May 2 1, 1903] 



NATURE 



jtated enlars^ement of the building about twenty-five 

 ;ars ago, when a large hall was added. This is a 

 iadrangular structure eighty-six feet by forty-three 

 ;t, with a ground floor and two galleries connected by 

 iro spiral staircases, and lighted by forty-eight win- 

 )ws. A second hall of the same dimensions has just 

 ;n completed, and will soon be occupied. It is con- 

 scted with the old hall on each floor by a corridor fifty- 

 feet long, and the floors and roof are of concrete, anu 

 is intended to replace those of the old hall with the 

 ime material at once. It is estimated that the entire 

 llection comprises considerably more than 2,000,000 

 imens, attached to 1,300,000 sheets, 

 ith the exception of Carey's North American her- 

 rjum, Lindley's orchids, and Borrer and Watson's 

 itish herbaria, the plants from all parts of the world 

 arranged in one series, the genera according to 

 jntham and Hooker's " Genera Plantarum," and the 

 :ies geographically. It is unnecessary to enlarge 

 the value of a herbarium containing the types of 

 the colonial floras and other works issued from 

 jw— it is known to all botanists. The library, which 

 present director has made his special care, is one 

 ■the richest, even if not the richest, in existence, and 

 admirable condition. It comprises upwards o!" 

 20,000 volumes, besides about 10,000 pamphlets. The 

 Government published a catalogue of the books in 

 iSqq, and annual supplements since. There is also 

 ri separate collection of about 100,000 published figures 

 iind original drawings of plants. 



W. BoniNG Hemslev. 



I'HK SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. 



THE inauguration of the South African Association 

 for the Advancement of Science took place at 

 Cape Town on April 27. The Cape I imes, to which 

 we are indebted for the details of the proceedings, de- 

 scribes the successful gathering as a British Association 

 meeting in miniature. The new Association enters 

 upon its career with a membership of seven hundred 

 persons from many parts of South Africa. 



The main objects of the organisation are the same 

 as those of the parent body. As defined in the Con- 

 stitution, they are " to give a stronger impulse and 

 a systematic direction to scientific inquiry ; to promote 

 the intercourse of societies and individuals interested 

 in science in different parts of South Africa; to obtain 

 .( more general attention to the objects of pure and 

 Pljlied science, and the removal of any disadvantages 

 t a public kind which may impede its progress." 



The presidential address was delivered by Sir David 

 (iill, K.C.B., the Astronomer Royal for South Africa, 

 who explained the nature of the work which it was 

 hoped the new Association would accomplish. During 

 the course of his able address Sir i^avid (iill announced 

 that Lord Kelvin had written that, although in 1905 

 he will be eighty-one years of age, he intends, if he 

 is as well then as he is now, to accompany the British 

 Association on the visit to South Africa. 



The work of the sections began on the second aay 

 of the meeting. The presidential addresses in the 

 various sections were delivered by the following men 

 of science : — 



Section \. — Astronomy, Chemistry, Mathematics, 

 Meteorology, and Physics, by Prof. P. D. Hahn ; Section 

 B. ^Anthropology, Ethnology, Bacteriology, Botany, 

 (ipography, (leology, Mineralogy, and Zoology, by Dr. R. 

 Marlotti ; ard Section C. — Archaeology, Education, Mental 

 Science, Philology, Political Economy, Sociology, and 

 Statistics, by Dr. Thomas Muir, C.M.G., F.R.S., Director 

 (if Education for Cape Colony. 



Among the papers read during the course of the meetings 

 the following deserve mention. In .Section A, on ferments 



NO. I 75 I, VOL. 68] 



causing " casse " in wine, by Mr. Raymond Dubois; 

 meteorology in .South Africa : a retrospect and prospect, by 

 Mr. C. .M. Stewart; close binary systems, by Dr. Alex. W. 

