8 



NATURE 



[September 4, 1919 



independence of the two groups, which has led 

 only to confusion ; while the protection of all 

 birds and eggs on Sundays and the licensing of 

 bird-catchers and bird-dealers are rew and valu- 

 able suggestions. It must be the hope of the 

 British naturalist that as soon as possible these 

 recommendations will be adopted and become the 

 law of the land. 



NOTES. 



We are informed that the council of the Royal 

 Society has nominated representative committees to 

 deal with national questions connected with the inter- 

 national unions which it is intended to form under 

 the International Research Council. The committee 

 for astronomy will consist of the .'\stronomers Royal 

 for England, Scotland, and Ireland, the Superinten- 

 dent of the Nautical Almanac, six members nominated 

 by the Royal Society, six members nominated by the 

 Royal Astronomical Society, twoi members nominated 

 by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, two members 

 appointed by the RoA'al Irish Academy, and two 

 members appointed by the British Astronomical Asso- 

 ciation. The committee for geodesy and geophysics 

 will consist of the .Astronomers Royal, the Director of 

 the Meteorological Office, the Director-General of the 

 Ordnance Survey, the Hydrographer of the Navy, two 

 representatives of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 

 two representatives of the Royal Irish Academy, two 

 members nominated by the British Association, and 

 two members nominated by the Royal Society. Since 

 their formation these committees have advised the 

 council of the Royal Society on the formation of the 

 international unions in their respective subjects, and 

 nominated the delegates to the recent meeting 

 at Brussels. The Federated Council for Pure and 

 Applied Chemistry was also recognised as the national 

 committee on that subject. As regards other subjects, 

 similar committees will no doubt be established, fiut, 

 no definite proposals having been submitted by any 

 country, no action has hitherto been taken, and the 

 powers of the delegates attending the meeting at the 

 invitation of the council of the Royal Society were 

 limited to the obtaining of information with regard 

 to the views of other countries concerning the estab- 

 lishment of international unions. The recommenda- 

 tions made only express the personal views of dele- 

 gates attending the conference, and will, no doubt, be 

 submitted to the proper authorities before any action 

 js taken. 



At the death of Prof. Milne in 19 13 the British 

 Association Seismological Committee decided to main- 

 tain the work at Shide, both the actual observations 

 with seismographs and the collation of results from 

 the Milne stations scattered over the globe. The 

 seismographs were mounted in a disused stable ; the 

 clerical and computational work was carried on in 

 an annexe built to the dwelling-house by the liberality 

 of the late Mr. M. H. Gray. Mr. J. H. Burgess and 

 Mr. S. W. Pring, two residents in the neighbourhood 

 who had worked with Prof. Milne, were able to 

 devote part of their time to the work under the 

 general superintendence of the committee. The war 

 steadily rendered this arrangement more and more 

 difficult ; Mr Burgess and Mr. Pring both ultimately 

 left Shide, and early in the present year Mrs. Milne, 

 from whom the observatory had been rented by the 

 comrhittee, announced her desire to sell the house, 

 including the observatory, and to return to her home 

 in Japan. In anticipation of the difficulties becoming 

 acute, preparations had been made for transferring 



NO. 2601, VOL. 104] 



the work to Oxford. .\ seismograph was mounted 

 last October in the basement of the Clarendon 

 Laboratory, where Prof. C. V. Boys made his well- 

 known gravity determination. Permission to make 

 trial of this site was kindly granted by Mr. James 

 Walker, then in charge, and has since been con- 

 firmed by Prof. F. A. Lindemann. The results have 

 been eminently satisfactory, and there is ample room 

 for the other component. The arrangements for 

 housing the Milne seismological library (definitelv left 

 in his will to the British Association Committee) and 

 the computational work are not yet finally settled, 

 but no serious difficulty is anticipated in finding a 

 solution. The arrangements are necessarily of a 

 provisional tvpe at this moment, and liable to 

 be modified bv future events, such as the possible 

 establishment of a geophysical institute at Cambridge, 

 and the action ultimately taken by the Seismological 

 Section of the International Union of Geodesy and 

 Geophysics recently established at Brussels. The 

 Union itself was fully constituted, but the Seismo- 

 logical Section was suspended until some legal 

 formalities connected with the extinction of flie 

 former International Seismological Association have 

 been completed. 



We regret to announce the death on September 2, 

 at seventy-five years of age, of Prof. Alexander 

 Macalister, F.R.S., professor of anatomy in the 

 University of Cambridge. 



Dr. C. a. Mercier, physician for mental diseases 

 to Charing Cross Hospital, ^nd a distinguished 

 authority upon mental diseases and related subjects, 

 died on September 2 at sixty-seven years of age. 



The Lord President of the Council has appointed 

 Prof. J. E. Petavel, F'.R.S., to be director of the 

 National Physical Laboratory in succession to Sir 

 Richard Glazebrook, C.B., F.R.S., who retires on 

 • reaching the age-limit on September 18 next. Prof. 

 Petavel is professor of engineering and director of 

 the Whitworth Laboratory in the University of Man- 

 chester. He is a member of the .Advisory Committee 

 for Aeronautics of the Air Ministry. ■ 



The committee of the Wireless Society of London 

 met on July 24, under the presidency of Mr. Alan A. 

 Campbell-Swinton, with a view to an early resump- 

 tion of activities. The hon. secretary, Mr. R. H. 

 Klein, having resigned, and been elected an 

 acting vice-president, Mr. Leslie McMichael, of *| 

 30 West End Lane, West Hampstead, N.W.6, has { 

 been elected hon. secretary, and to him ali com. j 

 munications should be addressed. The society is openJ 

 to all those interested in the study and furtherance of j 

 wireless telegraphy, amateur or professional. \ 



The Edward Longstreth medal of the Franklin *| 

 Institute, Philadelphia, has been awarded to Mr. J. J. 

 Skinner, of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture, for his papers on " Soil 

 Aldehydes," concerning which the committee reported : 

 "These papers present the results of scientific study 

 of a new class of deleterious soil constituents, clearly 

 described and effectively illustrated, the whole forming 

 a valuable contribution to the science of agricultural 

 chemistry, and one of marked practical importance." 



From the Proceedings of the Institute of Chemistry 

 we note that the preparation of an account of the 

 services of British chemists during the war is under 

 consideration. A synopsis of the possible contents of 

 a book on the subject has been drawn up, and pre- 

 liminary arrangements have been entered into with 

 publishers-. Such a work may be made both interesting 



