June 27, 1901] 



NATURE 



The newly constituted "African Society," founded in 

 memory of the late Miss Mary Kingsley, will hold its inaugural 

 meeting at the United Service Institution, Whitehall, this 

 afternoon, under the presidency of the Marquess of Ripen. 

 This Society has been started with the object of studying the 

 languages, laws and customs of the continent of Africa. 



The annual summer meeting of the Society of Public Analysts 

 will be held at Cambridge on Friday, July 19. 



Prof. Rudolf Virchow has been elected a knight, with 

 ■the right to vote, of the Order Pour le Merite for Sciences and 

 Art. 



An official announcement has now been made in regard to the 

 Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, toward the estab- 

 lishment of which Mr. John D. Rockefeller has recently given 

 200,000 dollars. We learn from Scieme that the directors are 

 Dr. William H. Welch, Baltimore, president ; Dr. T. Mitchell 

 Prudden, New York, vice-president ; Dr. L. Emmett Holt, 

 New York, secretary ; Dr. C. A. Herter, New York, treasurer ; 

 Dr. Theobald Smith, Boston ; Dr. Simon Flexner, Philadelphia ; 

 Dr. H. M. Biggs, New York. The purpose of the foundation, 

 as the name implies, is to furnish facilities for original investi- 

 gation, particularly in such problems in medicine and hygiene 

 as have a practical bearing upon the prevention and treatment 

 of disease. The sum of money mentioned above is not an en- 

 dowment, but may be used for current expenses. The Institute 

 will be situated in New York City. A building will not, however, 

 fee erected at present, but research will be conducted in existing 

 laboratories under the auspices of the directors. 



The members of the Institution of Electrical Engineers who 

 are participating in the vis it to Germany have been heartily 

 received at Berlin. On Monday they were entertained at dinner 

 by the Berlin General Electric Company and by the firm of 

 Siemens and Halske at the Berlin Fire Prevention Exhibition. 

 Herr Geheimrath Rathenau, in welcoming the English guests, 

 is reported by the Times to have said that electrical engineer- 

 ing, in which it would be admitted that Germany had made 

 great progress, was " nothing else than the child of mechanical 

 engineering, which Germans originally learned in England in 

 the factories of London, Birmingham, Glasgow, &c." He 

 thought they would admit that the English masters might well 

 be proud of their German scholars. 



In the House of Commons on Monday Sir W. Hart Dyke 

 asked the President of the Board of Agriculture if he intended 

 to transfer the powers of his Board in respect of agricultural 

 instruction to the Board of Education, he intended that the 



Board of Agriculture should undertake the organisation and co- 

 ordination of such instruction throughout England and Wales. 

 In reply, Mr. Hanbury said: "I am not prepared to transfer 

 •elsewhere any part of the existing duties of the Board of Agri- 

 culture, the functions of which, especially with regard to agri- 

 cultural instruction, might, on the contrary, with advantage be 

 •enlarged. I am unable to state as yet in detail how this can be 

 brought about, but I attach great importance to the necessity for 

 •extending the work already done by the Board in collating and 

 publishing the results of experiments and the most recent dis- 

 •coveries bearing on agriculture, both in this country and abroad, 

 and also to the advantage to be gained by friendly cooperation 

 between the Board and county councils in devising the best 

 methods of instruction and experiment." 



The movement to establish a Washington Memorial Insti- 

 tution for post-graduate study and research in Washington 

 appears to have met with success. It originated in the 

 Washington Academy of Sciences, and the organisation and 

 scope have now been agreed upon. The primary aim is to 

 NO. 1652, VOL. 64] 



facilitate the utilisation of the various scientific and other re, 

 sources of the Government for purposes of research, thus co. 

 operating with all universities, colleges and individuals in giving 

 men and women the practical post-graduate training which 

 cannot be obtained elsewhere in the United States and which 

 is now available only to a limited degree in the city of Washing- 

 ton. An Act of Congress approving these principles was passed 

 in March, and reads as follows : — "That facilities for study and 

 research in the Government Departments, the Library of Con- 

 gress, the National Museum, the Zoological Park, the Bureau 

 of Ethnology, the Fish Commission, the Botanic Gardens, and 

 similar institutions hereafter established shall be afforded to 

 scientific investigators and to duly qualified individuals, students, 

 and graduates of institutions of learning in the several States and 

 Territories, as well as in the District of Columbia, under such 

 rules and restrictions as the heads of the Departments and 

 B'jreaus may prescribe." The organisation is independent of 

 Government control, and the management is vested in a board 

 of fifteen trustees and an advisory committee composed chiefly 

 of the heads of Government Departments. Science states that 

 the new institution will attain substantially the objects desired 

 by the advocates of a National University, without being subject 

 to the objectionable features of a university sustained by the 

 Government in competition with the existing universities. 



The Councilor the Society of Arts have awarded the Society's 

 silver medal to the following readers of papers during the session 

 of 1900-1901 : — Major Ronald Ross, F.R.S., for his paper on 

 " Malaria and Mosquitoes ; " Dr. W. Schlich, F.R.S., for " The 

 Outlook for the World's Timber Supply ; " Lieutenant A. T. 

 Dawson, late R.N., for "Modern .Artillery;" Mr. Fritz B. 

 Behr, for "The Proposed High-Speed Electrical ' Monorail' 

 between Liverpool and Manchester ; " Mr. Percy R. Macquoid, 

 for " Evolution of Form in English Silver Plate ; " Prof. Raphael 

 Meldola, F.R.S., for " The Synthesis of Indigo;" Sir Joshua 

 Fitch, for " School Work in Relation to Business ; " Mr. 

 Marconi, for " Syntonic Wireless Telegraphy ; " Mr. Henry 

 John Tozer, for "The Growth and Trend of Indian Trade — 

 a Forty Yeirs' Survey;" Colonel Sir T. H. Holdich, K.C.I.E. , 

 for "The Greek Retreat from India;" Mr. J. D. Rees, for 

 " Madras, the Southern Satrapy ; " the Hon. Sir J. A. Cockburn, 

 K.C.M.G., for " The Commonwealth of Australia ; " Lieutenant 

 Carlyon W. Bellairs, R.N., for "The Coal Problem: its 

 Relations to the Empire;" Mr. William Burton, for " Recent 

 Advances in Pottery Decoration;" and Mr. Hugh Stannus, for 

 " Some Examples of Romanesque Architecture in North Italy." 



AMATEtJR photographers visiting London, and desiring to 

 obtain pictures of interesting sights and objects, will find of 

 service a leaflet prepared by Messrs. Sanders and Crowhurst 

 and Mr. R. W. Paul. A list is given of suitable subjects, 

 arranged in six groups, each group being sufficient for a day's 

 work. 



A MEETING of the Physical Society will be held on Friday, 

 June 28, in the Wheatstone Laboratory, King's College, Strand, 

 by invitation of Prof. Adams. Papers will be read on the effect 

 of a high-frequency oscillatory field on electrical resistance, 

 by Mr. S. A. F. White ; and on the spectrum of cyanogen, by 

 Mr. E. C. C. Baly and Dr. H. W. Syers. 



An interesting incident is recorded in the E>iglneer(^\me. 14). 

 A petrol motor car returning from Biarritz to Paris came to a 

 standstill near Etampes for want of petrol, and as another supply 

 could not be obtained in the neighbourhood the driver resolved 

 to try the only spirit obtainable — namely absinthe. He charged 

 his car tanks accordingly, and afterwards declared that "the 

 motor never ran better than with this improvised fuel." 



