OCTOBEK to, 1901] 



NA TURE 



589 



ihey had developed out of a couple of the more posterior pairs 

 of external gills, the girdles to which they were attached 

 repiesenting the skeleton of the corresponding branchial arches. 



Mr. Kerr in the course of his paper controverted the view 

 that the external gills were secondarily developed adaptive 

 structures in the groups in which they occur ; he also dealt with 

 the difficulty that most true external gills contain no cartila- 

 ginous axis, pointing to the barbels of Xenoptis with their cartil- 

 aginous axis, and to the rod of cartilage found by Budgett 

 projecting into the base of the external gill of the hyoid arch 

 of the young crossopterygian. 



Tuesday afternoon's meeting of the Section opened with a 

 lantern lecture by Major R. Ro.ss on the story of malaria. He 

 dealt in detail with the history of the various stages in the dis- 

 covery and establishment of the mosquito theory, from the first 

 fact, the discovery of the malarial pigment in 1S49, to Manson's 

 crucial experiment in 1900. He then passed to the prevention 

 of malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases, and gave an 

 account of the experiments now in progress in Sierra Leone and 

 Lagos. 



The session ended with three exhibitions — Dr. Francisco P. 

 Moreno showing photographs of fossils in the La Plata Museum, 

 Prof. Gilson a new sounding and ground-collecting apparatus, 

 and Dr. J. Rankin a new orientating apparatus for the Cambridge 

 microtome. 



During the last few days of the meeting three of the zebra 

 hybrids bred by Prof. Ewart were on view in the quadrangle 

 (medical) adjoining the sectional meeting room. These 

 hybrids were : (i) " Remus," the largest of the three, was born 

 May, 1897, dam a 14-hands bay half-bred Irish pony. The 

 mane of " Remus " was all but removed last April. {2) " Sir 

 John," the small stout one, was born June, 1899. His dam is 

 a yellow and white Iceland pony. "Sir John" probably 

 repriduces fairly accurately the coloration of the primeval 

 common ancestor of the horses and zebras. (3) " Birgus," the 

 slender hybrid, was foaled May, 1900. His dam is a chestnut 

 14-hands polo pony. In 189S this polo pony had twin hybrids, 

 one of which goes extremely well and quietly in harness. 



It is impossible to conclude even a brief account of the zoology 

 of the meeting without at least a passing reference to the e.xcellent 

 volume on the natural history of Glasgow and the west of 

 Scotland issued under the title " Fauna, Flora and Geology of 

 the Clyde Area " as one of the three handbooks prepared by 

 the local committee. A large number of specialists have 

 collaborated in the production of the lists and articles, the result 

 being a work of great completeness and of more than local 

 interest, and of permanent value. 



GEOGRAPHY AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



"^pHE work of Section E at the meeting at Glasgow main- 

 ■*• tained the feature which has been noticeable for the last 

 two or three years; the number of "popular" papers was 

 comparatively small, while papers presenting the results of 

 detailed research, or laying down foundations of future work, 

 formed a distinct majority. Although the change has led to a 

 marked diminution in the average numbers attending the meet- 

 ings of the Section, it must be regarded as satisfactory, inas- 

 much as it indicates an increase in the annual output of scientific 

 work by geographers in this country, and the fact is all the 

 more gratifying in view of the difficulties in the way of geo- 

 graphical research, to which Dr. Mill drew attention in his 

 presidential address. Dr. Mill laid his finger upon the true 

 reason why " the few attempts which have been made in this 

 country to promote the study of geography or to diminish the 

 discouragements to geographical research have had but slight 

 success" when he pointed out that "amongst the not incon- 

 siderable number of teachers of geography in the universities 

 and colleges of Great liritain Iheieis not one man who receives 

 a salary on which he can live in decent comfort so as to devote 

 all his time, or a substantial part of it, to geographical research ; 

 and the same is true of every official of all the geographical 

 societies." Until there are properly equipped centres offering 

 adequate opportunities for research as well as teaching, we 

 cannot expect students of geography to receive the intellectual 

 stimulus which research alone can give, nor can we develop a 

 system of geographical teaching suited to our special educational 



NO. 1667, VOL. 64] 



needs and methods, and capable of satisfactory extension to our 

 schools. 



