282 



NA TURE 



[JijLY 2 1, 1904 



terrestrial physics; on May i, 1906, a Selys Longchiamps 

 prize for researches on the Belgian fauna; on December 31, 

 1904, a Th^ophile Gluge prize for physiology ; and in 1906 

 a Fran9ois Deruyts prize for higher synthetic or analytic 

 geometry. 



Mr. Balfour presided on July 14 at the annual dinner 

 of the Royal Economic Society, of which he is vice-president. 

 In proposing the toast " The Royal Economic Society," he 

 said in the course of his remarks : — " If a man of science 

 once lets the public think that he is speaking not in the 

 interests of his science, but in the interests of his party, if 

 he once allows the view to get abroad that his expression 

 of opinion may have its origin in his scientific views, but 

 has a double parentage, and that the scientific views are 

 in some sense moulded in conformity with our political 

 differences, his whole authority from that moment will 

 absolutely vanish. So far as political economy is a science 

 at all — and I am the last person to deny it that proud title 

 to distinction — it must be absolutely international in its 

 character. People talk of an English, a German, a French, 

 or an American school of political economy. In so far as 

 they talk in that way they show conclusively that political 

 economy to that extent has not yet thoroughly earned its 

 title to a position among the sciences. There is no such 

 thing as English physics as distinguished from German 

 physics, or German mathematics as distinguished from 

 French mathematics. I do not say there may not be certain 

 schools having the impress of great teachers belonging to 

 one or the other nationality, but qua science and as a science 

 political economy must be, and is, and will be, absolutely 

 international in its character. Let everybody who has the 

 chance, not only treat economic problems in a strictly 

 objective spirit, but let him make it clear that that is the 

 spirit in which he is trying to treat them. Thus and thus 

 only will the student and the investigator obtain that 

 authority over the changing forces of ordinary public opinion 

 which it should be the proudest boast of men of science to 

 obtain, which if they truly pursue science in a scientific 

 spirit they have always obtained in the past, and I 

 cannot doubt for a moment they will always obtain in the 

 future." 



The second part of vol. v. of Aiuwtationes Zoologicac 

 Japonetises contains the description of a new deep-sea 

 polychscte annelid by Prof. A. Isuka, additional notes on 

 Japanese cicadas by Prof. S. Matsumura, and the first part 

 of a biological and geological essay on the island of 

 Hokkaido by Mr. E. Klocke. 



In reply to a question of Mr. Morrell, not answered orally 

 in the House of Commons, Sir W. Anson stated that the 

 TBoard of Education is aware that those interested in 

 agricultural investigation recognise the value of the drift 

 maps prepared by the Geological Survey as a basis for soil 

 maps. Superficial deposits are being mapped in all districts 

 where work is going on in connection with the survey. 

 Thirty-five 6-inch maps of North Staffordshire have been 

 published with drift, and others of South Wales and of the 

 area around Leicester are in course of preparation for publi- 

 cation. The board does not contemplate the publication of 

 drift maps on the 6-inch scale for the entire country, but 

 manuscript maps of any part surveyed on this scale may be 

 obtained at the cost of copying, and whatever information 

 with reference to superficial deposits the officers of the 

 survey have shown upon their field maps of other parts of 

 the United Kingdom is available for reference at the offices 

 of the Geological Survey. 



NO. 18 1 2, VOL. 70] 



In La Nature of July 9, M. J. R. Plumandon, of the Puy 

 de Dome Observatory, contributed an interesting article on 

 the dryness of the air. " Relative humidity," or the per- 

 centage of saturation of the air with aqueous vapour, plays- 

 a more important part in meteorology than " absolute 

 humidity "; its variations produce or dissipate clouds, and 

 give rise to fine or wet weather, it is always irregularly 

 disseminated in the atmosphere, its diurnal variation follow- 

 ing inversely the range of temperature, and its annual 

 variation generally exhibits a maximum in winter and a 

 minimum in summer. But almost everywhere it exhibits 

 another minimum in spring-time which frequently exceeds 

 that of summer. The minima, or in other words the 

 periods of dryness of the air, present the greatest interest, 

 owing to their irregularity both as regards date and 

 intensity. M. Plumandon shows by means of very clear 

 diagrams that the annual minimum is more marked, and 

 occurs at varying periods, according to the greater altitude 

 of the station. Near Paris, at a height of 50 metres, it 

 always occurs in spring, while on the summit of the Pic 

 du Midi (2859 metres) it occurs at all seasons. At Toulouse 

 (194 metres) the greatest dryness of the afr occurs nearly 

 always in summer, but sometimes also in spring. .\t 

 Clermont-Ferrand (338 metres) it occurred in spring in 

 twenty-one years out of twenty-five, and at the summit of 

 the Eiffel Tower (also 338 metres) it occurred in March or 

 .^pril in seven years out of eleven. On the Puy de D6me 

 {1467 metres) it took place in twenty-one years out of twenty- 

 two during the cold season, between September 20 and 

 March i. The diagrams also show the intensity of the 

 minima in the various months. 



M. PoTiER has presented a large and valuable collection 

 of pamphlets and works on physics to the French Physical 

 Society for distribution among any members of the society 

 who are interested in the particular branches of which they 

 treat. 



In several recent numbers both in this and last year's 

 volumes of the Bulletin international of the Cracow 

 Academy, Prof. Ladislaus Natanson discusses the pheno- 

 menon of accidental double refraction in liquids and its 

 connection with the theory of relaxation. The author 

 further criticises papers by M. St. Zaremba, who also- 

 contributes a number of writings on the same subject to 

 the same journal. 



In the June number of the Journal of the Royal Micro- 

 scopical Society, Mr. Keith Lucas describes a microscope 

 in which the usual planed sides of the body-tube and limb 

 are replaced by geometric slides. The instrument thus 

 involves an adaptation to biological and other microscopes 

 of a device the use of which has hitherto been generally 

 restricted to measuring microscopes. 



From Messrs. Ulrico Hoepli, of Milan, we have received 

 the latest issue of their " Biblioteca scientifico-politecnica," 

 a catalogue extending to more than three hundred pages, 

 and comprising scientific and technical works and periodicals 

 published both in Italy and in other countries, up to the 

 end of 1903. In all cases where foreign works have been 

 translated into Italian the translation is mentioned in this 

 catalogue. 



.A SECOND and enlarged edition has been issued of Prof, 

 ."^ugusto Righi's small book on "La moderna teoria dei 

 fenomeni fisici," in which the author describes modern 

 views on radio-activity, ions, and electrons. The book 

 forms the third of a series published by Nicola Zanichelli, 

 of Bologna, under the title " Attualiti scientifiche." It 

 extends over 165 pages, and contains a fairly complete 

 bibliography of the subject. 



