June 3, 1Q09J 



NA TURE 



405 



strictly scientific characlcr like the Astrophysical Journal, 

 even though conducted without expense for contributions 

 or for editorial or clerical assistance, cannot be self- 

 supporting. The annual deficit of the journal has been 

 met bv a subsidy from the University of Chicago, which 

 in the last two years has been 400/., but no increase in 

 this subsidy can be expected. With the advance in sub- 

 scription price it is expected that the size of the journal 

 .uid the number of illustrations will be maintained as 

 during recent years. 



The fifth congress of the International .'\ssociation fur 

 Testing Materials is to be held, under the patronage of 

 King Frederick VHIth of Denmark, on September 7-11 

 in Copenhagen. .After the ceremonial opening of the con- 

 gress on .September 7, in the presence of the King of 

 Denmark, and an address by the Prime Minister, Mr. 

 Paul Larsen will read a paper on the development of the 

 cement industry in Denmark. The three following days 

 will be devoted to meetings of the sections, and on 

 September 11 a paper will be read by Mr. J. E. Stead, of 

 Middlesbrough, on the practical use of the microscope in 

 lusting metals and alloys. The latest date at which appli- 

 lations to take part in the congress can be received is 

 June 15, and application should be made to the secretary 

 of the Iron and Steel Institute at 28 Victoria Street, 

 London, S.W. 



We regret to see the announcement of the sudden death 

 of Dr. J. D. E. Schmeltz, director of the Royal Ethno- 

 graphical Museum at Leyden, at seventy years of age. 

 l-'rom the Times we learn that Dr. Schmeltz was a native 

 of Hamburg, where he made the acquaintance of a wealthy 

 merchant, Herr Godcffroy, an enthusiast in geographical 

 and ethnological studies. Godeffroy founded an ethno- 

 graphical museum in 1863, and made Schmeltz director. 

 When in 1882 the Godeffroy Muscuni was sold, Schmeltz 

 liad a name sufficient to secure immediate nomination as 

 conservator of the Leyden Museum of Ethnography, of 

 which establishment he was appointed director in 1897. 



DiSTURB.ANCEs, said by daily papers to be due to earth- 

 quakes, were reported from Tiverton and the surrounding 

 district on May 25. They began at 12.54 P-f"-, 'i"d con- 

 tinued for twenty minutes, causing windows to rattle and 

 houses to shake. They w-ere preceded by a noise like 

 thunder. The long interval throughout which the shocks 

 were noticed, the apparent transmission of the waves 

 through the air, and the fact that some observers remarked 

 on the likeness between the disturbances and those caused 

 by distant gun-firing, pointed to this as their cause. 

 Inquiries have now shown that the supposed earthquakes 

 were of artificial origin. They were caused by the firing 

 of heavy guns in the Channel off Weymouth, about fifty 

 miles from Tiverton. The disturbances at places nearer 

 the centre, such as Dorchester and Yeovil, were, of course, 

 a^signed at once to their true cause. 



Is connection with the annual grant voted by Parlia- 

 ment in aid of scientific investigations concerning the 

 causes and processes of disease, Mr. Burns, the President 

 of the Local Government Board, has authorised the' follow- 

 ing special researches : — (i) a continuation of the investi- 

 gation into protracted and recurrent infection in enteric 

 fever, by Dr. T. Thomson, in conjunction with Dr. 

 Hedingham ; (2) a continuation .of the . investigation into 

 protracted and recurrent infection in diphtheria, by Dr. T. 

 Thomson and Dr. C. J. Thomas; (3) a continuation of the 

 investigation into flies as carriers of infection, by Dr. 

 NO. 2066, VOL. 80] 



Monckton Copeman and Prof. Nuttall ; (4) a continuation! 

 of Dr. Andrewes's investigation on the presence of sewage 

 bacteria in sewer air, with the view of ascertaining their 

 number and the distance they can be carried by air 

 currents; also a continuation of Dr. Andrewes's investi- 

 gation into the part played by changes in bone marrow 

 in the defensive mechanism of the body against infection ; 

 (5) a continuation of Dr. Savage's investigations on the 

 bacterial measurement of milk pollution, and on the 

 presence of the Gaertner group of bacilli in prepared meats 

 and allied foods ; (6) an investigation into the chemical 

 and physical changes undergone by milk as the result of 

 infection by bacteria, and into the relation of the pancreas 

 to epidemic diarrhcea, by Dr. Scholberg and Mr. Wallis ; 



(7) an investigation of the records of charitable lying-in 

 hospitals as to the nutrition of the mother and other 

 factors influencing the vitality of infants and their progress 

 in the first fourteen days of life, by Dr. Darwall Smith ; 



(8) an investigation into the occurrence and importance, 

 in relation to treatment, of mixed infections in pulmonary 

 tuberculosis, by Dr. Inman ; (9) an investigation on the 

 relative importance of certain types of body-cells in defence 

 against the tubercle bacillus, and the effect of tuberculin 

 and other remedial agents on their activities, by Dr. J. 

 Miller. 



Count Zeppelin is reported to have beaten every exist- 

 ing record in the navigation of steerable balloons. Oil 

 the evening of May 29,. at 9.45, the ascent of the airship 

 Zeppelin II. took place from Fricdrichshafen, and the 

 descent at Goppingen was made, in order to obtain a fresh 

 supply of petrol, during the afternoon of May 31, when 

 the cruise had lasted 37h. 40m. The Times of June 2 

 gives the; following bee-line analysis of the voyage : — 

 Outward Journey {against wind). 



Miles 

 60 



86 



85 

 60 



Friedrichshafen to Ulm . 



Ulm to Nuremberg 



Nuremberg to Plauen 



riauen to Leipzig 



Leipzig to Bitlerfeld ... 20 



Return Journey. 



Bilterfeld to Halle ... 18 



Halle to Weimar ... 45 



Weimar to Wiirzburg ... 105 



Wtirzburg to Stuttgart ... 80 



Stuttgart to Goppingen ... 25 

 The bee-line distance for the whole journey 

 and the total distance travelled was probably nearly 900 

 miles. Taking the running time as thirty-eight hours, and 

 the distance 870 miles, the average speed works out at 

 23 miles an hour. 



The sixteenth International Medical Congress is to be 

 held in Budapest from .August 29 to September 4 next, 

 under the patronage of the Emperor Francis Joseph, who 

 will be represented by Prince Joseph. The formal opening 

 will be held in the morning of Sunday, August 29. The, 

 business of the congress will consist largely of sectional 

 meetings, the sections being as follows : — (i) anatomy and 

 embryology; (2) physiology; (3) general and experimental 

 pathology ; (4) microbiology (bacteriology) and pathological 

 anatomy ; (5) therapeutics (pharmacology, physical thera- 

 peutics, and balneology); (6) internal medicine; (7) 

 surgery ; (8) obstetrics and gynecology ; (9) ophthalmology ; 

 (10) diseases of children; (11) diseases of the nervous 

 system; (12) psychiatrics; (13) dermatology and venereal 

 diseases; (14) diseases of the urinary tract; (15) rhinology 



