5i6 



NA TURE 



[April 2, 1908 



tions. Later in the same year Dr. Hovvitt published, 

 with Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., his great worl': 

 0,1 "The Native Tribes of South-east Australia," in 

 which is embodied his life's work in ethnology. By far 

 the greater part of the materials was collected and re- 

 corded before i88g. Since then the native tribes have 

 more or less died out, and in the older settlements of 

 south-eastern Australia the tribal remnants have now 

 almost lost the knowledge of the beliefs and customs 

 of their fathers. Fortunately, Dr. Howitt began to 

 observe and collect information before it was too late, 

 but even then much had disappeared. 



Dr. Howitt 's book contains a great mass of in- 

 formation concerning numerous tribes, and thus it 

 serves as an invaluable storehouse for students, but 

 it is more than this, as it embodies the mature 

 opinions of the father of Australian ethnology, who, 

 by his kindlv and sympathetic nature, was able to 

 gain and retain the confidence of his native friends. 

 The opinion of a man of such prolonged and varied 

 experience in the field, combined with the knowledge 

 of what others had collected, must always carry 

 weight. The collecting and recording of complete 

 ethnological data are' naturally matters of first im- 

 pcrtance, but of even greater interest is the true 

 appreciation of the ideas which underlie the actions 

 of men. He who has lived among the people he 

 describes should be the best interpreter of their ideas 

 and ideals, and in these matters we are not likely to 

 find a surer guide than the genial explorer and student 

 whose death will be deplored by ethnologists all the 

 world over. A. C. Haddon. 



NOTES. 



The astronomical section of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences has elected M. Maurice Hamy, of the Paris 

 Observatory, to succeed the late Dr. Janssen as a member 

 of that section of the academy. M. Hamy entered the 

 observatory in 1884, and was awarded the Lalande prize 

 In 1895. 



The Paris correspondent of the Times states that the 

 .■\cademy of Sciences has appointed a committee, composed 

 ol MM. Beccuerel, Bouquet de la Grye, and Poincari, to 

 consider a suggestion by M. Bouquet de la Grye concern- 

 ing the application of wireless telegraphy to the problem 

 of the determination of longitude at sea. The idea is to 

 utilise the wireless telegraphy station of the Eiffel Tower 

 in order to send, for instance, every night at midnight a 

 Hertzian signal giving the time of the meridian of Paris. 

 M. Bouquet de la Grye thinks. Indeed, that if a wireless 

 telegraphy station were established at the Peak of 

 Teneriffe signals could be detected completely around the 

 earth. 



The next International Congress of Archaeology will be 

 held at Cairo In 1909. 



. For the purpose of discussing subjects of interest to those 

 concerned in the work of -museums, art galleries, and 

 kindred institutions, a conference of members of the 

 Museums Association and others interested will be held in 

 the Harris Free Public Library and Museum, Preston, on 

 the afternoon of Saturday, April 11. 



The twenty-fourth annual meeting of the Society of 

 Dyers and Colourists will be held on .•\pril 3, at 4.30 p.m., 

 .il Ihe Technical College, Bradford. The president. Prof. 

 R. Mcldola, F.R.S., will deliver his presidential address 

 on " The Founding of the Coal-tar Colour Industry." The 

 .first awards of the Perkin medal will be made to Profs. 



C. Graebe and C'. Liebermann for their synthesis of 

 alizarin. On the evening of the same day the members of 

 the society will dine together at the Great Northern Victoria 

 Hotel. Bradford. 



Earthquake shocks occurred at Mexico City during the 

 evening of March 26, and were felt also at Guanajuata and 

 Rlncon. The town of Chilapa, in the State of Guerrero, 

 was destroyed. The disturbances were recorded by Prof. 

 -Milne, F.R.S., at Shlde, in the Isle of Wight; by Prof. 

 Bclar at Lalbach, Austria ; and by Prof. Mlchle Smith in 

 southern India, all of whom communicated their observa- 

 tions to the Daily Mail. The earthquake is reported to 

 have begun soon after 11 p.m. on March z6, to have 

 reached its maximum at 11.53 P-™-, ^"d continued for 

 more than three hours. The shock was felt at St. Thomas, 

 In the West Indies. 



We learn from the April number of Naliire Notes, the 

 magazine of the Selborne Society, that at last a Bill Is to 

 bo Introduced into Parliament to restrict the importation 

 of birds' skins, and so prevent in some measure the rapid 

 extermination of beautiful birds, of which the egret 

 (" osprey ") and birds-of-paradise are typical examples. 

 .\ short time ago, Lord Avebury, president of the Selborne 

 .Society, called together a meeting of representatives of 

 the various learned societies at his house to consider 

 whether legislation ought to be attempted, and this being 

 the general opinion of those present, the main features of 

 a Bill drafted by Mr. James Buckland were adopted for 

 presentation to the societies interested. 



Efforts are being made to form an Institute of Metals, 

 which It is hoped by the promoters will follow similar lines 

 to the Iron and Steel Institute. The proposed institute Is 

 intended to advance the knowledge of non-ferrous metals 

 and their alloys, more especially copper, zinc, tin, 

 aluminium, lead, nickel, silver, and platinum ; to form a 

 means of communication between members of the same 

 trade ; and to arrange periodical meetings for the purpose 

 of discussing practical and scientific subjects relating to the 

 metallurgy and use of the metals enumerated. A pre- 

 liminary meeting was held in Manchester on March ii, and 

 was well attended. A representative committee comprising 

 practical men engaged in the industries concerned and men 

 of science was elected, and it was decided to arrange a 

 further meeting in London. This special meeting will, we 

 are informed, be held on June 10 next, at 2.30 p.m., at 

 the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Westminster. On 

 this occasion the committee will report progress, and it is 

 hoped the proposed institute will be constituted formally. 

 .\ll inquiries should be addressed to Mr. William H. John- 

 son, c/o Messrs. R. Johnson, Clapham and Morris, Ltd., 

 24 and 26 Lever Street, Manchester, who Is acting for the 

 honorary secretary. Prof. Carpenter, during his Indisposi- 

 tion. 



In the March issue of the Bulletin of the St. Petersburg 

 .'\cadeniy. Dr. E. Jaderholm gives a preliminary account 

 of the hydroid polyps collected in the Arctic Ocean north 

 of Siberia by the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900-3, 

 while Dr. Salensky continues his description of the develop- 

 ' mcnt of the gephyrean worm (nils-called echinoderm on 

 p. 493 of our last Issue) Echlurus. 



The American white ant (Ternics flavipes) and the bag- 

 worm {Thyridopteryx ephetyieraefortnis) constitute, respec- 

 tively, the subjects of two illustrated " Circulars," Xos. 50 

 and 97, of the U.S. Bureau of Entomology. An excellent 

 account is given In the first of these of the social economy 



NO. 2005, VOL. 77] 



