156 
NATORE 
[JUNE 15, 1899 
We learn from the Allahabad Prone Afail that some im- 
portant changes are being made in the Meteorological Depart- 
ment of the Government of India. These comprise the 
abolition of a number of observing stations which have not 
proved worth keeping up, and the substitution for them of others 
in more favourable localities. Of the latter, most important 
are stations which are to be established at Cherapunji and one 
or two other places in Assam; which will enable a more careful 
watch to be kept over the meteorology of the tea districts, also 
regarding the periodical rise and fall of the rivers which are so 
important for the jute trade. Arrangements are also being 
made, but are not yet concluded, for the establishment of an 
observatory on Dodabatta Peak, the highest point in the 
Nilgiris, which is likely to be valuable in connection with the 
warnings of the monsoon. 
THE preliminary programme of the eighteenth congress of the 
Sanitary Institute, to be held in Southampton, from August 29 
to September 2, has now been issued. The president of the 
congress is Mr. W. H. Preece, K.C.B., F.R.S. Mr. Malcolm 
Morris will deliver the lecture to the congress, and Bailie 
J. Dick, chairman of the Health Committee, Glasgow, will 
deliver the popular lecture. Excursions to places of interest in 
connection with sanitation will be arranged for those attending 
the congress. A conversazione will be given by the Mayor 
(Councillor G. A. E. Hussey). The congress will include three 
general addresses and lectures. Three sections will meet for 
two days each, and deal with (1) sanitary science and preventive 
medicine, presided over by Sir Joseph Ewart ; (2) engineering 
and architecture, presided over by Mr. James Lemon; (3) 
physics, chemistry and biology, presided over by Prof. Percy 
F. Frankland, F.R.S. There will also be eight special 
conferences. 
A PARLIAMENTARY paper has just been issued showing the 
number of experiments performed on living animals during 
1898, under licences granted under the Act 39 and 40 Vict., 
c. 77; distinguishing painless from painful experiments. Nearly 
all the experiments made under the certificate which dispenses 
with the obligation to kill the animal before recovering from 
anzesthesia, have been inoculations made (under anzesthetics upon 
rodents) with the object of diagnosing rabies. During the past 
three years, the number of experiments other than those of the 
nature of inoculations, hypodermic injections or similar pro- 
ceedings has shown little variation (1516, 1462,.1511), while 
those of that character have increased (5984, 7360, 7640). Many 
of these latter experiments are performed in the course of pro- 
fessional duty for the diagnosis of disease, the preparation of 
antitoxins, the testing of water, and so forth. During the 
past year 43,000 doses of diphtheria antitoxin have been issued 
from two institutions. 
THE second biennial engineering conference, held at the Insti- 
tution of Civil Engineers last week, was opened by the president, 
Mr. W.H. Preece, K.C.B., F.R.S. This conference was not 
an international one in the sense of that held at Chicago in 1893, 
or of that which is contemplated in the year 1901 in Glasgow, 
in connection with the exhibition to be held there, but it may 
well be Imperial ; and in furtherance of this idea the president 
suggested that, at the next conference, the Council should take 
measures to secure the presence of some members, delegated 
specially to represent engineering in parts of the British Empire 
beyond the seas. In the course of his address, the pre- 
sident remarked: ‘Science has followed, it has not led 
engineering. It is their intimate association which is the 
foundation of all industrial progress. The war of the microbes, 
the latest development of biology, is a consequence of sanitary 
requirements. Our knowledge of the diffusion of molecules and 
NO. 1546, VOL. 60] 
the solution.of solids has sprung from the investigation into the 
mechanical properties and constitution of iron and its alloys, and 
the disturbances of the ather are becoming familiar through the 
practice of the so-called wireless telegraphy. Facts are derived 
from accident, observation or practice ; laws are the result of 
research. Engineers have always appreciated science up to the 
hilt, but. they wish that its special votaries were less dogmatic 
and more modest.” Appreciative reference was made to the 
work of investigators like Newton, Faraday, Lord Kelvin, Lord 
Armstrong, Lord Lister and Lord Rayleigh ; otherwise the 
remarks quoted would convey the impression that purely scien- 
tific investigations, such, for instance, as. were made by Faraday, 
Clerk Maxwell, and Hertz, had followed instead of preceded 
advances in applied electricity. 
THE U.S. Congress has shown appreciation of the valuable 
work accomplished by the Department of Agriculture by pro- 
viding increased funds for many of the bureaus and divisions. 
We learn from the Experiment Station Record that the grant 
recently made by Act of Congress provides an increase of nearly 
200,000 dollars over last year, and of more than half a million 
dollars over the year previous, the total appropriation for the closing 
fiscal year of the century being 3,726,022 dollars. This includes 
720,000 dollars for the agricultural experiment stations in forty- 
eight States and territories, and a special grant for,the establish- 
ment and maintenance of experiment stations in Alaska. The 
largest increases in appropriation are for the Weather Bureau 
and the Bureau of Animal Industry. The total grant for the 
Weather Bureau is 1,022,482 dollars, which includes an increase 
of 60,000 dollars for the maintenance of the new stations in the 
West Indies and adjacent coast, and 25,000 dollars for the erec- 
tion of an addition to the present buildings of the Bureau in 
Washington. The total appropriation forthe Bureau of Animal 
Industry is 1,044,030 dollars. This includes 50,000 dollars 
additional for investigations and inspection, and 20,000 dollars 
‘*for the purchase and equipment of land in the vicinity of 
Washington for an experiment station for the study of the diseases 
affecting the domesticated animals.” The fund for irrigation in- 
vestigations has been increased to 35,000 dollars. A grant of 
10,000 dollars has been made for tobacco investigations, including 
the mapping of tobacco soils ; study of soils and conditions of 
growth in Cuba, Sumatra and other competing countries ; investi- 
gations of the methods of curing, with particular reference to 
fermentation ; and originating improved varieties by means of 
selection and breeding. The Division of Chemistry receives 
34,000 dollars—an increase of 5300 dollars—2500 dollars of 
which is for the equipment of a new laboratory. These addi- 
tional grants will materially strengthen the Department of 
Agriculture and extend its sphere of usefulness. 
THE process of manufacturing mechanical wood pulp is de- 
scribed by Mr. W. A. Hare in a volume just received, con- 
taining papers read before the Engineering Society of the School 
of Practical Science, Toronto. Within the past two or three 
years there has been a marked impetus given to the pulp and 
paper industry in Canada. Wood pulp will, for many years to 
come, be used to supply the world’s demand for a filler in the 
manufacture of paper, in many of the coarse grades of which 
it is the only constituent. It is not confined, however, to the 
manufacture of paper alone, but is made into many useful 
articles of daily service, the market for which is increasing 
rapidly. No country in the world is better adapted than 
Canada for the establishment and expansion of wood pulp 
manufactures ; and a prosperous future may be anticipated for 
the industry. 
THE report of Mr, W. E. Plummer, Director of the Liver- 
pool Observatory, upon the observations made during 1898, 
has been issued by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. 
