.iO 



NATURE 



[September 5, 1912 



mountains. He was, from the outset, a most energetic 

 supporter of thie movement for establishing a University 

 in Birmingham, and was largely responsible for the 

 working-out of the scheme, for which his legal train- 

 ing and experience qualified him in an unusual degree. 

 When the University became an accomplished fact in 

 1900, his services to the cause were fittingly recog- 

 nised by his appointment as the first Vice-Chancellor. 

 His ideas were on a large scale, and he believed 

 in the importance of associating the University with 

 buildings which by their imposing size and appearance 

 should appeal to local patriotism and serve to keep 

 before the inhabitants of a great industrial centre the 

 claims of higher education. Within the University 

 he was known to the undergraduates for his special 

 interest in their social welfare. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 .Academy of Sciences, August 26. — M. A. Bassot in 

 the chair. — Edouard Meckel : The cultural bud muta- 

 tion of Solanum tuberosum. \n account of experi- 

 ments in the cultivation of wild potato plants from 

 Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. The tubers produced from 

 the cultivated plants were edible, and contained a 

 greater amount of starch than the wild plants. The 

 tubercles from Bolivia showed the characters of muta- 

 tion ; those from other sources appeared to be in course 

 of mutation. — W. H. Young : The summability of a 

 function of which the Fourier's series is given. — 

 B. Bianu and L. Wertenstein : An ionising radiation, 

 attributable to the radio-active recoil, emitted by 

 polonium. It was found to be necessary to use a 

 polonium film in these experiments not exceeding lOjUjU 

 in thickness. The curves obtained with a silver disc 

 covered with this thin polonium layer, in presence of a 

 transversal magnetic field of iioo units, were 

 analogous w-ith those obtained in the case of radium C, 

 and show clearly the existence of an absorbable radia- 

 tion. — J. Bougau'lt : Benzylpyruvic acid. The acid was 

 prepared by the action of alkaline solutions on phenyl- 

 a-oxycrotonamide. The yields of benzylpyruvic acid 

 were good. The condensation products of this acid 

 with itself and with acetone were also studied. — 

 H. Vincent : The active immunisation of man against 

 typhoid fever. Details of five cases are given which 

 show that inoculations of typhovaccin have a preven- 

 tive power not only against subsequent absorption of 

 typhoid cultures, but also against a recent infection 

 anterior to the inoculation. — Charles Nicolle, L. Blaizot, 

 ani E. Conseil : The conditions of transmission of 

 nnurrent fever by the flea. The evidence is against 

 the assuinption of hereditary transmission in the 

 iiea. Details are given of studies in the 

 necessary conditions for infection. — J. Wolff : The 

 stimulating action of alkalies and of ammonia in 

 particular on peroxydase. — P. Chausse : The vitalit\- of 

 the tubercle bacillus tested by inoculation and by 

 inhplation. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Notes on Algebra. By A. F. van der Heyden. Pp. 

 viii-t-i33. (Middlesbrough: W. .\pplevard and .Sons, 

 Ltd.) 2S. 6d. 



Exercises in Modern Arithmetic. Bv H. .S. Jones. 

 Pp. x + 336. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 

 2s. 6d. 



British Rainfall, iqii. Bv Dr. H. R. Mill. Pp. 

 38S. (London : E. Stanford,' Ltd.) los. 



Life Lhiderstood froin a Scientific and Religious 

 Point of View, &c. By F. L. Rawson. Pp. xv-(-66o. 

 (London : The Crystal Press, Ltd.) ys. 6d. net. 



Identification of the Economic Woods of the United 



NO. 2236, VOL. go] 



States. By Prof. S. J. Record. Pp. vii+117-i- 

 6 plates. (New York ; J. W'iley and Sons; London : 

 Chapman and Hall, Ltd.) 5i. bd. net. 



