March 5, 1903] 



NA TURE 



421 



inquiry should be forthwith instituted with the view of re- 

 arranging the duties and functions of existing departments." 

 After discussion, both the resolution and an amendment to 

 it were withdrawn. 



Central News despatches from Mexico City report that 

 an eruption of the Colima Volcano commenced on February 

 21, The disturbance continued practically incessantly until 

 February 24, on which date, at 5.15 a.m., there occurred the 

 most violent eruption known at Colima for many years. 

 At 2.26 a.m. a severe earthquake shock was felt at the town 

 of Tuxpan, near the volcano. 



The Carnegie Institution has made grants to several of the 

 professors of Johns Hopkins University to assist original 

 researches. Prof. Harmon N. Morse has received 300/. for 

 an assistant in his researches upon the new method he has 

 evolved for measurement of osmotic pressures ; Prof. R. W. 

 Wood 200/. to maintain a research assistant; Dr. H. C. 

 Jones 200/. for an assistant in his researches in physical 

 chemistry ; and Prof. J. J. Abel 200!. for the apparatus 

 necessary to his researches in physiological chemistry. 



The council of the Society of Arts, at the request of the 

 executive committee of the International Fire Prevention Ex- 

 hibition, to be held at Earl's Court during the current year, 

 has decided to offer the following prizes at the exhibition, 

 out of the funds of the Fothergill Trust : — One gold medal, 

 two silver medals and two bronze medals for the best chemical 

 fire engines for town use shown at the exhibition ; and 

 similar medals for the most easily worked long ladders, to 

 reach the sill of a window eighty feet above the level of the 

 pavement, which shall also be capable of being rapidly trans- 

 ported over roads not more than twenty-five feet wide. 



The annual general meeting of the Institute of Chemistry 

 of Great Britain and Ireland was held on March 2, when 

 the council presented its report. The council has appointed 

 Prof. J. Millar Thomson (the retiring president), Mr. G. T. 

 Beilby and Dr. J. Lewkowitsch to represent the Institute 

 at the International Congress of Applied Chemistry to be 

 held at Berlin in June next. The council has, whenever 

 occasion has arisen, urged upon authorities making appoint- 

 ments under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, the import- 

 ance of requiring applicants to produce evidence of adequate 

 training in theoretical and practical chemistry, and of special 

 experience in the analysis of food and drugs. 



On February 26 the Italian Minister of Marine and a 

 number of naval experts witnessed some interesting experi- 

 ments with Signor Siglio's apparatus for giving warning 

 of the approach of submarine craft and other vessels. The 

 Central News correspondent at Naples says that the ap- 

 proach of a large steamer was notified by the apparatus 

 when the vessel was twenty kilometres distant. The 

 approach of a small boat was signalled at a distance of 

 twelve kilometres. 



Reuter's Agency is informed that a strong and unusuallv 

 well-equipped expedition is on the point of being dispatched 

 to South Africa by the Chartered Company, for the purpose 

 of completing up to Lake Tanganyika the scientific survey 

 of Rhodesia. The expedition will be absent about three 

 years, and will sail from England in time to reach Cape 

 Town at the beginning of April. The work now in con- 

 templation has only been rendered possible by the comple- 

 tion of the Cape to Cairo telegraph up to Tanganyika, which 

 now enables the explorers to synchronise with the observ- 

 atory at Cape Town. The expedition will have far-reaching 

 results in finally determining the exact geographical posi- | 

 NO. 174O, VOL. 67] 



tion of many important centres at present imperfectly laid 

 down upon the maps. The work is under the direct super- 

 vision of Sir David Gill, K.C.B., F.R.S., Astronomer Royal 

 at the Cape. 



With the object of bringing to public notice the economic 

 mineral products of Ireland, the Department of Agriculture 

 and Technical Instruction for Ireland has arranged for the 

 Irish minerals shown at the Cork International Exhibition 

 of 1902 to be placed on view in London. These, together 

 with a few additions, are now to be seen at the Imperial 

 Institute, and the exhibition remains open, admission free, 

 for three months from February 26. The most important 

 materials are building stones of various kinds, mainly lime- 

 stones and granites ; and amongst the polished marbles and 

 granites, excellently suited for ornamental purposes, there 

 is considerable variety. Samples of clay and sand, and of 

 pottery and glass manufactured from the same, are shown. 

 Coals and iron-ores are of some importance, but the metal- 

 liferous ores of lead, copper and zinc occupy only a small 

 space. Other minerals include bauxite, gypsum, barytes, 

 salt and diatomaceous earth ; slates and paving materials 

 are also well represented. According to the official mining 

 statistics, the minerals annually raised in Ireland amount 

 in value to only about 1 400th part of the total output of 

 the United Kingdom ; and it is sincerely to be hoped that 

 this exhibition may have some effect towards developing 

 the mineral resources of Ireland, even though these be not 

 so extensive and varied as could be desired. 



Major-General C. J. B. Riddell, C.B., F.R.S., whose 

 death is announced at the advanced age of eighty-six, was 

 one of the pioneers in the cultivation and extension of work 

 in terrestrial magnetism and meteorology. Concurrently 

 with the arrangements made in 183S-1839 for an expedition 

 to the Antarctic regions arose the question of the desirability 

 of extending the contemplated magnetic researches in the 

 southern hemisphere by the establishment of fixed observ- 

 atories in certain of the British colonial possessions, which 

 should also carry on meteorological inquiries. The stations 

 mentioned were those of St. Helena, the Cape of Good 

 Hope and Toronto. Lieutenant Riddell was selected as 

 director of the Canada (Toronto) branch, subject to the 

 instructions of the Ordnance Department and Major (after- 

 wards General) Sabine, R.A. In 1.841 the reduction 

 work for the publication of vol. i. of the Toronto observ- 

 ations was commenced by Sabine, who had the assistance 

 of Riddell, and much commended the practical merits of 

 the system inaugurated at Toronto. General Riddell was 

 responsible for the " Magnetical Instructions for the Use 

 of Portable Instruments Adapted for Magnetical Surveys 

 and Portable Observatories, and for the Use of a Set of 

 Small Instruments for a Fixed Magnetic Observatory," 

 which was printed at the expense of the Government and 

 issued in 1844. He outlived all his associates in magnetic 

 observational work. At the time of his death he enjoyed 

 the unique distinction of being the senior Fellow of the 

 Royal Society in respect of election. 



On February 25 Dr. M. W. Travers gave a lecture on the 

 " Measurement of Low Temperatures " before the Chemical 

 and Physical Society of University College, London. In 

 the experimental demonstrations a thermometer was used of 

 the constant volume type described in the Phil. Trans, for 

 1902, in which the temperature is read directly on the mano- 

 meter. In the course of the lecture the bulb of the instru- 

 ment was immersed in liquid hydrogen when the thermo- 

 meter indicated a temperature of 20°'5 Abs. Solid hydrogen 

 was prepared by boiling the liquid hydrogen under a pressure 



