OcTOBKU 2, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



447 



a. tour of the Empire. The movement has 

 the support of prominent shipping and manu- 

 facturing firms, but it has not yet taken final 

 shape. The plan which is now in course of 

 development is to fit out a large ship with 

 samples of all classes of manufactured articles 

 which Great Britain supplies or can supply 

 to her Colonies, including even fairly heavy 

 machinery. From 50 to 100 firms are ex- 

 pected to exhibit, and a representative of each 

 firm will accompany the ship, which, in the 

 course of a voyage extending over some sis 

 months, will call at every port of importance 

 in the British Colonies and dependencies, as 

 well as in Japan, China and other specially 

 selected places. It is the intention of the 

 organizers to be in a ijosition to sail in the 

 early part of next year. 



Dr. R. Bowdler Sh.uip writes to the editor 

 of the Times: In common with many other 

 zoologists, I have been somewhat concerned 

 to see the avidity with which certain journals 

 in this country publish broadcast myths con- 

 nected with natural history, and the credulity 

 with which nonsensical paragraphs of this 

 kind are received by the public. The myth 

 most in vogue in the springtime is the one 

 that the British Museum is in want of a king- 

 fisher's nest, and has offered a reward of £100 

 to anybody who will procure one for the na- 

 tional collection. This fable dies hard, and 

 causes me much loss of time everj- spring in 

 assuring well-meaning collectors that the Brit- 

 ish Museum has long ago acquired as many 

 kingfisher's nests as it wants. On a par with 

 this foolish myth is another which is now be- 

 ing exploited — viz., the story that a well- 

 known entomologist has paid £1,000 for a 

 specimen of a flea! The journals which print, 

 and the folk who read, this nonsense must 

 surely know it is untrue. The fleas and 

 mosquitoes are both families of insects ex- 

 tremely difficult to study. We know the 

 mischief which is done by mosquitoes in the 

 case of malaria, and the report of the Plague 

 Commission shows that fleas play no unim- 

 portant part in the dissemination of disease. 

 To make a collection of these noxious insects 

 is a tedious and difficult matter, but they have 

 to be studied and monographed like butterflies 



and the higher orders. It is, therefore, annoy- 

 ing to zoologists to find mendacious statements 

 published broadcast which are calculated to 

 bring into ridicule the earnest work which 

 is being carried on by entomologists who de- 

 vote themselves to the study of these difficult 

 groups. I have heard of one instance when a 

 new and curious genus of PuJicidw was valued 

 at 10s., but, as a rule, the sum of 3d. or 6d. 

 is considered sufficient value by museums for 

 any specimen of fleas obtained from animals 

 in any part of the world. There is, sir, a 

 considerable difference between sixpence and 

 a thousand pounds, and it may be considered 

 that the exposure of such a palpable untruth 

 is not worth the time that it takes to expose 

 it; but the reiteration of the myth in re- 

 sponsible journals, and the credulity of the 

 public, as shown by the correspondence on the 

 subject, make it desirable to give publicity to 

 the true facts of the case. 



Mr. W. W. Harris, U. S. Consul at ilann- 

 heim, writes to the Department of State: Be- 

 ginning with June 7, 1903, a three days' con- 

 gress of the German Society of Electricians 

 was' held in Mannheim. The meetings were 

 attended by about 300 electrical engineers 

 from all parts of the empire. Papers were 

 read on a variety of topics pertaining to elec- 

 trical engineering, especially as applied to 

 street-railway construction, electric lighting, 

 etc. Among those who presented papers were 

 Privy Councillor Professor Arnold, of Carls- 

 ruhe; Professor Gorges, of Dresden; and 

 Baron von Gaisberg, of Hamburg. At this 

 meeting, as at similar meetings in Germany, 

 that which first attracts the attention of the 

 observer is the active part taken by teachers 

 from the technical and other schools in what 

 might be regarded the purely practical side 

 of the subject. Thus, in this particular case 

 the discussions led into the construction of 

 street railways, installation of light and power 

 plants, etc. Among those who took a leading 

 part in these discussions were teachers and 

 professional men. Xo opinion is ventured as 

 to whether, ujjon the whole, a science such as 

 that of electricity, mining, architecture, etc., 

 progresses more rapidly if left mainly to what 



