346 



NATURE 



[June 22, 1916 



C. H. Merz, Mr. V. L. Raven, Mr. A. A. Remington, 

 Mr. G. Gerald Stoney, F.R.S., Mr. Douglas Vickers, 

 Prof. Miles Walker. The Advisory Council has ap- 

 pointed Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice to be chairman of the 

 Committee. 



The formation by the Advisory Council for Scien- 

 tific and Industrial Research of a Standing Com- 

 mittee on Mining, constituted so as to represent both 

 the scientific and industrial sides, has now been com- 

 pleted. The Standing Committee includes the follow- 

 ing members nominated by professional associa- 

 tions : — Institution of Mining Engineers : Sir William 

 Garforth, Dr. John Haldane, Dr. R. T. Moore, Mr. 

 Wallace Thorneycrof t ; Institution of Mining and 

 Metallurgy : Mr. Edward Hooper, Mr. Edgar Taylor ; 

 Iron and Steel Institute: Prof. H. Louis; the South 

 Wales Institute of Engineers : Mr. W. Gascoyne 

 Dalziel ; and the following members appointed directly 

 by the Advisory Council :— Sir Hugh Bell, Bart., Mr. 

 Hugh Bramwell, Lieut.-Col. W. C. Blackett, Prof. 

 Cadman, Prof. Frecheville, Mr. Bedford McNeill, Mr. 

 Hugh F. Marriott, Sir Boverton Redwood, Bart., Mr. 

 C. E. Rhodes. The Advisory Council has appointed 

 Sir William Garforth to be chairman. The Com- 

 mittee is divided into two sections, as follows : — Sec- 

 tion on the Mining of Iron, Coal, and Hydrocarbons : 

 Sir William Garforth (chairman), Sir Hugh Bell, 

 Bart., Mr. Hugh Bramwell, Lieut.-Col. W. C. 

 Blackett, Prof. Cadman, Mr. W. Gascoyne Dalziel, 

 Dr. John Haldane, Prof. Louis, Dr. R. T. Moore, 

 Sir Boverton Redwood, Bart., Mr. C. E. Rhodes, Mr. 

 Wallace Thorneycroft. Section on the Mining of 

 Minerals other than Iron, Coal, and Hydrocarbons : 

 Mr. Edgar Taylor (chairman). Sir Hugh Bell, Bart., 

 Prof. Frecheville, Mr. "Edward Hooper, Prof. Louis, 

 Mr. Bedford McNeill, Mr, Hugh Marriott. 



General Joseph Simon Gallieni, whose death was 

 recently announced at the age of sixty-seven, had 

 achieved fame, not only as a soldier, but as an ex- 

 plorer and colonial administrator. In 1880 he ascended 

 the Senegal and explored the course of its two prin- 

 cipal tributaries, the Ba-Khoy and the Ba-Fing, and 

 the hitherto unknown regions between the Senegal 

 and the Niger, and then descended the Niger to Segu 

 Sikovo. Seven years later he was again exploring in 

 the same region, and his work had much to do with 

 the extension of French influence in the western Sudan 

 and Timbuctu. In 1892 Colonel Gallieni was sent 

 to Tongking, and combined mi^ch topographical work 

 with his arduous military duties. But perhaps the 

 most difficult task he ever undertook, and the one in 

 which he was most successful, was his governorship 

 of Madagascar. In nine years he rescued that island 

 from a state of chaos and turned- it into a possession 

 worthy of France. Roads and a railway were built, 

 agriculture put on a firm basis, mining was developed, 

 and education taken in hand — to mention but a few 

 of General Gallieni 's works. Lastly, a detailed survey 

 of Madagascar was commenced. General Gallieni 

 distinguished himself in the Franco-German war of 

 1870, and in the present war was entrusted in Sep- 

 tember, 1914, with the defence of Paris at a time 

 when the enemy's forces were advancing. This task 

 General Gallieni was happily spared by the repulse of 

 the enemy at the Marne. 



A SUMMARY of the weather for the spring season 

 for the several districts of the United Kingdom, col- 

 lated by the Meteorological Office from the weekly- 

 returns for March, April, and May, shows that beyond 

 an excessive amount of rain the conditions were fairly 

 normal in spite of the fickle character of" the weather. 

