530 



NATURE 



[June 15, 191 1 



A 



SCIENCE AT THE WHITE CITY. 

 T the Coronation Exhibition, which was recently 

 opened at Shepherd's Bush by Prince Arthur of 

 Connaught, a section devoted to pure science has again 

 been included. This is the third of these science exhibi- 

 tions, the first having been in the Franco-British Exhibi- 

 tion some three years ago. The formation of such a 

 section at that time was suggested by the British Science 

 Guild, and it was managed by a committee nominated by 

 the Guild. The second science section was in connection 

 with the Japan-British Exhibition last year, and it was 

 larger and more comprehensive than the previous one, and 

 was managed by a separate committee of the exhibition ; 

 ml Ihr- third, which is now to be seen at the White 



i\, i> .-ii;aiii on a Still larger scale, and occupies 

 ..o Icwcr than iliice large courts in what are called the 

 " overhead buildings " leading from Shepherd's Bush 

 Station to Wood Lane. That sections devoted to pure 

 science are now being included as a matter of course in 

 most of the important exhibitions is shown by the fact 

 that the International Exhibition now open at Turin has 

 a rather large science collection, including two labora- 

 tories actually at work. 



The object of such sections is to bring together the 

 methods and results of recent scientific research and inven- 

 tion in a form which will attract the notice of the general 

 public, and will have an educative effect on all who 

 may examine the exhibits. The results of the two previous 

 science sections in the White City have been very satis- 

 factory, and many men of science have been much sur- 

 prised at the intelligent interest taken in the collections 

 by the ordinary visitors to the exhibition, who must be 

 entirely unacquainted, as a rule, with pure science and 

 with the nature of scientific investigations. 



The section in the present exhibition is divided into 

 fourteen parts, representing the different sciences. The 

 whole work has been under the control of a strong repre- 

 -'■ntative committee, and each division has been under the 

 rare and control of an expert in the particular science 

 dealt with. All this work has been honorary, and grateful 

 thanks are due to those gentlemen who have devoted 

 much time and labour to the work of collecting and 

 arranging the exhibits, while equally grateful thanks are 

 due to the many investigators of science who have so 

 kindly lent their apparatus and the products of their re- 

 searches for exhibition. It must, however, be clearly 

 understood that the domain of science is so wide and 

 large that the collections merely illustrate portions of the 

 fields of various sciences, and only such portions, indeed, 

 that lend themselves easily to demonstration in an 

 exhibition. 



In the present exhibition an attempt is made to give 

 parts of the collection a more living interest than had 

 hitherto been possible by showing certain apparatus 

 actually at work. To take, for instance, the section 

 devoted to physical science ; in this, by the courtesy of 

 the Marconi Company, an apparatus is being installed 

 for sending and receiving Marconi telegrams. The 

 apparatus is that which is actually employed in sending 

 messages to shore from a Cunard steamer, and it will be 

 possible to send wireless messages from the end of one of 

 the long science courts to the end of a second, and 

 visitors to the exhibition will be able to send ofT and 

 receive such wireless messages without charge. 



A good many of the pieces of apparatus too in the 

 physical science section will be actually at work, being 

 driven by a separate electrical installation, which has been 

 erected at considerable cost. 



It is almost impossible to review all the fourteen 

 divisions of the science section, but a few of the exhibits 

 perhaps may be mentioned. 



A large and important collection is shown under astro- 

 nomy, ^ including some excellent photographs and trans- 

 parencies of star clusters and nebula, while M. Deslandres 

 sends some illustrating clouds of calcium and hydrogen in 

 the upper atmosphere of the sun. There is also a "collec- 

 tion of sundials and astrolabes, including one belonging 

 to Mr. Knobel, and dated so far back as a.d. 1224. 



In meteorology, the Meteorological Office is well repre- 

 sented. In anthropology, a very complete collection of 

 NO. 2172. VOL. 86] 



skulls (or casts of them) is shown which have been found 

 in different parts of Europe, and which throw light upon 

 the ancient history and evolution of mankind. .Anthropo- 

 metric measurements will also be made in this* division. 

