September lo, 1903] 



NATURE 



459 



I 



According to a telegram from New York, through 

 Laffan's Agency, Mr. W. G. Tight, the president of the 

 University of New Mexico, has made the ascent of Mount 

 Grata, in Bolivia. This is the first time the peak has been 

 staled. 



The members of the Liverpool School of Tropical 

 Medicine trypanosoma expedition to the Congo Free 

 State (Drs. button, Todd, and Christy) started on Friday 

 last from Southampton. 



The next meeting of the International Congress of 

 Hygiene will be held in Berlin in 1907. The congress has 

 been invited to meet in Washington in 1909. 



The fourth general meeting of the American Electro- 

 chemical Society begins on Thursday next at Niagara Falls, 

 New York, and will last for three days. The following is 

 a list of the papers which are to be read and discussed : — 

 " A New Type of Electrolytic Cell," P. G. Salom ; " Manu- 

 facture of Ferro-alloys in the Electric Furnace," Dr. George 

 P. Scholl ; "Electrolytic Copper Refining," Dr. W. D. 

 Bancroft; "Electro-metallurgy of Gold," Dr. W. H. 

 Walker; "Some Theoretical Considerations of Resistance 

 Furnaces," F". A. J. FitzGerald ; "On the Supposed 

 Electrolysis of Water Vapour," F. Austin Lidbury ; 

 " Efficiency of the Nickel Plating Tank," Prof. O. W. 

 Brown ; " Electrolysis of Sodium Hydroxide by Alternating 

 Current," Carl Hambuethen ; "A Practical Utilisation of 

 the Passive State of Iron," Prof. C. F. Burgess; "The 

 Present Status of the Theory of Electrolytic Dissociation," 

 Dr. E. F. Roeber ; " Berthelot's Law of Electrochemical 

 Action," C. J. Reed. There will also be a discussion on 

 the theory of electrolytic dissociation. 



The thirteenth annual convention of the American Electro- 

 Therapeutic Association will take place at Atlantic City, 

 New Jersey, from September 22 to 24. A lengthy pro- 

 gramme of interesting papers which are to be read at the 

 gathering has been published. 



An educational exhibition of edible fungi is to be held 

 under the auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society in 

 the Drill Hall, Buckingham Gate, on September 15. A 

 lecture on the subject of the exhibition will be given in 

 the afternoon by Dr. M. C. Cooke. All interested in ex- 

 tending or acquiring the knowledge of the edible species 

 are invited to send specimens, but notice of an intention to 

 exhibit should, if possible, be sent a few days before to the 

 secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society. 



At the International Congress of Hygiene which has just 

 been held in Brussels the following resolution was passed 

 on the motion of Sir Patrick Manson : — " That this con- 

 gress, recognising the practical importance of the mosquito 

 malaria theory, would urge on all Governments in malarial 

 countries (i) that officials, both civil and military, be re- 

 quired before taking service in such countries to show 

 ♦evidence of practical knowledge of the theory and its 

 application ; (2) that educational establishments, whether 

 governmental, missionary, or other, in such countries be 

 requested to include in their curriculum instruction of native 

 students in the mosquito malaria theory and its practical 

 application ; (3) that officials ignorant of the theory or 

 systematically ignoring its practical application be con- 

 sidered as unsuitable for service in malarial countries." In 

 addition to the foregoing resolution the first and second 

 sections of the congress sitting together passed the follow- 

 ing resolution : — " That human tuberculosis is perfectly 

 transmissible from one person to another. Nevertheless, in 

 thj present state of our knowledge, it is necessary to re- 

 ton.inend hygienic measures for the prevention of the pro- 

 pagation of animal tuberculosis in the human species." 



NO. 1767, VOL. 68] 



The Scottish Sanitary Congress was opened at Stranraer 

 on Thursday last, when the president, Prof. Glaister, of 

 Glasgow University, delivered an address, and various 

 papers dealing with sanitary matters were read and dis- 

 cussed. Prof. Glaister, in the course of his remarks, urged 

 that men of science and local authorities should realise the 

 detrimental effect of atmospheric pollution, and together 

 grapple with the subject. The prejudicial effects of town 

 living could not be better demonstrated than in the depreci- 

 ated physique of the third and fourth generations of many 

 of those who had proceeded from the country to the towns. 

 One of the significant features of present-day statistics, and 

 one calling for the serious consideration of sanitarians, was 

 the high prevailing rate of infantile mortality in populous 

 centres. If the state of the principal English towns for 

 1901 be considered, it will be found that the infantile 

 death rate varied from 126 per thousand up to 226 per 

 thousand. These figures exhibited a great wastage of in- 

 fantile life. He affirmed that it was a preventable wastage, 

 and, therefore, worthy the reflections of sanitarians. Such 

 high rates of infantile mortality were bound in the future 

 to become a serious national concern in view of the diminu- 

 tion of the birth rate which had been progressively taking 

 place for the last few decades. 



The fourteenth annual meeting of the Institution of 

 Mining Engineers was held last week in Nottingham under 

 the presidency of Mr. J. C. Cadman. The Institution 

 appears from the report to be in a satisfactory condition, 

 the membership being at present more numerous than at 

 any former period. The present total is 2601 as compared 

 with 2554 of the previous year. 



The Municipal Exhibition at Dresden has been a great 

 success. In all, 128 German communities, including prac- 

 tically the whole of the large cities, contributed officially to 

 it. The exhibition was of a practical nature, and provided 

 a more or less complete survey of municipal achievement, 

 effort, and ideals. It was divided into eight sections, which 

 again were subdivided. The regulation of traffic, lighting, 

 the police and police-courts, ordinary and model dwelling 

 houses, public art galleries, public health, school accom- 

 modation and buildings, public education, the care of the 

 poor and the sick, benevolent institutions and charity schools, 

 the financial administration of municipalities, infectious and 

 common diseases and their prevention and cure, safeguards 

 against fire, parks and open spaces, and the growth of 

 towns were among the numerous features of municipal life 

 illustrated. 



Shortly before his death, the late Prof. Nocard, 

 of Paris, strongly urged the authorities of the Liver- 

 pool School of Tropical Medicine to make the institu- 

 tion available for the instruction of veterinary surgeons. A 

 committee has now been formed for the purpose of giving 

 effect to this suggestion, and the veterinary branch is open 

 for the reception and instruction of students. It is under 

 the direction of Profs. Boyce and Sherrington, with adequate 

 assistance, and a farm has been provided at Runcorn for it? 

 requirements. 



The Tramways and Light Railways Association offers an 

 annual prize, consisting of a bronze medal and books, for 

 the best essay on improved means of communication. No 

 essay must exceed 4000 words in length, and the right is 

 reserved by the council to publish the papers in the Associ- 

 ation's official journal. 



A GRANT of 70,000 r. (7000/.) has been made to the Moscow 

 University by the Russian Government for the purpose of 

 technical education ; of this sum 30,000 r. is allocated to a 



