194 



NA TURE 



[August 23. 1900 



Settle and Clapham. — By the same train which 

 conducts the party to Malham, another party will leave 

 for Settle under the guidance of Mr. J. J. Brigg. After 

 visiting the Victoria Caves, they will drive to Ingleton 

 and lunch. From there they will walk through the 

 beautiful grounds of Mr. J. A. Farrer and explore the 

 Clapham Caves, in which most extraordinary specimens 

 of stalactites and stalagmites are to be seen. 



The two last excursions are specially intended for 

 geologists. 



York. — It is, of course, essential that York, where the 

 first meeting of the British Association was held seventy 

 years ago, should be visited. The party will arrive in York 

 about II o'clock, under the leadership of Mr. J. A. 

 Clapham. The visitors will immediately proceed to see 

 the walls, the museum, and St. Mary's Abbey. Then, 

 after lunch at the Station Hotel, they will visit the Min- 

 ster, where most of the afternoon will be spent. By the 

 invitation of the Lord Mayor, they will afterwards be 

 entertained to tea at the Guildhall before leaving for the 

 station. 



For all the half-day excursions a uniform charge will 

 be made, and similarly for Thursday's excursions there 

 will also be a uniform charge. Visitors applying for ex- 

 cursions will be required to hand in this fee, together with 

 the application form ; and tickets, as nearly as possible 

 in accordance with their preferences, will be allotted to 

 them. By making all the excursions of equal cost, it is 

 •expected that the work of allotment will be simplified. 



The next article will deal with the mayoral and civic 

 functions that have been arranged, and some account will 

 ^be given of the large garden-party which the municipality 

 will hold on Monday, September lo, and of the various 

 .private garden-parties to be given on September 12. 



Ramsden Bacchus. 



NOTES. 



We regret to announce the death of Dr. John Anderson, 

 F.R.S., the distinguished zoologist. 



Dr. D. Morris, C.M.G., the Imperial Commissioner of 

 Agriculture for the West Indies, has just arrived in this 

 -country. 



Prof. G. Carey Foster, F.R.S., has been appointed Prin- 

 cipal of University College. Prof. Foster is a Fellow of the 

 •College, and was formerly professor of Experimental Physics 

 and Quain Professor of Physics ; he is also a Fellow of the 

 University of London, in which University he acted as ex- 

 aminer previous to his election to the Senate. 



The International Geological Congress is now in session at 

 Paris. Among the items included in the programme are dis- 

 cussions on international co-operation in geology, fundamental 

 researches for the establishment of a definitive classification, 

 scheme for an international lexicon of petrology, and the 

 .photography of types of fossil species. 



Reuter reports that Major Gibbons, the African traveller, 

 reached Omdurman on August 20. The line of route traversed 

 ■by the expedition represents a distance of 13,000 miles. Among 

 the objects attained were the mapping of Barotseland ; the 

 accomplishment of the first steam navigation of the Middle 

 Zambesi; and the tracing of the whole course of the river, the 

 -discovery of its source, and the determination of its watershed. 

 Thence the route of the expedition was eastward, and by way of 

 the Great Lakes and the Nile. 



The annual meeting of the English Arboricultural Society 

 ■was held at Manchester last week. Prof. Somerville was ap- 

 .pointed president for the ensuing year. Reports were read from 



NO. 1608, VOL. 62] 



the judges upon essays on " Foreign versus Native Timber," 

 "Agricultural and Woodland Drainage," and "Thinning." 

 The silver medal for the first essay was awarded to Mr. George 

 Cadell, late of the Indian Forest Department, and bronze medals 

 for the other essays were given to Mr. D. A. Glen, of Kirby, 

 near Liverpool, and Mr. A. Dean, of Egham. 



The third annual report of the Council of the Rontgen 

 Society shows that the society is making satisfactory progress. 

 The demonstrations at the meetings are very valuable to all 

 workers with Rontgen rays, and the papers and abstracts pub- 

 lished in the Archives enable members who are unable to attend 

 the meetings to keep well in touch with the latest developments 

 of radiographic work. Dr. J. B. Macintyre, one of the earliest 

 and most prominent investigators with Rontgen rays, has con- 

 sented to be nominated as the next president of the society. 



Sir William Stokes, the eminent surgeon, died suddenly 

 at Pietermaritzburg on Saturday. He filled the post of President 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland in 1896 ; and among 

 his other appointments was the professorship of surgery in the 

 Royal College of Surgeons in 1872, senior surgeon of the 

 Government Hospital of Ireland in 1868, president of the Patho- 

 logical Society of Ireland, and Surgeon in Ordinary to the Queen 

 in Ireland from 1892. He was the author of a number of 

 addresses, and contributions to the medical press, on clinical and 

 operative surgery. 



A Reuter telegram from St. Petersburg states that news 

 has been received there from Dr. Sven Hedin, showing that 

 his expedition this spring to Lob Nor to settle the various 

 questions in dispute regarding that lake and its surroundings 

 has resulted in discoveries exceeding his expectations. He 

 found, in fact, that the lake known to previous explorers no 

 longer exists, having dried up, leaving its bottom strewn with 

 shells and marine growths. Around this old basin, however, 

 a regular system of new lakes has been formed, which Dr. 

 Sven Hedin has explored and mapped. In connection with 

 this announcement, it is worth remark that at the time of the 

 visit of Prince Henry of Orleans to Lob Nor, towards the 

 end of 1889, the lake consisted of a number of interlacing 

 lakes and river-arms, the contraction of the former large 

 water-area being probably due to the using up of the waters 

 of the Tarim for irrigation by the increasing population of the 

 river basin. 



The Scientific American announces that the U.S. Congress 

 has granted funds for the inauguration of agricultural experiment 

 stations in the islands of Hawaii and Porto Rico. Prof. S. A. 

 Knapp has been selected to investigate the agricultural condi- 

 tions and possibilities of Porto Rico. He went to the island in 

 June, and will study the lines of experimental investigation 

 which should be undertaken there, places suitable for stations, 

 and the approximate expense of inaugurating and maintaining 

 the work. Dr. W. C. Stubbs will make a preliminary survey 

 of the conditions in the Hawaiian Islands. He sailed for 

 Hawaii about the middle of July, and will spend the month of 

 August in the islands. The conditions there are somewhat 

 diff"erent from those of Porto Rico, as a station for experiments 

 in sugar production has been maintained by private beneficence 

 for a number of years. 



The Berlin Academy of Science has (says Science) made the 

 following grants for scientific work : Prof. Adolf Schmidt, of 

 Gotha, for the collating and publication of material on terrestrial 

 magnetism, 750 marks ; Dr. Leonhard Schultze, of Jena, for 

 investigations on the heart of invertebrates, 2000 marks ; Prof. 

 Emil Ballowitz, of Greifswald, for investigations on the structure 

 of the organs of smell of vertebrates, 800 marks ; Dr. Theodore 

 Boveri, of Wurzburg, for experiments in cytology, 500 marks ; 



