October 4, 1906] 



NA TURE 



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with wireless telegraphy apparatus and shore stations 

 should be made compulsory without regard to the system 

 employed— ended in a protocol embodying the German view 

 being signed by all the delegates attending the conference 

 except those of Great Britain and Italy. The basis of the 

 discussions at the present conference will be the protocol 

 above mentioned, though further proposals arising out of 

 the recommendations contained therein have been put for- 

 ward. .At first sight the proposition of universal inter- 

 communication seems to have considerable attractions, but 

 many difficulties will have to be overcome before it can 

 bo carried out. The present conference may, therefore, 

 have greater issues and unforeseen results than are ex- 

 pected, and the scientific world will be especially interested, 

 as should the proposed treaty be entered into by our 

 delegates — who are drawn from the Post Office officials, 

 the .Army, and the Navy — future improvements in wireless 

 telegraphy would be more or less confined to a specified 

 basis. As to which is the best system of wireless tele- 

 graphy of the many now at work, the question is one that 

 may well puzzle the delegates, and may take many years 

 of practical working of wireless telegraphy before it can 

 be satisfactorily answered. 



.A SHORT description of a new method of colour photo- 

 graphy, described by Prof. Lippmann before the Paris 

 Academy on July 30, was given in Nature of August 30 

 (p. 459). -Mr. F. Cheshire, writing from the Birkbeck 

 College, London, states that Mr. Julius Rheinberg sug- 

 gested in the Brithh JoKnial of Photography of January i, 

 1904, ■' a method which is, I think, identical for all prac- 

 tical purposes with that now proposed by M. Lippmann." 

 We have referred Mr. Cheshire's letter to Prof. Lippmann, 

 who, in the reply with which he has favoured us, expresses 

 regret that he overlooked Mr. Rheinberg 's article, and 

 agrees that the method proposed in it is the same in prin- 

 ciple as that described by him. Prof. Lippmann adds that 

 about three years ago he obtained successful results by 

 this method, using very imperfect apparatus, still in his 

 laboratory, and a grating roughly made by hand. In July 

 lost he obtained a more suitable grating, and the results 

 of his experiments with it were described in his recent 

 paper. 



The fifteenth International Geodetic Congress was held 

 at Budapest last week. Sir George Darwin invited the 

 congress to meet at Cambridge in 1909. 



On September 27 a series of severe earthquakes was 

 felt at San Juan de Puertorico, and a sharp and prolonged 

 earthquake shock occurred at St. Thomas, Danish West 

 Indies. 



The Vienna correspondent of the Daily Chronicle 

 announces that Herculaneum is to be excavated by the 

 united action of Engl id, France, Germany, Italy, the 

 L'nited Stales, and other countries. 



To honour Prof. Ronald Ross, Prof. Boyce, and Dr. 

 J. L. Todd, and in recognition of the decoration recently 

 conferred on them by the King of the Belgians for services 

 in research into tropical diseases at the Liverpool School 

 of Tropical Medicine, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool gave 

 a luncheon at the Town Hall on Monday. Sir Alfred 

 Jones announced that the King of the Belgians has just 

 subscribed the sum of loool. to the Liverpool School. 



The first International Congress for Cancer Research 

 met last week at Frankfurt-on-Main under the presidency 

 of Profs, von Leyden, Czerny, and Ehrlich. All those 

 NO. 1927, VOL. 74] 



invited to take part in the worlc of the congress are actively 

 engaged in cancer research, and a number of important 

 papers were contributed, so many, in fact, that discussion 

 had to be restricted ; and the clinical, experimental, and 

 statistical branches of the cancer problem were fully re- 

 presented. Their Royal Highnesses the Grand Duke and 

 Grand Duchess of Baden were present at the opening 

 ceremony. 



The council uf the Institution of Civil Engineers has, 

 in addition to the medals and prizes given for communi- 

 cations discussed at the meetings of the institution in the 

 last session, made the following awards in respect of other 

 papers dealt with in 1905-6 ;— a Telford gold medal to 

 Mr. G. -A. Denny ; a George Stephenson gold medal to 

 Prof. W. E. Dalby ; Telford premiums to Messrs. W. R. 

 Baldwin-Wiseman, G. N. Abernethy, H. R. C. Blagden, 

 iM. R. Collins, and James Kelly ; a Crampton prize to Mr. 

 P. T. Cask. For students' papers the awards are : — 

 Miller prizes to Messrs. Ralph Freeman, A. F. Harrison, 

 A. J. Grindling, T. R. Grigson, J. W. D. Ball, and A. 

 Morris. Mr. .A. F. Harrison also gained the James 

 Prescott Joule medal. The awards will be presented on 

 Tuesdav, November (S, when an inaugural address will be 

 delivered by the president. Sir .Alexander B. W. Kennedy, 

 F.R.S. . 



The authorities of the Clifton Zoological Gardens, 

 Bristol, have recently made considerable improvements de- 

 signed for the increased comfort and display of their 

 collections. Two years ago a new lion house was built, 

 having the cages within communicating with four open- 

 air ones iron barred on three sides. The animals placed 

 in these cages showed so distinct a preference for the open 

 air, and improved so materially, that the older range of 

 houses has been entirely reconstructed, and was thrown 

 open to the public on Saturday, September 22, for the 

 first tiire. As now reconstructed, seven open-air cages are 

 placed along the front of the old house, and communicate 

 with the dens within. The cages are lofty, being between 

 10 feet and 12 feet in height, about 12 feet wide, and 

 14 feet long. They are supported upon a brickwork base 

 4 feet in height, and separated from the public by a stout 

 iron rail, placed 3 feet away from the cage fronts. It is 

 noteworthy that a Rhesus monkey was formerly kept in 

 an outer cage in the gardens for quite a number of years, 

 winter and summer alike, and fared well even in hard 

 frost and snow. When taken into the monkey house, 

 however, it quickly sickened and died. 



The news of the death of Monsignor MoUoy, Vice- 

 Chancellor of the Royal University of Ireland and Rector 

 of the Catholic University, Dublin, will be received with 

 deep regret by all who knew him in Dublin and elsewhere. 

 Mgr. Molloy was one of the delegates to the .Aberdeen 

 University celebrations, and died suddenly at the house of 

 his host in Aberdeen on Monday morning. Dr. Molloy 

 was born at Mount Tallant House, near Dublin, on 

 September 10, 1S34, so that he was in his seventy-third 

 vear. From 1874-1887 he was professor of natural philo- 

 sophy in the Roman Catholic University College, Dublin. 

 From an obituary notice in the Times we learn that tow^ard 

 the close of 18S3 the bishops, who were the governing 

 body of the University, transformed the old buildings in 

 Stephen's Green to the Jesuit Order, and the Rev. W. 

 Delany became president under the new regime. Dr. 

 Molloy remained in residence in the college, and, putting 

 his talents as a teacher at the disposal of the new adminis- 

 tration, he succeeded Dean Neville, of Cork, as Rector of 



