August 25, 1910] 



NATURE 



245 



already much restricted and blocked with swamp 

 vegetation. There has been not only partial desicca- 

 tion due to a lessening in the rainfall of West Central 

 Africa, but also a raising of the lake level by the 

 excessive growth of marsh vegetation — papyrus, reeds, 

 rushes, grasses, and tlie ambatch tree. The water of 

 Lake Chad would also seem to be increasing in 

 salinity, which, however, does not appear to interfere 

 with the growth of vegetation. On the contrary, when 

 every now and then (according to the stories of the 

 natives) the lake is partially recreated by floods from 

 the Shari and the Komadugu and the water becomes 

 fresh, the vegetation tends to disappear, partly by its 

 being drowned, and partly because the water has lost 

 some element suited to its growth. 



Some further geographical information is given as 

 to the Bahr-al-Ghazal Channel, or Soro, as it should 

 preferably be called (in order not to confuse it with 

 the name of the western basin of the Nile). This 

 would seem to have been an ancient outlet of the 

 flooded Chad, which carried these waters along a 

 definite channel towards the north-east into the 

 Bodele depression. Another possible diversotr of 

 Lake Chad exists still in Lake Fitri, far away to the 

 south-east, which this mission showed still to possess 

 an area of open water of nearly 150 square miles. 

 H. H. Johnston. 



nOTES. 



We have received a programme of the International 

 Congress on Radiology and Electricity to be held at 

 Brussels on September 13-15. Among the important 

 matters to be brought forward is the question of 

 radium standards and nomenclature. The congress will 

 be divided into three sections. In the first section, 

 general questions of terminology and methods of measure- 

 ment in radio-activity and subjects connected with ionisa- 

 tion will be discussed. The second section will be devoted 

 to subjects relating to the fundamental theories of elec- 

 tricity, the study of radiations (including spectroscopy, the 

 chemical effects of radiations, and allied subjects), radio- 

 activity, atomic theory, and cosmical phenomena, such as 

 atmospheric electricity and the radio-activity of the atmo- 

 sphere. The third section is biological, and will be 

 devoted to the consideration of the effects of radiations on 

 living organisms. This section will deal with purely 

 biological subjects, as well as the use and application of 

 various radiations for medical purposes. A long list of 

 papers already promised is given in the programme, as well 

 as a list of members up to date. A special exhibit of 

 apparatus relating to the work of members is to be held 

 in connection with the congress, and members are invited 

 to forward exhibits to the Physical Laboratory of the 

 University of Brussels. A number of excursions have 

 already been arranged to take place after the congress, and 

 special facilities will be granted to members on the Belgian 

 and French railways. Intending members should com- 

 municate with Dr. J. Daniel at Ostende, rue Wellington 28. 



The preliminary programme of the twenty-fifth congress 

 of the Royal Sanitary Institute, to be held in Brighton on 

 September 5-10 under the presidency of Sir John A. Cock- 

 burn, K.C.M.G., has now been issued. Dr. A. Newsholme 

 (Principal Medical Officer, Local Government Board) will 

 deliver the lecture to the congress on " The National 

 Importance of Child Mortality." Dr. Alex. Hill will 

 deliver the popular lecture on " The Bricks with which 

 the Body is Built." In connection with the congress, a 

 health exhibition of apparatus and appliances relating to 

 health and domestic use will be held as practical illustra- 

 NO. 2130, VOL. 84] 



tion of the application and carrying out of the principles 

 and methods discussed at the meetings. The congress will 

 include general addresses and lectures, and there will be 

 two section meetings for two days each, dealing with : — 

 Section i., sanitary science and preventive ^medicine, presi- 

 dent, Prof. E. W. Hope; Section ii., engineering and 

 architecture, president, Mr. H. Rofe. Eight special con- 

 ferences will be held, dealing respectively with municipal 

 representatives ; port sanitary authorities ; medical officers 

 of health ; engineers and surveyors to county and other 

 sanitary authorities ; veterinary inspectors ; sanitary in- 

 spectors ; women on hygiene ; and hygiene of childhood. 



The death is announced, at seventy-five years of age, of 

 Prof. F. von Neumann, who from 1876 until 1909 held 

 the chair of political economy at the University of 

 Tubingen. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death of Dr. 

 Louis Olivier, at fifty-six years of age. Dr. Olivier was 

 the founder and editor of our esteemed contemporary the 

 Revue generale des Sciences, which ever since it first 

 appeared, twenty years ago, has taken a leading place 

 among the scientific periodicals of the world. 



The International Horticultural Exhibition of 19 12 will 

 be held in the grounds attached to the Royal Hospital, 

 Chelsea. These beautiful grounds were laid out by Sir 

 Joseph Paxton, and they are well adapted for the purposes, 

 of a horticultural exhibition. The area leased to the 

 exhibition authorities is approximately twenty acres, and 

 nearly sixteen will be directly available for the accommoda- 

 tion of the exhibits. In the remaining portion, which 

 includes some shrubberies, there are many fine specimen 

 trees. 



The following news of north polar exploration has been 

 sent to London by the manager of the Nordenfjeldske 

 Steamship Company of Trondhjem : — Kong Harold has 

 returned from polar ice. Reached So" 10', within 10° 

 Pole. Met Fram expedition at Spitsbergen. From has 

 discovered volcano and hot springs Wood Bay ; beach 

 covered with lava. Zeppelin has taken possession of tract 

 of land at King's Bay, and has named it Zeppelinshafen. 



It is reported by the Polar Sea yacht Laura, which 

 arrived at Tromso on August 17 from East Greenland, that 

 the expedition ship Alabama, belonging to the Danish ex- 

 plorer Captain Mikkelsen, was crushed by the ice at the 

 end of March last. The crew were saved, and wintered on 

 Shannon Island. The Copenhagen correspondent of the 

 Morning Post states that Captain Mikkelsen with Mr. 

 Iversen, who started from Shannon Island on March 3, are 

 trying to reach Cape York, on the western coast of Green- 

 land, travelling by way of Peary Channel and the inland 

 ice. If insurmountable difficulties are encountered, they can 

 return to Shannon Island, where a house, in which there 

 are provisions sufficient for two years, has been built. On 

 August 7 Captain Mikkelsen and his companion had not 

 yet returned, and it is supposed that they continued their 

 way through the Peary Channel to Cape York, or that 

 they are returning along the east coast, having spent the 

 summer there. 



The Anthropological Society of Paris, in the last issue 

 of its Bulletins et M^moires, gives a report of the meeting, 

 attended by leading anthropologists from all parts of 

 Europe, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of its 

 foundation? An interesting feature in the report is a 

 series of papers contributed by the foreign delegates 

 describing the progress of research in the various parts of 

 Europe. As representative of the Royal Anthropological 



