OcTOBER 23, 1902] 
NATURE 
635 
advisory committee of the Royal Society, nominated at the 
request of the Government of India. The problem of the 
future administration and scientific development of the depart- 
ment is also under consideration by the committee, in con- 
junction with Mr. Eliot, who is now in England for that 
purpose. 
A BUREAU of Government Laboratories has been established 
in the Philippine Islands, and arrangements are being made for 
erecting a large building and equipping it with modern appli- 
ances for scientific work. Investigatious will be made, not only 
of the resources of the island, but also of tropical diseases. The 
laboratories will provide exceptional'opportunities for scientific 
study in the tropics. 
AT a meeting of the Cold Storage and Ice Association, to be 
held at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on Wednesday, 
November 5, at 8 p.m., Dr. Carl Linde, of Munich, will read 
a paper on ‘‘ The Technical Application of Liquid Air.” 
THE new session of the Hampstead Scientific Society will be 
inaugurated by a conversazione, to be held on Wednesday, 
October 29. Prof. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., will give an address 
on ‘‘ The Forest Primeval of the Coal-measures.” 
THE meeting of the Geologists’ Association on Friday, 
November 7, will be devoted to a conversazione at University 
College, Gower Street, W.C. Exhibits of specimens and 
photographs of geological interest will be on view during the 
evening. 
An Egyptian Medical Congress will be held at Cairo on 
December 19-23 under the presidency of Dr. Ibrahim Pacha 
Hassan. The principal object of the Congress is the study and 
discussion of diseases occurring in warm climates. The secre- 
tary of the English committee is Dr. W. Page May, 9 Man- 
chester Square, London, W. 
THE death is announced of Mr. Peter Brotherhood, whose 
invention of a new type of steam engine in 1872 made his 
name well known among mechanical en gineers. In this type of 
engine, three cylinders are set at angles of 120° round a central 
chamber, and all three connecting rods operate upon one crank 
within the central chamber. Mr. Brotherhood introduced 
important improvements in the pumps for compressing air on 
board ship for use in torpedoes, and thus assisted the develop- 
ment of the automobile torpedo. He was also the inventor of 
a vertical direct-acting engine. 
Wird reference to the movement which has been set on foot 
in Berlin to raise a fund to defray the cost of erecting a statue 
to the late Prof. Virchow in that city, the British Medical 
Journal states that Prof. Waldeyer, who has taken the lead in 
the matter, summoned a meeting for October 15. At an early 
date a committee will be formed in this country, with Lord 
Lister as chairman, to afford the friends and admirers of Vir- 
chow in the United Kingdom the opportunity of contributing 
to the memorial. The Berlin Medicinische Gesellschaft will 
hold a special memorial meeting for Virchow on October 29, 
and the Berlin Verein fiir innere Medizin has already held a 
special meeting in memory of Virchow and Gerhardt, when a 
memorial oration was deliverd by Prof. von Leyden. 
THE Soufriére of St. Vincent was again in eruption on 
October 16. The following records are abridged from reports 
published in the 7imes:—Kingstown, St. Vincent.—The eruption 
has caused even greater distress in the colony than that which 
prevailed before. Large areas of tillage lands which were 
hitherto considered to be outside the volcanic zone are now 
buried in hot sand. The roads in the Windward district are the 
only regular means of communication between Georgetown and 
NO. 1721, VOL. 66] 
Kingstown, a distance of twenty miles, and travel is extremely 
difficult. Barbados.—Between 2and 3a.m. on October 16, loud 
reports heard from St. Vincent ;at 7 a.m. inky blackness in direc- 
tion of St. Vincent, air quite still ; at 9.30 a.m., volcanic dust 
commenced falling, with very strong smell of sulphur. 
Dust continued to fall for several days, producing a deposit 
about one-eighth of an inch thick. Wendward Islands.— 
Soufriére in full eruption October 16, between midnight and 
5 a.m. No loss of life reported, but heavy fall of sand and 
stones, principally on Windward side as far as Union; slight 
fall Kingstown and Leeward coast. A layer of volcanic mate- 
rial eight inches deep was deposited in the Carib country. 
Guadeloupe.—Loud det onations were heard, and a glimmering 
light was seen in the direction of Martinique in the early morning. 
WE have received from Mr. P. Baracchi, Government 
Astronomer, the results of observations in meteorology and 
terrestrial magnetism made at the Melbourne Observatory and 
other localities in the State of Victoria for the last half of the 
year 1901. These periodical results form a valuable contribution 
to the climatology of that part of Australia, showing in a con- 
cise form the monthly means and extremes at a considerable 
number of stations of the second and third orders, and the 
monthly and yearly rainfall of all the numerous stations in the 
State, together with the average rainfall computed from the 
results of as many years as are available for the purpose. In 
some cases th= series exceeds forty years’ duration. 
WE learn from the Azfo-vélo that Captain Ferber, of Nice, 
has recently made some highly successful experiments in aérial 
gliding. His first attempts were made with a machine of the 
Lilienthal type, with which several glides were effected, but 
this machine was destroyed by a sudden gust of wind, and 
Captain Ferber has now adopted a form of aéroplane similar 
to the two-surface machine of Mr. Wilber Wright and his 
brother, in which the operator assumes a horizontal position and 
steers by means of a rudder placed in front. The newspaper 
states that the captain is enchanted with his apparatus and 
hopes to beat the record of Mr. Wright of 150 metres. He 
finds the machine remarkably stable and easy of manipulation, 
and by careful management of the rudder he is able to land 
without any shock. 
A SECOND edition of Dr. S. P. Langley’s memoir containing 
the results of his ‘‘ Experiments in Aérodynamics” has been 
published {by the Smithsonian Institution. The work origin- 
ally appeared eleven years ago, and the principles and experi- 
ments described in it have since been used in the construction 
of aérodromes or flying machines. At the end of his memoir, 
Dr. Langley refers to the position and promise of aérial navi- 
gation in the following words :—‘‘ Since the preceding lines 
were written, the writer has demonstrated that mechanical flight 
is possible by actually performing it with steel flying machines. 
nearly a thousand times heavier than the air, driven by steam, 
and employing as a rule curved sustaining surfaces. These 
machines, which were built by the writer, weighed from thirty 
to forty pounds, and they have arisen and descended in safety, 
their flight being limited to distances of from half a mile to 
three-quarters of a mile, at speeds varying from twenty to thirty 
miles an hour (see NATURE, vol. liv. p. 80, May 28, 1896). 
The ‘inchoate art’ of aérodynamics has since made a correspond- 
ing progress, and while leaving a great deal to be done, it is 
believed by the writer that the time is now very near when 
human beings will be transported at high velocities, though 
perhaps at first under exceptional conditions such as are de- 
manded in the arts of war rather than of peace.” 
Very little ice has been reported from the north-western 
quarter of the North Atlantic this year. The Meteorological 
Office pilot chart for November shows that since the beginning 
