io6 



NA TURE 



[DECEMliER I, 1904 



close of the meeting', Vienna was chosen by a 

 unanimous vote as the place of meeting of the next 

 general assembly. A complete protocol of the pro- 

 ceedings of the assembly has been drawn up, and will 

 be issued before the end of this year. Other matters 

 referred to in the report are the African geodetic arc, 

 the international congress of aeronautics held at St. 

 Petersburg in August, the international laboratory of 

 physiology on Monte Rosa, the Royal Society " Cata- 

 logue of Scientific Papers," the " International Cata- 

 logue of Scientific Literature," the Government grant 

 for scientific investigations, and the expenses of special 

 Government inquiries. 



The Royal Society is frequently requested by 

 various departments of the Government to advise upon, 

 or in some cases to undertake the supervision and con- 

 trol of, and in others" the entire responsibility for, 

 scientific investigations of national importance, but no 

 provision has been made by Grovernment to meet ex- 

 penses to which the Society has been put in acceding 

 to these requests. .\s the result of pointing out this 

 unsatisfactory position, H.M. Treasury has approved 

 of an alteration in the regulations for administering 

 the_ Government grant of 4000?. for scientific purposes 

 which will permit a sum to be set aside out of the 

 reserve fund of the grant for printing and office ex- 

 penditure incurred " in undertaking, controlling, 

 supervising or advising upon matters which the Presi- 

 dent and Council may, at the request of the Govern- 

 ment, undertake, control, supervise or advise upon." 

 That is to say, the Royal Society is graciously per- 

 mitted by the Treasury to use a part of the annua! 

 Government grant for scientific investigations to meet 

 expenses incurred in answering Government inquiries. 



Mention is also made in the report of the radium 

 research grant of the Goldsmiths' Company, the 

 Treasury inquiry into the Meteorological Ofifice, and 

 the letter on scientific education sent by the council 

 to all British universities last January. The following 

 extracts from other parts of the report of the council 

 are of interest : — 



Sleeping Sickness. 



The investig-ation of this disease in Uganda was con- 

 tinued after Colonel Bruce's return to England by Dr. 

 Nabarro and Captain Greig, of the Indian Medical Service. 

 A further report (No. 4) by Colonel Bruce has been pub- 

 lished, and its general conclusions, briefly stated in the last 

 report of the council— namely, that the sleeping sickness is 

 caused by the entrance into the blood and thence into the 

 cerebro-spinal fluid of a species of Trypanosoma (T. 

 gambiense), and that these trypanosomes are transmitted 

 from the sick to the healthy by a species of tsetse flv 

 (Glossina palpalis) — have been confirmed bv subsequent 

 observations. The efforts of the observers are now being 

 directed to the attempt to discover a means of eliminating 

 the trypanosomes from the blood and tissues of the infected 

 in the early stages, and before severe damage has been done 

 to the nervous centres. In the meantime the Royal Society 

 Committee has advised the Government to adopt such pre- 

 ventive measures as are found practicable for protecting a 

 non-infected area where the carrier fly is found from the 

 incursion of emigrants from the infected areas. 



Antarctic Expedition and Investigation. 



The Antarctic ship Discovery, accompanied by the relief 

 ships Morning and Terra Nova, returned safely in Marrh 

 last to Lyttelton, and a "Summary of Proceedings' uas 

 forwarded thence by Captain Scott by post to the presidents 

 of the Royal and Royal Geographical Societies. The 

 Discovery arrived in England at the beginning of September, 

 when a joint letter of welcome from the president and the 

 president of the Royal Geographical Society was dispatched 

 to Captain Scott. 



The natural history specimens and notes and drawings 



have been sent to the British Museum (Natural History 



Department), to be preserved there as part of the national 



collection, the trustees of the museum having agreed to 



NO. 1 83 I. VOL. 71] I 



organise and undertake the publication of these results of 

 the expedition, under the editorship of the director of the 

 museum. 



The laborious duty of arranging for the reduction and 

 publication of the magnetic and meteorological observations 

 made by the expedition has been undertaken by the Royal 

 Society. Two special expert committees have been 

 appointed, and are already dealing with these two classes 

 of material. 



As regards the magnetic observations, the Hydrographic 

 Department of the Admiralty has undertaken the redui tion 

 of about one-third of the material, and the remaining two- 

 thirds, consisting of the slow-run magnetograms, remain 

 to be dealt with. The committee for magnetism have 

 accordingly arranged that these observations shall be re- 

 duced, under the superintendence of Dr. Chree, their secre- 

 tary, in the observatory department of the National Physical 

 Laboratory ; and the Royal Society has undertaken re- 

 sponsibility for the cost of these reductions, to the extenf 

 of 400/., by an advance from the donation fund, in the full 

 hope that this expenditure will be refunded out of the pro- 

 ceeds of the sale of the Discovery. 



Committees have been arranged for dealing with other 

 observations. The reduction of the meteorological observ- 

 ations has been undertaken by the Meteorological Council 

 with the aid of a sum of 500Z. guaranteed Ijy the Royal 

 Geographical Society in anticipation of the sale of the 

 Discovery. It is hoped that the publication of these results 

 will be undertaken by H.M. Stationery Office. 



The committees are working as far as possible in concert 

 with the authorities engaged in the reduction of the observ- 

 ations of the German and Scottish .'\ntarctic Expeditions, 

 which in part covered the same period of time. 



It is proposed that the special scientific results of the 

 expedition shall be published in a uniform series of volumes 

 similar to the published records of the Challenger Expedition. 



Mediterranean Fever. 



In February last a letter was received from the Colonial 

 Office asking whether the Royal Society would be willing 

 to appoint an advisory board in this country for the purpose 

 of supervising investigations into Mediterranean fever, to 

 be carried out by a commission representing the Navy, the 

 .\rmy, and the Civil Government of Malta. 



The matter was referred to the tropical diseases com- 

 mittee of the society, which had superintended the investi- 

 gations into malaria and sleeping sickness, and upon their 

 advice the council decided to accede to the request of the 

 Colonial Office, provided that the appointment of investi- 

 gators rested with the Royal Society, and that all expenses 

 in connection with the investigation were borne by the 

 Government. These conditions were accepted by the 

 fiovernment with a modification, which the council acceded 

 to at the particular request of H.M. Treasury, viz. that 

 the Royal Society should participate bv defraying (out of 

 the Government Grant Reserve Fund) the cost of scientific 

 equipment to an amount not exceeding 200/. The advisory 

 board was constituted as a subcommittee of the tropical 

 diseases committee, with Colonel Bruce, F.R.S., as chair- 

 man. Members of the commission of investigation were 

 nominated, with the approval of this committee, by the 

 Navy, the Army, and the Civil Government of Malta, and 

 Colonel Bruce himself went out to Malta on behalf of the 

 committee to start the inquiry, which is now in active 

 progress. 



National Pliysical Laboratory. 



The National Physical Laboratory has continued its work 

 with success during the year, the last of the five for which 

 the original annual grant of 4000!. was made by the 

 Treasury. 



This fact has been prominently before the committee at 

 its various meetings. In reply to an inquiry by the chair- 

 man, a letter was received from Sir E. W. Hamilton to the 

 effect that while there was no idea of stopping the grant, 

 the question before H.M. Treasury was whetlier there shouW 

 be an increase in its amount, and suggesting that the com- 

 mittee should formulate " constructive proposals " with 

 detailed estimates of the expenditure, both capital and re- 

 curring, required to put the laboratory on a satisfactory 

 footing. .'Vccordingly this was done, and a memorandum 

 on the future organisation and expenditure of the labor- 



