March 3, 1910] 



NATURE 



15 



nmensely more probable that it is a residue from 

 alution of the limestone. 



The paper is well illustrated, and one photograph 

 hows an "anemolite," or stalactite the growing tip 

 f which has been bent sideways by the action of air- 

 urrents. 



Mr. Brodrick has also published a general account 

 f the explorations in Fermanagh in the Yorkshire 

 'amblers' Club Journal. G. A. J. C. 



NOTES. 

 The following fifteen candidates have been selected by 

 le council of the Royal Society to be recommended for 

 lection into the society : — Mr. J. Barcroft, Prof. G. C. 

 lourne, Prof. A. P. Coleman, Dr. F. A. Dixey, Dr. 

 ,. N. G. Filon, Mr. A. Fowler, 'Dr. A. E. Garrod, Mr. 

 ;. H. Hardy, Dr. J. A. Harker, Prof. J. T. Hewitt, 

 rof. B. Hopkinson, Dr. A. Lapworth, Lieut. -Colonel Sir 

 /. B. Leishman, Mr. H. G. Plimmer, and Mr. F. Soddy. 



Invitations have been issued to meet the general board 

 f the National Physical Laboratory at the laboraton.' on 

 riday, March i8, when the various departments will be 

 pen for inspection, and apparatus will be on view. 



Sir Victor Horsley, F.R.S., has been elected a foreign 

 ssociate of the French .Academy of Medicine. 



Dr. \V. F. Hume has been appointed director of the 

 reological Survey of Egypt. 



Mr. .Andrew Carnegie has offered (the Times states) 

 ) give a prize of 5000Z. to the first student of the Carnegie 

 chool of Technology at Pittsburg who constructs an 

 eroplane satisfying certain conditions. 



The Friday evening discourse at the Royal Institution 

 n March 11 will be delivered by Dr. H. Brereton Baker 

 n " lonisation of Gases and Chemical Change," and on 

 larch 18 by .Sir J. J. Thomson on " The Dynamics of a 

 lolf Ball." 



The death is reported, at the early age of thirty-three, 

 f Mr. J. F. Ferrj", for many years an ornithologist in 

 jnnection with the Field Museum, Chicago. In collect- 

 ig for that museum he made expeditions among the 

 ;lands of the Caribbean Sea and along the coast of the 

 <ulf of Mexico. He also carried out investigations in 

 irizona for the L'.S. Biological Survey, and in the moun- 

 iuns of California for the Smithsonian Institution. 



The following appointments have been made recently by 

 le governing body of the Lister Institute of Preventive 

 (edicine : — Mr. H. R. Dean and Dr. G. H. Macalister, 

 sistant bacteriologists to the institute ; Dr. H. McLean, 

 •nior assistant in the bio-chemical department ; Mr. 

 shley Cooper, Jenner memorial research student ; Mr. 

 oland V. Norris, Grocers' Company research student; 

 r. S. G. Paine, research student in the chemical depart- 

 ent. 



The annual conversazione of the Selborne Society was 

 Id in the theatre and halls of the Civil Service Com- 

 ission on Friday, February 18. Sir John Cockburn, 



C.M.G., gave an address on the objects of the society 

 id the aims of its members, while Mr. E. J. Bedford 

 :tured on " Gilbert White and his Associations with 

 Iborne." Among the interesting exhibits was a working 

 odel of a pole-lathe still in use for turning bowls in Berk- 

 ire, which was made and exhibited by Mr. William 

 jwrence. The number of microscopes shown amounted 



one hundred, and the evening was probably the most 

 ccessful yet arranged. 



NO. 2105, VOL. 83] 



The Geologists' .Association is making arrangements for 

 an Easter excursion to north Devon. It is intended that 

 the excursioa shall last from March 24 to March 30, and 

 be under the directorship of Messrs. J. G. Hamling and 

 Inkermann Rogers. The official party is to leave 

 Paddington by the i p.m. train on March 24 for Barn- 

 staple. On successive days the Upper Culm Measu'-es, 

 the Upper Devonian, the Lower Culm, and the Lower 

 Devonian are to be studied in different districts. Full 

 particulars as to the excursion can be obtained from Mr. 

 Mark VVilks, 47 Upper Clapton Road, London, N.E. 



The Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, situated near 

 Boston, U.S.A., has just completed an existence of a 

 quarter of a century. Founded and maintained by Prof. 

 .A. Lawrence Rotch, detailed measurements of cloud 

 heights and velocities were early conducted, and in 1894 

 the first meteorological records in the world were obtained 

 with kites at this station. These were extended ten years 

 later with sounding balloons to great heights above the 

 centre of the .American continent, and, through the co- 

 operation of M. Teisserenc de Bort, over the Atlantic 

 Ocean (Natl're, vol. Ixxiii., pp. 54-6, 449—50; vol. Ixxx., 

 pp. 219-21). These observations in the free air, like 

 those made elsewhere in the interest of aerology for the 

 International Commission for Scientific .Aeronautics, have 

 now become useful to aeronauts and aviators. 



Prof. W. Krause, whose death was recently announced 

 from Berlin, at the age of seventy-six, was one of the 

 better known of modern German anatomists. He was a 

 son of the famous Dr. Carl Krause, professor of anatomy 

 in the University of Hanover, who published a remarkable 

 text-book of anatomy — " Handbuch der menschlichen 

 .Anatomie " — in 1833. The preparation of the third edition 

 of this work, from 1876 to 1880, constitutes one of the 

 most important contributions made to anatomy by the 

 late Prof. W. Krause. His researches on the terminal 

 organs (end-plates) of motor nerves gained him an early 

 and wide reputation among histologists. Originally pro- 

 fessor of anatomy in the University of Gottingen, he 

 went, late in life, to Berlin, where he occupied the position 

 of head of the anatomical laboratories of the University-, 

 under the directorship of the veteran anatomist, Prof. 

 Waldeyer. 



February was a stormy and unsettled month over the 

 whole of the British Islands, and the total rainfall was 

 large. At Greenwich the mean temperature for the month 

 was 42- 1°, which is 2-3° warmer than the average of the 

 previous sixty years ; the mean of the day readings was 

 48°, and the mean of the night readings was 36°. Frost 

 occurred in the screen on seven nights, but on the grass 

 in the open on fifteen nights. The aggregate rainfall at 

 Greenwich was 272 inches, which is 1-23 inches more than 

 the average ; rain fell every day with three exceptions. 

 February was wetter than any corresponding month during 

 the last ten years. The sun was shining for seventy hours, 

 which is thirteen hours in excess of the average. Cyclonic 

 svstems traversed our islands with great frequency during 

 the month, the central areas following a track well to the 

 northward, so that westerly winds greatly predominated. 

 The Meteorological Office, alluding to the violent gale 

 which occurred on Sunday, February 20, mentions that 

 the squalls reached " storm " force in many parts of the 

 country, and " hurricane " force at Southport, Scilly, and 

 Pendennis Castle. The maximum velocity of the wind ar 

 Southport was at the rate of more than eightv-five miles 

 an hour, using the new factor for the wind velocit)' as 

 determined by the Meteorological Office. 



