The investigation upon the improvement of the methods of canning sardines has been brought to a successful conclusion. The industry has very largely accepted the recommendations of the Bureau. It has taken steps to see that only sound fish are packed by imposing upon itself an inspection service. Potatoes. A process has been perfected for the drying of surplus and cul potatoes with simple machinery for the purpose of utilising these tubers now largely wasted in certain localities in years of over production. The product can be fed to animals or be used as a size, or for the manufacture of gum, dextrin, or starch. Being dry, it can be stored indefinitely, and transported more cheaply than the potato itself. A simple practical method of ensiling potatoes without cooking or the use of pure cultures has been discovered. To the crushed raw potatoes is added a starter consisting of 1.5 to 4 per cent of ordinary corn meal. The loss from the resulting fermentation is negligible. Cattle and hogeat the product freely. Extensive feeding experiments are planned for the coming year. Citrus and other Fruits.-The development of a method for the manufacture of citrate of lime from lemons has been completed, while the development of a method for the manufacture of citric acid free from contamination by heavy metals is well advanced. The manufacture of lemon oil has been further studied, and the determina tion of the seasonal variations of the oil and citric acid content of lemons has been practically completed for certain sections of California. A study of tangerines has shown that the green fruit has value as a source of citric acid, and that the oil has commercial possibilities. The manufacture of marmalade stock has been undertaken. A fine orange vinegar has been manufactured on a small commercial scale which promises to find a market. though a limited one, because it costs more to produce than the usual product. The determination of the composition of California oranges with reference to season, climate, soil, location, and methods of cultivation has been completed, and the results are being prepared for publication. The study of the composition of oranges from selected trees has been of great assistance to the Bureau of Plant Industry in studying bud variations for the purpose of making selections in propagation experiments. Similar studies upon grape fruit have been begun with the Bureau of Plant Industry for the purpose of standardising and improving the varieties grown. A study to establish the range of variation in composition of mature Florida and California grape fruit has been undertaken to be carried through several seasons. Improved methods for the preparation of jams and jellies have been devised, and manufacturers have been assisted in improving their methods and utilising their waste products. In connection with the States Relations Service, from time to time lectures and demonstrations have been given at meetings of State agents upon the methods of preparing jams, jellies, and preserves in the household. Miscellaneous. A method has been developed, though not yet applied on a large scale, by which a pure cane syrup can be made which will not crystallise nor ferment. The studies upon the effect of the different manufacturing processes upon the comp sition of maple syrup and of sorghum syrup have been continued. A paper has been published upon the composition of tamarind syrup. Beans produced in certain localities are not as highly esteemed as their otherwise excellent quality warrants, because when soaked they do not swell uniformly. It was found that a cuticular substance is especially abundant in the epidermis of the hilum of those beans which, when soked, swell slowly. The oxalic acid content of a large variety of beans has been investigated. An investigation of the sauerkraut industry has shown that while factory construction and management have largely followed Ger nan models, the climatic differences between this country and Germany have not been con sidered. Adequate temperature controls to diminish losses in waste liquor, kraut, and brine have not been provided. Technological Investigations. Dust Explosions. For the prevention of explosions in the threshing of grain an automatic fire extinguisher, a blower device, and a plan of wiring the machines have been devised in co-operation with the Office of Public Roads and the Bureau of Mines. They were described in a joint bulletin with the Office of Public Roads, Bulletin No. 379, and blue prints were furnished to all manufacturers of tbrushing machines in the United States by that office. Detailed information has also been sent to underwriters and to farmers' mutual insurance companies dealing in threshing-machine insurance. Plans were made Jointly with the Office of Public Roads to demonstrate these devices in the field, with the assistance of the State experiment stations of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The States of New York and Pennsylvania have been assisted in the drafting of regulations designed to reduce the danger from dust explosions and fire in mills and elevators. With the assistance of the Bureau of Standards laboratory apparatus was constructed for the mechanical separation of dust into fractions of definite size and density. By means of specially designed apparatus the force developed by the explosion of various kinds of dust has been measured. Results of the investigation upon the inflammability of carbonaceous dusts and upon the inflammability of carbonaceous dusts in atmospheres of low oxygen tension have been prepared for publication. the study of explosions in attrition mills has been begun. In co-operation with the State College of Pennsylvania, Paper.