lO 



NATURE 



[September 6, 19 17 



2i,428Z. IIS. 6d. Further donations can be sent to the 

 honorary treasurers, Lord Glenconner and Prof. Collie, 

 at University College, London (Gower Street, W.C.i). 



The Martell scholarship of the Institution of Naval 

 Architects, which is of the annual value of looi. and, 

 subject to the regulations, tenable for three years, has 

 been awarded to Mr. H. C. Carey, of Chatham Dock- 

 yard. The Earl of Durham prize of the same institu- 

 tion has been awarded to Mr. H. D. Leggett, of Ports- 

 mouth Dockyard. 



We learn from the Scientific American that a series 

 of handbooks is to be published by the U.S. Geological 

 Survey giving for the various military divisions of the 

 country, in a compact form, information relating to 

 their physical features, leading industries, transporta- 

 tion lines, and other matters of interest to the Army. 

 The preparation and editing of the volumes have been 

 entrusted to the committee on physiography of the 

 U.S. Geological Survey. 



According to a report in L'Echo du Commerce for 

 August 18, certain tests which were made some time 

 ago with a view to the use of fuel made from olive 

 residues gave such satisfactory results that the 

 Tunisian Government, which has already comrtienced 

 manufacturing the fuel in the form of briquettes, is 

 about to increase its production. A tramway company 

 and other important firms will use this fuel in their 

 electric power stations. 



We regret to learn that 2nd Lieut. H. L. Foster, of 

 the Royal West Kent Regiment, was killed on June 7. 

 Mr. Foster was the son of the most distinguished hor- 

 ticulturist of his time, the late Mr. Charles Foster, 

 who was for some years the head of the Horticultural 

 Department of University College, Reading. He was 

 educated at the Reaching Collegiate School, and under- 

 went the horticultural training at the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society School at Wisley. He was appointed 

 assistant horticultural instructor under the Kent Educa- 

 tion Committee, 1913, an appointment which he held 

 until September, 1914, when he joined his Majesty's 

 Forces. He obtained a commission in 19 16, after 

 having been severely wounded at the battle of Loos. 

 Although still young, Mr. Foster proved himself one 

 of the most promising of the younger horticulturists, 

 and his death is a severe loss to the world of horticul- 

 ture. 



Dr. J. R. Tosh, lately assistant professor and lec- 

 turer on zoology in St. Andrews University, has fallen 

 (July) in Mesopotamia from "heat-stroke," when gal- 

 lantly doing his duty. Dr. Tosh was a distinguished 

 student, and after graduating in arts devoted himself, 

 as became one in touch with the Dundee Museum 

 from boyhood, to zoology. He carried out, very early 

 in his career, fisheries' work at the old St. Andrews 

 Marine Laboratory, and further developed a great apti- 

 tude for teaching. He then became a science teacher 

 in schools, and carried out various researches, such as 

 the investigation on the salmon of the Tweed, for the 

 Fishery Board, making at the same time a collection 

 of its parasites for a subsequent notice. He also 

 studied the development, life-history, and economic 

 aspects of_ the pearl shells. Later he was ap- 

 pomted marine zoologist to the Queensland Government, 

 with special reference to the pearling industry, and he 

 did much good work on Thursday Island. When he 

 returned in ,1905 he was made assistant professor and 

 lecturer in his alma mater, and ably performed for 

 nine years the duties as a popular demonstrator, 

 skilled in all the modern technique and a great favourite 

 with the students. He returned again to Australia to 

 develop the pearling industry on lines of his own, 

 NO. 2497, VOL. 100] 



coming home just as the war broke out to form a 

 company on the basis he had outlined, but the absorb- 

 ing interest in the war arrested progress. He then 

 joined the field forces, and was suddenly cut off as 

 mentioned, to the loss of science and the pearling 

 industry. 



Mr. Donald Maclennan, whose death was an- 

 nounced in Nature of August 30, laid the foundation 

 of a very profound knowledge of the shorthorn and 

 other breeds in the Black Isle district of Ross-shire. 

 Failing to make both ends meet in his native land, he 

 emigrated in 1871 to the Argentine. Having made a 

 small fortune as a stockman, he decided in 1881 to 

 return' to Scotland, with the view of paying off his 

 debts and thereafter devoting his life to improving the 

 hitherto neglected native Argentine cattle. About 1867 

 steps were taken to raise the standard of the scrub 

 cattle of Texas, Colorado, and other North American 

 States, with the result that for some twenty years 

 the breeding of improved types of cattle was a great 

 industry in the south-western and western States of 

 the Union. But in course of time cattle ranges prac- 

 tically disappeared in North America. Thanks largely 

 to Maclennan, as cattle ranges disappeared in the 

 United States, improved breeds of cattle made their 

 appearance in the Argentine. But for this the supply 

 of sufficient meat for the Army in France and for 

 home consumption would have been extremely difficult. 

 In July the wholesale price of the best class of Argen- 

 tine beef was 3^d. per lb., i.e. i^d. less than in New 

 South Wales. Maclennan thoroughly realised the 

 kind of animals required to improve the descendants 

 of the cattle originally introduced into South America 

 by the Spaniards. He trusted more to make and per- 

 formance than pedigree, and being extremely con- 

 scientious, he was trusted by the Argentine breeders, 

 and so completely gained the respect and admiration 

 of British stockmen and others he had dealings with 

 that at a memorable gathering at Perth in 1914 Lord 

 Lovat, in the name of his many friends, presented him 

 with his portrait. 



Few Augusts of recent years have been so un- 

 summer-like as the month which has just closed, and 

 the weather conditions were almost continuously rainy 

 and cool, whilst the winds have been stormy, amount- 

 ing at times to the full force of a gale. During the 

 latter half of the month cyclonic disturbances traversed 

 Great Britain almost daily, the wind incessantly back- 

 ing and veering through south and west. At South 

 Kensington, the observing station of the; Meteoro- 

 logical Office, the highest temperatures observed 

 throughout the month were 77° on August 23 and 75° 

 on August 7. On some days towards the close of the 

 month the thermometer at the health resorts failed to 

 touch 60°, even at Hastings, Falmouth, and Bourne- 

 mouth. The Times of August 31 and September 3 

 gives an account of a dull and wet August. It states 

 that the month had an excessive rainfall over the whole 

 country, the rain measurements being almost as heavy 

 as in 1912, the wettest August on record. In many 

 parts of England and Ireland the aggregate rainfall for 

 the month amounted to more than double, and at some 

 places in the west to nearly three times, the average. 

 At the headquarters of the British Rainfall Organisa- 

 tion in Camden Square the total of 3-99 in. was not so 

 large as in the August of last year, but at Kew Ob- 

 servatory the total of 408 in. was larger than in any 

 August since 1912, or, with that exception, since 1881. 

 At Wandsworth Common the total of 466 in. was more 

 than double the average, and was larger than anything 

 recorded since 19 12, although it was not quite so large 

 as in the August of 1903. The highest temperatures 

 are said to have occurred in Scotland and the north 

 of England, where at the close of the first week the ther- 



