T90 



NATURE 



[October 6, 192 1 



of Coronation Gulf before returning to Lyon Inlet. 

 The next news of the expedition may be expected 

 from St. John's, Newfoundland, when the Sea King 

 returns during the autumn. 



The Royal Microscopical Society has arranged to 

 include in the programme of ordinary meetings during 

 the coming session a series of papers dealing with 

 the practical uses of the microscope in industrial re- 

 search., A provisional list has been issued of the 

 communications to be read, and from this it appears 

 that a wide range of subjects will be covered by 

 a number of competent authorities. Metallurgy, 

 physical optics, glass, leather, coal, medical research, 

 and brewing, all in relation to the microscope, are 

 among the topics which will be discussed. The first 

 two papers will be read on October 19, when Dr. 

 L. T. Hogben will read a communication entitled : 

 " Preliminary Account of the Spermatogenesis of 

 Sphenodon," and Mr. D. M. Stump will communicate 

 a paper entitled "An Application of Polarised Light 

 to Resolution with the Compound Microscope." An- 

 nouncements of further papers will be made from 

 time to time in the Diary of Societies published in 

 our columns. 



At a recent meeting of the American Astronomical 

 Society, held at Middletown, Connecticut, Prof. 

 C. V. L. Charlier was elected an honorary member. 

 The only other living astronomers who have been thus 

 honoured are Prof. J. C. Kapteyn and Sir Frank 

 Dyson. 



The fourth annual Streatfeild memorial lecture is 

 to be delivered at the Finsbury Technical College, 

 Leonard Street, E.C.2, by Mr. W. P. Dreaper, on 

 Thursday, October 20, at 4 o'clock. The subject will 

 be "Chemical Industry a Branch of Science." 

 Admission will be free. 



The first general meeting of the Society for Con- 

 structive Birth Control and Racial Progress will be 

 held on Thursday, October n, at 8 p.m., at the 

 Lecture Room, Hotel Cecil, Strand, W.C, when Dr. 

 Marie Stopes will deliver her presidential address, 

 entitled, "Anecdotes of the Past, Present, and Future 

 of Birth Control." 



The Committee of Privy Council for Medical Re- 

 search has appointed Sir F. W. Andrewes and Sir 

 Cuthbert Wallace to fill the vacancies on the Medical 

 Research Council caused by the retirement of Mr. 

 C. J. Bond and Prof. W. Bullock, in accordance with 

 the provisions for rotation made in the Royal Charter 

 under which the council is incorporated. 



It is announced that Mr. D. Frain, agriculturist, 

 Nyasaland, has been appointed to be senior district 

 agricultural officer in Tanganyika Territory ; Mr. 

 H. A. Dade to be assistant mycologist in the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Gold Coast ; and Mr. J. A. 

 Robotham to be assistant agricultural superintendent, 

 St. Kitts-Nevis. 



The New York correspondent of the Times reports 

 that at Dayton, Ohio, Lieut. J. Macready made a 



NO. 2710, VOL. 108] 



new height record when flying a Lapero biplane on 

 September 28. Ice formed in his oxygen tank at 

 39,000 ft., but his engine carried him on until the 

 altimeter registered 40,800 ft. Lieut. Macready came 

 down and made a successful landing after being 

 ih. 47m. in the air. 



Charles Darwin's birthplace, known as The 

 Mount, Shrewsbury, situated in that part of the town 

 known as Frankwell, has been purchased by H.M. 

 Oflfice of Works. The house was built about 1800, 

 and at the time when Sir Francis Darwin wrote, in 

 1887, "The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin," it 

 had undergone but little alteration. It was "a large, 

 plain, square, red-brick house, of which the most 

 attractive feature" was "the pretty greenhouse, 

 opening out of the morning-room." 



It is announced in the Revue Scientifique of 

 September 24 that, the first award of the Marcel 

 Benoist prize of 20,000 francs has been made to M. 

 Maurice Arthus, director of the Institute of Physiology 

 at Geneva. The prize was founded by M. Benoist, of 

 Paris, who bequeathed his whole fortune to the 

 Federal Council of Switzerland in recognition of the 

 care and attention which he received in that country. 

 An award will be made annually to the man of science 

 who, having been domiciled in Switzerland for five 

 years, is judged to have made the most noteworthy 

 contribution to science, particularly in relation to 

 human life, during the preceding year. 



At the recent meeting of the Hull Museums Com- 

 mittee the curator reported that when in London re- 

 cently he heard that the specimens in the museum 

 at the Royal Albert Institute, Windsor, were in rooms 

 which were required for other purposes, and that 

 there was an opportunity of obtaining the collections. 

 He consequently visited Windsor, with the result that 

 the whole of the specimens are now in Hull, and 

 among them are many valuable additions to the 

 antiquities and geological and natural history series 

 already there. Particular mention may be made of 

 some pre-historic Bronze Age and Stone Age weapons, 

 a large collection of Roman lamps and pottery, Greek 

 vases, and a miscellaneous series of medieval antiqui- 

 ties. Otherwise the objects are such as were to be 

 found in museums of this character in the early part 

 of the last century. Fortunately a handbook to the 

 collections, written by Mr. J. Lundy, was published 

 many years ago. 



A COMPANY has been incorporated, under the name 

 of British Trade Ship, Ltd., with Earl Grey as chair- 

 man, for the purpose of carrying out the project of 

 organising a floating exhibition of British goods which 

 shall visit the chief ports of the world. A new vessel 

 of 20,000 tons register is to be constructed in the 

 yards of Messrs. Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richard- 

 son, Ltd., and it is intended that she shall leave the 

 Thames in August, 1923, on a tour of more than 

 42,000 miles, returning to London in February, 1925. 

 South America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, 

 Fiji, and Japan will be visited on the outward voyage, 

 and the ship will return via China, India, and the 



