i88 



NATURE 



[October 6, 192 1 



coyeries will ultimately win the race at the expense 

 of those which have been more neglectful in that 

 respect. The possession by the latter of greater 

 natural resources will only serve to stave off defeat 

 for a time. 



Moulds may be trained, under certain con- 

 ditions, to produce various other compounds from 

 sugar — for example, up to 50 per cent, of citric 

 acid, also fumaric and pyruvic acids. Lactic acid 

 and vinegar are, of course, largely manufactured 

 by fermentation, but Mr. Chapman deplores the 

 way in which these industries have neglected to 

 apply modern scientific results. In the manufac- 

 ture of vinegar, in particular, no real progress 

 has been made since Pasteur's work of 1868. 



We have been more successful with the pro- 

 duction of acetone and butyl alcohol from starch, 

 but this, too, originated in France in the exp>eri- 

 ments of Fernbach. Mr. Chapman c^iscusses the 

 process in some detail ; in normal times its com- 

 mercial success will depend on a means of utilising 



the butyi alcohol, which is produced in twice the 

 quantity of the acetone. 



Other applications of micro-biology are to agri- 

 culture, bread-making, tanning, sewage disposal, 

 and food-production. Brewers' yeast is almost a 

 waste product to the extent of 50,000 or 60,000 

 totis per annum in the United Kingdom, but is 

 being used more and more as a cattle food and, 

 in the shape of an extract, for human consump- 

 tion. " Mineral yeast " (not a true yeast) was 

 grown in Germany as a war food. 



Finally, Mr. Chapman reiterates his plea 

 (already made in a paper to the Society of Chem- 

 ical Industry) for the foundation of a National 

 Institute of Industrial Micro-biology, which should 

 provide for the systematic prosecution of industrial 

 research, be a centre for specialised training, and 

 maintain a complete collection of pure cultures. 

 "For far too many years we have been content to 

 act as middlemen and agents, when we ought to 

 have been manufacturers." 



Obituary. 



G. \V. Walker, F.R.S. 



O Y the death of Mr. George Walker \\'alker, 



■*-' physical science has lost a brilliant exponent 



of its rigidly exact experimental side, which his high 



mathematical attainment and inventive capacity 



enabled him to develop with marked success. 



Mr. Walker was the only son of Mr. John 

 Walker, of Aberdeen, and was a foundationer at 

 the Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen. He 

 started life as a practical engineer, but, not 

 caring for this, he obtained an appointment with 

 Messrs. C. & P. H. Chalmers, of Aberdeen, 

 where he remained one year. His interest in 

 science, however, led him to pursue its study in 

 the evening classes of Gordon's College, where 

 he received so much help and encouragement that 

 he obtained a national scholarship, which brought 

 him in 1892 to the Royal College of Science, 

 South Kensington, where, in due time, he ob- 

 tained his associateship. While at South Kensing- 

 ton he so impressed Sir Arthur Riicker with his 

 mathematical ability that he urged him to go to 

 Cambridge, where he obtained a Sizarship at 

 Trinity College. He was fourth wrangler in 1897, 

 and Smith's prizeman and Isaac Newton student 

 in 1899, and was appointed a fellow of Trinity 

 in 1900. In 1901 he studied at Gottingen. From 

 1903 to 1908 he was lecturer in physics at Glasgow 

 University. He was then appointed super- 

 intendent of Eskdalemuir Observatory, for which 

 his prior training at South Kensington so admir- 

 ably fitted him. There he remained four years. 

 From 1912 to 1915 he was engaged on the new 

 magnetic survey of the British Isles. He was 

 elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 191 3. He 

 assisted the Earl of Berkeley in his laboratory at 

 Boar's Hill in 1915, and became Halley lecturer 

 in 1916. 



In May, 1918, Mr. Walker was appointed chief 

 scientific worker at the Royal Naval Mining School, 

 NO. 2710, VOL. 108] 



Portsmouth, where the numerous and urgent prob- 

 lems connected with marine mines afforded abun- 

 dant scope for his genius. His success in dealing 

 with these was properly appreciated by the Super- 

 intendent of Mining and other navalofficers, but 

 this work, from its nature, is essentially confi- 

 dential. In November, 1920, while engaged on 

 experimental work at Falmouth, he contracted a 

 chill, which developed into lung trouble and was 

 the cause of an abscess, for which operation 

 became necessary. He went into University Col- 

 lege Hospital, Gower Street, in July last, where 

 the shock due to two operations led to his death. 



Besides his work on magnetic surveying, Mr. 

 Walker was an authority on seismology, being 

 also a warm admirer of Prince Galitzin. In 1904 

 he married the daughter of Mr. Gifford* of Aber- 

 deen, who, with one son, survives him. 



C. V. B. 



Dr. Peter Cooper Hewitt. 



Dr. Peter Cooper Hewitt, who died in Paris 

 on August 25 last, at the age of sixty years, was 

 the son of a leading New York iron manufacturer 

 and merchant well known as the promoter of manv 

 civic, educational, and philanthropic causes. His 

 mother was the daughter of Peter Cooper, an 

 inventor, manufacturer, and railroad builder, who 

 presented New York with the Cooper Union for 

 the advancement of art and science, now more 

 usually known as Cooper Institute. 



Dr. Cooper Hewitt was born on March 5, 1861, 

 and was educated at the Stevens Institute of 

 Technology at Hoboken, New Jersey, and at the 

 Columbia University School of Mines. He early 

 manifested a strong inclination towards 

 mechanics, and his course of studies was directed 

 towards the mechanical, chemical, and electrical 

 sciences. One of his earliest inventions was in 

 relation to improvements in the machinery em- 