 Very interesting, but rather technical, collections are 

 shown in geology and palaeontology, while in the 

 mineralogy and crystallography section the emerald ex- 

 hibited by the Duke of Devonshire is said to be the largest 

 in the world. A very fine collection is shown under the 

 head of chemistry, one case, dealing with the rusting of 

 iron and the corrosion of propeller blades, being specially 

 noticeable, while vanadium steel and ferro-silicon are also 

 shown. The last-named compound, it may be remembered, 

 has sometimes caused loss of life when carried on ships, 

 and the conditions of such accidents are explained. 



The London .School of Tropical Medicine has also a 

 most important and interesting exhibit dealing with such 

 diseases as sleeping sickness, plague, &c. Under agri- 

 culture, the remarkable experiments of Prof. Percival, of 

 Reading, on the growing of wheat are illustrated, while 

 other exhibits deal with stone-ground flour. Models are 

 also shown of the methods of growing crops by the help 

 of high-tension electricity, such as would be used in a 

 field or in a greenhouse. Under seismology, the delicate 

 instruments usod for recording earthquakes, and also Prof. 

 Milne's tide recorder, are shown, while one seismograph 

 has had to be erected in the Machinery Hall, as it has 

 to rest on the ground itself, while the science attractions 

 are housed in raised buildings. This seismograph will be 

 at work throughout the exhibition, and will record any 

 earth tremors or earthquakes which may happen during 

 this time. Interesting collections are also shown under the 

 head of geography and oceanography. 



ANTHROPOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO NEW 

 GUINEA. 



A N interesting anthropological expedition to New 

 "^ Guinea is about to take place under the auspices of 

 the University of Oxford as represented by the Committee 

 for Anthropology. The sum of money required for the 

 purpose has been made up out of considerable grants of 

 equal amount furnished by the Common University Fund 

 (with the condition that whatever specimens of native 

 handiwork are procured, duplicates excepted, shall be 

 offered as presents to the Pitt-Rivers Museum) and Balliol, 

 Magdalen, and Brasenose Colleges, whilst smaller but 

 still considerable contributions of varying amount have 

 been made by University, Exeter, Lincoln, Corpus Christi 

 Colleges, Christ Church, and Jesus College, Sir William 

 Anson and Dr. .Arthur Evans having likewise in a private 

 capacity afforded welcome help to the expedition fund. 

 The Committee for Anthropology has selected Mr. D. 

 Jenness. of Balliol College, to undertake the work of 

 exploration. Mr. Jenness holds the Oxford diploma in 

 anthropology, and went on to Balliol as the holder of 

 several scholarships from New Zealand, where he not only 

 graduated with first-class honours in classics at the Uni- 

 versity, but likewise had occasion to acquire practical 

 experience of the conditions of camp-life in the bush. 



So far as can be foreseen at present, Mr. Jenness will 

 reach Papua in November, and will take as his base of 

 operations Bwaidoga, on Goodenough Island, one of the 

 almost unknown D 'Entrecasteaux Group, off the south- 

 east coast of New Guinea. When Sir W. Macgregor 

 arranged for the partition of British New Guinea amongst 

 the various missionary societies, the islands of south-east 

 New Guinea fell to the Methodists, and the station of 

 Bwaidoga is one of the latest fruits of their enterprise. 

 The Rev. A. Ballantyne, who is in charge of the D'Entre- 

 casteaux Group, will render Mr. Jenness all the assistance 

 in his power, and the help of all the Methodist missionaries 

 in that region is similarly assured. Further, the Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor of Papua, the Hon. J. H. P. Murray, 

 has given his full approval to the expedition as thus 

 arranged, and has promised it his official support. 



Mr. Jenness will probably begin with a general survey 

 of the D 'Entrecasteaux Group, but as soon as he has got 

 thoroughly into touch with the natives, hopes to be able 

 to settle down to a detailed study of Goodenough Island 



