JuLy 25, 1912] 
NATURE 
Joe 
and the processes incidental thereto, is expedient in 
view of the report of the departmental committee on 
humidity and ventilation in cotton-weaving sheds or 
on other grounds. 
Tue honour of knighthood has been conferred on 
Mr. Francis Fox, the engineer, who has been closely 
associated’ with the work of securing the safety of 
Winchester Cathedral. 
Sir Trevor Dawson, R.N., has accepted the presi- 
dency of the Junior Institution of Engineers, in suc- 
cession to Mr. Marconi. 
Tue Lucy Wharton medal has been awarded by the 
Board of Managers of the Museum, University of 
Pennsylvania, to Sir M. Aurel Stein, for his explora- 
tions in Central Asia. The medal is conferred only 
upon English-speaking explorers. 
Tue Edward Longstreth medal of merit of the 
Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, has been awarded 
to Messrs. O. Schreiner and E. C. Lathrop for their 
paper on ‘“‘The Distribution of Organic Constituents 
in Soils,” which appeared in the issue of the Journal 
of the Franklin Institute for August, rorr. 
Tue medal of the Royal Bavarian Academy of 
Science has been awarded to Dr. C. C. Hosseus, of 
Berchtesgaden, for his journey in Siam. 
Tue erection of a tablet in the buildings of the 
University of Liverpool in memory of the late Sir 
Rubert Boyce is in contemplation, but the position 
for it has not yet been decided upon. 
Tue new dock at Immingham, Lincolnshire (the 
largest on the east coast), was opened by the King on 
Monday last. It will be known as the King’s Dock. 
In connection with the ceremony, Mr. Sam Fay, the 
general manager of the Great Central Railway Co., 
received the honour of knighthood. 
Tue Middleton Goldsmith lectures will be given 
before the Pathological Society of New York by Dr. 
E. F. Bashford, director of the Imperial Cancer Re- 
search Fund, on October 2, 3, and 4 next. Dr. 
Bashford will deliver the Von Leyden memorial lec- 
ture in Berlin on October 21 next. 
Ir is announced that the following lectures are to 
be delivered at the forthcoming International Congress | 
of Applied Chemistry which, as already stated in these 
columns, is to take place in September next :—‘‘ The 
Réle of the Infinitely Small in Biological Chemistry,”’ 
by Mr. G. Bertrand, of. Paris; ‘‘ Oxidation: of Atmo- 
spheric Nitrogen in Norway,” 
Christiania; **The Most Recent Problems of Chemical 
Industry,” by Mr. C. Duisberg, of Elberfeld; ‘‘ Per- 
manent Fireproofing of Cotton Goods,” by Prof. W. H. 
Perkin, F.R.S., of Manchester; ‘t Synthetic Ammonia,” 
by Mr. H. A. Bernthsen, of Ludwigshafen; ‘‘ The 
Photochemistry of the Future,’”’ by Mr. G. Ciamician, 
of Bologna; and “ Priestley in America,” by Prof. Ira 
Remsen. 
Tue Institution of Mechanical Engineers will meet 
in Belfast on July 30 and 31, when the following 
papers will be communicated :—new graving dock, 
NO. 2230, VOL. 89] 
by Mr. S. Eyde, of | 
| Belfast: mechanical plant and general appliances. 
| by Mr. W. R. Kelly; rolling stock in use on the 
principal Irish narrow-gauge railways, by Mr. R. M. 
Livesey; the evolution of the flax-spinning spindle, 
by Mr. J. Horner; wire ropes for lifting appliances, 
and the conditions that affect their durability, by 
| Mr. D. Adamson; reciprocating straight-blade_ saw- 
ing machines, by Mr. C. Wicksteed; and commercial! 
| utilisation of peat for power purposes, by Mr., H. V. 
Pegg. 
A CONFERENCE was held last week at the Mansion 
House to consider the desirability of forming a 
Central Health Committee for London which would 
promote joint action between metropolitan municipal 
authorities and voluntary health agencies in the pre- 
vention of disease and in the education of all classes. 
in matters of health and domestic hygiene. It was. 
resolved to form such a committee, and the motion 
that certain authorities and voluntary agencies be 
invited to appoint representatives upon the committee, 
with power to add to its number, was also carried. 
It was further resolved that the Social Welfare 
Association for London be requested to tale steps to: 
give effect to the resolutions, and that the Local 
Government Board be asked to allow the committee 
to meet at the offices of the Department. 
Tur first conference of the International Association 
of Poultry Instructors and Investigators took place 
last week in London, and was attended by representa 
tives from twenty-seven countries. Lord Lucas, Par- 
liamentary Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, 
welcomed the delegates on behalf of the Government,. 
and stated in his remarks that an important project 
on foot is the establishment of a national poultry 
institute, where all practical questions regarding 
poultry can be scientifically studied, and where there 
can be trained the instructors who will be employed 
by the county councils to teach the farmers. As a 
result of the reorganisation now taking place, and 
thanks to the assistance of the Development Commis- 
sion, it is hoped that in the course of the next few 
years poultry-keeping will be taught on the most 
approved lines all over the country. The association 
has been formed at a most auspicious moment. Mr. 
E. Brown was elected the first president of the asso- 
ciation, and Dr. Raymond Pearl the hon. secretary. 
SPEAKING at the meeting held last week at the 
Foreign Office in furtherance of the recently issued 
appeal for 100,000l. on behalf of the London School 
of Tropical Medicine, Sir Edward Grey, the Secretary 
for Foreign Affairs, said he would divide the work 
which appealed to them into two heads—the question 
of cure and the question of prevention. When they 
came to think that the men who went to tropical 
countries, either in the public service or in commercial 
fields, were some of the most courageous, enterprising, 
and self-sacrificing of our people, that they went will- 
ingly, fascinated. by the work before them, that they 
braved all those risks and then often contracted one of 
those tropical diseases which left them no hope, but 
| a few months’ lingering suffering, followed by. certain 
| death, they could have nothing more tragic and 
