400 



NA TURE 



[OCTOUER 14. IQOQ 



tiOTES. 

 A MEETING to further the interests of the forthcoming 

 expedition, under Captain Scott, to the South Polar 

 regions, was held at the Mansion House on Tuesday last, 

 the Lord Mayor presiding. Captain Scott laid the plans 

 and objects of the expedition before the meeting, and 

 stated that 40,000^. was required for the estimated cost of 

 the first year's work. He further said that if that sum 

 was contributed by this country he hoped that, with the 

 cooperation Of the over-seas dominions, they might raise 

 a sum sufficient to carry on the work until it was finished, 

 that was to say, if necessary, for a second and possibly 

 a third season. He would prefer a request for support 

 to the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, 

 because the scientific work of an expedition of that kind 

 — its meteorological and magnetic observations — was 

 possibly of greater use to the countries which lay adjacent 

 to the region of research than it was to the homeland. 

 .\ resolution In support of the expedition was passed. 



.According to a Reuter telegram from Washington, the 

 National Geographic Society has passed a resolution re- 

 questing Dr. Ira Remsen, president of the U.S. National 

 .■Xcademy of Sciences, to appoint a commission to examine 

 the records and observations of Dr. Cook and Commander 

 Peary. This action is based on a proposal made by the 

 Peary Arctic Club. 



.^T a meeting of the e.xecutlve committee of the Zeppelin 

 Polar Expedition, held at Friedrichshaven last week, it 

 was decided that a preliminary e.xpedition should be sent 

 next summer to Spitsbergen in order to investigate the 

 polar ice and determine the conditions affecting the 

 management of airships in those regions. The committee 

 laid great stress upon the Importance of promoting the 

 development of Zeppelin airships for long journeys, especi- 

 ally over the sea, for the purpose of scientific investigation. 

 Plans are to be drawn up Immediately for the construction 

 of a suitable airship, which Is to be ready at the beginning 

 of 1911. 



It is stated by a Times correspondent that Mr. Evelyn 

 Baldwin, the leader of the Baldwin-Zlegler expedition of 

 1901-2, announces his Intention to make an attempt to 

 reach the North Pole by drifting with the ice eastward 

 on a parallel course to that taken by the From. He 

 calculates that the voyage will last four years. 



Lieut. Siiackleton delivered a lecture before the Danish 

 Geographical Society on Saturday last on the work of his 

 late expedition, and received from the president the gold 

 medal of the society. He also had conferred upon him, by 

 the King, the Commandership of the Dannebrog Order of 

 the Second Class. It is the intention of the explorer to pre- 

 sent a small collection of specimens of Antarctic rocks to 

 i ach of the principal geological museums. 



\ SEVERE shock of earthquake was experienced In the 

 island of Slietland at about two o'clock on Saturday morn- 

 ing last. The shock was accompanied by a dull rumbling 

 sound, which many fishermen mistook for the sudden out- 

 break of a hurricane. 



According to a Reuter message, a severe earthquake 

 shock was experienced at Regglo di Calabria in the morn- 

 ing of October 7. 



.A STORM of unusual violence broke over Havana and 

 the coast of Florida on Monday last. The damage to 

 property at Key West is estimated at 400,000/. At Havana 

 tive persons were killed and many Injured. 

 NO. 20S5, VOL. 81] 



We note with regret the death, on Saturday last, of 

 Dr. Hugh Blackburn, emeritus professor of mathematics 

 at the University of Glasgow. Prof. Blackburn was born 

 on July 2, 1823, and filled the chair of mathematics lr» 

 the University from 1849 until 1879, when he was succeeded 

 by Prof. Jack. 



Mr. Richard Bannister, whose death occurred at his 

 residence In South Kensington on September 27, had held 

 the position of deputy principal chemist in the Government 

 laboratory for about twenty-five years. He attended the 

 Royal College of Chemistry In 1862-3, obtaining full marks 

 at the final examination of the students, and was attached 

 to the small chemical staff then at Somerset House. 

 Eleven years later he was promoted to the pose of deputy 

 principal, and continued to hold this office until his retire- 

 ment from the public service in 1898. On such analytical 

 matters as the detection of adulterations in tobacco or 

 of methyl alcohol In spirituous liquors, Mr. Bannister In 

 the earlier stages of his career was often required to give 

 e.xpert testimony. Later, however, in accordance with 

 what his duties demanded, it was chiefly as an adminis- 

 trator and a shrewd man of business that his capabilities 

 were shown. He gave evidence before several Royal Com- . 

 missions, notably upon the questions of the materials used 

 in brewing beer and the adulteration of food products. 

 His knowledge, judgment, and sound common sense were 

 also recognised outside strictly official circles. He was a 

 Cantor lecturer on certain food-stuffs, such as tea and 

 coffee, the lectures containing much useful technical in- 

 formation of a kind not easily found at that time in text- 

 books. He acted as juror at the Paris and Chicago ex- 

 hl-bitlons, where his combined chemical and business 

 experience — for he was a director of the Civil Service 

 Stores, as well as an analytical chemist — was no doubt of 

 exceptional value. Mr. Bannister, who was in his seventy- 

 fifth year, was a member of the council of the Institute of 

 Chemistry. 



Mr. James Britten has just retired from the botanical 

 department of the British .Museum after a period of service 

 of thirty-eight years. Previously to joining the staff of the 

 British Museum he was for two years an assistant in the 

 Kew Herbarium, and has therefore completed forty years 

 In the service ot the .State. Mr. Britten has recently been 

 engaged In the preparation of a catalogue of the Sloane 

 Herbarium, which will shortly be published by the' trustees. 

 The collections of Sir Hans Sloane, It will be remembered, 

 were the foundation of the British Museum, and his 

 herbarium contains some of the earliest botanical collec- 

 tions from many parts of the world, and is of great 

 importance in connection with the systematic works of 

 LInnasus and other botanists of the eighteenth and early 

 nineteenth centuries. 



According to a' Times correspondent, a further fossil 

 human skeleton has just been discovered in the depart- 

 ment of the Dordogne at Ferrassle, 5 kilometre's from 

 Bugue, in a layer belonging to the lower middle post- 

 Tertiary period. 



A coRREsroNDEXT of the Globe states that the remains 

 of a lake-dwelling (reputed to be 4000 years old) have just ■ 

 been discovered by Dr. Otto Froodis while excavating the 

 hilly region near Lake Vettern, in Sweden, Weapons and 

 primitive household utensils were found in stone, flint, 

 bone, and horn. 



The demonstrations In connection with the museum of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons of England, which were 

 Inaugurated last vear, are to be continued bv Profs. A. 



