88 



NATURE 



[March 29, 19 17 



the rate of admission of oxygen or air, too large 

 a quantity, as well as too small a quantity, check- 

 ing the oxidising action. He throws but little light 

 upon the part played by the pyrites in the coal, 

 a problem that has not yet been fully solved, but 

 considers that the oxygen is mainly absorbed by 

 the resins and the humus bodies present in the 

 coal. 



With respect to the storing of coal, he finds 

 that any coal can safely be stored under water; 

 lump bituminous coal, from which slack and dust 

 have been screened out, can usually be stored 

 with little or no danger; coal stored in the winter 

 is less likely to give trouble than if stored in the 

 summer, and in the latter case it is best if cool 

 or cloudy days are selected ; shallow piles are less 

 likely to give trouble than deep ones ; some coals, 

 particularly those high in sulphur, undoubtedly 

 heat more readily when damp ; the ventilation of 

 coal piles by means of perforated pipes or other- 

 wise is very advisable ; and, finally, a coal storage 

 pile should be carefully watched, particularly for 

 the first few weeks after it has been built. 



The report is worthy of careful study, and forms 

 a notable contribution to a subject of the greatest 

 importance to coal producers and coal users alike, 

 and at least as much so in this country as else- 

 where. 



It is significant of the British attitude towards 

 the scientific investigation of such economic 

 problems of great national importance that in 

 Canada they are attacked by State institutions 

 subsidised and supported by the State authorities, 

 whilst in this country the work is left to private 

 individuals and to private resources. Is it too 

 much to hope that the attention of the Committee 

 of the Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial 

 Research may be directed to the admirable work 

 done in Canada, and that it may decide that the 

 time has at last arrived to initiate something of 

 the kind in this country? 



REV. O. PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE, F.R.S. 



FEW, whatever their nationality, who have been 

 especially interested in spiders during the last 

 forty years have failed to make the pilgrimage 

 to Bloxworth, where the Rev. O. Pickard- 

 Cambridge, who died on March 9, had been 

 rector since 1868, and to enjoy the delightfully in- 

 formal hospitality of the Rectory. The famous 

 "den" was no doubt their first objective, but 

 those who were privileged to walk with their host 

 in the surrounding country must have realised that 

 they were in the company of a born naturalist of 

 the widest sympathies, keenly observant, and on 

 the friendliest terms with every living thing — 

 beast, bird, insect, or plant — encountered by the 

 way. There can have been few naturalists of 

 equal calibre less revealed by their published work. 

 This in his case was almost exclusively systematic, 

 and was concerned for the most part with a single 

 Arachnid order, the Araneina. It is true that he 

 was selected to w rite the article " Arachnida " for 

 the ninth edition of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica " 

 (1875) ; that he published useful little monographs 

 NO. 2474, VOL. 99] 



on the British Phalangids and Pseudoscorpions 

 (1890 and 1892) ; and that he occasionally described 

 a tick or a Tartarid ; but these were excursions, 

 and through a long series of years his leisure was 

 devoted mainly to the identification and description 

 of spiders. 



This most useful and necessary work does not 

 stand very high in the estimation of some zoolo- 

 gists, though it is noticeable that a worker in some 

 other field— a morphologist, for example — forced 

 by stress of circumstances to try his own hand at 

 identification, soon acquires an added respect for 

 the necessary qualifications. In any case, it is on 

 his work as a systematist that the reputation of 

 Pickard-Cambridge is solidly based. His natural 

 flair for minute points of difference, his facility as 

 a draughtsman, his tireless patience, and his un- 

 flagging enthusiasm through a long series of years 

 were his equipment for his self-im{>osed task. The 

 mantle of John Blackwall fell upon him. He set 

 himself to continue Blackwall's work, and to him 

 he dedicated, in 1881, his most important book, 

 "The Spiders of Dorset," "as a small token of 

 long friendship and respect, as well as of gratitude 

 for constant and ready assistance in the study of 

 spiders during the last twenty-five years." This 

 book (its title is altogether too modest) still 

 remains essential to the student of British spiders, 

 supplemented by the papers since annually pub- 

 lished bv its author in the Proceedings of the 

 Dorset Field Club, and by his "List of British 

 and Irish Spiders" (1900). 



As regards exotic species, Mr. Pickard- 

 Cambridge published brochures on spiders col- 

 lected by himself in Palestine and Egypt {Proc. 

 Zool. Soc, 1872-4-6), and on collections by mem- 

 bers of his family, private friends, or scientific 

 expeditions from various regions ; but his chief 

 work in this field was in connection with the 

 " Biologia Centrali Americana." The task of 

 dealing with the mass of material involved proved 

 eventually beyond his powers, and failing health 

 obliged him to hand it over to his nephew, the late 

 Frederic O. Pickard-Cambridge, but he continued 

 his work on the native Arachnid fauna until the 

 end. 



Many will miss the help he was always eager 

 to give to those who applied to him for informa- 

 tion or advice, and not a few will mourn the loss 

 of a picturesque and interesting personality. 



NOTES. 



The annual meeting- of the British Association, ar- 

 ranged to be held at Bournemouth in September next, 

 has been cancelled ; and there will be no meeting, there- 

 fore, this j'ear. The two main considerations which 

 have led to this decision are the restriction of railway 

 communication and difficulties of accommodation on 

 account of buildings being required for various 

 national purposes. There will probably be a meeting 

 of the General Committee of the association in 

 London to receive reports and transact other business. 



It is refreshing to note that some of the museums 

 of this country, by making themselves of immediate 

 use, are justifying the authorities who have kept 



