June 8, 1905J 



NA TURE 



Colombo May 8, arrive Chagos Atchipelago about May 20, 

 and work there until about July 15 ; arrive Mauritius 

 about August i, and stay until about August 15; arrive 

 Seychelles about September 8, leave about September 15, 

 and return there on October 15 after visiting the various 

 Amirante Islands. A second steam-launch has been 

 acquired, and Mr. Stanley Gardiner considers that he is 

 now fully equipped for work. The expedition will probably 

 be next heard of feom Peros Banhos, which ought to be 

 reached early in June. 



A Reuter telegram of June 1 states that a severe earth- 

 quake shock was felt in the morning of that day through- 

 out the whole of Monffenegro. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death of 

 Mrs. Emma Hubbard, who at various times contributed 

 to our correspondence columns interesting observations on 

 natural history, more particularly on the subject of birds 

 and thsir ways. Mrs. Hubbard also did useful service to 

 science by indexing scientific works,, _ among them being 

 Sir Michael Foster's " Physiology " and her brother's 

 "Ancient Stone Implements." 



The first International Congress of Anatomists will be 

 held at Getieva, Switzerland, on August 7 to 10. The 

 following national societies are to participate in this con- 

 gress : — the Anatomical Society of Great Britain, the 

 Anatomische Gesellschaft, the -Association des Anatomistes, 

 the Association of American Anatomists, and the Unione 

 Zoologica Italiana. The organisation of the congress has 

 been entrusted to a committee representing these societies, 

 and consisting of Profs. Minot, Nicolas, Romiti, Syming- 

 ton, and Waldeyer. The presidents thus far named are 

 Prof. Sabatier, of Montpellicr; Prof. Romiti, of Pisa; and 

 Prof. Minot, of Harvard. The congress owes its successful 

 initiation largely to Prof. Nicolas, of the University of 

 Nancy, to whom inquiries may be addressed. 



On June i the Prince of Wales paid a private visit to 

 the Cotton Exhibition at the Imperial Institute, which is 

 being held by the Board of Trade in conjunction with the 

 British Cotton-growing Association. The exhibition, which 

 has been arranged by the scientific staff of the Imperial 

 Institute under the direction of Prof. Wyndham Dunstan, 

 F.R.S., in consultation with Sir Alfred Bateman and Sir 

 Cecil Clementi-Smith, the managing committee of the 

 institute, is intended to show not only the progress of 

 cotton cultivation on British soil, but also to indicate the 

 stages in the conversion of the raw material into the manu- 

 factured fabric. Bulk samples of commercial cottons 

 grown in different parts of the Empire are supplemented 

 with small specimens arranged to show the length of 

 staple, and are accompanied by photographs of cotton fields, 

 ginneries, &c., and statistical diagrams and maps. The 

 British Cotton-growing Association, in addition to their 

 raw cottons, exhibit a unique collection of native textiles. 

 The machinery section includes models of Arkwright's 

 machines, a power-Joom in operation, and several testing 

 machines. Manufacturing processes are illustrated by 

 specimens and explained by means of diagrams, and 

 samples of goods produced by special processes, including 

 the making of " selvyt," are on view. 



The weather report issued by the Meteorological Office 

 for the week ended on June 3 showed that the rainfall 

 since the beginning of the year had only exceeded the 

 average in the north of Scotland (excess 5-4 inches) and 

 in the north of Ireland (excess oS inch). The greatest 

 deficiency was in north-east England (32 inches) and in 

 the midland and southern counties (2 to 2-6 inches). The 

 NO. 1858, VOL. 72I 



heavy downpours in the early part of this week will have 

 contributed something towards making' up, the deficiency, 

 especially in the eastern and southern p^tft of the kingdom. 

 iThe Daily If'eaf/ier Report of Monday {ast showed a great 

 change in the distribution of baroinetfip. pressure, there 

 being a steady increase over the northern and north- 

 western districts, and a shallow depression having formed 

 over France. During the twenty-four hours ending at 

 Sh. a.m. on Tuesday, the rainfall was continuous and 

 heavy over the south and south-east of England, amount- 

 ing to nearly 2 inches at Dungeness, 1-5 incljes at Clacton- 

 on-Sea, and to an inch in London, the rain still continuing, 

 practically without cessation, during the whole of Tuesday. 

 The heaviest falls reported for the twenty-four hours ending 

 Sh. a.m. on Wednesdav . were 0.57 inch in London and 

 nearly half an inch at Oxford and Bath. 



The Engineering and Mining Journal records that pay- 

 able ore has been reached at the New Chum Railway 

 Mine, at Bendigo, Victoria, at a depth of 4:62 feet. This 

 is the greatest depth at which gold mining has been carried 

 on. It has, however, been exceeded at the Lake Superior 

 copper mines. 



The plans have been completed for the fifteen-story 

 building, to cost 195,000/., which Mr. Andrew Carnegie 

 is to present to the engineering societies of New York. 

 Adjoining it in the rear will be a thirteen-story house for 

 the Engineers' Club, which is to cost an additional 

 75,ooo(., and is also part of Mr. Carnegie's gift. 



In the Engineer there is a long and interesting de- 

 scription of the instructive case of models showing the 

 construction of the leading types of expansion and plain 

 slide-valv«s lately placed on view in the Victoria and 

 Albert Museum. The collection forms a complete record 

 of the progress made in this important branch of steam 

 engineering. 



It is reported in Engineering that the world's copper 

 production in 1904 amounted to 613,125 tons, the United 

 .States furnishing more than half the total. Great things 

 in the way of copper production are expected from Alaska, 

 where development is being carried on rapidly, especially 

 in Tanana County. In the same journal, attention is 

 directed to an important discovery of tin ore in the 

 Vlaglaagte district of the Transvaal. The world's sources 

 of tin supply are so few that interest must always attach 

 to reported new finds. 



We have received a copy of a paper reprinted from the 

 Transactions of the Institution of Mining Engineers, read 

 on January 10, by Mr. James .Ashworth, on outbursts 

 of gas and coal at the Morrissey collieries, in the Crow's 

 Nest Pass Coalfield, British Columbia. A huge outburst 

 on November 18, 1904, caused the death of fourteen miners, 

 and it is estimated that some 3,000,000 cubic feet of gas, 

 at atmospheric pressure, were set free by the outburst in 

 thirty-five minutes. Mr. Ashworth suggests that these 

 unusually large outbursts may have some connection with 

 the petroleum occurring in the district. 



At the forty-second general meeting of the Institution 

 of Mining Engineers, held in London on June 2 and 3, 

 several interesting papers were read. Mr. T. Y. Greener 

 dealt with the firing of boilers by waste heat from coke 

 ovens. Mr. M. R. Kirby described the compound winding 

 engine at Lunipsey iron mine. Its steam consumption is 

 only 38 lb. to 40 lb. per indicated horse-power hour. Mr. 

 ,F. Hird gave the results of tests of the electric winding 

 engine at Friedrichshall, and -Mr. E. Lozc described electric 

 winding engines installed at French collieries. Mining 



