June 2, 1921] 



NATURE 



435 



At the annual meeting of the Royal Society of 

 Victoria, held on March lo last, the following officers 

 were elected : — President : Prof. Ewart. Vice-Presi- 

 detits : Mr. F. Wisewould and Prof. Laby. Hon. 

 Treasurer: Mr. W. A. Hartnell. Hon. Librarian: 

 Mr. A. S. Kenyon. Hon. Secretary: Mr. J. A. 

 Kershaw. Members of Council : Prof. Osborne, Dr. 

 Summers, Dr. Baldwin, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Richardson, 

 and Mr. Picken. In the annual report it was an- 

 nounced that the scheme for giving short popular lec- 

 tures on subjects of general interest would be con- 

 tinued. At the ordinary meeting which followed Sir 

 Baldwin Spencer contributed a paper entitled " Blood 

 and Shade Divisions of Australian Tribes." 



It is announced that Mr. Bridgeman, Secretary for 

 Mines, has appointed an Advisory Committee for the 

 Metalliferous Mining Industry, of which Sir Cecil 

 Lindsay Budd is chairman. In addition to repre- 

 sentatives of owners and of workers in mines and 

 quarries, the following have also been appointed :— 

 Mr. T. Falcon, Dr. F. H. Hatch, and Mr. F. Mer- 

 ricks, mining engineers ; Mr. F. W. Harbord, metal- 

 lurgist ; Mr. T. C. F. Hall, Prof. H. Louis, and Dr. 

 J. M. Maclaren, economic geologists; Mr. J. J. 

 Burton, representing the iron and steel industry; and 

 Sir Kenneth VV. Goadby, representing medical science. 

 Mr. F. C. Starling, of the Mines Department, will 

 act as secretary to the Committee. 



The London University College Hospital Ladies' 

 Association was founded twenty years ago " to pro- 

 vide clothes for use in the wards, and also for neces- 

 sitous patients on their convalescence or discharge 

 from the hospital," and "to take up any other work 

 in connection with the hospital which from time to 

 time may commend itself to a general meeting of 

 the association." It has been remarkably successful. 

 There are now some eight hundred members ; besides 

 the central London body, there are ten local branches. 

 The latest development is the establishment of the 

 infant welfare department. Like all other London 

 hospitals, University College Hospital is in financial 

 difficulties. In order to help, the Ladies' Association 

 has arranged to hold a sale on Wednesday, June 8, 

 from 11.30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Someries House, 

 Regent's Park. Her Highness Princess Helena Vic- 

 toria has graciously consented to open the sale. The 

 things offered for sale will be of a varied nature, in- 

 cluding fruit and other farm and garden produce. 

 There will also be some special features, such as an 

 antique stall and a second-hand book stall which may 

 interest our readers. 



On April 2 last, the Governor-General of 'New 

 Zealand, Lord Jellicoe, formally opened the Cawthron 

 Institute in Nelson, South Island. The institution 

 was founded under the terms of the will of the late 

 Thomas Cawthron (Nature, January i, 1920, p. 442) 

 to provide a place for teaching and carrying out 

 scientific research relating to the industries of Nelson 

 and of the Dominion. Lord Jellicoe paid eloquent 

 tribute to the great public generosity of the late Mr. 

 Cawthron, and then spoke of the importance of 

 scientific research. For an agricultural community to 

 achieve success the agriculturists must co-operate with 

 NO. 2692, VOL. 107] 



men of science. The work undertaken in the new 

 institute will deal largely with problems of agricul- 

 ture, fruit-growing, etc., and should therefore exert 

 great influence on the prosperity of the whole of the 

 Dominion. The Bishop of Nelson, who is chairman 

 of the trustees, also addressed the gathering, and 

 made particular mention of the library of scientific 

 books belonging" to the institute, which it was hoi>ed^ 

 when completed, would be the best in Australasia. 

 Prof. Easterfield, director of the Cawthron Institute,, 

 gave a brief outline of the many lines of research now 

 occupying the attention of the staff; soil surveys, 

 experiments with fertilisers and cover-crops, fire- 

 blight, the deterioration of trout, fruit pests, and the 

 utilisation of flax-waste were among the problems 

 mentioned. 



The Geographical Review, issued by the American 

 Geographical Society of New York "upon the adop- 

 tion of a programme of intensive research," has in 

 the present year ceased to become a monthly 

 periodical ; in future it will be issued as a quarterly- 

 We welcome this change of form, as it gives an 

 opportunity for more detailed papers on the subjects 

 to which this valuable publication is devoted. In its 

 new form it contains several important articles, one 

 of the more interesting being an elaborate essay on 

 "The Evolution and Distribution of Race, Culture, 

 and Language " by Dr. Griffith Taylor, of the Uni- 

 versity of Sydney. This article raises questions which 

 it is impossible to criticise in detail. The author pro- 

 poses to show that " many current opinions with 

 regard to the mixing of nations are not supported' 

 by ethnology." Orj the problem of the half-caste he 

 is disposed to think that " in many cases the ethnic 

 deterioration is too slight to be important, and that 

 racial antipathy rather than racial degeneration is- 

 largely to blame for the troubles of the Eurasians. 

 A^ regards the Alpine, Mongolian, and most Amerind 

 and Polynesian peoples, the future seems to me to be- 

 most promising. It is our diseases and our vices, 

 especially the use of alcohol, which constitute the so- 

 called ' overpowering effect of the white civilisation '' 

 upon the uncivilised nations." 



A PARAGRAPH in NATURE of July I, 1920, p. 558, 

 referred to a report of the Smithsonian Institution 

 in which Mr. C. M. Hoy made some comments on 

 the extermination of Australian native fauna. We 

 quoted some of Mr. Hoy's remarks, concluding with 

 the words : — "There are very few game laws in Aus- 

 tralia, and no one gives any attention to the ones 

 that are in order." The Minister of Industry, South 

 .Australia, afterwards wrote through his secretary ob- 

 jecting to Mr. Hoy's statement, and his letter was 

 published in Nature of November 18, 1920, p. 377. 

 Mr. Hoy in a communication dated from Sydney, 

 New South Wales, on March 12, claims that his 

 original statement was correct, and adds: — "Every- 

 where I went in South Australia I found flagrant dis- 

 regard of the Animals and Birds (Protection) Act, not 

 only in the ' out-back areas,' but within a few miles 

 of Adelaide itself." As Mr. Hoy's notes were 

 originally published by the Smithsonian Institution, 

 and we merely quoted from them, his letter was sub- 

 mitted to the institution, the acting secretary of whicb 



