Marcu 17, 1923] 












































north and three degrees west of her position in the 
middle of December. Her speed of drift is about 
e same as that of the Fram at the same time of 
rear, but the Mawd is still well to the east of the 
New Siberia Islands and has not passed beyond the 
allow and partially charted waters of the con- 
inental shelf. 
engineers. The Institution, then known as the 
Royal Engineers Institute, was established as a 
roluntary association in the year 1875 for the general 
idvancement of military science, and more particu- 
arly for promoting the study of such subjects as are 
ff importance to the military engineer. In pursuance 
f its objects, the Institution has directed its efforts 
o the advancement of the science and art of engineer- 
ig, especially in relation to their application to 
itary purposes, and has thus been able to afford 
naterial assistance to those engaged in dealing with 
he important problems of defence connected with 
e British Empire. The Institution has during the 
st 47 years published 950 occasional, as well as 
er, papers on military and other scientific subjects ; 
hese papers, except those which are of a “ Secret ” 
“ Confidential” character, are available to the 
eneral public. Jntey alia, the Institution now ad- 
inisters an important fund established in connexion 
vith the award of scholarships to the children of 
eceased officers and other ranks who have fallen in 
performance of their duties while on active 
ervice. 
In an article in the Fortnightly Review for March, Sir 
arles Bright discusses the relation between the 
Empire’s telegraphs and trade. He concludes that 
it is of national importance that there should be a 
eat all-round reduction in cable tariffs. As this 
would doubtless result in greatly increased traffic it 
would necessitate laying many additional cables on 
different routes. He also dwells on the importance 
of the immediate completion of the Imperial ‘‘ wireless 
chain,’ as well as alternative wireless chains. On 
March 5, Mr. Bonar Law announced that the Govern- 
ment is to proceed with the erection in this country 
of a state-owned and operated station capable of 
ommunicating with any part of the Empire. At 
he same time licenses are to be issued to private 
ompanies for the erection of stations in this country 
or radio-communication with any part of the world, 
subject to the conditions necessary to secure British 
ontrol. The Marconi Company has thus been 
granted the license for which it has long asked, and 
it intends immediately to erect five large power 
stations to communicate with the Dominions and 
South America, and five smaller stations for more 
local traffic. The cost of these stations will be about 
two million pounds. It seems to us that this 
extension of long-distance communication will be of 
immediate benefit to this country, and the ensuing 
reduction in the tariff may induce the cable companies 
to co-operate with the radio companies. As Sir 
| Charles Bright points out, this country has consider- 
NO. 2785, VOL. 111] 
NATURE 
371 
able leeway to make up; America, for example, uses 
3400 kilowatts for its radio stations, and France 3150, 
while the British Empire only uses 700 kilowatts. 
Tue Spring Foray of the British Mycological 
Society will be held at Bristol on April 20-23. Head- 
quarters for the meetings will be at the botany 
department of the University. 
An exhibition of Carboniferous corals has just 
been completed by Dr. W. D. Lang and Dr. Stanley 
Smith in the Geological Department of the British 
Museum (Natural History). Polished specimens and 
transparent sections have been prepared to illustrate 
the structure of each genus, and explanatory dia- 
grams have also been added. 
THE second annual general meeting of the National 
Institute of Industrial Psychology will be held in 
the rooms of the Royal Society on Tuesday, March 20. 
Among the speakers will be the Earl of Balfour, Sir 
Lynden Macassey, Dr. C. S. Myers, Sir Robert 
Hadfield, and Sir Charles Sherrington. 
AT a representative meeting of botanists held at the 
Linnean Society’s rooms on Friday, March 2, it was 
decided to hold an Imperial Botanical Conference of 
British and Overseas botanists in 1924 about the 
beginning of July. An executive committee was 
appointed, with Sir David Prain as chairman, Mr. 
F. T. Brooks as honorary secretary, and Dr. A. DB. 
Rendle as treasurer. An invitation to attend the 
conference will be sent at once to Overseas botanists. 
Pror. JosepH S. AmMEs, who gives an account of 
recent aeronautic investigations in the United States 
elsewhere in this issue, has been chosen to deliver the 
eleventh annual Wilbur Wright memorial lecture of 
the Royal Aeronautical Society. The lecture, the 
subject of which will be ‘‘ The Relation between 
Aeronautical Research and Aircraft Design,” will be 
given at the house of the Royal Society of Arts on 
May 31. 
THE Royal Irish Academy devoted its meeting on 
February 26 to a commemoration of the centenary 
of Pasteur. Addresses were delivered by Dr. W. R. 
Fearon, Prof. A. C. O'Sullivan, and Prof. Sydney 
Young (president of the Academy), dealing with 
various aspects of his work, and an address in French 
by Prof. R. Chauviré dealt with Pasteur as a typical 
Frenchman. 
A SCIENTIFIC superintendent under the Fishery 
Board of Scotland will shortly be appointed. He will 
conduct and supervise the scientific fishery investiga- 
tions which the board may consider necessary, and be 
in charge of the board’s laboratories at Aberdeen. 
Applications for the post, accompanied by copies of 
any published papers of the applicants, if deemed 
desirable, and the names of at least two referees, must 
reach the secretary of the board, 101 George Street, 
Edinburgh, by, at latest, March 31. 
THE Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will 
shortly appoint an inspector in connexion with 
agricultural and horticultural education and _ re- 
search. Applicants for the position must have taken 
