90 



NATURE 



[March 29, 19 17 



the food value of the different kinds of fish, the prob- 

 ability of its proving acceptable to the consumer, the 

 necessity for interference with private rights, and the 

 risk of damage to more valuable fisheries. Further, 

 the committee will consider and report upon measures 

 which might be taken for securing a greater output 

 of eels from the waters of the United Kingdom for 

 home consumption. The members of the committee 

 are : — Lord Desborough (chairman), Mr. R. B. 

 Marston, Mr. A. R. Peart, Mr. F. G. Richmond, Mr. 

 H. T. Sheringham, Mr. A. Tate Regan, Sir John 

 Wrench Towse. The Hon. A. S. Northcote will act 

 as secretary to the committee. All communications 

 should be addressed to the secretary. Fresh-water Fish 

 Committee, 43 Parliament Street, S.W.i. 



Mr. E. Hero.n-Allen devoted his recent address as 

 president of the Royal Microscopical Society to an 

 elaborate account of the career and observations of 

 Alcide d'Orbignv, the founder of our knowledge of the 

 Foraminifera (Journ. Roy. Microscop. Soc., 19 17, 

 part i.). Alcide's father, Charles d'Orbigny, a doctor 

 at Esnandes, near La Rochelle, initiated the studies 

 which made his son's name immortal. F^lix 

 Dujardin, moreover, in 1835, "^t ten 3'ears after the 

 publication of d'Orbigny's "Tableau m^thodique," 

 first appreciated the simple nature of the foraminifera] 

 organism, and removed the group, which he styled 

 Rhizopoda, from any alliance with the Mollusca. But 

 <i'Orbigny's skill in minute observation, in collation, 

 and in delineation makes a permanent claim upon our 

 gratitude, and Mr. Heron-Allen proposes to publish, 

 when peace returns, the remarkable series of " planches 

 Inedites " that he has brought once more to light in 

 the museum at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. Two 

 coloured examples of these beautiful plates accompany 

 the address, and the other illustrations add touches of 

 human interest to what has become, in its author's 

 hands, a genuine biographical and bibliographical 

 research. 



The Aili dei Lincei (xxvi. (i) i) contains an account 

 of the work of Prof. Angelo Battelli, whose death, at 

 the age of fifty-four, occurred on December 11 of last 

 year. Born in 1862, Battelli entered the University 

 of Turin at the close of his school career, and by 1884, 

 when he graduated, he had already qualified for sub- 

 stantial researches in physics. His earliest interest 

 was in thermo-electricity, in which he made the first 

 determination of the_ so-called "specific heat" of elec- 

 tricity. The Peltier effect was the subject of repeated 

 experiments, and he described an arrangement in 

 which reversal took place at a moderate temperature. 

 Later researches dealt with the effects of pres- 

 sure on the temperature of fusion and that of mag- 

 netism on thermal conductivity, as well as on thermo- 

 electric effects. In 1887 Battelli commenced an ex- 

 tended series of investigations on the critical point, 

 the density of saturated vapours, and of liquids at the 

 maximum vapour pressure, specific heats, and allied 

 phenomena. In particular, he traced the isothermals 

 in the neighbourhood of the critical point. In 1898 

 he gave his attention to the study of oscillatory dis- 

 charges and the attendant phenomena. He was also 

 the author of a numl er of books, including some text- 

 books, besides works of a more substantial character, 

 on electrolvtic dissociation Jind radio-activity. On his 

 appointment at Pisa, Battelli found the physical 

 laboratory quite inadequate, both for instruction and 

 for higher studies, and it became necessary for him 

 to get it properly equipped. He also took an active 

 part in educational discussions in the Ttafian Second 

 Chamber. The author of the notice. Dr. A. Naccari, 

 expresses the opinion ttiat his end was accelerated 

 by his constant activity, which he would not allow to 

 flag even in his last sad illness. 



