ii8 



NATURE 



[January 26, .1922 



portrait will be made by Mr. Malcolm Osborne, and 

 will soon be ready for distribution. In recognition of 

 Sir Patrick Manson's services as a clinician, money 

 has also been subscribed for a medal, which will be 

 awarded annually to those who distinguish them- 

 selves in clinical work. The medal will bear a por- 

 trait of Sir Patrick Manson by Mr. John Pinches. 



The programme for the Air Conference to be held 

 at the Guildhall on February 7-8 has now been 

 issued. During the morning of the first day of the 

 meeting papers will be read by Lord Gorell on civil 

 aviation, and Lt.-Col. W. A. Bristow on aerial 

 transport of to-day and to-morrow. Papers on re- 

 search work from the point? of view of designers, 

 constructors, and users by Major F. M. Green, on the 

 progress of research by Brig.-Gen. R. K. Bagnall- 

 Wild, and on airships by Major G. H. Scott will 

 occupy the afternoon session. The whole of the 

 second day of the meeting will be devoted to general 

 discussions. In the morning Capt. F. E. Guest will 

 preside, and civil aviation papers read during the 

 previous morning will be dealt with ; in the after- 

 noon the chair will be taken by Lord Weir of East- 

 wood, and the technical papers of the previous after- 

 noon will be discussed. 



Influenza had materially increased in severity, 

 according to the Registrar-General's return for the 

 week ending January 14. Deaths due to the 

 epidemic numbered T240 for the ninety-six great 

 towns of England and Wales, an increase of 

 433 on the preceding week. In London the 

 deaths were 551 for the week, an increase of 

 197 on the preceding week. During the great epi- 

 demic of 19 18-19 the deaths from influenza in London 

 amounted to 2458 in the week ending November 2 

 and to 2433 in the week ending November 9, but 

 with the exception of the 1918-19 epidemic the death- 

 rate is now higher than in any other epidemic of 

 influenza since 1890, the nearest approach occurring 

 in the epidemic of 1892, when for the week ending 

 January 23 the deaths in London numbered 506. 

 During the week ending January 14 the deaths 

 between the ages of sixty-five and seventy-five were 

 21 per cent, of the total. Deaths from pneumonia 

 and bronchitis have also considerably increased. 



A SUMMARY of weather results for 192 1 is given in 

 the Weekly Weather Report of the Meteorological 

 Office for the closing week of December, showing 

 the mean and aggregate values for the several dis- 

 tricts of the British Isles. There was a general 

 deficiency of rain, the only districts with an excess 

 being the north and west of Scotland, these districts 

 having respectively 106 and 104 per cent, of the 

 average fall. In the east of Scotland the rainfall for 

 the year was 87 per cent, of the average, and in the 

 north of Ireland 89 per cent., whilst in the north- 

 west of England it was 86 per cent. In the north- 

 east of England the rainfall was 73 per cent, of the 

 average, and in the Midland Counties 69 per cent. 

 The rainfall was only 48 per cent, of the average in 

 the east of England, followed by 50 per cent, in the 

 NO. 2726, VOL. logl 



south-east of England, 54 per cent, in the English 

 Channel district, and 60 per cent, in the south-west 

 of England. The district having the largest amount 

 of rain during the year was the north of Scotland with 

 5434 in., while in the east of England the total 

 measurement was 13-45 in., and in the south-east 

 of England 13-84 in. The mean temperature for the 

 year was above the normal in all districts ; the 

 greatest excess was 27° F. in the English Channel 

 district and 25° F. in the north-east and east of Eng- 

 land and the Midland Counties. The duration of 

 bright sunshine was in excess of the average in all 

 districts over Great Britain ; the greatest excess was 

 07 hour per day, amounting to 250 hours for the 

 year in the east of England and 06 hour per day 

 in the Midland Counties and the south-east of 

 England. 



The problem of the conservation of the coal re- 

 sources of Great Britain involves the study and classi- 

 fication of the coal seams which are at present being 

 worked or developed, and also of seams above or below 

 ground which are being left unworked or are thrown 

 aside. On its directly practical side this work 

 must deal primarily with the suitability of each 

 particular coal for those purposes for which its indi- 

 vidual qualities render it most appropriate, and the 

 Fuel Research Board believes that the most effective 

 way of achieving this end is by the co-operation in 

 local committees of colliery owners, managers, and 

 consumers with the representatives of the Fuel Re- 

 search Board and the Geological Survey. By this 

 combination local knowledge and experience, as well 

 as the initiative of those most deeply interested in 

 the practical aspects of the survey, will be secured. 

 Thus from the outset the survey will assume a prac- 

 tical character. The selected seams will be submitted 

 to physical and chemical examination by the local 

 experts, and as a result of this examination a further 

 selection will be made of those which appear to justify 

 experiments on a practical scale to test their suit- 

 ability for particular uses or methods of treatment. 

 This experimental work will be carried out either at 

 H.M. Fuel Research Station or at other works, as 

 may be found most convenient. A start has already 

 been made in the Lancashire and Cheshire district, 

 where the local research association has been recog- 

 nised by the Fuel Research Board as its representative 

 body for the purpose of dealing with the physical and 

 chemical survey of the coal seams in this area. The 

 chairman of the new committee is Mr. R. Burrows, 

 and the director of research Mr. F. S. Sinnatt. 



A LEADING article in the Museums Journal for 

 December suggests as a remedy for the alleged over- 

 crowding of the national museums that their re- 

 dundant specimens should be transferred to the pro- 

 vincial museums, and asks for a Commission to con- 

 sider the limits of our national museums and how 

 far it is possible for them to assist the provincial 

 and "Colonial " museums. In the January issue Mr. 

 Williamson, of the Derby Museum, while admitting 

 past help, would welcome gifts or long loans on a 

 \ more systematic plan and with more reference to local 



