88 



NATURE 



[November 17, 19 10 



The names of the past-presidents who were being 

 honoured were : — 



Elected President 

 Prof. William Odling, F.R.S. ... 1848 1873-5 

 The Rt. Hon. Sir Henry E. 



Roscoe, F.R.S 1855 1880-2 



Sir William Crookes, O.M., 



F.R.S 1857 1887-9 



Dr. Hugo Muller, F.R.S. ... 1859 1885-7 

 Dr. A. G. Vernon Harcourt, 

 F.R.S 1859 1895-7 



Unfortunately, Sir Henry Roscoe was absent through 

 illness. 



After the loyal toasts had been duly honoured, the presi- 

 <lent gave that of the " Past-presidents who have com- 

 pleted their Jubilee of Fellowship." He referred to the 

 personalities of the jubilee past-presidents, and to the par- 

 ticular work in which each was more especially dis- 

 tinguished : Sir Henry Roscoe, for his research on 

 vanadium and as a pioneer educationist ; Sir William 

 Crookes, for his discovery of thallium, his researches on 

 the rare earths, the genesis of matter and diamonds, and 

 his brilliant discoveries in physics ; Dr. Hugo Muller, for 

 his researches on cellulose and discoveries in connection 

 with printing; Dr. Vernon Harcourt, for his researches 

 •on the rate of chemical change and his work as an 

 enthusiastic teacher ; and Prof. William Odling, the doyen 

 of chemistry, to whom all chemists will find it difficult to 

 fathom their debt of gratitude. 



In replying to the toast. Sir Henry Roscoe, whose speech 

 was read by the president, drew on his reminiscences of 

 the thirty-one past-presidents of the society, all of whom 

 with the exception of two he had known, and of his 

 association with the society. 



Sir William Crookes sketched the steps by which he was 

 led to the discovery of radio-activity. He stated that no 

 law is more certain than the law of change. Radium has 

 shaken our belief in the conservation of substance,, the 

 stability of the chemical elements, the undulatory theory 

 of light, and the nature of electricity; it has revived the 

 dreams of alchemists, and has cast doubt upon the verj' 

 existence of matter itself. Physicists are beginning to say 

 that there is no such thing as matter ; that when we have 

 caught and tamed the elusive atom and have split it into 

 •700 little bits these residual particles will turn out to be 

 nothing more than superimposed layers of positive and 

 negative electricity. Speaking of the War Office Com- 

 mittee of which he was a member, he stated that what 

 our country now most urgently requires is " brain-craft," 

 the master of " hand-craft," and researchers who will 

 cultivate chemistry for its own sake. 



Dr. Miiller commented on his association with the 

 ■Chemical Society, on its rapid growth and increasing 

 activity. 



Dr. Harcourt referred to the influence of the growth of 

 chemistry upon the teaching of the science as a part of 

 general education, and to the importance in education of 

 a knowledge of the general results of scientific inquiry and 

 of some insight into the methods by which such knowledge 

 has been gained. He mentioned the difficulty which the 

 teacher of chemistry finds in keeping himself abreast of 

 his subject, and the danger of teaching the latest hypo- 

 theses to students who are only studying science as a 

 part of education and chemistry as a part of science, if it 

 mislead them into believing that, because they have gained 

 the latest lights, they have a thorough grasp of the science. 



Prof. Odling referred to his connection with the four 

 ■past-presidents who, with him, were being entertained, 

 and with many of the older chemists, and of the associa- 

 tion of Oxford University with the society. 



Sir Edward Thorpe proposed the toast of the honorary 

 and foreign members, which was replied to by Prof. 

 Haller, president of the French Chemical Society, and Prof. 

 Wallach. president of the German Chemical Society. At 

 the conclusion of his speech Prof. Haller presented, on 

 behalf of his society, a silver medal of Lavoisier to each 

 of the jubilee presidents in honour of the occasion. 



The last toast of the evening, that of " The Guests," was 

 prooosed by Sir William Tilden and acknowledged by the 

 Duke of Northumberland, president of the Roval Institu- 

 tion of Great Britain, Mr. H. L. Samuel, the Postmaster- 

 ■General, and Herr Generaldirektor S. Eyde, of Christiania. 

 NO. 2142, VOL. 85] 



THE INTERNATIONAL ACROGEOLOGICAL 



CONGRESS AT STOCKHOLM. 

