December ii, 1919] 



NATURE 



01 1 



|)Ktion of the first volume of his work on "The 

 Pheasants." The medal is awarded annually to the 

 author of the leadinj^ publication of the year in 

 zoolof<y or pateontology. The first award was made 

 for the year 1917 to Mr. F. M. C'hapman for his 

 volume, "The Distribution of Bird-life in Columbia," 

 |iul)lished bv the .American Museum of Natural 

 History. 



.V CONI'KKK.NCK of representatives of research 

 orj^anisations connected with the Scientific, and 

 Industrial Research Department will be held at the 

 Institution of Civil Hngineers, Westminster, to- 

 morrow, December u, at 2.30. .Mr. .\. J. Balfour, 

 president of the Committee of the Privy Council for 

 Scientific and Industrial Research, will preside, and 

 will deliver an introductory address. .V paper on 

 " Research .Associations rmd Consulting Work and the 

 Collection .and Indexing of Information " will be read 

 bv .Mr. H. J. \V. Bliss, and one on "The Kquipmtnt 

 of Research Laboratories " by Dr. W. Lawrence Balls. 



Bki'ORK the war the Roval Institute of Public Health 

 was accustomed to hold an annual congress, which 

 was attended bv well-known leaders engaged in the 

 conduct of measures for the prevention and arrest of 

 disease. In 1912 Berlin was the meeting-place; in 

 the following vear Paris welcomed the institute; and 

 the last congress was held in Edinburgh in 1914- 

 These annual meetings of the institute are now to be 

 resumed. 'Ihe president and council have received a 

 renewed invitation from the Burgomaster of Brussels, 

 .M. .\dolphe .Max, on behalf of the city, and from the 

 rectors of the L'nivcrsity of Belgium, for the next con- 

 ijress to be held in Brussels. The dates have been 

 fixed for Thursday, .May 20, to Monday, May 24, 1920, 

 inclusive, Delei.'ates will, as usual, be invited from 

 all the universities, municipalities, and other public 

 bodies in due course, and full particulars will be issued 

 at an earlv date. Meanwhile, all desirous of par- 

 ticipating in the congress in the spring of next year 

 should communicate with the Hon. Secretaries, the 

 Royal Institute of Public Health, 37 Russell Square, 

 London, W.C.i. 



By the death of the Rev. E. S. Marshall at Offa's 

 D\l<e, near Chepstow, on November 25, the study of 

 British plants has sustained a .serious loss. For at 

 least thirtv-five years Mr. Marshall spent nearly all 

 his leisure in excursions to almost every part of the 

 British Isles, studying the flora in silu and collecting 

 herbarium specimens. He was fortunate in meeting 

 in earlv da\ s such distinguished botanists as the late 

 Rev. R. P; Murray, and his diligence and accuracy, 

 aided by a retentive memorv, eventually placed him in 

 Ihe front rank of field botanists. Mr. Marshall was an 

 authority on Hieracia, and wrote the article on Betula 

 in the second volume of "The Cambridge Flora." 

 For very many years he spent his summer holidays in 

 remote districts' in Scotland, his work in this field 

 winning him his recent election as honorary fellow 

 of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. Owing to the 

 accident of residence "Mr. Marshall was particularly 

 conversant with the flora of the south-east of England 

 and of Somerset. In t8q(> he collaborated with Mr. 

 F. C. Hanbury in publishing "The Flora of Kent." 

 and in 1914 he wrote a copious Supplement to 

 Murr.iv's "Flora of Somerset," published in the Pro- 

 cr^edinL's of the Somerset .\rchaJological and Natural 

 History Society. He will, however, be chiefly remem- 

 bered for his almost uniaue general knowledge of the 

 whole llor.-i of lh<- British Isles, which f.-ave his 

 identifications exceotional authority. Mr. Marshall 

 contributed largely to the Journal of Botany and to 

 other botanical works, and revised the tenth edition 

 of the "London Cat.alogue" in 1908. He was a 

 NO. 26:5, VOL. lOdl 



memlx'r of two exchange clubs, and carried on a 

 voluminous correspondence. He bequeathed his fine 

 herbarium to the University of Cambridge. 



.\KrKR serving as .secret.iry of the Royal Horticul- 

 ! tural Society for thirty-two years, the Rev. W. Wilks 

 has felt himself compelled by .advancing years to 

 resign his office. It is in large measure due to Mr. 

 ' Wilks's devotion, energy, and ability that the society 

 has been brought to its present flourishing state. 

 When he became secretary the society's finances were 

 at a low ebb and its membership poor ; now, thanks 

 to his prudence and enthusiasm — a rare combination 

 of gifts — the society is in a strong fin.'incial position, 

 and its membership large and ever increasing. The 

 development of the gardens at Wisley into a researcli 

 station had his strong support, ;ind, indeed, not the 

 least of .Mr. Wilks's titles to enduring memory is the 

 strenuous help which he has given in effecting that 

 rapprochement between scientific and practical horti- 

 culture which is undoubtedly destined to bring .ads'an- 

 tage to both. Mr. W. • R. Dykes, who has been 

 nominated by the council as Mr. Wilks's successor, 

 is a keen and accomplished gardener, and the author 

 of an admirable monograph on the genus Iris. It 

 is pleasant to know th.it -Mr. Wilks's long official 

 association with the Royal Horticultural .Society will 

 continue, and that he will act with Mr. ("hittenden, 

 the director of Wisley, as joint author of the society's 

 publications. 



L NDER the auspices of the Staff' .Association, a 

 highly successful scientific reunion — the last of the 

 series for the current year — was held in the board 

 room of the Natural History .Museum on November 26, 

 and was attended by nearly eighty members and 

 visitors. The Director, Dr. S. F. Harmer, gave a 



I short address, illustrated by lantern-slides, on ".Ant- 

 arctic AA'haling," in which he described the enormous 



; development of the industry in recent years .and the 



I methods employed, and di.scussed the danger of extinc- 

 tion that seems to threaten several of the species of 

 wh.'des, adding that the Government was alive to this 

 danger, and was about to dispatch an expedition to 



] investigate the question. A large number of exhibits 

 were nlaced round the room. In the Haldane Report 



j on the Machinery of Government it is stated th.it 



j museums mav- be considered either as centres for 

 diffusing information or as centres providing facilities 



i for research. That the Natural History Museum 

 fulfils the first of the.se two functions is f.imiliar 



j knowledge, but probably few even amonp- scientific 

 experts are aware what a great centre of rese:ii-ch 

 the museum has become. Visitors to these scientific 

 reunions cannot fail to be impressed with the extreme 

 import.ince and varied nature of the research carried 

 on by the staff of the museutn. 



TiiK Contemporary Kevieiv for December contains 

 an article by Prof. Eddington on Einstein's theory of 

 space and time, and the Kinciecnih Century h.is 

 secured .an exposition of the matter from Sir Oliver 

 Lodge. Clearly the former is interested in the theory, 

 and the latter in the result predicted and confirmed 

 by the Eclipse Expedition. Sir Oliver holds it dan- 

 gerous to base such far-reaching conceptions .is th.it 

 of a " warped " sp.ace on a predicted effect which 

 may be accounted for in simpler fashion, new and 

 striking though that effect may be. Prof. F.ddinston, 

 on the other hand, attacks directly our current con- 

 fusions in regard to the meaning of space .and time. 

 Both writers are forced to confess the difficulty of 

 trai-fsl.iting Einstein's theory into simple language. 

 I'rof. Eddington affirminf that the whole theory ^s a 

 revolt against the simple l.-mguage which here, as in 



