November i6, 191 i] 



NATURE 



The De Morgan medal of the London Mathematical 

 Society has been awarded to Prof. Horace Lamb, F.R.S., 

 for his researches in mathematical physics. At the annual 

 general meeting of the society, held on November 9, the 

 following were elected to be the council and officers for the 

 session 191 1— 12: — President, Dr. H. F. Baker; vice-presi- 

 dents, Mr. J. E. Campbell and Prof. A. E. H. Love; 

 treasurer, Prof. Sir J. Larmor ; secretaries, Mr. J. H. 

 • ■race and Dr. T. J. 1'a. Bromwich ; other members of the 

 council, Mr. G. T. Bennett, Prof. W. Burnside, Mr. E. 

 Cunningham, Mr. A. L. Dixon, Dr. L. N. G. Filon, Mr. 

 J. H. Jeans, Mr. J. E. Littlewood, Prof. H. M. Mac- 

 tonald, Major P. A. MacMahon, and Mr. A. E. Western. 



The disease known as " infantile paralysis " has recently 

 !)■ '-n added to the list of notifiable infectious diseases in 

 London by an order under the Public Health Act. This 

 lisease, known medically as acute anterior polio-myelitis, 

 was referred to in our " Notes " columns of October 12 

 p. 494), and, though probably not existing in London at 

 ihe present time, was epidemic in the Plymouth district 

 this summer. In this epidemic, an account of which was 

 given by Dr. Bertram Soltau in The British Medical 

 Journal of November 4, 154 cases were notified between 

 May and September, of which 34 died, a case mortality of 

 22 per cent. The disease may therefore be an important 

 one, and sanitary authorities will do well to be on the look- 

 out for it and to exercise the option they possess of making 

 it notifiable. 



The death is announced, at the age of eighty-four, of 

 Mr. Daniel F. Drawbaugh, a veteran American inventor. 

 He was a self-taught man, and worked in his early years 

 as a clockmaker in his native village in Pennsylvania. 

 He became an enthusiast on the subject of physics, and 

 made electrical apparatus a special study. In i860 he 

 devised an instrument for the electrical transmission of 

 speech, and in 1870 claimed to have invented a magneto- 

 transmitter similar to Bell's. In 1881 his claim to be 

 the inventor of the telephone was adversely decided in the 

 courts, his interests being represented by the People's Tele- 

 phone Co., against which the Bell Co. brought a suit. 

 Mr. Drawbaugh made only a moderate fortune with his 

 inventions, which included an interchangeable telephone 

 and telegraph apparatus, the collapsible lunch-box, the 

 first nail-making machine, higher grade electrical grain- 

 weighing devices, and various pneumatic tools. 



The following announcements have just been made by 

 the Meteorological Office : — Mr. G. I. Taylor, fellow of 

 Trinity College, Cambridge, Smith's prizeman, 1910, has 

 been appointed Schuster reader in dynamical meteorology for 

 three years from January i, 1912 ; Mr. L. Southerns, of 

 Emmanuel College, Cambridge, has been appointed special 

 assistani at l.^kdale Observatory ; Mr. G. Dobson, research 

 student ol ( loitville and Caius College, Cambridge, has been 

 appointed graduate assistant for research in atmospheric 

 electricity for one year from October i, 191 1. Dr. Arthur 

 Schuster, F.R.S., li.is presented to the Eskdale Observa- 

 tory an instrunii in, made in St. Petersburg from designs 

 by Prince Boris Galitzin, for the registration of the 

 vertical component of seismic movements. Dr. Schuster 

 had previously presented correspoiiilin;,; instruments for 

 registering the horizontal component, so tliat .nil three com- 

 pdii'Mi-- arc niiw the sulijict of continuous rcgi^l r.ai ion. 



I III. (I'aih is announced, in his srvent y-lirst _\iai', ol Mi". 

 linli S. llalLn, wlio was widely known ;is an inL;iiii ir 

 and iiav.ll.'i, [■idin 1860 to l8()8 Mr. lialliK assisted in 

 ill'' ( <.ii-i iiK I ion (it railways in Lanra-liirc and Clieshire. 

