August 9, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



157 



the great value of such meetings as the 

 means of securing unanimity of action. 



Such being the tenor of the correspond- 

 ence, your Committee are convinced that 

 initial steps of a deiinite nature in further- 

 a,nce of the scheme ought now to be talcen. 



They accordingly request the President 

 and Counsel to take measures with the view 

 of calling together, in Julj' of next year 

 (1896), an International Conference, at 

 which representatives of the several nations 

 engaged in scientific work sliould be invited 

 to attend, with the view of discussing and 

 settling a detailed sclieme for the piroduc- 

 tion, by international cooperation, of com- 

 plete authors' and subject catalogues of 

 scientific literature. 



London will probablj' be found the best 

 place in which to hold such a conference. 

 It may be desirable to summon the repre- 

 sentatives of the different countries through 

 their respective governments, and it will 

 obviously be necessary that a detailed 

 scheme be prepared, to serve as a basis for 

 discussion at the conference. These and 

 other points will require much consideration 

 before any action at all can be taken ; 

 meanwhile it is desirable that a beginning 

 should be made during the autumn, before 

 the winter session of the Society. The Com- 

 mittee therefore recommend that the Presi- 

 dent and Council should give the Com- 

 mittee (which includes the President and 

 officers) executive i^owers in order that 

 they may take, in the name of the Societj', 

 such steps as they may think desii-able, with 

 the view of calling together the above-men- 

 tioned conference. 



NOTES FROM LONDON. 

 A DAY with Mr. Maxim and his wonder- 

 ful gun and more marvelous flying-machine 

 has proved one of the most interesting of 

 our tour to date. The flying-machine is 

 completely repaired, and in as good work- 

 ing order as before its famous flight and 



unlucky accident. Mr. Maxim's lease has 

 nearlj' expired, however, and little more 

 can be done until he is reestablished in new 

 quarters. He has, at Bexley, only about 

 1800 feet range, and for further operations 

 desires at least a mile. It may be difi&cult 

 to find precisely the location suitable for 

 the work. It would be fortunate for the 

 inventor, for science and for the country, 

 could the new location be found in the 

 United States, with ample funds for the ex- 

 periment. Mechanicallj', the machine is a 

 success ; but much experience is likely to 

 be required to give its operation certainty 

 and safety. The reduction to practice of 

 the art of flying may probably prove a more 

 serious matter than the solution of the 

 purelj' mechanical problems involved. 



The Maxim gun is perhaps the most ex- 

 traordinary implement of war ever devised. 

 The pressing of a button is all that is re- 

 quired of the gunner, the gun loading itself 

 and firing automatically, at the rate of 600 

 to 800 shots a minute, until the finger is re- 

 moved or until the ammunition is ex- 

 hausted. All the needed energy in work- 

 ing the mechanism is supplied by the recoil 

 of the barrel of the gun. Hundreds of 

 these guns have been supplied European 

 and Oriental nations, and they have already 

 done much effective work. It seems hardly 

 creditable to the ordnance authorities of the 

 United States that they should have per- 

 mitted foreign nations to lead in utilizing 

 so great an American invention. Mr. Max- 

 im has not imbibed much respect for our 

 ofBcials, or our methods of treatment of in- 

 ventoi'S in this department of applied sci- 

 ence, from his personal experience at home. 



The Henley races have come and gone, and 

 the most interesting feature, to Americans, 

 proved disappointing. In the races for the 

 Grand Challenge Cup, Cornell won from 

 Leander by an error on the part of the um- 

 pii-e, and was beaten by Trinity Hall. The 

 result is claimed by advocates of the long 



