FEBRUARY 5, 1914] 
municate with Mr. G. O. Wood, Secretary’s Office, 
G.P.O., who has been appointed secretary to the 
Committee. 
A Reuter message from New York states that the 
Aéro Club has sanctioned a round-the-world aéroplane 
race, starting from the San Francisco Exhibition in 
May, 1915, and ending at the same place within 
ninety days. The first prize will be 20,0001. The 
race will be open to any type of motor-driven aircraft 
and will be under the auspices of the exhibition and 
the Pacific Aéro Club. It is announced that 30,000l. 
has already been subscribed, and that it is expected 
that an additional sum will be secured, all of which 
will be divided among the competitors. 
It has been decided to prepare for publication a 
biography of the late Sir William H. White, 
K.C.B., the eminent naval constructor. Mr. J. B. 
Capper, to whom the work has been entrusted, will 
be grateful for any material in the shape either of 
correspondence or of reminiscence throwing light upon 
Sir William White’s personality or work. Letters 
will be carefully preserved, copied, and returned. 
Communications of all kinds should be addressed to 
Mr. Capper, care of Sir Henry Trueman Wood, 
secretary of the Royal Society of Arts, John Street, 
Adelphi, London, W.C. 
Aw address delivered by Mr. T. A. Jaggar, jun., at 
a meeting of the Hawaiian Volcano Research Asso- 
ciation in Honolulu last December, has been published 
as a special bulletin of the Hawaiian Volcano Observa- 
tory. The address gives a detailed account of the 
nature and value of the scientific work done at the 
observatory. We notice that eleven investigators of 
note have been at Kilauea in the last five years, and 
have produced four important memoirs, many smaller 
papers, and a topographic map. A large realistic 
model of Kilauea is in preparation for the Agassiz 
Museum of Harvard University ; and chemical analyses 
have been completed in Washington. In 1909 the late 
Dr. Tempest Anderson was in. Hawaii, and secured 
many photographs. He presented the observatory 
with one of his ingenious cameras and a battery of 
three fine lenses. It is hoped, said Mr. Jaggar, that 
British friends will honour Dr, Anderson’s memory 
by the establishment on St. Vincent, in the Caribbee 
Islands, of a permanent observatory and laboratory, 
for the study of the Caribbean volcanoes. This was 
his field of specially distinguished work in 1902. 
Tue Journal of the College of Science of the Impe- 
rial University of Tokyo was launched in 1887, and 
the Committee of Publication has recently issued a 
general index to vols. i. to xxv. (1887-1908). In this 
index there are fully 300 distinct contributions from 
about a gross of contributors, of whom twelve are 
Europeans and Americans. This gives some indica- 
tion of the scientific activity of the Japanese, for all 
the contributions are of the nature of research. Every 
science is represented—mathematics, physics, chem- 
istry, geology, mineralogy, zoology, botany, embryo- 
logy, seismology, &c. The great majority of the 
papers are written in English, about two dozen being 
NO. 2310, VOL. 92] 
NATURE 
639 
in German, a few in French, and three or four of the 
lists of plants in Latin. Many of the memoirs~are 
recognised by those competent to judge as of first- 
class importance in the development of scientific 
knowledge. When it is remembered that the papers 
are to a large extent the result of research work by 
the teachers, students, and graduates of the College 
of Science, and in many cases of work done within 
its walls, the world will recognise that Japan is 
rapidly repaying her debt to the West, from whom 
she received her first impulse towards scientific inves- 
tigation. 
ATTENTION was directed in the issue of Narure for 
March 6, 1913 (vol. xci., p. 20), to the Napier tercen- 
tenary celebration, to be held in Edinburgh on Friday, 
July 24 next, and following days. The celebration is 
being held under the auspices of the Royal Society of 
Edinburgh, on whose invitation a general committee 
has been formed, representing the Royal Society of 
London, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Univer- 
sities of St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edin- 
burgh, the University College of Dundee, and many 
other bodies and institutions of educational import- 
ance. The Royal Society of Edinburgh now gives a 
general invitation to mathematicians and others in- 
terested in this coming celebration. The celebration 
will be opened with an inaugural address by Lord 
Moulton of Bank, followed by a reception given by the 
Lord Provost, magistrates, and council of the city of 
Edinburgh. The historical and present practice of com- 
putation and other developments closely connected 
with Napier’s discoveries and inventions will be dis- 
cussed on the following days. Relics of Napier will 
also be on view, and it is intended to bring together 
for exhibition books of tables and forms of calculating 
machines, which may reasonably be regarded as 
natural developments of the great advance made by 
Napier. Individuals, societies, &c., may become 
founder members on payment of a minimum sub- 
scription of 2/.; and each founder member will receive 
a copy of the memorial volume, which will contain 
addresses and papers read before the congress, and 
other material of historic and scientific value. Ordinary 
subscribers attending the celebration may obtain 
copies of the memorial volume at a reduced price. 
Subscriptions and donations should be sent to the 
honorary treasurer, Mr. Adam Tait, Royal Bank of 
Scotland, St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh. 
Mr. J. C. DrumMmonp has been appointed assistant 
to the chemical department of the Research Institute 
of the Cancer Hospital (Free), Fulham Road, London, 
Si W. 
At the annual meeting just held of the Zoological 
Society of New York, it was resolved to cable to the 
Zoological Society of London the following message: 
“That the Zoological Society of New York, having 
been largely instrumental in securing the passage of 
our national measures for the protection of the birds 
of the world, by preventing all importations for pur- 
poses of fashion or millinery, hereby extends its greet- 
ings to its fellow-members of the Zoological Society 
of London, and expresses the hope that the society, 
‘ which represents the other great metropolis of the 