 In i.Sf)S ill' Mil. lid the Indian Public Works Department, 



NO. 2194, VOL. 88] 



and was employed in the construction of the oldest line in 

 Burma, that from Rangoon to Prome, which was com- 

 pleted in 1877. He retired from the public service in 1880, 

 and was soon engaged in the exploration of the little known 

 country between Moulmein and Kiang Hsen on the 

 Mekong for a railway route into Siam, and made a survey 

 for a branch line to Bangkok. He explored about 2500- 

 miles of country, and discovered the sources of the Menam, 

 The general results of his e.xplorations were laid before 

 the Royal Geographical Society in 1883, and an account of 

 his work is to be found in his "A Thousand Miles on an 

 Elephant." He revisited Siam, Burma, and India in 1885,. 

 and at the request of the Foreign Office and the War 

 Office sent in a report, with maps, bearing on the political, 

 state of affairs in Indo-China. In 1887 Mr. Hallett re- 

 ceived the silver medal of the Socity of Arts for a paper 

 on new markets and the extension of railways of India 

 and Burma. 



A POINT which is now agitating the aeronautical indus- 

 trial world is one that is down for discussion on the 

 agenda of the International Aeronautical Federation, which 

 meets at Turin on November 25. It is, briefly, that it 

 should be made compulsory for aeroplane manufacturers 

 to submit a specimen machine of each type made by them 

 to the representatives of the International Aeronautical 

 Federation, i.e. the Aero Club, in their respective countries 

 in order to receive a certificate of soundness of construc- 

 tion. It will be obvious at once that at the present time 

 such a rule is absurd, for the chief reason that, for 

 instance, in this country only the manufacturers them- 

 selves are capable of passing an expert opinion on the 

 merits of any machine submitted. Furthermore, if carried 

 out, it would shift responsibility from the manufacturers 

 to the aero clubs, which are privately organised bodies, 

 and it would tend to confine the manufacture of machines 

 to certain standard types and close the way to originality 

 and progress. Manufacturers are already up in arms in 

 this country against this extraordinary measure, which, it 

 may be stated, has its origin in France, and it is to be 

 hoped that the delegates of the Royal Aero Club will 

 receive instructions to oppose it to the utmost. In such 

 attitude they will, no doubt, have the support not only of 

 the club they represent, but also of the German and Italian 

 organisations. 



At the meeting of the Concrete Institute held on 

 November 9, Sir Henry Tanner, C.B., delivered his presi- 

 dential address. During the course of his remarks he 

 said that the membership of the institute is now about 

 875, and that during the eighteen months ending in June 

 last the net gain was twenty-one. Tlurr is no institu- 

 tion, he pointed out, concerned particularly wiih sHuctural 

 engineering; and the committee of the inslimte has l>ein 

 empowered to take steps to foster structural eni;ine. ring, 

 and thus in future the Concrete Institute will he an institu- 

 tion of structural engineers as well. Sir IJeiirv iaiiiier 

 went on to say that the Institution of Civil I'.n-in. • r- has 

 taken up the subject of reinforced concrete, .md a eon- 

 siderable sum of inonev lia^ li., ,, d. M.ie.l to , xp.rim. nts 

 which are in process ol liein- eani-d oiii. Mien- is no 

 doubt, he s.iid, that experiineiils are needed in this eouniry 

 to obtain a consisi, nl and innipleie s,>i i,s hasid on 

 materials to be ol)lainid h. n and niivi.l .and iisiid under 

 similar conditions. \i ihe piesint tiiin w- ha\. to rely 

 on experiments in .Xneiita, dermanx, .md iT.inn with 

 eeineiit of var\ in- 1 h.ar.i. \' r. and il would h. ■ ol ill. l;!. al.'st 

 ;i,|v',iita,-e d lii' - ' ould 1..' II p. .md in s,.,,,. , .1-.- .at 

 intervals, the iinpro\ enniil in str.n-lh heiiig su ^h-m lor 



