April 21, 192 1] 



NATURE 



243 



Kingdom as articles of diet, and such plumes as have 

 been imported by a passenger for personal use. A 

 special proviso allows the Board of Trade to grant a 

 licence permitting the importation of plumage "for 

 any natural history or other museum, or for the pur- 

 pose of scientific research, or for any other special 

 purpose." Opinions in the House of Commons varied 

 as to the probable efficiency of the Bill in its aim of 

 protecting decorative birds. It is obvious that such 

 a decree cannot approach in effectiveness measures 

 of strict protection which might be enforced in the 

 countries which the birds themselves inhabit, nor can 

 it compare with a possible international agreement 

 regulating the use of bird-plumages, but in at least 

 two ways it should make for a reduction of the massacre 

 of birds. In the first place, it should to a very great 

 extent banish the use of imported birds' plumes for 

 decoration in the United Kingdom, and to that extent 

 the actual demand would be reduced. It may also, 

 by dislocating the centre of dispersal in London, per- 

 manently disorganise the world-market, and so reduce 

 opportunity for the disposal of skins, and with this 

 the activities of the plume-hunters. In the second 

 place, the moral effect of the final adoption of the 

 Bill would probably be great, and other countries 

 would follow the United Kingdom in endeavouring 

 to protect, without as well as within their own boun- 

 daries, "birds attractive in appearance," and perhaps 

 it may be added (as the Nebraskan law adds) "cheer- 

 ful in song." 



The Corn Sales Bill came up for second reading 

 in the House of Commons on April 14. Its object 

 is to provide for greater uniformity in the weights 

 and measures used in the sale of corn and other 

 crops. At the present time in different districts the 

 quarter of wheat might be 480 lb., 496 lb., 500 lb., 

 504 lb., or 588 lb. in weight, and even greater varia- 

 tions exist in the case of rye and oats. The Bill provides 

 that all dealings in corn should be made by weight in 

 terms of the hundredweight of 112 imperial standard 

 pounds, the result of this being that the ordinary 

 sack of wheat would be reduced from 18 to 16 stone. 

 Opposition was raised on the grounds that the whole 

 of the futures market in this country is based on the 

 decimal system, and that inconvenience would be 

 caused if all dealings in centals had to be transformed 

 into the 112-lb. measure. It was suggested that the 

 unit of 100 lb. should be substituted for that of 112 lb. 

 proposed in the Bill, but this amendment could not 

 be made until a later stage. The second reading was 

 agreed to without a division. 



Dr. W. Eagle Clarke retired on' March 14, under 

 the Civil Service age-limit, from the keepership of 

 the Natural History Department of the Royal Scottish 

 Museum. During his service of thirty-three years he 

 has been mainly responsible for the growth of this 

 museum, and the period of his keepership, to which he 

 was promoted on the retirement of Dr. R. H. Traquair 

 in 1906, has been specially fruitful in the development 

 of the natural history collections as regards both 

 cabinet and exhibited material. Under his supervision 

 the exhibited systematic collections have been entirely 

 i-eiarranged and revised with the view of increasing 

 NO. 2686, VOL. 107] 



their aesthetic and educational as well as their, 

 scientific value, and many biological groups o5 

 birds and mammals have been introduced witlt 

 great effect. Dr. Eagle Clarke has now been ap- 

 pointed honorary supervisor of the bird collections inr. 

 the museum. He intends to devote his leisure to the- 

 editing of new editions of Saunders's " Manual of 

 British Birds" and Yarrell's "History of British-. 

 Birds." The vacancy caused by the retirement of 

 Dr. Eagle Clarke has been filled by the promotion of 

 Dr. James Ritchie, who entered the service of the 

 museum, after competitive examination, in 1907. 



The inaugural meeting of the Indian Botanicaf 

 Society, established "for uniting the botanists and^ 

 promoting the botanical interests of India," was held 

 under the historic banyan-tree in the Calcutta Botanic 

 Garden at the time of the eighth Indian Science Con- 

 gress in January last. A booklet has been issuetf 

 describing the origin of the society, its aims and its 

 provisional constitution, and giving a list of the original 

 members, eighty-one in all. The president for the year 

 is Dr. Winfield Dudgeon, of the Ewing Christian 

 College, Allahabad ; the vice-president, Dr. W. Burns, 

 of the College of Agriculture, Poona ; and the secretary 

 and treasurer, Mr. Shiv Ram Kashyap, Government 

 College, Lahore. The society does not contemplate 

 any official publication, but members are encouraged' 

 to support the Journal of Indian Botany. Meetings 

 will be held annually in conjunction with the Indian- 

 Science Congress, and the programme for the meetings 

 will be prepared by the executive council in co-opera- 

 tion with the officers of the botany section of the 

 congress. The membership is widely representative 

 of botany and its applications to agriculture and 

 forestry throughout the Empire. 



We learn from the Pioneer Mail of March 4 that 

 on February 23 the Viceroy inaugurated the Institu-^ 

 tion of Engineers (India) in Calcutta. The institution 

 was formed last September as a result of the desire- 

 of engineers in India to form a corporate body to 

 safeguard their interests and to provide a means of" 

 exchange of views on engineering questioi^s ; the 

 institution was open to professional engineers of" 

 all nations. In declaring the institution duly in- 

 augurated, the Viceroy emphasised the importance- 

 of such a body to a country like India with a 

 growing industrial side, and congratulated the 

 members on the form of their constitution, by which-: 

 provision was made for the admission of junior, 

 members to the council, so that there should be little;, 

 risk of the council getting out of touch with the- 

 aspirations of the younger generation of engineer?. 

 The relation of the new institution to the Gov^^rn-- 

 ment of India was also enlarged upon, and its inir^ 

 portance as an unofficial advisory body, both as 

 regards industrial questions and with reference to- 

 technical education, was discussed. 



During the interval that has elapsed since Jthe pub- 

 lication of the Report of the Empire Cotton Growing- 

 Committee considerable progress has been made^ 

 towards the establishment of a permanent organisa- 

 tion competent to carry into effect the recomnjendar-,: 

 tions contained in the report. The permanent 



