July 4, 1907] 



NA TURE 



225 



first block of buildings of the British Muspum extension. 

 The scheme of the extension was initiated twelve years 

 ago, when, in 1S95, the opportunity presented itself for 

 acquiring from the trustees of the Duke of Bedford's 

 estate the property immediately surrounding the north, 

 east, and west sides of the museum, kt that time your 

 Majesty was a trustee of the British Museum, and your 

 Majesty was pleased to take a great personal interest in 

 the negotiations which resulted in securing the property 

 for the purpose of the future enlargement of this great 

 national institution. This property consisted of the sixty- 

 nine houses forming the western side of Montague Street, 

 the southern side of Montague Place (the site on w^hich 

 this present building is being erected), and the eastern 

 side of Bedford Square and Bloomsbury Street, and cover- 

 ing, with their gardens, an area of 55 acres. The acqui- 

 sition of this property, added to the existing museum 

 premises, put the trustees in possession of a four-square 

 area of i;i acres, which, when the scheme of the extension 

 shall be fully carried out, will be covered by the galleries 

 of the completed British Museum of the future. In the 

 negotiations for the acquisition of this property the trustees 

 of the Duke of Bedford's estate met the proposals of the 

 trustees of the British Museum in a most liberal spirit ; 

 and the purchase was effected without difficulty for the 

 sum of 200,000/., provided bv her late Majesty's Govern- 

 ment, the Chancellor of the Exchequer then being the late 

 .Sir William Vernon Harrourt. himself an elected trustee 

 of the British Museum, who. both on this occasion and on 

 others, manifested his interest in the welfare of the museum 

 by advocating liberal treatment at the hands of the Lords 

 of the Treasurv. Five ye.nrs afterwards, under the will 

 of Mr. Vincent Stuckcy Lean, who bequeathed to the 

 trustees of the British Museum the sum of 50,000/., " to 

 appropriate at their discretion to the extension and improve- 

 ment of the library and reading-room," the trustees re- 

 ceived the sum of 45,000/., being the amount bequeathed, 

 less duty. With this sum in their hands, the trustees again 

 approached the Lords of the Treasury and submitted a 

 scheme for erecting the galleries, of vi-hich your Majesty 

 is about to lay the foundation-stone, on the site of the 

 houses forming the south side of Montague Place. There 

 were two reasons suggesting the choice of this site. In 

 the first place, the date of the expiration of the leases of 

 the houses was approaching: and, next, the ground on 

 the north side of the British' Museum and contiguous to 

 the library was that Which could be most conveniently 

 utilised for complying with the wish of Mr. Lean and 

 devoting his bequest " to the extension and imorovement 

 of the library and reading-room." The Lords of the 

 Treasury were pleased to give favourable consideration to 

 the trustees' proposal, with the result that, for the pur- 

 poses of the new building, the sum of 150,000/. was 

 scheduled in the Public Buildings Excesses .Act of 1903, 

 in augmentation of the 45.000/. which passed to the 

 trustees under the Lean bequest. 



In the course of his reply to the nddress, the Kin<r 

 said that during- the many rears that he was a trustee 

 he took the greatest interest in the scheme for extend- 

 insT the Museum, and he wns elad that it had been 

 found possible to acquire sufficient adioinin^ property 

 to allow of a further extension of the buildings in the 

 future. 



N07'ES. 

 Sir Joseph D. Hooker, G.C.S.L, F.R.S., celebrated 

 his ninetieth birthday on Sunday, June 30, and received 

 the sincere congratulations of many friends. We are 

 delighted to see that the King marked the occasion by 

 appointing Sir Joseph Hooker to the Order of Merit. 



The long list of honours announced on the occasion of 

 the King's birthday includes the names of a few men of 

 scientific eminence. Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., has 

 been appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the 

 Bath, and Dr. J. .\. Ewing, F.R.S., has been appointed 



a Companion of the same Order. Among the four new 

 peers is Sir James Blyth, Bart., who has rendered signal 

 service to agricultural science, and has placed two farms 

 at the disposal of the Government for the purposes of the 

 investigations undertaken by the Royal Commission on 

 Tuberculosis. With the thirty-one names of new 

 knights are those of Prof. John Rhys, professor 

 of Celtic at Oxford; Dr. J. Donaldson, principal of 

 the University of St. Andrews; Mr. J. Gavey, C.B., 

 engineer-in-chief to the Post Office; and Dr. H. R. 

 Swanzy, president of the Royal College of Surgeons in 

 Ireland, and formerly president of the Ophthalmological 

 Society of the United Kingdom. Sir William MacGregor, 

 K.C.M.G., has been promoted to the rank of G.C.M.G., 

 and Colonel W. G. Morris, C.B., C.M.G., has been pro- 

 moted to the rank of K.C.M.G. for services as super- 

 intendent of the trigonometrical survey of the Transvaal 

 and Orange River Colonies. 



Mr. \\'. P. PvcRAFT has been appointed by the principal 

 trustees an assistant, on the permanent staff of the zoo- 

 logical department of the British Museum. 



The Anthropological Institute has received the King's 

 permission to change its title to that of the Royal Anthro- 

 pological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, by which 

 name it will henceforth be known. 



Soon after q a.m. on June 26 Holyhead and other places 

 in the western part of the Isle of .Anglesea experienced 

 an earthquake shock which greatly alarmed the inhabitants, 

 and in some instances threw down pictures and crockery. 

 The shock was accompanied by a noise like thunder, 

 which lasted about twenty seconds. The vibration is 

 stated to have come from the north-east. 



The council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh has 

 awarded the Keith prize for the biennial period 1903-5 to 

 Dr. Thomas H. Bryce for his two papers on " The 

 Histology of the Blood of the Larva of Lepidosiren 

 parado.xa." published in the Transactions of the society; 

 and the Makdougall-Brisbane prize for the biennial period 

 1904-6 to Dr. Jacob E. Halm for his two papers on 

 " Spectroscopic Observations of the Rotation of the Sun " 

 and " Some further Results obtained with the Spectro- 

 heliometer," and for other astronomical and mathematical 

 papers published in the Transactions and Proceedings of 

 the society. 



The Lord Mayor presided over a ineeting convened by 

 the Bread and Food Reform League at the Mansion 

 House on June 26. This league is organised to direct 

 attention to the great importance of the food question, to 

 promote the healthy nutrition of the people, and to 

 diminish many of the diseases produced by ignorance of 

 dietetic laws. Without advocating any special system of 

 diet, it is desired to show the nutritive and economic import- 

 ance of many neglected foods of staple value. It is believed 

 that proper knowledge of the food value of various diets 

 will promote health and tcinperance, and diminish the 

 fearful infant mortality that exists at the present time. 

 The meeting was addressed by the Lord Mayor, Miss May 

 Yates (the hon. secretary of the league). Sir James 

 Crichton-Browne, Dr. Heron, Dr. J. F. Sykes, Mr. Mayo 

 Robson, and others. 



In reply to a question asked in the House of Commons 

 on Monday, Mr. Haldane stated that the names of the 

 members of Lord Rayleigh's committee now considering 

 questions arising out of defective cordite are as follows :— 



NO. 1966 VOL. 76] 