Following the delivery of the president's address on Thursday 

 morning, Mr. E. G. Ravenstein read a paper on Martin Behaim. 

 Martin Behaim fills a place of some prominence in the history 

 of geography on three grounds : firstly, the historian Joao de 

 Barros, writing in 1539, stales that he was a pupil of Regio- 

 montanus, and was appointed a member of a committee which 

 devised a method of " navigating by the sun " ; secondly, 

 Behaim claims to have commanded a vessel in Cao's second 

 expedition ; and thirdly, during a visit to Niirnberg in 1490-93, 

 he superintended the manufacture of a terrestrial globe, which 

 survives to this day. Mr. Ravenstein seriously doubts the first 

 claim, rejects the second, and fully admits the third. 



The tenth and final report of the Committee on the climate 

 of Tropical .Africa was also presented. In this report, drawn 

 up by Mr. Ravenstein, abstracts of the meteorological obser- 

 vations received during the year are published, and a review is 

 given of the work of the Committee since its first appointment 

 in 1891. In completing its labours, the Committee recommends 

 that where local provision is not made for the publication of 

 observations, the registers should be forwarded in future (through 

 the Foreign or Colonial Office) to the Meteorological Council 

 or to the secretary of the Royal Meteorological Society. Copies 

 of the " Hints to Observers," published by the Committee, may 

 be obtained from the secretary of the Royal Meteorological 

 Society. 



Dr. A. J. Herbertson read a paper on the morphological 

 divisions of Europe, in which he pointed out the inadequacy 

 of the ordinary physical map for many of the purposes of the 

 geographer. The paper was illustrated by a new "morpho- 

 logical " map of Europe, based primarily on the work of Suess, 

 in which Europe was divided into physical regions, taking into 

 account, not merely configuration, but composition and structure, 

 and by a few well-chosen examples, such as the comparative 

 structure of the south-east of England, the Seine basin, and the 

 German Jura, Dr. Herbert.son showed the undoubted value of 

 maps of this type for purposes of both research and teaching. 



The first paper in the afternoon was one by Mr. G. G. 

 Chisholm, on geographical conditions affecting British trade. 

 After illustrating his contention that geographical conditions, 

 although often disregarded, were really important factors to be 

 taken into account, by pointing out that Glasgow remained un- 

 important, both commercially and industrially, until the develop- 

 ment of Transatlantic trade, Mr. Chisholm discussed the effects 

 which improvements in means of communication, electric trans- 

 mission of power, and other modern developments, are likely to 

 produce in the trade of Great Britain as compared with that of 

 other countries. 



Prof. Alleyne Ireland read a paper on the influence of geo- 

 graphical environment on political evolution, in which he 

 discussed the possibilities of native government within the 

 tropics, concluding that while the natives of the tropics are not 

 deficient in intellectual power, their "climatic discipline" 

 renders them unfitted to play the part of legislators or responsible 

 administrators, or to maintain a government sufficiently stable 

 to admit of proper commercial development. 



The Rev. Thomas Lewis gave an account of journeys in 

 Portuguese Congo, in the course of which he has collected much 

 valuable topographical information. 



Friday morning was devoted to the geography of Scotland, 

 and the proceedings afforded gratifying evidence that in spite of 

 difficulties Scottish geographers are prosecuting rese.irch along 

 various lines with vigour and success. 



The first paper was one by Prof. G. F. Scott Elliot, on the 

 effects of vegetation in the Valley and Plain of the Clyde. The 

 general characters of the Clyde Valley in seven separate divisions 

 were described— the sub-alpine, heather and peat, sheep pasture 

 and arable districts ; the Falls of Clyde canyon, the valley below 

 the falls, and the flat and alluvial plains — and the successive 

 stages in the formation of the valley slope were traced in a 

 number of instances. It was shown that a perfect series of 

 transitions can be found from the vertical scaur cut by the river 

 to the continuous steep slope characteristic of the neighbourhood, 

 and that the formation of the slope, in its various stages, was 

 controlled by the vegetation. 



Miss Marion Newbigin gave an account of a scheme which 

 has been undertaken by the Scottish Natural History Society at 

 the suggestion of Sir John Murray. It is proposed, firstly, to 

 arrange, in a readily available form, references to papers already 



