64 NATURE 
ber of the Royal Astronomical Society. At the meet- 
ing of the society on Friday last, the president, 
Major E. H. Hills, in announcing the council’s deci- 
sion, remarked that Miss Cannon had acquired re- 
markable skill in distinguishing the type to which a 
star spectrum belongs and had completed the classi- 
fication of 150,000 stars in this way. 
Mr. Marconi appears to have secured some remark- 
able results with his new wireless telephonic appa- 
ratus. According to the daily newspapers, experiments 
have been carried out from Italian warships off the 
Sicilian coast, and on one occasion signals were re- 
ceived from Canada, 4062 miles away, by means of 
wireless telephony. In another experiment communi- 
cation was set up between two ships forty-five miles 
apart, and the connection continued uninterruptedly 
for twelve hours. On March 14 the wireless tele- 
graphic station at Nauen, near Berlin, exchanged 
clear signals with the Windhuk station in German 
South-West Africa, a distance of more than 6000 
miles. 
WE regret to announce the death, on March LSe oll 
Dr. Harry Burrows, senior lecturer on chemistry at 
the Sir John Cass Technical Institute, at the early 
age of forty-two. Dr. Burrows received his academic 
training at the Royal College of Science aiid at Heidel- 
berg University, and was a research schoiar and sub- 
sequently an assistant demonstrator at the Royal Col- 
lege under Sir William Tilden. For the past ten years 
he had been on the staff of the Sir John Cass Technical 
Institute, where his successful work as a teacher was 
valued and appreciated both by the governors of the 
institute and by the students. Dr. Burrows contri- 
buted several papers to the Transactions of the Chem- 
ical Society. 
THE Faraday Society has arranged a general dis- 
cussion on optical rotatory power, to be held in the 
afternoon and evening of Friday, March 27, in the 
rooms of the Chemical Society, Burlington House, 
London, W. Prof. H. E. Armstrong will preside at 
the afternoon session, and will deliver an introductory 
address. Prof. Percy F. Frankland will preside at 
the evening session. Papers on various aspects 
of the subject will be read by Prof. Hans Rupe 
(Basle), Prof. H. Grossmann (Berlin), Prof. Leo 
Tschugaeff (St. Petersburg), Dr. Darmois (Paris), Dr. 
T. M. Lowry, Mr. T. W. Dickson, Mr. H. H. Abram, 
Dis ake dat? Pickard, (Mr: |. Kenyon, sand) Dr. “x iS: 
Patterson. 
Tue Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has 
issued a manifesto signed by the president (the 
Duchess of Portland) and other ladies of distinction 
in favour of the Importation of Plumage Prohibition 
Bill now before Parliament. The manifesto says :— 
‘The present Bill is the result of careful and prolonged 
investigations. The export of the plumage of wild 
birds has been prohibited from India, and from the 
majority of the Crown Colonies. The United States 
of America and the Commonwealth of Australia have 
sifted the question, and passed laws prohibiting both 
export and import. A strong feeling in favour of 
legislation on these lines is growing in Germany, 
NO, 2316, VOl93) 
[Marcu 19, 1914 
France, Austria, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and Bel- 
gium. Attempts to regulate the traffic would be futile 
on account of the insurmountable difficulties with 
respect to laws and their enforcement in the countries 
from which a large proportion of the birds come; 
therefore, the most effectual way to preserve wild birds 
is by the enactment of laws prohibiting importation in 
support of the regulations which forbid export.” 
THE report of the Royal Society for the Protection 
of Birds, presented to the meeting held at the West- 
minster Palace Hotel on March 5, shows that the 
growth of the society has been well maintained. 
Further funds are required if the society is to do the 
work which lies before it. ‘‘ The watchers’ committee 
is continually asked to undertake fresh work and 
accept new responsibilities; educational worl - could 
proceed far more rapidly were there funds for its sup- 
port; it is probable that the work at the lighthouses 
will demand large additional outlay; and the legis- 
lative work before the society for 1914 is the heaviest 
it has yet had to encounter.’ The work at the light- 
houses, it may be explained, takes the form of erect- 
ing rails on which flights of migrants may perch. 
UnpbErR the powers of the Ancient Monuments Con- 
solidation and Amendment Act, 1913, the following 
Advisory Boards have been appointed for England, 
Scotland, and Wales :—England—Mr.. Lionel Earle 
(chairman), Lord Burghclere, Lord Crawford, Sir 
Aston Webb, Mr. RR: Blomfield Sir ‘©. Her 
cules’ Read, Mr. C.. Py Grevelyan, *Prot. shee 
Haverfield, Prof. ‘W.. RR. -Wethaby. ie ae 
Smith. Scotland—Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, Bart. 
(chairman), Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., Mr. A. O. 
Curle, Dr. G. Macdonald, the Hon. Sir Schomberg Kk. 
McDonnell, Sir James Guthrie, Sir Robert Lorimer, 
Mr. J. R. Findlay. Wales—Sir E. Vincent-Evans 
(chairman), Lieut.-Col. W.-E. Ll. Morgan, Mr. W. 
Edwards, Sir E. Stafford Howard, Mr. E. Neil Baynes, 
Prof. R. €. Bosanquet, Dr.-~ W. E. - Hoyle, -Prof. 
J. Edward Lloyd. Mr. C. R.- Peers, Chief Inspector 
of Ancient Monuments, is also. a member of each 
board. 
THE death is announced of Mr. George Westing- 
house, the inventor of the air brake. Born at Central 
Bridge, Schoharie County, New York, in 1846, he 
was educated at public and high schools, and at 
Union College, where he graduated Ph.D. The 
air brake which has made his name famous 
throughout the world was invented in 1868. It has 
been computed that Mr. Westinghouse’s genius as an 
inventor has brought into being undertakings with a 
capital of 130 millions of dollars, giving employment 
to 50,000 skilled artisans. He founded works in many 
American centres, as well as in Manchester and Lon- 
don, at Havre, and in Germany, Russia, Austria, and 
Italy. Among the decorations bestowed on him were 
the Legion of Honour, the Order of the Royal Crown 
of Italy, and of Leopold of Belgium. He was also 
the recipient of the Edison gold medal in 1912, and in 
the following year of the Grashof gold medal, con- 
ferred annually by the engineering profession of Ger- 
many in memory of Franz Grashof. 
