522 



NATURE 



[February 15, 19 12 



the greatest benefactor to suffering humanity throughout 

 the world." Sir Ray Lankester has received the follow- 

 ing telegram from the directors of the Institut Pasteur, 

 Paris : — " L'Institut Pasteur vous prie d'exprimer k la 

 famille de I'illustre Lister et ii la Soci6t^ Royale les regrets 

 que lui cause la mort du rdnovateur de la chirurgie. — 

 Roux, Metchnikoff. " We learn from The Times that the 

 Dean of Westminster offered that the remains of Lord Lister 

 should be interred in the Abbey, subject to the condition of 

 cremation. The Royal Society and the Royal College of 

 Surgeons also made representations to the Dean in the 

 hope that this offer would be made. It appears, however, 

 that Lord Lister expressed the desire that he should be 

 buried in the Hampstead Churchyard, where his wife lies. 

 The first part of the funeral service will be held in West- 

 minster Abbey on Friday, beginning at 1.30 p.m. The 

 Dean, accompanied by the Abbey clergy, will conduct the 

 service. This evening ihe coffin will be taken from 

 Lord Lister's London residence in Park Crescent into 

 the Abbey, and placed in St. Faith's Chapel. There it 

 will remain until to-morrow morning, when it will be 

 removed to a spot facing the altar. Only members of the 

 family will be present at the interment in Hampstead 

 Churchyard. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death, on 

 February 12, at ninety-three years of age, of the Rev. 

 Francis Bashforth, distinguished by his experiments in 

 ballistics, and for some time professor of applied mathe- 

 matics to the advanced class of Royal Artillery officers at 

 Woolwich. The Times of February 14 gives the follow- 

 ing account of his work : — Between the years 1864 and 

 1880 Mr. Bashforth carried out a series of experiments 

 which really formed the foundation of our knowledge of 

 the resistance of the air, as employed in the construction 

 of ballistic tables. He published, notably, " A Report on 

 the Experiments made with the Bashforth Chronograph, 

 &c., 1865-1870," and another report dated 1878-1880, as 

 well as " The Bashforth Chronograph " (Cambridge, 1890). 

 These experiments were calculated to show that the resist- 

 ance of the air can be represented by no simple algebraical 

 law over a large range of velocity. Having abandoned, 

 therefore, all a priori theoretical assumption, Mr. Bash- 

 forth set to work to measure experimentally the velocity 

 of shot and the resistance of the air by means of equi- 

 distant electric screens furnished with vertical threads or 

 wire, and by a chronograph which measured the instants 

 of time at which the screens were cut by a shot flying 

 nearly horizontally. Formulae of the calculus of finite 

 differences enabled the experimenter from the chronograph 

 records to infer the velocity and retardation of the shot, 

 and thence the resistance of the air. In consideration of 

 the iniportance of these experiments and of his inventions, 

 Mr. Bashforth received a Government grant of 2000/., and 

 was also granted a pension. 



We regret to learn of the death, on February 4, of Mr. 

 George Edwards Comerford Casey. Born on March 19, 

 1846, Mr. Casey graduated at Lincoln College, Oxford, 

 taking subsequently the degree of M.A. Although a 

 teacher by profession, Mr. Casey spent the happiest days 

 of his life on the sun.iy shores of the Mediterranean, and 

 he will be best known to biologists as the anonymous 

 author of " Riviera Nature Notes " (London : Bernard 

 Quaritch), a stimulating and original book which, perhaps 

 partly because not written on the conventional lines of a 

 scientific treatise., imparts a living reality to the facts which 

 it describes such as is very difficult of attainment in our 

 modern text-books of "nature-study." The English trans- 

 lation of Prof. Strasburger's " Streifziige an der Riviera " 



NO. 2207, VOL. 88] 



(London : T. Fisher Unwin) wa« prepared by Mr. Casey'* 

 two daughters. 



