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NA TURE 



[May 20, 1909 



The central committee of the Austrian Alpine Club, we 

 learn from La Nature, has, by the liberality of the authori- 

 ties of Munich, just been put in possession of a large 

 building with excellent accommodation, and well situated 

 on the banks of the Isar. The club proposes to inaugurate 

 an Alpine museum in its new building specially con- 

 •cerned with everything related to the study of the Alps 

 from every point of view. 



We learn from the British Medical Journal that the 

 Harben lectures of the Royal Institute of Public Health 

 will be delivered this year by Prof. R. Pfeiffer, director 

 ■ of the Hygiene Institute, Breslau. The first lecture, on 

 the importance of bacteriolysins in immunity, will be 

 given on Monday, June 21 ; the second, on endotoxins and 

 anti-endotoxins, on June 23 ; and the third, on the problem 

 ■of virulence, on June 25. 



The ninety-second annual meeting of the Soci^t^ 

 helv^tique des Sciences naturelles will be held at Lausanne 

 on September 5-8, under the presidency of M. Henri 

 Blanc. On September 6 and 8 the subjects and openers 

 ■of discussions will be : — the Jura, E. de Margerie ; aero- 

 dynamic foundations of aviation, S. Finsterwalder ; com- 

 parative psychology : determinism and theory of memory, 

 A. Forel ; history of the animal life of Ceylon, F. Sarasin ; 

 •some recent results of astronomical photography, R. 

 ■Gautier ; and natural history impressions of Greenland, 

 M. Rikli. The secretaries of the congress are MM. H. 

 Faes and P. L. Mercanton, Lausanne. 



At the last annual meeting of the Royal Institution of 

 ■Cornwall, held at Truro, it was announced that fitting 

 accommodation has now been secured for the valuable 

 collections in its charge. The scheme of adding to the 

 ■existing museum has been abandoned, and a new building 

 -standing in its own grounds, free from the danger of fire, 

 and occupying a conspicuous and accessible position, has 

 been secured. The work of adapting this to form one of 

 the best scientific museums in the west of England is now 

 in progress; of a total estimated cost of 5000/., sufficient 

 has been collected to warrant the council in proceeding 

 with the scheme, and there is every reason to believe that 

 the appeal for the balance will meet with a gratifying 

 •response. 



The Nature Study Society has organised an e.xhibition of 

 aquaria, vivaria, and other means of observing animals, 

 with photographic and microscopic illustrations, to be held 

 at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Regent's Park, on Friday 

 and Saturday, June 4 and 5. Exhibits of the following 

 character will be acceptable : — aquaria, fresh water and 

 salt water ; vivaria containing reptiles, Amphibia, snails, 

 caterpillars, and other animals ; flight cages containing 

 "butterfiies, dragon-flies, and other insects ; ants' nests, 

 wormeries, means of keeping minute forms of life ; 

 microscopic exhibits illustrating minute forms of life ; 

 photographs bearing directly upon any of the above 

 matters. Intending exhibitors should communicate before 

 "May 25 with the honorary secretary of the exhibition. Miss 

 Winifred de Lisle, 58 Tyrwhitt Road, Brockley, S.E. 



We notice with regret the death, on May 12, in Munich, 

 of Prof. Heinrich von Ranke. Prof, von Ranke was 

 born on May 8, 1830, and was educated in the universities 

 of Erlangen, Berlin, Leipzig, and Tubingen. From the 

 obituary notice in the Times we learn that he acted for 

 a year as assistant to the biologist Johannes Miiller, and 

 later worked at Tubingen with Hugo Mohl. He took his 

 M.D. degree in 1851. Prof, von Ranke gained much 

 ^experience in various branches of medical science from his 

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army work under the English Government during the 

 Crimean War, and in later years on the battlefield of 

 Bohemia during the Austro-Prussian War of 1S66. In 

 1874 he was appointed to an extraordinary professorship, 

 dealing with the treatment of children, in the University 

 of Munich. In addition to much work in public hygiene, 

 von Ranke devoted his attention to scientific agriculture, 

 making a model farm of a portion of his estate near 

 Munich. He served as vice-president of the Agricultural 

 Society of Bavaria. His literary work included many 

 pamphlets on his scientific researches and practical experi- 

 ence in medicine ; he also wrote on archseologlcal subjects. 



At the invitation of the Mayor and Corporation of 

 Winchester, the annual congress of the South-Eastern 

 Union of Scientific Societies will be held at that town on 

 June g-i2 inclusive, under the presidency of Dr. Dukin- 

 field H. Scott, F.R.S. The following papers will be 

 read : — prehistoric memorials of Hampshire, W. Dale ; 

 leaf-mining insects, A. Sich ; the evolution of our southern 

 rivers, W. F. Gwinncll ; fungus-hunting in Hants, J. F. 

 Rayner; local Lepidoptera, Rev. G. M. A. Hewett ; and 

 nature-study for teachers. Prof. Cavers. Messrs. Griffin 

 and Lowne will give a demonstration of plant-pressing 

 and mounting. Dr. Burge, headmaster of Winchester 

 College, has invited members to a conversazione, at which 

 Mr. R. W. Hooley will lecture on the age of reptiles in 

 Hants and the Isle of Wight. The Mayor and Corporation 

 of Southampton have invited the members to visit that 

 city, on which occasion Prof. Hearnshaw will show and 

 explain the corporation documents and regalia. Various 

 visits to noteworthy spots will be conducted by Sir W. 

 Portal, Bart., Mr.' W. Whitaker, F.R.S. , Mr. N. H. 

 Nisbett, Alderman W. H. Jacob, and Canon Valpy, the 

 Vice-Dean. There will be a loan museum as usual, under 

 the management of Mr. E. W. Swanton. The local 

 secretary is Mr. W. Norris, 4 Upper High Street, Win- 

 chester, and the general secretary is the Rev. R. 

 Ashington Bullen, " Englemoor," Woking, from either of 

 whom further information may be obtained. 



The April number of the Museums Journal opens with 

 an article, by Dr. A. H. Millar, on the removal of the 

 Scottish Hunterian Museum from the old college in High 

 Street, Glasgow, to Gilmorehill University, in the same 

 city. In the course of the article, which w'as originally 

 delivered in the form of an address to the Ipswich 

 Museums' Conference, the author gives an account of the 

 career of William Hunter, and a resume of the history 

 and formation of his museum. The transference of the 

 collection to its present home took place in the early 

 'seventies. 



BiOGR.^PHV occupies a prominent position in the May 

 issue of British Birds, to which Mr. W. H. Mullens con- 

 tributes an interesting sketch of the lives and works of 

 William Macgillivray and William Yarrell, together with 

 portraits of both these distinguished ornithologists. 

 Macgillivray 's " History of British Birds " has, in the 

 author's opinion, met with unmerited neglect, although it 

 is one of the most valuable treatises on its subject in 

 existence. This neglect is attributed to the supposed 

 extreme technicality of the work, to the long interval 

 between its commencement and its completion, and, lastly, 

 although by no means leastly, to the dominating influence 

 of Yarrell 's volumes, which appeared about the same 

 time, but in quicker succession. 



To vol. xxi., part ii., of the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Society of Victoria, Prof. Baldwin Spencer contributes an 

 illustrated account of a problematical organism, of which 



