86 



NA TURE 



[November 24, 1904 



to ensure the continued maintenance of the observatories.' 

 The directors lost no time in calling- the attention of the 

 First Lord of the Treasury to this ' inexplicably erroneous ' 

 statement, and in appealing to him that means should be 

 found to prevent the abandonment of the observatories. 

 The Treasury, however, could not see its way to any further 

 increase of the contribution from the Parliamentary Grant, 

 but offered to continue the allowance of 350/. a year hitherto 

 received from the Meteorological Council. As this arrange- 

 ment would have left the directors exactly where they were 

 before, face to face with the impossibility of continuing to 

 raise 650/. every year, and with the obvious hopelessness 

 of obtaining adequate pecuniary support from the Govern- 

 ment, there was no alternative but to close the observ- 

 atories." 



It is announced in the Times that a donor, who desires 

 to remain anonymous, has placed a sum of loooJ. in the 

 hands of the treasurer of the Royal Society, to be devoted 

 to the advancement of science. By his wish 500!. of this gift 

 is to be placed to the credit of the " Catalogue of Scientific 

 Papers Account " of the Royal Society, and the remainder 

 to the credit of the " National Physical Laboratory 

 Account " of that body, with the request that the executive 

 committee of the laboratory will accede to any personal 

 wish of the director as to its expenditure. 



A STRONG, detailed indictment of the department of the 

 War Office which should be responsible for the production 

 of necessary maps appeared in Saturday's Times from the 

 military correspondent of that journal. The war in the 

 Far East has lasted now for nearly nine months, and not 

 a single map of the seat of war has been issued by the 

 Government department which is the chief recipient of the 

 results of our geographical research. The vexatious thing 

 is that the information, even the maps, exist, but that no 

 endeavour has been made to utilise them for the public 

 benefit. The Russian and Japanese Staff maps of Man- 

 churia exist in London, but neither map can be purchased 

 by the public through the trade, though, as both are in the 

 hands of individuals in London, and whole sheets of the 

 Japanese map have been reproduced by the Japanese Press, 

 the presumption is that the mapping section of the director 

 of military operations also stands possessed of them. A 

 map intended to be of use to the public must be a compilation 

 of these and other materials; but no such map has been 

 issued officially at all. The only excuse for this deplorable 

 want of sense is the lack of staff and of time to produce the 

 map for which there is a public demand. In this case 

 nothing could be simpler than to provide some house in the 

 trade with the information available, and allow suitable 

 maps to be produced by private enterprise. Our oflScial 

 maps are, the article affirms, nothing less than a national 

 disgrace. Not only all the Great Powers, but even those 

 of the second and third rank, are infinitely superior in 

 cartography. These facts are then employed to direct 

 attention to the whole question of the teaching of geo- 

 graphy, and to warn us of a serious defect in our system 

 of national education. We have suffered in the conduct of 

 military operations because the teaching of geography has 

 not assumed its proper place in the education of our army 

 officers. 



The death is announced of Dr. Karl H. Huppert, emeritus 

 professor of physiological chemistry in the University of 

 Prague, at seventy-two years of age. 



The scientific committee of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society met recently and received with regret the resig- 

 nation of Prof. Henslow, who for more than a quarter of 

 NO. 1830, VOL. 71] 



a century has acted as its secretary. Mr. F. J. Chittenden, 

 who has been for some time a member of the scientific com- 

 mittee of the society, has undertaken to discharge the duties 

 of secretary until the end of the current session. 



It is stated by the Pioneer Mail that the Burma Govern- 

 ment has decided to discontinue the experiments for the 

 improvement of the indigenous silk industry in the more 

 important silk centres of the Province by the importation 

 of silkworm eggs from France. Owing to climatic and 

 other causes, rearing has failed with foreign imported eggs, 

 and it is not considered worth while pursuing the experi- 

 ments without the aid of an expert. 



Mr. J. N. Halbert has been appointed assistant in the 

 Dublin Museum in succession to Mr. G. H. Carpenter, who 

 held the post for many years. Mr. Halbert is known as 

 the author, in collaboration with the Rev. W. F. Johnson, 

 of a list of the beetles of Ireland {Proc. R. I. Acad.). He 

 has also published some papers in the Zoologitcher Anzeiger 

 and the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, on fresh- 

 water mites. 



The applications for space in the forthcoming automobile 

 exhibition at Paris on December 4 far exceed the space 

 available in the Grand Palace of Fine Arts, so it may be 

 necessary to hold the exhibition at the Galerie des Machines. 

 One of the curiosities of the exhibition will be the 

 Lcbaudy //.'exhibited in a reduced model. To November 18 

 the Lebaudy dirigible balloon had executed not less than 

 fifty-four ascents, and on the fifty-first the return to the 

 Moisson Aerodrome, the starting point, was accomplished. 

 From the last day of October to November 18 ten ascents 

 were successfully executed. 



The first meeting of the annual session of the German 

 Society of Naval Architects was held at the Technical High 

 School at Charlottenburg on November 17. The Emperor 

 William, the honorary president of the society, the Grand 

 Duke of Oldenburg, the Secretary of State for the Imperial 

 Navy, Admiral von Tirpitz, and the secretary of the British 

 Institution of Naval Architects were present. Prof. 

 Ahlborn, of Hamburg, read a paper on the spiral formation 

 of water under the action of a ship's screw, and on the 

 movements produced in the water by the revolution of the 

 screw; and Prof. Braun, of Strassburg, dealt with the 

 methods and aims of wireless telegraphy. 



The Journal of the Society of Arts states that among the 

 congresses arranged in connection with the Li^ge Inter- 

 national Exhibition of next year, and with which the co- 

 operation of the Belgian Government is ensured, one on 

 chemistry and pharmacy, convoked by the Belgian Chemical 

 Society and the Li^ge Pharmaceutical Association, will be 

 held at the end of July. The congress is to be divided into 

 the following sections : — (i) general chemistry, physico- 

 chemistry ; (2) analytical chemistry, apparatus and instru- 

 ments ; (3) industrial mineral chemistry, including metal- 

 lurgy ; (4) industrial organic chemistry (sugar-boiling, 

 fermentation, tanning, dyeing. Sec.) ; (5) pharmaceutical 

 chemistry ; (6) the chemistry of food substances ; (7) agri- 

 cultural chemistry, manures ; (8) biological and physiological 

 chemistry (application to hygiene and bacteriology) ; (9) 

 toxicology; (10) practical pharmacy; and (11) legislation 

 and professional interests, deonthology. The president of 

 the organising committee is Prof. A. Gilkinet, of Li^ge. 



A conference on physical education was held on 

 November 16 at the Education Offices of the London County 

 Council, the Bishop of Bristol presiding. Miss Johnson, 

 of the Swedish Institute, Clifton, advocated the organ- 



