January 25, 19 12] 



NATURE 



419 



The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia has 

 awarded the Ha3'den medal in gold for distinguished work 

 in geology to Prof. J. C. Branner, of Leland Stanford 

 Jr. University, U.S. .A. 



The Royal Geographical Society has arranged for a 

 course of three lectures on " The Desert of North Africa," 

 to be given by Captain H. G. Lyons, F.R.S., in the 

 Theatre, Burlington Gardens, on February 9, 13, and 15. 



An official intimation from the Mus^e National 

 d'Histoire Naturelle de Buenos Aires informs us that Dr. 

 Angel Gallardo has been appointed director of that institu- 

 tion in succession to Dr. Florentine Ameghino, who died 

 on August 6, 191 1, at fifty-six years of age. 



At the ordinary scientific meeting of the Chemical 

 riety held on Thursday, January 18, the president. Prof. 

 r<rcy F. Frankland, F.R.S., announced that the Moissan 

 memorial lecture will be delivered in the rooms of the 

 Miciety by Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S., on 

 Thursday, February 29, at 8.30 p.m. 



So much interest has been aroused by the exhibition of 

 : d tables and nesting-boxes in the offices of the Selborne 

 uiety at 42 Bloomsbury Square, W.C., that it has been 

 decided to allow the collection to remain on view until 

 January 31. The hours are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on 

 weekdays, except Saturday, when the exhibition closes 

 at 3 p.m. 



It will be remembered that M. Maurice Maeterlinck 

 last year received the Nobel prize for literature. The prize 

 amounted to 7772Z. We learn from the Revue Scientifiqiie 

 that M. Maeterlinck proposes to raise the sum to Soool., 

 and to employ it to establish a biennial prize of 640Z. to 

 be awarded to the author of the most remarkable work — 

 whether on literature, art, or science — published in the 

 French language. 



In December last one of the massive sarsen stones still 

 remaining of what is known as Longstone Cove, or Long- 

 stones, standing in the ploughed field to the right of the 

 road from Avebury to Beckhampton, which, according to 

 Stukely, formed an adjunct to the Beckhampton Avenue 

 I'-ading to Avebury, fell down. Its weight is estimated to 

 be more than 30 tons. The Wiltshire Archaeological 

 Society, through its secretary, the Rev. E. H. Goddard, 

 Clyffe Vicarage, Swindon, now appeals for assistance in 

 raising the sum of about 50Z. required to re-erect the stone 

 and support it by a concrete foundation, the funds of the 

 society being inadequate to undertake such a work. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death, on 

 January 21, in his eighty-second year, of Dr. David 

 Christison, one of the foremost antiquaries in Scotland. 

 From an obituary notice in The Times we learn that he 

 was secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for 

 sixteen years, from 1888 to 1904. He travelled over a 

 grrat part of Scotland planning the prehistoric forts and 

 minutely examining them, and the results of his investiga- 

 tions he contributed in many interesting papers to the 

 Society of Antiquaries. About twenty years ago he was 

 Rhind lecturer, and chose as the subject of his course 

 " The Prehistoric P'orts of Scotland." These lectures were 

 published in book form. " Early Fortifications in Scot- 

 I land " was another of his works. In 1867, for the benefit 

 of his health, Dr. Cristison visited .Argentina, on which he 

 wrote a number of papers. A keen student of botany, he 

 IS a member of the Botanical Society, to which he made 

 Mveral communications, particularly on the growth of 

 trees. 



NO. 2204, VOL. 88] 



O.N Thursday, February i, Prof. A. M. Worthington 

 will begin a course of two experimentally illustrated 

 lectures at the Royal Institution on " The Phenomena of 

 Splashes," and on Saturday, February 3, Sir Alexander C. 

 Mackenzie will deliver the first of a course of lectures, with 

 musical illustrations, on (i) " Russian Music of To-day," 

 and (2 and 3) " Franz Liszt (Centenary)." The Friday 

 evening discourse on February 2 will be delivered by Sir 

 James Mackenzie Davidson on " Vital Effects of Radiuni 

 and other Rays," and on February 9 by Dr. J. A. Harker 

 on " Very High Temperatures." 



The Liverpool excavations at Meroe, under the direc- 

 tion of Prof. Garstang, assisted by Mr. Schliephack, are 

 making great progress. The palace of the Ethiopian kings, 

 near the temple of .\mon, proves to contain more than forty 

 chambers and a large court. On the foundation-walls are 

 reliefs of the usual Ethiopian pattern. Three hundred 

 Sudani natives are now employed, with a staff of trained 

 Egyptian diggers, chiefly fellafein from Kuft. A light 

 man-tramway, of the kind commonly utilised in excavations 

 elsewhere (e.g. at .\busir and Deir el-Bahari) to facilitate 

 the removal of the excavated material, has been installed, 

 and to this Mr. Garstang has added a small aerial cabl^- 

 way. A telegram from Khartum describing the progress 

 of the work appeared in The Times of January 17; from 

 this the above account is partly taken. 



At the annual general meeting of the Royal Meteor- 

 ological Society on January 17 the president, Dr. H. N. 

 Dickson, presented to Prof. Cleveland Abbe, of the U.S. 

 Weather Bureau, Washington, the Symons gold medal for 

 1912, which had been awarded to him in consideration of 

 his distinguished work in connection with instrumental, 

 statistical, and dynamical meteorology and forecasting. 

 The following officers and members of council for the 

 ensuing year were elected at the meeting : — President, Dr. 

 H. N. Dickson ; vice-presidents, R. H. Hooker, R. G. K. 

 Lempfert, H. Mellish, Colonel H. E. Rawson, C.B. ; 

 treasurer. Dr. C. T. Williams ; secretaries, F. C. Bayard, 

 Commander W. F. Caborne, C.B. ; foreign secretary. Dr. 

 R. H. Scott, F.R.S. ; councillors, W, W. Bryant, C. J. P. 

 Cave, Dr. C. Chree, F.R.S. , F. Druce, F. W. Dyson, 

 F.R.S. , E. Gold, Commander M. W. C. Hepworth, C.B., 

 R. Inwards, Captain H. G. Lyons, F.R.S., M. de C. S. 

 Salter, Captain A. Simpson, and Sir J. W. Towse. 



A MEMORANDUM of revised arrangements between tlv 

 Board of .Agriculture and Fisheries and the Board of 

 Education in regard to agricultural education in England 

 and Wales has been issued. It is pointed out that in view 

 of the large additional sums which have become available 

 since 1909 for the purposes of agricultural education and 

 research under the Development and Road Improvement 

 Funds Act, 1909, the arrangements made in 1909 now 

 require some modification. It no longer appears possible 

 to delimit the spheres of work of the two Boards by 

 assigning to the Board of Agriculture the responsibility for 

 the universities and colleges in which .advanced work is 

 being done, and to the Board of Education the responsi- 

 bility for farm schools and such other provision for agri- 

 cultural education as is on a lower plane than that of 

 agricultural colleges. It has therefore been decided that, 

 in future, the responsibility for farm institutes, as well as 

 for the agricultural work of universities and colleges, shall 

 be transferred to the Board of Agriculture, and that this 

 Board shall be regarded as the Government department 

 concerned with this branch of educational work for the 

 purposes of the Development Fund. The application for 

 an advance from the Development F"und in aid of farm 



