Imperial Institute Research Articles

The Imperial Institute

THE annual report of the Imperial Institute (South Kensington, London, S.W.7) for 1938 shows that an important side of the work of the Institute lies in the research departments which answer an increasing number of inquiries from all parts of the Empire. Queries concern both seeds and roots of economic value and various mineral samples. The Mineral Resources Department was particularly active and reported on samples from various colonies. Special interest attaches to the demand for high grade quartz crystals for both piezo-electric and optical purposes, but so far the search for new sources of this material has had little success. The oxide of titanium known as rutile which is used in the coating of electric welding rods hasbeenfound in various parts of the Empire. Many other examples of the usefulness of the Institute are recorded in this report.

Imperial Institute. Annual report for the year 1938

Imperial Institute. Annual report for the year 1938

New Year Honours

THE following names of men of science and others associated with scientific work also appear in the New Year Honours list: Baronet: Hon. Surgeon Commander J. D. Pollock, for benefactions and services to education. G.C.M.G.: Lord Hailey, director of the African Research Survey. G.C.V.O.: Sir John Reith. G.B.E.: Sir Frank Smith, Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, lately secretary of the Royal Society. K.C.M.G.: Sir Algernon Aspinall, lately secretary to the West India Committee. Knights: The Hon. Walter Gordon Duncan, president of the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society, South Australia; Prof. W. W. Jameson, dean and professor of public health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Prof. R. Robinson, Wayn-flete professor of chemistry in the University of Oxford; Mr. Will Spens, master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; Prof. R. G. Stapledon, professor of agricultural botany, University College of Wales, and director of the Welsh Plant Breeding Station, Aberystwyth. C.B.: Mr. A. T. A. Dobson, fisheries secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. C.M.G.: Mr. J. N. Oliphant, director of the Imperial Forestry Institute, Oxford. C.I.E.: Dr. W. Burns, agricultural expert to the Government of India in the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research Department; Lieut.-Colonel G. Covell, director of the Malaria Survey of India; Mr. A. C. Hiley, chief conservator of forests, Bombay; Mr. H. B. Dunnicliff, chief chemist, Central Revenues Chemical Service, and principal of the Government College, Lahore; Lieut.-Colonel E. W. O'G. Kirwan, professor of ophthalmic surgery, Medical College, Calcutta, Bengal. G.B.E.: Mr. W. F. Brown, chief mineral adviser to the Commissioners of Crown Lands, member of the board of governors of the Imperial Institute and of the Institute's Advisory Council on Minerals; Dr. A. S. Griffith, bacteriologist, Medical Research Council; Mr. R. P. Nicholson, lately secretary of the Royal African Society; Mr. F. C. Starling, assistant secretary and director of the Petroleum Department, Mines Department.

A Statuette of Lord Lugard—Presentation to the Imperial Institute

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Physical Society's Annual Meeting

THE twenty-ninth annual exhibition of scientific instruments and apparatus, arranged by the Physical Society, will be held at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, Imperial Institute Road, South Kensington, S.W.7, on January 3-5. The leading manufacturers of scientific instruments will be exhibiting their latest products in the Trade Section. The Research and Educational Section will contain contributions from research laboratories, and experiments of educational interest. In addition, the work submitted for the Craftsmanship and Draughtsmanship Competition by apprentices and learners will be on view. Discourses will be delivered at 7.45 on January 3 by Dr. J. D. Cockcroft, on “The Cyclotron and its Applications”, and on January 4 by Mr. C. S. Wright, on “Geophysical Research in Polar Regions”. Admission to the exhibition is by ticket only, obtainable from scientific societies or direct from the Exhibition Secretary, 1 Lowther Gardens, Exhibition Road, S.W.7.

Lord Lugard, G.C.M.G

A BRONZE statuette of Lord Lugard has been presented to the Imperial Institute by members of the Royal African Society as an addition to the collection of statuettes of empire-builders in the Institute's galleries. The presentation took place on November 7, when the statuette, which stands in the Nigerian Court, was unveiled by the Earl of Athlone, president of the Society, and formally accepted by Sir Harry Lindsay, director of the Institute. The statuette, which is half life-size, is the work of Mr. Herbert H. Cawood, who has executed the effigies of Cabot, Van Riebeck, Raffles, and Livingstone in the collection. Lord Lugard is the only living subject represented. The presentation marks the fiftieth year since Lord Lugard's first service in Africa. His brilliant success as an administrator of native affairs has been due to his application of the policy now known as 'indirect rule' to tribal government, in order to secure maintenance of law and order through the least disturbance of tradition by the imposition of civilized authority. His book, “The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa” (1922), not only gained him the award of the Gold Medal of fche Royal Geographical Society, but immediately became a classic, as Lord Athlone said in his address of presentation, when he also spoke of Lord Lugard as “the father of indirect rule”. Owing to his advocacy and the practical demonstration of its efficiency in Nigeria, the principle of 'indirect rule', with or without modification, has been extended to the other British colonial possessions in Africa. In 1922-36 Lord Lugard was the British representative on the Permanent Mandate Commission of the League of Nations; while as Chairman of the Council of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures, he has inspired and guided a great work of scientific research on the peoples and languages of Africa.

