January 28, 191 5] 



NATURE 



595 



Dr. Tokutaro Ito, of Tokyo, has written to Lady 

 Hooker to inform her that her distinguished husband 

 —the late Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker — ^^ has been re- 

 cently selected bv the contemporaries in Japan, as one 

 of the twenty-nine heroes of the world that modern 

 time has produced." We wrote to Dr. Ito a few 

 weeks ago to ask for a copy of the complete list of 

 men thus selected, and hope to be able to give the 

 names before long. 



The Second Indian Science Congress, organised by 

 the Asiatic Society of Bengal, was held at the Presi- 

 dency College, Madras, on January 14-16, under the 

 presidency of Surgeon-General W. B. Bannerman. 

 The sections of the Congress, and their chairmen, 

 were as follows : — Agriculture and applied science, 

 Dr. H. H. Mann; physics, Mr. C. V. Raman; 

 chemistry. Prof. P. C. Ray; zoology, Dr. X. Annan- 

 dale; botany, Dr. C. A. Barber; ethnography, Mr. 

 H. V. Xanjunda}-ya ; geology, Dr. W. F. Smeeth. 



The Institute of Industry and Commerce inform? 

 us that a committee representing chemical manufac- 

 turers and scientific societies has been decided upon 

 and that a meeting of all concerned has been convened 

 and w ill meet this week, at the offices of the institute, 

 Exhibition Buildings, Aldwych Site, Strand, W.C, to 

 consider the present situation. Chemical manufac- 

 turers who are interested can obtain permission to 

 attend the meeting by making applicaHon to the secre- 

 tan,- at the above address. 



The rumoured death on the field of battle of Robert 

 Douville is confirmed by a note in the Revue critique 

 de Paliozoologie just received. The young chef des 

 travaux at the Ecole des Mines had published a series 

 of valuable studies on ammonites, of particular interest 

 from his attempt to explain their phenomena of 

 descent with modification on the principles of advanced 

 biological theory. His colleagues in this country will 

 feel much sympathy with his distinguished father, 

 Prof. Henri Douville, and will lament a great loss to 

 the science of palaBontolog\\ 



At the annual general meeting of the Royal 

 Meteorological Society, held on Januan*- 20, the coun- 

 cil, in its report, referred to the various investigations 

 and work carried on by the societ}-, including the 

 researches in the upper atmosphere, the collection and 

 discussion of phonological obser\^ations, the arrange- 

 ments for the preparation of a climatological atlas of 

 the British Isles, and the delivery of popular lectures 

 on meteorology. Capt. H. G. Lyons was elected presi- 

 dent, and Mr. F. Campbell Bayard and Commander 

 \V. F". Caborne secretaries, for the ensuing year. 

 The new members of council are : — Mr. J. S. 

 Dines, Mr. A. P. Jenkin, and Sir J. W. Moore. 



A MEETING of the General Organising Committee for 

 the International Botanical Congress, which had been 

 arranged to be held in London next May, took place 

 at the Linnean Society's rooms on Thursday last, 

 Januar\- 21. A report was given of the work of pre- 

 paration which had already been carried out by the 

 executive committee, and the members were asked to 

 consider the present position. The two following 



NO. 2361, VOL. 94] 



resolutions were carried : — (i) That the congress be 

 not held in 1915; (2) that the present executive com- 

 mittee continue to act so long as necessary. The 

 committee was strongly of opinion that a meeting of 

 the congress in London should not be abandoned, and 

 the suggestion was made that it might take place at 

 the next quinquennium, in 1920. But it was agreed 

 that nothing definite could be settled at the present 

 time, and the following resolution was passed : — "That 

 the e.xecutive committee be authorised to convoke a 

 meeting of the general committee at some future date 

 to consider the date of the congress." It was also 

 decided that in the meantime the general committee 

 be called together once a year. 



From a letter received by Messrs. L. and H. Hagen- 

 beck, of Hamburg, from Dr. Bultikofer, director of 

 the Rotterdam Zoological Garden, and published in 

 Science of Januan,- 15, we learn the following news 

 relating to the Antwerp Zoological Garden : — All the 

 bears in the garden were shot prior to the bombard- 

 ment. The large feline camivora were put into 

 strong transportation cages and removed to the rear 

 of the garden, also prior to the bombardment, while 

 the small felinae were transferred to cages in the 

 cellars of the Festival Building. A few days before 

 the surrender of the citi.-, when the heavy cannonading 

 started fires in all parts of the city, which could no 

 longer be put out in consequence of lack of water, the 

 large carnivora were likewise shot by resolution of the 

 board of directors, but contrary to the director's 

 advice. None of the other animals were killed, with 

 the exception of a few venomous snakes. During the 

 bombardment onlv one shell dropped into the garden, 

 striking the ground in the open space for the turtles, 

 where it fortunately did no material damage. 



The new building on Tower Hill of the Institute 

 of Marine Engineers is illustrated in Engineering for 

 January 22, and was inaugurated by the president of 

 the year. Sir Archibald Denny, on Wednesday last 

 week. The president urged that the institute should 

 take up as a study how information might best be 

 gathered and transmitted to the designers, and 

 emphasised that such information should be as accu- 

 rate as possible in order to be of service. So con- 

 vinced is Sir .Archibald of the value of short memoirs 

 on sea experience that he has put at the disposal of 

 the council a sum of money, the interest on which 

 will enable it to distribute prizes for the best 

 memoirs each year. The membership of the institute 

 is now nearly 1500, and the new building includes a 

 spacious lecture-room, libran.-, reading-room, various 

 social rooms, and the usual offices. The institute has 

 done good work in the past in the way of bringing 

 marine engineers together for the interchanging of 

 experiences, and on the lines suggested by Sir Archi- 

 bald Denny should be capable of extending its useful- 

 ness greath'. 



In July, 1912, a Russian expedition, under Lieut. 

 G. Brussilov, left Petrograd for the Arctic. It was 

 intended to winter in the Katanga or some other 

 Siberian river, and then to complete the north-east 

 passage (which, it is curious to recall, was yet to be 



