144 



NATURE 



[December i, 1910 



the study and improvement of many departments of 

 natural knowledge, whose career has been distinguished 

 by the singleness and breadth of its aims and by the 

 generosity with which he has sought to further them, 

 should receive from the Royal Society its highest award 

 in the Copley medal. 



RuMFORD Medal. 



The Rumford medal has been awarded to Prof. Hein- 

 rich Rubens, in recognition of the value of his researches 

 in radiation. For many years he has been engaged in the 

 experimental investigation of optical radiations of very 

 long wave-length. In the course of this work he 

 elaborated, in conjunction with Prof. E. F. Nichols, a 

 method of isolating pencils of nearly homogeneous rays, 

 using the fact that a non-metallic substance reflects very 

 copiously waves of the same length as those to which it 

 is opaque. If, then, a pencil of rays of mixed wave- 

 lengths is reflected several times to and fro between 

 mirrors of the same kind of substance, the rays finally 

 emerging (the " Ri'ststrahlen ") have the wave-lengths of 

 the kinds of light which the substance refuses to transmit. 

 The light of other wave-lengths has been transmitted 

 freely at each incidence, and by a sufficient number of 

 reflections is ultimately removed from the pencil. By 

 using different substances as reflectors. Prof. Rubens has 

 isolated infra-red light of various wave-lengths up to as 

 much as 96 fi, or about o-i of a millimetre; while, on 

 the other hand, purely electric waves have been produced 

 of wave-lengths as small as 2 millimetres. He has thus 

 enormously extended our knowledge of the infra-red spec- 

 trum. Moreover, in conjunction with colleagues, he has 

 investigated the .absorbing and reflecting powers of sub- 

 stances for these long wave-length rays. He has shown 

 that, for radiation of wave-length even fewer than ten 

 times the wave-lengths" in' the visible spectrum, the reflect- 

 ing and absorbing powers of metals and alloys are deter- 

 mined by their electric conductivities alone, in accordance 

 with Maxwell's theory. It followed from Maxwell's own 

 observations on the absorption of gold-leaf for visible light 

 that agencies more complex than conductivity must be 

 involved for these shorter wave-lengths. 



Prof. Rubens has recenth' applied to the measurement 

 of the long infra-red wave-lengths a quartz interferometer, 

 and among other results he has found that the refractive 

 index of water, for waves of length about 82 fi, is of the 

 same order as for waves in the visible spectrum, while 

 for the shortest Hertzian waves yet examined, about 

 2000 fi, it is as high as 9. 



These examples will serve to illustrate how much Prof. 

 Rubens has already done to bridge the gap between optical 

 radiations and electric waves produced by direct electric 

 agency, and how much more is to be expected from him 

 in the investigation of the interval still remaining in which 

 such fundamental changes of properties take place. 



Royal Medals. 



The awards of the two Royal medals given annually by 

 our Patron the King have received his Majesty's approval. 



One of these medals has been assigned to Prof. Frederick 

 Orpen Bower, in recognition of the great merit of his 

 contributions to morphological botany, of which depart- 

 ment of science he is the acknowledged leader in Great 

 Britain. Prof. Bower's early studies in this field (1880-2), 

 on the genera Welwitschia and Gnetum, were marked by 

 the discovery of the true nature of the two persistent 

 leaves in Welwitschia. The next period of his work was 

 given to a study of the morphology of the leaf. He 

 developed in 1884 the idea of the phyllopodium or leaf- 

 axis, and discussed in 1885 the apex of the leaf in 

 Osmunda and Todea. This latter study was cognate to 

 subsequent researches, the results of which were given in 

 1886 in a review of " Apospory and Allied Phenomena." 

 This work, of much intrinsic interest, is important as 

 having led its author to formulate the views advanced in 

 1890 in a memoir on " Antithetic as distinguished from 

 Homologous Alternation [of Generation] in Plants." 

