54« 



NATURE 



[February 23, 191 1 



junior post at Harvard from 1880 to 1883, since which year 

 he had been connected with the Worcester Polytechnic 

 Institute as assistant-professor and professor of chemistry 

 successively. His chief work was done as an expert on 

 sewage disposal and water supply, and he had acted as 

 consulting chemist to the Connecticut Sewage Commission. 



Ihe Times announces the death of Dr. C. Alexander 

 MacMunn, of Wolverhampton, at fifty-nine years of age. 

 Dr. MacMunn was a member of the Physiological Society, 

 the Marine Biological Association, and other bodies, and 

 he devoted himself largely to research, mostly in physio- 

 logical chemistry and animal pigments. He published 

 numerous works, some of which were translated into 

 foreign languages, and at the time of his death was 

 engaged on *' Outlines of Clinical Chemistr}'," which was 

 Hearing completion. 



The death of Dr. William Williams, an authority on 

 sanitation, is announced in The Times. Dr. Williams was 

 president of the Sanitary Inspection Association of South 

 Wales and Monmouthshire, and held public appointments 

 in Glamorgan, including that of school medical officer and 

 director of the County Public Health Laboratory. He was 

 a Fellow of the Society of Medical Officers of Health and 

 the Royal Sanitary Institute, and ex-president of the South 

 Wales branch of the British Medical Association. He 

 delivered the Milroy lectures at the Royal College of 

 Physicians in 1904. He wrote works on sanitation, water 

 supplies, and milk adulteration. 



In pursuance of the powers conferred on them under a 

 section of the Development and Road Improvement Funds 

 Act, 1909, the Development Commissioners have appointed 

 an advisory committee to advise them on applications for 

 advances and schemes for the development and improve- 

 ment of fisheries.' The committee is constituted as 

 follows : — Mr. H. J. Tennant, M.P. (chairman) ; Dr. A. E. 

 Shipley, F.R.S. ; Prof. G. C. Bourne, F.R.S. ; Prof. 

 D'Arcy Thompson, C.B. ; and Mr. D. H. Lane, formerly 

 Inspector of Irish Fisheries. In addition, the Fishmongers' 

 Company has been asked to nominate a representatie. 



On Tuesday next, February 28, Dr. A. E. H. Tutton 

 will begin a course of three lectures at the Royal Institu- 

 tion on " Crystalline Structure : Mineral, Chemical, and 

 Liquid," and on Saturday, March 4, Sir J. J. Thomson 

 will commence his course of six lectures on " Radiant 

 Energy and Matter." The Friday evening discourse on 

 March 3 will be delivered by Dr. F. A, Dixey, on " Scents 

 oi Butterflies"; on March 10 by the Hon. Charles A. 

 Parsons, on "Recent Advances in Turbines"; and on 

 March 17 by Mr. John H. Balfour Browne, on " Water 

 Supply." 



Sir William H. White, K.C.B., F.R.S., has been 

 awarded the John Fritz medal for 191 1, for " notable 

 achievements in naval architecture," by the special board 

 of award appointed by the four leading American societies 

 of engineers — the Civil, Mining, Mechanical, and Elec- 

 trical. The John Fritz medal is recognised as the highest 

 distinction which American engineers can bestow. It was 

 established in August, 1902, by the professional associates 

 and friends of the engineer and metallurgist whose name 

 ,it bears. The award of the medal is made on the ground 

 of "notable scientific or industrial achievement," with 

 " no restriction on account of nationality or sex." The 

 first award was made in 1905 to Lord Kelvin. In sub- 

 sequent years the medal has been given to Alexander 

 Graham Bell, Thomas A. Edison, George Westinghouse, 

 Charles Porter, and Alfred Noble. 



NO. 2156, VOL. 85] 



The anniversary meeting of the Geological Society of ". 

 London was held on Friday, February 17. The officers 

 were appointed as follows : — President, Prof. W. W. 

 Watts, F.R.S. ; vice-presidents. Dr. C. W. Andrews, 

 F.R.S., Mr. .Alfred Harker, F.R.S., Dr. J. E. Marr, 

 F.R.S., Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S.; secretaries. Prof. 

 E. J. Garwood and Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S. ; 

 foreign secretary. Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., president 

 R.S. ; treasurer. Dr. A. Strahan, F.R.S. The . following 

 awards of medals and funds were made : — Wollaston 

 medal. Prof. Waldemar C. Brogger ; Murchison medal, 

 Mr. R. H. Tiddeman ; Lyell medals, Dr. F. A. Bather 

 and Dr. A. W. Rowe ; Bigsby medal, Prof. O. Abel ; 

 Wollaston fund. Prof. O. T. Jones ; Murchison fund, Mr. 

 E. S. Cobbold; Lyell fund, Dr. C. G. Cullis ; Barlow- 

 Jameson fund, Mr. J. F. N. Green. The president 

 delivered his anniversary address, which dealt with the 

 evolutionary aspects of geology, more especially with the 

 mode and order of deposition of the various formations. 



An International Congress of the Applications of Elec- 

 tricity is to be held in Turin, Italy, on September 9-20. 

 This congress, as its title implies, will deal with questions 

 of practical import, so that electrical engineers will be 

 able to participate largely in the discussions. The chief 

 endeavour of the organising committee, which is under the 

 chairmanship of Prof. Luigi Lombardi, has been so to 

 draw up the programme that the congress may be inter- 

 national in character as well as in name. To attain this 

 object, the cooperation of the International Electro- 

 technical Commission, with its local committees now 

 established in many countries, has been obtained, as well 

 as the assistance of the societies and associations in all 

 countries dealing with electrical matters. With the help of 

 these organisations, official reporters have been selected, 

 and already many assurances have been received that 

 numerous papers will be presented to the congress from 

 all parts of the world. The initiators of the congress are 

 the Italian Electrotechnical Society and the Italian local 

 committee of the commission mentioned above. The con- 

 gress is under the patronage of H.R.H. the Duke of the 

 Abruzzi, who is the president of the committee of honour, 

 upon which Prof. Elihu Thomson and Colonel Crompton, | 

 the president and honorary secretary respectively of the 1 

 commission, have been elected members. Papers are to 

 be presented in French, English, German, and Italian, and 

 the discussions will be carried on in all these languages. 

 The subjects to be discussed, the attractions which Italy 

 itself presents, both as regards scenery and electrical 

 development, in addition to the fact that the first official 

 meeting of the whole Electrotechnical Commission is to 

 take place in Turin about the same time, is bound to 

 make this congress a memorable occasion in the history 

 of electrical engineering. 



We regret to record the death, on February 8, of Mr. 

 P. D. Scott-Moncrieff, assistant in the Department of 

 Egyptian and Assyrian .\ntiquities in the British Museum. 

 The cause of death was heart failure, after an operation 

 for appendicitis. Mr. Scott-Moncrieff was educated at 

 Charterhouse School, at St. Andrews University, and at 

 Christ's College, Cambridge. At Cambridge he took the \ 

 Oriental languages tripos, and in December, 1903, he was 

 appointed to an assistantship in the British Museum. His 

 official duties brought him in contact chiefly with the 

 Egyptian side of his department, and in the winter of 1905 

 he paid a visit to the Sudan to undertake archaeological 

 work for the Sudan Government. In October and 

 November of. tliat 3"ear, in conjunction with Mr. J. W. 

 Crowfoot, he cleared out the, eighteenth dynasty temple 



