86 



NATURE 



[March i6, 191 1 



the decennial celebrations of the foundation of that 



university. 



Sincf its foundation, in 1887. van 't HofT's name 

 lias been associated with the "Zeitschrift fur 

 physilvalische C'hemie " as one of its editors. In 

 iSc)9 the thirty-first volume of that journal was de- 

 voted to a " Festschrift *' in honour of the twenty- 

 fifth anniversary of his doctorate, many of his old 

 pupils and many other men of science contributing 

 |)a|>ers in honour of the iKcasion. 



The above is but a brief and meagre account of the 

 life-work of one of the greatest geniuses the world 

 has ever seen. It would take many pages of this 

 journal to convey anything' like an adequate idea of 

 tlie extent and orijj^inality of his researches. Hut the 

 only true appraisement of van 't HolT's work and 

 influence is to be found in the living science of to-day 

 iiul in till minds of countless thousands of scientific 

 \\i rlcir-. A-- time rolls on his name and his work 

 will stand out ever more prominently in the story of 

 the development of chemical theory. We are still too 

 near the mountain to be able to appreciate fully the 

 grandeur of its heipfhts. 



The present writer is one of those whose privilege 

 it is to have worked under van 't HofT. That was in 

 the days at Charlottenburg, when the investigation 

 of the oceanic salt deposits was just beginning. 

 Every day endeared van 't HofT to the small band of 

 workers in his laboratory. His joy in his work, the 

 simple and unaffected friendliness of his nature, and 

 the marvellous power of his mind affected us most 

 deeply. All who worked with van 't Hoff quickly 

 learned to l<i\c .ind respect him, and we were no 

 exception t<> ilu rule. The kindliness of his heart 

 .ind the siiii|)](' charm of his manner were no less 

 iliaracttrislic of liim than the genius that is known 

 to :ill. 



With the passing away of van 't Tloff ebemistry 

 loses one of her greatest men. His was indeed one of 

 tl^e master-minds of science. All his work was 

 characterised bv the penetrating insight and the wide 

 crr-ative outlook of a lofty and commanding genius. 

 When one reflects on the vast regions of knowledge 

 which he either created or systematised and mar- 

 villously developed — stereochemistry, chemical dy- 

 namics, chemical equilibrium and afiinity, the laws of 

 solutions — the thought occurs to one that future ages 

 will see in him the Newton of chemistry. 



However that may be. chemical science, which to- 

 day so deeply mourns his loss, will- ever rank van 't 

 Hoff amongst the greatest chemists of anv age. 



F. G. D. 



ArOT£5. 



Till- (ir-ith i^f th' ;i!i!. and acroinplished naturalist Prof. 

 ImTix ri.ii.au occuiT'd at Ghent on March 4 after a long 

 and ]);nnliil illiv^^. I'idf. Plateau only recently retired 

 from thf aiiivi' dutit- of his chair of zoolofly in the 

 I iiiv> rsiiv of (ihcnt, and was appointed Professeur 

 iiiicritc. l-'rom his earliest days he pursued the study of 

 his favourite science with indefatigable energy, devoting 

 himself, in the main, to the arthropods, and especially to 

 the Insecta and their physiological and physico-chemical 

 aspects. Though of slight build and apparent delicacy, 

 yet he was enabled, since he visited the British .Association 

 in Liverpool in 1870, to carry out a long series of re- 

 searches for more than forty years, enriching the litera- 

 ture of his subject in a noteworthy way with both pen 

 and pencil. His labours embraced such subjects as the 

 vision of arthropods (including insects), respiratory move- 

 m-nts of in> Ills, centre of gravity in insects, functions of 

 antenna-, phy>ico-chemical observations on aquatic insects, 

 NO. 2159, VOL. 86] 



movementx and innervation of the central organs of the 

 circulation in insects, errors committed by Hymenoptera 

 in visiting flowers, means of prote<*tion in Abraxas, 

 observations as to whether the syrphides admire colours 

 of flowers, and a large number of researches on the 

 behaviour of insects with regard to flowers, natural and 

 artificial, besides numerous papers on allied subjects. 

 These memoirs were illustrated by his facile pencil, and 

 were carried out with great labour and ingenuity by means 

 of apparatus devised by himself. Prof. Plateau was a 

 member of the Royal .'\cademy of Sciences of Belgium, 

 and was much esteemed for his amiability and wide 

 culture. He will be greatly missed as an earnest and 

 indefatigable investigator of that side of entomolc^y from 

 which modern science has been enabled to draw safe 

 deductions instead of vague suppositions. He leaves a 

 widow and several sons and daughi 



It is difficult to believe that N'iMount Dalrymple was 

 serious in asking the First Lord of the .Admiralty in the 

 House of Commons on March 8 " whether he would 

 arrange for the fleet to carry out their heavy gun-firing 

 practice round the coast at some other period of the year 

 than in the middle of harvest time, when the resulting 

 heavy rain may cause serious loss to the farming com- 

 munity." Mr. McKenna answered the question evidently 

 in the belief that it was asked in good faith ; he began 

 by saying " there is no evidence that the firing causes 

 heavy rain," and we do not need to concern ourselves 

 with the rest of the reply. No doubt, whether Lord 

 Dalrymple was jesting or not, many people still cling to 

 the belief in the power of explosions to produce rain, and 

 we referred last week to several cases in point. In the 

 new number of Sytnons's Meteorological Magazine Mr. 

 F. Gaster points out that the firing of big guns is carried 

 on more frequently at Shoeburyness than at any other 

 point on the coast, but that the mean annual rainfall at 

 Shoeburyness, and on the coast of Essex generally, is the 

 lowest in the British Isles. This seems to be the most 

 convincing form of reply to those who profess to believe, 

 or do believe, in the efficacy of gun-firing to produce 

 rain. 



LoRo Crawford presided at the meeting on March S, 

 at the British Museum, to present Sir Edward Maund" 

 Thompson, late director and principal librarian, with his 

 portrait, painted by the president of the Royal .Academy 

 (Sir Edward Poynter), who is also a trustee of the 

 museum. .Among the subscribers were the .Archbishop of 

 Canterbury (appointed a trustee in 1884 by Queen Victoria), 

 who made the presentation, the Sp< akor, Sir Henry 

 Howorth, Lady (John) Evans, a;iil ih.- officers and 

 assistants of the museum, including Mr. F. 0. Kenyon 

 (director and principal librarian), Mr. L. F"letcher, F.R.S. 

 (director of the natural history departments), Mr. A. R. 

 Dryhurst and Mr. C. E. Fagan (assistant secretaries), Mr. 

 Basil H. Soulsby, and many others. The portrait will be 

 exhibited at the Royal .Academy, and may one day join 

 the collection of portraits of principal librarians and 

 trustees in the board-room at the British Museum, which 

 includes the portrait of Sir .Antonio Panizzi by G. F. 

 Watts, and Sir Joseph Banks by Lawrence. 



Dr. Ostes Bergstrand, for some time observer at the 

 L'psala Observatory, Sweden, has been appointed professor 

 of astronomy in the L'psala University and director of the 

 observatory. 



The Belgian Maritime .Association lins engaged M. H. 

 Phillipot, assistant in charge of ili^ mrridian service at 

 the Uccle Observatory, as professor of astronomy on board 



