62 



NA rURE 



[NOVEMIJER 2 1, 1907 



manv editions, and is a classic story of g-cographical 

 achievement. In recognition of his services McC'lin- 

 toclv was Icnighted, and in 1865 was elected a Fellow 

 of the Koval Society. He was appointed a K.C.B. in 

 1S91, 



NOTES. 



In consequence of numerous reports as to the occurrence 

 of .T very serious disease among bees in the Isle of Wight, 

 known locally as " paralysis," the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries instructed Mr. A. D. Imms to undertake 

 an inquiry into the nature and cause of the disease ; his 

 report on the result of his investigations has now been 

 issued by the Board in pamphlet form. Fortunately, the 

 geographical distribution of the disease is confined appar- 

 ently to the Isle of Wight, so that with due precaution 

 there should be little or no fear of its spreading to the 

 mainland apiaries. " The disease is eminently one of the 

 digestive system, and might be described as being a con- 

 dition of enlargement of the hind intestine." Smears 

 made from the contents of the colon showed large numbers 

 of bacteria, and it is possible that there may be some 

 connection between this disease and the well-known form 

 of " dysentery " in bees. The symptoms are complete loss 

 •of flight, crawling aimlessly over the ground or up grass 

 stems and the supports of the hive. 



The cablegrams from America in Monday's papers 

 announced the tragic death of Prof. L. M. Underwood, 

 of Columbia University, New York. His mind had been 

 unhinged by the recent financial crisis, and he committed 

 suicide after killing his wife and attempting to kill his 

 daughter. He was born in New York State in 1853, and 

 became professor of botany in Columbia University in 1896. 

 His published works included " Descriptive Catalogue of 

 North .American Hepaticse," " Moulds, Mildews and Mush- 

 rooms," " Our Native Ferns and their .Allies," and " Our 

 Native Ferns and How to Study Them." 



At the unanimous invitation of the executive committee 

 of the Yorkshire Naturalists'' Union, Dr. Wheelton Hind 

 has accepted the presidency of the union for the forth- 

 coming, year. Dr. Hind is well known throughout the 

 country for his successful work amongst Carboniferous 

 rocks, and in Yorkshire he has been unusually successful 

 in identifying and tracing various zones in the Carbon- 

 iferous limestone. His work in Yorkshire makes the 

 selection of him as president of the county society very 

 appropriate, and will doubtless result in increased attention 

 being paid to the geological problems of the Carboniferous 

 period by tlie members of the union. 



The gold medal of the Institution of Mining and Metal- 

 lurgy has been awarded to Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., 

 F.R.S., in recognition of his services to geological science. 

 The Consolidated Gold Fields of South .Africa gold medal 

 and premium has been awarded to Dr. T. K. Rose for his 

 researches on the metallurgy of gold. 



The programme of the arrangements for the new session 

 of the Society of Arts which has just been issued includes 

 a series of six lectures on industri.^! hygiene by different 

 experts, who will deal with such subjects as dust in 

 factories and in mines, lead and mercury poisoning in 

 pottery and match-making, work in compressed air, and 

 child labour. \ course of lectures on the " Navigation of 

 ithe .Air" is to be given under the Shaw trust by Dr. 

 Hele Shaw, F.R.S. Four courses of Cantor lectures are 

 announced, the first on the microscope, by Mr. Conrad 



NO. 1986, VOL. ']']'\ 



Beck. There is a very full list of papers for the ordinary 

 and sectional meetings, and at Christmas Mr. Martin 

 Duncan will lecture to a juvenile audience on the kinemato- 

 graph. 



Dr. Koch, who returned to Berlin early this month 

 after an absence of eighteen months in German East 

 Africa, has been promoted to the rank of Wirklicher 

 Geheimer Rath, with the title of E.xcellcncy, in recognition 

 of his researches into the causes of the sleeping sickness. 



-At the meeting of the London Mathematical Society on 

 November 14, the council and ofiicers for the ensuing 

 session were elected as follows : — PresidenI, Prof. W. 

 Burnside ; vice-presidents, Prof. A. R. Forsyth and Prof. 

 H. M. Macdonald ; treasurer. Prof. J. Larmor ; secretaries. 

 Prof. A. E. H. I^ove and Mr. J. H. Grace; other members 

 of the council. Dr. H. F. Baker, Mr. A. Berry. Mr. 

 T. J. I 'A. Bromwich, Mr. A. L. Dixon, Prof. E. R. 

 Elliott, Mr. G. H. Hardy, Dr. E. W. Hobson, Sir W. D. 

 Niven, Mr. H. W. Richmond, and Mr. A. E. Western. 



The Times correspondent at Paris gives in the issue of 

 November 14 particulars of an improvement of wireless 

 telegraphy apparatus on board French warships which has 

 enabled communication to be made with facility at a 

 distance of 750 kilometres (466 miles), while the previous 

 maximum distance was 300 kilometres (186 miles). 

 According to a telegram from Algiers, the cruiser 

 Ripubliqiie, on leaving Toulon, proceeded to Ajaccio, a 

 port chosen in order to increase the difficulties of trans- 

 mission to the ]ules Ferry, anchored at Toulon, Ajaccio 

 being situated in a hollow of the mountains. Communi- 

 cation was maintained without interruption between the 

 two ships while the JiepubUque was en route. It is also 

 stated that the Republique has been able to communicate 

 with the Eiffel Tower in Paris from the Golfe de Jouan, 

 in the .Alpes Maritimes Department, a distance of 800 kilo- 

 metres (500 miles), the ship not merely receiving messages 

 from the tower, but communicating with it in reply. 



.\ promising career has been cut short hy the death, 

 on November 12, of Dr. -A. M. Pirrie, at the early age 

 of twenty-eight. Dr. Pirrie went to the Sudan in iqo6 

 as anthropologist to the Wellcome Research Laboratories 

 at the Gordon Memorial College, Khartoum. Under the 

 direction of Dr. Balfour, the director of the laboratories, 

 he made his first expedition up the Nile to the southern 

 limits of the Sudan, and penetrated to remote parts of the 

 Bahr-el-Ghazal. A second expedition took him to the 

 borders of Abyssinia. On both occasions he was engaged 

 on anthropological and physiological researches into 

 tropical diseases ; but unfortunately he contracted fever, 

 and was compelled to return to England. Dr. Pirrie 

 brought back a valuable collection of objects of anthropo- 

 logical and other scientific interest, and at intervals during 

 his illness he was engaged on his report to the Carnegie 

 Institution and the Wellcome Research Laboratories. 

 Khartoum, for which institutions he acted jointly in the 

 work he carried out in the Sudan. 



The sixth annual meeting of the South African .Associ- 

 ation for the Advancement of Science will be held ai 

 Grahamstown during the week ending July 11, 190S, under 

 the presidency of the Hon. Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson, 

 G.C.M.G. The presidents of the sections are as follows : — 

 Section A, mathematics, physics, astronomy, meteorology, 

 geodesy, and geography. Prof. Alexander Ogg, of Rhode; 

 University College, (irahamstown ; Sections B and C 

 chemistry, metallurgy, mineralogy and geology, engineer 



