April 14. 19 10] 



NATURE 



197 



?f of garden-parties will be arranged, full particulars 

 A which will be announced later. 



The Argentine Scientific Society is organising an Inter- 



lational American Scientific Congress, to be held in the 



:ity of Buenos Aires on July 10-25. This congress will 



'orm one of the items of the programme arranged to com- 



nemorate the centenary of the revolution of May, 1810, 



which brought about the independence of the Argentine 



1, as well as that of other nations of South America. 



?. F. Alcorta, President of the Argentine Republic, is 



: esident of the congress, and Prof. N. B. Moreno and 



i;. M. del Pont are the general secretaries. The work 



)f ihe congress will be done in eleven sections, each having 



I number of subsections. The sections and the presidents 



nted are as follows: — engineering, Mr. L. A. Huergo ; 



s and mathematics. Dr. M. R. Candioti ; chemistry, 



A. Quiroga ; geology ; anthropology, Dr. F. 



.hino; biology. Dr. A. Gallardo ; geography and 



y, Dr. F. P. Moreno ; economics and statistics, Dr. 



-^. Zeballos ; military science, Brigadier-General P. 



eri ; naval science, Rear-Admiral M. J. G. Mansilla ; 



. ,/.ology, Dr. H. G. Pifiero. All communications should 



)e addressed, according to circumstances, to the president 



)f the executive committee, Mr. L. A. Huergo, or to the 



jresident of the committee of propaganda, Mr. S. E. 



3arabino, care of the Argentine Scientific Society, 269 



alle Cevallos, Buenos Aires. 



A " Photographic Arts .ixd Crafts Exhibition " is 

 jpen for this week only at the Royal Horticultural Hall, 

 v'incent Square, Westminster. It is an excellent and re- 

 wesentative show of modern photographic apparatus and 

 naterials, and includes a pictorial section, in which may 

 )e seen some of the finest portrait work, and examples of 

 he applications of photography to various technical pur- 

 X)ses, such as criminology, metallograph)', photomicro- 

 |raphy in colours, &c. Demonstrations, lectures, and 

 cinematograph shows are given from time to time. With 

 •egard to cameras, the chief fact that strikes one is the 

 :otal absence of the large cameras that were familiar 

 »me years ago, often specially made for exhibition, and 

 nstead of them there are innumerable small cameras, some 

 excessively small, and others of more moderate size, but 

 ill designed to give the utmost portability with efficiency. 

 Messrs. Marion and Co. show one that takes plates 

 if inches by 2f inches, and folds into a rectangular 

 jlock that weighs only 6 ounces, and is about half an 

 thick, including the lens and shutter. Messrs. 

 IS and Co., Messrs. Houghtons, Messrs. A. E. Staley 

 Co., and other firms show cameras nearly, if not 

 , as compact, and some of these are of a quality of 

 lanship that leaves nothing to be desired, and when 

 ed with a first-class lens give pictures that will 

 it of considerable enlargement, so that a really efficient 

 a may now be the constant companion, in fact as 

 as in name, of naturalists and travellers, without the 

 g that it is something extra to be carried. The 

 nt tendency .to develop in tanks for predetermined 

 is obvious in the many models of apparatus for 

 |r purpose. The Standa Company has a new pattern in 

 the rack that carries the plates is hinged so that 

 iWill open out, and, if suspended by one end, allows 

 access of air to the surfaces of all the plates, a con- 

 t method of drying them. Colour photography is 

 nted by Messrs. Sangei- Shepherd and Co., Messrs. 

 lire, and Messrs. Wratten and Wainwright. Tele- 

 feto. lenses are shown by Messrs. Dallmeyer, Messrs. 

 and Co., and others. There are altogether about 

 NO. 2III, VOL. 83] 



seventy firms exhibiting, excluding the pictorial section. 

 k lecture on " Spirit Photography " is given three times 

 daily, illustrated by some alleged " real spirit '* photo- 

 graphs, as well as by examples of what is possible by 

 well-known methods. 



In L' Anthropologic (January-February) Prince Georges 

 Cantacuzene describes a collection of eleven skulls from a 

 primitive cemetery at Corneto, near Civita-Vecchia. Of 

 these he gives a detailed series of measurements, and the 

 result of his investigation is to confirm the view that the- 

 old Roman race was composed of several divergent types. 



In the National Geographic Magazine for February Mr. 

 Byron Cummings describes the great natural bridges in- 

 Utah. They are the result of a disturbance of the vast 

 strata of red and \-ellow sandstone underlying that region, 

 •which left natural obstacles through which the rivers have- 

 worn their way. One of them is the Edwin Bridge, a 

 graceful structure with a span of 194 feet and an eleva- 

 tion of 108 feet. Finer than this is the Augusta Bridge, 

 combining massiveness with graceful proportions. It is 

 222 feet high and 261 feet between the abutments. Still 

 greater, if not so well proportioned, is that which the 

 Indians know as Nonnezoshi, or "Stone Arch," the 

 greatest natural arch as jet found, measuring 308 feet in 

 height and 275 feet between the abutments. In some 

 places the process by which these natural wonders were 

 formed may still be seen in action. 



Major Stanton, late Governor of Khartum, in a lecture 

 recently delivered before the Colonial Institute, quoted- in 

 Travel and Exploration for April, notices a curious fact 

 about the jerboa, or kangaroo rat. " It' is found in con- 

 siderable numbers in places miles and miles away from 

 any water or even dew, and I was at a loss to understand 

 how these little animals could exist through the ten months 

 of drought. It appears, however, that after the scanty 

 rains a small wild melon, of bitter taste but full of juice, 

 flourishes in the desert. The jerboa, as soon as the melon- 

 is ripe, bites off the stem and proceeds to dig away the 

 sand under the melon, so that it gradually sinks below 

 the level of the ground. The constant wind soon covers 

 it over with 6 to 8 inches of sand, which protects it from 

 the scorching sun and from drving up. When all other 

 moisture has evaporated, the jerboa goes to his larder 

 of melons, and drinks the juice of these till the rains 

 come on again. One jerboa will burv- as many as forty 

 of these little melons to last him through the drj- season." 



L'Anthropologie (Tome xx., No. 5) contains an interest- 

 ing article by Dr. R. Verneau on three skulls discovered 

 by M. Mansuy in the cave at Pho-Binh-Gia, in the oldest 

 beds yet explored in Indo-China. This cave is situated 

 400 m. west of the village of the same name and 75 kil. 

 north-west of Lang-Son (Tonkin). All three skulls are of 

 the same ethnic type, and apparently belonged to a race of 

 more than medium height. The most complete is that of 

 a male, of which the mandible has also been obtained. 

 A detailed description of the three skuHs is given. The 

 complete male skull is dolichocephalic (index 73-47), slightly 

 phaenozygous, with a rather narrow but well-curved fore- 

 head, somewhat prominent parietal protuberances, and the 

 supraciliary arches are prominent only in the region of the 

 glabella. The chief characteristic of the head is its dis- 

 harmony, in which respect the old Indo-Chinese race 

 approaches the Cro-Magnon race of the Reindeer period, 

 the Grimaldi type of the mid-Quaternary age, and Lagoa 

 Santa man, the most ancient type yet known in South 

 America. The skulls of Pho-Binh-Gia are certainly not 



