4o5 



NA TURE 



[February 4, 1909 



\\'E regret to see the announcement that Mr. \\'. H. 

 Hudleston, F.R.S., past-president of the Geological 

 Society, died on January 29 at eighty years of age. 



Prof. Louis Mangin has been elected a member of the 

 Paris Academy of Sciences, for the section of botany, in 

 ■succession to M. Van Tieghem, who was elected permanent 

 secretary recently. 



Dr. Alex.'vnder \V. P.wlow, privat-docent in geology in 

 the University of Moscow, has been elected foreign secre- 

 tary of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow, 



■and Prof. E. Leyst the curator of the scientific collections 



of the society. 



Reuter correspondents report the occurrence of the 

 following earthquakes during the past few days : — 

 January 27, Messina. — .A strong shock of earthquake, pre- 

 ceded by rumblings and lasting three seconds, was felt at 

 8 a.m. February i, Montreal. — Three distinct earthquake 

 shocks were experienced early this morning, but no serious 

 damage was done. 



A Reuter message from Khartum states that Prof. 

 Sayce has discovered the true site of the ancient citv of 

 Meroe, about three miles from Kabushia station, near 

 Shendl, which . is half-way between Khartum and Atbara. 

 Due west of the Pyramids, near Kabushia, he found on 

 January 16 the great wall of the inner defences and the 

 remains of the Temple of .Amnion mentioned in Strabo ; 

 also part of the -Avenue of Rams, leading up to the temple, 

 and a statue of a king, life size, besides scarabs, seals, 

 pottery, &c., which date from B.C. 700 to a.d. 300. 



M. Henri Poi.n-car6 was ofTicially received into the 

 French Academy on January 28, succeeding to the place 

 vacated by the late Sully Prudhomme, the poet. An 

 eloquent eulogy on M. Poincar^ was pronounced by M. 

 Fr^d^-ric Masson, the historian, who, professing ignorance 

 of M. Poincar^'s great work in physics, mathematics, and 

 astronomy, proceeded to give an appreciative estimate of 

 Poincar^, the man, accentuating the promise of his boy- 

 hood and youth which has been so abundantly realised 

 during manhood. 



At the general monthly meeting of the Royal Institu- 

 tion on February i, the treasurer announced that the sum 

 of 10,000!. has been anonymously and unconditionally 

 placed by a lady at the disposal of the managers for the 

 purposes of the institution. A resolution was passed ex- 

 pressing grateful appreciation of the donor's munificence and 

 ■discernment, and accepting the gift as a timely and noble 

 recognition of the good public works the institution has 

 done in the past, and is still doing, in the acquisition and 

 diffusion of scientific knowledge, and as an incitement to 

 maintain and extend its usefulness in the unique position 

 which it has occupied for more than a centurv. 



We learn from the British Medical Journal that the 

 French Congress of Scientific Societies will be held this 

 year at Rennes. Among the subjects proposed for dis- 

 cussion are : — the relations of sociology and anthropology ; 

 alcoholism — the evil, its causes and remedies ; tuberculosis 

 and the means of avoiding contagion ; high altitude and 

 seaside sanatoriums ; methods and disinfection against con- 

 tagious diseases, and the results obtained in towns, rural 

 districts, and establishments in which disinfection is prac- 

 tised ; the water supply of towns — the contamination of 

 subterranean lakes ; leprosy and pellagra in France ; the 

 part played by insects, and especially the common fly, in 

 the dissemination of contagious diseases ; hygiene of the 

 school child. 



NO. 2049, VOL. 79] 



A CONVENTIO.N which will include all branches of medical 

 electricity will be held in London on July 5-9 at Universitv 

 College. The exhibition will include all classes of elec- 

 trical and physical apparatus for medical treatment. It 

 will be held contemporaneously with the convention, and it 

 is hoped that it will give a stimulus to the manufacture 

 of X-ray and other apparatus. Delegates will be present 

 fi-om America and the Continent, and representatives of 

 the various foreign Governments will be invited to take 

 part in a discussion as to the best means of providing 

 apparatus and training for the Army and Navy. The 

 papers and debates will be in English. Papers in French 

 and German will be accepted provided a risumi of such 

 papers is sent in English. All papers will be reported 

 either in e.\lenso or in abstract in the Archives of the 

 Rontgen Ray. Communications referring to the congress 

 should be addressed to Mr. Ernest Schofield, organising 

 secretary of the X-Ray Convention, 11 Chandos Street, 

 Cavendish Square, London, W. 



A SPECIAL point of view of the new Patent Law was re- 

 ferred to by Prof. G. H. Bryan, F.R.S., in a letter to the 

 Standard of January 14. Prof. Bryan says the new Aci 

 " means that British labour is to be employed in exploit- 

 ing the brains of German professors subsidised by tlie 

 German Government, and that the position of the Englisli 

 brain-worker is to be even worse than it has been in the 

 past. There are hundreds of scientific worl-ccrs in thi- 

 country who would be only too glad to make and develop 

 discoveries that would bring English industry up to the 

 same high level that has been reached in Germany. Un- 

 fortunately, however, their only chance of employment lies 

 in teaching students to pass examinations for salaries often 

 considerably below a living wage, when not one out of a 

 hundred of these candidates will be either competent or in 

 a position to develop any new discovery." While sympa- 

 thising with Prof. Bryan's plea for increased opportunities 

 for research by men competent and anxious to undertake 

 it, we think he overlooks the probability that British 

 capitalists will learn through the new .Act the value of 

 scientific work in promoting industrial developments. The 

 German manufactories introduced into this country as a 

 consequence of the Act should be a striking object-lesson 

 of the connection between scientific research and industrial 

 progress. 



At the first International Congress of Refrigerating 

 Industries, held in Paris last October, the proceedings at 

 which were described in Nature of October 22 last (vol. 

 Ixxviii., p. 644), it was decided to hold the next congress 

 in 1910 at Vienna, and to form an international associa- 

 tion, which would give participating countries opportuni- 

 ties of continuing the work begun last year. A meeting 

 was held in Paris on January 25, when delegates were 

 present from thirty-nine countries other than France, with 

 a view to sanction statutes prepared by a specially appointed 

 committee. Some discussion took place as to the seat of 

 the international association, which one of the statutes 

 submitted fixed at Paris. Eventually, according to the 

 Times Paris correspondent, all delegates, with the excep- 

 tion of those from Germany and Austria, approved the 

 statutes. Meanwhile, the Germans and Austrians are to 

 consult their Governments, and it is still likely thdt 

 unanimity may be secured. In the contrary event, the 

 question of holding the second congress at \'ienna in 1910 

 will require some reconsideration. 



The summary of the weather for the week ending 

 January 30, issued by the Meteorological Office, shows 

 that a touch of real winter was experienced during the 



