422 
NATURE 
[Marcu 3, 1904 
No definite answer 
Malta, or Bermuda. 
upon by His Majesty’s Government. 
has been given by Newfoundland, 
Canada has not yet replied. 
Tue Smithsonian Institution has commenced the publi- 
cafion of a quarterly issue of its ‘* Miscellaneous Collec- 
tions,’’ ‘‘ designed chiefly to afford a medium for the early 
publication of the results of researches conducted by the 
Smithsonian Institution and its bureaus, and especially for 
the publication of reports of a preliminary nature.’’ The 
first number of the quarterly issue is a double one, and 
contains seventeen articles, ranging in size from one page 
fo seventy-three pages, in addition to interesting and timely 
notes on the activities of the institution, its collections, &c., 
the whole accompanied with fifty-six plates and numerous 
text figures. The scope of the journal is broad, the first 
issue embodying articles on mammalogy, astrophysics, 
palwontology, archeology, geology, ornithology, ichthy- 
ology, ethnology, &c., thus covering a considerable range 
of scientific subjects. 
Prov. Guipo Cora writes :—‘‘ A slight earthquake 
occurred in Rome on February 24 at 4h. 53m. 30s.; the 
amplitude of the undulations registered was between 4 and 
5 centimetres; the earthquake lasted ten seconds. Observ- 
ing it on the hilly part of the town, in the north-west, I 
noted three slight shocks of undulatory and_ horizontal 
character, about west to east in direction. The centre of 
the earthquake is not yet known, but is supposed to lie in 
the Sabina, owing to the fact that a more important shock 
took place on the same day in Magliano dei Marsi, near 
Avezzano, about 7o km. east-north-east from Rome. A 
small seismic disturbance was also observed in Rome on 
February 20.” 
Great damage was done at Magliano dei Marsi on 
February 24 in consequence of the earthquake shock. In 
the village of Rosciolo also, buildings were seriously 
damaged. Fresh earthquake shocks were felt on the morn- 
ing of February 25 in the neighbourhood of Avezzano, and 
also at Rocca di Papa and Velletri. 
Tne British Medical Journal states that Prof. Chante- 
messe has been appointed to the post of general inspector 
of the Sanitary Service in France, vacant by the death of 
Prof. Proust, which occurred during the sittings of the 
International Sanitary Conference in Paris last autumn. 
The chair of hygiene, also rendered vacant by the death of 
Prof. Proust, has also been given to Prof. Chantemesse. 
We learn from Science that Sir Norman Lockyer’s 
address at the Southport meeting of the British Association, 
on “' The Influence of Brain-power on History,’’? has been 
reprinted from Littell’s Living Age by the New England 
Education League and International Education Conference. 
Copies may be obtained in large or small quantities at the 
rate of two cents each (postage extra) from Mr. W. Scott, 
secrecary, 40 Dover Street, West Somerville Station, Boston, 
Mass., .U.S.A. 
It is announced by the Times that at the last meeting 
the committee of organisation of the International 
Congress on Tuberculosis in Paris it was decided to post- 
pone for one year the opening of the congress, which had 
been fixed for the month of October. 
take place in Paris, October 2-7, 190s, in the Grand Palais 
(Section de l’Avenue d’Antin). 
of 
This decision was taken in 
consideration of the International 
NO. 1792, VOL. 69] 
and in 
The congress will | 
Tuberculosis | 
Congress, which will meet at St. Louis from October 3=5, 
1904. 
Tue following are the prize awards of the Reale Istituto 
Lombardo for the current session :—Cagnola prizes, for the 
cure of pellagra; two premiums, one to Dr. Carlo Ceni, of 
Reggio, Emilia, and one to Drs. Giuseppe Antonini, of 
Voghera, and Angelo Mariani, of Bergamo; the essay of 
Dr. Giuseppe Manzini, of Udine, receives honourable 
mention. For the steering of balloons two premiums have 
been awarded, the essays dealing in either instance with 
determinations of air resistances. One premium is given 
to the engineer Cosimo Canovetti, and the other to Dr. 
Giorgio Finzi and Dr. Nicola Soldati. For a monographical 
study of hypophysis, a premium has been conferred on an 
anonymous competitor. Fossati prize, on the so-called 
nuclei of origin or termination of the cranial nerves, a 
premium to Dr. Giuseppe Tricorni-Allegra, of Messina. 
For the Brambilla industrial prize there has been, as on 
previous recent occasions, keen competition amongst the 
Lombardy manufacturers. First prizes are awarded to Baletti 
and Co. for silk gauzes, and to Lombardi and Macchi for 
pickles and preserves. Second prizes are awarded to Luigi 
Spadaccini for wire ropes; Redaelli, Finzi-Perrier and Co. 
for velvet and plush ; Macchi and Passoni for implements for 
metal work; L. Sconfietti, engineer, for apparatus for pro- 
ducing a moist atmosphere in textile works ; and Tommaso 
Giussani, of Milan, for wocd preservation. 
Tne prizes offered by the Reale Istituto Lombardo for 
future competition are as follows:—The institution prize 
for April, 1904, will be given for an essay on the work of 
Vittorio Alfiéri; for 1905 on the so-called ‘ ophiolitic ”’ 
deposits (of Savi) of the northern Apennines. The triennial 
medals for industrial and agricultural improvements in 
Lombardy will next be awarded in 1906. The subjects for 
the Cagnola prizes on themes proposed by the institution 
are :—tor April, 1904, velocity of kathode rays; for 1905, 
phenomena of catalysis. The subjects designated by the 
| founder for the other prizes are cure of pellagra, nature of 
miasma, steering of airships, and prevention of forgery. 
The Brambilla prize is offered for improvements in the 
Lombardy industries. The subjects for the Fossati prize 
are :—for 1904, localisation of cerebral centres; for 1905, 
neurology; and for 1906, visual centres of higher verte- 
brates. For the Kramer prize the subject is resistances of 
structures in cement; for the Secco Comneno prize, the 
virus of rabies; for the Pizzamiglio prize, influence of 
socialism on private rights; for the Ciani prizes, popular 
Italian books; for the Zanetti prize, improvements in 
pharmaceutical chemistry; and for the Tommasoni prize, 
the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci. 
In a recent note attention was directed to the conjectured 
discovery of a new species of Androsace in the Valle 
Anzasca (Macugnana). From a note contributed by Prof. 
Ardissone to a later issue of the Lombardy Rendiconti it 
would now appear that the plant in question does not even 
belong to the same natural order as Androsace, but is a 
species of Saxifraga, approaching fairly closely to 
S. excavata, We are thus reminded of a somewhat similar 
mistake which occurred in our own country when the stunted 
form of Campanula glomerata peculiar to short grass 
pastures was mistaken for a gentian. 
Tur Engineering Standards Committee has issued a state- 
ment of work now in progress. The committee commenced 
z operations in April, r90r, and to it falls the duty of organ- 
consideration of the International Exposition at St. Louis, | 
ising the work, considering what subjects shall be dealt 
with, appointing the chairmen of the various committees, 
