NATURE 



[March 7, 1918 



W. E. Adeney, made an extensive survey of the 

 more important estuaries around the British 

 coasts, in order to obtain data on the question of 

 standards for tidal waters in relation to offensive 

 putrefaction and injury to fish. The results of 

 this inquiry, together with much other rekvant 

 matter, were published in 1908 as an appendix to 

 the Fifth Report of the Commission, and form a 

 document of first importance, which has become 

 classic in this branch of work. As the recogfnised 

 authority on estuarine pollution. Prof. Letts took 

 part in many Local Government Board inquiries 

 and leg^al proceedings connected with his subject. 



NOTES. 

 The following fifteen candidates have been selected 

 by the council of the Royal Society to be recommended 

 for election into the society :- -Charles Bolton, Henry 

 C. H. Carpenter, Thomas A. Chapman, Gerald P. L'. 

 Convngham, C. Clifford Dobell, Ernest Gold, Henrv 

 B. Guppy, Albert G. Hadcock, Archibald V. Hill, 

 Jam^es C. Irvine, Thomas Lewis, Srinivasa Ramanu- 

 jan, Arthur W. Rogers, Samuel Smiles, and Frank E. 

 Smith. 



The meeting of the British Association, which it 

 was hoped would be held in Cardiff this year, has been 

 cancelled. The Local Committee has reluctantlv de- 

 cided that satisfactory arrangements could not be made 

 to ensure success for the meeting, and has sent a 

 resolution to that effect to the council of the associa- 

 tion. The council has accepted this view, so that for 

 two }ears in succession the annual assembly of workers 

 in all departments of science will not take place. Sir 

 Arthur Evans has consented to occupy the ofbce of 

 president for another year, and there will be a slatutor\- 

 meeting in London on July 5 to receive reports of com- 

 mittees and transact other business, but otherwise the 

 corporate life of the association will continue in a 

 state of suspended animation, though there never has 

 been a more favourable time than now to make the 

 nation realise the debt it owes to science for the suc- 

 cessful conduct of the war and the need for unceasing 

 scientific activity to prepare for the industrial struggle 

 which the future must bring. 



For the last three years the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh has adopted a new method for electing new 

 fellows. The date of election is the first Monday of 

 March of each year, and all candidates recommended 

 by fellows must have their forms of recommendation 

 sent in before the end of the preceding November. 

 Since ithis improved method was adopted the general 

 interest in the election has greatly increased, the num- 

 ber of new fellows each }ear varying from sixteen 

 to twenty-one. At the meeting held on March 4 the 

 following were elected fellows of the society :— D Bal- 

 sillie, F. J. Blight, A. Bremner, J. M.Cam'pbell, A. S. 

 Dodd, T. L. Galloway, W. F. Gray, P. S. Hardie 

 J. R. L. Kingon, G. J. Lidstone, J. D. McCulloch! 

 W. Mackie, W. P. Paterson, G. W. Tyrrell C 

 Whyte, and J. T. Wight. ' ' 



The King has given orders for the appointment of 

 Surgeon-General Sir Alfred Keogh, G.C.B., to the 

 Order of the Companions of Honour for services in 

 connection with the war. 



We regret to see the announcement in the Morninp 

 Post that Prof. P. Blaserna, Vice-President of the 

 Senate, and professor of experimental physics in the 

 Lniversity of Rome, died on February abV at eigbtv- 

 two years of age. . ' " 



NO. 



2523, VOL. lOl] 



C.M'T. J. C. .M( Walter, of Dublin, has been awarded 

 the ( ■arniichacl prize of the Royal College of .Surgeons 



in Ireland, value joo/., fo;- an cssa)- on lln' state of 



The triennial flenr\ Saxon Snell prize of the Royal 

 Sanitary Institute, consisting of a medal and the sum 

 of fifty guineas, will be awarded this year for an essay 

 on ".Suggestions for Improvements in Ai)pai-atLis and 

 Appliances for Dealing with House Refuse." 



The fourth (;uthri(> Lecture of the Physical Society 

 of I^ondon will he delivered at 5 p.m. on Friday,. 

 March 22, at the Imperial College of Science, South 

 Kensinglon, i)\- Prof. J. C. McLennan, of the I'niver- 

 sit\- of Torontc. 'J'be subject will he --The Origin of 

 Spectra." 



It is stat<Hi in ihe I'iDics that Capt. Roald Amund- 

 sen intends to leave Norway this summer in his new 

 Arctic vessel Maud, which has been specially built for 

 his attempt to reach the North Pole. The vessel is 

 provisioned and fitted out for a seven years' stay in the 

 ice, but Capt. Amundsen hopes to be back again 

 within four years. 



We learn that last \car the Imperial Museum of 

 Natural History in Vienna began a new series of 

 publications, the Denkschriften, to include larger 

 works needing more extensive illustration than could 

 be attempted in the well-known Annalen. The first 

 voluine is an important monograph by Dr. G. 

 Schlesinger on the remains of Mastodon in the Vienna 

 Museum, illustrated by thirty-five plates. 



The Geological Department of the British Museum 

 (Natural History) has received as a gift from Mr- 

 S. L. Wood two portions of Ichthyosaurus showini^ 

 the skin and other soft parts, from the Lias of 

 Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire. The skin of th( 

 paddle seems to have been ornamented with rosette- 

 of dark spots. Among the stomach contents are hook- 

 lets from the arms of cuttle-fishes which ha\e been 

 eaten. 



TiiK following orilcers and council of the Geological 

 .Soci<-ly have been elected for the ensuing 3'ear : — 

 President, G. W„ Lamplugh ; Vice-Presidents, R. M. 

 Deeley, Dr. A. Marker, Prof. W. J. Sollas, and Sir 

 J. J. H. Teall ; Secretaries, Dr. H. H. Thomas and 

 Dr. H. Lapworth ; Foreign Secretary, Sir Archibald 

 Geikie; Treasurer, Dr. J. V. Elsden ; Other Members 

 of CotmcU, Dr. C. W. Andrews, Dr. F. A. Bather, 

 Prof. J. Cadman, Dr. A. M. Davies, Prof. E. J. Gar- 

 wood, J. F. N. Green, Dr. F. L. Kitchin, Major H. G. 

 Lyons, Prof. J. E. Marr, R. D. Oldham, R. H. Ras- 

 tall, Prof. H. H. Swinnerton, S. H. Warren, and Prof. 

 W. W. Watts. 



The officers and members of council of the Institute 

 of Chemistry for the ensuing year have been elected as 

 follows: — President, Sir Herbert Jackson; Vice-Presi- 

 dents, H. Ballantyne, W. T. Burgess, C. F. Cross, 

 Sir J. J. Dobbie," Dr. A. Harden, and Sir Robert 

 Robertson; Hon. Treasurer, A. G. Salamon ; Members 

 of Council, E. C. C. Balv, C. O. Bannister, Dr. O. L. 

 Brady, H. C. H. Candv, A. C. Chapman, C. H. Cribb, 

 Dr. J. T. Dunn, E. M. Hawkins, Dr. G. G. Hender- 

 son, P. H. Kirkaldv, H. G. Lacell, Dr. A. Lauder, 

 J. H. Lester, F. J. Lloyd, W. Macnab, Prof. G. T. 

 Morgan, D. Northall-Laurie, G. H. Perrv, F. M. 

 Potter, W. Rintoul, H. Silvester, G. Stubbs,' Dr J F 

 Thorpe, T. Tickle, L. E. Vlies, E. White, andW. M. G. 

 Young. 



An .extension of the Fourth Northern General 

 Hospital at Lincoln was opened on March i hv 



