March io, 1910] 



NA TURE 



4« 



author of numerous research articles in pure mathematics. 

 He was a member, not only of the American Mathematical 

 Society, but of the Deutsche Mathematike Vereinigung and 

 the Circolo Matematico di Palermo. 



The ninth annual general meeting of the Association of 

 Economic Biologists will be held at the University of Man- 

 chester on July 6-8, under the presidency of Prof. G. H. 

 Carpenter. A detailed programme will be issued in due 

 course ; in the meantime, further particulars may be 

 obtained from the honorary secretaries, Mr. W. E. Collinge, 

 Uffington, Berkhamsted, or Mr. W. G. Freeman, 28 Burnt 

 Ash Lane, Bromley, Kent. Mr. J. Mahgan, of the Uni- 

 versity of Manchester, will act as local secretary. 



From a Lick Observatory Bulletin we regret to learn of 

 the death, at eighty-five years of age, of Mr. D. O. Mills, 

 to whose generosity^ American astronomy — and higher 

 education^owes very much. Mr. Mills was a member of 

 the first board of trustees, appointed by James Lick, to 

 superintend the construction and equipment of the Lick 

 Observatory. To his benefactions the observatory was in- 

 debted for the two exceptionally fine spectrographs, 

 used in connection with the great refractor, and he 

 also provided the means necessary for the D. O. Mills 

 expedition to the southern hemisphere, by which the 

 observatory at Santiago, Chile, was established. His gifts 

 to, and work for, the cause of higher education were also 

 remarkable, both for the lavish manner in which they were 

 freely given and the acute discernment which governed 

 them. 



The following officers of the Pellagra Investigation Com- 

 mittee have been selected : — chairman, Sir T. Lauder 

 Brunton ; vice-chairman. Dr. F. M. Sandwith ; honorary 

 secretary and treasurer, Mr. J. Cantlie ; advisory sub- 

 committee, Mr. E. E. Austen, Prof. E. C. Baylv, Sir 

 William Leishman, Dr. J. M. H. MacLeod, Sir Patrick 

 Manson, Sir John McFadyean, Dr. F. \V. Mott, and Prof. 

 Ronald Ross. The field- workers will be Dr. Louis W. 

 Sambon, of the London School of Tropical Medicine, and 

 Captain J. E. Siler, with Mr. Arthur Dawson-Amoruso 

 and Mr. G. C. C. Baldini as assistants. The standing 

 commission for the investigation of pellagra in Bergamo 

 has promised the inquiry every assistance. 



The eighth International Physiological Cqngress is to be 

 held at the Physiological Institute of the University, 

 Vienna, from September 27-30 next. Communications for 

 the congress should be sent to Prof. O. v. Fiirth, Physio- 

 logisches Institut, Wien IX., Wahringerstrasse 13. An 

 exhibition of physiological apparatus is to be held from 

 September 26 to October i, and a special congress com- 

 mittee has been appointed to organise it ; applications for 

 permission to exhibit apparatus should be sent to Herrn 

 Hofrat H. H. Meyer, Pharmakologisches Institut, 

 Wien IX., Wahringerstrasse 13. Prof. E. B. Starling, 

 F.R.S., of University College, London, is one of the 

 general secretaries to the international committee, and 

 Prof. Sigmund Exner, of the University of Vienna, is the 

 president of the congress. 



We learn from Science that arrangements have been 

 completed between Captain R. Amundsen and the Depart- 

 ment of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution 

 of Washington regarding cooperation in magnetic work on 

 the proposed Amundsen Polar Expedition to leave Norway 

 this summer on Nansen's vessel, the Fram. After some 

 general explorations in the South Atlantic and in the South 

 Pacific Oceans, the Fram is expected to arrive in the 

 summer of 191 1 at San Francisco, where her outfit will 

 be completed. The vessel will then be headed for Bering 

 NO. 2106, VOL. 83] 



Sea, and, after entering the polar basin, will drift with 

 the ice. It is expected that it will be about four years 

 before she emerges again from the ice. While Captain 

 Amundsen hopes that his vessel will drift across the North 

 Pole or close thereto, his prime object is that of general 

 geographic exploration. 



A Bill was introduced in the United States Senate on 

 March 2 to incorporate a Rockefeller foundation in the 

 district of Columbia. Mr. Rockefeller contemplates the 

 endowment of an institution which will be greater even 

 than the Carnegie foundation in educational work. The 

 Senator who introduced the Bill said that Mr. Rockefeller 

 had already given away 10,500,000/., and is now seeking 

 legislative means to dispose of his fortune in a way most 

 likely to benefit mankind. The foundation, according to 

 the Bill, is to be organised to promote the well-being and 

 advance the civilisation of the people of the United States 

 and its possessions, and for the acquisition and dissemina- 

 tion of knowledge ; for the prevention and relief of suffer- 

 ing, and the promotion of any and all elements of human 

 knowledge. The amount of Mr. Rockefeller's fortune is 

 not known precisely, but five years ago it was estimated 

 at at least 100,000,000/. 



The following list of aviation meetings for the ensuing 

 year is given by the Deutsche Zeitschrift fiir LufU 

 schiffahrt : — March 25 to April 3, Cannes; (date not stated) 

 Biarritz; April 10-25, Nice; April 30 to May 5, Tours; 

 May 10-15, Bordeaux (national meeting) ; May 7-153 

 Lyon ; May 10-16, Berlin (foreign competitors not dis 

 qualified); May 15-23, Marseille (national meeting); 

 May 20-30, Verona; May 27-31, Limoges (national); 

 June 5-22, Vichy (national); June 5-15, Budapest ; June 

 5-12, Juvisy (national) ; June 18-24, St. Petersburg^ 

 (foreigners eligible) ; June 10-26, Rouen ; July 3-24, 

 Rheims (French meeting) ; July 24 to August 4, Brussels ; 

 July 27 to August 2, Caen (national); August 6-13^ 

 England; .August 6-21, eastern circuit; August 25 ta 

 September 4, Havre, Trouville ; September 9-18, 

 Bordeaux ; September 24 to October 3, Milan ; October 

 2-9, Juvisy (national) ; October 18 to November 2,. 

 America ; December 4—18, Marseille. 



A meeting of the committee for an Arctic Zeppelin Air- 

 ship E.vpedition was held in Hamburg on March 5 under 

 the presidency of Prince Henrj- of Prussia. It was resolved 

 to ask the Imperial Ministry of the Interior for the 

 services of the Imperial exploration steamer Poseidon for 

 ten or eleven weeks. The members of the expedition intend 

 to start for Spitsbergen on July i, and there to trans- 

 ship to the Poseidon. At the same time dashes are to be 

 made into the polar ice with the hired Norwegian iceship 

 Phoenix to study the conditions for airship landing. The 

 return will be made about the end of August. The Berlin 

 correspondent of the Westminster Gazette states that the 

 original idea of making the primary object of the expedi- 

 tion the reaching of the North Pale has been abandoned; 

 the main purpose is now stated to be the exploration of 

 the unknown regions north of Franz Josef Land and Spits- 

 bergen. Cross Bay, which has been chosen on the ground 

 of data determined by the Prince of Monaco, will be made 

 the base of a number of separate airship voyages which 

 the Zeppelin airship will make. On its way north over 

 Germany and Norway the airship will stop at stations 

 prepared in advance. 



A Reuter message from Berlin states that Germany has 

 decided to send out an Antarctic expedition. At a meeting 

 of the Berlin Geographical Society on March 5, Lieut. 

 Filchner was introduced to the meeting as the leader of 