NO. 2474, VOL. 99] 



The twenty-sixth annual meeting of the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds was held at the 

 Middlesex Guildhall on March 22, her Grace the 

 Duchess of Portland, president, being in the chair. 

 As might bo supposed, the war has adversely affected 

 the work of the society, though not to any serious 

 extent. It was mentioned that the large camps now 

 scattered over the country have often, inevitably, 

 invaded areas under the protection of the society. 

 But the damage done, it is hoped, will be less than 

 was feared, for in many cases the men were induced 

 to take an inferest in the birds, and thus reduced the 

 damage to the lowest possible limits. The work of 

 the society's watchers, all of whom are ineligible for 

 military service, has for the most part gone on suc- 

 cessfully, and some interesting items have been re- 

 corded. We are glad to note that the breeding season 

 of 1916 was highly successful in the case of the 

 Kentish and Norfolk plovers, chough, phalarope, 

 peregrine falcon, and buzzard. The gannet nested 

 for the first time on Noss, in the Shetlands ; the red- 

 shank for the first time on one of the Cumberland 

 lakes ; while the great skua has spread to a new 

 region. A _ strong expression of opinion that the 

 recent prohibition of the importation of plumage 

 during the war should find a permanent place on the 

 Statute Book was warmly supported. For it was 

 pointed out that otherwise the work of the plume- 

 hunters would still go on, their ill-gotten gains being 

 hoarded until after the war, when they would be 

 dumped upon the market. The Dutch Committee 

 for the Prohibition of the Exportation of Birds and 

 Bird-skins from Dutch Colonies was very emphatic 

 on this point. A number of valuable leaflets on the 

 need for the protection of insectivorous birds has been 

 issued by the society for distribution, and these should 

 be widely read. 



The following are the lecture arrangements at the 

 Royal Institution after Easter : — Prof. C. R. Beazley, 

 two lectures : "Russian Development " : (i) "The Old 

 Free Russia," (ii) "The Rise of Moscow"; Prof. 

 C. S. Sherrington, two lectures: (i) "Tetanus: Its 

 Prevention, Symptoms, and Treatment," (ii) "Rhyth- 

 mic Action in Muscle and in Nerve "; Prof. D'Arcy W. 

 Thompson, two lectures: "Architectural Design in 

 Organisms," "The Laws of Growth and Form"; 

 Prof. W. W. Watts, two lectures: "The Flow of Ice 

 and of Rock"; Prof. H. S. Foxwell, two lectures: 

 "Industrial Finance after the War"; Prof. Gilbert 

 Murray, two lectures : " Pagan Religion at the Time 

 of the Coming of Christianity"; Prof. W. Bateson, 

 two lectures: "The Chromosome Theory of Heredity 

 and the Alternatives"; Alfred Noves, two lectures: 

 "^lodern English Poetry"; Prof. G. H. Bryan, two 

 lectures: "Principles of Aerial Navigation"; Sir 

 J. J. Thomson, six lectures: "The Electrical Pro- 

 perties of Gases." The Friday evening discourses, 

 which will begin on April 20, include :— Prof. R. H. 

 Biffen, "The Future of Wheat-growing in England "; 

 J. Dundas Grant, "The Organs of Hearing in Rela- 

 tion to War "; H. Wickham Steed, "Some Guarantees 

 of Libertv": Prof. John Jolv, "Radio-active 

 Haloes"; Prof. F. Soddy, "The Complexity of the 

 Chemical Elements "; J. Barcroft, " Breathlessness "; 

 J. H. Balfour Browne, "The Brontes: a Hundred 

 Years After"; Sir J J. Thompson, "Industrial Ap- 

 plications of Electrons." 



"The War and Our Supply of Drugs" was the 

 subject of a paper read before the Roval Societv of 

 Arts recently bv Mr. F. A. Hocking. 'Out of about 

 eighty drugs of vegetable origin in use at the London 

 Hospital during 19 14, only a few aise drugs ordinarily 

 derived from enemy countries, the chief being aconite, 

 belladonna, colchicum, digitalis, gentian, henbane, 



