io8 



NA TURE 



[May 31, 1906 



nOTES. 



Baron C. R. von der Osten Sacken, author of 

 numerous books and papers on the classification of Diptera, 

 died at Heidelberg on May 20 in his seventy-eighth year. 



Notice has been received that the title of the Field 

 Columbian Museum, Chicago, has been altered. .The 

 institution is now designated the Field Museum of Natural 

 History. 



The death is announced of Dr. Ernst Schellwien, pro- 

 fessor of geology and palaeontology, and director of the 

 Amber Museum, Konigsberg University, in his fortieth 

 year. 



Dr. E. v. Dl'ngern, professor of bacteriology and 

 hygiene in the University of Freiburg (Baden), has been 

 appointed director of the scientific section of the Krebs- 

 institut, Heidelberg. 



Prof. Robert Koch has written to the Berlin Medical 

 Society resigning his position on the presidential board 

 on the ground that he expects to remain at least two years 

 in .'\frica in order to continue his investigations on 

 sleeping sickness in conjunction with the German Imperial 

 Expedition, of which he is the head. 



Dr. K. Pape, formerly professor of physics in the Uni- 

 versity of Konigsberg, died at Steglitz on May 9. He 

 was born in Hanover in 1836, and held the professorship 

 of physics in the agricultural academy in Proskau from 

 1866-1878, that is, until his appointment to the Konigs- 

 berg chair, which he held until 1904. 



In No. 41 of the Chemiker Zeitung is a very useful 

 rcsutni of the experimental advances made during 1905 in 

 the subjects of physics and physical chemistry in so far 

 as they appeal to the chemist. The report deals chiefly 

 with radio-activity, stoichiometry, chemical dynamics, 

 thermochemistry, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. 



The third International Conference on Plant Breeding, 

 whether by hybridisation or by cross-fertilisation, will be 

 held in London on July 30 to August 3 under the auspices 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society. Successful conferences 

 on this subject were held in London in 1899 and New York 

 in 1902. The president of the forthcoming conference will 

 be Mr. W. Bateson, F.R.S. 



The German Bunsen Society for applied physical 

 chemistry held its annual general meeting in Dresden 

 under the presidency of Prof. Nernst on May 20-23. 

 The business of the meeting included some thirty-five 

 papers, in a group of five of which the value and methods 

 of the fixation of nitrogen for industrial and agricultural 

 purposes were discussed, in another group colloidal bodies 

 were considered, whilst other subjects brought forward 

 were such as technical methods for examining explosives, 

 radiation laws, Sic. 



The hygienic exhibition in Vienna was opened by Duke 

 Leopold Salvator in the presence of a distinguished com- 

 pany, including some of the chief representatives of 

 .\ustrian and foreign science, industry, and commerce. 

 Although originating from a private source, the exhibition 

 has, under the support of the municipal and Imperial 

 authorities, and the keen interest displayed by many 

 European exhibitors, proved a great success ; the practical 

 results of the more important chemical, hygienic, and 

 medical investigations of the last ten years are well brought 

 out by the numerous exhibits, which have been divided 



NO. 1909, VOL. 74] 



into nine groups : — (i) domestic hygiene ; (2) personal 

 hygiene in health and sickness ; (3) public hygiene ; 

 (4) general industrial hygiene ; (5) chemistry, pharmacy, 

 and investigations of foods ; (6) hygienic precautions neces- 

 sary in the liquor and food industries ; (7) clothing indus- 

 tries and laundries ; (8) travel and association with 

 strangers ; (9) hygiene of sport. 



On the recommendation of the Home Secretary, a Royal 

 Commission has been appointed to inquire into the health 

 and safety of miners. Lord Monkswell. is chairman of the 

 commission. Science is represented by Dr. J. S. Haldane, 

 F.R.S., university lecturer in physiology, Oxford, and 

 mining engineering by Sir Lindsay Wood, Bart., past- 

 president of the Institution of Mining Engineers. The 

 remaining six members of the commission are politicians 

 and officials of eminence. The secretary of the com- 

 mission is Mr. S. W. Harris, of the Home Office. Among 

 the questions referred to the commission is whether any 

 change is desirable in the present system of examination 

 for managers' and under-managers' certificates of com- 

 petency ; whether the managers of metalliferous mines 

 should be compelled to hold such certificates ; and whether 

 certificates granted by colonial Governments should not be 

 accepted in this country. In view of the great importance 

 of this branch of the inquiry, it is perhaps to be regretted 

 that the commission does not include some recognised 

 authority on mining education. Not any of the com- 

 missioners appear to have passed any examination in 

 mining. 



Dr. L. a. Bauer, who has been in charge of the mag- 

 netic survey and observatory work of the United States 

 under the auspices of the Coast and Geodetic Survey since 

 1899, ^^^ accepted an offer, made to him by the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington, of the post of permanent 

 director of its department of terrestrial magnetism. Since 

 the establishment of this department in 1904, Dr. Bauer 

 has filled the duties of director in conjunction with his 

 official duties in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, but soon 

 after July i he will devote his entire time to the Carnegie 

 Institution work, which has developed into what prac- 

 tically amounts to a general magnetic survey of the globe. 

 The annual grants to the department are sufficient to keep 

 in progress continuously an oceanic magnetic survey, be- 

 sides the sending of expeditions to land areas where no 

 magnetic surveys have as yet been made, and also for 

 conducting various auxiliary investigations. An attempt is 

 to be made to secure the completion of a general magnetic 

 survey of the globe within a period of about fifteen years. 

 During Dr. Bauer's administration of the Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey magnetic work, covering a period of seven 

 years, he has organised and trained a corps of observers, 

 has put in operation five magnetic observatories, has in- 

 augurated magnetic work on the Coast Survey vessels, 

 has practically completed the general magnetic survey of 

 the United States (the three magnetic elements having 

 been observed at about 2500 stations distributed over the 

 United States and outlying territories), and has issued 

 various publications relating to the work. 



A paper by Mr. Edgar Schuster, on the inheritance of 

 deafness (Bioinetrika, vol. iv., part iv.), was referred to in 

 Nature of May 17 (p. 63). It was stated in the abstract 

 supplied with the journal that an important point brought 

 out in the paper is " the normal, or even more than average, 

 fertility of deaf-mutes," and this point was mentioned in 

 the note in Nature. Mr. Schuster writes to say that the 

 meaning can be better expressed by the conclusion " deaf- 



