134 



NA TURE 



[June 7, 1900 



Prof. Paul Groth, of Munich, has been elected a Foreign 

 Member of the Geological Society, and Prof. A. Issel, of 

 Genoa, a Foreign Correspondent. 



The annual conversazione of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers will be held on Tuesday, June 26, at the Natural 

 History Museum, South Kensington. The guests will be 

 received by the president (Prof. Perry), and Mrs. Perry. 



The Croonian Lectures for 1900 will be delivered by Dr. 

 F. W, Mott, F.R.S., before the Royal College of Physicians 

 of London, on June 19, 21, 26 and 28. The subject is "The 

 Degeneration of the Neurone." 



It is stated that Captain W. Bade di Wismar has organised an 

 expedition to the east coast of Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land 

 to seek for traces of Andree, and also to obtain intelligence of 

 the Duke of the Abruzzi. No apprehension is felt about the 

 Duke of the Abruzzi, as a long interruption in his communications 

 with the rest of the world was foreseen. 



A MEETING was held at the Meteorological Society on 

 Thursday last to consider the question of a memorial of the late 

 Mr. G. J. Symons, F. R.S. It was resolved that the memorial 

 should take the form of a gold medal, to be awarded from time 

 to time by the council of the Royal Meteorological Society for 

 distinguished work in connection with meteorological science. 

 An executive committee was appointed to take the necessary 

 steps to raise a fund for this purpose. Contributions will be 

 received by the assistant secretary, Mr. W. Marriott, 



Lord Lister will open the new clinical laboratories at the 

 Westminster Hospital on Tuesday, June 12, at 4 p.m. He will 

 ibe received by Sir J. Wolfe-Barry, chairman of the committee, 

 and supported by Lord Kelvin, Sir Michael Foster, M.P., Dr. 

 ■Church, president of the Royal College of Physicians, Sir William 

 MacCormac, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, and 

 'the Dean of Westminster. 



The completion of the twenty-fifth year of teaching by Prof. 

 Luciani, Rector of the University of Rome, was celebrated on 

 May 3 in the physiological laboratory of the University. The 

 British Medical Journal states that the theatre was crowded 

 with admirers of the well-known physiologist, conspicuous 

 among whom was Prof. Baccelli. An address was delivered by 

 Prof. Todaro, to which Prof. Luciani, who was much moved, 

 'replied. Prof. Baccelli also spoke, and ended by embracing 

 Prof. Luciani, who was the object of enthusiastic congratulations 

 from the assembly. 



The decision of the Trinity House authorities to remove the 

 wireless telegraphy installation between the South Goodwin 

 lightship and the South Foreland was discussed by the Dover 

 Chamber of Commerce on Friday. It was decided to 

 memorialise the Trinity Board and to request the Chambers of 

 Commerce of the ports of the United Kingdom, as well as 

 Lloyd's and other shipping bodies, to support the memorial, 

 with a view to the establishment of a connection between 

 lightships and the shore on dangerous sands. 



The president of the Board of Education has approved of a 

 Committee, which is now sitting, " to inquire into the organisa- 

 tion and staff of the Geological Survey and Museum of Practical 

 Geology ; to report on the progress of the Survey since 1881 ; 

 to suggest the changes in staff and arrangements necessary for 

 bringing the Survey in its more general features to a speedy and 

 satisfactory termination, having regard especially to its economic 

 importance ; and, further, to report on the desirability, or 

 otherwise, of transferring the Survey to another public depart- 

 ment." The members of the Committee are : — The Right Hon. 

 J. L. Wharton, M.P. (chairman), Mr. Stephen E. Spring 



NO 1597, VOL. 62] 



Rice, C.B., Mr. T. H. Elliott, C.B., General Festing, C.B., 

 Dr. H. F. Parsons, Mr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., and Prof. C. 

 Lapworth, F.R.S., with Mr. A. E. Cooper as secretary. 



The announcement of the death of Miss Mary H. Kingsley, 

 at Simonstown, on Friday, will be received with deep regret by 

 geographers, ethnologists, and many others who are familiar 

 with her works. Miss Kingsley was the elder of the two 

 children of the late Dr. G. H. Kingsley, and quite recently 

 (May 3) her memoir of her father, published with his " Notes 

 on Sport and Travel," was noticed in these columns. Miss 

 Kingsley will chiefly be remembered for her explorations in 

 West Africa, and her works upon them. The first volume in 

 which she recorded her experiences was " Travels in West 

 Africa," published in 1897. Last year, a further volume of 

 " West African Studies " appeared, and a few weeks ago her 

 "Story of West Africa" was published in the Empire Series. 

 Miss Kingsley's books are marked by a sincerity and humour 

 which make them of deep interest even to readers who may 

 not always agree with her forcibly-expressed convictions. Her 

 interest in West Africa, as an obituary notice in the Times 

 points out, was partly scientific, partly sociological, partly 

 political. She made numerous contributions to our knowledge 

 of the fishes of some of the West African rivers, and of the 

 reptiles in that part of the continent. In both her books on 

 West Africa she made valuable additions to our knowledge of 

 the native mind and character, and her studies in fetish bring 

 out in a remarkable manner the sympathetic insight which 

 enabled her to project herself into the mind of the negro races. 

 In " West African Studies " Miss Kingsley set forth, with much 

 array of facts and arguments, a strong indictment of the system 

 of government by Crown colonies in West Africa. Personally, 

 Miss Kingsley was of a modest and retiring disposition ; but 

 the frequent journeys that she made up African rivers and 

 through the bush with none but native attendants afforded 

 undoubted testimony to her pluck, powers of endurance and 

 fertility of resource. 



At the last meeting of the General Medical Council, the 

 report of the Pharmacopoeia Committee, referring to the sub- 

 ject of a proposed international Pharmacopoeia limited to drugs 

 of a drastic nature, was adopted. If an international conference 

 on the subject in question is arranged, the Council will appoint 

 representatives to participate in it, and one or more members 

 will be appointed to act as delegates. Communications have 

 been opened with the United States authorities with a view to 

 bringing about greater uniformity in the official preparations 

 contained in the British Pharmacopoeia and the United States 

 Pharmacopoeia respectively ; and it is hoped that, by mutual 

 concessions, important approximations and assimilations in the 

 contents of the two works may be ultimately secured. Further 

 communications have been received with reference to the 

 Indian and Colonial "Addendum," and important suggestions 

 from Canada have been considered by the committee in detail. 

 It is hoped that the addendum will be authorised for issue by 

 the end of the year. By the efforts of Dr. Leech, a valuable 

 collection of British and foreign works bearing on the history 

 and development of the Pharmacopoeia has been collected and 

 deposited in the office of the Council. 



The widespread invasion and persistent devastations of 

 locusts in so many parts of Africa give interest to all trials and 

 experiments, as well as the ordinary remedies, employed for the 

 alleviation of this ruinous plague of the farmer. The following 

 notes from Mr. W. C. Robbins, Stock Inspector of the Lower 

 Tugela and Mapumulo Districts, are published in the Cape 

 official Agrtctilhtral Journal :—" For the past three days I have 

 been over the ground where my men have been infecting locusts 

 with Government fungus, and the result was that I found dead 



