566 



NATURE 



[April 13. 1905 



pijsenl. After Mr. George Macmillan had given an 

 account of the past history of the school, a marble tablet 

 1(1 the memory of Penrose was unveiled by the Crown 

 Prince, who delivered an address in English. Speeches were 

 then delivered by Mr. Cecil Smith, a former director of the 

 school, M. Homolle, secretary to the congress, who paid 

 an eloquent tribute to the amiable and noble character of 

 Penrose, as well as to his great scientific attainments, and 

 by Profs. Conze, Wheeler, Waldstein, and Kosanquet 

 (director of the school). The various sections of the con- 

 gress met for the reception and discussion of papers on 

 April 9 and i». 



.V MEETING of the .'Vssocialion of Kconomic Kntomologisls 

 will be held at Birmingham on April lo and 20, in the 

 large medical theatre of the university. The president of 

 the association is Mr. F. V. Theobald, and the secretary 

 Mr. W. E. Collinge, University of Birmingham. 



The London Geological Field Class, conducted by Prof. 

 H. Ci. Sceley, F.R.S., will begin its twentieth year's 

 season on Saturday, April 20, with a visit to the north 

 downs at Bctohworth. The field class, which is carried 

 on continuously on the Saturday afternoons in May, June 

 and July, affords practical teaching in geology by study- 

 ing direct froin nature the structure and niodes of occur- 

 rence of the rocks in the basin of the Thames and adjacent 

 country. Further particulars may be obtained from the 

 secretary, Mr. J. W. Jarvls. St. Mark's College, Chelsea, 

 S.W. 



.At the annual meeting of the Iron and Steel Instilute, 

 to be held on May 11 and 12, the Bessemer gold medal 

 for 1905 will be presented to Prof. J. O. Arnold. The 

 awards of the Andrew Carnegie gold medal and research 

 scholarships will be announced ; and the president, Mr. 

 R. A. Hadfield, will deliver his inaugural address. The 

 following is a list of papers that are expected to be 

 submitted : — experiments on the fusibility of blast furnace 

 slags. Dr. O. Boudouard ; recent developments of the 

 Bertrand-Thiel process, Mr. J. U. Darby and Mr. G. 

 Halton ; the application of dry-air blast to the manufacture 

 of iron, .Mr. James Gayley ; the elTcrt produced by liquid 

 uir temperature on the mechanical and other properties of 

 iron, Mr. R. A. Hadfield ; the cleaning of blast furnace 

 gas, .Mr. A.xcl Sahlin ; the failure of an iron plate through 

 fatigue, Mr. S. S.. Iliiughlon; the continuous steel-making 

 process in fixed open-hearth furnaces, .Mr. S. Surzycki ; 

 accidents due to the asphyxiation of blast furnace workmen, 

 .Mr. B. H. Thwaile; and the behaviour of the sulphur in 

 coke in the blast furnace. Prof. F. Wiist and Mr. P. WoIIT. 



Rhuter's correspondent at Rome reports that the draft 

 scheme for the organisation of the International Agri- 

 cultural Institute, which will be considered by the con- 

 ference to be held in May, is as follows :— (ij The con- 

 stitution and organisation of the instilute. (2) Functions 

 of the institute :— (<i) To report periodically information 

 coiicerning agricultural production, the conditions of labour 

 in rural districts, and the diseases of plants and live stock, 

 (fc) 'lo facilitate the organisation and working of cooper- 

 ation between the rural communities of different countries, 

 and to provide insurance and banking facilities for the 

 benefit of agriculture, (c) To propose on its own initiative 

 or at the invitation of Governments interested, inter- 

 national measures and institutions for the protection of the 

 coimnon interests of the agriculturists of all countries, and 

 at the same time to consider the resolutions passed by 

 international congresses on agriculture, (d) To exercise 

 other functions which are already exercised by the great 

 NO. 1850, VOL. 71] 



agricultural associations, which the institute could dis- 

 charge independently of the action of the diflerent Govern- 

 ments. (3) The financial resources of the institute. 



In the House of Commons on April 5 Sir W. Palimi 

 asked the President of the Board of Agriculture whether 

 his attention has been directed to experiments which have 

 been carried on in America with a view to the propagation 

 and use upon the land of nitrogen-producing bacteria ; 

 whether he is aware that certain rights relating to the 

 method of preparation of these bacteria are the property 

 of the I'niled States (iovi-rnment, and that that Govern- 

 ment is distributing packets of these bacteria free of charge 

 to any farmers who apply for them, and that the result 

 of such distribution has been beneficial for farming ; and, 

 if so, could he say whether any rights relating to the 

 preparation of these nitrogen-producing bacteria prevent 

 His Majesty's Government from adopting a similar course; 

 and, if not, whether he is prepared to recommend that a 

 similar free distribution be .idopted in this country. In 

 reply, .Mr. Fellowes remarked that some articles on the sub- 

 ject have appeared in the Hoard's monthly journal. Experi- 

 ments as to the value of nitrogen-producing bacteria are 

 now being carried out under the auspices of the Board by 

 several of the agricultural colleges in this country, and so 

 soon as the results are known the Board will consider 

 what further action in the matter can be taken in the 

 interest of British agriculturists. The process of pro- 

 ducing and cultivating the bacteria has been patented by 

 the United States Department of Agriculture, but it appears 

 that the department does not propose indefinitely to con- 

 tinue its gratuitous distribution. There appears to be 

 nothing 10 prevent the manufacture and sale of the material 

 in this country. 



.According to the report of the .Australian Museum, 

 Sydney, for 1903-4, remarkable fluctuations occur in the 

 annual number of visitors. In 1900, for instance, the 

 total was 85,474, '" '9°' '23,326, in 1902 io(>,704, and in 

 1903 118,372. The general condition and progress of the 

 museum appear to be satisfactory 



No. 3 of the Johns Hopkins University Circular for the 

 current year contains an account of observations and ex- 

 periments with regard to the abnormally elongated form 

 assumed by a considerable percentage of American oysters 

 during the early stages of growth. The author, Mr. O. C. 

 Glaser, concludes that this is due to crowding, and that 

 it is a premature assumption of the normal adult con- 

 dition. The crowded condition of these prematurely old 

 oysters makes it impossible for them to expand and grow 

 to the normal width, but if removed to a more favourable 

 situation they quickly assume ihe ordinary shape. 



The second portion of the article by Mr. F. Voss in 

 part iii. of vol. Ixxviii. of the Zcitschrift fiir wissenschaft- 

 liche Zoologic, on the thorax of the house-cricket, with 

 especial reference to the articulation of the wings and 

 their movements, and thus lo the mechanics of insect 

 night in general, is devoted to the musculature, and is 

 illustrated with several diagrams and text figures. The 

 other article in the same issue, by Mr. F. Fuhrmann, of 

 (iratz, is devoted to the history of the adrenal bodies of 

 the guinea-pig. The intirnal tissue of these organs is 

 subject to very rapid posl-nwrtcm degeneration, .so that the 

 investigation is one of considerable diRicultv. 



.•\ccoRL>iNG to its report for the past year, the Rugby 

 School Natural History Society continues to do steady 

 work, .md its permanent coll.ctions are making satis- 

 factory progress. During the year two important additions 



