NA TURE 



[January 5, 1899 



mifsion to inquire into/ property and incomes of the 

 Universities of t!)xford and (Cambridge. He was a 

 Curator of tlic Bodleian Library, an honorary Fellow of 

 Queen's College, a member of the governing body of 

 Winchester College, and a visitor of the ("ireenwich 

 ilbservatory. He was appointed Master of I'enibroke 

 College in 1891. 



By his remarkable diligence and geniality, and his 

 services in furthering scientific interests at Oxford, Prof. 

 I'rice became a distinguished feature of his University, 

 where his death will be deeply regretted. 



NOTES. 



Science is to be congratulated that two well-known woikcrs 

 for its advancement are included in the list of New Year honours. 

 \Ve refer to Prof. W. C. Roberts-Austen, who has been pro- 

 moted from the rank of Companion of the Order of the lialh 

 (C.B.)to a Knight Commandership (K.C.K.), ar.d .Mr. \V. T. 

 Thiselton-Dyer, who has been raised to the rank of Knight 

 Commander of the Order of .St. Michael and Si. George 

 (K.C.M.G.). Two distinguished membersof the medical pro- 

 fession have had honours conferred upon them — Sir Henry 

 Thompson receiving the dignity of a baronetcy, and Dr. Her- 

 mann Weber the honour of knighthood. Mr. J. F. Flannery, 

 e.\-I'resident of the Institute of Marine Kngineers, has also been 

 knighted. 



The recent retirement of Sir John Evans from the Treasurer- 

 ship of the Royal Society, after a period of service of twenty 

 years, has given an opportunity for Fellows of the Society to 

 show their appreciation of the efficient manner in which he dis- 

 charged the duties of his office. It is proposed to have his 

 portrait painted in oil colours, and to hang it on (bewails of the 

 .Society's apartments at Burlington House. This would be an 

 appropriate form of recognition of the long a.ssociation of the 

 Treasurer with the interests of the Society. A number of sub- 

 scriptions have already been received, and any Fellows of the 

 Society who wish to contribute should send llitir donations to 

 the Assistant .Secretary. 



A TEi.Ec.RAM from Sydney has been received at the Royal 

 Society slating that the boring into the coral at Funafuti had 

 liecn discontinued on reaching a depth of 1 1 14 feet. \n account 

 of recent operations at Funafuti appeared in N.\rrRE of 

 Novembers, 1S98 (p. 22). 



At St. Petersburg, last week, a Pan- Russian congress of climat- 

 ology, hydrology, and balneology was opened by the Grand Duke 

 Paul, as president of the Society for the Preservation of I'ublic 

 He.illh, for the discussion of means of improving and better 

 utilising the health resorts, bathing places, and mineral waters 

 which now abound in various parts of the empire, especially in 

 the Crimea and the Caucasus. 



The French Government is about to adopt precautionary 

 measures against the introduction of the San Jose scale into 

 France. Decrees will be issued prohibiting the importation of 

 trees, shrubs and plants from the United States, and reijuiring 

 an inspection of all fruits, fresh and dried, at the point of landing 

 in France. * 



The death of Dr. John Siillwcll Schanck, emeritus professor 

 of chemistry and hygiene in Princeton University, is recorded 

 in S,i(ii,t: Dr Schanck was born in 1817, and began the practice 

 of medicine at Princeton in 1S43. In 1S47 he was made lecturer 

 in zoology at the College, and in 1S56 was elected professor of 

 chemistry, to which the chair of natural history wiis added in 

 1S69. In 1S74 the profes.sorship was limited to chemistry, and 

 from 1885 until he was made emeritus professor, in 1852, his 

 chair was entitled chemistry and hygiene. 

 NO. 1523, VOL. 59] 



M. Maurice Lkvy has been elected Vice-President of the 

 Paris Academy of Sciences for the current year, in succession to 

 M. van Tiegham, who passes to the presidential fauteuil. 



In the report of the meeting of the Kent Coal Company 

 (Standard, December 24), the Chairman is slated to have said 

 that " if there was coal in Kent it must affect that C^iinpany 

 for good. If there was not, then every scienlitic man had been 

 wrong. He did not think that could be." The Dover borini; 

 has certainly proved the presence of coal-measures in Kent, 

 but no scientific man can say how far these underground coal- 

 measures extend. 



The Electrical Review announces that a comi>ctition has just 

 been opened by the .Swiss Society of Chemical Industry for a 

 treatise which shall be of service in aiding the development of 

 the electro-chemical industry in Switzerland. \ premium of 

 2000 francs (So/.) is being offered to the author of the work 

 which shall be adjudged the best of those sent in. All com- 

 petitors must send in their work by May i, lyoo, to Herr Dr. 

 Henry .Schacppi, president. Die Schweizerische Gesellschaft fiir 

 Chemische Industrie, Mitlodi, Switzerland, from whom full 

 particulars of the competition may be obtained. 



It is announced by the Hrilisli Medical youriia! that an 

 international congress on tuberculosis and the methods for com- 

 bating it will be held in Berlin from May 23 to 27. Thi 

 Imperial Chancellor, Prince Hohenlohe, will preside, and will 

 be supported by an influential Committee, headed by the Duke 

 of Ralibonand Prof, von Leyden. Five divisions of the subjeci 

 have been agreed on : (i) propagation, (2) etiology, (3) pro- 

 phylaxis. (4) therapeutics, (5) sanatoria. Each of these ques- 

 tions will be introduced by a short and concise address, so as to 

 leave ample time for free discussion and delrate. 



The twenty-sixth annual dinner of old students of the Royal 

 School of .Mines will take place at the Hotel Cecil on Friday, 

 January 27. The chair will be taken by Mr. F. \V. Harbord 

 Tickets may be obtained from Mr. H. G. (iraves, 5 Rober! 

 Street, Adelphi, London, W. C. 



Mr. G. E. Li'MsoEN informs us that he has been asked hy 

 the President of the Astronomical and Physical Society of 

 Toronto to collect such confirmatory data as are accessible in 

 respect of the contention that associated with certain lightning- 

 flashes and displays of aurora, there are black or dark pheno- 

 mena. He would be glad to obtain evidence upon this subject, 

 and would be prepared to purchase, if necessary, photographs 

 or lantern slides of lightning flashes, where black .streaks 01 

 other phenomena are undoubtedly present. His address is The 

 Parliament Buildings, Toronto, Canada. 



Some interesting facts with reference to the mining and 

 minting of gold and silver are mentioned by Mr. .-Xlcxander E. 

 Outerbridge, jun., in a paper published in the December 

 Jonrnat of the Franklin Institute. It is remarked that not- 

 withstanding the excitement over the Klondike discoveries, the 

 output from that region is insignificant when compared with the 

 total product of the whole country. Statistics show that the 

 State of Colorado alone added twice as much gold to the world's 

 slock in 1S97 as did the Klondike region, and several other 

 States largely exceeded the Klondike output. .•\s to the South 

 African gold fields, .\merican mining engineers who have been 

 engaged in developing them, have computed from surveys of 

 the ground and numerous .assiiys of samples of ore taken from 

 different localities and at different depths, that the gold con- 

 tained in the ore in sight in the district known as the '* Rand," 

 or Witwaalersrand, amounts to the enormous value approxi- 

 mately of 800,000,000/. , and at the present rate of production 

 it will take half a century to exhaust these deposits, even 

 though no further discoveries be made, .\ustralasia and the 



