July 22, 1897] 



NATURE 



75 



NOTES. 

 The Queen held a Court at Windsor Castle on Thursday 

 last, at which an address was presented by deputations from 

 several bodies, among them being the Royal Society, The depu- 

 tation from the Royal Society, consisting of Lord Lister 

 (President), Sir John Evans (Treasurer), Prof. Michael Foster (Sec- 

 retary), Prof. Arthur W. Riicker (Secretary), Prof. R. B. Clifton 

 (Vice-President), Sir William Huggins, K.C.B. (Vice-President), 

 Mr. W. T. Thiselton-Dyer,C.M.G. (Vice-President), Sir Joseph 

 Dalton Hooker, G.C.S.L, C.B. (Past President), Lord Kelvin, 

 G.C.V.O. (Past President), Sir George Gabriel Stokes, Bart. 

 (Past President), with Mr. Robert W. F. Harrison (Assistant 

 Secretary), was introduced to her Majesty's presence, when the 

 President presented the address, to which the Queen made a 

 gracious reply. The President, Treasurer, and Vice-President 

 Prof. R. B. Clifton, had the honour of kissing her Majesty's 

 hand. 



The Russian Admiral Makaroff, who is well known for his 

 hydrological researches in the Northern Pacific on board the 

 corvette Vityaz, has just left St. Petersburg for an Arctic trip. 

 Jle will take this year the command of a flotilla of seven steamers, 

 which are sent out by the Russian Government for the transport 

 of coal and mixed cargo to the mouths of the Ob and the 

 Yenisei, and for bringing back to Europe various cargo from 

 Siberia. Three of these steamers have strongly-built stems, and 

 will be used to break through the ice, in order to see if the short 

 period of navigation across the Kara Sea cannot be prolonged in 

 this way for a few days. Admiral Makaroff takes with him all 

 the hydrological and meteorological instruments which he had 

 on board the Vityaz, and he proposes to sail up the Yenisei in 

 his flagship, and to return by the overland route. 



The fourth summer meeting of the American Mathematical 

 Society will be held, under the Presidency of Prof. Simon 

 Newcomb, at Toronto, on Monday and Tuesday, August 1 6 and 

 17. By invitation of the University of Toronto, the meeting 

 will take place in the main building of the University. It has 

 been decided to set apart one of the sessions for the general dis- 

 cussion of the following subjects: (i) The accurate definition 

 of the subject-matter of modern mathematics. (2) The vocabulary 

 of mathematics ; the possibility of correcting and enriching it 

 by co-operative action. Members of the British Association are 

 invited to be present at the sessions. 



The nation owes much to the catholic taste and great 

 liberality of Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, late Keeper of 

 British and Mediaeval Antiquities in the British Museum. 

 Archreologists are given further cause for cherishing his memory 

 by the announcement that he has bequeathed to the Museum all 

 the collections lent by him to the Museum or to any other museum, 

 with various other valuable collections and books, conditionally 

 on the Government allowing a remission of probate duty with 

 respect to them. This condition is thus expressed in the will : 

 "And as to these bequests to the British Museum I desire my 

 executors to apply to the Government for a remission of probate 

 duty with respect to them. And if this be not granted I declare 

 my said bequests to the Trustees of the British Museum to be 

 null and void, and I desire and direct that the objects which 

 would otherwise have passed to the British Museum be sold by 

 public auction and the proceeds added to my general residuary 

 estate." Sir Augustus Franks also bequeathed to the Society of 

 Antiquaries of London, of which he was President, a number of 

 rare and valuable books on antiquities, art, history, and gene- 

 alogy, together with various heraldic manuscripts, drawings, and 

 engravings of ancient seals. 



The Commission, under the direction of Prof. Koch, which 

 investigated the origin of the plague in India, has issued its 

 NO. 1447, VOL. 56] 



report, and a few of the conclusions have been transmitted 

 from Berlin through Reuter's agency. It appears that the plague 

 bacillus, outside the human body or certain animals, has very 

 brief vitality ; and it does not develop in the absence of oxygen. 

 Rats were proved to be in the highest degree susceptible, and to 

 spread the plague germs and communicate them to humart 

 beings. For experiments with the object of producing immu- 

 nity, apes were used, and it was ascertained that grey apes 

 were as highly susceptible as rats, while brown apes were less 

 so. Immunity was established after a lapse of between five and 

 seven days. Apes thus treated possessed a high degree of im- 

 munity, and could endure a large quantity of plague culture,, 

 about two milligrammes. For the purjjoses of serum experi- 

 ments Yersin serum was employed. Its protective power in 

 the case of brown apes did not exceed eight days. Strong in- 

 jections of serum proved to be of unquestionable curative 

 eflScacy. Haffkine's system of inoculation, which was applied 

 to 1400 patients, is reported to have shown undoubted protective 

 results, although a number of the patients were taken ill in con- 

 sequence of the inoculation. 



Herr Andree, with his two companions, Drs. Strindberg 

 and Fraenkel, started from Danes Island, on July 11, on 

 their balloon voyage to the North Pole. The weather was- 

 favourable, and there was a good breeze, which took the 

 balloon in a north-north-east directional the rate of about twenty 

 miles an hour. From Danes Island to the North Pole is a 

 distance of about six hundred miles, and the same distance has^ 

 to be traversed on the other side of the Pole before known terra 

 firtna can be reached. The risks to which the explorers have 

 exposed themselves are thus very great, for it is difficult to 

 believe that the balloon will keep afloat long enough to permit 

 the expedition to be safely terminated, though the capacity of 

 the balloon was enlarged by 300 cubic metres from 4500 cubic 

 metres before starting, and the silk was greatly strengthened by 

 additional coats of varnish. Since the balloon started, southerly 

 to south-westerly winds have prevailed over Spitsbergen,. 

 Norway, and the ice-regions. It is therefore assumed that the 

 balloon went in the direction of Eastern Siberia, 



The Weights and Measures (Metric System) Bill came before 

 the House of Lords on Tuesday. Lord Balfour, in moving the 

 second reading of this Bill, pointed out that the circumstances- 

 in which it was proposed to Parliament by the Board of Trade 

 were these. During the Session of 1895 a Select Committee of 

 the other House was appointed to inquire whether any, and, if 

 so, what, changes in the present system of weights and measures- 

 should be adopted. The Committee practically confined their 

 attention to the consideration of the metric system, and they 

 agreed to these three recommendations : ( i ) that the metric 

 system of weights and measures be at once legalised for all 

 purposes ; (2) that after a lapse of two years the system be 

 rendered compulsory by Act of Parliament ; and (3) that the 

 system be taught in all public elementary schools as a necessary 

 and integral part of arithmetic. The last recommendation could, 

 if thought expedient, be carried into effect without legislation. 

 The Government were not prepared to adopt the second recom- 

 mendation — that after two years the system be made compulsory. 

 The Bill carried out the first of the recommendation^ of the 

 Select Committee, and the evidence taken by the Select Com- 

 mittee clearly proved that there was a genuine demand among 

 some of the large trades in some of the important commercial 

 centres of the country for the legalisation of the system, and 

 from the reports of some of our Consuls abroad it seemed to be 

 of considerable importance that the system should be adopted, 

 and to be shown that if adopted it would prove of material 

 benefit to British trade. The Government did not intend to 

 make the system compulsory, and the present Bill was confined. 



