December 7, 1899] 



NATURE 



139 



the dye products of the manufacture of this substance, and thus 

 contributed to a development of the industry which soon became 

 of the utmost consequence. 



Of late years he has devoted himself to the study of the 

 green colouring matter of plants, and has contributed a series 

 of remarkal^le papers to the Royal Society on the "Chemistry 

 of Chlorophyll." These deal with one of the most difficult 

 and at the same time most interesting chapters in the whole 

 range of organic chemistry ; they are full of observations of 

 fundamental importance, and will serve as a sure foundation for 

 all future researches on the subject. For the first time Schunck 

 has succeeded in obtaining well-defined crystal-like products 

 bearing a close relationship to the natural substance. Nowhere 

 is his remarkable skill as a manipulator, his extreme delicacy of 

 touch, more apparent than in this his latest work. 



The Society next proceeded to elect the officers and Council 

 for the ensuing year. The list of Fellows recommended for 

 election has already been given (p. 38), and the only change 

 was the substitution of the name of the Right Hon. James 

 Bryce, M.P., for that of Sir John Murray. 



The following are some of the subjects dealt with in the 

 Council's Report.: — 



Association of Academies, 

 With reference to the proposal for an International Associa- 

 tion of Scientific Academies, mentioned in the Council's last 

 Report, letters have been received from the Academic des 

 Sciences, the Lincei at Rome, and the Imperial Academy of 

 Sciences at St. Petersburg, expressing their approval of the 

 suggestion and their readiness to join such an organisation. A 

 preliminary Conference was held at Wiesbaden on October 9, 

 to which the two Secretaries, with Prof. Armstrong and Prof. 

 Schuster, were appointed as delegates from the Royal Society 

 (the Senior Secretary was, however, unable to attend). The 

 Conference exhibited the most perfect accord in the desire to 

 further the practical establishment of an Association for the 

 purpose in view, and proposed a draft scheme for the organisa- 

 tion of the Association on the following lines : — 



(i) The Association shall consist of a General Assembly and 

 a Council. 



(2) The General Assembly shall consist of delegates ap- 

 pointed by the constituent Academies, each Academy having 

 the right to appoint as many delegates as it may think necessary. 

 On matters of organisation, each Academy shall have but one 

 vote. No Academy shall be bound to take part in enterprises 

 approved by the Association. 



(3) The Assembly shall meet once every three years, but 

 under specified conditions the time of such meeting may be 

 altered. 



(4) The Assembly shall be divided into two sections, for 

 Natural Science and for Literature and Philosophy respectively. 

 These sections shall have the right of separate meeting. De- 

 cisions arrived at by them shall be reported to the General 

 Assembly for information, and, in case the decisions affect both 

 sections, for confirmation. 



(5) In the interval between the meetings of the General 

 \ssembly, the affairs of the Association shall be managed by 



Council, to which each Academy shall send one or two re- 

 presentatives according as it belongs to one or both sections. 

 In either case each Academy will have but one vote. The 

 Council will have a President and a Vice-President, who must 

 belong to different sections. 



International Catalogue ok Scientific 

 Literature. 



The Second International Conference, held in the Society's 

 rooms in October, 1898, appointed a Provisional International 

 Committee, which was to consider reports on various questions 

 discussed at the Conference, to be obtained by the Delegates 

 to the Conference from local committees in their several 

 countries. 



The Committee met in the Society's rooms on August 1-5, 

 those present being Prof. Armstrong, Sir M, Foster, Prof. 

 Klein, M. Koppen and Profs. Poincare, Riicker, Schwalbe and 

 Weiss. 



At the close of a series of very arduous sittings, during which 

 questions of great difficulty and delicacy were discussed, a 

 Report was agreed to ; and in accordance with the decision of 

 the second Conference, this has been issued by the Royal 

 Society to the various Governments concerned, and will in due 

 course be considered by the Council of the Society. 



