630 REPORT—1905. 
extent this advance was due to the growth of mountaineering in the technical 
sense of that term and to the means of communication and publication atforded 
by the spread throughout Europe of Alpine clubs. His survey was limited to the 
greater ranges—the Alps, the Caucasus, and the Himalaya—with a few words on 
the snows of Africa. 
Professor W. A. Herpmay, D.Sc., F.R.S. : Marine Biology. 
The full title of the lecture was ‘ Marine Biology; especially in its practical 
applications to Fishing Industries,’ and the series of facts and principles involved 
were illustrated as far as possible by lantern slides. The lecturer first explained 
the importance of ‘plankton’ and other minute organisms in the sea in relation 
to the food of man. He then passed to the competition amongst organisms in the 
sea, illustrated by complicated life-histories and by the protective and other 
devices that are resorted to. A few fishing industries were then examined, such 
as flat-fish trawling, oyster culture in France and Holland, and the pearl fisheries 
of Ceylon; and the bearing of scientific observations upon all of these was 
demonstrated. Finally the lecturer alluded to the excellent work which was 
carried on for the Cape Government by Dr. Gilchrist, the official marine biologist, 
and recommended co-operation between all the South African Colonies in explor- 
ing their coastal waters and exploiting the fishing industries. 
Colonel Davin Brucs, C.B., E.R.S.: Sleeping Sickness. 
The lecturer described the disease, showing that the incubation period might be 
as long as two or three years. It is caused by a blood parasite—T7rypanosoma 
gambiense—which is always found in the cerebro-spinal fluid and blood of 
sleeping-sickness cases. One hundred natives in the sleeping-sickness area were 
examined, and 25 per cent. of them found to be infected ; while in the non- 
sleeping-sickness area not a single native was affected. A tsetse-fly (Glossina 
palpalis) was found to be the carrier of the disease. The distribution of this fly 
in Uganda was worked out and found to correspond exactly with the area of 
sleeping-sickness, Wild flies caught in the sleeping-sickness area were found to 
Is able to infect monkeys—in fact, that sleeping-sickness is a human tsetse-fly 
isease, 
Hi. T. Ferrar, M.A.: Zhe Cruise of the ‘ Discovery,’ 
The lecture was illustrated by lantern slides. The equipment of this Ant- 
arctic expedition included all instruments required for surveying, complete sets of 
meteorological apparatus, the latest pattern of pendulums zz vacuo for determining 
the force of gravity, Eschenhagen self-recording magnetometers, sounding 
machines, electrometers, a balloon, and a great quantity of dredging tackle. The 
object of the expedition was ‘the advancement of science,’ Mr. Ferrar explained 
the scheme of international co-operation whereby simultaneous magnetic and 
meteorological observations were made by (1) the three expeditions wintering on 
opposite sides of the South Pole; (2) by the sub-stations at Cape Town, Ker- 
guelen, and Christchurch ; and (3) by the observations at Kew and Berlin, 
Professor J. O. Arnotp: Steel as an Igneous Rock. 
The lecturer described a recent discovery he had made in a broken bolt, viz., 
that a crystal obtained under exceptionally fortunate optical conditions exhibited 
perfect mineral cleavage exactly parallel to the faces of the cube, thus proving iron 
to be a veritable mineral. It was impossible, asa rule, to obtain the microscopical 
conditions under which such cleavage could be recognised. The lecturer therefore 
suggested that, beyond the range of ordinary opaque microscopy, there existed the 
