ApriL 8, 1915] 
NATURE 
151 

sented to the authorities in 1852, and published 
the same year in the Journal of the Chemical 
Society. For some time past it has been known 
that the table supplied with this report is less 
accurate than is desirable—not, it appears, from 
any inherent errors, but from having been based 
upon fermentations which differed in some respects 
from those obtaining in ordinary brewery prac- 
tice. About six years ago, therefore, the Commis- 
sioners of Customs and Excise gave instructions 
for a revision of the table to be made. This was 
undertaken by Sir Edward Thorpe, who was at 
that time principal chemist of the Government 
Laboratory, conjointly with Dr. H. T. Brown, 
nominated on behalf of the brewing trade by the 
Council of the Institute of Brewing. The neces- 
sary experiments, which altogether extended over 
a period of about two years, comprised not only 
brewings made under laboratory conditions, but | 
an extensive series of observations at representa- 
tive breweries, in order to obtain data which 
should correspond fairly with the actual working 
conditions met with in modern brewing practice. 
In the result a table has been constructed which 
there is every reason to believe is trustworthy, 
and which has now been legally established for 
use in place of the former statutory table of Profs. 
Graham, Hofmann, and Redwood. As compared 
with the older table, its general effect is somewhat 
to increase the amount of duty chargeable. 
Dr. Brown’s special contribution is a valuable 
study of the scientific principles underlying the 
empirical method of determining original specific 
gravity. He shows that a reasoned or “ theoreti- 
cal” process is quite possible—though not neces- 
sarily preferable—if the data have been properly 
established. C. Srmmonps. 

ROLL-CALL OF BRITISH BIRDS. 
IE have received from the British Ornitho- 
logists’ Union the second and_ revised 
edition of its “List of British Birds.” It is an 
authoritative compilation which does credit to 
the zeal and carefulness of the editorial committee. 
While the task was only accomplished by division 
of labour, the whole has been revised by the entire 
committee, who consider themselves jointly re- 
sponsible, although many disputed points have 
been decided by the votes of the majority. The 
first edition, published in 1883, included 376 birds; 
the present edition has 475, quite apart from a 
long list of species the presence of which has been 
recorded, but not satisfactorily proved. 
It is interesting to look into the composition 
of the list of 475 birds. In the first place, 188 
are regular breeding birds, and 286 are non-breed- 
ing, and one (the great auk) is extinct. The list 
may be further sub-divided. Thus, there are 141 
residents, including, of course, many that are 
partially migratory. In this category are included 
three introduced birds—the little owl, the pheas- 
ant, and the red-legged partridge, besides the 
1A List of British Birds.” Compiled by a Committee of the British 
Oruithologi:ts’ Union. Second and Revised Edition. Pp. xxtit+430. 
(London : W. Wesley and Son, rats.) Price 7s. 6d. 
NOw2370, VOL. O5)| 
| satisfactory. 

capercaillie, which was indigenous, but became 
extinct about 1760-70, and was_ re-introduced 
from Sweden in 1837-8. <A second set is made 
up of 47 summer visitors, including a few which 
occasionally leave representatives with us in 
winter. The third set consists of 46 winter 
visitors; the fourth of 30 birds of passage; the 
fifth of 61 occasional visitors which have occurred 
;on more than twenty occasions. 
The largest category in the classification is that 
of rare visitors, which have been recorded on 
fewer than twenty occasions. This group numbers 
149, which shows how diligent the search for the 
occurrence of rare birds has been in the British 
Islands. Under each bird we find a few references, 
the etymology of the name, the distribution in the 
British Islands, and the general distribution. A 
long appendix is devoted to the birds which have 
been excluded because the evidence of their occur- 
rence is not regarded by the committee as entirely 
Two others deal with questions of 
nomenclature. The members of the committee 
deserve the thanks of all ornithologists for the 
effectiveness with which they have done their 
work, which must have made heavy demands on 
their time and afforded abundant exercise for their 
judgment. 
NOTES. 
We learn with much regret of the sudden death on 
March 23, through heart-failure, of Prof. Otto N. 
Witt, professor of chemical technology in the Tech- 
nical High School at Charlottenburg. 
Dr. F. Taytor, consulting physician to Guy’s Hos- 
pital, has been elected president of the Royal College 
of Physicians in succession to Sir Thomas Barlow. 
Tue fifth annual award of the Willard Gibbs Medal, 
founded by Mr. W. A. Converse, of Chicago, has been 
made, says Science, to Prof. A. A. Noyes, director of 
the research laboratory of physical chemistry, Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology. 
A stroneG after-shock of the Avezzano earthquake 
of January 13 was felt in Rome on April 5, at 7.20 a.m. 
(6.20 G.M.T.). According to a report issued by the 
geodynamic observatory at Rome, the epicentre of the 
after-shock appears to have been close to Avezzano. 
Tur American Philosophical Society will meet at 
Philadelphia on April 22-24 for the reading and dis- 
cussion of papers. The programme includes papers 
on many subjects of recent research in physical and 
natural science, and also a symposium on the earth: 
its figure, dimensions, and the constitution of its 
interior. 
Dr. J. Scorr Kerri, who has been secretary of the 
Royal Geographical Society since 1892, vacated that 
office at the end of last month, and has been succeeded 
by Mr. A. R. Hinks, who has been assistant secretary 
of the society since 1913. Dr. Keltie will not, how- 
ever, entirely sever his official connection with the 
society, for he has undertaken to act with Mr. Hinks 
as joint-editor of the Geographical Journal for the next 
two vears. 
