December 22, 192 1] 



NATURE 



543 



be difficult to arrive at a compromise. The Com- 

 missioners anticipate that no political difficulties will 

 arise to prevent this pooling of engineering resources. 

 The prospects of real progress being at last made are 

 therefore favourable. 



The first of the Christmas course of juvenile lec- 

 tures at the Royal Institution on Electric Waves and 

 Wireless Telephony by Prof. J. A. Fleming will be 

 delivered next Thursday, December 29, at 3 o'clock, 

 on "Surface Waves on Liquids." The succeeding 

 lectures will deal with "Waves in Air," "The Tele- 

 phone," "Electric Oscillations," "Electric Waves," 

 and "Wireless Telephony." 



The extraordinary distances ''t which radio mes- 

 sages can be received is well illustrated by the fact 

 that, except when atmospheric conditions are un- 

 usually bad, the messages sent from the Post Office 

 station at Leafield are received at Perth, Western 

 Australia. For instance, a news message of 448 words 

 sent from Leafield on December 4 was heard at Perth, 

 and was at once communicated to the Australian 

 i papers for publication. The Leafield station is the 

 first station of the Imperial radio chain which is as 

 yet only in course of erection. 



As is well known, university professors and their 

 families in Vienna are in dire distress. Amongst 

 these is Prof. Tschermak, who may justly claim to be 

 one of the most distinguished of living mineralogists. 

 He is eighty-five years of age, and has a wife and 

 daughter dependent on him. His pension, though 

 large in kronen, is now equivalent to a sum of 

 between 105. and iZ. a month. His case appeals 

 especially to members of the Geological and 

 Mineralogical Societies, of which he has long been 

 an honorary member. An endeavour is being made 

 to secure for him during the coming year the means 

 of existence. Prof. W. J. Lewis, University of Cam- 

 bridge, and Prof. H. L. Bowman, University of 

 Oxford, will gladly forward any sums sent in aid. 



The French Chamber has voted a sum of 50,000 

 francs for the purchase of the small house and garden 

 at Serignan, where for many years Jean Henri Fabre 

 prosecuted his study of the habits of insects. Fabre 

 died in the autumn of 1915 at the age of ninety-two. 

 He had been a teacher at Ajaccio and Avignon before 

 he retired, first to a little desert corner near Orange, 

 on the Lower Rh6ne, and then to Serignan, in the 

 Department of Vaucluse. As an observer of insects 

 he has been placed second only to Reaumur. He was 

 made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour and a 

 corresponding member of the Institute, and his house 

 has been a place of pilgrimage for many admirers of 

 his writings. His heirs have consented to the house 

 becoming national property, and his eldest daughter 

 will fulfil the duty of guardian. 



We are glad to learn that Essex farmers have 

 shown their appreciation of the valuable work of Prof. 

 R. H. Bififen, professor of agricultural botany in Cam- 

 bridge University, and of Mr. E. S. Beaven, of War- 

 minster, in introducing Little Joss and Yeoman wheats 

 and Plumage Archer barley respectively, by presenting 

 NO. 2721, VOL. 108] 



two silver bowls to them. It may be remembered that 

 the Darwin medal of the Royal Society was awarded 

 last year to Prof. Biffen for his work on the inherit- 

 ance of characters in wheat and barley. His new 

 wheats— Little Joss, which owes its value to its im- 

 munity from yellow rust, and Yeoman, which com- 

 bines high yield with first-class baking quality — are 

 among the most popular wheats in England, and 

 together account for practically one-half of the 

 country's wheat crop. 



In reply to a question in the House of Commons, 

 the Home Secretary stated on December 15 that as 

 the result of a conference held with representatives of 

 the French and Belgian Governments, an agreement 

 was reached that the summer-time period should 

 commence on the night of the last Saturday in 

 March, or the last Saturday but one in March when 

 the last Saturday is the day preceding Easter Dav, 

 and end on the night of the first Saturday in October. 

 In view of the serious inconvenience at present caused 

 by the difference between the three countries in the 

 dates of commencing and ending summer-time the 

 Government has approved the proposal, which corre- 

 sponds very nearly to the dates which have been fixed 

 in this country'. It is intended early next session to 

 introduce a Bill to give effect to this proposal. 



The suggestion has been made that part of the 

 German reparation indemnity should be paid by the 

 construction in this country of electric generating 

 stations and the carrying out of railway electrification 

 by German contractors. The council of the Institu- 

 tion of Electrical Engineers in a letter to the Prime 

 Minister states its objections to the proposal. It 

 points out that if German plant is to stand as a con- 

 tribution towards reparations its value must be paid 

 for by the undertakings using it. There is no reason, 

 therefore, to suppose that users would get a cheaper 

 service than with new equipment of British manufac- 

 ture. Moreover, it would certainly largely Increase 

 unemployment in several of the electrical manufac- 

 turing industries. Any possible immediate advantage 

 could not ofTset the possible ruin of the manufacturers 

 of steam turbine plant and heavy electrical machinery, 

 both of which had their sole origin In British science 

 and inventiveness. 



The third International Congress of the History of 

 Medicine will be held in London under the presi- 

 d*ency of Sir Norman Moore on July 17-22 next. 

 Meetings will be held at the Royal Society of Medi- 

 cine, the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal 

 College of Surgeons, and the Welcome Historical 

 Museum, where there will be an exhibition of objects 

 connected with the history of medicine, surgery, and 

 the allied sciences, including ancient manuscripts, 

 early printed books, etc. The subjects suggested for 

 discussion are as follows : — (i) The principal seats of 

 epidemic and endemic disease in the Middle Ages, in- 

 cluding plague, gangrenous ergotism, leprosy, and 

 malaria, and (2) the history of anatomy. Further in- 

 formation may be obtained from the general secre- 

 tary. Dr. J. D. Rolleston, 21 Alexandra Mansions^ 

 King's Road, London, S.W.3. 



