July 6, 1905] 



NATURE 



227 



the laws of radio-activity, and of our present Icnowledge of 

 the same." The medal has been previously awarded to 

 Lord Rayleigh, Sir William Ramsay, and Prof. Rontgen. 



A PORTRAIT of Prof. W. Osier has been presented to the 

 University of Pennsylvania by the members of the classes 

 which from 1885 to 1891 studied under Prof. Osier when 

 he occupied the chair of clinical medicine at the university. 



A MEDAL has been struclv to commemorate the successful 

 completion of the Simplon Tunnel. On one side of the 

 medal is a figure of Mercury and a locomotive emerging 

 from the tunnel, with the inscription " Au.x Collaborateurs 

 et Ouvri(5rs du Percemcnt du Simplon"; on the other is 

 a representation of the meeting of the workmen when the 

 last obstacle had been broken down, and bears the words 

 " Souvenir de la Rencontre des Galeries, Fevr. 1905." 



Busts of Joseph Lancaster and Michael Faraday — tlie 

 gift of Mr. Passmore Edwards — were unveiled on Wednes- 

 day of last weeli in the entrance hall of the Borough 

 Polytechnic Institute by Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, 

 F.R.S., who delivered an address. 



To commemorate the anniversary of the one hundred 

 and twenty-fifth birthday of Audubon, the American 

 Museum of Natural History has placed on exhibition a 

 collection of .\udubon relics, among which is the portfolio 

 in which Audubon carried specimen plates while securing 

 subscribers to his great work, together with sketches and 

 finished plates. 



K SCHEME for the establishment of a Central Research 

 Institute at Kasauli, and a laboratory for scientific, 

 medical, and sanitary work at the headquarters of each 

 provincial Indian Government, to provide more adequate 

 means for the scientific study of etiology and the nature 

 of the diseases of the country, has been published. It is 

 hoped that when the project has been developed, not only 

 will it be no longer necessary for officers to go to Europe 

 to study the bacteriology and parasitology of tropical 

 diseases, but that workers from England and the Euro- 

 pean Continent will avail themselves of the Indian labor- 

 atories and the unrivalled material for study which the 

 diseases of the country afford. The scheme has the 

 approval of the Secretary of State, and the Government 

 of India proposes to appoint as the first director of the 

 Central Research Institute Lieut.-Colonel Semple, M.D., 

 well known for his work in connection with the Pasteur 

 Institute of India. 



A NEW society, to be known as the Harvey Society, has 

 been established in New York under the patronage of the 

 New York Academy of Medicine. Its purpose is the 

 diffusion of scientific knowledge of anatomy, physiology, 

 bacteriology, pathology, pharmacology, and physiological 

 and pathological chemistry by public lectures given by men 

 who are workers in the subjects presented. Each lecture 

 is intended to represent the state of modern knowledge 

 concerning the topic treated, and will be addressed to the 

 general medical profession who are interested in the 

 scientific side of medicine. The president is Dr. Graham 

 Lusk. The members of the society consist of two classes, 

 active and associate members. Active members are labor- 

 atory workers in the medical sciences residing in New 

 York ; associate members are such persons as may be in 

 sympathy with the objects of the society, and reside in 

 New York. The first course of lectures will be given at 

 the Academy of Medicine on Saturday evenings during the 

 winter of the years 1905-6. 



NO. 1862, VOL. 72] 



A CONVERSAZIONE took place at King's College, London, 

 on Thursday last, when many scientific and other exhibits 

 were on view. An interesting item was a set of various 

 forms of glow-lamps, a demonstration of which was given 

 by Prof. E. Wilson in the Siemens electrical engineering 

 laboratory, and which included mercury-vapour, Nernst, 

 tantalum, and osmium lamps. There was also an ex- 

 hibition of crystallisation shown on the screen by Prof. 

 Herbert Jackson. 



The annual conversazione of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers was held on June 29 at the British Museum 

 (Natural History), South Kensington. It was attended by 

 upwards of 1000 guests. 



The third International Electric Tramway and Railway 

 Exhibition was opened at the Agricultural Hall, Islington, 

 on Monday last by Lord Derby. _ 



The annual general meeting of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry will begin in London on Monday next, June 10. 

 The society numbers among its members some 1500 

 Americans, and at the last annual meeting, which, with 

 special reference to the St. Louis Exhibition, was held in 

 the United States, an American, Dr. W. H. Nichols, was 

 elected president in succession to Sir William Ramsay. 

 The American visit was a great success, and the British 

 members of the society have looked forward to the time 

 when they would be able to welcome in Great Britain their 

 president and American and Canadian co-members. The 

 proceedings in connection with the forthcoming meeting 

 have therefore been specially arranged in view of this 

 return visit. Dr. Nichols has already arrived in England, 

 and we understand that the guests of the society will 

 number in all about 120. A lengthy and interesting pro- 

 gramme has been arranged. 



The sixty-fourth annual meeting of the Medico-psycho- 

 logical Association of Great Briain and Ireland will be 

 held at 11 Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, on July 20 

 and 21 under the presidency of Dr. T. Outterson Wood. 

 The annual dinner of the association is to take place on 

 July 30 at the Whitehall Rooms. 



The American Anthropological Association is to meet in 

 San Francisco, Cal., from August 29 to 31 next under 

 the presidency of Prof. F. W. Putnam, when papers re- 

 lating to ethnology, archfeology, prehistoric man, physical 

 anthropology, linguistics, and general anthropology will be 

 read. The museum of the department of anthropology 

 of the University of California at the affiliated colleges in 

 San Francisco, which has recently been installed, but 

 not yet opened to the public, will be the headquarters of 

 the association. 



A PRELIMINARY circular has been issued to announce that 

 the tenth International Geological Conference will be held 

 in 1906 in Mexico. An executive committee has been 

 appointed, with M. Jos^ G. Aguilera, director of the 

 National Geological Institute of Mexico, as president, and 

 M. Ezequiel Ord6riez, assistant director of the same institu- 

 tion, general secretary. It is expected that the congress 

 will open on September 6, 1906, and last for eight days. 



The Postmaster-General again directs attention to the 

 fact that pathological specimens and articles of a similar 

 nature may be forwarded only by registered letter post 

 and in proper cases. The Post Office regulations provide 

 that any deleterious liquid or substance sent by post must 

 be enclosed in a receptacle hermetically sealed, which re- 

 ceptacle must itself be placed in a strong wooden, leathern, 