-A test has been found to determine the strength of paper when wet, which is a most important considerabrown print, bag, and wr pp ng papers. tion in preparing specifications for photographic blue and An iustrument has been constructed for the measurement of the transucency of paper. Instructions for testing the folding endurance tester, with data on the accuracy of this machine, have been prepared for publication. Papers have been published upon a new colorimeter and upon the detection of faulty sizing in high-grade papers. Tanning.-A manuscript has been prepared upon American sumac to aid the farmer in gathering this plant and to help supply the demand in the dyeing and tanning industry. It has been found that the best way to denature egg yolk for tanning is to add 2 per cent of birch tar oil. Power distillate may also be used. Naval Stores.-The Board of Trade of Brunswick, Ga., adopted the glass standards of the rosin types. They are now practically universally recognised in the Union. Examination of samples of rosin, mostly the pale grades, representing nearly 6000 barrels, showed 9 per cent to have been graded too low and 38 per cent too high. A method for defining and determining the grades of turpentine has been perfected. A rough survey was made east of the Mississippi to determine the extent of the posts. Twenty six per cent of the samples were found to adulteration of spirits of turpentine sold for technical purbe adulterated with mineral oil to the extent of from 3 to 100 per cent. Demonstration. In connection with its research and regulatory work the Bureau has done much demonstration and educational work. This has during the past years grown to such an extent that it deserves separate notice. Some of it has already been mentioned, as, for example, that in connection with the canning of sardines, the manufacture of dried and frozen eggs, the refrigeration of perishables, the shipping of fresh shrimp, and of fresh fish. The work of the poultry and egg packing demonstration car has increased greatly in efficiency and results. During the year IO1 towns in the State of Indiana were visited, and 10,600 people came to the car. An extensive demonstration campaign has been con HEMICAL NEWS, Production of Nitrate of Sola in Chile Jan. 19, 1917 ducted on the proper methods of packing tomato products, which supplements the effect of prosecutions in eliminating In co-operation with the unfit products from the market. States Relations Service, assistance has been given to canning clubs, especially in Florida, in the preparation of Assistance has also been jams, jellies, and preserves. given to manufacturers of these products. Instruction has been given in the grading of naval stores. fortunately a sufficient number of glass standards is not yet available, because the disturbed trade conditions make it impossible to secure the necessary glasses. The demonstration of improved methods of producing rosin and It is soon to turpentine has been begun in a small way. be made more extensive. (To be continued). PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. Ordinary Meeting, December 4, 1916. Mr. ARTHUR R. LING in the Chair. and sustained research until they could now be looked The "Butter" process used ball mills for crushing the raw material in the presence of hot, weak nitrate solution. This was then treated in the well-known Butters patent vacuum filter, which had been applied on a very large Un-scale at one of the officines, and proved very successful. The criticism of the process was that it did not go far enough, as it was not definitely connected with any evaporation process, a deficiency which the "G.bbs process had overcome by the adoption of the Kestner patent salting evaporator, in place of the primitive types of evaporator hitherto tried in conjunction with the Butters system. IN the absence of the authors, Mr. J. A. REAVELL read a paper, of which the following is an abstract : "Production of Nitrate of Soda in Chile, Past, Present, and Future." By I. BIRKWOOD HOBSBAUM, A.M.S.T., F.C.S., and J. L. GRIGIONI. A survey was given of the nitrite industry from its birth in 1809, when the most elementary apparatus was in use and only the richest of material was extracted, namely, that containing 60 per cent of nitrate, followed by a period of trial and experiment in the use of evaporation by coils and pipes, until in 1882 the first well-considered plant was put down by Sr Robert Harvey, who incorporated on a large scale and in a well considered scheme the results of all the past experience, including that of Mr. J. J. Humberston, to whom was due the present counter-current system