October 4, 191 7] 



NATURE 



8q 



Mr. Laufer has very kindly sent to me, but none 

 considers that the ware itself can be called porce- 

 lainic. 



Laufer also has a section entitled " Historical 

 Notes on Kaolin," and he shows that no real 

 onclusion as to the orig-in of Chinese porcelain 

 an be drawn from a consideration of the history 

 of kaolin. It might be added that similar remarks 

 apply to the manufacture of porcelain in Europe, 

 for, contrary to the general belief, it can be 

 proved that the required white-burning clay 

 was a well-known article of commerce in Europe 

 L long before the method of making porcelain was 

 i developed by Bottger early in the eighteenth cen- 

 tury. The Chinese appear to have adopted glazing 

 near the beginning of the Christian era, and Laufer 

 accepts Hobson's conclusion that the idea of 

 glazing pottery was derived directly from the 

 West, by contact with the Hellenistic world, in 

 comparatively late historical times. Although 

 a knowledge of glazing was necessary before the 

 Chinese could manufacture porcelain ware, yet 

 in this achievement " the creative genius of the 

 Chinese was not guided by outside influences, but 

 relied on its own powerful resources." 



J. W. Mellor. 



NOTES. 



An exhibition of medical war specimens wi!! be 

 opened in the museum of th^ Royal College of Sur- 



f!ons of England, Lincoln's Inn Fields, by Sir Alfred 

 eogh, G.C.B., Director-General of the Aimy Medical 

 Service, on Thursday, October ii, at 3 p.m. The 

 greater part of the exhibition is devoted to sfjecimens 

 collected by officers of the R..\.M.C. during the present 

 war, but there are also representations of the wounds 

 and injuries of former wars, borrowed from the 

 museums of the College of Surgeons, of the .\rmy 

 Medical College, Millbank, of St. Thomas's Hospital, 

 and of University College Hospital. The specimens 

 have been prepared and arranged by the members of 

 the museum staff of the college. At the same time, the 

 honorary fellowship of the college is to be presented to 

 Sir .Alfred Keogh. 



A NATIONAL institute is to be established in Italy 

 having for its objects the investigation of the relations 

 between malaria and agriculture, the studv of the 

 direct and indirect causes of the unhealthiness of mala- 

 rial districts, and the organisation of a campaign 

 against those causes. 



We note from Engineering for September 28 that 

 the operation of lifting into place the central span of 

 the new Quebec Bridge was completed successfully on 

 Thursday last, September 27. The work was com- 

 menced on Tuesday, and extended over three days. 

 The weight of the span is about 5000 tons, and the 

 height of lift 150 ft. 



The council of the Chemical Society announces that 

 three lectures are to be given at the ordinary scientific 

 meetings during the forthcoming session as follow* : — 

 December 6, "The Relation between Chemical Con- 

 stitution and Physiological Action," Dr. F. L. Pyman ; 

 February 21, 1918, "Recent Studies on Active Nitro- 

 gen," Prof, the Hon. R. J. Strutt; April 18, the 

 Hugo Miiller lecture, entitled "The Old and the New 

 Mineralogy," Sir Henry A. Miers. It is also hoped 

 to announce at a later date that Dr. Horace T. Brown 



NO. 2501, VOL. 100] 



will deliver the lecture entitled 'The Principles of 

 Diffusion : their Analogies and .Applications," which 

 was unavoidably postponed last session. .Arrangements 

 have also been made for informal meetings to be held 

 on November 15, March 21, and May 16. 



We learn from the Secretary, the journal of the 

 Chartered Institute of Secretaries, that a question- 

 naire was recently circulated among members of the 

 institute in order to obtain opinions as to the desir- 

 ability of adopting a decimal system in place of the 

 present British coinage, and the substitution of the 

 metric system for the existing Cnited Kingdom 

 weights and measures. Of those who replied, 85 per 

 cent, favoured a clumge to a decimal system of coin- 

 age as likely to be beneficial to the business in which 

 they were engaged ; and of the replies which expressed 

 a preference, 66 per cent, favoured a ;£r basis of 

 coinage rather than an "Imperial crown" or dollar 

 basis. To an inquiry as to whether overseas business 

 was hindered by the use of the present British coinage 

 50 per cent, of the replies indicated that this business 

 was not so hindered ; while in 64 per cent, of the 

 replies a decimal system has been found of service 

 for internal purposes in the business. In the case of 

 weights and measures, 86 per cent, of the replies 

 favoured a change to the metric system, and 53 per' 

 cent, of these had already adopted the change. Im- 

 proved and extended business relations with traders 

 in other countries were reported in 75 p>er cent, of the 

 replies favouring the change. In 61 per cent, the busi- 

 r^ess is stated to be hindered by the use of British 

 weights and measures. 



The jubilee of the Albert Institute of Literature, 

 Science, and Art, Dundee, was commemorated on 

 September 20. It took its origin from the desire to 

 perpetuate the memor\' of the Prince Consort by erect- 

 ing a building devoted to the furtherance of the sub- 

 jects which had occupied so much of his attention. 

 The movement began in 1863, and the Town Council, 

 when giving ground for the building, stipulated that 

 accommodation should be provided within the struc- 

 ture for a free public library, in the event of Dundee 

 adopting the Library .\ct. 'The .Albert Institute was 

 designed by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, and was opened in 

 September, 1867, when the British Association occupied 

 the Albert Hall in the building, and th<' public library 

 was begun. An additional building was erected in 

 1872 as a museum and picture gallery, and ultimately 

 the whole structure was handed over to the com- 

 munity. The story of this institute is one of continual 

 progress. Large additions were made to the museum 

 in 1887, arid a separate technological museum w is 

 established in 1900. The libraries now consist of cv 

 tral lending and reference libraries, six branch librarii -, 

 partly paid for during the past ten years bv .Mr. 

 Andrew Carnegie, two museums, two sculpture gal- 

 leries, and six picture galleries. The donations to these 

 departments in buildings, books, specimens, and pic- 

 tures amount to more than i6o,oooi., given by citizens 

 and by .Mr. Carnegie. M present the libraries contain 

 170,000 volumes, and the annual issue is about 420,0(^1 

 vcJumes. The museums have departments for natural 

 history, ethnography, geology, and technology. The 

 picture galleries contain representative works by emin- 

 ent modern artists. .At the commemoration addresses 

 were delivered by Principal Sir John Herkless, Dr. 

 Hew Morrison, Bailie Martin, Dr. John Ross, Mr. 

 -R. F. Martin, and otliers. 



Mr. Rufus D. Pullar, head of the well-known firm 

 of Messrs. J. Pullar and Sons, Perth, whose death in 

 Edinburgh on September 22 we recorded last week, 

 was born in Perth in 186 1, and was the elder son of 

 Sir Robert Pullar. The firm W3s founded in 1820, and 