A Report on some miscellaneous African Encyrtidae in the British Museum

The Encyrtidae reported upon in this paper are mostly Coccid-inhabiting species, received by the Imperial Institute of Entomology from various collectors in Africa and forwarded by Dr. C. Ferrière for identification. The species of Microterys, Metaphycus, and Anicetus will be reported upon in separate papers at a later date, All holotypes and allotypes are deposited in the British Museum; paratypes will be deposited in the United States National Museum.

On African Sandflies.—III

The following paper deals with collections of sandflies made by Professor P. A. Buxton in Nigeria, and by the late Professor J. G. Thomson in Nyasaland, and collections sent by Sir Guy Marshall, Director of the Imperial Institute of Entomology, and by Dr. F. W. Edwards of the British Museum (Nat. Hist.), for identification.

Descriptions of some African Eulophidae (Hym. Chalc.)

The family of the Eulophidae, which is probably the largest family of the Chalcidoidea, is still very little known, both systematically and biologically. Being small, they are often bred in large numbers from a single host and are thus of great economic importance, but not always useful, as many species are hyperparasites. The study of the African Eulophidae is still at its beginning, since only about 60 species are known, two-thirds of which have been described by Waterston and Silvestri. The Imperial Institute of Entomology has received and is receiving many species which still remain unnamed. Most of them belong to large genera, like Euplectrus, Pleurotropis, or Tetrastichus, which should be studied monographically. The six species described below have been chosen partly for their possible economic importance, partly because they are represented by series of males and females.

Asbestos. By G. E. Howling, B.Sc. Imperial Institute. Mineral Resources Department. 2nd ed. Pp. 88. London: Imperial Institute, 1937. 2s

Journal of the Society of Chemical IndustryVolume 57, Issue 26 p. 623-623 Reviews Asbestos. By G. E. Howling, B.Sc. Imperial Institute. Mineral Resources Department. 2nd ed. Pp. 88. London: Imperial Institute, 1937. 2s First published: 25 June 1938 https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.5000572606AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume57, Issue2625 June 1938Pages 623-623 RelatedInformation

Dr. E. Goulding

DR. ERNEST GOULDING, who retired from the service of the Imperial Institute in 1935 when holding the post of vice-principal in the Plant and Animal Products Department of the Institute, died in London on February 15 in his sixty-eighth year. Born in 1870, the fourth son of the late William Purdham Goulding, of Finsbury Park, he was educated at Tollington Park College and at the School of the Pharmaceutical Society, Bloomsbury, which he entered as a Bell scholar. He graduated B.Sc. in the University of London in 1898, he took his D.Sc. (Lond.) degree in 1903, and was a fellow of the Institute of Chemistry, and also of the Chemical Society.

Special Libraries and Information Bureaux

THE Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux held a luncheon on April 27 at which a company of more than eighty was present. After saying that he hoped the luncheon would become an annual event, the president, Sir Harry Lindsay, director of the Imperial Institute, spoke of the three stages of science: first scholasticism, dominated by the great men of science, then the period of the authoritative text-books, now the era of the individual specialist. The results of modern scholarship are scattered in innumerable technical journals and, in order to keep abreast, search must be made over a very wide field. The same is no less true of other spheres of knowledge. ASLIB was therefore formed to act as a guide to specialist sources of information. The next speaker, Sir Clement Hindley, chairman of the Racecourse Betting Control Board, mentioned his connexion, as vice-president, with the Institution of Civil Engineers. The Institution's abstracting service, started so long ago as 1877, he said, has recently been considerably expanded in collaboration with other institutions representing different branches of engineering. This expansion should interest all who, as members of ASLIB, are eager to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge. Sir Ian MacAlister, secretary of the Royal Institute of British Architects, stated that in the nineteenth century people created every sort of institution and machine, political, social and mechanical. In the post-War years of disillusionment, we realized that machines are of no use unless they work, museums are a costly extravagance unless their treasures can be made intelligible, and libraries are mere hoards of books if inaccessible to those who need them. A new desire to make the instruments of civilization work is now awake, and ASLIB is a valuable and essential part of this great movement.

Three new Moths (Agrotidae, Pyralidae) of Economic Importance

The material here described has been received by the Imperial Institute of Entomology, and I am indebted to Sir Guy Marshall for the opportunity of studying it. The types have been presented to the British Museum (Natural History).