 The mean temperature was below the normal in all 



NO. 2434, VOL. 97] 



districts except the north-east and east of England, 

 but the deficiency was small, except in Ireland, where 

 it amounted to nearly 2° F. Rainfall was in excess 

 of the average, except in the north of Scotland, where 

 the deficiency was only 004 in. The most abnormal 

 rainfall was 153 per cent, of the average in the east 

 of Scotland. Sunshine was deficient over the entire 

 kingdom. Summer has commenced with exception- 

 ally cold weather over the whole of the British Isles. 

 The London reporting station of the Meteorological 

 Office at South Kensington has no day temperature 

 higher than 65° from June i to 16, the mean of the 

 maximum readings for the period being 595°, which 

 is the normal for the middle of April or October. It 

 is 6° lower than the average of the day temperature 

 in May last, and is only 1° warmer than the average 

 maximum for last April. Several days have been 

 colder than on some days in January last. The Green- 

 wich records only show one colder June day in the 

 last seventy-five years than June 12 this jear, 

 when the thermometer did not exceed 50°, the excep- 

 tion occurring on June 19, 1903. Only three Junes in 

 the last seventy-five years have failed to record a 

 London temperature of 70° in the first sixteen days ; 

 the exceptions are 1909, maximum 68° ; i860, maxi- 

 mum 67° ; and 1843, maximum 69-9'^. . 



The Executive Council appointed for the purpose of 

 carrying on the management of the Imperial Institute 

 under the Secretary of State for the Colonies has 

 been constituted as follows, the members being 

 appointed by the Departments, Ministers, and Govern- 

 ments named : — Board of Trade : Sir W. H. Clark, 

 K.C.S.I., Mr. H. Fountain. Secretary of State for 

 India : Sir J. P. Hewett, Mr. L. J. Kershaw. Presi- 

 dent of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries : Sir 

 Sydney Olivier, K.C.M.G. Government of India: 

 Sir R. W. Carlyle, K.C.S.L Government of the 

 Dominion of Canada: Sir G. H. Perley, K.C.M.G. 

 Government of the Commonwealth of Australia : Mr. 

 Andrew Fisher, High Commissioner for Australia. 

 Government of the Union of South Africa : Mr. 

 Philip Schreiner, High Commissioner for South 

 Africa. Government of the Dominion of New 

 Zealand: Sir T. Mackenzie, K.C.M.G., High Com- 

 missioner for New Zealand. Secretary of State for 

 the Colonies : Lord Emmott, Director, War Trade De- 

 partment; Lord Islington, Parliamentary Under-Secre- 

 tary for India; Lord Scarbrough, chairman, the Niger 

 Co., Ltd.; Lord Burnham; Sir Algernon Firth, presi- 

 dent, Association of Chambers of Commerce of United 

 Kingdom; Sir Owen Philipps, K.C.M.G.; Sir W. 

 Taylor, K.C.M.G., formerly Resident-General, Malay 

 States ; Sir M. F. Reid, chairman, Bombay Chamber 

 of Commerce (on the recommendation of Secretary of 

 State for India) ; Prof. W. R. Dunstan, director. 

 Imperial Institute; Mr. R. Threlfall, formerly pro- 

 fessor of physics in the University of Sydney; N.S.W. ; 

 Mr. R. M. Kindersly, director. Bank of England; Mr. 

 D. O. Malcolm, director, British South Africa Com- 

 pany; Mr. G. E. A. Grindle, Colonial Office; Mr. 

 T. C. Macnaghten, Colonial Ofhce. The Government 

 of Newfoundland will shortly appoint a representative 

 on the Executive Council. 



In the Psychological Review (vol. xxiii., No. 3) Mr. 

 S. Bent Russell, in an article on "The Effect of High 

 Resistance in Common Nerve Paths," discusses the 

 means by which he thinks complex forms of behaviour 

 may be interpreted in terms of nervous mechanisms, 

 such as are generally admitted for the simpler forms 

 of behaviour. His theory depends upon the assump- 

 tion of the synapses, i.e. junctions or points of con- 

 tact between neurons, as centres of resistance to the 



