628 



NA TURE 



[October 27, 1923 



are applicable in Nature, and it is difTicult to see why 

 the molecules of such acids occurring in natural fats and 

 containing even numbers of carbon atoms should give 

 rise to molecules present in jn-troleum which contain 

 both odd and even numbers of carbon atoms. He has 

 analysed many times the liquids obtained from coal by 

 the Bergius method, and has found that their similarity 

 to petroleum is very remote. How can the presence of 

 benzene, toluene, and xylene in certain petroleums be 

 explained ? Is it not probable that there are several 

 modes of origin ? Light is required on the origin of the 

 vast amounts of methane present in natural gas. What 

 happens to the nitrogen and phosphorus contained 

 in animal organisms ? Why is iodine so scarce in 

 petroleum ? Mr. Dewhurst said that petroleum found 

 in the Upper Silurian was much earlier than the earliest 

 vegetation, and earlier than the coal found in the Late 

 Devonian. Palaeozoic oil was probably formed from any 



organic matter available, and there were two distinct 

 types of oilfield : the lignitic, of vegetable or; h 



was deposited in areas where the climate wa.s : -.A 



oilfields of marine animal origin, which are found 

 associated with deposits of salt, gypsum, etc., and were 

 formed in deltas that were cut off later from the 

 mainland. 



The discussion generally was suggestive and served 

 its purpose in crystallising thought around impfjrtant 

 nuclei. If it did not bring nearer a defmitive solution 

 of the problem, it at least showed how far w< 

 progressed since the time when a Polish cleric, i 

 Kluk, traced the origin of petroleum to the Garden of 

 Eden, which was so fertile that it must have contained 

 fats ; at the Fall this fat partly volatilised anci 

 sank into the earth, where it was finally transit 

 into mineral oil by the changes induced by the Flomi. 

 Truly, a science progresses by chanfrinc its noint^inf \ ifw 



Obit 



Dr. Herbert McLeod, F.R.S. 



DR. HERBERT McLEOD, who died on October 3, 

 was bom at Stoke Newington on February 9, 

 1841, and was the son of Mr. Bentley McLeod. He 

 was educated at Stockwell Grammar School. In i860 

 he became lecture assistant to Prof. A. W. Hofmann at 

 the Royal Colleg«^ Chemistry. Former students of 

 this College never forget the brilliant way in which 

 McLeod carried out the experiments shown at the 

 lectures. Hofmann was so impressed by his ability 

 that he arranged that, in addition to acting as his 

 assistant, McLeod should take the entire College 

 curriculum. He worked with Hofmann on aniline 

 dyes and had a part in the discovery of magenta. 

 McLeod accompanied Hofmann to Berlin. A little 

 later he returned to the Royal College of Chemistry 

 as assistant to Prof. Frankland. At this period he 

 published papers on acetylene, on a new form of 

 aspirator, and, in conjunction with Frankland, a Report 

 to the British Association on the determination of the 

 gases in well-waters. 



In 1 87 1 McLeod was appointed professor of experi- 

 mental science (afterwards chemistry) at the Royal 

 Indian Engineering College, Cooper's Hill. He held 

 this post till 1901. In 1876 he published a description 

 of " An Apparatus for Measurement of Low Pressures 

 of Gases." The McLeod gauge described in this 

 paper is now commonly used. A little later, in 1878, 

 McLeod published, in conjunction with G. S. Clarke 

 (now Lord Sydenham), a paper on " Some Figures 

 exhibiting the Motion of Vibrating Bodies and on a new 

 Method for Determining the Speed of Machines." 

 The method, developed in this and in later papers on 

 the subject, has since led to most important applica- 

 tions. He devised a sunshine recorder and took a 

 keen interest in meteorology, making daily observations 

 at 9 A.M. and 3 p.m. over a period of twenty years. 



A visit paid by the late Lord Salisbury to the Royal 

 College of Science led him to invite McLeod to co-operate 

 with him in scientific experiments. Week-end visits 

 to Hatfield House were frequent until Lord Salisbury' 

 became Prime Minister. Some account of these 

 experiments was given in the obituary notice of Lord 

 Salisbury which McLeod wrote for the Royal Society. 



NO. 2817, VOL. I 12] 



uary. 



From 1888 onwards McLeod had been reading proofs 

 of the Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers. 

 After the death of Mr. George Griffith in May 1902, 

 McLeod undertook the direction of this Catalogue. 

 His chief work upon the Catalogue was the preparation 

 of a subject-index to all scientific papers published 

 between 1800 and 1900. All the index slips necessary 

 for this work were prepared under his direction, and 

 the volumes for mathematics, mechanics, and physics 

 were published. The author Catalogue for 1 883-1 900 

 was also under his charge, and he had seen half of this 

 through the press when, in 191 5, he was obliged, 

 through ill-health, to give up active work. 



McLeod was honorary LL.D. of St. Andrews, was 

 elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1881, and was 

 president of the Chemical Section of the British 

 Association at Edinburgh in 1892. He became a 

 fellow of the Chemical Society in 1868 and served on 

 its council in 1871-74, and again 1880-84. He was 

 vice-president of the Chemical Society in 1887-90, 

 and again 1901-4. He served on the Council of the 

 Royal Society in 1887-89. 



Dr. Arthur A. Rambaut^ F.R.S. 

 Arthur Alcock Rambaut, Radchffe Observer at 

 Oxford, who died at a nursing home on October 14, 

 after a prolonged illness, was bom at Waterford 

 on September 21, 1859, and was a son of the Rev. E. 

 F. Rambaut. At Trinity College, Dublin, he won a 

 first science scholarship in 1880 and took his degree 

 the following year as senior moderator and gold 

 medallist in mathematics and mathematical physics. 

 Having spent some time as senior science master at 

 the Royal School, Armagh (where he had been educated 

 himself), he was in 1882 appointed assistant at the 

 Dublin University Observatory at Dunsink under Sir 

 Robert Ball. He had charge of the transit circle and 

 observed regularly with it for about eight years, the 

 results being published in Parts VI. and VII. of the 

 " Astronomical Observ'ations and Researches made at 

 Dunsink." This work was laid aside when Mr. Isaac 

 Roberts presented the observatory- with a 15-inch 

 reflector, with which some of his earliest work in 

 astronomical photography had been made. Rambaut 



