NOTICES. 



MR. RICHARD LYDEKKER, F.R.S.— We are very sorry 



to record the death of Mr. Richard Lydekker, a distinguished 

 contributor to " KNOWLEDGE," and well known for his work 

 in Geology and Zoology 



ECONOMIC BOTANY.— Messrs. John Wheldon & 

 Company's catalogue (No. 69) contains the titles of some 

 hundreds of books and papers dealing with commercial 

 plants, cotton, dyeing, weaving, brewing, as well as grasses, 

 sugar, timber, forestry, and tobacco. 



MRS. HENRY DRAPER.- We have received a reprint 

 of an article by Miss Annie |. Cannon, from Science, giving 

 an interesting account of the life of the late Mrs. Henry 

 Draper, who. in the same way as Lady Huggins helped 

 Sir William Huggins, was an enthusiastic and capable co- 

 worker in astronomy with her husband, the late Dr. Henry 

 Draper. 



RUSSIAN EQUIVALENT TABLES.— In view oi the 

 increasing importance of trade with Russia, the Central 

 Translators' Institute, of 265 Strand, has compiled a set of 

 tables, dealing with the somewhat complicated Russian 

 weights and measures, which permit of the instant conversion 

 of British weights, measures, and money into Russian, and 

 vice versa, and cover all ordinary commercial requirements. 

 The price is one shilling. 



MICROSCOPE MATERIALS.— We have received from 

 Mr. C. Baker his catalogue of microscope materials. It 

 contains details of stains and reagents, bacteriological and 

 other apparatus, mounting sundries, pond-life apparatus, 

 and mounted specimens. We notice that, in common with 

 other manufacturers, Mr. Baker has had to advance his 

 prices somewhat where metal and glass are concerned, and 

 also in the case of stains. 



VILLAGE INDUSTRIES.— Some of the few village 

 industries which survive are exceedingly interesting. They 

 could be made most helpful to rural workers, and it should be 

 possible to revive and introduce others. We hope, therefore, 

 that the National Council of Toy Industries, which has been 

 formed, will be able to encourage work which can be done 

 in cottage homes. The Secretaries may be addressed at 

 33, Buckingham Mansions, N.W. 



PROFESSOR HERDMAN.— Arrangements have been 

 made for the portrait of Professor Herdman, painted by 

 Robert Duddingstone Herdman, to be reproduced by 

 heliogravure process, and issued to subscribers. The cost 

 will not exceed ten shillings ; and if one hundred applicants 

 subscribe, it will be but five. Any proceeds, after the 

 payment for the plate and reprints, will be devoted to 

 Belgian refugee artists. Particulars may be obtained from 

 Miss May Allen, Zoological Library, The University, 

 Liverpool. 



THE LATE PROFESSOR TARRIDA DEL MARMOL. 

 — An appeal is being made for the widow and children of 

 the late Professor Tarrida del Marmol, who was born in 

 Santiago, in Cuba, in 1861, of a distinguished Spanish family. 

 In his boyhood he showed a marked talent for mathematics, 

 and, later, turned to astronomy. He devoted his pen and 

 his purse to every forward movement, from constitutional 

 liberalism to philosophic anarchism. The address of the 

 Secretary of the Marmol Committee is 92, Selwyn Avenue, 

 Highams Park, London, N.E. 



MR. MURRAY'S QUARTERLY LIST.— Among Mr. 

 Murray's new and forthcoming works are several dealing 

 with the war. Dr. Chalmers Mitchell is responsible for one 

 on " Evolution and the War "; Mr. Theodore Andrea Cook 

 contributes a series of essays on " Kaiser, Krupp, and 

 Kultur"; while Professor Muirhead discusses "German 

 Philosophy and Its Relation to the War." Volumes III 

 and IV of " The Arts in Early England," by Professor 

 Baldwin Brown, which will deal with Anglo-Saxon art and 

 industry in the pagan period, are now promised. 



