142 



NATURE 



[May 12, 1921 



(i) The Act to come into operation nine, instead of 

 six, months after the passing thereof. (2) Within 

 four months after the passing of the Act the Board 

 of Trade shall appoint a joint Advisory Committee 

 consisting of an independent chairman, two expert 

 ornithologists, three representatives of the feather 

 trade, and four other independent members. The 

 function of this Committee will be to advise the 

 Board of Trade as to additions to and removals from 

 the existing schedule (ostrich and eider-duck) of birds 

 the plumage of which may be imported. By the 

 adoption of these clauses the Bill will in all prob- 

 ability be placed on the Statute Book during the 

 present session of Parliament. 



An announcement in the Times of May 9 states 

 that Sir Hercules Read, Keeper of the Department of 

 British and Medieval Antiquities and Ethnography of 

 the British Museum, will retire in July next on com- 

 pletion of forty years' service. Sir Hercules Read 

 joined the museum staff in 1880 under Sir Wollaston 

 Franks, with whom he had woiked for six years 

 previously, and whom he succeeded in 1896. Under 

 him the department has developed greatly, particularly 

 in connection with prehistoric and medieval antiqui- 

 ties. By his influence among wealthy connoisseurs, 

 of whom he numbered a great many among his 

 friends, he was able to secure for his department and 

 the nation a large number of valuable specimens of 

 artistic or scientific importance w-hich otherwise might 

 have been lost to us. Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan was 

 largely guided by him in his generous gifts to public 

 collections, and it was at his instigation that the 

 famous Greenwell collection of Bronze-age antiquities 

 was secured and presented by Mr. Morgan to the 

 museum. Sir Hercules Read's connection with the 

 British Museum will not be severed by his retirement. 

 .\s president of the Society of Antiquaries he will con- 

 tinue to act as a Trustee ex officio. 



In presiding at a dinner given by the council of 

 the Iron and Steel Institute to the president. Dr. 

 J. E. Stead, last week, Sir Robert Hadfield spoke at 

 some length on the industrial crisis in this country. 

 He took the view that the present Labour disturb- 

 ance was unreasonable, since it had been admitted 

 by some of the miners' leaders that its object was 

 political. He stated that no one wished to see reduc- 

 tions in the income of the wage-earners less than he 

 did, but that the existing fictitious state of affairs, 

 both financial and industrial, made it impossible for 

 us to get on a sound footing until some re-adjustment, 

 in which all were concerned, took place. Sir Robert 

 Hadfield went on to urge the need for a greatly in- 

 creased output per worker, stating that it was only 

 in this way that industry could be restored to an 

 economic basis. In the latter part of his speech he 

 dealt with technical problems, alluding particularly to 

 corrosion, affirming that his study of this question, 

 in so far as it related to iron and steel, had convinced 

 him that the annual wastage was from 1-5 to 2 per 

 cent. 



At a general meeting of the members of the Royal 

 Institution held on May 9 Sir J. J. Thomson was 

 NO. 2689, VOL. 107] 



elected honorary professor of natural philosophy 

 and Sir Ernest Rutherford professor of natural 

 philosophy. 



At the meeting of the Royal Society held on May 5 

 the following were elected foreign members : — Prof. 

 Albert Calmette, Dr. Henri Deslandres, Prof. Albert 

 Einstein, Prof. Albin Haller, Prof. E. B. Wilson, and 

 Prof. P. Zeeman. 



At the annual meeting of the British International 

 Association of Journalists, held on April 22, Mr. Leon 

 Caster, the hon. secretary of the Illuminating 

 Engineering Society and editor of the Illuminating 

 Engineer, was unanimously elected the honorary 

 general secretary of this association. 



By invitation of the chairman of the Lawes Agri- 

 cultural Trust Committee, Lord Bledisloe, and the 

 director. Dr. E. J. Russell, the House of Commons 

 Agricultural Committee and certain members of the 

 House of Lords will visit the Rothamsted Experi- 

 mental Station, Harpenden, to-morrow, May 13, to 

 inspect the experimental farm and the laboratories. 



The last ordinary scientific meeting of the Chemical 

 Society this session will be held at the Institution of 

 Mechanical Engineers, Storey's Gate, on June 16 at 

 8 p.m., when Prof. Benjamin Moore, will deliver a 

 lecture entitled "The Natural Photo-synthetic Pro- 

 cesses on Land and in Sea and Air, and their Relation 

 to the Origin and Preservation of Life upon the 

 Earth." 



The Empire Cotton-Growing Committee and the 

 British Cotton Industry Research Association propose 

 to award in July next about twelve studentships, 

 each of the annual value of 200Z., for the additional 

 training of university graduates in scientific research 

 bearing on plant genetics and physiology, entomology, 

 physics, etc., or in special subjects relating to adminis- 

 tration and inspection in tropical agriculture. Forms 

 of application and further particulars of the student- 

 ships are to be obtained from the secretary of the 

 Joint Standing Committee, c/o the Shirley Institu.e, 

 Didsbury, Manchester, not later than July 18, 



The officers and council of the Manchester Literary 

 and Philosophical Society for the new session 1921-22 

 were elected on April 26 as follows: — President: Mr. 

 T. A. Coward. Vice-Presidents; Mr. R. L, Taylor, 

 Mr. William Thomson, Sir Henry A. Miers, and Mr. 

 W. Henry Todd. Hon. Secretaries; Dr. H. F. 

 Coward and Prof. T. H. Pear. Hon. Treasurer; Mr. 

 R. H. Clayton. Hon. Librarians; Mr. C. L. Barnes 

 and Dr. Wilfrid Robinson. Hon. Curator: Prof. 

 W. W. Haldane Gee. Council: Prof. Arthur Lap- 

 worth, Mr. C. E. Stromeyer, Dr. W. M. Tattersall, 

 Mr. Leonard E. VHes, Mr. F. W. Atack, Prof. F. E. 

 Weiss, Mr. Francis Jones, Miss Laura Start, and 

 Prof. Sydney Chapman. The Chemical Section on 

 May 6 elected the following officers : — Chairman : 

 Mr. Leonard E. Vlies. Vice-chairman: Mr. J. H. 

 Lester. Hon. Secretary: Mr. David Cardwell. 



