354 



NATURE 



[January 



1 1 



Uv the death of M. Radau on December aa, 1911. a* 



alrrndy announcrd in those columns. Franco has lu«t a 

 mnthfmatical a*tronom»'r of rral distinction. Born on 

 January 22. 1835. at Angrrburg, In Prussia, he was a 

 student at Kimifisberg between 1R54 and 1857. The follow- 

 ing year he went to Paris, where he became naturalised, 

 and passed the remainder of his life. For many years he 

 acted as secretary to M. Brunetiire on the staff of the 

 Revue des Deux Momles. M no time does he seem to 

 have held an official post as a practical astronomer or as 

 a teacher of astronomy. Yet he contributed a very large 

 number of valuable memoirs, for the most part having a 

 direct bearing on theoretical astronomy. Perhaps, as a 

 result of his unofficial position, the greater number of 

 these contributions are not of great length, but in spite of 

 his early training all of them show a freshness of thought 

 and an elegance characteristically French. Among them 

 may be specially mentioned an essay on astronomical re- 

 fraction, in which the effect of the humidity of the atmo- 

 sphere is for the first time considered ; a very important 

 memoir on the planetary inequalities of the moon, the 

 results of which have been confirmed by Dr. Cowell's 

 analysis of the Greenwich observations (Annals of the Paris 

 Observatory, 1889 and 1893) ; and memoirs on theoretical 

 dynamics and on interpolation in the .Annals of the Ecole 

 Normale and in Liouville's Journal. M. Radau was an 

 editor of the Bulletin Astronomique from its inception in 

 1884, and contributed many elegant notes to its pages. He 

 was also a prolific writer of popular articles, for which he 

 had a marked gift. M. Radau succeeded Tisserand as a 

 member of the Institute in 1897 ; he was a member of 

 the Bureau des Longitudes, and he was elected an associate 

 of the Royal Astronomical Society so lately as 1905. 



Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake, one of the pioneers of the 

 medical education of women, has just died, in her seventy- 

 second year, at her home in Sussex. Dr. Jex-Blake was 

 the youngest daughter of Thomas Jex-Blake, Proctor of 

 Doctors Commons, and was born at Hastings in 1840, 

 where her childhood was passed. As a girl she desired to 

 spend her life in educational work, and at the age of 

 eighteen filled the post of mathematical tutor at Queen's 

 College, London, a post she held for three years. At 

 this time she decided to travel in order to study different 

 methods of education. Whilst in America for this purpose 

 she met Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, and being impressed 

 with the interest of medicine as a career for women, and 

 the need for medical women to attend those women who 

 desired treatment by one of their own sex, she began to 

 study medicine in Boston, U.S. .A. Miss Jex-Blake returned 

 to England in 1868. and finding it impossible to get teach- 

 ing in London, she and four other women who had joined 

 her went to Edinburgh, where, after some difficulty, certain 

 classes were opened to them for study, but they were 

 debarred from presenting themselves for any qualifying 

 examinations. .After much time had been spent and money 

 lost in litigation, though many warm friends had been 

 made. Dr. Je.\-Blake came to London, where she soon 

 gathered together a band of sympathisers, among whom 

 were Mr. Garrett .Anderson, the late Sir William Broad- 

 bent, Prof. Burdon Sanderson, and others, and the 

 London School of Medicine for Women was formed. The 

 school was opened in 1874 with fourteen students, but it 

 was not until 1877 that a qualification could be obtained, 

 when, thanks to the Kings and Queens College of 

 Physicians, now the Royal College of Physicians, Ireland, 

 their examinations were thrown open to women, and 

 qualification and registration were at last able to be 

 obtained. Dr. Jex-Blake subsequently returned to Edin- 



XO. 2202, VOL. 88] 



bur({h. where she practined for twenty-one years. During 

 that time she opened a divpentary for women and children 

 and a cottage hospital, and in 1886 founded a School of 

 .Medicine for Women, which in 1894 wa« recogniaed bjr 

 the University of Edinburgh for the purposes of gradua> 

 tion. For the past twelve years Dr. Jex-Blake lived at 

 her country home in Sussex, where she took great intercit 

 in her fruit and flowers. She will always be remembered 

 by those who knew her personally for her charm of voice 

 and her powers of organisation. 



Dr. W. B. Kf.msiieau, who died at the Charterhous*:- on 

 January 3, at eighty years of age, was for a number of 

 years science master at Dulwich College. He devoted 

 much of his time to scientific research, and for some years 

 endeavoured to produce a metal which would resist 

 corrosion, for use in the manufacture of miners' lamps. 



On Tuesday next, January 16, Prof \\ . Hateson will 

 begin a course of six lectures at the Royal Institution on 

 "The Study of Genetics"; on Thursday, January 18, 

 Prof. .A. W. Bickerton will begin a course of two lectures 

 on " The New .Astronomy "; and on Saturday, January 20, 

 the Rev. John Roscoe will commence a course of two 

 lectures on " The Banyoro : a Pastoral People of Uganda " 

 — (i) "The Milk Customs"; (2) "Birth and Death J 

 Customs." The Friday evening discourse on January i<> 

 will be delivered by Sir James Dewar on " He.Tt 

 Problems," and on January 26 by Prof. Bertram Hopkir 

 son on " The Pressure of a Blow." 



The following awards of medals and premiums, 

 December, iqii, have been made by the Institution of 

 Mining and Metallurgy, and will be presented at the annual 

 meeting in March : — Gold medal of the institution (two 

 awards) : (a) to Mr. E. P. Mathewson, .Arizona, U.S.A.. 

 in recognition of his eminent .services in the advancement 

 of metallurgy generally, and especially in regard to copper : 

 (b) to Mr. Walter McDermott, in recognition of his sp*>i-ial 

 services in the equipment of the Bessemer Laborator>' of 

 the Royal School of Mines, and as the representative of th*- 

 institution on the board of governors of the Imperi.il 

 College of Science and Technology during the period of its 

 establishment and organisation, and to signalise his 

 services in the advancement of metallurgical practice. 

 " The Consolidated Gold Fields of South .Africa, Ltd.," 

 gold medal to Mr. Walford R. Dowling, for his paper on 

 the amalgamation of gold in banket ore. " The Consoli- 

 dated Gold Fields of South .Africa, Ltd.," premium of 

 forty guineas to Mr. A. M. Finlayson, for his paper on 

 secondary enrichment in the copper deposits of Huelva, 

 Spain. " William Frecheville " students' prize of ten 

 guineas to Mr. F. Percy Rolfe, for his paper on shrinkage 

 stoping in Western .Australia. " Arthur Claudet " students' 

 prize of ten guineas to Mr. Arthur C. Hoare, for his nnn* r 

 on the roasting of complex ores in gold assayinj: 



The seventeenth International Medical Congress is to be- 

 held in London from August 6 to .August 12, 1913. 

 inclusive. We learn from The Lancet that the King has 

 given his patronage, and it is expected that a detailed 

 programme will be issued not later than September 30 

 next. The officers of the congress are as follows : — 

 President, Sir Thomas Barlow, F.R.S. ; vice-presidents. 

 Sir W. S. Church, Bt., K.C.B., Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, 

 F.R.S. , Lord Lister, O.M., F.R.S., Prof. James Little, 

 Sir R. Douglas Powell, Bt., K.C.V.O., Sir Frederick 

 Treves, Bt., G.C.V.O., Sir William Turner, K.C.B., 

 F.R.S., and Sir Hermann Weber; treasurers. Sir Dyce 

 Duckworth, Bt., and Mr. G. H. Makins, C.B. ; chairman 



