298 
swith the meeting the Freedom of the Borough of Devonport 
has been presented to the president, Sir W. H. White, K.C.B., 
F.R.S. 
THE thirty-sixth annual conference of the British Pharma- 
<eutical Society of Great Britain was opened on Tuesday at 
Plymouth, the president, Mr. J. C. C, Payne, Belfast, being in 
the chair. The executive committee reported that the total 
membership was 1303. A number of papers on technical sub- 
jects were read and discussed. 
THE Japanese Government have, it is stated, decided to make 
vaccination compulsory in Japan. All children must be vac- 
cinated before the age of ten months. The first re-vaccination is 
to take place at six, and the second at twelve years of age. 
Mr. C. J. Lyons, writing inthe U.S. Weather Review, from 
Honolulu, points out that most prominent volcanic outbursts on 
Hawaii have occurred at times of minimum sun-spots ; so that, 
if the connection is real, a great lava how may be expected at 
some time between now and 1gof. Whether the years of 
maximum sun-spots are coincident with the years of no erup- 
‘tion does not appear to have been examined by Mr. Lyons, 
A ReEvTER telegram of July 21 from New York states that 
the crater on the peak of Mauna Loa, Hawaii, burst into violent 
eruption on the 4th inst. Lava flowed down in three streams, 
one going towards Hilo and the two others in the direction of 
the sea, threatening the coffee plantations and the sugar lands. 
A SPECIMEN of the egg of the Great Auk was sold by auction 
at Stevens’s Rooms last week, and, although slightly cracked, 
vealised the sum of 300 guineas, which equals the amount paid for 
¢he specimen sold at the same place in 1894. The egg just sold 
was figured in the AZemozrs of the Société Zoologique de France 
in £888, and, with additional notes on its history, it appeared in 
the Bulletén of the Société in 1891. 
THE Astrophysical Fournal for June states that a conference 
of astronomers and astrophysicists will, on the invitation of Prof, 
Hale, be held at the Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, Wis., 
U.S.A., from September 6 to $ next. In its plan and scope the 
conference will be similar to those held in 1897 and 1898 at 
Williams Bay and Cambridge, Mass., respectively. The com- 
mittee charged with perfecting a plan for the organisation of a 
permanent society of astronomers -and astrophysicists, to have 
charge of future conferences, will present its report. 
ACCORDING to the A/hkenaeuwm, Dr. Sven Hedin has set out 
upon his new journey of exploration in Central Asia, and 
expects to be absent for about two and a half years, principally 
in East Turkestan and the northern part of Tibet. The Rus- 
sian Government has accorded him free passage on the Russian 
railway and free transmission of his very extensive equipment. 
For his Asiatic travel, as in his earlier journeys, a guard of 
‘Cossacks is to be placed at his disposal upon his application 
where necessary. 
THE annual meeting of the British Medical Association 
will be held at Portsmouth next week. The proceedings 
will commence on Tuesday, August 1, when Dr. J. Ward 
Cousins, Southsea, will deliver the presidential address in 
the town-hall. On Wednesday and following days the sections 
will meet in the mornings and afternoons. On Wednesday 
evening a sozrée, invitations to which will be issued by the 
president, will be held in the town-hall, and on Thursday the 
annual dinner of the Association will be held in the same building, 
to be followed by a reception organised by the ladies’ committee. 
‘On Friday night Alderman T. Scott Foster will give a ball at 
ithe town-hall. The meeting will be brought to a conclusion on 
Saturday evening, August 5. 
NO. 1552, VOL. 60] 
NATURE 
[JuLy 27, 1899 
WE learn from Sczence that Clark University, Worcester, 
Massachusetts, has just celebrated its decennial in a manner 
worthy of a university devoted to the advancement of science. 
The following lectures were delivered in connection with the 
celebration: Prof. Ludwig Boltzmann, of the University of 
Vienna, on the ‘‘ Principles and Fundamental Equations of 
Mechanics”; Prof. Picard, of the University of Paris, on 
“Differential Equations,’ and on ‘Analytical Functions” ; 
Prof. Angelo Mosso, of the University of Turin, on ‘‘ The 
Relation between Muscular Exercise and the Development of 
Mental Power,” and on ‘‘ Bodily Disturbances accompanying 
the Emotions”; Prof. Santiago Ramon y Cajal, of the Uni- 
versity of Madrid, on the ‘‘Structure of the Visual Cortex 
of the Human Brain,” and Prof. August Forel, of Ziirich, on 
“« Hypnotism,” and on ‘‘ Arts.”’ 
AN International Congress of Physics, to be held during the 
Paris Exposition next year, is being organised by a Committee 
of the Société frangaise de Physique. The congress will com- 
mence on August 6, 1900, and will last a week. Though a 
number of special congresses are being arranged, it is thought 
that a congress having for its object the discussion of funda- 
mental questions of physical science will be of interest to all 
physicists. Among the subjects to be dealt with in reports and 
discussions are the definition of certain units, such as pressure, 
scale of hardness, quantity of heat, photometric values, con- 
stants of saccharimetry, spectrum scale, and electrical units not 
yet defined ; bibliography of physics ; and national laboratories. 
There will also be visits to exhibits of scientific interest in the 
Exposition, to laboratories and to manufactories; and con- 
ferences on some new subjects, to be announced later, will be 
arranged. The president of the organising committee is Prof. 
Cornu ; vice-president, M. Cailletet ; and secretaries, M. C, E. 
Guillaume (au Pavillon de Breteuil, Sevres, Seine-et-Oise) and 
M. Lucien Poincaré (105 é¢s boulevard Raspail, Paris), the 
former being the secretary for foreign members, and the latter 
for France. 
From the Bulletin de la Société d’ Encouragement we learn 
that an International Congress of Applied Mechanics has been 
organised for 1900 in connection with the Universal Exhibition, 
A draft programme has already been drawn up, and the subjects 
for discussion include mechanical laboratories, mechanical appli- 
cations of electricity, high-speed steam engines, the mechanics 
of motor cars and implements. The Congress will open on 
July 19, 1900, and will last a week. Full particulars are 
obtainable from the Secretary of the Commission, 44 rue de 
Rennes, Paris. 
THE Berlin correspondent of the Zavcet gives a few par- 
ticulars concerning the institution for the study of tropical 
diseases, shortly to be erected in Hamburg by the Govern- 
ment. It was the wish of Prof. Koch and the medical faculty 
that the institutiun should find a home in Berlin, in connection 
with, and as a department of, the Institution for Infectious 
Diseases. The Government, however, was of opinion that 
Hamburg would be preferable because a large number of patients 
coming from tropical climates and suffering from the specific 
diseases of the tropics are received into the Hamburg hospitals. 
In this way the new institution will have ample material for 
study, whilst if the institution were established in Berlin the 
patients would have to be conveyed from Hamburg and other 
seaports to the metropolis, a proceeding which would eventu- 
ally be prejudicial to them. It is neither decided yet when the 
institution will be opened nor who will be appointed director. 
Probably one of the Colonial medical officers will be placed 
in charge. 
