July 23, 1908J 



NA TURE 



277 



body of Ihe work, i.e. in Prof. Doolittle's own words, 

 we find these consist of two pairs in which there is no 

 evidence of motion ; five pairs in which change is 

 doubtful ; five pairs in which some change is prob- 

 able ; seven pairs where the change is less than i°'o 

 per annum; six pairs where the change is just over 

 i°'o per annum; two pairs where it is approximately 

 2°'o per annum ; two pairs fairly rapid binaries ; one 

 pair. Hough 212, with a period of 57 years. 



The last five only can be brought under the above 

 phrase. 



There are two rather serious errors in identifica- 

 tion : Hough iqS should be B.D.+ i6°.48q6, not VVB 

 (2)xxiii.i95, the declination of which is 42°, not 16°; 

 Hough 507 should be WB(2)iv. 151, declination 37°, 

 not \VB(2)iv. 154, declination 32°. 



NOTES. 



We regret to see the announcement of the de:ith on 

 July 20 of Jtfr. Arthur Lister, F.R.S., distinguished par- 

 ticularly for his researches on the Mycetozoa. Mr. Lister 

 was seventy-eight years of age, and was elected a Fellow 

 of the Royal Society in 1898. 



Sir John Banks, first president of the Royal Academy 

 of Medicine, Ireland, and a leading authority on mental 

 diseases, died on July 16 at ninety-seven years of age. 



The eighth meeting of the Association of Economic 

 Biologists will be held at Edinburgh on Tuesday, Wed- 

 nesday, and Thursday, July 28, 29, and 30, under the 

 presidency of Mr. iK. E. Shipley, F.R.S., who will deliver 

 a presidential address " On Rats and their Parasites " 

 on July 28. 



We learn from the Journal of the Meteorological Society 

 of Japan that the death of H.I.H. Prince Yamashina 

 occurred on May 2 at thirty-one years of age. The late 

 Prince had deep interest in meteorology and allied sciences. 

 On his own account he established the Mount Tsukuba 

 meteorological observatory and two base stations in 1901, 

 and published a series of " Ergebnisse der meteorologischen 

 Beobachtungen auf dcm Tsukubasan." He made several 

 valuable researches in meteorology and seismology, and 

 designed a number of excellent instruments. 



Dr. Ludwig Mond, F'.R.S., has offered to the Reale 

 Accademia dei Lincei a biennial international prize of 

 400L, to be called the Stanislao Cannizzaro prize, for 

 chemistry and physical chemistry. The amount necessary 

 for providing the prize, together with taxes and expenses, 

 is to be given by the donor in the form of Italian Consols, 

 while the conditions of award have been placed in the 

 hands of the president of the Academy, in consultation 

 with Dr. Mond and Senator Cannizzaro. 



The Paris correspondent of the Times states that a 

 Society of the Observatories of Mont Blanc has just been 

 regularly constituted, with a board of directors largely 

 chosen from the Academy of Sciences, for the more sys- 

 tematic continuation of the work begun by the late M. 

 Janssen and M. Vallot. The society has decided to place 

 the Vallot and Janssen observatories under the direction 

 of M. Vallot. With this object the latter has given his 

 establishment to the society just formed — a purely scientific 

 association — which appeals for members and funds. The 

 secretary is Comte de I-a Baume-Pluvinel, 9 Rue de La 

 Baume, Paris. 



We are informed that the optical illusion observed by 

 Dr. T. Tcrada, Tokyo, and described on p. 255 of our 

 last number, has been previously observed and described. 



NO. 2021, VOL. 78] 



In the Proc. Roy. Soc, Ediii., 1S7S-79, there is an account 

 of some experiments on this illusion. Like Dr. Terada, the 

 writer first observed it after looking at moving water, but 

 in his case it was a quickly flowing stream ; on afterwards 

 looking at the gravel bank a stream of gravel seemed to 

 flow slowly through it in a direction the opposite .of that 

 of the water. A number of experiments are described in 

 the paper referred to on the effect of looking at rotating 

 discs with black and white radii, and moving bands of 

 paper with cross-lines, the eyes being afterwards directed 

 to a mottled surface on which the reverse movements 

 referred to appeared. These spectra were shown to be 

 entirely stopped when a straight line was drawn acrpss 

 the surface. 



.\n international exhibition and congress of the applica- 

 tions of electricity will be held on September 14-20 at 

 Marseilles. The object of the congress is the considera- 

 tion of the technical, commercial, and administrative 

 problems which have arisen in recent years. These ques- 

 tions will be treated in reports prepared by well-known 

 authorities, and the reports will be submitted to the con- 

 o-ress for discussion, and published subsequently. The 

 business of the meeting will be transacted in nine sections 

 dealing with, respectively, the framing of regulations ; the 

 construction and protection of electric wiring; technical 

 and commercial workings ; lighting and domestic applica- 

 tions ; applications to industry, mines, traction, and agri- 

 culture ; electro-chemistry and electro-metallurgy ; telegraphy 

 and telephony ; instruction and measurements ; and applica- 

 tions to hygiene and medicine. Numerous papers, none of 

 which, we understand, is the work of a British authority, 

 will be discussed in each section. Prof. Maurice L^vy will 

 be the president of the congress. There are four general 

 secretaries, MM. Armagnat, Chaumat, and Dusaugey, and 

 Prof. Zimmern, who may be addressed at 63 Boulevard 

 Haussmann, Paris. 



C0MM.4NDER Peary departed on July 17 from Sydney, 

 Nova .Scotia, on the Roosevelt, on his voyage to the North 

 Pole. .\ Times correspondent reports that Commander 

 Peary has summarised the main features of his programme 

 thus : First, the utilisation of the Smith -Sound route, the 

 advantages of which are a land base 100 miles nearer 

 the Pole than is to be found at any other point of the 

 entire periphery of the .Arctic Ocean, a long stretch of 

 coast-line upon which to return, and a safe and (to Com- 

 mander Peary) well-known line of retreat in the event of 

 any mishap to the ship, independently of assistance. 

 Secondly, the selection of a winter base which commands 

 a wider range of the central polar sea and its surround- 

 ing coasts than any other base in the .Arctic regions. Cape 

 Sheridan is practically equidistant from Crocker Land, 

 from the remaining unknown portion of the north-east 

 coast of Greenland, and from Peary's " Nearest the Pole " 

 of 1906. Thirdly, the use of sledges and Esquimaux dogs. 

 " Man and the Esquimaux dog," Commander Peary ob- 

 serves, ■■ are the only two machines capable of such ad- 

 justment as to meet the wide demands and contingencies 

 of .\rctic travel. Airships, motor-cars, trained Polar bears, 

 Stc, are all premature, except as a means of attracting 

 public attention." Fourthly, the use of the Whale Sound 

 Esquimaux for the rank and file of the sledge party. 



The president of the Local Government Board has author- 

 ised for the current year the following researches in con- 

 nection with the annual grant voted by Parliament in aid 

 i)f scientific investigations concerning the causes and pro- 

 fesses of disease: — (i) A further inquiry by Dr. M. H. 

 Gordon into the character and differential tests for the 



