ro6 



NATURE 



[February 27, 19 13 



Committee which he has recently appointed to inquire 

 into the present condition of the inshore fisheries, and 

 to advise the Board as to the steps which could with 

 advantage be taken for their preservation and develop- 

 ment. The President has also appointed Dr. E. H. J. 

 Schuster to be a member of the advisory committee 

 recently constituted to advise the Board on questions 

 relating to the elucidation through scientific research 

 of problems affecting fisheries. 



On Wednesday, March 12, a special meeting of the 

 Faraday Society will be held in the rooms of the 

 Chemical Society, Burlington House, when the pro- 

 gramme will consist of a general discussion on the 

 subject of "Colloids and their Viscosity." The chair 

 will be taken by the president. Dr. R, T. Glazebrook, 

 C.B., F.R.S., and papers will be read by Dr. Wolf- 

 gang Ostwald, Drs. H. Freundlich and N. Tshzake, 

 Dr. W. Pauli, Dr. V. Henri, Mr. E. Hatschek, Prof. 

 F. G. Donnan, F.R.S., Dr. S. B. Schryver, Prof. 

 \Y. M. Bayliss, F.R.S., and Mr. W. B. Hardy, 

 F.R.S. 



At the annual general meeting of the Physical 

 Society, held on February 14, the officers for the 

 ensuing vear were elected as follows : — President : 

 Prof. A. Schuster, F.R.S. Vice-Presidents: Those 

 who have filled the office of president, together with 

 Mr. F. E. Smith, Prof. C. H. Lees, F.R.S., Prof. T. 

 Mather, F.R.S., Dr. A. Russell. Secretaries : Mr. W. R. 

 Cooper, Dr. S. W. J. Smith. Foreign Secretary: 

 Prof. S. P. Thompson, F.R.S. Treasurer : Mr. W. Dud- 

 dell, F.R.S. Librarian: Dr. S. W. J. Smith. Other 

 Members of Council: Prof. C. G. Barkia, F.R.S., 

 Prof. P. V. Bevan, Dr. W. H. Eccles, Prof. J. W. 

 Nicholson, Major W. A. J. O'Meara, C.M.G., Prof. 

 T. C. Porter, the Hon. R. J. Strutt, F.R.S., Dr. 

 W. E. Sumpner, Mr. R. S. Whipple, Dr. R. S. 

 Willows. 



At the anniversary meeting of the Geol9gical 

 Society, held on February 21, the officers for the 

 ensuing year were appointed as follows: — President: 

 Dr. A. Strahan, F.R.S. Vice-Presidents : Prof. E. J. 

 Garwood, Mr. R. D. Oldham, F.R.S., Mr. Clement 

 Reid, F.R.S., and Prof. W. W. Watts, F.R.S. Secre- 

 taries: Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., and Mr. 

 H. H. Thomas. Foreign Secretary: Sir Archibald 

 Geikie, K.C.B., President R.S. Treasurer: Mr. Bed- 

 ford McNeill. The following awards of medals and 

 funds were made : — Wollaston medal, Rev. Osmond 

 Fisher ; Murchison medal, Mr. George Barrow ; Lyell 

 medal, Mr. S. S. Buckman ; Bigsby medal, Sir 

 Thomas Henry Holland, K.C.I.E., F.R.S.; Wollaston 

 fund, Mr. W. W. King ; Murchison fund, Mr. R. E. L. 

 Dixon ; Lyell fund, Mr. LI. Treacher ; Barlow-Jame- 

 son fund, Mr. J. B. Scrivenor and Mr. Bernard Smith. 

 The president delivered his anniversary address, which 

 dealt with the form of that part of the Palaeozoic plat- 

 form which underlies the secondary rocks of the 

 south-east of England. 



The meetings of the Institution of Naval Architects 

 will be held on March 12-14 inclusive, in the hall of 

 the Royal Society of Arts. The morning meetings 

 begin at 11.30, and the evening meetings on March 



NO. 2261, VOL. go] 



13 and 14 at 7.30. On March 12 the election of 

 officers will take place, the president's address will be 

 delivered, and the institution gold medal and premiums 

 presented. Papers will be read and discussed on 

 each of the three days of the meetings, and among 

 the subjects to be considered the following may be 

 mentioned : — The mechanical gearing for the propul- 

 sion of ships, by the Hon. Sir Charles A. Parsons, 

 K.C.B. ; the energy systems accompanying the motion 

 of bodies through air and water, by Prof. J. B. Hen- 

 derson ; the calculation of stability in non-intact con- 

 ditions, by Prof. W. S. Abell ; notes on modern air- 

 ship construction, by Baron A. Roenne ; and the longi- 

 tudinal stability of skim.mers and hydro-aeroplanes, 

 b}' Mr. J. E. Steele. The annual dinner will be held 

 on March 12, at 7.30 p.m., in the Grand Hall of the 

 Connaught Rooms. 



In connection with the paragraph which recently 

 appeared in our columns on the Pennant collection 

 presented to the Natural History Museum by Lord 

 and Lady Denbigh, it may be mentioned that, accord- 

 ing to a notice in The Times, the birds include two 

 very interesting specimens of the capercaillie. These, 

 it is inferred, probably represent the old British stock, 

 which became extinct about 1760 in Scotland, and, if 

 so, are its only known representatives. Further 

 examination may prove the right of the British bird 

 to rank as a distinct race. The capercaillies now 

 found in certain parts of Scotland are the descendants 

 of Scandinavian birds introduced about 1837 by the 

 then Marquis of Breadalbanc, at Taymouth Castle. 

 In a notice of the collection in The Pall Mall Gazette 

 of February 19 it is stated that Mr. Edgar Smith has 

 found that a British snail described by Pennant as 

 Helix riifesccns turns out to be a young specimen of 

 H. ariustorum. For the British species which has 

 hitherto been incorrectly identified with H. riifescens 

 the name H. iiiontana is available. 



The Board of Trade announces with regard to the 

 forthcoming expedition of the Scotia (see p. 680), 

 which is being organised jointly by the Board of 

 Trade and the North Atlantic steamship lines for the 

 purpose of ice observation in the North Atlantic, that 

 one member of the staff will be a trained meteoro- 

 logist. Dr. Assmann, director of the Royal Prussian 

 Aeronautical Observatory at Lindenberg, has made a 

 valuable contribution to the scientific equipment of the 

 Scotia by providing a number of kites for meteoro- 

 logical work, and instruments to be attached to these 

 kites for recording air pressure, temperature, relative 

 humiditv. and wind velocity. It is hoped that if the 

 weather conditions on the voyage are favourable a 

 considerable addition may be made to the present 

 very meagre knowledge as to the conditions of the 

 currents in the upper air in the regions off the east 

 coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. The long- 

 range wireless apparatus in the vessel is being pro- 

 vided free of charge by the Marconi Company. Two 

 wireless operators will be employed in order that a 

 constant watch may be kept. 



The keen north-easterlv wind which blew with 

 such persistence over the British Isles for the eight 



