300 
31-September 3 next. Prof. E. Fischer is the presi- 
dent for the year, and Dr. H. Rothenbiihler is the 
secretary of the committee of management. The 
following addresses to general meetings of the society 
have been announced :—Dr. Bluntschli, of Zurich, on 
the biology and ontogeny of the primates of the New 
World; Prof. E. Hugi, of Berne, on the geology of 
the Gaster range and the Létschberg tunnel; Prof. 
Kohlschiitter, of Berne, on physico-chemical factors 
in the origin of natural forms; Prof. Noelting, of 
Mulhouse, on the synthesis of colouring matters; and 
Prof. H. Sahli, of Berne, on the influence of natural 
science on modern medicine: The Swiss Mathe- 
matical, Physical, Chemical, Geological, Botanical, 
and Zoological Societies will also hold their annual 
meetings at Berne on September 2. Members desirous 
of presenting papers at any of the meetings of sec- 
tions should communicate with Prof. Fischer, 
Kirschenfeldstrasse, 14, Berne, before July 1. 
On Monday last a Committee of the House of Lords 
threw out a Bill promoted by the Glasgow Corpora- 
tion under which they sought powers to make an 
electric tramway with a double line of rails along 
University Avenue, which for nearly half a mile forms 
the northern boundary of Glasgow University and of 
the Infirmary. The University opposed the Bill on 
the ground of magnetic disturbance and vibration, 
which would adversely affect the physical, botanical, 
and biological laboratories. Technical evidence was 
given in support of the opposition by Profs. Gray, Kerr, 
and Bower, of Glasgow University, Prof. Nuttall, of 
Cambridge, and by Mr. C. V. Boys and Mr. Sellon. 
This decision is one of the first importance for the 
protection of our universities from encroachments 
upon their amenities and the quiet which they have 
enjoyed; it is necessary for their welfare, and will 
establish a useful precedent when town councillors 
and other promoters are trying to force their schemes 
regardless of the injury which they would do. 
In the issue of the Revue générale des Sciences for 
December 30, 1909, an article by M. Ernest Solvay 
was published dealing with ‘‘ Physical Chemistry and 
Psychology.” In that article M. Solvay propounded 
ten» questions which opened up numerous researches ; 
and to encourage investigation in these directions he 
announced that he would devote 2o00ol. to the award of 
prizes for work designed to answer his questions. The 
theses had to be sent in by January 1, 1914, to the 
Institut Solvay de Physiologie in Brussels. The 
awards were made by a commission consisting of Prof. 
L. Fredericq, of Liége, Prof. J. Verschaffelt, of Brus- 
sels, and Prof. O. Dony-Hénauit, of Mons, and were 
announced in the issue of our contemporary for April 
30. The prizes were awarded as follows :—To Prof. 
G. Bredig, of the Technical High School, Karlsruhe, 
for his researches on catalysis; to M. G. De Meyer, 
of the Institut Solvay, for his work on muscular 
action; and to M. J. Boselli, of Paris, for his research 
on the speed of reaction in heterogeneous systems. 
Tue plans for the Meteorological Conference which 
is to be held in Edinburgh in September next are 
taking definite shape. A strong general committee 
NOR 2 32/5 Olt 
NATURE 
(Nay 23, 1604 
with seventy-six members has been formed. The 
lamented death of Sir John Murray has left the office 
of president vacant. The other officers of the con: 
ference are the following: Vice-presidents: C. J. P- 
Cave, president of the Royal Meteorological Society ; 
J. Mackay Bernard, of Dunsinnan, president of the 
Scottish Meteorological Society ; Major-General Ruck, 
president of the Aeronautical Society; Dr. W. N. 
Shaw, director of the Meteorological Office; Dr. 
H. R. Mill, director of the British Rainfall Organisa- 
tion; Sir William Turner, principal of Edinburgh 
University; the Right Hon. Robert K. Inches, Lord 
Provost of Edinburgh. Treasurer: Captain H. G. 
Lyons. Hon. Secretary: F. J. W. Whipple, Meteoro- 
logical Office, South Kensington, S.W. Convener, 
Edinburgh committee: Dr. E. M. Wedderburn, 2 
Glenfinlas Street, Edinburgh. The programme of 
the conference, which will open on Tuesday, Septem- 
ber 8, includes general discussions on meteorological 
questions, such as the use of pilot balloons for fore- 
casters and aeronauts, wireless telegraphy in relation 
to forecasting, the electricity of thunderstorms,’ and 
evaporation and rainfall, as well as two evening lec- 
tures, which will probably be open to the public, a 
reception to which the members have been invited by 
the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, demonstrations with 
sounding balloons, and an excursion to Eskdale 
Observatory. Further particulars may be obtained 
from the hon. secretary, at the Meteorological Office, 
South Kensington. 
In the University of California’s Publications on 
American Archeology and Ethnology, vol. x., No. 6, 
Mr. P. E. Goddard contributes notes on the Chilula 
tribe of Indians, who up to recent times inhabited 
the banks of Redwood Creek, Humboldt County, 
California. They have now ceased to exist as a 
separate people, and if a full account of the tribe 
were possible its chief interest would be found in 
the deviations from the Hupa type of culture due 
to environmental differences, and certain transitional 
features. A curious discovery is that of a pond round 
which the girls during their adolescence ceremonies 
used to run in a direction contrary to the course of 
the sun. If the girl was able to run once round 
without drawing breath it was assumed that she would 
be a good basket-maker. 
In the April number of Bedrock Prof. G. Elliot 
Smith replies to certain criticisms tending to belittle 
_ the morphological importance of the Piltdown skull 
(Eoanthropus dawsoni). After remarking that, in 
spite of his relatively high brain-development, his face 
still retained many ape-like traits, the author goes 
on to observe that ‘‘the Piltdown man is the nearest 
approximation that has yet been discovered to the 
direct ancestor of the genus Homo, and all of its 
many varieties that made their appearance in Pleisto- 
cene and more recent times.’”’ In a later passage he 
adds that ‘‘it must be regarded as definitely settled, 
with as high a degree of probability as any question 
of phylogeny can be said to be settled, that the genus 
Eoanthropus represents the immediate ancestor of the 
genus Homo.” 
