June 2. iqio] 



NA TURE 



405 



virt of December, but with the Terra Nova it is hoped 

 to penetrate the pack ice at an earlier date than it has 

 been possible for previous expeditions to do, and accord- 

 ingly the ship will leave New Zealand towards the end of 

 November, and probably reach McMurdo Sound about 

 the end of December. On arrival in McMurdo Sound the 

 western party will be landed, and as soon as the winter 

 station has been established the greater number of the 

 paity will proceed to the south to lay dep6ts. It may be 

 possible to start this party off not later than the third 

 week in January-. At the same time, the ship will leave 

 McMurdo Sound and proceed to the eastward to explore 

 King Edward's Land. A small eastern party will probably 

 be left with full supplies and some transport facilities. 

 J\fter landing the eastern party the ship will return to 

 McMurdo Sound, and then proceed to the northward. At 

 the latest this will probably be in the third week of 

 February. If there is coal enough the Terra Nova will 

 be directed to investigate the pack in the region of the 

 Balleny Islands, and to proceed to the westward or to 

 the south of these islands. These objects will occupy 

 the ship during the month of March, after which she will 

 be directed to return to New Zealand. The western partj', 

 it is hoped, will by the month of April be safely established 

 in the hut, with suitable dep6ts laid well south of the 

 barrier. During the winter, preparations will be made for 

 an effort to reach the South Pole in the following season. 

 Captain Scott states that he does not propose to start 

 upon the southern journey until the month of October. 

 That month and the following will be spent traversing 

 the Barrier and ascending the glacier. He hopes to reach 

 the upper plateau fairly early in December, and an ideal 

 day for reaching the South Pole would be December 22. 

 Captain Scott will be accompanied by, among others, Lieut. 

 E. R. G. R. Evans, R.N., second in command; Dr. E. A. 

 Wilson, chief of scientific staff ; Lieut. H. L. L. Pennell, 

 R.N., magnetic and meteorological work in Terra Nova; 

 Surgeon G. M. Levick, R.N., doctor and zoologist; 

 Surgeon E. L. .Atkinson, R.N., doctor, bacteriologist, 

 parasitologist ; Dr. G. L. Simpson, physicist ; Mr. T. 

 Grifiith Taylor, geologist ; Mr. E. W. Nelson, biologist ; 

 Mr. D. G. Lillie, biologist ; Mr. W. G. Thompson, 

 geologist ; and Mr. C. S. Wright, chemist. 



Sir David Gill, K.C.B., F.R.S., has been appointed 

 a Knight of the Prussian Order of Merit. The honour 

 was conferred on Tuesday through the German 

 .Ambassador in London, by ordei of the German Emperor. 



Dr. W. Thom.\s, assistant lecturer in the Liverpool 



School of Tropical Medicine, has been appointed director 



of the new laboratories at Manaos, in the State of 

 .Amazonas. 



The death is announced, in his sixty-third year, of Prof. 

 W. Rose, emeritus professor of surgery at King's College, 

 London, and author of a number of works on various 

 surgical subjects, including the standard text-book " A 

 Manual of Surgery," of which he was joint author with 

 Mr. A. Carless. 



The Harben lectures will be delivered by Sir W. B. 

 Leishraan, F.R.S., professor of pathology in the Royal 

 Army Medical College, London, in the Royal Institute of 

 Public Health, on June S, 15, and 22, the subject being 

 " Anti-tA'phoid Inoculation." 



The Pourquoi Pas? having on board Dr. Charcot and 



other members of his expedition to south polar regions, 



arrived at Guernsey on Tuesday. Dr. Charcot expressed 

 NO. 21 18, VOL. Sy\ 



satisfaction with the journey, and said that he had accom- 

 plished all that he had expected, and had brought back 

 valuable scientific results, including a large collection of 

 animal remains. Among the geographical results is the 

 charting of land south of the Adelaide Islands. 



The council of the Royal Societ>- of Arts has elected 

 the Hon. Theodore Roosevelt a life member of the society 

 under the terms of the by-law which empowers it to 

 elect annually not more than five persons who have distin 

 guished themselves by the promotion of the society's objects. 

 The first American member of the society was Benjamic 

 Franklin, who was elected in 1755. 



The annual general meeting of the Research Defence 

 Society will be held on Friday, June 3, at 5 o'clock, in 

 the library of the Royal College of^ Physicians, Pall Mall 

 East, S.W. The chair will be taken by the Earl of 

 Cromer, president of the society. The other speakers will 

 be Sir Richard Douglas Powell, Bart., K.C.V.O., Sir 

 David Bruce, K.C.B., F.R.S., Mr. Anthony Hop* 

 Hawkins, and Mrs. Scharlieb. 



The Times Geneva correspondent reported that on 

 May 26, at 7.12 a.m., a violent earthquake shock traversed 

 the whole of Switzerland from north to south, touching 

 Bale, Zurich, Berne, and Geneva. Messages from Paris 

 and Berlin showed that the shock was felt at Belfort, 

 Miihlhausen, Upper Alsace, and parts of Baden. At 

 Freiburg the shock lasted for some seconds. During the 

 previous evening violent thunderstorms visited some parts 

 where the earthquake was recorded. 



The annual meeting of the Selborne Society will be held 

 in the theatre of the Civil Service Commission, Burlington 

 Gardens, on Friday, June 17. After business has been 

 transacted an address will be delivered by Mr. J. Buckland 

 on the traffic in feathers and the need for legislation. The 

 Selborne Society, of which the late Lord Tennyson was, 

 and Lord Avebury now is, president, has recently been 

 developing its work and increasing its activities. During 

 last \ear it acquired new offices at 42 Bloomsbury Square, 

 in order to form a home for its library and to pro\ide 

 reading and conunittee rooms. 



The council of the Institute of Metals has appointed a 

 committee to investigate the causes of the corrosion of 

 non-ferrous metals by sea- water, acids, &c., and by other 

 chemical and electrolytic reactions. The members of the 

 committee are : — Sir Gerard Muntz, Bart, (chairman). 

 Prof. H. C. H. Carpenter (secretary). Captain G. G. Good- 

 win, R.N., Prof. .A. K. Huntington, Mr. J. T. Milton, 

 Mr. A. Philip, Mr. L. Sumner, Prof. T. Turner, and Sir 

 William H. White, K.C.B., F.R.S. The committee has 

 decided, in the first instance, to confine its attention to 

 the question of the corrosion of condenser tubes in marine 

 engines and in stationary engines using foul water, or 

 being subject to violent electrolytic action, such as often 

 occur in electric power stations. 



Many members of the British Association will learn 

 with regret of the death of Mr. Alfred Colson, who was 

 chairman of the executive committee and local honorary 

 secretary for the meeting of the association at Leicester 

 in 1907. Mr. Colson was a past-president of the Institu- 

 tion of Gas Engineers, and also of the Leicester Literarj- 

 and Philosophical Society. His work as the gas and 

 electric light engineer of the Leicester Corporation will 

 remain a permanent memorial to his adaptability and 

 technical knowledge, and his great organising powers will 

 be remembered by all who were present at the Leicester 

 meeting of the British Association. 



