214 



NATURE 



[December 15, 1910 



far distant. At the close of the meeting Dr. Muir pre- 

 sented the South Africa medal to Prof. J. C. Beattie, for 

 his magnetic and other work. 



The jubilee of the German Agricultural Society is being 

 commemorated in Berlin this week by a series of meet- 

 ings. The Berlin correspondent of the Times states that 

 at the meeting on December 12 a vast audience in the 

 "building of the Prussian Diet listened to the congratula- 

 tions of the German Emperor, the Imperial Chancellor, 

 the Prussian Minister of Agriculture, and other dis- 

 tinguished personages. In the course of his remarks, the 

 Emperor is reported by the Times correspondent to have 

 said : — " Many a seed has been scattered since the society 

 was founded twenty-five years ago, and has sprung up 

 and flourished under the blessings of peace. Admirably 

 Tiave you succeeded in adopting all the advances in science. 

 In botany, in chemistry, in the breeding of animals, and 

 in industry, and so increased the efficiency of German 

 agriculture and raised the value of Germany's soil. Accept 

 my most cordial good wishes for the future. May the 

 agricultural population continue to hold its own as the 

 ■core of the people, trustworthy in all circumstances, to 

 the advantage and welfare of the Fatherland." 



A GENERAL meeting of opticians and others was held in 

 the rooms of the Chemical Society, Burlington House, on 

 Tuesday, November 29, to consider the desirability of 

 making arrangements for the holding of an Optical Con- 

 vention in 1912. The chair was taken by Dr. R. T. Glaze- 

 brook, C.R., F.R.S., as chairman of the permanent com- 

 mittee. A resolution was carried nem. con. that, pro- 

 vided sufficient financial support is obtained, an optical 

 convention be held in the spring or early summer of 1912. 

 The main objects of such a convention were specified as 

 being : — (i) the holding of an exhibition of optical and 

 allied instruments ; (2) the preparation of a catalogue of 

 optical and allied instruments of British manufacture to 

 serve as a convenient work of reference for all users of 

 optical and scientific instruments, not necessarily to be 

 limited to instruments actually exhibited ; (3) the holding 

 of meetings for the reading of papers and for discussions 

 and demonstrations on optical subjects ; (4) the publication 

 of a volume of Proceedings, in which these papers would 

 be collected together. The questions of the inclusion of a 

 foreign section and of the scope of the convention and 

 exhibition were discussed, and an organising committee 

 was nominated to undertake the work of making the 

 necessary arrangements for the convention. 



The Agenda Club, which was formally inaugurated by 

 a banquet last week, proposes to ofganise effort, know- 

 ledge, and influence for the purpose of getting things done 

 which need doing for the benefit of the community. The 

 movement first acquired publicity through " An Open 

 Letter to English Gentlemen"' in the Hibbert Journal. 

 This letter, and the club itself, appeal frankly to the 

 idealism and the goodwill of the best men ; but an equally 

 essential characteristic of the club is to organise the 

 altruism of its members with at least as much efficiency 

 as that of the most successful modern business. The club 

 expressly enunciates its need of guidance by scientific men 

 in determining the agenda to be undertaken and in many 

 details of its work. It is a coordinating society, and not 

 one that overlaps the work of other bodies devoted to 

 special purposes. Among other methods to be employed 

 is that of the most extensive publicity. It should be able 

 to win recognition of the importance of scientific educa- 

 tion, to spread scientific ideas, and to extend the applica- 

 tion of scientific method and results to the affairs of every- 



NO. 2146, VOL. 85] 



day life. It contemplates the encouragement of research, 

 especially perhaps in social science, and its scheme includes 

 groups of associates, among which are mentioned engineer- 

 ing, literature, medicine, and science. In thus applying 

 tested principles and modern methods to the desire to 

 help, which, if sometimes latent, is almost universal, the 

 club is effecting, at a singularly opportune and critical 

 moment, a new "grouping," which may prove a signifi- 

 cant step forward in social evolution. There is no entrance 

 fee and no fixed subscription. Money without other sup- 

 port is neither invited nor desired, but cooperation, with 

 or without subscriptions, is both sought and welcomed. 

 The address of the club is 4 Essex Court, Temple, E.C. 



The report of the council of the Scottish Meteorological 

 Society was presented to the general meeting of the society 

 held on December 6. From it we learn that the prize of 

 20I. offered for competition amongst students and graduates 

 of the Scottish universities for the best essay on a meteor- 

 ological subject has been awarded by the council to Mr. 

 David MacOwan, of Edinburgh University, for an essay 

 on " Observations in Atmospheric Electricity in and near 

 Edinburgh." The council reports with satisfaction that the 

 publication by the Royal Society of Edinburgh of the 

 observations made on Ben Nevis and at Fort William 

 from 1883-1904 has just been completed by the issue of 

 vol. xliv. of the Transactions of that society. This marks 

 the completion of a great enterprise ; and it is noted that 

 not only have the observations themselves been printed in 

 detail, but that the four volumes in which they appear 

 contain also numerous papers in which various theoretical 

 and practical aspects of the observations are discussed. It 

 is a matter of further satisfaction that almost simul- 

 taneously with the. completion of the publication of the 

 Ben Nevis observations the society has, through the 

 generosity of its friends, been entirely relieved from the 

 burden of debt which it had to assume when the observa- 

 tories were closed in 1904. The following officers were 

 elected at the meeting : — President, Prof. A. Crum Brown, 

 F.R.S. ; vice-presidents, J. Mackay Bernard and Ralph 

 Richardson ; council, J. Macdonald, Dr. C. G. Knott, Sir 

 David Paulin, G. Thomson, H. M. Cadell, Captain H. G. 

 Lyons, F.R.S., Sir A. Buchan-Hepburn, Bart., G. G. 

 Chisholm, and M. M'Callum Fairgrieve ; hon. secretaries, 

 R. T. Omond and E. M. Wedderburn ; hon. treasurer, 

 W. B. Wilson. 



Cancer once again formed the subject of the Bradshaw 

 lecture, delivered by Sir Arthur Pearce Gould at the Royal 

 College of Surgeons on December 7 before a large and 

 appreciative audience, which included Prince Alexander of 

 Teck. For three years in succession, 1903, 1904, and 1905, 

 cancer — although the conditions of the endowment mention 

 merely a " lecture on surgery " — was discussed in specu- 

 lative fashion and in its surgical aspects by one Bradshaw 

 lecturer after another. This was when the modern revival 

 in the investigation of this disease was in its beginnings, 

 and had contributed little that was new or could be 

 properly appraised. Perhaps from the mere fact that all 

 had been said, and said ably, that could be said, perhaps 

 from a feeling that it was unseemly to harp always upon 

 the same subject, cancer has been left alone for four 

 years. It was well to revert to it again, for by doing 

 so Sir Alfred Pearce Gould put himself in the position of 

 being able to assure his hearers that great advances in 

 knowledge have been made, and that the pessimistic views 

 held by those brought most in contact with the disease 

 are giving way before new hopes. The lecturer showed 

 that the four years' respite had sufficed for the results of 

 the comparati%'e and experimental investigation of cancer 



