398 
NATURE 
| FEBRUARY 21, 1907 
and Royal School of Mines, in referring to the composi- 
tion and functions of the governing body of the new 
college, remarked (see Naturr, February 8, 1906, p. 
345) :—‘‘ Of the relation of the new institution to the 
University of London, it is necessary to premise that we 
are agreed that it is desirable that the new institution 
should be established immediately, and that its organisation 
With this recommendation 
When the college has been 
in existence for several vears it will be time enough to 
should proceed without delay.”’ 
we are in complete agreement. 
decide what its connection with the University must be. 
In the meantime, the special governing body proposed by 
the departmental committee ought to be appointed to start 
the institution. If something is not done soon, the 
enthusiasm with which the scheme for the establishment 
of the new college for advanced instruction and research 
in applied science was received will give place to public 
condemnation of the dilatory methods adopted in a matter 
of great national importance. 
Pror. A. LippMann and Prof. Simon Newcomb 
been elected honorary fellows of the Physical Society. 
IDJe (C), JD). 
Survey, has 
have 
Watcort, director of the U.S. Geological 
been elected of the Smithsonian 
Institution in succession to the late Prof. S. P. Langley. 
secretary 
Pror. J. Mitne, F.R.S., will deliver the opening lecture 
of the at the West India this 
evening, February 21, the subject being ‘‘ The Construe- 
tion of Buildings in Earthquake Countries.” 
Committee Rooms 
“ 
session 
A stoRM area of more than usual magnitude was _ in- 
fluencing the weather the whole of the British 
and, indeed, over the greater part of western 
during Tuesday night and Wednesday. The 
area of the disturbance situated near 
at 8 on February the barometer 
registering 27-65 inches, which is probably a record low 
reading in that position. The barometer was below 
29 inches over nearly the whole of the United Kingdom, 
and the fall was unusually rapid. Strong westerly gales 
occurred throughout Tuesday night, and they were con- 
tinuing yesterday in all parts of our islands, as well as in 
France. 
over 
Islands, 
Europe, 
central was 
Skudesnaes a.m. 20, 
THe executive of the British Fire Prevention Committee 
has appointed a_ special on concrete aggre- 
gations. The scope of the commission is described in the 
following resolution :—‘ That having regard to the con- 
fusion existing as to concrete aggregates, and the absence 
of their exact specification, the British Fire Prevention 
Committee do hereby constitute from among its members 
commission 
and subscribers a special commission to report upon and 
define the aggregates suitable for concrete floors intended 
to be fire resisting having due regard to questions of 
strength, expansion, the 
changes of the aggregates.”’ 
constituents and 
In forming the commission 
the various technical interests have as far as possible been 
represented. Sir William KG {Bee ERS. s svi! 
act as chairman, and Mr. Matt Garbutt as honorary secre- 
tary. Correspondence should be addressed to the assistant 
1 Waterloo Place, S.W. 
and chemical 
Preece, 
secretary, 
THe February number of the Century Magazine con- 
tains a short article on Amundsen’s expedition and the 
North-West Passage, by General A. W. Greely. A short 
outline (illustrated by a map) of the history of the search 
for the North-West Passage is given, and General Greely 
writes appreciatively of Amundsen’s skill and daring in 
the handling of the Gjoa, as well as of the value''of the 
magnetic worl he carried out. ; 
NO. 1947, VOL. 75] 
Tue Times of Vebruary 5 publishes a telegram from 
Calcutta stating that a message had been received there 
on the previous day from Dr. Sven Hedin. Dr. Hedin 
reached Ngangon Tso on January 21, and hopes to arrive 
at Shigatse at the end of this month. The explorer says 
that the journey approaching completion is the most 
wonderful he has made in Asia in twenty-two years. 
Eight hundred and forty miles of unknown country, on a 
line running diagonally across Tibet, have been explored, 
and mapped in 184 sheets. Many new lakes, rivers, 
mountain ranges, and goldfields have been discovered, and 
the geographical said to be extraordinarily 
rich. 
results are 
Lizut. Boyp ALEXANDER, who, along with his brother 
Captain Claud Alexander, Captain G. B. Gosling, Mr. P. A. 
Talbot (surveyor), and a Portuguese collector, left this coun- 
try in the spring of 1904 on an exploring expedition across 
Africa, has returned to London. Captain Claud Alexander 
died at Maifoni in November, 1904, and Captain Gosling 
in the Ubangi-Welle region in June, 1906. Much valuable 
work has been accomplished. A careful triangulation has 
been carried out from Ibi, in Nigeria, to Lake Chad, and 
the lake itself traversed in various directions. Part of the 
course of the Shari was explored; from thence the Ubangi 
was reached, and the expedition made its way northward 
to the little-known region where many of the Bahr-el- 
Ghazal tributaries and down the Yei to the Nile. 
The expedition has been particularly successful in collect- 
ing specimens in natural history, including skulls, bones, 
and skins of the okapi. 
rise, 
DETAILED investigations of the Calabrian earthquake of 
September 8, 1905, are now appearing. We have received 
a memoir by Prof. Rizzo on the rate of propagation of 
this earthquake, and a note, published in the Atti of the 
Turin Academy of Sciences, in which he discusses the 
depth at which this earthquake originated, and adopts 
50 kilometres as the most probable value. Another paper, 
Dr. Mario Baratta, the Journal of the Tuscan 
Academy of Natural Sciences, deals with the distribution 
of the damage, and shows that there were seven distinct 
centres of destructive violence, and that the earthquake 
was a true polycentral one. Indirectly, this paper shows 
that Prof. Rizzo’s estimate of the depth of origin, founded 
on the assumption that the focus was simple and com- 
paratively restricted in extent, must be in excess of the 
truth, so that 50 kilometres should be regarded as the 
maximum possible, not the actual, depth of origin. 
by in 
Pror. P. CarmMopy, who was an eye-witness of the earth- 
quake at Kingston on January 18, has sent to the Times 
some details of the disturbance, from which we have 
obtained the following particulars of scientific interest :— 
The building material that has best withstood the shock 
wood, and next to this cement. Brick has suffered 
most, and stone is almost as bad. An examination of the 
several streets in different parts of the town shows that 
generally the east and west walls of the buildings have 
collapsed, while those facing north and south have been 
but little injured. This indicates that the earth move- 
ment ran east and west. Another striking general feature 
is that the east and west walls have fallen away from 
the rest of the building, meeting together in narrow 
streets, of which there are many running north and south, 
and therefore making it impossible for anyone to escape 
uninjured from these narrow streets. The streets running 
east and west have not been completely blocked by fallen 
| débris, partly because they are wider, but principally 
1s 
