July 8, 1909J 



NA TURE 



value of his work was recognised by his election into 

 the Royal Society in 1903. 



We must not conclude this short article without 

 bearing witness to the great success of Prof. Bridge 

 as a teacher. He excelled, to no common degree, in 

 grounding his pupils in the elements of zoology. .As 

 examination candidates his students showed unusual 

 accuracy, and, in the main, a wide knowledge. Those 

 of them who were able to go further and undertake 

 some piece of research found in him not onlv a 

 stimulus, but an unwearied guide and a sagacious 

 critic. 



NOTES. 



M. G. Darboux has been re-elected president of the 

 Soci^t^ des Amis des Sciences, MM. Aucoc and Picard vice- 

 presidents, and Prof. Joubin general secretary. The society 

 was founded in 1857 by Baron Thenard with the view of 

 assisting unfortunate inventors, men of science, and pro- 

 fessors and their families. Among the names of past- 

 presidents of the society occur those of Thenard, 

 J. B. Dumas, Pasteur, and others. Since its foundation 

 the society has distributed in pensions and grants more 

 than two and a half million francs. This year eighty 

 pensions have been granted to old savants or their widows. 

 The society has assisted the education of some seventy 

 children, and made grants to thirty-five widows. The work 

 of the society should appeal to all who benefit from the 

 work of men of science. Information as to the society 

 may be obtained from the treasurer, M. Fouret, 79 boule- 

 vard Saint-Germain, Paris. 



We learn from Science that the people of Honolulu have 

 guaranteed already half the money asked for by the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology for the maintenance of an 

 observatory which the institute proposes to establish at the 

 brink of Kilauea for the study of volcanic action. 



TtiE Geologists' Association is arranging a long 

 excursion to the Arenigs, from July 28 to August 7, under 

 the direction of Mr. W. G. Fearnsides. The excursion 

 secretarv is Mr. E. Montag, 4 Queen's Road, Rockferry, 

 Birkenhead. 



The Vienna correspondent of the Times announces that 

 during excavations near Willendorf on the Danube by the 

 prehistoric section of the Austrian Natural History 

 Museum, a chalk figurine, 11 centimetres high, represent- 

 ing a female figure, was discovered in a stratum contain- 

 ing instruments and weapons characteristic of the Stone 

 age. 



The maps of the cadastral survey of Egypt have just 

 been used to determine accurately the area of land planted 

 with cotton and its distribution. Each plot in which cotton 

 was sown was marked on the maps (scale 1/2500), so 

 that not only the area and position were recorded, but, 

 since the land-tax has been recently re-assessed with the 

 aid of these maps, the distribution of cotton on land of 

 different degrees of fertility was also determined. The 

 total area was 1,466,530 feddans, or 1,522,258 acres. 



The Naples Academy of Sciences (mathematical and 

 physical section) offers a prize of 1000 lire for the best 

 essay containing a systematic exposition of our present 

 knowledge of the geometrical configurations of the plane 

 and of spaces, considered in relation to the theory of sub- 

 stitutions, with, if possible, some new results. The 

 memoirs are to be sent in anonymously not later than 

 June 30, igio. 



NO. 2071, VOL. Si] 



In Travel and Exploration for July Mr. H. Massac Buist 

 discusses what the nations are doing in the progress of 

 aviation, and refers to the annual prize offered by him to 

 the Aerial League for the best essay by a member of 

 that body dealing with the attention that is being devoted 

 by the leading civilised nations to the advancement of 

 aerial locomotion. The first competition is to close on 

 January 31, 1910. In his article the author shows that 

 while Governments are mainly devoting their attention to 

 the construction of dirigibles, aeroplane machines are, to a 

 large extent, being developed by private enterprise. 



Writixcj in the Oxford and Cambridge Review, with a 

 foreword by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Mr. R. P. Hearne 

 advocates the introduction of aviation as a form of sport 

 at the older universities. It is pointed out that such a 

 scheme would produce a school of skilled aviators whose 

 experience would be of great value in future developments 

 of aerial navigation. While the possibility of an Oxford 

 and Cambridge flying race is suggested, we would point 

 out that, in view of the fact that the great majority of 

 Varsity men cannot afford to spend loool. on a motor- 

 driven machine, the man of moderate means might par- 

 ticipate in the sport by gliding down a suitable incline 

 selected on the Gogmagogs, Madingley Hill, or Royston 

 Heath. 



The number of records of earthquakes obtained at Shide, 

 Gottingen, Hamburg, and Laibach between January i and 

 April 30 this year were, respectively, 98, 65, 61, and 33. 

 Each of these earthquakes extended over wide areas, and 

 was recorded at more than one station. At Shide the 

 instrument employed is of the type adopted by the British 

 .\ssociation. At the other stations the records were made 

 on smoked paper or by photographic arrangements with a 

 high multiplication. 



The annual general meeting of the Royal Society of 

 Arts, the iS5th since the foundation of the society in' 1754, 

 was held on Wednesday, June 30, Sir William H. White, 

 K.C.B., chairman of the council, in the chair. The 

 Prince of Wales was re-elected for the ninth time in 

 succession president of the society, and the council, with 

 certain additions and alterations, was re-elected. The 

 principal business of the meeting was the reading of the 

 annual report, which recorded the proceedings of the society 

 during the past year. Reference was made to the failure 

 of the renewed attempt made by the managers of the 

 London Institution to amalgamate with the society. The 

 number of the society's members is now 3490. 



The Times announces that in July of next year there 

 will be held in Brussels, in connection with the Inter- 

 national Exhibition of igio, the first International Con- 

 gress of Administrative Sciences, under the direct patronage 

 of the Belgian Government. The term " administrative 

 sciences " is defined by the congress committee as mean- 

 ing the sum of theoretical knowledge relating to the 

 services, the organisation, the machinery, and the action 

 of Governments, and to the most practical methods to be 

 employed by them. The honorary secretary to the British 

 committee of the congress is Mr. G. Montagu Harris, 

 Caxton House, Westminster, S.W. 



The recent notices issued by the committee of the Inter- 

 national .Aeronautical Exhibition at Frankfort show that 

 many valuable prizes, in addition to those we have already 

 mentioned, have been placed at its disposal, including 

 one by the German Emperor ; three prizes are also offered 

 for the best kinematographic films of natural flight. A 

 series of scientific lectures will be delivered, the first being 



