January 5, 1905] 



NA TURE 



The Postmaster-General has made provisional arrange- 

 ments with the Marconi International Marine Communica- 

 tion Company for the acceptance and prepayment at tele- 

 graph offices in the United Kingdom of telegrams for trans- 

 mission from wireless stations on the coast to ships at sea. 

 'i1ie arrangement came into operation on January i. 



Prof. R. S. Woodward, dean of the faculty of pure 

 science, Columbia University, has been elected president 

 of the Carnegie Institution. Prof. C. A. Young, who has 

 held the chair of astronomy at Princeton University since 

 1S77. will retire at the close of the present academic year. 



Captain R. F. Scott, leader of the National Antarctic 

 Expedition, has been awarded a gold medal by the Royal 

 Danish Geographical Society. 



We learn through Science that Mr. Andrew Carnegie has 

 given 108,000/. for the establishment in Boston of an insti- 

 tute similar to Cooper Institute, which is to be added to a 

 fund of 54,000/., which has grown from looo/. left one 

 hundred years ago by Benjamin Franklin. 



The twenty-second annual dinner of the old students of 

 the Royal School of Mines will be held on Thursday, 

 February 9. The chair will be taken by Mr. T. A. Rickard. 

 Applications for tickets should be made to Mr. D. A. Louis, 

 77 .Shirland Gardens, London, W. 



A cORREsrONDEXT of the Times states that Frederic 

 Mistral, the Provencal poet recently awarded 2000/. as half 

 share of the Nobel prize for literature, intends to devote 

 this sum to the development and adequate installation of 

 the ethnographical museum — Le Mus^e Arletan — founded by 

 him some years ago at Aries. For this purpose the 

 municipal authorities agree to make over an old palace, 

 now used as a college, the restoration and adaptation of 

 which will cost 10,000/. An American resident at Avignon, 

 Mr. Edward Leon, has offered 2000/. as a subscription, and 

 will arrange for five lectures in the United States to help on 

 the fund thus inaugurated. 



The prizes for the year 1904 have been awarded, we 

 learn from La Nature, by the Paris Society for the 

 Encouragement of National Industry. The grand prix of 

 the Marquis d'Argenteuil has been awarded to MM. Auguste 

 and Louis Lumiire for their discoveries in photography. 

 The " chemical arts " gold medal has been awarded to 

 M. H^roult for his works on electrometallurgy, and the 

 " constructions and fine arts " medal to M. Arnodin. Gold 

 medals have also been awarded to M. Boulanger for his 

 micrographic work, to M. Grey for a rolling-mill, to 

 M. Guillet for his work in metallurgy, and to M. Schwcerer 

 for his system of superheated steam. 



An optical convention will be held, under the presidency 

 of Dr. R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., at a date toward the 

 end of May next, at the Northampton Institute, Clerken- 

 well, London, E.G. The object of the convention is to 

 bring into cooperation men interested in optical matters. 

 .\ subcommittee has been appointed to consider the subjects 

 of papers on optical questions which should be brought 

 before the convention, and suggestions as to subjects for 

 discussion will be welcomed. It has been decided to 

 organise an exhibition, of a scientific character, of instru- 

 ments manufactured in this country, with a view to show 

 the progress recently made and to stimulate further efforts. 

 In order that interest in the convention may be not con- 

 fined to London workers in optics, a subcominittee is being 

 formed to secure the assistance of local representatives. 

 The honorary secretary of the convention is Mr. F. J. Selby, 

 Elm Lodge, Teddington. 



NO. 1836, VOL 71] 



Writing on the subject of " Greek at Oxford," a corre- 

 spondent of the Tillies again expressed the common belief 

 that " Darwin regretted not having learnt Greek." A 

 letter from Mr. Francis Darwin in the Times of December 

 29, 1904, shows that the statement is altogether opposed 

 to Darwin's views. Darwin says of his education at 

 .Shrewsbury School : — " Nothing could have been worse for 

 the development of my mind than Dr. Butler's school, as 

 it was strictly classical, nothing else being taught, except 

 a little ancient geography and history " (" Life and 

 Letters," i., 31). He was, in fact, a victim of that " pre- 

 mature specialisation " which is generally referred to in a 

 somewhat one-sided spirit, and from which the public school- 

 boy is not yet freed. Mr. Darwin adds : — " If the name of 

 Charles Darwin is to be brought into this controversy it 

 must not be used for compulsory Greek, but against it. 

 In 1867 he wrote to Farrar, ' I am one of the root and 

 branch men, and would leave classics to be learnt by those 

 alone who have sufficient zeal and the high taste requisite 

 for their appreciation ' (' More Letters of Charles Darwin,' 

 ii., J41)." 



The Aero Club of Paris has asked permission from the 

 municipal authorities to make experiments in aviation in 

 the Galerie des Machines next February. Under the head 

 of aviation, among other experiments will be some in 

 mechanical aerial direction. The building is so large that 

 the results will be almost the same as would be obtained in 

 the open air, with the difference that the disturbing effect 

 of wind need not be feared. 



.St. Catherine's Lighthouse, situated on the south coast 

 of the Isle of Wight, has just been provided with a new 

 light of 15,000,000 candle-power, as against 3,000,000 

 obtained with the old apparatus. Seen from the land there 

 are three distinct beams of light revolving in view, one 

 just on the point of disappearing behind the " blank " or 

 shield, while the others pass rapidly over the waters of the 

 English Channel. The new lens is by Messrs. Chance 

 Brothers, Birmingham ; and the whole of the revolving part 

 floats in a trough of mercury, instead of being on rollers, 

 which has hitherto been usual, about 816 lb. of mercury 

 being required to float it. Hitherto chain has been used 

 in lighthouses for suspending the weights, but in this case 

 a fine steel cable, about J inch in diameter, has been adopted. 



The annual report of the Russian Geographical Society 

 gives the full list of medals awarded by the society at its 

 annual sitting. The following medals were awarded : — 

 the Constantine medal to the veteran geologist Friedrich 

 Schmidt, the Count LCithe medal to Sir John Murray, and 

 the Semenoff gold medal to Prof. N. I. Kuznetsoff. Five 

 small silver medals were awarded, to \'. A. Vlasoff, Th. N. 

 Panaeff, and W. M. Nedzwiedski for meteorological work, 

 to M. M. Siazoff for the part he took in the expedition of 

 Grum-Grzimailo, and to E. L. Byakoff for the support he 

 gave to the same expedition. 



According to information communicated by the Meteor- 

 ological Observatory of Irkutsk, the earthquake which took 

 place in Transbaikalia on September 28 last covered an area 

 of about 4500 square miles, representing an imperfect oval 

 elongated from N.W. to S.E., its furthest points being 

 Troitzkosavsk in the south-east and Balagansk in the north- 

 west. The centre of this earthquake, which was un- 

 doubtedly of tectonic origin, was located in the neighbour- 

 hood of the station Pereyemnaya, r.n the south-east shore 

 of Lake Baikal. No less than three earthquakes have had 

 their origin at this centre during the past three years. 



