208 



NA TURE 



[January i, 1903 



of the proposal and 126 against it, whilst 313 fellows gave no 

 reply. This expression of opinion is considered sufficient to 

 justify further action ; accordingly the matter will be brought 

 before a special general meeting on January 15. As the exist- 

 ing charter gives no power to the society to admit women as 

 fellows, a resolution will be moved to obtain a supplemental 

 charter for this purpose. 



In consequence of frequent cases of sickness and death 

 caused by poisonous substances in salted raw fish used for food, 

 the committee of the Caspian fishery and seal industries several 

 years ago offered a prize for the investigation of the nature of 

 the fish-poison, for indications of the methods of preventing 

 fish from becoming poisonous, and for the healing of persons 

 poisoned by fish. The accumulated interest and capital now 

 amount to 7500 roubles (about 1050/.). The Imperial Academy 

 of Sciences, St. Petersburg, acting with the Ministry of Agri- 

 culture and Crown Domains, have now issued particulars of a 

 new competition on the nature of fish poison and the antidotes. 

 The persons competing for the award offered in the interest of 

 public health will be expected to offer solutions of the following 

 problems : — (1) By careful experiments to define the qualities of 

 poison contained in fish : (2) to investigate the action of the 

 poison of the independent organs of animal bodies, the central 

 nervous system, the heart, the circulation of blood and the 

 digestive organs; (3) to present an accurate illustration of the 

 pathological reactions in the various parts of animal and human 

 bodies caused by such poisoning ; (4) to present a description 

 of the signs serving to distinguish fish containing poison from 

 normal fish ; (5) to indicate methods for the prevention of de- 

 velopment of poison in fish ; o) to indicate antidotes and general 

 provision against poisoning by fish. The awards for the com- 

 petition will be three premiums, viz. 5000 roubles (700/.), and 

 two of 1500 roubles (210/.) and 1000 roubles (140/.). The two 

 lesser prizes may be gained should the author solve only a part 

 of the problem, basing his experiments upon one method of 

 science — chemistry, physiology or bacteriology. As regards 

 the larger prize, this will be awarded only for the work which 

 covers the problem of the nature of the fish poison in all 

 respects. The work sent in to compete for the awards may be 

 written or printed in Russian. Latin, French, English or 

 German, and should be submitted by October 1. 1903. to the 

 Ministry of Agriculture and Crown Domains. 



Mr. N. F. Dobree, of Beverley, has presented his colleclion 

 of European Xoctute to the Hull Municipal Museum. This 

 collection contains more than five thousand specimens and is 

 one of the finest in the country. 



The death is announced of Prof. Richard Baron Von Krafft- 

 Ebing, professor of psychiatry at Vienna and author of works on 

 psychiatry and physiological psychology. 



We regret to announce that Mr. Otto Hilger, the well-known 

 astronomical and optical instrument maker, died on December 

 iS, at fifty-two years of age. 



Mr. A. Carnec.ie has expressed to the Provost of 

 Greenock his willingness to present to a properly authorised 

 authority in the town the sum of 10,000/. to defray the cost of 

 the erection of a memorial to James Watt ; or he is willing to 

 head a movement in America to raise a large fund which, 

 added to what might be subscribed in Great Britain, would 

 enable a wider scheme for a memorial to be arranged. 



One of the subjects discussed at the recent conference of 

 Colonial Premiers was that of an Imperial Patents Act whereby 

 one patent would cover ihe whole Empire. Mr. G. C. Douglas, 

 writing to the Times of December 30, points out that such a 

 measure would help enormously in the building up of industrial 

 concerns. In the United States of America, one patent covers 

 a territory with an industrial population of about seventy millions, 



NO. T 73 T , VOL. 67] 



whereas it takes about forty patents to protect an invention in 

 the British Empire. If it were decreed that one patent covered 

 Great Britain, India and the various other dependencies, our 

 great self-governing Colonies would probably soon unite with 

 the Government to make the reform an Imperial one. 



A Reuter telegram from Syracuse states that shortly after 

 eight o'clock in evening of December 2S a severe shock of 

 earthquake was felt, preceded by subterranean rumbling. 



A Reuter telegram from St. Thomas on December 27 reports 

 that a violent eruption of Mont Pelee was in progress at 10.30 

 that morning. Dense grey smoke and dust were pouring out 

 to a great height. Advices from other sources state that the 

 cone of the volcano was luminous at night. 



Prok. Lacroix, the conductor of the French scientific 

 expedition sent to Martinique, has, La Nature says, reported to 

 the Colonial Minister an account of the consequences of the 

 shattering of the cone formed in the crater of Mont Pelee. Blocks 

 of incandescent lava rolled in the direction of the White River 

 and filled it. Volcanic material six kilometres from the crater, 

 which had collected in the neighbouring valley, had eight days 

 after the eruption a temperature exceeding 100 C. On 

 December 15, symptoms premonitory of an eruption were 

 experienced at Kingston, St. Vincent, and on December 18 a 

 new eruption occurred, but caused no accident. 



A Reuter's telegram from the scene of the recent earthquake 

 at Andijan, dated December 23, states that the shocks continue 

 and are daily increasing in violence. — December 26, Ashkabad. 

 Oscillations of the earth are still noticeable. In Andijan and 

 neighbourhood, 15,000 houses have been destroyed. Andijan as 

 a town has existed for 400 years, and has already been visited 

 by earthquakes. — December 2S, Ashkabad. A long and violent 

 earthquake shock was felt at Andijan at 10 p.m. yesterday. — 

 December 29, Si. Petersburg. The earthquake at Andijan 

 on December 16 extended over an area of nearly seven 

 hundred square miles. The epicer.trum of the disturbance has 

 been located about four miles to the south of Andijan. It is 

 indicated by a rent made in the earth from which sand, water 

 and mud are thrown up. The statical wave was about 2S inches 

 high, and took a northerly direction. 



We learn from Science that Prof. H. V. Hilprecht has been 

 awarded the Lucy Wharton Drexel medal of the University 

 of Pennsylvania for his archaeological researches. 



At the concluding meeting of the Egyptian Medical Con- 

 gress on December 24, it was held that the international rules 

 applying to plague and cholera required revision, and the 

 wish was expressed that an international congress should meet 

 forthwith to lay down rules in accord with the demands of 

 science. 



We learn from Science thu the Carn;gie Institution of 

 Washington has made a grim of 500 dollars to Prof. B\n:roft, 

 of Cornell University, for a systematic study of the bronzes ; an 

 annual grant of 10,000 dollars to revive the " Index Medicus," 

 formerly published under the direction of Dr. J. S. Billings ; 

 and a grant of 1000 dollars to the astronomical department of 

 Vassar College to enable Dr. Caroline E. Furness to make 

 measurements and reductions of photographs of the stars in the 

 region of the north celestial pole. 



At the dinner on Dic»mb?r 22 to Major Ronald Ross, 

 in honour of his being awarded the Nobel prize, the Lord 

 Mayor of Liverpool dispatched a telegram to the King. The 

 following message was received in reply:— "I have submitted 

 your telegram to the King and I am commanded, in reply, to 

 request you to congratulate Major Ross on the honour which 

 has been conferred upon him by the King of Sweden. — 

 Knollys." 



