i8o 



NATURE 



[June 25, 1903 



We regret to announce the death, on June lo, of Prof. 

 Luigi Cremona, director of the engineering school of the 

 University of Rome. 



The summer meeting of the Institution of Naval , Archi-. 

 tects was opened at Belfast on Tuesday, and Lord Glasgow 

 delivered his presidential address. 



The retirement of Sir James Hector, K.C.M.G., from the 

 directorship of the Geological Survey of New Zealand and 

 of the Colonial Observatory is announced by the Victorian 

 N^aturalist. 



Mr. Marconi's manager at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, 

 states that the company is transmitting daily wireless 

 messages from Table Head to Poldhu, but the replies are 

 being cabled pending the installation of machinery at Corn- 

 wall. 



The Times announces that Commander Don Julian Irizar, 

 Naval Attach^ to the Argentine Legation in London, has 

 been appointed to comrnand the vessel Uruguay, which will 

 bs sent by the Argentine Government in October to the 

 Antarctic regions in search of Dr. Otto Nordenskjold's 

 South Polar expedition, which was joined at Buenos Ayres 

 in 1901 by an officer of the Argentine Navy. 



A GRANT of 5000 dollars, and travelling expenses to the 

 amount of 1500 dollars, has been made to Prof. Arthur 

 Gamgee by the Carnegie Institution for the preparation 

 of a report on the physiology of nutrition, the object 

 being to enable him to secure information which may lead 

 to the organisation in the laboratories of various countries 

 of cooperative research in the important problem of human 

 nutrition, &c. 



Prof. Steinmann, of Freiburg, and two of his fellow- 

 geologists of the same University, have arranged an ex- 

 pedition to the Central Andes of Bolivia. The party will 

 start in August for Buenos Ayres, whence the route to be 

 taken is via. Jujuy, Tarija, Sucre, to Cochabamba. After 

 a prolonged stay in the mountains the explorers will prob- 

 ably work their way to Antofagasta vid La Paz. The outfit 

 is of the most modern description, and Dr. Hoek, who is 

 a member of the expedition, is one of the most capable 

 German mountaineers. 



The International Fire Prevention Congress convened 

 by the British Fire Prevention Committee will be opened 

 at Earl's Court on Monday, July 6, by the Lord Mayor of 

 London, who will be accompanied by the Burgomaster of 

 Brussels. The general and sectional discussions will be held 

 on the forenoons of July 7, 8, and 9. The testing opera- 

 tions and inspections are fixed for the afternoons of these 

 days. 



The Royal Statistical Society announces the ijext .com- 

 petition for the Howard medal (1903-1904). The essays 

 must be sent in on or before June 30, 1904. In addition to 

 the medal, a grant of 20I. will be awarded to the writer 

 who may be the successful competitor. The subject is 

 " The Effect, as Shown by Statistics, of British Statutory 

 Regulations, Directed to the Improvement of the Hygienic 

 Conditions of Industrial Occupations." Full particulars 

 may be obtained at the office of the Society, 9 Adelphi 

 Terrace, Strand. 



The concluding meeting of the thirty-eighth session of 

 the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain will be held on 

 the Sussex Downs this afternoon. On this occasion will 

 take place the international kite competition (wind and 

 weather permitting) for the silver medal of the Society, in 

 accordance with the rules and regulations drawn up by the 

 NO. 1756, VOL. 68] 



council of the Society and the jury of the competition.. 

 Amongst those who have consented- to act on the jury are 

 Dr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S., Prof. C. V. Boys, F.R.S., Mr. 

 E. P. Frost, Sir Hiram Maxim, Dr. H. R. Mill, Mr. E. A. 

 Reeves, and Mr. Eric Stuart Bruce. 



We learn from the Lancet that Dr. Loudon, of St. Peters- 

 burg, has published some interesting observations relative 

 to the action of the Becquerel rays on the nervous system 

 and on the eye. He found that when a box containing 

 bromide of radium was placed in a cage in which mice 

 were kept the animals became paralysed and comatose, and 

 died in five days. He also found that persons who are 

 either totally blind, or have only the feeblest possible per- 

 ception of light, are peculiarly sensitive to the Becquerel 

 rays, and are able to form visual conceptions of the contour 

 of objects the shadows of which are shown on a screen 

 by means of the rays. 



The following note referring to observations of sunrise 

 at' Stonehenge on Sunday appeared in Monday's Times : — 

 For the first time for nearly ten years visitors to Stone- 

 henge yesterday morning saw the sun rise over the altar- 

 stone. There was an almost cloudless sky, '-and at forty- 

 three minutes past three the sun appeared above the horizon 

 and rose in a 'direct line over the altar-stone. It was a 

 magnificent sight, and after a moment's silence the crowd 

 gave a mighty cheer. There were some hundreds of people 

 present, many of them having travelled in previous years 

 many miles during the night preceding the longest day 

 iq the hope of seeing the sight which was seen under such 

 favourable conditions yesterday morning. 



Slight earthquake shocks were felt in North Wales and 

 Anglesey on the morning of June 19. Mr. Fred. C. Carey, 

 of the County School, Bethesda, writes to us that the first 

 shock was felt by him in the county school at 10.8 a.m. 

 precisely, when a distant rumbling noise, lasting about 

 a minute, was heard, and the whole building shook. 

 Slighter tremors followed at 10.12-5, 10.16, 10.19-5, 10.27, 

 and II. II -5. At Carnarvon the buildings trembled violently. 

 At Bangor the shocks were felt at about the same time. 

 The bells rang at the railway station." The post office at 

 Llanrug was much shaken. The shocks were general 

 throughout Carnarvonshire, and were felt as far as the 

 southern part of the Isle of Man. The vibration appeared 

 to travel in a north-westerly direction. In Anglesey the 

 shock was comparatively slight. 



In connection with the meeting of the International 

 Meteorological Committee at Southport during the British 

 Association week in September next, it is proposed to make 

 arrangements for an exhibition of meteorological appli- 

 ances and other objects of meteorological interest. Upon 

 the initiative of the Meteorological Council, with the co- 

 operation of the Royal Meteorological Society and the 

 Scottish Meteorological Society, a committee has been 

 formed to carry out this proposal. It is proposed to group! 

 the exhibits into four classes : — (A) meteorological statistics ; 

 (B) weather telegraphy ; (C) atmospheric physics, including 

 (a) meteorological photography ; (b) instruments and in- 

 strumental records ; (c) high level stations, balloons and 

 kites, observations and records; (d) experimental illustra- 

 tions ; {D) the relation of meteorology to other branches of 

 physics. 



The weekly weather report issued by the Meteorological 

 Office for. the week ended June 20 shows that oyer the 

 southern part of England the rainfall was three times as 

 much as the mean, while in the east of England it was 

 more than seven times as great. Further, that the rain- 