 Another memoir, published in 1889, on " The Comparative 

 Exarnination of the Meristems of Ferns as a Ph^'logenetic 

 Study," prepared in the light of the then received 1>elief 



NO. 2144, VOL. 85] 



that the leptosporangiate ferns are the more primitive, was 

 followed in 1891 by a discussion of this question, in which 

 Prof. Bower advanced morphological reasons for reversing 

 the hitherto accepted phylogenetic order. The new con- 

 clusion has proved to be in accord with pala;obotanical 

 results, and marked another distinct step in the advance- 

 ment of botanical science. During the third period of his 

 work, 1892-1903, Prof. Bower's papers, including an 

 important series on the spore-producing members, have 

 resourcefully maintained the antithetic doctrine, and have 

 afforded a striking instance of the advantage of a well- 

 considered working hypothesis as a guide to investiga- 

 tion. The career of morphological research here outlined 

 has been recently crowned by the publication (1908) of a 

 book on " The Origin of a Land Flora," which is one 

 of the " most important contributions to the advancement 

 of natural knowledge, published originally in his Majesty's 

 dominions," within the period prescribed in respect of the 

 award of Royal medals. 



The other Royal medal has been adjudged to Prof. 

 John Joly, who is eminent in two branches of science, 

 geology and physics. This combination of studies has 

 proved to be reciprocally fruitful to both departments. It 

 was from his mineralogical interests that he was led to 

 devise the steam calorimeter, which has enriched physics 

 with an apparatus of high refinement. The use of this 

 method was extended by him to the direct determination 

 of the specific heats of gases at constant volume, a 

 measurement dealing with minute quantities of heat in 

 circumstances quite bej^ond the capabilities of the usual 

 forms of calorimeter. Among many contributions to 

 standard physical data, which are accepted and in use, 

 may be instanced his determination of the density of 

 saturation of steam. His meldometer, primarily intended 

 for determining the melting points of mineralogical and 

 geological specimens, has been the means of providing data 

 for use in thermometry. He has devised and applied a 

 method of determining the change of volume of rocks and 

 other substances on fusion, which is a datum of primary 

 importance for cosmical theories. He has carried out a 

 refined research, with negative results, on the possibility 

 of minute change of mass (as distinguished from weight) 

 accompanying 'chemical combination. His recent extended 

 investigations of the occurrence of radio-active substances 

 in materials from various strata have been utilised for' 

 fundamental geological discussions. Of other useful inven- 

 tions which he has introduced, one of the best known is 

 the translucent block photometer. 



Prof. Joly has made important contributions to the 

 subject of colour photography, and devised some years ago 

 a three-colour system in which all three colours are present 

 on the same plate in the form of fine parallel Hnes or 

 small dots. 



He has also contributed substantially to the theory of 

 biological processes, such as the ascent of sap in vegeta- 

 tion. Reference may likewise be made to his suggestive 

 memoir on the age of the earth, based upon a discussion 

 of the chemical constitution of the ocean. 



Davy Medal. 



The Davy medal has been assigned this year to Prof. 

 Theodore W. Richards, as a mark of appreciation of the 

 value of his work in the determination of the atomic 

 weights of the elements. His researches on this subject 

 have not been surpassed in comprehensiveness by those of 

 any other chemist. He has himself determined the atomic 

 weights of no fewer than fourteen elements, and many 

 other atomic weight determinations have been made under 

 his direction and superintendence. The accuracy of the 

 numbers obtained is certainly much higher than that which 

 has been attained by any previous series of researches, and 

 it is impossible to speak in too high terms of the ingenuity, 

 the unremitting labour, and the masterly manipulation 

 which Prof. Richards has brought to bear on his investi- 

 gations. 



In addition to this work on atomic weights. Prof. 

 Richards has made many important contributions to 

 phvsical chemistry, and it is probably no exaggeration to ' 

 say that he has done more to raise the standard ^ of 

 accuracy in physico-chemical work than any other living 



