we 
JUNE 27, 1912] 
NATURE 
429 
London, and the Earl of Derby will also speak at the 
opening ceremony. 
At the anniversary meeting of the Reale Istituto 
Veneto the following prizes were announced :—A 
botanical prize for 1908-10 (Arrigo foundation), divided 
between Dr. Augusto Béguinot and Prof. Alessandro 
Trotter; a prize for the study of higher plant-life in 
the Venice lagoons (Querine Scampaglia foundation), 
to Dr. Augusto Béguinot (Padua); a prize under the 
same foundation to Prof. Domenico Mazzotto 
(Modena), for a study and experimental investiga- 
tions on the modern theory of metallic alloys, and a 
second prize on the same theme to the author of a 
paper on the quaternary alloys of tin, cadmium, bis- 
muth, and lead. 
Tue celebration of the jubilee year in the history 
of the two French reviews—the Revue Bleue and the 
Revue Scientifique, the subtitle of which is the Revue 
Rose—was held in Paris on June 12, at the Hétel 
Continental. The editors were supported at a ban- 
quet by representatives of the Government, Parlia- 
ment, the University, and the Institute of France; in 
fact, not only were men of science, artists, and men 
of letters present, but Parisian society generally 
united to do honour to the occasion. M. Ch. Moureu, 
the editor of the Revue Scientifique, in speaking in 
the name of science, dwelt on the advances made in 
science during the last fifty years, and was followed 
by M. Lippmann, president of the Paris Academy of 
Sciences, who referred appreciatively to the work done 
by our contemporary to assist the spread of scientific 
knowledge. 
Tue (biennial) health conference and exhibition was 
opened at the Royal Horticultural Hall, Westminster, 
on Monday last, and closes to-day. Among the sub- 
jects which have been discussed at the afternoon con- 
ferences may be mentioned :—‘‘How to conduct an 
infant consultation,’ ‘‘the prevention of deafness in 
children,” “schools for mothers,’’ ‘“‘urban and rural 
housing,”’ “the necessity for further manual training 
in public elementary schools,” and “the teaching of 
practical domestic economy in schools: its importance 
to the nation.” Several popular lectures were 
arranged for the evenings. The first two, for women 
only, were on “‘ why babies die,’”’ by Mrs. Barnes, and 
“the health of girls,” by Miss F. Stacpoole. Dr. C. 
Porter lectured on healthy homes and domestic 
hygiene last evening, and to-night Dr. C. W. Saleeby 
will open a discussion on eugenics and _ national 
health. 
THE annual meeting of the British Medical Asso- 
ciation will be held in Liverpool on July 23-26. The 
’ president-elect is Sir James Barr, consulting physician, 
Royal Infirmary, Liverpool. The president’s address 
will be delivered on July 23. The address in medicine 
will be delivered by Dr. George A. Gibson, physician, 
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and the address in 
surgery by Mr. Frank T. Paul, surgeon, Liverpool 
Royal Infirmary. The scientific business of the meet- 
ing will be conducted in twenty sections, which, with 
their respective presidents, are as _ follows :— 
Anesthetics, Dr. D. M. Buxton; Anatomy, Dr. W. 
NO. 2226, voL. 89] 
Wright; Bacteriology, Prof. J. Ritchie : Dermatology, 
Prof. W. G. Smith; Diseases of Children, including 
Orthopedics, Mr. R. Jones; Electro-therapeutics, Mr. 
C. T. Holland; Gynzcology and Obstetrics, Prof. H. 
Briggs; Laryngology and Rhinology, Mr. J. M. Hunt; 
Medical Sociology, Dr. J. C. McVail; Medicine, Prof. 
T. R. Glynn; Navy, Army, and Ambulance, Colonel 
D. Harrisson; Neurology and Psychological Medicine, 
Mr. L. R. Oswald; Ophthalmology, Mr. E.. A. 
Browne; Otology, Mr. H. E. Jones; Pathology, Prof. 
W. Hall; Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Prof. 
W. E. Dixon; Physiology, Prof J. S. Macdonald; 
State Medicine and Industrial Diseases, Dr. A. K. 
Chalmers; Surgery, Prof. R. Parker; Tropical Medi- 
cine, Prof. J. L. Todd. 
By the death of Prof. Charles André, one of her 
oldest and most active astronomers, France has sus- 
tained a severe loss. Born in 1841, André graduated 
in 1863, and a year later joined the staff of the Paris 
Observatory under Wolf. The observation of the 
transit of Venus, at Noumea, in 1874, afforded him 
material for a masterly thesis, for his doctorate, on 
the effects of diffraction in optical instruments. In 
1878, two years after being called to the chair of 
astronomy at Lyons, he journeyed to Utah to observe 
the transit of Mercury. In 1879 he was appointed 
director of the newly founded Lyons Observatory, a 
position which he filled with devoted activity until 
his death on June 6. Always attracted to planetary 
studies, André paid considerable attention to the 
puzzling light-changes of the newly discovered Eros 
in 1go1, and published many notes which consider- 
ably assisted in their elucidation. His ‘Traité 
d’Astronomie stellaire’”’ and ‘‘Les Planétes et leur 
Origine” exhibit the workings of his vivid imagina- 
tion ever tempered by the rarer faculty of judicial 
analysis, attributes which, more recently, enabled 
him vigorously to defend the Laplacian theory. The 
influence of his sympathy and example is shown by 
the fact that many of his assistants have since be- 
come directors of observatories, and his death will 
be mourned by all who were fortunate enough to 
enjoy personal contact with him. 
THE Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society 
(1912, part ii.) contains the presidential address of 
Mr. H. G. Plimmer, F.R.S., on certain blood para- 
sites, which records observations on the blood para- 
sites of animals living in the Zoological Gardens, 
London. A number of filariz and protozoa were 
found, many of which are new to science. 
A NUMBER of observations are recorded by Prof. 
Slonaker on the effect of a vegetable diet on the 
activity, rate of growth, and longevity of the albino 
rat (Leland Stanford Junior University Publications, 
1912). The omnivorous feeders are much more active, 
perform more work, and live longer than the vegetable 
feeders, and the effect on general conditions of the 
body was overwhelmingly in favour of the omni- 
vorous. 
Dr. H. O. Feiss contributes a paper on the fusion 
of nerves to The Quarterly Journal of Experimental 
Physiology (v., No. 1). The nerves are caused to fuse 
