158 



NATURE 



[October 23, 1919 



Southern Cross, and he has seen all six volumes of the 

 Discovery Antarctic report through the press. 



We learn from Science that Mr. John D. Rocke- 

 feller has given to the General Education Board, 

 founded by him in 1902, twenty million dollars, the 

 income of which is to be currently used and the 

 entire principal to be distributed within fifty years for 

 the improvement of medical education in the United 

 States. The worliing capital previous to this accre- 

 tion amounted to between 35,000,000 and 40,000,000 

 dollars. Since the present sum is to be devoted 

 exclusively to medical education, whereas the board's 

 previous resources, under the terms of the charter 

 granted to it bv Congress, have been devoted to "pro- 

 moting education within the United States, without 

 distinction of race, creed, or sex," the activities of 

 the organisation with respect to medical teaching will 

 be greatly increased. 



According to the Morning Post, the Norwegian 

 traveller, Dr. O. Olsen, proposes to conduct a small 

 anthropological and botanical expedition to Siberia 

 next spring. Dr. Olsen has had previous experience 

 in Siberia when in 1914 he studied the Soyot tribes 

 in southern Transbaikalia, near the Kitoisk Moun- 

 tains. His present project is to go to the Yenisei 

 valley north of Krasnovarsk. and to push thence into 

 the less known regions immediately to the east, with 

 the object of studying several little-known tribes. 

 These include the Dolgans, a Yakut tribe living 

 between the Yenisei and the Khatanga ; certain races 

 of Samovedes ; and certain tribes of Tungus. The 

 expedition also proposes to bring back with it, about 

 January, 1921, seeds of Siberian conifers suitable for 

 planting in Norway. 



We have received a copy of the "Annuaire de 

 I'observatoire royal de Belgique " for 1920, edited by 

 M. G. Lecointe. We are glad to note that the pub- 

 lication of this useful little annual was continued 

 throughout the years of the German occupation of 

 Belgiuin. The observatory at Uccle was held by the 

 Germans, but its scientific work continued. There 

 was no interruption in its publications, and even re- 

 search did not completely cease. Needless to say, the 

 Belgian staff was responsible for this continuous 

 activity, M. Stroobant replacing for the time >T. 

 Lecointe, who was with the Belgian .Army 



The assistant secretary of the British Association, 

 Mr. O. J. R. Howarth, has been charged with the col- 

 lection of materials for a history of the association. 

 The records available in the office, especially those 

 referring to the foundation of the association, are far 

 from exhaustive, and the loan of any letters or other 

 documents bearing upon the historv of the association 

 will be gratefully welcomed by Mr. Howarth at the 

 office of the association, Burlington House, W.i, and 

 they will be duly returned after use. 



The Secretary of the Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research informs us that the following 

 research associations have been formed in accordance 

 with the Government scheme for the encouragement 

 of industrial research : — British Rubber and Tyre 

 Manufacturers' Research Association (c/o Messrs. 

 W. B. Peat and Co., 11 Ironmonger Lane, E.G. 2) 

 and the Linen Industry Research Association (secre- 

 tary, Miss M. K. E. Allen, 3 Bedford Street, Belfast). 



The council of the Chemical Society has arranged 

 for the delivery of three lectures during the comint' 

 session dealing with the work accoinplished bv 

 chemists during the war. The first of these will be 

 delivered at Burlington House on December iS at 

 NO. 2608, VOL. 104] 



8 p.m. by Prof. James Walker, who will lecture on 

 "War Experiences in the Manufacture of Nitric Acid 

 and the Recovery of Nitrous Fumes." 



The council of the Ray Society has appointed Dr. 

 W. T. Caiman, of the Zoological Department, British 

 Museum (Natural History), to be secretary in suc- 

 cession to the late Mr. John Hopkinson. 



The annual report for 19 18 on the Forest Adminis- 

 tration of Nigeria shows the number of forest reserves 

 to be gradually increasing. Their total area now 

 amounts approximately to 1462 square miles in the 

 Southern Provinces and to 3965 square miles in the 

 Northern Provinces. Plantations continue to be made, 

 in spite of the greatly depleted European staff and the 

 disorganisation caused by the influenza epidemic. 

 Apart from mahogany and Albizzia lebbek, the species 

 that have proved most successful are Cassia siamea, 

 Dalbergia sissoo, Grevillia robusta, and Melaleuca 

 leucodendron, all of them exotics. In fact, it is very 

 probable that, as experienced in South Africa, the 

 planting difficulty in the Northern Provinces will be 

 solved only by the introduction of suitable exotcs. 

 Hence these operations must, for some years to come, 

 be of an experimental nature. 



A NUMBER of papers dealing with marine biological 

 and fishery subjects have recently been published. The 

 Danish series, " Meddelelser fra Kommissionen for 

 Havundersogelser," contains articles on purely fishery, 

 hydrographic, and biological investigations. A very 

 useful account of the North Atlantic halibut fishery, 

 including work on the biology of the species, as well 

 as on its exploitation by fishing vessels, is given by 

 P. Jespersen in Bd. v. (No. 5) of the Fishery Series', 

 and a very interesting paper by A. C. Johansen in the 

 same series deals with the biometrics of the spring- 

 spawning- herrings that form the bulk of the fish 

 caught during the great spring and summer fisheries. 

 There is also an account of fish-marking experiments 

 carried out on the Faroese fishing grounds. This is 

 local in its scope, but it is interesting to see, from 

 the results, to what an extent this region rnust have 

 been exploited by British trawlers in the years imme- 

 diately preceding the war. 



In Report No. 4 of the Industrial Fatigue Research 

 Board Mr. Major Greenwood discusses "The Incidence 

 of Industrial Accidents upon Individuals, with Special 

 Reference to Multiple .-Vccidents. " As a result of an 

 elaborate mathematical analysis of a large mass of statis- 

 tical data, Mr. Greenwood comes to the conclusion that 

 the distribution of accidents a'mong the emplovees at 

 a factory is by no means a matter of chance, but that 

 certain individuals arc much more liable to accidents 

 than others. This susceptibility to accidents is not 

 due to the workers being quicker at their job than 

 their fellows, nor do they differ from them appreciably 

 in general health. It seems to be a matter of per- 

 sonality, and not determined by any obvious extrinsic 

 factor. As. Mr. Greenwood points out, the weeding- 

 out of these specially susceptible individuals would 

 lower the average accident-rate of a factory consider- 

 ably, and it might, in certain instances, have a more 

 important effect than this. In some industries, such 

 as certain of the explosive-supply trades, an accident 

 may lead to frightful disaster, and it might be well 

 worth while to track down these unsafe people by a 

 study of the ambulance-room records and get them 

 transferred to a less riskv industry. 



The limitation of human settlement in South Africa 

 through deficient water-supply has moved Prof. 

 E. H. L. Schwarz to undertake a journey to Ovambo- 



