^62^6 



NA TURE 



{October 59, 1903 



It is, however, difficult for a man of small leisure to 

 search through the maps, sections, explanations, and 

 memcnrs to see whether there is anything which 

 immediately concerns him. In the annual report of 

 progress such men find a short account of what has 

 been done and often a forecast of what line of research 

 it is proposed to follow next — as, for example, in the 

 description of the coal-bearing strata in the basin of 

 the Amman. 



It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that the 

 results achieved are of interest to geologists only. 

 From the summary of progress just issued, it may be 

 seen that the work appeals to a much wider public 

 than would at first appear. It contains a record of 

 accurate observations on the relation to one another of 

 the great masses of which the earth's crust is made 

 up — very different from the a priori reasoning as to 

 how they ought to behave with which we have so 

 often had to be content. If we turn to the very first 

 page of the introduction, in which the able director of 

 the Survey gives a sketch of what he and his men 

 have done, we read that they have demonstrated that 

 the arrangement of the different kinds of rock proves 

 that there have been movements by which slices of 

 sedimentary and igneous matter, of heavy basic and 

 lighter acidic rock, have been thrust in, so that they 

 now appear in alternating layers over large areas, and 

 further that these earth movements have crushed and 

 kneaded and drawn out the constituents of the rock so 

 that its structure is quite different from that which 

 they have reason to infer it once had from the changes 

 observed as they trace each mass across the country. 



The physicist and astronomer will find in the survey 

 publications the results of observations on earth move- 

 ments recorded by a man like Mr. Harker, who Is 

 not only one of the highest authorities in petrography, 

 but also a mathematician of the first order ; while geo- 

 graphers will note with Interest the Inferences which 

 are forced upon clear-headed and experienced observers 

 like Mr. Strahan, who are trained, as few ordinary 

 travellers are, to watch every indication of change of 

 rock structure, and to trace the guiding influence of 

 systems of displacement upon the rivers and other 

 denuding agents which have moulded the surface of 

 the land. 



In the Survey memoirs biologists will find treatises, 

 by men like Woodward, Clement Reid, and Lamplugh, 

 dealing with ancient climatal and physical conditions 

 which have varied, as Inferred from the flora and 

 fauna as well as from other indications, with the great 

 geologic changes of the earth's crust. 



On the staff of the Survey are many men of world- 

 wide reputation who are approaching these large 

 questions from many different poirtts of view, and fully 

 realise what large superstructures may be built up on 

 the facts which they lay down. Carping critics talk 

 of the ''uncertainties of geology"; that is because 

 the public is sometimes told what working hypothesis 

 is suggested by evidence which is known to be in- 

 complete. It is not necessary for pioneers to be always 

 repeating the certainties, and the Summary of Progress 

 lets the public follow the work as It is going on. 



NOTES. 



The council of the Royal Meteorological Society has 

 awarded the Symons gold medal to Prof. Julius Hann, of 

 Vienna, in recognition of the valuable work which he has 

 done in connection with meteorological science. The medal 

 will be presented at the annual meeting of the Society on 

 January 20, 1904. 



A BUST of John Dalton, presented to the Manchester 

 Literary and Philosophical Society by Sir Henry E. Roscoe 



NO. 1774, VOL. 68] 



on the occasion of the centenary of the announcement of the 

 atomic theory, was unveiled on October 20. The secretary 

 read the following letter from Sir Henry Roscoe : — " I 

 desire to present to the Literary and Philosophical Society of 

 Manchester a bronze bust of Dr. Dalton, as a memento of 

 the many years of pleasant intercourse which I have in past 

 days spent in converse with its members, and as a recogni- 

 tion of the honour which the Society has done me by elect- 

 ing me as an honorary member, and in bestowing upon 

 me its Dalton Medal. The bust is the work of a dis- 

 tinguished sculptress, Miss Levick, and I believe that all 

 those who have seen it agree with me in esteeming it a 

 powerful and lifelike work of art. It will give me great 

 satisfaction to hear that the Society accept my gift, and 

 that they value the bust as a work of art and as a reminis- 

 cence of the donor." The president, in formally unveiling 

 the bust, observed that, it was a happy coincidence that this 

 meeting took place on the anniversary of the date when 

 Dalton communicated to the Society his paper on the 

 absorption of gases by water, in which was given the first 

 hint of the atomic theory. 



The zebra stallion Matopo, which has been described and 

 figured by Prof. Cossar Ewart in his book " The Penycuik 

 Experiments," and was the sire of some interesting zebra- 

 horse hybrids, is dead. This zebra was purchased some 

 time ago by Mr. Assheton-Smith, Vaynol Park, Bangor, 

 who was hopeful that he might find it possible to repeat 

 some of Prof. Ewart 's experiments, but unfortunately his 

 expectations have not been realised. Whilst retaining the 

 skin, he has presented the skeleton of the zebra to the 

 University College of North Wales, where it will form 

 a handsome addition to the zoological collection. It may 

 also be noted that to this college Prof. W. A. Herdman, 

 F.R.S., of Liverpool, recently made a donation of some 

 fishes from Ceylon and Indo-Malaya which he collected 

 when in the East investigating the pearl fisheries of 

 Ceylon. Prof. D'Arcy Thompson, C.B., Dundee, has also 

 presented a skeleton of the somewhat rare sea otter 

 (Enhydra) from Alaska. By presentation and purchase a 

 valuable zoological collection, which is under the care of 

 Prof. Philip J. White, has gradually been formed at the 

 college. 



Dr. Dawson Turner has been awarded a Keith prize 

 by the Royal Scottish Society of Arts for papers upon im- 

 proved Rontgen apparatus and other electrical matters. 



At an auction sale of rare, valuable and standard books 

 by Messrs. Hodgson and Co., Chancery Lane, on October 

 21. a complete set of Curtis's Botanical Magazine, from the 

 commencement in 1787 to the present month, realised the 

 sum of 120Z. 



The opening meeting of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers will be held on November 12, when the premiums 

 awarded for papers read or published during the session 

 1902-1903 will be presented, and the president, Mr. Robert 

 Kaye Gray, will deliver his inaugural address. 



Mr. Marconi, in company with Captain H. B. Jackson, 

 has gone to Gibraltar to carry out further experiments 

 for the Admiralty. It is hoped to be able to open com- 

 munication with Gibraltar before losing touch with Ports- 

 mouth. 



According to the daily papers, the Post Office authorities 

 are about to make experiments with the de Forest system 

 of wireless telegraphy. Dr. Lee de Forest has come over 



