September 23, 1922] 



NA TURE 



427 



The King of Spain laid the foundation-stone of a 

 monument to commemorate the voyage. 



After a journey of some 25,000 miles and an 

 absence of almost a year, the Quest has returned 

 with the members of the Shackleton-Rowett expedi- 

 tion, and entered Cawsand Bay, Plymouth, on 

 September 15. According to the Times, valuable 

 hydrographical work has been carried out in the 

 Antarctic and around South Georgia and Elephant 

 Island, and a large-scale map of Gough Island pre- 

 pared. The highest point on the latter has been 

 named Mount Rowett. In the Enderby Quadrant a 

 point was reached farther south than the extreme 

 latitudes reached by Biscoe and Bellinghausen, but 

 severe pack-ice prevented the exploration of Enderby 

 Land. Much meteorological data were collected. A 

 new bird of the finch species and a new tree resembling 

 an acacia were discovered on Gough Island. The 

 Quest proceeded to Portsmouth, arriving on September 



18, and Commander F. Wild received a telegram of 

 welcome from the King ; referring to the loss of Sir 

 Ernest Shackleton, the King said : " Your record of 

 achievement and the indomitable spirit displayed by 

 all members of the expedition were in every way 

 worthy of his great example." 



Prof. L. Bairstow will deliver a lecture to the 

 Royal Aeronautical Society (at the Royal United 

 Service Institution) at 5.30 on Thursday, October 5, 

 on " The Work of S. P. Langley." 



The twenty-fifth annual Traill-Taylor Memorial 

 Lecture of the Royal Photographic Society will be 

 delivered by Dr. R. S. Clay on Tuesday, October 10, 

 at 8 o'clock. The subject will be, " The Develop- 

 ment of the Photographic Lens from the Historical 

 Point of View." 



The following courses of free public Gresham 

 Lectures will be delivered at 6 o'clock at Gresham 

 College, Basinghall Street, E.C. : on October 17, 18, 



19, 20 — Astronomy, by A. R. Hinks ; on October 

 24, 25, 26, 27 — Physic, by Sir R. Armstrong- Jones ; 

 on November 14, 15, 16, 17 — Geometry, by W. H. 

 Wagstaff. 



Mr. E. Leonard Gill has been appointed by the 

 Civil Service Commissioners to fill the vacant Assist- 

 antship in the Natural History Department of the 

 Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. Mr. Gill has 

 already had museum experience in Leicester and 

 Manchester, and for almost twenty years has been 

 in charge of the Hancock Museum at Newcastle- 

 on-Tyne. 



A conference of representatives of some twenty 

 of the smaller engineering societies has been arranged 

 under the auspices of the Society of Engineers, to be 

 held on September 29 at the Engineers' Club. The 

 object of the meeting is to consider, and if thought 

 advisable, to inaugurate an Association of British 

 Engineering Societies. According to the draft con- 



NO. 2760, VOL. I IO] 



stitution of the proposed Association, there would be 

 no individual members, the constituent societies 

 functioning as such ; each society, however, would 

 retain its independence. It is proposed to issue a 

 journal or transactions in which all papers read 

 before constituent societies would be printed and the 

 expenses met by capitation grants from the societies 

 concerned. Further particulars of the meeting and 

 the proposals can be obtained from the Secretary of 

 the Society of Engineers, 17 Victoria Street, S.W.i. 



Referring to the obituary notice of Dr. Alexander 

 Graham Bell in Nature of August 12, p. 225, Mr. F. 

 De Land, of the Hubbard Memorial Hall, Washington, 

 D.C., informs us that the Boston newspapers of 

 Monday, November 27, 1876, tell the story of trans- 

 mitting speech on the previous day about 200 miles 

 from Boston through Portland to Salem ; the Boston 

 Post stated that the " voice could be heard with 

 considerable clearness after having passed over this 

 great distance. But owing to the unfit construction 

 of the telephones for the duty required of them a 

 distinctness was not attained which would allow 

 a conversation to be carried on." Mr. De Land also 

 states that other records show that conversation was 

 successfully transmitted in 1876 a distance of 143 

 miles. We believe, however, that in the first com- 

 mercial prospectus of the telephone issued, it was 

 stated that 20 miles was the limit at w-hich the com- 

 pany would establish telephony ; on account of 

 distortion commercial telephony at greater distances 

 would have been impossible with the apparatus then 

 in use, though possibly words were transmitted 

 143 miles so early as 1876. 



Our knowledge of the organs and sense of smell 

 and of odorous substances is defective, and what there 

 is needs systematisation. Mr. J. H. Kenneth has 

 recently published in Osmics (Oliver and Boyd : 2s. 

 net) the first instalment of a bibliography of the 

 subject of 500 items which should prove useful to any 

 one desiring to find his way into the scattered litera- 

 ture. There are indexes of subjects and of species of 

 animal. 



The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has 

 recently issued in collected form the leaflets dealing 

 with diseases of animals and insect pests of fruit trees. 

 The two series are now available in bound form 

 ("Collected Leaflets on Diseases of Animals," is. ; 

 "Collected Leaflets on Insect Pests of Fruit Trees," 

 iod.). Successful treatment and prevention, whether 

 it be of animal or plant diseases, depends upon early 

 and accurate diagnosis : for the correct identification of 

 the symptoms of any complaint it is necessary to have 

 accurate information available for reference. The 

 leaflets of the Ministry are written with this object in 

 view as well as to supply instructions for the best 

 treatment. The information contained in these two 

 booklets has been brought thoroughly up-to-date, 

 and, in many cases, new and better illustrations than 

 those which accompanied the older leaflets have been 

 provided. 



