268 



NATURE 



[June 5, 1919 



auspices of the Industrial Reconstruction Council on 

 June 10, at 5.30 p.m., in the hall of the Institute of 

 Journalists, 2 and 4 Tudor Street, E.G. 4. The chair 

 will be taken by Dr. H. Chellew, and Major Pells, 

 R.E., will introduce the subject, after which the dis- 

 cussion will be open. No tickets are necessary. 



The seventy-first general meeting of the Institution 

 of Mining Engineers will be held in the rooms of the 

 Geological Society, Burlington House, on Thursday, 

 June 19, under the presidency of Mr. G. B. Walker. 

 Two institution medals will be presented for the year 

 1918-19 to Dr. Auguste Rateau (French) and M. 

 Victor Watteyne (Belgian) respectively. 



A BIOLOGIST having a knowledge of life in streams 

 is about to be appointed by the Joint Committee of 

 the Board of Agriculture and Fisherifes and the Road 

 Board to assist in experiments in connection with the 

 tarring of roads. Applications for the post, marked 

 "Biologist," must reach the Secretary of the Road 

 Board, 35 Cromwell Road, S.W.7, by, at latest, the 

 first post of Monday, June 16. 



Applicatioxs are invited by the Imperial Mineral 

 Resources Bureau (14 Great Smith Street, S.W.i) for 

 the position of Chief of the Intelligence and Publica- 

 tions Section of the Bureau to compile and produce 

 for publication statistical information in regard to 

 the resources, production, and cost of production of 

 metals and minerals from all parts of the world. The 

 forms of application, with testimonials, are returnable 

 by, at latest, June 19. 



The death is announced, in his eightieth year, of 

 Dr. Alexis A. Julien, of South Harwich, Mass. From 

 i860 to 1864. Dr. Julien was the resident chemist on 

 the guano island of Sombrero, and made scientific col- 

 lections there for the Smithsonian Institution. From 

 1865 to 1909 he was on the staff of the School of 

 Mines, Columbia University. He had also been con- 

 nected with ■ the Geological Surveys of the States of 

 Michigan and North Carolina. 



The annual meeting of the British Science Guild 

 will be held on June 17, at 4 p.m., at the Goldsmiths' 

 Hall, by kind permission of the Master and Court. 

 The speakers will be the Right Hon. Lord Sydenham 

 (president of the guild), Major-Gen. the Right Hon. 

 J. E. B. Seely,. Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of 

 Air, Sir Joseph Thomson, president of the Royal 

 Society; and Sir Robert Hadfield, Bart. Cards of 

 invitation to the meeting may be had on application 

 to the Secretarv, British Science Guild, 199 Piccadillv, 

 W.I. 



A PORTION of the Ministry of Munitions has become 

 a branch of the Board of Trade. The portion that 

 is transferred to the Board of Trade will deal with 

 questions of assistance to, and organisation of, the 

 optical scientific instrument, glass, and potash indus- 

 tries, including administration of the Glass Control 

 (Consolidated), Clinical Thermometer, and Potassium 

 Compound Orders. All communications relating to 

 such questions in future, therefore, should be ad- 

 dressed to the Assistant Secretary, Board of Trade, 

 Industries and Manufactures Department, Scientific 

 Instruments, Glassware, and Potash Production 

 Branch, 117 Piccadilly, W. i. 



At the annual general meeting of the Linnean 

 Society, held on May 24, the following were elected 

 officers and council for the ensuing year: — President: 

 Dr. A. Smith Woodward. Treasurer: H. W. Monck- 

 ton. Secretaries: Dr. B. Daydon Jackson, E. S. 

 Goodrich, and Dr. A. B. Rendle. Council: E. G. 

 Baker, Dr. W. Bateson, *Prof. Margaret Benson, 



NO. 2588, VOL., 103] 



*E. T. Browne, R. H. Burne, S. Edwards, Prof. 

