
AS RY yee 
May 19, 1923] 
NATURE 
681 



_ of “The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland,” for 
_ the botanical part of which he was responsible. 
Since the conclusion of that fine work Prof. Henry 
has taught forestry, first at the University of Cam- 
bridge, and latterly at the Royal College of Science, 
Dublin. He has made important investigations into 
_ the origin of hybrid trees, especially of poplars and 
the London plane, and recently has been studying 
the geographical races of Corsican pine and European 
larch, which has involved several journeys to their 
natural sites in Poland, the Carpathians, and other 
parts of Europe. 
THE sixth annual general meeting of the Society of 
Glass Technology was held in Sheffield on April 18. 
_ Prof. W. E. S. Turner was re-elected president. The 
other officers elected were: Vice-Presidents: Mr. E. 
A. Coad-Pryor and Mr. W. J. Gardner. Members of 
Council: Mr. F. F. S. Bryson, Miss Violet Dimbleby, 
Major G. V. Evers, Col. S. C. Halse, and Mr. T. Teisen. 
General Treasurer: Mr. J. Connolly. American 
Treasurer : Mr. W. M. Clark. Hon. Secretary : Mr. S. 
English. Auditors: Mr. Edward Meigh and Mr. 
Dennis Wood. The president’s address on ‘‘ The 
Year in Review in the World of Glass-making ’’ was 
taken as read. A general discussion followed on 
works organisation. Mr. W. W. Warren opened the 
discussion with a paper on “ Organising for Produc- 
tion from Pot Furnaces.” The case for ‘“ Tank- 
furnace Works Organisation ’’ was presented by Mr. 
_ T.C. Moorshead, who said that the difficulties, troubles, 
and failures which beset the factory manager every 
day may all be traced to inefficiency on the part of 
the management, and probably to three things: 
(a) lack of foresight, (6) lack of a thorough knowledge 
of the factory operation, and (c) lack of initiative. 
The causes for these losses of efficiency can be grouped 
under five headings: (1) faulty material, (2) poor 
labour, (3) poor attendance, (4) large labour turnover, 
and (5) machine and mechanical breakdowns. 
THE anniversary meeting of the Linnean Society 
will be held on May 24, when the High Commissioner 
for New Zealand will receive the Linnean gold medal 
on behalf of Mr. T. F. Cheeseman of the Auckland 
Museum, New Zealand. 
Dr. Morrey FLeTcHER has been nominated to 
Tepresent the Royal College of Physicians at the 
commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Louis 
Pasteur, to be held in Paris on May 24 and in Stras- 
bourg on May 31-June 1. 
Pror. J. B. Learues’s subject for the Croonian 
lectures of the Royal College of Physicians, to be 
delivered on June 7, 12, 14, and 19, is ‘‘ The Réle of 
Fats in Vital Phenomena.” The FitzPatrick lectures, 
en the “ History of Medicine,’’ will be delivered in 
November by Dr. C. J. Singer. 
A vacCATION course for mechanics and glassblowers 
is to be held in the last half of August next in the 
workshops of the Physical (Cryogenic) Laboratory of 
the University of Leyden, of which Prof. H. Kamer- 
lingh Onnes is the director. Information concerning 
the course can be obtained from Dr. C. A, Crommelin, 
The Physical Laboratory, Leyden, Holland. 
NO. 2794, VOL. 111] 

Tue council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh has 
awarded the Makdougall-Brisbane prize (1920-1922) 
to Prof. W. T. Gordon for his paper on ‘‘ Cambrian 
Organic Remains from a Dredging in the Weddell 
Sea,” published in the Transactions of the Society 
within the period, and for his investigations on the 
fossil flora of the Pettycur Limestone, previously 
published in the Transactions. 
Dr. FRANK SCHLESINGER informs us that Yale 
University Observatory has given a contract to the 
J. B. McDowell Company, Pittsburgh, U.S.A., for 
the optical parts of a 26-inch photographic telescope 
of thirty-six feet focal length. It is expected that 
this telescope will be in use within a year. It is to 
be erected at a site south of the equator, probably in 
South Africa or in New Zealand. 
On Saturday, May 19, at 2.30 P.M., a display of 
dancing will take place at the Alexandra Palace 
Theatre in aid of the Royai Northern Hospital. 
The performance deserves mention not only in view 
of its worthy purpose, but also because one of the 
items is a floral ballet written for the occasion by 
Dr. G. Rudorf, a chemist who is inspector in charge 
of non-metallic materials for the Air Ministry. The 
ballet, which lasts three-quarters of an hour, is 
scored for full.orchestra, and will be conducted by 
the composer. 
Appiicants for grants from the Chemical Society 
Research Fund must be made, upon a prescribed 
form, on or before June 1, addressed to the Assistant 
Secretary, Chemical Society,» Burlington House, 
Piccadilly, W.r. The income arising from the dona- 
tion of the Goldsmiths’ Company is to be more or less 
especially devoted to the encouragement of research 
in inorganic and metallurgical chemistry, and the 
income from the Perkin Memorial Fund is to be applied 
to investigations relating to problems connected with 
the coal-tar and allied industries. 
In connexion with the Falkland Islands Government 
ship Discovery which is now being fitted out for marine 
researches, mainly on whales and whaling, in the 
Antarctic and other waters, a director of research 
| will shortly be appointed. Candidates should prefer- 
ably be graduates in natural science with a record of 
research work in biology and experience in the 
carrying out of scientific work at sea. Applications 
must be sent by June 15, upon a prescribed form if 
the applicant be resident at home (for those abroad 
the form is not required), addressed to the secre- 
tary of the Discovery Committee, Colonial Office, 
S.W.1. 
Mr. Witt1am Muir (538 Romford Road, London, 
E.7) sends us a note of a curious individual habit 
developed by a house-sparrow. During the greater 
part of two years this bird came to the sill of a 
particular window and tapped forcefully and per- 
sistently on the glass: this occurred daily during 
some periods and was maintained for hours at a 
time. Many sparrows were often present, but no 
more than the one ever took part in this perform- 
ance. 
