274 
NATURE 
Pror. PoyNnriInG being unable to deliver his lectures 
at the Royal Institution on May 30 and June 6, the 
lectures on those dates will be given by Prof. C. G. 
Barkla, F.R.S., upon the subject of ‘X-rays and 
Matter.” 
Tue final meeting of the British subcommittee of 
the Anton Dohrn Memorial Fund Committee was 
held on Wednesday, May 8, in the University of 
London. The hon. treasurer, Prof S. J. Hickson, 
presented the accounts, and stated that after all 
expenses had been paid there was a balance in hand 
amounting to 1631. 18s. 9d. It was resolved that the 
account of the British subcommittee be closed, and 
the balance forwarded to the treasurer of the Inter- 
national Committee. 
A CORRESPONDENT of The Times states that last 
| Bureau, having outgrown the accommodation pro- 
week the Italian naval and military authorities, who 
have been carrying out experiments in wireless tele- 
phony, established communication between Monte 
Mario and the wireless station of Becco di Vela, on 
Maddalena Island, a distance of about 160 miles. A 
long extract from a newspaper was read in Rome and 
heard and repeated at Maddalena. The voices were 
perfectly distinct, so much so that the listener in 
Sardinia detected immediately the substitution of a 
different speaker half-way through the message. 
WE are officially informed that the post of Inspector- 
General of Agriculture in India has been combined 
with that of the director of the Agricultural Research 
Institute and principal of the Agricultural College, | tion, will quickly become available for the remote 
Pusa, under the designation of Agricultural Adviser 
to the Government of India and Director of the 
Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa. All’ communi- 
cations, publications, &c., intended for either of the two 
offices should therefore be addressed to the Agricul- 
tural Adviser to the Government of India and Director 
of the Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa. The 
designation of the post of Assistant Inspector-General 
of Agriculture in India has also been altered to the 
Assistant to the Agricultural Adviser to the Govern- 
ment of India. 
Tue London Institution (Transfer) Bill—or, to give 
the full title, ‘‘A Bill to provide for the transfer to 
the Commissioners of Works of certain property of 
the London Institution for the purposes of a School 
of Oriental Studies, and for the dissolution of the 
Institution, and for purposes in connection therewith ” 
—has now been circulated. It is proposed that the 
property and funds of the institution shall be trans- 
ferred to the commissioners, and that certain books 
and manuscripts will be retained by the institution. 
There will be paid to the institution, in consideration 
for the vesting of the property in the commissioners, 
12,0001. out of moneys provided by Parliament. The 
books and manuscripts retained by the institution are 
to be transferred to such public institutions as may 
be determined by the committee of management. 
The institution will eventually be dissolved, and the 
charter of the institution revoked. The sums of 
money to be paid to the proprietors of the institution 
to discharge their shares are specified in a schedule 
to the Bill. 
NO. 2220, VOL. 89] 
Tue Colonial Office has issued a memorandum 
announcing that from July 1 the Sleeping Sickness 
Bureau will be known as the Tropical Diseases 
Bureau. The Sleeping Sickness Bureau had_ its 
origin in the International Conference on Sleeping 
' Sickness held in London in 1907 and 1908, to concert 
measures for the control of that disease, which was 
spreading rapidly in tropical Africa. After its 
establishment it soon became evident that what the 
Bureau was doing for sleeping sickness could be done 
in the same way for tropical diseases generally. 
Lord Crewe, during his term of office as Secretary of 
State for the Colonies, and Mr. Lewis Harcourt have 
interested themselves in the expansion of the Bureau, 
and the arrangements are now completed. The ex- 
pansion entails increased expenditure, and the annual 
available sum is now approximately soool. The 
vided by the Royal Society, will have its quarters at 
the Imperial Institute. The new Bureau will deal 
with all exotic diseases which are prevalent in tropical 
and subtropical regions, and will publish at frequent 
intervals a Tropical Diseases Bulletin, which will take 
the place of the present Sleeping Sickness Bulletin. 
The director will have the help of an assistant director 
and a number of experts, who will be responsible for 
the different subjects, and will furnish authoritative 
| reviews and summaries of published papers, to appear 
in the Bulletin. Thus the results of the most recent 
researches on every tropical disease in every country, 
new methods of treatment, improved means of preven- 
worker in the tropics. The tropical diseases of 
animals will be treated in a separate publication. 
Many ethnologists are probably unaware of the 
important collections possessed by Marischal College, 
Aberdeen. These have now been rearranged and 
described in an admirable and well-illustrated cata- 
logue, the work of the curator, Dr. R. W. Reid. At 
the present time, when proposals for the establish- 
ment of a folk museum are under consideration, it 
may be remarked that this class of objects is very fully 
represented at Aberdeen. Besides a fine collection of 
prehistoric objects, the museum is particularly rich 
in specimens of those domestic and rural implements 
and appliances which are rapidly passing into disuse 
and will soon be unprocurable. Thus there are 
numerous examples illustrating the arts of spinning 
and weaving, rude agricultural implements, house- 
hold utensils, such as crusie lamps, the “puirman” 
for holding pine splinters used for illumination, and 
many others of equal interest.. Of special importance 
is the marshal staff of Scotland, presented in 1760 
by George, tenth and last Earl Marischal, great- 
great-grandson of George, fifth Earl Marischal, who 
founded the college in 1593. 
Tue Report of the Bacteriologist and Bulletins 
Nos. 8, 9, and ro of the State Board of Agriculture, 
Michigan, dealing with various bacteriological sub- 
jects, which have been sent us, indicate how actively 
agricultural biology is being applied in the United 
States to the elucidation of practical problems, e.g. 
diseases of stock, the treatment of hog-cholera with 
a serum, soil and dairy bacteriology, and so on. 
[May 16, 1972 J : 
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