SErXEMBER 23, 1909] 



NATURE 



0/ 



liminary condition leading to a seismic catastrophe, 

 and shows how, if this theory be true, a certain class 

 of earthquakes might be predicted. 



Prof. Omori communicated a report on the Messina 

 earthquake, in addition to his report on microseismic 

 waves. 



Communications were also made, among others, 

 by Prof. Palazzo, of Rome; M. Angot, of Paris; 

 M. Rosenthal, of Tiflis; M. Choffat, of Lisbon; while 

 Prof. Hecker, of Potsdam, gave an account of his 

 more recent results of tidal displacements in the earth. 

 The meeting concluded with a lecture by Prof. Heim, 

 in which an historical summary of the subject was 

 given from the geologist's point of view. 



At previous meetings the desire had been expressed 

 that a complete bibliography of the subject should be 

 published annually ; a committee was appointed which 

 reported in favour of coming to an arrangement with 

 the International Catalogue of the Royal Society, all 

 papers on seismology in that catalogue to be joined 

 together in one volume, instead of, or perhaps in 

 addition to, their being classified, as at present, partly 

 under geology, partly under physics, and partly under 

 applied mathematics. There is good ground for be- 

 lieving that such an arrangement could be made, and 

 the meeting adopted the committee's report. 



.\ report on the arrangements for an annual cata- 

 logue of earthquakes was presented by Prof. Forel, of 

 Merges. The method to be adopted in such a cata- 

 logue, in order to make it most generally useful, gave 

 rise to a good deal of difference of opinion ; but after 

 discussion in committee a compromise between dif- 

 ferent views was effected. Prof. Forel having com- 

 pleted his tenure of office as vice-president, M. Hipites, 

 of Bucarest, was elected to be his successor. 



The Federal Council of the Swiss Republic had 

 entrusted the arrangements for the meeting to the 

 .Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, and, 

 with the assistance of Mr. Seller, the delegates and 

 their families were cared for in a most excellent 

 manner. At the conclusion of the meeting satisfaction 

 was expressed both at the success of the scientific 

 results, and at the hospitable reception accorded to the 

 members present;. 



BRONZE-AGE INTERMENTS IN SWITZER- 

 LAND. 



UNDER the title of " Le Cimeti^re du Boiron de 

 Merges," M. F. A. Fore! has issued a report 

 on some remarkable prehistoric interments in Switzer- 

 land, and though it occasionally lacks the lucidity of 

 arrangement and grace of style which characterise 

 French work of this kind, it will still be found full 

 of interest. 



These interments are attributed to the Bronze age, 

 or, as the author terms it, " le bel-age du bronze des 

 Palafitteurs." The graves are flat, without mounds 

 or stone pedestals, the latter, he thinks, having been 

 probably replaced by wooden posts which have now 

 decayed. They lie in no definite order or in lines one 

 behind another ; nor is there any rule of orientation 

 in the graves themselves. It is remarkable that earth 

 burial and crem.ation are found side by side ; in fact, 

 the two methods of disposal of the dead seem to be 

 contemporary, if the evidence of identity in the style 

 of vases and bronzes deposited with the corpse be 

 accepted as conclusive. It may be noted that M. Forel 

 treats as cases of inhumation those in which the teeth 

 are found intact ; those of incineration when the roots 

 of the teeth alone survive. There is nothing in the 

 shape of a regular cist, only a slab laid in a horizontal 

 position over the head and upper part of the body. 

 NO. 2082, VOL. 81] 



The slab graves of this class contained funeral plates 

 and dishes, or piles of urns and bowls, three or four 

 in number, laid one above another. Only one tomb 

 which held a cremated corpse contained a cinerarv 

 urn ; in the others the bones lay in the mass of char- 

 coal and other remains of the cremation. In such 

 interments only a single corpse was discovered ; hence 

 it is supposed that the custom of sacrificing slaves or 

 animals in the belief that their spirits would accom- 

 pany the dead to the other world did not prevail. 

 There are occasional remains of some kind of coffin ; 

 and in the cremation graves the jars probably con- 

 tained offerings of food to the dead, meat in some 

 cases forming part of such deposits. It is thus 

 obvious that the people who used this cemetery be- 

 lieved in the survival of the spirit after death.' M. 

 Forel seems to imagine that this custom of providing 

 food for the dead implies the existence of a sacerdotal 

 class ; but this is not confirmed by the analogv of the 

 customs of modern savages, among whom the head of 

 the household or some tribal elder performs the death 

 rites. 



The paper is accompanied by photographs of the 

 graves and their contents, and is, on the whole, a 

 useful contribution to our knowledge of the Bronze 

 Age on the continent of Europe. 



NOTES. 



We learn from the Pioneer Mail that the Government 

 of India has issued a resolution concerning malaria in 

 India. The Governor-General has had under considera- 

 tion a proposal of the sanitary commissioner that a per- 

 manent organisation should be formed to inquire system- 

 atically into the problems connected with malaria. The 

 number of deaths ascribed to fever throughout India 

 approximates to four and a half millions, representing a 

 mean death-rate of nearly twenty per thousand, and 

 though this total is greatly in excess of the actual figure, 

 owing to the practice of ascribing to " fever " deaths 

 which are in reality due to other causes, yet it has been 

 estimated that the actual death-rate from malarial fever 

 is about five per thousand. The Governor-General has 

 decided to convene a conference to examine the whole 

 question, and to draw up a plan of campaign for the con- 

 sideration of the Government of India and of the local 

 governments. The conference will assemble at Simla on 

 October 11, and it is expected that it will last about a 

 week. The following is a rough outline of the subjects 

 to be discussed : — (i) the distribution of malaria in India 

 as a whole and in various provinces, with special refer- 

 ence to the sickness and mortality to which it gives rise ; 

 (2) the measures of prevention which have been adopted 

 in the different ppovinces — drainage, mosquito destruction, 

 the distribution of quinine — and the measure of success 

 which has attended each ; (3) the improvement of schemes 

 of prevention, including the question of the most suitable 

 form of quinine and the agency by which it can most 

 effectively be distributed. 



The International Aeronautical Congress at Nancy 

 opened on Saturday last, and will conclude to-day. The 

 programme included papers on dirigible airships, on light 

 motors for airships and aeroplanes, on the history of aero- 

 planes, on cartography, on photographic topography from 

 balloons, on the properties and uses of hydrogen, and on 

 the theory and practice of aerodynamics. 



.\t the Brescia aviation meeting a record in altitude 

 flight was made on Monday last by M. Rougier, who 

 ascended to a height of 198-50 metres (645 feet), as com- 