 J. B. Farmer, E. S. Goodrich, Dr. B. Davdon Jackson, 

 C. C. Lacaita, *G. W. E. Loder, H. W. Monckton, 

 R. I. Pocock, Dr. A. B. Rendle, Dr. D. H. Scott, 

 Miss A. Lorrain Smith, A. W. Sutton, *Dr. Harold 

 Wager, Lt.-Col.J. H. Tull Walsh, and *Dr. A. Smith 

 Woodward (new members are shown by an asterisk). 

 Prof. I. Bayley Balfour was presented with the 

 Linnean medal in gold. 



A CONFERENCE devoted to the consideration of 

 problems of reconstruction in relation to public health 

 has been arranged by the Royal Institute of Public 

 Health, to be held from Wednesday, June 25, to 

 .Saturday, June 28, inclusive. The inaugural meeting of 

 the conference will he held in the Egyptian Hall of 

 the Mansion House, under the presidency of the Right 

 Hon. the Lord Mayor of London, and the other meet- 

 ings will be held in the Council Chamber of the Guild- 

 hall of London. The subjects to be considered will 

 come under the following heads : — (i) The Work of 

 the Ministry of Health ; (2) The Prevention and Arrest 

 of Venereal Disease ; (3) Housing in Relation to 

 National Health; (4) Maternity and Child Welfare; 

 and (5) The Tuberculosis Problem under After-War 

 Conditions. 



In view of the imminent resumption of international 

 co-operation in the study of questions connected with 

 the art of illumination and the sciences related 

 thereto, a meeting of the National Illumination Com- 

 mittee of Great Britain was held on Mav 27, when 

 vacancies in the executive of the committee, due to 

 the decease of Mr. W. Duddell and Prof. Silvanus P. 

 Thompson, were filled. The executive, with the 

 institutions represented, is now as follows : — Chair- 

 man, Mr. A. P. Trotter (Illuminating Engineering 

 Society); vice-chairmen, Mr. John Bond (Institution 

 of Gas Engineers) and Mr. Kenelm Edgcumbe (Insti- 

 tution of Electrical Engineers) ; hon. secretary, Mr. 

 Haydn T. Harrison (Institution of Electrical En- 

 gineers) ; hon. treasurer, Mr. W. J. A. Butterfield 

 (Institution of Gas Engineers) ; and representatives 

 on the executive committee of the International Com- 

 mission on Illumination, Dr. Harold G. Colman 

 (Institution of Gas Engineers) and Mr. Leon Gaster 

 (Illuminating Engineering Society). The resumption 

 of research work, etc., was considered, and a pro- 

 gramme for further discussion at a meeting at an 

 early date was settled. 



The Air Ministry has begun the publication, in the 

 Geographical Journal for May (vol. liii., No. 5), of 

 some notes on proposed air routes. The first one is 

 the route from Egypt to South Africa. From Cairo 

 to Kosti there seems to be little difliculty : either the 

 Nile or the railway indicates the course. South of 

 Kosti is a forest region, and the Nile banks are wooded 

 or swampy, while the sudd reeion makes tha White 

 Nile a practically impossible route. The route proposed 

 is bv Sennar up the Blue Nile to Roseires. thence south 

 to Gambela and the western shore of Lake Rudolf; 

 or from Roseires by Nasser on the Sobat to Gondokoro. 

 But on either route landing-places are not numerous 

 and communications are bad. It is suggested that a 

 seaplane might be the best type of machine for this 

 section. A seaplane is also favoured for the route 

 from Gondokoro to Lake Victoria by Murchison Falls. 

 Across Lake Victoria the proposed route is to Mwanza 

 by seaplane, thence to Kigoma and Abercorn on Lake 

 Tanganyika. The route continues by Broken Hill to 

 Bulawavo, thence following the railway to Mafeking-, 

 Kimberlev, and Cape Town. Alternative routes are 

 sujjirested for parts of the course. It is proposed to 

 provide landing-places, so far as possible, every -200 



