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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1356 



orological central stations of Vienna and 

 Budapest. The new 'bureau will extend the 

 meteorological service formerly conducted in 

 connection with the K. k. Sternwarte, Prag- 

 Klementinum (Astronomical Observatory). 

 The director, Dr. Eudolf Schneider, is anxious 

 to receive for the library of the bureau all the 

 reports of observations and meteorological pub- 

 lications formerly sent to the Sternwarte, and 

 he will be glad to send to other meteorological 

 stations and offices publications of his bureau 

 in exchange. 



The British Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies has appointed a committee to con- 

 sider and report what steps can be taken to 

 secure the assistance of the universities in 

 carrying out the research work which is es- 

 sential to the protection of the inhabitants of 

 the Colonies and Protectorates from disease 

 and to the successful development of their 

 veterinary, agTicultural and mineral resources. 

 The members of the committee are: The 

 Eight Hon. Lord Chalmers (chairman). Sir 

 H. Birchenough, Sir J. Eose Bradford, Sir 

 W. Fletcher, Professor E. B. Poulton, Sir D. 

 Prain, Sir H. Eead, Sir S. Stockman, and 

 Sir A. Strahan. 



"We learn from Nature that an Institute of 

 Physics has now been incorporated in Eng- 

 land and has begTm to carry out its work. 

 The object of the institute is to secure the 

 recognition of the professional status of the 

 physicist and to coordinate the work of all 

 the societies interested in physical science or 

 its applications. Five societies have already 

 participated in this co-ordination, namely, the 

 Physical Society of London, the Optical 

 Society, the Faraday Society, the Eoyal Mi- 

 croscopical Society, and the Eontgen Society. 

 The first president is Sir Eiehard Glazebrook, 

 who will preside at the opening statutory 

 meeting of the institute, which will be held 

 early in the new year. The list of members 

 now includes the names of more than two 

 hundred fellows. Sir J. J. Thomson, the re- 

 tiring president of the Eoyal Society, has ac- 

 cepted the invitation of the board to become 



the first, and at present the only, honorary 

 fellow. The diploma of the institute is now 

 being required from applicants for government 

 and other positions requiring a knowledge of 

 physics. 



Dr. Egbert Knox, in his presidential ad- 

 dress before the Eontgen Society, London, on 

 November 18, discussed the radiologist's need 

 for fresh apparatus. According to the abstract 

 in the British Medical Journal he deplored the 

 lack of unanimity regarding the development 

 of instrument design, which made standardi- 

 zation impossible. JSTevertheless, a recognition 

 of certain special needs was emerging — the 

 need for increasingly powerful apparatus, for 

 X-ray tubes capable of steady output, and for 

 a method of exactly measuring radiation. He 

 called upon the designers of high tension appa- 

 ratus to set to work to produce more powerful 

 apparatus. It seemed likely that radio-thera- 

 peutic work would be impeded in its advance 

 unless a more penetrating radiation were avail- 

 able; at all events, if such high penetration 

 were not required for treatment, this could 

 only be proved after extensive experimental 

 work for which the apparatus was lacking. 

 At the suggestion of the British Scientific In- 

 struments Eesearch Association a meeting of 

 medical men, physicists, and manufacturers 

 had been called, and this resulted in the for- 

 mation of a small committee empowered to 

 draw up a list of questions about the design 

 of apparatus required for radiographic and 

 therapeutic work, and those questions were now 

 being circulated among the radiologists of the 

 country. Dr. Knox maintained that the de- 

 velopment of radiological apparatus and tech- 

 nique called for cooperative experiment by 

 physicists, technicians, and medical men. 

 These problems could only be handled com- 

 prehensively in a radiological research insti- 

 tute with a suite of laboratories, lecture 

 theaters and demonstration rooms. The estab- 

 lishment of such an institute was the object of 

 the Mackenzie Davidson Memorial Fund. It 

 would be directed by a general committee, with 

 subcommittees for the physical, technical, 

 medical and photographic sides of the work. 



