294 



NA TURE 



[September 2, 1909 



result of any given exploration, should it be successful in 

 recovering skeletons. We are no longer bold enough to 

 restore an entirely unknown extinct animal from a single 

 bone or tooth, like the trustful Cuvierian school; but there 

 are many kinds of bones and teeth of which we can deter- 

 mine the approximate geological age and probable asso- 

 ciates, even if we have no exact knowledge of the animals 

 to which they belong. .\ subject which began bv providing 

 material for wonder-books has thus been reduced to a 

 science sufficiently precise to be of fundamental importance 

 both to zoology and to geology ; and its exactitude must 

 necessarily increase with greater and greater rapiditv as 

 our systematic researches are more clearly guided bv the 

 experience we have already gained. 



The special report agreed upon by the Select Committee 

 on the Daylight Saving Bill contains the following con- 

 clusion :— " Having regard to the great diversity of opinion 

 existing upon the proposals of the Bill and to the grave 

 doubts which have been expressed as to whether the objects 

 of the measure can be attained by legislation without giving 

 rise, in cases involving important interests, to serious in- 

 convenience, your committee recommend that the Bill be 

 not further proceeded with." We are glad the committee 

 has arrived at this conclusion, which embodies the views 

 expressed in these columns on several occasions. Most 

 people are in favour of the principle of making the best 

 and fullest use of daylight hours, but the compulsory 

 alteration of the system of time-reckoning for several 

 months of the year is quite a different matter. As we 

 have pointed out, in engineering, building, agricultural and 

 other industries in which it is difficult to carry on work 

 by artificial light, the hours of labour are already adapted 

 to the daylight hours in different seasons. Here we have 

 the voluntary adoption of the principle of daylight saving, 

 and we are in complete sympathy with any movement to 

 encourage the extension of the custom to other industrial 

 or commercial circles where earlier hours of commencing 

 work during certain months are practicable or desirable. 

 This can be accomplished, however, without legislation, 

 and the committee has acted wisely in recommending that 

 the Bill, which would make a seasonal change of time 

 compulsory, be not carried further. 



A Bill to promote the economic development of the 

 United Kingdom and the improvement of the roads therein 

 was introduced in the House of Commons on August 26 

 by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In the explanatory 

 memorandum of this Bill it is stated that Part i. enables 

 the Treasury to make free grants and loans for the pur- 

 pose of aiding and developing forestry, agriculture, and 

 rural industries, the reclamation and drainage of land, the 

 improvement of rural transport (other than roads), the con- 

 struction and improvement of harbours and canals, and the 

 development and improvement of fisheries, and for any 

 other purpose calculated to promote the economic develop- 

 ment of the United Kingdom. A grant or loan must be 

 made either to or through a Government department, and 

 all applications for grants or loans have to be referred to 

 an advisory committee, and the recommendations of the 

 committee considered before the grant or loan is made; 

 but the responsibility of making the grant or loan will rest 

 with the Treasury, who will not be bound by the recom- 

 mendations of the committee. All grants and loans will be 

 niade out of a separate fund, which will be fed by (i) sums 

 annually voted by Parliament; (2) a sum of 2,5oo,ooo(. 

 charged on the Consolidated Fund and payable in five 

 annual instalments of 500,000/. each in 191 1, 1912, 1913, 

 1914. and 1915 ; (3) sums received by way of interest on 



NO. 2079, VOL. Si] 



and repayment of loans and the profits made as the result: 

 of a grant or loan in cases where the repayment of such 

 profits is made a condition of the grant or loan. Power is 

 given to the Board of .Agriculture and Fisheries and the 

 Department of .•\griculture and Technical Instruction for 

 Ireland to acquire land (compulsorily if necessary) for any 

 purpose for which a grant is made to them. .\s the Txmcs 

 points out, this part of the Bill will permit tlie expenditure- 

 of money on scientific research and experimental work of 

 a kind likely to be beneficial to agriculture. Part ii. of 

 the Bill constitutes a Road Board for the purpose of 

 improving the facilities for motor traffic. In addition to 

 the power of acquiring land for the purposes of new roads 

 proposed to be constructed by the Road Board, the Board' 

 is given power to acquire land in rural districts on either 

 side of any such proposed road to tlie extent of 220 yards 

 in depth. 



Dr. .Alex.asder Russell has been appointed principal 

 of Faraday House in succession to the late Mr. H. E. 

 Harrison. 



Dr. T. H. Brvce, lecturer on anatomy at Oueem 

 Margaret College, Glasgow, ha* been appointed Regius 

 professor of anatomy in the University of Glasgow in. 

 succession to Prof. J. Clcland. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death, at 

 sixty-seven years of age, of Prof. E. C. Hansen, head of 

 the physiological department of the Carlsberg Laboratory, 

 Copenhagen, for studies of chemistry and plant physiology,- 

 with particular reference to fermentation. 



The death is announced, at sixty-four years of age, of 

 Dr. Radcliffe Crocker, distinguished particularly by his 

 work on diseases of the skin. Dr. Crocker was the first 

 president of the dermatological section of the Royal Society 

 of Medicine, and made many valuable contributions to the 

 literature of dermatology, among them being his " Treatise 

 on Diseases of the Skin" and "Atlas of Diseases of the 

 Skin." 



The twentieth annual general meeting of the Institution, 

 of Mining Engineers will be held at Newcastle-upon-Tyne 

 on September 15. The following are among the papers to 

 be read or discussed : — fire-damp caps and the detection 

 of fire-damp in mines by means of safety-lamps, E. B. 

 Whalley and W. M. Tweedie ; equipment for the study of 

 fiame-caps and for miscellaneous experiments on safety- 

 lamps. Prof. G. R. Thompson ; electricity in coal mines, 

 R. Nelson. 



The Budapest correspondent of the Times reports that 

 the sixteenth International Congress of Medicine was 

 oflicially opened there on August 29 by the Archduke 

 Joseph in the name of the King of Hungary and Emperor 

 of Austria. More than 4300 members have enrolled their 

 names in the list, and they include a large number of 

 eminent authorities on medicine from all parts of the world. 

 We hope to give, in a future issue, an account of subjects 

 of wide scientific interest and importance brought before- 

 the congress. 



The next International Congress of Mining, Metallurgy, 

 .Applied Mechanics, and Practical Geology will be held af 

 Diisseldorf during the last week of June, 1910, under the 

 auspices of the Rhenish-Westphalian Mining Industry. 

 An influential committee of organisation has been formed' 

 which is charged with the making of the arrangements 

 for the reading and discussion of papers, visits to places 

 of technical interest, and social entertainments. Further 

 information can be obtained in due course on application 

 to the secretary of the Iron and Steel Institute or to the- 

 committee of organisation, Jacobistraste, 3-5, Diisseldorf. 



