374 
NAGORE 
| FEBRUARY 18, 1904 
sponds to such changes far more quickly. Hence it | 
is particularly well suited for use in a photophonic re- 
ceiver. It is found advantageous to enclose the 
selenium cell in an exhausted glass bulb, like that of | 
an ordinary glow lamp. 
In order that the apparatus may be serviceable when | 
the atmosphere is too misty, or the distance too great, 
to admit of the transmission of speech, Mr. Ruhmer 
has provided an arrangement for telegraphing audible 
Morse signals to the receiving station. The micro- 
phone is taken out of the circuit, and an automatic 
current interrupter, or ‘‘ buzzer,’’ inserted in its place. | 
When this is operating, the are emits a loud continuous | 
note, which can be broken up into periods correspond- | 
ing to dots and dashes by a simple key in the primary | 
circuit. Such signals are plainly heard in the receiving 
telephone when “speech would be inaudible, and the 
device is superior to the heliograph in that the signals 
may be made more rapidly, and cannot possibly be 
detected by parties for whom they are not intended. | 
It is said that the whole of the apparatus here de- 
scribed is now being manufactured commercially by a 
leading firm in Germany. 
SHELFORD BIDWELL. 
NOTES, 
Tue centenary of the death of Immanuel Kant was cele- 
brated on February 12 by the University and the town of 
K6nigsberg, in the presence of the Prussian Minister of 
Education, Dr. Studt, and various representatives of German 
academic corporations. A short article inspired by the 
occasion appears elsewhere in this issue. The proceedings 
began, says the Berlin correspondent of the Times, with the 
unveiling of a memorial tablet by Dr. Studt, who delivered 
a message from the Emperor William, and referred in the 
course of an address to the services which Kant had rendered 
to learning and to the world. The Minister further 
announced that he had assigned a sum equal to 5ool. from | 
the public resources at his disposal in support of the teachers’ 
aid fund. 
sum to the foundation 
philosophical subjects. 
unveiled on the wall of the Royal Castle in the Kantstrasse 
The starry 
In 
The town of Kénigsberg has devoted a similar 
of an annual prize for essays on 
On the memorial tablet which was | 
is inscribed the well-known saying of Kant :—‘* 
sky above me, and the moral law within 
memoration of this anniversary a special meeting of the 
British Academy was held on Friday, and a paper upon | 
Kant’s work read by Dr. Shadworth | 
me.”’ com- 
and influence was 
Hodgson. 
Some considerabie rearrangements have been made in the 
| 
museums at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. A new | 
gallery 130 feet long by 16 feet wide at the back of museum | 
No. was opened on February 1. To this the entire | 
collection of Gymnosperms (Conifers, Cycads and Gnetacez, 
including Welwitschia) has been transferred. The space in 
museum No. i. 
iil. 
thus set free has been utilised in making 
a more effective display of its contents, which had become 
“very crowded. The well-lighted wall-space in the 
‘gallery has enabled the collection of maps and plans of the 
establishmept at various periods to be brought together. 
Several of these have by H.M. the 
Queen and by H.M.'’s Office of Works, and are of consider- 
able historical interest. A set of the fine photographs of 
Kew in its various aspects which were sent by the Govern- | 
ment to the Paris Exhibition of 
new 
been contributed late 
1900 are also shown, as | 
well as an extensive series of photographs of coniferous trees | 
_ia their native countries. | 
NO. 1790, VOL. 69] 
| ington on Thursday, 
| Cameron prize in practical therapeutics to Prof. 
| to serve as a State forest demonstration area, 
| ture. 
Tue eighth International Geographical Congress, which 
will meet at Washington, D.C., in September next, will be 
the first international meeting of geographers in the 
western hemisphere. The congress will convene in Wash- 
September 8 
8, in the new home of the 
National Geographic Society, and will hold sessions on 
September 9 and 10, 
the latter under the auspices of the 
Geographic Society of Baltimore. 
Leaving Washington on 
September 12, the members, associates and guests of the 
congress will be entertained during that day by the Geo- 
graphical Society of Philadelphia, and on September 13, 14 
and 15 by the American Geographical Society in New York, 
where scientific sessions will be held; on September 16 they 
will have the opportunity of visiting Niagara Falls (en route 
westward by special train), and on September 17 will be 
entertained by the Geographic Society of Chicago; and on 
September 19 and 20 they will be invited to participate in 
the International Congress connected with the World’s Fair 
in St. Louis. The subjects for treatment and discussion in 
the congress are classified as follows :—(r) Physical geo- 
graphy, including geomorphology, meteorology, hydrology, 
&c.; (2) mathematical geography, including geodesy and 
geophysics ; (3) biogeography, including botany and zoology 
in their geographic aspects; (4) anthropogeography, in- 
cluding ethnology; (5) descriptive geography, including ex- 
plorations and surveys ; (6) geographic technology, including 
cartography, bibliography, &c.; (7) commercial and 
dustrial geography; (8) history of geography; (9) geo- 
in- 
graphic education. All correspondence relating to the 
congress and all remittances should be addressed, The 
Eighth International Geographic Congress, Hubbard 
Memorial Hall, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. 
Tue death is announced of M. Firmin Bocourt at the age 
of eighty-five years. M. Bocourt was formerly curator of 
the Paris Museum of Natural History, and during his life 
took part in important expeditions to Siam, Mexico, and to 
| Central America. 
Tue British Medical Journal announces that the Senatus 
Academicus of the University of Edinburgh has awarded the 
Niels R. 
Finsen, of Copenhagen, in recognition of his pioneer work 
in connection with the application of light rays to the 
treatment of disease. 
At the jubilee meeting of the Royal Scottish Arbori- 
cultural Society held in Edinburgh on Tuesday, a resolution 
was agreed to expressing the 6pinion that the Board of 
Agriculture should now take steps to give effect to the re- 
commendation of the departmental committee on forestry, 
so far as Scotland was concerned, by providing an estate 
and also by 
providing experimental plots in connection with Edinburgh 
University. The also expressed the view that 
forestry education in the country would not be adequately 
provided for until these facilities were provided and a 
motion 
thoroughly equipped forestry school was established in 
Scotland. 
On Tuesday next, February 23, Mr. F. Fexwell will de- 
Ay er the first of three lectures at the Royal Institution on 
“* Japanese Life and Character,’’ and on Thursday, February 
| 25, Prof. H. L. Callendar will commence a course of three 
lectures on ** Electrical Methods of Measuring Tempera- 
” The Friday evening discourse on February 26 will 
De delivered by Mr. Alexander Siemens, his subject being 
“ New Developments in Electric Railways ’?; on March 4 by 
Prof. W. Stirling, on ** Breathing in Living Things ’’; and 
on March 11 by Prof. F. T. Trouton, on the ‘‘ Motion of 
Viscous Substances.” 
