5r« 



NATURE 



[February i6, 191 i 



-numerous and important and cover a wide range of 

 subjects, chiefly on the border-land of physics and 

 chemistry. His main work, and that with which his 

 name will be always associated, is unquestionably his 

 exhaustive and protracted series of researches on the 

 relationship between the refractivity and the chemical 

 constitution of organic compounds. Following the 

 pioneering work of Gladstone and Dale in this 

 country, Briihl made this subject for many years 

 essentially his own, and he has always been regarded 

 as the leader and chief' authority in this branch of 

 physical chemistry. It will be remembered that he 

 was the first to bring optical evidence to bear upon 

 the question of the constitution of the benzene "ring." 



Briihl first made his mark in 1880 -in that depart- 

 ment of physical chemistry in which he laboured with 

 such conspicuous success throughout the latter part 

 of his life. His predecessors in this field had prepared 

 the way by showing that some relationship existed be- 

 tween refractivity and chemical composition, buc real 

 progress only began to be made when, by his re- 

 searches, he showed that the mode of linkage of the 

 ■atoms, i.e. the chemical constitution, was all important 

 in determining this physical property of the chemical 

 molecule. Following up the fruitful line of work thus 

 opened out, he showed further, that not only could the 

 •degree of unsaturation of an organic compound be 

 determined by the refractivity method, but that the 

 .apparent anomalies between observed and calculated 

 results were referable to the relative positions of the 

 unsaturated groups, and so he invested the method 

 with increased powers as a means of attacking the all- 

 important problem of chemical constitution. Not the 

 least important application of his method, and one 

 which he himself developed towards the end of his 

 •caieer, is the determination by the optical method of 

 the constitution of tautomeric compounds in solution — 

 a problem which eludes ordinary chemical methods. It 

 was this and other developments of his labours which 

 brought him into contact with the researches of the 

 late Sir William Perkin, with whom he was in con- 

 stant communication and who had the greatest admira- 

 tion for his work. Perkin was, in fact, attacking this 

 and analogous problems by his method of magnetic 

 rotation, and the influence of the two pioneers upon 

 •each other's results is acknowledged in their scientific 

 publications. 



A few years ago Briihl underwent a serious opera- 

 tion which crippled his activity and from the efi^ects 

 of which he never completely recovered. By his death 

 science suffers a heavy loss, and this country is 

 deprived of a warm friend, for the Heidelberg pro- 

 fessor's Anglophile sentiments are well known. He 

 was a familiar figure here, and highly esteemed by 

 all who had the privilege of his friendship. His know- 

 ledge of our language, and of English literature 

 generally, was both wide and deep, and his chief 

 recreation was the reading of the works of English 

 poets and novelists. Many letters by Briihl addressed 

 to the present writer are distinctly high-class literary 

 productions, which would put to shame many of our 

 university graduates. It w'ill be remembered that he 

 was responsible for the German edition of the organic 

 portion of Roscoe and Schorlemmer's treatise. He 

 gave a Friday evening discourse on his own sub- 

 ject at the Royal Institution in May, 1905. He 

 was an honorary member of that Institution, and 

 the University of Cambridge bestowed upon him 

 the honorary degree of Sc.D. during one of his 

 visits to this country. The life-work of Briihl 

 furnishes another illustration of the principle, so 

 generally ignored here, that practical applications 

 follow the development of pure science pursued for its 

 •own sake. Out of a series of researches prompted by 



NO. 2155, VOL. 85] 



no immediate practical requirements, but carried out 

 solely with the object of ascertaining how far a par- 

 ticular physical property could be made available for 

 the solution of some of the most abstract of chemical 

 problems, there has arisen a method of the greatest 

 practical utility to manufacturers for the determina- 

 tion of the purity or the value of many products used 

 in chemical industry. Thanks to Briihl the " refracto- 

 meter " has become a recognised laboratory instru- 

 ment for technical as well as for scientific purposes. 



R. M. 



The second reading of the Government Bill for the 

 adoption of Greenwich time as the official time in France ' 

 was adopted by the French Senate on February 10. In 

 the discussion of an amendment to the measure, reference 

 was made to the Daylight Saving Bill, and it was sug- 

 gested that the question of introducing Greenwich time 

 into France ought to be deferred until it was known 

 whether our House of Commons would adopt the seasonal 

 change of time-standard proposed in that Bill. The 

 amendment was, however, rejected by 213 votes to 73, 

 and the Bill passed into law, to take effect after the Presi- 

 dent's signature. France will thus be brought into the 

 international or zone system of time-reckoning, and its 

 official time will differ from other standard times in the 

 system by a definite number of hours. The time of the 

 Paris meridian will, however, be retained for naval 

 purposes. 



By the instructions of the London County Council, 

 blue tablet of encaustic ware has been affixed to No. 3a 

 Soho Square, W., at one time the residence of Sir Josep 

 Banks, who was elected president of the Royal Society it 

 1778, and held that office for forty-one years. 



The Helmholtz medal of the Berlin Academy of Science 

 has, says the Revue scientifique, been awarded to Prof.; 

 van 't Hoff. 



The annual conversazione of the Institution of Civil, 

 Engineers will be held on Thursday, June 29, in the Roys 

 Albert Hall. 



The next meeting of the Institute of Metals will be th 

 second May lecture, which is to be delivered in London on 

 Friday, May 12, by Dr. G. T. Beilby, F.R.S., on " Th 

 Hard and Soft States in Metals." The autumn meeti 

 of the institute will be held this year at Newcastle-or 

 Tyne on Wednesday and Thursday, September 20 and 21. 



Dr. C. R. Beazley, professor of history, University 

 Birmingham, has been elected a corresponding fellow 

 the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, in recognition of hij 

 work on medizeval histor\', and especially on the explora- 

 tions of the Portuguese. 



The gold medal of the Institution of Mining and Metal- 

 lurgy has been awarded to Sir Julius Wernher, in recogni- 

 tion of his great personal services in the advancement of 

 technological education and in the promotion of the highest 

 interests of the mining and metallurgical professions. 



The British Medical Journal states that, in response to 

 the request of the Chinese Government for an international 

 commission to proceed to China at an early date to investi- 

 gate the present outbreak of plague in Manchuria, and to 

 devise means for the prevention of its further spread, the 

 British Government has instructed Dr. Reginald Farrar, 

 one of the medical inspectors of the Local Government 

 Board, to proceed to China at an early date. 



