May 28, 1896I 



NA TURE 



exhibit of Lord Kelvin's inventions. On Tuesday, June 16, 

 addresses will be presented to Lord Kelvin by delegates 

 from home and foreign Universit\- bodies, from several of 

 the learned Societies of which ht is a member, from 

 student delegates from other Universities, and from the 

 students and graduates of the University of Glasgow. It 

 is expected that the honorary degree of LL.D. will be 

 conferred on the same day on several of the distinguished 

 foreign visitors. On Tuesday evening, June 16, the City 

 will give a banquet to Lord Kelvin, to which the visitors 

 who have come to do him honour have been invited. 



On Wednesday, June 17, the Senate of the University 

 will invite the visitors of the University staff to sail down 

 the Clyde. The students of the L^niversity also invite 

 the students' delegates from other Universities to a 

 sinjilar trip. 



Representative scientific men — about fifty in number — 

 from America and the British colonies, and from all the 

 European countries, and about 1 50 from the United 

 Kingdom, have signified their intention to be present. 



The exceptional nature of the occasion, and the feeling 

 w hich Lord Kelvin's name awakens everywhere, will give 

 these proceedings a peculiar interest. 



NOTES. 

 The University of Wales is to be represented at the forth- 

 coming celebration of the Kelvin juliilee by Principal J. 

 Viriamu Jones, F.R.S., of Cardiff (the \'ice-Chancellnr for the 

 year), and Prof. A. Gray, of Bangor. 



The Mayor of Bristol, at the suggestion of a deputation repre- 

 senting the chief local scientific societies and educational in- 

 stitutions, has decided to invite the British Association to visit 

 Bristol in 1898. A visit to Bristol after the Toronto meeting 

 would be made in a singularly opportune year, for it was in 1497 that 

 Cabot discovered the American mainland, where the Association 

 will be in 1897, whence he started on his second voyage in 1498. 

 The meeting would thus serve to commemorate the tercentenary 

 of a memorable voyage of one of Bristol's greatest citizens. 

 That the Association .should take Bristol after Canada would, 

 therefore, be ver)' appropriate. 



The Epidemiological Society of London has resolved, having 

 regard to the historical connection of tlie Society with vaccina- 

 tion and other preventive measures, to found a medal in memory 

 of Jenner. It is proposed that the medal shall be founded with a 

 view to the promotion of epidemiological research, and that it 

 shall be bestowed from time to time by this Society on persons 

 who shall have contributed to the knowledge of preventive 

 medicine. Donations (not exceeding one guinea) may be sent to 

 the Honorary Treasurer, 6 Hereford Mansions, Bayswater, W. 



The death is announced of Dr. August Hosius, Professor of 

 Mineralogy and Pala-ontology in Miinster University. 



The King of Belgium has honoured Prof Leo Errera, 

 Professor of Botany in the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, and 

 Director of the Institut botanique, by creating him a Chevalier 

 of the Order of Leopold. 



Reuter's correspondent at .Adelaide states that a well- 

 equipped expedition started on May 22 to explore the interior 

 of the Australian continent. It will Ix- absent eighteen months. 

 Mr. Calvert is defraying the cost of the expedition. 



An extra Friday evening meeting of the members of the 

 Royal Institution will be held on June 19, when Mr. Thomas C. 

 Martin, of New Vork, American Delegate to the Kelvin 

 jubilee, will deliver a lecture on " The Utilisation of Niagara." 



We learn from the American Naturalist that a biological 

 station will be opened on June 22 at biscayne Bay, Florida, and 

 will remain open for six weeks. The place is well situated for 



NO. 1387, VOL. 54] 



the study of the tropical and subtropical flora and fauna, while 

 its situation upon the continent makes it more readily accessible 

 than the West India Islands. The station will be under the 

 direction of Prof Charles L. Edwards, of the University of 

 Cincinnati. 



Mk. T. D. a. Cockerell proposes to establish a biological 

 station at Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S.A. The climate of 

 the country is exceptionally favourable for persons in the earlier 

 stages of phthisis, while the abundance of new and interesting 

 forms of life, especially among the insects, is remarkable. Many 

 interesting general problems, such as those of the life-zones, can 

 also be studied in New Mexico to great advantage. A beginning 

 will be made this summer if students can be found. Mr. 

 Cockerell will be glad to hear from any who are interested in 

 the matter, and especially from those who might be inclined to 

 work with him for longer or shorter periods during the present 

 summer. 



A general meeting of the members of the Federated 

 Institution of Mining Engineers will be held in London on 

 Thursday, June 4, and on Friday, June 5. The following papers 

 will be read, or taken as read : — Presidential address, by Mr. Geo, 

 A. Mitchell ; " The Causes of Death in Colliery Explosions," 

 by Dr. J. S. Haldane ; " Road Engines," by Mr. John McLaren ; 

 "The Gobert Freezing Process of Shaft-sinking," by Mr. A. 

 Gobert ; " Precautions necessary in the Use of Electricity in 

 Coal-mines," by Mr. H. W. Ravenshaw. The papers down 

 for discussion are : " Photography in the Technology of Ex- 

 plosives," by Mr. Alfred Siersch ; "Coal-washing Plant at 

 the Wirral Colliery, Neston, Cheshire," by Mr. J. Piatt ; " Lead 

 and Lap of Winding and other Engines," by Mr. Hargrave 

 Walters. 



The gold medal of the Linnean Society of London, which is 

 annually presented alternately to a zoologist and to a botanist, 

 has this year been awarded to Prof George James AUman, 

 F. R. S., for distinguished researches in zoology. A graduate in 

 medicine in the University of Dublin in 1844, and subsequently 

 Regius Professor of Botany there, he was elected a Fellow of 

 the Royal Society in 1854, and from 1855 to 1S70 held the 

 chair of Regius Professor of Natural History in the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh, where the honorary degree of LL.D. 

 was conferred upon him. In 1873 h^ was awarded the " Royal 

 Medal " of the Royal Society. In 1S74 he was elected 

 President of the Linnean Society in succession to Mr. Bentham, 

 and in 1879 was President of the British Association on the 

 occasion of its meeting at Sheitield. His chief scientific work 

 has relation to the lower forms of animal life, concerning which 

 his most notable publications are his monographs of the Fresh- 

 water Polyzoa and Hydroida — issued by the Ray Society — 

 and his exhaustive report on the Hydroida collected by the 

 Challenger exploring expedition. The medal will be presented 

 at the anniversary meeting of the Linnean Society, to be held 

 on Thursday, June 4, at S p.m. 



Messrs. C. Griffin and Co. have just published the 

 thirteenth annual issue of their " Year-Book of Scientific and 

 Learned Societies of Great Britain and Ireland." The work 

 comprises lists of papers read during 1895 before these societies, 

 which are arranged into fourteen classes according to the 

 branches of science fostered by them. As a handy and accurate 

 index to our scientific societies, and a record of progress, the 

 work is most useful. 



We learn from La Nature of May 23 that a meeting was 

 held on April 24, at the Geological and Geographical Society 

 of Stockholm, in favour of the Polar expedition of M. Andree. 

 That gentleman opened the meeting by an explanation of the 

 preparations already made, and of the prospects of the ex- 

 pedition. The generator of the hydrogen gas is nearly 



