440 



NATURE 



[December ig, igi2 



the South Pacific, and in 1882 he was entrusted with 

 a similar task at Auckland, N.Z. Later, he deter- 

 mined the force of gravity at Auckland, Sydney, 

 Singapore, Tokyo, San Francisco, and Washington, 

 hv means of the three Kater pendulums of the Royal 

 Society. He was a member of several scientific 

 societies, and was one of the founders of the Cosmos 

 Club at Washington. 



We are informed by the senior member of the de- 

 partment of botany at the Pennsylvania State College 

 that Dr. William A. Buckhout, professor of botany 

 and the- senior professor at the college, died of heart 

 disease on December 3. Dr. Buckhout was born in 

 December, 1846, and was graduated from the Pennsyl- 

 vania State College in 1868. In 1871 he became 

 professor of botany and horticulture at that college. 

 In the changes brought about in agricultural sciences 

 during recent years he became professor of botany. 

 For many years he was botanist of the Pennsylvania 

 State Board of Agriculture. In 1888 he. was ap- 

 pointed to the Pennsylvania State Forestry Commis- 

 sion, and was a prime mover in the State in creating 

 and taking an active interest in forestry. He was 

 author of papers on the chestnut as a fruit and food, 

 the effect of smoke and gas on vegetation, a micro- 

 scopic examination of State College water supply, 

 forest fires, and others, and also of annual reports 

 as State botanist. 



We gather from the report of the ninth season 

 during which the Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary has 

 been maintained, that the season 1912 was very suc- 

 cessful. Nightingales bred as before ; Tslackcap 

 warblers increased largely in number ; a nest of the 

 marsh tit made a new record ; and young wrynecks 

 were reared for the first time. The work of the com- 

 mittee is spreading all over the country ; the new nest- 

 ing boxes, made from logs, which open at the top, are 

 being very generally used, and a number of bird- 

 lovers have found that they and feeding tables make 

 excellent Christmas presents. The honorary secretary 

 is Mrs. Wilfred Mark Webb, of Odstock, Hanwell, 

 London, W. 



The fourth part of the Proceedings for 1912 of the 

 Institute of Chemistry gives particulars of the progress 

 which is being made towards the provision of new 

 buildings for the institute. At an extraordinary 

 general meeting of the institute, held on November 

 14 last, two resolutions were carried unanimously. 

 One empowered the council to acquire from the Bed- 

 ford Estate the site of 30 Russell Square, London, for 

 a term of ninety-nine years, at a ground rent not 

 exceeding 300?. per annum, one year at peppercorn 

 rent. The other resolution gave the council power 

 to apply the building fund and all future contribu- 

 tions to it to the erection and equipment of suitable 

 buildings. The council finds that the original esti- 

 mate of i5,oooZ. for the buildings will not allow of 

 any undue elaboration in construction, or leave more 

 Ihan sufficient margin for adequate equipment. Of 

 llie 15,000/. required, 3032/. has still to be found. We 

 notice, also, that the Public Appointments Committee 

 of the institute has had under consideration the con- 

 NO. 2251, VOL. 90] 



ditions attaching to chemical appointments under the 

 Civil Service, and finds in some instances that the 

 status of chemists employed is far from satisfactory. 

 The Royal Commission on the Civil Service has 

 invited the council to forward a statement for con- 

 sideration. 



The International Congress of Medicine is to be 

 held in London next .'\ugust. It is expected that some 

 5000 medical men will be present as delegates. The 

 congress assembles once in every four years, and is 

 received in turn in all the capitals of Europe. It was 

 last held in 1909 in Budapest. The congress will be 

 presided over by Sir Thomas Barlow, president of the 

 Royal College of Physicians. The general addresses 

 to the full congress in the Albert Hall will be given 

 by Prof. Chauffard, of Paris, on medicine; Prof. Paul 

 Ehrlich, of Frankfurt, on pathology ; Mr. John Burns, 

 M.P., on public health; Prof. Harvey Cushing, of 

 Harvard L^niversity, on surgery ; and Mr. W. Bate- 

 son, F.R.S., on heredity. The subjects for discussion 

 are mostly of professional interest, but some make a 

 wider appeal, such as the psychology of crime, to be 

 considered at a joint meeting of the Forensic Medicine 

 and Ps}'chiatry Sections. The causes of epidemic 

 diseases and the effects of dust in producing diseases of 

 the lungs are to be considered in the Section of 

 Hygiene, the Forensic Medicine Section will discuss 

 the causes and prevention of suicide, and the Tropical 

 Medicine Section the subjects of plague and bcri-beri. 



We have been favoured with a reprint of an article 

 from The Halifax Guardian of November 30 in which 

 Mr. W. B. Crump records his personal connection 

 with the Belle Vue Museum, Halifax, and expresses 

 his opinion on the present state and future prospects 

 of that institution. The function of the museum, it 

 anoears, is considered to be educational, and 

 the collections are therefore to a great extent of 

 a general rather than a local character, but special 

 attention is directed to certain slides prepared from 

 the coal-balls of Beacon Hill, which are stated to 

 have largely contributed, in the hands of Messrs. 

 Williamson, Scott, and Spencer, to our knowledge of 

 the mode of formation of the Coal Measures. 



Vol. vhi. of the Records of the Indian Museum, 

 the first part of which has just come to hand, is to be 

 devoted to the zoological results of the Abor expedi- 

 tion of 191 1-12. Mr. Stanley Kemp, it will be remem- 

 bered, accompanied the expedition as naturalist, and 

 it is his collections which form the subject of the 

 volume. In the present issue Dr. Nelson Annandale 

 describes eight tailless amphibians, three snakes, and 

 one lizard as new. A considerable proportion of the 

 amphibians were in the larval stage, and it is notice- 

 able that many of the tadpoles, like those of the 

 Darjiling district, possess special adaptations to pre- 

 vent their being carried away by the strong currents 

 of the streams they inhabit. Dr. Annandale also con- 

 tributes an account of the few Porifera (sponges) 

 obtained, while Captain W. H. Evans does the same 

 for the Lepidoptera, Mr. F. H. Gravely for the Scolo- 

 pendridaj, and Mr. C. A. Paiva for the Hymenoptera 

 Anthophila (bees, wasps, &c.). 



