37 



NA TURE 



[January 28, 1909 



NOTES. 



There is ;i sign that some interest is being shown by 

 Court oniciuls in scientific matters, for the Court Circular 

 announced on January 20 that an " Empire clock " had 

 been brought under the notice of the King' and its 

 mechanism explained. The invention which has been 

 afforded this honour is a terrestrial globe kept in rotation 

 by clockwork. A fixed ring parallel to the equator has 

 time divisions marked upon it, and as the globe rotates 

 the position of any meridian with reference to this ring 

 enables the time to be seen. Judging from the promin- 

 ence given to this clock, it would seem that the King's 

 household and writers in the daily Press marvel that it 

 should be possible to show the effects of the diurnal motion 

 of the earth bv means of a model driven by clockwork, or 

 to represent the change of declination of the sun by 

 a gilded ball sliding on a wire. To anyone familiar 

 with astronomical models the device would scarcely 

 appear worthy of being brought under the King's 

 attention. Perhaps we shall next see the announcement 

 bv the Court newsman that someone has had the honour 

 of demonstrating a method of proving the principle of 

 .■\rchimedes. A beginning having been made, we may 

 look forward to the time when apparatus really of scientific 

 importance will be regarded with the interest given to a 

 clockwork globe. 



A STRIKING instance of the assistance which can be 

 rendered by wireless telegraphy in overcoming the difficul- 

 ties and dangers of navigation was afforded in the case of 

 the collision of the steamship Florida with the White Star 

 liner Republic in the early morning of January 23. The 

 collision occurred in a dense fog at 5.30 a.m., 175 miles 

 east of the Ambrose lightship, New York. The licpublic 

 is equipped with a wireless telegraphy installation, and the 

 captain, who was on the bridge at the time of the accident, 

 at once had wireless messages for help sent out. The 

 operator was Mr. J. Binns, and he remained at his post 

 until help was received. The messages were received by 

 the liners Bailie, the Lorraine, and the Liicania, the 

 nearest of these being some 100 miles away. The steam- 

 ships proceeding to the rescue were able to transmit a 

 wireless message to the Republic asking for the latitude 

 and longitude of the collision, which was answered from 

 the Republic as being 40° 17' N. and 76° 26' W. Wireless 

 telegraphy has thus been the means of averting a terrible 

 calamity. It also enabled the responsible authorities at 

 New York to get into communication with the ships, to 

 learn promptfy the exact state of things, and to issue any 

 necessary instructions. 



The inoculation of soils intended to carry leguminous 

 crops with the appropriate organism for fixing nitrogen has 

 recently been the subject of several letters in the Times. 

 It was pointed out in these columns a year ago (February 

 6, 1908, vol. Ixxvii, p. 330) that the experiments quoted in 

 favour of these particular cultures really prove nothing. 

 Since then extensive trials have been made at the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's Gardens, Wisley, and gave entirely 

 negative results. We know of no properly conducted 

 experiments with these cultures that have given definite 

 positive results ; the evidence adduced in Messrs. Carter's 

 letter is of the same kind as that given in the original 

 pamphlet, and cannot be regarded as throwing fresh light 

 on the subject. It is distinctly unfortunate for soil bac- 

 teriology that a process should be recommended for adop- 

 tion on the practical scale when it is as yet only in the 

 laboratory stages. 



NO. 2048, VOL. 79] 



The seventeenth Dcutschcr Gcographcntag will meet at 

 Whitsuntide {June 1-3) in LiJbcck. Communications in- 

 tended for the meeting should be sent before March i to 

 the secretary of the association, Kiinigstrassc 5, Liibeck. 



Upon the recommendation of a joint committee of the 

 Royal Society of Arts and the Royal College of Physicians, 

 the Swiney prize has been awarded to Dr. C. A. Mercier, 

 for his work on " Criminal Responsibility." The prize is 

 a cup of the value of 100/. and money to the same amount. 



The death is reported of Dr. C. Denison, of Denver, 

 Colorado, a specialist in the problems of tuberculosis, par- 

 ticularly in their relation to climatic conditions. He was 

 professor emeritus of diseases of the chest in the University 

 of Denver. In 1890 he was president of the .\mcrican 

 Climatological Association. 



It is reported that Monte Cagua, a volcano situated in 

 the Tayabas province, in the south-western part of the 

 island of Luzon, Philippines, became suddenly active on 

 January ig, breaking out into a violent eruption and doing 

 serious damage lo the surrounding country. During the 

 eruption streams of lava arc slated to ha\e rushed down 

 the sides of the volcano. 



A Germ.an mineralogical association has been inaugurated, 

 says the Revue scientifiquc. Prof. Max Bauer, of Mar- 

 burg University, has been elected president, and Prof. F. 

 Berwerth, of the L'niversity of Vienna, and Prof. R. Brauns, 

 of the University of Bonn, vice-presidents. It is said that 

 the first general meeting of the association will be held at 

 Salzburg on .September 18 next. 



We learn from the Lancet that the efforts of the Grecian 

 League against malaria have li;id wonderful results in tlie 

 plain of Marathon, which used to be a hotbed of fever. 

 In 1906, 90 per cent, of the cases of sickness were due to 

 malaria. In 1907, after the first efforts of the league, the 

 inalaria cases fell to 47 per cent, of all cases of sickness. 

 During last summer, however, usually the most intensely 

 malarious season, the sickness due to malaria fell to only 

 2 per cent, of the total amount of sickness at Marathon. 



On Tuesday next, February 2, Prof. A. A. Macdonell 

 will begin a course of three lectures at the Royal Institu- 

 tion on " The Architectural and Sculptural Antiquities of 

 India." During the course the Buddhist, Hindu, and 

 Mohammedan antiquities will be dealt with, and illustrated 

 with lantern-slides. The Friday evening discourse on 

 February 5 will be delivered by Prof. J. G. Frazer, on 

 " The Influence of Superstition on the Growth of Institu- 

 tions," and on February 12 by Prof. H. A. Wilson, on 

 " The Electrical Properties of Flame." The discourse on 

 February 26 will be dePivered by Prof. H. L. Callendar, on 

 " Osmotic Phenomena," instead of by the Earl of Berkeley. 



At the annual meeting of the Entomological Society 

 held on January 20 the following officers and council were 

 elected for the session igog-10 : — President, Dr. F. A. 

 Dixey ; treasurer, Mr. A. H. Jones ; librarian, Mr. G. C. 

 Champion ; secretaries, Mr. H. Rowland-Brown and Com- 

 mander J. J. Walker, R.N. ; oilier members of the 

 council. Dr. T. A. Chapman, Mr. A. Harrison, Mr. Selwyn 

 Image, Dr. K. Jordan, Dr. G. B. Longstaff, Mr. H. Main, 

 Mr. G. A. K. Marshall, Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., Mr. 

 R. Shelford, Mr. Rowland E. Turner, Mr. J. W. Tutt, 

 and Mr. C. O. Waterhouse. 



A Reuter message from Stockholm states that on 

 January 22 Dr. Sven Hedin delivered a lecture upon his 

 travels in Central Asia before a large audience, which in- 

 cluded King Gustav and the Royal Family, and the 



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