September 12, 1912] 



NATURE 



57 



safety lamps should be mechanical and photometric, 

 and should be made by means of an explosive mix- 

 ture. For the mechanical test they suggest that a 

 lamp should be dropped from a height of 6 ft. on a 

 wooden floor. 



The annual general meeting of the Society of 

 Chemical Industry was held in New York last week 

 under the presidency of Dr. R. Messel, F.R.S. The 

 society's medal, awarded once in every two years 

 for conspicuous service rendered to applied chemistry 

 by research, discovery, invention, or improvements in 

 processes, has this year been awarded to Sir William 

 Crookes, O.M., F.R.S. , for his discoveries in physical 

 chemistry and the rare metals. It has been decided 

 to hold the next annual meeting of the society in 

 Liverpool. 



According to The Lancet, the following sums have 

 been bequeathed by Madarrie Jonglart for the further- 

 ance of science in France : — ^o.ooo francs to the 

 College de France; 95,000 francs to the faculty of 

 science of the Sorbonne, of which amount 55,000 

 francs is to be devoted to the zoological laboratory ; 

 95,000 francs to the museum ; 50,000 francs to the 

 Faculty of Medicine ; 70,000 francs to the School of 

 Advanced Studies ; 150,000 francs to be divided be- 

 tween the Geographical and Anthropological Societies 

 and the Association for the .Advancement of Science, 

 and 139,000 francs to various scientific and charitable 

 institutions. 



The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries desires to 

 direct attention to the fact that the employment, from 

 time to time, in the newspaper Press and elsewhere, 

 of the phrase "cattle plague" in connection with the 

 recent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in this 

 country has given rise to considerable apprehension in 

 Continental countries, and is calculated to be pre- 

 judicial to the interests of British stockowners. The 

 Board wishes, therefore, specifically to state that no 

 case of cattle plague (Pcste bovine, Rinderpest) has 

 recently occurred in the United Kingdom, which has 

 been absolutely free from that disease since the year 

 1877, that is for more than thirty-five years past. 



By the will of Mr. A. O. Hume, C.B., an obituary 

 notice of whom appeared in our issue of August 8, 

 his collection of heads and horns of Asiatic and other 

 animals is left to the trustees of the British Museum, 

 provided that an undertaking be given by the trustees 

 that the collection be preserved in an undivided condi- 

 tion. The testator confirmed a settlement dated 

 January 10, 1907, by which he gave a sum of io,oooZ. 

 Two-and-a-Half per Cent. Consolidated Stock for the 

 endowment of the South London Botanical Institute, 

 and also the provisions of an indenture dated Septem- 

 ber 29, 191 1, by which he gave his premises, 323, 

 Norwood Road, for the purposes of the institute, and 

 he left all his botanical books and books on ornitho- 

 logy and dictionaries upon trust for the institute, to 

 encourage the study of botany (especially British 

 botany) in the county of London south of the River 

 Thames, and also all parts of his herbaria not already 

 transferred to the institute. Subject to the payment 

 of certain annuities, Mr. Hume left the residue of 

 his property to the South London Botanical Institute. 

 NO. 2237, VOL. 90] 



The council of the Institute of Chemistry is making 

 an endeavour to raise a fund for new buildings for 

 the institute. There can be no doubt that the institute 

 has steadily raised the standard of education in 

 chemical science in the British Empire, and by its 

 means the practice of chemistry, as a profession, has 

 become firmly established and honourably maintained 

 for the public good. From a perusal of the papers 

 relating to the appeal issued to the fellows and asso- 

 ciates, it appears that owing to alterations which the 

 London County Council propose to carry out by the 

 widening of Southampton Row, at the rear of the 

 present premises of the institute, 30 Bloomsbury 

 Square, it will not be possible to effect a renewal of 

 the present lease. The council of the institute wishes, 

 therefore, to take this opportunity to secure more suit 

 able and permanent headquarters. It is reckoned tha' 

 with real economy, adequate provision for the work of 

 the institute can be obtained for about 15,000/. The 

 appeal has now been issued nearly three years, and 

 the amount promised to date is about io,oooZ. As the 

 council will proceed to select a site and prepare plans 

 at the close of this year, it is very desirous of being 

 assured that the full sum of 15,000^. will be available, 

 and it is hoped, therefore, to raise the 5000?. which is 

 still required before the end of October. Contribu- 

 tions may be forwarded to the president at 30 Blooms- 

 bury Square, London, W.C., or may bo sent direct 

 to the account of the Institute of Chemistry (Buildings 

 Fund), with the London County and Westminster 

 Bank, Ltd., 214 High Holborn, London, W.C. 



In the September issue of Man Mr. A. R. Brown 

 has compiled from his own personal knowledge and 

 information gathered from some published literature 

 a useful map of Western Australia, showing the dis- 

 tribution .of several of the native tribes. The map 

 also marks the division between the tribes which prac- 

 tise circumcision and subincision on the east, and those 

 on the west among whom these rites are unknown. 



M.4JOR A. J. N. Tremearne publishes in the Sep- 

 tember issue of Man selections from a diary written 

 in the years 1843-48 by his great-uncle, the late Rev. 

 John Martin, a Wesleyan missionary to the West Coast 

 of Africa, which possess a special interest because 

 they supply a record of a remarkable type of fetish 

 practices before anthropologists had begun to interest 

 themselves in such matters. The natives in his day, 

 he says, had some confused ideas about metem- 

 psychosis, which to a reader of our time suggests 

 totemism. Thus, when a child was carried off by a 

 wild beast, it was believed that some deceased member 

 of the family, annoyed at the neglect of his relatives, 

 had entered the animal and caused the attack, and for 

 this reason they would not kill such animals. The 

 living sacred snake, Dagwe or Dagbi, used to get 

 loose, enter houses and kill poultry until he was finally 

 captured by his priest. The insolent and outrageous 

 conduct of the fetish priests and priestesses during 

 their processions through the towns is specially note- 

 worthy. 



The Field Museum established at Chicago in 1S93 

 has issued a well-illustrated catalogue of a valuable 

 collection of antiquities from Boscoreale, in South 



