April 29, 1909] 



NATURE 



255 



However, it is unnecessary for us to deal further 

 with the anomalies of the present sj'stem. Enough 

 has been said to show that we are in full general 

 agreement with the views expressed in the letter to 

 the Press of April 19, and by the deputation of last 

 July (see Nature, July 30 and August 6, 1908). We 

 do not pin our faith to any particular treatment of 

 the problem. That can only be done after a full 

 inquiry by a Royal Commission, which we sincerely 

 hope win be granted. The suggestions we have 

 offered have been made more with the view of bring- 

 ing out the most important of the points at issue 

 than with that of laying down the law as to their 

 treatment. 



In saying what we have said we are deeply im- 

 pressed with the great importance of the Natural 

 History Museum to science and to education. Not 

 only is it a most important means of scientific 

 organisation and of research into problems which 

 have an intimate bearing on human welfare and 

 happiness, but, to quote the words of Sir Michael 

 Foster in his admirable article on the museum in the 

 Quarterly Review for 1906, p. 496 : — 

 " It has other uses as well. The museum belongs to the 

 people; it is supported by the people's money; and it is 

 only right that some benefit to the people more direct 

 than that yielded by abstract science should come from 

 it. And great direct benefit can, with some little adminis- 

 trative care, be got from it for the people. In this dull 

 life of ours, above all in this dull city of ours, with its 

 murky surroundings, it is no small thing that an easy 

 stroll, without fee, should bring the dweller in slum alley 

 and unlovely street face to face with the countless beauties 

 of the animal creation ; and much of the animal world is 

 beautiful even in death. It is perhaps even a greater thing 

 that, as is clearly shown by what has been done in the 

 past few years, the collections may be so arranged and 

 displayed as to bring to even the careless stroller lessons 

 not only of beauty, but also of wisdom, opening his eyes 

 to some of the great truths of the world of life." 



\Miat nobler aims, for which to work and to sink 

 all minor differences, than these, the welfare of man 

 and tlic happiness of the people? Let these be our 

 watchwords, and the evils born of misrule and ignor- 

 ance shall not prevail. 



NOTES. 

 Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., has been elected a member 

 of the Athenseum Club under the provisions of the rule 

 which empowers the annual election by the committee of 

 nine persons " of distinguished eminence in science, litera- 

 ture, the arts, or for public services." 



Lieut. E. H. Shackleton will describe his recent 

 .^ntarctic achievements at a meeting of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society to be held in the Albert Hall on June 24. 



In reply to a question asked by Sir Philip Magnus in 

 the House of Commons on Monday with respect to the 

 administration of the natural history collections of the 

 British Museum, the Prime Minister said he is in com- 

 munication with the trustees of the British Museum upon 

 the subjects. 



On Tuesday ne.xt. May 4, Prof. Svante .Arrhenius will 

 begin a course of two lectures at the Royal Institution on 

 " Cosmogonical Questions." These are the Tyndall lec- 

 tures. The Friday evening discourse on May 7 will be 

 delivered by Major Ronald Ross, on " The Campaign 

 against Malaria," and on May 14 by Prof. George E. 

 Hale, on " Solar Vortices and Magnetic Fields." 



Lord Aveburv will take the chair at the annual con- 

 versazione of the Selborne Societv, which will be held on 



May 7 at the offices of the Civil Service Commission (Old 

 London University). Two lectures will be given, the first 

 on " How Birds Fly," by Mr. F. W. Headley, and the 

 second on " How Men Fly," by Mr. T. VV. K. Clarke. 

 Mr. James Buckland, the original promoter of the Plumage 

 Bill, will exhibit a number of lantern-slides illustrating the 

 birds that are in danger of extermination in various parts 

 of the world. There will also be a display of microscopes 

 and natural-history exhibits. 



The Home Secretary has appointed a departmental com- 

 mittee to investigate and report on the best means of 

 standardising with greater accuracy than at present the 

 apparatus and materials employed in the Abel heat test 

 for explosives, and to examine and report on any sup- 

 plementary test or tests that may be submitted. The 

 committee is constituted as follows : — Major Aston Cooper- 

 Key, Sir Frederic L. Nathan, Captain A. P. H. Des- 

 borough, Mr. F. W. Jones, Captain M. B. Lloyd, Mr. 

 C. O. Lundholm, and Major J. H. Mansell, R.A. The 

 secretary of the committee Is Major H. Coningham, R.A., 

 to whom correspondence may be addressed at the Home 

 Office. 



TuE Lisbon correspondent of the Times reports that a 

 severe earthquake occurred in Portugal on April 23 about 

 5 p.m. Reports from up the Tagus show that serious 

 damage has been done in the neighbourhood of Salvaterra, 

 Benavente, and Samora, midway between Lisbon and 

 Santarem. The shocks, which in Benavente extended over 

 three hours, lasted at Lisbon from three to fifteen seconds. 

 A Reuter message from Madrid states that earthquake 

 shocks were registered there on April 23, and also at the 

 towns of Valladolid, Huelva, Val de Penas, Jerez, Villa- 

 manrique, Malaga, and other neighbouring places. The 

 movement registered at the Ebro Observatory lasted 

 5h. 49m. 



The committee for the forthcoming International Aero- 

 nautical Exhibition at Frankfort-on-Main is making great 

 efforts to ensure the success and attractiveness of the under- 

 taking. By the middle of April the amount of the 

 guarantee fund, 50,000/., was over-subscribed, and the sum 

 of 6500Z. had already been promised for prize competitions. 

 Prizes of 500/. each are offered (i) by Count Zeppelin for 

 the smallest dirigible balloon which shall make at least 

 five journeys of not less than half an hour's duration, re- 

 turning to the starting point without intermediate landing, 

 and carrying at least two men ; (2) by Dr. Gans Fabrice 

 to anyone who has made the greatest number of flights 

 of more than five minutes' duration ; (3) by Baron Krupp 

 von Bohlen-Halbach, the conditions to be arranged by the 

 committee. An ornithological exhibition for the representa- 

 tion of natural flight Is being prepared by the Sencken- 

 berg Philosophical Society, with the assistance of Prof. 

 Schillings. 



An Investigating party sent out by the Government at 

 Manila has obtained further particulars of the death of 

 Ur. William Jones, reported In our Issue of April 15. It 

 appears that. In returning to the head-waters of the River 

 Cagayan in order to obtain boats, he unwittingly crossed 

 a " dead line " that had been established by a hostile tribe. 

 He was met by a party of warriors, who offered him a 

 dish of fish as a token of defiance, in accordance with 

 tribal custom. Not suspecting that he was thereby accept- 

 ing their challenge, he ate the fish, and was Immediately 

 attacked. He managed to fight off his assailants with his 

 revolver until he could reach a boat, In which be escaped, 

 but he died five hours later from his wounds. His bcdv 



NO. 2061, VOL. 80] 



