SKETCH OF JOHN OUNDLACH. 697 



and in May of the same year was honored in like manner by the 

 Natural History Society of Weterau. In 18G1 the Academy of 

 Sciences of Havana signified the high esteem in which it held him 

 by conferring on him the title of Member of Merit. In January, 

 1864, he was made a corresponding member of the Entomological 

 Society of Philadelphia ; in July of the same year an honorary 

 member of the Society of Naturalists of Berlin ; and in the fol- 

 lowing year a member of the scientific department of the Matan- 

 zas Lyceum, and a member of the Sociedad Economiica de Amigos 

 del Pais of Havana. In 1807 he was elected a corresponding 

 member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 

 In 1872 the distinction was conferred upon him of election to 

 membership in the Spanish Society of Natural History, Madrid. 

 In 1878 the Farmers' Circle of the Island of Cuba {Circido de 

 Hacendados) made him a Member of Merit. 



Besides his untiring devotion to science, which has been evi- 

 dent in nearly every line of this sketch, Gundlach was distin- 

 guished by unafiiected modesty and plainness and a charming 

 geniality in his companionship. Simon de Cardenas says, in the 

 tribute from which we have already quoted : " He sympathizes 

 with all persons he sees, and when one has had an hour with him 

 it is a pain to part from him. He is an entertaining converser, 

 no matter what the subject may be. He can soar in the heights 

 of science, talk of history, literature, and philosophy, or engage 

 in the private, intimate, and affectionate conversation of the fam- 

 ily circle. If we were required to point out among his many vir- 

 tues others equally conspicuous, we should certainly mention his 

 honesty and disinterestedness." Juan Clemente Zena said that 

 "in speaking of him we must needs pay him homage or not men- 

 tion him at all. Plis face is like a transparent crystal, in which 

 all moral perfections are reflected." 



In their investigations of the electrical and magnetic properties of matter 

 at very low temperatures, Profs. Dewar and Fleming have, according to a 

 summary given in the London Times, completed an examination of the 

 electrical conductivity of many pure metals, notably bismuth and mercury, 

 and shown that their electrical resistance vanishes as the temperature ap- 

 proaches the absolute zero; also that at very low temperatures the electrical 

 resistance of bismuth may be increased many hundred times by transverse 

 magnetism. They have analyzed the effect of low temperature on magnets, 

 and studied the magnetic qualities of iron and steel at the temperature of 

 liquid air. They have measured the magnetic permeability of liquid oxy- 

 gen and its dielectric constant, and shown that this complies with Maxwell's 

 law. They have proved that liquid oxygen is extremely magnetizable, 

 while its insulating and dielectric powers give it a unique position among 

 known liquids and salts. 



