July 27, 1916] 



NATURE 



449 



seeing anything novel to the district. He had also 

 artistic power, and in 1908 was awarded first prize 

 in the school exhibition for some coloured studies of 

 birds. In the Public Schools Essay Competition of 

 1910 he was awarded a special bronze medal for his 

 essay on " Observations during a Fortnight's Holiday 

 on the Island of Gigha." 



It is officially announced that in view of the possi- 

 bilitv of the failure of the third attempt now being 

 carried out by Sir Ernest Shackleton, in a small 

 vessel, to rescue the twenty-two men of his party left 

 on Elephant Island, South Shetlands, and at his 

 urgent request, the Government has now decided to 

 dispatch a vessel from England as soon as she can 

 be fitted out, no suitable wooden vessel being avail- 

 able in any South American port. The Governor and 

 Company of Adventurers of England Trading into the 

 Hudson's Bay have generously placed tlieir vessel, 

 the Discovery, which was specially built for Antarctic 

 exploration, at the disposal of the Adrniralt}', for as 

 long as she may be required for this service, free of all 

 cost. Lieut. -Commander James Fairweather has 

 been appointed to command the vessel, which is now 

 fitting out at H.M. Dockyard, Devonport. On her 

 completion, if news has not been received of a success- 

 ful issue of Sir Ernest Shackleton 's present attempt 

 to reach Elephant Island, she will then proceed to 

 Elephant Island, embarking Sir Ernest Shackleton on 

 her way. 



At the meeting of the City of London Court of 

 Common Council on Thursday, July 20, it was re- 

 solved : — (i) That in view of the great advantages 

 which would accrue to British commerce in foreign 

 markets by the use of the decimal system of coinage 

 and weights and measures, in the opinion of this court 

 it is desirable that steps should be taken to ensure its 

 immediate introduction, so that it may be already in 

 operation at the conclusion of the war; (2) That in 

 view of the fact that England and the Allies are enter- 

 ing into arrangements for concerted action with regard 

 to future trade matters, it would be of immense value 

 If one language could be recognised as the commercial 

 language, and taught in all schools, here and abroad. 

 By so doing, English, French, Russian, Esperanto, or 

 any other language decided on would form the basis 

 of communication on business matters throughout the 

 world. 



At the beginning of July a party of thirty men, led 

 by Mr. Birger Johnsson, left Sweden for Spitsbergen 

 in order to work the coal deposits at the head of Bell 

 Sound (Braganza Creek) and Isfjord. At Braganza 

 Creek the coal, though of Tertiary age, is said to be 

 of good burning quality, and there is an average 

 thickness of 2- 15 metres over an area of about 100 

 kilometres. At the Pyramid Hill and in Biinsow's 

 Land, at the head of Isfjord, on the other hand, the 

 coal is culm of Carboniferous age, and is not so good 

 as at Braganza. None the less, these two areas are 

 calculated to yield about 3000 million tons of good 

 coal. Other members of the expedition are Mr. S. 

 Ohman, who will be responsible for the mapping; Mr. 

 H. Odelberg, agronomist, who will see to the pro- 

 visioning; Mr. E. Lundstrom, who will serve as 

 botanist and make a map according to Prof. De Geer's 

 photographic method; and a palaeontologist, Mr. Erik 

 Andersson, of Upsala, who was recently studying the 

 fossil fishes of Spitsbergen in the British MuseunK 

 Mr. Lundstrom is taking some plants to see if they 

 will grow there. Among them are various willows, 

 the dwarf birch. Convolvulus sepium, Potentilla fruti- 

 cosa. and Papaver niidicaule. 



NO. 2439, VOL. 97] 



Of great interest to zoologists is the proposal, 

 reported in the June number of the Bui. Imp. Acad. 

 Sci., Petrograd, to establish a biological station on 

 Lake Baikal. The largest of the fresh-water lakes 

 of Europe and Asia, and said to be the deepest in the 

 world, it possesses a fauna in many respects unique. 

 Some of its fishes are found nowhere else, and some 

 live at a greater depth than any other fresh-water 

 fishes. Among them are very ancient forms, and, 

 according to some investigators, vestiges of the 

 Upper Tertiary and sub-tropical fauna of Siberia 

 and, possibly, of Central Asia. Though Lake Baikal 

 has long since attracted the attention of Russian 

 zoologists, much remains to be done, and it is felt 

 that private research, valuable as its achievements 

 have been, should be supplemented by a fully equipped 

 biological station, which alone can cope with the 

 problems involved in a thorough and systematic in- 

 vestigation. The subject has been mooted for some 

 time past in Russian scientific circles and is now 

 brought within measurable distance of realisation by 

 a donation of 1600Z. received from a Siberian gentle- 

 man, Mr. A. Vtorov, and the Academy has appointed 

 a commission to take immediate steps to give con- 

 crete form to a project destined to be of great im- 

 portance for biological science. 



In the July issue of Man Mr. J. Reid Moir pub- 

 lishes a further report on the discovery of human 

 bones and other articles of Neolithic and later date in 

 the Ipswich district. The skeleton of an individual 

 buried in the contracted posture has been examined 

 by Prof. Arthur Keith, who reports that it is that of 

 a lad of the Neolithic age, decidedly smaller and of 

 slighter make than a modern boy. Of another skull 

 Prof. Keith remarks that "amongst British skulls, 

 attributed to a prehistoric or pre-Roman date, a 

 markedly prominent nose is very rare : I have never 

 seen a single case." As regards the stature and 

 muscular development of some of these skeletons, it 

 is to be regretted that, although the skeleton was 

 represented in each case, the long bones were so 

 fragile and fragmentary that it was found impossible 

 to obtain complete reconstruction. 



We have received from the National Clean Milk 

 Society copies of two publications just issued by the 

 society. One is a leaflet intended for distribution 

 among producers of milk, containing recommenda- 

 tions for the care of cows and of milk which should 

 be observed by farmers and dair\-men. These are 

 simple and capable of being carried out by all, and 

 if observed would do much to ensure a clean milk 

 supply. The other publication is a form of agree- 

 ment for the wholesale purchase and sale of milk by 

 institutions, dealers, and milk producers. In particu- 

 lar it provides for the tuberculin testing of all cows 

 and for a bacterial content of the milk not exceeding 

 60,000 bacteria per cubic centimetre. This last pro- 

 vision is certainly a very stringent one, and difficult 

 to attain ; unless the conditions of bacteriological 

 examination are very carefully defined it will lead to 

 trouble, for American investigations have recently 

 shown an extraordinary variation in the bacterial con- 

 tent of the same milk sample examined bv different 

 obserA'ers. The agreement is, however, for a high- 

 grade milk, the price of which is put at id. per gallon 

 more than that of ordinary or market milk. 



The need of a publication in English which will 

 contain not only abstracts of purelv physiological 

 papers, but also summaries of important papers bear- 

 ing on physiology in other branches of science, has 

 long been recognised. It is hoped that the Physio- 

 logical Abstracts will meet this need, and will also 



