/ 



874 



MA J URE 



LUecember 15, 1923 



ol>!»crvations from the ship, especially current measure- 

 ments, have liccn continued. Captain WistinK reports 

 the <lcath of Mr. Syvertsen, the ship's enginetr 



It in announced in the liriiish Medical Journal that 

 the French Minister of Public Instruction has intro- 

 duced a bill for the purpose of awarding to Madame 

 Curie a pension of 40,000 francs per annum, in recog- 

 nition of her scientific work. It is proposed that the 

 pension shall be conferred on December 28. the twenty- 

 fifth anniversary of the announcement of the discovery 

 of radium by Madame Curie and her late husband. 



The annual Exhibition of Scientific Apparatus or- 

 ganiscil by the Physical Society of London and the 

 Optical Society will be held at the Imperial College of 

 Science. South Kensington, on Wednesday and Thurs- 

 day, January 2 and 3. The Councils of these Societies 

 invite members of the Faraday Society to attend the 

 Exliibition. Admission is by ticket only, for which 

 application must be made to the Secretary of the 

 Faraday Society. 



A Cotton Research Botanist is required at 

 Lyallpur, Punjab, by the Indian Central Cotton 

 Committee, whose duties will consist of investigations 

 with a view of improving local and American cotton 

 schemes. Candidates should possess high quah- 

 fications in cotton-breeding and plant-physiology, 

 and apply, with full particulars of age, education, 

 training, and experience, by, at latest, December 24, 

 to the Secretary to the High Commissioner for India, 

 42 Grosvenor Gardens, S.W.i. 



At the request of the Local Committee arranging 

 the meeting of the British Association at Toronto 

 next year, the Council of the Association has changed 

 the date of the meeting from September to August 6-13. 

 The main party will leave England about July 25 ; 

 and the excursion tour will be after the meeting 

 instead of before it. The new arrangements will, 

 we believe, be preferred to the old by most of the 

 members who propose to attend the meeting, which 

 is likely to be large and successful, as many members 

 of the American Association also intend to take part 

 in it. The British Association will meet in South- 

 ampton in 1925, and has received an invitation from 

 the University and city of Oxford to meet there in 

 1926, which will in due course be presented to the 

 general committee. 



The gold medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical 

 Society has been awarded to Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 

 and the Livingstone gold medal to Dr. Marion I. 

 Newbiggin, in recognition of their distinguished 

 sers-ice in geographical research and exploration. In 

 presenting the medal to Dr. Mill, Lord Salvesen, 

 president of the Society, referred to some outstanding 

 points in Dr. Mill's career. For eighteen years he 

 was chairman of Trustees and Director of the British 

 Rainfall Organisation and editor of " British Rainfall " 

 and Symons's Meteorological Magazine, while for seven 

 years he was one of the British representatives to the 

 International Council for the Study of the Sea. He 

 has made noteworthy contributions to geographical 

 research and Uterature. Referring to Dr. Newbiggin, 



NO. 2824, VOL. I I 2] 



Lord Salve-' of her services as editor, mihc 



1901, of the •■ographical Magazine, and of h< r 



many works on biological and geographical 8ubject>. 



The first V ntal Report to the Atn 



Corrosion ( of the British Noi 



Metals Research Association will be presei 

 discussed at a meeting of the Faraday Soci- 

 held on December 17, at 8 p.m., in the rooms of the 

 Chemical Society, Burlington House, VV.i. The very 

 comprehensive series of field tests and laboratory 

 experiments described in the Report were carried 

 out by Mr. W. H. J. Vernon on behalf of the Com- 

 mittee. Persons interested in the subject ' 

 of attemling the discussion may obtain a : 



admission from the secretary of the Faraday Society, 

 10 Essex Street, Ix>ndon, \V.C.2. 



At one time planters were usually at least part 

 owners of the estates that they cultivated, but now 

 most of them are simply salaried employees of 

 London companies. In the report of a sub-committee 

 appointed by the Incorp>orated Society of Planters 

 upon salaries, general conditions and terms of service 

 on rubber estates in the Malay Peninsula, etc. 

 (Kuala Lumpur, 1923), the rubber planters of Malaya, 

 a numerous body of Europeans, suggest the restora- 

 tion of the old rate of pay (reduced during the recent 

 slump), and the granting of leave as in Government 

 service at a definite rate, with free passages home 

 for planter, wife, and children. The climate is 

 trying, leave every few years is needful, and cost of 

 travelling has greatly increased. If the prestige of 

 the white man is not to suffer, and the qualit)- and 

 efficiency of the planters to be kept up, something 

 must be done to improve the present conditions. 



A PARAGRAPH has recently appeared in the technical 

 press referring to a violent explosion which set fire 

 to and sank the British steamer Otierburn. The 

 paragraph stated that the disaster was thought to 

 be due to the explosion of barrels of chlorate of potash. 

 Mr. W. J. U. Woolcock, general manager of the 

 Association of British Chemical Manufacturers, 

 informs us that there appears to have been no chlorate 

 of potash on board the ship, but that there was a 

 parcel of chloride of potassium. The transport of 

 dangerous substances is always a matter of difficulty, 

 and it is particularly undesirable that the difficulties 

 should be added to by blaming unnecessarily what is 

 known to be a dangerous substance. 



The Scientific Novelties Exhibition last year in 

 aid of King Edward's Hospital Fund for London, 

 at King's College, Strand, W.C. 2, proved so success- 

 ful that a similar exhibition has been organised for 

 the approaching Christmas vacation. Demonstrations 

 and experiments illustrating modem scientific dis- 

 covery and research will be in progress 2-5 p.m. 

 and 6-9 P.M. daily throughout the period when the 

 Exhibition is open, December 29-Januan,'^ 9. In 

 addition, a number of distinguished scientific workers 

 are giving their services as lecturers. Every day 

 there will be four or more lectures ; among the 

 subjects dealt with in this way are : tuning forks, 

 Egyptian mummies, flame, acoustics of buildings. 