On Saturday, February 24, Sir J. J. Thomson will 

 begin a course of six lectures at the Royal Institution on 

 " Molecular Physics." The Friday evening discourse on 

 February 23 will be delivered by Mr. G. K. B. Elphin- 

 stone, on " The Gyrostatic Compass and Practical Applica- 

 tions on Gyrostats"; on March i by Dr. W. J. S. 

 Lockyer, on " The Total Solar Eclipse in the South 

 Pacific, April, 191 1 "; and on March 8 by Dr. A. W. Ward, 

 on " The Effects of the Thirty Years' War." 



The council of the Society of Engineers (Incorporated) 

 may award in 1912 two premiums of books or instru- 

 ments, to the value of 8/. 8*. and 4/. 4*., as first and 

 second prizes, respectively, for approved essays on the sub- 

 ject of " How to Improve the Status of Engineers and 

 Engineering, with Special Reference to Consulting 

 Engineers." The competition is open to all, but applica- 

 tion for detailed particulars should be made to the secre- 

 tary before entering. The last date for receiving essays is 

 Friday, May 31. 



At the anniversary meeting of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society, held on February 9, the following officers and 

 council were elected : — President, Dr. F. W. Dyson, 

 F.R.S. ; vice-presidents. Mr. E. B. Knobel, Dr. W. H. 

 Maw, Mr. S. A. Saunder, and Prof. H. H. Turner, 

 F.R.S. ; treasurer. Major E. H. Hills, C.M.G., F.R.S. ; 

 secretaries, Mr. A. S. Eddington and Mr. A. R. Hinks ; 

 foreign secretary. Sir David Gill, K.C.B., F.R.S. ; council. 

 Sir R. S. Ball, F.R.S., Sir W. H. M. Christie, K.C.B., 

 F.R.S., Rev. A. L. Cortie, S.J., Dr. P. H. Cowell, F.R.S., 

 Dr. A. C. D. Crommelin, Rear-Admiral H. E. Purey 

 Cust, C.B., R.N., Prof. Alfred Fowler, F.R.S., Dr. 

 J. W. L. Glaisher, F.R.S., Mr. J. A. Hardcastle, Prof. 

 H. F. Newall, F.R.S., Rev. T. E. R. Phillips, and Mr. 

 F. J. M. Stratton. 



As a result of the recommendations recently made by a 

 joint committee of the South African Association for the 

 Advancement of Science and the Royal Society of South 

 Africa, a general committee, we learn from the December 

 (1911) issue of The South African Journal of Science, has 

 been constituted for the purpose of considering applica- 

 tions received for grants. Five grants, amounting in all 

 to 250Z., were made at the first meeting of the committee 

 held towards the end of last year. The grants were : — 

 (i) 40J. to Prof. W. A. D. Rudge, of Grey University 

 Colieg". Bloemfontein, to obtain a continuous record of 

 the variations in the atmospheric gradient at various 

 places, and to ascertain the relation between potential 

 gradient and altitude, and between the diurnal variation of 

 the gradient and the variation in the atmospheric pressure ; 

 (2) 45Z. 1.0 Prof. A. Young, of the South .African 

 College, Cape Town, to investigate the occurrence 

 of sem'-diurnal, diurnal, and spring and neap tides 

 observed iu connection with an artesian well in the Cradock 

 district ; (3) 75?. to Miss D. F. Bleek, to proceed to the 

 Kalahari, so as to obtain phonographic records of the 

 spoken language of the Bushman tribes north of the 

 Orange and Vaal Rivers ; (4) 50/. to Mr. R. N. Hall, to 

 visit localities in Rhodesia, where Bushman paintings 

 exist ; (5) 40Z. to Mr. W. T. Saxton, of the South African 

 College, Cape Town, for the purpose of studying the fungus 

 diseases of trees in the Transkeian forests, investigating 

 the ecology of Ihe typical formations of the Transkeian 

 territory, investigating a reported occurrence of the typical 

 Western Province flora at St. John's, and to collect 

 material for the study of the two genera of South African 

 cycads, Stangeria and Encephalartos. 



