February 23, 1922] 



NATURE 



247 



Current Topics and Events. 



We are glad to be able to announce that representa- 

 ^ves of British science are included among those who 

 ive received their Majesties' invitation to the mar- 

 »ge of Her Royal Highness Princess Mary on 

 lesday next, February 28. 



Prof. F. G. Hopkins and Dr. W. H. R. Rivers 

 ive been elected members of the Athenaeum Club 

 ider the rule which empowers the annual election 

 by the committee of a certain number of persons "of 

 distinguished eminence in science, literature, the arts, 

 or for pnablic service." 



'In a letter to Nature of May 19, 1921 (vol. 107, 

 p. 359), Prof. Stanley Gardiner directed attention to 

 the serious effect of the German Reparations (Re- 

 covery) Act upon scientific workers and institutions in 

 this country in regard to the duty of 26 per cent, on 

 German publications ; Prof. Gardiner at the same 

 time protested strenuously to the Board of Trade. 

 He has now received a reply in which the Board 

 states that an Order has been made under section 5 

 of the Act referred to granting exemption from the 

 levy in the case of certain periodical publications in 

 the German language. The Order, which is dated 

 February 16, reads: — "Any article of the following 

 description shall be exempt from the provisions of 

 the said Act— that is to say, any article being a pub- 

 lication in the German language which is proved to 

 the satisfaction of the Commissioners of Customs and 

 Excise to be a periodical publication of a German 

 learned society or other scientific or philosophical 

 periodical publication." Communication should be 

 made with the Secretary, Custom House, Lower 

 Thames Street, E.C.3, for particulars as to the 

 manner in which to apply for the exemption of any 

 particular consignment. 



The relatives of the late Sir Ernest Shackleton 

 decided that the most appropriate burial-place for the 

 dead explorer was the sub-Antarctic island of South 

 Georgia, where he died and on which he performed 

 the great feat of crossing the unknown ridge of 

 mountains on his way from Elephant Island to the 

 settlement of whalers in 1916. The body, which had 

 been brought from South Georgia to Monte Video by 

 Capt. Hussey, the meteorologist to the Shackleton- 

 Rowett Expedition, was accordingly conveyed on 

 board the British whaler Woodville at that port on 

 February 15, the late explorer's birthday, and Capt. 

 Hussey sailed with his old leader on the following 

 morning. The Uruguayan Government, with charac- 

 teristic sympathy and generosity, arranged the funeral 

 procession as a State function, particulars of which 

 appeared in the Times of February 16. The body 

 in the rough wooden coffin made by the South 

 ' Georgian whalers was taken to the English church in 

 ^lonte Video, where the funeral service was read by 

 Canon Blount. The coffin, placed on a gun-carriage 

 and covered with the Union Jack and many wreaths, 

 including one in bronze from the Uruguayan Govern- 

 ment, was taken to the British Club, the British 

 NO. 2730, VOL. 109] 



Charge d 'Affaires and many members of the British 

 colony, including some from Buenos Aires, following. 

 At the club the Uruguayan Minister of Foreign Affairs 

 joined the procession, which moved on to the wharf 

 accompanied by a guard of honour of Uruguayan 

 Lancers, and the streets were lined with troops. At 

 the wharf the Uruguayan War Minister delivered a 

 sympathetic address, which was replied to by the 

 British Charge d'Affaires. When the Woodville sailed 

 she was accompanied to the limit of territorial waters 

 by the Uruguayan cruiser Uruguay, and on parting 

 she fired a salute and ranged alongside the Wood- 

 ville, with all hands lining the ship in farewell. The 

 burial will take place on March i, and a memorial 

 service will be held in St. Paul's Cathedral on 

 March 2. 



A SOMEWHAT startling paragraph recently appeared 

 in the Times giving an account of petroleum 

 "divining" of an extraordinary nature by means of 

 laboratory experiments carried out in France. Dr. 

 Henri Moineau and M. Regis have apparently been 

 at work on an apparatus for which it is claimed that 

 by "harnessing Hertzian waves" the composition of 

 subterranean solid, liquid, and gaseous matter may be 

 indicated, quite irrespective of distance ! Experiments 

 are at present being carried out at the Puy du Dome, 

 in the -Clermont-Ferrand region, and already this mys- 

 terious apparatus has detected petroleum deposits in 

 Alsace, Saxony, Hanover, Czecho-Slovakia, fialy, the 

 Rocky Mountains, the Allegheny Mountains, and 

 finally in the Andes. No account whatever is given 

 of the nature of the apparatus itself, though it is 

 suggested that X-ray photography plays an important 

 role in the determinations, particularly in the elucida- 

 tion of underground structures. It is further alleged 

 that with the apparatus it is possible to discern, not 

 only oil, but also coal, minerals, and water occurring 

 in remote parts of the world, the idea being that once 

 such occurrences are located all that is necessary as 

 a preliminary to successful boring is an aerial recon- 

 naissance for the purpose of taking "X-ray photo- 

 graphs " of the selected areas. We cannot refrain 

 from remarking that, although first impulse may dic- 

 tate a dismissal of the matter as extravagant, present 

 knowledge of electromagnetic wave propagation, 

 though limited, is sufficient to promote realisation of 

 pvossibilities, and caution before condemning prema- 

 turely their utilisation in the present connection. 



At a celebration which took place in the chemistry 

 lecture theatre of the Sorbonne on January 22 Prof. 

 Henry Le Chatelier was presented with a gold medal 

 in commemoration of his fifty years' work of scientific 

 and technical research. The chair was occupied by 

 M. G. Noblemaire, president of the Comity Jubilaire, 

 who recalled the various stages in the career of the 

 illustrious savant and outlined the series of remarkable 

 discoveries made by him, most of which have received 

 important industrial applications. Eloquent speeches 

 were also made by M. Molliard, dean of the Faculty 

 des Sciences, and by M. Bertin, president of the 



