336 



NATURE 



[May 



1920 



May 14, at 3 p.m. in the lecture theatre of the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, Great George Street, 

 Westminster. An introductory address will be given 

 by the Marquess of Crewe, who will be chairman of 

 the conference, and it will be followed by papers on 

 "The Relation of Research Associations to Existing 

 Institutions for Research," by Dr. A. W. Crossley, 

 and on "The Staffing of Research Associations: 

 Salaries and Superannuation," by Mr. J. W. 

 Williamson. 



In an article in the Times for May 3 Mrs. Ayrton 

 presents what must appear to be a formidable indict- 

 ment of the War Office for neglect in regard to the 

 use of the anti-gas fan. It is stated not only that 

 there was great difficulty in getting the device con- 

 sidered, but also that, after its efficacy had been 

 demonstrated, its adoption was delayed. Further, it 

 is alleged that the supply of fans was never adequate, 

 that the method of using them was never properly 

 taught, and that to the last less efficacious measures 

 were adopted in preference to the fan. It is suggested 

 that this neglect on the part of the War Office entailed 

 death to numbers and untold suffering to countless 

 others. Many charges of grave neglect have been levelled 

 against the War Office. The present one, however, is 

 peculiar in being a charge, not against the military 

 element, but rather against the experts who were 

 associated with the Gas Service. It is well known 

 that the Anti-Gas Service of the Army was, in the 

 field, in the research laboratory, and on the instruc- 

 tional side, in most of the chief appointments, staffed 

 by well-accredited men of science, and that both at 

 the central laboratory in France and in London com- 

 petent men were keenly on the alert to test and 

 improve defensive measures. In view of this, it 

 appears scarcely likely that Mrs. Ayrton 's allegations 

 will be accepted without question, and it is much to 

 be desired that some plain statement of the facts 

 should come from the men of science whose intel- 

 ligence and humanity are implicity assailed in her 

 article. 



On the occasion of a luncheon given by the Times 

 last week to ' celebrate the first attempt to fly from 

 Cairo to the Cape, Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, who 

 accompanied Capts. S. Cocke rell and F. C. Broome as 

 scientific observer, made some interesting remarks on 

 the value of aviation in scientific exploration. The 

 aviator has an opportunity denied to the explorer on 

 land of seeing the general lie of the country and the 

 broad features of its topography. The view of a large 

 tract of country makes it possible to appreciate and 

 explain features which would be puzzling when seen 

 piecemeal or partially by the surface traveller. This 

 applies particularly in a country such as Africa, where 

 much detailed exploration has been done in places 

 before the broader features are understood. Dr. 

 Chalmers Mitchell believes that geographical and 

 geological exploration will benefit widely by the use 

 of aeroplanes. Another interesting point he empha- 

 sised was the unexpected number of natural aero- 

 dromes which the flight revealed. Several times when 

 the machine was forced to make unexpected descents, 

 suitable places were found. Dr. Chalmers Mitchell 

 NO. 2637, VOL. 105"] 



pointed out that a re-survey of the Cairo-Cape route 

 from the air made in order to locate these natural 

 aerodromes would save the cost of many intermediate 

 stations that are being planned. 



The trustees of the British Museum have arranged 

 to purchase the whole of the collection of Lower 

 Palaeozoic fossils made in the Girvan district by Mrs. 

 Robert Gray, of Edinburgh. The number of specimens 

 is more than 38,000. Fossils from these rocks are 

 scarcely represented at all in the British Museum, and 

 very meagrely even in the Scottish museums. Apart 

 from the specimens collected some fifty years ago by 

 Mr. Robert Gray and now in the Hunterian Museum, 

 Glasgow, there is little worth considering outside the 

 present Gray collection. Mrs. Gray has diligently con- 

 tinued the work begun by her late husband, so that 

 the whole series is admirably represented in her collec- 

 tion. She has also taken pains to get her material 

 described, and it forms the foundation of a long series 

 of memoirs. Noteworthy among these are the well- 

 known work by Nicholson and Etheridge on "The 

 Silurian Fossils of the Girvan District" (1878-80), the 

 Palaeontographical Society's monographs by Cowper 

 Reed, W. K. Spencer, and Ida Slater, and the large 

 memoirs in the Transactions of the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh by Reed and by Bather. In spite of these 

 publications, the collection is known to contain un- 

 described material scarcely less in extent and import- 

 ance. The situation of the rocks near the northern 

 limit of the Ordovician and Silurian sea, and the rich- 

 ness of certain beds of a facies different from their 

 representatives elsewhere, have led to the inclusion of 

 a number of rare forms in the fauna. Among these 

 are a new and strange cystid, Cothurnocystis ; star- 

 fishes carrying back to the Ordovician plans of struc- 

 ture previously regarded as Devonian ; echinoids among 

 the oldest known and of a type hitherto unrecognised 

 before the Upper Silurian ; a remarkable edrioasteroid, 

 Pyrgocystis; beautiful examples of the supposed cirri- 

 pede, Turrilepas ; and two new species of the very rare 

 Helminthochiton. 



The thirty-first annual Conference of the Museums 

 Association will be held in Winchester on July 5-8, 

 under the presidency of Sir Martin Conway, Director- 

 General of the Imperial War Museum. The meeting 

 this year is a joint conference with the French 

 Museums Association, and among those who have 

 signified their intention of attending are M. Hughes 

 Leroux (senator), M. le Prof. Louis Roule (Paris 

 Museum), M. le Prof. Vayssi^re (president of the 

 French Museums Association), M. Fernand Guey 

 (treasurer of the French Museums Association and 

 director of the Museum of Fine Arts at Quimper), 

 Dr. A. Loir (secretary of the French Museums Asso- 

 ciation), and a delegate from the French Association 

 for the Advancement of Science. The mornings 

 during the conference will be devoted to the reading 

 and discussion of papers, and the afternoons to visits 

 to places of special interest to museum workers. The 

 subjects for discussion at the conference are : (i) The 

 Public Libraries Act of 1919, and its effect on the 

 future policy of museums; (2) the status and re- 

 muneration of museum curators and their staffs : and 



