May 5, 1910] 



NATURE 



287 



At the annual general meeting of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, held on Tuesday, April 26, the result of the 

 ballot for the election of officers was declared as follows : — 

 President, Mr. Alexander Siemens ; vice-presidents, Dr. 

 W. C. Unwin, Mr. R. Elliott-Cooper, Mr. A. G> Lyster, 

 and Mr. C. A. Brereton ; others members of council, Mr. 

 J. A. F. Aspinall (Liverpool), Mr. B. Hall Blyth (Edin- 

 burgh), Mr. J. A. Brodie (Liverpool), Mr. W. B. Bryan, 

 Colonel R. E. B. Crompton, C.B., Mr. Wm. Davidson 

 (Australasia), Mr. E. B. Ellington, Mr. Maurice Fitz- 

 maurice, C.M.G., Mr. J. P. Griffith (Ireland), Sir Robert 

 A. Hadfield (Sheffield), Dr. C. A. Harrison (Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne), Mr. W. Hunter, Mr. G. R. Jebb (Birmingham), 

 Mr. H. E. Jones, Sir Wm. Thomas Lewis, Bart., 

 K.C.V.O. (Aberdare), Mr. H. D. Lumsden (Canada), Sir 

 Thomas Matthews, Hon. C. A. Parsons, C.B. (Wylam-on- 

 Tyne), Mr. A. Ross, Mr. J. W. Shores, C.M.g! (South 

 Africa), Mr. F. J. E. Spring, CLE. (India), Mr. J. Strain 

 (Glasgow), Sir Frederick R. Upcott, K.C.V.O., C.S.L, 

 Sir Philip Watts, K.C.B.,Mr. W. B. Worthington (Derby), 

 and Mr. A. F. Yarrow (Glasgow). 



Scientific work in America will benefit largely by the 

 will of the late Prof. Alexander Agassiz. The American 

 •Academy of Arts and Sciences receives io,oooZ., and the 

 National Academj- of Sciences an equal sum. A bequest of 

 5000Z. goes to the City of Newport, Rhode Island, for the 

 support of the Coles Laboratory and for use in the main- 

 tenance of manual training in the city schools. The prin- 

 cipal beneficiary is Harvard University-. Prof. Agassiz has 

 left to that institution a valuable collection of books and 

 instruments, as well as a legacy of 20,oooZ. for the general 

 uses of its Museum of Comparative Zoology. Another sum 

 of 20,oooZ. is left to the president and fellows of Harvard 

 for the publication of memoirs of Prof. Agassiz 's own 

 expeditions. In addition, a bequest of 2400Z., which is to 

 provide a life income to two servants, is to revert to 

 Harvard on the death of these servants and their wives, and 

 the bulk of the estate, now to be divided among the three 

 sons of the deceased, is also to become the property of the 

 University should the family become extinct. 



Dr. C. B. Plow^right, whose death was announced in 

 last week's Nature, belonged to the school of mycologists 

 founded by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, one of the pioneers 

 of modern mycology and the founder of plant pathology. 

 Of this school only three members now remain, one of 

 whom is the veteran Dr. M. C. Cooke. Among the 

 members that assembled annually for the fungus foray, 

 held under the auspices of the celebrated Woolhope Club, 

 Dr. Plowright was always noted for his advanced ideas and 

 his endeavours to elevate mycology from the old Friesian 

 rut in which at the time it was firmly imbedded. His 

 espousal of the heteroecismal theory of the rusts was the 

 cause of much good-natured banter ; nevertheless, Dr. 

 Plowright commenced experiments and infections, which 

 were continued for many years, and resulted in the produc- 

 tion of the classic work entitled " A Monograph of the 

 British Uredineae and Ustilagineae. " A second publication 

 of importance was " A Monograph of the British Hypo- 

 myces." In addition, more than one hundred papers bear- 

 ing on systematic mycology and plant pathology have 

 appeared under his name in various publications. He was 

 a constant visitor to the various fungus forays for many 

 years, and was for some time president of the British 

 Mycological Society. His geniality and readiness to remove 

 difficulties from amateur mycologists will doubtless be 

 remembered by many, who will sincerely regret his removal 

 from amongst them. 



