May 9, 1918] 



NATURE 



189 



losses, and unless there is a large increase in the 

 number of beneficial birds there is always the possi- 

 bility of their gaining the ascendancy and causing 

 widespread destruction to our home-grown food sup- 

 plies. At a time like the present, when every acre 

 of food is almost priceless to the country, our agri- 

 cultural, gardening, and allotment societies and asso- 

 ciations might do much to conserve a highly beneficial 

 factor in successful production the importance of 

 which it would be difficult to over-estimate. 



By the death of Dr. Joseph Deniker on March i8, 

 France has lost one of her most distinguished anthro- 

 pologists. Dr. Deniker, who was in his sixty-seventh 

 year, was born in Russia, and commenced his 

 student's career in Petrograd. Later he went to Paris 

 as a student of anthropology, where his special 

 abilities were quickly recognised, and he was given 

 a permanent place in the school of his adoption. The 

 research which he published in 1885 on "The Anatomy 

 and Embrvologv of the Anthropoid Apes " is an 

 example of how investigations of that kind should 

 be made. He is best known for the work he did 

 relating to the classification of human races. From 

 1880 until his death Dr. Deniker gathered data 

 from all trustworthy sources relating to the 

 physical characters of inhabitants of every quarter 

 of' the globe, with the view of building up a 

 natural classification of human races. There are 

 few peoples he had not investigated personally. Some 

 of the results of that labour can be seen in "The 

 Races of Man," which he wrote for the Contem- 

 porary Scientific Series in 1900. He focussed his at- 

 tention particularly on the races of Europe, and his 

 various publications dealing with the racial types and 

 the distribution of these types amongst the various 

 nationalities of Europe constitute the most trust- 

 worthy sources of information concerning the ethno- 

 logy o'f modern Europe. Dr. Deniker also made con- 

 tributions to our knowledge of the cultural side of 

 anthropology. He held the post of chief librarian to 

 the Natural' History Museum in Paris, and did much 

 for the bibliography of scientific literature. He acted 

 as secretary for France in the compilation of the Inter- 

 national Catalogue of Scientific Literature. In 1895 

 the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Bntam 

 and Ireland made Dr. Deniker an honorary fellow, 

 and ten vears later invited him to give the Huxley 

 memorial' lecture— the highest honour at its disposal. 



At a general meeting of the members of the Royal 

 Institution held on May 6, the following vice-presi- 

 dents were elected :— Dr. H. E. Armstrong, Sir Wm. 

 Phipson Beale, Bart., the Hon. R. C. Parsons, the 

 Rt. Hon. Lord Wrenburv, the Rt. Hon. Lord 

 Rothschild. Sir James Crich ton-Browne (treasurer), 

 and Col. E. H. Hills (secretary). 



We learn from the British Medical Journal that the 

 Institute of France has decided to award the Osiris 

 prize this year. The prize is of the value of 4000L, 

 and was founded for the recognition of the most im- 

 portant discovery or work in science, letters, arts, 

 industries, or generally anything for the public benefit. 

 It has been held in abeyance since the beginning of 

 the war. 



An informal meeting of the fellows of the Chemical 

 Society will be held at Burlington House on Thursday, 

 May 16, after the conclusion of the business of the 

 ordinary scientific meeting. Messrs. Adam Hilger, 

 Ltd., will give a demonstration of their method of 

 determining the best temperature at which to anneal 

 glass, and specimens of apparatus will be exhibited 

 by the Dunlop Rubber Co., Messrs. Fuerst Bros., 

 Townson and Mercer, Ltd., and the Scientific Supplies 

 Co. 



NO. 2532, VOL. lOl] 



The Iron and Steel Institute has awarded lool. 

 from the Carnegie Research Fund to Mr. G. Patchin 

 to enable him to pursue research on " Semi-Steel and 

 its Heat Treatment"; to Mr. J. N. Kilby for research 

 work on "The Basic Open-hearth Process of Steel- 

 making in all its Branches"; to Mr. S. L. Hoyt for 

 the study of "The Foreign Inclusions in Steel, their 

 Occurrence and Identification"; and to Mr. J. A. 

 Vanden Brock for research work on "The Elastic 

 Properties of Steel and Alloys." 



The inaugural meeting of the Gilbert White Fellow- 

 ship was held on Saturday, April 20. Resolutions 

 pioposing the formation of the fellowship and the 

 adoption of its rules were proposed and carried 

 unanimously. Then followed the election of Dr. 

 William Martin as the first president. The list of 

 vice-presidents includes the names of Mr. E. W. 

 Holmes, Mr. W. H. Mullens, Sir David Prain, Prof. 

 G. S. Boulger, Miss Gulielma Lister, Mr. A. W. Oke, 

 and Miss Willmott. The honorary secretary is Mr. 

 W. M. Dunton, 18 Crockerton Road, S.W.17. 



The council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 

 has awarded the Keith and Neill prizes as follows : — 

 (i) The Keith prize to Mr. R. C. Mossman for his 

 work on the meteorology of the Antarctic regions, 

 which originated with the important series of observa- 

 tions made by him during the voyage of the Scotia 

 (1902-4), and has continued to the present time; 

 (2) the Neill prize to Prof. W. H. Lang for his paper, 

 in conjunction with Dr. R. Kidston, on Rhynia 

 Gwynne-Vaughani, Kidston and Lang, published in 

 the Transactions of the society, and for his previous 

 investigations on Pteridophytes and Cycads. 



At the annual general meeting of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers held on April 23, Sir John A. F. 

 Aspinall was elected president for the year 1918-19. 

 The council of the institution has made the following 

 awards for papers read and discussed during the 

 session 19 17-18 : — ^Telford gold medals to Sir Robert 

 R. Gales (India) and Mr. E. Sandeman (London); 

 George Stephenson gold medals to the Hon. Sir 

 Francis J. E. Spring and Mr. H. H. G. Mitchell 

 (Madras) ; and Telford premiums to Mr. W. L. Lowe 

 Brown (London), Mr. G. Blake Walker (Barnsley), 

 and Mr. Alwyne Meade (Blackheath). Indian pre- 

 miums also have been awarded to Sir Robert Gales 

 and Sir Francis Spring. 



The Secretary of State for the Colonies has ap- 

 pointed a Committee to inquire into and report upon 

 matters relating to research and development in the 

 dependencies of the Falkland Islands, which include 

 South Georgia, the South Shetlands, and Graham 

 Land, with a view to the preservation of the existing 

 whaling industry and the investigation of the economic 

 and scientific possibilities of those regions. The 

 members of the Committee are as follows : — Mr. P. C. 

 Lyon, Department of Scientific and Industrial Re- 

 search (chairman); Mr. J. O. Borley, Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries; Mr. E. R. Darnley, 

 Colonial Office; Dr S. F. Harmer, British Museum 

 (Natural History), and Capt. C. V. Smith, R.N., 

 Admiralty. Communications may be addressed to 

 the secretary, Mr. H. T, Allen, Colonial Office, 

 Downing Street, S.W.i, 



The Government is offering an award of 2000/. to 

 the first person or persons who can obtain on or before 

 August I next a fuel-oil deemed by the authorities 

 to be suitable for Admiralty use by admixture of de- 

 hydrated coal-tar with mineral petroleum oils. The 

 rriineral petroleum oils to be employed must be in 

 accordance with the Admiralty specifications for fuel- 



