444 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



name or symbol. The co-operation of bacteriologists and mycologists is 

 earnestly invited, and in return every effort will be made to supply the needs 

 of applicants for cultures." All communications should be addressed to 

 The Curator, National Collection of Type Cultures, Lister Institute, Chelsea 

 Gardens, London, S.W.i. 



The Coming Horror of Speaking Films (J. B. G.) 



We are all more or less used to the American " moving picture " idea of 

 the English chatelaine who flirts with her butler, and the English squire who 

 wears a loud check cap and knobby-toed shoes, but may the good Lord in 

 Heaven save us from the coming horror of the speaking films. 



By the means of a fluctuating beam of light, a photophone transmitter, 

 and a moving film in a camera, the human voice can be made to synchronise 

 with the action of the moving picture. We will thus have the vocal accent 

 as well as the actions of the moving picture actor brought forth in the picture- 

 house. The English-speaking world at large will ultimately, we suppose, 

 cultivate a fine American accent, and use much more extensively American 

 slang terminology. 



Apart from this danger, it will certainly be wonderful to hear from afar 

 the voice of some famous man, and to see his actions at one and the same 

 time. A political speech might thus be given in the picture-house during 

 elections, or some great actors might give plays to be sent to all parts of the 

 Empire. It looks as if the stage will soon become a thing of the past. 



Notes and News. 



H.M. the King has approved of the awards of Royal Medals by the Presi- 

 dent and Council of the Royal Society to Sir Frank Dyson, Astronomer Royal, 

 for his researches on the distribution and movement of the stars, and to 

 Dr. F. F. Blackman, for his work on gaseous exchange in plants and on the 

 operation of limiting factors. In addition, the Copley medal has been 

 awarded to Sir Joseph Larmor, for his researches in mathematical physics ; 

 the Davy medal to Prof. Philippe A. Guye, for his researches in physical 

 chemistry ; and the Hughes medal to Prof. Niels Bohr, for his work in 

 theoretical physics. 



The Nobel prize for chemistry for 1921 has been awarded to Prof. Walter 

 Nernst, who has, just recently, been elected Rector of Berlin University. 



Sir Frank Dyson has been elected Master of the Clockmakers Company. 



The Pontecoulant prize of the Paris Academy of Sciences has been 

 awarded to Dr. A. C. D. Crommelin, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 

 for his general astronomical work. 



Dr. Irving Langmuir received the LL.D. degree from the University of 

 Edinburgh when he visited the city in connection with the meeting of the 

 British Association last September. 



Dr. G. W. O. Howe, who recently left the City and Guilds College, South 

 Kensington, to become head of the department of electrical standards and 

 measurements attheN.P.L., has now been appointed to be first James Watt 

 Professor of Electrical Engineering in the University of Glasgow. 



The death of the following well-known scientific men has been announced 

 during the last quarter : F. E. Armstrong, Professor of Mining at the 

 University of Sheffield ; F. A. Bainbridge, Professor of Physiology in the 

 University of London ; E. J. Bevan, of " Cross and Bevan," and County 

 Analyst for Middlesex ; Dr. W. S. Bruce, the well-known polar explorer and 

 naturalist ; Jules Carpentier, member of the Paris Academy of Sciences, 

 designer and manufacturer of scientific apparatus ; Professor Julius von 

 Hann, the Austrian meteorologist ; Dr. P. Cooper Hewitt, of mercury vapour 

 arc fame ; Rev. J. B. Lock, the writer of school textbooks in mathematics ; 

 G. Mann, Professor of Physiology at Tulane University, New Orleans, and 



