406 
NATURE 
- 
_ 
[DECEMBER 4, 1913 
Glaisher. His prominent career in mathematical 
science, which began at an early age, has been con- 
tinued down to the present day without remission, not 
only in the production of original papers, but in uni- 
versity teaching, and in the careful editorship of 
most of the special mathematical journals in this 
country. To these journals he has constantly con- 
tributed much of his own work, such as his papers on 
the theory of numbers, on elliptic functions, and many 
other departments of pure mathematics. 
In considering the bestowal of the medals this year 
the council has determined to award the Hughes 
medal to one who has spent his days in the applica- 
tion of scientific discovery to practical life—Alexander 
Graham Bell. Although he has been resident for 
many years on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, 
we remember that he was born in Edinburgh, and 
was educated there and in London, so that we claim 
him as a fellow-countryman. His preponderating 
share in the invention of the telephone, now so long 
ago as 1876, and his practical investigations in 
phonetics, have laid modern civilisation under deep 
obligation to him, while his numerous other inven- 
tions and experiments show the fertility of his genius. 
The anniversary dinner of the society was held 
on Monday evening at the Hétel Métropole. Sir 
William Crookes presided and responded to the 
toast of “The Royal Society,” proposed by the 
American Ambassador. The toast of “The Retir- 
ing President” was proposed by Sir Joseph 
Larmor and acknowledged by Sir Archibald 
Geikie. Sir Ray Lankester and Prof. Harold 
Dixon responded to the toast of ‘‘ The Medallists,” 
Sir David Gill proposed the toast of “The Guests,” 
and Lord Sumner responded to it. 
NOTES. 
A CORRESPONDENT points out that the list of the new 
members of the council of the Royal Society published 
in Nature of November 13 (p. 324), contains the 
names of ten fellows of the society who have not 
served on the council before, out of the total of six- 
teen ordinary members of the council. In the council 
elected in 1912, there were only five members who 
had not served in previous years; and the list for 1911 
included eight fellows who had served before and the 
same number of fellows who had not done so. This 
year’s list contains, therefore, a larger number of 
completely new members of the council than is usual. 
Ten members of the new council, and nine of the 
retiring council, are Cambridge men. 
Dr. Henr1 DESLANDRES, Paris, has been elected an 
honorary member of the Royal Institution. 
A LECTURE on the properties and uses of radium 
will be delivered at the Cancer Hospital (Free), Ful- 
ham Road, London, S.W., by Mr. C. E. S. Phillips, 
honorary physicist to the hospital, on Wednesday, 
December 10, at 5 p.m. 
As announced already, the Physical Society’s annual 
exhibition is to be held on Tuesday, December 16, at 
the Imperial College of Science, South Kensington. 
In the afternoon, the Hon. R. J. Strutt, F.R.S., will 
give a discourse on spiral electric discharges, and in 
the evening Mr. Louis Brennan, C.B., will show 
some experiments with soap films. About thirty firms 
NO. 2301, VOL. 92] 
of scientific instrument-makers will be exhibiting, and 
there will also be certain experimental demonstrations. 
Tue gold medal of the Apothecaries Society was i 
™~ 
awarded on November 28 to Mr. J. E. Harting, in 
recognition of his services in preparing and editing 
the catalogue of the library in Apothecaries’ Hall. 
The society was founded in 1617, and the library, " 
which chiefly consists of medical and botanical works, 
contains a number of rare old “Herbals,” including — 
a copy of Johnson’s edition of ‘‘Gerarde’s Herbal,” — 
published in 1633, presented by the author. 
Tue Board of Trade has appointed a committee to 
consider the causes of explosions which have occurred 
in connection with the use of bitumen in laying electric 
cables, and to report as to any steps which should be 
taken to prevent explosions in future from the use of 
bitumen or similar substances. The members of the 
committee are :—Sir T. Edward Thorpe, C.B., F.R.S. 
(chairman); Mr. R. Nelson, of the Home Office; Mr. 
W. Slingo, of the General Post Office; Mr. J. Swin- 
burne, F.R.S.; and Mr. A. P. Trotter, of the Board 
of Trade. Mr. M. J. Collins, of the Board of Trade, 
will act as secretary to the committee. 
An International Dairy Congress is to be held at 
Berne, Switzerland, in June next. It will be the sixth 
congress organised and held under the auspices of thea 
Federation Internationale de Laiterie, a body having — 
its head office in Brussels, and a committee com- 
posed of representatives of all the leading countries 
in the world. The secretary of the British Dairy 
Farmers’ Association, Mr. F. E. Hardcastle, 12 Han- 
over Square, W., is acting as secretary to the British 
Section, and will give full information to any who 
may be interested. The sections under which papers 
will be read and _ subjects discussed are :—l., 
Hygienics; II., Chemistry and Bacteriology; III., 
Theory of Management; and IV., Trade. 
Tue death is announced, in his seventy-sixth year, 
of the Rev. J. A. Gilfillas, who, with Mr. W. W. Cooke, 
made important explorations between 1880 and 1890 
around the head-waters of the Mississippi. They 
contributed largely toward fixing Elk Lake, instead 
of Lake Itaska, as the chief source of that river. Mr. 
Gilfillas was also an expert in ethnology and in the 
Indian languages. 
An interesting collection of photographs from 
Hungary, Germany, Sweden, and New Zealand is — 
now on view at the house of the Royal Photographic 
Society, 
to the public on presentation of visiting card, daily 
from If a.m. to 5 p.m., until December 20. The 
collection includes a remarkable series of twenty-seven 
marine studies taken by flashlight in the Biological 
Marine Aquarium of Heligoland, by Mr. F. Schensky. 
The great technical merit of these photographs of 
fishes, crustacea, sea anemones, molluscs, &c., will be 
obvious even to the superficial observer; it is very 
rarely that one has the opportunity of seeing such 
fine work of this class. The rest of the hundred or so 
photographs claim attention chiefly because of their 
pictorial merit. 
35 Russell Square, W.C., and will be open — 
“< 
. 
i” 
¢ 
> 
