io6 



NATURE 



[March 30, 19 16 



Baldwin. Their daughter has, however, been seri- 

 ously injured, and is in hospital. Prof. Baldwin was 

 on his way to Paris, after delivering the Herbert 

 Spencer lecture at Oxford, summarised in last week's 

 Nature (p. 93). 



The Times correspondent in the Balkan Peninsula 

 reports that the substitution of Jhe Gregorian Calendar 

 for the Julian or Eastern has been voted by the Bul- 

 garian Chamber. He adds: — "The adoption of this 

 change, which has been long delayed on account of the 

 opposition of the Russian Heirarchy, is naturally a 

 demonstration against Russia, and will be generally 

 attributed to a desire to widen the chasm separating 

 the two States." 



At the third annual general meeting of the Insti- 

 tution of Petroleum Technologists, held on March 22, 

 Sir Boverton Redwood, Bart., retired from the presi- 

 dency in conformity with the by-laws (after two years' 

 tenure of that office), and was succeeded by Prof. J. 

 Cadman. The vice-presidents and council for the 

 ensuing year are: — Vice-Presidents: The Rt. Hon. 

 Lord Cowdray of Midhurst, Sir Thomas H. Holland, 

 and Sir Boverton Redwood, Bart. Council : A. C. 

 Adams, H. Allen, Sir Robert Balfour, Bart., Capt. 

 R. W. Barnett, H. Barringer, Dr. G. T. Beilby, E. R. 

 Blundstone, A. Campbell, J. T. Car^^ill, Major A. 

 Cooper-Key, E. H. Cunningham Craig, A. W. East- 

 lake, C. Greenway, T. C. Palmer, Dr. F. Mollwo 

 Perkin. and R. Redwood. 



The Christiania correspondent of the Morning Post 

 reports that Capt. Roald Amundsen, who traversed 

 the north-west passage in the Gjoa and led the Nor- 

 wegian Expedition to the South Pole, has resumed his 

 preparations for an expedition to the North Pole, which 

 were suspended on the outbreak of the war. A short 

 time before that event the Storthing voted i2,oooZ. as a 

 subscription towards the expenses of the enterprise, 

 but having regard to the war, Capt. Amundsen did not 

 accept the money. He thinks, however, that the time 

 has now come to make arrangements to start next 

 summer. He proposes to leave Point Barrow, North 

 Alaska, and to drive with the ice over the polar basin. 



More detailed accounts of the report of the South 

 African Government Committee on the Rand earth- 

 tremors have now reached this country. The shocks 

 are described as consisting practically of a single sharp 

 vibration, the sensation being similar to that produced 

 by the fall of a heavy body on the ground. On the 

 surface, the shocks were sometimes strong enough to 

 open cracks in house walls. Underground, the eliects 

 were occasionally disastrous, causing loss of life and 

 damage to the mines. Yet the distance to which the 

 shocks were felt was small, only rarely amounting to 

 as much as seven miles. >This implies a slight depth 

 of origin, and the conclusion at which the committee 

 arrives scarcely admits of doubt that the shocks are 

 due to mining operations and not to natural causes. 

 The committee considers that the pillars left have not 

 been strong enough to support the roof, and that their 

 sudden crushing gives rise to the shocks. Some of the 

 slighter tremors are attributed also to the fracture and 

 settling of the overlying strata. 



The President of the Board of Trade has decided 

 to appoint committees to consider the position of 

 certain important British industries after the war, 

 especially in relation to international competition, and 

 to report what measures, if any, are necessary or 

 desirable in order to safeguard that position. The 

 '^ollowing committees have accordingly been consti- 

 tuted : — For the iron, steel, and engineering indus- 



NO. 2422, VOL. 97] 



tries : Sir Clarendon Hyde (chairman), Mr. A. Balfour, 

 I Sir Hugh Bell, Bart., Mr. A. J. Hobson, Sir Halle- 

 I well Rogers, and Mr. D. Vickers. For the shipping 



and shipbuilding industries :~Sir A. A. Booth, Bart. 

 I (chairman). Prof. W., S. Abell, Sir Archibald Denny, 

 I Bart., Sir Edward Hain, Capt. H. B. Hooper, Mr. J. 

 I Readhead, Mr. .O. Sanderson. All communications 



relating to the above committees should be addressed 



to Mr. Percy Ashley, the Board of Trade, S.W. The 

 I constitution of a committee for the textile industries 



will be announced shortly. 



We record with much regret that 2nd Lieut. 

 Kenneth R. Lewin, protozoologist to the Rotham- 

 sted Experimental Station, was killed in France 

 on March 9. Mr. Lewin took the Natural 

 Science Tripos at Cambridge, and, influenced 

 by Prof. Sedgwick, chose protozoology as the 

 special subject of his life-work. After his course 

 at Cambridge, he spent some months at Munich under 

 Prof. Hertwig, and at the Naples Biological Station. 

 On his return he became assistant to Prof. Nuttall, 

 and then in iqi3 he was appointed protozoologist to 

 the Rothamsted Experimental Station, where his work 

 speedily justified the promise of his college days. 

 His investigations were made in conjunction with 

 C. H. Martin, who also lost his life in Flanders last 

 May, and the combination proved most happv. The 

 problem presented to Lewin at Rothamsted was to find 

 out first of all whether there was a trophic protozoan 

 fauna in the soil, and, secondly, what was its mode of 

 life. He began with Martin's film method, the details 

 of which he improved, and later introduced a bubbling 

 method, both of which he used with considerable suc- 

 cess on certain types of soil. The results are given 

 in two papers published jointly with Martin, one in 

 the Phil. Trans, for 19 14, the other in the Journal of 

 Agricultural Science. This last paper was finished 

 just after the outbreak of the war. So soon as it was 

 done, Lewin returned to Cambridge and joined the 

 O.T. Corps, afterwards obtaining a commission in 

 the 6th D.C.L-L . An able zoologist with abundant 

 vigour of thought and freshness of outlook, and at 

 the same time much kindliness and sympathy towards 

 all with whom he had to deaj, it is deplorable that the 

 distinguished s'cientific career which was before Lewin 

 has been abruptly ended by his death. 



Mr. Selous, in the Zoologist for February, con- 

 tinues his diary of ornithological observations made 

 in Iceland during June and July, 1912. He has much 

 that is worth recording to tell of the curious courtship 

 displays of the red-necked phalarope, and incidentally 

 of the habits of many other birds frequenting the same 

 haunts. One is compelled, however, to hunt labori- 

 ously for these good things amid a mass of quite 

 unnecessary detail. We further venture to think that 

 Mr. Selous would have seen much more of the court- 

 ship displays of the birds he was more especially 

 interested in if he had commenced his observations at 

 daybreak, for it is at this time and onwards for the 

 next hour or so that their greatest intensity is 

 developed. 



A VIVID insight into the habits of the waterhen, 

 coot, redshank, ringed plover, and lapwing, especially 

 during the reproductive period, is given by Miss E. L. 

 Turner in British Birds for March. In a series of 

 impressionist pictures, delightfully flippant, and illus- 

 trated with admirable photographs, Miss Turner de- 

 scribes the courtship displays of these birds and their 

 desperate jealousies in regard to their^territorial rights 

 during the breeding season. The scene of her studies 

 was the Mere in Holy Island, and here, between 



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