SzrpremBer 6, 1918] 
the next close season, of certain migratory 
wild birds to increase the food supply. 
Tue twelfth annual report of the British 
Science Guild has been published, and copies 
can be obtained (price 1s. each) on application 
to the secretary, British Science Guild, 199, 
Piceadilly, W. London. The report contains ad- 
dresses by Lord Sydenham, Sir Henry New- 
bolt and Sir Algernon Firth, delivered at the 
recent annual meeting of the guild, with par- 
ticulars of the British Scientific Products Ex- 
hibition which is being organized by the guild, 
and memoranda on the British dye industry, 
the introduction of the metric system, scholar- 
ships for higher education, the teaching of 
science and other subjects. 
, As has been noted in ScIENCE active steps 
are being taken with a view to the establish- 
ment at Cambridge of an Institute of Agricul- 
tural Botany, the primary function of which 
will be the breeding and distributing of im- 
proved varieties of agricultural crops. We 
learn from Nature that the scheme in question 
was very fully described by Mr. Lawrence 
Weaver, of the Board of Agriculture, at a 
meeting of the Agricultural Seed Association 
held on July 15. It appears that the new in- 
stitute will be modelled on the famous Swed- 
ish plant-breeding station at Svalof, and that 
its activities will be to follow two distinct 
lines, one of which will be purely scientific, 
while the other will have a commercial out- 
look. More precisely, the scientifie wing will 
be concerned with the producing of pure’ cul- 
tures of new varieties on the field-plot scale; 
the economic wing will deal with the growing 
_ and distribution on a large scale of these vari- 
eties. Presumably, on the Svalof model, the 
scientific side will oversee the operations of 
the commercial to the extent of guaranteeing 
the purity of the stocks distributed by the 
latter. It has been announced that subscrip- 
tions towards the establishment of the new in- 
stitute amounting in the aggregate to upwards 
of £30,000, have already been received, includ- 
ing a sum of £10,000 down and £2,000 a year 
for five years from the firm of Sir Robert Mc- 
- Alpine and Sons. It has also been announced 
SCIENCE 
245 
that the Board of Agriculture will provide the 
necessary buildings and equipment. 
A TEMPORARY exhibition was opened in a few 
of the galleries of the British Museum on Au- 
gust 1. The exhibition galleries were closed by 
order of the government as a measure of econ- 
omy in the spring of 1916, and, owing to the 
necessity of increased precautions against air 
raids, all the most valuable objects have been 
removed to places of greater safety. The 
trustees, however, have deeply regretted the 
closing of their doors to visitors, and especially 
to soldiers from the oversea Dominions. An 
exhibition has accordingly been arranged, con- 
sisting chiefly of casts and facsimiles, which it 
is hoped will both be instructive in itself and 
representative of some parts of the treasures 
of the British Museum. The exhibition will 
include Greek sculpture, classical coins, Brit- 
ish coins and medals, historical documents and 
autographs (naval and military), illuminated 
manuscripts, early Bibles and other printed 
books of interest and beauty. If the experi- 
ment of reopening is successful, it may be 
possible to extend it later to other galleries of 
the Museum. The exhibition is open from 10 
A.M. to 1 P.M. and from 2 to 5, each week day. 
A guide-book to the exhibition is in prepara- 
tion and photographs and museum publica- 
tions are obtainable in the entrance hall. 
A SPECIAL general meeting of the Royal So- 
ciety was called on July 31 to consider the 
advisability of expelling enemy foreign mem- 
bers, and notice of the following motion to be 
submitted to the meeting was given by Sir 
George Beilby and Dr. M. O. Forster: 
That, in view of the war having continued dur- 
ing nearly four years without any indication that 
the scientific men of Germany are unsympathetic 
towards the abominable malpractises of their gov- 
ernment and their fellow-countrymen, and having 
regard to the representative character of the Royal 
Society among British scientific bodies, as recog- 
nized by the patronage of his Majesty the King, 
the council forthwith take steps necessary for re- 
moving all enemy aliens from the foreign member- 
ship of the society. 
The London Times says: Although Sir George 
Beilby and Dr. Forster are both members of 
