Barren Waste Research Articles

My Mother's Facelift

My Mother's Facelift

The Third Revolution

The Third Revolution

Reuse of mining waste as aggregates in fly ash-based geopolymers

Mineral production continues to be necessary for economic development, consequently also the management of mining and mineral-processing wastes represent a considerable issue in terms of recycling and economic strategies for the future. One of the most promising reuses for coarse-grained mining wastes, especially barren waste rocks from coal and metal mining, is their application in the building and construction sector. An experimental research has been developed with the aim of studying the possible reuse of waste rocks – coming from mining activities-as fine aggregates in a fly ash based geopolymer: physical, chemical and mechanical tests have been carried out in order to analyze in detail the interaction between the geopolymer binder and the rock waste aggregates. All the mixtures, characterized by an aggregate/binder/ratio ranging between 0.05 and 1, showed a final microstructure characterized by a rather homogeneous geopolymer matrix embedding the mining waste rock. The geopolymeric matrix governs the overall mechanical behavior of the system, thanks also to the strong interaction at the interface between matrix and aggregates (mining waste). Moreover, all the geocomposites satisfy the prescribed limit for inert or non-hazardous waste.

Ocean Growing: Blake’s Two Versions of <i>Newton</i> and the Emerging Polypus

No interpretation has discussed the marked differences between the two prints of Newton: the 1795 version portrays Newton sitting in a hunched posture on a rock formation, the surface of which—with the exception of some patches of burnt orange and blue—is largely bare, like his own body. He seems meant to be associated with the rock on which he sits, emphasizing Blake’s view that the laws of Newtonian physics had fixed the world in Urizenic petrification, as later stated in A Descriptive Catalogue: “The Horse of Intellect is leaping from the cliffs of Memory and Reasoning; it is a barren Rock: it is also called the Barren Waste of Locke and Newton” (E 546). In the 1804–05 print the rock is teeming with life, as if a coral population of sponges and spiky urchins had proliferated on the work in the intervening ten years. The richly textured and finely articulated coralline forms result from Blake’s method of color printing, which Viscomi has described as “printing wet paint from flat millboards or relief plates onto large sheets of paper.” The printed paint could be left in its “accidental” spongy state (closely resembling the rough texture of a coral reef), which Blake could choose to refine by washing over the printed colors in watercolors and by outlining them in pen and ink (Blake and the Idea of the Book 128). Perhaps the rich, spongy forms resulting from Blake’s color-printing technique suggested, in the later version, marine creatures, which he could then develop in pen and ink. The most notable additions in this regard are the two sea anemones or marine polyps rooted below Newton’s buttocks. Their tentacles trail in an ocean current, an effect that lends a dynamism to this later design.

INDOOR RADON MEASUREMENT IN FORMER URANIUM MINING REGIONS IN BULGARIA

Radon exposure situations have the characteristics of existing exposure situations since the source is unmodified concentrations of ubiquitous natural activity in the earth’s crust. Human activities may create or modify pathways increasing indoor radon concentration compared to outdoor background. The mining and processing of uranium bearing minerals generate a variety of waste materials containing a number of radioactive and non-radioactive hazardous constituents. Conventional underground and open pit mining activities produce overburden, mineralized waste and barren waste rock, which are generally low in their uranium and thorium contents and are left at the mine site. The study focuses on regions of former uranium mining industries, where the radiological risk is higher. Methods: The cumulative (passive) method was used for the study. The measurements are carried out by E PERM® system. Detectors are placed for approximately 6 months in randomly selected houses in former uranium mining sites - Sliven-villages area, Eleshnica and Bachkovo. These sites are situated in mountains in different part of Bulgaria. Results: The results of indoor radon concentration for investigation villages range from 125 Bq/m3 to 4000 Bq/m3. The maximum concentration was measured in Bachkovo village in Rodopi Mountain. This village is the least affected by the former uranium mining industry. Conclusion: The results prove assumption that former uranium mining sites are radon prone areas where radiological risk is higher. The level of indoor radon of residential buildings in areas with higher uranium availability is around or above the recommended reference radon levels. The maximum value of the concentration of radon is measured in areas less affected by uranium mining, proving the necessity to undertake a radon national survey to determine exact radon prone areas. Key words: Radon concentration, long-term measurement, radon prone areas

