July i8, 1901] 



NATURE 



285 



already received by the recorders of the different sections. 

 Indeed, one or two of the sections generally get more 

 papers than is necessary to fill the time of the sittings. 

 For e.xample, Section A not only meets on Saturday, but 

 is also on two days actually divided into two sub- 

 sections. On Friday it is to be divided into (i) physics, 

 and (2) astronomy. On Monday it is to be divided into 

 (i) mathematics, and (2) meteorology. 



At this early stage a full and definite programme of the 

 different sections cannot be given. I5ut the following 

 brief provisional programme may be taken as conclu- 

 sively indicating that the meeting promises to be a most 

 successful one from an educational and scientific point of 

 view. 



Section A (Mathematical and Physical Science). — A 

 large number of papers are already promised for this 

 section. The following may be mentioned : — Five 

 papers, dealing with elasticity, viscosity, magnetic fields, 

 and stress and magnetisation of nickel and cobalt, are 

 promised from the physical laboratory of the Univer- 

 sity of Glasgow by Prof Gray, his assistants and 

 the research students in his department. Dr. Larmor 

 will give a paper on radiation, Dr. Hicks a paper on the 

 Michelson-Morley effect and Dr. Glazebrook a paper on 

 optical glass. In the meteorological department, Mr. 

 W. N. Shaw and one of his assistants will give two papers 

 treating of the seasonal variations of air temperature. 



Section B (Chemistry).— The following papers have 

 already been promised : — On the transitional forms be- 

 tween crystalloids and colloids, by Messrs. J. H. Gladstone 

 and W. Hibbert ; the oxidation of tin, including the 

 action of light, by Messrs. J. H. Gladstone and G. 

 Gladstone. Papers on the following subjects will also be 

 submitted : — On the deposition of ocean salts, on electro- 

 chemical processes and on the manufacture of cyanides. 



Section C (Geology). — Papers to this section are pro- 

 mised by Messrs. William Gunn, B. N. Peach, R. H. 

 Traquair, Robert Kidston and H. B. Woodward. Several 

 others have intimated a wish to read short papers on 

 subjects in which they are specially interested. 



Section G (Engineering). — A paper on the mechanical 

 exhibits at the Glasgow International Exhibition is being 

 arranged for. After a report on road traction is sub- 

 mitted by a committee appointed for the purpose, papers 

 bearing on this subject will be read by Messrs. A. R. 

 Sennett, A. H. Gibbings and Sir J. H. A. Macdonald. 

 The following papers will also be given to this section : — 

 Protection of buildings from lightning, by Mr. K. Hedges ; 

 dielectric hysteresis, by Mr. W. M. Mordey ; Panama 

 Canal, by Mr. M. Buon Varilla ; tunnelling in quick- 

 sand, by Mr. M. A. Gobert ; chain driving, by Mr. C. 

 Garran ; engraving machinery, by Mr. Jvl. Barr ; and 

 aluminium as a fuel, by Sir W. C. Roberts-Austen. Mr. 

 Barr will probably show his apparatus working in the 

 municipal buildings during the evening of Thursday, 

 September \i. 



Section K (Botany).— There will be a discussion in this 

 section on the teaching of botany, opened by Mr. Wager 

 from the standpoint of botany teaching in schools, and 

 by Prof Bower from the point of view of University 

 teaching. Profs. Ward, Scott-Elliott, Miall and others 

 will take part in the discussion. It is intended to 

 ask members of Section L, the educational section, to 

 take a share in the discussion. Prof Reynolds Green 

 will probably give a semi-popular lecture on a botanical 

 subject of general interest. 



Section L (Educational Science). — After the president. 

 Sir John E. Gorst, delivers his presidential address, it is 

 expected there will be a discussion on Scottish educa- 

 tional systems. This discussion will probably be intro- 

 duced by two papers, one by Mr. John Adams, on 

 mechanism of education in Scotland, and the second 

 by Dr. J. G. Kerr, on the training of the practical 

 person. 



NO. 1655, VOL. 64] 



On account of the International Exhibition there is 

 a great influx of visitors to Glasgow, and members of the 

 Britisli Association who intend to be present at the 

 Glasgow meeting are strongly recommended to make 

 early arrangements for their rooms. The local com- 

 mittee have prepared a list of hotels and a preliminary 

 list of lodgings and apartments. This list is ready to be 

 sent to any inquirer. Magnus Maclean. 



NOTES. 

 Prof. A. W. Rucker, professor of physics at the Royal 

 College of Science and secretary of the Royal Society, has been 

 appointed principal of the University of London. We are 

 informed that, in consequence of his appointment to this post, 

 Prof. Rucker will resign the secretaryship of the Royal Society 

 at the next anniversary meeting. 



Prof. Virchow's eightieth birthday will be celebrated in 

 Berlin on Saturday, October 12, when he will perfonally receive 

 delegates with congratulatory addresses from various scientific 

 bodies, foreign as well as German. Prof Waldeyer is the 

 president of the executive committee. 



Thf. Council of the Royal Society has awarded the Mackinnon 

 studentship to Mr. J. J. R. Macleod, demonstrator of physiology 

 in the London Hospital Medical College, for the purpose of 

 enabling him to carry out researches in pathological chemistry. 

 The studentship is founded under a bequest to the Royal Society 

 by the late Sir William Mackinnon, Director-General of the 

 Medical Department of the Army, for the foundation and en- 

 dowment of prizes or scholarships for the special purpose of 

 furthering natural and physical science, and of furthering original 

 research and investigation in pathology. The studentship, for 

 which fourteen applications were received, is of the annual value 

 of 150/. 



The death is announced of Mr. J. Hamblin Smith, the well- 

 known mathematical coach at Cambridge and author of numerous 

 successful text-books of elementary mathematics. Mr. Smith 

 was seventy-four years of age. 



Prof. Pasijuale Villari has been elected president of the 

 Reale Accademia dei Lincei, of Rome, in succession to the late 

 Prof Messedaglia. 



An excursion to the Auvergne district has been arranged by 

 the Geologists' Association. The party will leave London on 

 the evening of Thursday, .\ugust 15, and will journey to 

 Clermont, which will be the centre of the excursions. The visit 

 will last a fortnight, and an excellent programme has been 

 arranged under the direction of Prof. Marcellin Boule, Prof P. 

 Glangeaud and M. J. Giraud. 



A telegram from Ponta Delgada to the Times states that 

 the International Meteorological Observatory in the Azores was 

 inaugurated on July 10 by the King of Portugal. The Portu- 

 guese Prime Minister, the Minister of Marine, the civil governor 

 of the islands and the different authorities, together with a 

 number of Portuguese officers and the officers of the British 

 cruisers Australia and Severn, were present at the ceremony. 



We are sorry to learn that the biological station which had 

 been kept on Lake Baikal for a year by the East Siberian 

 Geographical Society, at Goloustnaya, on the west coast, has 

 been closed. A rich collection of fishes, especially of Cottus 

 species, and a great variety of Gammarus species have, how- 

 ever, been secured, and the latter are in the hands of Prof 

 Sars, of Christiania. 



On Tuesday, July 16, a deputation of members of Parliament 

 and engineering and shipbuilding societies waited upon Lord 



