June 22, 191 1] 



NATURE 



561 



information to tlie various parts of the Empire, thus 

 enabling them to legislate against the introduction of 

 certain insect pests with a greater knowledge of the facts 

 than would otherwise be possible. After a discussion, in 

 the course of which the representatives expressed their 

 hearty approval of the scheme, the following resolution, 

 proposed by the Premier of New South Wales and seconded 

 by the Premier of Tasmania, was passed unanimously : — 

 " That this meeting is of opinion that the proposal to 

 obtain and disseminate information of a scientific and 

 useful nature, tending to prevent the spread by insects of 

 diseases both in animals and plants to various Dominions 

 and States of the Empire would be highly advantageous, 

 and that steps should be taken to obtain the adhesion of 

 the Dominions and States interested in the matter." 



We notice with deep regret the announcement of the 

 death, on June i6, of Sir Rubert Boyce, F.R.S., Holt 

 professor of pathology in the University of Liverpool, in 

 his forty-ninth year. 



The Duke of Connaught has consented to become 

 honorary president of the Royal Geographical Society. 



The annual conversazione of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers will be held at the Natural History Museum, 

 South Kensington, on Thursday, July 6. 



The council of the Royal Society of Arts, with the 

 approval of the president, the Duke of Connaught, has 

 awarded the Albert medal of the society for the current 

 year to the Hon. Charles A. Parsons, C.B., F.R.S., for 

 his experimental researches into the laws governing the 

 efficient action of steam in engines of the turbine type, and 

 for his invention of the reaction type of steam turbine 

 and its practical applications to the generation of elec- 

 tricity, the ventilation of mines and other large spaces, 

 blast-furnace work, ship propulsion, and other important 

 purposes. The beneficial results which have followed upon 

 these inventions include a cheapening of the production 

 of mechanical power, greater economy and speed for steam- 

 ships, and the first successful solution of the problem of 

 rotary engines, which long had baffied many other 

 inventors. 



.As already announced, the twenty-second annual confer- 

 ence of the Museums Association will be held in Brighton 

 on July 10-15 next under the presidency of Mr. H. M. 

 Platnauer, who will deliver his address on the morning of 

 July II. The same evening Dr. F. A. Bather, F.R.S., 

 will deliver a public lecture on " Open-air Folk-Museums." 

 The mornings of July 12 and 13 will be devoted to the 

 reading of papers. Numerous excursions and receptions 

 have been arranged for the visitors. The association was 

 founded in 1889 with the object of improving and extend- 

 ing the work and usefulness of museums, the word being 

 used in its widest sense to include collections illustrating 

 pure and applied art, archaeology, technology, and the 

 natural sciences. Originally confined to the institutions of 

 Great Britain and Ireland, the association has been joined 

 by leading museums of all types in every part of the 

 world, and now includes members from most countries of 

 the world. 



An appeal has been made by the British Empire League 

 for funds to secure the establishment of a solar observa- 

 tory in Australia. The need for such an observatory is 

 strongly felt by solar physicists. A cooperative scheme of 

 research has been initiated between the great solar 



NO. 2173, VOL. 86] 



observatories of Europe, America, and India whereby the 

 sun may be continuously observed throughout the whole 

 of the twenty-four hours, but a gap exists between the 

 two latter stations which would be filled by a solar 

 observatory in Australia. Mr. Geoffrey Duffield, on behalf 

 of men of science, has personally pressed this subject -->" 

 politicians in the Commonwealth, and Mr. Deakin 

 promised 1500Z. a year upkeep if the sum of lo.oou.. i^ 

 privately forthcoming. 4000Z. has already been offered in 

 money and apparatus, so that 6000/. is still required. 

 The scientific world will be grateful to the British Empire 

 League for bringing the matter before members of the 

 league and others, thus giving them an opportunity to 

 support a movement which, if successful, will complete 

 the chain of solar observatories which circle the earth, and 

 enable the international scheme to be carried into com- 

 plete effect. Mr. C. Freeman Murray, secretary of the 

 league, Norfolk House, Laurence Pountney Hill, London. 

 E.G., will be glad to receive and acknowledge any sub- 

 scriptions which may be sent to him toward?; • - 

 important project. 



An extra meeting of the Chemical Society was held on 

 Wednesday, June 14, when Prof. T. W. Richards, of 

 Harvard University, delivered the Faraday lecture, entitled 

 "The Fundamental Properties of the Elements." The 

 president, Prof. Percy F. Frankland, in introducing the 

 lecturer, stated that the Chemical Society had assembled 

 to celebrate what was one of the most important festivals 

 in the calendar of the society, namely, the delivery of 

 the Faraday lecture and the presentation of the Faraday 

 medal. The significance of the meeting would be most 

 effectively realised by calling to mind the names of the 

 following illustrious men who had acted as Fai'aday 

 lecturers since the first lecture was delivered by Jean 

 Baptiste Andrd Dumas in 1869 : — Stanislao Cannizzaro, 

 1872 ; August Wilhelm von Hofmann, 1875 ; Charles 

 Adolphe Wurtz, 1879 ; Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von 

 Helmholtz, 1881 ; Dmitri Ivanovitsch Mendel^eff, 18S9 ; 

 Lord Rayleigh, 1895 ; Wilhelm Ostwald, 1904 ; Emil 

 Fischer, 1907. To these eminent savanis the society had 

 now added another in the person of Prof. Richards, whose 

 great work and whose great contributions to sciom . . 

 especially his determination of atomic weights an 

 experiments on the compressibility of the elements. -. 

 not only well known in this country, but throughout the 

 whole chemical world. Prof. Richards then delivered the 

 Faraday lecture, of which we hope to print an abridgment 

 in a subsequent issue. Sx the conclusion of the lecture 

 the president, in presenting the Faraday medal to Prof. 

 Richards, spoke of the sincere appreciation and the deep 

 regard which his colleagues in this country had for his 

 work, and also for the great and enduring importn-N" 

 which was attributed to his scientific discoveries, 

 vote of thanks to the lecturer, which was propose u ..» 

 Prof. W. Odling, seconded by Sir William Tildcn, nnd 

 supported by Prof. Harold B. Dixon, concluded the 

 meeting. 



Mr. W. Hough, curator of ethnology in the United 

 States National Museum, has prepared a descriptive cata- 

 logue of the valuable ethnographical collections made by 

 Mr. Hoffman Philip, Minister and Consul-General at 

 Addis Abeba, the capital of the Emperor Menelik. 

 Ethnographical material from Abyssinia is notably sctiuv. 

 and this large collection is interesting on account of 

 survivals which it exhibits from the ancient cultui 

 northern Africa, the neighbouring Asiatic continent, mul 

 enstern Europe. 



