3^ 



NA TURE 



[May io, 1906 



William Ramsay, K.C.B., as the president, and Sir Henry 

 Roscoe as ' honorary [:resident. We hope to give in an 

 early issue an account of matters of interest and import- 

 ance brought before the recent congress at Rome. 



The astronomical observatory of La Plata has been 

 affiliated with the new National University of La Plata, 

 recently inaugurated by the Minister of Public Instruction 

 of the Argentine Republic. The director of the observatory, 

 Mr. Francisco Porro, invites observers in similar institu- 

 tions to exchange publications with him, at the Observ- 

 atorio Astron6mlco, Universidad Nacional, La Plata. 



We learn from Science of April 27 that the University 

 of California and the Lick Observatory were not damaged 

 by the disastrous earthquake of April 18. The buildings 

 of Leland Stanford Junior University suffered severely, the 

 loss being estimated at Soo.ooo/. The building of' the 

 California Academy of Sciences and its valuable collections 

 were destroyed. 



The engineering journals publish lengthy obituary 

 memoirs of one of the most prominent figures in the in- 

 dustrial life of the north of England— Sir David Dale, 

 Bart., of Darlington, who died suddenly on April 28. He 

 was an eminent authority on economic questions, and 

 probably did more than anyone to promote industrial peace 

 He was one of the founders of the Iron and Steel Institute 

 and served as treasurer until his election as president in 

 1898. 



The Harben lectures of the Royal Institute of Public 

 Health will be delivered by Prof. Elie Metchnikoff of the 

 Pasteur Institute, Paris, on May 25, 28, and 30. A course 

 of three lectures on " The Bacteriology of Water Milk 

 and Tuberculosis," by Dr. Carl Prausnitz, commenced at 

 the mstitute on Wednesday, May q, and a course of three 

 lectures on " The .Manufacture and Sophistication of Pot- 

 able Spirits," by Dr. C. E. Harris, will begin on June 12. 



We regret to see the announcement that Mrs. Brightwen 

 the popular writer on natural history, died on May 5 at 

 seventy-five years of age. In 1890, at the age of sixty, 

 Mrs. Brightwen published her first book, " Wild Nature 

 won by Kindness." This book was very successful. In 

 1895 " Inmates of My House and Garden " appeared • then 

 followed, in 1897, "Glimpses of Plant Life"; in 1899 

 " Rambles with Nature Students"; and in 1904 " Ouiet 

 Hours with Nature." Mrs. Brightwen was vice-presTdent 

 of the Selborne Society, a Fellow of the Zoological and 

 Entomological Societies, and an active member of various 

 local associations connected with the encouragement of 

 natural history. 



The eighty-ninth annual meeting of the Soci^t^ helv^tique 

 des Sciences naturelles will be held at St. Gall on July 21 

 to August I. This will be the fifth time since the found- 

 ation of the society that the town of St. Gall has been 

 the place of meeting. On Tuesday, July 31, there will 

 be a discussion on variations among plants'and animals and 

 their phylogenetic and physiological importance, with reports 

 upon the subject by Profs. Goebel and Ernst. During the 

 meeting there will also be papers on the following 

 subjects :— modern views on the tectonic synthesis and 

 genesis of the Alps, Prof. Schardt ; measurements of base 

 lines in general, with particular reference to the geodetic 

 work connected with the Simplon Tunnel, Prof. Rosen- 

 mund; results of the latest explorations made in the Wild- 

 kirchli grotto, and their importance to zoology and pre- 

 historic science, Mr. E. Bachler ; fossil remains 'at Kessler- 

 loch and from palaeolithic grottos in general, Prof. C. 



NO. igo6, VOL. 74] 



Hescheler ; studies of the plankton of the Lake of Con- 

 stance. The president of the society is Dr. G. Ambiihl, 

 and the two secretaries are Dr. H. Rehsteiner and Dr. \. 

 Dreyer. 



After being closed for a very considerable time, the fish 

 gallery of the British Museum (Natural History) — or, to 

 be accurate, the southern half of it — has just been re-opened 

 to the public in what may be termed a metamorphosed 

 condition. In place of a dismal crowd of ill-mounted speci- 

 mens, faded, for the most part, to one dull uniformity, the 

 public has now a small but well-assorted selection of speci- 

 mens, coloured artificially to imitate, so far as practicable, 

 their appearance in life, and arranged in such a manner that 

 they can be seen to the very best advantage. Descriptive 

 labels — of which only a portion are yet printed — will render 

 the exhibit about as perfect as is at present possible, and 

 the gallery as a whole will enable the public to gain the 

 greatest possible amount of information about fishes with 

 the least possible trouble. As regards the advisability of 

 colouring exhibited specimens of this nature there can 

 scarcely be two opinions, for, although with our present 

 methods and our present lack of knowledge of the appear- 

 ance of many fishes in life it is impossible to imitate nature 

 closely, yet such an approximation to natural colouring as 

 it is practicable to make is infinitely better than no colour 

 at all. 



The annual dinner of the Institution of Mining and 

 Metallurgy was held on May 4, when a distinguished 

 company of engineers and others assembled. Sir Julius 

 Wernher, in proposing the toast of the institution, insisted 

 that the mining industry has been conducted in the past 

 as seriously and honourably as any other industry in the 

 world. In replying to the toast, the chairman, Mr. William 

 Frecheville, read a letter from Mr. Birrell, the President 

 of the Board of Education, stating that the Government 

 is keenly interested in the proposal to establish an institu- 

 tion at South Kensington for the advancement of the 

 highest technical education, and that a scheme is in course 

 of preparation designed to give effect to the recommend- 

 ations of the recent departmental committee. The letter 

 went on to express satisfaction that various bodies and 

 persons associated with mining and metallurgy are show- 

 ing sympathy with the proposed college by contributing to 

 the Bessemer fund, which has for its object the furtherance 

 of mining and metallurgical science by means of advanced 

 education. Mr. Birrell 's letter concluded by expressing the 

 hope that this excellent example may be followed by other 

 great industries, all of which must depend for success in 

 no small degree upon the promotion of the study of the 

 higher branches of science. The chairman announced that 

 the subscriptions to the Bessemer memorial amounted to 

 11,000!. 



Dr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S., delivered the second of his 

 instructive lectures on " Atmospheric Circulation and its 

 relation to Weather " at the University of London on 

 May 8. The subjects specially dealt with related to per- 

 sistent and periodical winds, tropical revolving storms and 

 cyclonic depressions of middle latitudes. The lecturer re- 

 ferred more particularly to the rainfall in the various wind- 

 systems, especially in the monsoons, and also quoted some 

 remarkable instances of increase of rain with height above 

 sea-level, for example, at .'\scension and St. Helena. 

 Among the many interesting diagrams thrown on the 

 screen we may mention one showing a remarkable fall of 

 the barometer from 755 mm. to 728 mm. during a typhoon 

 at Manila in October, 1882, with an equally sudden rise 



