2.^0 



NATURE 



[May i, igi. 



to reconcile the differences observed. Mr. Buchanan, 

 however, does not enter into the question, but re- 

 states the position he took up in a paper read at the 

 International Geographical Congress in 1805, to the 

 effect that this type of hydrometer gives not com- 

 parative but absolute results, and is "a pyknometer 

 where the volume of liquid excluded up to a certain 

 mark is weighed instead of that included up to a 

 similar mark." 



GERMAN METEOROLOGICAL REPORTS. 

 THE organisation reports of (1) the Royal Prussian 



-*- Meteorological Institute (Berlin) and (2) the 

 Deutsche Seewarte (Hamburg) for the year 1912 have 

 been recently published. The operations of these 

 establishments are quite distinct ; the institute dates 

 from 1847, as a department of the Statistical Bureau, 

 under Dr. W. Mahlmann, to whose life and work a 

 special article is devoted in the report for this year. 

 The work of the institute (which became an inde- 

 pendent meteorological organisation in 1S86) consists 

 to a considerable extent of special scientific researches 

 which appear in the Abhandlungen and elsewhere, 

 and in the preparation and publication of the observa- 

 tions made at a large number of stations, separate 

 departments dealing specially with meteorology, rain- 

 fall, and thunderstorms. It also controls the work 

 of Potsdam Observatory, which undertakes various 

 branches of geophysical investigation. Among the 

 various discussions in this year's report we may men- 

 tion an interesting inquiry into the Thuringian deluge 

 of May, 1613, by Dr. Hellmann (director). 



The Deutsche Seewarte (Hamburg) may be said to 

 date from 1867, under Dr. W. v. Freeden, and was 

 established as a Government institution in 1875 ; its 

 great work, which is well known to our readers, will 

 always be associated with th« name of Dr. v. Neu- 

 mayer. It deals with all branches of maritime 

 meteorology and weather telegraphy, and controls a 

 limited number of meteorological and storm signal 

 stations. Among its many useful publications may 

 be mentioned^ (1) monthly meteorological charts of the 

 North Atlantic, observations at many oversea stations 

 and colonies, a laborious and useful atlas of daily 

 synchronous weather charts for the North Atlantic 

 (in conjunction with the Danish Meteorological In- 

 stitute), also scientific discussions in the Archill der 

 Deutschen Seewarte and elsewhere. During the year 

 1912 it received 4391 months' observations taken on 

 board ship, and made 351 ascents by kites, captive 

 and pilot balloons, in connection with the exploration 

 of the upper air. 



ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 



ACCORDING to the Journal of the South African 

 Ornithologists' Union for December, 1912, a 

 special effort is being made to arouse interest in the 

 dates of arrival and departure of the local migratory 

 species, such as the bee-eater, red-legged kestrel, 

 swallow, and golden oriole. With this object in view, 

 school teachers willing to assist are to be admitted 

 to associate membership at a greatly reduced sub- 

 scription. 



Mr. Gregory Mathews is to be congratulated on 

 the completion, with No. 8, of the first volume of The 

 Austral Avian Record, this part including a notice 

 of birds described bv Gould from Norfolk, Lord Howe, 

 and Philip Islands. 



It has long been known that certain kinds of 

 birds — esoeciallv hornbills — are in the habit of periodic- 

 ally shedding and casting the lining membrane of 

 their gizzards. According to a letter from Mr. D. 



no. 2270, VOL. Ql] 



Macintvre published in The Field of March 31, and an 

 article by Mr. H. H. Smith in the April number of 

 British Birds, the curlew must be added to the small 

 list of species in which this strange act occurs. 



In the January issue of The Ibis Dr. Sclater con- 

 trasts the new " Hand-List of British Birds," by Dr. 

 Hartert and others, with the list issued by the British 

 Ornithologists' Union in 18S3, and points out that 

 out of the 376 species included in the latter the names 

 of no fewer than 200 would have to be changed if 

 the nomenclature of the "Hand-List" were accepted. 

 Dr. Sclater considers it undesirable to take the tenth, in 

 place of the twelfth, edition of the " Systema Natura; " 

 as the basis of our zoological nomenclature, and points 

 out that according to the Stricklandian code " tauto- 

 nyms " are prohibited, while liberty to correct mis- 

 takes and bad grammar is permitted. " If," he adds, 

 "we take Latin for the language of science, we are 

 surely bound to follow its grammatical rules." 



PROMOTION OF RESEARCH BY THE 

 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF 

 irASHINGTON. 

 THE Year Book for 1912 of the Carnegie In- 

 -*■ stitution of Washington has now been issued. The 

 record of work accomplished contained in its pages 

 shows there has been no diminution in the efforts of 

 the trustees to secure a wise expenditure of the funds 

 placed at their disposal for the advancement of re- 

 search in science. 



The following list shows the departments of investi- 

 gation to which the larger grants were made by the 

 trustees and the amounts allotted from these grants 

 by the executive committee during the year : — 



jC 



Department of Botanical Research 7,600 



Department of Economics and Sociology ... 2,500 

 Department of Experimental Evolution ... 7iS00 



Geophysical Laboratory ... 15,000 



Department of Historical Research 5.3°° 



Department of Marine Biology 3,600 



Department of Meridian Astrometry 5,200 



Nutrition Laboratory ... ... ... ... 9,700 



Division of Publication ... ... ... ... 2,000 



Solar Observatory ... ... ... ... 51,000 



Department of Terrestrial Magnetism ... 19,600 





Transferred from Nutrition Laboratory to un- 

 appropriated fund ... ... 



129,000 



130,000 



Numerous minor grants were made, amounting to 

 verv nearly 40,000/., and grants for publication 

 authorised during the year reached a total of about 

 8600/. During the year iqi2 the income of the insti- 

 tution was almost 250.000/., and the total expenditure 

 some 229,600/. 



The following extracts from the resumd of the in- 

 vestigations of the year included in the report of the 

 president of the institution, Dr. Robert S. Wood- 

 ward, will give some indication of the work which 

 has been inaugurated and encouraged : — 



Although the departments of investigation, like the 

 institution as a whole, have fallen short of popular 

 expectations in the rapidity of their growth, it now 

 appears plain, in the light of their actual experience, 

 that this growth Ins been somewhat too rapid for 

 safety. Along with this rapid growth and with the 

 signal success of the departments in their several fields 

 of research, there are now coming also numerous re- 

 quests for cooperation with other organisations and 



