238 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 293. 



annual meeting at Ipswich from the 81st of July 

 to the 3d of August, under the presidency of 

 Dr. John Ward Cousins. According to the an- 

 nouncement of the program the general ad" 

 dresses were as follows : Address in Medicine) 

 by Philip Henry Pye-Smith, M.D., F.E.S., con- 

 sulting physician, Guy's Hospital ; Address in 

 Surgery, by Frederick Treves, surgeon extra- 

 ordinary to H.M. the Queen; Address in Ob- 

 stetrics, by William J. Smyly, examiner in mid- 

 wifery, Eoyal College of Physicians, Ireland. 

 The Association met in thirteen sections, in- 

 cluding one on navy, army and ambulance, 

 established this year for the first time. This 

 section and the one on tropical diseases have 

 especially full programs. 



The Swiss Scientific Society holds its 83d an- 

 nual meeting at Thusis on the 2d, 3d and 4th of 

 September. With it meet the Geological, Bo- 

 tanical and Zoological Societies of Switzerland. 

 A number of interesting excursions have been 

 arranged in connection with the meeting to 

 which foreign men of science are invited. 



The International Society of the Psychical 

 Institute is the name of a society recently 

 established in Paris for the purpose of obtaining 

 money to establish a museum and library at 

 Paris, to encourage research, to publish a jour- 

 nal, etc. The society wishes to cover the whole 

 field of psychology, but will apparently espec- 

 ially concern itself with those more or less oc- 

 cult phenomena in which societies for psychical 

 research have chiefly interested themselves. 

 The American members of the committee en- 

 dorsing the program are Professor J. Mark 

 Baldwin, Professor J. Howard Gore and Mr. 

 Elmer Gates. 



Me. J. E. S. MooEE, of the Eoyal College 

 of Science, London, has returned from Cen- 

 tral Africa, where he has been engaged in 

 explorations under the auspices of the Eoyal 

 Geographical Society. Among the results of 

 his expedition are the ascent of one of the 

 Mountains of the Moon, about 16,500 feet high; 

 the more exact location of Lake Tanganyika, 

 which is said to be fifty miles west of its as- 

 cribed position, and the discovery that Kivu is 

 a much larger lake than had been supposed. 



The construction of the vessel designed by 



Mr. W. E. Smith, one of the chief constructors 

 to the Admiralty, for the National Antarctic 

 Expedition is, as we have already noted, in ac- 

 tive progess at the yard of the Dundee Ship- 

 builders' Company. The Times states that the 

 ship, which is to be named the Discovery, is to 

 be barque-rigged and to have three decks. Ac- 

 commodation for those on board will be pro- 

 vided under the upper deck. The stem will be 

 of the ice-breaker type, with strong fortifica- 

 tions. The length of the vessel between per- 

 pendiculars is 172 feet ; beam, 34 feet ; and 

 depth, 19 feet. The timbers are of oak, dowelled 

 and bolted together, and the keel, deadwoods, 

 the stem, and the stem-posts are also of oak. 

 The planking is of American elm and pitch 

 pine, and the inside beams are of oak. With 

 the object of avoiding the magnetic influence of 

 iron on the scientific instruments on board, it 

 has been decided that for a considerable radius 

 amidships the knees and fastenings shall be of 

 naval brass. In case the Discovery should 

 have to winter in the ice, a heavy wagon cloth 

 awning of strong woollen felt is to be provided. 

 The fittings and equipment of the vessel will 

 be of the most modern type. The engines, 

 which are to indicate 450-horse power, are to 

 be constructed by Messrs. Gourlay Brothers 

 and Co., Dundee. 



We learn from the London Times that another 

 addition to the numerous existing processes de- 

 signed to prevent decay in wood is now being 

 introduced into England by the Xylosote 

 Company in the shape of the Hasselmann sys- 

 tem. In this the timber to be treated is en- 

 closed in a cylindrical vessel in which a fairly 

 high vacuum can be produced by a suitable air- 

 pump. When the sap has been drawn out of 

 the pores under the diminished pressure a solu- 

 tion of metallic and mineral salts is allowed to 

 flow into the vessel, and the wood is steeped in 

 this for some houi's under a certain pressure of 

 steam and at a temperature of about 130 degrees 

 C. Then, after being dried, it is ready for use. 

 The impregnating liquid is a solution of the 

 sulphates of copper and iron, whose preserva- 

 tive properties are generally acknowledged, to- 

 gether with some aluminium, potassium, and 

 magnesium salts. The inventor of the process 

 maintains that the copper destroys any germs 



