396 
NATURE 
[FEBRUARY 25, 1904 
infective disease. A disease introduced into virgin soil 
is apt to spread rapidly; where the soil is not virgin 
there is frequently a periodicity which at present can- 
not altogether be explained. Thus the ordinary 
‘*zymotic ’’ diseases in the British Isles, diphtheria, 
scarlet fever, &c., have a seasonal and an epidemic 
periodicity; other diseases, notably influenza and 
plague, may for years be almost unknown, and then 
an epidemic prevalence may become established over 
such large areas that the disease becomes pandemic. 
The same unknown causes may have much to do with 
the extinction of leprosy in the British Isles and else- 
where. R. T. HEWLettT. 
NOTES. 
Tue Russian Imperial Geographical Society has conferred 
the Litke gold medal—its highest distinction—on Sir John 
Murray, K.C.B., F.R.S., for his oceanographical and 
limnological researches. The medal has only once before 
been conferred on a foreigner, namely, Prof. Suess, of 
Vienna, the eminent geologist. 
Mr. James Hornett, who acted as Prof. Herdman’s 
assistant during the Ceylon pearl oyster investigation, has 
been appointed biologist to the Government of 
Ceylon, and inspector of the pearl banks. Mr. Hornell is 
now preparing for an inspection by means of dredges in 
place of divers, with the view of carrying out the changes 
recommended in Prof. The appoint- 
ment is of interest as showing how in the recognition of 
science some of our colonies are in advance of the mother 
We have no “ 
ment ’’ here. 
marine 
Herdman’s report. 
country. marine biologist to the Govern- 
Dr. J. E. Marr, F.R.S., was elected president of the 
Geological Society at the anniversary meeting held last 
Friday. Sir Archibald Geikie delivered the anniversary 
address, his subject being continental elevation and subsi- 
dence. The medals and funds at the disposal of the society 
were presented as already announced (p. 255). 
Tue death is announced of Prof. Callandreau, professor 
of astronomy in the Paris Ecole polytechnique, and member 
of the Paris Academy of Sciences. 
AN astronomical society has been formed at Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne under the presidency of the Rev. T. E. Espin, 
who will give the first lecture, at the Literary and Philo- 
sophical Society’s rooms, on Friday, March 11, on ‘‘ The 
Work of an Amateur Observatory.’’ The hon. secretary of 
the society is Mr. J. D. Hastings, Warkworth House, 
Tynemouth. 
A Bit for rendering compulsory the use of the metric 
system of weights and measures in the United Kingdom 
was read a second time in the House of Lords on Tuesday 
and referred to a select committee. The Bill provides that 
the metric system shall become compulsory on April 5, 
1906, or at such later date as may be directed by His 
Majesty by Order in Council. It is, therefore, left to the 
discretion of the Government to fix the date for inaugur- 
ating the compulsory adoption of the system. In moving 
the second reading of the Bill, Lord Belhaven referred to 
the recommendations of the Select Committee of the House 
of Commons in 1895, and pointed out the educational and 
commercial advantages which would follow the adoption 
of the metric system in the place of our present irrational 
standards. Lord Kelvin, speaking in support of the Bill, 
remarked that in Germany, France, and Italy, no incon- 
venience had resulted from the introduction of the metric 
NO. 1791, VOL. 69] 
He said it was of interest to know that the decimal 
system originated in England. In a letter dated November 
14, 1783, James Watt laid down a plan which was in all 
respects the system adopted by the French philosophers 
seven years later, which they suggested to the King of 
England as a system that might be adopted by international 
agreement. James Watt’s objects were to secure uni- 
formity and to establish a mode of division which should 
be convenient as long as decimal arithmetic lasted. 
Speeches in favour of the Bill were made by Lord Wolver- 
ton, the Marquis of Lansdowne, and the Earl of Rosebery- 
system. 
THe Reale Accademia dei Georgofili, of Florence, offers 2 
prize, a diploma, and a silver medal for the best essay on 
the fiscal policy in Italy in relation to that of other coun- 
tries from the introduction of the 1887 tariff to the end of 
19¢3- The competition closes on June 30, 1905. The 
Olympic Academy of Venice offers a prize, the subject being 
Italian emigration in South America, and the last day 
being December 31, 1906. 
Tne Revue générale des Sciences contains an account, by 
M. A. de Lapparent, of the life and work of M. Munier 
| Chalmas, who died at Aix les Bains on August 8, 1903, 
scarcely three months after his election into the Académie des 
Sciences. M. Munier Chalmas was born in the Beaujolais 
district in 1843, and at the age of fourteen his interest in 
geology was aroused by his meeting a geological party of 
students near Paris, conducted by M. Hébert. At nineteen 
he had studied under Cordier and D’Orbigny. On the 
death of M. Hébert in 1890 a movement was set on foot 
to appoint him to the chair thus vacated at the Sorbonne. 
M Maunier Chalmas’s contributions to paleontology were 
numerous and varied, and dealt with the calcareous algal 
remains previously regarded as Foraminifera, the dimor- 
phism of Nummulites and Miliolida, the classification of 
echinids, the morphology of brachiopods, and the embryonic 
development of ammonites. The present state of our know- 
ledge of the geology of the Paris basin is largely due to 
his researches. He rendered valuable services in the pre- 
paration of the geological map of France, and his investi- 
gations extended also to Dalmatia and Hungary. 
Tue death is announced of Prof. Arthur W. Palmer, head 
of the department of chemistry of the University of Illinois. 
Prof. Palmer, says Science, graduated from the University 
of Illinois in 1883, and was for two years assistant in the 
department of chemistry. In 1890, after studying for two 
years at Harvard University and one year in Germany, he 
was appointed professor of chemistry, and has since served 
continuously in that capacity. As member of the Chemical 
and Biological Survey, he had lately completed an im- 
portant report on the water supply of the State of Illinois, 
and was the author of many papers embodying the results 
of chemical investigation. 
Ar the annual general meeting of the Institution of 
Mechanical Engineers on February 19, the annual report of 
the council for the year 1903 was presented, and contains 
the following announcements among others. The sixth re- 
port of the Alloys Research Committee has been completed. 
It deals with the experiments made, under the late Sir 
William Roberts-Austen’s direction, on the tempering and 
annealing of steel, by Mr. William H. Merrett and by 
At the request of the committee the report was 
completed by Prof. Gowland. The first report to the 
Steam-Engine Research Committee, by Prof. D. S. Capper, 
has been received, and will shortly be presented. Prof. 
Burstall reports that the 100 B.H.P. gas engine which has 
been designed for experimental work in connection with 
others. 
