M 



NA TURE 



[May 3. 1906 



iVOT£5. 



The gentlemen's conversazione at the Royal Society will 

 be held on Wednesday next, May g. 



1 HE summer meeting of the American Chemical Society 

 will this year be held in Ithaca, N.Y., on June 28-30. 



It is announced that the German Government has issued 

 invitations for an International Conference on Wireless 

 Telegraphy to meet on June 28. 



The sixth International Congress of Applied Chemistry 

 was opened at Rome on April 26 by the King and Queen 

 of Italy in the presence of the Diplomatic Body, the 

 memoers of the Cabinet, high officials of the State, and 

 about two thousand delegates. Speeches were delivered by 

 Prof. E. Patern6, president of the congress, Signor Boselli, 

 Minister of Public Instruction, Prof. O. Witt, and delegates 

 of the chief nations represented at the congress. The 

 British delegates are Prof. W. A. Tilden, F.R.S., Prof. 

 W. N. Hartley, F.R.S., and Dr. J. J. Dobbie, F.R.S. 



.\ Reuter telegram from New York states that the new 

 French liner ha -Provence, when 1800 miles from Poldhu 

 and 1700 miles from Cape Cod, on April 25 at 2 p.m., 

 simultaneously communicated by wireless telegraphy with 

 both stations, and received answers from both. 



According to the Chemiker Zeitung there were 183,532 

 persons connected with chemistry who were insured against 

 accident in Germany in igoi : of these, 1535 cases received 

 compensation from the insurance companies. This number 

 includes 109 cases of death, 14 completely and 1040 partially 

 incapacitated from following their vocation in life, whilst 

 372 were only for a time unable to work ; the amount 

 paid to the injured or the relatives of the deceased was 

 nearly 2,200,000 marks. 



In honour of the International Medical Congress to be 

 held m Lisbon this year, there has been opened a small 

 exhibition of the products of the Portuguese colonies in 

 the rooms of the Colonial Museum. The exhibits, which 

 are chiefly from Cape Verde, Mozambique, the Portuguese 

 Indies, .\ngola, Timor, and Guinea, deal almost exclusively 

 with wool, coiTee, cocoa, and india-rubber; palm oil, &c., 

 and other raw materials of the fatty and oil industries, 

 although important exports of the Portuguese colonies, are 

 not represented. 



.Arrangements are being made to hold a " Country in 

 Town " exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in July. 

 The object of the exhibition is to show East Londoners 

 what can be done to bring into the neighbourhood some- 

 thing of the beauty of nature. It is proposed to show 

 living things, pictures and models, materials and appli- 

 ances, plans for the improvement of certain areas in 

 London, and exhibits explaining city life in Japan and 

 other countries. Contributions towards the necessary ex- 

 penses are asked for, and these may be sent to the Rev. 

 Canon Barnett at Toynbee Hall, E. 



The ninth annual meeting of the Childhood Society will 

 be held on Tuesday next, May 8, at the residence of the 

 president. Earl Egerton of Tatton. Sir Edward Brabrook, 

 C.B., will deliver an address. The chief object of the 

 society is to promote the study of educational methods and 

 of the environment of children during school life, best 

 suited to ensure satisfactory mental and physical develop- 

 ment of children. The society numbers among its members 

 representatives of educational science, teachers, medical 

 experts, and others interested in the investigation of mental 

 and physical conditions of childhood. 

 NO. 1505. VOL. 74] 



E.'iKTHQUAKE shocks have again been common during the 

 past week. Renter's messages show that on April 25 a 

 disturbance was felt at 3.15 p.m. at San Francisco, and 

 lasted nearly a minute. This shock was also felt at Oak- 

 land and Berkeley. On April 26 shocks were felt at 

 Salinas, 100 miles south of San Francisco, at 8 p.m. and 

 9.50 n.m., and these were followed by a third on April 27 

 at 2 a.m. Each of these three disturbances lasted about 

 four seconds. A later telegram reports that earthquakes 

 were felt at Salinas every day from April 18 to 27. On 

 April 27, too, four disturbances of increasing intensity were 

 felt at Dresden, and on April 28 in Schonberg, Brambach, 

 and other places in the Vogtland district. Two slight 

 shocks were felt at San Francisco on the morning of 

 April 30. 



It is arranged that the International Association for 

 Testing Materials, which holds its congresses about every 

 three years in industrial centres in various countries, shall 

 this year meet in the Academy of Science at Brussels on 

 September 3-8. The King of Belgium has accorded the 

 congress his patronage, while Prince Albert of Belgium 

 will be one of the honorary presidents, as also will the 

 Ministers of Finance, Railways, War, and Trade, and the 

 Mayor of Brussels. Among the papers to be read will be 

 one on the industries of Belgium, by Baron E. de Laveleye 

 and M. Camerman. It is expected that a considerable 

 number of members and delegates from this country will 

 be present at the congress. Mr. J. E. Stead, F.R.S., 

 Middlesbrough, is the English secretary of the association. 



At the annual general meeting of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, held on April 24, Sir Alexander B. W. Kennedy, 

 F.R.S., was elected president of the institution. The 

 council has made the following awards for papers read 

 and discussed before the institution during the past 

 session : — A Telford gold medal to Mr. J. A. Saner, a Watt 

 gold medal to Mr. G. G. Stoney, and a George Stephenson 

 gold medal to Dr. T. E. Stanton ; Telford premiums to 

 Mr. Leonard Bairstow, Mr. H. S. Bidwell, Mr. J. J. 

 Webster, Mr. Cathcart, Mr. W. Methven, Mr. H. A. 

 Mavor, Sir Frederick R. Upcott, K.C.V.O., C.S.I., and a 

 Manby premium to Mr. D. E. Lloyd-Davies. The present- 

 ation of these awards, together with those for papers which 

 have not been subject to discussion, and will be announced 

 later, will take place at the inaugural meeting of next 

 session. 



In Tennvson' 



Palace of Art ' 



? s^w the ^nr>wy poles and Moon 

 at mystir: field of drifted light 

 iidd Orion, nnd the married star* 



occur the lines : — 

 i of Mars, 



This at first sight looks like a literary parallel to Swift's 

 well-known fortuitous forecast of the discovery of the 

 Martian satellites, and Mr. J. S. Stevenson, writing 

 from Blairavon, Norwood, Ceylon, points out that Prof. 

 H. H. Turner quotes it in " Modern Astronomy " as having 

 been written in 1835. This, however, appears not to have 

 been the case; for Mr. Stevenson, on reference to the bio- 

 graphy of the late poet laureate by the present Lord Tenny- 

 son has found the note, " The ' Moons of Mars ' is the only 

 modern reading here, all the rest are more than half a 

 century old." Scientific discovery was thus not anticipated 

 by Tennyson in the mention of Martian satellites. 



The Paris correspondent of the Times made the follow- 

 ing announcement in a message on Monday night : — " The 

 Prince of Monaco formally announced to the French 

 Minister of Education to-day his decision to establish in 

 Paris the Oceanographic Institute that he has founded. 

 He will endow the institute with the magnificent museum 



