March 29, 1906] 



NA TURE 



515 



cellor of the Exchequer by Mr. Haldane as president 

 of the British Science Guild. 



It was also stated that the Goldsmiths' Company 

 had very generously made a donation of 1000Z. , with 

 the request that it should be devoted to some specific 

 object. 



The very cordial thanks of the board were voted 

 to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Haldane, Sir 

 J. Lawrence. Sir J. Brunner, and the other gentle- 

 man who had interested themselves in the House of 

 Commons petition, and also to the Goldsmiths' 

 Company. 



The director gave an account of the proposed addi- 

 tions to the buildings rendered possible bv the in- 

 creased grant, and explained the plans which had 

 been prepared by the building committee. The sug- 

 gestion that the work of erecting these buildings 

 should now be pressed forward was cordiallv 

 welcomed, and at a meeting of the executive com- 

 mittee held later power was given to the building 

 committee to take the necessarv steps. The board 

 then adjourned to inspect the laboratory and to view 

 the new electrical buildings, which are now approach- 

 ing completion. They have been erected by Messrs. 

 Mowlem and Co., at a cost of about 8000L, to the 

 design of Messrs. Mott and Hay, who very kindly gave 

 their services, while with marked generosity Messrs. 

 Mowlem 's tender was based on the cost price of the 

 buildings. 



It is hoped that they may be opened on June 25 on 

 the occasion of the visit of the foreign guests of the 

 Institution of Electrical Engineers. In view of this 

 ceremony the invitations on March 16 were restricted 

 to members of the board and their personal friends, 

 the usual annual gathering of friends of the labor- 

 atory being postponed until June. 



NOTES. 



A preliminary programme has been received of the 

 events in connection with the Franklin bi-centenary, which 

 the American Philosophical Society will celebrate at Phila- 

 delphia on April 17-20. The opening ceremony will take 

 place on April 17, when the president, Prof. Edgar F. 

 Smith, will deliver an address. Numerous papers on sub- 

 jects of science will be read on April 18 by distinguished 

 American men of science. In addition to these, Sir George 

 Darwin, K.C.B., F.R.S., will read a paper on the figure 

 and stability of a liquid satellite, and Prof. Hugo de Vries. 

 of Amsterdam, will deal with elementary species in agri- 

 culture. Addresses will be given during the evening of the 

 same day by Prof. E. L. Nichols, on Franklin's researches 

 in electricity, and Prof. E. Rutherford, F.R.S., on the 

 modern theories of electricity and their relation to the 

 Franklinian theory. On April 19 honorary degrees will be 

 conferred by the University of Pennsylvania, and an oration 

 will be delivered by the Hon. Hampton L. Carson, 

 Attorney-General of Pennsylvania. Ceremonies will be per- 

 formed on this day at the grave of Franklin. On April 20 

 addresses in commemoration of Franklin will be given by 

 Dr. H. H. Furness, who will speak of him as citizen and 

 philanthropist ; Dr. C. W. Eliot will pronounce a eulogy 

 of him as printer and philosopher; and Dr. J. H. Choate 

 as statesman and diplomatist. The presentation of the 

 Franklin medal to the Republic of France, in accordance 

 with the Act of Congress, will be made by the Hon. Elihu 

 Root, Secretary of State. 



Dr. Libbertz, the scientific director of the bacteriological 

 department of the Farbwerke, Hochst a. M., is going to 

 South Africa with Dr. Robert Koch to study the question 

 of sleeping sickness. 



NO. I9OO, VOL. 73] 



We learn from the British Medical Journal thai the 

 donations to the fund being collected for the establishment 

 of an Institute of Cancer Research in connection with the 

 University of Heidelberg now amount to 34,000?. 



An exhibition devoted to engineering and mechanical 

 appliances will be held at Olympla from' September 15 to 

 October 17. Sir William White, K.C.B., is president, and 

 the list of patrons includes the presidents of the various 

 engineering societies. The offices of the exhibition are at 

 Balfour House, Finsbury Pavement, London. 



The eighth International Agricultural Congress will be 

 held in Vienna on May 21-25, 1907. The proceedings of 

 the congress will be carried on in eleven sections, of which 

 section ii. will be devoted to questions on instruction in 

 agriculture and forestry, section vi. to agricultural in- 

 dustry, section vii. to the protection of plants, and 

 section x. to vine growing, &c. 



A Recter telegram slates that M. Mylius Erichsen's 

 Danish expedition to the north-east coast of Greenland will 

 leave Copenhagen at the end of June, and will proceed via 

 the Faeroe Islands and east Iceland to the east Greenland 

 pack-ice, through which the explorer expects to be able 

 to penetrate into East Greenland between 57 and 77 

 northern lat. In addition to the Danish members, the 

 exploring party will probably include Dr. A. Wegener, from 

 Germany, as physicist and meteorologist, and Dr. Baron 

 Firchs, from Russia, as geologist. 



According to a Reuter message from Peshawar, a letter 

 from the Governor of Balakh states that while some 

 peasants were preparing their land for cultivation they 

 came upon some ruins, which on further examination proved 

 to be wall enclosures of a ruined city. The Governor 

 visited the spot, and found the ruins of a large city, with 

 some gold coins, the inscriptions on which nobody could 

 read. Old Afghans said they had heard from their ancestors 

 that a large Kafir (or infidel) city existed in the vicinity, 

 which had been destroyed long since, and that in the ruins 

 were buried the treasure of the Kafir kings. Some ol the 

 coins were sent to the Ameer for inspection. 



The Washington correspondent of the Times states that 

 the report of the American members of the International 

 Commission for the Preservation of the Niagara Falls re- 

 commends that legislation be passed, based on a treaty 

 between America and Canada, to prevent further depletion 

 of the water, to maintain the present scenic effects, and 

 to regulate the electrical supply companies which are using 

 the Falls for power. It is proposed to limit the diversion 

 of the waters on the American side to 28,500 cubic feet a 

 second, and the diversion on the Canadian side to 36,000 

 cubic feet. This advantage of Canada is in reality only on 

 paper, as the power generated on the Canadian side is 

 used largely in the United States. The report states that 

 the diversion of water by works already authorised is likely 

 to injure the Falls, and will possibly leave the American 

 fall dry. It is estimated, however, that five-sixths of the 

 total of 60,900 feet a second authorised chiefly affects the 

 Canadian Horseshoe Falls. 



Mr. Frank Stromsten gives a good account of the 

 anatomy and development of the venous system of various 

 species of turtles (Amer. jonrn. of Anatomy, iv., 1905, 

 p. 453). About forty turtles of the more common species 

 were dissected, and fifty turtle embryos were studied for 

 the development of the veins. In general, the development 



