52 



NATURE 



[March io, 192 i 



very great, having regard to the fact that high-grade 

 refractory materials are indispensable to so many of 

 our key industries. 



The following are the lecture arrangements at the 

 Royal Institution after Easter -.—Prof. R. A. Sampson 

 on (i) The Nebular Hypothesis and (2) Measurement 

 of Starlight; Prof. Keith, four lectures on Darwin's 

 Theory of Man's Origin; Mr. Clodd on Occultism; 

 Sir James Frazer on (i) Roman Life (Time of Pliny 

 the Younger) and (2) London Life (Time of Addison) ; 

 Dr. C. T. R. Wilson on Thunderstorms (the Tyndall 

 lectures); Mr. H. S. Foxwell on Nationalisation and 

 Bureaucracy; Dr. C. S. Myers on Psychological 

 Studies : (i) Localisation of Sound and (2) Apprecia- 

 tion of Music; Mr. D. S. MacCoU on War Graves 

 and Monuments; Sir Alexander Mackenzie on 

 Beethoven; Dr. H. H. Dale on Poisons and Anti- 

 dotes; Mr. M. Y. Oldham on The Great Epoch of 

 Exploration: (i) Portugal and (2) Spain; Prof. 

 E. C. C. Baly on Chemical Reaction ; Mr. F. Legge 

 on Gnosticism and the Science of Religions ; and Dr. 

 R. S. Rait on (ij Scotland and France and (2) Scott 

 and Shakespeare. The Friday evening meetings will 

 be resumed on April .8, when Dr. R. H. A. Plimmer 

 will deliver a discourse on Quality of Protein in 

 Nutrition. Succeeding discourses will probably be 

 given by Mr. Ernest Law, Sir J. J. Thomson, Sir 

 James Walker, Sir Frank Dyson, Sir Robert Robert- 

 son, Dr. Bateson, Prof. Starling, Mr. A. Mallock, 

 Dr. Leonard Huxley, and Dr. A. G. Webster. 



Among the centenaries which fall due this year is 

 that of Sir Richard F. Burton, the Oriental scholar 

 and explorer, who was born on March 19, 182 1. To 

 the enterprise and daring which characterised 

 Burton's travels in many unexplored parts of the 

 world w-ere added unusual powers of observation and 

 a passion for scholarly research which together made 

 him one of the most successful explorers of the 

 nineteenth century. Practically all his numerous 

 volumes remain standard works on the lands with 

 which they deal. Among Burton's most striking 

 exploits were his pilgrimage in disguise to Mecca and 

 Medina in 1853-54 and his successful journey in 1855 

 to Harar, the forbidden city of Abyssinia, which 

 several explorers had tried in vain to reach. In 1858 

 the expedition which Burton led to Central Africa in 

 company with Speke discovered Lakes Tanganyika 

 and Victoria, and so laid the foundations of modern 

 knowledge of the sources of the Nile. Later work 

 included important explorations in the Cameroons, the 

 Gold Coast, Dahomey, and the Congo, and travels in 

 the Rockies, Brazil, and Iceland. In addition to his 

 geographical and anthropological volumes, Burton 

 published a translation, with copious notes, of "The 

 Arabian Nights." 



In the House of Lords on March 2 Lord 

 Sudeley moved a resolution requesting the Govern- 

 ment to take immediate steps to extend the employ- 

 ment of guide-lecturers and the sale of pictorial illus- 

 trations to all museums and similar institutions which 

 are under Government control or influence. By this 

 combination Lord Sudeley escapes the charge of 

 asking only for fresh expenditure. The lecturers, it 

 NO. 2680, VOL. 107] 



is true, cost money, but the postcards and similar 

 reproductions make money. That has been the ex- 

 perience of the British Museum at Bloomsbury, and 

 we have long wondered why the sale of postcards 

 and photographs has not been taken up by the 

 Natural History Departments at South Kensington. In 

 the debate initiated by Lord Sudeley a year ago the 

 Primate suggested that the system might be extended 

 CO provincial museums. Some, like Colchester, already 

 issue postcards ; others would doubtless be glad to 

 utilise the experience of the Clarendon Press and the 

 British Museum authorities. The profits, as Lord 

 Sudeley suggested, might help to pay for the guide- 

 lecturers. A pooling of funds under some central 

 organisation might provide lecturers each of whom 

 could deal with a limited geographical group of the 

 smaller museums. 



The annual general meeting of the Chemical Society 

 will be held at Burlington^ House on Thursday, 

 March 17, at 4 p.m., when the result of the ballot 

 for the election of council will be announced and the 

 retiring president. Sir James J. Dobbie, will deliver 

 his presidential address. The presentation of the 

 Longstaff medal to Prof. J. F. Thorpe will also be 

 made. At the anniversary dinner of the society, to 

 be held at the Hotel Cecil, Strand, on the same day at 

 7 for 7.30 p.m., the past-presidents who have com- 

 pleted their jubilee as fellows of the society have been 

 invited as guests of honour. Sir James Dewar, who was 

 elected on December i, 1870, and served as president 

 from 1897-99 ; Sir Edward Thorpe, elected on 

 February 16, 187 1, and served as president from 

 1899-1901 ; and Sir W. A. Tilden, elected on June i, 

 1865, and served as president from 1903-5, have 

 accepted invitations to be present. At the first 

 banquet given on November 11, 1898, during the 

 presidency of Sir James Dewar, to those past-presi- 

 dents who had been fellows for fifty years, the society 

 entertained Sir Joseph Gilbert, Sir Edward Frank- 

 land, Prof. William Odling, Sir Frederick Abel, Prof, 

 A. W. Williamson, and Dr. John Hall Gladstone; 

 whilst a later banquet was held on November 11, 

 19 10, under the presidency of Prof. H. B. Dixon, in 

 honour of Sir Henry Roscoe, Sir William Crookes, 

 Dr. Hugo Miiller, Dr. A. G. Vernon Harcourt, and 

 Prof. William Odling, who had completed their 

 jubilee as fellows. 



The route to Mount Everest is discussed in the 

 Geographical Journal for February by Lt.-Col. C. H. 

 Bury, who has been appointed chief of the projected 

 expedition. Col. Bury favours the route from Dar- 

 jeeling over the Jelep La Pass to Phari, and then via 

 the Chumbi Valley, Kampa Dzong, and Tingri Dzong 

 to the northern side of Mount Everest. The direct 

 and shorter road to Kampa Dzong via Gangtok and 

 the Tista Valley is more difficult for pack-animals, 

 for it traverses in the Tista Valley a region of heavy 

 rainfall where leeches abound. The route via Jelep La 

 is now the main trade route into Tibet, and is traversed 

 constantly by numbers of mules and pack-ponies. 

 From Kampa Dzong to Tingri Dzong Col. Bury fore- 

 sees no difficulties, and estimates that the journey 

 should take about seven days in broad valleys about 

 15,000 ft. above sea-level. No advantage seems likely 



