78 



NA TURE 



[July 15, 1909 



AZOTES. 



We announce with deep regret the death of Prof. Simon 

 Newcomb, Foreign Member of the Royal Society, or July 

 II, at seventy -four years of age. 



The next international congress of mining and metallurgy 

 is to be held in June, iqio, at Dusseldorf. The last con- 

 gress was in 1905, and the place of meeting Li^ge. 



At an audience on July 10, the King conferred upon 



Mr. E. H. Shackleton the Insignia of a Commander of 



the Royal Victorian Order in recognition of his work in 

 the .Antarctic. 



It is stated by the St. Petersburg correspondent of the 

 Globe that a Bill for the substitution of the new style for 

 the old style of date reckoning in Russia will be brought be- 

 fore the Council of the Empire and the Duma in the autumn. 

 There is at present a difference of thirteen days between the 

 Russian calendar (old style) and the reformed Gregorian 

 calendar introduced in 1583 and used in our country since 

 1752- 



ANOTiiEt; exhibition, arranged in connection with the 

 Model Engineer, on similar lines to that which proved suc- 

 cessful in 1907, will be held at the Royal Horticultural 

 Hall, Westminster, S.W., in October next. The exhibits 

 will include engineering models, electrical and scientific 

 apparatus, lathes and light workshop appliances, model 

 aeroplanes, and technical education equipment. An attrac- 

 tive feature will be the exhibits in the competitions for 

 model and scientific apparatus making, several classes for 

 both amateur and professional workers having been 

 arranged, for- which valuable prizes are being offered. 

 Full particulars may be obtained from the organisers, 

 Messrs. Percival Marshall and Co., 26-29 Poppins Court, 

 Fleet Street, London, E.G. 



The first Gustave Canet lecture was delivered by Lieut. 

 Trevor Dawson at the twenty-fifth anniversary meeting 

 of the Junior Institution of Engineers on June 30. The 

 lecturer is the recipient of the first gold medal, which is 

 to be awarded every fourth year by Madame Canet in 

 memory of her husband, the award being made through the 

 council of the institution. In his lecture, Lieut. Dawson 

 gave many instances of the increased power and accuracy 

 of guns. One photograph showed six loo-lb. shots striking 

 the water, having been fired as a volley from 6-inch guns 

 on a British cruiser at a range of 7300 yards. The total 

 space embraced by the six shots was only 88 yards. To- 

 wards the end of the lecture the question of airship attack 

 was dealt with, and the special ordnance to be used against 

 these vessels described. 



The British and Irish Millers' Convention was held at 

 Chester on July 7, when a paper was read by Mr. A. E. 

 Humphries, of Wcybridge, on " Ideal British Wheals." 

 Mr. Humphries pointed out that the British farmer no 

 longer grows what the miller wants ; instead of producing 

 a strong wheat, capable of making large, shapely loaves, 

 he produces a weak wheat, the flour from which is usually 

 a drug in the market. The home-grown wheat committee 

 of the British Millers' Association has been investigating 

 the question of improvement, and is very hopeful about 

 the future ; it is believed that wheats will be produced of 

 better quality, with better straw, less susceptibility to 

 disease, and greater cropping power than those now avail- 

 able. The committee asks for a national cereal-breeding 

 station, and commends this to the Board of Agriculture 

 and the Chancellor of the Exchequer as one important 

 means of agricultural development. 

 N"0. 2072, VOL. 81] 



At the end of last year we observed with regret the 

 report that Mr. James Parsons, principal mineral surveyor 

 of Ceylon, had disappeared in the jungle, and his death 

 was presumed. It seems that on the morning of 

 December 29 last Mr. Parsons left his hotel at Nuwara 

 Eliya for a walk in the open country, intending to return 

 in time for lunch. About noon he w^as seen traversing a 

 certain tea-estate, but from that date he was never seen 

 alive. We now learn that, after three months' search, 

 his remains were found in the jungle on April 11. Death 

 was probably due to exposure. Mr. Parsons went to 

 Ceylon in 1902 as assistant to Dr. A. K. Coomaraswamy 

 to undertalve a mineralogical survey of Ceylon. On Dr. 

 Coomaraswamy's retirement he took his place in 1906. 

 His last writings were two papers in Spolia Zeylanica 

 on fluor-spar in Ceylon and votive offerings of weapons. 



The recently issued account of the income and expendi- 

 ture of the British Museum for the year ended March ^i^ 

 last, and the return of the number of persons admitted to 

 visit the Museum and the Natural History Museum, South 

 Kensington, in each year 1903 to 1908, both years inclu- 

 sive, provides much information of interest. The number 

 of visits made by the public to the Natural History 

 Museum during 1908 was 517,043, as compared with 

 497,437 in 1907, showing an increase of 19,606. The 

 attendance on Sunday afternoons showed a slight falling 

 off, the figures being 65,986, as against 66,367 in the 

 previous year. The average daily attendance for all open 

 days was 1420-4. The total number of gifts received 

 during the year by the several departments was 2259, as 

 compared with 2105 in 1907. Among other donors may 

 be mentioned Mr. F. D. Godman, valuable collections of 

 insects from Central America and other localities, and a 

 series of water-colour drawings of butterflies of the family 

 Hesperiids ; the Hon. Walter Rothschild, mounted speci- 

 mens of a male and female Californian sea-elephant, from 

 the island of Guadeloupe, and a male sea-lion from Cali- 

 fornia ; the trustees of the Percy Sladcn Fund, a large 

 collection of reptiles, balrachians, and fishes from the Sey- 

 chelles, Chagos Islands, and the Indian Ocean ; Mr. C. D. 

 Sherborn, a valuable collection of specimens of the hand- 

 writings of naturalists, consisting of some 8000 letters and 

 other documents ; and Mrs. R. P. Murray, the extensive 

 herbarium made by the late Rev. R. P. Murray, compris- 

 ing about 15,000 sheets. 



According to the curator's report for 190.8-9, the Otago | 

 LTniversity Museum at Dunedin has been augmented by a | 

 new wing — the Hocken wing — which will shortly be 

 opened to the public, and is mainly devoted to art and j 

 literature. A living tuatara lizard has been kept alive fori 

 some time on the museum premises. 



The report of the Rhodesia Museum at Bulawayo for 

 1908 shows continued progress on the part of that com- 

 paratively juvenile institution, despite the fact that one . 

 source of revenue has been cut off, while the Government Jl 

 has declined to be responsible for an annual subsidy to • 

 the funds. The largest increase to the collection has taken 

 place in the entomological section. 



The most important additions to the Giza Zoological ■ 1 

 Gardens, as we learn from Captain Flower's report for 

 190S, were the hippopotamus and the Nubian bustard. 

 The curator finds it necessary to take special precautions I 

 to protect the smaller mammals and birds from nocturnal 

 four-footed marauders, of which the. worst is the jungle- 

 cat, although jackals, dogs, and fo.xes also do much harm. 

 During the year a jungle-cat killed a pelican. The pro 