of lixiviation of the raw material, which was universally in use at the p esent day in Chile. By means of that system, raw material could be economically worked with about 30 per cent ritrate content. The authors pointed out that that plant, erected in 1884, produced about 6000 tons of nitrate of soda per month, and for every ton of coal burat 12 tons of nitrate of soda were manufactured. So stationary was the industry from that time onwards that in 1914, thirty years later, there had been no improvement in the pro im duction, with the exception of mechanical labour These such as elevators. devices, saving provements, made between 1900 and 1915, were illus trated by a detailed account of one of the latest works designed in 1911, for a monthly output of 90,000 quintals, but an examination of the working figures showed that the tons of nitrate produced per ton of coal had fallen from 12 to 1, to 5.3 to 1. This, however, was due to the fact that in this later plant caliche of a much lower grade was being used; a nitrate which could not have been treated at all by the plant erected in 1884. The authors then gave very full details of the actual Crushing and leaching systems now in use for obtaining the nitrate of soda solutions, and showed where in thest systems were unsatisfactory, and pointed out the real causes of their inefficiency. Following this was an out line of various attempts-more or less spasmodic and uncrganised-to improve the present system: attempts which had all broken down from the fact that they were not of a sufficiently radical nature, but simply attempts to palliate existing evils in the present plant. Two processes were described which had been extensively worked out and tested by continuous experiments In 1912, the authors made a tour of investigation for Messrs. Gibbs and Co., of Valparaiso, throughout the U.S.A., France, and G.rmany, in order to gather information on methods used in other industries so as to develop the Chilian nitrate industry on more modern lines. That resulted in a process combining a new method of lixiviation, also a new method of concentrating the liquors so produced in Kestner evaporators, inclucing the separation of the sodium chloride and ritrate of soda. The theoretical details of the problem and the details of the lixiviation process were worked out partly at the Manchester School of Technology and at the laboratories of Messis. G. T. Holloway; whilst the evapcrator problem was solved by Mr. Paul Kestner, of Lille, who acted in conjunction with the Kestner Evaporator and Engineering Co., Ltd., and the authors of the paper. The principles of the Gibbs process were as follows:The raw material was first crushed and fed into a disintegrating mill, working without balls or pebbles, together with nitrate solution at about 15° C. In that mill the raw The solid mass was fed conmaterial was reduced to its ultimate particles with the minimum of grinding. tinuously from the mill to a series of class fiers in which xiviation again took place on the well-known counterThe action took place in four stages and current system. the final insolubles were in the form of clean sand and gravel, which did not contain any more than 1 per cent of nitrate of soda. In order to eliminate the very fine insolubles, about 10 per cent of the raw material was treated in a filtration process-in an Oliver filter. The result was to produce a liquor containing about 450 grms. of nitrate of soda per litte and about 200 grms. of salt with 50 to 60 grms. of other soluble salts. The 1 quer so produced was carried to the Kestner patent salting 13 pe evaporator. This consisted real y of three evaporator units; the first two worked in double effect and the last unit worked independently under vacuum. The special feature of these evaporators was the arrangement of a central separator surrounded by several calandrias placed tangentially. These calandrias, or heating units, were so connected to the central separator that a constant circulation of liquor took place through the evaporation tubes, whilst the salts thrown out of solution as concentration proceeded were trapped and carried to the bottom of the separater, so that they did not again enter into circulation. Further, each calandria could be isolated from the separator and independently washed a highly important feature when dealing with caliche liquors which contained, in addition to nitrates and chlorides, quite appreciable quantiti s of other soluble salts as well as slime and mud. In the first evaporator unit, the weak liquors coming from the ball mills were pre-concentrated, so as to prepare for the second effect a liquor of uniform density. That evaporator was operated by the vapours driven off in evaporator No. 2, where the final concentraIn the second tion of the liquors was carried out. evaporator, the i quor in the separator was kept at a prearranged maximum boiling p int at which all the sodium chloride was thrown out of solution, and removed in a special filter-box, while the highly-saturated nitrate liquor was carried into a third effect. In this third effect further required. evaporation might take place, or depending on the opera | probably