iS 



NATURE 



[NOVF.MBER 3, 1910 



common objects. There is a variegated variety of 

 A. Aynericana which is more ornamental than the type. 



It is announced in the Revue scientifique that Prof. 

 Kammerling Onnes, of the University of Leyden, has put 

 his cryogenic laboratory at the disposal of Madame Curie 

 for her researches on radio-activity at low temperatures. 



The daily Press has recently given currency to a vague 

 report that a " vast lake " has been discovered in an 

 unexplored part of north-western Canada by Indians, which 

 they declare to be as large as Lake Superior. The report 

 is hardly likely to be correct so far as the size of the lake 

 is concerned. 



A COURSE of twelve lectures on " The Coasts of Great 

 Britain and Ireland " (Swiney lectures on geology) will 

 be delivered by Dr. T. J. Jehu in the lecture theatre of 

 the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, on 

 Mondays and Tuesdays at 5 p.m., and Saturdays at 3 p.m., 

 beginning Saturday, November 5. Admission to the course 

 is free. 



A Reuter message from Vienna states that on 

 October 28 the Radium Institute created there by the 

 Academy of Sciences was formally opened by the Archduke 

 Rainer. The new institute is to be devoted solely to 

 chemical and physical research, and will be open to scien- 

 tific men of all countries. The institute has at its dis- 

 posal three grams of radium from Joachimsthal. 



At the annual general meeting of the Cambridge Philo- 

 sophical Society, held on October 31, the following officers 

 were elected : — President, Sir George H. Darwin, K.C.B. ; 

 vice-presidents, Dr. Fenton, Prof. A. C. Seward, and Prof. 

 H. F. Newall ; treasurer. Prof. E. W. Hobson ; secretaries, 

 Mr. A. E. Shipley, Dr. Barnes, and Mr. A. Wood. The 

 new members of the council elected are Mr. E. A. Newell 

 Arber, Sir Joseph J. Thomson, and Mr. J. E. Purvis. 



The Chemical Society's banquet to past presidents, 

 which was postponed from May 26, will be held at 

 the Savoy Hotel (Embankment entrance) on Friday, 

 November 11. The banquet is in honour of the following 

 past presidents who have attained their jubilee as fellows 

 of the society : — Prof. William Odling, F.R.S., the Rt. 

 Hon. Sir Henry E. Roscoe, F.R.S., Sir William Crookes, 

 F.R.S., Dr. Hugo Muller, F.R.S., and Dr. A. G. Vernon 

 Harcourt, F.R.S. 



The Berlin correspondent of the Times states that the 

 German Ministry of the Interior has called a meeting to be 

 held within the next few days 10 consider whether the 

 foundation of a special institute for aviation research is 

 practicable, or whether the work can be better carried out 

 by existing institutions. Delegates from the Imperial 

 Government and the Federal States will be present, 

 together with representatives of the German technical 

 universities, of various associations connected with aviation 

 and motors, and of the industries concerned. 



The death is announced of Dr. D. J. B. Gernez, member 

 of the Paris Academy of Sciences and a former collaborator 

 of Pasteur. From a notice in the Times we learn that 

 Dr. Gernez was born in 1834. On the completion of his 

 studies he filled various posts as a teacher of scientific 

 subjects. While engaged upon professorial work at the 

 Lyc6e Louis-le-Grand he assisted Pasteur in some of his 

 researches, and was for many years an intimate friend and 

 collaborator of the great French investigator. For more 

 than twenty years Dr. Gernez was a lecturer at the Ecole 

 Normale of Paris, a post which he held simultaneously 



NO. 2140, VOL. 85] 



with professorships at other great educational institution-. 

 and from which he retired in 1904. Dr. Gernez was th 

 author of a number of treatises on scientific subjects, ami 

 was an Officer of the Legion d'Honneur. 



At the general meeting of the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh, held on October 24, the following office-bearer< 

 were elected: — President, Sir William Turner, K.C.B. , 

 F.R.S. ; vice-presidents. Prof. Crum Brown, F.R.S., Prof. 

 J. C. Ewart, F.R.S., Dr. J. Home, F.R.S., Dr. J. 

 Burgess, Prof. T. Hudson Beare, Prof. F. O. Bower, 

 F.R.S.; general secretary. Prof. G. Chrystal ; secretaries 

 to ordinary meetings, Dr. C. G. Knott, Dr. R. Kidston, 

 F.R.S.; treasurer, Mr. J. Currie ; curator of library and 

 museum. Dr. J. S. Black; councillors, Prof. J. W. 

 Gregory, F.R.S. ; Dr. A. P. Laurie, Prof. Wm. Peddie, 

 Prof. H. M. Macdonald, F.R.S., Prof. D. Noel Paton, 

 Dr. W. S. Bruce, Prof. F. G. Baily, Dr. J. G. Bartholo- 

 mew, Dr. R. H. Traquair, F.R.S., Prof. James Walker, 

 F.R.S., Prof. A. Robinson, and Dr. W. S. M'Cormick. 



A meeting of the Optical Convention executive com- 

 mittee was held on October 25 in the rooms of the 

 Chemical Society to consider the desirability of holding a 

 second convention in the year 1912. On the motion of 

 Dr. R. T. Glazebrook, C.B., F.R.S., it was resolved that 

 a meeting of the permanent committee, which all members 

 of the trade and others interested be invited to attend, be 

 held some time in November to consider what action 

 should be taken with the view of organising an optical 

 convention in 1912. The time and place for this meeting 

 will be announced as early as possible. The chair will 

 be taken by Dr. Glazebrook, director of the National 

 Physical Laboratory, as chairman of the permanent com- 

 mittee, and a statement of the principal matters to be 

 brought forward for consideration at the meeting will be 

 published in due course. 



The magnetic survey yacht Carnegie left Para, at the 

 mouth of the Amazon, under the command of Mr. W. J. 

 Peters, on October 15, bound for Rio de Janeiro. This 

 vessel, since leaving Brooklyn last June on her present 

 cruise of three years in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific 

 Oceans, had covered nearly 7000 miles up to Para, during 

 which i>ortions of the first cruise were several times inter- 

 sected by the introduction of loops. It is reported that the 

 magnetic results obtained on the present cruise up to Para 

 have fully confirmed the errors revealed by the first cruise 

 in the existing magnetic charts of the North Atlantic. 

 From Rio de Janeiro the Carnegie will proceed to Monte- 

 video and Buenos .Aires, and thence across to Cape Town, 

 where she is due towards the end of March, 1911. At the 

 latter port the director, Dr. Bauer, expects to rejoin the 

 vessel, and be with her on the portion of the cruise in the 

 Indian Ocean. En route to Cape Town, Dr. Bauer is to 

 visit certain magnetic institutions in Europe in order to 

 perfect arrangements for cooperative magnetic survey 

 work. 



The Morning Post National Fund .\irship made a flight 

 from Moisson to Aldershot on October 26. The airship 

 left Moisson at 10 a.m. (French time), the coast of Fran( 

 near St. Valery en.Caux at 12 noon, passed over th' 

 English coast-line near Rottingdean at 2.18 p.m., and 

 reached Aldershot at 3.28 p.m., being brought to earth at 

 4.5 p.m. The distance of 197 miles was accomplished in 

 5h. 28m. The rate of speed was about 36 miles an hour, 

 including partially adverse wind conditions. The airship 

 carried a crew of eight. During the journey 528 lb. of 

 ballast were used ; 400 litres of petrol were consumed by 