The Romantic Roots of "Blade Runner"

In Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982), the influential yet loose film translation of Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the clash between creatures engineered in biomedical laboratories (cyborgs called replicants) and those who create them to achieve colonial ends (at the Tyrell Corporation) form the center of cinematic concern. After the replicants hijack a spaceship and kill the human crew and passengers, they return from their exile in the off-world colonies to the Earth to confront the individual genius, Dr. Eldon Tyrell, responsible for their creation. The replicants are led by Roy Batty (played by Rutger Hauer), the newest combat-model (Nexus-6) developed by the corporation for military use, and under his leadership the group has returned to force from their creator biornechanical modifications in their genetic design to overcome the engineered four-year life-span inserted to protect humanity from these physically superior yet emotionally inexperienced beings. After an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the Tyrell Corporation headquarters (a pyramid-like building that dominates the dark, despoiled environment that defines the cityscape of Los Angeles in 2019), the replicants are targeted for execution (called retirement). The agent sought to accomplish this task is Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford), a retired (the term applied to those who hunt and kill replicants) who, during his investigation of the Nexus model specifications, is introduced by Dr. Tyrell to his niece Rachel (played by Sean Young). During a test designed to detect flawed empathic responses and thereby reveal replicants (the Voight-Karnpff test), Rachel is unveiled as a replicant (which Tyrell already knew and through whom he sought to measure the validity of the test itself). After Rachel's status as a replicant is revealed, Deckard also learns that, unlike other replicants, she does not have a terminal lifespan engineered into her genetic composition, arid across the opening half of the film the blade runner falls in love with her, following her abandonment by Tyrell. This human-replicant emotive bond manifests a form of hybridized love and becomes a crucial plot device for the film; Rachel later intervenes on behalf of Deckard, saving his life by killing another replicant named Leon (played by Brion James), who had already attempted to kill another blade runner during an earlier Voight-Kampff test following his penetration of the Tyrell Corporation maintenance personnel. The hybridized bond of love also serves as a unifying element at the level of symbolic relations in the film and plays a determining role in the tragicomic resolution to conclude Scott's exploration of the continued relevance of high Romanticism for postmodernism. The clash at the root of this plot between creatures returning to their creator to petition for intervention to improve their existential state resembles Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, in which the creature created and abandoned by Victor Frankenstein kills those most loved by him, then pleads with him for a mate to end his isolation, and is hunted in turn by the scientist across the barren wastes of the arctic. The plot of the film, however, also pays homage to another dimension of the Romantic era associated with both Mary and Percy Shelley, as well as its less well-known evocation by William Blake--the core of the Promethean myth and its adaptation in Blake's America, A Prophecy, in Mary's Frankenstein, and in Percy's Prometheus Unbound. While the opening of Blade Runner emphasizes the Frankenstein myth and its themes, the conclusion of the film just as clearly operates in a promethean dimension where will (for vengeance) is overcome by love (of all that lives). The setting and symbolism against which the passage from hate to love of the postmodern Prometheus occurs should also resonate with any audience remotely familiar with Romantic aesthetics, since both features reflect the lingering influence of the gothic and the sublime. …

Integrated mining, processing and waste disposal systems for reduced energy and operating costs at Xstrata Nickel's Sudbury Operations

The preconcentration of metal bearing ore through the rejection of coarse, barren waste material is not a new concept. However, the approach has not found wide application in the industry due to several common misconceptions about the principles and potential benefits of the approach. The University of British Columbia (UBC) has been involved in a strategic research programme into mine–mill integration and more specifically ore preconcentration since 1999. From the research it has been concluded that ore preconcentration, either by sorting, or other coarse particle separation methods such as dense media separation, is particularly indicated for improving the economics of heterogenous sulphide mineral deposits through the rejection and disposal of barren waste before milling. These benefits can be maximised through the integration of the technologies into the underground environment. This paper presents the outcome of a comprehensive study by UBC into the application and benefits of the concept at Xstrata Nickel's Sudbury Operations.

