December 22, 1910] 



NATURE 



245 



The subject of the Neolithic age culture in Malta has 

 been dealt with by Dr. Ashby and by Mr. Peek in the 

 last issue of Papers of the British School at Rome. It 

 has often been remarked that up to the present no 

 cemetery of this race has been discovered. In a letter 

 addressed to the Time? of December 13 Mr. T. Zammit, 

 curator of the Valetta Museum, announces that he has 

 found on the road between Attard and Nobile an un- 

 doubted Neolithic interment. No flint implements were 

 discovered with the remains, but the characteristic pottery 

 and the iron ochre pigment in which the bones were 

 soaked leave no doubt regarding the date of the inter- 

 ment. The discovery is most important, because on this 

 evidence Malta falls into line with Sicily and Italy so far 

 "= the Neolithic culture is concerned. 



At a meeting of the executive committee of the British 

 Science Guild, held on December 14, it w'as reported that 

 a deputation on behalf of the Guild waited on December 2 

 upon the private secretary to the Prime Minister to re- 

 present the undesirability that Government should part 

 with the site at Fosterdown which had been selected by 

 the Solar Physics Committee three years ago as most 

 desirable for the future site of the Solar Physics Observa- 

 tory about to be vacated at South Kensington. This site, 

 for some unexplained reason, had been put up by Govern- 

 ment to be sold on December 13. The memorial protest- 

 ing against this sale was signed by the surviving members 

 of the Duke of Devonshire's Commission, past-presidents, 

 and a large numbers of Fellows of the Royal Society, and 

 of the British Science Guild. The Prime Minister was 

 pleased to comply with great alacrity with the prayer of 

 the memorial. 



The Franklin Institute recently awarded the Elliot 

 Cresson gold medal, the highest in the gift of the institute, 

 to several men of science. The secretary of the institute 

 has favoured us with a detailed statement of the grounds 

 of the award in each case " for distinguished leading and 

 directive work," from which we extract the following 

 particulars. The award was made to Dr. Edward Weston, 

 Newark, N.J., for " electrical discoven.- and in the advance- 

 ment of electrical application"; to Prof. Ernest Ruther- 

 ford, F.R.S., for " the advancement of our knowledge 

 of electrical theory"; to Sir Joseph J. Thomson, F.R.S., 

 for " th? advancement of our knowledge of the physical 

 sciences"; to Sir Robert A. Hadfield, for "the advance- 

 ment of our knowledge of metallurgical science " ; to Dr. 

 Harvey VV. Wiley, chief chemist to the Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D.C., for " work in the fields 

 of agricultural and physiological chemistry " ; to Mr. John 

 Fritz, Bethlehem, Pa., for " work in the development of 

 the iron and steel industries " ; and to Dr. John A. 

 Brashear, of Pittsburg, Pa., for " work in the production 

 and perfection of instruments for astronomical research." 



The late Sir George S. Mackenzie, formerly Adminis- 

 trator of the Imperial British East African Company's 

 Territories, left estate of the gross value of 104,004/. 

 19s. 6d., of which the net personalty has been sworn at 

 99>647Z. 175. gd. The residue of his property is bequeathed 

 to his children in equal shares, and in the event of his 

 leaving' no children the following bequests are made : — 

 (i) To the Ross and Cromarty County Committee 2000/. 

 on trust to found two bursaries each of the value of 30/. 

 per annum, to be known as the " Sir William Mackenzie 

 and the Jessie Mackenzie Inchvannie Bursaries," to be 

 tenable at the Scottish universities for students from Ross 

 and Cromarty, and preferably from the National Schools, 

 for the study of medicine, chemistry, engineering, or agri- 

 culture, or other branch of applied science. (2) To the 



NO. 2147, VOL. 85] 



Royal Geographical Society 1000/. to found a prize to take 

 such form as the council of the society may see fit, and 

 to be in commemoration of the great work done by the 

 British East Africa Company in saving British East Africa 

 for the British Empire. (3) To the president and council 

 of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College 

 of Surgeons, England, 30,000/. (subject to life interest of 

 his two brothers), for the endowment of scientific research 

 by students of ability and of registrable medical qualifi- 

 cation, who may thus be able to devote their whole 

 energies to such work, and be independent of ordinary 

 practice. This bequest is made in the hope that the com- 

 bined results of the systematic work of so many trained 

 workers may prepare the way for a genius to come who 

 will make great discoveries. 



The International Exhibition of Hygiene is to be held 

 at Dresden in 1911. The object of this exhibition is in 

 no sense commercial ; it is being promoted for purely 

 educational purposes, and it is intended to give hygienists 

 of all nationalities an opportunity of learning what is 

 being done in other countries in the direction of guarding 

 the individual from the many dangers to health which 

 exist, more particularly in our large industrial communi- 

 ties. It will bring home to the public what has been 

 achieved by scientific research in the cause of hjgiene, and 

 it cannot fail to offer an impressive object-lesson to a 

 large number of visitors from different countries of the 

 importance, not only from the personal, but from the 

 social and national point of view, of a due regard to the 

 physical welfare of man. There is no doubt that the 

 exhibition will be international in its widest sense, the 

 Governments of far distant countries having already voted 

 considerable sums of money for the proper display of what 

 they have done and what they are doing in the domain of 

 hygiene. To ensure this, the German Government has 

 issued invitations to all the principal nations of the world 

 to take an active part in this philanthropic scheme, and 

 the invitation has been accepted by the very large majorit}' 

 of those to which it was extended. The only great country 

 which stands aloof is Great Britain, a country which is 

 universally regarded as occupying a foremost place among 

 the nations in its appreciation and practical application of 

 the requirements of sanitation. Although our Govern- 

 ment, with its characteristic lack of appreciation of scien- 

 tific work, does not seem disposed to take an official part 

 in this international exhibition, it is to be hoped that 

 mone\" will be obtained from other sources in order to 

 allow Great Britain to be represented adequately. 



A CORRESPOXDEXT, Mr. George Boaq, writing from 

 Aguilas, Murcia, Spain, directs attention to a method 

 devised by Drs. Nasmith and Graham, of the Provincial 

 Board of Health, Ottawa, for destroying typhoid and 

 dysentery bacilli in water, and rendering it safe for drink- 

 ing purposes. A level teaspoonful of chloride of lime is 

 rubbed up in a cupful of water, the water being added 

 little by little, so as to obtain a uniform emulsion. This 

 is then diluted with three more cupfuls of water, and one 

 teaspoonful of the dilution is added to two gallons of the 

 water to be purified, mixing thoroughly, and the mixture 

 is allowed to stand for at least ten minutes. The direc- 

 tions are somewhat rough and ready, but if the water 

 tastes distinctly of chlorine sufficient chloride of lime has 

 probably been added. A water containing much organic 

 matter will require more chloride of lime than one con- 

 taining little organic matter. For a water containing 

 little organic matter one part of chloride of lime per 

 million parts of water suffices, but for an impure water 

 four or five parts may be required. If an excess of 



