P'kbruary 24, 1 9 10] 



NA TURE 



495 



Quick professor of parasitology at Cambridge University ; 

 Major L. Rogers, Indian Medical Service ; Prof. J. L. Todd, 

 associate professor of parasitology at McGill University. 



By Colonel C. R. Conder's all too early death on 

 February 16, science and geography have suffered a great 

 loss. When still a 30ung subaltern of engineers he was 

 selected to continue the survey of the Holy Land under 

 the auspices of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and he 

 amply justified the selection. He had a natural aptitude 

 for surveying, and he and his assistants made an excellent 

 survey of a large area of the Holy Land. The difficulties 

 he had to encounter were not confined to those incident to 

 the survey of a rugged and unmapped country ; to these 

 were added troubles with Turkish officials and with the 

 inhabitants ; but his tact and genial nature, combined 

 with the knowledge of the people and language he soon 

 acquired, his energy and enthusiasm, triumphed over all 

 obstacles, and enabled him to carry out the work in a 

 manner which reflected credit on him and on his country. 

 His service in Palestine affected the rest of Conder's life. 

 .\ man of his ability and energy naturally did not confine 

 himself to his technical survey work and to the identifica- 

 tion of Biblical sites. He threw himself wholeheartedly 

 into the many questions which arose in connection with this 

 work, and applied to them a keen and ingenious intellect 

 and an unbounded industry. The interests and studies 

 which Conder first took up in Palestine were pursued by 

 him to the end of a hard-working life. While in the army 

 his official duties were often important and arduous, but 

 he spent almost the whole of his spare time in study and 

 literary work connected with the Holy Land, and after 

 his retirement he devoted himself entirely to this work. 

 Conder spent a good manv years on the congenial work 

 of the Ordnance Survey ; he did good work on some of 

 the other varied duties of the Royal Engineers, and later 

 on under the Irish Government, but his name will be 

 remembered mainly through his survey, his numerous 

 books, and memoirs on the Holy Land. The views he pro- 

 pounded do not command universal acceptance, but they 

 were based on hard and conscientious w'ork, on deep study, 

 and on intimate personal knowledge of the Holy Land, and 

 iiis works have added largely to our knowledge. 



CvcLO.Nic disturbances have for some time past con- 

 tinued to arrive from the Atlantic with more than usual 

 frequency, and since the commencement of February the 

 British Islands have been constantly under the influence 

 of boisterous, warm, and moist south-westerly winds, which 

 have blown from off the open ocean. Barometrical 

 pressure has been uniformly lower in the northern part of 

 our area than in the south. The central areas of the dis- 

 turbances have passed either to the north of Iceland or 

 between Iceland and Scotland. The storm systems became 

 more thoroughly developed from about February 17, when 

 a fairly severe gale was experienced in our northern and 

 western districts. On Saturday, February 19, another 

 important disturbance arrived from the Atlantic, and the 

 barometer fell considerably below 29 inches over the 

 greater part of the kingdom, accompanied by strong gales 

 in many places. This disturbance was passing away to the 

 north-eastward when a fresh fall of the barometer set in 

 on our west coasts, resulting in a very severe storm over 

 the whole country on Sunday. The barometer at 6 p.m. 

 was as low as 28-1 inches in the north-west of Ireland, 

 and the mercury was below 29 inches over nearly the 

 whole of the British Islands. The barometrical gradient 

 was very steep in Ireland and over the southern portion 

 of England, and the heaviest winds were probably experi- 

 NO. 2104, VOL. 82] 



enced in the English Channel and over the North Sea, 

 where, from the estimated strength of the wind, the rate 

 attained fully 70 or 80 miles an hour. The wind reached 

 its maximum strength on Sunday afternoon and evening, 

 and the gale was particularly gusty. At Greenwich the 

 anemometer registered 307 lb. on the square foot at 

 8-55 ?■•"• ; but this force was not of long duration, the 

 maximum force at other times during the gale being only 

 about 23 lb. on the square foot. The gale was, however, 

 one of the strongest experienced in recent years, and much 

 damage was done both on land and at sea, accompanied 

 by serious loss of life. Thunderstorms occurred on the 

 night of February 20 in parts of England, and the whole 

 character of the weather was extremely unsettled. De- 

 tailed accounts of the absolute wind velocity for various 

 parts of the United Kingdom have not yet been received 

 at the Meteorological Office, but the records when to hand 

 vv'ill prove both valuable and interesting. 



The following officers have been elected for 1910 in 

 connection with the Paris Bureau des Longitudes: Presi- 

 dent, Prof. H. Poincar^ ; vice-president, M. G. Bigourdan ; 

 secretary, M. H. Deslandres. 



.^T the annual general meeting of the Physical Society, 

 held on February 11, Prof. H. L. Callendar, F.R.S., was 

 elected president for the ensuing year; and Prof. S. 

 Arrhenius, Madame Curie, and Prof. G. E. Hale were 

 elected honorary fellows of the society. 



Sir Willum Preece, K.CiB., Sir Joseph Swan, and 

 Prof. G. Vernon Harcourt have been elected the first 

 honorary members of the Illuminating Engineering Society. 

 The first anniversary dinner of the society was held on 

 Thursday, February 10. 



At 6.38 a.m. on February 18 a sharp earthquake was felt 

 at Canea (Crete). The shock was accompanied by a sub- 

 terranean sound and an undulating movement lasting about 

 fourteen seconds. Several buildings were damaged in Canea 

 and the neighbouring country. Two slight shocks were 

 felt at Malta on the same date shortly after 6.0 a.m. 



Mr. A. D. Hall, F.R.S., delivered, on February 22, 

 the first " Masters " lectures, established by the Royal 

 Horticultural Society in memory of the late Dr. M. T. 

 Masters. His subject was the adaptation of the soil to 

 the plant ; and he described the factors which induce a 

 particular plant to confine itself in nature to one special 

 type of soil, or cause a given plant to flourish in one 

 garden while failing in another. 



We learn from the Times that the inhabitants of Gross- 

 Lichterfelde, the native place of Otto Lilienthal, have 

 decided to erect a monument to the memory of their 

 countryman, who was amongst the earliest practical 

 pioneers in aviation, and met his death in 1896 while 

 making a flight at Gbmberg, in the province of Branden- 

 burg. The monument will be erected either on the hill 

 on the slopes of which Lilienthal made his early experi- 

 ments, or in the square on the bank of the Teltour Canal. 



The anniversary meeting of the Geological Society was 

 held on Friday, February 18, when the officers were elected 

 as follows :— President : Prof. W. W. Watts, F.R.S. Vice- 

 presidents: Dr. C. W. Andrews, F.R.S., Mr. A. Harker, 

 F.R.S., Mr. W. Monckton, and Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S. 

 Secretaries : Prof. E. J. Garwood and Dr. A. Smith Wood- 

 ward, F.R.S. Foreign Secretary: Sir Archibald Geikie, 

 K.C.B., Pres.R.S. Treasurer: Dr. Aubrey Strahan, F.R.S. 

 The following medals and funds were presented : — Wollaston 

 medal to Prof. W. B. Scott ; Murchison medal to Prof. 



