42 



NA TURE 



[November ii, 1909 



Sir George Darwin, K.C.B., F.R.S., has been elected 

 an honorary member of the Calcutta Mathematical Society. 



Dr. J. J. DoBBiE, F.R.S., director of the Royal Scottish 

 Museum, Edinburgh, has been appointed principal chemist 

 of the Government laboratories in succession to Sir T. E. 

 Thorpe, C.B., F.R.S., who has retired. 



The date of the annual exhibition held by the Physical 

 Society of London, which was fixed some time ago for 

 December lO, has been altered to Tuesday, December 14, 

 so that the exhibition may be open in the afternoon as 

 well as in the evening. 



A Reuter message from Berlin states that in the course 

 of excavations conducted by the Museum of Silesian 

 Antiquities at Ottitz, near Ratibor, a clay figure represent- 

 ing a nude female divinity was unearthed in a Stone-age 

 dwelling. The figure is said to be the most ancient model 

 of the human form in existence. 



At the meeting of the Junior Institution of Engineers 

 on Tuesday, November 16, the presidential address, on 

 " The Propelling Machinery of Warships," will be delivered 

 by Vice-.'\dmiral Henry J. Oram, C.B., Engineer-in-Chief 

 of the Fleet. 



The opening meeting of the Illuminating Engineering 

 Society will be held on Thursday, November 18, at the 

 premises of the Royal Society of Arts, when the inaugural 

 address will be delivered by Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, 

 F.R.S., the first president of the society. 



Sir Arthur ROcker, F.R.S., and Prof. Arthur Schuster, 

 F.R.S., both members of the board of advisers of the 

 Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution 

 of Washington, made official visits to the magnetic survey 

 yacht Carnegie while at Falmouth, inspecting the instru- 

 ments and methods of work. 



A Reuter message from Washington states that the 

 National Geographic Society has awarded its gold medal 

 to Commander Peary. The subcommittee appointed to 

 examine the explorer's records and proofs reported that 

 they afford conclusive substantiation of his claim to have 

 reached the North Pole, and this report was unanimously 

 accepted by the board of managers. The society has passed 

 a resolution referring to a subcommittee of experts the 

 question whether any; explorer reached the North Pole 

 before 1909. 



Sir William White, K.C.B., F.R.S., chairman of the 

 council of the Royal Society of Arts, will open the new 

 session of the society on November 17 with an address, 

 the subject of which will be " An Imperial Navy." Before 

 Christmas there will be four ordinary meetings of the 

 society, at which papers will be read by Mr. T. Thorne- 

 Baker, on "Phototelegraphy"; the Hon. R. C. Parsons, 

 on " Resilient Wheels for Vehicles "; Mr. J. Buckland, on 

 "The Destruction of Plumage Birds"; and Mr. H. Pear- 

 son, on " The Diamond Fields of Brazil." One meeting 

 of the Indian section will be held, at which Sir James 

 Wilson will read a paper on " The Punjab," and Mr. 

 Samuel Simpson will treat " Agricultural Development in 

 Nyasaland " at a meeting of the Colonial section. There 

 will be one course of Cantor lectures ; in them Mr. C. C. 

 Turner will give a popular account of the progress which 

 has been made in aeronautics. 



The Hampstead Scientific Society inaugurated a new 



astronomical observatory and meteorological station on the 



southern margin of Hampstead Heath on Saturday. Mr. 



P. E. Vizard presided over a large meeting of the society 



NO. 2089, VOL. 82] 



in Heath Mount School, and short addresses were given 

 on the value of the astronomical work which could be 

 done by Dr. F. Womack, and on the meteorological work 

 by Dr.' H. R. Mill. Sir Samuel Wilks, F.R.S., referred 

 to the efforts the society had made to secure this observa- 

 tory, which has cost about 250Z. The party then visited 

 the observatory, which, by the kind permission of the 

 Metropolitan Water Board, is placed on the top of the 

 covered reservoir on the highest point of Hampstead, 450 

 feet above sea-level. The small astronomical observatory 

 has a revolving dome, and contains an 8^-inch equatorial 

 reflector by Grubb, presented to the Society by Dr. 

 Womack. A sidereal clock has been presented by Mr. E. 

 Duveen, and it is hoped tliat a driving clock will be added 

 later. The meteorological equipment consists of a baro- 

 meter in the observatory, a Stevenson screen with the 

 usual thermometers, a rain-gauge and a sunshine recorder, 

 all of them exposed in an unexceptionable manner, so that 

 the observations cannot fail to be of much value for 

 climatological purposes. Interesting comparisons may be 

 looked for between the Hampstead records and those taken 

 only a few feet above sea-level in St. James's Park. In 

 a district so subject as London is to partial visitations of 

 fog and thunderstorms, the multiplication of trustworthy 

 meteorological stations in representative positions is much 

 to be desired. 



Arrangements have been made for an International 

 Congress of Radiology and Electricity at Brussels on 

 September 6, 7, and 8, 1910, in connection with the 

 exliibition to be held there. The congress will be held in 

 three sections, and the subjects to be dealt with will 

 include the following. In the first section, general ques- 

 tions of terminology and methods of measurement in radio- 

 activity, and subjects connected with ions, electrons, and 

 corpuscles will be dealt with. The second section will be 

 divided into various subsections, dealing respectively with 

 fundamental theories of electricity, study of radiations 

 (including spectroscopy, chemical effects of radiations, and 

 other allied questions), radio-activity, atomic theory, 

 cosmical phenomena (including atmospheric electricity and 

 atmospheric radio-activity). The third section will be bio- 

 logical, and will be devoted to consideration of the effects 

 of radiations on living organisms. The sections will deal 

 with purely biological questions as well as with the use 

 of various radiations for medical purposes, both for 

 diagnosis and therapeutics. In order to ensure the success 

 of the congress, committees have been formed in the 

 various countries which will take part in the congress, and 

 the following men of science have already consented to 

 act as presidents of the committee in each country :^ 

 Prof. Lenard (Germany), Prof. Exner (Austria), Prof. 

 Obtvos (Hungary), Prof. Castillo (Spain), Prof. Barus 

 (United States), Prof. Langevin (France), Prof. Rutherford 

 (Great Britain), Prof. Blaserna (Italy), Prof. Birkeland 

 (Norway), Prof. Lortntz (Holland), Prof. Ferreira da 

 Silva (Portugal), Prof. Hurmuzescu (Roumania), Prof. 

 Lebedew (Russia), Prof. Arrhenius (Sweden), and Prof. 

 Guye (Switzerland). Communications regarding the con- 

 gress should be addressed to Prof. Rutherford or Dr. W. 

 Makower at the University of Manchester ; or to Dr. W. 

 Deane Butcher, Holyrood, Ealing, London, W., for 

 matters connected with the biological and medical section. 

 Intending members should communicate directly with the 

 general secretary. Dr. J. Daniel, i rue de la Pr^v6t4, 

 Brussels. 



Some of the friends and former pupils of the late Prof. 

 Arthur Gamgee have thought that they could best mark 

 their high appreciation of his great scientific attainments 



