142 



NA TURE 



[July 28, 1923 



name of the fellow elected : British Fellowships (300/.): 

 Dr. S. Coffey, at University College, London ; Dr. 

 A. F. Titley ; and Dr. R. W. Lunt, at University 

 College, London. Glasgow Fellowships (300/,) : Mr. 

 T. S. Stevens and Mr. J. A. Mair, both at the Univer- 

 sity of Glasgow. Norwegian Fellowship (5400 kroner) : 

 Mr. G. Weidemann, at the Biological Laboratory, 

 University of Cambridge, French Fellowship (loo/. 

 plus 14,000 francs) : Dr. H. Weiss, at the Royal 

 Institution (Davy - Faraday Laborator>') . Nether- 

 lands Fellowship (300/.) : Mr. J. Kalff. Danish 

 Fellowship (300/.) ; Mr. K. H^jendahl, at the Univer- 

 sity of Liverpool. Since the institution of the Ramsay 

 Memorial Fellowship Trust in 1919 twenty -one 

 fellowships, not including those announced above, 

 have been awarded. 



The thirty-fourth congress of the Royal Sanitary 

 Institute will be held at Hull on July 30-August 4 

 under the presidency of the Right Hon. T. R. Kerens. 

 The proceedings will be divided among four sections 

 dealing with sanitary science, engineering, and 

 architecture, maternity and child welfare, and personal 

 and domestic hygiene respectively. In addition to 

 the sectional meetings a number of conferences of 

 representatives of sanitary authorities, medical ofhcers 

 of health and similar workers have been arranged. 

 Sir Alexander Houston will lecture to the Congress 

 on " A Pure Water Supply," and among the subjects 

 to be discussed at the various meetings are the 

 prevention of tuberculosis and cancer, the curative 

 value of ultra-violet rays, the nutritive value of milk, 

 heliotherapy, the smoke evil, and food-poisoning. 

 Several Government departments and also foreign 

 and Dominion Governments are sending delegates. 

 Visits will be paid to local institutions, water-works, 

 and factories, and a Health Exhibition showing 

 apparatus and appliances relating to health and 

 domestic use will be open throughout the meeting. 



The 104th annual meeting of the Swiss Society for 

 Natural Sciences will be held on August 30-Sep- 

 tember 2 at Zermatt. This will be the fifth occasion 

 when the Society has met in the Canton of Valais. 

 The work of the meeting will be divided into fifteen 

 sections as follows : (i) Mathematics, (2) physics, 

 (3) geophysics, meteorology, and astronomy, (4) 

 chemistry, (5) geology, mineralogy, and petrography, 

 (6) botany, (7) zoology, (8) entomolog^^ (9) palaeon- 

 tology, (10) anthropology and ethnology, (11) medical 

 sciences, (12) history of medicine and the natural 

 sciences, (13) veterinary medicine, (14) pharmacy, 

 and (15) engineering science. In addition to the 

 sectional gatherings, there will be general discussions 

 which will be addressed by distinguished men of 

 science. Among the topics thus dealt with will be : 

 Phylloxera in Valais, by Dr. H. Faes, director of the 

 Federal Viticultural Station, Lausanne ; earthquakes 

 in Switzerland, by Dr. A. de Quervain, of the Uni- 

 versity of Zurich ; and the geology of the neighbour- 

 hood of Zermatt, by Prof. E. Argand, professor of 

 geology, palaeontology, and petrography in the Uni- 

 versity of Neuchatel. The following officers have 

 been appointed for the meeting : President, Rev. 



NO. 2804, VOL. I 12] 



C. M. Besse ; Vice-President, Dr. J, Amann ; 

 Treasurer, M. E. de Riedmatten, and Secretary 

 M. A. de Werra, of Sion, Valais. 



The National Research Council of the United States 

 has issued as a Bulletin an account of the State 

 Research agencies of Illinois other than the University, 

 prepared by Prof. L. D. White of the University of 

 Chicago. These agencies spent 40,000/. on research 

 during the fiscal year 1921-22, employing 230 scienti- 

 fically trained workers. The smallness of the gram 

 is due largely to the claims for research being subject 

 to review by non-professional administrators wh" 

 have no very definite understanding of the aims of 

 research. The salaries paid to the research workers 

 are small, and the best men are attracted by the posts 

 open to them in industry. While managing officers 

 receive from 500/.-1000/. per annum, engineers, 

 geologists, naturalists, and bacteriologists from 300/.- 

 700/., and medical officers and psychologists 350/. -5 70/., 

 chemists receive only 250/.-450/. per annum. The 

 report recommends that research officers should be 

 relieved of routine work, that the University should 

 be recognised as the central research agency, and 

 that the salary scale should be equal to that main- 

 tained in the University for persons of similar 

 professional attainments. 



The Arsbok for 1922, Part II., of the Swedish 

 Meteorological Service gives full details, accompanied 

 by maps, of the precipitation in Sweden. For each 

 month of the year are given a summary of the fall for 

 each province, with a comparison of the mean average 

 fall, and the details of several hundred stations 

 throughout the country. For each station are given 

 the total fall in the year, the total for the wettest 

 day, and the number of days with precipitation 

 more than certain amounts. There are maps of the 

 monthly and annual distributions of rainfall, and a 

 large map showing the distribution of the recording 

 stations. 



Bulletin No. 13 of the Madras Fisheries Depart- 

 ment (1922) contains the Reports on Administration 

 for the years 1919-20. The publication is, however, 

 a notable one in that it also contains a long report 

 (pp. 35 to 266) by Sir Frederick Nicholson on methods 

 of fish canning, preparation of oils, guano, etc., with 

 special reference to local methods. There is also an 

 interesting account of the " solar oven." a contrivance 

 for entrapping the heat of the sun in a confined atmo- 

 sphere. With an outside temperature of 140° F. that 

 of the inside of the oven reached 325° F. 



In the July issue of the Antiqiuiries Journal, Sir 

 Hercules Read publishes his presidential address 

 delivered on St. George's Day. It is devoted to the 

 question of collaboration in archaeological research 

 with foreign nations, in particular with France and the 

 United States. Special attention is paid to the 

 question of an agreement with the Afghan Govern- 

 ment which granted to the French through M. 

 Foucher a perpetual monopoly of archaeological 

 investigation in Afghanistan. This was a serious 

 invasion of the rights of India to share in the excava- 



\ 



