302 



NA TURE 



[July 26, 1906 



The knighthood just conferred upon Dr. W. H. Perkin, 

 F.R.S., has given much satisfaction in scientific circles. 

 The great interest being shown in his services to science 

 and industry, on account of tlie celebration of the coal-tar 

 colour jubilee to-day and to-morrow, makes this official 

 mark of recognition of his work particularly welcome. It 

 was fifty years ago when Sir William Perkin discovered the 

 first anilin dye — mauve — and so founded the coal-tar colour 

 industry, which has been so profitably developed in 

 Germany. His knighthood, with the other honours and 

 addresses which will be presented to him at the Royal 

 Institution to-day, thus form an appropriate crown to his 

 successful career. 



The University of Oxford has recently taken a new 

 departure in scientific teaching. Under the energetic con- 

 duct of Prof. Sollas, a contingent from the geological 

 class started to spend a week among the Alps for the pur- 

 pose of studying on the ground the structures which have 

 in recent years been so keenly studied and discussed, 

 especially the recumbent folds that are claimed to play 

 a large part in the architecture of the mountains. At 

 Lausanne on June 30 they were met by the enthusiastic 

 explorer of Alpine geology Prof. Lugeon, who took charge 

 of the excursion, and enabled the members of the party to 

 see with their own eyes some of the gigantic disturbances 

 to which the region has been subjected. They followed one 

 after the other the folds and internal structure of the 

 Pr^alpes m^dianes, and finished up with a glimpse of the 

 successive vast folds of the central crystalline region. 

 Starting sometimes as early as 5 a.m., they spent long days 

 in climbing and viewing the disposition of the rocks from 

 favourable points of view, and, thanks to the clear exposi- 

 tions of the eminent Swiss professor, learnt more in a few 

 days on the ground than they could have acquired by 

 months of sedulous reading. 



The Matteucci medal for 1906 of the Society Italiana 

 della Scienze, the president of which is Prof. Cannizzaro, 

 has been conferred upon Sir James Dewar. 



The Paris -correspondent of the Times announces the 

 death, at the age of sixty-nine, of Dr. Brouardel, for 

 many years professor of legal medicine at the University 

 of Paris and president of the consultative committee of 

 hj'giene. 



We regret to announce that Sir Walter L. Buller, 

 K.C.M.G., F.R.S., distinguished by his work on " The 

 Birds of New Zealand " and other contributions to science, 

 died on July ig at sixty-eight years of age. 



The death is announced of Mr. J. A. Wanklyn, at the 

 laboratory. New Maiden, Surrey, in his seventy-third year. 

 Mr. Wanklyn was a member of the Bavarian Academy, 

 and was well known as an analytical chemist. 



A MESSAGE from Danes Island reports that Mr. Wellmnn 

 has now established wireless communication from within 

 600 miles of the Pole 1)16. Hammerfest. Everything is 

 progressing favourably at the camp. The construction of 

 the balloon-house is being continued. It is hoped that the 

 expedition will start on its aerial voyage toward the Pole 

 in the middle of August. 



On the east coast patches of burnt earth occur scattered 



along the margin of many creeks and saltmarshes, 



especially in Essex. A committee has been formed under 



the auspices of the Essex Archjeological Society and the 



NO. 1917, VOL. 74] 



Essex Field Club for the systematic study of these interest- 

 ing relics of antiquity, generally known as "red hills," 

 and the settlement, if possible, of the many questions re- 

 lating to them. Among the members of the committee are 

 Mr. Miller Christy, Mr. William Cole, Mr. T. V. Holmes, 

 Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., Mr. F. W. Rudler, and Mr. H. 

 Wilmer, hon. sec. and treasurer. The chairman of the 

 committee is Mr. I. Chalkley Gould. 



The well-known balloon journey made by Comte 

 de Lavaux, the French aeronaut, at the time of the Paris 

 Exhibition in 1900, when the distance from Paris to 

 Moscow was traversed in forty-one hours, was recently 

 surpassed by the brothers Wegener, of the German aero- 

 nautical observatory at Lindenberg. The details of their 

 ascent have now been published in the Strassburg Xero- 

 nautische Mittheiluiigen. The balloon, of 36,000 cubic feet 

 capacity, and inflated with hydrogen, started from Berlin 

 at 9 a.m. on ."Xpril 5 last, and descended at 9 p.m. on 

 April 7 six and a half miles east of Aschaffenburg. 

 During their journey of at least 900 miles, the Wegeners 

 crossed the Baltic Sea and Jutland twice, once travelling 

 north and again on the return journey. The route was 

 determined by astronomical observations at night and by 

 visual and photographic observations during the day. The 

 altitudes at which the journey was performed were as 

 follows : — during the day of April 5, 1200 metres ; on the 

 night of .April 5-6, from 200 metres to 800 metres ; from 

 sunrise to midday on April 6, up to 2900 metres ; from 

 midday to sunset of the same day, 300 metres to 1000 

 metres ; during the next night, from 100 metres to 800 

 metres, except when in the vicinity of Hamburg, where the 

 balloon was taken to a height of 2900 metres. The greatest 

 altitude, of 3700 metres, was reached on April 7. The 

 lowest temperature recorded was — 16° C. 



The seventh International Zoological Congress will be 

 held in America in August or September, 1907, under the 

 presidency of Mr. Alexander Agassiz. The arrangements 

 for the congress are in charge of a committee of the 

 .American Society of Zoologists. The meetings will open in 

 Boston, where the scientific sessions will be held, and from 

 which excursions will be made to Harvard University and 

 to other points of interest. At the close of the Boston 

 meeting the members will proceed to Woods Hole, Massa- 

 chusetts, visiting the station of the United States Bureau 

 of Fisheries, the Marine Biological Laboratory, and the 

 collecting grounds of the adjacent seacoast. The journey to 

 New York will be by sea through Long Island Sound. In 

 New York the congress will be entertained by Columbia 

 University, the American Museum of Natural History, and 

 the New York Zoological Society, and excursions will be 

 made to Y'ale University, to Princeton University, and to 

 the Carnegie Station for Experimental Evolution. From 

 New Y'ork the members will proceed to Philadelphia and 

 Washington. The first formal circular announcing the pre- 

 liminary programme of the congress will be issued in 

 October next. All inquiries should be addressed to Mr. 

 G. H. Parker, Seventh International Zoological Congress, 

 Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 



With the recent motor-bus accident on Handcross Hill 

 fresh in our memories, and the discussion that has arisen 

 in the Press in consequence, it is satisfactory to find that 

 at least one note of improvement has been struck, accord- 

 ing to the description of an electrically controlled petrol 

 motor-bus given in the Standard of July 21. The demon- 

 stration referred to was given on the scene of the recent 

 disaster, and the descent was made in perfect safety with- 



