Pe ee ee ee 
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OcToBER 26, 1916] 
will take as his subject. ‘Some Aspects of Lord 
Kelvin’s Life and Work.” 
Tue address of the retiring president, Sir Joseph 
Larmor, at the anniversary meeting of the London 
Mathematical Society, to be held on Thursday, Novem- 
ber 2, at 5.30, at Burlington House, will deal mainly 
with ‘‘The Fourier Harmonic Analysis: its Practical 
Scope and its Limitations.” 
Tue Cardiff Naturalists’ Society, the most influ- 
ential body of its kind in Wales, attains its jubilee 
next year. It is hoped to signalise the event in a 
useful way by producing a complete fauna of 
Glamorgan. 
A SINGULAR phenomenon excited extraordinary atten- 
tion at and round Cardiff on the evening of October 
16. About 6.25 a narrow bar of light appeared in 
the north-north-west, about 6° long and 1° broad, 
some 40° above the horizon, the sky being mostly 
overcast at the time. By 6.35 it had shifted to the 
north, and ten minutes later to its former situation, 
whilst a similar appearance was seen in the north- 
east, a good deal fainter than the other. The beam 
just mentioned was of an angry ruddy colour, and 
fitfully illuminated the surrounding haze. Along the 
northern horizon all this time there was a glow, prob- 
ably of auroral origin, and the Rev. John Griffith 
informs the writer that the shaft of light was, in his 
opinion, possibly auroral also, he having witnessed a 
similar phenomenon some years ago. 
We notice with regret the announcement of the 
death on September 14, in his sixty-first year, of Prof. 
Josiah Royce, distinguished for his contributions to 
philosophy, logic, ethics, and psychology, and pro- 
fessor of the history of philosophy at Harvard Univer- 
sity from 1892 until his recent retirement. 
Tue death is announced, in his fifty-third year, of 
Dr. J. H.-Kastle, research professor of chemistry since 
igit at the agricultural experiment station in connec- 
-tion with the State University of Kentucky. He had 
previously been chief of the division of chemistry in 
the hygienic laboratory of the U.S. Health and Marine 
Service from 1905 to 1909, and professor of chemistry 
at the University of Virginia from 1909 to IoIt. 
was the author of treatises on the chemistry of metals 
and the chemistry of mill, as well as of articles in the 
- American Chemical Journal. 
Ar a hearing before a New York official budget com- 
mittee it was recently stated that the attendance at the 
American Museum of Natural History for the year 
ending June 30, 1916, was 870,000, as against 664,215 
for the previous year. The increase was attributed 
to the larger number of visits to the museum by 
classes from the schools. During the same period the 
attendances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 
New York Zoological Garden, and the Aquarium have 
considerably decreased. 
Tue death is announced of Dr. David Maron, a 
research chemist, whose work is referred to as follows 
in the Times of October 20:—‘Dr. Maron was a 
Russian, aged fifty-two, who had been resident in 
England for many years. He claimed to have in- 
vented a new process by which the output of high- 
explosive shells could be accelerated, and he carried 
on his operations at a factory near London. On Sep- 
tember 14 there was a serious explosion at the works. 
The Press Bureau announced that ‘an explosion has 
occurred to-day at a factory where the manufacture of 
explosives on a small scale for the Government had 
recently been commenced. The casualties are not 
NO. 2452, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
He. 
153 
numerous, present reports recording five killed and 
fifteen injured.’ . Dr. Maron was seriously injured, and 
he died on September 17.” 
In addition to the awards announced in April for 
papers read at the meetings, the council of the Insti- 
tution of Civil Engineers has made the following 
awards for papers published in the Proceedings with- 
out discussion during the session 1915-16 :—Telford 
premiums to Messrs. Hubert Mawson (Liverpool), 
T. W. Keele (Sydney), R. W. Holmes (Wellington, 
N.Z.), W. Fairley (London), J. M. Greathead (Johan- 
nesburg), T. C. Hood (Manmad, India), and J. B. 
Ball (London); the Manby premium to Mr. W. C. 
Cushing (Pittsburg, U.S.A.); and the Crampton prize 
to Major C. E. P. Sankey (London). The Indian 
premium for 1916 has been awarded to Sir John 
Benton (Eastbourne). j 
Tue President of the Board of Trade has appointed 
a committee to consider the position after the war, 
especially in relation to international competition, of 
the lead, copper, tin, and such other of the non-ferrous 
metal trades as may be referred to the committee, and 
to report what measures, if any, are necessary or desir- 
able in order to safeguard that position. The members 
of the committee are :—Sir Gerard Albert Muntz, Bt. 
(chairman), Mr. C. L. Budd, Mr..C. Cookson, Mr. 
C. W. Fielding, Lieut.-Col. A. J. Foster, Mr. A. W. 
Tait, and Mr. A. H. Wiggin. The secretary is Mr. 
J. F. Ronca, to whom all communications relating to 
the committee should be addressed at 7 Whitehall Gar- 
dens, S.W. 
Ar the statutory meeting of the Royal Society of 
Edinburgh, held on October 23, the following office- 
bearers and council were elected :—President, Dr. J. 
Horne; Vice-Presidents, Dr. B. N. Peach, Sir E, A. 
Schafer, the Right Hon. Sir J. H. A. Macdonald, 
Prof, R. A. Sampson, Prof. D’Arcy Thompson, Prof. 
J. Walker; General Secretary, Dr. C. G. Knott; 
Secretaries to Ordinary Meetings, Prof. A. Robinson, 
Prof. E. T. Whittaker; Treasurer, Mr. J. Currie; 
Curator of Library and Museum, Dr. A. Crichton 
Mitchell; Councillors, Dr. W. B. Blaikie, Principal 
O. C. Bradley, Dr. R. S. MacDougall, Dr. W. A- 
Tait, Dr. J. H. Ashworth, Prof. C. G. Barkla, Prof. 
C. R. Marshall, Dr. J. S. Black, Sir G. A. Berry, Dr. 
J. S. Flett, Prof. M. Maclean, and Prof. D,. Water- 
ston. 
TypHoID inoculation was the subject of a question 
by Mr. Chancellor, the member for Haggerston, in 
the House of Commons on October 18. Mr. Forster, 
replying, said that up to August 25, 1916, of the total 
cases finally diagnosed as typhoid fever amongst the 
British troops in France, 903 were amongst inoculated 
men and 508 amongst uninoculated men. There were 
166 deaths, 47 of which were amongst the inoculated 
and 119 amongst uninoculated. To the same date 
there were 2118 cases of paratyphoid fever, 1968 
amongst inoculated men, and 150 amongst men who 
had not been inoculated. There were 29 deaths, 22 
of which were amongst the inoculated and 
7 amongst the uninoculated. From these figures 
it will be seen that the case-mortality per cent. for 
tvphoid fever is, among the inoculated 5-0, and among 
the uninoculated 23-4; for paratyphoid, among the 
inoculated 1-12, and among the uninoculated 4-66—a 
striking testimony in favour of inoculation. 
Tue exhibition of kinematograph films of Capt. 
R. F. Scott’s Antarctic expedition has been revived 
after an interval of nearly two years, and is being 
shown twice daily at the Philharmonic Hall by Mr. 
H. G. Ponting. Mr. Ponting, during the year he 
