April 5, 191 7] 



NATURE 



109 



Sun," and this was succeeded by a lecture on 

 " Soaring- Flight " by Dr. E. H. Hankin, and one 

 by Mr. F. L. Usher on "Explosives." The onlv 

 social function took place on the afternoon of 

 January 11, when the members were received at the 

 palace by H.H. the Maharajah of Mysore, to 

 whose Government the Congress is indebted for 

 the invitation to meet this year in Bang-alore. 

 On the following- afternoon the members visited 

 the laboratories of the Indian Institute of Science 

 at the invitation of the director and staff. 



At the concluding- business meeting- it -was an- 

 nounced that the Congress would meet next year 

 ui Lahore, under the presidencv of Dr. Gilbert 

 Walker, F.R.S. ' F. L. U. 



We regret to learn from the Times that the death 

 of Dr. E. von Behring, the discoverer of the curative 

 effect of the serum of immunised animals in the 

 treatment of diphtheria, is announced in the German 

 newspapers. 



The annual general meeting of the Chemical Societj- 

 was held at Burlington House on March 29, Dr. Alex- 

 ander Scott being in the chair. Prof. W. J. Pope was 

 elected president. Col. Smithells and Prof. Sydney 

 Young were the two new vice-presidents elected, and 

 Prof. H. C. H. Carpenter, Prof. A. Findlay, Prof. A. 

 Harden, and Dr. T. A. Henry were elected as new 

 ordinar\- members of council. Dr. Scott delivered his 

 presidential address upon the subject of "The Atomic 

 Theory." 



A NEW branch of the Ministry of Munitions has been 

 established under Sir Lionel Phillips as Controller, to 

 deal with the examination and development of such 

 mineral properties (other than coal or iron ore) in the 

 United Kingdom as are considered likely to be of 

 special value for the purposes of the war. The 

 Minister of Munitions has apfjointed the following to 

 act as an advisory committee on the development of 

 mineral resources : — Sir Lionel Phillips, Bt' (chair- 

 man), Mr. F. J. Allan. Mr. C. VV. Fielding, Mr. R. J. 

 Frecheville. Prof. F. W. Harbord, Mr. F. Merricks, 

 Sir Harry Ross Skinner, Dr. A. Strahan, and Mr. 

 Edgar Taylor, together with a representative to be 

 nominated by the Board of Trade. 



We learn from Science that Prof. A. V. Stuben- 

 rauch, professor of pomology in the University of 

 California, died at Berkeley, Cal.. on February 12. A 

 graduate of the Universit;/ of California of 1899, Prof. 

 Stubenrauch was for ten years in the U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, resigning in 19 14 his position 

 as pomologist in charge of field investigations to 

 return to service in the University of California. He 

 was the first to demonstrate that dates could be grown 

 with commercial success in the Imperial Valley, on 

 the desert in southern California; and in association 

 with Mr. G. H. Powell he developed the pre-cooling 

 method, which has greatly contributed to success in 

 the shipping of fruit from California. 



A Ki\ESL\TOGRAPH film of great interest is now 

 being shown at the Philharmonic Hall, Great Port- 

 land Street, by Capt. Campbell Besley. Capt. Besley, 

 who is an Australian, undertook an expedition to the 

 head waters of the Amazon at the request of the 

 President of Peru in co-operation with Mr. Bryan, then 

 Secretan,' of State of the United States of America. 

 The chief objects of the expedition were to determine 

 the source of the Amazon and to ascertain the fate of 



NO. 2475, VOL. 99] 



former explorers, who were supposed to have been 

 killed by hostile Indians. The expedition, which was 

 away two years, achieved its objects, but at con- 

 siderable cost of life, for of the twelve white men 

 who started only four returned. Several fell victims 

 to the {X)isoned arrows of the natives. The pictures, 

 which are explained by Capt. Besley, show the grea: 

 rivers, the vegetation, and animal life of the regior 

 visited. They are an example of the great educationa! 

 \-alue of the kinematograph. The film is at present 

 shown daily^ at 3 and 3 p.m. 



The seventieth annual meeting of the Palaeonto- 

 graphical Society was held on March 30 in the Geo- 

 logical Society's rooms, Burlington House, Dr. Henrj- 

 Woodward, president, in the chair. The report re- 

 ferred to the delay of the publications owing to existing 

 circumstances, but noted that there was no diminu- 

 tion in the number of monographs offered. Instal- 

 ments of the volumes on Pliocene Mollusca, Palaeozoic 

 .Asterozoa, and Wealdcn and Purbeck fishes were 

 about to be issued. Dr. Henry Woodward, Mr. R. S. 

 Herries, and Dr. A. Smith W^oodward were re-elected 

 president, treasurer, and secretary respectively, and 

 the new members of council were Mr. H. A. .Allen, 

 Mr. E. Heron-Allen, Rev. H. N. Hutchinson, and 

 Mr. C. T. Trechmann. In a brief address the pn-esi- 

 dent mentioned that when the society was founded 

 on March 23, 1847, it was estimated that the descrip- 

 tion and illustration of all the British fossils could 

 be completed in twenty-five years. The long series 

 of volumes published during seventy years, however, 

 had proved to do little more than make a good 

 beginning of the task. 



On Thursday, March 29, a representative assemblv 

 of the friends and admirers of the late Sir William 

 Huggins, O.M., and Lady Huggins met together 

 in the crjpt of St. Paul's Cathedral to witness and 

 participate in the unveiling and dedication of a 

 medallion commemorating conjointlj- the achievements 

 of a great astronomer and the inspiring efforts of a 

 wife who, for some thirty-five years, identified herself 

 with his aims and labours. Among those present 

 were Sir Joseph Thomson, O.M., president of the 

 Royal Societ>- ; Dr. A. Schuster and Mr. W. B. Hardy, 

 secretaries R.S. ; Sir Alfred Kempe, treasurer R.S. ; 

 Sir Archibald Geikie, O.M. ; Major MacMahon, presi- 

 dent of the Roval Astronomical Societv ; the Astronomer 

 Royal; Sir W. Crookes. O.M. ; Mr. H. F. Newall ; 

 Sir Joseph Larmor ; Mr. E. B. Knobel ; Sir W. TiWen ; 

 Mr. E. W. Maunder; Mr. W. H. Wesley; and the 

 Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing. A number of ladies were 

 also present, .\fter the memorial had been unveiled 

 a short form of service was conducted bv Dean Inge, 

 with whom were Canon Simpson and Canon Alex- 

 ander. In committing the memorial to the charge 

 of the I>ean and Chapter. Sir Joseph Thomson paid 

 eloquent tribute to the scientific achievements of Sir 

 William Huggins. Bom and educated in London, 

 and all his work having been carried on and issued 

 from a London observatory, St. Paul's appeared the 

 fittest of destinations for a medallion. Major Mac- 

 Mahon, referring to certain points in a great life, 

 -aid that Huggins saw celestial chemistry looming 

 in front of him, and before many years had elapsed 

 he was the pioneer of a new branch of science. The 

 medallion of Sir William Huggins, it should be noted, 

 was the primary- object of the memorial, but. on 

 the death of Lady Huggins, it was decided to 

 place her portrait beneath that of her husband, on 

 the same slab. Both are the work of Mr. Henry 

 Pesram, A.R.-A. The inscriptions run respectively: 

 "William Huggins, Astronomer, 1824-1910"; "Mar- 

 garet Lindsay Huggins, 1848-1915." 



