i + 2 



NATURE 



[September 15, 1910 



notwithstanding the expansion of the original scheme and 

 the increased demands due to the extension of nature- 

 ~iudy, it has become apparent that the institution cannot 

 exist as a private venture, and therefore it is proposed to 

 enlist the help of individuals interested in the aims of the 

 association and convert the undertaking into a public 

 association of subscribers. This decision was formulated 

 at a meeting of botanists and others, and an executive 

 committee was elected to proceed with the enrolment of 

 members and associates. As the institution exists purely 

 Tor the preferment of botanical study and research, it is 

 to be hoped that sufficient subscribers will be forthcoming 

 to ensure its permanence. 



The seventh part of the Prodromus Florae Brilamiicae, 

 an elaborate and critical revision of the British flora that 

 is being prepared by Mr. F. N. Williams, has now been 

 published by C. Stutter, no High Street, Brentford, and 

 the author announces that the next part will conclude the 

 SympetalfE and the first volume. The present part 

 enumerates thirty-five genera, beginning with Plantago 

 and ending with Vaccinium, but the sequence of families 

 is unusual. Two species new for Britain are recorded 

 under Plantago, while five species only are admitted under 

 Mentha, as the author follows the views elaborated by 

 Malinvard, that several species generally accepted are 

 merely hybrids. Among the numerous interesting notes 

 attention is directed to the remarks on the oxlip, the 

 occurrence of two blue pimpernels, and the use of the 

 ■word " anthemia " for the whole mass of flower clusters 

 of Stachys arvensis. 



A NOTE on the protection of timber against white ants 

 appears in the Transactions of the Royal Scottish Arbori- 

 cultural Society (vol. xxiii., part ii.). Three processes are 

 ■described, of which one is a contrivance for destroying 

 white ants by pumping a poisonous smoke through their 

 galleries, while the others are timber-treatment measures. 

 Details of the Powell process are not disclosed, but " blue 

 oil " is the specific which apparently has received recogni- 

 tion at the War Office. 



Dr. Svns Hkdin contributes a short paper to the July 

 number of Pclermann's Mitteilungen in which he sum- 

 marises the scientific results of his journey in Tibet during 

 the years igo6-S. Preliminary notes on the meteorological 

 observations and the geological collections are added by 

 Dr. Nils Ekholm and Dr. Anders Hennig. The Swedish 

 Government has voted a sum of 75,000 kroner, to be paid 

 In equal instalments in 191 1, 1912, and 1913, towards the 

 ■cost of publication of the detailed reports, which are to 

 consist of three volumes of memoirs and an atlas in two 

 volumes. The text, which will extend to about 1500 

 pages, will consist of reports on geographical discoveries 

 and observations, memoirs on the physical geography of 

 Tibet, and special papers by Dr. Ekholm on meteorology 

 and hypsometry. Dr. Olsson on astronomical observations, 

 Dr. Hennig on geology, and Prof. Lagerheim, Dr. Osten- 

 Teld, and others on botany. A map of Tibet on a scale 

 of I : 1,000,000 will appear in 1912. 



The last number of the Sitzuitgsherichte of the Bavarian 

 Academy of Sciences contains a communication from Prof. 

 A. Rothpletz on the cause of the Californian earthquake 

 of 1906, in which he points out that the triangulation of 

 the central area of the region affected by the earthquake 

 shows that it has undergone an extension amounting to 

 about I in 30,000. This expansion may be explained by 

 one of three hypotheses : — (i) as the result of the relief 

 of tangential pressure in the earth's crust ; (2) by a 

 NO. 2133, VOL. 84] 



transference of heat and change in position of the isogeo- 

 therms ; or (3) by magmatic intrusion ; the first two 

 being excluded as not fully accounting for the observed 

 displacements, the third is accepted. The earthquake is, 

 therefore, regarded as belonging to the class called crypto- 

 volcdnic by Prof. Homes, which Prof. Rothpletz prefers 

 to call " injection " earthquakes ; and as the San Francisco 

 earthquake is considered to be due to movement along the 

 San Andreas fault, indirectly caused by deep-seated 

 intrusions, it becomes an injection-fissure earthquake. 



The eleventh " Review of Mining Operation in the State 

 of South Australia," for the half-year ending December, 

 1909 (Adelaide, 1910, 26 pages, 3 plates), reports that the 

 mining industry was hampered by the strikes at Broken 

 Hill and of the \ew South Wales colliers, and by the low- 

 price of copper, the most important mineral in South 

 .Australia. Further progress is reported in boring for coal 

 in the Permo-Carboniferous rocks of the Northern Terri- 

 tory, but only three inch seams of inferior coal were found 

 during the six months reported. The most novel mine in 

 South Australia is that being opened in the Carnotite lode, 

 near Olary, and the report includes a short account of the 

 mining operations in progress, and an analysis of the ore 

 made under the direction of Prof. Dunstan. The ore is 

 to be worked for radium. An attempt is being made to 

 supply the tube mills at Broken Hill with flints from the 

 local beaches. The flints now used are sent from Europe, 

 and are said to come from Iceland, but as they are 

 shipped to .•\ustralia as ballast, they have hitherto held 

 the market against the local supply. 



In vol. vii.. No. I, of the fifteenth series of the 

 Palaeontologia Indica (Mem. Geol. Surv. India), Mr. 

 F. R. C. Reed describes and illustrates a series of 

 Cambrian fossils obtained by an officer of the Indian 

 Survey from the Bhabeh rocks of Spiti, which, from the 

 evidence of ver}' scant remains, were provisionally assigned 

 by the late Dr. Stoliczka to the Lower Silurian. A large 

 proportion of the fossils consists of trilobites, none of 

 which, so far as the condition of the specimens admits 

 of forming an opinion, can be identified with European or 

 American types ; consequently, a number of new names 

 appear in the memoir. 



The Rev. Dr. A. Irving writes to say that the letter* 

 of Messrs. Deeley and Lamplugh on " Stagnant Glaciers " 

 in Nature of September S (p. 297) " seem to overlook the 

 important causal factor of solar radiation in connection 

 with the question," and directs attention to an article of 

 his, entitled " Solar Radiation and Glacier Motion," in 

 Nature, vol. .xxvii., April 12, 1883, in which a series of 

 laboratory experiments on the subject, with deductions, 

 is given. The article in question was supplementary to 

 a paper by the author on the mechanics of glaciers, 

 which appeared in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological 

 Society for February, 1883. 



We have received the report of the H\drographer on 

 .Admiralty Surveys for the year 1909. The report shows 

 that during the year extensive revisions of the charts of 

 home waters were made by four vessels, the largest areas 

 sounded being off the west coast of Scotland. Very important 

 additions to our knowledge of British Columbian waters 

 were made by H.M.S. Egeria, the increase in size and 

 number of ships using the Edye, Beaver, and Schooner 

 passages making the surveys of these channels specially 

 valuable. H.M.S. Mutine carried out a number of im- 

 portant lines of soundings off the west coast of .Africa, and 



