September 7, 191 1] 



NATURE 



cated the resolutions to all countries which had not been 

 represented, and nearly all the replies which have been 

 received are favourable. Maps in exact accordance with 

 the resolutions are, it is understood, being produced by 

 France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, the United States, and 

 other countries, and, so far as we are concerned, by the 

 ral Staff and the Ordnance Survey. These maps will 

 be shown at the International Geographical Congress which 

 meets at Rome in October next. 



I have now come to the end of this rapid sketch of the 

 geographical work of the official world. It is work which, 

 though often of an apparently humdrum character, out- 

 weighs in importance the sum total of all which can be 

 undertaken by private agency or by societies. But it is 

 the very legitimate business of societies to criticise and 

 encourage. 



It is, in fact, not only our manifest duty to encourage 

 (he systematic mapping of the world on which we live, 

 but we should do all we can to ensure the perfection, and 

 suitability for their special purposes, of the maps them- 

 selves. In the surveying of the earth's surface and its 

 representation by means of maps we are treating of matters 

 which are essentially and peculiarly our own. 



It would appear that another great function of Geo- 

 graphy, as represented by Geographical societies and con- 

 gresses, is to serve as a popularising medium for such 

 sciences as geodesy, geology, climatology, and anthro- 

 pology, and also to serve as the means of bringing together 

 the workers in these sciences. We may be told that, so 

 far as this Association is concerned, the exact study of 

 geodesy and meteorology is dealt with by Section A, 

 geology by Section C, and anthropology by Section H, but 

 there is, I believe, no other section which forms a more 

 convenient general meeting-ground for all the workers in 

 the various divisions of earth-knowledge. We ourselves 

 have our own special work, work which is shared by no 

 others, the great task of mapping the world. This task 

 is such a necessary one. and it is of such genuine value 

 to so many studies, that by assisting in it we are really 

 furthering the Advancement of Science, which is the 

 object of this great Association. 



XOTES. 



Colonel C. F. Close, C.M.G., R.E., has been 

 appointed Director-General of the Ordnance Survey in 

 succession to Colonel S. C N. Grant, C.M.G., R.E. 



Dr. F. Grant Ogilvie, C.B., has been appointed by 

 the President of the Board of Education director of the 

 Science Museum. He will continue to fill his present 

 position of secretary for the Science Museum and the 

 Geological Survey and Museum. 



The memory of Alessandro Volta was honoured on 

 Friday last by a meeting held at his grave at Camnago, 

 at which were present Signor Calissano, Minister of Posts 

 and Telegraphs, M. Buebs, director of the Belgian tele- 

 graphs, Signor Pietro Volta (a nephew of the inventor), 

 and many telegraphists from all parts of the world. Several 

 speeches were delivered, and a memorial stone bearing an 

 inscription recording the esteem in which Volta is held 

 was inaugurated. The ceremony was followed by a 

 luncheon, provided by the Mayor, and the placing of 

 wreaths, at Como, on the Volta monument. 



The Brussels correspondent of The Times announces the 

 death of Prof. F. Swarts, the holder for many years of the 

 chair of general chemistry at the University of Ghent. 



The death is announced, at the age of sixty-four years, 

 of Mr. T. Hurry Riches, locomotive superintendent of the 

 Taff Yale Railway. Mr. Riches, who was h^ld in high 

 esteem as an engineer, for three successive years filled the 

 presidency of the South Wales Institute of Engineers. He 

 was also an ex-president of the Institute of Mechanical 

 Engineers, a member of the Iron and Steel Institute, of 

 the British Association, of the council of the University 

 NO. 2 1 84, VOL. 8/] 



College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, of the 

 council of governors of the Imperial College of Science 

 and Technology, of the council of the Institute of Metals, 

 and a governor of the National Museum of Wales. He 

 served as chairman of the mechanical engineering section 

 of the Franco-British Exhibition, and as reporter for Great 

 Britain and the colonies to the International Railway Con- 

 gress of 1910 upon railway motor-cars. 



Dr. Oilman A. Drew, assistant director of the W Is 



Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, has been appointed 

 resident assistant director of the laboratory, and will in 

 future devote his whole time to the work at Woods Hole. 



It is announced in Science that Prof. A. J. Hitchcock, 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture, has left 

 for Panama to join the Smithsonian expedition for the 

 biological survey of the Panama Canal zone. He will 

 also investigate the grasses of the five Central American 

 Republics on behalf of the department with which he is 

 connected. 



According to advices received at Cordova, Alaska, the 

 Smithsonian Institution's glacial expedition has had an 

 unlucky accident. As Profs. R. F. Starr and Lawrence 

 Madden were crossing the Yukon on their way to Fair- 

 banks, their wagon was upset by the current. The 

 explorers themselves got ashore in safety, but all their 

 field notes, cameras, and exposed films were lost. 



The Electrician, quoting from the French official gazette 

 " L'Ofnciel," states that a committee dealing with the 

 hygienic aspects of illumination has been appointed by the 

 Minister of the Interior in France. The objects of the 

 committee include the general effects of illumination on 

 health, the framing of simple rules as to the best means 

 of applying customary systems of lighting to various indus- 

 trial operations, the nature and causes of short sight and 

 impairment of vision, and their connection with defective 

 living conditions, the study of methods of measuring 

 illumination, &c. 



A Brussels correspondent of The Times states that a 

 special commission was recently appointed to study the 

 utilisation of aeroplanes for ensuring rapid communication 

 with districts of the Belgian Congo that are still un- 

 provided with railways and roads, and that it has been 

 decided to await the results of certain tests to be carried 

 out in France. Attempts will be made to traverse a desert 

 about 1200 kilometres (750 miles) across, and to establish 

 landing stations 400 kilometres apart, fitted with wireless 

 telegraphy. The aeroplanes will have to convey three 

 passengers and a relatively heavy load of victuals, water, 

 tools, &c. It is hoped that this line will be established 

 in 1912. A first subsidy of i6,oooZ. has been voted for the 

 establishment of these communications. 



According to a Reuter telegram, the acting Russian 

 Consul at Kwang-cheng-tse reports the outbreak at 

 Changchun, Manchuria, of an unknown disease. The 

 sufferers are attacked by headache and violent -diarrhoea, 

 and lose the power of speech. Death occurs in two or 

 three days. The Chinese and Japanese doctors are, it is 

 said, doubtful of the nature of the disease. 



The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries has decided to 

 appoint a departmental committee to inquire into the 

 circumstances of the recent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth 

 disease, and to consider whether any further measures 

 can be adopted to prevent their recurrence. The com- 

 mittee will be appointed and sit in the autumn under the 

 chairmanship of Sir Aihvyn Fellowes. 



