October 21, 1909] 



NATURE 



49: 



understand such an attitude in so experienced a com- 

 puter as Prof. Lohse. However, this only emphasises 

 the thorougfhness with which his work has been done. 

 It is a well-planned and complete work, and Prot. 

 Lohse is to be conjjratulated on making so real a 

 contribution to double-star astronomy. 



The following predicted places for igio'o for a few 

 of the more interesting binaries mav be found use- 

 ful :— 



D Cassiopeije 

 Sirius 

 Ca'tor 

 a Cenlauri 



2dfi and 6-24 



89-4 „ 8-87 



220-5 .. 5'44 



215-3 .. '94I 



JVOTES. 



The third International Congress of Physiotherapy will 

 be held in Paris on March 30 to April 2, 19 10. The 

 congress is to be divided into seven sections. 



A PRIZE of i6oi. has been awarded to M. W. Haffkine 

 by the Paris .'\cadeniy of Medicine for his work on inocula- 

 tion against cholera. 



The Bradshaw lecture of the Royal College of Physicians 

 of London will be delivered on November 2 by Prof. J. A. 

 Lindsay, who will take as his subject Darwinism and 

 medicine. The FitzPatrick lectures will be delivered by 

 Sir T. Clifford AUbutt, K.C.B., F.R.S., on November 4 

 and 9. The subject will be Greek medicine in Rome. 



The Soci^t^ d'Hygifene de I'Enfance of Paris, we learn 

 from the Lancet, is offering prizes for essays on the punish- 

 ments of children. The essays, which must be original, 

 and written in French, German, English, Italian, or 

 Spanish, will be received by the society not later than 

 December 31 next. The papers are to become the property 

 of the society, which reserves the right of selecting from 

 them material for a pamphlet. 



.According to the Times, the exhibit of British chemical 

 industries at next year's International Exhibition at 

 Brussels promises to be of great interest and importance. 

 It is stated that the new exhibitions branch of the Board 

 of Trade is already experiencing some difficulty in pro- 

 viding for the requirements of would-be exhibitors, although 

 the area originally allotted to the exhibit has been largely 

 added to. 



Prizes to the value of 1500/. are offered by the National 

 Medical .•\cademy of Mexico for work on typhus fever. 

 Of the sum named, loooi. will be awarded to the discoverer 

 of the cause of typhus, or of a curative serum, and 500Z. 

 to the investigators whose work is judged most useful in 

 helping towards such discovery. The competition is inter- 

 national, but all essays must be written in Spanish. They 

 can be received up to February 28, 191 1. 



The annual " Fungus Foray " of the Essex Field Club 

 will be held on Saturday, October 30, at High Beach, 

 Epping Forest, under the direction of Mr. George Massee, 

 of the Kew Museum. Botanists wishing to attend should 

 apply for programmes to Mr. W. Cole, the Essex Museum 

 of Natural History, Romford Road, Stratford, Essex. 



The death is announced of Prof. J. Scott, author of 

 various text-books on farm engineering, and formerly 

 professor of agriculture and rural economy at the Royal 

 Agricultural College, Cirencester. 



The death is reported, in his sixty-third year, of Dr. 

 Irving Stringham, professor of mathematics in the Uni- 

 versity of California since 1882. He was a graduate of 

 NO. 2086, VOL. 81] 



Harvard, and also spent some time in study at European 

 universities. He was the editor of the American edition 

 of C. Smith's " Elementary .'Mgebra," and was the author 

 of a " Uniplanar Algebra." 



Dr. George E. Post, whose deatli was recently reported 

 at the age of seventy, was for many years head of the 

 Medical College established at Beirut, Syria, by the 

 .\merican Presbyterians. He was the author of several 

 medical and scientific text-books in the Arabic language, 

 as well as of a flora of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt in the 

 same tongue. His " Plantse Postianse " was written in 

 Latin and French, and published at Geneva. He con- 

 tributed also to the leading English and American Biblical 

 dictionaries a large number of articles on the flora of 

 Bible lands. In recognition of his work at Beirut Dr. 

 Post received decorations from the Turkish and German 

 Governments. 



Science reports the return of the Peabody Museum Ex- 

 pedition, which for the past three years has been exploring 

 the headwaters of the Amazon River in the interior of 

 Peru and Bolivia. The primary object of the expedition 

 was the study of the native tribes of those regions, but, 

 incidentally, collections were made in natural history ; 

 meteorological observations were taken, and topographical 

 work was done. A map of the entire region, based on 

 traverses and astronomical observations, was made for the 

 Peruvian Government. 



Dr. Allan Kinghorn has been sent by the Secretary 

 of State for the Colonies to West Africa to investigate 

 sleeping sickness there, with the view of recommending 

 measures for the prevention of the spread of the disease 

 into certain of the British West African colonies. Dr. 

 Kinghorn recently returned from north-east Rhodesia and 

 Central .'\frica, whence he was sent with Mr. R. E. 

 Montgomery by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 

 to prosecute inquiries into sleeping sickness, and has just 

 completed a report, with Mr. Montgomery, of the Zambezi 

 Sleeping Sickness Expedition. 



The following courses of free public science lectures are 

 announced for delivery in the Manchester Museum : — some 

 forms of vegetation, by Prof. F. E. Weiss, on November 

 6, 13, and 20; some problems of embryology, by Prof. 

 S. J. Hickson, F.R.S., on January 8, 15, and 22 ; and 

 the structure of a crystal, by Sir T. H. Holland, K.C.I. E., 

 F.R.S., on February 5, :2, and 19. In addition to the 

 foregoing. Prof. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., has begun the 

 delivery of a course of twelve short addresses on geological 

 subjects on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. 



We learn from the Revue scientifique that the Institute 

 of France has received a gift of 50,000 francs from M. 

 Patouillard to found two Montyon prizes, one literary and 

 one scientific, of equal value. The latter is to be reserved 

 for some man of science distinguished in electricity chosen 

 by the Paris .'\cademy of Sciences. From the same source 

 we learn that Dr. Von Brunck, formerly director and a 

 member of the committee of management of the " Badische 

 Anilin," has made a gift of 50,000 marks to the Munich 

 .\cademy on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of 

 his entry in the industry. 



.\ MEETING was held on October 13 at Christiania to 

 consider plans for the proposed Zeppelin Polar Expedition, 

 at which, the Times reports, Prof. Hergesell explained 

 the object of the expedition, which, as at present planned, 

 will last one Arctic summer. It will not be undertaken 

 until the development of the airship has given it an 

 effective scope of 2500 kilometres, or a journey of three 



