February 19, 1903] 



NATURE 



373 



their body, by granting sites for public institutions (in most 

 cases gratuitously, in others on very liberal terms), by grants 

 of money in aid of those institutions, and by scientific and 

 educational scholarships administered by the Commission, 

 have already carried out to a very large extent the trust ot 

 their charter." 



Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., has been elected a foreign 

 correspondent of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. 

 Petersburg. 



Prof. Frederick W. Putnam, curator of the Peabody 

 Museum, has been awarded the Lucy Wharton Drexel medal 

 of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia for his work in 

 American archaeology. 



We learn from Science that Dr. W. A. Cannon has been 

 appointed resident investigator of the Desert Botanical 

 Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution. Mr. Frederick V. 

 Coville and Dr. D. T. MacDougal, of the advisory board 

 of the laboratory, started on January 24 on a tour of in- 

 spection of the region west of the Pecos River, in Texas, 

 along the Mexican boundary, for the purpose of fixing upon 

 a site for the laboratory. 



On Tuesday next, February 24, Sir William Abney will 

 deliver the first of a course of three lectures at the Royal 

 Institution on " Recent Advances in Photographic Science." 

 On February 26 Prof. L. C. Miall begins a course of three 

 lectures on " Insect Contrivances," and on Saturday, Feb- 

 ruary 28, Lord Rayleigh delivers the first of six lectures on 

 " Light; its Origin and Nature." The Friday evening dis- 

 course on February 27 will be delivered by Mr. A. Liebmann 

 on "Perfumes; Natural and Artificial"; on March 6 by 

 Prof. J. G. McKendrick, on " Studies in Experimental 

 Phonetics"; and on March 13 by Prof. Karl Pearson, on 

 " Character Reading from External Signs." 



The Carnegie Institution has made a grant of four 

 thousand dollars to the Yerkes Observatory, to be expended 

 under the direction of Prof. George E. Hale, for certain re- 

 searches in astronomy and astrophysics. These will com- 

 prise : — (1) A photographic investigation of stellar paral- 

 laxes ; (2) investigations in stellar photometry ; (3) a detailed 

 study of several hundred photographs of the sun, taken with 

 the spectroheliograph at the Kenwood Observatory in the 

 years 1891— 1S96; (4) certain investigations in solar and 

 stellar spectroscopy, to be undertaken by Prof. Hale as soon 

 as the new horizontal reflecting telescope, recently injured 

 by fire, has been completed. 



The funeral of the late Mr. James Glaisher, F.R.S., at 

 Shirley, near Croydon, on February 11, was attended by a 

 representative gathering of scientific men, as well as by 

 many personal friends. Major MacMahon represented the 

 Royal Society, and, on behalf of other societies and insti- 

 tutions, there were present, among others, Mr. F. W. 

 Dyson, chief assistant of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich ; 

 Sir Charles Wilson, chairman of the executive committee 

 of the Palestine Exploration Fund ; Mr. W. Ellis, late of 

 the Royal Observatory ; Mr. W. Marriott, assistant secre- 

 tary of the Royal Meteorological Society ; Mr. Baldwin 

 Latham and Mr. A. H. Baynes. Among the floral tributes 

 were wreaths from Mr. W. N. Shaw, Secretary to the 

 Meteorological Council ; the Palestine Exploration Fund, 

 the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain and the Aero- 

 nautical Society of Germany. 



The Etoile Beige states that an international exhibition 

 will be opened at Liege in April, 1905. The exhibition, 

 which will include a scientific section, is due to private 

 initiative, but it has received the patronage of King Leopold, 



NO. 1738, VOL. 67] 



and has been promised the support of the Belgian Govern- 

 ment. 



In their twelfth annual report, the committee of the 

 Society for the Protection of Birds is able to announce 

 a decided advance in the object for which it is striving. 

 The Wild Birds Protection Act of 1902 has considerably 

 aided the Society's efforts by making it lawful to confiscate 

 the booty of offenders. The committee also notes with appro- 

 bation the action of the Government of India in prohibiting 

 the exportation of native birds' skins, except for natural his- 

 tory purposes. It cannot, of course, be hoped, observes the 

 committee, that the action of a single Government will at 

 once prevent ladies from wearing plumes in their hats, but it 

 is nevertheless a step in the right direction. South America 

 now appears to be one of the worst offenders in regard to 

 bird-destruction, and it is, unfortunately, a region where 

 there is, at present at all events, but little hope of repressive 

 legislation being introduced. While noticing that in this 

 country the Church has done little or nothing to aid the 

 crusade, the report announces with satisfaction that the 

 periodical Press has all along been on the side of the move- 

 ment. " The fact of this great unfailing support, and the 

 steady growth of this Society, inspires a hope that even- 

 tually the object which the first founders of the Society set 

 before them thirteen years ago— namely, the suppression of 

 this destructive fashion and trade — may be attained." 



A paragraph appeared a short time ago in the Times 

 recording some of the ornithological results of Mr. B. 

 Alexander's recent expedition to Fernando Po. Mr. Alex- 

 ander reached the island last December, and proceeded to 

 explore the highlands of its northern portion, ascending 

 Clarence Peak, which was found to be wooded to a height 

 of between 10,000 and 11,000 feet. The novelties included 

 in his bird-collection were described by himself at a meeting 

 of the British Ornithologists' Club held on January 21, and 

 are briefly described in Bulletin No. 44 of that body. The 

 collection comprises nearly 400 specimens, referable to some 

 sixty-eight species, of which no less than thirty-three are 

 described as new. Nor is this all, for two of the species are 

 assigned to new genera, under the names of Urolais and 

 Poliolais. It is remarkable that the majority of the Fer- 

 nando Po birds display little affinity to those of the adjacent 

 West African lowlands, but are more nearly related to East 

 African mountain types from Kilimanjaro and Mount Elgon. 

 In addition to its peculiar birds, Fernando Po appears to 

 possess a fauna and flora of great abundance and interest, 

 the number of species of ferns at high altitudes being 

 especially noticeable. 



The Geneva correspondent of the Daily Mail states that 

 Count Zeppelin has just completed an automobile-launch 

 which possesses the peculiarity of having its propellers in 

 the air. According to the inventor, the launch will be of 

 the greatest use in tropical lakes and rivers encumbered 

 with aquatic plants, which, obstructing the screw, render 

 an ordinary steam launch useless. The launch is extremely 

 light, has a draught of only ten inches, and it skims the 

 water at a rate varying from fourteen to sixteen miles an 

 hour. 



We have received the first part of the new volume (vol. 

 iii.) of the Journal of Hygiene, which contains several im- 

 portant papers. Dr. Jordan discusses the kinds of bacteria 

 and their variation in river water. Dr. Longcope gives a 

 study of the bacteriolytic action of human blood in disease, 

 and Dr. Walker surveys the various factors in bacteriolytic 

 I action, from which he deduces the fact that the complement 

 or addiment is a product of disintegration of leucocytes. 



