September 15, 1921] 



NATURE 



95 



Notes. 



The Edinburgh meeting of the British Association 

 has been successful beyond even the most sanguine 

 anticipations. The membership has reached nearly 

 2800, and all the sections have been largely attended, 

 particularly during the joint discussions. These have, 

 indeed, been so attractive that apparently the future 

 practical problem will be to find sufficient halls large 

 enough to' accommodate the members who wish to be 

 present at them. It is much more easy to provide 

 meeting-places for a number of small sections than 

 several large halls each of which will hold 400 people 

 Of so for a joint discussion. The success of the present 

 meeting is largely due to the untiring devotion of 

 Prof. J. H. Ash worth, whose intimate knowledge of 

 the work of the Association made him an ideal local 

 secretary. Sir Edward Thorpe's temporary indisposi- 

 tion, which pre%'ented him from reading his address 

 in {jerson, was much regretted, but we are glad to 

 know that Sir Edward is expected to be about again 

 in a day or two. Next year's meeting at Hull will 

 begin on September 6, and the president will be Prof. 

 C. S. Sherrington, president of the Royal Society. 

 The annual meeting in 1923 will be In Liverpool, and 

 " that in 1924 will probably be he'd at Toronto. The 

 new members of the council of the Association are 

 Dr. F. W. Aston, Prof. H. J. Fleure, Sir Joseph 

 Petavel, Prof. A. W. Porter, and Prof. A. C. Seward. 



-A GENERAL discussion on " Catalysis, with Special 

 Reference to Newer Theories of Chemical .Action," 

 will be held under the auspices of the Faraday Societv 

 on Wednesday, September 28, at the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers, Victoria Embankment, W.C.2. 

 The discussion will be divided into two parts. Part i, 

 beginning at 4.30 p.m., will deal with "The Radia- 

 tion Theory of Chemical Action,'' and it will be 

 opened by Prof. J. Perrin. Part 2 will be concerned 

 with "Heterogeneous Reactions." It will be opened 

 by Prof. I. Langmuir. Among those expected to take 

 part in the proceedings are Prof. Arrhenius, Prof. V. 

 Henri, Prof. E. C. C. Baly, Prof. F. G. Donnan, 

 Prof. W. C. McC. Lewis, Prof. A. Lindemann, Prof. 

 A. W. Porter, and Dr. E. K. Rideal. Fellows of the 

 Chemical Society are invited to attend the meeting. 

 Others interested in the subject may obtain tickets of 

 admission from the secretary of the Faraday Societv, 

 ID Essex Street, London, W.C.2. 



The annual meeting of the British Mycological 

 Society will be held at Worcester on September 19-24. 

 On September 21 Mr. Carleton Rea will deliver his 

 presidential address entitled "A Brief Review." On 

 September 22 a discussion will be opened by Dr. 

 E. J. Butler on "The Amateur in Relation to British 

 Mycology," and a paper read by Prof. A. H. R. 

 Buller on "The Chemo-taxis of Slugs in Relation 

 to Fungi." On September 23 a paper will be read 

 by Mr. J. Ramsbottom on "The Origin of Sapro- 

 phytism in Flowering Plants." 



The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries an- 

 nounces that the Official Seed Testing Station for 

 England and Wales has been transferred from 

 NO. 2707, VOL. 108] 



Streatham to the National Institute of Agricultural 

 Botany, Cambridge, and that all communications 

 should in future be addressed to the Chief Officer, 

 Official Seed Testing Station, Huntingdon Road, 

 Cambridge. 



In the August issue of the Journal of Hellenic 

 Studies Mr. F. N. Pryce describes a remarkable 

 Minoan bronze statuette in the British Museum. The 

 earliest date to which it has been traced is 1885, 

 when it was included in the category of ' unclassified 

 or suspect bronzes," but it may possibly have entered 

 the museum a hundred or a hundred and fifty years 

 ago. Only quite recently its significance and value 

 have been realised by comparison with other speci- 

 mens of Minoan art. The height of the statuette, 

 including the base on which it stands, is 8f in. The 

 dress, by comparison with an Egyptian representa- 

 tion of a Minoan envoy on the tomb of Rckhmara at 

 Thebes, belongs clearly to that period. The remark- 

 able feature in the statuette is that instead of the 

 middle hair lock it seems to bear the figure of a 

 snake, which associates it with the Minoan snake 

 cult. The worshipper — for the figure does not repre- 

 sent a deity — is apparently standing in an attitude of 

 stiff reverence before the shrine of the goddess, with 

 whom he enters into communion ' by wearing her 

 emblem. 



In the August issue of Discovery Miss W. S. Black- 

 man .gives an account of the mourning rites of 

 Musulmans in the province of Asyut, Egypt. Everv 

 Friday women, sometimes accompanied bv their 

 male relatives, visit this desert graveyard, wail at the 

 graves, and distribute large basketfuls of bread. 

 Curiously enough, Lane in his admirable account of 

 death rites in his "Modern Egyptians" does not 

 describe this rite, well known in other places, as in 

 India, under the name of Ziyarat, or "visitation." 

 It is obviously a survival of the animistic rite of feed- 

 ing the dead. The rite, which has been handed 

 down from the ancient Egyptians, is known as Prt, 

 "coming forth " or "going up," and the reproduction 

 which Miss Blackman publishes of an ancient Egyp- 

 tian painting representing a woman wailing by the 

 tomb of a dead relative closely resembles the photo- 

 graphs which she gives of the custom as it is carried 

 out in modern Egypt. 



During excavations made at Middleton-on-the- 

 Wolds recently in connection with a whiting works 

 there, a square grave cut into the chalk* which 

 measured 3 ft. each way, was found, and adjoining 

 it a long V-shaped trench. The owner, Mr. E. B. 

 Lotherington, communicated with Mr. T. Sheppard, 

 of the Hull Museum, and the trench was carefully 

 excavated. The grave contained a human skeleton 

 in a crouched position, on one arm of which was an 

 iron bracelet carrying two large bone beads. In the 

 same grave was a massive bone ring made from the 

 thick part of an antler of a red deer. This measures 

 2\ in. across and is remarkably well made, resembling 

 the familiar ivory rings from Africa. Pottery found 



