26o 



NATURE 



[November 5, 1914 



Robert Hadfield, will preside over the discussion, and 

 among those who will take part therein are Prof. 

 Ernest Cohen, of Utrecht, Dr. G. T. Beilby, Prof. 

 J. O. Arnold, Prof. H. C. H. Carpenter, Dr. C. H. 

 Desch, Prof. C. A. Edwards, Mr. H. L. Heathcote, 

 Mr. J. C. W. Humfrey, Dr. T. M. Lowry, Mr. 

 Andrew McCance, Dr. W. Rosenhain, and others. 



The Dorset Field Club will award in May next the 

 " Cecil " medal and prize of loZ. for the best paper on 

 radium: its present position, supply, and cost; with 

 any recent discoveries on its curative effects. The 

 competition is open to any person between the ages 

 of seventeen and thirty-five on May 12, 1914, who 

 either was born in Dorset or had on the date men- 

 tioned lived in the county for the preceding twelve 

 months. Further particulars may be obtained from 

 Mr. H. Pouncy, the Chronicle Office, Dorchester. 



By the will of Mr, W. Erasmus Darwin, eldest son 

 of Charles Darwin, the Royal Society of London is 

 bequeathed the sum of 1650^. ; his nephew, Mr. C. 

 Galton Darwin, receives the portraits of Charles Dar- 

 win by Lawrence and Ouless, as well as Darwin's 

 medals, Royal Society's candlesticks, snuff-box, 

 christening mug, autobiography, notebook on children, 

 two early sketches of " The Origin of Species," two 

 vols, of " Hooker's Correspondence," the family Bible, 

 the old Dutch brass-bound box containing the family 

 papers, large silver soup tureen, the counterpane 

 worked with the coat-of-arms, the letters written home 

 from the Beagle, and pictures and miniatures. The 

 desire is expressed that these relics should always be 

 kept in the family. 



A RESEARCH prize of the value of 200L has been 

 placed by Sir Robert A. Hadfield, past president, at 

 the disposal of the Iron and Steel Institute, to be 

 awarded by the council for original research work on 

 the different combinations of carbon in iron, steel, and 

 alloys of iron with other elements. It is proposed that 

 the prize shall be awarded at the annual meeting of 

 the institute in May, 1916, for the best report presented 

 before February i, 1916. Sir Robert Hadfield is pre- 

 pared to offer a second prize for the report next in 

 merit to that which gains the first prize provided it is 

 adjudged to be really meritorious. It is suggested 

 that the work should be in continuation of, or based 

 upon, the work of previous investigators. The object 

 of the prize is to stimulate the study of carbides in iron 

 and iron alloys generally, also with a view of dis- 

 covering the best method of determining the forms 

 and combinations in which carbon occurs in iron and 

 steel. It is desirable to define the composition of these 

 combinations more accurately and to ascertain whether 

 other carbides exist which have hitherto not been 

 identified. The study of the molecular constitution of 

 the carbides will also fall within the range of the 

 investigation*. It is hoped that the results obtained 

 will throw much light on the cause of hardness of 

 steel, also on the nature and form of carbon combina- 

 tions with iron and its alloys. Intending competitors 

 should communicate, in the first place, with Mr. G. C. 

 Lloyd, secretary of the Iron and Steel Institute, 28 

 Victoria Street, London, S.W. 

 NO. 2349, VOL. 94] 



Science of October 16 contains a memorial notice 

 of the late Dr. Theodore Nicholas Gill, who died in 

 Washington on September 25, in his seventy-eighth 

 year. Although originally a law-student, Gill at an 

 early age directed his attention to zoology, and in the 

 winter of 1857-58, an expedition to the West Indies 

 for the purpose of collecting shells and other natural 

 history objects afforded him an opportunity of turning 

 his inclinations to practical account. This was suc- 

 ceeded by a visit to Newfoundland in 1859, and in the 

 following )-ear he signalised his special interest in 

 ichthyology by the preparation of a report on the 

 fishes of the northern boundary for the U.S. State 

 Department. Of wider interest was his catalogue of 

 the fishes of the eastern coast of North America from 

 Greenland to Georgia, published in 1861, of which a 

 revised issue appeared in 1873. This and other works 

 laid the foundations of his revised classification of 

 fishes, which has been taken up and elaborated by 

 Dr. D. S. Jordan and other American ichthyologists, 

 and, according to the notice in Science, has now been 

 accepted by European students of ichthyology. It 

 must not, however, be imagined that Gill's work was 

 restricted to fishes ; on the contrary, it was unusually 

 wide, embracing such diverse subjects as West Indian 

 molluscs, the classification of mammals, and zoo- 

 geography. In 1861 Gill was accorded the chair of 

 zoology at the Columbian (George Washington) 

 University, Washington, a position he held until 1910, 

 when he became emeritus professor. 



Sir Ernest Shackleton left Buenos Ayres for South 

 Georgia on October 27 to carry on his trans-Antarctic 

 enterprise. In a message to the Daily Chronicle of 

 October 29 he announced some changes in the plans 

 of the expedition. Instead of the Endurance return- 

 ing to South Georgia and Buenos Ayres, after land- 

 ing the members of the expedition, as was originally 

 intended, she will winter in the Antarctic. Sir Ernest 

 stated that on arrival at South Georgia all the dogs 

 will be landed on one of the small islands of the 

 group and left ashore. The geologists of the staff 

 will also remain at South Georgia. The Endurance 

 will then proceed south to examine the pack-ice and 

 see whether it is loose enough to go into without 

 unnecessary delay. After an examination of the pack 

 the Endurance will return to South Georgia to pick 

 up the members of the expedition and the dogs. The 

 Endurance will be coaled to her fullest capacity, and, 

 proceeding south again, will push right into the pack, 

 keeping as much eastward as possible, in the hope of 

 meeting more open water than is probably to be 

 found further westward. Sir Ernest hopes to winter 

 the vessel in 77-30° S. latitude, and if this pomt is 

 gained at a sufficiently early date the transcontinental 

 journey may be started this season. Should the ice 

 conditions be too unfavourable, the journey will not 

 be begun until October of 1915. The Argentine 

 Government has provided the expedition with a wire- 

 less receiver, with which it will be possible to receive 

 communications and time signals while the expedition 

 is in the Antarctic. 



Ix the September number of Folk-Lore Miss C. S. 

 j Burne continues her valuable studies of the geograph- 



