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An account is given of an investigation in which, in connexion with a study of canary staining, samples of suint from a white merino, a white Romney, and a yellow-banded Romney wool were analysed and bicarbonate-carbonate was detected in each, the largest amount (8-4% as potassium carbonate on the dry weight) occurring in suint from the canary-stained band. In other respects, there was little difference between the suints from white and yellow wools. The staining of wool by several simple aldehydes and similar substances is briefly reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's view on the development of meteorological knowledge about Antarctica. He says that the question of world-wide pollution is a pressing one and promises to become even more serious and the increase of carbon dioxide, DDT and lead in Antarctica indicates that it is becoming contaminated by man-made pollutants. He emphasizes that it is time to establish stations to measure all aspects of this contamination in order to provide a base line against which to compare future conditions.

A new formula for estimating net radiation has been derived from records of solar radiation, humidity, and air temperature. The formula is believed to be an improvement over the previous ones which used cloudiness instead of solar radiation. The correlation coefficient between the computed and actual values is 0.97 and the standard error of estimate is 2.57 langleys/day. The limitations of the formula, such as the use of standard values of reflection coefficients, the use of surface humidity instead of total precipitable water, and the exclusion of carbon dioxide, are discussed. The formula has been applied to 386 stations for the construction of world maps for four mid-season months as well as for the year. The distributional pattern differs somewhat from the world maps prepared by Budyko. Solar radiation retained as net radiation decreases from sixty percent in the tropics to less than twenty percent in high latitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]