 Roberts; determination of mean temperature, &c., from 

 observations made at second-order stations on the Table 

 Land, by Mr. J. R. Sutton; some recent work on the dis- 

 charge of electricity from heated bodies, by Prof. J. C. 

 Beattie. 



In Section B, (i) on the occurrence of an epidemic among 

 the domesticated animals in Mauritius in which Trypano- 

 somata were found in the blood ; (2) note on the co-relation 

 of several diseases occurring among animals in South 

 Africa ; (3) on the production of a malarial form of South 

 African horse sickness, by Dr. Alex. Edington ; the minerals 

 of some South African granites, by Mr. F. P. Mennell ; on 

 the classification of the Theriodonts and their allies, by 

 Dr R. Broom ; (i) some morphological and biological 

 observations on the genus Anacampseros ; (2) on some stone 

 implements in the Albany Museum, by Dr. S. Schonland. 



In Section C, some aspects of South African forestry, by 

 Mr. D. E. Hutchins ; dry crushing of ore preparatory to 

 the extraction of gold, by Mr. Franklin White ; sewage 

 disposal in Cape Colony, by Mr. J. Edward Fitt. 



In Section D, the library system of South Africa in com- 

 parison with those of England and America, by Mr. 

 Bertram L. Dyer ; iteration as a factor in language, by 

 Prof. W. Ritchie ; common sense and examination, by Mr. 

 P. A. Barnett ; Cape Dutch, by Prof. W. S. Logeman ; how 

 we get knowledge through our senses, by Rev. Dr. F. C. 

 Kolbe. 



The example set by the British Association of 

 airanging for receptions and other social functions to 

 lighten the intellectual fare provided was followed at 

 Cape Town, and the excursions, conversazioni, &c., 

 were well attended and much appreciated. 



T' 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY CONVERSAZIONE. 

 HE conversazione held at the Royal Society on 

 Friday last was attended by a large and dis- 

 tinguished company, among the visitors being H.R.H. 

 the Prince of Wales and H.S.H. the Duke of Teck. 

 There were numerous exhibits illustrating progress in 

 various branches of science, several of them being of 

 great interest. P'ollowing our usual course, we abridge 

 the particulars given in the descriptive catalogue as to 

 the character and purpose of the objects on view. 



Sir William Crookes, F.R.S., exhibited objects illustrating 

 certain properties of the emanations of radium. If a solid 

 piece of radium nitrate is brought near a blende screen, and 

 the surface exainined with a pocket lens magnifying about 

 20 diameters, scintillating spots are seen to be sparsely 

 scattered over the surface. On bringing the radium nearer 

 the screen the scintillations become more numerous and 

 brighter, until when close together the flashes follow each 

 other so quickly that the surface looks like a turbulent 

 luminous sea. A convenient way to show these scintil- 

 lations is to fit the blende screen at the end of a brass tube 

 with a speck of radium salt in front of it and about a milli- 

 metre off, and to have a lens at the other end. Focusing, 

 which must be accurately effected to see the best effects, is 

 done by drawing the lens tube in or out. It is proposed to 

 call this little instrument the " Spinthariscope." 



Specimens of brittle gold and photographs illustrating 

 their microstructure were shown by Dr. T. K. Rose. Gold 

 of the British imperial standard, containing 916 per cent, 

 of gold and 83 per cent, of copper, is made brittle and 

 unfit for coinage by the presence of minute traces of certain 

 impurities such as telluriuin, lead, bismuth, &c. Similar 

 or even considerably greater quantities of these elements, 

 excepting bismuth, do not affect the ductility of fine gold. 

 The deleterious effects of the impurities are removed by the 

 presence of oxide of copper dissolved in the metal. The 

 changes in the quality of coinage bars are accompanied by 

 profound changes in the microstructure of the metal. 



Dr. Morris W. Travers exhibited hydrogen thermometers 

 for measuring low temperatures. The thermometers are 

 of the constant-volume type, and are intended for the 



