March 15, 1917] 



NATURE 



has occupied the attention of several similar institu- 

 tions. A paper dealing with the occurrence and dis- 

 tribution of certain of these minerals, read by Prof. 

 Cullis before the Society- of Engineers on December ii, 

 1916, was summarised in Nature of January 4 (p. 

 361) ; and it is understood that the Department of 

 Scientific and Industrial Research is also moving in 

 the same direction. None of these attempts, however 

 praiseworthy and valuable, can take the place of a 

 properly established Government Department of 

 Minerals and Metals, which should co-ordinate all 

 these scattered efforts, and should deal with the whole 

 subject from the point of view of a great Imperial 

 industry, which is of vital importance to the future 

 of t'he British Empire. This is surely a subject for 

 the Government, and should not be left to the enter- 

 prise of individuals or associations, and there is prob- 

 ablv no way in which public money could be expended 

 with a better assurance of prompt and manifold 

 reimbursement. 



The resignation of Dr. E. A. Letts from the chair 

 of chemistr}' in the Queen's University, Belfast, is 

 announced. 



Sir W. E. Garstin and Sir G. K. Scott-Moncrieff 

 have been elected honorary members of the Institution 

 of Civil Engineers. 



The third Guthrie lecture of the Physical Society 

 will be delivered in English at the Imperial College 

 of Science and Technology on Friday, March 23, by 

 Prof. P. Langevin. Its subject will l)e " Molecular 

 Orientation." 



The twenty-second annual congress of the South- 

 Eastern Union of Scientific Societies will be held at 

 Reading on June 6-9, under the presidency of Prof. 

 E. B. Poulton, 



We learn from Science that Dr. V. M. Slipher, for 

 many years chief assistant at the Lowell Observatory, 

 and known for his spectroscopic researches, has been 

 appointed director of the obser\'aton,- in succession to 

 the late Percival Lowell. 



The Times announces that Dr. Douglas W. Fresh- 

 field, president of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 has been elected an honorary member of the Russian 

 Geographical Society, and Sir Ernest Shackleton a 

 corresponding member. 



We regret to announce the death, on March 9, at 

 eighty-eight vears of age, of the Rev. O. Pickard- 

 Cambridge, F.R.S., author of "Specific Descriptions 

 of Trapdoor Spiders'" (1873), "The Spiders of Dorset" 

 (1879-81), and other works on arachnology, entom- 

 ology, and general natural history. 



We are glad to be able to state that the announce- 

 ment made at the meeting of the Linnean Society on 

 February 15 as to the death of Prof. G. O. Sars, the 

 distinguished zoologist of Christiania, is incorrect. 

 The mistake arose from a confusion of his name with 

 that of his brother, J. E. Sars, professor of history 

 in the same university, who died recently. 



The Right Hon. Sir William MacGregor, late 

 Acting High Commissioner for the Western Pacific; 

 Sir William Peterson, principal of McGill University, 

 Montreal; and Sir Ernest Rutherford, professor of 

 physics. University of Manchester, have been elected 

 members of the Athenaeum Club under the provisions 

 of the rule which empowers the annual election by 

 the committee of a certain number of persons "of 

 distinguished eminence in science, literature, the arts, 

 or for public service." 



Letters on the optical deterioration of the atmo- 

 sphere during July and August last appeared in 

 Nature of October 5, November 9, and December 28, 

 1916. Father J. G. Hagen, director of the Vatican 

 Observatory, writes to say that the defects referred 

 to were severely felt at that observatory, and were 

 attributed, as was done by Prof. Ricc6 in Nature of 

 November 9, to the eruption of Stromboli, which 

 reached its, maximum on July 4. Father Hagen has 

 recorded these facts in the Astronomische Nachrichten, 

 No. 4871. 



The following is the list of officers of the Physical 

 Society elected for the ensuing year : President : Prof. 

 C. Vernon Boys. Vice-Presidents (in addition to those 

 who have filled the office of president) : Mr. W. R. 

 Cooper, Sir Napier Shaw, Dr. S. W. J. Smith, Dr. 

 W. E. Sumpner. Secretaries : Prof. W. Eccles, Fins- 

 bury Technical College, Leonard Street, E.C. ; Dr. 

 R. S. Willows, The Sir John Cass Technical Institute, 

 Jewry Street, Aldgate, E.C. Foreign Secretary: Dr. 

 R. T. Glazebrook. Treasurer: Mr. W. Duddell. 

 Librarian: Dr. S. W. J. Smith. Other Members of 

 Council: Dr. H. S. Allen, Prof. E. H. Barton, Prof. 

 G. W. O. Howe, Prof. J. W. Nicholson, Mr. C. C. 

 Paterson, Mr. C. E. S. Phillips, Prof. O. W. Richard- 

 son, Dr. S. Russ, Mr. T. Smith, Mr. F. J. W. 

 Whipple. 



Mr. James Gilungh.\m, of Chard, recently presented 

 to the County Museum at Taunton a large number 

 of photographs and papers collected by him for the 

 purpose of perpetuating the memory of John String- 

 fellow, of Chard, "the pioneer of 'flight and father 

 of aviation." Nine of the photographs, mostly en- 

 I largements, are mounted on cards as follows : (i) Por- 

 j trait of John Stringfellow ; and (2) another as an old 

 I man; (3) Stringfellow 's aeroplane, 1848; (4) his tri- 

 I plane, 1868; (5) another view of his triplane; (6) 

 flower show and sports on Bewley Down, near Chard, 

 the place where Stringfellow experimented with his 

 flying-machine in 1847; (7) aeroplane designed by 

 W. S. Henson and patented as "The Ariel Steam 

 Carriage. 1842 " ; (8, 9) two photographs of the 

 memorial to Stringfellow in Chard cemetery, de- 

 signed by James Gillingham ; in addition, the original 

 drawing of the last-named subject, in large frame. 

 At the present time these photographs are exhibited 

 in a case in the Great Hall of Taunton Castle. The 

 collection contains a good deal of miscellaneous manu- 

 script and printed matter having reference to aviation, 

 and includes the memorandum of agreement made 

 by John Stringfellow and W. S. Henson with regard 

 to a partnership for constructing "a model of an 

 aerial machine," dated December 29, 1843. 



By the death of General J. A. L. Bassot, on January 

 17, international geodesy has sustained a severe loss, 

 and France mourns a distinguished geodesist. Bom 

 in 1841, General Bassot took part in the war of 1870, 

 and immediately after it was appointed to the Service 

 Geographique de I'Arm^e, where, under General 

 Perrier, he was employed on the remeasurement of 

 the arc of meridian in France. Later, in 1879, he 

 took part in the geodetic operations for connecting 

 the triangulation of Spain with that of Algeria, where 

 Bassot occupied the mountain station of Filhaoussen 

 for nearly eight weeks before he could effect his 

 purpose. In 1884 he laid out and observed the chain 

 of triangxilation from Algiers to Laghouat, and a few 

 vears later, in 1888, he succeeded his former chief, 

 General Perrier, as director of the Military Geo- 

 graphical Service. Administrative duties now put an 

 end to Kis. geodetic work in the field, but he continued 

 to direct and promote geodetic operations of import- 



XO. 2472, VOL. 99] 



