194 
NATURE 
[APRIL 23, 1914 
on inoculation. This form remained absolutely 
fixed after daily subculture for more than eighty 
days; but, though stable in vitro, in vivo, after 
passage through an animal, Gram-positive coccoid 
forms made their appearance, and subsequently, 
after subculture in broth, a certain number of 
bacillary forms, approximating to typical anthrax, 
were obtained. These experiments open up wide 
possibilities in the transformation of micro- 
organisms. R. Lv Hewrenr. 
NOTES. 
Tue first of the two annual soirees of the Royal 
Society will be held in. the rooms of the society at 
Burlington House on Wednesday, May 13. 
Tue twenty-second James Forrest lecture of the 
Institution of Civil Engineers will be delivered on 
Tuesday, May 5, by Mr. F. W. Lanchester, upon the 
subject of ‘The Flying Machine from an Engineering 
Standpoint.” 
Pror. C. S. SHERRINGTON, Waynflete professor of 
physiology in the University of Oxford, has been 
elected a member of the Royal Danish Academy of 
Sciences, in the class of natural sciences. 
Tue death is announced, at fifty-eight years of age, 
of Prof. Adolf Fischer, director of the Museum for 
Asiatic art, founded last October at Cologne, and 
consisting almost entirely of collections made by Prof. 
Fischer himself during repeated journey to the Far 
East. 
Tue death on March 19 is announced of Prof. G. 
Mercalli, one of the leading Italian seismologists. 
Mercalli, who was born at Milan in 1850, is known 
chiefly for his researches on regional seismology, for 
his observations on Vesuvian phenomena, and for 
his scale of seismic intensity, which, in Italy, has dis- 
placed the widely used Rossi-Forel scale. In con- 
junction with Prof. T. Taramelli, he issued the prin- 
cipal reports on the Andalusian earthquake of 1884 
and the Riviera earthquake of 1887. In 1897, were 
published his valuable monographs on the earthquakes 
of Liguria and Piedmont, and of southern Calabria 
and the Messinese district. At the time of his death 
he was director of the Vesuvius Observatory and pro- 
fessor of seismology in the University of Naples. 
Two articles on the work of the late Prof. Milne 
have appeared this month, one by Dr. C. Davison, in 
Science Progress, the other by Comte de Montessus 
de Ballore, in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society 
of America (vol. iv., pp. 1-24). The former contains 
a brief account of his life and a summary of the 
principal work accomplished by him. The latter is 
more bibliographical in form. Milne’s papers are 
classified and briefly described under fourteen head- 
ings, such as earthquake-catalogues, earth tremors 
and pulsations, aseismic buildings and practical seis- 
mology, relations between earthquakes and variations 
of the vertical and changes of latitude, etc. Both 
writers claim for Milne the chief share in the growth 
of seismology. 
NO) 23201 aomr@2) 
Tue twelfth annual meeting of the South African 
Association for the Advancement of Science will be held. 
at Kimberley from Monday, July 6, to Saturday, July 11, 
inclusive, under the presidency of Prof. R. Marloth. 
The sections and their presidents will-be as follows :— 
A, Astronomy, Mathematics, Physics, Meteorology,. 
Geodesy, Surveying, Engineering, Architecture, and 
Irrigation, Prof. A. Ogg; B, Chemistry, Geology, 
Metallurgy, Mineralogy, and Geography, Prof. G. H. 
Stanley; C, Bacteriology, Botany, Zoology, Agricul- 
ture, Forestry, Physiology, Hygiene, and Sanitary 
Science, Prof. G. Potts; D, Anthropology, Ethnology, 
Education, History, Mental Science, Philology, Poli- 
tical Economy, Sociology, and Statistics, Prof. W. 
Ritchie. . 
THE precise physical cause which has brought the 
publicity of newspaper paragraphs to the shrinkage 
of the Caspian Sea must be, pending the official inves- 
tigation by Prof. Shokalski, a matter for conjecture. 
That the surface of the sea stood formerly, and at 
no remote geological date, at a much higher level, 
and that its extent was much greater, is well known. 
Again, the level is subject to recognised fluctuations, 
both annually and over longer periods. The discharge 
of the several great rivers into the sea strives con- 
stantly but often unsuccessfully to keep up with the 
loss by evaporation. The level usually stands highest 
in the middle of the year, and lowest at the beginning. 
As to the fluctuations of longer period, observations 
extending from 1851 to 1885 showed maxima of height 
in 1868-69, in 1882, and in 1885, and minima in 1853 
and 1873; these oscillations appear to have had an 
extreme range of some 42 in. The present fall may 
be associated with this phenomenon; a scientific inves- 
tigation towards the close of last century led to the 
conclusion that no perceptible permanent shrinkage 
was in progress. 
A suMMARY of the weather for the first three months 
of the year has been given by the Meteorological 
Office in its Weekly Weather Report for the period 
ending April 4. The mean temperature for the whole 
period is shown to be in excess of the average in 
every district of the United Kingdom. In the east 
and north-east of England the excess of temperature 
amounted to 3°, and in the midland counties and in 
the south-east, north-west, and south-west of Eng- 
land the excess was 2°. In all other districts which 
comprise Scotland, Ireland, and the Channel Islands, 
the excess of temperature was only 1°. There was 
an excess of rainfall over the entire kingdom except 
in the north-east of England, where the fall was only 
95 per cent. of the average. In the south-east of 
England the rainfall for the three months was 160 
per cent. of the average, in the east of England 
145 per cent., in the Channel Islands 143 per cent., 
in the south-west of England 142 per cent., in Ireland, 
north and south, 140 per cent., and in the east and 
west of Scotland 122 and 123 per cent. respectively. 
In the midland counties the fall was only 107 per cent. 
of the average. There was a slight deficiency of sun- 
shine over the whole kingdom, except in the north of 
Scotland, where there was a slight excess. At Green- 
wich the mean temperature for the three months to. 
