May 



1901] 



jVA TURE 



V 



his evident intention to benefit the masses with the real 

 educational needs of the country and with the work of the 



Universities. 



The anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical Society 

 was held on Monday, when the president, Sir Clements 

 Markham, K.C.B., distributed the medals and prizes for the 

 encouragement of geographical science and discovery. The 

 founder's medal was awarded to the Duke of the Abruzzi for his 

 expedition to Mount St. Elias in North-West America, and 

 towards the North Pole by the Franz Josef Land route. The 

 patron's medal was awarded to Dr. A. Donaldson Smith, for his 

 African explorations and surveys. Other awards were the 

 Murchison award for 1901 to Mr. John Coles, for his services 

 to geography and to the Society as map curator and instructor 

 during a period of twenty-two years. The Gill memorial for 

 1901 to Captain Cagni, for his journey over the frozen ocean to 

 latitude 86° 33' N. The Back grant for 1901 to Sub-Lieutenant 

 W. Colbeck, K.N.R. , for the survey work which he did in 

 \'ictoria Land, and during the voyage of the Southern Cross. 

 The Cuthbert Peek grant for 1901 to Mr. L. C. Bernacchi, for 

 his series of scientific observations taken in Victoria Land and 

 the Ross Sea. After the presentation of the medals the presi- 

 dent delivered an address, in the course of which he referred to 

 the recent international conference in Christiania for the explor- 

 ation of the ocean, and to the equipment and the arrangements 

 connected with the National Antarctic Expedition. After 

 mentioning the matters dealt with in another column and sketch- 

 ing the programme of work to be done by the expedition, the 

 president said it was necessary that there should be a second 

 ship ready to proceed south in November, 1902, in the possible 

 contingency of any accident or of the detention of the Discovery. 

 It was also very desirable that there should be sufficient funds 

 for a third year. But the first of these objects was essential. 

 A whaler might be bought or hired, and she would have to be 

 manned and provisioned. The cost would be about 15,000/., 

 towards which amount 5000/. had been promised by one donor 

 and 500/. by another. 



The annual conversazione of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers will be held at the Natural History Museum, South 

 Kensington, on Friday, June 14. 



Mr. R. W. D.ana has been appointed secretary to the 

 Institution of Naval Architects, to succeed Mr. G. Holmes, who 

 has accepted a position under Government. 



At the annual meeting of the African Trade Section of the 

 Liverpool Chamber of Commerce held on Monday, Mr. Alfred L. 

 Jones, the president, remarked that all West African people had 

 lent themselves heartily to support the great eftbrt of the Liver- 

 pool School of Tropical Medicine, which the Chamber of Com- 

 merce initiated. Mr. Chamberlain has written a letter in which 

 he expresses pleasure ' ' that through the generosity of a Glasgow 

 citizen, and by the action of Major Ross, who is prepared to 

 give his services without remuneration, the Liverpool School of 

 Tropical Medicines has been able to arrange that Major Ross 

 should proceed to West Africa for the purpose of endeavouring 

 to efiect the extermination of the Anopheles mosquito in a 

 selected town. It is understood that Major Ross proposes to 

 select a town for the experiment either in Sierra Leone or the 

 Gold Coast, and the Governors of these colonies have been 

 requested to affordhim all the assistance in their power." 



At the Royal Institution to-day Prof. Dewar will deliver the 

 first of a course of three lectures on " The Chemistry of Carbon." 

 On Tuesday, May 28, Prof. William Knight will begin a course 

 of two lectures on "The Philosophical Undertones of Modern 

 Poetry" (the Tyndall Lectures), and on Saturday, June I, 

 NO. 1647, VOL. 64] 



Prof. T- B. Farmer will deliver the first of three lectures on 

 " The Biological Characters of Epiphytic Plants." The Friday 

 evening discourse on May 24 will be delivered by Mr. R. T. 

 Glazebrook, on " The Aims of the National Physical Labora- 

 tory," on May 31 by Mr. A. H. Savage Landor, on "With 

 the Allies in China," and on June 7 by Prof. R. Meldola, on 

 " Mimetic Insects." 



The Times announces the death, at St. Petersburg, of Dr. 

 E. Bretschneider, one of the most distinguished students of 

 Chinese history and knowledge of his time. For many years 

 Dr. Bretschneider was physician to the Russian Legation at 

 Peking, and took advantage of his exceptional position to 

 devote himself to the investigation of Chinese archajology, 

 history, language, geography, &c. One of his latest works is a 

 " History of European Botanical Discoveries in China," and 

 another one of the best maps of China available, both of them 

 in English. Among other works from his pen are the follow- 

 ing : — " On the Study and Value of Chinese Botanical Works " ; 

 " Fu-sang, or Who Discovered China" ; " On the Knowledge 

 possessed by the ancient Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian 

 Colonies"; "Notes on Chinese Mediaeval Travellers to the 

 West " ; " Archaeological and Historical Researches in Peking 

 and its Environs"; " Medi:eval Researches from Eastern 

 Asiatic Sources." Dr. Bretschneider was an honorary corre- 

 sponding member of the Royal Geographical Society, as well as 

 of many other societies. 



As already announced, the sixth annual congress of the South- 

 Eastern Union of Scientific Societies will be held at Haslemere 

 and Hindhead on June 6-8. An address will be given by the 

 president-elect, Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., and a number 

 of interesting papers are down for reading, among them being 

 the following : — Moisture in the atmosphere, the Hon. RoUo 

 Russell ; certain aspects of post- Darwinian work in zoology, 

 Prof. G. B. Howes, F.R.S. ; seedlings. Miss E. Sargent; the 

 teaching of nature knowledge in elementary schools. Miss A. M. 

 Buckton and Prof. A. D. Hall ; habit and discipline in their 

 influence on organisation. Dr. Jonathan Hutchinson, F.R.S. ; 

 an echpse trip to Portugal in 1900, Mr. G. F. Chambers; 

 cuckoos' eggs, Mr. Oswald H. Latter ; and the origin of 

 certain weeds, Mr. S. T. Dunn. 



Prof. H. H. Giglioli, of the Royal Zoological Museum, 

 Florence, inform? us that on April 13 the second annual meeting 

 of the Zoological Union of Italy concluded its work at Naples. 

 This Union was formed at Pavia last year and in the following 

 September it held its first general meeting at Bologna, which 

 proved to be quite a success as to the work performed and the 

 large attendance. It became evident that the Union, the scope 

 of which is to collect the scattered forces of students of zoology 

 and to prepare the way for the foundation of a zoological 

 journal worthy of Italian science, has responded to a wish 

 generally felt in Italy. The Union now counts amongst its 

 members nearly all the Italian professors of zoology and anatomy 

 and many other students of those sciences. The meeting at 

 Naples was even more numerous than that at Bologna, and 

 many interesting communications were read. Bologna greeted 

 the assembled zoologists with the memories of its old masters — 

 Aldrovandi, Malpighi, Alessandrini and others ; at Naples they 

 were feted by that great centre of zoological investigations, the 

 Zoological Station, whose steam-launch, which bears the glorious 

 mi.Tat ai Joliaiines Miiller, gave the visitors practical examples of 

 pelagic trawling and dredging, as the war steamer Ercole bore 

 them to Capri. Rome has been chosen for the third congress, 

 in 1902, " when," remarks Prof. Giglioli, " we shall be proud 

 and happy to welcome any of our foreign colleagues who should 

 choose to honour us with their presence." 



