I04 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



England have so often led to a scien- 

 tific career. He made important ex- 

 peditions, devoted himself to the for- 

 mation of a herbarium, and edited and 

 published works contributing greatly 

 to the advancement of botany. In 1820 

 he became professor of botany at Glas- 

 gow, and in 1841 director of the Royal 

 Botanical Garden at Kew. His son, 

 Joseph Dalton Hooker, was born on 

 June 30, 1817, and immediately after 

 taking the M.D. at Glasgow accom- 

 panied as assistant surgeon Sir James 

 Eoss's Antarctic expedition, the botan- 

 ical results of which he subsequently 

 published. Four years in India pro- 

 duced contributions of even greater 

 importance, and later journeys were 

 undertaken to many regions, including 

 Palestine, Morocco and the United 

 States. In 1855 he became assistant 

 director of the Kew Gardens and suc- 

 ceeded his father as director in 1865. 

 Hooker's relations with Darwin were 

 intimate, and he is perhaps best known 

 to those who are not botanists for his 

 support of the theory of evolution by 

 natural selection, beginning with his 

 presidential address before tlie British 

 Association in 1868. But his botanical 

 contributions are immense in range and 

 importance. It is only necessary to 

 mention here the "Flora of the British 

 Isles," "The Flora of British India" 

 and the great ' ' Genera Plantarum. ' ' 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS 



We record with regret the deaths of 



Dr. George Davidson, eminent for his 



contributions to geodesy, geography 



and astronomy, emeritus professor in 



the University of California; of Sur- 

 geon General Walter Wyman, of the 

 U. S. Public Health and Marine Hos- 

 pital Service; of Sir Samuel Wilkes, 

 London physician, author of works on 

 pathological anatomy, and of Dr. Max 

 Jaffe, professor of pharmacology at 

 the University of Konigsberg. 



The Nobel prizes have been awarded 

 in the sciences to Mme. Marie Curie, 

 of the University of Paris, in chem- 

 istry; to Professor Wilhelm Wien, of 

 the University of Wiirzburg, in physics, 

 and to Professor Allvar Gullstrand, of 

 the University of Upsala, in medicine. 



The Symons gold medal of the Royal 

 Meteorological Society has been award- 

 ed to Professor Cleveland Abbe, of the 

 United States Weather Bureau. 



The following awards have been 

 made by the president and council of 

 the Royal Society: a Royal medal to 

 Professor George Chrystal, Edinburgh, 

 whose death has meanwhile occurred, 

 ' for his researches in mathematics and 

 physics, especially his recent work on 

 seiches and free oscillations in the 

 Scottish lakes; a Royal medal to Dr, 

 W. M. Bayliss, F.R.S., for his researches 

 in physiology; the Oopley medal to Sir 

 George H. Darwin, K.C.B., F.R.S., for 

 his scientific researches, especially in 

 the domain of astronomical evolution; 

 the Davy medal to Professor Henry E. 

 Armstrong, F.R.S., for his contribu- 

 tions to chemical science; the Hughes 

 medal to Mr. C. T. R. Wilson, F.R.S., 

 for his investigations on the formation 

 of cloud and their application to the 

 study of electrical ions. 



