174 
NATURE 
[OcTOBER 9, 1913 
and saprophytic spirochetze; to demonstrate the 
presence of treponema pallidum in the brain in cases 
of general ‘paralysis; to show experimental general 
paralysis in rabbits; and to give a demonstration of 
cultural studies of the virus of rabies. 
IN response to numerous requests, it has been 
decided to defer until October 31 the closing of the 
Historical Medical Museum, referred to in our issue 
of July 3 (vol. xci., p. 456). During the month of 
October the exhibition will remain open from Io a.m. 
to 6 p.m. daily, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Satur- 
days. After this date it will be closed for a few months 
for re-arrangement as a permanent museum. It is 
proposed to reopen the museum in its permanent form 
in the spring of next year. 
A MODERATELY strong earthquake was felt in the 
neighbourhood of the Panama Canal during the night 
of October 1-2, and has evidently caused some concern 
with regard to the safety of the canal from future 
shocks. It would seem, however, that there is little 
need for anxiety. Though other adjoining districts 
are frequently visited by destructive earthquakes, the 
isthmian zone itself is singularly free from such dis- 
turbances. Moreover, as Milne and Omori have 
shown, earthquake vibrations are much less intense 
in excavations than on the surface of the surrounding 
land. 
Ir is announced in Science that the Walker prizes 
in natural history of the Boston Society of Natural 
History for the present year have been awarded as 
follows :—The first prize of 1oo' dollars to Dr. R. A. 
Spaeth for a paper on an experimental study concern- 
ing the chromatophores of fishes, and the second of 
50 dollars to Prof. O. D. von Engeln for a paper on 
the effects of continental glaciation on agriculture. 
Prizes for 1914 and 1915 will be awarded for original 
and unpublished research work in any biological or 
geological subject. Competing essays must reach the 
secretary of the society on or before April 1 next. 
Major Barrett-HamiLton, accompanied by Mr. 
Stammwitz, one of the taxidermists on the staff of 
the British Museum (Nat. Hist.), sailed in a whaler 
on Saturday last for South Georgia, on a mission 
from the Colonial Office, to report on the whaling 
stations leased by the British Government to a Nor- 
wegian firm. The species hunted at the South 
Georgian stations are chiefly rorquals, of which the 
slaughter is reported to be very heavy;, and we under- 
stand that the main object.of the mission is to ascer- 
tain whether the whales stand in danger of extermina- 
tion. The taxidermist will endeavour to obtain speci- 
mens (not, of course, entire whales) for the museum. 
Mr. Atvin Lancpon Cosurn’s exhibition of camera 
pictures, which is to be seen at the Goupil Gallery, 
5 Regent Street, until October 25, is well worth a visit 
from anyone interested in artistic photography. The 
series of pictures of the Grand Canyon exhibit this 
remarkable region in a new light. Mr. Coburn’s 
photographs, all enlargements from quarter-plate 
negatives, are as far apart from Hayden’s well-known 
topographical drawings as could well be imagined; 
the latter faithfully delineate the grandeur of the vast 
NO. 2293, VOL. 92] 
spaces and lofty walls of the great valley by delicacy 
and accuracy of line and by their panoramic outlook. 
Mr. Coburn, limited by his apparatus to a smaller | 
field, conveys the same sensations of vastness by his 
artistic use of atmosphere and the great shadows cast 
by hill and cloud. Clouds indeed are made the most 
of in all these pictures, and No. 44, ‘‘The Cloud- 
burst,” is not only a striking photograph, but a 
valuable record of this phenomenon. 
Ar the recent International Congress of Pharmacy 
held at the Hague, a proposal to form an international — 
pharmacopeeial bureau was discussed, and a commis- 
sion was appointed to consider the question, and to 
submit to the International Pharmaceutical Federa- 
tion at an early date a scheme for the establishment 
of such a bureau. The commission is composed of 
seven members, representing respectively Great 
Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Hol- 
land, Belgium, and Switzerland; most of the members 
are associated with the revision of their national 
pharmacopceias, the English representative being Prof. 
H. G. Greenish, joint editor of the ‘ British Pharma- 
copeeia,’”’ and the American, Prof. J. P. Remington, 
editor of the ‘“‘ United States Pharmacopeeia.” As the 
outcome of the deliberations of such a strong com- 
mittee, a useful plan may be expected. Among the 
duties of such a bureau as that proposed would be the 
collection and examination of all literature relating to 
pharmacopeeial revision and the experimental in- 
vestigation of new drugs and preparations, and no 
doubt the influence of the bureau: would tend to en- 
courage the work already commenced in the direction 
of the unification of pharmacopeeias. 
The South African Journal of Science for Sepeaee 
being. the organ of the South African Association for 
the Advancement of Science, reports the business pro- 
ceedings of the meeting of the association held at 
Lourenco Marques in July last, under the presidency 
of Dr. A. W. Roberts. The following officers were 
elected for 1913-14 :—President, Prof. R. Marloth; 
vice-presidents, Prof. L. Crawford, Mr. S: Evans, Dir. 
W. Johnson, and Mr. A. F. Williams; general secre- 
taries, Dr. C. F. Juritz and Mr. H. E. Wood; general 
treasurer, Mr. A. Walsh. Invitations to hold the next 
annual meeting were received from the mayors and 
councils of both Kimberley and Pretoria; and the 
final decision as to the place was left to the council. 
A resolution was passed ‘‘that the Government of the 
Union be asked to pass legislation declaring that 
meteorites are Government property, and when found 
should be delivered to the nearest magistrate, for 
transmission to the nearest museum under Government 
control.’ The sixth award of the South Africa Medal, 
together with a grant of 50l., was made to Dr. A. W. 
Rogers, assistant director of the Geological Survey of 
the Union, in recognition of his geological work in 
the Cape Province. In connection with the grant of 
tool. made to Dr. A. W. Roberts by the association 
in 1905 for the reduction of his variable star observa- 
tions, Dr. Roberts reported that he has. had . the 
observations, some 60,000 in number, reduced, copied 
in dulplicate, and indexed. The question of printing 
has, however, been a difficulty. 
