482 



NATURE 



[February 9, 191 1 



a primitive type of elephant. In this connection, it may 

 be pointed out that Mr. Le Petit 's description of the 

 animal accords almost exactly with the restoration of 

 Palaeomastodon, of the Lower Tertiary of the Favum, 

 given by Dr. C. W. Andrews on p. 22 of the " Guide to 

 the Elephants in the British Museum, Natural Historv." 

 The members of that genus are there stated to range in 

 height from 4 to 6 feet. 



Mr. George Grey, whose death at the Nairobi Hospital 

 on F"ebruary 3, as the result of wounds received from a 

 lion, will be widely lamented in geographical and mining 

 circles, as well as by his many personal friends. His 

 exploratory work as a mining engineer is of scientific 

 as well as commercial value, the discovery and location 

 of the great mineral belts in North-western Rhodesia and 

 the Katanga district of the Belgian Congo being due to 

 him. Eleven jears ago Mr. Grey mapped out a hundred 

 copper mines from Kasanschi to the Kambone, as well as 

 the alluvial goldfields of Riiwe, rich tin areas, and other 

 valuable minerals, controlled by the Tanganvika Con- 

 cessions Company. His work added to geographical 

 knowledge and opened up a vast region to mining, com- 

 mercial, and pastoral enterprises. 



Prof. D. Oliver, F.R.S., who completed his eightieth 

 year on February 6, was an active contributor to botanical 

 literature during his tenure of the position of keeper of 

 the herbarium and library at Kew Gardens, which he 

 vacated more than twenty j'ears ago. His earliest paper 

 in this connection was an article on the Indian Species 

 of Utricularia, published in the Journal of the Linnean 

 Society, vol. iii., in 1859. Among his numerous sub- 

 sequent publications, the more important have been : — 

 The Atlantis Hypothesis in its Botanical Aspect (1862) ; 

 On the Distribution of Northern Plants (1862) ; The 

 Structure of the Stem in Dicotyledons, part i. (1862); 

 part ii. (1863) ; Notes on the Loranthaceae, with a Synopsis 

 of the Genera (1863) ; Lessons in Elementary Botany 

 (1864), reprinted at frequent intervals, with a new edition 

 in 1881 ; Flora of Tropical Africa, vol. i. (i868) ; vol. ii. 

 (1871); vol. iii. (1877); First Book of Indian Botany 

 (1869) ; The Botany of the Speke and Grant Expedition, 

 part i. (1872) ; part ii. (1873) ; part iii. (1875) ; Enumera- 

 tion of Plants Collected by V. Lovett Cameron, Lieut. 

 R.N., in the Region about Lake Tanganyika (1876); List 

 of Plants Collected by Mr. Joseph Thomson on the Moun- 

 tains of Eastern Equatorial Africa (1885) ; with many other 

 papers of great value on African and Arctic plant collect- 

 ing especially. The excellent quality of Prof. Oliver's 

 work is well known ; the high appreciation in which it is 

 deservedly held may be gathered from the fact that, in 

 1884, the Royal Society bestowed on him one of its Royal 

 medals, and in 1893 he was awarded the Linnean medal — 

 the highest honour it can bestow — by the Linnean Society. 



At a special general meeting of the Geological Society 

 of London on January 25, the following resolutions were 

 passed : — (i) That the space now occupied by the museum 

 be made available for the extension of the library. 

 (2) That it is desirable that the society's collections of 

 fossils, minerals, and rocks, with certain exceptions to be 

 subsequently specified, be offered to one or more of the 

 national museums, provided that guarantees be obtained 

 that the specimens will be properly registered and rendered 

 available for scientific purposes. (3) That it is not 

 desirable that the society should accept money for any 

 part of the collections, or in consideration of them. 

 (4) That the council be empowered to approach such 

 institution, or institutions, with the view of carrying the 

 NO. 2154, VOL. 85I 



above resolutions into effect, and that the council shall 

 call another special general meeting to express approval 

 or otherwise of the arrangement proposed. 



A COPY of the prize programme of the Soci^t6 Batave 

 de Philosophie exp^rimentale de Rotterdam for 1910 has 

 reached us. In it some forty-eight questions are pro- 

 pounded, and answers are invited which have necessitated 

 research work. The gold medal of the society, or its 

 monetary value, as the author of the selected thesis may 

 decide, will be awarded to the reply which is selected by 

 a general meeting of members of the society. Memoirs 

 should reach the principal secretary of the society not 

 later than February 1, 19 12, and should be in Dutch, 

 French, German, or English, and not in the author's 

 handwriting. The memoirs which are awarded prizes 

 will be printed and published by the society, and twelve 

 copies will be offered to each author. The questions for 

 solution range over most branches of science. A few 

 examples of the great diversity of subjects proposed are : — 

 an experimental research on the cause of phosphorescence, 

 particularly in lowly organised animal forms ; an experi- 

 mental study of the electrical properties of some metallic 

 alloys ; and an experimental determination, carried out 

 with the greatest care, of the atomic weight of at least 

 one element. 



Sir Boverton Redwood, chairman of the Chemical 

 Industries Committee, Board of Trade (Exhibitions 

 Branch), announces in a circular letter that in the British 

 section of this year's Turin Exhibition chemical and 

 physical apparatus will be shown in a practical and novel 

 manner. Generally speaking, no means are provided at 

 exhibitions for demonstrating the utility of the instruments 

 exhibited, and it has been decided to improve upon this 

 plan by showing apparatus as it would be used in a 

 laboratory. Arrangements are being made by which, it is 

 anticipated, there will be on view at Turin at least two 

 well-equipped chemical laboratories, with such work going 

 on as will illustrate various processes. There will be 

 large space available for the display of chemical produc> 

 and apparatus not in use in the laboratories. In the court 

 devoted to scientific instruments, arrangements are in 

 hand for the display of apparatus ready for work, electric 

 supply, where needed, being provided. The equipment of 

 a large dark-room is under consideration, and here it i- 

 proposed to show apparatus, such as oscillographs, 

 spectroscopes, optical lanterns, and photometers. The' 

 organisation of these exhibits has been placed by the' 

 Exhibitions Branch of the Board of Trade in the hands 

 of Dr. F. Mollwo Perkin, under the direction of a joint 

 subcommittee of the Chemical Industries Committee an 

 the mathematical and Scientific Instruments Subcommitte- 



Since the report of the British Science Guild on tli 

 synchronisation of clocks was issued, the following add; 

 tional information, showing how the post office ar 

 extending their operations, has been sent to the coii> 

 mittee by the post office representative : — The post offii 

 has had a system of synchronisation in perfectly successfii 

 operation at Leeds and Birmingham post offices for t!v 

 past eighteen months." In the former case, the system 

 has been utilised for the correction of a large four-faceef 

 turret clock, and, of course, in both cases the systen 

 controls clocks exposed, as at all post offices, for publn 

 purposes, over the posting boxes and in the public offices. 

 The system has been so successful that arrangements ar 

 being made for the clocks at the following post offices t. 

 be similarly dealt with : — Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol. 

 Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Liverpocl. 



