224 



NATURE 



[August 17, 1911 



Chester), H. W. Coales (.Birmingham), A. H. Meade 

 I .melon), A. C. Swales [Leeds), and H. J. F. Gourley 

 Manchester). 



In connection with the celebration of the tercentenary of 

 the Authorised Version of the Bible (1611-1911), a special 

 exhibition, illustrating the natural history of the Bible, 

 has been arranged on the east side of the central hall in 

 the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London. 

 Printed descriptive labels have been attached to the exhibits, 

 which comprise all the animals, plants, minerals, and 

 precious stones mentioned in the Bible. A guide book to 

 the exhibition has been prepared, and is on sale, price 6d. 

 (postage 2d.). The exhibition is open to the public free 

 daily. 



The Manchester Microscopical Society has arranged, as 

 in previous winters, to provide through its Extension 

 Section lectures and demonstrations of a popular character 

 on scientific subjects. The lectures are arranged for 

 delivery in and about -Manchester. The cost, as a rule, is 

 limited to lecturers' expenses, which in most cases do not 

 exceed a few shillings. The work of lecturing and demon- 

 strating is entirely voluntary and gratuitous on the part of 

 the members of the society, but hire of slides, travelling, 

 and out-of-pocket expenses are charged, and in some cases 

 an additional small fee for the lecture is asked for. The 

 list of lectures includes sixty-five subjects, most of which 

 deal with the biological and geological sciences. Secre- 

 taries of societies desirous of including lectures on nature 

 subjects in their syllabus may receive a copy of the lecture 

 .ist on application to the honorary treasurer and secretary, 

 Mr. R. Howarth, 90 George Street, Cheetham Hill, Man- 

 chester. 



The Technical Museum in Vienna, which is nearing 

 completion, was initiated by Austrian manufacturers, with 

 the assistance of the State and of the city of Vienna, to 

 commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of Emperor Francis 

 Joseph's reign. The foundation-stone was laid on June 20, 

 1909, and the building, which is situated opposite the 

 palace of Schonbrunn, covers an area of more than 20,000 

 square yards. The museum will demonstrate chronologic- 

 ally the development of industries and crafts, illustrate the 

 technical achievements of the present day, and by periodical 

 exhibitions stimulate and promote future progress. In 

 other words, it is intended as an educational centre to 

 spread a knowledge of science and technology from the 

 point of view of national welfare. Considerable progress 

 has been made in stocking the museum, and several large 

 and valuable State collections have been secured already. 

 The historical sequence in the development of pure and 

 applied science is not yet completely shown in the exhibits 

 available for the museum, and the authorities appeal to 

 men of science, technologists, manufacturers, and 1 

 men in all countries to assist them in procuring suitable 

 objects for the museum. Everything pertaining to technical 

 labour will be acceptable, principally tools, machines, 

 apparatus, models, material?, methods of working, finished 

 articles, as well as plans, designs, books, illustrations, and 

 manuscripts. The names of donors will be recorded by 

 inscription on the gifts and in a memorial book. Further 

 particulars can be obtained from the office of the Technical 

 Museum, Vienna, I. Ebendorferstrasse 6. 



Mr. Noel Buxton, M.P.. and Mr. J. 11. Whitehouse, 

 M.P., have issued a memorandum relating to the forma- 

 tion of an "Inshore Fisheries Parliamentary Committee," 

 which has made certain proposals to the Board of Agri- 

 culture and Fisheries apparently with regard to the 

 NO. 2 1 8l, VOL. 87] 



administration of the Development Fund. It is proposed 

 that a sub-department of the Board, consisting of " Inshore 

 Fishery Commissioners," should 1" abl hed, and that 

 this body should administer a grant of money for the pur- 

 poses of local cooperative societies for purchasing boats 

 and gear, and for insurance; credit banks; loan : thi 

 circulation of information, such as means of transport and 

 distribution; the cultivation of shell-fish and the provision 

 of foreshore allotments, and the policing of the territorial 

 waters. The prosecution of scientific investigation is not 

 suggested; and since the committee remarks that even the 

 best of the fishery committees "are unable to prevenl 

 injury to the spawning beds," it is evident that it p; 

 over the fishery research of the last twenty years. The 

 objects of the memorandum are excellent, but it is quite 

 certain that some of them cannot be carried out economic- 

 ally and efficiently without great familiarity with local con- 

 ditions and a certain amount of scientific research ; and 

 this information, with the organisation for increasing it. 

 already exists in the case of several of the better equipped 

 fisheries committees. There are parts of the coasts of 

 England and Wales where fishery research and regulation 

 have never been adequately developed, and a good deal 

 might be said in favour of applying the proposals of the 

 Parliamentary Committee to these neglected inshore areas; 

 but it is difficult to understand why all the organisation 

 for local investigation and control, built up laboriously 

 during the last twenty years by some of the district com- 

 mittees, should be ignored, and the problem of improve- 

 ment of the inshore fisheries tackled again in apparently 

 a de novo manner. 



We learn from The Japan Times that the Inn 

 Academy of Japan has awarded a medal and testimonial 

 to Dr. Kimura for his discovery of the term in the varia- 

 tion of latitude which is generally known by his name. 

 This is the first award under a benefaction which the 

 Academy owes to the Emperor. As at present understood, 

 the complete expression for the variation of latitude at a 

 station in longitude \ is 



.•vcos \+y sin X + s, 

 where x and y are the rectangular components of the dis- 

 placement of the pole on the earth's surface relative to its 

 mean position. The third, or z term, which was dis- 

 covered by Dr. Kimura and is the subject of the award, 

 is annual in period and independent of the longitude of 

 the station. Dr. Chandler therefore sought to explain it 

 as a result of the mean parallax of the stars observed, but 

 found on examination that not more than one quarter of 

 its amount could be accounted for in this way. Tlv 

 nature of the term points to an apparent and unexplained 

 oscillation of the centre of inertia of the earth with a semi- 

 amplitude of 4 or 5 feet. The addition of two observing 

 stations in the sourhern hemisphere, one in Wist Australia 

 and the other in the Argentine, to the six international 

 stations previously established in the northern hemisphere, 

 has corroborated the objective reality of the phenomenon, 

 which still presents, therefore, an extremely interesting 

 problem in geophysics. On the occasion of the presenta- 

 tion to Dr. Kimura a lecture was delivered by Prof. 

 Nagaoka, in which he recounted the circumstances in 

 which the discovery sv.-ts made. The observations made at 

 Mizusawa, tie- latitude station in Japan under the charge 

 of Dr. Kimura, were suspected of inaccuracy, but the most 

 careful examination failed to reveal 1 1 1 . - source of error. 

 Finally, Dr. Kimura was able to prove that the errors 

 were not due to an instrumental or personal source, but 

 arose from a cause affecting all the stations alike. He 

 thus vindicated his accuracy as an observer, and discovered 



