482 



NATURE 



[September 29, 1923 



Lady Shaw. 



Dkkp sympathy will be felt by a larf^e section of the 

 scitntifjc world at the bereavement which Sir Napier 

 Sliiu has suffered by the death on September 22 of his 

 uilf, Lady Shaw, who was well known in scientific 

 circles. Lady Shaw was for some time lecturer in 

 mathematics at Newnham College, Cambridjje, and was 

 the author of an original little book entitled " First 

 Lessons in Observational Geometry," published by 

 Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co. in 1904. In this 

 l>ook, a course of observational and experimental geo- 

 metry was outlined similar to that afterwards adopted 

 in schools on the recommendations of committees on 

 geometry as the best introduction to the formal study 

 of the subject. Lady Shaw took a very active part 

 in many organisations and institutions concerned with 

 education, science, and progressive development gener- 

 ally. She was a member of council of Queen's College, 

 London, and of the Women's Local Government 

 Society. She served on several committees of the 

 British Association, and was the secretary of the 

 Citizenship Committee which has prepared and issued 

 some valuable reports. Lady Shaw was also a member 

 of Council, the Executive Committee, the Education 

 Committee, and the Health Committee of the British 

 Science Guild, and the members of these bodies, as well 

 as all others associated with her, hold her memory in 

 grateful remembrance. 



Prof. W. Roser. 



Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Roser, one of the directors 

 of the Farbwerke vorm. Meister Lucius und Bruening 

 in Hoechst-on-Main, died at Frankfort-on-Main on 

 May 20. He was an important contributor to the 

 development of the German industry of pharmaceutic 

 products and coal-tar dyestuflfs. 



Prof. Roser came from an old-known Swabian family ; 

 his father. Prof. W. F. Roser, was an eminent surgeon 

 of the University of Marburg, and there W. Roser 



was bom on January 30, 1858. At this University 

 he first studied mathematics, a science to which he 

 devoted his hours of leisure. Afterwards he changed 

 over to the study of chemistr>' under the guidance 

 of Zincke. After a short stay with Fittig in Tubingen, 

 he returned to Marburg and received his doctorate in 

 1882 for a research upon terebinic acid. For his 

 studies regarding phthalyl-derivativcs he received the 

 venia legendi in 1885, and researches concerning 

 pyridine and quinoline derivatives enabled him to 

 clear up the constitution of narcotine, an opium 

 alkaloid. 



After h\> nomination as a professor in 1892, tl.« 

 Hoechst firm engaged Prof. Roser as director of the 

 scientific department of their works, at a time when 

 the German chemical factories, having successfully 

 produced acetanilide, phenacetine and antipyrine, 

 were devoting themselves to the further investigation 

 and production of medicines. Prof. Roser was able 

 to direct this work with success. He took part in the 

 elucidation of the constitution of adrenaline and in 

 the synthesis of rivanol, while in the dyestuf! branch 

 he was also very successful. It was his main ta.sk 

 to introduce young chemists who had come from the 

 High Schools into the works, to the way of working 

 and thinking necessary for technical practice. Several 

 generations of technical chemists owe him their educa- 

 tion. He himself was a taciturn man of keen observa- 

 tion and wide knowledge, highly esteemed by industrial 

 chemists as well as bv men of science. 



We regret to announce the following deaths : 



Mr. Malcolm Fraser, late Registrar-General and 

 Government Statistician of Western Australia, on 

 September 17, aged sixty-six. 



Dr. F. J. H. Jenkinson, since 1889 Librarian of 

 the University Librau-y, Cambridge, on September 21, 

 aged seventy. 



Prof. R. Pumpelly, formerly professor of mining 

 geology at Harvard University, and for many years 

 on the United States Geological Survey, on August 

 10, aged eighty-five. 



Current Topics and Events. 



It would appear that the protests which have 

 appeared in the Times and elsewhere against the 

 proposed erection of a wireless station at Avebury 

 have been successful. Sir Charles Oman in his 

 presidential address to the Gloucestershire Archaeo- 

 logical Society, as reported in the Times of September 

 14, announced that he had received a letter from 

 Sir L. Worthington Evans, the Postmaster-General, 

 stating that the proposal would probably be dropped. 

 Recent experience has made it clear that existing 

 legislation for the protection of sites of archaeological 

 importance is inadequate, while it affords no guarantee 

 in the case of any site which is not scheduled under 

 the Protection of Ancient Monuments Act. In the 

 present instance, it is peculiarly disturbing that 

 Government Departments were concerned in what 

 can only be described as an act of vandalism. During 

 the recent meeting of the British Association at 

 Liverpool, reference was made to this matter on 

 more than one occasion, and before the Association 



NO. 2813, VOL. 112] 



dispersed, a resolution was passed which, while in- 

 stancing the cases of Holmbury Hill, Avebury, and 

 Lulworth Cove, urged strongly in general terms the 

 extension of the powers which may be exercised in 

 the protection of sites of natural beauty or archaeo- 

 logical interest. 



The use of pulverised coal is spreading steadily, 

 and at the present time more than 20,000,000 tons per 

 annum is being burnt in the United States and 

 Canada alone, largely in the cement, iron and steel, 

 and glass industries. Also the use of coal in a fine 

 state of division is being considered in connexion with 

 the manufacture of briquettes, low - temperature 

 carbonisation, and total gasification processes, such 

 as producer gas. The most striking progress, how- 

 ever, during the last three or four years has been 

 in the use of pulverised coal for steam generation. 

 Since 1920 some of the largest and the most important 

 power stations in the world have adopted this method 



