March i8, 1909I 



NATURE 



75 



On Thursday next, March 25, Prof. G. H. Bryan will 

 begin a course of two lectures at the Royal Institution on 

 "Aerial Flight in Theory and Practice." The Friday 

 evrning- discourse on March 26 will be delivered by Mr. 

 \. S. Eddington on " Recent Results of .Astronomical Re- 

 search," and on April 2 by Sir J. J. Thomson on " Elec- 

 trical Striations." 



l.s a letter to the limes of March 15, Prof. Osier directs 

 attention to the useful work which is being done by the 

 Italian Society for the Study of Malaria, founded ten 

 vcars ago, for the prevention of malarial diseases. The 

 societv has promoted legislation for the gratuitous dis- 

 tribution of quinine, has prepared quinine in its most 

 agreeable forms, and has introduced into practice the 

 mechanical measures based on the defence of the habita- 

 tion and the individual from the bites of mosquitoes. The 

 result is that the mortality from malaria in Italy bas 

 declined from 16,000 in 1902 to about 4000 in iqoS. Prof. 

 Osier also points out that the growth of our knowledge 

 of the causation and prevention of malaria illustrates the 

 stages through which so many of the great discoveries in 

 medicine have had to pass, and is a striking example of 

 the value of experimental methods in medical research. 



The Belgian Legation announces that in the year 19 11 

 the annual prize of 25,000 francs (6250L), instituted by 

 King Leopold in 1874, will be awarded for the best work 

 in French, Flemish, English, German, Italian, Spanish, 

 or Portuguese on " The Progress of .Aerial Navigation and 

 the most Effective Means for its Encouragement." In that 

 year foreigners will be permitted to participate in the 

 competition, and the award will be in the hands of a jury 

 nominated by the King, and consisting of three Belgians 

 and four foreigners. The works submitted for competition 

 must reach the Belgian Minister of Science and Art before 

 March i, 191 1. 



The Times correspondent at Wellington, New Zealand, 

 reports that the Ngauruhoe volcano, which has been 

 quiescent for a year, is in active eruption. On March 8 

 a quivering of the earth in the neighbourhood of the 

 volcano was felt in the evening, and loud noises were 

 heard. These phenomena were followed by the ejection, 

 first, of a column of steam from the crater, and after- 

 wards of steam and volcanic ashes. The eruption was 

 caused through the blocking of the main vent, which was 

 cleared by the outburst ol superheated steam. There was 

 no lava flow, and the volcano remains in the solfatara 

 stage. 



The death is announced of Prof. W. C. Kernot, professor 

 of Engineering in the University of Melbourne. From the 

 Times we learn that Prof. Kernot was born at Rochford, 

 Essex, in 1845, and was educated at schools at Geelong, 

 and at Melbourne University, where he graduated with 

 honours in 1864. After being engaged on the Geelong and 

 Cobban water-works, he became lecturer on surveying and 

 engineering at the University, and in 1883 was appointed 

 to the chair of engineering. In 1874 he was chief of the 

 photoheliograph party at the Melbourne Observatory for 

 the observation of the transit of Venus. In 1887 he , pre- 

 sented to Melbourne University, as a jubilee gift, the sum 

 of 2000Z. to endow scholarships in physics and chemistry. 

 He also founded a metallurgical department at the Uni- 

 versity at a cost of 1000/. He was president of the Royal 

 Society of Victoria for several years, and was the author 

 of various papers in technical journals. 



On- the occasion of the celebration of Charles Darwin's 

 inary in Hamburg last month, Prof. E. Detmer 

 NO. 2055, VOL. 80] 



delivered a eulogistic address on Darwin as a botanist, 

 that is published in Naturwissenschajttiche Wochenschrift 

 (February 21). Referring to his labours as an investigator. 

 Prof. W. Detmer selected for consideration Darwin's re- 

 searches on insectivorous plants, cross- and self-fertilisation, 

 and the power of movement in plants ; it is pointed out that 

 the first excels in exact and comprehensive elaboration, that 

 the second entailed an enormous amount of work in order 

 to get details on which to base a generalisation, and the 

 third introduces new ideas and problems in the physiology 

 of perception. There follows an appreciation of Darwin's 

 greatest contributions to the domain of natural science, «;e. 

 selection and variation. 



A CORRESPONDENT, writing from Freiburg in Baden, sends 

 us an account of a discourse delivered by Prof. Weismann 

 on February 12 last as the commemoration address in 

 connection with the Darwin centenary celebration by the 

 Natural Science Society of Freiburg L^niversity. In his 

 oration Prof. Weismann dwelt on Darwin's early shown 

 inclination to the truths and beauties of nature in spite 

 of a dry and dreary education ; then on the glories of the 

 welcome voyage, which kept the young student of nature 

 in a state of perpetual rapture ; and, again, on the con- 

 centration with w-hich Darwin worked in his English 

 country home at the collection of endless facts to construct 

 his theory. Prof. Weismann went on to describe how little 

 impression the Linnasan lecture of 1858 made on the public 

 mind, but how no scientific work has ever made so great 

 a sensation as the " Origin of Species." He himself first 

 read the book two years later, at the period when he had 

 lately thrown up medicine as a profession for zoology, and 

 so was too young in the new subject to have sunk deep 

 into the grooves of the old school, but was freer than 

 most older zoologists, botanists, and other natural sciences 

 to adopt the evolution principles. Prof. Weismann then 

 showed how greatly the evolution theory changed the whole 

 mind of the times, and set new and varied work going in 

 all directions. Men have made progress since 1859 by 

 leaps and bounds in sounding the mysteries of natural 

 sciences, such as embryology, the laws of heredity, and 

 fertilisation. The theory has opened vistas of historical 

 research — such as the history of art and language — in un- 

 ending perspective. As man has developed from the very 

 simplest beginnings, and has only by degrees reached his 

 present state of high organisation, why should we suppose 

 that we have reached the end and object of the process? 

 The longer the human race exists, the more will it strive 

 for what is higher, purer, and nobler, towards a life dedi- 

 cated less for selfish and more for general good. There- 

 fore, indeed, do we owe much to Darwin, not alone as a 

 benefactor to science, but as a benefactor to the aims of 

 humanity. 



The report of the council of the Ray Society, read and 

 adopted at the annual general meeting on March 11, re- 

 corded some interesting facts as to the position of the 

 society and its publications. There has been a decided 

 increase in the membership of the society since the previous 

 report was presented, the numerical strength being now 

 greater than in any year since 1895. One of the volumes 

 for the year, the " British Desmidiaceae," vol. iii., by Mr. 

 W. West and Dr. G. S. West, was issued in the first 

 week of December last. The publication of the other 

 volume, the " British Rhizopoda," vol. ii., is delayed 

 owing to the death of Mr. James Cash, which occurred 

 on Februarv 20. For the present year a supplementary part 

 of the " British Nudibranchiate Mollusca " is in preparation 

 by Sir Charles Eliot. The forthcoming zoological works 



