June i8. igcS] 



NA TURE 



155 



birth of the Florentine physicist, Evangelista Torricelli. 

 The exhibition will include international sections for 

 meteorology and terrestrial physics, ceramics, and agri- 

 cultural machinery. Prizes will be offered for competition 

 in the two first-named sections. Inquiries should be 

 addressed to Conte Cav. Carlo Cavina, president of the 

 executive committee, at Faenza. 



A MONUMENT to the memory of Boucher de Perthes was 

 unveiled at Abbeville on June 8. Boucher do Perthes, who 

 made important discoveries in prehistoric anthropology in 

 the neighbourhood of Abbeville, died there in 1868. In 

 1832 he found at Thuison, near Abbeville, the first stone 

 engravings, and in 1863, in the Moulin Quignon cave, the 

 remains of Quaternary man with flint axes. The collec- 

 tions made by Boucher de Perthes were bequeathed to the 

 State, and are preserved in the Museum of 5aint-Germain- 

 cn-Laye. 



The American .Association for the .-Advancement of 

 Science will devote a day during its meeting at Baltimore 

 to the celebration of the centenary of the birth of Charles 

 Darwin and the jubilee of the publication of the " Origin 

 of Species." The programme includes, according to 

 Science, arrangements for an introductory address by Prof. 

 T. C. Chamberlin, of the University of Chicago, presi- 

 dent of the association, and a number of discourses by 

 American biologists and others. Among the latter we 

 notice that Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., will speak on 

 natural selection from the point of view of zoology. 



A Reuter message from Auckland states that a remark- 

 able volcanic outburst began in the island of Savaii, in 

 the Samoan group, on May 10. The flow of lava was the 

 greatest in the history of the island. It amounted to 

 between 2000 and 3000 tons a minute, and streamed down 

 in a great river from 6 inches to 6 feet deep, stretching in 

 an almost continuous sheet over a width of eight miles. 

 On reaching the coast it flowed over the cliffs into the sea, 

 causing steam to rise in great quantities. The lava 

 destroyed many native houses, and for a time threatened 

 the town of Matatua. 



At the General Conference on Weights and Measures, 

 held at Paris in October last, a resolution was unanimously 

 passed urging the universal adoption of a metric carat 

 of 200 milligrams as the standard of weight for diamonds 

 and precious stones. This proposal, which received a large 

 measure of support on the Continent, especially in France, 

 Germany, Spain, and Belgium, was brought under the 

 notice of the principal diamond dealers in this country by 

 the Board of Trade early in the present year, but it has 

 not met with a favourable reception from the trade, and 

 unless the proposed new standard is generally adopted 

 abroad it is unlikely that any further action in the matter 

 will be taken by the Government. The French Ministry 

 is. now introducing a Bill to legalise the "metric carat" 

 of 200 milligrams in that country, and to prohibit the use 

 of the word carat to designate any other weight. A recent 

 resolution of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce shows 

 that the proposal for an international standard carat is 

 receiving favourable consideration in India. 



The ninety-first annual meeting of the Soci^td Helv^tique 

 des Sciences riaturelles will be held from August 30 next 

 to September 2 at Glaris. A provisional programme states 

 that at general meetings on August 31 and September 2 

 the following addresses will be delivered :— ^Prof. K. 

 Schroter, of Zurich, on an excursion to the Canary 

 Islands ; Prof. H. Schardt, of Montreux, on the great 

 erratic boulders of Monthey and neighbourhood ; Prof. A. 

 Riggenbach-Burckhardt, of Bale, on gravity measurements 



NO. 2016, VOL. 78] 



of the Swiss Geodetic Commission ; Prof. Ch. E. Guye, of 

 Geneva, on the electric arc as a powerful aid to science 

 and industry ; Dr. H. Greinacher, of Zurich, on radio-active 

 substances ; and Prof. R. Chodat, of Geneva, on Paljeozoic 

 ferns, their significance in modern plant paIa;ontology. 

 September i will be devoted to sectional meetings and to 

 the annual meetings of the Swiss Geological, Botanical, 

 Zoological, and Chemical Societies. A more detailed pro- 

 gramme of the meetings will be available in July. 



The Sunday Society, which exists to obtain the opening 

 of museums, art galleries, libraries, and gardens on 

 Sundays, has been making attempts, though as yet un- 

 successfully, to secure the opening on Sundays of the 

 science and art collections at the Franco-British Exhibi- 

 tion. The experience gained during the last twelve years 

 would appear to show that the Sunday opening of national 

 museums and galleries has been greatly appreciated, and 

 that there has been no abuse of the privilege. The last 

 published returns show that in 1906 the number of Sunday 

 visitors to the British Museum was 57,738, an average 

 Sunday attendance of mo; at the Natural History Museum 

 for the same year the corresponding numbers were 61,151 

 and 1 176. In 1905 the number of visitors to the Victoria 

 and Albert Museum on Sundays was 93,005, an average 

 Sunday attendance of 1755 ; the corresponding numbers in 

 the same year for the Bethnal Green Museum were 74,990 

 and 1415. 



On Saturday last Mr. E. \V. C. Kearney gave a 

 demonstration of his high-speed railway system in the 

 temporary building on the east side of Aldw'ych. Mr. 

 Kearney runs his car upon a single rail, supporting it upon 

 a two-wheel bogey at each end. Above the car there is 

 a second rail engaging a second two-wheel bogey at each' 

 end. The upper and lower bogeys are carried upon the 

 same shaft, and so turn together. The intention is to run 

 out of the ground-level stations down an incline of i in 7 

 until a speed possibly of 200 miles per hour is attained, 

 then along the level, and so up to the next station. If 

 this could be done safely and successfully, then, without 

 question, much time would be saved ; but nothing which 

 was said or demonstrated on Saturday with the help of a 

 scale model about one-fifteenth the full size in any way 

 made it evident that this would be the case, or that the 

 great economy in first and in running cost claimed would 

 be attained in practice. While the steep declivity would be 

 convenient in the case of tube railways, it hardly meets 

 the requirements of elevated or of long-distance railways, 

 for which the motors would have to provide the whole 

 acceleration. Might it not be well to revive the old 

 brachistochrone problem which the brothers Bernoulli in- 

 vented before its time and travel on cycloidal routes from 

 place to place? Even Mr. Kearney would find it difficult 

 to compete with this. 



After four months' canvassing among metal manu- 

 facturers and users, and two preliminary meetings held in 

 Manchester, a new technical society called " The Institute 

 of Metals " was formed at a meeting held at the Institu- 

 tion of Mechanical Engineers, Westminster, on Wednesday, 

 June 10. Sir William White, K.C.B., F.R.S., who 

 occupied the chair, has been for some years the chairman 

 of the .Alloys Research Committee, instituted by that body, 

 which has concerned itself to some extent with the non- 

 ferrous metals and their alloys. The following resolution 

 was, after some discussion, adopted unanimously : — " That 

 in view of the widely recognised need for a medium of 

 communication for the advance of knowledge in connec- 

 tion with the production, manufacture, and use of the non- 

 ferrous metals and their alloys, a society to be called ' The 



