November 25, 1909J 



NATURE 



103 



Prof. VV. Bateson, F.R.S., professor of biology in the 

 University of Cambridge, has been appointed director of 

 the John Innes Horticultural Institution at Merton, 

 Surrey. 



LiEUT.-CoLONEL D. Prain, F.R.S., director of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Prof. F. O. Bower, 

 F.R.S., regius professor of botany in the University of 

 Glasgow, have been elected corresponding merhbers of the 

 Munich 'icademy of Sciences. 



Th"". council of the Royal Meteorological Society has 

 awarded the Symons gold medal to Dr. W. N. Shaw, 

 I'.R.S., in recognition of the valuable work which he has 

 done in connection with meteorological science. The 

 medal will be presented at the annual general meeting of 

 the society on January 20, 1910. 



The King has approved of the Polar medal, with a 

 clasp, inscribed " Antarctic, 1907— 1909," being granted to 

 members of the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition, 1907-9, 

 the clasp alone being awarded to those who already possess 

 the Polar medal? the medal and clasp to be in silver for 

 the shore party and in bronze for those who remained with 

 the ship. 



Dr. T. G. Longstaff writes to the Times from Kashmir 

 to correct a statement made in the issue of October i, and 

 referred to in Nature of October 7, to the effect that he 

 had found that the source of the Tarim River of Kashgaria 

 is in the Siachen Glacier of Nubra. He says that what he 

 has just been able to prove is that the Siachen Glacier of 

 Nubra is merely the lower portion of the glacier found 

 beyond the Saltoro Pass by Dr. A. Neve, Lieut. Slingsby, 

 and himself in June last, and temporarily designated the 

 Terim Glacier. 



A MEETING of subscribers, both ladies and gentlemen, 

 will be held at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 30, at the 

 rooms of the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, 

 London, to determine in what manner the fund which has 

 been raised as a memorial to the late Prof. Arthur Gamgee 

 should be applied to serve the object for which it was 

 collected. Subscriptions may be sent to Prof. Arthur 

 Schuster, Victoria Park, Manchester ; Dr. A. D. Waller, 

 Physiological Laboratory, University of London, S.VV. ; or 

 Dr. G. A. Buckmaster, University College, London, W.C. 



The annual meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute will 

 be held on Wednesday and Thursday, May 4 and 5, 1910. 

 The proceedings will begin by the induction of the new 

 president, the Duke of Devonshire, into the presidential 

 chair by the retiring president, Sir Hugh Bell, Bart. 

 Under the new bye-laws the council now has the power 

 to elect honorary vice-presidents from among distinguished 

 members of the institute who, by reason of their residence 

 out of Great Britain, are unable to take a very active 

 part in the affairs of the institute. The council has accord- 

 ingly elected the following to the office of honorary vice- 

 president :— Mr. John Fritz, United States ; Mr. William 

 Kestranek, Austria ; Baron Fernand d'Huart, France ; 

 Mr. F. W. Lurmann, Germany ; and Mr. E. J. Ljungberg, 

 Sweden. 



The summary of the weather for the week ending 

 November 20, issued by the Meteorological OiBce, shows 

 that the conditions for the period were generally dry and 

 fine over the entire kingdom. The temperature was every- 

 where below the average, the deficiency amounting to 

 11-6° in the west and east of Scotland, 9-6° in the north 

 of Scotland, and 87° in the north-west of England. The 

 minima, which occurred in most places about the middle 

 of the week, were extremely low in Ireland and Scotland, 

 making a record for November in parts. At Balmoral the 

 NO. 2091, VOL. 8? I 



sheltered thermometer on November 16 fell to 3°. The 

 radiation temperature on the grass fell to —5° at Crathes, 

 in the east of Scotland, to zero at Balmoral, and to 

 8° at Markree Castle. At Greenwich frost occurred only 

 on one night in the shade during the period, but in the 

 open, on the grass, there was a frost each night. The 

 rainfall was less than the average in all parts of the 

 kingdom, and in many parts the week was rainless. 



On November 18 and succeeding days the famous 

 volcanic mountain Pico de Teyde, on the north-west of the 

 island of Teneriffe, was in eruption from four craters 

 lying from east to west. The two inside craters are re- 

 ported to be active alternately, emitting liquid lava only. 

 Owing to the configuration of the ground it is not possible 

 to dam the lava streams or to divert them into channels 

 where they would do less damage. On November 21 the 

 lava stream is said to have travelled 3J miles since the 

 beginning of the eruption. An official telegram from 

 Teneriffe on November 23 reports : — " The chief crater 

 continues to throw out large quantities of incandescent 

 matter to a height of above 2000 feet. The flow of lava 

 is increasing in volume. The stream running down the 

 Santiago Valley has divided into two, each 12 feet deep and 

 of constantly increasing breadth. The stream flowing in 

 the direction of the Tauranno is advancing more rapidly, 

 and will shortly be swollen by its junction with another 

 stream which has branched off from the main flow. The 

 lowest point of the stream flowing towards Tanque has 

 made no progress since yesterday, and there appears for 

 the moment to be no fear of its resuming its advance, as 

 the crater by which it is fed is becoming less active. On 

 the other hand, the activity of the craters from which the 

 lava flows towards the Santiago Valley is increasing." 



The board of anthropological studies of the University 

 of Cambridge recently re-appointed Mr. A. R. Brown, 

 of Trinity College, to the Anthony Wilkin studentship. 

 This studentship was founded in 1905 in memory of 

 Anthony Wilkin, of King's College, Cambridge, by his 

 parents, for the encouragement of research in ethnology 

 and archaeology. Mr. Brown was elected to the first 

 studentship in the same year, having intimated his desire 

 of studying the social structure and religion of the Anda- 

 man Islanders. He returned about eighteen months ago, 

 and since that time has been occupied in writing up his 

 field notes. It is expected that his monograph on the 

 Andaman Islanders will be published next spring. Dr. 

 A. C. Haddon informs us that Mr. Brown's next expedi- 

 tion will be to Western Australia. Extremely little is 

 known about the ethnology of the whole western portion 

 of Australia, and as Westralia is being rapidly developed 

 it is essential that the natives should be thoroughly studied 

 before it is too late. From what little is known, it is 

 evident that the social system of the natives is not uniform, 

 and it is to be hoped that the transition from one form 

 of social organisation to another may be discovered. Mr. 

 Brown proposes to make a general survey of the social 

 and religious conditions of as many tribes as possible, and 

 to make a minute study of one or two of them. If funds 

 permit, he will traverse the continent so as to link up 

 his observations with those of other ethnologists, and at 

 the same time he may be able to clear up some disputed 

 points in the results obtained by previous workers in the 

 field. 



The eighth exhibition of motor-cars arranged by the 



ociety of Motor Manufacturers and Traders was held at 



•Jlympia during last week. The principal point regarding 



the many cars exhibited is the almost entire absence of 



chain drive ; in almost every case the live axle is adopted. 



