76 



NATURE 



[November i6, 1911 



for young boginniTs ; they are suitable, rather, for 

 educated readers of maturer years, who desire to 

 acquaint themselves with modern advances in the 

 subjects in which they are interested. 

 i:\ssaut du Pole Stid. By I'Abb^ Th. Moreux. 



Pp. 221. (Paris: Jouve et' Cie., 1911.) Price 1.50 



francs. 

 This popular account of the various e.xpeditions in 

 Antarctic regions, arran>^ed chronologically, will 

 appeal to many readers. In En}.(lish schools it miffht 

 serve the double purpose of an interesting French text 

 and leisure-hour reading in geoj^raphy. The story is 

 brought down to the present day and is illusi rated, 

 some of the pictures beinj^ views taken by Dr. ( har- 

 iiit on the Pourqiioi-Pas? 

 >n!>iccl l.i.sl of Works on ('hcitiual I ,t hunlni^y in 



the Library of the Patent Office. New Series, 



\N /!>. Pp. iv+171. (London: The Patent 



Ot'lice, 191 1.) Price 6d. 

 The present list is concerned with oils, fats, soaps, 

 candles, and perfumery; paints, varnishes, g'ums, 

 resins, and india-rubber ; and the paper and leather 

 industries. With the volume, new series YK-YM, it 

 supersedes " Patent Office Library Series, No. 7," 

 published in 190 1. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



The Late Sir Francis Gallon. 



I AM engaged on a nn'tnoir d(,'arni}< with the life and 

 work of the late Sir Francis Gallon. He had a very wide 

 correspondence, the width of which can only be appreciated 

 by those who have seen the replies to his letters. Many 

 of these are of great interest and value, and deal with 

 important scientific problems. The main bulk of the letters 

 start with 1885, although there are isolated letters from 

 de Candollc, Speke, Buckland, Clerk Maxwell, and others 

 from i860 onwards. The letters from Francis Gallon 

 which led to these replies may still exist. May I appeal 

 to any of your readers who have letters from Francis 

 Gallon to lend them to me for the preparation of this 

 memoir? I should value especially any letters from 1850 

 to 1880 ; but all will be of value. Letters sent to me shall 

 be carefully preserved, and returned if the owner desires it. 

 Any letters which the owners are willing to present to this 

 laboratory will be filed in the Galtoniana, which already 

 conlain many Gallon manuscripts. Karl Pearson. 



Gallon Laboratory for National Eugenics. 



The Kaiser- Wilhelm Institut fiir physikalische Chemie 

 und Elektrochemie at Dahlem, near Berlin. 



On October i Prof. F. Ilaber brj^an his work as director 

 of the new Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut fiir physikalische 

 Chemie und Elektrochemie at Dahlem, near Berlin. The 

 buildings of the institute, work upon which was begun 

 during the summer of this year, are beinjj erected by the 

 Prussian Government working in conjunction with the 

 " Koppel-Stiftung for the purpose of improving the intel- 

 lectual relations of Germany with other lands." 



The Koppel-Stiftung, which was founded in Berlin some 

 years ago by Geheimer Kommerzienrat Leopold Koppel, 

 and until now has maintained the German School of 

 Medicine in Shanghai and the American Institute in Berlin, 

 will provide the funds for the erection of the new institute, 

 and will also give 35,000 marks annually for its mainten- 

 ance during a period of ten years. The Prussian Govern- 

 ment has provided the site, which is situated at the 

 terminus of the new underground railway from the centre 

 of Berlin to Dahlem, and has endowed the institute with 

 the sum of 50,000 marks annually. 



The institute will be controlled by a board consisting of 



NO. 2194, VOL. 88] 



two representatives of the German Government, two i 

 sentatives of the Koppel-Stiftung, and the director V- 

 institute. The dire-ctor has an absolutely free hand i 

 choice of his work, his fellow-workers, and his assist: 



For the admission of investigators who wish to I 

 their own lines of investigation in the institute with 

 own means, the director must have the assent of the 

 of control. 



The institute will consist of scientific and tetl 

 departments in separate buildings. The building c. 

 scientific department is 600 square metres in ground 

 and has a basement, entirely underground, com., 

 constant temperature rooms. On the ground floor a: 

 professor's laboratory and consulting room, the ofTic* - 

 calibrating room in which are to be kept the net- 

 laboratory standards, the mechanic's workshop, .1 

 lecture theatre to seat twenty-five persons. Fi. 

 lecture-rooms are not provided in the building, as ten 

 in the ordinary sense is not contemplated in the im: 

 The first floor will be devoted to the library, 

 assistant's room, glass-blowing room, and a laborator 

 eight research men. On the second floor are the 

 rooms for the mechanic and his family, since the mei 

 also acts as caretaker. This floor also contains rooms 

 photOH-hemistry, for scientific collections, and workplfl 

 for several more research workers. 



The building is connected by a corridor with the techn^ 

 department, the most important feature of which is 

 machinery hall, with a floor space of 200 square met 

 This hall is surrounded by smaller rooms for cher 

 preparations, high-voltage and heavy-current work, ar 

 blacksmith's shop. The ground floor of the techn| 

 building contains a consultation room and the labora 

 of the assistant in charge of that department. On the 

 floor is living accommodation for two assistants andl 

 engine-man, and also a room for the serving of refr 

 ments. 



The director's house will be erected in the ground! 

 the institute. 



Although there exists no stipulation on the point, it 

 be taken as a rule that, on account of the fact tha^ 

 teaching as such is to be undertaken, only such stut 

 will be admitted by the director as have already finii^ 

 their normal university course and desire a wider ex^ 

 ence in scientific research. There are no restrictions 

 ever as to the nationality of the men admitted by 

 director. 



The director of the institute. Prof. Haber, was bor 

 Breslau in 1868, and obtained his Ph.D. in Berlin in l| 

 -After obtaining his degree he spent several years 

 in technical work and partly in securing further scit 

 training. In 1894 he went to Karlsruhe, and 

 appointed Privat^ozent in chemical technology in 

 and associate professor in 1898. In 1902 he was 

 .America by the Bunsen Society of .Applied Physical 

 istry to study the system of chemical instruction an 

 condition of electrochemical industries in the L^nited 

 In 1906 he was appointed to the post of profes 

 physical and electrochemistry in Karlsruhe, where he 

 up the best equipped research lal)oratory of physical 

 istry in the world. Students from all parts of the 

 were attracted to this laboratory to such an extent tl 

 accommodation was insufficient to allow all of th^ 

 enter, even although Prof. Haber admitted as ma 

 forty men at one time as research workers. Whal 

 most remarkable was that he personally directed the 

 of all these men, and often aided them in their eJ 

 mental work. In 1907 he was called to take the plac 

 Lunge in Zurich as professor of chemical technologv',, 

 in IQ09 he was asked to undertake the control of 

 the largest chemical works in Germany, but he d4 

 both these appointments. 



Prof. Haber introduced into Germany the 

 method of instruction in elementary chemistry as er 

 in the laboratory outline written by Prof. .Alexander 

 This book was translated into German by Prof, 

 and Fritz Hiller. The two books, " Lehrbuch de 

 nischen Elektrochemie auf wissenschaftlicher Grund 

 (i8<)8, now out of print) and " Thermodynamik techii 

 Gasreaktionen " (1905 ; English edition 1908), tc 

 with numerous contributions to the Zeitschrift fiir El 



