132 



NA TURE 



[June 6, 1901 



nation. The writer has made a natural mistake in sup- 

 posing that the expedition is under naval control and will 

 sail under naval discipline. This of course is erroneous. 

 The Admiralty has no responsibility and the expedition 

 must be regarded as a private venture. As it stands at 

 present, the expedition is to leave our shores without a 

 man on board who has had any experience in the conduct 

 of a scientific expedition of any importance ; and without 

 a commander who has had any experience in the control 

 of a ship. Can the Royal Society bear the onus of re- 

 sponsibility which such a so-called " scientific '' e.xpedition 

 will entail upon them ? 



" Dr. J. W. Gregory, who w.is appointed scientific leader of 

 the British Antarctic Expedition and as such recently contributed 

 to Nature a plan of the scientific work, has now stated that 

 he cannot accept service under the regulations laid down. This 

 resignation, for so it has been regarded by the committee, is a 

 very severe blow to the prospects of the expedition, or at least 

 to the scientific results that might have been expected. Some, 

 perhaps, prophesied failure when they saw the attempt that w.as 

 made from the first to place the expedition under Admiralty 

 control and naval discipline. Friction and consequent heat 

 became inevitable when the committee proceeded to appoint 

 two leaders — a naval and a scientific — without defining their 

 powers from the outset. It is well known that the meetings 

 of this committee have been a series of fights between the geo- 

 graphers and naval men as opposed to the purely scientific men ; 

 and Dr. Gregory has over and over again been on the point of 

 resigning. We understand that the ultimate dispute was over 

 the question of landing, which Dr. Gregory wished to have fixed 

 as a main object of the expedition, and not left entirely to the 

 discretion of an unscientific commander. But the actual cause 

 of rupture is immaterial. The position, thanks to the naval 

 manceuvres, has always been an impossible one for the scientific 

 men. While Dr. Gregory's absence in Australia has placed 

 him at a disadvantage. Sir Clements Markham may be con- 

 gratulated ; but the committee will have a difficulty in finding 

 a head for the scientific staff with half the competence of Dr. 

 Gregory." 



NOTES. 



Captain E. W. Creak, F.R.S., has been created a Com- 

 panion of the Order of the Bath "in recognition of his services 

 while holding the appointment of Superintendent of Compasses 

 in the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty.'' 



The Bakerian Lecture of the Royal Society will be given 

 by Prof J. Dewar, on Thursday next, June 13. The subject 

 will be "The Nadir of Temperature, and allied Problems." 



We regret to see the announcement of the death of Prof J. 

 Viriamu Jones, F. R.S., principal and professor of physics in 

 the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire. 

 Prof Jones was only forty-five years of age. 



The subjects of two of the evening discourses to be delivered 

 during the forthcoming meeting of the British Association at 

 Glasgow have been decided. Prof W. Ramsay will lecture on 

 "The Inert Constituents of the Atmosphere" on Friday, Sep- 

 tember 13, and Mr. Francis Darwin will lecture on "The 

 Movements of Plants" on Monday, September 16. As already 

 announced, the lecture to workmen on Saturday, September 14, 

 will be delivered by Mr. H. J. Mackinder. 



An International Congress of Historical Science will be 

 held at Rome in April of next year. There will be a section 

 for the history of science, including especially medical science, 

 and all who are interested in this or other sections of the work 

 of the Congress are invited to communicate with Prof P. 

 Giacosa, Istituto di Materia Medica, Corso Raffaello 30, Turin. 



Prof. William G.-vllowav, professor of mining at the 

 University College of South Wales, at Cardiff, has been ap- 

 pointed to investigate on behalf of the Government the cause of 

 the Senghenydd explosion. Prof Galloway has stated to a 

 NO. 1649, VOL. 64] 



correspondent that it was unquestionably a coal-dust explosion, 

 but more he could not say at present. As to the scope of the 

 inquiry, he said specific points had been suggested by the Home 

 Secretary, and the object of the scientific investigation would 

 be to devise means to prevent a recurrence of the accident. 



Lord George Hamilton has written to Sir Alfred Hick- 

 man, M.P. , ex-president of the British Iron Trade Association, 

 explaining why certain contracts were placed by Indian railway 

 companies with American firms. In the course of his remarks 

 he says : — " You seem to think that orders have only gone 

 abroad because those who gave them did not understand their 

 business. I wish that it were so. The competition we have 

 to face is founded on something much more formidable and 

 substantial. Chemical research, concentration of capital, 

 thorough technical education, improved industrial organisation 

 have made in recent years greater advance in America than 

 here ; it is with the product of these combinations and not 

 with the assumed stupidity of Indian officials that the British 

 engineer has to contend." Sir Alfred Hickman replies in a 

 long letter, which appeared in Tuesday's Times, but his remarks 

 refer more to alleged imperfections in American work and the 

 value of protection than to the cause of competition. He asks 

 what evidence exists of ".superior chemical research, technical 

 education, &c.," and says, "I deny the ' chemical research'" 

 mentioned by Lord George Hamilton. Apparently Sir Alfred 

 Hickman attaches no importance to such reports as those pre- 

 pared for the University of Birmingham and the ^lanchester 

 Technical Education Committee as to the position of technical 

 education in the United States ; and he can scarcely be familiar 

 with American scientific and technical publications or he would 

 not "deny the chemical research " with so free a mind. It seems 

 pretty clear, however, that the India Office official who wrote 

 Lord George Hamilton's letter to Sir Alfred Hickman was not 

 the one who expressed views about the chemistry at Coopers 

 Hill and aided the efforts which have strangled the technical 

 education of the officers of the Indian Public Works Depart- 

 ment. 



The annual meeting of the Victoria Institute will be held 

 on Monday next, June 10. Sir Robert Ball, F.R.S., will deliver 

 an address. 



The Melbourne correspondent of the Tim&s states that Prof. 

 Baldwin Spencer's ethnological expedition, which has arrived 

 at Alice Springs, 1000 miles south of Port Darwin, has obtained 

 valuable photographs of the native war and other dances and 

 sacred ceremonies. 



Solit.ary specimens of the Hoopoe are not unfrequently 

 seen on Lundy Island in the spring. A correspondent asks 

 whether any reader of Nature can explain their appearance 

 or give any information about their nearest abiding place. 



We learn from Science that at the recent annual meeting of 

 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences it was unanimously 

 voted to award the Rumford medal to Prof Elihu Thomson 

 "for his inventions in electric welding and lighting." The 

 Academy has granted to Prof Theodore W. Richards, of 

 Harvard University, the sum of 500 dollars from the income 

 of the Rumford fund in aid of a research upon the Thomson- 

 Joule effect. 



At the annual meeting of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers on Thursday last, it was announced that the council 

 had awarded the following premiums, among others, for papers 

 and communications :— The Institution premium, value 25/., to 

 Mr. M. O'Gorman for his paper entitled "Insulation on Cables"; 

 the Paris Electrical Exhibition premium, value 10/., to Mr. W. 

 Duddell for his paper entitled " On Rapid \'ariations of the 

 Current through the Direct-Current Arc" ; theFahie premium, 



