JuLy 31, 1902] 
Rose, headmaster of Caterham Board School, has much in it 
that others less nearly connected with the work might fail to 
recognise, and will prove well worthy of careful examination 
when it is printed. 
The remainder of the programme is as follows :— 
Thursday, July 31, chairman, Sir George Kekewich, K.C.B., 
Secretary to the Board of Education. Address on ‘“‘ Nature- 
Study in Colleges and Higher Schools,” by Prof. Mfall, F.R.S. 
Selected speakers :—‘‘Nature-Study in Girls’ Secondary 
Schools,” Miss Mary Gurney ; ‘“ Plant Life as Nature-Study,” 
Mr. Scott Elliott ; ‘‘School Gardens,” Mr. T. G. Rooper; 
** Geology as a Branch of Nature-Study,” Prof. Grenville Cole. 
Friday, August 1, chairman, ithe Right Hon. Sir W. Hart- 
Dyke, Bart., M.P. Address on ‘‘ The Training of Teachers 
in Nature-Study,” by the Rev. Canon Steward. Selected 
speakers :—*‘The Relation of Nature-Study to School Work 
and to the Home,” Sir Joshua Fitch; ‘‘ Nature-Study as an 
Element of Culture,” Mr. M. E. Sadler; ‘‘ School Rambles 
and the Training of Teachers,’ Mr. J. H. Cowham ; ‘* The 
Present Work of the County Councils,” Mr. H. Macan. 
In conclusion, it must be said that the work of bringing the 
undertaking to such a successful issue has taken the whole time 
and energy of Mr. J. C. Medd, the honorary secretary, who has 
had at his disposal the great experience and the marvellous tact 
of Sir John Cockburn, the chairman of the Association ; Mr. 
Cundall, of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Mr. A. T. 
Simmons and Mr. A. Taylor, H1.M. sub-inspector, to whom 
the task of arranging the exhibits was allotted, must also be 
given a full measure of praise. WILFRED MARK WEBB. 
NOTES. 
THE members of the new Order of Merit were entertained at 
dinner by the Athenzeum Club on Friday last. Science was 
represented by four of the twelve members of the Order— 
Lord Rayleigh, Lord Kelvin, Lord Lister and Sir William 
Huggins. Lord Avebury (trustee of the club) presided, and 
among other members present were many leaders of science, 
art and literature. 
A NEw laboratory for the study of experimental psychology 
has been instituted at King’s College, London. The laboratory 
will be in charge of Dr. W. G. Smith, under Prof. Halliburton’s 
general supervision. 
THE 7zmes states that during her passage from Kronstadt to 
Kiel the Italian cruiser Car/o A/berto carried out some important 
experiments in wireless telegraphy under the personal direction 
of Mr. Marconi. Signals were exchanged with stations 2000 
kilometres distant, 1000 kilometres by sea and 1000 kilometres | 
by land. 
Pror. F. A. FOREL writes from Morges to say that he has 
made inquiries into the report that after a shower of rain at 
Frauenfeld, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland, the ground was 
covered with a thin layer of ashes of greyish-blue colour (p. 306). 
A teacher of natural history at Frauenfeld has informed him 
that the news was misleading and that the dust was not of 
volcanic origin. 
A TELEGRAM from Kingstown, St. Vincent, states that there 
have been two slight eruptions of the Soufriére volcano since 
July 21, and an earthquake in the north-eastern part of the 
island. The cable steamer Mewzugton, which is working 
eighteen miles to the north, reports that the depth of the sea 
has increased in that locality to a mile and a quarter. 
THE Daily Mail correspondent at Madrid reports that two 
large cliffs near the town of Calataynd, in Aragon, have fallen 
down, destroying several houses and injuring many people. 
A crater has opened in the Pico de Europa mountains, which 
NO. 1709, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
327 
separate the provinces of Santander and Asturias. A great 
column of vapour is issuing therefrom, and the people are 
in a state of alarm, fearing a volcanic eruption. A Central 
News despatch from the Azores states that there has just been 
a terrific submarine volcanic eruption off Horta. Masses of 
rock in a state of incandescence were thrown up, and the people 
became panic-stricken. A Reuter despatch from San Jose, 
Costa Rica, states that there has lately been unusual activity 
among the Costa Rican volcanoes, considerably affecting the 
land in the neighbourhood of Terraba, From New York 
another Reuter despatch records that an earthquake shock was 
felt shortly after midday on Monday, July 28, in parts of 
Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota, but no damage was done. 
Three shocks have also occurred in the Lompoc Valley, Cali- 
fornia, since Sunday evening, July 27. Cracks appeared in the 
earth and there was widespread panic among the inhabitants. 
Vibrations have also been felt at other places in California, 
THE Westminster Gazette on Saturday last devoted a column 
anda half to the Armstrong-Orling system of wireless tele- 
graphy. We have referred on two or three occasions to 
this system, the receiving apparatus of which was described 
in these columns last December. We now understand 
that a company is about to be registered to manufacture and 
supply the transmitters and receivers. It is stated that appa- 
ratus has been worked out suitable for wireless signalling up to 
a distance of twenty miles, the ground being used as a con- 
ductor, and that it will be sold, at a very cheap rate, for private 
installations. Details of a technical nature are, however, 
entirely wanting, and without these it is impossible to form any 
opinion of the system. So far as we know no description of 
the transmitter has been published, although we were told 
eight months ago that it was proposed to read a paper upon it 
before one of the scientific societies. We have also consulted 
the patent files, but there is nothing in Mr. Orling’s name as 
yet printed which is specially novel or remarkable. It is 
therefore advisable to wait until further particulars are available 
before deciding whether the ‘* programme of amazing promise ” 
sketched in the Westminster Gazette is likely to be realised. 
WE regret to see the announcement of the death of the Rev. 
Charles E. Searle, master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, 
and formerly college lecturer in mathematics. 
In the House of Commons on Monday, Mr. J. A. Dewar 
asked whether it could be made a condition of the annual grant 
of 15,300/. to the Meteorological Council that the high-level and 
low-level observatories at Fort William should be kept in a 
state of efficiency, or whether an additional contribution towards 
the expenses of properly maintaining these observatories would 
be considered. -In reply, Mr. Balfour said he had been advised 
it would not be desirable to impose conditions on the Meteor- 
ological Council or to inquire into this or that particular obser- 
vatory. He was not prepared to give an answer to the last part 
of the question, 
THE decision to close the observatory on Ben Nevis was 
discussed at the general meeting of the Scottish Meteorological 
Society, held in Edinburgh last week. Lord Maclaren, who 
presided, said that the observatory would have to be closed 
because there were no funds available for carrying on the work. 
He thought it was a case for inquiry, and if the Government 
appointed a committee to take evidence, probably the difficulties 
would be overcome. Sir John Murray, as one of the original 
directors, said it was not their intention to found a permanent 
institution, but only to make an experiment of high-level 
observations. The experiment had been most satisfactory in 
every respect. But the observatory must now be closed unless 
one of two things happened; either the State must take over 
