May 12, 1904] 



NA TURE 



37 



playing with matches or fire. Two silver and four bronze 

 medals will also be given as additional awards for meri- 

 torious essays. The conditions can be obtained at the com- 

 mittee's offices, I Waterloo Place, London, S.W., upon 

 application by letter, enclosing a stamped addressed 

 envelope. 



Following the example of some other counties, a society 

 has been formed for the photographic record and survey 

 of Kent. The society is promoted by the South-Eastern 

 Union of Scientific Societies, and its objects are " to make 

 and preserve by permanent photographic prints, records of 

 the present condition of objects of arch;eological, historical, 

 or scientific interest • the geology, fauna, and flora of Kent ; 

 the customs and costumes of its people, notable events, and 

 portraits of its prominent men and women." Good promise 

 of support has already teen received, and a successful first 

 exhibition in June seems assured, but further help is desired. 

 The organising secretary (pro tt'in.) is Mr. H. Snowden 

 Ward, Hadlow, Kent. 



A CORRESPOXDENT of the Times directs attention to some 

 of the geographical work done by the late Admiral 

 Makaroff. In the early eighties of last century, Makaroff 

 wrote a brochure of 147 pages, with nine charts, on the 

 interchange of the waters of the Black Sea and 

 Mediterranean, which was published by the Russian 

 Academy of Sciences and awarded a full premium. On his 

 return from his voyage in the Vitiaz in 1893 he wrote a 

 report of his observations — 848 pages and 33 charts. The 

 report was likewise published and awarded a full premium 

 by the Russian Academy. In igoi he published an account 

 of his ice-breaking steamer the Yermak and her work under 

 the title of " The Ycnnak in the Ice." 



We are not concerned in these columns with the cause 

 or course of the war between Japan and Russia, but it is 

 impossible to read of the remarkable achievements of the 

 Japanese without remembering that they owe their success 

 to the encouragement of education and science. A writer 

 in the Daily Graphic points out that while probably 95 per 

 cent, of the Russian soldiers are illiterate, not more than 

 5 per cent, of the Japanese are illiterate, and he attributes 

 the Japanese successes to their intelligence and initiative. 

 It does not seem possible for the Russian soldiers to be 

 placed in dispersed positions to think and act for them- 

 selves. " .\s for the officers," the writer continues, " where 

 is genius to come from ? The broad, liberal-minded men have 

 been sent to Siberia, and all who have shown the character- 

 istic mark of leadership in its contempt for bureaucracy 

 have set a seal on their careers." Whatever may be said 

 abouf Russia, it is certain that Japan is now furnishing 

 the world with an example of " the influence of brain- 

 power on history." Last September Sir Norman Lockyer 

 referred in his British Association address to " the intel- 

 lectual effort made by Japan, not after a war, but to pre- 

 pare for one." Recent events have shown that the nation 

 which endows universities and encourages science is making 

 the best possible provision for military or naval conflict as 

 well as for in^lustrial competition. 



In the death of Dr. Charles Ricketts, at the advanced 

 age of eighty-six, geological science has lost an ardent local 

 worker, who practised as a physician for many years at 

 Birkenhead, and devoted his leisure to the study of geology, 

 more especially in Cheshire and Lancashire. He was twice 

 president of the Liverpool Geological Society, and most of 

 his geological papers were published in the Proceedings 

 of that society. An interesting article, which he communi- 



cated in 1883 to the Geological Magazine, was on the 

 influence of accumulation and denudation in causmg 

 oscillation of the earth's crust; in this he embodied deduc- 

 tions made and published by him as early as 1865. Dr. 

 Ricketts was for many years a regular attendant at the 

 meetings of the British Association. 



The fossil foot-prints of the Jura-Trias of North America 

 form the subject of a memoir by Dr. R. S. Lull (Mem. 

 Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. v., No. 11, April). Two groups 

 of foot-prints have been .found impressed on the ancient 

 shales and sandstones, the one bipedal and the other of 

 quadrupedal gait. Both groups are considered to belong 

 to dinosaurs. These are the only vertebrates the gait of 

 which when erect could have been a true walk or run with 

 alternating steps, which without exception the bipedal 

 tracks show, there being no instance of the record of a 

 jumping form. Of the truly quadrupedal forms, those re- 

 ferred to Batrachopus may have belonged to a true dinosaur 

 which had retained, among other primitive characters, the 

 ancestral quadrupedal gait. The mode of progression was 

 a true walk like that of a mammal, and not the crawl of 

 modern reptiles. 



The Geological Survey has issued a colour-printed drift 

 map of the area around London, on the scale of one inch 

 to a mile, in four sheets, price is. 6d. each. The execution 

 of this map has been carried out at the Ordnance Survey 

 Office, and the colour printing is in all respects excellent. 

 The map is intended to replace the old hand-coloured geo- 

 logical map of London and its environs, the cost of which 

 was 30s. This reduction in price will be a boon to all 

 interested in the geology of the metropolitan district. The 

 new map does not cover quite so large an area as the old 

 one, but it extends on the north to Watford, Enfield, High 

 Beech and Kelvedon Hatch; on the east to Brentwood, 

 Upminster, West Thurrock, Greenhithe and Kingsdown ; 

 on the south to Shoreham, Croydon, Sutton, Ewell and 

 Byfleet; and on the west to Chertsey, Staines, Uxbridge 

 and Rickmansworth. The results of a recent six-inch survey 

 of the Thames valley deposits have been incorporated on 

 the new map, the brickearths not having previously been 

 accurately defined. 



We have leceived from the president of the International 

 Aeronautical Committee a summary of the balloon and kite 

 ascents made in various countries during the months of 

 January to March. Among the highest altitudes reached 

 we mav mention the ascents from Paris, 15,000 metres; 

 Pavia '13,000 metres; Strassburg, 15,500 metres; Munich, 

 13 000 metres ; Pavlovsk, 18,960 metres ; Guadalajara, 

 I3'220 metres ; and ZUrich, 14,430 metres. Mr. Dines 's kite 

 at'oxshott attained an altitude of iioo metres. The meteor- 

 ological results are reserved for future discussion; un- 

 fortunately several of the records have not been recovered. 



The daily weather report issued by the Meteorological 

 Office on May 4 contains a small inset chart showing the 

 total amount of rainfall recorded in the United Kingdom 

 in the seventeen weeks ended April 30, together with the 

 percentage of the average amount. In all districts except- 

 ing the north-east of England the fall has been in excess 

 of the average. In the extreme north (Scotland) the amount 

 is 121 per cent, of the average, and in the extreme south 

 (Channel Islands) 144 per cent. ; in the north-west of 

 England it is 122 per cent. In Ireland the amount is 126 per 

 cent, in the north and 116 per cent, in the south. In the 

 east and north-east of England the fall has been practically 

 normal. 



no: 1802, VOL. 70] 



