526 



NATURE 



[October ig, 191 1 



investigations and restorations of the frescoes in the 

 Houses of Parliament, and his invaluable work in the pre- 

 servation of ancient stone buildings, such as Westminster 

 Abbey, are well known to all who are acquainted with 

 these subjects. While on one hand Sir Arthur Church 

 was for many years professor of chemistry at the Royal 

 Agricultural College at Cirencester, and has done invalu- 

 able work in connection with the application of chemistry 

 to agriculture, on the other hand he may be said to be one 

 of the few living chemists who have applied their scientific 

 knowledge to the problems connected with the applied arts ; 

 and he has done this not only in the department of 

 chemistry, but also in the scientific theory of colour as 

 applied to decoration. He is also known as an authority 

 on precious stones, porcelain, and earthenware, and has 

 shown all his life that interesting combination of the scien- 

 tific and artistic temperament which is rarely found. It 

 is to be hoped that his retirement from the professorship 

 will mean merely that he will have greater leisure to con- 

 tinue his many researches on the application of chemistry 

 to painting, researches upon which the permanency of some 

 of our greatest works of art must ultimately depend. 



Reuter reports that a slight earthquake shock was felt 

 at Catania on October 15. The shock was more severe at 

 Giarre, Macchia, Guardia, Rondinella, and Santa 

 Venerina. 



The South African Branch of the Royal Sanitary 

 Institute is arranging to hold a congress in Cape Town 

 on November 9-1 1. This is the first sanitary congress to 

 be held in British South Africa. 



The death is announced, on October 10, of Dr. W. R. 

 Huggard, the British Consul at Davos, Switzerland. Dr. 

 Huggard was an authority on mental diseases and tubercu- 

 losis. He was not a prolific writer, but was known as 

 the author of a " Handbook of Climatic Treatment, in- 

 cluding Balneology," and a few papers in medical 

 periodicals. Dr. Huggard had been a resident at Davos 

 for twenty-five years. 



The death is announced of the Rev. Mariam Balcells, 

 S.J., professor of mathematics at Boston College, Mass. 

 A native of Tarragona, he was for a time connected with 

 the Spanish Geological Survey. He became director of the 

 Ebro Observatory of Cosmical Physics, which he had 

 himself built during his earlier career as an engineer. He 

 introduced into Spain the study of the solar chromosphere 

 by means of the spectroheliograph, and in collaboration 

 with Father Cirera, now the director of the observatory, 

 made various investigations of the relation between solar 

 activity and terrestrial magnetism. 



From the Abor expedition, which is about to start, we 

 have a good prospect of learning more about this little- 

 known region. Bi urveying work which is 

 always carried out on such mountain expi 

 Government of India has arranged for as much scientific 

 investigation to be carried out as the circumstances will 

 admit. According to The Morning Post, Mr. J. II. Burkill 

 will be the botanist, and Mr. S. Kamps and Mr. R. 

 Hodgirt will take charge of zoology and anthropology re- 

 spectively. A geologist will accompanj thi expedition, but 

 the definite appointment has not been announced. Captain 

 Trenchard and Lieut. Oakes an in charge of the survej 

 operations. An interesting experiment is beins; made with 

 various forms of rations, and especially with compn 

 tea, which has been made up into small cases of 45 lb. 

 each for handy transport. 



NO. 2I90, VOL. 87] 



At the present time Mr. Chas. Urban, who has done so 

 much to correct our geographical impressions, is exhibit- 

 ing at the Scala Theatre a " kinemacolor " representation 

 of the recent eruption of Etna. It is not an exciting show, 

 though possibly the photographer got uncomfortably hot, 

 for the most interesting feature of the film is the portion 

 depicting the slowly advancing front of a lava stream. 

 This is well worth seeing by any geologist who has not 

 actually witnessed this type of flow. There is a peculiar 

 fascination in watching the deliberate fragmentation of the 

 cooling lava-crust, with the continuous detachment of 

 solidified blocks, each with its attendant puff of white 

 steam. Sitting in the comfortable seats of the Scala, the 

 visitor would like more of this portion ; but no doubt there 

 were difficulties. 



The eighteenth International Congress of Americanists 

 is to be held in London from May 27 to June 1, 1912. 

 This will be the first time the congress will have visited 

 Great Britain. The main subjects to be considered at next 

 year's meeting are : — (a) the aboriginal races of America, 

 their origin, distribution, history, physical characteristics, 

 languages, customs, and religions ; (b) the monuments and 

 archaeology of America ; and (c) the history of the dis- 

 covery and occupation of the New World. H.R.H. the 

 Duke of Connaught is the patron and Sir Clements Mark- 

 ham president. The organising committee includes Sir 

 Richard Martin, Sir T. Holland, Dr. C. H. Read, Profs. 

 Gowland and J. L. Myres, Mr. H. Balfour, and others, 

 with Mr. Alfred Maudslay as chairman. Titles of papers 

 to be presented at the meeting of the congress should be 

 sent immediately to the secretary, c/o the Royal Anthropo- 

 logical Institute, 50 Great Russell Street, London, W.C. : 

 and it is further requested that synopses of the papers may 

 be sent in by March 31, 1912. Communications may be 

 oral or written, and the languages admitted are English. 

 German, French, Italian, and Spanish. 



Mr. E. A. Gait, Census Commissioner for India, has 

 collected into a single volume the detailed instructions 

 issued to the provincial superintendents describing the sub- 

 jects on which it is desired that information should be 

 collected and embodied in their reports now in course of 

 preparation. Of particular interest are the inquiries into 

 the internal working of the caste system and the extent 

 to which the rulers of independent States exercise their 

 traditional prerogative of interfering in such matters ; the 

 investigation whether the existence of the Mendelian law 

 can be traced in the crosses between different races ; birth 

 and marriage customs ; and numerous other subjects which 

 have been discussed only in a summary way during the 

 last and previous enumerations of the people. If the pro- 

 vincial superintendents, in addition to the task of com- 

 piling and explaining the statistics, can find time and 

 opportunity for undertaking this investigation, the forth- 

 coming reports of the census of 1911 are sure to furnish 

 materials of much interest to students of anthropology and 

 sociology. 



The committee appointed to investigate ancient earth- 

 works and fortified enclosures has prepared a report for 

 presentation to the Congress of Archaeological Societies. 

 The committee reports steady progress in the investiga- 

 tion of these monuments, in particular in Hampshire, 

 where Dr. J. P. Williams is engaged in cataloguing the 

 barrows of that county after the completion of his list of 

 works. Measures of preservation have been adopted 

 in the case of the Stokeleigh Camp in Somerset, the 

 Scambridge Dykes in Yorkshire, and at Skipsea in the 



