6o 



NATURE 



{May 1 6, 1889 



Mr. Newall took an active part in superintending the 

 actual laying of many cables, and on these occasions he 

 showed the qualities of a leader of men— cool in 

 an emergency, confident in his own resources, and 

 undismayed in disaster. " Gentlemen, it's over now ; 

 ye may go to bed," was his only remark when a cable 

 broke involving a loss of many thousands of pounds. 



During the Crimean War he laid a wire insu'ated in 

 gutta-percha without sheathing of any kind from Varna 

 to the Crimea. It was run out over the stern through 

 hand leathers held by the cable men in turn. He formed 

 one of the boat's crew that left to seek help for the pas- 

 sengers of the P. and O. steamship Alma, wrecked in 

 1859 in the Red Sea. 



But, during this busy life, Mr. Newall never allowed 

 his love of pure science to be crushed by the weight of 

 the practical affairs in which he was engaged. The suc- 

 cess of submarine telegraphy was due to no one in- 

 dividual only, but to Mr. Newall belongs the credit of 

 inaugurating a new era in the construction of refracting 

 telescopes. He had long wished to possess a refractor 

 of large dimensions, and in the Exhibition of 1862 he 

 discovered two large disks of crown and flint glass, 

 manufactured by Mr. Chance, of Birmingham. He 

 at once saw that his opportunity was come, secured 

 the glass, and placed it in the hands of Mr. Cooke, of 

 York. 



As the result of his boldness in risking a very large 

 sum on an experiment the success of which was most 

 uncertain, Mr. Newall carried, at one bound, the diame- 

 ter of the largest object-glass from 15 to 25 inches. His 

 observatory was a spot to which the most distinguished 

 astronomers journeyed, and to which Profs. Newcomb, 

 Holden, and Alvan Clark came as a deputation from 

 the other side of the Atlantic. 



Mr. Newall's original idea was to mount the telescope 

 in the Mauritius, and spend as much time as possible 

 there himself This plan has never been carried out, and 

 the great Newall refractor has never yet had a fair chance 

 under the adverse skies of Newcastle. Almost his last 

 act was to offer it as a gift to the University of Cam- 

 bridge, and it is to be hoped that it may there add to the 

 high scientific reputation that University has won. 



To have established a new industry, to have taken 

 an active part in securing a triumph of applied science 

 which will modify the history of the world, and to have 

 led the way in the development of the refracting tele- 

 scope, is a record of achievement to which few attain, 

 but which does bare justice to the life-work of Robert 

 Stirling Newall. 



NOTES. 



The Report of the Royal Commission appointed to consider 

 the expediency of establishing a Teaching University for London, 

 has been laid on the table of the House of Commons, and the 

 Blue-book may be expected in the course of the next week. 

 The Commissioners are agreed — first, that the petition of the 

 Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons to be authorized to 

 grant degrees in medicine should not be entertained ; secondly, 

 that it is desirable that London should have a Teaching Uni- 

 versity. On the third point— whether a charter shall be granted 

 to the associated Colleges of King's and University, constituting 

 these Colleges the Teaching University of London — the Com- 

 mission are divided. The three Commissioners connected with 

 the teaching profession (Sir William Thomson, Prof. Stokes, 

 and Mr. Welldon), are in favour of it ; the three lawyers (Lord 

 Selbome, Sir James Hannen, and Dr. Ball), are opposed to it. 

 The Report ends with a request that this question be referred 

 back to the Commission for their further consideration, in order 

 that they may determine whether it is not possible to devise 



a scheme of common action between the two Colleges and tP»e 

 existing University of London. 



Prof. Stokes will deliver the Rede Lecture on Wednesday, 

 June 12, at 2 p.m., in the Senate House, Cambridge, the sub- 

 ject being, " Some Effects of the Action of Light on Ponderable 

 Mattel-." 



The Museums and Lecture Rooms Syndicate, Cambridge, 

 have been authorized to have quantities taken out and tenders 

 invited for the proposed Anatomical and Physiological Buildings, 

 in three distinct blocks. 



Mrs. de la Rue has presented to the Royal Institution the 

 philosophical apparatus of the late Dr. Warren de la Rue. A 

 fine portrait of Sir Humphry Davy has been presented to the 

 .same Institution by Mr. James Young, grandson of the late 

 Dr. James Young, F.R.S., of Kelly, the former owner of the 

 portrait. 



The Swedish Government has decided to send a man-of-war 

 to New York to bring home the body of Captain Ericsson, who 

 expressed a .strong desire to be buried at Langbanshyttan, in 

 Vermeland, the place of his birth. In his will no directions are 

 given as to the disposal of his valuable collection of models, but 

 Swedish journals state that the executors will present them to the 

 Smithsonian Institution . 



The last mail from Bombay brings news of the formal open- 

 ing, by Lord Reay, of the Jubilee Technical Institute in that 

 city. The Times of India, commenting on this event, says it 

 forms a notable landmark in the educational history of Bombay. 

 That the Institute meets a public want is shown by the circum- 

 stance that it already numbers two hundred and forty students, 

 while nearly half as many are awaiting nomination. The origin of 

 the Institute is this. When Lord Ripon was about to leave India, 

 a movement was set on foot to signalize his Viceroyalty by a 

 memorial of some kind, and subscriptions were collected for the 

 purpose. Soon after Lord Reay's arrival in Bombay there arose 

 suggestions for the formation of a technical school. The Govern- 

 ment in January 1887 promised a grant of 25,000 rupees annually, 

 and recommended to the Municipal Corporation of Bombay that 

 80,000 rupees which they proposed to devote to commemorating 

 the Jubilee of the Queen's reign should be devoted to the founding 

 of a technical institute. The other funds were amalgamated with 

 this, and a Board of management was formed ; but still the funds 

 were found insufficient, until at last the munificence of Sir 

 Dinshaw Petit came to the rescue. He presented the Board 

 with a noble building, and work began at once, and the formal 

 official opening took place recently, although, in fact, the 

 Institute has been open for several months. The immediate and 

 signal .'uccess of the Institute Lord Reay attributes in no small 

 measure to the fact that in starting the movement its originators 

 did not allow themselves to yield to the demand for a programme. 



The Upsala University and the Swe.iish Geographical Society 

 have sent Dr. Carl Forsstrand to study the marine fauna of the 

 West Indian Islands during the present summer. 



The Indian papers report the death from cholera, at Ran- 

 goon, of Dr. Robert Romanes, Professor of Science in the 

 Rangoon College, and Chemical Examiner to the Burmah 

 Government. 



In the horticultural part of the Paris Exhibition there are 

 some splendid beds of Darwin tulips in full bloom. The 

 flowers are magnificent, and a sergent de ville keeps watch 

 over them — an unusual proceeding in France, where flowers 

 are never in ordinary circumstances stolen from public gardens. 

 Unfortunately the presence of an unusual number of foreigners 

 makes this precaution necessary. In the same part there is a 

 very curious exhibit of Japanese horticulture. It consists of a 