EVOLUTION OF DIAMETER AND VERTICAL GROWTH OF THE SAPLINGS USED IN THE ECOLOGIC RECONSTRUCTION OF CERTAIN BARREN GANGUE WASTE AREAS WITHIN TURDA FORESTRY AREA

Barren gangue waste areas are one of the most sever e problems of all the environment protection issues we are confronting. This is the reason why ecologic reconstruction and reinstating the natural initial state of things represent a permanent preoccupation of fo restry specialists. These are, in essence, areas w here different materials have been deposited (industrial and household waste, mine barren gangue, grind res ts, debris etc). These areas are quite large and are normally grouped around large industrial works or (depth or surface) mines. Due to mine exploitation (kaolin, bentonite , gravel etc), in Cluj county there have always bee n many such areas. Some of them managed to be successfull y reafforested (Aghire � , Turda, Morlaca, Ciucea, etc.), others are currently being rehabilitated. Among th ese, the kaolin and bentonite barren gangue areas a dministered by Turda Forestry Area within Cluj- Napoca Forestry Board. The respective terrains are not only a sou rce of pollution, but they are also economically unusable. The ecologic reconstruction can be best done (bot h technically and economically) through afforestation , using saplings of high quality, of species that h ave low ecologic requirements, given the present conditions . The quality of the edaphic substrate in which th e saplings are introduced is, however, of vital importance whe n aiming at achieving remarkable growth rates (in d iameter and height), as well as in achieving good adjustmen t of the saplings to the new conditions. MATERIAL, METHOD AND EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS The waste area where the determinations were made is formed of the barren gangue coming from the bentonite exploitation in Borzesti quarry and is situated next to the communal road between Petresti and Borzesti. The afforestation was carried out in spring 2005, using saplings of black pine ( Pinus nigra ) ( Pi.n ), in the (regeneration and afforestation) composition 10Pi.n , the total surface being 0,50 ha. The planting de vice was square having the dimensions 2x1m; 2.500 black pine saplings were used (5.000 per hectare). Considering the fact that in the barren gangue cont ent there is also fertile soil, the planting was carried out directly on the surface of the area , without additional soil. The saplings were planted in 60cm /80 cm large square areas. To be n oted that the surface is mostly plane, due to the levelling of the barren gangue. The sapling s used were of different dimensions; the basic criterion in choosing them was a minimum diameter of 5 mm, according to current specifications. The saplings came from the Mihai V iteazu Nurseries in the neighbourhood of Turda, about 15 Km from the area to be afforested. The fact that the nursery lies closeby means that there are greater chances of success due to the fact that the saplings were grown in similar climatic conditions. The only thing on whi ch their adapting to the new life depends is, thus, the edaphic conditions offered by the waste a rea. The work was carried out manually in the spring of 2005, and the plantation building conditions were upheld. As aforementioned, the sap lings were planted directly into the soil of the waste area. In order to check whether an addit ion of vegetal soil would have boosted the

Prediction of Water Vapor Movement through Waste Rock

Evaporative losses from the surface of barren waste rock piles in arid environments occur as a result of water vapor diffusion. Water vapor diffusion is accompanied by adsorption of water vapor. A review of the literature found that adsorption of water vapor is commonly described as a sigmoidal function of suction with a predominant linear portion when plotted against the log of suction. Laboratory column tests were conducted with glass beads and waste rock to study water vapor diffusion. A monitoring system was developed for measuring relative humidity and temperature through the column. Water vapor fluxes and relative humidity profiles through the column were measured under steady-state conditions to establish the method of estimating the water vapor diffusion coefficient. Transient water vapor fluxes and relative humidity profiles were measured and a numerical model was developed to simulate the laboratory observations. The numerical model demonstrated the importance of water sorption in controlling the transient water vapor flux. Sorption described as a log-linear function of suction gave reasonable results for the numerical modeling of the glass beads and waste rock.

