ARY 30, 1 9 19] 



NATURE 



429 



though the largiol individual crvsl il is nol ths largest 

 known mass ol diamond, f.01 .1 piece oJ "carbot 



1 1 i 1 1 4_: lym grams was found in 1893 in Bahia, 



Bi azil. I hes ti d in gi ams ti 



avoid any confusion between thi old caral weights 

 and the m. h -fifth gram) now in usi . 



Sir Rickman J. Godleb, Bart., has been elected 

 presi 1 and Midland Instituti 



\\'i i- announcement ol thi death 



on Januar; 25, ai fifty-ow years of age, ol I>i G. S. 

 Corstorphint-, principal of the South African School 

 of Mines and ["echnology, Johannesburg. 



Mk. F. ECnab, of the Bureau ol Entomology, I ,S. 

 Department of Agriculture, who died in Novi 

 last, bi in. .iiln.l his librar) and mological collec- 

 tions to the U.S. National Museum; he also left a 

 sum of m1.11> \ to thi I 11 omological Society of 

 Washington for it- publication fund. 



Sw Ai t.km Strahan, directot ol the Geological 



, arid Eng. \ ice-Admiral G. 1 .- Goodwin havi 



been orarj members ol the Institution of 



1. uin Technologists, and Dr. A. E. Dunstan 



and Mr. W. R. Ormand\ members ..I thi council ol 



the institution. 



Tin third lecture ..f the series arranged l>> the 

 Industrial Reconstruction Council will fee held in the 

 Saddlers' Hall, Cheapside, E.C.2, on Wednesday, 

 Pebruarj 5. The chair will be taken at 4.;'. by the 

 Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of London, and a lecture 

 entitled " rhe Industrial Awakening" will be deliveued 

 1... \li Ernest J P. Benn, chairman of the council. 

 Applications foi tickets should bi made to the Secre- 

 tary, I.K.C, a and 4 Tudor Strict, K.C.j. 



The death of Sir James Sawyet on January 27, in 

 his seventy-fifth year, is announced. Sir James was 

 professor of pathology at Queen's College, Birming- 

 ham, from 1875 to [878, when hi became professot 

 of materia medica and therapeutics, a chair which 

 he resigned in 1885 on being appointed to the pro- 

 fessorship of medicine, which post he occupied until 

 1891. H. was the author of many papers in medical 

 licals, and of a number of volumes on medical 

 subjects, including a valuabli work entitle. 1 "Con- 

 tributiot 'I Medicine." 



\ 1 \ 1 I in sdaj , Fi bi ii:n ; t. Prof. I . I . Mai Gregor- 

 Morcis will delivei the first ol a course of two lectures 

 at the Royal Institution on "Study of Electric ires 

 and their Application-.'' On Thursday, February 6, 

 Dr. W. Wilson will give the first of two lectures on 

 the movements of the sun, earth, and moon, illustrated 

 by a new astronomical model. The Friday evening 

 rse on February 7 will be delivered by Prof. 

 |. I,. \,|ani; ch in its relationship to 



the war: and .on February 14 bj Prof. Cargill G. 

 Knott on earthquake waves and the interior of the 

 earth. 



Tin annual meetings of the Institution of Naval 

 Architects will be held on Wednesday, April 9, and the 

 two following days, in the hall of the Renal S01 



The Right Hon. 

 the Earl of Durham, K.G., president, will occupy the 



\ gold medal will be awarded by the council 

 to anv p.rson not being a membi 1 01 assoi iate member 

 of council who shall at thi forthcoming meetings read 



per which, in the judgment of the council, is 



ional merit. The council will 

 also offer a premium of books 01 instruments to the 

 reader of anv paper, with thi same reservations, 

 which, in the judgment of the council, merits thi- 



distinction. 



NO. 



'570. VOL. 1 02 J 



Sir R. II. [NGLIS PaLGRAVE, whose death on 

 January 25, in his ninety-second year, we regret to 

 announce, was ,, distinguished authority on econoi 

 and statistics, and hi author of a monumental "Dic- 

 tionary of Political Economy" published in three 

 volumes, as well a- : i largi number of other books 

 lab il subji ' i i editor of the Economist 



from 1877 to 1883, was ele. ed a fellow of the Royal 

 Society in 1882, was president of the Section of 

 Economic Science and Stat tii ol the British Asso- 

 1 iation at the Southpot in 1883, and re- 



1 eived his knighthood in- 190 eatet part of 



his life was devoted to the Ml hanking, of 



which, with economics, he was a profound student, 



and to the literature of which he made main 



tributions of high distinction. 



Bl the sudden death ol Mr. Win. Allingham on 

 I .inn .m -• 1 lie Meteorological Office- loses its principal 

 assistant in the Marine Department. Mr. Allingham 

 began his career at sea, but left in eacly life 

 to in accident, and was for some time afterwards 

 employed al the Admiralty. In 1875, at the age of 

 twenty-five, hi joined the marine branch of the 

 Meteorological Offrci , and for some years prior to his 

 death was chief assistant. Mr. Allingham was a 

 prolifii writer; he was the author of "A Manual of 

 Marine Meteorology," and joint author of a volume 

 on "Navigation" with Capt. Wilson-Barker, com- 

 mander of II.M.s. Worcester. He also edited the 

 later editions of Lecky's "Wrinkles in Practical 

 Navigation." Re was a Frequent contributor to the 

 Liverpool Journal of Commerce; the Nautical Maga- 

 ine, the Syren, and other shipping papers. Mr. 

 Allingham's work was of a speciall) technical 

 .lii. 11 tei. and much which was unsigned has beet] 

 used In the Naw and the mercantile marine, 



We have received the annual report of Livingstone 

 College for the year 1917-18. The college provides for 

 the training of those who intend to be foreign mis- 

 sionaries in the elements of medicine and surgerv. 

 Since \ugust, 1915, the college has been utilised as 

 pital for wounded soldiers, and supported bv 

 voluntarx contributions. About 300L is still needed in 

 order that the hospital council may hand over its 

 accounts 60 the college without a deficit. The patients 

 are now being evacuated, and it is hoped that the 

 college will shortly resume its ord'marv work. 



The number of eggs laid by the cuckoo forms the 



subject of an interesting article by Mr. Edgai I T 



in British Birds for January. The author kept careful 

 watch on the movements of two cuckoos which were 

 - in the nest- of meadow-pipits. 

 Assuming that the eggs of am given cuckoo will always 

 present the same peculiarities of coloration — and tins 

 is probably the case— he ascribes ten or eleven eggs 

 to one of these birds, and four or five to the other. 

 The smallness of the clutch of the second bird mav be 

 attributed, he suggests, to age and diminishing fer- 

 tility. The author is inclined to believe that the hen 

 cuckoo is able to exercise a "certain amount of Control 

 over the rep organs, so that the eggs are 



laid on i ■■ the requirements of the fosterers," 



and that " ; ossifefe also that the numb. 



eggs in thi clutch is regulated by the uwmbei 

 siiii.il.l. dupes tn be found." 



1 hi subject of local war musi 



which appi in s in the Museums Journal for January 

 shows clearly enough thai the ideals of what such 

 museums should be are still in a tti 



The tin mi , indeed, is one bristling with difficulties, 

 and calling foi thi most careful consideration. Unless 

 ih. gi . an -1 1 .11 . museums will 