ROAD CONSTRUCTION.— In a paper read recently 

 before the Society of Engineers Mr. Frank Grove, the 



Assistant Surveyor oi the County of Surrey, summarised 

 the development ol roads in Kngland from the time of the 

 Roman occupation, and referred in greater detail to those 

 ol more recent times. He described the nuisance arising 

 from dust, the extensive damage done to road surfaces, 

 and the means taken to minimise these troubles. He then 

 gave an account of the maintenance of the roads in the 

 County of Surrey, which were more used by motor-cars 

 than those of any county around London ; and, finally, 

 he described the methods of construction of the various 

 types of roads now used. 



BRITISH ANTS.— Messrs. William Brendon & Sons 

 announce the publication, at one guinea, of a work on 

 " British Ants," by Mr. Horace Donisthorpe, provided 

 the number of copies subscribed for be sufficient to make 

 production possible. Hitherto the study of British ants 

 has been greatly hindered by the lack of a book giving the 

 classification and descriptions of all the species known to 

 occur in these islands. Mr. Donisthorpe has been at work 

 for many years on a work which is expected to consist of 

 three hundred and fifty pages, seventy figures, and forty 

 photographs. From the specimen pages it would appear 

 that great care has been exercised in the preparation of 

 the book, and that it will contain interesting details as to 

 habits and life-history. The book is quite ready to go to 

 press, but the difficulties occasioned by the War have caused 

 the author to postpone the printing of it until a fuller list 

 of subscribers has been obtained. Messrs. Brendon & Sons' 

 address is Plymouth. 



ALCHEMY AND PHALLICISM.— At the last meeting 

 of the Alchemical Society the acting president, Mr. Stanley 

 Redgrove, B.Sc, read a paper on " The Phallic Element 

 in Alchemical Doctrine." The lecturer brought forward 

 further evidence in support of his theory that the doctrines 

 of the mediaeval alchemists originated in an attempt to 

 apply, by means of analogy, the accepted religious dogmas 

 concerning the soul and its destiny to chemical and physical 

 phenomena. A further source of a priori reasoning was, the 

 lecturer said, to be found in the rudimentary physiology 

 of the period. It was natural for primitive man to attempt 

 to explain the universe anthropomorphically, and this led 

 to his attributing sex, not only to the world as a whole, but 

 to inanimate objects. This gave rise to "phallicism," or the 

 worship of sex ; and so far as the alchemists were concerned, 

 what the lecturer called " the phallic element in alchemical 

 doctrine " manifested itself in a belief that the metals 

 propagated themselves sexually. 



BIOLOGY AND THE WAR.— No. 24 of " Papers for 

 War-time " is by Professor J. Arthur Thomson, and deals 

 with " Biology and the War." The author points out that 

 the struggle for existence does not necessarily make for 

 evolution, and in many cases thins out without sifting. 

 From a biological point of view war must be regarded with 

 anxiety, since it impoverishes the race, through the death 

 of a disproportionately large number of those whom we 

 can at least afford to lose, and that, far from being in full 

 accordance with Nature's message to man, it is a reversion 

 to the crudest and most primitive form of the struggle 

 for existence. In conclusion, Professor Thomson asks if 

 this war brings racial impoverishment, as it seems bound to 

 do, what counteractives are possible ? He thinks that we 

 may look for a more marked disapproval of selfish forms 

 of celibacy and a stronger encouragement of chivalrous 

 marriages. There may spring up a freshened enthusiasm 

 for all-round fitness and a high standard of health. With 

 regard to retrenchments, he goes on to say : "To economise 

 upon the nobler super-necessaries means crippling such 

 supermen as painters and musicians. May we not try 

 pinching ourselves in our comforts before we begin starving 

 our souls?" What the biologist is most concerned with is 

 the natural inheritance of the race ; but if this is impoverished 

 it rests with us, each in his own way, to try to secure that 

 our social heritage may be enriched. 



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