88 



NA TURE 



[July 15, 1922 



a large fissure appeared in its western side, and from 

 it there came a stream of lava about thirty feet wide. 

 Owing to these recent flows and to the presence of 

 sulphur fumes, it is difficult to reach the floor of the 

 crater. In the Times for July 3 are reproduced, 

 however, two photographs taken from within the 

 crater, one of the new cone, and the other of the lava- 

 stream issuing from it and showing very clearly the 

 fluxion-structure of the lava. 



May and June were both comparatively dry 

 months this year at Greenwich Observatory, the 

 rainfall in May being only 57 per cent, of the 100 year 

 average, while June was 70 per cent, of the 100 year 

 average for the corresponding month. In January, 

 February, and April the rainfall was in excess of the 

 average. In 1921, each of the first six months had a 

 rainfall less than the normal. The total for the first 

 half of the present year is 1073 in., while in 1921 the 

 total for the same period was only 5-97 in. The 100 

 year average for the six months is 10-47 i n -> an d for 

 the 35 year average, used by the Meteorological Office, 

 io-2i in., so that the period from January to June 

 shows an excess on the normal. There was an absolute 

 drought this year from May 26 to June 12, a period of 

 18 days, the only drought as yet registered in 1922. 

 July bids fair to be a wet month ; practically the 

 average rainfall for the month in London fell in the 

 first week. 



The Natural History Museum Staff Association 

 held their summer scientific reunion in the board room 

 of the Museum on July 5. There was a large attend- 

 ance. Among other interesting exhibits were the 

 following : specimen of the supposed gigantic Gastro- 

 pod (Dinocochlea ingens) from the freshwater sand- 

 stones in the Wadhurst Clay, Hastings ; the natural 

 cast of a footprint of an Iguanodon from the Wealden 

 Beds, between Bexhill and St. Leonards ; opalised 

 Mollusca of Cretaceous age from New South Wales 

 and South Australia ; skin with scutes of a stego- 

 saurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous, Alberta, 

 Canada ; specimens from the collection of Swiss 

 minerals bequeathed to the Museum by the late Rev. 

 J. M. Gordon ; one of the four meteoric stones which 

 fell in the Strathmore district of Perthshire and 

 Forfarshire on December 3, 191 7.' living specimens 

 of a branchiopod crustacean (Leptesheria dahalacensis) 

 hatched from eggs contained in dried mud from 

 Bagdad ; ammonites with the operculum preserved 

 and associated fossils from the same bed in the Lias 

 at Charmouth, Dorset ; Horse Chestnut seedlings, 

 illustrating three different methods of replacing the 

 bud of the primary shoot ; a very rare British orchid 

 [On hi- hircina) recently found near Lewes ; examples 

 of the remarkably different, smooth and partly rough, 

 skinned fruits borne on the same tree of the Khatta 

 orange, North India ; model of Commerson's dolphin 

 (Cephalorhynchus Commersoni) from Port Stanley, 

 Falkland Islands ; and the model, enlarged 740 

 diameters, of the itch mite (Sarcoptes Scabiei) recently 

 made for the Museum by Miss Grace Edwards. 

 Messrs. R. and J. Beck exhibited their most recent 

 forms of microscope, and Duroglass Ltd. showed 

 NO. 275O, VOL. I IO] 



examples of their glass-ware for preserving specimens 

 in spirit and for use in chemical analysis. 



At a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 

 on June 5, Dr. C. G. Knott, general secretary, gave 

 an account of a correspondence between the Academy 

 of Sciences of Paris and the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh, in which the Council of the latter Society 

 directed attention to the fact that the " Cable Guide " 

 system which was being accepted as the invention 

 of M. Loth during the late war, was invented by Mr. 

 C. A. Stevenson thirty years ago, and described in 

 the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 

 in 1893. In 192 1 M. Loth was awarded an important 

 prize for his valuable work in connexion with naval 

 problems, and the report of Vice-Admiral Fournier, 

 in recommending the award, referred pointedly to 

 the method of the pilot cable for guiding ships by 

 electrical signals into harbours during night or at 

 times of fog. A comparison of this report with Mr. 

 C. A. Stevenson's patent of 1893 showed that the two 

 systems were fundamentally identical. Compared 

 with M. Loth's beautiful devices, made possible in 

 these days by the remarkable developments in methods 

 for detecting electric and magnetic charges, Mr. 

 Stevenson's early methods may appear crude, but 

 that does not invalidate his claim as the originator 

 and the first experimenter along these fines. Not 

 only did he invent the pilot cable, but he was the 

 first to demonstrate practically how it could be used 

 in guiding vessels up estuaries and into harbours by 

 means of electric signals from a sunken cable. It 

 was a simple act of justice that these historical facts 

 should be recognised and due credit given to Mr. 

 Stevenson for his valuable pioneer work. A French 

 translation of the statement prepared by the Council 

 has been sent to the Academy of Sciences with the 

 request that it be published in the Comptes rendns. 



The Paris correspondent of the Times states that 

 the late Prince of Monaco has bequeathed sums of one 

 million francs each to the Academie des Sciences, the 

 Academie de Medecine, the Institut Oceanographique, 

 the Institut de Paleontologie Humaine de Paris, and 

 the Musee Oceanographique de Monaco. 



The Council of the Marine Biological Association 

 of the United Kingdom has passed a resolution 

 expressing " their respectful homage to the memory 

 of His Highness the late Albert I., Sovereign Prince 

 of Monaco, and their deep appreciation of the great 

 services rendered by him to the advancement of the 

 Science of the Ocean." 



The undermentioned Fellows of the Geological 

 Society have been nominated as Delegates of the 

 Society to the Brussels Geological Congress, 1922 : 

 Dr. J. W. Evans, Prof. E. J. Garwood, and Prof. 

 W. W. Watts. 



According to the Electrician the posts of electrical 

 adviser to the Government of India and chief engineer 

 of the Hydro-Electric Survey of India, at present held 

 by Mr. J. W. Meares, are shortly to be abolished. 



