284 



NATURE 



[November 7, 1912 



of engravingfs and carvings of animals on bone and 

 ivory have been found, as well as engravings and 

 paint int^s on the walls of caves, in France and 

 Spain ; mural carvings in low relief are also 

 known, outlines of bison traced on the clay floor 

 occur in a cave at Niaux, and now clay figurines 

 have come to light. 



There can be little doubt that many of these 

 works of art had what we now term a magico- 

 religious significance. Artists are not likely to 

 have carved, engraved, painted, or modelled in 

 the black recesses of caves merely for the joy of 

 expression, since few of their fellow-tribesmen 

 would see their works of art, and then but imper- 

 fectly. The only adequate solution of the problem 

 seems to be that these delineations and repre- 

 sentations had a significance which was at the 

 same time practical and religious, and it is pos- 

 sible that some at least of them were made for the 

 purpose of enabling their originals to be captured, 

 or may be, as in the case of certain Australian 

 ceremonies, to increase their numbers ; in either 

 case, their significance would be more utilitarian 

 than aesthetic. 



NOTES. 

 We regret to have to announce the death of Mr. 

 Henry Groves, at his residence at Clapham, on Satur- 

 day evening, November 2, at fifty-seven years of age, 

 after an illness extending over many months. In con- 

 junction with his brother James, Mr. Groves was 

 widely known as possessed of exceptional acquaintance 

 with the small but difificult group of the Characese, 

 and the opinion of the brothers " H. and J. Groves " was 

 constantly sought by botanists of all nations. It is 

 understood that a volume on the British species, for 

 issue by the Ray Society, is practically ready for the 

 press. The most conspicuous task in which both 

 brothers engaged was the editing of the ninth edition 

 of Babington's "Manual of British Botany," which 

 was in many respects remodelled, and came out in 

 1904. Mr. Henry Groves had served on the council 

 of the Linnean Society some years since ; at the time 

 of his death he was again a councillor, and in certain 

 questions he took a leading part. His death removes 

 a loyal and devoted worker, whose place will not be 

 easily filled. 



Dr. Benjamin Boss, son of the late Prof. Lewis 

 Boss, director of the Dudley Observatory, Albany, 

 N.Y., has been appointed acting-director of that insti- 

 tution. 



M. Emile Boutroux was on October 31 elected a 

 member of the French Academy. The eminent French 

 philosopher is honorary professor of modern philosophy 

 at the Sorbonne, and director of the " Fondation 

 Thiers," a residential college for post-graduate study. 

 He is known as the author of numerous important 

 philosophical works. 



The eighty-seventh Christmas course of juvenile 



lectures, founded at the Royal Institution in 1826 by 



Michael Faraday, will be delivered this year by Sir 



James Dewar, F.R.S., FuUcrian professor of chcm- 



NO. 2245, VOL. 90] 



istry, his title being "Christmas Lecture Epilogues." 

 The lectures will be experimentally illustrated, and the 

 dates and subjects are as follows : — Saturday, Decem- 

 ber 28, "Alchemy"; December 31, "Atoms"; January 

 j 2. 1913, "Light"; January 4, "Clouds"; January 7, 

 "Meteorites"; January 9, "Frozen Worlds." 



Owing to bad weather, the illuminated night flying 

 and firework display that was to be held at the London 

 Aerodrome, Hendon, on Tuesday, November 5, has 

 been postponed until Saturday next, November 9. 

 Special exhibition flights, speed and altitude tests will 

 take place from 2.30 p.m. until dusk, and the illu- 

 minated night flying and firework display will be in 

 progress from 7.30 p.m. until 10 p.m. 



The series of lectures which the Selborne Society 

 annually arranges will begin on November 11, when 

 Lord Montagu of Beaulieu will preside, and Mr. Fred 

 Enock will deal with " Fairy Flies and their Hosts." 

 Among the subjects of other lectures are : — " Minor 

 Planets," by Dr. A. C. D. Crommelin (January 20, 

 1913); "Fibres and Fibre Lore," by Mr. C. Ainsworth 

 Mitchell (February 17); and "Byways in Biology," by 

 Mr. James Saunders (March 3). The special children's 

 lecture will be given by Mr. Spencer Fletcher on 

 " Dew, Hoar-frost, and Clouds " (January 9). 



The deatli is announced, at the age of seventy-two, 

 of Dr. William Willard Daniells, the founder of the 

 study of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin. In 

 i868 he was appointed to a chair in that institution, 

 and established its first chemical laboratory, giving 

 daily instruction to one student, and using an old 

 carpenter's bench in the basement. Dr. Daniells con- 

 tinued in active work as the head of the chemistry 

 department until 1907, when he became professor 

 emeritus. He also conducted the weather bureau at 

 the University, until this work was taken over by the 

 U.S. Government. From 1872 to 1876 he was chemist 

 to the Wisconsin State Geological Survey. 



The Weber-Parkes prize (of 150 guineas and a silver 

 medal), founded in 1895 by Sir Hermann Weber in 

 memory of the late Dr. E. A. Parkes, and awarded 

 every third year to the author of the best essay " upon 

 some subject connected with the etiology, prevention, 

 pathology, or treatment of tuberculosis, especially in 

 reference to pulmonary consumption in man," has 

 been awarded by the Royal College of Physicians to 

 Mr. J. A. D. Raddiffe, pathologist to the King 

 Edward VII. Sanatorium, Midhurst. The subject of 

 the next essay, to be adjudicated upon in 1915, is an 

 original research on the treatment of pulmonary tuber- 

 culosis with substances which are especially antagon- 

 istic to the specific organism and its products. This 

 work must have been chiefly carried on since the year 

 1911. The following lectures will be given at the Royal 

 College of Physicians during November : — Dr. Ray- 

 mond Crawfurd will deliver the FitzPatrick lectures 

 Oil "The History of Medicine" on November 7, 12, 

 14; and 19, the subject being " Echoes of Pestilence in 

 Literature and Art " ; the Horace Dobell lecture by 

 Dr. C. J. Martin, on " Insect Porters of Bacterial 

 Infection," will be delivered on November 21. 