The Father: A Life of Henry James, Sr. (review)

Reviewed by: The Father: A Life of Henry James, Sr. Leland S. Person Alfred Habegger. The Father: A Life of Henry James, Sr. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994. 558 pp. $30.00. Looking at Henry James Sr., his wife Mary, and sister-in-law Catharine Walsh through Jane Carlyle’s “cruel eyes,” Alfred Habegger notes, “one sees an obnoxious cripple followed by two identical dowdies nervously aware of being out of their depth” (215). In this seminal biography, an indispensable addition to James studies, Habegger redeems Henry Sr. from such a cruel charge even as he keeps us aware of its partial truth. Magisterial in scope, this “fully investigated” biography, which promises and delivers “hundreds of fresh discoveries” (7), is both encyclopedic and critical, and deserves to take pride of place among other recent accounts of James family members, such as those by Howard Feinstein, R. W. B. Lewis, Jane Maher, and Jean Strouse. Informative, thorough, respectful but also—appropriately—bewildered, incredulous, agog at Henry Sr.’s manic behavior, Habegger inspires confidence that he has exhausted available resources. “Monomaniacal,” “scandalous,” “reckless,” “remarkable,” “genius,” “sinister”—these terms from just the first short chapter suggest the admirable balance Habegger achieves. Meticulously tracing Henry Sr.’s life chronologically, Habegger provides a richly detailed account of his early life in Albany, his father William’s extensive business dealings, and especially the conditions of the convoluted will that—eventually—enabled Henry Sr. to spend his adult life as a leisured thinker and writer. Habegger’s detective work shows itself in numerous compelling anecdotes. At the age of seven or eight Henry Sr. robbed his father’s dressing table drawer because he owed money for candy. He fell in love with a housemaid whom he observed every Sunday out the window of the Presbyterian church. He performed miserably at Union College in Schenectady because he spent so much time drinking and gambling. Habegger’s stirring narrative of the injury that caused the amputation of James’s right leg (at age 16) serves as a foundational [End Page 94] event because of the trauma and guilt the three-year confinement entailed. No obscure hurt, this injury haunted James for years, accounting in Habegger’s estimation for the “barren waste” (101) of the five-year period (1830–35) between his Union College graduation and his enrollment in seminary, as well as for the terrifying “vastation,” or psychic collapse, he suffered at Frogmore Cottage during his family’s first extended visit to England in 1844, and probably for James’s manic and paradoxical efforts to perfect the degraded human self. Drifting around upper New York state in his mid-20s, for example, James felt wracked by “pathological guilt” (113) and became the family “pariah” (115)—albeit a rich one when the heirs broke William James’s will in 1837. James was such a half-hearted student at Princeton Theological Seminary that he took a six-month sabbatical during his second year, vacationing in England and Ireland before returning—just long enough to become a “flaming rebel” (154). The vocational turning point, in Habegger’s view: discovering and republishing Robert Sandeman’s radically anti-authoritarian Letters on Theron and Aspasio. James’s “long and aggressive campaign against established religion had begun” (157); he became an American Ishmael (161). “Father’s paradoxes, ambiguities, and contradictions were so deep-seated and intricate his children could not really grasp them,” Habegger comments (305), and reading this fascinating biography means sharing this vexed position with Habegger himself. In Notes of a Son and Brother Henry Jr. observes that the “force and truth” of “‘Father’s Ideas’” “pervaded and supported his existence, and very considerably our own” (AU 330), and this biography demonstrates the accuracy of the son’s observation. James’s almost Ahabic efforts (the comparison is Habegger’s) to pursue controversies and to have his day—or weeks—in the court of public opinion tend to eclipse the family life at home, which Henry Jr. aficionados would dearly love more information about. Habegger indulges in some informed speculation about the James family’s life with father, and he certainly honors the importance of “the mother,” Mary Robertson Walsh James, to father...

Enterprise and Empire: Officials, Entrepreneurs, and the Search for Petroleum in Southern Nigeria, 1906–1914

