May 20, 1922" 



NATURE 



655 



The natural corollary to such a prediction is the 

 recognition of the need for conservation of the 

 world's petroleum resources, especially those of the 

 United States. The development of other sources of 

 fuel, more particularly oil shale, and the ultimate 

 harnessing of forms of energy such as Prof. Arrhenius 

 suggested (plants, watercourses, winds, and the heat 

 of the sun), are matters demanding the assiduous 

 attention of scientific investigators. 



The Governors of the Imperial College of Science 

 and Technology have appointed Sir Thomas H. 

 Holland to be Rector of the College in succession to 

 Sir Alfred Keogh, who is retiring at the close of the 

 Summer term. Sir Thomas Holland is best known 

 by his work in India. Among the many important 

 positions filled by him there were the directorship 

 of the Geological Survey, the presidency of the 

 Industrial Commission and of the Board of Munitions, 

 and more recently membership of the Governor- 

 General's Council. Apart from his important ad- 

 ministrative experience his scientific interests centre 

 round geology and oil. He has been a member of 

 many commissions and committees concerned with 

 oil, and for ten years was professor of geology and 

 mineralogy at the University of Manchester. His 

 appointment is also interesting in that he is an old 

 student of the Royal College of Science, having been 

 awarded his associateship in geology of that College, 

 which is now an integral part of the Imperial College, 

 in 1888 ; and also in that in 1910 he was president 

 of the Old Students' Association of the College, and 

 later a member of the governing body representing 

 the Indian Empire. 



The annual visitation of the Roj'^al Observatorv, 

 Greenwich, will be held on Saturday, June 3. 



Sir Richard Gregory has been elected president 

 of the Decimal Association in succession to the late 

 Lord Belhaven and Stenton. 



At the meeting of the Royal Society on June i, the 

 Croonian lecture will be delivered by Prof. T. H. 

 Morgan on " The Mechanism of Heredity." 



The annual Conversazione of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers will be held on Thursday, 

 June 29, at 8.30 p.m. at the Natural History Museum, 

 South Kensington, S.W. 



The annual general meeting of the People's League 

 of Health will be held at the Mansion House on 

 Thursday, May 25, at 3.30 p.m. The Lord Mayor 

 will preside, and among the speakers will be Sir 

 Bruce Bruce-Porter, Dr. Farquhar Buzzard, Sir 

 Gilbert Garnsey, Miss Olga Nethersole, and Dr. 

 Saleeby. 



The Linnean Society has recently elected the 

 following as Foreign Members : Lucien Cuenot, 

 professor of zootechnic, entomology, and parasitology 

 in the University of Nancy ; Gustave.Gilson, director 

 of the Royal Museum of Natural History, Brussels ; 

 Jakob Wilhelm Ebbe Gustaf Leche, professor of zoology 

 in the High School, Stockholm; and Dr. Benjamin 

 NO. 2742, VOL. 109] 



Lincoln Robinson, Asa Gray professor of systematic 

 botany, and curator of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard 

 University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 



Dr. W. Bateson, director of the John Innes Horti- 

 cultural Institution, Merton, Surrey, has been elected 

 a trustee of the British Museum, to fill the vacancy 

 caused by the death of Lord Harcourt. Other Fellows 

 of the Royal Society who are among the elected 

 trustees of the Museum are Lord Rothschild, Sir Henry 

 Howorth, Sir Archibald Geikie, and Sir J. J. Thomson. 



The Meteorological Magazine for April has a note 

 on wireless apparatus for Tristan da Cunha. The 

 Rev. H. M. Rogers, who sailed from South Africa in 

 March to take up the chaplaincy of Tristan da Cunha, 

 has taken with him apparatus with a range of more 

 than 1000 miles. The instruments were presented 

 by the people of Cape Town, who have always shown 

 a keen interest in the loneliness of the island. A 

 meteorological equipment was also presented by the 

 Government, so that Mr. Rogers may send reports of 

 weather conditions in the islets by wireless telegraphy 

 to South Africa and to passing ships ; it is thought that 

 the messages will greatly aid weather forecasting. 



The sixtieth birthday of Prof. David Hilbert of 

 Gottingen has been celebrated by the publication 

 of a special number of Die Naturwissenschaften 

 (January 27). Opening with a portrait of Prof. 

 Hilbert, it contains an admirable account of his life 

 work by Herr O. Blumenthal, of Aachen. There 

 follow five more specialised appreciations, by different 

 writers, of his work as an algebraist, a geometer, an 

 analyst, a physicist, and a philosopher. Finally, 

 appears a list of Prof. Hilbert's memoirs, eighty-three 

 in all, accompanied in many cases by short abstracts 

 of the results contained in them. Among the ranks 

 of living mathematicians no name is more honoured 

 than Prof. Hilbert's, and this tribute to his fame is 

 well worthy of the occasion it celebrates. 



In July this year, Mr. E. Grey, Field Superintendent 

 of the Rothamsted Experimental Station, will 

 complete fifty years of continuous work at Rothamsted. 

 To mark the widespread appreciation of his valuable 

 services during this long period, it has been decided 

 to raise a fund for a testimonial which shall take the 

 form most agreeable to Mr. Grey himself. There 

 are probably many readers of Nature who may 

 wish to associate themselves with this testimonial. 

 The director and staff of the station therefore invite 

 subscriptions, which should be sent as soon as 

 possible to the Secretary, Rothamsted Experimental 

 Station, Harpenden, Herts. Mr. Grey's book, 

 entitled " Reminiscences, Tales, and Anecdotes of 

 the Rothamsted Experimental Station Laboratories, 

 Staff, and Fields, 1872-1922," is now in the press 

 and copies can be obtained from the Secretary, 

 Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, or 

 from Mr. E. Grey, Laboratory Cottages, Harpenden. 

 Price 5s. gd. post free. All profits will go to Mr. Grey. 



From the Report of the Board of the Institute of 

 Physics for the year 192 1 we learn that the Institute 