NO. 2 II 4, VOL. 83] 



The eleventh session of the International Geological 

 Congress will be held in Stockholm on August 18-25, *"<^ 

 the executive committee has prepared a very attractive 

 programme both of meetings and excursions. The special 

 problems of which discussion is invited are the classifica- 

 tion of the pre-Cambrian system, post-Glacial climatic 

 changes, the iron ore supplies of the world, the geology 

 of the Polar regions, and the sudden appearance of the 

 Cambrian fauna. The excursions are divided into three 

 groups, those before, during, and after the congress. The 

 most extensive of the preliminary excursions will be one 

 to Spitsbergen under the conduct of Baron de Geer ; it 

 will last three weeks, and will be devoted to examination 

 of the very varied glacial and stratigraphical geology of 

 Ice Fiord. The cost of the excursion is 50L Most of the 

 other preliminary excursions are in northern Sweden, and 

 include visits to the great overthrust area of Jamtland 

 under the direction of Prof. Hogbom, to the iron ore 

 deposits of Lapland, to Lake Tornea to examine its over- 

 thrusting and Pleistocene geology, and to the peat deposits 

 of Narke. There will be short excursions during the con- 

 gress to localities easily accessible from Stockholm. Sub- 

 sequently there will be excursions of from three to fifteen 

 days to the chief localities of geological interest in southern 

 Sweden, including the Archaean rocks of the south-western 

 coast, the island of Gotland and other Silurian localities, 

 the iron mines of middle Sweden, and the chief Mesozoic 

 localities of Scania. The second session of the -Agro- 

 geological Conference will be held in Stockholm simul- 

 taneously, and though the two congresses are independent, 

 geologists are invited to join both. In preparation for 

 the discussion on the iron ore resources of the world, an 

 elaborate collection of reports on the iron ore supplies of 

 most countries has been collected from the geological 

 surveys and mining geologists. It has been edited by the 

 general secretarj' to the congress. Dr. Gunnar Andersson, 

 and is being issued at a price of 3Z. It consists of two 

 quarto volumes of iioo pages, with an atlas of forty-two 

 maps and numerous plates. The work has not yet been 

 issued, but from the list of contributions it is obviously 

 a most valuable and authoritative statement as to the 

 available supplies and distribution of iron ore. 



The weather was fairly normal over the British Islands 

 during April, but the conditions were generally far less 

 settled in the northern and western districts than else- 

 where. Rain fell with considerable frequency, and at 

 times the measurements were large, especially in those 

 places where thunderstorms occurred. At Greenwich rain 

 fell on seventeen days, yielding a total of 265 inches, 

 which is I -08 inches more than the average of the past 

 sixty-five years ; of this amount 1-50 inches fell on April 16, 

 when a sharp thunderstorm was experienced. The mean 

 temperature at Greenwich was 47-5°, which is o-6° below 

 the average, and there were only seven days with a 

 temperature of 60° or above. Frost occurred in the screen 

 on two nights, but radiation frosts occurred on sixteen 

 nights, the exposed thermometer registering 159° on 

 April 3. The sun was shining for 130 hours, which is 

 seventeen hours less than the normal, and there were three 

 days absolutely without sunshine. There were only three 

 days during the month with the temperature in the sun's 

 rays above 120°. In April last year the duration of bright 

 sunshine was 250 hours, and there were twelve days with 

 the solar radiation temperature above 120°, whilst the mean 

 temperature was 49-6°, and the aggregate rainfall 1-64 inches. 



In vol. xxiv. of the Queensland Geographical Journal 

 Mr. R. H. Mathews describes certain sacred stones used 

 in burial and other rites by the aborigines of Australia. 



