56 



NA TURE 



November i8, iSg; 



University, and there made his presence as beneficially 

 felt in the management of the institution as it was in 

 that of the School. We may take this opportunity of 

 noting that, as the result of his experience in such work, 

 he wrote many papers on medical subjects in various 

 publications, and that the honorary degree of M.D. was 

 conferred upon him by the University of Bologna. He 

 represented the University of Dublin on the General 

 Medical Council, from 1878 to 1896, and took a prominent 

 and useful part in the proceedings of that body. Dr. 

 Haughton displayed remarkable versatility of intellect. 

 The record of his scientific work is to be found 

 principally in his numerous papers in the pub- 

 lications of various scientific societies, and in 

 scientific periodicals. We may instance those of 

 the Royal Society, the Royal Irish Academy, 

 the Geological Society of London (of which he was a 

 Fellow) and that of Ireland, the Royal Dublin Society, 

 the Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal^ 

 Nature, the Philosophical Magazine, the Natural 

 History Review, the American Journal of Science, the 

 British Association, &c. Among the great variety of 

 subjects treated we may mention his discussion and 

 calculation of the tides in the Arctic seas from the 

 observations of voyagers, and also of the tides round 

 the coast of Ireland, founded upon observations made 

 under the direction of the Royal Irish Academy. He 

 paid much attention to the granites of Ireland. A 

 favourite subject with him was animal mechanics. It 

 might have been better for his future name, though per- 

 haps not for science in general, if he had bestowed his 

 powers more on the production of treatises on fewer sub- 

 jects. His work on the " Principles of Animal Mechanics " 

 (London, 1873) makes us feel this. That book was the 

 outcome of observations, experiments, and calculation 

 extending over several years. It includes results pub- 

 lished in various papers on different parts of the subject, 

 contributed to the Royal Society and the Royal Irish 

 Academy, and in lectures delivered by him before the 

 Royal Institution in London. The important " Principle 

 of Least Action " is brought frequently into view in his 

 discussion of various details of the vertebrate muscular 

 economy. A complaint, which, however, is unavoidable 

 in this case, has been brought against this book ; viz. 

 that many anatomists would not be able to follow the 

 mathematics, and many mathematicians would not have 

 sufficient command of the anatomical points, there pre- 

 sented. His " Lectures on Physical Geography," 1880, 

 printed in the Dublin University Press Series, are marked 

 by his usual power and originality. We shall only allude 

 to his " Manual of Geology," and to the numerous books 

 on elementary science written by him and Prof. Galbraith 

 in conjunction, some of which have had a large circula- 

 tion. Trinity College, Dublin, will long mourn the 

 vacancy left by him as a gifted son, an able administrator, 

 and an active participator in her work of teaching. The 

 Royal Irish Academy will feel his loss to a very special 

 degree. He joined that body in 1845, and contributed 

 to it most of his principal scientific papers. The 

 Academy presented to him its Cunningham Medal, in 

 1848, for his "Memoir on the Equilibrium and Motion 

 of Solid and Fluid Bodies." He was for many years a 

 most valued member of its Council, and was President of 

 it from 1886 to 1891. We must not forget to mention 

 that he was for just twenty years the efficient Secretary 

 of the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland with its 

 Zoological Gardens, at a time when the finances of the 

 Society were in a less satisfactory condition than at pre- 

 sent, and it is acknowledged that, on more than one 

 occasion, he was the means of saving the Society from 

 shipwreck by his energy and resource. It is very rarely 

 indeed that we meet with a man of so remarkable an indi- 

 viduality, and endowed with such varied powers of working 

 in both practical and scientific lines of usefulness. C. 



NO. J 464, VOL. 57] 



NOTES. 



At a meeting of ihe general committee of the British 

 Association recently held, Sir W. Crookes, F.R.S., was elected 

 President for 189S. It was decided that the meeting in Bristol 

 shall open on September 7, 1898. 



The Executive Committee of the International Congress of 

 Zoology, which, as has already been announced, will be held at 

 Cambridge in August next, has recently been appointed, and is 

 composed as follows : — President, Sir John Lubbock ; Vice- 

 Presidents, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, 

 Dr. W. T. Blanford, Sir W. H. Flower, the President of the 

 Linnean Society, Prof. Ray Lankester, Prof. A. Newton, Dr. 

 P. L. Sclater, the President of the Entomological Society, Sir 

 William Turner, and Lord Walsingham ; Treasurers, Prof. S. 

 J. Hickson and Dr. Sclater; Secretaries, Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, 

 Mr. G. C. Bourne, and Mr. A. Sedgwick ; Ordinary Members, 

 Dr. Gadow, Mr. F. D. Godman, Lieut. -Colonel Godwin-Austen, 

 Sir G. F. Hampson, Dr. S. F. Harmer, Prof. Howes, the Hon. 

 W. Rothschild, Mr. H. Saunders, Prof. Seeley, Dr. D. Sharp, 

 Mr. A. E. Shipley, Prof. C. Stewart, and Dr. H. Woodward. 

 The official address of the Congress is, by the courtesy of the 

 Zoological Society, 3 Hanover Squ are, London, W. 



The interesting ceremony took place on Monday afternoon 

 last, at the Michael Faraday Board School, Faraday Street, 

 Walworth, of unveiling a bust of Michael Faraday. The bust, 

 which is of white marble, was presented to the school by the 

 managers of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, and is a 

 copy of the original bust executed by Matthew Noble. It stands 

 upon a pedestal of Aberdeen granite four feet in height, and 

 has been placed in the boys' hall of- the school. On the wall 

 immediately behind the bust a large brass tablet has been 

 affixed, bearing the following inscription : — " Michael Faraday, 

 natural philosopher, D.C.L., F.R.S., born at Newington, 

 Surrey, September 22, 1791. He was a patient student, an 

 eloquent expounder, and a brilliant illustrator of the laws of 

 nature. Fullerian Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Institu- 

 tion of Great Britain, 1833 to 1867. Faraday's noblest monu- 

 ment is his ' Experimental Researches in Electricity and 

 Magnetism ' from 1831 to 1851. He died at Hampton Court 

 Green, August 25, 1867, and was interred in Highgate 

 Cemetery." Sir J. Crichton Browne, F.R.S., unveiled the 

 bust, and expressed his pleasure at being permitted to unveil 

 this statue of a great man who had spent a long life in unveiling 

 the hidden mysteries of nature. He hoped the sight of that 

 bust would be an inspiration to the children, and that they 

 would learn who Faraday was and what he did. He suggested 

 that one day every year should be set apart in the school in 

 memory of Faraday, when some part of his work should be 

 explained. 



Prof. Oliver Lodge will deliver the first of a course of six 

 Christmas lectures (specially adapted to young people) on " The 

 Principles of the Electric Telegraph," at the Royal Institution 

 on December 28. The remaining lectures will be given on 

 December 30, 1897, and January i, 4, 6, 8, 1898. 



The Jubilee Medal has been presented to Sir Robert Ball, 

 the President of the Royal Astronomical Society. 



The Copenhagen correspondent of the Times states that an 

 expedition to the Pamir regions will be fitted out next year. 

 Its object will be to make geographical and ethnographical ex- 

 plorations in the northern part of the Wakhan valley. The 

 expedition will be under the leadership of Lieut. Olufsen, 

 and will include two scientific experts. Its cost will be partly 

 borne by the Danish Government out of the Carlsberg fund, 

 and the explorers expect to be absent for two years. 



