606 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 619. 



cruise in the Indian Ocean last year. On 

 December 10 Major H. Beacom, the American 

 military attache, will give an account of the 

 changes that have been effected by irrigation 

 in the United States. At a meeting during 

 the course of the session, probably in the 

 spring, an authoritative account will be given 

 of the results of the Duke of the Abruzzi's 

 expedition to the Ruwenzori Mountains. 

 Among other papers that are expected during 

 the session will be one by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, 

 in which he will discuss the polar problems 

 that still remain to be solved. This, it is 

 hoped, will be the first of a series of papers 

 on the unknown and little-known parts of the 

 world, the object being to take stock of what 

 we now know of the geography of the globe, 

 with a view to showing what remains to 

 be done before our knowledge is complete. 

 Lieutenant Boyd Alexander, who is expected 

 shortly to anive in England, will give an ac- 

 count of his expedition through Central Africa 

 from the West Coast to the Nile. Colonel A. 

 W. S. Wingate will give an account of the 

 results which have been achieved during his 

 nine years' directorship of the survey work in 

 Northern China and Mongolia. Major C. D, 

 Bruce will give a paper on his journeys 

 through Central Asia to Northern China; and 

 the following are among other papers that are 

 expected during the session : ' The North Mag- 

 netic Pole and the Northwest Passage,' by 

 Captain Amundsen; 'Aboriginal India,' by 

 Colonel Sir T. H. Holdich; 'A Journey from 

 Yunnan to Assam,' by Mr. E. C. Young; 

 ' The Story of London Maps,' by Mr. Laurence 

 Gomme ; ' The Evolution of the Map of 

 Africa,' by Mr. Edward Heawood; 'Inland 

 Waterways,' by Mr. G. G. Chisholm; 'The 

 Taupo Volcanic Region, New Zealand,' by 

 Mr. J. Mackintosh Bell, the director of the 

 New Zealand survey. Other subjects will be 

 brought before the research department of the 

 society for discussion; and it is hoped that a 

 decided step will be taken in the inquiry, 

 which was instituted some time ago, into the 

 changes which have taken place on the North 

 Sea coast of England during the historical 

 period. 



The new laboratory of physical and electro- 

 chemistry, which has been presented to Liver- 

 pool University by Mr. E. K. Muspratt, presi- 

 dent of the council, was opened on October 13 

 by Sir William Ramsay, E.R.S. The London 

 Times states that the new laboratory makes 

 an addition of high importance and value to 

 the university's equipment, and also confers 

 upon Liverpool the distinction of being the 

 only city in the United Kingdom to possess 

 a special and completely-equipped laboratory 

 for the study of physical and electro-chem- 

 istry. The cost of the laboratory, which pro- 

 vides accommodation for forty-three persons, 

 is over £15,000. The laboratory will not be 

 in readiness for the commencement of its work 

 until some time in November, the formal open- 

 ing being arranged for October 13 with the 

 object of securing the attendance of a number 

 of foreign scientists. In the absence of Lord 

 Derby, chancellor of the university, Vice- 

 Chancellor Dale presided over a large and 

 distinguished gathering, amongst others pres- 

 ent being Professors W. Ostwald (Leipzig), 

 R. Abegg (Breslau), Ruhemann (Cambridge), 

 H. Goldschmidt (Christiania), E. Cohen 

 (Utrecht) and Lash Miller (Toronto). Sir 

 WiUiam Ramsay, in opening the laboratory, 

 remarked that the chief duty of a chair of 

 physical chemistry was to teach men to think 

 for themselves. He advised that the students 

 of that fascinating subject should be induced 

 by example, precept, sympathy, exhortation, 

 and by all means whereby young human minds 

 could be influenced to extend the bounds of 

 their subject. Physical chemistry was impor- 

 tant, not only from a scientific, but also from 

 an industrial point of view, and the erection 

 of that laboratory might be viewed as a monu- 

 ment to the services rendered by physical 

 chemistry to manufacture in the past as well 

 as a tribute to its donor's belief in future 

 benefits which would accrue from its study. 

 In the history of man there had never been 

 an age like ours for scientific progress. As 

 was the Elizabethan era for poetry and litera- 

 ture, so was the present for scientific achieve- 

 ment. Within twenty-five years they had 

 seen a new chemistry develop — the chemistry 



