Febrxjary 29, 19 1 2] 



NATURE 



591 



Later he conceived the idea of employing the same 

 engine for a re-determination of the mechanical 

 equivalent of heat. To absorb and measure the 

 power generated, he used an ingenious form of 

 hydraulic brake, which he had designed some years 

 before. The value given as the result of these experi- 

 ments Is universally accepted. 



In looking through Osborne Reynolds's collected 

 works one is struck by the thoroughness and acumen 

 with which he pushed" his ideas to their full conse- 

 quences on the theoretical and physical, as well as the 

 practical and engineering side. 



Thus while he was investigating the condensation 

 of steam with a view to its practical explanation, 

 Crookes's beautiful experiments on the radiometer 

 attracted his notice, and he tried to bring the two 

 phenomena into connection. This led him to a first 

 attempt at explaining the radiometer action, which 

 was subsequently abandoned in favour of the now 

 generally accepted view. This investigation caused 

 him to consider the relative efficiency of convection, 

 conduction, and radiation in the transmission of heat, 

 and he obtained results which were applied to engineer- 

 ing problems. 



If we turn to his hydrodynamical work, we find 

 that a practical problem — the racing of propeller 

 screws — first led him to this subject, but he was soon 

 drawn to questions of high theoretical interest, such 

 as the transmission of energy in waves with their 

 application to group velocities. 



It is difficult at the present time fully to estimate 

 the place which his great work on the "Sub-mechanics 

 of the Universe " will ultimately occupy. His point 

 of view differs in important respects from that which 

 is at present in favour, but he proved right on so 

 many occasions when he struck out a line of his 

 own, that it would not be surprising if at any rate 

 some portion of his work were — perhaps with_ a 

 different interpretation of symbols — to find its applica- 

 tion in the further development of our ideas on the 

 constitution of the fundamental medium. 



To those who only knew Osborne Reynolds in his 

 later life, when a difficulty of putting his thoughts 

 into words grew upon him, and finally developed into 

 a fatal illness, the beautiful clearness and precision of 

 his earlier writings may come as a surprise. Together 

 with Roscoe, Balfour Stewart, Gamgee, Stanley 

 Jevons, Ward, and Williamson, he formed one of the 

 band of workers which first made Owens College 

 famous as a centre of teaching and investigation. 



He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 

 1877, and received a Royal medal of that Societv in 

 1888, but this and an honorary degree conferred by 

 the University of Glasgow was the only public 

 recognition he ever received. 



-NOTES. 



'I'm-; following; t'lfli m c-indidates have been selected by 

 the council of the Royal Society to be recommended for 

 (lection into the society: — Prof. J. O. Arnold, Prof. C. Ci. 

 Harkla, Mr. T,. Cockayne, Mr. A. L. Dix.ni, Sir T. T,. 

 Heath, Dr. H. O. Junes, Prof. 'l'. R. i.\l.. Dr. \V. 

 Mcnou<;;all, Mr. R. .\b— 1, I'rof. H. .Moore, .Mr. i:. Nettle- 

 -.hip, .Mr. R. Newsi.nd. \;. ■ - Adniiral Sir 11. J. ()i-;nn, Dr. 

 < .. T. Prior, and .Mr. R. ( '. Pnnn. II. 



liii i\inj4 will open tli'- London Mu>i'um, Kensineion 

 Pal.ii '■, on .M.iri h z\. 'I'lie Oueen will accomi)any bis 



M;i).-I\ ai ill'' opi-nin^ cei-emony. 



1 in, Berlin correspondent ol '\ lie V'/iinw .innoum r-. ili.' 

 d.aili, at seventy-seven yeai's ot at;'', ul Prol. Ricliard 

 .Xndrt'.', of Leipzig, known as :i L;i'oi;raph(.'r and autlior 

 (I -■ \' ral ethnographic boolcs. 



Till-: General Board of the National Physical Labora- 

 tory will hold its annual meeting at the laboratory on 

 Friday, March 15, when the various departments of the 

 laboratory will be open for inspection, and apparatus of 

 particular interest will be on view. 



I.N the Italian Chamber on February 24 a motion was 

 made and carried to express the sympathy of the Italian 

 nation with the British in the loss of Lord Lister, who 

 was described as one of the most illustrious benefactors of 

 humanity. 



At a representative and influential private meeting on 

 February 27, convened by the Lord Provost of Glasgow, it 

 was unanimously agreed that a memorial of an important 

 character to the late Lord Lister should be erected in 

 Glasgow, the birthplace of aseptic surgery. A committee 

 was appointed to consider various suggestions as to the 

 form which the memorial should take, and to report upon 

 them. 



The annual autumn meeting of the Institute of Metals 

 will be held in London on two days in the last week of 

 September. The next meeting of the institute will be the 

 occasion of the third May lecture, which will be delivered 

 on May 10 by Sir J. h. Ewing, K.C.B., F.R.S., on the 

 subject of "The Inner Structure of Simple Metals." 



A Smithsonian expedition, under the direction of Mr. 

 H. C. Raven, will start in a few days for Borneo, where 

 a collection of vertebrates and ethnological material will 

 be made for the United States National Museum. The 

 field work will be carried on in eastern Dutch Borneo, the 

 natural history of which is almost unknown. 



Referring to a note on the October issue of Tropical 

 Life, published in these columns on November 30, 1911 

 (vol. Ixxxviii., p. 154), Dr. H. D. Gibbs informs us that 

 he has written to our contemporary to correct some of the 

 data wrongly attributed to him in the article mentioned. 

 Dr. (iibbs points out that the writer in Tropical Life 

 should have said that " 750 to 1000 hectares of nipa swamp 

 will operate a 500-ton sugar-mill i8o days each year, not 

 a loo-ton mill continuously." 



Wk notice with regret the death, on February 21, in his 

 ninety-second year, of Sir John G. N. .\lleyne, Bt., known 

 as an authority in engineering and for his interest in iron 

 and steel research, especially the application of the spectro- 

 .qcope to analysis. Sir John Alleyne was, we learn from 

 The Times, an original member of the Iron and Steel 

 Institute, and was a vice-president of the institute during 

 recent years. He was also a member of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers. He was associated willi many important rail- 

 way contracts, including the buiUlinj; of the St. Pancras 

 Station of the Midland Railway, and was responsible for 

 the design of much colliery plant. 



SiK.XKiNc; ill the House of Commons o\\ .Monday, 

 February 2(1, the .Minister for Aerieuliiire -.aid it is pro- 

 posed to placi' at the disposal ol Roiliam-ied a sum 

 of .about 2000/. annually to help iln . \i, n-jon ot new 

 work on special lines of 1.— :n(li. .\ri aneements are 

 being made lo send several siirniilic rxperts to India to 

 prosecun- iiK|uiries relating 10 loot-and-mouth disease, in 

 conneriion with the roninii'-'-ion iirmtlv appointed upon 

 ihe -iihjrcl. It is ;mticipal.(l thai llie rost ol ihi- i om- 

 mission will run into some tlious.aiuls ol ])ounds. 



.Mr. Ri-NCIMAN, Presid.ni ol ihe Hoard ol .\eriruluire and 

 lM-,lvri<'-, li.'i- :iiipoinn-(l .-I commiliii' lo aihi-r' ih.' Ho.ard 

 on nialters relating to the developnuiU ol lorcstry. Rcfer- 



NO. 2209, VOL. 88] 



