6i4 



NA TURE 



[April 27, 1905 



would be great risk of injury, and even without such 

 traffic there is great rislc from the increased numbers of 

 passers-by. As Sir Norman Lockyer (whose interesting 

 application of the orientation theory to Stonehenge has 

 recently appeared) says in one of his articles : — ' The real 

 destructive agent has been man himself — savages could 

 not have played more havoc with the monument than the 

 English who have visited it at different times for different 

 purposes.' I feel no confidence that the majority of 

 tourists have improved, nay, rather — ' Aetas parentum, 

 pejor avis, tulit Nos nequiores.' It is only fair to the 

 defendant to say that he is not acting capriciously, but 

 on expert advice for the preservation of the stones. If, 

 on the other hand, the roads are all fenced off, the general 

 appearance would be ruined, and no human being would 

 be in any way the better. It is not immaterial to remark 

 that this is not the action of the district or the county 

 council to preserve rights of way, but is brought on the 

 relation of strangers on the score of the public interest in 

 Stonehenge." 



The death is announced of Prof. .\. A. Wright, professor 

 of geology and zoology at Oberlin College since 1874. 



The Rome correspondent of the Daily Chronicle reports 

 that Vesuvius is again in full eruption, and that earth- 

 quake shocks are frequent in the Vesuvian communes. 



The French Government, says the British Medical 

 Journal, has granted a subvention of 4000!. in aid of the 

 International Congress on Tuberculosis, which is to be held 

 in Paris next October. 



Dr. L. F. Barker, professor of medicine at the Rush 

 Medical School, Chicago, has been appointed to the chair 

 of medicine in Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, in 

 succession to Prof. Osier. 



A DINNER will be given at the Hotel Cecil on May 10, 

 under the presidency of Mr. Chamberlain, and with the 

 support of the present Secretary of State for the Colonies, 

 in aid of the funds of the London School of Tropical 

 Medicine. 



We learn from the limes that the twenty-fifth anni- 

 versary of the return of the Vega from Arctic regions after 

 accomplishing the north-east passage under Baron 

 Nordenskjijld was celebrated at Stockholm on April 24. 

 The King of Sweden and the Crown Prince and the other 

 members of the Royal Family were present at the com- 

 memorative meeting, as well as Admiral Palander, Minister 

 of Marine, who commanded the expedition. 



A DISTINCT earthquake shock was felt shortly after 

 1.30 a.m. on April 23 over a large area in the north of 

 England, including parts of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, 

 Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire. The shock is reported 

 to have been unmistakable, and to have lasted several 

 seconds. There is a want of agreement in the reports as 

 to whether the movement was from west to east, or vice 

 versd, and it is not clear if one or two shocks occurred. 

 A heavy rumbling sound is said to have been heard at 

 Sheffield, Selby, Worksop, and other places. 



On Tuesday next. May 2, Prof. L. C. Miall will deliver 

 the first of three lectures on the " Study of Extinct 

 Animals," on Thursday, May 4, Sir James Dewar will 

 commence a course of three lectures on " Flame," and on 

 Saturday, May 6, Prof. Marshall Ward will begin a course 

 of two lectures on " Moulds and Mouldiness." The Friday 

 evening discourse on May 5 will be delivered by Prof. 

 H. E. Armstrong, the subject being " Problems L?nder- 

 NO. 1852, VOL. 71] 



lying Nutrition," on May 12 by Prof. E. Fox NichoUs on 

 " The Pressure due to Radiation," and on May 19 by Sir 

 Charles Eliot on " The Native Races of the British East 

 Africa Protectorate." 



The annual meeting and conversazione of the Selborne 

 Society will be held by kind permission in the theatre and 

 halls of the Civil Service Commission, Burlington Gardens, 

 on the evening of May 3. Lord Avebury will give the 

 annual address, Mrs. Dukinfield Scott will show her 

 kammatograph pictures of opening flowers, Mr. Fred 

 Enock will describe the work of a wood-boring wasp with 

 the help of some moving slides, Mr. Oliver G. Pike will 

 contribute a short lecture, while Mr. Percival Westell has 

 promised to give an account of the actions of a young 

 cuckoo, and to show photographs in illustration of them. 

 There will also be many exhibits, including microscopes 

 lent by members of the Royal Microscopical Society and 

 the Quekett Club. All particulars may be obtained from 

 the honorary secretary, Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, 20 

 Hanover Square, W. 



.\ large portion of the second part of the first volume 

 of the Proceedings of the Manchester Field Club is taken 

 up by the beautifully illustrated article on protective re- 

 semblances in insects, by Mr. M. L. Sykes, which was 

 summarised in Nature of March 30. In addition to 

 a number of shorter articles, mostly the reproductions of 

 addresses delivered at meetings of the club, the volume 

 contains the reports for the years 1900 and 1901, together 

 with lists of officers and council. 



The first article in the Irish Naturalist for April is 

 devoted to an illustrated description of the Patterson 

 Museum in the new People's Palace at Belfast. The 

 greater portion of this natural history e.xhibition is con- 

 tained in a lofty chamber 75 feet in length by 25 feet in 

 width. The work of planning the cases and obtaining 

 specimens with which to fill them was entrusted by the 

 managers of the palace to Mr. R. Patterson, who seems 

 to have carried out his task with conspicuous success. 

 Specimens were contributed by a large number of donors, 

 and Mr. Patterson himself has consented to act as honorary 

 curator. 



From the Bergen Museum we have received copies of 

 the Aarsberetning and the Aarbog for 1904. The former 

 contains photographs of three exhibits added during the 

 year to the vertebrate series. Of these, the groups of 

 snowy owls and of sea-eagles appear unexceptionable, but 

 we cannot congratulate the authorities on the plan of 

 placing a red deer mounted on a quadrangular wooden 

 stand in front of a background formed by a picture of a 

 fir-plantation bordering a church. In the Aarbog the 

 most important communication is one by Mr. R. H0ye 

 dealing with the methods of curing salt and kippered 

 fish, and describing the niycctozoa frequently developed 

 during or after the process. 



We have received a bound copy of the second volume of 

 " Marine Investigations in South Africa," issued at Cape 

 Town by the Department of .'\griculture of Cape Colony. 

 Although the title-page is dated 1904, the whole of the 

 eleven papers contained in the volume were published during 

 1902 and 1903. The subjects include Crustacea, by the 

 Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing ; Mollusca (two papers), by Mr. 

 G. B. Sowerby ; fishes (three papers), by Dr. Gilchrist ; 

 deep-sea fishes, by Mr. Boulenger ; corals, by Mr. Gardiner ; 

 sponges (two papers), by Mr. Kirkpatrick ; and ocean 

 currents. Several of the articles have been noticed in our 

 columns as they were issued. 