replace the Gibbs system. Less water would be tion in the first part of the process, the final stage might consist only of self-evaporation and cooling in vacuo, with the consequent throwing down of crystals of nitrate of soda. The authors refuted the statement so often made that the nitrate grounds of Chile were practically exhausted, or would be so within a few years. According to the official returns, there was sufficient supply to last for at least one hundred more years. There was, in fact, according to the authorities in Chile, 245,300,000 tons of nitrate awaiting treatment by some economical process. DISCUSSION. The CHAIRMAN complimented the authors on the interesting character of their paper. He said it was a remarkable tact that the nitrate industry had only recently commenced to use multiple-effect evaporators. Mr. W. G. MANN referred to the paucity of published literature on the subject. In regard to atmospheric cooling and crystallising in open tanks, there were in connection with every officina some hundreds of open cooling tanks which ought to offer opportunities for very reliable data on the subject. In the new system of nitrate production, the problem of quick and efficient cooling and crystallising was very important. He suggested that some of the fundamental problems of chemical engineering might be investigated by a committee of the society. With regard to the expressions of surprise made by the chairman and others that the multiple-effect evaporators had not been in use on caliche, he drew attention to the difficult nature of the caliche liquor from the point of view of the evaporator problem. The trouble was further aggravated by the presence of fine dust from the crushing mills. It had been solved by the introduction of an evaporator which allowed for rapid circulation in the heating tubes and the isolation and cleaning of the heating units by means of the multi calandria arrangement attached to a central separator. Mr. E. V. EVANS said that it was often necessary to design a cooling system for hot saturated solutions of a crystallisable product, which, on cooling to normal temperature, set almost solid. The means suggested to overcome this difficulty were to employ a high speed centrifugal pump tor pumping the hot liquor through a long coil of iron pipe, which was cooled externally by liquor. If the speed of the centrifugal pump was sufficiently high the tendency for the crystals formed within the liquor to cleave to the pipe was overcome by the high velocity of flow. Dr. R. SELIGMAN said that it had been stated in the paper that crude oil was available for fuel purposes on the Caliche fields, but presumed that what was meant was that crude oil was more readily available than coal, and not that oil of local occurrence was used. He further asked whether on the Caliche fields water was not extremely scarce, and consequently valuable, and if that were so, it seemed all the more remarkable that methods of evaporation and drying were used which seemed especially designed to waste water rather than to conserve it. Sir FREDERICK NATHAN said he could confirm the presence of iodine in Chile saltpetre, and he had often seen crystals of iodine subliming over with the nitric acid produced from Chile saltpetre. Mr. WALTER F. REID expressed surprise that the iodine was not recovered as a by-product. It was very much required in the manufacture of organic chemicals. He would like to ask if the question of evaporating in open tanks by means of the sun had ever been dealt with in Chile. Mr. J. W. MACDONALD said that if the Chilean fields were so close to exhaustion as some had asserted, why were they not more careful in recovering the whole of the nitrate ? He thought that a diffusion process, similar to that used in the extraction of sugar from beet, might Mr. T. D. MORSON said that the present price of iodine was altogether an artificial one, and agreed that it should be recovered. Dr. MESSEL inquired how much iodine was available per ton of caliche. Mr. REAVELL briefly replied to the discussion, and the meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the authors. Informal Meeting, December 19, 1916. Mr. ARTHUR R. LING in the Chair. The CHAIRMAN said that it was hoped that the present departure of holding informal meetings would prove useful in promoting the good fellowship of the members, as well as indicating new lines to be followed in increasing the utility of the Society's work. It was further hoped that the younger members might be induced to join more freely in the discussions than they had done heretofore. There was a strong feeling among members, especially those in the provinces, in favour of the reporting of proceedings of the meetings other than papers and discussions, so that the different sections should become better acquainted with what each was doing. To some extent that was reported at the present time in the trade journals. But it was strongly urged, and he thought quite reason. ably, that their own journal was the place where they ought to find a record of their doings. He believed that the question of the Federation of Chemical Societies, as suggested by Prof. Armstrong in a