May 18, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



799 



we descended below the surface the tempera- 

 ture became higher and higher, and it ought not 

 to be difficult to reach such temperatures that 

 by thermo-electric appliances we might convert 

 the lost energy of the earth's interior into some 

 useful electric form. 



We learn from the British Medical Journal 

 that Mr. A. L. Jones, whose name has for some 

 time been associated with the Liverpool School 

 of Tropical Medicine, has set on foot a scheme 

 for assisting natives of tropical colonies to go 

 to Liverpool to study medicine and obtain a 

 qualification to practice. The African Steam- 

 ship Company has consented to convey to and 

 from England any natives of Africa who 

 desire to avail themselves of this arrangement 

 at a greatly reduced cost, and it is calculated 

 that it will be possible for them to fulfill the 

 five years' curriculum and obtain their qualifi- 

 cation to practice at a cost of about £600, in- 

 cluding the passage, money and the expenses of 

 living. Messrs. Elder, Dempster and Co. have 

 addressed a circular to the respective Governors 

 of the West African Colonies, asking them to 

 bring the scheme to the notice of schoolmasters 

 and others in touch with secondary education, 

 and seeking for information as to how far the 

 education in the colony is organized to admit 

 of natives being prepared for one of the pre- 

 liminary examinations recognized by the Gen- 

 eral Medical Council. It is intended to include 

 West Indian natives in the scheme. 



In presenting Mr. Charles Hose for the hon- 

 orary degree of Doctor of Science at Cambridge 

 University, the Public Orator, Dr. Sandys, 

 stated, according to the Loudon Times, that for 

 the last ten years, Mr. Hose had been the Resi- 

 dent of the Baram district in Borneo, in that 

 part of the island which was under the rule of 

 Sir Charles Brooks, Rajah of Sarawak. As 

 Resident, Mr. Hose had, in a masterly manner, 

 put an end to an inveterate blood feud between 

 two hostile tribes, and had diverted their ener- 

 gies from the pursuits of war by the peaceful in- 

 stitution of an inter-tribal boat race. At the 

 sacrifices connected with the ratification of the 

 treaty of peace, he had proved himself a most 

 skillful haruspex by finding in the flesh of the 

 victims omens of peace and prosperity to all the 



tribes of the district; while in his scientific 

 knowledge of the birds of Borneo, he had also 

 proved himself an augur et auspex admirabilis. 

 It was under his auspices that the museums of 

 Switzerland, Holland, Germany, France, and 

 England had successively been supplied with 

 many important specimens of the birds and 

 mammals of Borneo ; while his own researches 

 had thrown a new light on the zoology, the 

 anthropology, and the geography of the is- 

 land. He had thus extended the bounds of 

 science near the confines of the British Empire. 

 In recognition of the value of his scientific 

 work, he had received distinctions from the 

 Royal Geographical Society and from other 

 bodies, and among the honors he had received 

 from the nations of Europe was the not inap- 

 propriate title of ' Knight of the White Falcon ' 

 of Sachs- Weimar. Lastly, for more than ten 

 years he had been a constant and generous 

 benefactor to the Cambridge Museums of Zool- 

 ogy, Anatomy, and Archteologj'; and, only two 

 years ago, he had given the most cordial wel- 

 come and the most valuable assistance to the 

 Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to New 

 Guinea and Borneo. 



The Friday evening discourse at the Royal 

 Institution was given on April 13th by Lord 

 Kelvin, whose subject was ' Nineteenth Cen- 

 tury Clouds over the Dynamical Theory of 

 Heat and Light.' Sir Frederick Bramwell was 

 in the chair, and among those present were Sir 

 George Stokes, Sir Andrew Noble, Sir Fred- 

 erick Abel, Sir William Crookes, Sir J. Wolfe- 

 Barry and Sir James Crichton-Browne. Lord 

 Kelvin said, according to the London Times, 

 that there were only two clouds to obscure 

 the beauty and clearness of the dynamical 

 theory which might be briefly expressed by 

 saying that heat and light were modes of mo- 

 tion. The flrst came into existence with the 

 undulatory theory of light, and was dealt with 

 by Fresnel and by Dr. Thomas Young ; it in- 

 volved the question, how could the earth move 

 through an elastic solid, such as the luminifer- 

 ous ether was supposed to be, far more easily 

 and freely than the ' wind through a grove of 

 trees ' ? This cloud hung heavy and undispersed. 

 Some years ago Michelson made a beautiful 

 experiment to discover whether the ether 



