February 20, 1902 J 



NA TURE 



Ararat itself, though its crater has vanished, is an extinct 

 volcano, for its rocks, where they disappear beneath the summit 

 snows, are merely scoria. Some others, however, still retain 

 their craters in a more or less perfect condition. A renewal of 

 earth()uakes and of volcanic eruptions, therefore, is not sur- 

 prising. All the south of the Caucasus has occasionally 

 suffered in this way. The neighbourhood of Ararat was severely 

 visited in 1840 ; there was a bad earthquake in Asia Minor 

 fifteen years later, and shocks are not infrequent in various parts 

 of the region between the Black and Caspian Seas, the Eastern 

 Mediterranean and the valley of the Euphrates. 



Prof. E. C. Pickering has completed twenty-five years of 

 service as director of the Harvard College Observatory ; and we 

 learn from Science that in recognition of this fact the staff of 

 the Observatory has presented him with a silver cup. 



Mr. H.\rry F. Witherby is about to leave England on a 

 new ornithological expedition to Persia. It is Mr. Witherby's 

 intention to penetrate the mountainous region north-west of 

 Shiraz, after working the area between that town and Bushire. 



The seventieth annual meeting of the British Medical Asso- 

 ciation will be held at Manchester on July 2Q, 31 and August i. 

 The president is Dr. G. B. Ferguson and the president-elect 

 Mr. W. Whitehead. An address in medicine will be delivered 

 by Sir Thomas Barlow, Bart., K.C.V.O., and an address in 

 obstetrics by Prof. \V. J. Sinclair. The scientific business of 

 the meeting will be conducted in seventeen sections, which, 

 with their presidents, are as follows : — Medicine, Dr. J. Dresch- 

 feld ; surgery, Mr. J- Hardie ; obstetrics and gyna:cology. Dr. 

 D. L. Roberts; public medicine. Dr. J. Niven ; psychological 

 medicine, Mr. G. \V. Mould ; physiology and anatomy. Prof. 

 Wm. Stirling ; pathology, Prof. Sheridan Delepine ; ophthalm- 

 ology. Dr. David Little ; diseases of children. Dr. H. Ashby ; 

 laryngology. Dr. A. Hodgkinson ; otology. Dr. W. Milligan ; 

 navy, army and ambulance, Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel 

 G. S. Elliston ; dermatology, Dr. H. A. G. Brooke ; pharmac- 

 ology. Dr. N.-I. C. Tirard ; ethics. Dr. S. Woodcock ; industrial 

 hygiene and diseases of occupation. Dr. A. Whitelegge ; tropical 

 diseases. Sir W. R. Kynsey, C. M.G. 



A si'ECi.\L committee of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, 

 has reported in favour of the adoption of the metric system of 

 weights and measures in the United States. The National 

 Government is urged to enact such laws as will ensure the 

 adoption of the system in its various departments, as rapidly as 

 may be consistent with the public service. A number of ques- 

 tions have been discussed by the committee, and definite 

 answers agreed upon. Thus, the opinion is expressed that no 

 valid objection has been effectively urged against the metric 

 system except that the numerator cannot be divided by two. A 

 similar objection could, of course, be applied to the decimal 

 system of currency in use in the United States. For convenient 

 small units of everyday measurement, the millimetre is held to 

 be better than either 1/16 inch or 1/32 inch, the latter being 

 rather a fine subdivision for ordinary rough measurements. If 

 the National Government can be induced to adopt the system 

 in all its departments, it is believed that the adoption of metric 

 measures throughout the country would follow within a reason- 

 able time. 



At the Imperial Institute on Monday, Dr. C. F. Harford- 

 Battersby, principal of Livingstone College, gave a lecture on 

 "The Obstacles to Development in West Africa." After 

 referring to some of the minor impediments to West African 

 development, a description was given of the discoveries which 

 have recently been made with reference to the malaria question. 

 It is now admitted by all malarial specialists that the mosquito 

 NO. 1686, VOL. 65] 



is the means of communicating this, and some other diseases, 

 to man. In this connection reference was made to Major Ross 

 and also to Dr. Manson, under whose leadership the London 

 School of Tropical Medicine has done such useful work, both in 

 educating a large number of medical practitioners proceeding 

 to different tropical climates and in various expeditions for 

 investigating the subject of tropical disease. The Liverpool 

 School of Tropical Medicine has also conducted a series of 

 investigations into the subject of malaria on the west coast of 

 Africa, and is now engaged in carrying through important 

 sanitary operations besides education work in this country. 

 Dr. Ilarford-Battersby referred to the instruction that is being 

 given at Livingstone .College to missionaries in questions of 

 tropical hygiene and to the facilities afforded by the Travellers' 

 Health Bureau, mainly by means of the quarterly journal 

 Climate, to those who might desire information with regard to 

 what precautions should be taken in entering a tropical climate. 

 In conclusion, he hoped that the Governments of the different 

 Colonies would take up in real earnest the sanitary measures 

 necessary to carry into practical effect the important discoveries 

 which have been made by scientific experts, and that the public 

 generally would recognise the necessity of acting upon the 

 recommendations which have been made as to protection from 

 mosquitoes and would cooperate in carrying through adequate 

 sanitary reforms. 



We have received the Annahs of the Magnetic Observatory 

 of Copenhagen for 1897-8, of which Dr. A. Paulsen is director. 

 The observatory is to be congratulated as being one of the very 

 few institutions that publish magnetic observations in detail. 

 The present volume contains hourly values of declination and 

 horizontal force, and in addition the hourly and daily means 

 have been computed, and the absolute extreme values are stated 

 for each day. 



During the past week most parts of this country have ex- 

 perienced severe night frosts. In the neighbourhood of London 

 the thermometer has fallen as low as 14" in the screen, and 7° on. 

 the ground. In the midlands the readings have been con- 

 siderably lower, and the exposed thermometer fell below zero. 

 The temperature during February has not been so low since 

 1S56, with the exception of three days in February 1895. The 

 day temperatures have been low in most parts of the kingdom. 

 On Sunday, with a maximum shade temperature of 35', the 

 solar radiation thermometer rose to So° at Greenwich. 



The Report of the Meteorological Councd for the year 

 ending March 31, 1901, has just been presented to Parliament. 

 The Council has been reconstituted and now consists of five 

 of the original members, who act as directors ; these receive 

 remuneration for their services. Five additional members have 

 also been appointed by the Royal Society, among whom we are 

 glad to see the name of Dr. R. H. Scott, who has been so 

 intimately connected with the Office since its transference from 

 the Board of Trade in 1S67. Mr. Francis Galton, whose work 

 was especially noteworthy in connection with the improvement of 

 meteorological instruments and methods, and who first suggested 

 the term "anti-cyclone," now so commonly used, has retired 

 from the management on account of age. Tfie superintendence 

 of the supply of meteorological instruments for the use of the 

 National Antarctic Expedition was undertaken by the Council, 

 and after consultation with Sir G. G. Stokes, the Campbell- 

 Stokes sunshine recorder was remodelled, to register during the 

 twenty-four hours. Among the more important operations 

 of the Council may be mentioned the arrangements for the 

 investigation of the London fog, in cooperation with the London 

 County Council, the establishment of observations at 7h. a.m. 

 in connection with the German and Dutch Meteorological 

 Offices, for the improvement of the telegraphic weather service. 



