228 
NATURE 
[May 28, 1914 
and the younger son, George S. West, is the present 
professor of botany in the University of Birmingham. 
Mr. West was a keen and accomplished all-round 
botanist, with a special preference for the crypto- 
camia. Of late years, in association with his son 
George, he concentrated upon the study of Des- 
midiaceze from all parts of the world, their papers, 
severally and jointly, being very numerous. The 
monograph of British Desmidiacee is in course of 
publication by the Ray Society. 
Last Friday the directors of the Cambridge Scien- 
‘ific Instrument Company entertained a large company 
at their works, among whom were many of the lead- 
ing men of science in Cambridge and their lady 
friends. The occasion marked the completion of a 
further extension of the works, by which an additional 
floor area of 6,740 sq. ft. is provided to meet the grow- 
ing necessities of the business. The works were 
thrown open to the visitors, who availed themselves of 
the privilege of passing through the various depart- 
ments and inspecting the process of manufacture from 
raw material to finished product. A very interesting 
and instructive exhibit of instruments was provided, 
and many were to be seen in operation, and were 
explained by members of the staff to interested groups. 
We cannot do more than touch upon a few of the 
instruments displayed amongst a wide variety which 
attracted merited attention. An aerodynamic balance, 
which has been made for the new aeronautical labora- 
tory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
possesses the latest refinements for investigating the 
reactions upon aerofoils, a form of instrument which 
is sure to play a large part in the study of these 
problems. The string galvanometer with double 
vibrator arranged for electro-cardiographic work was 
seen in operation, the action of the heart being shown 
on ascreen. Another instrument shown was the crack 
micrometer, for determining the movement taking 
place in cracked masonry. Two steel pins are 
cemented into the masonry, one on each side of the 
crack, and the micrometers are applied to ascertain 
the relative displacement in three dimensions. ‘This 
instrument is used in St. Paul’s Cathedral. A very 
comprehensive series of pyrometers was shown, includ- 
ing the Féry radiation and absorption pyrometers, and 
(he Whipple-Féry closed tube pyrometer, also an auto- 
matic temperature regulator for maintaining the tem- 
perature in a gas-heated molten metal bath. Among 
other instruments of precision were the Darwin ex- 
tensometer, Boys’s radio-micrometer, and  galvano- 
meters and electroscopes of various types, Besides many 
other instruments in great variety. 
THE issue of the National Geographic Magazine 
for April is chiefly devoted to a singularly interesting 
account by Mr. J. C. White of the little-known State 
of Bhutan in the lower Himalaya. A fine series of 
photographs adds to the value of this contribution. 
The writer gained the confidence of the present ruler, 
Maharaja Sir Ugyen Wang Chuh, who provided 
ample facilities for exploration. Mr. White gives an 
nthusiastic account of the people and their country, 
with its varied scenery and flora, the latter including 
rare varieties of orchids. He shows 
NO: 2326,/ VOL. 93] 
ample reason 
for rejecting the views of a high Indian official, who, 
so late as 1890, wrote :—‘‘No one wishes to explore 
that tangle of jungle-clad and fever-stricken hills, 
infested with leeches and the pipsa-fly, and offering 
no compensating advantages to the most enterprising 
pioneer. Adventure looks beyond Bhutan. Science 
passes it by as a region not sufficiently characteristic 
to merit special exploration.” 
Mr. C. Carus-WILSoN described in Nature of Sep- 
tember 28, 1911 (vol. Ixxxvii., p. 415) the ‘“‘ Earthquake 
House”’ erected at Comrie in 1872 through the com- 
bined efforts of the British Association and Mr. Drum- 
mond. He has now sent us a photograph of the 
house, and it is reproduced in the accompanying illus- 
at Comrie. 
The “ Earthquake House” 
tration. It may interest seismologists to know that 
Mr. Carus-Wilson is exhibiting a model of the early 
form of seismometer used in the ‘‘ Earthquake House”’ 
in the Science Section of the Anglo-American Exhibi- 
tion at Shepherd’s Bush, where the details may be 
studied. 
In the May number of the Irish Naturalist Dr. H. 
Stokes records the result of digging for remains of 
| the “Irish elk’? in bogs at Howth and Ballybetagh, 
County Dublin. In the latter locality no fewer than 
twenty-two more or less imperfect skulls, together 
with a number of broken bones, were discovered; but 
at Howth, which had been previously worked, only 
three skulls and three skeletons were obtained. In 
Mulligan’s Bay, County Wicklow, two skeletons, six 
skulls, and five shed antlers were dug up. 
Tue Malta Chronicle of May 1 announces the dis- 
covery on “Il Gebla tal General,’ otherwise known 
as ‘“‘Fungus Rock,” in the island of Gozo, of a new 
local form of the wall-lizard, which has been named 
(where not stated) by Dr. G. Giulia Lacerta muralis, 
var. generalensis. It is stated to have the back black 
with yellowish-green spots, the flanks bluish, the 
under-parts brick-red, the legs black, and the tail 
maroon, with a black tip. Specimens of the Gozo 
