196 

president of the Guild. The speakers will include 
Sir Joseph Thomson (Master of Trinity College, 
Cambridge), Sir Robert A. Hadfield, Bart. (Vice- 
President of the Federation of British Industries), and 
the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Cook, G.C.M.G. (High 
Commissioner for Australia). Tickets may be ob- 
tained from the Secretary, British Science Guild, 
6 John Street, Adelphi, London, W.C.2. 
TuHE president and council of the Royal Society 
have appointed Prof. E. H. Starling first Foulerton 
professor in accordance with the terms of the bequest 
of Miss Lucy Foulerton, who left the residue of her 
estate to the Royal Society. The duties of the 
professor are to conduct such original researches in 
medicine or the contributory sciences as shall be 
calculated to promote the discovery of the causes of 
disease and the relief of human suffering. Prof. 
Starling’s work will be carried out at University 
College, London. Dr. H. W. C. Vines, fellow of 
Christ’s College, Cambridge, has been appointed to a 
Foulerton research studentship, the duties being to 
conduct researches in medicine or the contributory 
sciences. Dr. Vines is carrying on his researches in 
the Cambridge Medical School. 
Ar the annual general meeting of the Association of 
Economic Biologists held on Friday, January 26, the 
following officers and council for the year 1923 were 
elected: President: Prof. E. B. Poulton. Vice- 
Presidents: Prof. V. H. Blackman and Sir John 
Russell. Tveasuvey: Dr. A. D. Imms. Secretaries: 
(General and Botanical) : Dr. W. B. Brierley ; (Zoo- 
logical) Dr. J. Waterston. Editors: (Botany) Dr. 
W. B. Brierley; (Zoology) Mr. D. Ward Cutler. 
Council: Dr. W. F. Bewley, Prof. V. H. Blackman, 
Mr. F. T. Brooks, Mr. A. B. Bruce, Dr, E. J. Butler, 
Dr. J. W. Munro, Sir John Russell, Prof. J. H. 
Priestley, Prof. J. H. Ashworth, Dr. T. Goodey, Mr. 
A. D. Cotton, and Mr. W. E. Hiley. 
A JOINT meeting of the Society of Public Analysts 
and the Nottingham Section of the Society of 
Chemical Industry was held at Nottingham on Janu- 
ary 17 for the discussion of methods of estimating 
arsenic. The chair was taken by Mr. Burford, 
chairman of the Nottingham section, and the dis- 
cussion was opened by Mr. A. Chaston Chapman, 
who described his experience during the last twenty- 
five years with the zinc-acid process, and gave an 
outline of his procedure, more particularly in the use 
of cadmium to render the zinc sensitive. He was 
followed by Mr. Wilkie, secretary of the Nottingham 
section, who demonstrated the use of his electrolytic 
method of estimating arsenic, in which the reversi- 
bility of the reaction was prevented. Dr. Monier- 
Williams showed an electrolytic Marsh apparatus 
modified from that in use in the Government labora- 
tory. Mr. H. Droop Richmond attributed the want 
of sensitiveness of the zinc in the zinc-acid method to 
the presence of iron, and Mr. J. Webster described an 
experiment indicating that the total amount of 
arsenic in a large organ such as the liver was correctly 
estimated by multiplying the amount found in the 
Marsh test by a factor. 
NO. 2780, VOL. 111] 
NATURE 

[ FEBRUARY IC, 1923 
Tue New York correspondent of the Times states 
that an earthquake of considerable violence was 
recorded in the United States on February 4. A sea 
wave 12 feet high is reported at Hilo Harbour, 
Hawaii, and a number of small boats were lost at 
Waiakea. Four waves passed over Haleiwa, some 
thirty miles from Honolulu, which does not appear to 
have suffered important damage. The cable between 
Midway Island and Guam appears to be broken, and 
attempts to reach Samoa by wireless were unsuccess- 
ful. Mr. J. J. Shaw, of West Bromwich, Birmingham, 
states in the Daily Mail that the primary movement 
began on Saturday afternoon at 4h. 13m. 15s., and 
the secondary at 4h. 23 m. 4s., indicating a distance of 
5300 miles. The earth tremors continued for up- ~ 
wards of six hours. The needle was thrown off the 
record several times. Mr. Shaw states that the 
disturbance is the’ biggest recorded since the Chinese 
earthquake of December 1920. 
THE annual meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute 
will be held on Thursday and Friday, May to and 11, 
at the Institution of Civil Engineers, Great George 
Street, London, S.W.1. The council has received a 
very cordial invitation from Mr. G. E. Falck, president 
of the Associazione Fra Gli Industriali Metallurgici 
Italiani, for the members of the Institute to meet in 
Italy in the autumn of this year. Subject to final 
arrangements with the Italian Association, the 
general meeting will be held at Milan about the middle 
of September, and on its conclusion it is proposed 
that visits should be paid to the principal metal- 
lurgical centres and to the hydro-electric power 
stations in Italy. The tour will also include visits to 
Rome, Naples, Genoa, and Turin, and is expected to 
occupy altogether about nineteen to twenty days 
from the time of leaving London until the return. 
Ar the recent annual meeting of the American 
Association, held at Boston, the Association as a whole 
declared itself unqualifiedly in favour of the metric 
system of measurement with one of the strongest 
resolutions ever passed by that body on this subject. 
The resolution is as follows: ‘‘ Whereas the metric 
system of weights and measures has not yet been 
brought into general use in the United States, and 
whereas the American Association for the Advance-_ 
ment of Science has already passed resolutions favour- 
ing the adoption of the metric system of weights and 
measures in the United States; therefore be it re- 
solved: That the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science reaffirms its belief in the 
desirability of the adoption of the metric system of 
weights and measures for the United States, and re- 
commends that the units of the system be used by 
scientific men in all their publications, either exclu- 
sively or else with the customary non-metric units in 
parenthesis.” 
Tue exhibition of facsimiles and reproductions of 
old maps in the Whitworth Hall of the University of 
Manchester during the last week of January coincided 
with the news that the Council of the University 
decided at the last meeting to recommend to the 
Court the institution of an honours school of geo- — 
