io6 



NA TURE 



[July 



1909 



searches on liquids and on the law of corresponding states 

 at low temperatures. 



The seventh annual meeting of the South African 

 Association for the Advancement of Science will be held at 

 Bloemfontein during the week ending on Saturday, 

 October 2, under the presidency of Sir H. Goold Adams, 

 K.C.M.G. The work of the association will be divided 

 into three sections, as follows : — section i. will include 

 mathematics, physics, astronomy, meteorology, geodesy, 

 geography, engineering, mining, and architecture ; section 

 ii. will include chemistry, metallurgy, mineralogy, geology, 

 botany, zoology, agriculture, forestry, bacteriology, physio- 

 logy, and hygiene ; section iii. will include education, 

 philologv, psychology, history, archaeology, economics, 

 statistics, sociology, anthropology, and ethnology. Papers 

 on any of the subjects enumerated will be welcomed, and 

 should be submitted to either of the secretaries. A strong 

 reception committee has been formed under the chairman- 

 ship of the Mayor of Bloemfontein (Mr. C. L. Botha), 

 who is taking active steps towards making the visit to 

 Bloemfontein a success. The joint honorary secretaries at 

 Bloemfontein are Dr. Geo. Potts, of the Grey University 

 ■College, and Mr. Arthur Stead, 40 Victoria Road, 

 Bloemfontein. Further details regarding this meeting of 

 the association may be obtained from the assistant general 

 secretary, P.O. Box 1497, Cape Town. 



The provisional programme of Section H (.Anthropology) 

 of the British Association, for the Winnipeg meeting, has 

 now reached us. In arranging the proceedings of the 

 section an attempt has been made, so far as possible, to 

 cover the latest developments in anthropological science. 

 Dr. T. .Ashby, director of the British School at Rome, will 

 deal with archaeology in the western Mediterranean ; Mr. 

 R. M. Dawkins, director of the British School at Athens, 

 with archaeology in the eastern Mediterranean ; and Mr. 

 D. G. Hogarth with the .archaeology of Asia Minor, with 

 special reference to the Hittites. Miss Breton will review 

 the present state of our knowledge of the arms and armour 

 and of the physical type of the ancient inhabitants of 

 Central America. It is hoped that the first results of an 

 expedition which Dr. Haddon is now conducting among 

 the natives of the western coast of North America may be 

 available for the meeting. A number of prominent anthro- 

 pologists of the United States have promised to contribute 

 to the proceedings of the section. Among these may be 

 . mentioned Dr. F. Boas, who will deal with anthropological 

 problems in Canada ; Miss Fletcher, who will read a paper 

 on her work among the Omaha people ; papers will also 

 be contributed by Dr. Gordon, of Pennsylvania, and Dr. 

 Clarence Moore. Dr. Harry Piers, of Halifax, Nova 

 Scotia, will deal with our present knowledge of the natives 

 of Nova Scotia, and Mr. C. Hill-Tout will present his final 

 report on the natives of British Columbia. The valuable 

 reports which have been presented to the association from 

 year to year by Mr. Hill-Tout are the results of work 

 undertaken under the auspices of the Canadian Ethno- 

 graphic Survey Committee of the British Association, now 

 defunct. In this connection it may be mentioned that 

 papers dealing with the urgent necessity for an ethno- 

 graphic survey of Canada will be contributed by Mr. E. S. 

 Hartland and Dr. F. C. Shrubsall. 



In the Revue scientifique for July 3 is published the 

 discourse delivered by Dr. Edmond Perrier, Director of the 

 Paris National Museum of Natural History, on the occasion 

 of the inauguration, on June 13, of the statue of Jean de 

 Lamarck. In this oration, which is characterised by elo- 

 ■<juence and insight, M. Perrier does full justice to the 

 NO. 2073, VOL. 81] 



extraordinary industry of Lamarck, and to the merits of 

 his work on the systematics of invertebrates and plants. 

 In dealing with his speculative treatises on meteorology and 

 kindred subjects, while allowing that his imagination was 

 apt to get the better of his judgment, M. Perrier pertinently 

 asks what would become of science if its professors never 

 permitted themselves to attack questions which current 

 opinion pronounces insoluble. On the subject of organic 

 evolution, the author brings out in an interesting way the 

 contrast between the influence of Lamarck and that of 

 Darwin upon scientific opinion. M. Perrier does not con- 

 cern himself to defend Lamarck's view of the method of 

 evolution against objections, but points out that while 

 Lamarck was himself thoroughly convinced of the truth 

 of the general principle which is everywhere accepted to- 

 day, his work met at the time with almost universal 

 neglect. On the other hand, it fell to Darwin's lot to 

 secure the general assent of his scientific contemporaries. 

 After discussing the opposition to Lamarck offered by 

 Cuvier, M. Perrier concludes with the observation that the 

 great anatomist, in the pride of his assurance, was alter 

 all mistaken, and once more it is the pecheur de Lwie 

 who was right. 



The Torquay Natural History Society has started a 

 journal of its own, of the first number of which we have 

 received a copy. This opens with an account of the history 

 of the society, which is followed by a series of short 

 papers, several of them dealing with local subjects. 



We are indebted to the Conchological Society for a copy 

 of the July number of the Journal of Conchology, in which 

 special reference is made to the need of further workers 

 in Scotland to assist the " census " of British land and 

 fresh-water molluscs now being taken. 



The July number of the Popular Science Monthly con- 

 tains two articles on Darwinian subjects, one, by Prof. 

 F. H. Giddings, dealing with Darwinism in the theory 

 of social evolution, while in the second Prof. Dewey dis- 

 cusses Darwin's influence on philosophy. 



The July number of the Museums Journal deals largely 

 with American topics, one article being devoted to the 

 tariff on certain objects of art, a second to exhibits in the 

 Brooklyn Institute illustrative of evolution and the pre- 

 servation of animals, and a third to the history and col- 

 lections of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. 



To vol. xxvi. (pp. 283-331) of the Bulletin of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, Mr. A. Hermann, the chief 

 preparator to the museum, contributes an interesting 

 account of the methods now in use in preparing vertebrate 

 fossils. The plates accompanying this paper illustrate the 

 newest American systems of mounting fossil skeletons for 

 the combined purposes of exhibition and study. 



Dr. G. Steinmann has sent us a copy of a paper en- 

 titled " Zur Abstammung der Sauger, " published in vol. 

 ii. of the Zeitschrift fiir induktive Abstaintnungs- und 

 Vererbungslehre, in which he further elaborates his re- 

 markable views as to the polyphyletic origin of mammals. 

 The extent to which he carries his views will be apparent 

 when we state that while he derives Glyptodon from the 

 dinosaurs of the Ancylosaurus group, its relative Panoch- 

 thus is considered to be descended from Polacanthus. 



According to the July number of the Selborne Magazine, 

 the Brent Valley Bird-sanctuary is yearly proving more and 

 more successful, nightingales being numerous, while nut- 

 hatches and nightjars have made their appearance in the 

 preserve. At least one pair of nuthatches is known to 



