TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11394, 3 October 1902, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Many people will reNitrogen member the stir from created some four the Atmosphere, years ago by Sir William Cxookes'a pessimistic forecast of the failnre of the world's wheat supply. In his address before the British Association, he declared that tie amount of "fixed" nitrogen was insufficient to meet tie rapidly -increasing demands made upon ifc by the production of wheat, and be went on to predict that a worldwide famine would occur in the-present century unless chemists discovered some easy and cheap method of "fixing" the nitrogen of the atmosphere. His alarming conclusions did not meet with, general acceptance among men of science, tie opinion being freely expressed that Sir William Crookes had undfeMistimated the quantity of available soil. It is not denied, however, that the necessity for increasing the* fertility of the soil must ultimately be faced, for while tbe world's consumption of wheat is increasing enormously, the supply of'fertilisers in tbe form of nitrates is strictly limited. The problem for the scientists, therefore, is to devise a method for increasing that supply by extracting nitrogen from the inexhaustible stores of the atmosphere. An article ip the American "Review of Reviews" for September describes such a method, the results obtained from which in actual practice have been remarkably successful. It is the invention of Messrs Charles S. Bradley and D. R. Lovejoy, who have utilised the water-

power at Niagara Falls to produce a large number of electric arcs or flames in a confined space, through -which a regulated amount of air to be burned can be passed continuously. The result of this treatment is to separate the nitrogen, the air emerging from the apparatus laden with nitric oxides and peroxides, which can, -with the aid of water, be separated in the form of nitric and nitrous acid. If the gases arc brought into contact with caustic potash, saltpetre is obtained; if the base is caustic soda, the result is nitrate of soda. It is found that with ■ current at Niagara costing 20 dollars per kilowatt— i.e., 1| horse-power per year—the expense for the energy required would be a iittle less than L 6 cents, per pound, or 55.84 dollars per ton of the nitric acid of' commerce, as against 80 dollars per ton by the ordinary commercial process. Lord Kelvin, who saw the operation of the plant at Niagara last April, afterwajtte described it as the most interesting sight ho had witnessed during his visit to America. The value in agriculture of nitrates prcdoeed so cheaply from an ineslhaustible supply of nitrogen will be realised from the illustrations given by tht writer of the article. At Eotherham, in England, Sir John Lawes and Sir Henry Gilbert, with the aid of nitrate- of soda, raised the yield of wheat from less than 12 bushels per acre to over 56. Similar experiments conducted under Professor George T. Powell on a New York farm last year showed that "-iritfc an investment of 2.62 dollars in nitrate of coda, the hay crop per acre, worth 15.30 dollars, was raised to 28.80 doHais." And remembering the importance of nitric acid, not only to agriculture, but also to the ammunition

industry, the celluloid industry aod photography, it is obvious that great possibilities underlie the successful operation of a process whereby men may "uee the atmosphere as their milch cow." .

Some amusing stories of Some Stories the private soldier as a of "Tommy." familiar friend are told in

a magazine article by *n ex-trooper of the Imperial Yeomanry, who appears to have a large circle of acquaintances among the "regulars/ , and to have kept a.n observant eye <*n their peculiaritks, which he describes freely, but without malice. "There is," he says, t'the long-suffering, good nature of the line, the se.f-assertive pride of the Gnasrds, ahnoet always on its defence, the rather patronising superciliousness of the cavalry, the solid self-confidence of that most popular service known as the 'tillery, and , the concm of the engineer." . The rivalry between different parts of the service is no more keen than *Jiat between various regiments, and it was tiie Yeoman's experience to iie in bed in hospital between a gunner ami a Gordon Highlander, "who fought across mc continually for the honour of their wgiments, and challenged each other at least daily to single combat—neither being able to rise from their beds." Another occupant of the hospital amused himself by continually drawing , from memory pictures of Shakespeare's house at Stratford, singing to one invariable tune pathetic verses of his own composition, circulating unveracious rumours of the death or capture of r>e Wet, and endC-essly borrowing sixpences. Tommy, as a rule, prefers pathetic, even melancholy, ballads, with appropriately lugubrious airs, and the dying speech of a-drummer boy, with a refrain about ''breaking the news to mother," rivalled in popularity

