September 8, 192 1] 



NATURE 



71 



Mr. G. S. Mockler has been appointed lecturer in 

 geology in the University of Durham. 



Prof. G. W. O. Howe, of the City and Guilds 

 (Engineering) College, has been appointed super- 

 intendent of the electrical department of the National 



liysical Laboratory. 



The degree of Doctor of Law has been conferred 

 on Sir William J. Pope by McGill University on the 

 occasion of the annual meeting of the Society of 

 Chemical Industry held in Montreal. 



Mr. p. van der Bijl, formerlv of the Natal 

 Herbarium, has been appointed professor of phyto- 

 pathology and mycology in the University of Stellen- 

 bosch, Union of South Africa. 



Mr. J. Barr, head of the textile analysis depart- 

 ment of the City of Bradford Conditioning House, 

 has been appointed manager of the new yarn-testing 

 bureau at L'niversity College, Nottingham. 



A COMPETITION for Vacancies in the grade of 

 chemists, Class O., in the department of the Govern- 

 ment Chemist will shortly be held. In this connection 

 a leaflet of regulations governing the appointments 

 has just been issued. It is obtainable until Septem- 

 btr 15 from the Government Chemist, Clement's Inn 

 Passage, W.C.2. 



A SYLLABUS of the courses which will be available 



at the Sir John Cass Technical Institute, Jewry 



! Street. London, E.C., during the session 1921-22 has 



I been issued. Systematic courses in experimental 



I science preparing students for the science examinations 



1 of London University and the Institutes of Phvsics 



! and Chemistry will be given, but the trend of 



instruction generally is in the direction of technology, 



particularly of the chemical, metallurgical, and elec- 



; trical industries. Full facilities are provided in all 



departments for research work. Higher technological 



instruction is provided for by special courses on the 



fermentation industries, glass technology, colloids, 



■ metallography and pyrometry, heat treatment and the 



mechanical testing of metals, and petroleum techno- 



logv. The latter constitutes a new development 



which has been help>ed forward largely bv the 



generosity of the leading oil companies; a two years' 



course has been arranged which is designed to meet 



the needs of those associated with practical and 



scientific control in the petroleum industry. 



The issues of the British Medical Journal of 

 September 3 and the Lancet of August 27 constitute 

 the educational and student's numbers which our two 

 contemporaries publish annually at this time. In 

 both will be found full and up-to-date Information 

 of the facilities for medical training in the British 

 Isles, as well as the regulations for the various 

 diplomas and degrees which can be obtained. Useful 

 articles are also included which deal with public 

 health and medical services, and with the medical 

 services in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and in the 

 Colonies. Some interesting figures are given in the 

 British Medical Journal, showing the annual entry 

 of first-year students in the British Isles during the 

 past twenty years. Before the war the average 

 number was 1400, while during the war It increased 

 to iqoo. In May, 19 16, the total number of students 

 in training was 6io-^ ; two years later It was 7630, and 

 in January, 191Q, the numbers rose to 9490. L^'nder 

 the Influence of demobilisation In IQ19, 3420 new 

 students were registered ; and although In 1920 the 

 number had dropped to 2531, there appears to be 

 ?rave apprehension that the demand for medical men 

 in the near future will be much below the numbers 

 already in training. 



NO. 2706, VOL. IO8I 



Calendar of Scientific Pioneers. 



September 8, 1894. Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von 

 Heimholtz died. — The son of a Potsdam professor of 

 literature, Heimholtz served as a surgeon in the Prus- 

 sian Army, was a professor of physiology at Konigs- 

 berg, Bonn, and Heidelberg, in 187 1 became professor 

 of physics at Berlin, and in 1887 was made director 

 of the Physikalisch-Technischen u. Reichsanstalt at 

 Charlottenburg. Accounted one of the world's greatest 

 men of science, he was one of the first to grasp and 

 advocate the principle of the conservation of energy, 

 invented the ophthalmoscope, contributed specially 

 to physiological optics and acoustics, discovered the 

 fundamental properties of vortex motion in fluids, 

 and made advances in inany branches of mathematical 

 physics. 



September 9, 1841. Augustin Pyramus de Candolle 

 died. — Born in Geneva in 1778, de Candolle first lec- 

 tured on botany at the College de France in 1804. A 

 great advocate of the natural system of classification, 

 his "Flore Franijaise " appeared in 1805. From 1806 

 to 18 1 2 he investigated the botany and agriculture of 

 France and Italy for Napoleon. 



September 9, 1896. Luigi Palmier! died. — The suc- 

 cessor of Melloni as director of the observatory' on 

 Vesuvius, Palmlerl for many years held chairs in the 

 University of Naples, and was known for his study 

 of atmospheric electricltv and seismology. 



September 11, 1768. Joseph Nicolas Delisle died. — 

 An ardent astronomer, Delisle from 1726 to 1747 was 

 attached to the newly founded Imperial Academy of 

 Sciences at St. Petersburg, where Euler and Daniel 

 Bernoulli were his colleagues. After his return to 

 France he became Geographical Astronomer to the 

 French Na\^-. 



September 11, 1913. Sir Walter Noel Hartley died. 

 — From 1879 to 1911 Hartley was professor of 

 chemistry at the Royal College of Science, Dublin. 

 He was among the pioneers in the application of 

 spectroscopic methods to the study of the e'ements, 

 and was the first to prove the presence of gallium in 

 the sun. He also made researches in the Bessemer 

 process of making steel. 



September 12, 1888. Richard Anthony Proctor died. 

 — A prolific writer and a gifted lecturer, Proctor not 

 only did much to popularise astronomy, but also made 

 researches on the rotation period of Mars and on 

 other subjects. The periodical Knowledge was 

 founded by him in 1881. 



September 13, 1877. Johann Jakob Noggerath died. 

 — On the founding of the Bonn L^niversity in 18 18, 

 Noggerath was appointed to the chair of mineralogy. 

 Among his work was an extensive study of the 

 minerals and geologv of Rhenish Westphalia. 



September 14, 1712. Giovanni Domenico Cassini 

 died. — The founder of the famous family of astro- 

 nomers, Cassini was invited to France in 1669, and 

 from 1 67 1 until the Revolution the Paris Obser%-atory 

 was the home of himself or one of his descendants. 

 Between 166-; and 1675 Cassini determined the period 

 of rotation oif Jupiter and Mars, discovered four satel- 

 lites of Saturn and observed the double ring of that 

 planet, and made the first successful estimate of the 

 sun's distance. He afterwards determined the period 

 of rotation of the sun and the oblateness of Jupiter, 

 and made a chart of the moon. 



September 14, 1879. Bernhard von Cotta died. — 

 The friend of Lvell, von Buch, and Humboldt, Cotta 

 from 1842 to i8t4 was a professor at the Mining 

 Academv at Freiburg, Saxony. One of the first to 

 apply the microscope to the study of fossil plants, he 

 travelled extensively, wrote on the geology of the Alps 

 and on mountains, and did much to popularise the 

 study of geologv. E. C. S. 



