350 



NA rURE 



[February 9, 1905 



hypothesis of homogeneity. Mountainous ex- 

 crescences, so far from wealvening the general stability, 

 really conduce to it; they are not only held up by the 

 tenacity of the neighbouring parts, but, as Airy sug- 

 gested, they probably have roots which plunge down 

 into material of greater density and permit them to 

 float. 



The authors affirm, in conclusion, that their detailed 

 study of the moon appears to them to confirm 

 geologists in their preference for the theory of a thin 

 crust and to indicate that the transition to solidity, 

 still incomplete for the moon, is far from having 

 reached its end upon the earth. Arch. Geikie. 



NOTES. 

 We regret to announce that Prof. G. B. Howes, F.R.S., 

 died on Saturday last, February 4, at fifty-one years of age. 



It is proposed to erect a monument at Laibach, in Aus- 

 tria, to the memory of Vega, author of the well-known 

 table of logarithms, which is now in its eightieth edition. 



From the American Mathematical Bulletin for January we 

 learn of the death of Dr. Francesco Chizzoni, professor of 

 geometry at Modena, and of Prof. Achsah M. Ely (Miss 

 Ely), head of the department of mathematics at Vassar 

 College, U.S.A. 



The Wilde medal of the Manchester Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society has been awarded to Prof. C. Lapworth, 

 F.R.S. The medal will be presented on February 28, when 

 the Wilde lecture of the society will be delivered by Dr. 

 D. H. Scott, F.R.S. , on "The Early History of Seed- 

 bearing Plants, as recorded in the Carboniferous Flora." 



For the past year, a station for solar research has been 

 maintained on Mount Wilson, California, by the Yerkes 

 Observatory, with the aid of a grant from the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington. This station has now been 

 replaced by a new solar observatory which has been estab- 

 lished by the Carnegie Institution, and the following staff, 

 formerly of the Yerkes Observatory, has been appointed : — 

 Prof. G. E. Hale (director). Prof. G. W. Ritchey, Mr. F. 

 Ellerman, and Mr. W. S. Adams. 



Prof. Valdemar Stein, leader of a well known Copenhagen 

 analytical and chemical laboratory, where for a number of 

 years official and private tests and investigations in Den- 

 mark have taken place, died on February i, aged 69 years. 

 He took over in 1863 the laboratory founded by H. C. 

 Orsted and altered it to its present shape, making it a 

 valuable public institution. Beside his work there Stein 

 was Government adviser in chemical agriculture, and wrote 

 many scientific articles on chemical and agricultural sub- 

 jects. 



The Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, at the 

 last annual meeting, awarded the Lomonosoff prize of 100/. to 

 Prof. N. A. Menschutkin for his well-known and extensive 

 researches in the domain of theoretical chemistry. The Ivanoff 

 prize was awarded to Prof. P. N. Lebedeff, of Moscow, 

 for his remarkable experimental researches on the pressure 

 of light. At the same meeting, Prof. S. Th. Oldenburg 

 declared, in his yearly review of the work of the academy, 

 that the Polar Committee had given up all hope of the 

 return of Baron Edward Toll, F. G. Seeberg, and their 

 two companions. The party was probably lost during the 

 Arctic night while trying to cross the ice-fields lying 

 between Bennett Island and the New Siberian archipelago. 

 NO. 184I, VOL. 71] 



A NATIONAL exhibition of brewing materials and products 

 will be held in Paris during March, 1906. 



At the meeting of the French Physical Society on 

 January 20, under the presidency of M. d'Arsonval, the 

 following officers were elected : — Vice-president, M. 

 Amagat ; general secretary, M. Henri Abraham ; treasurer, 

 M. de la Touanne. The office of president falls on 

 M. Dufet. 



The Times correspondent at Colombo states that Sir 

 H. A. Blake, Governor of Ceylon, announced at the last 

 meeting of the Asiatic Society that Sinhalese medical books 

 of the si.xth century described 67 varieties of mosquitoes 

 and 424 kinds of malarial fever caused by mosquitoes. 



At the meeting of the Anthropological Institute to be 

 held on Tuesday ne.\t, February 14, Dr. A. C. Haddon, 

 F.R.S., will exhibit a series of kinematograph pictures of 



native dances from the Torres Straits, taken by him when 

 in New Guinea. Applications for admission should be 

 addressed to the Secretary of the Institute at 3 Hanover- 

 square, W. 



A LARGE and influential international committee has been 

 formed in Heidelberg, under the presidency of His Excel- 

 lency Dr. A. Freiherr von Dusch, Minister of Education, 

 &c., of the Grand Duchy of Baden, with the object of 

 honouring the memory of the late Prof. Carl Gegenbaur, 

 who for nearly thirty years was the director of the Ana- 

 tomical Institute of Heidelberg. The committee has decided 

 upon a life-size bust of Gegenbaur, to be executed in marble 

 by Prof. C. Seffner, Leipzig. The bust will be placed in 

 the vestibule of the Anatomical Institute, probably in the 

 early summer, at a date not yet fixed. The committee 

 invites former pupils of the deceased master, and all those 

 who have benefited from his epoch-making works on human 

 and comparative anatomy, to send monetary contributions, 

 with their addresses and titles, to Prof. M. Fuerbringer, 

 or to Prof. E. Goeppert, both in Heidelberg. Every con- 

 tributor will receive a picture of the bust, and casts may 

 be obtained, on special application, from Prof. C. Seffner. 



After an interval of two years the fifth conference of 

 West Indian agriculturists was held at Port-of-Spain, 

 Trinidad, from January 4 to 13. It was attended by offi- 

 cial, scientific, commercial, and practical representatives 

 from all parts. In his presidential address. Sir Daniel 

 Morris gave an interesting survey of the great economic 

 change which is in progress. Taken in the aggregate, 

 sugar cultivation must still be regarded as the backbone 

 of the colonial industries, but in some of the islands it has 

 already become of comparatively little or no importance. 

 Trinidad is now a cacao-producing island, its exports of 

 this commodity having risen to the value of a million 

 sterling per annum. Grenada's cacao exports are valued 

 at 250,000/., and Jamaica's at 80,000/. Cotton growing, 

 too, has been successfully re-established in several islands, 

 and remunerative prices for the raw cotton are being 

 obtained from Lancashire merchants. The exportations 

 of fruit far exceed in value those of the staple industry. 

 The development of the tobacco, rubber, sisal hemp, fish- 

 curing, and other industries also came under review, and 

 Sir Daniel dwelt upon the importance of agricultural shows 

 and on the provision made by his department for teaching 

 elementary science and the principles of agriculture in the 

 various colleges and elementary schools. Numerous papers 

 were read and discussed. Prof, d '.Albuquerque, Dr. Watts, 

 Prof. Harrison, and others supplying valuable information 

 relating to sugar; Mr. Hart, Mr. de Gannes, &c., on 

 cacao: Mr. Bovell, Mr. Sands, S:c., on cotton; and so on. 



