io8 



NATURE 



[June 4, 1903 



It has been decided to christen the new society of electro- 

 chtmiks " The Faraday Society, "the object of the Society, 

 as stated in a subtitle, being to promote the study o^f electro- 

 chemistry, electrometallurgy, chemical physics; metallo- 

 graphy, and kindred subjects. It is proposed to start work 

 at once by beginning a half-session on July i, the 

 first ordinary meeting being fixed for June 30; the papers 

 to be read will be announced in due course. Arrangements 

 have been made to publish the proceedings in the Electro- 

 chemist and Metallurgist, which will be issued free to 

 members ; the papers will be circulated before being read, a 

 plan which it is hoped will improve the discussion upon 

 them. It is also hoped that it will be possible to supply 

 members with the Transactions of the American Electro- 

 chemical Society, either free or at a very small cost. The 

 first president is Mr. J. W. Swan, F.R.S., and the vice- 

 presidents are Prof. Crum Brown, Lord Kelvin, Sir O. 

 Lodge, Dr. Ludwig Mond, Lord Rayleigh, Mr. A. Siemens 

 and Mr. J. Swinburne. A set of rules has been drawn up 

 by the council ; these and any other particulars can be 

 obtained from the secretary, Mr. F. S. Spiers, 82 Victoria 

 Street, S.W. We wish the Society all success. 



We regret to have to announce that Dr. A. A. Common, 

 of Ealing, died very suddenly on Wednesday morning last. 



Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S., has been elected 

 a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of 

 Vienna. 



The presentation of the Hofmann medals to M. Henri 

 Moissan and Sir William Ramsay is to take place at the 

 Hofmann-Haus, Berlin, to-day, June 4. 



The annual conversazione of the Society of Arts will take 

 place at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Regent's Park, on 

 Tuesday, June 30. 



It is e-xpected, says Science, that the International Elec- 

 trical Congress will be held at St. Louis, during the week 

 beginning September 12, 1904. It will immediately precede 

 the International Congress of Arts and Sciences. 



At the anniversary meeting of the Linnean Society on 

 May 25, Prof. S. H. Vines, F.R.S., was elected president 

 for the ensuing year. The Linnean medal was presented to 

 Dr. M. C. Cooke. 



According to a Reuter message from Paris on May 30, a 

 telegram from Fort de France, dated May 28, states that 

 the volcano of Mont Pel6e is again showing activity, and 

 that the Council-General of Martinique is urging the evacu- 

 ation of the whole of the north side of the island. 



According to a Press despatch from Washington, dated 

 May 13, the executive committee of the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion reports that the entire sum of 40,000/. allotted to grants 

 for original research has been distributed, and that of the 

 8000Z. set aside for publications to be made this year, 4000Z. 

 has been assigned to special publications. No more grants 

 for researches will be made until after the next meeting of 

 the board of trustees, which will be held in December. 



A TERRIFIC tornado passed over the southern portion of 

 Gainsville, Georgia, at noon on Monday, June i, destroying 

 several large buildings and killing sixty-four persons. The 

 track of the tornado was about one hundred yards wide, and 

 the damage done was confined to it. The storm came with 

 great suddenness, and within a couple of minutes the two 

 upper stories of a four-story brick-built factory were carried 

 away to distances of hundreds of feet. During the tornado 

 deep darkness prevailed, and the air was hot and oppressive. 

 Five minutes later the sun was shining. 



Extraordinary rains in parts of the United States have 

 caused great damage and loss of life by floods in the Indian 

 Territory, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and 

 Iowa. -At North Topeka, Kansas, seven thousand out of the 

 ten thousand inhabitants left the city on May 30 to escape 

 the deluge. One hundred and fifty persons are known to 

 have been drowned. The rescued say that the whole of 

 North Topeka was flooded on Friday faster than the people 

 could get away. On May 30 the level of the Kansas River 

 rose at the. rate of three inches an hour. On June 1 the 

 Missouri River was thirty feet above low-water , mark at 

 Kansas City,' and was rising rapidly. 



On Saturday afternoon, May 30, and following night 

 London was visited by two violent thunderstorms. Storms 

 of a destructive character, resulting in loss of life, also 

 occurred over a great part of England, especially in the 

 Thames Valley, and were apparently due to the passage of 

 small cyclonic depressions moving slowly from south-east 

 to north-west. Heavy downpours of rain accompanied or 

 followed both storms, but its intensity varied considerably ; 

 about an inch and a half fell during the first storm in one 

 of the southern suburbs of London, while at a distance of 

 a very few miles, where the thunder and lightning appeared 

 to be equally violent, the fall only amounted to a few tenths 

 of an inch. The heat was oppressive ; near London on Whit 

 Monday the thermometer in the screen rose to 83°, and the 

 weather was exceptionally brilliant in the south and east 

 of England generally, but dull and cool in the north and 

 west. 



The Times states that the master of the trawler City of 

 Lincoln, which arrived at Kirkwall on June i from Iceland, 

 reported thaf on, the night of May 27, off the south-east 

 coast of Iceland, a volcanic eruption was observed a con* 

 siderable distance to the eastward, probably at Mount 

 Hekla. Dust fell on the deck of the trawler, and the sea 

 was discoloured to a distance of about thirty miles from the 

 island. 



A Reuter message from Constantinople on May 26 states 

 that belated, reports have been received of the earthquake at 

 Van on April 29, by which the town of Melazgerd was 

 totally . destroyed, with its entire population, numbering 

 about 2000 persons. More than 400 houses in neighbouring 

 villages collapsed. A somewhat severe shock of earthquake 

 was felt in Constantinople on the morning of May 26, but 

 no damage was done. Further particulars of the earth- 

 quake . at Van are contained in a despatch from His 

 Majesty's Consul at Erzerum. The villages of Patnotz, 

 Hadjili, Mollah Ibrahim, Zoussicko and MoHa Mustapha 

 were completely destroyed with the exception of the 

 mosque, school and two houses.' Seventeen other villeges 

 have been partially destroyed. In Sipoki the villages 

 of Mollah Hassan, Berdav, Mirzeh, Kara Khelil Alia have 

 been completely destroyed, and eight other villages partial^ 

 destroyed. It would appear that the centre of the seismic 

 disturbance was in the neighbourhood of Mount Sipan, and 

 the area of its greatest violence extended along the vallqf 

 of the Eastern Euphrates, covering the Kazas of Boulanyit 

 and Melazgerd, and the Patnotz district. 



As already announced, the autumn meeting of the Iron 

 and Steel Institute will be held at Barrow-in-Furness on 

 September 1-4, under the presidency of Mr. Andrew 

 Carnegie. The programme will embrace visits to works, 

 docks, and iron ore mines, and excursions will be arranged 

 to the Lake ■ District and to Blackpool. A detailed pro- 

 gramme will be issued when the local arrangements are 

 further advanced. This programme will contain a list oJ 

 the papers that are expected to be read. 



NO. 1753, VOL. 68] 



