May 8, 19 13] 



NATURE 



249 



to New Zealand to urge the establishment of a solar 

 physics observatory has been successful. Air. Caw- 

 thron, a citizen of Nelson, has offered to give the 

 10,000/. to 12,000/. which is estimated to be the sum 

 required. 



The annual autumn meeting- of the Institute of 

 Metals will this year, under the presidency of Prof. 

 A. K. Huntington, be held on the Continent, for the 

 first time since the institute's formation in 1908. It 

 will take place in connection with the Ghent Inter- 

 national Exhibition, the dates fixed being ugust 

 28-30. Among many important papers to be com- 

 municated will be the report of the corrosion com- 

 mittee. 



At a meeting of the Mansion House Committee of 

 the Captain Scott Fund on Monday, May 5, the Lord 

 Mayor announced that the combined funds, including 

 that of The Daily Telegraph, amounted to 56,129/., of 

 which 12,493/. had been assigned for supplementing 

 the Government provision for the relatives, 1848/. 

 towards discharging the liabilities incurred by the 

 expedition and the publication of the scientific results, 

 and 61 12/. for a memorial, leaving the allocation of 

 the balance, 35,675/., to the discretion of the com- 

 mittee. A committee was appointed to consider and 

 report upon the form the memorial should take. 



As announced already, a joint meeting of the In- 

 stitution of Electrical Engineers with the Societe 

 Internationale des Electriciens will be held in Paris 

 on May 21-24. The following papers will be dis- 

 cussed at the meeting : — High-tension continuous- 

 current traction, M. Gratzmuller ; single-phase 

 traction, M. Latour ; the electrification schemes of the 

 Chemin de Fer du Midi, M. Jullian ; the electrification 

 of the Paris suburban lines of the State Railway, 

 A. N. Mazen ; railway electrification problems in the 

 United States, H. Parodi ; petrol-electric motor trains, 

 J. B. Damoiseau ; long-distance transmission of elec- 

 tric energy (continuous current), J. S. Highfield; long- 

 distance transmission of electric energy (three-phase 

 current), M. Leblanc ; automatic telephony : applica- 

 tion of mechanical devices to the assistance of manual 

 operating in telephone exchanges, W. Slingo. 



The Historical Medical Museum, organised by Mr. 

 Henry S. Wellcome, which is to be opened in London 

 towards the end of June next, will include some 

 objects of particular interest. An important exhibit 

 in the science section will be a large collection of 

 the original apparatus used by Galvani in making his 

 first experiments in galvanism in the eighteenth 

 century. Other exhibits will be a collection of votive 

 offerings for health, ancient microscopes, and optical 

 instruments, amulets and charms connected with 

 English folk medicine, early medical medals and 

 coins from the Grasco-Roman period, and early manu- 

 scripts and medical books. 



Archaeologists will welcome the announcement 

 that the famous prehistoric camp, known as Maiden 

 Castle — Maidun meaning " Hill of Strength " — near 

 Dorchester, has been, at the suggestion of the King, 

 purchased by the Duchy of Cornwall, and will now 

 be carefully preserved. The camp dates from Celtic 

 NO. 2271, VOL. 91] 



times, and formed a shelter for cattle during tribal 

 raids rather than a military fortress. Water was 

 supplied from a Neolithic dew-pond on the summit 

 of the plateau, and the palisading kept at bay wolves 

 and other enemies, while the cattle were left in 

 charge of a few women and children. The cunningly 

 arranged entrances to the camp supply a remarkable 

 example of primitive methods of defence. 



At the annual general meeting of the Marine Bio- 

 logical Association of the United Kingdom, held in 

 the rooms of the Royal Society on April 30, the fol- 

 lowing officers and members of council were elected 

 for the year: — President, Sir Ray Lankester ; Chair- 

 man of Council. Dr. A. E. Shipley; Hon. Treasurer. 

 Major J. A. Travers ; Members of Council, E. T. 

 Browne, L. W. Byrne, Dr. W. T. Caiman, Prof. 

 H. J. Fleure, Prof. F. W. Gamble, Sir Eustace 

 Gurney, Commander Campbell Hepworth, Prof. J. P. 

 Hill, E. W. L. Holt, Prof. E. W. MacBride, H. G. 

 Maurice, Dr. E. Schuster, G. W. Smith, Prof. D'Arcy 

 W. Thompson; Hon. Secretary. Dr. E. J. Allen. The 

 following governors are also members of council : — 

 G. P. Bidder, the Earl of Portsmouth, Sir Richard 

 Martin, the Hon. N. C. Rothschild, Prof. G. C. 

 Bourne, Dr. A. E. Shipley, Prof. W. A. Herdman. 



At the annual general meeting of the Institution 

 of Civil Engineers, held on Tuesday, April 29, the 

 result of the ballot for the election of officers was 

 declared as follows :— President, A. G. Lyster ; Vice- 

 Presidents, B. H. Blyth, J. Strain, G. R. Jebb, A. 

 Ross; other Members of Council, J. A. F. Aspinall, 

 J. A. Brodie, W. B. Bryan, Col. R. E. B. Crompton, 

 C.B., J. M. Dobson, Sir H. F. Donaldson, K.C.B., 

 E. B. Ellington, W. H. Ellis, W. Ferguson, Sir 

 Maurice Fitzmaurice, C.M.G., Sir J. P. Griffith, Dr. 

 C. A. Harrison, W. Hunter, H. E. Jones, Sir Thomas 

 Matthews, Dr. W. H. Maw, C. L. Morgan, B. Mott, 

 A. M. Tippett, Sir Philip Watts, K.C.B., W. B. 

 Worthington, Dr. Dugald Clerk, F.R.S., R. S. 

 Highet, Dr. E. Hopkinson, F. Palmer, and H. N. 

 Ruttan. 



The annual meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute 

 was held on May 1-2, when the Bessemer gold medal 

 for 1913 was presented to Mr. Adolphe Greiner by the 

 president, Mr. Arthur Cooper. In making the pre- 

 sentation, the president said Mr. Greiner was in 1864 

 appointed chemical engineer, and in 1887 general 

 director of the steel works of Messrs. John Cockerill, 

 Seraing, Belgium. He was responsible for the intro- 

 duction into Belgian iron and steel practice of the 

 basic processes, and has been to the front in the 

 utilisation of blast furnace and coke oven gas. The 

 Andrew Carnegie gold medal for 1912 was presented 

 to Dr. J. Newton Friend. The annual dinner was 

 held on the evening of May 1. Mr. R. Elliot-Cooper, 

 president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, spoke 

 of the importance of the work of standardisation of 

 materials, in which the institute has been engaged. 

 Sir Alexander Henderson in the course of a speech 

 remarked that science has done more for the iron and 

 steel industry than for any other. The president of 

 the institute said the growth of the iron and steel 

 industry is seen in the fact that during the life of 



