22 



NATURE 



[July 7, 1910 



Meeting was one from the Mining Section, declaring that it 

 was urgent that some international system for the unifica- 

 tion of mining statistics should be adopted. This resolu- 

 tion was unanimously agreed to, and it was decided that 

 steps should be taken to bring it to the notice of the 

 various Powers that had sent representatives to the con- 

 gress. An invitation to hold the next Quinquennial con- 

 gress, namely, that of 1915, in London was then sub- 

 mitted to the meeting by Prof. H. Louis (Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne), and supported by Mr. G. C. Lloyd, secretary of the 

 Iron and Steel Institute, and Dr. J. B. Simpson, president I 

 of the Institution of Mining Engineers. The invitation was 

 tendered on behalf of the University of London, the Im- ' 

 perial College of Science and Technologry, the Geological I 

 Society of London, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, [ 

 the Iron and Steel Institute, the Society of Chemical In- I 

 dustry, the Institution of Mining Engineers, the Institution | 

 of Mining and Metallurgy, and the Institute of Metals, and [ 

 it was unanimously and enthusiastically accepted. j 



This ended the business of the congress proper, but a 

 reception vi'as given in the evening by the town of Essen, 1 

 and on the following day a numerous contingent of mem- ; 

 bers left in two special trains for Brussels, where arrange- 

 ments had been made to receive them at the exhibition 

 now in progress there. 



From every point of view the Diisseldorf Congress may 

 be pronounced a brilliant success. The local members 

 exerted themselves to the utmost to entertain their visitors, ! 

 and, thanks in no small degree to the excellent system of 

 organisation that pervaded the whole affair, everything 

 went without a hitch. It is a matter of sincere satisfaction 

 that English technologists will now have an opportunity 

 afforded thepi of returning the splendid hospitality of their 

 foreign colleagues, but they will have to exert their utmost 

 endeavours if they propose to maintain the high standard 

 of excellence that has been set by the congress of 19 10. 



THE TUBERCULOSIS CONFERENCE AND 

 EXHIBITION. 

 'T'HE annual meeting of the National Association for the 

 Prevention of Tuberculosis and the conference is 

 still in full swing, though by the time that this goes to 

 press most of the work, except the exhibition and the public 

 lectures, will have been completed. A local committee, 

 consisting of the Right Hon. Lord Balfour of Burleigh, 

 K.T., Sir .Alexander Christison, Bart., as chairman. Dr. 

 R. W. Philip, treasurer, and Drs. W. Leslie Lyall, 

 Geo. A. Mackey, and James Miller, secretaries, and a 

 number of public and medical men, prepared an admirable 

 programme for the large number of members, old and 

 new, which has been carried out both fully and successfully. 



The exhibition, which is probably the best of the kind 

 tliat has yet been seen in this country, containing not 

 only the ordinary travelling specimens, but a number of 

 very fine preparations from Edinburgh and Cambridge 

 illustrating the various phases of the tuberculous process 

 in man and in animals, was opened on Friday, July 1, by 

 the Countess of Aberdeen, whose interest in this work 

 induced her to send over the Irish exhibit that has done 

 such excellent service in Ireland. On the evening of the 

 same day Prof. McWeeney, of Dublin, gave an interesting 

 lecture on " Consumption : what it is and how it can be 

 prevented." 



On Saturday morning the teachers and scholars in the 

 various school centres were addressed by the Countess of 

 Aberdeen at one, by Dr. Jane Walther at another, and by 

 Drs. Gray, McWeeney, Squire, and VVoodhead at others. 

 These addresses, according to the newspaper reports, 

 appear to have been followed with keen interest by both 

 tf-achers and scholars. 



In the afternoon, the Royal Victoria Hospital Farm 

 Colony at Springfield, Lasswade, a beautiful and healthful 

 *pot, was opened by Lady Dunedin. This farm is for 

 convalescents from phthisis, and is to be a kind of training 

 ground for those who have to earn their living after their 

 recovery. As it is only at the stage of opening, little of 

 the plan of operations could be seen, but it appears that 

 Frimley is the model on which it is to be carried out. 



