228 
the observatory, or the directors must be put in possession of 
12,0007, worth of consols to enable them to carry it on for 
another meteorological cycle. 
PRINCE AUGUSTE D’ARENBERG, president of the Suez Canal 
Company, hassent a letter to the president of the Liverpool School 
of Tropical Medicine asking for the cooperation of the school in a 
concerted effort to cope with the prevalence of malaria in Ismailia, 
and making a formal request for the services of Major Ronald 
Ross, C.B., F.R.S., to start operations there against mosquitoes. 
The committee of the school has acceded to the request, and is 
making arrangements to enable Major Ross to proceed to 
Ismailia in September next, when malaria is especially prevalent. 
Major Ross will begin by starting an organised campaign against 
malaria, and will go out again later in the year to carry it 
through. : 
THE Prince of Wales has consented to act as president of the 
fund which has been established for the purpose of conducting 
research into the nature, causes and cure of cancer. The vice- 
presidents of the fund are the Lords Lister and Strathcona, the 
Right Hon. Arthur Balfour, Sir Frederick Bramwell, Sir William 
Broadbent and Mr. Bischoffsheim. The executive committee 
is composed of Sir W. Broadbent, Sir W. Church, Sir H. 
Howse, Drs. Sydney Martin, Pye-Smith and Rose Bradford, 
Prof. Sims Woodhead, and Messrs. Langton, Henry Morris, 
Butlin, McFadyean and Watson Cheyne. The money contribu- 
tions actually paid amount to 32,391/., and promises of 4100/. 
more have been received, making a total of 36,4917. towards 
the full amount of 100,000/. originally asked for. Work will 
be commenced with the sum in hand, but it is hoped that the 
full capital required will be subscribed. 
NATURAL science in Ceylon has sustained a severe loss by 
the untimely death of Mr. Oliver Collett, F.R.M.S., who, 
while carrying on actively his vocation as a tea planter, found 
time for excellent original work hpth in the field and laboratory. 
He devoted himself especially to the Mollusca; and a genus 
and several species of land shells bear his name. As a member 
of the Ceylon branch of the Royal Asiatic Society he con- 
tributed various papers on zoological questions. He also 
brought his scientific knowledge to bear on some economic 
questions in connection with the cultivation of tea, and was 
much esteemed by his fellow planters, being at the time of his 
death chairman of the local Planters’ Association. Mr. 
Collett, who was thirty-five years of age, possessed a very 
attractive personality, and many, both at home and in Ceylon, 
who were brought in contact with him by common interests, 
deplore the loss of a charming friend and an enthusiastic 
naturalist. He died’ on June 13 somewhat suddenly at 
Colombo, from an attack of dysentery. 
A MEETING of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers was 
held at Newcastle on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 29 and 30. 
Among the papers down to be read were :—‘‘ Liquid Fuel for 
Steamers,” by Mr. E. L. Orde; ‘‘Some Experiments on 
Steam-Engine Economy,” by Prof. R. L. Weighton ; ‘* Pump- 
ing Plant for Condensing Water,” by Mr. Charles Hopkinson ; 
“Mechanical Appliances in Mines (Drilling and Coal Cutting),” 
by Mr. R. H. Wainford; ‘‘ Recent Developments in Pneu- 
matic Tools and Appliances,” by Mr. Ewart C. Amos; and 
“* Motor Cars of 1902,” by Captain C. C. Longridge. 
A FEW weeks ago (July 3, p. 227) we gave a short account 
of the investigations into the connection between the magnetic 
currents in the earth and the Aurora Borealis, which Prof. Kr. 
Birkeland conducted in the winter of 1899-1900 at two stations 
Talvik and Haldde, on the summits of two mountains to the 
west of Bossekop, Altenfjord, in Lapland. Prof. Birkeland 
NO. 1709, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
[JULY 31, 1902 
recently left Christiania for Archangel in order to start from 
there on July 23 and proceed to Matoschkin Strait, Nova 
Zembla, to organise and set in working order a similar station 
and leave it in the hands of four observers before returning to 
Norway. At Bossekop, where observations will also be made, 
the observatory is admirably situated on the summit of Haldde 
Mountain ; for at the base a tunnel belonging to a copper-mine 
runs for 2§0 metres into the mountain, and registering appa- 
ratus can be set up in it. Simultaneous observations can thus be 
made on the electrical currents in the atmosphere and in the 
earth. The third station will be on Axel island, Spitsbergen. 
A fourth station, with two observers, will be at Dyrafjord, Ice- 
land, and researches will be carried on for about a year at all of 
them. In order to supplement his own observations and com- 
pare them with others, Prof. Birkeland has invited more than a 
hundred magnetic and meteorological observatories to make 
simultaneous observations, and has received promises of co- 
operation from many of them. 
WriTING from St. Petersburg on July 22, Mr. J. F. Baddeley 
gives in the Z’zes a few details of a serious glacier disaster in 
the Caucasus, news of which has been received from Vladi- 
kavkaz. Between Mont Kazbek and Ghimarai Khokha glacier 
descends into the narrow wedge-shaped valley of the Ghenal 
Don, which, after a course of about thirteen miles, nearly due 
north, joins the Ghizel Don, a tributary of the Terek. Like 
most of the glaciers in the Caucasus, that of the Ghenal Don 
has of late years receded considerably, and some thirty years ago 
copious springs of hot sulphur water were uncovered, which had 
formerly made their presence known by the steam that forced 
its way through the ice. About the middle of July the end of 
the glacier suddenly broke off and slid down the valley, causing 
the loss of thirty-two lives. On July 19 another huge block of 
ice broke off and followed the first with terrible rapidity for 
eight miles down the Ghenal Don. Similar catastrophes have 
frequently occurred on the Georgian Road, in the valley of the 
Terek, owing to icefalls from the Devdoraki Glacier, north and 
slightly east of Kazbek ; but Mr. Baddeley says he has not met 
with any mention of previous cases in connection with the 
Ghenal Don. 
EVIDENCE that the competition of the electrical tramway is 
making itself seriously felt is afforded by the fact that the North- 
Eastern Railway Company has decided to start working some of 
its local lines near Newcastle-on-Tyne electrically, and has 
already invited tenders for the electrical equipment of the sub- 
stations, permanent way and coaches. It is also reported that 
the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company is about to 
make a practical test of electrical running on one of its branch 
lines near Manchester. 
A RECTIFIER for alternating currents devised by Messrs. 
G. H. Morse and C. R. Cushman is described by the former in 
the New York Zvectrical World and Engineer for July 19. An 
electric arc is burnt between three carbon points which are placed 
ina strong magnetic field; the arc burns between the upper 
carbon and one or other of the lower carbons, according to the 
direction of the current. The alternating current is thus divided 
into two pulsating direct currents, and experiments have shown 
that, with a proper adjustment of the strength of the magnetic 
field, the length of arc, &c., the rectification can be made prac- 
tically complete ; that is to say, two direct currents can be 
obtained each equal to half the alternating current. 
ELECTROCHEMISTRY has made enormous strides on the 
continent and in America. But chemists and electricians in 
this country have, for some reason best known to themselves, 
shown a want of interest which is absolutely astonishing. 
Almost every university and technical institute in Germany has 
