August i i, 1904] 



NATURE 



351 



«f affording- members and guests an opportunity of attend- 

 ing the international congresses in St. Louis during the 

 ^veek beginning Monday, September 19. Among the cities 

 to be visited in the course of the tour are Philadelphia, 

 Washington, Pittsburg, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, 

 Buffalo (Niagara Falls), and Boston, the last named to be 

 reached on Thursday, September 2Q. Ninety-four persons, 

 in addition to those resident in America, have already 

 signified their intention of attending the meetings. Further 

 particulars may be obtained from the general secretary of 

 the society, whose address is Palace Chambers, q Bridge 

 Street, Westminster. 



.■\ccoRDiNG to the Pioneer Mail, Allahabad, an irrigation 

 conference lasting four days will assemble at Simla on 

 September 5. .Some thirty papers on subjects covering a 

 large range of irrigation practice have been promised, and 

 it has been suggested that if time permits the following 

 subjects shall also be discussed : — (i) The most suitable 

 value of ■' N " in Kutter's formula, for use in designing 

 channels. (2) American practice and the two or three 

 notions described in Mr. Kennedy's recent report, para- 

 granhs 15-18, circulated as technical paper No. 157. 

 <.i) Distribution of water by measurement. As a basis for 

 <liscussion, the remarks of the Irrigation Commission in 

 vol. i., paragraphs 275-290, and Mr. Kennedy's memor- 

 andum, published on pp. 59-63 of the appendix, vol. iv. 

 ■of that report, may be studied. (4) Loss by absorption from 

 -channels. 



.\\ International Exposition of Hygiene is about to be 

 held in Paris. The following congresses will take place 

 in connection with it, viz. : — life-saving, from August 25 

 to 31; public health, from September 10 to 20; fisheries, 

 from October i to 10; social economy, from October 11 to 

 20; hygiene, from October 21 to 31 ; and tuberculosis at a 

 later date. 



A CONGRESS of climatotherapy and urban hygiene has 

 T)een arranged for at .\rcachon, France. It will be held 

 from April 24 to 29, 1905, under the presidency of Prof. 

 Kenaud, of Lyons. The general secretary is Dr. Laiesque, 

 of .Arcachon. Communications relative to the congress 

 ■should be addressed to Dr. Festal, Villa David, Arcachon. 



Os the initiation of the .Austrian Minister of Public In- 

 -struction, an International Congress of Botany is to be held 

 in Vienna from June 10 to 18, 1905. 



The NoToe Yremya states that the Medical Department 

 ■of the Caucasus has decided to disinfect all letters and 

 parcels coming from Persia to guard against the spread of 

 ■cholera from Persia to Russia, and that to assist the work 

 three sanitary bacteriological sections (each consisting of 

 ■a medical man, a medical womae, assistants and sanitary 

 ■officers) have been fitted out with bacteriological labor- 

 atories, disinfectants and drugs, at the expense of the Dis- 

 count and Loan Bank of Persia, which is a branch of the 

 Russian Imperial Bank. The work of organising these 

 bodies was carried out by the Institute of Experimental 

 Medicine. 



Indian papers report that a provincial museum is to be 

 ■erected at Rangoon, and the proposal has been made that 

 the collections at present in the Phayre Museum shall be 

 handed over to the Government to be deposited in the new 

 museum. It is also proposed that the proceeds of the sale 

 ■of old materials shall be applied either in adding to the 

 collection or towards the building of a portion of the 

 [provincial museum, and that the collection shall either be 

 i^O. 18 1 5, VOL. 70] 



kept together and be called the Phayre collection, or that 

 the name of Sir .Arthur Phayre shall be connected with 

 some part of the new building. 



The sum of 300!. recently voted by the New York State 

 Legislature for cooperative hydrographic work with the 

 LLS. Geological Survey will, it is stated in Science, be used 

 in maintaining records of the rise and fall, the ordinary 

 outflow, floods and droughts of many streams in the State. 

 The work has gradually grown until there is hardly a 

 section of the State in which some river is not systematically 

 measured, and at the present time the condition of streams 

 in more than fifty places in the State is regularly reported. 



It is stated in the American papers that an aquarium, 

 costing from 600,000/. to 800,000/., is to be established in 

 San Francisco bv Dr. H. Tevis in memory of his late father, 

 Mr. Lloyd Tevis, and that plans for the building are being 

 prepared. 



The County Council of .\berdeen has voted for another 

 year a grant of 200/. to enable the Agricultural Research 

 Association of .-Aberdeen to prosecute its inquiry further into 

 a function of latent plant food in soil. 



.Another line of steamers — the .Allan — is to have an ocean 

 newspaper published on board its vessels. The company 

 has, it is stated, arranged with the Marconi Company to 

 have the most important news transmitted to its boats cross- 

 ing the .Atlantic, both homeward and outward bound, as 

 soon as they come within effective distance. 



The railway department of the Grand Duchy of Baden 

 has, says Engineering, presented to the Museum of Master- 

 pieces of Natural Science and Technics at Munich an 

 interesting collection of drawings and plans from the early 

 days of railways. The collection includes diagrams of the 

 first passenger and goods cars of Baden from the years 1839 

 to 1841, of carriages of the Nurnberg-Fiirth Railway of 

 1837, of the Taunus Railway of 1841, of the London and 

 Birmingham line, and further detailed diagrams of the cars 

 of the Elberfeld experimental railway of the year 1832. 



In the latter part of 1902 arrangements were made for 

 the establishment of a mineralogical survey in Ceylon, to 

 last for a period of three years, the objects in view being 

 an examination of the occurrence of economic minerals in 

 the island with the view of their further development, and 

 the preparation of a report descriptive of the mineral re- 

 sources, as well as the arrangement of the geological collec- 

 tions in the museum and the accumulation of further speci- 

 mens, a duplicate series being reserved for exhibition at 

 the Imperial Institute. The report of the director of the 

 survey for 1903 has just reached us, and tells of much work 

 done during the period under consideration. In 1903 the 

 area examined amounted to 512 square miles, but, as is 

 pointed out, the work of the survey can only partially be 

 judged by area, as in the event of the examination of 

 important economic minerals being necessary a prolonged 

 stay in one area may be required. .At the conclusion of his 

 report the director asks for a special grant of 1000 rupees 

 to enable him to procure a collection of gems for the 

 museum, the present collection being poor. 



The nature and importance of the work accomplished by 

 the diVector of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, and his 

 staff may be judged from the report issued for last year, 

 from which it is evident that the scientific staff is kept 

 continuously busy in dealing with numerous inquiries and 

 with the investigation of various horticultural problems. 

 At the principal experiment station, Peradeniya, the treat- 



