February 8, 19 12] 



NATURE 



489 



Llanhilleth on January 26 were extremely local, and there 

 can be little doubt that they were due in part to artificial 

 causes. The Dunblane shock of January 28 was one of 

 the series of earthquakes which have been so prevalent 

 since 1905 on the south side of the Ochil Hills, possibly 

 with its focus rather farther to the west than usual. 



A CELEBRATION of the centenary of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia is to be held on March 

 19-21. The publication of three volumes has been decided 

 upon : a commemorative volume of scientific memoirs ; an 

 index to the series of Proceedings and Journal up to and 

 including 19 10, now amounting to nearly one hundred 

 volumes ; and a detailed history of the academy by Dr. 

 Nolan. Delegates will be received and historical addresses 

 will probably be delivered on the first day ; two morning 

 sessions will be devoted to the reading of scientific papers ; 

 and there will be a banquet on the evening of March 21, 

 the official birthday of the academy. 



We learn from a communication received from the 

 Decimal Association that the King of Siam, on November 

 15 last, ordered the adoption of the metric system through- 

 out his kingdom at an early date. The authorities in 

 Siam are in communication with the Bureau International 

 des Poids et M^sures at Sevres on the subject of the pro- 

 vision of standards and prototypes for furnishing a Central 

 Office of Weights and Measures for the country. The 

 Government stands pledged to the passing of a law intro- 

 ducing the system in about a year from now, which, law , 

 after an optional period of one year only, will be enforced 

 throughout the kingdom. 



Prof. A. S. Hitchcock, systematic agrostologist of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

 who represented the Smithsonian Institution in the bio- 

 logical survey of the Canal Zone as a collector of grasses, 

 has just returned to Washington. He estimates that he 

 has secured about 150 species of grasses from the Canal 

 Zone alone, and that, including the collections of Messrs. 

 Pittier and Maxon, the National Herbarium will have as 

 niany as 200 species from Panama. This greatly increases 

 the known species, and Prof. Hitchcock believes that he 

 has from four to five times as many from this region as 

 were previously known. Many of the species found in 

 Panama were known previously only from Brazil and other 

 regions of .South America. 



Dr. L. a. Bauer returned to his office at Washington, 

 D.C, at the end of December last, after a nine months' 

 trip of inspection of magnetic work on board the 

 f (I!,, ;ind visiting magnetic institutions in the Pacific 



Uliiiii-. \-w Zealand, Australia, India, Burma, China, 

 Hid Japan. Three positions as magnetic observer are to 

 lie filled in the Carnegie Institution of Washington at 

 salaries ranging from 900 to 1500 dollars per annum and 

 rK>ld expenses, according to training and experience, wjth 

 nossibility for further promotions as advancement is made. 

 The duties imply assignment to magnetic survey work 

 (determination of the magnetic elements), according to 

 rircumstances, either on land in foreign countries or at 



•a on board the magnetic survey yacht Carnegie. Appli- 

 t ations, with full statements as to collegiate training and 



xperience, and accompanied by references, should be for- 

 warded immediately, and addressed to : The Director, 

 Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, The Ontario, 

 Washington, D.C. 



. In the notice of Prof. Sollas's " Ancient Hunters " in 

 Nature of January 25, the reviewer assumed that as no 

 reference was made to Mr. J. Reid Moir or his sub-Crag 



NO, 2206, VOL. 88] 



flmts they were " rejected as convincing evidence of man's 

 existence." Mr. Moir writes to suggest that the absence 

 of mention of his implements from below the Crag is 

 probably due to the chapter dealing with " Eoliths " having 

 been written before the facts of his discovery were made 

 public. We understand that the book was in print before 

 Prof. SoUas had the opportunity of examining Mr. Moir's 

 specimens, so that it is scarcely correct to assume that he 

 has rejected them as evidence of man's workmanship. 



The discovery of a human skeleton beneath a stratum 

 of Boulder Clay near Ipswich, and partly embedded in 

 the underlying mid-Glacial sands, is likely to prove an 

 event of considerable importance to those interested in the 

 evolution of the modern type of Man. .According to the 

 somewhat sanguine report which appeared in The Times 

 of February i, Mr. J. Reid Moir and those who saw the 

 rernains in situ are confident that the overlying stratum 

 of Boulder Clay (4^ feet in depth) was undisturbed, and 

 that the remains are older than the deposition of the 

 Chalky Boulder Clay, which marks the most severe of the 

 various Glacial periods. If this proves to be the case, 

 and no doubt Mr. Moir and those associated with him 

 will place all the evidence before experts at an early 

 date, the skeleton thus found will be the earliest re- 

 mains of the human body yet found in England. The 

 skeleton has been examined by Prof. Keith, who reports 

 that in all its essential features it is of the modern 

 type, with absolutely no trace of the unmistakable 

 iliaracters of Neanderthal man. Yet the period assigned 

 to the Ipswich remains is long anterior to the Mousterian 

 period to which the remains of Neanderthal man belong. 

 To those who regard Neanderthal irffcn as an altogether 

 distinct form of mankind which persisted long after the 

 modern type of man (Homo sapiens) was evolved, this 

 discovery at Ipswich will cause no surprise. 



The study of plant diseases is so important from the 

 technical point of view, and presents so many problems 

 of scientific interest, that any suggestions for advancing it 

 deserve serious consideration. The Biology Committee of 

 the Agricultural Education Association is organising a 

 card index that shall form a systematic record of fungus, 

 insect, and other diseases of plants, and invites the co- 

 operation of those able and willing to help in order that 

 the record shall be as complete as possible. The value 

 of the work, of course, will depend entirely on the extent 

 to which this invitation is taken up. The record thus 

 compiled will be available for consultation by any investi- 

 gator, either by application to the secretary of the com- 

 niiii.i . Prof. J. H. ]'rifsil.\, of the University of Leeds, 

 III \>\ application to iln Uoaril of Agriculture, which will 

 hold duplicates of all the entries. The committee hopes 

 to receive the cooperation of all investigators of this sub- 

 ject in the British Isles, and to form a record that shall 

 not only be useful to the economic biologist, but also to 

 the mycologist and to other students of plant diseases. 

 Full information about the scheme can be obtained from 

 Prof. Priesllcy. 



1 1 is stated by 7//. / imc.s that tlie Daylight Saving 

 iJill is 10 be brouglu iiuwaid again next Session, and its 

 supi)orters hope that a member who obtains a good place 

 in the ballot will introduce it. From the same source we 

 learn that resolutions in favour of the Bill have now been 

 passed by 408 city corporations and town and district 

 councils, including the Cities of London, Westminster, 

 (jlasgow, Liverpool, Belfast, Dublin, Shettield, and Brad- 

 ford, and a majority of the I^ondon boroughs — that is to 

 say, seventeen out of twenty -eight. It is scarcely to be 