paper read before their section last year, would be promoted to a great extent by holding meetings such as the present one. There was no doubt that the time had come when chemistry in this country must make its voice heard as medicine had done. It was a remarkable fact that when the Government or any corporate body wished for any assistance in chemistry, they did not approach the Society of Chemical Industry, which, it appeared to him, was the proper body to deal with such matters. He might cite the fact that at the outbreak of war, the Government approached the Royal Society, who formed various committees, to deal with chemical questions. If the various chemical societies had been federated, then a question such as that would have been submitted to them. It seemed to him that it was just as logical for the Government to go to the Royal Society on a medical question as it was for them to go to that society on a chemical question. The reason the medical profession had not been excluded was that they had made themselves known, and made themselves strong by federating. In 1898, when he became Secretary of the London Section, the membership was about one thousand, and now it was slightly over that numbor, so in those eighteen years there had been no substantial increase. Surely, it should have been otherwise. He urged them to use their endeavours to induce their friends to join the Section. DISCUSSION. Mr. A. H. DEWAR welcomed the meeting as an indication of a move in the direction of making the Society more useful. He thought that they should aim at obtaining papers of a more technical nature, and he expressed the view that many of their papers belonged more to the domain of pure than applied science. He pointed out that some directors were afraid to let their chemists speak, but if wise use was made of intercourse between chemists it was conducive to their companies' advantage. Dr. S. MIALL alluded to the difficulty felt by a manufacturer who was rather ignorant of chemistry. He found few papers which were sufficiently elementary and general to interest him, and hoped it would be possible to introduce more into the Journal. He called attention to the amount of space taken up by abstracts of highly CHEMICAL NEWS, Chemical Notices from Foreign Sources. Jan. 1), 1917 technical matters. Finally, he hoped the section would be able to arrange visits to works. Mr. W. J. COWAN agreed with holding informal meetings of the kind. He thought that the Journal might be im proved in its general interest to members if, amongst other things, it contained "Answers to Correspondents" on matters of general trade importance to chemical industry. He favoured the establishment of a club for chemists and others allied to chemical industry and chemical engineering, which he thought was a long felt want as the means of creating a closer esprit de corps among the members. He urged that the Council should take some action with the Government on the question of English patents granted to foreign manufacturers, many of which were worthless in their literal and printed form. 35 j evening's discussion at an informal meeting, e.g., relation between chemists and directors, labour difficulties, &c. Mr. HOWARD then proposed the following resolution, which was seconded by Dr. W. HODGKINSON, and carried :— "That a committee be appointed to consider the steps that should be taken to form a chemical industry club for the London Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, and to report to the committee of the section, and, subsequently, to a further informal meeting of the members of the London Section." mittee:-Messrs. H. E. Coley, A. H. Dewar, B. F. The following members were appointud to form a comHoward, with the Chairman and Hon. Secretary ex officio. Mr. H. E. COLEY suggested that a small committee be formed immediately, consisting preferably of members not at present on the executive, which should draw up a scheme for the formation of a chemical club in connection with the society. He argued that the present form of monthly CHEMICAL NOTICES FROM FOREIGN meeting was out of date. The impression in the mind of the ordinary member of the society was that nothing had been done to make for unity, and that something ought to be done quickly. Dr. H. V. Á. BRISCOE thought that the present time was one of great opportunity and yet of great difficulty. He would suggest that an immediate step might be taken to arrange at meetings, such as the present, discussions on set subjects selected by the committee. They might thus acquire the habit of "talking shop" judiciously, without revealing confidential information. With reference to the complaint made by one or two speakers that only a few pages of the Journal were of interest to them, he presumed that only one or two pages dealt with that branch of industry with which they were primarily con cerned, and he would suggest to these gentlemen that they were taking too narrow a view of the matter, and that they might find it worth while to study the pages in which they were not interested in the narrower sense. He agreed entirely with Mr. Cowan that many foreign patents as specified were unworkable. The HON. SECRETARY