514 



NA TURE 



[March 30, 1905 



Mr. Alfred Beit has informed the honorary treasurers 

 of the Institute of Medical Sciences Fund, University of 

 London, that he has decided to increase the amount of 

 his donation to the institute from 5000/. to 25.000/. 



Senor Don Ign.acio Bolivar, of Madrid, has been 

 elected an honorary fellow of the Entomological Society. 

 Profs. W. G. Farlow, H. S. Jennings, E. B. Wilson, and 

 R. B. Wood have been elected honorary fellows of the 

 Royal Microscopical Society. 



The King's Institute of Preventive Medicine was opened 

 at Madras on March 11. The institute supplies animal 

 vaccine to the whole of the Presidency, besides preparing 

 curative and prophylactic sera. On the opening day there 

 was an exhibition of bacteriological and sanitary engineer- 

 ing appliances. 



A MOL-STED specimen of the great auk, formerly in the 

 Hawkstone collection, has been sold by Rowland Ward, 

 I-td., of Piccadilly, to one of the American museums for 

 450/. This is the " record " price, the next highest being 

 350/. obtained some years ago by the same firm for a 

 specimen now in a private museum. 



Dr. .\. R. Wallace recently presented to the British 

 Museum a number of pencil drawings of fishes from the 

 Rio Negro which were saved some fifty years ago at the 

 time the veteran explorer's collections were burnt at sea 

 on his return from the Amazonian journey. These draw- 

 ings, some fifty in number, were exhibited at one of the 

 meetings of the Zoological Society, when it was stated 

 that while some of the species depicted had been identified, 

 others appeared to be still unknown to science. This 

 should stimulate investigation of the fish fauna of the 

 Amazonian system. 



M. Jules Verne, whose works are better known in this 

 country than those of any other French writer, died on 

 March 24 at seventy-seven years of age. Jules Verne was 

 one of the first novelists to recognise and utilise the store 

 of scientific knowledge as a source of material from which 

 attractive romances could be constructed. The charm of 

 his style and the realism of his pictures have done much 

 to encourage the study of science among boys and girls. 

 Few writers, indeed, have produced healthier and more 

 stimulating stories, or weaved fancy and fact together so 

 successfully. 



Ox Saturday next, April i. Lord Rayleigh will deliver 

 the first of a course of three lectures at the Royal Institu- 

 tion on some controverted questions of optics. On Tues- 

 day, April 4, Mr. Perceval Landon will give the first of 

 two lectures on Tibet, and on Thursday, April 6, Prof. 

 .Meldola will commence his course of two lectures on 

 synthetic chemistry, experimental. The Friday evening 

 discourse on .^pril 7 will be delivered by Mr. .\lfred Mosely 

 on American industry, and on April 14 by Lord Rayleigh 

 on the law of pressure of gases. 



The Estimates for Civil Services for the year ending 

 March 31, 1906, provide for education, science, and art, the 

 total sum of 16,328,947;., being an increase of 533,409/. 

 over the grants for 1904-5. There is an increase of 

 46,100/. for university colleges, the grant being raised from 

 54,000/. to 100,000/. Of the increase 416,790/. under Board 

 of Education, the greater proportion must be described as 

 automatic in character, due to the anticipated growth in 

 the number of scholars in average attendance, and to the 

 larger number of teachers for whose training pro- 

 vision is made by the State. The principal increase, 

 NO. 1848, VOL. 71] 



262,704/., is in respect of the elementary education grants. 

 With a view to the further development of the National 

 Physical Laboratory, Parliament is being asked to sanc- 

 tion an increase of 1500/. on the grant in aid of salaries 

 and other expenses of the laboratory, and also an additional 

 grant of 5000/. in aid of new buildings and equipment for 

 the same institution. Further provision is also included 

 for investigations in connection with the North Sea 

 fisheries. 



The fourth International Ornithological Congress will 

 be held in London in Whitsun week, June 12-17. The 

 organising committee has been able to obtain from the 

 I niversity of London accommodation for the meeting at 

 the Imperial Institute, and from the trustees of the British 

 Museum the use of the Natural History Museum for the 

 purpose of a conversazione on one evening of the week of 

 the congress. The Prince of Wales has consented to be- 

 come the patron ; and the two honorary presidents are 

 Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria and Dr. A. R. Wallace, 

 F.R.S. The president-elect of the congress is Dr. Bowdler 

 Sharpe. The congress will be divided into general meet- 

 ings and meetings of sections, of which there will be five, 

 as follows: — (i) systematic ornithology; general distribu- 

 tion, anatomy and paleontology ; (2) migration ; (3) 

 biology, nidification, oology ; (4) economic ornithology and 

 bird protection ; and (5) aviculture. It is proposed to de- 

 vote one day to an excursion to Tring to inspect the col- 

 lection of birds belonging to Mr. Walter Rothschild. On 

 June 16 the congress will be received by the Lord Mayor 

 of London at the Mansion House. Sx the close of the 

 proceedings in London, on the invitation of the Duke of 

 Bedford, an excursion will be made to Woburn to view 

 the collection of live animals in Woburn Park, and the 

 following day will be spent at Cambridge, where Prof. 

 Newton will welcome the members at Magdalene College. 

 Finally, a journey has been planned to Flamborough Head, 

 in Yorkshire, of special interest to ornithologists. 



The programme of arrangements for the Optical Con- 

 vention shortly to be held in London is now beginning to 

 assume a definite shape. The convention will be formally 

 opened with an address from the president. Dr. R. T. 

 Glazebrook, F.R.S., on the evening of Tuesday, May 30, 

 and the gathering will extend over the four following days 

 up to and including Saturday, June 3. The mornings will 

 be devoted to papers and discussions, and in view of the 

 interesting series of papers already announced, there is no 

 doubt that this most important section of the proceedings 

 will result in valuable contributions to optical science, and 

 will fulfil the aims w'hich those who have been active in 

 promoting the convention have set before them. In addi- 

 tion to the papers, demonstrations of apparatus of special 

 interest will be given in the afternoons in the laboratories 

 of the department of technical optics of the Northampton 

 Institute. An exhibition of optical and scientific instru- 

 ments will be held at the Northampton Institute, and will 

 be open from May 31 to June 3, both dates inclusive. The 

 catalogue is now in active preparation. The arrangement 

 made by the " exhibition and catalogue " subcommittee 

 that each section should be dealt with by an expert in the 

 construction of the instruments represented in the section, 

 together with an independent scientific member of the 

 committee, will ensure that all classes of instruments shall 

 be adequately dealt with and described. In addition to the 

 presidential address to be given on the evening of May 30, 

 there will be an evening lecture by Prof. S. P. Thompson, 

 F.R.S., on the polarisation of light by Nicol prisms and 

 their modern varieties. On a third evening it is proposed 



