January 20, 19 10] 



A^A TURE 



343 



tucion, Washington, D.C. ; general secretary, Prof. 

 F. E. Clements, University of Minnesota; secretary- 

 of the council, Prof. J. Zeleny, University of Minne- 

 sota. 



Grants were made to the Concilium Bibliographi- 

 cum Zoologicum at Zurich, and to individuals as 

 follows : — To Prof. T. D. .\. Cockerell, to assist in 

 an investigation of the microscopic structure of the 

 scales of different genera of fishes ; to Dr. W. D. 

 Hoyt, to assist in an investigation upon environic 

 relations of the alga Dictyota, which develops a 

 rhythm in fruiting coincident with every alternate 

 springtide ; to Prof. G. J. Peirce, to assist in inves- 

 tigations of organisms inhabiting the alternately fill- 

 ing and drying salt-water pools along the coasts of 

 central California. The last two grants are to be 

 expended under the supervision of the standing com- 

 mittee upon the relation of plants to climate. 



'IHE MEAN HEIGHT OF THE ANTARCTIC 

 CONTINENT. 



pROF. W. ^lEIXARDUS gives the results of an 

 ■'■ estimate of the mean elevation of the central 

 core of the Antarctic land mass, based on the dis- 

 tribution of atmospheric pressure and consequent 

 exchange of air between the two hemispheres, in the 

 November and December numbers of Petermann's 

 Mitteiluiigen. Extending Spitaler's results with 

 the help of Mohn's discussion of the From observa- 

 tions, and Baschin's maps of the southern oceans. Prof. 

 Meinardus finds that, while the mean pressure (not 

 reduced to sea-level) is o'S5 mm. higher in January 

 than in July between latitudes o° to 80° N., in the 

 zone 0° to 50° S. it is 2-i4 mm. lower. In higher 

 southern latitudes, as far as 60° S. lat., the January 

 pressure is 073 mm. less than the July, and from 

 60° S. to the Antarctic circle the relation is almost 

 one of equality. Hence, allowing for proportional 

 areas, it follows that within the Antarctic circle the 

 true atmospheric pressure must be 11 mm. higher in 

 January than in July. 



Obser\'ation, however, has so far failed to reveal 

 the existence of this excess; the diminution of the 

 southward temperature gradient and consequent 

 weakening of easterly winds on the edge of Antarctis 

 in summer render it probable that, as in the north 

 polar region, the pressure at sea-level is actually lower 

 in summer than in winter. The discrepancy can be 

 explained by assuming a mean elevation for' the area 

 within the Antarctic circle, and taking —3° and —26° 

 as the mean temperatures for January and July re- 

 spectively, Porf. Meinardus gets a value for this of 

 1328 metres, or, as a second approximation with 

 temperatures -6° and -29°, 1350 metres, with a 

 probable error of ± 150 metres. Having regard to 

 the proportion of the area known to be covered by 

 sea, the land surface is taken as 14 millions of square 

 kilometres (Bruce and Krummel), and its mean height 

 then becomes 2000 metres, with a probable error"' of 

 + 200 metres. 



Recent explorations suggest that this value is not 

 far from the truth, the covering of inland ice being, 

 as in Greenland, an important factor. If it is ap- 

 proximately correct, Antarctica is the largest mass of 

 raised land in the world; it is half as'large again 

 as Europe, and Asia, the highest of the known con- 

 tinents, has a mean elevation of less than half (950 

 metres). The accepted value of the mean height of 

 the land surface of the world, 700 metres, is raised 

 to 825 metres, and the mean level of the physical 

 surface of the globe from 205 to 240 metres. 

 NO. 2099, VOL. 82] 



THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM. 



T N Nature of December 16 and 30 we reprinted 

 -•• from the Times some letters dealing with this 

 subject. We were under the impression that the main 

 point of contention was the complete separation of the 

 Natural History Museum from the other collections in 

 the British Museum, as recommended by the Duke of 

 Devonshire's Royal Commission in 1S74, to go no 

 further back. 



Sir Archibald Geikie has since pointed out to us 

 that the questions put to him in the letter from the 

 Speaker of the House of Commons to which he 

 replied "were entirely in reference to the relations 

 between the Trustees and the Museum," and that, this 

 being so, we should have given a letter from Mr. 

 Carruthers dealing with this point which had also 

 appeared in the Times. We therefore now reprint 

 the letter in question : — 



Sir, — The President of the Royal Society, Sir Archibald 

 Geikie, has expressed clearly his view on the questions in 

 relation to the administration of the British Museum 

 recently raised in \'Our columns. A former eminent Presi- 

 dent, Prof. Huxley, was brought by his experience as 

 Trustee, as Sir Archibald has been, to similar favourable 

 conclusions. 



It was notorious that Prof. Huxley severely criticised 

 the governing body of the Natural History Departments of 

 the British Museum. He had expressed this view to me 

 personally, but, after he had been some time a Trustee, 

 he spontaneously informed me that he had totally changed 

 his opinion, and that he could not imagine a more efficient 

 svstem of administration. This, I must add, was previous 

 to 1S98. 



.'Vs Keeper of Botany for twenty-four years, I cannot 



recall a single occasion in which my department suffered 



from the action of the Trustees. I always found them 



intelligent and sympathetic in the affairs of the department. 



William Carruthers. 



NOTES. 



The council of the Royal Astronomical Society has 

 awarded the gold medal of the society to Prof. F. Kiistner, 

 director of the University Observatory of Bonn, for his 

 catalogue of stars, his pioneer determination of the 

 aberration constant from motions in the line of sight, and 

 his detection of the variation of latitude. 



The Geological Society of London will this year award 

 its medals and funds as follows : — Wollaston medal, to 

 Prof. W. B. Scott; Murchison medal, to Prof. A. P. 

 Coleman ; Lyell medal, to Dr. A. Vaughan ; Wollaston 

 fund, to Mr. E. B. Bailey; Murchison fund, to Mr. J. W. 

 Stather; Lyell fund, to Mr. F. R. Cowper Reed and Dr. 

 R. Broom. 



Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., has been elected an honorary 

 member of the Socledad Espanola de Fisica y Quimica. 



Prof. W. Trabert has been appointed director of the 

 k.k. Zentralanstalt fur Meteorologie und Geodynamik at 

 Vienna. 



M. G. Eiffel has been elected president of the Meteor- 

 ological Society of France for igio, and M. Teisserenc de 

 Bort and Dr. de Valcourt vice-presidents. 



The death is announced, at the age of ninety-one years, 

 of Dr. George Skene Keith, formerly a well-known Edin- 

 burgh physician. Dr. Keith was the author of the book 

 " Plea for a Simpler Life," which had a wide circulation, 

 and of other works. 



By the will of the late Sir Alfred Jones, the sum of 

 about 500,000/. will be at the disposal of the trustees " for 