Forestry in New England. By Profs. R. C. Hawley 

 and A. F. Hawes. Pp. .xv-l-47c). (New York : 

 J. Wiley and Sons; London: Chapman and Hall, 

 Ltd.) iji. net. 



Dove Marine Laboratory, CuUercoats, Northumber- 

 land. Report for the year ending |une 30, 1912. 

 New Series. I. Edited by Prof. ' A.' Meek. (New- 

 castle-on-Tyne : Cail and Sons.) 5.';. 



Catalogue of the Periodical Publications including 

 the Serial Publications of Societies and Governments 

 in the Library of L'niversity College, London. By 

 L. Newcombe. Pp. vii + 269. (Oxford: H. Hart.)' 



Catalogue of the Periodical Publications in the 

 Library of the Royal Society of London. Pp. viii + 

 455. (London : H. Frowde.) 



Results of the Magnetical and Meteorological Ob- 

 servations made at the Royal .\lfred Observatory, 

 Mauritius, in the year 1902. Pp. xxii -H lxxviii+ 

 5 plates. Ditto, 1903. Pp. xxi-l-lxxiv + 7 plates. 

 Ditto, 1908. Pp. xxv+lxxxviii + 6 plates. (Mauritius.) 



.\n Introduction to the Study of the Protozoa, with 

 special reference to the Parasitic Forms. By Prof. 

 E. .\. Minchin. Pp. xi + S2o. (London: K. .Arnold.) 

 2 IS. net. 



Eugenics and Public Health. B\' Prof. K. Pearson. 

 Pp. 34. (London : Dulau and Co., Ltd.) is. net. 



Darwinism, Medical Progress, and Eugenics. The 

 Cavendish Lecture, 1912. By Prof. K. Pearson. Pp. 

 29-1-7 plates. (London : Dulau and Co., Ltd.) li. 

 net. 



Instinct and Experience. Bv Prof. C. Lloyd 

 Morgan. Pp. xvii-(-299. (London : .Methuen and 

 Co., Ltd.) 5s. net. 



Lebensbild eines Naturforschers. By E. du Bois- 

 Reymond. Zweite .Auflage. Pp. 50. (Brackwede 

 i.W : Dr. W. Breitenbach.) 80 pfennigs. 



Grundriss der Biochemie fur Studierende und 

 .'\erzte. By Prof. C. Oppenheimer. Pp. vii + 399. 

 (Leipzig : G. Thieme.) 9 marks. 



The Boy's Playbook of Science. By J. H. Pepper. 

 Revised, &c., by Dr. J. Mastin. Pp. x-l-680. 

 (London : G. Routledgo and Sons, Ltd.) 54-. 



Dana's Manual of Mineralogy. Thirteenth edition. 

 By Prof. W. E. Ford. Pp. vi'ii-l-460. (New York: 

 J. Wiley and .Sons; London: Chapman and Hall, 

 Ltd.) 8s. 6(7. net. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Early Naturalists i 



The Wandering of the Bronze Age Potters. By Dr. 



A. C. Haddon, F.R.S 2 



Our Bookshelf 3 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Detevniin.Ttion of tlie Epicentre of an Earthquake. — 



Prince B. Galitzin ; George W. Walker . . 3 

 Implements nf Man in the Chalky Boulder Clay. — 



Rev. Dr. A, Irving 3 



The Fifth International Congress of Mathematicians 



at Cambridge 4 



The British Association at Dundee 6 



Inaugural Address by Prof E. A. Schafer, LL.D., 



D.'Sc , M.D., F.R.S , President 7 



Section A. — Malhemalics and Physics. — Openinij .Ad- 

 dress by Prof. H. L. Callendar, LL D., F.R.S., 



President of the Section 19 



Notes 27 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Spectrum of Brooks's Comet, 191 ir 29 



The Corona at the 'I'otal Solar Eclipse of April 17 . 29 



The Diameter of Ne|)tune 29 



University and Educational Intelligence 29 



Societies and Academies 30 



Books Received 30 



