84 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. i 



of Peradeniya, Kandy, as the best site for the 

 proposed college. It was stated that the Pera- 

 deniya Gardens are uniquely situated for the 

 purpose. The local climate is excellent. In 

 every direction are vast plantations of all 

 kinds of tropical products, which afford 

 splendid opportunities for studying estate 

 work on the spot. The whole of Ceylon, in 

 fact, is devoted to every variety of tropical 

 agriculture. Another great local advantage is 

 that the student would find himself in con- 

 tinual contact with the Tamil — the Indian 

 agricultural laborer of the east and of most 

 tropical colonies. 



The London Times states that the Terra 

 Nova, which arrived at Cardiff on June 14, 

 carried the natural history collections of 

 the Scott Antarctic Expedition which fiU 

 nearly 200 cases. These have been trans- 

 ferred to the Natural History Museum at 

 South Kensington. The collections are of 

 high scientific interest. Perhaps the most 

 important, and from the personal point of 

 view certainly the most precious, is the 

 collection of fossils discovered by Captain 

 Scott and Dr. Wilson during their ill-fated 

 return journey from the South Pole. This 

 box of fossils was found on a sledge when the 

 relief party arrived at the place where Cap- 

 tain Scott and his brave companions perished. 

 The whereabouts of the sledge was indicated 

 by a pole which Captain Scott had erected, 

 knowing that the sledge would be hidden by 

 snow. The box is at present intact. The 

 other collections comprise birds (including 

 many penguins), seals and whales. There 

 is a very large and extensive collection of 

 marine specimens — crustaceans, molluscs, 

 echinoderms, etc. The botanical specimens 

 are nunierous, and there are many mosses and 

 lichens. The collection as a whole is very 

 much larger than that which was brought 

 home by the Discovery. It bears testimony 

 to the care with which Captain Scott organ- 

 ized his expedition, and to the thoroughness 

 with which his plans for its scientific work 

 have been carried out. The results, when 

 fully described, can not fail to add largely to 

 our knowledge of the natural history and the 



past climatic conditions of the Antarctic 

 regions. 



The eighty-first annual meeting of the Brit- 

 ish Medical Association will be held at Brigh- 

 ton on July 22, 23, 24 and 25, under the presi- 

 dency of Dr. William Ainslie Hollis. Sixteen 

 scientific sections have been arranged and will 

 meet daily, namely, Bacteriology and Pathol- 

 ogy; Climatology and Balneology; Dermatol- 

 ogy; Diseases of Children, including Ortho- 

 pedics ; Electro-therapeutics ; Gynaecology 

 and Obstetrics; Laryngology, Ehinology and 

 Otology; Medical Sociology; Medicine; Navy 

 and Army and Ambulance; Neurology and 

 Psychological Medicine; Ophthalmology; 

 Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Dietetics; 

 State Medicine; Surgery, and Tropical Medi- 

 cine. On July 23, Professor George E. Mur- 

 ray will deliver an address on medicine; on 

 July 24, the address on surgery will be deliv- 

 ered by Sir Berkeley Moynihan, and on July 

 25, a popular lecture with cinematograph il- 

 lustrations, entitled " Some Wonders of Ani- 

 mal and Plant Life in Pond and Pool," wiU 

 be delivered by Mr. Edmund Johnson Spitta. 



The Australian Institute of Tropical Medi- 

 cine at Townsville, which was founded as the 

 result of an amalgamation of the schemes of 

 Professor Anderson Stuart, of Sydney, and of 

 the ex-Bishop of North Queensland, and now 

 mainly supported by the commonwealth, was 

 opened on June 28 by Sir William Maegregor. 

 The Australian Universities, in conjunction 

 with the institute, grant a diploma in tropical 

 medicine. 



At the last session of the legislature of 

 Maine a continuous annual appropriation of 

 $5,000 was made to the Maine Agricultural 

 Experiment Station for " investigations in ani- 

 mal husbandry." The event is chiefly notable 

 because of the fact that this is the first money 

 ever appropriated by the state to the experi- 

 ment station for the direct support of work of 

 investigation. Hitherto all support of research 

 has come from federal (Hatch and Adams) 

 funds. The added funds were specifically ap- 

 propriated and will be used for the extension 

 of the investigations in the field of genetics, 



