)74 



NATURE 



[February 20, 1908 



JLockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S., to form a committee of French 

 men of science to assist in securing an important place 

 <or science in tfie forthcoming Franco-British Exhibition. 



It is stated in the Pioneer Mail that special subcom- 

 mittees have been appointed by the Board of Scientific 

 Advice for India to consider and report on proposals which 

 •have been submitted for the re-organisation of the Botanical 

 Survev Department and the future organisation of the 

 Economic Products Department. 



We learn from Science that Prof. \V. Stratford, for 

 tortv-one years a member of the teaching staff of the New 

 York City College, died on January 24. Prof. Stratford 

 -was a well-known member of the scientific organisations 

 ■of Xew York, and was a recognised expert in biological 

 microscopy. In his work in the City College he intro- 

 •duced laboratory methods and developed its museum, 

 enriching it with the fruits of several palaeontological 

 excursions to the Rockies. 



-A Rov.\L Commission has been appointed to consider, 

 among other matters, the materials or the processes used 

 in the manufacture or preparation of whisky and other 

 kinds of potable spirits manufactured in or imported into 

 the United Kingdom. The chairman of the commission 

 is Lord James of Hereford, and the members are ; — Mr. 

 L. M. Guillemard, C.B., Dr. W. E. Adeney, Dr. J. R. 

 Bradford, F.R.S., Dr. H. T. Brown, F.R.S., Dr. G. S. 

 Buchanan, Mr. J. Y. Buchanan, F.R.S., and Dr. .\. R. 

 ■Cushny, F.R.S. The secretary to the commission is Mr. 

 A. V. Symonds, of the Local Government Board. The 

 appointment of this commission arises out of the difficulties 

 ■described in an article on "What is Whisky?" which 

 -appeared in N.ature of March 8, 1906 (vol. Ixxiii., p. 441). 



.\t a meeting of copper and brass manufacturers, 

 engineers and others, held in Manchester on February 13 

 (Mr. W. H. Johnson in the chair), it was unanimously 

 resolved to form a Copper and Brass Institute having 

 similar objects to those of the Iron and SteeF Institute. 

 Tt is not the intention of the founders to limit the institute 

 to the copper and brass trades, but to include all those 

 connected with the commercially important non-ferrous 

 metals and their alloys, as lead, zinc, tin, aluminium, 

 nickel, silver, gold, platinum, &c., and their alloys. A 

 Turther meeting will be held in the Midland Hotel, Man- 

 chester, on Tuesday, March 10, at 4 p.m., to which all 

 those interested are most cordially invited. Prof. H. C. H. 

 •Carpenter, professor of metallurgy. The L'niversity, Man- 

 chester, will receive the names of any persons who propose 

 to attend or are interested in the formation of the institute. 



The meteorological observatory on Ben Nevis was again 

 the subject of a question in the House of Commons on 

 Monday, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer was asked 

 whether he could hold out any prospect of a grant towards 

 its upkeep. In the course of his reply, Mr. Asquith said 

 that the only scheme which has up to the present been 

 placed before him is one under which the whole cost of 

 the re-equipment and maintenance of the observatories 

 would be thrown upon public funds, and to this he does 

 not feel justified in assenting. He is, however, quite pre- 

 pared to consider the question of renewing the Govern- 

 ment grant, which was for many years given to the Ben 

 Nevis observatories through the Meteorological Council, 

 provided that an adequate contribution towards their re- 

 e.slablishment and maintenance is forthcoming from other 

 sources. 



At a meeting held in the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, 

 ■on January 13, it was resolved to form an association, to 



NO. 1999, vol. jy] 



be called "The Transvaal Biological Society," with the 

 object of promoting the discussion of scientific problems h\ 

 biological investigation, to arrange for regular meetings 

 for this purpose, and to publish the proceedings of the 

 meetings. All persons are eligible for membership who are 

 actually engaged in biological investigations and have pub- 

 lished at least one scientific paper, or are working on such. 

 Every member is expected to furnish at least one paper 

 each year. The committee for the current year consists 

 of Dr. Theiler, C.M.G., president; Mr. Burtt-Davy, vice- 

 president ; and Dr. L. H. Gough, secretary and treasurer. 

 The new society will fill a long-felt want in Pretoria. 



Prof. G. K. Gilbert, in his recent report to the United 

 States Geological Survey, stated that the conditions of 

 flow and erosion at Niagara Falls would soon cease to be 

 natural, owing to the large amount of water diverted for 

 industrial purposes. The correspondent of the Times at 

 Washington, as we note in that journal for February 14. 

 gives an abstract of the views of Dr. Spencer, of the 

 Canadian Survey, which are far more specific and alarm- 

 ing. Dr. Spencer, it appears, looks forward to the prac- 

 tical disappearance of the .•\merican falls, through the 

 utilisation of water-rights already conceded ; and the corre- 

 spondent suggests that Congress would be favourable to 

 the incorporation of an agreement for the regulation of 

 the waters of the Niagara River in the general treaty 

 respecting questions pending between ths United States 

 and Great Britain. 



It was suggested by Mr. R. Pohl in a paper read before 

 the German Physical .Society in June last that the forma- 

 tion of gas bubbles in the glass of vacuum tubes, de- 

 scribed by Mr. A. A. Campbell Swinton in a paper before 

 the Royal Society (see Nature, April 4, 1Q07, p. 550), is 

 due to a metallic film caused by disintegration of the 

 internal aluminium electrodes, and that if the aluminium 

 be first completely etched aw^ay, then no bubbles are 

 formed in the glass when it is subsequently heated. Mr. 

 Swinton writes, however, to say that these conclusions 

 are disproved by some further e.xperiments recentlv carried 

 out by him, in which a plentiful supply of bubbles was 

 easily obtained in the glass of tubes which had been excited 

 over prolonged periods by electrostatic induction from out- 

 side, and in which there were no aluminium or other 

 internal electrodes to disintegrate and cause the metallic 

 film to w4iich Mr. Pohl attributes the effect. 



Sever.al interesting speeches were made at a dinner of 

 the Physical Society held on February 11 at the Hotel 

 Cecil, when the chair was taken by the president. Prof. 

 J. Perry, F.R.S., and a number of distinguished guests 

 and fellows of the society were present. In the course of 

 some remarks. Sir William Ramsay dwelt on the relations 



I of physics and chemistry. He pointed out that one of 

 the chief difficulties of the chemist at the present time is 

 the solution of the mathematical problems involved in 

 chemistry, and there is a great opening for " tame mathe- 

 maticians " who will hold themselves at the disposal of 

 the chemist. In response to the president. Prof. E. B. 

 Rosa, of the National Bureau of Standards, Washington, 

 stated that he had been greatly interested in visiting the 

 National Physical Laboratory, and observing the progress 

 that had been made since his last visit five years ago. -At 

 the National Bureau of Standards satisfactory headway i- 



I being made, and it is hoped that the laboratory will 

 shortly be equal to any national laboratory in the world. 

 In the United States much money is being spent on tht 

 science of agriculture, because agriculture is a nationa 

 asset. Prof. Rosa suggested that England similarlv would 



