456 



NATURE 



[June i, 191 i 



At the annual general meeting of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers, held on Friday last, Mr. S. Z. 

 do Ferranti was elected president, and Mr. W. Duddell, 

 F.R.S., Major VV. A. J. O'Meara, C.M.G., Mr. W. H. 

 Patchell, and Mr. J. F. C. Snell vice-presidents, for the 

 cession 1911-13. 



A FESTIVAL in memory of Richard JefTcries is to be 

 held at Swindon on Saturday, June 10. JefTeries was born 

 at Coate, near Swindon, and spent his early life in the 

 latter place. It is proposed to pay a visit to Coate Farm, 

 the naturalist's birthplace, and an open-air concert, morris 

 dancing, speeches, and a short service in Chiseldon Church 

 have been arranged for. 



The sum of 1000/. has been placed at the disposal of 

 the Home Secretary by a colliery proprietor to form a 

 prize for the best and safest electric lamp for use in mines, 

 and Messrs. C. Rhodes and C. H. Merz have consented 

 to act as judges upon the lamps submitted. The com- 

 peting lamps must be addressed : care of Mr. C. Rhodes 

 at the Home Office Testing Station, Rotherham, and must 

 be delivered by, at latest, December 31 next. 



An appeal is being made to all who are interested in 

 photography, or in the history, archaeology, and science 

 of Kent, to become members and correspondents of the 

 Photographic Record and Survey of the county, and to 

 contribute, if |x>ssible, half-a-dozen prints each year to the 

 collection in the County Museum of Maidstone. At the 

 recent annual general meeting Sir David Salmons, Bart., 

 was re-elected president, and the secretary reported that 

 553 prints had been added to the survey collection during 

 the year. Prospectuses of the survey and any informa- 

 tion relating to it will be gladly supplied by the secretary, 

 Mr. H. E. Turner, 14 Queen's Road, Tunbridge Wells. 



At the anniversary meeting of the Linnean Society, held 

 on May 24, the following officers and council were elected 

 for the ensuing year: — President, Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S. ; 

 treasurer, Mr. H. W. Monckton ; secretaries. Dr. B. 

 Daydon Jackson, Prof. A. Dendy, F.R.S. , and Dr. Otto 

 Stapf, F.R.S. ; council. Prof. V. H. Blackman, Mr. H. 

 Bury, Sir Frank Crisp, Prof. A. Dendy, F.R.S., Prof. J. 

 Stanley Gardiner, F.R.S., Mr. E. S. Goodrich, F.R.S., 

 Mr. H. Groves, Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., Mr. A. W. 

 Hill, Dr. B. Daydon Jackson, Mr. H. W. Monckton, 

 Prof. F. W. Oliver, F.R.S., Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., 

 Dr. A. B. Rendle, F.R.S., Dr. W. G. Ridewood, Miss 

 Edith R. Saunders, Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S., Dr. Otto 

 Stapf, F.R.S., Miss E. N. Thomas, and Dr. A. Smith 

 Woodward, F.R.S. 



At the anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical 

 Society, the Founder's medal was awarded to Colonel 

 P. K. Kozloff for his explorations in Central Asia since 

 1883, and the Patron's medal to Dr. J. B. Charcot for 

 his expeditions to the Antarctic continent. The Victoria 

 research medal was awarded to Captain H. G. Lyons, 

 F.R.S., for his work on the Nile Basin and the topo- 

 graphical, cadastral, and geological surveys in Egypt, 

 which he directed when Director-General. Other awards 

 were made to Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, of Labrador, Captain 

 G. E. Leachman for work in Arabia, Dr. Arthur Neve 

 for his investigations in the Himalayas, and to Mr. R. L. 

 Reid for his surveys of the Aruwiari River. 



The anniversary dinner of the Royal Geographical 

 Society was held on May 26 at the Hotel Cecil, when Lord 

 Curzon, the president of the society, reviewed the many 

 striking events of geographical importance which had 



NO. 2170, VOL. 86] 



occurred during hit predecessor'* tenure of office. He 

 alluded to the very inadequate accommodation which the 

 society possessed at the present time, and urged that, in 

 the interest of the scientific development of the subject in 

 this country, better and more commodious premises were 

 urgently needed. Twenty-two past and present medallists 

 of the society were present, and Sir John Forrest, who 

 was honoured by the society as early as 1870, and Dr. 

 Charcot, one of the medallists of this year, responded 00 

 their behalf. 



The Terra Nova, the vessel which conveyed Captain 

 Scott and his expedition to their base of operations, has 

 now been overhauled and chartered by the New Zealand 

 Government for surveying work. Sailing from Christ- 

 church in July, work will be carried out on the northern 

 coast of North Island, and theo between the northern 

 coast and the small islands {tj^i^Ianawa Tawhi. The 

 delimitation of the loo-fathom lines and shoal soundings 

 are to be undertaken which should lead to results of much 

 practical importance. The Central News further reports 

 that Mr. D. G. Lillie, a biologist of the Antarctic expedi- 

 tion, has, in sorting and preserving specimens for trans- 

 mission to Europe for study by specialists, recognised that 

 the collection contains a number of species of invertebrates 

 hitherto unknown. 



Prof. W. L. Grant, professor of colonial history at 

 Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, lectured before the 

 Royal Geographical Society on Monday last on the geo- 

 graphical conditions affecting Canada, .\fter alluding to 

 the physical character of the country, the lecturer pointed 

 but the immense resources, agricultural, mineral, and 

 climatic, which must inevitably give Canada before many 

 decades a dominant position in the Empire. Much remains 

 to be done, but the large ideas of early pioneers have been 

 fully justified, and bold schemes for the further develop- 

 ment of the country are being confidently put forward. 

 Still, there is great need of an adequate inventory of the 

 Dominion's resources, which, though vast and imperfectly 

 known, are of the greatest value, and any squandering of 

 them needs carefully to be guarded against. 



The Research Committee of the National Geographic 

 Society of Washington, it is reported in Science, has 

 made a grant of 1000/. for continuing the glacier studies 

 of the two previous years in .'\laska. The work, beginning 

 in June next, will be done by Prof. R. S. Tarr, of Cornell 

 University, and Prof. Lawrence Martin, of the University 

 of Wisconsin, who have directed the National Geographic 

 Society's Alaskan expeditions of 1909 and 1910 in the 

 Yakutat Bay, Prince William Sound, and lower Copper 

 River regions. This year's expedition will study briefly a 

 number of regions of glaciers not previously investigated 

 by the National Geographic Society, although partially 

 mapped by the Alaska Division of the U.S. Geological 

 Survey. Work will be done on the present ice tongues 

 and the results of glaciation in the mountains and plateaus 

 of parts of the interior and some of the fiords of south- 

 eastern Alaska, the former having lighter rainfall and 

 smaller ice tongues than the Yakutat Bay and Prince 

 William Sound regions. 



In a paper read at the Buxton meeting of the Associa- 

 tion of Water Engineers on May 20, on the water supplies 

 of the river basins of England and Wales, Mr. W. R. 

 Baldwin-Wiseman, of Southampton, directed attention to 

 the lack of proper coordination and control in the 

 administration of the fresh-water resources of this country. 

 He pointed out the pressing need for river boards, which. 



