April 25, 1901] 



NA TURE 



617 



which, with either the north and east or the west coast, was 

 to have been the returning route. Our information from the 

 explorers themselves is that they have simply " started away for 

 the far north," but it affords us great pleasure to add that it 

 embodies the news that, in addition to the looo/. contributed to 

 the expenses of the expedition by Mr. D. Syme, of the Melbourne 

 Argus, there has been given a further sum of 500/. by Mr. Reuben 

 Spencer, of Darley Hall, Manchester, father of the leader. 



The committee of the National Physical Laboratory will 

 shortly appoint several members of the staff of the laboratory. 

 Applications are invited for the post of superintendent of the 

 engineering department ; and other appointments to be made 

 include two or three assistants in the physics department — one 

 of them to take charge of chemical investigations— and a few 

 unior assistants. Particulars as to salaries, &c., will be found 

 in our advertisement columns. 



Many people wonder why the Thames is not used for passen- 

 ger traffic to the same extent as the Seine. With a quick and 

 punctual service, and neat vessels, the Thames might become the 

 most popular means of travel in the metropolis. The Thames 

 Steamboat Company possesses thirty-six vessels, having a total 

 carrying capacity of more than sixteen thousand passengers. 

 The vessels will be reviewed on May i, and the service wiH 

 commence on the following day. There will be a ten-minutes 

 service between London Bridge and Battersea, a half-an-hour 

 service between Chelsea and Kew, and a service of the same 

 frequency eastwards from Westminster to Greenwich and Wool- 

 wich. It is sometimes objected that on account of the windings 

 of the river the distance from one point to another is much 

 greater than by road ; but it must be remembered that omnibuses 

 — with which the steamboats are comparable — follow routes which 

 deviate from a direct line almost as much as the river. The 

 better the service of steamboats on the Thames the more people 

 will take advantage of this pleasant means of communication, 

 and in the course of time London might be so well served in this 

 respect as Paris is now. 



The Senate of Minnesota has passed a Bill prohibiting the 

 marriage of insane, epileptic and idiotic persons, and requiring 

 a medical certificate of all applicants for marriage licenses. 



We learn from Engineerivg that the valuable collection of 

 early scientific works made by the late Mr. Latimer Clark, 

 F.R.S., has been purchased by Mr. S. S. Wheeler and presented 

 to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Mr. Andrew 

 Carnegie has offered to provide the large sum necessary to house 

 the entire collection in its new quarters. 



The Agricultural Research Association is a Scottish organ- 

 isation, founded about twenty-five years ago and having 

 for its objects the carrying out of two branches of work 

 of the utmost importance to farmers, viz. scientific investiga- 

 tions bearing upon agriculture, and the dissemination of the 

 information thus obtained among those to whom it is likely to 

 be of practical use. The research station is at Glasterberry, Mill- 

 timber, Aberdeen. The Association has a strong list of names of 

 patrons, office-bearers and members of the executive committee, 

 and the director of research is Mr. Thomas Jamieson, of Aber- 

 deen, under whose able administration some excellent work has 

 been carried out and many most valuable results have been made 

 public. From the report of the Association for the year 1900 

 it appears that experiments have at various times been conducted 

 on the comparative values of finely ground and soluble phos- 

 phates, on the aperture in root hairs, on the relative values of 

 different forms of nitrogenous, phosphatic and potash manures, 

 on the cause of finger and toe disease in turnips, on the charac- 

 ters of roots of grasses and clovers, on the permanence of rye 

 grass, and other subjects. Among the more recent inquiries has 



NO. 1643, VOL. 63] 



been a most carefully conducted set of experiments demonstrating 

 that natural cross-fertilisation of oats leads to larger and more 

 productive crops without extra outlay. It is proposed to extend 

 the experiments to other crops in view of the decisive results 

 obtained with oats. The Association is dependent on the sub- 

 scriptions of landowners and farmers, and although the latter 

 take the greatest personal interest in the work, the amount of 

 the subscriptions has been insufficient to meet the necessary 

 expenditure, and the director has in consequence had to meet 

 the deficiency incurred during last year's work. In view of 

 the practical value, to say nothing of the scientific importance, 

 of the resuUs hitherto achieved, it is to be hoped that the appeal 

 of the committee for a further measure of support will meet with 

 that response on the part of the landowners which the work of 

 the Association most certainly merits. 



The Easter party is now at work at the Port Erin Biological 

 Station. The curator, Mr. H. C. Chad wick, who has recently 

 been for a couple of weeks at the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries 

 Hatchery, making himself acquainted with the methods em- 

 ployed there, has now returned to Port Erin, and Prof. Herdman 

 is there with a party of students. Dr. O. V. Darbishire, from 

 Owens College, occupies a table and is at work on his forth- 

 coming L.M.B.C. memoir on Gigartina ; Miss Thornely, of 

 Liverpool, is examining Polyzoa, and there are three senior 

 students from the zoological department of Owens College at 

 work. Other naturalists are expected during the latter part of 

 this month. The boisterous weather of late has prevented much 

 work at sea, but several shore collecting expeditions have taken 

 place, and arrangements have been made for a steam-trawler 

 lor dredging. . This is a late season amongst marine animals in 

 the Irish Sea, probably on account of the recent cold weather. 

 The fish spawning is not so far advanced as is usual at this 

 time, and sedentary colonial animals, like compound ascidians, 

 on the shore seem to be less abundant and smaller than usual. 

 In the tanks of the Aquarium several common shore invertebrates 

 are now spawning ; Ephyra; made their appearance in swarms 

 during the greater part of March ; Porania pulvillus, obtained 

 on dredging expeditions from deep water, has established itself 

 and is living healthily ; while several of the large wooden tanks 

 contain crops of self-planted algae and other small organisms, 

 and support a varied fauna without change of water and with 

 very little attention. 



We learn from Science that the following grants from the 

 Gould Fund have recently been made : — -to Mr. John A. Park- 

 hurst, 30 dollars ; to Dr. Herman S. Davis, 500 dollars ; to 

 Mr, Paul S. Yendell, 225 dollars ; to Prof. Simon Newcomb, 

 25 dollars. A considerable additional amount of income has 

 accrued, for the distribution of which applications are awaited. 

 These applications may be made by letter to any of the directors, 

 stating the amount desired, the nature of the proposed investi- 

 gation, and the manner in which the money is to be expended. 

 The directors, desiring to stimulate the participation of American 

 astronomers in the attempt to bring up the arrears of cometary 

 research, offer to them the sum of 500 dollars for computation 

 of the " definitive " orbits of comets, this sum to be distributed 

 at the average rate of 100 dollars for each computation — the 

 amount to vary according to the relative difficulty of the com- 

 putation, and to be determined by the directors of the Gould 

 Fund. Computers should promptly notify the directors of their 

 participation or desire to participate, and manuscripts should 

 be submitted not later than July i, 1902. 



Apropos of the red rains of African dust which have recently 

 excited considerable attention in the south of Italy, Dr. H. R. 

 Mill, the editor ol Sytnons's Meteorological Magazinie, directs 

 attention, in the issue for the current month, to a blood-rain 

 plant which has invaded the large evaporation tank at Camden 



