NATURE 



[DeceiMBEr 5, 1907 



engineering, and was the recognised authority in this 

 country on the scientific principles of colliery ventilation. 



A DISCUSSION on the subject of " Rivers Pollution from 

 the Naturalist's Point of Vievif " will be introduced by 

 Prof. R. Mcldola, F.R.S., at a conference meeting to 

 be held, under the auspices of the Essex Field Club, on 

 Saturday, December 14, at 6 p.m., in the physical lecture 

 theatre of the Municipal Technical Institition, Romford 

 Road, Stratford, Essex. 



At the meeting of the Cardiff City Observatory Com- 

 mittee on November 30 it was announced that arrange- 

 ments are busily proceeding for the installation of a seismo- 

 graph at the observatory on Penylan Hill. The seismo- 

 graph is being provided by the Cardiff Naturalists' Society, 

 its upkeep being undertaken by the city council. It is 

 hoped that the instrument may be installed early in the 

 new year, and that Prof. Milne will be able to attend the 

 opening. Prof. Milne has urged the establishment of a 

 seismograph at Cardiff, which will form a triangle with the 

 existing stations at Birmingham and Shide. 



We are pleased to learn that Mr. Haffkine has accepted 

 an appointment to a post at Calcutta offered to him by 

 the. Secretary of State for India. It will be remembered 

 that Mr. Haffkine was held responsible for an unfortunate 

 accident that occurred in the Punjab in connection with 

 plague inoculation, an accident for which a large body of 

 scientific opinion has pronounced him to be in no way to 

 blame. So far the Secretary of State has recognised the 

 strength of that opinion, but we could have wished that 

 the recognition had taken a form more complete and more 

 in accordance with the true circumstances of the case. 



The Paris correspondent of the Times reports that Dr. 

 Jean Charcot, who conducted a successful expedition to 

 the South Polar regions two years ago, is now engaged 

 in the preparation of another expedition to the Antarctic 

 circle. The State has made a credit grant of 24,000!. 

 toward the cost, but at least 6000Z. more will be required. 

 Dr. Charcot intends to start next July. He will proceed 

 by way of Buenos Ayres and Cape Horn to the Antarctic 

 region which he discovered and named " Terre Loubet." 

 The Marquis de Dion has offered Dr. Charcot some motor 

 sledges, so that dogs will not be needed. 



The annual conversazione and exhibition of new 

 apparatus, heretofore held under the auspices of the late 

 British Electro-Therapeutic Society, but now under the 

 electro-therapeutical section of the Royal Society of 

 Medicine, will be held in the Queen's (small) Hall on 

 , Friday, December 13. The leading makers of electro- 

 medical and X-ray apparatus are taking part, and many 

 new designs will be shown, so far as possible under work- 

 ing conditions. Communications regarding cards of 

 admission or other matters must be addressed to Dr. 

 Reginald Morton, hon. secretary, 22 Queen Anne Street, 

 Cavendish Square, London, W. 



The American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science will meet at Chicago on December 28. The busi- 

 ness meetings commence on December 30, in the morning 

 of which the first general session will be held, and the 

 new president, Prof. E. L. Nichols, will be introduced by 

 Dr. W. H. Welch, the retiring president. In the after- 

 noon addresses will be given by some of the presidents of 

 sections. Prof. Edward Kasner will speak on " Geometry 

 and Mechanics " to the section of mathematics and astro- 

 nomy ; Mr. Richardson will address the section of chem- 

 istry on " \ Plea for the Broader Education of the 



NO. 1988, VOL. yy] 



Engineer," and Prof. Conklin will deliver his address to 

 the section of zoology. In the evening of the same day 

 the retiring president will deliver his address. On 

 December 31 Prof. W. C. Sabine will address the section 

 of physics on the "Origin of the Musical Scale"; Mr. 

 Conant the section of social and economic science on the 

 " Influence of Friction in Economics " ; and Dr. Flexner 

 the section of physiology and experimental medicine on 

 " Recent .Advances and Present Tendencies in Pathology." 

 Messrs. MacDougal, Warner, and Brown will respectively 

 address the sections of botany, mechanical engineering, and 

 education on subjects to be announced later. Mr. Charles 

 L. Hutchinson is the chairman of the local committee, and 

 Mr. J. Paul Goode is the local secretary. 



The following are among the lecture arrangements at 

 the Royal Institution before Easter : — Sir David Gill, a 

 Christmas course of six illustrated lectures on " .Astro- 

 nomy, Old and New," adapted to a juvenile auditory; 

 Dr. A. A. Gray, two lectures on the internal ear of 

 different animals ; Prof. W. Stirling, six lectures on mem- 

 branes, their structure, uses, and products ; Dr. E. A. 

 Wallis Budge, three lectures on the Egyptian Sudan, its 

 history, monuments and peoples, past and present ; Prof. 

 W. W. Watts, two lectures on (i) the building of Britain, 

 (2) recent light on ancient physiographies ; Prof. W. Somer- 

 ville, two lectures on wood, its botanical and technical 

 aspects ; Sir John Rhys, two lectures on Celtic ; Dr. R. T. 

 Glazebrook, two lectures on physics ; Mr. R. Lydekker, 

 two lectures on (i) the animals of Africa, (2) the animals 

 of South America ; Prof. Gisbert Kapp, the electrification 

 of railways; and Prof. J. J. Thomson, six lectures on 

 electric discharges through gases. The Friday evening 

 meetings will commence on January 17, when Prof. T. E. 

 Thorpe will deliver a discourse on the centenary of Davy's 

 discovery of the metals of the alkalis. Succeeding dis- 

 courses will probably be given by Colonel David Bruce, 

 Prof. E. Rutherford, Dr. C. W. Saleeby, Sir Oliver Lodge, 

 Prof. W. A. Bone, Prof. J. Milne, Prof. A. E. H. Love, 

 the Hon. R. J. Strutt, and Prof. J. J. Thomson. 



By the death (which was announced in the Times of 

 November 28) of Dr. Carl Bovallius, late professor of 

 zoology at the University of Upsala, Sweden has lost onp 

 of her most eminent ethnologists, naturalists, and scientific 

 explorers. A graduate of Upsala, Bovallius took the 

 degree of Ph.D. in 1875, and from some time after that 

 date held the chair of zoology until 1807. In zoology his 

 main subjects were MoUusca and Crustacea, especially the 

 amphipod group of the latter, and the Swedish represent- 

 atives of both groups. " Contributions to a Monograph 

 of the .Amphipoda Hyperidea " is the title of one of his 

 works, the first part (in two numbers) of which was pub- 

 lished at Stockholm, 1887-9. It '^ °"'y ^ly '^is single part, 

 which appears to be all that was issued, that his name i; 

 represented in the catalogue of the Zoological Society's 

 library. Forestry was another of his specialities, and from 

 reports furnished by him as the results of investigations 

 undertaken between 1889 and 1895 the present forest laws 

 of Sweden were based. As an explorer and surveyor he 

 travelled much in Central America from iSSi to 1883, re- 

 turning again to Nicaragua in 1900, while in 1898-9 he 

 visited southern Venezuela and the Amazons. From these 

 countries he brought extensive zoological and ethno- 

 graphical collections. In the obituary notice in the Times 

 of November 29 he is reported to have made important 

 contributions to the natural history departments of the 

 British Museum, but his name does not appear as a donor 

 in the recently published volumes on the " History of the 



