NA TURE 



[June 20, 1907 



The \"ictoria and Albert Museum has been opened to 

 the public exactly fifty years to-day. On June 20, 1857, 

 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, accompanied by the 

 Princess Royal (afterwards the Empress Frederick), the 

 Archduke Maximilian of Austria (afterwards Emperor of 

 Mexico), Prince Frederick William of Prussia (afterwards 

 German Emperor), and a numerous suite, attended in the 

 evening the opening of the South Kensington Museum, as 

 it was at that time styled. In it there were exhibited 

 several miscellaneous collections of a scientific character, 

 mainly acquired from the Exhibition of 1851. The whole 

 of the fine art collections which had been exhibited at 

 Marlborough House since 1852 were also removed to .South 

 Kensington, and these were supplemented by valuable loans 

 from H.M. Queen Victoria and others. Immediately after 

 the opening of the temporary museum the erection of 

 permanent buildings was commenced, and various portions 

 were completed and opened in successive years. The 

 greater part of the original iron building was taken down 

 in 1868, and re-erected as a branch museum at Bethnal 

 Green. The foundation stone of the new buildings was 

 laid by H.M. Queen \"ictoria on May 17, 1899, and by 

 her late Majesty's command the name of the institution 

 was changed to that of the Victoria and Albert Museum. 



The Engineering Conference of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, which began on June 18, wlU conclude to- 

 morrow. On Tuesday, June 18, Dr. Francis Elgar, 

 F.R.S., delivered the fifteenth James Forrest lecture, 

 taking for his subject " Unsolved Problems in the Design 

 and Propulsion of Ships." The conference was opened 

 formally on June 19, when the president of the institution. 

 Sir Alexander Kennedy, F.R.S., delivered his inaugural 

 address. This evening a conversazione is to be held at 

 the Albert Hall. The business part of the conference is 

 being carried on in the sections, in connection with which 

 meetings are taking place daily until i p.m. There are 

 in all seven sections, which, with their chairmen, are as 

 follows :— Section i., railways, Mr. William R. Galbraith ; 

 Section ii., harbours, docks, and canals. Sir William 

 Matthews, K.C.M.(i.. who is also president-elect of the 

 institution ; Section iii., machinery, Prof. W. C. Unwin, 

 F.R.S. ; Section iv., mining and metallurgy, Mr. John 

 Strain ; Section v., shipbuilding. Dr. F. Elgar, F.R.S. ; 

 Section vi., water works, sewerage, and gas works. Sir 

 George T. Livesey ; Section vii., applications of electricity, 

 R. E. B. Crompton, C.B. We hope to publish an article 

 on the conference in a future issue. 



Two important additions to the collection in the Natural 

 History Museum were put on exhibition for the first time at 

 the conversazione of the Royal Geographical Society, held in 

 the hall of the museum on Friday last. The first is the 

 mounted skin of a male okapi, obtained during the late 

 Alexander-Gosling expedition on the River Welle, near Angu, 

 in the northern part of the Congo Free State, and presented 

 by Mr. Boyd Alexander. The .second is a model of the 

 complete skeleton of the marsupial Diprotodon, based on 

 material obtained by Mr. E. C. Stirling in the Lake 

 Cadibona district of south central Australia. In this 

 skeleton some portions of the limbs and feet are repre- 

 sented by the original bones. Diprotodon, it will be re- 

 called, was named many years ago on the evidence of a 

 lower jaw described by Sir R. Owen. Now that the com- 

 plete skeleton is know'n, there is little doubt that the 

 creature was a gigantic relative of the wombats, retain- 

 ing, perhaps, in its foot-structure evidence of arboreal 

 ancestry. In one of the recesses on the right side of the 

 central hall were also exhibited portraits and relics of 

 N >. 1964, VOL. 76J 



Linna;us. The portraits of the great naturalist, represented 

 by small woodcuts, were ten in number. Several Linna:an 

 manuscripts sent from Bloomsbury were shown, as well as 

 several books from the library of Linnceus (the property 

 of the Linnean .Society), and certain plants from his 

 herbarium. 



In accordance with previous announcements, the autumn 

 meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute will be held in 

 Vienna on September 23-25. An influential reception com- 

 mittee has been formed, with an executive consisting of 

 Mr. W. Kestranek, central director of the " Prager Eisen 

 Industrie Gesellschafl " as chairman. Max Ritter von 

 Gutmann as vice-chairman, Mr. Richard von Schoeller as 

 treasurer. Baron von Jiiptner, A. Ritter von Kerpely, Mr. 

 F. Schuster, and Mr. Hugo von Noot as members, and 

 Dr. Eugen Hcrz and Mr. H. von Noot, jun., as honorary 

 secretaries. The provisional programme of the meeting is 

 as follows : — On Monday, September 23, the president, 

 council, and members will be welcomed by the reception 

 committee, by the Government and civic authorities, and 

 by the president of the Society of Engineers and Architects, 

 at the headquarters of which the meeting will be held. 

 A selection of papers will subsequently be read and dis- 

 cussed. In the afternoon, members and the ladies accom- 

 panying them will be taken for a drive through Vienna 

 and in the Prater, visiting the Municipal Museum and the 

 Town Hall, where they will be received by the Lord Mayor 

 of Vienna, and in the evening a special performance at 

 the Imperial Opera House will be arranged. On Tuesday, 

 .September 24, the morning will be devoted to the reading 

 and discussion of papers, and the afternoon to a visit to 

 the Imperial Palace at Schonbrunn. On W'ednesday, 

 September 25, the whole day will be devoted to an ex- 

 cursion to the Hoch-Schneeberg. In the evening the 

 members and ladies will be invited to a banquet at the 

 Hall of the Musical Society. At this and at all the other 

 functions, including the visit to the opera, the members 

 and ladies will be the guests Of the Austrian Iron Works. 

 On .Thursday, September 26, will begin the excursions to 

 the works to be visited in (i) Bohemia; (2) Styria ; and (3) 

 Moravia and Silesia. 



It is reported in the daily Press that Prof, von Leyden 

 has arrived at the conclusion that the development of 

 cancer is due to the diminution or absence of certain 

 chemical substances in the liver. Further details will be 

 awaited with interest. 



In the Bio-chcmical Journal for May (ii., Nos. 5 and 6) 

 Drs. Garrod and Clarke describe a new case of 

 alcaptonuria, Drs. Little and Harris discuss the meta- 

 bolism in a healthy vegetarian. Dr. Barger and Mr. Dale 

 describe the physiological action of some of the con- 

 stituents of ergot. Dr. Drabble, Hilda Drabble, and Daisy 

 Scott discuss the influence of neutral sails on the size of 

 the cells of pleuiococcus and saccharomyces, and Prof. 

 Moore and Drs. Nierenslein and Todd publish e.xperiments 

 on the treatment of trypanosomiasis with atoxyl, an 

 organic arsenical compound, followed by a mercuric salt, 

 showing that this combination is much more successful 

 than ato.xyl alone. 



At a meeting of the Pathological Society of London on 

 June 4, Drs. Sambon and .Seligman described a number 

 of ha'mogregarine parasites obtained from snakes. Dr. 

 Pye-Smith, the president, gave a valedictory address, for 

 the society as such ceases to exist, being merged (as the 

 pathological section) into the new Royal Society of 

 Medicine. 



