7 8 4 



NATURE 



[December g, 1922 



" Satety First ' Council and the British Industrial 

 " Safety Fust " movement. Mr. Blain traced the 

 growth of this movement which has made " Safety 

 First " such a familiar term in this country, describ- 

 ing the work of the Drivers' Educational Committee, 

 which has more than 7000 drivers entering annually 

 for its awards and medals, and the equally important 

 work done by the Schools Propaganda Committee. 



At the meeting of the Chemical Society to be held 

 at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Storey's 

 Gate, S.W.i, on Thursday, December 14, at 8 p.m., 

 Prof. C. H. Desch will deliver a lecture entitled " The 

 Metallurgical Applications of Physical Chemistrv." 



The council of the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England has decided to revive the offer annually of 

 a gold medal for an essay giving evidence of original 

 research on any agricultural subject or on any of the 

 cognate agricultural sciences. 



At a general meeting of the members of the Royal 

 Institution held on December 4, Sir Arthur Keith 

 was elected secretary in succession to the late Col. 

 E. Ff. Grove-Hills. Profs. L T rbain (Paris), Ehrenfest 

 (Leyden), Knudsen (Copenhagen), Bjerknes (Chris- 

 tiania). and Dr. Irving Langmuir were elected honorary 

 members. 



A new feature in the activities of the Institute 

 of Metals is the admission of student members. 

 The main qualifications required of the new class are 

 that they shall be between 17 and 25 years of age 

 and that they shall be studying metallurgy ; they 

 will be admitted to all the usual privileges of full 

 members with the exception that they cannot vote 

 at meetings. Both the entrance fee and the annual 

 subscription are substantially less than those paid 

 by members. The new departure should do much 

 to stimulate and guide, by contact with older and 

 more mature men of science, the younger research 

 workers in our laboratories and works. 



At the annual general meeting of the Faraday 

 Society held on November 20, the following officers 

 and council for the year 1922-11)23 were elected : — 

 President : Sir Robert Robertson ; Past Presidents : 

 Sir R. T. Glazebrook, Sir Robert A. Hadfield, Bart., 

 Prof. A. W. Porter ; Vice-Presidents : Prof. C. H. 

 Desch, Prof. F. G. Donnan, Dr. J. A. Harker, Prof. 

 T. M. Lowry, W. Murray Morrison, Prof. J. R. 

 Partington, and Dr. G. Senter ; Treasurer : Robert 

 L. Mond ; Council : W. R. Bousfield, Cosmo Johns, 

 Dr. R. Lessing, Prof. W. C. McC. Lewis, Prof. J. W. 

 McBain, Dr. H. Moore, C. C. Paterson, Dr. J. N. 

 Pring, Prof. A. O. Rankine, and Dr. E. K. Rideal. 



At a General Meeting of the University of Durham 

 Philosophical Society held on November 28, the 

 following officers were elected : — President : The 

 Earl of Durham ; Vice-Presidents : Sir Theodore 

 Morison, Sir Charles Parsons, Profs. T. H. Flavelock, 

 P. J. Heawood, H. J. Hutchens, Mr. Wilfred Hall ; 

 Secretaries : Messrs. J. W. Bullerwell, B. Millard 

 Griffiths ; Committee : Profs. H. G. A. Hickling, 

 H. V. A. Briscoe, J. Wight Duff, R. F. A. Hoernle, 

 J. L. Morison, C. J. Hawkes, F. B. Jevons, Drs. J. A. 

 Smythe, D. Woolacott, A. A. Hall, G. R. Goldsbrough, 

 .M.ssrs. G. W. Caunt, A. W. Bartlett, J. L. Burchnall, 



NO. 277I, VOL. I IO] 



S. J. Davies, S. Hoare Collins, A. D. Peacock, and 

 W.Clarke; Editor: Prof. G. W. Todd ; Librarian: 

 Dr. F. Bradshaw. 



The Frank Wood medal of the Society of Glass 

 Technology has been presented to Mr. G.'G. Middleton, 

 B.Sc. Tech., and Mr. H. W. Howes, B.Sc. Tech., the 

 successful students in 1921 and 1922, respectively, in 

 the Department of Glass Technology at the Sheffield 

 University. In 1919 the Society decided to recognise 

 the services Mr. Frank Wood had rendered in 

 connexion with its foundation and handed over to 

 the University a hundred guineas, with the condition 

 that the income should be utilised to provide soma 

 reward to students in the glass technology depart- 

 ment. It was decided that the reward should take 

 the form of a medal, and that it should be associated 

 with the name of Mr. Frank Wood, in whose honour 

 it had been established. 



A new edition (No. 76) of their catalogue of 

 second-hand scientific apparatus has been issued by 

 Messrs. C. Baker, 244 High Holborn, W.C.i. The 

 list is divided into the customary convenient sections, 

 and we may direct attention in particular to two of 

 them, dealing with microscopes and astronomical 

 apparatus respectively. Both contain a large and 

 varied assortment of items ranging from large 

 modern instruments to the smallest accessories. 



Another of the useful and well-arranged catalogues 

 of Messrs. W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., Cambridge, has 

 reached us. Its No. is 217 and it contains the titles 

 of upwards of 1500 works arranged under the headings 

 Mathematics and Physics (Journals and Transactions, 

 Books printed before 1800 and Books printed after 

 1800), Chemistry, Chemical Technology and Metal- 

 lurgy. Many books formerly the property of the 

 late Prof. R. B. Clifton are offered for sale. 



Messrs. Watson and Sons, Ltd., Sunk Honse, 43 

 Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W.C.2, announce 

 that the British Thomson-Houston Co., Ltd., and 

 the General Electric Co., Ltd., are now associated 

 with them. This connexion implies the development 

 of N-ray and electro-medical apparatus constructed 

 on established electrical engineering lines, and, with 

 the aid of the research laboratories of these companies, 

 the incorporation of the most recent advances in 

 physics. 



With further reference to the remarks which have 

 appeared in these pages on the subject of the sense 

 of smell in birds, Mr. W. E. M'Kechnie of Chepstow 

 Place, London, W.2, raises the question as to whether 

 the usually well-developed olfactory mechanism in 

 birds may not have quite a different sensory function, 

 such as the detection of fine differences in the strength, 

 temperature, and humidity of the air-currents 

 encountered during flight. This was Cyon's theory, 

 but it rests on no sure foundation of fact. In their 

 experiments on the homing capacities of Noddy and 

 Sooty terns, Watson and Lashley found that these 

 powers were not affected when the nasal cavities 

 were occluded with wax and varnished over : the 

 birds so treated retained their remarkable faculty 

 of finding their way back to their nests, over an 

 unknown course, from a considerable distance. 



