618 CURRENT TOPICS. [J. F. I.

T h e In t roduc t ion into France of the Lacquer Indus t ry f rom the F a r East . MARIE-YvoNNE LEMAIRE. (G~nie Civile, February 26, I 9 2 I . ) - - T h e trees of which lacquer is the latex are diminishing in number in China and Japan while, on the other hand, the culture is attaining considerable proportions in Tonquin. Indeed, this country is the sole exporter of lacquer. During the war the technical employ- ment of this substance was introduced into France by Verneuil, who had had much to do with the establishment of the industry and with the cultivation of the trees in Tonquin. After trying various Euro- pean varnishes it was decided to lacquer the screws and other parts of airplanes. Here the unalterable character of the covering joined to its ability to bend without cracking proved of high value in keeping the blades well polished and contributed to the mechanical efficiency of propulsion. Those little brown men with flat noses so common in France in war time, the Annamites, did this work, using the methods they had learned in Asia. Nothing was to be desired so far as the success of the operation was concerned, but great skill and a long time were needed for the production of the finished product. The French Society for Indochinese Lacquers is seeking to reduce the cost of the process and has already solved some of the problems and is making progress with others. The time required for the hardening of the liquid has been reduced and in general it may be said that the industry is well on the way to be established in France on a modern basis, though the rate of exchange between the mother country and her foreign colony intrudes difficulties into the road to success.

G. F. S.

P o t a s h f rom Nebraska Lakes . ( U. S. Geological Survey Press Bulletin No. 467, February, I92I . ) - -Unt i l 1915 the Uni ted S t a t e s produced no potash salts from native material except wood ashes, but in that year potash was produced f rom kelp, dusts f rom cement kilns, and alunite, and from the alkali lakes of wes tern Nebraska. The possibility of developing the reserves of raw material from the first three of these sources has been studied and reported on by the United States Bureau of Soils, of the Department of Agriculture, and the United States Geological Survey, of the Depa r tmen t of the In- terior, but no Government repor t has here tofore been issued on the potash resources of Nebraska. In 1918 W. B. Hicks, of the Geological Survey, spent three months in the alkali lake region of Nebraska, visi t ing the plants and the product ive lakes; col- lecting samples of brine, water, sand, and mud for analysis ; and making a general s tudy of the region. The informat ion he ob- tained has been studied and careful est imates have been made of the quant i ty of potash salts in these lakes. These est imates and notes concerning the probable source of the potash salts are con- rained in Bulletin 715-I.