May 25, 191 1] 



NATURE 



421 



lammals, fishes, Amphibia, and reptiles. He was an 

 \cellent entomologist, and took an especial interest in 

 Dees and the larger Diptera. Most unfortunately, his 

 published papers represent but a very small part of this 

 wide acquaintance with birds and beasts of all kinds. He 

 was never able to afford the heavy cost of publication 

 which must, for some inscrutable reason, always be in- 

 curred in Great Britain if a book is of a scientific nature. 

 Much of his work is included in the recent " Birds of 

 Dumfriesshire," by Mr. H. S. Gladstone, but by far the 

 reater part of it is lost. It is by no means unusual for 

 . orking men to be real naturalists, at least in Scotland ; 

 but Robert Service was far more scientific, and had a far 

 wider knowledge than even Edwards and Dick, whose 

 names are known to the general public. He managed 

 somehow to keep abreast of modern authorities, in spite 

 of the difficulties involved by residence in a small country 

 town. His death is a serious loss to the natural sciences 

 in the south of Scotland, and under present conditions it 

 is a loss that cannot possibly be repaired. 



The Times announces that enough money having been 

 raised by subscription for the erection of a statue to 

 Captain Cook, permission has been given for the statue to 

 be placed on the Mall side of the Admiralty arch, at the 

 end of the Processional road, on the right hand going 

 towards Charing Cross, and the execution of the statue 

 has been entrusted to Sir Thomas Brock, K.C.B., R.A. 



According to The Pharmaceutical Journal, a statue to 

 the memory of Priestley is to be erected in the market- 

 place of Birstall, the town of his birth. 



The committee of the Robert Koch memorial endow- 

 ment for the encouragement of research in the subject of 

 tuberculosis has decided to give grants to Prof. Schieck 

 and Dr. Krusius for investigations on tuberculosis of the 

 eyes, to Dr. Weinberg for statistical inquiries relative to 

 tuberculosis, and to Prof. Gaffky for the continuation of 

 his researches. Since the year 1908 the sum of 3600Z. has 

 been expended by the committee in scientific work. 



The new Research Institute of the Cancer Hospital was 

 opened on Tuesday by the Duke of Connaught, who said 

 he hoped that the institute might be the forerunner of 

 wonderful discoveries in combating the disease of cancer, 

 and that success would be the result of the labours of 

 those who should engage in research. 



The conversazione of the Royal Society of Arts will be 

 held on Tuesday next — May 30 — in the galleries of the 

 British Museum (Natural History), from 9 p.m. to 12. 



On Tuesday next Prof. W. W. Watts will deliver the 

 first of two lectures at the Royal Institution on " Cham- 

 wood Forest : its Ancient Volcano and its Fossil Land- 

 scape " ; on Thursday, June i, Mr. T. Thorne Baker 

 begins a course of two lectures on (i) " Changes Effected 

 by Light," (2) " Practical Progress in Wireless Tele- 

 graphy " ; and on Saturday, June 3, Dr. W. L. Courtney 

 begins a course of two lectures on " Types of Greek 

 Women." The Friday evening discourse on June 2 will 

 be delivered by Commendatore G. Marconi on " Radio- 

 telegraphy," and that on June 9 by Prof. Svante Arrhenius 

 on " Applications of Physical Chemistry to the Doctrine of 

 Immunity." 



The fifty-fourth general meeting of the Institution of 

 Mining Engineers will take place on Thursday, June i, in 

 the rooms of the Geological Society. The following papers 

 are announced for delivery : — A flame test for the estima- 

 tion of oxygen and black-damp in naked-light mines, by 



NO. 2169, VOL. 86] 



Dr. J. S. Haldane, F.R.S. ; An experiment on the effect 

 of reversing the main air-current, by Mr. J. Bain and Dr. 

 J. S. Haldane, F.R.S. ; Notes on contrivances designed to 

 prevent over-winding, with some instances of their failure, 

 by Messrs. W. H. Pickering and G. Poole ; The Otto- 

 Hilgenstock direct-recovery process and its application, by 

 Mr. E. Bury. The following papers, which have already 

 appeared in the Transactions, will be open for dis- 

 cussion : — The mining school at Bochum, Westphalia, by 

 Prof. H. Louis ; Progress in the use of exhaust seam- 

 power, by Mr. J. Burns; The Elliott-Jones vertical coke- 

 oven, by Mr. T. C. Futers. 



An International Rubber and Allied Trades Exhibition 

 will be held in the Royal Agricultural Hall from June 24 

 to July 14, and on July 3 there will be a rubber conference 

 at which the many problems in connection with the indus- 

 tr}' will be discussed. 



The eighth International Congress of Applied Chemistry 

 is announced to be opened, at Washington, by the Presi- 

 dent of the United States on September 4, 1912 ; the further 

 meetings of the congress will be held in New York from 

 September 6 to 13. The congress will be divided into 

 twenty-three sections and subsections, and papers intended 

 for presentation or publication should reach the American 

 committee not later than July i, 1912. 



The preparations of the German Antarctic Expedition 

 were completed at the beginning of May, and on May 7 

 the Deutschland sailed from Bremen. Lieut. Filchner will 

 join the ship in Buenos Ayres in four months' time, 

 wliither additional stores and equipment are also being 

 sent. The general plan is to enter the Weddell Sea to 

 the south of South America, and endeavour to establish 

 the relation of the masses of land lying east and west of 

 the South Pole. Great importance is attached to the in- 

 stallation of a land station and its maintenance for so 

 long a period as possible. From this point geographical, 

 geological, astronomical, magnetic, meteorological, and 

 biological work will be carried on by the staff of eleven 

 members of the expedition, who will be here quartered. 

 Four of them will make a dash for the South Pole with 

 Nansen sledges. The ship, the Deutschland, is a con- 

 verted whaler with auxiliary steam of about 300 horse- 

 power, and has been especially fitted with a view to the 

 comfort of the explorers. She is equipped with a wireless 

 telegraph installation, and is taking out three motor 

 vehicles and one motor boat, since motor transport is to 

 be largely employed, though both dogs and Manchurian 

 ponies are also to be utilised. 



Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday of 

 last week on the Budget proposals, Mr. Balfour asked the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer to exercise caution in carrying 

 out his scheme for the expenditure of large sums of money 

 on building consumption sanatoria. In the public mind, 

 he said, there had perhaps been an exaggerated enthusiasm 

 for this method of dealing with tuberculosis. There was 

 an idea that this open-air treatment had produced such 

 marvellous results that through it alone tuberculosis could 

 be, if not exterminated, at all events diminished to such an 

 extent that it might be reduced to one of the rare zymotic 

 diseases. He was not sure that the most recent investiga- 

 tions bore out that view. There were very able investi- 

 gators who took the view, after examining the actual 

 results in this country and in Germany, that so many 

 complete cures must not be expected as was at one time 

 hoped for. He took a sanguine view as to the treatment 

 of tuberculosis, for he believed that sciem • had in.ide great 

 strides and was still destined to make i^i.i; ^irides, but 



