JUNE 26, 1902] 
NATURE 
205 
NOTES. 
A MEMORIAL edition of the scientific writings of the late 
Prof. G. F. FitzGerald, F.R.S., will shortly be published in | 
The volume has been pre- | 
the Dublin University Press series. 
pared under the editorial supervision of Dr. J. Larmor, F.R.S., 
and footnotes in elucidation or correction of the text have been 
added where necessary. It extends to about 570 octavo pages, 
together with 64 pages of an introduction, in part biographical 
and in part historical and explanatory, of Prof. FitzGerald’s 
relation to contemporary science. As much of his stimulating 
and suggestive thought was published in journals not readily 
accessible, just as it flowed from his pen, this substantial collec- | 
tion of papers will in the main be fresh to physicists. Being a 
record of the activity of a mind that was always in the van of 
progress, it will also be of interest as a reminder of the paths of 
advance of physical science during the last quarter of a 
century. 
Ir is beginning to be recognised that scientific knowledge, 
and a progressive frame of mind are attributes which must be 
possessed by all who are preparing for the struggle of the 
future, whether in peace or war. In the debate upon the 
Navy Estimates in the House of Commons on Friday, the 
scientific aspect of the problem of naval warfare was mentioned, 
and we are glad to see that Mr. Arnold Forster referred to the 
importance of keeping it in mind. As to the part science ought 
to play, and the respect it ought to receive in the Navy, he 
remarked that he believed it to be true of the Navy, as of every 
large department, that we had not yet fully realised the position 
that science had taken, and was bound to take to a still larger 
extent, in this country and in the world. He did not know 
that that was peculiar to the Navy. He thought it was far less 
| the completion of the canal. 
true of the Navy than it was of many other great departments | 
of life. 
AT the general meeting of the Zoological Society of London 
held on June 19, the gold medal of the Society was delivered 
by His Grace the Duke of Bedford, K.G., president, to Sir 
Harry Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., in consideration of his 
great services to zoological science while occupying various | 
official posts in Africa and especially in commemoration 
of his discovery of the okapi. After the close of the 
meeting, the third of the series of zoological lectures for the 
present year was delivered by Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., on 
the okapi and its position in the natural series. Prof. Lankester’s | 
| the aborigines ; but the term is said to date only from about the 
memoir in the Society’s Transactions, which contains a full 
account of all that is known of ‘‘ the new African mammal” up 
to the present date, is expected to be ready very shortly. 
THE annual general meeting of the Réntgen Society will be 
held on Thursday, July 3. 
In connection with the Egypt Exploration Fund, an exhi- 
bition of antiquities found by Prof. Petrie at Abydos, and by 
Dr. B. P. Grenfell and Dr. A. S. Hunt in the Fayum and El 
Hibeh, will be on view at University College from July 1 to 
July 26. 
THE annual conversazione of the Institution of Electrical 
Engineers will be held at the Natural History Museum, South 
Kensington, on July 1. There will be a reception of the 
foreign delegates to the International Tramways and Light 
Railways Congress at 9.15 p.m. 
SINCE May 3, 1832, when Louis Bonaparte, then President 
of the French Republic, decreed that the Pantheon was again 
to be considered a Roman Catholic Church, the great pendulum 
installed by Léon Foucault to afford a proof of the rotation of 
workmen are now busy making preparation for a new series of 
demonstrations. The operations will be conducted under the 
supervision of M. Berget, assistant to M. Poincaré. The 
pendulum itself is a ball of llead weighing 27 kilogrammes, 
and was used in 1869 by M. Maumenée for observations 
in the cathedral of Rheims during several months. The new 
| demonstrations at Paris will be given in a few days. 
THE United States Senate has passed a Bill directing the 
President to purchase all the capital stock, concession, un- 
finished work and machinery, and other property of the Panama 
Canal Company for 8,000,000/. The President is further 
directed to acquire from the Republic of Colombia a strip of 
land six miles wide along the route, over which the United 
States shall have permanent control. The Bill next authorises 
If the Panama Company is unable 
to give a satisfactory title and Colombia refuses to cede the 
land, the President is authorised to construct a canal by the 
Nicaragua route. The Dazly Mail states that since the Mar- 
tinique disaster the supporters of the Panama Canal have per- 
sistently declared that the Nicaragua route passed through a 
volcanic country, and that the canal would be liable at any 
moment to be destroyed. This argument had a marked in- 
fluence in gaining votes for Panama. The passage of the Bill 
does not end the canal controversy. The House of Repre- 
sentatives recently passed a Bill authorising the construction of 
a Nicaragua Canal, with only two dissenting votes, but it is 
believed that the Senate’s decision in favour of Panama will 
now be accepted. 
Mr. F. FINN writes to us from the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 
with reference to the late Prof. V. Ball’s identification of the 
Catreus of lian with the Himalayan monal-pheasant. This 
identification Mr. Finn regards as erroneous, and he adduces 
reasons for considering the Honduras wild turkey as the bird in 
| question. Possibly specimens of this bird may have been obtained 
| 
in AElian’s time by the natives of Hindustan from America by 
way of China. If, however, this explanation will not hold good, 
the somewhat startling theory is suggested that the Honduras 
turkey was once a native of India. 
In the U.S. Monthly Weather Review for January and 
February last, Mr. A. Matthews discusses at considerable length 
the term ‘“‘Indian summer,” and gives references to, and 
quotations from, numerous works relating toits use. In America 
this season is connected both by name and popular belief with 
last decade of the eighteenth century, and has reference to a 
spell of warm weather occurring in the late autumn. The term 
appears to have reached Canada in 1821 and this country in 
1830. This warm period is frequently referred to in meteoro- 
logical text-books ; Dr. Buchan points out that if easterly winds 
have largely predominated in autumn, and south-westerly winds 
begin to prevail at the end of November, or a little later, the 
weather is likely to continue exceptionally mild. These 
conditions occur nearly every year, and the beginning of the 
warm spell is popularly known in this country as St. Martin’s 
summer. 
THE Agricultural News of the West Indian Agricultural 
Department adopts a suggestion that Coronation day, should 
be marked throughout the islands as an arbor day. It 
points out that this is exactly the right season for planting 
purposes. In many localities the planting of ornamental shade 
trees would be of great public benefit, and at the same time add 
to the comfort and amenities of life in the tropics. Particulars 
are given as to the methods of planting, suitable trees and 
palms for the purpose being always obtainable at the Botanic 
the earth has been laid aside. M. de Fonvielle informs us that | Gardens. 
»NO. 1704, VOL. 66] 
