432 



NA TURE 



[October 7, 1909 



to the Post Office of their wireless stations for communica- 

 tion with ships, and for the surrender of all claims to 

 licences for such communication. 



An Italian National League against malaria has recently 

 been formed, and the first meeting is now taking place at 

 Milan. The inaugural address is being delivered by Prof. 

 Baccelli, and the following communications have been 

 promised : — the present state of knowledge in regard to 

 malaria, by Prof. Bordoni-Uffreduzzl ; prophylaxis against 

 malaria, by Prof. Castellino ; the pathology of malaria, 

 by Prof. Golgi ; some questions relating to the pathology 

 and treatment of malaria, by Prof. Grass! ; little known 

 abortive forms of malaria, by Prof. Quelrolo. 



The programme of the second International Congress 

 for the Repression of Adulteration in Food, Chemical Pro- 

 ducts, Drugs, Essential Oils, Aromatic Substances, Mineral 

 Waters, &c. (to be held in Paris on October 17-24), has now 

 been issued. The discussion of the various subjects will 

 be classified in the following sections : — (i) wines, alcohols, 

 syrups, liqueurs, beer, cider ; (2) farinaceous foods, baking, 

 pastries, meat and other pastes, spiced confectionery ; 

 1(3) cocoa, chocolate, confectionery, honey, sugar, and 

 sugar candy ; (4) vinegar, mustard, pepper, spices, tea, 

 coffee, chicory ; (5) butter, milk, cheese, eggs ; (6) lard and 

 edible fats, margarine, provisions preserved in oil, bacon, 

 sausages and pork products, salted provisions, and canned 

 and bottled goods ; (7) drugs, chemical products, essential 

 oils, &c. ; (S) mineral water (medicinal), aerated waters, 

 ice. 



In opening the Kimrod .Antarctic Expedition last week, 

 the Lord Mayor of London stated that he intended to call 

 a meeting at the Mansion House to initiate a fund towards 

 the expenses of the forthcoming expedition under Captain 

 Scott to the south polar regions. 



It is stated in the Times that a telegram has been re- 

 ceived from Dr. T. G. Longstaff to the effect that he has 

 arrived at Leh, in Ladak, after having connected the 

 Tarim river with the Saichar glacier, making it about 

 fifty miles long. This would appear to mean that the 

 Tarim or Yarkand Darya river, which flows north from 

 the Himalayas towards the Taklamakan desert, and had 

 hitherto been supposed to rise near the Karakoram Pass, 

 originates much further to the west in the Saichar 

 glacier. On existing maps, what was supposed to be a 

 branch of the river is shown to originate in the Saichar 

 glacier, and it is that branch, apparently, which Dr. Long- 

 staff makes out to be the main river. 



The Ottawa correspondent of the Times states that a 

 telegram has been received by the Canadian Marine Depart- 

 ment from Captain Bernier, of the Canadian Government 

 steamer Arctic, which left Quebec fourteen months ago to 

 cruise in the Arctic region, announcing his arrival at Point 

 Amour, Labrador. Captain Bernier says that he has 

 accomplished his mission, which was to report upon the 

 ice conditions in Hudson's Straits in 1908 and then to 

 proceed north and take possession of Banks Land and 

 other .Arctic lands for Canada ; he also states that he dis- 

 covered the record left at Winter Bay in 1819-20 by Lieut, 

 (afterwards Sir E.) Parry, 



Prof. J. v. Hepperger has been appointed director, 

 and Dr. J. Palisa vice-director, of the Imperial University 

 Observatory, Vienna. 



Mr. Phillip Fox, formerly of the Yerkes Observatory, 

 has now assumed the directorship of the Dearborn Observa- 

 tory, Evanston, Illinois, in succession to the late Prof. 

 ti. W. Hough. 



NO. 2084, VOL. 81] 



We learn with regret that M. J. A. Fraissinet, secre- 

 tary of the Paris Observatory, died, in his sixty-third 

 year, on .\ugust 29. 



The Denny gold medal has been awarded by the Insti- 

 tute of Marine Engineers to Mr. W. P. Durtnall, for his 

 paper on the generation and electrical transmission of 

 power for main marine propulsion and speed regulation, 

 which was read at the Franco-British Exhibition in July, 

 1908. 



As was announced in Nature of July 15, a model 

 engineering exhibition will be held at the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Hall, Westminster,, on October 15-23. W'e learn 

 from the promoters that the exhibition will contain a 

 number of e.xhibits of exceptional interest, e.g. model 

 aeroplanes, working model steam and electric railways, 

 electric clocks, light machine tools, model motor-boats, a 

 model engineer's workshop in operation, and a working 

 demonstration of wireless telegraphy by the latest Marconi 

 apparatus. 



Sir William MacGregor, who is shortly to take up his 

 duties as Governor of Queensland, was entertained at 

 luncheon last week at Liverpool, and, speaking in reply 

 to the toast of his health, said he had known the Liver- 

 pool School of Tropical Medicine from its inception. He 

 had spent thirty-one years in the service of the country in 

 the tropics, and he thought that few people had had a 

 better opportunity than he had of seeing how much an 

 institution of this kind was wanted in the world. Few 

 men could better appreciate the amount of good it had 

 been able to do. He had had the opportunity of renewing 

 his studies at the school, and what he had been able to 

 learn had been of considerable use to him and would be 

 of great value to others. It was a great school, not on 

 account of its size, but because it was the nucleus which 

 was going to scatter broadcast tropica! schools all over the 

 Empire. The beginning of the Liverpool School of Tropical 

 Medicine they owed from a scientific point of view to 

 Major Ross, but to Sir Alfred Jones they were almost 

 equally indebted. He looked upon the school as being the 

 pioneer of all other schools of this kind that were to 

 follow. 



A COURSE of twelve free lectures under the Swiney trust 

 will be begun in the lecture theatre of the Victoria and 

 ."Albert Museum, South Kensington, on Saturday, 

 November 6, by Dr. T. J. Jehu, who will take as his sub- 

 ject " The history of north-west Europe during Tertiary 

 times." 



The new session of the Royal Geographical Society will 

 open on November 8, when a paper entitled " Two Journeys 

 in Bhutan " will be read by Mr. J. Claude White. The 

 other papers e.xpected to be delivered at meetings before 

 Christmas are : — journey into northern Arabia, by Mr. 

 Douglas Carruthers ; explorations in the Hispar region, 

 by Dr. Hunter Workman and Mrs. Bullock Workman ; 

 and a naturalist's travels on the Congo-Zambezi water- 

 shed, by Mr. S. A. Neave. The papers expected after 

 Christmas are : — an expedition to the North Pole, by Com- 

 mander Peary ; explorations in and around Lake Chad, 

 by Captain J. Tilho ; explorations in Fernando Po and the 

 Cameroons, by Lieut. Boyd Alexander ; explorations in 

 southern Nigeria, by Mr. P. A. Talbot ; explorations in 

 and around Magellan Straits, by Dr. K. Skottsberg ; a 

 journey from Uganda by Lake Rudolf to Abyssinia, by 

 Captain C. H. Stigand ; explorations in the Aldabras, by 

 Mr. J. C. F. Fryer; climbing and exploring in Central 

 .Asia, by Dr. T. G. Longstaff ; boundary-making and ex- 



