February 8, 1906] 



NA TURE 



547 



We learn from Science that, in accordance with the re- 

 commendations of Prof. John B. Smith, a Bill has been 

 introduced into the New Jersey Legislature appropriating 

 i4,oooi. a year for five years for the extermination of 

 mosquitoes. 



A Reuter message from Naples states that Vesuvius is 

 still active. The lava has reached three places on the 

 Vesuvian railway line, covering about 100 yards of the line 

 at each point. The lava threatens the line at a fourth 

 point, as well as the station of the funicular railway, which 

 is no longer working. 



The Friday evening discourse at the Royal Institution 

 on February 16 will be delivered by Mr. W. C. D. 

 Whetham on " The Passage of Electricity through 

 Liquids," and on February 23 by Prof. J. O. Arnold on 

 the " Internal Architecture of Metals." 



A great mass of rock having a weight estimated at 

 70,000 tons at the lowest, and placed by some at half a 

 million tons, fell at Cheddar Cliffs on Sunday night. The 

 fall took place on the face of the cliff, and the disaster 

 is attributed lt> quarrying operations. 



The Electrician states that the forty-fourth Congres de 

 Societies savantes will be opened at the Sorbonne on Tues- 

 day, April 17. The congress will continue until Friday, 

 April 20, and on the following day it will be concluded by 

 a meeting in the great amphitheatre of the Sorbonne, pre- 

 sided over by the Minister of Public Instruction and the 

 Fine Arts. 



Dr. Lewis Gough has been appointed to assist Dr. 

 Gunning in the management of the museum at Pretoria. 

 The department for which he will be responsible will be 

 that containing the fishes, the amphibia, and reptiles — 

 groups of animals which were especially under his charge 

 when he was an assistant in the museum at Strasburg. 

 Recently Dr. Gough has been working at Plymouth on the 

 plankton of the British Channel in connection with the 

 British Marine Biological Association. 



A section of the Swedish Government is again anxious 

 to impose an export duty on outgoing Swedish iron ores. 

 A suggested duty of 20 ore per ton is desired, whilst the 

 revenue accruing therefrom is to be applied to furthering 

 the cause of the Swedish iron industry. 



On January 30 Mr. W. H. Cope, librarian to the Uni- 

 versity of Birmingham, was presented with an oak clock 

 and a cheque by Prof. J. H. Poynting, F.R.S., on behalf 

 of a number of present and past members of Mason College 

 and of the University, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of 

 Mr. Cope's appointment as librarian. 



The friends and pupils of the late Prof. A. Hilger, pro- 

 fessor of pharmacy in the University of Munich, have 

 decided to perpetuate his memory in the university town 

 of Erlangen, the seat of his activity for many years. It 

 is proposed to erect a handsome monument to the deceased 

 man of science in the palace garden in front of Hilger's 

 former laboratory. Communications and contributions are 

 to be addressed to Dr. Spath, chief inspector of the Royal 

 Analytical Institute, Erlangen. 



The twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the 

 Berlin Agricultural High School was celebrated on 

 January 25 ; among those present were a number of 

 relatives of the late Albrecht von Thaers, who is regarded 

 as the reformer of agricultural teaching and of the science 

 of practical agriculture in Germany. The rector of the 



NO. 1893, VOL - 73] 



school, Prof. Orth, chose as the title of his address 

 " Agriculture up to the Time of Thaers." 



We learn from the Times that Sir Robert L. Patterson, 

 who died at his residence near Belfast on January 29, was 

 the second son of the late Mr. Robert Patterson, F.R.S. 

 He was a member of the British Ornithologists' Union, 

 and recognised as a high authority on Irish birds. For 

 very many years he was associated with the Belfast Natural 

 Historv and Philosophical Society, of which he was twice 

 president for terms of two years each, in 1881 and 1894. 

 He also took an active interest in the Ulster Fisheries 

 Biology Association, of which he was a life member and 

 a vice-president. He was a Fellow of the Linnean Society 

 of London. 



We regret to record the death, in his forty-seventh year, 

 of Mr. C. J. Cornish on January 30. Educated at Charter- 

 house and Hertford College, Oxford (of which he was a 

 Fellow), Mr. Cornish at the conclusion of his college career 

 was appointed an assistant master at St. Paul's School, 

 a position he held until his death. He was the author of 

 a number of articles in the Spectator, as well as of several 

 books, bearing more or less closely on the popular side of 

 natural history, and his innate love of nature, coupled 

 with an agreeable style, made all his works a success. 

 Among his best known books may be mentioned " Life at 

 the Zoo " (1895), " Nights with an Old Gunner " (1897), 

 and " The Naturalist on the Thames." In addition to 

 these, he was editor of the " Living Animals of the 

 World." published in parts by Messrs. Hutchinson, and 

 was commissioned to write the " Life of Sir William 

 Flower " by the relatives of that distinguished zoologist. 



In Natal, where a local committee has been formed to 

 cooperate with the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (says 

 the British Medical Journal), the question of the occur- 

 rence of malignant disease among such coloured races as 

 inhabit the colony, and also among the lower animals, 

 birds, fish, and reptiles, is being actively investigated. So 

 far as is possible, the assistance of all practitioners of 

 human and veterinary medicine has been secured, and 

 endeavour has likewise been made to enlist the sympathies 

 of naturalists and sportsmen. All specimens of suspected 

 cancerous disease are being examined at the Government 

 Laboratory, Pietermaritzburg, free of charge. The 

 honorary secretary of the committee is Dr. W. Watkins- 

 Pitchford. 



Sir James Crichton-Browne presided over the twenty- 

 third annual dinner of the Sanitary Inspectors' Association 

 on February 3. Sir W. Broadbent gave the toast of 

 "Science and Art," and testified to the zeal with which 

 sanitary inspectors discharged their duties in the battle 

 against disease. The president, in proposing the toast 

 of the " Sanitary Inspectors' Association," referred to the 

 recent suggestions of Sir F. Treves that disease is bene- 

 ficent, and passed on to consider the important work 

 carried out by sanitary inspectors. The ravages of tuber- 

 culosis were particularly referred to as an example of the 

 striking effects of sanitary reform. Sixty-seven years ago 

 pulmonary consumption was annually killing 68,000 persons 

 in England and Wales, or 3800 per million living. Since 

 then there has been a gradual diminution in this death- 

 rate, until now the number of deaths is 40,000 per annum, 

 or a death-rate of 1200 per million. It has been estimated 

 that by 1930 the disease may be almost unknown. It 

 is necessary to have compulsory notification, universal 

 disinfection of houses in which cases of consumption have 

 occurred, and isolation and sanatorium treatment on a 

 large scale. 



