AucustT 8, 1912] 
NATURE 
585 
man of the committee, the other members being Rear- 
Admiral the Hon. S. A. Gough-Calthorpe, Mr. A. E. 
Doxford, Captain J. G. H. Flint, Mr. M. Joyce, M.P., 
Mr. J. Maxton, Mr. F. J. Stephen, and Mr. H. B. 
Wortley. The secretary is Mr. F. P. Robinson, of 
the Board of Trade. The terms of reference are :— 
(1) As to what are the most efficient arrangements 
for stowing boats on steamships of all classes, for 
launching them in an emergency, and for embarking 
the passengers and crew; (2) as to whether, and, if 
so, to what extent, mechanical propulsion can with 
advantage be adopted either in addition to, or in sub- 
stitution for, propulsion by oars and sails; (3) as to 
the question of rafts, and, in particular, whether, if 
of approved character, they should be allowed in sub- 
stitution for boats; and, if so, to what extent and 
under what conditions; (4) whether, independently of 
the foregoing, the committee desire to make any 
recommendations with reference to the above-men- 
tioned matters which would in their opinion contribute 
to the safety of life at sea. 
A CommirTe£, consisting of Mr. R. A. S. Redmayne, 
C.B., H.M. Chief Inspector of Mines (chairman), Sir 
Arthur Markham, Bart., M.P., Mr. C. E. Rhodes, Mr. 
F. Rigby, and Mr. H. Smith, has been appointed by 
the Home Secretary to inquire into the circumstances 
in which spontaneous combustion of coal occurs in 
mines, its causes, and the means of preventing it, or 
of dealing with it when it has arisen. 
His attention having been called to the recent 
developments in wireless telegraphy, Col. Seely, the 
Secretary for War, has appointed a committee to 
consider the application of the developments to the 
needs of the British Army. 
Tue following appointments to lectureships have 
been made by the Royal College of Physicians of 
London :—Goulstonian lectures, Dr. A. J. Jex-Blake; 
Oliver Sharpey lectures, Dr. A. D, Waller, F.R.S.; 
Lumleian lectures, Dr. F. de Havilland Hall; 
Croonian lectures (1912), Prof. C. S. Sherrington, 
F.R.S.; and FitzPatrick lectures, Dr. C. A. Mercier. 
THE annual meeting of the British Pharmaceutical 
Congress took place in Edinburgh last week. It has 
been decided to hold the jubilee congress in London 
next year, and Mr. J. C. Umney has been elected 
to preside over it. 
THE annual autumn meeting of the Institute of 
Metals is to be held at the Institution of Electrical 
Engineers, Victoria Embankment, on September 25 
and 26. Some ten papers have been prepared for 
reading and discussion, and a reception and various 
excursions have been arranged. Weather permitting, 
aéroplane competitions will take place at Brooklands 
on September 26 for the Institute of Metals aviation 
prize. Those desirous of taking part in the meeting 
are requested to communicate with the secretary, 
Mr. G. Shaw Scott, Caxton House, Westminster; 
S.W. 
Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN presided over a meeting 
on Wednesday of last week at the London Chamber 
of Commerce, the object of the gathering being the 
formation of a City subcommittee, and to confer as 
NO. 2232, VOL. 89| 
to the best means of organising a systematic, appeal 
in special directions in support of the fund for placing 
the London School of Tropical Medicine upon@a per- 
manent and adequate basis. A subcommittee of forty- 
six gentlemen was elected to cooperate with the 
general committee constituted at the Foreign Office 
on July 17. It was stated at the meeting that the 
sum received amounted to 28,oool.. Since the date of 
holding the meeting the sum of s5ool. has been voted 
to the school by the Chartered Bank of India, Aus- 
tralia, and China. 
Pror. W. A. Bone, F.R.S., has accepted an invita- 
tion to lecture before the German Chemical Society 
on November 30 next on ** Surface Combustion.’’ The 
lecture, which will be an open one, will be delivered at 
the Hofmannhaus, Berlin. 
By the death, at the age of twenty-five, of Harold 
Donaldson, who was drowned while bathing near 
Swansea, on Monday, July 29, the National Physical 
Laboratory has suffered a severe loss. Donaldson 
entered Sidney Sussex College from the Swansea 
Technical School with a college scholarship, and at 
Cambridge took honours in mathematics and physics, 
greatly distinguishing himself in the latter. He also 
graduated at London University with honours in 
physics. After holding for a time the post of assistant 
demonstrator at the Cavendish Laboratory, and doing 
some research work under Sir J. J. Thomson, he 
joined the staff of the National Physical Laboratory 
rather more than a year ago, and was attached to 
the metrology division. He soon showed that he had 
in a high degree all the good qualities needed for 
such a post. He possessed a clear insight as to the 
essential points in an investigation, a marked ability 
in suggesting the method to be adopted, and a ready 
grasp of the experimental means required for its solu- 
tion, with great enthusiasm and love for his work. 
He was careful and accurate and at the same time 
prompt and businesslike. His investigations into the 
changes in dimensions of certain fused silica standards 
promised to be of the first importance; personally he 
had won the cordial esteem of all his colleagues. 
Tue death is announced, in his seventy-third year, 
of Prof. John Alsop Paine, of Tarrytown, N.Y. From 
1862 to 1867 he was employed by the New York 
Board of Regents in research work on the flora of the 
State. His next appointments were as professor of 
natural science at Robert College, Constantinople, 
and the Lake Forest University successively. In later 
years he gave his attention mainly to archeology. 
From 1872 to 1874 he was archeologist to the first 
expedition of the Palestine Exploration Society east 
of the Jordan and Dead Sea. Prof. Paine was a 
member of the staff of the ‘‘ Century Dictionary,” and 
was for seventeen years curator of the Metropolitan 
Museum of Art, New York. 
Captain AMUNDSEN arrived in Christiania on Wed- 
nesday of last week, and was received in audience by 
King Haakon. 
Caprain MIKKELSEN and Mr. Iversen have reached 
Copenhagen and had bestowed upon them the gold 
service medal by the King. 
