October 24, 1901] 



NA TURE 



635 



Meteorological Office ; (4) that the Meteorological Council do 

 arrange with the police authorities for observations to be taken 

 at selected positions outside the County of London ; (5) that all 

 responsibility as to the conduct of the investigation and any 

 published results of such investigation do rest with the 

 Meteorological Council ; (6) that a copy of the complete 

 returns and twelve copies of a report thereon by the Meteoro- 

 logical Council be supplied to the London County Council, 

 and that the London County Council do contribute a sum of 

 250/. for the investigation." The steps about to be taken are 

 most important, and should certainly lead to very valuable 

 results. 



The second annual Huxley lecture of the Anthropological 

 Institute will be delivered by Mr. Francis Galton, F. R.S.,at 

 the rooms of the Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi, on 

 the 29th inst. , at S. 30 p.m. The subject chosen by the lecturer 

 is " The Possible Improvement of the Human Breed under the 

 Existing Conditions of Law and Sentiment." Tickets may be 

 obtained on application at the Institute, 3, Hanover Square, W. 



The Frankland memorial lecture will be delivered before the 

 Chemical Society by Prof H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., on Thurs- 

 day next at S.30 p.m. 



The opening meeting of the session of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers for the presentation of premiums and the 

 delivery of the presidential address will take place on Thurs- 

 day, November 21, instead of on November 1433 was previously 

 announced. 



Arraxgements are being made for the next congress and 

 exhibition of the Sanitary Institute to be held at Manchester in 

 September, 1902. Earl Egerton of Tatton has accepted the 

 presidentship, and the use of the Owens College buildings has 

 been granted by the senate for the sectional meetings and as 

 reception rooms. The exhibition will be held in the St. James's 

 Hall. 



The eleventh Congress of Russian Naturalists and Medical 

 Men will be held in St. Petersburg from January 2 to 12, 1902. 

 There will be sections devoted to mathematics and mechanics, 

 astronomy and geodesy, physics, physical geography, chemistry, 

 geology and mineralogy, botany, zoology, anatomy and physi- 

 ology, geography (with a subsection relating to statistics), 

 medicine and hygiene, and agronomy. 



The next Interniational Geographical Congress will be held 

 in 1904 in Washington, under the auspices of the National 

 Geographic Society, the president of the latter. Dr. Graham 

 Bell, having just heard from Baron von Richthofen, president 

 of the executive committee of the last Congress, of the accept- 

 ance of the invitation to Washington which had been tendered 

 by the Society. In consequence of the decision of the execu- 

 tive, and in view of the coming Congress, the October issue of 

 the National Geographic Magazine contains a brief account of 

 the meetings of the Congress which have already taken place, 

 and gives a list of possible excursions in America, each of which 

 would be a geographical lesson. 



The new bacteriological department of the Royal Infirmary, 

 Bristol, will be opened to-morrow by Sir Frederick Treves, 

 K.C.V.O., who will afterwards distribute the prizes to the 

 successful students in the Faculty of Medicine of University 

 College, Bristol-, and preside at the annual dinner of the Medical 

 School. 



P.^RIS was greatly excited on Saturday last when M. Santos 

 Dumont, with his seventh balloon, successfully rounded the 

 Eiffel Tower and returned to the shed at St. Cloud, thirty 

 seconds within the thirty minutes allotted by the Committee of 

 the Deutsch Prize. At the time of the voyage the wind, accord- 

 NO. 1669, VOL, 64] 



ing to the Times correspondent, was blowing at the rate of 

 twelve or thirteen miles an hour. At one period the balloon, 

 travelling at the rate of thirty miles an hour, appeared as though 

 it would collide with the Tower ; the aeronaut, however, was 

 able to control its movements without any apparent difficulty, 

 and, as has been said, the journey was accomplished within the 

 time limit agreed upon. M. Santos Dumont is to be congratu- 

 lated upon the success which has at last attended the untiring 

 efforts put forward by him towards the solution of the problem 

 of aerial navigation. 



The death occurred last week, in his fifty-sixth year, of Dr. 

 James Foulis, of Edinburgh. In 1872, at the suggestion of 

 Prof, (now Sir William) Turner, he began to study the structure 

 of the ovary and the development of the ova, more especially 

 in reference to the then recently published work of Waldeyer. 

 In 1874 the degree of M.D. and the gold medal for a thesis on 

 this subject was conferred on him. The following year, having 

 made many additional observations on the anatomy of the ovary, 

 he contributed a paper to the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 

 the development of the ova in man and other mammalia, which 

 was published in the Transaclions of the Society. Dr. Foulis 

 published other papers, and in 1S75 obtained the first award 

 of the Prof. John Goodsir memorial prize for the encouragement 

 of the study of anatomy and physiology. 



We regret to have to record the death of Canon Isaac 

 Taylor, which took place on Friday last in his seventy-third 

 year. Canon Taylor was the author of, among other works, 

 " Words and Places," " Names and their Histories," " Etrus- 

 can Researches," " Greeks and Goths, a study in the Runes," 

 and "The Alphabet, an account of the History and Develop- 

 ment of Letters." He was one of the founders of the Alpine 

 Club, and took great interest in gardening and entomology. 



The death is announced of Privy Councillor Maercker, pro- 

 fessor of agricultural chemistry at the University of Halle. 



An interesting and valuable gift has just been made to the 

 Ashmolean Natural History Society of Oxfordshire by Mr. 

 Henry WiUett, of Brighton, and consists of a piece of ground 

 about five acres in extent, comprising woodland, marsh bog and 

 water, which contains many local and rare specimens of animal 

 and vegetable life. It is the wish of the donor that the land 

 shall be known as "The Ruskin Plot," and that it shall be kept 

 for all time in its natural condition. In order to ensure this a 

 trust is being prepared which will vest the plot in the following 

 trustees : — The Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, the Vice- 

 Chancellor of the University, the Radclifie Librarian, the Hope 

 professor of zoology, the Shetardian professor of botany, and 

 the donor. The ground, in question is situated at Cothill, near 

 Abingdon, Berks, and is meant more for observation than for 

 collecting purposes. It is hoped that a systematic record, year 

 by year, of a piece of ground untouched by cultivation will be of 

 considerable interest. 



At this moment, when the metropolis is menaced by small- 

 pox, the founding of a league which has for its objects the 

 spread of a wider knowledge of the benefits derived from 

 vaccination and a better understanding among the general 

 public of the advantages arising from preventive medicine and 

 practical sanitation, cannot but be deemed opportune. The 

 Vaccination League has, we understand, the support of Mr. 

 Jonathan Hutchinson, Sir Alfred Garrod, Prof Charles Stewart 

 and many other medical men. 



A GREAT landslip has occurred in Barbados, of the extent, 

 it is said, of 500 acres. The Boscobel district plantations and 

 buildings have been wrecked, eighty-five houses have been swept 

 into the sea, and 400 people are homeless. Roads have disap- 

 peared and all the landmarks are gone. 



