302 
NATURE 
[January 28, 1904 
WE regret to see the announcement of the death of Dr. 
William Francis, which occurred early last week. Dr. 
Francis was in his eighty-seventh year, and had been in 
failing health but a short time. He was almost the oldest, if 
not the oldest, fellow of the Chemical Society, and was joint 
editor of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History and 
of the Philosophical Magazine. In the latter capacities he 
came in contact with most of the eminent scientific men of 
the nineteenth century. 
‘To commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the in- 
troduction and commercial development of the incandescent 
lamp, the friends and associates of Mr. Thomas A. Edison 
have taken steps to found a medal which will be entrusted 
to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. It is 
prcposed to present the medal fund at the annual dinner 
of the institute on February 11, which is Mr. 
birthday. 
Edison's 
Ir is reported from St. Petersburg that on January 16 
Dr. Turtchinowitch, director of the laboratory for the pre- 
paration of plague remedies at the Imperial Institute of 
Experimental Medicine, was taken ill after having been 
engaged in experimenting with bubonic plague cultures, and 
died of plague on January 20. It has been established that 
two assistant physicians who were working with Dr. 
Turtchinowitch have also acquired the disease. 
On Thursday next, February 4, Mr. A. D. Hall will 
deliver the first of three lectures at the Royal Institution 
on “Recent Research in Agriculture.” On Saturday, 
February 6, Mr. C. Waldstein will lecture on ‘‘ The Study 
of Style in Greek Sculpture,’? and on February 13 his 
subject will be ‘‘ Culture and Sculpture.’? On Saturday, 
February 20, Lord Rayleigh will begin his course of six 
lectures on ‘‘ The Life and Work of Stokes.’? The Friday 
evening discourse on February 19 will be delivered by Mr. 
C. T. R. Wilson on ‘* Condensation Nuclei.”’ 
Tue Tanganyika Committee (Prof. Ray Lankester, Sir 
John Kirk, Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer, Mr. Boulenger, and Dr. 
Sclater) has determined to send out another naturalist for 
the further investigation of the “Tanganyika problem,”’ 
and has selected Mr. W. A. Cunnington, of Christ’s 
College, Cambridge, for this purpose. Mr. Cunnington will 
leave for Tanganyika (vid Chinde and Zomba) in March, 
and will pay special attention to the lacustrine flora of the 
lake, of which, as yet, little is known, but will not neglect 
other subjects relating to the lake-basin. 
A scieNTIFIc expedition for the exploration of northern 
Nigeria, conducted by Lieut. Boyd Alexander and Captain 
G. B. Gosling, of the Rifle Brigade, is in preparation, and 
will shortly leave England. Lieut. Claud Alexander, who 
holds the diploma of the Royal Geographical Society, will 
act as surveyor and map-maker. The party will proceed up 
the Niger and Benué, and establish a station somewhere in 
the central hill-country of northern Nigeria, where collec- 
tions of natural history will be made, and the surrounding 
country explored and mapped. Lieut. Boyd, Alexander, who 
has already had much experience in African travel on the 
Zambezi, in the Gold Coast Colony, and in Fernando Po, is 
a thoroughly competent man, and has obtained the sanction 
of the War Office to his expedition. 
WE regret to see announced the death of Mr. Walter G. 
Doggett, the naturalist of the Anglo-German Boundary | 
Commission under Major Delmé Radcliffe, who has lost his 
life while crossing the Kagera River in Uganda. Mr. | 
Doggett, who was the son of a well-known taxidermist at | 
NO. 1787, VOL. 69| 
Cambridge, served on Sir Harry Johnston’s staff as naturalist 
and photographer both in Nyasaland and in Uganda, and 
will be found frequently mentioned in Sir Harry’s work on 
the latter country. Doggett made the ascent of Ruwenzori in 
the Special Commissioner’s company, and amongst many 
other objects, obtained there specimens of a remarkable new 
bramble which has been named after him Rubus Doggettt. 
He was the first person to discover the existence of the shoe- 
bill (Balaeniceps rex) on the shores of Lake Victoria. 
Ir appears from a telegram dated Yakutsk, January 15, 
and communicated to the Russian Press, that on that date 
the boatswain Byegacheff, one of the members of Lieut. 
Kolchak’s Expedition which was sent out in search of Baron 
Toll, returned to Yakutsk. The expedition did mot find 
the Arctic traveller either in the New Siberia Islands or in 
Bennett Land. It only found in the latter place some papers 
left by Baron. Toll stating that he was leaving Bennett 
Land on November 8, 1902, and going southwards. He 
consequently expected to reach the mainland of Siberia 
somewhere near Nizhne-Kolymsk, but as nothing was heard 
of Baron Toll during last summer, one cannot but entertain 
the gravest apprehensions as to his position. Lieut. 
Kolchak is expected soon to reach Yakutsk, as well as the 
other search party under Brusneff, so that we shall probably 
have more detailed news in a few days. 
Tue Royal Society catalogue of scientific papers from 
1884 to 1900, completing the century, is making progress. 
It appears that 111,000 titles have already been prepared 
by the referees in the various subjects, while 68 serials 
containing more than 91,000 titles have been completely 
dealt with for both the authors’ catalogue and the subject 
index. It is part of the scheme to make a single subject 
index for the whole of the nineteenth century ; nearly 82,000 
of the 400,000 papers dealt with in the existing catalogue 
have now been classified for this index. 
in seventeen sections, published separately, each section 
The index will be 
containing, in one or more octavo volumes, a single science 
g 
indexed according to the schedules of the international 
catalogue; when published, these volumes cannot fail to be 
of great use to workers in science. The committee of the 
Royal Society is making strenuous efforts to expedite the 
work. Its chief difficulty has been in obtaining a sufficient 
staff of experts, and attention is invited to its advertisement 
asking for additional helpers. 
Tue annual general meeting of the Iron and Steel Insti- 
tute will be held on Thursday and Friday, May 5 and 6. 
The council will shortly proceed to award Carnegie research 
scholarships, and candidates must apply before February 29. 
The awards will be announced at the general meeting. In 
accordance with previous announcements, the autumn meet- 
ing will take place in New York on October 24-26. After 
the meeting there will be an excursion to Philadelphia, 
Washington, Pittsburg, Cleveland, Falls, and 
Buffalo, returning to New York on November 10. — An in- 
fluential committee has been formed in the United States 
for the reception of the institute, Mr. Charles Nirchhoff 
being the president and Mr. Theodore Dwight the hon. 
Niagara 
secretary. 
As the result of a meeting held in London several months 
ago, a society has been formed for the promotion of scien- 
It is hoped that when the Socio- 
logical adequately organised it will 
materially help to fill a serious gap in the cultural apparatus 
for national education and research. One of the founders 
of the society has given r1oool. towards the endowment of 
tific studies in sociology. 
Society becomes 
