December i6, 1909] 



NA 7 URE 



197 



We learn from the Revue scientijique that a monument 

 is to be erected to the memory of Laplace at Beaumont, in 

 Auge (Calvados), where the illustrious mathematician was 

 born in 1746. 



By the will of Mr. G. Crocker, who left an estate of 

 6,000,000/., Columbia University will receive a fund 

 estimated at 300,000/. for the investigation of cancer. 



The Stoclcholm correspondent of the Times announces 

 that the Nobel prizes for this year have been awarded as 

 follows : — medicine, Prof. T. Kocher, Berne ; chemistry, 

 I'rof. W. Ostwald, Leipzig ; physics, Mr. Marconi and 

 Prof. K. Braun, Strassburg. 



The Rome correspondent of the Times states that the 

 second general meeting of the International Institute of 

 Agriculture was held there on December 12, and was fully 

 attended by the foreign delegates, of whom more than 

 one hundred were present. 



At the annual business meeting of the Scottish Meteor- 

 ological Society, held on December 8, Prof. A. Crum 

 Brown, F.R.S., was elected president in succession to the 

 late Sir Arthur Mitchell, K.C.B. ; Sir A. Buchan-Hepburn, 

 Barf., and Mr. J. Mackay Bernard, vice-presidents; Mr. 

 R. T. Omond and Mr. E. M. VVedderburn, honorary secre- 

 taries ; and Mr. W. B. Wilson, honorary treasurer. 



The selected subject of the essay for the Weber-Parkes 

 prize and medals, to be awarded by the Royal College of 

 Physicians in 1912, is " The Influence of Mixed and 

 Secondary Infections upon Pulmonary Tuberculosis in 

 Man, and the Measures, Preventive and Curative, for deal- 

 ing with Them." All essays, together with any prepara- 

 tions made in illustration of them, must be transmitted 

 to the registrar of the college during the last week of 

 May, igi2. 



On November 24, exactly fifty years after the publication 

 of the "Origin of Species," a number of biological and 

 medical societies of the Netherlands met in one of the 

 large halls of the Amsterdam Zoological Gardens (Natura 

 Artis Magistra) to commemorate this event and the 

 immense and beneficial influence which Darwinism has 

 continued to exercise on human thought since then. 

 Addresses were delivered by Prof. Hugo de Vries on 

 Darwin's visit to the Galapagos Archipelago, and by Prof. 

 A. A. W. Hubrecht on Darwin and the descent of man. 

 The hall was crowded to overflowing, and lavishly decorated 

 with plants, a bust of Darwin occupying the centre in 

 front of the platform. Altogether, the commemoration was 

 impressive and the enthusiasm spontaneous. 



At the monthly meeting of the governors of the Imperial 

 College of Science and Technology held on December 10, a 

 letter was presented from Dr. Henry T. Bovey, F.R.S., 

 tendering his resignation as rector. It is understood that 

 this step has been taken owing to the condition of Dr. 

 Bovey's health. The resignation, which came as a great 

 surprise, was accepted with the deepest regret, and refer- 

 ence was made to the rector's great devotion to, and keen 

 interest in, the important work which he had so recently 

 undertaken, and to his unfailing courtesy and considera- 

 tion in his dealings with all. Dr. Bovey was appointed 

 rector in May of last year ; and the new institution has 

 derived a great advantage from his organising power and 

 educational experience. The governors will shortly appoint 

 a successor. 



The Times of December 9 gives an account of the resuhs 

 of a successful expedition, under MM. Paul Pelliot and 

 NO. 2094, VOL. 82] 



Nonette, which has just returned from Central Asia. The 

 mission was equipped by the Comit^ de I'Asie fran^aise, 

 the Ministry of Public Instruction, the Acad^mie des 

 Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, and a number of other 

 societies, aided by private subscribers, the total cost being 

 about i6,ooo/. It has accomplished topographic surveys 

 (by Dr. Vaillant) over a distance of 3000 kilometres, on a 

 route from Andijan, in Russian Turkestan, to Chongchu, 

 on the Peking-Hankau line, across the Taldyk Davan 

 range, where a height of 13,000 feet was attained. The 

 results have been remarkable from the point of view of 

 natural history and anthropology, but the archaeological and 

 bibliographical discoveries have surpassed all expectations. 

 At Twen Hwang wooden statues and paintings on silk, 

 alleged to be of date anterior to the eleventh century, were 

 secured, also a whole library, including a Nestorian manu- 

 script, printed records, and records stamped on wood, of the 

 seventh century, most of them unknown in Europe and in 

 China itself. These collections will be added to the Chinese 

 section of the National Librarv. 



A STATEMENT of the progress being made with the pre- 

 parations for Captain Scott's Antarctic Expedition has 

 been communicated to Renter's Agency. Dr. Wilson, chief 

 of the scientific staff, will also be the zoologist and artist. 

 It is anticipated that three geologists will accompany the 

 expedition, and that one of these will be Mr. Mackintosh 

 Bell, director of the Geological Survey of New Zealand 

 who has volunteered his services. Mr. R. Simpson, of the 

 Indian Survey Department, will be the physicist of 'the ex- 

 pedition. He is now on his way to England from Simla 

 A second physicist will be taken. There will be two or 

 possibly three, biologists. With Dr. Wilson will' be 

 associated a second medical man, who will study botany 

 and bacteriology, giving particular attention to the investi- 

 gation of blood parasites. The services of Mr. C. R. 

 Meares, who lately completed a journey on the Chino- 

 Tibetan border, have been secured for the expedition. He 

 will leave England almost at once for eastern Siberia to 

 obtain the ponies and dogs. He will collect the animals at 

 Vladivostok, from which place they will be sent to Kobe 

 and trans-shipped for Australia and New Zealand. Mr. 

 Meares will join the expedition in New Zealand. 



We learn from a report recently issued by the United 

 States Department of State that during the first Pan- 

 American Scientific Congress, held at Santiago, Chile, In 

 January last, the following resolution on the universal 

 time system, based on the Greenwich meridian, was sub- 

 mitted by Prof. David Todd, of Amherst College, U.S.A., 

 and unanimously adopted ;— Whereas (i) in the relations 

 between the peoples of the world, diplomatic, commercial, 

 or other, a standard of time is a common and well- 

 recognised benefit to all ; and whereas (2) the world standard 

 of univer-sal time, based on the division of the globe into 

 hourly belts reckoned from a common origin, has now been 

 in use with indisputable advantages since November iS, 

 1883, in certain countries ; and whereas (3) practically all 

 the European countries, Egypt, South Africa, India, 

 Burmah, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, the 

 United States, and other countries, have already adopted 

 this system of universal time ; and whereas (4) the necessary 

 time-signals are now sent out daily, with all essential 

 accuracy and without cost, throughout the American con- 

 tinent, by cable or wireless telegraphy : Be it resolved, that 

 the first Pan-American Scientific Congress urge upon such 

 Governments as may not already have taken this step the 

 adoption of the universal time system referred to the 

 meridian of Greenwich, to be effective from January i, 

 19 10. This comprehensive endorsement of world time by 



