September 8, 1910] 



NATURE 



NOTES. 

 Madame Curie and M. Debierne have presented a joint 

 memoir to the Paris Academy of Sciences announcing that 

 they have succeeded in isolating pure radium. The 

 metallic radium obtained is reported to be of a brilliant 

 white colour, which blackens when exposed to the air. 

 I; burns paper, rapidly decomposes water, and adheres to 

 iron. 



The chief chemist of the Barrow works of Messrs. 

 \'ickers, Sons and Maxim announces the discovery of an 

 alloy which is believed to be superior to anything of its 

 kind hitherto manufactured, and is to be known as 

 duralumin. W'hile being slightly heavier than pure 

 aluminium, it is reported to be as strong as steel, and it 

 can be rolled, drawn, stamped, extended, or forged at 

 suitable temperatures. It is less corrodable than other 

 high aluminium alloys under all the usual corrosive tests, 

 and possesses many valuable properties. It is only one- 

 third the weight of brass. 



According to Science, Dr. Charles Fahlberg, who was 

 associated with Prof. Ira Remsen in the discovery of 

 saccharine, died at Bad Nassau on August 15. 



The Times announces the death, at Cintra, of Prof. 

 Pcdroso, president of the Geographical Society of Lisbon. 



The centenary of the death of the famous Italian 

 naturahst Filippo Cavolini will be commemorated by a 

 series of meetings to be held in Naples on September 12-14. 

 The arrangements are in the hands of a committee, the 

 presidents of which are Profs. Monticelli and Cavara, 

 professors of zoology and botany in the Royal University 

 . of Naples, and the inaugural meeting will be held in the 

 Great Hall of that University on September 12 at 10 a.m. 



The following are the arrangements for the opening of 

 the winter session of the London medical schools : — St. 

 George's Hospital, King's College Hospital, and London 

 Hospital will open on October i. At the first-named Dr. 

 S. Squire Sprigge will deliver an oration " On Prizes." 

 St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital (at 

 which Dr. F. W. Mott, F.R.S., will deliver the eighth 

 Huxley lecture, on " The Hereditary Aspect of Nervous 

 and Mental Diseases "), Guy's Hospital, London (Royal 

 Free Hospital) School of Medicine for Women (at which 

 an address on " Women's Sphere in Medicine " will be 

 given by Dr. E. W. Roughton), Middlesex Hospital, St. 

 Mary's Hospital, University College Hospital, and West- 

 minster Hospital will reopen on October 3. The opening 

 day for St. Thomas's Hospital is October 4, and that of 

 the London School of Tropical Medicine is October 14, 

 when Dr. H. A. Miers, F.R.S., will give an address. 

 At the opening of the medical school of the Victoria Uni- 

 versity of Manchester, on October 3, Prof. W. Thorburn 

 will speak on " The Evolution of Surgery." 



The second International Congress for the Preservation 

 of Game was opened at Vienna on Monday last. At one 

 of the sections a message from King George to Mr. F. C. 

 Selous, urging the desirability of making international 

 provision for the preservation of migratory game birds, 

 especially woodcock and quail, was read. .A resolution 

 in the sense of the King's message was adopted by the 

 section. The next congress, which will meet in three 

 years' time, is to be devoted chiefly to the preservation of 

 game outside Europe. 



Speaking as president of the twenty-fifth Congress of 

 the Royal Sanitary Institute (now in session at Brighton), 

 NO. 2132, VOL. 84] 



Sir John Cockburn said the history of the growth of 

 sanitary science is epitomised in that of the Royal 

 Sanitary Institute, which during the last quarter of a 

 century has exercised a continually increasing Influence 

 for good on the health of the nation. Cleanliness, fresh 

 air, pure food, and prevention of infection are the key- 

 notes of modern medicine. In every city ample provision 

 for baths should be made available for the masses. But 

 cleanliness should not be confined to external appearance. 

 Clean air is required. It is true that recent years 

 have witnessed some improvements in this respect. The 

 ventilation of our theatres also is not so bad as it was. 

 It is perhaps in railway travelling that those who love 

 to keep their bodies pure suffer most. There are 

 smoking carriages for those who affect the weed ; why 

 not fresh-air carriages also, in which any occupant could 

 demand that one at least of the windows shall be kept 

 open? The objectors generally express the fear of 

 catching cold. It is high time that this fallacy were 

 exploded. What is called a cold in the head is an 

 infectious disease, and is caught nowhere so readily as 

 in close compartments. Fresh air, far from being the 

 cause, is -the best preventive. 



The treaty by which the Sovereign rights of the Korean 

 Emperor are transferred to the Emperor of Japan came 

 into effect on Monday, August 29, when it was promul- 

 gated in Seoul and Tokyo. The Korean peninsula, about 

 equal in size to Great Britain, has thus become an 

 integral part of Japanese territory. The Japanese 

 Embassy has issued the following announcement, received 

 from the Foreign Office at Tokyo, referring to the annexa- 

 tion : — (i) Korea shall hereafter be named "Chosen"; 



(2) the Government-General shall be established in Chosen ; 



(3) the Residency-General and its accessory offices will be 

 in existence for the present, and the Resident-General will 

 exercise the functions of the Governor-General ; (4) the 

 issue of special passports for the people of Chosen is 

 abolished, and hereafter the Chosens will be treated on 

 an equal footing as the Japanese in the matter. 



It being possible to allot space in the Chemical Court 

 of the reconstituted British Section of the Brussels 

 Exhibition only to little more than half of the original 

 exhibitors, a letter has been addressed by Sir Boverton 

 Redwood, chairman of the Chemical Industries Com- 

 mittee, to the remaining firms asking them to funish a 

 descriptive account of their exhibits, with photographs if 

 possible, for display on a wall space which has been 

 appropriated for the purpose. It is suggested that a con- 

 venient size for the framed account would be 4 feet by 

 3 feet, but in exceptional circumstances it is hoped that 

 room may be found for a larger frame. Frames will be 

 supplied free of cost by the Exhibition Branch of the 

 Board of Trade, to whom photographs should be sent at 

 the earliest possible date, as the new British Section of 

 the exhibition is to be formally opened on September 15. 



The twenty-first annual general meeting of the Institu- 

 tion of Mining Engineers is to be held at Nottingham on 

 Wednesday, September 14, when the following papers will 

 be presented : — The mining school at Bochum, Prof. H. 

 Louis ; progress in the use of e.xhaust-steam power, Mr. 

 J. Burns; the Elliott-Jones vertical coke-oven, Mr. T. C. 

 Futers. In addition, the undermentioned communications, 

 which have already appeared in the Transactions of the 

 institution, will be open for discussion: — A storage-battery 

 extension to a three-phase colliery power-plant, Mr. W. 

 Maurice; measurements of the increase of temperature in 



