April 7, 1910J 



NA TURE 



16s; 



Mr. F. G. Ogilvie, C.B., has been appointed by the 

 'resident of the Board of Education to a new post of 

 Secretary of the Board for the Science Museum, Geological 

 ^luseum and Geological Survey. Mr. E. K. Chambers 

 las been appointed to succeed him as principal assistant 

 ecretary of the technological branch of the Board. Dr. 

 i. F. Heath, director of special inquiries and reports, has 

 »een appointed to the post of principal assistant secretary 

 if the universities branch of the Board in combination with 

 lis present post. 



Mr. W.alter Rlnciman, President of the Board of 

 iducation, has appointed a departmental committee to 

 onsider and report upon various questions in regard to the 

 iresent condition and the future development of the valu- 

 ible collections comprised in the Board's Science Museum 

 It South Kensington and Geological Museum in Jerm\n 

 Street. In particular, the committee is asked to advise 

 lim (a) as to the precise educational and other purposes 

 vhich the collections can best serve in the national 

 nterests ; (&) as to the lines on which the collections 

 houid be arranged and developed, and possibly modified, 

 10 as more effectively to fulfil these purposes ; and (c) as 

 o the special characteristics which should be possessed 

 >y the new buildings which it is hoped will be erected 

 hortly on the South Kensington site to house these collec- 

 ions, so as to enable the latter to be classified and exhibited 

 n the manner most fitted to accomplish the purposes they 

 re intended to fulfil. The committee is as follows : — Sir 

 lugh Bell, Bart, (chairman). Dr. J. J. Dobbie, F.R.S., 

 ;ir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., P.R.S., Dr. R. T. Glaze- 

 rook, F.R.S., Mr. Andrew Laing, Sir Schomberg 

 IcDonnell, K.C.B., Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., 

 R.S., Prof. W. Ripper, Sir W. H. White, K.C.B., 

 R.S., with Mr. F. G. Ogilvie, C.B., as secretary. 



Reuter messages from Catania record that the eruption 

 Mount Etna increased in violence up to the end of 

 larch, when a stream of lava was moving at a speed of 

 early forty yards an hour in the direction of Cisterna 

 egina, near Borrello. On April 4, however, the activity- 

 ad considerably lessened. The streams of lava had 

 iminished in volume, and changed their direction. They 

 ere then flowing towards Monte Rinazzi and Monte 

 aggi, submerging the lava remaining from previous 

 ■uptions. There was a pronounced recrudescence of the 

 uption early on April 5. The lava stream flowing 

 •wards Cisterna Regina in particular increased its rate 

 progress to 10 metres an hour, and reached a spot only 

 ;o metres distant from the Nicolosi Borello road, destroy- 

 g the cultivated land on its course. 



The summar}- of the weather for the first three months 



the present year, just issued by the Meteorological 



flfice, shows that the mean temperature was above the 



'erage over the entire kingdom. The rainfall was below 



e average in the north of Scotland, and in agreement 



ith the average in the north-east of England, whilst in 



1 other districts the fall was in excess of the average ; 



e greatest excess was 2 77 inches, in the north of Ireland. 



le largest total measurement was 14-61 inches, in the 



•rth of Scotland, and the least 521 inches, in the east 



England. The number of rainy days were everywhere 



excess of the average. There was an excess of sun- 



ine over the whole of Great Britain, amounting to 



hours in the Midland counties, 76 hours in the north- 



»t of England, and 70 hours in the south-west of 



igland. The largest aggregate duration of sunshine for 



three months was 362 hours, in the Channel Islands, 



XO. 21 10, VOL. 83] 



and the least 212 hours, in the north of Ireland. There 

 was an excess of sunshine in twelve out of thirteen weeks 

 in the Midland counties, and in eleven out of thirteen 

 weeks in the south-west of England. 



Mr. R. M. Barringtox, writing from Fassaroe, Bray, 

 Co. Wicklow, says : — " On March 21, at 9 a.m., the read- 

 ing of the wet-bulb mercurial thermometer 4 feet from the 

 ground in a Stevenson's screen was 1° F. higher than the 

 dry-bulb mercurial thermometer 3 inches distant in the 

 same screen, the readings being 46° and 45° respectively. 

 .Assuming che instruments are accurate and in working 

 order, can such a thing occur? " He adds that at the 

 moment of observation the temperature was falling rapidly. 

 A distinguished meteorologist informs us that cases of the 

 wet bulb above the dry are by no means rare, but the 

 difference is rareh- so much £S 1°. They are generally 

 dealt with in practice by attributing the differences to 

 instrumental errors or temporary meteorological circum- 

 I stances (such as the rapid fall of temperature noted by 

 Mr. Barrington), which bring out an imperfection in the 

 conventional methods of thermometry. 



The tragedy which deprived M. Charlois of his life on 

 Easter Day deprived French astronomy of a brilliant 

 worker and the Nice Observatory of an enthusiastic 

 observer. M. Charlois devoted himself chiefly to the minor 

 planets, and was only second to Dr. Max Wolf in the 

 number of these bodies which he discovered. .\t the 

 foundation of the Nice Observatory by M. Bischoffsheim 

 in 1881, Charlois was appointed secretary to M. Perrotin, 

 the first director, and in 1887 was given charge of the 

 minor planet work. Observing with the 38-cm. refractor 

 he discovered, up to December, 1902, 104 which previously 

 had escaped detection. Twenty-seven of these were found 

 visually, between 1888 and 1892 ; but M. Charlois was the 

 first to adopt Dr. Wolf's photographic method, and thereby 

 added seventy-seven more asteroids to the rapidly growing 

 family. These he discussed in vol. viii. of the Annals of 

 Nice Observatory, but he also published a number of 

 orbits, observations, &c., in the Bulletin astronomique, the 

 Astronomische Nachrichten, &c. ; for this work he was 

 awarded the Janssen medal of the Astronomical Society of 

 France in 1899. Minor planets did not, however, absorb 

 all M. Charlois's energies, for he observed many comets, 

 measured double stars, made a great number of latitude 

 observations, and accompanied M. ThoUon to Spain for 

 the transit of Venus in 1882. At the transit of Mercury 

 in 1907, he made observations which afforded corrections 

 to the ephemeris, and he also rendered valuable assistance 

 to the International Astrographic Conference in their work 

 on Eros ; it is interesting to note that he secured a plate 

 showing the trail of this remarkable asteroid on the 

 same evening that it was discovered by De Witt, but did 

 not recognise it until after the announcement of the dis- 

 covery by the Berlin observer. 



Little has hitherto been known of the language of the 

 Yana tribe of Indians, who occupy part of Shasta County, 

 in the northern region of California. This want has now 

 been supplied by Messrs. E. Sapir and R. B. Dixon, who 

 have contributed to the ninth volume of the Publications 

 of the University of California a series of legends recorded 

 from the lips of the two last survivors of those learned in 

 the tribal traditions. One of these tales is a remarkable 

 variant of the Prometheus type of legend, describing how 

 Fox, Sandpiper, and Coyote stole the fire, how the world 

 was burned, and how the thieves escaped in a basket which 

 Spider hauled up to heaven by his thread. Another and 

 less complete version of the tale has been published by Mr. 