the great worldwide search tor petroleum began early in the twentieth century as pioneering businessmen, eager for new sources of profit, and cautious government officials, anxious for new revenues to defray the rising costs of public administration, came to believe in petroleum as the fuel of the future. If the predictions of the new explorers could be trusted, the oil age could be expected to produce striking changes in the economics of industrialized nations. Perhaps even more dramatic would be the effect on hitherto worthless, or dubious, pieces of colonial property, suddenly transformed from barren wastes or tropical jungles into prosperous colonies. Given these possibilities, it is interesting to examine the history of exploration, particularly the relations between business and government, in one British colony, and to determine to what extent traditional structures and ideas conflicted with new technologies and new enterprises. The impression of changing circumstances was spreading widely in Edwardian England. The Royal Navy was converting from coal to oilfired ships. Commentators, like Sydney Brooks in The Nineteenth Century, worried that 'there is no bigger and no more obvious gap in our . . . Imperial equipment than the paucity of our supplies of oil'.1 British companies began to drill in Trinidad, the East Indies, Burma, and elsewhere. But the best source of oil was found in Persia, where the oil was already flowing, where there were reserves sufficient for the foreseeable future, and where the oil lay close to the surface and therefore accessible without the development of new technology. Persia had only one glaring weakness: it was not British. As the value of, and the dependence upon, oil increased, the British might be compelled to act in Persia in ways which would complicate their political and strategic position in the east. If a source of oil could be discovered within the Empire, it would reduce Great Britain's growing dependence on Persia.

From Barren Waste to Thriving Industry

From Barren Waste to Thriving Industry

Irrigation in Jordan

N x O visitor arriving in Jordan in August would be surprised to learn that shortage of water is one of the country's chief problems. Bare, brown hillsides and dried up watercourses he will find all around him. Some 88 per cent of the country receives less than 200 mms. annual rainfall, and 95 per cent less than 400 mms. Rainfall tends to decrease both from north to south and from west to east, unless influenced by altitude. The hills east and west of the Jordan River have a higher rainfall. The Jordan Rift Valley is in a deep rain shadow between them. Rainfall is everywhere confined to the winter half year. Most of the irrigation schemes (Fig. 1) are to be found in the Rift Valley which south of Jordan's northern frontier falls into Koppen's BS climate, and south of Jisr Damiya into his BW climate. Herein are to be found nearly all the perennial rivers of the country. The most southerly is the Wadi Feifa, a short distance south of the Dead Sea. Here also are level lands which can be easily irrigated. Beyond the hills east of the Jordan lie the level lands of the Sirhan Depression, stretching southeastwards from Azraq. Here there are no perennial streams and the underground water supply is almost unexplored. Some parts may become important irrigation areas in the future, but at present it is a barren waste. In the hill regions shortage of level land restricts irrigation to tiny patches in the valley bottoms (Fig. 2). Well irrigation is important, however, in the Hebron district and some other places. The relatively higher rainfall of the hills makes irrigation less essential in the northern half of the country. The Jordan Rift Valley is not wholly flat although it contains areas of irrigable land. Between the Sea of Tiberias and the Dead Sea the valley bottom falls from -212 meters to -392 meters. South of the Dead Sea it rises gradually to a height of 200 meters and then drops again to sea level at Aqaba. Between the Sea of Tiberias and the Dead Sea, the valley falls into three distinct regions (Fig. 3). Along the River Jordan lies a narrow flood plain (the Zor). Above this on both sides is a bench (the Ghor). Between the two lies a narrow dissected zone (the Qattar). To the east and west of the Ghor rise the hills forming the edge of the Rift. The Ghor itself is dissected by the tributaries of the Jordan, which are more numerous on the east bank than on the west. Generally, an alluvial fan is built up at the point of debouchement from the hills. These features are repeated in some areas to the south of the Dead Sea.

Palmyra and the East

Although Palmyra is mentioned in several cuneiform texts, the oldest of which go back to the time of Sargon I of Assyria, it seems to have remained a mere village until the middle of the first century B.C. Its sudden growth to the size of one of the largest towns in the East coincides with the moment in history when the demand for oriental luxuries began to grow in Rome and its dominions, and it was due to the clever policy of its merchants and camel-riders who knew how to keep order in the desert between their town and the great factories and warehouses of Lower Mesopotamia. From that time caravans were able to cross the Syrian desert instead of skirting it, and the transit brought huge profits to the Palmyrenes. The desert therefore, whose barren waste, to our European eyes, would easily seem a barrier, was no such thing in reality, but acted on the contrary as a link with Mesopotamia, very much in the same way as the sea connected Venice by her merchant ships with the harbours of the Levant. Indeed, a comparison of Palmyra with the great commercial cities of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Venice, Antwerp, Bruges, Lisbon, etc.), is one that in several respects helps us to understand its sudden and great prosperity, as well as its sudden decline. From the day when Aurelian put an end to Palmyra's command of the wilderness, the roads of commerce had to change, the caravans again resorted to the Euphrates route around the desert, and the fortunes of Aleppo and Chalcis began to rise.

