August 20, 1908J 



NA TUBE 



0/ J 



For the second time during the present summer a 

 drought has occurred over England, and the present occur- 

 rence is of considerable duration. At Portland Bill abso- 

 lutely no rain fell from July 17 until Tuesday, August 18 — 

 a period of thirty-two days — and at Jersey the aggregate 

 measurement of rain for the period was only 0-07 inch. 

 In London the total measurement of rain for thirty-one 

 davs is 0-22 inch, which fell on three days. Rain has 

 fallen rather more frequently in Scotland and Ireland, but 

 in these parts of the kingdom the shortage of rain is 

 considerable. .\t Leith the measurement for twenty-four 

 davs is o-ii inch, whilst at Roches Point it is only 

 008 inch for twenty-three days, and even at Valencia the 

 aggregate measurement of rain this month is o-ii inch. 

 The Weather Summary issued by the Meteorological' Office 

 shows a considerable deficiency of rain for the present 

 summer. In the extreme south of England, the English 

 Channel stations show a deficiency of 3-26 inches, whilst 

 for the south-west district of England the deficiency is 

 307 inches, and in the south of Ireland 3-01 inches. In 

 most districts the aggregate rainfall since the commence- 

 ment of the yes^ is less than the average, the deficiency 

 amounting to 5-7 inches in the English Channel, and 

 exceeding 4 inches in the south-west of England and in 

 the south of Ireland. 



The International Historical Congress has accepted the 

 invitation of the British .\cademy to meet in London in 



Dr. H. Morize has been appointed director of I'Observa- 

 toire de Rio de Janeiro in succession to the late Prof. L. 

 Cruls. 



Referring to the subject of the slandardisalion of time, 

 a correspondent points out that in Antwerp there is a 

 system bv which, at various prominent f-oints of the city, 

 clocks arc shown " connected electrically with the observa- 

 tory." 



Some interesting experiments on coid-dust explosions 

 have been started, under the direction of Mr. W. E. Gar- 

 forth, at the Altofts Colliery, Yorkshire. .An experimental 

 explosion was witnessed on .\ugust 14 by Mr. E. Reumaux 

 (Lens), Dr. J. A. Holmes (United States Geological 

 Survey), Captain Desborough, H.M. Inspector of Explo- 

 sives, and a number of experts from France and the 

 United States. The cost of the experiments is borne from 

 a special fund of 10,000/. contributed by colliery pro- 

 prietors. 



We regret to see the announcement that Prof. F. 

 Paulsen, professor of moral philosophy in the University 

 of Berlin, died on August 14, at sixty-two years of age. 

 Prof. Paulsen was the author of several important volumes 

 on philosophy and ethics, and he wrote extensively on 

 educational subjects, among these works being " Die 

 deutschen LIniversitaten," " Geschichte des gelehrten 

 Unterrichls auf den deutschen Schulen und Universitaten," 

 and a volume on past and present German education, of 

 which a translation into English has been published recently. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death, at the 

 age of sixty-two, of Prof. .Mfred Giard, professor of general 

 biology at the Sorbonne, Paris, and member of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences. He was a student at the Superior 

 Norman College in 1867, and became a Doctor of Science 

 in 1872. In the following year he became professor of 

 natural history at the Industrial Institute of the North 

 of France, in 1880 professor of zoology in the University 

 of Lille, founder of the marine biological laboratory at 



NO. 2025, VOL. 78] 



Wimereux in 1S84, and professor at the Sorbonne in 1887. 

 His researches and lectures on general embryology and the 

 evolution of living forms gave him a high position among 

 biologists. Prof. Giard was elected vice-president of the 

 Societe de Biologie in 1896, and president of the Soci^t6 

 entomologique in ''he same year. In 1900 he became a 

 member of the Paris .Academy of Sciences in succession to 

 Prof. Milne-Edwards. 



Dr. Cii.ARLES T.AVLOR, the master of St. John's College, 

 Cambridge, who died suddenly at Nuremberg last week, 

 was a man of varied and sound learning, which has secured 

 for him a permanent place in mathematical as well as in 

 theological literature. His larger book on geometrical 

 conies is remarka'jle for its elegance, its well-arranged 

 historical notes and prolegomena, and its treasury of 

 examples. The smaller treatise does not suit every kind 

 of student, especially for examination purposes, but it has 

 enjoyed considerable popularity, and is, in many respects, 

 one of the most attractive and enjoyable works on the 

 subject. While thoroughly at home in the methods of the 

 ancients. Dr. Taylor never fully absorbed the projective 

 theory of the moderns ; for example, his notes on the 

 circular points at infinity are merely ingenious trifles, and 

 obscure, rather than elucidate, the geometrical meaning 

 of these ideal elements, .\part from this, he rendered a 

 real service to mathematics by devoting so much time to a 

 limited subject with which he was specially competent to 

 deal, and his maffnmii opus in this field is not likely to be 

 superseded. 



The measures devised by Sir Henry Heskr-th Bell, 

 Governor and Commander-in-Chief of L'ganda, for com- 

 bating the spread of sleeping sickness are, according to 

 Reuter's Agency, meeting with a considerable measure of 

 success. During 1907 there were no new cases among 

 Europeans, and the deaths among natives during the twelve 

 months numbered less than 4000. The whole of the 

 population has been removed from the shores of the 

 Victoria Nyanza, and it is hoped that the disease-carrying 

 fly in that belt, if not re-infected, will gradually cease to 

 be a source of danger. Several thousands of the sufferers 

 from sleeping sickness are being maintained in segrega- 

 tion camps, but the treatment by atoxyl is not proving of 

 much avail. Consistent and vigorous action will be neces- 

 sary for some years to come if sleeping sickness is to be 

 stamped out of the country. 



We learn from the British Medical Journal that, on 

 October 15, the University of Bern will initiate a great 

 festival in celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of 

 the birth of the great physiologist, botanist, and poet, 

 Albrecht von Haller. Prof. Steck will deliver an address 

 on the personal characteristics of Haller, Prof. Kronecker 

 will discourse of Haller's Bernese home and of his method 

 of working, and Prof. Fischer will treat of Haller's rela- 

 tions with the scientific men of his time, and especially of 

 his relations with Linnseus. On October 16 a monument 

 to Haller's memory will be unveiled on the ground facing 

 the new university buildings. Haller was elected a Fellow 

 of the Royal Society of London on October 25, 1739, when 

 he was only thirty-one years of age ; and Prof. .Arthur 

 Gamgee, F.R.S., will present, in the name of the society, 

 a Latin address to the University of Bern. 



Reports as to progress of experiments in wireless tele- 

 phony appeared in the daily papers during the past few 

 days. The Paris correspondent of the Times states that 

 experiments made at the Champ de Mars have established 

 communication with Mont VaK'rien at a distance of 8 kilo- 



