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NATURE 



[March 23, 1916 



Sir Thomas H. Holland, F.R.S., professor of 

 geology and mineralogy in the University of Man- 

 chester, has been appointed chairman of a Commission ' 

 which the Government is forming to survey the 

 economic resources and industrial possibilities of India, 

 with the view of promoting business enterprise under 

 the changed conditions that will follow the restoration 

 of peace. 



The death of Sir Charles Ball, Bart., at sixty-five 

 years of age, occurred on March 17 in Dublin. Sir 

 Charles Ball was honorary surgeon to the King in 

 Ireland, and regius professor of surgery in the Uni- 

 versity of Dublin, and the author of various works 

 on surgery. The late Sir Robert Ball and Dr. Valen- 

 tine Ball, director of the Dublin Science and Art 

 Museum, were his elder brothers. 



Miss Gladys Pott, who recently visited France 

 with a party of working women, under the auspices 

 of the Board of Agriculture and the Board of Trade, 

 will give an account of her experiences at a meeting, 

 organised by the committee of the Women's Patriotic 

 Bureau, 415 Oxford Street, to be held at the Kensing- 

 ton Town Hall on Friday, March 31. H.R.H. Prin- 

 cess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein has consented to 

 be present ; and the chair will be taken by the Lady 

 Wantage. In view of the importance at the present 

 time of training women in this country in farm work, 

 and of interesting scientific agriculturists In the 

 matter, it is hoped that the meeting will be largely 

 attended by people disposed to assist the scheme. 



The twenty-fifth annual report of the council of the 

 Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, presented at 

 the annual meeting of the institution, held to-day, 

 shows that in March, 19 15, more than 300 members 

 of the institution were serving with H.M. Forces. 

 Since then the number has been more than doubled, 

 and it now represents above 25 per cent, of the total 

 membership. The membership of the Institution on 

 December 31 last was 2441, as compared with 2492 

 at the end of 1914. During 1915 thirty members of 

 the Institution lost their lives in the war. Sir Richard 

 A. S. Redmayne has been elected president, in suc- 

 cession to Sir Thomas K. Rose. 



Elizabeth Lady Lawrence, whose death on March 

 18 we record with regret, only survived her husband, 

 the late Sir J. J. Trevor Lawrence, by a little more 

 than two years. She shared her husband's love of 

 plants and beautiful flowers ; and at their country 

 seat at Burford, Dorking, was to be seen one of the 

 finest private collections of conspicuous sorts, as well 

 as many of the most interesting genera and species 

 of both hemispheres. Lady Lawrence continued the 

 long and honoured association of Sir Trevor Lawrence 

 with the Royal Horticultural Society, and recently 

 took an active part in the work of the fund organised 

 by the society for the relief of ruined Belgian hor- 

 ticulturists. She was also keenly interested in astro- 

 nomy, and had a wide circle of scientific friends, all 

 of whom will long mourn her death. 



With the approval of the King, Royal medals of 

 the Royal Geographical Society have been awarded as 

 follows : — ^The Founder's Medal to Lieutenant-Colonel 

 P. H. Fawcett, for his explorations and surveys on 

 the upper waters of the Amazon ; and the Patron's 

 Medal to Capt. F. M. Bailey, Indian Army, for his 

 exploration of the Tsangpo-Dihang river in the hitherto 

 almost unexplored country where It breaks through 

 the Himalayas. Other awards adjudged by the coun- 

 cil of the society are : — Murchlson award to Lieut. - 

 Colonel Whitlock, R.E., for his. work In connection 

 with the delimitation of the Yola-Chad boundary In 

 1903-5, and the Yola Cross river boundary in 1907-9 ; 



NO. 2421, VOL. 97] 



the Back award to Mr. Frank Wild, second In com- 

 mand of Sir Ernest Shackleton's transcontinental Ant- 

 arctic Expedition, for his distinguished and long-con- 

 tinued services in the exploration of Australia ; the 

 Cuthbert Peek award to Mr. F. KIngdon Ward for his 

 several enterprising journeys in the frontier regions 

 between China and Burma, and to assist him in the 

 further exploration. of those regions; the Gill Memo- 

 rial to Lieut. -Colonel E. M. Jack, R.E., for his dis- 

 tinguished service in the delimitation and demarcation 

 of the Uganda-Congo boundary. 



The American Museum Journal for January, which 

 has just reached us, contains a very interesting article 

 by Messrs. Clark Wissler and Herbert Spinden, on 

 the Pawnee human sacrifice to the morning star. 

 According to the authors, the " historic home of the 

 Pawnee was Nebraska." As a matter of fact, the 

 Pawnee belonged to the very considerable Shoshone- 

 Pawnee family, whose range was much wider. But, 

 be this as It may, the authors have brought together 

 some extremely useful facts in regard to the occasional 

 sacrifice by these people of a young girl, always a 

 prisoner of war. This was a religious observance, and 

 the captive was treated as a goddess, till the day of 

 the sacrifice. The custom seems to have come from 

 Mexico, where prisoners of war were similarly treated, 

 but in this case the victims were males. The authors 

 give a very complete account of what is known of 

 these ceremonies, and to this they add a number of 

 most excellent illustrations. 



The Museums Journal for March very properly re- 

 prints the recent discussion in the House of Lords on 

 the closing of museums, thereby affording those who 

 are concerned with the conduct of such Institutions a 

 convenient source of reference to this epoch-marking 

 event. For we have in this the measure of the value 

 our rulers set upon the scientific work of the country. 

 We talk much of the education of the "masses," but 

 It is now abundantly evident that the "educated" 

 have still much to learn. Many of the speakers 

 during that debate seemed to be under the impression 

 that the mental equipment attained at Eton suffices 

 to meet all the demands of later life. Though some 

 of the speakers were actually trustees of the British 

 Museum, yet they displayed neither knowledge of the 

 nature of the work of that institution, nor of museums 

 In general. 



The flora of the Maltese Islands was first studied in 

 1827-31 by Prof. Stefano Tesaga, and in his "Florae 

 Melitensis Thesaurus " he enumerated 635 species of 

 Phanerogams, 489 of which were natives of the Islands. 

 Then followed Delicata's "Flora Melitensis," with an 

 enumeration of 726 species of flowering plants, and 

 this formed the most complete account of the Maltese 

 flora up to the present time. It Is true that further 

 additions to the flora have been made from time to 

 time since then, noticeably by Dr. A. C. Gatto, Mr. 

 J. F. Duthie, E. Armltag'e, and Col. M. J. Godfrey. 

 Finally, Dr. Sommier. the well-known Florentine 

 botanist, explored the flora in 1906 and 1907, and at 

 that time arranged with Dr. A. C. Gatto to write a 

 new flora of Malta, which was published in Italian 

 at Florence at the close of last year, under the title of 

 " Flora Melitensis Nova." We are indebted to Mr. G. 

 Gambin, of Malta, for bringing this work to our 

 notice, and also for an interesting review by Dr. J. 

 Borg which appeared recently in the Daily Malta 

 Chronicle. The new flora consists of 500 pages, and 

 Includes 916 species of Phanerogams and vascular 

 Cryptogams, 78 Mosses, 18 Hepatics, 183 Lichens, 

 296 Algae, and 499 Fungi. The flora on the whole is 

 closely related to the Sicilian, though many plants are 

 also found In North Africa. There are also a few 

 interesting endemic species. 