 A FEW months ago (August 4) we reviewed the pro- 

 ceedings of the first International Agrogeological 

 Congress, held at Budapest in 1909. The second was held 

 this year simultaneously with the International Geological 

 Congress at Stockholm, as an experiment. It was well 

 organised by the local committee and well attended, the 

 membership numbering about 160. The sessions were 

 arranged to allow the frequent attendance of members at 

 the geological meetings in which they were likely to be 

 interested. But it seems to have been recognised by most 

 that the bonds of association between the two congresses 

 were not so close as to render it necessary, or even desir- 

 able, that they should be held at the same place and time;- 

 and it was decided by the council that the next meeting 

 should take place independently at St. Petersburg four 

 years hence. " 



A prominent feature in connection with the congress was 

 the very interesting exhibition of specimens, maps and 

 instruments illustrating the science of the soil, which was 

 brought together in the rooms of the Technical School, 

 44 Miistersamuelsgatan. The Swedish exhibits, \vhich 

 naturally formed the greater part of this collection, 

 included sample-sections of the typical soils and subsoils 

 down to the underlying strata from which they were 

 derived. The sections of peat-mosses which showed chang- 

 ing conditions of accumulation were particularly note- 

 worthy. Excursions were made, both during and after the 

 congress, through selected districts and to the chief agri- 

 cultural stations, thus enabling the visitors to appreciate 

 the local methods of practical research, as well as to gain 

 personal knowledge of Swedish agricultural conditions. 



The papers read at the meetings were grouped together 

 by their subject-matter, so that each session was devoted 

 to the discussion of a separate problem. As was to be 

 expected from the earnestness which has been thrown into 

 the study of soils in Germany, most of the papers were 

 given in German. Indeed, hardly any other language 

 was used at the sessions. At the opening meeting on 

 the morning of August 17, Prof. Gunnar Andersson 

 delivered his instructive presidential address on " The 

 Swedish soil-types and their distribution," in which the 

 geological bearings of the soil-study were allowed a 

 prominence which they rarely attained in the subsequent dis- 

 cussions. At the afternoon session the 'leit-motif' was 

 "The mechanical analysis of soils," with illustrative 

 papers by Dr. A. Atterberg (Sweden), Prof. P. Vinassa 

 de Regny (Italy), and Dr. W. Beam (Egypt). 



At the subsequent sessions, on August 18, 19, 20, 22, 

 and 24, the following were the principal subjects of dis- 

 cussion : — " Colloids of the soil," introduced by papers by 

 Prof. E. Ramann (Germany) and Dr. D. J. Hissink 

 (Holland) ; " Preparation of extracts of soils for chemical 

 analyses," after papers by Prof. A. de Sigmond (Hungary), 

 Prof. A. Vesterberg (Sweden), and Prof. A. Rindell (Fin- 

 land) ; "Nomenclature and classification of soils," with 

 papers by Prof. E. W. Hilgard and Prof. R. H. Lough- 

 bridge (California), Prof. P. Kossowitsch (Russia), M- 

 B^la de Inkey (Hungary), and Dr. B. Frosterus (Fin- 

 land) ; "Systematic soil-surveying," with papers by Dr. 

 K. O. Bjorlykke (Norway), Prof. K. Gorjanovic-Kram- 

 berger (Croatia), and Prof. F. Sandor (Croatia) ; " The 

 analyses of peat soils," with papers by Dr. E. Haglund 

 (Sweden) and Dr. H. von Feilitzen (Sweden). There 

 were a few other papers, chiefly on the chemical side of 

 the subject, which did not fall under the above headings, 

 among them being an interesting general account of the 

 soils of Egypt, by Dr. W. Eraser Hume. 



.-Xs a merely personal- impression of the proceedings 

 from a geologist's point of view, it may be remarked 

 that, with the rapid advance of specialisation in the study 

 of soils, the connection of the subject with geology seems 

 to have become more remote. It was only in the papers 

 dealing with the mapping of soils that geological con- 

 siderations were brought into prominence, and even then 

 only as a basis for specialised classification. For the rest, 

 it was toward physics, chemistry and plant-physiology 

 that the new methods of research approximated. The 

 major part of the papers dealt with the laboratory treat- 

 ment of soils, mechanically and chemically, and with the 