Concerning the radiologist and the future.

One of the duties of your President is to address the Annual Conference of Teachers of Clinical Radiology. Immediately upon notification of this task, I began to become concerned as to what I should attempt to say. In my search for an idea, I was reminded of the message on a placard alleged to have been posted on the mantel in the home of Irving Bacheller. It is this: “Dear Mr. Burglar: Please excuse this barren waste. The truth is, others in your line got here first. The money is mostly in their possession. You will find the family jewels in a pill box on the parlor mantel. The only other thing here worth having is my opinion of these evil days. If you care for that come and wake me. There is an unfinished novel on the desk in the study. Please don't start to read it, as the last month's electric light bill is not yet paid and the cook objects to have guests at breakfast. If, after looking the ground over, you wish to leave some money for the children for Christmas, please put it in the green vase on the parlor table.” I am in very much the same dilemma as the thief who was told that others had been there before him. Many eminent speakers have preceded me. Like every speaker today, I can find a mechanism to allow me to state that the world is undergoing rapid changes, as though you were not aware of the fact, and as though the world were not constantly changing, albeit more rapidly at one time than another. All of these changes have been and are irresistible, and the best you and I can do is to attempt to direct to as good purposes as possible what is new, using what has been learned from the old. It is certain, too, that the present time is one of extremes. But have we not always had extremes, and will we not until the Utopian age when all of us will be calm and intelligent? It is, after all, only the occasional philosopher who can quietly search for middle ground and adopt it. History demonstrates that most of us proceed to and by extremes and only slowly reach a middle ground, which, having attained, we retain but temporarily, soon to be off again on a rampage of extremes. You and I can be proud of some of the things that the American College of Radiology has accomplished and is attempting to do; for instance, the self-examination of the morning program: “Deficiencies in Resident Training as Revealed to the Practising Radiologist,” and the exploratory program of the afternoon entitled: “Conference on Radiology in Rural Health.” Such programs have to do with “setting our sights” for the future. The medical profession has been accorded certain privileges by society. The specialty of radiology has been accorded certain privileges by the profession at large. By having pioneered a new field of enormous scope and value, radiology has assumed a position of leadership for itself, and the profession at large now looks to the specialty as a select group possessing authority in certain aspects of the science and art of medicine.

Olympiodorus of Thebes

It is customary to consider late Imperial historiography as a barren waste of meagre and inaccurate chronicles and incompetent rhetorical epitomes, all overshadowed by the giant figure of Ammianus Marcellinus, the greatest literary genius, as E. Stein has called him (with some exaggeration), between Tacitus and Dante. In fact, however, the fifth century A.D. produced at least one writer who was, in the words of Niebuhr, ‘second to no historian even of the best ages in talent, good faith and wisdom; elegant and very pure in style, he justly acquired praise and glory both among contemporaries and succeeding ages’. Niebuhr was referring to Priscus of Panium in Thrace, but Priscus was a member of a school of historical writing which had been founded earlier in the fifth century by Olympiodorus, an historian of scarcely less merit than Priscus and author of what J. B. Bury called ‘a highly important work’. Since even Schmid-Stahlin are not able to refer to a single essay or mono-graph on Olympiodorus, it may not be amiss to assemble the facts which are known about him and to try to discover, so far as the scanty materials permit, what sort of man he was and what sort of work he produced.

