May 1 1, 1905] 



NA TURE 



39 



astounded him more, he said, in his recent visit to Japan 

 than the way in which the Japanese have inquired into the 

 medicine and surgery of the western world and 'the mar- 

 vellous thing they are mailing out of it. It is difficult to 

 credit the astonishing advance made by the Japanese in 

 medical equipment in time of war. Many of the problems 

 which have been the terror of war in European countries 

 the Japanese are solving or have solved. British troops 

 enter a war with many determinations — one of which is to 

 have 10 per cent, of sick, and they get it. The Japanese 

 are quite content with i per cent, of sick, and they get it. 

 The Japanese have all the qualities of a surgeon. They 

 have infinite patience and infinite tenderness. Sir F. Treves 

 is confident that not many years hence there will be seen 

 in Japan one of the most progressive schools of medicine 

 the world has ever known. 



The annual congress of the South-eastern Union of 

 Scientific Societies will be held at Reigate on June 7-10 

 inclusive, under the presidency of Prof. Flinders Petrie, 

 F.R.S. Among the papers to be contributed are the 

 following : — " Mendel's Law," Miss Saunders; " Botany of 

 Reigate District," Messrs. R. H. Welchman and C. E. 

 Salmon; " Local Orchids," Dr. Hodgson; " Eggs of Lepi- 

 doptera," Mr. Tonge ; "The Law of Treasure Trove in 

 Relation to Archseological Research," Dr. William Martin; 

 " The Land and Fresh-water Shells of S.E. England," 

 Mr. A. Santer Kennard. There will be excursions to 

 Worth Church; Gatton ; Mr. Maw's observatory, Outwood ; 

 Reigate Castle; Mr. Brown's Atherfield clay pit, &c. The 

 Mayor of Reigate will give a reception on Friday, June 9. 

 The congress secretaries are Mr. G. E. Frisby, Redhill, 

 and Mrs. Taylor, Clear's Corner, Reigate, from whom all 

 information can be obtained. 



Dt'RiNO the forthcoming eclipse of the sun, on August 30, 

 aeronautical ascents will be made at Paris, Burgos, Prague, 

 and very likely in Algeria. It is intended to study the 

 variations, not only of the temperature of the air in the 

 shade and in the sun, but also the solar radiation at several 

 altitudes. If it is possible to take aerial photographs of 

 the corona from the balloons it will be done at Burgos, and 

 possibly at Wargia. M. Tripled, director of the Algiers 

 Observatory, has left for Guelma, on a railway 36 miles 

 south-west of Bona, and really a desert oasis. The sky 

 is anticipated to be quite clear at that place, as at the 

 end of August northerly breezes, which are very frequent 

 on the coast, are hardly to be felt in the Sahara. The 

 Algerian eclipse observatory will be housed in the French 

 public school. For the last twenty years a weather bureau 

 has been established in Algeria, and is situated on the 

 terrace of the City Hall. The establishment is connected 

 by telegraph with forty stations, which are sending 

 regularly each morning observations used in the reduction 

 of the warnings and forecasts. 



Lord Avebcry delivered his presidential address at the 

 soiree of the Selborne Society on May 3. In the course of 

 his remarks he referred to the animated discussion which 

 took place recently in the newspapers as to whether Greek 

 should be a compulsory subject in university examinations 

 — which is euphemistically termed " maintaining the Greek 

 basis of education against the material tendencies of the 

 present day." It is not we, he continued, who wish to pit 

 Greek grammar against nature-study. Greek — even a little 

 Greek — is very useful. But nothing was said. Lord ."Vve- 

 bury contended, about science being a compulsory subject — 

 which alike from a practical and an educational point of 

 view is even more important. Education without science 



is incomplete and one-sided, and the greatest classical 

 scholar, if he know nothing of the world we live in, is but 

 a half-educated man after all. Sir James Crichton Browne 

 spoke of the value of the society's work from the point of 

 view of mental health, while Sir John Cockburn urged the 

 usefulness of that study of nature which is not rigidly 

 scientific. Among the many exhibits of natural history 

 and antiquarian interest was some honey gathered by bees 

 in the " East End." This was shown by the Stepney 

 Borough Museum, and it is practically certain that it was 

 derived from sugar on the ships in the London Docks, a 

 mile from the hive. 



The Belgian Royal Academy has issued the following 

 lists of prize subjects for 1905 and 1906 : — for 1905, in 

 mathematical and physical sciences, on the combinations 

 formed by halogens ; on physical, particularly thermal, 

 phenomena accompanying dissolution ; on linear complexes 

 of the third order ; and on the deviation of the vertical treated 

 from the hypothesis of the non-coincidence of the centres 

 of mass of the earth's crust and nucleus. In natural 

 sciences, on the function of albuminoids in nutrition ; on 

 the reproduction and se.\uality of Dicyemidse ; on the 

 silicates of Belgium ; on the formations of Brabant 

 between the Bruxellian and the Tongrian ; on certain 

 Belgian deposits of sand, clay, and pebbles ; on the sexuality 

 of the individuals resulting from a single ovum in certain 

 dicecious plants ; and on the development of Amphi- 

 o.xus. For igo6 the subjects in mathematical and physical 

 sciences are : — on critical phenomena in physics ; on 

 n-linear forms (n>3) ; on thermal conductivity of liquids 

 and solutions ; and on the unipolar induction of Weber. 

 In natural sciences, on the Cambrian series of Stavelot ; 

 on the effect of mineral substances on the assimilation of 

 carbon by organisms ; on the effects of osmotic pressure in 

 animal life ; on the tectonic of Brabant ; on the soluble 

 ferments of milk ; and on the physiological action of 

 histones. The essays for 1905 and 1906 are to be sent in 

 by August I of the respective years, and the prizes range 

 from 24!. to 40Z. in value. In addition, prizes bequeathed 

 by Edward Mailly and in memory of Louis Melsens are 

 offered under the usual conditions for astronomy and 

 applied chemistry or physics respectively. 



The codling-moth forms the subject of Bulletin No. 222 

 issued by the entomological division of the Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College Experiment Station. This insect is a 

 serious enemy to fruit-growers in the district, and the 

 author, Mr. R. H. Pettit, has carefully worked out its 

 life-history and devised effective means for its destruction. 



At the first congress of the Association of Economic 

 Biologists, held in Birmingham University on April 19-20, 

 Mr. A. E. Shipley directed attention to the circumstance 

 that bacteriological and parasitical science is unrepresented 

 on the committee appointed by Parliament to inquire into 

 the nature of grouse-disease. The president, Mr. F. \ . 

 Theobald, emphasised the importance of closer study of 

 the aphids affecting cultivated plants in this country, while 

 parasites in the liver of swine, the porosity of wood, the 

 injuries inflicted on plants by spring-tails, and ticks and 

 fleas as conveyers of disease formed the subjects of other 

 communications. 



Article No. 4 of vol. xx. of the Journal of the College 

 of Science of Tokyo University is devoted to the descrip- 

 tion of the spoon-worms (Gephyrea) of Japan, and is illus- 

 trated by one coloured and three black and white plates. 

 The author, Mr. I. Ikeda, states that hitherto only four 

 species of these worms appear to have been recorded from 



NO. 1854, VOL. 72] 



