November 18, 1922] 



NA TURE 



675 



and G. Witherby, for the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 the new proprietors of this valuable publication, 

 and the Society has been so fortunate as to secure 

 Dr. O. Stapf, late Keeper of the Herbarium and 

 Library of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as 

 editor. The long connexion between Kew and the 

 magazine will thus, we hope, be maintained in the 

 future as in the past, and in fact the legend on the 

 cover which states, " Hand - coloured figures with 

 descriptions and observations on the Botany, History, 

 and Culture of new and rare Plants from the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Kew, and other Botanical Establish- 

 ments," gives good assurance that this will be the 

 case. Indeed it is difficult to imagine that a work of 

 this kind, to be of real value, could be prepared without 

 the close connexion with Kew being fully maintained. 

 This part, the [ first] of the new venture, is one on 

 which the new proprietors as well as the editor and 

 publishers deserve to be highly congratulated. The 

 plates are beautifully drawn and are both accurate 

 and artistic, while the colouring leaves very little to 

 be desired. There is the same fidelity to botanical 

 detail with which readers of the older volumes are 

 familiar and which makes the plates of so much 

 value. The drawings in this part are the work of 

 three different artists, and we think it is not undue 

 praise to say that they are worthy of the magazine 

 in its best days. The beauty and fidelity of such 

 plates as those of Stapelia tsomoensis, a very difficult 

 subject ; Bulbophyllum triste, a delicate and very 

 remarkable orchid from India, and Symphytum 

 grandiflorum , leave nothing to be desired. An ample 

 description both in Latin and English accompanies 

 each plate, and there is much additional matter of an 

 interesting and very useful nature. The English 

 descriptions might possibly be somewhat abbreviated 

 and also some of the general discussion, but it is all 

 of value and shows how much care and trouble the 

 editor must have spent to produce the letterpress, 

 which is a mine of useful information. A volume for 

 the year 1921 to preserve the continuity of the 

 magazine is being prepared by private enterprise. 



Through the courtesy of Admiral of the Fleet Sir 

 Henry B. Jackson, chairman of the Radio Research 

 Board under the Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research, we are able to publish this week 

 an article on " The Origin of Atmospherics " by 

 Mr. R. A. Watson Watt, who is in charge of the 

 Board's Research Station at Aldershot. The interest- 

 ing results described will no doubt receive close 

 attention from the scientific public. The members 

 of the Radio Research Board and of its Sub-Committee 

 on Atmospherics who are responsible for the investiga- 

 tions carried out at the Aldershot Station are as 

 follows : Radio Research Board. — Admiral Sir Henry B. 

 Jackson (chairman), Captain C. E. Kennedy-Purvis, 

 Lieut. -Col. A. G. T. Cusins, Wing-Commander J. B. 

 Bowen, Mr. E. H. Shaughnessy, Sir Ernest Rutherford, 

 Sir J. E. Petavel, Prof. G. W. O. Howe, Mr. O. F. 

 Brown, and Mr. L. C. Bromley (secretary). Sub- 

 Committee B on Atmospherics. — Colonel H. G. Lyons 

 (chairman), Prof. S. Chapman, Major H. P. T. 

 Lefroy, Mr. A. A. Campbell Swinton, Mr. R. A. 



NO. 2768, VOL. I IO] 



Watson Watt, Mr. G. I. Taylor, Mr. C. T. R. Wilson, 

 Mr. H. Morris Airey, Dr. G. C. Simpson, and Mr. 

 O. F. Brown (secretary). 



At a general meeting of the Royal Scottish Geo- 

 graphical Society, held on November 7, the Society's 

 gold medal was awarded to Prof. J. W. Gregory, 

 University of Glasgow, in recognition of the scientific 

 importance of results obtained by him through 

 explorations in Spitsbergen, Australia, East Africa, 

 and South-west China. 



The Thomas Hawksley lecture of the Institution 

 of Mechanical Engineers will be delivered at 6 o'clock 

 on Friday, December 1, by Dr. T. E. Stanton, who 

 will take as his subject, " Some Recent Researches on 

 Lubrication." 



Mr. R. T. A. Innes, the Union Astronomer at 

 Johannesburg, who is at present in Paris and will 

 be in England in a few weeks' time, has had the 

 degree of doctor of science, honoris causa, conferred 

 upon him by the University of Leyden. 



The following new appointments in the Peabody 

 Museum of Natural History have recently been 

 announced by Yale University : to be director. 

 Dr. R. S. Lull, professor of vertebrate palaeontology ; 

 to be curator of mineralogy, Dr. W. E. Ford, professor 

 of mineralogy, in succession to Prof. E. S. Dana, who 

 has held the curatorship since 1874. 



In connexion with the Liverpool section of the 

 Society of Chemical Industry a Hurter Memorial 

 Lecture will be delivered at 8 o'clock on Wednesday, 

 November 22, in the Chemistry Lecture Theatre of 

 the University, Liverpool, by Mr. W. Macnab. The 

 subject will be " Some Achievements of Chemical 

 Industry during the War, in this Country and in 

 France." 



The council of the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 has made the following awards in respect of papers 

 printed without discussion in the Proceedings for the 

 session 1921-1922 : A George^Stephenson gold medal 

 to Dr. B. C. Laws (London) ; Telford premiums to 

 Prof. L. Bairstow (London), Dr. A. J. Sutton 

 Pippard (London), Mr. E. A. Cullen (Brisbane), 

 Mr. H. H. Dare (Roseville, N.S.W.), and Mr. F. W. 

 Stephen (Aberdeen). And for papers read before 

 meetings of students in London and the provinces : 

 A Miller prize and the James Forrest medal to Mr. 

 F. H. Bullock (Cardiff) ; and Miller prizes to Mr. 

 J. G. Mitchell (London), Mr. A. G. M'Donald 

 (London), and Mr. Harry Wolf (Manchester). 



The twenty-fifth annual Traill-Taylor memorial 

 lecture .was delivered by Dr. Reginald S. Clay at 

 the house of the Royal Photographic Society on 

 October 10, and is printed in full with numerous 

 illustrations in the November number of the Society's 

 Journal. The subject was " The Photographic Lens 

 from the Historical Point of View," and the discourse 

 is probably the most complete, if not the most 

 extensive treatment of the subject now available. 

 The lecturer referred to " two great inventions " — 

 first, the anastigmats of Schroeder, Rudolf, and von 



