4 i6 



NATURE 



[December 12, 1912 



2S85 points, all carefully reduced by Prof. 

 Turner's method, and formint,' a very valuable 

 contribution to our knowledge of the lunar surface. 

 One object in view in the preparation of these 

 extensive catalogues of lunar details was that they 

 should be the foundation of a standard chart of 

 the moon. Mr. Saunder had carefully studied the 

 subject of lunar nomenclature, and was much 

 impressed with its unsatisfactory state. He pro- 

 posed that in future new names should be added 

 very sparingly, but that objects observed should 

 be referred to by their coordinates in the catalogue 

 or in the chart. Charts of all the central portions 

 of the moon, entirely based on Mr. Saunder's 

 measures, which he plotted for the purpose, are 

 now in progress and approaching completion. 



\t the recent annual meeting of the Royal Geo- 

 logical Society of Cornwall the Bolitho gold medal 

 was awarded by the president and council to Mr. 

 Geo. Barrow, for his services to Cornish geology in 

 connection with the re-survey of the west of England. 



At the suggestion of Prof. Ernst Cohen, the Dutch 

 sculptor. Pier Pander (Rome), has executed a beau- 

 tiful bronze medallion of van't Hoff. We are re- 

 quested to state that anyone desiring to purchase a 

 copy of it should send (before January i, 1913) a post- 

 card to Prof. Ernst Cohen, van't Hoff Laboratorium, 

 University, Utrecht, Holland. The medallion will 

 then be senj; by the firm entrusted with the work. If 

 100 copies are sold the price will be 6.50 marks. The 

 price will be reduced to 5.50 marks if 200 copies can 

 be sold. The medallion has been executed after a 

 portrait relief in marble by Pier Pander. 



The Tokyo Asahi announces the forthcoming forma- 

 tion in Japan of a society for the prevention of tuber- 

 culosis. The initiators are Dr. Baron Takagi, Dr. 

 Baron Sato, and Dr. Kitasato. The preliminary 

 meeting was held on October 29, when an influential 

 committee was appointed to make the necessary 

 arrangements. Good work has been done in the cam- 

 pairrn against tuberculosis by minor local organisa- 

 tions in Japan, but the formation of the new society 

 is the first serious public attempt to grapple with the 

 disease. It is stated that, although no precise statis- 

 tics are available, the number of persons who fall 

 victims to tuberculosis in Japan may be estimated at 

 no fewer than a million per annum. As the popula- 

 tion of the country is about fifty-one million, this 

 would indicate an annual death-rate of nearly twenty 

 per thousand from the disease. 



Major E. H. Hills, C.M.G., F.R.S., treasurer of 

 the Royal .Astronomical Society, has been appointed 

 honorary director of the Observatory, University of 

 Durham. 



The next meeting of the ."American Association for 

 the -Vdvancement of Science will be held in Cleveland 

 from December 30 next to January 4, 19 13. Prof. 

 E. C. Pickering will be the new president. The 

 address by the retiring president, Prof. Charles E. 

 Bessey, on some of the next steps in botanical 



NO. 2250, VOL. go] 



science, will be delivered on December 30. The sec- 

 tions among which the business of the meeting will 

 b'? distributed, with the name of the retiring president 

 of the section and the subject of . his address, are 

 as follows: — Mathematics and Astronomy, "The 

 Spectroscopic Determination of Stellar Velocities," 

 Prof. Frost; Physics, "Unitary Theories in Physics," 

 Prof. R. A. Millikan ; Chemistry, "The Chemistry of 

 the Soil," Prof. Cameron; Geology and Geograph)', 

 "Significance of the Pleistocene Molluscs," Prof. 

 Shimek; Zoology, "Section F — Is it Worth While?" 

 Prof. Nachtrieb ; Botany, " The Scope of State Natural 

 Surveys," Prof. Newcombe ; Anthropology and 

 Psychology, "The Study of Man," Prof. Ladd; Social 

 and Economic Science, "Comparative Measurements 

 of the Changing Cost of Living," Prof. Norton ; 

 Education, "Educational Diagnosis," Prof. Thorn- 

 dike; Physiology and Experimental Medicine, "The 

 Function of Individual Cells in Nerve Centres," Prof. 

 Porter. During the days of the meeting twenty-six 

 .'American scientific societies will also meet. 



The Melbourne meeting of the Australasian Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science will be held 

 on January 7-14 next. The president-elect is Prof. 

 T. W. E.' David, C.M.G., F.R.S., and the retiring 

 president Prof. Orme Masson, F.R..S. The meeting 

 will be held at the University, which is surrounded 

 by large grounds, and can provide ample accommo- 

 dation. Prof. Baldwin Spencer, C.M.G., F.R.S., who 

 is spending the year as chief protector of aborigines 

 in the Northern Territory, will deliver a lecture on 

 some of the results he has obtained. A joint dis- 

 cussion of several sections will be held on the genus 

 Eucalyptus and its products. A forest league is being 

 formed in the various States, under the auspices of 

 the association, which it is hoped will rouse public 

 opinion to the necessity of preserving forests, especially 

 round the head waters of the rivers. A large number 

 of committees will present reports, and a full pro- 

 gramme of papers is expected. The following are 

 the presidents of sections : — Astronomy, Mathematics, 

 and Physics, Prof. H. Carslaw ; Chemistry, Prof. C. 

 Fawsitt ; Subsection Pharmacy, Mr. E. F. Church ; 

 Geology and Mineralogy, Mr. W. Howchin; Biology, 

 Prof. H. B. Kirk; Geography and History, Hon. 

 Thos. M'Kenzie; Ethnology and .'\nthropology. Dr. 

 W. Ramsa^'-Smith ; Social and Statistical Science, Mr. 

 R. M. Johnston ; .Agriculture, Mr. F. B. Guthrie ; 

 Subsection Veterinary Science, Prof. Douglas Stewart, 

 Engineering and Architecture, Col. W. L. Vernon ; 

 Sanitary Science and Hygiene, Dr. T. H. A. Valin- 

 tine; Mental Science and Education, Sir J. Winthrop 

 Hackett. The general secretary for the meeting is 

 Dr. T. S. Hall."' 



Speaking at the annual dinner of the Farmers' Club 

 on Tuesday, Mr. Runciman, president of the Board of 

 .Agriculture and Fisheries, referred to the assistance 

 which the Development Commissioners propose to give 

 to agricultural research. In the course of his re- 

 marks, he said : — It was not enough merely to adopt 

 a policy of slaughter, scheduling areas, and so forth. 

 They should adopt so far as possible all the services 

 that science could supply. They must give their re- 



