species with pelagic eggs and the older fry of those with demersal ova. In Danish waters the conditions appear to be somewhat more complex, but, speaking generally, it may be stated that the area within the Skaw approximates in its fauna to the first belt, and that outside the Skaw to the second zone. We have to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of the first part of the "Bergen's Museum Aarbog" for the current year. In the first paper Mr. J. Rekstad discusses the terraces and raised beaches of western and northern Norway. Among the more noteworthy remains are nodules, from more than one locality, containing beautifully preserved specimens of the skeleton of young coal-fishes (Gadus virens). In a second article Mr. C. F. Kolderup records the occurrence in Norway during 1905 of twentythree earthquakes, all of which were, however, small and local. The capture, in the middle of January, 1904, of no less than forty-seven killer-whales (Orca gladiator) at Bildöströmmen is recorded by Mr. J. A. Grieg, who furnishes an illustration of the landing of one of these cetaceans. Several skeletons were preserved, of some of which the author gives measurements and descriptions. In addition to papers by other authors, Prof. R. Collett (September 1) gives the opinions of the foremost scientific plant-breeder on the work of one of the most successful practical plant-breeders. While fully recognising the markable acumen of Burbank's judgment and the practicad value of his work, Prof. de Vries finds a marked contrast between the aims and methods of the two types of worker. Careful experiment in the cultivation and crossing on limited scale of pure types with definite characters is the task of the scientific investigator; the hope of the nurseryman lies in the chance possibilities arising out of the production and selection from a vast number of variations; for instance, Mr. Burbank selected his plums from 300,00 hybrids. One of the most important features of Mr. Burbank's work has been the cultivation of remote species with possibilities that have escaped the consideration of less conventional cultivators. The stoneless plum was obtained from crossing some plants, I prunes sans noyau," at one time cultivated in France. An intuitive genius for selection of promising varieties is the key to Mr. Burbank's Success. Two examples of " fluctuating variation" as met with in certain New Zealand plants are noted by Dr. L. Cockayne in vol. xxviii. of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. In the first case, two Celmisias were found, one growing on the coast, the other in the alpine region, both very similar, except in the proportions of the leaf and general appearance. The question arises whether they should be regarded as distinct species. This, Dr. Cockayne points out, can best be determined by ascertain ing whether the two forms reproduce "true." The second paper refers to leaf variation in Coprosma baueri. When exposed to sun and wind, the plant bears glossy, recurved. or rolled leaves, whereas in the shade they are thin, flat, and much larger. There is no question of two species in this case, as the two types of leaf may be observed on the same plant, but it suggests a starting point for the evolution of two distinct species. ALTHOUGH not far distant from the North Island of New Zealand, the flora of the Poor Knights Islands had not been explored until Dr. L. Cockayne was enabled to ger ashore for a very brief period last year. Distinguishing three formations of cliff, tall scrub, and meadow, Dr. Cockayne was particularly impressed by the luxuriance of the foliage of the arborescent plants in the scrub, and especially of the dominant plants Suttonia divaricata and Macropiper excelsum. Apart from the fertility of the soil and the shelter afforded by the dense growth, it was not apparent why such luxuriance should be developed. communicates notes on bottle-nosed whales (Hyperöodon) Another ecological contribution by the same writer, de and white whales (Delphinapterus). THE sixth number of the Kew Bulletin for this year contains the diagnoses of new plants, published under the title "Decades Kewenses, XLII.," of which one, described by Dr. Stapf, forms the type of a new genus Diandrolyra, order Gramineæ. Mr. J. M. Hillier contributes articles on East Indian dragon's-blood, chiefly the produce of species of Dæmonorops and Ogea gum obtained from the genera Daniella and Cyanothyrsus. The account by Mr. W. Watson of a visit to some well-known Irish gardens makes special mention of the magnificent development of the trees, showing how well the climate is suited to forestry. A historical article on the Sydney Botanic Gardens, written by Mr. J. H. Maiden, is reprinted from the Sydney Morning Herald. THE review of Mr. Luther Burbank's work written by Prof. H. de Vries in the Biologisches Centralblatt scribing the subalpine scrub of the seaward Kaikouras, in the South Island, is published with the former in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, vol. xxvii. The peculiarity of this formation, that lies between the forest and the subalpine meadow, consists in the dominance of the composite shrub, Cassinia albida, found only in the Kaikoura Mountains, and in the Occurrence of 2 Ranunculus growing under the scrub that Dr. Cockayne separates as a distinct species, Ranunculus lobatus. THE third and final part of a series of papers on sands and sediments, by Messrs. T. Mellard Reade and Philip Holland, appears in the volume of the Proceedings of the Liverpool Geological Society for 1905-6. The earlier parts were published in the two preceding volumes. The papers describe a number of experiments made upon modern and ancient sediments to determine the behaviour of the particles when suspended in water and in various solutions: |