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NOVEMBER 20, 1913| NATURE 347 
‘mercial agents in England as elsewhere. Its suc- Among those present at the meeting were Prof. 
cessor, the United States territory of Hawaii, now 
administers the affairs of the late kingdom. Neither 
kingdom nor republican territory has ever sanctioned 
such a barbarous name as your reviewer gives— 
_ Hawaiia. 
Wo. T. BricHam. 
Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu, H.I., 
October 24. 
Tue first article in the ‘‘Fauna Hawaiiensis"’ is 
entitled ‘Introduction, being a Review of the Land- 
- Fauna of Hawaiia.”. Dr. Brigham’s quarrel is hence 
' with the writer of that article, and with the editor 
of the fauna, not with me. I "should have expected 
_“Hawaiia"’ to meet with his approval as against 
_ the rather cumbrous title, ‘‘ United States Territory 
_ of Hawaii,” a title taken from the name of the 
largest island. The islands from Niihau to Hawaii 
stand on an isolated plateau in the ocean, and repre- 
sent a geographical group; the name “ Hawaiia,” I 
consider, may quite usefully be applied to them. A 
name will also have to be adopted for the islands 
between Nihoa and Lisiansky, which form a similar 
group; these I frequently find in maps included in 
the Hawaiian Islands. 
Presumably the aboriginal inhabitants had no name 
for the islands in question, as they knew no other 
lands, and certainly the Spanish navigators estab- 
lished no name for them. Cook’s name, ‘‘ Sandwich 
Islands,” dates from 1778, and clearly has priority, a 
fact which should appeal to American—I hope Dr. 
Brigham will pardon this incorrect adjective being 
applied to his countrymen—biologists. 
‘ J. STANLEY GaRDINER. 
November 14. 
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE 
STRUCTURE OF MATTER. 
HE first International Conference in Brussels 
on the Theory of Radiation in 1g11 (see 
_ Nature, vol. Ixxxvili., p. 82) owed its inception to 
“Mr. Ernest Solvay, and proved a great success. 
Shortly afterwards, Mr. Solvay generously gave 
the sum of one million francs to form an Inter- 
national Physical Institute (Nature, vol. xc., 
Pp: 545), part of the proceeds to be devoted to 
assistance of researches in physics and chemistry, 
and part to defray the expenditure of an occa- 
sional scientific conference between men of all 
nations to discuss scientific problems of special 
interest. In pursuance of this aim the second 
‘International Conference or Conseil International 
_ de Physique Solvay, was held in Brussels this year 
_/ on October 27-31, under the able presidency of 
_ Prof. Lorentz. On this occasion the general sub- 
"jects of discussion were confined to the structure 
of the atom, the structure of crystals, and the 
molecular theory of solid bodies. 
___ Reports were ‘presented by the following :—The 
structure of the atom, Sir J. J. Thomson; Intere- 
ferenzerscheinungen an Ré6ntgenstrahlen hervor- 
-gerufen durch das Raumgitter der Kristalle, Prof. 
_ Laue; the relation between crystalline structure 
and chemical constitution, W. Barlow and Prof. 
Pope; some considerations on the structure of 
verystals, Prof. Brillouin; and Molekulartheorie de- 
_ Festen Korper, Prof. Gruneisen. 
NO. 2299, VOL. 92| 
with x- 
Lorentz, Kamerlingh Onnes, Sir J. J. Thomson, 
Barlow, Pope, Jeans, Bragg, Rutherford, Mme. 
Curie, ‘Gouy, Brillouin, Langevin, Voigt, War- 
burg, Nernst, Rubens, Wien, Einstein, Laue, 
Sommerfeld, Gruneisen, Weiss, Knudsen, 
Hasenéhrl, Wood, Goldschmidt, Verschaffelt, 
Lindemann, and De Broglie. 
An interesting and vigorous discussion followed 
on all the papers presented to the congress. 
Special interest was taken in’ the report of Laue 
on the interference phenomena observed in crystals 
rays. A valuable contribution was made 
by Prof. Bragg on selective reflection of x-rays 
by crystals, and on the information afforded by 
this new method of research on crystalline 
structure. The report of Mr. Barlow and Prof. 
Pope on the relation between crystalline structure 
and chemical constitution was illustrated by a 
number of models, and was followed with much 
interest. A report on the papers and discussions 
at the Conference will be published as promptly 
as possible. 
The arrangements for the meeting, which was 
ee in every way, were admirably made by 
. Goldschmidt. All the members stayed at the 
same hotel, and thus were afforded the best of 
opportunities for social intercourse and for the 
interchange of views on scientific questions. 
During the meeting, the members were very hos- 
pitably entertained by Mr. Solvay and Dr. Gold- 
schmidt, while a visit was made to the splendid 
private wireless station of the latter, which is one 
of the largest in the world, capable of transmitting 
messages to the Congo and Burmah. 
The committee of the International Physical 
Institute, who were present at the conference, held 
meetings to consider the applications for grants 
in aid of research, made possible by the sum set 
aside for this purpose by Mr. Solvay at the founda- 
tion of the institute. 
It was arranged that the next meeting of the 
Conseil de Physique should be held in three years’ 
time at Brussels, when there will be a new pro- 
gramme of subjects for discussion. In order to 
extend the scope of the congress, and to make it 
as representative as possible, it*has been arranged 
that the orieinal members will retire automatically 
at intervals, while their place will be taken by 
new members, who will be specially invited to take 
part in discussion of definite scientific topics. 
E. RUTHERFORD. 
ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE. 
HE fast link with the great evolutionary 
writers of the mid-nineteenth century—the 
men who transformed the thought of the world— 
is broken. How can I best speak of the long, 
happy, hard-working, many-sided life that has 
just come to a close? The history of Wallace’s 
contributions to science and the details of his 
career have been long known, and are now re- 
written and epitomised in the Press of the world. 
I propose to speak of the man himself as he was 
revealed to his friends. 
