June i, 191 i] 



NATURE 



457 



while thoroughly representative of local interests, would 

 subordinate their functions to the general direction of a 

 national hydrographical department, and he considered 

 that this body should be represented in Parliament by a 

 Minister of Water Supply. It is certainly true that, com- 

 pared with the highly efficient hydrological organisations 

 existing in France, Italy, arid the United States, the 

 efforts of similar bodies in Great Britain are local and 

 sporadic, and this lack of interdependence and control is 

 conducive neither to a satisfactory conservation of our 

 resources nor to their effective development. Mr. Baldwin- 

 Wiseman has also dealt with the matter in a paper on the 

 administrative aspect of water conservancy, read before 

 the Society of Engineers in April last. Both papers are 

 timely, for the problem is one which must inevitably be 

 faced and solved at no distant date. 



At the last scientific meeting of the Zoological Society 

 I )r. C. W. Andrews, F.R.S., gave an account of some 

 . >ssil mammalian remains lately received at the British 

 Museum (Natural History) from British Central Africa. 

 The specimens, which were collected on the eastern side 

 of Lake Victoria Nyanza, were sent to the museum by 

 Mr. C. W. Hobley, C.M.G., Commissioner of Mines for 

 the district. For the most part only fragments of bones 

 are preserved, but in addition to these there is a portion 

 of a mandible of a small species of Dinotherium with 

 several well-preserved teeth, so that there is no doubt as 

 to the genus. The species seems to be very closely similar 

 to Dinotherium cuvieri from the Lower and Middle 

 Miocene of France, and it may be that the beds from 

 which the African species is derived are of the same age ; 

 but, on the other hand, it is also possible that Dinotherium 

 survived in Central Africa long after it became extinct 

 elsewhere, in which case the deposits may be of a later 

 date. The interest of this discovery is that it is the first 

 record of the existence of Tertiary mammals in Central 

 Africa, and that when the age and relationship of the 

 'ds in which they occur are known, much light may be 

 ihrown on the geological history of the African lakes. In 

 the same beds occur fragments of a small rhinoceros, a 

 giant land-tortoise, Trionyx, and crocodile. The excellent 

 condition in which the bones are preserved gives great 

 hope that careful collections will lead to the discovery of 

 new forms which will clear up many obscure points on the 

 history of the Mammalia. 



The summer meeting of the Concrete Institute will be 

 held in the Lecture Hall, Denison House, Vauxhall Bridge 

 Road, on June 7 and 8, when the following papers will 

 be read and discussed : — The aesthetic treatment of con- 

 crete, by Prof. Beresford Pite, after which an interim 

 port of the Tests Standing Committee on the testing of 

 oncrete, reinforced concrete, and materials employed 

 therein will be presented, and the Y.M.C.A. building, 

 Manchester, by Mr. A. E. Corbett, to be followed by the 

 [presentation of a report of the Reinforced Concrete Practice 

 Standing Committee on the standardisation of drawings of 

 reinforced concrete work. The first annual dinner of the 

 institute will take place in the evening of June 7, and in 

 the evening of the following day there will be a con- 

 versazione in the galleries of the Royal Institute of British 

 Architects. 



The programme of the jubilee meeting of the Institu- 

 tion of Naval Architects (which, as already announced, is 

 to take place on July 5, 6, and 7) has just been issued. 

 We learn from Engineering that among the papers to be 

 presented are the following : — Warship building, by Sir P. 

 Watts ; naval engineering, by Engineer-Vice-Admiral Sir 

 NO. 2170, VOL. 86] 



H. Oram ; naval artillery, by Sir A. Noble ; mercantile 

 shipbuilding, by Dr. S. J. P. Thearle ; steam turbines, by 

 the Hon. C. A. Parsons ; armour, by Mr. C. E. Ellis ; 

 fifty years' architectural expression of tactical ideas, by 

 -Admiral Sir C. Bridge ; the history of the institution and 

 the progress of scientific education in naval architecture, 

 by Sir W. White ; some further notes on cavitation, by 

 Mr. S. Barnaby ; naval construction, by Rear-Admiral 

 Kondo ; naval engineering, by Engineer-Rear-Admiral 

 Fujii ; mercantile shipbuilding, by Mr. Yukawa and Dr. 

 Terano ; and a paper on the service performance of two 

 Japanese turbine-driven ships. A paper on passenger 

 steamboat construction will be read by Mr. F. E. Kirby, 

 and one on the results of tests on models of submarines 

 by Mr. M. F. Chace. Prof. Rateau will deal with the 

 rational application of the turbine to ship propulsion, and 

 Prof. Marbec with the collapsing of beams and elastic 

 curve slips. Dr. O. Schlick will treat of the present 

 knowledge of the vibration phenomena of steamers, and 

 Prof. O. Flamm will deal with the scientific study of naval 

 architecture in Germany. Lieut. -Colonel G. Russo will 

 review progress in shipbuilding in Italy, and .Mr. J. 

 Johnson that of recent developments in the transportation 

 of ore. 



Mr. R. D. Banerjea, of the Indian Archaeological 

 Department, announces the discovery at Dacca, on a 

 temple image of the terrible goddess Chandi, consort of 

 Siva, an inscription of the reign of Lakshmana Sena Deva, 

 King of Bengal, dated 1122 a.d. This is the first inscrip- 

 tion of the kind from eastern Bengal proper which gives 

 the date of a king of Bengal. He is said to have reigned 

 over a tract of country extending from Benares to the 

 Garo Hills, and from the Himalayas to the sea. The 

 result of this discovery is that, in the light of the fresh 

 information which it supplies, the greater portion of the 

 ancient history of the Province of Bengal must be re- 

 written. 



It has repeatedly been stated that the effects of a tropical 

 sun in inducing sunstroke, &c., are due more to the 

 chemical than to the heat rays, and therefore clothing 

 lined with or made of a fabric of material which does not 

 transmit the chemical rays has been recommended for wear 

 in tropical climates. An experiment with orange-red 

 underwear has been tried in the Philippines, and is re- 

 corded by Captain Phalen, of the U.S. Army. No 

 beneficial effect whatever was observed from the use of 

 this clothing ; on the contrary, it added to the burden of 

 heat upon the system, and it is concluded that white or 

 khaki clothing sufficiently excludes the chemical ray3 

 (Philippine Journal of Science, v.. No. 6, 19 10, p. 525). 



In the report of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia 

 for the past year stress is laid on two factors in regard to 

 the well-being of animals in captivity, namely, the import- 

 ance of post mortem parasitical investigations and the 

 success of the outdoor treatment. Even the loss of the 

 tips of their tails through frost-bite by a pair of hamadryad 

 baboons is considered no bar to the continuance of the 

 " simple life " method, 



Mr. C. Forster-Cooper, who recently made an expedi- 

 tion to the Bugti Hills of Baluchistan for the purpose of 

 collecting fossil mammals, has returned to this country. 

 A considerable series of fossils are, we understand, on 

 their way home, and will eventually be added to the collec- 

 tions of the British Museum. The first mammalian fossils 

 from the Bugti Hills were collected by the late Dr. Blan- 

 ford and described by Mr. Lydekker ; they indicate a lower 