NO. I57I, VOL. 61] 



It should be mentioned> that it was agreed to recommend : 

 " That an International Conference, to arrive at a final 

 decision on all matters concerning the catalogue, be held at 

 Eastertide, 1900." 



National Physical Laboratory. 

 The questions of detail concerning the establishment of this 

 Institution, mentioned in the Council's last Report, having 

 been settled with H.M. Treasury, a scheme of organisation 

 prepared by a Committee of the Council has been approved by 

 the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. Under this scheme 

 the Kew Observatory Committee, as at present constituted, will 

 cease to exist, and will be incorporated with the National 

 Physical Laboratory, but six members of the Committee have 

 been appointed to serve for a definite period on the Executive. 



The ultimate control of the Laboratory will be placed in the 

 hands of the President and Council of the Royal Society, and 

 the income and all other property will be vested in the Royal 

 Society. The Governing Body will consist of a General Board 

 and an Executive Committee, the former composed of the 

 Officers of the Royal Society, the Permanent Secretary of the 

 Board of Trade, twenty-four nominees of the Council, and twelve 

 mernbers nominated by the Councils of the six leading technical 

 Societies, viz. The Institution of Civil Engineers ; the Institu- 

 tion of Mechanical Engineers ; the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers ; the Iron and Steel Institute ; the Institution of 

 Naval Architects ; and the Society of Chemical Industry. 



The Council, on the recommendation of the Executive Com- 

 mittee, have appointed Mr. R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., to the 

 Directorship of the Laboratory, and he will assume the duties 

 of that post on January I, next year. In the meantime, a 

 number of sub-committees have been appointed to advise the 

 Executive with regard to important questions as to the nature 

 of the work to be undertaken in the Laboratory. Upon their 

 Reports must depend largely the decision which will be taken 

 by the Executive with regard to the buildings for the Laboratory 

 and their site, subjects which are engaging the earnest attention 

 of the Committee. 



•Protection of Royal Observatories. 

 The protection of Royal Observatories from the effects of 

 magnetic influence, referred to in the Council's last Report, 

 having received the attention of the Government, delegates 

 were appointed at the invitation of the Treasury to represent 

 the Council at a conference of the officers of that Department. 

 After some discussion, a model clause has received the sanction 

 of the Chairmen of the Committees of the Houses of Lords and 

 Commons respectively, and has been introduced into the Bills 

 which were passed during the last Session of Parliament, for 

 electric railways or tramways in the neighbourhood of London. 

 Under this clause, any Government Department which de- 

 sires protection against the electrical or magnetic disturbances 

 produced by electric railways or tramways will be at liberty to 

 appeal to the Board of Trade, which will have power to decide 

 whether the return conductor shall be insulated, or what other 

 precautions shall be adopted. 



Scientific Advice to the Government of India. 



Early in the year a letter was received from the India Office 

 relating to scientific inquiry in India, and stating that, when the 

 question had arisen of devising a scheme of investigation, the 

 responsibility of suggestions had usually fallen on officials who 

 were not competent to give advice. The Government of India 

 suggested that they should have the advantage of the advice of 

 leading men of science in England, who would exercise a 

 general control over researches instituted by the Government. 

 Lord George Hamilton having inquired whether the Royal 

 Society would be willing to meet the wishes of the Indian 

 Government by assisting in this capacity, the Council decided 

 to appoint a Standing Committee to give such advice as it can 

 on matters connected with scientific inquiry in India. Since 

 the researches on which such a Committee would he. consulted 

 would probably in most instances refer to biological matters, 

 the Committee has been chosen chiefly from among the bio- 

 logical Fellows. 



The Committee thus constituted has a parallel in the Indian 

 Observatories Committee established at the request of the 

 Government some time since, and mentioned in various Reports 

 of the Council. 



Chelsea Physic Garden. 



Towards the end of last year the Council received from the 

 Charity Commissioners a request for their views upon a scheme 



