April i, 1909] 



NA TURE 



137 



The Oliver-Sharpoy lectures of the Royal College of 

 Physicians will be given for this year by Prof. C. S. 

 Sherrington, F.R.S., to-day, April i, and to-morrow, at 

 5 p.m., at the Royal College. The subject of the lectures 

 is "The R6le of Reflex Inhibition in the Coordination of 

 Muscular Action." 



The Rendiconii del R. Istilulo Loiiibardo announces, 

 under the prize awards of the society, a grant of looo lire 

 to Dr. Umbcrto Savoia, for his studies in metallography, 

 and a grant of 1500 lire to Prof. Ernesto Bertarelli, of 

 Parma, for his work on syphilis. Among the subjects 

 offered for the present and next year we notice Lie's 

 theory of transformation groups, relations between the 

 variations in wages and price of production, the colloidal 

 state of matter, and the anatomy of the nervous system. 



In 1910 an exhibition, on an extensive scale, of the 

 arts, sciences, manufactures, industries, and products of 

 Great Britain and of Japan is to be held at Shepherd's 

 Bush. The scheme is being supported by the Japanese 

 Government, and the British Government is believed to be 

 in sympathy with the project. Satisfactory arrangements 

 have been concluded between the British organisers and 

 representatives of the Japanese Department of Agriculture 

 and Commerce. 



I\ Nature of March 11 last (vol. l.xxx., p. 47) attention 

 was directed to the movement which is being organised 

 by the British Empire League to provide London with a 

 monument to Captain Cook. It was then pointed out 

 that a general committee of distinguished persons had been 

 formed, and that steps would be taken later to appoint 

 an executive to collect the necessary funds, to determine 

 the character of the memorial, and to select the best avail- 

 able site. A meeting of the general committee was held 

 at the Mansion House on March 30 and elected an 

 executive, on whom will devolve, in due course, the duty 

 of issuing an appeal for funds and of taking the necessary 

 steps for the erection of a memorial. The Prince of Wales 

 has consented to become honorary chairman of the general 

 committee, and Lord Brassey to undertake the duties of 

 treasurer. 



The following are among the lecture arrangements at 

 the Royal Institution after Easter : — Prof. F. W. Mott, 

 two lectures on the brain in relation to right-handedness 

 and speech ; Prof. Svante Arrhenius, two lectures on 

 cosmogonical questions (the Tyndall lectures) ; Prof. J. 

 Garstang, two lectures on the Hittites, (i) monuments of 

 Egypt and Asia Minor, (2) recent discoveries in Asia 

 Minor and northern Syria ; Dr. F. Gowland Hopkins, two 

 lectures on biological chemistry; Mr. J. G. Millais, three 

 lectures on Newfoundland ; Prof. W. E. Dalby, two lec- 

 tures on a modern railway problem. Steam v. Electricity ; 

 Mr. R. T. Giinther, two lectures on the earth movements 

 of the Italian coast and their effects ; Dr. W. H. R. 

 Rivers, two lectures on the secret societies of Banks' 

 Islands ; and Dr. F. F. Blackman, two lectures on the 

 vitality of seeds and plants, (i) a vindication of the vitality 

 of plants, (2) the life and death of seeds. The Friday 

 evening meetings will be resumed on April 23, when Mr. 

 .•\lexander Siemens will deliver a discourse on tantalum 

 and its industrial applications. Succeeding discourses will 

 probably be given by Major Ronald Ross, Prof. G. E. 

 Hale, Dr. J. Emerson Reynolds, Prof. J. A. Fleming, and 

 Sir James Dewar. 



The Royal Academy of Sciences and Letters of Denmark 

 has issued a descriptive circular showing prize subjects 

 proposed by it this year. In philosophy the subject is a 



NO. 2057, VOL. 80] 



critical consideration of Socrates and his philosophic in^ 

 fluence since the time of Aristotle. The problem in astro- 

 nomy is to examine the conditions in which it is possible 

 to determine the mass of a comet, and to investigate 

 whether these conditions are satisfied by comets which dec 

 not traverse exactly the orbits calculated for them by the 

 usual methods. It is required that for at least one comet 

 of this class the orbit should be calculated using the whole 

 of the seven constants of the formula relating to the 

 movement of two bodies, and that the results obtained' 

 should be compared with those of observation. The prize 

 in physics is for a study of the influence produced by 

 pressure, temperature, and wave-length upon the index of 

 refraction of substances in the liquid and gaseous states- 

 A prize is offered also for a study of the changes under- 

 gone by calcium cyanamide in the course of its manu- 

 facture for purposes of agriculture and during its use as 

 a fertiliser. In each case the prize is the gold medal of 

 the academy, having a value of about 18/. The papers 

 may be written in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, English, 

 French, or Latin, and must be sent in before October 31, 

 19 10, in each case except that of physics, the closing day 

 of which is one year later. Further particulars may be 

 obtained from the secretary of the academy. Prof. H. G. 

 Zeuthen, The University, Copenhagen. 



The most important article in the January issue of the- 

 Annals of the Transvaal Museum is one by Dr. L. H. 

 Gough on the South African lizards of the genus Agama, 

 in which the various species are re-described and illustrated' 

 from spirit-specimens. 



Prehistoric Scandinavian implements, with special' 

 reference to the use of deer-antlers, form the subject of an 

 illustrated article, by Mr. J. A. Grieg, in the March 

 number of Naturen. Another paper on the same subject, by 

 Prof. A. W. Brogger, but devoted chiefly to stone imple- 

 ments, although also containing illustrations of incised 

 figures of certain animals, appears in the third part of 

 the Bergens Museum Aarbog for 1908. Attention is like- 

 wise directed to some of the more remarkable types of these 

 implements by Dr. H. Schetelig, the director of the 

 historical and antiquarian section, in the Aarsberetning of 

 the same institution for 190S. According to the last-named 

 publication, the Bergen Museum continues to make satis- 

 factory progress in all departments, special attention being 

 directed to the mounting of groups of animals in imitation 

 of their natural surroundings in the zoological section. 



We have to acknowledge the receipt of vol. x. of the 

 third series of the Annales del Museo Nacional de Buenos 

 Aires, a volume bearing the date 1909, although the whole 

 of the numerous articles, with the exception of the twO' 

 last, were separately issued during 1908. Of these, two- 

 by Dr. Ameghino, one dealing with the edentate shoulder- 

 girdle and the other with the supposed fossil armadillos 

 of France and Germany, have been already noticed in our 

 columns. We may here refer to a paper by Mr. J. Brethes 

 on the nests of the Argentine spider known as Mastophora 

 extraordinaria. These minute spiders construct nests in 

 the form of some half-dozen circular chambers of the size 

 of large peas, each attached to the surface, from which 

 they hang by a slender pedicel. They are made of a sub- 

 stance resembling papier-machi, and in colour are white 

 with numerous irregular black blotches. In the interior of 

 each is deposited a cluster of eggs. The receptacles have 

 a perfectly uniform structure, and show no signs of a 

 closed-up entrance hole. The marvel is how the spider 

 contrives to introduce her eggs into these closed chambers. 



