March 2, 191 1] 



NATURE 



19 



tion by the preparation of " Handbook of the Ferns of 

 i British India," embodying his rich store of information 



regarding the family, illustrated by reduced copies of the 

 ■ illustrations to his own earlier and more costly works. 



This handbook appeared in 1883, immediately after his 



retirement. 



' The King of the Belgians has made a donation of 500Z. 

 to the funds of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. 



M. Eugene Tisserand has been elected a member of the 

 Paris Academy of Sciences in succession to the late Prof. 

 j Tannery. 



By his will, M. Auguste Loutreuil, the son of a small 

 I French farmer, who later became a wealthy contractor in 



Russia, has left 284,000/. towards the promotion of science 

 ; in France. The University of Paris will receive ioo,oool., 

 ' the Academy of Sciences 140,000/., the Pasteur Institute 



4000/., and a sum of 40,000/. is to provide a fund for 

 I scientific research. 



^t Dr. Bashford Dean, professor of vertebrate zoology at 

 ; Columbia University, who was curator of the department 

 of ichthyology and herpetology of the American Museum 

 J of Natural History from 1903 until last year, when he 

 ' resigned, has accepted an invitation to resume that post. 



Prof. F. B. Loomis, of Amherst College, Mass., will 

 start early in July, accompanied by three of his students, 

 ! on an expedition to Patagonia. Their principal purpose 

 will be to collect fossils and study the geological problems 

 of the country between the Santa Cruz and Deseado 

 rivers. The expenses of the expedition will be met by 



the " class " of i8g6. 



|i 



fl America has lost one of her pioneers in physical train- 

 ' ing by the death of Dr. Edward Hitchcock, in his eighty- 

 third year. Since 186 1 he had been professor of hygiene 

 and physical education at Amherst College, which gave 

 him at the same time a general oversight of the health 

 ' and exercise of its students. His work in that capacity 

 had a wide iaf^uence, and within twenty years after his 

 I appointment fifty American colleges had organised depart- 

 ! ments of hygiene on similar lines. Dr. Hitchcock was the 

 author of text-books on physiology and anatomy. 



.\ Bill to prohibit the sale, hire, or exchange of the 



plumage and skins of certain wild birds was read a first 



( time in the House of Commons on February 22. In intro- 



■ ducing the measure, Mr. Alden said the Bill had been 



. before a Select Committee of the House of Lords and had 



}. been approved unanimously, while in the last Parliament 



V there were only two members who were against it. 



\\ Twenty-one of our colonies are in favour of the Bill, and 



* possess powers l^o prevent the export of the plumage of 



'y rare birds. 

 t 



I We learn from The British Medical Journal that a 



j lectureship has been established by the National Health 



1 Society as a memorial to the late Lady Priestley, who was 



^ one of the original members of the committee when the 



l; society was started some thirty years ago, and attended 



I all the meetings until within a few months of her death. 



I Three lectures have been arranged for March, the first by 



I Sir E. Ray Lankester on living microbes, the second by 



Sir Almroth Wright on bacteriology and hygiene, and the 



I third by Mr. Stephen Paget on Pasteur and his work. 



i A NEW biology and botany section has been added to the 

 j Bristol Museum. The new room has been provided liy 

 I Lady Smyth, and is to be known as the " Dame Emily 

 :' Smyth Room." The room has been made especially 

 NO. 2157, VOL. 86] 



strong in its exposition of the kitchen-garden, fruit-tree, 

 and agricultural pests of the west of England. At the 

 opening ceremony on February 21, the curator, Mr. H. 

 Bolton, said the authorities look forward to the economic 

 biology department becoming practically useful to the 

 farmer, to those who possess orchards, to the small 

 growers, and to every man who loves plants and flowers 

 and cultivates them for his pleasure or profit. 



The summary of the weather for the first eight weeks 

 of the present year, issued by the Meteorological Office, 

 shows that the rainfall for the period was deficient over 

 the entire kingdom except in the north and west of Scot- 

 land. The greatest deficiency in any district is 2-83 inches 

 in the south of Ireland, and this is closely followed by 

 2-74 inches in the south-west of England and 2-53 inches 

 in the Channel Islands. In the Midland counties the 

 deficiency for the two months amounts to i-8i inches, and 

 in the south-east of England to 1-56 inches. The largest 

 aggregate rainfall for the period in any district is io-8o 

 inches in the north of Scotland, and the least 1-95 inches 

 in the Midland counties. The rainy days range from 39 

 in the north of Scotland to 22 in the Midland counties. 

 The mean temperature and the duration of bright sun- 

 shine are both in fair agreement with the average. At 

 Greenwich the mean temperature for January was slightly 

 below the normal, and in February it was above the 

 normal to about the same extent, so that the mean of the 

 two months is in absolute agreement with average con- 

 ditions. Frost occurred in the shade at Greenwich on 

 eight nights, both in January and February. Gales and 

 strong winds were experienced frequently during February 

 over the entire country, and there was a marked pre- 

 ponderance of westerly winds. 



Before the Royal Geographical Society on February 27 

 Dr. W. T. Grenfell, C.M.G., described the most important 

 features of Labrador, a land still hardly known beyond 

 its borders. The Vinland of the Norse sagas, its re- 

 sources are great, but the polar current dominates its' 

 climate, and its southern latitude provides it with a short 

 summer, which has not the continuous sunshine of Alaska 

 and other places farther north. Cold soil and the dryness 

 of the winds cause the stunted nature of many plants, a 

 larch at the south end of Labrador being but 9 inches 

 high and three-eighths of an inch in diameter, though it 

 showed thirty -two years' growth. Except by Prof. R. A. 

 Daly and Mr. A. P. Low, no serious geological investiga- 

 tion has been undertaken ; mineral deposits seem to be 

 abundant, but such prospectors and others as have visited 

 the region have worked but for short periods. On the 

 evidence of beaches and glacial deposits, Labrador was 

 said to be rising, possibly as much as 15 or 20 inches per 

 century according to some estimates. The coasts are still 

 but imperfectly charted, and parts are dangerous, but 

 harbourage is plentiful, and the numerous islands and the 

 narrow waterways furnish many facilities for coastal 

 navigation. 



In a former issue of Nature it was announced that, in 

 connection with the Royal International Horticultural 

 Exhibition to be held in the grounds of Chelsea Hospital 

 in May, 1912, there is to be a scientific section, and a 

 congress will be arranged for the discussion of horti- 

 cultural education and matters of scientific interest. A 

 special committee has been appointed to look after these 

 subjects, and the first meeting has been held. The chair- 

 man of this committee is the Rt. Hon. A. H. Dyke 

 .Acland, P.C, and Mr. F. J. Chittenden will act as 

 honorary secretary. The members include Mr. E. A. 