"Down on tba deep they are sleeping, S;«eping to wake no more."* of such depressing harJnony,ri(; is hardly surprising that the married men in hospital were particularly homesick. The Yeoman was the recipient of many confidences ac to the superlative excellence of "the missus," jand a Scotch sergeant absolutely bored him with incessant >praises of his wife, -who seems to bavt* bfeo•" a domestic paragon. "Am feUin , ye she's a self-taught dreesmaker. She has ac singJe eewing-machine that dis auchbeen different stitches-;—mon, ah couldna tell y e eae muckLe as the name* o , the half o* them. Ay, and there isaa, a wuirunan in tie married-quarterß but comes to ihjer lor recipes in cookery." There were>i&ih«rßj however, wto recognised that they Srere not missing much by b«ing away from home. One Reservist, who was asked if his berth was being kept open for him, replied, ."Oh, yes, my job's 'unemployed, , and they'll keep it open for mc." Our men have come home ioud in their praises of Tommy, and it is gratifying to learn that the feeling is reciprocated. The Yeoman xemarfcs that among the regulars there waa only one opinion—the highest—of the Canadian, Australasian, and South African colonials. Approval of the Home Volunteers (does not appear to have gone far beyond the regiment to which each volunteer service company was attached, while &c popularity of the Imperial Yeomanry was discounted by the hostile feeling against t&e "millionaire" or "kid glove" corps.

The surprise visit The Queeo paid by the Queen in a to Net% Hospital SoHJerfl' Hospital. .» day or two before

the Coronation, may -haws a nraoh mere .beneficial effect upon the soldier* who are treated there than her •Majesty ever suspected when she determined to go there. Her visit, it may be eaid, tpae so entirely unexpected that for some time after the little party lam&ed— the Queen waa accompanied only by Sir Frederick Treves and a lady—no one in authority could be found to escort them round the wawfo, and *he ptace had palp- . ably not been flxed up for a Royal insrpectnoa. The "Daily Mail" -representative, who describes the visit, (narrates one amusing instance of the unlooked-for character of the visit. .As the Queen and her companions waited up to the hospital across ihs lawn, they noticed groups of convalescent soldiers tinder "the trees. '"The Tommies had no objection to being looked at by (real ladies. "Wihen you have lost a leg or an arm in the King's service, you.m&y Dot Ibe tie fine figure of a man you were, but, anyway, there as nothing to be ashamed of. Bo they made believe to be looking at something else while thes3 ladies oamo towards them over the gras*. ■ 'Blow mc tight, Alf, , eaid one of he tells the story now with a sheepish smile—'the tail one's took % fancy to yer.'. Alf sprang to his fecit and saluted. It ■was i-r» Queen; and the other l*dy was Princess Victoria," "I could a' kicked roeself," was the subsequent rueful comment of the first speaker. "To think I didn't know 'er! Ain't she got a lovely pair cjjf eyes nieetlher?" "She's a angel" •was the reply of the Tommy upon whom had first burst the knowledge that their visitor was the Queen. "That's wot that woman is. She come amongst us like sh; was one of ahrselves, mind yer; jest to see if ire was comfortable an' 'ad any pain an' step' -well with it; an' II b'lieve she went rahnd the hintire 'orspitaJ. Two airs she ■frai." remarked that it was because she had been "mnssin' Albert Edward" that she had come to Netley, just ■tr> see bow "them poor lads was doing." Gratefui tuad proud as they weTe of the 'Queen's attention to £hem, they would ha;-i* beep even more dnterested l had they known that the keen eyes.of the King's surgeon were taking note of ail -defects of the hospital. The dietary certainly can hardly

be subject for complaint if these two menus are any criterion of the majority: "Wat-kins (gunshot)— Half a roast c&icken, two bottles of stout, two eggs, lJb fruit, 2oz, che&e, 6oz port wine, a custard pudding, 4oz vegetables." "Jones (enteric)— RoasT chop, two bottles of stout, two eggs, lib fruit, 2oz oatmeal, 2oz sugar, lOoz fish." But there are no separate wings for infectious cases, the place eeems to be ibdifferently ckan, aad Sir F. Treves is said to have found other matters calling for sever* criticism, which he will 1,-nrg under the notice of the War ' 'ffi.'e. The nations memory is so short thai it vr.l. allow soldiers broken in heaah in :1s wa. s to goffer needlessly in their Li*pitale