Locust Outbreaks in Africa and Western Asia

THE recent report of the Committee on Locust Control is the sixth of its kind which deals with locust outbreaks in the regions mentioned. In the present instance it covers the year 1936 and the early part of 1937, and has been prepared by Dr. B. P. Uvarov and Miss W. Milnthorpe. The report is a survey of the conditions in the territory named and is based upon the accumulated data which has come to hand as the result of international organization. It appears that the general situation, in so far as the African migratory locust and the red locust are concerned, is steadily improving. Particular stress, however, is laid on the beginning of a new outbreak of the desert locust which has been definitely proved to be forming in the Sudanese-Arabian area. It has been due to the regular system which is operating for the recording and collection of all data relating to locusts, and its centralization in a single institution (the Imperial Institute of Entomology), that the first signs of this outbreak have been recognized and warnings issued to all countries likely to be affected by the locust in question. The concerted measures which are being undertaken in order to endeavour to fathom the causes of locust outbreaks merit every support. The elaborate organization which has been built up and got into working order at the prime instigation of Dr. Uvarov provides the only sound method of attack—mere remedial measures are temporary palliatives and leave the locust menace unimpaired. At the present stage of the work, no effort should be relaxed, and it is up to the countries directly interested to see that the necessary funds are maintained. The report is available, price 3s. net, and is published by H.M. Stationery Office.

Imperial Institute. Annual Report for the year 1937

Imperial Institute. Annual Report for the year 1937

The Mineral Position of the British Empire

The Mineral Position of the British Empire Get access The Mineral Position of the British Empire, compiled by the Mineral Resources Department of the Imperial Institute. ( Imperial Institute, 4s.) African Affairs, Volume XXXVII, Issue CXLVI, January 1938, Page 133, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a101306 Published: 01 January 1938

A new Genus of Malayan Capsidae (Rhynchota) from Areca Palm

The Capsid described in the present paper came under observation in Malaya some years ago but was not then specifically determined. Mr. W. E. China, of the British Museum (Natural History), was kind enough recently to examine it, and came to the conclusion that a new genus should be erected to contain it. Specimens were returned to me by Sir Guy Marshall, Director of the Imperial Institute of Entomology, along with some notes made by Mr. China which would be of use in the preparation of the diagnosis of the new genus.

An Indian Cerambycid damaging Tea Cases

During November 1936, a fine powder was noticed dropping from tea cases on the premises of an industrial firm in London. These cases were constructed of three-ply wood which originated probably from Scandinavia ; it had been brought to India and remained there for probably about 18 months. The cargo arrived in this country in March 1936 and had been lying untouched in the warehouse till November. The interior of the cases was lined with tin. When this was removed, large flat cavities containing living larvae were discovered. Samples were sent to the Imperial Institute of Entomology with a request for information if possible as to where infestation of the timber took place.

Mr. Thomas Crook, O.B.E.

A LIFE of strenuous and useful work with ripe experience terminated on January 6 when Thomas Crook, principal of the Mineral Resources Department of the Imperial Institute, London, died after an abdominal operation, at the early age of sixty years. Crook was born at Burnley, in Lancashire, on January 12, 1876. On the examination results of the old Science and Art Department he gained in 1898 a Royal Exhibition to the Royal College of Science for Ireland, where he took the associateship (A.R.C.Sc.I.) in natural science in 1901. He then became assistant in geology to the late Prof. Grenville A. J. Cole. In 1905 he joined the Scientific Department of the Imperial Institute, and for six years (1919-25) he was chief of the Intelligence and Publications Section of the new Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau, which afterwards was incorporated with the Imperial Institute.

Activities of the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux

THE seventh annual report (1935-36) of thfr|| Executive Council of the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux has now been published (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 5s.). In view of the British Com-; monwealth Scientific Conference held in London thkl| September, the volume is somewhat fuller than. usual. Particular interest will perhaps be found in the individual reports of the several institutes and bureaux, where abundant illustration is afforded of the value now attached to them by the number and diversity of the inquiries sent from all parts of the Empire, quite apart from their regular work of preparing and distributing abstract journals. Research workers in South Africa, Queensland, Sierra Leone, Cyprus, Mauritius, Victoria, India, northern England and the Gold Coast have asked for and obtained assistance from the Mycological Institute in the identification of fungi. At the Entomological Institute, insects from every country in the Empire have been received for identification. Other bureaux have assisted in obtaining material for plant breeding work, in supplying seeds, in arranging for the analysis of foodstuffs; whilst the laboratory attached to the Imperial Institute of Entomology collected and sent to Canada nearly three million parasites to aid in controlling the insect pests which were attacking the forests in Quebec and the Maritime Provinces. In fact, the report marks for the seventh year the success of an Imperial service, organized on a cooperative basis and directly controlled by representatives of all parts of the Commonwealth.