270 



NATURE 



[June 6, 191 8 



The Geological Society of France has awarded this 

 year's Gaudry medal to Prof. H. F. Osborn, of the 

 American Museum of Natural History. 



The family of the late Dr. George J. Hinde has 

 presented to the Geological Department of the British 

 Museum (Natural History) his collection of fossils, 

 with numerous microscopic preparations illustrating his 

 researches on radiolaria, sponges, and other small 

 organisms. Most of the fossils were collected by Dr. 

 Hinde himself from the Palaeozoic formations of 

 Canada, the United States, and Sweden. 



The Wilbur Wright memorial lecture of the Aero- 

 nautical Society will be delivered in the Central Hall, 

 Westminster, on Tuesday, June 25, at 8 o'clock, by 

 Prof. W. F. Durand, chairman of the American 

 Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Scientific Attache 

 to the American Aviation Mission in Europe, and pro- 

 fessor of mechanical engineering, Stanford University, 

 U.S.A. The subject will be "Some Outstanding 

 Problems in Aeronautics." 



The second reading of the Coinage (Decimal 

 System) Bill was moved by Lord Southward in the 

 House of Lords on Tuesday, June 4. Lord Lever- 

 hulme opposed the motion, though he was not against 

 the principle of decimal coinage. He objected to 

 making the sovereign the unit and dividing it into 

 one thousand parts, and he thought that a British 

 decimal system of coinage should be based upon the 

 halfpenny. After discussion, the debate was adjourned 

 on the understanding that the Government will insti- 

 tute an inquiry into the whole question of decimal 

 coinage, including the proposals contained in Lord 

 Southwark's Bill. 



We learn from Science that Dr. Ferdinand Braun, 

 who shared the Nobel prize in 1909 with Mr. Marconi 

 for distinguished achievements in the invention of 

 improved methods of wireless telegraphy, died on 

 April 14 at a Brooklyn hospital. Dr. Braun was born 

 in Fulda, Germany, in 1850, and was professor of 

 physics in the University of Strassburg, when he went 

 to the United States in 19 14 as a witness in litigation 

 between the Marconi Wireless Co. and the German 

 company which built and operated the wireless station 

 at Sayville, L. L 



A MYSTERIOUS epidemic has made its appearance in 

 Madrid, and is stated already to have claimed more 

 than 100,000 victims. In offices, factories, and schools 

 some 30 to 40 per cent, of the inmates have been 

 attacked, and all classes of the community are affected. 

 The disease commences suddenly with severe head- 

 ache, followed by high fever, throat irritation, some 

 bronchitis, muscular and joint pains, gastric disturb- 

 ance, and depression and debility ; these symptoms last 

 for three to four days, and then convalescence com- 

 mences. At first the disease was quite benign, but 

 now is fatal to a certain proportion of debilitated sub- 

 jects. According to a correspondent of the Times, 

 there were more than 700 fatal cases in the' ten days 

 ending June 2. The disease in many respects 

 resembles influenza, but the influenza bacillus has not 

 been found. A meningococcus-like microbe, termed a 

 para-meningococcus, has been isolated. 



The Inter-Allied Scientific Food Commission, which 

 has met in Paris and Rome, is now holding a meeting 

 in London. The Commission consists of two scientific 

 delegates from each of the four countries — America, 

 England, France, and Italy — and one from Belgium. 

 The object of the Commission is to consider all ques- 

 tions affecting the supply of food to the various Allied 



NO. 2536, VOL. lOl] 



countries, in agreement with the Allied Food Execu- 

 tives (which determine the division of food among the 

 Allies), and to make what recommendations it thinks 

 advisable to the respective Governments. At the first 

 two meetings certain physiological principles were 

 established, such as the amount of food necessary for 

 each man, and, .^s a result, the amount of food neces- 

 sary for each country. The question with which the 

 Commission is now concerned is the rnaking of a 

 census of the production of foodstuffs in each country. 

 The members of the Commission will attend the 

 meeting of the Royal Society to be held to-day, when 

 it is hoped that as many fellows as possible will be 

 present to meet them. 



The Food Investigation Board of the Department of 

 Scientific and Industrial Research has appointed a 

 committee to inquire into the present methods of 

 freezing, storing, and preserving fish, and to conduct 

 experimeiits directed towards the improvement of 

 existing methods. The constitution of the committee 

 is as follows : — Mr. H. G. Maurice (chairman). Board 

 of Agriculture and Fisheries ; Prof. W. M. I3ayliss, 

 professor of physiology. University of London ; Prof. 

 J. Stanley Gardiner, professor of zoology, Cambridge; 

 Mr. Crawford Heron, Swansea ; Prof. F. Gowland 

 Hopkins, professor of biochemistry, Cambridge ; Mr. 

 W. J. Howard, Ministry of Food; Mr. Douglas John- 

 stone, Ministry of Food ; Staff Paymaster Jones, 

 Fishery Board for Scotland; Prof. J. C. McLennan, 

 professor of physics. University of Toronto ; Prof. 

 G. H. F. Nuttall, Quick professor biology, Cambridge; 

 Sir Thomas Robinson, Grimsby; ex-Provost Malcolm 

 Smith, Fishery Board for Scotland ; Mr. J. M. Tabor, 

 Peninsular House, E.C.3 ; Mr. H. J. Ward, Dartford 

 Iron Works, Kent; and Mr. E. Warner, National 

 Fish, Poultry, Game, and Rabbit Association, 

 Leicester, with Capt. L. H. James as secretary. All 

 communications intended for the committee should be 

 addressed to the Secretary, Fish Preservation Com- 

 mittee, at 43 Parliament Street, London, S.W.i. 



The sixteenth annual meeting of the South African 

 Association for the Advancement of Science will be 

 held in Johannesburg on July 8-13, under the presidency 

 of Dr. C. F. Juritz. The presidents of the sectional 

 committees will be as follows : — Section A, Astronomy, 

 Mathematics, Physics, Meteorology, Geodesy, Survey- 

 ing, Engineering, Architecture, and Irrigation : Prof. 

 J. T. Morrison. Section B, Chemistry, Geology, 

 Metallurgy, Mineralogy, and Geography : Dr. P. A. 

 Wagner. Section C, Botany, Bacteriology, Agricul- 

 ture, and Forestry : Mr. C. E. Legat. Section D, 

 Zoology, Physiology, Hygiene, and Sanitary Science : 

 Prof. E. J. Goddard." Section E, Anthropology, 

 Ethnology, Native Education, Philology, and Native 

 Sociology : Rev. W. A. Norton. Section F, Educa- 

 tion, History, Mental Science, Political Economy, 

 General Sociology, and Statistics : Prof. T. M. 

 Forsyth. 



As is well known, German dirigibles are equipped 

 with wireless, but there has always been a certain 

 amount of speculation as to .how the scarcely per- 

 ceptible signals can be heard in the midst of the noise 

 due to the motors and the displacement of the air. 

 According to a German technical publication (quoted 

 in La Nature, May 25), a special method is in use. 

 The high-frequency oscillations of the receiving station 

 act on an Einthoven galvanometer. The plant recalls 

 the prismatic sight. Underneath is a small electric 

 lamp, the light of which falls on a narrow slit, 

 ordinarily covered by the galvanometer string. The 

 string is in an intense magnetic field. When the 

 receiving current passes, the string deviates, thus 



