February 5. 1903 



NA TURE 



3 2 5 



address before the Paris Academy of Sciences, M. Bornet 

 mentioned the important work which Prof. Sirodot published 

 on the Lemaneacea?, Chantransia and other genera of the 

 Floride:e. Prof. Sirodot was the first to observe the sexual 

 organs and method of fertilisation in Lemanea, and also estab- 

 lished the fact that some of the fresh-water species of 

 Chantransia represent merely stages in the life-history of 

 Batrachospermum. 



The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction 

 for Ireland has taken steps to place on view for a period of 

 three months, at the Imperial Institute, London, the extensive 

 collection of Irish minerals and building stones which formed 

 one of its exhibits at the recent exhibition in Cork. The 

 exhibit will embrace samples of the varied and excellent 

 building materials and marbles in which Ireland is particularly 

 rich, and it is expected that the opportunity of examining these 

 samples will be of advantage to those who are concerned in the 

 many large building schemes now in progress in London and 

 elsewhere in Great Britain. 



The Berlin correspondent of the Times reports that an 

 influential meeting, attended by experts in fire prevention and 

 fire brigade work from all parts of Germany, was held on 

 Monday, February 2, to decide as to the part to be taken by 

 Germany in the impending international fire exhibition in 

 London. It was decided that, under the direction of an 

 influential executive committee, a large hall should be employed 

 exclusively as the German section. Many gentlemen present 

 expressed their intention to attend the International Fire 

 Prevention Congress next Tuly. 



According to a report by the French Minister at Mexico 

 City published in the Moniteur Officiel du Commerce of January 

 22, the mineral prospectors sent to Mexico by American 

 capitalists have for some time been directing their efforts 

 towards the discovery of coal deposits. The first borings have 

 led to the discovery at El Gallo, in the district of Mazas, of 

 coal, of which the quality is said to be excellent. The French 

 Minister adds that his private information confirms the announce- 

 ment. 



The decimal division of time has been advocated for some 

 years by writers in several French scientific periodicals. A 

 Geneva correspondent of the Globe states that a number of 

 manufacturers in the Neufchatel canton have already taken to 

 the manufacture of clocks and watches on the decimal system. 

 Chambers of commerce and other trade organisations are also 

 supporting the change. The Cantonal Commercial Chamber 

 at Chaux-le-Fonds has issued a notice calling for models, draw- 

 ings and designs for appliances and " works " applicable to the 

 decimal adjustment of clocks and watches with the least pos- 

 sible departure from forms now in use. 



Father Louis Froc, director of the observatory at Zi-ka- 

 wei, informs us that since the beginning of this year the noon 

 time-ball at the port of Shanghai has been dropped 5 minutes 

 567 seconds later than previously, so as to bring the time into 

 connection with the international zone system. The meridian 

 adopted is the same as that used for time in the Philippines ; it 

 is sixteen hours from the Greenwich meridian and differs from 

 Japan time by exactly an hour. Greenwich time will also be 

 adopted by the Great Northern Telegraph Co. along the coast 

 of China, and it is hoped it will be gradually accepted as the 

 standard in the other open ports. 



The British Medical Journal says that duiing the annual 

 meeting of the American Society of Naturalists recently held at 

 Columbia University, Washington, Prof. William H. Welch, of 

 the Johns Hopkins University, made a preliminary announce- 



NO. 1736, VOL. 67] 



ment as to an important addition to the list 01 such 

 endowments. While he was not yet prepared to make 

 the formal public announcement, he stated that within 

 the near future a specially endowed institute or laboratory for 

 research in scientific medicine would be founded in the United 

 States. The institute would, he said, be in a general way 

 similar to the Pasteur Institute of France, and would greatly 

 facilitate and energise special research along lines that would be 

 of incalculable benefit to humanity. 



It is reported that Mr. John D. Rockefeller has announced 

 his intention of spending about 1,450,000/. on an institution at 

 which research will be directed towards the discovery of a cure 

 for consumption. The plans contemplate the immediate ex- 

 penditure of the sum mentioned on a medical department of the 

 University of Chicago, following on the annexation of the Rush 

 Medical College. They involve an elaborate scheme for a great 

 research hospital. Mr. Rockefeller has made it known to the 

 trustees of the University that he wishes to assist the University 

 to evolve men who will take up original research to find cures 

 for stubborn diseases, particularly consumption. One entire 

 division of the new medical department will be devoted to efforts 

 to discover a tuberculosis serum. 



Referring to the return of Lieuts. Matissen and Koltchak, 

 members of Baron Toll's polar expedition, and nine men of the 

 Zaria's crew, the Westminster Gazette states that the members of 

 the expedition passed the second winter, 1901-2, in Nerpitchiet 

 Bay, in the island of Kotelnyi, New Siberian group, where they 

 lost one of their number, Dr. Walter. The party did not suffer 

 from scurvy, and the great abundance of drift-wood furnished 

 them with material for the construction of dwellings and for 

 fuel, while the reindeer supplied them with fresh meat. Baron 

 Toll, who, accompanied by M. Zebert, the astronomer, left the 

 Zaria to explore the interior of Bennett Island, and 

 M. Bialznitsky, the zoologist, who had gone on an expedition to 

 New Siberia, did not return to the ship before her departure, and 

 were left behind. No fears are, however, entertained for their 

 safety. 



Reuter's agency says that the secretary of McGill University 

 College, Montreal, writing to the Press, opposes the establish- 

 ment of a wireless telegraphy station on Mount Royal in the 

 following terms : — " The physical laboratories are continuously 

 and extensively used for teaching the curriculum of the Univer- 

 sity, the subjects taught in them being not only an essential part 

 of the University course, but also of fundamental necessity in 

 training men for all branches of engineering and practical science. 

 The operation on Mount Royal of a wireless telegraphy station 

 would seriously impair the usefulness of the physical laboratories 

 and would prevent the University from effectively carrying on 

 in them the work for which they were especially designed and 

 equipped." 



At the annual banquet on January 2S of the Chamber of 

 Commerce of Newport, Mon., Mr. Gerald Balfour, in replying 

 to the toast of " the President of the Board of Trade," made 

 some observations on the recent demands for a Minister and 

 Ministry of Commerce. Referring to the great increase in the 

 staff of the Board of Trade, he said at present the staff amounted 

 to nearly 6oo, and the first cause of the great augmentation 

 since 1786 was, of course, the immense increase in the wealth 

 and population of the country, and its world-wide aclivities 

 caused by the introduction of railways, steamships and tele- 

 graphs into the apparatus of our civilisation. Another cause 

 was the tendency in these days to throw more duties and 

 responsibilities upon the executive departments of the State. 

 He thought the chambers of commerce were right when they 

 said that, having regard to the importance of the interests of 



