Stl'TEMBER 27, 1906] 



NATURE 



545 



investiijation. The institution has already cost more than 

 40,000/., which was derived partly from public and partly 

 from private sources. 



Prof. Hermann Cohn, the well-known ophthalmologist 

 ■of Breslau, died recently at the age of sixty-eight. His 

 contributions to ophthalmic science and practice had refer- 

 ■ence more particularly to the eyesight of school children. 

 He was one of the first to press the needs of many reforms 

 with the object of conserving the pupils' vision, and he 

 was a strenuous advocate of the systematic examination 

 of the eyes of school children, his knowledge and experi- 

 ence in this connection being of the greatest value in 

 evolving and perfecting the practical details of an important 

 branch of work. In 1883 he was honoured by receiving 

 the State gold medal of hygiene. He lived to see much 

 good fruit result from his labours, and it may justly be 

 said that with him there passed away one who served 

 well both his own and future generations. 



A PLEA for the prrscrwilion of natural scenes iind objects 

 in Germany was put forward a couple of years ago by 

 Prof. H. Conwentz, director of the West Prussian Pro- 

 vincial Museum at Danzig, in a work on " Naturdenk- 

 maler," described in these columns in November, 1904 

 (vol. Ixxi., p. 73). By Naturdenkmaler is meant the whole 

 natural landscape, with its various soil formations, its 

 w.iter courses and lakes, its special plant and animal com- 

 munities, as well as single rare species and individuals 

 of the original flora and fauna. Prof. Conwentz proposed 

 that these results of nature's handiwork in the different 

 States of the German Empire should be placed on record 

 so as to make them known, and that provision should be 

 made for their protection. The Prussian Minister of 

 Instruction has just consented to the establishment of a 

 central office for this purpose. For the present the office 

 will be at Danzig, and will be under the direction of Prof. 

 Conwentz. 



In his presidential address at the annual congress of 

 the Sanitary Inspectors' .Association at Blackpool on 

 September 13, Sir James Crichton-Browne dealt particu- 

 larly with the rapid and remarkable fall in the birth-rate 

 of Blackpool. It was in 1895 that a turn in the tide in 

 the birth-rate of England and Wales was first recorded, 

 since when it has gradually decreased, until in 1904 it 

 dropped to 27-9, the lowest on record. In Blackpool the 

 decline did not begin until 1898, when the rate was 2774, 

 show-ing a slight increase on the previous year; but since 

 then it has been precipitous, reaching 2030 per thousand 

 for 1905. Many facts suggest that this decline in the 

 birth-rate has occurred especially among the more intel- 

 lectual, more cultured, and more prosperous classes of the 

 community. Bearing in mind that 25 per cent, of the 

 married population produce 50 per cent, of the next gener- 

 ation, and that mental and moral traits are not less 

 hereditary than corporeal appearances, it is impossible to 

 exaggerate the importance of the problems that are raised 

 by the figures adduced. If we are recruiting our population 

 from the poorer and mentally and physically feebler stocks 

 of the community at a greater rate than from the better 

 and more capable stocks, then gradual deterioration of the 

 race is inevitable. 



The " coming of age " of the Royal Geographical 

 Society of Australasia was celebrated at Brisbane at the 

 end of June last by a festival extending over four days. 

 On June 26 a reception and luncheon were given by the 

 ^Mayor (Mr. J. Crase), and at an evening meeting addresses 



NO. IQ26, VOL. 74] 



of congratulation from other societies were presented, and 

 the secretary, Dr. J. P. Thomson, gave an account of the 

 history of the society. At an evening meeting on June 27 

 a paper by Dr. H. R. Mill, on the present problems of 

 geography, was read. A garden-party was given at 

 Government House in the afternoon of June 28, and at the 

 evening meeting a paper by Prof. R. E. Dodge, Columbia 

 University, on school geography, was read, Lord Chelms- 

 ford taking part in the discussion. A conversazione was 

 given on June 30, at which it was announced that a paper 

 by Sir John Murray, on the oceanography of the south- 

 western Pacific, had been received too late for reading al 

 the business meetings, but would be included in the 

 society's Transactions. The Royal Geographical Society 

 of Australasia was founded in 1885, chiefly on the initiative 

 of its present secretary. Dr. J. P. Thomson. Its activities 

 include the whole range of geographical work, and it has 

 published twenty-one volumes of Proceedings and Trans- 

 actions containing communications, of which " about 

 80 per cent, are original contributions to geographical 

 literature, the remainder being the result of research work, 

 in contradistinction to mere compilations." 



Tins is the season for great hurricanes within the 

 northern tropical belt. Thus far the West Indies have 

 escaped, but the China Sea region was last week the scene 

 of two very violent and destructive typhoons. On the 

 morning of September :8 there does not seem to have been 

 anything in the aspect of the weather at Hong Kong to 

 suggest the proximity of a storm. People went about their 

 business as usual, suspecting no danger, and the authori- 

 ties at the observatory found nothing in the reports to 

 justify the hoisting of the warning signals, expecting only 

 moderate winds to prevail during the day. At about 

 10 a.m. the neighbourhood was startled by the sudden 

 bursting of a storm of great violence, which maintained 

 its strength until midday. In these couple of hours it 

 occasioned enormous damage ashore and afloat. Many 

 war vessels, merchant steamers and sailing ships, lighters, 

 junks, and other craft were severely crippled or totally lost, 

 and one of the latest estimates places the loss of life at 

 10,000 Chinese and several Englishmen and other Euro- 

 peans. The Governor, Sir Matthew Nathan, has decided 

 to appoint a committee to inquire into the failure of the 

 observatory to give due warning of the approach of the 

 typhoon, but he is confident that Dr. Doberck is not to 

 blame in the circumstances. Four days later, on 

 September 22, news was received of the Philippines, south 

 of Manila, having been struck by a typhoon. The inform- 

 ation to hand at present is very meagre, owing to the 

 destruction of the telegraph wires, but a gunboat was 

 driven ashore, and the arsenal and the shipping at Caviti:- 

 suffered considerably. 



A PAPER, by Messrs. B. Stracey and F. W. Bennett, on 

 the felsitic agglomerate of Charnwood Forest, is the most 

 important of the contributions relating to natural science 

 contained in vol. x., part ii., of the Transactions of the 

 Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society. 



According to the report for 1905-6, the Manchester 

 Museum, Owens College, recently received a valuable 

 collection of mammals from N.E. Rhodesia, but funds 

 are lacking for mounting and encasing a representative 

 series of these in the gallery. The museum will shortly 

 also receive a collection of insects made in the same dis- 

 trict. The well-known and extensive series of stone imple- 

 ments collected during the last forty years by Mr. R. D. 

 Darbishire has been presented by that gentleman to the 