pointed out that as far back as April, 1914, he had proposed to the committee a resolution, which was agreed to unanimously : "That it was desirable in the interests of the Society to consider a scheme for the formation of a Chemical Club, with suitable premises in London." For various reasons that scheme could not be proceeded with at that time, but he believed that there were now large numbers of the members of the London Section who would be willing to support actively the furtherance of this Froposal. Dr. C. A. KEANE expressed himself thoroughly in sym. pathy with the proposal that steps should be taken to effect some fuller opportunity than had existed in the past for the members of the section to meet together on a social basis and to get to know one another. In the past the committee of the section had done their best to advance what they regarded as the best interests of the members, but as with all committees and councils the ideas for such advancement necessarily came from within the circle of the committee itself, and they knew all too little of the views and desires of the bulk of the members of the section. This meeting had given opportunity for these views to be stated, and he felt sure that every member of the committee would appreciate the freedom with which members had spoken. It appeared to him to be quite within the powers of the section to take steps to initiate something in the form of a meeting place or club for social purposes, apart from the more formal gatherings for the reading of papers. Mr. BERNARD F. HOWARD said that the meeting had amply justified itself, and it would be a matter of great regret if it were not reported. Many points had been raised that evening which could well form the basis for an SOURCES. NOTE. All degrees of temperature are Centigrade unless otherwise expressed. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences. Vol. clxiti., No. 20, November 13, 1916. Colloidal Iodine. -H. Bordier and G. Roy.-It has already been shown in a previous communication that solutions of iodine in water appear to contain the iodine in the colloidal state, but it is difficult to establish the fact by a cryoscopic method, as the quantity dissolved is too small for the purpose. Investigation with the ultramicroscope indicates that iodine is present in pure water in the colloidal state, but in the form of granules which are too small to be seen with the instru Gelatin in suitable pr portions makes these granules unite to form particles which can be seen. ment. MISCELLANEOUS. Special Reports on the Mineral Resources of Great Britain.--The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries desire to give notice of the publication of a second edition of the second volume of the Special Reports on the Mineral Resources of Great Britain, which has been prepared by the Director of the Geological Survey in response to numerous enquiries that have arisen through the conditions brought about by the war. In the main, it is a reprint of the first edition, wherein the uses, distribution, treatment, and output of Barytes and Witherite are dealt with, and particulars of the mines-active and inactive-are given. Copies may be obtained through any bookseller; from Messrs. T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd., 1, Adelphi Terrace, London, W.C., who are the sole wholesale agents to the trade outside the County of London; or from the DirectorGeneral, Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton. Price 28. Industrial Research in Leeds on German Dyes.Among the industries affected by the cessation of supplies of German-made dyes are printing and photography. Modern colour-printing for illustration work is dependent on the use of photographic plates which have been specially rendered sensitive to red and other colours to which they would ordinarily be blind. It has also been found necessary to use such panchromatic plates for military photography in aeroplane reconnaissance work, on account of their superior powers of resolving detail and of penetrating fog or mist. For the manufacture of such plates certain special dyes were essential, and these were obtained solely from Germany. The quantities used are very small, and the stocks in this country sufficed to carry on the manufacture for a considerable period after the | and Notation in Calorimetry. Thermometric Scales for outbreak of war. Some six months ago, however, the Meteorological Use. The Metrical System. The Power principal makers notified the trades concerned that the of Great Britain, and the House of Commons. Lord supply of such plates could not be guaranteed in the Milner and Imperial Scholarships. And History in Handy future. The Federation of Master Printers discussed Volumes. Of the scientific communications, the most the position at a meeting at which the Leeds Technical important are those concerning the Natural History of School was represented. The photographic and printing Ice and Steam. The contributions to newspapers concrafts' department of the school had previously had con- cerning matters of public interest at the time have been siderable experience in using and testing these dyes and