A Catholic Bishop of Medieval India: Friar Jordanus, O.P., 1330

Throughout the fourteenth century the great Mongol Tartar Empire dominated Asia. Under its benevolent religious policy Christian missionaries were enabled to penetrate to districts never before reached by preachers of the Gospel. With the exception of some Augustinian Friars, working in Persia and Armenia in the latter years of the century, these missionaries were all members of the Preaching or Minor Friars. Hand in hand the two Orders faced hardship and martyrdom amid the snow-swept peaks of Armenia and the Caucasus, on the barren wastes of Turkestan and in the burning heat of India, in the union and brotherhood of their Saintly Founders.The word of the Great Khan in Khanbaliq (Peking) was law from the shores of the Yellow Sea to the banks of the Vistula, and from the Himalayas to Siberia. South of the Himalayas, where the Mongol horsemen had not penetrated, lay the Moslem Sultanate of Delhi, whose rulers were of Turki race. They claimed dominion over the whole peninsula, but even after Alaud-din’s conquest of the Deccan in 1330, their effective sovereignty did not extend far beyond the modern Bombay. In the south, among the native rulers of the Malabar Coast, its acknowledgement was confined to the occasional appearance of some Moslem pirate levying toll for himself in the name of his Delhi master. Away beyond the foothills, in the interior of the country, even this ephemeral authority was wanting.

THE STORY OF POTATO

Potato has been described by a writer as the world's greatest plant. In the western countries it is one of the most widely cultivated crops. It is used for food and for industrial purposes such as the manufacture of starch and industrial alcohol. About one-quarter of the food of people in Europe and European settlers outside Europe is comprised of potato. It is also a valuable food for animals. As a food plant it is only rivalled by wheat and rice, which are the most widely used food crops in the world. Potato leads the other crops in the world's total production of food crops. It is grown in all the continents, although about 90% of the world's crop is grown in the European countries. Germany and Russia are the largest producers being responsible for more than one-half of the world's production. The others in order of importance are Austria, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Italy. The cultivation of potatoes in the United States and Canada is increasing in importance. Potatoes are grown in Japan, India and Burma in Asia, in South and East Africa and in Australia to an appreciably large extent. One remarkable feature of potato is that it can be grown in almost any kind of soil. In Ireland, some of the soils on which potato is grown are said to be so sandy that straw and seaweed have to be used to keep the soil from being blown off the sets. Potato, no doubt, thrives best in well- drained friable soils, but, even clay soils and peaty soils can, by proper cultivation, be made to grow potatoes. It is said that there is scarcely an acre of barren waste free from stagnant water which cannot be made to grow potatoes.

Aboriginal Reserves in Australia

THE attention of the public in Australia has again been directed to the urgent problem of the aborigines and their reserves. On this occasion the method employed to secure its consideration has been unique. According to a dispatch from the Melbourne correspondent of The Times, which appeared in the issue of January 24, a deputation of ten full-blooded aborigines waited upon Mr. Paterson, the Minister of the Interior, to urge, among other matters, the establishment of a Federal Department of Native Affairs, under a sympathetic administrator such as Sir Hubert Murray, the present Lieut.-Governor of Papua, and the institution of an advisory council, which would include social, anthropological, medical and educational experts. The spokesman of the deputation directed attention to the serious economic situation now arising among the aborigines. He pointed out that they are being driven into barren wastes in which it is impossible for them to live. He also pledged the aborigines as Commonwealth citizens, believing that the British Empire stands for justice, order and freedom, to maintain their heritage handed down to them by the Creator, but suggesting in what followed that present conditions were not favourable to that end. This is a somewhat surprising, but none the less significant, indication of recent developments in the movement for the improvement of the lot of the aborigines. It is probable, and, in fact, certain that the Australian public generally is not very fully informed of conditions of life among the aborigines. The mere size of the reserves has tended to obscure the relation to the area requisite for subsistence to the mode of subsistence. It is not realised that a considerable range of land is needed for the support of even small groups of food gatherers such as those found among the Australian aborigines. The formation of a Department of Aboriginal Affairs, of which the consideration is promised by Mr. Paterson at the next conference of Premiers, would ensure a more carefully reasoned control of aboriginal territory in relation to their needs and mode of life.

The Sennar Dam and the Gezira Irrigation Project

IN the Sudan, immediately south of Khartum, lies an extensive plain, known as the Gezira Plain, constituting the triangular tract of land enclosed between the two branches of the Nile—the White Nile and the Blue Nile, which unite at Khartum. Some fifteen or twenty years ago this area, comprising considerably more than 3,000,000 acres, was a barren waste. To-day, a substantial part of it is under cultivation and covered with crops.