December 23, 19 15] 



NATURE 



463 



occupants luckily escaped. The fall is undoubtedly 

 due to the recent spell of wet weather, and the ex- 

 planation is simple. At this point the chalk dips 

 inland at a low angle, but the various joint-planes 

 which traverse the bedding at right angles emerge in 

 the face of the cliff. The enlargement of these joints 

 by the percolation of water weakens the overlying 

 mass of chalk, which finally slips forward, and its 

 detachment gives rise to the fan-shaped scar so char- 

 ( teristic of the cliffs in east Kent. 



On and after January i, 19 16, the following fees 

 will be charged, in the interests of national economy, 

 f(ir admission to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew : — 

 On Mondays, Wednesdays. Thursdays, Saturdays, Sun- 

 days, and Good Friday, id. ; on Tuesdays and Fridays, 

 except Good Friday (students' days), 6d. ; a charge of 

 3i. is made for the admission of photographic appa- 

 ratus. Bath-chairs will be permitted to enter the gar- 

 dens during public hours when the condition of the 

 paths is suitable on payment of is. on students' days 

 (Tuesdays and Fridays, except Good Friday), 

 and on payment of 6d. on other days. Students' 

 permits, available until the close of the calendar 

 year, and obtainable on written application to 

 the director by bond-fide students and artists, will be 

 issued on payment of a fee of 55. These permits will 

 cover free entrance on students' days and before public 

 hours on week days, except Good Friday and Bank 

 Holidays. Season tickets, available until the close of 

 the calendar year, can be obtained on written applica- 

 tion to the director on payment of a fee of il. These 

 tickets will cover admission on any day during public 

 hours. 



We learn from Science that, at the request of Presi- 

 dent Wilson, the National Academy of Sciences has 

 appointed the following to investigate and report on 

 the control of the Panama land-slides : — President 

 C. R. Van Hise, University of Wisconsin (chairman) ; 

 General H. L. Abbott, Cambridge, Mass. ; Dr. G. F. 

 Becker, United States Geological Survey; Prof. J. C. 

 Branner, Stanford University; Dr. Whitman Cross, 

 United States Geological Survey; Dr. A. L. Day, 

 Carnegie Institution ; Dr. J. L. Hayford, Northwestern 

 University: Prof. H. F. Reid, Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity; Dr R. S. Woodward, Carnegie Institution; C. 

 Carpenter, Ithaca, N.Y. ; A. P. Davis, United States 

 Reclamation Service; J. R. Freeman, Providence, R.I. 



We notice that Dr. J. N. Rose, of the United States 

 National Museum, and his assistant, Mr. Paul G. 

 Russell, have recently returned from an extensive 

 journey in Brazil and Argentina, where they have 

 been engaged especially in making a collection of 

 Cactaceae from the South American desert regions. 

 The expedition was undertaken in connection with the 

 exhaustive study of the Cactaceas of North and South 

 America, which Dr. Rose is making for the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington. In addition to the exten- 

 sive collection of herbarium material which has been 

 brought to the National Museum, large collections of 

 plants in a living condition were brought back and 

 are now on exhibition in the New York Botanical 

 Garden. The publication of Dr. Rose's results of his 

 journey will be eagerly awaited, and cannot fail to be 

 NO. 2408, VOL. 96] 



of as great interest and value as his former contribu- 

 tions to the desert botany of the United States. 



A Gl^NEROus tribute to the memory of the late Prof. 

 Meldola was paid, we learn from a report in the 

 Times, by Lord Reading, the Lord Chief Justice, at a 

 meeting of the Maccabean Society on December 14. 

 Lord Reading said : — Humanity and science were 

 both mourners and sufferers by the death of Prof. 

 Meldola. No one whose life was not spent in science 

 could have any conception of the varied aspects in 

 which Prof. Meldola touched life and adorned it, and 

 of the wide outlook which he had over the world. He 

 was in every respect a most lovable man. Since the 

 war, he had done much work for the Government, by 

 whom it was highly valued. There must come even- 

 tually a period of reconstruction in the country, and 

 when that time came we should miss the work which 

 Prof. Meldola could have done. He had left a lasting 

 memorial of himself in all his life, not least in the 

 last part of his life. 



Foremost in the equipment of the protagonist of 

 airships is a plentiful supply of optimism ; possibilities 

 must perforce loom much larger than actual achieve- 

 ment when the latter is meagre. In an article entitled 

 " Possibilities of the Large Airship," contributed to the 

 Fortnightly Review for December, Mr. A. J. Liversedge 

 does not trouble much over the technical difficulties 

 of large airships, being concerned chiefly to prove that 

 they are "worth while." In fact, he regards the con- 

 struction of large semi-rigid dirigibles as being well 

 within the capacity of borough engineers or surveyors, 

 assisted by " woodworkers, handymen, and youths and 

 female labour." "Plans, the necessary direction, and 

 the finance would, of course, be provided by a central 

 authority. ..." Mr. Lloyd George would provide the 

 engines through the Ministry of Munitions, We may 

 believe in large airships and their usefulness both in 

 war and peace, without visualising them coming quir^ 

 in that fashion. It smacks too much of an article in 

 one of the domestic periodicals describing how, with 

 the aid of "a friendly carpenter," a packing-case 

 becomes a sideboard or a wardrobe. Mr, Liversedge 's 

 optimism seems of the wrong sort, and his visions 

 of the functions of airships in war somewhat awry, 

 ignoring as they do in many cases the possibilities of 

 easy destruction, by the enemy, of the airship. But 

 to one who is so optimistic about their production, the 

 loss of one or two would not perhaps matter. 



The collection of gem-stones formed by the late Sir 

 Arthur H. Church has, in accordance with a wish 

 expressed in his will, been presented by his widow 

 to the trustees of the British Museum, and is now 

 on exhibition in the recent addition case in the Mineral 

 Gallery of the Natural History Museum at South 

 Kensington. It comprises about two hundred selected 

 and choice faceted stones, most of them mounted in 

 gold rings, and the whole is of considerable intrinsic 

 value. The stones are referable to twenty-one mineral 

 species, so that, with the notable exception of diamonds, 

 most of the species that have been used in jewelry 

 are represented. The interest of the collection, how- 

 ever, lies more in the strong suites afforded by certain 

 species, illustrating well the wide ranges of colour 

 which may be exhibited by one and the same kind of 



