June io, 1920] 



NATURE 



463 



Newton, assistant in the Department of Gcoloj^y, 

 British Museum (Natural History) ; Dr. W. Eagle 

 Clark, keeper of Natural History Department, Royal 

 Scottish Museum, Edinburgh ; and Mr. R. Duncan, 

 Staff Officer, Veterinary Branch, Department of Agri- 

 culture and Technical Instruction, Ireland. 



The following decorations have been conferred upon 

 scientific workers in recognition of valuable services 

 rendered during the war, and the King has granted 

 permission to wear them r^Conferred by the King of 

 Italy— Order of the Crown of Italy: Chevalier: Mr. 

 H; D. Roberts, director of Public Library, Museums, 

 and Fine Art Galleries, Brighton. Order of St. 

 Maurice and St. Lazarus : Officer : Sir Douglas 

 Mawson, Dr. T. M. Lowry, F.R.S., and Prof. P. F. 

 Frankland, F.R.S. Conferred by the King of the 

 Belgians— Order of the Crown: Grand Officer: Sir 

 Alfred Sharpe. Commander : Prof. W. Somerville. 

 Officer: Dr. E. J. Russell, F.R.S. Chevalier: Mr. 

 C. E. Fagan, Mr. A. R. Hinks, F.R.S., secretary of 

 the Royal Geographical Society, and Mr T. McRow. 

 Order of Leopold II.: Commander: Dr. W. R. 

 Dunstan, F.R.S., director of the Imperial Institute, 

 and Prof. G. H. F. Nuttall, F.R.S. 



It is announced in Science that the U.S. National 

 Academy of Sciences has recently elected the following 

 foreign associates : — Frank Dawson Adams, McGill 

 University; Marie Ennemond Camille Jordan, Col- 

 lege de France ; Francois Antoine Alfred Lacroix, 

 Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris; Heike Kamerlingh 

 Onnes, University of Leyden ; Sir David Prain, Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Kevv ; and Santiago Ramon y Cajal, 

 University of Madrid. 



Mr. O. F. Brown, assistant inspector of wireless 

 telegraphy in the Post Office, has been appointed 

 Technical Officer to the Radio Research Board, which 

 has been formed recently under the chairmanship of 

 Admiral Sir Henry Jackson, in connection with the 

 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 



Sir W. J. Pope, F.R.S., was elected an associate 

 of the section for the mathematical and physical 

 sciences of the Acad^mie Royale de Belgique on 

 .Tune 5. 



Col. H. G. Lyons has been appointed director and 

 secretary to the Science Museum, South Kensington, 

 in succession to Sir Francis Ogilvie, who has been 

 transferred to the Department of Scientific and Indus- 

 trial Research. 



Prof. Flinders Petrie in Ancient Egypt (1920, 

 part ii.) describes a remarkable statue of ebony 27 in. 

 high. "The pose of the standing position is more 

 thrown back than in the Old Kingdom, from the waist 

 upward. The head has had inlaid eyes, now missing. 

 The expression is marvellously vigorous and full of 

 vitality, and it differs from other Egyptian figures not 

 only thus, but also in the tyf>e. The very wide jaw, 

 short chin, and high cheek-bone have hardly a parallel 

 in other statues. It is clearly one of the great master- 

 pieces, and of a rare style of work." It is stated to 

 have come from the Eleventh Dynasty temple at Deir- 

 el-Bahri, and may represent one of the Mentuhetep 

 kings, but the provenance is so uncertain that it is 

 NO. 2641. VOL. lOCl 



difficult to identify it. "When workmen are not well 

 rewarded for the objects found, much is taken away 

 without any record of the original place and connec- 

 tion. If we knew the position to which the figure 

 belonged, the burial chamber, the royal shrine, the 

 family shrines, or elsewhere, we might have fixed 

 the historic value of one of the most striking portraits 

 known from Egypt." 



Mr. J. BRONxfe Gatenby, whose papers on the cyto- 

 plasmic inclusions of the germ-cells have formed such 

 a conspicuous feature of the Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science during the last few years, con- 

 tributes to the last number of that journal (vol. Ixiv., 

 part 3) a valuable account of the modern technique of 

 cytology, which, taken in conjunction with his recently 

 published paper on "The Identification of Intra-cellu- 

 lar Elements " (Journal of the Royal Microscopical 

 Society, 1919), should prove of great use to students of 

 microscopical zoology. These papers will place within 

 reach of all many of the numerous modern refine- 

 ments of technique which are indispensable to future 

 progress, and the use of which bids fair to increase 

 to a very great extent our knowledge of cell morpho- 

 logy and development. We are glad to learn that the 

 author has also undertaken to edit a new edition of 

 that classical and widely appreciated .work, BoUes 

 Lee's " Microtomist's Vade Mecum." 



In sending the Report of the Curator of the 

 Somerset County Museum, Taunton Castle, for the 

 year ended September 30, 1919, Mr. H. St. George 

 Gray directs our attention to three graphs showing 

 (i) the annual increase in membership of the Somer- 

 setshire Archaeological and Natural History Society 

 since 1880; (2) receipts from entrance fees to the 

 museum for the years of this century; (3) fluctua- 

 tions in the number of visitors during the same period. 

 We are not prepared to admit offhand that this is 

 the first application of graphic curves to society and 

 museum statistics, but the results are undoubtedly 

 illuminating, and, in this case, raise interesting 

 questions for the consideration of those directing the 

 policy of the museum. If such charts, with more 

 frequent time-intervals, were prepared on a con- 

 sistent plan by all institutions of the kind, their com- 

 parison would bring new light to social and economic 

 studies. 



The Museums Journal for April-May prints a 

 weighty report on the relation of museums to the 

 advanced student, presented to a British Association 

 Committee by a strong sub-committee. It is claimed 

 that the interests of the serious student should not 

 be sacrificed to those of the general visitor. The needs 

 of the researcher, university student, private student, 

 and collector are considered, and i>ractical recom- 

 mendations are based on experience. In view of the 

 proposed site of London University, it is interesting 

 to find the report urging closer co-operation between 

 universities and museums. " The student may fairly 

 be asked to help by doing some curatorial work. 

 . The museum will profit by the improved arrange- 

 ment of the objects, and the student will learn how 

 to utilise specimens and how to discover the relevant 

 literature." The student should be supported by "a 



