April 6, 1005] 



NA TURE 



541 



report to the Egyptian Council of Ministers. It appears 

 that the theory of stresses upon masonry dams requires 

 important modifications, which will have to be taken into 

 consideration in all future designs for such works. We 

 understand that much experimental work on the subject is 

 at present in progress, and that results of great interest 

 to hydraulic engineers may be expected. 



The anniversary dinner of the Chemical Society was held 

 at the Whitehall Rooms, Hotel M^tropole, on March 2q, 

 when the president. Prof. W. A. Tilden, was in the chair, 

 and many leading representatives of the physical sciences 

 were present. Sir William Church, in giving the toast of 

 "Prosperity to the Chemical Society," spoke of the 

 advances which chemical science has made, and declared 

 that the advantages which have accrued to the United 

 Kingdom, as a result of the woi-k of chemists, cannot be 

 over-estimated. Prof. Meldola submitted the toast of 

 '• Scientific Institutions," which was responded to by Prof. 

 J. Larmor and Dr. R. T. Glazebrook. Sir William 

 Ramsay proposed the toast of "The Guests," and in re- 

 plying Mr. Haldane said that as science never stood still, 

 but progressed continually, so the Government of this 

 country must, if the nation is to hold its own, make an 

 increasing use of science in all departments of the State 

 service. He expressed the belief that in the course of 

 the next few years the position of science in the Govern- 

 ment of the country will be much more prominent, and 

 that scientific methods will become much more general. 

 Prof. Perry also spoke. 



.\ MEETING of the Institution of Naval Architects will be 

 held at the Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi, on 

 April 12-14. Lord Glasgow, president of the institution, 

 who will occupy the chair, will deliver his address on 

 April 12 ; and Mr. W. E. Smith, C.B., Colonel N. Soliani, 

 and Mr. Herbert Rowell will submit papers for discussion. 

 On April 13 Prof. J. H. Biles will read a paper on the 

 strength of ships, with special reference to experiments 

 and calculations made u^on His Majesty's ship tt'oZ/, and 

 other papers will be submitted by Mr. F. H. Alexander, 

 Mr. J. Bruhn, Mr. R. E. Froude, Mr. C. E. Stromeyer, 

 Mr. A. W. Johns, and Herr S. Popper, .^mong the papers 

 to be read on April 14 is one on the .Admiralty course 

 of study for the training of naval architects by Mr. 

 E. L. Attwood, and another on submarine signalling by 

 means of sound by Mr. J. B. Millet, of Boston, U.S.A. 



The Royal medals of the Royal Geographical Society 

 for this year have been awarded to Sir Martin Conway 

 (founder's medal) for his explorations of various moun- 

 tain regions of the world, and his work among the islands 

 of Spitsbergen; and to Captain C. H. D. Ryder, R.E. 

 (patron's medal), for the important and extensive work 

 which he accomplished while acting as principal survey 

 officer on the recent Tibet Mission. The Victoria research 

 medal, for distinguished service to ihe cause of geo- 

 graphical research, as distinguished from exploration, has 

 been awarded to Mr. J. G. Bartholomew. The Murchison 

 grant goes to Mr. William Wallace, C.M.G., Deputy High 

 Commissioner of the Northern Nigerian Protectorate. 

 Colonel F. R. Maunsell, R.A., has been awarded the Gill 

 memorial for his explorations during many years' resi- 

 dence in Asia Minor; Mr. F. J. Lewis the Cuthbert Peek 

 grant for contributions to the knowledge of botanical dis- 

 tribution by his researches into the geographical distribu- 

 tion of vegetation in the north of England ; and Captain 

 Philip Maud, R.E., the Back grant for survey work in 

 1903 along the southern border of Abyssinia. 

 NO. 1849, ^OL. 71] 



The concluding issue of the Proceedings of the Phila- 

 delphia .Academy for 1904 contains the reports of the 

 secretaries and curators for that year, from which it 

 appears that the society continues to be in a flourishing 

 condition, both as regards its publications and its museum. 



In an article published in Niitiireii for March, Mr. J. 

 Rekstad shows the value of photography to illustrate the 

 secular variation in glacier terminations, the respective 

 differences between two glaciers in August, 1S99, and 

 September, 1903, being admirably exhibited. In both in- 

 stances, it may be remarked, there has been very decided 

 shrinkage in the length of the glacier. The value of 

 photographs of this nature as a basis of comparison in 

 the years to come will be very great. 



We have been favoured with a copy of No. 17 of the 

 Bolctin of the Institute of Mining Engineers of Peru, 

 which contains an account of certain annelid remains and 

 ammonites in the Salto del F"railp and Morro Solar dis- 

 tricts bv Mr. C. I. Lisson. Both formations appear to be 

 of Neocomian age, the higher beds of Salto del Fraile 

 being remarkable for the number of borings of annelids 

 of the genus Tigillites they contain, while the lower Morro 

 Solar stratum is noteworthy for its ammonites of the 

 group Sonneratia. 



In the Report and Transactions of the East Kent Scien- 

 tific and Natural History Society for the past year, the 

 secretary takes occasion to direct attention to the general 

 apathy towards matters scientific prevailing in that portion 

 of the county he represents. Owing to this cause, the 

 season's excursions were practically a failure, and there 

 may be some connection between this apathy and the 

 fact that it has hitherto been found impracticable properly 

 to arrange and display the natural history collections in 

 the Royal Museum. 



Tjie Zoologist for .March opens with an article by Mr. 

 Lydekker on the small Asiatic mountain antelopes known 

 as gorals. The main object of the article was to describe 

 the Burmese species; but in, the course of his investigation 

 the author was led to believe in the existence of two 

 Himalayan representatives of this group, one of which he 

 names Urotragus bedfordi, on account of the type speci- 

 men having lived in the park at Woburn. In the pen- 

 ultimate line on p. 84 we notice that the word " eastern " 

 should be " western." The second article, by Mr. John 

 Gurnev, is devoted to Norfolk bird-life in 1904, and it is 

 interesting to note that in the spring of that year the 

 author had the good fortuni- to see two avocets and seven 

 spoonbills on Brpydon Broad. 



From the fisheries branch of the Department of Agri- 

 culture and Technical Instruction for Ireland we have re- 

 ceived a copy of No. 4 of Scientific Investigations, contain- 

 ing an account by Messrs. Holt and Tattersall of schizopod 

 crustaceans from the north-east Atlantic slope, and a note 

 on one genus of the same group by Dr. Caiman. In 

 proposing several new generic types, the authors of the 

 first paper suggest that these may prove of only temporary 

 value, and add the remark that these, if not forgotten, 

 ■• will, at least, cease to be harmful whenever the fashion 

 of reviving deservedly forgotten names has run its due 

 course." Dr. Caiman proposes the name Nematobrachion 

 to replace his Nematodactylus of 1896, which he regards as 

 preoccupied by Richardson's Nemadactylus. Evidently 

 neither of the three authors are in sympathy with thf 

 rules for nomenclature in zoology drawn up by the Paris 

 committee. 