On Sunday there was a special service for universitv 

 students in the McEwan Hall (the " Aula " of the Unf- 



versity). Dr. Norman McI,eod presided, and Dr. Kelman 

 and Dean Wilson both took part in the service. Prof. 

 Osier, of Oxford, spoke of man's redemption of man, re- 

 ferring to the great work done during the last fifty years 

 by those who had set themselves to the amelioration of 

 the sufferings and disease of their fellows. Then followed 

 a short service in memoriam of Robert Koch, in which 

 Dr. Hermann Biggs, of New York, and Drs. Woodhead 

 and Philip took part. The whole service was most 

 impressive, and was attended by a very large congregation. 



On Monday evening the annual meeting of the National 

 -Association for the Prevention of Consumption, presided 

 over by Lord Balfour of Burleigh, was a most successful 

 gathering, and, like all the other meetings, was very 

 largely attended. 



This was followed by a reception given by the Right 

 Hon. the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council of the 

 City of Edinburgh, in tlie splendid Museum of Science and 

 Art, at which the members of the association and their 

 friends were most hospitably entertained. 



The four conference meetings, at which such subjects as 

 "The Avenues of Infection in Tuberculosis," "The Pre- 

 vention and the Administrative Control of Tuberculosis," 

 "The Incidence of Tuberculosis in Childhood," and "The 

 Working Man in Relation to Tuberculosis," were well 

 attended, and the subjects were well discussed. These 

 discussions should be productive of much good in 

 the way of disseminating information on the various points 

 raised. Popular lectures were given on Friday, Saturday, 

 and Tuesday, and others will be given up to the end of the 

 week, each lecture being in charge of an authority on his 

 subject. 



This conference and exhibition is an advance on any- 

 thing of the kind that has yet been attempted, and its 

 usefulness and popularity should encourage the executive 

 of the association to repeat the experiment of a provincial 

 meeting. 



INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR COOPERATION 



IN SOLAR RESEARCH. 

 HTHE fourth conference of the International Union for 

 Cooperation in Solar Research will take place on 

 Mount Wilson, California, between August 29 and Sep- 

 tember €. The meeting promises to be a very successful 

 one, about forty astronomers and physicists from Europe 

 having signified their intention of being present, as well as 

 a large number of Americans. 



The members of the union and others who have accepted 

 Prof. Hale's invitation are invited by the .Astronomical 

 and .Astrophysical Society of .America to attend a meeting 

 of that- society which will be held at Harvard College 

 Observatory on August 17. At the end of this meeting 

 the astronomers will be taken from Boston to California 

 by the train leaving Boston on August 20. One day will 

 be spent at Niagara Falls, and another at Chicago, where, 

 however, the time will not be sutTicient to visit the Yerkes 

 Observatory. The journey from Chicago to Pasadena will 

 be made by the southern route, and a visit will be paid 

 on the way to the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, while 

 two days will be spent at the Grand Canyon. The party 

 will reach Pasadena on August 27. 



After the meeting, it has been arranged that visitors 

 who may wish to join shall travel by way of Santa 

 Barbara and Monterey to San Jos6, from whence the Lick 

 Observatory may be visited. 



Those intending to travel with the party from Boston 

 to Pasadena, or join the party at any point on the way, 

 are requested to send in their names to Prof. S. I. Bailey, 

 Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Mass., at as 

 early a date as possible, in order that the necessary rail- 

 way arrangements may be made. 



.As regards the .meeting itself, it is proposed that the 

 visitors should stay in Pasadena until Tuesday, September 

 13, on which day they will leave for Mount Wilson, the 

 journey occupying about seven hours. The meeting will 

 be held during the four remaining days of the week, and 

 the return journey will take place on Sunday, September 4. 



On September 6 it is intended to make an excursion to 

 Los Angeles, and the meeting will conclude with a banquet 

 after returning to Pasadena. 



NO. 2123, VOL. 84] 



