49Q 



NA TURE 



[March 22, 1906 



■experts of every kind at Peradeniya, and a similar 

 organisation is in process of establishment in the 

 Federated Malay States. The rubber industry of the 

 Straits Settlements owes its success to the Director 

 of Public Gardens at Singapore. Besides Pusa, India 

 has experienced botanical experts, all university men, 

 at Calcutta, Madras, and Saharunpore. 



Our self-governing colonies know pretty well how 

 to take care of themselves. All possess agricultural 

 departments and produce journals which will compare 

 more than favourably with anything at home. In 

 Canada the Central Experimental Farm at Ottawa 

 is certainly not eclipsed by any institution in the 

 United States. I may be pardoned a little vanity if 

 I remark that when the Transvaal Government 

 applied to Washington for an agrostologist it received 

 a Kew man. 



To sum up. What the Home Country can supply 

 to the Empire is : — (i) cultural instructors such as are 

 trained for the purpose at Kew; (2) men with a 

 sound scientific training and a firm grasp of the prin- 

 ciples underlying- agricultural practice of whatever 

 kind, and for these we must look to the universities. 

 Men who are merely familiar with British agricultural 

 conditions will be mostly of little use unless they 

 possess the flexibility of mind which will apply theory 

 to new and unfamiliar conditions. 



W. T. Thiselton-Dver. 



XOTES. 

 The position of the South Africa medal fund for the 

 endowment of a medal and scholarship or studentship in 

 commemoration of the visit of the British Association to 

 South Africa in 1905 is stated in a circular just issued by 

 Prof. J. Perry, honorary treasurer to the fund. The sub- 

 scriptions promised or paid amounted to 7521. ; and to this 

 The council of the British Association has resolved to add 

 the unexpended balance of the special South African fund, 

 amounting to about Soo/. The following report of the 

 executive committee was adopted at a meeting of sub- 

 scribers on March 2, and approved by the council of the 

 British Association :— (a) That the fund be devoted to the 

 preparation of a die for a medal to be struck in bronze, 

 2J inches in diameter, and that the balance be invested and 

 the annual income held in trust ; (6) that the medal and 

 income of the fund be awarded by the South African 

 Association for the Advancement of Science for achieve- 

 ment and promise in scientific research in South Africa; 

 (c) that, so far as circumstances admit, the award be made 

 annually. It is to be hoped that a fund raised for so excel- 

 lent a project will receive a substantial increase from 

 members of the association who have not already con- 

 tributed to it, or from subscribers who may wish to add to 

 their subscriptions. 



The terrible mine explosion at Courrieres, in the Pas de 

 'Calais, on the morning of March 10, involving the loss 

 of about 1200 lives, has naturally led to all sorts of con- 

 jectures as to the immediate cause. As usual, atmospheric 

 conditions are said to have played a not unimportant part 

 in bringing about the tragedy. In some mysterious way 

 the very low barometric pressure over the North Sea on 

 March 12, two days later, is supposed to explain the 

 disaster. If, however, attention is concentrated on the 

 atmospheric conditions prevailing at the time of the acci- 

 dent, it will be found that they resembled those which 

 have accompanied the majority of the great disasters of 

 Tlie Bulletin miUorologique de 

 Frame shows that during the night of March 9 a well 

 NO. 1899. VOL. 73] 



marked anticyclone extended from Spain in a north-easterly 

 direction across France and the Netherlands, so that at 

 7 a.m. on March 10, when the calamity occurred, the 

 barometer over the Lens district had risen to 765 mm. 

 (301 inches); it had, in fact, mounted nearly a quarter 

 of an inch in the course of the night. Obviously, if atmo- 

 spheric pressure played any part in bringing about the 

 catastrophe, the latter cannot in any way be associated 

 with a low and falling barometer. 



The death of Mr. William Sowerby, for many years 

 secretary of the Royal Botanic Society, Regent's Park, 

 occurred at his residence in Hertfordshire on March 9. A 

 grandson of James Sowerby, the famous illustratoi oi 

 "English Botany" and of "British Conchology," and 

 son of James de Carle Sowerby, another gifted naturalist, 

 Mr. \V. Sowerby inherited the family taste fcr natural 

 history. He was responsible for the drawing of some 

 botanical plates, but early in life he became associated 

 with the Royal Botanic Society through his father, who 

 was a founder and the first secretary, and in Regent's 

 Park he worked for half a century. An observation which 

 brought his name prominently before the public was the 

 discovery of a medusa in the Victoria Regia tank, this 

 being the first record of a medusa in fresh water, not to 

 say in a most unexpected locality. He was keenly 

 interested in economic plants, and not only did he bring 

 together a unique collection, but he obtained fruit and 

 fibre, the latter being distributed on several occasions to 

 commercial men for trial. Among his successful experi- 

 ments was the cultivation of the while mangrove, 



Avicennia, that flourished and produced aerial is in 



artificial brackish water; he also demonstrated that sea- 

 weeds could be grown in tanks in the greenhouses. 



It is reported from Tokio that a severe earthquake has 

 occurred at Kagi, in Formosa. Many hundreds of persons 

 have been killed and injured, and a large number of build- 

 ings have been destroyed. 



A Riaii-i; message from New York states that, accord- 

 ing to advices from Honolulu, a volcano in Savaii Island 

 (Samoa) is in eruption on a large scale. Three villages 

 have been completely destroyed, including Maleda. The 

 lava stream is three-quarters of a mile wide, and is flowing 

 into the sea. 



Dr. H. C. Bastian, F.R.S., gave a demonstration, with 

 the aid of lantern slides, "On some Heterogenetic Pro- 

 cesses," "ii March 15 at the rooms of the Medical Society. 

 Various micro-organisms were exhibited with the view of 

 meeting the objections that have been raised 10 Dr. 

 It.isii. m's interpretations of the transformations observed. 

 An account of Dr. Bastian's remarks is given in the Lancet 

 for March 17. 



The secretary of the Decimal Association informs us 

 that he has within the past few days received fifty-three 

 promises of support from newly elected members of Parlia- 

 ment. In the last parliament there were 330 members 

 pledged to support the adoption of the metric weighls and 

 measures in this country, and at the present time 253 votes 

 ran be relied upon in the House of Commons. Additional 

 assents are being received day by day, and it is probable 

 that when the canvass now proceeding has been completed 

 then, will be as many supporters in the present parliament 

 is there were in the last. 



The report of the late Dr. S. P. Langlev, secretary of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, for the year 

 ending June 30, 1905, shows that much valuable scientific 



