i8 



NATURE 



[July 7, 1923 



At the annual general meeting of the Rontgen 

 Society on June 5, the following officers were elected :— 

 President : Sir Oliver J. Lodge ; Vice-Presidents : Sir 

 Ernest Rutherford, Dr. A. E. Barclay, and Dr. F, W. 

 Aston ; Hon. Treasurer : Mr, G. Pearce ; Hon. Editor : 

 Dr. G. W. C. Kaye ; Hon. Secretaries : Dr. E. A. Owen, 

 Mr. R. J. Reynolds ; Council-: Mr. C. Andrews, Dr. 

 G. B. Batten, Lt.-Col. Kenelm Edgcumbe, Mr. N. S. 

 Finzi, Mr. W. Hope-Fowler, Dr. F. L. Hopwood, 

 Dr. J. E. A. Lynham, Mr. G. H. Orton, Prof. A. W. 

 Porter, Prof. S. Russ, Dr. R. W. A. Salmond, and 

 Mr. W. E. Schall. 



In the report of the council of the British Medical 

 Association it is stated that the British Medical 

 Association in Australia has instituted a gold medal 

 for the purpose of perpetuating the appreciation of 

 services rendered by members of the British Medical 

 Association in Australia. The medal has on one side 

 the figure of ^sculapius in relief, and on the obverse 

 a wattle wreath, with the wording " The British 

 Medical Association in Australia," " For Distin- 

 guished Service," with loop and ribbon of royal blue. 

 It is to be presented at the congress of the British 

 Medical Association in Australasia to be held in 

 Melbourne in November, and the first recipients will 

 be Dr. R. H. Todd and Dr. W. T. Hayward, 



A SUCCESSFUL " commemoration day " was held 

 at Livingstone College on June 13, Sir Leonard Rogers 

 being in the chair. Various speakers testified to the 

 benefit of the training received at the College, which 

 is designed to give to missionaries the elements of 

 medical knowledge. The College would be self- 

 supporting if a sufficient number of students were 

 sent to the College regularly, but at present this is 

 not so, and about 500/. is urgently needed. 



The Marlborough College Natural History Society 

 has long been prominent in maintaining an interest 

 in field-studies, and through them in the essential 

 beauty of the earth, among those who otherwise 

 might grow up on the old conventional lines of public- 

 school education. The report for 1922 (Marlborough : 

 the Times Offices, 1923) records the proceedings of 

 a number of sections, including those of astronomy 

 and archaeology ; the latter is carrying out actual 

 excavations on the site of Castrum Merlehergaj 

 (PP- 37-45)- The botanical section has added two 

 new species to the local list during the year. Perhaps 

 the most striking signs of activity are the geological 

 excursions taken in Scotland, during \vhich the 

 members were very kindly guided by Mr. G. W. 

 Tyrrell, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, over 

 ground dealt with in his own researches. Mr. 

 A. G. Lowndes (p. 57) gives a lucid account of the 

 conditions under which the pitchstones of the dykes 

 in the Isle of Arran were formed, and this is accom- 

 panied by a plate of thin sections as seen under the 

 microscope. The other photographic illustrations, 

 including birds' nests in their natural surroundings, 

 add much to a stimulating production. We are sure 

 that members of this firmly established Society carry 

 the memories of its field-days to their more ambitious 

 journeys on safari in Kenya, or in dug-outs on 

 Malayan seas. 



NO. 2801, VOL. 112] 



The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 

 has just issued a third edition of its very useful 

 illustrated catalogue of astronomical photographs. 

 The photographs liave been reproduced mainly from 

 negatives taken at the Yerkes Observatory, and ha\ ( 

 been issued for the convenience of the general public, 

 the man of science, the student, and the lecturer. 

 They comprise lantern slides, transparencies, and 

 prints, issued at uniform prices ; but, at an extra 

 cost, they may be obtained modified in size or other 

 qualities, to meet individual needs. Card descriptions 

 of the lantern slides also are published. The photo- 

 graphs appear to cover the whole range of observational 

 astronomy, and include, in addition, a number of 

 views of astronomical instruments and portraits of 

 famous astronomers of the past and present. There 

 are, finally, a few stereograms, chiefly of the moon, 

 planets, and comets. A large number of the photo- 

 graphs were taken by the late Prof. Barnard, amon j 

 which his well-known and beautiful pictures of tin 

 Milky Way and of dark markings in the sky are 

 particularly welcome. Of great value to teachers 

 and lecturers are the photographs of stellar spectra, 

 with terrestrial comparison spectra, illustrating the 

 Doppler displacements due to relative motion of 

 the star and the earth in the line of sight. Reproduc- 

 tions of two of these photographs are given in the 

 catalogue ; they show the effect with unusual 

 clearness and beauty. It would have been a great 

 boon to teachers of astrophysics if the publishers 

 had found it possible to include a complete series of 

 typical spectra, in the visible region, of the various 

 Harvard types. Only the violet and ultra-violet 

 regions are now accessible. The catalogue should 

 prove extremely useful to all who are interested in 

 any way in the observation of the heavens. 



The Manila Weather Bureau sets a praiseworthy 

 example to many larger institutions in the comparative 

 promptness — ^judged by post-War standards — with 

 which it issues its volume of magnetic observations 

 for the calendar year 1919. Until 1904 the observa- 

 tory was at Manila, whence it had to be removed, on 

 account of electric tramway disturbances, to Antipolo, 

 twelve miles distant from the city. It started its 

 new career in 191 1, and its annual reports have since 

 then been modelled on the pattern adopted by the 

 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Hourly values 

 of declination and horizontal and vertical magnetic 

 force are given, together with the daily mean, 

 maximum, minimum, and range for each element. 

 Mean diurnal inequalities are given for each month 

 and for the five quietest and five most disturbed 

 days per month. These inequalities are also sum- 

 marised in separate tables : the inclusion of a table 

 of daily variation of the total force might perhaps be 

 dispensed with. 



A useful pamphlet published by the United 

 States Coast and Geodetic Surve}^ (Special Publication 

 No. 93, price 30 cents) deals with Reconnaissance 

 and Signal Building. The author, Mr. J. S. Bilby, 

 writes from experience of actual cases arising in the 

 routine of field work, and dwells on the practical 