reprinted, because they are of public interest still. Dr. undertook to assist in the solution of the difficulty. The Buchanan's earlier volume of scientific papers (OceanoUniversity of Leeds was approached by the Leeds Educa- graphical) will be remembered. tion Committee, with a view to its co-op.ration in the preparation of the dyes used, and cordially agreed to a combined investigation. Without loss of time a joint scheme of research was organised by the two authorities, and the work was entrusted to Mr. W. Harrison, M.Sc., a member of the University staff, and to Mr. S. F. Bottomley, F.R. P.S., head of the printing crafts' department of the City of Leeds Technical School. Although the research is still in progress, it has already yielded important results, and on account of the urgency of the demand a preliminary report has been printed for the information of all concerned. This pamphlet gives full details of the preparation of two dyes, to which the names Formocyanine and Tolucyanine are given, and demonstrates that their sensitis ng powers are identical with those of the original German products. The work is being continued with the object of increasing the yields of the dyes already made and of preparing other dyes which are also required in the industries concerned. Mineral Resources of the United States.-The Department of the Interior has recently issued a series of pamphlets dealing with this subject. Among the subjects of these pamphlets are the following:-Chromic iron ore, production of various metals, fuel briquetting, asbestos, fluorspar, felspar, silica, graphite, &c. The methods of production, commercial uses, and properties of the various substances are in each case discussed in some detail, and the distribution of the minerals throughout the different States is given in full. The variations of prices and quantities exported and imported are tabulated, and the progress of trade is shown by statistics and diagrams. Commercial Nagoya. The paper Commercial Nagoya is Nagoya's first and only periodical published in English, and aims at bringing Japanese business men into closer touch with foreign firms. The August, 1916, number contains some accounts of the industries of Nagoya, and reports that Japan's export trade is beginning to make great strides. Some articles, such as rubber goods, which before the war were imported from Germany, are now being manufactured in Japan, and machinery, beer, and other things are being exported for the first time. The periodical contains many advertisements of firms dealing in various different classes of goods, and deserves the attention of British merchants. It is published by the Aichiken Commercial Museum, Nagoya. The Royal Institute of Public Health.-A course of lectures and discussions on "Public Health Problems under War and after War Conditions," will be held in the Lecture Hall of the Royal Institute of Public Health, 37, Russell Square, London, W.C., on Wednesdays_in January, February, and March, 1917, at 4 p.m. The course is intended primarily for Fellows and Members of the Royal Institute of Public Health. Medical Officers of Health, Medical Practitioners, Sanitarians, and others engaged in Public Health Work and National Services are cordially invited to attend. Lectures. Jan. 17.-" Principles of Organisation and Administra- Jan. 24.-"The Prevention and Arrest of Venereal Jan. 31. -"The Prevention and Arrest of Venereal Disease in Men," by Chas. John Macalister, M.D., F.R.C.P. Feb. 7.-" The Role of the Midwife and the Protection Feb. 21.-"The Tuberculosis Problem in War Time," Mar. 7." The Selection and Preparation of Foods in Mar. 14. The Protection of the Health of Munition Mar. 28.-" Personal Habits in Relation to Public Health MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. Announcement. -The Cambridge University Press will shortly publish "Comptes Rendus of Observation and Reasoning," by Dr. J. Y. Buchanan, F.R.S., chemist and physicist of the Challenger expedition. As the title indicates, the book consists of "accounts rendered" of work done at different times, in different places, and on different subjects. The following papers are included in the volume: Recent Antarctic Exploration. Chemical and Physical Notes. On Ice and Brines. On Steam and Brines. The Size of the Ice-Grain in Glaciers. Ice and Its Natural History. Beobachtungen uber die Einwirkung der Strahlung auf das Gletchereis. In and Around the Morteratsch Glacier: A Study in the Natural History of Ice. The Use of the Globe in the Study of Crystallo- FRIDAY, 26th -Royal Institution, 5.30. graphy. On a Solar Calorimeter, used in Egypt at the Total Solar Eclipse in 1882. Solar Radiation. The Total Eclipse of August 30, 1905. Eclipse Predictions. TUESDAY, 23rd.-Royal Institution, 3. "The Old Brain and the New The Solar Eclipse of April 17, 1912. The Publication of SATURDAY, Roval Society. "The Dynamics of Revolving Prof. G Murray. Physical, 5. "A Clock of Precision," by C. O. Bar. trum. Effect of Water Vapour in the Atmosphere on the Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves," by F Schwers. 27th.-Royal Institution, 3. "The Lakes and Mountains of Central Africa," by A. R. Hinks. |