388 



NA TURE 



[August i8, 1904 



It was arranged some time ago to promote a public 

 memorial to Sir Thomas Browne, the author of " Religio 

 Medici," and the executive committee to which was 

 entrusted the work of carrying out the scheme has com- 

 missioned Mr. Henry Pegram, A.R.A., to make a statue 

 for erection in the Haymarket, Norwich. 



It is the intention of the Senate of the University of 

 Heidelberg to establish a gold medal in honour of Prof. 

 Kuno Fischer, and to award the same every five years for 

 work on the history of philosophy in Germany. 



According to the Journal of the American Medical 

 Association, the sum of 500/. has been placed with the 

 authorities of the University of Heidelberg to award a prize 

 every three years for the best therapeutic achievement during 

 the previous three years published first in German literature. 

 The donor is Prof. Czerny, and the gift is in honour of 

 the clinician Adolf Kussmaul, on whose birthday the prize 

 is to be awarded. 



A MOVEMENT is on foot in Bombay, according to the 

 Pioneer Mail, to provide a memorial to Mr. J. N. Tata, the 

 munificent donor of the research institute in India, and a 

 preliminary meeting to further the object was recently 

 held, at which a provisional memorial committee was 

 formed. It was resolved to call a public meeting to decide 

 as to the best way of perpetuating the memory of Mr. Tata. 



The title of grand officier de la Legion d'honneur has 

 been conferred upon M. Tillaux, president of the Paris 

 Academy of Medicine. Prof. Blondlot, well known for his 

 researches with iT-rays, has been promoted to be officier, and 

 M. J. Li^geois becomes chevalier. 



According to a Reuter telegram of Sunday last from 

 Athens, violent and repeated earthquake shocks have been 

 felt in the island of Patmos, causing severe damage. 

 Several houses were destroyed in the villages. 



The Alexandria correspondent of the Daily Chronicle re- 

 ports that a severe earthquake, moving in a north-westerly 

 direction, was felt at Suez early on Monday morning last. 



The si.xth International Zoological Congress opened at 

 Berne on Monday last under the presidency of Prof. Studer, 

 of Berne. The next congress will be held at Boston, Mass., 

 in 1907. 



The annual meeting of the Association of German Men 

 of Science and Medical Practitioners is to be held this year 

 at Breslau from September 18 to 24. 



The department of medicine (under the chairmanship of 

 Prof. Osier) of the forthcoming International Congress of 

 Arts and Science which is to take place in connection with 

 the St. Louis Exposition from September 19 to 25, is to be 

 divided into the following twelve sections : — Public health, 

 preventive medicine, pathology, therapeutics and pharma- 

 cology, internal medicine, neurology, psychiatry, surgery, 

 gynaecology, ophthalmology, otology and laryngology, and 

 paediatrics. According to the' Britisli Medical Journal the 

 following English medical men will take part in the pro- 

 ceedings, viz. : — Major Ronald Ross, C.B., F.R.S., in the 

 section of preventive medicine ; Sir Lauder Brunton, F.R.S., 

 in that of therapeutics and pharmacology ; Prof. Clifford 

 Allbutt, F.R.S., in that of internal medicine; and Sir Felix 

 Semon, C.V.O., in that of otology and laryngologv. 



The New York Board of Health has voted the sum of 

 2000!. to defray the expenses of a commission of e.xperts 

 whose duty it shall be to inquire into the prevalence of 

 pneumonia, and to suggest means of checking the evil. 



NO. 18 I 6, VOL. 70] 



According to the Westminster Gazette, the formation of 

 a National League for Physical Education and Improve- 

 ment has been suggested, the object of which is to render 

 assistance to all the bodies at present working for the 

 health of the people to extend the benefits of training 

 throughout the country. The movement is the outcome of 

 the recently issued report of the committee on physical 

 deterioration, upon which we commented last week, and 

 it has, we understand, the support of many influential 

 medical men and others. 



An exhibition of mineral products and hydraulic machinery 

 is to be held in Barcelona next month, and the time for 

 receiving applications for space from intending exhibitors 

 has been extended up to August 31. Exhibits themselves 

 coming from abroad will be received even after the ex- 

 hibition has been opened. 



It is reported in Engineering that the Government has 

 decided to establish a wireless telegraph station on the 

 Marsden, about three miles from South Shields. The 

 station, which is to be primarily used for securing com- 

 munication with passing warships, will be erected on the 

 edge of the cliffs, which command a view north and south 

 for miles along the coast. 



It is stated in the Engineer that experiments with electric 

 motive power are to be carried out on the State railways 

 of Sweden, and that to cover the cost of the same the sum 

 of 23,500/. has been granted. The experiments are to be 

 begun at the beginning of next year. 



Dr. M.ax Uhle, who for some months past has been 

 carrying on archaeological explorations on the coast of Peru 

 for the department of anthropology of the University of 

 California, has, says Science, made new excavations at 

 Ancon, in several parts of the so-called necropolis, with the 

 view of determining the relative ages of the cultures repre- 

 sented by the different kinds of mummies and objects. 

 After abundant material for this purpose had been obtained, 

 excavations were made a short distance south of Ancon. 

 Here, in a hitherto unsuspected deposit free from mummies, 

 remains of an early culture distinct in character from any 

 other in Peru were found. After completing his investi- 

 gations at this spot. Dr. Uhle proceeded northward along 

 the coast towards Supe or beyond. 



M. Doumergue, the French Colonial Minister, has just 

 sent, as a circular letter addressed to the governors of the 

 different French colonies, a note drawn up by the Minister 

 of Public Instruction pointing out the special interest 

 attached to the study of the properties of radio-active sub- 

 stances. The governors are invited to undertake inquiries 

 with a view to the discovery in the French colonies of 

 mineral deposits containing radium. It is hoped that the 

 governors will be able to secure the interested assistance of 

 travellers and engineers, and in this way succeed in finding 

 such mineral veins. 



The Port Erin Biological Station has been more fully 

 occupied by students during 1904 than in any previous 

 season. Thirty-two workers have occupied tables since 

 Easter, and at times the accommodation and resources of 

 the institution have been severely taxed. The aquarium 

 attached to the institution is becoming increasingly popular 

 with the public. On one day last week (the record so far) 

 4S6 visitors were admitted. 



Wireless telegraphy is now being turned to practical use 

 for weather forecasting, and if advance is to be made in 

 our knowledge of the law of storms, it is probably in this 



