202 
sentation of unofficial members. Mr. Chamberlain’s 
fund now amounts to 70,0001. 
A piscovery of arctic land, which, when further 
investigated, will add an important feature to even a 
small-scale map of the north polar region, is reported 
by The Times correspondent in St. Petersburg. It 
appears that Capt. Wilkitsky, in command of two 
Russian surveying ships off the north Siberian coast, 
has been working northward and westward from 
Vladivostok and Cape Dezhnev, and was brought to 
a stop by ice off Cape Chelyuskin. Proceeding north- 
ward in an attempt to turn the barrier, he came upon 
land—an eastward-facing coast—extending in a direc- 
tion roughly north-north-west from 78° to 81° N., 
over a distance of 200 nautical miles. He was forced 
to return, and has sent his message from Fort St. 
Michael, in Alaska. The existence of land of such 
extent as is indicated at once suggests an interruption 
in the polar circulation, goes far to account for the 
habitually ice-bound condition of the Kara Sea to the 
south-west, and of the waters off Cape Chelyuskin 
itself (which must apparently be separated from the 
new land by a strait only some forty miles wide), 
and may be taken to bear upon the distinct northerly 
trend of the drift of Nansen’s ship, the Fram, which 
appears in the charts between lats. 110° and go° E. 
If the new land really terminates in 81° N., it may 
be added that the Fram easily missed it, being fully 
three degrees more northerly. 
Mr. TrumMAN H. Atpricu, of Birmingham, Alabama, 
has presented his entire collection of recent shells, 
about 20,000 named species, to the museum of the 
Geological Survey of Alabama. The series includes 
not only Mr. Aldrich’s gatherings and the results of 
exchanges during more than fifty years, but several 
large private accumulations which were purchased 
entire, notably the Pile Mauritius series, the Jones 
Bermuda and Nova Scotia shells, and the Parker 
cabinet of about 5500 listed species. The Aldrich 
collection is particularly rich in operculate land shells 
and includes many types. About 1500 books, concho- 
logical and other scientific works, accompanied the 
gift. Mr. Aldrich has already proved himself a 
generous friend of the museum. Three years ago he 
gave all his duplicate shells, some 250,000, fine 
specimens; and the very rich set of Tertiary inverte- 
brate fossils is largely due to him. His cabinet set 
of these fossils, one of the finest in the world, was 
acquired by the Johns Hopkins University of Balti- 
more. ; 
A STRIKING and impressive instance of the benefits 
conferred upon the human race by developments of 
modern science was provided by the occurrences in 
connection with the disastrous fire which destroyed 
the British steamship Volturno in mid-Atlantic last 
week during a heavy gale. The passengers and crew 
numbered 657, and it is known that 521 have been 
saved, All the survivors on board the ship when the 
vessels arrived which responded to the Volturno’s 
wireless telegraphic call for help were saved. The 
Cunard liner Carmania received the first news of the 
fire, and immediately use was made of her wireless 
installation to ‘send the cry for help far and wide, with 
NO. 2294, VOL. 92| 
NATURE 
[OcTOBER 16, 1915 
the result that ten steamships were able to render aid. 
The 521 survivors thus owe their lives primarily to 
wireless telegraphy. Among the rescuing vessels was 
an oil-tank steamer, the Narragansett, which by dis- 
charging two large streams of oil, moderated the 
troubled waters and assisted in the work of rescue by 
enabling small boats to approach the burning vessel 
with less danger. A passenger on board the Car- 
mania says, in The Daily Mail, that within five 
minutes after the commencement of the discharge of 
the oil, the sea for a hundred yards away from the 
Narragansett and towards the Volturno became abso- 
lutely calm, apart from a slight roll. 
Tue death is announced, in his seventy-eighth year, 
of a distinguished American astronomer, Rear-Admiral 
John R. Eastman. In his boyhood he lived on a farm 
in New Hampshire, and attended only a_ public 
elementary school, afterward supporting himself by 
teaching until he entered Dartmouth College, where 
he graduated in 1862. After serving for a few years 
as an assistant at the U.S. Naval Observatory, he was 
appointed in 1865 professor of mathematics in the 
U.S. Navy. He retired in 1898 with the rank of 
captain, and was promoted in 1g06 to that of rear- 
admiral. He was engaged for many years in astro- 
nomical observation and research, the bulk of his 
published work appearing in the annual volumes of 
the Government Observatory. He prepared and 
edited the Second Washington Star Catalogue, con- 
taining the results of nearly 80,000 observations at 
the Naval Observatory. He was the author of ‘‘ Tran- 
sit Circle Observations of the Sun, Moon, Planets, 
and Comets,” published in 1903. Rear-Admiral East- 
man was the first president of the Washington 
Academy of Sciences. 
Tue death is announced of Sir John Batty Tuke, | 
formerly M.P. for Edinburgh and St. Andrews Uni- 
versities, at seventy-eight years of age. From an 
obituary notice in Tuesday’s Times we learn that Sir 
John Tuke was educated at Edinburgh Academy and 
University. On taking the degree of M.D. he went 
out to New Zealand, where he was civil practitioner 
in medical charge of a wing of the 65th Regiment. 
On returning to Scotland in 1863 he began practice 
in Edinburgh. For some time he was _ assistant 
physician at the Royal Edinburgh Lunatie Asylum, 
and in 1867 was appointed medical superintendent of 
the Fife and Kinross District Lunatic Asylum. He 
returned to Edinburgh in 1873, and was associated 
with the late Dr. Smith and Dr. Lowe in the manage- 
ment of Saughton Hall Asylum, which he continued 
to direct until a few years ago. He was president of 
the Medico-Chirurgical Society and of the Neuro- 
logical Society of the United Kingdom. He held the 
honorary degrees of D.Sc. (Dublin), LL.D. (Edin- 
burgh), and LL.D. (St. Andrews). In 1895 Tuke 
was elected president of the Royal College of 
Physicians, Edinburgh, and in 1898, his last year of 
office, received the honour of knighthood. Two years 
later he succeeded the late Sir William Priestley as 
member of Parliament for Edinburgh and St. Andrews 
Universities. He retired from Parliament in 1910, 
and was succeeded by Sir Robert B. Finlay. Sir 
