716 
NATURE 
[May 26, 1923 

the conclusion of the first part of the ceremony, 
Their Majesties will proceed across Gower Street, and 
the King will declare open the Anatomy Building. 
The gift of the Rockefeller Foundation for these 
important medical objects is a sum of 400,000/. for 
the erection of the buildings in connexion with 
University College Hospital and Medical School ; 
435,000/. for an Endowment Fund for the improve- 
ment of medical teaching and for the purpose of 
developing general medical education and research 
on modern lines; 370,000/. for the erection and 
endowment of the anatomy buildings at University 
College, including the extension of the physiology 
and pharmacology buildings. The total benefaction 
thus amounts to 1,205,000/., and is probably the 
largest single benefaction ever provided in this 
country for educational purposes. 
A PRELIMINARY announcement regarding the 
general discussion on the electronic theory of valency 
arranged by the Faraday Society, to be held at 
Cambridge on July 13-14, has been issued. Prof. 
G. N. Lewis will open the proceedings on the Friday 
afternoon with a general introductory address, and 
he will probably be followed by Mr. R. H. Fowler, 
who will contribute a paper intended to open dis- 
cussion on the physical and inorganic side of the 
subject. Among those expected to speak are Sir J. J. 
Thomson, who will be in the chair, Sir Ernest Ruther- 
ford, Sir William Bragg, and Prof. W. L. Bragg. 
The Saturday morning session will be devoted chiefly 
to applications of the theory in organic chemistry. 
Sir Robert Robertson, president of the Society, will 
preside, and opening papers will be given by Prof. 
T. M. Lowry and Dr. N. V. Sidgwick. Among those 
expected to speak are Prof. W. A. Noyes, Sir William 
Pope, Prof. A. Lapworth, Prof. I. M. Heilbron, 
Dr. W. H. Mills, Prof. J. F. Thorpe, and Prof. R. 
Robinson. On the Friday evening a complimentary 
dinner will be given to Profs. Lewis and Noyes and 
other guests at Trinity Hall. Arrangements are 
being made to accommodate those attending the 
meeting in one or other of the Colleges, and it will 
be possible to include a limited number of non- 
members of the Society. Particulars may be had 
from the Secretary of the Faraday Society, 10 Essex 
Street, London, W.C.2, to whom applications should 
be made at once. 
THE annual visitation of the Royal Observatory, 
Greenwich, will be held on Saturday, June 2. 
THE annual general meeting of the Institute of 
Physics will be held in the rooms of the Royal 
Society, Burlington House, on Wednesday, May 30, 
at 5.30 P.M. Inthe course of his presidential address, 
Sir Joseph Thomson, who has recently returned from 
the United States, will refer to the position of in- 
dustrial research there in physics. 
At the meeting of the National Academy of 
Sciences held in Washington on April 25, the following 
officers were elected : President, Prof. A. A. Michelson; 
Vice-President, Dr. J. C. Merriam; Secretary, Dr. 
David White ; Foreign Secretary, Prof. R. A. Millikan; 
Treasurer, Dr. F. L. Ransome. 
NO. 2795, VOL. IIT] 

Tue U.S. National Academy of Sciences has made 
the following awards: the Comstock prize to Prof. 
William Duane, professor of bio-physics in Harvard 
University, in recognition of his researches on X-rays, 
and the Mary Clark Thompson gold medal to Dr. 
Emmanuel de Margerie, director of the Geological 
Survey of Alsace and Lorraine. 
At the Royal Institution on Friday evening, 
June 15, Sir Ernest Rutherford will give his post- 
poned discourse on “‘ The Life History of an Alpha 
Particle of Radium,” and his concluding lecture on 
‘“ Atomic Projectiles ’’ will be delivered on Saturday 
afternoon, June 16. : 
’ 
At the annual general meeting of the Linnean 
Society of New South Wales, held on March 28, the 
following officers were elected : President: Mr. A. F. 
Basset Hull. Members of Council (to fill six vacancies) : 
Mr. E. C. Andrews, Mr. J. H. Campbell, Mr. H. J- 
Carter, Sir T. W. E. David, Prof. W. A. Haswell, and 
Prof. A. A. Lawson. Auditor: Mr. F. H. Rayment. 
Pror. J. P. Hit, Jodrell professor of zoology and 
comparative anatomy in the University of London, 
and Prof. J. T. Wilson, professor of anatomy in the 
University of Cambridge and formerly Challis pro- 
fessor of anatomy in the University of Sydney, have 
been elected honorary members of the Linnean Society 
of New South Wales. 
At the annual general meeting of the Institution 
‘of Electrical Engineers to be held on Thursday, May 
31, there will be presented to the Institution: (1) An 
oil painting of the late Dr. Silvanus Thompson 
(presented by Mrs. Thompson); Dr. Thompson’s 
library (presented by a number of members of the 
Institution and others); and (2) a bronze bust of 
Dr. Thompson, by Mr. Gilbert Bayes (presented by 
the Finsbury Technical College Old Students’ Associa- 
tion). 
News has reached this country of the family of the 
late General Rykatchef, who was director of the 
Russian Meteorological and Magnetic Service until 
shortly before the War. General Rykatchef died on 
April 1, 1919, his wife on November 22 of the same 
year. The last survivor of three sons died on 
February 24, 1920. A son-in-law perished on July 6, 
1919, leaving five young children. They, with their 
mother and her sister, who is well known to meteoro- 
logists and magneticians as her father’s constant 
companion on his international journeys, are the only 
survivors of a once large family. 
Tue following foreign members have been elected 
by the Geological Society : Prof. L. Cayeux, Paris; 
Prof. J. M. Clarke, director of the New York State 
Museum, Albany (New York); Prof. H. Douvillé, 
Paris; and Prof. W. Lindgren, Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, Boston, Mass. Foreign correspondents 
have also been elected as follows: Prof. E. Argand, - 
University of Neuchatel; Prof. L. W. Collet, University 
of Geneva; Prof. R. A. Daly, Cambridge (Mass.) ; 
Prof. G. Delépine, Lille; Prof. P. Fourmarier, Liége ; 
Prof. V. M. Goldschmidt, Universitets Mineralogisk 
